Folgen Sie Ihrem Traum Chapter 15 (Yu-Gi-Oh, Seto/Téa, #3)
Title: Folgen Sie Ihrem Traum (Follow Your Dream); Chapter 15: The Fresco
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Pairing: Seto Kaiba/Téa Gardner
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh
Theme: 3; Chicago, Illinois, USA
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine (except for the OC dancers) and the story is
Warnings: none
Rating: PG13
This chapter will be cross-posted to 30_nights, 30_hugs, 20_heartbeats, and http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4336463/15/
The young CEO wasn’t about to give up the chase, but he found himself dissuaded by the sudden arrival of Strings, blocking his path.
“Out of my way!” Seto snarled, pushing past the silent Rare Hunter to keep track of Arkana.
He didn’t get far; a crushing blow upon his shoulder knocked him to the ground, dazed. Of course; he should have realized that Arkana would have had backup. Rubbing the back of his shoulder, Seto glared at the overly quiet man as the insane magician successfully made his escape into the night.
“That’s the second time you’ve done that,” the CEO growled. “But this ends now.”
The man said nothing, only staring at the CEO with his sunken eyes. Seto attempted to pull off a judo throw, but the silent man stepped aside and struck him again, much to the youth’s chagrin. This time, however, Strings had retreated while Seto recovered from the blow. The brown-haired youth nearly yelled out in frustration as he lost track of Strings.
“Kaiba!” called Pegasus, finally catching up to him. “What happened?”
Seto shot him a dark look as he got to his feet again.
“Never mind; I think I can figure it out,” Pegasus replied.
“I’ve had enough of this,” Seto said, through gritted teeth. “I’ve had enough of waiting in the shadows for them to make their move. From now on, I’m going on the offensive.”
“Noble sentiments, Kaiba-boy,” said Pegasus. “However, do you even have the slightest idea as to how to stop them? Unless my eyes deceived me, you were taken out by just one of them.”
Seto glared at him again; the last thing he needed was to be lectured by Maximillion Pegasus, of all people.
“Swallow your pride, Kaiba-boy,” the man went on. “You have to come to grips with the fact that you can’t handle this alone.”
“Maybe I can’t,” Seto replied. “But if I needed help, it certainly wouldn’t be yours. And I’m willing to try my solo luck again before I agree to take on an ally.”
Pegasus shrugged.
“It’s your decision,” he said. “All I know is that Industrial Illusions will be strengthening its ties with its partners and allies in the near future. Kaiba Corporation would be wise to do the same. But maybe you don’t need another corporate ally; there are surely others who would be willing to aid your cause, even though she wouldn’t gain anything from helping you. Oops, did I say ‘she’ just a moment ago? Sorry, I mean ‘they.’”
Having said his piece, Pegasus retreated back to the business meeting, leaving Seto alone.
“Very subtle,” Seto thought, sardonically.
*************************************
Téa, in the meantime, was discovering that investigating the original choreographer was a lot more difficult than it seemed to be. Kayser had several pages worth of dance steps in his hands as he taught each element their individual steps, but Téa couldn’t get a good glance at them. And, by themselves, the fire’s message was a group of broken phrases; obviously, they had to be placed together with the steps of the other elements, who were taught separately.
Scribbling down what she could decode, she attempted to make some sense of it.
“‘Proceed as planned… still unaware… small detour… keep a watch out…’” she read, over and over again. And then, there was a baffling final line. “‘She will awaken in due time.’”
This fragment of message was on her mind during the entire set of rehearsals. She had to give Kayser credit; she was too busy trying to keep track of her own steps, making sure she wouldn’t make a mistake, to try to decode what the other dancers were trying to say in their coded steps. And when the night of the actual performance came, it was even more impossible. Concentrating on her steps was difficult enough as it was with all of the aspects of the mystery flying through her head; at this point in time, she was too distracted to even try looking for Rare Hunters in the audience, though she knew very well that they were there.
Frustration plagued her; she knew that she wouldn’t be able to do this alone. She would have to risk talking to Aurus and the Tessurcas about it. But she was still trying to mull over the part of the message she had decoded. Who on Earth was the “she” they were referring to?
Téa’s first thoughts turned to Vulsor. Was that some sort of coded message revealing a plan to help Vulsor attain her freedom? If that was the case, Téa would have to warn her friends after the show.
But she soon realized that she didn’t have a chance; the second the show had finished, Kayser was ushering the dancers to a downtown Chicago museum for the meet-and-greet. Téa, like the other female dancers, was wearing an evening gown that had been rented specifically for the evening (unsurprisingly, her gown, as well as Caerii’s, was a fiery yellow-orange; Aurus and Hesper were wearing suits that reflected their link to the fire element, as well).
The museum was opened to guests and dancers alike, and if it hadn’t been for the looming seriousness of the mystery, Téa would have enjoyed walking through the exhibits tenfold more than she had. She proceeded to walk from exhibit to exhibit, pausing to return greetings and thank the compliments that guests heaped upon her as they walked by.
“Awesome place, isn’t it?” asked Aurus, with a grin, as he crossed paths with her at a showcase of ancient Incan and Mayan pottery. “And they’ve even got an Ancient Egyptian exhibit over there, just for you. How about we take a look? I’d like to find out more about this pendant of mine…”
Téa hadn’t noticed the exhibit until Aurus pointed it out. A granite gateway bordered by carvings of Isis and Nephthys greeted them as they entered. Surrounded by the ancient carvings and artifacts, Téa felt calmer, as though the spirit of her dear friend Atem was close by.
“I knew this’d cheer you up!” said Aurus, noticing her. “You’ve been so down these past couple of days. Nice little pick-me-up, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, thanks…” she said, smiling back. For the first time in a long time, she felt at ease… almost at home…
But the feeling quickly faded upon coming face to face with the head of a blue-colored statue. She didn’t even need to read the information in order to recognize who it was, though Aurus read it out loud for the benefit of those nearby them, who were also looking at the artifacts.
“‘Head of a statue of the Pharaoh Sethos, New Kingdom,” he read. “The king is seen here with the kepresh crown.”
Téa stared through the glass, right at the statue head with an unreadable expression.
“Great,” she thought. “I’ll never be able to escape that face…”
“There’s more stuff of Sethos’ over here,” said Aurus.
“Terrific…” she thought. “That’s just what I need…” Her thoughts were diverted as she saw part of a fresco beside the statue head. The king was shown placing his hand gently upon the face of a brown-haired woman.
“That, apparently, was his queen, though her name isn’t given here,” Aurus said. “You know, Téa, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you looked a lot like her… Don’t you think so?”
“Ironic, isn’t it…?” Téa asked, somewhat airily. She glanced at her ancient counterpart (whose name she knew from other sources). “Oh, Túaa,” she thought. “How on Earth did you manage winning him over?”
The fresco seemed more like a photograph than anything else, depicting the obvious care and concern that Sethos had for Túaa. The Pharaoh was clearly in love with his queen, as evidenced by his gentle hand on her face that was softly brushing her hair aside. A closer look revealed something else: a tear on the queen’s face. He was consoling her. A glance at the informational paragraph revealed that the fresco chronicled a rather sad time for the couple; apparently, one of their sons had been killed by enemy soldiers.
“They had it difficult, too,” Téa thought, blinking back her own tears. “But at least they were together through it all. Sethos loved Túaa; he cared for her and was there in her time of need. Seto Kaiba just left me high and dry; he could care less about what I felt--”
“May I say what a pleasure it is to see that you have decided to come to our little meet-and-greet,” she heard the elder Kayser say. “We certainly hoped that you enjoyed the show, Mr. Kaiba.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“No. No way… He couldn’t be…”
“Hey, we’ve got company,” said Aurus, turning around. “It’s that CEO we saw back in Tokyo. I guess he came to see the show.”
Téa finally dared to look, and was astounded to see Seto dressed in an apparently new, black business suit, following Kayser with an unreadable expression. He glanced in Téa’s direction, but made no sign of recognition.
“May I introduce you to two of our very talented dancers?” asked Kayser, leading Seto to Téa and Aurus. “This is my cousin, Aurus Kayser.”
Seto and Aurus shook hands.
“And this is our newest, but most talented, dancer of them all,” he went on. “Miss Téa Gardner. Miss Gardner, this is Mr. Seto Kaiba, the famous CEO of the Kaiba Corporation.”
And Seto shook her hand as well.
“A pleasure, Miss Gardner,” he said, coolly, as though they had never met before. “Your talent has not gone unnoticed.”
“Well… thank you, Mr. Kaiba,” she said, trying her hardest to conceal her utter confusion and bemusement.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Aurus glance at Seto, and then at the statue head of Sethos. He repeated this process several times, looking as bemused as Téa was, before eventually shaking his head, as though to discard the notion that the statue was not of an ancient Pharaoh, but instead that of the modern-day CEO.
“Well, I’ll leave you three to look around the exhibit,” said the elder Kayser. “Thanks again for coming by, Mr. Kaiba.”
Kayser left, leaving behind an emotionless CEO and two dancers, both very baffled, but for different reasons. Aurus took another glance at the statue head, glanced at Seto again, and then turned to Téa.
“You know what?” he said. “Hunger-hunger is notorious for causing hallucinations. I’ll catch you later, Téa. I… I think I need to eat something…” He glanced at Sethos and Seto again. “...Badly...”
He scurried off, trying his hardest not to run. Téa would’ve been highly amused if she hadn’t been so bewildered herself. She turned back to the CEO, who finally glanced back at her with some indication that he did, in fact, knew her.
“What in Heaven’s name are you doing!?” she hissed.
“I would’ve thought that to be obvious, Gardner,” he replied, his voice in its normally cold tone. “I’m here to try to shed some light on this mystery and find out what’s going on.”
“For a moment, I thought you were an impostor or something,” she replied, recalling their handshake.
“Ironic that you should mention that,” Seto countered, and he proceeded to tell her about Arkana showing up at the meeting in Vulsor’s place. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find out anything new; it merely confirmed what we knew already about Vulsor working closely with the Rare Hunters.”
“I think they have some sort of plans to free her,” said Téa, and she recounted to him what bits of that evening’s message that she had figured out. “Most of the message fragments make some sort of sense except for the ‘awaken in due time’ line. I can’t think of any other ‘she’ that they could possibly be referring to. But that’s only half of my worries; I need to get some sort of proof that Kayser is the one writing these messages, or, at least, coding them into steps.”
“Are these what you’re looking for?” asked Seto, pulling some torn pieces of paper from his pocket. They were the dance steps, clearly written in the troupe leader’s handwriting.
“Where did you find these!?” Téa gasped.
“Apparently, he was in a hurry to get rid of these, and tried to dispose of them,” Seto replied. “He didn’t bother to check and see if all of the pieces of paper made it into the garbage; they were right on the floor, almost in plain sight.”
“That’s it!” she whispered, trying to conceal her excitement. “We need more evidence like this, and that’ll be all it takes to convict him!” She paused, glancing from the pieces of paper to the CEO himself. “So… does this mean that you’re back on the case?”
“I never left the case, Gardner.”
“I mean… are you going to be working with me again on the case?” she asked, unsure of his reply. The memory of the limo ride from Reno (and how he had snubbed her) was still fresh in her mind.
“I suppose…” he said, with an annoyed roll of his eyes.
She seized the moment while he was still rolling his eyes to enfold her arms around him in gratitude. Once again, she did not wait to see if he would pull away; she let go and ran off. And now it was Seto’s turn to be bothered and bewildered, hoping that no one had seen the hug.
With a frustrated sigh, he turned, and he came face to face with the statue head. He suppressed another roll of his eyes after glancing at the sculpture of the man who resembled him. But then his gaze fell upon the fresco beside the statue head. Even he could not ignore the obvious care and concern that his look-alike was feeling for the bereaved queen; nor he could ignore the tiny reflection of Téa in the glass as she watched him from the other side of the room.
“Crazy coincidence…” he muttered, half-heartedly. But, in truth, he didn’t know what to believe anymore: be it was ancient history, or his own clouded thoughts.
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Pairing: Seto Kaiba/Téa Gardner
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh
Theme: 3; Chicago, Illinois, USA
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine (except for the OC dancers) and the story is
Warnings: none
Rating: PG13
This chapter will be cross-posted to 30_nights, 30_hugs, 20_heartbeats, and http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4336463/15/
The young CEO wasn’t about to give up the chase, but he found himself dissuaded by the sudden arrival of Strings, blocking his path.
“Out of my way!” Seto snarled, pushing past the silent Rare Hunter to keep track of Arkana.
He didn’t get far; a crushing blow upon his shoulder knocked him to the ground, dazed. Of course; he should have realized that Arkana would have had backup. Rubbing the back of his shoulder, Seto glared at the overly quiet man as the insane magician successfully made his escape into the night.
“That’s the second time you’ve done that,” the CEO growled. “But this ends now.”
The man said nothing, only staring at the CEO with his sunken eyes. Seto attempted to pull off a judo throw, but the silent man stepped aside and struck him again, much to the youth’s chagrin. This time, however, Strings had retreated while Seto recovered from the blow. The brown-haired youth nearly yelled out in frustration as he lost track of Strings.
“Kaiba!” called Pegasus, finally catching up to him. “What happened?”
Seto shot him a dark look as he got to his feet again.
“Never mind; I think I can figure it out,” Pegasus replied.
“I’ve had enough of this,” Seto said, through gritted teeth. “I’ve had enough of waiting in the shadows for them to make their move. From now on, I’m going on the offensive.”
“Noble sentiments, Kaiba-boy,” said Pegasus. “However, do you even have the slightest idea as to how to stop them? Unless my eyes deceived me, you were taken out by just one of them.”
Seto glared at him again; the last thing he needed was to be lectured by Maximillion Pegasus, of all people.
“Swallow your pride, Kaiba-boy,” the man went on. “You have to come to grips with the fact that you can’t handle this alone.”
“Maybe I can’t,” Seto replied. “But if I needed help, it certainly wouldn’t be yours. And I’m willing to try my solo luck again before I agree to take on an ally.”
Pegasus shrugged.
“It’s your decision,” he said. “All I know is that Industrial Illusions will be strengthening its ties with its partners and allies in the near future. Kaiba Corporation would be wise to do the same. But maybe you don’t need another corporate ally; there are surely others who would be willing to aid your cause, even though she wouldn’t gain anything from helping you. Oops, did I say ‘she’ just a moment ago? Sorry, I mean ‘they.’”
Having said his piece, Pegasus retreated back to the business meeting, leaving Seto alone.
“Very subtle,” Seto thought, sardonically.
*************************************
Téa, in the meantime, was discovering that investigating the original choreographer was a lot more difficult than it seemed to be. Kayser had several pages worth of dance steps in his hands as he taught each element their individual steps, but Téa couldn’t get a good glance at them. And, by themselves, the fire’s message was a group of broken phrases; obviously, they had to be placed together with the steps of the other elements, who were taught separately.
Scribbling down what she could decode, she attempted to make some sense of it.
“‘Proceed as planned… still unaware… small detour… keep a watch out…’” she read, over and over again. And then, there was a baffling final line. “‘She will awaken in due time.’”
This fragment of message was on her mind during the entire set of rehearsals. She had to give Kayser credit; she was too busy trying to keep track of her own steps, making sure she wouldn’t make a mistake, to try to decode what the other dancers were trying to say in their coded steps. And when the night of the actual performance came, it was even more impossible. Concentrating on her steps was difficult enough as it was with all of the aspects of the mystery flying through her head; at this point in time, she was too distracted to even try looking for Rare Hunters in the audience, though she knew very well that they were there.
Frustration plagued her; she knew that she wouldn’t be able to do this alone. She would have to risk talking to Aurus and the Tessurcas about it. But she was still trying to mull over the part of the message she had decoded. Who on Earth was the “she” they were referring to?
Téa’s first thoughts turned to Vulsor. Was that some sort of coded message revealing a plan to help Vulsor attain her freedom? If that was the case, Téa would have to warn her friends after the show.
But she soon realized that she didn’t have a chance; the second the show had finished, Kayser was ushering the dancers to a downtown Chicago museum for the meet-and-greet. Téa, like the other female dancers, was wearing an evening gown that had been rented specifically for the evening (unsurprisingly, her gown, as well as Caerii’s, was a fiery yellow-orange; Aurus and Hesper were wearing suits that reflected their link to the fire element, as well).
The museum was opened to guests and dancers alike, and if it hadn’t been for the looming seriousness of the mystery, Téa would have enjoyed walking through the exhibits tenfold more than she had. She proceeded to walk from exhibit to exhibit, pausing to return greetings and thank the compliments that guests heaped upon her as they walked by.
“Awesome place, isn’t it?” asked Aurus, with a grin, as he crossed paths with her at a showcase of ancient Incan and Mayan pottery. “And they’ve even got an Ancient Egyptian exhibit over there, just for you. How about we take a look? I’d like to find out more about this pendant of mine…”
Téa hadn’t noticed the exhibit until Aurus pointed it out. A granite gateway bordered by carvings of Isis and Nephthys greeted them as they entered. Surrounded by the ancient carvings and artifacts, Téa felt calmer, as though the spirit of her dear friend Atem was close by.
“I knew this’d cheer you up!” said Aurus, noticing her. “You’ve been so down these past couple of days. Nice little pick-me-up, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, thanks…” she said, smiling back. For the first time in a long time, she felt at ease… almost at home…
But the feeling quickly faded upon coming face to face with the head of a blue-colored statue. She didn’t even need to read the information in order to recognize who it was, though Aurus read it out loud for the benefit of those nearby them, who were also looking at the artifacts.
“‘Head of a statue of the Pharaoh Sethos, New Kingdom,” he read. “The king is seen here with the kepresh crown.”
Téa stared through the glass, right at the statue head with an unreadable expression.
“Great,” she thought. “I’ll never be able to escape that face…”
“There’s more stuff of Sethos’ over here,” said Aurus.
“Terrific…” she thought. “That’s just what I need…” Her thoughts were diverted as she saw part of a fresco beside the statue head. The king was shown placing his hand gently upon the face of a brown-haired woman.
“That, apparently, was his queen, though her name isn’t given here,” Aurus said. “You know, Téa, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you looked a lot like her… Don’t you think so?”
“Ironic, isn’t it…?” Téa asked, somewhat airily. She glanced at her ancient counterpart (whose name she knew from other sources). “Oh, Túaa,” she thought. “How on Earth did you manage winning him over?”
The fresco seemed more like a photograph than anything else, depicting the obvious care and concern that Sethos had for Túaa. The Pharaoh was clearly in love with his queen, as evidenced by his gentle hand on her face that was softly brushing her hair aside. A closer look revealed something else: a tear on the queen’s face. He was consoling her. A glance at the informational paragraph revealed that the fresco chronicled a rather sad time for the couple; apparently, one of their sons had been killed by enemy soldiers.
“They had it difficult, too,” Téa thought, blinking back her own tears. “But at least they were together through it all. Sethos loved Túaa; he cared for her and was there in her time of need. Seto Kaiba just left me high and dry; he could care less about what I felt--”
“May I say what a pleasure it is to see that you have decided to come to our little meet-and-greet,” she heard the elder Kayser say. “We certainly hoped that you enjoyed the show, Mr. Kaiba.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“No. No way… He couldn’t be…”
“Hey, we’ve got company,” said Aurus, turning around. “It’s that CEO we saw back in Tokyo. I guess he came to see the show.”
Téa finally dared to look, and was astounded to see Seto dressed in an apparently new, black business suit, following Kayser with an unreadable expression. He glanced in Téa’s direction, but made no sign of recognition.
“May I introduce you to two of our very talented dancers?” asked Kayser, leading Seto to Téa and Aurus. “This is my cousin, Aurus Kayser.”
Seto and Aurus shook hands.
“And this is our newest, but most talented, dancer of them all,” he went on. “Miss Téa Gardner. Miss Gardner, this is Mr. Seto Kaiba, the famous CEO of the Kaiba Corporation.”
And Seto shook her hand as well.
“A pleasure, Miss Gardner,” he said, coolly, as though they had never met before. “Your talent has not gone unnoticed.”
“Well… thank you, Mr. Kaiba,” she said, trying her hardest to conceal her utter confusion and bemusement.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Aurus glance at Seto, and then at the statue head of Sethos. He repeated this process several times, looking as bemused as Téa was, before eventually shaking his head, as though to discard the notion that the statue was not of an ancient Pharaoh, but instead that of the modern-day CEO.
“Well, I’ll leave you three to look around the exhibit,” said the elder Kayser. “Thanks again for coming by, Mr. Kaiba.”
Kayser left, leaving behind an emotionless CEO and two dancers, both very baffled, but for different reasons. Aurus took another glance at the statue head, glanced at Seto again, and then turned to Téa.
“You know what?” he said. “Hunger-hunger is notorious for causing hallucinations. I’ll catch you later, Téa. I… I think I need to eat something…” He glanced at Sethos and Seto again. “...Badly...”
He scurried off, trying his hardest not to run. Téa would’ve been highly amused if she hadn’t been so bewildered herself. She turned back to the CEO, who finally glanced back at her with some indication that he did, in fact, knew her.
“What in Heaven’s name are you doing!?” she hissed.
“I would’ve thought that to be obvious, Gardner,” he replied, his voice in its normally cold tone. “I’m here to try to shed some light on this mystery and find out what’s going on.”
“For a moment, I thought you were an impostor or something,” she replied, recalling their handshake.
“Ironic that you should mention that,” Seto countered, and he proceeded to tell her about Arkana showing up at the meeting in Vulsor’s place. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find out anything new; it merely confirmed what we knew already about Vulsor working closely with the Rare Hunters.”
“I think they have some sort of plans to free her,” said Téa, and she recounted to him what bits of that evening’s message that she had figured out. “Most of the message fragments make some sort of sense except for the ‘awaken in due time’ line. I can’t think of any other ‘she’ that they could possibly be referring to. But that’s only half of my worries; I need to get some sort of proof that Kayser is the one writing these messages, or, at least, coding them into steps.”
“Are these what you’re looking for?” asked Seto, pulling some torn pieces of paper from his pocket. They were the dance steps, clearly written in the troupe leader’s handwriting.
“Where did you find these!?” Téa gasped.
“Apparently, he was in a hurry to get rid of these, and tried to dispose of them,” Seto replied. “He didn’t bother to check and see if all of the pieces of paper made it into the garbage; they were right on the floor, almost in plain sight.”
“That’s it!” she whispered, trying to conceal her excitement. “We need more evidence like this, and that’ll be all it takes to convict him!” She paused, glancing from the pieces of paper to the CEO himself. “So… does this mean that you’re back on the case?”
“I never left the case, Gardner.”
“I mean… are you going to be working with me again on the case?” she asked, unsure of his reply. The memory of the limo ride from Reno (and how he had snubbed her) was still fresh in her mind.
“I suppose…” he said, with an annoyed roll of his eyes.
She seized the moment while he was still rolling his eyes to enfold her arms around him in gratitude. Once again, she did not wait to see if he would pull away; she let go and ran off. And now it was Seto’s turn to be bothered and bewildered, hoping that no one had seen the hug.
With a frustrated sigh, he turned, and he came face to face with the statue head. He suppressed another roll of his eyes after glancing at the sculpture of the man who resembled him. But then his gaze fell upon the fresco beside the statue head. Even he could not ignore the obvious care and concern that his look-alike was feeling for the bereaved queen; nor he could ignore the tiny reflection of Téa in the glass as she watched him from the other side of the room.
“Crazy coincidence…” he muttered, half-heartedly. But, in truth, he didn’t know what to believe anymore: be it was ancient history, or his own clouded thoughts.