Dissolution: Chapter Four (The last chapter)
I watched the Harry Potter this afternoon, and it was just the right tone to set of one of my writing binges!
Title: Destruction
Word Count: 3814
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, sexual thoughts, violence, torture, and implied rape. Well, you knew this was coming, y'all.
Characters: Kiryu, Yusei, Crow, Jack, Disembodied Peruvian God Voice
Pairing: One-sided YuseixKiryu
Note: I was hoping to have more emphasis on Crow here, but it just didn't work out.
“Kiryu, you've been sitting at that sewing machine for six hours straight. Don't you think it's time to take a break?”
Kiryu blinked. Surely it couldn't have been that long! Since this had been a rare day where there hadn't been any discernible criminal activity, he'd decided to do some sewing instead. It felt like he had just sat down to work a few minutes ago. But Yusei usually knew what he was talking about, so Kiryu would take his word for it.
“What're you making?” Yusei asked casually as Kiryu rose from the old three-legged stool and stretched.
“Another blanket. It's gotten cold pretty early this year...haven't you noticed?”
“No, it's felt like more or less normal weather to me,” Yusei answered as his brow furrowed. He was even cuter than usual when he looked worried. It made Kiryu want to lick the wrinkles that formed on his forehead.
“You take such good care of me, Yusei!” Kiryu said as he walked closer.
“I try my best,” was the reply. Kiryu frowned. No matter how he tried to flirt, Yusei seemed completely oblivious.
“And you'll stay with me, right? It'll be just you and me...forever,” he continued. He sat next to Yusei and leaned his head in. Their noses were practically touching before Yusei noticed anything out of the ordinary.
“Well...that's the plan, anyway,” he said softly. His breath tickled Kiryu's face.
Now would be the perfect time for them to finally kiss...and maybe do even more if Yusei allowed it. Kiryu was already starting to get turned on at the thought. There was just one problem, however...those stupid sores in his mouth. They would probably make a kiss very uncomfortable for both participants. And then Yusei might start asking questions...no, it wouldn't be worth the risk.
“I'll get us some dinner,” Kiryu stated abruptly, quickly turning and walking out the door of their hideout before the other boy noticed his state of arousal.
In other cases, he was never shy about working for what he wanted. Why did this have to be so different?
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He had thought that if he ignored these strange ailments, they'd go away on their own. Even as he continued to lose weight, even when the ugly splotches appeared on his chest and spread to his back and legs, Kiryu pretended that he didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. But he couldn't keep up this charade for much longer. Just a few days ago, he'd vomited up blood. It was official...something was very wrong.
What if it was cancer? How much longer did he have to live? He could tell no one about this, since they'd make him stop chasing after criminals. He must keep on protecting this city to his last breath.
And if it was true..if he was dying, then he couldn't waste any more time. Breaking up gangs wasn't enough...if he wanted to get to the root of the problem, he'd have to take down Security. Their job was to keep order, but they didn't seem to care about crimes unless they were targeted. They turned a blind eye to the drug-dealing and prostitution and pedophilia, but if someone tried to steal their precious cards or D-Wheels, there was hell to pay. And then when they started riding around Satellite showing off said D-Wheels, it was the last straw for Kiryu. He thought about it a while, and came up with a plan. Then he summoned Yusei to go over the details.
Yusei looked a bit nervous at Kiryu's new choice of headquarters. The latter had decided that buildings were too boring, so from now on they were going to have meetings on a rooftop. Being out in the open air made him feel freer. He'd moved a table and chairs up there and everything. So there was maybe a small chance the roof wouldn't hold...what was life without a little risk?
“What did you want to talk about?” Yusei asked. But Kiryu barely heard him. He was distracted by another subject. It was getting dark, and no one would be able to see them up here. He wanted Yusei to dominate him; to take him right there and then. And he didn't want any of that wishy-washy “gentle” crap, either. It was weird...why would he like this concept so much now when he'd detested it in his whore days? He didn't know. But that didn't matter now. All Kiryu had to do was reach across the table and grab...
“Kiryu?” Yusei's voice cut in.
Oh yeah...right...the meeting. Kiryu wiped off the bit of drool that had run onto his chin. Now what was he going to talk about again? Security...that was it.
So he told Yusei the idea. It was brilliant, if Kiryu did say so himself. Turning Security's materialism against it...why had no one else thought of it before? Just like that story with the wooden horse thingy.
Yusei's reaction was what Kiryu had neither expected nor wanted.
“What? You want to defeat Security?” he asked incredulously as he stood up.
“Yeah, it'll be Team Satisfaction's final opponent,” Kiryu explained. He meant this in more ways than one, but the others didn't have to know that.
Yusei still didn't seem convinced, so he continued, “By defeating them, we will truly conquer Satellite. Bring back Jack and Crow. The four of us will crush them!” Couldn't Yusei see this for himself? It was what they had always wanted, so why was he hesitating?
And Kiryu didn't want to say so out loud, but despite the other two boys' betrayal he sort of missed them. Especially Crow. Yusei was a loyal companion, but he didn't have the same infectious energy that Crow did.
Yusei slammed his hands on the table.
“Kiryu, don't you understand that this is a suicide mission?” he shouted.
He was right. That was why Kiryu found it so appealing. Better to go out in a blaze of glory than to let this sickness off him first.
“Are you scared, Yusei?” he inquired mildly.
Yusei grabbed the front of Kiryu's shirt-despite the situation, Kiryu felt a jolt of excitement-then let go almost immediately.
“I can't stay with you anymore. If you want to do this, do it by yourself,” he sighed.
Kiryu couldn't believe what he was hearing. For an instant, he thought it might be a joke, but then Yusei walked away without saying anything further.
How could Yusei do this to him? Wait...maybe it was better this way. The other three would see what they missed out on, and then they'd be sorry for leaving him. They'd live, possibly for decades more, but always with the knowledge that they were nothing but cowards. Meanwhile, he would be revered as a martyr.
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Kiryu spent several days getting everything ready. It probably wouldn't have taken so long, but he kept having to take breaks due to fatigue, and had tremors in his hands that interfered with the more detailed work.
He felt especially shitty the day of the attack. But he had to do this anyway, since there were supposed to be several days of rain in the forecast, starting late that night. If the explosives got wet, they might not ignite properly.
As soon as the sun set, he placed his cleverly-disguised bombs in a box outside Security headquarters, took his place, and waited. Hopefully, they were stable enough that they wouldn't explode as soon as someone picked up the box. That wouldn't cause enough damage for Kiryu's liking.
After what seemed like forever, a guard saw the box and took it inside. Would Kiryu's forgery of a delivery label be good enough to fool him? Well, he supposed he could always try again if this time didn't work. It would be a huge pain making more duel disk replicas, though.
Then...he heard the detonation and saw the cloud of smoke. Success! He laughed in triumph. Now the chase was on. Letting them catch him now wouldn't be nearly interesting enough.
He managed to find shelter just as the rain started to fall. Once inside, he thought over his next move. He'd have to take as many of those officers with him as he could. Maybe he could even kill them all, then take his own life. The last thing he wanted was to be arrested.
Then Kiryu saw the spotlights of the D-Wheels shine on the building. Damn, they'd been faster than he was expecting. He wasn't finished planning yet!
“We know you're in there! Come out and surrender!” shouted one of the officers. Uh...yeah. No freaking way Kiryu was about to do that. He wanted to put up a good and long fight.
He thought he heard footsteps. Were those the officers already? He got his duel disk ready just in case. But it wasn't the officers after all. It was Yusei, Jack, and Crow!
“I knew it!” Kiryu cried joyfully, “It's my friends...we're Team Satisfaction again!” So...they had seen the light!
His joy turned to confusion, though, as Jack asked, “Why are you doing something so stupid?”
“We came here to stop you!” Crow added.
Ah, they were joking, Kiryu realized. That must be it! They knew full well no one could ever stop him.
“We're all together!” he exclaimed as he embraced them. He felt lightheaded from all of the emotion. He looked down at those stupid Security men as he continued to laugh.
“This will be Team Satisfaction's last duel!” he repeated, since Crow and Jack weren't around to hear the first time he said it. He had to clutch the frame of the window briefly as a dizzy spell overtook him. But it passed in a few seconds, and no one seemed to have noticed. No, wait a minute, they didn't notice because they were too busy putting their duel disks down. What, again? Those assholes! Honestly, it was like they thought they could all link arms and skip with the Security officers through a meadow or some stupid shit. How could he ever convince them to man up and face the enemy?
“Aren't you going to battle alongside me? This is our last duel!” Kiryu goaded them. He knew he was just saying the same stuff over and over again, but he was too angry to think up anything new. But it wasn't like they had any brilliant insights either.
Crow said that there was no way they would be able to take Security down. Right...and this was coming from the guy who had stolen cards from them on about ten different occasions, and had only gotten caught once.
Yusei said something about escaping, so Kiryu turned to address him directly.
“I know you're not satisfied yet!” he taunted. He tried his best to leer, but that was slightly difficult when there were suddenly two Yuseis in his field of vision. He blinked, and things came back into focus. Then he reminded them that this was the last step towards conquering Satellite, since they would never understand the main reason for his actions. They protested, and he retorted, but none of this was quite registering in his mind.
By now Kiryu was babbling, but he didn't notice. It was almost like he wasn't even in his own body anymore, but rather hovering over it. All of his surroundings seemed blurred and surreal. His heart gave a sudden lurch. No, he couldn't let himself collapse. He had to find one last surge of energy.
Then, Kiryu heard Security start their attack. He abruptly snapped back into reality and found that extra strength. He jumped out of the building and started to run, not even feeling the cold drops of rain on his body. A D-Wheel chased him. Perfect.
He summoned a strong monster that he thought would take the officer down, but was taken aback when the man easily deflected the attack. No...he refused to be taken down that easily! If that was how this bastard wanted to play, then Kiryu would have to try other tactics.
He managed to leap on top of the D-Wheel, and fought for all of his worth. Wait...was that Yusei calling after him? No time to think about that. Finally, he managed to distract the man enough so that he skidded and drove through some crates. The D-Wheel crashed and the officer went flying.
Kiryu checked the guy. He had a head wound, but he was still breathing. Damn...looked like he'd have to do this the hard way. He grabbed the first weapon-like object he saw; an old plank. He fleetingly wished for a knife, which would produce more blood and therefore be more satisfying, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Now he was no longer thinking of a heroic death...his rage was focused solely on this person. He swung the plank with all his might.
“STOP IT!”
Yusei launched himself at Kiryu, similarly to how Crow had done that other time. No...NO! He would not let anyone get in the way when he had been so close! The two of them rolled several times on the ground, Kiryu growling and shrieking like an animal.
“Let go of me!” he howled when they came to a stop. Oh, in any situation other than this one, this would be Kiryu's dream come true, but now he was just bent on escaping so he could finish his job. Yusei let him go, only for Jack and Crow to replace him. Kiryu was too angry and out-of-breath to speak. He felt his heart pounding throughout his whole body.
Then Yusei walked toward the Security D-Wheels. Hadn't he just been talking about escaping? What could possibly be going on?
Kiryu couldn't hear what Yusei was saying, but then...Jack and Crow moved aside and the Security guys grabbed him. They COULDN'T! HOW DARE THEY? After all he had done for him, they back-stabbed him!
The head officer grinned and patted Yusei on the back. Kiryu felt physically sick. He was angrier than he could ever get at Security. They were interchangeable people for the most part, but Yusei...he had known Yusei. He had loved him, both as a friend and as something extra.
He screamed Yusei's name as loudly as he could, but the officers forced him into the van. Even then, he tried to escape until they slammed the doors and drove off.
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It was a long and bumpy ride to the jail. Kiryu got carsick and threw up. The back of the van was too dark for him to see clearly, but he could tell just from the taste that there was more blood in it.
Then when they got there, the guards all seemed intent on putting Kiryu in as much agony as they could. After the booking and marking, they didn't take him to his cell. Instead, they dragged him off into a separate room.
“That man was our friend!” one of them shouted as he punched Kiryu in the face. He fell on the floor from the force of the blow, but that didn't deter them.
“His wife is going to have a baby next month!” the man continued as he stepped on Kiryu's hand. “A little boy! Now...” -kick in the ribs-“that baby...”-kick in the back of the head-“might not have a father! Did you even think about that?”
“Of course he didn't,” said a second man as he yanked Kiryu's head up by the hair and slammed it back on the floor. “He's from Satellite...they don't think!”
And so it continued. When they tired of assailing him with their fists and feet, they flogged him with their belts instead. Kiryu was fairly sure that at least one of them urinated on him as well. And when they bored of that, they yanked his pants down. Mercifully, he lost consciousness shortly thereafter.
Some time later...it could have been just a few hours, or it could have been a whole week for all he knew...Kiryu was thrown into his cell. The door slammed shut.
He blinked his eyes open, but the pain in his body was too great for him to move any more. But he did notice that they had taken his duel disk and deck. Through all the previous ordeals, he hadn't cried once, but this was the last straw. He started sobbing, each breath feeling like it was shredding his lungs.
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The days all blended into each other. Kiryu would be hard-pressed to tell whether it was even day or night. He had heard of prisoners keeping track of the time by tally marks on the wall, but he didn't care enough even to do that.
He spent most of his hours either sleeping or plotting revenge. He knew there was a very slim chance of him ever getting out of here, but if he did, he had some special surprises in store for Yusei. First of all, he'd cut off Yusei's dick with a dull knife, and perhaps get a mold made from it for his own pleasure. Then he'd scoop out his eyes and make him drink drain cleaner and decapitate him...in that order. As time elapsed, he added even more onto the list. Soon it wasn't very realistic at all...but it did entertain him somewhat.
He tried to think up similar plans of torture for Crow and Jack, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He really didn't know Jack well enough to have those heights of scorching anger at him...and Crow was special. He'd known Crow before either of the others, of course, and he still recalled their time together. So maybe if he escaped, he'd just hang Crow up by his thumbs for a few hours until he got the message.
At first, he put these plans for mutilating Yusei to song, but after a few weeks he developed a cough. It got so bad he could scarcely breathe, let alone sing. He hacked and wheezed, but none of the heaviness in his chest was ever removed. Also, those spots were on his arms now, and it seemed like he was constantly spitting out loose teeth.
Finally, even the guards noticed that there was something wrong with Kiryu.
“Come on, you're taking a trip to the infirmary,” one of them said as he opened the door. He handcuffed Kiryu, and accompanied by two other guards marched him down the hall.
The infirmary was a small room, with an adjoining laboratory. It nearly blinded Kiryu with its whiteness and cleanliness.
The doctor poked and examined Kiryu for a very long time. He also drew some blood and took X-Rays. Kiryu was too tired to do anything other than just sit and let him.
The doctor walked into the lab, and Kiryu could hear him talking to someone else. He supposed that they didn't really bother with discretion in a place like this.
“I'll need you to do a CD4 count on that sample.”
“You think...?” asked the other person.
“I'm about 98 percent sure. Of course, we can't know for sure until we get the results, and maybe some further testing too, but this looks like a textbook case. Kaposi's sarcomas are widespread, the chest X-rays show pneumonia, and there are signs of encephalopathy. And he's so young, too. What a shame.”
“So it's not congenital? Or from a blood transfusion?”
“As far as I can tell, no. And nothing we can do. No matter how much I ask for more funding, the director just ignores any evidence of an outbreak. Poor kid.”
“HEY!” Kiryu shouted, “I'm right here, you know! What are you talking about? What's CD4 mean? What I got?”
The doctor came back out to the main room.
“I'm very sorry,” he began.
“Just tell me what I got!”
“Well...have you ever heard of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus?”
“The what?”
“I...I think you have AIDS. It's surprising you've made it this long. You have maybe a month to live at most.”
Kiryu wasn't particularly stunned by this revelation. He already knew he didn't have much time left; putting a name to the condition didn't make much of a difference.
It was only when he was being walked back into his cell that he saw the humorous side.
“Why're you laughing?” asked one of the guards.
“You're all going to die!” Kiryu informed him. He laughed hysterically, only to break down into another coughing fit. They had helped him accomplish his goal, and they didn't even know it!
“He's a bit confused,” whispered a second guard rather audibly. They all smirked.
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The doctor had said Kiryu was going to die soon, so why was it taking so infernally long to happen? Every inhalation was a monumental struggle, yet he kept on living anyway. He'd stopped eating or even drinking water in order to speed things up...not that he had much appetite to begin with. If they'd had any antibiotics-which of course they didn't-he would have refused to take them.
Then, one day, he felt his heart start to slow down. He sat and waited. Then something rather peculiar happened...he heard a voice.
“I'm a messenger from the afterlife,” it boomed. It took Kiryu a few seconds to comprehend the speech, since it was very archaic language.
Was he hallucinating? Did it even matter?
The voice kept speaking to him. It said that if Kiryu joined him, he would get his wish of revenge. All he'd have to do was become something called a “Dark Signer”.
Well, it wasn't like Kiryu had any choice in the matter, so why not? He was so tired...he slumped over and gave himself up to the darkness. And it was thus that the guards found him a short while later.
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A guard merrily whistled “Another One Bites the Dust” as he wheeled the gurney down the hall.
“You could get in big trouble for doing that, you know,” cautioned his companion.
“Eh, who's even going to notice? There's no one here except us. No one here alive, that is.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right.”
They had reached the morgue, where they would store the body for a few hours until they could take it to the medical examiner's office.
As they were preparing to lift the gurney into a cubicle, they saw movement.
“What the...”
The supposedly dead body sat up. The guards shouted and shot at him, but the bullets had no effect. All he did was look at them with a twisted smile.
“This'll be fun...” he rasped.
THE END
Title: Destruction
Word Count: 3814
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, sexual thoughts, violence, torture, and implied rape. Well, you knew this was coming, y'all.
Characters: Kiryu, Yusei, Crow, Jack, Disembodied Peruvian God Voice
Pairing: One-sided YuseixKiryu
Note: I was hoping to have more emphasis on Crow here, but it just didn't work out.
“Kiryu, you've been sitting at that sewing machine for six hours straight. Don't you think it's time to take a break?”
Kiryu blinked. Surely it couldn't have been that long! Since this had been a rare day where there hadn't been any discernible criminal activity, he'd decided to do some sewing instead. It felt like he had just sat down to work a few minutes ago. But Yusei usually knew what he was talking about, so Kiryu would take his word for it.
“What're you making?” Yusei asked casually as Kiryu rose from the old three-legged stool and stretched.
“Another blanket. It's gotten cold pretty early this year...haven't you noticed?”
“No, it's felt like more or less normal weather to me,” Yusei answered as his brow furrowed. He was even cuter than usual when he looked worried. It made Kiryu want to lick the wrinkles that formed on his forehead.
“You take such good care of me, Yusei!” Kiryu said as he walked closer.
“I try my best,” was the reply. Kiryu frowned. No matter how he tried to flirt, Yusei seemed completely oblivious.
“And you'll stay with me, right? It'll be just you and me...forever,” he continued. He sat next to Yusei and leaned his head in. Their noses were practically touching before Yusei noticed anything out of the ordinary.
“Well...that's the plan, anyway,” he said softly. His breath tickled Kiryu's face.
Now would be the perfect time for them to finally kiss...and maybe do even more if Yusei allowed it. Kiryu was already starting to get turned on at the thought. There was just one problem, however...those stupid sores in his mouth. They would probably make a kiss very uncomfortable for both participants. And then Yusei might start asking questions...no, it wouldn't be worth the risk.
“I'll get us some dinner,” Kiryu stated abruptly, quickly turning and walking out the door of their hideout before the other boy noticed his state of arousal.
In other cases, he was never shy about working for what he wanted. Why did this have to be so different?
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He had thought that if he ignored these strange ailments, they'd go away on their own. Even as he continued to lose weight, even when the ugly splotches appeared on his chest and spread to his back and legs, Kiryu pretended that he didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. But he couldn't keep up this charade for much longer. Just a few days ago, he'd vomited up blood. It was official...something was very wrong.
What if it was cancer? How much longer did he have to live? He could tell no one about this, since they'd make him stop chasing after criminals. He must keep on protecting this city to his last breath.
And if it was true..if he was dying, then he couldn't waste any more time. Breaking up gangs wasn't enough...if he wanted to get to the root of the problem, he'd have to take down Security. Their job was to keep order, but they didn't seem to care about crimes unless they were targeted. They turned a blind eye to the drug-dealing and prostitution and pedophilia, but if someone tried to steal their precious cards or D-Wheels, there was hell to pay. And then when they started riding around Satellite showing off said D-Wheels, it was the last straw for Kiryu. He thought about it a while, and came up with a plan. Then he summoned Yusei to go over the details.
Yusei looked a bit nervous at Kiryu's new choice of headquarters. The latter had decided that buildings were too boring, so from now on they were going to have meetings on a rooftop. Being out in the open air made him feel freer. He'd moved a table and chairs up there and everything. So there was maybe a small chance the roof wouldn't hold...what was life without a little risk?
“What did you want to talk about?” Yusei asked. But Kiryu barely heard him. He was distracted by another subject. It was getting dark, and no one would be able to see them up here. He wanted Yusei to dominate him; to take him right there and then. And he didn't want any of that wishy-washy “gentle” crap, either. It was weird...why would he like this concept so much now when he'd detested it in his whore days? He didn't know. But that didn't matter now. All Kiryu had to do was reach across the table and grab...
“Kiryu?” Yusei's voice cut in.
Oh yeah...right...the meeting. Kiryu wiped off the bit of drool that had run onto his chin. Now what was he going to talk about again? Security...that was it.
So he told Yusei the idea. It was brilliant, if Kiryu did say so himself. Turning Security's materialism against it...why had no one else thought of it before? Just like that story with the wooden horse thingy.
Yusei's reaction was what Kiryu had neither expected nor wanted.
“What? You want to defeat Security?” he asked incredulously as he stood up.
“Yeah, it'll be Team Satisfaction's final opponent,” Kiryu explained. He meant this in more ways than one, but the others didn't have to know that.
Yusei still didn't seem convinced, so he continued, “By defeating them, we will truly conquer Satellite. Bring back Jack and Crow. The four of us will crush them!” Couldn't Yusei see this for himself? It was what they had always wanted, so why was he hesitating?
And Kiryu didn't want to say so out loud, but despite the other two boys' betrayal he sort of missed them. Especially Crow. Yusei was a loyal companion, but he didn't have the same infectious energy that Crow did.
Yusei slammed his hands on the table.
“Kiryu, don't you understand that this is a suicide mission?” he shouted.
He was right. That was why Kiryu found it so appealing. Better to go out in a blaze of glory than to let this sickness off him first.
“Are you scared, Yusei?” he inquired mildly.
Yusei grabbed the front of Kiryu's shirt-despite the situation, Kiryu felt a jolt of excitement-then let go almost immediately.
“I can't stay with you anymore. If you want to do this, do it by yourself,” he sighed.
Kiryu couldn't believe what he was hearing. For an instant, he thought it might be a joke, but then Yusei walked away without saying anything further.
How could Yusei do this to him? Wait...maybe it was better this way. The other three would see what they missed out on, and then they'd be sorry for leaving him. They'd live, possibly for decades more, but always with the knowledge that they were nothing but cowards. Meanwhile, he would be revered as a martyr.
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Kiryu spent several days getting everything ready. It probably wouldn't have taken so long, but he kept having to take breaks due to fatigue, and had tremors in his hands that interfered with the more detailed work.
He felt especially shitty the day of the attack. But he had to do this anyway, since there were supposed to be several days of rain in the forecast, starting late that night. If the explosives got wet, they might not ignite properly.
As soon as the sun set, he placed his cleverly-disguised bombs in a box outside Security headquarters, took his place, and waited. Hopefully, they were stable enough that they wouldn't explode as soon as someone picked up the box. That wouldn't cause enough damage for Kiryu's liking.
After what seemed like forever, a guard saw the box and took it inside. Would Kiryu's forgery of a delivery label be good enough to fool him? Well, he supposed he could always try again if this time didn't work. It would be a huge pain making more duel disk replicas, though.
Then...he heard the detonation and saw the cloud of smoke. Success! He laughed in triumph. Now the chase was on. Letting them catch him now wouldn't be nearly interesting enough.
He managed to find shelter just as the rain started to fall. Once inside, he thought over his next move. He'd have to take as many of those officers with him as he could. Maybe he could even kill them all, then take his own life. The last thing he wanted was to be arrested.
Then Kiryu saw the spotlights of the D-Wheels shine on the building. Damn, they'd been faster than he was expecting. He wasn't finished planning yet!
“We know you're in there! Come out and surrender!” shouted one of the officers. Uh...yeah. No freaking way Kiryu was about to do that. He wanted to put up a good and long fight.
He thought he heard footsteps. Were those the officers already? He got his duel disk ready just in case. But it wasn't the officers after all. It was Yusei, Jack, and Crow!
“I knew it!” Kiryu cried joyfully, “It's my friends...we're Team Satisfaction again!” So...they had seen the light!
His joy turned to confusion, though, as Jack asked, “Why are you doing something so stupid?”
“We came here to stop you!” Crow added.
Ah, they were joking, Kiryu realized. That must be it! They knew full well no one could ever stop him.
“We're all together!” he exclaimed as he embraced them. He felt lightheaded from all of the emotion. He looked down at those stupid Security men as he continued to laugh.
“This will be Team Satisfaction's last duel!” he repeated, since Crow and Jack weren't around to hear the first time he said it. He had to clutch the frame of the window briefly as a dizzy spell overtook him. But it passed in a few seconds, and no one seemed to have noticed. No, wait a minute, they didn't notice because they were too busy putting their duel disks down. What, again? Those assholes! Honestly, it was like they thought they could all link arms and skip with the Security officers through a meadow or some stupid shit. How could he ever convince them to man up and face the enemy?
“Aren't you going to battle alongside me? This is our last duel!” Kiryu goaded them. He knew he was just saying the same stuff over and over again, but he was too angry to think up anything new. But it wasn't like they had any brilliant insights either.
Crow said that there was no way they would be able to take Security down. Right...and this was coming from the guy who had stolen cards from them on about ten different occasions, and had only gotten caught once.
Yusei said something about escaping, so Kiryu turned to address him directly.
“I know you're not satisfied yet!” he taunted. He tried his best to leer, but that was slightly difficult when there were suddenly two Yuseis in his field of vision. He blinked, and things came back into focus. Then he reminded them that this was the last step towards conquering Satellite, since they would never understand the main reason for his actions. They protested, and he retorted, but none of this was quite registering in his mind.
By now Kiryu was babbling, but he didn't notice. It was almost like he wasn't even in his own body anymore, but rather hovering over it. All of his surroundings seemed blurred and surreal. His heart gave a sudden lurch. No, he couldn't let himself collapse. He had to find one last surge of energy.
Then, Kiryu heard Security start their attack. He abruptly snapped back into reality and found that extra strength. He jumped out of the building and started to run, not even feeling the cold drops of rain on his body. A D-Wheel chased him. Perfect.
He summoned a strong monster that he thought would take the officer down, but was taken aback when the man easily deflected the attack. No...he refused to be taken down that easily! If that was how this bastard wanted to play, then Kiryu would have to try other tactics.
He managed to leap on top of the D-Wheel, and fought for all of his worth. Wait...was that Yusei calling after him? No time to think about that. Finally, he managed to distract the man enough so that he skidded and drove through some crates. The D-Wheel crashed and the officer went flying.
Kiryu checked the guy. He had a head wound, but he was still breathing. Damn...looked like he'd have to do this the hard way. He grabbed the first weapon-like object he saw; an old plank. He fleetingly wished for a knife, which would produce more blood and therefore be more satisfying, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Now he was no longer thinking of a heroic death...his rage was focused solely on this person. He swung the plank with all his might.
“STOP IT!”
Yusei launched himself at Kiryu, similarly to how Crow had done that other time. No...NO! He would not let anyone get in the way when he had been so close! The two of them rolled several times on the ground, Kiryu growling and shrieking like an animal.
“Let go of me!” he howled when they came to a stop. Oh, in any situation other than this one, this would be Kiryu's dream come true, but now he was just bent on escaping so he could finish his job. Yusei let him go, only for Jack and Crow to replace him. Kiryu was too angry and out-of-breath to speak. He felt his heart pounding throughout his whole body.
Then Yusei walked toward the Security D-Wheels. Hadn't he just been talking about escaping? What could possibly be going on?
Kiryu couldn't hear what Yusei was saying, but then...Jack and Crow moved aside and the Security guys grabbed him. They COULDN'T! HOW DARE THEY? After all he had done for him, they back-stabbed him!
The head officer grinned and patted Yusei on the back. Kiryu felt physically sick. He was angrier than he could ever get at Security. They were interchangeable people for the most part, but Yusei...he had known Yusei. He had loved him, both as a friend and as something extra.
He screamed Yusei's name as loudly as he could, but the officers forced him into the van. Even then, he tried to escape until they slammed the doors and drove off.
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It was a long and bumpy ride to the jail. Kiryu got carsick and threw up. The back of the van was too dark for him to see clearly, but he could tell just from the taste that there was more blood in it.
Then when they got there, the guards all seemed intent on putting Kiryu in as much agony as they could. After the booking and marking, they didn't take him to his cell. Instead, they dragged him off into a separate room.
“That man was our friend!” one of them shouted as he punched Kiryu in the face. He fell on the floor from the force of the blow, but that didn't deter them.
“His wife is going to have a baby next month!” the man continued as he stepped on Kiryu's hand. “A little boy! Now...” -kick in the ribs-“that baby...”-kick in the back of the head-“might not have a father! Did you even think about that?”
“Of course he didn't,” said a second man as he yanked Kiryu's head up by the hair and slammed it back on the floor. “He's from Satellite...they don't think!”
And so it continued. When they tired of assailing him with their fists and feet, they flogged him with their belts instead. Kiryu was fairly sure that at least one of them urinated on him as well. And when they bored of that, they yanked his pants down. Mercifully, he lost consciousness shortly thereafter.
Some time later...it could have been just a few hours, or it could have been a whole week for all he knew...Kiryu was thrown into his cell. The door slammed shut.
He blinked his eyes open, but the pain in his body was too great for him to move any more. But he did notice that they had taken his duel disk and deck. Through all the previous ordeals, he hadn't cried once, but this was the last straw. He started sobbing, each breath feeling like it was shredding his lungs.
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The days all blended into each other. Kiryu would be hard-pressed to tell whether it was even day or night. He had heard of prisoners keeping track of the time by tally marks on the wall, but he didn't care enough even to do that.
He spent most of his hours either sleeping or plotting revenge. He knew there was a very slim chance of him ever getting out of here, but if he did, he had some special surprises in store for Yusei. First of all, he'd cut off Yusei's dick with a dull knife, and perhaps get a mold made from it for his own pleasure. Then he'd scoop out his eyes and make him drink drain cleaner and decapitate him...in that order. As time elapsed, he added even more onto the list. Soon it wasn't very realistic at all...but it did entertain him somewhat.
He tried to think up similar plans of torture for Crow and Jack, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He really didn't know Jack well enough to have those heights of scorching anger at him...and Crow was special. He'd known Crow before either of the others, of course, and he still recalled their time together. So maybe if he escaped, he'd just hang Crow up by his thumbs for a few hours until he got the message.
At first, he put these plans for mutilating Yusei to song, but after a few weeks he developed a cough. It got so bad he could scarcely breathe, let alone sing. He hacked and wheezed, but none of the heaviness in his chest was ever removed. Also, those spots were on his arms now, and it seemed like he was constantly spitting out loose teeth.
Finally, even the guards noticed that there was something wrong with Kiryu.
“Come on, you're taking a trip to the infirmary,” one of them said as he opened the door. He handcuffed Kiryu, and accompanied by two other guards marched him down the hall.
The infirmary was a small room, with an adjoining laboratory. It nearly blinded Kiryu with its whiteness and cleanliness.
The doctor poked and examined Kiryu for a very long time. He also drew some blood and took X-Rays. Kiryu was too tired to do anything other than just sit and let him.
The doctor walked into the lab, and Kiryu could hear him talking to someone else. He supposed that they didn't really bother with discretion in a place like this.
“I'll need you to do a CD4 count on that sample.”
“You think...?” asked the other person.
“I'm about 98 percent sure. Of course, we can't know for sure until we get the results, and maybe some further testing too, but this looks like a textbook case. Kaposi's sarcomas are widespread, the chest X-rays show pneumonia, and there are signs of encephalopathy. And he's so young, too. What a shame.”
“So it's not congenital? Or from a blood transfusion?”
“As far as I can tell, no. And nothing we can do. No matter how much I ask for more funding, the director just ignores any evidence of an outbreak. Poor kid.”
“HEY!” Kiryu shouted, “I'm right here, you know! What are you talking about? What's CD4 mean? What I got?”
The doctor came back out to the main room.
“I'm very sorry,” he began.
“Just tell me what I got!”
“Well...have you ever heard of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus?”
“The what?”
“I...I think you have AIDS. It's surprising you've made it this long. You have maybe a month to live at most.”
Kiryu wasn't particularly stunned by this revelation. He already knew he didn't have much time left; putting a name to the condition didn't make much of a difference.
It was only when he was being walked back into his cell that he saw the humorous side.
“Why're you laughing?” asked one of the guards.
“You're all going to die!” Kiryu informed him. He laughed hysterically, only to break down into another coughing fit. They had helped him accomplish his goal, and they didn't even know it!
“He's a bit confused,” whispered a second guard rather audibly. They all smirked.
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The doctor had said Kiryu was going to die soon, so why was it taking so infernally long to happen? Every inhalation was a monumental struggle, yet he kept on living anyway. He'd stopped eating or even drinking water in order to speed things up...not that he had much appetite to begin with. If they'd had any antibiotics-which of course they didn't-he would have refused to take them.
Then, one day, he felt his heart start to slow down. He sat and waited. Then something rather peculiar happened...he heard a voice.
“I'm a messenger from the afterlife,” it boomed. It took Kiryu a few seconds to comprehend the speech, since it was very archaic language.
Was he hallucinating? Did it even matter?
The voice kept speaking to him. It said that if Kiryu joined him, he would get his wish of revenge. All he'd have to do was become something called a “Dark Signer”.
Well, it wasn't like Kiryu had any choice in the matter, so why not? He was so tired...he slumped over and gave himself up to the darkness. And it was thus that the guards found him a short while later.
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A guard merrily whistled “Another One Bites the Dust” as he wheeled the gurney down the hall.
“You could get in big trouble for doing that, you know,” cautioned his companion.
“Eh, who's even going to notice? There's no one here except us. No one here alive, that is.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right.”
They had reached the morgue, where they would store the body for a few hours until they could take it to the medical examiner's office.
As they were preparing to lift the gurney into a cubicle, they saw movement.
“What the...”
The supposedly dead body sat up. The guards shouted and shot at him, but the bullets had no effect. All he did was look at them with a twisted smile.
“This'll be fun...” he rasped.
THE END