Unofficially tagged!
Well, I've been unofficially tagged by the_sweet and starwefter... XD
Post a list of your top five favorite fics that you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
For continuity's sake, I'm including direct sequels together as one. ^^
EDIT: Was I supposed to add in an excerpt from each one? Okay, then!
5. "Beneath the Valley"/"The Jackal Howls at Midnight" -- POTO fics can be so difficult, but I love what I did with "Valley" and what I'm doing with "Jackal." X3
Excerpt ("Valley"):
And through it all, Raoul and Hoularch crossed swords. The viscount clearly had experience on his side; Hoularch must have never come across someone as “troublesome” as him. But the thief’s swordsmanship was nothing to be sneezed at; one lapse in Raoul’s concentration would mean defeat… or worse. And it wasn’t easy to concentrate when he knew that the remainder of the thieves were trying to attack his companions.
“Vicomte, I tire of this,” said Hoularch, backing away from him. “I admit that you are the worthier swordsman, and the most honorable out of the two of us. Well done.”
Both of them paused in their attacks, but Raoul didn’t lower the sword; he was still expecting some underhanded ploy from the thief.
“But you should have listened to Monsieur Erik; too much honor can be a bad thing,” said Hoularch. “And today, it is your downfall.”
“Raoul, watch out!” cried Christine.
The thieves were turning on him now, while his back was still turned. But the Phantom had seen this coming; he was sure to fight with them long enough for Raoul to prepare for the new onslaught.
“And you, Monsieur Erik,” said Hoularch. “It seems that you, too, have too much honor. You were better off as a scoundrel; at least you’d have lived to see the end of this adventure.”
“What on earth are you going on about--?” the Phantom began, but was cut off after Hoularch dealt him a crushing blow with his heavily muscular arm. The force of the blow sent the masked man hurtling towards the bottomless chasm in the middle of the room.
Christine screamed as she saw him fall into the void. Raoul headed for the chasm, knowing that he would never make it in time. But to his astonishment, the lasso came sailing out of the chasm for the quickest instant; but that was all that he needed. Raoul seized the rope and braced himself as gravity attempted to pull the rope from his hands, aiming to claim his former rival.
“I’ve got the rope!” Raoul called to him.
“Good!” the Phantom roared back, out of sight. “And if you let go, I swear I’ll come back to haunt you for the rest of your days!”
4. "Geheimnisse im Tanzsaal"-- my first full-fledged mystery fic! I love what I did with this, bringing all of the Domino characters together while mixing in humor and suspense.
Excerpt:
“Ah, but of course, how foolish I am!” said Vulsor, glancing at Téa. “You wouldn’t mind losing this ‘friend,’ right? After all, if your brother hadn’t bothered with saving her from drowning, he would never have put himself in the position for me and my funnel web spiders to finish him!”
This was news to everyone; Téa hadn’t even told Mokuba about how Seto had saved her.
“Téa, you mean that Kaiba saved you!?” asked Tristan, stunned. “Why on earth would he do that!?”
“It was because he tried to defy his stepfather, who told him a thousand times that he couldn’t trust anyone,” Vulsor replied. “And I bet that Gozaburo is telling him right now that he should have listened…”
“Kaiba was our friend,” said Yugi, still giving Vulsor an Atem-like glare. “He may never have admitted it, but he was. That was why he helped Téa. And you took advantage of that.”
“Isn’t exploiting the weakness of your enemy the first rule of battle?” she asked. “Yes, that was his only weakness. I wonder if Mokuba will make the same mistake… Very well, then, let’s put him to the test, shall we?”
“Don’t even think about it, Vulsor!” yelled Joey. “You’ve put him through enough torment by taking his brother from him; he’s never going to get over it! So just leave him alone!”
“I’ll gladly do so, Mr. Wheeler,” she said. “In fact, I’ll let him walk right out of this building. You can go, Mokuba, if you so choose. But if you do, I can’t guarantee the safety of your friends.”
Once again, everyone in the room was focused on the exchange between the woman and the raven-haired boy. They were all too busy to notice Seto rising to his feet. Mokuba saw him rise out of the corner of his eye, and was struggling to keep a straight face.
Joey then glanced over Vulsor’s shoulder and saw Seto rise. Unlike Mokuba, he wasn’t as prepared for Seto’s revival; he, like the rest of Yugi’s crew (besides Téa, of course) believed him to be gone. The blond youth’s faced paled considerably, and he began to stammer, looking away, as he clutched the broom that he was still holding in an iron grip.
“Z-z-zombie…” he mumbled so that only those immediately next to him could understand what he was saying.
“What?” whispered Yugi.
“K-Kaiba… zombie…”
And now the others noticed Seto silently approaching Vulsor. Vulsor herself turned, and her moment of shock and horror was all that Seto needed to grab the vial with the spider from her, and force her away from Téa, who immediately retreated to where her friends were, silently thanking him.
And then all madness broke loose.
3. "Folgen Sie Ihrem Traum"-- I honestly didn't think that I'd be able to pull off a YGO mystery with only two central characters, but I did, and I loved leading the readers along into believing that Aurus was a good guy. XD
Excerpt:
“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 out 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.
2. "Eine Mitternachtsstimme"/rest of the yet-to-be-written mystery trilogy-- It's just started, but oh, it's going to be an amazing ride! X3
Excerpt ("Stimme"):
Seto and Téa both turned and were astounded to see three familiar faces heading towards them.
“Alister?” asked Seto, incredulously, as he, Valon, and Raphael said their hellos to von Krolock and Sarah. He exchanged a slightly baffled glance with Téa, who shrugged in reply.
“We are the representatives for Industrial Illusions,” said Valon, presenting von Krolock with a business card. “Maximillion Pegasus was unable to attend, and so he sent us in his stead.”
“I know that voice!” whispered Mai, edging back towards the staircase to get a glimpse of him. “Why would Pegasus send Valon!?”
“Who cares?” Joey replied, frowning.
“You know, Joey, if I didn’t know you any better, I’d say that you were jealous…” Mai smirked.
“Now why would I be jealous of Valon, just because he has cool shades and a motorcycle?” asked Joey. “Top Grunge has those things, but you’ve never asked if I was jealous of him!”
“I would hope you wouldn’t be jealous of a thief,” said Yugi, his eyebrows raised at the comparison.
“Well… you know what I mean…” muttered Joey, turning his attention back to the bikers.
“So…” said Valon, glancing from Seto to Téa as von Krolock and Sarah spoke with Alister and Raphael. “You two finally on a date?”
“Not at all,” Seto replied, flatly. “I was apparently requested to not come alone.”
“Really?” asked the brunet. “We were never told anything like that. Well, we don’t know what the exact words are; we never actually saw the letter that Pegasus received.”
“You mean he just sent you three here, just like that?” asked Téa. “And he didn’t even explain a thing?”
“That isn’t like Pegasus at all,” said Seto, a frown etching deeper into his face. “Normally, he can’t get enough of these social gatherings.”
“You’ve, er… hit the nail on the head,” said Valon, lowering his voice so that von Krolock would not be able to hear him. “Pegasus never got a chance to read the letter that von Krolock sent him. You know that recent report about a disappearance in San Francisco?”
“No!” gasped Téa, her eyes wide.
Valon nodded, solemnly as Yugi, Joey, and Mai, who could hear every word, exchanged glances.
“Vanished right from his room in the middle of the night,” he said. “Croquet showed up the next morning to offer him breakfast in bed… but he was completely gone.”
“So that was Pegasus who vanished…?” said Seto, deep in thought. “Either he’s pulling some sort of crazy stunt again, or--”
“But if Pegasus was planning something, he would’ve at least told someone about it,” said Téa.
“That’s what has Croquet so worried,” agreed Valon. “And we’ve all been trying our hardest not to let anyone know that it was Pegasus who vanished; there’d be an uproar.”
“But you said that he vanished after receiving the invitation from von Krolock?” asked Seto, glancing at the silver-haired man.
“That’s what happened,” the brunet agreed. “I don’t know if he got a chance to read the letter or not, but…” He trailed off, shrugging.
“I see…” the blue-eyed youth replied. He turned to Téa. “Gardner, I need you to cover for me while I take a look around.”
“Do you really think that Pegasus would be here?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but if von Krolock has something to do with his disappearance, it is possible,” Seto replied. “Use your intellect; I’m sure you can come up with something.”
“Kaiba, I can’t hold him off forever!” she said. “I can give you ten to fifteen minutes… twenty, tops.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” he replied, slipping from the entrance hall and into the maze of darkened corridors.
1. "Turn Around, Bright-Eyes"/"Ghosts in the Night"/rest of the yet-to-be-written WITWICS fics-- The nostalgia I get writing these is incredible, and writing about the friendship/surrogate family cuteness between the Informant and his colleagues is so much fun. ♥
Excerpt ("Ghosts"):
“Infy!” cried the Messenger. “You have to come back to our plane!”
He tried one more time to will himself back, but the negative feelings had grasped too tightly. He couldn’t return.
The solar disc began to emerge from the horizon, and he cried out in agony as the first rays struck him. He heard the ghost girls screaming from inside the train and his colleagues calling out to him. And then he knew no more.
The others could do nothing; they could only watched as he vanished, undoubtedly trapped between the planes, with no identity or mind anymore. He had gone out of his way to save them from the spirits possessing them-at the price of losing his own spirit.
The Techie glanced around, trying to blink away the tears. That was when he noticed a motionless form laying beneath one of the monuments. Both the Messenger and the Inspector turned as they heard the Techie cry out, and soon the air was filled with the Messenger’s frantic cry.
“INFY!” he yelled, running over to the snow-covered body.
“I thought he just vanished…” said the Inspector he and the Techie following him, glancing back at the ghost train, which was beginning to start up its engines.
“He was turning into a ghost before he vanished,” said the Messenger, checking the youth’s pulse and finding nothing. “He must’ve left his body behind at some point. Infy? Infy!?”
The Inspector swallowed hard, placing a hand on the Messenger’s shoulder.
“I… I don’t think he can hear you…” he said, his voice choking. “If… if what those girls said is true…”
The Messenger glanced around helplessly, as though a personification of a miracle was standing in the cemetery somewhere. That was when his eyes fell upon the inscription on the monument that was towering over them: “Friend to Friend.”
The Messenger let the Informant’s arm fall as he recalled what the cruel spirit had told him.
“Do you not know that history repeats itself? Friend or no friend, just as I delivered the final blow which took that boy’s life, so shall you be the death of this boy!”
“This is all my fault…” he realized, horrified. “He wasn’t able to come back because of the doubt he felt after I refused to believe him about the girls. I’m the reason why he’s trapped between the planes now…”
“No,” said the Techie, placing his hand on the Messenger’s other shoulder. “You were his best friend; you would never have intentionally refused to believe him.”
“Some best friend I was…” he replied, derisively. He, too, began to blink back the tears as he frantically shook the young man by the shoulders in a last-ditch attempt to revive him, though he knew it would be useless. “Infy, I’m so sorry. I know you can’t hear me, but you have to know that you were always like a younger brother to me. I’ve lost family here tonight. And I’ve only got myself to blame for it…” He trembled with suppressed sobs.
“He really did care for him…” one of the girls said, crying as well as she watched from the compartment window. “We should never have interfered…”
“Infy, if there was any way I could trade places with you, you know I would,” the Messenger went on, ignoring the girls. It was as much his fault as it was theirs. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this…”
And that was when he heard a familiar pleading whisper, sounding as though it was coming from far away.
“…Home…”
The Messenger froze. He recognized the voice, but it couldn’t be…
“I… I want… to go home…”
“…Infy…?” he asked. Was he able to think from where he was trapped!? “Infy!? I know it’s you! Infy, we want you to come back, too!” He shook him again as the Techie and the Inspector kneeled beside them, apparently having heard the young detective’s plea, too.
But the youth remained motionless, and his devastated best friend could only lower his head in despair. He sobbed once, letting him fall back to the snow-covered ground.
“Ow!”
“Sorry…” the Messenger replied. But then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “Infy!?”
I'm not officially tagging anyone, either, but any other writers on my friendslist are welcome to fill this out...
Post a list of your top five favorite fics that you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
For continuity's sake, I'm including direct sequels together as one. ^^
EDIT: Was I supposed to add in an excerpt from each one? Okay, then!
5. "Beneath the Valley"/"The Jackal Howls at Midnight" -- POTO fics can be so difficult, but I love what I did with "Valley" and what I'm doing with "Jackal." X3
Excerpt ("Valley"):
And through it all, Raoul and Hoularch crossed swords. The viscount clearly had experience on his side; Hoularch must have never come across someone as “troublesome” as him. But the thief’s swordsmanship was nothing to be sneezed at; one lapse in Raoul’s concentration would mean defeat… or worse. And it wasn’t easy to concentrate when he knew that the remainder of the thieves were trying to attack his companions.
“Vicomte, I tire of this,” said Hoularch, backing away from him. “I admit that you are the worthier swordsman, and the most honorable out of the two of us. Well done.”
Both of them paused in their attacks, but Raoul didn’t lower the sword; he was still expecting some underhanded ploy from the thief.
“But you should have listened to Monsieur Erik; too much honor can be a bad thing,” said Hoularch. “And today, it is your downfall.”
“Raoul, watch out!” cried Christine.
The thieves were turning on him now, while his back was still turned. But the Phantom had seen this coming; he was sure to fight with them long enough for Raoul to prepare for the new onslaught.
“And you, Monsieur Erik,” said Hoularch. “It seems that you, too, have too much honor. You were better off as a scoundrel; at least you’d have lived to see the end of this adventure.”
“What on earth are you going on about--?” the Phantom began, but was cut off after Hoularch dealt him a crushing blow with his heavily muscular arm. The force of the blow sent the masked man hurtling towards the bottomless chasm in the middle of the room.
Christine screamed as she saw him fall into the void. Raoul headed for the chasm, knowing that he would never make it in time. But to his astonishment, the lasso came sailing out of the chasm for the quickest instant; but that was all that he needed. Raoul seized the rope and braced himself as gravity attempted to pull the rope from his hands, aiming to claim his former rival.
“I’ve got the rope!” Raoul called to him.
“Good!” the Phantom roared back, out of sight. “And if you let go, I swear I’ll come back to haunt you for the rest of your days!”
4. "Geheimnisse im Tanzsaal"-- my first full-fledged mystery fic! I love what I did with this, bringing all of the Domino characters together while mixing in humor and suspense.
Excerpt:
“Ah, but of course, how foolish I am!” said Vulsor, glancing at Téa. “You wouldn’t mind losing this ‘friend,’ right? After all, if your brother hadn’t bothered with saving her from drowning, he would never have put himself in the position for me and my funnel web spiders to finish him!”
This was news to everyone; Téa hadn’t even told Mokuba about how Seto had saved her.
“Téa, you mean that Kaiba saved you!?” asked Tristan, stunned. “Why on earth would he do that!?”
“It was because he tried to defy his stepfather, who told him a thousand times that he couldn’t trust anyone,” Vulsor replied. “And I bet that Gozaburo is telling him right now that he should have listened…”
“Kaiba was our friend,” said Yugi, still giving Vulsor an Atem-like glare. “He may never have admitted it, but he was. That was why he helped Téa. And you took advantage of that.”
“Isn’t exploiting the weakness of your enemy the first rule of battle?” she asked. “Yes, that was his only weakness. I wonder if Mokuba will make the same mistake… Very well, then, let’s put him to the test, shall we?”
“Don’t even think about it, Vulsor!” yelled Joey. “You’ve put him through enough torment by taking his brother from him; he’s never going to get over it! So just leave him alone!”
“I’ll gladly do so, Mr. Wheeler,” she said. “In fact, I’ll let him walk right out of this building. You can go, Mokuba, if you so choose. But if you do, I can’t guarantee the safety of your friends.”
Once again, everyone in the room was focused on the exchange between the woman and the raven-haired boy. They were all too busy to notice Seto rising to his feet. Mokuba saw him rise out of the corner of his eye, and was struggling to keep a straight face.
Joey then glanced over Vulsor’s shoulder and saw Seto rise. Unlike Mokuba, he wasn’t as prepared for Seto’s revival; he, like the rest of Yugi’s crew (besides Téa, of course) believed him to be gone. The blond youth’s faced paled considerably, and he began to stammer, looking away, as he clutched the broom that he was still holding in an iron grip.
“Z-z-zombie…” he mumbled so that only those immediately next to him could understand what he was saying.
“What?” whispered Yugi.
“K-Kaiba… zombie…”
And now the others noticed Seto silently approaching Vulsor. Vulsor herself turned, and her moment of shock and horror was all that Seto needed to grab the vial with the spider from her, and force her away from Téa, who immediately retreated to where her friends were, silently thanking him.
And then all madness broke loose.
3. "Folgen Sie Ihrem Traum"-- I honestly didn't think that I'd be able to pull off a YGO mystery with only two central characters, but I did, and I loved leading the readers along into believing that Aurus was a good guy. XD
Excerpt:
“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 out 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.
2. "Eine Mitternachtsstimme"/rest of the yet-to-be-written mystery trilogy-- It's just started, but oh, it's going to be an amazing ride! X3
Excerpt ("Stimme"):
Seto and Téa both turned and were astounded to see three familiar faces heading towards them.
“Alister?” asked Seto, incredulously, as he, Valon, and Raphael said their hellos to von Krolock and Sarah. He exchanged a slightly baffled glance with Téa, who shrugged in reply.
“We are the representatives for Industrial Illusions,” said Valon, presenting von Krolock with a business card. “Maximillion Pegasus was unable to attend, and so he sent us in his stead.”
“I know that voice!” whispered Mai, edging back towards the staircase to get a glimpse of him. “Why would Pegasus send Valon!?”
“Who cares?” Joey replied, frowning.
“You know, Joey, if I didn’t know you any better, I’d say that you were jealous…” Mai smirked.
“Now why would I be jealous of Valon, just because he has cool shades and a motorcycle?” asked Joey. “Top Grunge has those things, but you’ve never asked if I was jealous of him!”
“I would hope you wouldn’t be jealous of a thief,” said Yugi, his eyebrows raised at the comparison.
“Well… you know what I mean…” muttered Joey, turning his attention back to the bikers.
“So…” said Valon, glancing from Seto to Téa as von Krolock and Sarah spoke with Alister and Raphael. “You two finally on a date?”
“Not at all,” Seto replied, flatly. “I was apparently requested to not come alone.”
“Really?” asked the brunet. “We were never told anything like that. Well, we don’t know what the exact words are; we never actually saw the letter that Pegasus received.”
“You mean he just sent you three here, just like that?” asked Téa. “And he didn’t even explain a thing?”
“That isn’t like Pegasus at all,” said Seto, a frown etching deeper into his face. “Normally, he can’t get enough of these social gatherings.”
“You’ve, er… hit the nail on the head,” said Valon, lowering his voice so that von Krolock would not be able to hear him. “Pegasus never got a chance to read the letter that von Krolock sent him. You know that recent report about a disappearance in San Francisco?”
“No!” gasped Téa, her eyes wide.
Valon nodded, solemnly as Yugi, Joey, and Mai, who could hear every word, exchanged glances.
“Vanished right from his room in the middle of the night,” he said. “Croquet showed up the next morning to offer him breakfast in bed… but he was completely gone.”
“So that was Pegasus who vanished…?” said Seto, deep in thought. “Either he’s pulling some sort of crazy stunt again, or--”
“But if Pegasus was planning something, he would’ve at least told someone about it,” said Téa.
“That’s what has Croquet so worried,” agreed Valon. “And we’ve all been trying our hardest not to let anyone know that it was Pegasus who vanished; there’d be an uproar.”
“But you said that he vanished after receiving the invitation from von Krolock?” asked Seto, glancing at the silver-haired man.
“That’s what happened,” the brunet agreed. “I don’t know if he got a chance to read the letter or not, but…” He trailed off, shrugging.
“I see…” the blue-eyed youth replied. He turned to Téa. “Gardner, I need you to cover for me while I take a look around.”
“Do you really think that Pegasus would be here?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but if von Krolock has something to do with his disappearance, it is possible,” Seto replied. “Use your intellect; I’m sure you can come up with something.”
“Kaiba, I can’t hold him off forever!” she said. “I can give you ten to fifteen minutes… twenty, tops.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” he replied, slipping from the entrance hall and into the maze of darkened corridors.
1. "Turn Around, Bright-Eyes"/"Ghosts in the Night"/rest of the yet-to-be-written WITWICS fics-- The nostalgia I get writing these is incredible, and writing about the friendship/surrogate family cuteness between the Informant and his colleagues is so much fun. ♥
Excerpt ("Ghosts"):
“Infy!” cried the Messenger. “You have to come back to our plane!”
He tried one more time to will himself back, but the negative feelings had grasped too tightly. He couldn’t return.
The solar disc began to emerge from the horizon, and he cried out in agony as the first rays struck him. He heard the ghost girls screaming from inside the train and his colleagues calling out to him. And then he knew no more.
The others could do nothing; they could only watched as he vanished, undoubtedly trapped between the planes, with no identity or mind anymore. He had gone out of his way to save them from the spirits possessing them-at the price of losing his own spirit.
The Techie glanced around, trying to blink away the tears. That was when he noticed a motionless form laying beneath one of the monuments. Both the Messenger and the Inspector turned as they heard the Techie cry out, and soon the air was filled with the Messenger’s frantic cry.
“INFY!” he yelled, running over to the snow-covered body.
“I thought he just vanished…” said the Inspector he and the Techie following him, glancing back at the ghost train, which was beginning to start up its engines.
“He was turning into a ghost before he vanished,” said the Messenger, checking the youth’s pulse and finding nothing. “He must’ve left his body behind at some point. Infy? Infy!?”
The Inspector swallowed hard, placing a hand on the Messenger’s shoulder.
“I… I don’t think he can hear you…” he said, his voice choking. “If… if what those girls said is true…”
The Messenger glanced around helplessly, as though a personification of a miracle was standing in the cemetery somewhere. That was when his eyes fell upon the inscription on the monument that was towering over them: “Friend to Friend.”
The Messenger let the Informant’s arm fall as he recalled what the cruel spirit had told him.
“Do you not know that history repeats itself? Friend or no friend, just as I delivered the final blow which took that boy’s life, so shall you be the death of this boy!”
“This is all my fault…” he realized, horrified. “He wasn’t able to come back because of the doubt he felt after I refused to believe him about the girls. I’m the reason why he’s trapped between the planes now…”
“No,” said the Techie, placing his hand on the Messenger’s other shoulder. “You were his best friend; you would never have intentionally refused to believe him.”
“Some best friend I was…” he replied, derisively. He, too, began to blink back the tears as he frantically shook the young man by the shoulders in a last-ditch attempt to revive him, though he knew it would be useless. “Infy, I’m so sorry. I know you can’t hear me, but you have to know that you were always like a younger brother to me. I’ve lost family here tonight. And I’ve only got myself to blame for it…” He trembled with suppressed sobs.
“He really did care for him…” one of the girls said, crying as well as she watched from the compartment window. “We should never have interfered…”
“Infy, if there was any way I could trade places with you, you know I would,” the Messenger went on, ignoring the girls. It was as much his fault as it was theirs. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this…”
And that was when he heard a familiar pleading whisper, sounding as though it was coming from far away.
“…Home…”
The Messenger froze. He recognized the voice, but it couldn’t be…
“I… I want… to go home…”
“…Infy…?” he asked. Was he able to think from where he was trapped!? “Infy!? I know it’s you! Infy, we want you to come back, too!” He shook him again as the Techie and the Inspector kneeled beside them, apparently having heard the young detective’s plea, too.
But the youth remained motionless, and his devastated best friend could only lower his head in despair. He sobbed once, letting him fall back to the snow-covered ground.
“Ow!”
“Sorry…” the Messenger replied. But then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “Infy!?”
I'm not officially tagging anyone, either, but any other writers on my friendslist are welcome to fill this out...