Cursed [Yu-Gi-Oh!] - Chapter 6

"Wow those were…intense duels…?"

Distorted sounds reached her ears, although it was hard to catch what was being said over the buzzing. Unsure whether the buzzing was coming from inside her head or from the room, Elise had no choice but to lay listening to the conversation.

"Yes, they were."

A deeper voice sounded, that much she could tell. However, her eyes were adamantly remaining shut, so she had no hope to identify the second voice any further.

"But poor…and Mai…What game is he playing…Bakura…"

Fairly sure that Yugi was in the room, Elise felt as if she should try and stir awake. Moreover, she felt uncomfortable listening in on Yugi's conversation.

"Marik isn't the only one playing by his own rules…Kaiba isn't much better."

Kaiba was playing by his own rules? What was that supposed to mean - although Elise wasn't privy to Kaiba's self-absorbed nature. Speaking of, a hazy memory surfaced to the forefront of her mind. She recalled the sensation of the floor tipping underneath her, and the rush of air, before almighty pain as her head collided against a solid object. But she also seemed to recall strong arms encircling her body, light touches across her waist and an uncertain pressure against her temple. She was unsure which of these contacts caused her more discomfort. Deciding that she had laid still too long, wallowing in memories, Elise made another conscious effort to rouse herself.

"Hm? Oh, Elise…"

Yami turned from the window at the sound of Elise rousing. She lifted herself up on her elbows, peering through half open eyes at her surroundings. Not wishing to startle her, Yami chose to remain by the window, ready to act if she began to panic at the unfamiliar room. But instead, she seemed to sit up, adjust her hair into a neater ponytail as best she could under the bandages, and straightened her shirt. Then her gaze traveled around the room once again, resting upon Yami.

"Where is the other person?" Elise asked, puzzled when she failed to spot the owner of the second voice. Yami's eyes widened in surprise at her question; not only because he could have thought of more pressing questions that she could have asked, but also at the nature of the question itself.

"Uh...there is no one else here, just you and I."

This was the best response he could think of on the spot. He knew he had been speaking out loud to his other self, but he was pretty sure no one would have been able to hear Yugi's spirit speak. At the thought of Yugi, Yami glanced around at the room in the hope to spot his spirit form for some support, but he couldn't see any sign.

"I was sure I heard two voices..." Elise glanced around the room again, her eyebrows knitted together in puzzlement.

"Oh…I was just talking to myself. It calms me down during tournaments. I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep. And anyway, how are you feeling?" Anxious to get off the topic, Yami quickly tried to put the attention on Elise instead. He was relieved when she seemed to let it go, her face relaxing and a small smile crossed her lips.

"Tired. And my head feels heavy as hell. What happened to me, exactly?" she asked, taking the time to press her weight onto her tattoo-covered arm and touch the lining of the bandage adorning her head. She pressed against the fabric slightly, wincing a little and letting out a small hiss of discomfort as her wound throbbed.

Yami's first reaction was to rush to her aid, and he wasted no time in guiding her hand away from her forehead as he sat down beside her, resting his hand on her knee. She flinched slightly, but didn't make any attempt to move his hand away.

"There was...a slight turbulence on the blimp a while ago...everything tilted, and you fell into my room and hit your head on the table. You knocked yourself out."

"I...oh yeah, I guess I did fall pretty hard...but why was I…"

Elise's voice trailed off into silence as the memories of her encounter with Kaiba hit her, and she gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"Elise? Is everything alright?"

"...Kaiba. That jerk-off…" she muttered, biting the sides of her mouth as she tapped her fingers against the mattress irritably.

"...I'm sorry?" he responded quietly, unsure of how to handle the young woman's anger. Although, he guessed that her getting agitated really wasn't going to help her right now, especially with her injured. Out of sheer habit, he turned to look behind him, searching for Yugi to guide him. But, noticing that the young man was nowhere in sight, he gathered his thoughts and worries as best as he could, and tried to come up with something to say.

"...Where am I, anyway?" She looked around her, taking in her surroundings, "your room still, I'm guessing?"

"Yes. The paramedics thought it wise to leave you in here, at least until they'd finished moving Mai and-"

"-Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute...Mai?" Elise's voice had raised slightly due to her shock, and Yami could do nothing but nod silently.

"What...what happened to Mai, Yugi?" she asked, her voice quiet as she looked at her hands that had now settled in her lap.

"I...she…" Yami opened his mouth to explain, but when he went to speak, the words got caught in his throat. His mind was in turmoil after seeing the panic growing on Elise's face, and he went silent, unable to tell her the words that she was so desperately wanting to hear.

"Ah, Mr. Muto! I see your patient is awake!"

Elise and Yami's heads shot in the direction of the new voice, and found that a man in a white coat was standing in the doorway, a smile on his face.

Yami found himself retracting his hand from her knee, and wasted no time in getting to his feet, making room for the doctor to see to the young woman.

"How are you feeling, Miss. Griffin? Are your injuries treating you well?" he stopped in front of the clearly startled woman, glancing at her head, "I see Mr. Muto hasn't attempted to re-dress your head. Probably for the best, if I'm honest. You'd look like a mummy if I let him bandage you." The man chuckled, glancing in Yami's direction. At this, Yami cleared his throat, looking away as he felt Elise's gaze settle on him.

"...What happened to Mai?" she asked again, this time addressing the doctor in front of her. In response, he huffed out a large sigh, scratching his head.

"...We're not sure. We've deduced that it is some kind of coma, although neither of our patients have responded to any medical treatment as of yet."

"Wait...other patients? What other patients?" Elise's voice had risen again, and Yami found himself inching closer, wanting nothing more than to comfort her.

"Well, Miss. Mai Valentine was the first to be sent to the medical ward, and just a couple of hours ago, a Mr. Ryo Bakura was sent there with the exact same symptoms."

Elise felt her blood run cold as the familiar name reached her ears, and she inhaled sharply.

Bakura. Bakura was hurt.

Without even pausing to think about her own injuries, Elise darted out of bed, staggering a little at first, but soon gathering her bearings and dashing out of the door, ignoring the frantic cries of both Yami and the doctor.

Don't let it be true. Please, God, don't let it be true.




Though her mind hated every tear that tumbled down her cheek, and every whimper that escaped her throat, Elise could only sit hunched over, grasping at Mai's cold hand for some feeling of comfort. She felt like someone else was in her body; someone else was thinking the weak, niggling thoughts that caused her chest to constrict and her heart to beat rapidly. What was worse was the constant throbbing in her side, like a thorn had settled deep into her skin and had taken root, causing discomfort with the slightest movement. Yet laying motionless didn't seem to ease the dull ache either; nor had soothing gel, a cold or hot press, or pain medication - which the Doctor had reluctantly given her, even with her pleas about it being her head injury causing her pain.

"Ah, fuck," Elise exclaimed, "How can I be so fucking senseless? I'm complaining about an ache, a minor head wound and the fucking lack of being able to have a cigarette, and Mai and Bakura are sitting...right here, motionless…as if…as if…"

Even in her outburst, Elise didn't want to think about the worst case scenario. The doctors had said that all all life signs were stable; it was as if they were merely asleep. If you listened to Yugi and Joey however, it seemed that their consciousnesses had been transported to another realm. Elise had been keen to block out the latter theory, choosing to listen to the doctor's reassurances that the pair would wake up in their own time. Not only did this seem like the more logical explanation, but also there were two other reasons why she favoured the doctor's explanation.

Firstly, it was bad enough to see Mai and Bakura laying dead to the world, but to think that they could actually be undergoing certain forms of torture set by Marik, in a world akin to hell was unthinkable, and only emphasised Elise's feeling of helplessness. And the second reason was far more selfish. If she admitted that there was something in this world similar to magic powers, then she could no longer ignore the golden web adorning her hip.

Another sob escaped into the air.

The past few days had been a rush of energy and excitement, which made the events slightly hazy and hard to distinguish, but this only aided Elise's opinion that one morning she would wake up, find that the past few days had been a horrific, messed up nightmare; the kind you get after eating cheese late at night while watching a horror movie, to find that actually she had never surrendered that duel, hadn't bashed her head on a table and neither Mai nor Bakura were comatose with a possibility of being trapped in hell.

Her desperation to ignore what was happening to her had resulted in her gaze never falling to her waist, her shirt to be constantly tucked in her jeans to prevent it riding up, and that any mirror placed around the blimp was duefully ignored. Albeit this had resulted in her lack of makeup, which she was pretty sure only emphasised the slight bags forming under her eyes. And what a sight she must look now; red puffy eyes, tear stained cheeks and cracked lips.

Another few sobs, and her breathing turned shallow as she realised she could no longer hold in what she longed to bottle up. Then her gaze fell upon Bakura's bed, with his thin outline and pale arms highlighted by the shaft of moonlight that fell across his bed. It couldn't be a more serene picture, yet the lack of rise and fall in his chest only made hers seem to work harder to make up for it.

Rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand, Elise decided to succumb to the soothing chaos that her body could cocoon her in. It felt so comforting that Elise could imagine it's arms encircling her, lifting her off the bed to rest against the cool, solid edge of tranquility. She could even imagine it working through her hair, caressing her scalp, and sending little shivers down her spine.

After a while, Elise noticed that the sobbing had subsided, the room now filled with slow breaths, broken only by the occasional sniffle. Her eyes, having shut earlier, felt heavier than ever, and her brain happily gave in to the warm darkness that enveloped her.



When he was sure she was asleep, Yami slid off the bed, cradling Elise to his chest and walked to the spare bed in the corner of the room. He slipped Elise under the covers and made to leave, but a quiet groan from the sleeping woman made him change his mind. As he settled down next to her, her head already finding comfort once again on his chest, Yami sighed, and realised he would probably do anything to relieve her problems, even if she never confided them in him.

After all, she'd become closely knitted into this little ragtag group of friends he and his partner had, even if she refused to believe it herself.