VIDEO-ish (cw: torture and murder)

[bloomingdespite]

[Before the ICP flickers on, every passenger hears a resounding, deep voice thunder through every car in the train, carrying with it a deathly—if odd—proclamation:]

PENALTY GAME: HELL REVERSE!

[Moments later, every ICP turns on to reveal a figure shrouded in shadows, holding the unconscious body of Xue Yang with one hand as the Eye of Wdjat blazes on both of their foreheads. It's clear they're in the gaming car, but if anybody tries to enter from either end, they'll find the doors are impossibly locked.]

Passengers of the Voidtrecker Express, I hold in my hands an unrepentant murderer who slaughtered one of your very own: the victim being A-Qing, and the criminal being Xue Yang. While she has returned, this crime cannot go unpunished, and I have taken it upon myself to try and burn out the stain on his soul—or, at the very least, provide adequate agony for all of his victims, both on the train and off.

If you need to see proof of my justice...

Avert your eyes if you do not wish to see memories of the brutal death of a young woman in her prime.

[The screen flickers once again, this time showing A-Qing's murder, although it doesn't have any audio. ((OOC: Additional CW for graphic depictions of murder.))

When it returns to the interior of the Games Car, the shadowy figure is gone, but their voice and Xue Yang remain.]

I leave it to the council to dispense their own punishment, as meager as it may be.

Remember, passengers:

I am watching.

[The ICP clicks off, and the train is deadly quiet.]

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

Yes, that's how I remember Atem. He looked like Yugi. But the one I knew never did anything like this. Different worlds make the same person different, I guess.

You were subjected to this sort of torture, Kaiba? [ He shakes his head, not in disbelief, but in sympathy.

That is my belief. Revenge such as this does not deter the wrongdoer, it makes it more likely that such wrongs will happen again. I'm volunteering to be on that watch, as I've tried very hard to befriend Xue Yang since he arrived. He has so much darkness in him, and as I am similar but have changed my life radically, I thought I could help him.

[blue_ice]

Something's different...they don't sound identical, and something's off, but that voice and those actions are distinctive.

The Atem I knew eventually stopped that kind of behavior with Yugi's intervention...I wonder if there's time distortion in play.

And I deserved it. I didn't kill anyone, but I came very close. Hate consumed me, and I'd completely abandoned my humanity until I was forced to face what that meant.

I messed up the html in my last post, so I'm repeating what I meant Curufin to say aloud.

[so_dark_a_road]

That shadowy being didn't sound at all like the Atem I know. But there could be time distortion, or so I think. If Atem and Yugi are somehow connected, there's already something very strange going on, and an Atem emerging from the past could be possible. Anything is possible, in the multiverse.

[ He shakes his head a little, not to disagree but to indicate he feels the same way about the seriousness of the situation. ]

Maybe you did deserve it, but the best thing that can happen is not always that we get what we deserve. In my world, I too was consumed with hatred, until I was no longer capable of behaving like a human being. I did kill people. It was only in the last hours of my life that I faced what that meant, and that's when I resolved to make a change.

What you said about pain possibly making Xue Yang lash out again. . . that is my belief as well. Revenge such as this does not deter the wrongdoer, it makes it more likely that such wrongs will happen again. I'm volunteering to be on that watch you spoke of, as I've tried very hard to befriend Xue Yang since he arrived. He has so much darkness in him, and as I am similar but have changed my life radically, I thought I could help him. Maybe. . . maybe I still can.

[blue_ice]

I feel the same.

[ He nods. ]

For what it's worth, I don't think any differently of you. Redemption is possible, we both have every reason to believe that. That doesn't mean it will always happen, but it's worth trying.

Let me know if I can help you at all.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin manages a small smile. ]

Thank you, Kaiba. I don't talk about my past to everyone, anymore than you talk about yours to everyone. I don't think any the worse of you, either. This is a good thing, that we both believe in redemption. I think it's always worth trying for.

Thank you, and I think you can help me. Have you spoken to Xue Yang since he's been on the train?

[blue_ice]

I haven't, but I'm willing to.

[so_dark_a_road]

Oh, good. Let's both volunteer for that security detail? Or at least for the task of talking to him when he wakes. And I'll volunteer to try to wake him, if the Council is willing.

[ They trust each other, and that's really important. ]

[blue_ice]

I might have to keep an eye on Wester when we find them...but yes. I'll go with you. Thank you.

[so_dark_a_road]

It was Wester who posted on the net, but I'm not pinning the responsibility on them unless I know for sure that they consciously invited Atem to take possession of their body and commit this act of revenge. But yes, you might have to watch Wester. For their own safety, if nothing else.

And thank you! If we end up taking on this task of guarding or interviewing Xue Yang side by side, I'll be glad.

[blue_ice]

Wester is the spirit's name...I still feel Atem within them, but they reject that name. I saw them once before at the party...but they don't match up to any name on the roster. They're either someone hiding among us with an alternate identity, or an innocent passenger is being possessed.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He checks the passenger roster quickly. ] Right. No Wester. So, Wester is a spirit, not a passenger, and Wester might be associated with a particular passenger. Stranger things have happened, in my experience. People with dual or multiple identities, or people who have spirits or unbodied beings closely associated with them. But as to whether an innocent passenger is being possessed without their consent or even knowledge. . . well, we have to find out.