FicWad

Sanity

Ataxia Empire

“Hey, Mac,” Atem said as he walked into the galley.
Mac grunted a greeting without looking up from his cutting board. The sound of a knife hitting wood sounded throughout the kitchen. Atem wove his way through the tables and into the kitchen. The aroma of several different dishes filled his nose as he came to a stop next to Mac. He waited quietly with his hands behind his back as Mac finished roughly chopping up some carrots. He laid his knife down, scooped the carrots up and tossed them into a pot. Grabbing a couple of stalks of celery, he went to grab his knife when his hand bumped it and sent it falling to the floor. Acting purely on reflex, Atem’s hand darted out and grabbed the knife before it even touched the floor. He twirled the knife in his hand a couple of times before he held it handle out to Mac.
“It’s a half gram heavy in the handle, but not a bad knife,” he said with a smile.
“Thanks,” Mac said as he grabbed the knife from Atem, “Now what was it that you wanted?”
“Oh, nothing much,” he said as he grabbed a small piece of cheese that was lying on a separate cutting board and popping it in his mouth, “Just wondering when dinner was going to be done.”
“I’d say, probably in an hour,” Mac replied as he started cutting the celery, “How’s Austin doing?”
“Doing fine. Thanks to Dirk’s quick thinking, they surfaced without any problems,” Atem said.
“Good. Being on a ship for over 15 years, I’ve seen my share of the bends,” he replied with a grim nod. (A/N: The bends is a condition that develops if a diver tries to surface too fast. Nitrogen in the blood stream doesn’t dissipate quickly enough, causing pain to the diver’s joints. Also called Decompression Sickness. In order to prevent it, divers often have a diver’s chart or computers that generate the specific amount of time a diver needs to wait at a given spot in order to lower nitrogen levels.)
Atem nodded and reached up to scratch his nose, “My dive instructor once told me that he was diving on an old Spanish frigate and he ended up surfacing too fast. He said the pain was excruciating. He ended up spending a few days in a decompression chamber.”
“Yeah, that can happen. You ever experience it?” he asked.
“No, and if I’m lucky, I never will,” Atem said.
“Luck has nothing to do with it. If you’re smart, and careful, then it won’t happen,” Mac said.
Atem nodded and went to reach for another piece of cheese. Mac reached over, and with the flat part of his knife, slapped him on the back of the hand. Atem let out a surprised grunt and jerked his hand back.
“Wait until dinner,” Mac said.
Atem growled, but let his hand fall back down to his side, “Speaking of dinner, I have a favor to ask.”
“Oh, and what would that be?” Mac asked.
“Well…”

A half an hour later, topside
Yugi sighed and stared out at the water. He leaned on one of the ships rails, his hands clasped in front of him. He was extremely worried about what happened to Austin’s tank. It was definitely sabotage, simply because the line had a straight cut, instead of a jagged one. Atem had assured him that everything was alright, but he was still worried. It meant that someone on the ship wasn’t who they appeared to be. The major thing to figure out was to figure out who was who they claimed to be, and who wasn’t. He jumped slightly when he felt arms wrap around his waist, but he quickly relaxed into the embrace as he felt Atem’s consciousness brush against his.
Mmmm, a penny for your thoughts, he said through the link.
Yugi sighed and closed his eyes, I’m just worried.
Don’t worry, Hikari, nothing bad is going to happen, Atem replied.
Yugi let his love’s voice wash over his mind, soothing his fears. He knew that Atem would make sure that nothing happened, but he couldn’t help the feeling of dread that filled his gut. He surprised Atem suddenly when he turned in his arms and captured the older one’s lips with his own. The kiss was passionate and full of love. They were both panting slightly when the kiss broke and Atem stared down into amethyst eyes.
What was that for? He asked.
Yugi stared into Atem’s crimson eyes for a moment before he answered; I love you, that’s all.
I love you too, Atem whispered as he rested his forehead on the others, Come on, let’s go get ready for dinner.
Yugi nodded and allowed Atem to lead him to their state room to get washed up and ready for dinner.

The Galley, half an hour later,
“Something smells good!” Alexander said as he and Stephanie walked into the galley.
Mac smiled and cut off slices of prime rib, “I hope you’re hungry.”
“Starving,” he replied as they took seats.
A few minutes later, and the rest of the group walked into the room. Atem and Yugi walked in first, followed by Dirk, Austin, Tim and Laura. The group sat down at the same table as the Wades and started to chat. Atem and Yugi struck up a conversation with Dirk about his experience on board the Lisa Marie. Austin, Tim and Laura started a debate about a new medical procedure, while the Wades listened intently. Eventually Mac came around and started to serve them dinner. The smells of prime rib, mash potatoes, steamed vegetables, and fresh cooked bread filled the air. Agave Tequila accompanied the delicious meal. They started to eat when Yug watched Atem give an almost imperceptible nod to Mac.
“Stephanie, Laura? I left something in the kitchen, think you could give me a hand bringing it out?” he asked.
“Sure, Mac,” Stephanie said.
“What’d you forget this time, Mac,” Laura joked as the three stood up and made their way into the kitchen.
“Just the most important part of the meal…” Mac said.
Their voices filtered away as they got farther and farther away from the group.
“Typical Mac to forget something,” Tim said with a shake of his head.
Yugi raised an eyebrow at Atem and tilted his head in a silent question. His eyes went glassy for a second and then he too gave a small nod. If anyone had been paying attention, they would have noticed how Atem’s eyes had also gone glassy for a slight moment. Most of the group had gone back to eating when Yugi and Atem stood up and yanked them down right as bullets flew by where their heads had been moments before. They heard swearing and two sets of feet dashing away. Atem and Dirk stood up, and with a single look, tore off after the shooters. Yugi and the others stood up and Alexander started to panic.
“Stephanie!” he exclaimed.
“In the freezer with Laura and Mac. Atem asked Mac to take them in there before dinner,” Yugi replied.
“Wait, so he knew this would happen?” he asked as he stared at the tri haired youth.
Yugi nodded. They heard muffled shouts from out in the corridor and the group ran out to investigate. Atem had his knee pressed into the back of one of the shooters, while Dirk wrestled the other shooter to the ground. The Captain came after he heard the gunshots and handed each of them a pair of hand cuffs. A few seconds passed and they all heard cursing coming from behind them. They turned and watched as a white haired man pushed another person in cuffs ahead of him.
“Bakura!” Yugi exclaimed as he smiled at the white haired man.
“Hey short stuff,” he replied with a grin before he turned to Atem, “Oh, sure, leave the tough guy to me, why don’t ya?”
Atem flashed him a grin, “I knew you could handle it.”
Bakura rolled his eyes.
“What’s going on here?” Captain asked.
“Why don’t we go back in the galley, and I’ll explain,” Atem said.
The group filed back into the galley and the three of them roughly pushed their captives into chairs. Mac and the girls came out from the kitchen.
“Is it okay to come out?” Laura asked.
“It’s safe,” Atem called.
The three of them came out and Stephanie gasped.
“Tim? Austin? Don’t tell me…” she said.
Atem nodded, “Yes, the two that tried to kill us are none other than Tim and Austin.”
The group exchanged looks and then stared at their captives.
“Care to explain?” Dirk asked, his voice filled with anger.
“I suppose it’s best to start at the beginning,” Atem said as he motioned for them all to sit down, “First of all, Yugi and I are not dive experts. We’re professional assassins sent here to protect the Wades. The Wades are Hikari and Yami, just like us. We got a report that Hikari’s and Yami’s all over the world have been disappearing. A friend figured out that you two were the next ones in line. When we heard that you were going to be coming here for your honeymoon, we got the captain to agree to let us come and act as dive experts on the ship.”
“The only ones who knew of our identities were the Captain, Dirk and Austin,” Yugi said, “Dirk and Austin are Navy Seals hired to help us. Or so we thought.”
“We knew that there would be someone on the ship who would make an attempt on your lives,” Atem said, “We just didn’t know who. I had an idea yesterday when Austin’s tank was sabotaged. After we surfaced, I went and checked out the hose from his tank. Upon closer inspection, I figured out that the only way for it to be cut was if the person wearing the tank had reached behind them and cut the hose.”
He reached behind him as if to cut an imaginary hose on his back.
“From there, we knew that they’d make an attack on us today,” Yugi said.
“Why didn’t they just kill us while we were in the sub?” Alexander asked as he held Stephanie close.
“They couldn’t. You see, we had dived ahead of schedule, making it so that way they didn’t have time to do anything to the sub. Plus, they thought that you would be using scuba suits instead of the sub,” Atem said.
“They weren’t expecting us to come on board,” Yugi said, “When they realized that we wouldn’t be scuba diving, they had to change plans. They didn’t count on us launching ahead of time.”
“What about this guy?” Bakura asked as he kicked the chair holding the guy that he had captured.
“They smuggled him on board last night,” Atem said with a shrug, “He was in the Wades room waiting for them.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened, “You mean they could have killed us in our sleep?”
Yugi shook his head, “No. We would have heard the commotion and come running. There wouldn’t have been anytime to escape.”
“So they decided to wait until we sat down for dinner,” Atem said, “These two would kill us here, while this one would ransack our rooms, looking for any clues on who else might have been Hikari’s.”
“How did you know they were going to attack?” Laura asked as she tended to a wound on Bakura’s arm that he had gotten while fighting the guy in the Wade’s room.
“They told us,” Atem said.
“What?” Captain demanded.
“We intercepted this message,” Bakura said as he handed the Captain a small piece of paper.
“Initial attack failure. Will proceed with plan B tonight at 1900 hours,” he read.
The group fell silent as they pondered just how close they came to being killed if it hadn’t been for the two look-a-likes. Dirk stepped forward and growled at Austin, “Why?”
Austin’s face twisted into a sneer as he glared at him, “You wouldn’t understand the benefits the Ataxia Empire would have given us if we had been successful.”
“Ataxia Empire?” Yugi asked.
“A new magnificent empire that you will never live to see,” Austin snarled.
“With the evidence that we have against you, neither will you,” Atem growled.
“I’ll never see the inside of a cell,” Austin laughed.
Atem raised a perfect eyebrow, “No amount of lawyers are going to keep you out of jail.”
“You don’t understand, Mr. Atenkaten,” Tim spoke up for the first time. He flicked his tongue out, a small pill balancing on the edge of it. He pulled it back in and said, “Cyanide pills. We won’t live to see the outside of this room.”
The three of them bit down on the pills, releasing the cyanide into their systems. Atem quickly leaned forward and whispered into Tim and Austin’s ears, “We already know about your disgusting Ataxia Empire. I will make sure that it personally falls by my hands.”
He leaned back and watched with satisfaction as their eyes widened and their mouths fell open before the cyanide kicked in and killed them. Their eyes went blank and they all sagged against the chairs.”
Laura sighed and stepped forward, “Better get them down to the infirmary. I’m going to have to put them in the cooler in order to keep their bodies from rotting.”
The Captain nodded and called a couple of the ships hands to the galley, where they carted the bodies down to the infirmary. Laura trailed behind them, deep in discussion with the Captain.
“What did you whisper to them?” Yugi asked as he scooted closer to Atem and wrapped his arms around him.
“Nothing you need to be concerned about,” Atem replied.
Bakura approached the two and crossed his arms, “Well, I guess it’s back to Japan to see who exactly the Ataxia Empire is.”