Albatross Addictions:

Instructions Included. Assembly Required.

*disclaimer: clearly, I do not own the rights to any of the content or character of Yu-Gi-Oh*

Prologue:

The evolution of time is inescapable. This inevitability requires one to posses, or acquire, the capacity to endure transition; A transformation which estranges individuals from misconceptions in order to adapt to the uncertainties of shifting realities. LIFE may provide a predeceasing time line of incidences and understanding from which to draw parallels, but the lesson itself is not vicarious: Instructions Included. Assembly Required—without action there can be no advance, reality loses all tangibility; thus immobilizing ambitions, and thoughtlessly rendering the vitality of humanity to a mass-manufactured massacre. Resultantly, through a series of endless subjection to the strange and suffering consequences of experience, both Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler search desperately for means of escape.

Left to emerge from the fantastical phenomenon of Duel Monsters that so surreptitiously swallowed them into the surreal, several unsuspecting characters find themselves submerged within a sea of surprising similarities. With the actualizing lenses in place, the compelling complexities of their composures come into focus, cultivating the catalyst that will set such a controversial companionship into motion.

Part One: Creation.

Chapter One: Catastrophic Circumstances

"So, I guess this is goodbye," Joey looked, almost absently, at the faces of his friends.

"Joey, you don't have to do this!" Tea's pleas, though meaningful, fell flat against the floor beneath their feet.

"She's right," Yugi's timid tone trembled, "we can figure this out together," he insisted, despite the Pharaoh's inner reasoning that assured him the choice was Joey's, and Joey's alone to make.

Their words tugged at his heartstrings, and Tristan's silence only made him feel increasingly worse, but his mind was already made up-he was leaving. So, with a bouffant chest, Joey swallowed the possibility of having second thoughts, and strained his eyes to withstand the tears that came involuntarily as he embraced them each one last time.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, almost inaudibly, over the P.A system of the arrival and departure flights, forcing himself towards the security console.

Meanwhile, as the three friends were left unable to fathom the separation, Mokuba desperately tried to dissuade his brother Seto, who sat despondently in front of an empty suitcase. Although intentionally estranged from the other, Kaiba and Joey's decisions ironically aligned.

"I know this is hard," the brunette began, as he struggled to form the proper sentiment.

"Then why are you doing this!" His little brother's tears formed profusely, trying in vain to step between Seto's literal and emotional baggage.

Kaiba closed his eyes, gently pushing Mokuba aside. "This isn't debatable," the callousness in his voice was chillingly sincere.

As Kaiba struggled to sort through a myriad of miscellaneous possessions, Joey struggled to organize the thoughts that clouded and consumed him...

It's over he said to himself, sighing and resting his forehead against the cold plastic of the plane's window, as the place he had always called home became a distant memory. I can't stay, it's over, he reiterated, in order to remind himself just exactly why he decided all of this in the first place, we all lost so much….

Kaiba wore a face of frustration as the reflection of his shining accomplishments mirrored disappointment rather than pride, a feeling he seldom accepted willingly. The tournaments, the titles, the trophies…what's the point? He asked himself, hanging his head, unable to mask the disgusted look that had fallen over his features.

"Seto?" Mokuba pulled on the edges of his jacket.

"It's nothing," his brother recomposed himself quickly, answering before Mokuba could even ask, "Just lock this place up after I'm gone.

"But…"

"I said it's nothing," the tone in his voice was cold and forceful.

Mokuba winced as his head shrunk down into his shoulders, recognizing the sound in his brother's voice, he knew far too well not to pry any further. Instead, he trailed apprehensively behind the footsteps of uncertainty that echoed emptily through their estate, leaving his childlike features twisted as Seto's silhouette faded into the horizon. Just as quickly as Joey, his brother was gone.

Kaiba tapped his fingers rhythmically as his notions stirred inconsistently. It's not right to leave him like that, the paternal instinct in his breast beat protectively, but it's not his burden to harbor, I wont allow it.

Catching his reflection in the glossy finish that isolated him from his driver, Seto tried to dissuade the emptiness that carved away at his chest. Desperately depleting, his face gave away everything and nothing at the same time. The blank expression he bore was both a disguise and a revelation. On one hand, the experiences he'd internalized had masked the void he acted so avidly to avoid; but on the other, that same ambiguity acted amply as a source of clarity.

It was undeniable. He felt entirely alone-and no matter how defiantly he denied it, there wasn't a single person who couldn't see past his defense.

Completely unaware of his surroundings, Joey hardly noticed the subtle shifts in scenery outside his window as the illumination extinguished into darkness. Instead he fumbled with the wires on his headphones; like everything else in his life, they had intertwined and tangled. The sound was familiar, so the lyrics came in perfectly clear, but the friction flowing through him seemed to distort the rhythm.

Still, Joey forced himself to listen, hoping to filter out his feelings through the music, but it was useless. His eardrums just refused it. Sighing, he lifted his hands up to the electric blue headphones and pulled them gently from his ears, sinking back into the silence.

Almost as soon as Joey's flight had departed from the Domino City Airport, Kaiba had arrived, feeling almost relieved as the outlines of the oncoming visual came into focus. His notions of escape manipulated the elations of his heart, convincing himself that this great vessel would swallow the sorrow forever forecasted in his skies. Thinking foolishly that the relief would be instantaneous.

"And when shall I expect your return?" His chauffeur questioned, carrying a single suitcase to the curbside check-in, and preparing his palm pilot, but Seto's response left the driver looking both concerned and confused.

"I'm not coming back."

Digging through his backpack for some other means of passing the time, Joey's fingertips brushed against a cool surface at the very bottom. His eyes widened as he traced the rounded edges, he had almost forgotten. His wrist retracted hesitantly, as he held three Duel Monster cards in his lap, pouring his soul back into the heart of the cards.

He almost laughed in spite of himself, Y'know I always understood that whole spiel, but I really never thought it would literally come down to this. I know it sounds terribly cliché, but these three cards, well, each of them are my only reminders of who I used to be, these three cards are all I have left.

He fanned them out and held them closer, out of all the cards he had dedicated years of his life collecting in order to build a stronger, more able deck, he had discarded all but three.

The first was his beloved and infamous Red Eyes Black Dragon, it had aided him so valiantly in his times of need that it merged itself undeniably into Joey's identity, it was a part of him. Secondly, always complimenting his strategies was the Time Wizard Yugi had given him eons ago. "Here Joey, add this to your deck," he could almost hear his best friends voice as if he was standing right there in front of him again. However, as his eyes refocused on the third, a deeper place within his heart that had long since hollowed began to pulsate. Wrinkling his nose, and daring out to reach out and caress its intricate structure, the veins in his heart tightened. His third and final card was nothing other than Mai's Harpy Lady.

Curling all five fingers tightly into a fist, Joey had to restrain himself from punching the seat reclined in front of him; images of Valon and the Orichalcos cascaded around the card, subliminally mocking his pain. However plaguing, the idea of his companions excited the stillness of his heart, and his eyes darted back and forth frantically inspecting every last inch of each card so that he wouldn't miss anything, so he didn't ever have to come back and relive such anguish.

Yet it was his thorough reconstruction that pained him the most, and the cards made his losses even more tangible than the images echoing around the emptiness.

Joey's tear-ducts couldn't even conjure a single tear, every valve in his body stopped, his blood thinned, his breath choked, and in every sense of the word his heart broke into a million pieces, making a mosaic of misery beneath his feet. For a final moment, the ruby specs of his eyes that swirled in and out of shades of jade and chocolate shut, revealing blank screens on the backs of his eyelids.

With great skill, and an even greater memory Joey began to piece everything back together across the mental canvas he'd created.

I remember the first few years fondly, back when everything was so simple. We were just a couple of friends, a couple of friends with ambition and a deck of cards. We'd never played a real match, never had any real fans; we just did it for fun, just to pass the time. We based every move on what we felt, and we practiced and played when we wanted to-never had anyone breathing down our necks about absolutely everything. No one to tell us that our cards weren't up to par, or that our strategies were shit; nobody to criticize our skills, and question our capabilities. It was just the four of us, doing what we loved best, with who we loved best; but before we knew it, we had fought our way through Duelist Kingdom, victoriously prevailed from Battle City, and then lost our selves, literally and figuratively, to the Orichalcos...It was only after those duels that things got complicated. Ambition and determination blinded us, and we were so eager to sign the dotted line—after that, nothing was ever the same…

*Well to everyone, or anyone, who happens to read this, I would like to start off my saying that this is the first and only 'fanfiction' that I have ever written-well attempted is more accurate hah. In short, this is an ongoing Christmas present to my younger sister, Yaoifan101, who is well versed in the art of fanfiction. With the previous being said, I apologize for my tendency to be more wax poetic, my forte tends to cater towards analytical, interpretive essays (primarily for academic purposes), as well as my own works of fiction, and poetry.

Baha, sooo this is very new for me! I've basically been drinking an unnecessary amount of red-bull and non-stop typing whatever happened to pop into my head! Feedback would be highly appreciated, whether you hate it or enjoy it, because I don't want to disappoint her!

ps: the start of everything i write is somewhat uneventful and more so a descriptive introduction, yet the point of which may become somewhat ambiguous, or vague as it cycles for emphasis.*