Author's Note: I have never read Wicked, nor have I seen it, so I have given the Wicked Witch of the West an original name. If you review about the Wicked Witch of the West, please use her title or the name I have given her, because when you use the name from Wicked, I am incredibly confused, and then I have to Google. :| Quite frustrating.

Also, I can't recall if I've made an announcement to this fandom yet, so if I have, please forgive me. I know I should have updated sooner, but I was too pissed off and frustrated, since my hard drive was beginning to crap out and erased two of the four pages I'd already written. When I'd worked on it a little more and was starting to get into it a few weeks later, my hard drive basically shouted "HA HA" and died. Completely. Dead. Everything I'd had before was gone; all I had available was what I'd saved a few weeks before onto my flash drives, which unfortunately did not include WHAT I HAD JUST BEEN WORKING ON. I was so pissed off at that point that I basically said "fuck it."

This is why I've updated basically everything else; it was all new and original stuff that I hadn't lost. Luckily, I'm back in the groove of The Secret Serpent. I'm sorry it took so long.

The Secret Serpent

Recap:

Frankie blinked at him again, slowly this time as she pondered his request. She let her gaze slide over to the tribe of franks sleeping in a protective circle around her two babies, which were already passing her size to grow to the same size as Tlipo. Tlipo was off hunting again, so he wasn't there to tell her 'eet's a bad ideea, man!' She knew he'd complain; apparently, she'd grown on him more than he'd expected. However, she also knew that The Witch was a bad person, and she'd probably hurt a lot of people—and probably take revenge on the group of franks in particular for eating her. And trying to eat her again. …And a third time.

Looking away from her family to gaze at him, she nodded once, firmly. "Anything for you, Captain."

The brunet smiled a little, but immediately glanced at the others and frowned. "…Is it possible to…?"

"…?" Frankie glanced at the group again, then looked up at him and mewed quietly. "I'll come alone if you can sneak me away, Captain."

"Ah. Hey, why—No, never mind. Definitely never mind," he muttered, then tucked her beneath his wing.

Chapter 24

"Shit! Fuck! Shit! Fuck! Shit!" Haruki let out an enraged howl as he kicked the dead roots that he could sense had once held his sister. "Shit!"

Damn Lita for being such a scatterbrain! Damn Lita for caring more about her stupid cat than her own safety! Damn Lita for disregarding everything he'd told her!

…And damn himself for not foreseeing this—or even guessing about it, because he should have known his baby sister better.

He winced as the tiny tabby kitten that was his sister's familiar let out a squeak. "Tears!"

"Yes, Justini, I'm aware of the tears."

"Teeears!" the kitten squeaked again.

Haruki let out an angry roar. "Yes, Justini, I'm aware of the fucking tears!"

Justini looked up at him. "Sex!"

…He had not known about the smell of sex.

Haruki let out another angry roar. "That bitch! That unmitigated whore knows no level of decency, even for evil!"

The kitten looked upset. "Evil?"

"I'm not talking about Lita, Justini! I'm talking about Nasaulea!" The redhead sighed in annoyance. "You know what? Never mind. …I must be going crazy. I'm talking to my sister's familiar like it actually cares about what I'm saying," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "Damn it. Damn it."

He felt his heart constrict painfully. His little sister had only ever wanted him to feel proud of her, and when he'd failed to show any sort of approval in anything she did, she'd turned instead to a species of familiar that wasn't known for its sympathy. Justini was easy to please, though, so he could understand why his sister chose him for her familiar and would go home for his toy.

…Maybe he shouldn't have yelled at her so much. Maybe he should have been nicer to her, made her feel less like a failure for messing up even the simplest of potions. Maybe he shouldn't have laughed when her potions reacted wrong. Maybe… maybe he could have shown he cared a little more often. Maybe then she wouldn't have put all her energy into making a cat happy and instead have worked a little harder to make herself safe and happy instead.

Maybe then she wouldn't have been abused and kidnapped by Nasaulea.

Haruki scrubbed at his eyes quickly. "Damn it!" Hearing a mew, he turned and scowled as he saw the little tabby bat around a stuffed mouse—and he was immediately furious. He snatched up the mouse and threw it as hard as he could with a roar. "STUPID CAT!"

Justini moved to chase after the mouse, then paused. Haruki frowned as the tabby's fur suddenly bristled, and the kitten arched its back to make itself seem larger. The mouse was batted back into the clearing.

The widch screamed as the kitten immediately bolted to him and up his body to hide in the hood of his sweatshirt. "JESUS AND CHEESE ON A CRACKER!" When he saw what had batted the mouse back out, however, he wanted to employ the feline's escape tactic and run up the nearest tree.

The feline that came out and pounced on the toy was at least the size of a bull, if not larger. It had long saber-teeth and big green eyes. And it was… blue?

Suddenly, the terror he'd felt evaporated. "Are you fucking kidding me."

Seto appeared out of the trees, his reptilian wings sliding back into his body. "That's everyone's reaction to franks. Believe me."

"Kaiba. Don't scare me like that," Haruki growled. "I almost shit my pants."

"I would have come out first and warned you, but she saw the mouse and darted ahead of me." The brunet reached out and dug his hand into the saber-frank's thick hair. "She's usually not this big."

"He smells like the scaly horse, Captain!" Frankie stated, looking up at him.

The two humans frowned, baffled. Justini poked his head out of the widch's hood and mewed. "Purple!"

"Scaly horse and purple…" Haruki frowned, brows furrowing together in thought. Then, he turned a deadpanned stare on the giant blue cat. "A scaly horse. That's really how you think of Soumya."

Seto was baffled. "How is Soumya purple?"

The widch sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess you didn't see him then, so he couldn't give that note to you. Uh, Lita gave him a potion to make him grow faster and…" He scratched the back of his head and glanced away. "…Well, somehow it turned his hair purple."

The brunet coughed to cover up a laugh. Now was no time to joke around. "I see. What note?"

"I gave Soumya a note to give to you. You know how Dracea was melted with water?"

"…Vaguely."

Haruki rolled his eyes. "Well, water isn't enough. So you'll have to use fire. The best way to do that, I think, is either oil or gasoline on water." He sighed and looked away, frowning. "Water will keep Dracea's powers at bay, and fire should probably be enough to kill Nasaulea."

Seto blinked slowly. "…Probably, you said?"

The other man shrugged. "With divination, you can never be one hundred percent certain. I've interpreted the vision the best I can."

"And you want me to base all of my plans on an assumption?" the brunet spat.

Haruki scowled at him. "Well what the hell were you planning to do then?"

Seto frowned and crossed his arms. "I was going to have Frankie eat her." When the widch scoffed at him, he scowled. "I have been informed that franks don't die, and Frankie has proved that first by being trampled and crushed, and then by eating the goo that was Nasaulea before she regained her power."

The redhead blinked slowly. "…She… ate the goo?"

"She tasted awful, Captain," Frankie supplied.

Haruki looked at the pastel feline in confusion. "She ate the goo… and it tasted awful…"

"…Don't think about it too hard," Seto offered, but the widch could tell he was trying his damnedest not to smile smugly. "Franks have that effect on quite a few people."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Akuju became aware of the evil coming toward him much sooner than Fenrir did. Perhaps it was because the wolf was too busy ripping his back open with his claws. In any case, when the evil creature that had descended upon them got there and broke the giant wolf's jaw with a simple kick that had him slamming into the wall, he knew who it was; he didn't even need to see her face to know that his past mistake was coming back to haunt him.

Lifting his head slowly, he frowned as he looked up at her. "Nasaulea. I see you've found a corporeal form again." His eyes narrowed. "Then you have no use for me."

Nasaulea hummed and shrugged. "Well, you helped me out quite a bit after those witches sealed me away. You weren't a completely hopeless vessel." She smiled darkly. "And I've always thought you were handsome, in a roguish way."

"…Thank you," Akuju answered after a moment. "If you have a point, please get to it."

"Be my partner in crime until I rule everything," she offered, and he wondered what was possibly in it for her. "With your help, it will only be a days until I rule Mythaven, and after that, the rest of the world."

The raven-haired man hummed and looked away. "So this is just because you're impatient? You want my help because you don't want to wait?"

"Of course. Then, once I have complete power, I'll tear Mythaven apart, force all of the mythical creatures and peoples back into the world that is rightfully mine so they're easier to control, and then create as much chaos as I can to kill as many humans possible and destroy all of the things they feel so accomplished about," she replied, shrugging.

Akuju let his gaze roam over the ceiling. "And what about me? What will you do with me once you've gotten complete control of everything? You won't need me anymore."

Nasaulea's lips curled back into a cruel grin. "I'll make you my underling. You'll carry out my orders, but I'll treat you like a person instead of an animal or a whore."

"Hmm. That seems like a terribly depressing existence," he muttered, frowning. "Carrying out orders. Will I have any say over my life, or will all of my actions be based on what you say?"

She sighed. "That's what I always hated about you. You always want to know everything before you agree to it."

He turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "I learned from the first time I accepted your offer and was taken advantage of. I wouldn't like to be used like that again."

She rolled her eyes and sighed again, waving his concern away. "Oh, I suppose I can give you a little leeway. But then you can't say I'd never done anything for you."

"Dad? Dad, are you okay?"

Akuju narrowed his eyes as he heard Sköll making his way toward his cell. He glanced at Fenrir's trembling form, then looked back up at Nasaulea, standing slowly. "As long as I'm allowed to use the harem you're bound to accumulate, I suppose I don't mind. After all, I know you're too much of a slut to stay faithful to me, so why should I stay faithful to you?"

The witch laughed and slapped him lightly on the shoulder—in her standards. It still hurt him quite a lot. "That's why I like you. You're feisty, but in a passive-aggressive sort of way."

"Passive-aggressive has always aggravated people more than open aggression," he replied. He heard Sköll coming closer. "I'm ready to see daylight. It's been quite some time."

Nasaulea frowned before her eyes narrowed into a glare. "I was looking forward to ripping the other wolves to shreds again."

"You can come back and do it later. I want to go outside," Akuju snapped.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. I suppose I don't mind coming back to torture them later."

Akuju heard a snarl just as she snapped her fingers, and he heard the metal grating of the door screech and snap as the other wolf slammed inside to see his father. Then, he found himself in a cave, feeling very much put out. "Hmm. Very glamorous."

"Don't worry; I'll find something much more extravagant once I take over Mythaven. Perhaps even that 'Nest' place the Golden One keeps." Nasaulea waved it away. "I'm going to go back and torture those wolves. Why don't you just amuse yourself with her while I'm gone?"

The raven-haired man felt a lump form in his throat when he saw the bruised, bleeding body of the girl at the back of the cave. However, he swallowed past it and nodded. "I'll do my best to keep from getting bored."

"Good. Oh, and darling." The witch's face twisted into a glare. "If I come back and see that you're gone, I'll find you again and make you wish you were back being tortured by those filthy wolves."

Akuju shrugged. "I was tortured for quite some time by those filthy wolves. I'd be interested to see what you could do." He grunted as she reached out to jab her sharp nails into the still-bleeding welts on his back. "Ngh!"

"I'll have you know, I'm crueler than those mangy mutts could ever hope to be," she hissed, glaring at him, then smirked and drew her hand to her face so she could lick the blood from her fingers. "You still taste delicious, Akuju. I wouldn't mind a little fun later."

"We'll see if I have enough energy when you get back," he deadpanned. "It's been a while since I've had sex, and that girl back there looks like a warm enough body that I can sate myself with her."

Nasaulea pouted. "Oh… If I'd known that, I never would have offered her."

He raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to wait?"

"I suppose not, considering you've been locked up for so long. I'll just fuck you tomorrow," she replied, holding her hand out. "After I've finished fucking her again. She squeals like a little virgin when you lick her pussy."

Akuju hummed. "Let me guess. You did everything you could to make sure she's no longer a virgin in any way."

The woman laughed cruelly. "Well of course I did, darling. She was such a little prude, I just had to."

Akuju watched as she snapped and disappeared from sight, then turned and slowly moved toward the back of the cave. Kneeling beside the girl's broken body, he carefully brushed her hair out of her face before stroking her cheek. "I know you're awake," he said gently.

It was probably more out of surprise at being spoken to so nicely than resignation at being raped again that she opened her eyes. His breath hitched a little as fuchsia eyes still retaining a little of their innocence gazed up at him. She blinked once, twice, then turned her gaze on his chest.

After a moment, she said, "You're bleeding."

"I find myself in that condition all the time," he replied, smiling a little. "Mostly because I deserve it."

"Oh. …Are you going to use me now?" she asked, letting her eyes drift shut again.

She probably expected him to, thinking he was just as evil as the woman that had abused her so much. Shaking his head, he answered, "No, I don't think I will." He glanced around the cave slowly. "Do you know where we are?"

"No. It hurts too much to move." She whimpered as he gently slid his arms under her knees, thighs flinching together instinctively. "No-!"

"Shh. Nasaulea wouldn't choose a place that didn't have running water nearby," Akuju explained, wrapping an arm behind her shoulders, then carefully stood, holding her to his chest. "I thought you might appreciate being clean. What's your name?"

She ducked her head, biting her bottom lip anxiously. "…L-Lita."

"Lita. Hmm." It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't seem to remember where he'd heard it before. He tilted his head and glanced around as he stepped out of the cave, taking in the scene of trees and bushes around him, and the small creek winding away from a pond nearby. "Well, at least she found a decent place to keep you. I don't doubt she will find someplace more extravagant in a day or two," he added to himself, frowning, as he walked over to the creek. "It'll be cold, but you'll be clean."

Lita jerked in his arms, eyes shooting open as she suddenly dug her nails into his shoulders. "Ngh-!"

He'd thought it was fear, at first, but then he noticed that her pupils were dilated much too large in even the dim light they were standing in. "A premonition," he sighed, rolling his eyes skyward. "You're a witch, too. Fantastic."

She sobbed and turned her head away, brows furrowing together. "Oil-! Oil isn't going to work!"

"Oil isn't going to work on what?" he asked, frowning. He grunted as her nails scratched his skin open. "Ow."

"Tell Haruki that oil isn't going to kill her!" she gasped, staring up at him in terror, then swooned, eyes rolling back as she fell limp in his arms.

Akuju could only stare, mouth hanging open in a gape. Suddenly, the memory that Lita's name had niggled up came completely to the fore in his mind. She'd been the one he was originally interested in, but then he'd met Haruko and had been told in no uncertain terms that he would not be dating her. First, he'd only been focused on proving his worth to her that he deserved her little sister.

Once he'd started spending time with Haruko, however, he'd found himself falling for her, with her feisty attitude and cynical personality. And, when she began to hesitantly return his affections, he'd done everything he could to show that he truly care for her. Then her parents had stepped in and informed him he had no chance in marrying her unless he had a job. That had been his undoing, because then he'd met Nasaulea.

Oh God. He was holding his ex-lovers little sister, the apple of Haruki's eye. She'd been raped. She'd been slapped around. She was bleeding and broken.

Haruki was going to kill him.

Hopefully, if Haruki ever came across them, Lita could put in a good word for him, saying he'd actually tried to take care of her when he could. At least… if she got the chance to tell him so before Haruki killed him.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Yugi turned as he heard the door open, wondering who else could possibly be arriving. When he saw the woman that had once accused him of being a child but covered in blood, he immediately stood and hid behind his darker half, who was yelling at the TV as he tried to hack and slash the tomb robber with a Wii remote.

Yami frowned. "Aibou, what—" Sensing evil behind him, he immediately turned, the Eye of Horus glowing on his forehead.

"Well, well, well."

The rest of the group immediately turned at the cruel voice, and Téa, Tristan, and Duke immediately stood, ready to flee and trusting both Yami and Bakura to protect Yugi and Ryou.

The woman smirked. "I see you at least know to fear me. Oh, and I see some familiar faces." She leered at Ryou and Yugi, grin showing off surprisingly sharp teeth. When her gaze landed on the only other female occupant of the room, however, she frowned. "Well, you look familiar as well…"

Téa blinked, baffled. "Uh… I-I don't think we've ever met."

"…Ah! I know why!" The evil woman smiled again. "You look a lot like the woman I stole my powers from. You've probably at least heard of her. A witch? Lusted for some of the most gorgeous ruby slippers?"

The room chilled by at least twenty degrees. The boys all inched away subtly. The woman in the doorway blinked.

"Are you…" Téa gripped her hands into fists so tight that her knuckles turned white. "…Are you… implying…" She turned a glare on the mysterious woman, the vein in her temple pulsing as she hissed, "That I'm the Wicked Witch of the West?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Well of course, dear."

The brunette's eye twitched. "I see."

Tristan immediately grabbed Duke's arm and dragged him behind a couch. "Get down!"

"…What?" The woman blinked as the other boys scampered to follow suit. "What on earth…?"

"I AM NOT AN UGLY GREEN WITCH!" Téa roared, turning and swinging her fist upward to uppercut the woman out of the room—and, quite possibly, out of the shop entirely. Turning to the boys in the various hiding spots, she scowled. "Do I look like an ugly green witch?"

"No!"

"Of course not!"

"Don't listen to her—she's crazy!"

She took a deep breath, then sighed and sagged into a chair. "…So is it my turn to play yet?"

Yami and Bakura handed her their remotes at the same time.