Chapter 82: Kindling
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Chapter Song: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Chapter 82: Kindling

Mokuba, Joan, and Marc showed up at the condominium where the Aurelios had lived ever since they moved to California and began working for Super Kaiba Megacorp. Unlike Mokuba's high-rise unit, the residences stood in a long row only two stories tall.

Despite having a key, Marc knocked.

Laura answered the door in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Streaks of gray surged through her orange aura as she looked past Marc and faked an aloof yawn. "It's cute how he dragged you two along to help carry his shit."

"We're here for moral support, not to carry," Joan said.

"And here I was hoping this would be over quickly." Laura turned sharply and plopped onto her couch. She propped up her feet on a coffee table and took a long sip from a glass of neat whiskey on a side table.

Laura then exchanged the whiskey for a controller to a video game she had paused, but she froze when she saw every single machete, ax, sword, and piece of armor Marc owned flying down the stairs and out the front door. Marc's everyday clothes, art supplies, and various other belongings followed. Laura watched the parade of items like a hawk to ensure he took nothing of hers.

"Quick enough for you?" Marc asked when he'd finished.

"Showoff," Laura grumbled.

"There's no pleasing you, is there?"

"No."

Marc stood in the doorway staring at Laura, thinking of all the little things he could have tried to claim but decided not to take, wondering if those things would remind her of him.

Sugar dripped from Laura's lips as she spoke her next words. "What do you want, a goodbye kiss?"

Marc ached to touch her, but not for the last time. Never for the last time. "No," he said softly.

Laura's aloofness returned with a touch of venom. "I'm not offering again."

Marc stood rooted to the spot, unable to decide.

"Could you be any more of a heartless bitch?" Joan blurted.

Laura flipped her hair. "Let's see . . . Could you be any more of a husband-stealing whore?"

"I haven't stolen anything from you, but if you want to play this game, it's on!"

"You don't even know me well enough to win. What are you going to do next, spout some lame insult about my mother?" Laura's smug expression radiated more than Joan cared to know about Laura's antagonistic relationship with her own mother.

"You've shown me who you are, but is that who you want to be? I'm happy being a whore, and what you call stealing, I call rescuing."

"You're too precious. I remember being you. You'll grow up someday, and then he'll dump you for a newer model. Have fun fucking him while you can."

The corner of Joan's mouth twitched. "Challenge accepted." She grabbed Marc's tie and dragged him to the center of the living room.

Although physically more adept than Joan, Marc let her shove him to the carpet. Emotional turmoil bubbled through his brain, making him powerless to resist. His body responded as Joan kissed him. He loved this woman as much as the other. He had no reason to deny her. If Laura truly wanted to separate her life from his, he'd find out beyond a shadow of a doubt here and now.

Mokuba watched in shock as Joan unbuckled Marc's belt and mounted him. Her dress draped over their hips as she slid onto him with ease. Mokuba half-wondered if he should stop them, but the other half of his soul itched to join in. Neither option played out with acceptable consequences in his mind.

Laura unpaused her video game and went back to playing, ignoring the fornication on her floor. "Hey boss, wanna play some Monsters of the Duel after I'm done whipping this troll's ass?"

Mokuba cautiously approached the couch and sat beside Laura. "I think we'll have to go after this."

"Suit yourself."

Mokuba tried to keep his eyes on Laura's video game, but they kept drifting to Joan and Marc. Every thrust seemed driven by fury, a fury the lovers now shared so completely that Mokuba couldn't tell where Joan's started and where Marc's ended. As he tried to puzzle through what to do next, he saw red tendrils radiating from their bodies. Were those some sort of aura visible only to him, or were they . . . "Fire!"

Author's Note: Better late than never, the Chapter 17 illustration by Miyuki-Tsukiyono is finally done! If you haven't seen it yet, you may want to head back there and take a look.

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