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The metal fire escape is cold against Tea’s skin. It presses painfully into her knees as she crouches. From below them, the sounds of scurrying rats with their eerie squeaking and impatient clicks of their claws as they race over the ground rises towards them, but up on the fire escape they are safe. Tea’s heart is still racing, though, her breath coming in ragged gasps, first from her and Tristan’s running and then the scramble to get up here.
In front of her, Kaiba hangs by one hand from the fire escape railing. His breathing is even, shoulders hardly rising and falling, while his face is turned towards the ground as he watches the rats, their eyes glowing red in their frenzy, swarm his car.
The car he could have escaped in but left behind in favor of helping Tea, Tristan, and Joey.
Now the panic is slowly dying, enough for Tea to think somewhat clearly again. Enough for the oddity to suddenly strike her: Kaiba helped them. Immediately and unprompted.
He’s never had anything but contempt for them, especially Joey. When he’d appeared, Tea had instantly felt her guard go up. Usually she let Yugi, Joey, or the Pharaoh handle Kaiba. But the Pharaoh had rushed ahead while Joey… Joey…
So what happened to Wheeler? Did baby need a nap?
Tea, who prided herself on being friendly with anyone she met, had never liked Kaiba. But in that moment her anger towards him burned brighter than it ever had. Coupled with exhaustion, worry for Joey and the Pharaoh, and trying to ignore the rising terror that she and Tristan were on their own, Kaiba’s mockery of their desperate situation was the final nail in the coffin of her perseverance. The charge of the rats only made it that much more absurd to think there was a way out of this.
Until Kaiba stepped in anyway.
As Joey started to slip from Tristan’s back, the final dregs of his strength running out, Kaiba reached out and caught him, saving him from injury and helping Tristan bear his burden. Then he gathered them all into a plan of action. He’d spoken without a trace of hesitation or room for debate. That was understandable; Kaiba was used to giving orders and being obeyed. But when did that start applying to her and Tristan? Yet she had acted without question, following his directive and trusting that it would save them. And it had. Tea wonders if Kaiba even realized what he was doing. Any kindness Kaiba had ever shown her, Joey, or Tristan was usually an extension of his respect for Yugi or his love for Mokuba. But Yugi wasn’t here, and he’d acted in all their interests, not just Mokuba’s. He didn’t get back in his car and drive off with his brother, leaving them to fend for themselves.
She wonders if he really meant those cruel words, or if they were the only way he knew how to show his concern for Joey.
Suddenly Tea isn’t looking at the rats anymore, but at Kaiba. It’s like she can really see him, or at least a piece of the real him, for the first time. He’s undoubtedly a real jerk, but besides that he is a real leader. He’s more similar to Yugi than she realized—
His head turns, and before Tea can move, their eyes lock. She’s never been this close to Kaiba’s eyes before, actually looking down into them for once as he hangs slightly lower than the fire escape. Through the bars his blue eyes fix her. They are more human at this range, questioning without words if she is alright. Tea feels her resolve strengthen. Joey’s soul may be stolen, and the Pharaoh has run off without them. But they aren’t beaten yet.
Any concern she might see in Kaiba’s eyes evaporates, hidden behind his walls once again. As the final rats squeak away, he drops to the ground rather gracefully and waits while Tea and Mokuba lower Joey to Tristan. Then they all look to Kaiba.
He faces forward and starts walking. “Let’s go, dweebs.”