My thesis in this fic is that Kaiba's technology affects the Duel Monsters, and not necessarily positively. After all, when you're just laying down cards, nobody gets hurt. But now... well, read it and see!
Some may think I'm stupid for angsting over a Duel Monster. Those people can click the Back button on their browser any time they like. They don't have to listen to me. For those who want to... hang on for the ride.
AUTHOR GENERAL'S WARNING: Readers of this fic who have not watched the episodes containing Yugi's duels with Panic, the Brothers Paradox, and Seto Kaiba the second time around may not understand some of the references.
The Celtic Guardian's Choice
I had forgotten what it
was like outside the dark; that is, if I had ever known.
So when I lifted my eyes
to see something other than dark;
When I realized I was not
quite real;
How could I not feel surprise?
When I lifted my eyes
To see the sight before
me,
Of course I felt surprise.
All the times before- there
must have been others I know- were in the dark. No sight and no pain.
The sight before me was one
of those times,
Only this time it wasn't
in the dark.
Even if I did not quite
feel real, I could see, I could feel!
Later I discovered to see
and to feel, for me, comes at a price.
The other times were always
in the dark;
I was always in the dark;
I saw nothing, I felt nothing.
Sight comes at a price.
He wouldn't know if I was
pained; to him I wasn't real.
We were all of us in the
dark.
When sight deserted me for
the rest of these times, when my writhing body which was not quite real
but real enough to be pained
Was dragged not altogether
unwillingly back to that dark, why would he know or care? To him I wasn't
real.
He worries when I fade back
into the dark because the numbers go down; I know they go down, because
with everyone else, they do.
The dark comes as my ironic
salvation to whatever inflicted on me by the ones on the other side;
I can make no sound. I can
only obey this child
Who worries about the numbers
going down.
Did that different dark
of panic, the Dungeon Worm, the Blue Eyes Dragon
Who pained me though I could
do nothing,
Did they know what they
did? It was only temporary, but that could be worse than if it was final.
Those in the different dark,
the Dungeon Worm, the Blue Eyes,
Did they too feel pain once
they left the safe prison of the dark?
If I had a choice between
being imprisoned in the dark for eternity and a day after that
Or being ordered out by
a machine and then obeying the words of another, words that often send
me to a temporary (that's the problem) death,
And having to do this, too,
for eternity and a day after that.
I would choose the dark.
If there were a third choice,
the choice to have sight without pain,
The choice to fight the
way I choose,
The choice to never have
to obey another,
I would take that choice.
If I had a choice.