Kindred Spirits
Summary: Because sometimes you never really feel complete until you can look into someone's eyes and see yourself reflected back. Fate brings two spirits with something far more profound in common than time or race together to find some answers. Hikaru no Go/Yu-gi-oh! post-series crossover. Eventual yaoi A/S.
Disclaimer: Shindou Hikaru, Fujiwara no Sai and others from Hikaru no Go property of Yumi Hotta, Takeshi Obata and affiliated. The pharaohs, Karim, Mahaad and others from Yu-gi-oh! property of Kazuki Takahashi and affiliated. If you're not sure if I made up a character or they exist in one of the series, please feel free to just message me and ask.
Warnings: Character death, discusses both series, spoilers from the start. Eventual yaoi, AxS, other pairings.
Before it all began….
Breath coming in increasingly harsh gasps, riding as fast as he could, mind grounded only by the rhythmic pounding of the horses' hooves as they flew over stone and earth, reins gripped tightly in his fists, ignoring the throbbing pain in his arm-
A depression such as he had never known before, so strong it was almost tangible, bowing his entire posture. So deep he felt as though he would never feel happy again, building an impenetrable wall around his soul that no thought of consolation or reassurance could break through…
-reaching the accursed temple beneath the earth, dismounting his horse with some difficulty due to his wounds, descending the steps into darkness as if he was entering the Duat itself, sighting the stone tablet with the impressions for the Items carved into it, forged by a power he had not realized or understood until recent days, striding to it, kneeling, such an uncharacteristic pose for a Pharaoh, a living god on earth-
…he could almost feel the weight on his mind as he walked in a haze, leaving his beloved city, ruled by the Emperor, the man he had served, had taught, had played so many wonderful games with, the man who had banished him, wrongly accusing him of misdemeanour, irreparably tarnishing his reputation, forcing him to leave the place where he had known such happiness…
-feeling the exhaustion seeping through his aching muscles, swiping one hand across his face where he could feel blood trickle, smearing once-pristine ripped and dirtied linen, turning his attention to the papyrus he had clutched the whole way here, placing it on the stone before him to once again glance over the contents, the ritual he had to perform if hope were to prevail at all, setting beside it one more thing he would need: a sharp copper blade-
…finding himself at the banks of the river, wondering how his feet had followed his subconscious desire to come here, fooling himself into wondering why: to gaze at the waters to find peace? To be soothed by the rush of water over the stones? But no, now that he had no other options, now that they had been taken away from him, he had come here for a far more tragic purpose…
-deciding that he was as ready as he ever would be, reminding himself that he had done what he could in the time allowed, that the message would be passed on down the generations until he could return and defeat the Great Darkness, as he hoped with every fibre of his being that he could accomplish someday. As he should have been able to do today, he seethed to himself, eyes squeezing shut, pain contorting his features, mind full of his fallen countrymen and loyal priests, a tear cutting its own trail through the dust on his cheek as it fell. But no, there was no time for that now, he would repay their sacrifice as much as he could, that was why he was here, stretching out on the stone, raising the copper blade to his own flesh, chanting the words that would do the deed, seeing the Millennium Pendant start to glow-
…striding into the water, uncaring of the cold soaking his long white robes, the breeze making long black strands of hair dance across a face full of sadness, the water rising higher, the current stronger, but still going, as the water began to weigh him down…
-yes, as the pain increased, deep chanting voice trembling slightly with the strain as he continued, this was what he was here to do, it would all be over soon-
…it would be the end soon…
-it would be the end soon…-
Separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years, two young men thought these last thoughts, as death rushed to meet them in two different ways but just as tragically, just as surely. And just as a deep-voice finished chanting an ancient spell, blood flowing, allowing himself one last moment of weakness as the ritual reached its climax, one last scream he could not contain until he was no longer bound to his body, as the power swelled and exploded and ended, leaving only scorched stone, a golden Puzzle, and a silence as complete as that found at a river in a past Japan, where the water mingled with a still form crowned by strands of long black hair.
But all of that is now past: after two extraordinary existences, the rightful order has been seen to be restored, and the two former spirits, through friendship and games and battles, have finally moved onto the next plane of existence, the afterlife, and that is where our story begins…