Author's Note
Yeah, I know… another monotonous author's note that goes on for half a page. Bear with me as I ramble on and I'll try and keep it brief. A special thanks to those who've reviewed me in the past, your reviews give me a kick of motivation every time I read them. I wrote this during a cold-rainy snap in the weather while I was bored; I hope you enjoy the penultimate final chapter of Yugioh and the Martini of DOOM. It's kinda strange; it was my first fanfic series and it'll be the first real one I've really finished. Call it sentimental but this is kinda a special moment for me. A special thanks to Anime-Pixie255 for getting me off my lazy butt to write, wether you knew it or not and to Indiglo, Aqueen and Anime-Pixie255 for their continual support. Well…without further rambling, I introduce the near final chapter…
(PS-I've decided to experiment with shorter chapter to make it bearable, so this one will be shorter)
Mystery, Intrigue and Love Unrealised
Yugi woke in a four-poster bed, under silk sheets that smelled of dust and age. He sat bolt upright, his head swinging from one side to another. Where am I? Where's Duke? He was…
The events of just moments ago blared into life, like a kerosene soaked match. Duke's a…a…monster, he tried to kill me but I…what happened? All he remembered was Duke looking at him with blood-red eyes, halfway through his grotesque transformation, then nothing. Yugi, trying to get a hold on the bubbling panic inside of him, looked more carefully around the room. The walls, the carpet and the ceiling were all the same swirling, void-like magenta, making it seem like he was floating in the midst of nothingness. Antique furniture, much like that of Duke's room punctuated the abyss. Everything was covered in either blankets of dust or large, white cloths; the house seemed to reminisce for tenants long deceased.
He sat up, supporting himself awkwardly on one elbow. The first thing he noticed was how stiff his limbs were, every movement seemed to cause the joints to creak and his muscles ache. I must have been sleeping for…ages, he thought, stretching to alleviate the rigidity of his body. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to get up. Immediately, dizziness flung him back down again. Walking was out of the question…for now; he lay back again, seething with frustrated. Yugi lay back into the cushions again as he tried to order the anarchy in his head. Ok, first I was running down a hall, being chased by the party-crashers, then Duke yanked me inside one of the rooms, then he…changed…then looked at me, then…nothing. None of this made sense. Yugi groaned with annoyance, at his own vulnerability and how the whole night had played out. Was it ever as simple as going out, partying, coming home and recovering from the hangover? Suddenly he noticed the silence. Not in the house. In his head. The place inside him where those two forces bickered was simply…empty. Had he left them behind somehow? This was all just too confusing.
He flung away his sheets and made another attempt at walking. A few minutes resting wouldn't have done anything for his legs but he needed to try; to vent some of his frustrations on this one task. Once he got walking, things would turn out fine. Scrunching his face in effort, he tried to stand from his seat on the bed. He put some weight on his feet. They held. He put more weight on his feet, and more. Still holding. Then he made to get up. His legs cried out in protest but he persisted, grabbing the post of the bed for support, the smooth, dark, spiralling wood strangely comforting beneath his fingers. Strange that he couldn't get up but mere moments ago…
"Oh, you're up, you looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake you."
Yugi jumped. He swung around to face where the sound had come from. A young lady, about Yugi's age, stood in shadows of the doorway, holding a tray.
"Wh-who are you, and where am I?" he demanded. The lady was obviously taken aback by his insistence for information. She walked in and placed the tray down on his bed. Yugi gasped. Both her skin and hair were all the same shade of muted green. Her hair stuck together in strands, vine-like in appearance and her eyes had no pupils, no irises, just a bottomless green. Her slender, willow-branch hands worked delicately to remove the lids of the containers on the silver tray. She looked up, and then she too gasped.
"Y-you're human!" she whispered, her branch of a finger pointing accusingly, her voice like a breeze through the treetops. She backed away, towards the door, and then fled, screaming into the oblivion of the dark hallway.
"Wait." Yugi's cry echoed through the empty air. She was already gone. Who…or what was she? This was all too overwhelming. Hang on, why am I calling it a she? When it had entered, it bore a strange, intangible, feminie quality. The graceful way she walked, the gentle breeze of her voice, the perfume of a thousand flowers that followed her, all conveyed the same thing. Ok, so maybe it is a girl. But she's definitely not human! But if she's not human, then what is she? Maybe an ancient spirit like Yami? No, this was different, worldlier. While ancient spirits like Yami were smoke and shadows, she was leaves, flowers…forest breezes Yami never told me anything else like this existed! Her scent still mingled among that of years past; it caressed his face, making him flush with warmth, her voice still whispered to him. No! He crushed the euphorically warm feeling that stirred within him. She's not even human and she's terrified of me! Plus I have bigger stuff to worry about, like where I am! This place looks at least 200 years old! Where's Yami? Where's those voices in my head? I…
The self-generating wave of self-pity shattered his final defences and left him broken, sobbing into the pillow, then into the jagged arms of unconsciousness. His dreams catapulted him from one side of consciousness to another, random flashes of things he'd done, things he wanted to do and things that would have made him scream, had he been truly conscious.
He woke suddenly, feeling annoyed, battered and bruised; his clothes sticky from sweat. He lay back glad to be awake after a tough night, feeling more peaceful than he'd been while dreaming. It's good to be awake, he thought, staring up, absent-mindedly into the canopy above his bed. Hang on, since when has my bed had posts and a canopy?! He sat bolt upright, snapping his head around, trying to find comfort in a familiar piece of furniture or decoration. He found none. The events that left him there came swarming back, each one privately screaming for attention. Duke, Yami, Malic, the drug, the voices which now stood silent. He put his head in his hands and sobbed. The whole thing had shattered his resolve, his composure. Just about everything about this place was alien and strange. A vision of Yami performing drunken karaoke assaulted his mind's eye, suddenly. The white-hot, curved talons of pain reached through his head and twisted his flesh around it. The pain swept through his body, rendering it still. He slipped into the welcome arms of oblivious unconsciousness as the vision unfolded.
"C'mon get happy! A whole lot of loving is what we'll be bringin'
To make you happy! Somethin' always happens whenever we're together…"
Yami slurred, swaying to the music and the beat of the heinous drug Bakura had slipped him. Tea was in the front row of the karaoke stage, a one-woman mosh-pit.
"I LOVE YOU YAMI!" she screamed out above the music. She heaved herself up onto the stage and swept Yami off his feet and kissed him like a vacuum nozzle. The crowd became alive with catcalls and wolf-whistles. Yami blushed, returning the kiss. He was barely sober enough to walk, let alone know what was going on.
Yugi woke shivering, despite the blankets, in a cold sweat. He felt like he'd been wrung out like laundry; he was washed with waves of weakness, dishevelment and nausea. His mind was burned out. All he could do was focus on breathing; he was frightened if he didn't, he'd stop. Breathe, breathe, breathe, he chanted inside the burned out wreck of his mind. It would pass. He'd be all right. Maybe.
