A.N.
Questions and Points from the Reviewers:
Bannarock509 reviewer:
It good and funny. I'm just sad you separated Yami and Yugi. Separate bodies is cool but you are distancing them from each other. In your summary you are saying that Light can't last long without Darkness, I think that is a double standard. Yugi wouldn't be able to survive either. I personally would like to see him again later on.
My Answer:
Good point. I'll address this later. I have plans for this... XD You'll see!
Joachim Armster
I enjoyed it. I feel the characters are close to the originals, though I feel kaiba is more the type to say damn rather than fuck. The story flowed better in this chapter than the others as well. For negatives I feel kaiba would have presumed they where in a simulation rather than pray to gods due to his complete denial of magic as real or at the very least been skeptical due to his computer being the origin point of this situation. Even with that it was great and I can't wait for more.
My Answer:
'Damn' verses 'fuck' now... Hm... I'm not really sure which he might rather say. I'll continue to play with his dialogue and see what I feel fits best where. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Now, as for Kaiba presuming that they are in a simulation. I think I was trying to address that in part with him mentioning Noa, but I should probably address it again as we haven't really seen what Seto thinks of this new world itself, right now he's just pissed and worried about his brother he's left behind.
As for the praying to the gods, I said he might also have been praying to the universe, but, besides that, on reflex, in his own mind, he probably might revert back to Seth's faith(his past life), especially if he can sometimes, grudgingly, get himself to admit there might be some magic happening around him(he's not so stubborn as to completely dismiss all of this as explainable). So, for that, I'll stick with it being reflexive for Kaiba. Now, if he prayed out-loud, even on reflex, that might mean something different because that'd be very out of character for him at this point.
From Guest:
Just a little thing that threw me off was when Tet introduced himself he said "A God?" Which is weird considering he was talking about himself.
My Answer:
I know. It is a little weird, but that's how he supposedly introduced the idea of him being a god in the anime, according to the subbed translation I was looking at. So, I went with it. ;) Otherwise, though, thank you for reviewing and enjoying my fic. I hope you like how it turns out!
Chapter 4: Bandit Kieth Style? Or Just Bandit?
Band-it all!
(Ha! XD I made a pun!)
"Long ago, in the distant, distant past, the gods, along with their families and creations, waged an eternal war for the right to rule the world, the right to be the One True God. The long, brutal battle came to a swift end without a victor with the death of the sky, the sea, the land, and the stars. The single deity who had not participated in the battle won by default and assumed the title of One True God. His name was Tet. He was once known as the 'god of play.'
" 'You creatures who have fought with strength and violence, blood and death, who build a tower of corpses that rises to the sky and call yourselves wise, tell me this: What is the difference between you and the dumb beasts?'
"In the face of their shattered world, excuses were meaningless. And then God spoke. 'All murder and robbery in this realm is forbidden,' he said. 'You sixteen races who call yourselves wise: use your wisdom and wit, your fortune and wealth, to build a tower of wisdom. And prove to me... That you have wisdom at all!" the merchant finished explaining with a loud flourish.
"Well that explains a lot," Seto commented off-hand from where he sat leaning against a tree, making notes on his phone, rather bored with the whole proceeding.
"Yes," the merchant agreed before asking, "Now, do you suppose you could leave us with a pair of pants?"
Yami smirked from where he sat to Kaiba's left, arm propped up on a bent knee of his. "No, I don't suppose we can. After all, fair is fair, here. We offered ourselves up to you and your men, risking being sent into slavery. You bet everything you owned in exchange."
The former CEO snorted. "Yeah, and you're lucky we didn't call you out earlier with that little elf of yours helping you cheat." He looked pointedly up from his phone to give a narrowed side glance at the elf in question.
The light-haired individual turned up his nose at them, not bothering to respond to the jab.
"Yes," the ex-Pharaoh commented, "who knew such cheating ran rampant even in this realm."
The brunet rolled his eyes at the shorter teen, moving to stand. "Where there's power, there is greed and corruption." He fixed an eerie smile on his face, looking at the cowering thieves left in nothing but loin-cloths. "Thanks for confirming that."
The leader of the other three thieves, for there was four in total, was left to plead, "P-please!" Kaiba turned away, the bandits 'goods' in his arms to carry with them, a brief case in one hand. "Reconsider! We're-we're sorry!"
"Yami, we're leaving."
The spiky-haired individual gracefully stood-up to follow. "Thank Ra."
"No!" the thieves pleaded from their place on the ground as the two duelist walked away. "Wait! Please! Let us punch you once!" they cried.
Thankfully, due to the younger teen's long strides, it wasn't long before Kaiba could not hear such cries anymore. They were giving him a headache and this world they'd found themselves in did not have aspirin at the ready for him to digest.
"Stupid idiots," he muttered.
"Mmm," his shorter companion agreed, letting them walk once again in silence for a time.
"Yami," the businessman said, breaking their comfortable silence, plagued by troublesome thoughts.
"Hm?"
"The shadow realm," he hesitantly began, not liking that he was somewhat admitting he even believed in such a thing, "is it not a part of this realm?" He had to know, given that other magics were afoot in this world.
The old spirit appeared thoughtful for a moment, not bothering to point out that his rival was talking about a 'magical' realm, before answering, "No, it is a part of all realms, to be called upon by those who can use it. I can still feel it, the shadows pulling on me, on my soul. We are not alone in this adventure." He made a small shadow dance in his hand. "Our strength is still with us." He clenched his fist, effectively extinguishing it. He inhaled sharply, feeling a tug at his soul from the action. It felt familiar and not altogether unpleasant, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was...
He stared determinedly off to the side, lost in his thoughts as Seto elected to ignore his partners' strange behavior and continued walking down the path to the nearby town, a plan already forming on how to find a place to sleep for the night, but first...
The brunet pulled up short. "We need to blend in." He started distributing the cloaks they'd won along with some of their other new possessions. "We can't come out of these woods still looking like we obviously came from another world."
Agreeing, Yami willingly took his portion of the distributed items, finding that the only thing that they did not have at least two of, and an even number of, was the blue jewel that had hung down on the elf's forehead.
The former Pharaoh palmed the jewel, weighing it in his hand. "You know, Seto," he smirked, "I think it'd be best if you wore it." He tried to hand it to the taller teen.
The former CEO didn't see the reason for it. "Why do I have to wear it?"
"To blend in," came the innocent remark.
"So why don't you wear it?"
"It goes with your eyes better," Yami replied, batting his crimson eyes up at the businessman.
The younger teen glared at his infuriating rival, leading to a battle of wills that lasted for several long seconds before Kaiba gave in with an angry growl, snatching the jewel out of the shorter teen's hand. "Fine!" He fixed the jewel of cobalt onto his head, letting it fall on the middle of his forehead, partially obscured by his bangs. As Yami had mentioned before, the gem and his rival's eye color were a near match, much more appropriate than a red-eyed fiend like him wearing it.
The brunet did not seem to share the same sentiment in regards to the stone and strode purposefully fast through the remainder of the woods to get to the nearby little town, leaving the spiky-haired teen to chuckle to himself over the childishness of his sometimes friend.
Making it out of the woods, they came across more of the common-folk from this town, farmers and merchants. Many of them would stop and stare at the two teens as they made their way swiftly down the hill ridden path.
Their whispers did not go unnoticed by the two, and Kaiba promptly slowed down in his steps to let Yami catch up. "Do you think they know?" he discreetly asked his blond rival. Only Yami's hood was up because of his outrageous hair. Kaiba had thought he was safe with having his down since his was comparatively normal and not a 'dead give-away' to where they were from, was he wrong in doing so? Was weird hair more the norm here than his? Thinking back on the God Tet wasn't helpful on the matter...
Before the shadow-wielder could answer, a young child broke away from her mother further down the path and ran up to the taller teen, pointing at his forehead. "Are you an elf?"
Both of the other worldly teens were at a loss.
"What?" the brunet manage to get out.
The child blink inquisitively up at them. "Do you have pointy ears, too?" She pointed to her ears at if it might help illustrate her point to them. "Are they covered by your hair and that collar of your cloak?" The child looked like she wanted to reach up and check for herself, but, thankfully, she wasn't tall enough.
"Alisha!" the fearful voice of the girl's mother came as she scooped up her child into her arms, checking her over as if to make sure she was unharmed. After the girl was deemed safe, the woman turned her attention to the two teens, bowing slightly at the hip. "Forgive her for bothering you, she meant nothing by it. She is just a curious child who has obviously never seen an elf before. My apologies." She bowed again.
The former CEO stood there dumbfounded. 'Did he really look like an elf?'
Meanwhile, his rival was in a fit of giggles, overjoyed at the misunderstanding.
The farm-woman knocked him upside the head. "Don't be laughing at your master, young man. I thought you would know better than that for your own good." She turned back to addressing the blue-eyed teen. "I apologize on his behalf. Please do not punish the boy over these turn of events."
"Mama!" The girl piped up from in her mother's arms. "I wanna see the elf ears." She was stretching and twisting in her mother's grip, almost making the woman drop her.
"No, Alisha! Stop it!" she scolded, before give the two teens a forced smile. "My apologies again. Please, have mercy on Humanity." She bowed again to Kaiba before quickly scurrying off with her struggling daughter in her arms.
Yami blushed profusely. "S-servant?!"
The business man snickered into his palm.
The ex-Pharaoh glared at him.
"Serves you right," the brunet told him, setting back towards walking.
It wasn't long before the duo was stopped again, this time by a grown man, obviously a merchant, asking the presumed elf if he could buy his servant from him.
Kaiba answered 'yes' just to be an ass before Yami could correct the man in his thinking, but relented in saying that he 'supposed' he had become too attached to his slave to be able to sell him.
Yami did not appreciate this and had some choice words for the both of them, and had to restrain himself from sending a shadow monster other than a fluffy Kuriboh to chase after the horrible trader.
The trader, though, was not deterred and, perhaps, was made all the more determined to gain Yami as a slave to sell, and decided to challenge the 'elf' to a game for the blond teen.
"Fine, I accept, if only my servant gets to be the one to play instead," came Kaiba's response.
The merchant looked unsure and a little angry at the requirement. "Why?"
"It's only fair. It's his life hanging in the balance, not mine," came his off-hand response. The shorter teen was still simmering over the whole discussion without his input.
The scruffy looking man stroked his beard in thought. "Hmm... When you put it that way, I guess it is only fair." His eyes narrowed at the brunet. "Being awfully fair to a member of Humanity... makes me kinda wonder..."
The taller teen didn't like where this could possibly be going. "Oh?" came his sharp response.
The man shook his head, waving it off. "Eh! It's nothin'. Let's play!"
"Then, if my servant wins," he eyed the pouch of coins strapped to the man's belt, "then all those coins on your belt and any other valuables on you are ours. Agreed?"
The trader nodded. "Fair deal. Now, may I suggest a game?"
"Well, you certainly turned polite," Yami muttered darkly, the eye of Horus briefly flashing on his forehead, the cloak obscuring it from view.
The two other males ignored the 'servant', allowing for Kaiba to continue with, "No, I'm sure whatever game you pick will be sufficient." He smiled devilishly at their opponent, but the merchant didn't seem fazed by it, returning it with one of his own.
"Quite good, then. I'm a simple man. How 'bout we just draw a card from this deck?" He produced a perfectly fine one from his back pocket. "Ace's are high, two's are low. Whoever draws the highest card wins. Sound good?"
Yami begrudgingly nodded alongside his 'handler', the thought alone made him want to growl and howl in rage. His royal blood was boiling at their presumptuousness.
After they, the merchant and Yami, swore on the pledges, they started with their high stakes game.
"I give the first draw to your lovely servant." The man held the deck out to Yami.
The former King of Games glared at the degrading man, quickly sliding a card out of the deck. He showed it to be the black queen of spades.
"Ah! Good choice. That's going to be hard to beat," the trader commented with a playful smile.
The slave's eyes-narrowed at the merchant as he picked his card, spotting the cheat immediately.
"What the-?!" Dark shadow magic enveloped the card, quickly placing it in the shadow wielder's hand instead for examination. Yami's vibrant read eyes examined the card and noted the barely noticeably ridges on the card's side, showing that in 'picking' this particular red ace of diamonds, the trader was cheating, and he said as much.
"Therefore, dirty-trader, your ability to play with luck is nothing and we will be taking all the riches on your person."
The merchant looked outraged at the accusation, but had nothing to disprove him except an angry, "But, that was magic I just saw!?" which wasn't exactly helpful to his cause.
"Yes, it was," the former Pharaoh stated venomously, eye of Horus glowing all the more brightly on his forehead for the trader to see, eyes turning white, radiating power. He felt the shadows tugging and prodding at his soul, begging to be released, something he hadn't felt in awhile being so unchecked by his aibou. He wanted to release all this pent up energy upon this unwise fool. It was intoxicating, and he knew he shouldn't be indulging in it, but, still...
"Atem," said his former High Priest. Yami almost had to do a double take to make sure it was not Seth talking to him, but, rather, his reincarnation. "Enough, the man is already complying with the rules of the game."
And, sure enough, even with all the fear running through the man at the display the shorter teen was putting on, he had already dropped all of his valuables at their feet, his hands being possessed by the pledges they'd taken.
The ex-Pharaoh did not feel satisfied at this and quickly drew out his dark magician from his deck which was strapped in it's holder at his waist. Raising his hand, he made to summon it.
"Atem!" came that commanding voice of his rival's again, a hand grabbing his wrist. "Enough!" he hissed.
This allowed for the trader to finally struggle loose from the fear that had gripped him and run raggedly towards the town at a rapid pace.
The former King of Games growled in annoyance at being stopped, turning his burning gaze upon his only 'friend' in this realm.
A blue-eyed gaze met his evenly. Under their undaunted stare, Yami's eyes slowly turned back to their normal crimson, the eye of Horus disappearing.
Kaiba let go of his grip on Yami's arm, the shorter teen huffing and glaring at the ground off to the side of the path moodily. He could feel the cool gaze of the brunet's on his back, knowing the younger teen was waiting for an answer.
"Fine," the shorter teen sourly conceded, "you can take the damn jewel off."
The former CEO sighed, easily slipping back into their old banter mode. "You know," he smiled smugly at him, "I think I liked this new master slave relationship."
But it seemed that it wouldn't be that easy for the rivals with Yami's anger returning to it's last height of rage. "I have not, nor will I ever, be a slave!" The eye of Horus flashed brightly once more, convincing Kaiba to drop the topic, pocket the offensive piece of jewelry, and never bring it up again as they continued their walk into town in relatively strained silence.