A/N: I had meant to make a note of this earlier, the one big downfall of trying to avoid inserting author's notes. I am so thankful to anyone out there, reading and reviewing for me. I just needed to take a moment to appreciate my audience. I know this isn't the lightest, fluffiest story, and writing it does slice open my chest a bit. But thank you to those who are sticking this out and making it worth the pain.
(Just a note: I've given some minor editing to this chapter in regard to setting.)
~omgagr
Seto Kaiba pushed double doors open wide with his long arms and strode with heavy footsteps into the makeshift stadium. It hadn't taken much to gain clearance to the hospital's parking garage. Spotlights flashed on all around him. At his demand, tech specialists had quickly set up the light system and several cameras and microphones to record and broadcast the duel as it played out.
A duel for the ages.
The familiar rush of blood, the bubbling excitement, and the steely determination flooded him. The sensations had become so deeply ingrained that Seto so instinctually knew the feeling, even the sounds and smells that came with the arena.
So when Seto felt his coattails fanned out fiercely behind him in the wind, and all he could hear was the echo of a single set of footsteps, Seto whirled around. The absence of Mokuba's eager footsteps traipsing behind him sounded so odd, so off that he couldn't imagine a reason for the lack.
For just a moment, Seto expected to hear the sound of Mokuba's feet slamming against the concrete, hastily trying to catch up. Until he remembered.
The frown set in a hard line on his face, and he steeled himself for the battle that lie ahead of him. Seto moved to his place across the arena from the current King of Games.
Both men, now sporting KaibaCorp.'s newly improved duel disks, stood opposite one another on the ground floor of the large garage. A circular ramp ran upward and downward to access the next levels of the large structure. Every spoken word, every scrape of a sole against the cement, was amplified and echoed through the great, hollow hall. This gave the stadium – now empty save for a few parked cars, the duelists, Atem's fan club, and a few tech team stragglers – a powerful, booming aura. As the two duelists settled into position, nobody spoke a word.
Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu stood along the ramp above and behind Atem. Yugi was the first to break the dramatic silence as he began shouting down his own words of encouragement.
"You can do this, Atem!"
"Yeah!" Honda chipped in. "Wipe the floor with him!"
"Man, it's been a while since we've seen these guys butt heads like this," Jounouchi said aloud, not really speaking to anyone in particular.
"I gotta say," Honda spoke up, "Odd as it sounds, I think I kinda missed it." Nods of agreement circled through the party.
"Ya know, guys," Jounouchi drawled loud enough for the duelists below to hear him, "This duel is gonna be exciting and all, but you should make it more interesting and put something on the line!"
Seto slid his deck into the slot on his duel disk and looked up at the man speaking. "You've got a big mouth for someone who isn't even in the game, Jounouchi!" He shouted back. He got no answer but continued speaking, now looking at Atem. "A wager has already been made."
"It has? I didn't hear about that." Jou looked around at his friends. "What did they wager?" He asked, but they all shrugged their shoulders, except for Yugi.
Looking down solemnly at his partner, Yugi said, "Pride."
"Fair point," Honda nodded.
"Neither of these guys need to have anything else at stake to make this an important duel. They'll both always have their pride and their need to be better than the other."
"Yeah. But the problem is that only one of them can win, so someone's going to have to go home with a bruised ego." Anzu said sadly. "So much for a reunion."
"Well," Yugi reassured. "They both knew that going into this."
"Hmph. It looks like your reign didn't last as long as you thought it might, your highness! Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack Atem's weakened Magician of Black Chaos and take out the rest of his life points!"
"Not so fast, Kaiba! As always, I have just the right card to turn the match around. I activate my face-down card, Mirror Force, sending your attack back at you, wiping out the rest of your life points instead of my own. Sorry to disappoint you Kaiba, but I think I'll be keeping my crown for one more duel."
Seto let his eyes slip closed, but he wasn't bracing himself. He wanted to smirk and betray his final plan, but a sense of solemnity swept over him, leaving nothing but a cold, hard mask. Mokuba should be here to see me win, he thought before he could stop himself. When Seto spoke aloud, his voice came out deep and loud, powerful but lacking his old angry intensity.
"You're as predictable as ever, Atem. I knew you'd try to pull a cheap trick to steal my victory at the last second."
"What are you saying?" Atem growled, paused in his movements.
Seto let the sentence roll around in his head again. Mokuba should be here to see me win. The fact that he'd never seen Seto get to shove Atem's face into the dirt like he'd craved had been gnawing at him throughout the duel. Now that he was about to play his winning card, Seto couldn't let his still-raw grief bury him. He forced out a slow breath, then let the winds of his victory carry him.
"So I laid this card down, and I activate it now. Go, Seven Tools Of The Bandit! At the cost of one thousand life points, your trap is negated. I'm left with only one hundred points, but you're left with with no cards in your hand or on the field to protect your weak magician from my attack. Now, my dragon! Bring me my victory!"
Atem grunted in frustration as the blast hit him and his life point counter dropped to zero. The disappointed groans of Atem's friends sang down from the ramp. But Seto had no one to cheer for his victory. In his moment, he allowed himself to be caught up in weakness. He let himself fall back on the tape of old memories.
The stadium was brightly lit by the afternoon sun, and a loud rumble of cheers and stomping feet rang from the crowd, chanting his name. A younger Mokuba standing on his sideline leapt up and cheered the loudest. "Yeah! He won!"
Seto spliced the memories together, laying the soundtrack of the cheers over his surge of elated pride. It was a rough transition – a delusion, he admitted – but Mokuba deserved to be present for this long-sought moment.
When his savoring moment was over, the two men stepped to the middle of the ring. Each looked the other dead in the eye, but Seto offered out his hand. Atem grasped it firmly and shook it, accepting Seto's unexpected gesture.
"Well, Kaiba, how does to feel to be king once again after all these years?" Atem asked, a light teasing tone entering his voice. He didn't appear to be taking defeat very poorly.
Kaiba only smirked, saying, "You're just lucky I'm not going to make you bow at my feet and grovel." He dropped the other's hand. "You gave me a good battle, as always. I must admit, no other opponent has been able to keep me on my toes quite like you do."
Atem nodded with a smirk. "Likewise, my old friend."
The cheering squad caught up with the duelists as the spotlights began to dim. The show was over, and a new king had been crowned. Thanks to the camera crews, now the whole world would know: Seto Kaiba was champion once again.
Seto turned, with a steely glint in his eye, to the exit. He stepped wordlessly away from the small crowd. He'd never felt a more empty victory.
