Title: Sunrise

Author: Moonlight Reflection

Notes: Sorry for the wait. Again.

Many thanks to Nalan-san for beta-reading this chapter, and putting up with my nonsense. :)

        Yami no Yuugi did not smile when he found himself looking into Anzu's large blue eyes. Instead, he looked more confused than ever about her presence, but it didn't matter. Anzu was doing enough smiling to make up for his lack thereof.

        She also did enough crying and screaming to alert the rest of the building of the unexpected development, so it was no wonder that approximately twenty seconds later, Honda and Jyounouchi found themselves staring into a room with no little sense of wonder in their eyes. It didn't take long from there for them to also be wrapped up in a rather ecstatic and twice disturbing hug-fest, although Yami gingerly stayed apart from the rest. He watched them for a while, and then he turned to stare at the wall – which, except for him, was the only object in the room that wasn't about to become hysterical.

        Nobody noticed, but again, that was okay. He was used to nobody noticing what he did, and he couldn't help but like it quite a bit more than having every one of his moves scrutinized by the general population. Or anybody in particular. It was such a change from his previous position where everyone watched him that he had no doubt some thought him odd to be acting this way. But perhaps it was because he had been in the spotlight so long that he had needed to get away and discover the wonders of solitude. This way, at least, he could think… and it had been so long since his thoughts had been good instead of downright depressing. Been a long time since he'd had any change in the consistency of his thoughts, which had for so long revolved around the blame he took on for the continuing destruction of the world. That had been the only thought that Yami no Malik had allowed to let him have, and in a way, the only thought that he himself would allow him to have.

        It was disturbing to realize, now that he was in a somewhat clearer state of mind, that the reason why he had been so ensnared was more of his own guilt than anything the psychopath had really done to him. Yami no Malik hadn't helped, certainly, and it had been his fault that Yuugi was… gone. But knowing that had never been enough because Yuugi was never supposed to be gone in the first place, and thus the constant thought of guilt and self-hatred soon because the only thing that would process in his fragmented mind.

        It was still there, of course. And his mind was still in those pieces. He would never be able to let go of it, even if he had tried, and he would never be able to put the pieces back together perfectly . But beyond that, there was something else. And that something else was allowing him, for the first time, to see everything a little bit more clearly than he had before.

        So while everyone else let themselves be blinded by happiness, he quietly locked away all those tedious emotions and started to think. And crazy as it sounded, he currently recognized the wall as the most sane thing in the entire room.

        "He's awake."

        Shaadii's calm observation was barely acknowledged by Kaiba, who grunted and went back to tinkering with a small machine that he had been in the middle of creating when Shaadii had taken the time to interrupt him. His inventions were the backbone of the small rebellion, and he had an excellent success rate.

        Unfortunately, he had an equally good rate of failure, and those were the kinds of things that they really couldn't afford. He wished that they could have a change to test his little toys, but since they were so scrapped for materials, such musings remained nothing more than wisps of air that cluttered his brain with useless things.

        Of course, it wasn't like he was the only person who wished they worked all the time. The poor people who got blown up or killed because of his 'failures' probably wished the same thing too, although usually they didn't have enough time to muse about such things. And even if they did, they usually concentrated on other things, most significantly the pain that they were probably feeling at the time.

        Nobody ever said this job was easy.

        The silence that followed the comment was deafening, but Kaiba didn't mind. He liked the quiet, which was strange since his boyfriend was one of the loudest people in the entire station. And it seemed like he was quite proud of this accomplishment too, considering how often Otogi would prance around annoying the hell out of everyone although he really did have a nice voice to listen to.

        Sidetracking.

        Again.

        But anyhow, Otogi was a general pain in the ass, and Kaiba usually didn't have the patience to deal with such things. So it was pretty strange that the two could even bear to be in the same room together, although they had really never bothered to think about it anyway.

        Then again, quite a bit of the time that they were together didn't exactly involve speech anyway….

        That was, as pleasantly blissful at it was, a different story, and thus a complete deviation from the topic on hand. Although he wasn't quite sure what that topic was. Still, considering how nothing had happened in the past couple of minutes, he figured that Shaadii was waiting for him to say something, so he decided to make his words short and sweet.

        Well, short, at least, if not sweet.

        "I know," he replied, never taking his eyes off of the small machine he was working on. "It's hard not to know with the way Anzu is screaming like that."

        "It's time."

        Time. Time for what, pray tell? Time to go out there on a suicide mission? Time to go get themselves killed? What? What did it matter if the pharaoh woke up or not? He was still useless, and he was still a liability. They had risked their lives for this… this… person, and more than one of them was paying the price for it. So what was it time for?

        Still never moving his eyes, Kaiba continued to work. And Shaadii continued to watch him, but a part of him wished that he hadn't when the next words made themselves known.

        "What is his purpose?"

        Shaadii stared. It wasn't a surprised stare because that would take away from his mysterious aura, but it was a stare nevertheless.

        "You told us to save him. I didn't ask questions then because it wasn't like we had anything else to do. Everything we've done to this point have just been annoyances – it's like Yami no Malik is playing a game with us and he knows that he can take his time since we can't really do much damage. This mission of yours was supposed to be something more… a chance to really accomplish something… but so far I haven't seen anything come out of it. And considering what that bastard got in exchange, I don't really think he cares that the pharaoh is gone. Which is good because he doesn't know why we rescued him in the first place, but at the same time, I still don't know why the hell we're doing this. I don't believe in this occult crap, but that's all that seemed to be working these days. So I did what you asked me to. And I lost something very important. But what does that matter? What's the life of one person if it can save the rest of the world? So again, I didn't ask questions. It's different now, though. I want to know why the hell you told us to do this, why he's needed, and why the hell is any of this is happening. And don't give me any of your crap about how it can't be told or I don't need to know because I do need to know why this world's gone to shit and how the play-king is supposed to do anything about it when he can barely stand on his own is beyond me."

        Shaadii never flinched throughout this speech – a commendable accomplishment – and his expression never changed either. Once Kaiba had finished his completely monotone words, he just eyed him for a moment longer before turning around and walking out of the room.

        Kaiba didn't stop him, although a part of him wanted to. Well, a part of him wanted to throw something preferably large and heavy at the Egyptian's head which would be sure to stop him, but he managed to resist somehow.

        A commendable accomplishment.

        He didn't even bother to look up when he heard the door shut, although he did set aside the pieces that he'd working with.

        And when he finally did look up, he stared at the wall.

        The wall couldn't answer any of his questions, but he didn't have any questions to ask it in the first place.

        It felt like he was drowning.

        Strange way to die, he thought blearily. Drowning, that is. What were you supposed to do as the water closed in around you, and you tried so desperately to get a breath of that life-sustaining oxygen only to realize that there wasn't really any around you? That you had nothing else to do but wait to die?

        Except that wasn't really right because there was oxygen in the water. This fact was emphasized by the fish swimming by, although there were no fish in this particular place. Probably was his imagination, which would make sense since everyone seemed out to get him. Why not his mind too, making him realize that what he needed most was around him, but not in any usable form?

        Worst of all, he was going to be dying in approximately five inches of water. This did not sit well with him, especially since he didn't want future generations (assuming there were going to be any, but Otogi liked to look on the bright side of things when the dark side was only going to depress him further) to remember him as the idiot who drowned in five inches of water. Not that it was exactly his choice, but it would be embarrassing nevertheless.

        So he struggled, but there wasn't really much struggling to do. He wasn't exactly in any state to be doing so, and even if he had been the presence of several armed and extremely muscular guards against one rather skinny individual who depended on dice more than anything was never very good odds.

        It was laughable, actually.

        Very laughable.

        Especially when two of them were holding you down.

        Okay, so maybe it wasn't that funny.

        He could probably see them if he tried to, but he had other worries at the moment. Most of them revolved around surviving, although he had no idea why he would care for that. Life wasn't exactly a picnic; compared to this lovely romp through real-life purgatory, death would probably be rewarding.

        But he didn't really want to die without punching Kaiba in the face and screaming 'I told you so!' even though he didn't really have anything that he could claim he knew. But he was sure that he would find something, and then he would enjoy rubbing it into Kaiba's face.

        And somewhere, in the back of his mind, somebody wondered why he was having these thoughts.

        They were strange thoughts to be having while you die.

        But then again, what kind of thoughts were you supposed to have? It wasn't like anybody could write a book on it – usually if they were in the process of dying, they ended up in a state where being talkative was one of the last things on their mind. Thinking was too, now that he thought of it, but still….

        The next thing he knew though, he was being quite happily dragged back out of the water, which he would have noticed was a bathtub if he had been in the right state of mind.

        He hadn't been in the right state of mind, so he hadn't noticed, and now that he was out of there, he decided that he really didn't care.

        There were, after all, more important things to worry about, like the appearance of the psychopath that was currently having the time of his life making your life a living hell.

        Not to imply that he was actually coherent enough to realize that Yami no Malik had come to supervise… whatever the hell this was. He was still too busy trying to breathe and even seeing was becoming a bit of a task.

        And not a very pleasant one at that, since by the time he was able to see again, the only thing he could see ended up being the last person he ever wanted to see again.

        Yami no Malik looked down at him, an amused expression tainting his lips. It was better than seeing his blood there, at least, so he wouldn't have said anything even if he was in a position to. Instead, he just lay there where the guards had dropped him, looking back at the spirit resignedly.

        "They're coming."

        Otogi blinked at him but didn't say anything. It was a kind of observation that didn't really leave any room for things to be said.

        "They will all come, I think. Except Shaadii, but he never amounted to much. I will hunt him down later, once this is over. The others though, they will come. Perhaps even the pharaoh, who knows? But what will he be able to do? He is still weak, just as everyone else.

        "It will end then. Once they lose, I will have nothing to hold me back. And they will lose because they have always lost before, and now they are fewer in number. But despite that, they will try again anyway because they have nothing else to lose, and this will be their final stand.

        "Pathetic."

        He felt obliged to say something in defense of his friends and comrades at arms, but he couldn't really think or anything. Perhaps he could have pointed out that they were not the only ones, as there were the men and women that trained daily in their small complex. But perhaps he knew as well as anyone that those people were still too green, as everyone who was experienced had been sacrificed on the suicidal trips through the enemy land. Everyone except them, but wasn't Yami no Malik right? What did they amount to, in the end?

        Nothing.

        He didn't really want to say anything that benefited the spirit, so he just stayed silent as Yami no Malik crouched down so that if he was sitting up, they would have been face to face.

        "I'm not worried about the girl, or the two boys. My men and monsters can take care of them. And the pharaoh can be easily taken care of, with the right decisions. He only needs to have one sentence said to unbalance him – one reminder of the burden he carries on his shoulders – and he will fall.

        "Then the only one left is him."

        There was no question about who him was. There was only one person left.

        Otogi didn't move when Yami no Malik reached out for a lock of his hair, twisting it idlely around a finger in a way that resembled himself so much that he wanted to scream.

        "But I have the perfect person to take care of him, don't I?"

        When nothing was said, the spirit pulled harshly on his hair, and he winced. What, did the evil dictator actually expect an answer? For a sudden, awe-inspiring moment, he wondered if he should have been writing down notes about everything that had just been said. It wasn't everyday that your greatest enemy spilled his evil plans to you, although there wasn't much to do about it since he was here instead of with his friends.

        Yami no Malik was still looking down at him, his movements oddly… curious. Intrigued.

        Wrong.

        "Don't I," he repeated more to himself than anybody else, and suddenly the only thing Otogi could feel was the ice running down his spine.

        It had taken relatively little time for the five to prepare, but they had taken everything they needed and left nothing behind. There would be no need to save things, especially if they did not succeed. For the world would end and nobody would have any use for such things, except perhaps the aliens who might one day visit and sell their things as trinkets.

        This was the last stand, the do or die. Whether they won or lost, they would never have to fight again, although one option was preferable to the other. It seemed to Kaiba, however, nothing more than a suicide mission, something for which people died unnecessarily but later were sung about by maidens with fair voices.

        That was the theory, at least.

        He knew of no maidens who worried more about singing than the fact that people had died for nothing more than glory, so he decided to push that to the back of his mind as he glanced around. They were a small, ragged, and pathetic group, and they were the best that humanity had. Which basically meant that humanity was screwed, although he wasn't about to go and voice that when they were about to go get themselves killed. Best to let everyone have an ounce of hope, although he knew that nobody would bother to harbor such delusions.

        Shaadii was with them, although he wasn't going to go. Kaiba hated him the most right now, with the way he couldn't give an answer about whether or not they would succeed. Why bother having a prophet – not that he was one, but he was the closest thing they did have to such a creature – if he couldn't even tell you the most important things?

        Some of the trainees had come as well to see them off, their faces grim and devoid of any emotion. They knew as well that the small group was only leaving to die, and they did nothing about it. What else was there to do – go with them and end up in the slaughter themselves? No, best to bide their time and wait patiently for death, for it was sure to come and receive them with open arms once these five were gone.

        It was five, although one of their number was gone. But that person had been replaced, and now the pharaoh stood a bit to the side staring at the wall. He had nothing remotely resembling a weapon, instead looking remarkably like the child Kaiba had known during Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. The puzzle shone, although it was nowhere near as pristine and glorious as it had been before, instead looking now like a piece of unwanted trash.

        Yami hadn't said anything since his 'awakening', which led Kaiba to wonder if the whole thing had been nothing more than a fluke. Because if that was the case, then they really were going there just to die, and he hated that thought. At least the pharaoh's presence would have been a reason, a justification of sorts, but if he had not changed at all, then what was the point?

        Shaadii was saying something now, and he listened with only half an ear. It was the usual stuff, but it didn't really matter him because he knew what he was going to do as soon as he got there. He knew what he had to do, and he didn't really care about what anybody else had to say about the whole sordid affair. It was his time to do something for himself, and since he was probably going to die anyway, he at least wanted to be in the presence of somebody he loved.

        He could admit that now, at least.

        "Kaiba."

        The voice was soft, hoarse. The brunet looked down at him sharply, as if he couldn't believe that Yami would even dare approach him.

        So he can speak, his mind bit sardonically, but he chose to keep watching the pharaoh, waiting for something pertinent to be said.

        It amazed Kaiba that the spirit of the puzzle – was he still considered a spirit now that he had permanent possession of Yuugi's body though? – could look so calm. It wasn't the dazed, unconscious calm that he'd been victim to when the group had brought him here, but one that was deadly and focused. One that was remarkably like his….

        "The sun will rise tomorrow."

        He opened his mouth to ask Yami what the hell could that have meant, but by then the pharaoh had lost interest in the whole thing and withdrawn back into himself, leaving Kaiba alone with those five words that were so easy to understand yet completely incomprehensible at the same time.

        He thought about that for a moment, trying to figure out what the significance of the phrase was.

        The sun will rise tomorrow.

        Idiot. Didn't he know that the sun would never rise again? Not while he was around, at least, and he was going to be around for quite a while it seemed….

        Didn't he know that it wasn't right to get people's hopes up?

        Did he even care?

        Upon failing to come up with an answer, Kaiba decided they were all going to hell.

        I basically wrote that all in 2 days. The problem was that those 2 days were spaced reeeeaaaaallllly far apart.

        Go me.

        So, anyhow, in reference to the future… I'm planning on one more chapter and an epilogue, although the next chapter will be very long.

        I apologize ahead of time for the wait that is to come.