Kukki Boo:It's okay, the internet is confusing for everyone(ESPECIALLY people like me. Which is funny, considering I've been doing this fan fiction thing for so long) I actually got my chapter to be a perfect size this time and I'm super happy with how it turned out. Hopefully you'll like it too! Thanks for the review!
Blackdemondragon: I know, right? It's got all those fabulous plot twists we know and love! Although if you love plot twists, you should really consider seeing Moulin Rouge. It's not only a great movie, but it's also got all the most amazing plot twists you could think of!(the only thing it's missing are the Kaiba Brothers XP) Thanks for the review!
AmePiper: I can always count on you to love whatever I think is crap. Oh my gosh, You're kind of like Jesus. No seriously, check out this connection; Jesus turned water into wine, while you can make fail into not fail!…Okay, that was really bad-.- Oh man, I'm lame, but I do love my Jesus. He's awesome. Yeah, that sucks about all those alerts. Thankfully I'm too old school for alerts(well, it's not that, but alerts came around when I had kind of stopped reading fan fictions and focused mainly on writing them) I try to read them occasionally, but I can never come across anything really amazing. Anyhow, I really wanna get this chapter up, so thanks for your review and enjoy the chapter!
Kes-Bluehope: Thanks for the review!
YinYangWhiteTiger: Hahaha, I loved all your reviews! They were all quirky and unique and all their special little ways! Thanks so much, enjoy the chapter!
Rena Redhead: I'm not entirely sure at this point if you're currently caught up with all my stories or not, but I think you are. Good stuff! Yami Yugi gang package… heh. Love those kids. You know what I just realized? Ryo and Marik are like Timon and Pumba in the Lion King 2. Seriously, those guys were pretty much useless, but I love them all the same. I wish I could be noble to some extent. Did you know that wow is my favorite word? Just a random fact to throw in there. Cause I burned the friggin Game Shop down, I'm planning on coming for the rain forest next!(cause I'm simply THAT hard core) I actually liked the last chapter a lot too, but I love this one more and I hope you do too. Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 10: Home Is Where The Soul Is
Lights. All kinds of shiny white lights. But sometimes they weren't white. They could be red too. Maybe even blue. But no matter what color they were, they always appeared blurry. Looking around the hallway, falling in and out of consciousness, and changing location all the while; somehow Yami was able to figure out somewhat of what was going on. He was going somewhere related to medicine. That's the only connection he could really make, considering how out of it he was.
At one point, his body had been transferred onto another moving thing, and he was being rushed through hallways with more blurry lights. Everything was swishing around him. Yami turned his head to the side to try and get a better sense of what was going on, when he saw another person being wheeled right beside him on another stretcher. It was Yugi. He was unconscious. Yami wanted to call out to him and see if he was okay, but he felt his eye lids get very heavy and fell into a deep, deep slumber of sorts.
Next thing he knew, Yami was awake and okay, standing up right without a scratch on his body. Yami blinked for a moment, completely confused as to what was going on. He was in some place that was completely black. There was literally nothing around, and it appeared as though he himself were glowing. As if he were in some sort of ghost-like form.
"Hey! Hey you!" A voice called from nearby, "Hey! Do you know where I am?" Yami turned all the way around to get a glimpse of the person calling out to him and to his surprise, it was Yugi. Yugi stopped in his tracks once he saw Yami.
"Woah… it's you! What are you doing here?" Yugi slowly approached him until he and Yami were standing exactly opposite from one another. "Do you know where we are?" Yami looked around, trying to get a sense of his surroundings and trying to figure out what place they could possibly be in. Only one thing came to mind.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're back in our soul room."
"Soul room? But… I don't understand. The last thing I remember was being the Game Shop… and you," Yugi's eyes widened, "You saved me… but why would a complete stranger I just met risk his life for me?" Yami walked over to him and took in a deep breath. This was going to be hard, but Yami couldn't stand it anymore. He wanted, no, needed to tell Yugi the truth, or at least attempt to spark Yugi's memory back once more.
"Yugi, there's something I need to tell you. And… I hope that maybe, after I tell you this, things will become much more clear in your mind." Yugi nodded, anticipation was growing within him. Yugi needed some explanation. Things were already too weird. Yami took in a deep breath. 'Well, here it goes…' he thought to himself.
"Long ago, when the pyramids were still young, Egyptian kings played a game of great and terrible power. But these shadow games erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the entire world, until a brave and powerful pharaoh locked the magic away, imprisoning it within the mystical Millennium Items. Now, five thousand years later, a boy named Yugi unlocks the secret of the Millennium Puzzle. He is infused with ancient magical energies, for destiny has chosen him to defend the world from the return of the shadow games, just as the brave pharaoh did, five thousand years ago." Yugi eyes were wide, but his face was blank, holding absolutely no expression. Yami was stared at him back, just as wide eyed, and the two looked confusingly at one another until finally one of them spoke.
"…um, what? Pharaohs? Items? Shadow games? What in the heck are YOU smoking?" Yami sighed with embarrassment.
"Yugi, don't you see? You were the boy that unlocked the puzzle, I was the Pharaoh that's spirit was bound to it, you were supposed to solve the Millennium Puzzle! We're supposed to be bound to one another through the Millennium Puzzle, fighting villains and saving the world together. Doesn't any of that ring a bell?" Yugi was about to reply with the only answer that was logical; no. But, suddenly… the answer didn't seem so concrete, or logical for that matter. It seemed… like Yami was making sense.
"I… I mean, I know I have no idea what you're talking about, but for some reason… being in this place. It seems all too familiar. And your story… it seems all too… commercial. But… there's something…" Yugi shook his head and brought his hand up. This couldn't be real, he knew that for sure. But why was he having such a hard time accepting that? Something deep, deep down inside was telling him to re-think the whole thing. Something was trying to come back to him.
"You must remember Yugi… you have to remember when you first assembled the puzzle. The wish you had made when you had finally put it all together. You wanted true friends. People that would stand by your side through thick and thin.
Or maybe the first time you became aware of my presence. We were dueling against Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom, I was about to make my attack and send Kaiba to his doom. But you… stopped me. You kept me in check and I realized you were my light. Yugi… we're two souls of the same person. We are one." Yugi wanted to shoot him down, to tell him he had it all wrong. But slowly, and suddenly, it was all beginning to come back to him.
Little bits of memories, here and there, random images, flashed through his mind. They were flashing so quickly, and they were so vague as a whole, Yugi wasn't sure what to think of them. It was all starting to come back to him, Yami could see it in his eyes. Before Yugi could fully comprehend what spasm his brain was having, he found himself being pulled away towards a light that had appeared behind him.
"Woah, where am I going?" Yugi asked, looking back at the light he was being pulled towards. Then his eyes moved back over to Yami, whom was staring at him with a slight bit of hurt behind his expression. "I still don't know if it's real."
"The outside is calling you, Yugi, now you must go."
"But wait, I want to know more! I want to understand!" Yugi was trying to run towards him, but Yami only seemed to float farther and farther away.
"I'll be here… even though you are not aware of it, we are still connected to each other's souls. We will meet again." Yugi tried to call out once more to Yami, but the light had already blinded him and he was back in the real world. He slowly opened his eyes and realized he was in a hospital.
Yugi, without really realizing it, turned his head to the side, and spotted Yami lying in the hospital bed beside him. He wanted to say something aloud, but he didn't know what. In his mind he was still trying to figure out all that had gone on through his mind.
Was that all real, or was it just a dream?
Seto hadn't known of a more intense ride home. He had managed to catch a cab to use to get home, but the tension did not cease. When they had all piled into the car, at first, Seto wasn't even sure where to go. But with a little democracy involved, it was decided that they should all head back to the Kaiba Mansion and stay there for the time being.
The ride seemed like the longest one Seto had ever been on. Everyone was silent; Ryo and Marik sat beside one another, while Mokuba stared out the window with a hopeless look on his face. Seto realized then that he didn't know any of the people he was stuck with, except for Mokuba. But even he was avoiding contact.
When they paid the cab and got out, Seto let out a long sigh. It had been a long and troubling day, and for once the Kaiba Mansion looked appealing. As they made their way through the gates and towards the front door, Seto felt a small hand climb into his. Seto glanced down to his side for a brief moment; Mokuba's face was dark with sadness.
"Hey Kaiba, thanks again for letting us tag along with you," Marik said quietly.
"No problem, I suppose," Seto stated, getting out his keys and putting it into the knob of the door.
"This is a pretty big place you have here, do you even have enough people to fill it up?" Seto shrugged.
"Not really, but who knows, maybe you guys will be enough to make the place seem less empty." Seto pushed open the door and to his surprise found that the house was already well lit. This was an odd surprise, especially since the house should've been unoccupied nearly the whole day.
"Master Kaiba! There you are!" Isono called from another room, before rushing in, "Thank goodness! I've been trying to reach you all day. Where have you been?" Seto eyed him, what was Isono still doing here at this hour?
"I've been…out," Seto said, "What are you doing here? Your shift ended a while ago."
"Well, I simply couldn't leave with guests in the house." Seto lifted one eyebrow.
"Guests?" Isono shook his head.
"Master Kaiba, do not tell me you have already forgotten about your parents arriving today!" Seto stared at him.
"My… parents?"
"Oh Seto! There you are! Honey, we've been waiting all day!" A tall, lean woman ran into the room, her dark eyes sparkling with tears of joy. A equally tall man walked into the room, remaining calm and collected as he neared the crowd. Seto dropped his keys onto the ground and stared at them wide eyed. It was his… parents. His real life parents. They looked exactly as Seto had remembered them.
The woman rushed over to Seto and didn't wait a second to embrace him, wrapping her long arms around Seto and hugging him tightly.
"Oh my, Seto. I think you might've grown!" She said with a smile. The man walked up from behind her and placed his hand on Seto, patting his shoulder in a manly way.
"Honey, I do believe Seto stopped growing a long time ago," He looked up and winked into Seto's eye in a way that would make any person feel special, "Good to see you son." Seto's mother still kept her arms around Seto, until she detached from him and looked him in the eye.
"Seto? Are you alright? You're not hugging me back." Seto's father pointed at the three other people that remained in the room.
"Maybe that's because he has friends over." Seto took a step back, unable to believe what he was seeing. His parents… they were here. They were here. They were actually here, alive, standing in front of him. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Son, we haven't embarrassed you already, have we?" The man asked, looking back at Seto.
"Um… uh… no, of course not," Seto managed to force himself to say. His mother was staring at all the guests that had followed Seto into the door.
"I didn't know you had so many friends, Seto. Why didn't you tell us?" She said happily, nodding as her gaze passed Marik and Ryo, "They all look like lovely people." Then her eyes fell on Mokuba and stopped. Her eyes grew twice their normal size upon seeing the small boy standing in front of her. Her eyes sparkled with delight.
"Oh Seto! He's adorable! I say, what's your name young man?" She asked politely. Mokuba gulped and looked down at his shoes, trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible. Seto stepped in at this point.
"His name is Mokuba… I'm taking him under my wing for a bit, his home just got burned down and he had nowhere else to go." Seto's mother's eyes grew ten times bigger at the sound of such a touching story. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around Mokuba and pulled him into an uninvited hug. She held him up in her arms, holding him tightly.
"The poor dear! What a traumatic experience for a boy at such a young age to witness. There must be something I can do for him!" The idea immediately popped into her mind without so much as a second to lose, "I know! I'll get him cleaned up. You won't be able to relax in the same clothes you were traumatized in. Come now, dear, I'll fix you right up."
"Honey, I don't think-" But Seto's mother had already left the room. His father sighed, there was no use even trying to finish his sentence. He knew how his wife got when it came to kids. Seto's father glanced over at Seto himself, who still had this same look of disbelief as he watched his mother run off with Mokuba in her arms.
"Yep," Seto's father stated, "That's your mother for you. Always trying to save a child or two. You know, she STILL hasn't given up that orphanage?" Seto's eyes were now directed at his father.
"Orphanage?" Seto's father nodded.
"Ever sine you grew up, she hasn't been able to handle not having you around. So she decided she would make herself useful in the world and manage an orphanage." Seto's father sighed. "That woman tries saving the world more times than I would believe she would want to." Now he turned his head and was looking at Seto. Seto's father brought his hand up and patted Seto on the back before wrapping his arm around Seto's neck.
"Son, I'm proud of you and I'm sure your mother is too. We never thought we'd see the day where you'd show us the most outstanding example of hospitality. I will admit, your mother and I had our doubts, but we always knew you were still the good boy you were as a child all along. I love you, Seto. You make me happy every day." Seto was very silent as he let his father's words soak into his brain. Never, in his life, had he ever been told that someone was proud of him. Never. And just then, he had been told the very thing he desired most.
Seto didn't know what to say in return. There weren't words that could describe how much happiness he felt, or how many things he wanted to say in gratitude. All he could do was wrap his arms around his father and hug him for the first time in years. And for the first time in his life, even with all the changes and the abnormalities with this universe, he felt like he was home.
A/N: OH. MY. GOSH. Okay, so I know that is probably YOUR reaction, but the reason why it's my reaction to is because it is actually a good chapter. And it's DONE. Seriously, it's taken FOREVER to get this done. You have no idea. I had so much going on this week and I tried to get it done before the weekend cause I had my homecoming and stuff but that never happened and then I was lost for a while but DUDE. It's DONE. Not the story, I mean the chapter. Believe me, there is SO much more to come you'll be ripping your jaw out before you realize what I have in store for you!(was that too violent? Oh well) Anyhow, thanks SO much for all your great reviews! They are WILDLY appreciated. I hoped you liked it!