YUGIOH
Hopeless Collisions
Chapter 21.
Yami turned to the struggling Kaiba and said, "He'll beat this....I believe in him."
"Well, I don't!" Bakura spat, as his Millennium Ring began to glow. "And even if that means I have to get you out of the way to stop him....then I will!"
The Eye of Horus appeared on Yami's head, challenging Bakura's power. "I may have been defeated by Kaiba's two items, but you were defeated by only one of them. Do you really want to see who is the stronger of us at the moment??"
"Yeah!" Joey snapped. "And don't forget we're still here, too!"
"That's right!" Tristan snapped. "Don't think you can stop all of us!"
Bakura growled and finally backed down. "You are all fools taking such a chance!"
"Instead of fighting me, why don't you help try to get this gate closed up?" Yami asked.
Bakura grinned looking down. "There's no sense. There is no chance, anymore. Once he opened the gate, it was too late. This world is doomed."
"No, way!" Tristan exclaimed.
"That's not true!" Yami said.
"What you said was correct, Pharaoh. The priest's combined power opened the gate. It would take double that to re-close it. If we combined our powers with the priest, we may have a chance. But, obviously he cannot control them both at once. No mortal was meant to have the strength to wield two items. He is obviously no exception. At the very best, he may be able to control one....but it would still not be enough power to close the gate. It's over." Bakura said.
Yami looked in horror from Bakura, then over at Kaiba who had been reaching his hand up in an attempt to claw the Eye out. 'He has to gain control of these items....atleast long enough to close this thing.' He hated to have to ask this of Kaiba, but it was their only chance left.
Yami rushed over to Kaiba, picking him partially off his knees. He swatted the Kaiba's hands from near the Eye, then once again began to shake him. "Kaiba, you've got to regain control! Your items combined with ours is the only way to stop this! If you don't, this world is doomed! You are responsible for this mess! Now, take responsibility to clean it up!!"
'You must continue to open the gate Your brother has now retreated. That means Mokuba is once again somewhere back inside the land of the dead. Reach for him and help pull him out. He is trapped within it, so you must open the gate further. Flood the world with your pain and show them how you feel....'
'Damn it, get out of my head!!'
'Do you know who talks to you now, Seto? The same voice that has spoken to Pegasus, making him think that he was your father. I am your true father, Akunadin. You are destined for greatness. But to do that, you must kill the Pharaoh and take his puzzle. Then you will truly be the next Pharaoh and rule all. When that is achieved, all the ghosts and demons will obey you, and be your soldiers. Nothing will dare oppose you. Even the leftover guardians of the Pharaoh will not touch you, then. Power overwhelming will be promised to you, with your brother loyally by your side. A golden age will be reborn, and my son will finally have what he justly deserves!'
Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he could hear the echoes of Yami calling to him, begging for his help to close the portal. The voices in his head that he originally thought were his were indeed overwhelming, telling him to open the portal even more. He knew it was probably the only way to get his brother back. But, he had all ready witnessed the sadness in his brother's face for what he had done. Plus, he'd be damned if he let anything control him. It was no longer his voice telling him to save his brother....it was just more deceit. And this time, the deceit was from within. He wasn't positive if his need to open that portal was his at all, anymore. Which left one thing to do.
Kaiba's eyes opened, while the Eye of Horus was still strongly glowing on his forehead. Kaiba then grabbed the Rod again and began to stand.
"Kaiba?" Yami asked, with uncertainty. What if Bakura was right? What if Kaiba had lost? Then they truly are doomed. "We have to close the portal, all together. Can you do that? You have to use both your items to do so. But, if you do....you may this time completely lose yourself, if you haven't all ready. Kaiba?"
"Maybe you shouldn't trust him, Yugi. He's still looking pretty freaky...." Joey muttered, while the others stayed at a safer distance.
Kaiba then turned towards the portal, hearing the demands in his mind to open it more. He brought his hand up holding the Rod and smiled madly.
'You can all go to hell...and so can I.'
'Noooo!!'
Kaiba once again laughed madly, and shot forth his power at the portal. For the moment, nothing seemed to be happening.
Bakura's eyes widened in shock, and quickly announced to Yugi. "He's trying to close the portal! We need to assist him, now!"
Both Bakura and Yami combined their powers with Kaiba, as they all struck their powers against the portal.
The portal was like the reverse of a black hole, blowing everything out of it. But with their combined force, the power finally began to slow down the swirling vortex within and reverse it's course. Soon, the swirling had totally reversed itself, and was now sucking all the dead that was nearby back within it. The ghostly forms were screaming as they were being sucked back inside, and the portal began to close.
Bakura was the first to begin weakening, as he dropped to his knees, continuing to use his magic. He hissed, "No! We still may not have enough power to close it!"
"Yes we do." Kaiba said, his eye dancing dangerously.
Bakura snapped, "Don't be ridiculous! We may have to exhaust all our Ba to do so. And I'm not planning on sacrificing 'my' life for anything!"
"It only needs one sacrifice...."
Yami looked to Kaiba in horror. "No, you can't! I wont allow it!!"
"You can't stop me, Yugi." Kaiba said. "Mokuba is gone. There's nothing left for me here, anyway. I caused this. This will be my penalty game for my failure at helping to save Mokuba again....my punishment for causing this hell on Earth."
"Sounds fine to me." Bakura sneered.
"No!" Tea cried. "You can't throw your life away, like that!"
Joey ran to Yami, saying, "Use our strength to help you out, Yami. We can do this, together!"
At that moment, Yami dropped to his knees. "I....I'm afraid Bakura might be right. Even taking the strength from all of you wont be enough."
"Atleast try!" Joey said.
Tea came over, saying, "I agree with Joey. We're here together, Yugi!"
"All right....I'll try." Yami said.
The others weakened quickly, also dropping to their knees after giving whatever energy they could to Yami. It gave him some renewed strength, but it still wasn't enough to stop the constant drain. It was as if the gods themselves were angered from the crack that had been pried open into the land of the dead. The vortex was demanding the life of an item holder....someone strong enough to wield such magic. Was this truly Kaiba's end??
Yami helplessly yelled, "There has to be another way!" Feeling that Kaiba's life force was fading fast. And worst of all was....Kaiba simply didn't care.
Bakura answered, "The priest is right. There is no other way. It's the only way we're going to have enough power to close this. And we'll only have one chance to do this."
Kaiba smiled delightfully towards the eternal abyss in front of him, more than anxiously awaiting his final resting place. His power was running out fast. But unlike the others, he took no precautions to try and keep any left for himself. All ready, he was beginning to feel the pull from that vacuum on his very soul, who's life was beginning to flicker within himself. 'Mokuba....I will meet with you, soon.'
"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow that to happen."
A new energy was now contacting the now very small crack in reality. Before Kaiba could push anymore of his life into it, it finally resealed. The threat was over.
"No...." Kaiba gasped, looking at the nothingness in horror. "NO!!!"
Kaiba quickly moved to where it was, but it wasn't there, anymore. He dropped to his knees in despair, shaking. Finally, he was going to have a chance to see his brother again. But he was stopped. Another power came and helped them. Who stopped him from dying??
Kaiba glared over at the intruder to see the see-through form of Shadi. He nodded to Kaiba, saying, "I am sorry. But I cannot allow you to leave the world in this way. It is not yet your time. I felt the Pharaoh's distress and had to come and assist, before you could end your life."
"No one asked for your help!" Kaiba snarled, his eye twitching dangerously. "Maybe then I should end your existence!!"
"Woah, Kaiba....you don't mean that, do you??" Joey asked.
Yami put a weak hand to Joey, saying, "It's not his fault. The madness from wielding two items is consuming any sanity he has left."
"I would not recommended it." Shadi stated. "Before the closing of the portal, you were indeed a power to reckon with. I would have been unable to stop you. But in your weakened state, you cannot win."
Kaiba laughed madly. "Is that supposed to scare me? And what are you going to do if I lose....kill me??"
Kaiba could clearly hear the dark whispers in his mind telling him to attack Shadi and kill him. He offered no resistance against the pull of those words, as he used what little power he had left to challenge Shadi.
Even Shadi understood the dangers of using two items. And though Shadi had two, he would only use one or the other at a time. For this battle, he pulled out the Millennium Key against Kaiba. And Kaiba was too weak to put up enough of a fight. The only reason he had any energy left was because Shadi intervened, keeping him from dying. The battle only lasted a moment. Shortly after, Kaiba collapsed.
"Shadi." Yami said with worry. "Is Kaiba all right?"
"You had Kaiba use both items once again. He was able to fight against the voices to try and close the portal. But after being so weakened, his sanity was slipping quickly....he has no strength left to fight it." Shadi explained.
Yami asked, "What can be done?"
"Since he was so weak, I was able to defeat him. And because he was defeated, I can now remove these items and use the Millennium Key to help restore his mind." Shadi said.
Yami looked down. "But will he ever be himself again? He is suffering so much with the loss of his brother."
"Say, I was thinking. Since Mokuba's dead anyway, maybe Shadi can do something to remove Mokuba from his head." Tristan said.
"What do you mean?" Tea asked.
Tristan answered, "Well, think about it. If Kaiba can't remember him, then he wont be hurt from remembering him, right?"
Joey muttered, "Sounds crazy, but maybe it would work." He turned to Shadi, asking, "What do you think? Would that make Kaiba back to normal and not so miserable, anymore?"
"I could do so, but it may be dangerous. There are always consequences to removing so much from one's mind. And the Pharaoh may still need him more mentally intact. Though the crack is sealed, many ghosts have still escaped and need to be cast to the shadow realm, so that they can find their way back." Shadi explained.
"What I need is Kaiba to be whole, and ripping parts of his mind out will not save him. Such an act would be far too risky on one's mind, even if it's for a good cause. Don't do it, Shadi. Just do what you can for him." Yami said.
Narr: Okay, I know....the part with voices in Kaiba's head did have a similar feel to Yugioh the Movie. But, it's not the same....not even the same possessor, and it was the only way I could think of to let you readers understand what Kaiba's going through during that moment. Plus, for those panicking that Pegasus is actually the future version of Akunadin (after last chapter), that part also helped explain away that Pegasus was merely possessed by the Eye and never fully recovered from the experience. So, anyone fearing this was also an incest can now breathe easy. (grin)