Okay peeps, this is the second to last chapter of this fic you all love soooo much. And I'm glad you like it. Nothing makes me happier then when I do something that is entertaining to other people. Check out my other fics, and rest assured, I have many more on the go...I just wish I could finish them! Writers block is a bitch!
Anyway, enjoy this chapter. It's a bit shorter than the others, but still exciting...I hope.
Onwards!
Countenance - Chapter 21
Yami looked at Yugi with wide eyes. 'No! I can't!'
Yugi grabbed Yami's shirt, visibly struggling to maintain control. 'You have to! You just…' And then he was gone again. Yami saw the red eyes return and the beast shook his head.
'Hmm, that boy is strong.' With uncanny strength, he lifted Yami up and over his head, being careful not to let the Puzzle touch him. 'I can see why you love him.' With a blast of shadow magic, he sent Yami up into the air and he came crashing back down to earth with a hard thud.
Seto ran over to Yami. 'Are you alright?'
Yami grit his teeth and sat up. 'I'm fine,' he growled.
'How the hell did Yugi just do that to you?'
Yami looked up at Kaiba. 'You still don't believe that any of this is happening, do you?'
'I…can't believe it!' Seto stammered.
'Well try!' Yami said getting up with Kaiba's help. 'Because it is happening. It doesn't matter how hard you try to deny it, this is not a figment of your imagination!'
Seto looked over at the figure of Yugi standing on the other side of the roof. He saw the red glint in the eyes of one so innocent and knew that it couldn't possibly be the same person. This person who was so scared and helpless when Bakura took him, but was also so determined to help Yami and his strength derived from his trust in all people. This person standing on the other side of the roof could not be Yugi Moto. 'I believe,' Seto said with reluctance.
Yami nodded slightly. 'Good, then help me!'
'How? You already have the Millennium Puzzle. That's what you asked of me in the first place.'
'We have to distract the evil and convince Yugi to be strong. If he can push the darkness from his heart, I believe he will also eject if from his body. Then I can do my part and banish the evil to the darkness from whence it came!'
Seto raised an eyebrow, but seeing no amusement at his own expense, only desperation, he figured Yami must be telling the truth. 'Okay!'
The two young men faced the figure of Yugi side by side; one man taller than the other, the shorter of the two glowing with the energy of pure light.
The darkness raised an eyebrow at them. 'Ganging up on me? That won't work.'
Seto gave a laugh. 'Yugi, you can stop with this charade now. No one here thinks you're a big man.' He saw the darkness stare him down. 'We all know the white-haired freak raped you, but really, do you have to take it out on the rest of us?'
Yami shook his head. This was not the tactic he would have used.
The beast frowned. 'What do you think you hope to accomplish by talking to me like that?'
'I'm trying to make you see that you're just a brat who is obviously looking for attention. Now, why don't you just cut it out?'
The darkness grew angry. 'Impudence! I'll teach you to talk to me like that!' It raised its hand and let a blast of shadow magic off towards the two men.
Seto and Yami dived in opposite directions to avoid the blast.
Seto immediately found his feet. 'Oh, come on! Enough with the cheap magic tricks. Why don't you try and fight me with some real power?'
The monster focussed on Kaiba with narrowed eyes. 'Keep talking and when I've regained my full power, I will show you the difference between my power and some 'cheap magic trick'!' It let off another blast, which Seto only had to move his head to the side to avoid.
'Ooh, your aim is a bit off, Yugi. Maybe you should relax a bit.'
The darkness was fuming now. It was so busy concentrating on Kaiba that it didn't notice Yami come up behind it before it was too late.
Yami grabbed a hold of Yugi's body from behind, his arms hooking under Yugi's arms and wrapping around the back of his neck, immobilising the beast.
'Yugi! I know you are there and can hear me. You are strong, you can fight the darkness and you can win!'
Inside his own mind, Yugi was watching everything take place and he heard Yami speaking. He nodded and finding the same crack in the darkness as before, he squirmed his way through.
Wait, he thought. I may be able to push my way through, but that will only be temporary! I have to do what Yami said and push the darkness from within me!
He swung round searching for some 'physical' evidence of the darkness. After what seemed like an eternity or searching, running around his own mind looking, but really was only a few moments, he noticed a door that he had never seen before. Blue-black crackles of energy emanated from every crack in the door.
I didn't see that before! How did I miss it? He twisted the handle and when the door swung open, a huge black snarling beast with colossal sharp teeth, red eyes and squirming tentacles confronted him.
Yugi suppressed the urge to jump back through the door and slam it shut behind him. Instead, he stood his ground and with a look of determination, he stepped forwards.
'Leave my body!' he shouted. The beast didn't back down. 'Get out! You don't belong here, and you are not welcome!'
A dark tentacle slithered behind him and wrapped itself around his waist, hauling him up towards the gigantic maw. He screamed.
In the real world, Yami, still holding tightly onto Yugi's body making sure not to touch his flesh so he wouldn't burn him, heard the smaller boy scream. 'Yugi! Fight it!'
Yugi heard Yami's voice and it gave him strength to know Yami was, in a small way, with him. He struggled against the blackness.
This is my mind! What I say goes! I've not lost my imagination! He opened his eyes and stared into the red eyes of the black beast. 'You're not so tough! I can beat you with this!' In my hand, there is a sword of light! In my hand, there is a sword of light!
Yugi's will was strong and a glowing white sword materialised in his hand. With a surprised gasp, which turned quickly to a pleased smile, he brandished the sword menacingly.
The darkness tried to shy away from the light, and in doing so, dropped Yugi like a hot potato. Yugi land unceremoniously on the floor with a grunt, but started waving the sword around in the hopes of hitting something. 'Get back!' he yelled.
The darkness lunged for him, but he rolled away, sword still in hand. He swung behind him, as if he were an expert and sliced through one of the tentacles.
The shriek of pain was deafening and he had to cover his ears. In the real world, Dartz and the others, who were still rooted to their spots, did the same. Only Kaiba and Yami didn't react in this way, both too busy concentrating on the task at hand.
'Come on, Yugi!' Yami said. 'I think you're winning!' Yugi's body was struggling to release itself from Yami's grasp and protect itself internally from Yugi's assaults. Yami was slowly losing his grip on the darkness while trying to prevent from touching Yugi's flesh. Despite the power of the items coursing through his veins, he was not physically strong enough to hold on for much longer with the super charged evil writing to get away. Hurry, Yugi!
Yugi sliced another tentacle with the flick of his wrist and confidently jumped out of the way of the other flailing limbs.
'I suggest you get out of my body now before I start doing some real damage!'
The darkness hesitated and Yugi, usually a firm believer in giving people a second chance, used the opportunity to lunge forward and struck at what he believed to be the heart of the beast. He plunged his sword deeply into the inky blackness.
Another screech was heard in the real world and a shadow shot out of Yugi's body and landed not to far away. Yami and Yugi fell backwards as the struggle ended.
'HOW DARE YOU!' the darkness said. 'YOU MAY HAVE BEEN STRONG, BUT I CAN STILL DESTROY YOUR BODY!' With all its strength, a shot of shadow magic headed for the boy.
Yami saw it coming and threw himself over Yugi's body and tapping into the power of the Millennium Items, they were both shielded from the discharge. He was then immediately on his feet to confront the beast.
'You have terrorised this world for long enough! It is time for you to return to your bleak existence in the shadows where you belong!' Yami closed his eyes, concentrating on the power of all seven Millennium Items and opened his eyes.
The darkness recoiled at the sight of Yami's eyes. They were glowing, but instead of a red glow, it was pure white. 'NO! I WON'T LET YOU!' It began to crawl over to Yami, but blast from off to the left startled it and it looked over at the Dark Magician hovering just off the ground. The mage's staff was pointed at the evil and a smirk adorned his face. It just begged the darkness to make another move towards his Pharaoh.
Yami lifted his arms and began reciting the ancient spell again in Ancient Egyptian. This time, he didn't falter. 'Oh forces of good, creator of light, banish this evil tonight. Open a porthole to the place of shadows, and send it back from whence it came, never to return again!' (A/N A little lame to make it rhyme but, meh, what are you gonna do?)
Everyone on the roof watched as a bright light appeared in the sky, opening like a tear in fabric and a strong wind blew around them. A whirlwind emerged from the opening and hit the ground with full force sending everyone, except Yami and the darkness, involuntarily to the ground.
The darkness shrieked as it began to be sucked towards the bright opening. It clawed at the ground. 'NO! THIS CANNOT BE!' It turned towards Dartz and Bakura. 'YOU SUMMONED ME! SAY SOMETHING TO REVERSE THIS!'
Bakura and Dartz looked at each other. Dartz smiled and closed his eyes. 'It's all yours, Thief.'
Bakura stood up. 'Fine, take me, if you can, but you will submit to my will!' He began reciting the spell to bind the darkness into a vessel.
In a flash, Seto shot over to Bakura and hit him on the back of his neck, rendering the thief unconscious. He fell to the ground and Seto looked at Yami and Yugi with a satisfied look. 'I never liked that guy,' he said.
Yami smiled. He was pleased. Kaiba had in that one action redeemed himself as he'd acted without coaxing and of his own accord, knowing that to not act might have been devastating.
He turned back to the darkness. 'You have no friends or allies here. Now,' He lifted his hands. 'Begone!' A light erupted from Yami's hands and shot at the darkness. It shrank away screaming, but lost its focus and was sucked up towards the dimensional tear.
'YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME! I AM THE EPITOME OF DARKNESS AND IN ANOTHER 5000 YEARS, I SHALL RETURN!'And with that warning echoing through the air, the darkness disappeared and the tear in space closed itself and the winds ceased.
Yami dropped his arms to his sides and breathed a sigh of relief. 'And in another 5000 years, I will be ready again.' He swayed on the spot and with the recession of the evil, the Millennium Items had done their duty. One by one, they emerged from Yami's body; the Eye, Rod and Scales clattered unsupported to the floor, while the Ring, Necklace, Key and Puzzle remained around his neck. After the exertion he just went through, Yami suddenly felt light headed and collapsed, the weight of the four items around his neck bringing him crashing to the ground.
The last thing he saw before he completely blacked out was Yugi and Kaiba running to his side, both with concerned looks on their faces, Yugi calling out his name.
Inside his head, he heard the now familiar voice of Atem.
Next chapter may be a bit of time coming as I'm still working on the lemon. I'm hoping to have it up on Sunday.
Anyway, in the mean time, please review!