This is totally tomorrow. Man, I fail at updating on a schedule.
All right, peeps. This is the end of the line! The end! Vamoose! Click the review button now and tell me what you think is happening before you read the answers!
pride1289 - Both!
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KageNoNeko - Hurray! Your head asplode!
Epilogue 1: The Lunatic Is In My Head
The hot, late August sun continued its relentless assault against Kaiba's barricade of thick walls and expensive air-conditioning. He scowled slightly and adjusted his collar slightly, his only visible concession to the relentless heat outside being the absence of his favorite trenchcoat. A young, dark-skinned woman in a red blouse looked up from behind her desk as he strode towards his office.
"Kaiba-sama," she said respectfully. "You have a guest waiting for you in your office."
He grunted noncommittally. "Who?" he demanded.
"Yugi Mutou, Kaiba-sama."
Great. Let them into your house once, and they think they can just waltz in and invade your space anytime. Nevermind that the Yugi Mutou that had worked for him all summer regularly visited his office. That had apparently not been the Yugi Mutou. Or the Other Yugi, which Kaiba was still finding difficult to swallow. Three Yugi Mutous was too many. Maybe someone who hated him had made a Yugi cloning machine, just to annoy him.
"Thanks, Nara," he nodded to the woman as he walked past and through his door. He smirked. The shocked look on her face was worth the uncharacteristic thanks.
Kaiba didn't bother turning on the lights. The tall, wide windows that took up one entire wall let in plenty of light, though at the moment the blinds were over them, failing to keep the intense heat entirely at bay. Yugi stood facing the windows, gazing out as if he could see the impressive view on the other side of the blinds. The small Duelist had grown a little over the summer, the white T-shirt he wore a little stretched across his shoulders. His eyes were dark, his expression solemn.
"What do you want?" Kaiba demanded, walking to his desk and switching on his computer. He ignored the tiny flash of pain on Yugi's face.
"I...I came to ask about Ryou."
Pain. All the pain Kaiba had been keeping away from himself came tearing back through him, fresh and undiminished. His limbs stopped obeying him for just a moment to freeze as a real, physical pain wracked its way through him. Two weeks. Two weeks since that nightmare in his mansion. Hours since...
"He's dead."
Yugi jerked back from the window in surprise, his eyes wide as he faced Kaiba. "What? But how...when?"
Kaiba forced himself to calmly look his fellow Duelist in the eye and graciously refrain from throwing something. Like Yugi. Out the window.
"Last night. I just got back from the hospital. He managed to slip out of his restraints, thanks to some idiot, careless intern or something." I am so suing that hospital into the ground...
But nothing could bring Ryou back.
Yugi could only meet his eyes for so long before looking away. "I'm sorry, Kaiba."
Kaiba snorted and sat in front of his computer. He couldn't grieve in front of Yugi, couldn't show weakness. Couldn't show how much Ryou actually meant to him. The best he could do was shun Yugi until the pipsqueak left.
"I...I thought you should know I finally took Jounochi to the hospital," Yugi said quietly. "They said they'll start trying out different medications to find one that will help him."
"Hm," Kaiba grunted. That was a relief. If he had been Yugi, he would have hauled the mutt to the loony farm the first time Yugi got locked in the bathroom 'to protect the puzzle'. At least the mutt hadn't taken Yugi cell phone.
Yugi continued. "Otogi called me from Hawaii. He wants to set up some sort of partnership with Industrial Illusions."
Kaiba could help the scoffing sound that escaped him. "Turn him down, Yugi. His games aren't that good."
Yugi smiled a little. "That's what I said. Well, kind of. A little nicer than that." He turned back to pretending he could see out the window. "And Marik's just...disappeared."
He sat there, waiting for Kaiba to say something about that. Kaiba ignored him and sat at his desk, opening the files he needed to work on. Yugi knew that Kaiba liked to keep track of things, but Kaiba really didn't think Yugi needed to know everything. Besides, the Psycho was harmless enough where he had ended up in Nowhere, Oklahoma.
A few minutes passed, the only sound the restless movement of Kaiba's fingers against the keyboard as he typed.
Yugi turned, a curious look in his eyes. "School starts next week," he said.
Kaiba didn't bother responding to the obvious.
"It's our last year before we graduate."
Really? No way! We should have a parade, and then have a slumber party and talk about our feelings.
Yugi smiled. "Have you ever thought of starting your own school, Kaiba?"
Epilogue 2: Remembering Games and Daisy Chains
The caramel-flavored light flooded the cobblestone street, washing everything in its path in gold. The lilacs had just begun blooming, and their heavy, sweet scent carried an unshakable feeling of easy contentment. Atem sighed and smiled, leaning back in the porch-swing, making it rock slightly. The movement startled the fluffy black kitten in Bakura's lap, as Atem guessed from the quiet curse from the thief. Atem watched as Bakura attempted to loosen the kitten's claws from the fabric of his pants and re-engage it in playing with the duck feather used earlier.
For a moment, Atem couldn't help but feel incredibly sad. The white-haired thief was so different here, free from the tragedy and loss that had plagued him his whole life. Atem could see for himself, now, the still-innocent boy from the small village, knowing nothing but the close-knit ties of family and simple games and familiar faces.
Bakura smiled as the kitten tried to bite the feather. "What will you do now?" he asked, not looking at Atem.
Atem shivered. For just a moment, he replayed the last few minutes before his death in his mind, the sudden pain of knowledge, the realization that the only way he could ever win against the Crawling Chaos was to refuse to play the game, to remove himself from it.
Or have Bakura do it for him. It was a very good thing the thief had caught on, perceptive even under such strange circumstances, away from his dreams.
A deep sigh left the former Pharaoh. "I'm not sure," he admitted in response to Bakura's question. Many things he had thought to be false were true, and many truths were cobwebs. "I...I miss my friends." He turned towards Bakura. "I see now what you were doing, trying to tell Marik how to get here."
Bakura shrugged. "Sometimes he manages to not be a complete idiot. He might find his way here, still." He sent Atem a smirk. "As for you, well, you can do whatever you want!"
Atem shrugged. "Whatever I want isn't all that great a goal."
A low chuckle escaped Bakura as the kitten rolled on its back and batted at the feather. "You could go to Celephaïs, find a nice girl, settle down. Demi-gods are all the rage, there."
Atem laughed. It felt good to laugh, sitting there on the porch with Bakura, wondering if they would ever see Marik come walking up the street to join them, smelling the lilacs. They would watch the stars come out, and Bakura would saunter down the street and bring back a pitcher of lemonade and a bag of scraps from the butcher shop for the cats. Then they would drink lemonade and tell stories and breathe in the sweet air while the windows spilled candlelight all over the cobblestones and joke about how long it took Marik to get there.
Atem decided that Bakura really had the best dreams.
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multiple exclamation marks= a sure sign of an unstable mind
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Author's Note: The Epic Explanation
I know you've all been waiting for it, the answer to the puzzle/mystery/what the crap is going on that I took great delight in setting up for you. Ready?
Puzzle piece #1 - Hello, Darkness is a crossover with a body of stories known as the Cthulhu Mythos, the brain-child of H.P. Lovecraft and several other authors.
Puzzle Piece #2 - The Big Bad is an entity from the Mythos known as Nyarlathotep. Go ahead. Google him. I dare you:)
Puzzle Piece #3 - Yugi Mutou is the Pharaoh Atem reincarnated. This is the information that I realized in 23/24 I hadn't foreshadowed enough. This may seem like obvious information but I felt it needed a little reinforcement since...
Puzzle Piece #4 - Yami Yugi is Nyarlathotep. Just think about that for a little bit. Did you look up Nyarlathotep? Do you realize what that means? It means that Kaiba, Otogi, and Marik are very lucky (or perhaps unlucky...) to be alive and sane at the end of this story.