Chapter Twenty-Five
As told from the perspective of Joey Wheeler-
Our group was silent. All we could hear was the sound of our own footsteps until we reached a fork in the chambers, both paths of which had lights strung up along the walls.
"Why the hell couldn't Pegasus have just marked the right way up, damnit," Tristan seethed. We all stood thoughtfully for a moment before I said, "Do you think we should split up…?"
Yugi frowned. "I don't like to think that any of us would get attacked. In smaller groups, we're more vulnerable…"
"No… I think we should split up, maybe," Tristan said. "Mokuba, can you use the Ring to detect our locations? If you guys find the right way, come find us and bring us back your way… if we find the right way, then can you use the Ring to follow us?"
"That's… that's a good idea…" I said, dumbfounded.
"Okay…" Téa said hesitantly. I said, "Tristan and me will go this way. Yeah?"
"Sure," Tristan agreed lamely, eyes following my finger pointing to the path to the right.
"Good luck," Yugi said, starting down the left path. Téa and Mokuba followed him. "You too, man," I saluted him, and then Tristan and I went down the right hallway.
This path was winding and oddly-decorated… I walked with my head to the side, observing the paintings on the walls. Were they telling stories of Pharaohs that came from even before Atem's time, or were they legends, or prophecies? I couldn't understand many of them… why did none of them have toilets, didn't the pharaohs have to shit in the afterlife…?
I followed Tristan up another short flight of stairs. "What do you think we're looking for, really?" he asked.
"Well, we know that the Tablet for the Millennium Items is what you use to summon Zorc, so I bet the High Priest of Darkness might hang out there… even so, we have to destroy it. That's what we got to do."
"Well, yeah," Tristan muttered hesitantly. "But the High Priest of Darkness is trying to get all of the Items together so that he can summon Zorc, right? Zorc's built himself up enough and now he just needs to be set free, right?"
"I bet. Zorc could summon himself eventually but having all of the items around would just make it happen faster."
"So do you think the High Priest of Darkness will try to target us again? He wants our Items… that's what he wanted last time, right?"
He stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at me nervously as I considered his question. "Yeah, that's what he wanted when we saw him first… but I don't know if he'd come try to fight us again now. He's probably thinkin' of another plan or somethin' because truly, he almost lost the fight with Kaiba, and he knows well that we all can summon awesome monsters too… so, no, I bet he won't try to fight us out of the blue unless he's got somethin' real organized..."
Tristan frowned and shrugged and said, "Good, damnit," and then kept walking forward. My mind drifted back to Téa and Yugi and Mokuba. I wondered if they had found the right path. Who knew if Tristan and I were going the right way?
Tristan was peering into rooms as we passed them. One in particular made him gasp aloud and freeze in his tracks. "What?" I asked worriedly.
"Oh, man…" Tristan mumbled quietly. He pointed a shaking finger at the doorway. "It's… it's Kaiba."
"What?" I demanded. I rushed over to where he was and looked into the room that he was standing in front of. The ground swirled under my feet and I felt stunned and sad. Kaiba's body was in this room, on the floor, in the middle of the room… this is where Pegasus had brought him, after leaving us?
The world was silent and still as I walked into the empty, open room, Tristan following me. Kaiba was wearing different clothes, somehow… a white, button-down shirt and white slacks… not feeling the emotional capacity to question this, I kept walking… finally I reached him and knelt down. He was lying kind of on his side, completely motionless, eyes closed. His hair kind of fell over his face and he was stark white. I gulped and looked around the room. There was a giant puddle of blood not far from where he was.
Tristan knelt down next to me, too. His eyes were huge as he stared at the puddle of blood nearby- he muttered, "This actually happened…? You…" trembling, he reached forward to touch Kaiba's sleeve- he couldn't do it. He jerked his arm back and swallowed hard and whimpered, "This… this is Kaiba. Seto Kaiba, right here."
I looked up at him. His face was completely white. "Yes," I said, quietly, firmly.
"That's Kaiba. You know, the giant asshole who's a giant asshole who has given us so much crap over the years but now we like him because we ate all of his food. Right there. That's him?" he demanded, voice getting higher and higher with every word.
"Yes, Tristan," I said, gentle yet firm.
Tristan stared at me for a second and then looked back down at Kaiba and then looked at me again and said, "Dude. Dude. One… one of our guys was killed, man- holy shit- holy shit, Joey!"
I stayed silent as Tristan has his little moment. He calmed himself down and wiped his forehead after a minute and then sighed miserably. "Is… is this where it happened…? Do you recognize this place… are we going in circles…?"
"No," I whispered. "Pegasus… or, rather, the High Priest of Darkness… must'a brought him here."
There was a horrible tight twinge in my chest as I was kneeling here next to him. His eyes were closed gently… it was tragic how peaceful he looked. I sighed miserably before gently picking him up. He was limp and heavy… and still warm. I had to choke back burning tears. Tristan whispered, "What are you doing…?" I said, "He needs to say goodbye to his brother."
I carried him through the hallway that led back to where we'd left Mokuba and Yugi and Téa. I sighed again, throat tight, and said, "You know, Kaiba… I really was just starting to actually like you. I know we're… well, total assholes to each other, but… well, I kind of always kind of considered you a friend. So did Yugi. You've done some pretty cool stuff for us…"
Tristan was looking sadly at me. He sighed heavily. Did he have anything to say? Tears biting at my eyes, I whispered, "It's a shame… a shame to lose you, man…"
I was saved walking in miserable silence anymore because I reached the end of the hallway. Téa, Yugi and Mokuba were all here- their backs were to me and they were talking about something, but it appeared that they'd hit a dead end going their way and had come back here to either wait for Tristan and me, or to follow us... "Mokuba," I whimpered, forcing my own tears back.
As told from the perspective of Mokuba Kaiba-
I was jerked out of my mild stupor, vaguely listening to what Yugi and Téa were talking about, when I heard Joey say my name. I turned around to ask him what he wanted, but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him… he was carrying Seto's body…
"Where… where did you find…" I began shakily, running up to him, but he whispered, "You should say goodbye," softly and sadly.
Tears began to burn at my eyes again. I nodded, trying to be strong, knowing that I needed this... Joey set him down in front of me, and I pulled him into my lap. "He's… warm," I whispered, heart breaking.
I heard Joey mutter, "come on…" to Tristan, Téa and Yugi- I appreciated the privacy that he wanted to give me now. Their footsteps echoed to a room that was nearby.
My pain was immeasurable and infinite. I had never felt like this before. Life seemed meaningless and hopeless, now- nothing mattered anymore. I clung desperately to his body. I didn't want to say goodbye. I didn't want this to be the last time that I saw my big brother. If I let go of him, then I had nothing.
But, then I noticed something… my forehead was against his neck, and I could feel something… something like a pulse… but…
I lifted my head, afraid to believe that I had actually felt that; afraid to face such disappointment again… I put two shaky fingers under his jaw line and gasped aloud when I felt what was undeniably a heartbeat in his neck.
"H… he… his heart is beating…" I whimpered to myself, floored; then, I shouted, "…y…you guys…!"
I heard their footsteps return; Yugi tremulously asked, "What…? Are you okay?" and I repeated, "I… you guys, I can feel his heart beating…"
Joey's eyebrows raised and lips parted; Tristan muttered, "Huh?" All four of them walked the few feet over to where I was. Now that we were looking at him, like this, it was obvious that he was actually breathing… very lightly, but… he was still alive…
I looked up and saw that everyone was looking sadly down at me. We were all thinking the same thing: how much longer would this last? He wasn't bleeding anymore, which I knew meant that his heart wasn't working very well… but, maybe it was good that now… now, he would die in my arms instead of with the High Priest of Darkness…
It made these moments all the much more important, all the more precious… like, every second that went by was one more that I wouldn't have, again. Even if he wasn't to speak to me, at least his soul was still in my grasp… I went back to hugging his shoulders tightly. Another long bit of time went by… his pulse didn't fade…
"Mokuba!" Tristan shouted suddenly. I looked up, startled, but that momentary surprise was nothing compared to the shock I felt when I saw that Seto's hand was moving- slowly, he lifted his hand to his forehead. I gasped, "Seto?" shakily.
Amazingly… amazingly, his face tightened for a moment and …his eyes opened. He looked up at me, looking hazy and tired and a little bit puzzled… he whispered, "Mokuba…"
I had to be strong. I had to be strong. I desperately fought choking tears as I heard Téa whisper, "Kaiba!" in shock… I was actually going to get to speak to him one last time… what should I say…? I didn't want to scare him… if he didn't know what had happened, or if he didn't remember… maybe it was best that he never knew…
"Big brother," I whimpered, the best that I could, "I love you…"
His eyes narrowed. He was clearly confused. He began to say, "What's going on," but he stopped when he saw that he was wearing a different white shirt… it reminded him of the attack. His eyes widened and he gasped, "oh, no…!"
I desperately tried to think of what to say to comfort him, but he shakily gasped, "No, no, this… this isn't right…" …except, his voice was getting stronger… he shifted in my arms and planted his hands on the ground and… pushed himself up…? He was sitting in front of me…? "Seto…!" I gasped, unable to believe it.
He was kind of out-of-breath and shaky, but he looked like he urgently needed to explain something… between sharp breaths he pleaded, "Mokuba… no, I know what you're thinking… oh, no… please, you must understand…"
What could he possibly need to explain, now…? Did he not have much time to explain it… he looked kind of frantic… Joey and Tristan, clearly as shocked as I was, were hovering over us, hands on Seto's shoulders, helping him stay sitting-
"Seto, it's… it's okay…" I whimpered, but he begged, "No… no, that's the thing- it is okay-" He reached forward, leaving Joey and Tristan's grasps, and tightly put his arms around me, muttering, "Oh, my brother… I'm so, so sorry…"
I didn't understand. "I know what you're thinking…" he stopped hugging me and instead put his hands on both sides of my face and looked desperately into my eyes. "But, it's not true. I'm healed. I'm not leaving you," he said.
…what…? How… how could this possibly be true…? He… I was looking at his face; he was pale and looked tired and yet, there was the same light in his eyes…
He went back to hugging me. …I didn't know what to do. Dare… dare I believe that this was actually happening? I had watched him get wounded… how could he possibly have been healed? Was this some kind of horrible, sick, cruel trick; Zorc's pitiless method of weakening me by making me think for a moment that these warm arms were actually, seriously those of my brother, who was supposed to be dead…?
But… but he was …hugging me, like he always did… I could feel that he was here… my hands were trembling. I wanted more than anything in the world to put my arms around him. I wanted this to be true. I-
"I know a man named Pegasus.
He's a foul and filthy pig.
He smells like the pits;
He rolls around in shit.
Plus, his johnson is not very big."
And in that second, I knew. I knew that this was real; that he was really here; that my big brother wasn't dead and that he was really with me. That song… that melody that we had created together; him, me and Kisara… that song came from the depths of his soul… and no doppelganger monster could imitate that…
Every negative feeling that I had ever experienced in my entire life vanished on the spot. Gripped completely by the precious relief, I didn't even bother to try to hold back my tears, because these tears were of indescribable joy- I allowed myself to burst into crying and throw my arms around his neck.
As told from the perspective of Joey Wheeler-
What.
What?
As Kaiba finally shakily stood up and Mokuba contained himself, I stood in dumbfounded shock before I walked over to Kaiba and grabbed the corner of his shirt and jerked it up and saw his wound- it was a thin scar that was like six inches long or something. It… it looked painful and gross and stuff but when it came down to it, it didn't look so bad… Kaiba's eyebrows raised and I dropped the edge of his shirt. "You get your stupid liver sliced in half and all you need is, like, a band-aid? Dude, stupid crap has happened to me all the time- I was declared brain-dead by a card game! How do you survive this crap?"
"I don't believe that it was necessary for my scientists to declare you brain-dead," he replied. "That diagnosis didn't surprise anyone."
Through his tears, Mokuba chuckled. I groaned. Un-effing-believable! He wasn't dead? We'd gone through all of that depression and he wasn't dead? He was a damn expert at making me miserable! "I'd say somethin' about how it's good to have you back, but…"
But it was then that I realized something: I… he had just insulted me… and he would insult me again, someday- he was alive to insult me again-
I couldn't control it. Tears began to pour from my eyes and I wailed, "Oh yeah? Well at least I'm not a damn asshole!'"
Kaiba's eyes widened and he was completely speechless- and I buried my face in my hands and wept bitterly.