A/N: There's a new story announcement at the end of the chapter!
Chapter 50: Fears in the Dark
Kaiba was ripped from sleep by the sound of Yami crying out, "No, don't! Aibou!" Yami was thrashing next to Kaiba, fighting in his dream.
Quickly turning on a light, Kaiba immediately tried to wake Yami from his nightmare. It took several attempts as Yami tried to fight him off, but finally he opened his eyes and saw Kaiba. Yami started at Kaiba for a long moment as he tried to process that he was awake. Then his dream came rushing back and he couldn't stop himself from crying as he buried his face against Kaiba's shoulder.
Kaiba wrapped his arms around Yami and was deeply concerned by what was happening. "You're safe now," Kaiba murmured to Yami, trying to calm him. He continued repeating the phrase, hoping that eventually it would connect with meaning for Yami as it had so often done for Mokuba in the past.
When that failed to have the desired effect, Kaiba decided to try and be more direct by asking, "What did you dream?"
"That aibou was so mad at me for ruining everything that he decided to destroy the Millennium Puzzle to get rid of me for good," Yami explained in between sobs, his heart twisting painfully as he said it out loud.
The very thought of it sent a cold feeling of dread through Kaiba and he protectively tightened his hold on Yami. "He would never do that," Kaiba told him, knowing that Yuugi didn't have the maliciously cruel streak in him to do such a thing.
"I can't go back into it," Yami said, the fear still holding onto him. "I can't lose you, lose all of this, and—"
Making a soft shushing noise to interrupt Yami, Kaiba reassured him, "You're not going to lose anything. I'm right here with you."
"I thought I was done with the nightmares," Yami said in a small voice as he tried to believe in Kaiba's words for himself. "This is so much worse than before. What if he really does destroy it?"
Guiding Yami's face up to make eye contact with him, Kaiba swore, "Even if he did—which he won't—I would rebuild it myself and bring you back. I would never let you spend another eternity in there."
"But it took aibou years," Yami protested.
Wiping away Yami's tears with his thumb, Kaiba asked him, "Do you really think it would take me as long as him?"
Shaking his head as he sniffled, Yami knew that Kaiba was smarter than Yuugi and better at logical, critical thinking. It helped that Kaiba was a more visual person than Yuugi, so it did give Yami some confidence in the event of a worse case scenario.
Yami finally seemed to be calming down, which pleased Kaiba. He told Yami, "You are mine to protect and I'll be damned if I'm letting that happen to you."
"I know," Yami said, his mind understanding that as he finally moved away from his panicked fear. "I'm sorry I cried on you."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Kaiba said before adding, "or be embarrassed about."
Sitting up and wiping the tear tracks from his face, Yami sniffled again to try and breathe, but was still stuffed up from crying so much. His eyes felt just as bad because of the tears and he made a face that caused Kaiba to chuckle despite himself. "It's not funny!" Yami protested. "I've never cried before in this body, so this all feels weird. And gross. Gross and weird."
Sitting up and leaning over to grab the tissue box off the nightstand, Kaiba gave it to Yami. "This will at least make it marginally better."
Blowing his nose and finding no relief, Yami sarcastically repeated, "Marginally better," as he shook his head. "This sucks. Why does anyone feel better after crying when you feel like shit afterwards?"
"Because sometimes that's the only way people know how to find release," Kaiba explained, even though he knew it was mostly a rhetorical question.
"When was the last time you cried?" Yami asked.
Kaiba had to think back because it had been so many years. "I cried alone in my room once when we were with Gozaburo," Kaiba finally answered, remembering the night well. "But that was the night I decided never again and began plotting our way out of that hell."
"I don't want to know what he did, do I?" Yami hesitantly questioned, suspecting it must have been something truly heinous to break someone as strong as Kaiba into tears.
Hesitating a moment, Kaiba replied, "No, probably not," since he knew it would upset Yami on a whole different level.
"You're really amazing," Yami told Kaiba with another sniffle. "You survived all of that and somehow still turned out so normal. You and Mokuba both."
"I am many things, but normal is not one of them," Kaiba said with a chuckle. "And certainly not well-adjusted."
"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit," Yami insisted.
"If you knew even a fraction of the shit I've done, you would not be sitting here with me," Kaiba told Yami, knowing he had had some dark years since being with Gozaburo.
"You're talking to someone who has set people on fire and electrocuted a bunch of kids in a warehouse at one point," Yami pointed out with a self-depreciating laugh. "I really don't have room to judge on that front."
"When the hell was that?" Kaiba wanted to know, unable to fathom Yami doing such things.
"Right after Yuugi awoke me," Yami replied. "Our Punishment Game was nothing compared to some of the things I did to people I didn't like."
"You liked me even back then?" Kaiba asked in surprise.
"Not in the same sense I do now, but you definitely intrigued me," Yami answered. "You were someone I always wanted to meet again."
"I'd be lying if I said the feeling wasn't mutual," Kaiba replied with a wry grin. "Even though I thought the whole thing was bullshit, I couldn't stop myself when it came to challenging you."
"Lucky for me the challenges got sexier," Yami retorted with a playful wink.
"Right now the most challenging thing is going to be you getting through tomorrow with so little sleep," Kaiba told him as he glanced at the clock and saw it would be dawn soon.
Groaning at the reminder, Yami complained, "I still can't breathe right."
"You'll be better when you wake up," Kaiba promised as he turned off the light before readjusting his position and gesturing for Yami to do the same. Kaiba curled up behind Yami and held him closer, trying not to grin when he heard Yami sniffle again in an attempt to properly breathe through his nose.
"Thank you," Yami softly said as he intertwined his fingers with Kaiba's, hoping that the brunette understood he meant it in more than one sense of the sentiment.
Kissing Yami's shoulder, Kaiba hugged him tightly in reassurance and that said more to the former spirit than words ever could. He closed his eyes and his exhaustion quickly caught up with him. Trusting in Kaiba's strength, Yami found it easier to give himself back over to sleep.
Kaiba on the other hand couldn't fall asleep. Inside he was livid with Yuugi for causing Yami to have such fears and he longed to do something about it. Kaiba knew it wasn't his fight, but it was damn hard being a passive bystander when he saw firsthand how terrified Yami was now because of Yuugi's childish behavior. It wasn't that Kaiba thought Yami couldn't defend himself; he just didn't know how to sit on the sidelines and watch someone he had sworn to protect suffer because of another's idiocy.
Telling himself repeatedly to stay out of it, eventually Kaiba also gave in for a few more hours of sleep, if only so he didn't have to fight the internal war about whether or not to do something about the situation.
A/N: The interesting thing is I wrote the part about Kaiba rebuilding the Millennium Puzzle well before the movie trailer came out implying it might be a thing. And if it's not, I definitely want to make it happen. So please don't mind the coincidence!
I have posted a new Prideshipping AU story on my entitled, As the Flowers Fall for my patrons. Please go to {dot}com/kamiyashi if you want to read an awesome story about Kaiba and Yami as dueling sword fighting samurai that share a magical bond.
Also, I want to remind everyone again that due to a shift in my holiday plans, I'm going to have even more travel time than I originally thought, so now would be an awesome time to take advantage of the fact I'm offering story commissions through my . It would make a great holiday present to yourself, so please keep it in mind!
NEXT CHAPTER:
"This is really none of your business," Yuugi said as he started to walk away from Kaiba.
The next chapter will be posted on Sunday, December 27th, so please look forward to it! Also, please consider becoming my patron and enjoying an interesting Prideshipping AU on my . In the meantime, happy holidays to everyone!
