Trading Places

Ack, sorry I haven't updated for like two months.I was suffering from a bad case of writer's , this is just your basic roseshipping (Pegasus/Cyndia) fic, and it's my first try at romance, so be gentle. It starts a while after Duelist Kingdom. Japanese character names are used.

Disclaimer: I own neither Yu-gi-oh nor disclaimers. (Thank goodness. If I owned disclaimers, I'm sure I would have been murdered long before now..)


"Cyndia. I'm so sorry. I-I never wanted this to happen. All I wanted was too see you again! You'll forgive me, won't you?" It was a strange scene: A tall man in a suit knelt in front of a picture, apparently talking to it. A man by the name of Pegasus J. Crawford. Despite his gray hair, he was only in his mid-twenties. He might have had a long life ahead of him, but at the moment he didn't much care.

"Who am I kidding? I don't deserve your forgiveness, Cee. Yours or anyone else's. Hell, I can't even forgive myself. I've caused so much pain.. and all for some insane plan! It-it would be better if I weren't even here." He smiled.

"Even though there's no way for us to meet again in this world, maybe-maybe we'll meet again in the next." Pegasus walked, a little shakily, as he had just gotten out of the hospital, over to his desk. Opening a side drawer, he extracted a nine mm pistol. Trembling slightly, he parted his hair, holding the pistol to the empty socket that had once held the Sennen Eye.

"I don't deserve to keep living," he whispered bitterly. I've caused too much pain to be allowed to go on," His voice trembled. "Oh, Cyndia! I-I should have died instead of you! The world would have been better.. all the people I've you would have lived instead of me, you would have never descended to this level. I wish I could have given my life for yours! You know I would do it in an instant, Cee. Yours would have been so fulfilling.. and look what I did with mine! I'll see you soon at any rate." Pegasus pressed the pistol harder against the empty socket. He closed his remaining eye in fearful and eager anticipation.

"That can be arranged, you know." Pegasus dropped his gun in surprise. He spun wildly, searching for the source of the voice. He was alone in the room.

"Who are you?" he shouted frantically, "And what do you mean, 'that can be arranged?'"

"Who I am is of little importance. As for what I mean, I was referring to your wish to trade your life for your wife's."

"Really? It-it's possible? How?"

"Easily. All I need is your consent. Think carefully, Pegasus. Once made, this decision cannot be reversed." Pegasus took a deep breath. This was it! His chance to undo all the evil he had wrought!

"Yes. I-I'll do it."

"Very well."

o()o

"Unh." Pegasus' eyes fluttered open. Where WAS he? The room was bare- empty. He was sure none of the rooms in his castle were like this. And why did he feel so weak?

The realization hit him like a tidal wave. His wish. He looked around the bleak room in which he had found himself. It must be a hospital room, some logical part of him reasoned. Oh, why in hell had he done something so abysmally stupid?

Then his door opened, and all his misgivings vanished. Even though he knew he'd die soon, everything he had lost was worth it for this one moment.

Cyndia.

He thought he'd missed her, but they say you never know how much you miss someone until you see them again. And seeing her like this-alive, well, and tangibly real- in Pegasus' opinion, that was worth a thousand deaths. For a while now, Cyndia had been a painful memory, a fading portrait. But was the happiest man alive.

"Peega? How are you feeling?" God, how he'd missed her voice!

"Fine, Cee. Much better now that you're here." Cynthia smiled, but there was still worry in her eyes.

"Well, you do look a little today than you have for a while. I guess all that chemotherapy is finally working."

"Maybe. But when I get better, I never want to hear the word 'chemo' as long as I live." Pegasus knew he wasn't going to live through this, but there was no point in worrying Cyndia.

"Mr. Crawford? I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over." A male nurse who couldn't be much older than Pegasus himself poked his head into the room. "I'm afraid this young lady."

"My wife."

"Your wife, then. Anyways, she's got to leave now." Pegasus sighed.

"I suppose he's right. See you tomorrow?"

"Of course." Cyndia bent down and kissed her husband lightly on the cheek.

o()o

Pegasus' days blurred together. Time moved at a gruelingly slow pace, except, when Cyndia was with him. Her visits were the only bright spots on his eternally bleak horizon.

o()o

Cyndia rushed to the hospital. Her poor Peega-chan wasn't doing so well, and she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could, in case 't make it. She didn't allow herself to think the word "die." Pegasus would get better-he had to! She didn't know if she could live without him.

"Mrs. Crawford?" Cyndia skidded to a halt. She had been half-running past the hospital's front desk, so she figured that some nurse was going to tell her to slow down. As for how this nurse knew her name, Cyndia had been such a frequent hospital visitor that she would be surprised if any of this wing's staff DIDN'T know who she was.

"Yes?" Cyndia quickly composed herself, turning to face the grave-looking nurse.

"Mrs. Crawford, I have some bad news." Cyndia drew a sharp breath. "I'm afraid your husband's chemotherapy hasn't been working. So we-well, we're focusing our medical attention on making him comfortable in the little time he has left. I'm so sorry."

If the nurse said anything else, Cyndia didn't catch it. Abandoning all pretenses, she flat-out ran to Pegasus' room.

"So-you heard too?" Pegasus only needed to take one look at his wife's face to tell THAT much.

"Y-yes." The tears Cyndia had been holding back could be contained no longer. "Oh, Peega! I'm so sorry! If I could die for you, I'd do it in an instant!"

"Shh, don't talk like that, Cee. It's all right. You should be happy that you're alive and well. There's nothing more you could have done for me, Cinny. If anything, it's your love that's kept me alive this long."

"No! It's not all right! I-I wish." She broke off, sobbing too hard to continue.

"Don't cry, Cee. You're strong. You'll be all right. And as for me- well, I'll be waiting for you." Cyndia's hand crept into Pegasus', which grasped it tightly. "I love you, Cyndia."

"And I you, my Peega." Pegasus' hand unclasped, a slight smile on his lips. His last thought was how worthwhile his decision had been.