I'M POSTING CHAPTER 27 AND THE EPILOGUE TOGETHER. RESPONSES TO REVIEWS ARE AT THE END OF CHAPTER 27 AND AUTHOR'S NOTES ARE AT THE END OF THE EPILOGUE.
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW…
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CHAPTER 27A: RUNNING
SETO KAIBA'S NARRATIVE
THE NIGHT FOLLOWING THE DUELI was running. From my cards, from my victory, from my promises. From myself.
Damn Saggi.
He had tricked me and freed me at the same time.
His sneering face had spurred me to reveal my heart. Maybe living with a 3,000 year-old ex-pharaoh had finally driven me over the edge, but I knew that I could never offer myself as a tribute to a conqueror. So I had to promise myself to Yami, quickly, before claiming my inevitable defeat.
...And then I had won.
Saggi might have set the trap, but I was the one who took the bait; sentencing myself to a lifetime of Yami's love. I would have thanked Saggi for that. But he went further. But I went further. To crown my folly, I had made another promise – to myself of all people.
I was used to making promises to Mokuba. I had never wasted one on myself.
But as I had stood there, facing Yami, with Saggi in my hand – for the first time I saw myself, not as the traitor who had betrayed his brother at Death-T, nor as the fiend who had designed all those weapons for Kaiba Corporation. Oh, that part of me still existed; was carved in stone as deeply as an ancient Duel Monster. For while Yami might have broken the darkness that had swallowed me whole, he could not remove the guilt and self-hatred which were its residue.
And that was fair. I deserved to carry that burden for the rest of my life, just as my crush and virus cards would stay in my deck for as long as my weapons were in the world.
So many of my victories – over Gozaburo, over Sugoroku, over Yami at Duelist's Kingdom – had been pyrrhic ones; each containing the seeds of my eventual defeat. Yet this new victory seemed untainted, seemed to contain the seeds of the true future I had been straining to reach, instead. It now lay before me (frighteningly close)… ready for my grasp.
I finally realized what Mokuba and Yami had been trying to tell me… that the avatar I had believed to be my true self was, in fact, only my shadow. A wraith I had never been able to see beyond until Yami had covered its darkness with his own.
Giving me a glimpse of a person who was neither a demon nor a sacrifice, but simply a man. Whose strengths and weaknesses, like his victories and defeats, were so intertwined that it would be impossible to pick them apart – and madness to try.
A man who was somehow still standing amid the wreckage of his past. Like a warrior after a battle, stunned to find that he had survived. Yet standing, still standing. Suddenly seeing, amid the ruins, a future he had wanted too badly to believe in.
I could not deny that the promise I made then was what Mokuba and Yami wanted for me. For I promised to find that man. To lead him to that future. To cling to him, as I clung to Yami; as I have always clung to Mokuba, without realizing it.
I shrugged. I knew there would be times when I would stumble along the way; when my grip would falter. But I would keep faith, as best I could. With Yami. With Mokuba. With myself.
There was no going back. My victory had sealed my vows.
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CHAPTER 27B: HOMECOMING
YAMI'S NARRATIVE
THE NEXT MORNING
It was late when I finally laid aside his Blue Eyes White Dragons. Held his Vampire Lord in my hands instead. I smiled remembering how this demon felt the pain of each defeat, yet rose again with each new round, eager to face the challenges that lay ahead – never content to remain peacefully within his graveyard. And I hoped Seto's heart was still in his cards….
It was just before dawn, the hour he had depicted so well as Earth Reborn, when the front door finally opened and Seto stepped over the threshold. I would have screamed at him, for I had begun to fear that I would never see him again, but the look in his burning blue gaze stopped me. Wordlessly he held out his left arm and thrust the sleeve up. Filling the space created by the burn was a tattoo, deep blue hieroglyphs edged in black. I had never noticed before: the scar was shaped like a blade.
Seto held his arm out so I could read the ancient writing. I smiled. The few people who could read it would only see Kaiba at his most arrogant, celebrating his victory. For the large glyphs read: "The King of Games." Only I would notice the smaller hieroglyphs, almost lost in the blue and gold flames of the decorative border. They completed the sentence: "I am bound to… I will hold to… I cherish… The King of Games."
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I was trying to add to Kaiba's narrative in this chapter, and was having trouble. Then in an e-mail, samurai ashes said that one thing that struck her about Kaiba was that he was 'still standing' and I had the narrative. So I'd like to thank her.
RESPONSES TO REVIEWS:
Desidera, samurai-ashes – Kaiba leaving party: I was trying to show he was pretty shaken by what had happened. Also, given how little he likes being around people, (even at Battle City he usually communicates with the crowd via a screen from his blimp) I thought he would look for the earliest possible excuse to leave. I agree, it was sad, but I think true, that no one would notice.
Desidera – Yami letting him go: Yami could see how shaken he was, yet he let him leave, without trying to follow him. To me this is part of what makes their relationship work: Yami has the strength and patience to let Kaiba come to things in his own way and time, and is willing to accept (although he clearly doesn't like it) that Kaiba may not make the right decisions.
samurai-ashes – Kaiba giving Yami his own deck: Part of the story was also about Kaiba (at times by example) helping Yami come to terms with being his own, independent person. So, to me, him having his own, matching deck, symbolized that Kaiba understood how joined they were, but it was also a sort of 'coming of age' present.
Desidera – Kaiba's feelings: I think Kaiba is very direct in his thoughts, but very uncomfortable revealing them, because he thinks of emotions as a potential weakness. So I think of him as someone who has very strong emotions, with very little facility for expressing them.
Desidera, Kagemihari – Yami and losing: I think Yami recognized that for Kaiba to win really was about the heart of the cards. He tells Kaiba at Alcatraz that they are evenly matched – Kaiba doesn't lose because he's a worse player or because he makes a mistake, but because of the message of the duel. I tried to create the same sense here. But even, knowing that, Yami is the King of Games – so I think it would be hard for him to lose – and I think Kaiba, who is an equally fierce competitor, would be the person most likely to understand that.
Chibi Angelic Slayer, laura, Tokemi – cliff hanger: I wasn't simply being evil. I wanted to show how shaken Kaiba was, and give the sense that the emotional upheaval was great enough that any action was possible. However, I have to admit, it was fun seeing people try to decide if I was the kind of lunatic who would string readers along for 26 chapters only to kill off my main character in Chapter 27. And I have to admit on some days the idea had its own twisted appeal. But this is a story about life, not death.
AnimeFan-Artemis, Crimson Violet Eyes, Female Yami/Yugi, Kaiba's Kobito, Kathy, Leland Lancaster, Light Spirit Sage, Lightning Sage, Sunrise and Sunset – thank you for your continued encouragement. I can't believe how long some of you have stayed with this story, and welcome to all the newcomers. When I started I didn't believe I could write feelings or thoughts on paper, so, I guess, I've never stopped appreciating the response this story has gotten.