Memories of the Shadows
A Yu-gi-oh fanfic
Disclamer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh and most of the other things in this fic.
/Hikari to Yami/
#Yami to Hikari#
{Thoughts}
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Chapter 7- Recovery
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The world spun. Kaiba blinked rapidly and tried to make sense of his surroundings. Darkness, and a musty smell. He lifted his head, saw that he was in his room. He tried to remember, and he remembered. Everything of his past he could recall as if it was yesterday. He trembled suddenly, wanting to forget. He tried to repress them, but more flooded into his mind. Eventualy, he gave up. He tried to stand up, but his muscles cramped. It was then that Kaiba became aware of his physical state. His body was wasted, his hair was matted and longer then usual, his vision was blured and he smelt like cold sweat. Kaiba forced himself to stand, then he headed towards the shower. A few minutes later, he walked out, dressed simply in jeans and a loose black shirt. He felt ill, traumatized and less alert then he usualy was.
#Glad to see you in the land of the living. How was your break?#
Part of Kaiba screamed in terror, instinct told him to flee, hide, tremble. But Kaiba pushed fear away, and confronted his past life.
'Hello.' He said simply. 'Next time you send me down memory lane, place some tourism signs around. It can get confusing.' He heard laughter.
#Amusing! Very amusing.# Seto commented. #I would have thought that you would still be afraid of me, but it seems that you have total control of your emotions again.# Seto materialized in front of Kaiba, a smug little grin on his face. Kaiba's instinct screamed at him, and he could not help but cringe a little at the appearance of his other.
'Perhaps, not complete control..... But not bad, considering your Mental Breakdown.' Seto commented.
'Mental Breakdown?' Kaiba questioned. He knew that he had relived his past in hideous detail, but he had thought it only to be a brief few moments. 'How long was I out?'
'Not long, really. 11 days.'
'11 days?!' Kaiba began to panic. What had happened to Kaiba Corp? More importantly, what happened to Mokuba?
'No need to panic. Your brother is safe and Kaiba Corp is doing well. And they will remain that way, unless you refuse my offer again.' Seto's gaze turned cold.
'Offer?' Kaiba tried to remember, but memories of his past were the only things thast came to him.
'Learn magic from me, help me with my revenge and I ensure that Kaiba Corp will remain prosperous and Mokuba will be unharmed.'
'How dare you drag them into this!' Kaiba snarled in outrage. He could handle being tormented, but to have Mokuba face the haunting memories....
'I told you, they will only be harmed if you do not agree to learn.' Seto knew he had won. Kaiba's only living relative was his only weakness.
'.... Fine.' Kaiba glared hatefully as his other. 'I'll agree to learn from you. Only if you promise to keep Mokuba out of this.'
'Excelent.' Seto's grin widened. 'You shall not regret this course of action. And don't give me that look, I think you will find magic rather enjoyable.'
---
'Well, where now?' Yugi looked at the others. Ryou sat on his lounge chair, Yami paced the length of the room and Yami Bakura leaned against a wall, his eyes closed.
'I was so sure it was Kaiba,' Ryou said, massaging his forehead, trying to think of where else they could look.
'It isn't him. It may be connected with Kaiba, but it isn't him.' Yami said, still pacing. 'What I do know is that the Millennium Rod is involved somehow.'
'Why do you think that?' Yami Bakura asked, opening an eye to look at Yami.
'Think for a minuite, each of the items has a different way of recharging.' Yami responded.
'Huh?' Yugi turned to look at his darker side. 'Recharging?'
'The Items can only do so much before needing to recharge, and each Item has it's own way of doing so. The Puzzle, for example, draws energy from the sun.'
'Whilst the Ring takes what it needs from it's owner.' Yami Bakura added.
'That explains a lot.' Ryou said under his breath.
'If I recall correctly, the Rod draws energy from others.' Yami Bakura contitnued
'The draining that happened a few weeks ago!' Yugi exclamed. Yami nodded.
'After Battle city, the Rod would have been severely drained. Hence the huge amount that was taken.'
'But who would have the Rod?' Ryou looked up. 'The only people I can think of that would have it are Malik and Kaiba. But Malik is in Egypt for the time-being, and Kaiba is not exactly in the right state of mind for magic.'
'We'll have to wait for Malik to come back.' Yami Bakura said simply. 'Then we can see if it was Yami Malik again, or if it's someone new.'
'But we should continue looking around in the meantime.' Yugi stood up. 'We may find something yet.'
'Doubtful.' Yami Bakura snorted, closing his eyes once again.
'There is always a chance, Tomb Robber.' Yami glared.
'But a pathetic chance it is. I doubt that someone able to avoid us for this long is suddenly going to pop up and say "Hello", offering us a plate of muffins.' He walked over to the Pharaoh. 'When he does appear, he'll be wanting our lives. And, considering what we have seen, that probably won't be too difficult a task.'
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It wasn't the magic that disturbed Kaiba. It was the fact that he was enjoying it. Claiming the excuse of still being unwell, he was able to scrape another week away from school and work. Seto taught him the basics of the Arcane, both practically and theoretically. He progressed at a rapid level, the spells coming naturally to him. They were simple things, making a small object invisible, clicking your fingers and creating a small flame. He mastered them within a day or two.
Seto himself was amazed at the progression of his other. It had taken him over a month to get even the basics of magic, but Kaiba had done so in less then a week. But then again, he was Seto's reincarnation. Some of his traits had probaly transfered over. So the High Priest decided to progress to the next level.
It was Friday. Mokuba had just left for school and Kaiba was finishing his coffee.
#Something different today, Kaiba. Go to the kendo room.#
/About time. These Cantrips are becoming boring/ Kaiba spoke over the mental link; another trick he had learned. He finished his coffee, placed the cup in the sink then moved out to his kendo room. It had been ages since he had practiced here, he would have to remedy that someday. Seto appeared in the middle of the room, his arms folded over his chest. Part of Kaiba still felt afraid, and generally he disliked his other. But the threat of Mokuba becoming involved in this still hovered over his head, not to mention that he was enjoying this too much to quit now.
'You mentioned something new?' Kaiba said emotionlessly.
'Tell me what you know about magic.' Seto commanded.
'As dark is opposite to light, magic is opposite to technology. It is a force that is controled by the mind, and is erratic in it's natural state. Most people cannot detect magic and they genneraly are not effected by it's presence.'
'And, what types of magic are there?' Seto started walikng around the room.
'Um...' Kaiba was unsure of this. 'Possibly two?'
'Wrong. There are 4 types of true magic. You know of Cantrips, what you have been learning up until this point. The others are Shadow Magic: which uses the fabric of the Shadow Realm. Verbal: which uses words to shape the spell. And Soul, which uses your very essence and is both powerful and unpredictable.'
'And I will be learning which?'
'All.' Seto grinned. 'And considering your rapid advancement, that shouldn't take more then a month.'
'Question, why do you need me anyway? I would have thought that I would be better off being blissfully ignorant of your plans.' Kaiba followed his other's movement with his eyes.
'I need a replacement if anything goes wrong. My plans can go wrong in so many different ways, but with someone to go on with what I left off, then my chances of succeeding rise dramaticaly. But we drift off topic.' Seto stoped on the opposite side of the room. Kaiba brased himself. Then the room was engulfed by the shadows, into the blackness that whirled.
'This, as you have guessed by now, is the Shadow Realm. As you can see...' Seto raised his hand, and a small, glowing black orb appeared in his hand. 'It is fairly easy to manipulate. The main focus of Shadow Magic is the usage of this place as a tool. Example, calling someone's shadow to grab them whilst you lay into them with some type of weapon.'
'Or summoning the Realm to engulf an area....' Kaiba thought back to Battle City, and to Malik Ishtar's numerable duels. With curiosity, he focused and tried to drive the Shadow Realm away. It seemed to groan, then it let go of it's hold on reality. Seto couldn't help but smile at his other's natural ability to control Magic.
'Another use of the Shadow Realm is to tavel. Time moves at a slower pace in the Shadow Realm then it does in the Real World. Magic is also amplified in the Realm, making spells bigger and easier to see.'
'This theory work is interesting, but can we move on to the actual thing?' Kaiba said impatiently.
'In time. I don't wan't you to be acidentaly eaten by the nightmares that prowl the Shadows.'
'Creatures live in that void?!' Kaiba was surprised by this.
'Where do you think the Monsters in the closet live? They are shy creatures, but with each passing day in the Shadow realm, they become more bold. Usualy they attack within a week.' Seto closed his eyes, remebering the instances when he himself faced the hellish beings.
'Can they escape into this world?'
'Only when someone summons one. A difficult task, and full of risks. When one is summoned, you have to maintain total control until you banish it. If you lose that control, you become it's first target.' Seto sighed and shook his head. 'But were not attempting that just yet. You shall start with the basics of Shadow magic, calling forth a part of the realm into this world.'
The rest of the day went fairly quickly. Within the space of the day, Kaiba had perfected calling the Shadows into the world, and was begening to understand how one could control shadows to peform tasks. Seto monitered his usage constantly, making sure that he covered up the clues that Magic was performed here. But there is always a small trace of magic left after a spell, and a careful eye can find these traces.
And a theif, who is used to looking for the small things, can see these traces with ease.
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R&R please