It pains me to leave all of you hanging like that over a long weekend, but I can only update my fic while I am in school. So, here I am! And without further ado, let the story continue! Hey, I'm not a poet, ok?!
Part Nine
Rain and wind whipped him from all directions. Thunder howled its eerie song, and lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the earth below for brief moments. A mirror of the heart of the man who knelt inside the ruins of what had briefly been a sanctuary.
The rip in his heart seared with a pain hotter than any rage he had ever felt. The tears that dripped down his cheeks stung him worse than any lashing he had ever received.
His heart was split so severely, someone who would happen upon him now might think him bona fide schizophrenic.
Delaney...she's gone, Seto thought in a deeper sorrow than he had ever known.
Why do I care?!? Kaiba argued in rage.
I...I love her, Seto confessed.
NOOO!!! You don't! You don't love anyone!! You don't need anyone!! Nobody else matters!! Kaiba insisted. Love shows weakness!! Weakness makes you vulnerable!! Vulnerability is not an option!!!!!
Those thoughts were not the thoughts of Seto. Those were the thoughts of Kaiba. Of Gozaburo Kaiba and the boy he had trained in his cold-hearted ways. Of one man in the world who was truly incapable of love, who was void of all emotion except anger.
Seto Kaiba mulled over all these thoughts for a very long time. He came to only one conclusion.
I fell in love. I surrendered myself to her, and I gave her something that I can never take back. If vulnerability is the cost of that, so be it. What's done is done. Maybe in the future it won't matter, but right here, right now, it matters more to me than my own life.
Seto picked himself off the ground. He would get Delaney back if it was truly the last thing he ever did. He knew he would rather wander aimlessly forever trapped inside this condemned game than leave it without her.
He was on a mission. One to revive a lost love. But one question remained.
How?
The answer suddenly struck him in the form of returning memories. He could now clearly recall the entire scope of the game's programming. There was a way to regain a fallen player without going to the final level.
The Dragon Lair.
As ruthless as his associates had been in reprogramming the game, he was so inspired by their ingeniousness that he did leave in one part of their original sabotage. He had created a separate area of the game that was supposed to be a secret level. Lucky him he knew all the secrets in this game.
Seto made his way over to the shattered glass window. There he crouched down and picked up a large piece of broken glass. For reasons he did not yet know, he put the glass shard in his pocket before he left the destroyed temple. As soon as he felt the outsideness, his leg muscles went spastic and he broke out in a blind run. Well, not entirely blind. He mapped out the route in his head.
South to the water, west to the forest. Find the tree in the middle of the forest that is different from all the others. Stand by it in moonlight and the Dragons' Lair will appear. As he was running, Seto looked up at the sky. The storm had calmed somewhat, but thunder rumbled angrily in the distance, and lightning still streaked across the sky. The darkness was artificial. It was not the night that he would need to find the Dragon Lair, although he was sure that behind the black curtain of clouds night had indeed fallen.
Finally, Seto reached the beach that bordered the edge of the water. He collapsed from exhaustion into the damp sand of the shoreline, unable to move anymore. He breathed heavily, his chest and shoulders heaving. The tides came in angrily as the sea was still hazed by the effects of the storm. The frothy white water engulfed his wrists and knees repeatedly, and occasionally dared to rise higher. After a long moment he picked himself up a little and still kneeling, looked out at the big black ocean before him. Since he had stopped to rest, his thoughts had attained the task of catching up with his mind.
Delaney...how could you leave me? I...I never had a chance...to... How could you do this to me?
His ocean blue eyes glimmered with tears as his thoughts started to turn on him.
It was my fault. I could have saved you. I could have kept you with me, then you wouldn't have gotten hurt. He had failed. He cared for her so much, and he had wanted to protect her, but instead he had sent her off to her end. The worst part was that he had...
I've... I've killed before, Seto thought.
No! That wasn't me!! That was... I didn't do it!
A tear spilled down his cheek and inside, a fire ate at his soul. It stung him worse than anything he had ever felt. He realized that he had reached a new low in his life. Not because he had stooped to emotions, but because he was a failure. Everything that he had ever hoped was dashed away in his realization.
I nearly had to cheat to win against Yugi at Duelist Kingdom. Even after that, I couldn't beat Pegasus. I couldn't save my brother on my own. I was stupid enough to get trapped in this game the first time, and Yugi and his friends had to rescue ME. Now, I've let down the only woman I've ever cared for. Seto then had the most bizarre and ironic and unexpected thought of his whole life.
He wished Yugi were there to help him.
There was a time when that thought would have sent him into a rage. Now, however, Seto had not the strength nor the will to be angry with himself for such a notion. Though it betrayed the very essence of his own consciousness, he was more focused on Delaney than the resentment he had for Yugi. It was then that he was struck with the knowledge of exactly how deeply she had changed him. Somehow, her presence and her affections had melted the icy heart that had been residing in him for so long. She had such a power over him that it altered his very being, down to the core of who he was.
The tears remained at their places at the corners of his eyes. Another even got up the nerve to spill over and down his other cheek. Then he noticed that the tear sparkled as it traveled over his cheekbone.
Light? From where? He looked out at the black ocean and up at the sky. In the distance, still a ways out over the water, the clouds had cleared. He could see the pinpricks of starlight twinkle in the deep blue blanket of sky. The storm is clearing!
He picked himself up. But that forest is so far away... I'll never make it!
His eyes narrowed in resolve. I am DAMN well gonna try! He was off like a shot, off to the most dangerous mission of his life.
The Dragon Lair had been programmed to be a secret level. If someone could actually get through all the chambers successfully, they were awarded a very powerful magic card, one that could not be used or found anywhere else in the game.
Monster Reborn.
He had to try. If he could get past all the dragons, he would be able to use the magic card to revive a monster OR a player that had been defeated in the game. However, getting past those dragons was a really big if. There were five different chambers, each progressive area being inhabited by respectively stronger dragons. It was also the only part of the virtu-land where the computer could actually duel back, using magic and trap cards to power up the dragons.
Focus, Seto coached himself. You actually have to find this thing first. THEN worry about beating it.
Finally he reached the edge of the forest. The tree that's different from all the rest... He looked around. This was a completely mixed forest, with numerous types of trees in this area. He pushed on, farther into the dense woods. He studied the leaves, the bark, the height, anything that would indicate that one was different from the rest. He finally came upon one particular tree. He looked at the surrounding ones, and found what was off.
He was standing in front of a large pine tree. The scent of the sap wafted through the cool night air. All the rest of the trees are deciduous, not evergreen.
Now all he had to do was wait for the moon to rise.