Disclaimer: The word "fanfiction" is an interesting one. The first half, "fan" comes from the root word "fanatic", which indicates that the characters of which you are a "fan" do not belong to you. "Fiction", then, indicates a story or plotline that is not real. Being that this story is a "fanfiction", it is thereby safe to assume that A) I am not Kazuki Takahashi and B) I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Seto: You're such a legal freak.
Yami: Jeez. A simple "They're not mine" would've sufficed.
Me: But where's the style in that?
Author's Notes: Three chapters. I never honestly thought this little plot bunny would make it this far. At any rate, I'm trying my best to get back in the habit of writing, but homework and the play I'm in make that difficult sometimes. Still, I am bound and determined to see this thing out. Special thanks go out to Jia no hime, as always, and also to my buddies Nagi, Schuschu, and Yohji (the pimp). You keep me sane and smiling, no matter what.
This piece takes place the evening immediately after Yami and Seto's chess game. Chronologically speaking, the Dartz Arc has not started yet, although that will be taking place very soon. Until then, enjoy this piece of "End of the End"!
...And by the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
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The burning wouldn't go away...
Broken fingernails clawed at the enflamed area, nearly drawing blood and etching trails of angry red on the delicate skin.
"Make it stop..."
Something was waiting, growing within him. Something angry and hateful and vengeful...something that wanted to possess him and control him and dominate him...
No!
NO!
Nothing dominated him—he was in control—he could control this—there's no such thing!
NO SUCH THING!
Stumbling through the darkness; haunting footsteps quickening behind him, a thick shadow looming over him, snuffing out all light...
Could he scream for a savior?
As if any would hear...who cared about him? Scared little orphan-child, who would come to YOUR rescue?
"There's something very dark inside you, Seto Kaiba..."
No...no...he wasn't evil...he was dark so Mokuba wouldn't have to be...he was evil so Mokuba could be pure...
The shifting, melting dragon-thing caught him in its jaws and swallowed him up in one hideous motion.
"Why didn't you save me?" the pure one had cried.
There was an ancient echo to those words...a deeper voice had uttered them once, one that commanded power and authority..."Why didn't you save me?"
He was supposed to save him.
He fell and fell and fell for ages, screaming and clawing and kicking at the thin air as if his flailing could somehow defy the laws of gravity. It's not the fall—it's the sudden stop that kills you.
Kills you.
Killed him.
The sudden stop had killed Gozaburo Kaiba.
Ha, ha...had Gozaburo felt like this as he fell to his doom?
Falling, falling, falling into insanity...
Falling into hideous blackness...
This time, there was no black-haired angel to catch his fall.
"HELP ME!" Words so foreign to him echoed through the barren ebony air, drawing the attention of all the ghouls cloaked in the midnight sky.
The icy winds whipped his hair and chilled his skin, but did nothing to stop the torturous burning that still plagued his forehead.
"GET IT OFF!" he shrieked, curling into a fetal position and pressing his forehead into his knees. Tumbling through space, struggling to stop himself to no avail...
Second by second slipped away, and with each one seemed to come a year of his life; now he was nothing more than a child in an adult's body...a tiny, shivering boy trapped in a form with gangly limbs and a mop of dirt-colored hair...
"What have you done?!"
His voice, yet not his own, called out over the sands. Yes, he could see the ground now, the rolling hills of dark sands and ribbons of black water that cut through them. It was cold down there, cold and desolate and alone...
And he was falling into the middle of a war.
A quiet splash, and he was clawing his way up through inky water, fighting the current in desperation, trying to lift his face out of the murk before his air ran out and the blackness consumed him for the final time...
He finally broke the surface, panting and fighting back tears as he shivered from the cold, and it was then that he heard the voices.
"What...what have you done to me?!"
A tired voice in the night. "It was necessary...I'm not happy about it either."
"You have condemned me to a fate I did not ask for!"
There was that voice again...that one that sounded like him...but his lips weren't moving. Who was this...?
Gold flashed; eyes narrowed. "Did we not agree long ago? Did you not utter the same words I did? 'Where you go, so shall I follow, and where you stay, there shall I be as well.' Is that not the promise we made?"
The first voice, the him-voice, growled. "I had assumed you would at least consult me before making a decision of this magnitude. Are we not equals? Or do you still consider me your subordinate?"
Oh, oh...but now the golden one was sad. He could tell. It washed over him in a wave of despair, threatening to knock him back into the water even as he crawled up onto the sands.
"We can never be equals...no matter how much I want you to be," the sad, regal figure murmured. "Not here, not in this time...but someday."
"I do not want to wait..."
"You are too stubborn and impatient for your own good."
"I am everything you are not, and then some. It is why you keep me around, remember?"
And then, the looming feeling of despair was washed away, replaced by a feeling of lightness with just this one phrase. The golden one seemed to glow brighter, and the familiar one glanced away quickly. Was that embarrassment? He couldn't tell from his hiding place behind the dune.
"It is a win-win situation," the golden one murmured, back to being serious. "With me gone, you can have the object of your dreams and aspirations...the world will be saved...your rule will be a golden age of prosperity."
"And you will be locked away. I see no paradise in that."
"It is your birthright."
"My birthright is a hollow title and a place at your side. There is nothing else for me."
A tiny, smug smile. "That is not what you tell your father."
"My father wants to be the father of a living god. I have no such aspirations. Let the old fool believe his dreams will come true. He will be dead soon, anyway."
"You will be a good king. And you will claim your final dragon, and be the most powerful man in the history of the world because of it. You know quite well no man has ever tamed all four. You shall be the first and only."
The familiar one smirked. "Were it not for you, I would have already tamed it. That one is too loyal for her own good."
"She will grow to love you, as she has loved me."
"She...is not alone."
At that moment, the burning on his forehead flared and he screamed; hurling himself back into the icy river in the hopes that it could provide some sort of relief. But the damage was done; the two figures in the clearing turned, startled by the sudden announcement of an eavesdropper, and disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but the memory of their horrified faces behind.
The current swept him away, faster and colder and more horrifying with each passing second...
His heart leaped to his throat as he slid under the surface for the final time...
His arms erupted in a stream of red and he slowly, slowly sank to the bottom, engulfed in a liquid crimson cloud.
"AGH!"
My arm hurt. That was the first thing that occurred to me.
Slowly, fearfully, I looked down. There was a long cut running down my left arm, a tiny droplet of red leaking from the angry scratch.
Heh...my first real, coherent thought was, "Great...just another reason to wear long sleeves."
But...but I had this feeling...a very odd feeling, as if I weren't alone in the room...
The Millennium Rod was lying on the ground—how had it gotten down there?—with blood on one of its sharp wings.
Maybe it was just me...but I could've sworn the metal was glowing...just like the golden person in my dream...
A chill ran down my spine. I don't know why. I was just...I don't know.
I didn't want to look up.
There was something there that I didn't want to see.
I did not want to look up.
Blood and gold and desert sands...
Finally, choking back a pathetic-sounding whimper, I tore my eyes from the ancient metal and looked up.
A pair of cold blue eyes stared back at me.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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Oooo, eerie, isn't it? Whoever could THAT be, staring back at Seto? Mwahaha.
Seto: You're evil.
Yami: And also blatantly obvious.
Seto: I can't believe you just left a cliffhanger. Punk.
Me: Would you rather I just ended the whole dumb story?
Seto: NO!
Yami: ...?
Seto: Er...that is...um...yeah, I can think of at least three people who would kill you if you did that.
Me: Hm, good point.
Yami: Whatever. Ooh, look, turkey...
Seto: Mmmm, turkey.
Let's see...for once, I'm going to take a few notes at the end of this chapter, pointing out and/or explaining a few things that went on here.
Anything in italics was Seto's dream. It's also in third-person because he was having one of those out-of-body dreams, where you see yourself performing actions and are still aware it's you, but you're not actually controlling the body yourself. Weird. The little bit at the end reverted back to first person, as Seto awoke from his dream. It was written in past tense, whereas the other two chapters were first person, present tense. This was intentional.
As far as the plotline goes, I think I'll be following Seto's movements as he progresses through the Dartz Arc, which also means I'll have some room to improv. After all, he certainly couldn't have been sitting in his office working that ENTIRE time, right? Heehee.
Speculations or further scenario ideas are welcome; please leave them in a review. If you leave me a question, I'll try to answer it in my author's notes next chapter. If you give me a really good idea and I decide to use it, I will certainly give you credit and thanks for it. And as always, kind reviews in general are heartily appreciated, as is constructive criticism. Flames and nasty notes, however, are not, and Joey the Flame Swordsman and Flamina, the angel minion of fire, are standing by waiting to take care of any of them. Thank you all once again, and please read and review!