Chapter 20 I Know You're Out There Somewhere
A/N: This chapter is a songfic. I've really enjoyed reading other people's and wanted to try my own. This is where the title of my story comes from. It was not the original name of the fic. However, this is one of my favorite songs and it fits my story so well. The song is by the 60's rock band The Moody Blues. I also have only a vague grasp of Egyptian mythology/religion. As far as I can gather the Ennead were like immortal counselors or judges of the Egyptian gods. Their role seemed to involve the settling of disputes between the gods. For the purposes of my fic, I have used the name for a cult that uses the powers of the Shadow Realm. I'll develop a little more on that plotline as the story continues.
Also, for those of you who are interested in the uncut version of this fic (though both versions are the same up to this point) I have through chapter 41 posted on adult fanfiction net. (I can't seem to get the URL or the site name to post, so you'll have to put it together the way it's supposed to be.) I'm guessing that when this story is complete, it will be about 50 chapters long. Thank you for your continued interest and support.
The mist is lifting slowly
I can see my way ahead
And I've left behind the empty streets that once inspired my life
And the strength of the emotion is like thunder in the air
'Cause the promise that we made each other haunts me to the end.
Pegasus stood on the balcony above the main entrance to his castle. Had this been medieval times he would have addressed his subjects from here. He swirled the contents of his ever-present crystal wine glass with a gentle flexing of his wrist.
A storm was about to break over Duelist Kingdom like a fever observed in apprehension and the lord of the realm had come to greet it. The air crackled with electricity, tense, impatient, but still, breathless, without wind, waiting…waiting.
He had made a promise to himself and his lady that he would find their son. He had completed that task. But like the storm hanging in the night sky, he was waiting. For what he was uncertain-some indefinable something-he would know when the right moment came. It was close, so close…he could almost reach out and touch his golden boy.
Pegasus had watched the Duelist Kingdom Tournament videos and the Battle City Tournament files that Croquet had downloaded for him from the Internet. Kaiba had been so considerate to make his tournament accessible to anyone who cared to follow it.
Joseph had grown into the promise of excellence he had shown as he dueled against Bandit Keith and Yugi Motou. Pegasus had been proud of Joseph's display of talent and raw courage that day, as proud as though he were the boy's father, only to find out that, in fact, he was. Max felt that he should have been able to sense it at the time.
I know you're out there somewhere,
Somewhere, somewhere
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I'll find you somehow
And somehow I'll return again to you.
Cecelia wandered the unmapped sameness of the Shadow Realm. The concepts of time and space had little meaning here. She knew of the lost mortal souls and the magical monsters that dwelled in this dimension that was neither hell nor purgatory and existed outside the laws of physics, as she understood them.
She missed Maximillion. Although she had been aware of his presence here, the Shadow powers strove to keep them separated. She knew too much about the Ennead and their plans to fuse Shadow and Substance. The ancient cult had long waited to unleash the dark forces of magic upon an unsuspecting world. Max had been chosen to implement the ending of the world, as it had been known. Max could stop it.Their spirits had briefly reunited as the traps and treachery of the Ennead had failed to keep the two lovers apart. Cecelia had done all that she could to both protect and inform her husband with the truth.
For a moment beyond Cecelia's comprehension, her spirit had been pulled into a night of smoke and flame as the mother-child bond magnetically drew her to her dying son. She had managed to intervene on Joseph's behalf, to guard him until that other-made-flesh had come. Joseph had called him Yami; regal and powerful this soul was the prize of the ultimate Shadow Game. Cecelia was only the bait to get Max to draw the soul of the Pharaoh out of his Millennia long hiding place. She prayed to unknown gods that her beautiful husband would find a way to set her free and stop the world of light from being overtaken by the realm of shadow.
The secret of your beauty
And the mystery of your soul
I've been searching for in everyone I meet
And the times I've been mistaken
It's impossible to say
And the grass is growing
Underneath our feet.
Jou was dreaming again-fire, smoke, and a breathless haze. He was crying, "Dad! Dad, where are you?"
He reached the hole where the flooring had given out. He had to know. He had to see. The depths were dark and murky, yet he could make out a still and twisted form-silver hair, red suit, and the glimmer of a gold eye…
"No! You're not my father! It's not true! It can't be true!" Joey woke up screaming, terrified beyond reason. He's was out of his bed, down the stairs, and across the lawn before he even realized he'd moved.
He punched in the security code to the mansion and headed to the approximate location of a certain second floor window where the light was almost always on. He found the room with no trouble; a thin strip of golden light glowed from underneath the door like a beacon. He put his hands against the door and leaned into it with his head.
"Seto, Seto, please let me in!" He cried out, sounding every bit like a lost and frightened child.
The door opened suddenly and Jou fell right into Seto's arms, which worked out nicely for the blond because at that particular moment there was nowhere else he wanted to be.
The words that I remember
From my childhood still are true
That there's none so blind
As those who will not see
And to those who lack the courage
And say it's dangerous to try,
Well they just don't know
That love eternal will not be denied.
Pegasus raised his wine glass in a toast to the moon. "One day in this life or the next my beloved bride and I will be together again. Our love will survive and somehow I will return again to her."
He slipped back inside his empty castle as the storm broke over the island in an amazing natural fireworks show.
Yes, I know it's going to happen,
I can feel you getting near
And soon we'll be returning to the fountain of our youth
And if you wake up wondering
In the darkness, I'll be there
My arms will close around you
And protect you with the truth.
Seto peeked out into the hall half expecting the Ultimate Blue Eyes White Dragon to be charging at the blonde for the state he was in. But there were no three-headed monsters in sight so he pulled the trembling puppy into his room and closed the door.
"I…I had…a…a nightmare…a…about Pegasus." Joey felt like he was about five as his voice broke.
"Well, that explains why I had the feeling you were being chased by a monster." Seto said dryly.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come." Jou pulled away, feeling ashamed of wanting Kaiba, of all people, to comfort him.
"Why come to me?" Seto asked quietly, his hands on Jou's shoulders, willing the blond to meet his eyes.
"That night…the night of the fire?" Seto nodded, encouraging Joey to continue. "Well, I keep having this dream…"
"Yes. Go on."
"I'm on the roof of the building and I can hear the choppers…and…" Joey swallowed hard and looked down at his bare feet. He was truly pathetic, scared into a panic by a bad dream. He finally met Seto's depthless blue gaze. "You're there, holding me like you'll never let me go. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you. I feel just like the whimpering puppy you're always telling me I am."
"Jou, I don't know how you could have any memory of that. You were unconscious, but it wasn't a dream. I did hold you on the roof that night. You're my puppy and I won't ever let you go, unless you want me to." Confession made, Seto pulled Joey into a hesitant embrace.
Joey sank into his arms willingly. It seemed to him that he had looked everywhere for love. How odd to find it in the arms of the boy who mercilessly tormented him. "Would you hold me tonight? Just hold me? I don't want to be alone."
Seto guided him to the bed and Joey sank into it gratefully. Seto flicked off the lights and joined him letting the blond curl into his long lean body. Joey felt exactly as if he had always belonged there and Seto finally got some sleep.
