Shattered Soul

A/N: Here it is, the last chapter. This is probably the last time I'll do a story like this– it's been fun, but I've just run out of ideas that would work for this format. My next YGO fanfic will probably be an update of Skeletons in the Attic, which I put on hold 'cause of writer's block. The soonest that would be updated is late August or early September, when I'll have access to a computer next.

I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Formatting note: Like the finale to Shattered Ring, the character's name will be next to their lines, and they've stopped their part when the next name shows up. This chapter takes place five years later.


Yuugi

I sit next to him,

my Pharaoh, my reason for life, still cold

after he left me for so long, years ago.

He returned after a while, but so much wiser, so

much sadder, and knowing his past.

Was it really right, really meant, for him to know?

None of us are really meant to know our true selves,

for the truth is heartbreak. And so I sit,

telling myself I love him, and wanting to love him so bad.

Lying to myself and glossing it all over, for my sanity.

Yami Yuugi

My innocence is beside me,

he keeps me in check, anchoring me to my calling as the Gods' mouth

in this new era, with all its new evils.

Five years since I found myself on the ancient walls

of my tomb, five years since

the Gods decreed that of two young lambs, only one was to stay innocent: mine.

But did he really?

As Yuugi sits next to me, I feel the coldness in his heart, that wasn't there before.

And I shiver, even in the warm summer sun.

Anzu

My friends and I are one heart,

petals, not scattered on the wind, but safe

upon their flower.

The wind will come, like it did five years ago,

tearing us apart and carrying us each

in our own directions.

But every flower will bloom again. Separated,

we are confused, but together, we stand strong in the face of life's problems.

Friendship is truly the strongest blossom.

Malik

Even today, I am haunted.

Even as Mokuba begins to make his way

down the makeshift aisle, this path through the folding seats

on the lawn, I know guilt's harsh slap. I deserve it, just

as I deserved everything I got, Bakura's death, my near death, my early life.

A paradox: My life itself

was the greatest tragedy for so many.

Even as Mokuba nearly glows with happiness,

I'm being eaten, guilty without regrets. Just loving

the way the pain feels,

I realize. I never cared who I hurt. I don't.

I just crave the pain that comes with it,

and I know I'll always be Akeifa's masochistic whore.

I love it.

Marik

My tainted light has stayed,

only straying twice through our years,

and his eyes still look so haunted, so dark.

He'll always be your dark delirium, your madness.

But there's a spark of light

far in the back, that glows defiantly.

He craves the pain of his guilt, and I won't keep him from it.

Your love, your hate, your anger, your passion, all hurt him, and he loves it.

Seto

He is here. Katsuya.

My friend, my dream-lover, with whom I'd

made an uneasy truce five years ago,

and broken it again. I'm damnably stubborn, I know that now,

walking by Mokuba as he wheels down the aisle.

I catch his eye, apologizing to Ryou as I do so.

Mokuba's at the makeshift altar now, and I sit down. Next to him.

Katsuya looks at me, pain in his eyes,

and I see how handsome he'd gotten in the five years that we didn't see each other

and I mouth:

"I love you"

He nods, I kiss his mouth, and I'm happy for the first time in years.

I'm

I'm so sorry, Ryou, and it's been long overdue, but

...goodbye.

Katsuya

I hadn't seen him in five years,

and he'd changed oh God he was so painfully beautiful and so cold

so lonely and I know it was all my fault.

Here we are, at what's basically a weddin', and I

I can't even give Mokuba and Noa the attention they deserve.

No. Seto gets that, Seto

who sits down right next to me and those damn horses start runnin' around my head again,

poundin' it so hard,

so hard that I almost don't feel it when Seto presses his lips to mine,

but it felt so good and so right that I know we'll work it all out.

Hello, nice to see you too, I'm sorry, I

I love you.

Noa

I am still amazed, even now,

at the way my consciousness fills this shell and complements it,

and I am amazed that I have been blessed with love.

Standing here at the altar,

I almost thank my bastard of a father for what he did to me.

Without my death, this wouldn't have happened.

Mokuba wheels around to face me, beaming up at me with a

face that is so full of life,

so full of energy that I stare for a moment. Life is still

alien to me, and although my consciousness

is now gathered in one place, I still am so afraid that I'll just be pulled loose

from this body by the gentle breeze, pulled

loose and returned to my metal prison beneath the waves.

Thinking about this, I become sad and almost scared– but I look

into Mokuba's eyes, and my fear flees.

Mokuba

we are complete at last, Noa and I. we,

the shadow children ignored by all, two ghosts,

have finally found hope and love. my broken body,

so abused by myself above all,

will never change now, never heal, but I am only slightly sad.

Noa doesn't see these useless legs,

this evil chair that is my captor and my savior,

he sees me whole. he sees my mind, my soul, my very consciousness.

and I finally know

finally know the answer to my life's question: whether it's worse to be broken

in mind or body, and I know I'd rather

suffer this fate than Ryou's.

we shadow children, we quiet ones left at the side,

have finally found a home in each other's hearts.

as we slip the rings onto each other's fingers,

I'm dancing somehow,

although my legs are useless. I'm dancing

in my heart, so happy today.

and I look at Seto,

and he sees me, really sees me, for the first time.

his eyes light up with recognition,

and I know I'm no longer his crippled little brother.

I'm loved, and that's all

I really needed.

go on in life, young one.

stay the course, stay true and you will find happiness

in the hard times; gems in the rough, as you and Noa found each other.


(cries) Oh, it's over. Wow. And it's actually a happy ending, for once. I really didn't see that coming, and I'm the one writing the damn thing... Oh well. I know I don't do hopeful and upbeat too well, but I hope this doesn't suck...

Happy Yu-Gi-Oh watching/reading, everyone, and thank you to all of my readers!