The Game of Life
By: Rogue Fox
Part Fifteen... The Truth
A/N: Hey everyone! First off, I want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews, and your great advice. Second, I would like to announce that this is officially my longest fic ever!!! Yay!!! So go ahead and enjoy this part, the last part of my little mini-saga. By the way, there is some foreshadowing of the next saga in here, or at least a big part of it. See if you can find it! Arigato again, and sayonara!
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
I stepped into Zack's hotel room. It was just a regular room, single bed, coffee machine, sink, bathroom, TV, chair, and a dresser. Nothing special at all. His bags were strewn over the floor, but he had never been that organized.
" What brings you here?" he asked. He seemed almost nervous. He kicked at something on floor so that it flew under the bed and out of my sight. I gave him a curious look.
" I came over to see you, instead of making you come all the way over to the mansion." I said, then remembered why I had actually come. " Have you seen the news?" I asked, seating myself in the chair. Zack grabbed the pot of coffee and poured himself a mug.
" Want some?" he asked, offering me a cup.
" No, thank you. I don't drink coffee." I said. I waited for him to answer my earlier question, and when he didn't, I decided to ask it again.
" Have you seen the news?" I repeated. Zack looked up at me from his coffee, almost looking pained.
" Yeah... I saw it this morning. The two people they found killed." He said.
" I wonder who did it?" I said, trying not to seem suspicious. " I mean, who could have done something so terrible?"
" I don't know." Zack said, looking away from me. I always know when people lie to me. And right then, my heart sank down to my feet.
" Yes, you do." I said quietly. Zack looked up at me sharply, his coffee mug tipping dangerously.
" I do?" he asked me, his voice shaking.
" You do." I agreed. " You can tell me, Zack." I added softly. Zack stood abruptly and paced the length of the room.
" No, I can't. That would only put you in danger." He said.
" You killed those people, didn't you?" I asked, trying not to think about what might happen if he answered like I thought he would.
" No!" Zack protested, wheeling around to face me. " No! I didn't kill them! You have to believe me, Yuki! You of all people! Please, I didn't kill them!" he cried. I rose to my feet and placed my hands on his shaking shoulders.
" Then who did, Zack?" I asked gently. He looked away from me.
" That's where things start to get tricky." He said. " Listen, I'm going to tell you some things that you're probably not going to believe, but I'm going to tell you anyway. You're the only one I can trust. You always were." Zack paused to take a shaky breath. " Listen, once a month or so, something weird happens to me. It usually happens when there's a full moon, but not always. It's like I'm a werewolf, but I don't turn into a wolf or anything like that. But something else controls my body." Zack explained. I breathed deeply. It reminded me very much of an experience Ryou, Yugi, and I all knew so well.
" That's not so tough for me to believe." I said quietly. Zack pulled away from me and got the thing he had kicked under the bed out. It was the shirt he had worn the day before. There were a lot of stains on it. I looked away before I could discern what kind of stains they were. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew anyway.
" And when that something else takes over, I do terrible things. Sarah and Lauren caught me one night, just as I was changing back into me. They saw me with blood all down my front and all on my face. They confronted me the next day and asked me if I was the one committing all those brutal murders. I didn't know what to tell them. Now they think I'm a killer, or worse, a werewolf. And I don't blame them. Yuki, tell me there's more than one way to stop this. I don't want to die yet." Zack pleaded with me. I looked at him. He didn't have a Millennium Item, so it wasn't like I could just take that away.
" I think it's some form of possession. Do you remember what happens when you change?" I asked. Zack shrugged.
" I don't remember much. Usually I black out or something. But I don't want to talk about what I do remember." He told me. I sighed.
" I don't know how to stop it, Zack. But I think I know someone who might." I told him.
*+*+*Seto*+*+*
" I can't believe what you're telling us." Honda announced. " I didn't like that guy from the start, but a werewolf? That's a little harsh."
" No kidding." Jou agreed.
" Well, believe it. Sarah and I saw him." Lauren told us.
" Is it that hard to believe, Honda? Considering all you have seen?" Ryou asked. Honda shrugged.
" I told you it felt weird!" Bakura cried.
" Oh, shut up." Yami growled.
" So what do we do?" Himeko asked.
" Don't the legends say that to kill a werewolf, you have to shoot him with a silver bullet?" Anzu asked. I shuddered.
" I'm not shooting anyone, silver bullet or not!" Ryou protested.
" I agree completely!" Yugi said hastily, nodding vehemently.
" That may be the only way." Sarah said.
" Then you can pull the trigger." Mai said crossly.
" If that's what it comes to, then I will!" Sarah shot back. Sarah had always been quicker to anger than her other friends.
" Isn't there another way to do it?" I asked, looking around helplessly.
" I saw a movie once where they froze the werewolf." Jou volunteered.
" That's not true. Lauren and I did some research before we came here, and all the stuff we read agrees that werewolves can survive all the most extreme conditions, including cold." Sarah said. " Besides, how would we do it?"
" Where would we get a silver bullet?" Honda asked.
" Silver bullet?" Bakura asked. " You people come up with funny legends. A silver bullet won't kill him when he's changed." Everyone looked at him. " Think, Pha- Yami. What would kill so brutally, using the body of a young man?" he asked.
" Oh, I see." Yami said, nodding. " That's not much better, though."
" I'm just saying no silly silver bullet is going to kill it." Bakura said, shrugging.
" What? What are you two talking about?" Lauren asked.
" A type of possession. Your friend has been possessed by a restless spirit." Yami explained.
" How do we get rid of it?" I asked, quick to cut to business.
" Um, good question." Yami said. " Any ideas?" he asked Bakura, who shrugged.
" A priest? A god? Take your pick." He said.
" What in the world are you talking about?" Sarah asked. I waved my hand to shush her.
" Would a Millennium Item work?" I asked. Both young men looked up at me.
" I really don't know. It might." Yami said. Bakura shrugged again.
" Don't look at me. I'm certainly as far from holy as you can get." He said. " He ain't gonna do much better." He added, pointing to Yami, who growled.
" I'm certainly better than you." He said.
" Both of you shut up!" Yugi cried.
" Well, even if we did find someone strong enough and pure enough to do the actual exorcism, there's a big chance that this Zack guy would die." Bakura said, shooting a dangerous glare at Yami.
" That's a pretty big risk." Anzu said quietly.
" But we can't just leave him to run around and kill people." Yami added quickly.
" Okay, let's vote. Sarah, Lauren, you too." I said, nodding to the two girls. " Everyone against the exorcism, raise your hand." I said loudly. Anzu and Honda both raised their hands. I looked around. " Then I assume that everyone else is for it?" I asked. Everyone nodded. " Sorry, Anzu and Honda. Guess we go ahead with it." I said, shrugging.
" Assuming we can find someone to do it." Yugi muttered.
" Oh, that's easy. Who's the strongest, purest person you know?" Himeko asked with a grin.
" Yuki." Nine other voices answered automatically. Sarah and Lauren simply looked bewildered. We had gone a little over their heads, I decided.
" Don't ask." I told them.
" So what hotel is this guy staying in?" Yami asked, already halfway to the door.
" It's clear across town. And there's no way we're all going to fit in your baby of a car!" I called after him.
" Fine. If you're coming with me, hurry up!" Yami yelled. Himeko, Yugi, Bakura, and Ryou all chased after him. That left me with Anzu, Honda, Sarah, and Lauren. Honda and Anzu decided to ride with Jou and Mai, and Sarah and Lauren rode with me in one of the limos. And naturally, Yami and Jou turned it into a race to see who could get to the hotel first. I sat silently in the limo, watching the world around me roll by. Sarah and Lauren talked in hushed tones, and I ignored them. They were confused, and I knew it. I had forgotten how odd the world my friends and I knew seemed to someone from the outside. I remember how weird it was for me when I first figured Yami and Yugi out. I had sat there, wondering if maybe I had lost my mind, or if Yugi had lost his. It was hard for a grounded mind like mine to grasp a concept so supernatural. Now I accepted it without a second thought. Yami, Himeko, and Bakura were all ancient spirits who got the worse end of a bad deal, and were now living alongside their reincarnated forms. I myself was the reincarnated form of one of their old friends. And none of this bothered me. I once knew a guy who was gay. I didn't even think about it, even when he commented on how another guy was hot or something like that. Now, this stuff with my friends was just like that. It was something I accepted without thinking.
A sudden pain in my head made me kneel over so that my forehead touched my knees. Lauren and Sarah paid me no attention, caught up in some heated debate that had developed between them. I was used to severe headaches. I get them all the time, due to stress and injuries to the head I had when I was younger. But this was unlike any of the headaches I was used to. Bright colors exploded like fireworks in front of my eyes, forming bright, quick images that were gone before I could comprehend what they were. I could hear quick bits of voices, saying things that were vaguely familiar, like a memory from a dream...
" As always, I win!"
" Catch me if you can!"
" You look a little pale."
" We'll always be best friends. I promise. Do you?"
" What a klutz."
Laughter echoed over my mind, familiar yet not at the same time. Like something I knew before my memory went back. I likened the laughter to Mokuba, but not quite... Was it mine? My own laughter, as a child? I couldn't remember myself laughing very much as a child. There wasn't much to laugh about. Someone was calling my name, but they weren't saying Seto, or Kaiba, or anything I'd ever answered to in this life. I couldn't quite make it out, but it was important.
" Mr. Kaiba!" Someone yelled. My head snapped up.
" What?" I asked. My voice seemed far away.
" Mr. Kaiba, are you all right?" my limo driver asked me. I looked up at him.
" I'm fine." I said, although I doubted that myself.
" We're at the hotel, sir." The driver told me.
" Thank you very much. Please wait for us." I said distantly, stepping out of the limo and waiting while Sarah and Lauren climbed out. I rubbed my temples gently, trying to soothe away the pain.
" What happened in there? You went white as a sheet all of the sudden." Sarah asked, looking up at me questioningly. Lauren stood by patiently, waiting for my answer. I looked up at the hotel. Yami and Jou hadn't arrived yet, so we had to wait for them.
" I'm not sure." I said, my tone closing the subject from further discussion. At that moment, Yami and Jou both roared up with their respective cargoes, both yelling at the other that he had won the race. You'd think that Yami, as old as he actually is, would have grown out of those games.
" Oh, Ra." Himeko said suddenly. I noted that every person associated with a Millennium Item present had suddenly gone stiff.
" What?" Jou asked.
" Yuki just summoned the Key of Ra." Yami said quietly.
After that, we charged into the hotel and found out Zack's room number, which involved my bribing the clerk. Then we were faced with another dilemma. The elevators wouldn't fit us all. So, we divided up into two groups. The first group consisted of Yami, Ryou, Anzu, Sarah, Honda, and Jou. The second group was Yugi, Bakura, Mai, Lauren, Himeko, and myself. Both groups would be pretty tightly pressed for space, but we decided we could handle it. The first group went up on the first elevator we got, the second on the next one. And Zack's room was on the sixth floor, so it was a long ride up. Especially since Himeko was crammed against me in a very uncomfortable position, and I was very conscious of it, and Bakura kept giving me dirty glares. I was glad Yami wasn't on this elevator. What's more, my headache was just getting worse. I couldn't have been happier when the elevator doors slid open and we all sort of fell out. But, my dumb luck, I fell on top of Himeko. At Yami's feet. With Bakura right next to me. I think the only reason I avoided the beating of my life was because Yugi and Ryou decided right then that we needed to find the room in question. That, and the fact that at the moment we all managed to stand up again, a blood-curdling scream rang through the hall.
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
I winced. I could spiritually sense my big brothers and sister approaching. I had no doubt that they would be accompanied by our other friends. And judging by the alarming rate they were moving at, they had reason to believe I was in danger. I sighed. I had very little time to perform. My hand curled unconsciously around the key that had appeared there.
Key? Can you hear me? I requested mentally.
What is my mistress's bidding? I was asked in return.
Could you cleanse my friend? An evil spirit has taken shelter in his body. I explained.
The procedure would be risky. Your friend might die. the Key responded. I sighed again.
" Zack?" I asked out loud. He looked up at me questioningly. " I might be able to help you. But it's very dangerous. You might not survive." I said.
" Do it. Please." Zack said instantly. " Anything is better than living like this. Even death." He told me. I winced.
" I don't want to hurt you." I said.
" Yuki, if you care about me, then you'll do this. You have no idea what it's like to have something totally alien inside your head, taking control as it pleases, doing what it pleases, and being helpless to stop it." Zack said. I shook my head.
" I've got a better idea than you might think." I muttered. " Don't ask." I said, before he had the chance to do so. I held up the Key of Ra. " My little friend here is gonna give me a hand."
" Pretty toy." Zack commented.
" I wish it was just a toy. You might want to sit down. This isn't going to be pleasant for either of us." I instructed. " We haven't got much time." I muttered, to myself.
" Yuki, it knows what you're going to do. It's trying to take over me!" Zack cried. My reflexes are amazingly fast. But I barely reacted in time as Zack's features began to mold. I raised the Key so that it pointed directly at him and felt the energy surge through my hands into the golden item. And Zack screamed.
Zack and I sort of became one in those few moments. I saw all the pain and horror he had endured since I had left, and he saw everything I had dealt with. He saw that the scar on my cheek didn't actually come from an accident, and I saw that the spirit that took him over sometimes purposely hurt Zack's body. I saw and knew everything about him in that moment, and he did the same with me.
The next thing I consciously knew, I was laying on the floor, looking up at Himeko and Anzu and Mai as they leaned over me. I felt, and I must have looked, dazed and disoriented.
" Zack?" I asked dazedly. There was no answer. I blinked to focus my eyes, becoming aware of who was around me. " Where's Zack?" I asked Himeko. She didn't answer me, but her eyes flitted to some place out of my line of vision. I pulled myself into a sitting position and saw all the guys leaning over Zack's limp body. All sorts of worries flashed through my mind as I leapt to my feet. Did I overdose him with my energy? Did I accidentally expel both souls in the body, or worse, only Zack's?
" Is he dead?" I asked quietly. Seto was the only one who looked up at me.
" I don't know." He said honestly. Yami sighed.
" His soul is exhausted. He's not dead, but he won't be waking up for a while." He said. " Kaiba, you can relate to him right now."
" I can?" Seto asked, looking at Yami.
" The other spirit in Zack's body fused with his own. When Yuki expelled that spirit, she, in a sense, cut a part of his own spirit away. He'll be in a coma for a while. Bring back memories, Kaiba?" Yugi asked. Seto nodded.
" Yeah, it does." He said shortly. He didn't go into detail, instead smiling at me, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave them a tight squeeze. " Don't scare me like that again." He told me. I only smiled. Then I noticed someone else standing in the door.
" Sarah! Lauren!" I cried joyously, dashing over and hugging them both while all three of us shrieked with laughter and happiness.
Zack woke up two weeks later in the hospital, groggy and with few memories of what had happened. He did, however, know that I had saved him from a fate worse than death. He and Sarah and Lauren stayed with us for a few more days, before boarding a plane back to America. It was a sad day for me, to see all three of them go. I would miss them, and the innocent part of my life they represented, before I knew what I was and what I was destined for. Before they went, though, I did tell them everything. All the secrets and all the pain. They all accepted what I had become, although, as Himeko told Bakura so many times, I wasn't the same person I had been, and our relationship would never be the same.
I learned something with that incident. The ending isn't always happy, and sometimes there is no Prince Charming to slay the dragon and carry you off into the sunset. Sometimes you have to slay your own dragon, and sometimes you have to carry the heaviest burdens yourself. Zack and Sarah and Lauren learned more than they ever wanted to know, and it changed them. I have changed since they last saw me. According to them, my eyes had lost a lot of the sparkle, and my skin was paler. I was a shadow of the bright, athletic girl they had known. For me, every minute weighed me down like a full day. The time was beginning to add years that I hadn't earned to me. I had changed, and I knew I wasn't done changing. I had barely begun. By the time I was done, would the people of my past even recognize me? Would the people of my present recognize me? Would I recognize myself? I was afraid of the answer.
And even as I smiled and laughed and went to school, I knew the truth. The truth that wouldn't make itself known for years to come. I'm the mistress of the Key of Ra. Time is mine to see, and sometimes, when I'm doing one thing, other things happen. And when I was expelling Zack's demon, I saw some of his future. He had a happy life waiting for him. He would do his best to forget what had happened to him, and he would succeed. He would marry a sweet girl named Kayla, and together they would raise two children and live their days out happily. But I also saw my own future, or at least some of it. I know I forgot a lot of what I saw when I blacked out, but I saw enough to know my days were numbered. I saw myself, years in the future, sitting at a bay window, looking out onto a rolling ocean. I was thin and pale, and though I couldn't have been older than thirty-five, I had the frailty of an old woman. My eyes were sunken and hollow. I leaned my head against the glass and closed my eyes, sighing. A man's hand rested on my shoulder and I smiled softly. Then I breathed softly, and my shoulders slumped. I died.
That is the truth I live with. I'm dying. The price I pay for being what I am is my life. Slowly I'm dying. But no one else knows. I don't tell my friends, and I never will. It's better if they don't know. So I set out to enjoy my life as best I could. I smiled and laughed and pretended it wasn't happening. And I didn't see Zack and Sarah and Lauren for a long time after they left. And now, I know it was better that way.
*+*+*
A/N: End of the Zack mini-saga. Lots of foreshadowing in this part. ^_^ Some of it won't come into play for a while, but some of it will be put into action right away. Thank you all for the reviews! I feel so loved! Okay, this saga didn't come out as well as I hoped it would. Oh well. The next one will be better. I promise!
By: Rogue Fox
Part Fifteen... The Truth
A/N: Hey everyone! First off, I want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews, and your great advice. Second, I would like to announce that this is officially my longest fic ever!!! Yay!!! So go ahead and enjoy this part, the last part of my little mini-saga. By the way, there is some foreshadowing of the next saga in here, or at least a big part of it. See if you can find it! Arigato again, and sayonara!
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
I stepped into Zack's hotel room. It was just a regular room, single bed, coffee machine, sink, bathroom, TV, chair, and a dresser. Nothing special at all. His bags were strewn over the floor, but he had never been that organized.
" What brings you here?" he asked. He seemed almost nervous. He kicked at something on floor so that it flew under the bed and out of my sight. I gave him a curious look.
" I came over to see you, instead of making you come all the way over to the mansion." I said, then remembered why I had actually come. " Have you seen the news?" I asked, seating myself in the chair. Zack grabbed the pot of coffee and poured himself a mug.
" Want some?" he asked, offering me a cup.
" No, thank you. I don't drink coffee." I said. I waited for him to answer my earlier question, and when he didn't, I decided to ask it again.
" Have you seen the news?" I repeated. Zack looked up at me from his coffee, almost looking pained.
" Yeah... I saw it this morning. The two people they found killed." He said.
" I wonder who did it?" I said, trying not to seem suspicious. " I mean, who could have done something so terrible?"
" I don't know." Zack said, looking away from me. I always know when people lie to me. And right then, my heart sank down to my feet.
" Yes, you do." I said quietly. Zack looked up at me sharply, his coffee mug tipping dangerously.
" I do?" he asked me, his voice shaking.
" You do." I agreed. " You can tell me, Zack." I added softly. Zack stood abruptly and paced the length of the room.
" No, I can't. That would only put you in danger." He said.
" You killed those people, didn't you?" I asked, trying not to think about what might happen if he answered like I thought he would.
" No!" Zack protested, wheeling around to face me. " No! I didn't kill them! You have to believe me, Yuki! You of all people! Please, I didn't kill them!" he cried. I rose to my feet and placed my hands on his shaking shoulders.
" Then who did, Zack?" I asked gently. He looked away from me.
" That's where things start to get tricky." He said. " Listen, I'm going to tell you some things that you're probably not going to believe, but I'm going to tell you anyway. You're the only one I can trust. You always were." Zack paused to take a shaky breath. " Listen, once a month or so, something weird happens to me. It usually happens when there's a full moon, but not always. It's like I'm a werewolf, but I don't turn into a wolf or anything like that. But something else controls my body." Zack explained. I breathed deeply. It reminded me very much of an experience Ryou, Yugi, and I all knew so well.
" That's not so tough for me to believe." I said quietly. Zack pulled away from me and got the thing he had kicked under the bed out. It was the shirt he had worn the day before. There were a lot of stains on it. I looked away before I could discern what kind of stains they were. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew anyway.
" And when that something else takes over, I do terrible things. Sarah and Lauren caught me one night, just as I was changing back into me. They saw me with blood all down my front and all on my face. They confronted me the next day and asked me if I was the one committing all those brutal murders. I didn't know what to tell them. Now they think I'm a killer, or worse, a werewolf. And I don't blame them. Yuki, tell me there's more than one way to stop this. I don't want to die yet." Zack pleaded with me. I looked at him. He didn't have a Millennium Item, so it wasn't like I could just take that away.
" I think it's some form of possession. Do you remember what happens when you change?" I asked. Zack shrugged.
" I don't remember much. Usually I black out or something. But I don't want to talk about what I do remember." He told me. I sighed.
" I don't know how to stop it, Zack. But I think I know someone who might." I told him.
*+*+*Seto*+*+*
" I can't believe what you're telling us." Honda announced. " I didn't like that guy from the start, but a werewolf? That's a little harsh."
" No kidding." Jou agreed.
" Well, believe it. Sarah and I saw him." Lauren told us.
" Is it that hard to believe, Honda? Considering all you have seen?" Ryou asked. Honda shrugged.
" I told you it felt weird!" Bakura cried.
" Oh, shut up." Yami growled.
" So what do we do?" Himeko asked.
" Don't the legends say that to kill a werewolf, you have to shoot him with a silver bullet?" Anzu asked. I shuddered.
" I'm not shooting anyone, silver bullet or not!" Ryou protested.
" I agree completely!" Yugi said hastily, nodding vehemently.
" That may be the only way." Sarah said.
" Then you can pull the trigger." Mai said crossly.
" If that's what it comes to, then I will!" Sarah shot back. Sarah had always been quicker to anger than her other friends.
" Isn't there another way to do it?" I asked, looking around helplessly.
" I saw a movie once where they froze the werewolf." Jou volunteered.
" That's not true. Lauren and I did some research before we came here, and all the stuff we read agrees that werewolves can survive all the most extreme conditions, including cold." Sarah said. " Besides, how would we do it?"
" Where would we get a silver bullet?" Honda asked.
" Silver bullet?" Bakura asked. " You people come up with funny legends. A silver bullet won't kill him when he's changed." Everyone looked at him. " Think, Pha- Yami. What would kill so brutally, using the body of a young man?" he asked.
" Oh, I see." Yami said, nodding. " That's not much better, though."
" I'm just saying no silly silver bullet is going to kill it." Bakura said, shrugging.
" What? What are you two talking about?" Lauren asked.
" A type of possession. Your friend has been possessed by a restless spirit." Yami explained.
" How do we get rid of it?" I asked, quick to cut to business.
" Um, good question." Yami said. " Any ideas?" he asked Bakura, who shrugged.
" A priest? A god? Take your pick." He said.
" What in the world are you talking about?" Sarah asked. I waved my hand to shush her.
" Would a Millennium Item work?" I asked. Both young men looked up at me.
" I really don't know. It might." Yami said. Bakura shrugged again.
" Don't look at me. I'm certainly as far from holy as you can get." He said. " He ain't gonna do much better." He added, pointing to Yami, who growled.
" I'm certainly better than you." He said.
" Both of you shut up!" Yugi cried.
" Well, even if we did find someone strong enough and pure enough to do the actual exorcism, there's a big chance that this Zack guy would die." Bakura said, shooting a dangerous glare at Yami.
" That's a pretty big risk." Anzu said quietly.
" But we can't just leave him to run around and kill people." Yami added quickly.
" Okay, let's vote. Sarah, Lauren, you too." I said, nodding to the two girls. " Everyone against the exorcism, raise your hand." I said loudly. Anzu and Honda both raised their hands. I looked around. " Then I assume that everyone else is for it?" I asked. Everyone nodded. " Sorry, Anzu and Honda. Guess we go ahead with it." I said, shrugging.
" Assuming we can find someone to do it." Yugi muttered.
" Oh, that's easy. Who's the strongest, purest person you know?" Himeko asked with a grin.
" Yuki." Nine other voices answered automatically. Sarah and Lauren simply looked bewildered. We had gone a little over their heads, I decided.
" Don't ask." I told them.
" So what hotel is this guy staying in?" Yami asked, already halfway to the door.
" It's clear across town. And there's no way we're all going to fit in your baby of a car!" I called after him.
" Fine. If you're coming with me, hurry up!" Yami yelled. Himeko, Yugi, Bakura, and Ryou all chased after him. That left me with Anzu, Honda, Sarah, and Lauren. Honda and Anzu decided to ride with Jou and Mai, and Sarah and Lauren rode with me in one of the limos. And naturally, Yami and Jou turned it into a race to see who could get to the hotel first. I sat silently in the limo, watching the world around me roll by. Sarah and Lauren talked in hushed tones, and I ignored them. They were confused, and I knew it. I had forgotten how odd the world my friends and I knew seemed to someone from the outside. I remember how weird it was for me when I first figured Yami and Yugi out. I had sat there, wondering if maybe I had lost my mind, or if Yugi had lost his. It was hard for a grounded mind like mine to grasp a concept so supernatural. Now I accepted it without a second thought. Yami, Himeko, and Bakura were all ancient spirits who got the worse end of a bad deal, and were now living alongside their reincarnated forms. I myself was the reincarnated form of one of their old friends. And none of this bothered me. I once knew a guy who was gay. I didn't even think about it, even when he commented on how another guy was hot or something like that. Now, this stuff with my friends was just like that. It was something I accepted without thinking.
A sudden pain in my head made me kneel over so that my forehead touched my knees. Lauren and Sarah paid me no attention, caught up in some heated debate that had developed between them. I was used to severe headaches. I get them all the time, due to stress and injuries to the head I had when I was younger. But this was unlike any of the headaches I was used to. Bright colors exploded like fireworks in front of my eyes, forming bright, quick images that were gone before I could comprehend what they were. I could hear quick bits of voices, saying things that were vaguely familiar, like a memory from a dream...
" As always, I win!"
" Catch me if you can!"
" You look a little pale."
" We'll always be best friends. I promise. Do you?"
" What a klutz."
Laughter echoed over my mind, familiar yet not at the same time. Like something I knew before my memory went back. I likened the laughter to Mokuba, but not quite... Was it mine? My own laughter, as a child? I couldn't remember myself laughing very much as a child. There wasn't much to laugh about. Someone was calling my name, but they weren't saying Seto, or Kaiba, or anything I'd ever answered to in this life. I couldn't quite make it out, but it was important.
" Mr. Kaiba!" Someone yelled. My head snapped up.
" What?" I asked. My voice seemed far away.
" Mr. Kaiba, are you all right?" my limo driver asked me. I looked up at him.
" I'm fine." I said, although I doubted that myself.
" We're at the hotel, sir." The driver told me.
" Thank you very much. Please wait for us." I said distantly, stepping out of the limo and waiting while Sarah and Lauren climbed out. I rubbed my temples gently, trying to soothe away the pain.
" What happened in there? You went white as a sheet all of the sudden." Sarah asked, looking up at me questioningly. Lauren stood by patiently, waiting for my answer. I looked up at the hotel. Yami and Jou hadn't arrived yet, so we had to wait for them.
" I'm not sure." I said, my tone closing the subject from further discussion. At that moment, Yami and Jou both roared up with their respective cargoes, both yelling at the other that he had won the race. You'd think that Yami, as old as he actually is, would have grown out of those games.
" Oh, Ra." Himeko said suddenly. I noted that every person associated with a Millennium Item present had suddenly gone stiff.
" What?" Jou asked.
" Yuki just summoned the Key of Ra." Yami said quietly.
After that, we charged into the hotel and found out Zack's room number, which involved my bribing the clerk. Then we were faced with another dilemma. The elevators wouldn't fit us all. So, we divided up into two groups. The first group consisted of Yami, Ryou, Anzu, Sarah, Honda, and Jou. The second group was Yugi, Bakura, Mai, Lauren, Himeko, and myself. Both groups would be pretty tightly pressed for space, but we decided we could handle it. The first group went up on the first elevator we got, the second on the next one. And Zack's room was on the sixth floor, so it was a long ride up. Especially since Himeko was crammed against me in a very uncomfortable position, and I was very conscious of it, and Bakura kept giving me dirty glares. I was glad Yami wasn't on this elevator. What's more, my headache was just getting worse. I couldn't have been happier when the elevator doors slid open and we all sort of fell out. But, my dumb luck, I fell on top of Himeko. At Yami's feet. With Bakura right next to me. I think the only reason I avoided the beating of my life was because Yugi and Ryou decided right then that we needed to find the room in question. That, and the fact that at the moment we all managed to stand up again, a blood-curdling scream rang through the hall.
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
I winced. I could spiritually sense my big brothers and sister approaching. I had no doubt that they would be accompanied by our other friends. And judging by the alarming rate they were moving at, they had reason to believe I was in danger. I sighed. I had very little time to perform. My hand curled unconsciously around the key that had appeared there.
Key? Can you hear me? I requested mentally.
What is my mistress's bidding? I was asked in return.
Could you cleanse my friend? An evil spirit has taken shelter in his body. I explained.
The procedure would be risky. Your friend might die. the Key responded. I sighed again.
" Zack?" I asked out loud. He looked up at me questioningly. " I might be able to help you. But it's very dangerous. You might not survive." I said.
" Do it. Please." Zack said instantly. " Anything is better than living like this. Even death." He told me. I winced.
" I don't want to hurt you." I said.
" Yuki, if you care about me, then you'll do this. You have no idea what it's like to have something totally alien inside your head, taking control as it pleases, doing what it pleases, and being helpless to stop it." Zack said. I shook my head.
" I've got a better idea than you might think." I muttered. " Don't ask." I said, before he had the chance to do so. I held up the Key of Ra. " My little friend here is gonna give me a hand."
" Pretty toy." Zack commented.
" I wish it was just a toy. You might want to sit down. This isn't going to be pleasant for either of us." I instructed. " We haven't got much time." I muttered, to myself.
" Yuki, it knows what you're going to do. It's trying to take over me!" Zack cried. My reflexes are amazingly fast. But I barely reacted in time as Zack's features began to mold. I raised the Key so that it pointed directly at him and felt the energy surge through my hands into the golden item. And Zack screamed.
Zack and I sort of became one in those few moments. I saw all the pain and horror he had endured since I had left, and he saw everything I had dealt with. He saw that the scar on my cheek didn't actually come from an accident, and I saw that the spirit that took him over sometimes purposely hurt Zack's body. I saw and knew everything about him in that moment, and he did the same with me.
The next thing I consciously knew, I was laying on the floor, looking up at Himeko and Anzu and Mai as they leaned over me. I felt, and I must have looked, dazed and disoriented.
" Zack?" I asked dazedly. There was no answer. I blinked to focus my eyes, becoming aware of who was around me. " Where's Zack?" I asked Himeko. She didn't answer me, but her eyes flitted to some place out of my line of vision. I pulled myself into a sitting position and saw all the guys leaning over Zack's limp body. All sorts of worries flashed through my mind as I leapt to my feet. Did I overdose him with my energy? Did I accidentally expel both souls in the body, or worse, only Zack's?
" Is he dead?" I asked quietly. Seto was the only one who looked up at me.
" I don't know." He said honestly. Yami sighed.
" His soul is exhausted. He's not dead, but he won't be waking up for a while." He said. " Kaiba, you can relate to him right now."
" I can?" Seto asked, looking at Yami.
" The other spirit in Zack's body fused with his own. When Yuki expelled that spirit, she, in a sense, cut a part of his own spirit away. He'll be in a coma for a while. Bring back memories, Kaiba?" Yugi asked. Seto nodded.
" Yeah, it does." He said shortly. He didn't go into detail, instead smiling at me, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave them a tight squeeze. " Don't scare me like that again." He told me. I only smiled. Then I noticed someone else standing in the door.
" Sarah! Lauren!" I cried joyously, dashing over and hugging them both while all three of us shrieked with laughter and happiness.
Zack woke up two weeks later in the hospital, groggy and with few memories of what had happened. He did, however, know that I had saved him from a fate worse than death. He and Sarah and Lauren stayed with us for a few more days, before boarding a plane back to America. It was a sad day for me, to see all three of them go. I would miss them, and the innocent part of my life they represented, before I knew what I was and what I was destined for. Before they went, though, I did tell them everything. All the secrets and all the pain. They all accepted what I had become, although, as Himeko told Bakura so many times, I wasn't the same person I had been, and our relationship would never be the same.
I learned something with that incident. The ending isn't always happy, and sometimes there is no Prince Charming to slay the dragon and carry you off into the sunset. Sometimes you have to slay your own dragon, and sometimes you have to carry the heaviest burdens yourself. Zack and Sarah and Lauren learned more than they ever wanted to know, and it changed them. I have changed since they last saw me. According to them, my eyes had lost a lot of the sparkle, and my skin was paler. I was a shadow of the bright, athletic girl they had known. For me, every minute weighed me down like a full day. The time was beginning to add years that I hadn't earned to me. I had changed, and I knew I wasn't done changing. I had barely begun. By the time I was done, would the people of my past even recognize me? Would the people of my present recognize me? Would I recognize myself? I was afraid of the answer.
And even as I smiled and laughed and went to school, I knew the truth. The truth that wouldn't make itself known for years to come. I'm the mistress of the Key of Ra. Time is mine to see, and sometimes, when I'm doing one thing, other things happen. And when I was expelling Zack's demon, I saw some of his future. He had a happy life waiting for him. He would do his best to forget what had happened to him, and he would succeed. He would marry a sweet girl named Kayla, and together they would raise two children and live their days out happily. But I also saw my own future, or at least some of it. I know I forgot a lot of what I saw when I blacked out, but I saw enough to know my days were numbered. I saw myself, years in the future, sitting at a bay window, looking out onto a rolling ocean. I was thin and pale, and though I couldn't have been older than thirty-five, I had the frailty of an old woman. My eyes were sunken and hollow. I leaned my head against the glass and closed my eyes, sighing. A man's hand rested on my shoulder and I smiled softly. Then I breathed softly, and my shoulders slumped. I died.
That is the truth I live with. I'm dying. The price I pay for being what I am is my life. Slowly I'm dying. But no one else knows. I don't tell my friends, and I never will. It's better if they don't know. So I set out to enjoy my life as best I could. I smiled and laughed and pretended it wasn't happening. And I didn't see Zack and Sarah and Lauren for a long time after they left. And now, I know it was better that way.
*+*+*
A/N: End of the Zack mini-saga. Lots of foreshadowing in this part. ^_^ Some of it won't come into play for a while, but some of it will be put into action right away. Thank you all for the reviews! I feel so loved! Okay, this saga didn't come out as well as I hoped it would. Oh well. The next one will be better. I promise!