The Game of Life

By: Rogue Fox

Part Thirty……… In The End

Seto+

I was trying to concentrate. I really was. People kept bustling in and out of this office that wasn't mine, and none of them were the one person that simply would not get off my mind. They all had questions about graphs and figures and miniscule decisions that could make or break the company, and I knew it. But I wanted to see "her" come into the office, asking what I would like for dinner, telling me about the grade Mokuba made on his spelling test, how Yoshi was going to try out for the debate team in the Junior High and how surely Charity would be taking her first steps soon. I wanted that. I wanted to be back there. I wanted to feel her lips on mine again, so warm and full of life. I wanted to look into her eyes and feel her arms around me and let her simple existence assure me that somewhere, I was wanted and loved. I wanted to come home to her waiting at the door, smiling happily and leaping into my arms, yelling my name like an overjoyed kid. I wanted to go to sleep to her heartbeat and wake up to her laughter. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small, white velvet box that I'd been carrying around. I flipped the lid open and looked at it. It was simple. I had wanted to buy one that was simply lavished in the most expensive gems. But that wasn't her, and this one was. It was just a simple gold band with a simple diamond. I could picture it on her delicate hand, gleaming in the sunlight for the rest of our life together. I smiled at the gem that seemed to glow from within, just like the girl I was going to give it to on bended knee. The plain and simple symbol of forever, forever with her. I looked up at the ceiling. Forever with Yuki. It had such a wonderful sound to it.

Suddenly, my personal cell phone rang, startling me out of my reverie. I thought that it must be Yuki, calling for some silly reason. She hadn't called me yet. I had kind of sprung that on her at the airport. I imagined that she was trying to sort everything out. I wanted to hear her voice. I wanted it to be her. I hit the button and put the phone to my ear.

" Hello?" I asked hopefully.

" Kaiba." An uncertain voice responded. Malik. I could help but feel a little disappointed.

" What's up?" I asked nonchalantly, returning to the paperwork in front of me. There was a long moment of silence, but I wasn't bothered by it. Malik had a habit of sitting in silence and thinking about his next sentence for a long moment like that. Came from being unpracticed in Japanese.

" Kaiba………" he began, and I suddenly heard it. The tone in his voice……… It gave him away. My heart turned to ice.

" What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly terrified.

" I'm so sorry." He suddenly gushed. Malik often came out in torrents like this. " So sorry, so sorry."

" What the hell?" I asked, angry and afraid all at once, rising to my feet.

" It's Yuki." Malik's voice suddenly blurted out. My whole world stopped. " She collapsed, but she's not getting up. I……… We……… She's dying, Kaiba. I'm sorry, I am so sorry. I don't know what to tell you. She wants you now, she needs you. She says we have to go to Egypt. It's time, Kaiba, you know what I mean?" Malik spurted in a burst of unsequenced thoughts. I looked at the ring in my hands and watched all of my dreams of forever shatter like fragile crystal.

" Yeah, I know what you mean." I said. My voice sounded hollow and empty and lifeless. I didn't think it would carry. I didn't want to cry with Malik listening.

" She said your name. That's all I heard her actually say. That's all she could make herself say." Malik told me. I wanted to scream. " Tell me what to do, Kaiba. Gods, I'm so scared." Malik suddenly whispered urgently. " Yugi, it's like he's shell shocked, and Ryou just kind of cries, and the yamis ran off, and I'm scared. I know they're counting on me, but I don't know what to do. You've gotta help me."

" Go to Egypt." I moaned. " I'll arrange for a private jet. Oh my God. You've gotta……… Just, please, don't let her go yet. God." I suddenly felt so helpless. " Oh, God."

" I hope he's listening." Malik said, in reference to God.

" I think he's abandoned us." I whispered.

" It's Armageddon. Where is God in Armageddon in all the stories?" Malik asked. " I never heard where the Egyptian gods were. I think someone told me that they leave the earth." He was blabbering. " Oh my God, I can't- I don't- How am I supposed to protect Ryou!" he asked, his whispered voice shrilling in panic and despair.

" Malik, okay, just listen." I demanded, forcing all my emotions aside and making myself be the stoic businessman I'd been trained to be. " Tell Yami he's in charge of the money. There's a credit card in my office with the pin number written on a paper with it. He knows where it is. I want Bakura and Ishtar to make sure everyone has everything they need and organize transportation. I want Ryou to call the department and tell the boys and Charity……… Tell Ryou I said I'm sorry, but tell them everything. I want Mai and Anzu to make sure that Yuki and Himeko's things get packed." I said.

" What about me?" Malik asked.

" I want you to keep Yuki here. Please. Keep her alive." I whispered.

" Why me?" Malik asked, his voice despondent and almost sad. " I thought you hated me."

" Why?" I asked in response. " Keep her alive." I repeated.

We hung up shortly after that. I sat at my desk, head in my hands. The world was ending, but I felt like mine was dying with Yuki.

Isis+

I never liked planes. I don't like the constant roar of the engines, the gentle sway as the machine tilted. I like boats fine. I just don't like planes. And I'm not afraid of heights, either. Planes just bother me for some reason.

I tried to force the fact that I don't like planes out of my mind and walk steadily down the hallway. Anzu brushed past me, stopping to give me a sympathetic look while we both kind of stood shoulder to shoulder. She was on her way to be with Yugi. With this kind of tragedy at hand, we all needed to be with someone. I was on my way to be with someone. Malik was with Ryou, both clinging to the other for some kind of confirmation. Ishtar hovered with Bakura protectively over Himeko while the latter knelt with Yuki, trying to protect her from the inevitable heartbreak when Yuki finally succumbed to death. Malik and Ishtar both had someone to be with. I was going to be with someone else.

He was in his cabin, staring out the window in stony silence. His supple body slouched on the cabin bed, head turned to look out the window, and my breath suddenly started coming in short gasps. The sound of my breathing brought his icy gaze on me. His red-violet eyes were lifeless voids.

" How long have we been flying?" he asked.

" A few hours, I guess." I whispered. " I lost track." I'd lost track of everything. I was lost, in his eyes.

" I'm going to lose her again." He said softly. " I can't stop it." I opened my mouth and closed it again. What could I say? What would I do, if I was losing Malik, and Ishtar too because of it, and I couldn't do anything about it? " I'm losing them both." He said, hanging his head. " Gods, I feel so helpless." He lurched suddenly to his feet and stumbled. I caught him. We both sank down, caught in each other's embrace. I breathed in his scent, spicy and exotic and so comforting, and we both silently cried into each other's shoulders. " I'm losing everything. Again." He whispered, his grip on my waist tightening. I ran my fingers through his hair, so soft and silky. He looked up into my eyes. " And just when I finally found it."

" The joke ends tomorrow." I whispered.

" Joke? Yeah, the joke. The mistake." He agreed. Then he looked at me again, really looked at me. I felt……… beautiful under his gaze. " The last woman I loved died." He whispered to me. " I don't want to hurt you."

" I'm dying anyway. Aren't we all?" I asked. He shook his head sadly.

" I'm already dead." He said.

" You're too alive to be dead." I whispered back, breathless as he pressed me close. " I'm not Mariah."

" I know." He replied. " I know. And I'm not the man you saw in your visions. That Pharaoh died five thousand years ago. I think you'd rather him than me." he told me, searching my eyes. I shook my head.

" He died so you and Yugi could rise in his place. And I want you. Not any Pharaoh from five thousand years ago. Just you." I whispered, pressing my forehead to his. He suddenly pulled me closer than before, pressing me down against the cabin bed. He needed it. I needed it. We needed each other. His strength was overwhelming. His eyes burned and I rejoiced in it. His body was warm and strong, and best of all, he absolutely bursting with life. Life, in all its glory. Life, in the face of death. We were still alive, I knew that as his lips found mine and his taste flooded my mouth. We were still alive.

Yami+

Isis, Isis Ishtar, slept quietly against me, her head on my bare chest, her uncovered shoulders gleaming in the light of my cabin room. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically. She had said I was alive. She had chosen me. Knowing what I'd done and who I was and everything I could be, she chose me. I kissed her forehead. If forever wasn't going to end sometime next week, I'd want to be with her forever. But……… Apocalypse complicates things.

Bakura+

I hated watching her hurt again. I hated even more knowing that there was nothing I could do to ease the pain. Ishtar had stalked off, muttering something about checking on Malik. My precious Princess sat on the floor next to her dying hikari, leaning against my knees.

" Tepe?" she asked. I made a noise of acknowledgement. " I love you." She whispered. My heart swelled to the point of bursting, and my stomach fell through my shoes all at once. " I never stopped," she continued. " I'm sorry for what I put you through."

" It wasn't your fault. We were both mislead." I muttered.

" I love you." She repeated. I kissed the top of her head, feeling tears welling in my eyes.

" Gods, I love you too." I whispered back.

" I wish……… I wish we had more time." She said.

" I do too." I agreed, both of us watching Yuki's frail form.

" I didn't want to leave without telling you that." She told me.

" I knew." I responded, smiling sadly. " I always knew." She looked up at me.

" We could have been happy together, me and you, couldn't we?" she asked. I nodded.

" I would have been and actor and you'd have been a singer." I said.

" The wedding would have been magnificent." She whispered dreamily.

" You would have looked stunning in white." I said.

" White? I wore black." She argued. I smiled.

" Of course. You wore black. How could I forget?" I wondered.

" The priest didn't understand a word of our vows." Himeko noted.

" They were in Egyptian." I added. We both giggled a little.

" Did we have two kids, or three?" she asked me.

" Oi, it all blends together. I think we had three." I said, putting a hand to my head.

" They were beautiful." She whispered, tears beginning to slip down her cheeks. I wiped them away and kissed her eyes.

" Yeah, they were. They took after their mother. And they had a great mother." I whispered back, before kissing her on the lips, her mouth giving way to my tongue effortlessly. We pulled apart again.

" We had a great life together, didn't we?" she asked.

" Yeah, we grew old together. We were really happy." I agreed.

" I wish we really could have all that." She sobbed. " I wish I could share that with you and Yuki."

" Some things……… just aren't meant to be." I said, holding her close and letting her cry. As much as I wanted it, there wouldn't be a life for us. There would never be a Mr. and Mrs. Tepe Bakura. There would never be three kids that looked like their mother. I wanted that, more than anything else. But I was happy I had my Princess in the end. My precious Himeko and her love.

Jou+

There was something dead in the air as we kind of slumped into the hotel rooms I'd helped Yami reserve. Something lifeless. I felt like the earth beneath me had already died, and now its soul clung desperately to the still body like Himeko clung to Yuki. I didn't want Shizuka to see Yuki like that. I wanted her to see Yuki the way I'd met her, full of smiles and laughter and energetic, running around the mansion with baskets of laundry and chasing down three kids who didn't want their baths. I wanted Shizuka to know the Yuki who mended cuts, wiped away tears, who made hot chocolate for me when I came out of the cold and let me lick the bowl when she made cake. I even wanted Malik and Ishtar and Isis to know the Yuki who made an obnoxiously big deal out of birthdays and managed to look adorable while she was at it, the Yuki who picked flowers and took in stray kittens. The Yuki who made my friend Kaiba smile the way Mai made me smile. I had all these memories of her, staggering under the weight of Kaiba's bowling ball, throwing random objects at Ryuuji, dressed up for a ball with Mai and Anzu and Himeko, sitting on the hood of Yami's car, running in circles in an Egyptian bazaar with Kaiba chasing her. I had all these visions of the future with her in them, dressed up for graduation, on her wedding day, chasing down her own kids. Everything felt so empty and worthless. Not only would Yuki never have that, but I wouldn't either. Neither would Mai or Shizuka or Kaiba or Honda or any of the people I cared about. It was Dooms Day.

I wished fervently to go back to that life, back to when it was just us being young and having all sorts of awesome adventures. Back to when we were a team, and nothing could take us apart. Back to when Yugi was loyal, Yami was brave, Bakura was sarcastic, Ryou was kind, Mai was cutely arrogant, Honda was a swooning romantic, Anzu was supportive, Ryuuji was fun, Kaiba was a jerk (albeit the best jerk I knew), Malik was a bouncy ball of joy, Ishtar was cunning, Isis was wise, Himeko was the queen of the night and Yuki was the daughter of the light. I wanted that life again. I wanted that chance to be happy. I wanted the spontaneity, the fearlessness, the fun, the glorious sense of not knowing what tomorrow will bring but being ready for it nevertheless. I wanted my life back. But I couldn't have it. The world was dying, and with it, everything and everyone I loved.

Ishtar carefully set Yuki down on the bed, trailing his hand over her arm as she breathed as deeply as she could. It looked like a struggle for her. Her eyes opened and her head rolled around, looking at us and attempting to smile. I knew she was trying to comfort me. I could feel her soul embracing me, willing me strength. I blinked, surprised by the tears on my cheeks. My mouth opened and closed repeatedly, looking for something to say. I surprised myself again with the thought that this is what Ishtar must feel like. I suddenly felt very old.

" So this is it. This is the end to all our great adventures. We spend our lives chasing down destiny, and now that we've finally caught it, we can't do a damn thing about it." I muttered. Next to me, Honda shrugged.

" Fate's a fickle thing." Ryuuji said, rolling his die. It landed on one. He picked it up and rolled again. Six. " She changes her mind with every roll of the die." Again, he rolled the die. Six. " We were fate's favorite children, we got all the breaks." Again, the die clattered on the floor. Six. I breathed deeply. Six-six-six. Ryuuji looked up at me from the die, not bothering to pick it up. " But in the end, our demise is worse than everyone else's. Because, we know it's coming." Himeko picked up the die and rolled it again. One.

" Damn fate. Damn everything." She muttered, tossing Ryuuji his die and stalking off.

" It already is." Honda told her back. She stopped, then turned to look at us. I was shocked by the tears in her eyes.

" Not Yuki. Yuki is not damned." She said. " I bear the damnation for her."

Honda, Bakura, and I volunteered to meet Kaiba at the airport. Yuki grasped our hands as we left, her eyes pleading with us.

" We'll bring him back for you." I promised.

" Hurry." She replied in a hoarse, almost inaudible whisper.

We walked to the airport, Bakura turning off into odd alleys he seemed to remember vaguely, and all of us just watching the unsuspecting masses teeming so full of life, remarking to each other about the odd weather. For Egypt, it was odd. The sky was a dark, threatening grey and there was rumbling in the distant that I couldn't remember thunder sounding like.

" I heard a noise like that once." Bakura remarked almost absently as another rumble died away. " When I was about twelve years old, and I was traveling around alone. I heard that noise, and it was like the whole earth jumped beneath me. There was this horrible roar, and I thought I was going to die. But I lived. I guess it was an earthquake." He said, shrugging. " Funny, I could have died in something natural like an earthquake. Or I could have stayed in Egypt five thousand years ago and risked the Pharaoh's executioners. Or I could have frozen to death in what you now call the Alps. Even old age fails to kill me. Famine has no hold over me, disease is no threat. I stand unchangeable in an ever-changing world. But in the end, I'm just as vulnerable as anyone else."

" Why?" Honda wondered absently.

" Someone's sick idea of a joke." I grumbled. Bakura shook his head with a sad smile.

" Yeah, I used to think that too. I used to laugh and cuss the gods out, Lug and Zeus and Jupiter and Osiris and Amaterasu and Thor and all the good ones I'd ever heard of in my travels and tell them they sure came up with a good joke. Tell them I hoped they were laughing it up. Tell them to go to hell, because I didn't need them or anything they could give. Even then, this fate was decided. We never had a choice. Any of us. Question is, would you do it differently if you had a choice? Remember the first time I tried to send Yami to the Shadow Realm? Would you still have stood by him then, knowing what was in store if you chose that path?"

" Yes." Honda and I both answered in unison.

" The gods only gave us the option to take this path. They made sure we would choose what they wanted, made it look nice and neat and play to our free will. But it's one of those choices where no matter what the consequences, you always make the same decision, because that's who you are. You would always choose to be Yugi's friends, because that's who you are. I would always choose to love Isis, because that's who I am. Yami would always choose to take Mariah's life, because that's who he is. Malik would always choose to repent for his sins, because that's who he is. Kaiba would always choose Yuki, because that's who he is. And Yuki……… Yuki would always choose this life. That's who she is." Bakura laughed sadly. " We chose our own fates." I looked up at the airport and tried to imagine what Kaiba must be thinking. I didn't want to.

" At least, in the end, we still have each other." I said. " I hated you once. I would have killed you, if I could do it without hurting Ryou." I told Bakura. Honda nodded. Bakura laughed again, still sadly.

" If there had been a way to do it without hurting Ryou, or even a way to do it at all, I would have let you." He said. " I don't blame you for hating me. I hated myself."

" And now?" Honda asked.

" I'm trying to come to terms with who I am. What I am. You should to. After over five thousand years, our souls will lay to rest. The drama. Heh-heh……… My patron god, Anubis, the guardian of the underworld, once told me I would play one of the leads in the world's greatest drama. The drama he was talking about……… It's coming to the curtains. Finally, there will be peace." He looked so serene, eyes closed thinking about it. " I'll see my mother again. I do wish, though, I had a chance to atone for my sins. It's Ammit's jaws for me. The deepest ring of Hell." I opened my mouth to protest. Hadn't he atoned? Hadn't he saved Yuki's life? I remembered his smile as Ryou yelled at him to do his laundry, his laughter as he told stories, and I couldn't imagine anyone damning him to Hell. How could they? " Don't. Darkness has no place where you and Ryou and the other are going. Ishtar, Yami, me, and even Himeko, especially Himeko, we are resigned. Don't." he told me.

" But……… Why?" Honda asked, breathlessly. Bakura shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets.

" You picked a bad crowd to run with." He told us. " I can't tell you how many people I've killed. Yami's murdered entire villages, not to mention how he mercy-killed Mariah. Himeko……… She never told any of you. Not many people know. She killed her own mother. Before Ishtar was locked away in the darkness that drove him mad, he went on a rampage and killed over two hundred people, not even considering what he did when he was awakened. Hands as bloody as ours deserve nothing better than Hell. I've been waiting for it."

" I don't care about that!" I burst out suddenly. " God, if I'm going to die, then I want my friends, all of us, to go together! I don't want some of us to go to Heaven or whatever and some of us to go to Hell! It's not fair! You're a good person, all the yami's are! Sure, you made some mistakes-" Bakura stopped me with a look.

" Mistakes?" He asked. " Murder is intentional. Murder is not a mistake."

" You couldn't help it! I'm not condoning it, murder is wrong, but……… Yamis kill, right? That's what they do! The gods or God or whoever is running this circus can't condemn you for being what they made you to be!"

" Gods live by rules. They can't break those rules. The sinful are damned to Hell, and the righteous are raised to the good place. That's the rule." Bakura said simply, shrugging again. " Come on. We're late to get Kaiba."

If ever I thought of the picture of despair after that day in Egypt, I pictured Kaiba as he came off the plane. Haggard, messy, hair uncombed, with dark circles under his eyes, and with this expression of unspeakable despair written all over his face. He looked at me as though pleading with me to make it go away. All I could do was look back helplessly.

" She didn't……… She's still………" he tried to ask, and I felt old again.

" She's waiting for you." Bakura said softly. No one said anything for a long time, and we all just kind of picked up Kaiba's sole bag and walked back into the street. The air felt lifeless, the world felt dead. I wondered about what Bakura had said before. If I had known where I would end up, would I have taken the same path? If I had known that I would end up staring at Apocalypse as it prepared to swallow all life, would I have still chosen this life? Would I still choose Yugi and Ryou and Malik and Yuki, even knowing what they represented? Or would I have chosen the ignorance, the blissful ignorance, and been no better than the crowded masses of the world, completely unaware that within the week they'd all be dead? I looked up at the dark sky and at the faces of some of my closest friends, two of which I could remember hating enough to kill them, and I knew I would always have chosen this life. No matter where this path led, it was mine, and that would never change. I had no regrets………

Well, maybe one.

Bakura+

A part of me wanted to angrily apologize to Jou and Honda for being so mushy and sentimental. But another part of me didn't care. Gods, the world was ending, I was entitled to a little bit of sentimentality. I wanted to curl up with my Isis and muse about my existence until the end came. I was resigned to my fate. I had known it was coming, hadn't I? But still……… Just when I was beginning to heal, too. Just when Ryou and I were learning how to be a real yami and hikari. Just when I finally had my Isis back. Just when I was able to watch the Ishtars dive head first into an almost normal life. Just when I was beginning to think I could get over my past and finally live, this had to happen. Should've guessed. That's karma for you.

I felt an odd tingling at the back of my neck. I recognized it. I thought at first it was Ryou, calling for me to come. But no, it wasn't the same. The urgency I felt now ran just as deep, but not as profound as my need to protect Ryou. Or maybe it was more profound. There's no good way to describe it. I knew I was being called. I knew I had to answer. I didn't need to know anything else. Then I remembered where and when I'd felt the tingling last.

When my patron god came to me and told me about the drama I was going to star in, I felt a tingle in the back of my neck. The same urgent calling I had to answer. I linked it to Ryou, but Ryou's patron god isn't Anubis. The Guardian of the Tomb and I have a special relationship, but I have no need to protect him. I have no duty to him other than to answer his call. Ryou is my duty, my life, my hikari. Then came the feeling of dread, the sense that I was suddenly drowning. Drowning, in the middle of a desert. Then the empty blankness.

" It's time." I repeated Yuki's words, and ran off through the streets of an ancient city I knew better than I should, three young mortal men who knew more than they should following me without questions. They knew what it was time for. Time to go willingly to our deaths, time to watch the world and everything we knew and loved be swallowed by the abyss.

I wanted to be with Ryou. I wanted to be with my Isis. I wanted to be with them all, Yuki and Yugi and Yami and Jou and Honda and Kaiba and Malik and Ishtar and Isis and Himeko and Mai and Shizuka and Anzu and Ryuuji and Yoshi and Yukio and Mokuba and Charity. I needed to be with them all. I had lived with them. I had shared my greatest triumphs with them. Now, I wanted to die with them.