Guardians

Note: Hello again everyone! I hope you're ready for a shock, 'cause that's what I'm hoping to give you! Review for me, dearies! Enjoy!

Chapter 49: The Truth about a Legend

"What happened?" Karmina asked, excited and very surprised to see her guardian.

Wingweaver gave her a tired smile. "Well… the darkness was growing steadily stronger… and it was giving us all quite a hard time."

"But I thought we-"

"If we had told you the truth, you never would have believed us. We had hoped that you would be able to figure it out for yourselves, and overcome it that way… but when the two of you started fighting again after subduing it, when knew that you needed to think you'd won."

"This is gonna be good," Seto muttered.

"I still don't like you," Wingweaver remarked unhappily. "But then, I'm not the one who has to be in love with you, now am I?"

Karmina turned a bright shade of crimson. "What is it that we didn't figure out?"

Her guardian sighed and leaned back. "The darkness… though created from the dark monsters… became something much more when the two of you were born. No, Kaiba, do not interrupt me with you unbelieving attitude. Wait, at least, until I am through, for this is a story, a prophecy, to be spoken through only once, and the whole thing spoken without interruptions from the likes of you. Now… the two of you, being the only humans with guardians who stuck around even after you underwent all sorts of changes, not all of them very becoming to character. Perhaps it was the fact that you were both orphans… or that you put others above yourselves, or so I'm told. Whatever the reason, your destinies were intertwined from the moment you came to-"

"Oh no, not that destiny crap again!"

"Seto, I know you don't believe in that stuff… but please let her finish, okay? It could be important."

He raised an eyebrow, but her pleading eyes won out in the end. "Fine."

"As I was saying, your destinies were intertwined from the moment you came to be, though it was Kaiba who came first. Perhaps, even then, the two of us knew what would come to pass between our charges, Blue Eyes and I. Certainly, we could never have known what sort of people you would become, nor if you would be able to do the task set out for you. When first I saw you, Karmina, I thought that you would shine brightly and affect all the world around you… but that is not how it came to be. Instead, you fell into the background, afraid to let people know you for who you were. And still, I cared very much for you, and not a moment went by when I didn't fear it would be the time to send you off to your destiny, which would no doubt change you forever from the innocent girl I knew."

"Blue Eyes, on the other hand, took more of a simple role of protection. He observed and made sure that his charge did not die. And that was essentially all, although he gave a bit of advice from time to time in the form of an inner voice. Who knows… maybe his way was better, because Kaiba did not rely on that one steady friend the way I fear you did, Karmina. Instead, he had none. But it was because of that, because you shared the same loneliness, that you were able to understand one another… I wish that was all that you shared."

"Will you get on with it already?" Seto snapped.

"The darkness… was nearly destroyed many long years ago, mere instants before the birth of Seto Kaiba, though that was not your name then. But when I might have slain it, and indeed it was I who nearly did, it found itself a new source of power; the darkness inside the hearts of two very different humans… the darkness that was there from the beginning, although it took much time for it to show, and grow, and become different for the both of you. Because of you… the darkness lives on. And because of that… the monsters are slowly dying out. It poisons the very air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Not only that, but it sends it's armies of rain, wind, and snow after us, to end our existence, so that it may rule our realm, and someday yours as well. It is a terrible thing… but only you can defeat it… because it is a part of you."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and I've had to listen to Yugi's speeches."

"Um, Wingweaver… I find that hard to believe. It sounds like a myth or a legend."

"And perhaps the wording I have put it in would make it so. But it is, nonetheless, true. In order to destroy, once and for all, the darkness, you must overcome the demons of your pasts and come to be honest with yourselves about who you are. And with each other, as well… because it cannot be done alone. Your love… ridiculous as it may sound, will help you in ways that Blue Eyes and I never could."

Seto cocked an eyebrow and Karmina clutched nervously at her wrist. "So… we have to face it again?"

Wingweaver shook her head, drooping with fatigue. "No… you must now face the toughest challenge of all… you must look within yourselves to find the answers… you must know that what you are doing is what you truly want to do. And you must prove… once and for all, that the darkness within your hearts is small compared to other things."

"Has anyone ever actually bought that story?" Seto asked.

"Seto… It sort of makes sense, in a weird way. I mean, the both of us are sort of… separate… from the world, from other people. Wouldn't it make sense that we're… different. That, perhaps, that 'darkness' in our hearts… sort of chases people off… you know?"

He shook his head. "That's just stupid, Karmina. I stay away from people because I want to."

Her eyes twinkled a little, as if both remembering a long lost dream and basking in the wonder of what the present brought her. "That isn't true, and you know it. No one wants to be alone… some of us… we just are. We can't help that everything we are… and all that we want to be… separates us from everyone else. Like you… you don't show people how you really feel… and you can act, well… thoughtless and cruel. But you aren't… not really. And I… I'm just afraid, I guess."

"Karmina… you're making speeches again."

She shrugged. "You have a problem with my speeches, Seto?"

His eyes softened and he brushed her hand with his. "As long as you don't start that friendship crap on me, I don't care."

"ENOUGH!" Wingweaver declared angrily. "I do not have time at the moment for your antics… until now, I had forgotten that you were still young and foolish. Now is not the time for tender moments. I have but a short time to spend with you before my power runs out and I must return to my realm. If you have any questions, I'll answer them now, as best I can."

Seto continued looking skeptical, and just sat there with his arms crossed, but Karmina closed her eyes and sat in thought.

"So… what, exactly, are you asking of us?" she finally asked.

"To resolve all that your hearts feel is undone. To make a place for yourselves in this world, and to do what you know is right. And then, when you are certain that you have no unfinished business, dwell on all that you have done wrong in your life… do your best to correct that which can be fixed, and feel remorse for that which can't. You must be at peace with yourselves and each other if the darkness in your hearts is to be rendered useless to the darkness that plagues our world. That is all that we may ask… but a time may come that we need you again. If you feel the pull… if you feel that you must return to the place where much of this began… then go. That is all the advice I may give you. The rest is up to you."

"I'll try my best, Wingweaver… but I don't know how much good I can do."

"You must try very hard not to think like that… your pessimism is part of the shadow in your heart. That goes to both of you."

Seto didn't say anything, but he had a look of great disbelief on his face.

Wingweaver's image began to waver. "I must now bid you farewell… for my time to deliver this message has run out. Good luck."

She vanished, and Karmina felt saddened, but not so much as when she'd first lost her guardian. Because now, she was that and only that, not also the only friend that Karmina had.

"I've changed so very much since I met you, Seto," she told him accusingly.

"Maybe so, but I'd say that's for the best, wouldn't you?"

She laughed. "It's so very sentimental of you to say so."

"I try."

Slipping her hand into his, she leaned back and thought about what Wingweaver had said. Resolve all that your hearts feel is undone… Dwell on all that you have done wrong in your life… That's going to be hard. But… I guess it has to be done.

End note: And there's another curve ball. I doubt you were expecting that, were you? Well, review for me, and I'll try my hardest to get the next chappie, chapter 50, if you can believe it, up ASAP!