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CHAPTER 42: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
KAIBA'S POV
It was good to be running again, through the now empty corridor, with Yami at my side. It was fun watching him struggle to match my longer stride. It made up for the fact that Yami had been right, as usual. The home field advantage Seto and I had worked so hard for had vanished. And Yami had been right about my dragon, as well. I had given in to my impatience and anger. But the monsters opposing us had been too weak to merit my Blue Eyes White Dragon's attention. They had shattered immediately, without offering any real opposition.
The attack had been a feint, probably designed to draw at least one dragon out of my deck… and it had succeeded.
The true battle lay ahead.
We reached the tomb's door quickly. I could feel the power of Akunadin's Sennen Eye – the Eye that matched my own – as we entered the room.
YAMI'S POVThe door slammed behind us. We were in a vast empty chamber. Abruptly, the curtain of the Shadow Realm fell, the mists heavy, concealing. I could no longer see Kaiba. Nor could I see an opponent. But I did not doubt that my enemy was here. I could feel a sense of evil, could almost taste it. It was in front of me.
"Kaiba!" I yelled, but the mists swallowed my words.
I looked down at my Duel Disk. My life points were active. So… a duel was beginning. I pulled out my Lightning Eel. It could go straight to the source, attack my enemy's life points directly. I set it against the evil I sensed… felt my monster strike…
KAIBA'S POV
I couldn't see a damn thing. I didn't see that fucking Eel, until it damn near electrocuted me. I could hear Seto breathing at my side. I couldn't tell if he had been hit, too. Since I was the one wearing the duel disk, I doubted it. Hoped not, anyway. One of us fried, was enough.
"Yami!" I hollered once, only to realize there was no point is screaming. The damn fog was acting as a damper; muffling my words… leaving me mute as well as blind.
I had to find Yami. He had disappeared when the Shadow Realm sprang up around us. But first things first. Someone had attacked me. They were going to pay. I watched my life points drop on the duel disk's counter. So… there was a duel going down.
My unseen opponent's strategy was a good one. I wasn't about to send my Blue Eyes White Dragon into this murk. It was time for a magic card – Ookazi. I tried to see through the flames that sprang up as Ookazi burned away 800 of my opponent's life points.
YAMI'S POVAs my Lightning Eel struck, I felt a backlash of pain, as if I was the intended target. For a moment I wondered if my opponent had set a Trap Card, but when I stared at my duel disk, my life points were unchanged. I had felt all the pain of the attack, without being its target.
I had barely recovered my footing when Ookazi's flames rolled over me. For a moment I was frozen in the searing heat of Ookazi's fires. My lungs burned as I gasped futilely for breath. Then the moment passed; the flames disappeared as if they had never been, and I was gratefully breathing in the sweet cool air. I shook my head to clear it.
My Lightning Eel was still on the field; could attack again, but I hesitated. My own monster's strike had hurt me as badly as its intended target. It had hurt as badly as the counter-attack that had just cost me 800 life points.
I was annoyed at my unaccustomed hesitancy. I had a second Lightning Eel. I could play them both, and double the damage to my opponent's life points. Kaiba was out there somewhere. I had to find him fast. I had sent him to the Shadow Realm, twice. Pegasus, once. I tried to tell myself that he would survive a fourth trip, just as he had survived everything else; that he had spent the past three weeks diving into the Eye, but everything was screaming at me to attack… to end this now… to save him.
Still, I held my ground and waited.
KAIBA'S POVEverything screamed at me to attack – to get revenge – now, while my enemy seemed motionless. I could sense Akunadin's Eye in front of me, beating down on me… and I could sense Darkness. But why did they feel like they came from two different sources?
When I had used Ookazi, its flames had hurt me, even as it had left my life points untouched. It was puzzling, and I had had enough of riddles.
I tried to use my Eye to scan the field. Either nothing could break through the gloom, or I hadn't learned to use it properly… or both. Abruptly, I realized that I had only practiced on myself. It had been a foolish decision, but I'd been responsible for so much destruction in my life, already. I couldn't stand the thought of causing additional collateral damage with this new weapon. As a result, while I knew all there was to know about its uses from the inside, I'd never practiced throwing its power outward. Another scruple was coming home to haunt me.
The thought of Gozaburo laughing at me in Hell, when I came to join him, made me almost mad enough to release my dragons… to blast whatever was in front of me. But there was another voice in my head… telling me to wait… and I was reluctant to attack an opponent whose pain I felt as if it was my own.
"What the fuck are you waiting for? Finish him off already!" Seto yelled at my side, his howl barely audible through the fog. I recognized his impatience, his anger. It was my own. But just because I shared it, that didn't mean I had to give into it.
Seto's scream of frustration decided me. If the punk wanted me to attack, that was good enough reason to hesitate. After all, I knew where Seto, in his blindness and his rage, was headed. Hard as it was, I would stick with the road back. I had given in to the darkness in my own soul once. I would never do so willingly, again. Instead, I would follow this faint voice I heard telling me to be patient, to trust; a voice that was so new, it took me a moment to recognize that it was coming from my fourth dragon… as though he was more than just paper… as though he was more than just one more thing I had so easily destroyed.
YAMI'S POVI was waiting for an attack that didn't seem to be coming. But my opponent was out there, somewhere. I could feel his rage, as surely as I felt a sense of evil in front of me. But were they the same? One tasted familiar. I savored its sharp tang on my tongue. The other was alien in the worst sense of the word.
This felt wrong. It was starting to remind me of my duel with Kaiba on Pegasus's tower, of my first duel with Rafael at DOMA. 'No mistakes,' Kaiba kept repeating. Well now, I felt like I was about to make a mistake…
Enough waiting, enough unsolvable puzzles, I thought, once again impatient with my own indecision. Kaiba needed me… and I had promised to stand by his side. It was time to end this farce and find him. My hand reached for my deck. Then a voice broke into my thoughts… low… urgent…
"Aibou, stop!"
I paused. How could I be hearing Yugi? This made no sense. Ever since our separation, Yugi and I needed to be in close proximity to each other for our link to work. Yet Kaiba and I had run through the door alone. It had closed behind us. Unless, somehow, just when I needed him, Yugi had followed.
"Yugi?" I asked through our link.
"Aibou, stop your attack!"
In the face of his urgency, there was only one reply. I had ignored his voice once. I would never do so again. This time, I would not err. For the first time, my hand moved to cover my deck… to surrender.
KAIBA'S POV"Who knows what happens to those who lose Shadow Games?" Malik had crowed at Battle City. Well I knew. I'd lost three times. I knew exactly what it was like to be trapped in the Shadow Realm. But did Yami? Had he ever been there as its prisoner, and not its sovereign? And he was out here, somewhere. Maybe if I won, the mists would clear. But as I reached for my deck, I saw it… that ridiculous flower, with all those teeth…Man Eater.
This made no sense. What the fuck was a weak monster like Man Eater doing in the middle of this duel? No sane person would play it in this situation. I certainly wouldn't have – not that I had ever owned Man Eater anyway, even when I had been Seto's age.
But Man Eater was as familiar to me as my dragons. It was Mokuba's favorite card… and had been since he was Kouma's age. I raced to process this new bit of data as quickly as I could. If Man Eater was here, then probably so was Mokuba. I heard Seto cry out his name at my side. He must have reached the same conclusion as I. Mokuba was trying to get my attention; he was trusting me to decipher his message. This time, I would validate his faith in me. There were some pasts I would never revisit.
Amid the doubts that seemed to swirl around this room, my own path was suddenly clear; I had one certainty I could cling to. I would never risk harming Mokuba again. My choice was simple. For the first time, I moved my hand to cover my deck… to surrender.
The mists dissolved. I was facing Yami.
Although Akunadin wasn't in the room, I could still sense him, could feel the power of his Eye beating down on me, just as one can always tell where the sun is, even with eyes closed.. I followed its trail. It led past Yami to a door directly behind him; a door the fog had obscured until now. My own eye widened, and I turned around to find a matching door at my own back. We had two opponents – Zork and Akunadin – and there were two identical doors, facing each other across the anteroom, just as Yami and I had stared each other down, without realizing it, as we dueled. And I was willing to bet that Yami was sensing Zork as strongly as I was reacting to Akunadin.
I smiled in approval. "Ingenious. It's a pleasure facing so clever an enemy. I wonder who set this trap – Zork or Akunadin – or if they planned it together. Either way, they almost got us to do their job for them. Very efficient."
"It might have succeeded if not for Yugi and Mokuba," Yami said, turning his head to the room's third door – the one Yami and I had used to enter. Mokuba and Yugi were with Jounouchi. As I watched, Yugi slid a card out of his duel disk and handed it back to Mokuba. They looked shaken.
"What the hell happened to you?" I asked.
"Hell just about sums it up. As soon as you went through that door, it all broke loose. I guess they didn't want us following you, anytime soon." Jounouchi answered.
"So, Akunadin was clever enough to know that you are my wisdom," Yami said to Yugi. He held up his hand, stopping whatever caveat Yugi was about to offer. "I am content to have it so," Yami added.
Well, I certainly wasn't applying for the job as anyone's wisdom. But although wisdom wasn't my department, practicality was. I looked at Yugi's Duel Disk. His deck was depleted. I turned to Seto, at my side. He hadn't been wearing a Duel Disk, but I knew his deck was on him. "Give me your deck," I said.
He handed it over without question. I looked at my old cards, and thought a minute. I couldn't just take my deck out of the Duel Disk. The life points were once again inactive, and I was pretty sure I didn't need the disk anymore; that the next battle would be fought with the Sennen Items themselves. After all, that was the point of this whole charade.
But I didn't know what would happen if I took my Duel Disk off, or if I suddenly removed my deck – and I wasn't eager to find out. Instead, I carefully slid my cards out of the disk, replacing them at the same time with Seto's. It was a deck that had served us well. I saved only Monster Reborn, which I used to retrieve my Blue Eyes White Dragon from the graveyard. I placed it on top and handed my deck to Yugi.
"If anything comes through that door, use this. My dragons will protect Mokuba with their lives."
Don't worry. I'll watch over Mokuba," Yugi said, a little too earnestly. Sugoroku must have told him about my contingency plans. I glared at Yugi and snarled, before I managed to stop myself. I couldn't help it. I hated the thought of Mokuba being anyone's responsibility, but mine.
"I promise," he repeated. "Whatever it takes, I will protect your partner until your return."
"As I will guard yours… always," I answered, turning away.
"But what about you?" Yugi called, almost as an afterthought
"We'll be fine. Akunadin's right through that door. I can feel it. And he wants us alive." I didn't point out that he needed only one of us to stay that way, hoping no one would contradict me.
"No! I won't let you go into battle without a dragon in your deck," Mokuba protested.
"My next battle won't be fought with cards. It's time for the items themselves to clash."
"I don't care. I'm not leaving you without one to carry with you."
"I have the perfect talisman," I replied, as I pulled out my fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon.
"He's damaged," Yugi pointed out.
"He seems to have been repaired. It's time to see if the patches will hold when put to the test," I answered. "Anything that can not stand its ground under pressure is valueless."
That got them to shut up, or at least to turn their attention to Seto.
"I've got the only dragon I'll ever need," he said proudly, as he pulled out the hand drawn card that meant more to him – to us – than my entire deck.
Mokuba still looked hesitant. I went over to him and knelt down – so we were at eye level, so he'd know it was serious.
"If you walk through that door, Akunadin will kill you where you stand without a second thought. And Gozaburo was right. That would kill me." I said.
He looked at me seriously.
"You need me to stay here. You need to know I'm safe," he said slowly. "I understand. I'll wait for you one more time."
"Thank you for accepting this," I told him. "Thank you for letting me face Akunadin alone."
"Do you promise this will be the last time you ask me to wait?" he asked.
"No." I said, "I've learned something over the last five years. I don't promise so easily anymore. But I'll try."
He nodded, hugged me, then Seto, before stepping aside.
I nodded to Yami. "If we're both alive, we'll meet back here."
Now it was his turn to hesitate. I knew what was on his mind. He was just finding out that promises are a bitch.
"We're going through different doors – but you're not breaking your promise. You're still beside me. I know that now," I assured him.
He smirked at me. "Amazing. Even the great Seto Kaiba can learn. Just see that you remember it, even when our lives are not on the line," Yami said as he headed towards Zork's door and his next battle.
After running the gauntlet of Mokuba and Yami's emotions, the prospect of facing Akunadin was a relief. But much as I wanted an enemy I could see, a battle I could understand, there was one thing I had to do first.
"Seto," I said quietly, so Mokuba couldn't hear, even though I knew my brother was across the room and out of earshot "If anything happens to me, and you survive – go to Sugoroku. I signed the papers. He'll be your guardian until you're what the law considers a legal adult."
He stared at me. "That's why you took the Eye, isn't it? You figured whichever one of us had it, would also have the least chance of survival."
"That was one of the reasons," I admitted.
"Why did you do that? Why spare me?"
I shrugged. "It seems even I have limits. I won't sacrifice you a second time. I'm not proud of every decision I made. I never had the luxury of considering your welfare. I did what I thought was best for Mokuba. And I wouldn't change any of it."
Seto nodded. He waited, knowing there was more… giving me the time to decide whether to speak. If we failed… if he was the only one left… he deserved to know. If we succeeded, it was one more thing I would have to remember for him. I owed both of us that much.
"But that doesn't mean I have no regrets. There's more to you than I thought," I told him, smiling as I remembered Yami's words. "You're more than just some four-star monster, fit only for sacrifice, although I had no choice but to use you that way. You're a dragon – and you deserve the chance to fly. If all hell breaks loose, do what you can to stop Akunadin – then go to Sugoroku. Maybe he'll do a better job by you than I ever managed."
Seto gave me back my own reckless grin. "You've gotten soft in your old age," he drawled. "I don't know about you, but I'm not planning on losing."
Thanks to Clarity for editing this chapter!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I have to admit, I feel like I've given people a cliff-hanger (and a particularly evil one) for the holidays…
Duel Note: At the start of Yugioh, Kaiba is focused on winning to the exclusion of all else – and Yami is focused on winning almost to the exclusion of all else. Okay – I admit that's a little simplistic, particularly when it comes to Yami, but I also think they are the two characters who show the most growth and development, who learn, with varying degrees of success how to temper their drive to win, and learn what battles are important and why. But I also think they are two characters who could get easily lost in the goal of winning, and for whom surrender would be particularly difficult – so I saw them as needing a little help to do so.
Title Note: I have to admit, I picked this chapter title from the Beatles' song, not just because it applies, but because I love the opening lines: "What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key…"
I have to admit, that comes closer to describing what writing this has felt like, than anything else I've read, so I couldn't resist using it as a title.
Seto and Kaiba Note: One thing that struck me is that whenever (as at the end of Alcatraz) Kaiba is thinking about reclaiming his life, you see an image of the 10 year-old Seto flash through his mind. But that's the Seto, Kaiba is proud of – the one who promised Mokuba to be his father, the one that outsmarted Gozaburo into adopting them. And I thought that the Seto Kaiba needs to come to terms with was the 13 year-old punk who goes on to make so many disastrous choices – that Kaiba needs to see that child (as he has been fond of saying through this story) for who and what he is.
DOMA Note: Yugi tries to stop Yami from playing the seal of Orichalcos, in his first duel with Raphael in DOMA. Yami's failure to heed Yugi's warning, leads to Yugi's soul being trapped by Dartz. I thought at a critical moment like this, Yami might well remember that.
POV Note: I hope people weren't starting to feel like they were at a tennis match with all the rapid pov switches in the beginning of the chapter, but I was trying to give the sense of the rapid back and forth flow of a heated duel.
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