A/N: Rage before the storm! The next installment is here! Prepare for the angst, drama, adventure, and most of all: the climatic truth of all that'll rattle the already sensitive cages of our beloved heroes! Beware!

Koolmint26: Thanks, I knew you'd enjoy the cliffhanger! Took a damn long time to think it up! Lolz!

Goddessofsilvermoon: AHHHH! Don't kill me!

Growing Pain: Yep, a god...how the hell are things going to be the same again! Yea, I know I rushed a bit. It's hard to get all the ideas and loose ends tied up in one chapter, so I had to split it. This time, I think I did good on this chapter...

Jenn120: Yes he is!

ClowWinx: Why does everybody want to kill me!

Dragonlady222: Of course Seto and Jou are meant to be! That's why I'm the author! I rule them! I'll figure out something else plot twistable...

FireIceGoddess: Technically, Kisara (in the real manga/anime) is actually the one who harbors the Blue Eyes White Dragon in ancient Egypt and when she died, she gave her monster/spirit to Seto to protect him because she loved him. A perfect reason why Seto has a special liking to the BEWD, because of his ties to the past, so technically, it's her dragon.

LP-lova210: Happy you're spaztic about it!

KeraJeir: Yes, Seto is cruel.

Yep, some father/son conversations seem perfect for the moment...

You will know more about it in due time...

Marik is a crazy freak... That's why everybody loves him.

A lot of people believe that being a homosexual is wrong. Back then, you could get yourself killed from it.

Last chapter, Kisara's mom, Dulcina, says that they are her creations, hense why they turned into goo.

That's Seto's calling of course, like Jou's is the Red Eyes Black Dragon is.

Thank you for the vote.

amyrose300: (spits and gurgles at the water splurted on her face) It's up to my...muses! (gurgle)

medoriko: ...we'll see...

Hai-chan: Thanks!

Setsuna-X: Hello! Thanks! Sorry, for leavin' you hangin'!

FireieGurl: Thanks!

MiddiKnowles: That's okay! Sorry about your grades! I have bad grades too, (except for Modern Literature Honors and World History), but I somehow was given a $100 dollars for some inexplicable reason...(frowns)

bleedingchaos: No! I don't want to loose you! I be sad! (cries)

angel of darkness 507: (Has own frying pan for hitting her own head when getting writer's block)

bluerosety: I agree! Thinks!

Chiyoku Shibata: Yeah, I was planning on making it non-magical, but I couldn't find a good reason why Dulcina was doing those things with some cool plot twists added.

Chapter 19: A Twenty-Thousand Year Old Revenge- Jou's Terrible Past and Seto's Suffering!

When Jou snapped out of an unconscious trance, Seto was by his side along with the infamous Red Eyes Black Dragon.

"The War of the Dragons," Dulcina whispered, her body an eerie glow of blue. She laughed fitfully. "Oh, how I remembered such a display 5,000 years past! Of course, things will be much different than before, I assure you." She smiled darkly when no recognition registered in the blond's mind. "You don't remember?" Her cat-like grin grew. "Of course you don't! After all, you made the deal with the Gods of that inferior civilization...Egypt—was that what it was called? Yes, of course."

"What are you talking about!" Jou yelled, the dragon beside them seemed to be following his emotions and let out a fierce growl. "You don't know anything about me!"

"Don't I? Unnatural being, I've been here longer than you, even before the sands of Egypt. To the time of paradise and the vast oceans that spanned for thousands of years! And now, I've come back to this world to rid the impurities of the human race, show my loyalty to the Gods of Atlantis and to bring once again paradise to this world----Kingdom Amour! My once beautiful kingdom and Seto Kaiba and my dear daughter, Kisara, to become rulers among it!"

Seto stood up. "Not going to happen, you overweight sea witch. The Kireki Reports are gone. You have no power over me anymore."

"Oh, no! I'm finished!" She threw her hand against her forehead in dramatic elegance. "Whatever should I do? Other than tell you the real reason why Kisara died!"

Both Seto and Jou turned their attention to Kisara, her blank expression still at hand. "She died by the hands of my Egyptian father, who was a serious nutcase." Seto replied hotly.

Dulcina laughed. "Oh, so you do know! But do you know the certain events that started the end of her fate came from her brother, The Red Eyes Katsuya!" She pointed at Jou.

"You're insane!" Jou yelled. "I HAVE no connection to Egypt!"

"But you do!" Dulcina replied in a sing-song voice. "You may have seen Egypt's past, but that was the rewritten version that the Gods created by means of contract!" At that moment, all the Yami's and Hikari's that were bound looked at each other with genuine puzzlement. "Only I, young Kisara here, and the Gods remember the blood-thirsty demi-god, the Red Eyes Katsuya! Half brother of the Blue Eyes Kisara, the unmerciful servant of Slifer the Sky Dragon born a dragon hatchling of Anubis and Claudia, the foreign Princess of the East and raised by the poisonous Black Cobra, Athros! All thieves and murderers pray to your cunning and ruthlessness!"

"You're wrong!" Seto defended.

Dulcina didn't seem to notice, and the eerie light surrounded her and changed her appearance: a flowing blue gown with dark wavy hair and a slender body. She had an ancient tiara made of silver on top of her elegant head. "Do you like? This is my true form! I just couldn't bear that awful facade any longer. A true queen should look her best, no?"

"But why Seto and Kisara?" Jou demanded. "Why didn't you just use your true form to lure Seto and become queen yourself?"

"I'd never break the contract I made with Blue Eyes Kisara," She waved her hand to Kisara. "In exchange for freeing me, I would give her the chance of becoming queen with the man she loved and remain loyal to me as the central god of her kingdom! How? Why? I'll tell you! 20,000 years ago, when Atlantis was in it's beginning stages of paradise, the Prime God of Atlantis gave me a kingdom of my own to rule with his people, the Kingdom of Amour. Everything was perfect, love was in the air every minute and my people enjoyed the riches I gave them. And then, one day, a young man stumbled into my kingdom and I fell in love with him deeply. He was in love with me as well, and we began to plan the stages of the most beautiful wedding of the ages! Until my jealous younger sister, Nadia, decided to ruin my happiness and behind the backs of the gods, created an abomination! She knew that whatever female she created can never resist my power and so she created a man—to seduce my fiancé! And with her close rebellious trickster friend, Kyprias, they gave him seductive charms and set him at work to capture my love! And it worked! The little bastard used his seducing powers and I caught him in the arms of my fiancé! Two men! It enraged me and I was disgusted. Fiancé or not, it was my duty to destroy such forbidden taboos in the name of Atlantis and destroy them both, but they fled to my sister's temple. I followed them there and destroyed them with a passion. But this did not go underwraps, no, my sister turned to the gods and staked the claim of me destroying her followers in her temple and her ruling was granted! I was imprisoned into the deepest, unrecoverable depths of the Atlantic."

She smiled at the surprised looks from her little audience and continued. "Unfortunately, they weren't the first and last couple and my destroying them was in vain. It picked up again more than often, destroyed families and ultimately destroyed Atlantis in the midst of fear and power. And I was watching it all, from beneath the depths as my once beautiful kingdom turned to rubble and disappeared beneath the sea. I no longer wanted to see such calamity and forced myself to sleep for 10,000 years. And that's when Kisara called to me, 5,000 years ago. She was a beautiful dragon, modest, kind, and majestic. But she had a problem with her older brother: He wanted the male high priest of the current civilization that Kisara had fallen in love with. Her problem was justified: Red Eyes Katsuya tricked her on the battlefield and was now in the midst of obtaining a special artifact for the Dragon God so he can become human and seduce High Priest Seto into unholy relations with him. And so I told her, if she could free me by opening her heart and soul to me, I would make sure Seto would never hear of her brother and she did. I coaxed her to steal the artifact, present it to Ra and become human and follow her love. And of course, I wanted revenge and to stop such a disgusting relationship from happening. Red Eyes Katsuya found out and was destroyed by a renegade god when he was locating Kisara to destroy her. The Gods found out and believed Kisara was guilty and sent her to Earth as a human, but with little or no control of her powers, and the stage was set and that was how Seto knew her. Years later, Katsuya's spirit was thirsty for revenge and changed the course of history so Seto's father would kill her in the end. When the revenge was successful, his spirit howled and chased me to the deepest parts of the Shadow Realm under the contract to the Gods that if I would be imprisoned in the Shadow Realm forever, his name would be lost for all eternity and only the dragon remained. And now we come to this era, 5,000 years later, where you are reborn to take Kisara's love once again and repeat history."

Jou gasped in alarmed and fell to his knees. No, this wasn't happening! He was the good guy for crying out loud! He just wanted Seto back, was that so big a demand!

"No! NO! That's not true!" Jou clutched his head and screamed. "I'd never—! I love Seto! I'd never do anything to hurt him!" He felt like crying so badly, it hurt so much to know that he's the one that caused Seto's pain.

"You are the bad guy, Katsuya!" Dulcina jeered. "The spitting image of my sister! The man who wanted to taint Seto into submitting to your 'love'—don't you see, Red Eyes! You were never meant for Seto because you are TAINTED! A love between men can never be! It's unethical, it's wrong–an abomination! You were created to love women, but you overstepped your boundaries! You are obsolete! Someone who should rot in Hell for defying the Heavens!"

This wasn't happening! It wasn't supposed to turn out this way! The plan was to crash the wedding and have Seto reconsidering and coming back to him! It's not fair, nothing's normal as they used to be! He's thrown for another loop. He felt his world swimming as he saw the guarded look Seto was giving him. No...Seto was...

"And you," She directed her attention to Jou's companions. "You have also violated the Heavens! You will submit your souls to Blue Eyes Kisara's White Lightning!"

NO! This is wrong! Love can't be limited by gender, could it? Was that the way it was? The world is locked into war and hate because of one man's desire for another male? Is something so insignificant scale the balance of the world?

It can't be true!

"Seto..." Jou reached his hand to him. "You don't believe what she's saying, do you?"

The look in Seto's eyes told him everything: confusion, disbelief, and...Seto was...

"Kisara!" Dulcina commanded the Blue Eyed Woman. "Use your White Lightning and destroy the impurities!" She pointed to Jou and his friends.

Kisara raised her hands and the dragon behind her raised it's head, lightning gathering between it's jaws.

"Seto..." Tears slowly fell from his crimson eyes one by one. Seto looked away. Seto was...

...afraid of him.

As Kisara's eyes glowed brightly, the forceful attack ready, she caught the tearful eyes of her Red Eyed Brother. She saw in his eyes pain, sadness, and acceptance. As if reading his thoughts his expression clearly said: 'I deserve to die. Because I could never love or be loved for what I had done. Because being who I am, is not entitled to love.'

It was the exact words that plagued Jou's mind. He was evil, ruthless, and disgusting. His love was falsified and wrong. He was in love with another man, and furthermore, he is not entitled to love him or being loved back. It is the wrong way to love. And his punishment was death. He accepted it with welcome arms, if it meant for Seto to be happy.

Always for his happiness, because he deserved to be happy.

Always.

She flinched and tried to throw off the power Dulcina was controlling her through and managed with an almighty, pained roar from Blue Eyes, changed the destination to attack...

...but it was aiming for Seto.

Too late to call back the attack, the lightning force was coming towards him with inhuman force.

Monique would have screamed at the scene in front of her, if not for the gag. It was horrifying:

The look of surprise and horror on Seto's face as he was being pushed away from the attack...

...by Katsuya Jounouchi.

"JOOOOUUUU!" She and the many others screamed against their gags.

Seto felt like it was slow motion, first the attack was heading towards him then all of a sudden he was being pushed to the side by the one person he was beginning to doubt. Pup...

He saw as the attack got Jou instead and sent him reeling towards the end of the roof of Kaiba Corp and slammed against what's left of the safety wall. As the attack diminished, Jou's nearly lifeless body fell to the ground, unmoving.

The brunet didn't know how or when, but he found himself sliding past rubble and pulling Jou into his arms. "J–jou..." When did his voice start cracking?

Jou moved his head a bit and strained to open his eyes. He was in fatal shape, that attack was immense. Many do not survive the attack. Was Jou one of those many?

"S-seto.." Seto choked back a sob when the his blond pup tried to pry a smile. "I'm...glad...you're...alright..."

Seto was shaking, that known feeling of death coming was surrounding them both. No–no, he prayed to Osiris blindly to not take Jou now. "You'll...be...fine." Seto tried to reassure him, but his voice was failing him.

"Seto..." Jou breathed. "I...never meant...to cause you...pain...I didn't...know..." He was trying to hold on to life for a bit longer and Seto was nearly breaking down that instant.

"No..." He hugged Jou's body against him. "You were never a burden. I'm sorry I doubted you before. I've always wanted to be with you, pup."

Jou's tears flowed freely. "You...said my...nickname..." His smile was genuine and beautiful, Seto's tears broke out instantly. "Y-yeah."

"No matter...what...Seto. No matter...if...I die...I'll...always be your...pup if you want...me..." Jou promised him gently, his last moments upon him as he raised his hand to him. "I'll...never...give up...Seto...I'll...always come back...to...kick your rich ass..."

Seto's sobs choked him badly, the lump in his throat huge and the drop of his heart to the stomach terribly painful. Jou was dying, and yet he was willing to throw in a verbal punch or two to prove he wasn't afraid. It would have been hilarious if Jou was not dying in his arms at that very instant. Jou's going to die...he had never cried so badly since his Labrador died in his arms that day when Gozaburo threw him out the window. He was just as worse as that bastard, now the one he had loved for so long was dying in his arms, just like his last pup.

But nevertheless, he raised his shaking arm and locked hands with Jou, like a silent deal. "And..." He couldn't stop crying. "I'll always be here, waiting for you to try and fail."

Jou nodded weakly. Seto couldn't take it. "Pup! Please stay! Don't go, you can't leave me! You can't leave me, Mokuba, and the geek squad alone! Don't leave! Stay!"

"I...wish...I...could..." Jou whispered his eyes slowly closing. "Jou!" Seto cried out.

"Seto..." Jou kissed the hand Seto was holding. He gave him one last smile. "Give her Hell."

And just as obvious as the rain and the thunder, Jou's once vibrant red eyes closed and dropped his head in Seto's arms. He's dead.

Tears of pain and sadness appeared in the Hikari's, Monique's, and Mokuba's eyes, and the Yami's struggled animalistically against the binds in desperation, anguish, and uncontrollable anger.

"Jou," Seto breathed, the realization that Jou would never wake up again. He clutched Jou's lifeless body to him and screamed so loud the gods could hear him.

"JOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!"

The gods may have took pity on him as it had rained heavily after the moment. Brushing a few pale gold strands from his dead lover's face, he gently rested Jou on the ground and stood up. He felt a rush of cold and aloofness, his old self returning in waves. It was raining like this, too, when his and Mokuba's golden puppy died in his arms.

With an air of detachment and masked rage inside of him, he casually took off his tuxedo jacket and let it go with one hand, the piece of clothing whirled away in the wind.

Everything was an eerie grey, including Seto's profile as he took off his tie and gave that to the wind as well, leaving only his dress shirt, slacks, and dress shoes.

And as he turned around, Dulcina stepped back with fear in her eyes as she locked into Seto's dark, malevolent blue eyes, the pupils if possible gone. The expression on his face was hidden and expressionless, but to the trained veteran of death the waves of turmoil, anguish, and rage was fueling his systems as he held the Red Eyes Black Dragon card in his hands with elegant professionalism. His out of character emotions gone and his personality years back returned. The mask of the ruthless CEO.

For the moment when Jou died, he took Seto's light with him, leaving him in absolute darkness that swirled his entire being with negative energy. He was out for revenge, and anyone who had questioned him before came out of it shattered. Goddess Dulcina, the Atlantian Goddess of Love and Fertility made the gravest mistake of all, and now she is sentenced for the ultimate punishment.

The cold, ruthless, malevolent, aloof, destructive, and calculating CEO of Kaiba Corp, Seto Kaiba, is back from the dead.

TBC...

A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuuuunnnnn! Evil Kaiba's back, oh no! Or is it, oh yes! Isn't it sad? I hope so, I was tearing up a bit in a few places. Do you like the cliffhanger? Wait for the final installment of Lasting Impressions!

Only the power of the little purple button can save us all and determine the fates of our heroes!

REVIEW!