Reset Reality
Next chappie is the finale! What will Yami do? Can Domino be saved? Or Téa, or Yugi? Find out!
Chapter 8
It Comes To This
"What are you doing here?" Yami snarled. Darek shrugged.
"I told you, I'm the leader of the DRF." Darek replied.
"Bullshit!" Yami snapped. Darek sighed and reached down to pick up a worn briefcase, and set it on the table.
"Yami…what do you want?" Darek asked.
"I want things back the way they were!" Yami shouted. "Where you were defeated, everyone was safe, Yugi and Téa…" He trailed off. He was willing to admit he was starting to feel more than friendship for the girl, but she had feelings for Yugi, and had told him so. But that didn't change how he felt.
"So…things were better?" Darek concluded.
"Infinitely better!" Yami confirmed. "Darek, please. Admit it, you know things are not supposed to be this way. Things were good, things…"
"Oh, shove it Yami!" Darek snarled. Yami was taken back. Darek never spoke like that. He watched as the warlord's overall demeanor changed before his eyes. "Things were good, HA! You cannot change the past, no matter how much you wish you could. What you can change is the future, and if you don't try to do so, if you just wallow in your own misery and self-pity, you'll have no future at all, but a future filled with more misery." Yami sighed as he caught on.
"Drake." He said. Darek glared. "Cut the act Drake, I'm not an idiot." Yami explained. Darek stared at him angrily for a moment, before he broke down and started laughing.
"Well well...you got me." Drake Clawfang admitted, shaking his head in amusement. "Yeah, it's me. Long time no see, huh Pharaoh? I figure Darek was in his early twenties when he was sealed, so hey, age me five years…kinda creepy, looking like him. But it's good for intimidation." He shrugged and sat back in his chair as Yami walked towards him.
"Drake, please, you have to understand, this place is wrong." Yami pleaded.
"Oh I know." Drake said with a strange smile. "So many things wrong, all so wrong…Kaiba a traitor, Téa a merciless terrorist, Dax a valiant freedom fighter…you alive and well." Yami did a double take. "Oh yes, has no one told you? You're long dead Yami." Yami stumbled back.
"What?" He whispered.
"You're dead Yami. I watched Darek slit your throat with my own eyes." Drake explained. Yami shook his head.
"That…that's impossible." He whispered. "I'm right here!"
"Yes, you're here, but you're not here." Drake said.
"What are you talking about?" Yami asked. Drake blinked.
"It comes to this." He whispered. "Yami, Project Shadow Beam is the absolute. Succeed or fail, either way, a line will be drawn, and that line will determine Mankind's fate. You have a choice to make."
"Why me?" Yami demanded. He had never felt so…completely helpless. It was something he wasn't used to, and something he didn't want to become used to.
"Only you can get close enough to disable it." Drake said. "I'll rally Dax and DRF to try and forge an assault team, but you're our best chance."
"Drake…they have Téa." Yami pleaded. Drake nodded.
"Yes…I know." He said sadly. "Téa…believe me when I say I wish that she could be saved. But she cannot."
"There must be a way!" Yami roared.
"She can be saved, but if you save her, you'll give Darek the time he needs to use Project Shadow Beam." Drake said. "Yami, is one life worth the world?" Yami hung his head. That fatal question…was one life worth the world? Most of the time, yes, if it came to such an extreme. But Téa's life…he didn't have an answer, and wasn't sure he wanted one.
"Here." Drake said, sliding the briefcase he had to Yami. Yami reached to open it, and found a dusty Duel Disk, with a worn stack of cards next to it. "I've been saving those for 5 years." Drake admitted. "I gave up the power of my piece of the Puzzle." Drake pulled out a large piece from under his shirt- the Eye of Anubis that had been the final piece when the Puzzle was first put together- and showed it off. "I gave up my protection, to enchant those cards. With the Shadow Realm…Yami, you're our only hope. You can't fail us. The time has come to make a choice. Yami. Téa, or the world. Which will you save?"
"I…don't know." Yami confessed. Drake frowned and stood up.
"Yami, this is our last chance. Our last hope rides with you. You can save Téa, Yami, I'll tell you that. But if you do, Darek will activate Project Shadow Beam, the Shadow Realm will be one with him, and he'll be a god. You can kill Darek and destroy the Beam, but if you do so, they will execute Téa and Yugi as a punishment to you. And no matter what you choose, there is still no guarantee that you'll live. Either way, you probably won't." Drake stopped and walked past Yami to the metal door that led back to the library.
"Save Téa, or save the world." Drake called as he opened the door. "One or the other, Yami. Or neither. But not both." Drake slipped out the door, leaving Yami alone, staring as his old Duel Disk.
- - - - - - - - - - -
A million 'What-ifs' ran through Yami's mind. The former Pharaoh was perched atop Curse of Dragon, the card in his Duel Disk. Drake was right, with the Shadow Realm covering Japan…Yami was relieved to have at least one edge in this battle. The only edge he had, actually.
What if he had killed Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom? Would this choice still be so hard to make? What if he had never gotten his own body? What if he had just kept his distance from Yugi and his friends, instead of actually getting to know them? No doubt, if his feelings for Téa weren't around, this choice would be a no brainer. So many 'What-ifs'…
Across the horizon, the dark spires of Project Shadow Beam rose from the roof of Kaiba Corp. Yami narrowed his eyes and hunkered down. Several flying Kaa were circling the building. As they got closer, Yami sat up and gasped. On the center spire, was a struggling figure, hanging from a chain connected to the spire.
"Téa…" Yami whispered. As if on cue, several of the Kaa turned to fly towards Yami. Yami growled.
"Curse of Dragon!" He ordered. The yellow creature screeched and fired several fireballs. Several Kaa were caught in the blasts, but more came to attack. Yami reached for his Duel Disk. "Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl!" The two mages appeared in the air, and the two fired beams of magic that skewered more Kaa. Yami swooped towards Kaiba Corp as the 5 spires began to glow. Yami gasped. It was powering up!
"Téa!" he yelled.
"Destroy the spires!" Téa called. "Forget me, destroy the spires!" Yami froze up as the spires began to hum, purple electricity flowing through them. Sparks of energy began to zap from them to the center spire, the spike on it beginning to spin. A void opened in the sky above as the clouds began to circle Kaiba Corp.
"The spires!" Téa screamed, tugging at her chains. Yami bit his lip. A fireball attack on the spires might, or rather, probably would kill her. The spikes spun faster as the center spire began to glow. Yami frantically leafed through his deck.
"Kuriboh!" He called, summoning the little furball. "Destroy Téa's chains!" Yami ordered. Kuriboh flew through the air and collided with the center spire. It exploded on impact, and Téa's chains went limp as the woman fell to the roof. The center spire sparked and stopped glowing as the spikes slowed to a stop.
"We did it!" Yami cheered.
"No, we just stopped the ignition, the system is still active!" Téa called. A door on the roof opened, and Kaiba marched out to grab Téa by the hair and pulled her inside. "Yami, destroy the spires, stop the Project!" Téa pleaded as she vanished inside. Yami piloted Curse of Dragon to the roof and recalled it, followed by recalling the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.
"Téa." Yami whispered. He looked up at the looming black spires above him. Darek…Téa…Yami narrowed his eyes and descended into Kaiba Corp. Téa, Kaiba, Darek, and a fateful choice awaited him.
