ANOTHER CHAPTER! WOOHOO! LAST UPDATE OF THE YEAR!
Heart of the Red Eyes
A jolt of recognition pierced Jonouchi's heart, so sharp and palpable that Marik felt it through the warm seductive haze of the Shadow's spell. A word echoed in his own memory in a voice he recognized but could not recall.
"Akira."
His eyes blinked, cleared for the briefest moment and he realized in that moment it was a name.
Her name.
The Red Eyes Black Dragon's name.
He could hear the Shadow screaming, furious and fretting in his desperation to regain control of Jonouchi, but the young man stood transfixed by the magnificent creature whose skeletal form blazed black as night, obsidian scales gleaming, terrible claws flexed, paws firm in their step and her massive wings splayed to the fullness of their strength as mighty and indominant as any Queen of Fire and Fury.
But it was not her might and majesty that commanded the boy's attention and thus Marik's: it was her eyes. Those striking, startling eyes as red as hellfire, as bright as rubies, as fiery and passionate as a crimson sun: were clouded over, a tearful haze that smudged their light and spoke of unspeakable sadness and grief and love and resolve.
"Look in her eyes, Jonouchi," Yugi pleaded. "They're stained with the color of sadness…can you see it, Jonouchi?" The anguish in Yugi's voice, the fierce unyielding hope: it twisted through Marik's heart as sharply as he felt it cut through Jonouchi's. "This Black Dragon…and me…" Yugi's voice broke on that last word, but the falter vanished in the wake of a new determination. "We both want you to be yourself again!"
Both their eyes shimmering with tears. The Red Eyes roared into the sky, crimson and obsidian swirling about her in a conflagration that poured all of her love and regret into the flames that surrounded her. She dove for her master as Yugi declared an attack and the burn of those flames was not the pain Marik knew. It was something deeper and more tender: something raw and aching as if his heart had been stripped to pieces and squeezed.
Marik did not know what to call this pain…this hurt, but he saw it reflected in Yugi's tear-stained face. "And we'll fight you if we have to!"
It shattered Marik's heart to pieces.
Yugi…his precious Yugi, his beloved with the heart and soul of an angel, the wits and wisdom of a Queen and the unyielding strength and spirit of a Goddess with his beautiful eyes full of hope, his features strengthen with resolve and his desire to fight unsurpassed.
This was not someone forced or manipulated to fight someone else's battle. This was not some puppet on someone else's strings. It was not the Pharaoh who'd pushed Yugi into this battle, but Yugi himself who had chosen to fight. Had chosen to fight someone he considered his heart's truest friend even though it broke his gentle heart. Had chosen to risk his own safety and well being rather than sit on the sidelines, because he was that determined to save him. Yugi who now stood without fear before him refusing to give up, refusing to let either of them die, determined to save them both even if he destroyed himself in the process.
He was in every inch the magnificent being Marik knew he was…
And none of it was for him.
No, in Yugi's gentle heart he was the enemy. The monster who'd possessed and stolen his best friend and forced him to fight him in this twisted, despicable duel all because he was jealous of his bond with the monster who manipulated him…But Marik had been wrong. He had been so wrong.
This…this was Yugi's decision. And if he was powerful enough to command the Pharaoh to allow him this…then…did he already know what kind of person the pharaoh was? Already suspect and knew how best to deal with him? It did not matter now. What mattered was ending this duel. Yugi…Jonouchi…Akira, though Marik could not fathom how he knew her name or why he was privy to it, but he knew this needed to stop.
This is wrong.
The voice echoed again and this time Marik heard its warning clear and loud and unignorable as a bell. "This has to stop." He announced and felt the Shadow shriek back as if shocked. "This has to stop! I'm giving Jonouchi back his–AH!"
Before the thought could leave Marik's mind, pain galvanized his being: like lightning and needles and a thousand pinpricks of pain exploding out of his skin all at once and the trauma awakened something dark and terrible in his mind that left him stone cold and petrified.
The last thing he heard before he collapsed into the lukewarm embrace of the darkness that before had always been his comfort was the sound of someone's terrible laughing.
A mirthless, malicious cackle that sounded, to Marik's own terror, exactly like his father's.
X X X
Hope surged to life in Yugi's chest when Jonouchi emerged from the flames of Red Eye's attack ragged and bruised and worse for wear, but still standing. His head was bowed and for a brief moment Yugi believed they had done it.
That he and Red Eyes had reached him.
He lifted his face, but it was not Jonouchi's goofy grin that greeted him: it was Marik's malicious sneer. "That was nothing," he boasted, maliciously. "I'll just kill you with more direct attack cards!" He cackles, drawing.
Yugi felt Yami's arrival before he saw the spirit: heartbreaking concern so palpable the spirit all but trembled with it. Aibou! It's getting too dangerous! I'll take it from here. His shriek held no room for argument but Yugi sensed the lacework of fear running through his voice. Recognized it…from their duel against Pegasus, when Yugi had been too weak to stand the strain of the shadow realm and Yami's concern for him had led him to make impulsive mistakes.
Again, Yugi turned to the Red Eyes, saw the promise in her gaze and made his decision.
"No," Yugi whispered, slipping the puzzle off his neck. "Let me fight until the end."
AIBOU! No! Yugi, please! He means it, let me fight!
"No, Yami," Yugi whispered, sternly. Yami had already sacrificed too much for him. No this time. "I have to see this through."
He closed his eyes, allowed his mind to slip back into the Puzzle, the comforting darkness he shared with Yami in their most intimate conversations. The Spirit was already waiting for him, his aura radiated panic and concern and altruistic guilt. He opened his mouth to protest, but Yugi cut him off, knowing exactly what he planned to say. "Yami…when I solved the Millenium Puzzle, I wished for a friend and when I met you, I learned to have courage and I made an important friend too! But…" he hesitated.
To his relief. Yami listened. "Somewhere inside me, I know that if we never met…I think I would've stayed a coward." And there it was. His greatest fear and insecurity: the truth that for all his strength and courage and all Yami had praised him for: the crippling fear that it was not thanks to Yami that he learned to be strong, but because of him. And it wasn't fair to allow him to continue to be Yugi's crutch.
Not when he now needed Yugi to be strong for him, even if he did not realize it himself. "That's why I want to make this wish come true on my own…and free Jonouchi's heart from Marik."
The realization struck Yami like a bolt, but there was no ache behind it, no pain or stab of betrayal…only the calm shock that came from an epiphany.
And yet…
"So if you don't mind, Other Me, I want you to just watch."
"But you could die!" Yami protested immediately, his mind scrambled with the possibility and it filled him with an impulsive terror that erased all other rational and resolve. "This situation requires incredible skills…I mean…I…"
He felt Yugi's aurora stroking his own like a comforting squeeze of the hand. Like a child's reassurance. "I know. But I'll trust Jonouchi 'till the end."
The request hung unspoken between them, but Yami knew what he was asking of him. Confliction etched so deeply into his face and eyes that for a moment, Yugi feared he would refuse him. Instead, Yami steeled himself, strengthened by Yugi's own hope and courage and vowed. "Other me! Do not let yourself die!"
When Yugi opened his eyes he was back in the duel, the puzzle's chain clenched tight in his hand.
Thank you, Other me.
Another cold laugher swept through the duel as the puppeteer controlling his best friend laughed in the twisted version of his friend's voice, mocking, scornful, but Yugi sensed the desperation. After all, he wasn't this vocal before.
He gasped as another Fireball struck home, the blaze and heat rippled across his skin like a thousand teeth leaving invisible bite marks across his skin. The force of the shockwave sent him tumbling backwards and he landed with a sharp, painful thud when his body ceased to roll.
Never once did he loosen his grip on the puzzle.
"Yugi!" He heard Mokuba's worried scream.
"Why did you take off the puzzle!" Kaiba's worry was unmistakable. Fear blazed those blue eyes pale and Yugi knew why. He feared Yugi couldn't handle this on his own. Feared he would lose. Feared he'd lose Yugi's Other Self in the process as well as Yugi himself.
The pharaoh's fear radiated through the puzzle and chain, but it was a testament to his trust that he did not switch places with Yugi. Not even to reduce his pain. "Other me.." Yugi whispered to no one but himself. "You always protected me until now." Pain and heat sizzled his skin, smoke billowed from his clothes in the aftershock of that attack, the electrical current of Kaiba's imagining as powerful and forceful as the monsters themselves. Everything ached, but still Yugi forced his weak limbs to work. Forced himself to stand. "But if I don't become stronger…You'll never be able to leave me."
As he stood, he looked into his former friend's eyes and saw something like regret flickering there. Regret…and recognition.
Besides him, Red Eyes Black Dragon roared.
X X X
Guilt and terror and anguish rolled off his host as Yugi struggled to his knees and He devoured it all like a bloated leech. He caught the annoying priest glaring at him out of the eye of his prison. He hid his contempt well, determined to keep his resolve, but He would see him break soon, and oh, how delectable would it be to see that look on the annoying bastard's face?
No false smile. No brave front. Just pure, and utter despair.
Devastation.
Defeat.
Yes, and wouldn't that be just a delicious reward. Tasting this one's defeat at His hands, savoring his despair at the descendant he loved falling irredeemably into the shadows as they readily devoured him. And then, then the first half of His vengeance would be sated.
He threw a mocking, victorious sneer over His shoulder, the grin widening when He saw the barest traces of true fear sparking in those challenging lilac eyes. You took my heir from me and destroyed him. I will glorify in destroying yours.
"That Red Eyes is a bit of a pest, don't you think?" he sneered, scrutinizing the creatures with unfavorable eyes, a cruel hunger sharp in those teeth. "No matter, there are ways to deal with it. Specifically," His cold eyes wandered to the way Yugi struggled to regain his feet, the way his precious friend's name slipped from his lips.
Another wave of anguished guilt and heartbroken love erupted from his two hosts and the shadows about him lapped at it greedily. Oh, he was close, so very close now.
All he needed was this brat's destruction.
X X X
With a lavacious bloodlust, the monster possessing Her beloved master summoned another one of his loyal servants: the Rocket Warrior. She knew well his power and saw within him the great reluctance to obey it.
But he had less choice then She.
Her heart broke as She saw the Chosen struggle to speak. "Jo…no…uchi." His voice was raspy and tired, but nothing could mask the conviction he still carried deep within his heart: that single spark that refused to dim no matter how suffocating the darkness. "So…will you hear just one wish? That's the one sure thing…in this duel…no matter what happens…I can't kill you."
The pain She felt as Rocket Warrior ripped through Her wing was nothing compared to the agony that tore through Her heart in that moment. The heartbreak at seeing Her beloved Master's smile twisted with such hate tormented Her more than the loss of Her limb. She let all her anguish spill out Her eyes, all She saw was the Chosen stumbling toward her Master.
Slowly, slowly, with each step he struggled to take, She felt her heart tear deeper. She collapsed with a terrible smash: the anguished sound of bones breaking and flesh hitting the ground with such force it ricocheted and left one spiraling. Her body screamed. Her joint exploded where Her fallen wing had been blasted off like thousands of knives tearing into Her hide and yet still She forced herself to fight. To keep Her burning eyes open, though pain clouded Her vision.
Through the haze of it all, She saw something flicker in her Master's face.
Pain.
A terrible, stabbing pain that reflected Her own.
X X X
It came like a stab to the chest: quick, unpredicted and unbearable in its agony.
Pain like a thousand knives stabbing the joint between Jonouchi's arm and shoulder, nearly identical to the Red Eyes' fallen wing, awakened him to what had just happened.
She was hurt.
The Red Eyes Black Dragon. His Dragon. Was hurt.
And he felt it like someone had stabbed a hand into his chest, taken hold of his heart and ripped it right out of his chest.
X X X
That…that hurts! Was the only way Marik could describe the heartbreak that tore through his entire being. No, not his being, Jonouchi's being. Like a stab wound to the arm that exploded with the force of a thousand needles piercing the flesh all at once and yet he could not label it pain.
No, not when he felt the rawness of that ache deep within his heart. No, this was not the searing crippling pain that had been his constant companion since the earliest days of his past and nearly robbed him of this future. No, this was something else, something deep and emotional and so, so much worse than any physical pain.
This…this…this hurt. This hurt like his very soul had been torn from his body. Like his heart had been ripped from his chest. Like he was dying and all he wanted to do was scream.
Someone was screaming.
And Marik did not know if it was himself, Jonouchi, or the Red Eyes Black Dragon.
What he did know was that this hurt.
And both of them felt it.
The shackles of the Shadows loosened their hold as Marik grabbed his chest struggling to regain his soul, as Jonouchi grabbed his head, struggling to regain his memory.
He heard roars in the background, no not, roars but snarls, as shadowy hands moved once more to seize them but this time Marik did not surrender to their hold, which no longer felt warm, but cold. Cold and terrible and forceful and with a defiant roar of his own, Marik shoved the Shadow away.
The Creature stared at him horrified in its shock before another snarl twisted its face. You need me!
Marik was about to protest when something froze the three minds within this body stone cold. The press of a chain around Jonouchi's neck and the heavy weight of gold as it settled peacefully over his chest.
X X X
"I don't want the Puzzle to sink to the bottom of the bay…" Yugi explained as he settled his most precious treasure around the neck of his best friend. "So when the time comes, I want you to hold onto this okay?" His voice was raw from screaming, his body terribly weak from the direct attacks, but Yugi could not bring himself to feel bothered.
He knelt before his friend, knowing the vacancy in his eyes was not born from control and that fact made him smile. "I can't do it, Jonouchi. I can't make your life points hit zero. So I want you to keep the puzzle…if I'm gone."
With that inheritance, Yugi forced himself back to his feet and returned to his side of the platform.
20 minutes remained on the timer. That terrible death clock counting down their inevitable demise if one of them did not kill the other or they both broke free. It was enough to waver Yugi's resolve.
A long muscular tail wrapped around his ankle, squeezed comfortingly. Yugi's eyes shot up. Even in her exhausted, depleted state Red Eyes offered him her power. Though her body lay broken and all but defeated, her eyes blazed with the spirit fire that galvanized her heart, a tiny spark waiting for the right moment to roar up and strike back.
The comfort was small, but it was all Yugi needed.
His own strength, reinvigorated, he once again, stood tall. I won't give up until this has ended. He vowed in return. So Red Eyes Black Dragon, if you have any strength left…Fight with me until the end.
Akira roared.
The Red Eyes Black Dragon was one of my favorite characters to write this chapter!
Also I have to say I LOVE writing Jonouchi and Marik in this context: they truly are foils of the other and I cannot wait to explore this more in future volumes.
Only three chapters left. Goal is to get them up this weekend! Wish me luck ;)
