Disclaimer –"Yu-Gi-Oh!" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Takahashi Kazuki and any other related owners/distributors/producers. The world of Reirinsei and all related characters and concepts belong to Lunnaei. Dragon's just havin' fun. We get no monetary benefit from this. Our benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.
"Otherworld I: The Door"
by Lunnaei and DragonDancer5150
Chapter 2 – Miracles
The night was sleepless for one other as well. Having abandoned the attempt hours before, Kaiba sat up in his study, a luxurious robe pulled around his lithe, sturdy frame. On the small table next to his armchair rested his open briefcase with his entire card collection inside, his primary deck fitted into a special pocket under the lid next to the communication device. In his hands rested three cards, the triplet copies of his beloved Blue-Eyes White Dragon – the honest servant who holds my pride and my soul. He had not moved for nearly an hour, his mind as full as his heart was empty. So much had happened in the past few days.
Kaiba had witnessed miracles. That was, in the end, the only way he could think of them. He had spent the past twenty-four hours and more, since the destruction of the Duel Tower on the ruins of Alcatraz, trying to explain, to rationalize – to reject – the incredible powers he had experienced . . . but he could not.
The first revelation had been in the power of cooperation when he was forced to fight by his rival's side in a two-on-two duel. What is power? he had asked himself as Yugi, "another Yugi," pulled the impossible more than once but only when Kaiba worked with him instead of independently. Power is the thing that I live on. On the field, you don't have partners. Other players are your enemies. Power is used to defeat the enemy and for protecting your reign. Power is to use for yourself. The power of cooperation . . . can this power overtake what I believe in? He could not deny that it was that power of cooperation, and that alone, which had allowed the two of them to win that duel – and win it together.
On the helicopter from that to where they had learned Yugi's friends were being held, Kaiba had been served with another revelation, that there were two souls in the body of his rival. He had long known that Yugi behaved as a different person when he dueled but had always believed it to be the confidence of one who was "in his element," so to speak. He knew that Yugi's whole mannerism and speech pattern pointed at some kind of personality disorder. In that conversation, the one sitting by his side in Yugi's body spoke of being a pharaoh's soul awakened when the golden puzzle Yugi always wore had been solved. It sounded insane, and he had asserted as much, but he could not deny the sensation of truth that jabbed at his heart from those words. There had always been something about that puzzle, a sense of familiarity, that nagged at the back of his mind when he did not consciously put forth the effort to ignore it, and that nagging twinge of familiarity had gotten even harder to ignore after the first set of visions thrust upon him by that woman Ishizu.
It was strange, that. In those visions, he had seen himself as a sorcerer of great power, as well as a priest of the pharaoh. Ishizu had seemed to believe that he was opposing the pharaoh but, while the pharaoh was indeed present, it felt to him more like a practice duel, that he was demonstrating his power but not in opposition to the throne. If anything, he remembered feeling in his heart pride in himself for being worthy and capable of fulfilling his station for his pharaoh . . . his friend.
Kaiba shook his head at that. Ridiculous! he growled to himself for the umpteenth time. And yet, the more he fought the concept of the reality of it all, the more his heart knew it to be true. Friends . . . the power of friendship . . . Yugi – both Yugis – had shown him that, too, in the duel against the mind-controlled Jonouchi.
As the helicopter had arrived at the dock where Kaiba Corp.'s satellite system had pinpointed Jonouchi's Duel Disk, Kaiba challenged the other Yugi, the so-called pharaoh, in his conviction on friendship in facing the one whom they both knew had been brainwashed against him. "You let me see the power of cooperation in our duel with the Rare Hunters, but it turns out you have to fight to the bitter end with Jonouchi. Will you have the power of cooperation between you then? Answer me, Yugi." The other had grimaced but said nothing.
Then, Yugi found himself accepting an extraordinarily lethal duel with Jonouchi, who was indeed completely in Malik's power. As he looked on with more than a little true concern, Kaiba remembered thinking that friendship and cooperation would not work for Yugi this time. This duel would be his biggest test. "What will you do, Yugi? Let me see your answer." He had found himself caught up more deeply than he would have liked to admit, horrified when he realized that this Malik person intended, not just to defeat Yugi in a game, but truly to kill him. Silently, he urged his rival, "Yugi, you have to hang on, in this stupid duel that has no self-respect." Then, in spite of everything, both Yugis did show him the answer. He had recognized the exact moment when the original Yugi, the once-cowardly recluse Kaiba remembered from school (back when he bothered to attend at all), had stepped forth in courage to finish what the supposed pharaoh had started. After all, Jonouchi was the original Yugi's friend first and foremost.
Kaiba could only stand by watching in frustration, unable to stop this farce of a duel because of the hostage position in which Malik had placed Anzu. Then, her keeper made a mistake, allowing Kaiba to attack, in concert with one of his auto-pilot helicopters for which he had been anxiously waiting, to remove the several-ton threat hung over Anzu's head. She was promptly freed – but that did nothing to remove the lethal threat hanging over Yugi and Jonouchi.
Then, the original Yugi did something Kaiba had never thought he would see in another human – Yugi nearly gave his life for the one he loved as a brother. He had been fully and peacefully prepared to do so too, vindicated by the freeing of Jonouchi's mind that they had together finally accomplished. Yugi would not let his friend die, so he chose himself instead. With the timer on an explosive running down its last seconds and the final attack by mind-controlled Jonouchi temporarily held at bay by a trap card, original Yugi took the fleeting opportunity to finish their last conversation. "Because of you, I'm not alone anymore," Yugi called across the field, smiling even as tears streamed down his face. "You give me courage. You're my most important friend. Jonouchi, I love you."
Kaiba could not deny the silent, heartsick cry in his own soul that had echoed the audible screams of Yugi's friends as the explosive released the enormous anchor that took Yugi under, plunging into the deep, frigid waters of Domino Harbor. Then, Jonouchi was diving in after him, managing to grab the key to Yugi's shackle . . . while ignoring his own. In his single-minded concern for his best friend, his own safety was nothing. Yugi was saved, but now it was Jonouchi who would be lost – but then another dove to his rescue as he had gone to Yugi's. Jonouchi's sister, Shizuka, took the key and saved her brother, pulling him to the surface.
It was one of the most incredible sequences of actions Kaiba had ever witnessed. He did not know what to make of it so, as he did with so many things, he decided to make nothing of it. However, as he turned to leave, Yugi had called after him. He had paused, then spoke over his shoulder. "Tell the other Yugi that I saw his answer. I'll wait for you at the finals."
He had waited, but he had not been truly prepared for anything that took place. His intention had been to use the Battle City tournament to lay his past to rest once and for all. He had faced the other Yugi in the finals. As the present Kaiba gazed with weary eyes at the dragons in his hand, he recalled his words to Yugi in those last moments of their fateful duel, the one that had been destined from the beginning. "I am going to beat you and take your God card, but not for revenge. Why do I insist on fighting with you? Now I have the answer. Yugi, you are fighting for your lost memory. That's meaningless. For me, the past is past. Mokuba and I were abandoned to a cold orphanage by our wider family when our parents died. Then, we were adopted by Gozaburo and lived an ugly life. My past is full of hatred and anger. I am different from you. I'm only interested in the future. The past for me is a target to be smashed. Yugi, you represent the past. After I smash your illusion and become the Duel King, then my future begins."
And all the while, I never saw the pain in Mokuba's eyes.
Kaiba drew a deep, shuddering sigh and reached for the wineglass sitting next to his case. That future had not come to pass. He could not see it then but now, in the quiet, he wondered if perhaps that had been for the best after all. He recalled the other Yugi's words in response – "You won't be able to beat me with hatred and anger. You should not seek to destroy the past. It is what makes us who we are today. Kaiba, you must remember what happened before so that you can learn from it. It's our history that shapes our future. If you stand at the top filled with hatred, you won't find real victory. You'll only have to find new hatred, and your future will be filled with endless hatred." Kaiba recalled answering that it was his inner rage that pushed him forward, and it was what he would use to crush Yugi. "Then go ahead and direct all of your hatred towards me, and strike me down with your rage!" Kaiba had done just that –
And lost.
The other Yugi had approached him in his stunned silence at the end of the duel – the destined duel that he had lost – and his voice was soft. Kaiba had mistaken it for pity at the time but he could not deny the truth of the words, even if he did not like them. "Kaiba, our power is equal. Your strength as a duelist is without question, but what defeated you was the monster in your heart called 'Hatred'. In a duel, the enemy is not only the monsters in the cards, but the anger, hatred, and desire in one's own heart. When all of these enemies are defeated, the road to becoming a True Duelist will open up." Yugi had then held up the card by which he had secured the win at last: Jonouchi's Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "Jonouchi has been fighting continually toward that road. Had I not had this card in my hand, I would have lost. It was the strength of that friendship, and the card my friend entrusted to me, that allowed me to win." Kaiba had snarled that the strength of friendship meant nothing to him. One could only gain victory by his own strength. Kaiba Seto would never need a friend's strength! Yugi had not answered right away, only gazed back at him with those fierce amethyst eyes he had come to know so well, but somehow Kaiba thought he knew what he was thinking. Neither of them needed the other, but neither of them would have gotten where they were without the other. It was their rivalry that had forced each of them to fight ever harder and enabled them to reach a higher and higher summit. Without a strong opponent, no fighter got stronger himself. Rival . . . friend . . . where is the boundary? Kaiba could almost hear the thought behind amethyst eyes, and it bothered him even now. Why did that feel so very familiar to him?
Jonouchi believed the same, challenging Kaiba for the umpteenth time to a duel between the two of them. "You say you don't need friends? That's what I said before. I'd get so angry when I heard that . . . but I changed since I met Yugi. Somethin' you can see but you can't see – it's friendship. I realized it after I met Yugi. Because of this friendship, I wanna beat Yugi in a duel an' become a True Duelist. That is my 'Battle City'. We're really no different, Kaiba." Kaiba could have ignored his barking, but then Jonouchi had turned to Mokuba. "What's the difference between the way me and my friends feel about Yugi, and the way you feel about your brother?" Kaiba finally accepted the challenge, determined to teach Jonouchi a lesson, that a True Duelist did not need a friend's power. "I beg for it!" Jonouchi had cried.
Kaiba realized that, in that duel, he was the one to learn a lesson, though he did not realize it until much later. Even as Jonouchi was about to lose, he had been laughing. "You're strong, Kaiba!"
Kaiba had allowed a grin of his own, if not stemming from the same emotion. "You won't admit your failure?" He recalled Honda's comment that Jonouchi was hard to deal with, and Otogi's rejoiner that "hard to deal with" was Jonouchi's strongest point.
Jonouchi had shrugged, responding to Kaiba's question. "Nah, I don't think so. It's exciting to fight against a strong warrior. That's the greatest fun!"
Fun . . . Again, present-day Kaiba sighed. He had given up and forgotten how to have fun a long time ago. He used to love playing games for the sheer enjoyment, but his adoption by Gozaburo had changed that. Games were for winning or losing – period. There was no "fun" to be had. He recalled in sadness the quiet pain in his little brother's eyes as he had turned to leave before the very final round of Battle City, the fight between Yugi and Malik. This was no longer his Battle City, and he was not going to stick around for a fight in which he had no business.
Ishizu had stopped him with two words, "Pret kreto." They were Ancient Egyptian . . . and he had understood them. She told him that they were words on a 3,000-year-old stone carving found in the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb. They were part of a prayer for the dead and had been dedicated to the deceased Pharaoh by a friend, left as an emblem of friendship by the sorcerer-priest he had seen in several visions now. He had begun this Battle City tournament because of the God cards, Ishizu had reminded him, and there was one duel left to be held on this Duel Tower – the battle for the Pharaoh's very soul. The Duel Tower he constructed was the crossing of souls, a sanctuary he had built with his own hands, but Kaiba had shaken his head in furious denial. The Duel Tower was an emblem of his hatred for Gozaburo. He had intended to become Duel King on top of that tower, to prove that he defeated everything! But it was all meaningless now. "Maybe I should sink myself into the sea." With that, he had turned yet again to leave . . . but, for the first time, Mokuba refused to follow, and what he had said shocked Kaiba to hear from his own brother.
"We don't have to let Yugi be involved in our anger and hatred! I hated Yugi and the others at first, too, but they fought for me on Pegasus's island, and rescued me from the Ghouls. They treat me as their friend! Big-Brother, I think what Yugi and Jonouchi said is true. Yugi said that the duelist's enemy is not only the monsters on the field, but the monsters of anger, hatred, and desire in his heart. And Jonouchi was having fun dueling you, even as he was about to lose. Big-Brother, you were once like that, too. You loved games in your heart . . . and I loved your smile back then. Y-you don't smile like that anymore." With tears in his eyes, Mokuba then begged Kaiba to promise him that when the Duel Tower sunk into the sea, his hatred would be erased along with it, crying, "I want my old brother back!"
Can I do it? he remembered asking himself. Can I erase my hatred, as the Duel Tower sinks into the sea? There was only one way he could think of at least to start down that road, whether or not he could see it to the end his little brother so desperately wished. Yugi had only a three percent chance of defeating Malik with the cards in his deck. Kaiba had a card he had planned to use himself which would raise that, but only to twenty percent. It would still take a miracle to win. Even as he made up his mind to give Yugi that card for his duel with Malik, it was to prove a point for the last time, both to Yugi and to himself – that there were no miracles, no strength of friends in the world at all. Yugi's failure would be the proof.
That duel had been the most insane of all that he had seen and experienced, as he watched both combatants put their second souls on the line in what they had called a Shadow Game, much like the ones Malik had initiated twice before, resulting in two hopelessly unconscious patients in beds on the Battle Ship. Yugi –
Kaiba stopped at that. It was not Yugi who had fought that battle, not directly. He was not sure that he completely accepted all that he had been told, but he could not deny that it had been the original Yugi's visible soul caught up in the energy bindings, slowing getting devoured by the darkness as Life Points were lost. It was another, completely separate entity that inhabited and controlled the body for the duel itself, the one who had spoken to him on the helicopter, telling him that he was a pharaoh's ancient soul. It was that entity that Kaiba had dueled so many times, who had told him that he needed to defeat his demons within. It was that spirit too, whom Kaiba had felt touch his soul somehow when he created his miracle in that duel, pulling the one card that could save him, the card that Kaiba had given him – just as he had pulled and played Jonouchi's dragon when most desperately needed. The spirit had drawn and set Kaiba's card in play without even looking at it, knowing in his heart that it was that card – and how to use it to its fullest potential. Is this the strength of friends? Kaiba had asked himself. Is this a miracle? Kaiba had not wanted to recognize it at the time but he could not turn his back on the knowledge – his and the spirit's souls had met in that instant and come away with something deep and unknowable. Soon after, the spirit managed to summon to the field both God cards in his possession and Kaiba recognized his intention. The spirit's Osiris was the shield and Kaiba's Obelisk the sword. Then, Osiris fell, and Kaiba knew that they would witness the great power of Obelisk's rage for his companion's sake. However, it seemed appropriate in the end that it was the later presence on the field of Yugi's signature Dark Magician and protégé Dark Magician Girl that allowed the spirit to summon the Armageddon that had defeated the dark spirit of Malik once and for all, winning Yugi the title of Duel King . . . and much more.
Kaiba had seen it. He had seen the last miracle he needed.
A soft knock at the door startled Kaiba back to the present, nearly causing him to spill wine on his precious dragons. He looked at the clock on the mantle and a soft, audible growl escaped up his throat. Who in the world would be up at two in the morning . . . ? "Come in."
Perhaps he should not have been so surprised to see Mokuba's thick mop of unruly black tresses as he peered tentatively around the door. "Big-Brother . . . ?"
"Mokuba?"
"Are you all right? I got up and went to check on you, but you weren't in bed."
Kaiba shook his head with an amused smirk. He was the older brother, the one meant to do the protecting and worrying, but Mokuba did his share all the same. He had a good heart in that respect, always trying to look out for his big brother in his own way.
"I've had a lot on my mind," Kaiba murmured at length.
"You haven't changed your mind, have you?" Mokuba asked, frowning.
At that, a small genuine smile graced Kaiba Seto's face. "No, I have not changed my mind, Mokuba. But . . . " It was his turn to frown slightly. "Are you sure that you're okay with this? I don't know what to expect, and it may put off my promise to you."
Mokuba shook his head with great enthusiasm, grinning brightly. It reminded Kaiba of Yugi – not the fierce spirit but the original soul, gentle and compassionate and always thinking of others. Mokuba may not share the always-thinking-of-others in a general sense, but he always thought of Brother first. "No, Big-Brother! I've told you that it's okay. America can wait. This can't. They need you . . . and I really think you need this, too."
Kaiba could not, in his heart, disagree. He had told the "other" Yugi that he had no need for the past and that he could only move forward by burying what was behind. In the intervening hours since the end of Battle City, he had truly come to believe that he had succeeded in burying his immediate past, but there was another past, an ancient one, that he had finally come to accept as real . . . well, possibly real. He had seen and experienced too many things to deny it outright any longer. On the morrow, Yugi and his friends were taking the spirit to the museum along with the God cards, to confront the stone tablet that held the depiction of the pharaoh and the sorcerer-priest of antiquity just as the prophecy scarred across Malik's back instructed. Probably nothing would come of it . . . but if there were anything to be gained, there would be only one chance to gain it. Only when Kaiba had put this last mystery behind him once and for all could he truly move forward.
As Kaiba had promised Mokuba, he would be there when Yugi and the gang arrived at the museum and, one way or another, they would see what they would see.
Author's Notes: Please be sure to check my bio page for any updates, etc. Thanks!