Dueling Affections Chapter 7: Epilogue, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

The arena horn sounded to signal that the game was over, and the crowd cheered and applauded its approval.

"That's it! The game-winner! This one is history!" screamed Mike Adamle. "Delilah Rhodes has beaten Laura Devlin!"

"What a game," said a downhearted Duke Devlin unenthusiastically.

Kazuki Muto stood up from the seats and stepped onto the duel floor.

"Now you are truly mine, Kazuki-poo!" squeaked Delilah. "Now we can go for dinner, maybe see a movie…"

"No," said Kazuki quickly, who seemed to have at last made his decision.

"No?!" Delilah said.

"No," Kazuki repeated. "You're a great girl, Delilah, I'm sure of it. But you're much too good for me. I'm sorry, but I can't be with you, as my heart belongs to another."

And with that, he walked away, leaving Delilah crying uncontrollably in his wake. He approached Laura.

"Laura—" he began.

"Oh," said Laura loudly and turned away from him. Kazuki, not to be denied any longer, moved in front of her.

"What—do—you—want—Kazuki—Muto?!" said Laura, annoyed.

"Listen—Laura—I was a jerk," Kazuki admitted. "No—I was worse than a jerk. I was a lowdown, no-good creep. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

At his words, the annoyance faded from Laura's face, to be replaced by surprise and a hint of excitement.

"Really?" she said softly in a high-pitched voice.

"Really," repeated The Kaz. "So what do you say, Laura?" he asked as he took her hands in his. "Will you take me back?"

Laura gasped, clearly taken aback by this question. Kazuki smiled—he knew Laura knew the answer. Then, finally, she squealed, "Yes!" and kissed him full in the mouth. Kazuki responded with such enthusiasm that he picked Laura up off her feet. Behind them, Delilah was still crying.

"Oh, Kazuki!" she said between sobs, as Koji approached her.

"Hey, Delilah," he said, touching her shoulder. Delilah turned; Koji smiled; they embraced.

"Yes, folks," said Mike Adamle, who had just stepped onto the duel floor and was now ready to start the post-game show. "A lot of touching moments on this duel floor now that combat has ended. Hi again, everyone, I'm Mike Adamle. Welcome to the Duel Monsters post-game show brought to you by Industrial Illusions. I am here with Laura Devlin, the runner-up of today's duel, but it certainly does not seem so in this case. Laura, the stakes were seemingly slated as the fact that the winner of the duel would apparently have Kazuki Muto all to herself, and yet although Delilah Rhodes defeated you while still holding a count of 1050 Life Points, it does not seem as though it worked out quite that way. How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know exactly how that worked out, Mr. Adamle," said Laura.

"Just 'Mike,' if you don't mind, please," said Mike.

"I don't know exactly how that worked out, Mike," said Laura again. "But of course, in our heated tempers, one of us had to say that the winner would get Kazuki all to herself."

"A lie?" inquired Mike.

"A poor choice of words under a stressful situation," replied Laura. "Actually, it was Delilah who put Kazuki's fate on the line, and when I said 'Game on,' I never truly agreed to the stakes, but to the game itself."

"And yet a reliable source tells me that when you seemingly found Kazuki being kissed all over his face by Delilah," said Mike, "you took it upon yourself to confront him, and say that the relationship was over if you found a shred of evidence that Kazuki was playing around with Delilah. Tell me, what exactly was that all about?"

"Again a stressful situation," said Laura. "I tell you, Mike, I would have given anything to be able to call off the duel and get out of stress so quickly, but there was nothing I could do."

Mike paused. "Okay," he said after a few seconds. "Thank you, Laura Devlin, for that… um… insightful interview." He cleared his throat and said, "We'll be back after these messages."

"Kazuki!" Yugi called in his house that night.

"Yeah, Dad?" said Kazuki.

"Someone is at the door to see you," said Yugi.

Out of his bedroom, into the living room, and over to the front door stepped Kazuki. He opened the front door, which revealed Laura Devlin on the other side.

"Hey, Kazuki!" she giggled, who had quite returned to her old self since the duel.

"Hey there, Laura," Kazuki responded.

"So this is your father!" said Laura, who had just spotted Yugi. "I am a big fan of yours, Mr. Muto, a very big fan indeed."

"I get that a lot," said Yugi as they shook hands. "That's what just about everybody says."

"Kazuki?" asked Téa as she walked into the living room. "Oh, hello, Laura!"

"Hi, Mrs. Muto," said Laura.

"Oh, Kazuki, she is such a sweet girl!" exclaimed Téa.

"I quite agree," Yugi said. "If you'd care to stay a bit, Téa is making pizza."

"Sweet!" said Laura. "I'm there!"

"Terrific," Yugi concluded. "I'll call Joey."

"'Joey'?" asked Laura, curious, as Yugi went to the phone.

"Joey Wheeler, one of his friends," said Kazuki.

Yugi had just finished dialing Joey's number, and the telephone started to ring.

"This is Wheeler," said Joey's voice on the other end.

"Joey?" asked Yugi.

"Yuge, buddy!" said the voice of an excited Joey. "What's happening, man?"

"Listen to me, Joey," said Yugi. "Is it possible for you to come to my place?"

"Why?" asked Joey's voice.

"I'll tell you why, Joey," said Yugi. "Téa is making pizza."

"Say no more, Yuge, I'm there!" said Joey's voice.

"Excellent," Yugi remarked. "See you."

The line went dead, and Yugi hanged up.

And so five sat at the Muto dining room table: Yugi, his wife Téa, their son Kazuki, Kazuki's girlfriend Laura, and Yugi's friend Joey. Joey had taken a lot of pizza for himself, much to the exasperation of Téa.

"Boy," she said. "Almost twenty years, and you still haven't changed a bit. You're still the same old Joey from high school."

"Thanks," said Joey. "I try hard to maintain one personality throughout my life."

"That wasn't a compliment!" said Téa.

"Téa!" Yugi said warningly. "So how's Mai?"

"No problem," said Joey. "Thanks for asking."

"You two still haven't set a wedding date?" asked Téa.

"Wedding?" Joey blinked, surprised by this sudden turn in the conversation. "Who said anything about a wedding? Nah, she's just living with me until she can get back on her feet. As for me, I enjoy a bit of the bachelor life, myself."

"But why?" Kazuki asked. "What happened?"

"Burglars," said Joey simply. "Took a lot of her stuff and almost burned her house down. She was lucky Duke got there and put the fire out before the thing crumbled to the ground."

"Duke who?" said Kazuki. "Duke Devlin?"

"The same," Joey answered. "Turns out he's a fireman, as well as a commentator."

"I never knew that!" Kazuki enthused.

"Nah, you wouldn't," said Joey airily. "Hardly ever does it by day, does he?"

They continue to eat pizza and chat.

I hate to end the story in such a mundane manner, but I regret to say that I can find no more events on this episode that I can write here. So I'll leave the denizens of Domino City here until NEXT TIME, when I promise the next chapter in the Kazuki Muto saga will begin.

So here I will say: Goodbye from Domino City, and we'll see you next time!

THE END A Brandon Taylor Production