Hey again! sorry about taking so long on the last update. Um, I realized I forgot to mention the song in the last chapter. My mistake :P
The song was Gone Away by SafetySuit. Oh, and one more thing, the way to contact me through facebook is: www . facebook namesoftheforgotten
Anyway, enjoy this new update and remember to drop a review. It's much appreciated!
Atem's POV
He felt the darkness. Every single inch of it. He felt that he had just been swallowed whole by the darkness. Am I dead? Where am I? Is there something I can do to get out of this place? These questions and more raced through his mind a mile a minute. He didn't know where to begin. He felt so lost and alone, never like before. He knew that he was alone once, before he met Yugi; Ever since meeting him, Yami always felt a sense of warmth, trust, and understanding, but now... he was more terrified than ever before. More terrified that he may lose his life before he could save his companion. Yugi. Is he alright? He didn't know.
In the depths of his mind, he somehow understood his situation, but in his current state of panic, he wasn't able to gather and surface the thought. The same thought that might help him get Yugi out of this mess, as well as himself. Yami clutched his head in anger, but when he felt a sense of stinging, he immediately dropped his hands to his sides and clenched them tight.
This is all wrong. Something's going on here. I wish I knew what was happening. Before I passed out, there was the scream. Yes, Yugi's scream. How is that possible though? we're not connected in any way, yet I was the only one who heard him...
He growled in frustration. He knew there was danger here. More danger than he had thought before. Was someone after him? After Yugi? And what of the Millennium Items that were missing? The people who possessed them and or knew of them? So much to think, so little time.
When he started thinking of his predicament once more, he realized that he was getting weaker. The moment this realization hit him, it felt like a wave passed over him, dragging him under water. Quite literally, which made him squeeze his eyes shut.
He fell to his knees and gasped for air, He couldn't breathe at all. He knew that much. All of his previous thoughts seemed to vanish, he knew nothing of the questions he had asked himself. As he gasped for air, he felt cold water surround him, carrying him along. He could feel his feet dragging on some sort of ground. With this thought in mind, the burning he felt in his throat, and the small tug on his heart, he pushed down on the ground and stood. He was thankful when he felt his head surface. He gasped in lung fulls of air, loving the cold air as it hit the back of his throat as he dragged in each breath.
When he felt like he was okay again, he slowly opened his eyes to see if he really was indeed in water. To his surprise-and absolute terror-the waves that lapped around his thighs were not water at all. In fact, it wasn't anything he had expected. It was blood. He was drowning in blood. How, he didn't know. One moment he was surrounded by darkness, the next he was floating, and nearly drowning, in blood.
As he looked around, he found himself near a type of shore. It wasn't like anything he'd seen before, it was just a strange pile of sand that stretched out a mile or so. There weren't any trees, that much he knew, but he was thankful that he was at least near something. He looked down at the blood swirling around him; he let out a little shiver and waded through the blood to reach the shore. He didn't like being in blood; it made him feel queasy.
As he stepped on the shore, he noticed how much his legs shook, and with it came an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion. He then took a few more steps and collapsed on the ground and his eyes instantly closed; he decided that he would rest a while and then figure out what was going on.
It seemed the moment he had made this decision and closed his eyes, he instantly was being pushed. No, shoved. His eyes flickered open again. When he looked to see who was shoving him; he was rather taken aback. It seemed that he wasn't the only one here.
"Kuriboh?" he questioned, looking at the rather angry looking puff ball.
The only reply he got was an angry jumble of noises.
"What is it Kuriboh?" He asked.
The Kuriboh let out a tired-like sigh and began to float away, more to the center of the shore. Taking it as his cue to follow, he gathered himself and stood up; for resting a short while, it sure seemed like he was less achy. Perhaps Kuriboh had helped him.
As he continued to follow Kuriboh, he noticed that the shore he was on went on for much longer than he had first thought. The shore he had come to was definitely bigger, more in length than in width.
"Kuriboh, where are you taking me?" he asked.
Kuriboh didn't answer, instead, he only floated faster, so much so that Yami had to start jogging just to keep up. Yami decided to focus on his feet when there wasn't any answer, but he didn't have much time to focus when he heard a voice. a strangely familiar voice. He knew, somewhere deep in his subconscious, that he should know that voice, but he couldn't place it.
Kuriboh then came to a sudden stop, and turned back to him. Yami stopped as well, looking at the Kuriboh questioningly.
"What is it Kuriboh?" he tried again.
Kuriboh made a noise, and floated forward just a little more, but was quickly pushed back by a small ripple in the sky. Yami walked over to Kuriboh and, ever so carefully, placed part of his hand forward. His hand was met with a ripple as well.
"Kuriboh, what is this? a portal?" he asked, looking back.
the light brown monster made an approving noise and nodded his head. Yami stared at Kuriboh for a little while longer, but the puff ball nudged Yami forward and into the invisible ripple.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he passed through; he suddenly felt an urge not to look, like he might see something bad. Only when a hand fell on his shoulder, did his eyes snap open.
Yami stared up at a man. He instantly felt the sense of relief, but he wasn't sure why. He looked at the man, then his eyes traveled to his shoulder, then back to the man again.
Who's this? he thought, I've never seen this man before, but he seems so... familiar. Why? he asked himself.
"Who are you?" he questioned; he knew that if he let his weak state show, this man may take advantage of it.
The man, whom he'd just realized had the same voice as the voice he'd heard when he was with Kuriboh, smiled kindly down at him. It was at this moment that he instantly regretted asking the question, though, he wasn't sure why exactly. The man removed his hand from Yami's shoulders and placed it instead, on his heart.
"Yami, that is the name you go by now, is it not?" the man questioned.
Yami nodded slowly, "Yes..." he replied; he was still curious about this man, and how intelligent he looked. In fact, he was sure, now, that this man knew more about Yami than Yami knew about himself. Wait... if this man knows me, maybe he knows my name! if he does, I might finally be able to find out what kind of pharaoh I was in the past...
The man gave a light hearted chuckle of amusement.
"Whats so funny?" Yami questioned, eyes narrowing.
"Nothing; just that you seem so... different." the man replied.
"Different?" a pause, "How so? What was I like when you first met me?"
Another pause.
"That, I cannot tell you. Discovering yourself and who you were is your job. You need to remember it for yourself," he started, then he smiled sadly at Yami, "And, besides, I wouldn't know what kind of person you actually were when you grew up."
"Grew up? You knew me when I was young then?" Yami questioned. Yami felt his curiosity grow, and he began to notice how intrigued he was.
"Yes. I was there when you were little. You were brave... I..." he looked away suddenly, but Yami stepped forward to look into his eyes once more. He saw silent tears streaming down the mans face. The mans features softened incredibly like that of a child, and it was then that Yami saw the pain and agony flashing before the man's eyes.
"Uh... are you alright?" Yami asked; it was the best he could come up with. Seeing this man crying wanted to make him cry as well. He still didn't know why, but with the way this man was acting, he doubted he would have to wait much longer to know why. He felt like a small secret lingered with him.
The man wiped at his eyes, but he couldn't seem to gather himself together; before Yami knew it, the man-once composed and lighthearted-turned into a sobbing mess, and the tall, old man threw himself upon Yami and wept into his shoulder.
Yami took a step back, shocked at the man's behavior, but he patted his back, and let the man cry. He had a feeling he just needed to get something out of his system. The man really did seem kind and loving. Before Yugi and everyone went missing, he would have just got the man to tell him what was wrong and try to fix it, but he had a feeling that, whatever was bothering him, was unfixable no matter how hard he might try.
"I-I'm sorry," the man stuttered. He immediately backed off and wiped at his eyes furiously. "I-I'm just..." he sighed frustratedly.
"Just what?" Yami coaxed him gently.
"Just... well..." the man paused. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to say..." he began, but the tears came back a little, and he once more enveloped Yami with a fierce hug.
"You were so brave, and although you got hurt sometimes, you always pulled through. I'd like to think I'd raised you well... my son."
Yami's eyes grew wide at the statement, and the man only hugged him tighter.
Son? He's my... He's my... Yami hesitated, he couldn't finish the thought. All of a sudden an overwhelming sense of love and happiness washed over him, and he began shaking.
"You alright?" the man asked suddenly, it seemed that he had noticed the tremors that raced through the other.
"Father?" Yami said in a quiet happy whisper.
The man smiled, "Yes. Son, how I missed you so..."
Yami's face grew hot and wet, he could only assume he was crying; which was extremely rare. It had only just occurred to him that this might be the first time he's actually cried with happiness.
He clutched his father close to him; he didn't want to let go. He didn't remember his parents at all, or even what they looked like.. but he saw the resemblance now. The man had wavy grey hair, much like Yugi's grandfather, only a lot less spiky. And he had the kind eyes that Yugi had, but he also had that commanding look, like he was a leader. Well, he had to be if his father was the Pharaoh before him.
"Father?" Yami started, carefully removing his shaking body from the other.
"Yes?"
"If you're my father.. then you should be dead... is that right?" he questioned.
"Yes. But there was a... disturbance, that caused the spirit world and your world to collide." he explained matter-of-factly.
"Collide?!" Yami gasped in alarm. "Does this explain why I suddenly passed out? why I'm here?" he questioned.
"Slow down, son," the man said calmly.
"...Right... sorry." Yami said.
The man smiled again, "Right, now that you're here... I, um, have things we need to talk about before anything goes further."
Yami looked up with a questioning look, but the look his father was giving him suggested that they would talk about it soon, but not now.
Yami had no doubts in his mind that he could trust him. His father. He felt much lighter, much happier. Happier than he'd been in an extremely long time. He knew he'd been happy like this before, but never this much. His body didn't tell lies. He knew that much. This man, for sure, was his father. And he would help him in a heartbeat if he had asked.
Yugi's POV
Why is the world spinning? Why are there so many voices running through my head all at once? Why can't I just pass out in quiet? Yugi thought. Though, he knew he wasn't passed out fully. He could feel footsteps-quick by the sound of them-and he heard all kinds of voices. He understood little due to the headache he got when he tried to concentrate on one thing at a time. From here and there, he got little snippets, things like, "Is he breathing?" and "How soon can we get him into the ER?" little things like that. He could only assume though that they were talking about him.
He knew that they must be due to being picked up and touched almost everywhere to see if there was anything wrong with him. But questions formed in his mind.
Did Sora call for help? Why would anyone want to help me when I was a basic stowaway in her room? Did she talk of me? Is there a place where people know of me, people she trusts, that can take care of me?
but one thought came to him, one that scared him. What if Sora didn't know? What if they had assumed that he was a sickly slave boy who just had a little too much excitement?... what if they never let him out of their sights? Sora would surely be looking for him.
He felt a little sad when he thought of her. She always took good care of him and looked out for him. He suddenly felt awful. He'd always go out by himself to explore, and whether Sora knew of it or not, he felt bad for going behind her back to see what the rest of the castle was like.
The pounding in his head increased ten fold and he felt even more voices pressing on him; but none he'd ever experienced before. They sounded all jumbled together, but they didn't sound... human. They sounded like monotone growls, human voices, and shrieks of pain.
It seemed everything going on inside his mind was being twisted, squeezed from his very being; the same way one might squeeze water out of a simple towel. The pain kept on increasing; soon it was too much to bear. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, but he couldn't move his body; as much as it was being moved by the other people around him.
He was quite conscious of everything happening around him, he just couldn't do anything about it. One thing was for sure though, he got the sense that he was being moved into some health room where he would be taken care of. He felt a sense of relief as well. He wouldn't have to worry about what was happening at the moment, he'd just let the people take him, and deal with his present situation.
His mind was fuzzy, and he wanted to just fall asleep, but he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried.
All of a sudden, a bright white light flashed before his closed eyes, his mind screamed out in surprise, but he himself didn't.
When the bright light faded, he found himself standing in an office of sorts. What he instantly saw was none other than Seto Kaiba. A vision! this must be a vision! his mind clicked.
He walked over to Kaiba to see what he was doing at his desk. He knew it must be some sort of vision because he knew that Kaiba was in that cell when he'd last seen him.
He reached out to grab a piece of paper that lay on Kaiba's desk, but stopped when he saw his hand; he sighed. A spirit. Great. Ah, well, I'd figured as much anyway. All my other visions I'd had, I was a spirit. So why should this be any different?
Seto Kaiba moved away from his computer, got into his drawer, and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Yugi normally wouldn't care about what Kaiba was writing, but when he'd looked at the computer, he saw an email screen; it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before though. It looked... futuristic. This caused him to look over at what Kaiba was writing down.
He'd thought that perhaps he was writing a type of letter to one of his staff members or to another company's head, but instead the top two words were 'Dear Mokuba' and from then, he just had to see what Kaiba was writing.
"Dear Mokuba, I'm sorry to have left so early this morning without saying any goodbyes. I know that you'll take care of things while I'm gone, but just a fair warning... I may be a little late tonight, I've discovered a way to travel through time, There are certain people I must visit so I can conduct buisness with them, Don't worry, if anything happens I'm sure the geek squad will come running... but I don't expect them to be able to do much. As it turns out these people are an extremely rich company... or so I'm told. Anyway, i'm supposed to meet someone named... Mira. Yeah, I think that's her name. But anyway, I'll try to be back some time tonight. Also don't forget that we have to meet Mr. Muto at the Game Shop tomorrow, I have some... unfinished business to attend to. Anyway, stay safe Mokuba, I don't wanna have to go on a scavenger hunt to find you. See you later. ~ Seto"
Yugi's eyes widened when he'd finished reading. Mira, he's supposed to meet her... will this vision walk me through what happened? he thought to himself. His thoughts were distracted by the sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. Kaiba had folded the note in half, wrote Mokuba's name on it, and set it on his desk. All while clicking the 'Sleep' button on his computer screen, slipping on his white signature coat, grabbing his phone and suit case, and heading for the door. On his way, he pressed a button on the side of the door to call a limo. It glowed a faint red, then faded away as he walked out the door.
Yugi felt himself being pulled along as well; it seemed he was now attached to Kaiba, but the vision soon faded, only then to be replaced by Kaiba getting out of a limo, and stepping out on soft, green grass. As Yugi looked around, he noticed that there was a barn-like house to the left of the limo.
He'd thought it to be abandoned when he'd walked past it the first time, but it was swarming with activity. This was it. The place where he had met Mira; and everyone else, it seemed, would meet her here as well.
He followed Kaiba as he walked towards the door that lead into the house; most of the people who had been walking around outside stepped away so that Kaiba would have direct access to the house without having to push past. Yugi followed him closely. It was weird though, the people whom had moved for Kaiba, all seemed to be staring at him. Not Kaiba, him. It creeped him out a little, but they didn't move, their eyes just followed him, as he followed Kaiba into the house.
"Hello?" Kaiba called out as he entered slowly.
"Hello." came the quiet greeting.
Yugi looked over and saw a woman standing next to the side of a wall. Yugi felt tremors of fear shake his body. He knew who this was, and he had a very bad feeling...
Kaiba nodded his head in greeting, and the woman lead him down a hallway, taking a series of lefts and rights until she reached a small room. The only thing in the dimly lit room was a small table. It had chairs on either end, and had a red cloth draped over the table; a small glowing ball sat in the center. The woman gestured for Kaiba to sit, to which he grunted in response and sat down. The woman sat walked over and sat across from him.
"Look, if this is some sick game, I don't want any part of it." Kaiba said in a serious tone.
The woman cracked a small smile, "Oh no, Seto Kaiba. This is business." she said simply.
Kaiba narrowed his eyes, but quieted nonetheless. The woman took a deep breath; her blue hair fell forward as she reached over the table to grab Kaiba's hand.
Kaiba looked at her hand confused. "What are you-"
"Shhh." she hushed. She slid his hand over the table towards her, but she stopped when she was about to pass the glowing ball in the center.
Before Kaiba could comprehend what was happening, she quickly placed her own hand on the ball, and then held his hand to the ball as well.
"What the-" Kaiba began, but he was cut off by a sudden shudder that ran down his spine; he began to breathe more heavily, and his whole body bent forward and rested on the table for support. From where Yugi was standing, Kaiba's expression told him everything. Kaiba's face was scrunched up in pain; Yugi could literally see Kaiba's life flashing before his eyes. As Yugi leaned into peer at Kaiba's eyes, he saw many memories both Kaiba and he shared. One of many memories he saw, was of Duelist Kingdom.
Kaiba let out a tiny small cry of pain, something that was extremely rare to see. Yugi's eyes pained as he watched the CEO in pain, but to his astonishment, he began to slowly disappear. With each passing second, Kaiba began to grow less and less visible. Yugi watched as he slowly disappeared; nothing remained of his presence now, other than his brief case that he had brought along with him.
Yugi looked over at the woman, whom had a small smirk growing on her face. "Now Seto Kaiba... you shall discover the true meaning of pain and suffering. Hell is Hell after all." She said.
Yugi began to feel tears rolling down his cheeks. Oh, if only he had known how much his decision had affected the people around him, he would have chosen a different path to take. What's done is done, he thought, tears began to spill more freely down his cheeks. There's nothing I can do now but try to fix this all on my own. I owe it to Kaiba... and the Pharaoh, and everyone else I pulled into my mess.
As he saw the woman-Mira, he knew-get up and walk into the shadows, he made a very serious vow to himself. One that he told himself he had to keep.
I should have seen my darker half coming. I created him after all; my wants and needs shouldn't interfere with the lives of my friends. I have no choice but to merge myself once more with my darker half, and destroy us both. Maybe then the Pharaoh can figure out who he is, and where he came from. As much as I don't want to, it's the only way to save my friends-and the world-from total destruction. The destruction that I created.
HMMMM? is it interesting? if so, REVIEW! please? :D I really hate to say it, but this story is nearing it's end. I'm not sure how many more chapters that I will put out, but the chapters WILL get longer. Anywho. Next chapter will be JUST Yugi's POV. I have some important things to sort out with him before I can move on to Atem's POV. Aren't I a stinker? :D Please, please, please, please REVIEW!
(Sorry this chapter is so short by the way. I had to break off most of it because it was wayyyy to long :P)
