Goodbye

Yugi POV

It's already dark and the kids are sleeping. Joey and Seto have been fighting for days now. Seto knows that something is going on since I called out for him, but I haven't told him. I don't know how Joey did it, but I saw him hug Mana and the child returned the hug; and ever since that time Mana has been clinging to Joey like her life depends on it. He deserves to have my trust with this now, and is my friend so I keep his secret, especially since Mana, or rather Joey's father, hasn't tried to hurt Aknamkanon since that day. Aknamkanon is still afraid of Mana though, and he is closer to me now, watching Joey with worry, but the ghost of Joey's mother seems to be afraid of what Seto's reaction will be when he finds out and doesn't tell him anything either. It's needless to say that we're travelling with a furious and really grumpy dragon these days.

I just hope that Joey will make up with him soon because he's getting really scary. But until Joey refuses to let him in on his little secret, Seto isn't going to make up with him. I can see though that it is troubling Joey too that they're having a fight. And I see him look at Seto with a longing, and sometimes it looks like he is about to tell him just to make up with him. At least we're nearly in Alexandria, and hopefully will be home soon after and then Joey will have to talk to them before Shadi is figuring it out and doing something about it.

I sneak out of my tent quietly, looking at the fire first to see if Joey is watching out for trouble tonight, and I have luck since he is there. I walk over to him and sit down next to him. I watch him stare into the fire, motionless, and then he smiles and whispers, "He's going to survive."

"What do you mean?" I ask, certain that he had another vision. Seto and I have both noticed that they were getting more frequent recently, and Seto worries that Joey is trying to see some danger for him and trying to find a way around it with out any success, but he refused to talk about it even to me so far.

"I saw Seto die in a vision a few days back," Joey says and looks sad. "I tried to find a way to stop that for days now and finally found a way to safe him, but he won't like it."

"Why not?" I ask, worried about what Joey is planning. Why should Seto not want to survive, unless of course it puts Joey in danger.

"You have to do me a favor Yugi," he says, giving me a sad look. "If I save him, and nothing is going to stop me from doing that because I'm the only one who will know when to do what because I'm the only one who saw it happen, I won't be able to see you two for a long time."

"Why?" I ask, happy that it does imply that I will see him again at some point. "Why should you have to leave?"

"Just tell him about Mana and Aknamkanon if they won't do it on their own, and tell him that I love him and always will no matter what happens, and that no matter how impossible it might seem I will see him again. I saw it happen," he says, and I wonder how long it will take.

"Will I see you again?" I ask because this time he only said that he will see Seto.

"Yeah, but I need to warn you," Joey says. "Don't try to return with Seto. He'll be too furious and probably not even want to return at all, and don't try to make him either. Go back to inb-hD with your Tribe and take the twins with you."

"What will happen Joey?" I ask one more time and see a sad look on Joey's face.

He gives a smile, but his eyes remain sad when he answers, "Just remember that we'll see each other again, and that I won't regret anything that is going to happen tomorrow, and that I regret nothing in my life. Most of all not that I jumped of the cliff the day Seto saved me. I will never regret a single day I spent with him."

I watch his sad looking face and hope that he'll be alright. "How long will you be gone?"

"Much too long," Joey says and I see the sadness increase. "Seto will have a really hard time, please try to help him through it. I can't see how bad it will get for him, so please try to help him."

"I'll try, but try to come back as soon as you can," I say and see that he really wants to be here.

"Sorry," he says. "This is out of my hands. I don't even know how long it will take, I just know that I'll be gone for a long time."

"We'll help him, I promise," I say to make him feel a little better. "I'll tell Atemu and we'll both help him until you're back."

"Thanks for trying," Joey says, but his voice is little more then a whisper. "But it's late and you'll have a hard day tomorrow. You should rest."

"One more question, will I get to save gramps?" I ask him the one question that has been in my head for days now.

I'm glad to see Joey smile for real this time. "Don't worry, nothing is going to take that guy down, he'll be fine and so will Jaden's mother. They took a short cut too, but we're there just in time."

"Thanks Joey," I say and smile at my friend "But promise me to be careful, okay."

"I'll do what I can," he says and smiles at me, the sad look back on his face, but he says nothing more to me.

I return to my tent and wish that Atemu was with me to talk to about my worries. I just hope that Joey really will be alright. It sort of felt like a good bye.

The next day we get ready to travel into the City. I go to Seto while Joey is packing his bag; I have to tell him that something is going on. "Please be careful today." I don't want to betray Joey by saying too much, he'd be devastated if I cause Seto's death that way.

"Why?" he asks and looks at me warily.

"Joey said something, I mean about those visions he's having, and you need to be careful. That's all I can tell you," I say and walk back to Joey before he can ask me anything else. Both twins are with Joey now and he talks to them and I see them hug him once I'm there. "You okay?" I ask Joey.

"I guess so," Joey says and smiles at me, the same sad looking smile he had the day before. "I just told them to stay close to you today and stick with you from then on, and that you'd try to protect their souls. I know you will do that for me, won't you."

"I'll do what I can," I answer him, still worrying about him.

"Once we're close to the market, stay a little away from us and hide. We'll have to fight a little," he says. "Leave it to us and watch the twins for me, please. Seto will fight once I've saved him, but try to keep the twins out of it. I fear you can't but try anyway."

I just nod and wonder what he is planning. I just remind myself again and again that he promised to return to us so he can't be risking his life, can he?

We ride towards the city and I fear that this will be the last ride with Joey for a very long time. Seto watches him very closely too. He must see the sadness on his face, and after what I said he must worry a lot too, and I just hope that he'll be careful and that Joey won't need to save him at all and can stay with us.

I get more and more nervous the closer we get to Alexandria. We can see the City close to noon, and I see the children stare to the sun reflecting off the water behind it. It isn't the first time that I see it because my tribe got close to the coast a few times in my childhood, but I know that it is the first time for Joey as well as the twins. Joey doesn't react as strongly as the twins though, and I hope that it is because he saw it in a vision and not that his worries are so strong that he can't be moved by that sight at all.

Once we reach the city Joey looks at me and then to the side of the road before he dismounts his horse. "What are you planning Joey?" Seto asks him and watches me ride to the side of the street before dismounting my horse together with Jaden; both twins walk over to me too.

"I'm just making sure that we can fight without them getting in the way," Joey says.

"I doubt that we really need to fight the traders. They must be afraid of us," Seto says, sure of himself because everyone in all of Egypt knows of the power of all the high priest; especially Seto's power. And the day he and Joey got married everyone started to wonder if those two could possibly overpower the pharaoh himself if they combine their powers. I know that Atemu is intrigued by that notion since even he isn't sure that he could win such a fight if it ever came to that, but he is sure that Seto would never betray him and Joey is my best friend and wouldn't betray me and my husband either.

"You know that I don't always see everything I want to see right?" Joey says and looks at Seto, who simply nods. "I didn't see what happens exactly, but I know that someone will attack us. You got a lot of people angry at you with your temper."

I watch them and wonder what will happen. I watch them go to the market and look for the traders. I'm still close and can hear them, but there are many people around and I doubt that many people notice me. I'm not wearing many jewels today, hoping that most people here don't know who I am and won't be able to guess it dressed like any other person that might live in this or a similar city throughout Egypt.

I see them reach the traders, and I see gramps there and smile he looks healthy enough; a little down maybe, but that was to be expected after being captured for so long. I can also see Jojo and hear Jaden mumble, "Mummy."

I hold his hand to make sure that he stays close too. "Help me watch the twins, Jaden. That's the best way to help your mother," I remind him. "Make sure that Joey and Seto can do what they need to do without worrying about me and the twins. That's the only thing you can do."

I see that he doesn't like it, but he doesn't try to run off on me right away. We watch Joey and Seto, and even the twins watch closely. I watch Aknamkanon take his sister's hand, and for a second assume that the two are themselves, but then I notice the surprised look on the girl's face. They aren't themselves, but Joey's mother needs the support from someone and the only people here are Jaden, me, and Mana, possessed by the ghost of Joey's father. And at some point she must have loved this man to marry him and have two children with him.

I see a tiny smile on Mana's face and see her hand move a tiny bit to squeeze the little hand that is holding onto his. "He'll be fine. He is stronger than I ever was," I hear the soft female voice whisper quietly.

I see them look at each other and wonder what else Joey can do with all the love and affection he has in his heart. He even got his parents to change and see the love in him and even get a long a little. I doubt the feelings are the same as on the day they married, but they are talking to each other again which is a huge difference from torturing and trying to kill one another.

"Free those slaves right away!" I hear Seto order.

"Why?" the trader asks. "We went through a great deal of trouble to require those slaves. They're ours to sell, and I want a reason to free them."

"How dare you even talk back to me. Do you not know who I am?" Seto asks, outraged. He is in a bad mood as it is and the trader better not provoke him or a fight will start for sure.

"You're high priest Seto, and I apologise if you find me rude, but I want to know on what grounds you order us to free the slaves. We have done nothing wrong, and even a high priest mustn't misuse his power," the trader says, sounding polite enough to me; and I hope that Seto's foul temper won't let him do something rash.

"Because the Pharaoh's husband wishes his grandfather and former tribe members to be safe and free," Seto says and throws them a little bag filled with gold. "The Pharaoh is putting them all under his protection. You may have that gold as a refund for the trouble you've gone through, but they're to be freed right away."

"Fine," one of the men says, moving to untie my gramps first before moving to Jojo, Jaden's mother.

I nearly let Jaden run to his mother, but hold onto him in the last second. I'm not sure why, but I notice Joey move one foot back and the other around to turn with two little steps with his back to Seto. Before I can warn Seto to be careful I see someone run for them, holding a big and sharpened piece of wood. Less than a second later I see that piece of wood inside of Joey's chest and stare.

I hear the twins scream out in agony after seeing Joey getting wounded so badly. I don't know why that man is attacking, but I assume that he was angered by Seto at some point. I see Seto turn around after hearing the twins scream, and see him stare at the scene there. I see him catch Joey, who begins to fall to the ground.

Before I can stop the twins they run out, and I see a light come from Aknamkanon and a dark shadow from Mana. Both go together above them and I watch a shadow monster being formed from it; a massive black and white dragon. The black half of the dragon has a wing that looks like it is made out of a leathery skin, very much like Seto's and Joey's dragons wings are, but the one on the white side looks like it has feathers.

I hear the twins talk together again, "Light and Darkness Dragon attack him." I watch the dragon attack the man and once the fire is gone there is nothing but ashes, and I pray to the gods that his ashes won't poison my desert now that he's forever united with the desert sand.

I run over to Seto and Joey and let go of Jaden, who follows me rather than running to his mother. "You promised you'll be back Joey, you promised! You can't die, do you hear me? You can't!" I scream to him while Seto just holds him silently, his face pale and clearly shocked.

"Sorry pal," Joey whispers to me and then looks at Seto with a smile. "I'm sorry Seto… I'm not as strong as you are. I couldn't watch you die and live without you. I'm sorry I have to leave you for so long, but I didn't lie to Yugi." His voice is getting weaker by the second while his life blood slowly, but steadily, runs out of him. I can see his skin pale more and more, and once he finishes that sentence he takes one breath and his face looks like it really hurts him to breathe. "I love you Seto,…I always…will…love…you." And then his eyes close and I watch Seto look at the body of his husband that suddenly lay limp and motionless in his arms; his breathing has stopped.

I watch Seto stare at him for a long time while my grandfather walks over to me to hold me and support me after loosing my very best friend. Jojo walks to her son and holds him close, but both of them are silent. The dragon that is still floating over our heads caused most people to run away as fast as they can.

"Unky Joey?" I hear the twins mumble after a moment. "Please wake up. Grandma and grandpa are sad."

I see Seto look up at them and see that he too is understanding what was going on now.

"Where are they?" he asks, obviously ready to let out all of his fury on them right now. But the twins point upwards.

"They're sad about unka Joey. They wanted to make that bad man pay. Grandpa said that he hurt grandpa and unka when he worked as a guard, but you made him pay and go away and he was poor then. Grandpa and grandma want to protect us now, because they think that unka Joey can't. Why won't he wake up unka Seto?"

I see Seto stare up at the white and black dragon with anger in his eyes and hear him say, "It was your fault…all of his pain was. And yet he protected you." I see Seto hold the lifeless body closer to himself and cuddle him a little before removing the wood from his chest in silence. He picks him up and starts to walk away.

"Seto wait!" I say. I promised Joey to try and help him, and there is one more thing I need to tell him. "He promised to be back, no matter how impossible it will look, and he just said that he won't break that promise."

"He's dead!" Seto spits at me in anger. "He can't come back, ever!"

"He will," I say, hoping that it is true more then anything. "But he wants you to know something else. He loves you and will always love you and he has no regrets, especially not that he jumped of that cliff when you saved him. He was sorry about the fight and he really loves you."

"Why didn't you stop him?" Seto asks me and looks at me with nothing but hate. "You could've stop him! You knew this would happen!"

"I didn't," I say, upset, and feel the tears run down my face. "He's my friend and I loved him too, and I would never have let him kill himself. He promised to be back. I didn't think this could happen."

"It's still your fault!" Seto says. "You made us come here! You and Atemu!" he spits the name out like it disgusts him to even think about it. "You two are to blame and I will make you pay!"

I stare at him; this must be what Joey meant when he said that Seto would be furious. He blames me and Atemu, obviously blinded by his grief. I watch him pick up Joey's body and watch him leave, not stopping him. Joey had told me not to try and make him come back to the palace so I let him move away, wondering how I will explain all this to my Atemu.

Authors note: Thanks to dancing elf for the review.

I decided not to let you wait for the next chapter to get your happy ending. Even I'm not evil enough to let you read about Joey's death and not give you the last chapter with a happy ending right after so I update it right away.