Ten Million Slaves, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer + Yu-Gi-Oh Crossover fanfic

Hey there, my fellow writers and readers; I hope you're doing great with your stories, of course. :) Well, here's a new Buffy/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover oneshot I cooked up one day while listening to Ten Million Slaves (the instrumental version) by Otis Taylor, which is from the soundtrack to the 2009 film Public Enemies. Once I was reading the synopsis for the Season 3 episode The Zeppo, and I got to wondering what could've happened if Seto Kaiba himself showed up, stopped the football from hitting Jack O'Toole's lunch and saved Xander's life (while also causing Jack to change his mind about threatening to beat Xander up in the process). Well, this is what I cooked up. Hope you like it. :) As this is AU, the Sunnydale High Swim Team members Cameron Walker and Gage Petronzi (from the Season 2 episode Go Fish) are still alive and were never mutated into Gill Monsters like in canon.

Disclaimer: Genius Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh, and Joss Whedon (also a genius) owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The lyrics to Ten Million Slaves by Otis Taylor belong with their respective owners. I own the fanfics I cook up from time to time.

Ten Million Slaves

Rain and fire crossed that ocean
Another mad man done struck again
Rain and fire crossed that ocean
Another mad man done struck again
Sitting down here, fallout shelter
Paint my walls, twice a week
Sitting down here, fallout shelter
Think about the slaves, long time ago

Ten million slaves crossed that ocean
They had shackles on their legs
Ten million slaves crossed that ocean
They had shackles on their legs
Don't know where, where they're going
Don't know where, where they've been
Don't know where, where they're going
Don't know where, where they've been

Sun goes out, you'll be standing
You'll be standing by yourself
Sun goes out, you'll be standing
You'll be standing by yourself

Ten million slaves crossed that ocean
They had shackles on their legs
Food goes bad, food looks rancid
But they ate it anyway
Don't know where, where they're going
Don't know where, where they've been
Don't know where, where they're going
Don't know where, where they've been

Sun goes out, you'll be standing
You'll be standing all alone
Sun goes out, you'll be standing
You'll be standing all alone
All alone, all alone, all alone, all alone, all alone
~Otis Taylor, Ten Million Slaves

Both Jack O'Toole and Alexander "Xander" Harris looked up just as the football, which had been thrown at Xander and had been about to hit Jack's lunch, was suddenly pulled off to the side and stopped in mid-air — almost as though someone was holding it. Which made sense, since it definitely was.

"No way," said Xander. "Holy Cannoli."

"Yeah," Jack replied, and then added, "What you said."

Then, it happened. An all-too-familiar voice (familiar to Xander, while Jack had seemed to hear it himself sometimes) suddenly spoke up.

"Alexander, I take it that this thing you mortals refer to as a 'football' was supposed to be caught by you, and instead would've hit the lunch belonging to you, Jack O'Toole. And it would've, if I hadn't stepped in and stopped it the way I did just now."

Then, the owner of the voice suddenly appeared as if he was stepping out of thin air. Brown hair in a mullet. Blue eyes that seemed to blaze with either fire or ice, depending on the situation. The black slacks with the matching turtleneck, the black boots with a slightly raised heel in the back and the purple trenchcoat that looked really neat, and also made so many Sunnydale High students wonder so much why he wore it. It was none other than Seto Kaiba himself.

Of course, the wondering why he wore the purple trenchcoat had in time led to many rumors. Some said that Kaiba usually wore that coat whenever he wanted to prepare himself before announcing a new Duel Monsters tournament. Others, such as Roy Dukeshire and Guy Matthews, along with Sunnydale High Swim Team members Cameron Walker, Gage Petronzi and Dodd McAlvy, said that Kaiba was actually the reincarnation of either a psychopath or a member of a violent gang.

Kaiba looked at the football in his hand for a moment, and then turned to a now stunned Xander and Jack and winked at them. "I'm a wizard, you two. And despite what you might believe about wizards, I don't use my magic to harm people unless they are evil. I'm actually one of the good wizards, as not all wizards are evil. So, don't even think about trying to burn me at the stake, like Buffy's mother Joyce Summers tried to do to her while under the influence of the chaos demon known as Hans and Gretta Strauss, you know. I have heard about that through the proverbial ‛grapevine,' as you mortals often say. You dig?"

Jack and Xander shot each other the look that was half-nervousness and at the same time half-puzzlement. A wizard — the male counterpart of a witch?

"Wait a minute — 'you dig'?" they asked. "What on Earth does he mean by that?"

Kaiba grinned. "It's slang for 'You hearing what I'm saying' or 'You catching my drift', to be precise. It was very popular — especially in the 1960s, of course."

In Xander's mind, this was quite something to tell Buffy about. And speaking of the chaos demon Kaiba had referred to — that was quite a memory in and of itself. Xander then remembered Buffy telling him all about that. Every fifty years, the demon would often take the form of two dead children (which was usually a boy and a girl, based on the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel by the Grimm Brothers) and try to cause strife, rip communities apart and entice people into witch hunts, while also referring to witches as "bad girls" in the process.

Too bad the chaos demon didn't know Buffy is actually the Slayer and not a witch — or that not all witches are bad ones. Some witches are good, after all, Xander thought. Xander also remembered how he had listened very closely to Buffy's story and was a good audience, too.

"Really?" he asked.

"I think I remember reading that phrase in a book somewhere. The book was called ‛The Outsiders', and it was written by S.E. Hinton, if I recall. And in this case, I do," said Jack, his face having taken on the expression of trying to remember something from quite long ago.

"Good," said Kaiba. He turned to the guy from whom Xander had tried to catch the football, and who had also thrown the football to Xander in the first place — and threw it back. "That should help," he said while watching along with Xander and Jack as the student missed catching the football and began running after it. He turned and looked at them. "Let's just say that with me around, Jack," he said, his eyes fixed on Jack's face, thus making Jack feel a little uncomfortable, "things will be a lot more neat and a little less of the threatening to beat up your fellow peers like my friend Alexander here." He then narrowed his eyes. "You dig me?"

Jack immediately nodded. "Yes, Kaiba. I get it," he replied.

"Good," Kaiba nodded, glad that the problem he had sensed beforehand was now resolved thanks to him. "Now, Jack, what do you say I have you meet Alexander's friend Buffy Summers, aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer? I met her before only a few days ago, and she's really amazing in my view."

Upon hearing the name Buffy Summers, Jack suddenly remembered what he had heard about Buffy, which he usually pieced together from stories that were told to him by the other students. Hair the color of daffodils. Eyes the color of emeralds. Skin all porcelain white.

"Yes, I've heard a lot about her already, Kaiba," Jack then found himself saying. He then turned to Xander. "I also hear of the names they call her too — a 'dumb blonde', a freak, an oddball and a loser. But I sense she's not any of those things. I think she's something else altogether."

"And she's my friend as well," said Xander. Jack looked at him in surprise, blinking a few times. Xander then went on, looking serious for once. "And that's saying something there, too. You see, before I became her friend, I used to have a crush on her, which began the day she first came here to Sunnydale High. My crush didn't turn out so well, though. Two years ago, on the night of the Spring Fling dance, I finally got up the courage to confess my feelings to Buffy, and asked her if she would go with me to the dance. However, Buffy simply told me that she didn't see me that way and rejected my offer. Now, I realize why she turned me down; it was because she didn't want to ruin the friendship between her and I."

Xander paused for a moment to think of what to say next, while Jack looked quite thoughtful, processing all that Xander had told him. "It was kind of painful, actually, now that I look back on it," Xander finally said.

"Wow. I had no idea that Buffy Summers is a friend of yours, or that she's the Slayer, either," Jack remarked. "Hmm. I guess maybe I never encountered her or saw her in action — especially at night. Had I gotten the chance, though, then I would've marveled at seeing her taking down those vampires that I've heard so much about, and then staking them." He caught sight of the puzzled look on Xander's face and laughed kindly as Kaiba led them to a picnic table where Buffy, Willow, Oz and Cordelia were sitting. "It's true. I've run into those bloodsuckers more than once, and most of them have challenged me to a battle. Can you imagine that?"

Still smiling, Jack then shrugged as though to say, "Well, what'd you think?"

Xander, of course, just shrugged himself. "No, I can't imagine something like that. I mean, a battle of a vampire up against a zombie? That's got to be quite something."

Jack nodded. "I hear you, Xander. I hear you."

They looked up in time to see and hear Kaiba tell Buffy, "Now, Buffy, I want you to apologize to Alexander. You're making him feel left out." He then narrowed his eyes as he locked gazes with every one of the group before turning back to Buffy. "If you're not careful, you could wind up with a vampire version of Xander who had slicked back hair and wore a black leather jacket. And speaking of which, Cordelia was so kind to include that when she was telling me of how she had made that stupid wish and hoped that things would've been better if you hadn't come to Sunnydale in the first place (which they weren't, as she soon found out the hard way)."

He paused, drinking in their reactions. Buffy looked remorseful and guilty about what she had said to Xander, and wished that she had been more nice to him. Cordelia was looking at Kaiba, the surprised expression on her face saying everything she wanted to put into words. But she couldn't do so. How could she think of anything to say with Kaiba looking at her in that way? For one thing, his eyes seemed to say, 'Go ahead, Cordelia. Just try to impress me.'

But Xander's reaction by far was the most extraordinary. He was puzzled. Cordelia had made a wish so that Sunnydale was in a different world where Buffy never came there and stopped the Harvest, and he was a vampire that had slicked back hair and wore a black leather jacket? Whoa. Now that was quite something in and of itself.

"Kaiba," he finally said, "did Cordelia really tell you all about that? Did she really explain all that to you?"

Kaiba turned to Xander and nodded. "She did indeed, Xander." He then turned to Jack. "By the way, Jack, since you're a sorcerer and are very skilled in magic, perhaps you could learn all kinds of spells from me — namely, spells that are very useful in combat as well as around a house too."

Jack furrowed his brow for a few moments, while Kaiba waited patiently for him to answer. Then Jack said, "I don't know, Kaiba. I'm not sure if I can be the kind of sorcerer that you yourself are.

"Look, I have a confession to make," Jack went on. "You see, I've heard all these rumors about you, Kaiba. And some of them are not very nice ones. Not at all. Most of them, in fact, are quite flat-out mean."

"Really?" Kaiba queried. Jack nodded as he noticed the intrigued look on Kaiba's face. He could tell that Kaiba wanted to know more.

"Yeah. One of the rumors I've heard is one about you being the reincarnated leader of a gang of some sort. Another rumor I hear is that you're supposedly a psychopath who acts without guilt or remorse."

"I see," said Kaiba. He then shook his head and thought for a moment, and then said, "You know, Jack, I'm quite intrigued by you mortals and your tendency to make up stories about others including myself — stories that are usually untrue."

The Scoobies, having heard Kaiba refer to them as "mortals" quite often, simply exchanged puzzled looks with each other. However, Jack simply blinked and then queried, "Wait a minute. ‛Mortals'? I can't believe it. You refer to us as ‛mortals' — and to me, that implies that you're not even human yourself."

Kaiba nodded. "You could say that, Jack."

To Jack, it seemed as though Kaiba's azure eyes — as well as his sharp and analytical gaze — never missed everything and anything that was supposed to be and was important. Although Jack had no idea how he knew, he just sensed that there was something about Kaiba that was elusive — like the famed serial killer Jack the Ripper (whom Jack had long since heard of, and with who he shared his first name).

Nice feedback is very much appreciated, of course. :)