So this fic is... a little weird. It's based on a dream I had about a commercial for a new Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie haha.
TW dark themes like abuse and death
Ships: Heartshipping (Ryou x Yugi) and very very slight violetshipping (Joey x Kaiba)
Yugi sat bolt upright, wincing at the ache in his back. He couldn't remember falling asleep, and after a quick look around realized he didn't know where he was either. He was sitting in an endless expanse of tall grass that swayed with the whipping wind. The sky overhead was a dark violet with black clouds wrapped in lightning drifting towards the horizon.
Yugi stood, struggling against the winds that tore at his clothes
Could this be the shadow realm? No. Too peaceful. No souls writhing in eternal agony.
Yugi walked in the direction the clouds were going, hoping he could find some kind of clue as to how and why he was where he was. After a few minutes or so of wading through the knee-high grass, his shoe hit something. He pulled back the grass to reveal an unexpected sight. His foot was resting against a leg clad in leather pants and familiar footwear.
"No way…" Yugi muttered, slowly pulling back more grass to reveal the rest of the fallen figure. Sure enough, he soon found himself looking at the abnormally soft features of a sleeping Seto Kaiba.
"Kaiba," Yugi called, giving him a light tap on the nose. There was no response. "Kaaaaaaaibaaaaaa please wake up! Something weird is happening!"
Kaiba's nose crinkled, a familiar haughty look took over his previously passive features. He let out a low growl. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Listen, Kaiba, Do you have any idea where we are right now?"
He glanced around. "No."
"I don't know either. I woke up here a few minutes ago. I was walking that way," Yugi pointed towards the horizon, "when I accidentally found you."
"Then let's continue." He stood in one graceful movement, striding in the direction Yugi had pointed without another word.
"Uh okay." Yugi followed, though it was difficult for him to keep up with Kaiba's long strides.
Eventually they found what they were looking for. The clouds all converged to a single point, an odd reflective spot. It was suspended in the air, like a mirror hung on the walls of reality.
As they approached the strange spot, the surface shimmered, shifting into a familiar scene. It showed Yugi and his friends seated around a table in the mall food court. As the scene progressed, Kaiba appeared. The spot didn't have sound, so it could only be assumed by the facial expressions that the Joey and Kaiba in the spot's reflection were having an argument. After a few minutes of back and forth between the two, Spot Yugi intervened, turning red with the shout he directed at Spot Kaiba. Suddenly, Spot Kaiba and Yugi were gone, leaving behind nothing but a group of confused and terrified teenagers.
The scene shifted, this time it showed the strange grassy plain that Yugi and Kaiba were presently standing in. On the cosmic screen, Yugi sat up from the tall grass, rubbing his back.
The spot went black.
"So that first part was what happened before we woke up here." Kaiba stated.
"Maybe? I don't remember any of that, though."
"For once, I'm clueless as well," Kaiba scowled, "whoever did this is going to regret it when I get my hands on them."
Yugi frowned. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves Kaiba. We still don't even know where we are."
"Looks like a low-budget horror movie if you ask me."
"This doesn't seem like the right time to be making jokes…"
"I'm not making jokes, I'm merely stating facts," Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Besides what do you want me to do? Try to figure out why we're here and where here is? I think if it were within my realm of comprehension-most things that happen around you dorks are infuriatingly not-I probably would've figured it out by now."
"That's...you're right," Yugi sighed, sitting down with a defeated 'plop', "I never really thought about it like that, but usually I'm the one that knows what's going on when something like this happens, and...frankly I don't have a clue what's happening."
"Yug! Moneybags!"
Yugi was startled by the sound of Joey's voice coming from the spot. Yugi's usually cheerful friend looked sullen and worn down on the screen in front of them. His face was unshaven and his hair was grown out to his shoulders.
Kaiba scoffed. "He looks even more like a mutt."
"Sh. Don't you think this is weird? Why does Joey suddenly look like this if the last thing we saw happened earlier today?"
A horrified look struck Kaiba. "What if time passes differently here? Perhaps to him we've been gone much longer than it's felt for us…"
It made sense but...Yugi didn't want to think about that.
"So I've been tryin' ta get in contact with ya guys for a long time. Er well Ryou and I have," the aforementioned boy suddenly appeared next to Joey, waving shyly. "see we don't really know where you are, or even if ya can hear us right now...we miss ya, both of ya." Joey began to tear up.
Ryou laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and took over. "I'm certain you can hear us right now, and I want you both to know that we won't stop trying to get you back! It's been a rough few years without you, but we're looking forward to the day that we see you again! We'll be waiting, with open arms." Ryou too began to tear up. The image faded, leaving nothing but a static-filled screen.
"Y-years." Yugi fell to his knees, crocodile tears spilling from his eyes.
"Impossible! All of this is some terrible nightmare! The mutt would never miss me! This kind of thing would never happen! All of this is such," Kaiba swung his fist at the spot, "bullshit!" He let out a heavy sigh. His bangs shrouded his eyes.
"K-kaiba are you-" Yugi watched in shock as a few droplets rolled down Kaiba's cheeks. "Okay…?"
"No I'm not fucking okay! Do you not understand what this means to me? Mokuba is going to grow up without me. Without. Me. How many times have I had to come to his rescue? How many things have I already missed? His first date. His first school dance. High school graduation. College. Marriage. First real job. I'll never get to see him do any of it."
"Don't talk like that Kaiba! Don't give up! We can fix this! We can get back, and you aren't going to miss anything! Another thing, what about you Kaiba? You spend all this time worrying about Mokuba but what about all these things you haven't experienced yet? Don't you care about that? Don't you want to get back for his and your own sake?" Yugi exploded.
"And what if we can't fix this? We live in the real world, Yugi. Not everything can turn out to be sunshine and rainbows like it does in that optimistic little head of yours. And of course I don't care about having all those things myself! What do you think I work so hard for? Mokuba is all that matters to me! Giving him everything is all that matters!"
"What do you think Joey and Ryou would think if they heard you say that? You heard them, they've missed BOTH of us and that includes you. They didn't work this hard for you-care so much about you-just for you to forget to care about yourself!"
"Do you think I care what a mutt and a freak think of me?"
"Don't say that."
"Soooooooorry I forgot," Kaiba drawled, "that freak is your boyfriend, isn't he?"
Yugi flinched. "Can you just stop, please."
Kaiba didn't say anything else. Though Yugi was still upset, he was thankful for the silence. It gave him time to calm down and collect his thoughts. It was a long time before either of them spoke again.
Kaiba broke the silence. "Sorry," He said softly, "Ryou isn't a freak. He actually seems pretty nice, or you two seem happy together I guess."
"He is...we are." Yugi smiled. He'd never heard Kaiba apologize like that. Maybe they really could be friends...someday.
"...that's...good." Kaiba responded stiffly.
The screen screamed back to life. This time it pictured Joey accompanied by someone who looked a bit like Kaiba, but with darker, longer hair.
"Mokuba…" Kaiba muttered, staring at the older version of his brother on the screen with a sad look in his eyes.
"Hey Seto. It's been what, 8 years? I just wanted to tell you what I've been up to-well not everything I've been up to, I can tell you the rest when you come back. So I went to college. I majored in business and now I'm much better at running your company. KaibaCorp's still doing great, and it will be right here waiting for you when you get back! Goodbye, big brother." Mokuba smiled sadly, watery eyes threatening to spill a torrent of tears. The screen flickered for a second. When it came back it was just Joey standing there.
"I really hope ya heard dat, Kaiba. The poor kid took da whole thing harder dan most of us. He isn't da only one dat misses ya though, believe me," Joey looked awkward for a second, scratching his scruffy blond mane, "It's weird ta say, and probably even weirder for ya ta hear, but I've missed ya a whole lot more dan I ever would've thought dat I would. Guess I never really knew what ya bein' around meant ta me. I mean life's a little bland without ya ta yell at."
The screen once again went to static. Yugi snuck a glance over at Kaiba. He was teary-eyed, but...he was smiling.
"It gives me an odd sense of satisfaction to know that I'm missed so badly, is that selfish?" Kaiba asked, misty eyes glued to the static screen.
"No, I don't think so. I think it's just kinda the joy of knowing your loved."
"Thank you, Yugi. You are...infuriatingly hard to hate."
"Thanks?"
"This might seem an odd request, but can you tell me some things that I wouldn't already know about Joey?"
"That is a weird request. What kind of things do you want to know...and why?"
"I've never really paid much attention to the mutt, always considered him too far beneath me for my attention, but now...let's just say he's piqued my curiosity."
"Well...to start off with, Joey's loyal. Almost to a fault. It's really hard to lose his trust once you have it, and when you have it he'll do anything for you. Joey will throw himself in harm's way time after time again for his friends and yet he'll always smile. Joey comes from a bad home, but you'd never really know it, because he's always smiling and downplaying the bad things that happen to him. He's as selfless as a person can get."
"A bad home," Kaiba repeated, an odd look on his face. "What kind of bad?"
"Um...I almost feel like I shouldn't tell you, but...Joey's usually pretty open about it and he'd probably tell you if you asked so I'll tell you...his father is an alcoholic and a gambler. He's been Joey's sole guardian ever since he and Joey's mom got divorced. His mom took Serenity and left him behind with his father who...who started beating him. Joey comes to school with new bruises everyday. It's heartbreaking but he won't let us do anything about it or tell anyone because he doesn't want to get forced into an orphanage or anything like that."
"I never would've guessed that the m-Joey and I had such strikingly similar pasts. I guess we aren't such polar opposites after all."
"That's what he said back in Noah's virtual world! I've been trying to tell him ever since that he should make more of an effort to be nice to you.."
"I don't really blame him for being so aggressive with me, I don't make it easy for people to be kind to me."
"You don't, but I understand why, and I think Joey does to. To me, it kinda seems like he actually enjoys talking to you most of the time, even if he would never say that."
"Mm. I suppose I'm the same way. After all what else would I do to entertain myself if Joey wasn't around? I could always find someone else to mess with, but it wouldn't be the same. I don't know anyone else who could take it the way he does. I'd actually have to worry about hurting their feelings…"
The screen crackled to life, startling the two out of their rather heartfelt conversation. This time it was only Ryou. His eyes were rimmed red, and the ghost of tears were prominent in streaks on his cheeks.
"Yugi I-I miss you so much. I feel so useless without you, and we've tried so H-hard to get you back but nothing seems to work. It all seems so hopeless. S-sixteen years...and I haven't been able to get over you, haven't been able to get your face out of my head. I-I love you. I never got to say it before you vanished because I was too much of a wuss, but I really do love you, and I don't think that will ever change, no matter how many years without you. A part of me still thinks we can figure it out, but it's hard to hold on to that hope now. Until next time, goodbye."
Darkness, once again enveloped the screen.
"That was...intense." Kaiba stated.
Yugi drew in a shaky breath. "Yeah...we need to figure out how to get back."
"Well, yeah. How do you suggest we go about doing that?"
"First...we should try to figure out why we're here."
"Well, thinking back on what happened before we woke up here, you and I seem to have had a bit of an argument, which has never really happened to that extent before. Perhaps that has something to do with it?"
"Wait a second, you're right. Our pasts are intertwined and our futures probably are as well, so it would make perfect sense for the universe to intervene if we were upset with each other!"
"Mm. Have you seen the movie 'Freaky Friday'?"
Yugi paused, unsure of where that could possibly be going."Yes…?"
"I was just thinking it's a bit like that, in the movie the woman and her daughter are forced into understanding each other by cosmic forces that cause them to switch bodies, in our case the universe has taken us to a sort of "side-room" and locked us in so that we would be forced to settle our differences, or at least that's my theory."
"That's...genius! Basically we need to keep talking, there must be something about ourselves that we need to share with each other!"
"Maybe you should start, you're already relatively amiliar with my troubled past, what about you, Yugi?
"Me? I guess...there's my parents. My dad died when I was pretty little, and my mom couldn't bear to look at me afterwards. I looked too much like him, so...she shipped me off to live with grandpa, he's my father's dad. I guess I've always felt a little abandoned because of it."
"Wow, I never would've guessed that even you had problems like that. Just when I think the world is fucked up enough...it gives me a new reason to believe that it's all hopeless."
"I guess there's more, since we haven't gone back yet," Yugi sighed. "I hate to pry, but are there more things in your past that I don't know about?"
"Mm. I was afraid of this. Just to be clear-what I'm about to say will not be told to anyone else, understand? Not even Mokuba knows about any of this."
Yugi nodded, a bit fearful of what he was about to hear.
"My real mother died giving birth to Mokuba, and I resented him for it, absolutely loathed him. She had been nothing but kind to me, a wonderful parent who spoiled me constantly with her praise and kind words. Then there was the accident. On the way to pick Mokuba up from school, My father got into a wreck. I was with him. I was there when the windshield shattered, slicing his face almost beyond recognition. I was there when the driver's side of the car was mangled so badly that my father was crushed. I heard his bones snap, and I saw the blood and life seep out of him. I was only ten. It was only when the two of us were the only ones left, that I began to truly love Mokuba." Kaiba told the story in a flat tone with an odd level of detachment for the grim content of his words.
"Kaiba...you...you're such a strong person, you know that? I mean...you've been through so much and your still standing here. Most people would've given up, but you're still here and it's so admirable."
"Mm. I've never really felt all that strong, but I'm glad that you think that, and that you responded to my pathetic story with something other than pity. It's strange...I feel a bit better having told you about all that. Maybe this whole friendship thing isn't as much of a waste of time as I thought it was."
"Wow! That's...such an unexpected thing coming from you, but I'm really happy to hear it!"
A deep boom echoed across the land. Their surroundings began to shift and fade away right before their eyes. First the wind stopped, then the grass began to shrivel and shrink down to nothing. Then the clouds overhead began to dissipate.
Yugi blinked, his eyes were closed only a second, but once they opened again he was greeted by completely different scenery. He was standing back in the Domino mall, next to a table occupied by all of his friends, all of his teenage friends. There wasn't the slightest hint of age on any of them. Standing across from Yugi, was Kaiba, who had a hint of a smile on his face.
Tea coughed. "Are you two okay? I've never seen you get so angry before, Yugi. Erm...why are you both smiling?"
Wordlessly, Yugi sprinted towards Ryou, throwing himself into his boyfriends lap. Ryou, though surprised, cradled Yugi in his arms, pulling Yugi's head onto his shoulder.
Yugi watched with a slightly bemused expression as Kaiba stiffly approached Joey. His expression, as unreadable as usual, gave away none of his thoughts or intentions. Needless to say, it surprised even Yugi when Kaiba lifted Joey like a scrawny newborn pup, and pulled him into an awkward hug.
"W-wo-What? Uhhh Kaiba? W-why? W-what?" Joey struggled to form a coherent sentence as someone who'd claimed to hate him for years, embraced him.
"Shut up. This will never happen again, so try not to waste the opportunity." Kaiba growled next to Joey's ear, Just loud enough for everyone at the table to hear.
"Ehh, okay…? I'm still confused as hell, but I guess dis isn't da weirdest thing dat's happened ta me?"
Yugi couldn't help but smile. His experience with Kaiba in that strange 'side-room' as Kaiba had called it, was scary, but he also had a feeling that their time there would change their lives for the better. It already seemed to have quite the effect on Joey and Kaiba's rivalry.
Yugi felt hopeful for what was yet to come.
"Hey Ryou, I love you." Yugi whispered, tucking a piece of Ryou's fluffy, white hair behind his ear.
"Oh my," Ryou gasped. "I-I love you too." He planted a shy kiss on Yugi's forehead, and in that blissful moment everything was well.
I'm really proud of the way this turned out and I hope you all enjoyed! I'm really thinking about writing a Violetshipping sequel to this...
