Shadows of Knowledge
Summary: Kaiba has failed another year of high school due to how much school he's missed. Yugi and Ryou are in the same boat. The board of Kaiba Corp and his investors aren't happy. Instead of staying at Domino High School for another year SetoKaiba sets up his own school with plans to learn more about the Shadows.
Chapter Ten
Normal classes were over for the day. The shadow mages made their way to their rooms to continue Shadow magic lessons.
"You've all done well is training your stamina, opening portals and summoning high-level monsters for long periods of time." Set congratulated the class. "We still have a long way to go in the art of shadow magic. Our next lessons will be one that we will only practice during our weekend sessions. Entering the Shadow Realm and staying in the Shadow Realm. Your aim is to last the whole lesson in the realm without the ancient spirits, but if you can't stay in the realm, please come back immediately. Our lessons last the whole weekend, until Monday morning when you have classes again. The shadow realm is a dangerous place. For now the four of you will be together, but eventually we will work up to you being alone. We spirits will not be going with you."
"Ryou, since you're the best in summoning portals, I'd like you to summon a portal for the class." Set instructed Ryou.
A stable portal to the shadow realm had been summoned in an instant. The three teenagers and Ishizu walked through the portal.
"What do we do while we're here?" Ryou asked.
"Read a book, do homework, play a game. I'll be working on company business." Seto had his laptop with him when he'd entered the portal. Modern technology seemed to work a lot better in the shadow realm then around modern magic.
Ishizu also had a lot of work that she needed to attend to. He highly doubted Ishizu would remain a teacher at the school once the other shadow mages were no longer students. While not quite as busy as himself, she had a hectic workload with the antiquities organisation as well as the Egyptian government.
Yugi and Ryou both settled for playing a few games, they hadn't been prepared so didn't have much on them. If they were feeling the strain of being in the shadow realm, they weren't showing it. Seto hated being in the shadow realm, he wanted to escape. It brought back too many unpleasant memories from when Yugi had crushed his soul. He'd been trapped in the shadow realm rebuilding his heart. Those months had been long, but he had survived, he could survive in the shadow realm as long as required even if he didn't like it.
"I don't like it here," Ryou admitted. Interrupting the silence. "It brings back memories I didn't even know I had of the time Yami Marik sent me to the shadow realm."
"I don't like being separated from my Yami," Yugi admitted. "If he was here I know it would be easier to deal with being in the shadows."
"I miss Yami Bakura," Ryou admitted. "Even if I didn't always know he was there, his presence has been a part of me since I was a child. It feels like I'm not complete when he's not here."
Yugi nodded in agreement. "How about you Kaiba, do you miss Set."
"I enjoy having my thoughts to myself again. Unlike you two, I'm still getting used to him residing in my head." He replied to the pair.
"How are you holding up Ishizu?" Yugi asked the oldest of their group. She'd been relatively quiet.
"The Shadow Realm is starting to affect me. I can feel Yami Marik's presence everywhere." She told them above a whisper.
"Don't hold out just because we are," Kaiba told her. "I've spent three months in the Shadow Realm in the past. It's not a pleasant place. I knew from that experience that I can survive here. If it's starting to affect you, leave. None of us will think any less of you."
"Thank you, Kaiba." She smiled. "I can still last a while longer."
It was fifteen house into their stay in the shadow realm when Ishizu left. She'd looked highly frazzled as she returned to the normal world. Ryou and Yugi were both looking on edge. Time went by slowly, but they managed to last the whole weekend. Ryou and Yugi were both too exhausted to attend classes. Seto was also exhausted but attended the classes anyway. He was used to working on lack of sleep and exhaustion.
KC
Even though Yugi and Ryou didn't attend classes, the still attended there Shadow magic lessons in the evening.
Set congratulated the class. "You all did well spending the weekend in the Shadow Realm. It will become easier over time and will not affect you as much as it did today. Since we will only be practicing lasting in the Shadow Realm on weekends, we will begin a new lesson today. Repairing duel monster cards and returning their spirits. Today will just be a theory and history lesson, we will begin repairing cards tomorrow."
"I didn't know that was possible," Yugi replied.
Ryou and Yami Bakura both nodded, they also didn't know it was possible.
"It's not common knowledge. Only the most gifted in the shadows can return a spirit to a tablet." Set told them.
They listened as Set told them about the temples that held the stone tablets, the process of trapping a ka monster in the tablet in the first place, what went into calling them back after they were broken. He then went on to explain why modern magic wouldn't work with repairing the cards.
"You can physically repair a card with modern magic. It will work on a duel disc, using modern technology. But once a shadow duel is in play, you won't be able to call upon that card since it doesn't have a spirit.
At the end of the lesson, they were all instructed to bring any damaged card they may have.
KC
"Yugi, can I talk to you for a moment, alone." He glared at the two spirits. Atem and Set both retreated. Ryou left to find his sister and Ishizu headed in the direction of the staff room.
"Do you think you can get your grandfather to send his Blue Eyes White Dragon card for me to repair?" He asked. "I was the one who damaged the card, so I should be the one who repairs it."
"Kaiba, I think you should ask my grandpa yourself." Yugi smiled. Yugi wasn't trying to get out of doing a task. "You've come a long way since then, my grandpa forgave you a long time ago, as have I. You need to forgive yourself now."
"I will forgive myself once that card is repaired. Thankyou Yugi, I wanted you to know that I consider you more than a friend. We're family." Before Yugi could respond he walked towards the dorm and locked himself in his room.
He meant what he said. They didn't need to be related by blood to be family. Ishizu was the overbearing older sister. Amane the younger sister they all were protective of. Ryou the quiet brother who always observed who knew when you needed to talk or when you needed to be left alone, Yugi the caring one who was always there when you needed most, constantly checking up to make sure everything was alright. Joey the pest who he always fought with but was there for him if anyone else caused trouble. Even Marik, Serenity, Rebecca and Mai were becoming like family.
KC
That night he had a dream of the ancient past, it was like the duel monsters were guiding him to the old forgotten memory or more specifically Set's memory. Both versions of Yugi where in his dreams as well as Set. The strong and confident Yugi who was his duel rival, also known as Yami, Pharoh or Atem. The kind and helpful Yugi who was his friend and considered as family.
Below them was the Pharaoh Set's court, there were only five members on his council instead of six like the Pharaoh Atem. No millennium puzzle anywhere in sight.
"Are you sure you can bring back the ka monsters safely?" Mana asked him with concern. Before them was the tablet of the dark magician broken in half, the young item holder was kneeling in front of the tablet of her master.
Isis knelt down to the younger girl and placed a comforting hand on Mana's shoulder. "I've seen it in my vision that Set brings his soul back."
"That's Pharaoh Set," the new holder of the Millennium Key told them. He was a few years older then Set and they'd done training together.
"It's fine Akil," Set told him with a smile. "Isis is well aware of when she is to show me formality."
He stood from his spot, his purple cape blowing in the wind and knelt next to Mana on her other side. "I've read up as many books as I can and practiced this spell on many broken ka tablets, starting with the lower level monster and working my way to the higher monsters. I'm as ready as I will ever be to repair Mahad's tablet."
Isis took Mana away from the tablet and stood back, Set took a step forward and placed both hands on the broken tablet and started chanting. Everyone watched in awe as the pieces of the tablet slowly came together and once it was together he kept chanting for a full five minutes.
"And now for the real test," he told them after he had inspected his work. "Mana, would you do the honours of summoning your master."
"Yes high priest" she replied nervously. Akil was giving her a look for not respecting the pharaoh once again and the pharaoh gave him a look that said don't say anything.
Mana first called her own Ka spirit forward before calling the Dark Magician. She turned around, heartbroken and disappointed all over her, tears welling up from her eyes.
"Well done Mana and thank you Set." A voice spoke that had Mana's mood go from depressed and dreary to ecstatic in a matter of moments.
"Master Mahad" she should out and ran towards the spirit giving him a hug and continued crying, this time tears of joy.
KC
The memory ended there and Seto found himself awake in the middle of the night. He went out to the common room and was joined by Yugi.
"Did you just have a dream where you fixed the broken dark magician tablet?" Yugi asked while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"I did," Kaiba replied.
"Why did it only show us and not Ishizu and Ryou?"
"No idea. You should try to go back to sleep."
Yugi grinned. "Are you really in a position to give me lectures about sleeping Mr Insomniac."
"Don't worry young Pharaoh reincarnate, I will make sure my cure descendant goes to sleep." Set told Yugi in a teasing tone.
Kaiba grumbled about the spirit putting him to sleep when he couldn't fall asleep on his own.
KC
They started small with repairing cards. Low level monsters with minor damage. He had a lot of damaged cards that he'd kept. Destroyed or damaged for one reason or another. A lot of his original deck from when he was a child he still had despite a lot of the cards had been destroyed even though Mokuba had managed to save most of his cards from his stepfathers grasp. Not all his cards had been spared. His stepfather after all knew that he played duel monsters and made sure some were included in his toys when they were confiscated. If he hadn't sacrificed those few cards he would've lost his entire deck.
He had come a long way since he'd met Yugi. He had changed for the better. He'd changed even more since he'd met Luna and been held captive by that cult. He was going to learn everything he could about repairing cards so he could right a wrong that he committed so long ago. It was the only way he was going to be able to right that wrong. He'd tried to use his money to right that wrong and fix the Blue Eyes White Dragon card, but no matter how much money he offered Pegasus he refused. A part of his heart knew that replacing the card wouldn't work anyway. It had been an important lesson. Money couldn't fix everything.
He placed his cards he'd been working on and sorted them in order or power and strength and got to work on repairing cards. Warmth came to his hands as he chanted the old spell in ancient Egyptian, which Set had taught them. The spell came naturally, his mind, soul and body all in sync as has cast the spell. In his hands, a warm pleasant tingly feeling was felt which he knew instantly was the spirit returning to the card. He tried card after card and was now able to return the monster spirits with ease.
Ishizu was having no more issues then himself with returning spirits to damaged cards. Ryou and Yugi both took longer, but were still able to return the spirits to the cards.
He then moved onto ripped up cards and found that he could repair the card with the spell and return the spirits in one go. He didn't need to repair the card first and then return the spirit. He stopped when he was feeling his energy levels completely drained now and looked over at the cards he had left. Not too many. He was tempted to keep going.
"That's enough Kai." The spirit told him, distracting him from attempting to repair the next card. "We've only been doing this for a few days. You've depleted a lot of energy and must rest now."
He sighed and put down the card.
"You should be proud of the progress you've made." Set congratulated him.
He watched as Yugi, Ryou and Ishizu continued on repairing cards. Atem was talking quietly to Set and the Thief King was helping Ryou with repairing cards. Normally Set didn't let the spirits help, but even the Thief King was having trouble with repairing cards, so he'd made an exception on this occasion.
KC
It was the last day of normal Shadow lessons for the week. Friday evening they would finish the class, have dinner and then be going into the Shadow Realm. Unlike the weekend before when they'd entered on Saturday morning. The last day for repairing cards for the week.
He'd already repaired all his damaged cards. He took a deep breath and put his hand on his deck. "I feel stupid asking this," he said to the cards as he closed his eyes.
Ishizu, Yugi, Ryou and the spirits all stopped what they were doing and looked in his direction. He tried to ignore them.
"Heart of the cards, please forgive me, I am going to rip one of you." He sent his feelings and reasoning to the cards.
He could feel the horror from Yugi, the intrigue from Ryou and interest from Ishizu.
A tingly feeling came over him and he pulled the top card from his deck. He knew whatever he drew the monster had offered itself to him. He had drawn Saggi the Dark Clown, one of the oldest cards in his deck. He had it since he was a child, it had been in a booster pack his father had bought for him one of the cards that survived Gozaburo Kaiba's destruction. One of his most sentimental cards after the Blue Eyes. He thanked his clown for always being a sacrifice when he used his crush card and apologized for the sacrifice he was about to make. A feeling of warmth came over him and he started shaking as he tore his card. He felt it, the spirit leaving the card. Saggi now felt the same as the rest of his previously destroyed cards before they had been repaired.
He waited several minutes. The other Shadow mages keeping their attention on him
"I promise that I will bring you back along like I have with the rest of the cards," he told Sagi before beginning the chant.
The warmth he felt was amazing, the trust from his deck, he knew they were all thanking him for bringing them back the spirit of Saggi. He sighed in relief, Saggi was the exact same as before.
He had a new issue, the cards that he'd been working on had all been his. He needed to now try the same thing on other's cards but didn't want anyone to know the reason why.
"My cute descendant has brought up an interesting point." Set announced to the class after Saggi has been repaired. "He's able to repair any card in his deck which has been destroyed, but repairing your own cards and repairing ones that belong to someone else are completely different things. Next week you will practice repairing cards you don't own."
KC
This time, the Shadow mages were prepared for a weekend in the Shadow Realm. Bringing work, homework, games, sleeping bags, food etc. They didn't actually need food or to sleep since their physical bodies were still in the moral realm. Yami Bakura seemed to enjoy his time in Ryou's body by himself. Atem spent the weekend with Joey. Set studied modern magic and attended Kaiba Corporation business if required. Unfortunately, Ishizu's body spent the whole time she was away sleeping since she didn't have a spirit to occupy her body while she was away.
Ishizu managed to last twenty-four hours till she needed to return, the rest of them lasted the whole weekend.
KC
Yugi was very helpful and bought lots of destroyed cards that other students had and from his grandfather's game shop. Looking through the cards he found three water damaged cards of Exodia, he knew those cards where the same Exodia cards which belonged to Yugi. The same ones the other boy had beaten him with in one of their very early duels. He put them aside for last and started working on the pile of cards. Over the few lessons, he spent time healing card after card till they all that was left was the Exodia cards which belonged to Yugi.
"Okay, I'm not sure if this will work since there're only three cards," he told the empty room, but then again it wasn't really empty with the amount of duel spirits currently in the room. Why the duel spirits had decided to join him after the other shadow mages left he didn't know.
He concentrated on the cards like he did with the others, it took a lot more concentration for the cards to repair. He wasn't even sure it could be done since Exodia was not one single card. When he finally felt the duel spirit return he was surprised to find five cards of Exodia instead of three.
"Exodia, how is this possible?" He asked the card not expecting an answer. He was very surprised when he got one. "The other cards were destroyed by the ocean, that's why it's possible my dear friend. You have done the spirits a great justice by the number you have returned to their cards. As you have seen, you don't need the physical card to repair it, you just have to visualise the spirit you are trying to return and the card will come to you"
Seto turned around and saw the spirit of the Dark Magician standing in the room behind him. "Mahad," he said to the spirit.
He didn't think Yugi's grandfather would be too impressed if he repaired his blue eyes white dragon without his knowledge and found the card gone.
"Mahad, spirits, heart of the cards, there is one last thing I need to do before I repair Solomon Moto's card." He told the spirit before him and pulled out his three blue eyes white dragons.
"The dragons will not be angry with you this time, they know that you want to bring back the last dragon and make their family whole again, their spirit as one," Mahad told him before he vanished.
"I have to be prepared to heal my own card first before I try it on Yugi's grandfather's card" he held his breath as he tore the card, he felt the spirit leave, but he didn't feel anger like he did when he destroyed Grandpa Moto's card. He then used the last of his energy and repaired the card he'd just tore."
His heart skipped a beat when he opened his hands to a repaired blue eyes. He stood in silence for a few moments holding his dear dragon to his heart before he went to find Yugi and return all the cards.
KC
"Exodia, don't tell me you bought me replacements," Yugi said in disbelief at all the repaired cards. Yugi was probably only expecting three cards, not a full set of five. "No wait, this isn't a replacement, it's my grandpa's Exodia. It's the same." He looked at Seto and gave him a hug.
"You have done a great justice to the cards Kaiba," the voice of the other Yugi said from behind him.
"There's still one more card I have to fix before I'm completed," Kaiba told the Yugi's, only looking at the physical Yugi. "I believe you know what that card is," Kaiba told him before pushing the shorter boy off him and walking out the dorm room.
"Yes I know, do you want me to let grandpa know to expect you?" Yugi asked.
He shook his head no.
KC
Kaiba used a Shadow portal to Domino City. It was something he'd been using on a more regular basis and was hard to imagine life before Shadow portals. He was considering permanently moving to one of the Islands he owned and Shadow Portaling to work every day. That way he would get his privacy, but also get his work done as well. The other three were in the Shadow Realm attending this week's lesson, he'd be joining them shortly but first needed to finish this task, he didn't want to put it off any longer.
He took a deep breath as he walked towards the Game Shop owned by the elder Moto. Today was the day he would right the wrong he'd committed when he was fifteen. It was something he should have never done in the first place, a moment that he regret that was now a part of his past that he couldn't change, but it was something he could fix. Something he had learnt from, grown as a person. A better person.
KC
It was lonely working in the shop without Yugi. He missed his grandson quite a bit and all his grandsons friends. It was lonely and it was times like these he wished he'd had more children and grandchildren. He looked up as the bell for the shop went off. One his grandson's friends, one he didn't see very often even when he was still living in Domino City. He was disappointed that Yugi hadn't come with him, on the last two occasions Kaiba had been in his shop, Yugi had come for a short visit.
"Seto Kaiba I wasn't expecting to see you today," the elder Moto greeted him when he walked into the shop.
Mr Moto was surprised by the young man when he walked to the counter instead of the duel monster or capsule monster displays that he normally did. Normally when Seto was in Domino City for the day he'd stop by the game shop to pick up some Capsule Monsters for his brother before heading back to the Duel Academy. If he didn't know better he'd say that Kaiba was nervous and he'd never known him to be nervous, he was always so bold and confident.
"Mr Moto," Seto started off politely, which was another thing Solomon hadn't been expecting. Kaiba had always been mostly rude and arrogant or polite in a business sense not in a personal sense like now, he almost fell over in surprise when Kaiba proceeded to bow. "I apologise for destroying your Blue Eyes White Dragon card. It's something I shouldn't have done and I regret." Seto stood back up, his tone had been one hundred percent sincere and not the false like he'd seen in the past. "Do you still have the card Mr Moto."
"I do, it's was a treasured gift from my dear friend Arthur Hawkins and call me grandpa, everyone else does." Grandpa Moto told him and without asking pulled out the destroyed White Dragon to show him. Hurt and guilt visible in Seto's eyes.
"May I have it for a moment?" He asked hesitantly.
"Here," Mr Moto took the torn card out of the display case and showed it to Seto.
Seto held the two pieces for a moment in each hand, he then held placed the two pieces between his hands and began muttering in ancient Egyptian. Being a former archaeologist Solomon understood some of the words that Kaiba spoke but not all of them. When he opened his hands he was cupping a Blue Eyes White Dragon card that was now whole.
"I just wanted to make things right again," Seto told him and handed back the card. "I'll never try to take it from you or Yugi again. If for any reason it ends up in anyone else's hand's I won't hesitate to take it."
Solomon had tears in his eyes as he took the card back. "I don't know what to say."
"Say nothing, if you even tell anyone what I just did I'll deny it," he replied in his normal tone. He then proceeded to pick up a booster pack and more capmons before leaving the store.
KC
Kaiba smiled as he left the store. His heart felt lighter, he couldn't believe how much his heart was racing as he apologized. He could sense that his dragon was happy. Singing in his head. It's spirit felt whole once again like it did all those years ago when he first obtained his three dragons. A weight that had lived heavy on his heart for a long time was now gone. He'd done the right thing for once and if he had his way it would be just one of many wrongs he would correct. He walked back to his office with a genuine smile on his face it has been worth it attempting to repair those cards for the past couple of weeks in his Shadow lessons.
Authors Note: This chapter was originally written for my first Harry Potter Yugioh crossover Deniance of Magic which has never been posted. This chapter was my favourite chapter in DOM. It was abandoned 42,500 words into the story after I started writing Embracing Shadows. Deniance of Magic was a more typical crossover story with everyone ending up at Hogwarts. The story is very cliché overall, but I always liked the section I had Kaiba learning about different magic to fix the cards. I had to change a few things to suit Embracing Shadows and was happy to be able to reuse my favourite section of the story.
Sorry for my inconsistent update in the last couple of months. Last month I was participating in a writing challenge for The Review Lounge, Too. This month I have been participating in NanoWriMo. I have finished a Yugioh/Stargate SG-1 crossover story which I will start posting once I finished editing and started a second nano story for Red Dwarf.