The Ties That Bind
Now that Yugi and his friends had defended the world from the return of the Shadow Games and helped the pharaoh to fulfill his destiny, they could now start the course of their own paths. But there was no telling what would be in store for them. But they knew this much; their adventures together were far from finished. After all, they were the Heroes of Millennia, chosen by the Great Goddess herself to fulfill her wishes and ensure that mankind would remain in peace. The group was made up of four young warriors. There was Yugi, a shy-natured, but courageous and graceful leader, followed by Joey, a strong-hearted and loyal companion, then Kaiba, the oldest and smartest of the team, and finally, Emily, a magically talented princess. The team knew that even after the Millennium Items had been sealed away, the Millennium Star itself was still among them. That was how they knew that it wasn't over yet.
Kaiba had invited his companions to spend the night at his home. The team camped out on the roof of the building where they could feel the breeze and look at the stars. Yugi and Emily were leaning on the edge of the balcony while Joey was lying on his back.
Yugi was the first to speak up. "I never realized how pretty the city looked at night with the lights."
"I bet it would be even prettier if they didn't have lights," Emily suggested. "Then we could see the true beauty of the night."
Then they both looked up at the sky. There were some stars, but not a lot. "I guess you're right. The people of the ancient past had it a lot better than we did. They could see the sky for what it really was. But we hardly can since we've practically blinded ourselves."
Emily sighed and looked away. She began thinking about what things must have been like in the ancient past. That made her think about what she should expect to come her way now. She missed those great adventures because it helped her to learn about herself and the people she loved past and present. But there was a lot of tasks that were left unfinished. That was when she decided to tell Yugi straight out. "I've figured out my next journey, Yugi."
"You have?" Yugi asked as he faced his friend.
She nods and explains, "A lot of things happened in the ancient past that didn't get resolved. That was why it all started for us on the day you solved the Millennium Puzzle and we began our journeys with my father. But even though we were able to save our world from the return of the Shadow Games, I had a feeling our adventure in Egypt wasn't going to be our last." She stands up and says, "What I'm trying to say is, Yugi, although we helped my father regain his lost memories and help him pick up where he left off, there's still a lot that has to be done."
Yugi nods in agreement. "The rest of us have felt the same way."
"And I think I know the reason behind it," continued Emily. "It's because of the Millennium Star. It's still here. To me, that means there's a lot more that has to be done before its powers can be given back and I think I've figured it out. I have to make right what my mother did wrong," she said as a flashback played before her eyes. It was a scene of when the queen shattered the Cobalt Star into all of those fragments. "Now I don't know where that will lead me, but I'll be sure to let you and Joey and Téa and everyone else know whenever I can."
Yugi chuckled. He knew his friend too well. "You know, I've always admired your courage and strength, Emily, but your pride gets in your way sometimes." He holds her hand in his and asks, "You don't really think you're going to find all those Cobalt Star shards by yourself, do you? You need us, Emily; all of us."
She couldn't argue there. She really did need her friends on this mission because she knew it would be bigger than her. That was why she didn't want to get them involved; she didn't know what kinds of dangers would lie ahead. But that was also why Yugi and the others couldn't stand by and let Emily face it alone. And in the end, the Great Goddess would need all of her heroes for this task.
Emily smiles and places her hand over Yugi's. "You know, Yugi, I always thought I was lucky to have friends like you and Joey and Téa and Tristan and even Kaiba and Max. But now after all this time, I'm more than lucky. I feel blessed because you guys are more than my friends. You're also my family and I'll never find another one like the one I have."
Yugi nods and sighs and he and Emily hug each other. He always knew that lucky and blessed were two very different concepts. The first moment gives the impression that it's all pure luck, but after a while, it's viewed as a blessing and is cherished through the end. And Yugi felt that way about all of the people he loved every day of his life. That was why he never took any of his friends for granted and treasured each moment he shared with them.
Emily began looking back on her first adventures with her friends. "Hey, Yugi, remember when our first journey together began?"
Yugi wasn't sure what she was talking about. "You mean, our first journey as in yours and mine?"
She shakes her head. "I'm talking about when we all joined you in Duelist Kingdom. You wanted to face it on your own and not get us involved, but we went with you because we're your friends. Now I'm starting a journey and my friends want to come along."
Yugi understood and agreed. "It's really come to that, hasn't it?"
Emily nods and begins singing. We were strangers starting out on a journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you
Yugi takes her hand and sings, No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected, what you did to my heart
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me
This is the start, Emily sang with him.
Together, they sang, And life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river and I want to keep flowing
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning, I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end, I want to be standing at the beginning with you
Emily danced and sang, We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true, Yugi sang.
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future, at the beginning with you
They danced with each other as they repeated the chorus. Knew there was somebody somewhere, had me look in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on, I've been waiting so long, nothing's gonna tear us apart. And they repeated the chorus once more.
Life is a road and I want to keep going, love is a river and I want to keep going on
They paused, and Emily sang on her own, Starting out on a journey
She and Yugi started singing together again. Life is a road and I want to keep going, love is a river and I want to keep flowing
In the end, I want to be standing at the beginning, they pause, and finish by singing, with you, and they lean their heads together.
A few hours later, Kaiba finally finished up some last-minute reports and was able to join his friends. But when he came to the roof of the company building, he saw that Joey and Emily were sound asleep. But Yugi was still awake. Kaiba crossed the floor and was careful not to wake the two blondes as he approached his closest friend. "Hey, Yugi," he whispered.
"Hi, Kaiba," he replied.
"I brought ice cream," the brunette offered. "Do you like chocolate or strawberry?" In answer, Yugi turned around and pointed to the bowl filled with chocolate ice cream. There was even a shortbread cookie and fraction of a chocolate bar to go with it. This left Kaiba with the bowl containing the strawberry ice cream filled with slices of strawberries and shortcake crumbles.
As they ate their ice cream, they began thinking back on their past adventures and how much they had grown. Kaiba was the first to speak up. "You know, Yugi, I didn't want to admit it at first, but you changed my life on the day we met." Of course, on that day, Kaiba and Yugi didn't start out as friends. But Yugi did feel in his heart that Kaiba was a friend who needed to be rescued from the darkness and brought into the light. But even Kaiba was a big influence on Yugi as well. All those times the brunette pushed his friend helped bring out the hero of courage in Yugi.
When Kaiba finished eating, he put his bowl aside and said quietly, "Umm, Yugi…" Yugi stopped and faced his friend. "I know I don't say this as often as I should, but thank you." Kaiba looks up and speaks more clearly. "You've always been there for me and never gave up on me. Of all of your friends, you were the first to see the good in me. For that, you were brave enough to try to bring out the best in me; to help me to use my heart and not my head all the time."
"Do you really mean that, Kaiba?"
The brunette nods. "You challenged me to be my best and bring out the best in me. You saw me for who I was instead of what I was trying to be. And as I began to open up to you, I decided I didn't like what I was trying to become because no matter how hard I would try, I would just force myself into being something I'm not. But you helped me accept myself for who I really was. And looking at it another way, you were my friend who was always there for me when I needed you. I didn't see it back then because I didn't want to see it. But after being surrounded by you and Wheeler and Briar, I finally do see it."
As Yugi listened to Kaiba, he could sense the kindness and appreciation in his wisdom. And he felt he had to give it back. "You know, Kaiba, you've helped me a lot in the same way." To explain what he means, he starts thinking about their match in Duelist Kingdom. Back then, the fate of a loved one was at stake for the both of them. Neither one knew that Yugi's grandfather and Kaiba's brother were in the same situation and therefore didn't know how far the duelists were willing to go.
In that duel, Kaiba was willing to risk his life to save his little brother. And he could have died had Yugi not conceded the match. "After what happened, I was so afraid; I made a vow never to duel again. I feared that if I did, the pharaoh would hurt any opponent I would face in any duel. I was afraid he would risk their lives to claim victory. But my friends wouldn't give up on me. They gave me the strength to get back up. And I knew I had to break my vow if I wanted to save you and Mokuba and my grandfather. I dueled again, but I was still afraid to trust the pharaoh completely. He promised me he would never risk my opponent's life no matter what the challenge and working with him helped me warm up to him."
"Wow," was all Kaiba could say. But he also knew that Yugi had a lot more to say about this, so he didn't want to interrupt.
Yugi did still have more to say. "You know, I didn't think of this before, but maybe there was a challenge hidden within all of it."
"I agree," said Kaiba. Though he didn't want to interrupt, he had something he wanted to share. "It was part of helping you awaken as the hero of courage. After that duel, you became a coward on the inside and just as afraid on the outside. But you were able to witness the strength your friends displayed because they were fighting for you. And you knew that you had to use as much strength if you wanted to fight for those you cared about. It wasn't an easy journey."
This time, Yugi interrupted and said, "But it wouldn't have been possible if you hadn't risked your life that day. You helped me to start on my path to becoming the hero of courage. They say that fear is the necessity of finding inner strength and bravery and if I hadn't been so afraid, I probably would have never learned what true courage was all about. So thank you, Kaiba."
The brunette was quiet for a second, then smiled and returned the gesture. "And thank you for saving my life that day, Yugi. You did what needed to be done for the both of us. For me, I could live on and you would begin to awaken as the hero you were destined to be. The Great Goddess made no mistake in choosing you and though we didn't realize it at the time, that match was the most important duel of our lives. If you hadn't stepped in and stopped your attack, I would have died back there. But I'm still here because of you. I should have shown more appreciation sooner to you and your friends."
"Well, you're able to do that now," said Yugi. This was actually the greatest that the both of them had ever felt towards each other. They were showing the appreciation they deserved for a long time. And now the bond between them was stronger than ever.
Out in the city, Max needed to fly around and stretch her wings. Flying around at night always seemed to relax her. When she saw the gang camping out on the roof of KaibaCorp, she decided to pay them a visit. When she got down, saw that they were all asleep except for Kaiba. Yugi climbed into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. Kaiba smiled and sighed. Max didn't want to wake them up, so she followed Kaiba back inside. Of course, the brunette already sensed her presence, so he didn't mind the company.
"Hey, Max," Kaiba greeted. "What brings you here?"
"Nothing," she answered. "I just needed to get out. When I saw you guys, I thought I'd say, 'hi.'"
"Really," Kaiba asked. "That's nice of you."
Max had noticed a change in Kaiba's attitude and wondered what was up. "So, uhh, what's this thing with you and Yugi?"
"What thing?"
"You know," Max was saying. "All of a sudden, you're being nice to him and his friends."
"Oh, that." Kaiba thought for a minute, then answered, "Well, I was just thinking and I got this feeling that I should show more affection and appreciation to them for a change and well, it actually makes me feel good. I felt a little bad from being hateful towards them a lot, but now that I'm friendlier to them, I feel better."
"Well, that's weird," said Max.
"What's weird about it?" Kaiba asked.
Max shrugged and replied, "Well, you were never this nice to anybody before and now all of a sudden, you're nice to Yugi and his friends all the time and, well, I don't know." She pauses for a second, then says, "I'm just trying to understand, you know." She was telling the truth. Max had never seen Kaiba express kindness and understanding to anyone else except his little brother and she was baffled.
The brunette was actually just beginning to understand it too. He hadn't exactly been this way for a long time. "I guess it's because deep down inside, I cared a lot about Yugi and thought of him as my friend. I felt the same way towards the others, but was too proud to admit how I really felt towards them. And people can change too, you know. It just comes naturally. Try something different and if you like it, you can stick with it. That happened to me when I finally decided to be part of the gang."
Max was intrigued. She could see that Kaiba had really changed a lot since she last saw him. But she decided this shouldn't be new to her. Even she had felt this way for Joey and the others. Max smiled and said, "You know, Kaiba, I'm impressed with what you've become. You've gotten softer, wiser, and you're finally surrounded by people who care a lot about you and can give you all that you deserved."
"And what's that?" Kaiba wondered.
"A family and its affection and support," she answered. "You deserved all of that as a kid, but never got it growing up. But now that you finally have it, you've become a better person than you were before and well, I actually really like this new side of you."
Kaiba was silent for a minute, then smiled and said, "Me too, Max."
As Max saw Kaiba smiling at her, she noticed that the expression it carried was less firm and more soft, like the kind he used to have when he was a child. Max smiled back and decided to fly home. Kaiba was ready to call it a night too, so they bid each other good night and went their separate ways.