Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do You Dream of Me? ❯ Chapter 34

 

Yugi and Yami stepped out into the large stadium, jam-packed with a roaring crowd. On the other side of the arena, the doors of another elevator opened to reveal Kaiba holding a briefcase. His fans cheered him

 

“Welcome to the final stage, Yugi!”

 

They sat at a playing table in the middle of the arena and looked at each other. Finally, Kaiba smiled. “Words mean nothing to us anymore… what will decide our fates,” he put down his deck, “are the cards!”

 

“All right!” Moving as one, Yugi and Yami laid down Yugi's grandfather's deck. This match would win vengeance for their grandfather, Yami's freedom to stay with Yugi, and hopefully the chance to mend whatever had so twisted Kaiba.

 

“Before starting the game, we will shuffle and cut each other's decks!”

 

Yami took Kaiba's deck and let his hand rest on it. He has learned nothing. The cards have no more love for him than before, save the Blue Eyes. Surely… did he not learn of the Items? Is not their magic…

 

Is not what, Yami?

 

Their magic is of darkness, not the shadows. Yet… their magic has… something to do with the game. I know this, yet I cannot recall it. He is carrying the one he has now. But not using it. I think he means for this game to be conducted with his own power, the power of his technology. There is that much will to reach his own potential in him, at least. But victory will be ours.

 

How do you know that? I thought you said you were worried, that saving Mokuba might do something bad to your magic?

 

…I was too cautious for your welfare. These cards love us, as the Blue Eyes loves him, and will fight for us. Some of them…

 

They what? Yami seemed to be losing his trains of thought, as though he was reaching for something that wasn't there. His vanished memories?

 

Yugi was jealous. Something about Kaiba was bringing out so much, making Yami know things, feel things. He told himself it was that he was getting the memories back that mattered. And once Kaiba was defeated, it would be safe to get more back. Kaiba could not be allowed to have Yami. Both for Yami's sake and Yugi's. Yugi didn't know if he could live without him now.

 

They care for me. They know me. The Black Magician. Exodia… people. People I once knew. People I loved.

 

…People? The monsters are people?

 

Yes, Master. They serve the Player, if they choose, as I serve you. They will come when we call. Kaiba's do not have that feeling for him, though they spared him: they wait for him to prove himself.

 

While they spoke, Yami shuffled Kaiba's deck, cut it, and passed it back. As if in unison, Kaiba handed him his as well. “Duel Monsters… Duel!” They said together, as Yugi had said in so many friendly matches.

 

They both knew the stakes. They both drew their cards.

 

Yugi stared at the cards. …is this fair?

 

Yes, it is. He knows this game is more than chance. I think it kindest to not give him hope, to show him he cannot know true victory as he is now. It will help him to change. But Yami seemed distracted.

 

What is it?

 

…There is another. Another spirit, bound as I was. In the Item he has. I can feel it, now that I am so close. I… I know him!

 

What?!

 

Kaiba was chuckling. Had he drawn a Blue Eyes? Of course he had.

 

It was Yugi's turn first. He looked at the cards in his hand. This was… harsh. But Kaiba deserved it.

 

“Go, already!” Kaiba smirked. “Or are you afraid to, knowing you'll lose?”

 

Seth!

 

Wasn't that what you called Kaiba?

 

The spirit is… akin to him as I am to you! Bound, meant to be! How none other than you could solve the Puzzle! Linked! I know this man!

 

We're linked.

 

Meant to be, yes! By fate, our souls entwine too naturally for it to not be! The spirit reaches out to Kaiba, but cannot reach him! The Puzzle's power is unity, the Rod's is mere control!

 

Can we…

 

Bind them together? We must! That is the solution!

 

What?

 

To cleanse Kaiba's corrupt self, we must destroy it, allow him to create for himself a new self, a new heart! But that would leave him dead to the world, defenseless against whatever forces warped him so! This spirit can, will guard him, guide him! Yami was excited.

 

Yami was meant to be with Yugi. This other spirit was Kaiba's, not Yami. This comforted Yugi. We must win, then. He laid down his cards.

 

Exodia.

 

Kaiba's jaw dropped. “What…” But he had shuffled him. He knew that to cheat would be death. He knew he faced a Game Master, a greater challenge then he ever had before. But to be beaten so soundly…

 

The crowd was disappointed. They had wanted a real duel! They had wanted to see Kaiba, the World Champion crush this nobody! This was a cheat! Even if the light show as Exodia appeared in a hologram and blew away Kaiba's life points was pretty.

 

Elsewhere, Mokuba watched through a screen, numb. He didn't know what would happen now. But Yugi, and Yami had spared him. He had to go to Kaiba. His brother would need him.

 

“It's over, Kaiba.” Yugi's voice was quiet, and kind. “I win.” He could almost forgive Kaiba for wanting Yami, all the Items. If he had felt Yami so close he would have craved him more than anything, done anything. He had worked on the Puzzle for eight years to gain him.

 

“Miracles happen,” Yami instructed him, “as long as you believe in the heart of the cards.” Kaiba looked broken. As though he had been so close to what he wanted, and had it snatched away. But it would not be that way. “And for your crimes, a sentence of death for the criminal.” But not for the good in Kaiba. “Penalty Game, Mind Crush!”

 

Kaiba's eyes went blank. And his soul shined clean. Light. Not as light as Yugi's, but light that had been covered over by darkness. “I've destroyed the part of your heart that was filled with evil! Goodbye, Kaiba, until you have decided who you will be, with this chance you have been given to create yourself anew!”

 

Jou, Anzu, and Honda cheered. It was all over so quickly. Kaiba had been such a huge threat, and now he had been defeated.

 

It was a good thing Yami was on their side. He was dangerous.

 

Kaiba's bodyguards were getting twitchy. Yami stood up and walked around the table. The Millennium Rod was in his briefcase.

 

Will the spirit be able to take over right away, or will he be weak like when you first woke up?

 

He has been awake since Kaiba received the Rod, as unlike the Puzzle it was complete. Merely lacking the true weilder. He has seen Kaiba's memories with the Rod's power. He will be able to take his place and defend him as I have done for you, until Kaiba is awake again.

 

Yami touched the Rod and reached out to Yugi. We must be untied to invoke the Puzzle's power of Unity. Reach out to them with me. Give them your good wishes, oh kind Master.

 

If you say so… Yugi realized he didn't really hate Kaiba. He didn't have to hate anyone. No one could hurt him, with Yami by his side. And when he was strong, no one would be able to hurt Yami. Surely the spirit in the Rod would be an ally? If he had been tormented like Yami had been, and would Kaiba help them to protect his spirit, Seth, once he knew him?

 

If Seth was anything like Yami, of course he would love him.

 

Yami laid the Rod in Kaiba's hand, and awareness looked out through those eyes.

 

A stern awareness, with Kaiba's quick intelligence, He clearly understood right away what had transpired: Of course he would know as much as Kaiba had, if he had Kaiba's memories. And Yami's understanding of magic.

 

He recognized Yami right away. Something seemed to pass between them, and Kai… Seth stood up. He had a commanding presence, but slightly different from Kaiba's. More sure of himself.

 

There was a smile on his face. A soft smile.

 

The kind of smile that sometimes came to Yugi's face when he thought about Yami. The smile he had seen on Yami's face a few times, like when Yugi had smiled, playing with the Kuriboh.

 

But his eyes hardened when he looked at one of Kaiba's bodyguards. “Set up the systems for another duel!”

 

“Yes sir!”

 

Another duel? Yugi asked Yami, worried.

 

Have no fear. This one is our friend. And… something tells me that this duel is needed. That it has been too long delayed. There will be no penalty here, simply a game between friends.

 

This duel was satisfying enough for the crowd. Anzu and Jounouchi looked at each other and at Honda. What was going on? Yugi had beaten Kaiba, but now another duel? And Kaiba was smirking, but not in a cruel way. And, for once, Yami wasn't having a game go entirely his way.

 

The duel lasted a long time. Mokuba came into the arena, standing apart from Yugi's friends and watching the duel, his face almost unreadable, but a fragment of hope there.

 

That was how his big brother had used to look, when they played chess at the orphanage. Proud, certain he would win. Happy. Laughing when he made a particularly good move, not to crush the opponent's spirit, but merely out of pride, knowledge of his own strength.

 

Before Gozaburo had almost destroyed him.

 

Yugi felt needed. He had to help Yami in this duel, they had to work to stay even a slim margin ahead, at the beginning.

 

However, as the duel progressed, the challenge seemed to awaken Yami. He could feel his old skills come back to him with the impetus of a real challenge, a real duel, a game with honor with someone he knew.

 

Yugi recognized the feeling, it was how he felt when he dueled his Grandpa. Were they family, he wondered? They felt alike, somehow. The other's wounds were more raw than Yami's, the pain still fresh, but the duel seemed to make him forget it. And that smile, beneath the competitor's concentration. The smile that showed on Yami's face, working so closely with Yugi.

 

This spirit would help Kaiba, Yugi knew it. Things would be all right.

 

Finally, they won, by four hundred life points. The crowd applauded, amazed at the strategies of the duel, and began to file out of the stadium.

 

Seth beckoned to a flunky. “Take Mister Motou and his friends to see his Grandfather at the hospital.”

 

“Yes, sir!” The man bowed.

 

Mokuba ran up, eyes searching. “Bi… Seto?” Was he afraid big brother would be too familiar, after what Kaiba had done to him?

 

Seth looked at him, and Mokuba froze. “You're…”

 

Seth bowed his head. “Correct.”

 

“You're not my big brother! What have you done with him?! Bring him back!” Mokuba beat his fists against Seth's chest.

 

“Shhh.” Seth knelt to look in his eyes. “He is safe. He will return to you, when he is ready.”

 

Mokuba paused, backing away a little. “What… what do you mean?”

 

“Right now, he is picking up the pieces of his heart in the darkness.” Seth was the darkness, like Yami. Shadows. Safe shadows.

 

“Huh?” But Mokuba looked less hostile.

 

“He's reassembling the shattered puzzle of his heart. One piece at a time, with his own strength, so that this time he will not be,” Seth's eyes narrowed, “forced to choose unwisely and make mistakes. Until then,” he placed his hand on his chest. “I will guard him.”

 

“He… my brother will come back, won't he?” Mokuba meant his real brother. He… he had the chance to get Seto back, the real Seto, the brother who had stood by him in the orphanage?

 

Seth smiled. “In time. He will hurry back to you. You are a piece of his heart.”

 

Mokuba looked at Seth again. How much did Mokuba understand about magic, Yugi wondered. He was a gamer. Did he have that sense of rightness that Yugi felt about this, that his Grandpa seemed to feel, that even Jounouchi was beginning to pick up on, abandoning his suspicions of Yami? “I'll wait for you forever,” Mokuba spoke looking past Seth's eyes, into Seto's heart. “I promise, big brother…” His eyes clouded over and he bowed his head.

 

Seth took Mokuba into his arms. Mokuba didn't struggle. “I will speak with you later… Yami. That is not your name. You called this one Seth. That is mine.”

 

“You are my family. I know you.”

 

“Yes. We will duel again. Someday I will defeat you.”

 

“Someday.”

 

“You should leave, so your Yugi can see his family.” Seth picked Mokuba up. “I will look after mine.”

 

Yami nodded, and they turned to go.