Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Devotion ❯ Gratitude ( Chapter 35 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh. Yu-gi-oh got finished way before this fic. GX and R do not count.

 

Yami pov.

 

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

 

He has forgiven me. He accepts me again. Thank… Thank you, Mai. I owe you even more.

 

You claimed you care naught for such a `weak' thing as friendship, that all that matters is winning and the success each success brings, money and baubles. And yet you forfeit to Tea, forfeit to me.

 

If Yugi had continued to hold me back, I would have lost. And with that loss… Yugi would have lost, after I swore to defend and help him, his Grandfather would have lost, remaining trapped because my presence drew Pegasus' attention to Yugi's family, Kaiba and Mokuba would have stayed lost… and as for myself and Yugi's friends… I would not have dared to hope.

 

It was so frustrating. He went from working with me, working as me, as though we had been partners in truth for an eternity, barely aware I was here so alike we and our motives, our moves, and our strategies were. I myself, at the beginning, was barely aware we were two and not one.

 

But then… he thought I would have condemned Kaiba to fall to his death, instead of binding and saving him, because I overrode his objections, tossed them aside instead of explaining to him what I planned.

 

I kept thinking, afterwards… at first I thought I should not have let him take over, but this is his body. Not mine. And then… how could I explain without making him feel worse? Kaiba lost his soul because Yugi did not trust me. He would have blamed himself for a `failure as a friend' when the failure was mine.

 

I should have talked to him, instead of only coming in to save the day. I should have explained to him what I was using his body to do. It was all my fault he did not know what I planned, did not know me well enough to trust me.

 

But If I had told him, he would have blamed himself, seen it as his failure instead of mine, and that would have caused his innocent spirit to suffer. And I care for him too much to let that happen. Better he think me a murderer than himself a hypocrite who does not trust his friends.

 

But I hated not being trusted. I wanted to tell him. But I simply had to… endure it.

 

It was so frustrating that he felt he had to weaken me so that I would not harm others, when all I have done is to protect and deal out just punishments. It pained me that such a good soul saw me as evil.

 

He shut me out, save when distracted. I could still see what went on, but that he felt he needed to try…

 

But now it is over. We still must face Pegasus, but at least we will face him as we should be. Together.

 

It will be a difficult fight… but I know that together, we will win. I will not fail him. We will find a way.

 

So many times I have reassured him in duels, bolstered the fear of failure his modesty gives him. So many times before I came he lost unjustly… nevermore. I will protect him, I will fight for him, I will save him, I will stand by him.

 

I will never go against his wishes again. I swore it, and I will keep my word. Always.

 

It is such a relief, that we worked together again. That he saw me as a comforter instead of a threat. That he trusted me to win through when Mai's strength seemed too great to overcome.

 

And that when guilt overcame me, for the danger I had placed him and his family in, for my reckless gamble, for my pride… he stood by me. Reassured me. Told me they all cared for me.

 

Me! A lost spirit who does not even know his own name. My heart was made so glad the Heart of the Cards could not refuse us.

 

And so we drew and so we won. And now he smiles at me, and thanks me, when it was all his doing, all the doing of his kind soul that forgave me for my sins.

 

And your doing as well, Mai. You told him to look into his heart, face up to his fears. It shames me that when he looked at his fears he looked at me, who swore so long ago to guard him so he would never know fear again… yet it makes me happy beyond words that when he looked into his own heart he saw me, saw my devotion to him, saw what I had done for him, saw my promise and my honesty.

 

Yugi… what did I ever do to deserve you?

 

Mai, I owe you so, so much. You gave me back my partner, my Aibou, my light and my hope and my honor. You redeemed me in his eyes and gave me the chance to redeem Yugi's Grandfather and Kaiba and Mokuba from Pegasus.

 

Had you not tried to get through to Yugi, you would have won. I owe you an honorable duel, Mai. This one… was more honorable than any I have seen, even though it was unfair. You lost because of your honor. You surrendered, at such cost to your pride, to protect your Harpie Ladies.

 

For someone who claims to duel only for personal gain, Mai… you have faced up to your faults, but you do not seem to see your virtues. Yugi is the same.

 

Perhaps I am the same as well. I see my fault in not telling Yugi. But I have a chance to mend it, and that is what I should focus on.

 

We shall be true partners. I swear it on this victory, I swear it on Yugi's forgiveness, I swear it on your honor, Mai.

 

Because he is my partner, and without him I am doomed to fail. Without him I would still be trapped unknowing in the Puzzle, because of him I have awareness and self and a chance to find out who and what I am.

 

Because of him, I have a purpose. I have someone to protect.