Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Double Identity ❯ Never Too Late ( Chapter 18 )

(Meira: Sorry for not updating for so long! Something called real life came up and bit me in the ass, then I had a bad case of writer's block… I've been staring at this screen for half an hour trying to come up with something… Well… technically I haven't updated in only a few days… but a friend at school keeps asking me when I'll update again… Well, I am definitely not going to be an authoress when I grow up…

Yami: *sigh* Meira doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Saéka Mizuki, Riruka Takahashi, or Kai Hiwatari.

Meira: Oh, that makes me feel so loved.

Yami: … She does own any other original characters though. Virginia [Saéka's friend at the beginning of the story] for example.

Meira: YAY! I finally own something!

Yami: *trying to keep Meira in a good mood* You own Double Identity too. And Dark Magician, Meet Pikachu, and-

Meira: Give it up… I'm gonna make this a dark chapter anyway…

Yami: What's with you and darkness?

Meira: … I don't know… somebody else asked me that question too, when I told him that I'd started a new fic [shame on me…] and that it was a DarkFic.

Yami: *anime fall*)

Mind Link:

<Yugi to Yami>

<<Yami to Yugi>>

~~Yugi's POV~~

//Help me… please…//

Why had I been hearing this voice…?

//Yugi…//

What? Who was this?

"Who are you?" I whispered. Yami was too involved in his duel with Leila to notice.

//Yugi… defeat her…//

Leila? What? I didn't understand…

//Defeat my dark…//

Who was this?

//Defeat…//

"Who are you?" I whispered.

"And now!" I heard Leila scream, "I shall extract Yugi's soul to increase the power of my Kaa!"

"You can't!" Yami shouted, but it was too late. I could tell.

I could feel my soul drifting upwards… it was too late… I was going to be separated from my mind…

I felt myself being shoved back down into my mind. What the-?

//Yugi…//

I realized who this was…

"Saéka," I whispered. Somehow… she had been able to contact me…

But how?

<<Yugi?>>

I could tell that Yami was trying to see if I was there… if I was safe or not.

<Yeah… I'm here…>

I heard Yami breathe a sigh of relief.

<<Good… she wasn't able to extract your soul… But it's strange. She doesn't have a Millennium Item.>>

It was strange… what was going on?

~~Saéka's POV~~

I slowly opened my eyes. Where… was I?

I glanced around. Wait… I recognized this place! It was the Domino harbor! But what was I doing here? Wasn't I just inside Leila's mind?

"Well, well, well," I heard a voice say behind me. I turned around. Marik!

"Marik," I said, trying to keep my voice as confident as possible, despite the fact that I was still confused about a lot of things.

"Prepare to duel for the Winged Dragon of Ra!" Marik shouted, pushing aside his cape to reveal a duel disk.

This was getting confusing… How could I be here?

"Chicken?" Marik sneered, inserting his deck.

"Never," I replied, activating my duel disk.

"Let's duel!" we shouted in unison.

"I'll start this duel off," Marik smirked. "By playing this, Revival Jam (1500/500) in defense mode! Next, I place two cards face down."

I glared at him. "I play Dunames Dark Witch (1800/1050) in attack mode! Attack his Revival Jam!"

His Revival Jam was shattered.

"Looks like your monster is gone," I smirked.

"Oh really?" Marik sneered. "Well, look again!"

I watched in horror as the pieces of the Revival Jam started quivering, then sprung together to reform the Revival Jam?!?!

"As you can tell," Marik laughed. "My monster cannot be destroyed!"

Great… now what was I going to do?

~~Yugi's POV~~

//Marik!//

I looked around. There… Saéka's voice again! But… what was she doing now?

Leila seemed normal. Well, as normal as you could get when you were insane… I think that Leila would qualify for a mental institute.

"Pharaoh," she hissed. "What have you done with Saéka?"

"What do you mean?" Yami asked, still furious that he couldn't do much with her Magician of Black Chaos (2900/2700) on the field. [Meira: Did I get the attack and defense right?]

"Her mind is no longer here!" Leila screamed.

Kai looked awfully pale… like he was about to faint or something. But that was weird… how could Saéka not be here?

<<Yugi… can you sense Saéka?>>

<Why?> I was confused. Why was Yami asking me this?

<<I can tell that you have some sort of a link to Saéka… Perhaps you can sense if she is here.>>

I looked around.

<Not that I can tell… I can only see Leila.>

I glanced back over at Kai. <Kai doesn't seem to be taking the fact that Leila's here too well…>

<<You're right…>>

~~Kai's POV~~

Saéka… where could she be? What did Leila mean that she wasn't there? Saéka had to be there… Leila was occupying Saéka's body.

So where was she?

"Tell me!" I shouted, surprised at how furious my voice sounded. "Where's Saéka?"

Leila smirked. "Perhaps you know. After all, Saéka does seem to trust you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, seething with anger.

"I probed her memories. There are some strange connections there, but you seem to be the single person that she trusts the most." Leila smiled.

Her smile was nothing like Saéka's. It wasn't warm or friendly… it was evil, cold, and tinged with insanity.

Where was Saéka?

And what did she mean by Kaa?

"Let us continue this duel!" Leila shouted at Yugi. He just glared at her.

Strange… this person didn't look remotely like Yugi… he seemed to be… darker.

And did Saéka really trust me like this crazed lunatic said she did?

Yugi grimaced.

"I summon Big Shield Gardna (100/2600) in defense mode!" Yami shouted. "Then I place two cards face down to end my turn."

"Good," Leila smirked. "Magician of Black Chaos, attack his monster!"

I grimaced. If Yugi didn't win this duel, then he might never save Saéka from this lunatic. He just had to win…

~~Flashback~~

"Kai!" Saéka shouted, running up to me.

"Hey!" I yelled, waving at her. "How was your trip to Saudi Arabia?"

"Nightmare," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Some weird Gypsy brought me to a place called the `Shadow Realm.' I mean, what kind of a place has all this dark swirling stuff in it?"

"Erm… the Shadow Realm?" I asked, trying to make fun of her.

"Very funny," she answered.

"C'mon," I said, tugging at her hand. "I wanna show you something."

***

"What's this place?" she asked, looking around at the surroundings.

I'd brought her to a place that I'd come to often earlier in my life, before I'd become friends with Saéka.

It was my own special place.

"It's a nice place," I shrugged. "What, did you expect something fancy and extravagant?"

"Shut up," she laughed, punching my shoulder. I rubbed it, pretending to be in pain.

"Don't act," she snapped. I stopped and looked around.

"Look up there," I said, pointing at the stars, trying to get off the subject that I'd just brought up.

"Stars," she whispered. "I've never seen the night so clear here."

"Neither have I," I replied. "How many stars do you see?"

She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Just wanted to know," I said, holding up my hands like I was offended. "You don't have to act so cruel and all."

Saéka laughed and looked back up at the sky. "One… two… three…"

She continued to count for quite some time.

"One hundred and nine… one hundred and ten… one hundred and eleven…"

I looked over at her.

A weird emotion rose up inside me when I looked at her.

What was it?

"Lost count," Saéka said sheepishly, interrupting my thoughts. "There are just so many up there."

"Yeah," I whispered, still staring at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking concerned. "Is there something on my face?"

I shook my head, realizing that I had been staring at her. Damnit… I had to come up with an excuse…

"There was just a giant cockroach behind you though," I smirked. Saéka shrieked and spun around.

I laughed. "I can't believe you're so gullible!"

Saéka death glared me.

I had to admit… she was getting better at it. Her death glare could almost match mine though.

Key word - almost.

I looked back at her. She was staring at the sky again.

"I love the night sky," she whispered.

"Yeah…" I replied.

"I heard a pretty name when I was in Saudi Arabia," she said brightly.

"What is it?"

"It means `Night' in Arab," she smiled. "I wish that I had that name…"

"What is it?"

"Leila…"

~~End Flashback~~

I snapped to reality. Saéka… she had wanted to be named Leila after she had heard that name.

I'd always wondered what was wrong with her after she got back from Saudi Arabia… she'd started to change.

She'd changed even more after she came to Japan.

She was barely recognizable to anybody that knew her before.

But she was still Saéka…

Now I realized the truth.

Leila came after Saéka had gone to Saudi Arabia.

She changed Saéka, bit by bit until she had changed her completely.

She'd destroyed my best friend.

"I see little Kai has remembered something," Leila smirked. I looked up at her, hatred blazing in my eyes.

"You…" I began.

"Kai!" Yugi warned.

"You…" I continued, ignoring him.

"Kai!" Téa said, coming in front of me. "Snap out of it!"

I shoved Téa aside. Everybody stared at me in shock.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BEST FRIEND!" I shouted at Leila.

Everybody looked shocked. Leila smirked.

"She is gone," she said softly. "Ever since that night in Saudi Arabia, the light in her soul was clouded with darkness."

"What did you do with her?" I snarled.

"Nothing," Leila replied simply. "I was reborn thanks to her. And I thank her for that, despite the fact that she is of no longer any use to me at all. Her duty as a vessel is complete. I do not know where her soul went, but…"

She turned toward Yugi. "I can now get my revenge on the Pharaoh!"

She cackled with laughter.

I stood there, seething with hate and anger.

What had she done?

Where was I when Saéka needed me the most?

I'd failed her… I was just as responsible for her demise just as much as Leila was.

I was every bit as guilty.

I dropped to my knees. Leila smiled.

"Self guilt," she chuckled. "And it is all because of your best friend. Saéka should be happy about this, no?"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, rising to my feet. I advanced toward her.

"Kai!" Yugi shouted. "Stay out of this!"

"This is every bit my battle as it is yours!" I shouted at him, causing him to look shocked. "Saéka is my best friend, and what am I supposed to do if something happened to her? I could have saved Saéka three years ago when Leila was reborn, but I didn't!"

Everybody stared at me in shock.

"Kai," Téa began in her annoying voice. "I know this friendship thing is a big deal for you and all, but I don't think you did the right thing by not saving Saé-"

"SHUT UP!" I roared. Téa shrunk back, terrified at my sudden outburst. "I don't care anymore."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"I may have made that mistake before," I said, clenching my fists. "But I assure you… that will never happen again!"

(Meira: This is a really crappy chapter… doesn't even meet half my usual standards… That's what I get for not writing for… a long time…

Yami: *throws up hands and walks out door*

Meira: I think I pissed him off… ^-^

Anyways… please read and review! Yes, I know you all thought that Leila's Kaa was supposed to be Wingweaver. I'll explain all that in a later chapter. But I never really understood that whole Kaa and Baa thing… is Baa spelled that way? I need to go check… now if only I had more than ten minutes online a day…

And yes, I had to put in some romance… GLTB wanted something to actually happen in the story, but I didn't feel like putting it in, so I'm going to leave the romance at that. There will be a little more in later chapters though!

Yami: *pokes head into room* JUST EXPLAIN EVERYTHING IN ONE CHAPTER AND THEN END THE FIC!!!

Meira: -_- Well… now that IMEA is over, I'll be able to update more often… if I don't get writer's block… Too bad I failed the auditions… Did horrible on the scales and the band music…

Yami: *comes back into room* Does anybody want Meira to just skip the Battle City Finals and Noa's Virtual Reality World? She wants to, but she wants to get some more opinions first.

Meira: GLTB is no help with this… neither is anybody else at school… and this Fic is getting too long for my own good. I sent one of my friends chapters one through sixteen of this fic… and it was forty eight pages at a size eight font.

Yami: *anime fall* Well… please tell Meira what you think of this chapter… she needs all the help that she can get on this story.

Meira: >^-^< Don't ask me where I saw that face… it just looked cute to me!

Yami: *anime fall*)