Work Text:
Deep down underground,
There are ancient remains that contain a massive sacred stone gate. A gate with an Eye of Wdjat carved on it.
After the duel between Yugi and Atem, the gate is now open wide, waits for the former king to walk through it.
Seto's gaze fixes at that former king from thousand years ago. The Pharaoh stands not so far from the grand stone portal. He, his friends, and his partner bid a farewell. He still faces an entrance that will lead him to a place he should be. An intense ray of white light beaming out from the gate. It is hard to see what lies beyond, but maybe Atem can see through.
"Yugi! Even if you're Pharaoh, even if you're Atem, You're still Yugi! Even if thousand years pass, We'll always be friends!"
Hearing Jounouchi's words, Atem can't help but look back at his friends for one last time and answers,
"Yes!"
"We'll never forget you!" Yugi adds.
Atem says nothing but gives them a sign that he'll never forget about them, too.
The duelist in a white coat feels the pain in his chest. He is so sure that he never wants Yugi... No, Atem, his life-long rival to go because he still can't beat him in a duel. Except, there is something more. Yes, there is something more than the frustration that he cannot duel him anymore. Something that he can't quite describe out in languages. He has no clue of what it is, or why does he feel this way. How should he handle this unknown feeling?
While he tries to handle his emotions, Atem steps his right foot to another side of the glowing portal. The moment he departures from this world,
Everything returns to where it was.
The Pharaoh that should be gone from this world is still standing at the same position he was a moment ago, his friends as well, standing at where they were.
"Yugi! Even if you're Pharaoh, even if you're Atem, You're still Yugi! Even if thousand years pass, We'll always be friends!"
Atem looks back at his friends.
"Yes!"
"We'll never forget you!"
Atem says nothing but gives them a sign that he'll never forget about them, too.
' ...again...?'
' What’s this…? I thought they already said those sentences, but why are they doing this again? Was I imagining things? Is this Dejavu?' While Kaiba's trying to sort his thoughts, Atem steps his right foot to another side of the portal. At that moment,
Everything returns to where it was again.
Once again, he hears the very same goodbyes ringing in this sanctuary. Once again, he sees his life-long rival walked through the same portal. After he went through these thrice more, he is now sure that:
He is trapped in a time loop.
And this is the 5th loop.
According to Kaiba's observation, The trigger is when Atem sets his foot into that portal. After that, he will be in the time when the Pharaoh and his friends say goodbye. This loop is quite short, but if he has to experience this short event continually... This can't be good for his mental health. The worst part is that none of them notice that they were repeating their acts 5 times in a row now and will probably not in the following loops. He has to make it stops.
When coding, a loop must contain a condition that can stop the process to prevent an infinite loop. The time loop might use the same principle. Seto just got stuck in this loop because the condition not met, but what is this loop's condition?
So many things going on in Seto's head:
Why only him?
What causes this time loop?
How can he stop this?
However, only one question that so standout his chaotic mind:
' How many times do I have to see him walk away...?'
While the CEO was spending time inside his head, Atem already brought himself through the gate once again.
The 6th loop begins.
'There must be a way to break out of this loop and this feeling, too!'
He guesses that if the Pharaoh did not walk through the portal, the loop might break somehow. With this hypothesis in mind, he then shouts out to him.
"Yu-- Atem!"
All eyes in the room are now on him, but his eyes are on Atem's. He stays quiet and waits for the azure eyes CEO to speak his mind out. However, the CEO himself doesn't know what it is that he should tell him.
A few seconds passed, but for Seto, who has to say something, this short moment of silence feels so heavy. As seconds passed, this silent pressure is getting heavier and heavier. His brain works hard to figure out an appropriate vocabulary. Even so, the only thing he found is nothing, and that was what he says to Atem. It's nothing.
It was such an unsatisfied line for Kaiba, but there were no better words he could say right now. Surprisingly, his rival doesn't seem bothered with what he said. He just smiles at him and says:
"I have to go."
He walks through the portal once again.
The same acts, the same lines, they are replaying like a film.
Without expressing, Seto's mind generates plenty of hypotheses and back-up plans that hopefully might get him out of this repeating situation.
What if he wins Atem in a duel and makes him stays somehow? It sounds unreasonable in this situation because they already decided the day before that it should be Yugi, and the ritual is over, Yugi won. No matter how much he wants to duel Atem, this cannot be the right way for sure.
What if he told someone about the loop? Will anyone believe in such a story? Even if it's Mokuba? Assume that his brother believes him; what will this do? The time given in the loop is too short for the two to come up and execute their plans. When the new loop begins, Mokuba will be unaware of the situation again. Maybe this is not the correct solution.
What if he just walks out from this place? Wait no more, he spins his heel and walks out from the place, doesn't care what will those people and his rival think. He's now walking up the stairs but suddenly got back to where he was a minutes ago in a blink of an eye. Of course, others are in their very same position. This is the new loop. What he did was futile.
After that, the CEO tries many things to found out later that all of them did not work. He still can't figure out what makes him trapped in the loop or how to break it. What frustrated him the most is that he has no idea how to handle his uneasy feeling about the leaving of this Yugi .
The 30th loop...
The 31st loop...
The 32nd loop...
The 40th loop...
The 50th loop...
60th...
80th...
...
So many loops passed that Kaiba lost his count. His stress is now leaking out through his face. His pair of sky blue eyes now look like they're about to rain.
Mokuba of this loop notices that.
"Brother, this is the last time you get to see him. Just tell him what is on your mind! It will be okay."
'Except this won't be the last time.' Seto replied in his head. He knows that no matter what he does, the situation will still repeat itself.
And he's right.
The very same film is still showing.
'How many times do I see him leaving already?'
A more loops passed, his little brother was still saying the exact same words to him. Sometimes he even stop him in the middle of the sentence. But in these recent loops, Mokuba says nothing. Not that he knows about the time loop or something like that. Though both of them are in silence, Mokuba's words still resonate in his ears.
'If there is no end to this, then I have nothing to lose. Everything I do or say will be reset with the loop anyway.'
Finally, after being silent for so many loops, Kaiba lets his voice out for one more time. He feels like he hasn't spoken for months.
"Yugi!!"
He called the wrong name, but he doesn't care anymore.
"D- don't go...!"
At last, he spoke a simple sentence yet full of emotions out loud. It was his raw, unfiltered feeling. His voice trembled a little.
"Kaiba?" Atem didn't surprise to hear this line from his rival. What surprises him is that his voice was trembling. It was so out of his character.
A drop of rain falls from the sky blue eyes.
Seto's now sobbing uncontrollably and trembling with sorrow.
Great. Here comes the emotion he hates the most. He hates crying because it means he is not strong enough. He hates, even more, when he lets his emotion out in front of so many people like this. Above all, he hates the most that one of these people is his rival.
He gazes down to hide his vulnerable side behind his brunet hair, but no matter how he tries to stop himself, his body won't listen to him at all.
Atem sees all of that, so he turns his back to the portal and walks to Kaiba.
"You're strong, Kaiba. Even without me, I know you'll still be fine."
He uses his hand to wipe out one drop of tear from Seto's cheek.
"Also... I'm sure we'll meet again. Our fighting road will last forever, remember?"
Kaiba blinks his teary eyes open when he heard these familiar words from his destined rival. These words were saving him once and now, twice. He lifts his face, their eyes meet. He smiles at Kaiba kindly. His words and his smile are like a warm Spring to Seto's heart. He looks at Atem, tries to remember this smile unconsciously. Raindrops still fall from his sky blue eyes, but soon the sky will be bright again.
"Yes..."
Before Atem walks through the portal, he turns on his heel and smiles at his friends and Kaiba.
This time, Kaiba smiles back softly.
The moment Atem steps his right foot to another side of the glowing portal,
...
The time does not turn back anymore.