Chapter Text
Ahead he stares at a visage that haunts his every dream, a face plastered on millions of magazine covers, a smirk that is confident, haughty, but rightfully deserved, and eyes that have seen more than any person could even begin to comprehend. Eyes that tell a story countless millennia old.
But they’re not real. None of it is. To many, it would be difficult to tell. Kaiba Tech has become so advanced so quickly. No longer content with mere holograms, the programming needed more, not just to fool the eye, but every sense, until reality meshed with another dimension all together. Something so real you could almost touch it, feel its breath. So easily heard, the voice that carries such arrogant taunting, every syllable tweaked until it hit every perfect note and timbre. The hair had proven to be the most difficult of the programming, but it too had accounted for every lock, perfectly styled into place. He is every bit the vision that Seto remembers.
Only as memory though. A memory that fades into the sands of time, and he’s unwilling to be content with that, with the way things ended. He’s been robbed. What had started as rivalry perpetuated into a deep, agonizing, and painstaking desire to know the truth. He had tested countless strategies, calibrating the computer until victory was an imminent fate, but all for what?
A computer would never be the same. He’d never really know for certain, and how many years could he live with not knowing?
The simulation ends in his victory, but he’s unsatisfied, proven by his remarkably bad mood when he tears down the hall, away from the praises of his staff.
It’s only when Mokuba’s voice makes its way through his headset and informs him of their recovery from Egypt that he feels something reinvigorating again. There was only so much money he could throw at technology to realize his desires, but the truth is still obtainable, and soon it would be in his hands.
He doesn’t waste time allowing others to sift through the broken pieces. He didn’t need the hands of archaeologists or conservators, this part needed to be done under his supervision, under his technology. Besides, Yugi had done it once before. And Yugi’s mind was no more advanced than his computer. He’d been practically a child then. It had seemed so long ago, and yet it really hadn’t been at all. They had been forced to adapt and mature quickly, given the circumstances and the strangeness that followed the Millennium Items, but there’s no assembly of all seven, no gathering of them for power, there is only one that holds any interest to him.
The pieces begin to fit together. There’s always a chance that one might be missing, it’s not unlikely since it had been buried again, under the rubble of the ancient village of Kul Elna. It was a wonder that any of the items were still intact, and any number of the puzzle pieces could be missing. There would be no way to know until the computer was finished with assembly. Mere hours of estimated time.
Kaiba had waited this long. He could stand to wait a few measly hours.
Perhaps it would’ve been too good to be true. The entire Puzzle assembled and ready for him on his return to the space station. But it’s almost a mockery, elusive yet again. As if he can never just be satisfied outright. He has always had to work for everything, always a challenge, always a loose end.
And still, his mouth twists upward at the thought, as if it was purposeful, the Pharaoh ending his turn, and Kaiba having to twist his strategy to match the sudden, new direction. The very last piece, the most ornate, bearing the Eye, is missing. And could it be lost to the sands of Kul Elna, deeply nestled in the Earth, never to see the light of day again?
No.
He knows exactly where it is.
“ Can you sign my strategy book!”
“Can I get a picture with you?”
“Oh my God, look, it’s him! ”
Yugi feels the horrible compunction to run, manning the counter of Kame Games while his grandfather takes care of appointments. The crowds aren’t entirely new, but they aren’t usually this vigorous. Apparently word has gotten around outside the neighborhood, that the King of Games really does work at a humble game shop, because it sure seems like this throng of people are out-of-towners, come expressly to see him .
“I, uh, sure- Oh, if you really- h-hi, yes!” It’s too much to try to keep track of, he’d need three heads to keep everyone pleased. And for every gawker, there’s another customer trying to buy a game or a booster pack, or just a schoolgirl trying to flirt with him.
Yami would handle this , the treacherous thought that leaks through his mind as he is nearly overwhelmed by fans. Yami would growl smoothly, purr easily, sign and smile and make everyone happy and send them on their way. Yugi can’t do that.
“Outta the way, you vultures!” The cavalry arrives in the form of Jonouchi, elbowing his way through throngs of admirers and hopping up over the counter to slide behind it. “Jeezes, Yuge, what is this, a cattle auction?”
“Just about…”
Hiroto is right behind, ducking under arms and shoving past bodies to get to them. “I think it’s time to close the store for lunch!”
“Y-yeah.” It takes both his friends body-checking customers out before they can get the door closed, and the sign flipped to a smiling Kuriboh, holding a clock. “ Back at One! ” Yugi slides down behind the counter, only now realizing how much he’s sweating and how hard his heart is beating.
“Hey, Yugi.” Hiroto peers at him over the counter. “You okay, bud?”
“F-fine. It’s the heat.”
“No kiddin’.” This from Jonouchi, setting down the soda he’d brought his friend. “With all those bodies crammed in here, it was a sauna.”
“This is a security nightmare,” Hiroto sighs, opening up the back room, where a small fan blows invitingly. “You could get all kinds of shoplifters in that crowd, if not worse.”
“Grandpa isn’t going to want cameras everywhere!” Yugi follows him, voice urgent. Oh, but it’s so much cooler in here….He sucks gratefully on the soda Jou brought and feels almost faint. “It’s not that kind of store!”
“Maybe, but you’re that kind of celebrity.”
“I-I’m not.” He blushes to his ears, or maybe it’s only the heat. “I’m nothing of the kind, I’m just-”
“Face it, Yugi.” Even Jo looks serious. “You are one hot commodity around here. Whether you like it or not, the King of Games is who people want to see.”
Without thought, Yugi’s fingers fish beneath his shirt, pulling up the chain, and the bit of gold that rests at the end of it. “But that’s not me.”
Hiroto and Jonouchi both look at each other, a knowing glance shared between them. “Yugi-”
“I-I should be grateful, shouldn’t I?” He looks up at them and smiles, but they know him too well to believe in it. “That he left me with this legacy. A lot of people would give up a lot more for something like this.”
“Yugi-”
“It’s okay.” He smiles a little more forcefully now, setting his drink on the table. “You don’t have to worry - I’m not going to disappoint anyone.”
“That’s not what we’re worried about.”
Before the argument can continue, there is the jingle of the store’s bell; the front door opening and closing. Yugi and his friends look curiously at one another. “Who could that-” He goes back out, to the counter, calling, “I’m sorry, we’re not open until- oh! ” If he’d been holding anything, he would have dropped it. “Kaiba-kun!”
“ Yugi.”
A mild reply in return, cool and icy as the eyes set upon him, his tall figure imposing with the rays of the daylight streaming in around him. It’s always this way, it seems, them standing on opposite sides of a room.
Only…
No.
Not quite. Not the same Yugi at all.
The one piece he needs is in Yugi’s hands though. Yugi may very well be his last chance, his connection to that world and worlds beyond it.
“Basking in the afterglow of his reputation, are you?” The fans outside haven’t quite dispersed despite the sign, more resigned to wait; that is of course, until Seto Kaiba had shown up in his stretch and provided a new distraction altogether.
He takes a few steps closer, long legs closing the distance, and though Yugi has grown a few inches, nearly looks identical to the Pharaoh…there’s a distinct difference, and it’s the eyes that give him away. Always the eyes, and the softness of his face.
This was no King of Games, and he wouldn’t hear otherwise.
When he’s through sizing him up, adequately pleased with what he finds to be true of his suspicions, he speaks again.
“You’ve something I want. I came to retrieve it.”
Of course someone like Yugi would be sentimental, in the same way that Seto has retrieved the relic for himself- though not out of something as decidedly soft as sentiment…it’s only the truth that he seeks, his desire to know, his desire for power. Closure.
And neither of them would have any if Yugi didn’t cooperate.
“N-no, it’s nothing like that.” Kaiba-kun looks at him in a way that can be described as “piercing,” or even, “undressing.” One feels naked and vulnerable under such a stare. Yugi swallows and collects himself. “I’m just manning the store. I don’t know where all these people came from.”
“Something you want….?” That undressed, vivisected feeling only grows more intense when the other young man closes the distance between them. Yugi glances over his shoulder to his friends in the back room, but they’re just as clueless. “Did you….place an order?” Some of the tension leaves him, and he smiles up at Kaiba-kun. “That’s great, supporting local business!”
Of course Yugi would jump right to the most innocuous reason for his being here. Of course he thinks nothing of what has been lost, of the burning desire to finish what was started. He thinks only in the present, what fills these shelves and can be contained in these walls- toys, and games, and pathetic friends who pose no challenges, no higher state of thinking. How can he go right back to the way things were, tending to his grandfather’s shop as if they hadn’t experienced chaos, the thrill and adrenaline of duels in the sky, the control of gods and monsters?
And it’s then that his gaze slides down from Yugi’s face, down the familiar glimmering chain, to what should be a barren place, but from it hangs the Sennen Eye staring back at him.
His hand reaches out as if it has a right to, his long fingers curling around the cold metal, and they slide down over each link before the gold fits into the palm of his hand, as he lifts the Eye to face him.
“…You know exactly what I’ve come for. I want him .”
He’s thought of nothing else, since Yugi had gone to Egypt and come back a different man- no, not a man at all, a boy again, as if it’s still their early schooldays. All those duels, all that growth…it had been the ancient spirit as the driving force, and what he leaves behind is a mere hollow shell. It isn’t fair.
“All I need is this piece. And you, Yugi.”
A temporary need, a vessel to house what is his worthy opponent.
“E-excuse me!” His hands cover Kaiba’s as they close around his pendant. Cold hands, like the ice of his eyes. They make Yugi’s heart pound in his chest.
“Alright, that’s enough uh’ that!” Jonouchi comes charging from the back to the rescue, like always. “Paws off, Kaiba. Get lost, shop’s closed for lunch.”
I want him . And you, Yugi . What could he possibly mean? The Pharaoh is gone, Kaiba has to know that by now. “I’m sorry, Kaiba-kun, but Jonouchi’s right. I don’t have whatever it is you’re looking for.”
Hiroto has also come to square up with his friends. “I think you’d better go, Kaiba.”
Yugi’s hands close around his, their shared bond over this singular piece left of the gold labyrinth and the spirit who haunted it, but Kaiba can only think of what it means to have it complete again. He’d do anything. He’d haul Yugi by his own chain, drag him kicking to the limousine with his moronic friends trailing behind, soon to meet the fists of his own bodyguards. How easily he could drag Yugi out, and the adoring crowd could see him for what he really was, no one to revere and adore, but just an ordinary, average person who played vessel to the one they truly worshipped.
So close. His hand squeezes over it, feels the sharp edges dig into his hand before finally his eyes flicker up to Yugi’s face again, barely glancing to Katsuya and Honda. For them, he wouldn’t even need his guards, but there are easier ways of doing this.
But how easy, now that depends on Yugi.
His hand drops the piece, and it falls against Yugi’s torso. It’s disappointing, but he needs Yugi to be cooperative.
“…We’ll speak again later, Yugi. You’ll want to hear what I have to say.” He turns, and his coat more of an elaborate cape with the way it’s creased, “…Because I have something you want as well.”
The bell rings again, signaling his leave, but despite it, his presence leaves a heaviness behind.
His breath catches as the pendant drops back into place. It’s not magic anymore, if that’s what Kaiba thinks. The only meaning it holds is the meaning in Yugi’s heart, the feeling that he isn’t alone again. That someone is watching over him still, loves him still. But then again, maybe a bit of Yami lingers in the golden eye; Kaiba dropped his necklace like it burned him. Maybe he protects him even now. It’s a comforting thought.
“Well, that was weird,” Hiroto huffs, arms crossed as he watches the mogul go. “No hello, no goodbye - guy needs some serious etiquette lessons.”
“Don’t talk to him, Yugi, whatever he says.” Jou is at his side and is adamant. “It’s a trap, I can smell it.”
“What do you suppose he means?”
“Does it matter?” Hiroto asks, finally dropping his arms. “Jou’s right, he’s a creep. You’re better off getting a restraining order.”
That might be true - but Kaiba knows how to work him. The promise that he has something the young man wants, that’s a tantalizing puzzle to leave behind.
And Yugi could never keep his hands off a puzzle.
But nothing happens, and the days go by. Kaiba was probably just….rattled. It’s easy to push the event from his mind, because Yugi doesn’t want to think about it too much, and instead enjoys a promise of normalcy once more. Days working in the shop and studying for entrance exams, evenings spent in the company of his friends. No threats of the end of the world, no one’s soul being stolen, just normal life. He’d missed it.
He’s just closed the shop when the rain starts: a heavy, early summer storm, cracks of thunder peeling overhead. The charge in the air makes his hair pull up with static, and his mother rushes to bring the laundry in before it’s soaked and has to dry again, indoors this time. The electric atmosphere makes him feel unsettled, moody. He turns off his electronics to prevent a power surge, and instead tucks into a book in his room. But his mind isn’t on the pages, it’s not on anything in particular. There’s just a heady feeling, one he never could stand, that something is about to happen, and the waiting is interminable.
Something does happen. His eyes unfocused, looking out the window, he sees a long, black car pull up to the house door. Who in the world…? Yugi goes to the door; his grandfather is sleeping in front of the television, a quiz program is on, and he doesn’t want the knock to wake him. “May I help you?”
A tall, broad figure in a dark suit and sunglasses stands outside. Sunglasses, at this time of night, he looks absurd. Yugi notices the “KC” of his silver tie pin. “Yugi Muto?”
“Yes…” He’d worry it’s another autograph seeker, but not with that tie pin.
The man bows slightly. “Seto Kaiba has asked you to meet him in his home - and to bring your dueling cards.”
That’s what all this was about? Kaiba could have called the store and arranged things that way… “Well, I could later this we-”
“This evening.”
Yugi’s palms feel slick, holding the door open. “I’m not available this evening.”
“Kaiba-san was insistent. He also said it bears on someone you both know - intimately.”
Worry stabs at Yugi’s gut. Mokuba, perhaps? But he knows, without knowing, that’s not who he means. Kaiba, holding his pendant, comes back into his mind, and he hates it and doesn’t know why. “Will you drive me back when I’m done? I don’t want to be out all night.”
The man huffs, a crease in his brow showing his irritation. “I’m sure that won’t be any difficulty.”
“A-alright...One moment, please.” He finds his mother, folding the laundry that didn’t get soaked; kisses her cheek and explains he was invited out by a friend, doesn’t know when he’ll be back, not to wait up; and he gets his cards from upstairs. Thunder cracks again.
Why do I feel so sick ?
When he goes back to the front door, that man of Kaiba’s has an umbrella open above his head, to walk Yugi to the car and keep him dry. He tries to remember what it feels like to be brave, lifts his head - and walks forward.
This estate is one of many, elaborate, larger than any one man might have need for…but this was Seto Kaiba, and anything smaller just didn’t seem appropriate. It wasn’t often that people ever saw his personal dwellings, himself included, save for the staff required to run them, but Yugi was an exception, for tonight. An exception that Kaiba could placate, because soon, Yugi would give him something much greater.
He looks to the Puzzle, fingers caressing over the glass it’s contained in. That missing piece, a hole that has left him bleeding out. Yugi owes him this much, a chance to see the Pharaoh again. To have his final say. His victory.
Kaiba has no doubt that his guard will be able to convince Yugi to come. Wasn’t he curious at all? Didn’t he want to know what Kaiba of all people could possibly have that would be of interest to him?
Seto sits, long leg crossed one over the other, and he waits there, like he’s been waiting his entire life for this moment. Yugi wouldn’t dare deny him this. He’d be a fool.
The limousine soon pulls up, down the massive drive, the headlights cutting through the rain to reveal the familiar dragon ornately etched out over the front door, ready to swallow Yugi alive.
That feeling of bravery disappears once they’re actually at the home of the Kaiba brothers. It looks like something out of a storybook, and not in an inviting way, either. He thinks of both Kaiba-kun and Mokuba as children, living in a place like this. It makes him feel overwhelmingly lonely…
Yugi is kept dry by the umbrella, but his escort is completely soaked. Someone else takes over in guiding him through the massive house; the foyer, the mahogany panelled halls. It’s so dark. Every door has a Blue Eyes carved into the wood, which is a little...well, much. And all the doors seem the same. How could Kaiba even use all this space?
The new guard opens one identical door and bows to its occupant, ushering Yugi inside. It’s a...parlor? A library? Something...formal but comfortable. Massive, plush. Oriental rugs line the floor, dark bookcases line the walls. There’s a mahogany desk in front of a large window, where the rain streaks against the glass; and there’s a large, leather sofa, and two leather armchairs in front of a fireplace - which is, absurdly, lit, on such a muggy early-summer evening.
Yugi can feel sweat bead around his customary buckled choker. He only knows Kaiba is in one of the chairs because he can see his long-fingered hand on one of the armrests. “K-Kaiba-kun.” He tries to sound more confident than he feels, but doesn’t think he succeeds. “You, uh. Wanted to duel? Why? I mean, why right now?”
Seto’s mouth twitches, his fingers digging into the leather slightly as he hears Yugi break the silence. He’s finally here. Finally all the pieces fall into place, his moves primed, not that he has to worry about a challenge. Just preliminaries before the championship.
“ Yugi .” He nearly purrs. “Come have a seat.”
There’s a chair lined up, and it’s only fair that they come to an understanding this way, as he might with a business associate, dotting their I’s, crossing the T’s of their contractual bindings.
Up close this way, Kaiba doesn’t at all look at home in his home, the shadows from the flames flicker across his face and don’t help to soften the mood in the slightest despite the intimate setting. He does regard Yugi with a nod when he nears though, his smile, if it could be called one, thin, and wavering on what Yugi will do and say next.
“I thought you’d want to know why I came to visit you.” You, because the other wasn’t so easily accessible. You’ll change that, won’t you…?
“We’ve known each other for years. We know what each of us are capable of. You might have the same cards, the same deck, the same face, but you’re not the King I faced. How much of our duels even involved you at all, Yugi…?”
Yugi uneasily takes the seat, now mere feet away from his….what? His former classmate? He’d like to say friend, but he doubts Kaiba would be so generous. The firelight does nothing to soften the young man’s features, cutting his cheekbones more sharply, making his eyes look sunken. If he didn’t know better, Yugi would almost think he looks….tired.
“Yes, I would,” he agrees. He’d tried to figure it out, before deciding to put it out of his mind entirely. Whatever generous motive he tried to give Kaiba, it never lined up with the way he had looked at him: at him, through him, inside of him. It was a penetrating gaze, and it is even more so in his home territory. Yugi’s breath feels shallow under that stare now. Kaiba hardly even blinks.
He’s alright with how the conversation’s going - maybe Kaiba really was just trying to make an overture toward friendship - up until the implication his victories are hollow, that he’s a fraud. “Excuse me?” His eyes go hard, and he fights the urge to bolt out of the over-large chair (his feet barely touch the ground). “That’s not- We weren’t like that. I was involved in every strategy. Even before we really understood, well, everything - every card played was still chosen by me.”
Yami would tell you so….if he could …
“ Involved …involved like your little sideline cheerleaders were involved? Cheering you on, pumping that garbage belief in the heart of the cards that I had to hear near every duel? Let’s face it, Yugi, you shared only your body, not your strategies, not your opinions.” Kaiba is so sure of it, the haughtiness oozes through his tone.
“…You abandoned the Puzzle, hoping to bury him along with it. Content to soak up what infamy he dredged up for you, was that the idea? I thought you a lot of things, Yugi Muto, but never did I take you for someone willing to climb over the backs of others’ accomplishments. Maybe you’d do well in the corporate world.”
He stands, his back to Yugi, “…I’ve waited long enough. Nothing else is going to stand in my way, least of all, you. You have the last piece I need.”
A panel slides open along the wall, and contained there is a glass display case, illuminating what is kept protected inside. Seto moves aside and gestures toward it for Yugi to see. The Puzzle, nearly perfect again.
“…Complete the Puzzle, Yugi. Call him back.”
He has to, what reason was there not to? Kaiba will be damned if he admits to believing in anything like destiny or fate, but he’ll carve fate out for himself tonight.
“That’s not-” The outrage flares in him. “That’s not true! None of that is true!” He can’t begin to ask Kaiba what he means, what piece he needs, why he’s doing all this - because a panel slides open in the wall, and gold flares in his eyes.
And maybe Kaiba expected him to be happy, or chagrined, but he’s - horrified. He’s sad . “Kaiba-kun, how could you?” Unconsciously, his hand wraps around his pendant. “That was supposed to stay there, hasn’t enough been done? Let some things rest in peace!”
Call him back-
Yugi’s violet eyes widen. That’s what this is all about, recalling the Spirit of the Puzzle? “I…” His voice catches in his throat. “I can’t. He’s not there anymore. He’s gone, Kaiba-kun. He left, he wanted to leave. Don’t you understand that?” Don’t you, of all people, understand that?
Yugi’s reaction isn’t the one Kaiba anticipates.
Likewise, Kaiba’s reaction might not be the one Yug i anticipates.
At first there is only quiet digestion of Yugi’s words, among them, the stand-outs being, left, gone, wanted to leave…
And to both of their surprise, he starts…laughing. A slow, quiet thing at first. Contained.
All of this that he’s gone through, every fight, every loss, the painstaking effort of hunting this relic down and piecing it together again, creating technology for the sole purpose of breeching some afterlife that may or may not exist, but now Kaiba is forced to rely on the fact that it does…
All for Yugi to stand in his home and tell him that the spirit is gone and wanted it that way. That there’s no way to call him back.
And it’s unacceptable.
Kaiba’s laugh grows louder, and it’s clearly amused in the way that he thinks Yugi’s response is absolutely ridiculous. That they both came all this way to this very moment in time, only for Yugi to say no .
Finally, the noise settles abruptly, and what looks out at Yugi isn’t a glimmer of amusement, it’s a deathly cold glare.
“You can and you will . You’ll do it now. Complete the Puzzle and play vessel to the true King of Games.”
Yugi almost thinks he’s crying at first. He puts out a hand, murmurs, “Kaiba-kun…” After all, he understands. He dealt with Anzu saying she couldn’t look at him for a while, he dealt with the sudden silences in the darkness of his room, he dealt with all of it. He would understand if that loss was too much for Kaiba.
It’s the laugh that unsettles him, makes him draw his hand away again. He takes a hesitant step back, wondering if he couldn’t….couldn’t call Jonouchi or Hiroto, if they wouldn’t find a car to borrow and come get him. He doesn’t feel like going back in Kaiba’s beast of a car, not now.
The laughter stops too abruptly. Kaiba’s demand makes courage flare in Yugi again, hand gripping his pendant. He’s never backed down from a challenge, and he’s not afraid any longer. Yami gave him that much. “I won’t. There’s nothing you can say or do that will change my mind on this - and even if there were, all you’ll have is an expensive bauble you should have left alone. There’s nothing there anymore, and I’m nobody’s vessel.”
He turns and strides toward the door, grabs the handle, pulls- If he weren’t so angry, he might begin to feel panicked. “Open the door, Kaiba-kun.”
“ How cute. ”
Of course Yugi would choose a time as desperate as now to practice being assertive, stubborn. So if Yugi wouldn’t do it for the sake of seeing the Spirit for himself again, then Kaiba would force his hand.
“But I didn’t bring you here so that you could deny me what is rightfully mine to have. So I’ll give you an ultimatum- the only way you walk out of here is if you win in a duel against me. Consider it the chance to prove yourself once and for all. And if what you say is true, if you really are the strategy behind the Pharaoh’s fighting spirit, then you have nothing to fear, and we’ll both know the truth.” Seto makes his way toward the Puzzle, staring, his face reflecting in the glass.
“…And if I’m right…” If … “If the true King of Games is somewhere out there…then it’ll be your job to bring him back to me.” Kaiba turns, his gaze locked on Yugi now, from across the room. “However long that takes.”
He didn’t understand the magic behind it all, he didn’t care to. It was ludicrous enough that he entertained any of this, but what choice did he have?
And it was looking like Yugi didn’t really have one either.
“Rightfully-!” Kaiba really knows how to push his buttons. “If it were yours, the Spirit would have chosen you - but it didn’t . I’m the one who put the Puzzle together, I’m the King of Games!”
“I’ve proven myself against you plenty of times.” He still doesn’t get it….what is going on in that man’s head! “Kaiba-kun, even if you win, it won’t bring Yami back. You aren’t going to get what you want.”
He should just say no, no deal, refuse to play. It is the surest way to win this no-win situation. No one is going to walk away from this happy. But - Yami would not have declined the duel, neither can he. It is in his very blood, his fingers itch at the prospect. “Fine. But when I win, I want an apology for dragging me out here in the middle of the night for this nonsense.”
Kaiba smirks, the icy depths of his eyes ignited in blue flame. Seto Kaiba apologizing to anyone…now that really would mark the end of the world. But if it were true…if this was to be a fair rematch, a true test of their strength, would Kaiba be satisfied then? Content to see Yugi on his way, knowing he has been bested by one worthy of the title?
Maybe, yes.
But at the moment, Yugi would have to earn it, just as any duelist would.
“ If you win…” Seto corrects mildly, reaching out to another sliding panel, inputting the commands needed to transform their playing field.
What good was a house if it couldn’t turn into a dueling arena at any given moment in time?
The mahogany walls and floors begin to shift around them, furniture shuffled away, the floor between them suddenly much more barren than before, and now the expanse of his house makes sense, given all the technology hidden away inside of it.
Along Yugi’s wall, where the door had once been - no more, of course - something of a familiar shape is deposited from a panel, it’s not quite the same duel disc that had been used in Battle City, but something far more advanced, no doubt meant to keep up the quality of the technology it was programmed with.
From Kaiba’s side, his own disc is mounted smoothly over his arm, and now they take an all too familiar stance that very nearly mirrors his carefully crafted simulation.
“Now we see what you’re capable of, without anyone’s power to hide behind.”
“Ah!” Yugi’s feet shift uncertainly beneath him; but no, it’s the floor! He nearly loses his balance, but dances back into position, mounting the disc to his arm and gritting his teeth. He feels the way he always did when the Pharaoh surged within his veins. But he knows the truth, and he knows what Yami would say. Take him, Aibou . He doesn’t know if it’s a memory, or he really hears his voice in that split second. He takes a quick breath and manages a smirking smile, feeling the pendant against his sternum. “I’ve never had to hide before, Kaiba-kun, and I’m not starting now! I activate Graceful Charity !” He moves quickly, drawing, discarding. Magician’s Rod in defense. Dark Magical Circle, Dark Magician, set a card- ready. He smiles. “Your move.”
Yugi seems to flip easily enough, if nothing else, the spirit of the Pharaoh and his host were passionate about the game. But enjoyment didn’t equal skill, or talent, or a title.
Kaiba draws his own cards, “Graceful Charity…you’ll need all the charity you can get in this duel, Yugi.” He begins to lay down his own cards in quick succession, “I activate Mausoleum of White.” A special summon of Kaiser Vorse Raider, along with Maiden with Eyes of Blue.
“I activate her special effect, in which I send a monster from my hand or deck to the graveyard, which allows me to increase her attack by the level of the monster I choose. I have a feeling you’ll know which one, Yugi….” The Blue Eyes White Dragon , one of three hiding in his deck.
“But that’s not all, my Maiden allows me to special summon any Blue Eyes from my hand or my graveyard. And I just so happen to have one--- Blue Eyes White Dragon, come forth !” The walls and floor quake with the awesome force…it feels too real to be a mere hologram, and yet it must be. How much time and effort had Kaiba poured into this last update?
Lightning fills the massive room until the undeniably familiar shrieking cry of the dragon is heard, and it descends onto the field to its master’s call.
It’s the second turn and already Kaiba controls one of his most powerful calling cards, a testament to how deeply he’s longed for this.
“I hope you’re ready to fulfill your word to me, Yugi.” He stands there looking as ominous as the dragon behind him, snarling and ready to attack.
His heartbeat quickens, watching the spectacular dragon burst onto the scene, as if alive and shrieking its fury to the heavens. It’s like Kaiba himself, remote, aloof, untouchable, with eyes of sapphire.
No, not untouchable. “Not so fast, Kaiba-kun!” He flips his face-down card over, feeling his breathing become heavy. “I activate Magical Dimensions!” He sees lightning crackle between them on the field. “It allows me to special summon the Dark Magician to my hand, and destroy one of your monsters. Dark Magician, destroy the Maiden with Eyes of Blue!” She shrieks and disappears into a puff of ozone, but he isn’t done. “I also activate my Dark Magical Circle, allowing me to banish one of your cards from the field of play.” Their eyes lock, why is he breathing so heavily? Why does Kaiba look so cool? “I banish the Blue Eyes White Dragon!”
He watches Kaiba set his card, and digs his feet into the flooring, bracing for grip. “I always fulfill my word, Kaiba-kun. And now, it’s my turn.”
It’s going well. He has several magic and trap cards in his hand, and his breathing begins to ease and even. “Dark Magician, attack Kaiba-kun’s Kaiser Vorse Raider!”
“Did you really think it’d be that easy, Yugi?! I activate my face down card- Shadow Spell! It prevents your Magician from attacking, along with reducing its attack by seven hundred points!”
Yugi is quick, and maybe it’s still exhilarating this way, the constant back and forth, card for card. The attack ends up going through, Yugi reveals a card from his graveyard, its effect allowing the Dark Magician to continue, but even so, it loses five hundred attack points for destroying his Kaiser. A bite for a bite.
“I activate Pot of Greed, adding two cards to my hand. Try as you might to rid the field of my Blue Eyes, won’t you ever learn? Cut off one head…” Silent Doom allows him the chance to special summon his dragon back to the field, as if never gone.
“Another will take its place, Yugi!”
And this is just the beginning.
Their duels were never brief things, though in the moment, it always felt like the blink of an eye. Just like always, they trade point for point, though he has the edge over Kaiba - for now. He can feel Atem watching, in whatever way he can now, nodding, assessing, encouraging. You see, Kaiba-kun? It was always me.
It was always me .
He wishes the circumstances were different; that Kaiba would give him his friendship, the only thing he’s ever really asked of him. That they were testing each other for the love of it, the exhilarating thrill that runs through every tendon, that makes his eyes come alive with light and shadow and heat. That this were a partnership as much as it is a competition. Because as it is now, it can only end in disappointment, for one, if not for both of them.
The tension has left his body, all that exists is the moment and the cards. It sweeps over him in a tide of experience, and he finishes his play. The air around them is electric. It’s almost wonderful. “I end my turn.”
Perhaps if under different circumstances…but the circumstances of their lives have only ever been this. Disappointment was the only thing consistent. But now would be his chance to bury disappointment.
He might even concede that Yugi was a good duelist that could hold his own…but good was not great. Greatness would be shown here, in the way he offered up his two Blue Eyes and the third alternative in order to fusion summon his Neo Blue Eyes. Great in the way that he set his fury on Yugi and his Dark Magician, the way it has always been, and for a moment he might be able to pretend that this was the victory he wanted, that he could savor.
But he’d never know for certain, and that would eat away at him. Another year of sleepless nights, staring out at the stars.
“Neo Blue Eyes, attack and end this duel-!”
And still, even with victory so imminent, he anticipates the surprise. It’s what he’s come to expect.
“ I activate the Magical Hats !”
Just as the rage of creation threatens to pour down and consume them all, four silk hats appear, and the Dark Magician is gone, secreted away and protected by their mundane appearance.
Everything stops, so quiet he can almost hear his opponent breathe. Or is that his own breath filling his lungs? “You’ve fought honorably, Kaiba-kun, no one could do better. Please - let’s end this. No one can possibly win this battle that you want to fight.”
His eyes soften, still the gentle gaze of a young man who surprised even a restless, angry spirit. “Please.”
So soft, even now, even after everything that’s been waged, the stakes of their duel so high, just as every other, and Yugi dares to plead with him.
The Pharaoh would never. He’d see it through to the end.
Kaiba’s fist clenches tightly, “I haven’t given up this far in my life, I’m not about to now because of your ridiculous tricks, Yugi! I waited too long for this, and I’ll be the one to decide when it ends!” There is no soft gaze offered back, only manic, electrified blue that resonates in Kaiba’s amalgamated dragons.
“Neo Blue Eyes, attack the second hat from the left!”
The dragon obeys, opening one of its maws to do so.
“And even if I don’t get it first try, Yugi, my monster has three heads to get the job done- three chances to-”
There’s a horrible cracking sound. Yugi would shoot back a reply, but his heart has stopped. The hats - he stares. The second from the left vanishes, and his Dark Magician contorts in pain - and then is gone.
The reader on the duel disc quickly ticks down - zero.
His breath hitches in his throat.
He’s lost before; he’s lost to Kaiba before. But not like this.
Not without Yami beside him and with him and through him.
“I-” Yugi’s hands start to tremble, his knees almost buckle. “I-” They really do buckle now, with the holograms gone, cards slipping from his fingers. Why are their tears in his eyes? Atem - did I disappoint you? Whatever is about to happen...that, that would truly be the worst of all possible outcomes.
Even Kaiba seems stunned at first. Not having expected the duel to wrap up so quickly. There was always another card, then another after that, and back and forth they went, upping each other…
But that was another time…with another person.
And that is why this victory feels so…so…
Hollow.
The monsters begin to fade as the programming indicates the duel has come to a close. Unlike with the simulation, Kaiba does not feel anger…he feels…empty.
It only confirms that the person he’s after isn’t here, that Yugi may have been a decent player, maybe the Pharaoh had indeed rubbed off on him, but what’s been left behind is a mere shell, and Kaiba can’t accept that as is.
The disc is removed and he walks the long stretch of polished floor until he reaches Yugi, who looks less a King, and more a boy fallen to his knees.
There’s no comfort to be shown, not quite in the way someone as soft as Yugi might desire, but there’s a distant look in Kaiba’s eyes again, as if the veil has once again been closed, and he’s come away disappointed again.
“…Your word, Yugi. However long it takes.”
“You don’t understand!” He doesn’t mean to cry, and he’s not even sure why he is. It’s not losing the duel, it’s something else, like something horrible is about to happen, though he doesn’t really know what. “What you want, it’s impossible!” The sobs choke his voice and he covers his mouth with one hand, still on his knees before the impossibly smooth, unbearably cold Kaiba. “You could keep me here forever,” another choke, “ he won’t come back .” He has to lean over onto his hands now, the tears won’t stop, they just won’t stop-
Where there was laughter at the audacity to deny him before, nothing comes now but hands that reach down…not to pull Yugi to his feet out of kindness, out of the regaining of his respect and dignity, but his hands find the chain around his neck and yank upwards as if pulling a dog on its leash.
“I’ve had about enough !” Kaiba’s voice cuts through the chamber viciously, like claws scratching against the tile. Yugi is not a heavy weight to pull in the slightest, but his limbs are wildly windmilling to right himself so that he isn’t strangled in the process.
“Excuse after excuse, content to spend the rest of your days cleaning up after children who scream your name, it’s fucking pathetic !” He snarls, and he whips him around, shoves his lithe body against the case, pinning him there as he inputs the command for the glass to open, revealing the artifact Yugi once held dear.
“Do as you promised and complete the Puzzle, with whatever honor you have left!” It’s terrifying, the sheer, raw anger that quakes against Yugi’s form just as the dragons who graced the battlefield moments prior.
Yugi cries out, feeling the metal links bite into his neck. Has he ever been as afraid of Kaiba as he is now? He tries to right himself, his feet aren’t touching the floor, and he has one hand at Kaiba’s upper arm - firm through his coat - to try to gain some kind of purchase. He’d argue, but he can’t, the world spins, or no, that’s just him, whipped around by the taller, stronger man, pinned against glass. He yelps, crying out more out of fear than pain (though there’s a little of that, too), wincing away in an attempt to protect himself from whatever is about to happen.
He can feel Kaiba’s words at his ear, on his skin, his neck vulnerable and exposed. He might have even spit on him in his rage. He tries to catch his breath, but he realizes Kaiba has kept his left hand free - to grab the Sennen Eye and put it back where it belongs. Don’t make me do this .
It’s probably only his imagination that hears, Yugi - the eye is only a token. You don’t need it .
If only that were true. Tears still leak out of his closed eyes as he takes the pendant and reaches toward the Puzzle in its case. He doesn’t need to look, the eye seems to pull to be back with its companion. It slips easily into place, and he only opens his own eyes again to pull his chain free of its thread.
Kaiba still has his hands on him, but nothing else has happened. Right now, he’d be no worse than a few minor bruises. It might be alright, it might….
His shoulders loosen every so slightly, his breathing becomes more even. Nothing has happened. He’s supposed to be disappointed - he’s only relieved.
Kaiba’s breathing is heavy, waiting as he watches Yugi finally lift the final piece, and it all too easily settles into place, and finally…there’s more emotion stirring in his core than the end of their duel. He’s accomplished this much, how difficult can the rest be? He had done all the work, and his efforts would finally be rewarded.
“… Call him .” Kaiba’s warm breath brushes at Yugi’s ear, and his eyes are locked onto the completed Puzzle, watching it for any kind of sign…he wouldn’t know what to expect, but even so.
There must be some way, whatever connection Yugi has to it. He could accept maybe a few days of silence, but surely nothing so long as forever….
No…
The Pharaoh would have to return.
He feels the heaviness of Kaiba’s exhalations at his back, starts and shivers at his hot breath on his ear. Yugi’s eyes close. “It’s not a telephone.” He turns and looks back up at the other man, still trapped with those large hands on his shoulders. “There’s nothing to call. I told you, he isn’t there.” His eyes are wild, tiny pinpricks swallowed by white madness. “Kaiba-kun.”
What exactly had he been expecting? Yugi would close his eyes, his posture would straighten, and that deep, stern voice would spill out, thus signaling the change? Yes…it seemed to always happen before, that otherworldly presence taking over, commanding such authority.
But it doesn’t happen now.
Why?
What had gone wrong…?
“No…” Kaiba pulls away, his bruising grip on Yugi released, and he takes a step back, sizing up the situation. Something must be out of place…a calculation gone wrong, a piece not quite all the way in…
He didn’t spend billions of dollars and resources on finding this hunk of gold for it to sit here like some museum piece! If this was the only relic suitable to house the Pharaoh’s soul, then he would need to return to it!
“Where is he?” So much he demands from Yugi tonight- his cards, his dueling prowess, his servitude, and now an answer that not even the greatest of philosophers or religious leaders could say for certain.
Yugi bites back the temptation to say, “I told you so,” but only just. Perhaps it shouldn’t - his friends would say it definitely shouldn’t - but once again his heart goes out to Kaiba, wild eyed and pacing the floor. Once again, he knows how he feels, desperately lonely and untethered in this mad and caustic world.
At that question, Yugi only sighs, shoulders slumping. “You know I can’t answer that…” Maybe this is all going to end well after all. Giving up the Sennen Eye would be worth it, if it made Kaiba understand, if it brought him in at long last. The only thing he’d ever wanted, since he’d first walked into homeroom, to be his friend- “He’s….he’s wherever he is. But, Kaiba-kun,” he tries to walk toward him, a comforting hand outstretched. “Maybe it’s silly, but I think he’s here, too. He’s with us. You know, people don’t leave you when they’ve left such a mark on you. That’s what I think, anyway.”
I can’t answer that….he’s wherever he is…people don’t leave….mark on you…
Kaiba stares out at the Puzzle, only barely registers Yugi’s comforting hand, the sound of his words, because up until this point, he had felt so prepared to receive what was meant for him…
Now he hits yet another dead end, a stalemate. But if Yugi thinks he’ll just give up and accept things as they are….he doesn’t have a clue as to who Seto Kaiba is.
His eyes shift to land on Yugi, and perhaps it’s more dangerous to have those eyes locked on him than an inanimate object.
“I don’t care what you think , Yugi. You’re the only one that has the means to call out to him. To summon him back. I don’t know if you really are unable to, as you claim, or you just won’t do it…but I’m willing to wait.” It’s never quite a smile, but something that upturns his mouth just enough. “ I’ll wait. ” He hisses again, eyes boring into Yugi’s.
There are still options.
There are still experiments.
Not all is lost just yet. If he were the type of person to think that way, all of this would’ve ended long ago, before he took control of this company.
Before Yugi can protest, Kaiba barks out for one of his guards, and the panels begin to shift around to reform the living area into the way that Yugi came into it. The door is unlocked from the other side, the guard standing by.
“…Take our guest to the suite upstairs.” And if Yugi wants to start anything, Kaiba would gladly display a repeat of personally dragging him by his own chain up the stairs.
Any vulnerability Kaiba displays is gone in an instant, replaced by a wall of glass, a wall of silver and steel. Wait? “Fine, if that’s what you want to do. I’ll come back tomorrow, and-”
The walls are shifting, and they aren’t making a comfortable living space - they’re making a prison. Yugi’s violet eyes widen as the full ramifications of what has just transpired begin to hit him - one after another after another-
“Wait-!” Another suited thug, this one at least doesn’t have sunglasses. “I didn’t agree to this! Kaiba-kun!” But he’s already turned away, Yugi is completely dismissed. “You can’t just keep me here forever! Atem isn’t coming back, and keeping me won’t change that! Kaiba-kun, look at me !”
But he doesn’t, he doesn’t, he never did, never did-! His voice chokes at the even larger hand on his arm, the murmur of, “This way, sir.”
Yugi isn’t sure if he’s screaming or not, but his throat feels tight enough to rip apart from it in either case.