Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Clear Vision ❯ Chapter Third ( Chapter 3 )

Clear Vision

A Seto/Joey fanfic by subaruxkamui4ever

I think I may say this every time around, but THANK YOU! Everyone who reviewed my story was so polite and so flattering! I was going to put off writing this chapter for a few days, but here we are. I think I may be more excited to find out what happens more than anyone else. I usually illustrate, so this is my first storyline only attempt, but I'm having a lot of fun. Well, shall we?

"What has happened to you, Wheeler?"

With those words, I felt as though he had stabbed me straight through the heart. I stared at him, gaping, unsure of what I could say next that would rectify the situation. No words came. I realized that he had no idea to whom I was referring, and he was beginning to get angry. Damn him, couldn't he be understanding for one second? I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but before I could get a word out, he already had. "Do you remember what happened yesterday?" That stopped my train of thought. Yesterday? I glanced towards the window, seeing the late afternoon sunlight glow red and purple against the drapes. But that meant…I had been asleep for over 24 hours. Oh, god. Had I really let things get this bad? "I'm assuming that you don't," he continued. "Well, let me refresh your memory. First, you almost knocked me over at school yesterday. And then, after I told you to watch yourself, you passed out and knocked into me again. So I brought you back here. I didn't have time to take you anywhere because I have a business to run. I can't take care of every second rate duelist that gets a cold." His tone was harsh and unforgiving. "And you calling me by a name that isn't mine is really starting to piss me off. So are you leaving or what?"

I couldn't believe it. He was so…Kaiba. He really was the same person. I didn't answer him. Instead, I looked away, away from his eyes that showed me so much. I felt as though I'd woken up from a long sleep, and I knew that I had, but not the kind of sleep that I had just gotten. I felt refreshed in a way that I had never felt before. My vision was clear, I was seeing the whole world in a new light, and everything made a lot more sense. I knew the reason for everything. I knew why we hated each other, I knew why he did everything he did. It was like meeting someone you lived with for years and years after being separated for a long time. I looked at him, truly looked at him, and I saw him. Not the Seto Kaiba that I saw in school everyday. This was someone else to me. Every facial expression, every mannerism, I could read everything about him, I knew what he was thinking, feeling, at any point in time. He looked at me defensively, as if I were penetrating some shield of defense that he understood to be unpenetrable. "Well? What the hell are you staring at, Wheeler?"

"I'm staring at you, Sethe," I said pointedly. I stared into his eyes, hoping that I could show him everything, the way he had shown me. "I know that your name here is Seto, but I know who you really are. Why won't you admit it? Don't you know yourself? Do you even remember the promise I made to you? You begged me to …." Tears slid down my cheeks, but I made no effort to stop them. I couldn't help it, couldn't help my own feelings. I just felt so lost. I remembered everything, but he remembered nothing. And I had loved him so much. But still, I had made a promise, and I would stand by my word, no matter what.

"Listen to me, Seto. I'm going to tell you everything. OK? I'll tell you all that's been going on. I have to, because you are involved, and I made you a promise, a long time ago. I promised you that I would tell you everything I'm about to tell you, so…don't get mad." He looked at me, extremely annoyed but interested enough, probably for something he could use to belittle me later. I didn't care what his reasons were. All that mattered to me was for him to see. For him to remember me. Now that I knew what had been missing from my life all this time, I felt like every second that we were apart was excruciating. It felt as though a piece of me was gone, as if he had it and refused to give it back. I just couldn't accept the fact that he didn't remember me at all.

"Seto, I know that you hate everything that has to do with the millennium items, and the origin of duel monsters in ancient Egypt, but it has to do with that."

A look of irritation passed over his face, but he sat down next to me on the bed and motioned for me to continue. "Well, back then, you know, when you were the High Priest, do you….remember anything from around that time?" His eyes glazed over for a moment, as if trying to recall, but then he looked at me and shook his head. "OK. It's OK…um" Oh my god, what was I going to say? I couldn't even think of how to "break it gently" to him, so I just decided to take the plunge. He deserved to know.

"Sethe, you and I were…well…we were lovers. We were in love, and for some reason or another, we were killed. Together," I added, hoping that maybe it would strike a chord somewhere within him. So far, his face revealed nothing. I continued. "I began to remember things about us. At first I just had visions in my sleep that were gone as soon as I woke up, but the second that I saw into your eyes that day, yesterday, I remembered everything. At least, everything about the way we died. And then, just now before you came in, I saw it all in a dream. Everything that was said between us, how we felt, Sethe, we were so scared," I began to remember it all as I retold the story to him. "Why did they do this to us?…I can't remember, I'm sorry, I just can't. I wish I knew why…" The tears found their way across my face once more, collecting on the tip of my chin before falling off in droplets that disappeared into the comforter of the bed I had slept in, the bed I had seen it all in. "And we were so happy together, you and I, we loved each other so much, and just before we died in the fire, you made me promise that I would find you, no matter what. I told you that no matter who we were, we would be together again, and now…" I began to sob, taking sharp breaths in-between words, and I wasn't making much sense anymore. "Now, you hate me, and you don't see, you don't see who I am, why? Why don't you know me?" My voice grew louder with each interrogation, as my desperation and frustration grew. I looked up into his eyes, searching for answers to the questions I threw at him. I found none. All I saw was a boy who refused to accept himself. And that was when I realized what was going on. He hated himself. I couldn't believe it. Seto Kaiba, who, in his current carnation, was so stuck up and snobbish that he couldn't be known to associate with the likes of me or anyone else, he…hated himself? Slowly, it all began to come together in my mind. He couldn't accept who he was in this life, so how could he ever open himself up to any of his past lives? I started to understand, now, why Sethe had wanted to entrust this task to me. He must have known himself, knew his weaknesses, and my strengths.

Under the scrutiny of my gaze, Seto began to look uncomfortable. He looked back and forth between my eyes and the door. I wondered if anyone had ever cried in front of him, let alone he actually cry about anything. I reached out and grasped at his shirt sleeve, trying to hold him there. "No, please, Seth-…Seto, stay," I pleaded with him. "I know it seems like a lot, but… you have to try and remember. It's so important to you, believe me, if you could remember, anything at all…" I reached out with my other hand and placed it across his cheek, leaning towards his face. I think he realized what I was going to do before I did, but I suppose he was so shocked that he couldn't do anything to stop it, and in seconds, my lips were on his. I was acting on pure emotion at that point, and only realized what I was doing after the fact. I was kissing Seto Kaiba. And, just for a moment, he kissed me back. With that false sense of security, I tried to deepen the kiss. Which he responded to by slapping me in the face, and running out of the room. The slap brought me back to my senses, and I realized what I had done. I held my hand to my burning cheek, and cried for both he and I, and our lost love.

Right. I think I'm actually going to cry now. It's just not fair! Poor Joey… oh, well. I swear, things will be alright in the end, even if I have to kill them both! (I won't do that.) If you're reading this, that means you've read three chapters of this and you're still here, which I appreciate. I got that game, Kaiba the Revenge for PC, and I can't stop playing it. Kaiba called me a dog and I swear I screamed I was so happy! Oh, the fun we have… review if you like, it makes me feel fuzzy inside. And thanks again!