Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Coalescence ❯ Into the Soul Room ( Chapter 19 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

19) Into the Soul Room

Summary: Through the powers of the Millennium Puzzle, Seto enters Yami's soul room.

Note: I may not have mentioned this before, but all cards in Yami's soul room are from the Yugi Starter Deck from Konami; any cards from the actual Duel Monsters game in Seto's possession will be taken from the Kaiba Starter Deck. Unfortunately, those Starter Decks don't have cards in them for those characters from Battle City, so I've added appropriate Yugi or Kaiba cards from Battle City episodes of the anime where needed. <g>

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Yami felt his heart aching with love for them both, but right now he had to concentrate on Seto. He closed his eyes and retreated to his soul room where Yugi was waiting for him.

Yugi, standing aside, looked up at his dark half in wonder, but Yami did not look his way. Instead, the spirit turned to a shadowed corner. As he did so, four figures began to emerge from the darkness.

Yami named them in greeting, calling their names in a strong voice. "Stern Mystic! Neo, the Magic Swordsman! Mystical Elf! Dark Magician! I summon you!"

Dark Magician came forward first, his staff upraised. Behind him the other three Spellcasters stood. Yugi gasped to hear that they were already chanting some sort of spell. "They are the strongest Spellcasters in our deck," Yami explained. "The spell they are casting will draw forth another into this room."

Then Yami stood facing Dark Magician, holding out the Puzzle before him. Immediately the Puzzle began to glow, and the Sennen Eye appeared on Yami's forehead.

[This is some sort of Millennium Magic from the Puzzle,] Yugi thought, awed, realizing that the manifestation of the monsters was also part of that same magic. This is how it looks - that they are casting a spell to bring Seto-kun's mind here - but it's the Puzzle... acting through Yami... Amazing!]

Yugi was shocked when, not Yami, but the Dark Magician himself began to speak. "By the ancient powers with which we are infused, we create a magical door for our Master! You have called upon us, O Pharoah Great, our Master, and we have heeded your summons. Let the power surge and unlock a passage between the Master's mind and the mind of the Other!"

Yami was shimmering as if made of light himself, the Eye a brilliant gold and glowing with a fierce light. The very air around him seemed to crackle as the energies grew. Abruptly, his arm shot out and he stabbed a finger to point at the nearest wall. Immediately the outline of a door could be seen, and in seconds, the outline had solidified into a real door. "Iriguchi hiraku!" (Doorway, open!) he shouted, and the door flew open as if by explosives.**

Seto suddenly sat up, then stood up, feeling very strange. He turned and was shocked to see himself lying on the bed, his head in Yami's lap. "What the..." But a snapping sound behind him alerted him to whirl around. To his astonishment, there stood a Magical Box - the kind used in magic shows by escape artists. The box was open. "Y...Yami..." he breathed, and took a glance back at the bed. No change; it appeared that both he and his lover were merely sleeping. Then he looked down at himself and realized he could see through his body! And the Box, too, was transparent. The fact that it was open was clearly an invitation.

Once more glance back at the bed. [This can't really be happening... is this Yami's doing? Or am I dreaming? That's it, I've fallen asleep... but he said not to fight anything. So, I have to go into the Box...] He gulped, then stepped into the Magical Box. Immediately the door snapped shut on him.

A moment later, Seto blinked as the opposite door in front of him opened. He looked out to see a strange stone chamber... and Yami standing not ten feet away from him, holding a Magic Card, a symbol of an Eye glowing brightly on his forehead. There was power in his eyes and stance and if Seto could have taken a step backwards, he would have. But he wanted out of the Box more than that.

The card, of course, was Magical Box.*** Seto stepped out and the Box disappeared. But the ordeal was not over, as abruptly behind and above him, Blue Eyes White Dragon appeared.

"Blue Eyes!" he shouted in shock, for the Dragon was clearly in attack mode. Immediately a figure stepped forward to confront it, but not Yami, nor Yugi, whom he could now see off to his left, looking just as stunned as he felt. The tall, purple-garbed figure of the Dark Magician approached, raising his staff.

"Do not fear this chamber, Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Dark Magician called out to Seto's own defensive system, activated by the stealing of his mind into another soul. "Your master cannot come to harm here! He is welcome and wanted in this place!"

The White Dragon thrashed its head around angrily, and Seto saw immediately he would have to intervene, as weird as it seemed. Talking monsters, and a Blue Eyes which leaped to his defense! "Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he called, and immediately the huge white head swung around to look down at him. "The Dark Magician is correct - I am welcome here! This is a place of love and safety for us - you must believe me!"

Yami, still transformed by the powerful magic in the room, murmured, "If you command it, it will obey."

Seto gaped at him for a moment. [This is the Pharoah! Oh, Kami-sama, the power...] He straightened and turned again to his monster. "Stand down, Blue Eyes! Return to your card!"

Blue Eyes White Dragon bowed its head, then vanished. Seto glanced down to see that he somehow had the card in his hand. Quickly he put it away with his other cards, then looked up again.

The power was sheeting off of Yami's spirit body in bright wisps of light as he lowered the cards in his hand, the monsters all having vanished. The Sennen Eye faded, and the Puzzle gradually stopped glowing. Still he seemed transported and otherly. Seto did not move, watching him warily.

Finally Yami blinked, then looked up at Seto and smiled. "It worked. You made it. And I apologize; I should have realized your defenses would be as strong as mine."

Seto opened his mouth, but could not speak, realizing belatedly that he was trembling, a little bit from shock, and a lot from the display of power he'd just witnessed. [I...I'd never imagined a being could hold so much power... and I had no clue what real power was until this very moment... K...Kami-sama...]

Yami's eyes widened as he realized his lover was having trouble adjusting. "Seto?"

[Kami...] Seto took a deep breath, then in two steps went to one knee and pulled his lover down into his arms, crushing his face against the other's neck. Immediately Yami wrapped himself around him, stroking his hair to help him calm down.

Yugi was still frozen in awe, but seeing his other self and Seto Kaiba in each other's arms, he glanced away, feeling awkward to be here with them both. [I shouldn't be feeling like an intruder here, but... well, I do... they've been wanting to be together. Maybe they'd like a little time...] He edged toward the door, then turned and walked toward it.

Yami glanced up finally to see his other self place a hand on the knob of the door out of his soul room. Alarmed, he shot a hand out to reach toward him and called, "Aibou!"

The word surprised Seto, and unconsciously he shivered. [Partner? He calls him 'partner'? Damn, I forgot Yugi was here, too!] He lifted his head a little, but wouldn't look at his lover. [I have to accept... I have to...]

"I need him here, too," Yami whispered to Seto, glancing quickly at his boyfriend. "Please, Seto..."

Yugi had frozen, partially turned from them, his hand still on the doorknob. [They don't really want me here...]

Seto was thinking hard, his heart still racing. [Of course they're inseparable,] he contemplated, a growing pain in his chest making breathing a little difficult. [I knew this... I have known this... and now I have to face that fact and live with it even more. We're both here in this place... with *him*. D...damn, I've never felt so weak... and not just because of being dragged into this strange mental room. I told Mokuba long ago that we could never show our weaknesses... and here I'm reduced to the weakest state I've experienced, perhaps since our parents died... I'm weak because I *need*... and what's worse, I need them both... damn, damn...]

//Aibou, don't leave... please wait...// Yami was telling his light half silently. He couldn't leave Seto. //I love you, Yugi...//

Yugi bowed his head. /You two need the time.../

//I need *both* of you...//

/I'll just be across the hall. You can call me later./ Yugi sighed, resigned.

Anguished, Yami clenched his hand into a fist in frustration, then opened it, reaching out again. "Aibou..." he called once again, pain in his voice. Then, silently, he called in hopes that something could get through: //Seto! Please, koibito... Seto!//

No words came through. But Seto felt something... a new pain making his chest feel tight. Shocked, he realized it was coming from Yami! [He's trying to tell me something!] Taking a deep breath, Seto looked over to see Yugi at the door, his head bowed as if a heavy weight was on him. [Yugi...]

Seto closed his own hand into a fist from where his arm was around his lover. [Where's my strength? Where's my pride? Just because I'm so in love with Yami that I can't see straight... I'm still Seto Kaiba... I'm a top duelist, a brilliant computer programmer and inventor, the CEO of Kaiba Corporation, worth billions... and a little guy with a huge smile like sunshine makes me confused and not myself... just because I know that he and the man I ache for can never be separated... I should not fear that, should not fear *him* or the relationship he has with Yami... I should embrace it...]

Swallowing with difficulty, his throat tight with emotion, Seto unclenched his hand and reached out, copying Yami's gesture. Then, his other arm tightening around Yami as if the slender body against his was a lifeline, he called out, "Aibou..."

The other voice... calling *that* name... stunned Yugi, who looked over in shock to see not just his Yami reaching out to him, but Seto, too! "S...Seto-kun?"

"Stay with us, Yugi," Seto whispered a bit roughly. The tightness in his throat and chest eased as he felt Yami's other arm tighten around him as well.

"Arigato, koi," Yami murmured, pressing a kiss against his hair before looking up expectantly toward Yugi.

"Honto ni, Seto-kun?" (Really?) Yugi asked, turning toward them timidly.

"Honto ni, aibou," Seto confirmed, nodding with a little smile. [This is right, I know it. I love Yami and I can certainly come to love Yugi... but no matter how that will turn out, I do want more of this bright spirit in my life. I do...] "Come join us," he murmured.

Yugi's hand slipped from the doorknob. "It's okay if you two are a little demonstrative in front of me," he murmured as he slowly came back over to them. "I do understand about that. Even kissing. I won't mind."

Though he was blushing, he took both their hands and let them pull him onto Yami's lap, shifting so that Yami himself was now in Seto's as they now sat in something of a heap on the stone floor. "This is so weird," he mumbled, but he was smiling.

Yami chuckled. "I think we'll be needing a bit of time to ourselves later, but right now, I love having you both close like this," he admitted, his arms loosely around his little light, who was very pointedly trying not to look at his very imposing classmate who was nearly wrapped around them both without actually touching Yugi. "Comfortable?"

"Yes," Yugi murmured.

"You're heavy," Seto commented dryly, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the fact that Yugi and Yami were both here and both very much in his personal space. "And this is a stone floor... no furniture?"

Yami laughed. "Sorry about that. I think we'll manage like this for a short while. I confess I'm feeling a bit giddy. Here, I've got my heart and my soul together in the same room..."

Seto sucked his breath in, still adjusting. "We really are all here... this is so real. Like my virtual reality world without the software." He, too, felt surreal. Of course, it was his first time to see Yugi and Yami at the same time. They were so different, yet looked so similar, like brothers. [No, they're very much alike, more than I'd guessed. The way they walk... I guess I never watched Yugi walk before, but he's got that same unconscious, smooth hint of sexuality...] He shook his head, stunned by the direction of his thoughts. [This is *YUGI* I'm thinking about... Kami-sama!]

Yugi glanced up to see Yami looking intently at him, a strange smile on his face. He gulped. "Um, Yami?"

"You're next, Seto," Yami murmured, taking his light's chin in his hand. "I think I just have to do this..." He bent to kiss his hikari deeply while a thoroughly embarrassed Yugi squeaked into his mouth, then with a hitch in his breath, began to respond avidly.

Seto fought the impulse to look away and instead watched, feeling his heart open... and a certain region of his body grow very warm. [Dark and light... mirrors... beautiful,] he thought, then blinked as he noted something interesting. Though Yami was kissing Yugi deeply, it wasn't quite like how he kissed Seto, at least he didn't think so. It was all warmth and deep caring... carefully, gently devoid of the sexual heat that Yami and Seto experienced together when they kissed. [He's controlling his other half's reactions that way,] Seto marveled. [Knowing Yugi isn't ready for... more. This is a lot for Yugi to handle as it is. Amazing...] And Seto was further amazed that the sight made him feel warmth and a sense of deep caring for his lover's hikari as well.

Still smiling, Yami broke the kiss after a moment, chuckling when Yugi gulped, catching his breath. He glanced up to Seto, who gazed back intently. "Your turn... Yugi, you don't mind?"

Yugi had a peculiar look on his face. "Actually, I wanna see this," he admitted, turning bright red, glancing aside hastily as both Yami and Seto chuckled.

Then Yami was reaching up for his lover, bringing their mouths together. Probably because Yugi *was* watching, they subconsciously reigned in their passion, kissing more out of love than hunger.

Yami understood, never more than in this moment, that he truly loved Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutou, both with all of his heart yet paradoxically each differently so that he couldn't imagine them ever needing to compete for what he felt for them. For Seto he felt passion and fire and a matching hunger for the power they could taste together... and for Yugi he felt an overflowing love that was unconditional and bonding. It was the same and it wasn't the same... and he only hoped that someday they could understand it as clearly as he did.

That either or both could develop jealous feelings, he knew was still a possibility... though he hoped fervently he'd answered any of their insecurities. Someday Yugi's sexual needs would mature to more closely match theirs... and that was all right. His hikari *was* mature enough to allow them what they needed now, and to know that it wasn't what he wanted yet. In that way, perhaps, his emotional maturity matched theirs plenty. And that was important, if Yugi and Seto were to come to a deeper level in their own relationship.

[Now, finally,] Yami thought, his heart so full that tears spilled freely from his eyes, [I can tell them that the impossible is possible... At last...]

tbc

** - I chose Japanese here instead of Egyptian just because it was easier to look up. <G>
*** - The card is actually, in the Japanese, "Magical Box of Death", but how Seto was able to use it is exactly how Yami used it to get into Pandora's (Arcana) arena. Which is another mystery, but it made for a great idea for how to get Seto to Yami's soul room, heh. (Dark Magician uses this to switch places with a monster, who gets destroyed when the Thousand Knives magic card is used with it, sending the Knives through slots in the Box to skewer what's inside - then of course Dark Magician steps out the other side, unharmed. Neat trick!)