Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Duel Deck ❯ Chapter 10
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MikariStar 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 10.2K | Visits: 310 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 10.2K | Visits: 310 | Status: Completed
Duel Deck: Deck X
Card 52: Blue Eyes
The heavy rain crashed against the windows of the car threatening to break them. Soon the two people in the car reached their destination. The mansion stood tall and strong, unmoved by the violent wind and unaffected by the abundant heavy rain. The two people in the car quickly ran inside to escape the rain as soon as the car was parked in front of the mansion.
Just as requested, their belongings were delivered to the mansion, however everything was still in boxes, but it was a late hour of the night and neither of them felt like unpacking. What's the hurry if they had the rest of their happy lives to unpack, they planned to live here forever, but the young couple didn't know that their lives would soon be cut short and the mansion would be purchased by someone else.
"Nice place you have here," the young woman commented.
"Yeah," her husband smiled. "I inherited this place from my uncle."
The woman looked at a picture that hung on the wall. "This was your uncle?"
Her husband nodded in response.
"What happened to him?"
Her husband paused thinking about it before answering. "No one knows... the only information I was given was that he was killed by a ghost who lives here, of course there is no such a thing."
The topic of the man's uncle and the ghost who supposedly killed him was not further discussed as neither of them believed in such things. The young couple, tired from the trip, decided to get some rest. They headed upstairs to the fifth floor of the large mansion. There was an old room with a bed; the only other furniture in the room was a small table with a lamp on it. Tired from their trip, sleep came to them quickly.
xoxox xox xoxox
A loud crash of thunder was heard hours later. The woman was wakened by it and glanced at her husband after tuning the lamp on. He was still sleeping beside her. She rolled her eyes and concluded her husband slept like a rock and nothing could wake him, then turned the lights off and tried to fall asleep again. However, she couldn't fall asleep, she felt as if there was someone watching her, yet there was no one else there.
The storm continued to get worse as the wind tried to break the walls of the mansion that still stayed strong. The heavy rain pushed by the winds hit the windows with amazing force constantly. Then there was the thunder that crashed loudly without warning. She wondered if it was simply the storm that made her nervous, or if there was something more to worry about. The woman whose name was Juliet, decided that she needed to calm herself before going to sleep. Maybe some milk would help, so she headed off to the kitchen, their refrigerator should have been stoked as per the instructions.
Juliet quietly walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She turned on the lights and headed down the stairs. The storm continued to rage outside and it scared her, but she kept telling herself she wasn't a little girl and shouldn't be frightened by such things. Another crash of loud thunder landed near by, causing a short-circuit and making Juliet almost scream.
She took a deep breath and continued walking, touching the walls in hopes of not getting lost in the large mansion she has just beginning to get to know. Juliet managed to find her way in the darkness and finally reached the kitchen. The occasional thunder that crashed near by accompanied by plenty of lightning, lighted her path every now and then. She opened the refrigerator and took some milk out. The electricity had only been gone for a few minutes so the milk was still cold.
Suddenly, the wind got stronger and the rain threatened to make holes on the walls. Of course the mansion was built strong enough to withstand such storms with no problems, yet Juliet felt as if something terrible was about to happen. Forgetting about her glass of milk, she ran in the darkness back to the room she shared with her husband. She tripped several times as she wasn't paying attention to where she was going due to her hurry. She didn't understand why this panic had suddenly taken over, but she knew that there was something wrong.
She was almost back in their room when her suspensions were confirmed by a terror filled scream of agony that Juliet knew belonged to her husband. She ran as fast as she could and opened the door to their room. The electricity returned and the storm began to calm down. The light just outside their room was left on and Juliet stood at the door staring at the dead body of her husband. She turned on the lights inside the room to get a better look and screamed when she saw his expression of pure terror, as if it was fear itself that had killed him.
xoxox xox xoxox
Months later, the doctors of a mental institution where Juliet now resided, were trying their best to convince her that a ghost did not kill her husband, but there was just no way to reason with her. She kept going on and on about the spirit that spoke to her, claiming that he was only taking what was rightfully his. She had asked the spirit what it meant and the spirit said that he husband died because he claimed to own this mansion.
She was not of the descendants he cursed so her life was sparred if she left. The poor young woman, everyone who worked there pitied her. How she would spend hours speaking of the spirit with blue eyes. She was terrified to even go near anyone with blue eyes thinking that it was another incarnation of the ghost. She would never recover from this.
The question came as to what would happen to the mansion. The family members that would inherit it after hearing Juliet's side of the story did not want anything to do with it, so the mansion would be sold to the highest bidder. Pictures of the mansion were posted online and in magazines and many people bid when the auction came, but one particular person had taken a liking to that mansion even if he hasn't visited it. He was the one who won the auction, Seto Kaiba.
xoxox xox xoxox
Mokuba sat next to the window of Seto's private jet as they flew to see their new mansion. "Where are we going big brother?"
"To our new mansion, the one I showed you in the picture," Seto answered without taking his eyes off the laptop computer's screen.
"Isn't that where Dracula lives?" Mokuba didn't like the mansion, but Seto just couldn't understand why.
The rest of the trip went by quietly and uneventfully, until they arrived at their new mansion. Seto had ordered the place to be cleaned and filled with new furniture. He was also told of the story of the ghost when he was finishing up the paper work, but of course he did not believe it.
xoxox xox xoxox
The Kaiba brothers arrived at the mansion around mid night. Mokuba was very tired from the trip and after he managed to find his room, he decided to go to sleep. Seto's room was right next to Mokuba's, but the CEO, as always, was staying up late working. He was typing on his laptop computer when it began to rain. The wind, the heavy rain and the thunder signaled the beginning of a storm. The storm became stronger and soon the electricity was out. Seto shut down his laptop computer before its battery ran out and searched for a flashlight, the emergency generators had not yet been installed.
The loud rain, wind and thunder woke Mokuba. He covered himself completely, hoping that the covers would block out the sound, but they didn't. Mokuba somehow knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he stayed there, so without thinking about it any longer, he ran to his brother's room.
Seto had by then found a flashlight that he placed on a small table next to his bed in case he needed to get up for whatever reason. He was currently fast asleep, hugging his blue eyes white dragon plushie. Something watched him from the shadows, slowly coming closer and it wasn't Mokuba.
At that very moment, Mokuba opened the door and the spirit quickly disappeared. He had to get the new guy when he was alone. He could sense that he was the one claiming this mansion. The younger one should live to carry out the mission that the girl hasn't completed and neither have any of the others he let escape.
Mokuba searched for Seto in the darkness of the room. Lightning suddenly came, lighting the room momentarily. Mokuba jumped at the sudden light and noise, but managed to notice that his brother was asleep. He didn't want to bother Seto simply because of the storm, so he got into bed and tried to sleep now that he felt safer being with his brother.
The spirit reappeared in Seto's room a few moments later. It was clear the young one wasn't going anywhere as he had already fallen asleep. Soon the storm began to calm and by morning it was over.
xoxox xox xoxox
When morning came, Seto woke up to find Mokuba using him as a pillow. He figured his little brother must have been frightened by last night's storm and that's why he came. Seto gently got Mokuba off and placed him on the bed without waking him. He then left the room quietly, took a quick shower and went to get some breakfast ready.
The CEO was almost to the kitchen when he heard the doorbell ring. He didn't know who could possibly be coming here, but he went to answer it anyway. Upon opening the door, he saw a young woman with messy blond hair that was badly cut as if it was done with a knife and looked like it hasn't been brushed for ages. She was wearing white pants and a white shirt with a label he didn't care to read and was covered in mud. "He told me that this place belonged to him and you have to find the owner!" She looked at his eyes and started screaming. "Blue Eyes don't kill me!" Without wasting another second, Seto slammed the door shut and locked it. He didn't know who that creepy girl was and he didn't want to find out.
He once again headed to the kitchen and almost jumped a mile when he saw that the strange girl was there. He looked at the opened window and it all became clear. "Have mercy Blue Eyes! Take away the curse! I tried to do what you said, but they won't let me. They say you don't exist. They say I made you up in my imagination after my husband died, but I saw the look of terror in his face. You killed him!" She suddenly became very angry and threw the nearest object, a cookie jar, at Seto, who quickly jumped out of the way.
"Get out!" He yelled at her, but she didn't seam to understand.
"I'll kill you spirit! I'll kill you ghost! Just like you killed him!"
Seto stepped back. He didn't want to go anywhere near this mud covered freak let alone drag her out. So he quickly devised a plan. He would run, find something to hit her on the head with, then throw it at her from a safe distance, that or just call the police. Deciding upon the second, he ran off grabbing his cell phone, which he had forgotten in the living room the night before and called the local police. The strange girl made a mess of the kitchen but nothing else happened, that was the only room that got damaged.
After that creepy girl was gone, Seto made sure to close all the windows in the entire mansion and get the security system installed as soon as possible. Hopefully, she would not return.
Mokuba came downstairs soon after, saying that he couldn't sleep with all the noise. Seto decided not to explain what really happened so Mokuba wouldn't get scared and hate the mansion even more. Regardless of all that's happened, Seto liked the mansion for some unknown reason, as if it was meant to be his. Mokuba eventually noticed the trashed kitchen but Seto simply said he had a small accident and broke a few things. Even if it sounded illogical, Mokuba never questioned his dear brother so he believed him.
The day passed by uneventfully, until the night came and once again the same storm returned as if there was something controlling the weather around the mansion. Mokuba was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but Seto assured him that the storm would pass and better weather would come soon. That night the electricity went out also and again Mokuba got scared and stayed in his brother's room.
The only difference was that this time Seto got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly so thirsty, he just knew he was. Mokuba would be okay for a few minutes and he had already secured all the windows and doors, plus some of his employees would be coming in a few days to take care of stuff around the mansion.
When Seto was gone, Mokuba woke up. He couldn't find his brother but tried to tell himself that Seto would be back soon. He felt strange, as if he was being watched. "Big brother?" There was no answer but the sound of the wind, rain and thunder. "Seto, are you there?" Mokuba knew he was alone in the room, yet wished with all his heart and soul that he would receive an answer from his brother. Unable to wait any longer, Mokuba got up and set off to find Seto, yet he felt something push him into the wall, but he didn't hit the wall face first, instead he came out at the other side, as if the wall had opened for him.
xoxox xox xoxox
Seto was heading back to his room when his flashlight's battery mysteriously died. This was silly, there was nothing to be afraid of, yet something made him fear, a strange force. He had to get back to his room immediately, something might be wrong with Mokuba. He didn't know why, but he started running.
The wind howled outside. The raindrops fell light knives against the mansion's walls. Lightning and thunder and more lightning came, lighting the way, creating shadows on the walls. The light was irregular, making the shadows look eerie. He ran; he ran as fast as he could, as if the shadows were chasing him.
The sound of the rain, the sound of the wind, the lightning, the thunder, that was all there was. "Mokuba?" There was no answer. Once again the lightning lit the room. "Mokuba!"
xoxox xox xoxox
Mokuba had been walking along a strange passage for a few minutes, after giving up on trying to go back the way he come he tried to find another way out. He could hear the echo of the storm that reflected off the walls of the small passage, making it sound ghostly and threatening. It was very dark and he didn't know where he was going.
He kept walking along the passage, following his hand on the wall, until he came to a small room. He wasn't sure in what part of the mansion he was, he hasn't explored it all and doing so was certainly better during the day light in the company of his brother, not alone in the darkness of a stormy night.
There were many old things stashed away in this room. The ones who where supposed to prepare the mansion for them must have not come here. The lightning, that became more constant, lit the room enough for Mokuba to see several objects covered in dust. He looked up at the source of the light and realized the ceiling in this section was made of glass. There didn't seem to be any doors or windows here just the passage.
Mokuba observed every object there slowly. There was a glass cup in a small table. A woman's shoes on the floor next to it. A necklace lay on the chair, There were dresses and women's clothing. A large base, a few books, one of them opened. Papers with faded words scattered on the floor. A painting, a very familiar painting. Mokuba came closer to the painting looking at it with attention every time the lighting lit the room. It was his brother, but he was younger. He was standing there next to a man he didn't know. Mokuba didn't know how this painting got there, but he knew the one in it was Seto, or was he?
xoxox xox xoxox
"Mokuba!" Seto called out almost to the point of panic. He had a strange feeling about this place, this storm and this night. He hated to admit it, but it felt like fear, unreasonable fear. Maybe his little brother got lost in the darkness on his way back from the bathroom or something.
That was no reason to feel such intense fear; he would find Mokuba and lead him back to his room safe and sound. Then they would both go to sleep and the next morning when they wake up, the electricity would be back, the sun would be shining, the storm would be long gone and he would laugh at himself for feeling so afraid for no reason.
"Mokuba!" He yelled again quickening his pace as he searched for his brother. "Answer me!" Seto stopped and stared into the darkness, nothing there. He felt his heartbeats getting faster and his breaths uneven. The light from the skies that came with every lightning stopped coming. There was no light at all. He blinked several times, trying to make his vision adjust to the darkness. All he saw was strange shadows dancing on the walls, as if trying to lure him closer and attack.
The shadows were surrounding him and he felt unable to move. He could not explain the strange sensation that came over him suddenly and he certainly didn't like it. The shadows seamed to circle him, to trap him. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down before continuing his search. There's nothing to be afraid of. He's never been afraid of the dark before, not even when he was little, but it was not the darkness that scared him, it was the presence he felt was hiding in it. He felt a cold breeze, but he knew all the windows were closed. The cold became more persistent; he warped his arms around himself and shivered.
Slowly, Seto lifted his head and opened his eyes, quickly closing them again and opening them once more. The thing he saw when he first opened them was gone, probably his own imagination anyway. The storm slowly settled to regular rain. The wind became calm and instead of feeling cold, Seto began to sweat. He breathed heavily, letting himself slowly fall until he was sitting on the floor. The lights suddenly came on, making him jump to his feet. Even if the electricity had returned, he had not left the light switch on so why did this happen?
xoxox xox xoxox
Mokuba searched the walls for any kind of secret passage now that the lights were on. He moved a large painting that was sitting against the wall behind a bunch of random items and found a tunnel. He didn't know why, but once the storm was over, he wasn't quite as afraid as before.
The strange presence that he felt in the mansion that scared him before now felt safe, as if someone was guarding and protecting him. The young Kaiba soon managed to get to the end of the tunnel, pushing a thick paper like layer of wall until it was out of the way. He wondered how no one noticed that hole on the wall covered only by thick paper like material with paint on top.
By now Seto had calmed down and was looking for his brother again, this time somehow knowing he was alright. He spotted Mokuba at the end of the hall after turning a corner. "Mokuba!"
"Big Brother!" Mokuba ran to Seto's arms and his brother picked him up.
"Where were you?" Seto asked.
"I'm not sure how, but I ended up in a secret passage and got lost, it was scary!"
Seto hugged his little brother, "It's okay now."
Mokuba took a deep breath, "Seto, I saw a picture of you... It was a painting in a room with a bunch of other stuff."
"Are you sure it was a picture of me?" Seto thought it could have been someone else, someone that used to live here long ago and that just looked like him.
"Come see it!" Mokuba lead Seto the same way he came before. They reached the hole in the wall and Mokuba crawled in.
"Where are you going?"
"It's this way!" Mokuba called from inside the tunnel.
Seto tried to go in, but the tunnel was too small. "I can't get in, come back."
Mokuba returned, "the painting is kind of big so I'm sure it won't fit in the tunnel. Maybe we can figure out where the passage in your room is and how to keep it open.
Seto couldn't deny he felt a strange curiosity about the supposed painting of him. "We'll go look in the morning, let's go back to sleep now."
xoxox xox xoxox
That night Seto Kaiba had a strange dream. He was only watching in this dream and could not affect the people in it in any way. "Get out boy!" A man yelled as he pushed a young boy out a large door. He recognized this place, it was the main entrance of the mansion he was in, but it looked different, as if this scene had taken place many years ago, long before he was born.
"But uncle, there's a storm outside!" The boy complained. For some reason, Seto always saw the dream from a perspective in which he couldn't look at the boy's face.
"Never call me that, you little useless brat!" The man kicked the boy. "You shall address me as sir." Seto felt sorry for the boy and had an urge kick the man.
The boy sniffled, holding back tears as he sat on the ground. "This is my house. This is papa's house."
Suddenly, things changed in the dream and Seto went from just watching to being one of the characters. The rain falling on him felt so real, as did the cold wind. "I want to go but I can't until I keep my promise, otherwise I can't rest in peace." The boy looking right at Seto, unaffected by the fact that he just appeared there. He stood up and walked toward him. "Let me tell you how it happened," the boy extended his hand.
As if he had no control over his actions, Seto took it. In a bright light both Seto and the boy disappeared. As the light came, Seto could see the boy's face clearly, he looked like him.
"This is my mother," the dream's scene changed and they found themselves in a city from many years ago, where there was a lady at a market. She had golden hair and blue eyes, just like Seto's. "That is my father," the boy pointed at two men walking down the street specifically at the younger one. The other one was about two years older. The boy's father also looked a bit like Seto, his hair was brown as were his eyes. The man beside him had brown eyes also but his hair was black. "That..." The boy spoke with anger, "is my father's brother."
The entire scene froze and no one in the dream moved. Only Seto and the boy could move. Seto listened.
"Papa and... the other man both like her, in fact, they all like her. They say she's beautiful, smart and nice, she is. They say that the most beautiful thing Mama has are her eyes." The scene slowly faded away, being replaced by that of a wedding. "She married the one who would become my father and his brother never approved of it."
The scene changed again this time to show several people in a room that looked like an office from many years ago. "My grandparents owned some lands that they wrote in their will they must be shared by their two sons, but he wanted them all." The boy was clearly referring to his uncle.
"He couldn't legally keep them all, so he gave my father a small portion and kept the best lands for himself. The lands my father got were not fertile, it was impossible to grow anything there. My father suspected there was something about the soil, so he dug deep until he discovered the cause of the land's infertility, oil."
The scene changed once more, to the place where the mansion was but it was still being built. "My parents became rich and built this mansion here. I was not born until later. My mother died when she gave birth to me, my father used to tell me about her all the time and even if I had not met her, I missed her and now more so since I've gained the ability to looking into the past and future of my family."
All this time Seto quietly listened to the boy's narration.
"One day, my father mysteriously died. I suspected and now know that it was him, his brother wanted the fortune. I was still young and he was the first option to take care of me. He was always mean. He accused me of taking away my mother's life for myself." Tears came from the boy's eyes. "If I could stop existing to make her live I would. The night after the wedding, the night when I was born, the night when my parents moved here and the night when he was told of what my father found in the land, it was raining hard, there was wind lightning and thunder, it was also like that the night my father was killed. He got angry at those memories when the weather was like that and threw me out. One day, I didn't come back."
The boy changed, he grew up until he looked around Seto's age. Seto couldn't help it but to stare, they could be twins. "I lived my life as well as I could." Many scenes appeared, changing every second, showing a summary of his life. He grew older with each scene, changing until it all stopped when he was an adult. "It came to a point when my family was not doing so well." The scene turned into and old house. There was the older Seto look alike, a woman and a little girl, by the looks of it their daughter.
The spirit that had been showing Seto all of this left, but Seto was not paying attention to him, but at the other version of the spirit, the man in the illusion. The parents took the little girl upstairs and Seto followed.
The dream Seto who was invisible to the other people in the dream, he followed the family upstairs where the put the girl in her bed. After they left, the girl opened her eyes and looked at Seto and he realized he was once again a character of the dream.
"Papa?" She asked unsure. He looked like her father, but he was younger and dressed differently. Who ever he was, the girl's fever and headache didn't allow her to think too much of it. "Papa my head hurts, please make it stop." Tears started running down her face.
To watch such a young sweet child in pain was just wrong. Before Seto could say anything, the scene changed once again and he found himself in his room, awake. He got out of bed, yet his body remained there, as if his spirit was detached.
"This way," a ghostly shadow with glowing blue eyes spoke. They were those same hypnotic eyes that could cause enough fear to kill, but now he felt no fear. Seto followed the spirit, the wall opened as he pushed it. "It doesn't open the other way, so don't try this when you return to your vessel, the only other way out is too small." Seto and the ghost went inside the tunnel that led to the room Mokuba had found. There Seto saw the painting. It was the spirit while he was still a boy, standing next to his father. "My mother's things were kept in this room," the ghost searched for a specific item.
The spirit took a base from under other random things and placed it on the small table. "My mother grew a special kind of flower that cured illnesses, much like that of my daughter. The last one was kept in this room; I used to come here when I was younger. The entrance used to be normal sized, but it was sealed because my uncle didn't want to look at any of these items. I needed the flower to cure her so I returned to recover it and recover my mansion and fortune to give my family a better life. I couldn't let that murderer keep it any longer."
"When I came, he stayed out of my way. I was no longer a little kid he could pick on. I would give him what he deserved soon enough, but first I needed to take that flower back. He snuck up on me and killed me. Angered by all that happened, with my last seconds of life I vowed to take revenge, to curse his family and return this place to mine. The fortune is long gone, but the mansion still remains."
"I somehow turned into a ghost and was able to bring the flower back to my wife. After that was accomplished, I was returned here where I was trapped. As a ghost, I was limited to being in this mansion until I finished my last unfinished business. I didn't know if my daughter survived, but now I'm sure she did, because she was your great grandmother."
Seto was surprised by the entire story. He felt like the spirit was telling the truth. "Two holes are dug with a curse; I dug myself into being trapped here, guarding the mansion until my descendant reclaimed it. Now that this mansion has been returned to whom it rightfully belongs, I have no more unfinished business and I can finally rest in peace." The ghost disappeared in a flash of blue light and Seto's spirit was returned to his vessel.
xoxox xox xoxox
The rose and Seto got up. The dream was still clear in his mind, but even if he felt like it was true, being Seto Kaiba, he ignored it as just another dream and carried on with his life as if it never happened. Juliet mysteriously recovered her health and was able to go on with her life. The Kaiba brothers lived peacefully in the mansion and the ghost was never seen or heard of again.
xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox
Card 53: Soul Room
Shadii's Point of View
I, Shadii, have the mission of protecting the millennium items forever. I know where they come from and I must follow where they go for the good of the world. Upon searching for answers, I find that the path of the millennium items may change, so I seek an answer to this question: why? If the millennium rod was once in the hands of Seth, the high priest, why is it that his present incarnation refuses the item?
I hope to find at least a clue in the Soul Room of Seto Kaiba. That is the room I'll be visiting today, as for tomorrow, it all depends on what I find today. Finding Kaiba was no problem. He is working in his office at Kaiba Corp. My millennium key makes me invisible, so I approach without him knowing and appear only when it's too late for him to stop me. I point the millennium key at him and enter his Soul Room. I am surprised to find myself at a hallway with two doors. Seto Kaiba does not have a yami, so why does he have two soul rooms?
I decide to enter the one on the right first. The metal the door is made of is very thick, making the door heavy and hard to open. When I finally manage to open it, I feel like I have entered the future, I've never seen so much technology in one room. I can't even tell what color the walls are because there are computers and other strange machines I do not recognize covering them. The ceiling is like one large screen that displays many computer programming codes that I do not understand.
Unlike in must rooms, in this one there is no bed which means sleeping and resting are unimportant for Kaiba. There is nothing much more than computers here, except for one object in a corner of the room. I approach the desk where a laptop computer is. Next to it there is a locket that's shaped like a duel monsters card. Maybe I will find some clues in it; it is the only thing in this room that appears to be out of place.
I reach for the locket but stop when I hear a strange sound. As I turn around I see a trap door opening up on the floor and from it a robot about 7 feet tall comes out. The machine is mostly metal, except his face that looks human-like. He has short black hair and metallic long elf-like ears. His silver eyes glare at me, "intruder."
"Please, I do not wish to fight, I come in peace." I try to speak to it, but the robot does not listen. He raises his arm and points a laser cannon attached to his arm at me. I move quickly out of the way and the shot he fired hits the locket. Something tells me that locket was an important part of this soul room and now it's destroyed by another part of the soul room itself, there is a certain symbolic meaning to it I believe, but I have no time to analyze it now.
I try to jump into the trap door. This is where his true soul room lies, but when I step closer to it, I feel a thousand bolts of electricity hit me all over my body and fall back near the main door. With no time to waste, I quickly exit the room and close the door. My hands are still touching the metal door when I feel it become hot. I quickly remove my hands, burned by the heated metal and conclude that that robot must have fired a laser at the door.
I think about leaving now, before I mess things up here, it would appear that the balance within his soul room is much more easily upset than I thought. But I'm here to search for answers and so far I've found nothing related to the millennium items at all. Maybe I should try my luck in this other room. The door is also made of metal. Both doors are identical, which is very unusual. As I open the door, I notice that even if from the outside it looks identical, this one is much lighter due to the metal being thinner. Unlike the first door, I open this one without much effort. I prepare myself for a well armed robot to jump on me any second, but soon I realize that it will not happen.
This room is very different from the other one. There is a large computer and next to it a desk with a laptop. Two computers are very few compared to the many I saw in the other room. There is also a bed with plushies on it. One is a Blue Eyes White Dragon, the other looks like Mokuba. The walls are a light blue and unlike the cold metallic floor of the other room, this one has a carpet in a shade of blue a little darker from the walls, but still relatively light.
This room looks like it's a safe place, but it's always the dangerous places that hold the clues. I feel something poking my foot and look down to find a small golden colored robot. It's almost round and only about 10 inches tall. It doesn't look like the one in the other room at all. That one was large, built for battle obviously. His expressionless human-like face made him look more dangerous. This one is clearly all machine; no human-like aspect anywhere. It looks like a harmless toy rather than a machine of destruction.
I bend over to look at it and it seems to be looking at me. The green lights he has for eyes flash a few times as if he where blinking. "I see you met my friend," I hear a voice behind me, followed by the sound of the door, which I had left open in case I needed to run, being closed. The voice is that of a young boy, no older than ten years at the very most. I look at this new guest and find a younger version of Seto Kaiba. The boy looks exactly like him, except of course for the age difference. The little robot runs to the boy. It's a funny little machine.
"This is my robot friend, he's the only one here who plays with me, I build him myself." The boy picks up the golden robot toy. "You're in my room; have you come to challenge me at a game?" The boy doesn't sound angry that I'm here, he sounds like he wants me to challenge him. He looks like he just wants to play for fun, but he will try his best anyway.
"Who are you?" I ask the boy.
"I'm Seto, are we going to play yes or no?" He's getting a little impatient now, but something tells me that this boy knows more than he's showing so I agree.
"Very well I will play a game with you, but you must answer some questions."
The boy laughs. "Only if you win! Let's play chess first! What's your name?" He gets a chess board and a box with chess pieces from a pile of board games in a corner of the room and we both sit on the carpet as he sets the game.
"Shadii," having completed the task of putting each of the chess pieces where it should be, he tells me to go first so I move my piece. I must win this game to find the answers I seek.
xoxox xox xoxox
I lost the chess game, but the boy is willing to give me another chance to win some answers. This time he offers to play Duel Monsters but I do not have a deck so I must pass. He asks to play a videogame instead and again I pass, I was never good at modern day games such as video games and I have to time to waste, there must be some game I can beat him at.
Right now he's searching for a game in the pile of toys. Perhaps I should go investigate in the other room after all and come back here later. I turn around and head for the door, but he runs in front of me and stands in front of the door. "Don't leave!"
I look at the playing cards in his hand. "We can play poker or crazy eights, we could even build card castles!" We sit in the carpet again and play and again he beats me. This is not my day. He seams very happy about having won, though he looked like he knew he would win all the time. I'm starting to think that something in this room is making me lose.
The boy smiles, apparently he thinks he found a new toy, that's what he thinks I am, just another piece of a game, a game he can beat. Tired of this, I tell myself that I must get some answers now and try to do just that. "I've played with you, now please tell me about the other room."
The boy looks at the floor with sadness in his eyes, then he looks up at me and glares. "You didn't win, so I won't tell you!"
I'm growing very tired of this. "I must know!" The boy ignores me and goes to sit on his bed. He hugs the plushies, Blue Eyes White Dragon and Mokuba. I sigh and try to sound calm; obviously I'm not the best at dealing with children. "It's alright," I sit down at the end of the bed. "Please tell me." The young Kaiba holds the plushies closer and shakes his head. He looks like he's holding back tears, what could be in that other room that made him so upset. "Tell me, whatever it is you're worried about, I can help." I try once more to get him to trust me with whatever information he's holding back but it's useless, he just sits there in silence. I sigh again and get up, I'm not going anywhere like this, I might as well try to explore that other room again and hope I don't get captured by any robots. I get up and head for the door.
"Wait! Don't go! I don't want to be alone when he comes!" The boy calls me.
"Who is he?" I inquire.
"He wants to make me disappear," I nod as if telling him to go on. "He hates me, even if I didn't do anything to him. He wants me gone and he will come after me again soon, I can feel it! He stole my other plushie too, he said I already had too many so he took it."
"It's alright, tell who this he is."
The boy looks at me with fear in his eyes, "Seto Kaiba."
This is getting very confusing, even for me. Someone who is supposed to have only one soul room has two. A boy who looks exactly like him but years younger now tells me that Seto Kaiba is who he's afraid of. Isn't this boy also a part of him? How is any of this possible? "Tell me more," I wait for him to continue but he doesn't. "I might be able to help, just tell me, please."
The boy just closes his eyes and hugs the plushies. "The end is near," then the room falls silent.
"I can't help if you don't tell me more," I insist.
He looks at me again. "He stole my locket. He came in here and took it from me," I give him a confused look.
"What locket?" Apparently this item is important to him, but why? "My card shaped locket." Oh no, it must have been that locket I saw, but it was destroyed. Before I can say anything else, the door opens and there stands that robot from before. His silver eyes glow projecting a holographic image. In it I see myself jumping out of the way of the laser, I didn't avoid it fast enough; the laser did hit me and went through me, changed from red to blue and destroyed the locket. Is this what truly happened? I felt no pain so I assumed I had dodged it.
"It was you!" The boy points at me. "You destroyed my locket! I knew Seto couldn't do it alone, it was impossible!" I did not mean to cause this. How could I have known? I failed to enter and leave someone's soul room as I should, without changing anything.
I understand now, the laser used my energy to destroy the locket. I use the power of my Millennium Key to leave the room. I cannot fight this robot but I'm certain that he cannot hurt the boy. I'm starting to understand what's going on, but what I don't know is how this will affect the real Seto Kaiba. They are both a part of him and only he can decide which one stays and which one disappears.
xoxox xox xoxox
My millennium key makes me invisible, so Kaiba is still unaware of my presence. He blinks a few times and looks around the office before resuming his typing. I understand now... From the hall in the middle of the two rooms they both look the same because they are the same. It's actually one room divided into two. Each room represents certain characteristics of the owner of the soul room.
If there was a version of Kaiba in one room, there must be another version of him in the other room also. Both are the same person, two different aspects of him fighting for control. I conclude that the boy's room is who he was in the past, so the other room must be who he will become in the future and the two of them combined are his present self. This situation is very rare and I only saw it once before, long ago in the mind of a man called Kenshin Himura.
His situation was a little different, but in his soul rooms I found a boy who said was called Shinta and a man who was called Battosai. Both of them were part of Kenshin and were constantly fighting for control. I recall that they each had an item that connected them to the vessel. The locket must have been the boy's item and now that it's gone, he cannot contact Kaiba or have any influence in his behavior, only the other can. This is not good. If I don't restore balance, who knows what might happen. Yet I have a feeling that at this point, only Kaiba can restore balance to his own soul room.
End of Shadii's POV
That day everything annoyed Seto, even the smallest detail in anything. Clearly he was in a terrible mood today. The day went by very slowly for Kaiba Corp, everyone was afraid to cross Seto's path. Ending his day of work, Seto turned off his laptop computer after saving his work and put it in his briefcase. He exited his office and got in the elevator, where he literally punched the buttons to go to the first floor. He quickly left, glaring at anything that was in his presence and headed for his limo that, as always, was waiting. He yelled at the driver for no apparent reason and then they headed home.
The change from having the young Seto fighting the other Seto for control to having only the other, had made him cranky beyond belief, though he didn't know why he felt that way. He was completely unaware that anyone had been in his soul room. In fact, he had never been there himself, as those who don't have yamis are always in control of their vessels, so there is no way for him to end up in his soul room under normal circumstances.
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"Big brother!" Mokuba happily ran to Seto as he entered the mansion. "Welcome home Seto!"
Seto, who wasn't in the mood to deal with even Mokuba, simply pushed him away. "I'm busy kid." He walked into his home office and continued working. Mokuba stood there speechless.
Shadii appeared in front of Seto's desk. He had been watching and it was obvious everything needed to be fixed. "Who are you?" Seto sounded like he wanted to shot Shadii on the spot for coming into his house and bothering him. How did he get in anyway?
"Kaiba, there is something you must fix once and for all, you must make a choice." The millennium key glowed a bright golden light and soon Seto found himself in the hall between his two soul rooms.
"What happened? Where am I?" Seto looked around confused. He felt like he didn't move but his surroundings told him otherwise.
"You are in your soul room," Shadii's voice echoed. "I am sorry I caused an imbalance, but you would have to face this sooner or later anyway. Only you can fix this, I will make sure no one interferes from the outside, now go and explore your own mind. Certain doors will only open up for you," the voice faded away.
Seto never believed in any of this, but somehow he knew it was true. First he entered the younger Seto's room. He found what looked like a young boy's room, but this just wasn't any room. This was his room before he became an orphan. Everything was the same except the games and toys where broken now and there were two plushies on the floor. He recognized the Blue Eyes White Dragon but he didn't have a plushie of Mokuba in the past.
He heard the noise of metal against the floor and turned around to find a large robot at the door. "Come," The robot started to walk away. Seto followed the robot into the other room. A door opened on the floor and a platform came up, "enter."
Seto stood on the platform, it was lowered and he found himself in a place that looked like a futuristic technology arsenal. Computers, robots, cars, helicopters and machines that not even he had any idea what they were, all very high tech and futuristic, were everywhere. He was beginning to like this place, it could be great to play around with all those cool machines, to take them apart and put them back together again. There was so much technology, almost as much as in his dreams.
"Do you like this room?" A voice came from a dark corner of the large room. He looked around for it. There was little light, but it reflected on the silver walls, so the room was quite clear except for that corner. The man who spoke came closer, the darkness moved with him, surrounding him always, as if it was a part of him.
"Who are you?" Seto asked.
"I am your true self, Seto Kaiba. Upon taking a closer look at him, Seto realized that this man looked just like him, but he was older.
"My true self?" Seto was still surprised by the look alike.
"Yes, you are the vessel of both rooms and I am a projection of you." The man had a serious, cold and emotionless expression, yet he could almost see a little bit of sadness in his eyes as well.
"How is this possible?" Seto questioned.
The older Seto looked at him; it was as if he was always glaring. "Not I or that boy, are supposed to exist like this. Your soul is divided and that cannot be. You must choose one and become one with your choice."
This was getting very confusing for Seto. "What do you mean by that?"
The older Seto was clearly trying to keep his temper in check and not to hit the present Seto. He didn't have much patient, but his existence depended on the vessel's choice. "Choose either me or the boy to join with. I think your choice is clear. This was not to happen for a few years, you were not to come here so soon, but thanks to a strange visitor, it was possible to make the process faster." The older Seto began to walk and the present Seto followed him. They left the large room full of technology to enter a smaller, much darker room. "I will leave you now; I think I'll let the boy go first." The older Seto left the room, closing the door.
"You're here!" The young Seto ran to the present Seto, he jumped on him and hugged him, just like Mokuba would. "I get to go first, huh? Good this is all you'll need." A light blue light surrounded Seto and the young Seto. The light only lasted a few seconds, but Seto felt as if he lived his life all over again. He remembered everything so clearly; he remembered who he used to be. "You're always trying to leave me behind. You're trying to replace me with him, but I was there from the beginning. Only the locket, which represents your little brother, kept me connected to you. The locket has been destroyed now, so you can't depend on Mokuba anymore. You need to make a choice to bring who you used to be into the present and future or to replace who you used to be with who you might become and you have to do it for yourself, not only because of Mokuba. You have to want it to happen, not just do it because you feel your should."
The door was opened again and the older Seto returned. "Are you finished? It's my turn now." Darkness surrounded him and the present Seto. This time Seto felt like he was living his possible future, he was seeing who he might become; did he want to be that way? "You'll have power, you'll have technology, you'll have all you've ever wanted. So choose me now Seto, you know I'm the best choice"
Seto looked at both of them for a moment. "No, that isn't everything I want, there's more, I might have forgotten for some time, but I remember now." The older Seto looked surprised and the younger one was happy. "You're not who I want to become, as much as I tried to put my past behind, now I realized it wasn't the past I was leaving behind, it was myself."
xoxox xox xoxox
In a flash of bright blue light, Seto was home, again in control of his vessel. "You have chosen well," Shadii spoke before disappearing. Some souls where free spirits, souls that did not always follow the path before them. Those souls could experience conflicts within themselves sometimes, until they found a new path to follow, one that they had chosen on their own free will, not necessarily the destiny initially intended for them. Shadii received his answer after all.
For a few moments, Seto wondered if everything he saw was real. He still hung on to logic and didn't fully believe the stories about spirits and soul rooms, but for now he had more important things to think about. He had many things to fix in Kaiba Corp tomorrow, but right now he had to talk to Mokuba.
xoxox xox xoxox
Now there was only one room in his soul. The young Seto watched all the vessel did from there. He was a part of Seto, a part that he wanted gone but now accepted, a part that he would learn to like about himself, who he used to be, his true self. The boy smiled, it looked like everything worked out between the brothers after all and soon everything in Kaiba Corp would be fixed as well.
"Come my friends; let's go see what cool technology we can play with." The boy told the little toy robot and the plushies. Now he had all his plushies back, all three Blue Eyes White Dragons and Mokuba and all his toys and games were repaired. A passage opened on the floor and the little boy jumped in. He smiled as he looked around his true soul room.
This room was much larger than the other secret room had been and much more futuristic. The boy grinned, his technology was far more advanced and powerful then the other Seto had been. This boy, didn't settle for just good enough, he had more ambition and determination, it wasn't about appearing powerful but about being trully powerful while remaining playful.
"Let's play the take over the world with technology game." If only Shadii knew the true nature of the boy's being, he might have worried more than with the older one. Yet this was indeed the best and happiest choice for Seto, the world would just have to deal with it. Appearances can be deceiving sometimes and sometimes it's the most innocent ones that can create the most chaos. "Life is a game and I'm here to win!"
End of Card 53
xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox
54
End of Deck X
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Rurouni Kenshin. In Card 53, the big robot was designed after Wren from Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium and the small golden one was designed after Robo from Chrono Trigger.
Card 52: Blue Eyes
The heavy rain crashed against the windows of the car threatening to break them. Soon the two people in the car reached their destination. The mansion stood tall and strong, unmoved by the violent wind and unaffected by the abundant heavy rain. The two people in the car quickly ran inside to escape the rain as soon as the car was parked in front of the mansion.
Just as requested, their belongings were delivered to the mansion, however everything was still in boxes, but it was a late hour of the night and neither of them felt like unpacking. What's the hurry if they had the rest of their happy lives to unpack, they planned to live here forever, but the young couple didn't know that their lives would soon be cut short and the mansion would be purchased by someone else.
"Nice place you have here," the young woman commented.
"Yeah," her husband smiled. "I inherited this place from my uncle."
The woman looked at a picture that hung on the wall. "This was your uncle?"
Her husband nodded in response.
"What happened to him?"
Her husband paused thinking about it before answering. "No one knows... the only information I was given was that he was killed by a ghost who lives here, of course there is no such a thing."
The topic of the man's uncle and the ghost who supposedly killed him was not further discussed as neither of them believed in such things. The young couple, tired from the trip, decided to get some rest. They headed upstairs to the fifth floor of the large mansion. There was an old room with a bed; the only other furniture in the room was a small table with a lamp on it. Tired from their trip, sleep came to them quickly.
xoxox xox xoxox
A loud crash of thunder was heard hours later. The woman was wakened by it and glanced at her husband after tuning the lamp on. He was still sleeping beside her. She rolled her eyes and concluded her husband slept like a rock and nothing could wake him, then turned the lights off and tried to fall asleep again. However, she couldn't fall asleep, she felt as if there was someone watching her, yet there was no one else there.
The storm continued to get worse as the wind tried to break the walls of the mansion that still stayed strong. The heavy rain pushed by the winds hit the windows with amazing force constantly. Then there was the thunder that crashed loudly without warning. She wondered if it was simply the storm that made her nervous, or if there was something more to worry about. The woman whose name was Juliet, decided that she needed to calm herself before going to sleep. Maybe some milk would help, so she headed off to the kitchen, their refrigerator should have been stoked as per the instructions.
Juliet quietly walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She turned on the lights and headed down the stairs. The storm continued to rage outside and it scared her, but she kept telling herself she wasn't a little girl and shouldn't be frightened by such things. Another crash of loud thunder landed near by, causing a short-circuit and making Juliet almost scream.
She took a deep breath and continued walking, touching the walls in hopes of not getting lost in the large mansion she has just beginning to get to know. Juliet managed to find her way in the darkness and finally reached the kitchen. The occasional thunder that crashed near by accompanied by plenty of lightning, lighted her path every now and then. She opened the refrigerator and took some milk out. The electricity had only been gone for a few minutes so the milk was still cold.
Suddenly, the wind got stronger and the rain threatened to make holes on the walls. Of course the mansion was built strong enough to withstand such storms with no problems, yet Juliet felt as if something terrible was about to happen. Forgetting about her glass of milk, she ran in the darkness back to the room she shared with her husband. She tripped several times as she wasn't paying attention to where she was going due to her hurry. She didn't understand why this panic had suddenly taken over, but she knew that there was something wrong.
She was almost back in their room when her suspensions were confirmed by a terror filled scream of agony that Juliet knew belonged to her husband. She ran as fast as she could and opened the door to their room. The electricity returned and the storm began to calm down. The light just outside their room was left on and Juliet stood at the door staring at the dead body of her husband. She turned on the lights inside the room to get a better look and screamed when she saw his expression of pure terror, as if it was fear itself that had killed him.
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Months later, the doctors of a mental institution where Juliet now resided, were trying their best to convince her that a ghost did not kill her husband, but there was just no way to reason with her. She kept going on and on about the spirit that spoke to her, claiming that he was only taking what was rightfully his. She had asked the spirit what it meant and the spirit said that he husband died because he claimed to own this mansion.
She was not of the descendants he cursed so her life was sparred if she left. The poor young woman, everyone who worked there pitied her. How she would spend hours speaking of the spirit with blue eyes. She was terrified to even go near anyone with blue eyes thinking that it was another incarnation of the ghost. She would never recover from this.
The question came as to what would happen to the mansion. The family members that would inherit it after hearing Juliet's side of the story did not want anything to do with it, so the mansion would be sold to the highest bidder. Pictures of the mansion were posted online and in magazines and many people bid when the auction came, but one particular person had taken a liking to that mansion even if he hasn't visited it. He was the one who won the auction, Seto Kaiba.
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Mokuba sat next to the window of Seto's private jet as they flew to see their new mansion. "Where are we going big brother?"
"To our new mansion, the one I showed you in the picture," Seto answered without taking his eyes off the laptop computer's screen.
"Isn't that where Dracula lives?" Mokuba didn't like the mansion, but Seto just couldn't understand why.
The rest of the trip went by quietly and uneventfully, until they arrived at their new mansion. Seto had ordered the place to be cleaned and filled with new furniture. He was also told of the story of the ghost when he was finishing up the paper work, but of course he did not believe it.
xoxox xox xoxox
The Kaiba brothers arrived at the mansion around mid night. Mokuba was very tired from the trip and after he managed to find his room, he decided to go to sleep. Seto's room was right next to Mokuba's, but the CEO, as always, was staying up late working. He was typing on his laptop computer when it began to rain. The wind, the heavy rain and the thunder signaled the beginning of a storm. The storm became stronger and soon the electricity was out. Seto shut down his laptop computer before its battery ran out and searched for a flashlight, the emergency generators had not yet been installed.
The loud rain, wind and thunder woke Mokuba. He covered himself completely, hoping that the covers would block out the sound, but they didn't. Mokuba somehow knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he stayed there, so without thinking about it any longer, he ran to his brother's room.
Seto had by then found a flashlight that he placed on a small table next to his bed in case he needed to get up for whatever reason. He was currently fast asleep, hugging his blue eyes white dragon plushie. Something watched him from the shadows, slowly coming closer and it wasn't Mokuba.
At that very moment, Mokuba opened the door and the spirit quickly disappeared. He had to get the new guy when he was alone. He could sense that he was the one claiming this mansion. The younger one should live to carry out the mission that the girl hasn't completed and neither have any of the others he let escape.
Mokuba searched for Seto in the darkness of the room. Lightning suddenly came, lighting the room momentarily. Mokuba jumped at the sudden light and noise, but managed to notice that his brother was asleep. He didn't want to bother Seto simply because of the storm, so he got into bed and tried to sleep now that he felt safer being with his brother.
The spirit reappeared in Seto's room a few moments later. It was clear the young one wasn't going anywhere as he had already fallen asleep. Soon the storm began to calm and by morning it was over.
xoxox xox xoxox
When morning came, Seto woke up to find Mokuba using him as a pillow. He figured his little brother must have been frightened by last night's storm and that's why he came. Seto gently got Mokuba off and placed him on the bed without waking him. He then left the room quietly, took a quick shower and went to get some breakfast ready.
The CEO was almost to the kitchen when he heard the doorbell ring. He didn't know who could possibly be coming here, but he went to answer it anyway. Upon opening the door, he saw a young woman with messy blond hair that was badly cut as if it was done with a knife and looked like it hasn't been brushed for ages. She was wearing white pants and a white shirt with a label he didn't care to read and was covered in mud. "He told me that this place belonged to him and you have to find the owner!" She looked at his eyes and started screaming. "Blue Eyes don't kill me!" Without wasting another second, Seto slammed the door shut and locked it. He didn't know who that creepy girl was and he didn't want to find out.
He once again headed to the kitchen and almost jumped a mile when he saw that the strange girl was there. He looked at the opened window and it all became clear. "Have mercy Blue Eyes! Take away the curse! I tried to do what you said, but they won't let me. They say you don't exist. They say I made you up in my imagination after my husband died, but I saw the look of terror in his face. You killed him!" She suddenly became very angry and threw the nearest object, a cookie jar, at Seto, who quickly jumped out of the way.
"Get out!" He yelled at her, but she didn't seam to understand.
"I'll kill you spirit! I'll kill you ghost! Just like you killed him!"
Seto stepped back. He didn't want to go anywhere near this mud covered freak let alone drag her out. So he quickly devised a plan. He would run, find something to hit her on the head with, then throw it at her from a safe distance, that or just call the police. Deciding upon the second, he ran off grabbing his cell phone, which he had forgotten in the living room the night before and called the local police. The strange girl made a mess of the kitchen but nothing else happened, that was the only room that got damaged.
After that creepy girl was gone, Seto made sure to close all the windows in the entire mansion and get the security system installed as soon as possible. Hopefully, she would not return.
Mokuba came downstairs soon after, saying that he couldn't sleep with all the noise. Seto decided not to explain what really happened so Mokuba wouldn't get scared and hate the mansion even more. Regardless of all that's happened, Seto liked the mansion for some unknown reason, as if it was meant to be his. Mokuba eventually noticed the trashed kitchen but Seto simply said he had a small accident and broke a few things. Even if it sounded illogical, Mokuba never questioned his dear brother so he believed him.
The day passed by uneventfully, until the night came and once again the same storm returned as if there was something controlling the weather around the mansion. Mokuba was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but Seto assured him that the storm would pass and better weather would come soon. That night the electricity went out also and again Mokuba got scared and stayed in his brother's room.
The only difference was that this time Seto got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly so thirsty, he just knew he was. Mokuba would be okay for a few minutes and he had already secured all the windows and doors, plus some of his employees would be coming in a few days to take care of stuff around the mansion.
When Seto was gone, Mokuba woke up. He couldn't find his brother but tried to tell himself that Seto would be back soon. He felt strange, as if he was being watched. "Big brother?" There was no answer but the sound of the wind, rain and thunder. "Seto, are you there?" Mokuba knew he was alone in the room, yet wished with all his heart and soul that he would receive an answer from his brother. Unable to wait any longer, Mokuba got up and set off to find Seto, yet he felt something push him into the wall, but he didn't hit the wall face first, instead he came out at the other side, as if the wall had opened for him.
xoxox xox xoxox
Seto was heading back to his room when his flashlight's battery mysteriously died. This was silly, there was nothing to be afraid of, yet something made him fear, a strange force. He had to get back to his room immediately, something might be wrong with Mokuba. He didn't know why, but he started running.
The wind howled outside. The raindrops fell light knives against the mansion's walls. Lightning and thunder and more lightning came, lighting the way, creating shadows on the walls. The light was irregular, making the shadows look eerie. He ran; he ran as fast as he could, as if the shadows were chasing him.
The sound of the rain, the sound of the wind, the lightning, the thunder, that was all there was. "Mokuba?" There was no answer. Once again the lightning lit the room. "Mokuba!"
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Mokuba had been walking along a strange passage for a few minutes, after giving up on trying to go back the way he come he tried to find another way out. He could hear the echo of the storm that reflected off the walls of the small passage, making it sound ghostly and threatening. It was very dark and he didn't know where he was going.
He kept walking along the passage, following his hand on the wall, until he came to a small room. He wasn't sure in what part of the mansion he was, he hasn't explored it all and doing so was certainly better during the day light in the company of his brother, not alone in the darkness of a stormy night.
There were many old things stashed away in this room. The ones who where supposed to prepare the mansion for them must have not come here. The lightning, that became more constant, lit the room enough for Mokuba to see several objects covered in dust. He looked up at the source of the light and realized the ceiling in this section was made of glass. There didn't seem to be any doors or windows here just the passage.
Mokuba observed every object there slowly. There was a glass cup in a small table. A woman's shoes on the floor next to it. A necklace lay on the chair, There were dresses and women's clothing. A large base, a few books, one of them opened. Papers with faded words scattered on the floor. A painting, a very familiar painting. Mokuba came closer to the painting looking at it with attention every time the lighting lit the room. It was his brother, but he was younger. He was standing there next to a man he didn't know. Mokuba didn't know how this painting got there, but he knew the one in it was Seto, or was he?
xoxox xox xoxox
"Mokuba!" Seto called out almost to the point of panic. He had a strange feeling about this place, this storm and this night. He hated to admit it, but it felt like fear, unreasonable fear. Maybe his little brother got lost in the darkness on his way back from the bathroom or something.
That was no reason to feel such intense fear; he would find Mokuba and lead him back to his room safe and sound. Then they would both go to sleep and the next morning when they wake up, the electricity would be back, the sun would be shining, the storm would be long gone and he would laugh at himself for feeling so afraid for no reason.
"Mokuba!" He yelled again quickening his pace as he searched for his brother. "Answer me!" Seto stopped and stared into the darkness, nothing there. He felt his heartbeats getting faster and his breaths uneven. The light from the skies that came with every lightning stopped coming. There was no light at all. He blinked several times, trying to make his vision adjust to the darkness. All he saw was strange shadows dancing on the walls, as if trying to lure him closer and attack.
The shadows were surrounding him and he felt unable to move. He could not explain the strange sensation that came over him suddenly and he certainly didn't like it. The shadows seamed to circle him, to trap him. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down before continuing his search. There's nothing to be afraid of. He's never been afraid of the dark before, not even when he was little, but it was not the darkness that scared him, it was the presence he felt was hiding in it. He felt a cold breeze, but he knew all the windows were closed. The cold became more persistent; he warped his arms around himself and shivered.
Slowly, Seto lifted his head and opened his eyes, quickly closing them again and opening them once more. The thing he saw when he first opened them was gone, probably his own imagination anyway. The storm slowly settled to regular rain. The wind became calm and instead of feeling cold, Seto began to sweat. He breathed heavily, letting himself slowly fall until he was sitting on the floor. The lights suddenly came on, making him jump to his feet. Even if the electricity had returned, he had not left the light switch on so why did this happen?
xoxox xox xoxox
Mokuba searched the walls for any kind of secret passage now that the lights were on. He moved a large painting that was sitting against the wall behind a bunch of random items and found a tunnel. He didn't know why, but once the storm was over, he wasn't quite as afraid as before.
The strange presence that he felt in the mansion that scared him before now felt safe, as if someone was guarding and protecting him. The young Kaiba soon managed to get to the end of the tunnel, pushing a thick paper like layer of wall until it was out of the way. He wondered how no one noticed that hole on the wall covered only by thick paper like material with paint on top.
By now Seto had calmed down and was looking for his brother again, this time somehow knowing he was alright. He spotted Mokuba at the end of the hall after turning a corner. "Mokuba!"
"Big Brother!" Mokuba ran to Seto's arms and his brother picked him up.
"Where were you?" Seto asked.
"I'm not sure how, but I ended up in a secret passage and got lost, it was scary!"
Seto hugged his little brother, "It's okay now."
Mokuba took a deep breath, "Seto, I saw a picture of you... It was a painting in a room with a bunch of other stuff."
"Are you sure it was a picture of me?" Seto thought it could have been someone else, someone that used to live here long ago and that just looked like him.
"Come see it!" Mokuba lead Seto the same way he came before. They reached the hole in the wall and Mokuba crawled in.
"Where are you going?"
"It's this way!" Mokuba called from inside the tunnel.
Seto tried to go in, but the tunnel was too small. "I can't get in, come back."
Mokuba returned, "the painting is kind of big so I'm sure it won't fit in the tunnel. Maybe we can figure out where the passage in your room is and how to keep it open.
Seto couldn't deny he felt a strange curiosity about the supposed painting of him. "We'll go look in the morning, let's go back to sleep now."
xoxox xox xoxox
That night Seto Kaiba had a strange dream. He was only watching in this dream and could not affect the people in it in any way. "Get out boy!" A man yelled as he pushed a young boy out a large door. He recognized this place, it was the main entrance of the mansion he was in, but it looked different, as if this scene had taken place many years ago, long before he was born.
"But uncle, there's a storm outside!" The boy complained. For some reason, Seto always saw the dream from a perspective in which he couldn't look at the boy's face.
"Never call me that, you little useless brat!" The man kicked the boy. "You shall address me as sir." Seto felt sorry for the boy and had an urge kick the man.
The boy sniffled, holding back tears as he sat on the ground. "This is my house. This is papa's house."
Suddenly, things changed in the dream and Seto went from just watching to being one of the characters. The rain falling on him felt so real, as did the cold wind. "I want to go but I can't until I keep my promise, otherwise I can't rest in peace." The boy looking right at Seto, unaffected by the fact that he just appeared there. He stood up and walked toward him. "Let me tell you how it happened," the boy extended his hand.
As if he had no control over his actions, Seto took it. In a bright light both Seto and the boy disappeared. As the light came, Seto could see the boy's face clearly, he looked like him.
"This is my mother," the dream's scene changed and they found themselves in a city from many years ago, where there was a lady at a market. She had golden hair and blue eyes, just like Seto's. "That is my father," the boy pointed at two men walking down the street specifically at the younger one. The other one was about two years older. The boy's father also looked a bit like Seto, his hair was brown as were his eyes. The man beside him had brown eyes also but his hair was black. "That..." The boy spoke with anger, "is my father's brother."
The entire scene froze and no one in the dream moved. Only Seto and the boy could move. Seto listened.
"Papa and... the other man both like her, in fact, they all like her. They say she's beautiful, smart and nice, she is. They say that the most beautiful thing Mama has are her eyes." The scene slowly faded away, being replaced by that of a wedding. "She married the one who would become my father and his brother never approved of it."
The scene changed again this time to show several people in a room that looked like an office from many years ago. "My grandparents owned some lands that they wrote in their will they must be shared by their two sons, but he wanted them all." The boy was clearly referring to his uncle.
"He couldn't legally keep them all, so he gave my father a small portion and kept the best lands for himself. The lands my father got were not fertile, it was impossible to grow anything there. My father suspected there was something about the soil, so he dug deep until he discovered the cause of the land's infertility, oil."
The scene changed once more, to the place where the mansion was but it was still being built. "My parents became rich and built this mansion here. I was not born until later. My mother died when she gave birth to me, my father used to tell me about her all the time and even if I had not met her, I missed her and now more so since I've gained the ability to looking into the past and future of my family."
All this time Seto quietly listened to the boy's narration.
"One day, my father mysteriously died. I suspected and now know that it was him, his brother wanted the fortune. I was still young and he was the first option to take care of me. He was always mean. He accused me of taking away my mother's life for myself." Tears came from the boy's eyes. "If I could stop existing to make her live I would. The night after the wedding, the night when I was born, the night when my parents moved here and the night when he was told of what my father found in the land, it was raining hard, there was wind lightning and thunder, it was also like that the night my father was killed. He got angry at those memories when the weather was like that and threw me out. One day, I didn't come back."
The boy changed, he grew up until he looked around Seto's age. Seto couldn't help it but to stare, they could be twins. "I lived my life as well as I could." Many scenes appeared, changing every second, showing a summary of his life. He grew older with each scene, changing until it all stopped when he was an adult. "It came to a point when my family was not doing so well." The scene turned into and old house. There was the older Seto look alike, a woman and a little girl, by the looks of it their daughter.
The spirit that had been showing Seto all of this left, but Seto was not paying attention to him, but at the other version of the spirit, the man in the illusion. The parents took the little girl upstairs and Seto followed.
The dream Seto who was invisible to the other people in the dream, he followed the family upstairs where the put the girl in her bed. After they left, the girl opened her eyes and looked at Seto and he realized he was once again a character of the dream.
"Papa?" She asked unsure. He looked like her father, but he was younger and dressed differently. Who ever he was, the girl's fever and headache didn't allow her to think too much of it. "Papa my head hurts, please make it stop." Tears started running down her face.
To watch such a young sweet child in pain was just wrong. Before Seto could say anything, the scene changed once again and he found himself in his room, awake. He got out of bed, yet his body remained there, as if his spirit was detached.
"This way," a ghostly shadow with glowing blue eyes spoke. They were those same hypnotic eyes that could cause enough fear to kill, but now he felt no fear. Seto followed the spirit, the wall opened as he pushed it. "It doesn't open the other way, so don't try this when you return to your vessel, the only other way out is too small." Seto and the ghost went inside the tunnel that led to the room Mokuba had found. There Seto saw the painting. It was the spirit while he was still a boy, standing next to his father. "My mother's things were kept in this room," the ghost searched for a specific item.
The spirit took a base from under other random things and placed it on the small table. "My mother grew a special kind of flower that cured illnesses, much like that of my daughter. The last one was kept in this room; I used to come here when I was younger. The entrance used to be normal sized, but it was sealed because my uncle didn't want to look at any of these items. I needed the flower to cure her so I returned to recover it and recover my mansion and fortune to give my family a better life. I couldn't let that murderer keep it any longer."
"When I came, he stayed out of my way. I was no longer a little kid he could pick on. I would give him what he deserved soon enough, but first I needed to take that flower back. He snuck up on me and killed me. Angered by all that happened, with my last seconds of life I vowed to take revenge, to curse his family and return this place to mine. The fortune is long gone, but the mansion still remains."
"I somehow turned into a ghost and was able to bring the flower back to my wife. After that was accomplished, I was returned here where I was trapped. As a ghost, I was limited to being in this mansion until I finished my last unfinished business. I didn't know if my daughter survived, but now I'm sure she did, because she was your great grandmother."
Seto was surprised by the entire story. He felt like the spirit was telling the truth. "Two holes are dug with a curse; I dug myself into being trapped here, guarding the mansion until my descendant reclaimed it. Now that this mansion has been returned to whom it rightfully belongs, I have no more unfinished business and I can finally rest in peace." The ghost disappeared in a flash of blue light and Seto's spirit was returned to his vessel.
xoxox xox xoxox
The rose and Seto got up. The dream was still clear in his mind, but even if he felt like it was true, being Seto Kaiba, he ignored it as just another dream and carried on with his life as if it never happened. Juliet mysteriously recovered her health and was able to go on with her life. The Kaiba brothers lived peacefully in the mansion and the ghost was never seen or heard of again.
xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox
Card 53: Soul Room
Shadii's Point of View
I, Shadii, have the mission of protecting the millennium items forever. I know where they come from and I must follow where they go for the good of the world. Upon searching for answers, I find that the path of the millennium items may change, so I seek an answer to this question: why? If the millennium rod was once in the hands of Seth, the high priest, why is it that his present incarnation refuses the item?
I hope to find at least a clue in the Soul Room of Seto Kaiba. That is the room I'll be visiting today, as for tomorrow, it all depends on what I find today. Finding Kaiba was no problem. He is working in his office at Kaiba Corp. My millennium key makes me invisible, so I approach without him knowing and appear only when it's too late for him to stop me. I point the millennium key at him and enter his Soul Room. I am surprised to find myself at a hallway with two doors. Seto Kaiba does not have a yami, so why does he have two soul rooms?
I decide to enter the one on the right first. The metal the door is made of is very thick, making the door heavy and hard to open. When I finally manage to open it, I feel like I have entered the future, I've never seen so much technology in one room. I can't even tell what color the walls are because there are computers and other strange machines I do not recognize covering them. The ceiling is like one large screen that displays many computer programming codes that I do not understand.
Unlike in must rooms, in this one there is no bed which means sleeping and resting are unimportant for Kaiba. There is nothing much more than computers here, except for one object in a corner of the room. I approach the desk where a laptop computer is. Next to it there is a locket that's shaped like a duel monsters card. Maybe I will find some clues in it; it is the only thing in this room that appears to be out of place.
I reach for the locket but stop when I hear a strange sound. As I turn around I see a trap door opening up on the floor and from it a robot about 7 feet tall comes out. The machine is mostly metal, except his face that looks human-like. He has short black hair and metallic long elf-like ears. His silver eyes glare at me, "intruder."
"Please, I do not wish to fight, I come in peace." I try to speak to it, but the robot does not listen. He raises his arm and points a laser cannon attached to his arm at me. I move quickly out of the way and the shot he fired hits the locket. Something tells me that locket was an important part of this soul room and now it's destroyed by another part of the soul room itself, there is a certain symbolic meaning to it I believe, but I have no time to analyze it now.
I try to jump into the trap door. This is where his true soul room lies, but when I step closer to it, I feel a thousand bolts of electricity hit me all over my body and fall back near the main door. With no time to waste, I quickly exit the room and close the door. My hands are still touching the metal door when I feel it become hot. I quickly remove my hands, burned by the heated metal and conclude that that robot must have fired a laser at the door.
I think about leaving now, before I mess things up here, it would appear that the balance within his soul room is much more easily upset than I thought. But I'm here to search for answers and so far I've found nothing related to the millennium items at all. Maybe I should try my luck in this other room. The door is also made of metal. Both doors are identical, which is very unusual. As I open the door, I notice that even if from the outside it looks identical, this one is much lighter due to the metal being thinner. Unlike the first door, I open this one without much effort. I prepare myself for a well armed robot to jump on me any second, but soon I realize that it will not happen.
This room is very different from the other one. There is a large computer and next to it a desk with a laptop. Two computers are very few compared to the many I saw in the other room. There is also a bed with plushies on it. One is a Blue Eyes White Dragon, the other looks like Mokuba. The walls are a light blue and unlike the cold metallic floor of the other room, this one has a carpet in a shade of blue a little darker from the walls, but still relatively light.
This room looks like it's a safe place, but it's always the dangerous places that hold the clues. I feel something poking my foot and look down to find a small golden colored robot. It's almost round and only about 10 inches tall. It doesn't look like the one in the other room at all. That one was large, built for battle obviously. His expressionless human-like face made him look more dangerous. This one is clearly all machine; no human-like aspect anywhere. It looks like a harmless toy rather than a machine of destruction.
I bend over to look at it and it seems to be looking at me. The green lights he has for eyes flash a few times as if he where blinking. "I see you met my friend," I hear a voice behind me, followed by the sound of the door, which I had left open in case I needed to run, being closed. The voice is that of a young boy, no older than ten years at the very most. I look at this new guest and find a younger version of Seto Kaiba. The boy looks exactly like him, except of course for the age difference. The little robot runs to the boy. It's a funny little machine.
"This is my robot friend, he's the only one here who plays with me, I build him myself." The boy picks up the golden robot toy. "You're in my room; have you come to challenge me at a game?" The boy doesn't sound angry that I'm here, he sounds like he wants me to challenge him. He looks like he just wants to play for fun, but he will try his best anyway.
"Who are you?" I ask the boy.
"I'm Seto, are we going to play yes or no?" He's getting a little impatient now, but something tells me that this boy knows more than he's showing so I agree.
"Very well I will play a game with you, but you must answer some questions."
The boy laughs. "Only if you win! Let's play chess first! What's your name?" He gets a chess board and a box with chess pieces from a pile of board games in a corner of the room and we both sit on the carpet as he sets the game.
"Shadii," having completed the task of putting each of the chess pieces where it should be, he tells me to go first so I move my piece. I must win this game to find the answers I seek.
xoxox xox xoxox
I lost the chess game, but the boy is willing to give me another chance to win some answers. This time he offers to play Duel Monsters but I do not have a deck so I must pass. He asks to play a videogame instead and again I pass, I was never good at modern day games such as video games and I have to time to waste, there must be some game I can beat him at.
Right now he's searching for a game in the pile of toys. Perhaps I should go investigate in the other room after all and come back here later. I turn around and head for the door, but he runs in front of me and stands in front of the door. "Don't leave!"
I look at the playing cards in his hand. "We can play poker or crazy eights, we could even build card castles!" We sit in the carpet again and play and again he beats me. This is not my day. He seams very happy about having won, though he looked like he knew he would win all the time. I'm starting to think that something in this room is making me lose.
The boy smiles, apparently he thinks he found a new toy, that's what he thinks I am, just another piece of a game, a game he can beat. Tired of this, I tell myself that I must get some answers now and try to do just that. "I've played with you, now please tell me about the other room."
The boy looks at the floor with sadness in his eyes, then he looks up at me and glares. "You didn't win, so I won't tell you!"
I'm growing very tired of this. "I must know!" The boy ignores me and goes to sit on his bed. He hugs the plushies, Blue Eyes White Dragon and Mokuba. I sigh and try to sound calm; obviously I'm not the best at dealing with children. "It's alright," I sit down at the end of the bed. "Please tell me." The young Kaiba holds the plushies closer and shakes his head. He looks like he's holding back tears, what could be in that other room that made him so upset. "Tell me, whatever it is you're worried about, I can help." I try once more to get him to trust me with whatever information he's holding back but it's useless, he just sits there in silence. I sigh again and get up, I'm not going anywhere like this, I might as well try to explore that other room again and hope I don't get captured by any robots. I get up and head for the door.
"Wait! Don't go! I don't want to be alone when he comes!" The boy calls me.
"Who is he?" I inquire.
"He wants to make me disappear," I nod as if telling him to go on. "He hates me, even if I didn't do anything to him. He wants me gone and he will come after me again soon, I can feel it! He stole my other plushie too, he said I already had too many so he took it."
"It's alright, tell who this he is."
The boy looks at me with fear in his eyes, "Seto Kaiba."
This is getting very confusing, even for me. Someone who is supposed to have only one soul room has two. A boy who looks exactly like him but years younger now tells me that Seto Kaiba is who he's afraid of. Isn't this boy also a part of him? How is any of this possible? "Tell me more," I wait for him to continue but he doesn't. "I might be able to help, just tell me, please."
The boy just closes his eyes and hugs the plushies. "The end is near," then the room falls silent.
"I can't help if you don't tell me more," I insist.
He looks at me again. "He stole my locket. He came in here and took it from me," I give him a confused look.
"What locket?" Apparently this item is important to him, but why? "My card shaped locket." Oh no, it must have been that locket I saw, but it was destroyed. Before I can say anything else, the door opens and there stands that robot from before. His silver eyes glow projecting a holographic image. In it I see myself jumping out of the way of the laser, I didn't avoid it fast enough; the laser did hit me and went through me, changed from red to blue and destroyed the locket. Is this what truly happened? I felt no pain so I assumed I had dodged it.
"It was you!" The boy points at me. "You destroyed my locket! I knew Seto couldn't do it alone, it was impossible!" I did not mean to cause this. How could I have known? I failed to enter and leave someone's soul room as I should, without changing anything.
I understand now, the laser used my energy to destroy the locket. I use the power of my Millennium Key to leave the room. I cannot fight this robot but I'm certain that he cannot hurt the boy. I'm starting to understand what's going on, but what I don't know is how this will affect the real Seto Kaiba. They are both a part of him and only he can decide which one stays and which one disappears.
xoxox xox xoxox
My millennium key makes me invisible, so Kaiba is still unaware of my presence. He blinks a few times and looks around the office before resuming his typing. I understand now... From the hall in the middle of the two rooms they both look the same because they are the same. It's actually one room divided into two. Each room represents certain characteristics of the owner of the soul room.
If there was a version of Kaiba in one room, there must be another version of him in the other room also. Both are the same person, two different aspects of him fighting for control. I conclude that the boy's room is who he was in the past, so the other room must be who he will become in the future and the two of them combined are his present self. This situation is very rare and I only saw it once before, long ago in the mind of a man called Kenshin Himura.
His situation was a little different, but in his soul rooms I found a boy who said was called Shinta and a man who was called Battosai. Both of them were part of Kenshin and were constantly fighting for control. I recall that they each had an item that connected them to the vessel. The locket must have been the boy's item and now that it's gone, he cannot contact Kaiba or have any influence in his behavior, only the other can. This is not good. If I don't restore balance, who knows what might happen. Yet I have a feeling that at this point, only Kaiba can restore balance to his own soul room.
End of Shadii's POV
That day everything annoyed Seto, even the smallest detail in anything. Clearly he was in a terrible mood today. The day went by very slowly for Kaiba Corp, everyone was afraid to cross Seto's path. Ending his day of work, Seto turned off his laptop computer after saving his work and put it in his briefcase. He exited his office and got in the elevator, where he literally punched the buttons to go to the first floor. He quickly left, glaring at anything that was in his presence and headed for his limo that, as always, was waiting. He yelled at the driver for no apparent reason and then they headed home.
The change from having the young Seto fighting the other Seto for control to having only the other, had made him cranky beyond belief, though he didn't know why he felt that way. He was completely unaware that anyone had been in his soul room. In fact, he had never been there himself, as those who don't have yamis are always in control of their vessels, so there is no way for him to end up in his soul room under normal circumstances.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Big brother!" Mokuba happily ran to Seto as he entered the mansion. "Welcome home Seto!"
Seto, who wasn't in the mood to deal with even Mokuba, simply pushed him away. "I'm busy kid." He walked into his home office and continued working. Mokuba stood there speechless.
Shadii appeared in front of Seto's desk. He had been watching and it was obvious everything needed to be fixed. "Who are you?" Seto sounded like he wanted to shot Shadii on the spot for coming into his house and bothering him. How did he get in anyway?
"Kaiba, there is something you must fix once and for all, you must make a choice." The millennium key glowed a bright golden light and soon Seto found himself in the hall between his two soul rooms.
"What happened? Where am I?" Seto looked around confused. He felt like he didn't move but his surroundings told him otherwise.
"You are in your soul room," Shadii's voice echoed. "I am sorry I caused an imbalance, but you would have to face this sooner or later anyway. Only you can fix this, I will make sure no one interferes from the outside, now go and explore your own mind. Certain doors will only open up for you," the voice faded away.
Seto never believed in any of this, but somehow he knew it was true. First he entered the younger Seto's room. He found what looked like a young boy's room, but this just wasn't any room. This was his room before he became an orphan. Everything was the same except the games and toys where broken now and there were two plushies on the floor. He recognized the Blue Eyes White Dragon but he didn't have a plushie of Mokuba in the past.
He heard the noise of metal against the floor and turned around to find a large robot at the door. "Come," The robot started to walk away. Seto followed the robot into the other room. A door opened on the floor and a platform came up, "enter."
Seto stood on the platform, it was lowered and he found himself in a place that looked like a futuristic technology arsenal. Computers, robots, cars, helicopters and machines that not even he had any idea what they were, all very high tech and futuristic, were everywhere. He was beginning to like this place, it could be great to play around with all those cool machines, to take them apart and put them back together again. There was so much technology, almost as much as in his dreams.
"Do you like this room?" A voice came from a dark corner of the large room. He looked around for it. There was little light, but it reflected on the silver walls, so the room was quite clear except for that corner. The man who spoke came closer, the darkness moved with him, surrounding him always, as if it was a part of him.
"Who are you?" Seto asked.
"I am your true self, Seto Kaiba. Upon taking a closer look at him, Seto realized that this man looked just like him, but he was older.
"My true self?" Seto was still surprised by the look alike.
"Yes, you are the vessel of both rooms and I am a projection of you." The man had a serious, cold and emotionless expression, yet he could almost see a little bit of sadness in his eyes as well.
"How is this possible?" Seto questioned.
The older Seto looked at him; it was as if he was always glaring. "Not I or that boy, are supposed to exist like this. Your soul is divided and that cannot be. You must choose one and become one with your choice."
This was getting very confusing for Seto. "What do you mean by that?"
The older Seto was clearly trying to keep his temper in check and not to hit the present Seto. He didn't have much patient, but his existence depended on the vessel's choice. "Choose either me or the boy to join with. I think your choice is clear. This was not to happen for a few years, you were not to come here so soon, but thanks to a strange visitor, it was possible to make the process faster." The older Seto began to walk and the present Seto followed him. They left the large room full of technology to enter a smaller, much darker room. "I will leave you now; I think I'll let the boy go first." The older Seto left the room, closing the door.
"You're here!" The young Seto ran to the present Seto, he jumped on him and hugged him, just like Mokuba would. "I get to go first, huh? Good this is all you'll need." A light blue light surrounded Seto and the young Seto. The light only lasted a few seconds, but Seto felt as if he lived his life all over again. He remembered everything so clearly; he remembered who he used to be. "You're always trying to leave me behind. You're trying to replace me with him, but I was there from the beginning. Only the locket, which represents your little brother, kept me connected to you. The locket has been destroyed now, so you can't depend on Mokuba anymore. You need to make a choice to bring who you used to be into the present and future or to replace who you used to be with who you might become and you have to do it for yourself, not only because of Mokuba. You have to want it to happen, not just do it because you feel your should."
The door was opened again and the older Seto returned. "Are you finished? It's my turn now." Darkness surrounded him and the present Seto. This time Seto felt like he was living his possible future, he was seeing who he might become; did he want to be that way? "You'll have power, you'll have technology, you'll have all you've ever wanted. So choose me now Seto, you know I'm the best choice"
Seto looked at both of them for a moment. "No, that isn't everything I want, there's more, I might have forgotten for some time, but I remember now." The older Seto looked surprised and the younger one was happy. "You're not who I want to become, as much as I tried to put my past behind, now I realized it wasn't the past I was leaving behind, it was myself."
xoxox xox xoxox
In a flash of bright blue light, Seto was home, again in control of his vessel. "You have chosen well," Shadii spoke before disappearing. Some souls where free spirits, souls that did not always follow the path before them. Those souls could experience conflicts within themselves sometimes, until they found a new path to follow, one that they had chosen on their own free will, not necessarily the destiny initially intended for them. Shadii received his answer after all.
For a few moments, Seto wondered if everything he saw was real. He still hung on to logic and didn't fully believe the stories about spirits and soul rooms, but for now he had more important things to think about. He had many things to fix in Kaiba Corp tomorrow, but right now he had to talk to Mokuba.
xoxox xox xoxox
Now there was only one room in his soul. The young Seto watched all the vessel did from there. He was a part of Seto, a part that he wanted gone but now accepted, a part that he would learn to like about himself, who he used to be, his true self. The boy smiled, it looked like everything worked out between the brothers after all and soon everything in Kaiba Corp would be fixed as well.
"Come my friends; let's go see what cool technology we can play with." The boy told the little toy robot and the plushies. Now he had all his plushies back, all three Blue Eyes White Dragons and Mokuba and all his toys and games were repaired. A passage opened on the floor and the little boy jumped in. He smiled as he looked around his true soul room.
This room was much larger than the other secret room had been and much more futuristic. The boy grinned, his technology was far more advanced and powerful then the other Seto had been. This boy, didn't settle for just good enough, he had more ambition and determination, it wasn't about appearing powerful but about being trully powerful while remaining playful.
"Let's play the take over the world with technology game." If only Shadii knew the true nature of the boy's being, he might have worried more than with the older one. Yet this was indeed the best and happiest choice for Seto, the world would just have to deal with it. Appearances can be deceiving sometimes and sometimes it's the most innocent ones that can create the most chaos. "Life is a game and I'm here to win!"
End of Card 53
xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox
54
End of Deck X
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Rurouni Kenshin. In Card 53, the big robot was designed after Wren from Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium and the small golden one was designed after Robo from Chrono Trigger.