Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Angel, Risen Demon ❯ Insanity ( Chapter 2 )

Priestess: Well, I was going to make this a one-shot, but I changed my mind. This is the first fanfiction I've written on Mediaminer.org, Fanfiction.net, and Adultfanfiction.net, so I can't really reply to reviews. But thanks to all who wrote them!

If I put a lemon in it, I'll just put the URL on Fanfiction.net-Or maybe I'll take a chance and write a lemon and I might get my fic canceled. You can still read it on Mediaminer.org and Adultfanfiction.net, right?

Warnings: Insanity, depression

***

A blue-eyed man with carelessly long-banged brunette hair stared grimly out the window.

"Priest Seth?" a quiet, timid voice said from behind him.

The man swung the chair around and rose gracefully, giving the slim white-skinned woman a stern look. "Kisara, we've known each other for over three millenniums. When do you intend to honor my wishes and refer to me as 'Seto'?"

Kisara looked shy, but replied quietly, "Will we be their soon, Pries-Seto?"

Seto Kaiba, more commonly known as Kaiba and by Yugi's puppy friend about twenty other things, replied "Yes, Kisara, very soon..."

***

"C'mon, Yug, it's been seven months!" Katsuya Jonouchi whined. "When are you gunnu tell us what's bugging the other you?"

"One, his name's Atemu. Two, it's been only six months. Three, I don't really know what's so awful. I know what it is, but Atemu shouldn't be this upset! He won't even duel anymore, much less go outside. He never even speaks to me, much less returns to my body. He just sits and stares out the window and won't even take a bath. He's become unbearable to live with, I can't stand it."

Suddenly a whirring filled the air, and a shadow fell over the street. Anzu Makazi, Honda Hirotoi, Katsuya Jonouchi, Yugi Mutou, and every other living being within five miles stared up at a very (to the aforementioned four) familiar airship.

"Oh, no," Katsuya groaned as the airship landed and the door opened. "Tell me that's not-"

But there was nothing to tell. Not that he wanted to hear anyway. As soon as they saw the figure's outline, they knew.

Seto Kaiba had returned at last.

Kisara and Mokuba stayed in the doorway, Kisara because she was shy and Mokuba because he was trying to convince her that she shouldn't be so shy.

Kaiba, however, stomped strait up to Yugi and said matter-of-factly, "I want to see the Pharaoh."

Whatever Yugi had expected him to say, that obviously wasn't it. He stared up at the six-foot-tall man speechlessly, before saying in a tiny voice, "You know?"

In reply, Kaiba raised a half-fisted hand and focused. In moments, blue-white lightning blazed from his fingertips, causing everybody who could see it to gasp and back away.

"I can control electricity and draw any card from my deck at will," he replied, as if he were discussing the weather. "I can summon the 'Shadow Realm' through my computer, and bring cards to life through my Duel Disks. For a few of them, I can even revive their human selves."

He pointed to the slim, longhaired girl standing in the doorway.

"Didn't we see her in the other Yu-in Atemu's memory?" murmured Anzu.

Indeed they had. A blue-eyed white-skinned girl from the dessert being stoned by the villagers because her unnatural paleness was considered bad luck had been rescued by Priest Seth, who discovered great power in her, in the form of a white dragon.

I'll give you ten seconds to figure it out.

...

"Anyway," Kaiba said, "Where is Atemu? Now that I have magic too, I will pay my debt. At last."

They looked bewildered by this, but Yugi murmured, "Atemu...isn't in much condition to duel. One of his...um, his friends...from ancient Egypt...killed himself."

Ignoring the collective gasps, Kaiba replied suspiciously, "Shadi is immortal, Isis is a girl and in Egypt, and if the Tomb-Robber is the dead one the Pharaoh should be happy. He's been trying to kill him for millenniums!"

"Then tell him that!" Yugi cried, surprising Kaiba.

But his eyes narrowed again. "I will."

***

Another man was gazing out the window, but emptily. Once he had been a great Pharaoh, now he was a mere shell of his former self.

For the past six months, since he separated from Yugi and sat on the chair, he had not risen from it. He just remained their, gazing out the window, but seeing nothing.

Well, nothing real.

Nothing that was real anymore.

What he saw was Bakura.

Bakura laughing, Bakura smiling, Bakura plotting, Bakura bleeding. He saw Bakura as he had been at his worst, saw Bakura in the moments he hated him most.

And he longed to embrace him.

Some would call it insanity.

Insanity...What a difficult word. Hard to define. Or rather, hard to define just who it is who's insane. Some would say that Bakura and Mariku are insane, and yet to some they seem perfectly normal. Some would have called him insane before. And still others would call Kaiba or Shaadi insane.

But really, what is insanity? Being just a little bit different then everyone else? Running naked down the street shouting about rubber duckies and lemon pies? Your ideal Christmas present being a little white coat with sleeves that tie in the back? Scarring yourself for pleasure? Is that really insanity?

Or is insanity something deeper, something on the inside, something that eats away at your heart rather than your mind.

Yes, Atemu sat there and contemplated insanity much as Bakura had contemplated justice.

And his visions went past his memories, into Bakura's. He watched Bakura as a child, watched him as he hid while his village was murdered, watched him thieving and killing.

Watched his suicide, over and over.

His own lifeless life was forgotten, his own unremembered memories ripped away, his own thoughtless thoughts scattered among silence and shadows.

He forgot his hatred, forgot his pride, forgot his false body sitting there and gazing out the window. All that was left was Bakura, and slowly Atemu began to understand him.

And, had circumstances permitted, he would have sat there forever and sunk ever deeper into insanity.

But circumstances didn't permit it.

And circumstances came in the form of Seto Kaiba.