Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Final Distance ❯ As You Wish ( Chapter 8 )

It would seem that FF.net isn't too keen about italics and stuff like that…so I guess I'll have to save these fics in HTML format and then upload them, otherwise some of the effects (such as the dreams) aren't very apparent. On Media Miner they're fine, though… So I would actually suggest people to also go over there and skim through that version a bit.

Disclaimers: Nope, still don't own them, cuz otherwise I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to satisfy my need for doujinshis if I am making the sort of money ATLUS and Takahashi-sensei are making off YuGiOh and Persona.

Chapter 8-As You Wish

The sound of the clock ticking outside in the hallway resounded within Yami's head as he sat by Kaiba's bedroom door. His face was buried inside his hands, his mind going over that nightmarish scene where Kaiba went into those convulsions and collapsed without warning. Yami had carried the ailing teen upstairs to his bedroom, and Maki arrived shortly after. She had been guided by Mokuba to Kaiba's room (otherwise she might have been lost in the large Kaiba mansion for hours), where she ordered Yami out, stating that his presence was making Kaiba's condition worse. The former Pharaoh couldn't argue to that statement, for Kaiba had clutched at Yami's arm tightly one second and then tried to shove him away violently the next, his lips opening and closing at an alarming speed, spilling incoherent words. But as soon as Yami had managed to pry himself from Kaiba, the mutterings ceased. Now he was sitting outside the dark bedroom, waiting for what seemed like forever, for Maki to emerge.

"So," he heard a voice that made his head snap up so quickly he almost gave himself a whiplash. "What happened?" There was only concern in that goddess-like voice, no blame, and no suspicion. She crouched down in front of Yami, who was sitting in such a loose and sprawled position, it was hard to tell whether he was just being rude or that he was extremely tired.

"He went into convulsions…like he was gulping and hiccupping at the same time," Yami whispered, trying not to let the replaying scenes get to him too much. "And then he fainted…"

"What was he doing before that?" the young psychotherapist asked, her hand reaching out and lifting Yami's face up by the chin so that he was eye-to-eye with her. Wine red to orange-brown.

"He…" Yami paused for a bit, feeling guilty at what he did, forcing Kaiba into that duel. He should have seen during the duel that something was wrong with the young CEO, that he was playing in too mechanical a method and too…trance-like. "I challenged him to a duel, you know, the card game that's so popular now?" He saw that Maki nodded and her eyes encouraged him to continue, and he was thankful that she wasn't interrupting him with her comments or more questions. "And…well…he started playing…I should have noticed…but he played with such fluidness that I didn't want to stop him, it was his favorite game, his life, even… But he had told me that he knew nothing of the game at all…" Explanation sufficed, Yami lowered his head again, and this time Maki did not force him back up. She sighed and also sat down on the ground, though not as loosely as Yami.

"Why did such a thing happen…?" Yami choked, the only images that came to his mind now were of that boy that had dueled him 3000 years ago, the same one who had shared that bowl of cocoa powder with him. The face of the boy was matched with Kaiba's, and he couldn't stop the sound of those convulsing gulps from replaying.

"Ever ridden a bike before?" Maki asked. Yami peered up at her, his expression would have been angry if not for the fact that hers was as professional as she was cut out to be. Yami thought about the time when Yuugi had told him to try riding that atrocious contraption called a "bike," saying that once you learn how to ride it, you didn't have to think about how to ride it ever again. But Yami had only skidded for five feet before he ran head-first into a telephone pole, nearly totaling Yuugi's precious bike. He shuddered at the thoughts of that murderous hunk of metal that he refused to get on ever again. Even when Yuugi is riding, he needs to put the Millennium Puzzle into a backpack to assure Yami that he wasn't going to get thrown out like a horse-drawn chariot that just braked suddenly.

"I guess I have…" Yami answered slowly, missing the point of Maki's question.

"You know how they say that riding a bike is so easy once you've learned how?" Maki inquired. Yami nodded, remembering what Yuugi had said before. "They say that even if you think you've forgotten how to ride a bike, once you start pedaling again you will be able to do it like it's nothing," she continued. "If Kaiba-san were to have considered the game his life, then it might have been the same thing. He's forgotten that he loved the game, but something inside his mind remembers how to play, the tactics, the rules, everything. But it's like riding a bike…he can still do it without thinking, but this also means that it will now do him more harm than good."

"Why would it?" Yami demanded, his brows furrowing.

"It should have been obvious," Maki answered, her eyes narrowing. "Those convulsions…they happened for a reason. Because Kaiba-san plays the game as simply as anything, and without thought, he's not using any sort of memory…it makes him feel safe. But once the game ended, the safety net that supported him breaks and he's trying to find it…and yet he cannot remember where it was from."

Yami sighed deeply and drew his knees up, raking stiff fingers through his hair, making sure that his nails dug at his scalp. He suddenly felt so tired, like a ton of lead had spontaneously attached itself to his shoulders, weighing him down. "Thank you, Maki," he rasped, though he had almost wished that she hadn't come, being the deliverer of bad news she was now.

"I'm sorry to always have to be the deliverer of bad news," she sighed, as though she had read his mind. "But you have to understand also that it's not your fault… I guess you'll just have to find something else to freshen his mind." Yami nodded, his head bobbing up and down lifelessly, much to the similarity of a bobble-head.

Clapping her hands together suddenly, Maki's eyes sparkled with a sudden realization. "I know, maybe you can take him to a festival!" she suggested, reaching into her purse to pull out a flyer. "This is an end of summer festival that's going to be held in a few days in the city that I live in, Sumaru. It's about a ten minute drive from Domino City, and it might help to take your minds off certain things…" she thought for a second before she added: "…and for the sake of that little boy that lead me around the house…" Yami accepted the flyer and looked at the brightly printed banner, the words practically shouting in excitement with its hot, bold colors, announcing the place and time of the festival as well as activities that were planned. For some reason, though, this flyer only made Yami's heart sink a bit more. Sure, the idea of taking Kaiba and Mokuba out for some end of summer excursion was nice, but what's the point of it when the one person they were doing this for was going to forget about it anyway? It all seemed so meaningless now.

Glancing at her watch, Maki stood up and began to search for her way out of the house. "I should be going now," she informed Yami, who was still lost in his thoughts. "You can go in and see him if you'd like…he's sleeping now. And…please don't give up."

Yami glimpsed up at her and gave her a weak smile, a token of thanks for her supportive optimism and coming on such short notice. "How much do I owe you?" he called as he stood up, suddenly remember that in this century, doctors needed to be paid even after hours when they answer "house calls."

"Nothing except for you to come to that festival," Maki said, stopping at the end of the hall.

"At least let me call a cab for you," Yami insisted, upbraiding himself abruptly that he had been so rude to her by being drowned in his own thoughts.

"Don't worry," she rejected with a smile. "I can fly." With that, she descended the stairs, her hand waving, signaling for Yami to go into the room to see Kaiba. Yami looked at her back as she descended the stairs and then walked back to the door that he was shoved out of just moments ago, opening it to go in.

It seemed that Maki had been courteous enough to draw the shades completely so that the noontime sun didn't disturb Kaiba's deep slumber. The taller teen was tucked securely under his blankets on his canopy bed, but he was so pale, and his brows so tightly knitted it was hard to decipher whether he was really sleeping or in some sort of horrible hypnosis.

"Seth…" Yami whispered before he realized that he had just said that name. He covered his mouth immediately and frowned. Where did that name come from? The boy that kept showing up in his mind now that Kaiba was like this? The same boy whose face he kept matching up to Kaiba's? The former Pharaoh was at a loss at this point himself. Being locked in that Millennium Puzzle for the past three millennia due to reasons unknown had been a real wreck to his memories, but Yami figured that at least he was in a better state than Kaiba. But what was that name…?

Pulling up a chair next to the bed, Yami seated himself down and contented with just staring at Kaiba's face, which was now not as contorted in pain as it was when he first entered the room, but still catastrophically pale, tinted by only a smudge of pink on the cheeks due to the subsiding fever. Curious, Yami reached his hand out and brushed away the obstructing bangs on Kaiba's forehead and then caressed the hot skin underneath, sliding down a bit to cup at the smooth cheek. It was still hot, but not as seething as it was when he had carried Kaiba upstairs.

If he doesn't remember a thing about his life as the Duel Monsters Champion, how would he remember me? He doesn't even remember playing…then what about the duels we've had before…? How can this rivalry exist without its roots?

A small, unintelligible murmur seeped from Kaiba's lips and the young man pressed his face against Yami's palm, a hand wiggling out from under the blankets to grab hold of Yami's wrist.

"Yami…"

The sound of skin against stone rang through the thick, hot summer air as the dark-skinned boy chased his friend down the long flight of stairs leading to the gate of the palace bare-footed.

"What do you mean you'll get the Nile to flood, Seth?" the shorter boy demanded, pulling his long purple cape around him so that he won't trip over them in his pursue of Seth.

"Exactly as I meant it by the words I said," Seth answered, his steps growing faster, daring his pursuer to catch up to him and try to stop him.

Turn around…I want to see his face…who is he?

"What you speak is utter madness!" protested the not-yet matured voice. "To make the Nile flood…when we've been in a draught for the past few months and the annual flooding weeks overdue!"

"Which is exactly why I'm doing this," replied the other, walking straight out of the gates of the palace despite the many warnings the Pharaoh had given him about not leaving the palace without a guard-mainly for his own safety for his sharply contrasting features of pale skin and blue eyes. Hesitant, the other boy pulled his purple cape over his quite distinguishable features and continued to follow Seth, his chase having slowed to nothing more than a following pace. "You've heard the Pharaoh, my friend," Seth continued, "If the Nile doesn't flood soon, we may have to ration food, and there's no question that many people will starve themselves trying to give the rations to their children. Is THAT what you want?" He whirled around, his long hems of his apprentice garb drawing up the sand beneath his feet. The other's face was covered by the large purple cape, but his movements were still perceivable. Seeing his friend give a mute answer with the shaking of his head, Seth turned back around and walked into the Nile River, pulling off his beige robe in the process.

"What are you doing, Seth?!" the caped form shouted after him. "You do not have the magical abilities to do such complicated magic yet!"

"Watch me."

Watch me…I shall grant you every wish thatyou want…BecauseI…< /i>I am…