Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Final Distance ❯ Regardless of Warning ( Chapter 14 )

Youko: Okay, it's now official (whether or not I like it)…Naoya (whose birthday was on June 6th! Maki's was on June 4th, like Yuugi's.) has become my yami/muse-type person.

Naoya: And as such, I would like to ask you…you had intended for this fic to be updated two weeks after the last update, why did it get updated so late?

Youko: I fell asleep.

Naoya: Go to Hell. *shoots Youko in the head*

Youko: Gyaaa!

Disclaimers: This fic belongs to Youko, the characters of YuGiOh and Persona do not, except within Youko's demented (and now bullet-riddled) mind.

Chapter 14-Regardless of Warnings

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…

All the king's horses

And all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty…

…back together again…

Gently shaking one heavily dressed shoulder, Maki awoke the boy seated next to her, her expression slightly worried. At the slight rattle, Yuugi opened one violet eye and then the other before he lifted his head from where it rested on the window to look at Maki. "We're here," Maki stated plainly as the limo they were riding in pulled to a stop in front of an apartment complex. Yuugi stared upwards in fascination at the large apartment building that was almost as tall as the Kaiba Corporation office building. Sliding out from the limo, Yuugi followed tentatively after Maki while she walked ahead to the glass doors of the building to press an intercom button.

"Nanjo, it's me," she said into the small speaker by the four rows of intercom buttons. Her head was lowered in such a way that she looked almost like an actress pretending to be an old lady with a bad back, Yuugi remarked. But now was not the time to think about what Maki resembled; it's already been months since the mysterious man he met in the convenience store had spoken the cryptic message to him, and Yuugi could feel that he was running out of time. Maki had, thankfully, not told Mokuba about what Yami did to Seto, but the boy had begun to feel that maybe Yami's presence was worsening his brother's condition. After the "incident," Seto now refused to see Yami in any way, shape or form. Only when he is certain that the one who was in control of the body is Yuugi and not his darker half would he allow Yuugi to come into his room, sans the Millennium Puzzle, as though he were afraid that Yami would pop out suddenly. Yuugi didn't blame Seto for his actions and his apprehensive nature against Yami; he would be, too, if something like that had happened to him. But he still wished to help, and he was sure that the key to helping Seto out was somewhere deep within the memories of Yami's maze-like heart.

As he was deliberating these conjectures out, the glass doors leading into the large apartment building swooshed open, granting Maki and Yuugi access. Maki turned around and beckoned Yuugi to follow her, and he trotted after her, his boots making dull thumping sounds on the marble floors as her heels clicked sharply, a mixture of opposites that seemed so out of place in a lobby that was almost completely matching in every way, very much like the way Kaiba's mansion was decorated. Maki led Yuugi into the elevator and, instead of pressing a button; she produced a key from her purse and turned it in a keyhole above all the buttons. Then she waited for the cable box to take them to their destination. Along the way, Yuugi thought about Seto, how he was alone at home, hooked up to an IV once again for he refused to eat, withering away. He didn't speak much to anyone anymore, and his mind seemed to be deteriorating more with each passing day. Sometimes, when it got bad, he couldn't even remember where he was, and so Maki had suggested that they keep him in his room in case he got lost in his own house and started a panic. One thing puzzled Maki, however, and that was the fact that Seto, as much as he distrusted Yami, he seemed to unable to function without Yami within a certain proximity. If Yami were out of the house or if he didn't show up for the whole day and just allowed Yuugi to take control, Seto would sleep as though he were dead for the whole day. This situation pained Yuugi to no end, having to watch his important other half suffer when everything he held dear was so close and yet so far away.

The ding of the bell brought Yuugi out of his stupor, and he looked up to see the elevator doors open before him to a grand penthouse suite that seemed to be placed at the highest floor of the apartment building. There were computers and such scattered around the large living room, and several books and documents covered the glass coffee table at the center of the room. To the side, there was a breakfast table by the window where two teenagers sat. One seemed as though he were sleeping, his face buried within his folded arms on the table, and the other watched him. Yuugi noted that one of the boys was someone that Maki had briefly introduced to him at the summer festival. As Yuugi turned his head this way and that, allowing his eyes to do the exploring, a tall young man approached him and Maki, his face stern. This man had slicked back black hair (a few defiant strands hung from his forehead, however), intelligent yet slightly pompous eyes hidden behind glasses, and an upturned lip that made it look like he was scowling at you. He regarded Maki and Yuugi, and then held out his hand to Yuugi for a handshake.

"Hello," he said. He had a deep voice with a regal yet scholarly note. "My name is Nanjo Kei." His grip on Yuugi's hand was firm, and Yuugi shook it weakly, the whole situation making him uncomfortable. So this was the friend whom Naoya and Maki had found to research about what might happened three thousand years ago with Yami and Seth. Even though Yuugi had met Nanjo once before at the summer festival, Nanjo had such a stern air about him that Yuugi couldn't help but cringe a little at his presence. "So this is the vessel for the Pharaoh's spirit, Maki?" Nanjo asked, turning to face Maki after he released Yuugi's hand. "By the way, Toudo said that he couldn't make it today-something about a whole bunch of patients going in for flu shots."

"Yes, he's the one I told you about," Maki answered, nodding meekly.

"Well, it won't do us much good if the Pharaoh isn't here to listen," Nanjo said in a somewhat reprimanding tone. He turned and went to his piles of papers and books, settling down into a section of the couch that was not covered in documents. "If you will, please tell the Pharaoh to come out." Yuugi hesitated for a moment, but nodded in agreement when Maki gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder much like a mother to her child on the first day of school. He held up the Millennium Puzzle in his hands and allowed himself to sink back into his soul room.

"Nanjo," he acknowledged the name of the man sitting before him. The scholarly-looking man nodded and motioned for Yami to sit down across from him. The feat of sitting, however, was accomplished about a good ten minutes later, after Yami managed to move the stacks of papers and even a small laptop that was buried on the couches. Maki joined him on the couch and moved her own small mountain of books and encyclopedias. As soon as the dust of all the paper settled onto Yami's leather pants as well as his hair, he was ready to listen to what Nanjo had to say.

"I have to say," Nanjo started, "Your past was a hard thing to research about. You were the Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, three thousand years ago. But documents and records about things that happened during that time period are almost non-existent. There was an exhibit at the museum almost a year ago that had two stone tablets from that time period, and one of them had a carving of a Pharaoh who held striking resemblance to you, but his name was scratched out from the tablet. Also, those tablets were only on display for a month or so, and they are now back in Egypt and prohibited to leave the country ever again. Whatever is left of that exhibit in this country is a book that the staff and researchers of the exhibit wrote, but the only copy in our local library has been signed out and I couldn't get my hands on another copy, they were very limited in number."

"Who signed it out?" Maki asked, interrupting and giving Yami some time to catch up to the whole slew of words that Nanjo had said. "Maybe we can get the name and track that person down to get the book-"

"Can't," Nanjo cut her off. "The person signed the book out under the initials T.K. There is no name that we can search under." Hearing that, Maki sighed and sank into the couch, disheartened. Nanjo regarded her with some sympathy and then looked over at Yami. "But that doesn't mean that I've given up," Nanjo continued. "I've called the staff of that said exhibit and asked them to come over and give me some information, and they've agreed. They will be here hopefully in the next day or two. While we're at that, I've asked Jun to come and help us." With that, he jerked his head towards the sleeping teen at the table by the window. The one with the brown hair who had been watching the slumbering teen across from him picked his head up and looked over at Nanjo. With a sigh, the boy with the brown hair shook the youth with the black hair, whom Yami tagged as Jun. A small sleepy groan emitted from Jun and he got up. For a second, Yami couldn't tell whether Jun was a boy or a girl; he had sleek black hair that was cut short, but the bangs covered the right side of Jun's face completely, shielding one eye. And the other eye that Yami could see was red and elegantly angled upwards. His features were sharply contrasting, what with his pale skin, black hair, and red eye, but he also beheld a very unisex softness that made him handsome and pretty at the same time, like a strong goddess or gentle god. Even though Jun smiled at Yami and Maki as he walked over to the couch at the center of the living room, Yami could see a whirlpool of sadness in the one eye that was visible. Just seeing that one eye made Yami wonder about what will happen if he could gaze upon both eyes. The boy behind Jun (whom Yami remembered as "Tatsuya," from what Maki had told Yuugi at the festival) looked even sterner than Nanjo, his face in a constant look of disapproval mixed with concern for Jun. He had brown hair that was neatly cut and very handsome features, but it would certainly help if he smiled a little. The feeling that Tatsuya emitted was very strange, like he was hiding some sort of radiance that would kill if he were to open himself up. The two of them sat down next to Nanjo and Jun bowed to Yami. Yami bowed back by act of reflex, and Jun smiled again, but he still did not speak.

"This is Kashihara Jun," Nanjo introduced, gesturing to Jun. "And this is Suou Tatsuya." The hand moved to Tatsuya, who gave Yami a small scowl, like Yami was doing something very wrong. "Jun here…is someone very much like a fortune-teller or seer. What we're going to do here is try and figure out exactly what went wrong those three thousand years ago and what we're dealing with. It could be a mere virus, but from what Maki has told me about your visions, it seems that it's more than that." Upon finishing his speech, Nanjo put a hand on Jun's shoulder and the boy with a face as beautiful as a goddess stood up, motioning for Yami to follow him to the table by the window. Yami rose from his seat and followed Jun, and then Maki, Nanjo, and Tatsuya tread after him, closing the curtains and blinds on all the windows in the penthouse.

Jun sat down on the chair he was sleeping on when Yami first entered the room, and he gestured for Yami to sit down across from him. Yami obeyed the silent order and sat down, then watched as Tatsuya walked behind Jun.

"He is going to go into a trance," Tatsuya said, his deep, monotonic voice sending chills down Yami's spine. "Because people are not supposed to know what is to happen in the future and keep the past forgotten, he will only bear sins upon his back if he were to tell you things if he were awake." He then lit a candle that Yami had not noticed was on the table and moved it in front of Jun's face. Within seconds, Jun's head hung low, his chin on his chest.

"Pharaoh…" Jun whispered. The atmosphere made Yami feel like he was in one of those séances or that he was at the temple of the Oracle in Rome, like the ones he's seen on TV. The whole aura of the room felt slightly wrong, and it made him feel uneasy, much like the emptiness and the bottomless darkness that he was subjected to for three thousand years.

//Three thousand years and it was Seth's fault!//

The sound of a sharp breath being taken brought Yami's attention back to the boy in front of him, who was lolling his head back like a spirit had possessed him. "So," Jun hissed, "Three thousand years and you still haven't figured it out."

"Figure what out?" Yami asked, his mind still doubting this session. It felt more like a prank than anything that will help Seto.

"Your curse is now in motion," Jun answered. "And it will not stop until you have found the will to give up your selfishness…"

Yami narrowed his eyes and stared at the boy across from him. What curse? From the visions, he could remember only vaguely about what happened-the unreturned love he had for Seth, and Seth's betrayal…what had happened in-between was all a blur to him, and no matter how much he tried, Yami couldn't seem to remember. The cryptic words that Jun was spitting out now weren't doing much to help, either.

"You're not really helping with the situation," Yami said impatiently. "What curse are you talking about? If you're trying to say that I had cursed him, I would beg to differ. He was poisoned, for gods' sakes! He was going to die and I helped him!"

"A fate worse than death," Jun retorted. "And you're almost out of time-his ka will be enslaved to the man with no face and a thousand faces on the day when blood dances in the wind."

"What?" Yami yelled, getting up from his seat. The words confused him, but for some reason it also made him uneasy-frightened, even. He had heard about this "man with no face and a thousand faces" somewhere, but he couldn't place his finger on it at the moment. "Why?" he asked, "And what is the curse?"

Suddenly, Tatsuya looked towards one window and then quickly bit his own finger and placed it between Jun's lips, letting the seated boy taste his blood. "That's enough," he said, shaking Jun's shoulders, waking him from the trance. Jun's one visible red eye snapped open and he gasped, like a creature just awoken from the crypt. This action nearly made Yami jump up and punch Tatsuya in the face, if not for the fact that Maki and Nanjo had held him down.

"What did you do that for?!" Yami shouted at Tatsuya. "He was about to tell me what was going on and finally shed some light on all this shit!" Tatsuya ignored him and turned to go to the window and looked outside, and Nanjo followed suit. After a slow and awkward silence that hung tightly in the air just waiting to snap, the two of them moved back to the table.

"We can't keep this going," Nanjo said. "Anyway, right now I'm still trying to get my hands on any documents or any photos of the two stone tablets so that we can maybe find some clues on them." His attention then went to the Millennium Puzzle around Yami's neck. "And next time, bring the box that this comes in, we might find something on its inscriptions as well. As of now, we have to find out the details of the curse as well as the way to break it before the `day the blood dances in the wind'-whenever that is." He sighed deeply and patted Yami on the shoulder. "In the mean time, try to remember what had happened, exactly." Yami nodded and stood up, bowing slowly towards Nanjo and Jun, but not to Tatsuya, who didn't really seem to mind the hostility that Yami had shown him. Maki then lead Yami to the door and gave him a pamphlet which Yami noted was the bus compass for the Sumaru City.

"I have to go to work later," Maki said in an apologetic tone. "So can you go back on your own?" Yami looked at the bus compass and nodded.

"Sure," he answered, taking the pamphlet and stuffing it into his back pocket. "It shouldn't be a problem."

But as soon as Yami left the pent house, he was lost in his own thoughts. Sure, he remembered something about a spell that he had put on Seth three thousand years ago, on that one night when Seth looked as though he was leaking his life out in black. The memory alone frightened him, and Yami felt another presence inside shudder at the mental image.

"Mou hitori no boku," Yuugi called out. "Are you all right?"

"I don't know, Aibou," Yami answered, sighing as he trudged along the pedestrian sidewalk, his hands in his pockets. Even though it was early March, the weather was still cold enough for jackets and scarves, and Yami was almost confused at how people could be expecting spring to be around the corner-he hated the cold. The cold always rang with a certain amount of ambiguity that Yami had to live with for three thousand years, and now it nipped cruelly at him in a mockery of his own cloudy past. He hated not knowing what was going on; at first he was fine with the way things were-when he knew nothing of himself, but now it annoyed him to no end. He felt useless and trapped; if it were just concerning him and his past, Yami was fine with that-but now Seto's health was on the line, and felt utterly useless.

"Remember how I said that I would give you all my memories?" Yuugi said, his voice ringing deep within his soul room. Yami nodded slightly, knowing that his uneasiness was also affecting his aibou. "This is the time when I wished that the most," Yuugi continued. "If my memories could trade for yours to help both you and Seto…I wish I could do that…" The warmth of the concern made Yami feel better, like he had just gulped down a mug of hot cider; the tingly spiciness spreading through his veins, making him feel stronger. Yes, it was always Yuugi who was stronger, even now.

"Thank you, Aibou," Yami whispered, smiling. He then looked up and noticed that he had been spacing out for the whole time, ending himself up in a place he did not recognize. "Aibou, I think we're lost." As he said this, a few bread crumbs fell in front of Yami and he turned his head to search for its source.

"Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall," a voice sang. Yami turned and found a bluish black head poking out from the side of a bench, and he approached it. "Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall…all the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty together again…"

"Toudo," Yami said, walking up to the young man. He took a close look at this Toudo, who was lying on the bench, feeding bread crumbs to the ducks. This one had gold eyes that shone blue in the setting sun, like blue Curacao in champagne-it was Kazuya, the twin that Yami had met in the convenience store.

"Hey," Kazuya said, waving. He stuffed his gloved hand into the bag of bread crumbs and put some in his mouth, then threw the rest to the ducks. "You look down in the dumps, what's wrong?"

"Feels like everything are going wrong," Yami said, shrugging. Kazuya stretched on the bench and sat up, scooting over so that Yami could sit.

"Want to talk about it? I heard that you were having some troubles with something?" Kazuya asked, his blue eyes turning gold as he cocked his head to look at Yami's face.

"Well," Yami started, "it's like this…I'm having some troubles with my past…you might think I'm crazy, but I used to be the Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt…"

"Oh!" Kazuya exclaimed, pointing his finger at Yami. "You mean the one who got assassinated by his High Priest!"

"Assassinated by his…what?" Yami whispered, looking up at Kazuya, his red eyes widening considerably.

"It says so here in this book…" Kazuya replied, pulling a book out from his backpack. The book that Nanjo had said was signed out under the initials "T.K."-Toudo Kazuya.

To be continued.

Okay, I had intended for this chapter to be a bit longer, but I decided that what will happen next will not really fit with what has happened in this chapter. This chapter title was inspired by "Simple and Clean" by Utada Hikaru…I had the song on repeat as I typed this chapter out. But the meaning behind it will probably not be evident until later.

Note about what Tatsuya did (biting his finger and letting Jun taste his blood): some Asian fortune tellers and shamans use blood to ward off bad things, and since Jun was in a trance (when a person is in deep sleep-REM-he is closest to death), he needed something alive and from the realm of the living to bring him back out immediately. Therefore, Tatsuya let him taste blood to wake him up and also drive what might have tried to follow Jun back from the realm of the dead away from him.

Sorry about the lack of Seto in this chapter, I got caught up in describing Jun…he's my goddess. ^^;; The next chapter will have lots of Yami and Seto action, though! I promise! And it's most likely that I will try to finish "Distance" completely before I work on more chapters of "Final Distance" after I post up the next chapter of "Final Distance." I am doing this because by the way that FD is progressing, it will eventually give a lot of spoilers to D. I am doing a bad job at pacing these stories, sorry…　　Too many paragraphs in this chapter started with dialogue…that annoys me.

It feels like this story has taken a real 180…at first I had just planned it to be a short medical story, but now it's turned into something like a millennia-long curse thing. Geez, I'm not linear.

Naoya: And when are you going to post up the next chapter of Distance?

Youko: I…ah…um…

Naoya: Pathetic.

Youko: Shut up, you fruitcake!!