Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Stranger of the Duel ❯ Perfect Identities ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: Hey guys… yeah, I don't own it, okay?

Note: Now begins my dénouement … make sure you review. There's lots of alliteration in this chapter… meh… just some assonance. This is what happens when you spend a year with Ms. Savage, English teacher extraordinaire.

Perfect Identity

The memories came rushing in, flooding Cali's brain. The dam had broken; what had been repressed now was free. Visions poured in; images of herself; vignettes of events; a whirring sound surrounded her as all these memories re-entered her brain. Cali closed her eyes as all these pictures flew over her eyes like cherries on a slot machine. She could still see them, the broken representations of a life on high-speed fast-forward.

Then they halted as abruptly as they came; Cali shook her head slightly to clear it. She looked at Calliope, and she knew- she knew everything. Every piece of information, every memory, every spell, every incantation, every element, every emotion was brought back with a bang. She wasn't outside looking in, she was inside and these were hers.

She could see herself in Calliope because she was Calliope, reincarnated and reborn, ready for revenge.

Cali curiously glanced through into the room where Ryou and Bakura were eating, and then back at Calliope, smirking knowingly. Calliope shrugged, smiling a little secret-sharing smile.

***

Seto crossed the street warily; although it was the middle of the night, there were crazy drunk maniacs on road trips, as well as murderers lurking around every corner, searching… searching…

Not for him. He blended into the shadows and stole to his building.

I have work to catch up on. I can't believe I spent so much time acting so foolishly. Cali understands this balance fully; why didn't I see it before?

He passed his stony-faced guard, snapping his slender fingers in front of the guard's eyes as he typed his master code into the keypad on the door with his other hand.

"Mr. Kaiba, sir."

"You're going to fall asleep," Seto's eyes flicked down to his employee's nametag, "Joe, if you keep staring off into space, that is."

"I apologize, Mr. Kaiba, sir."

"Forget it."

The middle-aged man (whose tummy was none the thinner still after years of security work at Kaiba Corporation) knitted his brow as Seto entered the building, rapping his knuckles on the walls to an insignificant tune in his head. In all the time Joe had spent there, he'd never seen his employer in such a light-hearted mood.

***

Talon rubbed his palms together anxiously, and then tightened them into fists. Oten and his other followers still had not returned. There was only a little bit of the elixir left, enough only for one century of life. Fifty years, really, since Oten will insist I share it with him. Fifty years was too long to wait. Fifty years from then, Cali would be old and frail and it would be too late for all of Talon's plans.

***

Now Cali could harness her special abilities and felt confident with using them. She held out her palm out to Calliope, knowing that this would be the last time she would see herself in this way. Calliope bowed forward, kissing Cali on the forehead softly, motherly, blessing her for everything that would come. She touched Cali's hand and waited for the words to be said. Their minds were the same, and they each knew when to say it. They spoke softly, two voices synchronized as one.

"Synchonevomai."

The dazzling light surrounded them once again, but this time, Calliope released her hand and held it out, fading into light. Cali smiled. She knew Calliope wasn't really gone; she was inside all the time, because she was Calliope.

She walked into the den to Bakura and Ryou, who were still munching happily on their food. She touched each of their shoulders and repeated herself. She closed her eyes as the exhilarating light enveloped them, leaving the yami and hikari to merge alone.

***

There's no denying it; Seto Kaiba was happy; he was content; he was back to his old don't-get-me-started self. There was still something way down, deep inside him that longed to feel Cali in his arms and kiss her eyelids shut, but really, the real Seto thought it was all a load of bull. He was glad to be rid of that aching heart; glad to be rid of Cali and the chaotic feelings she mixed around in him. He was back to Seto Kaiba, CEO, and not Seto Kaiba, I-Love-You. Sappiest shit I have ever heard of.

He grinned and made his way up to his office, kicking himself for shutting down the elevators every night. Seto was lean and fit though, and a few dozen stories didn't take the life out of him.

The last few flights, though, got him thinking… Why did Cali stay in Domino City after I declined her proposition? What purpose did she find here? He dismissed these thoughts quickly as he neared his office door. He opened it, plugging in the combination to the beat in his head and he flicked the light switch.

He felt as if this were a great homecoming, as if he hadn't been to this place in years. In a sense, he hadn't; he'd been so distracted by recent goings-on that he had neglected to notice the growing disrepair of his usually impeccable sanctuary.

Seto shrugged and grabbed a ring of keys off his large desk. I'll get someone to dust in here tomorrow. He moved into a smallish workshop adjacent to his office to get a few tools that he needed.

He packed his silver tool case quickly, then exited his offices and descended to a few floors down, skipping every few steps as he went. He had a whole landing of various disks and files on the sixteenth floor, and so he made his way into there. Seto easily found the cabinet he was looking for (he was too organized for anyone's good) and pulled out yet another key from the locked cabinet.

Dropping to the second floor, Seto located a lone filing cabin and opened it with his most recently acquired hidden key. Pulling out a folder, he viewed its contents in a cursory manner. Then, deciding that he didn't really need it after all, he slammed the manila-coloured folder shut and returned it to its home.

There was a large, formal, expensive-looking staircase connecting the second floor to the lobby. It was really only for show; Seto liked showing his company's wealth to all of his clients. He smiled as he saw his building's newest and most grandeur possession. He lowered himself down the stairs slowly, holding his head high, almost haughtily, and imagining the lobby filled with clueless clients waiting for technology. He jumped the last five steps, letting his long white coat billow out behind him.

In the corner behind the security office (which, Seto noticed, contained a half-eaten box of doughnuts) was the heavy steel door to the basement. He entered another code and the latch snapped open with a loud click.

Seto's workshop was just as he had left it, a few tools lying out, paperwork stacked haphazardly near the door. His computer greeted him in that monotone voice as he entered.

There, waiting patiently for him to near, was Seto's pride and joy, the magnificent new and improved virtual reality dualing pod. Oh, no-not any old virtual reality pod. The old ones could be overridden too easily, Seto remembered, growling. This one was better; three dimensional; it was perfect-almost. There were a few more glitches to work out, and that's exactly what Seto planned on doing.

***

Cali went to her bookshelf and pulled out an old, thick book, Stendhal's The Red and the Black. She ran her fingers carefully along the worn spine.

"Hardly the time to read a novel," Bakura said, coming up behind her.

Cali scowled, her only action to let him know that she'd heard him. She opened the book, bits of disintegrated cloth and dust sliding off onto her shining, waxed floor. The book wasn't a book at all, but a hidden vault, containing Cali's second-most-important object- a compact disk.

"What's on that?" Bakura asked curiously.

"Photographs of my father."

"Oh." Bakura didn't know what the right thing to say to this was. Luckily, Cali lightened the mood, putting the disk into an inner pocket of her sleek black outfit. Bakura hadn't noticed she'd changed clothes. He supposed this would be more comfortable for what they were going to do rather than her tight skirt and heels.

"Ready to go?" Cali tousled her long hair, pulling it from the inside of the collar of her jacket.

They went out to the roof of the building and flew out until the reached the thickest part of the nearby park.

"I thought you might be more comfortable walking," Cali said, releasing him.

"Actually, this is where I leave you… temporarily."

"What? You're that eager to be rid of me?" Cali said indignantly.

"No, I don't want to leave you," Bakura replied, sweeping a rebellious curl out of her face, "but this is very important. Besides, I'll be back."

With that, he backed into the shadows like the expert thief that he was, and was gone.

***

Oten and his group had finally reached Cali's home. They stormed into the building, pushing past the landlord, who was dressed in his blue nightcap and fuzzy slippers and ready to scold. The short man couldn't move; his fright for this strange group of torch-carrying people overtook him. As soon as they were out of sight, however, the elderly man dove for the telephone to call for the police.

Again, Oten kicked the door open and led the others into an empty room.

"No! You, you, you," Oten yelled in his gruff voice, pointing at three followers, "search the bedroom. You and you, look for them in the kitchen. The rest of you… just spread out!"

He was not going to let them escape again. If I just keep proving such inadequacy, Talon will not allow me any share of the rewards. Clenching his jaw, Oten tore through the living room, ripping the sofas and breaking the doors off of the wardrobes. They knocked all of the books off of the shelves, looking for hidden rooms or secret passageways, but of course there was none to be found.