Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Love of a Priestess ❯ Answers ( Chapter 27 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you AMK and Jenny Galaxie for their continued support. No, I will not stop writing, although updates will be slower since I'm pretty much caught-up here with what's saved on my comp.

Chapter 27: Answers

I lay on Yugi's bed, listening to the rain pattering on the window. So soft and gentle and even… Yugi lay on the floor with a pile of pillows and blankets. I smiled as I gazed upon him. He looked so young and innocent… I was surprised that he and Yami got along so well.

I rolled over to face the window, and watched the drops of water slide down the smooth glass. The watching tired my eyes, and I was ready to fall asleep when I heard Yami's voice.

“Looking for anything in particular?”

I didn't turn around to look at him. I could see his reflection in the window—he was a nearly transparent spirit leaning casually against Yugi's wall.

“Answers, I think.”

“Mmmm,” he murmured. “Anyplace in particular you'd like to look?”

“I almost want to try Channeling with Kaiba again. I wonder if he'd be open to me now.”

“Perhaps. Why don't you try?”

I paused before answering. “I'm scared,” I admitted finally.

He looked surprised. “Really? I didn't think you were scared of very much. Other than the future. You avoid thinking about the future like the plague.”

My eyes widened. “How do you know?” I demanded.

He half-smiled. “When you Channel, it goes both ways. Anyone with enough power can read your memories or thoughts. I can't tap into your memories, but your thoughts I can. You've built a lot of walls, so only your immediate thoughts are available. Don't worry,” he said, watching my narrowed eyes, “most of your secrets are still yours.”

“Will I ever know which ones aren't?”

He shrugged. “If it makes any difference, I'll let you scan my mind to see what I know about you.”

“You're even better at building walls than I am.”

“Trust me. Everything I know about you is open right now.” He closed his eyes, and waited for me.

Sighing, I probed his mind briefly. Satisfied that he was telling the truth, I withdrew. “So why are you afraid of Channeling with Kaiba?” he asked, his eyes still closed.

“I… I suppose… I don't know. Maybe I'm afraid of what I'll find.”

His eyes opened sharply, then half-closed again. They became veiled and unreadable. “I don't know why or how you unlock our memories, or how you're connected to me and Kaiba, but you are. You're very important, somehow, to the whole thing. I don't even know how ancient your power is, or where you derive it from, or even how ancient you are.

“But I won't ask. Instead, I'll tell you that the memories Kaiba holds are not to be feared. Destiny is not to be feared. It is to be embraced. If you know your Destiny, you know that nothing until your Destiny can touch you.”

I was silent. His eyes opened somewhat, and locked on me.

“I… I don't think so,” I said slowly. I'd spent five thousand years thinking about Destiny. But was this what I had expected? Or what I'd wanted? “Destiny… Perhaps we all have an ultimate Destiny, and that indeed nothing can touch us until that Destiny is fulfilled. But I think… I think that we all have the power to write our own Destinies. That we can change what is set forth for us. Or at least, that's what I'd like to hope.”

Yami was silent. “You're saying you hope Destiny is not final?”

“Yes,” I said firmly. “I've known my Destiny for… a long time. I hope that I will not face that Destiny. Or that if I do, I do it on my own terms, not the terms someone else has written for me. I will not go like that. That will not be the purpose of my life.”

He gazed at me, then nodded. “I think,” he said slowly, “that you will write your own Destiny. You have the strength and the power to do it—to change the road before you to suit your desires. But I also know that Destiny is a hard power to fight. You may very well die trying to change Destiny.”

“Better to die my own way than live someone else's.”