Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Twilight's Paradox ❯ Paradoxes ( Chapter 2 )

 

Twilight's Paradox

 

Chapter 2

 

OoO

 

“Here you are... So this is where you've been?” Blue eyes glimmered with the tint of the sun while they perceived the bewildered male before them. Neither of them bothered to make a move for one brief, breathtaking moment. Time had seemed to stop. Countless unborn questions and answers flew between them, encircling and ensnaring them; daring them closer. As the mythical beast descended lower to the roof, YÅ«sei jumped from atop it. He landed without much effort, Yami noted, and carried an expression of wonderment in place of his usual stoic demeanor.

 

“You came back?” The former pharaoh questioned softly, eying the taller other in awe, as well as relief, “Did you forget something?” The futuristic male remained silent as he viewed the dueling legend. As he neared a step forward, an authoritative screech emitted from the dragon before it disiapated into fragments of luminescence that surrounded YÅ«sei like a sparkling halo. Yami could only stare in amazement at such an ancient creature and its mystical attributes as the remnants of its visible form fluttered through YÅ«sei's hair and clothing.

 

Silence lingered between the two males; the gentle wind and setting celestial body the only witnesses to their second meeting that day, but their first meeting alone. They were two persons of monumental differences,while sharing an equal amount of similarities. YÅ«sei was the first to decimate the silence; his criminal mark glittering in the glow of the fiery globe in the horizon beyond. “I left nothing to forget here. But, there was a matter I wanted to discuss with the King of Games.”

“Oh?” Yami quirked a brow in interest from YÅ«sei using such a forward tone, “And what matter would that be? Have you come prepared to duel with me already, perhaps?”

“Believe me, I'd love to. But I have a more pressing matter to discuss with you.”

Yami's expression solidified a tad as he listened, “Go on.”

YÅ«sei nodded and walked towards Yami until he was at his side near the railing. Because of the intensity of the duel against Paradox, YÅ«sei never actually noticed how much shorter Yami really was. He found it rather amusing that someone twice his elder in dueling records had to look up at him.

 

“Ever since our duel with Paradox, I've had unanswered thoughts and questions about a lot of things,” he began in a quiet tone; his eyes drifting over the unfamiliar town he never got to see in the time of its flourish. Once the defining establishment of Kaiba Corp crossed his visage, his eyes widened. With the surprise of a small child, he turned to Yami; a fit of dubious excitement in his voice. “Kaiba Corporation originated here? In this town? It's still here?”

Yami double blinked from the misplaced urgency in YÅ«sei's voice. “Yes, as best to my knowledge, it is... Did something negative happen to it in your time once you returned?”

“No,” he replied firmly, purposely skirting over the Zero Reverse catastrophe, “But my dad.... my parents were employees there when they created the engine for my Duel Runner...”

“I see...” Yami trailed off, taking note of the emotion behind those words. It was an honest emotion; not veiled or attempting to be concealed in the least. Was YÅ«sei opening up to him?

“Anyway,” YÅ«sei continued, shaking his head mildly as his stoic persona returned, “The reason I came here was due to some unsettling information I learned from my future.”

Yami was thrown off by this comment, “Your future? Shouldn't you mean your past? Where did you return to?”

“Let's just say everything in my time drastically changed as if someone had tampered with the past.” he uttered, clenching his hands into fists. Yami watched him clutch the railing with withheld emotion. But he couldn't quite understand what that was.

“What do you mean 'changed'?” Yami challenged with a frown. He had a sinking feeling that something gargantuan was beginning to unravel here. “My future was not as it should have been. When I returned...Satellite...was gone as I knew it. Instead it had become part of New Domino and looked very similar to how the city looks now in this time. There was once an incident that split the two apart, but it wasn't as devastating as it was supposed to be. The society rankings evaporated in a few short years and the city was quickly repaired. Amongst it all, as irony would have it, Kaiba Corporation had a huge hand in that. The company also expanded to other areas across the globe and ran things even more than it had before. Not that that's a bad thing. But that's not all. The game of Duel Monsters has changed, in fact it flourished. There wasn't much need for turbo duels on D-Wheels anymore because a new type of hi-tech dueling was created. But I won't disclose what it is. I promised a certain person from Kaiba Corporation that I wouldn't. I had a hand in building it with them. ...There are also duel spirits everywhere and almost anyone can see them now.”

“That sounds like excellent news,” Yami surmised. But the stern gaze he received from YÅ«sei made him reconsider that statement. “If I am mistaken, then what was the problem??”

“You.”

“What??” Yami recoiled. The dark thoughts he had kept locked away were beginning to resurface. Had he done something in YÅ«gi's time that transpired these events? Was it something negative?

“What happened with me.... If I did something horrible, then I will never forgive myself for--”

“I forgive you.”

“You can't.”

“I can and I do.”

“Only I can do that.”

“You don't even know what you did. Or didn't do rather...”

His interest piqued, Yami quirked a brow, being matched in his wit. “What happened...”

“You lived.”

Thinking he heard incorrectly, Yami scoffed and forced an unconvinced smirk, “What? This isn't making any sense, YÅ«sei!” A faint glint of remorse fleeted across YÅ«sei's garish eyes, but he did not voice its source. Instead, he gave an answer he knew the other would understand. “In my time, it was common knowledge among duelists of the legendary duel that led to your afterlife. However, that didn't occur as history had originally claimed it to be. Instead, while your memories were returned to you like they originally did, technically, you did not pass on to your afterlife because you were already there. And because Seto Kaiba wasn't driven into obsession for a way to keep your memory and legacy alive, everything as I knew it had changed.”

Yami blinked, “Because of Kaiba?” he questioned quietly. The fondness in the form of that particular name did not go unnoticed and YÅ«sei's expression solidified. “No. Because of you and your influence on him as well as his company. Kaiba Corp runs Domino.”

“And because of my 'choices' and actions, you're saying that I enabled your present to be dramatically altered? What does this have to do with your returning here?”

“You surrendered,” he stated lowly, “During a certain ceremonial duel, you gave up. And when you did, your spirit split in half. One half kept the body you were given for the duel while the other half departed into your afterlife. And because you lived, and died, in the same place, everything changed. You and Seto Kaiba both agreed to this 'treaty' towards the city and began making your new rules for dueling. Your surrender on that particular day caused dueling as we knew it to thrive and flourish to greater heights and popularity than it ever could have reached if you hadn't. Although, you originally wanted to stop all production of the game because of what happened today. But instead you and Seto discussed making the game better for all to enjoy. All meaning those maniacs who wish to destroy and take over the world like Paradox. Although it was recorded that you thought the idea of making the game three times bigger in popularity in hopes its enjoyment would be enough to shove down anyone's throat was naive, you helped it along anyway. For the greater good. The two of you changed our worlds entirely.

 

“Records don't detail how, but it's recorded that the two of you and my parents created plans for a specific type of energy that later was responsible for the YÅ«sei engine. But then...something happened to you and no one knows what. But before he retired, Kaiba had created a park in your name, had several cards modeled after you and created several more Dueling Academies. That was where JÅ«dai was from. So my problem with you is how you were there in a time when you shouldn't have been while also being dead. How could you create such contradictions, not just within your own time, but in the future as well?” YÅ«sei concluded. He already knew the reason why. It was also the same reason he traveled back in time to rectify. But he wanted Yami to think about it and figure out the outcome himself.

“I...” The unsettling situation had Yami roughly speechless. There was a saturated irony in YÅ«sei's statement about him existing in a time when he shouldn't have been. It sounded exactly like the “life” he was living now while inhibiting YÅ«gi's body. Just like a ghost. Not only had his future actions caused such a dramatic change, but also YÅ«sei coming back to warn him was a complete...

 

“Paradox...” they both uttered in unison. The weight of this sudden realization transpired across Yami's astonished features and his mouth dropped open in a gape. He had created a time paradox from his future, while YÅ«sei created one of his own by returning to warn him of it. The news hit him hard, but YÅ«sei's risk affected him much more deeply in ways he couldn't understand. What was his connection to this futuristic male? Why did he feel a fragment of himself wail in anguish from the thought of him disappearing again? Perhaps he understood YÅ«sei far beyond simple comprehension. And within the same vein of that respect, perhaps YÅ«sei felt the same.

 

The hefty blow of YÅ«sei's words showing the brunt of their toll, Yami clenched his fists and turned away from the messenger. His bemused gaze clung to the inviting, almost burning, warmth of the sun before him. YÅ«sei said nothing as he observed the shorter male in calculating perplexity. It would seem their battle with Paradox instilled more than what it should have. The way he saw it, if Yami was anything similar to himself, then he would have pondered the day's events in relation to where he stood. His own actions, thoughts and desires for himself would travel through his mind. And in the midst of his contemplation, he would stumble upon one particular question.

 

What made himself and his current ideals to regain something he lost so different from someone like Paradox?

 

And if that were indeed the case, YÅ«sei knew that he would refuse to allow Yami to continue with those thoughts and risk losing sight of what should be; as well to ease the wild thumpings of his heart.

 

“I can't believe it's finally ended...” Yami's sonorous voice bemusedly commented. A remorseful gaze lingered in his liquidy eyes as they drank in the view of the distant sunset. It was unknown if he were detouring the subject at hand or simply lost in his thoughts. Unsettled by the remark, and determined to resolve his future, a curious YÅ«sei turned towards his predecessor with a trademark frown on his face. “I wouldn't get too comfortable just yet. There's bound to be another like Paradox or confused about his ways,” he warned; his fixated gaze on Yami rather telling. However, if Yami was to have these thoughts in the first place, he may as well filter through them in their entirety now.

 

“That is true,” the former pharaoh agreed, not removing his eyes from the warmly accented horizon beyond him, “however... I wish there could have been another way to end world-threatening problems rather than in destruction.”

“I know how you feel, believe me. But psychos like that shouldn't be free to roam our world, doing as he pleases to hurt others.”

“YÅ«sei,” Yami began, turning to face the tanned other; thick locks of gold and ebony fluttering as he did so, “whether or not his methods for doing what he did were wrong in our eyes and everyone else's matters little. Yes, we did what we perceived to be right; we were addressing what we perceived to be a threat to mankind. To Paradox, we were the ones meddling in his methods and reasoning for what was right in his eyes.”

Although the exotic male's words rang with truth, the look on YÅ«sei's face only deepened. “Excuse me for not seeing things another's way, but I don't find any fun in being hunted or targeted. There are other ways to do what someone thinks is right.”

“Perhaps for him there wasn't?”

“You shouldn't think that way,” he hinted in an even tone.

“Why?” Yami began, clenching the railing harshly in attempt to bind his anguish, “because these thoughts are what brought about your changes in the future??”

“Yes,” YÅ«sei nodded, nearing closer, “among other things.”

“How do you know about all of these changes?” Yami pried, narrowing his eyes in inquiry

And YÅ«sei didn't miss a beat. “Recorded documents and digital save files.”

“Whose?”

“Multiple owners.”

“And yet, both separate realities were documented in order for you to come back to warn me?”

“Which reality? Mine or yours?”

“How can I have given you such a reality if you already consider your reality as altered?” Yami objected, forcing that infamous smirk of his. He knew YÅ«sei was leaving out information about something, and now he was certain that he cornered him in his own game.

 

The question caught YÅ«sei off guard and his body fidgeted slightly in response. The look in Yami's eyes was deep enough to wade in and the guilt YÅ«sei felt reached to his neck. Of course there was more. In his own time, or rather in his alternate future, he read and uncovered much about the original King of Games, YÅ«gi Mutou and another known as Atem. The more he uncovered, the more he could understand and relate to. But the more he could relate to, the more he admired. And the more he admired, the more he appreciated. While events had changed for him, he couldn't allow them to change for Yami.

 

The former pharaoh still held his steady gaze upon YÅ«sei, patiently awaiting an answer. The more he looked, tiny, obscure details began to surface. The truth reflecting in YÅ«sei's lapis lazulis told him the answer he sought was staring straight at him all along. Slowly, Yami's eye-lids lowered half way and his lips parted to speak, “You're not the YÅ«sei I met earlier are you?”

“...”

“It's impossible for you to be; impossible for you to know about your altered future if you hailed from it yourself and it was all you knew.” YÅ«sei's silence said it all. And the final nail in the coffin was this: “You've created your own time paradox, YÅ«sei. You've risked your own life and your own time. But why? Was it to save me from myself?”

“No. It was created to save you from me...the version of me you dueled alongside with earlier.”

Yami frowned; his blazing orbs demanding straight answers, “I don't understand.”

“I know. Look, because of the duel with Paradox, you and I were affected differently. I would have thought of giving up the amount of dueling my life revolves around while you would have pondered your ways and if they were right or wrong and compare your ways to his.”

“Like I already did? Then why... what does all this mean? You were too late?”

“No. It means I already saved you. And that also means that the other version of me will also be helped. So my job here is done, the previous version of me will be the one to exist and you'll never see me again. Once I leave, everything will be as it was. Your thoughts of comparing yourself to Paradox won't end in you surrendering later on in that ritual duel and choosing to make the game even better, giving that maniac even more reason to want to destroy Duel Monsters much faster. And I will no longer think that giving up when the odds are against me is fine because the great dueling legend did it many years before me in our duel against Paradox. That way, your enthusiasm to duel my original self wouldn't lead to me giving up something I enjoy because of a 'mistake' I made in that duel. Then I would never see you in the same light again and I will not tell you what that leads to. And with that out of the way, I am NOT going through time to warn you again and risk all of our futures by coming here.”

The confusion was clear in Yami's eyes, but something in his heart told him that he indeed did understand.

“JÅ«dai... how is he?” he asked suddenly.

“Fine. Unscathed,” YÅ«sei declared casually, “The Duel Academy was still built, he still met his friends, you and remembered his duel with YÅ«gi. The outcome was different though.”

“I see.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

“Good... I was hoping you would. After all, you remind me a lot of myself. And you just saved me from another long-winded explanation.”

“Flattering, I would hope,” Yami jeered, his anguish beginning to rapidly dissolve.

“Haha...” YÅ«sei chuckled lightly; his laughter assimilating with the gentle breeze. His amusement was contagious. Before long, the two of them were sharing a laugh as if they were old comrades. Once their appeasement subsided, the two of them found the other locked within a remarkable gaze. Intense amaranth were filled in its entirety with passionate azure. The heat of the sun crept up their bodies, tasting every inch of the exposed skin that peeked out from their taut clothing. The wind glided over the both of them, sighing through their thick locks of wild hair. No words were exchanged between them within that moment; only actions were. A sound of surprise exhaled from Yami as YÅ«sei gripped him by the shoulders and brought his lips to his. The embrace was as unexpected as it was greatly accepted and Yami found himself kissing back. They began slowly; quivering lips meekly seeking acceptance. Soft wet sounds sparked from their mouths as another kiss started anew were the last lingered. Yami's hands remained at his sides, allowing YÅ«sei to keep a gentle hold on him while the intensity of their kisses gradually transitioned from hesitant to hungered; hot touches of the sun lacing their tongues. No one could have predicted this. Neither of them were prepared for it, yet they felt as if their souls were strongly connected to the other. It was if they were being led by an unseen force; being bound to the other by an invisible scarlet thread. Such an occurrence was something not shared by many and was considered a true bond through time.

 

OoO

 

-Yeeeaaahhh, we all know where this is going next chapter!!! Just have to tweak it a bit more before posting...and finish the ending. I just can't seem to write any kind of smut without having a plot tied to it @__@

 

-Minor fun fact, for the majority of writing this story, the main song I listened to on loop for days was Number One (Sex) by R. Kelly. Instrumental version.