Going On

Disclaimer - I don't own them . . . I just own my Sim versions of them, which is so much fun I can barely keep from dieing of laughter.

Author's Notes - Well, here it is . . . the final chapter of the GI/GO saga. Good gods, has it really been a year since I started writing this fic for a challenge by Acidflower? Good heavens, time flies when your torturing people.

A HUGE thank you goes out to all my reviewers and fans, who have kept me writing and been a light in dark times for me. You guys are all great, and I hope you've enjoyed my rollercoaster ride from hell : )

With that said, here's the final chapter. Enjoy, and don't worry . . . I'll be back with more twisted roller coaster stories for you all sooner than you might think!


Chapter 19 - Blackouts, Bruises, and Beginnings


Bakura padded down the hallway, heading to check on Yugi before planning on drinking himself into oblivion.

He felt . . . lost. Empty. Even with Ryou, he felt an emptiness in his heart that bothered him.

Yami. They had failed to save the Pharaoh. Many would wonder why he even cared, but it was simple. He needed the damn Pharaoh.
He was alone here. Not in the sense of the word that many might consider . . . he had Ryou, and the people he’d come to call friends. But he was still a three thousand year old thief, caught outside of time and space in a world not his own . . . and Yami was the only one who could really understand that. And now he was gone.

The last two years had been full of revelations for the former spirit, not the least of which had been that he no longer hated his fellow spirit and Millennium Item prisoner. In fact, he’d come to find that there were quite a few disturbing discrepancies in things Yami had done to him.

For instance, the number of times the Pharaoh had sent him to the Shadow Realm. Each time, it had been a mild irritation, but otherwise an easy trip to get back out. And that should not have been the case. Yami had been more than capable of banishing him for eternity into that dark plane . . . so why hadn’t he? He’d begun to suspect that the Pharaoh had been trying to teach him something. Just another question that he would never have an answer to now.

Then there was the fact that he’d hated Yami for reasons that weren’t even the Pharaoh’s fault. After talking with Marik for a goodly number of hours, he’d come to realize that Yami had never known just what had been done to create the Millennium Items . . . and neither had his father. They’d had nothing to do with the slaughter of his village three thousand years ago. Everything he’d done . . . had been done to the wrong person.

Damn it, he’d wanted to have the chance to earn the Pharaoh’s friendship . . . and to make right everything he had done so horribly wrong. And now that chance was gone forever.

If it would have done any good to release his pain, he would have punched a wall. But that would only worry Ryou, and it wouldn’t bring Yami back. Nothing would. So he restrained himself, and slipped into Yugi’s room to check on the young hikari silently. It was the least that he could do now.

He froze the minute his eyes landed on the bed, his mind struggling to wrap around what he couldn’t possibly be seeing. There were two figures in that bed . . . one pale, the other dark. Otherwise, they were identical . . . and that wasn’t possible. Was it?

“Pharaoh?” he murmured in shock, and was stunned when one head moved slightly.

“Tomb Robber, go away,” Yami grumbled . . . and was answered with a thump. Growling under his breath, he levered himself up from Yugi, and turned slightly . . . to find Bakura on the ground. “Bakura?” No movement. “Bakura!” Still no movement. “Ra damn you, thief,” Yami snarled, and slid from the bed, stalking across the carpet. He knelt down beside the pale man, and started chuckling under his breath.

Bakura . . . the great and powerful Tomb Robber, the fearless Thief King . . . had fainted. This was definitely one for the record books.


*-------*-------*------*-------*


Bakura awoke feeling like he’d been hit by a truck - rather big one.

“’Kura!” Ryou said, staring down into the red-brown eyes happily. “You’re awake!” Bakura groaned, blinking stupidly up at his hikari before trying to sit up.

“Gods, I had the strangest fucking dream. I thought I saw . . .”

“Me?” Red-brown eyes shot open wide, staring in shock as a tall, lean, tri-haired figure crouched down in front of him. “You know I’m not going to let you live down the fact that you fainted, Tomb Robber.”

“You’re alive!” Yami was shocked to find himself suddenly the recipient of a desperate hug, motionless as the thief tried to squeeze his newly acquired life out of him. “You son of a jackal! You had us scared near to death!” He released the stunned figure, and then glanced around, glowering as he realized he had an audience. “What the fuck are you all looking at?” he snapped. The others grinned, but didn’t comment as the former spirit picked himself up off the floor with a groan.

Yami staggered upright as well, quickly finding his arms full of his light as he stood and smiled at the gathered friends. After Bakura has collapsed on the bedroom floor, from what Yami assumed was shock at finding him still alive, he’d managed to get himself cleaned up and dressed again before setting out in search of Ryou to let the young hikari know that his dark needed help.

Ryou’s reaction to seeing him had been almost the same as Bakura’s upon awakening. The young white-haired man had quite literally tackled him, sobbing hysterically and swearing that if Yami ever scared them like he had again, Ryou wouldn’t bother to keep his yami from strangling him next time. It had taken a few minutes to get the youth calm again, and by the time he had, they’d garnered an audience of gawking friends. He quickly found himself the center of attention, with a round of hugs and back slaps that had left him feeling like he been put through a meat grinder for the bruises that were sure to form. it had been a bit before he could explain to them that Bakura needed some assistance.

Now that the thief was once again conscious, they were all looking at him expectantly, waiting for answers. The problem was, he couldn’t think of where to begin. A majority of what had happened was nothing more than a blur in his mind.

“How about you start at the beginning, Yami?” Yugi murmured, having overheard his thoughts through their now completely active link. Neither had bothered to even remotely shield it again . . . after having been so long without it, they wanted to enjoy the full depth of being able to truly feel each other again. Yami sighed, but nodded and allowed Yugi to lead him to the couch, where they cuddled against each other as the others got themselves situated comfortably.

He started with what had happened after the rejoining of himself and Kage, before going through the strange appearance of Shadi and the final test of the doorway.

“I had to come to terms with what had happened in order to fully take on my life again,” he said in ending. “Before I could be reunited with Yugi, I had to let go of all the pain and regret. I almost didn’t make it . . . I had barely stepped through the doorway when something tried to pull me back through it. I had just enough strength to slam it shut before Kage could drag me into death with him, and then I passed out. I didn’t awake until . . .” He paused, and glanced at Yugi slightly before pulling his aibou into his embrace. “I didn’t awake until much later,” he said finally. It would be Yugi’s decision if he wanted their friends to know how close he had come to killing himself.

“Do you have any idea why we couldn’t sense you in there?” Marik asked, leaning forward slightly. Yami shook his head.

“Possibly because I was so low on strength,” he murmured. “That’s the only thing that I can think of.” He shrugged, and sighed slightly as Yugi burrowed further into his embrace. “It doesn’t matter now,” he said softly, hand gently threading through the tri-colored locks. “I’m back, and reunited with Yugi. That’s all that remains important out of this nightmare.”

In honesty, they all agreed. They had Yami back, and Yugi was whole and happy again. That really was all that mattered.


*--------*--------*--------*--------*


Standing on the balcony that evening, staring out at the sunset, Yami mused silently over how much things had changed. Two years had aged everyone considerably, and relationships were significantly different then he remembered them. He was really having trouble taking it all in, now that he had time to truly think about it without worrying about other things.

He’s spent over an hour talking with Kaiba . . . Seto, he had insisted on being called . . . discussing the past and Egyptian magic. That alone was nearly overwhelming. The last he remembered of the brunette, he had been shunning all of them and refused to believe in that ‘hocus pocus bullshit’. Now, not only did he accept it, but was trying to ‘learn’ about it!

Then he’d been coerced into conversation with Malik. Now that had been strange. The blonde yami had surprised him to no end by actually thanking him for banishing him and then sealing him into his Soul Room. Watching the relationship between his Tomb Keeper and the yami born of Marik’s negative emotions, Yami had gotten a sense of happiness, knowing that Marik was no longer alone. Admittedly, he was still wary of letting Malik out of his sight for any length of time, but he suspected there would be no more problems from that direction. He actually looked forward to getting to know the blonde yami better.

Catching up with everything that had gone on during his exile, and all the changes that his friend’s had gone through, had really worn him out. He’d come out here to catch his breath, and think of where his future was heading now. He had Yugi, and a whole life ahead of him . . . and he wondered what he was going to do with it.

“Pharaoh?” Yami turned slightly, nodding in greeting to Bakura as the pale thief walked across the stone to join him at the railing he was leaning on. “Needed to catch a minute alone, huh?” Yami nodded, and Bakura chuckled. “I know how you feel. They’re all so young . . . they can tire you out if you spend too much time with them. Yami smiled, and quietly agreed.

The two stood watching the sun paint the blue sky with shades of red and orange for several minutes, merely admiring the view silently together. Finally, Bakura shifted, turning his back on the glorious sunset, crossing his arms over his chest and bowing his head for a moment in thought. Sensing something serious coming, Yami turned to look at him curiously, and Bakura sighed before speaking.

“We’ve . . . been enemies for a long time, Yami,” he murmured. “I’d like to put that behind us . . . if we can. I know I’ve done some . . . really nasty things, and looking back on them, I’m still trying to figure out what I was thinking when I did them. But one thing I have come to understand is that I was trying to punish you for something you had no knowledge of. I just wanted you to know . . . that I’m sorry for that.”

Crimson eyes wide with astonishment, it was several moments before Yami could bring himself to speak. Would wonders never cease this day?

“Bakura . . . if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s that the past is exactly that . . . the past. Why you did the things you did isn’t important anymore. Just . . . don’t do them again, eh?” Bakura smiled at him, and he found himself smiling back. Who would have ever thought he and Bakura could become . . . friends?

“So, how’s it feel to be over three thousand years old with a whole new life ahead of you?” the thief asked, and Yami shrugged slightly.

“I don’t know,” Yami murmured. “It’s . . . different. I don’t know where I should go from here. Yugi’s going to continue with his schooling now, and the others all have their lives to return to.” He paused, and then raised an eyebrow at Bakura questioningly. “What do you do while Ryou’s in school?”

“He works for me,” Seto said, stepping through the doorway. “I was wondering where you two had disappeared to.” He joined them at the railing, standing on Yami’s other side and looking over at Bakura. “He’s my head of security.” (Thank you DDYD for the inspiration for this) Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Yami looked up at the tall brunette, curiousity rampant in the crimson gaze. He was also trying very hard not to laugh at the idea of Bakura, of all people, in charge of security anywhere. Something told him Seto had plans for him and he wondered what exactly he could do for the brunette that someone else could not.

“I fired my head of game testing about a week ago,” Seto said finally. “I’m in the market for a new one. I thought that you would fill the slot nicely . . . considering you’re the King of Games, after all. Who better to test my newest developments and see if they’re good or not?” He shrugged slightly at Yami’s shocked expression, and smiled. “If you need a job . . .”

“That sounds . . . great, Seto,” Yami said, and meant it. Play games for the rest of his life? What could be better. “Thank you.” Seto chuckled.

“Don’t thank me yet,” the CEO warned. “I’m a slave driver. Just ask Bakura.” Yami glanced over at the thief, and Bakura nodded in affirmation of the statement.

“All the same, thank you Seto,” he murmured. He was startled when the brunette clapped him on the shoulder before disappearing back inside without a word. Bakura through him a smile before heading inside himself, leaving Yami to ponder this strange turn of events.

In less than a minute, his future had gone from uncertain to bright. He sighed, musing on how interesting life could be as he turned back to the sunset, and smiled as he felt Yugi come out of the house to join him.

“Everything okay, Yami?” he asked quietly, and smiled as his dark wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into the lean body lovingly

“Everything is perfect, my light,” he replied softly, leaning down to take his hikari’s lips in a passionate kiss. “Simply perfect.”

Together they turned to watch the sun dip below the horizon, watching night creep like a dark blanket over the city. Their darkness was over . . . and their light was just beginning to truly shine.


Ending Author's Notes - *sniffles* Damn, I'm going to miss this fic. Don't worry though . . . I'll be revisiting it. There will be a middle story to this, one that falls between GI and this one. I still have to tell Ryou and Bakura's story, and how Ryou got those scars on his arms, as if it isn't obvious. So, hang tight, and I'll be around!

DracOnyx, Bakura, Sephiroth and Malik (the hikari), her beloved muses.