Going On

Disclaimer – I’m not making any money off of this, so don’t sue me. YuGiOh and all the characters within are owned by Kazuki Takahashi, who is a god. I’m just borrowing them for a while.

Author’s Notes – Another chapter, and one that I hope you all enjoy as much as you did the last one. The ride isn’t even close to over yet for Yugi and Yami, nor their friends.
Enjoy!


Chapter 8 – Complications


Malik awoke slowly, violet eyes examining the ceiling in confusion before his mind recalled the past few hours events. Turning his head, he spied Kage not far away, still and silent in slumber.

‘I could simply kill him,’ he thought absently, staring at the dark consideringly. ‘But would he really die?’

**He is a spirit . . . a shadow,** Marik said wearily from his Soul Room. **Yami and Bakura are mortal now, to a point . . . he is not.**

*There has to be some way to destroy him,* Malik snarled back.

**I’m thinking on it, dark.** He raised an eyebrow in concern before retreating into their shared mind, unlocking and opening the door to the Soul Room in which he had locked his other. The boy sounded drained. The room was dark . . . much darker than he would have expected. He concentrated, and the dim lighting brightened slightly, revealing a prone figure on a bed not far away.

“Marik . . .” he said, stepping forward.

“You have what you wanted,” the blonde murmured, lavender eyes remaining trained upon the stone ceiling above. “You’re free. Just leave me alone, Malik.” The lavender gaze turned suddenly, pinning him with their gaze. “Why did you even come in here? Aren’t you afraid I’ll try to escape?”

Malik shifted on his feet uneasily, the weight of his light side’s eyes upon him uncomfortable. He still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that he’d grown to care about his weaker half, and now it seemed he was going to have to explain his actions to the very boy he had once hated so passionately that he’d tried to banish him to the shadows forever.

“I don’t intend this to be permanent, brat,” he growled finally, summoning a chair into existence and dropping into in bonelessly. “Once Kage is taken care of, I will return the body to you.”

“Worried that Yami will decide this time to simply banish you?” Marik asked mockingly. Malik stood suddenly, striding across to the youth lying on the bed angrily. He was sick of the mistrust . . . yes, he’d earned it, but for such a perceptive mortal, his other was currently being a moron.

“Listen to me, Marik, because I will only say this once,” he growled, lifting his other off the bed easily with a fistful of shirt. “Two years was a long time to be trapped inside of you. That is a lot of time to think . . . and learn.”

The lavender eyes widened as Malik suddenly pulled him into a brutal kiss, plundering his mouth hungrily when it opened in a surprised gasp. He couldn’t help his body’s response, sagging against the taller yami helplessly as his mind whirled with too many questions and thoughts to sort out. Malik . . . the yami born of his own hatred, the yami who had tried to erase him from existence by giving him to the shadows . . . was kissing him? He felt one of his dark’s hands come up to cup the back of his head, fingers threading into platinum blonde hair, holding him in place as the fist in his shirt loosened, the hand wandering over his hip lightly before pressing into the small of his back, bringing him up against a firm, strong body.

He gasped when Malik suddenly released him, dropping back onto the bed as he stared up at his darkness in shock. Lavender eyes widened considerably when Malik crawled onto the bed with him, pinning him to the bed by sitting on his hips, bracing an arm on either side of his torso to stare down at him, the violet eyes swimming with more emotion than he’d ever thought his dark capable of even feeling, much less showing.

“What the hell has gotten into you?” he whispered. He shuddered when Malik growled slightly, a moan torn from his throat as his dark pressed down on a suddenly very over-sensitized area. “Ra . . . Malik . . .” Malik leaned closer, his breath whispering across the upturned lips as he stopped just short of kissing the young Egyptian again.

“You got into me, little light,” he murmured, nipping at the soft lips and drawing another moan from his weaker half. “For two years I’ve had nothing to do but think, and that thinking brought me to the conclusion that I don’t hate you as much as I want to . . . because it seems I love you as well.”

Marik was startled by the confession, and could only stare up at his dark, helpless in the face of the bold statement. How in the world had things come to this? It felt like his entire existence had just turned upside down . . . his volatile and demonic dark loved him? Was the apocalypse just around the corner, or had hell frozen over at last?

“Malik . . .” he whispered. “I . . .” He was startled when his yami suddenly arose, releasing him and striding across the Soul Room.

“I don’t expect anything from you, brat,” he snarled. “Kage is awake. Stay here, and for Ra’s sake, keep quiet.” With that he was gone, leaving Marik to stare after him in shock.

“Good gods,” he murmured, levering himself up on the bed with his elbows and staring at the once again locked Soul Room door. “Can my life get any more fucking complicated?”


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


Yami sank wearily onto the bench, his eyes staring at the ground, not really seeing it. Instead, he only saw amethyst eyes wide with fear, tearing at his heart.

How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let his longing for his aibou overcome his concern for his love? He shook his head, sighing, tears making glistening tracks of crystal down his face. So close . . . they had been so close, and yet they were still so far away.

It was as he had feared . . . Yugi was still afraid of him. That thought beat at him, leaving scars across his soul.

“Damn you . . .” he whispered. He wasn’t sure who the curse was for . . . for his darkness that had done this, for himself for not having control, or for the gods who continued to torment him with existence.

“Yami?” a voice said softly. Crimson eyes arose to meet sapphire before Yami looked away, his shoulders sagging wearily.

“Not now, Kaiba,” he murmured. “Please, just leave me alone.” Instead of listening to him, the taller man sank onto the bench beside him, long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed.

“What happened?” Seto asked quietly, studying the silent figure beside him minutely. He saw the shudder that passed through the slim frame. “You faced Yugi, didn’t you?” Yami chuckled humorlessly.

“How very perceptive of you, Kaiba,” he growled, the anger at himself finding an outlet in his former arch-rival. “That is one duel I can never win . . . no matter how much I believe in the heart of the cards. Too much damage has been done.” Seto refused to rise to the remark.

“You have to give it time, Yami,” he murmured. In response, Yami arose from the bench angrily, his fists clenching at his sides.

“Time is something I do not have, Seto,” he said. “Kage is out there, and Ra above only knows his plans. How can I protect my aibou, when he is just as afraid of me as he is of my darkness?” He wiped his tears away roughly. “This is hell, and I have been cursed to live in it,” he whispered.

Seto examined Yami carefully, unhappy with the signs of strain that the former Pharaoh was showing. He knew Yami was pushing himself too hard, but at the same time he had to admit that Yami was right. They didn’t have much time for delicacy, and this whole mess required a soft touch to sort out. He arose slowly, moving to do something he never would have thought he’d find himself doing. He pulled Yami into his arms, holding the shivering frame close as he felt the strong mask break, tears soaking the cotton of his black shirt as Yami finally released the inner pain he’d been trying so desperately to hide from those he thought needed him

He ran one hand through the unruly spikes of hair, loving the soft feel of it. If it hadn’t been for Yami, he would never have noticed how much he needed Joey . . . and there were the lingering feelings he had discovered he held for the former Pharaoh. Yami was the only person who had ever been able to challenge him on an equal basis . . . that kind of strength he admired, and he hated seeing it as broken as it was now.

“We’re here for you, Yami . . . we’ll help in any way we can,” he whispered. “But you have to let us in. I don’t think it’s you that he’s afraid of . . . it’s his memories. He’s had consistent nightmares for the past two years, Yami. That will take time, now that you’re back.”

“It is not only his fear,” Yami said softly. “It is mine as well. Kage is a part of me, Seto . . . how do I know that I would not have done that to Yugi myself?” Seto pulled back, sapphire staring into crimson steadily as the taller man held him at arms length.

“Yami . . . we never really got the chance to know each other, but even I know that you would NEVER hurt Yugi. I watched the Battle City Duel against Malik . . . it killed you to even think of him getting hurt. When you had to hurt him to keep Fiend Sanctuary in play, it hurt you too. That kind of love comes from the heart, Yami . . . you would never hurt Yugi.”

“I wish I could be so sure,” the Pharaoh whispered. “I am so afraid of what I could be . . .” Seto smiled gently.

“Yami, even I know that you’re not the same as Kage . . . you never could be. You have a heart, and a soul, and a conscience . . . things that Kage does not have. Those things balance the darkness that is in you, just as it balances the darkness in every human being.” He released the spirit, sinking back onto the bench slowly. “You know . . . since the events two years ago . . . I’ve been to a couple of past-life specialists, trying to dig up what all it was that you were talking about when you said you knew the past me. I’ve gotten a few glimpses of that time . . .” He looked back up at the still standing Yami, and shook his head. “You weren’t a bad person back then, Yami . . . no matter what anyone tells you. What little I have remembered of you is very clear . . . you were a good, just ruler. You’re the reason Bakura is still alive . . . I wanted to kill him. You made me spare his life.”

Yami’s eyebrows rose in shock at this stunning glimpse into his past, head tilting to one side as he thought about what Kaiba had told him. Could it be true? Could he . . . could he really have been a good person, back then? But then, where had Kage come from?

Sapphire eyes watched as the former spirit carefully weighed what had been told to him in his head, and Seto smiled slightly as some of the tension seemed to drain out of the lithe frame. That was what he’d hoped to accomplish . . . although he’d lied about the past-life sessions. He’d done no such thing . . . he didn’t believe in that mumbo-jumbo, hocus pocus bullshit. Bad enough he’d had to accept the yami’s and their shadow magic. But if his lie could give the Pharaoh some measure of comfort . . . besides which, he had talked with Bakura at length about the past, so he knew something of it, enough that the lies would stand should Yami approach the former thief on it.

“You need to go speak with Yugi, Pharaoh,” he murmured after giving his information time to sink in. “I think you’ll find that whatever happened between you two has a reason other than the one you believe.”

“I cannot,” Yami replied, turning to look at Seto solemnly. “Thank you for the information, Seto . . . I know how difficult it was for you. But it does not change the questions I have about myself . . . nor those that my aibou carries in his heart.” He shook his head sadly. “No, I cannot face Yugi again . . . not just yet. I will not push him, and risk hurting him further.” Seto watched as he strode off into the shadowy garden, sighing in annoyance as the lithe figure disappeared into the shadows.

“Damn it,” he murmured, before rising to return to the house. “Bakura was right . . . he really is one stubborn son of a bitch.”


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


Seto entered the den slowly, glad to see that Joey was still sitting there, although Yugi was nowhere to be found. When they had found their friend sobbing harshly on the floor, they had feared the worst. After Yugi told them what happened, Seto had gone to find Yami, leaving Joey to comfort the smaller man.

“I sent him up to get some more sleep,” Joey murmured, standing up and stepping into Seto’s arms. “Seto, what the hell are we going to do? They’re both hurting so much, but they’re so afraid of hurting each other more that they can’t see that the only way they’ll heal is by being with each other.” Seto sighed, wrapping his arms around Joey loosely as he buried his head in the disheveled blonde hair.

“I don’t know, Joey,” he said after a moment. “Yami’s afraid to go near him for fear of hurting him further, and Yugi . . .” He shrugged. “I just don’t know. I was hoping that after speaking to Yami he would come in and talk to Yugi again, but instead he went toward the maze. He’s questioning who and what he was Joey . . . and that’s something I’ve never really had to face.”

“Haven’t you?” the tall blonde murmured in reply. “You did it not long after Yami sacrificed himself. You were struggling with who you were, and whether or not it was what you wanted to be anymore, especially after getting your nose shoved into ancient Egyptian magic head first by Kage. You’re more like Yami then you know, Seto . . . both of you beat yourselves up over your perceived failures and misconceptions. How long did it take you to let go of your obsession with beating Yugi . . . or rather, Yami?”
Seto smiled slightly, silently conceding the point.

“You’re too smart, Pup,” he said affectionately. “And you’re right . . . I hadn’t really thought of it like that. But where you stepped in to help me deal with it, Yami won’t allow Yugi to do so . . . and I’m not sure Yugi would be able to, anyway. So what do you suggest we do, mutt?” Joey cuffed him on the back of the head lightly for the ‘dog’ comment, but otherwise left it alone.

“I don’t think there’s anything more we can do, my dragon,” he said softly. “Until they get over their fear of each other, Yami won’t be able to get past his questions about himself. It’s too bad Marik isn’t here . . .”

“Yes,” Seto murmured. “Speaking of which, where is he? Shouldn’t he have been here hours ago? Bakura said he’d only gone to the apartment to retrieve some clothing . . .” Sapphire eyes grew worried as the magnitude of Marik’s disappearance struck him. “You don’t think that Kage got him, do you?”

“Naw . . . Marik’s smarter than that,” Joey replied. But internally, he wasn’t so sure . . . and that was a very bad thing indeed.


DUN DUN DUN . . . more coming soon . . . I hope . . .