Fateful Salvation: Chapter 1
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Genre: Supernatural, Romance
Description: An old man's Blue Eyes White Dragon card brings about the crossing of their paths. After that, life will never be the same for the two of them. A Seto Yami fanfiction.
Warning: Many events in this fanfiction would adhere to the Japanese anime canon -- not strictly, of course, since this story would follow my plot, making deviations necessary. In fact, one major deviation would be Yami Yugi having his own physical form. Because of this, he will be called plain "Yami" throughout this story.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh! Thank God…
Pairing: Seto Kaiba x Yami Yugi (Prideshipping)
Fateful Salvation
by: scarlet wax petal
Click here to see the Table of Contents.
Chapter 1: Prisoner
What… the hell… am I doing?
Silence. A long tormenting soundlessness passes before someone finally answers. The voice that emerges is hollow and resounding as if from a long-abandoned tomb; a taunting, triumphant boom which, though syrupy thick with maleficence it may have come from the lowest pits of hell…
Hello there, Seto. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
…has not ventured far to reach him. For it is a voice which comes from within himself. And Kaiba trembles.
You--
Thought you could be rid of me that easily? I had believed you were smarter than this, but it seems I was wrong. For as long as you live, so shall I live in you. That was our contract, remember?
Damn you-- Then I will not allow myself to live much longer!
He fights. But to struggle, he learns, is useless.
This body isn’t yours any longer, the voice says. So stand back. You have no business in this.
My body isn’t--
It isn’t yours now. No, it hadn’t been yours all along. You haven’t realized it, have you? I have been here these long years, controlling you.
That’s impossible! My actions have always been of my choice. I refuse to believe it!
Deny the truth if you wish, fool, but you will never be able to change a thing. Never.
His fingers now grip the Blue Eyes White Dragon card. He sneers. And then, with one calculated motion of the wrists, the sound of shredding paper resonates in the room. No one speaks. Everyone stares in horror. Everyone, especially Kaiba.
Blue Eyes White Dragon! he calls desperately, as if the duel monster could hear. He looks on at the tattered pieces of the card that lay at his feet; the powerful beast of light broken, helpless, bathing in its very own blood -- the same blood that now stains Kaiba’s hands after he had murdered the dragon so callously. It would never fly again. Its final cry, the heart-rending decrescendo it exhaled with its dying breath reaches his ears, ringing with agony so intense it would adhere to Kaiba’s memory for as long as he would live. He determines that there can never be atonement for what he has done. And so, with greater resolve than before, he decides that now is the time to die.
But the evil from within has other plans.
-o-o-o-
Flashback:
Today is just like any other day at Domino High School. It is early morning, and classes have yet to start. Young teenagers, boys and girls, are chatting among themselves of the lighter, simpler, shallower things in life -- like the most recent music videos, or the latest trends in fashion, or even whether the cake in the cafeteria is chocolate- or coffee-flavored.
As if those matter. No wonder Seto Kaiba refuses to mingle with them.
As always, he sits in his corner, silently reading a book of philosophy. He doesn’t bother with the superficial concerns that children his age strain their inferior minds with. He has far, far more important things to think about. Time -- his time -- is too valuable to waste on frivolities.
His vision sweeps through the text that he is reading, his genius mind quickly and sharply comprehending. One particular sentence catches his attention:
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. (1)
He stops. His sight runs back and forth through the sentence, rebounding to the first word whenever it reaches the period at the end. Each thought, each word, each meaning slaps him hard with its familiarity and he shudders, yet still, he goes on, like a masochist, afflicting himself with the painfulness of memory. He refuses to forget.
Momentarily, he allows his mind to stray, to rest even for a second from its self-inflicted anguish. It is to be one of his greatest mistakes.
"…then let’s go to my Grandpa’s shop and check out the cards. Maybe we can even get him to show us his Super Rare Card." Kaiba overhears. For once, he glances from the text, to the bunch of school kids blabbering nearby.
Could that be the card I’ve been searching for? he wonders interestedly. He narrows his eyes at the group of teenagers, who, before, he had never bothered noticing. Now, his muscles tense in utter anticipation. A cold drop of sweat breaks out from the side of his neck and, quickly, he takes out his handkerchief and wipes it off. After inhaling deeply and collecting himself, he returns his eyes to the pages of the book, less intently now, and only half-focused.
-o-o-o-
Classes end in the afternoon. To Kaiba, school has been a waste of his time, as always. He definitely knows more than the teachers do -- he is well aware of that -- and has been on the verge of embarrassing a couple of them with terse criticisms of their lessons. They ought to thank their luck he has a good deal of self-control.
Furthermore, they weren’t worth his time. Kaiba has other things in mind.
He swiftly, yet carefully, drives through the streets of Domino until he reaches the Kame Game Shop. He alights from his car. Firmly standing tall and straight, and clutching a heavy silver briefcase in his hand, he marches to the shop and slams the door open without warning.
All heads turn as chimes tinkle and a chilly dusk wind whooshes into the shop.
Kaiba doesn’t care. His eyes immediately come upon the object of his obsession… the Blue Eyes White Dragon! Promptly, he dashes to it, only to be withheld its presence by the old man who holds it. Kaiba grits his teeth in annoyance. With everything now paling in comparison before the legendary card, he immediately shoves his briefcase at the old man, offering everything he has then in exchange for the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
Much to his chagrin, the old man refuses.
Kaiba growls low as his anger intensifies. His eyes glaze; his blood simmers dangerously fast as he realizes that someone -- and a senile old fool at that! -- would have the audacity to refuse him, Seto Kaiba, what he wants. And what he wants is the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Trembling with unfulfilled desire, he gropes for what to do next, but it seems his wits are gradually floating out of reach. His head aches at the effort, and he swallows instinctively, forcing down the anger that now threatens to erupt.
He turns and leaves at that moment, still with his head raised conceitedly and his back straight with arrogance. As he marches out the shop, his brain plays with various possibilities.
I have money, power and men in my command. I will definitely get what I want.
As he boards the driver seat of his car, an intense flash of pain grips his forehead. Momentarily, he slumps limply, his teeth grinding as he tries to will the pain away. His fingers grasp the steering wheel, his knuckles turning corpse-white with force, and he trembles, almost like in an epileptic fit. A hollow numbness soon fills his head, masking the pain, and he raises his glassy eyes to the road.
His vision swims, his reason falters. Shaking his head once, he steps hard upon the accelerator, sending his vehicle zooming through the streets of Domino at irrationally fatal velocities. An intoxicating thrill rushes through his blood -- What the hell is going on? -- like a powerful narcotic -- Turn right, I say, not left! Goddamnit! Why am I turning left? -- seizing control of every neuron -- Stop this at once, Kaiba, you--
Blue Eyes White Dragon! The thought stabs through his mind and he screams.
A part of his mind echoes: He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Those were the words that have adhered to him since this morning. And now, as he watches his hands steer the vehicle wildly through the streets, he asks himself:
Seto, what have you become?
He receives no answer.
(to be continued)
Click here to proceed to Chapter 2. Click here to see the Table of Contents.
(1) These words do not appear in Friedrich Nietzsche’s "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (the book that Kaiba was reading in the first episode of Season 1). The quote comes from "Beyond Good and Evil," also by Nietzsche. I believe the quote is appropriate for this story, so I have included it.
Genre: Supernatural, Romance
Description: An old man's Blue Eyes White Dragon card brings about the crossing of their paths. After that, life will never be the same for the two of them. A Seto Yami fanfiction.
Warning: Many events in this fanfiction would adhere to the Japanese anime canon -- not strictly, of course, since this story would follow my plot, making deviations necessary. In fact, one major deviation would be Yami Yugi having his own physical form. Because of this, he will be called plain "Yami" throughout this story.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh! Thank God…
Pairing: Seto Kaiba x Yami Yugi (Prideshipping)
Fateful Salvation
by: scarlet wax petal
Click here to see the Table of Contents.
Chapter 1: Prisoner
What… the hell… am I doing?
Silence. A long tormenting soundlessness passes before someone finally answers. The voice that emerges is hollow and resounding as if from a long-abandoned tomb; a taunting, triumphant boom which, though syrupy thick with maleficence it may have come from the lowest pits of hell…
Hello there, Seto. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
…has not ventured far to reach him. For it is a voice which comes from within himself. And Kaiba trembles.
You--
Thought you could be rid of me that easily? I had believed you were smarter than this, but it seems I was wrong. For as long as you live, so shall I live in you. That was our contract, remember?
Damn you-- Then I will not allow myself to live much longer!
He fights. But to struggle, he learns, is useless.
This body isn’t yours any longer, the voice says. So stand back. You have no business in this.
My body isn’t--
It isn’t yours now. No, it hadn’t been yours all along. You haven’t realized it, have you? I have been here these long years, controlling you.
That’s impossible! My actions have always been of my choice. I refuse to believe it!
Deny the truth if you wish, fool, but you will never be able to change a thing. Never.
His fingers now grip the Blue Eyes White Dragon card. He sneers. And then, with one calculated motion of the wrists, the sound of shredding paper resonates in the room. No one speaks. Everyone stares in horror. Everyone, especially Kaiba.
Blue Eyes White Dragon! he calls desperately, as if the duel monster could hear. He looks on at the tattered pieces of the card that lay at his feet; the powerful beast of light broken, helpless, bathing in its very own blood -- the same blood that now stains Kaiba’s hands after he had murdered the dragon so callously. It would never fly again. Its final cry, the heart-rending decrescendo it exhaled with its dying breath reaches his ears, ringing with agony so intense it would adhere to Kaiba’s memory for as long as he would live. He determines that there can never be atonement for what he has done. And so, with greater resolve than before, he decides that now is the time to die.
But the evil from within has other plans.
-o-o-o-
Flashback:
Today is just like any other day at Domino High School. It is early morning, and classes have yet to start. Young teenagers, boys and girls, are chatting among themselves of the lighter, simpler, shallower things in life -- like the most recent music videos, or the latest trends in fashion, or even whether the cake in the cafeteria is chocolate- or coffee-flavored.
As if those matter. No wonder Seto Kaiba refuses to mingle with them.
As always, he sits in his corner, silently reading a book of philosophy. He doesn’t bother with the superficial concerns that children his age strain their inferior minds with. He has far, far more important things to think about. Time -- his time -- is too valuable to waste on frivolities.
His vision sweeps through the text that he is reading, his genius mind quickly and sharply comprehending. One particular sentence catches his attention:
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. (1)
He stops. His sight runs back and forth through the sentence, rebounding to the first word whenever it reaches the period at the end. Each thought, each word, each meaning slaps him hard with its familiarity and he shudders, yet still, he goes on, like a masochist, afflicting himself with the painfulness of memory. He refuses to forget.
Momentarily, he allows his mind to stray, to rest even for a second from its self-inflicted anguish. It is to be one of his greatest mistakes.
"…then let’s go to my Grandpa’s shop and check out the cards. Maybe we can even get him to show us his Super Rare Card." Kaiba overhears. For once, he glances from the text, to the bunch of school kids blabbering nearby.
Could that be the card I’ve been searching for? he wonders interestedly. He narrows his eyes at the group of teenagers, who, before, he had never bothered noticing. Now, his muscles tense in utter anticipation. A cold drop of sweat breaks out from the side of his neck and, quickly, he takes out his handkerchief and wipes it off. After inhaling deeply and collecting himself, he returns his eyes to the pages of the book, less intently now, and only half-focused.
-o-o-o-
Classes end in the afternoon. To Kaiba, school has been a waste of his time, as always. He definitely knows more than the teachers do -- he is well aware of that -- and has been on the verge of embarrassing a couple of them with terse criticisms of their lessons. They ought to thank their luck he has a good deal of self-control.
Furthermore, they weren’t worth his time. Kaiba has other things in mind.
He swiftly, yet carefully, drives through the streets of Domino until he reaches the Kame Game Shop. He alights from his car. Firmly standing tall and straight, and clutching a heavy silver briefcase in his hand, he marches to the shop and slams the door open without warning.
All heads turn as chimes tinkle and a chilly dusk wind whooshes into the shop.
Kaiba doesn’t care. His eyes immediately come upon the object of his obsession… the Blue Eyes White Dragon! Promptly, he dashes to it, only to be withheld its presence by the old man who holds it. Kaiba grits his teeth in annoyance. With everything now paling in comparison before the legendary card, he immediately shoves his briefcase at the old man, offering everything he has then in exchange for the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
Much to his chagrin, the old man refuses.
Kaiba growls low as his anger intensifies. His eyes glaze; his blood simmers dangerously fast as he realizes that someone -- and a senile old fool at that! -- would have the audacity to refuse him, Seto Kaiba, what he wants. And what he wants is the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Trembling with unfulfilled desire, he gropes for what to do next, but it seems his wits are gradually floating out of reach. His head aches at the effort, and he swallows instinctively, forcing down the anger that now threatens to erupt.
He turns and leaves at that moment, still with his head raised conceitedly and his back straight with arrogance. As he marches out the shop, his brain plays with various possibilities.
I have money, power and men in my command. I will definitely get what I want.
As he boards the driver seat of his car, an intense flash of pain grips his forehead. Momentarily, he slumps limply, his teeth grinding as he tries to will the pain away. His fingers grasp the steering wheel, his knuckles turning corpse-white with force, and he trembles, almost like in an epileptic fit. A hollow numbness soon fills his head, masking the pain, and he raises his glassy eyes to the road.
His vision swims, his reason falters. Shaking his head once, he steps hard upon the accelerator, sending his vehicle zooming through the streets of Domino at irrationally fatal velocities. An intoxicating thrill rushes through his blood -- What the hell is going on? -- like a powerful narcotic -- Turn right, I say, not left! Goddamnit! Why am I turning left? -- seizing control of every neuron -- Stop this at once, Kaiba, you--
Blue Eyes White Dragon! The thought stabs through his mind and he screams.
A part of his mind echoes: He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Those were the words that have adhered to him since this morning. And now, as he watches his hands steer the vehicle wildly through the streets, he asks himself:
Seto, what have you become?
He receives no answer.
(to be continued)
Click here to proceed to Chapter 2. Click here to see the Table of Contents.
(1) These words do not appear in Friedrich Nietzsche’s "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (the book that Kaiba was reading in the first episode of Season 1). The quote comes from "Beyond Good and Evil," also by Nietzsche. I believe the quote is appropriate for this story, so I have included it.
posted by cent @ 10:00 PM
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