[YGO!/HL, AU] “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (05/15)
Title: “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (05/15)
Fandom: Highlander, Yu-Gi-Oh!, with some ideas borrowed from The Dresden Files.
Author: darkjediprinces (Hi there, that’s me!)
Feedback: IS ALWAYS WELCOME, THANK YOU~! <3
Rating: R/M
Word Count: 2,446
Characters: Yami/Atemu, Yugi Mutou, Ryou Bakura, Methos, Yami Bakura/Malik, Duncan MacLeod, Joe Dawson, Kronos, Adam Pierson (OC), Seshata-per-say (OC)
Pairings: Yami/Yugi, Yami/Persy (OC)
Warnings: Maleslash/Shounen-ai, violence, gore, swearing.
Summary: Five thousand years ago, Pharaoh Tepeysa-Yami lost his closest friends in a ritual to imprison the enemy that threatened to tear about his people and country, while he continued to live, an Immortal destined to outlive all of his mortal lovers and friends. Now, something has drawn him to the sleepy town of Seacouver, Washington, and while he’s not sure what it is, events are certain to make what was once a boring little town on the west coast of the United States a place of chaos and death…
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Highlander. Yu-Gi-Oh! is most definitely the property of Kazuki Takahashi. I don’t know who owns Highlander, but it ain’t me. Ideas borrowed from The Dresden Files belong to Jim Butcher. Seshata-per-sey/Persy/Phoebe Vance belongs to my dear friend kawaiispinel. <3 I do, however, own Adam Pierson :). Sort of. You’ll see. Anyway, this is just a wacky place-swap AU for one of my other stories. No money is being made, etc etc.
Author’s Notes: I… might have gotten a bit ahead of myself with the Puzzleshipping in this chapter. I DON’T CARE. They’re adorable. <3
Crosspostings: card_crossings, yami_no_hikari, highland_cross, crossoverfic
<- Previous || Next ->
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Chapter 05: The Unexpected
“Destiny flying high above
All I know is that you can realize [Realize]
Destiny who cares [Destiny who cares]
As it turns around [As it turns around]
And I know that it descends down on me
It’s just another day
The shame is gone
Hard to believe
That I’ve let it go, let it go, let it go”
- “Swamped” by Lacuna Coil
A few hours after I’d seen my friends and their hosts off, I heard a knock at my door. I’d been unable to sleep thus far, so got out of bed, dressed only in a pair of pyjama bottoms, and answered the door.
Yugi stood there, looking quite nervous and uncertain. He blinked at me, suddenly looking embarrassed. Probably because he’d caught me in my pyjamas. “Oh. Uhm…”
I smiled at him, trying to put as much reassurance as I could into it. “Yugi. Something wrong?”
He shuffled his feet a bit. “I… uhm. I… wanted to find out more about this whole… Immortal thing. Before I decide.”
I arched my eyebrows, a bit surprised. With the information I’d given Yugi, a lot of kids his age would’ve jumped at the chance for Immortality without a second thought. But Yugi apparently wanted to carefully consider his choice, weigh all the options and consequences. I admired that in him. It showed a greater level of thought than most teenagers indulged in.
I smiled and nodded, opening the door wider and stepping to the side so he could come in. “Take a seat,” I said, quietly, gesturing at the couch. “I need to get a shirt on. Excuse me.” I went and dug through my bag, finally extracting a dark blue variant of the dress shirt I’d worn earlier in the evening. I checked the clock on the nightstand as I pulled it on; it was well after midnight.
When I turned back to Yugi, I caught him watching me dress and went a little red, coughing a bit. He blushed too, turning away sheepishly.
“Sorry,” he said, quietly. “Couldn’t… help it, really… You just…”
“The similarity in our appearance?” I asked gently, sitting beside him.
“Uhm… yes and no?” he answered, sheepish and uncertain. “Uh… This is a bit awkward, and… I’ll probably feel really narcissistic after saying this, but… er…” he fidgeted and glanced away from me. “Would… you be offended if I told you I… found you… kinda attractive?”
His face was beet-red as he said it, and he refused to meet my gaze. I choked back an amused chuckle and answered, “Uh… no. No, I wouldn’t be offended.” I tilted my head a bit to the side. “What made you think that I would?”
“Well, uh…” he said, still red in the face. “When… I came out to Adam and Bakura, Methos and Malik reacted… very badly. They said something about how I was ‘risking my soul’ for this, stuff I’ve heard from nearly every right-wing Christian out there, only this time I was talking to people who practiced the ancient Egyptian religion. I figure you grew up with them, so…” he shrugged. “So… I thought that you might have similar viewpoints.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re gay?” I inquired.
“Bisexual,” he corrected me gently.
I grunted and nodded. “A few thousand years ago I might’ve reacted badly,” I said thoughtfully. “But… that was before I spent a few centuries living in ancient Greece and had a chance to live in a society where I didn’t have to repress my own desires.”
His gaze snapped back to me, surprise evident in his eyes. “You’re…?” he began.
I smiled at him. “Also bisexual,” I confirmed. “The ancient Greeks fully endorsed same-sex relationships, and living with them helped me break free of the stigma my own religion placed on it. I rearranged my beliefs a little, to where I decided that our beliefs about the matter amounted to an error in the interpretation of one of our stories.” I coughed lightly. “But now is not the time to be thinking about such things, I think. You had questions about Immortals?”
He nodded, looking away. “Yeah.”
I spread my arms. “Ask away.”
He looked up at me, frowning. “Does… it hurt? To die?”
“To die and revive? Immensely. Though it varies depending on how. We can still starve to death, die of dehydration or suffocation, but it’s never permanent. Some ways are less painful than others. Either way, though, it does hurt.”
“What about the first time?”
I shrugged. “The experience varies depending on which Immortal you’re talking to. The man I was bartending with at Joe’s? He’s also an Immortal, by the name of Duncan. If you asked him what his first death was like, he’d give you a different answer than I would. Same if you asked my friend Persy, the blacksmith I told you about.”
He nodded, slowly. “What was yours like?”
I considered, frowning. “The first time I died, it was by the poisoned dagger of an assassin, a man who wanted to kill me and usurp the throne.”
He gaped at me. “You were Pharaoh?”
I shook my head. “Why is everyone always surprised to learn that?” I muttered. “Yes, I was.” I grasped at my right side, somewhere along my waist, where the assassin’s dagger had struck. (He’d been left-handed, naturally. Sinister, as they would’ve said in Rome.) “To me, my first death was…” I frowned. “There was a burning pain, in my blood, my lungs, and in the wound I’d received. Before I blacked out I heard Malik shouting my name and frantically chanting a healing spell. I heard Methos scream in rage and charge after the man. Then everything went black. I thought… that I could see Duat before me, but then I got pulled away from it. I woke up maybe an hour or two later, and found that the wound had healed. Everyone assumed it was thanks to Malik’s healing spells.” I glanced down at my bare feet. “I thought so too until only a couple of decades or so afterwards, after Malik and Methos had both died. That was when I met my teacher, Teti-Sheri.”
He nodded. “What… sort of things would you be teaching me?” He asked.
“Swordsmanship would be first among them; all Immortals must learn to defend themselves from bladed weapons. Comes with the territory. Methos was an incredible swordsman in his day, so I’d likely get him to help me out, even though, at this point, I’ve had far more experience.” I paused. “There are other aspects of Immortality I’d be teaching you that I’d rather not go into unless you decide you want to be Immortal. It’s a bit… delicate.”
He nodded, accepting that without protest. “So… death hurts, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah. No way around it. You get used to it after awhile.”
He looked a bit distraught, but then asked, going a bit pink again, “Can Immortals still… uh…” he trailed off, going redder still.
I arched an eyebrow. “Engage in romantic pursuits?” I guessed, with a small smile. “Oh yeah. We’re not undead. In fact, we might be described as having an overabundance of life force. As being far more alive than mortals, at least in a physical sense. We still have many of the same needs mortals do: food, water, shelter, sleep; we definitely still experience sexual desire. The main difference between us and mortals, other than not aging and not dying permanently, is that we can’t get drunk or high, can’t be poisoned, and can’t get sick, among other things.” I paused, and then added, somewhat sadly, “We… also can’t reproduce. Kids are out of the picture for any Immortal. Or pre-Immortal,” I finished, gently.
Yugi had an odd sort of expression on his face as I said this. “So, even if I choose a normal life… I won’t ever have a family.”
“You can always adopt children,” I said with a shrug. “Can always marry. Have a wife. Or a husband, if that’s what you want. But you won’t ever have biological children.”
“How long does it really last?” he asked after a moment of silence. “The Immortality?”
“Until someone takes your head,” I said with a shrug. “That’s the only way to get rid of one of us. That overabundance of life-force doesn’t dwindle, not even when you get beheaded. When that happens, it just gets transferred to the Immortal who took your head. Makes them a little bit stronger.”
His eyes widened. “You mean… I might actually make someone else stronger?”
“And you’d get stronger for every head that you took.”
He frowned. “After 5,000 years…” he shook his head. “You must be one of the strongest Immortals alive.”
“Not ‘one of’. The strongest Immortal alive. All of the others who were born before me are dead, as far as I know. Most of them grew so world-weary they committed suicide.”
“How does an Immortal do that?” Yugi asked, sounding bewildered.
“He gets into a fight with a fellow Immortal and deliberately lets that Immortal take his head.”
He looked at me, apparently wondering about something. “Did you ever consider that?” he finally asked.
I thought about the question, then slowly nodded. “A few times. I wanted to see Malik and Methos again, and I didn’t know they weren’t in Duat, the underworld. Something always kept me going, though. In the end, I enjoyed life too much to end mine.”
We were both silent for several long moments. Then I said, “Yugi. I won’t lie to you. This is a very dangerous and violent life we Immortals lead. I won’t force you into it, and I’m glad you’re taking the time to think carefully about whether you actually want it or not. Most people your age wouldn’t. I’ve seen far too many cocky teenagers who dove at the opportunity to become Immortal when they discovered they were pre-Immortal, only to have their heads taken from them not a decade later. I fought one such Immortal a couple of days ago, and had to take his head when he wouldn’t accept my offer to let him walk away.” I shuddered, some of the memories from that Quickening still fresh in my mind. “It won’t be easy,” I finished. “It will, in fact, be very difficult. You’ll face the prospect of outliving all of your friends, watching them age while you stay young forever. That’s a crushing burden. Believe me, I know. I’ve gone through it for generations, for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of mortal lovers and friends. It weighs on your heart, and that weight won’t ever go away.”
He was quiet, taking that in. Then he said, “Even… even if I choose a normal life… there’s still the chance that I’ll die a violent death anyway and become Immortal, isn’t there?”
“Always,” I sighed. “There’s always that chance. In fact, I’d say it’s actually quite probable. Immortals and Pre-Immortals alike seem to attract violence.”
He blanched a little. “What would I do if that happened?”
“If I wasn’t around? Get in touch with me. I’ve got an ability or two that helps me travel quickly. I’ll come and teach you.”
He shook his head. “The thought of outliving Bakura and Adam…. I… don’t know if I could handle that…”
“Bakura would actually probably last a lot longer than Adam,” I said. “He’s a magic-user. Magic-users are generally long-lived, assuming they don’t get killed too early in life. You’d probably have a few centuries with him.”
He stared at me. “How do you know that?”
“I Soulgazed him. Only magic-users have that ability. I’m not a magic-user, so the fact that I got into a Soulgaze with him means that he is one.”
“How do you know it wasn’t Malik?”
“Because I’d already Soulgazed him. A Soulgaze can only happen once between any two people.”
“And only spellcasters can do that?”
I nodded. “If you meet a spellcaster’s eyes, you’ll trigger a Soulgaze. Try it with Bakura some time, if you’re curious, though I’m not sure you’ll like what you see.”
“Why?”
“Because Malik’s insanity has left its mark on him. And you’ll likely end up Soulgazing Malik at the same time.”
We fell silent again while Yugi contemplated his tennis shoes. “I… don’t think I can do it,” he said at last. “Being Immortal. I don’t think I can handle it.”
I stared at the young man who reminded me so much of myself at his age and nodded, feeling a little bit disappointed. “I understand. At least you have fair warning about it. I never got a choice.”
He smiled, a little sadly, and rose. “I should probably go to bed. It’s getting late.”
I rose with him, smiling and nodding. “Of course.” I walked him to the door. Before I opened it, he quickly grasped my hand.
“Yami?” he said, quietly.
“Yes, Yugi?” I asked.
“Uhm… in case I don’t see you again…” he trailed off, then leaned up and kissed me, on the lips. I stood there in shock for about a second before I returned it, gently breaking away after a moment. Yugi blushed a little. “I… wanted to see what that would be like…” he murmured. “Hope you don’t mind…”
I smiled. “Not at all. I hope we do see each other again, Yugi.” I unlocked and opened the door. “Good-”
I stopped in mid-sentence as I was greeted with the face of a man I’d not seen for two thousand years. He had harsh features, perhaps Greek in origin, with a long vertical scar down the right side of his face and nearly bottomless black eyes completely lacking in any compassion and betraying the lack of any soul behind them.
Kronos levelled a .44-magnum revolver at my heart and pulled the trigger. I tumbled backwards, landing roughly against the couch and catching myself on its arm, coughing.
“Yami!” Yugi exclaimed. Before he could rush to my side, Kronos shot him too, right in the heart, and he fell back onto the carpet, completely limp.
“NO!” I croaked, lurching up and stumbling in pain before Kronos put another four bullets in me, spreading them almost evenly across my torso. I fell to the floor beside Yugi, sprawled face-up and staring up at Kronos’s soulless eyes.
He laughed his mirthless, almost clichéd laugh, then turned and started to walk away, saying, “Send Lady Death my regards, Pharaoh. It won’t be long until I find Persy too,” as he went.
Grimacing, my vision starting to fade, I pushed myself forward and kicked the door shut, reaching up with a grunt of pain to bolt the door behind me. Then I collapsed back onto the floor.
Yugi was crawling towards me, bleeding from the wound in his chest, and grasped my arm weakly. “Yami…” he said, quietly, then collapsed, head lying over one of my own gaping bullet wounds.
Dammit. This is not what he wanted! DAMMIT!
Everything faded away, and for the second time that night, I died.
* * *
<- Previous || Next ->
Fandom: Highlander, Yu-Gi-Oh!, with some ideas borrowed from The Dresden Files.
Author: darkjediprinces (Hi there, that’s me!)
Feedback: IS ALWAYS WELCOME, THANK YOU~! <3
Rating: R/M
Word Count: 2,446
Characters: Yami/Atemu, Yugi Mutou, Ryou Bakura, Methos, Yami Bakura/Malik, Duncan MacLeod, Joe Dawson, Kronos, Adam Pierson (OC), Seshata-per-say (OC)
Pairings: Yami/Yugi, Yami/Persy (OC)
Warnings: Maleslash/Shounen-ai, violence, gore, swearing.
Summary: Five thousand years ago, Pharaoh Tepeysa-Yami lost his closest friends in a ritual to imprison the enemy that threatened to tear about his people and country, while he continued to live, an Immortal destined to outlive all of his mortal lovers and friends. Now, something has drawn him to the sleepy town of Seacouver, Washington, and while he’s not sure what it is, events are certain to make what was once a boring little town on the west coast of the United States a place of chaos and death…
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Highlander. Yu-Gi-Oh! is most definitely the property of Kazuki Takahashi. I don’t know who owns Highlander, but it ain’t me. Ideas borrowed from The Dresden Files belong to Jim Butcher. Seshata-per-sey/Persy/Phoebe Vance belongs to my dear friend kawaiispinel. <3 I do, however, own Adam Pierson :). Sort of. You’ll see. Anyway, this is just a wacky place-swap AU for one of my other stories. No money is being made, etc etc.
Author’s Notes: I… might have gotten a bit ahead of myself with the Puzzleshipping in this chapter. I DON’T CARE. They’re adorable. <3
Crosspostings: card_crossings, yami_no_hikari, highland_cross, crossoverfic
<- Previous || Next ->
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Chapter 05: The Unexpected
“Destiny flying high above
All I know is that you can realize [Realize]
Destiny who cares [Destiny who cares]
As it turns around [As it turns around]
And I know that it descends down on me
It’s just another day
The shame is gone
Hard to believe
That I’ve let it go, let it go, let it go”
- “Swamped” by Lacuna Coil
A few hours after I’d seen my friends and their hosts off, I heard a knock at my door. I’d been unable to sleep thus far, so got out of bed, dressed only in a pair of pyjama bottoms, and answered the door.
Yugi stood there, looking quite nervous and uncertain. He blinked at me, suddenly looking embarrassed. Probably because he’d caught me in my pyjamas. “Oh. Uhm…”
I smiled at him, trying to put as much reassurance as I could into it. “Yugi. Something wrong?”
He shuffled his feet a bit. “I… uhm. I… wanted to find out more about this whole… Immortal thing. Before I decide.”
I arched my eyebrows, a bit surprised. With the information I’d given Yugi, a lot of kids his age would’ve jumped at the chance for Immortality without a second thought. But Yugi apparently wanted to carefully consider his choice, weigh all the options and consequences. I admired that in him. It showed a greater level of thought than most teenagers indulged in.
I smiled and nodded, opening the door wider and stepping to the side so he could come in. “Take a seat,” I said, quietly, gesturing at the couch. “I need to get a shirt on. Excuse me.” I went and dug through my bag, finally extracting a dark blue variant of the dress shirt I’d worn earlier in the evening. I checked the clock on the nightstand as I pulled it on; it was well after midnight.
When I turned back to Yugi, I caught him watching me dress and went a little red, coughing a bit. He blushed too, turning away sheepishly.
“Sorry,” he said, quietly. “Couldn’t… help it, really… You just…”
“The similarity in our appearance?” I asked gently, sitting beside him.
“Uhm… yes and no?” he answered, sheepish and uncertain. “Uh… This is a bit awkward, and… I’ll probably feel really narcissistic after saying this, but… er…” he fidgeted and glanced away from me. “Would… you be offended if I told you I… found you… kinda attractive?”
His face was beet-red as he said it, and he refused to meet my gaze. I choked back an amused chuckle and answered, “Uh… no. No, I wouldn’t be offended.” I tilted my head a bit to the side. “What made you think that I would?”
“Well, uh…” he said, still red in the face. “When… I came out to Adam and Bakura, Methos and Malik reacted… very badly. They said something about how I was ‘risking my soul’ for this, stuff I’ve heard from nearly every right-wing Christian out there, only this time I was talking to people who practiced the ancient Egyptian religion. I figure you grew up with them, so…” he shrugged. “So… I thought that you might have similar viewpoints.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re gay?” I inquired.
“Bisexual,” he corrected me gently.
I grunted and nodded. “A few thousand years ago I might’ve reacted badly,” I said thoughtfully. “But… that was before I spent a few centuries living in ancient Greece and had a chance to live in a society where I didn’t have to repress my own desires.”
His gaze snapped back to me, surprise evident in his eyes. “You’re…?” he began.
I smiled at him. “Also bisexual,” I confirmed. “The ancient Greeks fully endorsed same-sex relationships, and living with them helped me break free of the stigma my own religion placed on it. I rearranged my beliefs a little, to where I decided that our beliefs about the matter amounted to an error in the interpretation of one of our stories.” I coughed lightly. “But now is not the time to be thinking about such things, I think. You had questions about Immortals?”
He nodded, looking away. “Yeah.”
I spread my arms. “Ask away.”
He looked up at me, frowning. “Does… it hurt? To die?”
“To die and revive? Immensely. Though it varies depending on how. We can still starve to death, die of dehydration or suffocation, but it’s never permanent. Some ways are less painful than others. Either way, though, it does hurt.”
“What about the first time?”
I shrugged. “The experience varies depending on which Immortal you’re talking to. The man I was bartending with at Joe’s? He’s also an Immortal, by the name of Duncan. If you asked him what his first death was like, he’d give you a different answer than I would. Same if you asked my friend Persy, the blacksmith I told you about.”
He nodded, slowly. “What was yours like?”
I considered, frowning. “The first time I died, it was by the poisoned dagger of an assassin, a man who wanted to kill me and usurp the throne.”
He gaped at me. “You were Pharaoh?”
I shook my head. “Why is everyone always surprised to learn that?” I muttered. “Yes, I was.” I grasped at my right side, somewhere along my waist, where the assassin’s dagger had struck. (He’d been left-handed, naturally. Sinister, as they would’ve said in Rome.) “To me, my first death was…” I frowned. “There was a burning pain, in my blood, my lungs, and in the wound I’d received. Before I blacked out I heard Malik shouting my name and frantically chanting a healing spell. I heard Methos scream in rage and charge after the man. Then everything went black. I thought… that I could see Duat before me, but then I got pulled away from it. I woke up maybe an hour or two later, and found that the wound had healed. Everyone assumed it was thanks to Malik’s healing spells.” I glanced down at my bare feet. “I thought so too until only a couple of decades or so afterwards, after Malik and Methos had both died. That was when I met my teacher, Teti-Sheri.”
He nodded. “What… sort of things would you be teaching me?” He asked.
“Swordsmanship would be first among them; all Immortals must learn to defend themselves from bladed weapons. Comes with the territory. Methos was an incredible swordsman in his day, so I’d likely get him to help me out, even though, at this point, I’ve had far more experience.” I paused. “There are other aspects of Immortality I’d be teaching you that I’d rather not go into unless you decide you want to be Immortal. It’s a bit… delicate.”
He nodded, accepting that without protest. “So… death hurts, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah. No way around it. You get used to it after awhile.”
He looked a bit distraught, but then asked, going a bit pink again, “Can Immortals still… uh…” he trailed off, going redder still.
I arched an eyebrow. “Engage in romantic pursuits?” I guessed, with a small smile. “Oh yeah. We’re not undead. In fact, we might be described as having an overabundance of life force. As being far more alive than mortals, at least in a physical sense. We still have many of the same needs mortals do: food, water, shelter, sleep; we definitely still experience sexual desire. The main difference between us and mortals, other than not aging and not dying permanently, is that we can’t get drunk or high, can’t be poisoned, and can’t get sick, among other things.” I paused, and then added, somewhat sadly, “We… also can’t reproduce. Kids are out of the picture for any Immortal. Or pre-Immortal,” I finished, gently.
Yugi had an odd sort of expression on his face as I said this. “So, even if I choose a normal life… I won’t ever have a family.”
“You can always adopt children,” I said with a shrug. “Can always marry. Have a wife. Or a husband, if that’s what you want. But you won’t ever have biological children.”
“How long does it really last?” he asked after a moment of silence. “The Immortality?”
“Until someone takes your head,” I said with a shrug. “That’s the only way to get rid of one of us. That overabundance of life-force doesn’t dwindle, not even when you get beheaded. When that happens, it just gets transferred to the Immortal who took your head. Makes them a little bit stronger.”
His eyes widened. “You mean… I might actually make someone else stronger?”
“And you’d get stronger for every head that you took.”
He frowned. “After 5,000 years…” he shook his head. “You must be one of the strongest Immortals alive.”
“Not ‘one of’. The strongest Immortal alive. All of the others who were born before me are dead, as far as I know. Most of them grew so world-weary they committed suicide.”
“How does an Immortal do that?” Yugi asked, sounding bewildered.
“He gets into a fight with a fellow Immortal and deliberately lets that Immortal take his head.”
He looked at me, apparently wondering about something. “Did you ever consider that?” he finally asked.
I thought about the question, then slowly nodded. “A few times. I wanted to see Malik and Methos again, and I didn’t know they weren’t in Duat, the underworld. Something always kept me going, though. In the end, I enjoyed life too much to end mine.”
We were both silent for several long moments. Then I said, “Yugi. I won’t lie to you. This is a very dangerous and violent life we Immortals lead. I won’t force you into it, and I’m glad you’re taking the time to think carefully about whether you actually want it or not. Most people your age wouldn’t. I’ve seen far too many cocky teenagers who dove at the opportunity to become Immortal when they discovered they were pre-Immortal, only to have their heads taken from them not a decade later. I fought one such Immortal a couple of days ago, and had to take his head when he wouldn’t accept my offer to let him walk away.” I shuddered, some of the memories from that Quickening still fresh in my mind. “It won’t be easy,” I finished. “It will, in fact, be very difficult. You’ll face the prospect of outliving all of your friends, watching them age while you stay young forever. That’s a crushing burden. Believe me, I know. I’ve gone through it for generations, for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of mortal lovers and friends. It weighs on your heart, and that weight won’t ever go away.”
He was quiet, taking that in. Then he said, “Even… even if I choose a normal life… there’s still the chance that I’ll die a violent death anyway and become Immortal, isn’t there?”
“Always,” I sighed. “There’s always that chance. In fact, I’d say it’s actually quite probable. Immortals and Pre-Immortals alike seem to attract violence.”
He blanched a little. “What would I do if that happened?”
“If I wasn’t around? Get in touch with me. I’ve got an ability or two that helps me travel quickly. I’ll come and teach you.”
He shook his head. “The thought of outliving Bakura and Adam…. I… don’t know if I could handle that…”
“Bakura would actually probably last a lot longer than Adam,” I said. “He’s a magic-user. Magic-users are generally long-lived, assuming they don’t get killed too early in life. You’d probably have a few centuries with him.”
He stared at me. “How do you know that?”
“I Soulgazed him. Only magic-users have that ability. I’m not a magic-user, so the fact that I got into a Soulgaze with him means that he is one.”
“How do you know it wasn’t Malik?”
“Because I’d already Soulgazed him. A Soulgaze can only happen once between any two people.”
“And only spellcasters can do that?”
I nodded. “If you meet a spellcaster’s eyes, you’ll trigger a Soulgaze. Try it with Bakura some time, if you’re curious, though I’m not sure you’ll like what you see.”
“Why?”
“Because Malik’s insanity has left its mark on him. And you’ll likely end up Soulgazing Malik at the same time.”
We fell silent again while Yugi contemplated his tennis shoes. “I… don’t think I can do it,” he said at last. “Being Immortal. I don’t think I can handle it.”
I stared at the young man who reminded me so much of myself at his age and nodded, feeling a little bit disappointed. “I understand. At least you have fair warning about it. I never got a choice.”
He smiled, a little sadly, and rose. “I should probably go to bed. It’s getting late.”
I rose with him, smiling and nodding. “Of course.” I walked him to the door. Before I opened it, he quickly grasped my hand.
“Yami?” he said, quietly.
“Yes, Yugi?” I asked.
“Uhm… in case I don’t see you again…” he trailed off, then leaned up and kissed me, on the lips. I stood there in shock for about a second before I returned it, gently breaking away after a moment. Yugi blushed a little. “I… wanted to see what that would be like…” he murmured. “Hope you don’t mind…”
I smiled. “Not at all. I hope we do see each other again, Yugi.” I unlocked and opened the door. “Good-”
I stopped in mid-sentence as I was greeted with the face of a man I’d not seen for two thousand years. He had harsh features, perhaps Greek in origin, with a long vertical scar down the right side of his face and nearly bottomless black eyes completely lacking in any compassion and betraying the lack of any soul behind them.
Kronos levelled a .44-magnum revolver at my heart and pulled the trigger. I tumbled backwards, landing roughly against the couch and catching myself on its arm, coughing.
“Yami!” Yugi exclaimed. Before he could rush to my side, Kronos shot him too, right in the heart, and he fell back onto the carpet, completely limp.
“NO!” I croaked, lurching up and stumbling in pain before Kronos put another four bullets in me, spreading them almost evenly across my torso. I fell to the floor beside Yugi, sprawled face-up and staring up at Kronos’s soulless eyes.
He laughed his mirthless, almost clichéd laugh, then turned and started to walk away, saying, “Send Lady Death my regards, Pharaoh. It won’t be long until I find Persy too,” as he went.
Grimacing, my vision starting to fade, I pushed myself forward and kicked the door shut, reaching up with a grunt of pain to bolt the door behind me. Then I collapsed back onto the floor.
Yugi was crawling towards me, bleeding from the wound in his chest, and grasped my arm weakly. “Yami…” he said, quietly, then collapsed, head lying over one of my own gaping bullet wounds.
Dammit. This is not what he wanted! DAMMIT!
Everything faded away, and for the second time that night, I died.
* * *
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