Chapter Text
Yugi slept through most of the next day, and her mind was hazy in the moments she was awake. It was much the same condition as after Shadi’s magical assault last year, when it’d taken her days to be coherent. As such, her friends took turns watching and waiting, so they could assist where she needed it, and would be there when she finally, fully awoke.
During Amane’s turn at her friend’s bedside, the demon began weaving himself into her soul once more, irritated that so much of his power had burned away in Ishizu’s flames and shoring up the control he had over her.
Or trying to.
Ba-Khu-Ra wasn’t having any of it, and as the demon fragment within the Ring reached for the power it’d forced upon Amane’s soul, trying to weave its way around the divine protections that’d appeared during his host’s brief visit to the afterlife, the Thief Queen pushed back.
“You don’t have right to her.”
“I have every right; you gave your soul to me back in Egypt,” he hissed at her, slamming her against the wall of the corridor between the Soul Sanctuaries, for daring to resist him and pinning her there with his Shadows. “Your whole soul. Do you want me to consume your sister?”
“Our contract, the one we made in Egypt, the one you used to force my agreement in December?” Ba-Khu-Ra forced out, “It’s null and void. I know you can feel it.”
The demon gritted his teeth and released her, allowing her to drop to the floor. He’d seen everything except the Pharaoh’s name when he raided Ba-Khu-Ra’s memories upon her return to the Ring. He knew what she was talking about and he’d been trying to avoid her ever working it out.
“The Pharaoh hadn’t betrayed me when we made our deal,” The Thief Queen continued, enjoying the creature’s hesitation as she rose to her feet. “You can’t fulfil that contract.”
“I fulfilled half of our deal,” The darkness encircled Ba-Khu-Ra as the creature tried to remind her of what she owed him. “You’d be dead without me. Your sister wouldn’t exist.”
“We were nearly dead with you. You left us to burn,” Ba-Khu-Ra wasn’t having any of it. “The Pharaoh saved our souls. Not you. You don’t own me. Or her.”
“Oh, I own you.” At his words, the darkness wrapped around the Thief Queen’s wrists and dragged her to the floor so she knelt before him. “And I own her…”
At his words, he yanked on the connections he’d been rebuilding, causing Amane to tumble backwards into the corridor between the Soul Sanctuaries. His magic pulled Amane up by the throat, causing Ba-Khu-Ra to pull against the Shadows holding her down.
“You two will never be free of me. You will ALWAYS serve me! You will ALWAYS belong to me! I’ll never, ever let you serve your precious Pharaoh!”
Ba-Khu-Ra suddenly got a toothy grin, as if he’d said exactly what she’d hoped for.
The Thief’s Diabound ripped through his Shadows and swept Amane into his arms, protecting her, before its serpentine tail snapped through the darkness, keeping Ba-Khu-Ra chained to the floor.
Zorc froze, anticipating the creature’s attack, but it just watched him like a snake ready to strike at any second. His eyes widened as he beheld a shimmering ball of magic within the snake’s jaws, one that held a small, black, smoke-like snake.
A form he himself had taken before.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” The Thief Queen sneered as she rose to her feet. “Because it allows me to threaten you openly.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“You and I are going to renegotiate our contract, or Diabound will devour the part of your soul I found in the Puzzle.”
“You couldn’t have…”
“I caught your little snake there snooping amongst the Pharaoh’s memories, trying to find her name,” Ba-Khu-Ra continued. “And after you threw my sister and I to the flames, I had no reason not to catch it. I did you a favour, in a way, because now you don’t need to get the Pharaoh’s Puzzle to be whole… well, as whole as you can be, now the part in the Rod’s gone.”
Fury made him tremble on the spot as he glared at the pawn he’d manipulated for three thousand years, “You treacherous…”
“Don’t bother. You betrayed us first. Now, are you willing to talk? Or is Diabound about to become stronger than a god?”
Zorc let out a slow, furious hiss. The Thief’s Ka beast absorbed the powers of those he killed, so he already had the power of the Sky Dragon of Osiris and the mind-reading ability of Akhenaden. If he even considered trying something, it would know about it and be able to blast the fragment she’d pulled from the Puzzle at close range with the full fury of a Divine Beast.
For the first time in three thousand years, one of his pawns had outplayed him.
“What do you want?”
Ba-Khu-Ra couldn’t help but revel in the sheer power she had over the creature that had both saved and ruined her life and soul as its shoulders sank and its eyes narrowed in fury.
“One,” she counted off on her fingers. “Release my sister from your Shadows and never harm her again.”
“Fine.” The fragmented dark God snapped his fingers and Shadows seeped out of Amane before swirling back into him. Amane gasped in shock as the constant cold that’d been causing her to tremble since New Year’s Day vanished.
“Two. My contract, the one I agreed back in Egypt, is null and void. The Pharaoh hadn’t betrayed me, that condition is unfulfillable.”
“She betrayed you by giving Akhenaden a burial,” the demon shot back.
“But she hadn’t done so when we made the deal, and she never betrayed the people of Kul Elna,” Ba-Khu-Ra countered. “So you can’t fulfil your end even though I’ve served you loyally and given you my everything for three thousand years. You owe me reparations.”
“Even if I released you, even if I unwound myself from your burned, fragmented, wounded, soul, you’re still stuck in here with me for all eternity. Or at least until I can break the bindings. It won’t be that long now until I know the Pharaoh’s true name,” the demon hissed. “And I can make the rest of your eternity a living hell.”
“I’ve already lived an eternity in Hell,” Ba-Khu-Ra’s cold snap made the demon God pause. “Every day I get to relive the torment of watching my village, my people, my family burn, and know that I am the reason they still suffer. You can’t do worse than that to me. And if you dare to lay a hand on my sister, I will have Disbound destroy you.”
“I’ve got access to your souls. You think you can stay safe from me forever?”
“No, which is why I’m offering this. You will release me from your thrall and stop hurting me and those I care about, but allow me to keep using your powers as my own, and in exchange, I will help you recover your remaining soul parts from the Eye, Necklace, Key and Scales, fulfilling my oath to recover the power that was stolen from you when the Items were created.”
“Why would I release you?”
“Because you fulfilled half your end, so either you get my soul, or you get my help and you already swore to leave my sister, who holds half of my soul alone, so you don’t have a choice.”
Zorc was furious as he realised he’d been blackmailed into giving up his servant.
“I can’t release you,” he tried. “We’re bound too tightly.”
“Bullshit. Before this tournament, I didn’t think you knew where you ended and I began,” Ba-Khu-Ra snapped back. “But you proved you not only knew how to separate our souls, but were willing to throw me to the fire for your own benefit. And even that wasn’t enough for you. You had access to three soul parts and yet you couldn’t even agree with yourselves long enough to reform in one item. You lost part of yourself because you decided to risk it all to get at the Pharaoh.”
Zorc hated that he couldn’t argue with her about that and how much influence he’d lost by taking revenge on his pawn for her saving the Pharaoh’s life.
“Now choose: either you release me and we swear this new deal, or I have Diabound blast your soul piece, and you lose another chunk of you and any chance you have of surviving that final game.”
”I will make you pay once I walk this world again,” the demon promised, even as Ba-Khu-Ra felt him reach out and start untwisting himself from her. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to burning alive, or dissolving into ash.
“You still need me, or you have no priestess to act on your behalf,” Ba-Khu-Ra shook her head, hiding the pain. “And I’m still willing to get you what you want. I’m just not willing to hurt people who don’t deserve it anymore.”
“You’ve gone soft, thief,” the demon god hissed, “And it’ll cost you everything in the end. When I make you give me the Pharaoh’s head on a silver platter.”
“I’m not giving it to you. I won’t hurt her again.”
“If you want access to my powers, you’ll do as I say,” At his snarl the Shadows dragged Ba-Khu-Ra forward, separating Ba-Khu-Ra from her Ka beast and her sister. “You only exist now because of me.”
Light built up in Diabound’s serpentine jaws behind the orb holding the piece of Zorc’s soul, making the demon God freeze and release his captive who sneered at him.
“I exist despite you,” she spat in his face, “And I will not kill her. I will use your powers to get you the Items, I will give you the chance to be free, but I won’t lay one more hand on her and you can’t make me. Not anymore.”
“Fine. I will abide by the terms you laid down, but when this is all over, once I’m a God again? You will regret ever turning on me.”
“I was your willing servant right up until you left us to burn, so this is your fault and your fault only.” Ba-Khu-Ra offered her hand to formalise the deal.
As Zorc took it and the Shadows sealed the new contract, Ba-Khu-Ra felt lighter than she had in thousands of years.
She was free of him, finally, and while she would still have to atone for her crimes across the millennia, she could start dreaming of the future and maybe, one day, a future with the Pharaoh she’d loved so much in the past.
Once the magic was locked into place, preventing them from breaking their oaths, Ba-Khu-Ra smirked and gestured to Diabound.
“NO!"
Zorc’s form wavered as it dived forward.
It wasn’t fast enough.
The shriek of fury and despair was ear splitting, as Diabound unleashed the full wrath of Osiris upon the soul fragment. Zorc felt the agony dealt as the bright, lightning-infused light, disintegrated the magic orb and the black serpent within.
Leaving only five soul fragments left on the board.
“YOU…!”
Zorc lunged for Ba-Khu-Ra, only for a dark-scaled, demon-fanged Diabound to sweep between them and knock him aside, sending him crashing to the corridor floor.
“I swore I’d work for you, in exchange for the right to use your power and safety from you.” Ba-Khu-Ra sneered, pleased with herself. “But you’ve always known I’m a liar and giving your soul fragment back was never part of the deal. I just said I’d give it back, if you renegotiated. Said. Not swore.”
“I will kill you! You and everyone you care about.” Zorc promised, drawing himself up as much as he could, blocking the hallway despite knowing he could no longer compete with the Thief’s Ka beast.
Not as he was.
“You’ve already done that. I’m dead, remember? The Pharaoh’s dead. Yugi, Amane, they’ve seen the afterlife too. Everyone I loved? They’re already dead, have died, or are trapped in the Shadows.” The Thief Queen let out a snort, “I told you, I’ve been through Hell.”
With that, she grabbed her sister’s wrist and pulled her past the furious, fragmented Demon God, and out to the real world to watch over the Pharaoh, pausing only in the doorway to say…
“Now you get to experience it too.”
Then she left, leaving Diabound to fade back into the Thief’s soul room.
And the Demon God, to wonder where the hell his carefully laid plans and various manipulations had gone so wrong.
As sunset darkened the skies of Hekigan, Ishizu, Marik and Rishid weren’t entirely sorry to be seeing the back of the island.
The airport was shockingly empty as they were herded, at gunpoint, from the theme park. In the future it would be a busy, bustling point of entry for the theme park but, since everyone currently on the island would be there for at least a week, it was devoid of people except for staff and their footsteps echoed through the concourse.
The noise was no distraction from their thoughts. They were fully aware that they’d screwed up. There was no denying that. Not with how damaged the Seal was, and with how close the world had come to being destroyed. That they were being given a chance to walk away with their lives was an act of mercy they knew they were lucky to be getting.
Not that Ishizu and Rishid wanted to leave. Not when the woman who’d raised them laid comatose in the island’s hospital. They had been promised that Azra would be moved to KC Medical on the mainland, where Ishizu was being sent for treatment of her burns, but they wanted to stay with her until she was moved. Especially considering that they still didn’t know who’d ripped out her soul.
Or why they’d left her soulless body dumped behind some dumpsters where Azra could’ve died, and no one would’ve known that she’d been attacked.
Ishizu suspected that was part of the point. The attackers had tried to cover up their actions by leaving her to die and had only failed because Kaiba’s security team on the island were good at their jobs.
But that wasn’t her concern for now, because, with the Millennium Rod, Eye and Ring returned to the Pharaoh and her people, they didn’t have the magic available to attempt to take back Azra’s soul.
Moving forward, they had no choice but to trust in the Pharaoh. She’d promised them she would do her best to get Azra’s soul back, and with how far she and Yugi had pushed themselves to protect their friends two day ago, Ishizu wanted to hope that she would be able to keep that promise.
Ishizu knew that she wouldn’t be able to approach the Pharaoh again. Not after last night, but if Marik wasn’t fired, then they would be able to stay in contact with the Pharaoh and find out who had attacked Azra. However, Yugi had made it clear that the future of her brother’s job entirely rested on the shoulders of Doctor Mutou and any attempts to force his choice wouldn’t end well.
They would just have to wait and see. Something that made all three of them nervous.
Which is why they weren’t pleased to find the Thief Queen waiting for them in front of the helicopter that would take them back.
“You’ll be gone from Domino before we get back.”
Ishizu’s hands balled into fists at the audacity of the Thief to give them an order. Then she let out a slow breath and loosened them.
The Pharaoh had chosen to save the Thief and her host. She’d chosen to give Ba-Khu-Ra a second chance, and Ishizu had to respect that, because not doing so would end badly.
If only because there was nothing she could do about it anymore.
“The Pharaoh didn’t tell us to leave. Just that Ishizu had to leave her and her friends alone,” Marik’s scowl told his sister he was about as happy about the order as she was.
“The Pharaoh doesn’t always do what is in her best interests,” the Thief Queen countered. “And as her Shadow, it’s my job to remove threats. So, either you leave, or I’ll make you. Understand?”
Rishid instantly moved between his siblings and the threat, causing Ba-Khu-Ra to chuckle.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry now. I’m respecting the Pharaoh’s choice to save your lives, by giving you the chance to flee. If I wasn’t…”
The Shadows deepened as the Ring lit the surrounding area, echoing the glow in Ba-Khu-Ra’s eyes and the icy wind that spun around them. Darkness reached up, seizing each of the Ishtars in turn and preventing them from escaping her wrath as she hissed out…
"You'd be dead already."
“Sh… she needs us to open the door.” Ishizu couldn’t help the stammer as the Shadows wrapped around her triggered memories of being bound before Hanaq had ripped her soul apart.
“No, she doesn’t. I can guide her to the Doors to the Afterlife. After all, the Shrine of Darkness is in Kul Elna. My home.”
Rishid let out a soft hiss at the original name for the Ceremonial Duel Site, given to the location by those who’d lived amongst the surface tribe after the spirits who lived there had turned violent against invading adults, and had only allowed children and those who’d grown from those children, to live there.
“She doesn’t need you lot anymore, and you don’t want to be bound to her. You made that obvious when you were willing to kill her and those around her to get your freedom.” Ba-Khu-Ra continued, “So, again. Leave or I’ll get rid of you.”
Ishizu gritted her teeth, furious with the threat. “Why would you do this? You hate the Pharaoh.”
“Not anymore. I know now that I should be aiming my ire at someone else. Whoever took the Necklace is going to regret getting between me and my goals. Now, I believe it’s time for you three to get lost.”
As she released them from her magic, the helicopter fired up its blades, ready to accept them as passengers and take them back onto the mainland.
“You have two weeks. And don’t worry, I’ll protect your precious Pharaoh. I need her now more than ever.”
The Thief Queen stepped aside. The Ishtars didn’t trust her, but they couldn’t fight her.
And so, they left.
It took three days for Yugi to fully wake up, and another one for the doctors to allow Yugi to leave the infirmary, by which point Yugi was quite certain they’d done every test under the sun. By the time they were done, she felt like she’d been scanned, poked and prodded all over.
It was a pain, but she was informed that Kaiba Corp wanted to ensure her well-being after her collapse, so she tolerated it, despite the fact she couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital and spend some time actually enjoying the theme park, rather than worrying about the lives of everyone she cared about.
Thankfully…
“That’s the last of it, Mutou-san.”
Yugi stretched out her sore arm when the doctor retreated with the vials of her blood, wanting to do some tests to ensure that her recent collapses weren’t because of anything serious and to ensure that the sore throat wasn’t an oncoming illness.
“You’re free to leave, but I’d like you to come back on Friday when we have the results of all the tests.”
Yugi nodded and scooped up her satchel, trusting the doctor to need every drop of blood and even the DNA swab he’d taken from her, apparently wanting to make sure her DNA hadn’t been damaged from over-hydration or oxygen deprivation during her drowning and brief death at the docks.
She had no clue if that was even possible, but the doctor had seemed certain in his words and she didn’t know enough about medicine to doubt him, so she’d agreed to the DNA test.
She was just impressed that a hospital all the way out here, on an island in the middle of nowhere, was well enough equipped to test for everything the doctor wanted to test her for.
“Thank you,” Yugi bowed to the doctor before slipping off the observation bench, grabbing her duffle bag and heading for the door, her hand resting on the Puzzle, grounding her emotions, as she went.
Her friends had been sent away in the middle of day two, and unleashed upon the park, but upon receiving a text message from Yugi, letting them know that she was awake and would be allowed out of the infirmary today, Amane and Anzu had come running to collect her, having been the closest to her location.
Seeing their smiles made Yugi’s heart lift. Whatever the doctors found or didn’t find, she knew her friends would have her back.
And her twin’s. No matter what name she went by.
Delight bubbled away at the thought of what they’d achieved despite Ishizu and Hanaq’s best attempts to kill them
Her sister had her name and memories back.
It was such a huge step. One that her Anesan had been wanting to take for so long.
And soon she’d get to formally introduce herself to her family and friends in this life, with the name she’d sought out for so long.
‘You’re as excited as I am,’ Sakhmet’s chuckle made Yugi grin.
‘It’s a big deal! I’m tempted to get cake for it from that madolche place in Tenku no Seiiki.’
A memory flickered across from her twin, making Yugi pause in her steps. One of a honey-laden cake and faces that couldn’t be there anymore, because they’d been long lost.
Sadness tinged the Pharaoh’s joy and Yugi reached across the bond to offer her support.
‘I’m sorry, Anesan. I know it must hurt.’
‘Now more than before. Now I know what I’ve missed. And what I’ll one day return to.’
Yugi couldn’t hold back a flinch.
‘Sorry Imoto,’ the Pharaoh’s voice brushed across the soul bond as pain stabbed Yugi’s heart at the thought of her leaving, ‘I promise, I’m not going anywhere yet. I have too much to do first.’
‘I know, you don’t have to apologise, I’m just…’
Yugi trailed off and paused in the doorway. Now the Pharaoh had her name back, she had completed one of the major steps to getting into the afterlife. There were other things Sakhmet needed to do, but it was second biggest step of the whole process.
She now remembered her friends and her family of the past. She now had faces and memories to grieve and miss.
And Yugi could no longer deny that one day her twin would be freed from her confinement within the Puzzle, leave this world, and her, and go to them.
It was only right and fair.
That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
‘I’ll be fine, you deserve to see them.’ Yugi tried to force comfort and reassurance down the bond and bury her sadness, knowing that Sakhmet more than deserved to know who she was once more and rejoin those who loved her.
Seeing Yugi hesitate in the doorway, Anzu wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into friend group, who headed for the hospital exit.
“You okay?” Anzu asked, offering her support as they headed out.
“I’m fine, just… She paused at the door to the room where the Kaibas were resting, glancing within to find Mokuba, asleep and curled into Seto, who had one arm wrapped around his brother while he worked on something on a laptop, possibly a report from his company.
Sensing her eyes on him, his gaze flicked up to meet hers.
“Yugi…” He hesitated, unused to thanking someone for their actions, but fully aware that without Yugi, he wouldn’t be alive to be hugging his brother.
His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of Yugi’s ruined hair, hair that’d been perfectly tended to when they’d dueled, suggesting it’d been hacked away by their foe while he was unconscious. Noting his gaze, she flinched, and her eyes turned away, towards the floor, revealing her shame, though whether it was because of her appearance or what’d happened, he wasn’t certain.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Yugi’s words were as soft and revealed her honest relief. “I’m sorry you got caught up in my mess.”
“I’d have chased her anyway. She took Mokuba,” Seto huffed, still angry that all he’d been able to do against the woman was take the fall, “Your issues weren’t the only ones going on.”
“Still… I’m sorry.”
Sakhmet took over and gave a polite nod, her eyes rising to meet his, “We both are. And we’re glad you returned to us. You’re too good an ally and rival to lose in such a manner.”
She wanted to say friend, but she knew that if she pushed that button, Kaiba would react badly. His response, however, gave her hope.
“I refuse to lose you as an asset either. You’re both too valuable to Kaiba Corp to be gone. So, neither of you are allowed to leave until we’ve fought again, understand? If you need anything, you’re to contact us immediately.”
His tone was sharp, but the Pharaoh smirked back, understanding that this was his way of thanking her and showing that he really did consider her a friend.
“Of course. You and I have a future ahead, filled with battle. And I look forward to those duels.”
Her words made his lips upturn in the first honest smile she had seen from him. “I’ll let you know when I’m available to duel next. I’ve extended the duration of your stay in the park to cover the days you were in here, but it will, most likely, be after we return home.”
“I’ll be waiting.” She turned to leave.
“Yugi.” When she paused, he made his offer. “Leave the Millennium Rod with me.”
She wheeled around and stared at him, confused and momentarily wary.
“It had a blade hidden in it; you’ll never get it through customs,” Seto could feel every set of eyes on him. “I can get it back to you when we’re both back in Domino.”
Sakhmet’s lips parted as she considered his words. It was a valid suggestion, she was just shocked that Kaiba would care enough to make the offer.
“Don’t get me wrong. I have no interest in the damn thing,” Seto continued to stare at her. “But you’re collecting them and if it goes into an auction because it gets seized, anyone could get their hands on it. Then this bullshit could start again.”
He was right. She knew he was right. But how much did she trust him?
“Or you could waste energy you don’t have trying to teleport it there and waste part of your holiday.”
That sealed it for her. Her twin had already lost days of her vacation to Sakhmet’s chaos, she didn’t deserve to lose more. Plus, Shadow walking was something Ba-Khu-Ra had never taught her, so she’d have to risk Ba-Khu-Ra’s recovery taking a backstep to do it that way.
She pulled the Millennium Item from the duffle bag and offered it to the CEO.
The moment Kaiba’s hand wrapped around the handle of the heavy, gold weapon, his eyes darkened and stared off into the distance, and there was a moment of shock, before his expression flattened.
“Kaiba?”
At her surprised call, Mokuba’s head snapped towards his brother’s face. Seeing the way Seto had reacted, he shook his brother, who blinked once, twice, then huffed at the Pharaoh.
“I’ll get it back to you once you get back to Domino. We need a meeting regarding your sponsorship anyway.”
Sakhmet was tempted to ask what he’d seen and if he was okay, but the sharp gaze and irritated snap told her that he wouldn’t tell her, even if she asked.
“Are you letting us go?” She asked instead, hoping that the mess with the Ishtars hadn’t spoiled her twin’s chance for higher education, since the sponsorship would have paid for it.
“No,” Seto shook his head. “But there’s some paperwork we need you to sign.”
“Alright, we’ll come in when you call. Rest well, Kaiba.”
When he just rolled his eyes at her, she nodded to him again and headed out with her friends.
The moment she was gone, Seto turned back to his laptop, closed the document that he’d been working on and accessed the security footage from the stadium. He needed to push back at the ancient memories that’d invaded his mind, by focusing on the here and now. Plus, seeing Yugi’s reaction at the start of their conversation had irritated him. She’d never shown shame when dealing with him.
She’d always stood tall, even during the earliest days.
Even when she’d still been bullied frequently, she’d dared to confront him.
Even after she’d put him in a coma, resulting in his brother being kidnapped, she’d been able to look him in the eye.
Even when she’d brought him back from the dead, she hadn’t looked away.
So that she’d flinched away from his gaze told him that something as simple as the loss of her hair had hurt her greatly, and he wanted to understand how it had happened, even if he didn’t understand why it’d impacted her so much.
What he saw in the footage infuriated him.
He’d long thought that the mutt wasn’t worthy of his rival’s affections, but that thought solidified when he saw Jonouchi force whoever was in control of Yugi’s body, most likely the Other Yugi, Meisa, who some claimed was a Pharaoh, to not just kneel before her enemy, but kneel left side forward, the side one presented to the Pharaoh, or to the Gods. It was a sign of respect and submission that Ishtar was not owed. And no one who hadn’t researched Ancient Egypt, would know that being forced to bow in such a way, was a massive insult to the Pharaoh.
Of course, Seto only knew because he’d done research into the culture when he’d discovered Industrial Illusions had created Duel Monsters from an Ancient Egyptian game, and nothing else.
It wasn’t because he’d wanted to know about the possible culture behind one of the only two people he considered a real rival.
And it certainly wasn’t because some bullshit ancient memory now stuck in the back of his brain was screaming at him that Ishtar had committed treason and sacrilege by forcing a Pharaoh to kneel in such a way to such an unworthy soul as hers. Definitely not.
Rewinding to watch those moments again, fury pulsed through Seto. He knew, a year and a half ago, before Death T, he would’ve enjoyed the sight of his rival brought low, but watching it now, watching as Yugi tried to resist, only for the mutt to hold her down and allow Ishtar to hold a blade to her throat and slash her hair, drove him to anger so great the laptop creaked as his hand clenched around it.
“His sister was one of the hostages.”
Mokuba’s voice made him pause the footage and look down. His little brother had woken up and his eyes were fixed on the screen.
“And Ishtar could control other people. She used him as a puppet before. He probably didn’t have a choice.”
Seto scowled but changed the angle to a camera that allowed him to see the mutt’s face, only to find Mokuba was right. His eyes showed his regret, even as his body moved at Ishtar’s whim. And the “I’m sorry”, that managed to escape his lips as Yugi rose to her feet to duel, didn’t ease Seto’s anger much, but did aid him in deciding not to throw the blonde off the island, along with his useless mother.
Both had failed Seto’s cousin in the last forty-eight hours.
He paused at that. Yugi’s blood relationship to him hadn’t been legally confirmed yet. Mutou Junko’s words while he’d supposedly been in the afterlife, could’ve been fake. His own background checks, back before Death T, could’ve found a false lead.
But something about it felt right and if the DNA results came back positive, that meant Yugi was, technically, a Kaiba.
And Kaibas should never bow. Especially not to the unworthy.
His cameras wouldn’t reveal the Shadow Game, or any illusions, to him, so he couldn’t know what which Yugi was dueling, or what Yugi and her sister had gone through during their battle against Ishtar, but the fatigue and pain that slowly caused ‘Yugi’s’ shoulders to droop and her movements to stiffen became more obvious as the duel progressed.
For one shining moment just before the fiery phoenix of Ra decimated her opponent’s field, he could see Yugi at her finest and thought she might stay on her feet, but then the cameras showed her kneeling at her fallen opponent’s side and the grievous burns that had, most likely, been about to kill Ishtar, fade as the Puzzle glowed and Seto knew there was no way she would make it out of the stadium awake.
At least the mutt had been gentle with her when he had scooped her off the floor. Not that he had a right to touch her after the way he’d allowed himself to be used over the last couple of days.
He sat back to consider Yugi’s actions against her reaction to him. She’d done exactly what Seto had trusted that she would do. She’d defeated the woman who couldn’t fight fair, even when she’d been driven right to the very precipice of despair.
He wouldn’t call Ishtar a Duelist; she didn’t deserve that title.
And even if it’d been Meisa rather than Yugi that’d won that duel, he couldn’t see anything in that footage that should cause Yugi shame. She hadn’t willingly bowed, nor had she embarrassed herself in the duel.
He didn’t believe Yugi was shallow enough for her reaction to be about her appearance. He had never once cared about how she looked. Even when she’d been easily mistaken for a boy, once he’d seen what she could do, Seto had respected her because of her talents in games.
And yet now she flinched away from his gaze.
He didn’t understand and he hated not understanding anything.
Not that there was anything he could do about it now. The events had unfolded, and mercy had been granted to the culprit. Plus, Isono had already evicted the Ishtar family from the island, so they were out of his reach for now.
Of course, if they dared to show their faces again, if they dared to lay a hand on one of the Kaiba family once more, he wouldn’t hesitate to take them out.
Because if that’d been real, if the afterlife was a reality rather than a work of fiction, then he would burn in Hell a million times to protect those he cared for.
“We should send her a permit to use the on-site hairdresser. The one we hired for the staff to use.”
Mokuba’s words broke through Seto’s thoughts and were along the same lines.
Seto glanced down at his brother again, only to find the barely-teen had pulled out his phone and was already firing off an order for it via text message.
“Her hair isn’t a big deal.”
“Not to you or me,” Mokuba shook his head, clearly disagreeing with his brother. “But it clearly bothers her, and people are going to ask questions about what happened. It needs neatening up before someone from the press finds her. She does have the Digital Duelist interview next week.”
“I trust you on the matter.” And he did, even as he pulled the footage back again, to the moment Ishtar had dared to slice through Yugi’s hair and paused.
Trying to read a face that he’d seen hold determination, anger, cunning, joy, happiness.
Only to see something new…
Fear.
Ishtar had dared to induce fear in the one person Seto had never seen fear anything.
He hit play, trying to process what he was seeing, trying to see if he’d seen wrong. If he hadn’t seen anger or disgust instead.
But he hadn’t.
Fury made his hands shake, his eyes narrow and his shoulders stiffen as Yugi’s hair fell back into a longer version of the starfish like spikes that she’d borne when he had first met her, and Ishtar rained the stolen strands down upon their former owner.
He hadn’t seen wrong.
It truly was fear that marred Yugi’s features.
And he was forced to acknowledge, if Ishtar had been in front of him this moment, she wouldn’t have made it off the island alive.
That she’d escaped from the island after doing the unforgivable and was free to move on, after leaving scars on her enemies that would take time to fade, if they ever did, without repercussion or recourse, was unforgivable in the eyes.
Still, there was a satisfaction to knowing that even if she’d escaped justice here, she wouldn’t escape it in the next life. After all, if his sins could follow him into death, so would hers.
And well…
Mazaki, one of his top lawyers, had evidence of Ishizu’s blackmail and kidnapping stunts, taken from Yugi’s phone while she had been sleeping, of the harm that was caused, so he could easily have her arrested, along with her brothers, who could also be charged for the fraud they had committed in selling fake Duel Monsters cards.
His lawyers were second only to those of Disney, so it wouldn’t be hard to keep the details under wraps, and the whole thing would go smoothly if they felt guilty enough to plea guilty and take a deal.
And once they were fully dealt with, his city, his family, and those under the protection of those who mattered, would be safe to step into the future, and fight the duels they would find there.