He’s standing across from me, nothing that’s really new to me really after the many duels we’ve fought in the past. During those times we were equal competitors on a level playing field where strategy and skill made up for any lack of power and visa versa. However, as calm as I may seem outwardly, I’m in turmoil inside like never before and it leaves me wondering why I’m putting myself through this. It’s no use in denying that, at the moment, I’m an emotional wreck. I have no idea what’s going on anymore, only this mess of emotions.

I want one of us to say something, anything. The air in the room is stifling and almost hot as if it’s choking me all of its own free will. Should I be the first to speak? Does it even matter? I can’t help but get the feeling that there’s something more to all this than simply ironing out what has or hasn’t happened between the two of us. It’s almost as if my body’s trying to remember something and my mind can’t quite grasp it. This is so confusing.

He walks towards me slowly from the opposite side of the bed, circling it almost like prey until he’s only a few feet away and towering me as he always does. Now that he’s this close I can clearly see that he is indeed pale, not exactly sickly, no, I can’t quite put my finger on what it strikes me as. All I know is that he isn’t his normal self anymore than I am mine.

And still, neither of us of has spoken a word.

If my heartbeat could give me away, I’d already be dead. I can feel it racing in my head and I feel a little dizzy, even faint. It makes me wonder if I’m really up for this.

It hurts not knowing if it’s all a lie, it hurts hoping for something that seems so impossible and most of all it hurts thinking that, if this is all just a ploy, that I may never see him again after this. My pride couldn’t stand for it. No, if I knew that he had strung me along just be better than me in some bizarre reality I could never look at him again no matter how much I might long for it.

Please Kaiba, tell me what I want to hear and not what I expect. Don’t make my anger rise like it did before and make me say thing I don’t want to, things that I’ll regret. Please don’t break this warm feeling I have inside when I see you.

- - - -

At first I didn’t really believe that it was you. It seemed more likely that the last bits of my sanity had finally been worn away and I’d descended into madness, with you, my obsession, my tormentor, there to make me pay for all that I had done. And then you spoke and my thoughts of illusion were shattered. You seemed so unlike yourself, so unsure of what it was you were doing here. How could that be right? Even in the worst of times you remain calm and collected, like you know that you’ll get whatever it is that you need. But now that that veneer of confidence has been seemingly stripped away and I don’t know what to make of it.

Are you playing a game with me like I once wanted to do to you? It doesn’t really seem right in my mind; you never really struck me as the kind who toyed around with other people much. Does that mean you’re as unsure of what all this is about as I am?

I don’t want to speak first. As much as things have changed on the inside I can still feel the presence of the spiteful Kaiba, the one that wants to say he doesn’t care, that needs no one aside from his brother and certainly doesn’t entertain the notion of romance between rivals. I don’t want that person to be what you see; I don’t want to push you away anymore.

All my life I’ve been pretending, concealing who I truly am or what I’m really thinking, it’s a behaviour I developed to survive. And now I find myself hoping to be able to overcome my compulsion lest I lose the opportunity to do so forever more. It’s not easy to overcome a habit that’s been ingrained for so long but I have to try, I have to say what I’m thinking for once, and not what’s proper.

I feel a smirk tug on the corner of my lips at the thought. Do you know you’ve brought the mighty Seto Kaiba practically to his knees? At the very least you should conspire with my brother to achieve world domination. However, I don’t think that’s what’s on your mind just now. I can only guess what you have to say, but please just say it! I’m certainly not renowned for restraint and this little confrontation is most definitely draining my reserves in that department.

Denounce me, stomp all over my pride, laugh in my face, just please say something! Anything! Let me hear your voice again and be sure that this is reality and not just another dream.

- - - -

I’m reminded that time hasn’t stopped as I see your lips curve into that distinctive smirk that I’ve come to both love and hate. It’s clear that I can’t simply muse over the universe any longer. I’m the one who came here; who initiated this encounter, and I’m now the one that has to speak up. Only now do I truly realise how important words are; how interpretations differ. I pray that my brain can convey what I really feel without making an utter fool of myself.

I can only hope.

And so I swallow my pride and begin.

“Kaiba,” My voice is surprisingly even and not shaking like I am on the inside. “You gave me this body, how I don’t really know, but I do know that you didn’t have to and for that, for this chance at life I am really very grateful. Still, I can’t help but think that you did it for a reason. Tell me, what do I owe you for all you’ve done? What is it that you want from me?” I can’t help but let my voice raise a little as I say the last sentences, but this is by far not the time to be timid.

You seem almost surprised by my question, your eyes widening a bit before returning to normal. But it makes sense, don’t tell me that you just made me a body out of the goodness of your heart. If that were the case I’d call a doctor right now and dispense with the witty banter that has me stomach turning over and over. But you don’t answer me, only your eyes give any indication that you’ve even heard me at all.

“Tell me what it is that I can do to repay you.” I repeat. I can’t help but run my hands along my arms, suddenly I feel cold for some reason.

“What I want?” You ask, your voice as smooth and beautiful as I’ve ever heard it but without the terse, rough quality that it usually takes on when we talk. It does nothing to still my stomach, if anything; it only causes my heart to join the party.

“Yes, what you want.” I second, wanting to cut the tension that’s built between the two of us with a knife. Come one Kaiba; just tell me if you’re sincere, at this rate I’ll die not knowing.

“What I want is...” you start, your voice almost a whisper your eyes staring straight into mine, which sends shivers down my spine as you move perilously closer until our lips almost meet and I can feel your breath on my face. Could it be that this isn’t all a lie? Your bangs brush gently up against my forehead and I willingly lose myself in your gaze.

And then, right as you’re about to close the gap between us there’s a scream, an utterly bloodcurdling, supernatural scream. Everything’s fallen away into black and I feel like I’m falling and yet paralysed at the same time. A horrible sense of dread fills me as I tumble, slowly being consumed by the darkness...

I don’t know what’s happened, nor how long I’d been out cold as I slowly regain consciousness. Something about the swirling of dark violet clouds around me seeming so familiar. My head hurts so much, worse than any headache I’ve ever had. This is far too painful to be a dream I can’t help but think as I pull myself slowly to my feet.

Then laugher, distinctly menacing laugher. It’s like it’s coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I...I know that voice, but from where? Why does this all seem so familiar to me? I wish this haze that’s settled over my mind would clear and I could put all the pieces of this puzzle together. I know that I know what this is; it’s something important...but what?

Finally standing, I rub my eyes trying to focus on something that would tell me what’s going on. Then the haze slowly starts to lift, the laughter still echoing off walls that seemingly didn’t exist. I’m standing next to a large stone table that’s slowly coming into view. It’s rough beige stone and its presence seems both ominous and comforting at the same time. I turn to face it, running my hands across the cold surface as I watch my vision clear until I begin to see the end of it, and the form of a figure standing across from me. That’s where the laughter’s coming from, I know it now.

I rub my eyes once more, hoping that it also clears the last remnants of confusion from my mind. Slowly I open them and as I see the laughing figure clearly for the first time I freeze out of sheer shock.

“You...?” I stutter, not being able to put anything else into words. How can this be possible, it isn’t possible it’s... “How can you...?”

The laughter stops.

If a dream is just a dream then how can I be standing across from a person I’ve only seen during sleep and know that I’m awake. But it’s unmistakable, those blue eyes, that laugh and the outfit. I’m standing across from the Kaiba from my dreams; my memories.

Yet he seems so different, I can’t put my finger on what it is about him though. Something just seems off about the way he’s looking at me. He seems colder than he ever did in my dreams, even colder than the Kaiba of the present time.

Then I finally register where I am: the Shadow realm. I’m beginning not to like this at all. Good things don’t usually happen when people are pulled in here. Still, if I can believe my dreams then what is there to worry about?

“I’m glad you’re finally awake. I was getting tired of waiting.” There’s no doubt, his voice, his tone it’s the same as Kaiba’s; as my dream. I can’t help but stare at his darker skin adorned with bands of gold as he stands there, arms crossed over his chest, one holding onto the familiar form of the millennium rod. I’ve seen him so many times in the past days it’s hard to believe that this could be real, that those dreams might actually have been my memories. I can feel the excitement rise in me at the thought.

“How did I get here?”

“I brought you here of course.” He says nonchalantly as if it happens everyday. A smirk crosses his lips, nothing really unusual and yet it sends a shiver down my spine.

The purple clouds that had been swirling slowly around my feet up until now suddenly billow and rage around my feet rising and consuming like the ocean before a storm. I can almost feel it now as they hit my legs in waves. It’s then that I see two other forms slowly materialise on either side of the Ancient Egyptian version of Kaiba. They start from simple outlines and slowly fill in until the two figures seem as solid and real as anything else in this realm. They wear the same style of dress as Kaiba, which strikes me as nothing other than Egyptian, but their eyes are so cold, like there’s no soul behind them. One is a man with short, cropped black hair with which I can see the millennium scales, an item which I remember only seeing with Shadi before. The second form is that of a woman who looks distinctly like Isis, with the millennium necklace resting gently on her neck.

“What’s going on?” I can’t help but ask as I feel the air grow colder all around me. I don’t like this at all. It just doesn’t feel right.

“What’s going on?” the Egyptian Kaiba echoes teasingly, smirk still on him lips. “You mean to tell me you haven’t figured it out yet? It’s no wonder it was so easy to lure you here.”

“To lure me here?” This is definitely not good. I can feel it now more than ever, evil rising all around me. To this my puzzle begins to glow, it’s light acting like a shield as my anger begins to replace confusion.

Realisation begins to hit me harder than ever before as my heart slowly breaks. So this was a trap after all. It’s almost to painful to bare, to think that all that’s happened in these last few weeks was just another ruse, another game. He never loved me; this was all just a trick.

“Now you’re beginning to see the truth. It’s taken you long enough.”

“What do you want with me Kaiba?” I grind out harshly, both wanting to cry and wanting to tear him to shreds at the same time. How could he do this to me? I always thought he was the one opponent with a shred of honour, I guess I really was wrong.

“What do I want? I’ll tell you.” His smirk suddenly fades into almost a snarl, something I’ve never seen before on his face, and were I not so furious it might have even scared me. “We’ve been trapped in this oblivion for millennia,” he gestured to the two figures beside him. “That’s a long time to think about things dear pharaoh, a long time indeed. And then to see you reborn again as we remain trapped it’s the final insult. We’re tired of being used and forgotten. We’re tired of being trapped in this hell.

There’s only one thing we could want now and that’s your death.”

My... My death...? I stumble backwards, my breath catching in my throat. I thought this was Kaiba getting even with me but this doesn’t sound like him at all. He’s never been this cold, this malicious. Before it was always a taunt, a challenge, revenge even, but never like this. I thought that this was an illusion, a hologram at best, combined with the shadow realm, but it’s more than that. His glare now, it’s pure evil.

“And how do you propose to do that?” I ask, regaining my composure, my features hardening to meet this challenge. No one is going to kill me now, especially after finding out that my world for the last months has been a lie.

“How else but a shadow game, Yami?” He says, malice lacing his voice at my name.

“So be it.”

- - - -

Authors notes: So, did this confuse anyone? It did? Good.

I guarantee I’ll explain what’s going on in the next couple chapters so just bare with me here even if it seems that nothing makes sense at the moment. Trust me, there’s a reason why all this crazy stuff is suddenly happening to poor Yami and it should make sense eventually.