Chapter 13

            When I finally awoke, I was in a bit of a daze moment. My vision soon cleared and I pushed myself.

 

“Seto, wake up,” I pleaded, shaking his shoulder.

 

I saw that the Pyramid of Light was gone, as was Anubis.

 

‘My brother won,’ Asenath informed me.

 

‘Asenath! You’re back,’ I exclaimed.

 

Seto groaned and opened his eyes.

 

“Kaiba! Are you all right,” Yugi asked, running up to us.

 

I gave Seto a look that asked the same question. He sat up, and nodded slightly.

 

“Let me help you,” Yugi offered, extending a hand.

 

“I can take care of myself,” Seto answered harshly, slapping Yugi’s hand away.

 

He cringed in pain, but stood on his. I stood as well and made sure I was close enough to Seto to help if he needed it.

 

‘This isn’t over,’ Asenath realized, staring at a small red orb in the ground.

 

‘Are you freaking kidding me,’ I yelled.

 

The orb glowed brighter.

 

“What the,” Seto started to ask.

 

A black flame erupted from the orb, causing me to take a step back.

 

“Shadows take life. Creatures be born. Now, let’s see how well you play this game when the monsters are real,” Anubis yelled.

 

He slowly became his own monster, starting as what looked like black slime.

 

“D****t,” I muttered.

 

“It is no longer time to duel. Now it is time to die!”

 

Anubis became some kind of giant, armored jackal. He shot a stream of black fire, or shadows; I couldn’t tell which. The blast came from his mouth and Yugi, Seto and I had to jump out of the way. It blew a hole in the side of the duel dome.

 

“Nothing in your decks of cards can save you now,” Anubis yelled and two magic formed in the air. They blew Yugi’s deck out of his duel disk and caused mine and Seto’s disks to malfunction, bursting into sparks around us. We both cried in pain. Seto grabbed his left arm while I wrapped on arm around my waist. All of our cards were scattered across the floor around us.

 

“It appears you are one card short, Pharaoh,” Anubis said.

 

“Yeah, but I’m not! Attack! Gilford the Lightning and Gearfried the Iron Knight,” Joey yelled, setting the cards on his duel disk.

 

The monsters had no effect, however.

 

“Be gone,” the giant jackal yelled and destroyed Joey’s monsters.

 

The blast blew another hole in the ceiling.

 

“You have no concept of my powers, and now the end begins,” Anubis yelled, the shadows erupting from his body, destroying everything around us.

 

“We’re pancakes,” Joey yelled as we watched the ceiling fall apart.

 

Just as Joey, Téa, Tristan, Mokuba, Pegasus and Solomon were about to be flattened, Toon Dark Magician Girl and Blue Eyes Toon Dragon stopped the rubble from hitting them. I’d never been so happy to see those Toons in my life.

 

“Not yet! These Toon monsters won’t last long. We have to get out of here while we still have the chance,” Pegasus yelled.

 

I briefly wondered when he arrived, but more pressing matters pushed that thought aside.

 

“Yugi, I know you’ll take this creep down,” Joey yelled.

 

“That’s right! Because we’ll be with you all the way,” Téa added.

 

She, Joey and Tristan all held up their hands, like before, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Now was not the time for their little friendship speech. Of course, Yugi held up his hand as well. A piece of the ceiling nearly hit me and I had to jump out of the way. The quick movement sent a wave of pain to my side and I clutched it, trying not to cry out.

 

“Ebony,” Seto called.

 

“I’m fine,” I answered through clenched teeth.

 

“Fine, fine. Let’s go already,” Pegasus yelled, rushing them out of the duel dome.

For once, I actually agreed with that raving lunatic. Anubis roared loudly, causing the building to shake even more.

 

“What are we going to do,” I asked.

 

A huge ax then grew on the jackal’s head. The red orb started to glow again.

 

‘Does he ever stop growing,’ I mentally asked.

 

‘I do not know,’ Asenath answered.

 

“How can we beat a real monster,” Yugi asked.

 

Seto looked behind him and started walking towards a facedown card. Something caught my eyes and I picked up a card as well. It was my most treasured monster, Wingweaver.

 

“How? With a real monster. Yugi,” Seto called and threw the card he’d picked up.

 

He was on his knees again, clutching his left arm in pain.

 

“What’s this,” Yugi asked.

 

“The one card that can beat him.”

 

I put my Wingweaver in my deck holder before kneeling down to help Seto. I figured there had to be some reason I had found her so easily.

 

“It’s time to get real with the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon! Shining Nova Attack,” Yugi yelled as Anubis formed a shadow beam in his mouth again.

 

“If the monsters are real, so are their powers, including this dragon’s ability to destroy any monster!”

 

The Shining Dragon appeared in the sky, flying overhead. Anubis fired his shadow beam.

 

“Destroy Anubis,” Yugi yelled.

 

The Shining Dragon began to glow brightly and I put my arm up to shield my eyes from the light.

 

“No,” Anubis yelled as the attack came down on him.

 

There was so much energy that I was afraid Yugi, Seto and I would be hurt from it. Suddenly, Wingweaver appeared before us, protecting us from any affects the attack may have. Anubis slowly melted, screaming in agony. The tiny red orb shattered and the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon exploded from its own attack. My Wingweaver turned and gave Yugi, Seto and me a small smile.

 

“You are safe now, little ones,” she said in a caring tone before fading away.

 

‘Farewell, mother,’ Asenath answered.

I was no longer surprised by that. I had long since known that in ancient times, Asenath and Atem’s mother had fused her soul with her favorite monster, becoming the Wingweaver. The only reason she protected me more often than Yugi was because he had the Dark Magician.

 

            The shadows faded, revealing a beautiful, starlit sky.

 

“Now, it’s over,” I whispered, a small smile adorning my face.

 

A few minutes later, the others came back inside and Mokuba started wrapping Seto’s wound on his arm.

 

“Ebony, do you need anything,” Mokuba asked.

 

“I’ll be alright,” I answered, looking up at the night sky.

 

Never before had I been so thankful to see the stars.

 

‘I guess nearly dying really makes you appreciate life,’ I mumbled.

 

‘Yes, it truly does,’ Asenath answered.

 

“He’s not coming back again, right,” Téa asked.

 

“We should take a closer look at that prophecy to see what it foretells for the future,” Yugi’s grandfather said.

 

“Oh, please, old man. Anubis is gone. No one could return after suffering a defeat so thoroughly devastating as that. Well, no one but Kaiba, that is. I’m sorry, did I say that out loud,” Pegasus answered.

 

“Shut up, Pegasus. I’d hit you if I had the energy to,” I yelled.

 

Seto and I stood up and began walking with Mokuba towards the doors. But first, Seto stopped to say something to Yugi.

 

“Kaiba,” Yugi said in a worried tone.

 

“Oh, please. Spare me all your bull about friendship, will you? If it wasn’t for that freak crashing the party, we both know the winner of today’s duel would’ve been me. So enjoy your last days of being champion while you still can,” Seto answered and I gave a small smile.

 

Seto was finally back to normal.

 

“I gotta say, it’s nice to have the old Kaiba back.”

 

“Yeah? Well, this conversation’s over. We’ll duel again.”

 

Seto started walking off.

 

“Wait up,” Mokuba called and ran after his older brother.

 

I stayed behind for a moment longer.

 

“I’m sure glad he didn’t bring up all the damage you did to the duel dome ‘cause I don’t think his insurance is gonna cover this,” Solomon said in a slight joking manner.

 

“He’s got plenty of money, Grandpa, but what he doesn’t have is a Millennium Puzzle. And unless he changes, he won’t have best friends like this. What Kaiba doesn’t get is that victory means nothing unless you can share it with the people you love because then, you’re really a winner,” Yugi answered.

 

“Yugi,” I said, “I understand where you’re coming from with this whole friendship thing and I know you think that he’s just a cold-hearted jerk. You think Seto could never have someone to love him but… You’re wrong.”

 

Yugi and his friends all gave me a slightly surprised look as I walked away from them. I quickly caught up with Seto and Mokuba as we walked through one of the exits. The doors shut behind us and I walked with my gaze averted to the ground. If Seto turned to see me staring at him, he’d think I was mad, disappointed or, even worse, afraid of him. Mokuba looked up at Seto and then ran ahead, disappearing down the hall. I continued following right behind Seto, my eyes downcast and my arm wrapped around my side. Seto stopped abruptly, causing me to run into him. I took a half-step back to give him some room and looked up at him.

 

“Seto? Is something wrong,” I asked.

 

He turned around and pulled me close, wrapping his arms firmly but gently around me. I gasped quietly and my body was slightly stiff from surprise.

 

“I’m sorry,” Seto murmured.

 

I immediately relaxed and rested my head on his chest. I brought my left hand up and placed it next to my head before closing my eyes.

 

“What’s there to forgive,” I whispered.

 

Following Yugi’s logic, Seto had truly won…

 

… Because he had me, that was all that mattered.