~Disclaimer...I don't own Yugioh. Just a lot of angst. ^^
(A/N) I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this fic and stuck with it even when I didn't. Without you it would never have reached completion. I'm not going to respond to reviews this chapter, but I just want you to know how much I appreciate you all. Thank you. I hope you enjoy this last chapter, short as it is. I want everyone to review, even though I won't be able to respond to them next chapter...because there won't be one. Let me know you liked it! ^^ Thank you a million times. And if you want me to tell you when I post the sequel, leave an email address where I can reach you in a review and I'll send an email your way when it's up. So, goodbye from Nika. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves on your little trip into this subcorner of my mind.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Angel Eyes
By Mistress Nika
Chapter Twenty Three:
"Holding the Light and the Darkness"
(title shamelessly stolen from Magic Knights Rayearth season two ^^)
~~~The present~~~
Angel stood at the harbor, staring out at the limitless black ocean before her that seemed to reach until forever. The water gently licked at the dock beneath her feet and the wood creaked steadily with each wave. The salty sea air blew softly against her pale skin, making it cool to the touch. The faint sliver of moon had hidden itself behind thick clouds and would not be making an appearance tonight. The darkness was broken only by the lights of the lively city to her back.
Two hours she had been standing here. Ever since the setting sun left this world in a show of glorious color, casting it's last fading light upon her insubstantial heart. But now, all was darkness and the only reason she persisted to remain in this world lay locked within her, within the confines of a sorrowful soul.
She had thought to say goodbye to all those in her life, but with the disallowance of her mother's acceptance and love she had foregone that course of action. Now, all she wanted was to leave, to escape and never return. She would miss some, but others she could only hope to forget with time.
Her parents she understood. A man and woman who never wanted a child suddenly and unexpectedly bestowed with the gift of one they could never hope to understand. They had feared her, and they had hated her. But still, she could understand their position. They had her pity, if not her love.
Isis was one she would miss. She had taken her in and made her feel as though a loving family were not something impossible in her life. Both she and Malik made her feel as though she belonged somewhere. They made her feel whole.
The pharaoh and his little aibou, she may perhaps miss as well. She still felt the love she had once possessed for the pharaoh, though it was only an ember, a precursor to the love she would always hold for Malik. And little Yuugi, with his innocent eyes and loving heart. So childlike and trusting, yet with an indomitable will.
Then there was her beloved brother Seto and the indisputably adorable Jounouchi. She would miss them most of all.
The chiming of a bell cut through the silence of the night, informing her the boat was preparing to embark. But as she turned to leave a voice interrupted her introspective silence.
"Leaving without saying goodbye?" Bakura's voice asked, surprisingly soft.
She didn't turn around. This was one person she didn't want to see. She couldn't deal with the strange emotions she could feel rising within her just from his voice. She did however pause in her steps.
"Why not?" she asked solemnly, all pretense of the normal girl gone from her words. "I hold no love for you. You are as a parasite in my life, sucking away all sanity and light."
Whirling around to face the silver-haired boy with the face of an angel, she was unprepared to find the emotion she found there. He looked hurt, almost sorrowful. He stared into her eyes with honest regret. Something deep within her made her unwilling to cause him pain with her words, but this could be her last chance. She was determined to tell him all that he had done to her.
"It is your fault," she continued in a hushed whisper with increasing venom. "What happened five thousand years ago was all your fault. Yes, I was in a pitiful state when I left the palace to wander the streets aimlessly. But it was you who preyed upon my vulnerability and drove me to insanity. It was you I hunted with an insatiable bloodlust only your death could quench, killing so many in my pursuit of you. If not for you I may still have found love with Hasani. It was you who stole him from me, both then and now. You killed Malik, and I curse you for it! I take all responsibility for killing Ryou, but it was you who created that darkness in me. You who are the cause of everything! My hate for you knows no bounds!"
She watched as Bakura lowered his head in sadness. After many moments of contemplation, he finally spoke in a muted tone. "I know." he said softly, "I am darkness, nothing more. I was not born in darkness, but I was forged in it. My existence causes pain and suffering to all those around me, but still I go on. I go on because even the darkness can love." He paused, but was intent on saying his piece. Just as she did, he wanted to explain what drove him to his actions. "The darkness can love, but it is the light it loves more than anything else. In the darkness, one is blind. But the light brings vision to the blind and hope to those who despair. I was not lying when I said I loved you. I loved you as the darkness loves the light, from afar. If I got to close to you, your light would destroy me. So I loved you from a distance until my obsession drove me to the brink. I tainted you with my darkness in the hopes of bringing you closer to me, even if only for one moment. But just as your light was pure and undiluted, so became your darkness. It became something even I could not fathom, and I am eternally remorseful for what I did to you. Both then and now. No words can ever tell you how I wish I could return to that day, so long forgotten and yet not. How I wish I could take back my actions and make you whole again, without me in your life. Or more, if I could go even farther back and let myself die in the shadows of a cold realm, an insignificant and forgotten child. How I wish I had ignored the light offered to me, once in the form of the Sennen Ring and once in the form of a radiant priestess named Amunet."
Silence reigned as the two stood staring into each other's eyes. Both could see a sadness and longing reflected back at them, and both wished nothing more than to fill the emptiness within the other's soul.
After a moment, Angel whispered softly, "The truth, for both of us." She silently turned her back on the silver darkness watching her with downcast eyes and whispered one last phrase that spoke her soul. "Goodbye, Bakura."
And with those last words, she walked away from both the darkness and the light.
~OWARI~
(A/N) I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this fic and stuck with it even when I didn't. Without you it would never have reached completion. I'm not going to respond to reviews this chapter, but I just want you to know how much I appreciate you all. Thank you. I hope you enjoy this last chapter, short as it is. I want everyone to review, even though I won't be able to respond to them next chapter...because there won't be one. Let me know you liked it! ^^ Thank you a million times. And if you want me to tell you when I post the sequel, leave an email address where I can reach you in a review and I'll send an email your way when it's up. So, goodbye from Nika. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves on your little trip into this subcorner of my mind.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Angel Eyes
By Mistress Nika
Chapter Twenty Three:
"Holding the Light and the Darkness"
(title shamelessly stolen from Magic Knights Rayearth season two ^^)
~~~The present~~~
Angel stood at the harbor, staring out at the limitless black ocean before her that seemed to reach until forever. The water gently licked at the dock beneath her feet and the wood creaked steadily with each wave. The salty sea air blew softly against her pale skin, making it cool to the touch. The faint sliver of moon had hidden itself behind thick clouds and would not be making an appearance tonight. The darkness was broken only by the lights of the lively city to her back.
Two hours she had been standing here. Ever since the setting sun left this world in a show of glorious color, casting it's last fading light upon her insubstantial heart. But now, all was darkness and the only reason she persisted to remain in this world lay locked within her, within the confines of a sorrowful soul.
She had thought to say goodbye to all those in her life, but with the disallowance of her mother's acceptance and love she had foregone that course of action. Now, all she wanted was to leave, to escape and never return. She would miss some, but others she could only hope to forget with time.
Her parents she understood. A man and woman who never wanted a child suddenly and unexpectedly bestowed with the gift of one they could never hope to understand. They had feared her, and they had hated her. But still, she could understand their position. They had her pity, if not her love.
Isis was one she would miss. She had taken her in and made her feel as though a loving family were not something impossible in her life. Both she and Malik made her feel as though she belonged somewhere. They made her feel whole.
The pharaoh and his little aibou, she may perhaps miss as well. She still felt the love she had once possessed for the pharaoh, though it was only an ember, a precursor to the love she would always hold for Malik. And little Yuugi, with his innocent eyes and loving heart. So childlike and trusting, yet with an indomitable will.
Then there was her beloved brother Seto and the indisputably adorable Jounouchi. She would miss them most of all.
The chiming of a bell cut through the silence of the night, informing her the boat was preparing to embark. But as she turned to leave a voice interrupted her introspective silence.
"Leaving without saying goodbye?" Bakura's voice asked, surprisingly soft.
She didn't turn around. This was one person she didn't want to see. She couldn't deal with the strange emotions she could feel rising within her just from his voice. She did however pause in her steps.
"Why not?" she asked solemnly, all pretense of the normal girl gone from her words. "I hold no love for you. You are as a parasite in my life, sucking away all sanity and light."
Whirling around to face the silver-haired boy with the face of an angel, she was unprepared to find the emotion she found there. He looked hurt, almost sorrowful. He stared into her eyes with honest regret. Something deep within her made her unwilling to cause him pain with her words, but this could be her last chance. She was determined to tell him all that he had done to her.
"It is your fault," she continued in a hushed whisper with increasing venom. "What happened five thousand years ago was all your fault. Yes, I was in a pitiful state when I left the palace to wander the streets aimlessly. But it was you who preyed upon my vulnerability and drove me to insanity. It was you I hunted with an insatiable bloodlust only your death could quench, killing so many in my pursuit of you. If not for you I may still have found love with Hasani. It was you who stole him from me, both then and now. You killed Malik, and I curse you for it! I take all responsibility for killing Ryou, but it was you who created that darkness in me. You who are the cause of everything! My hate for you knows no bounds!"
She watched as Bakura lowered his head in sadness. After many moments of contemplation, he finally spoke in a muted tone. "I know." he said softly, "I am darkness, nothing more. I was not born in darkness, but I was forged in it. My existence causes pain and suffering to all those around me, but still I go on. I go on because even the darkness can love." He paused, but was intent on saying his piece. Just as she did, he wanted to explain what drove him to his actions. "The darkness can love, but it is the light it loves more than anything else. In the darkness, one is blind. But the light brings vision to the blind and hope to those who despair. I was not lying when I said I loved you. I loved you as the darkness loves the light, from afar. If I got to close to you, your light would destroy me. So I loved you from a distance until my obsession drove me to the brink. I tainted you with my darkness in the hopes of bringing you closer to me, even if only for one moment. But just as your light was pure and undiluted, so became your darkness. It became something even I could not fathom, and I am eternally remorseful for what I did to you. Both then and now. No words can ever tell you how I wish I could return to that day, so long forgotten and yet not. How I wish I could take back my actions and make you whole again, without me in your life. Or more, if I could go even farther back and let myself die in the shadows of a cold realm, an insignificant and forgotten child. How I wish I had ignored the light offered to me, once in the form of the Sennen Ring and once in the form of a radiant priestess named Amunet."
Silence reigned as the two stood staring into each other's eyes. Both could see a sadness and longing reflected back at them, and both wished nothing more than to fill the emptiness within the other's soul.
After a moment, Angel whispered softly, "The truth, for both of us." She silently turned her back on the silver darkness watching her with downcast eyes and whispered one last phrase that spoke her soul. "Goodbye, Bakura."
And with those last words, she walked away from both the darkness and the light.
~OWARI~