Rock Bottom: Season One

Regroup

Pegasus had fled to the top of his tower, his own private bedroom. In his grief, he'd closed the curtains and left the room dim to make it match his mood. He tried not to look at the huge portrait of his wife, but it was the centerpiece of the room. How could he not look at her?

"Oh, Cecelia, my love." He was sobbing as he fell to his knees before the portrait, his head hanging low as the tears streamed down his face. "I was so close to seeing you again, holding you again... So close..."

The lonely man dissolved into grief and weeping as he was overwhelmed with despair. It had never occurred to him to consider if Cecelia would have approved of his methods for resurrecting her. He had never stopped to consider how she would have reacted to seeing children kidnapped, even sacrificed, for her sake.

Thanks to his selfish actions, he would never see her again, not even in the Hereafter.

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

"Seto! Thank goodness, I thought I was going to be left here to rot." Duke sighed with relief as his professional partner entered the room. "Do you know how to pick locks?"

"Yes, but I have something better than that." Seto held up the key with a smirk. "I'll have to showcase my lock-picking skills for you another time."

"The quicker you can get me out of here, the better." Duke held still as Seto slid the key into each lock,

"They'll probably be outside somewhere," Seto commented as he and Duke found their way outside of the castle. "Yugi beat Pegasus, so the tournament's over."

"Oh yeah, how'd you do with that?"

"I didn't quite... participate in the tournament. Not properly at the end of it, at least."

"What do you mean?" Duke still found it hard to believe that Seto hadn't won the whole thing.

Seto explained to Duke about the children getting kidnapped, him infiltrating the castle, confronting Pegasus in the dungeon, dueling Yugi—at Duke's insistence, he explained specifically how he'd won, which clarified for Duke why he was so ashamed of it—and then dueling Pegasus.

"So when I lost my duel with Pegasus, I also lost my own soul, my chance of winning back Mokuba's soul, and, least importantly, my title as champion. Yugi beat Pegasus, though, so I suppose that makes him the King of Games now. Do you know how to get out of here?"

"Yeah, I think it's just around this corner." Duke took the lead, but he still looked thoughtful, as if there was something on his mind. "So, all of this magic stuff. It's real, isn't it?" he asked as he pushed a door open for Seto to pass through.

"It's as real as you and I are," the brunette answered gravely as he walked through the doorway. Duke dropped the door and caught up to him, falling into step beside him, their strides evenly matched.

"And you believe in all that?" Duke asked quietly, eyebrows drawn together as he struggled to accept it himself. "You truly believe it?"

"I have to." Narrowed sapphire eyes met puzzled emerald ones. "Otherwise, I'd be in massive denial, and it would get very difficult for me to make sense of everything."

"That's good enough for me," Duke replied, seeming satisfied for now. He believed in Seto, and if Seto believed in the magic, then he could too. "I'm sorry about your brother. I hope he's alright."

"I hope so too."

Duke glanced at Seto again, and couldn't suppress his smirk any longer. "Nice eyeliner, by the way."

"What?!" Shocked, Seto stopped short, then turned to check his reflection in the shiny glass of a framed portrait hanging inconspicuously on the wall. "Damn it, Seth," he grumbled as he lifted a hand to try and wipe it away. What on earth had he been thinking?