Author's Notes:

Uhm, yes. Once again, I hope you won't kill me.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, you're awesome! Wish I could give you some kind of present…but all I can offer are misshapen GW drabbles…

Whatever. You're gonna kill me anyway, after this…

Practical note: Starting this Sunday, July 9th, I'll be away for three weeks. So, don't be angry with me if I don't answer reviews or mails – I promise replies when I come back.

Epilogue

The wind is gentle as it combs through Yami's hair, twirling and intertwining his blond bangs. Bright sunlight warms his face, the rain of two weeks past long forgotten. But there is no sunlight and no brightness in his eyes.

The wind makes him shiver. There is a terrible tension in the air as he stands waiting, watching the small caravan in front of which he is standing. Behind him there is Yugi, close enough to give comfort, but so very far from his mind. There is Sugoroku, there are Ishizu and Malik, there are Bakura and Ryou, there are Joey, Shizuka and Honda.

There is Leon, hugging a boy with wild black hair and whispering a childish promise into the other's ear, whispering of friendship and eternity.

Regret and envy strive in Yami's soul at the heart-breaking sight. He returns his eyes to the door. Slowly, it is pushed open.

One last time he is standing there, facing him, blue eyes staring into his, cold, icy, but also sad, incredibly sad. Those eyes take Yami's last hope for a childish promise of their own.

But he remains standing, barring the other's way as he steps out of the caravan, a bag with his few possessions slung over his right shoulder. The left arm and shoulder are still wrapped in thick bandages.

"Seto", he says, his voice low and calm, but bitter where it loses itself in the wind. There is an irrational question on his lips.

He will not ask again, he has already asked a thousand times.

"Seto…By the gods, Seto, why do you have to leave?"

"You know well enough, Yami. I cannot bear staying. You knew my rules. They are all gone now, never to return."

Seto Kaiba steps closer, until there are only a few more inches between them. "Yami", he replies, but there is more than that in his eyes. Yami does not have to hear what more he has to say, he has heard it a thousand times already.

"I am sorry for not listening. It seems our encounter is ending – we were not meant to last."

There is anger in the way Yami grips the taller man's shirt, anger in the way he clings to him, all but forces his head down to his, helpless rage in the hand resting on the nape of his neck, rage in his eyes as he closes them, a breath from Seto Kaiba's lips.

"We? All that has ever counted to you are your rules! I mean nothing to you…You are leaving now that your rules are shattered. I am still here, but you need your rules more than me!"

It is Seto Kaiba who crosses this last distance between them. His lips are not aggressive, but slow and wistful, tinged with the taste of pain. The pain overrides Yami's anger.

"I am not the person I was, Yami. I am different now that I do no longer have those rules, those goals. Now that I will never be able to fly again.

Do you think I could ever become a new person watching you perform our acts every day? Being forced to look upon what I will never have again?"

The kiss ends and Yami's hands enclose Seto Kaiba's face, cradle it as he allows their foreheads to meet, as he feels the other's arms around his waist. His thumbs are caressing Seto Kaiba's cheeks in slow circles, timid, pleading.

"Why can I not help you on the way? You know I can make you fly, ever, forever."

Softly, Seto Kaiba shakes his head, forehead rubbing against Yami's. His hands, too, are painting circles on Yami's back.

"Mokuba and I have to find a new way, Yami. I will live for him again, help him find his place in life. Then I have to become a new person. I do not know if this person can be with you, if you will want to be with this new person. Give me time, Yami. Scars have to heal."

Seto Kaiba pulls away and Yami does not have the strength to hold him back. And when the blue-eyed man turns and walks away, Yami stumbles back into the arms of his little brother and his Jii-chan. In those arms he hides his tears as he watches the tall silhouette walk away, towards the town, vanishing between the grassy hills, passing into the close forest, his little brother in tow.

"Yami", Ishizu says softly, stroking his shoulder. "Yami, think of this, tonight when you are lonely." Carefully, she slips something into his hand. It is thin with sharp edges and soft corners.

"What is this card?", he whispers, trying to keep his voice steady.

Gently, Ishizu pulls him to his chest and hugs him. "It is the Wheel of Fortune. It wants to tell you that this is not the end. That your time may come. That all winters and summers wane and fade, but return at their time."

She places a gentle kiss on his forehead. "And that all life is about flying and falling."