What Remains Is Us
Seto Kaiba returns to Domino City after a two week business trip to the city he once knew in absolute ruin. The dead have risen to walk the streets; luckily, he doesn't have to be alone in all of this. He teams up with an unlikely partner, Ryou Bakura, to traverse the burnt out landscape of their home. Watch as they endure the horrors of an unthinkable apocalyptic event while having to now confront the ugliest and most guarded parts of themselves as they grow closer to one another.
read on ao3 ch 1/?
hey gang, I've been rolling this little au/fanfic idea in my head for a little while now and it has completely taken over my brain, so much so that I actually rendered a whole drawing AND finished writing something for once in my life. born from a completely random thought that entered my head, a euroshipping zombie apocalypse au sounded pretty cool on paper and ended up taking on a life of its own. it's a dumb little idea but I hope y'all get some enjoyment out of it!
Chapter 1 - Touchdown Into Hell
The sound of his jet’s engines slicing through the air made a nice change of pace from the aggravating sing-song tone of Maximillion Pegasus. For two weeks, he had been stuck on his private island discussing future Duel Monsters collaborations and products from their allied companies, so hearing the rushing wind behind the tempered glass of his personal aircraft was a nice way to decompress and relax for whatever few hours he had until the next round of corporate bullshit was to take place as soon as he landed in Domino. The hours in question passed by quicker than he would’ve liked as the sight of the Domino airport was coming into view, though something wasn’t right this time around. The landing strip was cluttered, and the ground had even cracked open in a few spots. He managed to land the craft in a less crowded area of the strip. Things got even weirder as he made his way across the runway without being mobbed by people, whether it be his assistants and employees, the airport’s tarmac crews, or even Mokuba, who was nowhere to be seen. Something wasn’t sitting right with him; a cautious feeling began to form in his stomach as he entered the airport.
The place was in complete disarray, tables and chairs overturned, glass and fallen debris cluttered the floor, and the fresh scent of something incredibly foul lingered in the fog that seemed to roll in through the shattered windows of the airport. The building was completely devoid of life, not a soul to be found in the large complex. Kaiba wandered through the dilapidated building, attempting to find the main exit, as his normal route of escape was blocked by a fallen support beam wedged firmly into the ground in front of the door. The heavy, eerie feeling he got when he first landed seemed to only grow stronger the more he walked, and it was when he reached the atrium of the airport that he realized that something was so deeply wrong with this place. At first, the state of the building made him think there had been a large earthquake that had happened, though where were the fire department or the city’s disaster relief crews? It was then that he saw it, or rather them. He walked into the center of the large plaza, followed by the low groans and moans of what sounded like a group of people. In the distance, he could see a group of people in tattered clothing shambling about the place aimlessly, “Hey, you, where is everyone?” Kaiba walked closer toward the group, but stopped about 10 feet away from them when he got a good look at the state these people were in.
Their skin was unnaturally grey and partially sagging off their bodies, their eyes were glazed over and completely vacant, and they reeked of dried blood and infection. Before he had time to react, they were alerted to his presence and started stumbling toward him, arms outstretched as if clawing for his help. His eyes went wide, eyes starting to tear up from the overpowering and pungent stench radiating off of them. He backed up, slowly at first, but began to pick up speed as he noticed their crooked feet begin to grow too close for comfort. One managed to lunge at him, but he deflected their advance by clocking them with his metal briefcase. It was then that he turned around and began to run. It was a moment of pure instinct that he chastised himself for, eventually correcting his aimless sprint toward where he remembered the front entrance being. Though halfway there, he found that the doors were heavily guarded by these mindless freaks. He was trapped inside with these things. He was being slowly surrounded by them as he was trying desperately to remember the floor plan of the airport. Suddenly, one of them lunged for him again from behind, and with little time to react, he could only close his eyes and brace himself for the impact. An impact, though, that never came. It took him a second to realize that he was still untouched; that realization came in two simultaneous sights. The sight of one of these creatures’ heads split open on the floor in front of him, and the feeling of a smaller hand wrapping itself around one of his wrists. It began to pull him through a small hole in their defenses.
At that point, he was just happy to be away from those things, and he’d deal with whatever dragged him away when he could better get his bearings. The hand led him into a dimly lit stairwell. He yanked his hand back and finally managed to get a look at what, or rather who, exactly grabbed onto him. What stood there was the unmistakable sight of Yugi’s strange friend, Bakura. “Bakura? What the hell happened here?” Kaiba looked out through the fogged window of the stairwell door at the shambling horrors outside, still looking for them. “Zombie outbreak. Though I think the better question is what you’re doing here? I figured you’d be hiding out in some bunker under KaibaCorp or something, not in a place like this.” He didn’t turn around just yet, still focused on watching them beyond the safety of the stairwell.
That word…zombie…the syllables travelled through his ear canals and began to spell the word in his mind, though it was a slow process to fully take in. How can something so insane and fictional as a zombie apocalypse be happening, especially here in Domino? “That’s not possible.” Kaiba spoke aloud words he meant to keep in his head, “I’m afraid so. The city has been overrun with them for over a week now.” Seto finally turned around, “How? I’ve only been gone for two weeks, and what, the world ended when I wasn’t looking?” Bakura looked at him, unable to hold back an uncomfortable giggle, “You could say that…we need to move, though, before they realize we’re in here.”
“Every exit in this place has been blocked or damaged, how exactly do you plan on getting us out of here?” Kaiba hovered over Bakura, “Well, this stairwell connects to the top floor of the parking garage. From there, it’s a straight shot down through the garage into the street below.” He held out a hand, speckled with blood and dust, with bits of dirt and who knows what else wedged underneath his fingernails. Kaiba had no other choice but to take it; it was either that or he find his own way out, putting himself at unnecessary risk of being torn to pieces by the walking dead outside. Placing his hand in Bakura’s, he noticed that despite the grime, his skin was quite soft. Their hands tightened around one another, and they began up the stairs. “I’m quite surprised you had no idea this was happening. This isn’t a Domino exclusive issue; these things have a hold in almost every city in the world if the radio is to be believed.”
“I was with Pegasus on his island.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
The door to the garage was rusted, so it needed to be shoved a little harder than it normally would have. Bakura was right, though. The garage was empty aside from vacant cars and the distant groans of the dead below. They made their way down through the building and down into the street proper. This was the first time Kaiba had seen the city since leaving for this trip, and it was a sight like he could never have conceived alone. Cars overturned, glass and debris peppered the ground, that famous Domino City skyline now cut in half and replaced with a hazy orange smoke that rose into the heavens as if sending some twisted signal to whatever power willed this to happen. He was at a loss for words. His hand gripped his briefcase tight enough to whiten his knuckles. He hadn’t realized how long he was standing and staring when a hand pressed softly into his lower back, “Welcome home, Kaiba.”
“This isn’t home. I don’t know where the hell this is, but it certainly isn’t home.” The response was quick and sharp, filled with so much emotion that neither of the two would normally associate with him. It was the feeling of realizing that your life as you knew it was pretty much over. Realizing that everything you’ve worked for, every sacrifice you’ve made, has been rendered null and void. Something beyond your control has stripped you of everything you’ve held dear, and you can’t do a damn thing about it. For a second, the sounds of the groaning dead that populated the once great city paled in comparison to the earth-shattering crisis going on in Seto Kaiba’s mind.
Once more, the feeling of Bakura’s slender fingers begins to wrap around Kaiba’s now stiff hand and gently tug at it. “We need to keep moving; it isn’t safe to stay out in the open.” He was speechless, but allowed his arm to be lifted and led away by the shorter man. They walked toward the nearby shopping plaza. The various shops and street vendor stalls were blown out and overturned, stores picked clean, and the ever-lurking stench of death hung in the rolling fog. Bakura led them into what used to be a small cafe. The windows were haphazardly boarded up, and it took some squeezing through a makeshift barricade of damaged tables and chairs to fully fit through. He fit through the opening well enough, though he was a lot smaller than Kaiba was. “I’ve been sleeping in here for the past two days; it’s not the safest arrangement, but their freezer was still working when I found it, and that’s been pretty useful.”
“If you’ve been here since the outbreak started, why aren’t you hiding out in your own home?” Seto helped him move the barricade back into place and readjust the wooden planks on the windows; his extra height made it easier to strengthen the higher boards. “For a while, I was. Luckily for me, when things really started to go downhill, I was nearly out of food, the building’s utilities cut out, and almost the entire complex was compromised. I took it as a sign that I wasn’t going to be able to stay there forever. I just hope one day I can go back, some of those Monster World figurines are priceless…”
He looked at Bakura, really analyzing him now. He didn’t know him too well aside from what Yugi had said about him and what he had observed when they were all together. He was quiet but very friendly, for the most part choosing to stay to the side while only interjecting every so often. Strangely, it was something Kaiba had liked about him; he knew when to hold his tongue, unlike Yugi’s other friends. He looked utterly exhausted, his features were sunken in, and the dark circles under his eyes were a visible purple that outlined the strange expressions he wore. Looking him up and down, he never remembered him being so thin. He imagined it would be no issue for him to sling the smaller man over his shoulder or restrain him should the need arise.
Despite the seemingly permanent orange glow of the sky, night had begun to swallow the city. As the blocks darkened and half of the streetlamps failed to turn on, the sounds of the dead rose even more than during the day. They seemed to become more active at night, considering he could see bigger hordes of them through the slits in the window’s defenses. Bakura had been moving things around the store to make room for his new companion to lie down. “Since there’s two of us, we should alternate who keeps watch so the other can sleep. We’ll need all the strength we can get if we want to keep going. I’ll take the first round, I figure you’d want to lie down for a while since being thrown headfirst into this dumpster fire. I’ve been sleeping behind the counter; it’s cramped, but it’s warmer back there, so it’s something.” Kaiba looked behind the counter at a collection of blankets and jackets piled into a makeshift bed. He looked back at Bakura, who gave back a shy and sorry smile, as if saying, “I’m sorry, I wish desperately that things were different.”
“Thank you, though I wonder something. When was the last time you slept properly?” Bakura dropped the smile in exchange for an embarrassed blush, “It’s…been a while. It’s a little hard to sleep when there’s the real possibility that something is going to burst in and devour you. Don’t worry about me, I’ve made it this far. Get some rest, okay?” And with that, the small smile returned briefly before he turned to peer through the protected window at the horror outside. With not much else to do, he walked behind the counter and squeezed himself into a semi-comfortable sleeping position. He held onto the locket around his neck, as if trying to send a message to his little brother, letting him know he’s safe and will be coming for him.
Hours pass by in a twilight state; the world around him is distant enough for his body to relax, but not enough to fully allow himself to drift into full sleep. There was no possible way he would be able to relax enough to fall completely unconscious. Eventually, he feels a hand gently shake his shoulder and a familiar voice echo in his mind, “Kaiba…wake up…” He opens his eyes slowly to see Bakura crouched in front of him. “Ah, there you are. We should get ready to head out.” The words confused him, “Head out? I thought I still needed to take watch?”
Bakura smiled softly, “I let you sleep through the night, I thought you deserved it after having to witness all of that at once.” His eyes widened, “Did you sleep at all last night?” He didn’t mean to sound so worried about him; he rationalized it as worry that his apocalyptic guide wouldn’t be operating at full efficiency. He hoped that Bakura hadn’t noticed, though it was clear that he did, as he was visibly taken aback by the question, “Um…well, I think I dozed off for an hour or so at some point, but you don’t need to worry about me. I think I know of somewhere we can get some water; I might have bled this place dry. We should still be able to hide out in this place, but we’ll need to find supplies elsewhere. Can you help me unbarricade the door?”
Kaiba had a bad feeling about all of this, more than the obvious world-ending event they were caught in the middle of. It pained him to admit it, but the most he could do was trust that he and Bakura could make this all work.
