If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh I would lie on the beach of some tropical islnd, drinking cocktails in the shade of the palm tree, but that's just a dream because I'm still sitting in my small, dark room, the computer as the only light, writng fanfiction and therefore I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
AN - In this story, yami and hikary are seperate persons. Yami / Yugi, Bakura / Ryou , Marik / Malik. The thoughts (normally only Kaiba and Wheeler) are in italiks.
Chapter 1
"I thank you all that you have all chosen this years drama course! My Name is Kloman, be sure to remember it! As you all may know, this course is mandatory and attandance will be taken every class. There is no equipment needed except if I say so...let's see if everybody's here. Yugi Muto..."
"Here"
"Joey Wheeler..."
"Here"
"Seto Kaiba...?"
"..."
"Seto Kaiba...?"
At that moment, Seto Kaiba made his entrance. The doors of the auditorium slammed open, revealing a very...grumpy looking CEO.
"Ah, Mr. Kaiba, there you are. Couldn't you find the auditorium?"
Seto glared. "Stupid question. The computer course was canceled! I'm not here because I want to." Proud of his response, he grinned and sat down in the back of the room.
"Well...let's go on..." The teacher continued the attendence, but did not notice the whispers going through the rows. Kaibas late entrance was THE topic of the day, and the teacher would have a hard time getting their attention back.
"So, now that we're ALL here, let's get started. This years class consist of 3 minor plays and one end years play. The topic this year is - Fairy Tales -". Everyone started talking at once, things such as 'oh no' and 'why fairy tales', were the overpowering exclamations.
"I know that you think fairy tales are 'too childish' or 'under your age', but this is the beginners course and you, if I may be so blunt, don't look like you have a lot of experience in acting and there is nothing better for total beginners as fairy tales. We'll begin with ' Rumpelstiltskin'. Next hour I will asign you roles to play in order to judge your abilities. You have the rest of the hour to read through the text.
"Can you believe it! That arrogant rat is in OUR class!" Joey was sitting in his usual place in the cafeteria, seathing. Tea was right beside him, looking sypathetic.
"Do you know what he said? He said he wanted to take the computer course! We all knew there weren't enough students taking the course."
"He didn't choose to come to drama." Yugi said, walking to the other side of the table with a lunch tray in his hands.
"But still...why HIM! Why DRAMA!" Joey was getting slightly red in his anger. Yugi tried to calm him down.
"So Joey, did you read through the text."
"Yeah...", he said, not really listening and playing with his nudels.
"And, did you pick a role you would like to play?" Yugi said, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Not really...", even more focused on his nudles.
"Just leave him Yugi", Tea said to Yugi.
"Hey, guys", Tristan came running, having just been released from sport class ,"Sorry I'm late. Mr. Mayers always let's us out late!"
"Hi Tristan, you got Mayers again, huh? How is the sport course going?"
"Oh, great and yours?" Tristan asked, trying to find his lunchbox in his schoolbag. Joey was the first one to answer, sarcastically.
"Oh, wonderful. We have to play Rumpelstiltskin and Kaiba is in our group!"
"Oh...", was the only thing Tristan could say to these facts,"Uh, what about you Tea?"
"It's so wonderful! We even have boys in the dance class and..."
"At least some people like their class!" Joey said, going back to playing with his food.
The next day in class...
"Class, please quiet down! Sielnce!" The talking died "Thank you. Now, I hope you've all read the text and thought about who you would like to play. Yugi, Ryo, Malik get onto the stage!" Yugi and Ryo, slowly, walked onto stage, followed by Malik.
"So boys, did you think about what you would like to play?" The boys started stammering, not really having any ideas what they would 'like' to play.
"Okay...well, then I'll have to choose for you. Let's see...", he started looking through the text,"Ha, this looks good. So boys, turn to page 2. Ryou...you'll be the Queen, Malik you will be the Story Teller, and Yugi...you'll be the servant."
"Em...", Malik tried to find the page,"okay, eh...On the third day...one servant returned without a list of names, but... he told the queen a strange story..."
"..." Yugi missed his cue. He took a deep breath and started saying the text as if dictating it to someone.
"My queen, in search of strange names I came to a forest, were I saw a strange thing. A small man was dancing around a fire and he was singing a song..."
"Yugi, Yugi. This is a play and not a spelling contest. Please try to speak normal and act a little...continue please." The teacher waved to signalise for Ryou to start speaking.
"And...what did he sing?"
"Very, very good Ryou...now that IS acting!" Ryou blushed and the class started giggling."Now Yugi, try again."
"He sang..." he really tried to sing,"Today I brew, and then I bake, and soon the queen's own child I'll take. For little knows my royal dame, That RUMPELSTILTSKIN is my name!"
"Better, but still, try to feel the character."
Malik continued. "That night the little man came to the palace with a a big smile on his face. He was quite certain that the queen could never guess his name. He asked gleefully if she had..." The teacher interrupted.
"Thank you, Ryou, Malik, Yugi and could I now..."
Next class...
"Where did we stop...oh yes, next we'll see...Joey,Yami, Marik and...Seto." That's the name of doom, Seto thought as he got up from his seat in the back of the room and slowly walked towards the stage.
"Hurry up Kaiba!" Joey yelled, who was already on stage.
"Shut up Wheeler! I walk as fast as I want!"
"Grrr...!" Joey was about to jump onto Kaiba when the teacher continued.
"So, the same scene as last class, em..." finally Kaiba reached the stage and placed himself as far away from Joey as possible...without looking stupid.
"...Joey, you'll play the queen, Marik, you'll be the story teller, Yami, you'll be Rumpelstiltskin, and Seto...mmm,whom do we have left...ahhh, of course, you'll be the servant." What! Kaba yerlled in his mind, servant!? serving Wheeler, this can't be happening, can it? Meanwhile, the teacher seated himself in a chair in the first row, while the people on stage took their positions...some more excited than others.
"Start." The teacher called and the noise in the auditorium died out.
"On the third day..." Marik started, making weird gestures,"one servant returned without a list of names, but he told the queen a strange story..." Kaiba looked in shock at his text. No, he thought, I'm not going to say this shit to Wheeler...that hurts my dignity...but I have no shoice.
"My queen," go on Seto, say it, say it," in search of strange names I came to a forest," this text is plain stupid," where I saw a strange thing. A small man was dancing around a fire and he was singing a song..." Do I have to sing this...no, thank god, Yami has to do it.
"And what did he sing?" Joey asked Kaiba, grinning.
"He sang..." done, finished...
"Today I brew, and then I..."
"Yami, Yami," the teacher stood up from his seat," he is singing and dancing, so you have to also sing and dance." He sat back down while Yami stared in pure horror at his classmates.
"O.K...puh" and then YAmi started 'dancing and singing',"today I brew and then I bake, and soon the queens own child I'll take," this is redicoulous, Kaiba thought," for little knows my royal dame, that RUMPELSTILTSKIN is my name!"
"That night," Marik continued, overacting again, with big, wild gestures," the little man came to the palace with a big smile on his face. He was quite certain that the queen could never guess his name. He asked gleefully if she had any guesses left."
"Thank you boys." The teacher stood up and moved back onto stage, while the boys moved back to theier seats.
"Tomorrow the castlist will be out, make sure to check the bulletinboard. You may leave."
That evening...
Kaiba sat in his big armshair in front of the fireplace, reading.
"Well, that is a rare sight: Seto and a book." Mokuba came in, smiling and hugged his brother.
"What's wrong about reading a book?"
"There's nothing wrong about reading a book...but there's something wrong with you reading a book instead of sitting at your laptop!" They looked at eachother in silence for quite a while, until Mokuba took Seto's book and read the title.
"Grimm's...aren't those german fairytales? Why are you reading..."
"Because I'm in drama class and we are doing a play on one of Grimm's fairytale, and I don't want to look stupid on stage, even if everybody looks good next to that idiot Wheeler, but..." and he could have gone on for hours if not for Mokuba, who interrupted him.
"You're in one class with Joey?" A big smile grew on his face. It was seldom that Seto talked so much.
"What's the matter?" Seto was curious to know.
"Wait a minute," Mokuba said, and ran out of the room. After a few minutes of silence, footsteps could be heard in the corridor. The door flew open, and a smiling Mokuba came running in with a picture in his hand.
"What's that?" Seto asked, as Mokuba sat down next to him, holding the picture tight in his hands. He then turned the picture around to reveal a all to familiar picture to Seto.
"Oh come on Mokuba...that's an exception..."
"Maybe, but still..." They looked at the picture Seto could still vividly remember when it had been taken. It was old, Seto was twelve and had just gotten to his new school, the domino highschool. It was taken by Mokuba at the annual Halloween Party, and Mokuba had made him come...with a costume.
"You knew, I hated costumes, and that one was really weird!"Seto said to Mokuba, without taking his eyes of the picture.
"Yupp..." and they looked at the picure which showed Seto and Joey. Joey in a dog costume, and Seto, in a weird looking yellow, fluffy bird costume, and he didn't look too happy.
"Sooo..." Mokuba broke through the silence, smiling,"you really looked far more stupid than Joey!"
The next day, the castlist was posted on the bulletin board. A mass of people had come together infront of it and Joey and Bakura were right in front.
"Oh yeah! I got the main role!" Joey yelled over the mass of talking people. Kaiba who had just happened to come by, grimaced at Joey's yell. "Stupid mutt."
"Nice Joey, but could you tell us our roles please?" Marik yelled over to Joey, who could hardly here him.
"Wait a second...a here...Marik, you are...the King and Ryou, you are the Queen!" Ryou sighed.
"And what about us?" The rest of the group asked.
"Ehh...Malik, you are...hahahah..."
"What's wrong Joey?" Malik asked confused by his reaction.
"Hahaha...you're playing, hahaha...the baby, hahahah..." Now, the others also started laughing and Malik blushed and ran away. Marik ran after him. Yugi was the first one to gain control.
"And...what am I playing?" Joey looked back at the board and started laughing again.
"Oh no..." Yugi whispered to Yami. "Doesn't sound good."
"You're..."
In class...the morning before the play...
Kaiba was sitting, like all the other drama-students, staring at anything else than the board, thinking about the play, but for him, it wasn't only the play...
Where did he get that picture? Ahh, who cares...but still... Right in that moment, a small piece of paper flew against his head. Kaiba slowly opened the small ball and immediately noticed who's it was. No dout, it's Wheeler's...no one else has such sloppy handwriting!
It read - HeyKaiba,younervous? - What! You little...He sciblled something onto the back of the paper and threw it, on purpose, against Joey's head. He turned around to see Kaiba grinning, bent down to pick up the ball, and sat back normally.
What the heck...Joey thought as he opened the paper. It read - You'd wish! - Joey crumpeled up the ball and threw it on the floor next to his desk. Kaiba...that calls for revenge! And so, Joey wrote another note, threw it back to Kaiba...he wrote a reply, which made Joey even more angry, so he wrote another note...and another...until the teacher noticed the flying balls in the back of the room.
"Joey! Seto! To the principals office...NOW!" The teacher said loudly, interrupting her own sentence, which made some girls jump with surprise, others (meaning the rest of the class) look back at Joey and Seto, sitting in themiddle of a pool of paper balls. They both stood up and quietely moved out of the classroom. A lone ball of paper fell off of Joey's head. Safely in the corridor, with the teacher far away, Joey started talking again.
"What were you thinking Kaiba?"
"What was I thinking? You started the 'notes'."
"But you answered!"
"But you then answered mine!"
"And you then..." Joey stopped when they finally reached the principals office, and heard familiar voices from within. He opened the door, to see drama students sitting in various corners of the principles office. He did not look too happy with the newcomers, and greeted every single one of them with an unexpected question.
"Let me guess why you're here..."
"Oh my god..." Yami said as he peeked through the curtains. He turned around to stare at the others who were still working on their costumes.
"What's the matter Yami?" Yugi was still trying to fix his costume. The pieces of straw he had fixed to his costume had fallen out on the way to school and he had to glue them back on, this time with super glue.
"So many people..."Yami stammered, looking back through the curtain. "And so many of them know us."
"Yami, calm down. What could go wrong?" Yugi walked off, leaving Yami alone at the curtain.
"Two more minutes", the teacher whispered to Yami, who was just putting on a fake white beard while seating himself in an old arm chair standing on one side of the stage.
"One more minute". Yami picked up an old book, while the other gathered themselves backstage.
The curtain opened. Yami was blinded by the light of the floodlights and the mass of people. For a few seconds Yami just stared into the mass of people until he saw Tristan and Tea, smiling at him. He started speaking in a slow, grandfather like tone.
"Long ago, in a time of kings and castles, there lived a poor miller and his beautiful daughter.
The miller was a foolisch old man who could not stop himsel from bragging. His friends told him that his talk would get him into troubble...and they were right."
He paused and looked up from his book to look at Bakura and Ryou coming onto stage. The audience laughed when they saw Bakura in old faschioned millers clothes, followed by Ryou, dressed in a shabby dress.
"One day the miller was lucky enough to meet the king." And on that cue, Marik camo on stage, dressed in a kings robe, riding on a stik with a horses head. The audience laughed even louder, but they stopped when Bakura moved forward, towards Marik.
" Oh my king,(sarcastic) look at my daughter", he pointed towards Ryou(no longer sarcastic),"isn't she beautiful?" The king looked closer at 'her'.
" Yes she is Miller, but beauty isn't everything"
"That sure is true", Bakura said, with a smile on his face," but she is not only beautiful, she can also spin straw into gold" The king looked at Ryou, with renewed interest.
"Is that true..." he asked Miller,"then I want to invite your daughter to my castle." Yami started talking while the scenery schanged into a brick wall with a door and the actors vanished backstage.
"That very day, the millers daughter arrived at the castle and the king led her into a little room," a stack of straw, which was Yugi under his straw costume, crawled onto stage, while Yami cept telling the story," filled to the top with straw." Then, through the door, came the king and the millers daughter. The king started speaking.
" Here is your spinning wheel", Marik pointed at a spinning wheel standing next to Yugi. "If you are able to spin all this straw into gold, you shall be made my queen, but if not, your father will be killed for lying to me!" Marik couldn't resist to laugh evily. Ryou sweatdroped. He leaves through the door.
"The king then left her alone," Yami continued," locked in the small room filled with straw. As soon as he had left, the millers daughter sat down," Ryou sat down on a small chair that had been set on the other side of the stage, pretending to cry," and started to cry. She had no idea how to spin gold into straw.
Suddenly the door flew open and a funny little man stood in the door." The door opened and the audience started laughing again. There, in the door, stood Joey, on his knees, in a weird, green costume.
"Good evening, pretty child", Joey tried to 'walk' over to Ryou, almost tripping over the shoes that were fixed to his knees and bowed. "What makes you so sad?"
"I must spin straw into gold and if I don't, my father will be killed, but I can't spin straw into gold!" Ryou said, sobbing a few times.
"Well, I can spin straw into gold..." Joey said, as if it were the easiest thing in the world,"but what will you give me for my work?" He grinned and looked questioningly at Ryou. He paused. Come on Ryou, Joey thought, say your text. As if heaaring Joey's thoughts, Ryou's hands wandered to his neck, to reveal a necklace.
"You may have my necklace" He gave Joey the necklaace and Joey started crawling over to the wheel. This is plain stupid, he thought, who's idea was it, that I should walk on my knees? When he reached the spinning wheel, Yami continued telling the story.
"So the little man started spinning at the spinning wheel. He spun and spun, and soon the millers daughter fell asleep," Ryou laid himself down on the floor. "When she woke up, she was greeted by an amazing sight. During the night the little man had spun every bit of straw into gold." And then it happened. Normally, Yugi should have pulled off his coat until this point, but the stack of straw was still lying on the ground, moving a little bit. Yami hid his face behind his book to whisper to Yugi," Yugi, you should be gold by now.
Joey was watching the scene from backstage. He crawled up to Yugi as far as he could without being seen, and then he threw a gold blanked over Yugi, whispering,"You are gold now." "Thanks", was Yugis reply. And so Yami could continue
"The next morning, the king came into the room", Marik came through the doors and pretended to look amazed at the 'pile of gold'," and was amazed by the sight, but he did not take the millers daughter for his queen." Marik took Ryou by the hand and pulled him out of the room, to return after a few seconds. Meanwhile, Joey, pulled of the gold cloth from Yugi, and Yami continued.
"He instead took her to another, bigger room, filled with straw."
"If you, again, are able to spin all this straw into gold," Marik pointed at the 'straw',"you shall be made my queen, but if not, your father shall be killed." Marik left the stage while Yami turned a page in his book to reval a nother page of his text. He continued.
"The millers daughter was once again left alone, and she began to cry.Suddenly the door opened, and there again stood the strange little man." Yami looked up from his book to see Joey 'trying' to enter the stage, almost falling over his own feet.
"More straw?" he asked Ryou. "What can you give me to spin it into gold?"
"This ring", Ryou pulled of a big golden ring from his hand and held it out for Joey to take it. Yami looked pack at his text and started speaking.
"So the little man worked through the night and spun every piece of straw into gold." At this cue, Duke threw the gold cloth over Yugi. Joey left the scenery and Marik appeared in the door, again playing the astonished king. "The next day the king could not believe his eyes when he saw the room full of gold. He led the millers daughter to a third room,"Joey pulled the cloth off of Yugi," one of the biggest in the castle, and left her there to wait for the little man to appear. The strange little man soon appeared, but this time she had nothing left to give him." Joey came crawling in, and looked at Ryou, who showed him his empty hands.
"If you have nothing to give me now, then give me your first child when you become queen." Joey pretended to smile.
"The millers daughter agreed, because she did not believe she would ever marry the king." Joey made his way to the door, but right in front of it, he tripped and fell onto the floor. A 'uhhh' went through the audience, and Joey stood up and moved through the door to find a grinning Kaiba standing next to it. "What are you...",he was interrupted by the 'shhhh' of the teacher. Before Joey could say something, Kaiba had vanished.
"But the next morning, when the king saw the huge room filled with gold," Yami looked out of the corner of his eye to see Marik coming in and if Yugi really 'turned' into gold, and he did. So Yami continued," he did marry her and made her his queen." Yugi crawled off the stage while Marik kneeled in front of Ryou as if asking for his hand, and Ryou jumped up with joy and they left the stage. The scene changed to a 'forest, with Duke as a tree. The audience laughed and Duke turned a slight shade of red.
"A year later the queen had a beautiful baby." Yami said, turning over another page in his book. He looked at the scene, to see Ryou pushing a huge baby wagon, with a moving baby in it. He pushed it to a bench where he sat down and pulled the wagon to a halt so that everyone could see the baby's head. It was Malik, squished into the wagon, wearing a cap on his head and a pacifier in his mouth. He made baby noises, which made many people laugh. So he spit out his pacifier and started squealing. The audience laughed even more, but Ryou wasn't really amused of him, adding things that weren't in the text and were actually annoying to him. So he took the pacifier and stuffed it back in Maliks mouth, Malik seing this as a challenge spat it back out again. Yami noticed the situation going out of control, so he hurried to go on with the story.
"She had forgotten all about the promise she had made to the little man, but the very first day she held her new baby, he appeared once more before her." Joey appeared in the door again.
"I have come for your child" Ryou stared at him in shock, while Malik was 'crying', and fell on his knees, pleading.
"Please don't take my baby. I'll give you all the riches of my kingdom, but please don't take my baby."
"I do not want money or jewels, but I'll give you three days," Joey held up three fingers,"and nights to guess my name. If you guess right, you shall keep your baby." And he left the stage again. The lights dimmed and Ryou took out a roll of paper and pretended writing. Yami continued...
"That night, the queen stayed up to make a list of all the names she knew, and the next day she sent her servants out into the city to find even more names.
When the strange little man returned the next evening," Joey reappeared in the door,"the queen called out names from the list one at a time.
"Are you Tom? Dick? Harry?" At every name, Joey shook his head. "Are you Gaspar? Melchior? Balthasar?" And so Yami continued while Joey left the stage.
"At each name, the little man just smiled and shook his head. On the second day the servants came back with a list of the strangest names," some guy came and gave Ryou a roll of names;" they could find. When the little man appeared that night, the queen again called out the names from the list.
"Are you Cowribs? Spindleshanks? Lacelegs?" Joey shook his head and crawled out the door.
"But he only grinned and shook his head. On the third day, one servant returned without a list of names," Kaiba appeared, walking through the forest and coming to a halt infront of Ryou. As always, he crossed his armrs across his chest and waited for Yami to finish,"but he told the queen a strange story.
"My queen, in search of strange names," why do I have to say this freaking stuff, he thought while saying his text, who cares about what happened? "I came to a forest were I saw a strange thing. A small man was dancing around a fire," Joey appeared in the forest, starting to dance a weird dance around a fake fire," and he was singing a song..." This is ridiculous. Stop acting like a kid Wheeler, this is embaressing!
"And...what did he sing?" Ryou tried to sound as if he wanted to know what the 'little man' sang.
"He sang..." Thank god, I'm done, Seto thought with relief. Come on Wheeler, hurry up so I can leave the stage. So Joey 'sang' his song. If you could call it singing, Seto said in his mind.
"Today I brew, and then I bake, and soon the queen's own child I'll take. For little knows my royal dame, that RUMPELSTILTSKIN is my name!" Joey left the stage, as well as Kaiba, but as soon as Yami started speaking, Joey reappeared in the door.
"That night the little man came to the palace with a a big smile on his face. He was quite certain that the queen could never guess his name. He asked gleefully if she had any guesses left."
"Are you Klaus?" Ryou asked, but Joey answered impishly.
"No"
"Could you be Heinz?" Ryou asked again, this time Joey answered giggling.
"No"
"Perhaps you are..." Ryou said with a wide smile,"RUMPELSTILTSKIN?!"
"The little man could not believe his ears. How could the queen have guessed his name? He grew so angry that he stamped his feet until he stamped himself through the floor!" Joey vanished through the 'elevator' in the stage floor, Yami finished the story while he closed his book.
"And that was the last ever seen of Rumpelstiltskin." The curtain closed and reopened to reveal all actors, except for Kaiba, who had already gone, standing in one row. Yami stepped into the row. They grabbed eachothers hands, bowed and called out loud,"THE END".
The audience applauded and the curtain closed.
AN - So I hope you liked the first chapter...took me a long time to write it! The next one should be up soon...oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!!!