"Dark Magic Curtain!"

"I'm also summoning a magician!"

"But I KNOW your deck! You only have one Dark Magician!"

"Dark Magician Girl!"

"M-my Dark Magician helped her?!"

"BLACK BURNING!"

"AAAGH!"

The hospital room came into focus as I was drawn back to reality. Had it really only been twelve years? It seemed like more…a lot more. Every break, every holiday, every bit of free time I'd had my entire life was spent in these four walls, staring at my father's motionless form. The color of the room sickened me. Vomit green. Certainly not the most attractive color in the world by any means, but you eventually get bored of it and it just fades away.

Alone. Yugi Moto had doomed me to be alone my entire life. Doomed to sitting by this bed side with the only family I had left, to be mocked and pitied by the nurses and doctors who continued saying: "He won't wake up dear."

I would show them though. This year had proven very helpful in that. Ramesus' lust for power didn't concern me, everyone wanted power, and no one ever had as much as they needed. Besides, I was much stronger than he was in terms of overall control of the shadows, at least from what he had let on so far. I'd already banished two people to the shadows: that punk Blaze, and my "brother in arms" Shroud. They had both threatened Hikari, and no matter how hard I tried to reason that there was nothing she could see in me, something wouldn't keep her out of my mind. Maybe that's what love is. I wouldn't know; I've gone twelve years without it. With each soul I could feel my power grow, rising inside me with intensity and power.

The time had come. I glanced briefly at my newest card, my father's third Dark Magician. I had just received it three hours ago from Yugi himself. The fact that I had been a foot from that monster and not raised a hand against him…was disappointing. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to do it when we were face to face, not after I had sent Shroud away, and not when Yugi handed me the card. I had wanted to stay there, talk to Hikari about what had happened, but being around Yugi sickened me, and I had to leave.

The red Dark Magician. So different than the other spellcasters in the game, he radiated power and confidence. Plus, he was unique. Only three existed in the world, and now I had them all. I would still stick with running two, because balance is everything in magic, but it was strangely comforting to have all three again. I felt complete, for the first time in nearly a decade, and it was such a foreign feeling to me that I didn't know how to react, so I focused on the task at hand.
Setting the Dark Magician on the table beside me, I stared at my father's motionless body as I focused on summoning the shadows. He was breathing faintly, but other than that, no movement came from him as the purple mist consumed me, obscuring him from view. I promised myself right then that I would not return from the shadows until my father was with me.

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Arcane Chronicles: the Untold Stories
Poison's Quest: To Find a Father
Written by: Necrofear
Edited by: Aaron (CyberV) Thall

At the Arcane Academy, Ramesus gazed out over the expanse before him. The castle stretched out before him, all his to conquer. The world would follow soon after. Very-a problem. There was a disturbance in the Shadow Realm. Someone was there who shouldn't be…someone who Ramesus had been watching carefully for a long time.

"Well Poison, it seems you are making your move."

Poison had always been good at heart, partially because he had always had his father for his last connection to humanity. Removing that obstacle would be easy enough, and then Poison would have no hope left. A hopeless soul wishes to spread despair and pain…the perfect servant for Ramesus' plan.

Ramesus closed his eyes for a moment, summoning a demon into the Shadows to do what need to be done.

The Shadow Realm. A black void that no human should ever have to enter, and one that very few ever leave. Now I was in the Shadow Realm, and I was utterly clueless. There were hardly road signs pointing me towards my father's lost soul; in fact there were no landmarks at all. Endless fields of darkness spread in every direction, a wasteland of souls and shadows.

I needed to find a way to locate my father, and quickly. The Shadows don't take it kindly when they are invaded without a sacrifice. Leaving would be another matter entirely. I closed my eyes and focused, searching through the darkness for any hint as to where my father was; any clue to his whereabouts.

" Catherine… "

My eyes snapped open. That was my mother's name. Only my father would be muttering that in this forsaken place. I ran towards the sound.

Something was moving in the darkness…something that had never before been seen in the Realm of Shadows. A tremendous dragon soared through the mists…hunting. Ramesus' creature: Diabolos, King of the Abyss. Its huge blood red wings covered would have blotted out the nonexistent sun, and its metallic body was immune to even the strongest attack. It was the perfect creature to destroy Arcana's soul, stronger than any card in the poor man's deck. If Poison was foolish enough to intervene, Ramesus had a plan for that as well. The hunt continued.

"DAD!"

As I cleared what seemed like the millionth cloud of darkness I saw his pale figure floating there in the distance. He looked up at me, shock visible in his eyes, the only part of his face truly visible behind the horned mask that he still wore.

"Poison? Is that you?" he asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

I ran up and embraced him. I was actually a little taller than him now, though his hat made up for it. He took a step back and looked me up and down.

"Is it really you Poison? How did you get here?"

I explained. It took awhile, and to his credit he never interrupted me. Not when I told him about the bombs, Hikari, or the power rush I felt as I destroyed Blaze's soul. He just stood there, patiently waiting until I was done. As I began to wrap up, he waved a hand absent mindedly and two chairs made of solid shadow appeared. He sat in one, and I took a seat in the other. He smirked a little at the disbelief on my face.

"Yes, once you get over the soul destroying, the Shadow Realm is quite accommodating." He said. Then he glared at me. "You little idiot."

It took me a moment to absorb that. In that moment he seemed to gather all he needed.

"Look around you." He gestured. "What do you see? Do you know what I see? I see what my stupidity has brought about. It was because of my weakness that I am here today. It's because of my inability to be a better person that I'm lying there in that bed. It's not because of Yugi Moto, or Marik, or Dark Magician Girl. It's because of me."

I looked at him in shock, but he didn't give me time to respond. "I betrayed everything I believed because of Catherine. Just like you are betraying everyone around you for this Hikari. It's all for them, isn't it? It's almost as though it is written in our blood that we must suffer because we love. In your case however, you are stepping away from destruction. I walked into it's arms."

"That doesn't matter Dad." I stood and held out my hand to him. "Come on. We're getting the hell out of here."
He pushed my hand away. "I would like to go with you. But you don't need me. In fact, me being there would only draw more attention to this Ramesus that you were here in the first place, abusing your power. And a world without Catherine isn't one I can live in."

"Listen to me." I knelt in front of him and grabbed his shoulders. "You are going to get eaten alive in here. The fact that you haven't been already is alone a miracle. But if Ramesus' plan…when Ramesus' plan fails, the Shadows will come after you and anyone else in here to settle the craving for the food they've been promised. I don't know if I'll be able to come here again."

"Then go. I've lived here long enough. If the Shadows come for me…well then the sooner the better."

I stood back from him. For the first time I felt disgust for my father. "You're the one calling me an idiot?"

He looked up at me with a crazy little grin on his face. "I'm not the one rejecting three girls who seem to be content with you being with all of them at once. Do you know how many people would kill to be you?"

Despite his attempt at humor I still couldn't stand to be around a man who was simply willing to sit in this dark expanse and die. I turned to leave. "Those people can have the Brews. Good-bye Dad."

"Poison!" Arcana stood as I turned to look back at him. "In my house…I don't know if you still own it…but there is a box inside the basement steps. There's something in there for you. I had forgotten about it after the accident-"

"You forgot about ME after the accident."

"I'm sorry for that. But if you find the box…I hope you find a good use for what's inside it."

A roar exploded from the sky as a huge dragon suddenly appeared above us. Before Arcana or I could make a sound it swooped down on my father and tore his spirit in two with its massive jaws. I stared dumbfounded at the metallic dragon, which turned to face me. For some reason I felt nothing. The void of not having a father was one I was used to…but not feeling anything surprised some part of me. Then the dragon spoke.

"I am Diabolos." It said in a voice that would level a city. "And Lord Ramesus sends his regards."

Then the emotion hit me. Anger…and lots of it. I waved my left arm in a dismissive gesture and my duel disk appeared in play position, my deck loaded and ready. I reached for it, confident that I would draw what I needed to destroy this creature.

Diabolos laughed, fire spewing from his nose. "This is a Shadow Game little human. And I make the rules. We both only get one monster. I am myself, you select one of your choice. Then we battle. If your monster is destroyed, you die. Simple enough for you?"
That certainly complicated things. I was about to play my Dark Magician of Chaos, the strongest of all the Dark Magicians, but with equal power to Diabolos. But because of this Shadow Game I needed something stronger than 2800 points. A number my deck couldn't surpass.

"No cards that can help?" Diabolos bull rushed me, mouth gushing flame, "Would it surprise you if I told you I knew that?"

I had only seconds before he destroyed me for having no monsters. I needed one that could stand up to him, if not in attack points then in terms of defense…without thinking clearly I drew from my deck and played the card like a face up monster. Then all I could feel and see were flames. The heat rushed over me like a torrent, the noise was deafening. For a moment, I was afraid I had drawn the wrong card.

Then a roar of frustration, so close that I would have believed I was inside the dragon himself brought me back on solid ground. And I was back in the hospital. The vomit green was for once a refreshing thing to see. I looked around me. Only one hour had passed. I was surprised no one had strapped me into a bed for being in a coma, as I had been sitting upright with my eyes closed that whole time. A weight on my arm shocked me. My disk was somehow there. In play mode. Sitting in the monster slot, looking at me, was my Obnoxious Celtic Guard. The one card in my entire deck that I could play and not be destroyed by that kind of power. By surviving the Shadow Game my connection with the Realm must have been broken, but the dark power was still there. As long as Ramesus had the Scepter, and maybe even after, it would still be there.

I put my disk away in my backpack and stood up. I looked at my father's motionless body for the last time. I knew now he would never wake. And I knew now why I needed to help stop Ramesus. It wasn't just for myself any more, my own greedy needs to keep Hikari safe, and with hopes she would grow to appreciate me. It was now to also prevent him from destroying families, just like Marik and my father had destroyed mine.

Arcana's screams seemed to echo through Ramesus' office. Ramesus basked in the sound of the tormented man's agony, absorbing the sadness to increase his own power. He imagined what the screams of the world would sound like…it was something to look forward to.

The house had always had flaws: creaky doors, rattling windows, and a dripping roof. It also didn't have very secure windows, particularly for a magician. In less than ten seconds I had the first floor window open and was inside. Someone had remodeled. Twelve years ago I had lived in this house with my father, as he sat and thought of new magic tricks to earn money that would help fix his face. I had sat in the corner where a fancy plasma television now sat and would wonder when I would have food again. But that was ancient history, and I wasn't one for nostalgia.

The floor didn't creak any more. So much the better for me; the rich never really take kindly to a year-off adult in a hooded sweatshirt breaking into their houses. Go figure.
Why anyone would buy that shack was beyond me, but the money had helped to get me through school, and the house had never looked better. I suppose I had little to complain about. At least they all went to bed at a decent time. Dealing with snotty rich people is never fun, particularly at three in the morning.

I crept towards the basement door. It had never had a lock on it, but now it did. Not one to waste time, I pressed my hand on the knob of the door and jiggled it a little. It was an old style door lock, using the key that went into the knob itself to unlock the door. I twisted it from side to side for a moment, and then yanked hard. The knob came off in my hand and gave me direct access to the lock itself. Less than a minute later the door wasn't locked anymore. I headed down the stairs to the familiar smell of basement mildew. I didn't bring a flashlight so it was too dark to see details, which I didn't care to see anyway.

As I walked down the steps I began counting the steps. Every magician has his or her own little number or symbol which he or she uses in many tricks. A certain number combination for a lock, a number of ropes used to tie them up inside tanks of water, whatever the case may be. However, my father was different. He based his number around my mother: the time she was born. Seven in the morning, so seven was his magic number. After the seventh step I went two more down, and then knelt on the stairs facing the seventh step.

I felt around it for a moment and then I found the crease. A small imperfection, nothing more, but it was enough. I dug my fingers in and pulled back the stair, revealing a small iron box. I grabbed it, closed the stair and ran back out of the house the way I came.

I put three blocks between the house and me before I sat on the bench and inspected the box in great detail. It was about the size of a lunch box and weighed around ten pounds. The latch had the emblem of the Dark Magician on it. Custom made. So that's where dinner went.

I turned the latch until it clicked and I opened the box. Inside was a small stack of cards. The top one was Dark Magician Girl. I froze and looked at the card that I had blamed for destroying my life for so many years. Then I reached into my pack and pulled out my deck. Looking through the rest of the cards, I saw some very powerful spell casters, all that my father had received from Marik but never used. A particular fusion monster caught my eye, but I didn't use fusions.

I looked at Dark Magician Girl, who was busy smiling back at me. I slowly looked through my deck and removed Chaos Command Magician and replaced him with her. I couldn't hurt, I thought as I closed the box and stared off into the darkness…it couldn't hurt…