Disclaimer: I do not own the plot, characters, or anything relating to Yu-Gi-Oh. All Yu-Gi-Oh is property of Kazuki Takahashi. All names are written as in the English version.
One
He never saw her again.
She was gone.
In the end, he never had the chance to see her - talk with her, understand her, make ammends to her, have her in his life.
Those who watched him play Duel Monsters envied his blessing of exceptional luck. True: he met her and even formed cherished memories with her. But as Joey Wheeler retraced his steps along the Domino pier, he realized he wasn't that lucky.
Nothing.
No one.
She seemed to vanish completely into the horizon with the crimson sun of that day.
In solitude, he stood on the pier gazing out at the sparkling waters. Crisp breezes of the evening nipped exposed flesh, and hazel eyes radiated with warm, purple and scarlet hues painted by the setting sun. If it weren't for lament in his sore heart, he might have believed it was two years ago following the Battle City tournament. They had all watched the sun's sweet surrender - together. Eventually, time called on each one of them to diverge.
She had caught his gaze. They exchanged no words; only her eyes tried to speak to him. He thought he saw those violet jewels urging and pleading to him, as if she waited for something. When all he offered was unintelligent mumbles and murmurs, she sighed in resignation. Bidding them adieu, she ran off into the evening.
Tèa jabbed him. Why he needed a push to chase after her, he could not remember. Either way, it was a futile effort. One step forwards to run two miles back. He sprinted through the alleyway and dashed toward the parking lot. He arrived, just as she prepared to drive off in her convertible.
One moment rewound itself over and over in his mind ever since. This one moment haunted him, reminded him, with every breath of oxygen. Memories were meant to fade with passing of time, but this one became more powerful with every reminisce - it was both pleasurable and painful. For in that one moment, he truly believed he did not need to say anything. He foolishly believed he owed nothing, that his conscience would be featherweight. He would not have to express, or confess, anything meaningful to her. Time was everlasting, as would be their future. Right?
When he finally caught up to her, it was not for a lack of breath, but rather a lack of thought. It reasoned why he mustered no complete phrase when he opened his mouth. Mai simply smiled, claiming that justification for his actions was unnecessary; she was just grateful he had become so significant in her life. Joey's response: a simple thank you - sincere appreciation that she was in his life as well. Thinking back on it, perhaps, Mai had already known that Joey was incapable of revealing any more.
Time blissfully lingered as they said farewell - he was able to bask in the comfort of her presence and melt in the warmth of her smile. He watched Mai drift down the street. In silence, he watched as she slipped further and further away from him. Failing to deduce it, his stomach had tugged, eerily foreshadowing something to come of this scene. Without his knowledge, the mistake committed in that one moment swore to return and plague him, very quickly.
He never thought he'd see her so soon. He never guessed she endured immense suffering and agony. He never imagined her surrender to Dartz, wielding the evil of the Orichalcos. He never believed she would aspire to defeat him in a duel to lock away his soul. He would never dream, in his most hellish nightmare, they would face off, not as friends or lovers, but as enemies.
In some way, that one moment had been the last time he ever saw her again - not the scornful, power-hungry woman under the Orichalcos' influence, but the real Mai. With their first encounter at Duelist Kingdom and into Battle City, Mai became a fierce rival, and she became his close friend. What was worse than losing her to Doma's malice, was her disappearance entirely after, when the smoke finally cleared.
For the luckiest, Mai Valentine was a divine wonder encountered once in a lifetime. With an aphrodisiac figure sculpted from the body of Venus herself, men pray to be dust in air she inhales. Fairest skin with golden locks, wide amethyst pools, cherry pout, and rose flush in the apples of her cheeks - her face was perfect and lovely. With Mai, however, there was more behind a flawless reflection; mirrors often cannot portray the trauma and sorrow of character. She was a strong woman, the embodiment of independence. Through interlacing natural wit with tremendous arrogance and self-indulgence, she feigned indestructibility. However, her catastrophic collapse following her duel with Marik was proof of a façade, of false aggressiveness and invincibility. Walls cascaded down, shattered to dust: indeed she was human, fragile and frightened - merciless slaying of her dignity; sheer humiliation. Always, there had been a more mysterious layer of her: events of the past unknown, details of her person left undisclosed, and many secrets she concealed. Another way to describe her was lonely. Solitary life was her desire and pursuit, believing its promise of safety and protection from the cruel world - perhaps, this had been all she ever knew. She was so broken and tragic, so gorgeous. Spontaneously, Joey developed severe affection and unconquerable protectiveness towards this woman. They exchanged bickering and teases, helping hands and support, smiles and laughter; they were friends. And, in the end, she transformed. He soon realized their friendship was much different and complex from his usual, and he was hopelessly attracted to her. Did he lover her? He didn't know. Maybe. Probally. He wanted to find out.
Often he wondered about her. He wanted to know her whereabouts and how she lived. He wondered if her passion for dueling still burned. Did she think of him? Did she miss him at all? Most importantly, he desperately wished to discover she was happy. He recalled Valon now, wondering if she ran away with him after all. Valon had proved he honestly cared for her... maybe as much as he did? Mai knew it; Valon told her so. Both men were alike: strong, aggressive, pigheaded, and deeply infatuated with Mai. The only and major difference between two was that one proclaimed his feelings before the world, while the other one said nothing and watched her leave. Joey was the latter.
Descent down the alleyway had begun, the same one Mai dashed through time ago. Nostalgia and reflections followed. Silence always had reason; the mystery is what, or rather why. The question begged answer, even today. He pondered profoundly.
Certainly, he was fearful. A fear of... everything: fear of her reaction, fear of rejection, fear of all unknown. Revealing such deep feelings to Mai implored change, to themselves and their relationship... changes he hadn't been sure of his readiness for, at that moment.
Perhaps, he was simply... ungrateful. Conceited maybe. He thought less of his magical well of endless, flowing luck. It was his because, well, he was simply him: Joey Wheeler would never be dehydrated. He assumed luck lived in the surrounding air, water he consumed, and blood pumped through his body - for all, and for life. He also assumed he didn't need to say anything in that moment, that one mere mistake had no devastating effects. Time was essential, he knew that... but surely not that much. And mistakes never have consequences... Right? Luck and time coupled like pot and lid, yin and yang; dueling experience taught him luck was a product of the manipulation of time. Luck happens when drawing the right card needed at that particular time; it occured with the ability to play the right card at the right time. Just because things did not work out then, it did not mean he would not have better luck at a later time. He could ride time like a tamed creature, embezzling its advantages... as if the opposite were nonsense. Time continued; good luck would be drawn and played successfully, eventually. Hence, infinite opprotunity - chance, after chance, after chance...
How stupid.
After all, he was simply teenaged. A young, gullibe teenager. One who shielded pride like an infant protecting a teddy bear. High school, Duel Monsters, helping Yugi in saving the world from havoc induced by several and deranged persons... it was enough, all he could handle. All of it had been too much. He was a young man. Only that. He thought, Why blame him? What did one expect...
Before the parking lot, he stared at empty space where Mai's car once baked in scorching sun; mind unwilling to deviate from ineffectual rhetoric, he asked, What if...? Everyone did so at least once during existence. It was Joey's turn. What would have happened if, in that moment, he abled enough courage to say something, anything, to her? From that moment, the future, he presumed, would have played out dramatically different. He almost heard unravelled ribbons of time suddenly roll back into bundles again. She might have stayed in Domino. She might have stayed with the gang... with him. She might never have joined Doma. She might have fought alongside them to save the world. She might have dueled with, or against, him in the KaibaCorp Grand Championship. She might have ventured to Egypt with them. She might have been his best friend. She might have... could have... even married him? She might have even started a family with him? She and Joey might have lived... happily ever after...? But those were only possiblities. Guesses. Wild imaginations of man. They would never know now.
He hovered over the vacant space, looking deep into dust in air, hoping it to be charmed so that he would be face-to-face, staring into her eyes just as he had long ago. He would have, should have, convinced her to stay. She spoke of being a wanderer, a wedlock with the open and boundless road. But not all was honesty, he believed. Perhaps, she assumed a fate weaved within highways because she never had reason to do otherwise. Nothing, no one, had ever given her one. At the chance of something extraordinary and worthwhile, would she not retire wanderlust?
He could have and should have; he would have. But he did not. All was worthless; everything was nothing. Wield a powerful hand without any lifepoints. Have a gun but be shot. Nonetheless, she had vanished from his life. Having not seen her in so long, he tempted the idea her existence was none. Memories replayed over and over in the mind was merely cruel trickery by the brain. Mai was as real as unicorns and utopia - only an accidental, beautiful face inscribed in his mind, carved into his heart. It was all dreams - gorgeous dreams. In one, fateful moment, he lost someone due to one decision, or rather indecision.
His only desire now was to find her. He needed to see her... even if it were only once more. Mai must know all what he failed to reveal long ago. Cures were needed for mistakes. There were far too many regrets to bury in his grave. Joey needed to meet her again. It was all he wanted - he didn't feel he asked for too much.
Once more.
She must know the feelings he possessed for her, and she must know he would care for her, forever. He wanted to rediscover the passion that burned in his core for her, find out whether it still flamed. He missed her: it was all he knew, all that mattered now - he would tell her this time.
Just one.
Now, he stood on the same road where he watched Mai drive away two years ago.
One mistake in a split-second held consequences that last a lifetime. He feared time would not grant him opprotunity for atonement of his foolish choice.
He blinked.
Suddenly, his eyes fixed upon a navy convertible that appeared on the opposite end of the road. He blinked twice. A blonde, breath-taking woman was placed in the driver seat; the car sauntered toward him with excrutiating pace. Hazel orbs became mesmerized in violets, shimmering and pleading.
Mai Valentine.
All would have been forgotten. All could be forgiven. All it took was one...
One chance.
One moment.
His mouth opened - everything desperately struggled to escape his quivering lips.
One word.
He blinked three times.
Desolation and longing overwhelmed his anguished heart. Solitude had surrounded him once more.
"Stay."
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