AN: Hello guys, here's a story idea I based off my song, which is included towards the end of this chapter. This IS a Yugi/OC pairing, as much as I love puzzleshipping, doesn't work well with this story, so sorry, but for those of you who love Yaoi, try my other YGO story, Whirlwind, I'm gonna start getting into that stuff soon.
Yami Mirei: YAY, ANOTHER STORY!
Yugi: Sweet I'm the main character in this!
Yami Yugi: (reads first page) ARA! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU MAKE ME DO TO MY HIKARI?
Ara: Gotta go, so here's the basics, don't own the characters, cept my OCs and I own my song, if this song shows up anywhere and I didn't give them permission, beware! Ciao!
Yami Yugi: GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE –(rushes off to capture the writer and make her change it(as if it could ever happen))
Yami Mirei and Yugi: (sweat drop)
'To think that I loved him ... to think that I loved that arrogant, ignorant, idiot of a pharaoh!' I thought with a sniffle as I looked around yet again with teary eyes. It was a blur of colors all around me as I fell.
After my other side received a body of his own, I was useless. I was nothing more than a burden. So they made me clean up after them, cook for them, be their servant. The scars I had on my wrists multiplied, but always they would heal me. He said, "I'm not done with you yet."
I had slowly tripped and fallen from grace. I had no time for school, and I had to drop out. I was bullied everyday by wither my so-called 'friends' or by thugs in the streets. If I ran away from my friends, the thugs found me. If I stayed, they forced me to work while enduring abuse.
I had finally had it. I had written a note one night, used my- no, Yami's puzzle to weight it down. I had packed what little I still considered mine into my old backpack: the picture of my family, from before any of this ever happened, money I had stashed right after my grandpa died, the time when I tripped and began to fall, a few sets of clothes, some of the bulky jewelry I had worn when Yami was still just a spirit in a puzzle, and my music books.
I had grabbed my backpack and guitar and left one night after I went into the main room of the house, and after setting up the pictures of me and my friends back when we were happy, I set fire to it. The fire alarm would wake them up well after I was gone. I cleaned out everyone's wallets before I walked out the front door and heard it slam behind me. I went to the train station, got a ticket, and took the overnight train to a nearby city.
I went into my small room and collapsed onto the bed after I double-locked the door. I was so tired, I hadn't felt it before because I was still near that place. As the train left, I fell asleep, feeling free.
I woke the next morning just before we pulled into the station. After I got off, I searched for a cheap hotel to stay. I found one a few blocks from a gaming shop, which is where I headed after I settled into the room.
I walked in and saw it was not too different from the shop that my Grandpa used to run. This one had a wider variety of games, some of which were foreign. They had trading card games from all over, not just Duel Monsters. Then the shopkeeper came out of the back.
"Welcome to my shop! Anything particular you're looking for, or are you just browsing?" Her long wavy dark brown hair perfectly complemented her grey eyes and her outfit. She had on back pants that were covered with pockets and a scarlet tank top.
"I'm trying to reassemble my Duel Monsters deck, and also look at a few other trading card games." I said as I picked up a two-player starter deck of one of them, "This one was very interesting."
"Ah, 'Magic, the Gathering'! You have a good eye, my cute friend, this game is gonna be huge soon! It's already hit it pretty big in America, that's where I moved here from. I can show you a thing or two about how to play 'Magic'."
"Cool, but first I wanted to get myself a new duel-disk and deck for Duel Monsters."
"I have a friend a few blocks over who sells custom duel-disks and rare cards. I could take you over there after we're done here."
"Really? Thanks!"
"No problem, um... I never caught your name."
"Yugi Mutou, at your service."
"Yugi Mutou?" She gasped, "Aren't you that famous Duel Monsters Champion?"
"Don't remind me, please, it's a long and painful story..."
"Sorry. By the way, my name is Tatiana."
"Nice to meet you."
"Now, any cards you wanted in particular?"
"No, not really ... I'm just trying to find cards that feel right..."
Three hours and over 60 Duel Monsters cards later, she and I had finally finished up. She gave me a Magic: The Gathering deck.
"Here, this is the deck I used to become a 'Magic' champion. I know it will help you as much as it helped me, maybe more."
"How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing, Yugi, it's on me."
"I insist, how much?"
"Yugi, you're my friend, and I can tell that you're already going through tough times."
"How did you know?"
"Because your grandpa's shop was on the news this morning. No one was hurt, but about half of the fire burned. They say it was an accident of some kind." She raised a single eye at me.
"Yeah, that was an accident. An accident that they made by making me into their slave." I said with a voice filled with icy spikes, "Please don't turn me in."
"Don't worry about it, you're secrets safe with me. Anyway, in my opinion, that was awesome, what'd ya do?"
"I had packed up my stuff, piled up all the old pictures of my friends and I back when we were still friends. I lit a bottom corner of it and left.
"Weren't you worried they might damage the shop?"
"What was in there to worry about? The shop had closed months ago, all that was left were a few cards and games in the display windows."
"Well, anyway, the damage wasn't too bad, just a hole in the floor they'll have to fix as well as having to get all new carpet and furniture for the room. Major cleaning."
"Well, I'm not around now, so I wonder who's gonna do it. Especially since I cleaned them out since all of their money was my inheritance from my grandpa."
"How sad."
"Why do you think I left?"
"Well, now that we're done here, let's over to Chris' place."
"Chris?"
"He's my friend, runs a card game shop. It's just down the street." She said as she grabbed a hoodie and a messenger bag she put over her shoulder to cross her chest. She closed and locked the shop
She and I walked through the busy streets in silence. After a few minutes I saw a small two-story shop colored rustic red. The sign above it looked like a hand of cards and in them was written in big gold letters 'Chris' Card Center'. He had all different trading card games in the display windows. We walked inside and I gasped in awe as a smile found its way onto my face. This place was a restaurant, an arcade, and a card vendor all jumbled into one. On the ground floor was the card shop and the arcade, and two spiral staircases led up to a teen-oriented restaurant and candy store.
"You know the guy who owns this place?"
"Of course I know him! He's my husband!" She laughed as she walked into the arcade. I followed her quickly. A crowd of people were hovered around a table. We shoved our way to the front.
Two teens were dueling. One was Tatiana's age, the other was a few years younger, probably my age. The one Tatiana's age was dressed in a pair of baggy black pants, a silver-grey shirt, and a grey full length duster. He had long black blonde hair pulled back into a narrow ponytail. His deep emerald eyes were filled with determination.
The younger one had pure blue eyes and long light blue hair. She had on an ocean blue school uniform and wore a bulky necklace. It was a golden orb with the eye of Anubis on it held to a chain by a silver figure-eight shaped loop. They were playing a game of Magic: The Gathering, and the dude in grey was preparing to attack.
"I tap these." He turned four Mana sideways, "I activate their special abilities, giving my Fairy +10, my other monsters get rid of your current monsters, and I have my fairy directly attack you, and you lose."
The girl slumped a bit in her chair, a bit disappointed, "Damn, I lost again."
"Chris, shame on you for using that card on a novice!" Tatiana frowned as she walked over the winner.
"Sorry, darling." He said as he stood up and grabbed her, kissing her hard and long. I looked away slightly blushing and turned to the girl.
"So, how bad was I?" She asked.
"I dunno, I'm kinda new to Magic and I was only here to watch him finish you off."
"Great, you didn't witness my ass getting fried by that blasted card!"
"But isn't the card out of your class, making it an unfair duel?"
"I guess you're right." She said as she put away her deck.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Ara."
"I'm Yugi. Nice to meet you."
"I haven't seen you here before. New in town?"
"Yeah, just got here this morning."
"You have a good eye, then. Most newcomers don't hear about this place for weeks."
"Oh, Tatiana brought me here. She's helping me build myself a new deck and get me a new duel disk. She also gave me her first Magic deck so I could learn it."
"You're lucky! Most players would give an arm and a leg for that deck!"
"Why's that? It's just a rookie deck, isn't it?"
"She's never lost a single duel with it after she learned the basics, and she kept that deck the same for three years! Then she began to form a new deck, that was her side deck. Wonder why she gave it to you."
"I wonder why as well. If it meant that much to her, why'd she give it to me?"
"Well, we can find out later."
"Ah, Yugi, I see you've already met Ara. Now, meet my husband, Lee Chris."
"It's a pleasure, Mr. Lee."
"Call me Chris, Yugi, it's an honor to have a Duel Monsters Champion coming to my shop."
"You have quite an amazing establishment, Chris. I have a feeling I'm going to spend much time here as soon as I settle down and find a job."
"You're in luck! I've been needing someone to help run the bar with my wife."
"Bar?" I was surprised.
"Yeah! After the sun goes down, we close the restaurant and it becomes a bar. We close the shop, only the arcade and the bar are open, but we still need another hand to run it. You only have to work nights, I'll pay you well for it, and I'll let you buy cards and a custom duel disk at an eighth of the price. 'Tiana told me you're assembling a new deck and you also need a new duel disk, and I'm more than happy to help."
"When do I start, and also, during the day, can I help out at the shop for extra money?"
"Sure." He was amazed I wanted to work more than just nights, "You can start tonight. 'Tiana can help you get a good outfit and train you for the job this afternoon. Now, let's get started on your deck..." He led me over to the card shop and began to take our card displays for me to look at. Certain cards called out to me, more Horus cards than anything else. Horus cards made up a good fifth of my deck. I chose about 15 advanced magic cards and a half-dozen rare trap cards for my deck, and looked. Everything looked pretty balanced, so I said I was done and we could look at duel disks now, but Tatiana cut in.
"Before we buy you your duel disk, you need a new style. I know that you'll attract far too much attention in that outfit and I know you want to change it. You feel uncomfortable in them."
"Do you know everything?"
"If I did, I would have created my own company and put Kaiba Corp. out of business."
"It takes a lot to bring Seto down, but I believe you could have done it."
"You know him?"
"Yeah, he was one of my so-called friends." I frowned and then looked at the door.
"So, let's go get me my new look, shall we?"
"Gladly."
I felt like a new person now. In less than 24 hours, I had gone from a slave to a free man who had a cool look, a good deck, a custom duel disk that complimented his style, and a good job. I was wearing baggy black pants, a spiky belt, a black tank top and a white silk, button-up tuxedo shirt that was entirely unbuttoned, allowing motion and a laidback look. I had a jacket I would wear instead of the tuxedo shirt during the day. I had a pair of bar-tied skater shoes on as well as some spiky bracelets.
I handed a depressed young man his drink and asked, "Who died?"
"Huh?"
"What's got you so down?"
"My girlfriend dumped me for some rich thug."
"You're better off."
"How can you say that?"
"Do you have a surplus of money that your girlfriend would borrow?"
"Yeah-" He added it up, "That bitch!"
"You're better off. If she tries to get back together, tell her to get lost."
"Thanks, man." He handed me a thousand yen bill, "Keep the change."
"Thanks!" I grinned before I went and paid the bill before I put the change in the TIPS jar; we would split it at the end of the night.
This sort of thing happened all night. I helped the depressed customers and tried to perk them up a little, and if I did, I usually got a good tip. At the end of the night, we had overfilled our TIPS jar and had started to just put the tips in our pockets to add to it when it was finally time to divide it up. The waitresses were shocked how much I brought in.
"You really racked it up tonight, Mutou, good job!" They praised me as we cleaned up at two in the morning. Tatiana divided the tips.
"75,000 yen each, and a little extra for Yugi, for a marvelous first night."
I blushed bright red and all the waitresses laughed and showered me with remarks about how cute I was when I was embarrassed. As we left, Tatiana came up to me and asked, "Alright, we get paid at the end of every month, so these tips are mostly what keep us afloat. Yugi, you just set everyone up for the rest of the month."
"Awesome."
"So, where're you headed?"
"My hotel."
"Tomorrow we're finding you an apartment, or a house, you can probably afford it."
"Probably. I think I have two million yen with these tips."
"You're rich!"
"Not really."
"Yes really! Chris is paying you thirty thousand yen a month for the night shifts, then extra for however much you work during the day. Now go home and get some sleep."
When I hit my pillow, I faded back into my sleep and found it more peaceful than it had ever been.
My life slipped into a routine. I woke up at around 10 in the morning, got dressed, ate breakfast, then ran any errands before I went over to the card shop and dueled til lunch. After lunch I would help run the shop while talking with the customers and other workers about gaming strategies and such. After a quick dinner, I changed clothes and went up to the bar, earning big tips when I help perk up people.
Tatiana found me a house that's a few blocks away from her husband's card shop. It was two stories, but it was a real fixer-upper. Some afternoons we took off to renovate it. We redid the flooring, sheetrock, and then painted the walls and began to buy furniture. In the end, my home was perfectly suited to my needs.
I had the master bedroom to myself, and then there were two spare bedrooms in case anyone ever needed a place to stay. The walls were grey, the carpet was black, and I had furnished it with a computer workstation and a TV. In the upstairs main room was my game room, which had every console gaming system currently available, all my favorite role-play games, two tables for card games, board games and duels, and a game library.
Downstairs was the kitchen, dining room, and living room. The living room had a few bean bag chairs, a couch, a entertainment system, and a coffee table. Everything in this room was either wood, silver metal, or white.
I had also began to make friends. Ara came over a lot, and few played games to help each other get better as well as just to have fun. Right now I was helping clean up the restaurant and get the bar ready. Once the kitchen was closed, my job was pretty simple because I was in charge of setting up the drinks behind the bar. I flipped some bottles in my hand while I worked, making it seem a little more interesting. After I was done, I told Tatiana to open the bar.
Tonight was our first karaoke night. Tatiana hadn't said who was running it though. I began to serve drinks when she came up to me and asked, "What are you doing back here?"
"My job?"
"Nope, you're running karaoke."
"Me! Are you on crack or something!"
"Nope, because if we don't have anyone up there, you get to fill the time with your songs." She pulled something out from under the bar and shoved it into my chest. It was my guitar case.
"Make us proud, Yug."
I wove through the crowd over to the stage on which karaoke was set up. There was no one near it.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the first ever Card Shop Karaoke Night! Depressed 'cuz things aren't going your way? Mad at a friend or ex? Sing out your emotion, show the world how you feel through song! Any takers?"
A few people came up and told me they'd do it if the songs were in the machine.
"What song?"
"Teardrop."
"Class."
"It's All Coming Back To Me Now."
"Here's to Love!" A couple shouted out.
"Who wants to open?"
"We will if no one else wants to." The girl who had proposed 'Class' raised her hand.
"Great, then you guys figure out the rest of the line-up."
They did, and the show started without a hitch, only problem was, after about an hour and a half, no one else wanted to do it, so I pulled out my guitar and sighed into the mike as I sat down on a stool I'd brought up there.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, I am now going to sing a song I wrote, it's dedicated to all my old friends back home. This is for trying to break me!" I began to strum the cords. Then I became focused on the song, and singing it with as much emotion as I could as I thought about my friends.
"Throw me in my cell each night,You lock that door, so nice and tight.
I cry myself to sleep each night,
Pray the gods will take my life.
I would love to die tonight.
But then again..."
The tempo and emotion in the song changed, I poured anger into my voice now.
"I'm just lost in these illusions,Not my shadow at my side.
Deep within their cold delusions,
Each new day is no surprise.
I'm just lost in my illusions,
Let me wake before my death!
Buried deep in sick delusions,
Will I wake 'fore my last breath?"
I saw my friends smiling faces before me and I let a single tear fall down my cheek.
"I live this torture every day,I pray this all will fade away.
'It's just a dream!' I scream every night,
'Created by my doubt and fright!'
Then I wake, that isn't so,
My shattered life it's full of woe!
I would LOVE to die tonight!
But then again... I'm just lost in these illusions,
Not my shadow at my side.
Deep within their cold delusions,
Each new day is no surprise.
I'm just lost in my illusions,
Let me wake before my death!
Buried deep in sick delusions,
Will I wake 'fore my last breath!"
Another tear escaped as I remembered all the pictures I piled up and burned. My guitar was quiet and sad, as it was during the first verse.
"I must escape this hellish life,Wake up from dreams of this cruel strife.
I pack my things; leave what I know.
Take off the puzzle; let it go.
Pile up the things from long ago,
Back when we wouldn't let go.
Never give up, and never stop!
But you did, you all gave up!
You took my power, gave me pain,
Made me live a life of shame!
I take a match; that flickering light,
Hid the memories of this strife.
Walk out the door, never come again,
I just woke up, never to sleep again!
Left it all, I'm better now.
Can't help but think what you'll do now!
I wouldn't love to die tonight,
Because now... I am free of my illusions,
No more shadow at my side!
Free from all their cold delusions,
Now each day's a new surprise!
I am free of my illusions,
I woke up and cheated death!
No more of your sick delusions,
I woke up before my death...
I woke up before my death...
Yes, I woke up... before my –"
The anger in my guitar vanished, it was sad and slow now as I sang the last word.
Death..."
"Thanks for everything, guys. Thanks a lot." I said before I hung my head and put my right hand up to sheild my eyes
The crowd cheered, and no one was louder than Tatiana and Ara, who rushed onto the stage and hugged me.
"You did good, kid."
I saw an albino kid walk up to me and I instantly recognized him.
"Ryou..." I gasped at his teary-eyed face.
"Yugi, I'm so sorry!" He sobbed as he ran up and hugged me.
(TBC)
How was it? Flames will be given to my pyromaniac little sister.
Claws: FIRE!
Yugi: It's so sad... HOW COULD YOUD DO THAT TO ME?(starts crying)
Yami Yugi: No one makes my hikari cry and gets away with it!
Yami Mirei: Cheer up, Yug, at least you got to sing Ara's first song.
Yugi: That was pretty cool...(sniffles and then dries eyes)
Ara: Yeah, and I'll include more of 'em later on. Besides Yami, we're coming to your part soon enough. I'm not making your character a heartless bastard like some people I know. (glares at Kaiba)
Mokuba: Hey! My brother changed!
Ara: (rolls eyes) Right, but see, I just read the original series of manga again, and at the moment, Bakura and Seto didn't look too great.
Ryou: Bakura changed, too!
Ara: For better or worse?
Ryou: (hesitates)
Ara: Gotcha!
-Ara, Goddess of the Broken