Summary: Valon thinks about his past about Mai & Joey and tries to move on.
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Mai Valentine.
Her name would never run out of his mind. He would try to push it out, but then it was run back like a fierce bull, stubborn and proud and powerful.
Fierce. That was one way to describe her.
She hadn't been so fierce when he found there, though. She was just sitting there, frustrated and disappointed, in the pit-pattering rain that wouldn't let up. If he hadn't looked closer, he wouldn't have seen that glimmer of fire in those dead, cold purple eyes. From far away, she didn't look like a champion. Mai Valentine looked like a runner-up from far away, a half-hearted contestant who didn't stand a chance.
'I'll make her a champion,' Valon had muttered. 'She still has it in her.'
But what had he turned her into? An overly ambitious woman with an unquenchable thirst for utter revenge. When he let Dartz lend her the power of the Orichalcos, he thought that her face would light up with new knowledge, and that those purple gems would be vivacious, strong. She would forget about Wheeler and his pals, and be a new person, a reborn woman, who served Dartz faithfully like Valon had done.
What a mistake. All the Orichalcos did was give her that final push, making her believe that Wheeler and his buddies were to blame for her dying spirit. Instead of letting Valon come closer, she pushed him away, claiming that she didn't need him at all, that she never needed him.
He always thought that Mai was a loner. But sometimes, she didn't seem like one.
Perhaps she was, just not like him. He was a different species of hermit, the kind that was content to be by themselves and dabble in society rarely like it a bittersweet piece of candy.
She was a born soloist, but didn't flourish in loneliness like he did. Mai Valentine sank like a stone in solitude, sinking in those deep thirsty waters, always aching for another being to be by her side.
Wheeler and his friends had made her that way. She'd been satisfied to be by herself, but then she learned what it felt like to bathe in friendship, and she relished it so bad that when it left her she broke. Without others giving her affection, she was like a child once again, lost and confused.
This woman wasn't Mai, Valon knew. So he tried to turn her back into the woman she once was. He thought he could do this by defeating a certain blond. Wrong.
He knew Mai loved him, he always knew, as soon as she described him to Valon with her aching eyes, he knew she would never stop loving him, no matter how hard he tried. Valon knew that as sure as the earth spun that Mai Valentine was heads-over-heels in love with Joey Wheeler, and that someone like him could never even make a dent in that bond.
That didn't stop him from trying.
'I'll duel Wheeler. Once he's gone, she'll understand. She'll understand everything.'
How he even managed to convince himself was a mystery. Maybe some things were supernatural, like his devotion to Mai. Maybe things like that could change views, override common sense, fill you with something otherworldly.
He fought Joey, all right. They fought blow-for-blow, punch-for-punch, kick-for-kick. It was the best duel of his life. Even dueling Yugi Moto, the king of games, wouldn't be like that. They had both been fighting for someone other than them, another person who was the highlight of their lives.
That person had been the same for both of them. Mai Valentine.
Valon never thought that it would be easy, but he never thought that it was going to be hard, either. He thought that there was no way Joey's passion could outplay his. But he never stopped to look at Joey like a real person before that duel. Joey Wheeler was the enemy, the block to him being with Mai. But Joey Wheeler was also something else. Wheeler fought for Mai harder than he ever did.
Valon didn't think that was possible.
He didn't think that anyone would be able to tear through his mind like that, be able to stun his mind like a mental gun, and Valon realized that Wheeler was a real fighter. When Joey Wheeler raced through his mind, his dreams shattered, and were replaced with a new hope. Hope that Mai and Wheeler could forgive him. Hope that they would get to be with each other, as the real love in their own worlds.
When he found the Harpy card lying on his blanket, he knew that it was over. The dreams that bloomed after he first met Mai Valentine the fierce had been demolished. In the fire that took place after Valon's sacrifice, the duel between Mai and Wheeler, Mai had been released from the Orichalcos's evil influence. Valon hadn't been able to do that. Wheeler was.
He was empty of real hopes and dreams now. He, Rafael and Alister had all gone their separate ways after the Orichalcos incident, mostly to redeem themselves and to figure out their lives.
Maybe he'd find another companion, another loner who could reciprocate his feelings. He'd been crushed once by someone because he'd put all his soul into that girl. Valon wanted to do that again, and if that girl couldn't take it, then she could run away like Mai. He wasn't even sure if he could take all that pain again. But he could never imagine just putting a small amount of real heart into a companionship. Valon needed someone just as passionate as him.
But even when he finds another girl… he'll never forget Mai Valentine. What kind of idiot could forget a girl like her? She was the girl of any man's dream, especially his. But he'll find another one. Love can come twice in a lifetime, if you searched hard enough.
California was a good place to start as anywhere. He found one girl here, he could find another. This place brought back his bad memories, but he wasn't one to hide from his fear.
In LA, some people chose to drown their sorrows by drinking until they couldn't feel even one limb of their body. Others chose to hang out with thugs and be a disgrace to society.
Valon was a person who chose to ride on his motorcycle, high on adrenaline, on his search to find another meaning for life and get over his past and two certain blonds.
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