Summary: "She lost her heart to the darkness, but her Ka still lives on, through you. You and Mana are connected. She needs you." - The story of a girl that was never supposed to exist.
Author's Note: First and foremost, yes, I am reposting this, because the first one was horribly written, so I rewrote it. This still isn't great, but I think it is a lot better than the original one that was up here. Second: Kingdom Hearts II references are made within this fanfic, however, no characters from Kingdom Hearts will appear in this.
I am, however, making this as canon as I can, regardless of the addition of characters. They shouldn't change the original story that much, and I'm hoping it can explain some background with the Dark Magician Girl and the connection between her and Mana better. (Odd, I know, but I figured I'd try.) This is my first fic, fyi.
This part takes place sometime after Dungeon Dice Monsters and BEFORE Yugi's duel with the possessed Bandit Keith.
Disclaimer-I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! in any way, shape, or form. The characters and themes belong to their creator, Kazuki Takahashi and their producers. I own nothing other than my OC's. Enjoy!
The Heartless Magician
Life beyond the shadows is more than just a place for lost souls. It's also a sanctuary for monsters that dwell in darkness. They linger in the shadows waiting for the moment their master calls for them, summoning them to battle. However, deep within the shadows subsists a manse, a home for higher monsters; monsters with a duel identity that are able to think and fight for themselves.
These monsters dress themselves in uniform black cloaks that hide their faces from one another. The whole dozen of them congregate daily to take on tasks provided by the boss, who rarely associates himself with his comrades.
One awkward cloaked figure, the smallest and newest of the bunch, entered the dimly lit lounge. Her colleagues spread throughout the colorless room, quietly talking to one another of things that were of matter to them. The many white entangled torches that hung along the walls provided illumination. The smallest member of the group dawdled at the entrance for a moment, searching for the smallest ounce of color, but despite the lack of light, everything gave off a whitish glow. Perhaps, that was the reason why the mansion was always so dark, so the whiteness of the whole mansion wouldn't cause them to go blind.
"Sakura," a deep, slow, and gruff voice called. The small hooded figure looked up to see a tall hooded man approaching her from the other side of the room. Only a small fraction of his face shown from under his hood, which had always remained expressionless. There was something about his presence that made it appear as if he owned the place, like a manager in a work environment.
"Sakura, you and Avery will be visiting a new place today. You'll probably need this," the tall man pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to the newbie.
The beginning apprentice studied the card that was given to her. The base of the card was a burnt orange color and in the center was a picture of a girl with long luscious hair that was as gold as the sun. She wore blue and pink clothing that hung off her shoulders with a matching hat, and in her right hand, she held a small staff that matched her outfit. Around her neck, she wore a golden necklace with a ruby in the center and her emerald green eyes seemed to sparkle.
"What is this fo-?" the man was gone before the girl could ask her question. Shrugging, she stuffed the card into her pocket and left to prepare for the day.
Through these shadows, these higher monsters can travel anywhere in a matter of seconds, anywhere that contains vast energies of darkness. A dark cloud appeared from thin air in the deserted alleys of Domino City. Two cloaked figures, a taller one and a shorter one emerged from the shadows.
"All right, now lets just do what we gotta do then leave." The taller one said to the other while taking off his hood, revealing a face of a man with long blood-red hair that was spiked and came down to the middle of his back. He turned to see his partner and gave a questionable look. "What are you doing?" His partner was taking off her long black coat uniform, revealing a black and blue boat neck with the sleeves fluttering at the shoulders with matching shorts, accompanied by a silver belt. Two small strips of pink cloth drape on either sides of her hips, along with a light blue cloth tied around her waist, draped in the same manner, and black and blue bell arm sleeves hung on her arms.
"I'm hot." The girl answered. The temperature difference between here and the manse was incredible! The manse always remained a low, cool temperature and the cloaks are what kept them warm. Even though the sun was beginning to set, the streets felt hot to the girl.
The girl shielded her eyes to the newfound light; she were not used to sudden burst of brightness, even if it was sunset out. This was the first time that the red headed man had seen the girl's complete face in actual light. He did not realize that she had emerald eyes, and that her dark brown hair was sporadically arranged and jutted downwards in all directions, or how light her skin was.
"Are you ready?" The girl asked, as her eyes adjusted to the light.
"Yeah. Let's get going. I don't feel like making this an all night event." The red headed man said. "Remember what the boss said-"
"I know, I know. I've been around people before." The girl said waving off her partner's reminders. "Who are we looking for this time, anyway?"
"We're just doing basic recon." Her partner explained. "We might even catch ourselves another recruit, if we're lucky."
The girl's jaw slightly dropped as she entered the streets of Domino. Never, has she seen so much color in one place. It amazed her. Instead of taking mental notes and analyzing the area, she allowed herself to relish in the warm colorful surroundings.
"Huh? What this?" The brunette asked looking at a bright poster hanging in a store's window. The poster was a picture of an incredible large white intimidating dragon with shimmering bright blue eyes. On the top and bottom in dark blue lettering said: "Duel Monster Cards on Sale Now!"
"I've seen ten of these all ready," said the red headed man rubbing the back of his head. The girl cocked her head to the side as she heard two younger boys from across the street conversing with one another, each holding some sort of stack of cards in their hands.
"And look at my Corroding Shark monster card I got," one said to the other. His friend "ooo"ed and "ahh"ed at the sight of the new card.
"Must be quite popular," commented the red head.
"What is it, exactly?" The girl asked.
"Who knows? Let's keep going, though."
As the two walked through the city, the more the girl noticed the different Duel Monster advertisements posted everywhere; however, one pink swirly poster caught the girl's attention. The poster had pictures of different female duel monsters, but it was who she saw in the picture that gave her pause. The girl pulled out the card she had received earlier and compared it to the one in the poster.
"Avery, look," the monster on the poster and on the card matched. "I thought this was some sort of weird I.D. card, but . . . Why would they-? She looks like me. What is this?"
The red headed man apparently named Avery studied the poster a bit more. "Hmmm…"
The brunette gasped. "Avery, look at this one," she pointed to the poster next to the one they were looking at. This one was blue and white and had pictures of different warriors, but she pointed to one in specific. The one she pointed to was a picture of a knight in a long dark blue cape that came to his ankles and gold and black armor that protected his body. Both, the shoulder wear and the knight's helmet extended to a long point at the end. "He looks like you."
The sound of a bell dinged as two kids walked out of the store with their arms full of Duel Monster cards.
"With these new cards, my deck will be unbeatable."
"Mine too! Duel Monsters is the best!" The second said.
The girl turned back to the poster. "Deck? So . . . This is a game? But why do these monsters look so much like us?"
"They don't look that much like us," Avery said turning away. "Just forget about it. There's still more reconnaissance to be done."
"Avery!" The girl exclaimed. "This game isn't suspicious to you? Don't you think we should look into it?"
Avery shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't waste my time. We're here on a mission, not to play childish games."
The girl groaned as her feet reluctantly followed her partner around the city. Saxon said that she might need this card, but for what? What is it? What can it do? Why does it look so much like her? She had so many questions, and she didn't know how to answer them.
They turned the corner and saw crowds of people slowly beginning to leave a large building of some sort. By the entrance was a large model of a daunting white dragon with flickering bright blue eyes. Another one could be seen hanging in the air by a large window in the building, giving off the illusion that it was flying above the people below.
"Kaiba Land . . . ?" Avery read the arched sign above.
"Must be some kind of theme park," the girl said. "I've seen that dragon on a poster earlier. It must be some type of Duel Monster. Do you think this is where they gather to play the game?"
"Maybe," said Avery.
An older man wearing a green hat and a bushy mustache walked past the two strangers, looking very interested with whatever story he was reading in the newspaper in his hands, but the girl couldn't help but read the large bold headline as he walked past:
President of Industrial Illusions, Pegasus J. Crawford, Defeated. Yugi Mutou New King of Games.
"King of Games?" the girl said softly to herself with a touch of mockery.
Avery waved his arm, signaling that they needed to continue.
"We can't keep getting distracted," said Avery. His voice was soft but stern. "With this many people, our potential enemy could be hiding anywhere."
"Hey, Avery, look," the girl said bending down to pick up something by her foot, completely disregarding everything Avery had just said. It was a card with a picture of a cartoon-like alligator wearing red and black armor with claws on the ends over his scaly green skin and a wide cutlass sword in its right hand. "It's one of those cards-"
"That's my card you thief!" a voice from behind accused. "Who do you think you are going around stealing other people's cards?"
"Whoa," the girl said softly, amazed over how protective these people were with these cards. "I just-"
"I challenge you to a duel!" The boy said. He was about the same height as the girl and wore a yellow dress shirt under his black and green argyle sweater vest.
"What? I'm not - I don't - duel?" the girl's face drained of color.
Now he wants to shoot me just for picking up his card? What's with this place? The girl thought to herself.
"Yeah, Duel Monsters. Don't think for a second that you can beat me. I haven't lost a single duel yet."
A sense of relief overcame the brunette. "Let me tell you something, preppy, if you think your pathetic little cards will sav-"
"I think you got us mistaken, kid." Avery interrupted, putting his hand on the girl's shoulder. "You see, she and I don't "duel.""
The boy took a step back, as if what Avery said had stunned him. "Don't duel? How can you be in Domino City and not duel?"
"Look, kid," Avery said a bit more hotly and snatched the card from the brunette's hand. "Just take your card and go!"
Smirking, the kid took his Alligator Sword card and left with his nose pointed high in the air.
"All of that for one card?" The girl said sounding rather amazed.
Avery chuckled. "Saxon wasn't kidding when he called this place, the City of Games."
"Hmmm . . ."
"What?"
"It's just - I think there's much more to this card game than meets the eye."
"Oh! Would you forget about the stupid cards?" Avery exclaimed.
"Avery, the cards look just like us! Aren't you the slightest bit interested?"
"Of course I am, but you know the boss's orders. You do the mission and the mission only. It doesn't matter if the cards do or don't look like us. Our only focus is to get the enemy, understand?" The girl nodded. Avery looked up at the night sky and groaned. "How about we split up? You search south, I'll stay here and search north. Meet back at the spot in an hour?"
"Fine," the brunette said.
"Sakura," the red headed man said before the two parted. "Be careful."
The brunette named Sakura nodded and continued on her way on her half of the city to investigate. Nevertheless, she was not alert to the surroundings around her. She was more interested in the small piece of thick paper that she held in her hand.
"Looking for something?" A confident smooth voice asked. Sakura looked up from her hand and saw a suspicious man lingering in the shadows.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
The man smiled mischievously as he released a card from between his two fingers with great force towards Sakura, who barely caught it. The street lamps provided enough light for the girl to make out the picture on the card. It was a picture a man dressed in dark royal purple robes and armor with a tall pointed matching hat, and a long turquoise staff in his right hand.
"The answers are in the cards." The man said softly but darkly. It was then Sakura noticed that he was now standing not too far from her. His dark black hair came past his shoulders and the rest of his body covered in a black robe that blended with the night. But it was his intriguing periwinkle blue eyes seemed almost familiar.
"What? Uhh-!" the man vanished in thin air, leaving not a trace behind him. Sakura looked around to see if anyone else saw what happened, but to her luck, not a soul was in sight. She looked back down at the two cards now in her hands.
The answers are in the cards? What's that mean? Who was that guy? She thought to herself, when she finally looked up, and noted that a tiny shop with the lights still on inside stood not far from her.
Am I supposed to learn how to play? She thought stepping closer to the Kame Shop.
The door chimed open as Sakura walked inside. All along the shelves were different brightly colored boxes for different games and in the window cases beneath were colorful packages of cards for different games, but mainly Duel Monsters cards. At the end of the store was small counter with an opened collection book of rare cards beside the cashier.
At first, the store appeared empty, but then she heard an old crackly voice from the back say, "I'll be with you in a moment." Sakura took this time to search for what she really wanted.
A short old man wearing dark wash overalls and a black bandana over his spiky gray hair exited from out a back closet and placed himself behind the counter. With a smile, he asked, "Hello. May I help you?"
"Uh-yes." Sakura answered, picking out a book from one of the racks titled: A Duelist Guide: Secrets and Strategies to Winning Duel Monsters.
"Ahh, learning how to play Duel Monsters, I see?" the old man said. "It's quite a complex game, you know? One of my favorites." The cash register ringed and the total came out on a small screen. "That'll be thirty yen." The brunette handed him the total amount of money and began to flip through the pages of her new purchased book, not really looking for anything in particular, just seeing the colors flash before her eyes.
"I'm just curious," the girl said closing the handbook. "You've obviously have played Duel Monsters before. So what your strategy? Are they anywhere as good compared to the ones in this?"
The old man began to blush. "Ho, oh, the strategies in that book are good, but they're the real basic strategies. The real strategies form once you and your cards have a real bond."
"Bond?" the girl questioned.
"Yes. Once you have faith in the heart of the cards, and trust in your deck-that-is when your real strength will show."
Sakura placed her hand over her chest, as she always did for no real reason.
Faith? Trust? Heart? What is that? Sakura thought to herself.
"Thank you," she said and turned to exit the store, when suddenly, the door burst open, causing Sakura to hide behind the door.
"Grandpa! I'm home!" a voice said from the door as it chimed. "Huh? Oh-" the door closed, revealing Sakura pinning herself against the wall of the store. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there," the boy who apologized was very short and had crazy spiked hair. He wore a typical blue school uniform, and around his neck hung a upside-down gold pyramid like thing that hung from it's lace, and on the front was an eye that starred out vaguely, which seemed strangely familiar, as if she's seen that odd piece of jewelry before. Beside him was a tall blond hair boy also wearing a school uniform. "Are you all right?"
Sakura could feel her face go pink with embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said waving it off.
"Are you learning how to play Duel Monsters?" the short kid asked, looking at the handbook in the girl's hand.
"My grandson, Yugi here, just got back from Duelist Kingdom," the old man said with a proud smile on his face.
"That's right," the blond hair boy said flexing his arms to reveal his muscles. "I came in second place."
Sakura nodded her head, trying to looked impressed.
"I'm Katsuya Jonouchi," the blond said, ruffling his hand through his poofy hair. "Are you new around here?"
"More like visiting," said Sakura, trying to avoid further conversation.
"Well, maybe we can show you around, sometime."
Sakura pulled open the door, but just before leaving the shop she said, "Thanks, but I do pretty well on my own."
"Please, come again!" She heard the old man call just before the door to the shop closed.
The whole rest of the way home, she starred at the two cards in her hands.
What is this game all about? She thought to herself.
"Did you find anything useful?" Avery asked, interrupting her troubled thoughts.
"Huh? Oh," the girl shook her head no. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Me neither," said Avery, broadening the shadow portal. "Let's go home."