How did it come to this?
The day had started off so well, and now..
Yuugi stared at his opponent opposite of him, both wearing their Duel Disks on their arms, and putting in their decks.
He stared nervously at his puzzle, far away from reach, as well as the other item next to his. The Millennium Puzzle and Millennium Crescent were both at stake this time.
"What is the matter, Yuugi Muto?" said his opponent, their voice warped between a males and females voice, none of the two mixing or clashing right. It just sounded odd to him, and made his heart hurt.
He stared at her, and rage filled his every being. "Why are you doing this?! Just let Joou go! She has nothing to do with this!"
"But she does. You are very close to this girl, so you won't want any harm coming to her." the voice said. "She is standing right next to the edge of this building. If you try to quit, she'll fall into the Shadow Realm, and become lost forever!"
Yuugi winced, and his fists clenched. He looked at the puzzle once more, in hopes of Yami connecting with him and telling him what to do.
"I can't always rely on him.." Yuugi thought to himself. "I need to be strong, and fight for Joou's freedom!"
"Alright, I accept your duel, Marik!"
"Very well. Let's duel."
The two drew their five cards, signalling the beginning of the duel. "I lay down Celtic Guardian in attack mode." Yuugi said. "That ends my turn."
The Joou imposter looked through her hand, until finally pulling out two cards, grinning. "This girls deck was nothing but useless Water monsters, so I took the liberty to switch hers out with my own!" She lied a monster down in attack mode, as well as a magic card flipped down, and destroyed Yuugi's Guardian.
"Tch. You made the same mistake as our first duel. Stupid boy."
Yuugi felt rage boiling inside of him, and feeling the weight of the duel sinking in. He didn't want his puzzle destroyed, but Joou's crescent was important to her! She got it as a present from her parents!
They continued dueling. Yuugi was losing by 100 life points, and he could feel dread and rage inside, as well now as fear. Bone chilling fear. Fear of losing the puzzle and Yami with it, fear of losing Joou, fear of letting Joou's crescent get destroyed. He couldn't take it anymore.
"Y..Yuugi.." he heard a voice say. The voice that made his heart skip a beat, at right now needed to hear. He looked up at Joou, who was holding her head tightly.
"He's controlling me!" She shouted in pain.
"Quiet, puppet!" the warped voice said, trying to gain control.
"D-defeat him, Yuugi!" she shouted, and he could see in her eyes the sadness and pain and fear she was feeling right now. Joou was scared. Yuugi was scared. He had to win!
The duel continued on, till, finally.
"Dark Magician! Dark Magic Attack!" Yuugi shouted, smiling widely.
"No!" screamed the warped voice, as the blast destroyed the final monster on her field, decreasing her life points to zero.
"I win, Marik. Now let her go!" Yugi said, taking a step forward, in no mood to mess around any longer.
That's when there was a loud noise, that caused Yuugi to look up at the items above reach. The crescent was in pieces now, unable to be fixed. His eyes were transfixed on the spot, till the voice started laughing like a maniac, causing Yuugi to turn and look.
"I failed to get the puzzle.. This girls most prized possession is destroyed because of you! But, because I can't have the puzzle..." Joou turned to face the ledge, and was forced to stare down it. "You'll lose her instead!" and she began falling forwards.
"No!" Yuugi shouted, quickly running to the edge.
Joou finally regained her mind, and her eyes widened as she saw herself staring into a black abyss, and falling forward, unable to stop now.
She fell.
Yuugi grabbed her hand in time, and she dangled over the abyss. Instinctively, she held his hand with her other one too, and he pulled her up, and the two backed away from the ledge, staring at it in complete fear.
Finally, Yuugi broke his trans, and hers, as he threw his arms around her into a tight hug. Her face reddened before she hugged back, feeling hers and Yuugi's hearts pounding from the scare.
"I..I thought I was going to lose you.." he said, and held her tighter.
They would have stayed like that for longer, if there wasn't an odd clanking noise on the ground. They jumped, and turned to see what it was.
The puzzle was released, and fell onto the floor.
"My puzzle!" Yuugi exclaimed, smiling widely as he hurried over to claim it once again his, putting the chain over his neck.
Joou slowly walked over, and picked up a fragment of her own millennium item.
"I.. I'm sorry.." Yuugi said, his smile fading as he turned and looked at her.
Joou smiled and shook her head. "No, it's fine. It was either this, or the puzzle, and it's better that the puzzle was saved. It'd be a shame to lose Yami."
Yuugi nodded, smiling once again, and said, "Right."
"You did well, Yuugi." Yami said from within the puzzle, and his mind. "You're on your way to becoming greater than me."