A Gift from the Heart
"-And Yugi has once again been declared the undisputed King of."
She walked over to the television set and turned it off before moving to wear her brother sat on the couch. He didn't look upset that she had turned off the coverage of the latest Duel Monster's Tournament. In fact, he looked kind of relieved.
She sat down beside him and smiled. "You'll be able to do that someday." She was referring to the type of dueling he had just been watching. He turned and smiled slightly at her.
"No, I won't, but it doesn't matter." He looked at his own deck lying on the table in front of him and smiled. "These cards were gifts from you and mom and that makes them more important than anything else. They don't need to prove their worth." He leaned back into the worn couch cushions and closed his eyes. He heard his sister sigh and leave the room, heading upstairs. He opened his eyes then and reached for his deck, speaking softly into the now empty room.
"Although sometimes I wish they could." He got up and grabbed a sweater and then headed out the door. He still had some shopping to do before Christmas and now seemed like a good time.
Kiora watched her brother walk out the door and down the road, shaking her head sadly. She knew how much Dueling meant to him, as did mom, but the problem was that it was an expensive passion, one that was hard for their small family to afford. It had been hard enough to get him the cards he had, and they knew that even they weren't enough, but Tyr never complained, saying that they were special because they had been gifts.
It was that fact that had decided her choice in gift this year. She looked over at her bed and the small carefully wrapped package. She smiled and remembered how she had got it earlier that day. Everyone knew that the game shop near here was run by the famous Yugi's grandfather and that had made her nervous to go there, fearing the people there would be stuck up and rude.
But today she had gathered her courage and walked over and had been surprised. The store was small but comfortable, with no sign Yugi except for a small picture on the counter. Looking around Kiora had seen all the different types of cards and quickly got lost. Luckily Mr. Mouto had come over and offered to help her. He explained what was popular, which cards could really help a deck and so on.
But as she looked at the prices her heart sank and she had to tell him to stop, that she couldn't pay that kind of money and probably never would be able to. He had stopped and looked at her. But instead of ignoring her as she expected he brought her over to the counter and had reached for a binder behind him and for a pack of cards.
"Buy the pack, it doesn't cost much, but their random and then, " he placed his hands on the binder in front of him. "I want you to go through this binder and choose one card. Whatever that card is I'll give it to you. All I ask is that you choose with your heart and not your eyes."
She had been amazed at the level of trust that had been placed in her. She could have chosen the most expensive card there and he had promised to give it to her.
But she hadn't.
Instead she had done as he had asked and had chosen with her heart.
"And I found you." She spoke to the little wrapped present that held the pack and that one card. "You may not be the most powerful card, but you go to someone I care deeply about and you go with my blessing." She placed a hand over the present and it almost seemed as if she could feel a heart beat from deep within. Before she could question her sanity though, she heard the door downstairs open and knew their Mother was home. She ran downstairs and told her of what she had found and her mother agreed to go back to the shop and choose a card for Tyr herself. They both got in the car and drove over to the shop.
Tyr loved and hated this time of the year. Like all other fourteen year olds, he loved the lights and decorations and all the displays. But then he saw families walking around together and suddenly everything didn't seem so bright. His father had died when he was really young and because of that their mother had to work two jobs to support the three of them.
He didn't hate her for it. No, he admired the love and dedication she showed her family. He had decided to hate Fate instead, to hate the force in life that had dealt him this hand. He often wished that they all could see more of each other, but it wasn't possible to do that and eat as well.
He sat down on a bench by one of the fountains in the mall and tried to solve his hardest problem of each year.
What to get the two most important people in his life for Christmas with the small amount of money he was able to gather from doing odd jobs all year. Not just anything would do. It had to be special and that was the hard part. He sighed and got up to start walking again. He wouldn't find something by sitting in one place.
He looked in all the windows he passed, not expecting to find something that easily, so it was with something akin to shock that he found their gifts, right in front of his eyes. He moved over to the shop, one of those little specialty shops with expensive statues and such. He would have normally passed them by, fearing to look at the price tags, but this time he couldn't say no.
In the window, for prices he could afford, were two glass ornaments with designs painted across their surface. One had dolphins swimming through a wave, the water flowing around the glass in a never-ending sea; and the other had a pair of wings joined across their surface, each feather detailed with no sign of beginning or end. They were perfect and he went in and bought them.
The lady there smiled down at him and wrapped them well so they wouldn't break or get damaged and told him to have a merry Christmas. He smiled and returned the wish and then walked out of the mall heading home.
When he reached his street he knew something was wrong. Around his house were many police officers and an ambulance. One of his neighbors spotted him coming down the street and ran over to him. She looked like she was holding back tears. She said nothing, just hugged him and brought him over to his house where a crowd had grown. It was once they had parted a bit that he saw it. It was his mom's car, almost turned into the driveway, almost home, with another car smashed through it. He wasn't too young or innocent to not know that all the red covering the driveway and the inside the car was blood that belonged to his family and to not realize that there was no way they could have walked away from it alive.
His bag dropped from numb fingers and he dimly heard the sound of glass shattering. A sea had ended; a pair of wings would never fly again. His world was over.
He ignored the sympathetic looks, the murmured words of comfort and support. He ignored the wrecked car and the blood stains covering his drive way.
He paid no heed to the officers or medics. All his focus was on a white sheet shining in the sunlight. He walked over to it, slowly and carefully and knelt down beside it.
No one stopped him as he reached out and pulled back the cover, bracing himself to say good-bye. Their faces, those he had loved and cherished, were now exposed to sunlight, their eyes forever closed.
A tear slid down his cheek as he leaned closer and whispered, "I love you." one last time. He replaced the cover, got up and walked slowly to his now silent and empty house, but an officer met him halfway there. He handed Tyr a small plastic bag. Tyr took it in confusion.
"We found it in the car." The officer explained. "It's for you."
Tyr nodded his head, not saying anything; shock had already stolen his voice. He reached into the bag and pulled out a small present. The tag read simply- 'To Tyr, Love Mom.'
He held it close as he walked inside, knowing that others would deal with what to do now. For a moment he let the silence in the house wash over him, numbing the pain, but only for a moment. Quiet steps took him through the house, room by room. It was no longer his home; his heart no longer lived here. Each room was examined; each object that had belonged to them was remembered. His feet took him to his sister's room and lying on her bed he saw another present, like the one he held in his hand. Again, it was addressed to him.
'I left their gifts outside!' It was the only thought that registered in his head at that moment, and he ran back downstairs and out the door, startling the people nearest. He made his way over to the spot where he had dropped the ornaments and picked up the bag.
Inside, the ornaments lay broken, but he knew he could put them back together.
'I'll fix it. It'll be easy.'
Making sure all the pieces were there, he hugged the bag close, careful not to break it any further, and walked back inside, back to his sister's room and there he lay down on the floor, all four gifts clutched close to his body.
It was a long time before he slept and an even longer time before he could see past the nightmares.
4 Months Later.
Tyr sat in the park, watching people going by in the early morning sun. He sat quietly, not saying a word, his voice still lost from the day of the accident. He knew people were worried, but he couldn't help it.
He had nothing to say that was worth the effort of trying to find his voice for. He no longer even cried, he just went through each day, existing, not really living.
The orphanage had taken him in, since he had no living family, but because of his new 'condition', more commonly referred to as shock, no one was willing to take him in. But that didn't bother him in the least. Could they actually expect anyone to take the place of his mother or sister?
If so, they were insane.
He knew classes would be starting soon and got up and headed towards the school. It was at least something to help him pass each day, something that helped him stay sane.
'Even if the students do act like they're walking on glass around me.'
He got to school just in time and took his seat, never once looking up or around, but everyone knew that Tyr had been this way since 'that day', and no one commented. He heard the class fill up around him and then their teacher showed up. She was a nice lady; he had to admit, Ms. Anallee.
As they were given their assignments for the day, Tyr reached into his bag to pull out a pencil, but his hand closed on something else instead.
He pulled it out and stared. In his hand he held the still unopened presents. He had placed them aside that day and then forgotten about them amidst the confusion of having to move and the funeral.
Tyr continued to stare at them, not seeing the questioning looks he was receiving from the students near him. Almost of their own accord, his hands opened the first present from Kiora. Inside was a pack of Duel Monster cards. He placed them on the table and noticed another, single card wrapped in a note. Tears filled his eyes as he stared at Kiora's handwriting.
-'I was told to chose with my heart and so I did. This card I give to you. She holds all the love I have for you.'-
A single sob left his throat as he looked down at the card.
Rainbow Marine Mermaid stared back. A mermaid, he had to smile at that. Fitting that Kiora, who loved the sea, would give him a treasure from it. He tried to speak her name, but his voice refused to obey and he was left silent, his hands shaking.
He looked over at the other present and with the same care he opened it.
Like the other gift, there was a pack of cards and a separate card as well as a little note. He could barely make out his mother's final words through the tears now blocking his vision.
-'I love you my son. For years you have supported me silently and now I shall support and protect you.'-
It was too much. Silently he cried out, and let the grief overwhelm him. As he fell in to darkness he felt another student reach over and catch him, stopping him from hitting the ground.
Deep in the Shadow realm a new Deck was forming, Tyr's, and within those confines two cards stared each other down. One from the sky and one from the sea.
Marine glared up at Meteor.
"It's all your fault they're dead! He didn't need you, he just needed them!"
The Dragon stared back, his eyes ice to her fire.
"His mother chose me for him. I will support him and protect him in her place to the best of my abilities." He continued to stare at her. "If you are to blame any card then let it be yourself. You started this."
Marine screamed at him and launched herself through the water with a flick of her tail. Other cards watched on from outside the Deck and wondered what had caused this fight between two favored cards.
"-And Yugi has once again been declared the undisputed King of."
She walked over to the television set and turned it off before moving to wear her brother sat on the couch. He didn't look upset that she had turned off the coverage of the latest Duel Monster's Tournament. In fact, he looked kind of relieved.
She sat down beside him and smiled. "You'll be able to do that someday." She was referring to the type of dueling he had just been watching. He turned and smiled slightly at her.
"No, I won't, but it doesn't matter." He looked at his own deck lying on the table in front of him and smiled. "These cards were gifts from you and mom and that makes them more important than anything else. They don't need to prove their worth." He leaned back into the worn couch cushions and closed his eyes. He heard his sister sigh and leave the room, heading upstairs. He opened his eyes then and reached for his deck, speaking softly into the now empty room.
"Although sometimes I wish they could." He got up and grabbed a sweater and then headed out the door. He still had some shopping to do before Christmas and now seemed like a good time.
Kiora watched her brother walk out the door and down the road, shaking her head sadly. She knew how much Dueling meant to him, as did mom, but the problem was that it was an expensive passion, one that was hard for their small family to afford. It had been hard enough to get him the cards he had, and they knew that even they weren't enough, but Tyr never complained, saying that they were special because they had been gifts.
It was that fact that had decided her choice in gift this year. She looked over at her bed and the small carefully wrapped package. She smiled and remembered how she had got it earlier that day. Everyone knew that the game shop near here was run by the famous Yugi's grandfather and that had made her nervous to go there, fearing the people there would be stuck up and rude.
But today she had gathered her courage and walked over and had been surprised. The store was small but comfortable, with no sign Yugi except for a small picture on the counter. Looking around Kiora had seen all the different types of cards and quickly got lost. Luckily Mr. Mouto had come over and offered to help her. He explained what was popular, which cards could really help a deck and so on.
But as she looked at the prices her heart sank and she had to tell him to stop, that she couldn't pay that kind of money and probably never would be able to. He had stopped and looked at her. But instead of ignoring her as she expected he brought her over to the counter and had reached for a binder behind him and for a pack of cards.
"Buy the pack, it doesn't cost much, but their random and then, " he placed his hands on the binder in front of him. "I want you to go through this binder and choose one card. Whatever that card is I'll give it to you. All I ask is that you choose with your heart and not your eyes."
She had been amazed at the level of trust that had been placed in her. She could have chosen the most expensive card there and he had promised to give it to her.
But she hadn't.
Instead she had done as he had asked and had chosen with her heart.
"And I found you." She spoke to the little wrapped present that held the pack and that one card. "You may not be the most powerful card, but you go to someone I care deeply about and you go with my blessing." She placed a hand over the present and it almost seemed as if she could feel a heart beat from deep within. Before she could question her sanity though, she heard the door downstairs open and knew their Mother was home. She ran downstairs and told her of what she had found and her mother agreed to go back to the shop and choose a card for Tyr herself. They both got in the car and drove over to the shop.
Tyr loved and hated this time of the year. Like all other fourteen year olds, he loved the lights and decorations and all the displays. But then he saw families walking around together and suddenly everything didn't seem so bright. His father had died when he was really young and because of that their mother had to work two jobs to support the three of them.
He didn't hate her for it. No, he admired the love and dedication she showed her family. He had decided to hate Fate instead, to hate the force in life that had dealt him this hand. He often wished that they all could see more of each other, but it wasn't possible to do that and eat as well.
He sat down on a bench by one of the fountains in the mall and tried to solve his hardest problem of each year.
What to get the two most important people in his life for Christmas with the small amount of money he was able to gather from doing odd jobs all year. Not just anything would do. It had to be special and that was the hard part. He sighed and got up to start walking again. He wouldn't find something by sitting in one place.
He looked in all the windows he passed, not expecting to find something that easily, so it was with something akin to shock that he found their gifts, right in front of his eyes. He moved over to the shop, one of those little specialty shops with expensive statues and such. He would have normally passed them by, fearing to look at the price tags, but this time he couldn't say no.
In the window, for prices he could afford, were two glass ornaments with designs painted across their surface. One had dolphins swimming through a wave, the water flowing around the glass in a never-ending sea; and the other had a pair of wings joined across their surface, each feather detailed with no sign of beginning or end. They were perfect and he went in and bought them.
The lady there smiled down at him and wrapped them well so they wouldn't break or get damaged and told him to have a merry Christmas. He smiled and returned the wish and then walked out of the mall heading home.
When he reached his street he knew something was wrong. Around his house were many police officers and an ambulance. One of his neighbors spotted him coming down the street and ran over to him. She looked like she was holding back tears. She said nothing, just hugged him and brought him over to his house where a crowd had grown. It was once they had parted a bit that he saw it. It was his mom's car, almost turned into the driveway, almost home, with another car smashed through it. He wasn't too young or innocent to not know that all the red covering the driveway and the inside the car was blood that belonged to his family and to not realize that there was no way they could have walked away from it alive.
His bag dropped from numb fingers and he dimly heard the sound of glass shattering. A sea had ended; a pair of wings would never fly again. His world was over.
He ignored the sympathetic looks, the murmured words of comfort and support. He ignored the wrecked car and the blood stains covering his drive way.
He paid no heed to the officers or medics. All his focus was on a white sheet shining in the sunlight. He walked over to it, slowly and carefully and knelt down beside it.
No one stopped him as he reached out and pulled back the cover, bracing himself to say good-bye. Their faces, those he had loved and cherished, were now exposed to sunlight, their eyes forever closed.
A tear slid down his cheek as he leaned closer and whispered, "I love you." one last time. He replaced the cover, got up and walked slowly to his now silent and empty house, but an officer met him halfway there. He handed Tyr a small plastic bag. Tyr took it in confusion.
"We found it in the car." The officer explained. "It's for you."
Tyr nodded his head, not saying anything; shock had already stolen his voice. He reached into the bag and pulled out a small present. The tag read simply- 'To Tyr, Love Mom.'
He held it close as he walked inside, knowing that others would deal with what to do now. For a moment he let the silence in the house wash over him, numbing the pain, but only for a moment. Quiet steps took him through the house, room by room. It was no longer his home; his heart no longer lived here. Each room was examined; each object that had belonged to them was remembered. His feet took him to his sister's room and lying on her bed he saw another present, like the one he held in his hand. Again, it was addressed to him.
'I left their gifts outside!' It was the only thought that registered in his head at that moment, and he ran back downstairs and out the door, startling the people nearest. He made his way over to the spot where he had dropped the ornaments and picked up the bag.
Inside, the ornaments lay broken, but he knew he could put them back together.
'I'll fix it. It'll be easy.'
Making sure all the pieces were there, he hugged the bag close, careful not to break it any further, and walked back inside, back to his sister's room and there he lay down on the floor, all four gifts clutched close to his body.
It was a long time before he slept and an even longer time before he could see past the nightmares.
4 Months Later.
Tyr sat in the park, watching people going by in the early morning sun. He sat quietly, not saying a word, his voice still lost from the day of the accident. He knew people were worried, but he couldn't help it.
He had nothing to say that was worth the effort of trying to find his voice for. He no longer even cried, he just went through each day, existing, not really living.
The orphanage had taken him in, since he had no living family, but because of his new 'condition', more commonly referred to as shock, no one was willing to take him in. But that didn't bother him in the least. Could they actually expect anyone to take the place of his mother or sister?
If so, they were insane.
He knew classes would be starting soon and got up and headed towards the school. It was at least something to help him pass each day, something that helped him stay sane.
'Even if the students do act like they're walking on glass around me.'
He got to school just in time and took his seat, never once looking up or around, but everyone knew that Tyr had been this way since 'that day', and no one commented. He heard the class fill up around him and then their teacher showed up. She was a nice lady; he had to admit, Ms. Anallee.
As they were given their assignments for the day, Tyr reached into his bag to pull out a pencil, but his hand closed on something else instead.
He pulled it out and stared. In his hand he held the still unopened presents. He had placed them aside that day and then forgotten about them amidst the confusion of having to move and the funeral.
Tyr continued to stare at them, not seeing the questioning looks he was receiving from the students near him. Almost of their own accord, his hands opened the first present from Kiora. Inside was a pack of Duel Monster cards. He placed them on the table and noticed another, single card wrapped in a note. Tears filled his eyes as he stared at Kiora's handwriting.
-'I was told to chose with my heart and so I did. This card I give to you. She holds all the love I have for you.'-
A single sob left his throat as he looked down at the card.
Rainbow Marine Mermaid stared back. A mermaid, he had to smile at that. Fitting that Kiora, who loved the sea, would give him a treasure from it. He tried to speak her name, but his voice refused to obey and he was left silent, his hands shaking.
He looked over at the other present and with the same care he opened it.
Like the other gift, there was a pack of cards and a separate card as well as a little note. He could barely make out his mother's final words through the tears now blocking his vision.
-'I love you my son. For years you have supported me silently and now I shall support and protect you.'-
It was too much. Silently he cried out, and let the grief overwhelm him. As he fell in to darkness he felt another student reach over and catch him, stopping him from hitting the ground.
Deep in the Shadow realm a new Deck was forming, Tyr's, and within those confines two cards stared each other down. One from the sky and one from the sea.
Marine glared up at Meteor.
"It's all your fault they're dead! He didn't need you, he just needed them!"
The Dragon stared back, his eyes ice to her fire.
"His mother chose me for him. I will support him and protect him in her place to the best of my abilities." He continued to stare at her. "If you are to blame any card then let it be yourself. You started this."
Marine screamed at him and launched herself through the water with a flick of her tail. Other cards watched on from outside the Deck and wondered what had caused this fight between two favored cards.