Title: Moonlight Pearl
Characters: Juudai (Haou), Chaos Sorcerer, others||Pairings: N/A
Genre: Drama||Rated: PG
Word Count: 2,031/32,589||Chapter Count: 1/15
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO GX, canon claim: J4, 7-15 chapters; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #8, 32,589; Novella Masterclass Challenge, #1, Canon Goodness; Character Diversity Boot Camp, #31, experiment (OC, Maiden of the Moonlight); Chapter Set Boot Camp, #7, 15 chapters; Include The Word Boot Camp, #38, roomy; Collec the Death Duelists: Chaos Sorcerer
Notes: This takes place sometime after Juudai launches his takeover of Dark World and before anything else canon related happens.
Summary: A gift given will not make Haou look kindly upon one. But that isn't what Sasithorn wants. She only wants the moon, and if Haou keeps it from her, then she'll do what she must to get it back.
I haven't seen the moon in so long.
She stared up at the sky, aching for the lack of moonlight, her fingers itching to reach upward and touch the silver circle that wasn't there. That should have been there; what kind of a sick world didn't have a moon?
This one, she reminded herself. This world knew neither the sun or moon, and only a few stars could be seen through the sapphire glow of the comet.
Tears stung her eyes and she wiped them away fiercely, her lips thinning as the rage boiled up within her once again. She'd fought so hard to keep it under control, to never let her anger take over to the point she could do nothing else but fume.
If she did that, there would be nothing left for her to do but rage forever. She wouldn't find the moon again. She would find nothing at all.
She drew herself to her feet, tucking her wings underneath her cloak, and arranging her hood to conceal her ears and features. It would be better to not be recognized, especially if her next desperate plan was to stand a chance of success.
She couldn't fully bring herself to believe that it would, but she had to try. To not try was unthinkable. She'd done more than enough to earn that name since finding herself in this world. One more such deed wouldn't matter a great deal.
Day and night meant less than nothing in this world. There were times when people were more active and times when they were less so.
Sometimes Juudai wondered if he should have brought his PDA along. He hadn't really thought he'd need it on this trip to save – on this trip. It had been kind of useful in Sand World…
He ripped his brain away from that without another thought, closing the harsh mental armor of Haou around his heart, refusing to think of or even acknowledge that any other world existed.
As far as he was concerned, no other world did exist. He would live and die in this world for however long he could keep winning duels.
He thought he would win duels for a very long time. Dying would mean an end to everything and he couldn't face the end yet. For once in his life, he had a to-do list and he wasn't going to stop until he'd checked off everything on it.
The problem with that – if one could even call it a problem – was that his to-do list consisted really of one item: create Super Fusion. To that end, he needed to kill everyone who stood against him. That did involve taking over the world as well, but he knew he had no other options.
Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He glanced without moving his head, not liking anyone to know what he focused on. It made surprising people that much easier.
Someone walked across the room, wrapped in an enveloping cloak, without a single hint of their faces visible beyond it. Haou frowned, the slightest hint of a downward turn to his lips.
Who is that? He knew the vast majority of those who lived in his castle. He trusted absolutely none of them but he made the effort to remain aware of who they were.
His gaze shifted back to where his Death Duelists sat at table, chatting about which place they would conquer next and who was the best duelist of them all. It wasn't too much different from conversations that he'd heard in other places and at other times.
"Chaos Sorcerer." He spoke the name as if pronouncing sentence. All of the Death Duelists sat up at once, staring at him. The higher ranked warriors who sat lower down at the table also fell silent, staring, all of them frozen by the simple utterance of a name.
The sorcerer raised his head a fraction, deference in every move. "How may I be of service, Haou-sama?"
Haou indicated the stranger with a flick of his eyes. "Find out who that is and report back to me."
Haou lived under no assumptions that he was universally loved, or even loved at all. Everyone hated him. Everyone was supposed to hate him. He wanted nothing else. Friendship and love ended up in death and pain. Better not to bother.
But if someone wandered into his castle without his knowledge, he also wanted to know why, to find out what their goals were, and if need be, to dispose of them.
Chaos Sorcerer drew himself up to his feet, bowing for a heartbeat. "As you wish, Haou-sama."
He started off after them with brisk steps. Haou watched until they were both out of the room, then turned his attention back to the breakfast spread out before him. It wasn't what he would have eaten once upon a time, being fresh baked bread, juices of various kinds, most of which were unfamiliar to him, and sliced meats and cheeses. His cooks would have done famous hotels proud. Or Obelisk Blue…
Chaos Sorcerer moved quietly through the corridors, searching for the stranger. He'd noticed them before Haou brought his attention there in particular, and so far as he knew, they didn't belong here. He hadn't memorized everyone in the castle and what their duties were, but he still counted himself reasonably certain that this particular cloaked stranger had never crossed his path before.
He could see a few others in the corridors, mostly servants whose duties kept them from taking part in breakfast at the same hour as Haou and his army. But none of them wore that cloak so close as to conceal themselves.
He kept his weapons close to him as he searched. He would be ready to duel at a moment's notice, but he knew other weapons as well. Whoever this was, he had already made his mind up on how to handle them: one quick hit to the head and then dragged before Haou-sama to explain themselves.
If they put up so much of a fuss that he had to kill them before facing Haou-sama, then so be it. It wouldn't even be close to the first time someone chose death rather than face the terrifying warlord. Chaos Sorcerer couldn't even begin to feel sorry for them. They were only good for Super Fusion if that was their level of courage.
Ahead of him, something moved, that didn't seem like a servant or perhaps a stray warrior or someone else skipping breakfast. Chaos Sorcerer kept on moving, though at a slightly more cautious pace, hand on his hidden dagger.
When he turned the corner, he expected to see nothing at all, and to have to go through a lengthy search for the intruder. What he hadn't expected was to see the object of his search in front of him, cloak pulled in so tightly that not a bit of their hands or face could be seen.
He gripped his dagger tighter at that. "Who are you? Entering Haou-sama's castle without permission is a death offense."
If he'd thought about it too hard, he would have recalled that very little that angered Haou-sama wasn't a death offense. Not that he didn't approve. Death made for very strong object lessons.
The stranger's head, so far as he could tell, remained tucked down, shoulders lowered. This close, he could see what he'd missed before, that the shape of the cloak under their shoulders hinted at the possibility of wings. He had none of his own, but he wondered why a winged creature would keep them tucked away to prevent flight.
But then the stranger looked up; not enough so he could see their eyes or face, but he knew he'd been heard.
"I brought a gift for Haou-sama," the stranger said, voice light and soft. "I intended to approach him later and not disturb his meal."
Chaos Sorcerer's eyes narrowed. "What sort of gift?" He would have been quite the poor servant if he failed to inspect what someone wished to give his master. He trusted Haou-sama's power above all else, but why permit his master to deal with something that he didn't have to?
The other moved, then a slender hand emerged from the cloak and turned upward. When their fingers uncurled, Chaos Sorcerer determined at once that this stranger was a woman of some type. He also determined that they had fine taste in gifts, as he'd never quite seen a pearl so large or round or perfect, shimmering as pure white as possible on her hand.
"This pearl has been in my family for generations, and contains all the magic of moonlight that we've collected since our family line began." Her head tilted down to regard the gem with a hint of sadness. "The magic cannot be used in this world, not by me. But perhaps Haou-sama can use it, and if not, it is a gem of great worth."
Chaos Sorcerer stared at the gem; he'd never had much of an eye for judging their worth. That would be far more in Guardian Baou's line of expertise. But he could feel the magic, and she'd not uttered a lie about that. Power all but reeked of it, a kind that he'd never encountered before.
I've read of moonlight but Dark World has no moon. It never has. That brought up many more questions, most of which he doubted that she could answer. He made certain to keep himself focused on the important matters, however.
"Why would you give such a wondrous item to Haou-sama?" He stared down at her without any hint of softness in his gaze. "You cannot bribe him. If he desires your life or whatever else pleases him, he will take it."
Her head lowered. "I am aware of that. But as I said, I cannot use the pearl's magic. It is useless to me. Such an item shouldn't gather dust." A tilt of her head allowed him a small glimpse of her eyes now turned toward him. "If you think it isn't worthy of him, I will leave with it. There are mages I know of who might be able to find a way to unlock it's power in this world."
Oh, that was clever. One mage could recognize another with little effort, if they were strong enough, and he could feel the magic in her. Slumbering perhaps: he vaguely recalled having read of mages who drew their power from natural features, and if taken away from those, then their power was that much more difficult to access. The taste of her power and that of the pearl was almost the same.
"What is your name? Who are you?" He demanded to know instead. He could do the proper research on the pearl and on whoever this was in Kozaky's library, once he had this stranger settled.
"I am known as Maiden on the Moonlight," she said, bending her head for a formal introduction. "But you may call me Sasithorn."
That sent a faint tingle of wariness all over Chaos Sorcerer. No student of mage-craft ever gave their true name to anyone. Those who were connected to cards often used those names to the exclusion of all others, keeping their true names to themselves. He himself did that. Not even Haou-sama knew the name given to him at birth.
Not that it would do any good to protect him if Haou-sama did know. Those whom his master marked for death died.
But now this person handed over their name so easily? He didn't trust it. Either they had great confidence in their ability to defend themselves or did not value their own life at all.
Regardless, he gestured for them to follow him. "Haou-sama will determine what to do with you and your pearl." The sight of it also reminded him that they should deal with those who dwelled on the shore of the great ocean. The sooner they were under Haou-sama's thumb the better.
Of course, that applied to everyone in this world, and Chaos Sorcerer looked forward to making it so.
To Be Continued
Notes: This one is for day #4 of WIP Week: Canon-verse WIP. I truly enjoy writing about Juudai's time in black armor, so I plan to have fun with this.
Also, Sasithorn means 'the moon'.