L'Maga Analogia

Canto II: First Revoke

In Yuuki's hand was Silver Fang. He growled, "How can I explain this?"

"Show me your card," said Beatrice, and Yuuki held it out. "A wolf with a snowy shine," she read its description. "Vicious, despite its beauty." She gave a little smirk. "Fine. Take your time. But until you've justified yourself, the Moon will hover over the game."

"And you're telling me to take my time?" Yuuki asked angrily.

"Relax. The Moon has no power to kill. It just raises the chance that they would be." She snickered.

"There is nothing funny about this!"

"Or maybe you haven't a sense of humor. Come to think of it, you never seemed to laugh even at your friends' little jokes." Beatrice sighed, and raised her brows. "Fine, I'll give you a time limit, since you want to know. Once Mokuba can't escape from the castle, I can pick whatever else I can control with my Moon. You'll be able to use that wolf until then."

Yuuki eyed Beatrice for a moment before turning to his Silver Fang. How could I help Mokuba from the shadows? It's a sick, cowardly attack! No…think! It's the Moon card that gives the impression of the dark. Beatrice's the one forcing this situation on me…I'll have to destroy that Moon, and use Silver Fang as a light…

He eyed the description. "A wolf that shines snow-white," he murmured, "but the kanji for snow here can also be read as silver. A wolf with a silver glow…"

"Heh?!" Mokuba released Shannon's hand and sped towards the trees. "Silver Fang!"

"…What is that, Mokuba?"

Mokuba blinked, and he turned to Shannon. "You've been using your honorifics on and off. Don't you get scolded?"

Shannon stopped in her tracks and blushed red. "I…I'm sorry…"

Mokuba shrugged. "Well, since we're alone, I guess I don't mind." He looked back into the wood. "It's Silver Fang alright. I wonder how this happened, though…" He bent down and clapped his hands at it. The silver wolf bounded right at him, and Mokuba drew back his hands from the fangs. "It's a Duel Monster," he said to Shannon. "I don't know how this came about, but—"

Silver Fang bared its teeth at Shannon, who immediately stepped back with fearful eyes. The wolf edged towards her until she'd taken a distance, before rounding Mokuba, nudging him back to where they'd come.

Shannon stepped forward, and Silver Fang bared its teeth again, wider. Furthermore, the fur that coated him blackened from his nose onwards to his face and front shoulders. Shannon stretched a careful hand at the animal, but it snapped warningly two centimeters beside her fingers. She pulled them back, and exchanged looks with Mokuba.

He wore a frown at her. "Something bad is gonna happen if I return to the castle. I better stay with Yuugi and the others."

"But, Mokuba-sama…!"

"It took a miracle for Silver Fang to have been summoned like this. And I know that he's Yuugi's card." He placed his hand over Silver Fang, and scratched between his ears. The wolf reared back, and took his position in front of Mokuba. "Sorry, Shannon-chan…but I can't trust Pegasus, even if you do. But you know what to tell him when you get back."

And he ran back down the path, leaving Shannon to hide her spite behind a pale, distressed face.

"Hahaha! Bravo! Bravo!" Beatrice praised as she took the Moon from play. "And I thought you'd be a boring, stubborn opponent. So you figure it out just by the silver glow?"

"It wasn't my basis," said Yuuki. "My answer was that my friends could not survive alone under the light of the moon. If Shannon were the Moon, as you used her, then all I needed to do was to give Mokuba a companion. He knew that I had Silver Fang in my deck."

"How do you explain the darkening of the fur?"

"Toxic chemicals blacken silver. That's why tableware like your teaspoons is silver."

"Not as dumb as I thought," said Beatrice. "In fact, far from it. It no longer seems that games and strategies are your only strong points." She leaned back, rested her chin over a knuckle, blotted out her grin and with a snap of her fingers, commanded the table between them to vanish. She drew another card, glanced at it, and set face down against her lap.

Yuuki fought to hide his agitation. "You're not showing it to me?"

"We're waiting for Mokuba to return to his friends," answered Beatrice, in a dull tone. "You destroyed my card, so I can't interfere. And yet, you don't look happy about it."

"Why would I be happy?" said Yuuki. "My friends were killed…over an argument that centered around you! I will have nothing when I return, so there is no point in it!" He raised a finger at her. "You'll definitely pay! I'll make you."

Beatrice sprung forward with a newly, though equally disgusting, enthusiasm. "Let me see you try! This is just the first round! Don't make yourself too comfortable; in fact, don't do so at all! Smartass or not, you're still a bratty loudmouth!" She relaxed back onto her chair, and mirrored Yuuki by pointing her finger at him. "I'll eat away your pride. I can nibble at it or bite chunks off it, whichever I choose, whenever I desire. I'll show that you'd be better off alone in your world instead of opposing me, Beatrice the Golden!"

"You're no Golden! There is no such thing as witches! You are no witch!"

"Silence!" Beatrice waved her raised hand, and set her other over the card that she'd drawn. "Honor your hostess!" She lifts the card. "Lest she disgraces your presence in her house!"

"Oh, as if you aren't disgracing me enough?" Yuuki said with sharp arrogance. "Fighting cowards like you disgusts me to no end! I'll show you the honor of a true duelist!"

Beatrice set her card down. "Stop blabbing and show me!"

"Are you serious?"

"It's true!" Mokuba confronted Honda. "Silver Fang took me away from Shannon-chan and brought me back here. Then he disappeared when we got close."

"It's pretty strange, though," said Yuugi, who looked at his own Silver Fang. "How could he have taken form outside a duel?"

"Doesn't matter," said Anzu, though not as optimistically. "We've kept him away from Pegasus. That's the only thing that matters."

"Oi, Anzu…is that all you can say?" asked Jounouchi.

She gave him a glare, and raised a brow in an unfamiliar arrogance. "Need I say more?"