ONIX-21: Glad you liked :). Poor Jou indeed. There's some Jou-angst in this chapter as well. And even more in the next one…hehehe. Oh, they will but not for a while yet. But I can assure you that all the characters shall have at least a semi-happy ending. Yeah…about time, right? But it's kind of hard to make them show their love to each other without the other getting the clue...plus the fact the authorness here has never been in love doesn't exactly help the matters…
Chiyoko-chan: I'm glad you are happy :D. Isn't the early manga just great? Yami is a badass XD. But you're right, he's also creepy…But I recantly bought some Yugioh Millennium World mangas and in the beginning of one of them Kazuki says he was plannign to make Yugioh horror manga at first, which might explain why Yami is so scary-looking.
Seto really is crazy in the beginning isn't he? But certainly NOT nice. But his green hair…who in the world made that idea up? He did what, what?
Is your toothpaste a bit too sweet? ;).
The Desert Spirit: Well, then I'm glad to have helped you to find one :D. There's no hurry, read it slowly but surely :). I'll be glad if I might give you inspiration :D.
Wrong guess ;). But thanks for trying! Gives you a not-chocolate cookie for that.
SRRH: Glad you think so :).
yugixyamiyaoilover: Thanks! Atemu saves the day, yay! :). Post it soon, I'd love to read it!
Nyago: Thanks! :D. You are too :).
Whew! I'm glad someone else than me and LeShie thought it was fluffy! It's hard to put in fluffiness when the couple isn't supposed to know the each other's feelings…which is why Yuugi was asleep, but whatever. Yup, Anzu is awesome :D. I've grown really fond of her lately. Oh, you have no idea what I'm doing to Kokurano to punish him…
Mumbled yelling coming from my closet that sounds oddly like "Let me out!"
Ehehehehe.
I would be glad to see you on LJ :D. And on DeviantArt :).
You're welcome :). But like said above, it's hard to put even subtle affection to the fic…plus I've never been in love myself so it's making it even harder because I don't know what love feels like. Y'know? That's why I'm sometimes insecure that the love I put in my stories is too subtle or something. I love romance, but it's a little hard to write for me. Sorry about that.
Shia Ghost: Oh nononono! He is going to marry him, sometime in the future universes of this story, that much I can reveal! Kokurano was right on that one. I always plan out more to the story than I put in it, so the futures for my characters are already really clear for me ;).
Kisses are good for everyone! Yeah…oh, well he will be awake eventually when they do it. Seto is a bit of a jerk in this chapter now that he appears, but I hope you won't mind. That's how he is.
iheartatem: You got it! Gives you one of those big chocolate cookies we sold to get money for the class trip. Glad you liked :). I'll try my best!
TsukiDragon: Show me that list! XD. My poor Atemu! If you were traumatised, how about I put Heba and you in the closet for a while? You can do some 'catching up' X). Hehehehe. I really am perverted nowadays aren't I?
I'm looking forward to that one too! I might put it to be the chapter following the next one :D.
CrystalSlashlover: Hugs back. Thanks! And I loved it too!
Amaya: Oh, I'm so sorry! Gives you some aspirin and teeth-brushing equipment. I did warn you! But glad you liked!
Atemu Yugi Lover34: I'm glad :). You think so? Thanks! Fluff is good for everyone!
SumireMayonaka: Hey, you got it right! Gives you a chocolate cookie. Abridged is always funny! Sings You'll Never Stop the Abridged.
I'm glad you like it so much! It's flattering! It's alright, better late than never :). You have no idea how happy I became reading your comment. Long and nice and everything :).
I've grown fond of Anzu now :). Her season zero self is awesome, I wouldn't bash her! Besides, for me the bashing is starting to get a bit old anyway. It's too exaggerated. Anzu is a good person, really! But I didn't like her in that chapter much either. Then again, I didn't really like the whole chapter in general very much. Too much Revolutionshipping.
Of course it is!
I'll be waiting!
LeShea-is-Love: Well, you got it too! Gives you a chocolate cookie. I'm sort of disappointed so less got the reference, really.
It was one of my favourites as well (I also like chapter six very much). I improve all the time and I'm very happy about it! I'm glad I managed to sneak the kiss in! :D.
I hope so! Wish me luck along the way!
-
This chapter includes some Honda and Miho-bashing. Not intentional, but necessary for the plot to move on. I hope no one minds
The sun was setting over Domino City, painting the walls and roofs of houses gold, orange, red, and violet and casting dark shadows as the sun dimmed. The sun itself was looking almost dangerous with its blood red hues as it prepared to go for its well deserved night time sleep. The scene was really quite beautiful, sort of like the one you would like to share with the one you love.
But one certain tall brunette wasn't looking at the sunset with that sweet lovesick look in his eyes that many couples sitting on park benches did. His eyes were filled with rage and he was gritting his teeth in anger as he recalled the events from some time ago.
'Amun…' The brunette thought in fury.
"Kaiba, you don't get it, do you? You don't understand why the Blue-Eyes White Dragon won't attack." That's what he had said. That damned Amun Yami… "It's because your soul isn't in the card! Instead, I see Mutou Sugoroku's soul in it…Its fate to fight and loyalty to Sugoroku-san were clashing. As resolution, it destroyed itself."
"That's not possible!" the brunette remembered himself shouting. "A card does not possess a will of its own!"
He remembered the smirk on Yami's face as he said: "Believe that if you want."
Those words haunted him more than anything that had happened that day. "Believe that if you want."
"Damn you, Amun!" Kaiba Seto seethed. "I will definitely drive you to your knees when you loose!" then, for a moment his face became gentler as he glanced at a framed picture that was on desk in front of him.
Jou smiled and waved happily at him from the photograph, his brown eyes sparkling. 'Katsuya…I swear I'll get you back to me too. What we had won't end so easily.'
Seto gave the picture one last glance before looking up. "Four Game Masters!" he called out to empty space. It was as if he was talking to the dragon statues standing on top of the pillars in the each corner of the room. "The time for you to show your powers has come." Kaiba spoke. "Amun Yami…take him down!"
Just then the small round jewel on one of the statue's head, the one that was closest on the left to Seto, started to glow light green in the darkening room. It gave out a very ominous feeling.
Chapter nine: The Four Game Masters! Finally on the move
While it was late evening in Domino, Japan, in London, England it was still afternoon, three o'clock exactly, as the Big Ben was just now making it clear. As its bells rang, some white doves flew past it.
In the old side of London, there were many aged mansions standing. In the garden of one of the mansions, one that was a little decayed from here and there as its paint was already starting to chip away from walls, a fancy tea party was being held.
The guests were both men and women, but they were all dressed in fine, glittering attire, lightly conversing near tables that were set with very delicious-looking cakes. Behind them there was a fountain and that supported small arched roofs covered in green vine and various flowered vegetation.
From the mansion then stepped out an elderly gentleman with white hair and moustache dressed in a fine brown suit, white shirt underneath and a wine red bow. He had a monocle covering his left eye, and he carried a pipe in his right hand and a girl-doll with curly light blonde tresses and greenish blue eyes dressed in a Victorian light brown dress in his left.
"Everyone, are you enjoying yourselves?" the man asked from his guests. None of them answered him. "I, Sheldon, am delighted that the weather is so fine for our tea party." The man continued. "Please take your time and enjoy yourselves." Then he looked down to the doll he was carrying with a gentle look in his eyes. "Okay, Fiona." He spoke to it. "It's time for biscuits." The doll stared mutely at him with its big eyes. "Why don't I treat everyone my household's special biscuits?" the gentleman asked the doll, finishing with a sort of smirk. He was silent for a moment, before saying: "I see. So you're pleased too, Fiona?" he laughed quietly a bit, but the doll merely kept staring mutely back at him.
Concentrated in his girl-doll and guests, the man called Sheldon didn't at first notice the silver-coloured helicopter flying towards his home and his garden. But when he did notice it, he was more than little surprised. "What's that?!" he asked out loud as the helicopter started to land in the middle of his yard. "How rude! We're in the middle of tea party!" the air waves the helicopter made caused the tables and the "guests" start to fly away, making the dishes on the tables fall and shatter.
Now you could see that the guests of the tea party weren't even real humans. They were all human-sized dolls similar to manikins you saw in fashion boutiques. The wavering air caused some of the dolls to fall and break, as an example was a woman doll with straight blonde hair that lost a left arm and the wig it had for hair.
Sheldon didn't seem very pleased about this until he saw the logo on the side of the helicopter. "Fiona, Kaiba-sama has summoned me it seems." He once again spoke to the doll as the wavering of the air slowly started to stop.
-
The next day back in Domino, six friends were having a small game during the break time in their school on a desk of one of them. Two of the group were playing against one another, a girl with bluish hair pulled on a ponytail and a small boy with spiky tri-coloured hair. The game was just ending.
"Yuugi wins!" Jou announced, not sounding even slightly surprised.
"No…" Miho whined at her loss.
"I don't believe it." Honda stated his option.
"I did it! I won!" Yuugi said happily with a smile on his face and one Duel Monster card in his hand.
"No way! I lost?" Miho whined again, glancing at the four cards in her hands with a sulky look on her face.
"Way to go, Yuugi!" Anzu praised her small friend with a smile.
"Good job!" Yami agreed. Yuugi smiled at them, blushing slightly at Yami's compliment.
"Man, that Silent Swordsman of yours is pretty strong. You really are unbeatable in games." Jou commended.
Yuugi looked a little uneasy at what his blonde friend had said. "B-but this is the first time I've won in this game…" he muttered, feeling kind of embarrassed and startled at Jou's compliment.
"That's only because you only ever play with Yams here and we all know there's no way to beat him." Jou answered to that, waving his index finger in front of his face as if to confirm his point. Yami smiled softly at the compliment he had received.
Just then everyone's attention was taken when Miho's voice started to whimper softly and her shoulders trembled slightly. She held her left hand below her eye as if to wipe away tears that weren't even coming. "But this is Miho's first time playing this card game too…" she muttered, sniffing.
"Miho-chan…" Yuugi muttered, feeling kind of guilty now for making the girl cry. In slight shame he cast his eyes on his knees under the desk.
As Miho continued to cry and Yuugi kept staring at his knees guiltily, out of nowhere Honda rushed close to Yuugi, placing his both hands on the desk in front of the small boy, yelling: "Why you, Yuugi!" so surprisingly that the spiky-haired boy fell off his chair on his back with one leg still on the chair. "You made Miho-chan cry!" Honda continued to yell at Yuugi who was now lying on the classroom floor. "You didn't act like a man should have! I, beautification member Honda Hiroto-sama, will clean up your dirtied spirit!"
Poor Yuugi, who wasn't sure what to say to Honda's words, merely muttered a soft and quiet "I'm sorry…"
But Yami wasn't going to just stand in the side when someone insulted the boy he loved. He kneeled next to Yuugi, supporting his back and helping him to sit up better on the floor. Seeing what he did, Yuugi smiled at Yami with a semi-blush. "Wait a minute, Honda. It's not Yuugi's fault. This is a game, after all. Every game has a winner and a loser." Yami said in Yuugi's defence.
With a sly grin, Jou also stood in Yuugi's side. "That's true. Chill out, Mr. Janitor."
Honda was immediately distracted by the fact Jou was once again making fun of his title. "Beatification member!"
"Eh? Squid member(1)?" Jou asked, neither continuing to tease Honda or to see how far the taller boy was willing to go with this.
"Yes, yes!" Honda confirmed for some reason. "I'm the white creature that swims in the ocean with ten legs. And a natural cutie of course…"
"That's an octopus member." Jou said calmly with his eyes closed.
"No! I'm a beautification member!" Honda corrected Jou and himself, realising Jou had fooled him.
"Eh? Mandarin member(2)?"
"Yes, yes." Honda confirmed wrongly again. "Full of vitamin C. Round, sweet and a bit acid mandarin."
Jou sighed. "How long are you going to keep this up?"
"You're the one forcing me to!" Honda yelled at the blonde before turning back to Yuugi, who had by now stood himself up from the floor. "I was talking to Yuugi, anyway!"
"In any case it's not Yuugi's fault." Yami again defended his childhood friend. Yuugi again looked up to Yami's face with a grateful smile. He wasn't quite sure what to do so he was happy Yami was helping him out. And these kind of things were nice. They showed Yami cared about him.
"That's right. There's no need for him to apologise." Anzu agreed with Yami.
At these words Miho stood from her chair and placed herself in Honda's arms, saying his name in sad tone of voice to make him take her side. Honda blushed, trembling in happiness and nervousness as Miho cried into his chest. Just then he gathered himself again and again blamed Yuugi despite the blush still lingering on his face. "It's definitely Yuugi's fault!"
"Sorry…" Yuugi muttered once more, feeling it was what he was expected to do.
"I told you that you don't have to apologise." Anzu told him, giving a small, light punch at the back of Yuugi's head to scold him.
"Yeah. Honda, can't you give the poor guy a break? This isn't such big of a deal." Jou agreed.
"Mind your own business, Jou! Just because the one you have a crush on doesn't like you back it doesn't mean you need to infer with things that you shouldn't!"
But just then Honda realised just what he had said and clapped his hand on his mouth. Anzu and Yami sent blaming glares towards him and Yuugi looked kind of awkward, not sure whether to be angry or try and comfort Jou or something else. Jou's eyes found the floor.
"Jou, I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Honda muttered quietly, breaking the intense silence.
"It's fine…" Jou muttered even more quietly than his brunette fellow, his voice sounding oddly creaky. "I want to be alone for a moment." And he quickly left the classroom.
After he was gone, Anzu scolded Honda with a "Now look what you did!"
-
Jou ran in the corridor, wishing desperately he wouldn't bump into someone. His eyes were blurry; he couldn't see anything that was in front of him. Thankfully there was no one around and he didn't run into anyone.
Jou didn't slow down until he reached the janitor's closet. He didn't even check no one was looking before sliding inside the closet. The old mixed smell of mould, detergent and unwashed floor filled his nose.
Jou shut the door behind him and lit the lamp. Shelves filled with plastic buckets and cleaning cloths came visible among with the corners filled with different sorts of mops and the grey floor. This was the only place in the entire school where Jou could be totally alone.
He put his hand into his pocket and took out the card with a picture of a black dragon with red eyes. Some tears dropped on the card.
Just when Jou noticed he was crying he furiously wiped his eyes. 'Why can't I forget about him?' he quietly asked from himself in anger. 'I haven't heard of him for months yet he keeps coming back to my thoughts! But every time I think about wanting to forget about him it's like a voice inside me is telling me "You shouldn't forget. You should forgive". A part of me wants to forget but the other part wants him to come back and never let me go again!' he hugged the Red-Eyes card against his chest. 'Seto…what went wrong with us?'
-
Meanwhile in the said young man's home, an elderly hand held up a photograph closer to his face to see the tri-colour haired boy with dark violet eyes that was reading a book in the picture better.
"This little brat?" the elderly gentleman asked in 'You've got to be kidding me' tone of voice.
"Mind the way you talk to me, Sheldon, or something not very pleasant might happen to your precious dolly." A younger man, a brunette with blue eyes talked back to the elderly man, holding Sheldon's Fiona-doll in his arms and tightening the hold with his words.
"Y-yes I will, Kaiba-sama." Sheldon muttered, slight fear visible in his eyes.
"Good." Seto replied. "Anyway, what you see in the picture is not the true strength of Amun Yami I want you to defeat. He has some kind of another face, one that is of an invincible game master. Someday there will be a chance for you to see it too. And when that time comes, you will be needed as one of me, Kaiba Seto's proud Four Game Masters!" then Kaiba threw the Fiona-doll in the air towards Sheldon, who quickly caught it. "Have it back for now to act on your duties, Count Ridley Sheldon."
-
Later that day, the school was over and Anzu was saying goodbyes to Yami and Yuugi. The others had already left.
"Bye Anzu, we still have something to do so we better start going." Yami said with a small smile as beside him Yuugi stepped from one foot to another and looking at the floor with an uneasy and softly blushing expression on his face.
"Wait a moment you two. You're not going to the game centre again, are you?" Anzu asked with a suspicious tone of voice and expression. Honestly, couldn't these two spend their spare time doing something else than playing games? Like dating each other.
Yuugi almost jumped as the blush on his face increased. "N-no, that's not it." he muttered anxiously.
"You both put way too much money on games already. Try to find a cheaper hobby, will you?"
"We're not going to the game centre Anzu!" Yami quickly blurted out and grabbed Yuugi's wrist, pulling him into run with him. They both gave Anzu one last look and yelled "Bye now!" to her.
"That's suspicious." Anzu muttered to herself before leaving. It wasn't like it was her business. Besides, in the book of such game geeks as Yami and Yuugi, this might even count as a date!
"Whew, that was close! Who knew Anzu was so observant?" Yuugi asked from Yami when they were still running.
"Maybe she isn't, it might be that she just knows us too well." Yami replied to him, enjoying the excuse to be so close to his crush. He then slowed the running into walking and instead of holding onto Yuugi's wrist he took a hold of his hand instead. A small pink covered Yuugi's cheeks but he was happy nevertheless about the situation.
"So," Yami continued, winking and smirking down at Yuugi in his attractive way. "Let's not keep that new K.I.S fighting game waiting, shall we?"
-
The game centre wasn't that far from Domino High, so it didn't take too long for Yami and Yuugi to reach it. They came here often. "Game Play" was so close to their school and it always had the newest and coolest games to offer.
As they stepped inside the building they saw the centre was filled with people as usual. The people were playing many different kind of games. Yami and Yugi examined the room with a practiced eye but could not seem to locate the game they had came here for.
"Maybe it's not here yet?" Yami asked out loud.
"I hope not…" Yuugi murmured sadly. He had been looking forward to this so much!
Just then, someone who appeared to be an employee of the game centre walked up to them. He was just a bit taller than them, had short dark brown hair, big round glasses and was wearing light blue buttoned shirt with short sleeves and high collar, brown pants and green worker apron. "Can I help you guys with something?" the worker asked from them, sounding pleasant enough.
"Yeah, we're looking for the newest game that was supposed to come here today. Is it not here yet?" Yami asked from him.
"Oh, that one! Sure it is here. Right this way." He gestured in the direction to a farther corner of the game centre. "You guys are the first guests to play that game. Follow me please."
"Really? We're the first?!" Yuugi exclaimed happily. But Yami's eyes flashed suspiciously.
"This way." The worker said, appearing next to a door he had walked to, still leading the way. Yuugi rushed towards him and Yami followed, even though he really had a bad feeling about this. But he couldn't leave Yuugi alone if something were to happen. Neither of the tri-colour haired boys noticed the exit sign on top of the door they had walked into.
"We sure are lucky, aren't we Yami?" Yuugi asked from him with a glee smile.
"I suppose…" Yami muttered, still feeling something was not quite right. Why was this game so isolated from the other ones? Usually the newest games were the ones most visible and most advertised by bright colours.
Quite soon, the group of three reached another door, one that the worker opened. They all stepped out of the door and that's when the two boys noticed they had come back outside. In front of the door, a car was parked. The door to its backseat nearest the door they had come out of was open.
"Isn't this the back door?" Yuugi asked, sounding confused. As he said those words, Yami understood something really was wrong. But before he could warn Yuugi about it, the 'worker' had pulled them both to the backseat of the car and held them down, tying their hands behind their backs. Well, he himself did that for Yami. He had a henchman doing the same for Yuugi.
"What are you doing?!" Yami yelled furiously.
"Let us go!" Yuugi added.
"I didn't mean for you to get involved in this too, brat, but I suppose it couldn't be avoided. I know you, Yami, wouldn't leave anywhere without him even if someone asked you. You two just never split up, do you?" The 'worker' holding Yami down sneered at them, not making a move to let either one of them to go.
"So this is the famous Amun Yami…" said a male voice from the front seat. Yami and Yuugi looked up to see a foreign elderly man. "I can't wait to play with you…"
"What?" Yami asked out loud.
"He is one of the Four Game Masters, Count Ridley Sheldon."
"Huh?" Yuugi gave a soft questioning gasp. Just then, the 'worker' took one of his hands that he was using to hold Yami down and to tie his hands to lift it up to his chin and to remove a mask from his face, revealing a brunette young man the two boys remembered all too well.
"Kaiba?!" they both exclaimed out loud.
"I will bring you to your knees yet, Amun! In the Castle of Dolls!" Kaiba swore, as if to explain the situation to the two, but neither one of them was really sure where he was getting at. They just wondered what 'the Castle of Dolls' might mean.
-
Before long, they found out. Either one of the two boys wasn't quite sure how they had ended up in there, but right now they were in a room filled with dolls that were surrounding one small table with a Duel Monsters field set on it and two chairs set around it. It was as if the dolls were staring at them. Most of them didn't even have real eyes and had their mouths open in '0' shape. It only added the creepy feeling of the room.
Yuugi who stood beside Yami who had been seated on one of the chairs around the table eyed the dolls nervously.
'This is just too eerie…' he thought to himself, not willing to show his fear in front of Kaiba who had previously stolen his Grandpa's precious card. But since Yuugi wasn't really the best at keeping his emotions hidden, the dolls didn't help either, it was fairly visible to everyone in the room what he was thinking.
"Does something in this Castle of Dolls displease you?" Count Sheldon asked from him.
"All those eyes staring at us are just too creepy." Yuugi admitted.
"They all want to see Amun falling to his knees in loss!" Kaiba said, laughing. Yami and Yuugi glared at him angrily. When he was really angry, even Yuugi could hold up a pretty scary face. No one insulted Yami like that and got away with it! Kaiba continued: "Hurry and pull your cards, Amun! Begin the game!"
'I suppose I have no choice if we want to get out of here.' Yami thought, pulling his Duel Monsters deck out of his pocket and placing it on the table before drawing five cards and putting them into his hand.
Meanwhile, the Count had done the same and was already placing a card on the field. "I will use this card first." He said. "Neon Knight, attack mode on the Mountain field!"
'Neon Knight? That rare card?' Yami asked himself in disbelief. 'Starting off with a move like that, you can see he's done this before. Neon Knight's attack power is quite strong.' Neon Knight had 1800 points of attack and 1200 of defence.
"Now, show me that true strength of yours." Sheldon encouraged Yami to make his move. He was actually kind of curious to see what kind of super game player was hidden behind those violet eyes.
Yami checked his hand cards. 'Right now I don't have a card that can defeat Neon Knight.' He thought. 'It can't be helped then.'
"I will play Devil Dragon on the Wasteland field in defence mode." Yami said, placing his card on the field. He had to stay calm. His chance would come.
The Count glared at Yami's card. "You will regret playing so passively." Yami looked up. "Do you know why I left Neon Knight on the mountain?" Sheldon asked. "That's because on the Mountain field the lightning will help him."
Neon Knight stroke with his Lighting Sword, destroying the Devil Dragon immediately. But for some reason, the lightning came out real and hit Yami so hard that he fell from the chair to the floor on his stomach.
"Yami!" Yuugi yelled, crouching next to him to help him up. "What did you do?!" as he yelled at Kaiba and Sheldon, Yuugi didn't notice the Wadjet Eye on Yami's Millennium Puzzle glowing.
"I told he would regret it." Sheldon said simply. "This is the Castle of Dolls. Even if his monster was in defence mode and his life points won't decrease, a fight is a fight. Yami-kun, if you're going to fight me, fight me head on!"
Just then, Yami's form started to stand back up from the floor, taking support from Yuugi's shoulder with his hand. "That's true." He said, but his voice sounded deeper than before. Yuugi, too, noticed it. Atemu was at Yami's place again. "How idiotic of me, being protective and getting hurt." Atemu continued, turning around to face his two opponents. "Now it's my turn."
'There he is.' Kaiba thought, smirking. He had been waiting for this!
Atemu smirked back at the brunette. "I will surely attack you, Count Sheldon."
'He looks different. This isn't the same person from before.' Sheldon realised as Atemu gave Yuugi his hand and helped him back up. Then he seated himself back on his chair, observing his cards once again.
Soon enough he took one card in between his fingers. "Death Wolf in attack mode on the Forest field." He explained what he was going to do, and placed the said card to the right field.
"Wolf monster Death Wolf?" Sheldon muttered. Death Wolf had 1200 points of both attack and defence.
"Plus one more card. Shadowman." Atemu told Sheldon, placing the card in the Forest with the Wolf.
"You're planning to fight Neon Knight using Shadowman's Dark Sword?" Sheldon asked. "I think that is pretty reckless."
'He's right, but…I can't help but feel Atemu has some other plan.' Yuugi thought from beside Atemu, following the duel carefully.
Atemu smirked, as if to confirm Yuugi's suspicion. "Really?"
"I wonder how long that confidence of yours will last." Sheldon mused. "Well then, you and I will have a true battle. I play King Beetle!" the said card had 1400 points of attack and 1000 of defence. Atemu smirked. "There is no way King Beetle's flame attack can be overcome by Death Wolf and Shadowman! Too bad for you!"
Atemu just kept on the confident smirk. "That's actually my line. You didn't think that one through, Count Sheldan." He said. "Shadowman!"
At his words, the room started to get darker. "Th-this is…" Sheldon gasped in awe and fear.
"Shadowman's use isn't battle." Atemu explained. "He uses his Dark Sword to cover the field with darkness."
"Damn!"
'Yes!' Yuugi silently cheered on Atemu.
"King Beetle and Neon Knight are weak in darkness, but Death Wolf is strong in it!"
Death Wolf attacked Neon Knight and was able to beat it. After that, it ran and disappeared into the darkness. That moment, Sheldon decided to fight it with King Beetle's fire attacks instead.
"That's it! Strike back, King Beetle!"
"How pointless." Atemu muttered, sounding almost mocking. Then he made Death Wolf fight King Beetle back. However, when the wolf took the bug's horn in its jaws, it didn't seem to work. "What's wrong? Cut the horn!" Death Wolf kept on biting the horn, but at first nothing still happened. Finally, it managed and the flames from the horn filled the room, hitting Sheldon. The Death Wolf thankfully managed to escape them.
"You let your guard down, Count Sheldon. I win this round." Atemu said.
'Still, even though he won, I feel something is wrong. Why couldn't Death Wolf cut King Beetle's horn? It should be stronger with the effect of darkness.' Yuugi wondered to himself.
Sheldon, who had fallen on the floor by the effect of the flames painfully stood back up to his chair. "Damn you!" he spat at Atemu. Then he turned to look at his small Victorian doll. "Are you alright, Fiona?" As per usual, Fiona didn't answer. But Sheldon saw it was badly burned all over just as he was. His eyes were filled with sadness, before he turned back to Atemu with desire for revenge in them. "Unforgivable!"
Atemu gave a quiet chuckle, never letting his confident look fade. "Now, it's your turn."
"Hurry and continue the game, Sheldon!" Kaiba, who had been silent until now, ordered the said count.
"R-right." Sheldon answered him before drawing a card. "Gargoyle on the Mountain field! Just try and take his Tornado attack!"
"Go! Knight Soldier!" Atemu fought back. With his shield, Knight Soldier was able to block the Tornado before fighting back. "In a close up battle, Knight Soldier with his sword has an advantage." Atemu spoke. The soldier attacked with the sword, but it didn't do a thing to the gargoyle. "The sword doesn't work?"
Sheldon laughed lowly as his gargoyle destroyed Atemu's soldier with its claws. "Now possible…Knight Soldier who had a sword lost to Gargoyle!" Atemu exclaimed.
'Well now I know something is wrong in this battle.' Yuugi thought. 'I hope Atemu will notice it too.'
Sheldon laughed.
'What's going on?' Atemu wondered. 'Come to think of it, it also happened with King Beetle. Death Wolf's fangs weren't able to bite off its horn in one try. There is something weird going on. For a sword to not affect Gargoyle. Why?!'
Sheldon laughed again. "It's your turn, Yami-kun." Then he again looked at his doll. "Now, look Fiona as I make him fall down to his knees in loss."
'He keeps looking at that creepy doll of his.' Just then, Atemu realised something. 'A doll? I see, so that's what it was! This is the Castle of Dolls. All the monsters he controls are dolls. This is a Doll field!'
"Hurry up, Yami-kun!" Sheldon urged Atemu in English.
"Hurry up and admit your defeat!" Kaiba sneered.
"Think all you want but it'll still be a waste of time." Sheldon told him.
'No! There must be some way out of this mess!' Yuugi tried to keep his hope up.
'A Doll field…' Atemu thought intensely. "Alright, I'll attack! I'll use a magic card on Death Wolf." Atemu told, placing the magic card on top the Death Wolf's. "Howl, Death Wolf!"
And howl it did. The howling made the air wave which in turn started making Gargoyle suffer.
"Th-this is…" Sheldon exclaimed out loud.
"By the effect of this magic card, Death Wolf's howl turns into a deadly power." Death Wolf howled again as if to confirm Atemu's words.
"You're trying to cast a curse, huh?" Sheldon asked. "Don't kid with me! Burn everything away, Salamander!" he yelled, placing the monster of 1000 points of attack and 900 of defence on the field.
"It's no use. A doll monster can't win against the deadly wave." Atemu told him. "They'll soon be demolished."
"Why you little…!" In just a moment, the deadly wavers started making the Gargoyle crack and slowly fall into pieces. "Oh no! Gargoyle!" Just after those words, the head of the Salamander also dropped off. "Salamander!"
'Way to go, Atemu!' Yuugi silently cheered.
The said boy smirked once more, with the words "I win." coming from his mouth. Salamander broke completely into pieces and Sheldon once again fell on the floor. "Game over." Atemu said, standing up from his chair. "Too bad, Count Sheldon." Sheldon shivered in pain on the floor.
"Yay! You won, Atemu!" Yuugi praised the taller boy.
"Yeah. Now let's get out of here." The two boys walked towards the door of the room. But just when they were ready to exit it, Atemu turned around to face Kaiba.
"Kaiba, if you want Jounouchi to take you back, you should show it to him by kindness, not by force. He still does love you back as well. Call him."
Yuugi and Kaiba's eyes widened slightly at his words before Atemu led Yuugi out of the door.
-
Very soon after, Atemu and Yuugi were walking towards their homes together in silence.
"Hey, Atemu…?" Yuugi broke it. Atemu looked down at him. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. What is it?" he paused. "You can ask me, but it depends on your question whether I can answer it or not."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask more about who you are, I know you won't answer me." Yuugi assured him. "I wanted to ask…why did you say that to Kaiba? I mean, the thing about him and Jou? Isn't Kaiba our enemy? Why do you want him back together with Jou? Wouldn't he be better off without Kaiba?"
"It was a promise I made to an old friend. I'm not about to not keep it."
'An old friend?' Yuugi mused as the silence between them returned. After a while Yuugi broke it again. "I just…I don't want him to get hurt again."
"I know." Atemu said. "But wasn't it you who told my host it wasn't good to infer with other people's love lives? That Jounouchi could take care of himself?"
"Yeah, but that was before I found out what kind of horrible person Kaiba is!" Yuugi almost yelled.
Atemu sighed. "Yuugi, you have every right to hate Kaiba for what he has done, but you must trust Jounouchi on this. It's his decision, he knows what he will be risking if he decides to take Kaiba back. Believe me, things will get ugly if you try to tell him not to see Kaiba anymore." He paused. "This reminds me of something that happened between some of my friends years ago. You want to hear the story?"
"Sure."
"Well, two of my friends – how about we call them J and H? – were one of the closest friends in our little group. They were kind of like brothers, always there for one another.
However, when they got a little older, J fell in love with someone who H didn't especially like. J's lover and J hadn't previously got along very well either, so it might've been that H was also worried that J's lover was just using J's love to hurt him. J had been hurt many times in the past and I guess H didn't want him to be sad anymore. They fought about the issue a lot. It was horrible, awkward time for us all. We weren't used to them fighting because they usually got along so well. We weren't sure on which side to stand on.
Well, some time passed and J and H still hadn't made up. J announced that he and his lover were getting married soon. We were all happy for him, except for H. They fought again.
Then, J went to tell his family about his upcoming marriage. His family didn't approve of his relationship with his lover, and they gave him two choices, them or his lover. He chose his lover because he had drifted apart from his family during the years, whereas his lover had been there and supported him. He was heartbroken about having been forced to make such decision and none of us could comfort him. J was usually so strong and never cried in front of us, it was weird for us to see him so weak. I guess that's why we felt awkward comforting him, as he had usually been the one to comfort us. It was selfish of us, I know, but we just couldn't do it.
Finally, H stepped up and comforted J. He told him that if this was how things were going to be, he could at least try and get along with J's lover. He still wanted to be a part of J's life. That cheered J up and the two made up.
J made H meet his lover once in a while, and slowly they started getting along better. They were never friends, but they no longer hated each other or fought much either. This way they could both be and keep peace with J. They both loved him after all – in their own ways – and didn't want to lose him. That's how it worked out for all of us." Atemu finished his tale.
"I understand where you're getting at." Yuugi said. He paused for a while before saying: "Sounds like you miss your friends a lot."
"More than I can say…" Atemu admitted quietly.
"But you probably miss your own lover even more, don't you? Heba, right?"
Atemu blushed lightly. "Yeah…I do.
"Where is he now, if you don't mind me asking?"
A sigh. "Somewhere where I can't go. Not now at least." There was the utter sadness in his voice that Yuugi had seen in his eyes many times when Atemu had looked at him when they had first met. As if he could read his mind, Atemu said: "Yuugi, I'm really sorry for showing…that kind of affection towards you in the beginning. I knew you loved my host and that's why I thought I would be enough for you because of our similar appearances. It was foolish of me. Heba is my one true love, and even though you also look like him, you can never be him. So…I really am sorry."
"It's alright, I actually figured all that out by myself." Yuugi reassured.
At that, Atemu stopped. Yuugi stopped with him. Atemu looked deep into his face, but not with the love in his eyes that burned for his real lover. "Funny how two such similar-looking people can be so different." He said with a small fond smile.
"How come?"
"Well, Heba was…unforgiving. I don't think he would've forgiven someone so easily for paying lip-service to him in the way I did to you." Yuugi blushed a little at Atemu's words.
"Are our similar appearances why you keep protecting me? Do I remind you of him?" Yuugi then asked, as the two started walking again.
"That, and because you are important to my host." Atemu replied, looking ahead but not at Yuugi. "I owe him for something I can't yet tell you about. That's why I've sworn to protect him and the people he cares about. But I'm also very grateful to you too." Now he looked at Yuugi. "Looking at you makes me remember things about Heba I was afraid I had forgotten. Even though remembering him when I can't be with him hurts me some, it also makes me happy. I want to remember him, so that I can always keep on loving him. Even though we had our troubles and sad times, there was at least one moment each day when I was happy we were in love back when we were together. That's why I'm happy I can still love him. That I can still remember him."
Yuugi smiled serenely. "Glad I can help." He said. "Would you tell me about him? Heba, I mean. I would love to hear what he was like."
"Well, alright." Atemu said, but there was a tone in his voice that told Yuugi he had actually really wanted to talk about Heba with someone. "He was…quiet, most of the time. Somewhat cold as well. Distrustful. But he had his reasons for it. I don't know everything but I know he had been hurt really badly as a child. He didn't tell me much about himself, I guess he just wanted to forget it altogether. But if you gained his trust like I did, he could also be very kind and gentle. You could count on that he would be there for you through thick and thin. He didn't smile much, and laughed even less, but when he did his smile was the most beautiful thing ever seen and his laugh the most wonderful sound. Maybe making him smile was the reason I fell in love with him in the first place. His smile was like a wonderful drug you got addicted to already the first time you saw it. I wanted him to smile more and be happy since the day we met. Wanting to make him smile grew into an obsession and slowly I noticed I was in love with him. He was also very efficient and determined about his dreams and beliefs. Strong-willed, but not one to tell the others about their problems."
Yuugi giggled softly. "It seems we have kind of similar taste in guys." He said. It sounded like Yami and Heba were quite alike.
Atemu chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we do." Then he stopped again. "Looks like we're here." And they were indeed, just on the street between Yami and Yuugi's homes. "See you again, Yuugi. It was nice talking to you." Atemu gave the smaller boy one last smile before he gave the control back to Yami.
"Huh? Where am I? What hap-" Yami had no time to finish his sentence as Yuugi leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. Yami turned beet red. It wasn't as good as the kiss on the lips about a week ago, but still so wonderful…
After he'd kissed him, Yuugi smiled gently up at Yami saying: "See you tomorrow." and running to his house. Yami slowly and softly placed his hand on his cheek where Yuugi had kissed him, still blushing. Slowly he gathered himself, and while smiling happily entered his own home as well.
-
Sometime later that evening, it rained as Sheldon left the Castle of Dolls with Fiona in his arms as usual. "I'll get you touched up, Fiona." The Count spoke to his doll. The right side of Fiona's face had cracked in the battle. "How silly of me." Sheldon then spoke. "I'm an Englishman but I forgot my umbrella." He mildly laughed at himself. "How pitiful."
From the window of the Castle, Kaiba watched Sheldon go, before holding his hand in a tight fist in fury. "How dare he tell me what to do!" he yelled. "Amun! Next time I'll beat you for sure!"
At that moment, for one reason or another, the glass in the frame of Jou's photograph Kaiba had, cracked.
-
Preview:
Yuugi: I was asked by Jou to join him while he visits someone in the hospital. What, his little sister?!
Jou: While we are there, I meet a nurse, Miyuki-san who brings back some memories that are not mine! Could she have some relation to Seto?
Yami: But there is a doctor who is after the already engaged Miyuki-san! There are black rumours about that guy.
Yuugi: A new game awaits again!
All: Next time: Sudden turnaround! Jou's love rival?!
Jou: Kisara…just who does that name belong to?
(1) Beautification member is "bikaii" in Japanese (I think). Squid member would be "Ikai"
(2) The same as above, only mandarin member is "mikai" in Japanese.
People cheat in Season Zero Duel Monsters even more than they do in Duelist Kingdom. Geez.
I left the scene where Yami would've played against that nurse-doll Sheldon had out because in this story, Yami is actually a very good duelist for his own right. That scene wasn't very important anyway, so I decided it wasn't needed. The last scene with Miho and Yuugi playing again was taken out too, because it didn't seem very important either.
I really liked writing the scene where Atemu and Yuugi talk :).
