Hey everyone.

Okay first off, I got a LOT to tell you guys. First off I apologize for the lateness of this chap (though I did say it would be up within two weeks). Anyway, as I've stated before i've been working religiously on my new puzzleshipping/lemon/one-shot. And i've finally found a title Masquerade. I'm so close to finishing it and its already 26 written pages, and the lemon alone is 7 1/2 PAGES!! WAHOO!

Anyway this is chapter nine, and I edited it, but don't expect Chapter 10 next week. My goal is to finish writing and post my one-shot. After that I plan to finish Chapter 10 after 5 LONG MONTHS OF idea and motivational block. I'm posting it on Deviantart first since they've been waiting longer.

My goal is to get them both written, typed, edited and posted before I leave for my Vacation in two weeks.

As always read and review and leave commants. Oh and since I have a feeling I'm going to get murdered after this chap, I've gone into hiding with only my laptop, my duel spirts and my Kurioh brothers.

Disclaimer:
(c) Yu-gi-oh, Yu-gi-oh GX and its character and monsters belong to the genius Kazuki Takahashi, who is one of my heros
(c) Thumbelina belongs to Hans Christian Anderson
(c) This idea, the Trickster faeries and anything not related to the two things above belong solely to me which means NO STEALING RO YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!

Chapter 9: The Long Search for Home

Vivian screamed and punched the abrasive bark of the dead tree again and again, no longer carrying if her glamour held or not. Her father has renounced trying to calm her down and had simply decided to let her carry on with her temper tantrum. He himself was still furious at that spoiled fairy brat for abandoning his daughter in such a brash manner, but being a wise man he simply kept his anger in check.

"How could he do this to me!" Vivian screamed and raked her nails across the rotten wood, clawing at the unfortunate decaying objects. "How could those winged insects kidnap him! How could he choose that-that-that-that-cockroach over me!"

"Dammit woman! If you want the boy back then go and get him!" Her father's voice thundered with anger, unable to keep his temper in check.

Vivian froze at the sentence. She already knew where the boy lived; she could no doubt find him before the faeries returned him home. Even if they arrive before her, all she had to do was kidnap him again, only this time she'd lock him up beneath the muck and keep him there. Winter was coming fast but as long as there was muck she could still move. All she had to do was find her beloved and marry him before the Spring.

A wicked smile curled across her lips as she snapped her fingers letting her glamour once again mask the truth behind her hideous form.

"That's exactly what I'll do?" she crackled like a witch, stomping from the swamp ignoring her father's astonished face and rants.

"I will find him," Vivian mused to herself "I'll rescue him from those awful abductors and he'll be so grateful, he'll marry me."

Her plan couldn't have been more perfect.

*

"Um…guys?' Yugi squeaked as the two girls pondered which way to go since they couldn't jump or fly from flower to flower as quickly as they could in spring. Winter was no doubt coming fast.

"Yes?" Serenity and Tea turned to their small friend still sitting on the rose.

"I'm not exactly sure which way my home is. I didn't see where or which direction the Swamp spirit took me."

"That's no surprise. Knowing those things, the only reason they don't bother us is because they know the faerie royals would no doubt barbeque them all without a second thought." Tea snorted.

"She can go ahead for all I care; I mean I've never been one to hold a grudge but after meeting those two I don't ever wanna meet a swamp spirit again." Yugi spat, shivering in disgust at the memory of that deviled woman so close to him in all her hideous glory. "But still, I've never left home except when Yami took me flying so…I have no idea which direction home is."

"No problem." Serenity snapped her fingers when a bell rang off in her head. "I know just what to do! Wait here," she told her friends and flew to the tallest towering flower before perching herself there. Once on top she looked heavenward and placed her hands around her mouth to emphasize her voice before calling as loudly as she could: "KATSUYA!"

Tea and Yugi blinked in confusion at this action, but decided to trust the girl. Their wait was short, before odd colored dots speckled the sky, moving like shadows before getting larger. From a distance and as feathered wings appeared, you'd think they were birds, but as they flew closer, you could see human shapes. One brown human-bird charged towards the red-haired fairy, before plowing into her knocking her off the flower!

Yugi and Tea both screamed watching their friend and the wicked bird creature fall, moving to catch them but as they crashed to the ground, the bird-creature flipped over and landed on his feet, holding the laughing flower fairy in his arms. The next site was the bird creature hugging Serenity tightly as she returned the exuberance with just as much affection.

"I missed you, Serenity!" The boy spoke in a rich accent not found in Ireland. His feathered arms wrapped around the fairy as if she were a small girl. The bird-creature was a boy; a rather attractive one with a cute mane of rich golden locks in a mop atop his head. His sunshine bangs fell over his rich chocolate eyes. His skin was the exact same tone as Serenity's, but his ears were long and pointed like and elf's. A leather long-sleeved tunic of rich brown adorned his lithe, muscular frame while brown leather pants adorned his legs. He wore heavy leather armor on his legs and around his neck was a scarlet scarf.

He would almost look human except for the differences in his hands, arms and feet. He wore no shoes or boots; instead his feet were large yellow talons like a large raptor's ripped with short, but sharp, razor-like claws. His hands were the same, but the talons were longer and clearly more dangerous, betraying the youth's fun-loving appearance. Oily black feathers in the form of wings sprouted from his arms, with flashes of chocolate and tipped with burgundy. Yugi was confused; the boy's wasn't human but he wasn't a faerie either, at least none Yugi had seen.

Before he could ask, another creature, similar to the boy landed next to him, a female bird-creature and an incredibly beautiful one. Her skin was pale-white and smooth, and her features were sharp, like her rich violet eyes, darker than Yugi's with a hint of blue. She had a sharp smile, and cherry lips that contracted nicely with her pale skin. Her sunshine hair cascaded down her back in long zig-zag shaped waves. Her body was lean and curvy and covered in a body suit of lavender and pale blue silks leaving little to the imagination. Her shoulders were bare except for the blue strips where her feathers began to grow and left a strip of white down her arms to her golden talons. Beautiful white wings grew from her arms, tipped with the palest of lavenders and blues. Talons of her own made her hands and feet with silver, razor sharp claws. Her limbs, hands, and body were strong, but thin and light, perfectly agile like a bird's.

When the boy finally put Serenity down and patted her head, she turned to the two confused teens and smiled. "Guys, this is Katsuya, my big-brother, and this is his mate Mai." She gestured to the lovely woman.

"Nice to meet you," Mai smiled warmly at Yugi's confused blink. The small boy, clearly astounded by the strange woman, walked towards her, skimming her up and down then circling her trying to see every inch of her strange form. Growling at his actions the blond woman turned around and snapped. "Do you mind!" she hissed, making Yugi jump back.

"Um…"Yugi blinked again, confused by her sudden outburst. "Are you a fairy?"

Mai's anger vanished in an instant and a warm chuckle of realization replaced it. "Oh I see, not I'm not a fairy. I'm a Harpy Lady."

Yugi jumped, "L-L-Like a banshee?" he fidgeted.

"No way kid," Katsuya explained. "Sheesh, Banshees are she-faeries of mourning. Harpies aren't faeries, but they're animal spirits. In our case birds."

Yugi cocked his head cutely bewildered as he looked from Katsuya to Serenity then back to Katsuya. "But Serenity's a faerie, and you're a Harpy, Katsu?"

"Call me Joey, My full name is Jounouchi Katsuya, but Katusya is my faerie name. And to answer your question, yes, I'm a harpy now, but I was born an earth sprite. Serenity's a flower faerie and I was a wood sprite, but when I met Mai and wanted to marry her, I asked the queen for permission and on our Wedding day she turned me into a Harpy."

Yugi's eyes widened. "She can do that!?"

"Oh yes," Mai smiled. "It's one of her powers, only the faerie queen and those in her bloodline when they come of age obtain the ability to transform. Plus Queen Samira loves all her subjects and would never allow something silly like gender or species to separate two people who loved each other."

"So that means when Yami and I get married she can make me a faerie, too." Yugi mused to himself, but the two Harpy's sharp ears and both turned their heads.

"You're Yami's lover!!" Joey almost screamed, before trapping the small boy in a playful bear hug! "This is wonderful! He's been looking everywhere for ya!"

"He has!?" Yugi asked.

"Of course." Mai smiled. "When you've found Mr. Right you never let the go!" Mai smiled. "Plus word spreads fast among the forests, and faeries love to gossip especially if one of their own is involved. Even though animus, that's what they call animal spirits aren't under the rule of the Faerie King and Queen we're still loyal to them in a sense mostly because they protect the forest."

"That and Yam's one of my best buds!" Joey smiled. "Why da think I had to ask his mom to make me a harpy?"

"Wait, so then Yami's not at the hollow?" Tea asked. "Bakura and the boys went to find him, there."

"Yam left the second Sparks told him what was going on, which was right after Yug got kidnapped." Joey explained putting Yugi down. "Him and his cousin went to find him, I'd think. He's probably looking for Yug now, since word'll probably get around that you're okay, especially since Bakura and Marik can keep their mouths shut."

"So then should I wait for Yami!?" Yugi asked confused even more at what to do.

"Actually that's why I called you Katsu." Serenity chimed "We need to get Yugi back home to his grandpa, but Yugi doesn't know the way because he didn't see where that evil swamp bastard took him and we've never seen Yugi's house, so we were hoping you two could help us."

"Of course we can," Mai smiled, patting the small girl's head. "What wouldn't I do for my little sister?" she smiled before turning to Yugi. "Yugi do you know where you're grandpa lives?"

Yugi nodded with a smile. "He and I live in a house on the edge of the forest by the river."

Mai nodded, before flexing her lovely wings. "Be right back." She flexed her wings and like a string pushed off on her powerful legs and took to the sky, until she levitated high above the trees and scanned the area. "Does it look like a Cathedral or a cottage?" She cawed

"A cottage!" Yugi hollered back. "The one that looks like a Cathedral is Master Mahad's."

"Then I see it, alright!" Mai answered before flying back down with a perfect graceful landing. "It's north of here at the end of the forest." She explained, before gesturing to the girls. "Come on ladies, we'll take him there."

"Thank you! So much!" Yugi hugged her in gratitude, making her smile. The kid really was likeable now wonder Yami was so openly infatuated with him.

"And while you guys do that, I'll find Yam and the guys and bring him to you." Joey volunteered.

"You can do that!?" Yugi and Serenity asked.

"Of course, I can see everything from the air, and if I know Yam, he'll be riding Sparks so it'll be easier to find him that way."

"Really!?" Yugi smiled.

"Never fear little buddy, I'll find ya prince! I ain't missing my best bud's wedding!" Joey promised before taking to the sky on his chocolate wings before taking to sky, flying through the storm of multi-colored leaves and tree branches before shaking his head and wings free of the objects and took to the sky.

The leaves fell from the forest trees like colored rain upon the faeries and the harpy lady. Mai's eyes narrowed, knowing the signs every bird instinctually noticed when it was time to migrate. "The leaves are already falling, that's a sign that winter's coming early. The solstice isn't far away. We have to hurry or we'll all be frozen until winter." The three faeries nodded before following the harpy woman in the direction of Solomon's cottage.

Yami. Yugi mused to himself sadly, clutching Yami's necklace. Please find me.

*

Yami subconsciously clutched the for-get-me not necklace Yugi made him. The autumn wind howled, chilled with winter's bite, but the slight warmth of the crystal made the cold less tangible. He looked down from Sparks, watching already as the leaves had finished changing their colors and beginning to fall; the frost of winter making them too heavy to remain on the trees. Fortunately, the wind chill wasn't cold enough for the flowers to close and the grass was still green but he knew why, and it wasn't natural. Winter was coming early, and approaching fast. November had already passed and December had long sense reared her head in the days, maybe weeks since Yami began his search for his beloved Aibou. He and Seto had rushed to the marshes, intending to rip the place apart until he found his beloved, but word spread fast, and the moment they arrived the spirits in the surrounding forest were more than happy to detail the swamp woman Vivian's crimes in kidnapping their prince's beloved, how the little one—much to Yami's sheer delight and relief—was able to escape with the help of his old friends Bakura, Marik, their mates, Tea and his old friend Joey's sister, how they escaped into the forest using the gift that separated the faeries from the foul beings of swamp spirits and their wild and physical animus counterparts: their oneness with nature.

Unfortunately, Yami almost hit the sky when they reluctantly told him the hideous swamp woman Vivian had taken up her father's request and gone after her "love-slave" intending on dragging him back to the swamp for their wedding. It took every ounce of Yami's control and Seto's will to keep the faeire from blowing up like a super volcano. But in the end it only made Yami even more determined to scan the forest until he found Yugi.

Now they were on the search for his friends and his Aibou in hopes of finding him, which was no easy task. Flying made things easier but even faeries had their limits. Winter was approaching and because of that the Faerie magic was waning, even Sparks and he could only fly for a few short hours while the sun was high. At night they were powerless, which meant if his little one was trying to return home, he and his faerie friends could only get there by walking and the faerie hallow was in the heart of the forest a relatively large distance from Galway and Grandpa Mouto's shop. Winter was fighting to claim its domain, but the Faries was powerless. Samira and Aknankanon had obeyed their sons request and held back the winter frost for as long as she possibly could, but the solstice was approaching fast. Too fast.

Yugi. He sighed. Wherever you are, I swear I'll find you. Even if I have to brave Father Winter with my bare hands!

*

Yugi shot awake; his hand subconsciously moving to his throat clutching the crystal sun and moon around his neck. He looked around hoping to find himself asleep in his own bed with Yami's arms around him. He shivered feeling the morning air run through his light summer tunic that had been growing lighter and filthier over the endless journey through the forest. He wrapped his arms around his shoulders for extra warmth.

When he stood up and looked around, he didn't find his little bed or his window with a brilliant view overlooking his grandpa's garden. Beautiful figurines of glass and dream catchers or crystalline objects didn't surround him nor was Alastair sleeping next to him. Worst of all, Yami wasn't there. He wasn't surprised to see he was asleep in a flower; he and Yami often fell asleep in them after long flights. But he was surprised to see he was asleep between his two flower faeries friends who were still asleep within their flower home, unaware that the pale petals were beginning to dry and wilt. Frost began to glisten over the leaves, another sign that winter wasn't too far away.

"Someone's up early." Yugi jumped and turned around until he caught sight of purple wings.

"Hey Mai." He forced a rather convincing smile, but Mai wasn't fooled.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asked.

"Not much." Yugi sighed, hugging his shoulders in a need to feel comfort. "It's weird, I've always wanted to journey from home and strike out of my own, but I never thought it would be this way." Yugi mused bitterly to himself, before sitting on the petal.

"Well, life is unpredictable," Mai explained sitting next to him. "You never what's going to happen, when you'll be happy, or when it will be taken all away? You just gotta keep going, and keep fighting." Yugi turned to her with a bewildered expression so she decided to elaborate. "I'm not gonna lie, it's not always easy trying to move on when something bad happens, but you gotta trust that you'll be okay, and that there's something better out there that will help you get through it. Like this for example, the swamp spirits may have kidnapped you, but your friends rescued you even though they didn't even know you, even after they learned you were Yami's lover they still helped you because you didn't want to marry that swamp-bitch, not that I blame you. And yes, we've been traveling non-stop, through autumn, but we're getting a little closer to your home each day and closer to your grandpa and Yami. You never would've done that if you'd given up or didn't trust us to help you. Ya see Yugi, life is a story, but it isn't a fairy tale and let's face it, it never will be,"

"I agree to that." Yugi snorted in agreement. Sure he and Yami may have had a fairy tale romance, but that was only after months of being and spending time together and they were lucky his parents and his grandpa were alright with it, but it didn't make it any less easy. If this had been a fairy tale, it would be all candy hearts and roses, not evil swamp-woman who practice kidnap marriages or being forced to travel endless miles through the harsh Irish wilderness; Lord only knew what the future held. Even through his life being small, he'd been trapped, lost, scared, alone and terrified of never being found, even though he always was. Yes, life was no fairy tale.

"Of course." Mai added "That doesn't mean you still can't get the happily ever after at the end." Yugi arched an eyebrow at the contradiction of her own statement. "Hey, I'm no hypocrite." Mai snapped at his expression "Unless you're a cynic or just plain hate the world, now matter how tough life gets, there's always a happy ending, but you can't just wait around for it to happen, you gotta do it yourself and you gotta fight for it." She smiled passionately and confidently. "In short, there's always a happy ending, but only if you're willing to fight for one and if you protect it."

Taken a back by the enlightened statement, Yugi let the phrase sink in before smiling confidently and nodding. Feeling a new surge of confidence flow through him he got to his feet and stated "Then what are we doing sitting here? The sun's up and we're wasting daylight!" His confident hollers of happiness awoke the delicate nymphs from their flower slumber. The two girls stretched their flexible limbs as their wings began to materialize from the tattoo-like symbols beneath their shoulder blades.

"Yugi? You're up early." Serenity yawned, as the two flower faeries experimentally flapped their wings. The flowers were already starting to wilt as a result of the cold weather, already draining the nymph's power, despite the luminescence of their pretty wings.

"I couldn't sleep." Yugi explained as the three faeries climbed over the edge of the flower and slid down the stem, waiting for Mai's instructions. The harpy woman took to the air, her graceful wings commanding the wind around her, like a proud, majestic raptor. She glided higher in to the air like a brilliant lavender shooting star; her sharp eyes scanned the back country with a wide smile, before diving back into a swan dive, making the trio hold their breath though they'd seen the woman perform this trick several times over the past few weeks. In a final swoop the harpy landed with all the grace and elegance of her race, not a hair out of place and a wide, unbroken smile cutting across her face. "The city's not far from here, which means depending on how far we get today, we just might reach the edge of the woods in a day or two."

Yugi's exuberance skyrocketed! "Really! I'm almost home!" Not a second later the boy turned to bolt, but Mai was faster and blocked his path. Despite his efforts to stop, he plowed straight into Mai's open wings. "Sorry!" he apologized immediately.

"It's the other way." Mai replied as if it were the simplest fact in the world, though the blush hadn't vanished from Yugi's face.

"How can you have so much energy and not sleep at night?" Tea asked rhetorically, but Yugi still answered.

"I just can't sleep at night."

"We know you miss Yami, Yugi but you still need—" She began but Yugi cut her off. "It isn't that." He protested. "I mean I literally can't sleep." He turned his head to look at the floor, his bangs shadowing his face a bit. Seeing the confused looks on the girls' faces, he continued. "You see, Yami and I always sleep together, so I guess I just got so used to it, I can't really sleep without him." He kept walking forward looking at the ground not noticing the two girls had stopped in their tracks. The only reason Mai didn't was because she has chosen to remain airborne in case the exuberant boy strayed from the path again.

"What do you mean, you two 'sleep together'." Tea demanded. Serenity had chosen to remain silent.

Taken aback by the force in her voice, Yugi finally stopped and turned to see why they were so far behind him. His bewildered expression met Tea's, but it did little to ease his confusion. "Just like it sounds. Yami comes to visit me at night, and sometimes on late nights after flying or playing or just talking, we got tired and we'd sleep either in my bed, in a flower if we were flying or sometimes both. At first Yami always had to leave, for obvious reasons but most of the time he ended up just staying the whole night with me."

Serenity instantly relaxed, and scolded her silliness of thinking her old friend and her new one would engage in such things when they'd only just technically got together. Tea, bemused by the reply just blinked, as if not sure if Yugi understood what she was asking or if the answer she was given was the truth. "That's all?" The question rolled off her tongue in confused disbelief.

Yugi just blinked. "Well yeah. What else would we do?"

"Nothing," Serenity smiled, sweetly, gliding to catch up with him, while Tea followed, still bemused. "We just misunderstood, was all." From the look in her eyes and the calculating confusion on Tea's face, Yugi could tell there was more to it than simply that, but decided to let the subject drop.

"You really do love Yami, don't you." Tea said lowly; a statement not a question.

"What kind of question is that!?" Yugi immediately replied, passionately. His hand subconsciously moved to touch the pendant of Yami's necklace. "Of course I do!"

"Sorry," Tea apologized. "But you know, everyone loves Yami, not just because he's a prince, he's just amazing. Everyone loves him, even me after her pulled me out of a Spider web." She immediately felt Yugi tense at her comment. Sensing his distress, Serenity was by his side in an instant. "Or at least I thought I did." She finished.

"How do you mean?" Yugi demanded, as she expected his glare of distrust didn't falter.

"Well, like I said everyone loves the faerie prince, just not well, true love. When Yami saved me and I spent time with him, I thought I loved him. I truly did, and I thought he loved me back. Looking back I guess that was just wishful thinking, since he never treated me any differently than he treated everyone else, but when I told him how I felt, he just smiled and told me his feelings for me were just friendship and that's all. He was sweet about it, really. What was weird though was I wasn't even as upset about it as I should've been. I knew I wasn't as upset about it as I should've been, but it made me realize, maybe my "love" for him wasn't as strong as I thought it was. Honestly, a lot of us never thought, Yami would ever find 'the one'."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked confused. If Teas was right, then why would Yami choose him, sure he loved Yami with all his heart but what made him so special that the prince trusted him with his heart.

It was Serenity who answered. "You see, Yugi. True love is very rare, like the hardest thing in the world to find rare, so when you find the "one" you, to quote my big brother 'just know', but finding the right person is never easy. I think the reason why Yami could never find someone here in the forest was because everyone knew who he was and though we all loved him, it wasn't real love. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does." Yugi nodded. "When I first met Yami, I kinda figured out who he was, but I wanted him to tell me. When he waited I assumed he wanted to make sure it was me he loved, so when he finally told me, I was so happy."

"I guess that means he trusts you." Serenity wrapped her arms around him, smiling comfortingly. "And I mean as in more than anyone on earth and trust me that's saying something."

Yugi couldn't help but smile, despite the ache of loneliness in his heart, his friends made it so much more bearable. The rest of them continued to laugh and smile, letting their worries fly away with their pearls of laughter, until a loud shriek tore from the sky. The three of them turned to see Mai flying towards them screaming "Look out!"

Before any of the three could react, something jumped in front of them sending the girls fluttering and vanishing into the flowers, Mai taking to the air, and Yugi fell backwards landing on his bottom in front of the interloper with a loud shrike.

The interloper chuckled menacingly as if pleased by the reaction of surprised fright. "Why hello there precious. What's a lovely little thing like you doing here in the woods on your own?" He asked with a wide smirk. His ice-green eyes blazed with arrogant confidence beneath his dark hair and against his copper skin. His wild black hair grew long in the back tied in a high ponytail while the spiked bangs were tamed by a black and red headband. His features were sharp and angular like a hawk's. He wasn't dressed like the faeries Yugi had scene, instead he wore a tight black outfit that fit his lean form tightly, down to his boots. The long rich red, sleeveless, open jacket he wore contrasted with the black tank top, pants and belt. Bronze vine-like bands adorned his wrist while two gold rings encircled each of his upper arms. Around his neck an odd white pendant rested peacefully against his chest, shaped like a cross with an arrow-like tip, but on the heart of it was a blue-fanned wind shape with a large white opal reflecting various colors in the sunlight, and a dice dangled from his ear on a silver string. Yugi scanned him over again and noticed he didn't have wings. So what was he?

"Who the heck are you!" Yugi demanded jumping to his feet.

"I believe I asked you first." The boy replied.

"Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine." Yugi challenged, his glare refusing to falter.

The faerie smirked at him, almost amused. "Feisty thing aren't you, but if you insist, I am Duke Devlin" he boasted proudly, "but if you wish you may call me Duke and I am a Trickster."

"A trickster?" Yugi interrupted raising a skeptical eyebrow, "What kinda of faerie is that!?"

"I am no faerie." The Trickster corrected. "And to answer your question, Tricksters are like leprechauns because our magic comes from items and we use it for luck, but instead of gold and rainbows, we use certain objects to channel our magic and, of course, play tricks. I use dice magic." To emphasize his point, two dice magically appeared in his hand, one white and six-sides the other bright red and ten-sides. He juggled them in the air and caught them. When he opened his hand two more appeared in his opposite hand, one blue and diamonds shaped, the other bright green and eight sided. Deciding to show off he juggled more dice in his hand, summing and dismissing one after the other, until all of them were in his hand and threw them into the air. Yugi's eyes never left the dice, even as Duke chucked them into the air, and shrieked when each one exploded into fireworks.

"You see." He laughed wildly in enjoyment at his trick. "Trickery."

"Impressive." Yugi complimented, before getting to his feet and dusting the dirt from his tunic, refusing to let his guard falter.

"Now hold up your end of the bargain." The trickster countered. "I told you who I am; now tell me who you are."

"I'm Yugi." Yugi answered, "And if you'll excuse me, I have to get home." He continued forward to walk past him, but before Yugi could pass him, Duke snatched his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Leaving so soon?" Duke teased. "Relax and take a load off."

"Let go of my!" Yugi snapped, trying to pry his arm off! "I have to go home!"

"You know," Duke continued, ignoring him "Tricksters love pretty things, like you, but what's more we love to show them off. And you're perfect. I've never seen such a pretty thing before."

"I am not a thing!" Yugi scolded. "I'm a boy, now let go of me! I'm going home!" The boy struggled and moved to punch him but the trickster was faster and grabbed Yugi's free wrist before pinning it at his side.

"Pretty as a rose and as wild as its thorns, you are a gem." Duke complimented, ignoring Yugi's struggles, until his opal necklace flashed yellow with warning. Pulling Yugi flush against his arms, he jumped out of the way of the clawed talons that slammed into the ground.

"Let go of him, you slimy worm!" Mai screeched.

Duke just smirked, wrapping one arm on the kicking and protesting Yugi to immobilize him, while using his free hand to conjure his dice with a rainbow flash from his necklace when he noticed the two faeries forming from the flowers. "Sorry ladies but you know what they say; when you find something rare, never let it go!" With a flick of his wrists Duke threw the dice to the floor and a storm of smoke flooded the area. Mai screeched and dove into the hazy mist. Serenity tried her best to combat the thick smoke, but the three of them were powerless until it settled.

"Yugi!" Tea called, but the trickster had vanished with their little friend.

"Dammit!" Mai screamed clawing at the closest thing she could find in her rage,

"Come on!" Serenity ordered. "We have to get help!" The flower faerie flapped her wings and took off to the forest with the elder two girls behind her, dead set on their new mission: finding Yugi.

*

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Chazz complained. "They were so close to his house and suddenly Yugi gets kidnapped again? Jeeze you think all these faeries had nothing better to do with their free time!"

"You're awake!?" Jaden smirked, remembering his friend's earlier comment about stories.

"Of course I am, now shut up I wanna hear the rest of the story." Chazz snapped at the laughing brunette.

"Me too." Sy chimed in "Do the girls find Yugi! What does Duke want with him? Where are Yami and Seto? And Joey?"

"Calm down, little ones." The master chuckled at the boy's eagerness. "To answer your question Chazz, as Mai said life is unpredictable, the least thing you expected to happen can happen and often does and that's what happened to Yugi, but it isn't always a bad thing, it's simply another challenge he has to face. That's called conflict. And I can assure you Syrus, all of your questions will be answered in time. Now let me continue." The master took a breath while the three boys got settled, their eyes and ears open waiting for the next part of the intriguing tale.

To be honest, this chapter turned out to be a filler more than anything else. But since it had been two months on my deviantart account since i updated it, I fought tooth and nail to finish it. Personally, Its not a favorite but i do like it, and i had to answer some simple stuff: like Vivian searching fro Yugi, the passing time until the Winter solstice arrived, What Yami and seto were doing and i just had to introduce Joey and Mai.

Sorry, Puppyshipping fans, but its joey and mai in this one, 1) cuz i wanted Mai to be the sparrow but i couldn't see her falling into the hole and such so i added Joey, an yes they're both based off the Haroy lady, cept i modeled Joey after the Harpy Brother and Mai after Harpy Queen.

Duke was always going to be the "beetle" in this: 1) cuz he's a cool character who I like a lot (i really don't get how people can make him evil, i mean sure yeah, he was arrogant as hell when he first showed up, but I mean Kaiba was way more evil than he was) and let's face it, though its hard to make him like pure evil he's a sexy anti-hero. I have a plan worked out for his character, so I decided to follow Kazuki Takahashi's example and make him start off as an anti-hero than have him work his way into the good guy catagory.

Also the Trickster, the type of spirit he is, is something I made up. Its' sort of a combination between a leprachaun with controlling luck magic and a puca, which in old english is a wooldland sprite or land emboiment famous for playing tricks and causing mischeif. I put them both together since they seemt to fit Duke rather well. Plus the items he has will play a role in the next chapter and his role in the plot in general.
The ending was totally different form the one i orignally had planned but i thinked it worked out fairly well. Plus it's been a while since we've seen the Master and the boys and i wanted to revist them again, they play a major role in the epilogue and in the surprise ending i have planned. Overall, I won't say this is one of my better chapters but I'm throughly pleased with how it came out.