Chapter Ten: Kings of Mycenae
"There, I think that should do it," Tea mumbled, a pair of bobby pins clenched between her lips. At the moment, she was working with Serenity's hair for the formal event later that evening, in which Midas would announce the rules of the tourney. Serenity was sitting on the edge of the hotel bed, with Tea behind her kneeling, assorted hair decorations at hand. "Maybe this'll stick, I hope." Currently at the moment, Serenity's hair had made the decision to not cooperate, thus providing a source of near endless frustration and experimentation as Tea attempted to create a half-up, half down, hair style. The curling iron and blow dryer, along with hair spray and enough bobby pins to make McGyver a happy camper for at least one season, Tea decided.
"Thanks for the help Tea," Serenity said. "I didn't think that it would be such a big—Ow!-pain."
"Sorry Serenity, didn't mean to pull," Tea apologized. Serenity could feel Tea tug and pull on her hair, as the older girl tried another style. "Wait, wait, almost there. . .aha! Got it! Grab the spray for me please? This is going to look fantastic with those bare shoulders of yours."
"I hope so," Serenity replied; for the event, she had opted for a pale violet dress that covered one shoulder, leaving the other exposed. A ruffled pattern flowed down her back, starting at her hips, adding width to the dress.
"Tea! Tea!" Joey's plaintive voice called out to her from the hallway, startling her and nearly ruining the style. "Can you help us? We can't get Yugi's tie right!"
"We?" Tea could hear Yugi's voice as well. "you almost choked me!"
"It's your stupid tie!"
Tea, while holding Serenity's hair, shouted. "I'm kind of busy here! Go bug Duke or something!"
"He's too busy flirting, Tea! Can you help us!"
"What are you Joey, like, two!"
Tea sighed and went back to Serenity's hair. "Thankfully I'm just about finished. There!" Tea took a step back, admiring her work; even with all the set backs, the hair style had turned out wonderfully. The top part of the style was a loose bun, with a few curling strands done with the curling iron, then sprayed to set into place. The bottom part was in loose curls, looped gracefully over one shoulder, leaving the bare one exposed. Tea grabbed the hair spray and curling iron, one in each hand. She sighed once again as she heard the commotion from the hall. "Don't make me spray you two!" At last, Joey and Yugi came into the room. Yugi's tie was in a horrible knot, with a bare semblance to an actual bow tie. Joey's was a little better, but not by much. Serenity slid off the bed and went to her older brother.
"Here Joey, let me help you with that," she said, steering Joey out of the room.
"My tie looks fine thank you-what on earth are you wearing?"
"It's called a dress and right now, I need to knock some fashion sense into you."
"But why not in there?"
"Because. . . of reasons that shall be known at a later time."
"That made no sense. . . ooohhhhh." The Wheeler siblings were finally gone from the room, leaving Tea and Yugi.
"Here," Tea patted the bed. "Sit here and I'll fix the tie." Her fingers worked to deftly undo the hideous mess that Joey made of the bow tie. As she tried to pull one of the ends through, her fingers accidentally brushed up against Yugi's neck. "Sorry about that," she flushed.
"It's no problem really," Yugi replied, his flush as equally red as Tea's. He finally caught notice of Tea's dress, making him flush even deeper. She had gone with a deep blue, almost midnight blue dress, made of satin, which caught the light at different angles, revealing even more shades of blue in the satin depths. It brushed the floor, with a six inch train behind it. The dress was strapless, with a low cut back laced up with a lighter blue—but not much lighter—ribbon. Silver heels peeped out from underneath the train. Her hair was left down and in waves.
"Joey nearly hung you with this horrendous knot," Tea grumbled, tugging on the tie. "It would make an executioner proud."
"He nearly hung himself," Yugi joked, recalling how Joey worked his tie. Thankfully Serenity was on the case. The joke earned a few chuckles from Tea, who finally got the knot out and was doing the tie over again, properly this time. After a few minutes, Tea finished, giving it one last pull to make sure it didn't fall apart at the formal event. "Do all girls have some innate sense on how to do ties?" he asked, after eying the bow tie, which looked much better than the last one.
"Well, after taking care of you guys for most of high school, it came with practice. Somebody in the group had to learn how to do a tie." Tea teased.
"Hey!" Yugi protested.
"If you remember right, I had to do all of the ties at prom. That was an interesting experience. Sort of like herding cats."
"I take offense to that."
"Yeah, those poor cats." Tea stood up from the bed, straightening out her dress. "Well, should we get going?"
Just as Yugi opened his mouth to speak, Joey's head popped in the room. "Hey, you two lovebirds comin' or what? All the good food is going to be gone!"
"Joey!" Serenity hissed, yanking him back.
"Ah Joey, always thinking with his stomach first." Yugi chuckled. He offered and arm to Tea. "Shall we go meet this Midas?"
Tea took his arm, despite her being taller than her friend. "Yes, let's."
Yugi took a deep breath just as they crossed over the threshold. Let the games begin, the tiny voice in his head said, almost mockingly.
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"Mai!" A voice screeched. "You get your butt here right now! You're going to this thing with me and that's final!" A woman, of Asian, perhaps Chinese descent, was standing outside a room, foot tapping the floor; if said foot tapped any harder, there would a hole worn through the carpet and floor. Her features would have been considered exotic and maybe beautiful, if it weren't for the scowl marring her face.
"I told you, I said I was working on my deck!"
"You're always "working" on that deck of yours! Besides, you have to meet the host. It's poor manners!" The woman, Vivian Wong, shouted at the door.
"What would you know about manners?" The other voice replied.
"Ooooohh! Mai you infuriate me, you know that?" Vivian stomped her foot. She bit her lip, trying to find some other way to cajole the other duelist out of seclusion. "Well, how on earth am I supposed to have a wingman-er woman when I'm down there?"
The door creaked open to reveal Vivian's target of rage, Mai Valentine. She cocked a single eyebrow in disbelief at her comment. "Really Vivian, that's your reason?"
Vivian shrugged. " I managed to get you to open the door, didn't I?"
Mai rolled her eyes and waved her deck, secured in a clear case. "The tournament starts tomorrow in case you didn't remember."
"It's only one night," Vivian huffed. She frowned. "What's up with you? Ever since we got those invites, you've been acting like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It's weirding me out, like someone flipped a switch on you from 'fun' to 'serious'."
"I'm fine Vivian, I promise." Mai began to close the door but then Vivian slid her foot in the gap, forcing the door open. Vivian grabbed the door and tried to pry it open.
"Just one night, that's all I'm asking. It might be good for you."
Mai sighed. When Vivian Wong wanted something, whether it was the cute waiter in the restaurant or a win in a tag team tournament, she went for it like a shark, consequences tossed aside. "Fine." She said, knowing that Vivian would stand in front of her room that entire night and berate her. "I'll go." She nudged Vivian's foot out of the way and started to close it. "Be out in fifteen." The door slammed shut and Vivian couldn't help but gloat, until something struck her.
"You did bring a dress right?"
Mai let out a breath of exasperation as she leaned into the door. The girl was impossible, to say the least. She tossed her deck onto the bed, next to her duel disk, courtesy of the host, Midas. It was in the shape of a feather, violet, with a green orb in the core of the disk. The green orb reminded her of the DOMA duel disk she once had, the duel disk that she tossed promptly out a hotel window after the DOMA incident. Irony and karma had come back to bit her, a cruel cycle of fate. That was why she didn't feel like going to the festivities, because she knew that they would be there.
Especially him.
But she knew that she couldn't hide from them forever. She had to run into them sometime during the tournament. What would she say? How could she explain herself to them?
"Be a big girl and bite the bullet," she berated herself. "You can't keep running forever; you get tired and it catches up to you eventually." The last part was scrawled at the bottom of her invite.
"He's playing mind games. Get a hold of yourself," she mumbled as she reached for her dress bag. She unzipped it and held up two dresses. "Now, which one should I pick?"
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"Holy smokes Joey, this place is huge!" Tristan gawked, gazing at the main room, the "Atrium" as Midas called it. The room must have been at least a hundred feet long, and fifty-five feet across. A crystal chandelier graced the center, hundreds of crystals reflecting the light, turning the room into a kaleidoscope of colors. The room was painted a pale golden yellow, with crown molding of a darker hue. The walls were paneled with frescos and friezes depicting scenes of ancient Greece, images of gods and heroes frolicking with their lesser kin, creatures fearsome and beautiful dancing with their kindred. Yugi was positive that they were somehow real, actual pieces of Grecian history on the walls. Busts and other pieces of art sat along the edges, gazing on with blank staring eyes at the festivities. Two sets of French doors graced the port side, opening out to the deck, where the stars could be seen in plain view. A spiral staircase made of wrought iron rested on the starboard side, leading up to the upper cabins of the liner.
"No kidding." Duke looked around, fiddling with a flute of water. "I bet that even Kaiba or even Pegasus doesn't have anything like this."
"Would you like to bet?" Mokuba replied, sneaking up behind him. He was wearing a tuxedo of a well known designer, Armani, with silver and gold cufflinks.
Joey leaned into Tristan. "I bet he named after a dragon," he whispered. Tristan snickered.
"Actually, he named it after our mother," Mokuba said, looking somewhat cross.
"Oh." Joey turned sheepish. "My bad." Tea could only sigh.
"Brilliant," she mumbled.
Bakura, who had been quiet for most of the evening, finally spoke up. "I wonder when the host is going to arrive."
"If he even does," Duke snorted. "He probably has some lackey spout off the rules while he sits in the lap of luxury."
"Sounds more like Pegasus to me," Mokuba remarked.
"Speaking of rich goons, have you heard anything about Midas?" Yugi asked Mokuba.
The younger Kaiba sibling shook his head. "Nothing. I mean, if he's as rich as he looks, then Seto would have heard something about him, especially if he's into gaming tournaments, but we've heard nothing. It's as if he practically materialized out of mid-air."
"Sounds creepy to me," Joey added with a shudder. He paused. "Has anybody seen Serenity?"
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The din of the party was behind her as she leaned into the railing of the deck, letting the breeze, faint as it was, tickle her senses. The saltiness of the air was practically seeping into her consciousness, bringing back memories of her childhood, when she and Joey had that day to themselves, down at the beach. A puff of air fluttered the fabric of her dress and hair, shaking a few strands loose from her hair style. The Grecian décor, along with her dress, made her feel like a goddess, Aphrodite rising from her proverbial oyster. It was simply magical, the landscape was. Shame that her friends decided to stay inside, but they were waiting on this "Midas", whoever he was. She fingered the flute of her glass, filled with non-alcoholic champagne; like Joey, she disliked alcohol and its taste, associating it with bad memories. The flute was half empty, the bubbles dying down to a faint trickle
She never felt so free, so unshackled. No mother to dictate her life choices, no older brother, as loving as he was, looking over her shoulder, scaring away any potential suitors like a frothing dog; there was nothing out here to confine her. She glanced down at the waters splashing against the sides. "I wonder what it would be like, to dive into those waters on a night like this," she pondered, the black waters seeming endless and bottomless. "Might ruin the dress though."
But, despite those shackles, she didn't mind. She was spending time with her brother, watching him duel in person for the first time since Battle City. Her mother had refused to let her attend the Grand Prix, citing something about studying for school and some other excuses. Both Wheeler siblings were miffed about the incident, regardless. She leaned more over the railing, letting the wind shake loose her hair to fall as auburn curls. Serenity hesitated though, for a split second. The din at the yacht had grown louder, shattering her reverie.
She took a step back, as if to go inside, until she accidentally bumped into someone. Her champagne sloshed out of the flute, landing partly on the deck and the rest over the side.
"Oh no!" she gasped, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" The words came out in a flurry, as she scrambled to find something to say.
The person she bumped into, a man, gave her a grin. "No worries, miss. Don' worry 'about it." He winked one startlingly blue eye at her. He had a Australian accent, not so strong so that it screamed stereotypical, but enough so that she could pick up his country of origin. He had chestnut brown hair, in a style very much like Yugi's, but less wild. His eyes held a cheeky glow, like he was ready to do something mischievous and he was taking the person nearest to him for the ride of their lives.
For the first time in a long time, Serenity felt flustered. Not because she had spilled her drink, but because he was so disarmingly charming, and she had just met him. "I didn't get my drink on you, did I? I mean you-I mean, your tux, looks very nice and I didn't want anything to get on it. Congratulations Serenity, you look like an idiot," she scolded herself.
The stranger flashed another grin, this one bigger than before. "Nope, don' see any on me. 'ow about you?"
Serenity scanned her dress. "I don't see any on me either."
The stranger leaned over the railing, where the rest of the drink went to. "Well, it looks like t'e fishes will be 'havin' a party tonig't." He said cheerfully. Suddenly, he stuck out a hand. "T'e name's Valon. Yours?"
She took his hand surprised at the calluses on them. "Serenity. It's nice to meet you." The strange flustering feeling as back and in full force. She prayed that her hand wasn't sweaty.
"Pretty name for a pretty lady," he winked, earning a flush in the process.
"Um, thank you," she replied, biting her lip.
"So, are you a duelist 'round 'ere?" he asked.
"No, I'm not very good. I'm here to watch my brother though."
"Ah. Maybe I'll be duelin' 'im t'en." Valon leaned against the railing, eying the girl. She seemed achingly familiar, like he had seen her before, or someone who looked like her at least. If he did see her before, he would have most definitely remembered it. He had a thing for women with long hair. Of course, he was completely unaware of the irony at hand.
"Maybe," Serenity replied, unsure whether to tell him who her her brother was. If she did, she could give away her brother to her future opponent and she didn't want to do that. Discretion was key and she decided against it. He'd figure it out eventually. "Let's hope that Joey doesn't scare him away." she prayed. "Well," she began. "I better get back inside. My brother and his friends are probably looking for me."
"'ope I'll see you around, Serenity," He watched her as she went back inside, the fabric of her dress swaying with her movement. He was still plagued though, by the nagging sense that he'd seen her before.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"Serenity! There you are!" Joey tugged his sister back to their group, balancing a tray of hor d'oeuvres with one hand, while the other had Serenity by the hand. "We were looking for you, you know."
"It wasn't like I disappeared off the ship," she insisted. "I just went to get some air, that's all. It gets a little stuffy in here."
Her older brother tugged at his tie. "Got that right. I hope we can finally meet this guy so I can get this stupid thing off. Either that or when his security goon leaves. I don't think he likes me very much."
"Gee, where would you get that idea?" she teased. He growled playfully and would have made a spirited swat towards her, were it not for the plate of food he was balancing precariously. She cheekily stuck out her tongue as he attempted it anyways, allowing her freedom from his grip. She skipped off, hiking her dress train as she ran, in heels to the others.
"Geez Serenity," Tristan said as she nearly collided with him, giggling all the while. "What's up with you?"
"Joey," she laughed, just as he came huffing up, still holding the tray. Bakura plucked one off the tray and chewed it thoughtfully.
"Delicious," he said around a mouthful.
"So, has he got here yet?" Joey asked.
Yugi shook his head. "Nope, not yet."
Just then, the lights dimmed and a spotlight fell on the staircase on the starboard. "Dramatic much?" Duke remarked as he and Tea came up to the group. They had swept the cabins, looking for Joey's errant younger sister. "Where were you?" he asked Serenity.
"Just out," she shrugged. "I don't need a half dozen baby-sitters though," she whispered as the audience fell to an awed silence.
"Welcome to my yacht, the Mycenae," A voice boomed. The collective heads of the audience turned to the staircase simultaneously to find a figure strolling down the staircase, one elegant, slender hand gracing the railway. The man was tall and slender, with a dark, possibly Mediterranean, complexion; however, it was impossible to tell his origins due to the golden mask that was affixed to his features. The mask was golden and thin, suggesting his thin features, with deep lines around his nose and mouth. The mask had two holes for his eyes, a pale green, and his mouth, graced by thin lips. The nose was strong and hooked. From where they were, Yugi couldn't tell what he truly looked like, but the man had an aura of aristocracy that was palpable even from this distance. The man's hair was straight, long, and a dark brown, almost black, set off by the gold ribbon that tied his hair back from his face. "What you are about to experience on this ship, nay, in this tournament, will be unlike anything you ever face, with the ultimate prize:
"My fortune and private island." The man paused to let the audience digest the information. Behind his mask, he gave a faint smile, too faint to be noticeable by anyone glancing. "As you may realize, I am Midas, the one running this tournament, the Tournament of Kings. After all, you are the best of the best, so it is only fitting that the contest is called as thus." Midas seemed to be peering right at Yugi as he said this and the young man felt an involuntary shudder down his spine. The man's eyes, those pale green eyes, seemed to pierce right through him, into his soul, sifting through every memory and feeling. It was like he was testing him.
"The tournament will take place on my private island over the course of the week, with the winner receiving the deed of the island and my fortune. Of course, rules must be established before I can let you run around willy- nilly.
"There is no access to my private quarters. Anybody who does will be disqualified." Yugi swore he heard a groan from his left and he stole a hurried glance, noticing a flash of a teal green and black with a purple streak.
"Rex and Weevil?" he wondered before turning his attention back to Midas.
"There is also no dueling outside the tournament with the Duel Disk I have generously given you. The Duel Disk will inform me if you do and you will be disqualified if you do so. All the losers of each duel will have their Disk deactivated for the duration of the tournament. They are more then welcome to watch the other duelists play." He gave another smile, this one more prominent, reminding Yugi of a serpent.
"Lastly, the contest is arranged into four sections, with sixteen duelists each in each division. The winner of their respective division will face the other three winners. Losers of duels are automatically eliminated." Midas spread his arms out wide in a grand gesture.
"And so, I welcome you to the Tournament of Kings! Winner takes all! And so much more. . ."
So, what do you think of Midas so far? He's also the most fun to write. He reminds me of Discord and Q. XD