10. Connections

"Hello, love. Been awhile."

Mai resisted the urge to smack the smirk right off Valon's face. He looked different; his brown hair was cropped much shorter than she remembered, although it still stuck up at strange angles. Not as much as Yugi's, but still. He had a growth of day-old stubble on his chin and was wearing a black leather jacket. He did indeed look like a biker, which he in fact had been when Mai knew him, only he looked rougher around the edges now and less like a kid trying desperately to impress. But for all the changes, she would've known his blue eyes anywhere.

"I…." Mai swallowed, and then she regained her composure. "It has been while. How've you been, Valon?"

"Better than the last time you saw me." He gave her a pointed look.

Ignoring the reference, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave him a breezy smile. "So what have you been up to lately? You're in the tournament, I take it? I didn't know you still dueled." She had to fight down the sudden acidic burning she felt in her chest—no way she would let him get to her.

They heard the sound of glass breaking somewhere in the pub. It distracted Valon a moment, and then he brought his gaze back to her, eyeing her a moment. "I'm in the tournament, yeah. Been living in New Zealand, actually, getting my chops back on the Oceania circuit. How about you? Rumor has it you're working for Pegasus."

"That's right."

He smirked again. "Bit ironic, don'tcha think? Considering you weren't on such friendly terms with him the last time I saw you."

Mai flinched, but just a little. With a frosty edge to her voice, she said, "There are lots of people in my life now that I wasn't on friendly terms with the last time you saw me." Then she remembered Serenity was still behind her, and the smile returned. "Oh, but I'm being rude. I haven't introduced you to my very good friend. Serenity, this is Valon. Valon, this is Serenity Wheeler."

It was with some satisfaction that she noted Valon's eyes widen at Serenity's last name. "Wheeler?"

As if she had no clue there was any tension between him and Mai, Serenity gave him an almost too-sweet smile and shook his hand. "I take it you've met my brother, Joey." Her voice was bright and innocent. "Have you dueled against him?"

"Brother?" Valon faltered. "Uh… yeah, we've dueled."

"Who won, if you don't mind my asking?"

Valon sniffed. "He did, actually." He gave Mai a brief appraisal. "Or so it would seem."

Mai's gaze turned a little colder. "Some battles were never meant to be fought." Then she gave him her best coy smile and said sweetly, "But Joey's waiting for us at a table in the back of the pub, if you wanna come say hi. I'm sure he'd love to see you."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Uh, yeah, maybe some other time, love."

"Well, I'm sure we'll see you at the tournament. Good running into you."

"Yeah, right then. I… don't be a stranger, Mai."

The sudden switch to sincerity unsettled Mai, but she just flashed her teeth in response, then took Serenity's arm and ushered her away from the bar.

Téa looked at her watch in annoyance as she left her hotel room after a brief stop to drop off a stack of papers from her meeting with Pegasus. It was almost ten. That is two hours of my life I'll never get back.

Just down the hall, she passed the suite where the four Industrial Illusions Duelists were staying. She paused, listening a moment for any signs that the others had returned. She didn't hear anything and guessed they were probably still at the pub, which meant she'd probably have to drag them back herself. Well, at least she'd get almost an hour of fun in with the gang before last call. She started to head off again, then thought maybe she should check on Rebecca while she was here, so she knocked on the door one down from the main entrance to the suite. A moment later, Rebecca opened it. Her hair was back in pigtails and she was wearing a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms.

"Hey, Téa. " Then her expression turned suspicious. "Oh God, don't tell me Yugi sent you to check up on me."

"No, no. I just finished meeting with Pegasus and thought I'd check in before heading back to the pub." She looked over Rebecca's shoulder to the laptop open on the desk. "You find anything interesting in the list of contestants?"

Rebecca raised her eyebrows. "You might say that."

"Really? Who?"

"Valon."

Téa blinked. "Valon? Orichalcos Valon?"

"Unless there's some other guy named Valon who's too good for a first and last name."

Téa leaned against the doorframe. "Wow. We tried getting a hold of him when we contacted Rafael, but we never found him. Yugi'll wanna talk with him." She shook her head. "What about Mai and Joey, do they know?"

"I haven't told them yet, no. Joey'll freak, won't he?"

Téa considered this. "You know, I'm not so sure he will. He didn't talk much about dueling Valon after he got his soul back, but I dunno. I get the impression he kind of respected him in the end. It might bother Mai more. You know how she doesn't like to talk about those days."

"Well, I don't think Duke will like it, either. He was pretty mad about the beating we took when the two of us dueled him before he caught up with Joey." She sighed. "He didn't even need the Seal of Orichalcos to cream us. If he's as good as he was then, he's got a good shot of making the finals."

"Well, that's the least of our problems, if Valon is still connected with the Orichalcos in any way. It is odd that we couldn't find him when we were looking into Paradias and Dartz's connections." Téa paused as she felt a slight burning in her chest.

"Ow!" Rebecca put her hand on her own chest.

Téa frowned. "You feel that too? Like a burning in your heart?"

"Yeah," Rebecca said slowly. "Okay, I'm thinking that can't be good if we're both feeling the same thing at the same time."

Téa put her hand over her heart and closed her eyes. Something about this ache in her heart was familiar, like an echo from the past. It felt… like a connection that had been abruptly cut.

It's like he was standing right beside me and now he's gone. Joey's voice, another echo from the past.

And then she knew. She opened her eyes with a gasp. "Yugi!"

"What's wrong?"

Tristan looked at Paige as he rubbed his chest. "I don't know. Guess the fish and chips didn't agree with me." He blinked when he heard the sound of glass shattering from somewhere in the vicinity of the bathrooms.

Cady giggled. "Oops, sounds like one of the servers got clumsy. Hey, you okay, Duke?"

Tristan looked across the table to see Duke rubbing his chest as well. "You feel that too, Duke?"

"Just a little heartburn." Duke shrugged it off, but Tristan shook his head. Something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but he could feel it.

He turned back to Paige. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"What's wrong?" she asked again.

"I… I don't know. I just gotta go find Yugi and Joey. Be right back."

"Yugi! What's wrong, buddy?" Joey was squeezing Yugi's shoulders, trying to resist the urge to shake his friend.

Yugi's eyes were squeezed shut and he was gasping for air. "I… can't… hurts… ohhhhh…"

"Yuge, breathe! You look like you're having a heart attack or something!"

A server holding a tray of empty glasses stopped. "Is he all right?" There was a note of alarm in her voice. "Shall I ring nine-nine-nine?"

"I… what?" Joey couldn't get his brain to interpret what she'd said as Yugi took in a shuddering breath.

"Emergency! Does your friend need an ambulance?"

"Jo…" Yugi was wheezing as he reached for Joey, still struggling to breathe. "Hurts… please…"

"Jesus." Joey tried to beat down the panic and get his brain to start working again. Serenity, he needed Serenity…

A crowd was starting to form and he dimly heard the server repeat something about nine-nine-nine, and then he heard a familiar voice call out. "Joey! YUGI!"

Joey looked up, almost melting in relief when he saw Tristan. "Tristan! Go find Serenity! Something's wrong with Yugi!" His friend immediately disappeared back into the crowd.

"Hang on, pal." Joey squeezed Yugi's shoulders again. "Help is coming."

"Mai, you are smooth." Serenity stayed close behind Mai as they squeezed through the crowd away from the bar and Valon. "You stopped that guy cold when you introduced me. I wish I could handle guys as well as you do."

"You do just fine." Mai was feeling irritable and the odd tingle in her chest, probably from a combination of greasy pub food, smoke, cider, and jet lag, wasn't exactly helping her mood.

Serenity was undaunted. "So an old boyfriend, I take it?"

"Not really. Wannabe."

"But he obviously knew Joey from before. Was he at Battle City?" She wrinkled her nose. "I don't remember him."

Mai stopped. "Not Battle City, Serenity. California."

"Cali—" Serenity cut herself off. "Wait, are you talking about—? "

"The Orichalcos. Valon was one of Dartz's gang. He's the one who brought me into the fold, so to speak."

Serenity's eyes widened. "Oh."

Mai sighed. "God, I wish the past would just stay dead and buried. We should—" She paused, distracted by a growing commotion over in the direction of the restrooms.

Serenity frowned. "Mai… something's not right."

Mai narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I just… my chest feels funny. I thought it was indigestion, but it feels like something else."

"That's weird." Mai grimaced, rubbing her chest. "I'm feeling the same thing. When did it start?"

"Right after Valon came up to us."

"Hm. Me too."

"Okay, that is weird." Serenity transitioned smoothly into medic mode. "Even eating the same food and drinking the same drinks and everything, it's a little too coincidental—"

"Serenity! There you are!"

They turned to see Tristan pushing through people to get to them. Mai did not like the expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno, something happened to Yugi. He's sick or something."

Serenity and Mai exchanged troubled looks as Tristan reached them and grabbed Serenity's arm. "Joey sent me to find you. Come on, they're over by the bathrooms."

"Oh crap! My medic kit's in the hotel room!"

Mai held out her hand. "Give me your key card. I'll go back and get it while you go check on Yugi."

Serenity nodded, digging her key card out of her pocket for Mai before she and Tristan disappeared back into the crowd. Mai turned and headed toward the door.

Outside, she immediately regretted not going back to get her coat, which she'd left at the table. A mixture of snow and freezing rain was pelting down on her, and she was wearing nothing more substantial than a sheer silk blouse over a corset and a very short skirt. The hotel was only a short distance away, however, so she decided to suck it up rather than go back in for her coat. Rubbing her hands over her arms, she ignored both the cold and the way her chest was still burning and hurried in the direction of the hotel.

"Lovely night, yeah? Reminds me of the night we met."

Mai whirled around to see Valon behind her. "I don't have time to play games with you, Valon."

"I gathered, seeing as how you didn't bother to get your coat." He stepped up to her, shrugging out of his thick leather jacket and holding it out to her. "Here, take mine."

She regarded him a moment, her eyes narrowed and her hands on her hips. "What are you doing here, Valon? Been playing with any Orichalcos stones lately?"

He opened his mouth and dropped his arm, jacket hanging limply at his side. "I… bloody hell, what would I want with Orichalcos stones? And where would I get one even if I did want one?"

"You tell me."

He shook his head. "I have no idea what you're on about, Mai. Wanna help me out here?"

"I don't have time for this, Valon, but I swear to God, if you're here for any reason other than dueling, if you had anything to do with whatever just happened to Yugi—"

He frowned. "Yugi? What happened to Yugi?"

"I don't know, but I have to go get a medic kit from the hotel and I don't have time to chat. But know this, Valon. I'm not the same weak and desperate person I was three and a half years ago. I like my life. It took me three years to get it back after I let you talk me into throwing everything away and no one—no one—is going to mess with me or mine, you got that? So stay the hell away from me, stay the hell away from my friends, and if I find out you have anything green and glowy in your pockets, I swear you will wish you'd never been born!"

He glared at her, then slowly put his jacket back on. "Right then. So good to see you, too, Mai. But don't let me keep you, since you're in such a rush." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he turned and walked away down the street while Mai turned in the opposite direction and dashed off through the freezing rain toward her hotel.