"What if a friend of yours revealed to you that they weren't who they said they were?" ~
Savannah Georgia
Volume 2 – Chapter 3: "The Mysterious ."
The Weekend
Narrator's P.O.V
"And you guys lost?" Link asked, blinking twice with his arms crossed, standing by the arch in front of the kitchen where Duke, Yugi and Joey prepared lunch for the girls. It was a humiliating loss for the men of the house, all of them holding an unspoken grudge against the Pharaoh who refused to help them win. Link tapped the heal of his boot against the marble floor in attempts to adjust his comfort.
"Of course we did. We had the underdog on our team." Duke responded in a sour voice, adjusting the beige apron that he had on, pulling tighter than required. Joey huffed.
Upstairs
Girls Room
The girls were enjoying their weekend for the most part. Lucia was reading some of her favourite manga, hair loose and in comfy sweats and a tank top over her bed, turning every page with anticipation. Mai was sitting across from her at the desk wearing a comfy skirt, sweater and browsing the web for entertaining videos. Jane was sitting in the wall crevasse, hair in a bun, big t-shirt and tights like she had completely let herself go, scrolling through social media on her phone. She was feeling much less anxiety today since the Pharaoh was working a long shift, but she wasn't using the time to be productive at all. As for Rebecka, well the girls have given up on questioning her whereabouts every few minutes but they knew for sure that she was making the most out of their victory.
Scrolling through a picture of Lucia at the fair, Jane threw a pillow at her on the bed below her. "Hey Lucia, I just remembered, we never found Drew."
Lucia blushed and closed her manga. "Actually I did find him...while you guys were in Lazer tag."
Mai blinked. "Why didn't you tell us this?"
"I don't know, there was a lot happening I guess..."
"What happened?" Jane asked curiously. Lucia shrugged.
"We went into the tunnel of love and just talked..."
"The tunnel of love?" Mai said seductively.
"Lucia," Jane added, "Sounds like Drew is more than your friend, hm?"
"What about Link?" Mai asked. Lucia looked to Jane.
"Link's not her boyfriend, she can see other people." She answered for her. Lucia looked to Mai.
"Yeah but, we all know she loves Link so isn't it strange for her to be flirting with someone else?" Mai asked. Lucia blushed and looked to Jane again.
"Not really, she has to keep her options open. I mean, if she dedicates all of her time to someone to get rejected, she will be alone. At least this way, she's got insurance." Jane explained. Lucia pursed her lip and looked to Mai again.
"But these are people, not businesses, hun. Shouldn't Lucia give her all to someone she loves and if it doesn't work, she can move on and try someone else?" Mai added. Lucia tilted her head considering then looked to Jane for a reply.
"That's deep love though. She's just getting to know Link and Drew and see how she feels, it's not like she's in love with Link or Drew that hard that she would be betraying her heart..." Jane paused and looked at Lucia, "Are you?"
Lucia shrugged. " I don't know what deep love is but I really like them both."
Jane laughed. "...I...COMPLETELY understand."
Mai rolled her eyes. "I can sort of relate. With Valon and all."
Lucia smiled. "But you love Joey more. We all know that."
Mai brought her hand to her chin. "Of course. But some times a girl wonders what if."
"Really? Do you feel bad?" Jane raised a brow, positioning herself that appeared very interested.
After a pause, "... I don't know, Valon and Joey are extremely different. Some times I wonder what my life would be like if I had gone with him to his island. You know, I think I would have been just as happy as I am now. I am thankful that Joey is in my life and I don't find myself regretting choosing him by thinking of what could've been, but it' definitely interesting."
Jane blinked. "Admirable, Mai. I wish you were around when I first met Yami. Then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess."
Mai smiled. "Probably not. We would keep each other focused. Diana isn't a really strong teammate."
Jane rolled her eyes with a grin. She still thinks it would have turned out this way. She couldn't resist Yami.
"So wait," Lucia said, looking to the ground in thought, "Valon does exist, doesn't he? I mean, doesn't everything?"
Mai and Jane looked at Lucia and she face palmed. "I remember Yami and Link explaining to me how they met you and why they came here. They told me Link was looking for Midna and the Pharaoh was protecting the millennium items. When I asked how it's possible that their worlds are fiction in our world, Yami said that there are infinite worlds of infinite possibilities, so if you can think it, it exists."
Jane frowned, remembering her first conversation with the Pharaoh ever when he learned that in this world, his realm is an anime series. It all made sense. According to those rules, then any creator in this world was only imagining another world. Jane's eyes lit up. "So by that logic, then our own creations exist out there somewhere too, including our own imaginations!"
Lucia hopped on her bed in excitement, imagining the chance that her own creations may exist.
Jane chuckled, "So when we think we are coming up with fresh ideas, we are only seeing another possibility from another realm...that would explain mythical creatures, different religions and evidence of folklore. I mean, if we came up with time travellers and world travellers, they have to exist too. So nothing is really fiction."
"Oh my God!" Lucia squealed, "Can you imagine seeing the world of your own imagination?"
"It would be so epic! A world made of cotton candy," Jane flopped on her stomach. Mai smirked.
"Hey, this means that all your favourite characters are also out there. An infinite amount of versions of them." She said, then her and Lucia both looked at Jane with eyes of mischief. After a pause, Jane sat up again.
"No way!" Jane said loudly right away, "No. I don't need any of that. No! Do you see the trouble I am having just from having Yami in my life? I do not need any more members of my harem." Jane waved her hands in a hesitant motion. When Jane mentions her harem, she refers to all her crushes on fictional characters.
The girls laughed. "Well it's practically impossible, but are you saying that if you had the chance to meet Inuyasha, you wouldn't take it?" Lucia asked. Jane stayed silent, looking away from the girls.
"Hey if you can think it, it exists right?" I'm sure there's an alternate realm where Jane shares all her guys, haha." Mai laughed.
"Well isn't that other me lucky..." Jane smiled, "But I guess that would explain my chaos."
"Your chaos?" Lucia blinked.
"Well, Yami in this world is fictional. But the real Yami from his world crossed over here. Do you think that messed up the balance of things?" Jane wondered.
"Don't be so conceited hun," Mai added, "If there were some universal laws, then problems would be happening in this world, not with you and your romantic life."
Jane blinked. "You have a point there."
"No, it would affect Jane." Lucia added, "Because she's the only one who's really interacting with the Pharaoh. I mean, he's laying pretty low in this world. He's only truly involving himself with her."
Mai blinked. "Ok, but then wouldn't affecting Jane effect the whole world? I mean, her life changes affect the people she knows, and the people they know and the people they know and so on. If crossing worlds messed things up, we would know."
"Would we?" Jane pondered, "I mean, if they didn't, that's another alternate universe we will never know if they affected things or not."
"Ahhhh," Lucia said confused, "So if I think of a world right now where we are all carnivorous bunnies, that exists too? Or a world where we are fictional for them?"
"Yup," Mai said, "If you can think it, it's out there."
Lucia blinked twice. "I am so done."
The girls chuckled. "Well let's forget about it." Jane said, "Besides, the only world's we could ever visit is Link's and the Pharaoh's which they refuse to ever consider so we are stuck in this one..."
Later
Main Floor
"Going somewhere?" Rebecka asked Jane who slipped her sneakers on at the front door.
"Yeah, for a walk through the town." She answered while putting a leash on Little Link to take him for a walk for Lucia. Rebecka crossed her arms.
"You're not going to take advantage of every minute that the boys are at our mercy?"
Jane chuckled. "You torture them enough for both of us," she said, "I'll be back."
As Jane shut the door behind her, she sighed in relief. Finally she was able to frown freely without having to explain herself and spread negativity. Quietly, Jane walked down the long path past the gate and into the town, carrying nothing but her phone. There was a small chill for the spring, but she ignored the weather, being too lazy to return to the house for a sweater and as she walked by a few stores. Ignoring all of them, she stopped at an intersection by a news board. Looking at one of the flyers, she took a picture on her phone while she read the text to herself. Savannah Georgia's Spring Masquerade. It was nice that Savannah Georgia always hosted events because it meant the town was never boring. She considered going to the Masquerade with the girls: maybe it would be fun to meet new people and get away from the guys and the house for a little while. With her eyes glued to the phone, she began to turn away from the board before she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry-" She pulled back, shocked to find it was the Pharaoh she has collided with. Her pulse dramatically increased when she saw his face, that she barely noticed he was not alone. "Y-Yami.."
The Pharaoh stuttered. He couldn't just ignore her on the street, especially in front of his company who, he was just talking about her too, could tell they were familiar with each other. Yami sweat-dropped and cleared his throat.
"Good Evening," He greeted her. Jane feared Yami at this state, especially since this was the first thing he's said to her in days, so she remained frozen in place to allow him to decide the next course of action.
She took the moment of silence to look at the man that he was with. He was taller than Yami and much older and sinister looking. He had gray hair that fell just past his ears and wore a basic black suit and tie. He was a daunting looking man however, the most noticeable thing about him was his limp that he supported with an expensive looking cane.
"Who is this young woman?" The man asked, taking initiative to break the ice himself. The Pharaoh lightly closed his eyes.
"Mary Jane," He said, deciding to use formalities. Little Link barked harshly at the man and Jane pulled on the leash to calm him down. The man smiled when he was surprised to learn that the woman from the Pharaoh's stories was alone in the night in tracks, looking like an absent minded teenager. She was not what the king described.
Expecting an introduction, Jane was surprised when she didn't get one. She fiddled with the leash, still pulling Little Link back as he growled at the stranger, wondering who he was and why the hell the dog was acting so strangely.
"Go home." Yami said coldly, "It's not safe."
Jane looked at him in shame, then at the man who was... grinning. And with that, the Pharaoh and the stranger walked around Jane and continued on their way. Little Link didn't stop his growling until the two were out of sight and Jane sighed when the tension was gone. She felt a pain in her heart from the coldness that she received from Yami but she was slowly getting used to it. The bigger subject on her mind was the man he was with. Who was that?
"You'll have to do better than that," The man said to the King as his right arm shook to hold balance against his cane when they reached a jazz club. "You'll never be able to move on if you set up all these what ifs by ignoring her."
The Pharaoh sweat-dropped. "I am aware of that. The wounds are still fresh."
"It's already been a two weeks. You have to start somewhere." The man said, "Now if you want my help, you have to step on it. Time if of the essence."
The Pharaoh raised an eyebrow, second guessing if confiding in this man was wise. He decided not to care as he had nothing to lose. The king sighed. "Of course. But first,"
Yami gestured to the club. "A drink."
Later At Night
Joey in Yugi's Room
His intentions were good. The blond duelist didn't come into the master bedroom to snoop, he had just assumed that the king would have been home at this time. Coming into the large modern style suite, he wondered if he should have come in here to hide from the girls wrath all day. Joey casually slipped off his jacket to feel a bit lighter and dropped it on the single couch in the room and he sighed. For a Pharaoh's room, the set up was very post modern. There weren't any belongings left around and it was perfectly kept and tidy. The only thing left out in the open was a sheet of paper on the king's night table with some writing on it. Joey walked over to the table, his socks barely making a sound on the carpeted ground and he picked it up, examining the scribbles titled Clarity.
"Joey?" Someone interrupted and Joey quickly turned around to see Link at the door way looking at him with questioning eyes and crossed arms. He was wearing his long green t-shirt without pants-his favourite for sleep.
"I was just looking for the Pharaoh I um, needed a favour." Joey said, still reading the paper from the corner of his eye. Being engaged to Mai, who is well versed in music, Joey could see without a second thought that these were song lyrics written on the page.
"Yeah, he's not back." Link added, "I don't want to be pest, Joey. But I don't think you should be here when the Pharaoh's out."
Joey was genuinely concerned from the script he was reading but decided not to share that with Link. He put it down and shrugged.
"Ah, the Pharaoh wont do anything to me." He said boastfully, grabbing his jacket and walking out, "By the way, I haven't seen much of you around lately, Link. What have you been doing?"
Link looked away form the boy, "Taking a lot of shifts at work."
The two walked to the edge of the stair case.
"With pants, I hope," Joey joked and Link smiled. They noticed that Jane was still up and wandering around the main floor, pacing back and forth on her phone. Before they had a chance to question her, the front door opened rather quickly with the Pharaoh coming in and shutting it inconsiderately roughly for the hour. Joey was about to greet him, but Link immediately covered his mouth and pulled him into the hall.
Joey attempted to free himself but it was hopeless against the Hylian's strength so he instead dangled there in place while Link dragged him without noticing. Then he positioned himself to watch the two and listen.
"Oh, Good Morning," Yami said with a grin when he found himself in Jane's path. Joey snorted behind Link's hand.
"Morning?" Jane raised a brow, her confusion over powering her fear. "It's 11 at night..."
"Hm," Yami looked at his phone to check the time and then shoved it in his back pocket, walking past Jane two steps in the hall without removing his shoes and clanking the sound of his boots and keys as he moved. "What were you doing by the Event Board earlier?"
Jane blinked and looked at his back before he turned around to face her. "Well, I was-"
"Don't speak." He interrupted her, looking at her deeply and gestured to touch her face, but didn't. "You look different."
Jane blushed shyly as she wasn't looking her best recently. "It's because-"
"I didn't ask for an explanation," He said, moving closer to Jane to examine her hair. He was close enough that she can smell the trace of whisky on him and then she knew.
"Yami, I think you should call it a night..." She said sadly. She thought that he was finally talking to her to forgive however, turns out it was because he had come home from a self medicating session for his heart break thanks to her selfish actions.
"You aren't in position to give me orders, I'm Pharaoh." He said, turning around and walking into the living room where he tossed his keys on the couch before sitting opposite of them. Jane wanted to leave him on the couch to his anger, but he would only be upset with her more if she let him make a fool of himself in a moment of weakness. Jane held back all her feelings and joined the king on the couch.
"Finally," Joey whispered when Link released him, both kneeling by the stairs. "Why are you just watching this, he's drunk! This is a golden moment." He chuckled. Link rolled his eyes.
"He's not drunk," Link said, "I mean he's not totally sober, but can you blame him?"
Joey frowned right away. "Trust me, I don't. I may not have been around as long as you, Link, but I have seen enough."
Link faced the man. "What do you mean, what have you seen?"
"What have you seen?" Joey repeated, wanting him to spill first.
Link didn't look back as he watched the Pharaoh lazily on the couch with a smile, watching Jane with love in his eyes as usual. He knew Joey and the Pharaoh were close, but he wasn't going to share secrets that weren't his. Finding the king in the rain was going to remain an unspoken memory.
Jane sighed when her attempts to get the Pharaoh to bed weren't working. She brushed her bangs behind her ear and grabbed his keys. "Yami, please. I'll do anything."
Yami took his eyes off her and his expression became serious.
"Wait...I have heard those words before," He said with his hand up to silence her. He then looked at her again with anger. "I should be upset with you."
Jane frowned, not denying so. "Please..."
Yami stood up from the couch. "After what you've done, why are you even near me?!" He said, slightly louder than normal and immediately, Joey and Link jumped up and rushed down the stairs to interrupt the conversation.
"Hey, Pharaoh! Welcome home." Link said with a smile, tapping Yami's right shoulder.
"It's been a long day for you, Pharaoh, why don't we get a well deserved rest?" Joey grabbed Yami's forearm and the king flicked away his grasp without a second thought and looked at his friends with a stern cold look.
"Know your place," He told them both before giving Jane a dirty look and began making his way out of the area and up the stairs. There was an awkward silence before Link crossed his arms and broke it.
"Are you crazy?" He said to Jane, "Trying to approach him when he's like that?"
Jane didn't argue as she has no rights. "I was just trying to get him upstairs."
"Really?" Link asked sarcastically and turned to Joey. "Is that what it looked like to you? Because it looked to me like she was trying to make up with Yami while he was vulnerable. Which, by the way, he's never been before in his life!"
"That's not true!" Jane stood up, "I would never do that!"
"So you were just leading him on again, then." He added.
"I was-" Jane sighed, "I was trying to help him."
"Don't." Link said, bringing back the silence.
Following Morning
Rebecka has gone home
It was an awkward morning. Everyone's had breakfast at their own time and mostly ignored each other due to the heavy tension between Jane and the king as usual. Most of the gang lingered in front of the TV, procrastinating as much as they could before having to move on to whatever the day had in store for them. Jane sunk into the couch in shame when she saw Yami and Mai jogging down the stairs, both dressed for the perfect March breeze.
"Thanks for the help, hun," Mai said as she grabbed her white sneakers, slipping them on and quickly doing up the laces, not really caring if they were done properly or not.
"Pharaoh," he corrected but Mai didn't seem to pay any attention as she fixed her jacket. Yami was in his usual tank top and skin tight jeans, pulling on his usual boots and grabbing the car keys. It was a little uncomfortable considering that both were pretending that previous events haven't occurred, but Yami was thankful that the woman provided him with a temporary distraction.
"Where are you two going?" Yugi asked in his comfy shirt, having gotten up off the floor and into the hallway.
"I'm dropping Mai off at a photo session that she'd be late for other wise," Yami answered.
"Photo session? Like a photo shoot? Can we come?" Lucia asked, giving up with the TV.
"Not unless you want to meet us there," Mai said without looking up as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to look at the time. They were going to be late any minute, no more questions. "Come on, Pharaoh!"
This surprised everyone except for Yami as a small smirk came across his lips and he opened the door, pressing a button on the car keys to unlock the car door and Mai went rushing out ahead of him. Yami gave a quick gesture to the others and closed the door behind him to head to the car.
"A photo shoot?" repeated Lucia once more. "Do you know where it is?"
Jane shrugged.
"Can we go check it out?" Junior seemed interested now, especially if it would get them out of the house for a little while.
"I guess we could…" Jane started slowly, closing her game and pulling her headphones out. "But we can't bother them, got it?" Everyone nodded in unison. "I think they're at a private park across town. I could ask Mai."
"Finally something different. So how are we going to get there?" Joey asked, crossing his arms across his chest. Yami had his car and the only other person in the house who can drive was Jane and she would immediately refuse.
"I can ask Drew," Lucia said as an afterthought.
"Drew?" Link struggled to breathe. "Why him?"
"Well maybe he'll let us borrow a horse, he's taken me home before," she said and Link tried his best to hide the blush he could feel burning on his cheeks. Yugi glanced at Link and swore he could've seen the older male's face pale.
"Hylian's get hot easily," Link said quickly. "The AC must be off..." he pulled off his hat and waved it near his face as if to prove his point. Lucia blushed and looked away as she doesn't get to see his full head of hair very often.
"So..." She struggled to say, "Should I call Drew?"
"And rent horses? There's too many of us, that would cost a fortune." Jane finally spoke and stood up, lazily walking toward the front door and grabbing the key for the second car. She huffed, thinking she would regret this but it was better than wasting away on the couch. "Come on, I'll drive you guys. Though I demand that Yugi takes shot gun."
As they began to stand up, Joey pouted his lip. "Why does Yugi get first dibs on the front seat?"
"Because I actually like him," Jane said half jokingly, as she held the door open for her friends so that they could all come along on the ride.
"Cut it out back there." Jane said, looking into the front mirror and watching Joey and Junior fighting for the space in the back seat and blocking her view from behind. Yugi sweat-dropped next to Jane, surprised that she wasn't already expecting this.
"There's hardly any room" Lucia said, pinching Joey's leg to cause him to flinch away from her. She and Link were the most uncomfortable, pushed up against each other almost as badly as they were from the winter twister night. Link looked away and out the window, trying to conceal his blushing and mentally reminding him to be cool, as Drew would.
Lucia took advantage of Link's turned away gaze and stared at him. She never really had the chance to just look at him and notice details because...she was too shy to look him in the eye when he was looking back. While the others had their own conversation, she blushed, and pulled her head back like a turtle, trying to play it off. But Link looked more handsome now than she's ever noticed. He had the smoothest skin she's ever seen and his jaw line had sharpened recently, coming out of his teenage features. His eyes were a piercing deep blue against the lightness of his hair and skin and every time he blinked, she shuttered.
"Hm?" He turned to her when he noticed her gaze was in his direction. Lucia blushed.
"Hm?" She said back. Link blinked twice, forgetting their closeness.
"Is there something on my face?" Link asked, immediately sending him to a flash back: Waiting in the car for Yami and Jane with Diana, who he also caught staring at him. The memory used to be a happy one, but now... it was causing another migraine!
"Grunt,-" Link shut his eyes, pressing his head against the window in attempts to cool it down.
"Are you alright?" Lucia asked, worried. Link grunted again, completely confused and rubbing his forehead roughly with the back of his blue gloves. He thought these were over with, why are they still coming back?
"It's...my head..." Link said through his teeth, slightly looking up and revealing his eyes giving off red flashes. Lucia's eyes widened and began calling the others right away.
"Guys! Look! I told you!" She said, hitting Joey in the arm and kicking Jane's seat. "Link's eyes are turning red!"
"Lucia!" Jane complained, keeping her eyes on the road, "I'm a bad enough driver as it is!"
Junior turned away from Joey to look at Link but by the time he did, Link's eyes have settled.
"There's nothing there." He said with a raised brow. Lucia looked back, hovering her hand over Link in panic as his struggle against his migraine began to ease.
"But, he-"
"Lucia, how many times are we going to have to discuss your drinking problem?" Jane joked.
Lucia sighed in frustration as Link came to. He blinked a few times to ease the sudden burn in his eyes and turned to Lucia.
"It's passed," He paused, "I don't get what brought that on..."
"Yeah," Lucia said in worry, "All you did was ask me if there was something on your face."
Link chuckled slightly as he leaned against the window to recover. "Yeah. You still haven't answered."
Lucia blushed. "There's nothing on your face. It's just I never seen you this close before, thanks to being squished right now."
Lucia lightly laughed and Link smiled. When he asked Diana the same question, he recalled her respond being cold with all her walls up. Lucia was completely open about herself. Listening to her is always so easy-he never has to question if she's being true or not and it really gave him peace of mind.
Link shrugged.
"Well there isn't much to see." He said, closing his eyes. Lucia's smile vanished.
"That's not true!" She defended his confidence like the friend she is. Link opened one eye.
"Why not?" He said, teasing her. Lucia blushed and looked away form Link, twiddling her fingers.
"Well...I mean...You know...your...you have a nice face." Lucia managed to say. Link blinked and blushed.
"O-oh..." He said, then looked outside the window again.
"Don't get too close," Joey said, who was eaves dropping with the others. Junior laughed and Link grunted in embarrassment.
***
At the event, Link was sitting down against one of the trees, the heels of his feet against his butt as his arms were crossed over his bent knees as he watched everyone go gaga over the Vocaloids. He turned and looked up to see Yami leaning against the tree and holding a bottle of water to him. The blond elf pulled off his gloves, resting them on his legs and took the bottle, unscrewing the lid.
"You didn't have to, y'know," Link said.
"You're welcome," Yami said implying a thank you from Link as he already started drinking from the bottle. He wiped away the excess water with the back of his hand before replying. "I'm certain that something seems to be causing you discomfort," Yami said and Link turned away.
"Yeah well, the same goes for you. Last night wasn't your most historical moment..." he commented softly, playing with his tunic.
"Not the topic right now, Link." Yami's voice stayed the same but his choice of words were showing slight annoyance.
"Sure," Link quickly dropped it, knowing as a man it wasn't easy to reflect on moments of weakness, in fact the king's third eye reacted and caused him to became worried. He leaned against the tree without looking at Link, just as he did for him in the rain and cleared his throat.
"We've had our fair share of conversations and some how, we've never truly spoken about you." Yami said, trying to return the favour for helping him at his worst, "Is there something you'd like to discuss?"
Link was silent for a bit, looking back up at Miku surrounded by the lights and photographers while the others were hanging back.
"Do you think Lucia isn't interested in me because I'm not a duelist?" he asked.
Yami kept his poker face on, but internally he was feeling completely unfit for sharing advice about woman. He sighed.
"Lucia is not of the judgmental variety. I can recall Lucia stating that she admires your many skills in multiple fields, in fact, one of her favourite duel monsters is-," Yami said, trying to help in any way that he can.
"No, I know. She likes magicians." Link put down the water bottle and put back on his gloves.
"I was going to say the Celtic Guardian," Yami corrected. "For obvious reasons..."
Link sighed.
"I know..." He said, dissatisfied.
The Pharaoh turned his head to look at the male, watching him rip the grass from the ground with harsh eyes filled with thoughts of a woman. Eyes that were too familiar.
"Have you told her of your passions?" Yami asked, genuinely curious. Len sighed.
"I don't really know if I have them yet." He answered regretfully.
"Perhaps you should let her know they may be there," The Pharaoh explained.
"You think?" Link considered, "That would be so awkward."
Yami closed his eyes. Link was afraid of being pushed away from her. He understood that all too well.
"Link, rejection is always a positive incremental investment on your dues," Yami said, "And, in some way, it will be translated back into your life."
Link remained quiet, agreeing with him however still unsure if he should risk it. The Pharaoh sighed and spoke again,
"Perhaps I should take my own advice." He said, positioning his arm on his knee. Link looked at the Pharaoh.
"You weren't really rejected." Link said halfheartedly. Yami snickered sarcastically.
"Worse. I was encouraged." He said, "I would have had a much easier time getting over a rejection from a maiden who had disinterest rather than moving on from one who had the opportunity to love me but chose not to."
"Well when you put it that way..." Link said, stretching out his legs on the ground, "I look weak."
Yami smiled. "Not weak. Just fortunate." He said, loosening the belt on his neck, "Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today. Before you know it, Lucia will be involved with someone else and then you'll never have the chance to tell her how you truly feel. She has been spending a lot of time with her new instructor..."
Link grunted, surprised that the Pharaoh hadn't yet picked up on his charade. He was so distracted with Jane that he was paying less attention to everyone else.
"But what about you?" Link asked, "Aren't you scared you might never get over her? Do you think there's someone else out there that will make you as happy as she did?"
"Not if I lived another 5000 years." He answered quickly, "But I have been finding an alternative method to forget."
Link blinked. "Really? What's that?"
"I've acquired some help recently." Yami started.
"Oh? What do you mean, like a shrink?" Link blinked and Yami shook his head.
"Not exactly. This man is going to find me an unconventional solution to putting Jane in my past. It may cost me, but I find it may be worth any price." Yami said, saying it almost as though he was second guessing these plans. Link raised a brow, curiously.
"Who's the guy?" He asked bluntly. Yami looked at him, trusting that he wont share the information with anyone. And with that look, Link understood without it having to be spoken.
" Mr. Gold." He said.
Meanwhile...
"Hey so…" Lucia nervously pressed her index fingers together. "Is Kaito around?"
Jane rolled her eyes.
"Such a fan girl," She said, beginning to remove her braid.
"Owe!" Kaito sat up suddenly and looked up to see Mai standing over him. "What?" he grabbed his hat, putting it on over his dark blue hair. "Is Miku done yet?" he glanced around, sleepily blinking.
"No," Mai said and the older male seemed unamused.
"Then why'd you wake me up?"
"Because you have company," Mai gestured with her thumb to where Lucia was nervously standing beside Jane, gripping onto her friend's arm so tightly her knuckles were turning white.
"Oh," he stood up then and brushed the fallen sakura petals from his dark blue pants then fixed his Senbonzakura outfit. "Does she want a picture?"
Mai shook her head. "You already met her, hun. Remember?"
"Oh." Kaito said again with small surprise and walked over to them, tipping his hat in motion. Lucia's grip tightened even more that Jane actually had to tell her to stop before she lost all feeling in the arm. She apologized, letting go of her arm and looked back to Kaito.
"So," Jane turned to the Pharaoh. "Were you planning on going home with us?"
Why does she even bother? Yami ignored her and instead turned to Yugi and Junior.
"There is a beautiful garden just over the hill," he told them. "Would you like to see it?"
Yugi looked at Jane then back at Yami.
"...Can Jane come along?"
"No," he responded almost immediately and Yugi nervously laughed.
"Ok, then." Yugi agreed taking Junior's hand and the two of them followed the Pharaoh. He looked to Jane apologetically once before fully committing to the king on their way. She huffed and glared at the three of them, more specifically Yami and crossed her arms across her chest, her lips turning into a pout.
While Lucia was screaming over Kaito's Senbonzakura outfit, being the huge fangirl that she was, Link watched with a look of distaste on his face.
"Don't like that Lucia is paying attention to someone else?" Mai began, hoping to spark something. Last time she attempted anything like this was a game of pokey to push him along with Diana. How amazing that time changes things so much.
"I don't mind. She's allowed to be excited over whoever she wants too," Link said and she giggled a bit.
"Well that's true, but you haven't moved that look from your face since she started," she pointed out.
Link looked away from the woman and back at Lucia who was wearing Kaito's hat now. This seemed to irritate him more.
"Why don't you ask her to explore the cherry blossoms with her? They're the most beautiful at this time of year, I am sure she'd love it."
"I don't know." Link said.
"It would get here away from Kaito," She said, "And you two can talk."
Link thought about this, resting his index finger on his lips in thought. It could work because right now, seeing her smiling like that made him feel uncomfortable? But would Lucia leave with him?
"I just might ahh but…" he turned back to her. "I may just take your advice." he grunted.
End of the day
"Mai!" Jane shouted and ran the small distance to where her long haired friend was. Mai turned from where she was taking a photo of the trees with her phone.
"What is it?" she asked, checking to make sure the picture came out properly then slipped her phone into her purse.
"Link just came over to Lucia and bluntly asked her if she'd join him to check out the cherry blossoms." Jane said seductively and put her hands on Mai's shoulders, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about, too." She said, pulling out her phone. "Let's go to this with Lucia."
Mai blinked twice, looking and the photo of the add on Jane's pink phone.
"Do you think the guys would be into something like this?" She asked.
"Let's go," Jane paused, "Without them."
A/N: SO Originally, parts of this chapter was written by an outside friend for fun so that's why there's some fluff in there with Vocaloids, but aside from that stuff, the important thing to note was the appearance of Mr. Gold. Do you guys watch Once Upon A Time? (Watch if you havent, you'll love it) What do you think will take part with the influence of the Dark One? What does this mean for their universe!?