A/N: There's a bit of a time jump here, I felt that we spent enough time in Egypt for now. Couple of possible triggers in this chapter so please read with caution.
Yami watched Joey carefully out of the corner of his eye, not sure of what to say to the blond duelist. He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut and bowing his head, gathering his courage to speak. After all, he was the Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt. He had dealt with Shadow Games and Psycho killers, surely he could tell Joey that Mai had come up missing.
He looked at the Pyramids to the west of them, wondering what secrets they could be hiding from them that could solve this mystery. Joey appeared next to him, face screwed up in determination of helping his friends on this adventure. Yami grimaced, knowing that the longer he waited the worse this was going to be.
"Joey? I have some bad news for you..." He began, telling Joey what Grandpa had told him. He could barely watch the light drain out of Joey's eyes, and the shoulders slump as the fight left him. Yami turned, grabbing Joey by the shoulders as the blonde slumped to the ground, silently sobbing as he mouthed Mai's name over and over.
Yugi ran over to his friend, mindlessly pushing Yami out of the way as he knelt by him. Ryou and Malik weren't far behind, both ignoring their darker halves to comfort the blond who had been a protector to all three of them. Ryou met Yugi's eyes and mouthed at him, trying to figure out what could have caused Joey to completely shut down like this. Yugi shrugged, looking up at Yami with tears in his eyes.
Yami could do nothing but stand their, watching as the three boys held their friend while he grieved and worried over the lost of the woman he loved. Pegasus stood by, using the little magic he still had to probe Joeys mind and deduct what happened. He immediately called his security guard over, giving them short instructions on what their next step would be. He then approached Yami, indicating that he should leave the boys alone for a minute.
"I have instructed my guards to get our plane here as soon as possible. We need to leave Egypt and get home. It's not a good idea for Yugi-boy and his friends to be here any longer than possible." Yami nodded, absorbed in his thoughts.
"So here's my plan..."
5 hours later they took off, a slightly more stuffed plane than they had before. Pegasus had left a few guards behind, with the express job of finding Shadi and getting him back to Domino. Ishizu and Odion had stayed behind also, hoping to do some more research on the Pyramids that could help them. Malik had offered to stay and help them, but Ishizu refused, telling her brother that he would be more help going to school and staying out of trouble. Marik had grinned at this, wrapping an arm around his other halves shoulders before promising to keep an eye on him. Malik flinched, then agreed to go with the rest of the gang, hugging his brother and sister good-bye as he boarded the plane.
Bakura was the last to enter, wiggling his fingers at Odion and winking as the plane door shut behind him. Looking around, he noticed Ryou sitting next to Yugi, and promptly grabbed his light and moved him as far away from his friend as possible, glaring at the younger boy until Yami snapped at him to knock it off.
Yugi frowned, turning his attention to Joey who was staring blankly out of the window, fingers tapping his cell phone. Yugi gently took Joeys hand and closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer that Mai was ok and would be found as quickly as possible.
One Week Later...
Joey stretched in his chair, bored of out his mind. His gaze kept going to the windows, and he frowned as the rain continued to come down. He glanced at the teacher, who was facing the chalkboard and prattling on about the importance of mathematically proving that two triangles were the same size.
"Because no body could just take a ruler and measure them... stupid proofs are going to make me fail and I'll never graduate with everyone else!" Joey sighed, picking up his pencil to attempt to follow what the teacher was saying. Tristan sat behind him, watching his best friend with worried eyes.
It had been a week since Joey, Yugi, and Ryou had gone to Egypt, and almost a week since Mai had come up missing. Joey never mentioned the womans name, and if someone brought her up or asked him how he was doing, Joey completely shut down, not answering any questions and disappearing for hours. The blond was obviously in pain, and none of his friends could do anything to help. All they could do for now was sit around and wait for something to happen, and for any clue of who could have taken Mai away. Finally the school day ended and the gang gathered at their regular spot, all of them silently taking inventory that no one else had gone missing.
Yugi smiled at Duke as he appeared, the last member to show up. Relief flooding his body as he double counted everybody and he smiled, glad to be through another day.
"How about if we go to my house for dinner tonight? My mom is on a cooking spree and she wants to try out some new recipes on everyone!" Tea announced, smiling brightly at the group while holding Ryou's hand.
Tristan's eyes lit up, remembering how good Mrs. Gardners cooking was as he began to drool. Duke slapped his boyfriend on the back while smiling at Tea, agreeing to join them for dinner. Yugi hesitated, looking over at Joey who was staring off into the distance.
"I think I should go to the shop first and check in on Grandpa and Yami... Pegasus had sent some men over to fix the roof and I want to make sure everyone is getting along ok." Yugi reached for the blondes arm, attempting to shake him out of the melancholy that had covered Joey's face. Joey blinked, staring at his friends in confusion as he attempted to remember what the conversation had been about.
"Tea invited us to dinner tonight Joey. How about if we go home and get Yami and we can go over." Yugi whispered, rubbing Joey's arm gently as he smiled at the blonde.
"Mom said to invite Grandpa too Yugi... She wants to thank him for taking care of us during our trip to Egypt." Tea interrupted the two boys, pushing Yugi away as she reached for Joey herself. Hands on his shoulders, she looked straight into the boys honey-colored eyes, her own blue shining with worry.
"Joey, you're my friend, and everyone knows that friendship is the most powerful thing in the world. I'm worried about her too, we all are. Mai's been through so much she doesn't deserve this. However, we need to focus and get our heads on straight so we can help her, and until Ryou's dad can locate Mr. Smith we are just spinning our wheels. We've had no contact with the people who took her, and no clues as to why. Maybe having all of us in one room will trigger something, it always seems to work in the movies." Joey sighed and looked away, gazing into the distance at something.
"Yug why don't you go ahead and get to Tea's? I'll walk to the Game Shop and check on things, and collect Yami and Grandpa." Yugi nodded, knowing that Joey needed sometime to himself.
"Alright Joey!" Tristan crowed, grabbing his best friend and rifling the boys' hair.
"Give me a call when you get to the Game Shop, I'll swing by and pick you guys up. I have to go home and check on my own shop anyway." Duke offered, pulling Tristan off of Joey and shaking his head at the brunet.
"Come on shark-boy, we've got things to do."
"Shark-boy! Why you-" Tristan's rant was cut off when Duke slapped his hand over Tristan's mouth and started to drag the other boy away, waving at their friends as he took off.
Joey watched them go and sighed, turning on his heel to head towrds the Game Shop.
"Ill see you guys at Tea's." He muttered under his breath, walking away as the rest of the gang stared at him.
Joey walked down the streets, kicking at a few small stones while he let his thoughts wander off. Inside his jacket was a scarf of Mai's, which he kept on him whenever he left the house. Whenever he was alone, which wasn't often, he would pull it out and smell Mai, wondering when she could be and what she was doing- or what was being done to her.
Joey played with the scarf absentmindedly, wondering what else he could do to find the blonde before something awful happened to her. He barely noticed the other people on the street, weaving around them almost as if in a trance until he suddenly collided with some one else. Sharp pain radiated through his shoulder as he dropped Mai's scarf and a voice rang out
"Boy, didn't someone teach you to respect your elders?"
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Ever since coming home, Yami had spent all of his time with Yugi and his Grandpa, catching up on things that ad happened while Yami was in the Afterlife. The most interesting was the fact that Pegasus had tuned into one of Yugi's biggest supporters, and had even forged some sort of relationship with the Kaiba brothers.
Less surprising was Joey's relationship with Mai. Yami had noticed that the two blondes were hiding feelings for each other, and he had privately wondered many times which one would make the first move.
Now Mai was missing, and Joey spent all the time he wasn't in school in his room moping. Yami worried for his friend, but the blondes personal issues kept detaining Yami from his goal-Yugi. He needed to bring Yugi back to him, and to convince him that they needed to change their relationship from friends to lovers. Yami couldn't go back to the Afterlife, he needed his light to balance out the darkness in that place.
The months of being in the afterlife caused Yami great stress, being apart from his light, his other half. He had been so lonely that he had seeked out the company of the Tomb Robber and Tomb Keeper- the only other two who could understand how it felt to miss the other half of one's soul. The three had become un-separable, doing everything together while talking about their missing partners.
Days flew by like hours in the afterlife, and the longer that all the boys spent together the more Yami had trouble denying his feelings for the other two. Being with Marik and Bakura reminded Yami of the old him, the man he had been before Yugi's light had begun to penetrate his darkness, when he took control of Yugi's body shamelessly to enact justice on those who attempted to destroy his host.
Sending people to the Shadow Realm while their bodies stayed behind trapped in bizarre games had given Yami a sick sort of pleasure, and the twisted games he played with Bakura and Marik had brought back that same sort of feeling. The other two agreed, their combined darkness feeding off each other
Then one day it all changed.
Bakura had been tying Yami to the bed when Marik burst in, waving a piece of paper around. His cries caused Bakura to pause and Yami to sit up, wincing as the ropes tore into his flesh. Marik didn't notice, jumping on the bed as he continued to wave the paper under Yami's nose.
"We have to go home! They're in danger we have to leave now!" Yami frowned, attempting to read the paper that was going back and forth under his nose.
"Marik! What the hell are you talking about? Who's in danger?" Bakura snapped, grabbing the paper from Marik's hand and reading it, growing pale as he finished. Yami grunted on the bed, trying to pull his wrists free from Bakura's expertly tied knots. Marik placed a hand on Yami's chest, leaning down til he was forehead-to-forehead with the former Pharaoh.
"There's been a threat made against our lights, we need to go home." Yami groaned and shook his head, not believing what he was hearing.
"I thought we got rid of the Great Evil. Or I did anyway. Wasn't that suppose to be Bakura? Or you? Or Pegasus? Maybe Dartz I can't really remember at this point there has been so many." Bakura growled at the former Pharaoh before clamping his hand over Yami's mouth. He then turned to Marik, eyes flashing dangerously.
"So, how do you propose we get back home?"
Yami froze as the rest of the memory disappeared from him, including the knowledge of what was written on that piece of paper. The same paper they had appeared with, hidden in Bakura's pocket. Yami groaned, holding his head in his hands as he tried to remember what it could have said. After all, this memory could be the key to finding Mai and figuring out this whole thing.
"Why is it always my memory that's faulty? Couldn't someone else forget something for once." A quiet buzzing noise had interrupted him, and Yami looked down to see his cell phone going off.
Pegasus had supplied each of them with their own private number, in case something happened and they all needed to be contacted quickly. Kaiba had frowned at the thought, but after a private chat with the billionaire he had agreed to take it, making sure to check the phone over carefully for bugs or any other devices.
Yami didn't really understand the importance of the thing, but it did mean that he could be in touch with Yugi whenever the younger boy was at school, and that thought kept Yami at ease. It also helped of course that Bakura and Marik took turns hiding in the bushes at the school, keeping an eye on their respective lights and for any trouble.
Yami would have loved to help them but he stayed behind, keeping an eye on Yugi's grandpa and the workers who were fixing the roof. Luckily the Game Shop needed to be closed for renovations, so no one had to worry about that. Yami instead spent a lot of time playing games with Grandpa, swapping stories with the older man about the things he had learned about his ancient past and attempting to fill in some holes about his people and their customs without giving away too much. Grandpa was pleased with the information, hoping that some of it may help him discover some new artifacts for the museum.
A buzzing noise sounded again, reminding Yami that he had a message. Picking the phone up, he saw the message from Bakura, letting him know that Joey was on his way home by himself and Marik was going to follow Yugi, Malik and Ryou to Tea's where they were all going for dinner.
Yami shot off a quick 'thanks' and closed his eyes, hoping that a few minutes of quiet would bring back a memory that was on the tip of his mind and could solve all of their problems.
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Joey's head snapped up at the sound of the voice, and he turned to see the last person he expected to see- his father.
"Why hello son. It's nice to see that you didn't forget about your dear old dad. I hear you've been shacking up with a whore and she's been paying all your bills. If I would have known you were so good in bed I wouldn't be so far in debt right now."
The elder Joseph Wheeler paused, looking his only son up and down appraisingly.
"What are you doing here dad? I though you took off after your bill collectors came after you for non-payment?" Joey asked, clenching his fists in case his father tried something.
"I just wanted to catch up is all my boy, haven't seen you in awhile, and I wanted to make sure you were doing alright."
"Yea I am, now get out of my way I have things too do." Joseph grabbed his son by the neck, pulling the boy off the street and into an alleyway.
"Shut up you ungrateful little-" Joseph stopped, straightening up and dropping Joey, allowing the boy to choke down some air.
"I mean, beloved son of mine, I would love to sort out all of the things that went wrong in our relationship, but I don't have the time. I do however have something that you might want. I know where your whore is, and if you're willing to play a little game with me I might divulge that information."
Joey saw red, and he swung at his father, managing to get in a few licks before the bigger man pinned him.
"I wouldn't do that again boy. See I owe a lot of money to some very bad people. Then one day you disappear and I have no protection. After all, you were my collateral, the people I played with have a thing for pretty blondes like yourself. So I struck a deal with them. I offered them a blonde, they offered to canceled my debt. Of course, I couldn't find you, but I did find that beauty you've been screwing. She's quite the fiesty one, I almost wanted to play with her myself but I promised to bring her undamaged. Thanks to her I'm debt-free, and I've been given a little present to deliver to you."
With that Joseph pushed his son towards a dumpster, opening the lid and pointing inside. Joey looked, face pale as he saw the dead body inside, recoiling at the smell of rotting flesh.
"The men I owed money too told me you've been looking for him, something about solving a mystery. They suggested you search the body, maybe you'll find something interesting." Joey trembled, looking down at the body in shock as he attempted not to vomit.
"Good luck boy, I think you're going to need it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a new toy to ride." Joey spun around at this comment, but his father was already halfway down the alleyway and disappearing into the crowd. Joey looked back down at the dead body, drawing upon all of the strength he had from his days in a gang.
Shuffling through the mans pockets, he unfolded a few receipts and some cash, which he put back. Gently pulling on the mans coat, he noted grimly that the body had been redressed after he had died, since there was no dried blood on the clothes. He gently unbuttoned the shirt, frowning as a piece of paper appeared on the mans chest.
If you want to see the girl again, figure out our next clue alone. No friends, no family take this message and go. Any suspicion we will kill her. We are watching you, so take care. The cops will be here in 10 minutes so don't get caught.
Joey jumped away from the dumpster, panicking as he tried to figure out his next move. Hearing sirens in the distance he reacted quickly, grabbing the paper off the dead mans chest and fleeing, hoping the cops wouldn't see him.
Trying to stroll casually, he walked into a coffee shop, ordering a drink and sitting down with the note. He read it again, looking around briefly to see if someone was noticeable staring at him. No luck on that front. Joey then flipped the paper over, blanching at the words on the back.
"Of course it could be easy." He muttered, trying to decode the message.
Zit Uktqztlz Rqfutk ygk dglz gy xl ol fgz ziqz gxk qod ol zgg ioui qfr vt doll oz, wxz ziqz oz ol zgg sgv qfr vt ktqei oz.
Doeitsqfutsg
A/N: Feel free to try to decipher the message if you would like. It's a famous quote if that helps... And please don't forget to review!
