Please let me know if you find any mistakes, I was kinda in hurry because Saturday is the only day when I can write, and I have plenty more things to do, so please forgice me.
Thank you for your comments, you guys are awesome and I'm so happy that you like the story so far! I hope I will not disappoint you in this one :-D
He woke up, not sure what he was dreaming about. He was fairly sure, however, that it was a good dream. A strange one, but good as well.
The sun was rising.
Not that he minded. True, it would be hard to look at it and his eyes would need plenty of time to adjust, but considering his future plans, it was but a small drawback.
If he was quite honest with himself, he wasn't sure how all of this will end. He trusted in many things to just go his way - for the duke to let himself be manipulated, which he had, but to what degree? For Mana and the rest to get safely to the middle of the Maze. For Yugi to figure the Maze out.
Yugi.
That was something unexpected. The young man had a very sharp mind, if properly challenged, probably sharper than his own. But ever from that first night when he had punished Arkana, from the first night when Yugi and Anzu had defied him and fought for their lives, he had not considered them a threat. If they were friendly, if they were 'ready to help him' from the beginning, he would have them killed. Defiance and hate are honest. Fighting for their life was honest, as was their distrust of him and his companions.
And he decided to trust them. The only ones who were truly concerned for him were Mana and Mahad, and he saw that after escaping from the prison. But the rest... Aknadin was always nice, always supporting and ready to help and listen. All of this had been a lie. Or worse, it hadn't been a lie at all, Aknadin simply weighed his nephew's life and his own ambition and found the life of his kin worth less.
Kindness was dishonest. It was weak. Compassion was weak.
He firmly believed in that and that belief had never led him astray. He had gathered new companions, bound to him with gratitude, with need of protection or simply, with earning for some purpose in life. They were loyal and nice, but what held the group together was not kindness or compassion, it was purpose. And that, he could understand.
And then Yugi and Anzu appeared, and everything stopped being so clear. The fear and hatred they felt for him were easy to understand and he trusted in their feelings. But then, they started to change, they started to adapt. So he moved on, binding them to his cause by helping them, protecting them, talking to them. Anzu was the first one to change her alliance and she quickly became one of them.
And then, there was Yugi.
He was like light. He shone with kindness and at the beginning, he had tried to squash that light within the boy, to mold it and change it into the darkness of distrust and ruthlessness he himself had adopted. But Yugi refused. And the more he refused, the more he was drown to the boy.
Yes, he was aware, that Yugi's kindness was a serious fault, but it was at the same time the biggest strength of that shy, intelligent boy. Instead of hating that light, he started to yearn for it. He was aware that he had spend much time with Yugi, getting to know the boy when he knew he shouldn't. Even Mahad told him that. He should've left Yugi alone.
It would be better for the boy. But it would be such a shame to see him wilt away in his mansion, not understanding his own brilliance, not seeing how special, how strong he was.
Besides, even though he had not much time, he could still be selfish. He had always been selfish, after all, protecting what you care about is the greatest selfishness one could exhibit. It was his nature. And his nature simply couldn't leave Yugi alone.
He had never felt so dire need to be understood by someone, to show them how the world looked like through his eyes.
Mahad called it 'affection'. And he had partly agreed. Because he was never joking when he threatened Yugi. The moment the boy became a threat, he will kill him. He might be selfish and fascinated, but no matter what feelings he might have for Yugi, there were more important things. There was always one choice he could make.
"You seem unperturbed." He turned towards the voice. The first, weak rays of the sun were touching the duke's hair. He hadn't noticed when the man appeared next to the cart he was on.
"Why should I be?" He replied, trying to sound more smug than he felt. Now he felt mostly cold and tired, but that was something he could never show in front of his enemies.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I am going to wipe that smirk off your face permanently the moment we reach your beloved companions?" The duke suggested sweetly. The guards that were put in charge of him laughed a short, not genuine laugh.
"You seem to be pretty confident about that. And yet here you are, talking with me. Scared?" He noted, trying to keep the duke away. The man had to be at the beginning of the column, leading his troops and entering the maze long before the cart.
"No. Just feeling the need to boast and gloat." The duke answered. " You seem confident that somehow your friends will rescue you. If they are as talented as that idiot Joey you've sent on my court, then I have nothing to fear." A surge of anger ran through him. Joey was another person that surprised him. True, it was Mai who argued and fought to keep them well and alive, but Joey seemed not only attached to her, he also strongly believed in the cause. He trusted them to change the state of the kingdom. He was exactly what they needed. Someone from the kingdom to tell them they wanted them.
Because he himself was sometimes unsure. He didn't want to become another one in the line of dictators who claimed power against the will of the people. He was doing it for the people mostly. His own reasons should be less important. But it was hard to distinguish whether it was true while he was not in his own country, while he had no contact with his subjects.
Only Joey, later seconded by Yugi and Anzu, gave him the final confidence. And hearing this second rate strategist calling Joey idiot was like a personal insult.
He managed to stay calm, however. Because Joey had done what Joey had to do, even if in a clumsy way. He got the duke's attention and because of that, even though they had less time than he planned they would have, they were leading the duke into a trap. But of course, he could not say that out loud. That, and he couldn't be sure that they would be waiting for him in Paradox Fields. He believed that Yugi and Timaeus were able to figure out the Maze, but he could not be sure.
"Well, your comrades do not seem to be intellectuals either, so I am not worried." That earned him an angry punch to the face from the guard sitting the closest to him. It had hurt. The duke started to shout something at his underlings, but he wasn't listening.
He could feel another coughing fit approaching. When was the last time he had drank the lotus potion? Before they had started on their journey, which would be... Too long. He went without it for too long. The constricting pain of lungs, dulled for a while, now returned with a full force.
They could not know. It was bad enough that Timaeus knew, considering his unknown motives.
"Did I hit a sore point?" He taunted, and another punch, this time in solar plexus, gave him the opportunity to cough up the blood.
The pain stayed, but the immediate threat of exposure was gone.
"I get it, insulting your precious friends is not a way to go." The duke said mockingly, still not bothering to catch up with the rest of his men.
The sun was now shining in full.
Everything hurt. And now, he couldn't even keep his eyes open.
"Oh, must be hard." That was the duke, the false sympathy evident in his voice. " Don't worry, I will shorten your suffering soon."
He forced his eyes open.
It was too late. They were already in the city.
"Sir, there seem to be some kind of a maze before us!" One of the soldiers shouted.
"Well, who would have thought. In the Maze City? A maze?" The duke hissed and went ahead to guide his people. Since he was not a complete idiot after all, figuring out the right entrance took him only an hour.
By that time, he was sore, hungry and definitely too weak to actually fight. All hope he had, was that the rest was already safe on Paradox Fields.
"Well, I think I will accompany you, since I seem to get on your nerves." He turned. The duke was back. Damn.
"I am deeply flattered." He answered, hating how weak his voice sounded. Of course, the duke noticed.
"Not so sure anymore, are we? You probably thought we will not get past the Maze." Here, the light tone of the duke disappeared." You are always underestimating me."
He wasn't.
He simply knew he was better.
He told the duke as much.
Before the man could respond, the soldiers that went before the cart had entered the Maze.
An arrow came down and landed on the cart floor in front of his feet.
At least that went according to plan.
"That's the end of my way, apparently." He said, his smirk effortlessly back in its place. " I think I cannot enter the Maze through this gate. Unless, you want me dead already, but I am aware it is not the case." He taunted, basking in the hatred visible on the duke's face.
"You... You knew!" He growled. " Get back, everybody, get back!" The moment the soldiers started to follow the order, a rain of arrows ran in their direction. The guardians of the Maze were on the walls, their figures obscured by their dark cloaks. The soldiers tried to fight back, but the guardians were too swift on their feet, being accustomed to moving on the walls instead of inside them.
The slaughter was short and efficient.
"The punishment for turning back is death." He told the duke, who was watching in horror as his men who turned back to obey him were falling to the ground, their blood splaying the path. The few that had not turned around were now watching in silence, waiting for a new command. Some of them were already gone, running for their lives inside the Maze.
The duke was silent.
The two guards in the cart with him were as well, staring speechless at their fallen comrades.
A good strategist should always know everything about his surroundings.
But he had no strength to boast. The first part of the plan worked. But there were still many things that could go wrong.
He wondered, what would Yugi say if he knew what happened to this men. He would probably feel sad? He would think of their families, of their future. He would blame him. He would once again look at him as a child looks at the monster.
Maybe he really was one.
"I want to kill you right now." The duke whispered, and before he could react, he felt a blade pressing on his throat.
"One your word, sir." The man panted, clearly wanting revenge for the ones killed in the Maze.
"No. Not now. I will drag you back to your people and I will slaughter them all so that you can see. Only then, I will free you from the pain and murder you in the most painful way I can think of."
"You assume that they will let you do that." It was hard, talking with a blade so close to his skin, but he had to keep talking. The angrier the man was, the less straight he could think.
At that, the duke laughed a dark, strangled laugh.
"You have no troops. That three people we saw were your only companions. I see it now." That got him by surprise. How did the duke know?
"You wouldn't do something as underhanded as that if you were sure that you had the advantage. But you knew you had none. You led us to this trap so that we will never notice that you have no support!" The duke was now shouting and his horse neighed in worry, feeling that something strange was going on with its master.
"All you have is that three people. And we have neither your hideout, nor them. Well played. But that's not the end!" The guards backed off, clearly taken aback by this outburst.
"I can see everything now, you will not fool me again! And trust me, you will regret spilling a drop of their blood!" Here, the duke turned to the men still standing in the Maze." Go ahead. If you find anyone from his group, catch them. Don't kill them, that would be too easy." The men shouted something in response and went ahead.
Maybe it was better that the duke stayed with him. He was too weak to fight off the guards as he previously planned, and without the duke with them as the leader, the soldiers had good chances of getting lost inside the Maze. They will probably never find the Centre, and even if they did, Yugi and the rest should already safe at Paradox Fields.
He hoped.
"There is another entrance. Isn't it?"
"There is." In fact, there were plenty of entrances, but only Paradox Fields would provide what he was lacking at the moment- a chance to win.
"Then lead the way. And trust me, now I will know if you are leading me astray or not."
And he really hadn't doubted it.
Still, he had no intention of leading them astray. He wanted to get on the Paradox Fields. And he needed duke there as well.
"Leave the City and turn left. We will enter it from North."
/
Getting to the Fields was the easy part, it turned out.
All they had to do was to find the 'map' of the Maze and understand the riddles that were written instead of the names of places.
"They must've really liked the riddles." Joey sighed as they were copying the most promising lines on the paper.
"If we knew what other places are here, we could eliminate some." Mana said, and Yugi silently agreed. He loved riddles, but here, there was too many things he didn't know. If he knew the proper names of the places, it would help -he could put a name to a riddle and find the Paradox Fields. But only because a riddle was speaking of paradoxes, it was no guarantee that it was the correct one. What if there were' Paradox Towers' or something else?
Too many options, it turned out, because almost every riddle's answer seemed to be 'paradox' or 'impossible', if one wanted to quote Joey.
But soon, thanks to Timaeus, they have found what they were looking for.
"I have one that simply doesn't make any sense." He said at some point, and showed them a very strange thing indeed.
survived death that life extinguished with inevitable Fate.
"Sounds like enough paradox to me. It died, but survived." Joey said. " But it doesn't seem to be any different than the ones we had looked into before."
"True. But it is the only one with a capital letter at the end." Yugi answered after a while. Some riddles had not capital letters, some had only capital letters. Some had capital letters inside, some simply at the beginning. And all were about some kind of a paradox.
Maybe it was just like with the gate? There was only one correct answer, the rest was simply a decoy leading gods know where?
That would explain why everything seemed to be about paradox. No wonder people didn't want to leave the city. The map, as they had learned, was changed every day and remembering which exit was a correct one might be hard, because everything looked the same. Adding changing riddles to that, Yugi was sure he would be traumatized if he stayed here.
He looked at the sentence once again.
It had capital letter at the end. Considering the normal ordination of a sentence, it was its mirror reflection. Yugi thought of the trial at the gates.
He read it from the end to the beginning.
Fate inevitable with extinguished life that death survived.
It still didn't make any sense.
"I tried translating it into the language of the capital, just in case, but it still means nothing." Mana said, defeat entering her voice." Had Mahad been here, he would know."
Was it another dead end?
"The only thing that is interesting here is that the Maze people would write 'death' with a capital 'D', since it is one of their gods." Timaeus also seemed to lose faith. " My cousin had been wrong."
That one sentence motivated Yugi even more. The prince could not be wrong. He was the prince.
Fate inevitable with extinguished life that Death survived. He wrote on a piece of paper.
It still was nothing much. But it was the only one with a capital letter at the end, so it had to be special, right?
"Let us have 5 minutes to think about something else. We are too fixated on that, we are not looking with a fresh eye." Mana suggested, and reluctantly, they followed her advice. Joey and Timaeus went to get something for eat, while Mana attended to the horses, speaking softly to them in that capital language. Yugi was determined to learn it someday. It sounded nice and finally, he would not feel left out whenever others were speaking it. He wanted to learn everything there was about the capital, if he was to be honest.
Their culture was different than that Yugi knew from the North. Even the cards were designed differently.
He got up and took out his Falcon deck from his bag. The figures of half-men, half-animals were eerie at the first glance, but now they were simply beautiful for him . The woman with wings reminded Yugi of Mai. She had black hair instead of blonde, but her expression was the same- dangerous and powerful, and yet kind. That, and Mai seemed to like the harpy card from his Monster deck very much, so it fit. Anzu was like the hippo lady. Not because she was fat, because she wasn't. But the hippo lady cradled a child against her breasts, yet instead of looking at it, she was looking at the one holding the card, as if saying 'I will protect it from you.". And that was very much like Anzu.
He himself had always felt that the card with a man with the head of some unknown bird, holding a board was the closest to him. Mostly because the man was surrounded with games and seemed too caught up with them to even spare a time to look at the card-holder. He probably knew many things, but was somehow isolated from the world, and Yugi could relate to that.
Joey was like the man with the crocodile head, because he seemed to be the most eager one, a sword in his hand and all...
The prince was the one with the head of the Falcon, maybe because it was the first card the prince saw when Yugi showed him that, or maybe because the Falcon seemed to have the same regal bearing as the prince did.
Yugi shuffled through cards, enjoying his favourite pictures. There were quite few of them, since the highest cards, from jack to ace had the pictures of gods, while the lower had whole scenes.
Yugi's hand stopped at the card with the Falcon and the man with a head of a black dog standing in some kind of chamber. For some reason, the half-dog reminded him of Timaeus. Behind the Dog stood someone covered by bandages and Yugi was fairly sure that that person was dead. The Falcon and the Dog seemed to be talking, their hands outstretched towards each other. Maybe they were arguing?
He looked at the bottom of the card. While the gods were not named, the scenes usually had some kind of explanation on them. This one wasn't telling Yugi much. 'Inevitable Fate.'. That could literally everything, he should have asked the prince, it was probably a well-known scene from mythology. Or, maybe he should ask Mana, what that 'Inevitable Fate' of the Falcon man was.
It could be death. Or, 'Death', if one went by the standards of Maze-people... Wait.
Fate Inevitable with extinguished life that Death survived.
F, I, D. What if Maze people didn't only capitalize 'death'? What if they capitalized every noun?
Fate Inevitable with extinguished Life that Death survived.
F,I,L,D. Add to that verbs...
Fate Inevitable with Extinguished Life that Death Survived.
F,I,E,L,D,S.
It was that easy.
"I got it!" He shouted and ran to his companions.
The gods were with them. Or maybe it was the prince.
This time, conquering the Maze was much faster, because the road was fairly simple. There were no dead-ends, anything, only path that led towards. Sure, it twisted and turned, but that was it. And in the daylight, it didn't seem as terrifying.
They've reached the Paradox Fields after two hours.
The Fields were exactly that. Inside the walls there was a great, green field. At the centre of it there stood a sculpture of two men standing back to back. When they have approached the sculpture, Yugi noticed that they were almost identical. So probably those were the Paradox brothers.
"And what now?" Joey asked, and Yugi followed the sentiment. The fields seemed to be empty. There was no one else in sight. Neither newcomers, nor the locals.
The only people here was them.
The prince was not here.
The prince was not coming...
He was probably...
"Hey, stop that!" Mana shouted at him, jumping from her horse and poking her fingers into his ribs. "We are pretty early, if he is travelling with a company as you've said, it would take them more time to get here, right?"
"Yes, but, he said 'morning' and..."
"And the morning is still far from done." Timaeus interjected. Yugi was still unsure of what to think of Timaeus' words from their morning talk. He understood the former king's point of view, but... But doing anything more against the prince was the last thing Yugi wanted. He would have to talk to the prince, provided that the prince was all right and...
He had to stop worrying.
"We should play something, while we wait." He suggested, and the rest of the group agreed. They tied the horses to the fence in front of the sculpture and sat down on the grass.
"I think it is the best thing we can do." Timaeus said as Yugi was dealing cards." I am not sure what the rules concerning the Paradox Fields are, but from what I remember, it should be a place of intellectual fight, not of brutal combat. So if the guardians are watching us from somewhere, then it is best we appear to do just that."
"Sure. And it will keep us from being bored to death." Only after this comment from Joey, Yugi noticed how stressed his friend actually was. Joey, even though impulsive and loud, was not blind to the atmosphere and could tell, when somebody was worried. But when he was, he tried to cover it up with self-confidence and aloof attitude, not letting the stress taking over him. He must be as worried and unsure of what was going to happen as Yugi was.
Yugi smiled at him, hoping to convey some kind of support.
All they could do, was wait.
/
They spent few hours, playing different card games until Mana got bored with it.
"Yugi, playing with you is like playing with our prince! It is no fun if you simply cannot win!" She whined, and fell back on the grass, stretching.
"Seconded." Timaeus added, folding his cards. If Yugi didn't know better, he would say that Timaeus was sulking.
"Let me guess, you are used to winning and your ego just took the blow?" Joey teased, and Timaeus just snorted.
"I confirm nothing."
Their only warning was the sound of wheels hitting loose stones on their path. Something was arriving from the North entrance, the sound of hooves echoing through the walls.
The whole four of them got up to their feet. Mana was running to her horse to take the sword, but Timaeus stopped her, gesturing to the wall on the left.
Yugi turned with Mana, but could see nothing. Only when something moved on the wall, Yugi understood that they were being observed. The guardians, clad in blue cloaks were almost invisible, blending with the sky.
Apparently, Timaeus was right and fighting in the Fields was strictly forbidden.
Finally, the new arrivals left the shadow of the walls.
A black haired man Yugi didn't know was riding on the horse next to a cart that was pulled by a very exhausted horse. And on the cart...
There he was, Yugi was sure, there was no second person that possessed hair like that, no one aside from Yugi. There seemed to be other people with him, but that didn't matter now.
"Before you do something stupid, they will kill you if you even move your hand for a sword." The voice was weaker than Yugi remembered it being, but it was undoubtedly the prince.
His heart leaped with happiness. He wanted to rush to him, but the sight of the man on the horse, most probably the duke himself, stopped him.
"Another one of your tricks? Your people will not pose a threat to mine!" The man shouted. His only answer was the prince's laugh.
"My people might not. But the guardians will. We are within their walls. Rules apply." The cart and the duke were still approaching so Yugi could see the murderous aura around the duke.
He was not like Yugi imagined him. He was expecting an old, maybe middle-aged man with silver hair and plenty of gold. The duke was young. He seemed younger than the prince, and his hair were black, not silver. There was an earring hanging from his ear, its shape resembling that of a dice.
Yugi's blood ran cold.
Was he to once again watch his peer being killed by the prince? True, the man oozed murder at the moment, but... But.
"You bastard. What do you expect me to do then? Let you go?!" The duke shouted.
"No. If you want to still humiliate and kill me, you can still do it. But you must win the game first. That's the rule." The prince answered, his back still to Yugi. Even though his words were confident as always, Yugi was sure that something was wrong.
"Excuse me?" The man screamed. He stopped in front of their group. The prince was still on the cart and still not turning towards his own friends.
"The Paradox Fields are a place of intellectual battle. You can only kill someone after you've bested them in a game of your choice. If you attempt violence, the guardians will kill you. And you've seen how efficient they are. " The prince calmly responded.
"I could order Mako to simply slit your throat right now. And you will be dead, since all it would take was one move of his hand." The duke pondered. That answered Yugi's question of why the prince wasn't facing them.
"Yes. And Mako will be killed seconds later. Are you really going to sacrifice his life so that you have your revenge?" That gave the duke a pause. "I will not run. You want to challenge me, and I will be happy to take your challenge. Let me go to my people."
That seemed to be a wrong thing to say.
"After what you have done with mine?!" Yugi looked at Mana. She seemed to be lost as well.
"I've done nothing to your men. You sent them into the Maze, you didn't know how the Maze works. You led them to their death, not me."
The duke looked as if he was going to cry and Yugi immediately felt sympathy for the man. From what he had heard he could imagine, what happened. That explained the prince's words about 'the rules of the Maze coming to their aid.'. Truly, Yugi couldn't blame the duke. What happened was terrible, the prince's gamble was much more terrifying than Yugi previously thought. But, if the duke's army was to come here, they would be dead. With that many people, they would stand no chance, the prince wouldn't even get the chance to warn the troops against fighting. It was a frightening gamble. But it worked.
For now.
"Let him go." The duke managed and he jumped off his horse. Yugi and the rest took a few steps back, in case it was some kind of a scheme.
The two guards left the cart, one of them, Mako, hiding the knife he was previously holding against the prince's throat.
The second guard was a girl. Both of the approached their duke, their faces grim and hard.
The prince jumped off the cart. His legs seemed to give up, for he fell to his knees. Not thinking much, Yugi passed the duke and his men and ran to the prince's side, catching the man by his arms.
"Yugi. You've made it." Was the first thing the prince said, a fond smile on his face. But instead of happiness, Yugi felt tears gathering in his eyes. The prince's face was covered in blood, his cheek was swollen and his voice was weak. When Yugi looked closely, he could see the red, thin line on the throat that suggested, that at some point Mako's hand slipped.
Relief, worry and fear filled Yugi's mind and all he could do was to throw his arms around prince's neck and cry. He didn't care that he was embarassing himself, he didn't care that the duke could kill him and the prince any moment.
All that counted was that the prince returned.
Hurt and weak, but he had returned. Yugi had not been waiting in vain.
"I'm happy to see you too." The prince whispered, so silently that Yugi almost missed it. Then, he felt a hand on his back, moving in calming gesture. It felt eerily familiar, but Yugi didn't care.
The prince was alive.
"That's touching. I should've known. You gave away the pyramid. We should've killed the look-alike." The duke said from somewhere afar.
"I would say 'I dare to see you try', seeing how you had not managed not to my cousin when he literally let you take him, but I don't have to." That was Timaeus.
Yugi finally let go of the other man and helped him up.
Mana and Timaeus were guarding them with their bodies from the duke and his guards, judging from the positions they were standing in. Joey was close behind, his fist ready.
But the duke made no move to attack them.
In fact, he looked as if he had some kind of epiphany.
The guards were looking at him with worry, clearly not understanding what was going on.
"I have lost already, haven't I?" The duke asked, looking at the prince in fear. " All of this chase, you surrendering at leading me here... It was one big game and I lost. I let myself be deceived, I was so sure I had the upper hand that I haven't noticed... I didn't even think..."
The prince seemed to be taken aback by this., Yugi noticed. He himself was as surprised.
"I wasn't lying. If you want to challenge me, I will take the challenge. You might win."
The duke gave him defeated look. " After my men had beaten you and starved you? Yes, that would be a spectacular win. I'd get my revenge, but I'd never regain reputation. I'd win like a coward, provided I'd even had any chance to win!"
"You could choose the game we'd playing." The prince argued.
"Beating you at my own game would be cheap. Getting beaten by you in my own game would be even worse. You planned it. You knew from the beginning, you knew that the moment we come here it is a stalemate." Here, the duke started to shake.
"I could've killed you back in the forest and it would be over. My men wouldn't have had to die, but my stupid pride..." The guards rushed to their master's side, but he pushed them aside.
"Pegasus was right. " He said, getting up." The rules are rules, aren't they? My life is yours, we are on the Fields, after all." The anger, the hurt, everything was gone from the duke. His eyes looked dead already. It was like he had lost any will to live.
And that was awful to witness.
The prince opened his mouth to say something, but his voice betrayed him. It was now, or never.
Yugi let go off the prince and approached the duke.
He was not going to watch his peer being killed by his own wish.
"Are you stupid?" He hissed, too angry to care about consequences." Yes, you've lost, but there is nothing humiliating in losing to someone who is simply better. I understand your pain, you've lost your men from what've heard, but your death is not going to change anything!"
The duke looked at him in shock. "You... how dare you..."
But Yugi wasn't having any of it.
"There are many stupid thing to die for, there are many wise things to die for. But choosing to die because you were not good enough is simply stupid! And why? Because your mentor won't admit you are the best? Well, you are not! But does not make you worthless, the fact that he will not praise you will never make you worthless. The only one who determines your worth is you." He said, and suddenly, he wasn't talking to the duke.
He was talking to himself. He was talking to that little Yugi that wanted Arkana to say something nice to him, to praise him. He talked to that older Yugi, that sought the prince's acknowledgment and saw himself as strong only because the prince told him he was.
"And if you really are willing to die, to let your companion watch you getting killed, then you have declared yourself worth nothing. Do you really think your life to be worth nothing? Do you think those soldiers who died at your command would've agreed?"
That seemed to struck a chord.
"Then what should I do?" The duke asked quietly, and it was Yugi's turn to stare, perplexed.
"Join us. We are not fighting for anyone's approval, we are not just a rag-tag group of rebels. Since your people had to die in the Maze, let their death mean something. Come with us and live, get better and wiser. " He was well aware now, that he was stepping on a very thin ice. The prince was still quiet, and Timaeus and Mana rushed to his side. There was no one to protect him from the duke. There was no one to protect him from the prince, for he had done it yet again. He had interfered.
"It's not that easy... Aknadin..."
"It is never easy. Many right things are not. " Everyone turned, for this voice belonged to the prince.
" You have proved that despite your temperament you are honourable. You care for your people, which is much more than what could be said about your current king." These words seemed to break the duke.
"Sometimes killing is not the only option." Yugi added. The duke's eyes came back to life with determination.
"What killed my troops was my pride. I will not let it get best of me again. " He said, looking at Yugi. Then, his eyes travelled to where the prince was standing. " Yet, I cannot forgive you, not yet. Maybe not ever."
"I do not care for anyone's forgiveness. I do what is necessary." The prince replied, his voice getting stronger with every word. The duke nodded
"And I shall do the same. " Once again, the duke moved his gaze to Yugi. "I shall think on your words. I think before any one decided anything, we all need rest. " He added, and with that, he went to his men. " Prepare the tents. We'll wait for survivors here for as long as we can."
Yugi turned to his companions. They were staring at him in silence. Timaeus was half-carrying the prince towards their horses.
"Yugi, that was... intense..." Joey started, worry evident in his voice. Mana was also moved, judging from the trembling Yugi felt when she hugged him.
"What you did was brave and wise but..." She didn't need to finish. Yugi knew exactly what she wanted to say. He had overstepped the boundaries. And he remembered all too well what the prince promised him if he ever did it again.
Oh, gods, what would Anzu say? What would she think if he doesn't return, what would she think when Mana or Joey had told her what Yugi had done?
"Oh, thank gods that you haven't seen his face..." Mana sobbed. A shiver went up and down Yugi's spine. It was a while since he had been truly afraid of the prince. And even now, he was almost refusing to believe that this time he was done for good. But Mana's words destroyed that illusion.
He looked at the other side of the Fields. The duke and his men were busy setting up a camp from what they've had on the cart.
He looked at their side of the Fields. Timaeus had set up tent for the prince already, and the prince was gone from sight, possibly treating his wounds inside. He couldn't kill Yugi in the Maze, that much was obvious, but later... They'd have to leave the Maze someday.
He could stay here and... No, he couldn't. That would be a cowardly thing to do. And he was no coward, not anymore. He did what was right. And if the prince thought differently, it was his mistake.
"Don't worry about me. Let's set up our own camp. The prince is not going anywhere in this daylight. Not to mention that he must be exhausted."
"Yeah. And they probably won't murder us as long as people in blue capes are here, so I'm all for sleeping. I mean, my poor heart can take only so much of tension." Joey joked and Mana and Yugi chuckled politely.
"Well, no matter what happens, we are coming home soon." Mana pointed out, and that was a good thought to have.
He wanted to go home.
He wanted to return to his sister, to Mahad and Mai, to their evening games and everything. He won't die. The prince was not stupid. He will talk to him, he will convince him.
After all, it would be stupid to give a lecture over the importance of human life, only to accept the death punishment for it.
With that thought in mind, Yugi approached the prince's tent, his own forgotten, lying in the heap as Timaeus helped Joey set up his.
"Excuse me, Your Highness... Can I enter?" He tried, erratic beating of his heart almost muting his own voice to his ears. He might tell himself that it would be all right, but his body refused to acknowledge it.
"Come in." There was nothing in that tone that would tell Yugi what was awaiting him.
He entered, bowing to fit in the tent. It was not exactly small, but it wasn't high enough to fit him standing. So he simply sat down on the ground. Wondering if looking at the prince now was a wise thing to do.
He took a deep breath.
"I am sorry..." He started, but was immediately silenced by prince's calm voice.
"You are brave, we knew that already. You are also stupid, for we both know what I promised you will happen if you disobey me again. And yet here you are." The tone was strange. The prince didn't sound angry, and when Yugi finally gathered up his courage to look at the prince, his expression also wasn't one of anger.
"You abandon me to talk to my enemy and convince him to live. You tell him how dying is a stupid thing to do and how forgiveness and doing good is better than revenge, and all I can do is listen to you speak." The prince moved closer.
"You are not an asset, Yugi. You change my plans, you refuse to back down, believing that compassion and understanding are more important, than reason. And I still cannot agree with you. And yet, it was you who had finally defeated the duke, not me. I brought you here so that you will learn. So that your innocent, naive heart will change and become like mine." The prince continued, and Yugi was fairly sure that this time, he's going to die.
"I don't want that anymore. It is not a shame to lose to someone better. Then, I lose." What? Yugi raised his head to look at the prince, and his eyes met the red ones, sparkling with something Yugi had not seen before." I want your heart, Yugi."
And that was the last thing Yugi heard before those red eyes came nearer and he felt pair of lips covering his.