*Looks at calendar* Well, it's been about two months since the last update... seems about right. Be warned, it is a rather short chapter (compared to my other chapters).
Enjoy!
Joey closed the door to his room in the Kaiba Mansion, staring at the journal in his hand. Mokuba had just gifted it to him as a graduation present. All of them had gotten one. It was only part of a graduation gift from the young CEO, the rest would come in the form of tuitions or travel expenses. While Joey was staying local and going to a nearby college, the others were leaving Domino.
Tristen was off for the police academy in a neighboring district, planning on returning as a bodyguard for both Mokuba and Joey. He had decided that he needed more formal training to be as effective as he wanted. It wasn't too far away and Tristen could return if there was any word of Yugi.
Tea, on the other hand, was set to fly to America in only a few days. The dance school she had wanted to get into had accepted her, and even offered a scholarship. Joey and Tristen had worried about her being on her own in a foreign place, but Duke had offered her housing and company during her extended visit as he was going to be in New York for an extended time anyway while he worked on opening a new branch of his gaming store. Tea had assured them that she would be fine and would keep her ears open for any rumors that might lead them closer to Yugi.
Suddenly Joey felt like cursing Yugi's name. 'Selfish' was not a word he ever attributed to his friend, but it seemed to fit now. How could Yugi just leave? Didn't he know the emotional turmoil he was putting everyone through? What did he think he was playing at?
He sighed deeply. If Yugi was being selfish, it was by being selfless. Something had happened, something dangerous, and Yugi had left to take care of it on his own in an effort to protect his friends. It was hardly the first time he had tried something like that, but the problem this time was they had no idea any danger existed or even where to look for him. It seemed this time, Yugi had succeeded.
That jerk!
Joey threw the journal across the room and was rewarded with a loud slap as it hit the wall. How many times did they have to drill into his ridiculous head that they were a team? That they were stronger together?
Mokuba was right, he kept a lot of emotions, a lot of hurt, from showing, especially since he had taken a position in the limelight. He had to stay strong, be a pillar of strength for not only his friends, but all the fans of Duel Monsters. He had to admit it was exhausting.
Even Mokuba had to put on a face, but he seemed so much better at dealing with the stress. Probably because Joey had taken on the role of 'big brother' for Mokuba until Kaiba came back and allowed the young man to be the child he needed to be for brief periods of time. Currently, Mokuba was in the process of opening a Duel Academy; a one of a kind school where anybody could go to become better at Duel Monsters. Planning the curriculum and finding teachers was the hardest part and it was eating up a lot of his time now days.
At this point, if Yugi showed up again, Joey wasn't sure if he would hug him or strangle him. Probably both, though he might have to wait in line behind Tea.
Joey let out a breath, trying to control his thoughts and emotions before he punched through a wall...again. He crossed the room to pick up the discarded journal. It couldn't hurt to try this thing, right? If it didn't work, he could always tear out the pages, burn them, and pass the journal on to someone else.
He sat down at the desk, opening the journal to the front page. How on earth did someone write in one of these? He knew the stereotypical "Dear Diary", but that was for girls! Did he have to start with a greeting? Could he just start writing without any introduction? Nobody else would be reading this, so did it really matter? Picking up his pen, he began to write.
"Um, hi. I guess?"
"Why not?! It's been a year!"
"I don't know! I just know it's not time yet!"
"What could possibly happen if I tried now?!"
"I don't know! I am not omniscient! What I do know is that you need to be better prepared!"
"Prepared for what?!"
"I don't know!"
"I'm getting tired of that damn excuse!"
"What do you expect from me?!"
"I expect you to be able to give a straight answer if you tell me I can't try to get my memories back!"
Five Mages watched as Yami and Ishizu yell at each other. They had been at this everyday for a week now. After the first day, they learned quickly to not intervene. Eventually their argument would dwindle to the point where Yugi could step in and calm Yami down enough to separate them.
"At least they're giving us some variety today," Bakura casually mentioned. True to his fashion, he enjoyed the daily fight, even going so far as to actually bring a chair and snacks to watch in comfort.
"Variety?"
"Arguing the in same language day after day gets boring! So many new ways to express yourself when you use other languages!" Bakura suddenly laughed loudly as Yami let out a rather colorful string of curses.
Ryou frowned and shook his head at his yami's words, but there was a shadow of fondness that flickered over his face. Bakura might not be one to be classified as a "good" person, but he was a good yami and a good Mage. He brought insight and experiences that the others wouldn't dare to explore on their own and it had paid off in dividends over the past year, despite some bumps in the road.
"How long until the Pharaoh goes and tries the tablet anyway?" Malik asked the group, making sure that his voice did not carry to the king in question.
"He won't," Yugi answered, "He doesn't want another situation like Dartz happening because he tried to recover his memories too early, but he's frustrated at the whole situation. I've shared my memories with him and he's built new ones since the Puzzle was solved, all I can do at this point is help him not to dwell on it too much."
"Can you at least give me a timeline? How long do I have to wait?" Yami growled in annoyance, "Will it be in our lifetime? Or will I have to wait for the next round of reincarnations?"
The Mages stopped and leaned forward to hear Ishizu's reply. Her answer could put an end to the daily battle between her and the Pharaoh. She paused, bringing her hands to the Necklace as she tried to find an answer, eyebrows knitting together in frustration as the Necklace glowed. This did not bode well.
"I don't know…"
Yami grit his teeth and clenched his fists at his side. The sight of the cringing seer was apparently enough to curb his anger, if only enough to keep him from snapping at her. Yugi finally seemed to deem it safe enough to step next to Yami, sending calming waves through the bond. He was the one to speak next.
"Ishizu, what did you see?"
Ishizu looked relieved. "I can see the Pharaoh presenting the god cards to the tablet. I can see all of us there and I get the distinct impression that a significant amount of time has passed, but we only appear a couple years older than we are now."
While the words brought confusion to the rest of the Mages, for Yugi they brought forward a memory that he had forgotten about. The vision the Necklace showed him the very same day when all of this started: seven figures, standing unchanged as the world changed around them… was it possible?
Yugi pushed the thoughts away. There would be plenty of time to figure out what that vision really meant later, for now, he had a frustrated pharaoh to keep calm.
"We will get your memories back," he assured quietly, "I know you're impatient, but we really have no idea what exactly will happen when you present the god cards to the tablet again. Better to be over prepared than caught off guard."
"A couple of years isn't too bad," Malik said, placing a hand on the king's shoulder, "I'm sure we'll be so busy that it won't seem so long."
Yami shrugged off the gesture, and with one final glare, dissolved his body back into the Shadows. It wasn't often any more that Yami or Bakura needed their Shadow constructed forms to fade, but if Yami was in a particularly brooding mood, he would hide away in the Puzzle, exploring the maze in a futile search for answers.
"Ishizu," Seto spoke up, "What do you mean when you say 'a significant amount of time'? A year? Two years? A hundred?"
Yugi shuddered at the thought of a hundred years, but went unnoticed as Malik scoffed. "Please, a hundred years is a bit ridiculous, don't you think? We will be rotting away in our graves by then, if not turned to dust by that point."
Seto fixed him with a level stare. "I used to think that magic and destiny were 'a bit ridiculous', and now look at where we are. If there's anything I've learned from being surrounded by this, it's that the impossible will throw itself into reality when your back its turned."
"Expect the unexpected," Ryou said softly.
"That certainly seems like a good mantra for our lives," Bakura agreed, packing away his things, "Everything we've been through has been unexpected."
"To answer your question, Seto," Ishizu said before they could get too far off track, "I would like to say five years, at least, but with all of us looking nearly the same in the vision, it's impossible to tell. It may very well be next year. It may take ten. I will continue to search to see if I can find an answer that will satisfy the pharaoh."
"Don't take it personally, Ishizu," Yugi said, "He's not mad at you, he's just frustrated at the whole situation."
Ishizu smiled at him. "Be that as it may, I still would like to give him a satisfactory answer."
"Thank you."
The Mages began going their separate ways. Ishizu to fulfill her promise, Malik and Bakura to spar, Seto back to his computers, and Ryou to make sure Malik and Bakura didn't hurt each other too badly. Yugi hung back, wrapped up in the thoughts he refused to focus on as everything happened.
Was it possible? Could the vision really have shown that they would live forever? He had assumed it to be symbolic once they learned about the Shadow Mages; the Mages, as an entity, would be around and they would have a line of succession when it came time. Then again, he also assumed that Yami would no longer be around by that point. They had assumed that he would get to pass on once he reclaimed his memories. Now, that wasn't even an option any more.
He felt Yami's questioning presence as he reemerged from the depths of the Puzzle having sensed Yugi's troubling thoughts, but not hearing the details.
'It's nothing, Yami,' Yugi sent, 'Just thinking.'
'Are you sure?'
"Yes. Go back to your search. Maybe you'll find the right door today.'
Yami's presences faded back into the Puzzle, accompanied by grumbles of irritation and doubt at the impossible labyrinth. Yugi smiled slightly at that and pushed away the troubling thoughts again.
There would be plenty of time to worry about the future later.
I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but here we are anyway. Bigger time skips are coming. I think for the next chapter we will have skipped another year or two. Still working a little on the timeline, but I think I've got an idea of what order I want things to happen in.
Here's to hoping I get off my butt and get more chapters out soon. Please review :)