A/N: Ok, I'll be honest, I had no idea where this story was going… and then while I was writing this chapter it all fell into place. God I love it when that happens. Enjoy!
Surreptitiously, Malik studied the faces of Mariku, Seto, Bakura and Atemu as he and his friends approached, noticing the unnatural stiffness to every one of them that practically screamed something wasn't right. He sighed and rolled his eyes. Atemu might have been a prince and his friends of equal, if lesser politically, importance, but the four of them really needed lessons in remaining relaxed when out in public. It was completely obvious that they weren't there to have fun and it was drawing a lot of attention, even more than the television cameras were. For that reason, when he got to the blanket he threw his bag down, plopped himself down in Mariku's lap, and yanked the man down into a steamy kiss.
Ryou choked on a laugh, setting his bag down more gently. He didn't need to look to know that Yuugi was probably biting back a grin and Jou would be stifling laughter. That was Malik, never one to back down from a challenge. "Everything alright so far?" he inquired delicately, falling to his knees beside Bakura.
"Mariku thought that he saw her but it might've been a false alarm," said Bakura, unwinding only slightly as Ryou leaned against him. "But we know she's around here somewhere."
Yuugi was tempted, probably more than he should have been, to suggest that the eight of them forget about this and go somewhere for burgers. Because standing there and realizing that Atemu wasn't going to acknowledge him, regardless of whether or not that was sensible on Atemu's part, hurt a lot. He didn't want to be as passionate as Malik (he didn't think he would ever be confident enough for that sort of public display) but he would still have liked the chance to greet Atemu with a kiss or at least some kind of gesture that would let them both know things were still okay. He sighed and knelt on the far side of the blanket, putting his own bag down beside Ryou's. Jou sat down beside him and it didn't escape Yuugi's notice that he had also situated himself close to Seto.
"Now what?" Jou asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"We wait," Seto said firmly.
Waiting. Yuugi had never been very good at that. He pulled his knees up to his chest and stared down at the blanket, listening with half an ear as Mariku tried to talk Malik into going swimming in between kisses that left them both breathless. It wasn't going well, unsurprisingly. He wondered whether Vivian would approach him if the others were around, or if he would have to wander away on his own. Was she waiting for some kind of sign that things were still sour between him and Atemu? He didn't think he had another confrontation in him, not now. His stomach was feeling achier with every passing minute and the thought of saying anything else that might destroy their fragile relationship was not a pleasant one.
"I think I'm going to run to the bathroom," he said out loud, realizing as he spoke that no one was listening. Jou was deeply involved in a conversation with Seto about Kaiba Corp. Seto had a hand loosely curled over Jou's hip. Mariku had given up on swimming and gone back to making out with Malik. Bakura had one arm wound around Ryou's waist and although he was still watching the crowds, Ryou was curled up with a book open on his thighs. And Atemu had stretched out on his back with his eyes shut. Judging from the rhythmic way his chest was rising and falling, either he was already asleep or nearly there.
Knowing that he wouldn't be missed, Yuugi stood up and left, crossing the sand towards the ice cream shack and the long line of people who were waiting. His phone rang while he was skirting the edge of the line and he pulled it out, squinting in the sun, to see that it was Anzu. He sighed. It seemed like Anzu had the innate ability to know when he was on a date, not that she was doing much harm by interrupting this one. "Hello?"
"Yuugi, oh thank god." Anzu's voice sounded kind of strange. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course," he said, a little surprised. He paused beneath the shade of the shack. "I'm at the beach standing in front of the line for ice cream, trying to decide whether I want to brave the hour-long wait to get some. What's up?"
"I just had the weirdest phone call from this girl," said Anzu. "It was totally bizarre. She was asking me all of these questions about you and our relationship and the Game Shop. She even asked me about Jii-chan and your dueling history. And she was asking me about Illusion Island." She paused and a chill went down Yuugi's spine. "I thought she was just a reporter at first. But the questions she was asking were way too personal for that so I hung up on her and called you right away. Are you alright? What's going on?"
"It's a long story," Yuugi said honestly. Was this Vivian's plan, then? Was she going to drag the truth about Illusion Island and Pegasus and the threat he had made about Yuugi's mother out for the public to see? Or did she think that Yuugi hadn't told Atemu about it already? Either way that could easily explain how she was planning to make Atemu think Yuugi wasn't fit to be Egypt's Queen. He licked his lips, feeling sick, and caught sight of a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to look he could hardly believe it.
It was Vivian, and she was standing there with one hand on her hip, wearing a bright red bikini that showed off just enough to make the suit seem more dangerous than it really was and a pair of gold sandals that made her long legs appear even longer, skin glistening with sun tan oil. Her hair was still pulled up into those two buns. A pair of sunglasses rested on the tip of her nose but when she realized that she'd caught Yuugi's attention she pushed them up and smirked. It was a taunting smirk, the sort of look that practically screamed 'I know something you don't know!' and Yuugi clenched his jaw in response.
"Anzu, how much did you tell her?" he asked, knowing that Vivian was probably getting a sickening amount of pleasure from this. She just had to bring in Yuugi's ex-girlfriend, didn't she? There was no doubt in his mind that she knew Anzu would call him as soon as they hung up. She'd planned on it.
"I'm sorry," Anzu whispered. "I didn't mean to - I thought she was a reporter," she repeated desperately. "I told her about the smaller competitions and that you won at Illusion Island and that the Kame Game Shop had done really well afterwards. I didn't think anything of it until she started asking about your family. Yuugi, have I… are you okay?"
"I'll be fine," he said gently and before she could say anything else he hung up. Almost immediately his phone began to ring again but he ignored it, tucking it back into the pocket of his suit. He started walking towards Vivian and when he was about ten feet away she turned and began moving towards the parking lot. Yuugi followed her off of the sand and across the pavement towards the other side. Right before she would've left the pavement entirely Vivian stopped and spoke.
"It was so amusing to find out what was in your past," she said without turning to face him. "Every one has something, you know, but I have to admit for a while there I was getting a little bit worried. You actually seemed like you might be as innocent as you first appeared. But then it all worked out."
"What do you want, Vivian?" Yuugi said through gritted teeth. He wasn't sure he knew what she was talking about. He wasn't sure he wanted to find out.
"I want you to stay away from Atemu, of course." Finally she turned around, and this close Yuugi was struck by the raw hatred in her expression. She looked at him like the way most people would look at a bug, like he wasn't even worth the time it would take to step on him. "I tried to do it the easy way. If you'd just done the show like Mai wanted and then bowed out at the end we wouldn't even be having this problem."
"You…" For a moment words failed him in the face of her audacity. "You don't have a claim on Atemu, Vivian. He doesn't belong to you. He's a person with thoughts and feelings of his own and as I understand it they're not inclined to like you very much."
"Atemu is just being foolish. He's too naïve to understand what you really need to do to be successful." She smiled suddenly. "But you do, don't you, Yuugi?"
Yuugi watched her without speaking for a second, feeling like he was being led into some sort of trap. But he wasn't sure how. It didn't sound like this was about his mother. He hated to admit that he wasn't following her but the longer he remained silent the more foolish he looked. At last, he cleared his throat and attempted for a cold, unaffected voice when he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'll just bet you don't," she purred. "We always wish that the things we've done in the past won't come back to bite us in the ass later on, but so often they do. And in this case, I'm afraid I'm helping things along just a bit. You see, I had a lovely chat with man by the name of Pegasus Crawford not too long ago. I was pretty surprised to hear from him to be honest. I don't really know all that much about Duel Monsters. It's one of those silly little card games that Atemu loves. One day I plan to break him of that dreadful habit. So as you can imagine, I couldn't think of why the creator would be calling me up. But as it turns out he's been keeping quite a close on you, Mutou Yuugi, and he knew about you entering the show. He even knew all about me!"
There was no way that this was going to end well. Yuugi swallowed and squared his shoulders. "What did you tell you?" he asked warily.
"Oh, he had quite the story. He explained to me all about the duel and how the favored contestant to win was a young duelist by the name of Bandit Keith." Vivian tapped one finger against the side of her chin, like she was thinking hard. "And then this upstart showed up and started beating people left and right. No one knew who he was or where he came from, just that he excelled at every duel and barely broke a sweat when it came to beating Bandit Keith. He and his three little friends entered the Castle with no problem. And that's when Pegasus's story got really interesting. He explained to me exactly how you cheated, Yuugi."
"What?" For a moment Yuugi was too astonished to do anything but stare at her. "I didn't cheat!"
"No?" Vivian was outright grinning now, her face flushed with triumph. "That's funny, because Pegasus told me how the night before the last duel, you and your friends went sneaking around the place. He even had the footage to prove it. You entered his private rooms and came out with information that didn't belong to you. You blackmailed him and that's how you won. What would Atemu think, Yuugi, if I told him the truth? Better yet, what do you think would happen to your grandfather's shop? To your reputation?"
There was literally nothing Yuugi could say. In a horrible flash of understanding he could see it, exactly how Pegasus and Vivian could twist things to say that Yuugi had cheated to win, blackmailing Pegasus until he agree to toss the duel. What they'd had on Pegasus would never hold up as evidence, and who would people be more willing to believe - Yuugi or the owner of Industrial Illusions, one of the largest gaming companies in existence? He actually felt ill. He knew that they would say his motive had been the Kame Game Shop, whose sales had risen not insignificantly after Yuugi's win. It all hung together so well that for a long, frozen moment he couldn't see how he hadn't realized this was coming.
And Atemu… good god. There was a fair chance Atemu wouldn't believe a word of Vivian's drivel. Yuugi had already told him the truth, after all, and he was confident Atemu would believe him. However, that did little to comfort him when he considered the ramifications of the prince of Egypt befriending, much less dating, a known blackmailer and cheater. Their relationship would never withstand this kind of trial. And forget about being the Queen of Egypt. The decision would be taken out of Yuugi's hands entirely. If Atemu's father was so strict about tradition that he would force his only son into marriage, he could imagine the man's reaction to Yuugi being brought home all too easily.
All of that passed through Yuugi's mind in only a couple of seconds. Vivian had won, he realized, feeling numb. She'd won and Pegasus, someone Yuugi had thought long dealt with, had provided the very thing she needed to do it. "What do you want?" he asked dully.
"I think that you already know," she replied. "For one thing, I want you to stay away from Atemu. Don't communicate with him in any way. I've already prepared a file to go to the media with the footage from Pegasus and all I need to do to send it is press a button on my phone. If I find out you ever initiated contact with Atemu, or responded to any form of contact, I'll send it. And then everything you've worked for will be destroyed."
The thought of never seeing or speaking to Atemu again actually hurt. It was a sharp, physical pain that made Yuugi feel breathless. He pressed his lips together to keep them from trembling. "Is that all?"
Vivian smirked. "How well you know me. No, that would have been enough if you had listened to me in the first place. But since you couldn't leave it alone, you're going to help me get back into the Pharaoh's good graces and then while you go home with your tail tucked between your legs, I'm going to marry Atemu."
He recoiled. "I will never help you with that!"
"Unless you want that press package sent out, you will," she said. "Think carefully, Yuugi-boy. Not only is your future at stake, but so is that of your grandfather and your friends. Don't forget, you're not the only one who is on that footage. I do have to wonder what that would do for Ryou's chances to ever return to medical school. Bad enough that his father got him kicked out the first time. He'd never be able to go back," she said cruelly, delighting in the way that Yuugi turned pale. "And poor Jou... I imagine he'd never get the opportunity to visit his sister ever again. And then there's Malik - "
"Stop!" Yuugi cried, throwing a hand up. He couldn't stand there and listen to her while she threatened his friends anymore. No matter how much the thought of never seeing Atemu hurt, he couldn't let her destroy their lives. He let his shoulders slump, his hatred of her renewed at her smirk and the annoying nickname that Pegasus had also probably passed onto her. "I'll... I'll come with you, okay?"
"Good. You've made the right choice." Vivian jerked her head and he looked over her shoulder, finally noticing the black car that had been idling a few feet away. "Drop your cell phone on the ground and let's go. Remember, don't try anything stupid."
Yuugi stared at her, jaw clenched, as he removed his phone from his pocket. Instead of dropping it he set it down gently, hoping against hope that someone would notice it. But then, even if they did, the chances of his phone actually getting back to anyone who would be helpful were slim to none. And even if by some small chance it did, what difference would it make? This was a situation that not even Atemu would be able to fix. No, this was a mess that Yuugi had created all on his own. He stepped over the phone and walked past Vivian, keenly aware that she was following right behind him as they walked towards the car. When he was about ten feet away, the door opened and a familiar man stepped out.
"Bandit Keith!" Yuugi exclaimed.
"That's right. Bet you thought you'd got rid of me, but Bandit Keith never lets anything keep him down," he bragged, straightening his bandana.
"Search him," Vivian commanded. "Make sure that he doesn't have anything that would alert the others of where we're going. Be thorough but don't take too long. We've already lingered far longer than we should." She got into the car while Bandit Keith performed a cursory, rough search, running his hands over Yuugi's lower waist and thighs while Yuugi tried not to cringe away too visibly. He was actually glad to climb in next to Vivian, but he was less relieved when Bandit Keith followed them, sitting across from Yuugi with a deliberately lascivious grin. Yuugi looked away, out the window, and bit his lip to keep from crying. He could see no way out of this hopeless situation and he was pretty sure that Atemu was going to suffer as a result.
A/N: Just to give you all advance warning so no one freaks out, there will not be an update next week as I'm going to be too busy with the holidays. In that respect, Merry Christmas (or happy holidays), Happy New Year, and I'll see you all in 2013!