"I'm a horrible friend!" Yugi groaned as he covered his face. It had been about a day since Gandora ran from the castle. Yugi was forced to remain in his bed when he knew a friend was in pain. What's worse, it was a pain he caused. All day, he had nothing to do but stew over that conversation, running it through his head over and over again. Dark Magician Girl had to work on reconstructing the land, so the only sympathetic ear to his woes was Blue-Eyes.
"I should have started by reminding her how much I care for her. Then once I told her the truth, I should have immediately followed that up by telling her I still want to be her friend, just not a replacement son! That's not healthy for anyone."
"You said all the right things," Blue-Eyes repeated for about the fourth time in Yugi's ramblings. While she didn't mind repeating it for Yugi's sake, she had other things to focus on. At her feet were various papers she was reading and rearranging as Yugi guilted himself in circles. "She needed the truth to be shoved in her face for her to accept it. Like ripping off a band-aid. Anything less, and she would have ignored you and kept being a nuisance to everyone."
"There's telling her the truth, and there's being too harsh. I think we went into the too harsh zone. You certainly didn't help by slowly backing her out of the room like she wasn't welcome." Yugi murmured.
"Well, she was not welcome. She could have hurt you in her blind pain."
Yugi turned over and continued to squirm in his bed, eventually throwing off the covers in his frustration. "I have to get out of this bed, out of this room. I need to walk or something. I'm going to go insane!"
"Not yet, little one. We would usually let you go by now, but your body has a little more that needs healing." Yugi rubbed his forehead as the growing headache he had picked up yesterday throbbed a little harder. Neither the healing bed nor Mystic Elf's magic could make it go away.
"This headache is nothing. I just need some ibuprofen." Yugi sighed.
"Maybe, but since we don't have that kind of human magic here, we will err on the side of caution. We are not sending you back to the human world with anything more than love from us." Blue-Eyes cooed as she patted his head. Once she returned to her work, Yugi buried his face in his pillow. He laid like that for a few minutes until he couldn't force himself to remain still anymore.
"What are you doing anyway?" Yugi asked as he peeked over the bed at her papers, wondering how she read such tiny handwriting.
"This is the guard routes Dark Magician Girl has for the palace. They are… very sloppy. Dark Magician Girl was trying, but most overlap too much or don't cover certain spaces. Good thing I came around to help give suggestions. After I organize this, I will move on to the groundskeeping." Blue-Eyes hummed as she managed to write something down with a quill-pen she wrapped her tail around. She even had amazing cursive handwriting, or tail-writing Yugi guessed.
"You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I'm sure there's a better place you can put those papers. Somewhere easier on your neck." Yugi tried. Blue-Eyes kept looking down at her stack of neat papers, but she did stretch out her wing and gently pat Yugi's head again.
"And leave you alone? Nohoho." She laughed.
"I'm fine alone. It's not like I'm going to hurt myself somehow." Yugi sighed.
"Oh, you will. On your own, even with this castle crawling with monsters, you'll find a way to sneak off and go marching towards the Gandora or the Silents. When the time comes, I will happily stand by your side as you fight whoever you think deserves it the most, but not until you are healed completely."
Yugi grumbled and sat up. He decided to pick up the covers from the floor and remake his bed (all without stepping off the bed because "somehow" that would ruin his healing process). While he was thankful that he wasn't forcefully held down anymore, he still felt like a princess trapped in a tower of blankets by a great dragon.
"You would make for an adorable princess." Blue-Eyes chuckled at his thoughts.
"Thanks," Yugi murmured. After he flattened everything out, he laid quietly on top of his bed. His mind's boredom was then interrupted by sets of moving footsteps coming up the hall. Blue-Eyes hadn't noticed, so he sat up and looked towards the door to the hallway. He blinked in surprise when floating letters appear in the doorway. They were a light blue and flickered like an old TV, even occasionally blinking out of existence before reappearing.
"Your magician in shinning robes is here to save you then, princess." The words said. A smile crept along Yugi's face, but then he glanced back to Blue-Eyes. He tried to keep his mind from running with excitement. He slipped under the covers in slow movements and placed his head on the pillow facing away from Blue-Eyes. He then closed his eyes and tried to quiet his mind. He was about to fall asleep. He was about to fall asleep. He was absolutely about to fall asleep.
"Uhh, Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Ma'am?" Blue-Eyes sat up as a green-skinned goblin walked into the room. Behind him came a small force of similar monsters. They were all awkwardly standing around, fiddling slightly with their hands and armor.
"Yes? Has Dark Magician Girl called me?" Blue-Eyes asked.
"No, ma'am. We-we, uhh..."
"We were wondering if you would grace us with your knowledge." Another goblin blurted out. The rest of the group nodded and readily agreed.
Blue-Eyes's wings stretched out slightly as her chin raised. "Oh? Why would you need knowledge from little ole me?"
"You're far from little and old ma'am! We know you have seen much in your time in our and other dimensions. We were wondering if you'd bless us with some of that wisdom."
"Yeah! We goblins are not always the smartest, and that makes us fearful. Enough that we lose our strength at the end of every battle! We want to understand more about the world. So please! Teach us!" Other goblin pleas followed this. All made Blue-Eyes stick her chest out more and more.
"Well, of course, I have time. You do not need to beg like that. I always have wisdom to share." Blue-Eyes smiled as she stood up. All the goblins sat down on the floor like good students as she started pontificating about various monster politics. Yugi then noticed that all the goblins came equipped with pillows to sit on and small games they hid from Blue-Eyes's gaze. One goblin even looked Yugi's way when he was peeking out from under the covers.
The goblin that saw him mouthed. "Good luck, Pharaoh." Then turned back to a game of tic-tac-toe he was playing on his buddy's back.
Yugi smiled at the goblin and then looked to the hall to see Silent Magician hiding nearby. She was back in her small form and seemed to have no wounds or bandages on her. Yugi grinned wide as she waved to him. He then slowly crept from his bed, fluffing up his pillows and hiding them under his covers.
When Yugi first put weight on his legs again, he worried for a moment that they wouldn't hold him up. When he stumbled forward, he cringed as he glanced in Blue-Eyes's direction. Thankfully, she was more interested in explaining why the Legendary Knights were the best guards, even if they were banished on multiple occasions. Silent poked her head around the doorway and saw Yugi's lack of coordination. She quietly cheered him on as he focused on his next steps, even using her magic to make an image of a thumbs up. This gave Yugi the rush to keep tiptoeing. The goblins kept Blue-Eyes's attention with random questions as Yugi slinked across the room and eventually jumped around the corner. Silent Magician gestured for him to follow her as she started running down the hallway. Yugi happily followed his legs beginning to keep up with his body.
"That was awesome." Yugi smiled at Silent as they raced down the hall. "How did you know I needed out?"
"Truth is, I've wanted to talk to you ever since you woke up, but I needed to talk to only you. I realized I would need to bust you out with Blue-Eyes White Dragon or Dark Magician Girl always hovering around. We should really thank the Goblin Attack Force later. They are the ones really sacrificing themselves here."
"I will honor their sacrifice. Though, I hope you didn't lie to them by saying they were saving the Nameless Pharaoh. While the confusion was useful on our trip up the mountain, I don't want to be something I'm not to these kinder monsters. I'm just Yugi."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Most monsters here know by now who you are. They continue to call you Pharaoh out of respect. You did help save monster-kind just as many times as the nameless Pharoah." Silent smiled.
"That's good." Yugi sighed, relieved that at least here, he wouldn't be continuously confused for the Pharaoh. 'Not that I mind.' Yugi quickly thought to himself, a ping of guilt pricking him.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Yugi asked to get his thoughts on a different subject.
"About… The trip up the mountain, and… What is up with the other Silents and me." Her words slowly appeared.
"Oh," Yugi whispered. Before he could say more, another sentence flashed immediately with Silent smiling.
"Save the sadness for later. First, I have to get you to a place where we won't be interrupted. Annoyingly, the only place I believe we can have privacy is across the castle, but we shouldn't get caught along the way, as long as you stick with me." Silent wrote as she had Yugi follow her down a secret passage behind a painting.
As the two snuck along, Yugi stopped dead in his tracks. He looked back towards his room as he rubbed his hand through his hair. "Wait, Blue-Eyes can read my mind. Though I tried to act like I was sleeping earlier, my thoughts will eventually give us away."
"She can?!" Silent skidded to a stop and turned back to Yugi. Her eyes then landed on the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. "Right, spirit partner. She explained her connection to you when I first woke up. Well, I guess you'll have to keep your thoughts below surface level." She soundlessly sighed.
"But how do I do that? Blue-Eyes seems to be able to do it since I can never read her thoughts." Yugi asked as he crossed his arms.
"Oh, how to describe it for a human…?" Silent put her finger to her chin as she looked over Yugi. "Think of it like… putting a blanket over your thoughts or whispering them."
Yugi's mouth stretched into a thin line. "I have to what now?"
"Here, let's try this." Silent said as she put her hand on his forehead and blue light began to glow between the two. This magic flickered, just like her words. "You have to hold still for this and willingly let me in your head… Ok… Think of something weird, something I wouldn't think of."
'Uh, Tacos.' Yugi thought.
"I heard that whatever 'tacos' are. Now try covering it." Yugi did his best mental gymnastics as Silent continued to coach him. They stayed like this for a few minutes until Silent no longer heard the word Tacos. She instead tasted something spicy on the tip of her tongue.
"Close enough." Silent eventually wrote, sticking her tongue out a bit. "If Blue-Eyes White Dragon listens in, she'll simply think you're dreaming if you keep it up like that."
"Ok, thanks." Yugi nodded as he did his best to keep his thoughts hidden. It honestly wasn't that hard, just a bit annoying. He was sure he could keep it up for a long while.
The narrow secret passage ended, and after looking ahead, Silent had Yugi run alongside her in the open hallways. As they ran, Yugi looked around the castle's halls. The place was out of a storybook with its shining white walls and beautiful hanging art. Most were of duel monsters in various strange styles that Yugi needed an art degree to pick out. He also noticed how everything, walls, floor space, even windows, were much bigger than the human castles from his dimension — leaving the halls feeling a little empty, even with the great art and statues covered in exotic armor. This emptiness, plus the inhuman perfection over everything, made Yugi's neck hair stick straight up again. Yugi thought he was getting used to it, but this world just loved to give him new ways to be unnerved. The large looming, white halls combined the sterile environment of a hospital and the uncanniness of an old black-and-white cartoon.
As Yugi then tried to keep his mind off the strangeness of it all, he noticed an absence of something he had been expecting.
"Did Gandora not destroy anything on her way out?" Yugi whispered to himself. He then felt a tap on his shoulder and look to see Silent raising an eyebrow. "Did you hear about Gandora? About how I had to break it to her that she wasn't actually my mother?" Yugi asked, his voice lowering. Silent slowly nodded.
"I had. I was even there as she made her mad dash out of the castle. While she wasn't very coordinated on the way out, she did her best not to step on anyone or destroy anything. It was a very good attempt on her part too." Silent wrote with a sad frown. Yugi felt the now familiar sinking of his heart as he remembered Gandora's last agonized cries.
"Do you know where she is now?" Yugi asked.
Silent looked away from Yugi as the two continued to run. She was about to write something when she suddenly jumped behind a corner and yanked Yugi behind her when he didn't immediately follow. Yugi then noticed that they were hiding from a small group of monsters as they walked down the same hall they came from. The monsters didn't see them and moved on, hurridly chatting with each other.
"This place is mostly filled with refugees. If any saw you, they'd most likely mob you. It's why your hospital room is so far away from the center of the castle." Silent wrote as she put her finger to her lips. Yugi nodded and didn't speak.
"I would love to take you to Gandora, but I can't right now. She is somewhere outside the castle, and I don't think I could get you out without being caught. I feel horrible for her too. I even tried to visit her. She… was not interested in seeing me, putting it mildly." Silent wrote, and she started to lead Yugi again. He could only sigh as he followed.
After a few more close calls, Yugi began to wonder when they would get to this place Silent Magician set aside when her words suddenly appeared in front of his face. She turned away from him as she wrote.
"I am sorry."
"What? Why?" Yugi whispered.
"For the whole wishing well thing. You'd think since I grew up in this land, I'd know of an evil wishing well. But I didn't, and I nearly-" Yugi immediately began waving his hand in her words, causing the incoming letters to dissipate in showers of glitter.
"Don't you start too. In my mind, it was no one's fault, and no one should feel guilty. We all made the decision, and it was for an excellent reason, to end things with minimal fighting. We should just be glad no one was monkey pawed into the shadow realm or something."
Silent looked to Yugi with surprise that then turned to confusion, especially at the mention of a monkey paw. She lifted her finger to summon more words but then shrugged. A small smile returned to her face.
"I can get behind that. We still have so many things to talk on, so if you're willing to move on, so am I." She wrote. Yugi nodded to her, and her smile grew wider. "It's funny, though. I've lived here almost my entire life, and the most I heard about that well was that it was such a pain to make a wish on that no one made the trek. Not that it was particularly malicious." She shrugged.
"Huh, well, at least we know now?" Yugi tried. He just wanted to get off the topic of the well, so he asked, "Have you always been in this domain?"
"For the most part. The Silent Tower in this domain is where all the Silent archetype is reborn. My childhood friend and I used to cause so much trouble for Dark Magician Girl when we were growing up. You should have seen some of the things we tried to pull off." She wrote with a soundless giggle. While Yugi was glad to see her in a light-hearted mood, he found his smile lost some of its strength when her "childhood" friend was brought up. Silent soon caught his unease and lost her smile too. They became quiet until Silent suddenly ducked into a side room.
"Stay. I need to check to make sure the coast is clear." The words became a wall that blocked Yugi from entering. Yugi looked around the empty hall and felt exposed. He then noticed two armor stands by the archway into the room and quickly crouched behind one.
The room Silent ran into had no door. Instead, it had a massive archway decorated in golden vines with magenta and black roses. Inside, Yugi could only see silhouettes of either shelves or maybe other monsters. He couldn't spot much else, thanks to the room being incredibly dark. He crouched awkwardly, not knowing what else to do when more words appeared.
"Go ahead, ask it. I could see it in your face earlier." The light blue letters appeared. Yugi paused, unsure of how to order his words before sighing.
"That Silent Swordsman we met on the mountain, he was your childhood friend, wasn't he?"
"Yes."
The single word came slower than any whole sentence before. Yugi felt the guilt he had regarding how he handled Gandora rear up again. This time he swore to himself he would get through this without one of his new friends in tears.
"You can come in now." Her words cut through the 'yes' she had up before. Turning it into falling glitter before it disappeared.
Yugi swallowed and quickly jumped from behind the armor through the high archway. Before Yugi could see into the darkness, he smelled the musty aroma of the room. It at first made him think there was going to be dust everywhere. When his eyes adjusted, he instead found he was in a large room the was meticulously cleaned. There was one primary light source other than the light from the hallway. It came from a grand stained glass window that took up nearly the whole back wall. It was covered in depictions of duel monster battles and miraculous feats by both humans and monsters. It even held the world's creation, all on one side of a Duel Monsters card if Yugi was interpreting it right. This glass was done in deep shades of purple, blue, and green, causing the light in the room to be very dim.
Yugi then turned from the window to look around the room. It was about the size of the bottom floor of his house, including Grandpa's storefront. The room was large but not spacious as it was filled with paintings, statues, and carvings. Each art piece seemed to depict humans and duel monsters alike. Some Yugi even recognized like Ironheart or Slifer the Sky Dragon. What these illustrated creatures were doing wasn't as clear-cut as the window. There was a vague style to all the paintings, statues, and carvings. Almost like the work itself would vanish into the wind.
"We can hide here for a bit. If Dark Magician Girl saw you out, she would kill me." Silent's words glowed in the dark. Yugi glanced towards the letters and found no Silent Magician behind them. Instead, he noticed more light coming from the very back corner of the room. Yugi followed the glow through the maze of strange works. Each had a gravitas that Yugi couldn't describe, yet he also couldn't figure out why they were constructed and held here.
As Yugi got around a tall statue of a man with obsidian skin, red markings, and bright yellow hair, he found Silent sitting on a swinging wooden bench. She was surrounded by floating, almost fluffy orbs of azure light. They dotted the area surrounding a small gazebo with the swinging bench at its center. Looking out from the sides of the gazebo were two human effigies Yugi didn't recognize. A male with spiky black and yellow hair, and a woman with rose-red hair. The male had his hand on the woman's shoulder as she pointed out. She seemed to be pointing to two dragons standing outside the gazebo.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Silent's words came when Yugi remained outside, marveling at the room.
"It is." Yugi breathed. "What is this place?" he asked as he walked up the wooden steps to the gazebo's center. He noticed the swing was draped with a thick blanket, probably Silent's bringing.
"I hope you don't mind hiding out in the prophecy chamber. I thought someone looking for you wouldn't duck into here." She wrote. "And even if they did, we can see the door." She then gestured to the front archway, which they could see between the spikes of Slifer.
"Prophecies are made here?"
Silent shook her head. "No, they are stored here." She then gestured to the gazebo itself. "This little part was added when two of the Crimson Dragon's servants dreamed of what their next Signers would be like." Yugi raised an eyebrow in questioning as he had no idea what those names meant. When Silent noticed his confusion, she soundlessly giggled. "Right, you didn't have to be educated in prophecies as us Silents did. Just ignore me. It's not important." She then looked around the gazebo with a wistful gaze. "It was always our favorite place to hide back when we were in training."
"It really is other-worldly here, but not in an unnerving way like the rest of the land." Yugi echoed as he sat back on the swing, a sigh of relief to no longer be in the sterile halls. He kicked off slightly, and the two slowly swung. Yugi watched Silent from the side of his eye as he tried to gauge her. Her face became stone-still, no happiness or sadness as she stared out at the sea of prophecies.
"Silent, are you ok?" Yugi asked. No words appeared, but a blue glow came from the swing's chains as it was magically pushed.
"This was our hiding spot back when we were growing up. That seems so far away now." The words said. Silent finally turned to him, her eyes filled with determination and hints of pain. She looked over him, studying him, before soundlessly sighing.
"You asked for my backstory when we were traveling up the mountain, so here it is. Yes, the Silent Swordsman that tried to kidnap Gandora was the childhood friend I raved about up the mountain. But, at this point, they don't even feel like the same person." That word melted away before the next came.
Yugi sat forward in the swing and looked to Silent. He only nodded to her, letting her know in his own, silent way that he was there for her. "Only say as much as you want. I don't want you to feel forced about this."
Silent nodded back to him, and her words continued. "I'll be skipping a lot, so don't get lost." Silent then took in a deep breath and started writing. "My and Silent Swordsman's old lives were killed at the same time by a dragon, I think. So, when we were reborn, we were raised together."
"Oh, I'm sorry?" Yugi said. Even with a dead spirit living with him, he still didn't know how to appropriately respond when someone told him they had already died before. Silent dismissively waved away his comment.
"It's all part of the Silent life cycle. All Silents have had hundreds of past lives none of us remember or even have a similar personality to. We are new monsters every time, only sharing ability." Silent then looked out at the two human statues closest to the swing. "But that didn't stop us from killing each other."
Yugi leaned forward just to reread the words, closer this time. There was no way he read that right. Once he had thoroughly checked his reading abilities, he looked to Silent with wide eyes.
"I don't know what it was like when Silents first took the job as guardians of the borders. It must have seemed perfect for everyone. We had exactly enough in our archetype for a few Silents in every domain. We could control what level we were so we could be anywhere, and we had the power to put up barriers no matter how strong we were. In return for us taking the Knights' job while they were trapped, the lands we protected would pay us in gifts and favors for our work." Silent then leaned back on the swing, staring straight up at the wooden gazebo roof.
"As time went on, though, we became less like guardians and more like rulers. If a domain's Silent wasn't happy, they'd let the horrors of the multiverse and other domains encroach in. Also, the higher level the domain, the more they could generally pay, meaning Silents wanted only those jobs." Silent then glanced to Yugi while still facing up, a forced smile on her face that looked more like a grimace.
"A Silent once accepted in a domain, wouldn't lose their guardian role unless they died. But what is death to a race the continually reincarnates? It's not murder; it's just proving you're stronger and, thus, a better protector for that domain." She wrote, her words having a slight tilt to them. "It's how every Silent thought and how almost every Silent died. We thought we were greater beings than the monsters we protected and greater than each other. I even thought like that once. It was supposed to be true strength after all."
Yugi felt as his chest tightened as he read those words. He couldn't stop a troubled frown from coming to his face either. He then looked to Silent again. She glanced to him and then turned away, that smile-grimace still plastered on her face. "When I first saw so many Silents working together, on that mountain top. Even as they attacked us, I was happier than you could understand. I know how messed up that sounds, but finally seeing my archetype working together like I always hoped we could someday…? Of course, they're still just as bad. Now they just don't kill each other." She gripped to the swing, just to right herself.
Yugi had a million thoughts, but none he could put into words. He needed to say something. But what? As he looked down, trying to think of something, his eyes landed on the Millennium Puzzle. Though his headache suddenly grew, he was able to push the pain aside as he thought of his friends back home. What would they do here? He turned back to Silent and, without saying a word, opened his arms to invite her into a hug. She blinked in surprise but then threw herself into his chest.
"I can't imagine what kind of society that would have been like to grow up in. You are truly strong, Silent Magician, to be the good person you are now." Yugi whispered. He was expecting Silent to pull away, being the prideful mage she had been up the mountain, but instead, she clung tighter. Yugi then felt as tears stained his shirt. It almost seemed like he failed his first objective when talking to his friend, but these weren't unneeded tears. He knew these were bottled up long ago and finally coming out.
The glowing words then came in a flurry, some entire sentences having almost no spacing between them. "Dark Magician Girl and the other monsters that helped raise us tried to teach us compassion and honor. With Swordsman and I raised simultaneously, we had something no other Silent had, a bond. Swordsman and I latched on to that originally. I wish you could have seen Silent Swordsman back in the day. He really was the perfect protector, charismatic, powerful, and incredibly kind. Sometimes I felt like a burden to him since I couldn't keep up in power, but he always assured me I was no such thing. Because we meant so much to each other."
Yugi couldn't help but bristle at that last sentence. It was an all too familiar feeling in a new context. Feeling like a burden for a more exceptional partner. Like you were only holding someone back. Thankfully his friend was still by his side, always working with Yugi until he understood he was equal to the Pharaoh. Silent Magician didn't seem to get that same happy ending. Yugi wasn't sure if he was quite ready to hear how this friendship fell. He didn't let on to that and hugged Silent tighter.
"Then we became old enough to get our own domain and join Silent society." Silent squeezed Yugi with all her strength as the next words came slow and disappeared fast. "At first, I fully jumped into that mindset of kill or be killed. It is a mindset that manages to fan egos into blazing infernos, despite being a destructive way to live. Then I saw what it made Silent Swordsman become. That sweet, brave monster slowly grew into a soldier of destruction. He had no remorse, no care for anyone. It was only him at the top. He swore he was doing these things so we could have perfect domains together. But in the end, I knew I was nothing more than another trophy for him. Another thing he had over others, he had another Silent that didn't want him dead." Silent then stopped her words and remained pinned to him. Yugi didn't have the words he wished he could. So, he kept her close, being the rock she needed at this moment.
"It was visiting this domain and Dark Magician Girl again that made me realize how bad things were. Since this domain is for the weakest monsters, no Silent wanted to protect it. Even with other domains constantly attacking, this place still managed to be one of my happiest homes. A place where monsters didn't hurt and step on each other for the top. That's when I knew we needed out of this horrible Silent system. I thought since Silent Swordsman was so close to me, he'd understand." Silent shook her head. "Of course, he didn't. He even thought I was trying to betray him, somehow. He had gotten so paranoid he even…."
She didn't finish that sentence, and Yugi knew he didn't want the specifics either.
"That's when I broke away. I decided to exile myself to the Domain of the Beasts and become its Silent, something that would have seemed like the ultimate insult to a Silent archetype. But to me, it was a badge of honor being this place's protector. I threw myself into this job, even when the Knights returned and took most of the responsibilities. It's how I even found you. I was trying to lead the evacuation to the castle when the Gandora first arrived. I just want to prove the kindness and strength a true Silent could have..." Silent Magician then pulled away from Yugi, her tears done falling but her eyes still red.
"When you and the Pharaoh freed the Knights, I heard they were… very rough with the other Silents as they dethroned them. I thankfully missed out because this domain defended me. I may not be an official guardian anymore, but I still do my part." For a while, she didn't speak, being deep in thought. Then she looked up at the great stained glass window. Yugi saw as her frown finally disappeared. She then stood up from the swing and turned to Yugi.
"Please, this is where I need your help. Seeing the other Silents, they may say they're trying to change, but they're going down the wrong path again, no matter how much I wish otherwise. We aren't just mercenaries or rulers. Silents are protectors. We can even protect the Gandora, even though they are digging their own graves by causing so much destruction in a land they are trying to hide in. I need to prove it to the other Silents and myself. We don't have to cause more pain just to be powerful again. I need to prove that."
Yugi quietly read Silent's declaration, making sure he didn't miss any of it. Silent waited for a bit, but when Yugi didn't speak, her cheeks started to turn red.
"Am I asking too much? Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about how much you must want to get home. Of course, I'll help you with that! You don't need to be part of these Duel Spirit problems-"
"Wait." Yugi once again wiped away her words. "While I do want to get home, I want you guys to be safe first." Yugi smiled as he stood up with her. "You are my friend, just as Gandora or even Dark Magician Girl. I'm not just going to abandon you midway through the adventure."
After a few seconds of shock, Silent grinned back at him. "Thank you so much!" Her smile then turned more lopsided. "Wait, I'm a... friend? We've only really known each other for a few days. When you told Gandora we were friends, I thought it was to distract her. You really consider me a friend?"
"Of course! With all we have been through together, I hope we would at least be that." Yugi grinned back at her. Silent paused for a moment, then she simply shook her head.
"I had heard rumors that the Pharoah's other half was kind, but you just continue to surprise me by your genuineness. I love to have you as a friend too." she wrote.
"I'm glad. You know, it's funny, the Pharoah often jokes about how I'd accept anything vaguely friend-shaped-" Yugi started to laugh before he heard a small kurri in the back of his head. While he did his best to keep his thoughts below the surface level the whole conversation, he suddenly felt as another force read... something in his mind… not his thoughts, though.
"Are you ok, Yugi?" Silent asked when she saw Yugi's confused expression.
The two suddenly heard a familiar rumble. The ground began to shake, and the castle walls quivered. The two turned each other in horror.
"A Kuriboh stampede." Yugi breathed before both dove for cover. Thankfully the prophecy room was made sturdier than most, so nothing toppled over as a wave of multicolored fur coursed down the hall. It looked like it was going to skip the room before it suddenly stopped. Another kurri echoed in Yugi's mind, then the wave turned and washed into the prophecy room, somehow knocking nearly everything down yet keeping them from breaking. Silent's hiding spot was the first in the disaster's way. She seemed ready for impact, yet they went coursing around her. They instead headed straight for Yugi, a brown Kuriboh with golden jewelry awkwardly hung on their fluff, leading the attack.
"Kuriboh?!" Yugi yelped before the great fluffy tsunami mobbed him. All the puffballs cheered as Yugi found himself lifted, the Kuriboh covered in jewelry hugging his chest. After the shock disappeared, Yugi grinned. "Hey, buddy. Good to see you healthy enough to find us." He laughed.
"Despite my best efforts, I still couldn't find a good enough hiding spot." Silent wrote with a sigh. Kuriboh lifted their little arms and cheered with the crowd. Suddenly Silent was grabbed and raised too.
"Woah! Are these your friends or your copies?" Silent couldn't help but laugh as she was carried to Yugi's side. The Kuribohs seemed slightly offended as they glared at her. Still, the bejeweled Kuriboh merely tilted their body and closed their eyes in the form of a smile. "They're your friends then." Silent corrected.
"You can bring all the friends you want. Just make sure you pick up these prophecies. I'd hate for some to be lost." Yugi said. A resounding sigh answered him from the Kuribohs. They then went about picking up their mess. As they did, Yugi's eyes found themselves glued to one giant prediction as it passed by him. Silent noticed as his face grew pale, and she turned too to face the giant stone slab.
"What is that?" Yugi nearly whispered. All the Kuribohs froze in their tracks as Yugi fought through the sea to better look at the prophecy.
This stone slab, taller and longer than him, depicted three humans, each separated by a door. At the top of it was blazed the words, Duel Spirit Heroes. As Yugi stared at the figure that looked so much like him, his headache grew worse.