The unmoving sun seemed to bear down on Yugi. Logic told him this amount of sunlight would burn or at least make him sweat. Yet, it never did. Warmth never spread through him when the sunlight touched him. It was just that, something to light the world, not a physical substance. The temperature of this perfect world never changed either, even if he stood under some shade, if the wind blew by, or if he was indoors. Everything was eternally comfortable. After being here for so long, Yugi decided that was the thing that freaked him out most about this land. He could take everything looking like an untouched storybook. Still, the underlying feeling of fakeness made every cell in his body screamed something was wrong. This domain was, and would always be, perfect. And after searching alone in this forest of giant trees for so long, Yugi couldn't take it anymore.
Yugi turned and headed back towards the grey clearing. He needed something, some new direction in the breeze or change in tune from those unseen birds that seemed to be on an infinite loop. But this perfect world stayed staunch in its purpose. Yugi's headache throbbed as his walk broke into a run. He was close to panic until he broke through the tree line into Gandora's destruction.
It was as if Yugi had run out of an airlock, the wind blew past him, and this time it made him feel a chill. The land around was nothing but ash, but at least he didn't feel like he was standing in a hologram anymore. And what's more, the sunlight that beamed down actually felt like it was real. This land was real. He was real.
Yugi sighed in relief. Then his gaze landed on the quietly crying dragon laid out beside a massive fallen tree. Surrounding her were many colorful balls of fluff. To the dragon's side was Silent Magician, hand-brushing the ash out of her scales and covering wounds with healing herbs a few Kuribohs found in the area. Yugi's relief immediately flew away. He remembered why he had even left his friends' sides and lowered his head. He slowly waded through the sea of Kuriboh with a heavy heart.
"Did you find anyone?" Silent's azure words flickered in front of Yugi. The little mage purposefully turned Gandora's head at that moment so she wouldn't see the letters or Yugi's answer. Gandora's head was nearly the size of Silent's body, so she had to levitate it. Those strange blue cracks appeared again and covered the dragon's head. Gandora didn't fight her. She had no energy to do so.
Yugi shook his head and frowned. Earlier, Gandora had messily and almost unintelligibly caught them up on what happened to her since her flight from the castle. Yugi had been searching for the construction workers she said had initially been here. He found no signs of other monsters in the area. He held in the sickening feeling of what that meant as another group of Kuriboh hopped into the clearing. Leading them was Yugi's bejeweled Kuriboh. They, too, only had frowns to show for their search.
"They're gone, aren't they?" Gandora's voice was harsh and shaky.
Yugi and Silent looked at each other, both unsure what to say. The most sound Yugi had ever heard from Silent magician came from the worried click she made as she bit her lip. Gandora only needed to glance in their direction to know their findings.
"I killed them…?" Her words were at first slow and unsure. But as the others didn't answer, her sobs sped up as she curled tighter. "I killed them. Oh, Gods, I killed them!" Her whole body was wracked with a new wave of tears. It made every part of the dragon shake, in turn making the ground rumbled beneath them.
"Gandora..." Yugi had to quickly right himself. He winced as the pain in his head plus the new rumbling made him dizzy, but he pushed it away so he could focus on Gandora. "They could have gotten away! You said Marshmallon wasn't affected by damage, and they were the only one you saw near you. The others could have run while they distracted you." Yugi tried. Silent also had some words of hope, but Gandora didn't even read those as she curled tighter.
"There were children there. I killed them! I destroyed them…."
Yugi swallowed hard as he could only stand there, another ache wrenching into his heart. Silent Magician seemed just as sick to her stomach. When Gandora refused to read her words, the spellcaster stood up with a defeated sigh. She then attempted to wipe her hands on her dress but ended up only staining it with herb and ash. She silently exhaled as she looked at Yugi.
"I need to get more supplies. Since it's almost time for sleep, I'll be taking the Kuribohs with me. We should be back in time." Silent wrote.
Yugi looked up before he remembered that the sun's placement in the sky had no bearing on when "night" was in this land. He nodded to her, and she wordlessly signaled to the mob. They headed out of the clearing once Yugi's Kuriboh gave Gandora one more worried nuzzle. As Silent passed Yugi, she stopped to place a hand on his shoulder. The two looked into each other's eyes; no words needed to be said. She squeezed his shoulder briefly before hopping onto the moving wave of Kuriboh and riding it into the forest.
Yugi walked up to Gandora's side and sat down beside her, with no hesitation or fear for the large monster. He understood her well enough at this point to know there was no true hatred behind her eyes, even when she tail-whipped him hours before.
"I'm right here, Gandora," Yugi said as he ran his hand over her neck. His words felt so useless at this moment. "I'm right here." Yugi continued to whisper words of comfort as he leaned in and attempted to hug her. Even at her body's thinnest point, Yugi couldn't quite wrap his hands all the way around her. Her many spikes didn't help either. Yugi was determined and held as tight as he could. He channeled as much of Joey's famous bear hugs as he could. Gandora pulled him closer to her with her wings, and they simply sat there for what seemed like a long time.
As they sat, Yugi felt the heat from the sun start to bear down on them in this imperfect ashy plain. Yugi wanted to laugh at such a thing. It was almost more comfortable and peaceful in this heat than in the forest, almost. Heat was still heat. It must have been even worse for Gandora with her pitch-black scales.
"Can you get up?" Yugi spoke softly, nearly a whisper. Gandora's grunt was her only answer. "We need to move you out of this sun. It's almost time for the night."
"I-I can't."
"Are you too hurt?" Yugi anxiously asked as he began to look for a wound Silent might have missed.
"No, not that. It's just... The dreams, I don't think I can take them now. It's too soon. Too soon." Her tears had finally run dry, but she was still sniffling and hiccupping. She barely turned enough for Yugi to see her crimson eyes, so filled with pain.
"Oh, Gandora." Yugi once again attempted to hug her. "I am so sorry."
"For what? It's not your fault I… that he…they…."
Yugi shook his head. "I'm sorry that things turned out this way. There are so many things I wish I could say to make you feel better. So many things I wish I could do for you." Yugi put a hand on his puzzle. "But... Know that I'm still here for you. And I'm not leaving."
Gandora closed her eyes in an attempt to hold back a new tide of tears.
"Here. You need this." The flickering blue lettering appeared in front of the two, but Yugi was the only one to read it. Silent Magician and Kuriboh, leading their mob, came forth from the forest. The Kuriboh horde was holding up the biggest leaf Yugi had ever seen. It was the size of him. This leaf was cupped so that it held a pool of water mixed with various herbs and fruit juices Silent must have found.
"You need to drink. It looks like you've run yourself ragged." Silent wrote as she kneeled next to Gandora.
Gandora looked up to see the Kuribohs holding the pool. She breathed a deep breath and forced herself to stand. Yugi and Silent stepped back as Gandora looked wordlessly down at the water, then plunged in her entire head. Yugi and Silent could use Gandora as cover from the splash, but the Kuribohs were not so lucky. A few squeaked in protest and even left the mob. The puffballs left then slowly lowered the leaf and stepped away. Only a few remained at this point, but the brown Kuriboh with the mislaid jewelry never hinted at leaving.
The leaf held its shape as Gandora pulled her head out. She had drained nearly the whole bowl. "Thank you," Gandora said as she looked back to Silent. To Yugi's surprise, her wounds that had been so bad earlier seemed to heal in front of his eyes. They didn't fully disappear, but a combination of the Gandoras' famous healing speed and Silent's concoction appeared to do the trick.
"What are friends for?" Silent wrote with a kind smile.
"...Friend?" Gandora asked, her voice shaking.
"Ah, beloved? Was that your word for it?" Silent wrote while scratching her head.
Gandora silently looked over them before averting her gaze from theirs. She hugged herself, and her wings fell flatly to her side.
"Gandora," Yugi said as he walked to stand in front of her.
Gandora turned to him, almost pleadingly. "Yugi… I… I should be the one apologizing. I heaped a lot of… unneeded feelings on you."
"I understand," Yugi said. "I have no idea how much losing a child would hurt. I can almost understand hoping for it not to be true." Gandora looked to him, some light returning to her eyes. "But I am not your son. I don't want those attachments clouding our friendship."
Gandora's head lowered, a look of shame spreading across her body. Yugi then ran to her side and rested his hand on one of her many orbs. "I understand if you need time. But I still very much want to be your friend. I said I wasn't going anywhere, and I mean it! No matter what happens." Yugi said with as much conviction as he could muster.
Kuriboh, still wearing their jewelry, then came and jumped into Gandora's arms. They squeaked happily in agreement. Gandora looked down in surprise. But when she realized that Kuriboh trusted her, she gently hugged the fuzzball close. A small smile finally made it to her face.
"I too." Silent stepped up right alongside Yugi. "I know the other Silents are chasing your archetype, but I want to reiterate that I'm not one of them. You are my friend too. No matter what, we are all staying by your side."
"Thank you." Gandora sighed. Her posture seemed to lighten as she looked at her friends. Yugi really should have seen it coming, but the air was still knocked out of him as Gandora scooped them up in a massive hug. Silent and Yugi immediately hugged her head (ignoring the side spikes that seemed determined to poke out their eyes). Kuriboh continued to squeak in happiness as the surrounding puffballs cheered too. It was a long hug but a much-needed one. When Gandora finally put them down, Yugi had to take in a deep breath. And Silent had to wipe away her own tears secretly.
Gandora then spent a few moments looking over Silent Magician, specifically her ash and herb encrusted hands.
"I have to thank you personally for another thing. The medicine really helped. Though I'm not sure I deserve it after everything." Gandora said.
Silent good-naturedly waved away her words. "Do not worry about it. While it might not be as good as magical healing, it's at least something, right?"
Gandora seemed extra focused on her floating words. Or, to be more accurate, the way they flickered in and out before disappearing. Her gaze then fell to the ground, shame returning. "It doesn't seem so long ago you wanted me dead for banishing the Knights. Now you do all this for me."
"Oh! Let's not bring up that embarrassing outburst on the mountain again, please! I was low on magic, energy, and understanding at the time. Even then, I never wanted you dead! I just..." Silent wrote while hiding her eyes. "Some old habits die hard, you know? If I ever again revert to the old way Silents used to deal with things, I am giving you all free reign to slap me." Kuriboh then bumped into Silent's side with a playful peep. "Or multiply to the point you drown me again."
"I would never slap you! I mean, I hit you before, but that was during that duel. I'm still very sorry for that-" Gandora was cut off as Silent walked to her side and repeatedly patted her knee orb until she noticed the spellcaster.
"Let's stop with the apologies for now." Silent wrote with a kind smile. "We know, we promise we know." Both Yugi and Kuriboh seconded her. Gandora still seemed shocked that they were even talking to her. But she silently nodded her head.
"Still friends then... friends..." Gandora said, giving the word "friends" an almost reverence. Her gaze then fell on the mountain looming over this whole land. Yugi's gaze followed. The view of the top was blocked by unnaturally fluffy clouds. But the blue and white glow of the Silents' barrier could be seen through the cover. Silent Magician caught on to where they were staring and wrote high enough for them to see.
"Don't worry about them. We won't let them take you, Gandora." The azure letters read.
Gandora looked back down at the mage and her dirtied dress and hands. Gandora's own hands fell to the center orb on her chest. "Did you know the Silents used to work closely with us, Gandora? Especially Silent Swordsman." Both Silent and Yugi looked to her in surprise, Silent's eyes growing wide at the sudden information. "Did you ever wonder how an enslaved archetype knew so much about them or about you? Despite never being in this domain before?" Gandora asked. Yugi then thought back to the trip up the mountain. He never thought of that, but yes, the Gandora had seemed to know a lot about the Silent archetype. Enough that the Gandora mob had spared (or the Gandora version of sparing) Silent Magician when they first found her because they had known of her "exile."
"They were hired to help stop a magical disease that had ravaged us Gandora for years." Gandora's grip on her orb tightened. "They had to study us closely to understand better what to dispel. I'd had never seen a group work so hard for beings like us before. Once they had an objective, they worked towards it with almost a single-minded abandon. And they did manage to cure the plague. It was the last thing we Gandora needed before we ran. While the Silents were never overflowing with kindness, they were never cruel. They actually respected us at times." Gandora continued. Silent was still just as confused as Yugi on where this was coming from. "I see that same dedication in you, and I once again thank you for it. All the Silents seem to have this drive. If put to the right task, it would do so much good for this world."
Silent Magician swallowed hard as she nodded. "It's something I've been working to prove for a very long time. But why are you bringing this up now?"
Gandora took in a deep breath. She then let it out in a puff of smoke. "I'm going to give myself over to them."
"What?!" Yugi gasped.
"No! If you do that, you'll go back to that horrible war!" Silent wrote in jagged letters. Kuriboh added their own argument in a string of squeaks.
"I don't believe I have a choice anymore. I'm a murderer now." Gandora said, gesturing to the surrounding area. "This land has only tolerated us Gandora so well because there have been no casualties or any damage that couldn't be reset. I just wiped out a large group of monsters. There's no going back from that."
Yugi's words died in his throat as the sickening realization seeped in. Silent Magician somehow managed to turn paler as even Kuriboh made no sounds of an argument.
"And Yugi," Gandora's gaze fell like a ton of bricks on Yugi's shoulders. "You have to get home to your true family. You can't focus on that and finding the knights if you are worried about a war breaking out around you. If I turn myself over to them, maybe the Warriors will be happy with just me. I can easily start another generation of dragons and-"
"No, absolutely not!" Yugi, Kuriboh, and Silent yelled/squeaked/wrote. They weren't even going to let Gandora consider that option. There had to be something they could do.
"I agree! Why would this domain want to lose such helpful monsters?" A high-pitched voice came from behind the group.
The friends jumped as they turned to some rustling bushes at the edge of the clearing. With a sticky plop, a pink blob hopped into the sunlight. Their toothy smile was so like one of Yugi's cards that he recognized them even before Gandora yelped.
"Marshmallon?! But I thought...!" Gandora gasped.
The blob's frightening grin grew larger as they turned to the dragon. "Hello, Gandora. I did tell you I couldn't be killed, right? Though yours was the best attempt so far." They said with a chuckle.
Gandora started shivering from head to foot. The three at her side recognized the excitement well enough to leap out of the way as Gandora threw herself at Marshmallon.
"You're alive!" Gandora's weight and her archetype's natural imbalance made her and Marshmallon go sliding across the clearing. Neither seemed to care. When they stopped, she hugged the monster so hard they split in two and fell to the ground in pieces. Only Yugi looked shocked. "Are the others ok?!" Gandora stayed on her belly so she could speak to the remains.
"Surprised, but alive. It was almost like they all had bags of teleporting magic on them," Marshmallon sarcastically said as they reconnected as if nothing happened. "I've been spending the last few hours looking all across this domain for them. As I said, transportable magic acts very wonky when used on living things, but they're all in good health. Many even asked if you were ok."
Gandora looked so relieved at that moment. It was as if a weight was thrown from her back. Then her face fell as she turned to the rubble surrounding them. "I'm so-" but she didn't have a chance to finish her apology as Marshmallon hopped out of her grip to face Yugi and the others.
"I'm glad to see you're not alone," Marshmallon said as they looked to Yugi and Silent. "Greetings, great Pharaoh. And good to see you too, honorable Silent Magician." They bowed their head in respect.
"Don't tell me." Silent wrote with a crooked smile as she crossed her arms. "You really were continuing your construction, despite the emergencies happening around you?" She wrote with a soundless chuckle.
"In the past, I've spent years waiting for the perfect moment. The only thing that seemed to accomplish in the end was making me wait." Marshmallon said.
"So, this was the construction manager?" Yugi asked. He then noticed Silent's knowing smile. "Did you know Marshmallon from before?"
"Why, yes." Marshmallon said, "Any time a big influx of incoming monsters is planned for, like for construction, our lovely Silent protector has to be notified."
Silent rubbed her temples as she shook her head. "Marshmallon was asked to build a human-styled village in the hollow tree here."
"And I destroyed it all!" Gandora yelped as she ran to be in the middle of the group. "I'm so sorry." She then seemed to realize something and took a couple of steps back. "You must hate me right now. I tried to warn you, Gandora can't create. Or at least create anything good."
"Nonsense!" Marshmallon said in a surprisingly powerful voice. "While I am sad to lose all that work, it's nothing compared to what you have just given me!" Everyone looked surprised as Marshmallon hopped to the downed tree. "If I had realized this earlier, I wouldn't have even started building and just had you destroy everything then and there. But you are here now, I suppose. I'd like you to destroy the entire property if you could. Then the next reset, we will rebuild even better!"
Everyone stared in utter shock. Gandora's arms fell limply to her side as she stared, jaw hanging open, at the beaming blob. Even the surrounding Kuribohs had nothing to add to this clearly mad monster's ramblings.
Gandora had to slap her cheeks just to right herself at that moment. "What in the eleven dimensions are you talking about?"
"Why, don't you feel it? The creepiness is gone. And from what I've seen and heard from others, it will remain perfectly unperfect even as future resets fix the land. It must be something special about the Gandora archetype's destructive powers." Marshmallon explained.
"What?" Silent asked.
"The perfection!" Yugi realized as he lit up. "This land and every area the Gandora have damaged lose that unnerving perfection!" Marshmallon nodded to him and looked to the other to see if they caught up. The others were still staring slack-jawed at the two.
"I thought any damage did that," Gandora murmured as her hands gripped each other.
"While true, any imperfection usually gets fixed in the next reset. Yet, with what I've heard from the workers that got teleported up the mountain, the now fixed areas a Gandora destroyed still don't have that unnerving quality. I suppose you dragons destroy so well that even a magical reset can't restore it to a perfect state."
Yugi was reasonably sure if Gandora could blush, she would have. "Oh," was all the dragon said.
"Don't feel bad, Gandora! It's a good thing in this case." Yugi said as he came up to her side and patted her. "Think back to the riddle gauntlet. Even after the world was rebuilt around us, while still being completely fixed, it didn't have the weird perfection the untouched areas had. We were so much happier in those fixed areas!"
"You know, Gandora, I have a few business-owning friends in this domain that would love for you to come over before the next reset. It would certainly make their newer customers and tenants more relaxed and more willing to buy." Marshmallon said with an almost fiendish grin.
"Wait!" Silent's large letters appeared between everyone. "May I repeat, what?" Yugi then remembered that Silent never noticed a difference in the land. He looked to the others with a shrug. How to explain something she couldn't see or feel?
"Let me guess. You grew up in this domain?" Marshmallon asked.
"Yes, all Silents do." She then turned back to Yugi. "Is this the thing you two were going on about on the mountaintop?"
"Yes. Remember how I said everything feels too perfect to be real? Because of it, most of us could never really feel comfortable in this land." Yugi tried. Silent still seemed confused, but it was clear she wanted to believe them.
"Well, say this 'perfection' is real, and I can't see it because I grew up here. Why is it only in this land and not others? I've traveled around many domains in my youth, and I never felt anything like you guys are talking about."
"Huh… I don't know." Yugi said before looking around at the others. Even Marshmallon could only shrug (a rather weird shoulder-less shrug).
Yugi thought for a while before asking if the resets were different in other domains somehow. The group explained that other than it being done at different times and at different intervals based on how much destruction was done, the power came from the same magic. This magic was connected to the magical border surrounding this entire dimension and stopped it from collapsing into the human world. Because of this, every domain had to have at least one reset at some point every month.
"So the monthly resets are something all domains have? What does the reset do if something's not broken or is the same as last month?" Yugi asked.
"I suppose it would try to remake the land, but with nothing to change." Silent wrote.
Kuriboh was the one to perk up this time. They hopped into Silent's arms and started squeaking wildly to her. As Silent listened, her eyes slowly grew wider. Marshmallon seemed to understand Kuriboh too, as they nodded to what the furball said.
"Makes sense to me," Marshmallon said. Both Gandora and Yugi turned to each other for answers. With neither speaking Kuriboh, they then look at Silent as her words appeared.
"I get it now! The reset would continually remake the land, sanding over every mistake. To us who have always lived here, the magical change was slow, but it wouldn't seem right to any new monsters. This land has had everything natural about it fixed and continually fixed until there was no flaw. But the Gandoras' power must somehow make it retain some flaws. Meaning-"
"It looks natural," Gandora said as she stared in awe at her destruction. Yugi could almost feel Gandora's growing happiness himself.
"Now, if only we could safely destroy the whole domain, then this would be the perfect place for any monster. I might even want to move out here." Marshmallon said.
The few Kuriboh's around joined into the conversation by cheering. Gandora at first jumped at the crowd's noise, but then another smile slid onto her face as she looked at this little group she had managed to collect. Yugi too smiled and was about to add his own thoughts when a great gust of wind blew past. While this wind held real feeling thanks to being in Gandora's devastation, it also carried a pungent smell that not even her destruction could affect. Yugi put his back to the strong wind as the smell of a thousand summer nights forced its way into his nose. He couldn't help but gag as the others groaned.
"No! There's still too much to do! We can't sleep now!" Gandora roared. Sure enough, the wafting smell of night soon made the surrounding monsters' eyes droop.
"No offense, dear Silent Magician. But I hate the sleep schedule of your domain." Marshmallon yawned.
"Everyone needs eight hours of sleep to be healthy." Silent wrote, but even she seemed annoyed by the inconvenient timing of the moonless night. Gandora had already begun doing push-ups to fight off the forced rest.
"Come on, guys. Let's get you to a better place to lay down-" Yugi began to say when the ash around them suddenly shifted again. Another wind blew down the group, a much stronger force than the night brought. It was the wind of flapping wings.
It was like one of Kaiba's helicopters circling the group. It was a harsh wind that even Yugi had a hard time standing up against. The others were quickly losing strength; all the Kuribohs not in someone's arms blew away. Yugi shielded his eyes, but he knew immediately it was Blue-Eyes circling the group. And either thanks to his mental connection to her or just knowing the Blue-Eyes species, he knew she was purposefully rough with the wind she kicked up.
"There you are!" The great white dragon growled when she finally touched down, her landing shaking the whole area.
"Uh oh," Yugi whispered. He was surprised to see Blue-Eyes didn't seem the least bit sleepy, even as the ever-fighting Gandora was losing her battle. Along with not being tired at all, Blue-eyes was glaring furiously down at him. He almost wanted to hide behind his friends but instead stood firmly in front of the glaring dragon. Yugi knew he had nothing to be ashamed of.
"I have half a mind to claw you, Yugi Muto! First, you run when you need to recover, twice! Then I find you with an unstable dragon in a nearly destroyed land! Do you not understand how dangerous it is for you to be walking around?! You are only three-fourths of a body right now!"
"I'm what!?" Yugi gasped. Everyone froze at those words. Each stopped fighting their sleepiness and turned to the white dragon. Blue-Eyes tried to remain in her unwavering stance, but Yugi could feel her slight panic. She hadn't meant to say that.
"You are clearly hurt, not to full health. That is all I meant."
Yugi didn't believe her for a second. He was about to argue with her when his headache spiked. It grew to the point he had to hold the side of his head. It wasn't a single stabbing pain. It was a dull ache that traveled around the whole of his head. Silent and Gandora looked worriedly to him, Gandora even attempting to stand between him and Blue-Eyes. Blue-Eyes looked over the dragon weaving on her feet and (a little too roughly) pushed her aside to face Yugi.
"We can focus on that later. We have something much more pressing now. We need to deal with the war on this domain's very doorstep. While you four and…." Blue-Eyes glanced at Marshmallon, clearly unsure how they fit into all this. "… and the mad builder were having your little pow-wow, the Silents came to the castle!"
Yugi's own eyes widened as Silent gasped her most audible sound yet, and Gandora growled to the best of her sleepy abilities. Blue-Eyes ignored them as another sedating wind made the others fall to their knees (or sides in the Kuribohs' and Marshmallon's case).
"Is everyone at the castle ok?" Silent Magician's words flickered more than what was her new usual.
"Yes, for now." Blue-Eyes then lifted a clawed hand to her chest. While she still did her best to hide it, Yugi felt and saw as shame boiled within her. "I knew we should not have simply left them on the mountain to their own devices, but there was so much to do." She then took in a deep breath and looked back at Yugi. "The Silents are now prepared to raze the land in pursuit of the Gandora." Yugi could only clutch at his quartz puzzle as he had to suppress a shiver. He could feel the more murderous intent of the Silents in Blue-Eyes's words.
Blue-Eyes continued. "Back at the castle, Silent Swordsman gave Dark Magician Girl an ultimatum, lead them to the Gandora, or they will destroy everything in their way. They are currently in their bubble of protection. Even as they sleep, I cannot get through it."
Silent Magician tried to fight to her feet again but couldn't manage it. She could only shake her head as true fear spread across her features. However, she managed to stand again. She couldn't stay straight, but a roar still worked its way out of her woozy head. Yugi swallowed hard. From Silent Magician's look of absolute horror on her face, he could tell it wasn't bluffing on Silent Swordsman's part. They would and could destroy everything. While the land would heal in the next reset, the spirits here would not.
"They gave us two hours after we wake again," Blue-Eyes said. "This is why I raced here. Even with giving in to their demands, there will still be dangers thanks to the Gandora fighting back. Yugi, you are equal to the Pharaoh in nearly every monster's mind. If you talk to the Gandora-"
"Never!" Gandora yelled before falling back in a sitting position. "I know my archetype has been nothing but trouble, but please! Don't make them go back to that life!"
"Trouble is an understatement. You're lucky no one has died yet, or we wouldn't have even waited for Yugi to turn you all over." Blue-Eyes growled.
"Please!" both Yugi and Silent yelled.
"There has to be some other way!" Silent wrote.
"We can't just let these dragons go back to slavery!" Yugi added. "You can't seriously be ok with that!?"
"I am not!" Blue-Eyes roared. "It is absolutely horrid, and I know it! But we have no choice at the moment! We have to focus on getting the Knights back and stopping this lockdown before you and the spirits stuck in the human world lose all their energy! We can't do that if the domain around becomes a battlefield! Are these destructive dragons really worth all those lives?!"
Gandora at first seemed taken aback by the mention of the other spirits trapped by the lockdown, but her losing battle with sleep made her focus on one topic at a time. "We Gandora have known of nothing else but destruction! How do you expect us to know how to act immediately?!"
"You seem to know!" Blue-Eyes shot back.
"Both of you, stop!" Yugi's voice somehow equaled the two dragon's roar. He was shaking with so many emotions he couldn't name. He didn't know what Blue-Eyes meant when referring to his own collapse, but he hadn't even thought of what the lockdown was doing to the spirits stuck in the human world. Could they not stay there indefinitely? Was their time that short?
Gandora's last grumble before sleep took her only made Yugi's heart sink further. "Please…" was all she said before her eyes closed. Silent seemed to be in the middle of writing when she, too, collapsed.
An eerie silence fell over the imperfect land. Blue-Eyes continued to stare down at Yugi as everything seemed to come crashing down around him. But as he tried to think of a way out of this, his headache grew worse. He suddenly got dizzy and stumbled forward. Blue-Eyes immediately caught him using her head as something to lean on.
The dizziness didn't go away, but Yugi ignored it the best he could and looked out at the grey clearing. "We can't just let the Silents have them," Yugi growled.
"I know. It is horrible." Blue-Eyes then looked away from Yugi's eyes, unable to face the little human's reproving gaze. "But we are out of time. Fighting the Silents off just for these destructive dragons will take too much time. It's either we save the Gandora or all the monsters in the human world, the Knights, and..." Blue-Eyes seemed to fight within herself for a few moments. "The Pharoah. He has even less time than you do."