'And now, Pegasus,' Mai cries, pointing at the defeated enemy standing across from her, 'release immediately the souls you trapped. The new Duel Queen demands it!'
'You heard her, Pegasus,' Tea adds.
'Way to go, girl,' Joey gives the Duel Queen a thumbs up, with Mai turning to the balcony and reciprocating with a smile.
Yami Yugi smiles. 'I knew you would do the right thing in the end, Mai,' he says in his head while reverting back to Normal Yugi. Both Normal Yugi and Yami Yugi were devastated when Mai defeated their merged spirits. But now they know that it was for the best after all. I mean, even if Yugi had defeated Mai, he doesn't think he would have found any way to overcome Pegasuses mind scan. But Mai did! She saw through that seemingly collected gentleman, she saw in him what no one else could: a tormented soul, which she managed to turn against him in the duel.
Pegasus falls on his knees, screaming in despair, flailing his arms on the duel board, accidentally knocking his cards off it in the process. The cards are scattered around.
'I lost,' the white haired man thinks, with a tear rolling out of his natural eye, as he picks up the scattered cards. 'I lost the game I myself created! Despite being one of the chosen ones of the Millenium Items, I couldn't defeat an ordinary, mortal woman. I'm unforgivable. Oh, Cecelia, I'm so sorry. It's because of my incompetence that you will never live again. I do not deserve to be your husband. I do not even deserve to live anymore.'
Pegasus turns around and heads to his room, staggering, with a lost expression.
Croquet approaches him, genuinely concerned. 'Mister Pegasus,' he places his hand on his master's shoulder. 'Can I do... do you need anything?'
'Leave me alone!' Pegasus snaps, shoving him away, almost causing him to fall on his back.
On the balcony, Yugi and his friends are gaping. For a moment, they catch themselves almost feeling sorry for Pegasus. But the next moment, they remember what that man has done, so their anger is back.
That moment, Tristan realizes that Mai, too, is gone. 'Hey, where is Mai?' he wonders, looking around.
Hidden in a wall nook, Mokuba seems pensive. He does not know how to react to the fact that that mortal woman has somehow managed to pull off a miraculous victory against Pegasus.
On one hand, now that Pegasus is weak and his fighting spirit crushed, is the perfect chance for Yami Mokuba to take the Millenium Eye, which will bring him one step closer to his goal: to collect all seven Millenium Items and open that door...
On the other hand, Pegasuses defeat most likely means that he will release the souls he trapped.
I mean, predictably, due to her stupid sentimentality, that woman will ask for that, when there is a bunch of more meaningful things she could ask Pegasus for. For example, she could ask for Kaibacorp, Industrial Illusions, she could financially ruin him, yet she is going to waste her wish on souls of worthless mortals. (Yami Mokuba will never understand that sort of sentimental crap.) Even if Mai doesn't ask for that, there is a chance that Pegasus will do it anyway, since his plans have been ruined and, therefore, he has no need for those souls anymore.
Anyway, now that Normal Mokuba will return to his body, this will kinda... complicate things.
Pegasus is back in his private chamber. With his hands trembling with despair, he pulls two purple curtains on the wall, thus revealing a portrait of his lover. He looks at the beautiful, blonde woman sitting in an armchair, in a graceful position.
That innocent look in her eyes! Her heart was full of love. She was always so kind, so nice to everybody. She always cared about the others. She always forgave everyone. Oh, she was an angel. Why did such a perfect person have to die? Why couldn't it be him instead?
Pegasus places his palm on the portrait. 'Cecelia,' he says, as if the woman was physically here. 'You don't know how sorry I am. I have failed you.'
However, there is a woman that is physically here indeed, without Pegasus having realized it yet. Mai! The blonde, large boobed woman has her arms crossed and a serious expression. From the fact that Pegasus is talking to that portrait, she deduces that that Cecelia gal is dead. Now she kinda feels bad about the way she talked about that girl earlier!
'I'm sorry for your loss, Maximillion,' she draws the man's attention.
Pegasus gasps and turns around. 'Mai? You? Here?' he rhetorically asks in surprise.
'Umm, duh,' the woman rolls her eyes, her arms still crossed.
A moment of silence, with Mai still having a solemn expression and Pegasus gaping awkwardly.
Finally, Pegasus pulls himself together. 'Umm, I suppose you want to know when I will release the imprisoned souls. Don't worry about that. I will do it soon.'
'Actually, I was worried about you,' Mai admits, uncrossing her arms. 'The way you reacted when I beat you kinda freaked me out.'
'Worried?' Pegasus gasps, his eyes widened. 'About me? After everything I've done?'
To his further surprise, Mai walks over to him and takes his hands in hers! She looks him in the eye. 'All those years I worked on cruise ships, I met many men who would flash their money around, trying to get laid with me. But this is the first time I have met someone who can genuinely love a woman so much.'
'Thank you for your kind words, Miss Valentine,' Pegasus turns his gaze elsewhere.
Mai carries on, 'I hope you're not annoyed by that, but, before you entered, I had a look at your... umm... diary. So I know why you did what you did.'
'It doesn't matter. I failed,' Pegasus sighs in sorrow. 'Now, after I release the souls, all that is left to do is go to meet Cecelia...'
Pegasuses words are interrupted by a slap! The man steps back, clutching his cheek, eyes widened.
'Did you... did you just slap me, woman?' he asks, in a comically angry tone of voice that makes a comical contrast with what was the situation one moment ago.
'Take it as a zen slap,' Mai snaps, raising her fist to the level of her large breasts. 'WAKE UP, IDIOT! Do you think that, even if you had succeeded, you would be happy? How do you think that Cecelia would feel if she found out you had sacrificed a bunch of innocent souls for her sake?'
Pegasus gasps. He admits that has never occurred to him. All these years, he has been so fixated on reviving Cecelia that he never gave any thought to the aftermath!
'It's true that Cecelia died eight years ago,' Mai continues her speech, now more calmly. 'But you, with your attitude, keep killing her again and again. Stop trying to keep in this world someone who no longer belongs here. Let her soul rest in peace. Stop tormenting her. Become, once more, the man she loved, the man that I know you still are somewhere in your stupid heart!'
Pegasus lowers his eyes, dumbfounded. After a few seconds, he raises them again. He smiles. For the first time in forever! I mean, he often smiles to provoke his enemies, but this is the first time in ages he does so with genuine joy!
The white haired man walks over to the woman and gives her his hand. 'Do you want to stay here for a while?'
Mai gasps.
'As a friend!' Pegasus specifies. 'I really need one right now.'
Mai smiles. She believes him. She knows that most rich men have other things in their mind when they ask you to stay in their place, but Pegasus is not one of those men.
'Okay,' she answers, reciprocating the handshake.
Yami Mokuba is hidden in a wall nook, close to the door of Pegasuses chamber. He hears a loud, female voice. It must be that stupid Mai mortal. But why is she yelling at Pegasus?
Suddenly, he feels Pegasuses fighting spirit returning, stronger than ever! What the hell? What did that woman tell him and caused him to snap out of his despair?
Fuck! Now he can no longer make a move to take the Millenium Eye. Curse you, Mai Valentine.
Seto Kaiba finds himself sitting in a cell, the door in front of him open. What the... The last thing he remembers is dueling that Pegasus bastard. How did he end up here? Is it one of Pegasuses tricks, that hocus pocus nonsense that Yugi and his friends insist on calling magic?
Suddenly, his eyes widen. Mokuba! Where is he? He has to find him.
Mokuba! His brother. The only person in this fucking world, in this world of cruelty and backstabbing, that really means something to Seto. If that Pegasus creep has harmed him, Kaiba swears he will...
Mokuba is looking around, confused, shocked. The last thing he remembers is sitting in a cell, then Pegasus showing up, his golden eye glowing and then... he's here, in a castle corridor, with a strange voice sounding in his head. And what is this thing hanging down from his neck? Can it possibly be... a Millenium Item?
Oh, God, so much stuff at once! All this is too much for a little boy to handle.
'Calm down, Mokuba,' the voice in his head says. 'I'm your friend. I want to help you. Just trust me and always do what I say. This way, nothing bad will happen. Okay?'
The boy closes his eyes, tosses his head back, clutches his temples and yells, as if he's trying to squeeze his brains out. 'GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'
The Millenium Ring glows. This causes Mokuba to cease screaming, lower his eyes and stare in further shock. 'You don't want me to harm you or your beloved brother, Seto. Do you?'
'N-no,' Mokuba stutters.
'Good. I don't want this to happen either,' the voice carries on. 'See? You and I are not so different after all. We want the same thing. We are on the same side! Of course, if you keep up this attitude, I'll be obliged to harm you as well as your brother, as much as this will sadden me. I genuinely hope you won't make me do that.'
Mokuba gulps.
Interpreting the boy's silence as obedience, the spirit is pleased. 'Good. I'm glad we have finally begun understanding each other. Now let's go find your brother. I'll show you the way. Behave as usual until I give you new orders.'
The glowing ring rises, pointing in a specific direction. Mokuba starts walking in that direction.
The spirit inwardly chuckles. Controlling a little boy is way easier than controlling a teenager, albeit a timid one such as Bakura.
Kaiba and Mokuba meet in the castle dungeons.
'MOKUBA!'
'SETO!'
For a moment, Mokuba forgets about the spirit of the Millenium Ring (he has hidden the aforementioned artifact underneath his clothes, on the spirit's instructions) and runs in his brother's arms. The two siblings hug in a tender moment.
'Oh, Mokuba,' a crouching Kaiba says, with his eyes closed. 'I'm so glad you're alright after all.'
Mokuba knows that, with that spirit possessing him, he's anything but alright. But, at least for the time being, he can pretend that all his sorrows are over, that everything will go back to normal. The poor, little boy so wishes that was really the case.
Yugi and Kaiba meet outside Pegasuses castle. They cross their respective arms and exchange serious looks.
'Yugi,' Kaiba unnecessarily says.
'Kaiba,' Yugi equally unnecessarily replies.
Yugi and Kaiba. Kaiba and Yugi. Two of the best duelists in the world. Their rivalry is one of the most epic ones in the history of duel monsters, even though both of them have lost to other people as well (Kaiba has lost to Pegasus and Yugi has lost to Mai).
Finally, Kaiba is the one to break the silence. He uncrosses his arms and walks over to his respected rival. 'Yugi, I think you know it too, but I will say it. Due to the circumstances, our last duel was not decisive. Sooner or later, we will meet again.'
Yugi wordlessly replies with a smile.
Kaiba averts his eyes and looks at Yugi's friends. They all are staring with angry expressions. Heh. It seems they're not as forgiving as Yugi. As opposed to the multicolored haired boy, those idiots still can't get over trivial stuff, such as Kaiba kidnapping their friend's grandfather and having his bodyguards beat up that old man, thus sending him to hospital for a couple of days or so!
Anyway! 'So,' Kaiba talks again as he and Mokuba are heading to his helicopter. 'To, so to speak, thank that woman for saving my brother, I will give her friends, that is to say you fools, a ride back home. Hurry and get on the helicopter.'
'That woman has a name,' Tea cries, indignant. 'Mai!'
'Speaking of which, where is she?' Tristan curiously looks around.
Croquet hurriedly exits the castle and runs over to the group. 'Miss Valentine told me to tell you that she shall not come along,' he informs them, panting, leaning over with his palms on his knees.
Everybody (except Kaiba, who doesn't give a shit) exchange surprised looks.
'Well, I guess she found some other means of transportation,' Yugi shrugs.
'And couldn't she at least say goodbye?' Joey shoves his hands in his pockets, annoyed. 'What an exasperating woman.'
Croquet produces a folded piece of paper and gives it to Joey. 'She also asked me to give you this, Mister Wheeler.'
Curious, Joey takes it, opens it and... gasps. It's a letter.
Tea told me about your sister, that night, in the tent.
Don't get me wrong, Joey. I haven't suddenly turned into a sentimental schoolgirl who has her head in the clouds. Also, I want to stress to you that I still consider you an annoying blockhead. And I think that having to deal with a blockhead like you is enough of a torture for your little sister, so she doesn't need to be blind too on top of that. (Though her not having to see your stupid mug again would be a blessing in a sense!)
Give your sis my regards. Even though I have never met her!
Huh? Why is the part of the paper where that last sentence is written wet? Was Mai crying when she was writing it? And what is that other folded piece of paper enclosed in the...
'HOLY SHIT!' Joey gasps, drawing the attention of his friends, who approach. They, too, cry in surprise when they see that. Mai has given her prize money cheque to Joey!
The blond boy closes his eyes, clenches a fist and sobs. 'Oh, Mai, you're such a... such a... SUCH AN ASSHOLE!'
He bursts into tears, with all his friends smiling and hugging him in joy.
