Author's Note: Hi guys. I'm sorry about the the gap between updates! The new semester has started and this chapter needed more work on it than I thought. After this I have one (mostly) pre-written chap left before I run out, so it might take a week or two to get chapters out. Anyway, I am excited to finally have this chapter posted! This is another chapter that doesn't resemble anything that I've written before, and I must say that it was a lot of fun (If you've been reading these notes you might have noticed that I say something along those lines a lot, but that's because it's true).
Story Recommendations: If you like fics about the Kaiba brothers I highly recommend Iced Blood's stories, especially the Paved with Good Intentions Series and Kick a Hole in the Sky.
Thanks to lailalai, angiembabe, and Yami Mayonaka for taking the time to review! I'd also like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this.
-TheEagerScribbler
Higher Stakes Chapter 12: Yami
Joey knocked on Yugi's door at seven thirty in the morning."Hey Yugi, sup my man?" Joey greeted as Yugi let him in.
On a normal Saturday Joey had to be dragged out of bed in order to get him to do anything. What impressed Yugi the most was that he didn't even look like he had just rolled out of bed. His hair was brushed and his clothes weren't wrinkled in the least."Not that I'm not happy to see you, but since when are you up before ten on a Saturday?"
"What, can't I guy visit his best friends in the whole wide world on a beautiful Saturday morning?" Why was Joey acting so strangely? Either he wanted something or was anxious about something.
"What is it Joey? You're acting strange...even for you."
"Can I maybe have some food first? I'm starved and didn't have a chance to eat anything before I left my house."
Yugi couldn't help but smile. That was more like the Joey Wheeler he knew. "Sure. You know what we have. There's cereal, bread for toast, frozen waffles, and a ton of muffins and different types of bread."
That perked him up. "You got banana nut bread? Oh, and maybe pumpkin bread, and what's breakfast without a blueberry muffin and maybe a chocolate chip muffin?"
They heard a laugh come from the hallway. "Some things never change." Tea walked into the room and hugged Joey. "Help yourself! There's too much for even you to finish in one sitting."
"That a challenge?"
Tea rolled her eyes and threw nearby dish towel at him. "Grow up."
Joey piled on assorted goodies, including snicker doodle and a brownie, which earned him a disapproving glare from Tea, and Yugi helped himself to a blueberry muffin while Tea got the coffee started. She herself hated starting her mornings without coffee-without her morning caffeine fix couldn't seem to wake up. Lately both Yugi and Tea had been drinking coffee like water because they were constantly exhausted. "So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Yugi finally asked.
"I don't wanna criticize how you're looking for Kari or anything, but I was think'en that I we need to change our strategy a little."
"You thought we'd be offended by that? We all seem to be thinking along the same lines. Kaiba and I got into an argument about it last night, actually."
Tea was clearly not happy that he didn't tell her about it."That was what you fought about? Why didn't you say anything!"
Yugi shrugged in embarrassment at being caught. "I needed to do some thinking first. But anyway, I think that we need to stop waiting for something to happen. Bakura isn't ready yet, otherwise he'd have sought us out himself. We've done all of this talking about striking out first, but what have we actually done? We were warned about waiting too long weren't we? Nobody's perfect. He must have made some mistake that will lead us to him."
"Exactly what I was thinkin!"
Tea still looked uncertain. "Is that such a good idea? We don't even know where to start. Jumping in head first could us or Akari killed!"
"You may have a point Tea, but we need to take some risks if we're going to win," Joey reasoned. Yugi took a bite of muffin and contemplated Joey's words. His reasoning was hardly surprising considering that his early decks all revolved around luck, but he did have point. Sometimes you have guess your opponent's next move and hope that you've made the correct leap.
Tea took a seat on the other side of Yugi. She sagged down with sigh. "I suppose you're right Joey."
"It'll work out fine, you'll see. We just need to have faith!" Yugi was really starting to get sick of hearing that. Have faith. Have faith in the heart of the cards. Have faith that everything is going to work out magically okay. Have faith that Yugi will be able to defeat Bakura even though he had no idea what he was doing! He was afraid to vocalize his thoughts because admitting it made it seem almost more real. Besides, he needed to be strong for his wife. Although she was doing a little better he knew that she was hanging on by a thread. He hadn't acted yet because he remembered the Pharaoh's command to wait for the six to gather. A nearly blasphemous thought came to Yugi's mind, a thought that disturbed him even though he knew better. No one was perfect after all, not even his other self. Yugi was forced to wonder...what if the Pharaoh was wrong? He had faith in him. There was that word again, faith, but even great kingdoms have fallen because of faith placed in the wrong people.
"Sure." Was all Yugi was able to bring himself to say. "Let's finish our food and then we'll call Seto. I don't think he's ever slept past 6:30 in his entire life so I'm sure he's awake and by a phone."
"Does the man ever relax?" Joey asked. "Sometimes I wonder if the man's even human. It's like that brain of his never stop running!" Joey took another bite of his muffin. "Mph wot I men?" He said with a mouth full of food as he waved with muffin in the air.
Yugi made a face."That's just gross Joey. Toma knows better than to talk with his mouth full, and he's just a little kid. What's your excuse?"
"You're no fun, you know that Yugi? Besides, you know what I said, right?"
Tea rolled her eyes. "That's only because we've had to endure years of your terrible table manners."
"Yeah, whatever." Just to make a point he shoved an entire muffin into his mouth.
"Joey!" Tea and Yugi shouted at the same time.
"What? We need to finish soon if we're ever gonna get an appointment with rich boy!"
By some miracle they did manage to get an appointment with Seto. "Haven't you ever heard of email?" Seto said by way of greeting.
"You're constantly flooded with emails. You probably wouldn't even get to it for another two days." Yugi protested.
"Exactly. That's because unlike you I am busy. I'm assuming you're here for a reason?"
"I'm sure you can guess what it's about." Tea said. "We're sorry keep bothering you at work, but that seems to be the only way to get a hold of you these days."
He nodded in understanding. "Fair enough, but did you have to bring your pet?" He gestured towards Joey. "I didn't think that I needed to explicitly state that no dogs are allowed in this establishment."
"I'm here because for the same reason as them Kaiba."
"Fine. Come on then. I'm only seeing you because I have another before I have to meet with Pegasus." He turned to lead them to his office. As always it was impeccably organized with papers placed in neat piles, and three chairs were placed in front of his desk. The only thing off about any of it was that if you looked carefully the piles were bigger and not quite as nicely stacked as usual.
He made a motion for them to sit. "Now, what is it?"
Yugi took a deep breath to clear his nerves. He needed to swallow his pride. "After our conversation last night I did some thinking and realized that you had a point. We need to stop waiting. We know that you tried tracking credit cards, but we were wondering if you knew of any other ways to track them. The only way we're going to get Akari back is if we find her before decides to come to us. If we catch him unaware maybe we'll have a chance."
"You're saying that you're wrong?" he eyed Yugi expectantly. Yugi knew that Seto would try to embarrass him further before agreeing to help. Despite the fact that they were friends, from Seto's perspective their friendship still had a competitive edge to it. Tea and Joey both opened their mouths to argue, but Yugi signaled for them not to.
Yugi sighed. "Yes, I'm saying that you were right."
"After our conversation I did some thinking too and decided to take the initiative of going through security feeds around the city."
How did he even get permission to do all of that...unless he didn't. Kaiba wouldn't actually do anything illegal did he? Of course he had a reputation, but Seto made a point of doing everything by the book as an adult because he didn't want it to come back to haunt them later. Their collective shock was not lost on Seto, who rolled his eyes. "Don't look at me like that! It's all legal. Money talks, and I have plenty of that. Now, if you're all done making assumptions about me we need to get back to the task at hand. As I was saying, I went through various feeds and found that Bakura frequents a grocery store on Spring Field Avenue, as well as several other shops in that location. Unless he's trying to throw us off I'd guess that he's hiding near there. And since he'd need shelter and there are no abandoned buildings near by that lead me to look at hotels nearby. There's only one hotel near there that Bakura could've chosen without drawing attention to himself."
"You were hold'en out on us!" Joey protested. Tea didn't look to happy about it either.
"I was going to tell everyone tonight."
"That doesn't matter Joey!" Tea scolded. "What matters is that we find Akari." She turned to Seto with desperate hope gleaming in her eyes. "Tell us Seto, what's the name of the hotel you think that they're at?"
"Domino Deals Motel." Yugi himself couldn't help but grimace. Domino Deals had been a shady place even when he was a kid. It was known for drug deals and prostitutes, and their moldy walls. It was the perfect place for someone looking to stay under the radar.
Yugi, Joey, and Tea all stood up, and Kaiba stood up as well, crossing his arms in annoyance. He scowled at their stupidity. "Even Wheeler can't possibly be dumb enough to think that he'll let you just waltz in there and get Akari. You need a plan."
For once Joey didn't react to the insult. Instead he put a hand on Yugi's shoulder in a gesture of support. "I'm gonna have to agree with Kaiba on this one. I don't like say'in it, but he's right. We need a plan. He may just be one person but he's too strong for us to go up against on our own. We're gonna need back up on this one."
"Not if we're just going to rescue her!" Yugi argued.
Think this through. The whispered words of the Pharaoh gently chastised Yugi. He felt like a small child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Fine." He muttered. "Let's meet tonight then, like we usually do."
"I've got a video conference with a company in India, and then I have another video conference with someone from Italy immediately after. I can't do it tomorrow either, so you're going to have to wait."
"Listen to me Seto, we're going with or without your help. If you find some reason to bail on us tomorrow like you did tonight we're going anyway. Is that absolutely clear? Yugi is too nice to say it, but I will. We can't take another day of this! Our daughter is currently a hostage to a man that's let evil consume his soul. She's bait now, but what happens if he decides to change his plans? Are you with us or not?" Tea threatened.
"If you don't want my help, feel free to meet tonight. We'll see how far you get with everybody staring at eachother like morons saying, "I dunno. What about you?" Somebody has to be the grown up if you dorks are our only hope of rescuing my niece." It was like he was trying to antagonize them. When Yugi looked down he realized that he had unconsciously balled his hands up into fists. He took a deep breath and slowly unclenched them and reminded himself that sarcasm was just Seto's way. Yugi still wanted to protest, to say that one more day was too much, but what good would it be? Yugi knew without doubt that all of the item holders needed to be together and that Seto's brilliant mind could prove invaluable in decoding Bakura's plans. "However," Yugi perked up when Seto sounded as if he was prepared to actually compromise. This coming from Mr. Teamwork-promotes-incompetence
"Meet me at my place-it's more secure. I don't want another break in while we're unprepared. This is a game that we've proven that we can win. We just need the right strategy."
So they had the makings of a plan...why did it all sound so inadequate?
They dropped Joey off at his home and headed straight home afterwards. Yugi and Tea's car broke down about halfway home from Joey's place. Neither of them was able to fix it, so they were forced to call someone. Mai was the only one who answered. She said that she would take maybe half an hour to get there, but she'd get there as fast as she could.
In the meantime there was nothing to do but wait. Being out in the open left them both feeling vulnerable, so they ducked into a gas station. They figured that they might as well look for snacks while they waited. "What about these?" Tea held up bag of barbeque flavored potato chips. "I haven't had these in forever!"
Yugi shrugged. "You can have them if you want, but I won't be eating that."
"Why not? Aren't men supposed to like all things barbecue?"
"First of all, that's not real barbecue. Second, I want these instead." He held up a bag of sour cream and onion flavored chips. "They're way better and they won't dye my fingers."
She made a face and eyed him skeptically. "There's no way you can seriously like this stuff. I don't think I've seen you eat those since you were what, 18? I had hoped that you'd grow out of that stuff. I mean, whose idea was it to combine sour cream and onions? What a disgusting combination!" Their good natured teasing was halted when walked in with a gun.
"Alright, give us all of your money before someone get's hurt!" The man pointed his gun at the terrified man behind the counter. "Do it!"
The man enthusiastically nodded and started fumbling for the key to the cash register. "Ok ok ok...come on come on…" he tried to get the drawer to unlock.
"You should know that we're impatient. In the meantime, bring your valuables up front before I shoot you too! You," he pointed to Yugi, "Bring that necklace to me. It looks like it's worth a hell of a lot more than a buck or two."
Tea clung to Yugi. "What do we do?"
"I won't let him take the puzzle." Even as he spoke Yugi was concocting a plan straight out of Yami's book. He ran his hands over the puzzle out of habit as if he was trying to channel him. Yugi remembered a similar situation at burger world when he was kid. Yami handled it by asking the man to play a game, and when the man cheated and he was forced to endure a penalty game. Yugi tried to stand up tall and confidently and walked over to the man with his hands up. "I'll give you my puzzle...if you win a game."
The man started to laugh. "What's your problem man-I threaten to kill you so you ask me to play with you? How old are you, ten?"
It was a gamble, but maybe it would sound ridiculous enough for him to humor him. "What do you have to lose? You're the one with the gun." He hoped that he would buy it.
"What the hell. I'll give it a shot." He laughed at his own terrible joke. "What do you have in mind?"
"I propose a contest. We'll compete to see who can grab the most items in three minutes. The catch is that you must have one hand behind your back at all times, and you cannot touch your opponent's pile. Any attempts at breaking these rules will disqualify you and you will forfeit the match."
"That'll be too easy. I've got at least five inches on you. You're on."
Before they began he tried to channel the powers of the puzzle. If millennium items were designed to evaluate the evil within a person's heart, he could force him to lose and then...Yugi shook his head. He had been against the penalty games in the past. What gave him the right to play God? But this man had a gun and could very easily shoot someone. If that gun were pointed at Tea, and if Yugi himself had a weapon, wouldn't he use it in self defense? During Bakura's penalty game he had told himself that he would never condone penalty games, but what if he was wrong? It was too late now. When Yugi suggested the game he had every intention of following through with his plan. If the man didn't cheat he wouldn't do anything. However, he knew that the man would cheat. The puzzle gave him a sense of what was in the man's heart, and it was riddled with shadows. If simply let him walk away the man could still shoot someone, or go somewhere else and rob the store. If he invoked a penalty game he could save many more people... It wasn't like he had a choice anyway. They were all waiting for the game to begin. If they didn't start soon he could get angry, and such a mistake could cost someone their life.
"Okay, does anyone have a timer on their phone?" Tea nodded.
"Great, start the clock. Three minutes starts...now!" Yugi instantly went for the small items near by. He grabbed slim jims and beef jerky first and began his pile. He could easily hold a few of those at once, so they were by far the thief went for the very first items he saw, all of which happened to be bags of chips. Those would be trickier because they were bigger. Yugi then turned to small candies. Yugi started with the different types of gum and worked his way down the rows. The man looked at Yugi's pile with surprise, which only made the him work more franticly. Yugi moved on now to other types of snacks. He grabbed peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, etc, and threw them in the pile too. As his hands worked he snuck a glance at his opponent. He kept eyeing Yugi's pile of assorted goodies. Yugi kept working, but found himself sneaking glances. Yugi had the painful realization that the robber was going to cheat.
"One minute left!" Tea called.
"Shut up! We didn't ask you did we?" Yugi didn't like the way that his hand seemed to mindlessly reach for the gun.
Yugi kept track of the time. He raced to grab as much as he could, and so did he. When he realized that he wasn't winning he grabbed a handful of Yugi's items from the pile. Yugi caught him in the act. "Put those items down, that's cheating!"
"So what if I did? I'm the one with the gun." The man twirled his gun around. "What are you gonna do about it?"
Yugi knew what he had to do, he just didn't know how to do it. He'd never actually initiated a penalty game or a shadow game before. He closed his eyes and he could feel the eye of Horus burning on his forehead as the power coursed through him. All of a sudden Yugi was struck by the desire for revenge. He finally had the power to defend them-why shouldn't he make him suffer the way that his victims had? "I declare a penalty game!" Yugi was struck by the sudden realization that those desires weren't his. Once Yugi realized that he had not thought that until he activated the puzzle he nearly stopped in his tracks. He didn't really want that. There had to be a way to protect himself and others without inflicting harm on him. If you have any ideas Pharaoh now would be a really good time to share them, Yugi thought. Unfortunately there would be no divine intervention for him. Yugi really began to panic until he was suddenly inspired by an old Greek Myth about a man who would always be hungry but never able to reach food or water. Maybe something similar would do the trick. Maybe there was a way out. Maybe he didn't have to actually hurt him..."You are a thief, so I will give you the punishment of Tantalus! Any item that you try to touch that doesn't belong to you or is intended to cause someone harm will always be beyond your reach!"
The man looked about ready to pee himself. "H-Hey, what's going on?"
"You will no longer be able harm anyone."
"You really think that you could ever make me do anything? You must be delusional! Let me show you!"
"Go right on ahead." Yugi shrugged. "Maybe I am delusional." He knew that he wasn't.
He reached for a pack of M&Ms but was unable to grab it. When the man reached for it and picked it up, but just kept staring at his hands. He moved forward and began to grasp at air. "W-why can't I reach it?" He reached for his gun. "I'll show him!" But when he picked it up he just kept reaching for it, not realizing that he was already holding it. "My gun? Why can't I reach any of this?"
"Consider this your chance to rehabilitate." Yugi walked right up to him and took the gun away, and then handed it to the the guy behind the counter. "Get rid of it."
"You're crazy man! Woah, how'd you manage that? You some sort of hypnotist or somethin'?"
Yugi gave a sort of forced, nervous smile. "Uh, something like that."
"Whatever dude. I thought we were toast! You must've saved our lives Mr. Mutou!"
Yugi raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How did you know my name?"
"I think every in Domino knows your name. How's the Mrs. doing over there?" During the course of their short conversation Tea had walked up to the counter to join Yugi.
"I'm fine. I'm just glad we're all okay. You were brilliant Yugi!"
"I'd say!" Mai was standing in the entrance way. "Come on Yugi and Tea, I think it's time we let the poor man clean up his store!"
Tea waved. "Bye!"
"You two should come back again sometime. I owe you both slurpees and a candy bar at least."
"You don't have to, really!" Yugi insisted. "I was just glad to help!"
They got into the car. "Thanks for picking us up Mai!" Tea said.
"No problem. That's what friends do, right? You know, what I saw back there was pretty impressive." Mai said.
Tea, who was sitting next Yugi, nodded in agreement. "I agree. It was like I was staring at the Pharaoh!"
Yugi fidgeted uncomfortably. "I uh, didn't really want to do all of that. I felt like I didn't have a choice. I just wasn't thinking clearly..."
"Well I think that you handled that perfectly! At first I was afraid that you'd do something that you'd regret, but you didn't." He could tell that she was remembering the pharoah's penalty games. "You only did what you had to do to keep him from hurting somebody. It wasn't like the other ones!"
Mai looked at him calculatingly. "Others? So this Pharaoh wasn't such a saint after all…"
Yugi didn't know what to say to that. You did well, Yugi.
They didn't speak for the rest of the ride home. Both Yugi and Tea were too lost in their own thoughts to utter another word, and Mai didn't push them. She didn't exactly get the context of what they were talking about, but she did know that whatever had happened was a big deal for both of them.
When they got home Tea immediately declared that she was exhausted and needed to take a nap, leaving Yugi to his own thoughts. Now that he was alone he allowed think about the ramifications of what he had done. He had punished the man instead of turning him to the authorities. What gave him the right to make that sort of decision? He remembered what Ushio had said about his family thinking that he was insane. What would his punishment put that man through? The guilt that gnawed away at Yugi wouldn't go away just because he wanted it to. His hands trembled and as he cradled his puzzle. "What have I done?"
Suddenly Yugi found his vision becoming blurry and he was unable to keep his eyes open. What was happening to him?
He looked up to see the Pharaoh. "I am sorry about that Yugi. I had a feeling that we'd need to have a long conversation, and you needed to be asleep for that, so…"
"You knocked me out?"
"Actually Mahad 'knocked you out', as you say, but yes."
Yugi couldn't believe that he'd just yank him out of consciousness without so much as a warning! He had better have something important to say because Yugi really wasn't feeling up to having company right now. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Yugi snapped.
The Pharaoh motioned for Yugi to sit down on what he realized was the rooftop of his old high school. It was an exact replica of the view if the city he had seen as a teenager. "You're beating yourself up over defending yourself from that criminal." The Pharaoh stated simply.
"What gives me the right to do that?"
His old friend knitted his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"What gives me the right to pass judgment on someone?"
"There was darkness in his heart Yugi-the puzzle sensed it, did it not? Once such darkness takes root in a person's soul it corrupts them. The crime only would have escalated further had you not interfered."
The Pharaoh seemed so sure of the rightness of Yugi's actions. It frightened Yugi that the Pharaoh was not the least bit alarmed by his actions. Had the events of his time as a spirit taught him nothing?
As always the Pharaoh read him like a book. Sometimes it was annoying having a friend who spent so much time in head that he always knew what Yugi was thinking. "Don't you see Yugi? You are not like me, not even when you feel threatened or are enraged. I will admit that some of my penalty games were cruel, but yours...Yugi, you very well might have saved his life. You've given him the chance to reflect on his actions and change. I can think of many other ways a game like that could have ended, and none of them even come close to showing the same level of humanity towards him!"
"You're missing the point!" Yugi had startled himself by yelling. He hadn't realized how much frustration he had pent up.
The Pharaoh looked taken aback. "Okay then, what exactly is your point?"
"My point is that I can't just go around passing judgment on everyone who commits a crime. If everyone goes around punishing everyone else then what's the point of lawyers and the court system?"
"You did not punish an innocent man Yugi. That man had committed an offense against you and it was your right to seek justice."
If the Pharaoh had ever shown this side of himself before he went to the afterlife Yugi had forgotten. Before he would not have agreed. "I can think of time when you knew better than that." Yugi found himself truly trying to see his old friend through the tanned skin and Egyptian clothing.
"Yugi, you knew that I was not complete without my memories-our memories make us who we are. I have had to reconcile the memories of my ancient past with my modern one," he gently reminded Yugi. " I think that you will find many things that have changed over time." For the second time Yugi felt as though he had lost his other self. The feeling only lasted for a moment though, because Yugi had realized that he had changed too. Even if the pharaoh had stayed the same Yugi could never truly be called the Pharaoh's other half, although they still thought of each other that way.
"An eye for an eye." Yugi murmured.
"Yes, is that not the goal of justice?"
"That's not for me to decide," Yugi said. "I should have called the police and let them deal with it."
Yugi could tell that the Pharaoh was eyeing him with concern. The work that he and the Pharaoh had sometimes been compelled to do forced him to take charge and potentially hurt those who stood against them. Some days the Pharaoh see the doubt and guilt eating away at Yugi for what he was forced to do and would try to comfort him, but there were times when no words could soothe his frazzled nerves and banish the uncomfortable sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Atem spared Yugi what he could, but whatever happened still happened in Yugi's body. Yugi had grown enough to do what was necessary, but he would always have a gentle nature that abhorred conflict. "I was just worried about you because I knew that you would struggle with your decision to invoke a penalty game. Such an action shouldn't be taken lightly, but you only did it out of necessity, and you did it in a way that can only help him. I'm sure that it will take some time for you to see this but…" He put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Trust in yourself Yugi. You'll find that your instincts are right more often than not. I believe in you, and I trust you to do what is right even when it isn't easy. "
Now that Yugi finally allowed himself to listen to the Pharaoh his reassurances calmed Yugi the same way that they had when he was a teenager. The tension left his body and he was finally able to think straight. "Maybe you're right. I just sometimes wish that there was another way. We saved Marik didn't we?"
he paused to consider Yugi's point. "We were only able to do so by separating the darkness from the light in his heart. It is no easy task, and success is rare. He is the only one that can conquer his own darkness. Perhaps something may happen to aid the process, but he must come to his own conclusions just like Kaiba, Marik, and me."
"You?" Yugi blinked in surprise. He had known that there was some darkness in the Pharaoh, but he wouldn't say that he had been corrupted.
"Why do you think that I was once called 'Yami'?"
"You weren't a criminal." Yugi tried to defend him.
"No, but I did not understand that how you obtain something is just as important as the thing that you are attempting to acquire. I could not even begin to understand that true strength lies in friendship and compassion. I was alone in the puzzle's chambers for so long that my thinking had become warped by the shadows."
Yugi didn't know what to say to that. "Maybe now he'll finally change."
The pharaoh allowed a ghost of a smile to show on his face, but no more, because he knew that it would only upset Yugi further. He was proud of how Yugi reacted to the whole situation. "The punishment of Tantalus...clever. It seems like a fitting choice that will allow him to examine his heart."
"I thought that you slept through school?"
The Pharaoh smiled. "History was one of the ones that I enjoyed."
Yugi scoffed in mock annoyance. "You could've taken over anytime you wanted, you know. I always hated that class. The teacher somehow managed to take an interesting subject and make it boring."
The Pharaoh laughed."I took your grandfather at his word when he said that school was a character building experience. Besides, you never know what knowledge will become useful sometime in the future."
"I guess you're right about that. I'm now sure what I would've done for his penalty game otherwise."
"I'm sure you would have come up with something."
"Maybe," Yugi shrugged, "but you never know. Mostly I was..." Yugi nearly lost the courage to say it.
The Pharaoh's face became gentle. "You were what?"
"I…" he hesitated. Only after taking a deep breath and reminding himself that there was no use lying to the man who stood before him. He could see through all pretenses because, despite how they had both changed, he still knew Yugi better than anyone else. "Mostly I was just afraid that invoking penalty game would cause the darkness in my own heart to grow."
"If that were the case it would've happened years ago." The Pharaoh reminded him. "You're too good Yugi."
"No I'm not!" Yugi faced away from the Pharaoh and looked out into the distance. This particular view of the city brought old memories out to the forefront of his mind. If he closed his eyes he could see himself and his friends as they were nearly twenty years ago. Although Domino had brought them many good memories it still held some bad ones. Joey and Marik had nearly killed him and Mai and the Pharaoh had been under the influence of the Orichalcos. If people as strong and good as Mai and the Pharaoh could not resist, how Yugi could expect himself to be able to do that?
"What are you thinking Yugi? I can't read your mind anymore Yugi, you have to tell me what you're thinking!" He begged. Somehow it just seemed wrong for someone as regal as Atem to beg. A pang of guilt went through Yugi.
If he told the Pharaoh what he was thinking he knew that it would hurt him. He had never forgiven himself for what he had done, and the last thing he needed was for Yugi to remind him. "I'm not strong enough, alright?" That wasn't technically lying right? A lie of omission wasn't really a complete lie, no matter what he told his daughter. "The truth was...I liked the way that it felt. For once I felt powerful. It scared me. How do I know that I can resist it again?"
"You've already done it once while being unprepared. Now that are equipped with the knowledge of what it is like you could do it again with no problem if you were called upon to do it again. I have faith in you Yugi, try having a little faith in yourself too."
"I will...but Pharaoh…" Maybe faith just isn't enough anymore, he thought.
"Yes?"
Yugi decided against voicing his thoughts. He was only going to get a repeat of the lecture that he had just been given. "I'm sorry that I made you worry. I promise I'm fine. And more one more thing…"
"Yes?"
"You're not going to push me off the building this time are you?"
The Pharaoh's eyebrows shot up. "What are you talking about?"
"You know, like that time you pushed me off of that blimp."
The Pharaoh chuckled. "I have better idea of how these dreams work now, so no, you have my word that I'm not going to push you off of the building. All you have to do is imagine a doorway. Of course, if you feel like an adrenaline rush jumping off the roof would probably do the trick."
A glowing doorway appeared where the entrance to the roof had been previously. Yugi didn't know how to say goodbye. The one good thing about being forced out of dreams is that they were never forced to endure awkward goodbyes. They reminded Yugi far too much of their final duel, so when Yugi opened his mouth nothing came out. Instead he opted for a wave before stepping through the door that would lead him back to the real world that awaited him.
Author's Note: This chapter is about twice as long as the last chapter. Hopefully that makes up for the wait. I haven't had a chance to thoroughly edit, but since it's been so long since I've posted I'll go ahead and put it up and go back and edit later. The real world caught up with me, but I swear that I haven't forgotten about you all!
Chapter twelve was way more intense than I intended for it to be. Unfortunately, it was necessary for Yugi. I think that most people would have trouble handling the pressure that he's under. Please review and tell me what you think! This chapter was sort of experimental for me. I don't think I've ever written anything so intense before.
-TheEagerScribbler
