Moon Shadow: Hey! I have some news-Endless Myth isn't co-authoring this
story anymore-we kind of had an argument that I won't go into. But anyway,
thanks for all the reviews, and here's the next chapter!
*** Chapter Ten-Waiting ***
"Tim? Are you awake?"
Tim sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Kinda."
"Listen-I have to tell you something. I'm leaving."
"What?" he was wide-awake now.
"I'm going back to warn your father. You're right, I should've told him. I'm not going to, but I have to at least warn him. For his sake, and your sister's."
"But mom, how are you getting out?"
"Some of these guards can be trusted. They're part of a rebel band that wants to help us. They want to help you and Lee."
"But why?"
Mai smiled at her son. "You're the destined. The walkers of time. Your birth was prophesied long before I even met your father."
"Can't I come with you?"
"Shh. No. I'm sorry to leave you. But you'll be okay. I promise. Tim?"
"Yes?"
"Guard your thoughts carefully. In this place, you never know who's listening in."
Lee slammed her locker shut and looked up at the clock on the wall, not that anyone cared if she was late to class, today the last day of school.
"Lee." She heard a voice behind her and turned to see Matt standing there. "Walk to math with me?"
"Sure." She said, and smiled at him.
When they were a little farther from her locker, Matt turned to her. "Have you heard anything from Tim?" he asked, his voice low.
"No." Lee said in a choked voice. "And I can't sense him-So they've either taken the sphere away, or he's-"
"Don't think that." Matt said. He reached over and took her hand. "Maybe you're just to far away."
Lee nodded and rubbed her eyes. She squeezed his hand tightly and they walked down the hall, hand in hand.
Matt faced her, and started to say something, but he was cut off by a shrill voice.
"Hey Lee! Hey Matt!" Claire Jekanes. Hyper, giggly, and perpetually annoying. "Can you believe it's the last day of school already? And all the seniors have graduated-" She sighed. "Like Ben Caraway-I can't believe it, we had the national Duel Monsters champion right here in good old NHS for four whole years-oh, but Lee, you've only been here since this year, right? That's so sad, because we had so much fun at the beginning of the year, right Matt?"
Matt faked a grin. "That's right." He imitated Claire's thumbs up sign. "You sure missed out, Lee."
Lee stuck her tongue out at him.
Claire ignored Matt's sarcasm and continued. "You know, with the water balloons in science-I was so mad at that Tim Lear-would you believe that he purposely hit me in the head with a balloon?" Without waiting for an answer, she changed tracks again. "Anyway, Tina likes him, and I'm friends with her-" Claire froze mid sentence and surveyed them. " Are you two going out?"
"No, they're not." A deep voice behind them made Lee shut her eyes and wince. She dropped Matt's hand and whirled around to face Dan.
"Hi." She said, and went to stand next to him with a sidelong glance at Matt, who was staring intently at the ground.
"Hi Lee." Dan said, and stared at Matt. "Hey Matt." He said, and waited for an answer.
Matt finally looked up. "How's it going, Dan."
"Pretty good." Dan draped his arm around Lee's shoulder and she shrank away uncomfortably. "Lee, you want an escort to math?"
"Sure." She said quietly.
"Matt, care to walk with us?"
"Love to." Matt said, and the three of them walked in stony silence to the classroom. When they were right outside it, Dan held the door for Lee, who gave him a tight lipped smile and slunk inside.
"Matt." Dan said, when Lee was out of hearing range. "Do me a favor and stay away from Lee."
"You don't own her." Matt said bitterly. "I can be friends with her, can't I?"
"I was hoping to avoid this conversation." Dan said, and leaned close. "How should I put this? The whole world knows about your feelings for Lee, and uh, I don't appreciate it. So stay away from her. Is that so hard?"
Matt didn't say anything, but stared at Dan.
"And, Matt? Just remember this." Dan smiled cruelly. "I got the girl." He walked away, leaving Matt to stare after his retreating back, before walking into class.
Later, on the phone with Ben, Matt related his conversation with Dan.
"And then he just walked away, like it doesn't matter-god, why does he have to be so-I hate him, Ben, I really do!"
"Chill out. Listen, are you coming to the dance tonight?"
"I doubt it. Are you?"
"Yeah. Sara wanted to go, and I-you should come."
"I don't want to see Lee with Dan."
"You won't have to! Really."
"Well."
"You should come. We're leaving tomorrow for the tournament-you're coming with us, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Awesome. Sara's coming, too, and Lee and I know how we're getting her in!"
"Really? How?"
"You'll see." There was a pause. Than Ben said, "The dance starts at seven, and you had better be there. Bye." He hung up, and Matt did too.
As Joey entered his house, he thought there was something different. All the lights were off, and there were no sounds. He slowly walked through the rooms of the house, confused and a little scared.
"Joseph." As someone said his name, he whirled around and looked for the speaker.
"Who's there?" he called. "Who are you?"
"I'm over here." The voice said, and Joey turned once more to see a figure standing in the shadows.
"Who are you?" Joey repeated. "What do you want?"
"I can't tell you who I am." The figure said. "As for what I want.tomorrow, your niece is going to run away. You can't let her do that. The world will suffer if she dies."
"What.? Lee? What's she going to do?"
"She's going to sneak into the Duelist Kingdom. You can't let her go, Joseph. And you.you have to be careful too. Both of you."
"She's.what? You know what, this is bull. Tell who you are before I call the police."
"I have to go." The person said. "But please, please, be careful. You have to be careful, Joey." The figure moved away, but as she-because it was a girl- as she started to move, Joey reached out and caught her wrist, pulling her into the light.
The light shone on her blonde hair, her light eyes, and her pale skin.
Mai Valentine.
Amazing how you can get over someone completely and then have it all come rushing back from one glance.
He didn't let her go, but stared at her in disbelief. Then he resolved himself and said, "Never change, do you, Mai. Sixteen years and then you come back and pretend you never left. Some ego you got."
"Yami let me in. I'm sorry."
"I could kill him." Joey murmured, and let go of her wrist. She backed away from him and rubbed her wrist. "I'm sorry." Joey said. "I didn't mean to hurt you." He was referring to her bruised wrist.
"I'll be fine."
"Why did you come back?"
"To warn you."
"About what?"
"You're in danger-I couldn't let you be hurt."
"I guess it didn't occur to you that I could take care of myself? I'm not a stupid teenager anymore, Mai. Even if you still see me that way."
"I don't-"
"Just leave."
"Please don't be mad at me-"
"Oh, don't worry. Mai, I've been looking for you for sixteen years!"
"I've been avoiding you for sixteen years." she shot back, her voice steady.
"Then why come and warn me away from danger."
"It's all one reason."
" So tell me."
Mai winced, thinking how much he sounded like Tim-or Tim sounded like him, she supposed. "Because.I guess I love you, Joey. Strange as it might sound, I think I still love you."
"Why does that sound familiar?"
"Please-"
"You broke my heart." He said softly.
Mai looked at him, then moved forward into his arms.
"I'm so sorry." She said, her arms around him. "Can't we start over?"
"Yeah." He breathed into her hair. "I guess we can." He squeezed her tightly, and they stood there for a minute. The Joey held her away from him. "Were you serious?" he asked. "Is Lee actually going to sneak into the Duelist Kingdom?"
"Yes. To save her brother." Mai said. It didn't matter; there were no secrets anymore.
"Brother?"
"Tim." Mai said. "Your son."
Joey stared at her. "Explain." He said, his voice hard.
Mai took a breath and began.
Matt walked in the door of the school, hearing the music from the gym pulse through the air outside the building. He sighed and walked down the hall.
Why am I here? He thought miserably. To see Lee with Dan- I should leave. I'll explain to Ben later.
He turned to leave, but he heard someone calling his name and saw Lee standing outside the door of the gym.
"Matt! I didn't know you were coming!"
"Neither did I. But I did! And now I've come, and it was awesome, and now I'm leaving. Bye!" But he walked toward her in spite of himself. She pulled him into the gym, into the burst of music and people, flashing lights and movement.
"Lee-" "Come hang out with us! Ben and Sara and I are just sitting by ourselves."
"I thought Dan was coming." Matt said, watching Lee. She looked fabulous.
"He's not here yet." Lee said, biting her lip. "C'mon." she tugged on his arm until he started moving, pulling him over to where Ben and Sara were sitting.
He sat down next to Ben, and whispered in his ear, "I can't believe you talked me into this."
"Hey, I was blackmailed too. Join the club."
"Hey guys." Tina had joined them, and she was surveying the group hopefully. "Lee, Ben-have any of you seen Tim around? I didn't see him at school today, and then I called and he wasn't home."
"I haven't seen him." Lee said.
"Any idea where he might be?"
"None. No idea." Lee said, and Tina smiled wistfully.
"Okay then. Well, I'll see you guys later. Congratulations on graduation, Sara! You too, Ben." She walked off. Matt turned to Lee and raised his eyebrows.
"Liar." He said, shoving her playfully.
"I didn't lie! I haven't seen him and I don't know where he is!"
"You could've told her."
"Oh, that would've gone over well. 'Sorry, Tina, but your boyfriend has been abducted by a homicidal maniac bent on killing him and then stealing the powerful magic that he controls. So he probably won't be coming to the dance.' I'd love to tell her that!"
"Well, maybe "homicidal maniac" is exaggerating a bit, hmm?"
"Not really." Lee said, leaning back. "But I've just got to wait tonight out, I guess. Tomorrow I can do something about it."
"Let's make the wait go faster. Come dance with me."
Lee blushed furiously. "Sorry. Dan would-"
"Oh come on! Dan wouldn't get upset over one dance, would he?"
"You don't know Dan," Lee said, but she let Matt pull her out onto the dance floor.
"I thought you didn't like to dance." She whispered into his ear.
"I don't. But there's nothing else to do."
"You lie. You just wanted to dance with me."
"That too." Matt said, twirling her around. "But that wasn't the main reason or anything."
"Sure. How's your mom doing?" Lee changed the subject.
"She's busy as usual. Still feather-brained."
"That's mean."
"It's true. She came out of her office last night long enough to ask me how school was going and what was new with Tim and Diane."
"Why is that funny? Wait-who's Diane?"
"Oh, I forgot. You weren't here then. Tim was briefly dating a girl named Diane in eighth grade."
"Ah. How long have Ben and Sara been together?"
"Third week of sixth grade."
"That's really sad."
"Yeah." Matt pulled Lee up to him. "It was really, really funny, though, when he was trying to ask her out."
"Really. Why was I not informed."
"You are now. I asked her for him eventually."
"This is interesting. Now I can make fun of him."
"No you can't. She said no, and then she asked him out the next day."
"Go Sara." Lee said, astonished.
"Well, yeah." The song ended. "Let's go outside."
"Okay." Lee let Matt pull her out the door into the school atrium. "I can't believe sophomore year went so fast!"
"If you had been here as a freshman, you would believe it." "I was at Domino High."
"Why'd you move?"
"My dad's work, I guess."
"I'm sorry you had to leave."
"I was too." Lee looked down. There was silence for a moment, and then Lee said, "D'you know what the last thing I said to him was?"
She meant Tim. "What?"
"We were fighting about Dan, and you, and it was pointless-why does he have to be so stubborn?" she cried out in frustration, and when she said that, the wind started blowing, sending a cold burst over her, brushing her hair into her face.
"I talked to him." Matt said.
"What did he say?" Lee asked in alarm, thinking of things that she had said about Matt that she hadn't meant.
"Nothing important. What should he have said?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry." Lee said, and moved closer to Matt. He turned to face her and put his hands on her shoulders, holding her close. She looked up at him and sighed. "But if I hadn't moved, I wouldn't have met him. Or.you."
Matt nodded, then leaned down and put his mouth on hers, kissing her gently. Lee sighed inwardly and wrapped her arms around his neck. He put his arms around her waist. She stood still and let him, because the world was spinning, and she missed Tim so much, and she hated Dan, and what would he do if he saw her now, with Matt, but she couldn't pull away because she loved Matt so much, and she was aching, her whole body was aching for him, and he was the only thing that mattered in the whole wide world.
When Matt released her, she pulled back from him and stared at him.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to."
"Matt-" she began, and then she broke down. "Don't be sorry-I'm sorry-It's my fault-"
"What's your fault?"
"Everything. I really like you, Matt, I do-"
"So you do like me." He said triumphantly.
"Yes-but I'm going with Dan-"
"So break up with Dan!" Matt grabbed her hands and held them up.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Matt, I'm sorry, I love you, but-I just can't."
"You must have a reason." He said.
"I can't tell you." She said, but then she saw the look on his face and relented. "Matt." She took one of her hands away and rested it on his cheek. "He'll turn me into the police for dueling." She said softly.
Mai sank down onto a couch and watched Joey's face change to one of utter disbelief. He said only one thing.
"We have to tell Lee."
Mai jumped up. "No! We can't tell Lee anything about this. We have to wait until the last possible moment. She can't know!"
"Why not? So she can be in the dark, like I was?"
"I told you, I couldn't tell you-"
"Mai-god, what'd you think I was gonna do?"
"I didn't know." Mai said. "I didn't want you to be hurt, Joey."
"Good job." He said bitterly. "Does my sister know?"
"Yes."
"And Seto? Him too, I suppose."
"Both of them."
"Great."
"Joey-I loved you, can't you see that? Don't be so blind-I was protecting you!"
"I loved you, too-I trusted you, and you threw it away."
"I threw you away to save you." Mai said. "Yes. That's something I would do." She looked up at him. "I still love you."
"And I you." Joey put his hands on either side of her head.
She shook him off. "No, Joey-come dawn, Peter will start to look for me, he'll know I'm gone. This is the first place he'll look. This is why I didn't come back. I don't think I can leave you again."
"So don't. I'll protect you-or we can call the police-"
"Don't you remember what it was like to have Pegasus after you? To have someone read your mind? It's the same."
Joey held her close. "Do they really have to destroy all the millenium items?"
"Yes." Mai said. "But they can do it."
"I'm not worried about that. I just want to know what Yugi's going to say."
Matt looked blankly at Lee. "That's blackmail." He said.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Lee snapped. She stepped back from him, taking her hand off his face.
"I'm just trying to help you, Lee!"
"I don't want your help!" she hissed. "So-please just do what Dan asked and stay away from me. I don't need that. Not now." She broke away from him and walked off quickly out of the atrium into the darkness of the school parking lot.
Looking out through a window inside, Ben saw Lee running away and tapped Sara on the shoulder. "What happened?" he asked her.
"I don't know." Sara said. "I hope Matt's okay, though."
"I'm gonna go see what's up."
"Okay."
Ben ran out of the gym, calling Matt's name. When he found him, he stopped short at the look on his face.
"What happened?" Ben asked, out of breath. "What did you say to her? Where's she going?"
"I don't know and I don't care!" Matt answered furiously. Ben groaned.
"Well, why not?"
"I'm leaving. See you tomorrow, Ben."
"Look, this is not going to be a pleasant trip if you and Lee are fighting!"
"I'm not fighting with anybody!"
"Then what's wrong?"
"Ask her!" Matt said, and stomped off. Ben sighed and sank down on a bench. Sara came and sat next to him.
"I'm glad I don't have to put up with that kind of thing." Ben said. "It's to complicated for me."
"You'll never have to put up with it again." Sara said, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'I promise."
Ben put his arm around her. "I'm not looking forward to this tournament, Sara."
"You'll do fine."
"Everyone will challenge me, and I can't do it. I duel that much without going insane. And now Lee and Matt are fighting-Jesus, this will not be fun."
"You'll be fine." Sara said. "You'll be fine and you'll beat everyone because you're excellent."
"Thanks." He said, and she smiled at him with her sweet face. Hanging off her belt, not visible beneath her shirt, the Millennium Ring glowed bright.
***
"Tim!"
Tim turned when he heard someone call his name. A sophomore in high school, he had grown up with the Lear family. The Lears. Seven children, a small house near the high school that two of the children attended.
He saw Claire Jekanes running towards him and stopped to answer her.
"Tim." She panted, "You're never going to believe this-you know the new girl?"
"Yeah." He answered. His friends Ben Caraway and Matt Delacorte had come up behind him. "What about her?"
Claire gestured impatiently. "She got a dueling deck from somewhere!"
"What?" Ben asked. "That's illegal!"
"I know! Oh, you should have seen it, though, Ben-you would have appreciated this-she just beat Dan Maccio into the dust!"
"She challenged him?" Tim marveled.
"No-he was bugging her, and she pulled out her deck and told him to get lost or else-and he got his deck out and then my vision was blocked and I couldn't hear what she said, but they started to play and five minutes later she had beaten him!"
"I actually don't find that interesting at all." Ben told Claire. "So she beat Dan. It's not hard."
"But she's a girl!"
"Yeah. And."
"You should go challenge her, Ben!" Claire said excitedly. "Isn't it like, your responsibility or something?"
"Shouldn't have said that." Matt advised Claire.
"Why not? It's true!"
"Maybe so, but see, now, Ben is going to shut up and not talk forever and Tim is going to run off and challenge this girl to a duel. You watch and see."
"Well, I think you're wrong." Claire declared, and turned back to Ben. "Are you going to?"
Ben didn't say anything.
"Okay, now Tim is going to go do something stupid." Matt whispered to Claire.
"Well, if Ben's not going to challenge her, than I will!" Tim said, and started off in the direction Claire had come from.
"What'd I tell you." Matt said. He grabbed Ben's arm. "C'mon. We have to stop him before he kills himself."
"Stupid kid." Ben muttered, but he followed Matt after Tim.
Tim broke through a circle of teenagers that were surrounding a dueling table to see a small, blonde girl with her legs crossed sitting on one side. Her opponent, a thin, wiry freshman that Tim didn't know that well was gathering up his cards and walking away, defeated. He stopped and leaned towards Tim.
"If you challenge her, be careful." He pushed his way through the crowd. The girl stood up, gathered her cards into a pile, and started to leave.
"Wait." Tim said, and stepped forward. She turned, and their eyes met.
"What do you want?" She asked in a low voice.
"To duel you." Tim said.
"You challenging me?"
"I'm challenging you."
She sat down again. "Let's go." She said, and began to shuffle her cards. Tim sat down across from her.
"Sacrifices?"
"No."
"Life points?"
"Preferably, yes."
"You're funny."
"Eight thousand."
"You go first."
"Thank you." She scanned the cards in her hand. "One card in defense mode. And I'll play one card, face down. That's all."
"Okay. I'll play Change of Heart and see what your monster is." He moved it to his side of the field. "Ooh. Mystical Elf. Nice. Swordstalker in attack mode. And I'll attack-"
The girl flipped a card up. "Mirror Force. You'd better think faster that that." She said, as he set his monster in the graveyard. "It's my turn again, and I'll play the Lord of Dragons in attack mode, and the Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon these." She held up two Blue-Eyes and watched his face change to one of complete surprise.
"There are only four blue-eyes cards in the world." Tim said, narrowing his eyes. "Who are you?"
The girl smiled and tossed her hair. "Lebecca Kaiba. Call me Lee."
"Kaiba? But that would make you-"
"Does it matter? Let's just play." Lee scanned the field with her eyes. "I could be wrong, but if I attacked with both of my dragons, wouldn't that take you six thousand life points down?"
"Hey, you can do math." Tim said crossly. "Congratulations."
"A person in your position really shouldn't be making wisecracks."
Ben and Matt shoved through the group of watching people top the front. Ben looked at the field and groaned.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked. "I can't tell."
"Tim's down to two thousand life points."
"Is that bad?"
"Unless he has some ingenious strategy-and, knowing Tim, I really doubt that-up his sleeve, then, yes, it's bad."
"So.she's kicking his ass."
"Yeah."
"O-kay."
Tim reached for a card in his hand. "I'll play Raigeki-and destroy both your dragons." He said, and Lee smiled slightly. "Better than I thought. What's your name?"
"Tim Lear."
"Tim Lear-I hate to break this to you, but it's my turn again, and the card I'll use to wipe you out is-"
"Ms. Kaiba!" a voice broke in. "I'll thank you to explain what you're doing!"
Lee gulped and looked up into the face of one of the teachers, Mrs. Vendalin. Tim looked back and forth between the teacher and the girl.
"I can explain." He said, making a decision.
"Tim Lear? You should know better than this! Please do!"
"You see, um, she didn't want to play." Tim said, making it up as he went. "It was my fault. I challenged her, and I, uh, wouldn't let her leave until she dueled me."
"I see. And where did she get this?" Mrs. Vendalin held up the deck that Lee had collected off the field up disdainfully.
"Oh-that." Tim said, his mind racing. "It's his." He whirled around and pointed at Matt, who was, like everyone else, standing there listening to him. "Yeah. It belongs to him. I made him lend it to Lebecca for the game."
"Oh-yep!" Matt said, after Ben prodded him in the side sharply. "It's mine. I lent it to her." He gave the teacher a huge fake grin.
"Well then." The teacher said. "I'm not sure I believe this. Tim, your mother will be hearing from me. And Lebecca-don't ever let me or any other teacher catch you doing this ever again. I'll let you off easy this time. Both of you," she said, pointing at Tim and Lee, "Both of you, see me tomorrow. You've earned yourselves detention for a month. You," she said to Matt, "Take this back." She handed Lee's deck to him and walked out of the group, herding people away as she went.
Soon the only people left were Tim, Lee, Matt, and Ben. Lee sighed and shook her head.
"Thanks." She snapped at Tim, "But I can take care of myself." She turned on her heel and left. Tim turned to his friends.
"She's really-" he began, but Matt interrupted.
" Cute?"
"Good." Tim finished, throwing a look at Matt. "And she also-Oh shit." He was staring after Lee as she walked down the sidewalk. Ben and Matt followed his eyes to the figure of Dan Macio, running quickly after Lee's retreating back.
"Oh god." Ben said. "C'mon." They ran after Dan, running into the growing darkness as clouds gathered overhead.
*** Moon Shadow: I'm really tired. I think I'll go to bed and sleep for the rest of my life.*yawning* please review.
*** Chapter Ten-Waiting ***
"Tim? Are you awake?"
Tim sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Kinda."
"Listen-I have to tell you something. I'm leaving."
"What?" he was wide-awake now.
"I'm going back to warn your father. You're right, I should've told him. I'm not going to, but I have to at least warn him. For his sake, and your sister's."
"But mom, how are you getting out?"
"Some of these guards can be trusted. They're part of a rebel band that wants to help us. They want to help you and Lee."
"But why?"
Mai smiled at her son. "You're the destined. The walkers of time. Your birth was prophesied long before I even met your father."
"Can't I come with you?"
"Shh. No. I'm sorry to leave you. But you'll be okay. I promise. Tim?"
"Yes?"
"Guard your thoughts carefully. In this place, you never know who's listening in."
Lee slammed her locker shut and looked up at the clock on the wall, not that anyone cared if she was late to class, today the last day of school.
"Lee." She heard a voice behind her and turned to see Matt standing there. "Walk to math with me?"
"Sure." She said, and smiled at him.
When they were a little farther from her locker, Matt turned to her. "Have you heard anything from Tim?" he asked, his voice low.
"No." Lee said in a choked voice. "And I can't sense him-So they've either taken the sphere away, or he's-"
"Don't think that." Matt said. He reached over and took her hand. "Maybe you're just to far away."
Lee nodded and rubbed her eyes. She squeezed his hand tightly and they walked down the hall, hand in hand.
Matt faced her, and started to say something, but he was cut off by a shrill voice.
"Hey Lee! Hey Matt!" Claire Jekanes. Hyper, giggly, and perpetually annoying. "Can you believe it's the last day of school already? And all the seniors have graduated-" She sighed. "Like Ben Caraway-I can't believe it, we had the national Duel Monsters champion right here in good old NHS for four whole years-oh, but Lee, you've only been here since this year, right? That's so sad, because we had so much fun at the beginning of the year, right Matt?"
Matt faked a grin. "That's right." He imitated Claire's thumbs up sign. "You sure missed out, Lee."
Lee stuck her tongue out at him.
Claire ignored Matt's sarcasm and continued. "You know, with the water balloons in science-I was so mad at that Tim Lear-would you believe that he purposely hit me in the head with a balloon?" Without waiting for an answer, she changed tracks again. "Anyway, Tina likes him, and I'm friends with her-" Claire froze mid sentence and surveyed them. " Are you two going out?"
"No, they're not." A deep voice behind them made Lee shut her eyes and wince. She dropped Matt's hand and whirled around to face Dan.
"Hi." She said, and went to stand next to him with a sidelong glance at Matt, who was staring intently at the ground.
"Hi Lee." Dan said, and stared at Matt. "Hey Matt." He said, and waited for an answer.
Matt finally looked up. "How's it going, Dan."
"Pretty good." Dan draped his arm around Lee's shoulder and she shrank away uncomfortably. "Lee, you want an escort to math?"
"Sure." She said quietly.
"Matt, care to walk with us?"
"Love to." Matt said, and the three of them walked in stony silence to the classroom. When they were right outside it, Dan held the door for Lee, who gave him a tight lipped smile and slunk inside.
"Matt." Dan said, when Lee was out of hearing range. "Do me a favor and stay away from Lee."
"You don't own her." Matt said bitterly. "I can be friends with her, can't I?"
"I was hoping to avoid this conversation." Dan said, and leaned close. "How should I put this? The whole world knows about your feelings for Lee, and uh, I don't appreciate it. So stay away from her. Is that so hard?"
Matt didn't say anything, but stared at Dan.
"And, Matt? Just remember this." Dan smiled cruelly. "I got the girl." He walked away, leaving Matt to stare after his retreating back, before walking into class.
Later, on the phone with Ben, Matt related his conversation with Dan.
"And then he just walked away, like it doesn't matter-god, why does he have to be so-I hate him, Ben, I really do!"
"Chill out. Listen, are you coming to the dance tonight?"
"I doubt it. Are you?"
"Yeah. Sara wanted to go, and I-you should come."
"I don't want to see Lee with Dan."
"You won't have to! Really."
"Well."
"You should come. We're leaving tomorrow for the tournament-you're coming with us, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Awesome. Sara's coming, too, and Lee and I know how we're getting her in!"
"Really? How?"
"You'll see." There was a pause. Than Ben said, "The dance starts at seven, and you had better be there. Bye." He hung up, and Matt did too.
As Joey entered his house, he thought there was something different. All the lights were off, and there were no sounds. He slowly walked through the rooms of the house, confused and a little scared.
"Joseph." As someone said his name, he whirled around and looked for the speaker.
"Who's there?" he called. "Who are you?"
"I'm over here." The voice said, and Joey turned once more to see a figure standing in the shadows.
"Who are you?" Joey repeated. "What do you want?"
"I can't tell you who I am." The figure said. "As for what I want.tomorrow, your niece is going to run away. You can't let her do that. The world will suffer if she dies."
"What.? Lee? What's she going to do?"
"She's going to sneak into the Duelist Kingdom. You can't let her go, Joseph. And you.you have to be careful too. Both of you."
"She's.what? You know what, this is bull. Tell who you are before I call the police."
"I have to go." The person said. "But please, please, be careful. You have to be careful, Joey." The figure moved away, but as she-because it was a girl- as she started to move, Joey reached out and caught her wrist, pulling her into the light.
The light shone on her blonde hair, her light eyes, and her pale skin.
Mai Valentine.
Amazing how you can get over someone completely and then have it all come rushing back from one glance.
He didn't let her go, but stared at her in disbelief. Then he resolved himself and said, "Never change, do you, Mai. Sixteen years and then you come back and pretend you never left. Some ego you got."
"Yami let me in. I'm sorry."
"I could kill him." Joey murmured, and let go of her wrist. She backed away from him and rubbed her wrist. "I'm sorry." Joey said. "I didn't mean to hurt you." He was referring to her bruised wrist.
"I'll be fine."
"Why did you come back?"
"To warn you."
"About what?"
"You're in danger-I couldn't let you be hurt."
"I guess it didn't occur to you that I could take care of myself? I'm not a stupid teenager anymore, Mai. Even if you still see me that way."
"I don't-"
"Just leave."
"Please don't be mad at me-"
"Oh, don't worry. Mai, I've been looking for you for sixteen years!"
"I've been avoiding you for sixteen years." she shot back, her voice steady.
"Then why come and warn me away from danger."
"It's all one reason."
" So tell me."
Mai winced, thinking how much he sounded like Tim-or Tim sounded like him, she supposed. "Because.I guess I love you, Joey. Strange as it might sound, I think I still love you."
"Why does that sound familiar?"
"Please-"
"You broke my heart." He said softly.
Mai looked at him, then moved forward into his arms.
"I'm so sorry." She said, her arms around him. "Can't we start over?"
"Yeah." He breathed into her hair. "I guess we can." He squeezed her tightly, and they stood there for a minute. The Joey held her away from him. "Were you serious?" he asked. "Is Lee actually going to sneak into the Duelist Kingdom?"
"Yes. To save her brother." Mai said. It didn't matter; there were no secrets anymore.
"Brother?"
"Tim." Mai said. "Your son."
Joey stared at her. "Explain." He said, his voice hard.
Mai took a breath and began.
Matt walked in the door of the school, hearing the music from the gym pulse through the air outside the building. He sighed and walked down the hall.
Why am I here? He thought miserably. To see Lee with Dan- I should leave. I'll explain to Ben later.
He turned to leave, but he heard someone calling his name and saw Lee standing outside the door of the gym.
"Matt! I didn't know you were coming!"
"Neither did I. But I did! And now I've come, and it was awesome, and now I'm leaving. Bye!" But he walked toward her in spite of himself. She pulled him into the gym, into the burst of music and people, flashing lights and movement.
"Lee-" "Come hang out with us! Ben and Sara and I are just sitting by ourselves."
"I thought Dan was coming." Matt said, watching Lee. She looked fabulous.
"He's not here yet." Lee said, biting her lip. "C'mon." she tugged on his arm until he started moving, pulling him over to where Ben and Sara were sitting.
He sat down next to Ben, and whispered in his ear, "I can't believe you talked me into this."
"Hey, I was blackmailed too. Join the club."
"Hey guys." Tina had joined them, and she was surveying the group hopefully. "Lee, Ben-have any of you seen Tim around? I didn't see him at school today, and then I called and he wasn't home."
"I haven't seen him." Lee said.
"Any idea where he might be?"
"None. No idea." Lee said, and Tina smiled wistfully.
"Okay then. Well, I'll see you guys later. Congratulations on graduation, Sara! You too, Ben." She walked off. Matt turned to Lee and raised his eyebrows.
"Liar." He said, shoving her playfully.
"I didn't lie! I haven't seen him and I don't know where he is!"
"You could've told her."
"Oh, that would've gone over well. 'Sorry, Tina, but your boyfriend has been abducted by a homicidal maniac bent on killing him and then stealing the powerful magic that he controls. So he probably won't be coming to the dance.' I'd love to tell her that!"
"Well, maybe "homicidal maniac" is exaggerating a bit, hmm?"
"Not really." Lee said, leaning back. "But I've just got to wait tonight out, I guess. Tomorrow I can do something about it."
"Let's make the wait go faster. Come dance with me."
Lee blushed furiously. "Sorry. Dan would-"
"Oh come on! Dan wouldn't get upset over one dance, would he?"
"You don't know Dan," Lee said, but she let Matt pull her out onto the dance floor.
"I thought you didn't like to dance." She whispered into his ear.
"I don't. But there's nothing else to do."
"You lie. You just wanted to dance with me."
"That too." Matt said, twirling her around. "But that wasn't the main reason or anything."
"Sure. How's your mom doing?" Lee changed the subject.
"She's busy as usual. Still feather-brained."
"That's mean."
"It's true. She came out of her office last night long enough to ask me how school was going and what was new with Tim and Diane."
"Why is that funny? Wait-who's Diane?"
"Oh, I forgot. You weren't here then. Tim was briefly dating a girl named Diane in eighth grade."
"Ah. How long have Ben and Sara been together?"
"Third week of sixth grade."
"That's really sad."
"Yeah." Matt pulled Lee up to him. "It was really, really funny, though, when he was trying to ask her out."
"Really. Why was I not informed."
"You are now. I asked her for him eventually."
"This is interesting. Now I can make fun of him."
"No you can't. She said no, and then she asked him out the next day."
"Go Sara." Lee said, astonished.
"Well, yeah." The song ended. "Let's go outside."
"Okay." Lee let Matt pull her out the door into the school atrium. "I can't believe sophomore year went so fast!"
"If you had been here as a freshman, you would believe it." "I was at Domino High."
"Why'd you move?"
"My dad's work, I guess."
"I'm sorry you had to leave."
"I was too." Lee looked down. There was silence for a moment, and then Lee said, "D'you know what the last thing I said to him was?"
She meant Tim. "What?"
"We were fighting about Dan, and you, and it was pointless-why does he have to be so stubborn?" she cried out in frustration, and when she said that, the wind started blowing, sending a cold burst over her, brushing her hair into her face.
"I talked to him." Matt said.
"What did he say?" Lee asked in alarm, thinking of things that she had said about Matt that she hadn't meant.
"Nothing important. What should he have said?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry." Lee said, and moved closer to Matt. He turned to face her and put his hands on her shoulders, holding her close. She looked up at him and sighed. "But if I hadn't moved, I wouldn't have met him. Or.you."
Matt nodded, then leaned down and put his mouth on hers, kissing her gently. Lee sighed inwardly and wrapped her arms around his neck. He put his arms around her waist. She stood still and let him, because the world was spinning, and she missed Tim so much, and she hated Dan, and what would he do if he saw her now, with Matt, but she couldn't pull away because she loved Matt so much, and she was aching, her whole body was aching for him, and he was the only thing that mattered in the whole wide world.
When Matt released her, she pulled back from him and stared at him.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to."
"Matt-" she began, and then she broke down. "Don't be sorry-I'm sorry-It's my fault-"
"What's your fault?"
"Everything. I really like you, Matt, I do-"
"So you do like me." He said triumphantly.
"Yes-but I'm going with Dan-"
"So break up with Dan!" Matt grabbed her hands and held them up.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Matt, I'm sorry, I love you, but-I just can't."
"You must have a reason." He said.
"I can't tell you." She said, but then she saw the look on his face and relented. "Matt." She took one of her hands away and rested it on his cheek. "He'll turn me into the police for dueling." She said softly.
Mai sank down onto a couch and watched Joey's face change to one of utter disbelief. He said only one thing.
"We have to tell Lee."
Mai jumped up. "No! We can't tell Lee anything about this. We have to wait until the last possible moment. She can't know!"
"Why not? So she can be in the dark, like I was?"
"I told you, I couldn't tell you-"
"Mai-god, what'd you think I was gonna do?"
"I didn't know." Mai said. "I didn't want you to be hurt, Joey."
"Good job." He said bitterly. "Does my sister know?"
"Yes."
"And Seto? Him too, I suppose."
"Both of them."
"Great."
"Joey-I loved you, can't you see that? Don't be so blind-I was protecting you!"
"I loved you, too-I trusted you, and you threw it away."
"I threw you away to save you." Mai said. "Yes. That's something I would do." She looked up at him. "I still love you."
"And I you." Joey put his hands on either side of her head.
She shook him off. "No, Joey-come dawn, Peter will start to look for me, he'll know I'm gone. This is the first place he'll look. This is why I didn't come back. I don't think I can leave you again."
"So don't. I'll protect you-or we can call the police-"
"Don't you remember what it was like to have Pegasus after you? To have someone read your mind? It's the same."
Joey held her close. "Do they really have to destroy all the millenium items?"
"Yes." Mai said. "But they can do it."
"I'm not worried about that. I just want to know what Yugi's going to say."
Matt looked blankly at Lee. "That's blackmail." He said.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Lee snapped. She stepped back from him, taking her hand off his face.
"I'm just trying to help you, Lee!"
"I don't want your help!" she hissed. "So-please just do what Dan asked and stay away from me. I don't need that. Not now." She broke away from him and walked off quickly out of the atrium into the darkness of the school parking lot.
Looking out through a window inside, Ben saw Lee running away and tapped Sara on the shoulder. "What happened?" he asked her.
"I don't know." Sara said. "I hope Matt's okay, though."
"I'm gonna go see what's up."
"Okay."
Ben ran out of the gym, calling Matt's name. When he found him, he stopped short at the look on his face.
"What happened?" Ben asked, out of breath. "What did you say to her? Where's she going?"
"I don't know and I don't care!" Matt answered furiously. Ben groaned.
"Well, why not?"
"I'm leaving. See you tomorrow, Ben."
"Look, this is not going to be a pleasant trip if you and Lee are fighting!"
"I'm not fighting with anybody!"
"Then what's wrong?"
"Ask her!" Matt said, and stomped off. Ben sighed and sank down on a bench. Sara came and sat next to him.
"I'm glad I don't have to put up with that kind of thing." Ben said. "It's to complicated for me."
"You'll never have to put up with it again." Sara said, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'I promise."
Ben put his arm around her. "I'm not looking forward to this tournament, Sara."
"You'll do fine."
"Everyone will challenge me, and I can't do it. I duel that much without going insane. And now Lee and Matt are fighting-Jesus, this will not be fun."
"You'll be fine." Sara said. "You'll be fine and you'll beat everyone because you're excellent."
"Thanks." He said, and she smiled at him with her sweet face. Hanging off her belt, not visible beneath her shirt, the Millennium Ring glowed bright.
***
"Tim!"
Tim turned when he heard someone call his name. A sophomore in high school, he had grown up with the Lear family. The Lears. Seven children, a small house near the high school that two of the children attended.
He saw Claire Jekanes running towards him and stopped to answer her.
"Tim." She panted, "You're never going to believe this-you know the new girl?"
"Yeah." He answered. His friends Ben Caraway and Matt Delacorte had come up behind him. "What about her?"
Claire gestured impatiently. "She got a dueling deck from somewhere!"
"What?" Ben asked. "That's illegal!"
"I know! Oh, you should have seen it, though, Ben-you would have appreciated this-she just beat Dan Maccio into the dust!"
"She challenged him?" Tim marveled.
"No-he was bugging her, and she pulled out her deck and told him to get lost or else-and he got his deck out and then my vision was blocked and I couldn't hear what she said, but they started to play and five minutes later she had beaten him!"
"I actually don't find that interesting at all." Ben told Claire. "So she beat Dan. It's not hard."
"But she's a girl!"
"Yeah. And."
"You should go challenge her, Ben!" Claire said excitedly. "Isn't it like, your responsibility or something?"
"Shouldn't have said that." Matt advised Claire.
"Why not? It's true!"
"Maybe so, but see, now, Ben is going to shut up and not talk forever and Tim is going to run off and challenge this girl to a duel. You watch and see."
"Well, I think you're wrong." Claire declared, and turned back to Ben. "Are you going to?"
Ben didn't say anything.
"Okay, now Tim is going to go do something stupid." Matt whispered to Claire.
"Well, if Ben's not going to challenge her, than I will!" Tim said, and started off in the direction Claire had come from.
"What'd I tell you." Matt said. He grabbed Ben's arm. "C'mon. We have to stop him before he kills himself."
"Stupid kid." Ben muttered, but he followed Matt after Tim.
Tim broke through a circle of teenagers that were surrounding a dueling table to see a small, blonde girl with her legs crossed sitting on one side. Her opponent, a thin, wiry freshman that Tim didn't know that well was gathering up his cards and walking away, defeated. He stopped and leaned towards Tim.
"If you challenge her, be careful." He pushed his way through the crowd. The girl stood up, gathered her cards into a pile, and started to leave.
"Wait." Tim said, and stepped forward. She turned, and their eyes met.
"What do you want?" She asked in a low voice.
"To duel you." Tim said.
"You challenging me?"
"I'm challenging you."
She sat down again. "Let's go." She said, and began to shuffle her cards. Tim sat down across from her.
"Sacrifices?"
"No."
"Life points?"
"Preferably, yes."
"You're funny."
"Eight thousand."
"You go first."
"Thank you." She scanned the cards in her hand. "One card in defense mode. And I'll play one card, face down. That's all."
"Okay. I'll play Change of Heart and see what your monster is." He moved it to his side of the field. "Ooh. Mystical Elf. Nice. Swordstalker in attack mode. And I'll attack-"
The girl flipped a card up. "Mirror Force. You'd better think faster that that." She said, as he set his monster in the graveyard. "It's my turn again, and I'll play the Lord of Dragons in attack mode, and the Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon these." She held up two Blue-Eyes and watched his face change to one of complete surprise.
"There are only four blue-eyes cards in the world." Tim said, narrowing his eyes. "Who are you?"
The girl smiled and tossed her hair. "Lebecca Kaiba. Call me Lee."
"Kaiba? But that would make you-"
"Does it matter? Let's just play." Lee scanned the field with her eyes. "I could be wrong, but if I attacked with both of my dragons, wouldn't that take you six thousand life points down?"
"Hey, you can do math." Tim said crossly. "Congratulations."
"A person in your position really shouldn't be making wisecracks."
Ben and Matt shoved through the group of watching people top the front. Ben looked at the field and groaned.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked. "I can't tell."
"Tim's down to two thousand life points."
"Is that bad?"
"Unless he has some ingenious strategy-and, knowing Tim, I really doubt that-up his sleeve, then, yes, it's bad."
"So.she's kicking his ass."
"Yeah."
"O-kay."
Tim reached for a card in his hand. "I'll play Raigeki-and destroy both your dragons." He said, and Lee smiled slightly. "Better than I thought. What's your name?"
"Tim Lear."
"Tim Lear-I hate to break this to you, but it's my turn again, and the card I'll use to wipe you out is-"
"Ms. Kaiba!" a voice broke in. "I'll thank you to explain what you're doing!"
Lee gulped and looked up into the face of one of the teachers, Mrs. Vendalin. Tim looked back and forth between the teacher and the girl.
"I can explain." He said, making a decision.
"Tim Lear? You should know better than this! Please do!"
"You see, um, she didn't want to play." Tim said, making it up as he went. "It was my fault. I challenged her, and I, uh, wouldn't let her leave until she dueled me."
"I see. And where did she get this?" Mrs. Vendalin held up the deck that Lee had collected off the field up disdainfully.
"Oh-that." Tim said, his mind racing. "It's his." He whirled around and pointed at Matt, who was, like everyone else, standing there listening to him. "Yeah. It belongs to him. I made him lend it to Lebecca for the game."
"Oh-yep!" Matt said, after Ben prodded him in the side sharply. "It's mine. I lent it to her." He gave the teacher a huge fake grin.
"Well then." The teacher said. "I'm not sure I believe this. Tim, your mother will be hearing from me. And Lebecca-don't ever let me or any other teacher catch you doing this ever again. I'll let you off easy this time. Both of you," she said, pointing at Tim and Lee, "Both of you, see me tomorrow. You've earned yourselves detention for a month. You," she said to Matt, "Take this back." She handed Lee's deck to him and walked out of the group, herding people away as she went.
Soon the only people left were Tim, Lee, Matt, and Ben. Lee sighed and shook her head.
"Thanks." She snapped at Tim, "But I can take care of myself." She turned on her heel and left. Tim turned to his friends.
"She's really-" he began, but Matt interrupted.
" Cute?"
"Good." Tim finished, throwing a look at Matt. "And she also-Oh shit." He was staring after Lee as she walked down the sidewalk. Ben and Matt followed his eyes to the figure of Dan Macio, running quickly after Lee's retreating back.
"Oh god." Ben said. "C'mon." They ran after Dan, running into the growing darkness as clouds gathered overhead.
*** Moon Shadow: I'm really tired. I think I'll go to bed and sleep for the rest of my life.*yawning* please review.