Author Notes:
Wow… lots of people want to see a Ryou and Celtic Guardian pairing… come to think of it that is not such a bad idea… *imagines the Celtic Guardian wrapping his cloak protectively about Ryou and sighs dreamily* (LB: @_____@ Wo----ow that would be so cool!!) Eh hem… however, the final chappie for this fic has already been written… I have this weird habit of writing the beginning and end first then the middle :s… But do not fear my wonderful Ryou/CG fans! You have filled my heart with inspiration and, with the help of LB, am now determined to start work on a Ryou/CG fanfic the moment I've completed this one! *opens up Word and starts making notes for the new RxCG fic*
Anyway back to THIS fic. I wrote this chapter while camping in the New Forest surrounded by vampire ponies. Those evil ponies tried to eat my fic! Damn those evil vampire ponies *shakes fist at the evil vampiric ponies* Anyway, I managed to save my fic from the jaws of demonic pony-induced oblivion and here it is. I decided to add this bit since peeps seem to be enjoying CG-san's adventures in the real world… but I've promised LB that this will be the last time I'll put back her wonderful duel she oh so kindly wrote for me. (LB: *glares*) Erm…*sweatdrops* Once again thank you for the reviews and now on with the fic!
Extra note: Sorry about all the Tokyo Babylon references… I'm obsessed
Disclaimer: The Muffin does not own Yu-Gi-Oh or Tokyo Babylon. If I did, shounen ai would rule the world of Duel Monsters and Subaru & Seishirou would now be happily married.
Chapter 3 by The Muffin
The Celtic Guardian's stomach churned as the familiar, cold, blue eyes burned into his skin. One of the other cards must have seen him leave and alerted the Dark Magician, either that or Yugi himself had noticed the absence of his usual decoy and so loyally the Dark Magician took it upon himself to find and retrieve the awol spirit. Either way the outcome would be the same. The Dark Magician was going to bring the Celtic Guardian back to the deck… by his pointy ears if necessary.
The Celtic Guardian's hand twitched towards the hilt of his blade as he and his seven-starred opponent continued to lock gazes unyieldingly. Then the elvern warrior did the only thing he could do… he ran.
"Hey, senpai! Where are you going?"
However, Subaru's call was drowned out by the distance as the Celtic Guardian took off down the street, narrowly avoiding pedestrians and ignoring their disapproving looks. He felt ashamed of himself for fleeing like this but the Dark Magician was far superior to the fair-haired warrior in terms of both attack and defence. A direct assault on his part would mean suicide, or worse, a one-way trip back to Yugi's deck.
The Celtic Guardian finally came to a stop outside of Domino Park where he leaned against a large bronze statue of a Tanuki and attempted to catch his breath. As far as he could tell, he had lost his purple clad pursuer some time back but realised that the next time he might not be so lucky. It wouldn't be hard for the Dark Magician to relocate him. Large armour wearing warrior elves with purple face markings weren't exactly a common site in this world. The Celtic Guardian figured that a disguise of some sort would be the best option for the time being. His sharp, yellow eyes scanned the area desperately for something to help him blend in with the natives. That's when he saw it. Just outside the park gates, huddled in shiny black plastic, sat an old, dishevelled looking man with black messy hair and a stubbly beard. However, despite his outlandish appearance, nobody other than the elf seemed to be able to see him. The Celtic Guardian stood contemplating the unusual looking man when it suddenly dawned on him that it must be due the shiny black cloak-like thing the man was wearing. That seemed to be the only difference between this man and the other humans other than his age… but Yugi's grandfather was old and he wasn't ignored this much so it must be due to the garments. Upon further inspection, the Celtic Guardian also realised that animals seemed to be aware of the man's presence as well as himself so the cloak must only work on humans… and the Dark Magician was human, right?
The Celtic Guardian cautiously made his way over to the man and bowed deeply. The man slowly raised his head and stared critically at the tall costumed boy bowing before him.
"Excuse me, kind and powerful Sir." The Celtic Guardian's voice rang politely as he rose from his humble bow. "I'm sorry to disturb you but I am in desperate need of your services."
The man raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The Celtic Guardian took this as a sign to continue.
"You see, I'm being hunted… unjustly… and I am in desperate need of one of your magical capes if you have one to spare." the elf explained pointing to the bin liner fluttering about the man's feet. The man looked at the bag then back to the odd looking boy lost for words. The Celtic Guardian mistook this sign of bewilderment for one of displeasure. "Not for free of course!" he added hastily.
The man nodded, dumbfounded by the boy's request, and handed the discarded black bag over to the elf quickly. He had been on the streets long enough to know not to anger weirdos… and this one was as weird as they came. The Celtic Guardian accepted the "cloak" and wrapped it around himself, fastening it tightly round his neck with a small knot.
"Thank you! Thank you!" the elf beamed gratefully. However, the man didn't seem to have heard him as he was now looking at the floor wishing for the strange looking boy to go away.
"It must be working already!" the Celtic Guardian concluded happily.
The fair-haired elf now had the problem of repaying the man for his kindness. His warrior pride would not allow him to just take the cloak, especially not after he told the man he would pay for it. The Celtic Guardian searched his armour frantically for a suitable gift but had to settle for one of his golden rings. It wasn't much but it was a start. With a smile, he placed the ring down in front of the man and made his way into the park leaving behind one very ecstatic acquaintance
#*#*#*#
Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar faced a rather annoying dilemma. They had come to Domino Park with the intension of going on a pleasant boat ride only to loose their yamis to temptation. It had only been a few minutes after they had arrived at the lake when Bakura and Marik had spotted their prey, two sweet old ladies sitting peacefully on a bench, and immediately they swooped in for the kill. Now Marik was seated between the two distressed pensioners, his arms over both their shoulders and cooing in their ears, while Bakura eyed the yapping Yorkshire Terriers hungrily. Usually this wouldn't have bothered the two hikaris. Sure there was the problem of them having to convince people that it wasn't them who had raided the butchers shop or scrawled hieroglyphic slang all over the Egyptian exhibit at the museum, but it at least gave them a break from their overzealous yamis. Unfortunately this time they could not ignore the absence of their yamis because the minimum requirement for a boat ride was three. Ryou was most put off, to the point where he was almost in tears, as he had been looking forward to sailing across the lake with his three bestest chums since he had seen it advertised in the local newspaper a few days prior. Even Malik, who had been insisting that floating across a rat-infested cesspool was something he could quite easily do at home, was secretly crushed and was now slumped down on the grass muttering Egyptian curses darkly under his breath. Ryou, however, was not deterred. He stood gazing around the park desperate for a solution and, much to his surprise, he soon found one. A few yards away, walking alone and seemingly aimlessly beneath the fragrant sakura trees, was an armoured elf wearing a bin liner. Ryou's heart instantly went out to this lonesome wanderer.
"Aww… he looks so lonely." Ryou sighed, his voice filled with concern. Malik looked up grudgingly and over at the subject of Ryou's attension. Upon setting eyes on the "magical cape" of the elaborately dressed stranger, Malik frowned distastefully.
"He looks more loony than lonely." Malik muttered before returning to his cursing. He knew it wasn't a very witty remark but the blonde Egyptian was too fed up to care.
"Don't be so cruel, Malik-kun." Ryou chided softly receiving a roll of the eyes from his fellow hikari. "He looks so sad walking all by himself… I'm going to go and talk to him"
Malik, who had been chewing boredly on a mouthful of grass, choked.
"You what?!" he exclaimed spitting out the last few semi-chewed blades. "The guy's dressed up as the Celtic Guardian and wearing garbage! He's obviously insane!"
Ryou gave Malik a reproachful look. "Insane or misunderstood?" he said sagely.
"Insane." Malik replied a little too meekly. Ryou was looking at him with such kindness and sincerity in his eyes that the fair-haired Egyptian was finding it hard to resist those chocolaty pools of innocence. "And besides," he continued desperately. "Your yami said no more talking to strangers!"
"Oh phooey to Bakura!" Ryou pouted. "If I want to go and cheer up depressed, lonely cosplayers then that's my choice!"
With that, Ryou turned on his heel and headed over to the unsuspecting card spirit.
#*#*#*#
"Excuse me, excuse me!"
The Celtic Guardian jumped at the sound of the sweet voice that rang across to him from the direction of the lake. The cautious warrior had been keeping an eye out for any sign of the Dark Magician so the sudden call had startled him. His heart beating furiously, the Celtic Guardian spun round to see two boys, a pale one with long white hair and a pleasant smile who was waving excitedly to him and a dark skinned one with blonde hair who was trailing behind and wearing an expression of immense frustration. The Celtic Guardian was too busy puzzling over how these two humans could see him that he overlooked the air of familiarity about them. It wasn't until they were face to face that the Celtic Guardian realised to his dismay that he had seen these two before with none other than Yugi. The Celtic Guardian turned to run when he was stopped by Ryou's caring voice asking if he was lost. The Celtic Guardian stared back at the shorter boy at a loss of what to say. They may have somehow been able to see through his disguise but they certainly didn't seem to recognise him. It was Malik's impatient sigh that drew the bewildered warrior from his thoughts and forced him to answer.
"I'm sorry?" he managed to say eventually.
"You look lonely." Ryou informed him simply. "Are you lost?"
"Er… sort of." The Celtic Guardian replied vaguely. He was still confused as to how these two boys were able to see him.
"Oh." Ryou sighed sympathetically. "Maybe we can help you!" This remark was met with a dark look from the other boy. "Where are you headed?"
The Celtic Guardian shook his head "I'm not too sure." He admitted feebly "I'm just sort of… wandering."
Ryou's face lit up at the sound of this. "Oh! So you have nothing to do?!" he beamed brightly. "In that case you can help us!"
Before the Celtic Guardian could even respond to this, he found himself once again being reluctantly dragged by the arm; this time to a large, ominous black sign with the words "Seishirou-san's Boating Experience" printed on it in big white letters with a rather annoyed Egyptian protesting the whole way.
"You see," Ryou continued to explain as they reached the sign, "That's why we need one more person."
The Celtic Guardian looked reluctantly out at the lake then turned his yellow eyes back onto the pleading face of Ryou. Dispite his hatred of water, the Celtic Guardian found it impossible to resist those large chocolaty pools of innocence and so, half-heartedly, agreed to accompany them. Ryou jumped for joy and glomped the confused Celtic Guardian happily. He then turned his attention to a rather irked-looking Malik.
"Will you do the honours?" he asked the Egyptian sweetly.
Malik twitched irritably but complied by taking out his wallet and handing over some money to the tall man wearing sun glasses and standing by the sign who then pointed to one of the boats tied to the bank.
"Don't we need life jackets or something?" Malik asked as Ryou pushed the Celtic Guardian into the boat and then got in himself. The man in black sunglasses took a long drag from his cigarette but didn't even look at the inquiring boy let alone answer him. Malik was about to show this Seishirou-san a thing or two about common courtesy when Ryou calling him to "Come on" pulled him reluctantly away.
A few minutes later and the three of them were drifting out in the middle of the lake. The Celtic Guardian was so unsettled by the thought of there being nothing beneath him and the continual rocking of the small boat that he refused to let go of the sides of the craft which meant that Ryou and Malik were stuck with the rowing. Despite this, Malik found himself overjoyed with the fact that he was now drifting with Ryou in the middle of the lake far out of the reach of the overly possessive tomb robbing yami… even if he did have to share the experience with a deranged bin-wearing cosplayer.
Despite Ryou's soothing words of reassurance, the Celtic Guardian refused to let go of the sides of the boat or indeed open his eyes. His nerves were still strung by the thought of the Dark Magician being around and he was starting to doubt the effectiveness of his new cloak… maybe he was wearing it wrong…
"You are perfectly safe." Ryou assured the tense elf. "If you open your eyes now you can see our yamis on the bank over there."
The Celtic Guardian's ears pricked at this familiar word. These two had yamis, of course! Somehow that must be why these two could see him and come to think of it, the guy Malik handed the money over to didn't seem to be aware at all to the presence of a battle-ready elf standing before him. Feeling a lot safer already, the Celtic Guardian opened his eyes and gently loosened his grip on the sides of the boat. Just then, a giant eagle-like bird landed on the Celtic Guardian's knee causing the elf to start with fright. The condescending laugh of Seishirou-san leaning against the sign could be heard echoing across the lake as the small boat capsized spilling its occupants into the icy waters. The Celtic Guardian struggled to remain on the surface but his heavy armour continued to pull him down further into the murky depths of the lake until, gradually, his vision faded to black.