"He hasn't dueled in weeks," Mana stated as she walked up behind Mahaad in the Magic Box. The duel monsters were becoming anxious. They had never been idle for so long!
"Hmm? Oh, Yugi, I know. He had a special connection to Akai. He's taking what happened very hard," Mahaad replied.
"He's not the only one," Mana observed. "Most everyone has been quiet ever since..." She trailed off.
"True. Akai was liked by most everyone," Mahaad replied. Mana looked at Mahaad's carefully neutral expression for a long moment and then walked off.
"Oh? No smart comment? That's interesting!" Mahaad smiled.
********
"Yugi, what's wrong?" Yami asked suddenly, as Yugi walked home from Joey's house.
"Wrong?"
"Joey's pretty easy-going most of the time. He was frustrated with you."
"I won't duel him," Yugi explained.
"I know. Yugi, you can't stop dueling," Yami stated.
"Can't I? How can I duel again?!" He was anguished. "Akai is gone. I almost lost Mana. How many other monsters in my deck have names? How many others are 'real' like your friend Mahaad the Dark Magician is? How can I duel...how can I toy with them that way?!"
"Yugi..." Yami didn't know how to answer.
********
"Where's Mahaad?" Rowan asked suddenly. Mana stuck her tongue out at the workshop.
"In there. He's researching something," Mana replied.
"Do you have any idea what?" Vialla wondered aloud.
"No, he won't tell me. And he says he will be researching for days. His secrecy about that place is going to make me insane!" Mana complained.
"I'm sure you will be invited into the atelier one day, Mana," Rowan reassured.
"I wish I was so certain," Mana replied. "Well, since I won't have Mahaad breathing down my neck to practice Dark Magic for a day or two, shall we find something more interesting to do? I bet Ashelocke would give us a ride on his back if we asked nicely!"
Vialla shuddered delicately. "I know he'd never hurt us, but he looks so...evil! And his title, 'Curse of Dragon'! What kind of card monster name is that?!"
"Near as I can figure, he's supposed to be an undead form of dragon. But he's really a sweetheart!" Mana cajoled. "You'd like him once you got to know him, Vialla!"
The Mystical Elf waved her hand and shook her head. "No, thank you...I'll just wait here until you and Rowan come back."
********
It was as if his name had been called...a strange sensation halfway between an invitation and a summons. He'd never felt it before, but after a moment of quiet thought, he was sure he knew what it meant. Before responding, he looked outward to make certain he would not be needed. Yugi was deeply engrossed in a math test. Knowing that Yugi wouldn't need his help, not that he'd offer it for Yugi's math test anyway, Yami brushed against the power of the Puzzle and answered the call.
"My pharaoh," Mahaad bowed as Yami appeared in the shadowed main chamber of the labyrinth of his own mind.
"Mahaad," Yami greeted before reaching and lifting Mahaad to stand in the automatic, unconscious ritual that had developed between them millennia before. "You called me?"
Mahaad smiled. "Audacious, I know, summoning the pharaoh to me instead of requesting an audience!"
Yami laughed. "Well, things are different now. It's not as if my audience chamber is as grand as it once was!" he gestured toward the dark walls of his mind.
"There is grandeur here," Mahaad averred, "but that is not why I asked to speak with you."
"Direct as always!"
Mahaad smiled. "How is Yugi? We haven't been in a duel since Dark Retribution was played."
"Yugi...he is frightened...hmmm...maybe not quite frightened, more concerned. And ridden with guilt."
"Guilt? Why?"
"He feels responsible, I think, for what happened to Akai. He misses him. And his eyes have been opened to a possibility that horrifies him," Yami found it easy to openly discussed Yugi's difficulties with Mahaad who was not only his faithful friend, but as the Dark Magician, Yugi's favorite card as well.
"Horrifies? What possibility is that?"
"Yugi is concerned that others in his deck are like you and Akai, and he now suspects Mana. That there are others who are much more than simply duel monsters. He feels he has no right to duel any longer and place any of you in peril."
"So that is it then..."
"Mahaad?"
"Yes, my pharaoh?"
"Are Yugi's fears true? You mentioned something before, about the cards in Yugi's deck being much more than regular duel monsters, when I brought Akai here. How many of his duel monsters are as you are?"
"As me? Just Mana; that is, a person who has become a duel monster."
"I think you are being evasive. Let me clarify; how many of Yugi's monsters have personalities and names? How many...are real?"
Mahaad looked with all seriousness into Yami's eyes. "All of them."
Yami was shocked. "All?!"
"From the powerful monsters Celedon the Celtic Guardian, Everon the Summoned Skull and Ashelocke the Curse of Dragon to the more modest Shelleene the Kuriboh...all of Yugi's monsters have names. All are individuals, distinct and separate from all others of their kind."
"How...?!"
"I know why myself and Mana are more than simply duel monsters. And I've noticed that the more powerful monsters of other decks, if they are used in many duels, seem to develop some level of personality and will over time. The monsters of Yugi's deck are the only ones that seem to be more than just duel monsters of any of the low level ones I've met." Mahaad cupped his chin thoughtfully. "I suspect Yugi's deck is reacting to Yugi's respect for his cards. Yugi expresses it simply when he says he puts his heart into his cards. The effect might be enhanced by the Millennium Puzzle, but I think that is why Yugi's duel monsters are more than just cards."
"Your Magic Box realm might have something to do with it too," Yami observed.
"Perhaps, my pharaoh," Mahaad allowed.
"So, what can we do?"
"Do?"
"To help Yugi. You would never seek me out if you did not have a plan," Yami observed.
"What I have is more than a notion, but less than a plan. I needed to find out what was happening with Yugi, since he hasn't dueled at all since the duel with Wrack. I am sorry that duel caused him so much pain."
"The Dark Magician...you know that is the card Yugi identifies the most with. For him to have lost one is bad enough. For the one he lost to have been one with whom he wanted to be a friend...devastates him. And now he fears to duel with any of his cards, for fear of losing or harming others."
"I see."
"Mahaad..." Yami looked up into Mahaad's face with vulnerable, troubled eyes. "I don't know how to help him."
Mahaad placed a hand on Yami's shoulder in a calming gesture of comfort. "Fortunately, I do."
"Really?!"
Mahaad nodded. "But I do need your help. The power I have is not enough. Would you set everything in place for me? I will tell you how."
Yami nodded once.
"But...is there danger to you in this plan?" Yami asked after listening carefully to Mahaad's instructions. "What are you planning to do? Can you tell me?"
"There is always danger whenever Millennium Items are used. Please do not forget that I have used such an item myself in the past. I am hoping that experience, along with your permission allowing me to use the Puzzle, will help me and minimize the risk. As for what I plan...please permit me to keep that secret for now, my pharaoh," Mahaad both reassured and pleaded.
"Losing Akai hit Yugi very hard," Yami observed after a long moment of thought. "You know that losing you would distress Yugi more than I can express. And it would be...most unacceptable to me personally."
Mahaad bowed again. "I do not plan to sacrifice myself..."
Yami narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Yet, you have done that very thing before!"
Mahaad laughed. "Very well. I do not plan to sacrifice myself this time! Even though I do not want to tell you exactly what I wish to do, I think it will help reassure Yugi that all of us, the duel monsters of his deck, do not mind, in fact we are honored, to duel for him."
Mahaad cupped his chin again. "There is unrest in the Magic Box. Our connection with Yugi is deep enough that we know he is suffering. All of us want to help him."
"Mahaad..." Yami spoke up suddenly. "Though Yugi met with Akai face to face, and wished with all his heart to become Akai's friend, do not forget that it is YOU who is his favorite card. Not just the Dark Magician, but YOU as the Dark Magician. Are you certain the risk to you is not too great?"
"I do not want Yugi to have to bear the pain of losing you...as I did, so many years ago," Yami added in a low voice.
Mahaad looked up at that, into the pain revealed in Yami's eyes. Unable to maintain his neutral detachment, Mahaad stepped forward and embraced Yami.
"My pharaoh!"
Yami closed his eyes tight. As the Pharaoh, his actions had been for the good of his people and ultimately for the good of the world. He had given up so much to carry the burden fate laid upon him, culminating ultimately in sacrificing the course of his own life. He had never been as free as Yugi to simply express his friendship with anyone. As the Pharaoh, he commanded and Mahaad had obeyed. That Mahaad's obedience was swift and unquestioning, finally resulting in the sacrifice of his own life, showed that he was not only Yami's most faithful servant, but also his friend.
Yami was glad that things had changed so much for both of them, that Mahaad was comfortable offering a hug, something he never would have dared with 'Pharaoh' Yami.
Yami's arms wrapped around Mahaad tight. "I will work with Yugi. I do not want you to accept any level of risk!"
"It is not just for Yugi. All of us...his cards... The heart of his cards is broken and must be mended."
"And what you want to do can mend it?"
"That is my hope."
Mahaad was witnessing something very few had ever seen before - Yami indecisive and unsure. Mahaad could tell some of what his pharaoh was thinking; Yugi's heartache and fear, what Mahaad had told him about the cards and their sorrow, and his own fear that Mahaad, in trying to make things better with the power of the Millennium Puzzle, might willingly sacrifice himself again for the good of others flashed in Yami's eyes. Mahaad was honored that Yami admitted Mahaad's sacrifice millennia ago had sorrowed him. Mahaad acknowledged in his deepest heart, deep enough that he hoped it escaped Yami's perceptive gaze, that he would do that again, willingly sacrifice himself to ease the heartache that Yugi and his duel monsters were feeling, if he could.
"I will never forgive you," Yami said in a low, but powerful, voice. Mahaad had to suppress a shiver at the tone. "Yugi would, because that is his way, but I never will, if you sacrifice yourself again as you did so many years ago."
"You and I have leagued with Osiris and Isis, the gods of death, rebirth and magic to craft our destinies and escape into this present time. Do not forget Set, he who ruins all. If you willingly sacrifice yourself again, Mahaad, I will unseal the Pharaoh's Curse upon you."
Mahaad did shudder visibly at that. The Pharaoh's Curse was magic more destructive than any found in a Millennium Item or the Shadow Realm.
"Do we have an understanding?"
For all his protestations that his reign as 'pharaoh' was over, Yami was as commanding as Mahaad had ever seen him. He nodded.
"And you still wish to do this; to help Yugi and soothe the heartache of his cards?"
Mahaad considered.
"Yes," he answered simply.
"Then, I will trust you and do as you ask."
********
Mahaad wondered if he would indeed harness the power to do what he wanted. He was staking his very existence upon four separate forces. The first force was his fellow duel monsters in Yugi's deck and their combined heart. Of the four, this was the force he was most certain of.
"You have all been saddened, just as Yugi has, by what happened to Akai," he began.
"Mahaad, what happened to Akai? It would be easier for me to accept it if I understood," Vialla, the Mystical Elf asked.
The question took Mahaad by surprise. He thought his fellow duel monsters had understood what Akai had done!
"Yeah! All I know is I want to break that Wrack character in half for killin' him!" Everon, the Summoned Skull added.
"Oh! I hadn't realized that you did not know! I'm sorry, my friends, for not telling you sooner. Akai didn't precisely die...he converted his card, by his own will, into the ritual card 'Dark Retribution'. Every time that card is played, Akai's last act of will is what summons the forces of Dark Magic to the field."
"So when you blasted Wrack with all that Dark Magic power..." Vialla realized.
"...it was the power Akai gave you to avenge him!" Everon finished.
"No. Akai didn't become the ritual of Dark Retribution to punish Wrack, he did it to protect Mana," Mahaad explained. "He didn't see any other way to save her, so he made it so Yugi would have the power to summon all his Dark Magic to the field at once, hoping that combined power could save her."
"So why..." Mana asked hesitantly. "Why is he no longer here?" She opened her arms to indicate the Magic Box.
"He converted his card, something no duel monster has ever done before. He changed himself from a monster card into a ritual card and dispersed his soul into the weave of Dark Magic. I have since learned that it is the only way Dark Retribution was able to summon all the forces of Dark Magic as he wished."
"Oh," Mana's reply was soft.
"No one blames you!" Rowan touched Mana's arm in reassurance. "We were horrified at what Wrack was trying to do to you! We are glad that Akai was able to save you." Mana looked up into the Magician of Faith's earnest eyes, and then glanced at all of her friends. All nodded their agreement with what Rowan said.
"What Akai did was by his own choice," Celedon the Celtic Guardian added. "You had nothing to do with what happened to him."
"But you have something in mind, Mahaad," Celedon turned toward the Dark Magician again. "Otherwise you wouldn't have called all of us here!"
"All of you can feel that Yugi is heartsick, deeply distressed by what happened. I've spoken with Yami," Mahaad held up one hand forestalling the questions, "I'm just going to say that speaking with him is a Dark Magic thing and not try to explain it!" Several of the more curious duel monsters groaned. "Yami told me that Yugi is not willing to duel any longer for fear of hurting any of you."
"But...!"
"That is why we...!"
"That's absurd!"
"We are here for him!"
Mahaad let the gathered
duel monsters give voice to their opinions, outrage and ultimate support
of their duelist, Yugi.
"We can help him with
his fear and heartache," Mahaad interjected.
"How?!" Everon demanded.
"It is a high manipulation of Dark Magic." The assembled duel monsters groaned again. "Yes," Mahaad smiled, "so I can't tell you. But you can help me. In fact, I'm relying on your help to help me help Yugi."
Something furry brushed against his hand. Mahaad looked down to see Shelleene staring up at him with wide eyes.
"It not much, but I
help, Mahaad," Shelleene said softly.
Mahaad knelt to see
eye to eye with where the Kuriboh was floating. "It is your heart,
not your power that helps me, Shelleene. And your loyalty to Yugi.
Given that, you are as strong as anyone here, as strong as me!" Shelleene
floated up with happy eyes at that and puffed herself out proudly.
"I can't let the fuzz-ball out-do me!" Everon put his hand on Shelleene's head and tousled her fur playfully. "You have my support, Mahaad!"
Mahaad waited as every last monster of Yugi's deck added their comments and support...all without quite knowing what he would do with it, except that he promised it would help Yugi.
"So, what do we do?" Celedon asked practically.
"Surround the atelier and will, or wish with all your might, that we are successful in our efforts inside. Fill your minds and hearts with your loyalty and affection for Yugi. I ask for the heart of the cards, not to send a card to the top of the deck for Yugi to play, but to support him directly. We can calm his fears and ease his heartache."
"Come on, Fuzzy!" Everon scooped Shelleene up in one skeletal hand and placed her on his shoulder. "We'll stand over here!" Everon walked over to stand directly in front of the atelier. The rest of Yugi's monsters spread out in a loose circle around the workshop. Some clasped hands with each other or to their hearts, some gripped their weapons in determine grasps, others stood alone but stared intently at the walls of the atelier. Mahaad could feel the combined will of Yugi's monsters resolving into the heart of the cards that he was relying on.
"Perfect!" he approved. He turned and walked toward the atelier. His hand was on the latch when he turned and sought out Mana with his gaze. She was standing, eyes closed, holding Rowan's right hand in her left, while clutching her Dark Magic staff to her heart. Vialla held Rowan's other hand.
"Mana?"
She looked up, startled.
"I need your help here," Mahaad stated as he held out his hand. He couldn't help but smile as he finished, "In the atelier."
"Mahaad?!" Mana squeaked his name.
"You are ready to enter the atelier, Mana," Mahaad repeated, "and learn all the Dark Magic secrets of Yugi's deck."
Vialla gasped. Rowan dropped Mana's hand and after a moment, got behind her friend and shoved her toward where Mahaad was patiently waiting.
Her own hand trembling, Mana took her master's hand and followed him willingly into the Atelier of Dark Magic.
-------------
Author's notes -
Outline? What outline? Mahaad and Yami conspired together and decided to shred my outline this chapter! >_
*Sigh!*
Next Chapter teaser - Chapter Seven - *Yes, there is a Chapter Seven!*
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!
stargarde@stargarde.com