He felt unsettled. It was too still, almost the stillness of the air before a thunderstorm, filled with expectant, cringing waiting. Even now, he wasn't certain what had happened. Mahaad, the Dark Magician, his favorite card, had somehow combined three powerful Duel Monster forces to bring Akai, the Red Dark Magician back and somehow...
...lost himself, or worse, in the process.
He could almost feel the unrest of his cards at that. The impact was so deep that he himself hadn't quite assimilated it. Mahaad...gone. The two words, the two concepts wouldn't go together, not matter how many times he repeated it in his mind. Mahaad...gone.
He'd still be able to duel. He even had a better understanding of the heart of his cards. He possessed a Dark Magician card, Akai's, so to the dueling world at large it would be as if there was no change. He'd still confound his opponents with the powerful, versatile Dark Magician; using the power of the Magical Hats, the Magic Box of Death, and other magic cards, not to mention the Dark Magician's own powerful Dark Magic attack in his duels.
Why then, did he feel like crying?
Mahaad...gone.
Purple. He'd miss the purple. No, it went deeper than just the color. Mahaad had enough power, or maybe, ignored the rules just enough to be...different, on the field. Yugi still remembered Mahaad shaking his finger in reproach at Kaiba on the barbican of Pegasus' castle. And turning an exultant flip in the air when Yugi's game play had brought the Dark Magician into an advantageous position in the Para and Dox duel before that. And, most astonishingly of all, sacrificing himself of his own free will to protect Yugi directly from Arcana's Dark Magician's attack in that important duel.
The Dark Magician was Yugi's favorite card. But Mahaad was a person Yugi would have liked to consider a friend. That was the root of his sadness.
However, this unsettled feeling... It held more power than his distress. It contained destruction as well as sorrow. If he felt like abjectly weeping because he had lost his favorite card and had only recently realized that a real person by the name of 'Mahaad' was that favorite card, how much deeper was Yami's loss? Yami had called Mahaad 'friend' millennia ago and that friendship existed into the modern day.
Yugi raised his hand to knock on the closed door in the corridor between their minds.
********
He could sense the dismay all around him. It beat at and battered him, forcing him to realize how much he had hurt those he loved.
His friends, his fellow cards...he could feel their sorrow faintly, as if the heart of the cards reached toward him still. He was no longer a part of it - he could tell that the cards he'd left behind had no knowledge of what had happened to him when he was forced to abandon the matter of his form. Truth be told, even he was still surprised by what had happened. It was most unexpected!
He did feel some relief about them, though. The Magic Box still existed. He could tell that from the slight magical drain he felt sustaining it. Another's steady magic seemed to bolster his, taking some of that strain and shouldering it with him. Over time, no matter what ultimately happened to him, this new magic would become strong enough to maintain the Magic Box for his fellow cards. He was happy about that. They would still have a place, not just the Graveyard, where they could simply...be.
The raw edges of grief brushed against his questing mind. More immediate than the cards' gentle sorrow, this was the flavor of his master's distress. His player...Yugi, mourned for him.
He was a bit startled at the depth of Yugi's grief for him. He had always known that his card was Yugi's favorite, but he'd never realized that it was HE, as Yugi's favorite card, that Yugi liked so much. Yugi did like Akai, the Red Dark Magician, but he was able to sense that Akai would never quite take his place in Yugi's mind or heart.
Just as he wished he could somehow reassure his fellow cards, he wished he could lay comfort there too...in his player's mind. He was closer than Yugi realized, but he was powerless. He was trapped, as a fly in amber, locked again in the form he had willingly taken once before, thousands of years ago.
"I am your loyal servant forever."
He'd uttered those words once, with all of his magic and will, with his very soul, pledging his undying loyalty to...
...his Pharaoh.
The bright soul who refused to believe in his own brightness. He could sense that soul reaching toward the dark power within itself...the power that should be left forever sleeping. He knew that his friend, Yami, would be able to focus that dark power, bend it to do his will and survive, but the brightness that was his, that Yami didn't believe he possessed, would be forever stained by that act. Even Yugi might not be able to save Yami from the path of destruction that dark act would set him on.
And he, Mahaad - if Yami unleashed that dark power upon him, would be utterly destroyed by his dearest friend.
********
"Go away!" The command was cold and firm. Yugi could tell that no amount of talk or reason would open the door.
So he did what he'd never dared before, placing his hand upon the door and forcing it open.
As always, Yami's mind showed the solemn, dark interior of an Egyptian crypt. Deep shadows obscured the details of all but the nearest things. Portentous carvings crawled across the walls. The patterns on the floor made Yugi cautious about where he placed his feet, lest he should trigger a trap. Not for the first time, Yugi thought that Yami's mind could be a fun place to explore, before reminding himself that his other soul's mind held secrets that even Yami was unaware of. Yugi bet those secrets carried danger too.
Yami's mind put him even more in the mind of ancient Egypt than usual. Sarcophagi flanked the doorway he was slowly and carefully making his way toward. Golden light spilled from the room beyond the doorway. Yugi was certain that Yami would be here. He peeked his head around the archway.
Yami's slanted purple eyes slid over at Yugi's intrusion and narrowed in displeasure. Yugi gulped. He'd never seen Yami like this!
"You approach unbidden. What do you want?" Yami demanded imperiously. Along with his attitude, his very appearance had changed. Yami wore gold...everywhere. A winged circlet centering the Millennium eye on his forehead was the most obvious, but Yami wore ankhs dangling from his ears, burnished cuffs on his arms and what almost appeared as golden greaves on his legs. A cloak draped about his shoulders. Yami always appeared taller that Yugi, but with how straight he was standing, he loomed over Yugi now. Yugi gulped.
"I...I...thought..."
"If your presence were required, I would have let you in when you asked at the door. It is best if you leave," Yami noted, turning a shoulder away from Yugi as if he were merely an annoyance.
"Y,Yami...!"
"Pharaoh," Yami corrected Yugi coldly. "I am the Pharaoh."
"W,Why?" Yugi stammered.
Yami spread his hands looking down briefly at the gold cuffs that were part of his 'Pharaoh' attire. "I have to be in order to access the magic I wish to cast."
Yugi, in a lightning flash of thought, realized what this meant. Yami had been the Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians had complex understandings of death, life and rebirth.
"You can bring him back?!" Yugi smiled tremulously toward Yami.
Yami blinked down at Yugi. "No, if I could do that..." For a moment 'Pharaoh' Yami's expression looked like one of Yami's more kindly ones. His aspect hardened again. "If I could do that I would not have thought for so long before making my decision. No, for disobeying my wishes, I am going to cast the Pharaoh's Curse on Mahaad."
"The Pharaoh's Curse?! I don't know what it does, but it sounds bad!"
"The Pharaoh's Curse will seek out Mahaad's eternal soul and force him to wander in unrest for all eternity," Yami told him.
"What?! No!"
Pharaoh Yami's eyes narrow dangerously.
"Leave. You should go!" He turned fully from Yugi this time, the cloak he wore flicking in a final dismissal.
********
Everon, Yugi's fearsome Summoned Skull, turned in a slow circle on his heel, and looked around the different environments of the Magic Box. His gaze fell upon several of his fellow Duel Monsters training, conversing, sparring...all the normal activities of the Magic Box save one. No one was simply playing.
They had been shocked, dismayed, panicked even, when the atelier disappeared. All of them had secretly thought that Mahaad would mysteriously show up, half-explain something mystical about Dark Magic, wave his hands, restore the atelier and seclude himself inside as he normally did, doing something...magical. That it was all something...magical and nothing to worry about, since Mahaad was here.
But...enough time had passed, and Akai's and Mana's attitudes were so sorrowfully serious, that they realized...Mahaad wasn't coming back. Ever. So, no one played any more.
Everon did have to give both Akai and Mana full credit though as they walked across his field of vision, engrossed in a deep discussion. They had put aside whatever differences they had and pulled together, ably stepping into Mahaad's responsibilities. If only everyone were not so sad!
He examined his own sadness. Honestly, the Dark Magician was just another monster as far as the Summoned Skull was concerned. They were about equals in terms of power, though the Dark Magician had the slight edge of his various spells and tricks. In out-and-out combat, Everon felt that the Summoned Skull could probably trounce the Dark Magician.
But, he was more than just the Summoned Skull. And Mahaad was more than the Dark Magician. Though there seemed to be no reason for it, they were friends. Everon missed his friend.
His gaze traveled over his fellow Duel Monsters again. That loss, missing a friend, is why no one felt like playing. The Magic Box was in mourning.
Something bumped into the back of his head. He reached back to feel what it was and filled his hand with fluff before bringing it around in front of his face again.
"Coo?" Shelleene blinked up at him with her enormous eyes. Despite himself, Everon smiled.
********
"I won't! I won't go until you promise you won't curse Mahaad!" Yugi cried wildly.
Yami's eyes hardened like steel...no like diamond, and raked across Yugi's slight, defiant figure disdainfully.
"Ancient Egypt would have destroyed your tender, sentimental soul!"
Yami's words cut deep, lacing an unexpected scar in Yugi's inmost being.
"Maybe so in Ancient Egypt, but is that what you want too? Do you want to destroy me?"
Pharaoh Yami's cold eyes softened, just a bit.
"No..." he admitted.
"Then don't BE this way! Don't do this, Yami!" Yugi cried in frustration. "Mahaad is your friend!"
"NO! If Mahaad was a friend...he wouldn't have left me all alone...again..." Yami's shoulders slumped...then straightened again abruptly. Yami stood so regally stiff that Yugi wondered that he couldn't hear the bones of Yami's spine cracking under the strain.
"Never again! I want to feel such pain never again. I must...!"
"No." Yugi countered softly. "I wish that I could have been Mahaad's friend too, as you were. I can tell the heart of my cards is saddened that he is gone. My own heart," Yugi placed his hand over his heart, almost as if giving a pledge, "is...crying, too. But..."
Yugi gazed up earnestly, with the purity of what he felt standing forth in his eyes. "Do you want the last thing you ever do for your friend to be a terrible spell that causes his soul to wander forever? To never find any rest? I don't know what I believe about the afterlife, but I know that you and Mahaad hold strong beliefs about it. Is this your memorial for him? If he is gone forever, wouldn't it be better to let him find happiness...somehow...wherever he is? Rather than dooming him in your hurt and anger?"
Yami blinked down at Yugi. The little one had a way of cutting to the quick, putting things in such a simple way that the truths couldn't be glossed over or ignored. It was bad enough that Mahaad was gone. He'd not doom his friend too.
"Yugi..." he began. Truly, this child was like the other half of his soul! "Thank you. I won't cast the spell. I won't reach for such evil magic. I don't want my last contact with Mahaad to be one that dooms him to wander for all eternity."
Yugi sighed in relief. He looked up at Yami's face, still somewhat frightened by the fierce and remote aspect of Pharaoh Yami. There had been no change, the Pharaoh's eyes appeared as hard and glittering as before, but Yugi suddenly felt that what Yami most needed from him was...
...a hug. He started to step forward...
"You should go. You have my word, I'll not harm Mahaad or any one else with the evil power of the Pharaoh's Curse." Yami's attitude became dismissive again as he turned his back on Yugi.
"Yami...!"
"Thank you for helping me to find the path through this, Yugi. But from now on, honor the sanctity of my mind and do not enter here unbidden. You should go now."
Yami's voice was soft and even, but the underlying steel of command could not be ignored. Yugi felt as if a wall had just been built between them. He wondered, as the door to Yami's mental chamber clicked ominously behind him, if he'd ever be able to get on the other side of that door again. Yami wouldn't hurt Mahaad, Yugi was assured of that, but he wondered if Yami would instead hurt himself, by severing all contacts and embracing his grief instead.
********
"Mahaad, not gone," Shelleene insisted. Akai wished he could get the little Duel Monster to understand. It was subtle, but he could see it every time she uttered her simplistic phrase, that Everon, the Summoned Skull, cringed. Mahaad's loss was still too new, too real, too unbelievable to casually talk about.
Something about the way Everon had abruptly stiffened after Shelleene had bumped up against him playfully and started a conversation had alerted Akai to the powerful Duel Monster's distress. He'd walked over to see if there was some way he could help. Soothing the various worries of Yugi's Duel Monsters had become almost second nature since the atelier, and Mahaad, had disappeared.
"Shelleene..." Akai wondered what he could do. How had Mahaad done it? He had watched Mahaad interact with most of the Duel Monsters here in the Magic Box. All of them trusted him and followed his suggestions. Akai had been able to tell that Mahaad was the leader, but it was a leadership granted to him by those he led, not one that Mahaad had seized for himself. Akai wasn't certain, despite knowing that the monsters of Yugi's deck expected him to somehow fill that void, if such 'leadership' had been given to him yet. Maybe he'd lead as Mahaad had...and suggest, rather than command.
"You know that Everon is very strong and very fierce."
"Yes." The little Kuriboh smiled happily. "He's my big friend!"
"Right! But, he can still be hurt..."
"Grr!"
"Oh, not in a duel. But, things can still hurt him. Like talking about Mahaad."
"I not talk about Mahaad to Everon. You."
"Me? Me what?"
"I talk with you."
"Oh. I can talk about Mahaad with you." Shelleene had a very simple way of asking for help.
"You can take care of him." Take care? Of Everon? But they were talking about Mahaad...
"Everon? If you don't mention Mahaad around him right now, you are the best one for taking care of him."
The little Kuriboh shook herself violently in a negative gesture. Her eyes narrowed at Akai in displeasure. "Not Everon! Mahaad!" She sighed heavily. "I take care of Everon. You take care of Mahaad. Then I don't have to take care of Everon anymore; everyone grow happy again!"
Oh. To her simplistic way of thinking, that did make sense. Akai hadn't realized that Shelleene didn't understand...
"Mahaad...is gone." he stated simply.
"I know. You go get him back, k?"
Oh, this was hard! Everyone understood it, so Akai hadn't had to state it baldly before. He had been able to hide from his own sorrow in not having to state the loss openly. The dim little Duel Monster was going to require that he strip his own comfort away to make her understand.
"He's...gone. Not coming back. Uhm...dead." Akai said tonelessly. "Not the Graveyard dead....destroyed dead."
"No."
Shelleene's voice was as toneless as his. No emotion, just fact. Oh, this was hard!
"Not dead. Look." Shelleene floated over and took his hand. She pulled him in a circle, making him look all around them. He saw Everon waiting for him to finish his discussion with the Kuriboh patiently a little way off, Garunon, the Curse of Dragon, performing a loop in the air, Mana talking with Neo...
"I suppose there is a part of him in all the Cards of Yugi's deck," Akai reflected. "But..."
"Stupid!" Shelleene growled at him, her patience with his blindness finally at an end. "Look! Not at the monsters!" She pulled him in a circle again.
Not the monsters? What else was there? Just the trees, the sky, the clearing that was empty of the building of the atelier...
...
"The Magic Box!"
"Finally!" Shelleene smiled at him in satisfaction. "You go find Mahaad now, yes? So everyone happy again?" she flitted off to cheer up Everon as best she could.
Akai just stared after her. She was simple, but that was the best thing of all. She clearly saw the simple truth everyone else had missed. The Magic Box still existed. It was Mahaad's personal magic, therefore, somewhere, somehow, Mahaad still existed. In time with his Kuriboh-inspired revelation, the atelier shimmered back into being.
"Mana! We have research to do!"
-------------
Author's notes -
I am so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! No lengthy explanations, I'll just admit that 'real life' got in the way.
Next Chapter teaser - Chapter Ten - Yami's locked the door between his and Yugi's minds. Akai and Mana discover something...interesting. Yugi must go to a place he's been before, but will he survive the experience? Unless some character or another throws a curve ball my way, this is the final chapter!
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