Akai closed his eyes. He calmed his breathing and slowed his mind down from the rocketing maelstrom of hope, worry and trepidation that seemed to be the norm here in the Magic Box. He thought back to all that had happened since he opened his eyes in what appeared to be an Egyptian tomb and spoke with the one Mahaad referred to as 'my Pharaoh'.
He'd been led here by Mahaad, to the Magic Box, the place where the duel monsters could exist outside of duels. He'd learned to his dismay that all the duel monsters of Yugi's deck had some concern about his being here, a concern that ranged all the way up to loathing in Mana's case.
He'd learned the full extent of the evil Arcana was capable of, gazing at the tattered shreds of his fellow Dark Magician cards from Arcana's deck, and realizing the horror Arcana proposed to inflict on Mana.
He'd discovered how far down into his being his feelings went, when he willingly gave everything up to try to save Mana.
He'd been humbled by how deeply the other cards of Yugi's deck had come to care for him, and how fair and honest Mana was, as proven by how much all of them fought to regain him. He'd been stunned to learn how much his duelist cared for him, and respected him, when Yami and Yugi arrived within the Magic Box to help with the massive combined magic required to rescue him.
He'd been awed by how true and steadfast Mahaad's friendship was, that Mahaad would willingly place himself into grave peril to try to rescue him.
He'd realized how much he had come to care for all of them in turn; he, who after he had felt so betrayed by Arcana decided that he would never care for anyone. His jaded bitterness was as nothing to the power of respect and friendship.
He'd learned...he was a pretty good friend too. He wanted to bring Mahaad back. It didn't matter that he was now the top card in the Magic Box, and that if Mahaad returned he would forever be relegated to a number two position. When he'd first come here, he thought his goal was to somehow perform one act of his own will in a duel. With Dark Retribution, he'd done that. Now, his goal...
His goal was to duel for Yugi. And to be a good friend to all of Yugi's cards.
And that meant using every ounce of power, every iota of will and every erg of effort to bring Mahaad back.
So...to the place where it all began. He had to somehow find a way to return to the contradictory, phantom tomb of an ancient, though still-living pharaoh.
He reached for Mana's hand, then pushed gently and precisely against his Dark Magic with all of his heart.
And they disappeared.
--------
Yugi turned and groaned. He stood up slowly, as he had stiffened while sleeping fitfully in the corridor between his and Yami's mind. He wondered, not for the first time, that all of this seemed so real to him. He reached out and felt the coolish, rough surface of the hewn rock of the corridor's walls. When he brushed his fingers against a bit of lichen it even felt tacky!
He knew this place was only in his mind. He knew that if he entered his mind room and fell asleep there, he would 'wake up' in the real world, the one with his friends, Joey, Tea and Tristan. That world, the real one, has his grandfather, his grandfather's shop, his school, when he wasn't on semester break like now, and everything else physical and 'real'.
This...place, for that was how it seemed to him, held ancient prophecies and destinies, darkened secrets and remnants of forbidden magic. It also held truths deeper than any he'd ever known and the partner his solving the Millennium Puzzle tied his destiny to. Yugi didn't think he could ever go back to the simple destiny that was his before he solved the Puzzle. After 'meeting' Yami, Yugi didn't want to.
Yami respected him. Yami had never seen Yugi as someone to be ridiculed, as even Yugi's best friend, Joey, had at one point. Yami always had faith in him.
Maybe it was just that someone believed in him, but Yugi had found more strength in himself than he ever believed he held. It was that strength that helped him keep both sides of his life, the real one of the physical world and the prophecy-laden one of the Shadow Games from driving him mad.
Yugi shook his head, wondering at just how complex his life had become. He lifted his hand away from the lichen-marbled wall and rubbed his fingertips against his sleeve to get the sticky feeling out of his fingertips.
Despite his musings about his two worlds, Yugi knew that Yami was just as real as any of his friends. This reality existed only in his mind, but it was a reality he shared with Yami. Yugi might have worried about his sanity if not for that, and if not for the fact that he knew it was the power of the Millennium Puzzle that created this pocket reality.
He respected Yami's command to not enter Yami's 'room', but that didn't mean he was completely cut off from his partner. He could tell that Yami was still locked in grief. He knew that Yami was still mourning all alone in a dark and quiet corridor, weeping even, for his lost friend, Mahaad.
"Yami."
--------
It was too much to bear, this destiny of his.
Destiny had demanded too much from him already. He had nothing left to give.
He still didn't remember it all, but each new room he discovered in his mind was a new memory of his old life that he managed to reclaim.
Though there was much yet to remember, Yami had regained a great deal of his past history. Most of his memories of Mahaad were now his again, as he'd concentrated on discovering those memories in particular after Yugi's Purple Dark Magician had revealed that he was Mahaad.
Perhaps that was why this hurt so much. If he hadn't regained those memories, he wouldn't feel the depth of anguish he was suffering now.
If only...
If only he knew more about the Puzzle. He knew that it was an ancient, powerful magic from the by-gone days of the pharaoh he'd once been in Egypt. He knew that it housed powerful magic, dangerous magic, the magic of the Shadow Games. He didn't know if it was the source of power for the Shadow Games, or a key to lock those dangerous powers away. He knew that when Yugi solved the Puzzle, Yugi's destiny became tangled in his.
He didn't know how tightly that destiny had been woven. Yugi and he shared a single being, with their minds mercifully divided by the corridor they shared equally.
Thinking of the corridor brought Yami a strong, clear, mental picture of Yugi waiting in that corridor for him to respond to the polite knocks on his door.
He wasn't mad at Yugi. He didn't want to cause the young one any distress or pain, but he couldn't bear to see him now.
He couldn't bear his own thoughts.
He couldn't bear his memories, the ones he recalled and the ones still hidden.
He couldn't bear that Mahaad, who had been part of his life in ancient Egypt, and part of his life is this modern time, was gone.
He couldn't bear his destiny.
He couldn't bear that Yugi had been snared into that destiny.
That shared web of destiny was the only reason Yami didn't seek some way to destroy the blasted Puzzle that had brought him such pain.
If he could be certain such an act wouldn't endanger Yugi, Yami would risk destroying the Puzzle. He had a very strong feeling that destroying the Puzzle would destroy him too, releasing him from this awful destiny.
He didn't want to see another friend sacrifice himself for him as Mahaad had done. The guilt he felt that Mahaad had willingly given up his destiny, to take up a new and altered one, as his regained memories had revealed, rose in him again. That Mahaad had lost it all trying to control the power of the Millennium Puzzle was a final twist of the knife of grief buried in his heart.
--------
"Oh, no!" Mana cried out as she and Akai appeared in the corridor between Yugi and Yami's minds. She dashed over to kneel at Yugi's side, where he'd seemingly collapsed in the corridor. She had no idea where they were, but Yugi's condition worried her more.
It took Akai a moment longer to gain his bearings, as he had expected to materialize in the tomb, not in this corridor he'd never seen before.
"Yugi! Yugi! Are you all right?" Mana asked lifting his shoulders from the ground.
Yugi's eyes opened. Their purple color was misty with sleep-wrought confusion.
"Mana?" he scooted back up to sit against the door again. "I must be dreaming. I've never done that here before."
Akai knelt next to him too.
"You're not dreaming. Mana and I are really here, though I was trying to bring us to the other side of this door," he told him.
"R,really? How did you...?" Yugi began before rubbing his eyes to clear his sleepy thoughts. "Don't tell me, 'Dark Magic'. Sure wish I could use it, it seems to be very useful!"
"Okay," Yugi sighed as he put his hands on the ground to stand up. Before he could complete his action, as one, Mana and Akai assisted him to his feet.
"Maybe I was better off down there," Yugi teased. "I always forget how tall you Dark Magicians are!"
Akai smiled.
"Either I've totally lost my grip on reality, or both of you are really here," Yugi pondered. "I should probably worry that both options seem equally reasonable to me."
Akai and Mana exchanged concerned looks. There was no way to convince Yugi they were really here!
"Uhm...assuming I'm not insane, why are you here?" Yugi finally asked.
"We think we've found Mahaad!" Mana told him breathlessly.
Yugi just blinked up at them, too stunned for words. Akai nodded firmly. "But it's in the other place in your mind, the Pharaoh's tomb."
"H,how...?"
"We think it's because Mahaad was using the Puzzle when he disappeared. It was too powerful for him to channel, even with Yami's help, because he is now only a duel monster," Mana explained.
"True, but because Yami, the Pharaoh, appeared and tried to help, Mahaad's soul was brought into the Puzzle," Akai continued.
"We think. At least, when I try to follow the trail of Mahaad's magic, that's where it goes," Mana finished.
Yugi stared up at them, with the beginning of a hopeful smile dawning on his face.
"But, that's wonderful! If we can find him, we can help Yami!"
"Help...Yami?" Akai and Mana asked as one.
"He was gonna curse Mahaad for sacrificing himself again. I managed to talk him out of it somehow, and since then..."
"Curse?! No, not the Pharaoh's Curse!" Mana cried out.
Yugi nodded. "But he won't. He promised me."
Yugi's expression fell a little.
"But ever since then, he won't let me in," Yugi admitted. "And, I can tell, he's...suffering."
All three of them fell silent considering that. Mahaad was certainly important to each of them, but Mahaad was Yami's best friend. It was only natural that Yami would feel Mahaad's loss keenly.
"Well, then, let us see what we can do about this door," Akai decided. "Have you tried to open it?"
Yugi shook his head. "Uhm, no. Just knocking."
"I think our news is welcome enough that Yami will forgive us for rudely barging in," Akai replied. He put his hand to the knob and turned. That is, tried to turn it.
"Locked," he reported.
Mana stared at Akai until she caught his eye.
"Yugi, perhaps we should walk a few yards up the corridor," Akai suggested. Once they were out of the immediate area, Mana sliced a Dark Magic blast along the wall toward the door. It deflected across the door, whining down the corridor away from the three of them.
"This is going to be harder than I thought," Mana observed, seeing as how her blast only singed the lichen on the wall. She tried again.
--------
"This is pointless," Yugi sighed what seemed like hours later.
Akai's magic, Mana's magic, Akai's and Mana's magic combined, all three of them pushing on the door, banging on the door, calling Yami's name...none of it served to open the door into Yami's mind even the tiniest crack. Never had Yugi felt so helpless.
"Darn Yami's stubbornness!" Mana pouted. "It's just like when he was the Pharaoh!" Akai had long since taken up a position leaning against the wall, cupping his chin and pondering the immovable door.
"Yami, please...please, let us in," Yugi pleaded most earnestly, with the palms of his hands flat against the door. It was probably the thousandth time he'd begged.
"Yugi..." Mana didn't like to see him so quietly defeated. "In Egypt, long ago, the Pharaoh would sometimes go into his chambers for days on end when he was upset. It's not that he doesn't care about you, it's just..."
Akai pushed himself up from his position on the wall, breaking Mana's train of thought. His gesture was crisp as he motioned for them to back away from the door. Yugi and Mana traded a worried glance at the resolve in Akai's eyes, a bit frightened at the power a ticked-off Dark Magician might be able to tap.
Akai merely laid his hands upon the door as Yugi had done.
"Enough is enough. This is frustrating everyone, and starting to hurt both Yugi and Yami. If the Pharaoh is too stubborn to open the door, will you not grant us entrance...Mahaad?"
"Akai..." Yugi began, thinking that the Red Dark Magician's mind must have snapped.
The door quietly opened.
"I would say we are finally on the right track," Akai observed. "Mahaad is not dead. Somehow he is safe in the tomb in Yami's mind!"
Yugi blinked hard. He didn't want the sudden tears of relief that flooded his eyes to spill and betray his weakness.
Mana sank to her knees, dropping her wand to clatter against the floor.
"He's here...I wasn't sure...didn't want to believe...."
She raised both hands to cover her face. Yugi couldn't help it. His tears slid from his eyes, but he didn't care as he reached his arm around Mana's shaking shoulders to offer her support and comfort.
"Let's go find him so we can stop Yami's sulking," he suggested.
Akai nodded, agreeing with Yugi's plan as he bent down to retrieve Mana's wand as Yugi helped her to stand again.
"I will go first, then you, Yugi, and Mana will follow. I suspect there are dangers inside. If anything should happen to us, Yugi, please, will you return to the safety of this corridor, or your room?" Akai formed it as a question, but Yugi knew it was more of a command. He nodded anyway, touched that Akai was concerned for him.
"I've been in the tomb before. None of the traps seemed to bother me," Yugi offered.
"I'm not willing to take anything for granted. Shall we?"
--------
Yami had long since stopped paying attention to Yugi's attempts to get into his room. There was no way the young one could muster the power to open the door until he allowed it to, and he was not yet ready to face anyone, even Yugi, so he just ignored the knocking, banging and pleas.
He'd apologize to his partner later...if there was a later. Right now, he didn't want to continue living.
He suspected that worse things had happened to him in the past, but he didn't want to try to find the strength to go on. Maybe, if he just stayed in this abandoned corridor in the labyrinth of his mind, his destiny would get bored with him and leave him alone. Maybe he could just slip into a forever sleep and not have to deal with any other friends dying to serve his cruel, cruel destiny.
"You're just going to give up then?" a disapproving voice demanded.
Yami uncurled from his grief, stung by the censure in the unexpected voice. He looked up.
"Mana!"
"Some Pharaoh you are! Hmph," she turned her back with a decisive flounce.
"Mana!" Akai protested.
"Yami...," Yugi knelt down and took Yami's shoulders into his hands. "You know you don't have to deal with anything alone, right? But...I guess it gets tiresome always having me hanging around. I'm sorry we intruded into your mind, but, we have good news."
Instantly Yami felt shame that Yugi felt he wasn't wanted.
"Yugi, I..."
"Later. We think we've found Mahaad," Yugi interrupted him.
"Found...Mahaad?!"
"He's here, Yami. In the Puzzle, or in your mind. He's the one who opened the door to let us in here," Yugi explained.
"Mahaad's not dead?"
"I followed the master's power to a place that seemed like a tomb. Akai recognized the tomb I described and brought us here," Mana told him. "Well, not here, but the corridor between your minds. Since you were being too stubborn in your grief to let anyone in!"
"Mana, Akai, Yugi...I'm sorry. I didn't know," Yami looked down at the floor in thought. "Are you sure? He's here...safe, in my mind?"
"I'm not sure how safe it is," Yugi admitted, thinking back to some of the traps that troubled them on the way to find Yami, "but he's here. How else did the door open when Akai thought to ask Mahaad to open it?"
"Since you were being so awful about it!" Mana added tartly.
"Enough, Mana. I am certain that Yami knows who he's going to have to have a discussion with, and apologize to, once we've finished our task here. For now, shall we see what we can do about bringing Mahaad back and bringing some level of normalcy back to here and to the Magic Box?" Akai suggested.
He offered his hand to help Yami up.
Yami dusted himself off, taking a moment to compose his thoughts too. He didn't dare to believe in what they were claiming. Yet, somehow, they had entered his mind when he didn't let them in. Come to think of it, it would be just like Mahaad to have gotten himself stuck here and interfere to let Yugi and the others in to find him. He'd probably give Yami a hard time about sinking into a depression over him. Yami decided abruptly that if that happened...
...he'd be too relieved to care.
"So...any ideas where to look? This maze sometimes seems to be endless!"
Mana's smile fell. "I thought you would know where he might be," she admitted. "I can't sense his magic at all here within the tomb."
"We can just start looking, I guess," Yami sighed. "And hope we get lucky. Who knows how long it will take!"
"I think..." Yugi began. "I think I might know exactly where he is!"
---------------------
Author's notes -
Just a few more chapters and then I've got to end this! Originally, I was going to have Arcana put Mana in peril, have Akai sacrifice himself to rescue her, have Mahaad and Mana (and the rest of Yugi's Duel Monsters) rescue Akai, and that would be it.
Since then, I've managed to lose Mahaad, started to explore the inner workings of Yami and Yugi's Millennium Mind and concocted plans for one more (I lie, two more) dramatic twists.
I'm afraid a formula is developing, put [insert character name here] into peril, rescue said character, put [insert different character name here] into peril, rescue said character... I don't want to be predictable. It's boring to read a story wrapped around a formula.
And so, as Yami complains in a chapter I'm still working on, "Mahaad, you and I need to somehow or another stop all this chaos." (Of course I bring Mahaad back! Some of you are such YOLFs!) Still, I've got to come up with a way to bring this runaway story to a good ending. Poor Yugi does have an ordinary life to lead, after all!
Next chapter teaser - Chapter 13 - ???????? Dark Magician. Hmm, wonder what the question marks stand for?
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(at)stargarde.com