Chapter Sixteen - Mutual Respect
Yugi wandered around the room that was once again made bright, touching cherished memories in the form of plushies and toys. He laughed mentally that he was "gathering his mind" as he began to sort everything into its proper place. A little clutter didn't bother him, but having everything out of place made him edgy.
He knew at a glance what each object in his room, toy-like or otherwise, stood for. The blanket on his bed signified his feelings for his grandfather. Whenever he was scared or lonely he had only to think about being wrapped in that blanket to remind himself of his grandfather's love and that comforted him.
And the ballerina was his memory of how he met Tea. The 'tough' teddy bear dressed in a leather jacket was how his friendship with Joey appeared in his mind.
Yugi did a quick mental inventory just to make sure everything he cherished was still here. He didn't mind losing the dark shadows of worry, but he didn't want to have lost any memory important to him either. Despite what Mana and Akai said, Yugi was very embarrassed that they had seen his room. It was one thing for Shadi to glance in, or even for Yami to know what Yugi's mind was like, but quite another for his duel monster friends to know just how much of a child he still was.
"But you are still a child." A calm voice told him.
"Mahaad!" Yugi looked up and flushed crimson. Of all the people to have seen this manifestation of his mind, he was the worst!
"Why?" Mahaad stood respectfully at the open door, waiting to be invited in.
"Because...because..."
"Yugi, don't worry. I'm not going to think any less of you because I've seen the straightforward and commendable simplicity of your mind."
The distressed look failed to leave Yugi's face at Mahaad's reassuring words.
"You are still a child." Mahaad repeated his words. "But you are also a young man. It is one of the most amazing properties of human beings that both statements are equally true."
Yugi still looked unconvinced.
"After the Guardian Dark Magician attacked you, you were brought here. After Yami rescued me from the merge with the Guardian Dark Magician, we followed and came here also. I didn't see one thing wrong with your mental room, except for the shadows of worry gathering too thickly around the edges."
"I know, Akai told me how you got rid of them for me," Yugi admitted. "But now -- being here while you are here and can see all the childish things in my mind -- I feel embarrassed."
"You shouldn't. The light and honesty of your mind is refreshing after Yami's shadowed and tortured labyrinth."
Yugi's eyes dropped at that. It was true, Yami's mind had been just as open as his, and Yami hadn't complained about it.
"Uhm, if you want to come in, you can," Yugi finally offered.
Mahaad smiled at him and bowed before entering.
"I've asked Mana and Akai to pay particular attention to you, so they will know if you start to worry over-much again. Yami has given them permission to enter the corridor and knock on your door if they sense you are getting too anxious."
Yugi let the words drift about in his mind while he looked at his visitor. Mahaad was once again garbed in the purple armor of the Dark Magician, grasping the distinctive green staff of the card monster. Only his eyes, containing a soft regard, were unlike that of the Dark Magician. There was a sense of relief, almost an easing of stress in Yugi to see Mahaad once again as the Dark Magician. The slight, nearly imperceptible brightening of Yugi's mind room wasn't lost on his guest. Mahaad smiled.
"Am I that feeble-minded?" Yugi asked quietly.
"'Feeble-minded'?" Mahaad shook his head firmly. "Nothing could be further from the truth. You've coped with things much better than anyone else I can think of, save one. And your coping as well as you do helps him to cope in turn, I am certain. But there's no need for you to endure it all alone, when it is easy enough for us to help you. You treasure the heart of your cards, Yugi. Understand that because of that, we, your cards, treasure you." Mahaad's expression was earnest.
"So, please allow us to concern ourselves with you, and come to help when we can," Mahaad finished simply. He stared into Yugi's eyes for several seconds so that Yugi could read his sincerity for himself. Yugi wondered if Mahaad was also trying to make up his mind about something.
"And you shouldn't feel embarrassed when we do. For, what could be more embarrassing than this?" Mahaad reached down into a shallow pile of plushie-memories and retrieved a purple toy Yugi'd never seen before. Mahaad deposited it into Yugi's arms.
Yugi looked down at the plush toy, noting the amazing details of the armor and wand. The color of the hair and the typical Mahaad-as-the-Dark-Magician's almost-arrogant expression made Yugi giggle.
"Oh...my!"
"This is not a memory that you made. I worry that you might lose some respect for me because of it, but it was crafted for you, and though it does embarrass me, it is right that you know it is here. Mana made it for you, evidently thinking it would cheer you up." Mahaad paused, reflecting.
"Now that I think about it, Akai helped her with his power. So you see, Yugi, you've got absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about!" Mahaad glowered at the toy and then unconsciously matched its intent, nearly-arrogant expression. Yugi laughed. Mahaad sighed.
"I'm never allowed any dignity. Just a little respect, that's all I ask!" Mahaad's tone was teasing, but there was a hint of longing in the aggrieved note of it too.
"I'll always respect you, Mahaad." Yugi offered quietly. "Probably even more now that you didn't try to hide this from me. The Dark Magician, you -- have always been a-a hero to me. I've wanted to be like you ever since I started playing Duel Monsters. If you can handle being embarrassed gracefully, well, that gives me an example of how to be too, doesn't it? So, if Mana and Akai think they need to come here to help me -- I'll let them in. And, uhm..."
"Yes?"
"If you ever wanted to come back here again, I'll definitely let you in too, Mahaad."
Mahaad smiled at that. "I am certain I will visit you here, Yugi. Just because we are friends."
Mahaad smiled as Yugi's arms tightened just a little around the Dark Magician plushie at that. Strange how he didn't feel quite as embarrassed as he thought he would making sure Yugi knew the toy was here and how it came to be.
"Friends..." Yugi reflected.
"Mahaad?"
Mahaad nodded his attention.
"Uhm, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Yami -- he struggles a little, not nearly as much as me, but some, with worry and nightmares too."
Mahaad knew where this big-hearted young man was going to go with this, but let Yugi ask aloud anyway.
"Well, if Mana and Akai are able to kind of keep an eye out for me -- do you think that you might be able to do the same thing for Yami too?"
"Of course, Yugi. And I've already got my partner for that particular task picked out."
Yugi blinked at him.
"Shall I let my partner in?"
Yugi nodded wordlessly. Mahaad strode to the door, leaned out into the corridor, and beckoned.
"Kwee!" Yugi's Kuriboh rushed through the door and across the room to stroke against Yugi's face.
"Cooo!" Shelleene warbled. She then darted down to stroke against the Dark Magician plushie, then up to the level of the real Mahaad's face.
"Coo?" Shelleene giggled. "Can I tell Everon?"
"Don't you dare! I've already sworn Mana and Akai to secrecy about the silly thing!"
Shelleene bounced in the air and snickered. Mahaad's lips thinned as the slightest rose color crept up his cheeks.
"Shelleene?" Yugi called. Immediately she dashed over to rub against him again.
"Can we keep it a secret just between us? I'd like to have a special secret to share with you!"
"Yes! Secret!"
Mahaad smiled that Shelleene agreed to keep the toy a secret. Yugi reached a tentative hand out to pet his fuzzy Kuriboh. She leaned into his hand, mutely begging more attention. Mahaad merely watched as Yugi's quiet moment with the duel monster most ignored by players delighted the little Kuriboh. That gentle openness was Yugi's greatest strength.
"Mahaad?" Yugi asked, still keeping his attention locked on Shelleene.
"Yes, Yugi?"
"The newest toy in my room -- I'm going to keep it on my pillow. Only those memories most important to me can stay on the bed."
"But, it isn't a memory," Mahaad countered.
"It wasn't, but it is now. It's my room, it's my mind, so -- the memories of all that has happened, realizing how much all of you care for me, and respect me, and how much all of you care for each other, all of that, I'm going to put into the Dark Magician. It's a lot for one toy to hold, but I'm sure this one can take it all." Yugi reached out and hugged the plushie to himself with one hand while still petting the Kuriboh. "He's got a great model, after all."
Yugi sat on the bed in his room and firmly placed the Dark Magician plush toy on the pillow. He slid a sideways glance over to watch Mahaad's reaction.
"I am honored, Yugi," Mahaad said simply.
"If you ever want me to come, just to talk, when things are quiet and you aren't dueling, I have a feeling if you hold it and call my name, I'll somehow know."
"That -- that would be neat," Yugi admitted.
"You do realize that you and I are quite a bit alike, don't you?" Mahaad asked, leaning back in the air as if it were an easy chair and crossing his ankles.
Yugi unconsciously shook his head, disagreeing.
"It's true. Both of us in our turn have been the best friend of the Pharaoh, both of us have had our destinies altered by our contact with him..." Mahaad began.
"...and both of us would have it no other way," Yugi finished. "But, Mahaad -- I, I'm not confident, and powerful, like you are. I don't know what needs to be done or how to do important things -- like make the Magic Box or lead everyone who is there so that they are happy."
Shelleene bobbed in the air excitedly and cooed, dashing over to demand attention from Mahaad before returning to flop into Yugi's lap.
"My destiny calls for me to be that way. I was one of the Pharaoh's advisors in ancient Egypt. I was a powerful magician then, before I ever became this," Mahaad gestured to his appearance now.
"But you are called to be by his side in a different way. You share your life and your mind with him. Your greatest strength is your caring nature and the brightness found in this room. Seeing the light here and knowing that Yami's destiny rests in your caring hands, reassures me that Yami will be all right. If I, as I am now, can help you to help him..." Mahaad paused, smiled warmly into Yugi's eyes and finished, "that's a destiny I can easily live with."
"I help too!" Shelleene declared fiercely. Yugi smiled and rubbed the top of her head fondly. She tried her best to purr.
"You don't think that I...well, supplanted you as Yami's friend, do you? When you said we had been his best friend 'in turn', that is?" Yugi asked quietly, glancing up from petting Shelleene.
Mahaad stiffened, very slightly.
"That's wrong! Yami didn't replace you with me as his best friend! I know that I'm important to him, he always calls me 'partner', but, the friendship you share with him is older and -- deeper."
"I was his servant, Yugi. An advisor, certainly, and I know he respected me, and even liked me, but I was always his servant. You are his partner. And that is the way it is destined to be."
"But, but..."
Mahaad smiled, touched that this mattered so much to Yugi, when really, it was perfectly all right.
"Hmmm, tell you what -- why not allow me to be your advisor too?"
"I feel really bad now! Bossing you around in duels and such..."
"Yugi, stop being ridiculous!" Mahaad nearly snapped, taking the tone with Yugi he so often used with Mana.
Yugi blinked up at him, stunned.
"Are you ready to listen?"
Yugi's eyes were wide and wary as he nodded.
"I am your servant too, when I am the Dark Magician in a duel. It is right that you tell me what to do, and proper for me to obey to the utmost of my ability. The only time I will not obey is if a situation such as that with Arcana happens again, and I am in any way able to do anything to protect you and Yami."
Mahaad looked over to see how Yugi was taking his words. Not so well, from the look on his face.
"Now, what I would like to do is be more than a servant outside of duels. I would like to be your advisor and your friend, Yugi, just as I am with Yami."
"R-really?!"
Mahaad couldn't help but smile at the bright and hopeful face Yugi turned up toward him.
"Really." Mahaad replied firmly.
"Yugi? May I come in?" Yami asked at the door. "Oh, hello, Mahaad."
A streak of brownish-green fur pulled up short in front of Yami's face. "And me! I'm here too!" she puffed herself up and narrowed her eyes in displeasure. Yami smiled, and reached a hand out to pet her.
"Hello, Kuriboh."
"Shel-leene. Not that hard to remember, Pharaoh Master!" Shelleene reproved him.
"You've been hanging out with Mahaad, haven't you, Shelleene?" Yami replied, smiling at her audacious behavior.
Shelleene nodded vigorously. "We take care of you, Pharaoh Master, like Mana and Akai take care of Yugi Master!"
"Oh?" Yami slanted teasingly resigned glance Mahaad's way. "I'm sure the reasoning behind this will be interesting."
"Pharaoh," Mahaad stopped floating in the air as the Dark Magician to stand and bow properly.
"Mahaad..."
Mahaad smiled. "Perhaps it is time for Shelleene and me to return to the Magic Box. Until our next visit, Yugi." Mahaad bowed toward him.
"Mahaad..." Yugi echoed Yami's unspoken complaint. Mahaad grinned.
"Farewell, Yugi, Pharaoh, my friends. Come Shelleene, say good-bye. It is time for us to go."
She darted over to brush lightly against Yugi's face again. "Bye-bye, Yugi Master."
She turned to Yami and hesitated. She looked up at Mahaad's face and cooed a question. Mahaad's smile deepened and he nodded.
"Go ahead."
Shelleene brushed lightly, tentatively, against Yami's face. "Bye-bye, Pharaoh Master!" she whispered before her courage left her and she dashed over to Mahaad's side. Yami's mouth gaped open as Mahaad ushered Shelleene out and closed the door to the corridor behind them.
Yugi giggled. "That was funny!"
Yami merely smiled, and gestured. Yugi obligingly scooted over to make room on his bed for Yami to sit. He'd long since given up puzzling how his mind appeared to be a place, with solid things like memory-toys and the sanctuary that was his bed and just accepted it.
Accepted...
He'd had to accept so much lately, that his cards has personality and wills of their own, souls; that Mahaad led them and was concerned for their happiness. That Mahaad's concern had spread to him, and had always been there for Yami. So much had happened! His feelings had gone from bleakest despair to giddy hope all because of his cards. There were times, he didn't want to admit it, where he wondered at his sanity. "The Heart of the Cards" -- they were just cards weren't they?! How could it be that they had names and wills of their own? All too often it seemed as if Yugi's life were bound by magic he didn't understand.
"You've gotten quiet. It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" Yami asked gently.
Yugi paused. He might have doubts that the cards were real, in the quiet moments when they weren't in front of him, but those doubts melted when Yami was around. There was no way that Yami could be a mere figment of his imagination. He was too -- real to be just an imagining.
Then that meant that everything that happened, did happen. He'd dueled with Arcana again, nearly losing his Dark Magician Girl to Arcana's misguided revenge. He'd formally met, lost and retrieved Akai. They'd lost Mahaad in the process of that rescue, and then when they'd finally found him to rescue him...
He, Yugi, had been blasted completely out of Yami's and his own mind by the mysterious Guardian Dark Magician whose task was to guard some dark secret buried in Yami's mind.
Yugi drew his knees up and shivered. Yami smiled gently at him, opened his arms, and pulled Yugi into his embrace.
"My destiny has not been easy on you, has it? I have no idea why it has to be so hard. But, Yugi, I am glad you are here to help me with it. I could not ask for a better partner to be here, at my side."
"Sometimes I feel -- so small, and weak, and..."
"But you aren't! You aren't, Yugi. You are strong in those things where I am weak. And you help me to be strong too. I don't know where my destiny, our destiny, is going to take us, but Yugi," Yami let Yugi go, grasped his shoulders and locked his sincere gaze on Yugi's eyes, "I am happy that I'm sharing it with you."
Yugi thought of all the fun things that had happened. Visiting the Magic Box and meeting his cards, meeting them as if they were people, dueling alongside of them as a Dark Magician -- All of this would not have happened to a person who had a normal destiny.
Of course, that meant there were dangers too. For the longest time it seemed as if everyone he met wanted his Puzzle. He'd been forced into duels in the frightening Shadow Realm more times than he cared to count.
But through it all, Yami had been there. Yami. More than anything, Yugi wanted to help Yami recover his lost memories of his ancient past, and determine what his destiny was to be. It wasn't at all what he thought his own destiny was to be; instead, it was dangerous, exciting, scary, freaky and wondrous all at the same time.
Yugi had wished on the Millennium Puzzle, when he first saw its golden pieces scattered before him, for friends strong, brave and true. He thought that his friendships with Joey, Tristan and Tea were the proof of the granting of that wish. It seemed as if his wish on the Puzzle was still being granted.
He'd discovered new friends. Mahaad, Mana, Akai, Shelleene, Everon, Celedor and the other card monsters -- they were his friends too.
And Yami. Yami was something of a twin that destiny gave him. Yami was strong where Yugi admitted he was weak. Sometimes it seemed as if they were two halves of a single whole. But Yami never made him feel weak or inferior. In fact, Yami listened to him, encouraged him and in a way, empowered him.
Though Yami had been the Pharaoh thousands of years before, and had the weight of a magical destiny to bear, Yami had always --
Respected him. From the very first, Yami had respected him. That was something Yugi couldn't say about Joey or Tristan. Sometimes he wondered about what people thought of him. What did they see? A short kid who was too earnest and nice? A target to be picked on and teased? For so long that was how he was treated. Honestly, he thought that was to be his "destiny".
But ever since solving the Puzzle, that destiny had changed. He was respected as a great duelist. How much of it was Yami and how much was -- him? Ultimately, did it really matter? Yugi knew that Yami respected him. In the end, that was all that mattered.
"Yami, I am happy to be sharing this destiny with you too," Yugi admitted.
Yami turned and smiled at him. Yami's smiles were rare, and most often -- clouded somehow as if he was afraid to admit he was happy, but this smile was as warm and brilliant as the sun. Yami stood and glanced around.
"Is everything in order in your room?" Yami asked.
Yugi stood too, looking about at the brightness of his mind room. His gaze sought out those "objects" most precious to him, finding each one in its place. He stooped to straighten the Dark Magician plushie and set it to its task of guarding the bed.
"Yup."
"Well, then, shall we leave such weighty matters as destinies and respect behind and see about getting something to eat?"
A rumbling sounded through Yugi's mind room at the thought of food.
"Yup! Somehow, I think we are starving!"
Yami smiled.
"So, partner, what say we grab a snack and see what Joey and the others have been up to?"
-end-
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Author's Notes-
::falls over dead (tired):: Finally!
Thank you, everyone, for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you also for everyone who left reviews. I don't ever hold stories "hostage" for more reviews (deplorable behavior, that), but I do like receiving them (even when they are pointing out something I need to fix) and they do encourage me.
As a thank you for your patience there is one more chapter for you. It's an omake (in Japanese the word has a meaning of "something extra" almost like a gift) that takes us back to when Yugi go blasted by the Guardian Dark Magician. Enjoy!
Next chapter teaser - Omake Chapter - Chapter Seventeen - The Heart of the Cards
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 (dot) com