Chapter Six:

Two Hearts Fight For Another

Yugi awoke in the middle of the night in his bunk-bed in the performer dormitories. Marik was snoring in the bed over him, and Joey was still sleeping next to the door with his cloak as a make-shift blanket.

Yugi looked at his friend sadly. Joey had told him that he would make sure the Phantom wouldn't have another chance to take him away, even if he had to guard him day and night. Yugi suspected Joey knew more about the Phantom than he let on, but the truth was that Yugi was half afraid of learning anything more about this murderer…the murderer who taught him everything he knew. The murderer who he had called "Tenshi."

Yugi didn't know what to believe anymore…he had trusted the Phantom with his heart and soul, only to have Tristan die before his very eyes and Joey almost die along with him.

"Who is this Phantom?" he asked himself. "I wish I knew his true motive… are his eyes filled with seduction and sin behind that mask…or is it something else?"

Yugi leaned back against his pillows.

"Grandpa would know…Grandpa was always a great judge of hidden character…if only he was here…"

Yugi, without another thought, climbed out of his bunk, pulled his overcoat over his pajamas and put on some black boots. He took the bouquet of roses he'd received from Joey for "A Tale of Errors" out of its vase near the door, smelling them a little. Then stepping quietly around the sleeping Joey, he left the dormitory.


Yugi came out of the Opera Populaire and paid a coachman to drive him to the Westmont Graveyard.

He looked out the window at the black forest, his thoughts returning to the Phantom.

"What kind of life must he have had in order to be so heartless?" he wondered, "If he can murder without turning a hair, what kind of torture would his life had to have been? Yet…he seemed so sincere and kind when I first met him…"


"I sing and play," said the Phantom quietly, "Unfortunately, talent in both is very rare…you are the only one I've ever known to be so wonderful in both…being taught and doing."

"You are a wonderful teacher," Yugi muttered.

The Phantom looked back at the music he was trying to write, and there was slight silence.

"Sensei," Yugi asked, "What are you writing?"

"You shall see, Aibou," the Phantom replied with a mischievous smile, "I am not yet finished with it…but I shall say that it is an Opera."

"An Opera?" Yugi repeated.

The Phantom nodded. "An Opera with dueling…an Opera for us."


Yugi could hear the Phantom's words almost as clearly as he was saying them to him now.

"He is indeed in my mind…" he thought. "But…am I not able to forget the Phantom because of his seduction…or because I felt feelings for him?"


Marik tossed and turned in his bed, talking and drooling in his sleep, before turning over enough to fall off the top bunk. His head hit the floor sharply and he woke up.

"AHHH!"

He also woke up the sleeping Joey.

"Marik, what the hell are you doing?" snapped the young patron, "You probably woke up-"

His eyes widened in horror at the sight of an empty bunk behind the cursing Marik.

"Yugi!"


The carriage stopped in front of the Westmont Graveyard, and Yugi thanked the coachman as he got out of the carriage and entered the old churchyard.

Yugi, clutching the bouquet of roses close to his chest, came to a stop in front of his dear Grandfather's grave.

"Grandpa…" he whispered, his eyes filling up with tears. "I wish you were here with me now…I sure could use your guidance."

"You were my only companion…
You were all that mattered…
You taught me so much, Grandfather…
Then my world was shattered.

Wishing you were somehow here again,
Wishing you were somehow near…
Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed,
Somehow you would be here…

Wishing I could hear your voice again,
Wishing you could help me through
All of these fears, these held-back tears…
Tell me what I could do…"

He placed the roses next to the grave, and then prayed silently.

"Yugi…"

Yugi whirled around, and standing there was the Phantom.

"You," he breathed.

The Phantom sat down in the snow next to him. Yugi almost felt like running, and yet, he couldn't make himself move.

The Phantom's eyes (although Yugi could not see them) were reading the letters on his Grandfather's grave.

Yugi finally spoke. "Why are you here?"

The Phantom turned to look at him. "Am I not allowed to check up on my Aibou?"

Yugi involuntarily felt himself flinch at the slight coldness in his voice. He looked away.

"Have you forgotten your Tenshi, Yugi?" the Phantom asked quietly.

Yugi turned to stare at him. At first, he did not reply. Then he whispered, "No."

The Phantom smiled, but before Yugi could notice, he said, "But I also have not forgotten the Phantom's murder."

The Phantom's jaw clenched. "I warned those fools who run my theatre about not obeying my orders. C'est trop mal that they didn't heed my advice."

"It's not too bad," Yugi said quietly, "It's death. You can't tell me that you enjoy death."

The Phantom smirked. "Death means nothing to me. I feel no fear of death. I've wanted to die for a while…I just don't think now is the opportune moment as my creativity is still flowing."

"But you don't enjoy it?" Yugi pressed.

"Depending on who's being murdered, Aibou," replied the Phantom, "The Stage-Hand's death meant nothing to me, but there are definitely one or two people I'd love to destroy as they're getting in my way to get what I want."

"And what do you want?" snapped Yugi, "Pain and suffering? Complete obedience? The Opera Populaire itself?"

"No," whispered the Phantom, "I want la lumiere. I want l'innocence. I want l'amore…and this is all secretly."

Yugi despite himself felt surprise. "You…you want love?"

The Phantom stood up, turning away from the boy.

"You don't know how lucky you are, Aibou…" he whispered, "Your Grandfather loved you more than life itself…the whole theatre loves you in one way or another…Joseph Wheeler loves you," these words were a growl, "Marik Ishtar loves you as a friend."

He turned back to look at the small boy. "You are surrounded by love and thoughts of love…while I was always alone in darkness with no one to love me and the only company was my music and my Duel Monsters. My own mother threw me out of my crib as a child, despite any possible motherly love she could've had in that cold heart of hers! The only love I've ever known…was your love for me as a sensei…"

Yugi stood up as the Phantom came back to him.

"My first lesson was to learn to be lonely, Aibou…and yet, I wished I could defy my lessons and actually have company…someone to talk and listen to…someone who'd actually look at me for who I am…behind the black mask…"

The Phantom took the smaller boy's hands in his, and Yugi looked straight into where he thought the Phantom's eyes would be behind his mask.

"Please, Yugi…I don't want to be alone anymore…you've been the only person I've ever known to give me a chance…as the person I was never able to be…please don't make me go back to dark loneliness after knowing your light…Aibou, I-"

"Yugi!"

Yugi turned around to gawk at Joey as he rode up on his white horse.

"Get away from him!" Joey snarled at the Phantom threateningly.

The Phantom's mouth went up in an evil smirk, and Yugi suddenly felt his wrist being grabbed painfully and possessively.

"You'll have to take him," the Phantom hissed in relish, as Yugi gave out a cry of pain when the Phantom's short but sharp fingernails clawed into his skin.

Joey jumped off the horse, looking ready to tear him apart.

"I am Yugi's sensei, monsieur," the Phantom whispered, "He is mine, and he always has been. So if you want to keep your life, you'll stay out of my way."

"I won't let you hurt Yugi!" Joey snapped.

The Phantom laughed mockingly. "Hurt? What makes you think I want to hurt him? I'm just claiming what is mine; Yugi was even willing to be mine…I was his Tenshi of Games…"

"If you're really a Tenshi of Games," whispered Joey, "Then I suggest you prove it!"

"Is that a challenge?" the Phantom asked derisively.

Joey activated the Duel-Disk on his arm. "Duel me, and if I win, you'll let Yugi go!"

"Alors," hissed the Phantom, activating a hidden Duel-Disk on his arm, "But if I win, I take your life!"

Joey: 4000

Phantom: 4000

"Duel!"