Author's Note: This story was created for a contest on Kokoro No Naka dot Net, as a pairing fiction challenge. However, this fiction has quickly become one of my favorites, and has achieved the very high honor of making me cry the first time I read it all the way through. I hope you enjoy it and the emotions it entails.
The moon grinned brightly and gleefully into Maximillion Pegasus' sleeping room, apparently delighting in keeping him awake for the fourth night in a row. Rising from his bed in dull frustration, he closed the curtains, effectively blotting out at least half the sharp light, and sighed deeply.
It had been one of those nights…a night in which his thoughts were again clouded by the intense longing for Cecilia, both in body and in spirit. He missed her bright laughter, like the tiny ringing peals of the smallest golden church bells. He missed her gentle, supportive, loving smile that always seemed to calm and tame his tortured artist's soul. He missed the secret, wispy touches of her slender fingers on his body, touches that left his flesh aflame long after she had gone home and he was lying in his bed alone. But he could no longer see her, hear her, or be near her, and that was where his mind confounded itself, over and over again until the sun rose and it was time to act like a normal human being again.
"Why couldn't I have just died when that…that evil spirit took my Eye?" Pegasus muttered to himself, standing at the window and grasping the curtain fabric in a white-knuckled grip. "Why couldn't I have just bled to death then? …I would have been with her again, much sooner."
A boiling, transparent tear fell lightly from his good eye, leaving a damp spot on his pajama shirt, and he stopped himself from speaking aloud anymore. Croquet probably thought he was crazy, waking up at all hours of the night, speaking to a presence that wasn't there. But, as Yugi had so kindly and yet so painfully pointed out, he had done quite a number of strange and desperate things in Cecilia's name.
After all, he had created the Duel Monsters game--his brainchild--out of his anguish, trying desperately to keep his mind busy enough to stop his burning crying. He had mastered his Millennium Item, used it to work his way to power, even planned on bartering other people's souls for the soul of his beloved. And yet, where did it all get him, in the end?
"It got me nowhere," whispered Pegasus tersely, apparently unaware that his thoughts had transferred back to speech. "It got me absolutely nowhere." Finally releasing the curtains from his stranglehold grip, he let out a sigh of deep exhaustion and got back into bed, shutting out the world with a flutter of his eyelid.
The next moment, he was aware of a floating sensation, as if being buoyed by water. But a quick look around revealed nothing except dark violet space; perhaps having only one eye did have its disadvantages.
"Where am I?" Pegasus said to no one in particular, now searching around himself in disbelief. As he watched, the space around him became absolutely filled with rippled, dancing white light, like the reflected play of sun rays on gently waving water. And…there was a tremendous sense of absolute peace.
His heart felt suddenly lifted and lightened, as if nothing could ever go wrong again, as if suddenly his world were set right again. It was not until a pair of slender hands covered his eyes and a lighthearted giggle resounded throughout the space that Pegasus realized why he felt suddenly complete.
"Cecilia?" he whispered, almost afraid to speak her name for fear it would shatter the experience. Too many nights he'd awoken from similar dreams, whispering her name joyfully and clutching his bedcovers tight to his body, only to be dashed against the dawn's cruel, unfailing light.
"You would think it was someone else?" replied a dulcet feminine voice, teasingly. In a flash, the hands lifted from his eyes, and he gasped as Cecilia finally appeared before him.
Dressed in a blue gown that glowed faintly, long wavy blonde hair glinting in the light, flowing about her porcelain-colored face, softly brushing her rosy cheeks and full lips…Pegasus could hardly breathe. If it was possible, she was more beautiful than he remembered. The gentleness and kindness of her soul had more than likely lent its inimitable glow and beauty to her physical features.
"Maximillion," she breathed softly. "I've missed you so…"
Pegasus was struck dumb, unable to speak the sublime joy that was slowly spreading throughout his entire being. He could only open his arms, welcoming her delicate form into his embrace, rejoicing silently as her willowy arms similarly embraced him. He could feel the fine, silky strands of her hair against his face and neck as he held her, could feel her warm, light breath against his chin as she looked upwards, and tender blue eyes met a soft brown eye. But she suddenly drew back slightly, looking at him with concern.
"Your eye…" she said softly in confusion, reaching upward with one hand and tracing the bone that framed the now-sightless eye socket. "How long?"
"Since I lost you," Pegasus replied quietly. "My world has been darkness since then. But the loss of my eye was only part of that."
Cecilia nodded, taking in all the meanings of his response, and her eyes darkened slightly with a like sorrow. At length, she managed to smile. "I don't think you'll ever have to fear the darkness again," she whispered to him, and he could feel her hand caressing the left side of his face, over the battered eyelid which now closed over nothingness. Reveling in feeling her touch again, he closed his good eye.
A gentle kiss awoke him from his trance, and he looked down at her, smiling faintly. "I've missed that," he whispered, feeling as if his heart was soaring.
"I know," she replied. Then she broke into a big smile. "And I've missed seeing those eyes light up like that," she said. "It's been so long…"
"Eyes?" he questioned, softly. Then he reached up to the left side of his face, where only a partially-healed hole had been before, and to his surprise, he could see his fingertips, could see how they brushed against his left eye's eyelashes. He gasped.
"I…my eye…you…" He stuttered broken sentence fragments briefly, and she shushed him with a kiss.
"It's all right, Maximillion," she whispered. "Never you mind how. All that matters is that you are whole again." Then she grinned, stroking his long silver hair back away from his face. "Though I loved you anyway."
Finally, Pegasus smiled, his face bearing a light of happiness that had not been there in a long time. The space around Cecilia and himself seemed to grow brighter and brighter, the light dancing and swirling around the two of them, and he felt as if he could just dissolve into it, holding Cecilia at long last, feeling her warmth pressed against him and hearing her sweet voice whispering words of love…
Croquet rose from sleep a little later than usual, as the red light of morning awakened him with a harsh beam directed straight into his eyes. He hurriedly fitted himself with the earbud and walkie-talkie that was customary for Pegasus' aides, mentally cursing himself for being late, and quickly walked down the hall from his room, past Pegasus' room, and turned the corner toward the stairwell. He was halfway to the stairs when he nearly bumped into Kemo.
"Oh, there ya are, Croquet," Kemo said, breathing rather heavily as if he had been walking for a while. "Been looking for ya."
"I was asleep longer than I should have been," Croquet said, matter-of-factly. He studied his subordinate's face carefully, noting his discomposure. "Something's wrong?"
"Uh, well, nothing really, I guess," Kemo said sheepishly, rifling his short hair in a gesture of what appeared to be nervousness. "It's just that some of the night guards on duty last night heard Master Pegasus talking…in his sleep, I guess. Probably had another dream of the lady he always paints."
"Cecilia," Croquet said quietly, knowing exactly to what Kemo referred. He sighed heavily. "Well, if that's so, I'll probably have to go in there and talk to him. He's always so upset after he dreams of her."
Kemo shrugged. "Well, you're better at it than I am. I can't handle him when he's cryin' and blowin' snot bubbles like a little kid." He gave Croquet a friendly clap on the shoulder. "I'll stay around, 'least 'til you see if he's all right, though."
"Thanks," Croquet replied. He went back the way he came, stopping at Pegasus' door and listening carefully for any audible signs of wakefulness within the room. There was none.
Kemo came up behind him. "Think he's sleepin' in?"
"I don't know," Croquet whispered. He opened the door as silently as possible, turning the knob carefully so it wouldn't creak or click. "Master Pegasus?" he called into the room, his voice croaking a bit with the remainder of sleep.
No answer.
"Master Pegasus…I just came to see if—" But as the door fully opened, Croquet suddenly stopped mid-sentence and strode right into the room. Kemo knew better than to waltz in after him—Croquet was now a man on duty, and it wasn't a duty he was eager to help with.
Croquet looked down at the face of his employer as the dawn's light cast its rosy shade over the bed. But even the warm shades of pink and orange playing over Pegasus' features could not disguise the slight grayish tinge to his pale skin. Trying to keep his manner businesslike, Croquet placed two fingers on the side of Pegasus' throat, feeling for the familiar pulse—he had done this many times before, when Pegasus had fallen into a dead faint sometimes after dreaming of his lost love. But this time, his fingers could not find the steady throb of the jugular vein under the skin, and Pegasus was cold to the touch.
Letting out a quiet breath, half shocked and half resigned, Croquet stood back slightly from the bed, processing what had apparently happened. Pegasus still lay motionless in bed, his silver hair partially splayed across the pillows and across his face; he hugged his thick coverlet to his chest with both hands, with a beaming smile on his face the likes of which Croquet had never seen on him before. His one good eye was eerily open, and his hair thankfully covered the socket of the other eye.
"Hey…Croquet." Kemo was suddenly there beside the bed. "What's goin' on? It got real quiet in here."
"He's gone, Kemo," Croquet said finally, his voice as numb as he felt. "He's gone."
Kemo grunted, looking dubious. "You're kidding me." But Croquet only shook his head, and looked down at Pegasus again.
Both men stood in silence for a minute, unable or unwilling to break the tense atmosphere. Then, finally, Kemo let out a low whistle. "Man…I never thought he'd just…just up and die on us."
Croquet did not respond. Sensing that his boss was very uneasy, Kemo managed a tight, nervous laugh. "Well…at least it looks like he went happy. I--I ain't never seen a bigger smile in my life." He nudged Croquet. "Maybe he finally found that lady from his pictures, huh?"
At this, Croquet managed to look up at Kemo, a tiny smile finally curving the thin, pressed lips. "You know, I think you're right, Kemo." He turned back at Pegasus, and bent slightly over the thin body to close both eyelids, out of respect. With a sigh, he straightened up, and looked out the window, beyond to the open blue ocean and sky. "I think he's finally happy," he said, in almost a whisper.
A little later, as the crew of the castle gathered for the hurried staff meeting, both Croquet and Kemo would swear to have heard a pair of delighted laughs, one masculine, one feminine, from just outside Pegasus' bedroom window. Two flashes, one of silver and the other of gold, had momentarily blinded the two men, so that they were unable to see where the laughter came from. But after the laughter had faded, an unshakable feeling of peace flooded Pegasus' bedroom, a complete, joyful silence that had not been there since Cecilia had died years before.
Taking into account that both Croquet and Kemo were fairly practical and down-to-earth men, the rest of their coworkers seemed to accept the tale with reverence and quiet. Some of the men even wiped away a little moisture from their eyes, quickly, so as not to be thought less masculine for it. Why did such bittersweet tears rise to their eyes? Perhaps the tears were for sadness, realizing the end of a man's life; but perhaps it was for the realization that Pegasus was truly a happier man now. He had indeed ceased to be, but had also ceased to be incomplete.