The Spirit of the Ring was being cautious. He had seen someone sneaking around tonight, someone who made him think that there were other powers besides those he knew moving in this place tonight. He had caught a glimpse of a man in white robes and had stared long and thoughtfully at him from the place where he hid. Three thousand years sealed in a Ring may have dulled the Spirit's memories of his distant past somewhat, but he still remembered the important faces well enough. Certainly he would never forget the faces of his enemies, even if he had to walk the earth another thirty thousand years.
So, you made it back too, Shada - or whatever you're calling yourself now. Well, I can't say I'm glad to see you, but I expect the feeling is mutual.
The Spirit had kept to the shadows until the mysterious man had passed him by. If the situation had been a bit different - say, if there hadn't been the chance that Yugi or even Pegasus might happen by and get involved - the thief might have tried something, but he preferred to pick off his enemies one at a time. He also liked to know a bit more about them before he tackled them, and he had no way of knowing whether this person was an Item holder, or simply a person with a remarkable resemblance to the man who had carried the Millennium Key three millennia ago. It would also be foolish to assume that the man didn't remember him. He didn't even know for sure if he had really seen what he'd thought he'd seen, or whether the glimpse he'd caught had simply been a result of an overactive imagination. No, much better to stay hidden until he knew more about what was going on.
It wasn't long after the man had passed by that the Spirit decided that his caution had been wise. Only a few minutes later, he heard the sounds of someone crying out in pain, and he turned to it as a shark would turn towards the scent of blood. He was mildly surprised to see Pegasus come running headlong down the halls, still clad in his pajamas and looking as if all the dark things of the Shadow Realm were out to get him. The dark spirit grinned ferally; anything that put Pegasus in that state could only be useful to him.
"Well, hello there," he said, stepping out of his hiding place. "You look like you're having a difficult night."
Pegasus stopped and stared at him - blankly, then with growing recognition. His already pale face took on a grayish tinge, and he stepped backwards a few paces.
"You!"
"Surprised to see me?" asked the Spirit. "Oh, yes, I remember now - you arranged to have someone shoot me and leave me to bleed to death. Why are you looking so unhappy to see me? I thought you liked people coming back from the dead."
Pegasus whimpered, looking panicked. The thief laughed.
"Oh, is that what's bothering you? Let me guess - your little pet worked out what's really going on. Well, I give you credit for choosing an intelligent partner. Pity she's cleverer than you are, or you would have realized this would happen. So now she's a bit annoyed at you playing with her life, is that it? Or is this just your reaction to her natural revulsion at learning just what kind of a man you really are?"
He paused to see what kind of reaction his words were getting, and had to stifle a laugh. Pegasus was staring at him with the uncomprehending look of a wild animal cornered by hunters. The Spirit of the Ring could have recited nursery rhymes at him for all the sense they would have made to him. There was nothing left in the man's mind but a comprehension that he was at the end of his rope, and an animal's panicked response to try to flee even when there was no longer any escape. The flickers of insanity that the thief had seen behind Pegasus's single eye were rising ever closer to the surface; all it would take was a sharp shock in just the right place, and his fevered mind would crack beyond repair. The thief let his unctuous smile shift into something less superficially pleasant and something a great deal more sinister.
"She did reject you, didn't she?" he said. "All that trouble for nothing, eh? No more options to try, are there? You've failed. Completely and utterly. Isn't that right?"
Pegasus said nothing, but he didn't need to - the look of pain written on his face was enough.
"Don't worry," said Bakura, letting his tone turn caressing. "I can still help you. You don't have to bear this pain. There's still one last option. That's right - I can make all your problems go away. All you have to do is surrender to me. Let me take your soul. You don't want it anymore. You're already tainted beyond all hope of redemption, and even if you die, your soul will linger in wretchedness, unless you let me take it from you. I'll snuff it out like a candle, and all your suffering - and hers - will end. You won't be around to hurt her anymore. She can forget about you and move on with her life, and your loneliness will cease forever. It's a good deal. What do you say?"
He watched the expressions shift on Pegasus's face, going from fear and horror to a look of painful hope, and he gloated inwardly. Winning was sweet, but to have someone on the verge of begging him to crush them was infinitely sweeter.
But it was not to be. Before Pegasus could speak, there came a sound of distant voices. Bakura's teeth ground. Curses! He didn't want an audience right now - it was so much harder to get people to part with their souls when there was someone watching them. It was too easy for a disinterested and rational third party to talk his victims back to the course of sanity. Then he shrugged. Pegasus was going to go mad anyway, with or without his help. If he couldn't torment him one way, he'd torture him in another.
"Then again," he said, "perhaps I'm not feeling that merciful, and it's past my poor host's bedtime. I should let him get some sleep. Maybe I'll just see you in the morning - if there's anything left of you. Goodnight."
He turned and sprinted away, leaving his would-be victim staring blankly after him. The thief counted down the seconds for him to realize he'd been toying with him, and was rewarded within the count of five by a wail of agony. He grinned. No, by the time the sun rose this morning, he wouldn't have to worry about Pegasus anymore.
A few seconds later, Yugi and his companions wandered by.
"That's weird," said Yugi. "I was sure I heard a scream."
"This old place is creepy," Jonouchi said, gazing around the shadowy halls. "It's probably haunted!"
"You know, I did hear somebody say that this place was built over top of an old army base," said Honda. "They said there were bodies of dead soldiers buried near here."
"Quit that," Anzu scolded, as Jonouchi's face turned nearly blue with fright. "It's not helping."
"Well, I don't see anyone here," said Yugi. "I guess Bakura wasn't here, after all."
"You're probably right," said Honda. "Let's keep looking."
Pegasus finally took shelter in his study. Not that it made any difference - there was nowhere to run to, nowhere he could hide where he could escape the reality of what had happened. Faced with the unavoidable truth, his pain turned to rage, and he stormed around the room, tearing books from their shelves and ripping them to shreds, kicking over furniture, hurling things at the walls. He screamed, howling like an injured beast with emotions too raw to be pinned down with names. Hearing the commotion, two servants peered warily through the door.
"Sir," said one, "are you...?"
"Get out! Get out!" Pegasus seized on an ornamental statue and hurled it at them; it smashed to slivers against the far wall. "Don't look at me!"
No further words were necessary; the pair ran in fear for their lives. It made no difference. Pegasus continued to rant and rail, cursing Yugi, Isis, the thief, the blue-eyed mystic, and finally himself. He ran through every foul label he could think of, but none seemed bad enough to express his utter self-loathing. How could he have done this? How could he have been such a fool? No, worse than a fool - he was a fiend, a pitiless beast who had committed such atrocities as could never be forgiven. The lowest worm that crawled the earth would look down on him.
I hurt her. I've hurt her more than anyone else in the world could have hurt her, and I did it without even a shred of remorse. How could I have been so - so arrogant, so completely blind? I swore I'd never let anything hurt her...
A stray gust of wind tossed his curtains, and he looked out the window at the ocean churning against the rocks. What an easy way out, to simply go out that window and let nature wipe out all traces of him... but no. The thief of souls was right in this: even in death, there was no escape. He should have killed himself straightaway, after she died. The two of them could have been together forever. Now he had hurt her past forgiving, and all he had to look forward to was an eternity without her, of worse than being without her, because she would never forgive him. He would have to go on for always, knowing that she was there, but that she despised the sight of him.
I shouldn't have hesitated. Oblivion would have been better than this...
His gaze fell on a mirror, and he raised a hand to strike it, intending to rid it of his reflection, but seeing himself in its surface made him slow to a stop. He had always been a vain man - vain of his aristocratic features, his sleek silver hair, and his taste in clothes. Now he found he did not like the look of himself at all. His hair was in disarray, his face flushed and stained with tears and sweat, his eye red from weeping and bulging in fury. Only his golden Eye looked the same as ever, and suddenly the sight of that metal thing in his human face struck him as obscene.
I really do look like a monster, he thought. And then: It's all that thing's fault!
"Argh! I wish I'd never found this cursed thing!" he cried. "If I'd never seen this wretched piece of metal, I wouldn't be in this fix! Fine, thief! You want it? Take it! Anyone who wants it can take it! I never want to see it ever again!"
Mindless of the damage he was doing to himself, he raked his nails across his face and snagged the Eye, wrenching it from its socket. There was a terrible feeling of skin parting with skin as the eyelid tore, and beneath that, a different kind of pain that ran through his entire body. It was much worse than having the Eye put in had been, worse even than the pain that had engulfed him when he had opened the Paths of the Dead. It was a feeling as if a part of his very soul was being ripped away, leaving it raw and aching. Pain he had anticipated, but nothing of this magnitude, and it left him reeling. He had intended to hurl the Eye out the window, far out into the ocean where it would never be seen again, but instead it simply slipped through his fingers and rolled across the carpet, dropping off the edge of the balcony and vanishing from sight. He barely noticed. His knees buckled beneath him, and he pitched forward onto the carpet. His insides burned with nausea, and the room spun around him. His vision was going dark.
Am I dying? he wondered dimly. I was wrong; this isn't so bad...
Well, if that was to be his punishment, so be it. He didn't deserve to live any longer. He could leave Cyndia alone and let her make a new life, with someone who would treat her as she deserved. It was better this way. As his thoughts drifted, his last sight was of a red puddle forming on the carpet next to him. It was a pretty shade of red. It reminded him of paint, and for a blurry moment, he thought he could see a picture in it. He strained to see what it was, but instead, everything went black.
They were coming. She could hear them whispering to each other as they blundered down the halls, obviously thinking they were being very stealthy. It was a wonder none of Pegasus's followers had found them by now. A bit of mischief prompted her to duck behind a marble pedestal with a bust of some long-dead person propped on it, shielding her from the sight of anyone who might wander by until they were right next to her - and they might not see her even then, in this light. She waited until Yugi and his companions were in sight, holding her breath. They didn't appear to notice her. As Jonouchi was passing by, she slipped into place next to him and whispered, "Boo!"
"Yagh!" shouted Jonouchi, leaping into the air. He whirled around, eyes wide, clutching at his chest. Then he realized who had spoken to him, and reeled through a variety of other befuddled noises, until he finally managed a pair that made sense: "It's you!"
"Is it just me," Mai drawled, "or do you get stupider every time I see you? Maybe I should have hitched a ride on that ship."
"What are you doing here?" Anzu asked. "I thought you were going home."
Mai shrugged. "Well, you know, I don't really have a place of my own, so there's no point in trying to go home. Anyway, I'm sick of boats. The only people I ever met on them, I didn't like."
Yugi smiled a little. "You met us on a boat."
"No, I didn't. I met you on the pier. That's completely different from a boat. So anyway," she said, hurrying to evade the question, "what are you kids doing running around here this time of night? And why haven't the guards caught you yet? I could hear you coming a mile away."
"We're not worried about them," said Honda. "We passed by the servants' quarters already. Sounded to us like everyone is down there unwinding after all the excitement."
"Sounded to me like they were all getting plastered," Jonouchi opined.
"Well, you would know, wouldn't you?" said Honda, nudging him with his elbow.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should go down there and join them. I'm starting to feel like I could use a good stiff drink... but somehow, I don't think I will."
"You could join us instead, if you want," Anzu offered, smiling a little.
"Well, seeing as how there's nothing else interesting going on, I might as well."
"Glad to have you along," said Yugi, grinning.
Truth be told, Mai wasn't really sure why she hadn't gotten on the ship. There was obviously no point in staying here, now that all the duels were done with and such prizes as there were had been awarded. She should have packed up and gone on to other things - there was always some minor duel somewhere where she could win a bit of money to go to a place more interesting. Even if she had nothing at all left, she was very good at persuading most men and the occasional woman to accept... other things in lieu of money when making a bet, and thus far, she had always been lucky when it came to not having to pay. She could easily get by on her own.
On the other hand, it would have driven her crazy to leave and never know what had become of this bizarre troupe of comedians posing as duelists. She would have spent the rest of her life wondering at odd moments whether they had actually succeeded in finding their friend, or if they had been caught by the insane person who ran this island and been dealt with. It boggled her mind to try to think what Pegasus would do to someone causing trouble on his island when there was no one around to place any blame on him. It bothered her to think of such things happening to these people - and so did the fact that she was bothered. Still, it was hard even for her to not find something to like in these indomitable misfits. Indomitability was a trait she admired.
"So, did you find your little friend, or is he still hiding?" she asked casually, trying to hide her curiosity.
"No luck," said Yugi. "I'm getting worried about him."
"He probably just got on the boat while you weren't looking," said Mai.
"Couldn't have," said Honda. "Remember, you were there. You were the one who first noticed he wasn't there."
"Hmm. I guess so," Mai said. "Okay, then he must be around here somewhere. I haven't seen him, though."
"We'll just have to keep looking," Yugi decided. "Somehow, I don't think he'd let himself be caught... or if he did, we'd have heard something about it."
Mai wasn't sure she liked the way he said that. It carried an odd tinge of foreboding to it, as if someone finding Bakura would be followed by the sound of distant screams. She shook herself, telling herself firmly that it was only being in this castle at night that was making her think these thoughts; if the place had been in black and white, it would have been an excellent setting for an old-fashioned monster movie.
"Then I think I will follow you," she said. "You'll probably need all the help you can get."
"Thanks, Mai," said Jonouchi. "Glad to have you along."
She gave him a flicker of a smile in response. "Glad to be here."
Cyndia was trying to be rational, but that wasn't an easy thing to do in a situation like this. Nothing in her life experience told her how to cope with finding out that she'd spent the last seven years dead. It was impossible to absorb. How could one be dead, and simply wake up again one day and go on about life as if nothing had happened? Magic? Could she possibly believe magic? But she had to - she had seen some performed tonight. She had seen inside Pegasus's mind, with the help of the Egyptian man. Impossible as it seemed, she really must have been dead, and Pegasus had brought her back by means of a spell. It was the only answer that explained everything: how careful he had been to avoid speaking of the past, how he had tried to keep her out of sight from everyone, how she didn't appear to have aged a day in the last seven years, and why she could remember nothing of that time. She shivered a little.
What am I going to do now?
One thing was plain: she couldn't stay here. Not now, not after she had heard Pegasus confess to such terrible things, and even threaten her. She had never believed that he would ever use force against her, but the desperation she had seen on his face tonight hinted that he might, if she pushed him to it. If he had indeed raised her from the dead, what else could he do? Could he make her forget that any of this happened? Could he wipe her mind clear, leaving her with nothing but thoughts of devotion to him? How far would he go to keep her by his side? The very thought revolted her, and she fought back nausea.
I have to get away.
But where would she go? She didn't even know where she was, much less how to leave this place. All she knew was that she was on an island called Duelist Kingdom, and it could have been on the moon for all that told her. She couldn't get away from it without help, and who would help her? All that was left were servants of Pegasus. The only person besides him that she knew was Crocketts, and he would never betray his master. Even if she was somehow able to sneak off the island, what could she do next? Everything she had ever owned was now in Pegasus's care, and she had no one she could turn to for help. She'd had few friends even she had died - Pegasus had seemed to be all she would ever want or need - and she didn't even know if her family was still alive or not.
"I don't want to go away," she whispered. "I just want all of this to be a bad dream... I just... want Pegasus back."
Even while she was thinking this, she heard a distant male voice speaking. Her heart leapt, wondering if perhaps he was coming to answer her plea - and then she quailed, wondering what would happen if he had. Then the voice continued, and she realized that it was a stranger's voice. Before she could work out what to do next, the speaker was within sight. It was a boy of perhaps sixteen, accompanied by a slightly older man who walked silently behind him. The boy stopped walking, glared at her for a moment, and babbled something at her in an unfamiliar language. She stared back at him blankly, and he sighed with frustration and tried again. This time his voice was accented, but understandable.
"You," he said. "Have you seen a Rod somewhere around here? It's about this long..." He spread his hands about two and a half feet apart. "...and has a shape like an eye with wings on one end. It's made of gold. I need to know where it is."
"I'm sorry," she said, "but I haven't seen such a thing."
"Then you're useless," he snapped. "Get out of my way."
He shoved roughly past her and stalked off. His silent companion followed, giving her a brief glance that was ever-so-faintly apologetic. Then the two of them vanished around a corner. Cyndia only stood there, feeling mildly chilled.
"Who was that? His eyes were so cold..."
"They were not always that way."
Cyndia jumped; she hadn't realized she had spoken aloud, nor had she known there was anyone else there. A woman was standing behind her. Cyndia relaxed slightly as she saw her, feeling somehow that this person was someone she could trust. She desperately needed to feel like there was someone she could trust right now, and was more than willing to give this woman her confidence if it would just give her someone to talk to.
"Do you know him?" she asked.
"Yes," said the woman. "Yes, I have known him all his life. I can remember him when he was not cold and unfeeling as he is now, but was just a little boy who laughed to feel the sunlight on his face. It was not that very long ago..."
"What happened?" Cyndia asked.
"A pain fell upon him that was more than he could bear, and he descended into darkness," the woman replied. "It has not been easy for those of us who follow him. His pain makes him lash out against others, and he has done some terrible things."
"Then why do you follow him?" Cyndia asked. "Why don't you just... walk away?"
"Several reasons. Part of it is that I fear what he might do if he were left unsupervised. That is part of why I have come here now: to help control any damage he might do. But most of it is... because he is my brother, and I love him. That is why I continue to hold out hope that someday his darkness may lift, and he might once again be the brother I knew, who loved the light."
"You believe that's possible?"
The woman shrugged and almost smiled. "I have to. And if you'll excuse me, I believe I also need to catch up to him before he gets too far ahead of me."
Cyndia watched, feeling a bit forlorn, as the woman walked away... and then stopped and turned around.
"By the way," she said, "if I wanted to find Pegasus, I would look in his study. It's just around the next corner, third door on your right."
And then she was gone, leaving Cyndia more baffled than ever.
How did she know?
She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, mulling over what the mystery woman had told her.
She must be very brave, to stand by her brother even though he's changed so much... I wish I had that same courage in me, to stand by the one I love.
That was what ached the most. No matter what had happened, she still loved Pegasus. She had never imagined that she might someday have to face a life without him, and now that she was looking at the prospect, she didn't like it. To walk away from him now, when he was hurting so much...
A pain fell on him that was more than he could bear, and he descended into darkness...
Then again, she could not forget what he had done under the influence of that pain. Hurting or not, did he really deserve forgiveness for all of this?
There was a window nearby, and she walked over to it, looking out on the peaceful garden at the center of the palace. The scene reminded her strongly of the night when she and Pegasus had first met. It had been meant as a business party, and children weren't necessarily welcome there, but her father had insisted on allowing her to come. She was the scion of a fine old family, her parents' only child. They had been wealthy, once, but that was generations ago, and things had gone downhill for them since then. They had been invited to that fateful party only because her father held a minor political office and he had been able to finagle an invitation, not because he was particularly rich or famous, as so many other people there were.
That was where Cyndia was meant to come in. When it had become obvious to her parents that they would have no other children, they had instead devoted themselves to making her into the perfect trophy wife. She was taught from an early age to be demure and mannerly, to take great care of her appearance, to speak only when spoken to and never offer her opinion. She learned to dance, sing, and play the piano. She had impeccable handwriting, and knew how to gracefully word letters and invitations, but had no particular care given to teaching her anything of practical value. Her entire purpose in life was to someday become an ornament to hang on some wealthy gentleman's arm, and her father was well aware that the Crawfords had a son who was exactly her age.
Their plan had not worked exactly the way they had expected. She had glimpsed Pegasus from a distance and had been drawn to him, as he was the only other person there near her age. She smiled politely, and he offered her his hand, which she accepted because it was what she'd been taught to do. And then he had suggested that they steal some cookies when no one was looking, and make an escape to the orchard to get away from all the grownups.
"We can't do that!" she had said, aghast at the idea.
He had given her a puzzled look. "Why not?"
"Because we'll get in trouble!"
"Do your parents punish you very much?"
"No..."
"Is it ever as bad as they say it will be?"
"No..."
"Do you want to leave?"
"Yes, but..."
"Then if you want to do it, and you don't mind being punished, why not do it?"
Their parents had found them about an hour later, sitting under one of the pear trees in their good party clothes, eating cookies and getting acquainted. Their parents had scolded, of course, but Pegasus's parents were used to his behavior, and Cyndia's parents were too pleased that she had hit it off with Pegasus so well to object very much to a little thing like grass stains and cookie crumbs on her new dress. The fact that the two of them insisted on seeing each other again soon had helped to smooth the whole matter over, and Cyndia had gone home that night with her mind in a whirl.
Pegasus had struck her with a new idea, struck her with a force that had turned her world upside down. All her life, she had lived thinking that her only value was based on how well she could form herself into the mold her parents were pushing her into. Pegasus told her differently: she could do whatever she wished and be whoever she pleased, if she was courageous enough to take the risk. It opened up the world for her. Suddenly there were limitless possibilities to explore, and it was Pegasus who had shown them to her. Whatever she wanted to do, he found a way to make it happen, no matter what the cost to himself. With him around, everything was exciting. How ironic it was that her parents' efforts to turn her into someone's devoted, unthinking wife had won her the affections of a freewheeling individualist like Pegasus, who had encouraged her to make her own choices and live her life however she pleased! It was small wonder that she had fallen for him.
He never was one for following the rules, she mused. He had always been mischievous, and had viewed the rules not so much as boundaries as measures of how much trouble he'd be in if he was caught. That had always been part of the fun of being around him. She had never imagined he would do anything bad...
So what do I know? That he doesn't feel constrained to follow the rules, and that he would do absolutely anything for my sake. I knew that all along. I shouldn't be surprised at all that he's done this. In a way, he's been telling me he would do it since the day we met. He hasn't changed at all...
That thought blazed across her mind. It was if the sun had suddenly risen in front of her. No matter what had happened, she was not dealing with a monster; she was dealing with the same Pegasus she had always known, and she could be sure that whatever he had done had been done out of a misguided sense of duty. It had been done because he loved her, and never would have forgiven himself if he hadn't done everything in his power to save her.
Who is to say I would not have done the same thing, if our roles had been reversed? If he had died, and I knew there was a way to get him back, wouldn't I have at least tried?
She couldn't really deny that she would. He had done so much for her, it would have felt like a betrayal if she didn't... and he had always prided himself on his ability to get anything she wanted for her. How was he to understand that it would be different this time, if she wasn't around to tell him?
I can't just walk away. I'm caught too deeply in this to just walk away... and it would just hurt him more if I did, and there's no telling what he'd do after that. I have to try to help him, for both our sakes.
At least she knew where to look now, thanks to the mysterious woman, and she knew where the study was by now. The door was slightly ajar, but it was quiet inside - too quiet. Was he already gone, or...? With her heart pounding, she pushed the door all the way open and stepped inside.
Pegasus had been rather disappointed to wake up and discover that he was still alive. He had not particularly wanted to be, after all of that. This business of living was getting too hard, even for one such as himself who prided himself on his ability to do almost anything. The very thought now gave him the shivers. He didn't want to do anything now, not when everything he did turned into a curse.
Things were supposed to get better when she came back...
He shook his head at the foolish thought. How naive, to believe that Cyndia's simple presence would banish every dark thing from his past! Even a woman of such sweetness and purity as she was no miracle worker. She couldn't change the past any more than he could. That was his own lack of planning, and his own arrogant refusal to even consider that things would not fall out exactly the way he had wanted them to.
Well, if he wasn't going to die, he might as well get up. He levered himself up off the floor with a certain amount of difficulty - he still felt weak and queasy from whatever shock had laid him low. He attempted to brush his hair away from his face, and then abandoned the attempt as he discovered that it was glued in place by half-dried blood. He wasn't sure what he would disturb if he tried to free it, so he left it where it was. He observed with detachment that the floor and the front of his nightshirt was likewise stained red, but not yet the red-black that it would take when it was completely dry. He couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes. He'd never cared for the sight of blood, and normally the sight of such copious amounts of it on himself and everything around him would have sent him into fits, but at the moment, all he could manage was a faint sense of amazement that he had managed to make such a mess without even realizing it.
I must have been out of my mind.
There was probably more truth in that than he felt like owning up to, but the feeling of wildness had passed. A careful examination of his mental state failed to dredge up either the ecstatic fury or the crushing agony that he had been enduring not long ago. All he felt now was tired. Most likely he was in shock - either from the night's events, from blood loss, or from whatever it was that had seized him when the Eye had been removed, but most likely from some combination of the three. Whatever the reason, he felt calmer now than he had in years. He found himself wondering vaguely if perhaps the shadow magic of the Eye had helped to push him down this road. It would have been nice to think that he wasn't wholly responsible for things coming to this turn, but he couldn't lay all the blame there. He had been crazed and desperate from the moment he had realized that Cyndia's death was a certainty, and the Eye had only exacerbated the problem by giving him a particularly insidious form of false hope.
Speaking of which, where was the Eye? He remembered taking it out and making a gesture to throw it away. He looked around the room, and found nothing more than a faint trail of red marks, as might have been left by a bloody object rolling across the rug. It must have rolled out the door, even if he hadn't found the strength to throw it. He managed to lurch over to the balcony and look beneath it, and saw only deep shadows. The Eye appeared to be lost, hopefully for good. Feeling faintly encouraged, Pegasus made a check of the hidden drawer in his desk and withdrew what appeared to be a deck of cards. He had been rather proud of it, at one time: each card had held the soul of someone he had vanquished in a Shadow Game, back when he had been learning to master the Eye's powers. Looking now, he saw that they were all blank. That was good. Just as he had hoped, his victims had been released, and presumably any dark magic he had cast had been lifted when he had given up the Eye's powers.
Unfortunately, even that wasn't enough to undo all of his problems. He had lost Cyndia, lost any hope of being with her in this world or the next. She no longer cared whether he lived or died... but he was willing to bet that there were a number of other people nearby who did care, and were in favor of the latter option.
Kaiba won't be pleased with me for manipulating him. He can ruin me financially and socially if he feels like it. Miss Ishtar and her family are definitely not visiting me just to pay their respects - that woman must have known this would happen, and they've come to pick me clean while I can't fight back. If there's anything left of me when they're done, that Ring-spirit will come for my soul, and I'm in no shape to do anything about it. And there's always the chance that Yugi and that Egyptian mystic will want to join in the fun... How did I think I was going to get away with this?
So, there was the sum of what he owed: Cyndia hated him, Kaiba hated him, Yugi hated him, people whose names he didn't even know hated him, and they all had very good reasons for it. He didn't blame them one bit: he hated himself. He had committed the ultimate crime when he hurt his beloved. Pegasus found a chair and sat down in it.
"Well," he said to the empty room, "let them come."
That was how Cyndia found him: sitting perfectly still, staring off into space, seeing nothing. He didn't react at all, even as she walked quite close to him. She saw the blood on his face and clothes and felt sick, thinking for a moment that she had been too late, but then she saw that he was still breathing. She knelt next to him.
"Pegasus?" she called. "Can you hear me? Say something - let me know you're all right."
A faint look of confusion crossed his features, as he tried to draw together the pieces of his shattered thoughts. He slowly turned to look at her, and blinked a few times.
"Cyndia?" he said. His normally cultured voice sounded hoarse and broken. "You... came back?"
"Yes, love, that's right."
"I don't understand..."
"There's nothing to understand." She concentrated on keeping her voice steady and soothing, as she would speak to a frightened animal. "I could never leave you, not on purpose, not for anything."
"But I hurt you. You said you never wanted to see me again."
"You frightened me for a while, but it's all right now. I think I've worked it all out." She cupped her hands around his, and was startled by how cold they felt. She tried to chafe some warmth back into them, and felt his fingers curl gently around hers in response. "You never meant for it to happen like this, did you? No, I can see that now - you didn't know what you were doing. I'm sorry for getting angry with you. The last thing you needed was for me to hurt you more."
"I'm the one who should be apologizing. I was so selfish. I can't believe what a fool I was."
"I'm having trouble believing it, myself," she replied, "but there is one thing I can believe."
"What is that?"
"I believe," she said softly, "that I can forgive you."
He gave her a dumbfounded look. "You can't be serious."
"I am. I know you never really meant to hurt me. Besides, I've decided that if this is what comes of my going away and leaving you alone, then I shouldn't leave you alone anymore. I left you once, and terrible things happened. I don't plan to ever do it again." She raised her eyes to meet his. "I won't leave you to wander in the darkness anymore."
"The darkness?" he murmured. "Yes, that's what it was. When you..." He faltered, and then went on doggedly. "When you died, it was as if all the light had gone out of my life. You were the center of my universe, and without you, I had no idea what to do. Nothing made any sense. It amazed me that the sun kept coming up in the morning, when the foundation of my world was gone. All I could understand was that somehow, I had to get you back." He sighed. "But it doesn't work that way, does it? All I've done is make things worse for both of us. I don't know how, but if you could somehow find it in your heart to forgive me... I'm sorry, Cyndia. I'm so sorry, for everything..."
He broke down into sobs, the dry choking sounds of someone who has cried too much already. Cyndia stood so that she could put her arms around him, cradling his head against her and stroking his hair, murmuring soothing words until he finally relaxed.
"Are you going to be all right now?" she asked at last.
"For the moment."
"Poor dear. You look awful. What happened to your eye?"
"I threw it away," he said. "I don't want that power anymore. All it does is make trouble. Everything I did with it has been undone. The souls I stole with it are free. That much, I can undo."
"Does it hurt very much?"
"I've felt worse."
"Still, we ought to clean it. Is there somewhere I could find some water?"
There was a washroom nearby, for the convenience of someone spending long hours studying. Cyndia found a decorative bowl on a shelf - probably an antique from some long- vanished civilization, the kind of thing some collector would be avid to get his hands on. She decided it would do for washing up, and went to fill it with water. There were a few white cloths next to the sink, suitable for the drying of hands, and she absconded with a few of those, too. Then she hurried back Pegasus, who hadn't moved from where she had left him. It bothered her to see him so unresponsive. She dampened a cloth and set about the ticklish business of trying to clean his wound.
It wasn't as bad as it looked. Most of the blood seemed to stem from a tear in the upper eyelid, and that had already sealed itself off. There were also a row of parallel gouges left by his fingernails as they had angled across his face. The overall effect was a bit gruesome, but it looked considerably better once the blood had been wiped away. Part of the damage actually seemed to be only scar tissue left from a much older injury. No, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't enjoyable, either, and she had to fight to keep her stomach steady as she rinsed his blood off her hands. She did her best to be gentle, but she could see her hands shaking, and she knew he must be sore. Nevertheless, he scarcely seemed to notice her touch.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?"
"It's no more than I deserve," he said. "I just keep thinking... I knew this would go wrong. Everyone told me it would. The Egyptian, that thief, the Pharaoh, even Crocketts - they all told me I was heading for disaster, and I wouldn't listen. And you're caught in it now. I don't deserve your forgiveness. You were right. I was being selfish - selfish and foolish. But Cyndia, don't think that just because I am a selfish fool, it means I don't love you. It was never my intention to hurt you."
"I know, but it's all right now."
"I don't think so," he said. He sighed heavily. "Things have changed, my dear. When you last knew me, I was only a young painter, with no thoughts in my mind but to amuse myself and waste my family's fortune. I'm a businessman now, and I understand a bit more of how the world works. When you owe a debt, you have to pay it, or it will only get worse, and I have left my debts unpaid for many years now. My creditors will not be easily satisfied."
"What do you mean?"
"You may be willing to forgive me, but not everyone is the angel you are. I can't just go up to everyone and say that I've seen the error of my ways and that I will go into the world and sin no more. They are going to want retribution, Cyndia, and that retribution isn't going to come cheaply. It may be..." His voice faltered slightly. "It may be that nothing short of my destruction will satisfy them."
Cyndia gasped. "You think they'd kill you?"
"They might," he said. "I have offended some very dangerous people... and without the Eye, I don't have the power to hold them off. The more I try to hold off being punished, the more angry they will become. I have to put a stop to it now. Don't worry, Cyndia - they don't have anything against you. I can protect you, at least. I can send you away, somewhere where you won't be noticed, and leave you the wherewithal to start over. You can have a new life, with someone who won't hurt you as I have. You don't deserve to share my suffering. If you stay with me, you'll only be hurt more. If I can do nothing else for you, I will see you safe."
She looked at him, amazed at the conviction she saw written on his face. What had become of the careless youth she had known, who had lived life for pleasure without thinking of what the next day might bring? There was no sign of him now - or rather, he had been formed into something new, shaped by pain and loss. There was at last some humility to balance his audacity, and wisdom to alloy his cleverness. Whatever was cowardly and selfish in him had been drowned out by a fierce desire to protect the one he loved, even at the cost of his own life. He was not what he had been when she had known him; he wasn't even what he had been a day or two ago. That thought went through her mind, as did the sudden and certain knowledge that she loved him more in this moment than she ever had when he was proud and confident.
"I don't want to be safe," she said. "I want to be with you."
He looked at her, stunned. "You mean that?"
"Yes."
"You realize you could be asking to die. They may not take pity on you, if you choose to take my side."
"That doesn't matter. This is my problem too," she said. "None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for me. Maybe it isn't my fault, but I'm a part of it. It would be just as wrong for me to walk away and leave you as it would be for you to walk away and leave your debts behind. We started this together, and we'll finish it together."
"You would stay with me, then, even if it meant your death?"
She managed a smile. "Life without you wouldn't be very much fun. Besides, I'm not sure I was ever meant to come back to life, anyway. Maybe it's better this way. I'd rather stay with the one I love."
"Thank you," he said. "To hear you say so gives me courage. Maybe even without the Eye, I can still pull off a miracle or two..." He gazed speculatively out at the ocean, and for a moment, she thought she saw the old glint of mischief back in his eye.
"Do you see a way out?" she asked.
He began to answer, and then changed his mind.
"Not without paying the price," he said. "No, this is the end of the line for Pegasus J. Crawford... but that doesn't mean I won't give everyone a run for their money. Let's give this game a bit of interest."
He stood up, and very calmly began peeling his nightshirt off. He held it up in front of him, eyeing the dark stain across its front.
"Ruined. Completely ruined. We'll never get that stain out," he said, as if stained clothing were the greatest of his worries at the moment. "I liked this shirt, too, you know. It's real silk. I paid good money for it, and now it's worthless."
He bit down on one of the hems, and, with a bit of difficulty, managed to start a tear. He began calmly and systematically ripping it to shreds. He caught the look Cyndia was giving him and smiled reassuringly. She was surprised to find that she was actually reassured.
"It may surprise you to learn that there is method to my madness," he said. "If you wish to be helpful, you might run and get us both something decent to wear. As fetching as you look, you are no more well dressed for company than I am."
"What are you planning to do?" she asked him.
"Well," he said slowly, "do you believe in reincarnation?"
It was a bit boisterous in the servants' quarters. Not too boisterous, though, because Crocketts was keeping a watchful eye on them all. He himself was a moderate drinker when he drank at all, but he felt his men needed some release after the past few hectic days, so he had given them a temporary remittance on his rule that no one should imbibe while they were on duty. Pegasus's stash of expensive wines was once more put safely away, but there were less costly and refined drinks available, and most everyone was helping themselves. Only a handful of people were left to keep an eye on matters, and to ensure that someone would be in fit shape to work tomorrow.
Come to think of it, the week had been more than a little stressful for Crocketts, too. He was just wondering whether or not he owed himself a little something in the way of compensation, when he became aware that his phone was ringing. He slipped away from the party scene and answered the call.
"Sir?" he said warily. Calls in the middle of the night were liable to be trouble.
"Crocketts, do you remember how I promised you a raise?"
"Yes..."
"How does a third of my net worth sound to you?"
"Sir, what are you talking about?"
"I have a favor to ask of you," said Pegasus. "A very special favor."
"Special in what way?"
"Special because it will be the last assignment I ever give you."
Crocketts felt a thrill of alarm. "What do you mean?"
"I am going away, Crocketts, and it is highly unlikely that I will ever come back. God willing, we'll meet again in Paradise. In the meantime, I need someone who will look after things in my absence, and you're the only one on my side with more loyalty than avarice. I know I can trust you. Betray me, and I can make you feel my wrath from beyond the grave. Keep faith with me, and you'll never have to take orders from anyone ever again. You can see how you like giving the orders, for a change."
Crocketts took a moment to turn this over in his mind. He had dimly suspected, for a while, that things were going badly with Pegasus, perhaps much worse than the man had been letting on. The thought depressed him a bit; after all, he had been a bit attached to Pegasus. On the other hand, Crocketts wasn't as young as he used to be, and he couldn't go on taking real and metaphorical bullets for Pegasus forever...
"I'm listening," he said.
Yugi looked thoughtfully at the closed door. He had encountered several of them during his search for the missing Bakura, but this one was unique in the fact that it was refusing to open for him. Despite his wealth, it seemed Pegasus wasn't too concerned about keeping his personal property safe, because all the doors Yugi had encountered thus far had been unlocked, and many had been left ajar. Probably Pegasus had felt safe living on an island with only his personal staff attending on him, and had never felt the need to guard himself from intruders. It wasn't likely that he'd even thought about making sure all his doors were locked for the duration of this tournament. So why was this one locked now?
"I think we ought to check this one out," he said.
Honda wandered over and tried the door handle. "It's locked."
"I know. That's why I think we should try it."
"Could be some truth in that," said Jonouchi. "Why lock a door if there's nothing on the other side?"
"Of course," said Mai. "Let's just whip out a crowbar and pry it open. If it's locked, how do you think you're going to get in?"
Jonouchi grinned. "I have my ways. Any of you ladies got a hairpin on you? No? Anybody got a paperclip?"
"You're honestly planning to pick the lock?" Mai asked.
"Why not?" asked Jonouchi with a shrug. "I'm good at it."
"He is, you know," Honda agreed. "You should have seen him that one time with the candlestick and the chainsaw murderer."
"...I'm not even going to ask," said Mai. "It sounds interesting, but I'm not going to ask. Hang on a minute. Maybe I can find you something that will help."
She wandered off. Everyone waited a while, as the minute stretched into several minutes, and Mai still showed no sign of returning. Yugi was just beginning to wonder whether or not Mai was going to need a search-and-rescue team as much as Bakura did, when she came back. Her hair looked a bit ruffled, but she seemed to be in no particular distress.
"That took longer than I thought it would," she said. "Anyway, here. See if this will work."
She passed Jonouchi a piece of curved wire. Jonouchi accepted it, studied it a moment, and tested its stiffness. It bent a bit, but held its shape.
"Perfect," he said.
He slipped the wire into the keyhole and tinkered a bit, and there was a soft click.
"Not much of a lock," he commented. "I coulda picked that with a lollipop stick... but this thing worked. Where did you find such a good lockpick, Mai?"
"It's not a lockpick," she said. "It's the underwire from my bra. Can I have it back now, if you're done with it?"
Jonouchi yelped and dropped the wire as if it were red hot. He blushed furiously as his friends snickered. To help recover from the embarrassment, he turned and began walking through the newly unlocked door - and slammed into it. It appeared that it was latched from the inside, as well, and wouldn't open all the way. With a snarl of irritation, he flicked a card out of his pocket, put it through the gap in the door, and pushed the latch up and out of the way. Everyone went inside, a few still chuckling quietly.
They stopped laughing when they saw the blood on the floor. Yugi looked around, momentarily concerned, before reassuring himself that there was no one in the room. That was puzzling. The door had been locked and latched from the inside, and yet there was no one here. The only other way out was through a pair of open doors, which led to a small balcony. Yugi tiptoed over and had a look through it. Below the balcony was only a narrow stretch of earth, and beyond that, a steep cliff leading to sharp rocks beneath it. Anyone who went out that way would either be skewered on the rocks instantly, or be battered to death against them by the churning waves.
"Hey, look over here," said Anzu.
Everyone looked. Anzu was standing over a desk, which had a number of pieces of paper spread across it in an orderly fashion. Resting in pride of place was a note written on Pegasus's best monogrammed stationary. Next to it was a roll of papers bundled together with a piece of red ribbon. Sitting in a neat row beneath these were a series of envelopes.
"I wonder what this is all about?" said Honda, coming over for a closer inspection. He picked up the roll of paper and began slipping the ribbon off.
"Don't touch that! It might be important!" Yugi scolded, but it was too late. Honda had already unrolled it and was looking at it curiously.
"Can't make heads or tails of it, anyway," he said. "It's all in English."
"Let me try," said Anzu. "I do pay attention in class, unlike some people."
She took the paper and began to sound out the words.
"'I, Pegasus Julian Crawford, being of sound mind and body but mindful of the uncertainties of life, do hereby declare this document to be my last will and testament, forsaking all others...' This is a will! And it's dated tonight!"
"You mean...?" Once again, Yugi's eyes roamed to the open balcony doors.
"Looks like he took a long walk off a short pier," Jonouchi said grimly. "Geez. Somebody was a sore loser!"
"I can't make out much else," said Anzu, scanning the rest of the will. "It's all full of legal mumbo-jumbo... and his handwriting is a pain to read. It's all curlicues and squiggles."
Mai picked up the letter and scanned it. "This is a little easier to read. Not very pleasant, though. It's a suicide note."
"What? Let me see!" said Jonouchi.
Honda smacked him. "Don't be gruesome."
"How come she gets to read it and I don't?"
"Because it's in English, same as the will," said Anzu, "and I know what your last test scores were."
"For your information, it's not very interesting," Mai said. "Just a bunch of rambling about how he can't live like this anymore, and he's going away to be with his sweetheart. It's disgustingly maudlin."
"So what's in the envelopes?" Jonouchi wanted to know.
Yugi walked around the desk to have a look. There was no writing on the envelopes, but each one had a little picture drawn on it. Some of the faces were unfamiliar, but some were not. One made Yugi do a double-take as he realized it was a picture of himself - or, perhaps, his other self. He was holding the Puzzle in one hand, and the other was held to his lips, as if asking someone to keep a secret. He was smiling knowingly.
"I think this one is for me," he said.
"Well, open it already!" said Jonouchi, in a display of unchecked curiosity.
Yugi ripped the letter open and looked inside. The first thing that caught his attention was a letter, written on the same fine paper as the suicide note, but the writing was in legible Japanese. The style wasn't nearly as dramatic, either.
To Yugi Mutou, it read. If you are reading this, it means I've already moved on to a better place. I suppose I should have said my goodbyes in person, but the fact is, it's probably better this way. I just have a few things I wanted to make clear before I left.
First, I believe you are entitled to know the truth about why you were brought here. The fact is, despite what you may think, I never felt any enmity towards you. All of this was done in an effort to bring the one person I loved back from the dead, using the power of the Millennium Items. It was to that end that the Duel Monsters cards were created: I had learned that they were linked to ancient games that were once played in Egypt, games that tapped into the same magic with which the Millennium Items were created. I believed that reviving this ancient game would also draw out those who were linked to that same magic. I held this contest solely for the purpose of taking the final two Millennium Items from their holders. Only now do I realize how wrong I was, both in parting the Items from their rightful owners, and for trying to cheat death. For any grievances I have given you, I humbly apologize. As for the other holders of Millennium Items, I have addressed envelopes to them as well, offering such apologies as I feel are merited, and directions telling them where they can find their own Items. Rest assured that I have done all I can to rectify these matters, and that I will be causing you no more trouble in the future.
Second, pertaining to the tournament, I acknowledge that you have beaten all challengers in fair contests, and that you are truly the winner of the tournament. I have left instructions with my servants to have you appropriately declared the King of Games, and see that you are rewarded accordingly. In addition to that, I have enclosed a small sum of money. I hope that it will in some way compensate for what you have been put through. In return, I ask you to keep everything that has happened here to yourself.
It was signed with a flourish that could, with some imagination, be rendered into Pegasus J. Crawford. Yugi looked into the envelope and found a check made out to him. It was not what he would have considered a small sum.
"What's that?" asked Mai, leaning in for a better look.
"I think it's a bribe," Yugi answered slowly. "Money in exchange for not talking about all of this."
"You don't sound all that thrilled about it," Anzu noted.
"It just doesn't feel right," said Yugi.
Mai shrugged. "He doesn't need it anymore. He's dead. If you're squeamish about it, I can think of people who'd love to have it."
"You take it, then," said Yugi. "You'll enjoy it more than I will, anyway."
He offered her the check, and she took it. Her expression was hard to read.
"So, I guess this means Pegasus is really dead," said Honda slowly.
"It would seem so."
Everyone looked up. Without anyone realizing it, a man had appeared in the doorway, a man who wore long white robes. His gaze swept around the room.
"You again!" said Yugi. His friends tensed as they recognized the Egyptian. Mai simply looked baffled. Shadi ignored them all.
"The energy from his Millennium Eye is muted," he said, "as it would be if it were no longer in the possession of its rightful owner. I can only surmise that he has chosen to end his misery and take his life. If he has not, it is no business of mine, as long as the Millennium Items are returned to their rightful owners."
"He said he would," said Yugi. He made a quick check of the envelopes. "Here. He left this for you."
Shadi took the envelope and examined its contents. His expression shifted to one of thinly veiled disgust.
"Humph," he said. "He thinks I need to be bribed not to talk to outsiders about Millennium Item business. I have no need of his money. Whoever wants it can have it."
He pocketed his letter and left the check sitting on the desk, hardly noticing as Jonouchi dove forward to claim it as his own. Shadi turned and walked out of the room and set out to find his missing Scales.
Much later, it was discovered that his portrait in the hallway had also disappeared.
Meanwhile, Yugi and his friends were still standing in shock - except for Jonouchi, who was still reveling in his newfound riches.
"Whoever that guy is, he's nuts to pass this up," he said. "This check will just about cover the expenses for Shizuka's operation. Lucky thing Pegasus left the guy's name blank."
"Only just?" asked Mai.
"Well, yeah," said Jonouchi. "Those things don't come cheap, you know."
"Then you can have this, too," she said, passing the check Yugi had given her to Jonouchi. "After all, I can always win another tournament. You might not be that lucky." She gave him a playful nudge, and he scowled at her, but he did accept the gift.
"So, what about you, Yugi?" he said teasingly. "Were you planning on holding out on your old buddy?"
Yugi shook his head. "Of course not. Pegasus's letter said he'd named me the winner of the contest. I was going to let you have that... but it looks like you don't need it anymore."
Yugi grinned at Jonouchi's flabbergasted expression, and Honda laughed.
"Looks like you won't have to worry about money for a while," Anzu said.
"Shizuka won't, anyway," Jonouchi replied.
"I'd like to meet your sister," Mai said. "Seeing as how I'm a contributor to her cause and everything."
"Everybody has to come back and visit her," Jonouchi declared.
"Guess we should get moving, then," Anzu said.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Yugi agreed. "We probably ought to tell someone about this."
Everyone agreed that this was probably a good idea - the last thing they wanted was for some of Pegasus's guards to find them all hanging around here without a good explanation. They filed out of the room in search of an authority figure.
As they did so, Yugi caught a glimpse of something shiny underneath Pegasus's desk, and he stopped to take a look. It was a card - not an odd thing to find in the home of a game designer. It wasn't a particularly remarkable card, either. Yugi had one just like it in his deck, as did most serious duelists he knew. Nevertheless, there was something about it that made him think it was important, and for a moment, he thought about calling his friends back to look at it. Then he changed his mind and pocketed it instead.
One more thing caught his eye as he left the room. Sitting by the door was a piece of string. The string looked even more ordinary than the card had, but he seemed to see some worth in it, because he picked it up and slipped into his pocket next to the card. Then he hurried to catch up to his friends, musing on the picture Pegasus had drawn of him, the picture of a smiling Yugi, silently keeping a secret.
Bakura was feeling a little lost. The Spirit had gotten a bit bored of hanging around waiting for something to happen, and had finally released his control of his host and put him to sleep in what he deemed a safe place. It must have been safe enough, because Bakura had awakened early that morning with only vague memories to tell him how he'd gotten there. He was torn between being worried and being extremely annoyed. He'd meant to get back onto the ship with everyone else, and he couldn't understand why the Spirit had insisted on making him stay behind when, thus far, he didn't even seem to have anything to show for it. He wandered aimlessly through the halls of the castle, wondering where everyone was and how he was supposed to get off this island before someone worked out that his alternate personality was up to no good, and decided to do something about it he wouldn't like.
As he wandered past a particular room, he became aware of a faint tug, and he glanced down to see that the Ring was glowing faintly. It was, in fact, giving off a definite feeling of Go in there. With a feeling of trepidation, he peered inside. It was an office of some sort, with a nice balcony overlooking the ocean. It would have been a fairly pleasant place, if it hadn't been for the suspicious looking stain on the rug. Bakura was about to leave, when his eye was caught by an envelope that was lying on the desk. It had his picture on the front. Curiosity overcame caution, and he picked it up and opened it, withdrawing a single piece of paper, which was covered front and back with writing. He read it. Amazingly, he found himself stifling the urge to laugh.
What's so funny? grumbled a voice in his mind.
I think this letter is for you, thought Bakura innocently.
The Spirit snatched control away from his host and looked down at the letter. It was quite a long letter, and explained in exquisite detail just what Pegasus thought of him for helping him get into this situation, for threatening Cyndia, and for attempting to steal his property. It also made several unflattering surmises about the Spirit's life history and ancestry, and displayed a grasp of foul language that was amazing for a man who seemed so refined. The thief read with deepening fury until he finally lost his temper and pitched the whole thing out the window.
A vagrant breeze caught it and threw it back in again, dropping the letter neatly at Bakura's feet.
With an incoherent snarl, he crumpled the whole thing, envelope and all, into a small ball and ran over to the balcony, pitching it as hard as he could out into the ocean. His eyes followed it as it fell into the churning waves. As he looked downward, something shiny caught his attention: something small and golden was glittering in the shrubbery at the edge of the cliff. Experimentally, he picked up the Ring and held it before him, and the pointers strained, trembling, pointing at the shining item below him. He felt his annoyance melt into a smile.
"At least I'll get one Item out of this trip," he said, and walked off to collect his prize.
Yugi's nerves were not in the best condition. Within the last few hours, he had attended a wild party, found a secret passageway, fought a duel for tremendously high stakes, and had read the last missive of a dead man. He had accomplished most of this on rather short sleep rations, and after the letdown of all the excitement, he was not feeling his very best. The last thing he really needed, at that point, was to walk around a corner and bump his nose on the Millennium Ring.
"Ouch!" he said, and then, "Bakura! Where have you been?"
"I don't know," was Bakura's typically vague answer. "Somewhere, I suppose. I don't really remember."
"Well, thank goodness you're all right!" said Anzu. "We were worried about you!"
Mai laughed. "So this is what all the fuss is about! You guys have just been jerking my chain, haven't you? All that stuff about him being dangerous..."
"Did they tell you that?" asked Bakura seriously. "You ought to listen to my friends when they tell you things. By the way, did you hear what happened to Pegasus?"
Yugi nodded seriously. "We found the things he left. We were just going to look for someone to try to tell them..."
"Hey," said Jonouchi, suddenly suspicious, "you didn't have anything to do with...?"
"I was as surprised as anyone," said Bakura. "Not that I ever get much of an explanation for these things, but I don't think this was... well, it wasn't my fault, anyway," he finished, looking uneasily at Mai.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's too hard to explain, I had to be there, and I shouldn't ask, because I wouldn't believe it anyway. Am I right?"
There was a universal sigh of relief.
"Exactly," said Bakura. "You took the words right out of my mouth. So, what are we going to do now? Shouldn't we kind of let someone know about Pegasus?"
"Who is there to tell?" Yugi replied. "It's four o'clock in the morning; everyone is asleep."
"You'd think there would be guards or something, though. Somewhere," said Honda. He made a perfunctory show of looking around, as if there might be a guard stashed away on a shelf somewhere nearby.
Jonouchi shrugged philosophically. "Stands to reason that if they don't show up when we don't want them, not too likely they'll show up when we do."
"What kind of sense does that make?" Anzu demanded.
"Murphy's law," he answered. "Stuff's always got to go wrong when you least need it to. I wouldn't be surprised if every guard on the island took off somewhere. I'll bet there isn't a guard for miles a... hey, Yugi, why are you looking at me like that?"
Yugi pointed at something over Jonouchi's shoulder. Jonouchi turned around, and then jumped as he realized that Crocketts was standing behind him.
"When did you get here?" he demanded. "And where were you when we needed you?"
"Er, Jonouchi, maybe you'd better not talk to him like that," said Anzu. "We're not supposed to be here, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, right," Jonouchi muttered.
"Listen, Mr. Crocketts, we really can explain," Yugi began, but Crocketts cut him off.
"Never mind all that," he said. "It doesn't matter now. Lucky for you, it saves me a bit of trouble. Pegasus told me to find you."
"Er, yeah," said Yugi uneasily. "Listen, about that... we were kind of looking for him earlier, and we went into his study..."
A flash of concern crossed Crocketts' face. "His study was supposed to be locked."
"It was! It was locked and latched!" said Jonouchi. "We just kind of went in anyway."
"They weren't trying to get into trouble! They were looking for me," said Bakura.
"He's one of those people who walks in his sleep," said Honda plausibly. "Gets into all kinds of strange places he shouldn't if you don't keep an eye on them. Isn't that right, Bakura?"
Crocketts sighed. "Never mind the explanations! I don't want to know."
"But it's important!" Yugi protested. "Pegasus is dead."
"I know," said Crocketts shortly. "He told me. Now listen: this is very important. There will be an investigation into this matter. None of you need to let on that you were inside Pegasus's room, do you hear me? If anyone asks, you absolutely must say that you found the door locked from the inside, and that you saw me unlock it. I'll take care of the rest. Is that understood?"
When the group looked uncertain, he added, "You realize if you mention you got into a locked room, you'll cast suspicion on yourselves."
Everyone immediately saw the sense in that, and assured Crocketts that they would gladly leave everything in his capable hands.
"Fine," said Crocketts. "I have a ship prepared to set sail. I can see you all to the mainland.
He had said the magic words: there was not one among the group who wasn't perfectly willing to forget about the mysteries of the island if only someone would offer them a way to get home. Most of them would have happily agreed to swim if someone had provided them with a life jacket and a compass.
They certainly weren't going to stop and ask exactly why Crocketts had known about his master's untimely end, nor were they going to question why there was a boat waiting for them when no one should have known they were there.
"See, I told you that you'd get it back," said Isis calmly, as she slipped her necklace back on.
"Yes, no thanks to you," Malik snapped back. He twirled his newly-recovered Rod in his hands, then paused to slip the blade out of its sheath for a moment to make sure it hadn't been tampered with. "You've been leading us in circles this whole time."
"So it would seem," she said. "But I did say it would be returned, and it has been, and you are slightly better off for it."
"Well, that's so," Malik admitted. You couldn't put a price on a Millennium Item, but that didn't mean he was going to turn down the money Pegasus had left him. Now he could afford that motorcycle he'd been wanting, and still have plenty left over. Still, it was a good thing that Pegasus had seen fit to throw himself out a window, because if he hadn't, it was likely Malik would have celebrated getting his Rod back by trying its blade on Pegasus.
"Anyway, I've had more than enough of this place," he declared. "I'm ready to go home, and get back to my real work." He shot a glare at his sister. "You realize that once we get home, this alliance is over."
"Yes," she answered softly. "I do understand. We will go our separate ways, for now."
They returned to their boat and set out. As they were drawing away from the island, Malik caught a glimpse of another small boat being loaded with its own passengers, mostly people of about his own age, he guessed. Even from a distance, one of them struck him as being vaguely familiar. He reached for a pair of binoculars and zoomed in for a closer look. He could see a boy with pale hair, a shapely blonde woman, two more boys and a girl, and...
"That's him!" Malik shouted, nearly dropping his binoculars in surprise. "The Nameless Pharaoh..."
There was no mistaking that face. He had seen it engraved in stone, and it had haunted his dreams for years. To think that his nemesis had been on the island the whole time, and he had never once bumped into him in all his wandering. Malik shot a suspicious look at his sister, who contrived to look innocent.
"Where is that boat going?" he demanded.
Rishid did some things with a chart and a compass, watching the other ship as it sped away from them.
"If it continues on its current course," he said, "it will arrive in Japan. Do you want to follow it?"
Malik hesitated. It was tempting, yes, but... not practical. Not yet. It would be foolish to strike before he was ready. First he would gather information, and collect a few followers to help him. It would be easy, now that he had a rough idea where the Pharaoh had been hiding.
"No," he said. "We will wait."
He turned his eyes to the distant boat, watching it disappear over the horizon.
Wait for me, Pharaoh. Next time I see you, I'll be ready.
Mokuba was somewhat worried. He had not heard from his brother at all since he'd gone off to that strange competition and left Mokuba behind to run the company. Not that Mokuba wasn't perfectly capable of running Kaiba Corporation by himself for a few days - he might not have had quite the same drive and brilliance as his brother, but he was still sharper than the average eleven-year-old, and he had plenty of experience by now. People who assumed he had gained his position solely on the basis of being Seto's brother got a surprise when they had to deal with him in person. It amused Mokuba, really - they should have known that, brother or not, Seto wouldn't put anyone in a position of power over his precious company if that person didn't know what they were doing. Actually, Mokuba had reports that there had been a slight increase in sales while his brother was gone. He just wanted Seto to come back so he could tell him about it.
He sat at Kaiba's own desk, swiveling back and forth in the imposing-looking leather chair and kicking his heels. A computer in front of him was reeling off stock data, but he wasn't paying any particular attention to it; his mind was filled with images of what his big brother might be doing right now. He hoped he'd at least call soon.
Suddenly, the door was flung open
"Hey, you can't come in...!" Mokuba began angrily, and then he stopped. He had been planning on saying that nobody could come into this office without the proper clearances, but this person had them all and then some.
"Big Brother! You're back!" squealed Mokuba. He flung himself from the chair, leaving it spinning crazily behind him, and rushed at his brother to capture him in an enthusiastic hug. Other than a slight grunt at the impact, Seto didn't seem at all disturbed by this. "I was getting worried about you!"
"Hmph. A waste of effort," said Seto. "There wasn't anything on that island I couldn't handle. I hope this enthusiastic greeting doesn't mean you've let things get out of hand while I was gone."
Mokuba shook his head. "Everything's A-okay! You knew you could count on me, right?"
Seto smiled a little. "Right. It's good to be back among people I can trust."
"So did you have fun at the tournament? Did you win anything?" asked Mokuba.
"I didn't get to duel with anyone interesting," said Seto, in what would have been called a complaining tone coming from anyone else. "I did get a few good ideas, though. I've decided we're going to have of our own - one that will make this Duelist Kingdom thing look like an amateur contest."
"What are you going to do?" Mokuba asked.
"We're going to turn this whole entire city into a dueling arena, that's what we're going to do!"
"You mean, having people just dueling in the streets?" asked Mokuba. "What a great idea! It's the perfect way to show off your new Duel Disks... and it'll be like free publicity. Nobody will be able to go anywhere in Domino without seeing it."
Seto allowed himself a small smile of pride at how well his brother caught on.
"Exactly," he said. "I'll show the world what a real competition is like."
"We need a name for it," said Mokuba. He had already gone over to the desk and picked up a yellow notepad, on which he was busily jotting down notes. "What are you going to call it? Something like, maybe, Duelist City?"
Seto shook his head. "No. I don't want anyone getting the idea that Pegasus thought of something I couldn't. Besides, this tournament isn't going to be anything so tame. We'll call it Battle City."
"Battle City it is!" said Mokuba, and wrote the name down on his notepad. "I'll go alert the PR department and see about getting some advertising ready." Implicit was the idea that Seto would have no problem making sure there was actually going to be something to advertise; Mokuba knew from experience that when his brother decided to do something, he would be ready to do it two weeks before the advertising people were ready to run their commercials.
"You do that," said Seto. "Tell them I want them to have something to report within three days. I'll have it all figured out by then."
"Can do," Mokuba answered cheerfully.
Seto watched him go, feeling some of his frustration and irritation lift. This little jaunt wasn't going to be a total waste, after all.
"Battle City," he murmured, trying the feel of the phrase. He smiled. He liked it already.
"Ha! My Metal Dragon takes out your Mystic Elf! I win!" Honda declared.
Anzu leaned back in her chair and laughed. "All right, all right, I give up! You got me fair and square."
"Watching all those duels must have taught me something," said Honda, reshuffling his cards.
"I think we all learned a lot from that trip," Yugi agreed. "It feels strange to be back. We were only gone a few days, but it feels like we were there for weeks."
"A lot happened," Anzu agreed.
The three of them were back at the Game Shop, sitting around the card table and pursuing their old pastime. It was the same table where they had been playing their games the day Pegasus had wandered into the store and disrupted their lives. From the comfort and safety of this familiar place, the events of Duelist Kingdom seemed like some kind of bizarre dream. He would have been inclined to believe it was so, if it hadn't been for a few pieces of hard evidence lying around.
The front door burst open, and Jonouchi staggered in, trying to slow himself down from a headlong dash. He didn't quite make it, and ended up bumping into a display case. A few boxes of Zombire action figures wobbled precariously.
"Careful!" Grandpa shouted. "Those don't come cheap, you know!"
"I don't care! I'll buy 'em all, if I have to!" said Jonouchi jubilantly. "Shizuka's getting her operation! It's all paid off! She's going in next Friday."
"That's great, Jonouchi!" said Yugi.
"Yeah, it's wonderful," Anzu agreed.
"I know," said Jonouchi, grinning broadly. "You guys are all gonna have to come down and visit her. I got to spend a lot of time with her yesterday, 'cause she had to have a bunch of checkups and stuff before the operation and asked me to come with her, and I told her all about you guys. She's looking forward to meeting you."
"I'm sure we'll love her," Anzu declared.
"Man, I can't believe this is happening," said Jonouchi. "I didn't really believe it would happen - getting the money to get her eyes fixed. Definitely not like this. Who woulda thought that it would be Pegasus financing her operation, huh?"
"It's like something out of a cheap book," Honda said. "You know, a rich guy dying and leaving you the money just when you need it most."
Anzu poked him. "I didn't know you read books, Honda."
"Humph. I do so, and some of them don't even have pictures," he joked back.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Jonouchi. "It's all a little too weird. Hard to believe that Pegasus is just... gone."
"He must be, though," said Anzu. "You heard what they were saying in the news. He turned over his company to Kaiba, and left everything else to that servant of his. He wouldn't give up everything if he wasn't really dead."
"Besides, there's not much else he could have done," Honda agreed. "You saw the room. It was locked and latched from the inside. There was only one way out, and that way involved a long drop and a sudden stop."
"It's almost kind of sad," said Anzu. "All that trouble, just to be with the girl he loved... it just went really wrong. I wonder what ever happened to her?"
"No idea," said Jonouchi. "If I were her, I'd get as far away from him as possible. He was pretty sketchy."
"Maybe she went with him," Honda said. "I mean, if she was still alive, he would have left all his money to her, right? What do you think, Yugi?"
"I don't really know," said Yugi slowly. "We'll probably never find out for sure."
Even as he spoke, he slipped his hand into his coat pocket. He had yet to take out the card he had picked up, and there was still a bit of string wrapped around it. He was keeping them as a souvenir, and also as a secret. He had decided to honor Pegasus's last, unspoken request. The man had been a gamer, after all, and it just wouldn't have been fair to pose a riddle if there weren't a few clues left behind. Yugi had kept them and thought about them. He thought, for example, how a piece of string, loosely tied, might be used to pull a latch closed from the other side of the door before it was allowed to fall inconspicuously to the floor. He thought, too, about the meaning of the card Pegasus had chosen to leave behind: The Monster Reborn.