Making Destiny

x.x.x

The fire was beginning to die down, though its weak glow still softly illuminated the tiny makeshift camp. Yugi and Mokuba had curled up in Mokuba's small sleeping bag. Joey, Mai and Duke sat up, talking in whispered conversation so as not to wake their sleeping friends. But none of these were of interest to the watcher carefully concealed in the shadows of the trees.

Noa was getting cold. The campfire looked pretty inviting; he hadn't thought to bring a sleeping bag of his own. None of the many business classes his father had made him take, none of the many tutors he'd had over the years, had given him the slightest inkling of basic survival skills in the woods. He had no idea how to make a campfire of his own. Not only that, but as his stomach growled loud enough he was sure the camp's occupants should be able to hear, he realized he was getting very hungry as well. In a few minutes he would have to find some shelter and warmth for himself.

But it could wait just a moment more. Noa raised his binoculars again, which he had brought for the sole purpose of Seto-watching. Seto appeared to be asleep as well. But curled next to him, sharing the same sleeping bag, was a white-haired boy that seemed determined to get as close to Seto as physically possible. Noa grit his teeth, his hands clenching around the binoculars. How dare that boy presume to get so close to Seto? It wasn't fair at all. Noa saw him first! Yes, Noa was most certainly going to have to put a stop to this.

In the clearing, Duke finally moved to put out the fire for the night. In the darkness, Noa carefully tried to climb down from his perch. Partway down, his foot slipped on a branch, and he tumbled down into the bushes below.

"What was that?" Mai whispered, startled by the crashing in the brush.

Joey dug around in his bag for a flashlight, shining the light at the nearby trees. Nothing moved but a few leaves swaying slightly in the breeze.

"Probably a raccoon or something," Joey said. "Nothing to worry about. Haven't you ever camped out in the woods before?"

"No!" Mai said. "Are you kidding? Getting leaves in my hair and dirt on my clothes? No thank you. What about you? You came prepared enough, you go camping in the woods often?"

"Me?" Joey asked. "No way. But a bunch of friends and I used to hang out in the empty warehouses all the time. And those have a lot worse in them than raccoons."

"Like what?" Duke asked. "Gangsters?"

"Worse." Joey grinned. "Rats. Hundreds of big, gray rats with glowing red eyes and tiny, sharp teeth."

"Ewww!" Mai shuddered, moving close against Joey and looking around herself as if she expected to see tiny red rat eyes watching her from the darkness.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Duke said, pulling the sleeping bag up to cover over them. "Joey and I will protect you from all the little creepy crawlies in the night."

"Oh yeah?" Mai asked, snuggling up with her two boys, as they got ready for bed. "And who protects me from you two?"

"With us," Joey said, "you're just going to have to take your chances."

x.x.x

Yami came awake slowly as the sunlight filtered through the leaves. He was disoriented at first, unable to remember where he was, staring up at the dazzling array of green leaves above him without realizing just what they were at first. Memory came back to him a bit at a time, as it usually did in early mornings. His pain was lessened this morning, and he remembered how Seto and the Tomb Robber had helped him with that in the moonlight the night before. And then they had gone to bed, though they'd had to share sleeping bags…

Yami tensed, remembering that he did in fact have a bed partner. Mokuba was still asleep, curled gently against him, his head resting on Yami's shoulder and one arm draped over him. Now Yami remembered why he'd gone to sleep in the comfort of his soul room, letting Yugi rough it out in the woods. Yami certainly wouldn't have gotten much sleep with Mokuba sleeping so close to him.

"Mmm?" Mokuba stirred next to him, blinking at him sleepily, then smiling. "G'morning, Yami."

"Good morning," Yami murmured, trying to very slowly extricate himself from the warm folds of the sleeping bag. The morning air was a little chilly, making Yami shiver.

Mokuba blinked at Yami, frowning slightly. "Where are you going?"

Any number of reasonable excuses came to mind, but with Mokuba watching him so honestly bewildered, Yami couldn't lie to him, even to spare his feelings. "I'm sorry Mokuba. I just can't."

"Can't what?" Mokuba asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Sleep next to me for even a moment? You worry too much, it's not like I'm gonna rape you or something."

Yami frowned. "I think Seto was right. You know far too much about such matters at your age."

"Seto's right about a lot of things," Mokuba pointed out. "He is a genius, after all. And he'd be right about this too, if I were a little kid. I'm not a child, Yami! You don't have to treat me like I'm some little innocent too stupid to know what they're really feeling."

"That was certainly never my intention, Mokuba," Yami said. "You seem very sure of yourself and your feelings now, and I respect that. But in the end, you would end up hurt. You may even end up hating me. And I'm not going to risk that." He got up, then moved to search through Yugi's small pack. "Let's see if there's anything for breakfast."

"You're changing the subject," Mokuba pointed out.

"Yes I am," Yami agreed readily.

Across from the fire pit, Joey yawned, sitting up and blinking at the two of them sleepily. "Did I hear somebody say breakfast?"

The little group came awake one at a time, with Seto and Bakura being the last to leave the warm comforts of their sleeping bag. They all pooled together what meager foodstuffs they'd brought, managing to come up with just enough to make a decent breakfast for them all.

"We'd better make it to that castle by lunchtime," Joey said, licking the last of his meal off his fingers. "Otherwise, we're all going to starve."

"We could always resort to cannibalism," Bakura offered.

Joey glowered at him. "You stay away from me."

"Joey's right though," Mokuba said, rummaging around his backpack just to make sure there wasn't any food left in that he'd missed. "And if we want to get inside that castle before we starve, we need to get started on this tournament right away today."

"We can win more of these star chips if we split up into smaller groups," Duke pointed out. "Mai, Joey and I will take the north, Seto and Mokuba can take the west, and Yugi and Ryou can take the east."

"Thanks all the same, but I'll be staying with Seto," Bakura said, giving Seto a brief grin which Seto ignored.

"Yugi has to come with us, too," Mokuba said stubbornly. "We're not just gonna let him wander around on his own."

Duke shrugged. "Suit yourself. Better than nothing, I guess. So you guys take the west, and we'll take the north, then."

Seto dug out a map from his bag that had been handed out during the tournament opening. He studied it for a moment, then pointed out a spot on it. "There's a bunch of caverns around this area, we can meet up there sometime this afternoon."

Everyone agreed on the plan, then packed up the camp and headed in their separate directions.

x.x.x

"They're this way," Marik hissed in his host's mind. "Can't you go any faster?"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Malik said aloud, sprinting down the path through the trees. "Why are we in such a hurry anyway? We're on an island, it's not like they're going anywhere."

"Are you questioning my orders!" Marik demanded darkly.

"No!" Malik hastened to assure him. "No, no of course not. All I meant was-"

"Would you shut up? I don't have time for your pathetic whining. Just find them already."

Malik swallowed the rest of what he was going to say, murmuring only a small, "Yes, Master."

They were getting pretty close, Malik realized. He could hear the sounds of a duel going on up ahead. As he neared the clearing, he peeked out from behind a tree, surveying the scene. The nearest of the two duelists had his back to him, a tall boy with brown hair whose current monster on the field appeared to be quite an impressive white dragon.

­"Hey!" Marik said, almost amused. "It's the boy with the nice ass."

Nice ass? Malik wondered, blinking at the duelist again. Well, perhaps he was nice enough to look at from the back. But he'd certainly never suspected the dark presence in his mind was into that sort of thing.

"If he's here," Marik continued. "Then the holder of the Millennium Ring must be around here too. And there is our other target; the holder of the Millennium Puzzle."

Malik looked over to where his darker side directed his attentions. The keeper of the Millennium Puzzle was nothing like Malik had imagined him to be. The boy was shorter than he'd expected, with wildly tri-colored hair styled into spikes. He was enthusiastically cheering for the boy with the nice ass. The little boy was… actually very cute.

"Hello?" Marik demanded. "Wake up, shit head. There will be plenty of time to admire the boy when he's a corpse. You've got a mission to do, remember? Unless, you'd prefer me to take over…"

"No!" Malik protested. He paused, chewing his lower lip. "Do we really have to hurt him?"

"Don't you know who that IS?" Marik asked. "That boy is the reincarnation of the Pharaoh. The very reason for the markings on your back. The reason you grew up in darkness, never allowed to see the outside world, with only me for company."

"Him?" Malik blinked at the boy, trying to imagine him in royal robes, acting as the Pharaoh. "Are you sure? Isn't he a little short to be a king?"

"Why else would he be wearing the Millennium Puzzle?" Marik demanded. "The Millennium Items go to the ones they belong to, destiny doesn't just deal them out randomly."

"But if each item goes to the one it belongs to, how do you expect me to steal them? Isn't that, like, messing with destiny or something?"

Marik was silent a moment. "You're questioning me again, aren't you?"

"No!"

"Then do as I say. We make our own destiny."

Not even pretending to understand that convoluted logic, Malik moved into the clearing. The holder of the Millennium Puzzle heard his approaching footsteps, and turned to look at him. The boy's welcoming smile was dazzling, and Malik came to an abrupt halt as he felt his knees buckle. The boy had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen in his life.

"…I don't think I can do this."

"What do you MEAN?" Marik snarled. "You're going to let a pair of bright amethyst eyes deter you from your task?"

Malik didn't reply to that, instead offering the boy a smile in return. "Um, hey. I heard the duel going on over here, thought I'd come to see how it was going. Do you mind if I watch a while? I'm Malik Ishtar."

"Yugi Motou," the boy introduced himself. He pointed up to the boy with the nice ass. "That's Seto Nishimura. His little brother Mokuba is over on the other side, trying to get a better view. It's nice to meet you. You're welcome to stay if you like, but I think the duel is almost over. Seto's really good. Hardly anybody beats him once he has his Blue Eyes White Dragon on the field."

"You're not supposed to chat with him," Marik muttered in irritation.

"Would you please be quiet and let me do this? I know what I'm doing."

Marik fell silent at that, waiting for his host to prove himself. Malik just hoped he really did know what he was doing.