10. Plunging In
Yugi walked aimlessly around the ship trying to put some order to his scattered thoughts. It was a little after two AM and the only other people he ran into were a few crew members headed for the bridge at a quick pace. Once he made his way down a couple levels away from the bridge, he found himself completely alone, which was exactly what he needed as he tried to make some sense of what he had just learned.
It was an immense relief to find out that not only was Téa probably not seeing anyone else, but that her negative reaction to his attending grad school in New York was not because she couldn't stand the thought of being in the same city with him. But what he didn't know was if Joey was right and the reverse was true. Could she really have been that upset because she wanted to be with him? Could she really still have feelings for him after two years?
Well, why not? It wasn't like the years had diminished his feelings, and he'd had them a lot longer than two years. Maybe Joey was right. He hardly dared to hope, though. Something had always been in the way of the two of them ever being more than friends. The friendship itself and the inherent risks to that if things didn't work out, his own bashfulness and insecurity, Atem, Egypt and New York. And truthfully, all of those things still remained, at least if you substituted "somewhere in America" and "Domino" for "Egypt" and "New York."
And what about Atem? Even if Joey was right and she did have feelings for him, how much of that was really him and how much the Pharaoh? And did it even really matter? If she really wanted to be with him, would he start quibbling on the particulars of why?
No, he admitted, he probably wouldn't.
He had to tell her everything, he realized. No more hiding, waiting to try and figure out how she felt about him first. All of this miscommunication, all of this awkwardness could be avoided if he just told her everything.
The prospect was terrifying, however. There was so much potential for a whole new kind of awkwardness, a much worse awkwardness, if she didn't feel the same way about him. Besides, it was in his nature to be passive, to wait for others to come to him. But hadn't she already done that two years ago? She'd told him the truth and he'd hedged, partly because everything was so confused, but mostly because he was afraid. Afraid it couldn't be real, that she'd realize that it was Atem that she really loved, not him, never him. Afraid that if he opened the walls he'd put around his heart that he'd never be able to close them again, that he would no longer have any way of protecting himself from the fact that he surely could never mean as much to her as she meant to him. But really, it was already too late for that anyway. She'd breached those walls two years before and from that moment there had been no going back, no more pretending to himself that he wasn't hopelessly in love with her. So if he couldn't go back and standing still clearly wasn't working, the only option left was to move forward. Whatever the risks.
Finding himself on the Promenade Deck where he and Téa had started to talk Saturday night before being interrupted by Joey, he walked over to the rail and leaned on it, looking out at the ocean. It was warmer down here than up on the top deck where he and Joey had been dueling, but it was a good deal colder than it had been that night when his tuxedo jacket had been enough to keep her warm. He closed his eyes, remembering how it felt to be with her that night, to be able to offer her that small bit of comfort. Remembering the feel of her hand on his. What had she said that had made him feel like he could walk on water? Oh yes, she'd said that he didn't need to measure up to Atem. That he'd always been a hero. He flushed a little at the memory.
"Couldn't sleep either?"
Yugi's heart almost stopped in his chest and he whirled around to find himself face to face with the girl in question as if he'd conjured her out of thin air just by thinking about her. She was sitting cross-legged on a large crate labeled PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICES, leaning back against the bulkhead well out of the wind. She looked small and a little lost inside a large camping jacket with the hood pulled up.
"Téa! I… I didn't see you there!" Yugi blushed, suddenly feeling naked, as if she could read his mind. It didn't help that she was looking a little embarrassed herself and also giving him a sort of crooked smile.
"Do you sleep with that thing or were you wandering the decks hoping to challenge some random passenger to a duel?"
"Huh? Oh, my duel disk," he said, realizing it was still on his left arm. "Joey and I were dueling up on the top deck. I just haven't bothered to take it off yet."
"Oh, so that's where you two went. I… I was looking for you after the show." She looked down, her face now hidden inside her hood.
"You were?" he asked, a feeling of elation flooding him. She's not avoiding me anymore.
"Yeah," she said. She looked up again and slid over to her left so that she was sitting on one end of the crate and patted the empty space on her right. "Wanna have a seat?"
Yugi swallowed and nodded. This is it, he realized with something close to panic. He'd thought he'd have until morning to work up the courage to tell her the truth, but now here she was. This was his opportunity and he had to take it, only he found his feet didn't seem to want to move. Finally they obeyed and he sat down beside her on the crate. His boots dangled above the floor and he suddenly was very self-conscious of his short height, so he pulled his knees up and rested his heels on top of the box. He took off his duel disk and set it on the deck beside him.
"Téa," he started at the exact same moment as she said "Yugi."
They both stopped and smiled sheepishly at each other. "I'm sorry, you go first," she said, pulling her hood back.
She is so beautiful, he thought, but managed to say, "No, that's okay, you go."
"I… I just wanted to say I'm sorry about rushing off on you last night. You must think I'm a total spaz, but there's a reason I reacted the way I did to you maybe going to grad school in New York."
"Joey told me you're moving back to Domino."
"Oh. Well, yeah." She looked down at her lap.
"Téa, why didn't you just tell me?"
"I tried," she said, looking back up at him again. "It's not like it was a big secret or anything. I just… when you said… I didn't know what to say," she stammered. She leaned her head back against the wall in frustration. "Even though you're my best friend, sometimes it's hard to say stuff to you. Things can be so weird with us sometimes, you know?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "But hey, look on the bright side. As weird goes, this is pretty far toward the normal range for us. Not like Duel Monsters coming to life or people's souls getting sent to the Shadow Realm or anything."
She laughed. "We're only three days into the trip. Still plenty of time for the usual weirdness, too." She sat up suddenly and looked at him. "You know what we need? A blank slate. Let's totally start over again." She put out her hand as if she wanted to shake hands with him. "Hi, my name is Téa Gardner, originally from Domino, Japan, but I've been living in New York the past couple of years. Nice to meet you."
He eyed her skeptically.
"Oh come on, just play along," she prodded, presenting her hand again. "My name is Téa Gardner," she repeated. "And you are?"
Shaking his head in amusement, he took her hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm Yugi Mutou."
She widened her eyes and put her hand to her mouth in mock awe. "The Yugi Mutou?" she gushed. "The King of Games?"
"Shut up," he scowled.
"I've heard of you," she continued, ignoring his protests. "They say you're the guy to beat at this tournament. I'm not a duelist myself; I'm here with friends. Actually, I'm a dancer. I'm in the chorus of an off-Broadway show."
"I'll bet you're a fabulous dancer," he said earnestly.
She shrugged. "I'm all right. The thing is, I don't really want to be a dancer anymore. At least, not just a dancer."
"Why not?"
"It's hard to explain. I love dancing. I always have and I always will. But something happened when I started doing it for a living. It stopped being fun and started being work, you know?"
"Mm hmm."
"And see… this is kind of a long story, but you know what they say about it being easy to talk to strangers," she winked at him. "Anyway, I have this group of friends from high school, and we did the most amazing things together. And when I say amazing, I don't just mean sort of cool, I mean amazing in the original sense of the word. We went to a private island together. We've been to California and to Egypt. We fought real live monsters and psychos who wanted to rule the world. Well, my friends did, anyway. I just sorta watched."
"That's not true," he protested, then remembering the game when she shot him a warning look, he amended, "I mean, I'm sure that's not true. I bet they couldn't have done it without you."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. But anyway, it really was the best three years of my life. Which I know is a totally lame thing to say because who wants to be the kind of person who peaks in high school? It makes me feel like some pathetic former cheerleader who wants to hang onto the glory days. But it's not really like that. It's just… we did stuff that was important. And suddenly dancing doesn't feel so important anymore. It doesn't feel like what I should be doing."
He took a breath, weighing his words. "I think anything you love can be important."
"I know, it's just… what I love, what I really love is being a part of something bigger than myself. And I'm not talking a Broadway musical. Something where I can make a difference in people's lives, even if my own contribution is small."
"Which it isn't," he insisted.
"Maybe. But anyway, I decided to quit dancing professionally and go back to school. I'm thinking of studying literature and history. I know, those don't sound like big things, not like my friend Serenity who's going to be a doctor. But I thought it might be cool to teach. I could teach dancing, too, I think, so it could still be a big part of my life. I think maybe I could make a difference in some kid's life that way."
"I think that's a really great idea, if that's what you want to do. I bet you'd make a brilliant teacher."
She flushed, pleased. "Thank you. But see, here's the thing. You know how I said those three years of high school were the best three years of my life? Well, when I started thinking about quitting dancing, instead of staying in New York to go to college there, I thought more and more about going back to Domino. It wasn't homesickness, really. I don't want to live in Japan. I really want to get my green card and stay in America permanently. But, see, it was my friends. We kind of went our separate ways after high school; I moved to New York, one of us went to school in Egypt, one of us went into the army, and one of us stayed back in Domino. So I told myself I couldn't afford going to school in New York and all sorts of things to convince myself it was really best to move back to Domino.
"But then yesterday," she continued, "I found out one of my other friends might be moving to New York and, well, it hit me really hard that I didn't want to leave New York, or at least I didn't want to leave America. And if the only thing that made me change my mind was whether or not a friend was going to be there, well, I guess I was making my decisions for all the wrong reasons. So that makes me exactly what I didn't want to be, that lame cheerleader who can't get past high school. So… I guess I freaked. I'm just so mad at myself for making life decisions based on what my friends are doing and because of that, I threw away a really good opportunity. I'm almost twenty years old. I should be beyond sorting my life around my friends."
She let out a puff of air, as if relieved that she had gotten it all of her chest. "So anyway, now my friend probably thinks something awful like I didn't want him around and that isn't true and I just hope he knows that."
Yugi nodded. "I'm sure he does," he assured her, relieved to hear from her own lips that she wasn't appalled at the thought of being around him. But he also couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she gave no indication that she specifically wanted to be with him more than any of the others. Well, at least Joey had been half right, and anything was better than what he thought before.
"So," she said, slapping her knees with the palms of her hands, "that's my stupid little story. I told you I'm a spaz."
"No you're not"
"So how about you? What do you do besides being the King of Games?"
He rolled his eyes at the title. "Well, I just got my BA in Egyptology and I'm going to start working on my master's."
"How interesting," she said enthusiastically. "So where are you gonna do your master's?"
He tilted his head back and looked at the underside of the deck above them. "Well that's the question, isn't it? I have two schools I'm looking at right now, UC Berkeley and Columbia."
"Which one do you like best?"
"I don't know. It's kind of a long story. Not all that different from yours, actually."
She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands. "I've got time."
He took a deep breath. "Okay. So I have this best friend—"
"Only one?"
"No," he amended, "you're right. I have three best friends. They are the most awesome friends anyone could have. But I was thinking of one of them in particular. She's my oldest friend, my only friend for a long time, actually. You know, before all this stupid 'King of Games' stuff, I was kinda shy and didn't make friends very easily," he said as if admitting a dark secret.
She reacted with mock astonishment. "No!"
He chuckled. "Yeah, totally shocking, I know. So this girl, she was my friend when no one else was. And then we became friends with these other two guys and then, well, my life got really weird. Not high school weird, but really weird. And for a long time, I didn't know who I was. In some ways, I still don't. But she always did. She was always there, like… like my touchstone. She always kept me from losing myself, kept me true to myself. And I don't know if she knows how much that means to me. I don't think I ever thanked her for that."
She looked at him, her eyes solemn. "I bet she knows," she said softly.
He took a breath, considering what to say next. He remembered two years ago in Téa's bedroom, how she had rushed through telling him how she'd felt, as if it were something she had to forcibly expel from her gut. It hit him then for the first time what a huge risk she'd taken to be honest with him. She didn't know how he'd felt about her, didn't know how he'd react, thought it might end their friendship. But she'd done it because it was the truth. How could he give her any less and still call himself her friend?
He looked away from her out into the dark sea; it was easier if he wasn't looking at her. Lowering his legs so that they hung over the side of the crate, his boots swinging a few inches above the deck, he leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs and took another deep breath before finally plunging in. "So then one day a couple of years ago, she tells me…" He faltered, his courage failing for a moment, then tried again. "She tells me she has feelings for me. You know, as more than a friend."
"Yugi, don't—" she said, a note of panic in her voice. He turned to look at her now and she did seem frightened, sitting bolt upright, but he put up his hand to stop her.
"No, Téa, we have to talk about this because not talking about it isn't working. It's making things awkward and uncomfortable and we should never be awkward and uncomfortable with each other. Our friendship means too much to me for that. So let's stop pretending that conversation never happened and let's talk about it."
She nodded, but she still looked fearful, and he couldn't stand to see her afraid. As he had no idea if his next words would make it better or worse for her, he looked away again, seeking refuge in the game she'd started. She was just a stranger, someone with no vested interest in his words. Someone he couldn't hurt and who couldn't hurt him.
"To say I was shocked is an understatement," he forced himself to continue. "I never suspected. In fact, I was sure she liked someone else, someone braver than me, stronger than me, more outgoing. Someone who was everything I'm not."
"Oh, Yugi," she whispered, her voice wavering as if she were near tears. He held his hand up again to keep her from saying more, but wouldn't—couldn't—look at her.
"I would have bet everything I owned, everything, that this girl would never think of me that way, and when I say that, I say that as a gamer, a gambler who never takes a bet I'm not pretty sure I can win. So when she said that she liked me… that way… everything changed. But everything was a mess in my life and she was going to New York and I was going to Egypt and so I never even answered her, I never told her what I thought of her because she said she didn't want me to, and I hid behind that. I just wanted things to be like they were, I wanted to always be her friend.
"And for a while it seemed like everything could be the same," he went on. "We e-mailed and IM'ed and sent text messages and chatted online every day. Everything was cool and I was really glad. She made new friends in New York. She dated a few guys out there. Maybe it was all just a dumb high school crush and she got over it. Maybe she didn't. Maybe it was… maybe it was never really about me at all. I don't really know because we never talked about it again. But I realize now that I haven't pulled my weight in this friendship. She took a risk that day to tell me the truth, and I can't claim to be her friend and not be honest with her, too."
He sighed, feeling a little ashamed. "Actually, I've been worse than that. I've treated our friendship like a game. Like a strategy. Play one card at a time, but never show your whole hand. Instead, I thought I could figure out what was in her hand. If it was just a dumb thing she's over, play it one way. If she still… Well, I don't know, but it doesn't really matter because our friendship isn't a game. It's one of the most important things in my life and it's time I started treating it that way. In the end, it doesn't matter whether I'm going to school in New York or San Francisco or Cairo or if she's going to live in New York or Japan. It doesn't matter if she really likes me or if it was… something else. All that matters is that I tell her the truth and the truth is I can't stop thinking about her."
She sucked in a sharp breath at this and now he had to look at her. She was staring at him, her eyes wide and rimmed with tears. He still couldn't tell whether it was because she just wanted to be friends and this was uncomfortable or because she had feelings for him too, but found that at the moment it really didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the truth.
"I've always been thinking about her," he said, sitting up and looking into her eyes but still talking about her in the third person. "I've been thinking about her since, I don't know, since I was old enough to think about girls, I guess." He turned his face back towards the sea again and closed his eyes. "I tried to pretend I didn't think of her that way because I was so sure she would never think of me that way and then when she said she did it was still too scary, too hard to believe it could be true, so I hid behind all the excuses: Egypt and New York and the confusion in my life. I just didn't want to screw up our friendship. I still don't want to screw up our friendship, but it really isn't much of a friendship if I can't even be honest with her."
He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands folded in his lap. "And really, I'm not sure I've been all that great a friend anyway. She's always been so supportive of me and my stuff, always putting aside what's important to her to do stuff like come to tournaments with me, but I haven't once taken the time to really see her in her world, to share what's important to her, and I feel really bad about that. She means everything to me. Everything. Even if I haven't done a good job of showing it. And now… now I wanna be a part of what's important to her for a change. If that's not dancing anymore, then whatever it is, I wanna be a part of it."
He looked at her one more time. Abandoning the pretense that she was a stranger, he spoke directly to her. "Téa, that's the real reason I wanted to go to grad school in New York. I want to be with you."
"Really?" she squeaked, a tear trickling down her face.
"Really," he admitted. "Don't you know? That's all I've ever wanted. I… I just hope that doesn't freak you out or anything because more than anything I don't want to screw up our friendship."
Their eyes locked for what seemed like a thousand years. Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, she leaned closer to him. Without thinking, without even realizing he was doing it, he leaned towards her as well, his heart pounding so hard he was sure it must be visible through his jacket.
"Somehow," she said, her voice almost a whisper as she came so close to him he could feel her breath on his face, "I don't think it's going to be a problem."
Their lips met, and every nerve ending in his body came alive. It was tentative at first as the two of them explored this completely new and mind-blowing territory. Her hand snaked up to his face, her touch electric sparks on his skin. She tasted like peaches but, incongruously, smelled woodsy, like she'd been at a campfire. Her camping jacket, he thought randomly before all thoughts flew from his head as she pulled him closer to her and their kiss intensified until he was drowning in it. Supporting his weight on his left hand, he pressed as close to her as he could, his right hand finding its way to her shoulder, her neck, her hair.
It seemed to last forever, and when they finally did part, he pulled back only far enough to see her eyes, which met his with a look of desire that ran a thrill through him. Could that look really be directed at him?
"Wow," he gasped, his breathing ragged and shallow, as was hers.
"Yeah," she murmured in return.
She hesitantly reached for his face again and brushed aside a lock of blond hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. He half closed his eyes, but then noticed that her hand was trembling. Opening his eyes again, he looked at her with concern.
"You're shaking. Are you cold?"
Her eyebrows went up in amusement. "Cold? No, definitely not cold," she said softly, her voice tremulous as well. "I just can't believe…" she continued tracing a line down his face with the back of her finger. "I've been looking forward to this trip ever since we planned it. I wanted to tell you… I wanted to find out if you…" She kept fumbling for words. "But when we got here, I got too scared. I thought you were doing fine without me."
He felt unreal. How could he be fine without her? "I've been miserable without you," he told her. Her finger brushed lightly across his lips and he shivered and closed his eyes again.
"I've been miserable without you, too," she whispered.
"So what now?" he whispered back.
"I…" she started, breathless. "More, actually, would be nice."
They kissed again, softer this time, hundreds of little kisses causing hundreds of explosions inside him. He had never known anything like this, never felt so much.
"Is this really happening?" she asked between kisses.
"I sure hope so," he breathed. "I love you, Téa."
She jerked back with a sharp gasp. "What did you say?"
It was only then that he realized what he'd said; the words had poured out of him of their own accord without any thought or plan on his part. He felt a brief shock of blind panic; had he gone too far? But it was just for an instant and then he realized it didn't matter. It was the truth. He loved her. He always had.
He opened his mouth to say it again, when the ship abruptly gave a violent lurch and what sounded like a loud thunderclap rang out, disorienting because it came from beneath them rather than above. Téa toppled backwards off the crate to land in a heap on the deck and Yugi fell forward onto the crate, sprawled on his stomach in the space she had just vacated.
"Téa!" he called out in alarm. "Are you all right?"
She looked up at him and groaned in frustration. "Of course," she muttered more to herself than to him, "three days on a ship with Yugi Mutou. Something strange was bound to happen!"
"Hey, how is this my fault?" he protested, but before she could answer, there was another loud boom from below and the ship gave another shudder, this time rolling sideways, pitching Yugi off the crate and both of them toward the rail, along with Yugi's duel disk, which had been lying forgotten beside them. They skidded to a stop before reaching the rail, but the duel disk clattered past them. Yugi rolled over and stretched out with his arm, snatching it up before it flew overboard. Then he jumped to his feet and reached out to help Téa up as well.
"Okay, this can't be good," Téa said.
"We need to get inside," Yugi said as he slipped the duel disk onto his arm so he wouldn't lose it again.
He took her hand and they ran through a doorway into an interior corridor. Automatically they made their way back towards their suite.
The ship started coming alive with activity as ship's crew started rushing about the hallways. "Please go back to your cabin," one purser told them gruffly as he rushed past. Yugi tried to make sense of what had happened by listening to their scattered conversations.
"It came from the engines," one crewmember was saying to another as they jogged by.
"…mostly contained in the engine areas, but the Holiday Deck is pretty well trashed…" they heard over another crewmember's radio. And most alarming of all: "…taking on water…"
Téa and Yugi exchanged worried glances. "What just happened? Do you think we'll have to evacuate the ship?"
"I don't know. They'll ring that alarm and send us to our muster rooms like in the drill. Let's just get back to the suite and check on the others."
They started to head toward the elevators, but Yugi remembered they were supposed to use the stairs during emergencies. Téa nodded in agreement and they went back outside to the nearest staircase to climb up the four flights of stairs to their deck. Just as they mounted the last flight between the Baja and Aloha Decks, Kaiba appeared on the landing above with Mokuba close behind. They were both wearing expensive fleece-lined coats and had their duel disks strapped to their left arms.
"Yugi!" Kaiba called out when he spotted them. "Do you know what's going on?"
"There was some kind of explosion down below, in the engines, I think," Yugi told him as they reached the landing. "We might be taking on water."
Kaiba's mouth formed a thin, grim line. "Then the rats will be deserting the ship. Especially the one-eyed rat."
"Pegasus?" Yugi asked. "You don't think he had anything to do with this, do you?"
"Who else?" Kaiba replied. "He gets us all together on this little trip and then the ship just 'accidentally' blows up? I don't think so. If he's not behind it himself, he knows who is. Time to have a little one-on-one with the rodent."
Yugi considered a moment. Kaiba did have a point. Whether or not Pegasus was actually responsible for whatever had happened, there was no doubt he'd have a good idea what was going on. Whatever he was up to when he'd decided to host this tournament, the explosions had to be related.
"I'm going with—" Yugi started to say, but was drowned out when the ship's alarm siren began blaring. He looked at Téa, their fears confirmed.
Finally it stopped and an announcement came over the public address system: "All passengers are to immediately proceed to your assigned muster station. This is not a drill. Repeat, all passengers proceed to your assigned muster stations. Crew members please report to emergency posts."
"The ship is sinking," Téa breathed.
"Mokuba, go to our muster station," Kaiba ordered.
"Wait a second, Seto, you've gotta come too," Mokuba countered.
"No. I'm going to find out exactly what's going on. GO!" he shouted when Mokuba didn't move.
"I'm going with you," Yugi told Kaiba.
"Yugi—" Téa began to protest, but he cut her off.
"Téa, I need you to look out for Rebecca for me. Make sure she's safe."
He could tell by her expression she wasn't thrilled about being separated. He wasn't, either, but he needed to find out if Pegasus knew anything and he also needed someone to watch out for Rebecca. Téa realized this, too, and she nodded. "Just be careful, okay? Please. I…." She looked like she wanted to say more, but she stopped.
"We'll be fine," he assured her. "You be careful, too, okay?" She nodded, biting her lower lip.
"Take Mokuba with you," Kaiba told her.
Yugi saw a flash of irritation in her eyes at what was more an order than a request, but she let it pass. "Come on Mokuba," she agreed, putting a hand on his shoulders. "Let's go back in and find Rebecca and then get downstairs to the Siren Lounge."
"No, I'm going with my brother," Mokuba argued.
"Mokuba!" Kaiba barked. "Just go with Téa!" He and Yugi headed up toward the Sun Deck where the Penthouse Suite was located. Mokuba started after him, but Téa grabbed his arm to stop him.
"I'm not a kid anymore, Téa!" he protested.
"Then stop acting like one. This is between them and Pegasus!"
"Mokuba, GO!" Kaiba shouted down at his brother. With a very petulant look, he finally followed Téa inside toward their suites.
The ship was starting to bustle with activity as passengers came out of their cabins in life jackets. Most had taken the time to dress, but a few were still in pajamas. The majority of them, Yugi noticed, had their duel disks strapped to their arms. Yugi shook his head, wondering at the priorities of a group of people, himself included, who when faced with disaster would still reach first for their duel disks and decks. We really take this game way too seriously, he thought.
They made it to the Sun Deck without further incident and found the Penthouse Suite easily. Kaiba pounded on the door, calling out "Open up Pegasus! We demand to know what's going on!"
The door opened enough for Pegasus' assistant, Croquet, to poke his head through. "We're in a state of emergency right now! I suggest you go to your muster stations, which is exactly what Mr. Pegasus will be doing."
"I'm sure there will be plenty of room on his lifeboat for two more," Kaiba replied, "seeing as how this ship isn't even half full."
"I'm sorry—" Croquet began, but then Pegasus pushed past him and came out the door wearing a long overcoat and a life preserver.
"Yugi-boy and Kaiba-boy, quelle surprise," he said in his typical singsong manner. But his expression was not typical; he looked flustered and on edge. Very unusual for a man who always maintained supreme control. "It's all right, Croquet, let them come with us."
"We're not going anywhere until we get some answers," Kaiba said. "What exactly is going on here?"
"It appears, Kaiba-boy, that the ship is sinking. I would have thought that obvious. I suggest we make our way down to my appointed muster station and get ourselves onto a lifeboat."
He pushed past Kaiba and headed toward the stairs they'd just come up.
"We shouldn't go that way," Yugi said. "The indoor staircase would be safer."
Pegasus stopped and did an about face and headed toward the staircase near the elevators, Croquet, Kaiba, and Yugi in his wake.
"I still want some answers," Kaiba said, his voice full of menace.
"Really, Kaiba-boy, surely you don't think I had anything to do with this disaster? Do you really think I'd plot to blow up a ship that I was on? I had no idea your opinion of my intelligence was so dismally low."
"I think you're capable of almost anything," Kaiba shot back. "And if you didn't do this, you know who did. You didn't invite me and Yugi to this little party of yours just to play Duel Monsters."
They reached the stairs and headed down into the crowd of fellow passengers also trying to make their way to the Promenade Deck. Keeping his voice low so that only Kaiba and Yugi could hear, he said, "I'm not surprised that someone would want to prevent this tournament from happening, no."
"But why? It's just a game." Yugi protested.
"Come now, Yugi-boy, when has Duel Monsters ever been just a game?" Pegasus oozed.
"You mean you invited all these innocent people here knowing that someone would want to sabotage the tournament?" Yugi asked angrily.
"Et tu, Yugi-boy?" Pegasus asked in mock hurt. "Again I ask you, if I had known this would happen, would I have come on the ship myself?"
"But you just said you're not surprised," Yugi pressed.
"Not completely, no," Pegasus admitted. "I didn't think he'd figure out the importance of this tournament—"
"Wait," Yugi interrupted, "he who?"
"I don't actually know who. The whole story is too complicated to explain in the middle of a crisis, Yugi-boy. But as I was saying, I didn't think whoever did this would figure out the importance of the tournament until he showed his hand by trying to prevent the two of you from coming. By then it was too late to change plans and I didn't think he would be prepared to do anything about it yet regardless. It was… an unfortunate miscalculation on my part."
"A miscalculation?" Kaiba asked incredulously. "When are you going to stop playing with people's lives, Pegasus?"
"Your concern for your fellow competitors is truly touching," Pegasus said dryly. "You've always been such a deeply caring and altruistic young man, Kaiba-boy."
"My brother is on this ship!" Kaiba shot back angrily.
"Kaiba, stop, this is getting us nowhere," Yugi said. "Pegasus, stop playing games and just tell what you know!"
"All I know is, whoever did this, it's someone with a lot of power. Enough business influence to, say, create a labor dispute at Kaiba Corp…"
"What? Are you saying whoever bombed this ship is the one responsible for that dispute?"
"It almost kept you from coming, didn't it?"
"You!" Kaiba cried. "You were involved in that!"
"Who do you think arranged for the mediator to wrap things up at the eleventh hour?"
"You snake, stay out of my business affairs!"
"Your business affairs are my business affairs," Pegasus reminded him, "or have you forgotten the licenses your company holds for images from my game. Anyway, it was in someone's best interest that you not be here, but it was in my best interest that you come."
A thought occurred to Yugi. "You arranged for Rebecca and me to get our passports reissued, too, didn't you?"
Pegasus looked over his shoulder, a thin lips curling into a smile. "You do catch on fast, don't you, Yugi-boy? But the question you should be asking is, who stole them in the first place?"
"You think the same person stole our passports?"
"Like I said, he is very influential and he is very interested in keeping you from dueling."
"But why?"
They reached the Promenade Deck at that point and worked their way through the crowd toward the starboard side of the ballroom, where Pegasus's muster station was located. Mr. Goradon appeared in the crowd, looking quite anxious.
"Oh, Mr. Pegasus!" he gushed in obvious relief. "And Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Mutou! Thank goodness you're all safe! I can't believe this is happening!"
"Yes, yes, it's quite upsetting," Pegasus agreed placatingly.
"Come now, we must get to a lifeboat before the ship sinks!" He tried to bustle their group toward the ballroom where crewmembers were directing people where to go.
"Wait a minute, we're not through here, Pegasus," Kaiba objected.
Pegasus leaned very close to Yugi and Kaiba. "I'll tell you everything I know as soon as I can. And then when we get to wherever we end up, gather together all your little playmates staying with you in that suite and everyone who's been involved in a Shadow Game or been taken to the Shadow Realm, and yes, Kaiba-boy, that means your baby brother, too."
Yugi's eyes widened in surprise. "The Shadow Realm? What does this have to do with the Shadow Realm? We closed the Shadow Realm two and a half years ago when the Millennium Items were buried under the temple ruins!"
"Oh dear naïve little Yugi-boy, this has everything to do with the Shadow Realm," Pegasus clucked. "And I'm afraid that any door that has been closed can always be re-opened. If you find the right key."