Sorry for the long silence. I was going to have more things in this chapter but couldn't get them to work so I had to settle for this. I hope it makes sense.
Same old stuff. Don't own Yugioh, Airi and other OCs are mines. Disclaimer, the non-monster card Airi uses in the duel isn't real, as far as I know, I was just too lazy to look up a card that had the same effect. this chapter includes some scenes from DSOD adapted for this story. I hope they're clear enough to not confuse anyone too much. thanks to Cyberbee15, and hinatagirl18 for their help in brainstorming. Also thanks to battousaigirl16 for beta reading.
Thank you for reading and enjoy :)
Chapter 79
Storm clouds loomed thicker above as Yugi ran through the streets of Domino. Something in the back of his mind kept telling him he was wasting time; Bakura was already taken by whatever that Plana shadow magic was. But he kept going. Pausing to catch his breath he checked his phone for the umpteenth time. An incoming call lit up the screen.
"Tea, did you find Bakura?"
"Yugi!"Tea's voice sounded panicked. "Airi's missing!"
He froze. "What happened?"
"I went to get the car so she wouldn't have to walk too far, but then when I came back she was gone. All I found was a piece of her diadem."
Yugi's hand shook. "Where are you now?"
"I'm at the fountain still. I called as soon-"
"I'm coming back there." Yugi interrupted. "Go to your car and stay there. Be safe." he hung up the phone before she could answer.
Turning back the way he came from, Yugi nearly ran into Sera. The Egyptian girl stood looking like a mini Ishizu in her gold ornaments and knowing expression. Seeing this only frustrated Yugi even more.
"What do you want?" Yugi demanded. "What have you done with my sister?"
"Nothing Yugi." Sera said.
"Nothing!" Yugi snapped. "First you give me a millennium puzzle piece, then my friends get sent to the shadow realm. And now Airi is missing. This isn't my first shadow game. What have your plana friends done to her?"
Sera remained silent. Yugi expected her to tell him to calm down or deny things, but then he realized she was tearing up. Yugi's heart twisted at his harsh words.
"Sera, I'm, I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "No, you have every right to be angry with me. I didn't know Diva would go after your friends like that. I only knew he wanted to stop the revival of the pharaoh."
Yugi did his best to calm his frustration. The girl in front of him looked much younger than him but had a look in her eye that told of seeing horrors.
Taking a calming breath he asked. "Why did you give me the puzzle piece?"
"I entrusted you with the puzzle piece because it might be the only way I can save my brother."
"Brother? Diva?"
She nodded. "He's giving in to anger and fear. He doesn't want the pharaoh to return, but if it's the only way to stop all this . . ." she paused, looking shaken.
"You want me to get the puzzle back and complete it." Yugi finished for her.
She nodded. "If it is the only way, but those who are lost don't have to stay that way. Please save my brother Yugi, he's all I have."
Yugi's hand went to his pocket, the bump of the puzzle piece reassuring him. He nodded.
Sera bowed. "Thank you, Yugi. Your sister is at KaibaCorp." She disappeared.
"Wait, why?" Yugi realized he was standing on the street corner by the fountain. Rain began falling around him.
Yugi's phone went off again. Confused, he turned it on to see a message from an unknown number.
-Airi's at KaibaCorp. Hurry. Mokuba.
Yugi looked around. Why was she there? What was going on? From where he was the KaibaCorp building was across town. He started running. There had to be a reason why Airi was there, but why didn't she text him?
A honk behind him made him jump as a car pulled up beside him. The window rolled down to show it was Tea.
"Don't run off like that." She scolded. "Showing up out of nowhere like that and then running out in the street. You'll get run over or worse."
Yugi slid into the passenger side seat. "Airi's at KaibCorp."
"Why would she go there?"
"I'm afraid to find out." Yugi pushed his wet bangs out of his face.
Tea reached into the back seat and pulled out a blanket and handed it to him. "Here, don't freeze on me. I already texted the others. They're going to meet us at the game shop." she dug into her purse and pulled out a small square of purple stone. "This is the piece I found."
Yugi held out his hand and when she placed the piece in it, he closed his fingers around hers. "Thanks, Tea."
"For what?"
He smiled. "Being safe I guess."
She smiled back, giving his hand a squeeze before she put the car into gear.
Airi's gaze remained fixed to the spot Yami had stood, her hand raised to the spot his face had been. Her hand dropped down and brushed against her jeans pocket; The piece of the diadem she's forgotten was there, radiating heat through the fabric which was now fading.
The footsteps behind her stopped.
"Impressive isn't it." Kaiba's voice sounded like thunder in the simulation room. "I used hundreds of images to get the likeness down perfectly, down to the last hair."
Rage burned through Airi and she threw herself at him, striking at his face, his chest, anything she could reach. He grabbed her arms and held her back. She tried kicking him but her legs were too short.
"You monster," she screamed. "Why can't you leave him alone."
"Building a hologram isn't a crime."
"You dug up the puzzle and you're going to summon him again." she jerked herself away from his grasp, backing away from him. "Bringing him back! What if he can't return to the spirit world after that? What if you lock him back in the puzzle."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"This is why you want the puzzle, isn't it. You're going to challenge him because I love him. Anyone I get close to challenges your ego that much?"
"You're making this about yourself as always."
"Forget about me." She glared at him. "Think of what this will do to Yugi. That final duel between those two nearly broke him. Bringing Yami back will make everything my brother went through meaningless. You never considered what this will do to anyone else but you."
Kaiba took a step towards him. "You are the selfish one. You had a way to summon the pharaoh and didn't share it with anyone."
Airi's heart jumped in her throat. "What?"
"You were talking to the real pharaoh weren't you?"
Her mind went numb. Did she have a power she didn't know about? Her hand went to her diadem.
Kaiba continued. "I know every line of dialogue my holograms say. I never programmed anything in his dialogue to say any of those things." he towered over her, eyes narrowed. "You had the power to bring him back all this time and didn't share it with anyone."
Pure hate sparked from Airi's eyes as she glared at her ex. "If I could, I'd done it without your stupid hologram! If I could bring him back he'd be here with me right now!" Airi's voice broke but she refused to break eye contact.
Both glared at each other, both sets of eyes boring into each other. Airi finally broke the stare, turning her back on him as she focused on the blue panels of the walls. Tears escaped her eyes and slid down her cheeks and dropped onto the floor.
"So you don't have the power to summon spirits to you." Kaiba's voice had a harder edge.
"No," Airi told the wall.
"So digging up the puzzle was my only option." his voice returned to his confident tone. "At least trespassing in my simulation room wasn't a complete waste." she heard his footsteps go to the side and the slight clicks of a holographic keypad. "I now know where the rest of the puzzle is."
She turned back. "What are you talking about?"
"I just came from interrogating Diva. My scanners verified he has a piece of the puzzle on him, but just one. Since you know the millennium puzzle is unburied, it stands to reason you know the location of the second piece."
"I don't have it."
"I know that."
She flinched. "You searched me?"
"No. I know your brother has it."
"How?"
"It's obvious."
It clicked in her head. "The new duel-disk announcement. You're going to challenge him for the puzzle piece."
"I was going to duel him anyway. He's the only one who knows how the puzzle works. Now I have an extra step to complete."
Her heart sank; Another set of duels over the puzzle.
Kaiba continued. "I will challenge Yugi and Diva to win back the puzzle pieces. Then your brother will complete it. The Pharaoh will return. To show him who the best duelist is."
Airi stopped listening. If Diva was involved that meant more of that Plana shadow magic. Yugi would have to face the Plana alone, with no Yami to step in if something went wrong. Lightning pain shot through her head at the memory of the millennium Diadem pulling Joey back. She remembered Yugi's paranoia during the last tournament that something bad was going to happen. He'd have to face another shadow game. Alone.
"You shouldn't snoop around where you're not wanted anyway." Kaiba kept saying, eyes on a holographic screen he continued typing. "I'm sure you noticed the room doesn't respond to your voice anymore." he pushed a button and the holograms vanished as he turned back to her.
Airi cleared her throat and raised her voice. "I challenge you to a duel."
Immediately the screens lit up and the tiles turned the room again to the cathedral.
"Automatic Duel Challenge activated." the computer said.
Airi smirked. "The Automatic challenge still works."
Kaiba's lip twitched. "What do you want if you win."
"I want the Millenium puzzle."
"You don't have a deck."
"This is a simulation. You have my cards on file."
Kaiba took his place across from her. "Things are different from the last time you were here. You will have the great fortune to try out my new duel disk before your brother."
A mechanical arm rose from the floor on Airi's side of the field, offering a headpiece and a modified duel-disk which Airi accepted. Slipping both items in place, she flicked the switch to connect it to the simulator. The eye window on the headpiece showed the cards in her virtual deck. Her lip twitched at the filename 'A.M. Deck'; so he did have her cards on file. Choosing the file, she had to close her eyes to keep her head from spinning as the virtual cards flashed across the screen.
Realizing something, she looked up at Kaiba. "You haven't told me what you want if you win."
He strapped on his duel-disk before answering. "I want your diadem."
She stared at him, her hand going to her forehead.
"If it has the powers to have you speak with the pharaoh, then it may prove useful to me."
Airi swallowed.
"Too much for you?"
"I accept."
Life point counters appeared, setting their life points at 8000. Airi jerked when the cards appeared before her in her eyepiece. The throbbing at her temples instantly made her wish she had physical cards; Virtual cards floating in front of her eyes were going to take getting used to.
She motioned to the field. "You first."
"Your first mistake." Seto drew. "I Fusion Summon Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in attack mode. I placed a facedown and ended my turn."
The white dragon erupted onto the field towering over both of them. The scales shot white light into Airi's eyes forcing her to squint; What was wrong with her? Holograms didn't affect her like this before. She pretended she wasn't in pain.
"That was quick." Airi half smirked opening her eyes. "Afraid I'd steal them from you?"
"Your turn," Seto stated.
Airi studied her options. These must be Seto's cards because this was one of her worst hands ever. But she had to make it work. "I play Line Cut. Sacrificing life points equal to my monster's attack points, I can summon them directly to the field. I summon Athena in attack mode." the flash of the monster's armor again made her wince. "I place two face downs and I end my turn." Airi squinted, but still the eletro light of the holograms seemed to slip right past and stab her brain.
"Your monster won't save you. Neo Blue-Eyes, blast that monster away."
Airi's life points dropped again but she refused to flinch as the blast sent lightning through her head.
"Because you destroyed Athena, I can summon her sister Minerva, Sister of Athena directly to the field in attack mode."
The silver armored monster on the field but soon was attacked by the second Blue-eyes head's attack. Finally, one more attack damaged her life points even further. Panic started gripping her. Seto was determined to wipe her out as soon as possible, but for some reason, she couldn't think straight.
Airi touched the diadem. Usually, the headpiece helped clear her mind but now it just was extra weight against her temples along with the other headpiece flashing cards in front of her face. She pressed her hand against the diadem piece in her pocket, hoping the piece would help in some way. Instead, the room started spinning again and she swayed but managed to catch herself in time.
"Are holograms bothering you?" Kaiba scoffed. "Or is my dragon not desirable like your ghost boyfriend."
The image of hologram Yami standing in front of her made her pause. She felt her eyes sting and she couldn't keep one of the tears from slipping out. She half wished Kaiba would bring the hologram back, even if to mess with her head, just to see if Yami could possess it and speak to her again. Unfortunately, all she could see in her mind was the hologram in its Battle City get up. She gave a snort-like laugh.
"What's wrong with you now?" Kaiba demanded.
"Your hologram of Yami is off."
"I used hundreds of images to get the likeness down perfectly. Even you were impressed."
"Yes," Airi said. "I am impressed that you made such a good Yami Yugi."
"What are you rambling about?"
Airi's lip twitched. "It's just ironic. You want the pharaoh, but you can't even get the stand-in right."
"I'm not the one acting like a fool at the sight of a dead man."
Pain shot through Airi's head again and she winced.
"Seriously, even your grandfather didn't have this much trouble when I won his Blue-eyes from him."
Airi gritted her teeth. "If I'd known you'd destroy it, I'd kept you as far away from the card."
Something in his Blue-eyes flashed, but nothing showed on the rest of his face. "Trust is a foolish concept isn't it?"
Another spasm of pain shot through her skull and Airi clutched her head. The electronic window of the new duel-disk was making her head pound. She closed her eyes and it helped a little.
"What did Diva do to you?"
Her eyes snapped open at his tone of voice. For the first time in that duel, he sounded concerned.
"Nothing new." Airi gave a small shrug.
He didn't have a comeback but kept watching her with the same intensity as a hawk. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. She couldn't be distracted by Kaiba's expressions. She had to get the puzzle back. For Yugi. She made herself look at the cards in her hand even though they started to blur no matter how much she tried to focus.
"I summon Mystical Elf to the field in attack mode. And end my turn."
Kaiba's jaw would have dropped, if he wasn't in control of himself, at how dumb her move was. Mystical Elf in attack mode? This had to be some kind of trick. A bluff. She'd defeated him before by switching the attack and defense points of this monster. But judging by the way she looked this wasn't. Her face was so easy to read it was unnerving.
Airi swayed where she stood and she closed her eyes. Again tears were slipping under her eyelashes. He hated to see her cry. She could yell at him all she wanted, it didn't matter, but something about her tears pierced him to his core.
13-year-old Seto ran down the hall to his adopted father's office. Mokuba told him Gozaburo had summoned Airi to see him while Seto was with his tutors. Skidding to a stop he didn't knock but wrenched the door open and stumbled inside.
Gozaburo Kaiba turned to face Seto, towering over him. Behind him 13-year-old Airi stood, tears streaming down her face. Other than the tears she appeared unharmed. Seto and her eyes met and she gave a slight shake of her head. Her meaning was clear 'leave it'.
"Seto, your friend was just leaving," Gozaburo stated.
Airi whipped her eyes and tried the early versions of her poker face. "See you tomorrow, Seto." her voice still shook.
Seto wanted to stop her and ask what was wrong but didn't as she fled out the door behind him.
Gozaburo's expression darkened as he looked Seto over. "I didn't summon you."
"What did you say to her?"
"I tested her loyalty to you."
"You have no right-"
Gozaburo backhanded Seto across the face. "Never question my authority, boy." Gozaburo turned his back and walked to his desk. "I have a right to question anyone you associate with. You are fortunate I allow her to keep coming here."
Seto's cheek stung, but he refused to look away from this man he grew to hate more every moment.
"You will never keep her away from here," Seto growled. "She'll find a way. She always does. I will find a way."
He braced for another slap, but instead, the man smirked. "Hold onto that hope while you can. That girl will betray you. Everyone betrays you eventually."
"I'm not you."
"Deny it all you want, Seto, but betrayal is inevitable to the Kaiba family."
Kaiba blinked realizing he was in the simulation room.
Foolish, he told himself. He shouldn't let something like this affect him. She'd betrayed him, pushed him away, and now was his opponent in a duel. He should wipe that monster off the field; it's her fault for leaving a card vulnerable in a duel.
He placed his hand on his cards to draw but paused. He again looked at her, swaying where she stood. The hologram of Mystical Elf was also different. Instead of standing in close-eyed serenity, its eyes were open and seemed to be watching him, staring him down. The more he watched, the more it seemed the hologram raised an eyebrow. Impossible. He again looked at Airi. Judging everything placed before him he had only one course of action.
Airi heard Kaiba say his attack but didn't understand the words. She suddenly realized what card she had just played; Mystical Elf in attack mode. Horror shot through her. What had she done? What could she do? There was a flash of light and Airi expected to hear the sound of her monster's destruction. Instead, she opened her eyes to find the walls had again turned to blank panels.
"Duel canceled." the computer said. "No definitive winner. Shutting down."
"No." panic hit her. "You can't. Turn it back on. I wasn't finished."
Kaiba stood there, arms folded as he watched her. His expression was his usual hard frown but his eyes stared at her the same way she'd seen in Egypt.
Airi's knees gave out and she sank to all fours. "No. I can't lose."
"Don't duel when you're sick." Kaiba handed his equipment to the robotic arms before walking towards her. "When I defeat you, it will be a fair fight."
Airi nodded, and then winced and closed her eyes as the room began spinning again.
The footsteps stopped in front of her. "This doesn't change anything." his voice was directly in front of her. "I will still duel Yugi and bring back the pharaoh."
"I understand." her voice came out in a whisper.
She felt the headpiece being lifted from her face and the duel-disk unlocked from her arm. She turned her face away from him, embarrassed of showing weakness in front of him and still angry about the puzzle incident. She didn't expect him to pick her up. Her stomach lurched at the movement and she squeezed her eyes tighter. She gripped her armband focusing on the smooth braided cord and the hard surface of the bead to keep herself from throwing up.
The next thing she became aware of was him laying her down on a soft upholstered surface. Footsteps walked to a spot close by and she heard the slide of draw opening and closing before the footsteps returned.
"Here." something was pressed into her palm. "Take these." he waited long enough for her fingers to close around them before leaving the room.
Forcing herself to sit up she cracked her eyes open. She's been returned to the waiting room she'd been placed in before. In her hand were two tablets. She briefly heard something in her head that sounded like Grandpa's voice saying something about not taking pills on an empty stomach, but her head pounded too much to care. Using one of the water bottles on the table to wash down the pills she then took another one and pressed it to her forehead. It helped slightly.
She realized Kaiba hadn't told her to stay put. Then again, she was in no condition to move around. Eventually, the pills kicked in enough for her to lay down without fearing shots of pain in her head. Laying back down she closed her eyes. No longer distracted by a duel or throbbing temples, the realization of what had happened in the simulation room came to her, and Yami's face reappeared in her mind. The hole in her heart felt larger. She almost wished Yami hadn't appeared. Almost.
The KaibaCorp building stood out, the largest and most impressive on the street. Yugi told Tea to wait for him out front while he dashed across the wet cement into the front doors. Security looked up from the reception desk but no one made a move to stop the teen. Yugi ran into the center of the large KC made of tile in the middle of the large lobby where Mokuba stood.
"About time you show up," Mokuba said. "This way."
"Where's Airi?" Yugi demanded.
"This way."
Yugi followed Mokuba to the elevator. Neither spoke during the ascension. Yugi wasn't sure what to ask and the younger Kaiba didn't seem willing to chat. It was Deja Vu for Yugi; It felt like an eternity since he'd summoned Exodia with Yami's help. The elevator's doors opened and Yugi half expected to find Airi sprawled on the floor like grandpa had been but thankfully no one was there.
Mokuba led the way down a hall to a nondescript door. Mokuba knocked lightly and pushed open the door. He motioned Yugi inside.
It appeared to be some kind of waiting room. Stylized furniture was spread across it and a metal version of the KC logo dorned the far wall. Closest to him were two couches facing each other and Airi was laying down on one of them.
Yugi ran to her side. "Airi!" she winced at the sound of his voice and he lowered his voice. "Sis, sis, what's wrong?"
She finally opened her eyes. She squinted at him as if questioning what she was seeing. "Yugi?"
"Of course it's me?" Yugi grabbed her hands. "See. I'm right here."
She gripped his hand, using him to pull herself up. The movement forced him to sit down next to her. The next moment she pulled him into a hug.
"Airi?" he could feel her shaking. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry," she said into her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I'm pleased to see you didn't get lost on the way here." Kaiba's voice came from behind them.
Yugi turned his head to see the older Kaiba standing in the doorway looking as unimpressed as usual. Glaring, Yugi carefully pulled away from his sister, still holding her hand as he stood to face Kaiba.
"What have you done?" Yugi demanded.
"Good to see you too," Kaiba said. "Not long from now I will be holding an exhibition duel for my new duel-disk, and you will be dueling in it."
"I have bigger things to worry about." Yugi snapped.
Kaiba held up something Yugi hadn't realized had been his hand. Yugi's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the familiar gold puzzle. Two dark patches stood out like bite marks on its surface, but there was no mistaking the gold pyramid.
"Good enough reason for you?" Kaiba smirked at Yugi's surprise. "I have the Millenium puzzle, most of it anyway. All I need now are the pieces you and Diva have."
Yugi stiffened. "You know? How did you-"
Kaiba smirked. "I know everything that happens in Domino Yugi."
Yugi felt Airi's hand squeeze his. He didn't need a mind link to recognize 'I'm sorry' in the gesture. He squeezed back, hoping it was reassuring.
"What is it? What do you want Kaiba?" Yugi demanded.
"What I've always wanted. To show the Pharaoh I'm the greatest duelist in the world. You will wear the puzzle again and summon him. Then I will duel him and defeat him."
"But-"
"I have Diva if you're planning to use that as an excuse," Kaiba said. "He has the other piece so if you want to face him after our duel you'll have to show up. Then I'll defeat both of you and win the last two puzzle pieces."
Yugi's head spun as he tried to process the information. "He won't appear."
"Of course he will. You'll be there. Both of you." Yugi noticed Kaiba had looked at Airi in the latter statement. Kaiba turned away from them. "Mokuba, see them out."
Mokuba appeared from the sidelines. Airi stood, hand still gripping Yugi's tightly for reassurance. Both siblings followed Mokuba towards the door but stopped when Kaiba again called out to them.
"I will see you there Yugi. and I will see the pharaoh."
Yugi didn't turn around and lead the way as the Mutos left the room.
In the elevator, Airi remained silent and gripped the hand railing provided during the descent. Yugi mostly stood in frustration wanting answers, but not knowing where to start. Mokuba also stayed silent as he watched the two.
All of them stepped out at ground level. Mokuba escorted them to the doors but paused before opening them.
"Yugi, Airi, I . . ." he paused as if unsure what to say. "I'm, I'm glad you're both alright. That Diva's really powerful."
Airi smiled. "Thank you."
Yugi nodded.
"A car will pick you up for the tournament." Mokuba opened the door, holding it open for them until they passed through. They heard the sound of automatic activation behind them.
Airi's arm slipped into his and she looked about ready to fall over again.
"We should go to the hospital," he said.
"No," Airi said. "I'll be fine. We need to call Nasira. We need answers."
Mahad looked over the scrolls for what felt like the millionth time. "There has to be something,'' he told the room. He might be a fused spirit but there wasn't anything in his collected memories that connected any of the pieces. But he was determined to find it. He wasn't going to make a trip outside the boundary if he could figure it out here.
Dark Magician Girl had already given up on looking and had fallen asleep near the door. He smiled fondly at his fellow magician before turning again to his scrolls. The passages about the millennium puzzle were all stuff he knew all too well. Researching the royal archives back in Ancient Egypt and helping Atem make the diadem made him one of the only spirits here who knew how the magic worked. The knowledge of how the pieces were created still made him feel sick. Why the Ishtars hadn't just destroyed the items after Yami crossed over still baffled him.
Shuffling the scroll again only showed more passages on the concept of 'soul splitting' , which continued to fill him with frustration. Again, something he knew all too well about. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind reminded him he could go ask Atem. As the 'nameless pharaoh' he probably had much more clout than all of them and could ask the gods point-blank what was happening.
No, he told himself. Atem had barely been freed from thousands of years alone. He wasn't going to pull him from Esset, Kana, and the others so soon. Thinking of his sister and family made the familiar loneliness creep into his heart again. He pushed it back down. He didn't regret his decision to fuse with the Illusion Magician; it allowed him to directly help in making sure Atem's plan went forward, but it didn't keep the fact he was in a separate afterlife from his family any less painful.
The door opened and Mystical Elf glided into the room. Mahad straightened from the scroll he'd been reading. "What is it? What's wrong?"
The elf's usually cheerful expression was drawn and stiff. She walked up the pile of scrolls Mahad had already perused and began checking them.
"Just tell me what's wrong," Mahad said.
She gave him a look.
"You know how," he said, unfazed by the look.
She shook her head and kept rummaging through them. She picked up the third to last scroll and unwrapped it all the way to the last section. Giving a satisfactory nod, she held it up for Mahad to see.
It was a scroll he'd dismissed because he wanted to look more at the millennium items and how to destroy them. This scroll was on the history of the Plana and some of the magic. Among the texts were symbols of upside-down triangles and several gold eyes.
Dark Magician Girl joined them, rubbing her eyes, and looked over Mahad's shoulder. "Plana? What are we looking at ancient history for?"
"You lived through this?" Mahad remembered.
"Yeah, and it was really, really really long ago.'' She looked at Mystical Elf for clarification.
The Elf tapped one of the images of the golden eye, very similar to the eyes found on the millennium items, and then pointed the finger at the floor.
Dark Magician Girl frowned. "How can Plana be back? After Atem, I thought Millenium magic wouldn't be allowed. That's why Saku is a pain."
Mahad frowned, taking the scroll. "We don't know everything the gods put in place. We've been too occupied with Millenium threats to look out for other threats."
"Plana is a millennium threat." Dark Magician Girl snapped. "That's what Dartz fought with and he was a threat not that long ago."
"That was different."
"You weren't alive for Plana. I remember."
"Now you're admitting you're old," Mahad said.
Ignoring his comment, Dark Magician Girl turned back to Mystical Elf. "How did you find out about this?"
The elf touched her forehead and then spot just below her throat as if touching a necklace.
"Mistress Airi?" Dark Magician Girl guessed. The elf nodded.
"Did you interfere?" Mahad's gaze snapped up to the elf.
She shook her head, but something about her expression wasn't convincing.
Dark Magician Girl leaned in closer to the scroll. "That explains why Saku has been more aggressive about tracking Millenium spirits lately. Wait, where's Yami?"
Mahad realized he hadn't seen Yami or Timaeus in a while.
Pounding footsteps sounded outside the room and Timaeus stormed into the room. Gasping leaning against the doorway he looked half-crazed.
"Saku has Yami." His knees gave out and he sank to the floor. Mystical Elf was at his side at the moment, helping him back up.
"What do you mean he 'has' Yami?" Dark Magician Girl demanded. "You don't mean-"
"Sealed. Yes, I mean that. He's been collected." Timeaus' voice shook. "I couldn't do anything to stop it."
"What happened?" Mahad demanded.
Voice growing horse from fatigue, Timeaus gave them a short recap of events as he saw them; what he and Yami had learned from Blue-eyes, Red-eye coming to ask Yami's help to save Joey, and watching Saku snatch Yami away at the barrier.
Mystical Elf kept wanting to give him energy as he spoke, but every time she offered he would only push her hand away. She even looked at Mahad as if he could order the dragon knight to accept her help, but he couldn't only shrug. Timeaus went silent after this speech, clearly drained.
"But how did Saku find Yami so fast?" Dark Magician Girl demanded after Timeaus had finished.
"Yami must have used more millennium magic to save Master Joey," Mahad said, more to himself than the others. "It would be easy for Saku to find him."
"This is ridiculous." Dark Magician Girl said. "The plana's back and Saku is obsessing about one spirit with Millenium Magic instead of a complete world reset. It's like he wants it to come back."
"Of course they want Plana back," Timeaus said. "The spirit world and the mortal plane were separated after Plana fell, limiting his power. If Plana is returned, spirits will return, but at the cost of the world restarting."
"Besides, the only thing powerful enough to destroy the plana would be something as powerful, such as one spirit with Millenium powers." Mahad mused. "That would explain why he was so aggressive on tracking down a loose millennium spirit."
"More importantly, what are you going to do about it." Timeause asked. Mahad realized the dragon knight was looking directly at him. "Your pharaoh is the reason that Yami exists in the first place."
"Yami knows his purpose."
"Knew." Timeaus corrected, standing with Mystical Elf's help. "Seems to me he's been doing your job for you."
Mahad's lip curled. "I'm doing my duty as Master Yugi's guardian."
"Hiding behind scrolls." Timeaus scoffed. "I haven't seen you run to help when his friends started disappearing. Red-eyes and Yami did instead."
Mahad's chest tightened but didn't respond.
"What do you suggest he do?" Dark Magician Girl demanded. "He can't just go running in blind."
"He has more connections than any of us." Timeaus pointed out.
Mahad caught Mystical Elf's gaze. It was clear she agreed with her friend's statement.
"What do you mean?" Dark Magician Girl said. "We can't do anything. We're just duel spirits."
"We are." Timeaus stood on his own and shakily walked up to Mahad. "But you still have one of the original Duel Spirits in you. If anyone has a chance of making the Council of Fate listen to them, it's you, Illusion Magician."
Mahad didn't move back as the former dragon moved forward until their faces were inches apart.
"Is that what you are asking?"
"I'm not asking." Timeaus' growled.
Mahad stepped past him and picked his hat off its spot by the door. Placing it on his head, he took his staff up as well.
"You can't demand anything from the council." Dark Magician Girl said. "You're still just a duel spirit, no matter how old you are."
"No, but I know someone they might listen to." Mahad stepped through the doorway closing the door behind him.
A/N: Wow, that was intense for being so short. I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is going to be a bit exposition heavy so it may take a bit to finish, but I'm trying to write it so it's not boring.
Thank you so much for reading this story even with my irregular uploads.
Thank you, Merry Christmas (if I don't update in time) and God bless you all.
