Yu-Gi-Oh!
You're All That I Am
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This was a giftfic for Ladyamberjo. I shared it with her some time ago and I'm finally getting around to posting it here. Since this is a different imagining of a Mai returning story, it's not in my main timeline. But I really like it and decided to post it. Title is from Evanescence's October, a truly beautiful song.
Mai didn't know how long she'd been standing outside the house. Every time she thought she'd managed to convince herself to go up and knock, she talked herself back out of it again.
Finally she clenched her fist and turned away. She really wasn't ready for this.
Would she ever be ready, though? How did one go about apologizing to the most important person in her life after accepting an evil power that had almost destroyed them both?
She really hadn't known what it would entail. All she had wanted was to be a powerful Duelist, strong enough not to lose and strong enough to catch up to his level. She hadn't known anything about stealing souls until she had said Yes. Then the Orichalcos had coursed through her veins and into her mind, infusing her with its twisted influence. She hadn't cared about its conditions then. It had warped her so badly she hadn't even cared if Joey suffered and lost his soul because of her. To catch up to him . . . to surpass him . . . that was all she had wanted.
Of course, she would never surpass him. Not in talent and not in decency. He never would have let himself be corrupted by the Orichalcos.
She still had nightmares about dueling. But now, instead of Yami Marik winning and trapping her mind in the shadows, she dreamed about winning and seeing Joey fall . . . seeing his sparkling eyes dim as his soul was drained by the Orichalcos . . . holding his limp body in her arms and sobbing as she realized the true price of the power she had accepted.
And then Yami Marik was there after all, laughing . . . laughing . . . mocking her and her goals. "Isn't this what you wanted?" his voice echoed through her mind. "They do say 'be careful what you wish for.'"
"No!" she screamed. "This isn't what I wanted! Bring him back! Bring him back!"
"Oh, but my dear, I'm not the one who took him away," Yami Marik answered. "That honor belongs to you! Only to you!"
And he laughed some more as she cried out in anguish. For once, he wasn't lying.
She flinched as she came back to the present. Joey was fine. He was in the house; she had watched from a distance as he had come home and gone inside after school. She had come here thinking and hoping she was ready to face him again, to apologize for all that she had done.
But no apology could fix it. How could she ever think it could? This was ridiculous. She should just leave. . . .
She frowned. This had been a weight around her neck ever since her own soul had been restored. It wasn't like her not to face her problems. She had been running ever since Battle City, only she hadn't realized it. Her time in the shadows had left her emotionally devastated and broken, but her attempts to fix it had only made everything a thousand times worse. And then she had chosen to run again. She had thought she was through running.
She had to be through running. Even though there was no real way to fix this, she had to face him again, to talk to him. And then if he wanted her to go, she would go. But this had to be done first. It should have been done long ago.
She turned back, starting up the walk in determination. Part of her wanted to run again, but she forced herself to keep walking. She wouldn't run. Not this time. She would do this.
She reached the porch and slowly reached up, knocking on the door. When it flew open almost immediately and Joey was standing there, somehow she had the feeling that he had known all along she was there. He had waited to see if she would come up on her own. . . . And knowing Joey, that must have been unbearable. His first impulse would have been to run out to her as soon as he saw her.
He beamed at her right away. "Mai! I knew you'd come back."
"Joey . . ." She stared at him in amazement, in disbelief. It was all written in his eyes: the love, the joy . . . the forgiveness. In spite of everything . . . everything . . . he still wanted her.
And somehow she had the incredible feeling that everything would be alright.
