Solomon Sr. was patient, very patient. Yami supposed that trait is what made him both a good gambler and a great archeologist. All three teens were thankful for that characteristic as Solomon happily waited on a bench in the new duel monsters exhibit as they talked around the corner.
"So, we ARE gonna tell him?" Joey asked, eyes shifting in disbelief from Solomon to Yami.
"We might as well. I've always gotten the feeling that Yugi's grandpa suspected something. Making up lies would only make him more suspicious." Téa said.
Yami silently nodded his head. If he was going to come forward, it would be best to start with the most accepting family member.
"Ok, but how much do we tell?" Joey asked.
"Everything," Yami stated.
"Everything?!" Both Téa and Joey gawked.
"Even the shadow games and magic?" Joey asked.
"Including the multiple times you, and by extension, Yugi, have almost been killed?" Téa added.
Yami once again nodded as he crossed his arms. His gaze fell to the ground as the memories he had been trying to suppress earlier today came flooding back. "He'll understand. He was there for the Death-T games and in spirit during Duelist Kingdom. He even caught me a few times sneaking into the shop at night… back then." Both Joey and Téa shrunk back when they realized what "back then" was referring to. The first seven months of the spirit's rebirth were sometimes just as terrifying to them as it was to the bullies. It had been a silent pact between the group to never bring up that time again unless it mentioned friendship.
"Y-You want to even explain… Dat?!" Joey yelped. Their near-constant exclamations earned them dirty looks from bystanders and museum workers. One old lady even came up and told them to shush. The three grimaced after she left and couldn't find the courage to face each other again for a few seconds.
"Yes. I want to explain everything…." Yami paused and collected his strength. "…I met Tetsu today."
"Ushio?" Joey nearly yelled before he caught himself.
"Yes. From what I saw, he and probably many others are healing. If we want to prove to Yugi's family that I'm not dangerous, we'll have to be honest about everything. Including my… rocky start." Yami said, looking back up to his friends. The two found they had nothing to say, or more, they couldn't say anything. This was Yami's decision. They just had to be there to back him up. They couldn't do any less as his friends.
…
Solomon Sr. pulled out his camera and took a picture of the fragment with Yugi's ancient likeness on it. On his lap was a notepad that he had written the museum's description of the item on. He was taking all the notes he could, a left-over habit from his archeology days. He always did this when he knew something big was coming.
Solomon smiled when the three teens finally came towards him, noting that his disposition was quite different from the three's grim faces. It was like they were walking to the hangman's noose.
"You know what's interesting about this artifact, other than it has a version of my grandson on it?" Solomon asked. The three stopped, clearly surprised that he talked so nonchalantly. "There was another piece to it. On it depicted an additional door and an extra person beside that door. Apparently, that person was a green-haired girl with a fairy-like dragon surrounding her. But that part was stolen in the transportation process. So, we're stuck with only this." He said as he gestured to the stone that hung on the wall. "I wonder what this picture represents that's so important?"
Both Joey and Téa turned to face the rock, but the one that looked like Yugi kept his gaze on the old man. Solomon Sr. kept his smile up and patted the space next to him on the bench. The teen seemed to steel himself and took his seat. He sat much straighter than Yugi ever did, much stiffer too, like he was being judged for his grace in sitting. Solomon made a small note on his notebook about that. He had other notes on this boy too, like the fact he was taller than his Yugi. He had always noticed the height discrepancy on TV during televised duels. Still, he thought it had been a simple trick of the camera.
"You… must have a lot of questions." The boy said. There was another difference. This boy had a much deeper, more powerful voice than little Yugi's. A thing Solomon and the rest of the family had thought Yugi only did in duels to make himself seem stronger.
"…I do, but only one needs to be answered right now. Who are you?" Solomon slowly said, making sure the boy heard every word. The teen closed his eyes and breathed out, much like Yugi used to do when he was in trouble.
"I am not Yugi. That is something I had to spend almost a year figuring out."
"Are you another personality?" Solomon asked. It was only his well-trained poker face that stopped him from showing how terrified he really was of the coming answer. Its ramifications were something he and Yui had argued over many a dark night.
"… No, I am a completely different spirit from Yugi. I'm from the puzzle."
Solomon leaned back and let out a deep breath. Ancient spirits he could deal with. Getting an exorcism for Yugi seemed much easier than an entire life's worth of therapy if it was the other answer.
"He's an ancient Pharaoh! And not just another personality dat thinks it's a pharaoh, we swear!" Joey just had to blurt out. Téa elbowed him hard, wanting to let Yami explain things at his own pace. Joey grumbled but realized his friend's reasoning and shut his mouth. Solomon grinned at the familiar interaction between the two. This somehow helped ground him at that moment. He then moved his attention from Yugi's friends to this new person to the side of him.
'No, not a new person.' Solomon thought. Then he said out loud, "I've met you before."
The spirit slowly nodded. "Yes, four years ago. Back then I-"
"No, even before Yugi put the puzzle together. When I first found the puzzle box in the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb." Solomon said. The spirit tilted his head and furrowed his brows. His violet eyes shined with the same vibrant life that Yugi's eyes had, the same light that used to glow in Solomon's own younger eyes.
"I-I don't remember that. I admit I don't remember a great many important things." The spirit said in an almost ashamed voice.
It was then Téa, and Joey found benches near the two and sat down. Solomon turned to each one and looked them over. Each nodded to him, showing their silent support for their friend.
"Ok, then start with what you can remember," Solomon said as he put a comforting hand on the spirit's shoulder. The spirit turned away, its gaze falling on the ancient depiction of what Solomon could only guess to be the Millennium Puzzle.
"My first real memory honestly makes me sick now. It's one of pride…."
…
It was done. Everything had been laid bare and couldn't be taken back. Solomon Sr. knew, and Yami couldn't hide anymore. He could only hope he had done the right thing in revealing himself. This usually would be something he'd have debated with Yugi over, never hinting at a thing without his partner's full consent. That couldn't happen now.
"Hmm." Solomon hummed as he leaned back, looking up into the high ceiling.
"It's the truth, Mr. Muto," Yami said.
"Everything, from Seto Kaiba having green hair at one time to Dartz's takeover," Joey added.
"I know it seems hard to believe. I even had problems at the beginning trusting my own eyes. If you need more testimonies, we have others we can call." Téa suggested. Solomon acknowledged her but said nothing. His gaze was only on Yami. Yami, in return, only looked down at the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. Solomon's eyes then dangerously narrowed as he set his jaw. This was closest to intimidating the three had ever seen Yugi's grandpa.
"I'll have your word, here and now Spirit. Have you at any time, past or present, wanted to hurt my grandson?" He said in a voice so stern, Yami could have thought it was the old man's own pharaoh voice.
"No! Never!" Yami immediately answered, not a second of hesitation. He dropped the puzzle and looked directly at Solomon. "Since the moment I've awoken, all I've wanted to do is protect Yugi. I have only ever once diverted from that goal, and that was when I was under the effects of the Seal of Orichalcos." Yami admitted, guilt clear on his face.
Everyone held their breath as Solomon once again fell silent, much like he had done their entire explanation. Then, he nodded with an affirmative grunt.
"All right then, it's decided. Welcome to the family Nameless Pharaoh. You are now my grandson too." Grandpa grinned as he crossed his arms.
The apologies Yami had prepared died away in a single breath. In fact, his breath seemed to disappear too at those words. All that came out of the usually composed Pharaoh was a strangled gurgle. Both Joey's and Téa's mouths fell open as they too stared at Grandpa. This made the old man laugh a hearty belly laugh.
"Well, don't look so shocked. I promise being an official Muto isn't as terrifying as it looks." Grandpa chortled.
Yami managed to shut his gaping mouth. After watching Grandpa for a few more seconds, trying to find any sign that this was some sort of bad joke, Yami smiled too. His first easy, sincere smile since Yugi left.
"Tha-Thank you, Grandpa." Yami grinned.
"Oh, don't thank me yet. First, we have to find Yugi before we can rightly get to know each other." Grandpa said as he picked up his yellow notepad and flipped to a new page. "Repeat to me how Yugi disappeared again, then tell me what has been done to find him," Grandpa asked as he clicked open his pen.
"We were opening a new booster pack when a card began glowing red. The light enveloped us, and I was left in the body with his soul gone." Yami said with a sad shrug. "I wish there was more to tell, but that's it. I can't even find the glowing card."
"We called everyone that usually gets involved in these things, but nothing's new with them," Téa said.
"We asked the Ishtars, but dey have yet to get back to us," Joey added.
"The family that lives in Egypt, right? The three that were raised in your tomb?" Grandpa asked.
"Yes, we asked them since it was required growing up that they know all prophecies regarding me," Yami said, a bit of his shame returning. He still hadn't quite gotten over the fact people were forced to spend their whole lives underground and away from society for him.
"…You said Battle city started for you because you saw your history on an ancient slab of stone. This stone in front of us wouldn't happen to be that, would it?" Grandpa asked, still writing down everything.
"No, that stone is in Egypt. It's the stone I have to present the Egyptian God Cards to, to start the process of regaining my memories. That's the whole reason Yugi was planning on going to Egypt in two weeks." Yami explained. "This item in front of us is… entirely new to me."
"Ahh, I always thought it was odd Yugi wanted to so suddenly drop everything and spend his college savings on going to Egypt. Now I have my answer, I suppose." Grandpa quietly chuckled as he wrote. He then turned the pages back to his notes on the duel monster artifact. "Hmm. Part of this artifact's description says, 'the ancient Atlantean words beside the pictures loosely translates to Duel Spirit Heroes.' Does that ring a bell for any of you?" Grandpa asked. All three shook their heads as Grandpa sighed and wrote something else in his notepad.
"Hey! Don't duel spirits need Duel Monster cards to come to this world or somthin' like dat? Was Yugi maybe taken by some card spirit?" Joey asked.
Yami paused but eventually shook his head. "They do, but… Once they get into this world, they can't actually affect anything without a hologram body or power from a human partner. Even then, I'm fairly sure I would have seen a creature come out instead of a ray of light."
As Yami fell quiet again, Grandpa reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck. "Duel spirits, huh? Does every card have a spirit? Can we maybe talk to them about it?" He asked.
"No, well… almost. It's only monster cards that can have spirits, and even then, it's extremely rare for them to want to come to our world. If we include all of Yugi's cards and every card in the shop, only three of them have spirits that I've seen." Yami explained.
"Have any of these spirits talked to you since Yugi disappeared?" Téa asked.
"No, not even Kuriboh." Yami realized.
Everyone paused for a moment as they let that sink in. The silence was then only broken by a call on Téa's cellphone.
"It's my parents." She sighed. She flipped her phone open and answered. The next few minutes were filled with her profusely apologizing. The entire time the boys worriedly glanced at each other as they heard Mrs. Gardner's angry voice. Once the call ended and Téa closed her phone, she let her head fall into her hands. "They're going to kill me." She whispered.
"What happened?" Yami asked.
"It's nothing big. Don't worry about it. What was this about not talking to duel spirits?" Téa tried to wave it away.
"That didn't sound like nothing," Grandpa said.
Téa's cheeks turned red as she looked back up at her friends. "Turns out calling another country is really expensive on my parents' phone plan, especially when someone in Egypt tries to call us," Téa admitted.
"Oh dear, didn't think of that when you called earlier today, did you?" Grandpa chuckled as he got up. Yami quickly mimicked him and got to his feet.
"No, but the good news is that the Ishtars tried to call back. That might mean they found something." Téa said to try and cheer herself up.
"Don't fret about it, Téa. We'll help pay for the phone bill if your parents want. I'll even help explain that it was an emergency." Joey said, both Grandpa and Yami readily agreed.
"Thanks, guys, but how are we going to call them back? My parents won't let me make that far distance call again."
Joey shrugged. "I'd offer mine if I could, but Dad and I have hard enough time payin' the phone bill when we call within our own country."
"Don't worry about it," Grandpa said. "I call Egypt all the time to get in contact with my old betting- I mean archeology buddies. We can use our phone." Grandpa explained as he started heading out of the museum, the teens following quickly behind.
…
While Yami hadn't seen any duel spirits lately was worrying, it wasn't like the group could get any new information from that train of thought. So, they chose to wait on discussing that until they talked to the Ishtars.
As the group walked back to the Muto house, Joey and Téa stayed a few steps back from Yami and Grandpa. Yami could see what they were doing. While it was nice for them to let him have alone time with his new "grandfather," he really wished that they wouldn't. Although Grandpa seemed to accept him, this was still a completely new situation to the spirit. He never had to make friends with someone on his own without first using a duel to break the ice. Yami knew he couldn't stay quiet. He had to say something, but what to even start with?! Yami stood tall and decided to begin with one of his favorite topics.
"…Thank you." Yami eventually said.
"For what? For believing you? Trust me, I should be thanking you. This answers so many questions and suspicions I had." Grandpa responded.
"No, not just for that. Thank you for being there for Yugi when I couldn't." This got Grandpa to stop in place and turn to Yami. Both Joey and Téa stopped too, but they pretended to be interested in a KaibaCorp helicopter flying over.
"What do you mean? That's literally my job as a grandpa. No need for thanks."
"I know, but… Yugi's always needed someone to be there for him. Before me or his friends he only had you and his mother. I just wanted to thank you for taking care of him, so I could get the chance to know him. That fact has saved the world many times over." Yami said. His words felt awkward, stilted, and not near enough to actually convey his feelings. It felt sappy, but Yami didn't know how else to say it. The words seemed to have the effect he wanted though, as Grandpa grew another big smile.
"Well, you're welcome. Raising Yugi has been one of my life's greatest achievements. I will always be proud of how he turned out… But I wasn't the only one Yugi could rely on. Even though he was not physically there, my son was also always by his side." Grandpa said.
Yami's back immediately stiffened, and he could tell Grandpa was watching for such a response. The old man undoubtedly brought up Junior just to see Yami's reaction. The Pharaoh grimaced as he and Grandpa started walking again.
"I'm sure you can tell, but I don't have the highest regards towards that man."
"I could tell, not just from here, but the fact he wasn't with you when you walked into the museum. What happened? Did he not take your existence well?"
"No, no. He has no clue, and… I think that angers me more. I don't even act like Yugi around him, and he doesn't notice, doesn't question it. He's a coward." Yami spat out. He then looked worriedly at Grandpa, realizing he just insulted the man's only son, but the elderly man only solemnly nodded.
"He noticed a difference. We all did. He probably didn't bring it up because he wants to please you. Not many people jump to the conclusion that a spirit has taken over their son's body." Grandpa said. "Yui and I also kept our worries about Yugi's mental health from him. We didn't want to open a floodgate before we had all the information."
Yami nodded, but the annoyance in his chest didn't go away. Grandpa then continued.
"To the coward comment, I can understand how you could feel that. It's the mistake many people make on first meeting him. But believe me when I say my son is probably one of the bravest people I've ever met." Grandpa said with surprising conviction. This made Yami stop in his tracks again. He turned to find that Solomon had a much more serious expression on his face.
"Really?" Yami asked, seeing that this wasn't just fatherly pride talking.
"Of course, not many people can admit to being trapped by years of their own life choices and actually do something about it. Much less if change involved double-crossing someone like Gozaburo Kaiba. Yet he did, for his family, for Yugi."
Yami found his mouth drying. Behind, he could tell even the eavesdropping Joey and Téa were shocked. However, before either could ask for clarification, Yugi's cell phone went off.
Its ringtone made Yami jump, his nerves still being on edge. He just about dropped the thing as he pulled it out of his pocket. The number said it was the Muto landline calling, and Yami knew he needed to answer it. He tried to flip the phone open like Téa's device, but it wasn't moving. Grandpa then saw the number and took the phone. He simply pushed a button and put it to his ear.
"Yes? What is it? She's what! Ok, you get her to the Saga and White Hospital on Forty-Second Street, ok? Remember, Saga and White. We'll take a cab and meet you there. Don't waste time locking up the store. I'll send someone over." Grandpa then hung up the phone and turned back to the group with wide, worried eyes.
"Yui just had another seizure, and it caused her to fall down the stairs. My son is taking her to the hospital, and we have to go." Grandpa said. He then pointed to Téa and Joey. "You two, go back to my shop and call those tomb keepers. Find out what you can about Yugi. Grandson, you come with me. This won't be the right time to tell the rest of the family about you yet, so keep acting for now." He ordered.
Everyone immediately split and went their different ways, no questions or hesitation. As the two Mutos ran down the street, Yami stayed as close as possible with the racing Solomon.
"What is wrong with Yugi's mother?" Yami asked.
"It's her condition, it happens often, but that doesn't mean it's any less dangerous. Just focus on getting a cab for now," Grandpa said as he wildly waved his arms to any passing yellow cars. No one was stopping. Then Yami stepped up to the curb and slightly stuck out his hand. A cab immediately stopped.
"Whoa! Are you the King of Games?!" the driver asked.
"Yes, now get us to the hospital!" Yami ordered as the two hopped in the taxi.