"Kurri? Kurri!"
Yugi forced his eyes open. He was still in the grove beneath the shadow of the mountain. In front of him were Silent Magician looking absolutely panicked, his sword laid beside a tree, and Kuriboh jumping into Yugi's face repeatedly.
"Hey, hey. I'm up." Yugi groaned. He started to reach for his head so he could rub it, but Silent Magician snatched his hand and tried to pull him. It was then Yugi realized that Gandora had surrounded him in a close hug some time in his sleep. While Silent Magician pulled, Gandora held on tighter, stretching Yugi.
"I don't think that's going to work-" Yugi gasped, right before being cut off by a snarl. Everyone froze. Then Gandora mumbled something in her sleep and shifted her position. Pulling Yugi into a tighter embrace.
Silent Magician jumped back, with Kuriboh following. Once they knew Gandora was still asleep, Silent Magician scratched her head. Then she used her magic to write,
"What happened to you? We woke up in the cave to find you and the dragon gone. We thought she might have eaten you, and we panicked all the way up the mountain!"
"Sorry for the scare," Yugi whispered. "I'm fine, Gandora was nice enough to find me some food last night, and I guess we both fell asleep here."
Silent Magician's eyes widened, and she quickly looked from Gandora to the ensnared Yugi. Eventually, she shook her head and sighed.
"I'm guessing she fought the slumber then? That would explain why she's still asleep while the rest of the land has already woken up." She wrote.
Yugi then tilted his head. "Hey, random question, but I notice you're communicating more. I'm guessing your nap let you get your magic back?"
Silent Magician tilted her outstretched hand back and forth. "Kind of. I'm nowhere near my full strength. I couldn't even level up without some cracks forming."
Silent Magician then looked over Gandora and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Magic or not, we have to get you out of there before she wakes up."
"Actually, guys, I don't think we have to worry about that. I got to talk with Gandora last night, and I think…." Yugi realized then Silent Magician wasn't listening to him.
Silent Magician held her hand out with her eyes closed. Yugi saw the familiar blue magic surround him. While before Silent Magician just lifted or yanked him, this levitation magic took focus to gently move him out of the dragon's arms. Yugi was surprised at her grace as she levitated him. Yugi didn't voice his observation, not wanting to wake Gandora and have her first image be of him floating by her face. He didn't think that would go down well for anyone.
When Yugi's feet lightly touched the ground, Kuriboh immediately jumped into his arms. Yugi smiled and pulled the fluffball into his own hug. Silent Magician then grabbed his hand again and pulled him away, running at top speeds for her little legs.
"Wait!" Yugi began. He was about to say more when his sword, now flying towards Silent's outstretched hand, nearly hit the back of his head. Yugi used this time to stick his heels in the ground and pull away from the hurried mage. Silent Magician turned back in surprise and almost got beamed in the head by the sword she summoned. Thankfully Kuriboh jumped from Yugi's arms and stopped the flying sword before it did some damage. Silent Magician let the magic leave the weapon and looked to Yugi with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't think we should leave her," Yugi said.
"Why?! This is our only chance to get away!" Silent Magician wrote.
"I think she was trying to protect us yesterday, in her own misguided way," Yugi said. This made Silent Magician burst out laughing. The fact the laugh was still silent made Yugi feel even sillier for what he was about to say, but he couldn't ignore what his heart was telling him. "I think she could help us."
At that, Silent Magician stopped laughing and looked at Yugi with her mouth open in shock.
"She is a Dragon of Destruction." Silent Magician's words were highlighted in red magic to make her point. "The only thing she will help us with is angering the wishing well guardian. Then we will truly be stuck."
Before Yugi could argue, the three all jumped a good foot in the air when they heard grumbles behind them. Yugi looked back to see Gandora starting to get up. He then turned back to see Silent Magician and Kuriboh hiding behind one of the large trees. Silent tried to motion him to hide too, but Yugi stood his ground.
As Gandora got up, she stretched out her back and scratched her belly. She seemed in a good mood, so Yugi was about to walk out, then Gandora woke up enough to really look around. The beast's whole body language immediately turned sour. Her tail started flicking as she hastily turned from side to side. She then began tossing boulders and looking under them, frantically searching for something. She was even about to uproot a tree when Yugi spoke.
"Morning, Gandora." Yugi cheerfully said.
Gandora jumped around to face Yugi, her eyes wide. Then she lunged at him. Silent Magician and Kuriboh leaped from behind their tree to save Yugi, but there was nothing for them to do. Yugi found himself caught in the mother of all bear hugs.
Yugi thought he had felt true hugs when Joey squeezed him, but he was so wrong. Gandora held him close to her chest and just kept squeezing. He honestly felt like a tube of toothpaste with one drop left. Before Yugi started worrying about air Gandora lightened up, just a bit. As Yugi took a deep breath, Gandora started moving him up towards her maw. For a split second, both Yugi and the others thought that maybe she would eat him. Yugi braced for impact. He was glad he did as Gandora pushed her snout into him and nuzzled him with all the force of a desperate dragon.
If Silent Magician's mouth was open in surprise earlier, her jaw was now on the floor. Kuriboh was just as stunned. For once in their life, they weren't bouncing up and down and instead stayed grounded in horror. The two were completely frozen, unsure if to attack or run away.
Yugi was dumbstruck, Seto could have come dancing by in a pink fluffy dress, and it wouldn't have phased him. Was this really the same dragon that had been snapping and growling at him yesterday? He tentatively patted Gandora's head, not knowing what else to do. To his further shock, she pushed into his hand. Then she opened her eyes and looked down at the small human in her arms. For a split second, she seemed disappointed. Then her emotions did a 180. She smiled a wide toothy grin and rested her forehead on Yugi's. Unlike her earlier actions, this one was of pure gentleness. Yugi once again found himself frozen. He didn't even move his still stretched-out hand.
The world seemed to stop as Gandora held her position. Yugi's fear slowly began to melt away, and he loosened up. He tried to make eye contact with Gandora, in doing so he moved in such a way that Gandora's nose touched the Millennium Puzzle. The quartz puzzle flickered in golden light, centering on the carved eye. Gandora noticed and pulled away. The light disappeared, and Yugi felt no different, other than the utter shock of being cuddled by a dragon.
Gandora then looked up to see Silent Magician and Kuriboh standing there. She snarled and squeezed Yugi closer to her. This time Yugi had air left in his lungs to yelp, which brought Silent Magician back to reality. She held the sword out, and even Kuriboh got in a fighting stance. Gandora began to growl and got in her own stance when Yugi put a hand on her shoulder. She looked down, right into Yugi's wide magenta eyes. Her growl stopped. For a split second, Yugi swore he saw her mouth turn down into a hurt frown. Then she opened her arms. She dropped Yugi like a sack of potatoes and turned away without a word.
Yugi landed with a thud on his backside. Gandora was not even looking at him as she walked away. He winced as he rubbed his back, the other two running to his side.
"Are you ok?!" Silent wrote. Yugi nodded and slowly got to his feet. He looked to Gandora, who still had her back to the three.
"Good morning to you too?" Yugi more asked than said.
"The tree did its job. I'm glad to see you healed." Gandora growled as she crossed her arms.
"Healed?" Yugi asked. He then really looked at himself. All his injuries from the day before were gone. Even the sore muscles he had been dreading weren't there. Silent Magician noticed this too and walked around Yugi to get a better look at him. Yugi tested his various limbs and found them in perfect working condition.
"What tree?" Silent wrote.
"This big white tree Gandora found for me yesterday. It's right over there-" When Yugi turned to where the great tree had been, he paused. In the place of the white tree was a normal oak: no fruit and no white leaves. When Silent turned, her eyes grew wide.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" She wrote. Yugi tilted his head. That was where the tree had been yesterday, and it even had the mark Gandora gave it, yet it wasn't the angelic tree Yugi remembered. Silent and Kuriboh ran over to the tree and gawked at it, looking up into its thick leaves.
"I've never seen such a white tree before. This has to be the Tree of Eden! I knew this trap card had to be somewhere in this domain!" Silent wrote to no one in particular. "It even has the big fruit!"
Yugi looked up into the green leaves and saw none of the head-sized fruit from last night. He crossed his arms and was about to worry about going crazy when Gandora spoke.
"You can only eat from it once. Keep that in mind, little one." She said. Yugi turned around as Gandora began to move away. She seemed fully healed from the day before (Yugi was getting more jealous of duel monsters quick healing) and spread her wings. She was about to leap into flight when Yugi yelled,
"Wait! Where are you going?"
"Away." She said simply.
Yugi's mouth turned down in a frown. From lovey-dovey to ice cold. He was going to get dizzy from trying to follow this dragon's emotions.
"I hope you're not planning on going back to that mob of Gandora," Yugi said. Gandora paused, then her claws balled into fists.
"What if I am?" She said, still not turning to face Yugi.
"You can't do that! Those dragons will…." Yugi stopped himself from saying 'tear you apart.' If he had learned anything about these dragons, it was not to insult their strength. "…not be happy to see you."
Gandora's head turned slightly, just enough for Yugi to see her eyes. While they were still crimson red, the light seemed to have left them.
"You have nowhere else to go, do you?" Yugi said. This got Silent's and Kuriboh's attention away from the tree.
"We Gandora are born and die together." She said.
"So, you literally know no other life than being with them," Yugi said. He then put his hand to his chin as he thought about how to word this. "Well, would you like to journey with us?"
This got Gandora to turn fully. She seemed just as shocked as Silent and Kuriboh were.
"Journey?" Gandora whispered.
"Yeah, we are going up to the wishing well at the top of this mountain and would love help." Yugi smiled. Just then, Silent yanked the back of his hair. "Ow!" Yugi turned to her and Kuriboh. Silent pulled Yugi without a word behind a tree with Kuriboh bouncing along behind.
"She can't go back to those jerks," Yugi whispered.
"She can't come with us either! The whole point of this mission is to get rid of her people. She won't exactly be happy to help." Silent aggressively wrote.
Yugi nodded. He looked around the tree at Gandora. She seemed to be debating about just flying away. She then growled and grabbed a large tree. She uprooted the thing like it was a weed and sat on her newly made bench. She still looked tired even though she had a full eight hours of sleep, and Yugi didn't think it was from pulling up the tree.
"You're right, but I feel like she could really help us," Yugi whispered back to Silent. The mage wrote nothing but Yugi could see that she was not convinced.
"I know, I know, it's just…." Yugi's eyes then lit up. "Why don't we just ask her! Now that's she's in the mood to talk."
"What do you mean?" Silent wrote.
"The two reasons for coming up here were for a wish and to talk to the dragon protecting the well. We were going to ask him if he knew why and how the Gandora came in. Well, we can just ask her." Before Silent could write a response, Yugi jumped back to his feet and walked out from behind the tree.
Gandora immediately stood when Yugi came up to her. She seemed poised to fly away at any moment. Yugi decided to take that as a good sign. At least she wasn't snapping at him anymore.
"Before you ask again, the answer is no. I won't be coming with you." Gandora said.
"Oh, ok. If that's what you want, but before you go, can you answer a few questions for me?" Yugi asked.
Gandora paused, her eyes locked onto Silent Magician, who was peaking out from behind the tree. "What if I say no?"
Yugi rubbed his head and sighed. "That would make things more difficult for us, but that would be that. We'll keep going up the mountain, and you would go on your way."
Gandora's eyes returned to Yugi, staring at him with a much softer gaze than she had for Silent.
"Fine, what do you want to know?" She said. She hopped back onto the tree and let her tail rest on her lap.
"Thank you," Yugi said as he climbed up the downed tree and sat next to her. She grunted in acknowledgment and didn't push him away—more good signs in Yugi's eyes. Silent and Kuriboh remained a good distance back, despite Yugi's gestures for them to come forward.
"Where are you from?" Yugi decided to start with.
"The Crags. There is a war between the warriors and dragons going on there." Gandora answered bluntly.
"So I've heard… Are you running from the war?"
"No! Gandora never run!" Yugi found himself face to face with Gandora's crimson eyes.
"Of course. I never meant it as an insult." Yugi quickly corrected.
Gandora nodded and crossed her arms."I heard that this realm was made for monsters wanting to get away from fighting. We Gandora were done taking orders, so we left. Now we're here."
Yugi looked back to Silent Magician. She was straining to hear and eventually sighed. She moved closer, with Kuriboh following. Yugi nodded to them and once again rested his chin on his hand.
'Dragons trying to get away from war is understandable, but these creatures destroying everything is not, even if this land is unnerving.' Yugi thought.
Gandora looked down as Yugi thought and spoke again. "If you are trying to think of a way to stop us from destroying, don't. We can never be completely healthy unless we destroy something. It's been hardwired into our genes."
"Then why did you leave the war? Wouldn't you be happier there?" The blue lettering appeared right between Yugi and Gandora. The two quickly read it and turned to Silent Magician. Gandora doings so with bared teeth.
"Killing and destroying are two separate things. Gandora believe that if a monster succumbs to wounds in battle, that is their own weakness. But actively killing them is unneeded and a sign of greater weakness. It shows that you are scared that they will come back for revenge."
"Then why did Giga want you dead?" Silent wrote.
Gandora became statue still for a moment before roaring, "Giga would never want that!"
"Then why did he want me to stab you in the neck?" Yugi pushed on, despite the dragon's returning anger. This actually stopped Gandora's growing tirade. At that point, Silent had run up and jumped to Yugi's side on the tree. She tried to hand him the sword, but Yugi pushed it away. He kept his eye contact with Gandora. The dragon paused, once again staring down at Yugi with those sad eyes. Magenta met Crimson, each trying to find something in the other's eyes. Gandora then snorted and turned to look out towards the valley below them.
"He… He took a hit to his honor to demand that of you. He was hoping to trick you into powering me up." Gandora nearly whispered.
"How so? I mean, I saw how taking damage gave you power, but stabbing you in the neck seems like it would kill before you got any ATK." Yugi asked.
Silent and Kuriboh asked the same question as they surrounded Yugi, preparing to grab him and run if needed.
"That is a Gandora secret, and I will not share it with you or your… why is one from the Silent archetype here? To be your court fool?" Gandora spat out.
This made Silent's face got beet red, and she seemed ready to stomp right up to the dragon and give her a piece of her mind when Yugi jumped off the log.
"Silent Magician and I are partners trying to simply get to the top of the mountain," Yugi said. Gandora's eyes got wide at the word 'partner' as she looked from Yugi to Silent. Yugi continued like he hadn't noticed. "At the top is a wishing well that apparently can grant one wish to every one person. Do you know about it?"
"Yes…" Gandora trailed off as she studied the mage.
Silent's arm wrapped around Yugi so she could pull him towards her. She then wrote in front of his face.
"Maybe you shouldn't have told the damage happy dragon about the chance of a wish!"
"We need the help," Yugi said. He looked back to Gandora to see she seemed less interested in the magical wish as she was in Silent Magician at that moment.
"This even tinier one is your mate?" She said.
Immediately Yugi went just as red in the face as Silent.
"Nononono!" They both said and wrote respectively
"But she is your partner?" Gandora asked.
"Friend, she's my new friend." Yugi quickly clarified.
"Fighting comrade?" Gandora asked.
"Kind of," Yugi said as he helped Silent get off the tree trunk and took Kuriboh in his arms. "I just met her, so I won't call her a close friend but, she's someone I'd like to spend time with when this is all over." Gandora's face remained scrunched in confusion. "Err… Someone I have a bond with that's not family or love." Yugi tried.
"Oh, a beloved," Gandora said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Sure…" Yugi trailed off. He glanced to Silent, who shrugged.
"Anyway," Yugi continued. "We friends are trying to help the monsters in this domain. I now know Gandora need to destroy, but doing that here hurts others. It doesn't matter if they are weak in your culture's eyes. They don't deserve their homes to be destroyed. I was planning on asking the wishing well to bring back the Legendary Knights." At that name, Gandora jumped back. She tried to hide her worry, but Yugi could see it clear as day. "You don't like the knights?" He asked. Gandora looked down at the ground and rubbed her shoulder.
"They tried to stop us from getting into this domain. They thought we belonged in the Crags… that we belonged in the war" She trailed off. Yugi and Silent looked at each other. Both with deep frowns.
"What happened to them?" Silent wrote. Gandora saw the words and immediately swiped them away.
"Don't go thinking we were dumb enough to attack the great protectors of this land. The Gandora simply waited. They left their post and we walked in." She said in a low voice, the kind voice that sent a shiver down Yugi's spine.
Gandora glared down at the three. She strode forward, and the three had to scramble to get out of her way, Yugi going one way and Kuriboh and Silent running another. Gandora walked past the three to the edge of the grove and looked up the mountain. A layer of clouds covered the peak, so it almost looked like there wasn't even a top to the mountain.
"You are going to wish us away, like the knights," Gandora said, for the first time, with no emotion in her voice. Both Yugi and the others went quiet, not knowing how to respond.
"Hey, Yugi's beloved," Gandora said as she turned back to the three. Silent Magician stood up. "How powerful is that well?"
"Pardon?" She wrote.
"Can it grant the wish of sending all us Gandora to a new land, a land perfect for us?"
Silent had to think a few moments, then she nodded.
"Good." Gandora then looked to Yugi. As the silence stretched on, Gandora would open her mouth, then close it. She did this in a cycle until she growled and slammed her chest gem with her fist. "Little one, can… I order you to make that wish for me. In return, I will help you up the mountain."
"Order?" Yugi chuckled as he walked up to her. Hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. "You don't need to order me to do anything. You just have to ask." Gandora flinched at that word. "Does asking make you weak?"
Gandora shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. I shouldn't care about how far I fall when I've already done so." She then lowered her arm for Yugi. He instead waited. "…Please, can you make that wish for me?" Gandora asked.
Yugi smiled and jumped into her arms. She once again held him close to her chest. Gandora then walked up to the other two and put out her other arm. Silent Magician paused to look at Yugi with her big grey eyes.
Yugi shrugged. "She's actually pretty comfortable if that's what you're worried about." This made both Silent and Gandora smile, Yugi being most surprised by Gandora's smile. Silent then sighed. She picked up Kuriboh and the sword.
"This is what I get for following a friend of the Pharaoh's." She offhandedly wrote.
Gandora made the mage give the sword to Yugi, but finally, she picked up Silent and took off.
Gandora flew past many perfectly dangerous ridges and loose rock walls. She was taking them up the mountain much faster than they could have ever done on foot. Yugi looked on in awe at the scenery. This had been the best day so far, and it hadn't even started yet. He got to see this perfect world in all its glory, and most important of all, he made another new friend. Or beloved, whatever she wanted to call herself.