Hey, guys! Sorry for the long wait, and for the short chapter, but this story was always supposed to be a side project, and as such, I've been focusing mostly on writing Submersion, and not so much on Fun and Games. That said, the next chapter will definitely be longer :)
(PS: to answer the guest who seemed very confused about why this isn't in the crossover section, I wanted to put this story where more people would be likely to see it, and I figured that was here in the main Yu-Gi-Oh archive, and not in some obscure corner of the site.)
Fun and Games
A Yu-Gi-Oh & Rise of the Guardians Crossover by The Half-Blood Guardian
Part 2
The second time Jack visited Yuugi, the kid was sitting at a child-sized desk in his bedroom, working on some kind of strange, golden 3D puzzle. It had been a month and a half since the first visit, and Jack had felt a tug that he had followed in the direction of Domino.
The spirit had found out where the boy lived about half an hour before, having seen him enter through the front door of a game shop and call out to his grandfather. Jack had followed him inside the shop, and when he saw an old man with hair in a strikingly similar shape to a certain little boy's, he had been true to his word and thanked the old man who had instilled in his grandson a belief of magic.
However, Jack hadn't immediately gone to see Yuugi then. He had been a bit distracted at the time you see, having started an impromptu snowball fight in a public park a few blocks over. He'd covered the entire park in a few inches of snow, but left every other part of the town untouched. He smirked a little at the thought of the local adults scratching their heads at the strange phenomenon, even as the kids shrugged and took advantage of the fun they could have in the fluffy white material they suddenly had access to.
Yuugi huffed in frustration, setting the pieces down a little roughly on the desk, and Jack was brought out of his thoughts. The frown on the child's face tugged at Jack's heart almost as much as seeing him look longingly out his window earlier at the kids playing in the park, before he had averted his gaze and pulled out the golden puzzle.
"Come on, kid…" the spirit quietly urged him. "Don't give up!"
Hoping to cheer him, Jack tapped the window with his staff, and spiraling fern patterns spread across the glass. The sound of crackling frost caused the boy to look up. Large eyes widened even further, and his jaw dropped at the magical display. Then he smiled, a wide, genuine thing that crinkled the corner of his eyes and put dimples in his cheeks, and Jack found himself smiling, too. He saw the child's lips move to form a happy "thank you."
"Heh, don't mention it."
Violet eyes passed through him without seeing, but Jack's smile stayed firmly in place, and Yuugi soon went back to working on his puzzle, practically glowing with a renewed determination.
This was enough.