Thank you for these characters and their stories, Kazuki Takahashi. Requiescat in pace.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Pharaoh

I groaned in annoyance. I had let her out of my sight for five seconds and she was gone. The idea of chaining her down was slowly becoming a more concrete possibility, no matter how much she would complain. I would do whatever was necessary to keep her happy, if only that could happen. It would ensure my sanity for the rest of eternity.

I wandered through the park, trying to catch sight of my gorgeous girlfriend, or was it lover? What word would have enough force to convey my feelings? Half the time, I didn't know what I was feeling because there were too many thoughts and emotions at once. I sighed again as I tried to sort through and organize my feelings concerning the vibrant, troublesome minx who had effortlessly captivated me. Odd laughter jingled through the park. I turned my head towards the trees and saw a clown. Tiny bells on his ankles tinkled as he moved.

"Hello Yugi. We've been looking for you." I raised my eyebrow in suspicion. We? Who exactly did that refer to?

"Walk that way, 53 steps forward into that tent. My master is waiting for you inside."

I narrowed my eyes at him, before turning my gaze to the tent across the street. It looked harmless enough, but something in there was calling me forward, pulling me toward the tent. What could possibly be in there? I could vaguely remember a time when it felt as if a force were tugging me in a specific direction, or perhaps it had drawn someone else to me.

"It's in your best interest to go."

I was walking towards the tent before I fully registered moving. Dria had to be there, but I didn't understand why I believed that. All I knew was that I needed to get to that tent and fast. I heard familiar voices faintly behind me, but I had to get to Dria. She was far more important than the voices I heard behind me. The tent was empty, except for a magic box. The clown beckoned me forward.

"Enter here, Yugi."

I stepped inside the box and followed the path, trailing the clown. The doors opened in an empty office room. I looked around the room a little confused. Wasn't I just in a circus tent? Where was Dria? A computer flickered on before me, showing my duelist's profile.

"Rarest card: Dark Magician."

My dark magician took on a more sinister look as his purple robes turned red, and his normally stoic face began to sneer at me. He appeared from within the computer and began claiming that he no longer wanted to be in my deck. I chuckled, "Enough of these tricks."

That same odd laughter echoed in the small room, "I am the illusionist, Arcana."

I scowled as he started to tell me about my favorite card. I knew everything I needed to know about that card, and that was a fact. Things I didn't know were things probably only Dria knew about, meaning that no one else in the world fully understood the card because she seemed to know the very spirit every monster possessed.

"I challenge you to a duel. The winner takes the loser's Dark Magician."

I smirked with confidence. The Dark Magician had chosen me to be his master and he had never let me down before. I trusted the Dark Magician more than any monster, and almost more than any human. I took a quick glance around the room. This maniac couldn't really expect us to duel here. As if he read my mind, Arcana led me down a set of stairs, towards his "special" arena, given to him by his superiors. Superiors? Could he be working for Marik?

"Forget who's backstage. Just worry about me."

Though I didn't trust him at all, I had no option but to follow him. A door sat at the bottom of the stairs, marking the entrance to this arena. What an elaborate arena it was. Clearly, this man was unreasonable and spent a little too much time playing with his magic wand. A table with the Millennium Eye sat directly in the center, beckoning us to begin the duel. I watched his hands very closely, making sure he didn't try anything sneaky.

"Card tricks are for amateurs, Yugi Mutou." I narrowed my eyes; I'd still cut his deck to be certain.

He laughed as I cut his deck, "There is an old saying: Always trust your opponents, but only after you've cut their deck."

I scoffed as I responded with my words of wisdom, "Never trust a masked man."

He gave some meaningless reply. I caught sight of something behind him. Two adjacent rooms were covered with curtains. A faint glow was coming from one of them and the familiar scent of spices drifted through the air. My eyes widened when I realized my hunch about what had called me here had been right. Suddenly, the floor beneath me began moving backwards, pushing me to one end. Thick shackles appeared behind my ankles and trapped me in place. What was he doing?

"We're both locked in. We're not only playing for what's inside your deck; we're playing for what's inside your mind!"

Two blue disks appeared in between this illusionist and me. An incessant humming rang out from the disks, making it somewhat difficult to hear anything. I leaned back a bit, confused by this man's methods.

"It's a dark energy disk, Yuugi. And I wouldn't get too close."

He was possessed by some sort of madness. Not only had he led me down to this secret arena, he had also kidnapped Dria, locked me into a dangerous duel, and was now threatening to send me to the Shadow Realm. As he further explained his rules, his eyes slowly became wilder, as if he were already losing his mind.

"It's showtime!"

I cocked my head at Arcana. Something about his eyes was bothering me. He seemed too happy. He must have fixed his hand somehow. I felt better once I set some defense before me, but I felt even better when I destroyed his hand. Whatever he was planning wouldn't work. Instead, my plan kicked into action.

"Fear the power of my Dark Magician!"

I believed in my cards and my monsters, and they never failed me. The dark energy disk moved more than halfway across the circle. Though it seemed like my attack had broken some of his confidence, it had also broken more of his ties to reality. The crazed look in his eyes grew stronger, and his wild laughter grew louder. He went on to give some speech about how he would still win the duel and send me into darkness. I chose to stay silent and wait for him to finish. Sadly, he had lost so much of his sense of reality that he refused to give up, sealing his fate. He summoned a relatively weak monster as a defense, so I summoned another monster and immediately attacked. As soon as he played his trap, I regretted my hasty action. Dria would have probably been trying to get me to resist attacking if she were here. I should have been thinking like her as well as like this trickster.

Unfortunately, this meant that Arcana could summon his Dark Magician back. I was a little confused as to why Dria would create two Dark Magician cards, but I didn't have much time to really ruminate on it. Placing two cards down, I finished my turn. My Dark Magician was pulled onto a wooden platform with a blade above it. Thankfully, I had played Magical Hats to protect him. Arcana retaliated with his own magic card. This little pattern continued until our magicians attacked, destroyed one another, and returned with the final magic card.

"Enough secrets! What's going on?" Arcana pulled off his mask.

Dria

When I was young, I spent many hours in the stables. People did not particularly want me around after the incident in the city square. Despite the Pharaoh's reassuring words, the crowd agreed with the stranger that I was a menace to their way of life, and the death of my guardian had only fueled their distrust. The servants found ways to keep the young Prince busy and away from me, so I found friends in the animals the Pharaoh kept, mostly his horses. The horses were like my monsters; they didn't judge based on appearance or rumor. Their eyes could read your soul and that was how they judged you. One horse in particular called to me: Pyrrhus, rightly named for his unusual flaming red coat, which gleamed under the sunlight, setting him on fire. He had been a gift to me prior to his birth.

The Pharaoh could tell that I had lost my place amongst his people, and he felt responsible for being unable to persuade his citizens otherwise. So, in an attempt to ease my troubles, he had allowed me to pick the offspring of one of his three prized mares. I would be the owner of this foal, not the Pharaoh. After spending some time with the three mares, I chose the future foal of the eldest mare, Lujayn, despite the fact that the foal of the youngest mare was seen as far more valuable. Lujayn was a gentle silver mare, one who always comforted me whenever someone was cruel towards me.

I stayed with Lujayn the night she gave birth. It was not a difficult birth, but her body was too old to recover from the expense of energy the last time. As Pyrrhus took his first breath, Lujayn took her last. She licked my finger one time before closing her eyes. Though I was saddened by her death, her colt needed me. But, when I reached the colt's side, he surprised me by standing almost instantly. I had never seen a foal stand so quickly. He immediately came to me, as if he knew his mother had left him in my care.

He became my closest friend. We spent at least half the day together, playing in the gardens or out in the sand. He protected me the way his mother did, only added an incredible temper. I was ignored by mostly everyone until I reached the age of 7, nearly three summers since the incident, when a guard decided that he wanted me for physical entertainment. He cornered me in one of the gardens and pinned me to the wall. I was afraid of retaliating in case it made my situation worse, so I cried out, trying to get someone's attention, but the passing guard just laughed and leaned against the wall, as if watching a show. My attacker was slipping off my belt and his own when a hoof smashed into his face.

Pyrrhus, a 2 year old at the time, screeched in anger and charged both the guards. With me following as closely as possible, he chased them into the throne room, onto their knees before the Pharaoh, begging for forgiveness before their attack was revealed. I came in moments later, my clothes still in disarray. The Pharaoh and the Prince gasped in shock, a distress which both quickly replaced with anger when it became clear what had nearly occurred. Pyrrhus trotted back over to me and rubbed his head against my shoulder.

The guards were later thrown in prison, and people, other than the court and the Pharaoh, ceased to treat me with fear and disdain because the Pharaoh declared that even the animals of Egypt found me worthy of protection. Therefore, the more rational and understanding human race should have no difficulty in believing that I wasn't a threat. That one guard had a hoof scar on his face for the rest of his life, and he was the only person who, understandably, continued to avoid me.

No one else could get close to Pyrrhus because they were too afraid of him. He would screech and bite at anyone who tried to come near him, even the Pharaoh himself sometimes. Only I could get close to him. He became my protector, my knight in sparkling red armor.

I groaned in irritation. The chloroform had given me a splitting headache, not to mention that old memory. My hands were tied to the chair beneath me, along with my legs. I blinked multiple times, trying to clear my hazy vision. I heard two voices coming from the other side of the curtain in front of me. The first was a little familiar, like a voice I'd heard in a nightmare or something.

"Once I was the greatest illusionist and magician since Harry Houdini himself."

I scoffed at that statement. Harry Houdini was a fantastic escape artist, but he would never have beaten me.

"I had it all: money, fame. But most importantly, I had her, my sweet Catherine."

I listened in sadness as this man retold his story about his accident. I felt horrible for him, but in a way, it was his own fault. Especially since he decided to throw his lot in with Marik. This was not the way he would win back Catherine. He either needed to find her himself or let her go.

"Working for Marik will bring you nothing but more pain and suffering, Arcana."

My heart leapt up into my throat at the second voice. It was the Pharaoh. But, why was he here? Why was I here? Was Arcana his opponent? Most importantly, where were we? I pulled on the ropes, trying to see if I could loosen them enough to slip out without magic. If Pharaoh and Arcana were close, I couldn't risk something going wrong. I hadn't practiced in a long time and couldn't take that chance, even if there was a miniscule margin of error. But, this handkerchief around my mouth had to go. I closed my eyes, feeling a small burst of fire building up inside me. With one short breath, the handkerchief burned away, allowing me to let my mouth loose. I shifted my head to the side, tearing the curtain down.

"I am counting on Marik to bring Catherine back into my arms."

"Don't be such a moron! Marik could care less about fulfilling his promise to you! You're nothing but an expendable servant!"

I glared at the man in the mask. How stupid could he be? His Catherine was long gone by now, and not even Marik would be able to find her because he wouldn't try to. I could see the Pharaoh sigh in relief when he saw me. I discreetly winked at him, my gaze quickly shifting between the two duelists.

"There she is, just like Marik promised!"

He gestured to the curtain on my left. A light came on behind the curtain, showing the silhouette of another person, which Arcana assumed was Catherine. I studied the frame carefully. There was no way there was an actual person in that chair. She would have been moving ever so slightly because no human could remain that still, except after death. It was a trick; Marik had fooled the illusionist. I hung my head in sadness.

"Give me a minute, darling. I have to destroy Yugi then we can be together forever."

I blinked back the tears in my eyes. This was cruel. How could one man hate his heritage enough to deliberately cause others pain? I had known many cruel men in the ages past, but this was a new low. Arcana was desperate. He loved Catherine dearly and regretted whatever he had done to drive her away. Unfortunately, Marik seemed to thrive off those desperate emotions.

"They're just cards Yugi and nothing more."

I snarled in irritation. He had no idea the power behind each card and how real it actually was. That fool was digging himself into a hole from which he would never escape, not even if he were more talented than Houdini. The two continued their unusual duel. Had it been anything other than a duel of magicians, I would have been somewhat concerned. But, the Pharaoh had a secret that not even he knew about. The magician would only serve one master faithfully, and the Dark Magician had already chosen his master 5,000 years ago. Arcana stood no chance.

The two continued their duel, constantly attacking and saving the Dark Magicians. Arcana somehow managed to trap Yugi's Dark Magician, allowing his magician to have a wide-open shot.

"Yugi!" I couldn't stop myself from crying out in fear.

The humming disk had moved way too close to him. It had been way too close when Yugi still had all his Life Points because I wasn't between the two. He was far more important to the world than I was. I pulled against the ropes harder, causing them to cut into my skin. Arcana, being the moron he was, played Ectoplasmer. I could feel a fire beginning to grow inside me. He'd better not be planning what I thought he was.

"It drains the very soul of one of my monsters."

I cried out in anger as tears threatened to fall. I must have looked absolutely insane, but I couldn't allow him to treat my monsters this way. I had always hated the fact that I had to make that card, but I was overruled by others when I suggested leaving it out of the game. No one else understood how painful the experience was for my dear monsters. Suddenly, a cloth enclosed my mouth and nose again. I shook my head back and forth, trying to shake off my attacker once again. Everything started to go fuzzy again as my head dropped back down.

"Alexandria!"

Pharaoh

I looked on in horror as Dria's eyes closed and her head fell after being covered by a cloth. Arcana did nothing but laugh. "No spectators are allowed backstage."

I scowled. He was lost to this insanity. This became ever more evident as he drained the souls of both his monsters. The dark energy disk was getting closer, but there was nothing I could do.

"Monsters respond best to fear. You will never command their respect with kindness and trust."

I shook my head at these ideas. I could never treat these monsters as if they were my servants. That idea was repulsive because my monsters were my friends. Arcana was a vile man. His own Dark Magician was now looking towards his duelist in shock. He couldn't believe what was about to happen either. It sickened me to watch the soul of another Dark Magician be forcefully ripped from its body.

My Dark Magician came to my rescue. Clearly, Arcana had no idea what his cards were capable of doing. He had been blinded by his own ambition, which Marik had taken advantage of. He had already lost this duel back when he agreed to Marik's plan. Then, he had the audacity to call himself the king of dark magicians. He also dared to put Dria in danger, which was an unforgivable act. I narrowed my gaze at him in anger.

"I'll make sure you lose."

The two energy disks were close to both of us. This duel would be over in a couple of turns. He caught me off guard with his trap card, but his lack of foresight allowed me to bring out a magician he didn't expect to see. He raved on and on for a while about me losing and him gaining my Dark Magician. He destroyed both my face down cards, but he had already made his mistake. Dark Curtain appeared on my side, and out came Dark Magician Girl. Arcana was partially speechless as I smirked in triumph. Dark Magician Girl stood victorious over his second Dark Magician, thanks to my Dark Magician and his first Dark Magician.

"When you destroyed your first magician, you helped give my Dark Magician Girl the power she needed to destroy your second."

The Dark Magician Girl gave him one final blow, ending the duel. I shook my head in sadness. He had led me all the way down here only to lose at his own game, yet he was still claiming he was the greatest magician in the world, and that he alone knew how to control the Dark Magician.

"It was your disrespect and your misuse of your own Dark Magician that caused you to lose this duel. I am very sorry for you."

The counter in between my feet dropped to zero, and the box opened up. Inside were the key to the shackles and a locator card. I watched in sadness as the blue disk slowly moved closer to him. His cries for help wouldn't save him now. Arcana had frozen and began mumbling nonsense.

A key fell from his hand, dropping to the floor. I heard pounding on the door behind me and familiar voices calling my name. Yugi took control of our body and went to Arcana's rescue, collecting the key he had dropped and releasing him from the chains. I watched from the sidelines as Arcana ran towards the curtain, where he believed Catherine was. I sighed when the truth came out. Catherine had been nothing more than a fake, a mannequin placed there to keep Arcana under control. The real Catherine was long gone, shoved away by Arcana's distress. The fool still believed that Marik was good and was merely hiding the real girl. I felt sorrow for him when he started talking about marriage.

Suddenly, his demeanor changed. The Millennium Eye appeared on his forehead and his eyes rolled back into his head. "We meet again little Yugi."

I narrowed my eyes and glared dangerously at the man. It was Marik. What was he waiting for?

Marik went on a power speech about how he deserved the power that I apparently possessed, but I had no idea what he was talking about. My first memory was saving Yugi from that idiotic thug. Before that, there was nothing, as I had revealed to Dria. He continued to go on about defeating us, thus giving him a clear path to further harm the world. The part of his speech that caused me the greatest concern was about the god cards. Marik already had two, which meant we had to stop him before he got the third.

I rolled my eyes at Marik's power rant. Yugi clutched tightly to the Puzzle that connected us. He stood firm against Marik, promising to never lose to him and to never lose the Puzzle. I silently thanked him for being so brave and so willing to help me discover the memories I had lost.

"Beware the quiet one."

Those were Marik's charming last words. He released Arcana's body, which was now nothing more than a shell. Yugi ran forward to catch the man, still concerned about Arcana's well-being. The door burst open behind us, and Tristan, Tea, Mokuba, and Grandpa all ran in. Apparently, we had been missing for hours. They were worried that we had been kidnapped because Kaiba couldn't find our Duel Disk on his online system. It had been operating off another system that was blocking the signal to Kaiba's headquarters.

I heard a quiet groan and turned back towards the two adjacent rooms. I quickly took over again and ran to Dria's side. Her eyes slowly opened and blinked a few times. She smiled a little when her gaze caught mine. We stared at each other for a few moments, both relieved that the other was safe. I lifted my hand and stroked the side of her face. She giggled lightly, "Are you going to untie me anytime soon, or do I have to cut off my hands and feet?"

I blushed wildly and immediately worked on removing the ropes. I untied her wrists one by one, lightly peppering the wounded area with kisses. Her eyes softened at my actions and she kissed my temple.

"Uh, Yugi? I'm very happy that you and Dria are safe, but could you please continue this reunion elsewhere? This place is giving me the creeps."

I turned my gaze towards Tea, who was trying very hard not to glare at Dria. She instead chose to burn a hole into the floor below her. I nodded and untied Dria's feet. Once she was free, I picked her up and began carrying her in my arms.

"Hey! I can still walk you know!"

I captured her lips, effectively silencing her. When I pulled back, she seemed a little dazed. I smiled gently. She huffed a little before leaning against my shoulder. She could complain all she wanted. She was stuck with me now, and I would never let her go.

"I've come to a realization, Yami." I raised an eyebrow at her, slightly worried but mostly curious. She shot me a wicked smile before cuddling back into my chest, "I hate clowns."