19. Shadow Game

It was nearly two o'clock in the morning San Francisco time—almost noon in Luxor—when he felt the shadows pulling at him. He'd spent the whole morning talking with the police and government officials and panicked museum staffers, and it was difficult to get away, but he'd managed it. A half an hour later, he had barricaded himself in the study of his Luxor home. He didn't need to instruct his servants not to disturb him—those he trusted enough to work in his home knew when to leave him alone.

The path before him had finally been cleared. It was time for a Dark Game.

He sat on a high-backed leather chair by the fireplace. Fire always helped him concentrate, to connect to the Shadow Realm and to Reshef the Dark Being. In each hand, he held an Orichalcos stone.

Looking into the flames, he let them mesmerize him, pulling him into the shadows. The energy swirled around him as he sought out the familiar path to Valentine's dreams. She was there, and there were no obstructions this time. He pulled her with him, not into the sand, but into the vacant lot on a dark San Francisco street. There he called his Shadow Game, setting the terms, putting up the barriers that would separate them and prevent them from summoning their guardians without the right key. When all was ready, he issued the invitation.

Come, Valentine. It's time to duel.

Yugi awoke with a start. He'd been dreaming about that Death Valley duel, where he was the Pharaoh fighting Yugi in spirit form, but in an instant the dream dissolved and he was wide awake to the sound of pounding on his door.

"Yugi! Open up! We need your help!"

Jumping out of bed, he ran to the door. When he opened it, Joey almost fell into his apartment. "Thank God! It's Mai, she's totally out of it, and we can't wake her up!"

Yugi followed him down the hall two doors to Mai's apartment and then through the living room and into the bedroom. There he saw Serenity on the bed beside Mai, who was lying still and lifeless. Her Duel Disk was strapped to her arm, Yugi noted, and Serenity was trying to wake her. She looked up when Joey and Yugi entered. "It's… it's almost like Battle City, when she was in a coma. She's breathing, her pulse is fine, but the shadows are everywhere."

Joey's hands clenched into fists. "No." He sounded like he'd swallowed ground glass. "Like HELL. She ain't going into no coma, do you hear me?" He leaned over the bed and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "MAI, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Serenity grabbed him. "Joey, stop, you're not helping!"

He shrugged her off, shaking Mai harder. "You're not getting her, not this time, YOU HEAR ME? Wake UP, DAMMIT!" But Mai's head lolled back and she sagged limp in his arms, completely unresponsive. Serenity tried to pry Joey off of her, and Yugi joined in to help, but he wouldn't let go. Pulling her to him, he cradled her and started moaning. "Mai! Oh, God, please—Mai, wake up."

"Joey," Yugi said, his voice gentle even as he tried to pry him away. "You have to let go. This isn't like Battle City. That was after she lost. Right now she's still in the Dark Game. We can help her, but only if you let go."

Serenity was more authoritative. "Joey, let me see her." He looked at his sister, his eyes unfocused as if he couldn't quite see her. Then, he nodded and eased Mai back down onto the bed to let Serenity moved closer. She stroked Mai's cheek gently, then checked her pulse. After a moment, she looked up at Yugi. "I… I'm not sure if it will help, but I think maybe I should try Mystical Elf."

"No!" Joey shook his head, his hair flying in all directions. "It's bad enough she's—" He stopped, almost choking. "I'm not letting you mess with the Shadow Realm, too."

Serenity's eyes flashed in anger. "This is my area of expertise, Joey, not yours."

"Expertise? You're not even nineteen years old yet, a freshman in pre-med. How are you an expert?"

"I helped Téa back on the island!"

"That thing with Téa was an accident… and… and…" Joey floundered. "And you had Yugi's Puzzle box."

"She doesn't need the Puzzle box," Yugi said quietly. "If the shadows are already here, she should be able to access them."

Joey clenched his jaw. "No."

"It's not your decision, Joey." Serenity took her Mystical Elf necklace in one hand while still touching Mai's arm with the other. Her jaw was as set as her brother's, but Yugi could see uncertainty in her eyes just before she closed them. Joey reached for her, but Yugi grabbed his arm, holding him back, and with a ringing voice that was unlike her, Serenity called out for her guardian monster. "I summon Mystical Elf!"

Something like a wall of energy hit them, radiating out from Mai and slamming against them, throwing all three of them backwards. Yugi ended up on his back on the floor, and as he tried to right himself and get his bearings, he heard Joey cry out in alarm. "SERENITY!"

Quickly jumping to his feet, Yugi turned and saw Serenity crumpled against the wall. He and Joey both scrambled to her side, Joey calling her name again.

Her eyes opened, but she looked dazed. "Wha…?"

"What the hell happened?" Joey's eyes were wild.

Yugi shook his head, trying to clear it. "I don't know. It's like—"

Serenity groaned. "Locked out."

"Say what?" Joey took his sister by the shoulders. "Serenity, are you okay?"

She nodded weakly. "I'm… ow… okay."

"What do you mean, locked out?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know. It was like… a locked door slamming… in my face. I'm locked out. We all are."

Like hell, Yugi thought, gritting his teeth. No one locks me out of a Shadow Game…. "Joey, you get Serenity out of here and make sure she's okay," he ordered. "Leave Mai to me."

"What?"

"Just go. I'll figure out a way to help her, I promise you that, but you need to get Serenity out of here. I'll come and get you when it's over."

Joey hesitated another moment before scooping Serenity up in his arms and carrying her toward the door. She tried to protest, but still was dazed and instead just grabbed him around the neck to hang on.

"Yuge…" Joey turned to face him.

Yugi's face felt like it was made of stone. "I will make it stop."

With one last worried look at Mai, Joey nodded and left, Serenity cradled in his arms.

Yugi went back to Mai's bedside. There was a small pile of cards on the nightstand. Grabbing them, he saw that they were the seven cards he'd given her earlier. He sorted them, putting them in a particular order. Technically that was cheating, but calling Mai into a Shadow Game through her nightmares without allowing her the choice to accept or decline the terms hardly seemed like a fair fight, and she needed the right weapons to combat the lies her nightmares told her. He started to reach for her Duel Disk, then at the last second changed his mind about the card order, pulling Dark Magician out of the stack and placing it on top.

"You forgot some cards, Mai," he said through clenched teeth, reaching for her. Leaving his hand on his Dark Magician, he slipped the seven cards into her disk on top of her deck. He closed his eyes, a long forgotten ghost of a memory coming to him, and he uttered a phrase in ancient Egyptian just before the world went black.

Tristan woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Although it was becoming commonplace for him to have trouble sleeping, this seemed somehow worse. He sat up, reflexes from his military training bringing him instantly alert. He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of pants over his boxers, then headed out of his apartment to see if there was an actual source to this bad feeling or if it was just more of the same restless sleeping. He'd barely gotten a dozen paces down the hall toward the library when he had his answer: Joey appeared around the corner, Serenity cradled somewhat limply in his arms.

"Serenity!" Tristan rushed up to give Joey a hand.

"I'm fine," she said, but she sounded weak, and he could see she clearly wasn't fine.

"What the hell happened?"

"Long story." Joey grunted from her weight.

"Joey, I can walk."

Tristan moved closer. "Let me help."

Joey hesitated a moment before letting fatigue win out. Carefully, he set her down on her feet, but still held her up while Tristan slipped on her other side and ducked under her other arm so that the two of them were supporting her. Slowly, they helped her to her apartment.

Once inside, she collapsed onto an overstuffed chair in the living room, Joey and Tristan crouching beside her, worried.

She rubbed the back of her head. "I think I might have a concussion."

"Do we need to take you to the emergency room?" Joey asked.

"I don't think so." She sounded sleepy. "Just look at my eyes and see if the pupils look the same size."

Tristan did as instructed, peering closely into her eyes. "Nope, they look normal."

"Okay." She sunk back further into her chair. "As long as I don't start throwing up a lot or have trouble waking up, I should be fine. Someone should wake me up in a couple of hours to check."

"Would anyone like to tell me what the hell happened?" Tristan asked, looking from Joey to Serenity.

Joey looked grim. "Mai had another nightmare. First, she was thrashing around and screaming in her sleep, and then she put on her Duel Disk and just went limp, so I ran and got Yugi. We couldn't wake her up, and Serenity said it felt like the Shadow Realm, so she tried to summon Mystical Elf. Instead we all got blown backwards like an explosion hit us."

Serenity shook her head. "A locked door. I was locked out."

Tristan frowned. "What do you mean, locked out?"

"Just that. It was like I tried to get into a room but was locked out."

"Yeah, while locked doors don't usually blow you off your feet when you try to open them." Joey's fists were clenched.

Tristan turned to Joey. "Like when Yugi dueled Pegasus and that dark creepy bubble thing kept us out?"

Joey considered a moment, then slowly shook his head. "Not really. Much more violent, like a force field hitting us and blowing us back. Serenity got slammed into a wall. That's how she hit her head."

"What about Mai?"

"Yugi's with her. He… he says he'll fix it."

"How?"

"I dunno, but if Yugi says he'll fix it, he'll fix it."

"He will." Serenity reached out to her brother, taking his hand.

"Dude, I'll stay here with Serenity if you wanna go back."

Joey looked tempted, but Serenity gripped his hand more firmly. "No, Onii-chan, you're too upset. Let Yugi help her."

Joey hung his head. "I'm making it worse. I can't… I can't even help her." He jerked his hand away from Serenity and stabbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

Tristan put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It'll be fine, bro. Yugi will fix it."