| Eight (1st episode; Season 0)
On that day, he felt within himself a kindling of hope.
Even though he was patient enough to wait the long years before, the awareness of the outside world had put him on edge. Before the defiling, he had nothing to base time on. For years, he could deal with the anxiety and the impatience since the puzzle box was on a constant move with a constant shift and change between different energies and people. Now he sat on shelf, with no way in sight in moving forward.
He had tried and failed to come to grips that perhaps his final destination would be the closet in the back of the man's store. A large portion of himself felt resigned to his hopeless fate, while a small part, foolishly continued to believe that he was getting closer. When his mind began to meaninglessly banter with itself on the subject, he would wander the home that he has, in recent times, taken to calling a prison.
Countless doors to seemingly empty rooms that were actually traps littered his tomb-like jail. They would not harm him for even if he did not know nor could remember how it came to be that way, he was the master of the puzzle and the shadows. They abide by his orders and protected his prison from those who wished ill onto others and the world. In the insufferable sanctum, he had a main room that he had fashioned to be similar to the bedrooms he had seen throughout time. When he wasn't aimless milling about the corridors of the puzzle, he spent his time there playing games that he had learned or made up himself.
They would satiate him for a while, but it would never replace the thrill of playing with others. Not that he had anyone to play with in the first place.
It was on that day that he was playing a small puzzle game he had created from one of the fallen rocks of a trap. He was just about to finish the game when he suddenly became alert.
"Whoa… it's a lot heavier than I thought! Hey, Jii-chan? What are these markings?"
"Those are Egyptian Hieroglyphics. They're how the ancient Egyptians would record stories and messages. Cool, huh?"
"Haha, very! Do they mean something here?"
"Hum, I'm a little rusty but I can tell you that they speak of magic."
"Magic? Like… granting wishes and genies?"
"Eh? Now I wouldn't know about all that, Yugi. Though, I guess there is a kind of magic that can be found by solving this puzzle. I think it's impossible – the only hint you have is 'It's something you can see, but can't see' .Mysterious…"
"'Something you can see, but can't see'…?Jii-chan… can I try and solve the puzzle?"
He listened intently to the light-hearted conversation. He couldn't help but smile to himself; of course the kind-hearted and playful Sugoroku would have an equally kind-hearted and playful grandson. Still, a more pressing matter had come up. While faint, there was something about the energy that he had felt from the grandson. While a part of him wanted to give in to belief straight away, a much larger part remained skeptic. Sugoroku had crushed his spirits and belief to the point where he wasn't as willing to share the few secrets of the puzzle that he knew.
Nevertheless, he supposed, he should give the grandson, Yuugi, credit. Most children had lost interest in a couple months. Yuugi's determination had run for eight years and was still burning strong. Along time's passage, he had also come to appreciate other qualities Yuugi had.
His love for games for one. Any and all table games and puzzles seemed to turn into a victory in his hands, though he was quite humble about it.
His kindness – Yuugi would never hurt someone else if he could avoid it and if it did come to that, he would try to find another way.
His optimism – the young man liked to think of the bright side of things.
His determination, though wavered, never let him down. Tricky problems and hard tasks ceased to be as difficult when given the time to think on it. Yuugi was willing to learn and figure or for as long time allowed him to. The Millennium Puzzle, though still incomplete, was a prime example of his determination.
However, despite all these qualities, it would seem Yuugi suffered from the ill-willed fates of the world.
An ill body. A short and slightly frail stature. Constantly teased and bullied. Easy to hurt emotionally and physically. Fractured family at a young age.
It had come to his attention very quickly that Yuugi tended to suffer at the buildings his schooling took place in. While he has never been taken to such places because of Yuugi's cautious care for the box, over hearing the conversations between his mother and grandfather when left behind at home told him enough.
Very few people talked to him and those that did mocked him or worse – actually laid hands on him. He was also quick to realize that Yuugi had come to see the puzzle as a solace away from the pain of life. Yuugi would tirelessly work on it and all he could do was sit in his main room, mentally telling himself when the wrong or right piece was put in.
He had been doing this for as long as the young man toiled away at the puzzle, eight years. He was always keeping watch as their energies started to synchronize with one another. The skeptic part of him no longer existed; he had found who he was waiting for.
By "ill body", I'm referring to Yuugi having diabetes. I had heard that the creator, Kazuki Takahashi, had made the reasoning of Yuugi having diabetes as a reason for his shortness. To be honest, I don't believe it seeing that I heard it on FFN, but I think it's an interesting headcanon nonetheless. I won't really touch upon it more than slight mentions, though.
… and by laying hands, I mean beating him [Yuugi] up. Get those twisted minds out of the godforsaken gutter.
* - Emori Loul had said that the topic of Yuugi having diabetes was a mistranslation by one of the groups who translated the manga. Personally, I still think it's an interesting headcanon and one tat I'll probably keep throughout this story and whatever YGO stories I write.