Ranko: Ugh…school is almost here, I'm dreading it so much…
Yuugi: You'll be okay, Ranko.
Ranko: Someone just kill me now!
Yami: Stop being a bitch and answer reviews!
Ranko: Fine, but I didn't get as many reviews as I had hoped for. Sad day…
Doragon-chan: Aw! Thank you! Please continue to review!
lilpopslash: I know! It is sad, why does Yami have to be so mean? And it's okay if you like Yami a little bit ^^ I'm sure everyone has a soft side for him, even I like him when he's not being a total bitch (Yami: Hey!). Please continue to review!
SincereJoyy: Thanks for the awesome review! I liked the moment between Mai and Yuugi too, and Jou and Seto are just so cute! Thanks for reading my new story, thanks for the review there too! Please continue to review!
AmerillaRose: Wow, you were just awesome in your review! Thank you and please continue to review!
raindropdew: Thanks for the review! I know, I would be too afraid to do anything if I was in their situation. I would probably want to be the first to go ^^" I know what you mean about school, break was fun while it lasted but now its time to go back to hell. Please continue to review!
PomPoms: I'm sorry but I laughed when I read your review. But its nice to now there is another Malec fangirl out there that feels my pain! Thanks for the kind words and I guess any chapter with Yami in it is good, huh? Please continue to review!
SokiKuro: Thanks for the awesome review! I'm glad that you liked the chapters so much and the nice puzzleshipping that I threw into the mix! Malik is here to stay…for now (dun, dun, dun!). I think that Set and Jou are cute together too, but it's not my favorite pairing (don't kill me puppyshippers!). Yeah, Mai has to go, unfortunately. And the reason I like your story is because it is fresh and different that has me guessing and biting my lip in anticipation! Please continue to review1
Yuugi: (sigh) Oh, Ranko, why must you answer so many reviews?
Yami: Ranko twin owns nothing!
Ranko: Enjoy!
-/-
Mai needed fresh air. She needed to get out of that stuffy house that they had locked themselves in for days, too afraid of the Shadow Men. She knew that it was dangerous to leave in the middle of the night all on her own without telling anyone, but she really needed this.
She felt free, in that house she was like a bird in a cage. She walked to the park that was only a few blocks away. She remembered pushing Yuugi on the swings when he was little, just playing with her little cousin all day until her parents called to get her. She wished she could go back to those times, when her cousin relied on her the most and before the stupid Shadow Men came into their lives.
And Yami…he was going to take Yuugi away from her. Mai chuckled to herself; as if she was going to let that happen.
She sat down on one of the old swings, just sitting there and enjoying the clear night sky. So far she had seen no Shadow Men, nothing to worry about. If she did see any of them though, she could take care of herself.
She looked up at the crescent moon, it was always her favorite phase of the moon. It was like the Cheshire cat smiling down at her; she found it strangely comforting and other worldly. Suddenly, a chilling breeze blew past her, lifting her hair and covering her eyes. When she pushed her hair out of her face, Yami was standing in front of her.
Her heart did a quick stutter and then went back to its normal beating. Seeing him there so suddenly of course startled her, but she wasn't afraid of him. He was staring at her blankly, his arms crossed over his chest. Mai felt a shiver run up her spine; she turned around and saw Marik and Akefia with their two pets by their side, the phantom wolf and snake.
She couldn't help but smile at the situation, releasing a small laugh. "Do you really need three Shadow Men and two Shadow creatures to catch one girl?" Mai shook her head and laughed again. She shrugged and stood up, the chains of the swing rattling. "Alright then, but just to let you know," she said, slipping into a battle stance, her violet eyes glowing. "I'm not going down without a fight."
Elsewhere ~
"Mai! Yuugi called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Mai, where are you?" It was a quarter to six, over an hour later than it had been in Yuugi's dream with Yami. He had woken up with the clue about Mai, the only problem was that Mai was no where to be seen. They checked the entire apartment but she wasn't there.
Now they were out searching for the girl in the bitter cold morning weather with the threat of Shadow Men. Jou and Set suddenly came jogging back to Yuugi, Malik, and Bakura.
"We couldn't find her anywhere," Jou said, his breath a cloud of white in front of him.
"Where could she be?" Yuugi asked, more to himself than anyone else, wringing his hands.
Bakura raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Think, what is one place that Mai would go to that is close by?"
Yuugi was about to yell that he didn't know when it suddenly hit him. His face lit up with a smile as he felt a new hope that he knew where Mai was. "The park!" he cried, and then taking off down the street in the direction of the park.
His friends were hot on his heels and Yuugi silently prayed that his cousin was okay, that she was just sitting on the swing waiting for him, smiling happily with a warm greeting. "Mai!" he called when he was in the park. He immediately ran to the swings, where they always played when they were kids. "Mai, I'm here! Answer me!"
Yuugi turned around…and screamed. He instantly began to cry and dropped to his knees, shaking.
"Yuugi, what's wrong?" he heard Jounouchi cry from a distance away.
But Yuugi didn't answer; he was too busy staring at what was ahead of him. He vaguely heard his friends' footsteps as they came up behind him.
Sitting on the swing, seemingly waiting for him, was a little paper doll with violet eyes.
"I was too late," Yuugi gasped out between broken sobs. Mai's paper doll stared back at him, even her crayon eyes seemed to hold that determined spark that usually lit Mai's eyes.
Malik gaped and shook his head, clinging onto Bakura's shirt sleeve. Jounouchi looked around the swing at the kicked up dirt and scuff marks on the blacktop. "There was a fight," he said.
Seto just licked his dry lips and shivered.
"Everyone must have been asleep then," Bakura said. "Someone would have gotten up to check it out if they heard anything."
Jou kneeled down beside his friend and put a comforting hand on Yuugi's shaking shoulder. "Everything will be okay, Yuugi. Do you have the number of Mai's college, so we can call them and say that she'll be gone for a little while longer?" Yuugi silently shook his head, his lips trembling.
Bakura sighed. "We can't keep this up much longer, you realize this don't you? Eventually our parents will talk to each other and people will get suspicious. I mean, eventually they're going to put us in orange coveralls if we lose any more friends. We're going to go to prison! Now, come on, lets stop talking and get out of here."
Bakura turned around and began to walk away, Malik following close behind him but they stopped when they realized they weren't being followed. Jounouchi shared a helpless look with Seto and then looked down at his little buddy who hadn't spoken or moved at all.
Jounouchi took the doll and gently handed it to Yuugi; the boy held onto it tightly as if it were a security blanket. "Do you think you can stand?" Jounouchi whispered softly to his friend; Yuugi shook his head. Jounouchi sighed and scooped Yuugi up in his arms. "It's a good thing you're a little guy," Jounouchi said jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood; Yuugi didn't laugh.
"I don't see how we can go to school and not stick together," Malik was saying to Bakura when Seto and Jounouchi came up to them.
Bakura sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Then we'll have to take the day off." Bakura shrugged. "Gosh, too bad."
Seto gave the white-haired man a look. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Bakura flashed a cheeky smile in response.
"We have to figure out where the base is," a voice spoke up softly from Jounouchi's arms. All of Yuugi's friends turned in surprise when Yuugi spoke. Yuugi blushed when all eyes were on him; he could have handled the situation better, without screaming and crying and bursting into hysterics. "So far I haven't been able to figure out any of the clues."
"Because Yami wants it that way," Malik reassured. "It's not your fault. He's not playing the Game straight. We got the first clue in plenty of time, but it was too hard. The second clue was easy, but he didn't give us enough time." Yuugi had explained to everyone his dream while they were searching for Mai, excluding the kiss, of course.
"I should have woken up sooner," Yuugi said in a low voice, sinking back into his hole of depression.
"Stop blaming yourself for everything, it's not your fault." Surprisingly, Seto was the one who said this.
The loud grumble of someone's stomach growling cut through the friendly moment. All eyes turned towards Jounouchi, who was blushing furiously.
Bakura snickered. "I guess we should probably get food before anything else."
Malik grinned widely. "I have a better idea, why don't we see Ishizu at the museum?"
"This early?" Jounouchi asked, shocked.
Malik rolled his eyes. "Not everyone sleeps like you do, Jou. Besides, she can probably give us breakfast."
"I'm in," Jounouchi said immediately.
"You're right, Malik," Bakura said. "We should go see Ishizu. Maybe she knows what we could do. She always seems to have an idea."
They all walked to the museum, Yuugi could walk on his own then. When they got to the museum, Yuugi would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit freaked out. The last time he had been in this place, it had been during the Game. Malik's nightmare still made him shudder when he thought of those men's deformed faces.
Malik led them down a hall that Yuugi was familiar with from the nightmare. Finally, the blond stopped in front of a door and knocked. On the front of this door was a tag that read: DIRECTOR.
Not a moment later, the door swung open and Ishizu's tall frame stood in the doorway. She looked surprised for a moment to see teenagers standing outside her door and then smiled when she saw her brother. "Malik, what are you doing here?" she asked. "Come in, all of you." She took a step back to clear the doorway to allow everyone to come in.
"Good morning," Malik said to his sister. "Is it okay if we get some breakfast?"
Ishizu laughed lightly. "It's funny you mention breakfast. I just went out to get donuts for everyone but I think that some of the workers here can go without the sweets. Help yourselves," Ishizu said kindly, gesturing to the box of donuts on her desk.
Jounouchi immediately attacked the donuts; Seto had to pull him back so the rest of the group could have some. After everyone had had their fill and Ishizu poured herself a cup of coffee, Malik spoke up. "Actually, sister, that isn't the real reason we came here."
Ishizu raised a delicate eyebrow. "Malik, have you been telling lies?"
Bakura snorted out a laugh. "Yep, our whole life these past few days has been a tissue of fibs."
Ishizu threw Bakura a look and the boy returned it back full-force. Ishizu sighed and turned away, looking at her brother. "Now, tell me."
And it all spilled out. They told her everything, from the original Game with the paper doll house, Ryou's death, Yuugi's promise to Yami, Soren, the new Game Yami told Yuugi, and then their three friends disappearing.
All throughout the tale, Ishizu did not react in any way, just sat and listened patiently. When they finished, she sat there for a moment and drank her coffee. Yuugi had expected Ishizu to think them insane, call the police, freak out, laugh, even say something as trivial as disobeying their parents. But she didn't do any of those things.
After several minutes of sitting in silence, she said, "I had a dream the other night about a Hausa story my mother used to tell me. It's been a long time since I've thought of this story. Maybe I meant to tell it to you."
"You mean, for us?" Yuugi asked.
Ishizu nodded her head and continued. "The story is about a boy and a girl who fall in love. But one day, as they were sitting on their mat together, Iblis came along and cut off the boy's head and killed him."
"Sounds like a happy story," Seto mumbled under his breath, Jounouchi elbowed his side.
"Who's Iblis?" Yuugi asked.
"Iblis," Ishizu began, "is the prince of darkness, the prince of the aljunnu—"
"Genies," Malik translated simply.
Ishizu nodded her head. "Yes, now where was I?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else; she put a finger to her chin in thought.
"Something about chopping the boy's head off?" Bakura said helpfully.
Ishizu snapped her fingers. "Oh, yes! Anyway, Iblis killed the boy and the girl could do nothing but sit on the mat and cry. After a while, the boy's parents came and they cried as well. Then Iblis came back, he waved his hand and in front of the boy appeared a river of fire, water, and cobras. He said to the boy's mother, "If you want your son back, all you have to do is swim through the three rivers to get him."
"Yeah, right," Jounouchi mumbled under his breath, this time, it was Seto's turn to elbow the blond in his side.
"But," Ishizu continued, "the boy's mother was afraid. She turned to her husband but he was also afraid. Then the girl jumped up and said that she would do it; naturally, she was afraid but her love for the boy was stronger than her fear. She jumped in the river of fire and it burned her. She jumped in the river of water and it choked her. She jumped into the river of snakes and they struck her, but the girl managed to stumble through them and the next thing she knew she had reached the boy. As soon as she touched the boy, his head flew back on his shoulders and jumped up, alive and well; Iblis disappeared. I assume the two got married but my mother never told me." Ishizu shrugged and resumed drinking her coffee.
"That's a lovely story but how does that relate to us?" Bakura asked.
Ishizu shrugged. "I don't know, it could have no meaning to you at all. The point is, now you've heard it."
Bakura scowled. "Thank you, oh wise one."
Ishizu smiled around the rim of her coffee cup. "My pleasure."
"Maybe it just means love is stronger than fear," Yuugi said softly.
"But what if you're love is fear?" Malik suggested, looking at Yuugi. The shorter boy flinched and looked down at his feet.
"Maybe it means that you can't trust your parents," Jounouchi tried, this startled a laugh out of Ishizu.
"I think I like Yuugi's interpretation better. But as I said, there could be no meaning. Or possibly it's just a story about the powers of good and evil?"
"Do you believe in good and evil?" Yuugi asked.
"Very much so, yes," Ishizu answered pleasantly. "And I also believe that it must be fought personally sometimes, if you care enough to do it, that is."
Bakura shrugged. "Well, you know what they say about kids our age. That we don't care about right or wrong or anything. That we don't even care about the future."
Yuugi shook his head. "No, that's not true. We do care, or else we wouldn't be doing all of this. You care, Bakura, more than anybody else. You pretend you don't, but you do. That is why Ryou loves—" Yuugi cut himself off and looked back down at his feet; he felt himself choking up again. "We're going to find Ryou," Yuugi said reassuringly, though he didn't know who he was reassuring, Bakura or himself.
"I know," Bakura said stiffly, looking away.
"I wish that I could help…" Ishizu said sadly.
"It's our fight anyway," Yuugi said. "He won't let anyone else into the Game. He said only the original players."
Ishizu looked directly at Yuugi; her eyes were very gentle and almost sad. "I think if anyone can find your friends, it will be you, Yuugi."
Yuugi gulped. "I'll try." When the woman turned away to talk to her brother, Yuugi mumbled under his breath, "But at what cost?"
After their visit with Ishizu, the group of friends went back to Yuugi's apartment. It was starting to look like the aftermath of a long party. The furniture was pushed up against the very far walls to make room for the sleeping bags and mattresses. The couch was a nest of rumpled blanket. Empty energy drink cans were strewn across the room along with books, clothes, and stacks of dirty dishes.
If Yuugi's grandpa were to come home now, he might just die of a heart attack.
Jounouchi came into the room with an armful of energy drinks and began to pass them out to everyone. "Okay, what about the base?" he asked, plopping down on the couch next to Seto and handing the man a drink.
"Good boy," Seto said, patting Jounouchi's head.
Jounouchi's left eye twitched. "I'm not a dog, you jerk!"
"Focus!" Bakura snapped.
"We don't have enough information," Yuugi cut in before things could get ugly. It would be difficult without Mai here to keep everyone from killing each other. "He hasn't told me enough." Yuugi began to fiddle with his ring and chided himself for doing that again. "I've been thinking of abandoned buildings or things that Yami could use to hold them, somewhere around this area. But that doesn't seem right," Yuugi said as an afterthought.
"In mysteries things are always hidden in the least likely place, or the obvious," Malik said thoughtfully, opening the can of pure caffeine and taking a long drink from it. "You know, because that is the last place that you look. Could it be the paper house?"
Yuugi shook his head. "It was trashed, I don't think anyone could fit in there anymore. And there is no way to get in on our own, Yami helped us the last time, remember?"
'Okay, that was a stupid question to ask, of course they remember,' Yuugi thought to himself.
Yuugi just knew that the base wasn't in the paper house. Yuugi also knew that Yami wouldn't find the Game amusing unless there was a chance of them finding the base. He would put it someplace they could get to…if they were smart enough to look there.
"I guess the game store you met Yami in is too obvious?" Seto asked, looking at his drink distastefully.
"Too obvious and gone," Yuugi said. "It's just a mural now." Yuugi shook his head. "Yami would put it someplace clever."
"Do you have an idea, Jounouchi?" Bakura asked, leaning his elbows on his knees. "If you think you know something…"
Jounouchi shook his head. "No," he said and quickly took a long gulp of his drink to signal he was done talking about it.
"Let's go back to the beginning," Malik said.
Like that helped any. They talked uselessly about what happened that morning and the story that Ishizu told them until Jounouchi groaned and leaned back on the couch. He had just finished his third energy drink. "I'm starving," he whined.
"What else is new?" Seto asked, rolling his eyes.
"I'm getting hungry too," Bakura said, rubbing his stomach; Malik nodded in agreement.
Yuugi shrugged. "I guess we could you something to eat. We haven't gotten a clue yet so it should be safe to go out. Seto, go with Jou to get some food."
Seto got to his feet and crossed his arms. "Fine, come on, mutt."
Jounouchi's face turned red from rage. "I told you, I'm not a dog!" he yelled before he and Seto stomped down the stairs and left.
Malik, Bakura, and Yuugi just sat in silence for a few minutes after they had left. Yuugi stared aimlessly out the window. They were stuck, no closer to figuring out where the base was than they been two days ago. And they were all exhausted. Yuugi's eyelids felt like lead and the afternoon sun was so warm on his face. It wouldn't hurt he closed his eyes for a minute…
Suddenly, all the light went dark.
Yuugi snapped his eyes open. There was a mist coating the window, preventing him from seeing out. Yuugi just stared at it, his pulse quickening. It wasn't a mist, Yuugi realized. It was ice.
Touched by the Frost King, Yuugi's mother used to say when the windows iced up like that in the winter. Yuugi remembered he used to love to trace things with his finger in the frost.
Something was appearing on the window as if traced by an unseen finger. A letter.
L.
Yuugi couldn't breath. His mouth was dry. He turned to see if Malik and Bakura could see this but they were no longer sitting on the couch; he heard their voices drift from the kitchen.
It continued.
L. I. T. T. L. E…
The letters appeared slowly on the icy window.
J. A. C. K. H. O. R. N. E. R. S. A. T. I. N. T. H. E. C. O. R. N. E. R…
Yuugi watched, dumbfounded and in slight awe. He couldn't seem to make himself to move. It was so strange to be sitting there on a nice sunny day and watch something that just couldn't happen.
E. A. T. I. N. G. H. I. S. C. H. R. I. S. T. M. A. S. P. I. E…
Yuugi had a terrifying thought for a moment that it was him. He was Jack Horner. It only made sense, he was all alone and the clue was being delivered to him personally. Yuugi shook his head. 'No, it's impossible,' he thought, to reassure himself, but his heart still beat wildly.
H. E. P. U. T. I. N. H. I. S. T. H. U. M. B. A. N. D. P. U. L. L. E. D. O. U. T. A. P. L. U. M. B…
Yuugi waited anxiously on the edge of his seat, he recognized the rhyme; why couldn't he think of the end of it?
A. N. D. S. A. I. D. W. H. A. T. A. G. O. O. D. B. O. Y. A. M. I.
Yuugi frowned when the rhyme ended and the last four letters was like Yami's signature. It wasn't about Yuugi, so who was it talking about.
It suddenly hit Yuugi like a ton of bricks. He stumbled to his feet; he couldn't breathe. He backed as far away from the window as he could. "Marik! Bakura!" Yuugi cried. "Come here!"
Good boy, Seto called Jounouchi a "good boy."
"Good boy," Seto said, patting Jounouchi's head.
Jounouchi's left eye twitched. "I'm not a dog, you jerk!"
-/-
Ranko: I like this chapter! I hope you guys liked it too!
Yami: Oh no, Jounouchi is going to get it.
Yuugi: Do you guys want to play a game?
Yami: Shouldn't that be my line?
Ranko: Leave in your review where you think Yami's base is and amuse me!
Yuugi: So click that beautiful button down below and leave a review for us!
Yami: And don't forget to read and review "When Life Gives You Lemons!"