Chapter Twenty Four – A Matter of Memory

Sunlight filtered down through leaves that rustled softly in a gentle breeze. The dappling shadows danced playfully across two supine forms on a grass-covered hillock. Yami stirred, opened his eyes, and sat up. The confusion in his gaze morphed into concern as he spied Yugi next to him. Before he could reach out and touch Yugi on the shoulder, Yugi's eyes opened, revealing his confusion. In silence, each trying to gather his memory, they rose to their feet, and that is when they realized they weren't entirely alone.

"Mahaad, what's going on? Why did we...?" Yami spread his hands in a gesture to indicate his non-comprehension of the events he'd just experienced.

The spellcaster's lips turned up in a satisfied, secret smile. "It seems a touch of forgetfulness attached itself to my spell. Forgive me that in order to ensure your cooperation during Yugi's adventure, you had to be caused to forget yourself."

"Is that really what happened?" Yugi turned a troubled gaze up at the Dark Magician. "Yami was still Yami, just not..."

"Perhaps I misstated. Minds were made forgetful, but hearts were not. Everyone still behaved according to his own heart. He just didn't know why."

Yugi nodded, accepting that explanation.

"But, the forgetfulness I speak of is not the one of the adventure. Even now, each of you has forgotten important events. There was a reason I felt compelled to create that adventure for you, Yugi." With that cryptic remark, Mahaad disappeared.

"That has not ceased to be annoying in the extreme," Yami noted, staring pensively in the space Mahaad had magically vacated. Yugi didn't respond. He'd forgotten something? Yami had, too? That concerned him, despite Mahaad's casual attitude toward it. Yugi relied on his memory, he couldn't start doubting it. What could he have forgotten? He knew he would have no peace until he recalled it. It was as if the bottom dropped out of his world and he was falling...

Come to think of it, he'd fallen into Mahaad's adventure in the first place – then fallen out of it once he'd solved it. Had the adventure been crafted that way on purpose? Why would Mahaad have gone through all that trouble? Mahaad, in Yugi's experience, was not frivolous. There had to have been a reason.

Think, Motou! Think! Falling. He'd been falling. And not just a minor trip over a curb or down the stairs, this was a fall that... A fall that would have broken him. But, why did the sense of an endless fall pass across his mind?

"A – building," Yami stated slowly. "A building – fell – on you." Yugi had never seen such a solemn sorrow in his partner's eyes. He reached out to comfort Yami, and reeled at the flood of memories flooding his mind as he touched Yami's arm. Yugi had taken the shortcut Joey suggested, and that Yami deemed safe despite the warnings posted around the condemned building looming over the path. The building had fallen on him, pain had battered him, and then he had fallen. But, if a building had smashed him, how could he fall any further? He closed his eyes, willing his mind to go back and recover the memory. He swayed as he re-experienced it, instead.

Falling...

...falling...

His fall stopped. There was no pain. Memory of pain, yes; but actual pain, of that, no trace. Arms wrapped around him, holding him tight, pulling him deep against a strong chest and a steady, but rapid, heartbeat. The arms held him tight, crushingly tight, but against the anticipation of crushing pain, this crushing sensation was a welcome relief.

"Yugi!" The syllables of his name rumbled through the heartbeat holding him so close. Yugi's heartbeat, still held so tight against the other one, meshed and aligned. Only one heart could sync so closely with his. And, there was only one place it could happen.

"Y–Yami? What – happened?"

"Yugi! I thought I lost you! I'm so sorry, so very sorry!"

Yugi struggled to catch his breath against the too-tight grip of his partner's embrace. "Yami, you're crushing me!"

"Better me than that building," Yami said, nevertheless easing his hold around Yugi's chest. Yugi managed to pull a full breath into his lungs.

"So, that was real?"

"As real as only real can be," Yami replied. "Yugi, I'm sorry. If I hadn't said that shortcut was okay..."

Yugi brushed Yami's apology aside. "No harm done. Why are we here?" He recognized this shadowed corridor – the one that joined his soul room to Yami's – the mystical 'place' his mind created whenever he turned his consciousness toward the link he shared with his partner through the Millennium Puzzle.

"You..." Yami seemed unable to meet Yugi's gaze with his characteristic candor. "You were hurt in that building collapse. Not fatally, thank the gods, but still, seriously hurt. It... It's my fault. I won't..." Yami looked Yugi full in the face and Yugi read Yami's determination there. "I won't allow you to feel the pain of my mistake. I pulled you here, so you won't feel it. Until your body heals, I will bear its pain."

"Yami..." Yugi began.

"NO! Yugi, this isn't something I will discuss with you. My mind is made up!"

Yugi's temper flared and he stepped out of Yami's half-embrace. "So you will make all the decisions for me? Who died and made you king?"

Coldness settled in Yami's eyes and a painful precision highlighted his words. "This decision of mine is abrupt. And you were hurt. Despite my best efforts, some of the pain touched you before I could intervene, so I will forgive that. But, there will be no discussion about this. Until you are well..."

"You will hold me hostage, here?" Yugi demanded. "You will hijack my own body from me?!"

"It is the only way to protect you..."

"I never asked for that protection!" Yugi balled his fists in frustration. They could share the pain until he was healed. Better that than to let Yami accept it all. "Yami, please..."

"Yugi." Yami's expression softened as he looked down at his soul-partner, and warmth flooded his gaze again. "This is the only way. It's only for a few days until the medicine can take enough of the edge off for you to bear it."

"Yuge!"

"Joey!" Yugi exclaimed. "Yami, let me...!"

"No, Yugi. Just... No. I will take care of this." Yami crowded Yugi, grasping his elbow in a nearly painful hold, and herding him toward the door to Yugi's brightly-lit soul-room. "This is the only way. I will return as soon as I can.

"Motou, you look like hell."

"Seto?!" Yugi gasped. His surprise was deep enough that Yami finished shoving him into his soul-room and closed the door. Yugi sensed a lock sliding into place, even though there was no lock on his door. The knob refused to turn under his hand.

"Joey, Kaiba, what are you doing here?"

Yugi winced at the patently false high tones of the voice. Yami was pretending to be him? But, his friends knew about the pharaoh within Yugi, now. Surely Joey would see through...

"Yuge, Moneypants is right – you look like hell. If you're gonna wrestle buildings..."

"Yeah, Call you for back-up, right? Tristan already offered." A harsh, rasping cough sounded. It hurt Yugi just to hear it. On the other side of the door, he could almost feel a wave of agony washing through the shared corridor. There was no way he was going to permit Yami to take all that pain on himself. He could shoulder his part of it, he knew it. Didn't Yami know by now Yugi was stronger than he looked?

"Dammit, Yami! Let me out!" Yugi banged on the door with both fists, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"You all right, Yugi? You kinda zoned out for a minute there. Should I get the nurse?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just..."

The sense of being 'locked in' intensified. The voices of his friends faded. Yugi knew Yami had thoroughly exiled him from the outside world – and his own body

"Dammit."

He glanced sourly at his soul-room, his special place of retreat abruptly turned into his prison. "Stupid, high-handed, arrogant pharaoh!"

Yugi scowled at the games strewn on the floor, the light-hearted diversions of his mind. He knew that Yami was not intending to punish him, but being summarily shoved into his soul room and locked in sure made him feel like an errant child being put into 'time out'. He flopped onto his bed.

The memory-stream stopped as Yami stepped away from Yugi, breaking the connection.

"I didn't mean to... Yugi, I... I had no right..."

"You're right. You didn't," Yugi agreed flatly.

"But, I... It was my fault!" Yami exclaimed. "If I hadn't told you it was safe..."

"Yami, after having just gone through that adventure of Mahaad's, you know in your heart... You know it's not your fault. It was my choice to follow your advice, and Joey's suggestion. No one else's. There isn't any 'fault' to be assigned. Certainly not any to be assumed."

Yami didn't answer in words, but his eyes appeared a bit less troubled. Yugi went on.

"I think... That's what Mahaad wanted me to discover during the adventure. My life is mine to live – I need to make the choices, even if I make the wrong ones sometimes. There's no guilt for you to take, Yami, because it's mine. I decided to use the shortcut. I am the one who got myself hurt. The blame for what happened is on me."

Yami looked at Yugi. It's true he did sometimes try to wrap Yugi in cotton wool and save him from every bad thing in the world – even the ones that had nothing to do with the Shadow Games, the Millennium Items, or his presence in Yugi's soul. He had been interfering in the young man's life... Yes. Yugi wasn't a child, he was a young man. He knew it, in his heart of hearts, even though his first instinct, even now, was to protect Yugi from everything. He'd have to keep alert, now that he was aware his instinct for protectiveness had crossed the border into stifling.

"I promised once to never go against your will. I didn't intend to, in my attempt to protect you from pain. You know I wouldn't have done anything, while in control, but remain in the hospital..."

"Suffering all the pain – my pain – all by yourself," Yugi finished. "I wouldn't – don't – will that on you, Yami," Yugi finished softly.

"How did Mahaad become involved?" Yami groused.

Knowing that Yami was experiencing the replay of memories along with him, Yugi smiled and leaned against his 'other self' again.

"Dammit!" Yugi flopped on his bed, and wondered if he could 'lock' his door from the inside, to keep Yami out – that is, when Yami deigned to return to let him out. Something poked his back when he rolled over. Reaching a hand down blindly, he pulled out the Dark Magician plushie that Mana had made for him. Even the sight of his favorite duel monster in cute, miniature form couldn't cheer him up. The smirk on the Magician's tiny face irritated him. He hurled it as far as he could from the bed.

"What troubles you that my avatar be exiled from your presence so abruptly, young one?" Mahaad materialized, deftly caught the plush toy, and stepped toward Yugi.

"Don't call me that!" Yugi lashed out. "I'm not some child to be humored out of a tantrum!" He jumped up from the bed and glared up into the face of the real Dark Magician.

"True. You are no child, my master," Mahaad finally replied. He inclined his head respectfully.

Yugi's anger deflated. "Don't call me that, either. Actually," A hint of a shy smile crossed Yugi's face. "I like it when you call me 'young one'. I'm not your master, so don't call me that."

"As you wish," Mahaad nodded. Yugi glanced with sharp suspicion at him, blatantly wondering if Mahaad had disobediently added a 'my master' silently. He sort of got that sense from his favorite shadow monster. Mahaad's neutral, yet helpful, expression gave nothing away as he continued. "Now, tell me what has happened. You are upset as I have never witnessed before, and I sense a strong spirit-lock on the door. What has my pharaoh been troubling you with?"

Yugi's eyes blazed in indignation. "Yami...!"

"...is an idiot," Mahaad finished for him. "Yes, I am well aware of that. What has his idiocy wrought that you are brought to such a state, my... Yugi?"

"That is my cue to supply my part," Mahaad murmured as he suddenly appeared in front of Yami and Yugi. He smiled as Yami started in surprise, but Yugi didn't. The adventure had benefits for him, too, if Yugi were less surprised by his actions that Yami was. It detracted nothing from the inner strength of either young man that he was friends with both. It did not escape Mahaad's notice that Yami, even though he'd been startled, had moved closer to Yugi, instinctively angling his body to protect his partner from the direction of the 'threat'.

"'Idiot', huh?" Yami glared at Mahaad before breaking into a smile. He eased back a little from his defensive position. "I guess it's better than some of the things you used to call me years ago."

"I suppose, after so many years, even you must have matured, if only a little," Mahaad agreed.

"Will you two knock it off until we undo this memory mess?" Yugi demanded.

Mahaad's twinkling gaze and Yami's sparkling stare suddenly dazzled Yugi. Without any apparent exchange or communication of any sort, in unison, they said, "Of course, my master!" Yami even embellished it with a bow.

Yugi rolled his eyes. Mahaad placed his hand on Yugi's shoulder, knowing that by leaning toward Yami enough to touch him, Yugi would complete the mystic circuit and share the memories.

Mahaad considered the angry young man before him. His magical senses had alerted him to the alarming changes in the door to the soul-room, and Yugi's disquiet when he touched the Dark Magician plush toy had summoned him more certainly than a shout could have. He watched, and listened carefully, not interrupting as Yugi explained. Yugi, in his experience, was a remarkably level-headed person, whose emotional equilibrium made him the best able to 'house' Yami's more volatile spirit. The balance of their partnership was a critical, but delicate, matter. Mahaad feared that Yami had pushed Yugi too far to maintain that partnership – though he knew his friend well enough to understand why he did. And, Mahaad did genuinely respect and care about Yugi, too. Notwithstanding his ancient oaths to Yami, Mahaad would willingly serve one such as Yugi for the strength the young man carried, evidently unknowingly, in his own heart. And, revealing that hidden strength was the possible path to lead them all from the brink of disaster.

"I must apologize, Yugi. I am, or was, a spirit sorcerer; the lock Yami placed upon your door is one I taught him to use," Mahaad began.

"Oh, that's not your fault," Yugi said. Mahaad was relieved to see Yugi's usual good-natured attitude return. "Like you said, Yami's the idiot. I just..." Yugi looked around his room. "I don't want to be locked in. Can you open the door?" Yugi looked up at Mahaad.

Mahaad extended him magical sense toward the door. "I could, but not without hurting Yami. He respects you enough to have used a considerable amount of his will forming the spirit-lock. As well he should," Mahaad hastened to add. "Your will is strong – an equal to his. But, a will battle between you will harm both of you. I would advise against it. Especially as your body is weakened. Peace and quiet are what you need to recover from the physical ordeal."

"But...!"

"The lock is not designed to lock you in quite so much as to prevent you from entering Yami's soul room, or the corridor and taking control of your body. It is misguided, but my pharaoh does seek merely to protect you and not punish you."

"I'm not a little kid who needs protection!" Yugi exclaimed.

"No, you are not a little kid. But, each of us needs protection at some time or another, do we not? For all my power I need protection from time to time. You know that Yami relies upon you to protect him..."

"Does he?" Yugi asked bitterly. "It doesn't seem like it!"

"Yugi, have you considered that Yami acts as he does because he feels guilty that you were hurt? From what you said, he urged you to use the shortcut Joey told you about against your better judgement.," Mahaad asked.

"He shouldn't feel guilty. I was in control, and he's never – until today that is – taken control from me before without damn good cause, like a battle in the Shadow Realm. The choice to use the shortcut was mine. If I had gone the long way around he might have teased me about it, but he would have understood," Yugi replied.

"I didn't say he was right to feel guilty, just that he might. Such extreme measures as he has taken would indicate that, I think."

"He shouldn't feel guilty..." Yugi repeated weakly.

"I have not been locked away." Mahaad winked. "If you grant me permission, as you are my duelist, I can ascertain what is happening..."

"Yes! Can you?" Yugi grinned. "Please, it's making me crazy to not know what happened to me, and what is going on, now. I know that Joey and Seto are there, but, Yami locked me out of the conversation. Can you find out what is going on?"

For his answer, Mahaad nodded his head, smiled reassuringly, and faded from Yugi's soul room.

"I watched as you pretended to be Yugi, my pharaoh." Mahaad smiled. "Pretended badly. I realized that your overly-protective attitude was creating considerable friction between you. It seemed reasonable for me to do what I could to bring both of you into better accord with each other. I hope that each of you learned that Yugi is fully able to take care of himself, even in difficult and strange situations. And, Yugi, Yami was merely trying to protect you. You were not upset when the Lord of Shadows protected you in the adventure – or were you?"

"No, but, it really hurt when he sacrificed his life to help me. I – I'm scared that Yami might do that, for real, someday. I'd never forgive myself if..."

"Exactly. Since the adventure took place in the Magic Box, the danger was completely controlled and any ill-effects easily undone. What happens out there," Mahaad's encompassing gesture indicated the rest of the world. "that is forever. It would be wise for both of you to remember that. What would be even wiser is for both of you to talk with one another more clearly when difficult situations arise. My pharaoh, you are not Yugi's pharaoh. You are not responsible for him as you were for all the people of Egypt. He has the right..."

"He has the right to his own life. I understand, Mahaad. Yugi, my impulse is to protect you. I don't think I'm strong enough to stop that. But, I will make certain we talk about things better, and I will listen to you, instead of making decisions for you. Will that be sufficient?" Yami asked.

Yugi nodded. "Of course. I – it's not bad that you want to protect me, Yami, it's just I'm not a kid, and I am..."

"You are strong. Since you are very low-key about it, even I sometimes forget that." Yami grinned. "You don't mind if I want to help with the pain while your body heals, I hope."

"No, not as long as you don't try to take it all on yourself," Yugi replied.

"Partners?" Yami ventured.

Yugi smiled. "Always."

"Well, then. That is all I was after," Mahaad stated. "Of course, both of you are so thick-headed we couldn't just sit down and talk it out. The remedy had to be more drastic. No, I had to go and create an elaborate adventure..."

"It was a cool adventure," Yugi admitted. Yami just glared. "Come on, Yami. Admit it – you liked being the 'Lord of Blood and Shadows'."

"Harumph!"

Yugi turned to Mahaad. "He did, you know."

Mahaad nodded gravely, knowing that Yugi was perceptive enough to read the sparkle in his eyes. "To that end, both of you should know that the entire adventure took place here in the Magic Box. All of your duel monsters enjoyed helping with this adventure."

"Vialla, Celedor, Everon, Ashelocke – I realize it now!"

"But, Red-Eyes Black Dragon is in Joey's deck right now. And there's no Blue-Eyes in Yugi's deck," Yami realized.

"Daire, Joey's Red-Eyes, is a creature welcome in the Magic Box, since he spends time in Yugi's deck. Blue-Eyes..." A spasm that might have been pain crossed Mahaad's face. "Tekhenu, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon of your adventure, in part was based upon my memories of a dear, long-gone friend."

"That's right. Grandpa's deck did have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card. But, Mahaad, that means the Magic Box... It's been around longer than I thought – if Grandpa's Blue-Eyes lived here, once," Yugi realized softly.

"You are correct. I crafted the Magic Box shortly after I first became aware as the Dark Magician. Very long ago the permanent population was not as great. Recently, it has become the home for the Duel Monsters who dwell in your deck, Yugi. They seem to be drawn here ever since the game was re-created in its new form in modern times."

Yami's face assumed a crafty look. "'Fess up, Mahaad. Which role was yours?"

Mahaad smiled to have been caught out by his friend. "I was close to hand throughout your adventure, Yugi. I promised once that nothing would ever harm you in the Magic Box, but the adventure, in order to seem real, had to contain elements of real danger."

"But, I never saw..." Yugi looked up, as his intuition brought him a startling thought. "You – you weren't yourself, were you? None of yourselves were. You as the Dark Sage were the merman Water Sage," Mahaad smiled and nodded. "You were also Dark Magician's Knight as Yami's Purple Knight, and the Magician of Black Chaos as the giant final boss dragon-scary-weird-guy-villain-thing... and you..."

Yami watched, his gaze shifting almost comically from Yugi's face to Mahaad's during the whole exchange. "Wait a minute! So, when it was necessary to sacrifice the Purple Knight to free and awaken Curse of Dragon and the Shadow Sword – that was you? Not just the Dark Magician Knight, but actually you, Mahaad?"

Mahaad nodded. "Each time Yugi, or you, interacted with the Water Sage, the Purple Knight, or the Lord Dragon of Chaos – it was actually me. I had to make certain the adventure unfolded properly."

Yami fixed an unreadable gaze on his friend's face as he delved into his memories of himself as 'Lord Yami'. "In the adventure, in the personal history of the Lord of Shadows – his friend sacrificed himself to save his life and help him gain his power. After that, his friend had a different form. Mahaad... It's easy to see you were alluding to what has happened in our own pasts. Why?"

"In this world we now inhabit, some things are difficult to state outright. In the adventure, in the guise of a Guardian Knight, I found it easier to openly say to you what lives in my heart," Mahaad replied simply. "And the guilt you, as the Lord of Shadows, saw fit to take upon yourself, I have often wondered if you feel some level of guilt now for what happened to me."

"I... I regret..."

"Don't," Mahaad said simply. "While there was not some mystical sage telling me the manner of my death, I became the Dark Magician willingly, with open eyes, and full awareness of the consequences."

Yami looked away, but his attitude showed he wanted to argue.

"What am I going to do with him, Mahaad?" Yugi suddenly asked. "If this idiocy of his, assuming blame for things that aren't his fault, is as long-standing as that..." Yugi winked up at Mahaad.

"I don't know, young one." Mahaad contrived to look sorrowful as he shook his head. "I have surely tried. But, I am certain, if anyone can solve this puzzle of why he believes everything is his fault – it is you, Yugi."

"I don't know, Mahaad..." Yugi looked down toward the ground as if filled with regrets.

"Oh, knock if off, you two," Yami growled.

Yugi smiled that he and Mahaad managed to tease Yami out of his somber mood. There was still a lot of learning both he and Yami had to do to avoid serious misunderstandings leading to bad situations in the future, but it was a start. There was something oddly familiar about how 'right' this feeling was, and how he felt almost as if he'd earned someone's regard, or made someone proud by feeling this way. Unnoticed, his hand crept up to where the Millennium Puzzle usually rested against his chest. Though he was aware the Puzzle wasn't there, it felt more weird than that, as if something else was absent. Suddenly, it fell into place for him.

"You – you – as the Dark Magician – were the Hero's Heartstone, weren't you?!" Yugi suddenly exclaimed.

Mahaad smiled down at him. "Of course. What better way to protect you from the necessary dangers of the adventure than to be with you, unrecognized, the entire time? As I assumed a completely inert form, I'm shocked you managed to figure it out, Yugi." Mahaad cupped his chin. "You took me by surprise when you attacked me as 'the Dread Lord of Blackness and Chaos' for not fighting you. It was a miscalculation on my part to not understand that you would do that if pushed too far, and a miscalculation to have actually pushed you that far. The Chaos Scepter Attack response was purely instinctive. It took a great deal of effort to not only focus and launch that mistaken attack as the Magician of Black Chaos, but then blunt and absorb it as the Dark Magician so that it wouldn't harm you. I'll know better next time."

"Next time?!" Yami exploded.

"Master! Our guests have woken up!" Mana's voice called brightly from the other side of the clearing.

"Thank you, Mana," Mahaad acknowledged.

"Guests?" Yugi echoed.

"There were others who helped you in your adventures, 'Hero'," Mahaad said.

"You brought them here? How?" Yami demanded.

"Yugi was irked enough at you, my pharaoh, that he gave me considerable power. Perhaps he didn't realize it at the time, but I had to tap into the power of the Millennium Puzzle through him in order to eavesdrop on you in the hospital. I used that connection to bring all of your spirits here to the Magic Box. Not to worry. No one will notice the brief nap that Yugi, Joey, and Seto are taking in the hospital room while your spirits are here in the Magic Box."

Yami sputtered and looked up at Mahaad with an indescribable expression on his face. Yugi thought he might be trying to glare at the Dark Magician, but his shock ruined the effect. "Come on, 'Lord of Shadows'." Yugi teased. "I'm sure Joey is taking all this in stride, but Seto might be even more poleaxed than you."

– – – – –
Author's notes

Some of the mystery is clearing up, but there's a bit more to go.

Next chapter teaser – A Matter of Marvels