Ch. 3 Lost in a Soul
Morning sun peeked through the Jounouchi room's window, warming up his face almost annoyingly. Jou frowned in his sleep and turned away from the tender sunshine. His alarm hadn't started to blare yet, so that meant he could sleep longer. He snuggled further into his blanket and sighed contently, realizing all his limbs were finally stress free and relaxed, although he couldn't remember why he was stressed in the first place. Oh well, thought Jounouchi and slowly sunk back into his peaceful dream.
Jounouchi got exactly two minutes of blissful sleep before he was startled awake by loud beeping. He jumped up from his bed and scrambled to shut the damn alarm off just to realize that the beeping wasn't coming from the clock. In fact, the beeping was way louder and more obnoxious, almost like a siren. If he had to guess, he'd say it was coming from a fire alarm…
Once the thought fully registered, Jounouchi dashed out of his room in a mad manner. Fire alarms went off in the beat apartment building on a regular basis, since a good portion of residents fancied smoking inside. That meant most of the times there wasn't any fire, but Jou never wanted to risk it.
Already by the exit Jou paused in the middle of pulling on shoes. Was it just him or the fire alarm sounded way closer than usual? Actually, it sounded so close as if it was coming from his own kitchen.
Anger quickly overtook Jounouchi; he kicked off his shoes and furiously stomped over to the kitchen.
"Dad, how many times have I told ya' to leave the cookin' to me…" Jou's shout died down after he failed to see his father, drunk and making a huge mess. Instead there was a certain pharaoh, staring dumbfounded at the kettle emitting thick black smoke.
"FUCK!" Jou yelled and lunged at the cooking stove, turning off the gas and grabbing the burning kettle. It was hot, so hot Jou could feel the skin of his palm melting, but he managed to throw the kettle into the sink without dropping it anywhere else. After turning on water Jou opened the window and fetched a stool to reach the fire alarm. Only when the smoke was almost gone and the alarm was quiet, Jounouchi sighed a breath of relief and plopped on the floor in the living room, still wearing pajamas.
Yami swept over the kitchen to assess the situation. Overall he hadn't done too much damage, if one didn't lift his eyes up enough to notice the pitch black ceiling, although the kettle was rendered unusable. He shouldn't have touched anything, actually, why did he even try to use these mysterious appliances? Yami deduced that he probably had never made anything for himself, as even observing Jounouchi making the simplest of drinks step by step wasn't informative enough for him. He carefully glanced at Jounouchi, who looked more exasperated than angry. Should he apologize? Yami inched closer to the living room, but stopped, biting his lip nervously; he just couldn't make himself voice the apology aloud.
"So," Jounouchi uncomfortably coughed, "what did ya' try to do in 'ere?"
Startled by a question that came sooner and less angry than Yami had expected, he too, coughed awkwardly, responding, "The herbal brew which you made for us yesterday."
"Ah… I see," Jou muttered, rubbing his face. "It's cool, not like it's the first time in this damn place, but from now on lemme handle the stove, ok?"
Yami nodded in agreement, relieved that Jounouchi wasn't too furious with him, after all, he had nowhere else to go. Tea or no tea, having a roof over his head seemed more important at the time.
~O~
After Jounouchi had cleaned up to the best of his effort (he didn't entrust any manual labor to Yami, who knows whether kings could scrub soot without ripping the whole place apart) he got a call from Yuugi, who sounded more or less functioning, inviting them over for lunch. Until lunch time, he explained, he had to do some homework to get his mother off his back; apparently she didn't take well the news of Yuugi getting detention. After a quick confirmation with Yami, Jounouchi promised Yuugi to meet him at the Kame game shop. Now all there was left to do was to kill time until they had to leave.
After ending the call with Yuugi, Jou looked behind expecting the already usual sight of the sulking pharaoh, but was surprised to see no one in the living room. Don't tell me he 'bout to cause another mess, mentally whined Jounouchi and moved to look for him.
To his relief, Yami was just standing in Jounouchi's room, absent-mindedly moving his fingers tracing the edges of some gold blocks, neatly lined up on the edge of the table. Jou walked closer to see what Yami had been looking at. Turned out Yami was staring at piles of trading cards covering a good portion of Jou's table and homework.
"Interested in Duel Monsters?" Jounouchi asked, smiling brightly. The game was Jou's newfound passion even though he was still a beginner and couldn't afford to buy the current meta decks.
"Duel Monsters? That is not what this game is called. It's not even a game," whispered Yami. His vision had blurred a while ago, giving way for long forgotten memories to resurface. Yami saw a black dragon with glowing red eyes, the same as on one of the cards, coming at him with a killing intent and then Yami blinked and the memory had slipped away.
"Huh? Whaddaya mean?" Questioned Jou.
"It's nothing," said Yami with a tired sigh, "teach me how to play this game."
"Sure!" Jounouchi beamed, finally they had a topic to talk about and it was about one of Jou's favorite things in the world and they got a fun way to kill time before lunch. Of course, Yami could've asked nicely instead of giving out orders, but Jou was going to let it slide this time. Jou snickered, king or no king, Yami was going to get his ass kicked.
"But… err… I won't end up like Ushio, will I?" Jounouchi nervously asked, suspiciously observing Yami, who grabbed a bunch of cards and sat on the floor. He didn't bother answering, instead all Jou got was a poorly hidden annoyed frown.
~O~
"I activate my Time Wizard's effect!" Shouted Jounouchi. Jou was beaming with excitement, even affecting Yami by draining out his foul mood. Morning disaster and fleeting memories long forgotten, Yami was enthusiastically flipping cards, getting fired up by Jou's animated way of playing.
"I activate Raigeki Break!" Yami gracefully flipped a card face up.
"Shit," Jou could only stare in amazement.
"I discard one card and destroy your Time Wizard."
"Looks like ya' have won again, I don't have any cards for defense," admitted Jou and scooped his cards into a pile. So far Yami had lost only the first game which had visibly ticked him off because the following matches were so one-sided Jou was beginning to suspect Yami had played Duel Monsters before.
"Ya' definitely should play against Yuug', he's almost like a pro," said Jou, "man, now I really want to see you guys duel it out."
Yami smiled and neatly stacked his deck, then Jounouchi's. As much as he appreciated the blond, he couldn't stand seeing cards thrown together so messily.
Yami looked closer at one particular card, Desert Sunlight. The picture on it depicted a clear blue sky, yellow sand and a part of some kind of stone structure with statues sitting in front. The longer Yami held the card, the more alive the picture seemed, almost radiating desert heat warming up his hand, as if there was a live spirit inside the card.
The magic was disrupted by Jou's swearing, "Shit! Lunch! I forgot! Move, move, move!" Jou jumped up and pulled Yami after him. Yami had time to only blink heavily once before Jou shoved everything off the table into a backpack, including deck boxes, cards, books and Yami's gold puzzle, and the backpack was pushed into his arms. He raised an eyebrow questioningly to which Jou only waved his hand dismissively and dragged Yami to the front door.
Jounouchi slowed down only when they were outside. The backpack somehow ended up in his arms again to which Jou could only sigh in defeat, of course the royalty beside him wouldn't carry anything, what did he expect from the delicate pharaoh, except, ya' know, the oh so delicate king over here has driven a man insane the other night, thought Jou.
"I hope Yuug's mom won't be too angry. She hates when people are late to her meals," muttered Jou.
~O~
Yuugi had just finished setting the table when the doorbell rang. Yuugi frantically looked over the dishes and decided that he was satisfied with how everything turned out. He made sure to prepare more food that could be eaten without using any utensils and made sure to use more spices. He would've driven himself mad with shame and regrets if he hadn't anything edible for the pharaoh.
Yuugi sped down the corridor stopping only for a second to look at his reflection in the mirror. Hair brushed neatly into messy spikes, check; leather collar and cuffs, check; casual tee and jeans, check; a myriad of bruises covering his face, check. Yuugi cringed at himself and turned to open the door.
"'Ey, Yuug'. Hope we're not late," Jounouchi said, grinning. Even if he felt iffy about Yuugi's mother, free food was free food.
None of Jou's words had reached Yuugi. He shut down mentally after seeing the pharaoh. The man stood with a straight back, head turned slightly to the side, hands shoved into pockets in a leisurely manner. Yuugi's eyes trailed down following the man's legs and then up, realizing that the dark blue leather jacket, thrown lazily over the pharaoh's shoulders like a cape, actually belonged to Jou and was slightly too big, which only furthered the illusion that the pharaoh wore his usual royal mantle.
The pharaoh finally turned his intense wine purple gaze at Yuugi who, in turn, blushed a deep red to match the color of the man's hair tips. Yuugi couldn't tear his eyes away and fidgeted under those sharp eyes which, he realized, missed the black kohl lining. It was probably washed off and, of course, the manly man Jou didn't have a single cosmetics item. Yuugi made a mental note to gather all his spare cosmetics for the pharaoh. Yuugi's mom would've been mortified if she knew that her shy boy secretly used black eyeliner on a regular basis.
"Soo… Yuug', ya' lettin' us in? I'm hungry, ya' know," Jounouchi broke the staring contest between the two spiky teens.
"Uh-huh," Yuugi muttered and stepped aside, letting his guests inside.
Jounouchi, who knew Yuugi's home well, led them into the kitchen and plopped onto a chair right away with Yuugi and Yami following him. Yuugi couldn't help but notice the thick bandage on Jounouchi's hand.
"What happened?" Yuugi feared Jou got injured the other night.
"Let's say me and Yami had an accident in the kitchen," sheepishly answered Jou, winking at Yami mischievously. Yami only turned away blushing lightly.
"Yami?" Yuugi asked, confused. He laughed a little and turned to the Egyptian. "He named you that?"
"I don't mind," simply answered Yami.
Soon after the trio quietly started their lunch Yuugi heard the front door open. He silently groaned. His mom was definitely going to complain about Yuugi cooking because according to her, her little boy never has time to make anything for himself, he needs his mom to push the food down his throat; and dear God, he invited some friends over? On a weekend? When he could be doing homework? That was unacceptable in their home. Oh and one of the guests was Egyptian? Murderer for sure because of course every Egyptian was guilty of her husband's accidental death!
Yuugi's inner monologue was getting so loud, he couldn't see or hear anything around him, so he wasn't aware of Yami, who stopped eating and was casting worried glances between Yuugi and Jounouchi. Jounouchi only waved his hand dismissively trying to shove as much food as he could into his mouth before Yuugi's mom found them and shit hit the fan, so to speak. However, Yami hadn't encountered Yuugi's mom yet, so he had no idea what was about to come.
Footsteps neared the kitchen and with each light stomp the atmosphere in the kitchen grew heavier. Yuugi was still motionlessly staring at his half full plate, Jounouchi swallowed last bites of food and prepared to bow and dash away and Yami tensed, feeling the spark of magic ignite in his core. Surely, if Yuugi got petrified into this non-responsive state, the person approaching had to be evil. Yami just couldn't piece together why such a terrifying person would live with the soft-spoken Yuugi.
Yuugi's mother finally turned the corner and walked into the kitchen. As soon as she saw the three boys she froze over, anger visibly slowly bubbling up in her eyes.
"I believe you weren't allowed to have friends over before you finished your homework," Yuugi's mother hissed through her teeth, trying to stay civilized.
Jou cast a glance at Yuugi, who still had a distant look in his eyes and braced himself. "Hello, Mrs. Mutou!" He bowed down politely and smiled as charmingly as he could. "Yuugi was done with his homework so he invited us over for lunch. We are done eating though, so if you'll excuse us…" Jounouchi inched closer to the opposite doorway, leading farther into the house.
Mrs. Mutou didn't even acknowledge him, all her attention was now drawn to Yami, who had gently unfolded Yuugi's sweaty palm that had been gripping a fork painfully all this time. When Yami proceeded to grab Yuugi's hands and pull him up from the chair, Ms. Mutou suddenly screeched, "And who do you think you are?! Let go of my son this instant!"
Yami turned abruptly to look at the shouting woman, red sparks crackling in his eyes. Mrs. Mutou flinched under the stare, but refused to back down.
"Don't. Touch. My. Son," hissed Mrs. Mutou through her teeth, rage filled eyes still trained on Yami's face.
Initially, Yami's plan was to be respectful and thankful to the Mutou family for helping him out, but the woman was so infuriating, Yami was seeing red. Punish, punish, punish, an inner voice was going off in Yami's head and he decided to give in to his bloodthirst a little. After all, the woman was weak and wouldn't put up a fight, he just needed to use a sliver of magic. Yami took a deep breath and felt his mind sinking into a feverly haze. However, something was wrong; he couldn't stop the magic's spread throughout his body, so Yami stepped back, raising his hand as if to rub his eyes, but actually he was trying to hide the now obvious red shine emitting from his irises. Punish, punish, bring the sins to the light, voices sang and Yami got overwhelmed with magic once again.
Jou got an uncanny feeling of déjà vu and jumped to get in between Yami and Ms. Mutou. No matter how awful the woman was, he hadn't any desire to see a repeat of what happened to Ushio and judging by the pure ferocity in Yami's eyes, a shadow game was about to begin…
…and the tension snapped when grandpa Mutou walked into the kitchen, coughing loudly. Mrs. Mutou looked at him annoyed and Yami blinked the magic sparks away. Jounouchi breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the boys out of the kitchen before anyone could start the conflict again.
Once in the game store part of the house, Jounouchi stopped and sat on the floor where he stood. "Man, what the fuck. Why am I getting into this mess," whined Jou and rubbed his head furiously. He knew all too well that he was getting into Yuugi's mess because they were best friends and Yuugi was always there for him when Jou's father would come back home and start shit, but man, what a complicated situation this was, with magical pharaohs and shit. Jounouchi sighed for the hundredth time that day and got back on his feet. Muffled shouts were heard from the kitchen.
"Yuug', you ok?" Asked Jou, eyeing the boy worriedly, who seemed to have started waking up from his stupor.
"Huh?" Muttered Yuugi, looking at his hands, still enclosed in Yami's warm palms.
Jou sighed yet again, exasperated beyond his limit. It just wasn't like him to be all serious and worried all the time.
"Anyhow, Yami, please don't do that scary magic shit anymore," shivered Jou.
Yami let go of Yuugi reluctantly and quietly said, "I don't think I had as much control as I would have liked." Before he could add anything else, he was interrupted by grandpa Mutou, who walked into the store without a care in the world, as if the argument with his daughter-in-law didn't faze him at all. He looked over still shaken Yuugi and cheerfully said, "So what's it gonna be, boys? I've got some new cards to offer you."
"Grandpa, stop weaseling money out of my friends," Yuugi said with a slight panic. As much as he loved his grandpa, the materialistic side of him sometimes made Yuugi feel guilty.
"Don't be like that, Yuugi. I'll give you a huge discount on trading cards," grandpa Mutou wiggled his eyebrows, looking at Jou. He knew perfectly well that the teen couldn't refrain from buying a booster pack every time he visited Yuugi.
"Oh what the hell, I'll buy one," as grandpa expected, Jou gave in immediately despite Yuugi's protests.
"And what about you, young man?" Grandpa asked Yami.
"Oh right, I forgot," Jou beamed a proud smile. "I taught him how to play Duel Monsters! And he's hella good, almost a pro. Give him a good deck, gramps."
"Oh-ho," grandpa Mutou hummed, looking Yami straight in the eyes, as if to assess how strong he actually was.
"I think I might have something for you," grandpa reached under the counter and took out a few boxes. Yami stepped forward and picked up a few cards out of one of the boxes. All the cards seemed to be Egypt-themed, with support cards focusing around a certain monster called Exodia.
"This deck is very difficult to play," mysteriously said grandpa Mutou, gathering the cards into one pile in front of Yami. "Also, the Exodia cards are super rare and sought after by the collectors," grandpa flashed a greedy smile.
"Grandpa, stop that, you're scaring Yami," Yuugi couldn't stand this anymore. Why was his family like this? "This deck is basically unplayable because it's too weak compared to the current meta! And Exodia isn't even rare."
While Yuugi bickered with his grandpa, Yami looked through the whole deck. Indeed, some cards couldn't compare to ones even in Jounouchi's collection, but the concept of Egypt intrigued Yami. He wondered how come the people of this world were so fixated on his land. Yami pulled Exodia's card and placed it atop the deck. He couldn't stop eyeing the image, something about it so familiar and close to his heart.
"I will use this deck," Yami said, having made up his mind. Yuugi looked at him surprised and Jounouchi only laughed saying, "I bet ya'll be just as good as a pro player even with this lame ass deck."
"Good choice, good choice," happily nodded grandpa and packed the cards into a black leather deck box. "I suppose you have money to pay, young man?"
Yuugi intended to interject and either talk his grandpa into gifting the cards to Yami or pay for them himself, but to his surprise, Yami slipped one of his gold rings off and put it on the counter. Grandpa Mutou choked and looked at Yami in disbelief; a gold ring was worth so much more than an Exodia deck, but he didn't dare to complain, profit is profit after all. Grandpa grabbed the ring and beamed a satisfied smile, "Thank you for your purchase, young man." Grandpa examined the ring closer and noticed a few Egyptian hieroglyphs on the inside.
"Gotta say this is one antique piece. Reminds me of the artifacts dug up by my friend Yoshimori," said grandpa.
"Grandpa used to travel to Egypt, helping his friend look for lost treasures of Egyptian kings," explained Yuugi and immediately regretted opening his mouth. He basically admitted to Yami that his grandpa had robbed Yami ancestor's graves! He hoped Yami didn't make the connection and peeked at the man. It was impossible to tell what Yami was thinking, hiding under his stoic expression.
"Mr. Mutou, if I showed you my treasure, would you be able to provide any insights?" Asked Yami.
"Of course, of course!" Grandpa's eyes glimmered with curiosity.
Jounouchi passed the backpack to Yami, from which he fished out the smooth angular pieces of gold and put them carefully on the counter.
Grandpa leaned closer to the gold, feeling Yami's sharp eyes following his every move, and soon his greedy mood was shifted to genuine astonishment.
"My boy, I can't believe this! These seem to be parts of the Millennium Puzzle. The same Puzzle me and Yoshimori tried to find for many years," he carefully poked one of the pieces, mindful of Yami's wary aura.
Yuugi felt a drop of sweat forming on his forehead. If grandpa was to ask questions, he'd soon figure out that Yami wasn't from their time at all. How would've he justified bringing such a stranger to his home? Yuugi dreaded even the thought of his mom finding out about Yami's origins, him being an Egyptian was shocking enough to her already. And then there were his friends Honda and Anzu who would definitely hear everything that happened on Friday from Jounouchi; just as there was no way Jou could keep anything from his best bud, Yuugi too would spill the truth to Anzu. Not to mention the possibility of their friends randomly dropping by and meeting Yami coincidentally.
While Yuugi was busy spacing out, grandpa began to tell the story, "When we were young, Yoshimori was obsessed with the legend of the Millennium Items. Apparently, sometime in the Middle Kingdom an Egyptian pharaoh used great magic to craft seven items which were supposed to bring millennia of peace to Egypt. According to wall murals, the Millennium items were inherited and used by the pharaoh's son and his council of priests to judge people and bring punishment upon them."
"Yikes," Jounouchi shook, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden.
"The item used by the pharaoh was called the Millennium Puzzle and was said to have a great power," continued grandpa Mutou, "it could be assembled sort of like a 3D puzzle." Grandpa carefully lifted two pieces and tried to slot them together.
"What happened to the Millennium items?" Asked Yami, still keeping his eyes on his treasure.
"I don't know, young man. We never found them," shrugged grandpa. "If these are real, that means at least the Puzzle was broken apart and is somewhere."
"Man, this is creepy," whined Jounouchi and shook Yuugi's arm, returning him to reality. "Say, Yuug', ye'r good at these puzzles, how 'bout you try to solve it."
Yuugi blinked dumbfounded and looked at Yami, silently asking for permission. Yami gave him one of his warm smiles and moved aside to let Yuugi closer to the counter. Yuugi blushed and with shaky fingers moved Puzzle pieces around, trying to fit them together, however, only two or three of them seemed to fit together. For now it was impossible to tell what shape they were supposed to make up, so the challenge was even more complex.
"We're definitely missing at least two thirds of it," admitted Yuugi with defeat evident in his voice.
"It's alright, I can't solve it either," Yami said, his voice sounding so soothing to Yuugi's ears. Yami gently took the gold blocks from Yuugi's fingers and put them away safely into an empty deck box.
"Man, what a bummer," muttered Jou. Even if he hated creepy ancient legends, the inner gamer in him felt disappointed. "Gramps, do ya' know where the rest of the Puzzle could be?"
"I've no clue, kids. We dug through most of Valley of the Kings and couldn't find a single piece. However my friend Yoshimori could offer you more stories and legends, that's for sure."
Yuugi peered at Yami. There had to be a reason why Yami had a part of the Millennium Puzzle, surely if they were to gather all of it, Yami would get back some memories, right? Maybe he could even open a portal back home.
Yami must've thought the same as Yuugi, because his eyes shone with determination and newfound hope. He turned to grandpa Mutou.
"May I meet with your friend?"
"Oh-ho, I see I got you interested. Well you are lucky, Yoshimori has returned to Domino last week and should be back at work," grandpa said, "I was just thinking about visiting him, I'll give him a heads up and we can go tomorrow."
The rest of the Saturday went by uneventfully: since Yami had gotten his own Duel Monsters deck, the trio slipped out of Yuugi's home before his mom caught them and went to Jounouchi's apartment to play. What originally was supposed to be a mini tournament between the three of them turned into an intense training session for Jounouchi which resulted in him noticeably improving at the game. When the sun started to set behind the horizon, Jou and Yami insisted on walking Yuugi home, not wanting a repeat of the Ushio incident, and Yuugi eventually agreed, feeling pathetic for needing escorting like some little girl.
~O~
Sunday morning arrived and Yami woke up with an uneasy feeling. He got up from the couch and went to wash up, hoping the cool water would feel refreshing. One thing that he absolutely liked about being in this world was the shower. He could stand under running cool water for hours, meditating and feeling his stress ebb away, until Jou would knock on the door irritated about water bills or some other foreign concept.
After taking a somewhat shorter shower than usual and dressing up, Yami walked into the kitchen to find Jou, groggily munching on what looked like a clump of stale rice and, surprisingly, Yuugi, whose pretty purple eyes were staring straight ahead unfocused. Still intrigued by Yuugi's quirks, Yami took this opportunity to study the boy's appearance. This time with his usual punkish accessories he wore a tattered (or were those holes made by getting stabbed with a knife? How fascinating) black shirt with a heap of safety pins attached to it and a mesh undershirt underneath it.
Yami walked closer, noticing that Yuugi's charming eyes were lined subtly with something black, but a bit glossier than the simple kohl he was used to.
Yuugi must've felt Yami's stare because he quivered lightly and turned those alluring eyes in Yami's direction, focusing on him and shining with a new emotion. Was it admiration? Yami wasn't too sure but didn't have as much time as he would've liked to analyze what he saw in Yuugi's gaze because he blushed and turned away to find something in his backpack. Yami sighed with disappointment and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed in a casual manner.
"I've got something for you," said Yuugi, still digging around his backpack. He unloaded a bunch of boxes, cards of random TCGs, a few dice and pens until he found what he was looking for. He fished out a small black box and handed it to Yami without really looking at him.
"What's in here?"
"Eyeliner," said Yuugi and, noticing Yami's questioning look, explained, "a sort of kohl. It's a pencil actually. For your eyes. I thought you might've liked to line your eyes, since you're used to it."
"Thank you," said Yami, flashing one of his sunny smiles. He never expected Yuugi to be this considerate of him. A comforting warmth filled Yami, melting away the icy anxiety he hadn't been aware of.
"Man, now ya'll take forever to get ready in the mornings," groaned Jounouchi, finishing his stale breakfast. "Go do ye'r makeup and let's go to the museum, go go go!"
~O~
Once outside, the trio walked by Yuugi's home to pick up grandpa Mutou and headed for the Domino city museum. While grandpa was busy scaring Jou with stories about mummies and curses, Yuugi, as usual, was spacing out. His eyes never left Yami's face, taking in every tiny detail, like the glow of his softly tanned skin; slight frown formed by gracefully furrowed brows and delicate thin lips, pressed into a tight line; sharp eyes lined thickly with black liner; gleaming wine purple irises so deep as if one could peer through them into a cosmos inside a spinel gem, speckled with blood red stars. Yuugi could stare at them for all of eternity, constantly finding a new shade of violet-red, but he was becoming aware of the fact that those celestial eyes were locked on his own eyeballs which meant, oh no, how long have I been staring at him? And how long has he been aware of me staring at him?!
Yuugi turned away, blushing madly and cursing himself silently. He had to focus on helping Yami to get back his memories and find a way home. What good would such an infatuation bring? Yuugi shook his head. Just a stupid crush because the man's hot, that's all. He'd get over it soon, just as he got over Anzu and a few celebrity crushes, no big deal. Yet why did he feel a painful tug on his heart every time he had to forcefully look away from Yami? The more thought Yuugi put into the matter, the more lost and confused he felt. He looked at his friend and grandpa carelessly chatting away and wished he could confide in them and get guidance to lead him through this turmoil, but of course he was never going to muster up enough courage for it.
A shout from Jounouchi startled Yuugi and grounded him in reality once more. "Earth to Yuug'! We're here!"
Yuugi glanced around. Indeed, they had already reached the museum, although tiny, but fancy and flashing all possible forms of advertising for the newly arrived ancient Egypt exhibit. The biggest banner atop the front door featured an image of a winged goddess with a white feather in her hair.
Grandpa Mutou led the boys inside and left them in the first hall, intending to find Yoshimori and ask him for a tour around the museum. The place seemed deserted besides one other visitor and so quiet, one could hear his own heartbeat. Yuugi involuntarily held his breath so as not to disturb the peaceful rest of the relics displayed in glass cases.
"Hey, that dude looks kinda like Yami, ain't he?" Whispered Jou, his voice sounding still too loud.
Yuugi looked at the only other visitor, who was standing motionlessly staring at a display, and squinted to study his side profile. He was wearing a long off-white tunic which covered all his body, except for face and hands, and a turban. Sure, the man had tan skin and kohl lined eyes, but he and Yami looked nothing alike!
Seeing Yuugi's doubtful look, Jou added, trying to whisper even more quietly, "I mean he also looks Egyptian. Right, Yami?"
However, Yami didn't have enough time to neither confirm nor deny Jou's claim because the man turned his head in an unnaturally sharp motion to face them. Jou held his breath, freezing up under the intense glare of mauve pupilless eyes and tensed up the same way he would before a fight. He just instinctively knew the man was bad news and had the urge to drag Yuugi away from the danger. To his bewilderment, Yuugi did the exact opposite of what Jou wished him to do; he stepped closer to the stranger and spoke in a shy manner.
"Uhm hello, I'm sorry if you were disturbed by my friend. Are you here to see the new exhibit?" Yuugi tried his hardest not to squirm looking into the stranger's dead eyes.
No answer. Somewhere outside the museum a car drove by, its engine's roar could be heard as just a dull rumble. A speck of dust fell on a glass display. Jou swallowed hard, palms sweaty and balled into fists. Beside him Yami ignited the magical spark in his heart, letting out the faintest of crackles. Standing a step in front of them Yuugi felt a drop of sweat rolling towards his eye and blinked. Once his eyes opened, panic gripped Yuugi's throat.
The stranger was running in a mad dash towards them, eyes still and dead, not a single emotion evident in the tan face. Yuugi opened his mouth to scream, but couldn't let out a sound. Right before the stranger would've collided with him he felt someone wrap an arm around his waist and was pulled against a warm body. Yuugi lifted up his terror filled eyes to see Yami looming over him with a murderous expression, but leaned closer into the embrace and grasped Yami's shirt with trembling fingers.
The stranger stopped between Jou and Yami with Yuugi, still clinging to him, and without turning to face none of them, said in an even voice, "I can feel your shadow magic. I would suggest you not use it against me."
"Who are you?" Yami hissed, feeling his magic's electricity run under his skin, ready for his commands.
"I am Shadi. I am the guardian of the nameless pharaoh's tomb. My mission here is to find the one who used shadow magic,-" Shadi slowly turned his head to face Yami, eyes still empty and unfocused. "-you."
To everyone's horror, Shadi reached into the fold of his tunic and pulled out a metal object. Jounouchi swore, getting a step back and stopped, staring dumbfounded at what he assumed was Shadi's weapon. Only the weapon wasn't a knife as expected, but a gold ankh, shaped like a key at the base. Jou wanted to form a question but was cut off by Shadi's rapid chanting in an unknown language.
"I will find out who you are!" Exclaimed Shadi and the ankh in his hand shone with a gold light. Black shadows around them thickened and slithered closer. Just like that time, thought Yuugi and the world around him sunk into darkness.
The loss of vision was temporary, as the next time Yuugi blinked, dark yellow stone walls came into view. Yuugi looked around, panic creeping up his spine. Yami, Jou and Shadi were standing nearby, also looking around.
"Shit, where are we?" Asked Jou.
"Using the power of the Millennium Key we have entered the soul room of this young man," announced Shadi, a note of wariness evident in his voice. "A soul room is the core of a person. Here I will find out who you are and why you have shadow magic. My duty is to not allow such ignorant use of ancient magics."
Soul room? As in, we're inside Yami's mind? Thought Yuugi, looking around confused. From what Shadi said, one'd expect a room with secret personal stuff, however, they currently were standing in what looked like a maze. Except mazes weren't this big. Or had so many random stairways and doors. Heck, the closest description to what Yuugi was seeing would probably be "a crazy maze with infinite stairs and doors thrown into a blender" and now all of them were inside that blender. He only hoped that there weren't any blades ready to chop them all to pieces.
A sudden laugh startled Yuugi and Jounouchi. They turned to Yami, who now openly laughed while holding his stomach. Once he calmed down, he looked at Shadi with disgust.
"Who do you think you are to dare step into my soul? And you also threaten to stop me?" Yami said, a violent smirk never leaving his face. "Since you have trespassed into my soul, you will play by my rules. You have no choice but to play a shadow game with me," Yami laughed again, his eyes glowing a blood red and a golden eye of Horus shining on his forehead.
Shadi visibly shook, for the first time showing a hint of emotion. "A shadow game? Who are you?" He shouted, almost angry.
Yami ignored him and explained, "The rules are simple. I will be waiting in my true soul room, hidden somewhere in this maze. Find me and you win." Yami grinned a sadistic smile and disappeared with a flash of golden light.
"Did… did he just leave us? What the hell, man!" Jounouchi shouted, looking around and flailing his arms. He has had enough of Egyptian magic already.
Yuugi could feel his heart rate going up. His breathing became uneven, vision blurred; his skin was covered in cold sweat. He was trapped in an unknown place with only Jou, who couldn't help, and a maniac with magic powers. Yami had run off somewhere leaving him all alone to panic and shake without even considering Yuugi's feelings. And what about grandpa? He was going to come back looking for Yuugi soon and wouldn't be able to find him in the museum or anywhere else and would have a heart attack and would have to deal with mom's blaming and would die and Yuugi could never forgive himself for killing his grandpa and…
"Yuug'! Look at me! Look at me DAMN IT!" Jou screamed. He had never dealt with a severe panic attack and was grasping Yuugi by his arms, who seemed to not be able to breathe in any air. Jounouchi paused to think of anything, but nothing came to him, so he shook his friend as hard as he could. Yuugi didn't react in any way to the shaking; he kept on suffocating, eyes wide open and silently pleading for mercy. A muffled sob escaped Jou's throat and his body reacted in the only way he dealt with problems: by being violent. Jou instinctively raised his hand and hit Yuugi in the face, the hard slap ringing louder than Yuugi's haggard struggle to breathe. Once the echo of the slap died away, the realization dawned on Jou.
"Oh shit, Yuug', I'm so sorry, I don't know why I did that, I'm sorry," a rapid stream of apologies spilled out of Jou's mouth. He grabbed Yuugi's upper arms painfully and squashed the small boy into a violent hug.
"It's alright, it's gonna be just fine, we'll find that Egyptian bastard and win his fucked up game, don't ya' worry, Yuug', ye'r, like, the best gamer I know," Jounouchi kept muttering, rocking Yuugi back and forth.
Once Jou calmed down enough to think with some clarity, he carefully glanced down at Yuugi, who had been weirdly still for quite some time now. Jou held his breath, hands shaking a little, trying to feel any motion against his chest. Some slow shallow breaths reached him. Good, Yuugi was still alive, probably just scared shitless. Jou cautiously bent forward and laid Yuugi like a delicate porcelain doll on the hard stone floor.
Jounouchi had never seen Yuugi look so sick. The boy's eyes were shut, eyelashes shaking with every uneven breath, face pale with a grayish tint, mouth still slightly open to gulp down air. Jou let out a shaky sigh and turned an angry glare at Shadi, who was still examining their surroundings and muttering something in a foreign language.
"Hey! Turban guy! This whole fuckin' mess is your fault! Help me get Yuug' on my back and lead us outta here."
Shadi ignored Jounouchi's request, but stepped closer, hesitating. Jounouchi grit his teeth and sprang to his feet, ready to pound some compassion into the crazy fella, but thankfully that wasn't needed, as Shadi finally complied.
~O~
Jounouchi wondered how long they had been walking in this cursed place. Yuugi was still hanging unconscious on Jou's back and Shadi quietly walked besides. They had tried mostly every option on their way: opening doors led them into rooms with shadowy monsters or trap rooms with spiky pits or falling ceilings; walking up or down stairways only led them in circles.
"Do you know who he is?" Shadi asked quietly. His demeanor had gotten rather timid.
"Huh?" Jou was startled by the question, "you mean Yami? I dunno, we think he's some kind of king. Yuug' said "a pharaoh". Man himself doesn't remember."
Shadi abruptly stopped in his tracks. "Pharaoh? He is the pharaoh? Did the prophecy come true?" He muttered under his breath.
"Huh? Whaddaya say?"
"If he truly is the fabled nameless pharaoh, then we have no chances of winning this game," Shadi said, finally looking Jounouchi in the eyes.
"Hu-huh?!" Jou felt even more confused.
With dismay evident on his face, Shadi opened yet another door, expecting another trap; however, the corridor behind the door looked empty and relatively safe. Shadi and Jounouchi exchanged hopeful glances and stepped into the new corridor. The door behind them closed with a loud thud, echoing down the corridor. The men baited their breaths and waited for the echo to die down. Once the silence fell once again, Jou thought he heard a faint rustling sound, coming from somewhere farther away. Was that a good sign? Up until this point the maze was eerily quiet, even the torches lining up the walls burned without any sound, as if isolated in vacuum. Jou felt hopeful, maybe they finally managed to find Yami; although Jou wasn't sure he wanted to encounter the man in his magic induced crazed state.
The rustling grew louder, now Jou could swear it was followed by shuffling of the numerous feet. Numerous? Jou frowned. Wasn't it supposed to be only the four of them in this fucked up place?
Something moved into Jou's field of vision. Huh? Huh!? What? Is that a…?
Shadi swore and whipped around to pry the door open, but to his horror, the door had disappeared, leaving a bare wall of stone bricks. Jounouchi backed away against the dead end and, as carefully as he could under immense tension, sat Yuugi's unconscious form down. Jou turned around and got into his fighting stance, not planning to give in without a fight. Worst case scenario, he had to at least make an escape route for Yuugi.
Three rotten bodies had come into view and were charging at Jou and Shadi. Initially Jou assumed that those were zombies, but looking closer Jou could tell they were about to be attacked by mummies, judging by the heaps of linen straps clinging to the thin shriveled bodies. The mummies were so close now; Jou could make out sharp nail-like fingers and rotten tongues, squirming like larvae inside the lipless mouths. Jou swallowed hard and prayed to all the holy names he knew.
When the mummies got close enough, Jounouchi screamed in rage and hit the closest corpse in the face. Jou could feel his fist colliding with dry skin which crumbled upon impact and then the bone followed, creaking painfully under pressure until it too gave out and broke apart, scraping Jou's knuckles. Jou opened his eyes wide - a meaty tongue was caressing his fingers, coating them in slimy rot - and his breath hitched when he realized his fist was stuck inside the mummy's mouth. An acidic taste rose up his throat, threatening to spill out. Jounouchi screamed, now begging for whoever was willing to listen to save them from this nightmare.
~O~
Yami flinched when the faint echoes of a desperate shout for help reached his ears. Strangely, even though he understood that it was Jou who screamed and the scream was full of terror, Yami couldn't will his body to move. He was seated on a large chair, most likely a throne, in a dark cold room. Yami wanted to squirm free of whatever bonds were holding him down, but his efforts felt like he moved only in his imagination, as if his soul alone was moving inside an empty shell of a body. Yami strained all his willpower and magic, but nothing happened, or so he thought. A shining gold and turquoise circle appeared on the floor in front of him, illuminating tall pillars on both sides of the throne. A young girl with tan skin and puffed up brown hair jumped out of the circle and kneeled in front of Yami.
"Who are you?" Yami asked. He'd have never expected to be able to summon a person.
"I'm Mana, great pharaoh," said the girl named Mana and lifted her glowing green eyes.
Yami opened his mouth, but stopped himself. Sure, he could ask a million questions about himself and his lost memories, but earlier the scream for help was clearly Jou's and that meant Yuugi was in danger too.
Mana's green eyes gently glowed in the dark, flickering like a pair of fireflies, so alien yet their presence so comforting. Yami opened his mouth once again, his conviction firm.
"Mana, if you were summoned by my magic and will take my orders, please help me save my friends."
~O~
Yuugi cracked his eyes open a little. One side of his face hurt like hell, the other side was pressed against something hard and cold. Yuugi blinked heavily, trying to focus his eyesight. He could swear he was woken up by a desperate shout that sounded just like Jounouchi. If only he could remember what happened after they walked into the museum… Shit.
The first thing Yuugi saw was the back of Jou's head (he would recognize that messy heap of blond hair in any lighting). The second thing was Jou himself, who was shaking unusually like a wet leaf in a storm. What could possibly upset him so much? Oh, he couldn't get his hand out of a… what, exactly..?
Yuugi was wide awake by the time Jou opened his mouth to scream again. Yuugi froze up mortified, only his eyes darting madly around, looking for something, anything, to ground him and shake him out of the stupor. Shadi was wrestling with another mummy nearby Jou and a third dead body was rapidly shuffling closer to Yuugi. Yuugi helplessly stared at the hollow eye sockets, desperately looking for mercy where there was none.
Suddenly, a flash of gold light went off in front of Yuugi and he was face to face with Yami, his wine purple eyes back to the calm swirl of mesmerizing cosmos, only with a distant hint of a bloody glow. Yuugi wanted to keep the slivers of his dignity but that soon went out the window, because Yami's eyes filled with worry and warmth and made Yuugi's composure crumble; the boy threw himself into Yami's arms and sobbed loudly. Yami turned his head to the side, seething with rage and lifted his hand. The mummies froze up and, with the snap of Yami's fingers, disintegrated into dust.
The next moment everyone were back at the museum, the dull roar of car engines filtering in through the thick walls. Two voices reached Yuugi, one belonging to his grandpa. Yuugi realized he was still clinging to Yami and let go, hastily pushing Yami away and receiving a confused and laced with hurt look.
"Looks like I have lost your game, my pharaoh," said Shadi and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Yami commanded.
"You are bound to learn the truth," said Shadi without looking back. Not saying anything else he pushed something shiny into Yami's hands and disappeared behind the museum's closing doors.
Yami looked at the gold blocks in his hands and shuddered. He immediately recognized the faint magic pulse of the parts of the Millennium Puzzle.
A/N: I've somehow made it to the third chapter. If anyone is reading this, thank you very much!