The Magicians' Realm Chapter 5: The Masked Ones, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 5, everybody! In which we introduce the Head Mage and mention the mysterious boogie-mage...and people violate etiquette protocol again….

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Haha, yes, we've finally got the Ball rolling! *shot* Yes, darn that real life—but it takes precedence, so we'll let it slide. ;) Yes, long chapters are nice…just not too long—then people put them off and then never read them. :( Oh, tertiary education is fine—at least with Northcentral University (the one I'm attending) you generally only have to worry about one class at a time—it's just through the entire year and requires buku reading. And yes, you were very close this time. :)

References:

"So this puffed up guy here," Kels said, pointing with her fork. "Thinks he knows everything."

"I don't think I know everything," Yami told her. "I know enough about everything to seem smarter than I really am."

"Where did you get that, a fortune cookie?"

"No, I got it from you."

"Are these thoughts founded?" Anzu asked.

Honda and Jonouchi—the latter of whom had discarded his Red-Eyes beak in favor of eating hassle-free—nodded vigorously.

"He's the most advanced magician in our age group," Jonouchi said, pointing.

"Of course, standing next to you certainly helps," Honda pointed out, prompting Jonouchi to make a face and flick some of his vegetables at Honda.

"Now, Mr. Wheeler! I've never known you to waste food!"

Anzu looked at the stranger who had spoken. He had shocking white hair that stuck every which way, and fine dark clothes that contrasted severely with his hair. He was wearing a smooth, full-face mask, like she had seen on old-time surgeons, made of copper with a cream-colored scar beneath one eye.

"Bakura!" Kels said. She stroked beneath her eye, corresponding with the mark on the mask. "What are you wearing?"

"This," Bakura said, taking a deep bow. "Is a facsimile of my village's most famous denizen, Bakura Tozoku."

"And you're named after him too, I see," Anzu stated.

Bakura looked over at her; she caught a glimpse of blue behind the eye slits. "Certainly; it's much like the name Hortense in Ambala—everyone knows the name, and they always name their children after their heroes."

"You might want to mention that you hail from Kul Elna, the Village of Thieves," Yami pointed out.

"You make it sound like a bad thing!"

"Village of Thieves?" Anzu repeated.

"I can rob you blind and you'd never know it," Bakura said, obviously pleased with himself.

"That reminds me," Kels said, looking over. "I lost my necklace the other day—I wonder if someone didn't lift it off of me."

"Jo did it," Bakura said quickly.

Kels held out her hand, raising one eyebrow, not saying anything.

Bakura grumbled and handed her a small gold necklace. "It doesn't match anything I own anyway."

Anzu leaned over to Yami. "You have some very…unique friends," she told him.

Yami grinned. "Don't I know it!"

*\*/*

"Okay, so the eyepieces here are actually three pieces, two polished pieces of glass, and a sheath of metal in the middle, to simulate blinks. See this stuff here?" Hephaestus turned his mask over to reveal a pale blue fabric pressed into the moulding of the mask. "This here is similar to the stuff the Masked Ones use, but it doesn't bind to the skin. Instead, it copies the facial movements into the mask."

"Wait a minute," Teana interjected. "Binds to the skin?"

"The Masked Ones are called so because of the masks they wear all the time," Yami explained. "They never take them off on principle, so they created this moulding to make it permanent."

"Dare I ask why?"

In response, Yami pointed at the stained-glass window at the far corner of the hall. Teana turned to look.

All the stained-glass windows were the same size, three feet of wall space on each side, with different patterns on the inside representing the past Head Mages. The one he was pointing to was at the very end, and had so many things going on in it that she saw nothing but a swirl of color at first, until some of it solidified into a lanky man with a top hat in one hand and a mask in the other, cape swirling in front of a crowded scene.

"That's Hallowen, the first Head Mage," Yami told her. "He was the one who united the Allied States, brought all the races together, and united and taught everyone magic."

"Wow."

"But he wasn't without enemies," Yami continued. "Once, he had to flee, and he encountered a band of gypsies. When he explained his plight to them, they all made masks to wear; when his enemies started catching, unmasking, and killing them, they made the moulding that bound to their skin, so they couldn't be unmasked and potentially risk Hallowen. When he made his comeback, he instituted the Masquerade Ball, to be held on the day his friends the Masked Ones resolved to risk their lives to save him."

"Wow," Teana said slowly. "That's…very impressive."

"Isn't it?"

Teana looked up sharply to see the owner of the voice and was startled to see a human-sized blue jay standing in front of her.

At least, that was her first impression. In reality, it was a man, but wearing clothes that shimmered in the same pattern as blue jay feathers, with the beak and face of a blue jay, feathers and all, that moved perfectly and seamlessly with the face behind it.

"Ah," Yami said, looking over. "Teana, I'd like you to meet the Blue Jay, current leader of the Masked Ones."

"He's not boring you, is he?" the Blue Jay asked her, shaking her hand. "I can peck him for you."

Teana felt as though her eyebrows had gone through the ceiling, they shot up so far. "Really?"

In response, the Blue Jay jabbed his beak into the top of Yami's head. "Ow!" Yami exclaimed, clasping his hands upon the injury.

The Blue Jay slipped around Yami and hunkered down between him and Teana, hanging on to the back of Yami's chair for balance. "He likes to tell that story every year," he told Teana.

"It's very fascinating," she told him.

"And history bears repeating," Yami said; by comparison, his voice was muffled next to the Jay's. "If it isn't, then people simply forget, and it just becomes another reason to revel."

"He can be very serious when he wants to be," the Jay said. "Don't worry, he's not always like this."

"That's good to know," Teana said, still entranced by the realism of the Jay's mask. "How did you get that mask to look so real?"

"It is real," the Jay told her. "Real feathers, expertly woven together in that branch of magic known as craft." He tilted his head, as though guessing what she'd like to do. "You can touch it, if you like."

She felt herself flush red at the fact that she had been found out so easily. The Jay laughed—an odd churring noise—and said "Really! I insist!"

She stroked the feathered part of the mask, and then ran her finger across the top of the beak—it felt like it belonged on a real bird, with the same sort of warmth a bird had.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were an oversized bird," Teana told him.

"I've fooled more than one person," the Jay told her. "By the way, I appreciate your choice of masks."

Teana touched hers, momentarily forgetting that she had one on as well. It felt simple and tawdry in comparison.

"If you'd like, I could make one for you for next year's Ball," the Jay began, and then someone called over. Both the Jay and Yami turned; Teana was seized with the distinct impression of bird calls.

"Figures," the Jay muttered under his breath; the ridges above his eyes came forward in an impression of furrowed eyebrows. "You find someone interesting to talk to and then someone boring needs your attention."

"Unfortunately," Yami agreed. He stood up with the Jay. "I'll be right back," he told the table, although he was looking at Teana.

When he left, Teana turned to the table.

"I don't suppose any of you would be willing to tell me more about him, would you?"

The three magicians exchanged glances; Kineil turned to her, smiling.

"I don't suppose I would—it depends on how the evening goes."

*/*\*

Company aside, the hall was breathtaking.

Anzu was listening to Yami's explanation of the stained glass, after she had asked about them; upon adding a question about the blank one, everyone at the table had exchanged glances, then looked around to see if anyone was looking.

Anzu felt as though she had stumbled upon something taboo.

"You know that every window here signifies a past Head Mage," Yami told her in an undertone; she nodded.

"That window belongs to the boogie-mage," Bakura interjected, waggling his fingers in a frightening manner.

Yami cut him a glare; Yuki, clad in a barn owl mask, sunk beneath the table, as though he had been threatened with such a thing before.

"The Unnamed Mage, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the boogie-mage," Kels began reciting, ticking them off on her fingers.

"Isn't this the guy in Europa?" Anzu asked.

"No, that's a different guy," Yami said knowingly. "This mage in particular was the strongest since the first mage, Hallowen—so strong that he tried to take over the Administration. He had a large following too—but the Administration and the Civil Branch together managed to pick them off one by one—"

"One by one?" Anzu interrupted.

"His followers were the best magicians in their fields," Yami told her, eyebrows raised. "Anyway, they managed to pick them off one by one, and the Grand Agent of the Civil Branch took him down himself and became the Head Mage."

"Who was he?"

"My grandfather."

Anzu started at the new voice; Yami did too, but he controlled it better, and turned casually to face the man with his hands resting on Yami and Yuki's chair backs.

"Hi Dad," Yami said.

"Hi Mr. Montgau!" Kels said, waving.

"Hi everybody!" Yami's dad said, beaming beneath his simple domino mask. He turned to Anzu and extended a hand, which she accepted. "And you must be the mystery girl these boys were talking about! It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?"

"Anzu Mazaki," Anzu said, slightly awestruck. "You're—you're Gregor Montgau."

"Yes, yes I am."

"You're Head Mage."

"This is true."

Anzu stared at Yami, who shrugged. "Dad's modest."

"Unlike you," Bakura muttered.

"Watch it."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Mazaki," the Head Mage said, ignoring the minor tete-a-tété. "Is this your first time at a Masquerade Ball?"

"Yes," Anzu replied. "How could you tell?"

"You have that look," the Head Mage replied, then looked up when someone called his name. "Whoops! Gotta go." He patted his eldest son's shoulder. "Yami, don't forget you're on in half an hour."

"Right, Dad," Yami said, rolling his eyes and suppressing a smile as the Head Mage left. Then, to the table, "I suppose I'd better go get ready then."

"Have fun," Kels said, giving him a little finger wave.

"Always do," Yami returned, getting up.

"Before you go," Anzu said, causing him to pause. "Who exactly is the boogie-mage?" she pointed at the empty window. "That that window belongs to?"

Yami turned to look at the empty window, head tilted as though debating. When he turned back around, he placed a hand on her shoulder and brought his head close to hers.

"That mage was called Yami Skellington," he murmured into her ear. "And it was him that almost destroyed all that the Administration and Civil Branch stand for."

He gave her and the table a quick smile before striding off. Anzu watched him go, then looked back at the empty window, the various conversations dying down to white noise.

Yami Skellington….

But why would Yami Montgau, great-grandson of Skellington's nemesis Thomas Montgau, share his name?