The Magicians' Realm Chapter 19: Undeterred, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 19, everybody! In which things happen….

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Eh, yeah, Teana has some issues with relationships….Wow, that sounds like my parents (I think they took six months). Teana is sort of following my Mom's advice here of taking slow and waiting a year, following her head instead of her heart. Not exactly a bad thing sometimes, but it can be frustrating….And possibly. :)

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! No, he did not, because this Yami is not metaphysically aware. If he were, then it would save me a lot of hassle. As it is, I have to follow him around until he does something interesting. :| Don't worry about Maths—it's like Physics in a "bang your head against it until it clicks" sort of thing. And also, I hear artists don't do too hot with mathematics anyway, even though you do need it for living (I remember having to study it with Dad for the entirety of my grade school career…I think it shaved years off of both our lives). If you're not, we'll just ape the new Frankenstein movie and have Daniel Radcliffe zap you back to life. :)

References:

Original characters + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

Yami was quite happy as he headed to work.

Granted, he was always generally upbeat, an attitude he had cultivated early on and made sure to keep as he aged. But the idea of Teana under the same roof as he! And Hephaestus and Vulcan and Kineil—they were living at his place now, since they had inadvertently blown up their apartment flat (he translated that as Heph and Vul exploding something they shouldn't have while Kineil watched).

But Teana coming to live with him was good news, he decided, even if he hadn't received her response yet, and nothing would ruin his good mood.

Although, he decided, upon spotting the Administration Building, that would be easier said than done.

He crossed the large cobblestone plaza—which in his opinion, would serve better as a park or a market or something that had more than just one fountain dead center—and headed for the large, intimidating doors of the Administration Building. Yay.

"How bad is it?" he asked one of the more sympathetic Administrators, who was busy walking quickly down the steps Yami was walking up.

"Did you take any aspirin before you came?" Maxwell, one of the newer Administrators, asked.

"Does it have anything to do with the way you're running down the steps?"

"It's a major contributing factor."

"And you're going to just let me walk into it?"

"I did warn you."

Yami grabbed Maxwell's arm and began dragging him back up the steps.

"What are you doing?" he squawked, having to walk backwards up the steps.

"We are going in there and sorting out whatever mess the Administrators just made."

*/*\*

Jenna waited until Yuki left before rounding on her husband.

"All right, spill: what's the real reason?"

Greg held up his hands. "I don't know."

"Yes you do."

He sighed and put both hands on the back of his neck. "Yes I do," he muttered.

"So what is it?"

He started pacing back and forth in the living room. "Well, I think that they think…that maybe they suspect…that maybe they know…about your family tree."

Jenna gritted her teeth to keep from showing emotion. "We should have kept his hair cut short," she said finally.

"I don't think that would have helped," Greg said. "Yami's always been prodigious—they've always had their suspicions."

"And you didn't think to mention this?"

"No!" Greg exploded. "Why should I? You know what they would do!" He strode over to her and took her hands in his. "I never told anyone because I know what would happen to you. Be glad that holding Yami back a year is all they can do on suspicion."

Jenna glanced at the back door. "You'd better tell that to your sons, then."

Greg shook his head. "It's better if they don't know."

"So being held back with no reason is better?"

"Trust me on this. Besides, what they don't know won't hurt them."

*\*/*

William Maxwell Carter had a policy: when things started going south, get out of dodge.

It was one reason he picked shadow magic as his specialty—it enabled a quick getaway. He had even managed to discover a few self-sustaining limbos, while he was at it.

It was this shadow magic that had prompted Yami Skellington to recommend him for the position of Administrator.

He could kill him for that.

He could also kill Kineil, as apparently it was her idea.

But there were benefits to this job, Maxwell reflected, gnawing on his cigar.

And watching Yami Skellington practically blow up at the Administrators had to be on the top ten list.

"Are you insane?" Skellington stormed, looking a whole lot bigger than his skinny seven-seven frame suggested. "You're proposing limiting magic? How ridiculous can you possibly be!?"

"It's for the Commoners' protection—" Administrator Sumbinix began.

"Bull!" Skellington spat—wow, that was almost a curse. "The average person doesn't know enough about magic!"

"He would know," Maxwell heard another Administrator mutter.

"I would know," Skellington said, crossing his arms belligerently. "Because unlike some people, I actually bother with talking to my constituents."

That was a lot of big words from Skellington, Maxwell thought. He must be building up to something.

"Problems come from ignorance," Skellington continued. "Hiding magic from people won't solve whatever problems you think are going on—it'll just make them worse. If you want to help somebody, give them classes! Teach them safety! But you are not taking magic from people, and that's final!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sumbinix shot, standing with his hands on the desk. Gee, how cliché.

"He is Head Mage," Maxwell muttered, before common sense could intervene.

Skellington tilted his head and glanced back at Maxwell. "Thank you Max," he said, sounding genuine.

"Don't call me Max," Maxwell muttered, as there was no point in outright telling him; it was force of habit now.

Skellington, meanwhile, had turned back to the Administrators.

"As Head Mage, I officially veto this motion and command that it be removed, erased, never thought of again, and hexed for good measure," he said, normally jovial voice deep with barely constrained anger. Maxwell felt the need to crawl away and hide. "And all of you—take a day off and actually see what Delvaire is all about before you go making laws you don't understand."

And Skellington turned on his heels and marched out, ire radiating off of him in waves. Maxwell literally froze as he walked by, attempting to avoid his attention. He needn't have bothered.

Unfortunately, he had attracted other attention.

But Maxwell could have laughed at the Administrator's collective ire—they didn't nearly match Skellington's output. "Two things," he said, holding up two fingers. "One: I didn't tell him. And two: I told you so."

And with that, he utilized his shadow travel for a speedy getaway.

Good riddance, he thought, stepping out of a shadow in a downtown alley.

And yet he couldn't shake the quiet niggling doubt that this wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.

*/*\*

Yuki found his brother standing in the center of the lawn, facing the mountains. His chest was heaving, like he was trying to control his emotions.

Yuki very carefully came up behind him, then around to one side. "Yami?"

"I don't want to talk right now."

Yuki winced at the hurt in Yami's voice; it had no business being in his voice. He kicked at a tuft of grass and thought of how best to raise his brother's spirits.

Unfortunately, all he could think of was to ask "What are we going to do now?"

Yami was quiet for the longest time.

"I don't know about you," Yami said slowly, through gritted teeth. "But I'll be hanged if I'm going to wait around for a year and stagnate."

Yuki looked at him carefully. "What are you going to do?"

Yami looked down at him, his face a hard picture of determination.

"I'm going to keep pursuing knowledge. With, or without the Administrators' approval."

It was that moment, in that twilight-touched moment in their backyard, that Yuki sensed that their lives would change.

He just didn't know how much.