COLD REFLECTION

As always, review responses are at the bottom.

"Cecelia?"

The three-syllabled name fell from Pegasus' mouth and punctured the silence that had filled the room before.

Kaiba's eyes immediately widened, and his mind went back to the conversation the two of them had had in Pegasus' office a couple of days ago. Kaiba had been dealing with a severe onset of stress at that point but he did remember some of what the other man had said.

"Believe me, Kaiba-boy, no one has allowed themselves to be defined by the past more than myself. I met a girl named Cecelia when we were both just twelve, and instantly fell in love. Even though we were both children, I knew she was the one for me. I was lucky enough for her to reciprocate my feelings, but was unlucky to lose her to cancer soon after we married at eighteen. She was my whole world, and I didn't allow her death to change that."

So, this was his late wife, though clearly that adjective was not the most accurate descriptor.

"Yes, it's me, Maximillion," she said softly. Her voice was smooth and melodious.

Pegasus heaved in a breath and staggered forward.

"How, this is… This is not…"

She took a step forward, and reached a hand out. Pegasus instinctively recoiled.

"No, no, this is a trick… A trick by Apep. My Cecelia is dead and has been for a long time… You, you cannot be her…"

"How can you say that, my love?!" she cried out plaintively.

She took another step forward, this time grasping his trembling hand and placing it on her face, as if to prove to him she was not a hologram.

"After everything you went through to try and re-unite us, we're finally together once more. Nothing need ever separate us again."

Pegasus tore his hand away from her and took several steps back, still breathing hard.

"No, no, you are not her. My Cecelia died right in front of my eyes and she could not have known what actions I took or what else transpired after that."

"If I wasn't your Cecelia would I know that our first conversation happened during a walk in an indoor garden at a hotel, and you plucked a white rose for me?" she replied, clearly hurt by his words. "If I wasn't your Cecelia would I know that you asked me to marry you after we ate dinner by moonlight on the roof of your father's estate?"

This seemed to give Pegasus pause.

"Is it really you?" he whispered, slack-jawed.

"Of course it's not her," snapped Kaiba before Cecelia could reply. "Your wife is dead, you told me that yourself. This imitation is a part of whatever trick Apep is using the Quantum Cube to play on you. Snap out of it."

"Oh, is that what you think, Seto Kaiba?" hissed Cecelia. Her voice had dropped suddenly, becoming deathly quiet and losing its innocent musicality. It was rather unnerving.

"Oh, so she reveals herself," responded the CEO sarcastically.

"You have some nerve," she growled. "You and your miserable friends are all that stood between Maximillion and I being reunited. If you hadn't interfered then I would have returned to him years ago."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I tried to rescue my brother after he got trapped in a Duel Monsters card," snarled Kaiba. "Listen, you crazy bitch, I don't have time for this. I need to find the thing that has my brother, and you need to get out of-…"

"Well, then go on," she said coolly. "Don't let me stop you. Maximillion and I will leave together."

Pegasus hadn't spoken this whole time. His head was bowed, with his long gray hair covering his face. He looked up, hair falling aside on one side to reveal his one good eye.

"No… No I cannot do that."

Cecelia turned to look at him.

"You can't what, Maximillion?"

"I can't go anywhere with you, Cecelia," he muttered. "Even though every fiber of my being wants you to be real, I know you're not… I came here for a purpose, to repay my debt to Kaiba-boy here… and that is exactly what I intend to do."

"You would choose to fulfill an obligation to this cretin when you could instead be with me, the love of your life?" remarked Cecelia darkly.

"Your taste in women is really something, Pegasus," remarked Kaiba. Both Pegasus and Cecelia ignored him.

"Yes. I have wronged him and his family, and right here tonight, in this place, is where I aim to make amends," stated the older man flatly. "And by the way… When you speak that way, it confirms to me you're not my Cecelia. In the six years I knew her she never spoke ill of another person."

The blonde shook her head and laughed mirthlessly. It was a haunting sound.

"Perhaps that's because I'm not just Cecelia."

Pegasus narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I am your innermost, darkest fears given physical form. Clearly, your late wife has something to do with it, but there is also more to it."

Pegasus didn't respond, so she continued.

"You say you want to make amends to this man? Well, you're a fool if you think that's possible. You can't make amends to him or any of the people you have made suffer over the years… and it's really quite sad that you think you can or even should. If you stood proud and unapologetic about what you did to try and reunite us, I would still be somewhat impressed. But what you actually are right now is nothing short of pathetic. A sniveling old man who is neither man enough to stand by his actions nor is able to atone for them but is still desperately trying to…"

With these words, a Duel Disk materialized on her arm, before she finished coldly, "The truth is, after seeing the measure of the man you are now, I don't even want you back."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Even by his standards, that was harsh. If this was what Pegasus was supposed to deal with, a part of him wondered what lay in store for the others.

Pegasus pressed a hand against his face and forehead, looking downward, before dropping it and returning his gaze to his now rather hostile late wife.

"Very well, I am glad we dropped the pretense and mind games. I don't know what manner of devilry Apep is intending to pull off here but you are clearly my intended opponent."

As he spoke, he withdrew his own standard Duel Disk from within his red blazer and slid it on.

"It's time for you to face the truth about the kind of man you are, Maximillion," said Cecelia in a dangerously soft tone, firing off her holo projectors.

"I know exactly who I was and also exactly who I am now today, and I will prove that here tonight," stated Pegasus firmly, mimicking her actions and then drawing his opening hand.

"This is going to be interesting," thought Kaiba grimly, though he still hoped this would end quickly so he could proceed with his own aims for the night."

"LET'S DUEL!"

(Cecelia: 8000, Pegasus: 8000)

"Even though you are appropriating the visage of my late wife and besmirching her memory with your words and deeds, I will abide by my usual manners and allow you the first move," announced Pegasus grimly, drawing his sixth card.

"You're the one who besmirched my memory with the variety of sins you committed in my name," Cecelia responded darkly, before drawing her sixth card.

"Hmm… Very well. I normal summon Tweedledee (200/300) in attack mode."

Pegasus' eyes bulged as a very familiar creature appeared on Cecelia's field. He was barely three feet in height, but probably double that in width. He looked exactly like an awkward young boy, except with a very, very large gut: and was dressed in a shirt too small to cover his belly, and dungarees that were stretched to breaking point at his shoulders. His skin was rather pale.

"I take it this brings back some memories for you, my dear husband?" whispered his opponent maliciously.

Pegasus closed his eyes and pursed his lips, before calling out angrily, "You can make your mind games as cruel as you like, Apep, but it's not going to make me any less determined to see you pay for your crimes against Kaiba-boy here and his brother."

"I told you, I am the manifestation of your own thoughts and fears," taunted Cecelia. "You remember that Lewis Carroll's works were a shared childhood favorite of ours. So the cards I'm using are your creation as well. Apep has nothing to do with it. Everything you're facing right now is of your own making."

"Fine, just get on with it," he muttered in response.

"Very well. Now, Tweedledee has a variety of rather special abilities. However, these cannot be executed without the power of his twin brother soul partner in all walks of life. I activate the magic card, Call to Soul. When Tweedledee is in play, I may special summon from my deck a monster called Tweedledum (300/200)."

Appearing next to the portly young boy was another one who could have been his identical twin.

"I will now set one card and end my turn."

Pegasus breathed out slowly and drew.

"Kaiba-boy, this is where my recompense to you begins."

He plucked a card out of his hand and placed it on his monster zone.

"I summon Legendary Hero – Katchem (1200/900) in attack mode."

Appearing on Pegasus' field was also a young boy, but this one looked very different from the twins that Cecelia had just played. He was of normal height and build, and was dressed in a green shirt, a blue and white jacket, and blue jeans. He had mostly unkempt hair, most of which was covered by a red and white baseball hat, and a green backpack strapped across both shoulders.

What was most notable about him, however, was a small yellow rodent-like creature perched on his right shoulder. It had a mostly round body, with rabbit-like ears and a tail that looked like a lightning bolt. Out of nowhere, it squeaked, "Pika!"

A very large drop of sweat had formed on Kaiba's forehead as he observed from the sidelines.

"Pegasus…"

The older man turned and allowed a quick smile to grace his lips.

"Oh, relax, Kaiba-boy. You know I'm a child at heart in many ways… Children these days have moved on from Saturday morning cartoons to anime and video games, so I decided to move on from Toon World. Fear not, this new deck will be more than sufficient to aid you in your journey to reunite with your dear brother."

He turned back to his opponent, and continued stiffly, "I will then equip him with Legendary Weapon – Monster Catcher."

Materializing in the young man's hand was a spherical metal object. It wasn't very large, only a few inches in diameter. The top half was bright red, and the lower half crimson, with both being divided by a black line. Along the front of the sphere, along said line was a single white circle.

"Now, when any Legendary Hero is equipped with Monster Catcher, I can special summon a Protector Beast Token (2000/2000) to my field. Meanwhile Katchem's own effect allows me to choose the Token's attribute… and I pick wind!"

At Pegasus' words, Katchem tossed the sphere in his hand to an empty monster zone next to him. A zap of energy shot out of the small white circle, out of which materialized a bird with brown feathers and an off-white underbelly. It had red and yellow tail and a light red crest above its eyes. It squawked, "Piga!"

"If he keeps this up all duel I think I'm going to have an aneurysm," thought Kaiba as he watched on silently.

"Now, this Token might look harmless… until you realize there's more to come. The attribute I chose is relevant, because depending on what it is, the Token is granted further effects by both Katchem and Monster Catcher. Since I chose wind, Katchem now allows the Token to attack twice, and Monster Catcher will give it five hundred more attack points!"

The bird let out another squawk, one that sounded much more formidable with its added strength (2500/2000).

"Now my Pidg-… I mean, my Protector Beast Token, attack Tweedledee, now!" commanded Pegasus.

The bird flapped its wings and ascended vertically, before folding its wings and divebombing in the plump little boy's direction.

Just as he was about to be struck by the razor sharp beak, his brother aimlessly waddled into him, causing both of them to tumble over and the Token to miss connecting with its target by a hair's breadth.

Tweedledee struggled to his feet, looking thoroughly confused.

"What just-…," he mumbled.

"Happened?" finished Tweedledum.

"Yes, I'd like to know as well," agreed Pegasus in a steely voice.

"It's rather simple," replied Cecelia, checking her nails flippantly. "When Tweedledum is face up on the field, all attacks that are supposed to target Tweedledee are changed to him. And while Tweedledee is face up, Tweedledum cannot be destroyed in battle. Since I special summoned Tweedledum in defense mode, I took no battle damage."

Pegasus looked at her field and then his, realizing that at the moment he had no other recourse.

"Fine. I will end my turn there."

Cecelia drew, and a devilish gleam entered her eyes.

"It seems like you like equip spells, Maximillion, which makes sense considering your penchant for collecting trinkets over the years. It seems only fair that I bring out one of my own: activate Opti-Camouflage Armor, which I will equip to Tweedledee."

The plump dwarves "oohed" and "ahhed" as a suit of glowing silver armor appeared in the air above them, floating just above their reach. The pair slammed into each other, knocking one another off balance and trying to snatch at the new treasure. Finally, one of them (neither Kaiba nor Pegasus could tell the difference) was able to succeed, and pull it down, strapping it awkwardly onto himself.

"I'm sure you're aware of what this card does: it can only be equipped to a level one monster, but allows it to attack directly."

Cecelia pointed at her erstwhile husband.

"Go on, Tweedledee… attack."

Even with his new armor, Tweedledee was not very sophisticated in his attack approach. He merely barreled his way across the field, somehow avoiding the looming both Katchem and the Protector Beast, and rammed straight into Pegasus, drawing a grimace.

(Cecelia: 7800, Pegasus: 8000)

"Did that hurt, Maximillion?" she mocked. "If it did, it's merely a fraction of the pain you caused in your failed endeavor to bring me back to life. By the end of this duel perhaps you'll experience enough of it to begin understanding what you've done."

"I… understand exactly what I've done," growled Pegasus in response. "I did cruel and wicked things, and I paid for them. What recompense I still owe, I will remunerate here tonight."

"Perhaps this sad little man will actually forgive the debt you owe him, but that's not the only failure you still have to atone for," she sneered.

"And what do you know of what my failures are?" he grunted tiredly.

"I would know better than anyone," she spat. "I suffered the most for it. You let me die."

Pegasus turned white at this, and opened his mouth to speak, but the words didn't come out.

"You told me we'd spend our whole lives together, and before we even began that journey you just stood by and watched as I was struck down by fate. You went on your failed crusade to try and bring me back, but it was never going to work and deep down you always knew that. Your greatest efforts only came after I died… You didn't lift a finger while I lay suffering in front of you."

"I-… I… I was barely out of childhood myself," mumbled Pegasus. "I wasn't a doctor, what was I to do?"

"More excuses," she sneered. "It really is a shame I wasted my last years on this world tied to you."

"Just… Just finish your move," he muttered, casting his eyes downward.

She scoffed at him again and looked over her hand. "I set one card facedown. That will end my turn."

Kaiba silently watched on as the older man drew with a slightly trembling hand.

"That last exchange is the most shaken I've seen him all night. He recovered pretty well after first seeing her, but what she just said seems to have hit a nerve."

Pegasus seemed to brighten up slightly.

"Well, there's a pleasant surprise. I summon Legendary Hero – Keyblade Master (1000/1000) in attack mode!"

Appearing in the monster zone next to Katchem was another youngish boy, though this one looked like more of an early teenager. He had a mop of messy and spikey brown hair, with bangs looping downward to frame his crystal blue eyes. A black and white jacket covered a red undershirt, with matching red pants ballooning out over his legs. His shoes were a bright yellow and looked similarly outsized. He flashed a charismatic grin, showing gleaming white teeth.

"Now, when Keyblade Master is summoned, I can immediately equip him with Legendary Weapon – Kingdom Key, from my deck!"

Appearing in the new arrival's hand was a very large key, at least three feet long. The blade seemed to be made of silver while the bow was gold, from which a small metal chain hung out beneath. He held it resting against his shoulder with a confident sort of ease.

"Now, Kingdom Key's effect activates: I can send any Legendary Weapon card from my deck to my graveyard, and Kingdom Key will gain that card's effect until the end of the turn."

He had already found the requisite card from his deck, and then with a rather dramatic flourish he slid it into his graveyard.

"I choose Legendary Weapon – Excalibur… whose powers Keyblade Master will now receive until the end of the turn!"

At his words, Keyblade Master tossed his key up into the air. It was consumed by a ball of light as it ascended, which slowly vanished once it was on the way down. In place of the key was a sword with a pale blue blade, and a golden disc around the rain guard. Keyblade Master caught it confidently by the hilt, and gained a blue aura himself at that moment.

"It doesn't matter how much you power up your childish creatures, my defensive lock is absolute," hissed Cecelia in response.

"Considering you just played Opti-Camouflage Armor, you should know that not all equip cards solely provide an attack point boost," countered Pegasus. "You'll see what I mean right now: Keyblade Master, attack Tweedledum!"

The monster nodded, and raced across the field, swinging the sword back as he went. He soon reached the plump young boy who was not clad in armor, and with a bit of a regretful look, brought the sword down on him. Amazingly, his target let out a yelp and disappeared before the sword even connected.

"What just happened?" hissed Cecelia.

"It's rather simple," mused her opponent. "The effect of Legendary Weapon – Excalibur will destroy any monster that does battle with the one it's equipped to, before damage calculation. That means Tweedledum was destroyed by a card effect, not by battle, thus bypassing its effect! And that means…"

He trailed off, pointing at Tweedledee, Cecelia's sole surviving monster, who let out an audible gulp.

"As regrettable as it is, his brother is now left defenseless. Katchem, be a doll and go take care of business, would you?"

Katchem looked nervous but did as he was told, and walked slowly across the field until he reached the now cartoonishly trembling, rotund boy. He looked almost apologetic as he drew his fist back with great trepidation and punched Tweedledee in the chest, who let out a yelp and exaggeratedly fell back to great comic effect. He hit the ground in an unceremonious heap and then vanished.

Cecelia let out a scream of pain as her life-points began to drop for the first time in the duel.

(Cecelia: 7000, Pegasus: 7800)

She glared up at him. "First you let me die, then you dishonor my memory with shameful acts, and now you'll directly cause me pain? Did you ever love me?"

"Stop!" growled Pegasus. "You are not my Cecelia, but you do share her visage and therefore it gives me no great pleasure to hurt you, but I will do what I came here tonight to do no matter how hard Apep and his tricks make this for me."

He pointed an open palm to an empty monster card zone next to the Protector Token.

"When any Legendary Hero monster destroys a monster in battle, Katchem's effect allows me to summon another Protector Beast Token with the same attack and defense points as the destroyed target. I can also choose its attribute again and assign an appropriate effect: I choose fire!"

As he finished speaking, a fourth monster appeared on Pegasus' field. It was a strange creature that resembled some sort of lizard: but on two legs. It had mostly bright orange skin with a lighter shade covering its belly, with three claws on each of all four limbs. The most notable aspect of its appearance was a tail that extended a foot or so out behind it: with a small flame burning on the end of it.

Pegasus looked at it fondly, before stating, "Since I chose fire, this newest Token gains one thousand attack points."

"Char, char, char," it squeaked (1200/300).

"I will never understand what goes through that man's mind," thought Kaiba, somehow managing to keep his face expressionless.

"Now, this is going to hurt a lot more than the last attack, but I intend to end this quickly. I'll have my Wind Protector Beast Token attack directly!"

The brown bird took to the air and then divebombed in Cecelia's direction again, intent on hitting its target with its beak this time.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, activate!"

A very, very shoddily put together scarecrow appeared in mid-air, blocking the bird's path and preventing it from getting to Cecelia. It was literally a bunch of junk yard pieces of metal arranged on an iron stick with a pilot's helmet and goggles perched on the top. It was still realistic enough to scare off the Token though, which let out a mournful "Piga!" and then turned around and returned to Pegasus' field.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow allows me to negate your attack, but then also sets itself facedown on my field again to be activated on another turn," she revealed.

Pegasus shrugged. "Very well. Fire Token: attack directly with Flamethrower!"

The lizard let out another squeak and then belched out a stream of flames from within its maw, which collided with Cecelia, knocking her to her knees.

(Cecelia: 5800, Pegasus: 7800)

"You can't atone for one sin with another," she seethed, getting to her feet.

Pegasus did his best to ignore her, looking over his hand one more time before declaring, "That will end my turn."

Cecelia snapped the top card off her deck.

"First, I activate Pot of Greed in order to draw two cards."

The familiar, grinning green pot appeared on her field and she increased her hand size to four. Her brow furrowed in concentration for a moment before then rising in elation.

"Perhaps a change of location will help you reflect on the kind of person you've been. I activate the field spell Mirror of Underland!"

Pegasus gasped as the atmosphere around them began to twist and warp. The ground began to shake underneath his feet, and changed from a standard corporate carpet to a rocky gray wasteland. Giant, bizarrely multicolored plants began to sprout out around them, with bright green stalks and leaves of nearly all primary colors. Tiny creatures seemed to flit in and around the shrubbery, and a towering, crimson palace was visible in the distance.

The very air around them was the most unusual sight of all. It was a darkish blue, but every time Pegasus turned his head the dark mist seemed to refract light in every direction, temporarily blinding him.

"Why are you perverting some of the most simple joys of our childhood?" he growled.

"Not your childhood, Maximilian, mine," she snapped. "You lost any claim to sharing such memories with me when you let me die."

Pegasus winced again at this but he didn't say anything, so she continued.

"Mirror of Underland has a variety of effects which will come into play soon enough. For now, I activate my facedown Call of the Haunted, to bring Tweedledee (200/300) back to my field from my graveyard."

The overweight young child reappeared, looking thoroughly confused as usual.

"Finally, I play Star Blast: this allows me to reduce the level of a monster in my hand by one for every five hundred life-points I am willing to pay. I'll pay one thousand to take this level eight monster in my hand to level six, which I will now summon by tributing Tweedledee…"

(Cecelia: 4800, Pegasus: 7800)

She grimaced as the life-point drain hit her, but then slammed one of the two cards in her hand onto her monster card zone.

"Arise, Red Queen (1400/800)!"

The bumbling boy vanished, and was replaced by a short, prim-looking woman in a red gown. Her skin was a very pale white, with a brush of black lipstick proving the only color on it. Her body looked normal enough until one caught a sight of her huge and disproportional head. It was nearly half as big as her body by itself, and a small crown stood perched in the middle of it, looking oddly funny. In her right hand the queen clutched a long scepter, and looked back and forth across the field with a withering glance.

Most duelists would have scoffed at their opponent for summoning a two tribute monster with fourteen hundred attack points, but Pegasus himself had employed his fair share of extremely powerful monsters with low base scores in the past, so he reserved judgment.

"Red Queen, attack his stronger Token."

The monarch glared at the floating bird and screeched, "Off with his head!"

She then awkwardly made her way over to Pegasus' field and dealt it a glancing blow with her scepter. The bird glanced over in annoyance, growled "Piga!" and snapped its wing upward, which hit its assailant in the chin and sent her sailing back to Cecelia's field, where she exploded into pixels when she hit the ground.

At that instant, twin lightning bolts struck both Cecelia and Pegasus at the same time. The former merely tightened her lips and showed no sign of pain, but Pegasus had not been expecting it so he fell down onto one knee and let out an irritated grunt of pain.

(Cecelia: 3700, Pegasus: 7250)

"What just happened?" he rasped.

"When either of us is dealt battle damage between two monsters, the effect of Mirror of Underland will deal half that amount to the other."

Pegasus got to his feet and stared at her in incredulity.

"You put all those resources into summoning your Red Queen and then sacrificed it to deal me a piddly amount of life-point damage? What is going on?"

Cecelia ignored him.

"Next, I will activate the continuous spell Card of Safe Return, and then move to my end phase."

As she spoke, emerging from the strange looking skies was the crimson robed female monarch once again (2500/800). Only this time, she looked a bit less composed. Her air wasn't as perfectly manicured and her eyes had a crazed look to them.

Pegasus started, fumbling for an explanation, before Cecelia coolly interjected.

"It's rather simple, Maximillion. If Mirror of Underland is in play, I can special summon the Red Queen to my field during the end phase of the turn during which she was destroyed in battle. Her attack points now become equal to that of the monster that destroyed her."

As if to punctuate her words, the queen glowed with a red aura and glared at the array of monsters standing against her on Pegasus' field.

"To top it off, since a monster was special summoned from my graveyard, Card of Safe Return allows me to draw a card."

"So Pegasus' ex has the same flair for magic cards with ridiculously over the top effects as he does," mused Kaiba as the older man drew to commence his turn.

Pegasus regarded the situation.

"I could just suicide my stronger Protector Beast Token with the Red Queen and then attack directly with my other three monsters. In theory that would win me the duel. She does, however, still have Swift-Iron Scarecrow facedown still, and could simply negate the first attack to protect her Queen. I could also use Kingdom Key to mimic the effect of another Legendary Weapon and strengthen Keyblade Master, but then it wouldn't be enough to defeat her this turn itself and I'd be wasting another Weapon on a temporary boost, with the Red Queen returning the next turn even stronger."

He seemed to struggle to make a decision momentarily, before finally speaking in a somewhat frustrated tone.

"Fine. I will switch Katchem, Keyblade Master and my weaker Protector Token to defense mode and place one card facedown. That ends my turn."

At his words, every monster besides the bird dropped into a kneeling stance, with a vertical brown-backed card materializing behind them.

Cecelia drew and barely looked at the card before sliding it into her spell and trap zone.

"This is the perfect card for this situation… I activate Diffusion Wave Motion!"

Pegasus went momentarily pale. "No…"

"By paying one thousand life-points, one level seven or higher spellcaster on my field can attack all your monsters this turn. As it turns out, the Red Queen just so happens to fit that description…"

The Red Queen let out a screech, invisible energy pulses shooting off from all around her body. She raised her scepter as the field shook, and with a loud scream of, "Off with their heads!" brought it down to the ground hard, sending off shockwaves that slammed into all of Pegasus' monsters, shattering them all into pixels. The stronger Protector Beast Token was hit last, and before it destroyed reflected the wave back at the Red Queen, who also exploded.

(Cecelia: 2700, Pegasus: 7250)

Cecelia panted from exertion but through the heaves a malicious smile spread across her face.

Pegasus knew this meant trouble. The field presence he had put so many resources into building up was now gone, and Cecelia was about to get hers back.

There was, however, a catch, thankfully, and she had just noticed it.

"Why did your Legendary Weapon equip spell cards flip facedown instead of going to the graveyard?" Cecelia demanded.

She was correct. Pegasus now had three cards facedown instead of just one, and the extra two were clearly Monster Catcher and Kingdom Key, only now facedown.

He allowed himself a small smirk, despite the stress of the situation.

"It's rather simple. When a Legendary Hero equipped with a Legendary Weapon spell card is destroyed, the equip card remains on the field and is flipped facedown instead of going to the graveyard with it. In some ways, it functions similar to the Scrap-Iron Scarecrow you've still been using."

Cecelia shrugged in annoyance.

"Fine, having spell cards without monsters to use them with won't help you for long. Now I move to my end phase – and the Red Queen returns to me!"

At her words, the pale-skinned woman reappeared, looking even more crazed than before. Her hair was now well and truly a mess, her sleeves were torn in various places, and she gnashed her teeth angrily like a wild animal (2500/800).

"And of course: I can draw another card thanks to Card of Safe Return."

Pegasus did the same, only in his case it was his regular draw phase.

He looked over his hand. Nothing that could help him challenge the Red Queen straight up yet… And even if he did manage to destroy it, it would only come back stronger. No, he needed a way to take it down for good and made sure it stayed down. Until he found that, it made no sense to commit more resources on the offensive.

"I will place one monster in defense mode and end my turn," he stated with little emotion in his voice.

Cecelia drew; her hand size now at three.

"I summon the Knave of Hearts (1700/1200) in attack mode!"

Materializing next to the Red Queen was a man dressed in gray armor. He had very pale skin, raven hair that flowed to the back of his neck, and one eye covered with a red eyepatch in the shape of a heart. On either side of the patch the edges of a scar were visible. Clearly that eye had been lost in battle: while the other was hard, cruel and unforgiving. In his right hand he clutched a long, thin blade.

The most bizarre thing about this new arrival, however, was the soft and almost loving look the Red Queen was giving him.

"My Knave is the Red Queen's most loyal companion," whispered Cecelia. "He has stood and will stand by her side through all manner of trials and tribulations. Do you remember, Maximillion, when you and I were once this way? Do you remember when you told me we'd be by each other's sides for the rest of eternity, and then you broke that promise?"

"Stop this now!" snarled Pegasus, his voice cracking slightly during the last word. "You are not my wife and you do not get to judge me on my past."

"You're half correct there," she replied. "I am indeed not the woman you married and then watched die, but what I am is the personification of your innermost dark feelings and self-hatred… So in a way, no one gets to judge your past more than I do."

This last part made Kaiba perk up, like a guard dog hearing a twig snap at night.

"I think I understand what this whole thing is now," he thought grimly.

"The closer we draw to the climax of this duel the more unavoidable it will be for you to confront what you're trying to avoid," she continued emotionlessly. "Now it's time for me to show you what true loyalty looks like… Knave of Hearts, attack his facedown monster now."

The armored soldier darted across the field, and raised his sword above his head as he got to Pegasus' field. The facedown card flipped over to reveal a cartoonish purple rabbit. It had comically thin limbs and gigantic hands and feet, with its tongue sticking out the whole time. Within a second of its appearance, the Knave cleaved it in half.

"That was my Dark Rabbit (1100/1500)," muttered Pegasus.

"Your continual reliance on such childish creatures is just another sign of your attempt to hide from your lies, sins and broken promises," hissed his opponent. "Perhaps this next dose of pain will break you out of your stupor… Red Queen, attack his life-points directly!"

The monarch screeched "Off with his head!" once again, and crossed the field in a single leap. She landed in front of Pegasus and hit him across the face with her scepter. It knocked him off his feet, landing into a crumpled heap with a groan.

(Cecelia: 2700, Pegasus: 4750)

"That ends my turn," she declared. "Come now, Maximillion… Let's finish this. Or did that last attack wake you up to your guilt enough that it has left you unable to function?"

Pegasus slowly got to his feet. He was breathing deeply, and his long hair fell forward, obscuring his one good eye.

The two duelists stood still, complete silence momentarily awash over the room.

"I've got a bad feeling about this… Seems like all those taunts finally may have broken something within Pegasus," thought Kaiba grimly.

Slowly, and without lifting his head or speaking another word, Pegasus began to draw.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, admittedly that ending was a little anticlimactic compared to some of my other, more recent chapter endings but I couldn't think of a better spot to end it at. There will be some emotional moments coming up and with the way the narrative for the entire duel is going to be set up didn't feel right to end the chapter on them, so this was the compromise.

This duel was a little harder to write as well as it's mostly all CACs. My Nightrise readers will recognize the Alice in Wonderland deck: I actually had Pegasus himself use it back then. It was one of my favorite sets from back then so I had Cecelia use it for nostalgia's sake.

As for Pegasus, I didn't think that either Toons or his darker cards (Eye of Illusion/Faceless Mage/Relinquished/Thousand-Eyes Restrict) really fit the person he's trying to be here. Those are all very clearly villain cards. So I came across a 12 year old document I had for a set of cards called Legendary Heroes: created by 7th Librarian. I was going to have Adrian use them in Nightrise, and they were something else I wanted to fit into the story here somehow. I decided they fit Pegasus' character very well (moving on from cartoons to video games/anime), 7th Librarian reworked them, and well… here we are.

I hope my characterization of Cecelia isn't too bad. We obviously don't have anything to work with, so this is all my creation to fit the situation. If her behavior/motivation doesn't make sense, then it will very soon once I explain why she's here in the next chapter. There's already a hint in there towards the end when Kaiba seems to understand what's going on.

This was on the shorter side, and I apologize, but I've been struggling a bit with the dueling and wanted to get this out sooner rather than later. I will get the second part of the duel out before the end of the month for sure, and after that things will move faster as I'm MUCH more excited to write the next duel.

7th Librarian: I'm glad you liked what I did with Yugi's breaking down of Kaiba's character. As I told you before I started I want this to be THE definitive Kaiba story that really addresses everything there is to address about him. As for the duel, I'm glad you liked what I did with Mai, I definitely feel it was the best moment of the story so far. We did talk about the issue with Marik's speech patterns, and I hope there's improvement in this chapter itself.

Reaver72: Very glad you enjoyed this my man, and agree on how I wrote Yami Marik. If anyone wants over the top supervillain Yami Marik there's always Advent of Power to re-read haha (God, I started that 17 years ago, it's probably awful). I also hope I didn't do a terrible job writing Cecelia.

ChroniclerDL: Glad you enjoyed it man. As I said above, I consider Mai's comeback the best moment of the story so far. And I don't know if you say my DM, but that quote is from the sci-fi TV show The 100: it's extremely good and available on Netflix. You should definitely give it a try.

Metal Overlord 2.0: Haha as powerful as Dracula is I don't think it was a gnat compared to the Orochi fusions or the Great Moth variants you came up with lmao. I honestly didn't even consider the irony of Mai using Phoenix Formation after her "rebirth" but I guess it worked out pretty well regardless. As I said above, you can always reread Advent of Power if you want the more Chad version of Yami Marik (not sure if you could make it through though considering how poor the writing quality was looking back XD). Hope you enjoyed the start of this duel, both another blast from the past and some new references I'm sure you'll love.

Galaxyquest240: Very happy you enjoyed how things went with Mai and Marik, man. I did my best to give her the complete story arc she was denied in the original series, and now I plan to do the same for Pegasus. These are all things I'm much more capable of writing now that I'm much older than I was when I wrote Nightrise. Stay tuned, things are definitely going to get even crazier.