The Magicians' Realm Chapter 130: Parting Shot, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 130, everybody! Oh gosh we made it! And just in time for taxes, too.

For the record Unger is a tool but he's a useful tool since I wasn't sure how to get from point A to point B without him. Saying that, this is the end of Book I, I'd like to get Book II up and running this year but that's going to take some work since this story went places I didn't expect and took a lot longer to write than I thought it would—from start to finish, Book I took about sixteen years to write and almost ten to post. D:

But uhhh yeah that's it, if you need me I'll be working on Book II. G'night everybody!

References:

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

Yami had traced his father to the Administration Building, tried going around the side to head him off—rounded it in time to see him confronting Skellington.

He had ice in his chest the whole time he watched, trying to circle around for a better angle, just waiting for it to all go sideways—wasn't expecting his father to walk away, to walk away unscathed—

Did expect Skellington to round on Sumbinix, scythe at the ready—wince, unable to tear his eyes away, convinced that he was about to bear witness to murder—

Skellington spotted him.

He wasn't sure what happened after that, only that Sumbinix looked alive as Skellington floated him down the stairs—start to move to intercept, maybe talk him into leaving Delvaire—

Choked as what felt like a noose tightened around his throat, scrambling at it but feeling nothing—

Feeling it cut him off from his magic.

"Binding spells are my forte, little boy," Unger hissed in his ear. "Now, you're going to do as I say, and maybe you'll live to see the next sunrise. Understand?"

He sincerely doubted he'd be able to leave alive—that gun barrel at the base of his head felt too immediate for him to believe otherwise. And yet—

Glance down at his Puzzle, glowing softly. His family heirloom supposedly had magic, right?

Boy he hoped so.

Yami had Sumbinix marched down the steps and heading for the dungeon when the twice-great nephew stepped out.

"Ah," Yami started—blinked when he realized he wasn't alone. "Well, how convenient—Unger, you'll be joining Sumbinix."

"I will, but not in the way you're thinking," Unger said, flaring his magic and showing the runic noose he had around the nephew's neck. "Release him, or suffer the consequences."

"You're not killing him," Yami said flatly. "You're not so daft that you'd kill your hostage."

"I never said I'd kill him," Unger said, tapping the nephew under the ear with a gun barrel, sparking it against the noose. "You've seen one of these before, haven't you? My specialty, so useful on pages and other underlings—compels them to do whatever I want. Such as, say, kill his family."

The nephew's eyes widened at that, Yami's nonexistent stomach plummeting—

"It will persist past my death," Unger said. "And your usual method for undoing such runes would blow his head off. So we trade. You give me Sumbinix, I give you the boy. What you do with him after is none of my concern, but know that if you try to renege on our deal before we leave it will go into effect. Do we understand each other?"

Honestly seething and freezing were doing the tango in his ribs—look at the nephew looking at him desperately—Unger was right, he couldn't speedily undo those runes without causing him harm—

The runes were starting to faintly glow gold, matching the soft glowing of his family's heirloom, the Millennium Puzzle.

Something clicked then—the Puzzle was supposed to have certain powers, but he had never been able to budget the time and figure out what. If this kid had assembled it and activated it—

He needed two things right now: his nephew safe and some extra time to stall.

"I understand you're just one of a group of conniving backstabbers," Yami pointed out. "I want a guarantee."

"And what would that be?" Unger scoffed. "Cross my heart and hope to die?"

You will, and you don't have one, he thought, narrowing his eyes. "One of your own nooses, around your own neck. You try something funny, and you find out just what you've visited on people over the years."

"I don't think so," Unger said, cocking the hammer—Yami didn't doubt the bullet had runes on it too. "Careful now, the boy's about to go do something he'll regret."

Exhale, shove Sumbinix forward. "Untie him yourself."

"Petty," Unger sniffed. Poked the nephew in the back of the head with the gun. "Walk."

The nephew walked stiffly forward, passing Sumbinix hobbling for Unger, runes starting to burn off from the Puzzle's influence—

Yami could tell when the kid had full control of himself, because that was the moment he spun back to face the Administrators, magic flaring. Yami leaped forward—

Too late.

Sharp bark of the gun, Unger and Sumbinix fleeing, Puzzle shattering from the bullet and impacting—a flash of gold—

Gone.

Yami skidded to a halt where the nephew had been, fleeing Administrators forgotten, not comprehending—no—no, he couldn't be gone—

Wait—

No, he wasn't.

Not quite.

There was some residual magic there—

That hinted at a shift in dimensions.

Which meant he could be retrieved.

Yami Skellington swept his hands through the spot where Yami Montgau had been, collected the magic and ran back through the town, ducking and dodging the brutal fighting going on—he had to get back to the Tower—

"You!" he said suddenly, snapping his hand out and snatching Hephaestus' collar. "You're with me."

"Hey! What!" Hephaestus squawked, being dragged rather unceremoniously from whoever he was fighting at the moment.

"I need you to get the Dimensional Tower running again!"

"I don't—no! Wait a minute!"

It took a few moments for them to get to the Dimensional Tower, at which point Yami relinquished his grip on Hephaestus; Hepaestus glared at him as he straightened his collar.

Yami opted to ignore him in lieu of putting the magic in the receptacle of the Tower—a small box the size of a milk crate, that sampled the residue inside to find the dimension needed. Which usually required having something from said dimension.

Yami reflected, with no small amount of irony, that there was probably a reason the Dimensional Tower had originally been called Sheut's Machina.

"What are we doing, exactly?" Hephaestus asked.

"One of the Administrators threw a curse at Yami the smaller," Yami said. "I think the Millennium Puzzle caught it and transported him away—far away. So we're getting him back."

"Marvelous," Hephaestus said, already working the machine. "Just so you know, this won't be precise—you might be a few days—or even months—off."

"I'll risk it."

"Uh-huh. And if the Administrators destroy it, you'll be stuck, by the way."

"Again, I'll risk it—but I insist you stop them before they do."

"Right."

"What's going on?" Kineil asked, skidding to a halt next to them. "I saw you running—"

"Idiot here is going dimension-hopping," Hephaestus said, pointing at Yami.

"Idiot," Kineil said to Yami.

"Thank you for your continued support, and I am not changing my mind," Yami said. "Just make sure the Tower stays in one piece long enough for me to get back with the other Yami in tow."

Kineil and Hephaestus exchanged glances.

"I cannot emphasize enough how stupid this is," Kineil said, looking back at him. "What are you even doing?"

"I'm pretty sure I've already told you. Several times."

"I know what you said—why are you doing it?"

Good question—and one he didn't have an immediate answer to, other than some niggling sensation at the back of his head.

He glanced back at the fighting—

Realized that he was seeing the result of a thousand years of festering hate running rampant across the town he loved so much.

And once it burnt out, there would be nothing.

But his nephews—that was something.

And he wasn't about to lose another person precious to him.

"Because if I don't, I'd never be able to live with myself," he said finally.

"Well duh," Kineil said, gesturing at him. "Of course you wouldn't! You're dead!"

"You know what I mean," he said testily, turning to the Dimensional Tower as the portal began to glow. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck—you'll need it."

Yami glanced at Hephaestus.

"I think it's a stupid idea too, for the record," Hephaestus said. "But good luck."

Yami tipped his head, acknowledging the irony, straightened his cape as he stepped forward.

And as he stepped through the portal, one word occurred to him.

Showtime.

End Part I

Word count: 216,771 words

Page count (in Word): 648 pages