Whee!

Disclaimer: Yu-gi-Oh! Belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I make no profit off this fanfiction, and it belongs to me under international copyright laws. Don’t steal and don’t sue. Thank you, *Phantomness bows*

Chapter 6

Yuugi stared moodily at his deck. He kept turning the cards over, and staring at them. Mashu Melon. Silent Swordsman. Destruction Dragon Gondola…

They were good cards. They were his cards. They had appeared right after he had left, and honestly, even though he had been frightened, at the same time, he had been relieved.

He knew this deck of Cards. And he had defeated the Paradox Brothers with it, as a result of an accidental fall into the labyrinth maze underground. He had to duel Jounichi-kun with this deck tomorrow. However, Jounichi-kun would still get the money for his sister’s eye operation, and that was what mattered.

But he knew these cards. The cards in his grandfather’s deck – the cards that Yami had, he did not know them. It was very strange…

It made too much noise in his mind to think about, so he closed his eyes and wondered if Mai would be dueling Bandit Keith.

Yami was very disturbed. He had a right to be disturbed. The fact that a man was sneaking into his bedroom in the bloody middle of the night was more than a little disturbing. The fact that the man was Bandit Keith just made it more so!

Luckily, his Deck was underneath his pillow, so he had nothing to worry about from that angle, but even so…

He did not want the man rooting around in his belongings. The Sennen Eye lit upon his forehead as he sat up in bed. “Bandit Keith.”

The man stiffened, before he reached into his jacket. It was a switchblade.

Yami frowned. He reached for his deck and in one fluid motion drew the top card. It materialized in the form of a very surprised Mystical Elf. However, she had enough presence of mind to sink into defense mode. The switchblade did hit her, but her defense prevailed. She glared.

Bandit Keith stared. “What the-?”

Yami had already drawn another card form his deck. “Go, Silver Fang!” The wolf howled as he pounced on Keith.

Keith did the smart thing and fled the room.

Yami sighed in relief. So he had not taken anything. Good… he carefully shuffled his deck, smiling when the Dark Magician – once again blonde-haired and green-eyed came up on top.

He would not allow anything to happen to them.

With that thought in mind, the two monsters bowed and returned home, and they settled into sleep…

The next morning, he had to Duel the bastard who had broken into his room in the middle of the night, not Mai, because somehow, the man had managed to defeat Mai before he woke up. Hmm.

In all honesty, Yami didn’t buy it. Just the way the man looked, and what he had done last night, screamed of cheating. Besides, Mai had the spark in her that made a Duelist. In fact, he wondered if she might like the Eye or the Rod, but then shook it off.

She’d be a useful friend. Reminded him of some Amazon a while back. Perhaps he had known her in a past life? It was possible…

But in any case, he sat up to Duel Bandit Keith. He wasn’t really doing that badly, at least not until he saw his mother get trapped in the Shadow Spell card. That was when he truly started to panic.

It might just be a duel simulation, but that was his mother out there and she-!

Breathe. He had to breathe. Had to trust the deck. Drew his next card, waiting. Watching. Yes, that would be enough…

Now, to wait…

“Pendulum Machine! Destroy his Dark Magician!”

Not so fast! “I play Mirror Force!”

The card blazed to life before the chained figure, blasted the Pendulum Machine into smithereens. She was still tied, but she could fight, and now, his life points were wide open.

She raised her staff and brought it down with all the force her dark magic could muster.

The Duel ended.

Yami’s fingers trembled slightly as he gathered up his Cards, feeling the Dark Magician pulse, slightly warmer than the rest of his Deck. If he hadn’t drawn Mirror Force… then his Mother would have…

No! It was only a Duel! They weren’t in Egypt any more! She couldn’t die like that! She couldn’t!

He breathed. He took one breath, then two… and met Yuugi’s eyes. So. He’d been watching.

A feeling of bitterness welled up in Yami’s body, but he said nothing. He carefully slid his deck into the carrying case on his belt, Dark Magician on top, and went to get a snack at the refreshment table Pegasus had set up for his guests.

He wasn’t sure he could take this. But he had to trust her…

She had protected him for a long time. Now he should protect her… he nodded as he finished his punch.

He would protect her.

She was Mewet, after all, and he would protect her. He would fill his deck with her favorite magic and trap cards to help…

Yuugi shook his head as he bit into a cookie. His match with Jounichi was coming up, but he was still worried.

That had been frightening, seeing Yami’s expression when the Black Magician got hurt. Was it really Yami’s mother?

If not, it wouldn’t explain anything. There had to be some reason why Dark Magician was Yami’s favorite, why it always drew when he needed it…

He saw the cards, willed them into existence. The tablets hadn’t fallen, after all. For some reason, the tablets had stayed. Probably because his little brother and his lover had wanted to keep them, Yami mused. Display purposes only, of course, never mind that Seto and Yuugi had thrown a temper tantrum when neither of them could summon the Black Magician.

They had destroyed it.

Wasn’t it lucky his Puzzle had a door to the realm, and his mother had escaped here! And she wandered his mind, to protect him when he needed it.

That was where she was now, and she whispered soothing nothings as he listened, calm, calm… the Puzzle glittered, though Yuugi saw it not, still stroking the edges of the pointed illusion. Foolish brother!

Did you think my power came from the puzzle? Fool. He sighed and got more punch. Mother would be safe.

And then, they’d defeat Pegasus and well – what next? They’d see…

End Chapter

Completed 4/29/06

… I just realized I didn’t explain stuff. Oh well. There is no canon proof that Mahaado ever had Silent Magician as his ka. I just wanted to make it a plot point.