Queer As Tachi – Chapter 37
Yugi held his breath as a man came out from the bedroom of the penthouse suite, a silver-haired older gentleman in an expensive-looking suit, thick and pasty in that way that made Yugi immediately assume he was an American businessman. He had a gold chain on his tie and several gold rings on, and moved with a self-assured gait that spoke of power and arrogance. He went straight to Yugi and eyed him distastefully. “You’re the holder of the most important Millennium Item?” he wondered.
Yugi stared up at him. “Just who are you?” he asked back.
“I wouldn’t expect you to know.” The man turned and went to the desk at the far side of the room, near where Archer had decided to go stand so he could watch. He picked up a folder and paged through it. “So you’re…Yugi Muto,” he said, apparently reading off a piece of paper inside. “Nineteen years old, you work in a game shop…” He eyed Yugi from across the room. “How the hell does a kid like you get his hands on the rarest artifact in the entire history of the world?”
Yugi lowered his eyes very subtly. “Because it’s my destiny,” he murmured, not caring whether they heard his reply or not.
“Like I said, the Items were all in the hands of young people at last count,” Archer spoke up aloofly. “He’s got the Puzzle, that Bakura kid has the Ring, the Egyptian teenager had the Rod but he doesn’t anymore…”
“Yes, well, it doesn’t matter,” the man in the suit sighed. “I was merely curious. However they got the artifacts, what really matters is that they’re going to give them up to someone more deserving.”
“More deserving?” Yugi yelped, his anger overcoming his fear. “What do you know about the Millennium Items? The only people who ‘deserve’ them are the people whose destiny it is to carry them!”
The man gave him a condescending look. “Ah yes, that’s right. David told me you had a sentimental attachment to the Puzzle. I don’t know what you’ve been told, but there is no ‘destiny’ about it, any more than there are curses in tombs.” He set the folder back down and crossed to the suite’s bar instead. “Can I get you anything, Mr. Muto?” He glanced aside, and then gestured to his two suited lackeys to back off and go stand by the door, leaving Yugi room to breathe and not feel threatened. “I know you’re not old enough to be plied with alcohol, but I can get you coffee, soda, anything.”
“No,” Yugi said shortly, rudely. “Just let me go. I’m not giving you the Puzzle.”
The man poured himself some kind of drink and paced casually across the room like he was in complete control of the situation. “Come now,” he scolded, “you could at least sit down so we can talk like civilized adults.”
“Civilized adults don’t kidnap people off the street and drag them in here at gunpoint,” Yugi retorted.
The businessman raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t deny the charge. “And you’re not willing to listen to any offer I may have to give you? I already offered you enough money to keep you set for the rest of your life, just for that little trinket around your neck.”
“And I already told you no,” Yugi snapped. “Do you even know what you’re asking of me? Do you know anything about the Millennium Items? Why do you want them? What are you going to do if you have all seven?”
The man took a sip of his drink, looking away with a bit of a pleased smile. “I already have an elegant display planned,” he said wistfully. “A nice mahogany shelf with perhaps some Egyptian linen draped around it. Six Items in a circle with the Puzzle as the centerpiece…”
Yugi stared, absolutely boggled. “You…you just want to display them?”
“But of course.” The man turned and gave him a questioning look. “What else would one do with artifacts as rare and beautiful as these? I wouldn’t lock them away in a safe deposit box, even though they’re very valuable. My estate has a state-of-the-art alarm system, I’m not worried about theft.”
Eyes wide, Yugi fought to pick his jaw up off the floor. “Just who are you, anyway?” he managed to stammer. “If you don’t care about the shadow games or the pharaoh’s power…”
The man resumed pacing with his drink, heading vaguely back towards the desk and Archer, who stood with his arms folded and a blank look on his seedy face. “I’m a collector,” he said simply, still not giving his name. “I have the means to fill my personal art and rarities collections with anything I want. When you’re as rich as I am, kid,” he added with a sardonic laugh over his shoulder, “indulging your personal tastes and fantasies is all there is to do with your money. My taste is in rare historical items, and what you hold there is the rarest of them all.” He turned to face Yugi again, his face darkening with an avaricious grin. “The Millennium Items are in a class by themselves. They’re not as well-known as, say, the Holy Grail or the Rosetta Stone, but they’re just as legendary and impossible to attain in their own way. So little is known about them, so few people in the world have heard of them. I have.” He paced past Archer, ignoring him. “I picked up a reference to them in some writings on ancient Egyptian games by a professor of archaeology named Arthur Hawkins, and after doing some research, I realized how rare and priceless they are. The only items of their kind, created thousands of years ago for a pharaoh who also seems to have disappeared into history. There are hardly any writings about him, and the only knowledge of the Millennium Items is that they were lost when he disappeared. Except that they surfaced again over the past couple of decades…” He strode closer to Yugi, as if coming to snatch the Puzzle. Yugi shrank back from him a step or two, closing his hands around the Puzzle. “There are so few records, I knew it would be difficult to get information on them, but I had no idea. The only legends of the Items were passed down through a family of tombkeepers whose history ran in an unbroken line back to the time of the pharaohs, who themselves had secrets they kept hidden very well. If not for publicity photos of Mr. Maximillian Pegasus from about six or seven years ago, I might have believed it all as charmingly hokey as the Holy Grail legends. That, and the passing comments made in papers by Professor Hawkins, made me a believer. I’ve been looking for them for years, and I’ve finally discovered that not only do they exist…” He bent down to eye the Puzzle greedily. “…but they’re in the hands of a bunch of Japanese kids.”
Yugi backed away from him again, trying to hide the Puzzle by turning a stubborn shoulder to him. “I don’t believe you,” he gasped. “You just think they’re rare artifacts? That’s it? You’re spending millions of dollars trying to buy or steal them from us just because you want to collect them?” He glared his worst. “That’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever heard. You tried to kill us for these and you don’t even realize what’ll happen if you get all seven. How could you?”
“They’re of no use to you either,” the businessman reasoned. “What, did you have it passed down to you as a family heirloom? Those can be bought and sold at any time, Mr. Muto.”
Yugi fairly quivered with his inner rage. “Because of you, my friends were nearly killed,” he accused in a seething whisper. “Men with knives and guns broke into my house and would have killed me, too. Is that how you do business? If you can’t buy it, you may as well take it with violence?”
The man stood there staring him down. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do to fill my collection,” he said seriously. “I choose people to help me and leave them the freedom to use any means they have to in order to obtain the pieces I want. All I do is pay them the price they ask to get me my items. Whatever Archer did, you can’t prove by any means that I ordered him to do it directly. He may be a little rough sometimes,” he added with a glance back at his subordinate, “but he gets the job done. And at last, he’s brought you to me. You, and the Puzzle.”
No matter how many flights of stairs he ran up, the Ring still tugged Bakura higher and higher, until he was practically crawling up them. At the very top, the tines of the Ring finally changed direction, leading him through the door into the hallway and down it towards the grand suites at the end. He stopped in front of the door indicated by his Ring and stared at it, knowing that without a key card or a ruse he would not be able to get in. If those thugs had Yugi trapped in here, they wouldn’t just admit him if he knocked. Sighing hard, Ryo realized that if he wanted to get in, he would have to surrender to his inner spirit and let him do the dirty work. His dark side would know what to do. Stepping back until he felt the wall behind him, Bakura leaned on it to catch his breath for a minute, lowering his head. He hated to have to do this, but it was the only way.
Inside, Yugi hunted around for an escape even though he knew there wasn’t one. Even if he did let Yami come out, there were four men, all bigger than him, who could do him serious harm if he tried to run. Reasoning with the big shot in charge didn’t seem to be helping, but it was his only recourse until he could think of another. “I told Archer, you can’t just take the Millennium Puzzle,” he argued. “You have to win it from me in a duel. That’s the only way to take the pharaoh’s power, and I don’t think any of you know the first thing about Duel Monsters. I’d win and you’d be back where you started.”
The man shook his head. “You have such a fanciful imagination,” he mocked. “All I have to do is take the chain from around your neck, no card games need to be involved.”
Yugi bristled. “You know nothing,” he said darkly. “You don’t care about the shadow games, or the pharaoh, or any of it, do you? The Millennium Items are powerful magical objects, not dusty old artifacts from Egypt. If you’re not meant to hold one, you couldn’t possibly understand the power they have.”
“Curses and legends are just what the ancient peoples used to tell each other to keep other people’s hands off their stuff,” Archer said snidely from across the room. “The only power they have is in the minds of the superstitious.”
Yugi shot him a glare. “Did you even get the message the pharaoh sent through your burglar?”
The businessman glanced at his associate. “What is he talking about?”
Archer made a disgruntled face. “The one guy who went completely mental,” he explained. “I don’t know what he thinks he saw, but when he came back to me, he flipped out and went on about some kind of message from the Nameless Pharaoh. Then he passed out. He’s lost his marbles, totally.”
“What did the message say?”
“To leave the Millennium Items alone, or I’d be next on his list.”
“Ah.” The big man smiled condescendingly down at Yugi. “That’s what you get for hiring locals,” he chided. “They’re all superstitious about ancestor spirits coming back for revenge and things like that. It’s nothing. Pay it no mind.”
Yugi gaped at him, offended for an all new reason. “I can’t believe this.”
“So, you don’t want the money,” the man guessed, upending his glass and finishing off his drink. “I’m sorry, Mr. Muto. Superstitions about the pharaoh cursing us for taking his Millennium Items aren’t going to stop me from wanting them. Now that I see the Puzzle for myself, I know I have to have them. No one else in the world will ever come close to having a collection so rare and wonderful. Seven golden Items, implements of the pharaoh and his court, nothing like them exists anywhere in the world! Mayhew…” He nodded towards one of the men standing guard by the door. The henchman strode up, drawing a gun from inside his suitcoat and pointing it straight at Yugi’s head. The big boss wandered away, speaking over his shoulder. “Then I guess I have no choice. You’d be a fool to try to hang onto the Puzzle, Mr. Muto. I’m not above taking it off your body like some robber did to the pharaoh a long time ago.”
Yugi froze, his eyes going wide, but he knew this was the time. He let go, and instantly Yami’s presence rushed forward, blazing to life with a mystical Eye shining from his forehead. The thug flinched, unsure what was going on. Yami did not even acknowledge him, his attention going straight to the dark-suited man across the room. “You dare threaten my partner,” he intoned in his deep, dramatic voice. “I warned you. Anyone else who would try to take the Millennium Puzzle would face my wrath.”
The man turned around, intending to mock his young prey again, but the sight of the Puzzle glowing like a star and a shimmering flame on Yugi’s forehead made him do a double-take. “David,” he said to his associate, wrapping comment and question into that single word.
“I don’t know,” Archer responded, lowering his arms to his sides and staring. “Maybe the Puzzle’s got some hidden features after all.”
“That’s ridiculous.” The businessman confronted Yami, who showed no sign of fear at all now despite the gun haphazardly pointed at him. “Bravery will get you nowhere, son,” he said heavily. “Just give it up. I don’t want to kill you, but if that’s the way you want to play it…”
“This is no game,” Yami growled, “but if you want one, I’ll be glad to initiate one. One in which the stakes are much higher than your money can buy.”
The businessman frowned, and then nodded towards his other bodyguard. “Peter, give us a hand.”
“No way,” the man replied, raising his hands. “He’s just a kid. I don’t want any part of this.”
“Peter!” the man snapped, his face beginning to turn red. “He’s trying to play mind games, it’s nothing. Get over here and help me beat some sense into him.”
“It has nothing to do with the mind games,” Peter argued. “I’m not going to go to jail for you. If they find some teenager dead over his necklace, the heat’ll be on me, not you. I’m not stupid.”
“You are if you think a little moral outrage is going to get you off the hook,” Archer snapped, coming forward. “It’s too late now. You…”
At that instant, the door of the hotel room burst open from the outside, and a blast of invisible power knocked Peter back out of the way as he had been standing in front of it. Yami felt the dark jolt in his soul and knew its source, but he couldn’t have been more glad to know it was there. Bakura stood in the doorway in all his glory, the Ring shining out from his chest, his eyes shadowed beneath his thick hair. “Sorry I’m late,” he lilted with a twisted grin. “Mind if I join the party?”
The gun began to swing from Yami to the intruder, but Yami saw it and flung out a hand, knocking it from the henchman’s grip. Pandemonium broke out, as Bakura rushed in, Archer flew at him, the big boss ducked out of the way, and Yami let out a roar of rage and flung himself into the melee of bodies. Archer’s hands groped for either the necks of his adversaries or the Items around them, whichever he could grab, but neither spirit would allow it to happen. Bakura’s fists flew, but for Yami, it was about the building swell of power he had been holding in until the moment Yugi allowed him to take control. Archer leaped toward him, but the pharaoh lifted his hands, palms outward, and shouted, “Mirror Force!” The effect was amusing to watch; Archer appeared to hit an invisible wall and rebounded backwards with as much energy as he had put into the charge, rolling end over end across the floor and coming to rest against a wall. Peter went to see to him, but Archer shook off the daze and picked himself up, wavering unsteadily on his feet before plunging back in. Bakura and Yami stood back to back, waiting for their chance to break for the door as soon as it was clear, but right now the businessman stood in their way, the look on his pasty face making it clear that if he was the last one left standing, he would fight for those Items. His eyes glazed over with lust, seeing two of them now. Three big men closed in on the two willowy boys, who crouched in readiness. “That was brave of you,” Yami complimented his companion, “but what are we going to do now?”
“I don’t suppose you have the Rod this time, do you?” Bakura chuckled wryly. “No matter. Just use your instincts – you seem to have a knack for it.” He shoved Yami bodily out of the way as he threw himself at Archer, grappling with him for a moment before slamming a hand to the center of his chest and giving a shout as his internal power surged through him. Archer flopped back, completely out cold before his body even hit the floor. Bakura raised a fist wreathed in ethereal energy, as if it were holding the man’s soul, but before he could do anything with it the other henchman tackled him from behind. The Millennium Ring clanged magnificently as it hit the floor, and Bakura let out a grunt as he was pinned between it and the heavy man. Yami leaped to assist, but the henchman kicked out and took his feet out from under him. Yami dropped onto his seat, unable to stop the man from striking Bakura and then trying to wrestle the Ring away from him. The pharaoh heard the dark spirit snarl, “oh no you don’t!” before they went tumbling away across the room, knocking into furniture.
Yami tried to get to his feet, but the main boss was there all of a sudden, clapping his hands around Yugi’s throat and squeezing. The pharaoh did his best to rebel, but he was no stronger than his vessel and couldn’t pull himself free. The businessman then grabbed the chain of the Puzzle, seeing how close it was, how tantalizing, available for him to just take and run away with. Yami clamped a hand on the man’s wrists, fighting back, refusing to allow him to get the chain over his head. “Never!” he seethed through clenched teeth. “The Puzzle does not belong to you! You will never break the bond, do you hear me?”
The man just kept pulling, one hand on Yugi’s throat, the other on the Puzzle chain, his face contorted in a hideous grimace of desire and fury. Yami held him at bay, his own desires far stronger in the face of such a challenge, aware that it was down to him alone. He could hear Bakura crashing about somewhere behind him, but he had his own trouble to deal with and couldn’t come to the rescue. Then, the door slammed open again and everyone heard, “Police! Freeze! Everyone stay where you are and don’t move!”
At the same instant, both Yami and Bakura receded into their respective vessels, leaving the Americans throttling and beating on two young, sensitive boys with golden pendants around their necks. The businessman froze in place with his hand on Yugi’s throat, but Yugi still managed to squeak out, “Help us, please! They’re trying to kill us!”
Facing them from the doorway were no less than five police officers, guns drawn and pointed at all participants of the melee. The two henchmen still conscious immediately raised their hands, though one had stayed out of it and was merely tending to Archer. Their boss simply stared at the weapons trained on him, as if unable to comprehend the internationally-known gesture. More officers came up behind them, allowing the first cadre to rush into the room and train their guns on the ones obviously doing the violence, shouting at them to back off and get down on the floor until they all complied one by one. Bakura sat in a daze, his cheek bruised, but none of the officers had their guns on him so he knew he was okay. The businessman was the last to move, needing three officers pointing guns at his head before he finally let go of Yugi. They swiftly moved to cuff him, and then Yugi noticed a plain-clothes detective come into the room, guessing it was the one Marik and Odeon had spoken to. He zeroed in on Yugi and stood over him. “Are you all right?” he asked sternly.
“I think so,” Yugi stammered, rubbing his throat. His leather collar had rubbed him raw, and the pressure of the buckle on his throat had been almost too much to bear. “Where did you come from?”
“We got a call that someone here reported an abduction,” the detective replied. “When I heard the concierge’s description of the young man who was kidnapped, I had to come along. You’re Yugi Muto, correct?”
Yugi blinked at him. “Uh…yeah…”
“Thought so.” The detective turned to the officers. “Get the medical team up here, to see to their injuries. No, the boys are the victims – the others are under arrest.”
The officers not currently holding captives went to Yugi and Ryo, picking them up and finding them chairs to sit in while they waited for emergency staff to look them over. Both were breathless and a little sore, but they had come through the battle with only a few bruises to show for it. A new type of chaos swirled around them, as officers and detectives handled the cleanup of the mess, questioning the suspects, informing them of charges being brought against them, confirming that Yugi and Bakura were mere victims of attempted theft and battery. Without the spirit of the Ring in charge, Ryo was at his most tender and innocent, no one could believe that he had acted out of anything but concern for his old school friend in a brave but misguided attempt to heroically save him. After taking their statements and caring for their injuries, the detective declared them free to go. He had their information, in case he needed to call them and get the story all over again or bring them in as witnesses. Together, the boys went down to the hotel lobby, at which point Yugi began to tremble. He reeled into one of the empty couches in the lounge, there, needing a few minutes to collect himself before he could leave. Bakura sat down with him, realizing how drained he was. He had exerted himself beyond what he was used to. He sat beside Yugi and placed a hand gently on his back. Yugi sat forward with his head in his hands, breathing as deeply as he could. “It’s okay, I’m okay,” he tried to assure. “I just need to…to sit here a minute.”
“So do I,” Bakura realized with a sigh. “What…what just happened, Yugi? Was that it? Did we just…win?”
“I don’t know.” Yugi lifted his head, glancing aside at Ryo. “Are you okay? That’s a nasty-looking bruise you’ve got there.”
“I’m fine,” his friend replied, though not very confidently. “I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow, though. How about you? Those marks on your neck…”
Yugi reached up and traced the welts on his neck and throat left by the pressure of the Puzzle chain and the leather collar, the latter of which he had taken off so the medics could look at him and make sure he hadn’t received serious injury. “It burns a little,” he admitted, “but I think it’ll be okay.”
Bakura nodded, and then took a deep breath. “So…that was him. The guy who wanted our Millennium Items.”
“I guess so.” Yugi sat back, forcing Ryo to withdraw his comforting hand. “I heard the policeman read his identification, but I still don’t recognize the name. I guess he’s some kind of rich American CEO or something.”
Ryo had heard the rest of the story as Yugi had related it to the officers taking his statement. He blinked in wonder at his friend. “But that’s it, then. It’s over. He’s been arrested, and I’m sure he’ll find it difficult to fight in court when a whole team of police officers saw him choking you.”
“I just hope I don’t have to be called into court myself,” Yugi fretted. “I want to put this whole thing behind me. I hope it really is over.”
They sat in silence for a while, hands demurely clasped in their laps, collecting their wits and catching their breath after the whirlwind of activity. Eventually, the collection of cops and robbers from upstairs had to come down and pass through the lobby to leave, passing like a demented circus train right in front of Yugi and Ryo where they sat. Archer was apparently conscious again, but neither he nor any of the others glanced aside as they were trooped out the door to the waiting police cars, enduring the boggled stares from passersby who couldn’t help but rubberneck at all the flashing lights and handcuffs and guns. Despite being safely unnoticed, Yugi shot Archer a glare regardless. “So I guess the spirit of the Ring didn’t do anything to his soul after all,” he muttered under his breath.
“No,” Ryo breathed. “There wasn’t time. His soul just returned to him.”
Yugi glanced at him again. “How much do you remember? Were you in on it, or did you black out like usual?”
Ryo blinked steadily at his hands in his lap. “I have some vague impressions, like I’m watching an out-of-focus movie,” he murmured, “but I don’t recall any specifics. I had to let him do it, though. I couldn’t have taken on those men by myself, as much as I might have wanted to save you.”
“Thanks.”
Both boys looked up, then, as a tall man in a thick coat came up to them. It was the detective, again, looking considerably less stern than before. “Are you boys all right?” he asked kindly.
“Yes, sir,” Yugi answered tiredly. “Just needed to catch my breath.”
Bakura nodded towards the men being loaded into police cars outside. “What’s going to happen to them? What will we have to do from here?”
“Hopefully, nothing,” the detective said. “David Archer is wanted on several outstanding international warrants, I’m sure he’ll be bouncing from one country to the next to face a sequence of trials, assuming one doesn’t put him away on behalf of the rest. There’s too much evidence against him for him to fight extradition, even if the courts here go light on him.”
“What about the main guy?” Yugi worried. “He’s the one I’m really worried about. He’s the one who wants our Millennium Items, and I don’t think putting him in jail for what he did upstairs is going to make him stop wanting them.”
The detective sighed heavily. “Well, he’s going on about his rights, but he’s not in America right now,” he smartly pointed out. “At the very least he’ll be deported and forbidden from entering the country again. But I don’t think you have to worry about him coming after you. He was caught in the act of attempted murder, it will be very hard for him to escape that.”
Yugi focused sad eyes on him. “Will I have to come to any trials, or swear as a witness or anything?”
“That, I don’t know. But I’ll speak to the prosecutors on your behalf, and try to keep you out of court if possible. You’re not of age, yet,” the man noted, “so they may be kind toward you.”
Yugi lowered his head again. “I just want it to be over,” he said softly. “I don’t want to be reminded of it for the next month or two by having to go to court and do legal things.”
“We’ll do our best, Mr. Muto. As for your Egyptian items…” Both boys looked up at him. The detective smiled a very cool, knowing smile. “We have sworn affidavits from the Ishtar clan of Egypt, claiming that the Items were given to you in accordance with some kind of historical agreement that supercedes Egypt’s antiquities laws. So, they’re technically yours. Anyone trying to claim them from now on will have to face theft charges.”
Yugi blinked in surprise, wondering when Marik had gone and done that. “Thank you, sir,” he managed to say after a moment. “That’s a big relief.”
“I would expect so. Now, you boys should go home, get some rest. If you want a ride, I can arrange a car for you.”
“No, it’s all right, I’m not far from home,” Yugi assured.
“And I have to stop at the bookstore.” Ryo smiled wanly. “I was supposed to be doing that when I saw what happened to Yugi.”
The detective nodded understandingly and left them to themselves. The two young men sat there a while longer, waiting until all the police cars and the ambulance had pulled away and the street was once again clear and normal. Only then did they get up and leave the hotel, walking some distance down the sidewalk together in silence before Yugi found something to say again. “Well,” he began, trying to put a lightness back into his voice, “that wasn’t how I expected to spend my day at all.”
“Me neither,” Bakura admitted. “All things considered, I think I would have rather been studying like I was supposed to.”
“Finals coming up, huh?”
“Yes…”
Yugi gave him a gentle smile. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. I owe you one.”
Ryo smiled back, his brown eyes glowing happily for the first in a long time. “You owe me nothing. It’s what friends are for.” He glanced down at the Ring resting against his chest and discreetly buttoned his coat to hide it. “I don’t like that the Millennium Items come between us, but I’m willing to put that aside as much as I can. For once, they brought us together.”
“Yeah, I know. Kinda freaky.” Yugi stopped on the corner and gave his friend a warmer smile face to face. “I’m sure you don’t understand the Ring spirit any more than I do, so I can’t ask you why he helped us this time. You probably don’t know. But, for what it’s worth, I’m glad he did.” He reached up to brush back an errant lock of hair that was flopping in his face, and the movement raised his coat sleeve enough to reveal that he was currently wearing the woven Thai bracelet Bakura had brought him back as a souvenir. They both noticed it at the same time, and both broke into a light chuckle at it. “Well,” Yugi said casually, “I guess I should be going. I don’t want to worry Grandpa, he knows I should have been back from the airport by now.”
Bakura gave him a curious look. “The airport?”
“Yeah, I…I saw Marik and Odeon off. They left just this afternoon, Marik was in too much danger to stay.” Yugi suddenly gave a much brighter laugh. “They were going back to Egypt to hide until this mess was over. Wait till they find out that it was over before they even got back onto the ground! They’re going to be so relieved. I better go and leave them a message or something.”
“Yes, you should,” Ryo agreed smilingly. “I’ll see you around, Yugi.”
“Sure,” Yugi agreed. The two of them waved at each other, and then Bakura crossed the street with the light in one direction. Yugi had to go the other way to get home. Taking a deep breath, he felt the weight of his worries lift off his shoulders for the first time in what seemed like forever. It took a concerted effort not to think about what had just happened, to replay the action sequence in his mind, but he needed to tell the story to several people before the day was out. Grandpa first, then Marik if he called back when their plane landed, and finally Joey so he could stop worrying about his best buddy. At last, weary and still a bit sore from the fight, Yugi collapsed on his bed after dinner and closed his eyes. He was finally going to get to go inside the Puzzle, there was no reason for Yami to refuse the distraction anymore. Predictably, the pharaoh’s spirit was waiting for him, and caught him up in warm, safe arms to hold and soothe him there in the stillness of the Puzzle’s world. They didn’t want to rehash the day’s events, or decompress by talking out the impact it might have on their future, they simply wanted to forget about it and go on with their normal relationship. For tonight, at least. The rest could wait.
Yugi felt like he was forgetting somebody who needed to know that the mess with the Millennium Items was over, but he could think of no one. Once Joey knew, word trickled down to the rest of his friends in the same manner as his explanation for Marik’s presence, so he didn’t even need to tell all of them directly. Then, he received a call that snapped him back into the routine normality of his already weird life – the publicist at Industrial Illusions wanted him to come down for another photoshoot. With the regional finals less than a week away, they were already planning the next round of promotional goodies for the world tournament and wanted some fresh pictures of Yugi just in case. Yami was not much in the mood for such frivolity, considering what they had just been through in the last month, so the photos of the bonded pair were coming out rather dark and full of challenging glares. “No, no, it can work,” the publicist assured the stylist and photographer as she looked over the thumbnails in the camera. “We can change up the art a little. Make it more powerful, like this is a life-and-death kind of thing. A darker color scheme, maybe some blacks and blues instead of the lighter colors. Make it more serious, less of the fireworks and cuteness. That’ll bring in more mature gamers, especially after the first round is over and the serious players are moving on to the next level.”
“What is the purpose of more posters and pictures now, if there’s no way for new people to enter the tournament after this weekend?” Yami Yugi wondered as he put his coat back on. “All of this seems rather pointless to me.”
The publicist turned to him with a proud smile. “It’s a way of garnering interest in the tournament itself. No, people can’t enter, but they can watch it. Remember, the final rounds are going to be televised, carried live in Japan, Australia, and the U.S. We want people to remember that it’s coming up, and see by the posters just how exciting it’s going to be.”
“Ah.” Yugi nodded, though he cared even less. He didn’t compete in tournaments for the television exposure, after all. The publicist took him through to her office, then, and handed over another check cut by Pegasus. The numbers on it made Yugi’s eyes widen. “What the…?”
“Mr. Pegasus asked me to pay you the balance of what you were contracted,” the publicist explained. “We may or may not call you in for one more round of photos after the national finals, it will be his call then. If not, he didn’t want you to go from now until the tournament without being paid properly.”
“I see,” Yami Yugi breathed. “Thank you.”
By the time he reached the doors of the Industrial Illusions branch office, Yugi had resumed his natural state, though he was still talking enthusiastically with his inner spirit the whole way home. “I can’t believe it, that’s awesome,” he enthused. “Two stupid photoshoots and we get all this money? I’m kind of glad I agreed to this, now, even if I hate having that poster staring at me from across the shop every day.”
“Don’t forget, if not for those posters, we might have gone longer without being threatened by David Archer,” Yami mused darkly. “It’s because of them that he was drawn here, to us.”
“Oh, Yami,” his partner sighed. “Sooner is much better than later. I’d hate for Marik to have had to spend the holidays here in Japan while Ishizu and everything familiar to him is back home in Egypt. This is great,” he added, returning to the check in his inner coat pocket. “Now I can get Marik something for his birthday and send it out. This money came just in time. Now we can have some really happy holidays after all.”
Hearing that, Yami’s soul quieted and eased considerably. His partner’s gentle heart always soothed him at the right times. “The next full moon is on Christmas, correct?”
“Conveniently enough,” Yugi chirped. “We should do something. Have our friends over or something. Something bigger than the usual sitting around bored and having a big meal with Grandpa.” He smiled to himself as he walked. “We have a lot to celebrate this year.”
“Indeed, we do,” Yami readily agreed. “Not just you and I together, but all of our friends. Joey and Mai staying together, Duke saving his game shop from Kaiba, Bakura helping save your life…”
The mention of Bakura sobered Yugi for a moment. “I just wish there was more I could do for him,” he mused as he paused on a street corner to wait for the light. Anyone who glanced at him wouldn’t know from looking at his placid, innocent face that he was carrying on this internal conversation. “It wasn’t until we came into such close contact with him the past couple of weeks that I thought about it, but…he’s really in a bad spot with the spirit of the Ring. We’ve always known what he’s capable of, but seeing it over the past week just struck me. Ryo is under his complete control – he can’t get away from him, and can’t do anything to stop him when he tries to do things like come after other Millennium Items. Facing down that rich American guy was bad enough, but I know that the Ring spirit is an enemy ten times worse.” He sighed to himself as he stepped off the curb and briskly crossed the street, keeping his head down more to concentrate on his running mental commentary than anything else. “It makes me worry. What if he decides to seriously come after us? What would we have to do to Ryo in order to stop the spirit inside him?”
Yami’s thoughts darkened, following his partner’s line of reasoning. “You’re comparing it to when we had to face Marik’s dark side, and nearly destroyed him in order to stop the evil.”
“I’m afraid anything we do to Bakura would end up the same way,” Yugi fretted, frowning to himself. “Why does he have to be enslaved to that spirit? Why did it have to be his destiny to carry the Ring? He’s such a sweet, gentle guy! He doesn’t deserve this!”
“I don’t know, Yugi,” the pharaoh’s voice said solemnly. “It’s true, he has suffered greatly at the hands of the spirit. But, it seems to me, it’s only because of Ryo that the spirit hasn’t been able to attack us directly. Something about him reins in the darkness, if only temporarily.”
Yugi sighed again, tucking his face down into the collar of his coat to stay warm. “I guess so. But I really wish Bakura could be free of him. Maybe then he wouldn’t have to guard himself around me all the time, and we could really be friends like we say we are.” A thought fluttered across his mind, and though he was sure Yami had read it the instant it appeared, he gave voice to it anyway. “I wonder if the embodiment ritual works for the Ring, too.”
“Yugi!” The strident tone of the voice in his mind made Yugi falter a step. Inside him, it felt like Yami had been stirred up, disturbed like a pebble thrown into a pond. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” the pharaoh went on, as Yugi glanced around to make sure no strangers had watched him stumble. “There is no telling what the spirit of the Ring would do if he had a body for a day.”
“I wasn’t thinking of just letting him have a body,” Yugi explained, deciding to stop and look into a store window as a pretense to cover his need to stop walking and concentrate on his internal discussion. “I meant…what if we taught Bakura the ritual, and as soon as the spirit was out of him, had him take the Ring off to break the connection between them? If it’s like we suspect, wouldn’t that destroy the spirit? Bakura could be free…”
“Yugi…” The voice in his mind saddened sympathetically. “I understand your reason, but we don’t know for sure it would work that way. What if it didn’t? Would you be prepared for the consequences of unleashing that dark spirit on the world in his own body?”
“Well…” Yugi lowered his head and closed his eyes. “I guess not. But…I feel so bad for Bakura. I wish he could break free of that spirit and live a normal life. Right now, the only way I know of doing that is through the ritual. We’re so afraid that taking off the Puzzle would destroy you, why shouldn’t it work the same way for the Ring?”
“There may be other ways,” Yami reasoned. “We simply haven’t uncovered them yet, any more than we’ve uncovered my past and my memory. We must give it time. Someday, it will all become clear, including Bakura’s role in all of this.”
Sighing again, Yugi lifted his head and turned to resume walking home. “And I don’t suppose there’s anyone we can just ask about it. Nobody knows anything about you, even those who know who you really are. There’s nothing we can do except wait, and hope.”
Yami’s sigh whispered softly through Yugi’s soul. “Hope, yes. Hold on to that hope, Yugi. I may not be able to offer you anything concrete now, but my heart tells me that when I am restored, Bakura will also be free. It will happen. We must have faith.”
“I do.” Yugi smiled to himself, a renewed warmth stealing through his heart at thoughts of his noble, powerful partner. “All of my faith is in you, Yami. That’s never been in doubt.” He raised his head, smiling more strongly at the sunshine cascading down on them on this brisk winter day. “There’s no stronger hope to cling to in the world, I know it. You can do anything. And I’ll help you.”
Yami’s spirit nearly chuckled at the glowing sentiment. He was ready to disagree, and humble himself in his partner’s esteem, but he decided not to. The love with which Yugi thought of him was worth clinging to, to let blossom and strengthen them both. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps the pharaoh really was the hope of the world. Who was he to argue?
It may not have been the most prudent course of action, but since the threat against the Millennium Items had finally resolved, Yugi and Yami made up for it by spending nearly every night together inside the Puzzle, reveling in their freedom to do so. Some nights they just sat and held each other, or talked of less important things than death and shadow magic, but this night they made love as if an eternity had passed since they last touched each other. In truth, it had been less than a month, but stress had a way of lengthening need and inflaming desire. Yami concentrated on drawing out the encounter as long as possible, pleasing and thrilling his young love as many times as he could before they both exhausted themselves and wound up entwined in the canopy bed inside the room of imagination. Knowing that Yugi had occasionally been having fleeting nightmares flashing back to the struggle at the hotel, consisting mostly of the phantom sensation of hands closing around his throat, Yami insisted more than ever that Yugi should allow his mind to sleep within the Puzzle, the only way of ensuring a dreamless slumber. Yugi had expected this, having prepared himself for bed before entering the trance that allowed his mind to disconnect and enter the Puzzle, and gladly snuggled down into the blankets with his lover. He was inwardly tickled at the fact that here, they could sleep naked without threat of anyone walking in on them, unlike in embodied reality, and laid for a little while just feeling the contours of their bodies lying against each other until he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Yami laid beside his lover in a hazy bliss, reveling in the feel of their naked skin in contact, combing his fingers idly through Yugi’s hair while he slept. Here, the world did not exist. Here, he could forget about Items and powers and rituals, here he was the king of his own domain, and as such, could imagine anything he wanted out of this special room he shared with Yugi. At the moment, it reflected his quiet, contented mood; a false night sky showed through the windows on the far side, and the room remained swathed in darkness but for a few candles and torches dimly lighting the corner near the bed as they would in a pharaoh’s palace. Soft, golden torchlight warmed the alabaster walls and played upon the shiny surfaces of the two Puzzles resting on the bedstand in a pile of chains. The soft, sheer draperies forming the canopy muted the light, turning everything outside the bed misty and dreamy. Though his spirit could have used the rest, Yami remained awake for a long time, indulging his inner senses in all the things his imagination, tied to Yugi’s mind, could create for them to experience. Then, a new sensation tickled his mind – the feeling of someone else being nearby. Not outside, in reality, but here inside the Puzzle. It didn’t feel dark, but Yami looked in concern toward the door separating their private chamber from the rest of the Puzzle, unsettled. It was as if he could hear a footstep approaching, though there was no sound, only the feeling in his soul of someone else’s spirit like a foreign invader. As he stared over his shoulder, hesitating, wondering if he should be prepared to fight, a white-robed figure drifted in through the door, his piercing eyes sweeping through the room he entered in curiosity. As their eyes met across the room, both sighed with instant relief at recognizing the other. “Shadi,” the pharaoh breathed.
Shadi began to approach the bed, but realized quickly that there were two naked young men in it and turned away in embarrassment. “My pharaoh,” he stammered. “My sincerest apologies! I did not expect that you were…that you and Yugi…I’m terribly sorry…”
Yami remained still for a moment, torn between addressing the visitor properly and jostling his sleeping partner, but at last he considered that he couldn’t leave Shadi standing there like that and carefully tried to extract himself from under Yugi’s cheek and arm without waking him. It didn’t work. Yugi stirred and murmured cutely, barely beginning to open his eyes. “Yami?”
“It’s all right,” the pharaoh assured him, brushing a hand over the top of his head. “It’s just Shadi.”
“Shadi…?” Yugi lifted his head just a little, blinking tiredly. “Huh…?”
Shadi turned to the side, in order to address both of them without looking at them. “I’m sorry if I have disturbed a private moment. I merely came to see if you were well.”
Yami discreetly rearranged the top sheet on the bed to cover his waist. “Do you need to speak with us about something? We were merely getting some rest. I allow Yugi to sleep with his mind here to give him some peace.”
“Then please, do not let me disturb his rest. But, pharaoh…” Shadi’s eyes darted to the side for one brief second. “…if you are willing, I may speak with you.”
“Of course.” Yami drew the blanket to him and gathered it in his arm as he stood up, pausing only to reach back and caress Yugi’s face tenderly. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered. “I’ll just be over there.”
“Mmkay,” Yugi mumbled, settling back down into the linen sheets warm from their bodies. He was tired enough that not even the surprise of Shadi’s intrusion could wake him up enough to want to get up.
Yami wrapped the top sheet around his waist in a makeshift skirt and padded across the room to Shadi, going to the collection of chairs that sat around a low table at the opposite side of the room from the bed. Torches near the wall flared to life as he approached. “I’m sorry for the complete lack of formality,” he said sheepishly as he took a seat. “We had no warning that you were coming.”
“It is not necessary,” Shadi assured as he also sank to a seat on the edge of a chair, clasping his hands in his lap. “You should not expect visitors here, this is your world, your private place. It is I who am intruding, I should be apologizing for taking you out of bed in the middle of the night.” He glanced back at Yugi, snuggled down to sleep in the canopy bed. “But when I came as usual to see Yugi, and found him unresponsive, I assumed his mind was inside the Puzzle with yours and used the Millennium Key to allow myself access, so I might have his attention and speak to one or both of you.”
“Ah.” Yami wrapped the sheet a little tighter to make sure he was covered. “What brings you here in the first place? Is this to let us know our messages to Egypt were received?”
“Yes,” Shadi replied. “You will be glad to hear that the Ishtar siblings are all safe, and that no further incidents have followed them home. I was prepared to have to protect them in my own way, but you have saved us all from our pursuers. We are, as always, deeply indebted to you, pharaoh.”
Yami shook his head. “Yugi and I acted simply out of self-preservation. That it solved the entire problem was merely a fortunate turn of events.” He gazed across at the guardian. “Have you heard the tale from Marik, then? Or is there anything about it you would like me to tell you?”
“If you would,” Shadi said patiently. “Asking you directly is the same to me as looking through Yugi’s mind to find his memories and read them like a book. I should like to know exactly how you vanquished your foe, and what you recall of being able to use shadow magic despite your lost memory.”
Speaking quietly so as not to disturb Yugi, Yami related as much as he could, not only of the climactic battle but of their thoughts and observations leading up to it, after Marik had been captured and threatened. Shadi listened in attentive silence, allowing the pharaoh to share everything he thought important about the incident. “Yugi has not heard from any authorities in the past few days,” he added at the end, “but we are prepared in case they need his witness to keep these criminals in prison. I don’t know how they expect us to explain the use of shadow powers…” He gave a wry smile. “Hopefully, we won’t have to.”
“The less is known about that, the better,” Shadi intoned, “not only for the sake of those who might believe Yugi unbalanced or challenge his credibility, but for those who might actually understand ancient magic and look for tales such as this to prove that it is real.”
“Strangely enough,” Yami mused, “among Yugi’s friends and acquaintances, people have had a much easier time accepting the use of magic, such as the ritual of embodiment, than they have accepting our relationship. Sometimes, when I think on it, it disturbs me a little.”
Shadi’s expression did not change, but somehow he seemed to grow more serious. “The ritual. How has it been progressing throughout the year?”
Yami’s mood also sobered. “Actually,” he said in a low tone, “I would like to speak with you about that.” He glanced across the room; Yugi was nothing more than a motionless silhouette wrapped in delicate white sheets, sleeping with his back to the visitors. “How much have you spoken with Marik since he returned to Egypt?”
“Enough.” Shadi gazed solemnly at him. “He mentioned that he was allowed to witness the ritual, but spoke of some concern for Yugi. Is that what you wish to ask me about?”
“Yes.” Yami clasped his hands together and stared down at them. “Gradually, over the course of the past few months, the ritual has been taking more and more of a toll on Yugi’s strength. It started late in the summer, I noticed he was more out of breath than usual or dizzy, but the past couple of months when we performed it, he’s been knocked unconscious. It concerns me greatly – I don’t want this ritual to be harming him somehow.”
Shadi arched one thin eyebrow. “And you don’t wish to cease conducting the ritual, I assume?”
A faint smile crossed Yami’s lips. “Yugi and I have become rather attached to it,” he admitted bashfully. “I don’t like to be a cause of suffering for him, but he is adamant that we not let, as he puts it, ‘a little fainting spell’ stand in the way of our being together. It is just a small thing,” he added. “Yugi has only lost consciousness for a minute or two at the most, and after getting some rest overnight he is fine. But I’ve noticed it escalate gradually throughout the year. I fear that if we continue to use the ritual without regard for its effects, the impact on him will continue to worsen until it does him serious damage, to his body or to his soul.”
Shadi nodded. “It does sound more serious than it appears on its face. But, I know very little about the ritual’s effects. After discovering it for you and informing you that it could be done on every full moon, I have not sought more. If you wish, I can look into it for you. I will see if there has been anything written about the long-term effects, or whether it was meant to be performed continuously.”
“If you would, please,” Yami said in relief. “You were the one who discovered it. Surely you know where to look in ancient writings or legends for more information.”
“I shall do what I can. But I will warn you, pharaoh, that writings about you and that period of history are very scarce. The tombkeepers did not even carry scriptures detailing the rituals and spells of your time and your court. I may not find much that can help you.”
Yami shook his head slowly. “Anything will be of help, no matter how small. I just want to be sure that I’m not hurting Yugi, that our selfish desire to be together isn’t going to be his downfall in the end.”
“It seems as though my reason for bringing it to you in the first place has, essentially, backfired,” Shadi noted with a fleeting hint of a smile. “I told you of it to assuage your need to visit each other here inside the Puzzle, lest Yugi’s mind be trapped here again, and yet now it seems that may be the safer course of action compared to the ritual.”
“There’s so little we know about all of it,” Yami said softly. “I may be simply overreacting as a lover would. It may get no worse. But we have no way of knowing without continuing to perform the ritual every month and simply watching out for each other. Should we have to discontinue it…” A sad smile haunted his violet eyes. “Well, I won’t lie. It would be very disappointing. I enjoy being with him, and being able to experience the world myself, both pain and pleasure. But we do still have the Puzzle. He is safe here, with me.”
“Yes, that is true.” Shadi lifted his eyes and looked around the room. “This is a very interesting place you have created, pharaoh. Is this something from your memory, or simply a product of an active imagination?”
Yami also glanced around, at the torches, the friezes on the walls, the canopy bed and fine mahogany furniture. “I don’t consciously remember any of this from my past,” he replied, “but if it comes from a subconscious well somewhere deep inside me, I couldn’t say. I would guess most of it is borrowed from Yugi’s meager understanding of Egyptian history.”
Shadi smiled. “It’s very nice. It does remind me of home.”
Yami ran a hand along the arm of the chair he sat in, feeling smooth, polished wood beneath his fingertips. “So much of the Puzzle’s realm is unstable, ever changing, as my own mind changes. Very little remains the same. There is a room of recent memory, which stores everything I’ve learned about the world and myself since I met Yugi…and there is this. I created this to have a comfortable place for him to meet me.” He offered the guardian a sly look. “The stairways and dark corridors don’t do much for a romantic mood.”
“I would imagine not.” Shadi coughed politely into a fist. “Is that…all you wished to ask of me, pharaoh? Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Yami sat thinking for a moment, his attention turned away – to Yugi, sleeping away over there, completely oblivious to their conversation. “Just that,” he answered. “For my own peace of mind, if nothing else. Any indication, however small, that the ritual’s effects won’t eventually grow to destroy Yugi from within.” His hand absently went to his own chest and stomach, as if searching for the Puzzle that wasn’t there. “He knows of my concern, but won’t talk to me about it. He doesn’t want to think that we may have to stop doing it if it keeps getting worse. To be honest, most days I share those feelings.” His eyes returned to the guardian seated across from him. “Perhaps there is one other small thing, somewhat related to the first. Yugi has other worries about the Puzzle. Marik and Odeon stuck to us very closely on the ritual day out of fear that someone may have tried to steal the Puzzle then, and it scared Yugi to think that losing the Puzzle like that would mean losing me. We have continued the same as on that first day you gave us the ritual, keeping the Puzzle on him no matter what just in case it would break the connection between us.” His expression grew intensely curious. “Do you know whether this is a valid precaution, or are we being careful over nothing? Would removing the Millennium Puzzle destroy me when I am outside of it? How does it relate to the ritual itself, and my corporeal body?”
Shadi made a face as he thought. “I know of nothing at the moment,” he answered, “but I will search for that along with the other effects of the ritual. I will uncover as much as I possibly can for you, my pharaoh.”
“Thank you, Shadi. That is all I can ask of you.”
At that, Shadi rose to his feet. “In the meantime, be careful with the ritual. Having someone look after Yugi while it is being performed is not a bad idea. I know it is too much for me to ask you not to conduct it, but I know that you are no fool, and have a firm grasp on what both you and your vessel can handle. Your bond is what saves you – both of you.” He glanced briefly toward Yugi’s slumbering figure and smiled. “Take care of each other. When all else fails, when no one else can stand beside you, you will need each other.”
“Yes,” Yami murmured. “I know that all too well.”
“I will take my leave, now,” Shadi declared. “I have monopolized your time enough. I will send word to you in any way possible when I have researched the ritual for you. Again, forgive my sudden intrusion. I will go, so you can return to your partner’s side.” He bowed slightly, and turned and drifted away through the door of the chamber. Almost immediately, Yami sensed his alien presence vanishing from the Puzzle’s realm, leaving the lovers alone.
Yugi did not reawaken at the jostle of the bed as Yami slid in beside him, having thrown the top sheet back over them both and snuggled down with his lover. Yugi was so cute when he slept, and so beautiful, Yami thought as he wrapped an arm over Yugi’s waist and spooned up behind him. A soft sigh escaped Yugi, though he only nestled further into the linens and rested against the slender body behind him. Yami kissed him gently on the back of his neck before laying his head down to sleep as well. Someday, he promised his love. Someday, we will be able to sleep just like this, together, without the Puzzle in the way, in the real world. I will do everything in my power to make it so. I love you, my dear Yugi. Another kiss to his neck sealed the promise for the night.