“Rebecca? What’s wrong?”
She glances up, instantly tries to get rid of all traces of the homesickness on her face, but from his frown it didn’t work. “Where are the others?”
Yugi gestures vaguely, somewhere up ahead. “Rebecca.” That voice is sterner than the Yugi she knows. Probably the Pharaoh. She doesn't care too much for him, but he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
“I’m…missing the celebrations, I guess.” It’s odd. It’s not one of those things she would’ve thought would be high on her list, particularly with how much time she spends with her Grandfather, rather than in America, but she finds herself missing it now.
Yugi looks confused for a full minute before he asks, hesitantly, “Oh, yeah…isn’t today some big holiday in America?”
She rolls her eyes, pokes at him. With the speed he gets out of the way, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’s ticklish. “Only the Independence Day, jeez. Is all this stuff I hear about Japanese schools being so much better just lies?”
Yugi looks flustered, but he doesn’t get to respond, because an idea strikes him. “Stay there!” he calls, and runs off as fast as his short Muto legs can carry him. She doesn’t get a question out before he’s gone.
He returns with a glowstick and proudly hands it to her. “I know it’s not exactly fireworks, or…whatever else, but…it’s something.”
“How much did that cost?” she asks, digging around in her bag, but he quickly stops her.
“You’re my friend. And my friends deserve to be happy.” The words themselves may be cliché, but…he means them, with all his heart, and there’s a power behind them that she would’ve missed, before he’d shown her what it meant to have a friend, to put your heart into whatever you did. If there was one person good at demonstrating that, it’s Yugi Muto.
“Téa’s lucky,” she states, and giggles a little as he turns bright red. “But…I think I really needed a friend, so thank you for being such a good friend.”
“You’ll always have a friend. You’re not alone, Rebecca,” he says with that same fervor, and the smile he gives lights up the night as beautifully bright as memories of fireworks.
(Later, Joey learns that it’s a holiday and promptly insists that they go to Burger World, rather than one of the restaurants in Kaibaland, as it’s ‘more American’. He might’ve just been looking for an excuse not to give Kaiba any more of his money, but the way that he—all of them, really, even Téa when she’s not worrying about a potential rival—worry about her, welcoming her into the group as if she’s one of them, which involves a level of ‘take care of friends’ she hadn’t even guessed existed—well, it’s heartwarming.
Mai shows up, and is welcomed with the same open arms. How she always knows exactly where to show up is a bit of a mystery. Somehow, it hadn’t occurred to Joey that he was flat-out broke, but between Mai, Téa, and Yugi they manage to scrape together enough to pay for the meal, which seems oddly fitting. Tristan’s caught between admiring a new girl that Rebecca’s never met before, who seems like a little bit of an airhead and likes to speak in third person, and Joey’s sister, Serenity, who’s fairly quiet but definitely interested in all the stories being thrown around. She’s not sure when the moment exactly hits, but it feels like home, and she’s beaming by the point her Grandpa and Grandpa Muto walk in.)
As the duel continues, Yami feels his fury rising, but then, so does Yugi’s. It reassures him that this is a righteous cause, if even his calm, forgiving partner is angry. Still, there’s something different about Rafael than most of their opponents. How can someone so misguided play with such respect for his own deck? Part of him is starting not to care. All the people Rafael and his buddies have hurt are crying out for justice.
But the duel drags on, as Rafael continues with the same confidence that he’s going to lose, and the absolute dismissal like he isn’t even a threat stings in a way it’s never done before. He’s always been underestimated, so why is it this hurts? And their plan makes him sick.
Destroying the world, based on an assertion everyone is evil? How dare he judge?
Rafael plays Exchange, and he doesn’t realize, not at first, what he’s been given.
It’s the Seal of Orichalcos. He can’t play that. Not that card.
“We’ll have to rely on the heart of the cards,” he muses, but Yugi’s uncharacteristically silent. Even if it saves the world, though, he can’t use it. No matter how tempting, the power to save the world, to save his friends, he can’t. With all of his strength, he continues to resist, calling on his cards to do what he cannot. But it seems a losing battle, and he growls.
Yami feels a flash of impatience from Yugi before he’s forcefully shoved out of the way, and when he realizes what’s happening, Yugi’s standing in his place.
“Yugi! What are you doing?” he asks, reaching forward, but there’s a distance between them that he’s never felt, and Yugi doesn’t turn, doesn’t even acknowledge his presence.
“You’re going to pay for all the people you’ve hurt, Rafael!” he yells, and there’s something wrong with his voice. There’s a sneer to it that isn’t right. It isn’t his partner. “I play the Seal of Orichalcos!”
“Yugi, don’t—” The Pharaoh realizes, belatedly, that he’d been considering playing it himself, that it hadn’t seemed the absolutely dangerous idea that it does now. It plays on our weaknesses, our uncertainties. It clouds our mind. I’d thought that Yugi was unaffected, but it seems like I was wrong. And it’s too late. The Seal grows, shutting him out as Yugi had shut him out, and he’s the outsider staring in. “Yugi!” he screams, hitting against the seal, but there’s nothing he can do. It’s Yugi’s duel now.
Yugi wakes screaming. For a good long minute, he can hear nothing. He is completely and utterly alone, and no one will save him. Not Grandpa dashing upstairs, not Yami shaking him fervently, trying to wake him from the dream. He doesn’t remember anything, either, just the complete and utter terror and the surety that he is not safe, not now, not ever.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timeasmymeasure