Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Costume Jewelry ❯ Girl ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-gi-oh, Mai and Jou would be married in GX. I don't know if they are or not, and even if they are I don't own either GX or Yu-gi-oh. And I wouldn't want to own GX.

 

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

 

Mai tipped the cab driver and as he drove away put her wallet away and looked around. Classy place. The Chinese government was really going all out for the duelists, guest or otherwise, competing in the 10th annual International Team Invitational Tournament (aka, the one with the really unfortunate acronym).

 

With three American National Championships (none of them in sequential years, none of them Team), under her belt, she'd made the invitation list, and she and Vivian Wong had both requested the other as partners.

 

And then… that stuff had happened, and it hadn't escaped everyone's notice that most of those who fell into comas were duelists. It had cast a shadow over the game, but a duelist was a duelist, and once you'd picked up the cards you couldn't put them down, really. After the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix, the advertisers had looked at the numbers and picked it up again, not that Pegasus couldn't fund tournaments worldwide for the next 20 years out of pocket. But the whole thing was being forgotten almost as quickly as it had happened. By most people, at least.

 

Her hand slipped automatically into her pocket to touch her deck. She'd shuffled, but she knew the top card was a Harpy Lady.

 

They'd forgiven her, even if she hadn't forgiven herself.

 

And lucky for her none of the ones (save a few, who wouldn't talk) knew she'd been a Doma member.

 

She knew it'd been that Dartz bastard, tricking and controlling her like he did the others, but that it `wasn't her fault' only made it worse. First Malik and the Millennium Rod fucking with her head, now that goddamn green rock… she should get out of this game.

 

Her hands tightened around her deck, scared. What was she thinking? Right, she didn't have magic… no. She knew she did. She could feel it, now. But she wasn't in Yugi's league, didn't have anything backing her up… but she couldn't give up her Harpie Ladies. Couldn't give up this game.

 

She walked, sassy as ever, and teased the desk clerk as she picked up her room key, and put her jewelry in the hotel safe. “Mai! There you are!”

 

And there, running towards her through the lobby, waving, was Vivian, cheerful as ever. They smiled at each other, on the surface completely friendly, and this was a friendly meeting, they'd gotten along for ages and this was a team tournament… but looking for weakness underneath, catty almost. Alpha lionesses, as much as they might appear otherwise, and there was always the next tournament… second didn't put money in the bank.

 

Vivian's bank account had had one hell of a dent put in it by her comatose body spending almost the whole of… the affair, in Johns Hopkins University Hospital in America. She'd been flown there, one of the first to fall, while everyone was trying to figure out what this was… and the money she'd been paid for appearing at the invitational KC Grand Prix had covered a lot of it (people had been surprised by Kaiba's generosity, people would have paid for the chance to duel Yugi Motou…) but the way she'd embarrassed herself there, losing to a kid who had lost to a kid and her… inappropriate way of getting a duel from the King of Games (Vivian had always had poor impulse control) had lost her a lot of prestige.

 

She was chattering away at her as they agreed to go up to Mai's room for a drink, but they both knew they had to win this tournament.

 

Up against the Paradox Brothers, first round. Yugi and Joey had beaten them, but that was Yugi and Joey. She'd lost to Panic on Duelist Kingdom, and that was only one Eliminator, not two. And he hadn't just beaten her because of the scare tactics. Pegasus had picked some of the best.

 

But the opening ceremony was the only thing going on tomorrow, so tonight was a good time to stay up late and have a few and go over strategy. Both she and Vivian were equipment card users (protecting her Harpies had always been the most important thing…) and the Paradox Brothers were probably already working out ways to disable that aspect of both their strategies…

 

But these conversations wandered, like they always did after half a bottle or so of the good stuff, and Vivian was maudlin in her cups, bemoaning the fact she hadn't been able to get Seto Kaiba or Yugi Motou to look at her twice. Losing to Rebecca wasn't that bad, everyone knew the girl was a genius, but to go out on a limb like that to get Yugi Motou to duel her, and end up losing and looking like a complete idiot! “I was suchz a brat,” she moaned, waving her cup. “He thinks I'm suchz an idiot now… his friendz weren't even watching, they all were acting like they knew I was going to lose…” She hung her head. “You know, you lost to him, and thozh duelz were broadcast… everyone knows about the perfume trick. Good idea, though,” she said, pointing to Mai's deck, “it's not cheating, an' it freaks them out. Win in their heads, win on the field,” she quoted the old dueling maxim.

 

If your confidence wavered, you couldn't focus to reach the cards as well. “Can't use it anymore.” Mai shrugged. Wouldn't use it anymore. No tricks, she'd promised herself at Duelist Kingdom.

 

That bastard had managed to get her to do so many things so against her nature so easily… alone? All she had to do, all she would have done if only she could think, was pick up the phone and call. She wouldn't call Yugi Motou, not until she'd beaten, but Tea, Joey…

 

She couldn't call Joey now, though.

 

Couldn't stand the thought of seeing the look in his eyes. He'd dueled past his limits, forfeited his soul to get through to her.

 

He'd freed her from their control.

 

And she couldn't even avenge him.

 

“Your blond is cute too!” Vivian said, cheerful again. She'd been talking while Mai was zoned out… good thing she hadn't noticed Mai wasn't listening, the girl held grudges like crazy… “But Kaiba's so… so masterful, and Yugi is just the cutest little thing!”

 

Her blond? Mai snorted. “The blond? Mine? I wish.” …she hadn't just said that, had she? Oh damn. She had.

 

Vivian didn't let her forget it, either.