Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do Duel Monsters Dream of Cardboard Sheep? ❯ Give it up, 'cause now I'm back ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Some people might be upset because I kind of cop out on the Mai vs. Ailill. Well, I don't know that much about the decks of Seto Kaiba or Mai Valentine, so it's insurance against making a story-wrecking blunder.
For those who were wondering about the title: The idea for this story came from the movie Blade Runner, which in turn came from the book by Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I don't own the rights to the book or the movie. And I definitely don't own Philip K. Dick.
This chapter features Téa bashing. "Yugi?"
"Yes, what is it, Mokuba?"
"Why's he scared of you?"
Yugi turned and looked at him with wide amethyst eyes. "He was scared of me?"
Mokuba nodded emphatically. "Uh-huh. When he heard you he ran so hard he tripped and knocked himself out, that's how scared he was."
"Oh. That's a relief."
"How so?"
"At least now I know he doesn't hate me."
"You know, Yugi, you can hate someone and be scared of 'em at the same time."
"Yeah." Yugi's hair suddenly seemed to shadow the upper half of his face. "Good point, Mokuba."
"But I don't think Gabriel hates you, either."
"Thanks." Then Yugi realized the name that he had expected to be Dark Magician, or maybe just Dark.
(but really who would call themselves Dark Magician)
"That's his name?"
Mokuba nodded. "Yeah, Gabriel, like the angel."

Gabriel's first act upon gaining consciousness was to sit up and turn his head left and right with wide staring eyes that made him appear much, much younger than he actually was. Those eyes saw Mokuba standing near a tree as if trying to grow into it. They saw Ryou Bakura sprawled out unconscious, devoid of the Ring. When they found Yugi Motou he scrambled into a kneeling position and tilted his neck downward. "Master…"
The puzzle glowed. "Stop that," said Yami. He fell silent. "I'm not going to hurt you. Get up." Gabriel got to his feet and stood before Yami, still keeping his head down. "Tell me something… your name is Gabriel?" A nod. "Why would you think I would hurt you?"
The nearby grass began to grow damp. Gabriel's head jerked up and his eyes looked like they wanted to metamorphose into lakes but hadn't the capacity. Yami speculated that a river could be filled with what came from those eyes. "I abandoned you, Master."
"You did not." Yami was still trying to convince himself of the truth of those words. "Actually, you are worthy of praise. You saved Mokuba."
"I am not even worthy of insults."
"That is because you have done nothing to be insulted for. I never told you not to leave, did I?"
Silence. "No, you did not."
"There, you see? At least you didn't disobey."
"Thank you, Master." He was clearly trying to decide whether to risk saying more. "Master, Ailill…"
"Who?" Something clicked together in Yami's mind; he grabbed the deck and shuffled through it. Sure enough, another blank spot where a picture should have been. The title and statistics were still there, and from that he knew.
(Yugi, why didn't you tell me the Celtic Guardian had gone blank too?)
(I'm sorry, I guess I never noticed. I was so upset about the Dark Magician I never thought to check…)
"Master?"
Yami looked up. "What happened to him?"
Gabriel looked down again. "Ailill was trying to hold them off so I could get Mokuba out." He used his staff to indicate the castle. "I lost him."
Yami didn't speak or move for several minutes due to his extreme trepidation. When he regained these abilities, he turned and ran for the castle.

Ailill turned around and looked at Seto Kaiba on the balcony above. "You see how easy it is to win without making suicide threats?" He didn't bother to wait for the reply, instead collecting the cards on the field and returning them to the deck. Not one of those cards was a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and he was glad.
He had done much better than he had thought he would. From his experience he had pieced together some of the basic rules. The Master of Black Jade (though Jade hadn't arrived at the time) had gone against the Master of Harpies in the past, and the stories of these battles were known, so he had some knowledge of her strategy. He knew about the rules regarding numbers, too, and the virus that had defeated Michael in the last duel, and this knowledge added up had paid off very well once he played the role of a Master. In this case, a temporary master.
He held the deck in his hand and felt Tara kything; she was Aoibheann's cousin and he had never known her very well.
(but why did you use Reborn on me? I couldn't do anything)
And he smiled as he sent a kythe back.
(so if he exaggerates you can tell everyone of it)
(thank you for not just sacrificing me like the Master before did)
Thank you.
"Excuse me." Seto Kaiba now stood before him, holding out a hand. Ailill kythed one more time and transferred the deck to that hand. But he hadn't finished yet. "Are you… I mean, were you Yugi Motou's-"
"Kaiba!"
Both of them looked up at the balcony. "Speak of the devil," Kaiba muttered.

Seto Kaiba was standing below, holding a deck. He looked up at Yugi and muttered something. Yugi's attention was quickly jerked from Kaiba to the figure next to him.
Celtic Guardian, or, as Dark Magician said, Ailill.
He looked much the same as the hologram, except a little more disheveled, not to mention the cuffs with the ragged bits of chain and the bruise on one side of his face. He looked up in the same way Kaiba did, and his surprised expression quickly turned into open animosity.
CRASH!
"Now this is da way to travel!"
"Yeah, Joey, well, you're not the one who crashed into the wall 'cause he took away the bubble before he made us stop!"
"Aw, Tristan, quit whining!"
"Whining? Why you-"
"Guys," Yugi broke in, "stop."
"Hey," Téa shouted, "it's Mai! Hello! Mai!"
Mai looked up. "Pegasus flaked out," she informed them, "and left this to duel me."
Yugi nodded, then blinked. "Mai… you- lost?" She nodded very shortly. "That's all right. Not many people can beat Kaiba."
"You don't understand. It wasn't Kaiba. It was the other one. All he had was the same deck. He didn't even use one of the Blue Eyes. And he. Beat. Me. He beat me fair and square, worse than that Panic did, though I have to admit, at least this one was less smug about it."
Yugi blinked again, then turned to Gabriel, who was apologizing to Tristan. "Gabriel?"
"At least you bothered to learn his name."
Yugi jerked. Celtic Guardian hadn't stopped looking at him. "Celtic Guardian?"
"Ailill!" Gabriel had run to the edge of the balcony and was leaning over. "Ailill, he doesn't hate you."
"Gabriel, I know you don't want to hear it, but he does."
Yugi figured out who "he" was. "Celtic Guardian, I don't hate you!"
"That's what you say. I'm sorry, Gabriel, but you're wrong. He does." Fists clenched and the upper part of Celtic Guardian's face became shadowed. A tear trickled out of the shadow, followed by another one. And another. "If he had cared at all he would have let me win at least once!"
(Do you remember any time when Celtic Guardian won a duel?)
(No, Yugi, I only remember the time he almost won one)
(yeah but almost winning isn't really winning)
Téa had joined Yugi and Gabriel at the balcony, and she decided to launch into her Intended-To-Be-Inspirational Sermon No. 949. "Yugi believes in the Heart of the Cards and he would never hate-"
"Shut up."
Téa gasped- for a moment Yugi thought she was going to faint, and he ran to her. He couldn't remember the last time someone had been so blunt in telling Téa they weren't interested in listening.
"What would you know about Heart of the Cards? You're the one that won't let Morgan duel! Even though she's your so-called favorite you won't let her duel!"
Téa blinked. "Morgan?" Then she seemed to understand. "But…"
"But nothing. And you-" More tears began to come; Yugi was reminded of Gabriel. "-you were the one who told him to stop."
And then Yugi understood. For a moment he wasn't even sure he could breathe.
(What's the matter, Yugi?)
(Oh God… it's because I told him not to attack Kaiba's Blue Eyes and then the next turn-)
(By Ra, Yugi, no wonder he thinks you hate him)
(But I don't!)
(He thinks you do. Perception is everything)
He tried, cautiously, as if reaching out for a last straw. "Please…"
"You didn't really believe at all."
(yes he's right if I really did believe there was a heart of the cards then it stood to reason there'd be a mind too)
"I'm sorry."

Ailill blinked. There was no way he had really heard what he had just heard. Wishful thinking; he had an awful lot of wishes, after all. There was no way a Master just said that. But he had.
"I'm sorry." And now he was saying it again, clinging to the balcony railing, quivering like a structure about to collapse. "I should have known. I should have known!" Ailill stared upward. They called him Yugi; Yugi had let go of the balcony railing to slide down, sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Gabriel was walking over and holding out one hand. Yugi let Gabriel help him up; he looked like a strange puppet. "I should have known. No wonder he hates me."
"I don't hate you, Master!" Gabriel cried, though he must have known who was really meant.
(he means me and yes I think I do hate him)
"I didn't mean you, Gabriel." And then he was running; Ailill took his gaze downward. After a while Yugi emerged from the hall that blended into the path to the dueling station, and he ran right past Seto Kaiba who was holding the deck and watching the goings-on with considerable interest and stopped in front of him. He looked straight at Ailill for the first time since forever, and those eyes were like jewels in water and all of the anger seemed to just go. "Please forgive me."
(I think I don't really hate him after all)

Gabriel hung on to the balcony railing; otherwise, he felt, he might gyrate away into the Shadow Realm out of sheer elation.
He was right. Ailill his friend was wrong, and this time wrong was for the better.
Master did not hate Ailill. Gabriel had known that, believed that. And he was right.
Now Master was standing in front of Ailill, saying, "Please forgive me." And even though Gabriel felt like squirming when he thought of Master asking for forgiveness, he kept quiet because he knew it was for the best. Ailill was looking at Master with the strangest expression, biting his lip and shifting a slightly larger bit of his weight to one foot, then the other.
"I don't know…"
"I'm sorry about the Blue Eyes. I should have known."
Gabriel looked on with the initial euphoria mostly burned off and anxiety screaming inside of him as Ailill very slowly reached out one hand toward Master's shoulder; Gabriel knew it was to comfort. And he was opening his mouth, ready to say two words that were the only thing really needed to bring everything together where it should be.
"I understand," Ailill didn't say. It all shattered at the last possible moment.
"Yugi, it's his fault, not yours!" Gabriel jerked and stared at Téa Gardner, who was leaning over the railing and shouting downward.
"Yugi, he should be ashamed of himself for saying you should treat him special. Is it your fault his attack power stinks? He's standing there telling you Kaiba should have died, just for his ego, and you're agreeing with him?"
Gabriel felt something move through his mind.
"He's the one who should be saying he's sorry, for ever saying you're a bad duelist!"
Anyone who knew Ailill would know those were all the wrong things to tell him.
The hand jerked away from the shoulder as if they were both positive magnets. Ailill looked up at Téa with that hostile look back in his eyes.
"I never asked to get treated special," he said in a voice that if it was translated into actions would make all the duels Gabriel had gone through seem tame. "All I asked was for him to let me win for once. You say I deliberately made my numbers low! You say I have no right to ever win anything! You sound just like Michael with his 'heresy'!"
(I suppose there's no getting her to play me on Ailill's say-so)
Gabriel jerked and touched one hand against his head.
(Morgan?)
(Yes, 'tis me, Gabriel)
(How can you-)
(I reached a kything line a little further, is all. I reached right through you for a little while. I heard her then)
(Ailill was about to understand about Master and then she…)
(Why must she always interfere with Ailill's affairs?)
Ailill had turned, and was now walking away. "I don't have to listen to your sanctimonious junk one minute more."
Too late, Gabriel ran down to join Yugi and Kaiba. He couldn't let Ailill go like that. He heard Brendan's Master say from above, "Um, Téa? I don't think that speech worked out real well."
"He's right." Everyone looked at Seto Kaiba, who was now glaring up at Téa. "If you must blame someone, the best one to blame is me or, best of all, yourself."
"But Kaiba," said Yugi, "I was the one who told him to stop."
Kaiba smiled grimly. "And who told you to stop? That's right," he added as Yugi's gaze wandered to Téa for a moment before he jerked it back. "It isn't like cards choose to have low attack power, after all. It isn't like they choose much of anything most of the time."
Yugi looked away. "Point taken, Kaiba. But what do I do now?"
And then he knew what to do. "Master?"
Yugi turned to Gabriel. "Don't call me Master, okay?"
"Could I see-?"
Yugi nodded and held out the deck. Gabriel shuffled through, finding it near what would be the top of the deck if it were face down. He checked the numbers. They were about right. And of course there was no picture.
(Morgan?)
(Yes?)
(Is there any chance you could send out a line for Jewel?)