Rock Bottom: Season One

Interference

"Do you miss Seto?" Marik asked the pharaoh as they returned to the Duel Arena.

"Very much," Seth answered softly, his voice warm as he placed a hand on his chest. He chuckled a little and said, "He says the funniest things. He once told me not to stick my finger inside the toaster."

Marik's face lit up and he exclaimed, "Ryou told me the same thing!" They laughed together at a joke that only they could understand.

"We can't tell anyone else that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring is still present," Marik said suddenly. "Seto will know, of course, but we can't tell the others. Bakura said he'd hurt Ryou if anybody else found out."

"Bakura? Is that his name?" Seth asked curiously. Bakura, the Millennium Ring... it stirred a long-distant piece of memory.

"It's what he told me to call him." Marik watched Seth's expression as his eyebrows drew together and his forehead creased. "Does that mean something to you?"

"Perhaps... My memory isn't as clear as I would like it to be." Seth sighed and shook his head. "Three thousand years will do that to you."

"How much do you remember?" Marik couldn't help that he was intrigued.

"I remember my wife, and my cousin, and my first love." He sighed wistfully at the memory, even though his eyes filled with remembered pain. "I remember my firstborn son, but I can't recall the name of my youngest daughter. I remember going to war with Persia, but I don't know how many battles were fought or how the war was started." He shrugged, and concluded, "That's just the way things go, I suppose. Everything I know is in my memory somewhere, and if I think hard enough, I'm sure I can find it."

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

"I surrender, Yugi," Mai said, her hand placed over her deck as she accepted defeat as graciously as she could. "I don't want to see my harpies destroyed , and I just don't have the cards in my hand to win." Their eyes met across the Duel Arena and Yugi nodded respectfully.

"Mai Kujaku has surrendered. Yugi Mutou is the winner!" Croquette announced as both duelists put their decks back together and stepped down from the Arena.

"Thank you for the duel, Mai," Yugi said as he approached her with his right hand extended. "You fought well." She shook his hand and smiled, looking pleased despite her loss.

"As did you, Yugi. I count on our having a rematch some day, though," she teased with a wink.

"I look forward to it," he replied warmly. As the two duelists exited the arena area amiably, Yugi ignored Pegasus' gaze fixed persistently on him. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of looking nervous before his adversary.

"The duel between Ryou Bakura and Joey Wheeler shall commence!" Croquette continued as Joey congratulated Yugi on his victory and Anzu tried to reassure Ryou that Marik would surely be back any second now. "Duelists, please take your places in the arena!"

"I guess that's it for me, boys," Mai said as she began to walk away from the group. "I'll see you on the outside!"

"Wait, Mai, aren't you going to watch our duel?" Joey asked, making her stop and turn. She had been about to say no, but he looked so much like an eager puppy that she changed her mind.

"I suppose I might as well see the tournament through to the end," she said casually, going back to their little group and leaning against the railing next to Anzu. "Good luck, Joey."

The blond teen was pleased by Mai's change of mind, and Mai had to admit that she was glad he was pleased. He was a good kid, and while he'd seemed goofy to her when they'd met, he'd proven last night that he was much deeper than that. She even suspected that he had a serious side hidden under all that blustering optimism.