The Pharaoh and the Wayfarer (Atem/Yami Yugi x Spirit! Reader)

Chapter 30: Mind Games and the Tomb Keeper's Secret

(Timeskip)

Yami reconvened with everyone in the main hub, Marik mercifully nowhere in sight. Tea, catching sight of him, greeted him first.
"Yugi. How are they?"
"Fine." Yami assured her. "(Y/N) woke up, but I didn't like how she looked, so I told her to get some more rest."
Tea nodded. "Yeah, that's probably for the best. I was so scared that lightning did something really bad to them."
"Rain should be present." Kaiba interjected, annoyed that his rival had returned alone. "She knows better."
"Chill out, Kaiba." Joey said. "Stormy and (Y/N) put themselves on the line to keep everyone safe from that rampaging god!"
"Maybe she wouldn't have had to if you had been a better duelist, Wheeler."
Tristan held Joey back as Yami crossed his arms and gave Kaiba a stern look.
"Kaiba, she needs time to recover. She used most of her strength keeping Ra at bay. If she's selected, I'll get her myself."
The brunette rolled his eyes. "Fine, you handle your girlfriend, Yugi."
"The next two duelists for the third match of the Battle City Finals will now be selected." Roland announced.
"Hey, before we start, I was thinking, since Marik entered this thing with a fake name, shouldn't he be disqualified?" Joey suggested, only to be struck down by Kaiba.
"Wishful thinking, but this contest is about skills and not names."
"What's that mean?!"
"It means to get rid of the competition, you should be man enough to use your deck and not some trivial technicality."
"We're all gonna die because of him, aren't we?" Duke grumbled, decided to step up in the sass department to make up for Rain's absence.
Tristan nodded. "Oh yeah."
Kaiba ignored them both. "Begin."
"Let it rip, Roland!" Mokuba said.
"Yes, sir! Duelists remember your numbers!"
The machine whirled to life and seconds later, the number 4 was pulled. They all turned to Mai to give their encouragement, but she seemed stoic. As Roland turned the machine back on to select her opponent, Mai turned to walk away.
"See ya, guys."
"Hey!" Joey called out. "Don't you want to see who you're gonna duel against, Mai?"
"Like it really makes a difference." Mai said coldly. "I'll win no matter who it is. As for you fellows, I'll be seeing you at the finals."
"But Mai-," Yami tried to warn, only to be interrupted by Joey.
"We'll be rooting for ya."
She stopped in her tracks. "I don't need you guys to win. Believe it or not, I was a good duelist before I met you, and quite frankly, a certain blonde-haired knucklehead in your group is beginning to get on my nerves!"
"Me?" Joey asked, not noticing Tea facepalming in the background.
"Yes you! It's perfectly clear that you don't consider me a friend, and I don't consider you one, so let's just leave it at that, monkey boy!"
"That is completely untrue! And I'm no monkey boy!"
"Relax, Joey." Serenity intervened as Mai marched off.
"Later. I'm outta here."
When Mai disappeared, Tea glared at their friend.
"Joey, you are lucky Rain isn't here or she would've beat you over the head. And I would've let her this time!"
"What did I do!?"
"Duelist Number 5, Marik Ishtar, will be facing off against Mai Valentine!" Roland suddenly announced, killing off any sort of argument.
"That's not good." Tristan said, getting a side eye from Duke.
"No duh!"
"This is bad." Yami said. "Regardless of how she feels, we should be there to support Mai. Who knows what twisted games Marik intends to play?"
Joey clenched his teeth. "Yeah. Man, if she weren't in such bad shape, I'd say we should go get Stormy. She and (Y/N) are the experts on fighting this stuff."
Yami was inclined to agree, though he did not want his wife or Rain to match powers with Marik so soon after the incident. "We'll have to manage without them. For now, we should go."
Everyone nodded in agreement, heading for the elevator as a feeling of dread seeped into all of them.

(Timeskip)

"Rain. Rain! Wake up!"
Rain felt an insistent shoving on her shoulder as she groaned, hesitantly opening her eyes. Fortunately, the medicine (Y/N) had done its job as her headache was gone as she saw Tea and Yugi hovering over her bedside.
"Hey guys. Did I get selected?"
"N-no, Rain." Tea said somberly as the Wayfarer girl stretched. "The duel's over."
Rain stopped mid stretch, hearing her tone.
"Something happened." Rain turned to Yugi, who looked in bad shape himself. "Yugi, what happened to you!?"
"Marik." Was all he said.
Rain's eyes widened fearfully. "Oh gods. Who did he-?"
"Mai." Tea answered. "She had him cornered, but then she tried summoning the Winged Dragon of Ra and it was just some dirty trick! Marik trapped her in the Shadow Realm. He says she's going to forget all of us!"
"Damnit!" Rain snapped. "I should've been there! Where is she now?"
"Her room." Yugi said as Rain immediately got up and began to march out the door. "Rain, where are you going?"
"To try and fix this!"
The trio ran to Mai's room where the others were stationed. Joey was by Mai's bedside as the female duelist was laying in her death-like state.
"Rain!" He said, getting up. "Please tell me you can fix this!"
"I'm gonna try." She said, kneeling by Mai's side and taking her hand.
Rain closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to find any sign of life. Her bracelet began to glow as she dove into the raging sea once more. Unlike the time she had broken into the Shadow Game with Pegasus, this was a ceaseless abyss, not a barrier that she felt she breakthrough. Yugi saw the bracelet flickering and Rain seemingly pushing herself to her limits. Instinctively, he reached out, bracing his hand on her shoulder. The Millennium Puzzle also began to glow as it seemed to ease the tension, but Rain couldn't seem to break through the dark ocean. In a final desperate push, Yami and (Y/N) took over, however, the royal couple had no more luck than their counterparts. Knowing it was futile, (Y/N) pulled out and stood up, shaking her head.
"It's too much. The shadows are too dense even for the Millennium Bracelet."
"Come on, (Y/N)." Joey said desperately. "You and Rain did it before!"
"It was different before. We were breaking into a Shadow Game, not trying to pull someone out of the Shadow Realm, and there were more points of connection. I don't have the power necessary to do this."
"So it's hopeless!?"
"I didn't say that, Joey. Remember Pegasus. If we can defeat Marik, we should be able to save Mai, and Odion for that matter. We can't give up yet."
"Damnit!" Joey yelled, banging a fist against the wall. "This tournament's gotten way out of hand!"
"You don't say." Duke replied sarcastically. "Could that be because there's a mind-warping psycho on board who sent two people to a hellish, dark dimension and nearly killed Yugi when he tried to stop him?"
"You did what!?" (Y/N) shouted, turning to Yami.
"I'm fine." He insisted. "I saw what was happening and needed to do something."
The former queen took a deep breath and turned to their friend. "Give us the room for a minute. Please."
Everyone else could hear the anger in her tone and gave no opposition, exiting out as fast as possible, save for Duke, who lingered long enough to give Yami an apologetic look. When they were alone, Yami tried to reason with (Y/N).
"(Y/N), please-," She immediately whacked him on the head. "OW! What was that for!?"
"Smacking some sense into you!" She shouted. "You got in the middle of a Shadow Game with that monster!? What were you thinking!? You should've woken me and Rain up the minute Marik was chosen to duel!"
"You two were still recovering, we didn't want to worsen your condition!"
"And you thought you two could manage to hold off Marik's power by yourselves!? Rain and I have years of experience using the Millennium Bracelet and we just barely managed to fend off an attack from Ra!"
"I had to try. It was either that or let Marik send Mai to the Shadow Realm!"
"And you lectured me about putting myself at risk? You do realize the only reason Marik didn't kill you is because he has to defeat you in a duel to get your power? Yami, you're not invincible, and I can't lose you either." He glanced away guiltily, knowing she was completely right. Trying to dissipate her anger, (Y/N) hugged him, putting her face into his chest. "You are a wonderful, selfless man that I fell in love with, but you are insufferable sometimes."
Yami wrapped his arms around her. "I know. You're right. I'm sorry."
She looked up at him and held his cheeks. "You have this awful habit of thinking all the burden needs to fall to you. It doesn't. I'm here, our friends are here, Yugi and Rain are here to help ease it. You need to learn to share that burden, at least with me, because I am genuinely terrified you will crack under it alone. Do you understand? No more facing it alone. It's either we do this together, or not at all. Okay?"
He nodded, taking one of her hands in his own and kissing her palm. "Okay. I promise."
(Y/N) placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Don't ever scare me like that again."
"I won't."
"Good. Now sit down. I want to make sure you're not badly hurt."
He huffed a laugh. "Yes, dear."
Grabbing the first aid kit, (Y/N) began examining her husband's wounds. Despite the fact she had been yelling at him not two minutes ago, he was a bit smug at having her undivided attention, which made her give him a look.
"Stop."
"I haven't done anything."
"Don't enjoy this. I am still very upset with you."
"Of course you are." He said, still smiling.
"And don't even think about hiding behind Yugi, because Rain is just as angry with him as I am with you!"
"Yes, shagngu."
Yami's smugness came to a screeching halt as (Y/N) not so gently dabbed the rubbing alcohol into his wounds, causing him to flinch.
"Sorry." She said, completely ingeniously.
"No you're not."
That seemed to somewhat ease the tension as (Y/N) did what she could. Rain had been a rather adventurous child, so she had seen many, many different types of medical treatment. Fortunately, despite how dangerously reckless the boys had been, the injuries were not so severe and really she only needed to wrap Yami's hand. Once she finished up, the two stepped out of the room, where everyone was looking at the former queen expectantly.
"I'm calm...er, now. Come on, the next duel will be announced soon enough."
"You guys go ahead." Serenity insisted. "I'll keep an eye on Mai. She would want all of you to focus on making sure you win this."
"Are you sure, Serenity?" Tristan asked, before Duke butted in.
"Someone should stay with you to make sure that Marik creep doesn't try anything!"
"Not the time, gentlemen!" Tea snapped, dragging them away as Serenity headed back inside.
Joey looked at the door guiltily before Yami placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We will save Mai, Joey. I promise."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Come on." (Y/N) insisted. "I doubt it will work, but we should try to ask Seto to land again."