Mystery Card (Yami Muto X OC)

Chapter 17

Crystal opened her eyes, all around her was darkness, and she was familiar with this scenery. She had been having the same nightmare every night, causing her to be exhausted and unable to function completely in the real world. Suddenly a black hand wrapped around her waist and dragged her down into the dark ocean below, where she would be forced to drown until she wakes up. She struggled to get free, when suddenly someone's hand grabbed her hand and started to pull. That's when another hand wrapped around her wrist, and they both started to pull before Crystal's head was out of the water. She looked up to see Yami and Yugi, they were both smiling at her.

"We've got you, Crystal..." Yami said sweetly, this brought Crystal to tears, after so many nights of being alone, here they were and they weren't alone either. All of their friends were behind them, pulling her up out of the ocean that wanted to claim her soul, and when her feet were finally set free she awoke.

"That was..." Crystal sat up, and realized there was a plate of food on the night stand next to the couch, not burnt, "Huh...?"

"Crystal, you're awake." Yugi said cheerfully, he was sitting on the floor in front of the tv.

"Oh.. did I sleep in?"

"Yeah, but only because I let ya." Yugi grinned and started to eat his food, "Yami made your breakfast."

"Wow, and he didn't burn it?" Crystal joked as she picked up the plate and brought it to herself before she started to eat, "Mmm! This is delicious! I can't believe he made this!"

"He asked grandpa to help him out a little but he wanted to make it mostly himself for you." Yugi smiled sweetly at the girl who finally started to look energized.

"Thank you Yami." Crystal said as she looked at the puzzle around Yugi's neck, and thank you Yugi for saving me...

"It was his pleasure." Yugi finished eating as Crystal did too, "Let me take your plate." Yugi picked her plate out of her hands and walked to the kitchen.

"I guess it was all just a dream... Yugi and Yami weren't really there. Maybe it was just my hallucination, and me being energized is all just a facade." Crystal muttered to herself as she grabbed her deck of cards.

"Ah! I forgot you were building your deck to make it stronger."

"Yeah." Crystal started to go through her collection of cards, after Kaiba trained her to be better with her strategies, he gracefully donated some of his cards to her, which shocked Yugi and Joey to say the least.

"You'll do great when we get you out of your card." Yugi said with a smile, this reminded Crystal of why she enjoyed Yugi's company, he made her happy and forget that she's not a part of his world.

"And coming to you live from his headquarters! Hakadoshi, owner of the company known as the Shikon Monsters."

"Hello. I am Hakadoshi, and I'm speaking to all duelists who possess a duel disk." This grabbed Yugi's attention, "I invite all of you to join my tournament, I know it's not going to be anything like Kaiba's tournament, but I personally invite you all to come to my island for 2 weeks."

"Should we go, Crystal?" Yugi turned to her but stopped when he saw her hurt expression, she almost seemed ready to cry.

"Wh- oh." Crystal shook her head and smiled at Yugi, "Ah I think you should."

"What's wrong?" Yugi asked in concerned voice as he moved over to her, Yami watched on anxiously, he wanted to take over but he let Yugi handle it.

"I..." Crystal's eyes seemingly betrayed her and let tears fall down her cheeks, "I don't know if I want to go."

"Why not?"

"Hakadoshi..."

"Oh! He's not that bad or scary, so you shouldn't be worried." Yugi grinned, "Anyway, I'll protect you from him if he tries anything."

"But Yugi... it should be the other way around..." Crystal argued through her tears, "Even if I originally pledged to protect the Pharaoh, I also pledged to you that I would protect you and never leave your side."

"But I wouldn't feel right knowing you're the only one taking the hits, I don't like seeing friends get hurt." Yugi grinned sweetly at the girl next to him, one who was letting down her guard for him, "You mean a lot to me..."

"Huh?" Crystal looked at him with wide eyes.

"The first day I saw you in my hand... when you saved me... I felt so complete, so happy. Then I started to get to know things about you and I started to get closer to you. I even started to think of you like a sister to me."

"Yugi..." Crystal muttered softly, her heart starting to warm up in happiness, she didn't realize she meant that much to him.

"And don't forget about me." Yami appeared behind Yugi, "I felt an instant connection with you, and come to find out we share a past together. But I felt myself grow closer to you every time I seen you smile, it was something I had never felt before, and I want to keep you beside me forever." Yami and Yugi both placed their hands on Crystal's shoulders. She got the same feeling in her heart as in her nightmare, the feeling of being complete and whole.

"And maybe this tournament will be what we need to set you free!" Yugi said hopefully, "With the power of the Millennium Puzzle I want to set you free so we can spend our lives together like brother and sister."

"Yugi..." Crystal reached up with a small smile and rubbed his head, "Come on, We've got to get you registered."

"Huh?" Yugi's eyes widened and then he realized, "For the tournament?"

"Yes." Crystal reached over for the phone and called the number from the tv screen, "Hello?"

"Hello! I am Hakadoshi's Assistant who's taking in all duelist entries! Are you a duelist?"

"I'm registering my little brother."

"Alright, give me his name please."

"Yugi Muto."

"Ah! Alright. He's added in, he will have to announce his name when he gets to the cruise ship that will take him to the island."

"Okay. Thank you, have a nice day." Crystal hung up on the woman and gave Yugi a thumbs up.

"Yay!" Yugi jumped up in excitement, and ran to his room to start packing.

Crystal watched as he left, and then she curled her knees up to her chest. She started to cry, but in happiness, Yugi and Yami have saved her again.

And who knows if she can repay the favor.