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I Know You're Out There Somewhere	By : Firewing Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3536 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 4 Island of the Winged Horse

Disclaimer: No, I don�t even own Croquet�I think maybe Pegasus does though!
��.
�How long was I in the Shadow Realm?� Pegasus asked Croquet for the fifth time within an hour.
�A year, sir.� Croquet answered, his patience wearing thin.
�A year. It seemed like only moments.� The silver-haired gentleman mused.
�The perception of how time passes tends to be greatly distorted, depending on one�s point of view.� Croquet dryly responded.
�Whatever do you mean, Croquet?�
�A moment to you seemed like an eternity to me.� Croquet translated.
Pegasus chuckled. �No one chained you to my beside, Christopher.�
�Hmph.� Croquet should have felt unappreciated, but seldom took Pegasus� remarks personally. Besides the man did have a point. No one made Croquet pull 16-hour shifts seven days a week more or less for a year. He just hadn�t had to be anywhere else at the time.
They were flying home to Duelist Kingdom on Illusionary Airs, Pegasus� small private jet. Pegasus spent another two weeks in the hospital after he had recovered from his �coma� or returned to his soulless body after an extended vacation in the Shadow Realm. He had divided the remainder of his hospital stay between physical therapy, checking up on Industrial Illusions, and helping Croquet complete the numerous unfinished crossword puzzles the bodyguard accumulated while being �chained� to Pegasus� bedside.
It kept him occupied somewhat. The last thing Pegasus remembered after his fateful duel with Yugi was releasing the souls of Yugi�s grandfather and the Kaiba brothers. There seemed to be someone giving him a bizarre sort of Tarot reading using duel monster cards in there somewhere, but he could remember nothing about the forceful seizure of the Millennium Eye, just intense mind-crippling pain. He didn�t really care to remember the thief�s identity and for some inexplicable reason, he believed he might be better off without the magical item.
As the jet closed the distance to the Duelist Kingdom landing strip, Pegasus wondered to himself again how he could have been in the Shadow Realm for a year and remember next to nothing. What he did remember made very little sense. His beautiful lady was in his arms trying to warn him against allowing his soul to remain trapped and pleading with him to return to this plane of existence as if it were their only chance at being reunited. He spent seventeen years of his life trying to resurrect his beloved bride and when he finally thought he had the perfect plan it backfired miserably. But now the most pressing mystery on his mind why in blazes was Cecelia in the Shadow Realm?
�Sir? We�ve arrived.� Croquet announced, breaking in on Pegasus� pensive thoughts.
��..
Later that night, Pegasus tossed and turned in his bed caught up in a nightmare.
He sensed rather than saw the labyrinth around him. A disembodied, yet familiar voice filled the darkness with sound.
�You failed her, Pegasus. Your purpose has been served. You failed her, but you didn�t fail me. You�ve been a good servant to the Shadow Realm and you are to be rewarded. You must run now, Pegasus. Run and never stop.�
At the feet of the moonsilver haired man a path appeared of brimstone and fire. The savage red light made shadows in the darkness, forbidding and concealing. Pegasus could sense monsters and souls driven insane with pain. He did not move, could not move, incomprehensively frozen in place as heat penetrated the soles of his boots. It was not fear, but rather a need to understand what was happening to him that caused his disobedience.
This place was like the labyrinth of tunnels he had mapped and charted below the surface of his island home. Yet he suspected a plot was to be played out here that was far more sinister than eliminating duelists. He had questions to ask of the disembodied voice but his own seemed to have forsaken him.
�You may only stop when you find the one you seek. If you pause or hesitate, even for the space of a breath, her soul will be destroyed. I will teach you the meaning of despair, little mortal. Run!�
Pegasus gingerly placed one white boot on the path and immediately felt as though he were engulfed in the fires of Hell. He had always been better at giving orders than taking them, but moved into a leisurely jog nonetheless.
Moments later, he caught sight of spun gold hair and a bit of a blue silk gown trimmed in lace. Cecelia? He sprinted in the general direction of his personal Venus when branch-like hands tore at his hair and attempted to snare his feet. Piercing victory shrieks filled the air as he fought against his unseen assailants. He stumbled and started to fall�
��
Waking, Pegasus sat bolt upright in his bed, cold sweat drenching his pajamas. Shakily, he made his way into his bathroom and relieved his stomach of its contents. Only Croquet knew about the terrors that haunted Pegasus in his sleep. His faithful bodyguard had managed to see to it that the hospital staff remained oblivious. He had not wanted to spend one more day than absolutely necessary in the sterile atmosphere.
�Sir?�
�Did I call you?� Pegasus snapped at the very man he had just been thinking of.
�No, sir.� Croquet answered blandly. Instead of leaving Pegasus on the marble floor of his bathroom, which was apparently what the silver-haired man desired, Croquet reached out to help his boss to his feet.
Pegasus staggered a little, still weak and uncoordinated from his long hospital stay, he leaned into the iron strength of his bodyguard and allowed Croquet to guide him to a leather upholstered wing chair in the sitting area of his bedroom. Croquet scooped up a blanket from the tangled pile on the floor and draped it over his boss.
It would be a long night. Croquet sat in the wing chair next to Pegasus, saying nothing. Either his master would talk to him or not depending on his whim. It would do no good to coax him. Croquet made an art of waiting and watching. Over thirty-some odd years they had fallen into a rhythm that shaped their lives. Friends from childhood in a strangely formal yet familiar way, both were completely comfortable with the relationship that neither of them questioned.
�Shadi�find him. Bring him to the castle.� Pegasus ordered.
�Yes, sir.� Croquet rose and left.
��
Cecelia wandered through her pocket of Shadow space. It was a mental recreation of the English woods on her parent�s estate where she had grown up. As a child she had frequented this clearing she always thought of as her own private fairyland. As a blossoming young woman she lured her first lover to this secluded place, promising with her body then a union that later would be symbolized by a gold wedding ring.
She was lost to the Shadow Realm with no physical body to return to the life she loved. Cecelia was brutally aware of not only her circumstances, but those of her beloved�s as well. Not even death could sever her bond to her beautiful silver blond husband. She may have been trapped in this other dimension but she still felt drawn to her two earthbound loves. When she reached out to Maximillion she felt his essential spirit, a magnetic charisma tainted by grief. As for their son, Cecelia sensed little more than a charming warmth that reminded her of sunshine.
Her death had only been the beginning of the devastation wrought on Max�s life. It had merely been the first move in this particular round in an eternal game of Shadow and Light. There were forces in motion that would join the two into a single reality. In ancient times, a young but powerful pharaoh had stepped into the path of evil and held it at bay. In modern times, another young and powerful man had been set, like an angel unaware, to unleash that same evil.
��
Croquet returned after a few moments to his master�s chambers. �Shadi will be here momentarily.� He announced, even as a spinning white vortex appeared in Pegasus� bedroom floor. Uncharacteristically, Croquet yelped in dismay as he felt the solid oak flooring dissolve underfoot.
�Travel by Shadow Realm, Shadi? How quaintly old-fashioned.� Pegasus quipped, unalarmed.
Croquet bowed slightly to his master�s guest, his eyes never leaving Pegasus, thinking to him and yet knowing Pegasus had lost the highly-tuned perceptions the Millennium Eye had afforded him-I despise magic. I despise that Egyptian. There�s something off about him, Max. I�m leaving. But I�ll be within earshot.

Pegasus smirked at Croquet knowing he was ranting and raving about magic again without actually knowing the details of Croquet�s thoughts. �Perhaps you should have chosen a different employer, Croquet?� he teased.
�Whatever do you mean, Master Pegasus?� Croquet asked innocently.
�Nothing at all, Croquet. I�ll call if require anything.�

Although Croquet left reluctantly, he remained very much in the thoughts of his employer. The silver-haired illusionist knew very well the burden of guilt Croquet carried for his brief years of absence from Pegasus� side. First, Croquet spent four years in the military, on every leave returning to the island to visit his father who was still employed there as a master gardener and then later for nearly two more years shortly after Max�s wedding. The first of the two years had been bliss, but that had nothing to do with Croquet�s sudden decision to leave and everything to do with his bride. Of course, his bride had everything to do with Croquet leaving, but that was another story.
The second year had been hell and Pegasus would no sooner allow Croquet another resignation than he would allow his other eye to be cut out. Filled with grief and torment, Pegasus had never fully recovered from his pain and loss. Croquet�s own brief marriage terminated in divorce when his wife had foolishly given him the ultimatum of choosing between her and Maximillion. Only Cecelia had ever come between them and obviously Croquet�s wife was no Cecelia.
Pegasus knew he owed Croquet a debt that even he could not repay. He wouldn�t have survived the tragic loss of his family or the transitional time of learning to deal with the Millennium Eye without his friend at his side. True, Shadi had been a guide and mentor and Pegasus also considered him to be a friend. But Pegasus had depended on Croquet to be there for him since they were both children. Croquet was his shield, not just as a physical protector, but mentally and emotionally as well. His pragmatism balanced out Pegasus� lunacy and his mind was a lead curtain that shut out a great deal of psychic garbage people unknowingly threw out. Croquet was his security blanket, not just his chief of security. Oh, if only he knew�Pegasus smirked to himself.
Shadi gazed at the door the bodyguard had made his exit through for a moment longer than necessary, knowing how easily all their destinies could have changed had Croquet not left Pegasus during that critical time. Shadi alone understood that Croquet�s sense of guilt had a firm basis in reality. It was quite possible that Croquet could have prevented Cecelia�s death and thus Pegasus� brief but tragic descent into madness.
�Please, Shadi, come sit with me.� Pegasus invited, indicating the second of the two wing chairs. Shadi had always been someone who was willing to help him try to heal his pain and had shown him many wondrous mysteries. He explained to Shadi why he had sent for him and Shadi listened thoughtfully.
�The Eye was taken by force, Master Pegasus. I felt the disruption in the mystic alignment when the theft occurred. I came here to catch the thief, but did not find him. I had hoped that were you strong enough to survive the removal of the Millennium Eye, you would be able to identify the thief. But such does not seem to be the case. It is certain that this person is the keeper of a Millennium item, for only someone with great mastery of Shadow magic could send you to the Shadow Realm and block your memories. That same magic may have extended to your memories of the Shadow Realm as well. You are sufficiently gifted and experienced with the power of the Shadow Realm not to be overwhelmed by it. Your memories are merely blocked, Maximillion, they are still there.�
�Would you be kind enough to help me regain them?� Pegasus asked, even though sleepiness was fast becoming an irresistible force.
�I could,� Shadi answered carefully, �But I do not believe it would be wise to do so. Tell me all that you remember of your dreams and we shall see.�
Once again, Shadi listened closely, and then he used the Millennium Key to enter Pegasus� mind for a moment before retreating. Shadi stood to leave; the white vortex appeared at his feet and slowly sucked him down into it. �Forgive me, there are other matters to which I must attend.� And with that he vanished.
Pegasus raised an eyebrow, �How odd��
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I Know You're Out There Somewhere