Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Heart of the Cards, Guide Me ❯ Why You Should Never Duel An Ancient Spirit ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Do own Sakura, Meritaten, and Hoermheb's name.

Chapter four: Why You Should Never Duel An Ancient Spirit

Horemheb snickered and looked at Sakura. "Let the duel begin," he said.
So the duel began. Sakura soon saw that he was good, very good. He started winning and was always ahead of Sakura. But she also saw how he cheated. She felt yet another presence in her mind; he was searching her thoughts, looking at the cards through her eyes. Sakura at first tried to make herself large in her mind so there'd be no room for him.
What are you doing? Nothing will keep him out, Meritaten said.
It was worth a try, Sakura thought.
Next she tried to put up a sort of fortress with alarms, booby traps and trip wires for him. That didn't work either.
So Sakura tried something she knew wouldn't work. She closed her eyes and tried to get into his head like he had hers. She tried and tried and tried...until...she was in his mind. She could see his cards, she knew what he was thinking...hmm, he's going to put down that trap card, I should counter it...
Then she heard him snicker in his mind. Sakura...I know you're here...I want you OUT! he yelled. Sakura was so scared she almost ran back to her own body. When she was there, she put down the card that would counter his next move face-down.
What happened? Where'd you go!? Meritaten asked.
Just...out. Why didn't you tell me I could do that? Sakura asked.
I didn't know, why didn't you tell me? You see, if we knew who your parents were that would probably explain...
I told you already, I don't know! Sakura said. If I knew I wouldn't be here dueling this creep and invading his mind, now would I?
So that's where you've been? Meritaten asked.
Never mind. I know how he can see my cards. I found that he can't see into my mind, but he sees into yours. I want you to close your eyes, Sakura said.
Well, why can't he look into your mind? Never mind. Okay, I'll close my eyes.
Sakura had also found out that if she could just defeat one more of his monsters, she'd win...but how? Sakura looked at her hand. She had just put down a card, so she only had four cards left. But what the cards were was a surprise.
She had four Exodia cards. She just needed one more piece! She looked at the cards on the field. She saw Yugi Pharaoh wink at her. He knew, didn't he? He knew her hand, and about her trip to Horemheb's head...
This is just getting too weird, Sakura thought.
Just wait. You haven't seen anyone's soul taken away yet, Meritaten said.
I thought you were somewhere else! Go away! Don't talk to me! He knows my cards that way! Sakura was distressed.
Horemheb had put down the card Sakura knew he would play. She countered it with her card. She was about to draw anther card, hoping it would be the fifth piece to Exodia, because if it wasn't she would definitely lose. Just as her hand went to grab the card Meritaten said, trust in the heart of the cards, Sakura! It's the only way!
Heart of the cards? Sakura asked.
Yes, the heart of the cards. The soul of the cards! You must trust in it, or you'll lose the duel and your soul!
Okay, yeah. The soul of the cards. Why not? Sakura thought. Her hand went to rest on her deck. Heart of the cards, guide me, Sakura thought as she picked up the card. Pharaoh grinned, Meritaten held her breath and Sakura looked at the card...
And it was the fifth piece of Exodia. She placed all five cards on the table. "Exodia," Sakura said for the third time in a duel.
Horemheb gasped. "No...you won...it can't be..." he said. Then he got an evil look on his face. He snickered. "Who said I can't go back on my word..." he said.
Horemheb took a duel monsters card from one of his pockets. Sakura looked to see what it was. She was surprised when she found it was blank.
Then six things happened almost at the same time.
Sakura asked "What is that?"
Meritaten said, Oh, no, no...
Pharaoh screamed "No!"
Horemheb snickered.
A perfect picture of Sakura appeared on the previously empty card.
And Sakura suddenly felt disconnected from her body. Everything went dark and Sakura was even colder than she had been. "Where am I?" she said. "Meritaten? What are you doing? Stop it, this isn't funny...Meritaten? Meri? Where are you?" Sakura was very scared.
Meritaten was at a loss. She had full control over Sakura's body. Sakura? she called out. Sakura, don't tell me he did what I think he did. No, say you're here...no! No! No!
Pharaoh was mad. "Why did you do that?" he said, outraged. "What did she ever do to you?"
"She was a threat to me," Horemheb said with a laughter in his voice.
"Why? Why was she a threat to you? Why did you do that?" Pharaoh screamed. Meritaten was crying, feeling the loss of her friend's spirit.
"Ah, she has won that right. I can now tell who her parents are. Her mother was a beautiful lady, with long red hair and blue eyes. Sakura looked a lot like her mother. But, her mother had a millennium item, along with that serpent ring," Horemheb said.
"And her father? " Pharaoh asked. "Every child has a father."
Horemheb chuckled yet again. "Her father..." he said between laughs "Was me!" he said. With that he disappeared and Sakura's card floated down to the ground.
Pharaoh was very angry. Meritaten was still crying. Sakura was in her own dark world, lost in oblivion.
"Pegasus and his accursed millennium eye..." Pharaoh muttered as game shop slowly came back into view and Yugi took over again. He saw Meritaten crying (he thought it was Sakura) and a card on the floor with Sakura's picture on it. Meritaten looked at him. Yugi put the clues together.
"It can't be," he muttered. How could it be? "What happened?" Yugi asked Meritaten, knowing what she was going to say it.
"Sakura's gone. Her soul was trapped in that card," Meritaten said. "She dueled Horemheb...sorry, Pegasus, for information about her parents. She won, but Pegasus took her soul anyways and ran away. But he did tell Pharaoh and I who her parents were."
"Who?" Yugi asked, on the verge of breaking out into tears.
"Her mother had a millennium item and the ring. Her father was..." Meritaten's voice broke. She tried again. "Her father was Pegasus."
"But that means...you know what that means? She's a child of the Yamis. A tool of Fate. She has great powers."
"Which is why Pegasus said she was a threat," Meritaten said. "Being a child of two Yamis, a tool of Fate, and with me? Wow. Who would have thought?"
Yugi did not want to think about the irony of this though. He didn't want to think at all. He had failed someone he loved again. Wait, did he say love? Yes, Yugi loved Sakura. He hadn't even really realized it.
He must get Sakura back. He must. It was his fault; he had made her stay longer and talk to her. He would find her. Lucky that day was a Friday; he had the whole weekend, which gave him more time.
He would get her back. He would. For her sake and his sanity.

Meanwhile, Sakura was thinking in her dark prison. She longed for a book. She would have loved to wake up to her father, blueberry pancakes and Saturday morning cartoons. But he's not my father, she thought. Who is my father?
But she was surprised that a book and pancakes was not what she wanted most. What she wanted most was to see Yugi, even for a moment. She Would have given her soul and her life to see Yugi's smile, his bright purple eyes.
Why does everything happen to me? Sakura thought.