Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Love Gave the Wound ❯ The Boy Who Stole the Stars: Mai Valentine ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!", Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, or any music from Chrono Cross. However, I do own two kick-ass pairs of knee boots, and can only hope one day to run in them without tripping like Mai can.

This section takes place in Duelist Kingdom, right after Yugi wins Mai Valentine's chips back from arguably one of the strangest characters in the series, the eliminator, Panik (but then, I'd probably be angry too, if I were a huge man in eyeliner with a name like Panik). Mai's reluctant to take the chips because she feels she didn't earn them; Joey sees an opening, and...

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Love Gave the Wound

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The Boy Who Stole the Stars: Mai Valentine

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Till by degrees it had full conquest got

I saw and liked, I liked but loved not.

(Sir Philip Sidney, from Astrophel and Stella)

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May all the Harpie Ladies in the universe curse this brute if he steals my star chips!...

"Cuz ya know, if she doesn't want 'em, I'll be happy to take 'em off her hands. Her loss, my gain." Joey Wheeler steps forward, almost swaggering, to scoop the star chips that Yugi just won back for me out of the shorter boy's gloved hand. "Jackpot," Joey snickers, shaking the chips so that they make a chicka-chicka sound in his hand.

"Hey!" I sputter. "Give those back!"

"Whatsamatter, Mai?" Joey taunts, shaking his hand at me like a star-chip maraca. "You didn't seem to want 'em when Yugi offered 'em to you."

"That-was-different," I say through gritted teeth. "He won them honorably in a duel for me, and I didn't want to be in debt to him. You're just being a pain in the ass!"

"Thanks, I work hard," Joey chuckles, bowing to me slightly for a joke. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my new star chips and heading off to my next duel. I'm sorry I can't stay to escort your cute little butt to the docks to get the next boat off the island, but hey, I'm a busy guy. I got duels to win."

I'm torn between my pride and the chips. I rely on myself if I want something, and I really don't want to have to owe Yugi Motou because he won the chips back from Panik after I lost. But I'll be damned if I'll let Joey Wheeler the dueling monkey make off with the star chips that are rightfully mine!

Yugi's shaking his head at Joey's antics. Tèa's cradling her head in her hands as if she's embarrassed to be seen with these characters. Even Tristan, who's usually Joey's partner in crime, is looking a little embarrassed for his friend. But Joey's on a roll-he can't stop now.

"Yup, I'll be at that castle in no time! I'll send you a postcard, Mai. It's Valentine, right? Is that V-A-L-"

I can't stand it any more. "You think me losing all my star chips is funny, Joey Wheeler?"

"You want 'em?" he asks, holding his hand out to me, and I make a swipe for it, but he quickly raises his hand above his head. "Too slow!"

In jeans and Nikes, he's taller than I am in my boots. He holds the chips out of my reach without even straining, and even in my stillettos I can't get to them. I end up bracing one hand against his chest and swiping at the chips with the other like a helpless kitten. He's warm and solid and utterly immovable against me, but I try anyway. "Give them back! Give them-"

Without warning, Joey tips his open hand onto my reaching one so that they're palm to palm, the chips pressed between them. I'm surprised by the action and stumble against him, but he's rock steady to catch me, bracing me against his chest. His heartbeat's calm and regular; his smile never wavers, our hands still pressed together above my head.

"Of course, you c'n have 'em," he tells me gently, his wood-brown eyes friendly and guileless. "They're yours."

He lets go of my hand, leaving me the chips, and I step back absently, looking at them. "Really, Joey?" I hear myself asking, almost timidly.

"Really, really." He smiles. "Didn'tcha learn anything from the duel? If you keep shields up all the time, you'll never get to know people. Let down your shields, just this one time, okay?" He goes so far as to give me a playful little shove, and I'm so bewildered I can't even react, wobbling on my heels.

I look at the chips again and realize that he could have taken them. He needs them more than I do-he's always crowing about that sister of his and how she needs some kind of operation. Me, I'm in this purely for the money, and I'd lost those chips to the eliminator. By rights, after Yugi defeated Panik and won the chips, Joey could have taken them and never looked back.

It's something I might have done.

But he didn't take them. He could have sent me packing, and still he gave them back, his explanation being simply that they were mine. It's one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me, and I wasn't nice to him at all. Vengeance was his and he gave me back my chance. Now I'm not only in Yugi's debt, but in Joey's as well.

"All right," I say softly, in answer to his request. "Maybe just this once."

"Good for you, Mai," Joey exults. "Now, was that so hard?"

"Hey, don't rub it in," I say, with a momentary return to wit. "If you tell anybody that I dropped my shields, I may have to kill you."

"Your secret dies with me." He grins cheekily, and I feel like pinching his face. Something about Joey Wheeler makes me want to hug and strangle him at the same time.

"Keep teasing me, and that secret may die with you sooner rather than later." I blink at him, unable to help it-I'm exhausted. This has been one of the longest days of my life. "It's getting late. You guys might want to find a safe place to camp."

"Good idea," Tèa says through chattering teeth, shivering. "I'm freezing to death in this miniskirt."

"I hear you there, hon," I tell her-I'm not exactly dressed for the Arctic either. "I'm going to head up that way. Next time let's meet up somewhere a little warmer, okay?" I sling my bag over my shoulder and turn to face them. "Thanks again for all you've done."

"All in a day's work," Yugi says cheerfully.

"See you around, Mai." Joey winks at me. "And keep an eye on those chips-I want 'em to be there so I can win 'em from you later."

"In your dreams, Joseph," I say absently. I just can't muster up my usual biting sarcasm.

"You know it," he chuckles, raising one arm in a wave as he rejoins his friends. "I'm such a sensitive guy, ain't I?"

"Give us a break, Joey!" Tèa groans as they start to walk away.

"Yeah, right!" Tristan adds. "Sensitive to who?"

"Hey!" Joey argues.

"Here we go," Bakura mutters, shaking his head with a bit of a smile.

I watch them get smaller and smaller in the darkness, Yugi's hair catching a bit of moonlight, Joey and Tristan's argument getting harder and harder to hear, Bakura's white sweater looking like a distant ghost. What a strange night this has been for me, but I have a feeling that for them it's the usual fare.

Finally, when I can't see them anymore, can't hear their good-natured teasing, I load the rescued star chips back into my dueling glove, watching them gleam dully in the stingy moonlight.

They'll be here, Joseph. Come and get them.

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Author's Notes:

Mai Valentine is a cool character, and I have to give her credit-the only time I ever tried to wear stillettos, I fell down a set of stairs at a club and busted my ass. *^_^* What's really cool to me, though, is how Joey manages to get past her shields every time, whether it's to yank her chain or make her smile, and they are arguably the cutest anime couple I have ever seen. I love the gradual turn of Mai's thoughts to him, and his bravado regarding her, but yet they keep ending up in the same places. Good for them. *^_^*

I have to love the episode in which Yugi duels Panik-my sixteen-year-old younger sister claims to hate the show, but I asked her to record it for me one day and she grudgingly admitted that she found Yugi's strategy regarding the Castle of Dark Illusions very clever, and got very animated when explaining it to me. She still claims to hate the show, but when Joey dueled Weevil in Battle City, she beat around the bush for a while before asking if I had recorded the second episode, because she wanted to watch it so she could see who won-it was going to bother her unless she did. Heh, heh. I'll make a convert out of her yet, even if she still insists Yugi's hair is a hat. *^_^*

The title for this chapter came from one of my favourite pieces of music of all time-"The Girl Who Stole the Stars" from the Chrono Cross video game. Never having played the game, I don't know, but if I had asked the Powers That Be to please write me a song to cry to while watching the ocean, that's what they would have handed me. I love it, quite possibly, to death.

How's my driving? Another chapter? Reviews are greatly appreciated.