It Was a Dark And Stormy Night

Okay, here we go - finally. A little foreshadowing and a lot of foreboding - plus a little bit of romance. I've never actually done a Tarot reading with a dueling deck, but it would make a wonderful alternative divination deck. One warning - if you haven't read "Nightmares," one part of the Tarot scene isn't going to make a lot of sense. This story is taking place, not immediately afterwards, but close. BTW, the first part, with Yugi, I wrote from cards I remembered and a few I made up. For the second part, when Jada does the reading PegaPegasus, I actually used one of my starter decks - and a few cards I remember hearing about. (No, I've never actually played, although I got hooked on the show watching Joey and Yami Yugi up against the Paradox Brothers - to this day I still have no idea how Yami was able to figure out which door was which - I would have done what Joey did and, according to our favorite pharaoh, gotten it completely wrong....)

Just some language warnings this chapter....

Disclaimer - they're not mine, of course, except for Jada. Pegasus would be back by now if they were. (Hey, I like him. He's everything the perfect villain should be - sexy, sophisticated, sinister, totally over the top, and surrounded by idiots (I know that already, Croquet!) Only instead of a big white Persian cat, he'd have a big white angora bunny.......)

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"Is the house gonna blow down, big brother?" Mokuba quavered anxiously. They were all huddled in the big furnished basement, listening to the roaring and banging and crashing outside. The room was darkly paneled, with dark furnishings, and the only light came from a couple of pillar candles in glass jars. It was downright eerie.

"No, but we might have a big hole in the roof," Seto replied.

"No shit, Sherlock---" Jada grumbled. She was sitting on the sofa pushed up against the near wall. "Man, you are really perceptive today." She'd only been knocked out for a moment, but still had a headache from it, which put hera raa rather bad mood.

Seto looked at her. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

She gave him the finger, proving that she indeed was okay. As she did, Pegasus returned from rummaging in the freezer. "Here," he said, holding a frozen bag to her head.

She jumped and shuddered. "Damn, that's cold! What the hell---?" She took it from him, frowing at it in the dim light. "Green Goddess frozen peas?" She made a face. "I hate peas."

He smirked. "As do I, pet. But you see, this way, we shan't have to eat them."

She looked at him, a slow smile forming on her lips. "You are just about pure evil, aren't you? I like that in a man."

He sat down next to her with a chuckle. For a few minutes, nobody spoke. Then Joey said, "All right, now what do we do?"

Seto shrugged.

"Whatever, I guess," Tristian said.

"Whatever?" Joey looked at him.

"Yah---" Tristian shrugged. "Whatever."

There were a few long minutes of silence of silence before Jada piped up, "Starring Tristian Taylor as -- APATHY BOY!"

Bakura almost snorted Snapple Iced Tea with Mango out of his nose.

Tristian glared at her. "All right, if you're so smart, you think of something."

"Oh, I am---" she replied with an evil little smirk, casting a quick glance at Pegasus. He caught her eyes for a moment and actually blushed a little bit.

Seto couldn't help but chuckle at his former enemy. "I thought you couldn't read minds without the Millennium Eye."

"Well, in some cases---" Pegasus started, but was interrupted by Joey.

"Hey Jada, truth or dare?"

Yugi hid his face against Yami's shoulder. "Not that again----" The little hikari was, as always, cuddled on his Yami's lap. He was far more frightened than he wanted to admit. If Yami hadn't been holding him, he was sure he'd have been hysterical, crying.

"Yeah, pass on that for the moment, please," Jada agreed. She had a feeling Joey's dare was going to involve kissing Pegasus. Not that she didn't want to, but she didn't want it to be under those circumstances. "I'm with Yugi-boy on that." With her Southern accent, however, the nickname came out sounding closer to "You-gahy boh-wayh."

Pegasus chuckled. "I think it sounds better when I say it, right Yugi-boy?"

Yugi hid his face back against Yami's shoulder. "I think it sounds better if you don't call me that, period."

"He didn't call you That. He called you Yugi-boy," Joey pointed out.

"Not funny, baka," Jada said. "And we're not playing Truth or Dare, okay?"

"Okay, so what do we do, then?" Joey grumbled, then cringed as something crashed and banged upstairs.

"Whoops, there goes another rubber tree plant----" Jada deadpanned.

"Jada, tell everyone's fortune like you were doing at the party that time!" Mokuba said all at once. "Please?"

She started to say she'd just been kidding around, but decided what the heck, it might be a good way to pass the time. "Okay, why not?"

"I thought you didn't have your tarot cards with you," Joey said.

"I was using dueling decks," she explained. "Hey Yugi, give me the cards in your deck that aren't duplicates of mine." A standard Tarot deck was eighty cards, not forty. "You too, Dragon Butt Breath. Just not your Blue Eyes."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't call me that---" Seto grumbled.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Just give me cardcards."

He did. She took the ones from Yugi and shuffled the whole mess together, settling down in front of the table the candles were on.

"How are you going to figure out whose are whose when you're done?" Ryou asked.

"That's why I picked those two. The three of us know each others' decks pretty well," she explained. "Okay, so -- who wants to go first?"

"Yugi," Yami said quietly. He took Jada's divination abilities far more seriously than anyone else. As with Yugi's dreams, he'd learned the hard way not to dismiss them.

Jada looked at him quickly, suspecting something was up. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Yugi, come here, babe."

The little hikari sat down next to her, glancing anxiously back at his Yami. The pharaoh sat down with him, putting his arms around his little one's waist.

Jada sorted through the cards and removed one, then handed the rest to Yugi. "Okay, shuffle these for me, please," she said. Yugi was the only one of the group who actually knew the right way to shuffle cards.

"Cool," She said, taking them from him when he'd finished. "Now, what I'm going to do is a modified version of the Celtic cross spread." Modified because she could never remember exactly how it was supposed to work. "In this version, the cards won't have opposite meanings if they're inverted. Now--" She put the card she'd pulled from the deck down on the table. It was, of course, the Dark Magician. "I picked this one to represent you, for obvious reasons. It goes in the center. The first card I draw will go directly on top of it. It tells what forces are manifesting in your life right here, right now." It turned out to be the Polymerization card. "Ah. Forces of change. Things are moving about in your life, changing, combining for better or for worse. Hopefully better." She smiled at him. The next card is placed directly to the left. It tells of an event or influence in your life that is just coming to pass or has just passed. It directly influences the atmosphere you're in now." The next card turned out to be Swords Of Revealing Light. "Something has just been revealed to you, but you don't know what to do with the knowledge. Therefore, you're frozen, waiting it out. You won't be able to react for a few more moves."

Yugi went rigid in Yami's arms, his face abruptly going very pale. Jada looked at him in concern. He gulped, but managed a nod. "G-go on---" He hadn't told Jada about his recently regained memories - Yami was the only one besides his grandfather who knew.

"Are you sure, aibou?" Yami was starting to think that maybe this hadn't been such a great idea after all.

Yugi nodded. "It's okay, Yami."

She looked at him for a moment more. "Okay, but if you want me to stop, just say so." She looked back at the table. "The next card is placed to the right. This tells of the energies that will be manifesting in your immediate future----" It turned out to be Monster Reborn.

"That can't be good---" Yami said softly.

Jada looked at them. "Should I stop?"

"No---" Yugi didn't want to know and more, but he had to. He had to know what he was up against.

Jada nodded. "Okay, the next card goes above you. It tells of the general forces in your life that are helping you at this point." That one turned out to be Shining Friendship. "Not bad," she said, then added under her breath, "Just how the fuck did my sister's wussy-pussy card get in here?"

"Don't knock it," Yugi said, smiling. He was starting to relax again.

"The next card tells of a specific person who will be of great assistance at this time," she said. That one turned out to be, predictably enough, Yami. "Okay, I think we all know who that is." She winked at Yami. "Now, the next card goes below you. This represents the forces working against you at this time." It turned out to be one of her Elder God cards.

"N-Ny-Nylartothep?" Yugi sounded out.

Yami went pale. "The Crawling Chaos----"

Jada looked apprehensive again. "And the next one signifies a particular person who will be working against you----" It turned out to be the Magician of Black Chaos.

"I don't like the turn the cards are taking, aibou----" Yami said.

"Yami, it's not for real----" Yugi soundeke hke he was trying to convince himself of that fact.

Jada looked at them. "Should I quit before I get too far behind?"

"No, don't, keep going!" Yugi had to see what was going to come next.

"Okay----" she said dubiously. "This next card represents the energy that will come into your life that will directly affect all of this----oh shit----"

"Yog-Soototh?" Yugi said shakily.

"The forces of summoned darkness----" she said softly. "The next card is the energy you will be bringing directly into the situation ---- Cf Ulf Ulthar. The power to turn any attack back on the attacker and allow you and your companions to escape unharmed." She looked at him apprehensively. "This next one is the probable outcome if nothing changes." She laid the card down and Yugi went rigid.

"D--Dark Hole----?" he quavered. "But that wipes everything off the field----"

"Yeah, I know---" She swallowed hard. "This last one is the outcome if you try to do something about whatever's going to happen ---- c'mon, please, be a good one----" She closed her eyes as she turned the last card.

"Magic Hat?" Yugi and Yami bsaidsaid.

"The unknown quantity----" Seto put in.

Jada groaned in frustration. "Man, inscrutable omens blow. Not to mention suck. Suck suck suck----" Pegasus couldn't help but be reminded of the scene from Spaceballs with the crew of the ship invoking the power of the Schwartz - "Suck, Suck, Suck, Suck!"

Yugi had pressed against Yami, who cuddled him close. "We can be prepared for the worst as long as we see it coming, aibou," he pointed out. He gave Jada a wink to let her know he wasn't angry with her.

She smiled wryly. "Okay, who's next?"

Nobody else spoke up, so Pegasus said, "Perhaps me?"

She looked at him. "Are you sure you want to after what just happened?"

He shrugged. "It can't be worse than what's happened to me already."

She held his gaze for a moment more, then nodded and sorted through the cards she held in her hands. After finding the one she wanted, she handed the rest to him. "Shuffle these, if you would, please?" After he did, she took them back. "Okay, now, I'm going to stick with what I did last time. The card in the center is, of course, you---"

"Since when do you play Dark Rabbit?!" Seto blurted out.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Since I clobbered your insane clown posse with it. Now shut up, will you? Okay, like before, the first card goes directly on top. It tells of the forces manifesting themselves in your life right now---" The card she drew first was Graceful Charity.

"Pretty self-explanatory," Joey observed. "Although Jada and Yugi were the only ones who were actually graceful about it."

She didn't reply to that, although she and Pegasus exchanged glances. "Okay, the next card, like before, goes to the left. It tells of something that has just come to pass, or has just passed." The second card was Black Illusion Ritual. Pegasus shuddered. That one was too self-explanatory.

Jada glanced at him. "The next card, to the right, tells of what energies will be manifesting in the near future----oh shit." Once again, it was Monster Reborn. "This is so not good----"

"Are you sure you shuffled those enough?" Seto looked at Pegasus.

"Seto, the phrase "trust in the heart of the cards" applies to Tarot readings, too. Especially to Tarot readings," Jada scolded. "Now, let's see what forces are on your side right now." The next card she drew was one of her Elder God cards - Brown Jenkin.

"The familiar," she explained. "A non-human entity who acts as your guide and companion. And of course, the next card points toward a specific person who will be on your side." This one turned out to be Ryu-Ran.

"A vicious little dragon sheltered in an egg who looks deceptively harmless---" Pegasus read, then looked at Jada. She flushed slightly, but didn't reply.

"And the next one stands for the forces working against you----" This one was Mask of Darkness.

"And the specific person or persons working against you---" Once again, it was Magician of Dark Chaos. Somehow, nobody was surprised.

"The next card represents the energies you're bringing into the situation." This one was Change of Heart.

Seto gave a slight start, but didn't say anything.

"And the probable outcome if nothing changes---" Once again, she drew Dark Hole.

"I hope the next one isn't Magic Hat----" Pegasus murmured. It wasn't. The last card was Soul Release. He closed his eyes, lowering his head. "Please----"

She reached for his hand, but didn't say anything. For a long moment, nobody spoke. Then Joey said, "Did we bring any of the food down here?"