WookieeBeta

"...I know, right now you can't tell, but stay a while and maybe then you'll see a different side of me..."
The radio blared in the normally quiet Moto household, and out on the street a passerby shook his head in resignation. "Young people these days," he sighed.
In the shop portion of the building Yugi Moto was having similar feelings. He, however, vented them differently: "Yami! For the sake of Ra, turn that down!" He paused for a moment, box of cards halfway to their proper shelf, but there was no change. "Pharaohs," he spat.
In his own room however the scene was different. The radio was beginning to crackle as it was not meant to play so loudly for such a long time, but the room's sole occupant was not listening to it. Instead he was curled up on Yugi's bed, hugging his shoulders and shaking.
"...talking to myself in public, and dodging glances on the train..."
"No," the ancient spirit murmured to himself. "No, no, no..."
You must make a decision.
They are upon us!
Hurry, my Pharaoh!
This is all your fault...
You were supposed to protect us! You are our king, it was your duty...why did you not save us?
He let out an anguished scream, broken by the dry sobs that wracked his thin frame. He wished the voices to stop, willed them to stop, but still they continued, half-remembered, sorrowful, pained, angry, meek, helpless...
"...but soon enough you’re gonna think of me, and how I used to - "
"Yami? Yami, what's wrong?"
A new voice. This one he couldn't place; he had never heard it before. It was so...warm, so kind, so caring. Not like the others. Not like the others.
"Yami, please tell me what's wrong," Yugi implored, turning the former Pharaoh's head to face him. "Please?"
So young, so innocent...not like the others, Yami thought again. Not like the others...not like them... He is not like them...
"Hikari," he whispered as long-dammed tears spilled over his cheeks.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Oh come all ye pipers! O come to a man, and play the lament of two young lovers' stand... O come all you singers and raise up a song for a thief and a maiden that died much too young..."
Yugi raised an eyebrow. "You know, Kaiba, for such an impersonal guy you have strange tastes."
"How so?" The young CEO's tone made it clear he didn't want to talk, but Yugi answered anyway.
"Well, you've got a million dollars lying around, and yet your personal car was bought used. And your choice of music is...well, not what one would expect."
"What would you expect? Rock?"
"Er, something like that, yeah."
"Feh. That stuff's okay, I guess, but frankly I can't listen to it very long. Not the new stuff, anyway. The older ones are all right."
Yugi was rather shocked; he'd just heard -the Seto Kaiba- say 'stuff,' 'okay', and 'I guess', three terms he'd thought Kaiba didn't even know. There was a long silence.
Eventually the song ended, and the track changed. "My lady's a-waitin', it's been nigh a year; it'll be yet another, and moredo I fear... Finally home we are headed, instead of aweigh, and I long for the lighthouse where lives Caroline. And I long for the lighthouse, it's loved light to see, I dream of the maiden that waits there for me... And I pray that together forever we'll be..."
"When I sail home into her safe harbor," Kaiba sang quietly. "I fear it is over for me and my matesas the storm takes us over and the mizenmast breaks; it strikes the good captain down dead at the wheel... The wind is a-howlin', and the ship starts to heel..." He pulled into his usual parking space and turned off the ignition, silencing the radio. He and the spiky-haired duelist climbed out.
Yugi hesitated, biting his lip. "Hey, Kaiba?"
Kaiba turned to glance at him, not saying anything.
"...How does that song end?" Yugi finally asked.
"The ship sinks, and the man dies," Kaiba said flatly. "Why?"
"It's...er...never mind," the younger duelist replied quietly.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel for tonight, Joey," Yugi said.
"What? But why? I know you don't have any homework, so don't even try that excuse."
"It's not that," Yugi said hurriedly. "Something...er...came up." Boy, was that lame.
Joey apparently thought so, too, and his mock-hurt tone immediately shifted to one of concern. He knew from past - and rather painful - experience that Yugi never hid anything unless it was serious. "Come on, Yug, what's wrong? Tell me."
"It's nothing, I swear..."
Joey frowned. "Spit it out, buddy."
The spiky-haired duelist sighed. "It's the spirit of the Puzzle," he explained reluctantly. "He's not feeling so well recently, and...well, I'm afraid to leave him alone for too long."
"Whaddya mean, 'not feeling so well'?" the blonde asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought those guys couldn't get sick."
"It's not like that. He's...depressed, I guess. He keeps having these strange fits. I'm afraid he'll forget where - or rather, when - he is, and hurt himself."
No more than he deserves, the arrogant bastard, Joey thought, but he kept his feelings to himself. "Well, if you're sure," he agreed reluctantly. "Remember, if you need anything, just give me a call, all right? I'll have Téa bring her cell phone, so you can reach us at the arcade."
"You got it," Yugi replied with a smile. "Thanks, Joey. You're a good friend."
"Later, Yug." The blonde hung up with a quiet sigh.
Tristan stood and offered the bowl of chips, frowning when his friend declined. "Hey, what's wrong? You never turn down food."
Joey jerked his thumb toward the phone, saying, "That was Yugi. He can't come tonight."
"Well, why not?"
"Yami's sick, apparently."
"But we spirits don't get sick. It's physically impossible."
"Shut it, Bakura, and let Ryou back out...I like him better. Besides, I don't mean cold-sick. I'm talkin' pycho-sick."
It was the albino Egyptian's turn to raise an eyebrow. "And since when is that new? It's Pharaoh-baka. I already told you, he's never been right in the head. Or at least not since he became Pharaoh - I didn't know him before then."
"Ryou, do us all a favor and kick your other half out of the captain's chair," Joey sighed. The spirit frowned, but the Ring glowed slightly and his hair fell to more normal proportions as his eyes softened; Ryou had taken control again.
"Yami's right, though," he said. It seemed he'd been listening in. "He's shown me his memories - the pharaoh's never been completely sane. Yugi knows that. Why would he get so nervous now?"
"My question precisely," the blonde replied, stealing the chips from Tristan and plopping down on the couch. There were a few moments of silence before he jumped back up. "Ah, crap! I gotta tell Téa to bring her cell phone. I hope she hasn't already left!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Kaiba household was quiet. Of course, it was never loud anyway, seeing as how the vast majority of the rooms were locked and there were rarely more than three or four people there at a time, but now it was quieter than usual. Mokuba had gone to bed early and Seto had retreated to his bedroom with his laptop.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Scribble scribble scribble. Hesitate. Scribble. Click click click on the calculator. Curse. Shred. Scribble scribble scribble. Hesitate. Click click click on the calculator. Curse.
"I can't do this!" Yugi finally shouted, rumpling up his homework and lobbing it at the far wall. "I just - " rip " - can't - " rip " - do it!" The shredded remains of another paper fluttered to the ground.
Perched on the edge of the bed, Yami raised an eyebrow. "The hikari is frustrated?"
"Algebra," Yugi sighed. "I just can't get logarithms at all... Or absolute value, or quadratic equations for that matter, and they're all on my test tomorrow. I know I'm gonna fail."
Yami's face grew stern. "The hikari should never speak like that. If the hikari studies, he will do well." The spirit-embodied stood and came to stare over Yugi's shoulder at the math book. He perused the lesson carefully, seeming to soak in everything it offered. Then, picking up the forgotten pencil, he scratched something underneath Yugi's work. A momentary frown; he glanced back at the textbook, scribbled again. Scratched out his answer. Looked back to the text. Scribble. Text. Scratch. Scribble. Text. Scratch. Scribble.
An hour and two pencils later, Yugi glanced up from his book and immediately sweatdropped. "Uh, Yami? What precisely are you doing?"
"Sending the cursed book to the Shadow Realm!" the spirit raged.
"You know, for a three-thousand year old Pharaoh, you sometimes act a lot like a teenager..."

-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"...and since this and this cancel out, and seven minus seven is zero, x equals zero. Got - what?" Yugi held up a hand to silence his yami, listening intently to something.
"I said, it's time to go!" Solomon Moto shouted again. Yugi yelled back that he would be right down and turned to his darker half.
"Sorry, Yami, I forgot - Grampa and I have to go to that showcase convention tonight! We'll keep working on this when I get back, all right?" The young duelist flashed a bright grin, and the spirit couldn't help but smile back.
"Whatever the hikari wishes," Yami replied. Yugi nabbed his jacket from its usual position on the back of the chair and dashed out of the room, shouting something incomprehensible to his grandfather. Yami gave the algebra book a final glare before retreating to his perch on the edge of the bed; the door slammed closed, and the house fell silent.
The spirit gave a quite sigh as he felt the warm presence of his hikari fading. How he hated being left alone.

The gaming convention was drawing to a close, and the crowds were beginning to thin out as all but the serious gamers started leaving. The demonstrations and amateur competitions were over; some of the stalls were already empty, their owners having already gone home for the night. In one corner of the huge convention center, however, things were still as excited as ever.
"Come on, Matt! You can beat this punk! No porcupine-headed duelist is gonna out-duel you!"
Yugi couldn't help but grin at that. His opponent was easily three times his size, a great deal older than he, and had a pinched, nasty look to his face, but he played honestly, and Yugi was enjoying the duel. Even if it was far too easy. He laid one of his more common traps on the field and set a weak monster in attack mode, fully expecting black-haired Matt to sniff out his trap; no such luck.
"Yeah! You go, Yug! Whoop this guy!"
"Good move, Yugi!"
The younger duelist had to fight down the flush of embarassment rising in his cheeks. It was great that his friends were there to support him, but still...it was a little unfair. Here he was, King of Games, with his entire cheering squad behind him while his less-than-brilliant opponent had only one friend.
But wait...that glint in Matt's eye could mean nothing good, could it? A mental eep!, followed by a mental head banging against a mental wall, accompanied by a fluent string of mental curses. The activation of his trap had somehow set off Matt's own trap, nearly halving Yugi's life points.
"Looks like the little guy isn't so tough after all," Matt sneered. He was now 400 life points ahead of Yugi.
The smaller duelist frowned and drew a card, adding it to his already-powerful hand. He held an entire arsenal of deadly monsters, not to mention a few handy magic and trap cards; he could have ended the duel at any time. But he was just having too much fun! It wasn't often that he had the chance to duel a new opponent just for the heck of it, after all - usually someone's life was on the line. It was something of a new experience for him.
"Aw, come on, Yug! Crush this upstart! No one beats the King of Games this easily!" Joey pumped his fist in the air, blonde hair shimmering under the intensely bright lights. Yugi winced. He hadn't told Matt his title, and hadn't planned on doing so.
Matt's friend froze in the middle of his cheer, eyeing Yugi nervously. "Hey Matt," he started, "maybe you should just forfeit this...I mean, if he's the King of Games - "
But Matt just grinned. "If he's really the King of Games, then there's no way in the world I'm backing out now," he said, playing a frighteningly strong monster and backing it up with what Yugi feared was a trap. "Not when I've got him on the run!"
Yugi breathed a silent sigh of relief. Thank Ra he's a good opponent. "Then I guess you won't mind if I play...this!" The tiny hologram projector whirred to life as he slapped down his own monster and trap.
Ah, yes. Now things would get interesting.

Joey glanced at his watch and sweatdropped. "Hey, Tristan," he mumbled into his friend's ear, "you realize this duel has been going for an hour now?"
"Yes, I realized that! I had three cokes before we came here, do you really think I hadn't noticed?!"
Joey sweatdropped a little more.
But the poor brunette's agony was almost over; a faintly pharaonic smirk crossed Yugi's lips, and he set a final card on the field. Matt groaned as his life points fell to zero. Sitting dejectedly off to the side, his friend cursed and stalked off. The black-haired duelist just raised an eyebrow at his retreating back.
"Hey, great duel, man," he said, shaking Yugi's hand. "Even if I did lose, at least I know I held my own against the King of Games, right?"
"You did great! I've had some pretty tough duels, but this was probably the most fun of all of them," Yugi replied.
Matt grinned back. "Hey, thanks. Look, I've gotta go find my buddy before he does something stupid, but I'll catch ya later, all right?"
"See you later, Matt!" Yugi waved as the black-haired young man disappeared into what remained of the crowd. Then, suddenly, he shivered.
"What's wrong, bud?" Joey asked, frowning. "You okay?"
Yugi nodded. "Yeah, I'm just cold," he replied. But still... Somewhere in the back of his mind, there was a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and he just couldn't shake it.
"I am sooooo out of here!" Tristan yelled, running towards the restrooms. "Be right back!" Yugi raised an eyebrow.
"What's with him?"
"Heh heh heh...he drank Coke," the blonde chuckled. "And you know what that does to him."
Yugi buried his face in his hands. "...that would be qualified as way too much information, Joey..." He shivered again, and pulled his jacket closer around his shoulders. It was strange; the room wasn't that cold, there was no reason he should be shivering... He frowned slightly.
Anzu looked worried, too. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.
"Yes! Yes, I'm fine, really."
"Well, okay...you just don't look so fine," she said.
Joey grinned and grabbed his friend's arm. "I know what the problem is! When was the last time you ate?"
Yugi hesitated. "This morning," he lied. More like three days ago...a sandwich... But Joey doesn't have to know that. He'd not been eating well for a few weeks, ever since the Spirit of the Puzzle started acting strangely. He was quieter than usual these days, and very short-tempered. Sometimes Yugi found it hard to believe he'd once been the Pharaoh.
He blinked, suddenly understanding. "The spirit!" He took off towards the exit, leaving his bewildered friends staring blankly at his fast-retreating back.

"...the hell were you thinking?!"
The woman's reply was high, panicky and grief-stricken. "I don't know - I wasn't - I just - he - I can't believe I hit him!"
"Yeah, I bet you weren't," Joey snapped, glowering at her. "This is a fucking residential area! You don't run seventy in these streets, dammit!"
"Joey, cut it out," Téa said tearfully. "I'm sure the poor lady feels just terrible. It's Yugi we should be thinking about."
The rage in the blonde's eyes faded, leaving room only for an all-encompassing worry. The little guy had been running across a deserted street, focused only on reaching the game shop half a block away; then the truck had ripped around the corner. It had slammed into his frail body at seventy miles per hour and sent him flying. Now he was deathly still, crumpled on the pavement.
"Téa, give me your cell phone," Tristan said, holding out his hand. There's no way I'm letting her make this call. Please...please, little buddy, just be okay...
Only minutes later they heard sirens screaming towards them. Yugi still hadn't moved. Té was crying openly; the woman was paralyzed with shock; Tristan and Joey were both kneeling by their friend's body, holding back tears and trying everything they could think of to help him. It was a relief when the ambulance finally showed up. There were a few moments of frantic activity, police officers and EMTs firing questions in every direction with no attention as to who answered, and then they were gone, rushing to the nearest hospital. Joey was allowed to ride with the injured duelist, as he was the closest and knew the most about him. Within minutes, the street was calm again.
"I hope he's all right," the aspiring dancer sobbed. Tristan hesitated, then pulled her into a hug.
"He will be," he murmured. "He will be. He always is... Don't worry, he'll be - "
"What happened here?!"
The two brunettes spun simultaneously, surprised by the sudden arrival of the newcomer. It was Kaiba. He was panting, out of breath from sprinting who knows how many blocks from KaibaCorp., but his eyes were wide.
"I heard the sirens and came to see if I could hel - what? Gardener? Taylor? What are you two doing here? What's going on?"
Téa looked up at him with shimmering eyes. "It's Yugi," she whispered brokenly. "He was hit...by a car..."
The young CEO seemed to freeze. His eyes narrowed. "He what?"
"He's in the ambulance with Joey," Tristan added, his voice slightly more controlled than his friend's. "We...we don't know if he'll make it."
Kaiba was already slipping into his 'I'm a CEO, I have to fix it' mode, one hand reaching into his pocket for his cell phone while the other triggered the tiny radio in his collar. "Does Mouto know? The elder, that is?"
Tristan shook his head. "No...we sent Téa's cell phone with Joey..."
"Ah. I - Kaiba speaking. I need a ride. ...yes, I'm on foot. One block north of the Kame Game Shop. Be here in ten minutes." Clicking the radio back off, he tossed Tristan his cell phone. "Call Mouto. Tell him to be outside the center in fifteen minutes - he is at the convention, is he not?"
"Yeah," Tristan replied, catching the phone with a surprised look. "Yeah...how'd you know?"
"Lucky guess."

-----------------------------

[A/N] Heh heh heh...okay, so I lied. There will be a sequel. ...Some day.

Random Quote of the Day:
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
- Elbert Hubbard