He rolled over and tried to free himself from his sheets but it was pointless

Hey there, well this is my first fanfic ever. I'm not so good at this and the characters are probably horribly out of character. This story is based after the anime ended.

Legal stuff ….I don't own Yugioh, but imagine if I did…it would be so much darker.

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He rolled over and tried to free himself from his sheets but it was pointless. He'd had another nightmare again and fought his way into tangling himself up within his own bed. In one way he was trapped.

Yuugi groaned quietly and tried not to relive what had made him toss and turn in the night, but demons like that are hard to ignore.

It started out the same every time; he had just defeated his partner at the most important duel of both of their lives. Only Ryou and Seto were not in tears. After all who had expected that little Yuugi Motou who seemed to have no duelling ability whatsoever could possible defeat the titled King Of Games? Yuugi despised it when everyone assumed that the "Pharaoh" did all the duelling, he wasn't just an empty vessel for Yami to use when he pleased. Yuugi himself was sad when he left Yami's presence leave him. But then he knew that the nightmare started. Jou's eyes are red and puffy from crying as he walked towards Yuugi.

"You…" He threatened, lifting Yuugi up by his shirt. "Why did you have to win?"

Jou breathed deeply and shut his eyes. Obviously fighting the urge to shake Yuugi.

"Why now out of all the other times over the past few years, did you decide that you could duel? WHY DID YOU TAKE HIM FROM US?"

Yuugi couldn't hide the shock from his voice. "But this is what he wanted. Yami wanted to move on. This is what we wanted."

Behind Jou, Anzu had fallen to her knees and was sobbing her heart out. Yuugi had never seen them so sad.

Jou's eyes flashed with rage. "Why do you think we all let you duel him instead of me, or Kaiba or Marik!? Well it wasn't because we thought you had a higher chance of defeating Yami, we let you because you stood no chance. Hell Anzu had a better chance at beating Yami."

This was the part Yuugi wanted to forget. This was the moment that he realised that they didn't care about him. It tore him from the insides as Anzu, Jou and Honda circled around him crying out for Yami and how useless Yuugi was. It felt to him as if it never ended, but then the floor beneath him turned to sand and dragged Yuugi down. He fought and reached for his friends to help him but they just stood and watched.

Of course, that had never actually happened. His friends hadn't actually told him how disappointed they were in him for winning, but he could see it in their eyes. And seeing that look everyday wrenched Yuugi's heart.

For weeks after, they weren't the same. Slowly they stopped coming by to see him after school and suddenly had busy lives that would get in the way of hanging out together. School, though, was one place that they couldn't really get away. Ryou hadn't come back to school after returning from Egypt. No one had heard from him. Yuugi had a sneaky suspicion that he was morning the loss of Bakura, Yuugi could understand. The hole that Yami had left couldn't be filled by anything.

Life went on.

After a few weeks Ryou returned to school, claiming to have been suffering from glandular fever for the past month. But when Yuugi looked into his eyes, he could see that was a lie. Yuugi had become quite good at see through peoples masks, which made him keep up his own more strongly. On the outside he hadn't changed, he still liked puzzles and games and was generally very friendly to everyone. But deep down, he would never be the same. As Jou, Honda and Anzu slowly regained themselves, Yuugi became more lost in his feelings of regret.

He was in a lunchtime class that was supposed to be showing high school students what a university lecture was like, a preparation course of sorts. Little did Yuugi know the lecture was about Ancient Egypt and the Egyptology degree that Victoria University had just started to offer. As soon as the lecture began talking Yuugi knew he had to get out of there. He fought back tears and appeared to calmly leave the room. He made a dash for the bathroom, through the crowd of people in the hallway.

"Yuugi! I say, where are you off too in such a rush?" Ryou said.

Yuugi stopped, turned on his famous Yuugi smile and told him, "Just forgot my lunch, I was going to pop home and grab it."

"Don't bother. You can share mine. Come on, I've got plenty."

Ryou grabbed Yuugi's arm and led him in the opposite direction. Yuugi swallowed his feelings and acted as if nothing was wrong. They sat outside under a tree and Ryou took out his lunchbox. It was twice the size of a normal lunchbox. He passed Yuugi a sandwich.

"Don't worry I've got enough to feed an army."

"Ryou, why is that? You don't eat that much, Jou and Honda together wouldn't eat that much."

Yuugi told him while eyeing the box, he looked at Ryou and noticed a necklace pocking out of his uniform and disappear around his neck.

How did I miss that? The lumps under his shirt should have been enough for me to realise. Yuugi mentally scolded himself for being so blind.

"I'm not sure, force of habit I guess."

Yuugi sighed and shut his eyes. "When did you start wearing it again?"

He felt Ryou jump. "Wearing what?"

"Ryou, don't take me for a fool. The Ring. When did you start wearing it again?"

"I…I…never really stopped wearing it. No, that's wrong. I did, but when I put it on I couldn't help but hope to hear his voice again. Yuugi I don't think I can handle this. I need him back."

Ryou's mask slid off and Yuugi could see how miserable he was. It panged at Yuugi's insides again.

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All right first chapter, didn't really go anywhere…um…I'm really not confident at writing so advice, comments, criticism are all very welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read!