/hikari to yami/
\\yami to hikari\\
Yugi sat in the back of the class, mind turning over something. None of his many bullies had attacked him today. They obviously had something planned. And when they planned something, it was mean. They rarely bothered to plan things out, but when they did, they made it hurt.
A hand fell on his shoulder. "Hey, Yugi. Mind if I sit here?" The small boy nodded and watched as his yami sat in the desk beside him. Atem had started going by his true name since there were so many other yamis around. It made it easier.
"Something on your mind?" He asked. Yugi just shook his head, concern layering his voice. "I'm just worried. Anzu isn't here yet, and she's usually on time." Téa had decided to start going by her old name. She said that it felt more real, but Yugi knew that in reality, she just wanted to get closer to Atem. And that was okay. Yugi liked her, but he didn't LIKE like her.
Atem blinked, obviously surprised, before chuckling. "Of course you would." Yugi opened his mouth to ask what he meant but was struck dumb as Anzu entered the room. She was wearing a short, pale pink, skirt that barely covered her butt and a yellow tube top that bared her belly for all the world to see. She was wearing vibrant red lipstick and looked great. She was trying to make Atem see her, notice her. And Yugi respected that. He knew that she loved his yami, and was simply trying to get his attention. He could understand that. Atem was a wonderful person. The two deserved each other.
Atem turned around to see what had caught his hikari's eyes, and his jaw dropped. Anzu was standing in the door, wearing clothes that revealed much of her skin. She looked good, no, great. A blush rose to his cheeks as he spotted her cleavage, and he instantly turned his head away. He wasn't about to intrude on her privacy like that. Anzu's eyes narrowed. She'd be getting Atem to pay more attention by the time the week was over.
The rest of the day passed rather normally after that. Anzu sat by Yami, and Ryou ended up sitting by Yugi. Malik sat behind Yugi. Bakura sat beside Ryou and Marik sat behind Ryou and next to Malik. They had class after class, and everything was okay.
But then lunch rolled around. It was okay at first. The group had met up with Seto, Mokuba, Serenity, Joey, and Tristan, and were heading down to lunch when they saw it.
One of the students had hacked one of the school TVs, the ones that hung in the hallways for announcements. On it was a video, one of Yugi. He was standing in an empty room with Ryou. Yugi and Ryou shared confused looks. Neither of them could remember this happening. Curious, they stepped closer to watch, the rest of the group following them.
Yugi on the video hissed. "You're worthless!" The real Ryou's gasp was lost in the crowd. "I hate you! You're nothing but scum from the depths of hell!" Joey frowned. He had never known Yugi to speak like that.
The verbal abuse continued. "You've never been important. I've never felt anything more than hatred and revulsion for you. You've always been nothing, just a shadow of the darkness! You have always been an annoyance, following me around like a little lost puppy dog! You're disgusting, revolting, repulsive, loathsome, worthless. I needed somebody around that I could look at and say to myself, 'well, at least I'm not like him'. I was only pretending to be your friend. I felt sorry for you since you were always HATED BY ME!" He began to laugh crazily, and then it got physical. Yugi began hitting the albino, punching, slapping, pulling, pushing, and hurting. And then he sat him down, acting as gentle and careful as a mother with her first newborn baby. And when Ryou sighed, thinking that this was finally over, Yugi whipped around, carrying a large, sharp, and heavy object, which he smashed into Ryou's head. The albino toppled to the ground, head covered in blood. "Now you'll forget that this ever happened, Ryou my friend." The shorter boy grinned. The screen went black, then began to replay.
Ryou turned to Yugi, needing to know if it was true, only to stop once he'd seen him. He looked horrified, disgusted, upset, and guilty. But Ryou looked into his eyes and knew that his friend hadn't done it. "Yugi..." He whispered softly. That seemed to snap the smaller boy out of whatever daze he was in. He started to back up, looking scared. He was afraid. Afraid of Ryou.
Ryou reached for him as Yugi turned and ran.
He ran, tears streaming down his face. He pushed by a group of people, heading down to the principal's office. He kept a set of spare keys to all the lockers.
Yugi burst into the office. Nobody was there, seeing as it was their lunch break. He rummaged through drawers, neatly, very neatly, until he found what he was looking for.
He thumbed through the thousands of keys on the chain, searching for the one that was his. He grabbed it and pulled it off the chain, slipping it into his pockets. Nobody would notice for a while. There were literally thousands of keys, and the principal didn't care if one measly key went missing, probably wouldn't even notice.
Then he waited until the halls were clear, and he ran. Down hallways and up staircases, past classrooms and lockers, until, panting, he reached his own locker. He pulled his backpack out, as well as everything else in his locker, cramming it all into the locker next to his.
Then, with shaking hands, he reached up and pulled out the key to his locker. Clutching it tightly in his hands, along with the one that he'd stolen from the principal's office, he stepped into his locker and turned around.
The halls were empty. It was quiet. Yugi battled with himself for a moment; did he really want to do this? But then he remembered Ryou's crushed face and questioning, hurt gaze, and the blood leaking from the wound in his head and closed the door. He locked it with shaking hands, then leaned against it. There wasn't room for him to sit down. He wasn't sure that he even wanted to.
Time passed. Yugi could faintly hear the sounds of school going on outside his locker. Classes must have just let out. He'd missed an entire period. His friends must be worried.
As if on cue, he heard Anzu's worried voice. "Where's Yugi? I haven't seen him since that horrible video!" Sounds of assent. Ryou's voice, concerned and kind, "I haven't seen him either. He missed math." Yugi felt a flash of guilt at the gentle light's voice. Atem's voice, worried, "I'll call him."
Yugi drew in a breath. He'd forgotten about that. Quickly he threw up walls around his mind to keep his yami out. Atem's sigh of defeat. "He's keeping me out."
Yugi's face twisted in guilt as his friends left to go to their classes. He was causing them to worry. He should leave but... He looked down at the keys in his hand. He couldn't.
And the world shattered.
Ryou stared down at his lap, overcome with guilt. It was because of him that Yugi was missing. It was because of him that they couldn't find him. He hadn't gone back to the Game Shop, he wasn't at the park, and he wasn't at school.
Bakura laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'll find him," The yami comforted, voice containing no trace of his usual cruelty or annoyance or madness. He knew exactly how his little light felt. They did share a mind, after all. "It'll be okay, Ryou."
Ryou nodded as Malik sat down. "I know. I'm just worried that it won't be soon enough."
The teacher walked in. School hadn't even ended yet and Ryou was already a guilty wreck. This was not going to be fun. Bakura sighed, tightening his grip in worry for a moment before leaving. Now Malik was the only one of his friends there. And he looked hyper, impatient, nervous. Excited.
Malik turned to him.
"I know how we can find Yugi."
And the world shattered again.
"Are you sure?" Ryou asked, looking up from the book at his fellow hikari. Malik nodded, eyes burning with determination. "I'm sure. This spell will teleport us directly to where Yugi is." Ryou sighed. "And we definitely can't bring our yamis with us?" He asked again. Malik nodded. "It's a definite light spell. Creatures of darkness like a yami would be destroyed." Ryou sighed again. "I wrote a note to Bakura to let him know that we were going to find Yugi, and hopefully bring him back. They'll find the spell and know that they can't follow us. We'll have to do this on our own." Malik frowned. "Hey." He bumped Ryou's shoulder. "You won't be on your own. You'll have me, and I'll have you. And with that, we can find Yugi." Ryou smiled. "Thanks, Malik. Now..." His eyes steeled over, "Let's go find our friend!"
The two boys began to chant, the ancient Egyptian flowing off their tongues as if they had been speaking it their entire lives. They looked at each other, determined. They were going to help their friend, and that was that. No questions asked.
As they felt themselves get pulled away, they were temporarily in both places at once, and they heard their yamis cry out in fear as their lights left them, and Yugi's cry of terror as his fellow lights joined him in his solitude.
Screams. Confusion. Yugi was screaming. Bakura and Marik were yelling, demanding to know where their lights were.
It was dark. The three hikaris were in a space about the size of one of the school lockers, which really wasn't big enough for the three of them to fit in there, seeing as how Yugi had taken up most of it.
The three lights were face to face, chests pressed up against each other, shoulders and backs flat against the walls, even in the corners, hands pinned in odd positions. None of them could move more than a couple of inches. Yugi was pressed right up against the door, amethyst eyes widened in surprise and fear.
It would be a wonder if any of them could get out. Yugi was the only one who seemed to even have a chance, and he wasn't budging.
"Ryou? Malik? How'd you get here?" Despite their close quarters, Ryou managed a smile. "Well, I'm not so sure where here is. Malik found a spell to teleport us to your location. It seems to have worked." Yugi shook his head frantically. "You have to leave. Please."
Malik shook his head, which was felt and heard more than seen. There was absolutely no light in the locker. "We can't, Yugi. It was a one-way spell. You'll have to get out first." Yugi shook his head in panic. His breathing sped up. "No... You can't stay here... I'll hurt you!" He sounded truly afraid. His companions' hearts ached.
"Yugi. It's okay. I don't think that you're capable of hurting us right now." Yugi tried to separate himself from them, but could barely move. They could feel his panicked breaths of their faces. "Yes, I can! I can talk to you, and hurt you!"
The other lights were stunned. Malik smiled. "Well, if you do, we can hurt you right back. We're friends, Yugi, and we aren't going anywhere until you do."
Yugi sighed, defeated. "Then you're going to be here for a very long time. I'm not planning on leaving. Ever."
It could have been seconds or hours before Ryou spoke, his voice soft. "I'm closing my connection with my yami, Yugi. It wouldn't be fair if we didn't." He felt the younger boy clenching his hand around something, but said nothing.
None of the three boys could see a thing. There was absolutely no light coming in from anywhere. The vents in the door for air were behind Yugi's back and were tilted as to not let any light in. The lockers were not designed for living in, or for being in.
They were so close that they could feel each others' breaths on their faces, feel each others' heartbeats, feel each others' chests rise and fall against theirs. They could feel and hear every move that the others made. There was no need for light when they were so close.
Ryou secretly thought that it was better this way. That Yugi learned to be closer to them, that he learned that he shed light, that he was a light. That they would be so close, that their own light would reflect Yugi's own light back at him like a mirror.
"Where are we, Yugi?" Malik asked, concerned. Yugi lowered his head. "We're in my locker at school." Ryou frowned. "Why here, Yugi?"
They felt Yugi shrug. "Nobody could get to me here."
And Ryou and Malik felt their hearts ache, wondering at what the little light must have felt to seclude himself from the world, to lock himself away somewhere where few would ever think to look, and they had never felt so glad to be trapped before.
And the world shattered yet again.
"HIKARI!" The three yamis cried out in unison, each reaching a blank wall where their lights' minds should be.
And the world shattered once more.