Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or even a Yugioh deck . . .

The Trickery of the Light

"I can't help you fix yourself
But at least I can say I tried
I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life
I can't help you fix yourself
But at least I can say I tried
I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life . . ."

-Papa Roach

It was actually a pretty average day for Tristan. The last few months had been really good for him, even though half a year ago he had lost his best friends. They hadn't all died, but they might as well have. One of them had been killed through neglect, and the bond between the rest had shattered.

Not that he liked to think about it. In fact, he was finding that he actually finding out that he actually did better without them. Maybe Kaiba had been right all along, about their friendship being worthless.

Now that they weren't together:

There was no longer any magic.

There was no longer any danger.

Things were finally, absolutely calm.

Tristan liked it calm. His grades picked up significantly, because he wasn't constantly traveling or distracted by some great Duel Monsters related danger that could destroy the world. He was working on buying a car with money from the job a friend of his got him. He was tied in with the Future Business Leaders Club and the future seemed to be falling into place, instead of being not only vague, but unguaranteed. Tristan couldn't say he missed the feeling that he might not live to see the next day.

Instead, the future seemed bright and assured. Tristan now had dreams for a future as a businessman, dreams far less grand than the adventures he tried to forget. He knew that when he helped save the world, there had been victories and glory, but those had been mainly for Yugi and Joey. He had been the normal one, who risked his life out of friendship more than out of a desire to be a hero. Now he was finding he didn't miss any part of it. The friendship of the FBL came cheaper, and if it wasn't as strong, as least it was safe. You didn't lose friends in a normal middle class neighborhood when magic wasn't involved.

Tristan had always been the most normal of them; now he pretended there was never a "them" at all.

So it was very strange that of all the people Bakura might have gotten ahold of, Tristan was the one he got in touch with.

The phone range right as Tristan was starting up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. He groaned as he got up to get it, thinking it was probably his older sister asking him to babysit her obnoxious son.

Instead, he was greeted with the soft voice of an old friend.

"Hello, Tristan."

"Bakura? How's it going man? It's been a while…," Tristan said.

Bakura replied, "It's been alright. Listen, I have news. Do you know where Atem, Joey and Tea are? I haven't been able to reach them." *

"We had a falling out. I don't know what goes on with those guys anymore."

"Well, then I'll just tell you. There may be a way to bring Yugi back!"

"What!" Tristan exclaimed.

"My father brought back something called the Staff* of Ausar. He told me that there's a legend surrounding it that said it would raise the spirits of the dead in the hands of the Son of Ra, and Yami said it seemed true. Because Atem was a Pharaoh, it should respond to him as the Son of Ra!"

"Oh wow…," Tristan said, but inside he had a sinking feeling. Then he asked, "But how are you going to get it here?"

"My father is sending me. I told him its Yugi's birthday, and he's been in an exceptional mood since the dig."

Tristan paused.

Bakura asked, "Are you okay? You don't seem very happy about this."

Tristan replied, "I'm fine, just soaking it in. I'll let the others know. See you when you get here."

He was lying about being fine. Tristan wasn't okay with this.

Bakura wanted to bring magic back, and that wasn't okay at all. Yugi had been killed by magic, by a being who had claimed to be their friend but then went and stole their real friend's life. The Pharaoh seemed to be suffering – good. Let him suffer. The rest of them could continue on happily, like Yugi would have wanted them to, because Yugi never would have wanted to see his friends risk their lives for him. Tristan would stop Bakura and everything would be fine.

So Tristan agreed to tell the others that Bakura was coming, and they would all meet him in the park to bring Yugi back, but privately planned to take the Staff of Ausar and dump it in a sewer where it belonged, because everything was just fine as it was. Everyone could go on living their lives normally, like they had been. It might seem now like there was no price for getting Yugi back, but in Tristan's experience there was always a price with magic. It wasn't worth it.

.

A couple weeks later, Tristan met Bakura at the park. Bakura was looking around, clearly expecting more people than just Tristan.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"I didn't tell them," Tristan said.

Bakura was shocked. "Why?"

Tristan took a deep breath. "You have no idea what the consequences of messing with that thing might be. It's not worth the risk. Besides, my life is pretty good right now. This would complicate things, and really, I would prefer things just go on as normal."

"What is wrong with you? Yugi was one of your best friends! You were closer to him than I was!"

Tristan shrugged. "Not that close. And I just like how things are right now. You should probably just give the Staff up and leave."

Bakura's features darkened, and Tristan recognized that his yami had come to the surface. Great. More magical dark spirits.

"You dare to make us come all the way here, only to turn us down? This is not your choice mortal. This artifact could free the people of my village from the Puzzle. The Pharaoh will hear of this, and he will make right the wrong he has done."

"Not if I can help it," Tristan said.

*It doesn't come into the story, but the reasons Bakura couldn't reach the gang is:

Joey's father forgot to pay the phone bill and they turned the line off.

Atem never answers the phone. Grandpa does, but he was in the hospital to have his gall bladder removed.

And Tea went on vacation early with her family.

Just thought you might like to know. ^^

*Something interesting I found out about staffs are that they're used for guidance, while robs are used for punishment when it comes to sheep. A staff can even be used for pulling a sheep out of a pit, like you might pull a spirit out of the underworld…? So I did make it a staff, rather than an amulet or something, on purpose.

A/N: Hey look, there's a plot, with a cliffhanger and everything! That would be why this is a separate story from The Subtle Hunger of the Shadows. That and the whole point of the first story was the absence of Yugi. I'm not so sure Yugi is going to remain absent though…

Thank you to my lovely reviewers, as always. Especially Drawn2Danger, because you review every chapter, but really, all you guys deserve virtual cookies. You guys rock!

Anyway, let me know what you think!