Darkone: Yay! We can get back on now!
Yami: What happened this last week? The computer hasn't been on at all.
Yugi: I don't know...
LazerWulf: FFnet got a hold of this story and deleted it along with two other of Darkone's stories. Then they wouldn't let her on for a week. They did the same thing with my fic "The Return of the Priest"
Darkone: If I couldn't get on FFnet, what would be the point of turning on the computer?
Yami: Wait... you said they deleted two other stories? Which ones? Don't tell me that Holding My Last Breath was deleted!?
Yugi: Geez!
LazerWulf: No. Thankfully, that wasn't.
Darkone: I would have hurt someone if they took that off.
Yugi: But you did hurt someone!
Darkone: I did not! I put a waiter in an asylum, that's all!
LazerWulf: You did what!?
Darkone: Uh... my cousin took I, my brother and a friend to Bennigan's and we... messed with the waiter's mind a little bit...
Yugi is laughing on the floor... again.
LazerWulf: Don't you mean my brother, my friend, and me?
Darkone gasps
Darkone: You went too!? How cool! Why didn't we see you?
Yami: #koffkoff# Ditzy! #koff#
Darkone: Thank you very much Mr. Ol' Mummy.
LazerWulf: Don't start that up again!
Yugi: Yeah, just start the fic already!
Chapter 2: Looking Straight.
Emma's POV
It was the last period in school, math. Everyone in that class was restless by the end of the day because they hate school. Except for me...
I love math.
"Alright, class..." the teacher started, "Clear off your desks and get out a pencil and paper. It's time for a Pop Quiz."
Everyone groaned as they followed the teacher's instructions.
"If an equilateral triangle is placed inside another equilateral triangle so that the outer triangle is separated into 4 triangles, the smaller equilateral triangle and 3 similar right triangles, and the length of one edge of the larger equilateral triangle is 15 units, what is the perimeter of the smaller equilateral triangle?"
I furiously try to take notes. Let's see. An equilateral triangle has corner angles of 60 degrees. If that corner is also a corner of one of the right triangles, then it would be a 30-60-90 triangle. One edge of the larger triangles is the same as one short leg of the right triangles and one hypotenuse of another. Since the right triangles are similar, the short legs equal each other and the hypotenuses equal each other. The edge opposite of the 60 degree angle is the long leg and one edge of the smaller equilateral triangle. A 30-60-90 triangle is like an equilateral triangle bisected down the height, so the hypotenuse is a full edge and the short leg is half an edge meaning the hypotenuse is twice as long as the short leg. If the hypotenuse plus the short leg equals 15 units, then the lengths must be 10 and 5 units, respectively. Plug those numbers into the Pythagorean Theorem: 10 squared equals 100; 5 squared equals 25; 100 minus 25 equals 75; the square root of 75 is an irrational number, so we leave it like that. The square root of 75 is one of 3 equal edges of the smaller equilateral triangle, so we multiply it by 3 to get the perimeter. The answer is 3 times the square root of 75.
I circle my answer so the teacher can find it, and set my pencil down. As I looked around the room, I noticed that I was the only one finished. Again. Hey, can I help it if math comes easily to me? I take my paper to the teacher's desk. He's not surprised that I'm the first one finished, either.
"Very well, Miss Limbo, you may read quietly for the rest of class."
I return to my seat and pull a book out of my back pack: The Chronicles of Narnia. I had just finished "The Silver Chair" last night, and was about to start "The Last Battle". I pull out my bookmark and begin to read.
Yugi's POV
Man, Emma's done already? I'm still trying to figure out what the silly thing looks like!
I scribble down a rough picture and begin to solve the problem. It's a doozy. I heard that these kinds of problems are on the SATs. I jot down an answer just as the bell rings for lunch.
"Alright, class, pencils down. Turn in what you have."
I hear Joey and Tristan groan. Apparently, they weren't finished.
As the class files out, I see Emma, still buried in her book, and I head over to talk to her. I feel sorry for her. It seems like she doesn't have any friends. All she does is read.
I've tried to talk to her a couple times, but she doesn't even make eye contact. She's always so timid.
Oh, well, I thought, here goes nothing!
Emma's POV
"Hey, Emma!"
I looked up from my and saw big, spiky, tri-colored hair.
"Oh, hey, Yugi," I reply. I'm not big on conversation, but it would have been rude to ignore him.
"So, what did you think of the quiz?"
I returned to my book.
"Oh, umm... it was short. And easy, too."
"Hey, would you like to join me and my friends for lunch?"
I look up again, this time looking at his chin. I've never brought myself to look into anyone's eyes. I'm always afraid of what they'll see in mine. After all, the eyes are the windows to the soul, and mine is a tortured one. Ever since last year, I have been haunted by this overwhelming sadness. Ever since the accident...
But it would have been rude to just turn him down flat.
"I'm not good with meeting new people. Introductions and I don't get along."
"Well, it's just that, it's been almost a year since you transferred to Domino High, and I've noticed that you haven't made any friends."
He sighed. Apparently he had been working up his own courage to point that out to me. I smiled.
"A year ago," he continued, "I was just like you. I'd spend my time playing with my games and working on my puzzle." He held the golden pyramid on his neck. I didn't know that the thing he wore was a puzzle. It sure didn't look like one.
"So what happened?" I inquired.
"I saw Ushio the hall monitor beating up these 2 guys who had been teasing me. They were the only ones who had ever talked to me, besides Tea, who I grew up with. Sure, they picked on me, but I could tell that they were doing it for a reason. Besides Tea, they were the closest things I had to friends. When I saw them like that, all because of me, I had to stop it. When I tried to stop him, Ushio started to beat me up, too. After a while, I guess he got bored, because he stopped and left. The true friendship between me and those two guys was born that day, and we've been friends ever since."
"But what happened to Ushio?"
"The next morning, he was found rolling in a pile of leaves and garbage. No one knows why."
"That was HIM?" I remembered that incident. I had felt sorry for the guy. Now, though, that pity had faded.
"The point is, you need to have some friends, some people you can turn to and trust with your problems."
He hesitated a bit before saying, "I... I'd like to be one of those people for you."
I was stunned. After I moved, I lost all of my friends back home, and I didn't have anyone to talk to. After what happened, I never had the courage to approach someone to be friends with. Now, here was someone taking that step for me. I felt myself opening up a bit as he was telling his story. He WAS just like me. Maybe there is hope...
"All right,"
"Huh?"
"I'll have lunch with you and your friends."
"Oh, OK!"
I put my book back into my bag, and headed up to follow him.
As we approached the table where his friends were, I heard a voice cry out.
"Hey, Yug, what kept ya?"
"Sorry, guys, I was talking to Emma. Guys, you all know Emma, right? Emma, this is Tea, Tristan, and Joey."
"H... Hello." Confronted with new people, my timidity returned.
"I invited her to join us for lunch," Yugi stated.
"No problem! Here, pull up a chair!" The girl, Tea, pointed to a chair next to her, which I gladly took.
I sat there listening to their conversation. Joey, the blonde guy was excited because he was going to spend the weekend with his sister. Evidently, his parents are divorced, and his sister lives with his mother.
Then Tristan, the guy with the pointy hair, started a conversation about a new game down at the arcade. He was talking about how he was going to beat Joey's high score. This got Joey going on a heated discussion about who could, quote, "blast more alien guts" or something.
They directed a few questions towards me, which I sheepishly tried to answer. Fortunately, Tea, sensing my uneasiness, came to my defense.
"Knock it off, guys. She'll open up to us when she's ready."
So, the conversations continued, thankfully, without me in them. I just sat there, eating my lunch, and listening in. As the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, I got up, bowed my head and thanked them for letting me join them.
The rest of my classes went without incident. As I was putting my books into my locker at the end of the day, I heard Yugi's voice over the crowd.
"Hey, Emma, mind if I walk you home?"
I turned to see him standing right next to me.
"Huh? But what about your friends?"
"Tea had to stay after for dance practice, Joey had to go pick up Serenity from his Mom's house, and Tristan went with Joey. I thought I'd walk home with you, you know, to keep you company."
"Oh, Okay."
I shut my locker and followed him out the building.
Why was he being so nice to me? What did he see in me? I'm just a bookworm that nobody likes. Why does he?
Suddenly, I felt a wave of depression hit me, and I sank to my knees. It hasn't been this bad in a long time...
Yugi's POV
As we crossed through an alley, Emma fell to her knees. I hear her start to sob.
"Emma? What's wrong?"
/-/Hold on, Aibou./-/
/Yami? What's going on?/
/-/I sense strong Shadow Powers at work./-/
/Shadow Powers?/
/-/Yes, something is attacking her from the Shadow Realm./-/
/What?/
/-/I'm not sure, but I intend to put a stop to it./-/
With that, there is a warm glow from the Puzzle, and I slip into my Soul Room as Yami takes over...
Emma's POV
There is a bright flash, and the pain goes away. I hear footsteps come toward me.
"Are you all right?"
I look up. The voice came from Yugi, yet it was not his. As I study him more carefully, I notice that some of his yellow bangs are sticking straight out, looking a bit like lightning bolts. As he squats down in front of me, I notice that he's a bit taller than Yugi is. But, I don't see anyone else around, so this HAS to be Yugi. And, yet, it isn't.
He rests my chin on top of a fisted hand, and uses his thumb to wipe away a tear from my cheek. He gently lifts his hand which causes my head to rise. My gaze goes from his chin, to his nose, and then, for the first time, I look into his eyes. His deep, purple eyes...
Yugi is on the edge of his seat reading the fic. Yami and Darkone are in the background shouting random insults at each other.
Yugi: And then... And then...
LazerWulf: Sorry, Kiddo, that's all your getting for now
Yugi falls off his chair
Yugi: What? But... But... YOU CAN'T DO THAT!
LazerWulf: Sure I can. It's called a cliffhanger.
Yugi: What's with Emma? She's not like she was during Amme's dream in "Holding My Last Breath"!
LazerWulf: Yeah, about that. Darkone wrote that fic on her own. Not that it's a bad fic. But, by the powers vested in me by Darkone, as co-writer of this fic, I've decided to take her in a different direction. There's still some similarities, like the fact that they both are introverted. But while Amme put up a rough exterior, Emma has more of a shell.
Yugi: But what about...
LazerWulf: Don't worry, I've got her permission. The fact is, Darkone had a bit of writer's block, so she passed this chapter off to me. I've been in contact with her, and relayed some of these ideas to her, and she's behind it 100. Well, 95, at least.
Yugi: Oh, Okay. I meant what about them points to Darkone and Yami, who are still arguing
LazerWulf: Hmm... I guess I should break them up before chairs start flying
Darkone throws a chair at Yami
Yugi: Too late.
LazerWulf: All right. I'll go break them up. Meanwhile, you sign off, K?
Yugi: enthusiastically O-KAY! Please review! Oh, and direct all death threats toward LazerWulf, as he did most of the writing.
LazerWulf: I heard that!
