So if you guys follow my update cycle, I wasn't going to do this chapter for a while. This is the story that I admit, while I have specific events planned for each chapter, writes when I get particularly inspired. And while I'd written about half of this before writer's block kicked in and I went back to my regular cycle of updates, the review I got last night somehow pushed me to go ahead and finish up this chapter. It's true what they say: reviews encourage writers to keep go going. I can't explain the inspiration much beyond that.

On another note, not all the flashbacks will be specifically about the apocalypse. Since this is an AU, I will also be showing how characters got to know each other, since there are obvious differences (namely Yugi has Atem as a twin in this universe, and there are Mahad, Mana, and Kisara as well).

So once again, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did, I'd let Tristan do more.

Chapter Two: Tristan

Tristan rolled his eyes as Joey paced back and forth across the game shop. "Knock it off, Joey," he told his best friend.

"You're not the only one worried about them," Tea chastised the blond. Of course she was worried. Yugi was her world. Not to mention they had just started dating before the outbreak occurred.

Tristan felt a pang of jealousy as felt the odd man out. Yugi and Tea had each other. Joey was smitten with Mai. Atem and Mana were a matter of time. They weren't actually a couple, but Yugi and Joey had started a bet on when those two would get together. Even Kaiba and Kisara, wherever they were, were together.

And then there was Tristan. He had his special someone, but he didn't even know if she was alive, let alone where she was. His friends didn't even know about her; they agreed to keep their relationship secret until she was ready to tell her family. That was already a complicated situation before everything else that had happened.

A bird flew into the window. Tristan stood up to inspect it and saw it was made of paper—created from Mana's magic. He opened the pane just enough for it to fly inside before relocking it. The bird flew over to Tea and landed in her open hand. Arriving at its destination, it turned itself into a folded slip of paper.

Tea unfolded and red the note. "They're boxed in by a horde at the University and won't be able to make it back tonight," she told them. "They're fine; they're just going to wait them out."

"No way!" Joey grabbed his rifle and headed towards the door. Tristan moved to block him. "Outta my way, Tristan! We can't just leave them out there."

"Did you not hear her?" Tristan argued. "They said they're fine. They have their powers to help them, which is more than we have, and they're sheltered. What good is us going out there going to do?" Tristan laughed to himself. When did he become the one to argue against picking a fight?

Domino City. Seven Years Ago.

Tristan scowled as he walked to Domino High School. When were Hirutani and his punks going to learn he and Joey were done with them? He'd already had to take out three thugs on his way; luckily for him they were amateurs who couldn't even get a good hit in. But as much was he was done with the gang, the fighting still gave him a thrill that was hard to top.

Smirking to himself, he spotted the mop of dirty-blond hair belonging to his best friend. "Yo, Joey!" he called out.

Joey turned to grin at him. "You get jumped on the way here?"

"Three times," Tristan answered. "You?"

"Five," Joey's grin widened. Now Tristan could see the signs of battle on his friend's uniform, but it could be worse. "Think they'll learn?"

"If they don't, it'll make things interesting here. Hey, check those guys out," Tristan pointed to a pair of students at the gate. He suspected they were brothers; aside from the height they looked exactly alike. What drew his attention was their hair: both had black hair tipped with magenta and blond bangs. "Think that hair is natural?"

"It's noticeable," Joey rolled his eyes. "The shorter one looks like he should still be in middle school. Think he's just tagging along with his brother?"

"If he's not, he'll be easy prey," Tristan smirked.

"Want to try to toughen him up?" Joey smirked back.

"Is that a bet?" Tristan asked. He watched as a pair of girls joined the brothers. One threw herself at the taller one, her long, spikey brown hair covering his face. The other girl—this one with shoulder-length brown hair—waved to the pair and chatted with the shorter one.

"Yeah," Joey watched the group. "First one to get him to tell you off wins. Doesn't count if the brother does it. Winner has buy lunch for ten days." He watched the taller one. "That one looks intimidating. With any luck, he's an upperclassman while the twerp is with us."

"You're on."

Present Day

"Fine," Joey backed off. He set his rifle by the door.

"Good," Tristan relaxed. He turned to Tea and Grandpa Muto. "Can you two each take a shift watching out tonight?"

"Yeah," Tea turned her gaze out the window, gripping the note from the others. "But what should we do if they come here?"

"Wake us up, and we'll deal with it," Tristan told her. Tea and Gramps had little to no fighting ability. Gramps was too old; his eyesight wasn't what it used to be, and they couldn't afford to waste ammunition. Tristan and Joey had tried to teach the others to handle the rifles they managed to scavenge from abandoned stores, but Tea and Mana had no skill with them. They were lucky the girls didn't shoot themselves in the foot. Mana had her magic to fall back on; Tea didn't have anything, so she was forced to keep the game shop in order and keep everyone else sane. Tristan and Joey were usually the guilty party in driving her crazy.

"We can do that," Gramps said.

"Good," Tristan spotted a horde in the distance. "Let's hold the fort down until they get here."

Tristan leaned back in his chair as the teacher droned on. He was bored. He didn't care about Mesopotamia and Egypt—as far as he was concerned, the past was over and done with. It had nothing to do with him. He glanced around the classroom, his eyes settling on the targets of his bet with Joey.

The brothers had both ended up in the class along with the two girls from earlier. The teacher identified the shorter brother as Yugi Muto and the older one as Atem. Atem actively took notes on the lecture. How can he find this so interesting? The girl behind Atem with the long hair—the teacher called her Mana Mazaki—tossed a ball of paper onto his desk, interrupting his frantic notetaking. She ducked her head before the teacher noticed. Atem scribbled something on the note and tossed it over his shoulder onto Mana's desk. Her shoulders shook as she read it, probably trying to suppress laughter. She wrote something on it and tossed it back.

Yugi seemed oblivious to his brother and friend's antics as he stared at the ceiling. He must have been as bored as Tristan was. Suddenly, as if struck with inspiration, he started scribbling in his own notebook. He's an odd guy. Tristan had a few ideas on how to win his bet with Joey, but having Atem around was going to make it difficult. How the heck was he supposed to know they'd all be in the same class? Tristan glanced to Atem and Mana again. They were still tossing the wad of paper back and forth. If those two were goofing off all the time, maybe they'd go off on their own and leave Yugi behind. Yugi alone gave Tristan the chance to win the bet.

A snore next to him interrupted his scheming. Joey slumped forward on his desk, sound asleep. Tristan rolled his eyes and paid no more attention to his best friend. He wasn't going to risk detention on the first day because Joey couldn't keep his eyes open.

The bell finally rang, signaling the end of class. Mana jumped to her feet and dragged Atem out of the room. Perfect. Yugi was all his. Tristan elbowed Joey to wake him up and strolled over to the twerp.

A glance at the kid's notebook revealed sketches for some kind of game. Wow, this kid was a nerd. Smirking, Tristan swiped the notebook from the desk. "What's so interesting, Muto?" he asked.

"Give it back please," Yugi shrank under Tristan's gaze. "It's a design for a game I'm working on."

"Working on a game?" Tristan laughed. "Man, that has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Who plays dorky games anymore?"

A hand ripped the notebook out of his hand. "If you think it's dumb, then give it back to Yugi," the girl with the short brown hair snapped at him. What was her name? Something Gardner?

"Back off," Tristan glared at her. Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere while she was around, Tristan headed for the bathroom.

"Thanks, Tea," Yugi said as Tristan rounded the corner. Tristan rolled his eyes as we headed to the bathroom. Not only was he hiding behind his brother, he had a girl fighting his battles for him? Man, that kid was lame.

"So much for that, eh, Tristan?" Joey came up behind him, laughing.

"Shut up, Joey," Tristan glared at him. "I didn't even see you try to rile him up. You'll have to do better than just laugh at me if you want to intimidate him."

"What's this about intimidating students?" Both boys whipped around to see another student with layered black hair and a good head and shoulders taller than them. Around his left arm was a hall monitor's band with the name Tetsu Trudge on it. In spite of himself, Tristan gulped. A fight with this guy would put them at a disadvantage.

"What's it to you?" Joey spat.

"I'm a hall monitor," Trudge answered. "If you two are bullying students, it's my job to put a stop to it." He smirked.

"We're not bullying anyone," Tristan rolled his eyes, refusing to let this hulk of a student scare him.

"You better not be," Trudge shoved past them and walked down the hallway. "If I find out you are, you're going to wish you hadn't."

"Tristan," Tea shook him awake. "Tristan, there's something outside."

"Where?" he looked out the window, squinting to see through the darkness.

She pointed, her hand trembling slightly. There, right by the tree, a lone figure stumbled in the darkness. Tristan circled the shop, checking the area for any other creatures. Luckily, it was only the one.

"I'll go take care of it," he told her. "Go get some sleep." Without waiting for a response, Tristan grabbed the crowbar by the door and slipped outside. The rifle would be too loud and draw the attention of more creatures. He scaled the barricade they'd built around the shop, pausing at the top to make sure the coast was clear. The lone creature still stumbled along across the street. A quick strike with the crowbar, and it would be down.

Tristan whacked the creature, sending it sprawling on the ground. He moved to hit it again and froze. He knew this person. Or at least the man the creature used to be. Mr. Karita, the gym teacher. He always kept order at Domino High. And he intervened when Tristan, Joey, and Yugi were in hot water.

Tristan groaned as he walked down the hallway, rubbing the bump on his head as Joey laughed behind him. Three weeks and they still hadn't been able to rile Yugi up. Every time they thought they were getting to him, either Atem or one of the girls intervened. Today, Mana had whacked him with a paintbrush until he backed off. Joey gave up on his own ploy to get the twerp and cracked up at Tristan getting beaten by girl shorter than them.

"Would you stop it?" Tristan finally snapped at his friend.

"Come on, T," Joey grinned. "That was funny. Who knew that girl could get so vicious?"

"At the rate we're going, neither of us is going to win the bet," Tristan grumbled. "Those other three are around way too much."

"But you can't deny it's fun messing with the little twerp," Joey continued laughing. "And I thought things would be boring here."

A fist slamming into Tristan's face kept him from answering. He cursed and pressed his sleeved into his nose, feeling the familiar trickle of blood coming out of it. His eyes watered, blurring the image of his attacker. Joey tossed his bag aside and charged at the culprit only to be slammed against the wall. Tristan glared at the guy, his vision clearing enough for him to see Trudge. "What the heck was that for?" He shifted his stance and dropped his bag, ready for the hall monitor to attack him again.

"I'm putting you two in your places," Trudge cracked his knuckles. "Yugi Muto told me all about you harassing him. He begged me to help."

The little twerp went to this punk? Tristan scowled and raised his fists. Joey got to his feet and stood next to him. If Trudge wanted to fight, they would teach him not to mess with them. He just made a big mistake.

Tristan thrust his hand forward, aiming for Trudge's massive torso. The hall monitor had the height and weight advantage, so targeting his face would leave Tristan's body exposed. Trudge caught his punch and shoved him to the side. Joey slammed his foot into Trudge's side. The bigger student let go of Tristan, giving him the opportunity to ram his elbow into his opponent. Enraged, Trudge grabbed the friends and slammed their heads together, dazing them. Tristan saw stars as he shoved them against the wall. They crumpled to the ground. Three Trudges stood over him, making it hard to focus.

"STOP!" a small figure in blue with tri-colored hair stood between them and the hall monitor.

"Heh," Trudge laughed. "You're defending these punks? After all the misery they put you through?"

"They weren't bullying me," the duo's savior insisted. "They were teaching me to stand up for myself."

The twerp? Tristan tried to focus on the short figure protecting them. He could barely make out Yugi's face before Trudge slammed his fist into the little guy's face. The kid went sprawling down the hallway. The hall monitor kicked him a few more times for good measure. Why would he defend us? We've been tormenting him for weeks.

"What is going on here?" a teacher in a red sweat suit and a buzz cut stormed down the hallway.

"Mr. Karita," Trudge turned to the gym teacher. "These three jumped me. I was just defending myself."

"I'd believe that if it were just these two," Karita gestured to Joey and Tristan. "But you expect me to believe Yugi Muto picked a fight with you? He won't even throw a dodgeball at someone in class."

"It's the truth," Trudge shrugged. "He came charging at me."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Karita glared at the hall monitor. "All of you, to the principal's office."

"Yugi!" Tristan turned his head to see the twerp's three friends run down the hall. "What happened?"

"That's what we're going to sort out," Karita said. He looked to the downed students. "Can you three stand?"

"Yeah," Joey staggered to his feet. He stumbled, and Tea slung his arm over her shoulder.

Mana did the same for Tristan, careful of the blood still dripping from his nose. "I know I didn't hit you that hard with my brush," she laughed.

"Very funny," Tristan rolled his eyes. First he was getting beaten by this girl, now she was hauling his sorry butt to the principal's office. Pathetic.

Atem pulled his brother onto his back, the twerp too dazed to stand on his own. Trudge glowered as the gym teacher pulled him behind other students. He had minor injuries, and his uniform was messed up, but overall he was in significantly better shape than the other three involved in the fight.

Principal Schuyler eyed each of the students coming in. "What is this, Karita?" he asked.

"Caught a group of students fighting," Karita told him. "Muto, Wheeler, Taylor, and Trudge."

"What about the other three?" Schuyler ran a hand through his black hair as he looked to the other three.

"We came looking for my brother," Atem answered.

"I had to help," Yugi said. "He was beating my friends."

"Yugi," Tea and Mana said at the same time. It was obvious they believed him as much as Tristan did. Why would the kid call him and Joey friends?

"Is this true, Tetsu?" Schuyler raised an eyebrow at the hall monitor.

"They jumped me," Trudge stuck to his story. "I was defending myself."

"Yeah, right," Joey glared at him. "We were just walking down the hallway, and you punched T in the face! If anyone was defending themselves, it's us, you punk!"

"That's enough, Joey," Schuyler cut him off. He looked at each party involved and sighed. "Fighting is obviously against school rules. I have no choice but to suspend Yugi, Joey, and Tristan. Tetsu, this is not your first incident. You are expelled. And know I will be calling each of your parents. You three better head to the nurse's office Dismissed."

The students left the principal's office, the three injured still being supported by their helpers. "Man, this sucks," Joey muttered. Tea whacked him on the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For everything you two have been doing to Yugi these last few weeks," she said.

"It's okay, Tea," Yugi said from his brother's back. "I meant what I said. They're friends."

"What is wrong with you?" Tristan snapped. Mana smacked his head, but he ignored her. "We've tormented you for weeks. Why would you defend us?"

"Because I got what you were trying to do," Yugi said. "You never did anything really terrible, and I saw how disappointed you guys were when someone else came to help me."

"It wasn't for you," Tristan looked away from the kid. "It was a stupid bet between us."

"But you proved you were a true friend," Joey said. "You stood up for us like no one else has before."

"So does this mean Trudge won our bet?" Tristan asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, the bet's off," Joey answered. "No way am I buying that jerk ten days' worth of lunch."

"That was the prize of your stupid bet?" Mana smacked Tristan again.

"In our defense, we didn't think it would last this long," Joey shrugged. "But I'm kind of glad it did. We got to know some cool friends."

"Yeah, sure," Tristan rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Tristan apologized before striking down the gym teacher. If Mr. Karita hadn't intervened that day, who knows what Trudge would have done to the three of them. His parents had been furious with him that day. Mr. Wheeler's reaction was worse; Joey had to hide out at the game store that entire week. Normally the blond would come to Tristan's, but his parents wanted nothing to do with Joey that entire time. Luckily, the Mutos were more forgiving with Yugi's declaration that the former gang members were his friends.

Karita went still, his rotted corpse leaving a pool of crimson underneath him. Tristan clenched his fist as he turned away. It was the first time he had killed a creature he knew. Karita had run them hard every day of gym class. When Mokuba had him five years later, the gym teacher was still as much of a drill sergeant as when Tristan was there. Why did things have to turn out like this?

Tristan crept back to the game store and swung over the wall. Tea stood at the door, her blue eyes wide as she waited for his return. "Is it gone?" she asked when she let him in.

"It's dead," he told her. "Don't worry about it."

"Part of me is relieved," she looked away. "But the other part can't forget that each creature out there used to be human, someone we might have known."

Without realizing it, she hit the nail on the head. "I know, Tea," he wrapped his arms around her to soothe her. She leaned into him, tears leaking onto his tan coat. "But there's nothing we can do. All we can do is ride this out and hope someone finds a way to fix this." She didn't need to know about Karita right now. He'd everyone at the same time, if he did at all. It would haunt him, but there was no need to add to the others' nightmares. There were plenty to go around as it was. "Go get some sleep. I'll finish out the watch."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he answered. "My adrenaline's still going, so it'll be a while before I can sleep anyway."

"Okay," she agreed. "Just don't push yourself too hard."

"I won't," Tristan promised. She went upstairs to the bedrooms, and Tristan made himself comfortable until dawn broke. He just hoped Yugi, Atem, and Mana would make it back in one piece.

So if you couldn't tell, these flashbacks were heavily drawn from the very first chapter of the manga. It is confirmed that Officer Trudge in 5D's is the same bully, which is why I call him Trudge instead of Ushio. I was also originally going to do this from Joey's POV, but we kind of already know that. Between other stories I've read, the dubbed anime (I haven't watched the sub) and the manga, we know what both Joey and Yugi were thinking during that time, but we don't really get what Tristan thought of the situation. I feel Tristan tends to be forgotten a times despite him doing some pretty dangerous stuff for the sake of his friends (actions during Death-T in the manga, searching the dungeons at Duelist Kingdom by himself for the Kaibas, fighting the Rare Hunters alone in Battle City). Tristan needs more love for doing all of that.

Anyhoo, enough rambling. If you follow my update cycle, note I'm going to put this story at the bottom so I don't let too much time pass for the other updates. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you later.