Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or the abridged series.

Please note: This Chapter also includes death and grief. If this will affect you please don't read on.

Bitten by the Bug.

Chapter 7 - Acquired Immune Deficiency System

The day went by quietly. Joey didn't want to talk because his voice pounded inside his own head, only adding to the pain of the headache throbbing badly. Tristan went out for most of the day, purely so he didn't get shouted at, only returning that evening with a pizza to share. Joey was much lither now he had sobered up and had taken some paracetamol for the headache.

"Sorry." Joey said with half a slice of pizza mushed in his mouth.

"It's ok," Tristan winced, looking away from Joey's face.

When the pizza had gone completely and no morsel of cheese remained in the box, the boys threw it so it landed near the front door, then they sat on the sofa and watched the television for a bit. At ten O'Clock, they turned in, both exhausted despite the less than hectic day.

(Start Dream Sequence)

Joey was stood in a room with a white sofa, a big television and a would-be lovely interior. The only thing ruining this was the clutter spread out all over the place. Under Joey's feet were plastic cups crumpled and burned out spliffs. On the sofa, sleeping was a familiar face. A girl Joey saw as a great friend, a girl he found beautiful, she slept soundlessly, her chest rising up and down.

"Sleeping beauty." Joey breathed.

"No...Téa Gardener. Honestly Joey have you already forgotten about me? Did that hangover make you lose your memory?" Téa opened her eyes and stared up at the figure standing beside her.

"I could never forget you...you're too...amazing."

"Thanks. But that's not why i'm here. Yugi and I have come to talk to you."

"Yugi?"

"Yes, Yugi, come on." Téa shouted, now sitting up on the sofa. She scooted to one side and allowed Joey to sit beside her as Yugi came out of his old bedroom and seated himself on the other side of Joey.

"So what's this all about?" Joey asked, looking from one to the other.

"We know you have AIDS," Téa confronted him gravely.

"But how? You were dead before i knew. Did Yugi tell you beyond the grave."

"Don't be so stupid, i'm dead. That's it! There's no Msn in the afterlife! He can't just come knocking on my coffin. This is your conscience speaking, we've taken these forms because you have a very active imagination." Téa breathed.

"We're here to tell you that you don't have much longer to live."

"What!" Joey shouted standing up.

"You're going to die within six months. Your condition will get much worse quicker than you expected. I'd make a list of things you want doing when you're gone so Tristan has something. He is your best friend after all."

"I aren't listening to any of your crap any longer! How could my conscience possibly know this!? It's part of me! I am so out of here..." Joey walked to the door, and flung it open to find on the other side, instead of a hallway, the room he was about to exit.

"Come sit down!" Téa said irritabley, patting the empty seat between her and Yugi.

Joey closed the door with a bang and went back to the sofa grumpily.

"And no need to be so moody either!"

"In about a month, Tristan will comment on how much weight you're going to lose. In two months you're gonna start to look very pale, in three months you're going to get lots of colds and flu's and in four months, possibly sooner...you're going to go to sleep one night...and not see the sun the next morning." Yugi finished. Téa wiped a tear from her eye and sniffed quietly.

"We'll finally be together. There's an empty plot next to mine. I'd really like you to be buried there." Téa looked at Joey, eyes shining from tears that were congruating at the brims of her eyes.

"Wait! He's getting buried near me!"

"No he isn't, you're in a completely different graveyard!"

"Anyway! I thought you got incinerated!" Yugi's voice was rising

"I did! And my vase is in the crematorium! And there's an empty spot near me!" Téa's voice was rising too

"Maybe Joey doesn't want to be turned into ash!"

"WELL MAYBE HE DOESN'T WANT TO DECOMPOSE EITHER!" Téa roared, standing up.

"IT'S THE NATURAL WAY!" Yugi stood up too.

"WHAT'S NATURAL ABOUT BEING MAGGOT FOOD?!" Téa retorted. Joey was looking from one to the other like he was watching a tennis match.

"AT LEAST PEOPLE COME TO THE GRAVEYARD, PASS MY STONE AND SEE IT WAS ME! FAMOUS SINGER! I GET FLOWERS, YOU GET GLANCED AT. A VASE AMONGST OTHERS FULL OF WHAT LOOKS LIKE FAG ASH!" Yugi screamed back, Téa was about to reply, as she was taking a deep breath when Joey stood up.

"As it's me dying, i get to choose!"

"Fine! What do you want to do? And you better choose me!" Téa and Yugi replied simultaneously looking angrily at Joey, who sighed before speaking, taking care to keep his voice calm.

"I'm going to be incinerated..." Téa's face lit up. "BUT! I aren't stopping there. I'm going to have a memorial stone in a graveyard and then...i have plans for my remains..."

"What?" Yugi and Téa gasped.

"You'll have to wait and see." Joey grinned. "Any idea what time it is?"

"We're not sodding clocks!" Yugi replied.

"Don't worry, I think Tristan is waking me up anway."

And with that, everything disappeared into black, only to be replaced with Tristan's face.

(End Dream Sequence)

"Morning!"

The days past peacefully and the nights past soundlessly.

A month later, Tristan came up to Joey.

"Boy you look thin! What's your secret?" Tristan Joked, a tone of worry in his voice.

Joey's eyes opened widely.

"It can't be." he thought to himself.

With the next passing month, Joey's weight kept going down. Joey would soon disappear into nothing-ness if he wasn't careful, by the next month, he had bags quite like Téa's that wouldn't budge and Joey's face turned into a milk white that stayed as well, like a face paint that didn't seem to wash off. With every passing day, Tristan's worries increased. He noticed that Joey would wake up, force down some food and then lose all energy. During the day he would remain on the sofa and only get up to go to the toilet, sometimes this involved crawling along the floor or Tristan's assistance.

Another month passed and Joey found himself catching cold after cold.

One night as Joey dreamt, Joey found himself confronted by Téa and Yugi again.

"Not long left. Make sure Tristan gets your letter."

Day after day, Joey's health would deteriorate further. A letter addressed to Tristan was in his drawyer, waiting for it's appearence.

A couple of weeks later, Joey got into bed in blue stipy pyjamas with the help of Tristan.

"Thank you so much, Tristan."

"Anytime." Tristan forced a smile.

"I love you, you know that don't you?"

"I love you too, mate." Tristan replied fighting back tears, he had been dreading this conversation.

"Well...night." Joey reluctantly replied awkwardly.

"Yeah...night..." Tristan held up Joey a bit and hugged him tightly before settling him back on the comfy mattress. Then he left the room turning off the light as he did so. And closing the door behind him.

When he had left, Joey used the last of his strength to place the letter on the bedside cabinet next to him, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Tristan woke up after a restless night, at seven the next morning. He quietly opened the door and saw Joey layed, looking peaceful, in the same laying position that Tristan had left him in. Joey looked relaxed. Tristan quietly walked over to his bedside and noticed the letter, then he looked back at Joey and noticed something else...his chest was rising. He frantically checked his pulses, and then he checked his breathing, he wasn't. He ran into the next room and picked up the reciever.

"Ambulance please...And hurry!!"

Fifteen minutes later, paramedics banged on the wall that Tristan answered instantly, then he guided them to Joey's bedroom. The paramedics tryed in vain to recover a heartbeat, a flicker of life. They shook their heads in agreement and soon they were zipping up a body bag.

A few days later, Joey's family and close friends came together in the crematorium. Tristan went to the podium to say a few words, but found himself incapable of speaking, he tried to speak but soon he burst out crying, and was led by the preist back to his seat.

After the service, Joey's body, concealed in a coffin was moved into the incinerator, and Tristan stood looking as the doors closed, he put his hands in his pockets and recovered a crumpled piece of letter, he opened it and scanned through the last parts of writing on the page:

Tristan, please make sure you get my ashes, i want you to pay money that i gave you to turn my ashes into a diamond, and then it's up to you what you do with it. or of couse you could make two. One for you and one for my family...but of course they won't be very big.

Never forget me, or Yugi or Téa. We'll be with you forever and one day we'll meet again. Don't make the same mistake i did, make sure you live life to the very full!

I love you Tristan. Joey.

Tristan folded the letter back up and put it in his pocket, an hour later, a man gave him a jar with a lid. Inside were the remains of Joey Wheeler. Tristan walked down the steps out of the crematorium, the sun shining brightly in the sky, birds chirping in the trees. He walked on the path along the scenic route, holding the jar securely under one of his arms. Sun shining through trees...like a disco scene. And as he quietly walked home, by his side, a ghostly figure with blonde hair and wearing a dusty suit walked with him.