Yugi had spent the rest of that Thursday in relatively good spirits. Here was a chance to once again best his rival, though truthfully he would have preferred to defeat Seto Kaiba the old-fashioned way. There was no chance in hell, he reckoned, that Seto and all his smug charm and ice-prince looks, was going to be able to successfully take woo the Museum Director. For one, Seto was a duelist. A successful duelist. And as Doctor Ishizu Ishtar had made abundantly clear, both in word and in deed, she held no love in her heart for people who participated in that life. For another, the good Doctor would only value Seto if she believed he could be reformed, and Seto would never consent to joining her D-CARP program. Furthermore, while she had a certain comeliness in her face, she was far from being what Yugi thought comprised Seto's "type".

And he, while charming in that assholeish way (and pretty in that obnoxious way), was arrogant and cold. A smart woman like Ishizu, one who (rather like Seto had been) was basically addicted to her work, would not fall for the kind of crap Yugi assumed Seto pulled on women.

And so, in celebration of his impending victory, he, Joey, and Tristan had begun a bar crawl around Domino on the following day at 5 pm, going from fruity drinks at Happy Hours to beer and hard liquor as the evening wore on. One margarita and he felt more upbeat than he had in months. Another, and nothing had ever been wrong with his life. A beer later, and his heart was full, his eyes bubbling over with tears of infatuation, gushing with love towards everyone in the bar. Another, and the unmitigated joy he felt had somehow begun to turn sour in his belly, his skin turning cold.

While Joey and Tristan were tall and muscularly built, and could thus handle pounding drink after drink into their systems, Yugi was about two-thirds their height and weighed about half of what either of them did, and thus he barely lasted two hours. At that point, Joey had signaled to the bartender of whatever place they were at—who could honestly remember?—to start giving Yugi water instead of alcohol, since his friend was currently dozing on the counter, half of his chin covered in drool.

Joey rolled his eyes, sighed, and hoisted his friend's limp body into his arms while Tristan paid the tab. They left the sour-smelling bar then, and took to the city streets on the way back to the Baby Dragon. It was around 11 pm then; soon enough Seto would have to come pay up.

"You ever think…" began Tristan.

Joey looked towards his more laconic friend. "Yeah, Tristan?"

The words came slowly, unsure. "You ever think about how sick it is, the way that women and men in this town have to be at each other's throats so often?"

"What do ya mean? You got Serenity—are things okay with her?"

Tristan nodded. "I just meant… with this whole Kaiba and Ishizu thing, and then with Yugi and Téa… like, why does there have to be a big deal over this? Why can't Yugi and Téa just work it out? Why are they making it so complicated?"

Joey shrugged. "I mean, if I'm gonna be honest here, she's got a point. Our buddy over here ain't exactly in the best shape, and Téa's sure as hell not gettin' any younger. I'd have thought they'd have sealed the deal by now…"

Tristan continued, his philosophical line of thought having come seemingly from out of nowhere. "And with Kaiba and Ishizu—why'd Yugi put her on the hook like this? We don't even know the woman, and neither does Kaiba. And I mean, with what happened with you…"

Joey glared at Tristan sharply, who immediately ceased his train of thought.

The two men and their charge reached the bar, poured Yugi's knocked-out frame into the corner booth, their booth. Tristan kissed Serenity on the cheek, who upon their arrival took off her apron and handed it to her fiancé. The Baby Dragon was hardly popular on a Friday night (there were flashier joints in the city, to be sure) but there was still a fair amount of patrons (mainly ex- and current duelists) lingering about, trying to sneak a smoke or stirring their hard drinks with straws. Serenity blew a kiss to Joey and Yugi in the booth and exited through the back door, a delicate tinkle heralding her departure.

Tristan rolled up his sleeves and hopped behind the bar. Soon he re-emerged, carrying a lukewarm bottle of Gatorade and a bowl of salted nuts.

"Yugi?" Joey gently poked his friend in the arm. Yugi groaned unconsciously in response, and then his large violet eyes flickered open, his vision hazy and filmy, his ears filled with fuzzy drums. Joey unscrewed the cap off the Gatorade and tipped it gently to his friend's mouth.

Yugi swallowed, and then spat out a mouthful of phlegm onto the wooden table almost reflexively. "Remind me never to do that again, Joey. I mean it this time…"

Joey rolled his eyes; they had played this game before. "Sure, Yug. Sure."

He poured some of the salted nuts into Yugi's hand. Yugi's mouth wrinkled and his stomach flipped unpleasantly, but he placed one into his mouth delicately.

"You know, after everything I've gone through recently, I deserved to have a little fun," Yugi began, before his stomach began the spin cycle.

Joey reached into the napkin dispenser and slid a pile towards his friend. "Yug, does your version of fun involve puking your guts out? 'Cause that's about to happen in about three…two…" And Yugi retched into the pile of thin paper, right on cue.

"Shut up," he coughed.

Joey grinned despite himself, pushing the Gatorade back towards his friend.

"What time is it?" Seto should be coming by within the next several hours.

"Around 11:30. Why?"

Yugi's eyes widened and his brow furrowed. He slumped into his seat and buried his balloon head into his hands. "I was planning on going to see Téa's show tonight…"

He let out a sigh. Yet another way he was a failure. He couldn't get a legitimate job, he was an incredible lightweight, and he was a shitty boyfriend. Téa was surely going to leave him sooner or later, and then what would he have left?

I should just end things now. Everything.

He balled his fists, burying his nails until they drew blood. His eyes briefly brightened to scarlet. Joey stiffened and placed a hand on Yugi's arm.

One of the duelists in the other booths walked over towards them. "Hey, uh, Yugi. Hey, Joey."

Yugi snapped his head up, his lips curling in a blatantly false and painful smile. "Hello?"

The duelist leaned in conspiratorially. "I just wanted to let you guys know—there's a rumor going around today that Mai Valentine is gonna be back this weekend as well…"

At that Joey froze. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. His back was sweaty, and his blood felt cold in his veins. "Are you sure about this?"

"Well, I did say it was a rumor… but this guy I know, his brother was on a cruise ship and ended up losing a duel to this incredibly hot chick—she took his room, his money, his rarest card, everythin'. That's been her M.O. before, ain't it?" The duelist's voice grew excited as the three men considered the former top-ranked duelist and her many assets: her confidence in her abilities, her strategy in duels, her incredible body that she loved showing off (as part of her strategy, no doubt)…

Joey's heart throbbed painfully in his chest. When he'd last seen Mai, it had been during the strictest legislative wave. They'd been close to dating at the time. Mai had insisted on leaving—she didn't have or need friends in Domino, and Duel Monsters was her livelihood. There'd been nothing to keep her in Domino City.

Joey hadn't been enough, as it turned out.

They'd fought. He'd asked her to move in with him. She'd declined. He'd asked to go with her. She'd refused to take him. He'd nearly begged. What was he supposed to do with her gone?

Her voice had been flatly cruel when she'd replied:

"Forget me, Joey."

He still thought of her often. Of her flashing eyes and conceited laugh. Of the way she playfully mocked him at every turn, of her soft lips and apple-red cheeks. He still slept on one side of the bed, as if waiting for her to materialize on the other side. Of course, Joey had been keeping busy looking after Yugi, and so he hadn't had time to devote to pining. He'd just assumed she was done with Domino and with him.

Drunk as Yugi was, he noticed the change in Joey's posture and quietly moved his hand to his friend's. "Thank you," he murmured to the duelist, who bowed his head and retreated to where he'd come.

"Are you going to be all right, Joey?" Yugi's voice was quiet but steely.

Joey took in a shuddering breath, feeling the torn flesh in his chest bleed anew against his rib cage. He nodded gravely. "Yeah, Yug. I got this. Don't worry about me." He reached out a hand to tousle Yugi's ridiculous hair. "Drink your damn Gatorade. Kaiba should be here any minute with your money. Ya don't wanna look like shit when he shows up."

Yugi dutifully drank.

The phone at the bar rang, and Tristan excused himself from a customer to go answer it. "Baby Dragon?"

As the person on the other end spoke, Tristan's normally placid face grew pale. "Uh huh. Thanks. I'll tell him." He hung up, his hand shaking slightly, and made his way over to Yugi and Joey.

"So, Mako went over to where Kaiba's staying… and he's not there."

Yugi narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't mean anything, Tristan. He could be out and about on a Friday night. God knows there's enough entertainment to go around."

"That's just it—no one has seen Seto Kaiba for hours. Someone saw him leaving the hotel at around noon dressed in some fancy suit, and then another person saw him on the Parkway, and they told Mako, who told me."

"But…but that's where the museum is," Yugi said dumbly, his voice growing faint with realization.

Tristan grimaced. "And then another buddy of Mako's said that they saw Kaiba's fancy jet on the runway at the airport—and Kaiba was getting on it—but he wasn't alone. The museum lady—she was getting on the jet with him." Tristan's face looked genuinely regretful.

Joey immediately looked to Yugi, who had by now broken into an icy cold sweat. His heart beat erratically as he thought of what ten thousand dollars looked like. His stomach flipped upon flip. His breath grew shallow.

"Yugi…" Joey began, caution giving way to alarm. As he and Tristan looked on, Yugi's tiny body crumpled into a faint.