AnimeGirlAnn: IMPORTANT UPDATE EVERYONE!

Malik: O dear Ra I am going to die in this chapter aren't I!?

Ryou: Don't worry Malik, I'm sure the authoress isn't that evil… right?

AnimeGirlAnn: Don't worry Malik your alive…. For now (Malik: EH!?)…. The important update is this, after some thought I have realized I may have made my previous chapters too short causing many short chapters, which isn't all that bad, except we're already on the twelfth chapter of this fanfic and we haven't even gotten the whole team together yet. So, after much thought I have decided to go back and join a few chapter together. Don't worry no major story things will be added or deleted. The only difference will be that some chapter next to each other will become one, for example I am planning to make the Lost Joey saga into two chapters instead of three.

Yugi: So with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter! We apologize for the lateness.

Joey: Hope you like it even if it is hella late. The Authoress doesn't own Yugioh or the Yugioh Abridge reference.

CHAPTER 12: Friend Or Foe?

(Yugi's POV)

On my bed Malik was laid down while Ryou and Kuriboh bandaged her arm to stop the bleeding from the long gash in her arm. Nearby Joey was frantically pacing back and forth in circles while muttering frantically.

"Then the police will find us and put us in court where will be found guilty of murdering Malik before being thrown into a correctional facility and maybe even join a prison gang called the Triad Something and sell people for cigarettes to survive! I hate to tell you this Ryou but you'll probably be either sold or bought on the first day we get ther-"

"JOEY! Calm down that is not happening to us! Malik is not dying and we are not going to jail!" I assured my panicked friend.

"How can you be sure!? There's a girl bleeding to death in your room!" Joey pointed out, gesturing towards Malik. Looking at her, I couldn't help but cringe. My once crisp white sheets were now soaked deep crimson in Malik's blood. Meanwhile Malik herself was starting to seem five shades too pale for an egyptian. If it hadn't been for Ryou's reassurance she was still alive I would've thought she was already a corpse by the look of her. The idea of Malik dying right now of blood loss started to seem realistic…

"Um, Ryou, how's she doing…?" I asked, worried that we may actually go to jail for having a corpse in my room.

"Don't worry she'll be fine, luckily the cut isn't deep enough for stitches, she probably just nicked a vein from one of the tree branches after unfusing with her monster which caused all the blood. It's a good thing you live near the museum Yugi, the Spirit Realm doesn't have any bandages or medical supplies nearby." Ryou answered, continuing to wrap Malik's arm.

"I just can't believe we managed to carry a bleeding, unconscious body out of the museum and to Yugi's house, it's a miracle no one actually noticed," Joey commented.

"Well, we did take a few short cuts, and jump into a few bushes whenever a car came by," I recalled, pulling a leaf out of my hair from said bushes.

Joey's mouth opened to say more when the sound of my door opening and someone familiar behind it saying "Yugi? Is that you?" stopped her

"GRANDPA!" I realized, slamming the door closed before he could come in and see the bleeding girl on my bed. There are just some thing's you just don't tell your grandparents, a bleeding girl on your bed is one of them.

"Shit Yugi! It's your grandpa!" Joey whispered to me. Next to the bed, Kuriboh gasped and jumped under my bed taking ChangeOfHeart down with it.

"Yugi? Is there someone in there? I thought I heard someone, you're not hiding your secret boyfriend are you?" Grandpa questioned me, I could tell he was grinning even though I couldn't see him behind the door.

"No Grandpa! It's just me and Joey!"

"Well then what's the problem? Let me say hi to your friends," Grandpa replied, managing to open the door a crack to look in through despite my efforts.

"Who's the two girls near your bed, I can't get a good look at them," Grandpa asked.

Oh thank Ra, he can't see the blood, the rest of the door and Ryou must be blocking the full view.

"H-Hi Mr. Muto, I'm Yugi's friend Ryou from school, nice to meet you," Ryou greeted shyly, trying her best to shield the blood from Grandpa.

"But who's the girl sleeping on the bed?"

"That's Malik! She's just sleepy that's all!" Joey assured my Grandpa.

"I see... by the way Yugi," Grandpa responded.

"What?"

"You have a nice taste in friends," Grandpa told me with a perverted grin while looking at Ryou's chestal area, who was currently blushing redder than a ripe tomato.

"GRANDPA YOU PERVERT!" I yelled at him, forcing the crack in the door closed.

"Heehee, I'll let you girls do your thing, have a good night!" Grandpa waved goodbye. I could hear his footsteps leaving from outside the door

"...You have an…. interesting Grandpa Yugi," Ryou mumbled, trying to hide her red face while continuing to bandage Malik.

"I'm so sorry Ryou, I swear he isn't a pervert… most of the time," I apologized, getting flashback of him doing this exact same thing with my old friend Anzu.

"Well at least he didn't see Malik, it'd be hard to explain a bleeding girl to your gramps," Joey optimized. I nodded, it definitely would've been a disaster.

"All done!" Ryou announced a few moments later, pulling away from Malik's now bandaged arm.

"So she'll be okay?"

"Yep, though she'll probably just needs some sleep after losing all that blood," Ryou advised. "Someone will have to keep her for the night…"

It was then that all of us looked at each other, all with the same thought in mind, 'I don't want the bleeding stranger sleeping in my house.'

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Well, my house is out cause of my pops," Joey declared first slowly taking steps backwards toward the door.

"My apartment is really, REALLY small, plus my landlady wouldn't like it if I got bloodstains on the carpet," Ryou proclaimed soon after following after Joey.

"B-But my grandpa-"

"Thinks you'll be having a sleepover!" Joey interjected, giving me a thumbs up before saying "Good luck, bud!" while quickly speed walking away with Ryou.

"We'd stay with ya longer but we have school tomorrow and all so…." Ryou told me while ChangeOfHeart gave a nod agreeing with her owner before flying out of the door herself.

"But what about the blood! How am I supposed to explain that!?" I yelled after them. "Menstruation!" Joey quickly answered before she and Ryou practically ran out of the room to avoid being guilted into staying with me.

Dammit, they left before I could use my puppy dog eyes on them.

"..."

"...Kuri."

Kuriboh crawled under the bed and looked up at me as if saying 'I'll stay with you Yugi!' "Thanks for staying here, Kuriboh," I thanked, picking up the small furball.

"Kuri."

Looking over, I saw Malik peacefully resting on my bed. She looked a lot better than she was when we found her being crushed under the tree. Smiling a little at my guest, I pulled the covers over her so she wouldn't get cold. You know, I think when she wakes up we'll all be able to become good frie-

Wait a minute.

If Malik's on my bed, where am I supposed to sleep!?

My head turned in an effort to somehow magically make the cold floor seem comfy. Last night with Malik on my bed, I had to sleep on my floor with a spare pillow and blanket. Wasn't as good as sleeping on an actual bed but it felt better than forcing a recovering guest to sleep on. Well at least it can't get wors-

"WHERE AM I!? WHO ARE YOU!? I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUT I WON'T HESITATE TO KILL YOU!"

Huh, it looks like Malik woke up. Reluctantly getting up, I saw a panicked Malik off of the bed looking like she had fallen off while panicking.

"Um, sorry Malik we had to take you to my house since you were injured," I explained.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!?" she demanded looking even more freaked out.

"Joey told me your name, she was the blonde girl who found you," I answered.

"Oh yeah her, did she put the bandages on me," Malik questioned, looking calmer now.
"No, that was Ryou actually."

"Who the hell's Ryo- Actually, I don't want to know, I have no interest in interacting with you people at all anymore," Malik stated. "At first I was interested that you're a Hikari and all but after having my arm ripped open, it's just not worth the effort."

"But Malik-"

"Look kid, you seem nice and all, but there's a war coming, and the only place niceness will get you in war is death," Malik told me before getting up and opening my window.

"See ya kid, this will be the last time we see each other."

With that, Malik waved goodbye and proceeded to jump out my window.

"MALIK!" I yelled running to my window, I looked out expecting to see Malik's bloody corpse. But, luckily, there wasn't a single trace of Malik or her fallen corpse anywhere.

(Later that day at Domino High)

"And that's what happened." I explained to Ryou and Joey, finishing telling them what happened earlier with Malik.

"How the hell did she manage to jump out the window and disappear!?" Joey demanded. "And better yet, why can't I do that!?"

"It was actually pretty cool," I agreed.

"Well, either way it doesn't look like we'll be seeing her again anytime soon…." Ryou mentioned. "Kinda sucks, I was hoping to get to know her, Malik would've been a good friend," I thought out loud.

Before our conversation could continue, the teacher came in and silenced us all.

"Okay students, we have a new student here today, she's just recently moved here so be kind to her," the teacher announced, signalling someone from behind the door to come in. "Please welcome your new classmate, Malik Sebastian Ishtar the Third."

A tan girl with blonde wearing our school uniform came into the classroom.

"Holy shit! Is that Malik!?" Joey whispered to me.

Malik stood in the front of the classroom surveying the class with a silent glare. Before resting her stare on us, when she saw me and Joey, her expression changed to look similar to that of a gaping fish out of water. From the front of the classroom, I could hear her mutter something that sounded like 'Damn retarded fanfic plot devices.'

"Malik?" The teacher said snapping her out of her shocked look. "Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"

Malik looked at the teacher, then back to us to answer "Nope." before then walking over to an empty desk in the corner of the room.

"Oh, um... Okay then, Ryou why don't you show Malik around school after class at free period?" the teacher suggested.

"Oh, um, sure ma'am," Ryou agreed, looking like she honestly would rather not.

"Good, now back to the agenda…."

"Psh! Ryou!" Joey called out quietly to the white haired girl a desk in front of her.

"What?" Ryou replied just as silently.

"Malik doesn't know who you are! You can befriend her while showing her around school!" Joey suggested.
"I don't think she wants to be friends with anyone…." Ryou pointed out, looking at Malik through the corner of her eye. At the corner desk Malik was absentmindedly glaring through the window as if the whole world was pissing her off.

"Then at least get some info out of her, she's a Hikari, she could know some valuable information about this whole thing," Joey argued, too busy whispering to Ryou to notice our teacher walking up to her desk, until the teacher snapped her ruler onto Joey's desk.

"Mrs. Wheeler I would prefer you to zip your mouth in class." the teacher instructed with an annoyed look.

"Yes ma'm."

RYOU'S POV

(Later That Day)

The rest of the class was pouring out of the classroom with even the teacher in tow. Joey and Yugi stayed behind for a second longer to give me a quick thumbs up for good luck before leaving along with the others. A part of me, well most of me, was really hoping they would stay, despite that would've ruined the whole 'befriend Malik' plan. Though I couldn't stop the feeling of nervous dread that leaked into my gut when it was only me and Malik in the classroom. Gulping, I turned my attention to the back of the classroom. Malik was still at her seat gathering her things.

"Hey, Malik," I greeted, walking up to her.

"Hi," Malik replied not looking up from her things.

"So, shall we start that tour of school?" I brought up.

"Whatever," Malik said, looking a bit annoyed at, well, everything.

"O-Okay, do you mind if I see your schedule so I can show you your classrooms," I said unsure of how to take her answer.

Malik nodded and handed me a piece of paper. I quickly skimmed it while thinking of which class of Malik's was closest.

"Let's see…. you have drama as an elective?" I noticed.

Malik looked down, but not before I noticed her blushing a bit,"Yeah, so what."

"I actually have drama too! We're in the same class," I told her.

Malik looked back up at me looking caught off guard.

"Seriously?"

I smiled and nodded.

The rest of the tour went a lot better than I had actually thought. Even though Malik was mostly quiet, she did turn out to be quite friendly. I think I might've even gotten her to almost smile a few times. Almost smile though….

"Hey Ryou, where's the bathroom?" Malik suddenly asked while I was showing her where history class was.

"The bathroom? It's actually right over there," I answered, pointing towards a door at the end of the hallway.

"Give me a sec, I gotta go," Malik told me before entering the bathroom.

"Psh… Ryou…" a familiar voice called out from behind me.

"Joey?" I realized, looking behind me. There I saw two faces peering at me from behind the corner of the hallway, both faces covered by a black sweat sock with eye holes.

"...Why are you two wearing black sweat socks…..?" I asked my friends whose sanity I was questioning.

"Cause we're spying and sweat sock masks are a must have when spying!" Joey explained. "Also, how's it going with you and Malik, learn anything yet?"

"No, she seems pretty distant actually…" I told them, "But I think I might be able to befriend he-"

"You're with them!?"

Oh no.

Behind me, Malik was glaring at us through the doorway of the bathroom.

"Wait Malik I can expl-"

"No, don't bother explaining, well actual could you tell me why their wearing socks-nevermind, I don't care, besides didn't I make it clear to you people I don't want to be comrades with you, " Malik hissed.

"Malik, don't you think it would be better if we were together? We're all Hikari's, and you said it yourself a war is coming, this isn't a time for being alone," Yugi questioned.

Malik rolled her eyes, "Hmph, figures you'd say that, people like you are all the same, the ones who think 'friendship' will magically fix everything, well guess what?! The world ain't a goddamn magical girl anime, and people like you will be destroyed without mercy due to your own naivety!"

"HEY! I don't care who the hell you are, you can't just talk to my friends like that!" Joey yelled, returning Malik's glare.

"Why shouldn't I? It's true, fighting alongside people will only end in loss, there is no place in this world for the weak," Malik retorted, with her eyes downcasted.

"Malik…. do you really believe that…?" Yugi asked her.

"Of course I do," Malik snapped back.

"Than why do you look so lonely when you said it?" Yugi pointed out.

Malik's eyes widened in surprise before returning to her former glare.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why did you help us when we first met against the Red Archery Girl!? If you really believe that then why did you you try to rescue Joey!?" Yugi questioned. "Malik, I don't think you're that kind of person."

While Yugi was saying this, Malik has been taking a keen interest in the ground below her, her bangs covering her eyes.

"... You shouldn't think that…." Malik finally said. "I'm a terrible person… You know what happened to the last people who was on my side, my comrade, my friend? He's dead, I killed him."

The hallway suddenly became ghostly silent, it sounded as if no one was even breathing at the moment.

"He was my brother…. Rishid…." Malik continued with a sullen expression. "We were fighting alongside each other, when I made a mistake and it cost me his life, it's was because of my own stupidity he's dead..."

Without warning, Malik started to laugh, but it wasn't a joyful or sadistic maniac laugh, it sounded lifeless and almost like more an emotionless sob than laugh. "Funny isn't? I'm yelling at you for your stupidity yet I'm the dumb one who got her own brother killed…Trust me, you don't want me on your team, I'll probably kill you all."

Malik was looking straight at us now with empty eyes that looked as if they were too weary to even cry. Then reminded me of someone I once knew well….

"You know, when I was younger, my younger sister use to have poor health," I suddenly spoke. "Her name was Amane, and I remember that even a cough might mean she needed to get to the hospital immediately. Because of that I use to always be protective of her, wherever she would go you could find me close by. Then there was this one day that me, Amane, and my sister were out at the park when she started coughing. So we went back home just in case it might turn bad…."

"I'm sorry but what's the point of this story?" Malik demanded.

"Well, on the way home, we got into a car crash. My sister died along with my mother." I explained. "But do you know what the most ironic part of this whole story is? When Amane was coughing in the park, I was the one who insisted on taking her home. If I had just shut up, we never would've let the park. Amane would be alive and so would my mother, but their not, because of me."

"...So you killed them too….." Malik concluded.
I nodded, "I killed them, I regret it, I regret that I hadn't just shut up, I regret I was stupid and caused my family to die, and sometimes I feel I should regret that I didn't die with them…. But I don't."

Malik looked at me in the eyes curiously.
"I don't regret I didn't die, because I know if I were to think that, Amane and mother would never forgive me for wanting to be dead. Even if we are murderers it doesn't matter, we are still alive and we should know best we shouldn't waste this life that leaves so quickly. Even if we face regrets and despair it doesn't mean that we won't still find happiness or forgiveness, and one day we will find someone again who we can fight for."

"... How do you know that you won't end up killing them too…?" Malik asked.

"Because," I answered. "We can't hold on to our regrets, if we want to become someone who they can forgive one day, we can't remain in the past where we made that terrible mistake, we need to head forward, because if we stay in the past we'll never be able to save those we hold dear."

"... Maybe, you have a point…" Malik admitted slowly. "But even then, I doubt you want me to be your friend anymore, as I said I'm a killer."

"So what?" Joey shrugged. "We all made our mistakes, and besides, friends don't care about what you did in the past, no matter what you do we're friends till the end!"

"We're not friends yet." Malik reminded her.

"Yet?" Yugi asked hopefully.

"Well in that case there's only one way to make you our friend…" Joey stated with a grin growing on her face. Joey leaped onto Malik, proceeding to bear hug her in midair, causing both of them to fall to the ground.

"FRIENDSHIP HUG!" Joey shouted.

"W-WHAT!?" Malik stuttered, looking shell shocked at the sudden hug.

"SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME FRIENDSHIP HUG!" Yugi followed, falling down to join in on the hug.

"Heehee," I giggled before joining in too.

"YOU'RE ALL INSANE!" Malik yelled.

"No Malik, we're your insane buddies!" Joey corrected.

"W-Whatever." Malik replied turning her head away from us. Despite Malik was obviously trying to hide it, I noticed she was smiling a little bit.

Joey: FRIENDSHIP RULES ALL!

Malik: I'm not sure whether to be glad I'm alive or worried I'm friends with maniacs.

Ryou: don't worry you get use to it.
AnimeGirlAnn: Holy shit this is the most I've written in awhile… I feel like I should write more but I'm too lazy, meh.

NEXT TIME: What Is The Duelist Kingdom Annual Celebration!? Will Joey Ever Stop Being Tsundere And Make Out With Seto!? Who Is This Mysterious Yami Person And Why Does He Know Kuriboh!?

Fav, Follow, Or Review For Answers

Joey: Aren't you suppose to say for faster chapters too?

AnimeGirlAnn: Let's face it, I'm most likely not going to be able to keep that promise T-T