Here we are! At part 2. This is where the epic stuff happens! This is where the shipping happens, the drama, the secrets, the fights! OMG! EVERYTHING!

Remember those previews and chapter name outlines from the Prologue? (Of course you do!) Forget every single one of them. There are no guarantees, and anything is possible from here on out.

Chapters from now on will be MUCH longer.
ANs will be shorter.

Hikari Marik is 'Marik'. Yami Marik is 'Malik'. Hikari Bakura is 'Ryou', (sometimes called 'Bakura'). Yami Bakura is 'Bakura', (sometimes called 'Yami' by Ryou or 'Touzoku' by Malik). Hikari Yugi is 'Yugi'. Yami Yugi is 'Pharaoh' or 'Yami'.

This is Part 2, Chapter 2.

R&R

ENJOY~!

Chapter 2
/\ Stressful Relaxation 1 /\

"Yugi."

Yugi looked up and gasped loudly. He saw Yami standing in the doorway to his soul room, one hand on the doorknob. He looked at Yugi in concern. "You plan on coming out any time soon?"

"No. And how did you get in? The door was 'locked'."

Yami made the Puzzle around his neck glow for a brief second. "I have my ways. What are you doing?"

At the moment, Yugi was sitting in a beanbag chair in the corner of his soul room. He was supposed to be relaxing, like everyone said they would, and not thinking about the Triangle, but...

"Why are you thinking about it?" Yami asked, reading his mind. He walked over to his hikari and sat down in front of him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. But it's just that... Well it happened again." He started talking in a sarcastic and irritated voice. "Something else happened with the Millenium whatevers and now life is messed up and ruined and we have to go on some crazy adventure and five billion card games and so many magical stuffs that I don't want to deal with but have to because we have to fix this and save the world and..."

"Yugi, calm down."

Yami's stern tone of voice instantly silenced him.

"Listen, I don't remember who said it, but whoever said something about me, Bakura, and Malik destroying the world when we're in the same room was either joking or being stupidly sarcastic. There's nothing to worry about. Everything will be just fine."

"Yeah sure... I just want to be able to go through one semester, one marking period even, without something coming up and we have to leave school for a few days and deal with some magical bull crap that always seems to happen to me. Why me? Just because I'm the vessel for some 5000 year old pharaoh?" Yugi stopped talking and looked at Yami, worried that he might have hurt the spirit's feelings a bit.

It didn't seem that he had. "Like I said, everything's fine. Trust me. The six of us will find a way to live with and reverse this Triangular mess we have here. I promise. And no one will get hurt. You won't have to stop going to school at all, and it won't affect school at all. Trust me. It will be okay."

Yugi looked away, closed his eyes, and sighed. "Don't make a promise you can't keep, Pharaoh."

Yami frowned a bit. Yugi didn't notice. Yugi rarely called him 'Pharaoh' anymore, and called him 'Yami' or 'Spirit'. Calling him 'Pharaoh' was usually tied to extreme emotions. Mostly negative. Worry was what Yugi felt at that moment. Yami could tell.

"I'm not," Yami said to him. He held out a hand to his light. "Now let's go. The others are here."

Yugi perked up. "Tea and Joey and Tristan?" he asked.

Yami smiled at the fact that Yugi had thought of those others as opposed to the others that they now shared a Triangular Soul Hallway with. It was a good sign. "Yes. Now let's go," he said again.

Yugi smiled and took the hand. Together, they went back to the world outside their mind.

Yugi materialized in spirit form next to where Yami was sitting on the floor next to his bed. Tea, Joey, and Tristan were sitting around him in a semi-circle. "Hey, he's back," Tristan noted.

"Hey guys," Yugi automatically said. "How are you?"

Yami chuckled a bit. "Yugi, they can't hear you."

"Oh, I forgot."

"What did he say?" Tea asked.

"Let me switch first," Yami replied.

Yami and Yugi switched out with the other. Now Yugi was in control of their body and Yami was next to him. "I'll be in my soul room if you need me," Yami said before disappearing.

"Hey guys, how are you?" Yugi repeated.

"We're fine," Tea said. "But what about you? The Pharaoh said you've been locked in your soul room since breakfast. You feeling okay?"

"Maybe he's just stressin' about yes-OW!" Tristan elbowed Joey hard in the ribs before he could continue.

"Shut up! Don't tell him!"

"Tell me what?" Yugi asked as he looked back and forth between both boys.

"Oh nothing!" Tea said with a smile. As Yugi was looking at them, Tea glared at Joey. He took the hint and nodded.

"Hm... So anyway what's been going on with you?" Yugi asked.

"Nothing much. Just wondering how you are. And worrying about school."

"Ugh I hate how we have to go back on Monday."

Joey saying 'Monday' made Yugi's mood sink a bit. "Yeah... sucks, right?"

"Yugi..." Yami sent to him. "Stop thinking about it..."

"I know..."

"So, where were you yesterday? Tea wanted to see you and Joey kinda sorta fell on the way here. We decided not to though."

"Oh now who's mentioning it!" Joey cried. "Hypocrite!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"Yes you did!"

Joey and Tristan suddenly locked hands and started pushing on each other.

Tea rolled her eyes. "Those two idiots." She turned to Yugi. "So how is everything? And how are Marik and Bakura? And your grandpa? And Ishizu? We haven't talked to any of them in days."

Yugi forced himself not to feel stressed out again at her words. "Grandpa is fine. Shop is going good this past week. Ryou is doing okay, Bakura is still a nosy thief. Marik is okay and I guess Ishizu is alright as well, Malik is just as dark and insane as always..." He tried, but failed. He sighed and tilted his head back against the bed. "Uuuuuuugggghhhh..." he groaned loudly.

"Hey what's wrong?" Tea moved next to him and slid a hand under his head and put it on his shoulder.

"Nothing. Just some thing with..." Should I tell her? No, we all promised not to. But I could tell her vague details... "Marik and Bakura."

"Uh... Just a heads up for me please... It wouldn't be Millenium related, would it?" Yugi gasped. She... "Don't worry. If it's about that, I won't ask untill you're ready to tell. Isn't that right, guys?"

Tristan and Joey stopped fighting for one second to reply, "Yep."

"Those two are such idiots..." Tea gave Yugi a one-armed reassuring hug. "Whatever's bothering you, don't let it. Just keep calm and carry on."

Yugi smiled and hugged back. "Thanks, Tea."

"No problem."

They watched Joey and Tristan argue for a few more seconds before Joey backed off and announced, for the second time in half an hour, that he was hungry.

"Joey!" everyone shouted at him.

"What? You know me. I have no control over my appetite."

Yugi smiled and shook his head at his friends.

Maybe he would get to enjoy this day of freedom after all.

Meanwhile, Ryou was in his room, writing a letter.

"What's that?" a voice from behind him asked.

Ryou automatically turned around, threw his arms over the paper, and shouted, "Go away!" Then he realized that it was only Bakura and said, "Oh. It's you." He moved his arms away from the paper.

"Who else would it be?"

"I don't know... Sorry. I'm a little on edge today..."

"About the Triangle? So am I. Now stop. And so will I."

"What?"

"Look, Ryou. Today is the only day all six of us will have to ourselves to not worry about this situation that the Pharaoh got us into..."

"I thought you already admitted that it was your fault, not his."

"First of all, he took us there in the first place. Second of all, shut the hell up and stop interrupting me."

Ryou scowled at him, but the spirit didn't notice or care. "So calm down and just relax. Your emotions are starting to leak over to my side. And I don't like it. It's starting to piss me off. By the way," he leaned over Ryou's shoulder to look at the paper. "What are you doing?"

"None of your damn business," Ryou replied harshly and went right back to writing.

"Ooh. Someone is on edge. Feisty today, are we? What is that you're writing?"

"I said it's none of your business..."

"And I asked what it is. That means you tell me. I could just pull the information right out of your mind but I'm feeling nice today." He leaned farther over Ryou's shoulder and read the first few lines.

"'Dear Amane... How are you doing? I'd usually tell you that your big brother is doing fine but recently I can't say that. The other day...'" Bakura stood up straight. His mouth went from an amused smirk to a tight line. "Ryou... Are you serious? I thought you stopped writing those months ago..."

Ryou closed his eyes tightly and clutched his pencil in his fist until his hand started sweating. He begged his eyes to remain dry. "It..." he tried to reply, "...calms me down and distracts me. I decided to start up again. It's the only definite and consistent thing I have in my life. It keeps my mind off the Triangle. And your presence doesn't. Now please go away so I can enjoy one of my last days of freedom from thinking about it. Please." He relaxed his hold on his pencil and resumed writing.

Bakura was bored, and decided to mess with his host. The smirk returned. He leaned on the back of the chair and leaned close to Ryou. "You do know," he whispered, "that she is never going to see any of your letters, right?"

Ryou dropped the pencil so he wouldn't break it. Then he swung his arm backwards and- had the spirit behind him been tangible- Ryou would have hit it right in the face.

"Nice try," Bakura said unfazed by the sudden attempted violence.

"Why don't you just let me kill you so you can deliver them to her?" he replied in an offended tone of voice. "Oh right, that won't work! Because if you die you'll be going to hell, not heaven like she did!"

Bakura stared at him.

Ryou stared right back.

Bakura expected him to start crying at some point, but he didn't. Instead, he simply turned back around and resumed writing. "Piss off."

"Nope. I'm bored. And I feel like bothering you." Bakura turned around so he could lean against the back of the chair. He closed his eyes and continued smirking smugly. "Because I'm just that evil. Especially to you."

His eyes opened and his smirk faded when he felt a disturbance. It came from his hikari, but also their soul hallway in general. But the hallway wasn't where the disturbance was happening, he could tell... He whipped around and heard the sound of metal hitting the wall. He had turned around just in time to watch his host take off the Millenium Ring and fling it against the wall. It landed on the bed below the wall with a very quiet thud. Ryou went right back to writing once more. "Piss off," he repeated.

Bakura stared back and forth between the Ring and Ryou. Then he laughed. "Nice try, vessel," he said. "But you know it takes much, much longer than a few seconds for me to lose contact with you when you're not wearing the Ring." He put a ghostly arm around Ryou and leaned in close again. "And you know that I can still teleport it to you, even if it's far away." He leaned closer and whispered as creepily as he could, "And you know that I can still take control of you even when you aren't wearing it."

He allowed Ryou to process his words and only gave him time to shiver before he made good on his words: he took over their body.

Ryou didn't even have time to protest or resist. He was violently (it seemed to him) thrust into his soul room.

(Long ago, in the early months of his relationship with his yami, Ryou had simply been thrown into the dark abyss of unconsciousness whenever Bakura took over. After that, he started (unknowingly at first, then by choice and with effort) transporting to his soul room instead during these times. Unlike with Yami and Yugi, he and Bakura didn't simply "switch" positions of control. Control was taken, not given.)

Then, a few moments later, he was violently pulled out of it again as control was forced back to him.

He breathed heavily from the excitement. He noticed that he was once again wearing the Millenium Ring, which was what tied him to the mess of the Triangle, under his shirt and touching his skin instead of over his shirt and away from his skin, and Bakura was still behind him in spirit form. He turned around in his seat to face him. "Don't try that again," Bakura said to him. "You know what will happen."

Ryou wanted to say something in response to him, but he didn't know what to say. He just stared up at him helplessly and (as little as he let his face show) fearfully. Bakura didn't give him time to think of a response, anyway.

Ryou clutched at his chest, more in surprise than pain, when he felt one of the Ring's sharp spikes poke his skin. It was a warning.

Bakrua chuckled. "Remember who you're dealing with, vessel."

Ryou shivered a bit. Then he turned back around and faced forward. He grabbed the pencil and paper and said in a low voice, "im done"

"What was that?"

"I'm done," he repeated. "Have fun being in control for the rest of the day. I'm not dealing with you today." He gave Bakura control of theri body, retreated into his soul room, and somehow took the pencil and paper with him.

Bakura's eyes widened at the fact that Ryou had run to his soul room, but mostly at the fact that he had managed to make the paper and pencil with him.

"When did he learn to do that?" Bakura wondered aloud.

.

In his soul room, Ryou sits at a table not unlike the one in his actual room and continues writing with a smile on his face, Bakura forgotten.

"So... I've been wondering..."

Marik, who was sitting on his bed reading contently, looked over at Malik, who had decided to make himself appear at his desk.

"Hm?"

"What you did yesterday when you said you wanted the Pharaoh to kick my ass and send me back to the Shadow Realm..." He looked Marik in the eyes, not a single trace of sarcasm to be found. "...did you mean it?"

Marik laughed quietly and went back to reading. "Psh! 'Course not! I just wanted to distract someone so I could end the stupid contest."

Malik grinned. "For a hikari, you're awfully clever, even though it didn't work."

Marik smiled. "We're all smarter than you," he shot back sarcastically, but truthfully. "For a yami, you're not being such an ass today."

"I've decided to be...nice...to you today. Because I'm bored and I wanna see what it's like."

Marik rolled his eyes and went back to reading. "Well good for you..."

Malik looked at him, waiting for some other kind of reaction, but getting none. Marik was in one of those attitudes where nothing would change his mood. He would stay reading that book happily and wouldn't change unless someone or went too far. And Malik felt too lazy that day to try going too far just to get a reaction out of him. Too much work for no reason.

Then he noticed the Millenium Rod glow briefly. Too briefly for anyone not already looking straight in its direction to notice. It was on one of the night stands on either side of Marik's bed, just visible from behind Marik's leg from where Malik sat at the desk. Marik obviously hadn't noticed it because whenever he did notice something happen to the Rod he always immediately glanced at it. And his eyes never left the pages of his book.

He knew what that meant: a Millenium Item in the vicinity had just been used. And the only one anywhere near them was the Necklace so...

Malik floated out of Marik's room to Ishizu's room. She sat on her bed in the same spot she had sat on Marik's bed when she had her vision two days ago. As he entered, her eyes went from being glazed over to staring dismally at the floor.

"Not you... of all people..."

Malik, obviously, was curious. Nosy was a better word. He floated over to his sister to see if she would start talking aloud about whatever she just saw.

But she didn't. Instead she simply went over to her dresser and opened a top drawer. Then she reached under the drawer and took something out from the bottom. Malik looked under the drawer and saw that she had a pouch, big enough for the notebook now in her hands, stapled to the bottom of it.

"Pretty clever, sis," Malik said aloud, knowing she couldn't hear him. "Just like your brother... But less irritating."

She walked over to her desk and opened the book to a blank page.

He moved over to her and watched her write. She wrote the date and time it was at the exact moment Malik had seen the Rod flash.

His eyes slowly widened as her frown slowly deepened as she slowly wrote what she had seen.

Then at the end of the entry, she wrote, "It's these kinds of things that make me want to keep the Necklace off. But for their sake, I can't. I have to help in any way I can. Even if they don't want me to."

Then she stood up and walked to the other side of the room, taking off the Millenium Necklace on the way. She passed right through Malik.

She placed the Necklace on her dresser and sighed. She glanced over at the desk, almost looking Malik in the eyes. She walked back over and colsed the book, hid it back under her drawer, closed the drawer, then threw herself on her bed with an exasperated sigh.

"Why did you have to choose me, Nela?

Did...she really...just... Malik started laughing at her as he left her room. As he traveled back to Marik's room down the hall, he got an idea. He closed his eyes, please with how easy and brilliant it was.

"Ahem..."

Malik opened his eyes and saw Marik standing in front of him in the doorway, arms folded.

"Uh..." Malik said nervously. "Your book?"

"Chapter ended like ten seconds ago." Marik's face turned excited. "Oh my gosh! He said it! Jacob said it!"

Malik faked enthusiasm and replied, "Oh my gosh really?! Wow I've been waiting for that moment since three chapters ago!"

"Me too!"

"Guess what?!"

"What?"

Malik dropped his act and laughed as he passed Marik and entered his room. "I don't care."

"That's Bakura's line!"

"Guess what?" Malik decided that he wanted to sit on the bed and close his eyes like he didn't care. "I still don't care."

"Why were you bothering Ishizu? What happened?"

"I wasn't bothering her..."

"I saw you walk out her her room just now. I'm not stupid, Malik. What were you doing?"

Should I... Malik asked himself. No. It's none of his business. It has nothing to do with him anyway. Besides, it would just worry him and we're not supposed to be worrying about it today...

"Nothing," he finally replied after a long pause, which Marik took note of.

"I don't believe you."

"It has nothing to do with you anyway."

"...Surprisingly, I believe you."

"Yeah so shut up."

"But why did you go in there in the first place?"

Malik opened one eye and looked at him. "Because shut up."

"Why do you keep stealing everyone's catchphrases?"

"I don't bloody know."

Marik rolled his eyes and put the book he had been reading away. "You're so childish sometimes, yami."

"Touché, hikari." He closed his eyes and went back to ignoring everything except for himself.

But only for a moment.

"By the way, Ishizu keepsajournalofallofhervisio nsinapouchunderhertopdresser drawer. Pretty interesting, right?"

"No, not really. I already knew that."

"Oh you did?"

"Mmhmm. Yeah I admit to sneaking into her room and snooping around. Actually Bakura convinced me to when he came over one day."

"I forget, was Ryou there?"

"No. I think you two were like sleeping in your soul rooms."

"Oh, right."

A long silence followed. If any mention of Yugi or Yami had been made, they would have started thinking about the Triangle again. Which they weren't supposed to let themselves do.

Malik already was.

Ishizu, alone in her room, still on her bed, and still staring at the ceiling, whispers to herself, "Malik, please don't tell them..."

You just realized how much foreshadowing I've been stuffing into this and last chapter.

Also you lost the game.
Why?
Because shut the bloody hell up I don't care how superspscialawesome Brooklyn Rage is for friendship.

And so it continues!

Next chapter:
PART 2: Chapter 3- The Switch; and A Prediction Revealed
~The yamis are supposed to be in a meeting and leaving the hikaris alone. Someone didn't listen...
One of the six predictions are explained.

See you next chapter!

BYEEEEEEEEEE~!