Corona

Chapter 11

Bakura was still outraged.

"Stupid servant," he mumbled to himself. "Can't do anything right…"

He looked at Yami and Joey who were protecting their downed friend. Tristan was starting to come to, but his bleeding had increased to the point to where Joey had to take off his jacket and use it as a temporary bandage to stop the bleeding. Bakura readied himself to attack again by creating another energy ball in his hands. The light coming from the Ring was almost blinding.

But Bakura was never able to release that attack. For a punch came out of nowhere and slammed him hard across the face. After Bakura fell, Joey held his fist up where it had collided with Bakura's skull for a few seconds before dropping it, the murderous look on his face non dulling. Yami looked at him in shock.

"That…was a good hit Joey!" he said. Joey smirked.

"Doesn't take much." Joey walked back over to Yami and Tristan, who was still regaining consciousness. "He might have a lot of magic, but he's still doesn't know how to deflect that. How is he?"

Yami looked at Tristan, noticing that he seemed more awake by the second. "How are you doing?"

It took Tristan a couple of seconds to answer, but when he did, his voice was raspy. "I have a hole in my stomach. I'm just peachy…"

Joey was about to comment on Tristan's retained humor when he heard a noise behind them. Upon looking, he noticed that Bakura was standing up. "Uh oh…"

Yami looked as well, and glared. "Joey, you take Tristan and get out of here. I'll take care of Bakura."

Before Joey could argue however, Bakura ran up to them with unnatural speed. He made a quick jab at Yami, but he dodged the attack. After quickly gathering energy into his fist, Yami quickly punched Bakura back with equal force, sending him towards the opposite end of the room. Joey blinked.

"Now that was awesome…"

"Change of plans," Yami went over to Tristan, and Joey followed. "Let's get out of here now, before Bakura recovers. Tristan needs to be treated."

"Wait, what about Yugi and Ryou?"

"If they're not outside waiting for us, then I'll come back in to get them. You can take Tristan back."

"But can't you just ask Yugi where they are with your mind link?" Joey looked puzzled as a troubled expression crossed Yami's features.

"I've been trying for a while now…but for some reason, I can't contact him…"

"I don't think he's following us anymore…" Ryou panted. He and Yugi ran as far into the woods as possible, to escape Kaiba. Thankfully, he did not chase them past the front door, but they continued running anyway, incase Kaiba tried to shoot them down again. They didn't stop running until they got closer to the edge of the forest, where it slowly turns into suburban housing, and then finally the actual city itself. Yugi didn't speak until they both caught their breaths.

"Yeah, he's stopped. And at least our venture wasn't completely wasted…"

Ryou blinked wondering what he meant, then realized. "Oh yeah! We have the Rod now!"

Ryou reached inside his back pocket and pulled out the Millennium Rod. It glistened brightly, even against the dull, green sky.

"I still wonder how Bakura was able to control Kaiba without him holding that…" Yugi said, looking at the Rod.

"I don't know, but I guess now's not the time to wonder about that," Ryou put the Rod back. "Don't you think you should tell Yami that we're out now so that they don't have to distract Bakura anymore?"

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for reminding me…" Yugi said, and closed his eyes so he could better concentrate on his and Yami's mind link. He went to use the link like they usually did, but something was off. Yugi was puzzled to discover some sort of barrier blocking it. He attempted to get past the blockade, but wished he hadn't. As soon as Yugi tried to get past it, his whole body felt like it was on fire. Immediately, Yugi stopped the connection, and when he opened his eyes, he realized that he was on the ground and Ryou was over him, calling his name.

"Wh-what?" Yugi sat up and winced as even more pain seared through his chest.

"What happened?" Ryou asked shakily. "Are you alright?"

It took Yugi a couple of seconds to answer, as he himself was trying to figure out what had happened exactly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine…"

Ryou looked at him closely. "But you were screaming! Are you sure?"

Yugi blinked in surprise, not remembering that particular fact, but shook it off.

"Y-yeah. Don't worry about it, okay? It was nothing…" Yugi looked away in attempt to try and pull himself together, as he was still panting and knew he must of looked pretty bad. It didn't even seem like a couple of seconds of trying to reach Yami, but it must have been longer. Yugi wasn't sure if the excruciating pain he experienced was because there was something wrong with their mind link, Yami or if it was the crown causing him trouble again. Either way, he didn't feel like discussing it now.

"Yugi," Ryou spoke softly, looking very troubled. "I'm your friend, remember? So…don't brush me off. Tell me what happened."

Yugi looked at him in shock, and wanted to tell him that he didn't mean it that way, when he stopped himself. He sighed and looked away.

"There was something blocking our mind link…"

Ryou let out a small gasp. "Do you think Yami's alright? What if Bakura did something?"

"I don't know, I can't reach him," Yugi sighed and looked back at Ryou. "But I don't think it was because of either of them. It might be because of me."

Ryou looked confused. "Why?"

So Yugi went on to explain how he absorbed the Crown. Ryou looked shocked.

"You mean the Crown that…" Ryou looked up at the dark green sky. "…no wonder…"

"What?"

Ryou didn't answer right away, but looked like he was mulling things over. But when he did answer, his voice was shaky again.

"Yugi, you must promise me that no matter what, you won't use the Crown's power again!"

"W-what?"

"Please Yugi, you mustn't! The Crown uses up any energy that you have, including the energy that keeps your soul together! If you use it too much, it will begin to rip your soul to pieces, until you're nothing but a hollow shell!"

Yugi stared at him in shock. If that was true, then the pain he was always experiencing after he used it was…

"How do you know this?"

"I was with Bakura when he stole it so I know a lot about it."

"Wait, he stole it from someone?" Yugi blinked.

"No, not technically. It was in some old Roman ruins."

The sound of distant voices cut their conversation short.

"That sounds like them," Ryou said with a little relief crossing his features.

They both stood up, (Yugi a little shakily) but Yugi stopped Ryou from going after them.

"Once we get back to the game shop, can you tell me all you know about the Crown?" Yugi asked. Ryou nodded and they both went in the direction of Yami and Joey's voices.

When they came into sight of each other, everyone let out a sigh of relief. They were all alive…

"Are you two okay?" Yami asked first, and Yugi and Ryou nodded.

"What about you guys?" Ryou asked, but his question was answered when they laid eyes on Tristan, who was looking a little worse for wear.

"We need to get him back home. He was hit with one of Bakura's attacks."

"Well, let's go!"

The walk back to the Game Shop was uneventful, until they actually got inside. Solomon and Tea's anxiety was enough to rile them all up. Solomon had a first aid kit laying around and was in the middle of bandaging Tristan's wound.

"It's not too bad, but you shouldn't be moving around too much…" he said as he but the final wrap on it. Tristan rolled his eyes as he laid down on the couch.

"That's going to be a little hard."

"I swear, you kids these days," Solomon mumbled to himself while putting away the first aid. "Can't go one day without getting into trouble."

"It's not like we have much of a choice," Joey said. "What would you rather have us do? Let Bakura win?"

Solomon didn't say anything as he went to put the supplies back. He passed Yugi, who muttered his thanks.

Yami and Tea were busy discussing what happened for the past half hour, while Ryou, Yugi Joey and Tristan were discussing the same thing. But now that Solomon had left the room, the four of them fell silent.

Ryou began thinking to himself what had happened to Yugi when he tried to contact Yami. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but knew that the Crown was responsible.

Ryou looked at Yugi and realized suddenly, that he was still in pain from the event. Whatever went on with the mind link, shook Yugi up pretty good, and it was still affecting him. Ryou didn't know if Yugi planned on telling Yami about it anytime soon, but if he knew Yugi even a little bit, he probably wasn't going to.

"Hey," Ryou said after he walked up to Yami after he was done talking to Tea. "Um…can I talk to you for a second? Over there?"

Ryou pointed to the kitchen, which was presently empty. Yami raised an eyebrow, but did not ask why. He merely followed Ryou into the vacant room. It wasn't until they were in the room alone with the door closed, that Yami spoke.

"What is it?"

"Um…" Ryou paused. He didn't think about what he was going to say before hand and wondered briefly on how to best approach it. "I was wondering…could you talk to Yugi for me? We had some…trouble earlier."

"What kind of trouble?" Yami was starting to look anxious, so Ryou tried to get to the point.

"Something went wrong…and I don't think he means to tell you about it." Ryou started to get nervous. Was he really doing the right thing?

"Why? What is it?"

"I don't know if I should say…but can you just talk to him? You'll probably see why."

And with that final sentence, Ryou left the kitchen, leaving Yami alone looking very puzzled and worried. Naturally, he went to get Yugi at once.

Yami found Yugi talking to his Grandfather on what went on at Bakura's HQ. He hated to cut them off, but he felt that he had to.

"Yugi, can I speak with you for a minute?" Yami said, giving an apologetic look towards Solomon. "Alone?"

Yugi blinked. "Oh…sure."

After assuring his grandfather that he would finish when he got back, Yugi followed Yami to the one of the spare bedrooms downstairs. The room had not been opened since Bakura turned the city the way it was, and it smelled of old dust and mold.

Once they were out of earshot, Yugi asked, "Something wrong?"

Yami looked at Yugi for a second and immediately knew what Ryou was getting at. He wasn't able to look at Yugi properly since they got back, but now that he can, Yami is startled that he didn't notice it earlier.

Yugi didn't quite look like himself. He looked quite pale, there were dark circles under his eyes. There was a subtle shake to his frame, and if Yami didn't know better, his eyes didn't have the same lively spark that they normally had.

Ryou was right…something went wrong.

"Yugi," Yami hesitated for a fraction of a second before continuing. "Is everything okay?"

A surprised look came over Yugi's face before he hid it. "Y-yeah, why?"

"Yugi, I know there's something wrong! Please, tell me what it is! I can help you…"

Yugi looked away for a moment, debating.

"Well, I guess he should know about the mind link…" he thought.

"Yugi?"

Yugi blinked. "O-oh yeah….well I know I couldn't reach you earlier…"

Yami's face softened. "Yes, I've had the same problem…Is it the Crown?"

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, I think so…"

Yami could easily see the pain that the Crown was giving him now, and was determined to find a solution. Then, he got an idea.

"Do you mind if I take a look through you?" he asked. Yugi looked at him knowing what he meant. Yami wanted to use the Puzzle to see what's wrong on his side, hoping that it would provide better answers.

"Ok, go ahead."

Yami nodded, and his Puzzle began to glow. He put his hand on Yugi shoulder, to look into his mind towards the link. However, as soon as Yami's hand touched Yugi, a jolt of energy went between the two of them. Yami pulled his hand away, with the feeling it was in a raging inferno, while Yugi fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath and holding his chest. After Yami had realized what had happened, he quickly kneeled down next to him.

"Yugi!" Yami said, extinguishing the glow on the Puzzle, which he believed was partially responsible for what had just happened. "I'm sorry! I didn't think that would happen!"

Yugi didn't respond. He shakily gasped a few breaths and sat in the same position. Yami was beginning to worry that he did some real damage.

Just then, the door opened with Joey standing in the frame. He took one look at the situation, and was next to them in seconds.

"What happened?" Joey asked looking between them. Yami looked as though he was close to freaking out, while Yugi looked like he was close to passing out.

"I-I think I set the Crown off with the Puzzle. Different kinds of magics are not supposed to be mixed…" Yami shakily said. Joey had never seen Yami look so nervous. "Yugi, say something!"

"Hold on…" Yugi barely whispered. His breaths weren't agonizing anymore, but he was still panting pretty hard. "Gimme a sec…"

A few seconds went by when all that could be heard was Yugi's panting, and the sound of everyone talking a few rooms down.

"You wanna lay down? There's a bed over there," Joey said pointing to the main bed in the room. He found it suddenly lucky that they were in a bedroom. But Yugi shook his head.

"Won't help…" he whispered.

"Well we have to do something!" Joey said putting a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "I mean, if you were in this much pain earlier, why didn't you say anything?"

Yami was glad that he and Ryou weren't the only ones who noticed Yugi's discomfort. Yugi sat up, his breathing slightly more in control, although he was still shaking a lot.

"Because we have more important things to worry about-"

"And you don't fall under that category?" Joey said in disbelief.

"Yugi, that's preposterous." Yami said. "If that was true, would we have spent the time to treat Tristan's wounds?"

"…This is different…"

"Yugi stop it!" Joey had enough. Yugi had said that with such defeat in his voice that a lump formed in his throat. He grabbed Yugi by the front of the shirt and dragged him forward, much to Yami's protests. Yugi winced again, but did not look away. "Do you think that we wouldn't care? That we shouldn't care? You're our friend Yugi, let us help you!"

Yugi quickly swiped Joey's hand away, his eyes not leaving Joey's. "Help how? This isn't something you can just bandage up you know. This Crown is inside me, and I have no way of getting it out! Thanks, but I'll deal with this myself…"

Yugi made to get up and leave, but Joey pulled him back down.

"Yugi, no you're not," Yami said, looking stern. Yugi looked ready to argue again, when Yami spoke over him. "What if did what we did back at Kaiba's mansion?"

Yugi thought back to when Yami said that he and everyone else gave him their energy to help him. It worked, but….

"No, I can't do that to you guys again."

"Well what if we were completely willing to, like always?" Joey looked at him straight in the eye. "I don't like seeing you this way bud."

Yugi sighed. "Thank you guys, really. But I can't let you do it. It probably wouldn't do much anyway."

"Why do you say that?" Yami asked but Yugi shakily stood up and began walking out before either of them could say anything.

"Sorry, but I need to do something. I'll be right back…" he said and with that, he exited the room.

Yami and Joey stood up, looking at the door he left through.

"Well that went well," Joey said sarcastically.

"He's not acting right," Yami said. Joey looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I think there's something he's not telling us."

Ta-da! Well thanks for reading this far! I'm sorry if this fic is getting confusing or anything. Sometimes I'm bad at explaining things...:P

A few of you guys got bonus points for noticing the Yugioh Abridged quote from the last one! If you want to look back, here's a guess: It would make a nice coaster for your drink. :P

Thanks for all the reveiws! I cherish every single one of them! I'll update soon! :D

Yugisrose