A/N: :O! I updated. It's been a little longer than usual, but then, this was a longgg chapter. XD (It's still too long, even after I split the original chapter 20 in half.) Although I suppose it's not as long as last chapter...

Chapter 20: Reunion

Bakura's eye snapped open and he jerked awake. Gasping for breath, he lifted a hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead and and slowly sat up in bed. He looked around, hazily taking in the familiar setting of the Slytherin dorm room.

Through his labored breathing, he gave a small sigh of relief and his breathing slowed back down to its regular pace, his heart returning to its normal rhythm.

However, as he felt physically better, the images of the dream began to flood back through his mind and he lowered his head to his chest as he felt the burden of the vibrant colors and putrid smells from the dream overwhelming him.

Blood, screaming, the acrid smell of burnt flesh...

He squeezed his eye shut and covered his ears with his hands. He wished he could block it all out, these vivid images of carnage that plagued his dreams. The misery, the pain. And of course, that sense of complete helplessness against the swift and deadly power of these murderers—murderers that his reason told him could never have existed.

Slowly, he laid back down and turned onto his side. Curling protectively inward, his stomach continued to churn as scenes from the dream continued to replay themselves in his mind. He knew that they would fade soon enough—dreams always did. By the time he was up in the afternoon sunlight that shone down on him from the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, the nightmares would seem insignificant and faraway. His knew it in his mind...and yet his heart still continued to chant in its quiet anguish, "It will never end. It will never end."

He laid there for a long while, trembling and unable to pry his hands away from his ears. He ought to get up—he ought to get up and go do something. Anything was better than just lying here and feeling this way. But what else was there to do in this broken world made up of loneliness and pain?

He must have kept that position for at least a quarter of an hour, lethargy overcoming all his senses as he tried to drown the deafening noise of his own crying thoughts in the silence of the deserted dorm room. But gradually, as he had known it would, time lessened the weight in his chest. He breathed deeply and, though he didn't feel like moving much, forced himself to roll over onto his back.

He stared up at the ceiling high above him and wiped a bit of the cold sweat from his face to stop it from running down into his eye. It was just a dream, he told himself. Next time, he'd have to make sure he didn't get so worked up. It was silly, really, to get upset over something that wasn't real.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered what could possibly cause him to have a dream as horrifying as that one. He'd had that same dream twice now. Bakura had never seen anything like it before and, unlike his other dreams, this one just continued to stick in his mind even after it was over. Acidic bile rose in his throat every time he thought about it, and he felt something else as well, a feeling of deep sadness that went beyond the regular nausea such rampant death and carnage induced. But he understood none of of it, or why it was happening now.

He fought the urge to vomit as a thought suddenly occurred to him. A chill ran down his spine and he shook his head vigorously, fighting not to think about it. But, he still couldn't stop that little voice in the back of his mind asking, always asking...Aren't most of the strange things in your life somehow connected to the spirit within the Millennium Ring? Maybe these dreams are coming from him. Maybe it was he who was responsible for the savage murder of all those people...

Bakura forced himself up into a siting position and covered his mouth with his hand. Oh, he felt sick.

Forcefully, he told himself that there was nothing he could have done—could do. Nothing. Those people dying was completely out of his control, whoever they were, whoever was responsible.

Bowing his head, he pulled his hand away from his mouth and silently acknowledged to himself that this sentiment gave him little more comfort than the other. Ryou Bakura, the boy who had no control. No control of anything.

Bakura got out of bed, and he began to pace the empty room, his eye flitting from the emerald curtains hung up around the beds to the thick, dark carpet that sat in the middle of the room. But still his mind continued to stray back to the Millennium Ring. He wondered if he would ever escape all this. And, on top of it all, he couldn't even talk to Yugi now that his friend was finally here.

Yugi?

Bakura jerked, as the memory that Yugi was here, at this school, suddenly struck him.

Yugi. Yugi's here. I won't be alone anymore.

However, his joy was immediately dampened as he remembered the spirit's order and subsequent threats.

Yugi was here and that was wonderful, but he couldn't tell Yugi anything of what he'd gone through. Why he was here, about the Eye—any of it. One of his closest friends he had longed to see from the beginning was right here, and already he would be keeping secrets, putting up barriers and refusing to be open.

But why did the spirit care anyway? Surely Yugi would be able to guess the spirit was somehow behind all this. So why impose a restriction about not discussing the spirit at all?

Bakura knew. After these few years, he thought he was beginning to understand how the spirit thought. This was all about power—to show Bakura just who was in control.

Bakura's eye stung as he opened it and he lifted his head to stare at one of the four windowless walls in the dark, cold dorm room.

He shook his head. There was no helping it. This was the way things were. The only thing he could do was be happy for Yugi being here, and leave it at that. At least he would finally have a friend. And one who knew all about his situation with the Millennium Items.

Bakura knelt down beside his bed and pulled out his trunk. He quickly changed out of the clothes he'd fallen asleep in and into a fresh pair of robes that had been washed the day before. Pulling on his shoes, he walked out of the dormitories and trudged up the gentle incline of the corridor that led to the common room. When Bakura reached it, he saw that the common room was empty and figured Malfoy was probably off doing something suspicious as usual.

The light of the common room seemed to bring him out of the hole of despair he'd dug himself into, even if it was the eerie green light coming from the lamps decorated with their metallic snakes that hung from the high ceiling.

Bakura took a deep, relieving breath of the cold dungeon air and, as the effects of the suffocating atmosphere of the dark dorm room wore off and he returned to the real world, he suddenly grimaced a little, putting a hand on his stomach as he woke up to the fact that he felt like he might pass out if he didn't get something to eat soon.

Glancing up at the clock hanging just above the fireplace, he saw that it was just past lunchtime. Would Yugi still be up there?

Bakura was a little apprehensive of seeing Yugi again for the first time after the spirit's warning. He hated the idea of evading Yugi's questions and not being up front. And yet...

Bakura exited the common room, quickly navigating the maze-like underground corridors that he'd become so accustomed to and climbed the staircase that led to the hallway outside the Great Hall. There at the top of the stairs, he paused. He saw the outline of a familiar giant preparing to go inside, standing just outside the doors. The overly-sized man stopped as well, glancing over his shoulder and noticing the Slytherin first year standing next to the staircase, the boy's hand still resting on the handrail. The man's face broke into a big, friendly smile.

"Hey there, Ryou!" Professor Hagrid called over cheerfully.

"Oh, hello Professor Hagrid," Bakura said, returning the greeting as he closed the short distance between himself and the Great Hall doors to stand next to Hagrid. He smiled nervously. Hours earlier, when Bakura had seen Yugi in the Great Hall, the spirit had taken control of him again. Maybe he would be able to tell from Hagrid if the spirit had done anything strange.

"Feelin' better, are yeh?" Hagrid asked, giving Bakura something of a concerned look.

Bakura's smile froze. "What do you mean?" he asked after a moment, struggling to keep his face calm and his voice even.

"Yeh said yer weren' feelin' well at breakfast s' mornin' and yeh didn't look so good," Hagrid explained, giving Bakura a strange look that seemed to imply, not unreasonably, that Bakura ought to have known this himself. "Summat upset yeh?" he asked.

"Oh y-yes, well..." Bakura gave a nervous sort of cough. "I did feel a little—but I mean, I do feel better now." Bakura shifted nervously from one foot to another before adding quickly, "And I'm sorry if I said anything—you know, rude or anything..."

"Naw, yer fine," said Hagrid with a smile. His smile suddenly broadened into grin as he added, "Although, that look yeh gave the new student woulda been enough ter put Lucius Malfoy in his place—and tha's sayin' summat."

Bakura didn't know who Lucius was, but it seemed pretty obvious that it was someone Hagrid wasn't exactly fond of. He wondered idly if Lucious Malfoy was related to Draco Malfoy. The two could be brothers, Bakura thought.

After Hagrid was done grinning, he focused his attention back down on Bakura and took on a rather serious look. "But anyway, I have ter ask. Did tha' kid do summat ter yeh?" he asked. "I mean, ter look at 'im like tha'...Just seems a little strange fer yeh, Ryou."

"Oh—Oh, no," said Bakura quickly, shaking his head. "It didn't have anything to do with him. I was...thinking about something different at the time." He wrung his hands nervously together, but then forced himself to put them back down at his sides. He hoped it sounded more believable to Professor Hagrid than it did to him.

"All righ', Ryou," said Hagrid, giving Bakura a bit of a confused look. "I believe yeh. Anyway, I'm goin' ter lunch now. See yeh in there."

"Okay," Bakura said, nodding as the giant professor turned away from him and went on into the Great Hall. Well, that could have gone worse he supposed. It was funny, but Professor Hagrid wasn't nearly as fearsome as he'd thought to begin with. In fact, despite his unusually large size, when it came to being intimidating in general he didn't even come close to comparing with some of the other professors.

With at least a little of the anxiety lifted, Bakura smiled a little to himself as he followed the Professor through the large doors and into the Great Hall. As he stepped inside, he noticed that all the tables had been moved back to their original locations and the whole of the Hogwart's staff sat at the table at the front of the room again as they always had. The students' section was almost completely deserted, save Malfoy and his goons sitting at the Slytherin table. Consequently, it didn't take long for Bakura to locate the small person he was looking for.

Yugi sat alone at the Gryffindor table. It didn't appear as though Yugi had started eating yet, he was just now reaching out tentatively to start putting things on his plate.

Seeing his friend again after all this time, Bakura temporarily lost his breath. His face broke into a smile and he started forward toward the table, his heart in his throat. It had been easy to come up with all the problems there would be with Yugi's being here down in that dark, cold room, but he found that none of it mattered anymore—nothing could take this joy away from him.

He hesitated for a second as a fleeting thought occurred to him and he shot a hesitant glance in the direction of the staff table, wondering if he would be reprimanded for not sitting with the Slytherins today.

Shrugging a little, he continued once again toward the Gryffindor table deciding that, if they didn't want him to sit there, they would have to come and tell him so. He wasn't going to go sit all alone at the Slytherin table like he usually did when his best friend he hadn't seen in four months was sitting two tables over.

As he approached and came to stand next to his friend, he saw that Yugi's plate was still empty. For a moment, he wondered incredulously if Yugi had been waiting for him, even not knowing whether Bakura would come or not. Then, as he leaned over a little, he saw that Yugi was unnaturally still, almost like a statue. His eyes had a glassy, distant tone to them.

'He must be talking with the other Yugi,' Bakura thought to himself, then cringed a little as he wondered if their enigmatic white-haired friend could be the subject of their conversation.

Bakura didn't have time to dwell on this thought for long though as Yugi moved suddenly and turned his head to look at him over his shoulder.

Yugi looked surprised for a moment, then his face broke into a wide grin. "Bakura!" he cried, then he took on a rather sheepish, almost apologetic look. However, Yugi didn't bother to explain himself; he knew that Bakura understood.

"It's been too long," Yugi said, shaking his head. Even though the whole bench was completely empty, he scooted over a little as though making room and gestured for Bakura to sit down next to him.

"Hello, Yugi," Bakura greeted back as he happily obliged. "Yes, it certainly has been awhile, hasn't it?" Remembering that he was almost sick with hunger, Bakura began to help himself to the wide selection of lunch items. He added, "And to meet here, in this of all places."

"When Professor McGonagall mentioned you, I couldn't tell you how surprised I was," said Yugi conversationally as he spread some butter on his roll. "But, between you and me, I'm definitely glad to have someone I know here."

"Me too," Bakura agreed.

They both sat in silence for a moment, and Bakura wondered if Yugi would ask the question. Why was Bakura here? How had he come to be here? He wondered too if Yugi would answer those questions too, how he had come to be here.

But Yugi said nothing, and at last Bakura turned his attention to his food, reaching for the butter.

"By the way, Yugi," Bakura said. "Your English is excellent. I had no idea you could speak it so well."

Yugi laughed, then looked a little guilty. "Well, I have taken English classes, but I was always one of the worst in my class. When I came here, they actually had to do something to me so that I'd be able to communicate."

"Really?" said Bakura with raised eyebrows. "Some kind of spell, I guess. Right?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Something with one of these." He reached into his long black robes and pulled out a shiny dark wand, holding it out for Bakura to see.

"Ah, I see," Bakura said. "And what incantation did they use?" He may not have been able to perform any spells, but he found it fascinating just looking to see what all could be done with magic. He'd memorized quite a few incantations himself, many that weren't even meant for first years. Since he'd learned that he needn't bother with actually practicing the spells, he had time to look over all the incantations he wanted.

Yugi paused as though considering it. "...I have absolutely no idea," he said finally, chuckling at Bakura's disappointed look. "I didn't even know what they were doing at the time. I'd been here for like, five minutes and couldn't understand what they were saying, and they couldn't understand me. I didn't even really know what was going on."

Before he had time to think better of it, Bakura found himself asking, "Yugi, how exactly did you come to be here?"

Suddenly taking on a nervous look, though grinning in a transparent attempt to hide it, Yugi glanced away and didn't answer at first. When he finally spoke, he said evasively without making eye contact, "Uh, well, you know..." He looked up. "How did you come to be here, Bakura?" he asked, turning the tables. He knitted his eyebrows as he gave Bakura his attention.

"I—I only discovered this place by accident," said Bakura quickly, flushing as it was his turn to break eye contact. "I'm like you. I didn't have any prior knowledge about anything here..."

Bakura could have shook his head at his own idiocy. He'd practically been asking for Yugi to put that question to him. But maybe some part of him had wanted Yugi to ask it—maybe he couldn't bear avoiding what seemed like such an obvious thing to ask, acting like this apparent 'coincidence'—coincidence of all coincidences—was just a casual accidental meeting at a grocery store.

There was an awkward silence before Yugi decided to change the subject by asking, "Well anyway, I've been wondering since I first saw you this morning, what's that scarf covering your eye for? Not that it looks bad, but it's a little strange on you, Bakura."

Out of all the things Yugi could have chose to change the subject to, it was just his luck that it would be the one other thing he wasn't supposed to talk about. "Oh—this?" he said, with a nervous little laugh that sounded a little too high to be natural. "It's...uh, a fashion statement." Bakura could not stop himself from wringing his hands nervously in his lap as he said this, and hoped that Yugi wouldn't notice.

"Well, it certainly is a statement," Yugi said jokingly.

"Yes..." Bakura agreed, smiling nervously. Deciding that it might be best if he didn't give Yugi the opportunity to ask much more about it, he said brightly, "Oh, I almost forgot, Merry Christmas, Yugi!"

If Yugi noticed that Bakura was intentionally changing subjects on him, he didn't show it. "Oh, yeah! Merry Christmas to you too, Bakura." He hesitated thoughtfully. "If I'd thought about it, I would've gotten you something when I was getting my school supplies."

"Oh, no," said Bakura quickly, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, Yugi." He hadn't gotten Yugi anything either, for one thing. Speaking of gifts, Bakura suddenly wondered what the others back home were doing for Christmas. What were they all doing right now, as he and Yugi learned spells and incantations in this bizarre school of magic? It wasn't just Yugi he'd missed, but Anzu, Honda, Jonouchi...

"Hey," Bakura said softly, his expression far away. "By the way, Yugi, how are the others doing?"

Yugi looked a little caught off-guard by the question, but quickly recovered. "Oh, they're doing fine," he answered, smiling. "But they've all been really worried about you, and so have I. It was a little strange for you to just leave without really speaking to anyone."

This brought Bakura out of his wistful thoughts and he coughed slightly, not saying anything for a moment. Finally he spoke up, trying his best not to sound as though he was lying through his teeth, "Oh, I'm sorry. It was, uh, short notice and I didn't really have time—time to..."

"It's okay, Bakura," Yugi said gently. "You don't need to explain yourself."

Bakura looked at Yugi with a curious expression, not sure what to think or feel. For some reason, that had sounded a little odd—unnatural, somehow. As if Yugi knew more than he was letting on,like he understood what Bakura was going through enough to be able to know what to say to ease Bakura's anxiety.

"Don't worry about it," Yugi continued, smiling while Bakura continued to look back at Yugi, a pensive confusion creasing his eyebrows. "Anyway," Yugi said brightly, catching Bakura's look and evidently determined to talk about something else. "I have this new wizarding game I just got. What do you say we try it out after breakfast?"

"Sure," Bakura agreed, though his mind was still elsewhere.

Then, suddenly, he smiled and looked back at Yugi. Maybe Yugi didn't know everything. But clearly he suspected enough to go out of his way not to pres. The spirit had meant to control him, to use his threats to get between them. But maybe his friendship with Yugi transcended that.

The spirit was smart, as smart as they came. But there were some things even he would probably never understand.

"I'll be happy to teach you a thing or two about gracefully losing."