A/N: In case there was any confusion, I am not, for the most part, making a distinction in narration between Yami and Yugi. Since they're not the protagonists and the precise nature of their relationship is complicated, especially when they're dueling, I'll leave that up to your imagination and let you see them the same way their friends see them.
"Do you miss Seto?" Marik asked the pharaoh as they returned to the Duel Arena.
"Very much," Seth answered softly, his voice warm as he placed a hand on his chest. He chuckled a little and said, "He says the funniest things. He once told me not to stick my finger inside the toaster."
Marik's face lit up and he exclaimed, "Ryou told me the same thing!" They laughed together at a joke that only they could understand.
"We can't tell anyone else that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring is still present," Marik said suddenly. "Seto will know, of course, but we can't tell the others. Bakura said he'd hurt Ryou if anybody else found out."
"Bakura? Is that his name?" Seth asked curiously. Bakura, the Millennium Ring... it stirred a long-distant piece of memory.
"It's what he told me to call him." Marik watched Seth's expression as his eyebrows drew together and his forehead creased. "Does that mean something to you?"
"Perhaps... My memory isn't as clear as I would like it to be." Seth sighed and shook his head. "Three thousand years will do that to you."
"How much do you remember?" Marik couldn't help that he was intrigued.
"I remember my wife, and my cousin, and my first love." He sighed wistfully at the memory, even though his eyes filled with remembered pain. "I remember my firstborn son, but I can't recall the name of my youngest daughter. I remember going to war with Persia, but I don't know how many battles were fought or how the war was started." He shrugged, and concluded, "That's just the way things go, I suppose. Everything I know is in my memory somewhere, and if I think hard enough, I'm sure I can find it."
"I surrender, Yugi," Mai said, her hand placed over deck as she accepted defeat as graciously as she could. "I don't want to see my harpies destroyed , and I just don't have the cards in my hand to win." Their eyes met across the Duel Arena and Yugi nodded respectfully.
"Mai Kujaku has surrendered. Yugi Moto is the winner!" Croquette announced as both duelists put their decks back together and stepped down from the Arena.
"Thank you for the duel, Mai," Yugi said as he approached her with his right hand extended. "You fought well." She shook his hand and smiled, looking pleased despite her loss.
"As did you, Yugi. I count on our having a rematch some day, though," she teased with a wink.
"I look forward to it," he replied warmly. As the two duelists exited the arena area amiably, Yugi ignored Pegasus' gaze fixed persistently on him. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of looking nervous before his adversary.
"The duel between Ryou Bakura and Joey Wheeler shall commence!" Croquette continued as Joey congratulated Yugi on his victory and Anzu tried to reassure Ryou that Marik would surely be back any second now. "Duelists, please take your places in the arena!"
"I guess that's it for me, boys," Mai said as she began to walk away from the group. "I'll see you on the outside!"
"Wait, Mai, aren't you going to watch our duel?" Joey asked, making her stop and turn. She had been about to say no, but he looked so much like an eager puppy that she changed her mind.
"I suppose I might as well see the tournament through to the end," she said casually, going back to their little group and leaning against the railing next to Anzu. "Good luck, Joey."
The blond teen was pleased by Mai's change of mind, and Mai had to admit that she was glad he was pleased. He was a good kid, and while he'd seemed goofy to her when they'd met, he'd proven last night that he was much deeper than that. She even suspected that he had a serious side hidden under all that blustering optimism.
"Where do you think Marik is?" Anzu asked Yugi quietly as Ryou and Joey left the observation deck to do as Croquette had ordered.
"I don't know." Yugi looked just as worried as she was. "Should we go looking for him? He might have gotten lost. The castle is pretty big, after all."
"If he's lost, he could just ask a guard for directions," Anzu pointed out.
"Was Marik the exotic one?" Mai asked suddenly, interrupting their whispered discussion as Ryou and Joey shuffled each other's decks.
"Yes, he's from Egypt," Yugi answered, turning to face the older woman.
"And since he's gone AWOL, you're trying to decide whether to stay and watch your friends, or go find him." She pushed away from the railing. "I'll look for him if you like."
"But Joey wants you here too!" Yugi protested, making Mai blush a little.
"Alright, well, if they're not back in the next few turns, I'll go find them," Mai conceded, resting her elbows on the railing and her chin in her hands.
"Let the duel begin!" Croquette shouted as Pegasus watched coolly. He knew that Ryou had the Millennium Ring, and duelists with Millennium Items were universally superior duelists, so he thought he already knew who was going to win. He'd felt the same way watching Yugi and Mai duel, except that Yugi had been at odds with the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, and his victory was assured only once his inner conflict was resolved.
Joey went first, laying a monster card face-down and placing a magic card face-down.
"I'll go easy on ya for now," the blond said in his overconfident way as he ended his turn.
When Ryou drew from his deck and looked at the cards in his hand, he froze in temporary panic. He couldn't read any of them. He could see the picture and the background color of the card, but all text was nonsense to him. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, reminding himself that he knew his deck inside and out, and that he shouldn't have any problem participating in the duel. What worried him, though, was his sudden, inexplicable inability to read.
"I place two cards face-down and summon Headless Knight, in attack mode." He placed the cards in their appropriate places on the card-reader. He would never tire of the abilities of the holographic technology that the Duel Arena possessed; it was strange to think that his own friend had been responsible for its programming. "I hope it doesn't scare you too much, Joey," he taunted, pretending to be as calm and confident as he'd been when he dueled Bonz in the caves. "I know how much you hate ghosts. Headless Knight, attack his face-down card!"
"I ain't scared o' your zombie soldier! At least, my Alligator's Sword isn't!" Joey's monster revealed itself, countering the Headless Knight's attack and causing Ryou a fifty life-point loss. Ryou frowned at the loss; he hadn't counted on Joey's card being stronger than his.
"That was a nice try, but you're gonna have ta do better than that!" Joey drew a card and said, "I activate Reinforcement of the Army, allowing me to select a four-star Warrior-type monster from my deck and add it to my hand." Joey skimmed through his deck, chose a card, then shuffled his deck and replaced it. "Now, I summon..." He wiggled his fingers over the splay of cards in his hand as he thought for a moment, then selected one and threw it down. "Baby Dragon, and I fuse it with my Alligator's Sword to create Alligator's Sword Dragon!" His monsters fused, the armed alligator mounting the infant dragon and increasing both their attack points. "And, I equip it with Legendary Sword, boosting its attack and defense points by three hundred each. Go, attack his Headless Knight!"
That was another five hundred and fifty out of Ryou's life-points, knocking him down to fourteen-hundred life-points. Ryou could hardly believe what was happening. How had he been so unprepared for that kind of attack? Then he remembered: Spiritualism was one of his face-down cards. He could have negated Joey's use of Legendary Sword, but he hadn't. How had he forgotten that? He'd just placed the card on the field. He gritted his teeth in frustration, glaring down at the cards in his hand. He was better than this. Wasn't he?
He glanced briefly at the balcony, long enough to see that Marik still wasn't there, which was a shame, because he really could have used the support right now.
"Seto?!" Yugi stared in shock as the tall brunette strode towards them with Marik at his side and the Millennium Rod in his hand. Anzu and Mai turned around in time to see him shaking his head.
"Not Seto, Seth."
To Anzu and Yugi, this comment made perfect sense. Mai was utterly confused by it, so Yugi began to expound upon his explanation of the Millennium Items from earlier. They were magical artifacts from Egypt, and at least three of them—the Puzzle, the Ring, and the Rod—also housed ancient spirits. Seth was the Spirit of the Rod.
While Yugi did that, though, Marik ran right to the railing and waved to Ryou, calling his lover's name. Mentally, though, he was kicking himself in the ass for missing the beginning of the duel. He couldn't blame Ryou for looking disappointed, and even a bit angry, when he looked back at them, but he'd hoped that Seth's presence would ameliorate Ryou's displeasure.
"This isn't right," Marik murmured as he dropped his arm and frowned at the scores. "Ryou's better than this. How many turns in are they?"
"Three, and Ryou's barely made a dent in Joey's life-points," Mai answered, shaking her head sadly. "His head's just not in the game."
Marik found the duel to be painful to watch. Ryou was completely off his game, both strategically and psychologically. He'd lay magic cards face-down, then never activate them. He'd look at his cards in confusion as if he'd never seen them before. He'd declare an attack only to attack the wrong monster and get his own destroyed. Even Joey could see that something was up.
"Alright, time out," Joey said at the start of his fifth turn, laying down his hand and Ryou following suit. "You ain't dueling your best, and beating you when you're dueling like this wouldn't mean all that much. What's wrong, pal?"
"I don't know," Ryou answered softly, his gaze downcast as he felt his ears burn red with shame. At least nobody could see his ears under his hair.
"What's that? I can't hear ya."
"I don't know," Ryou flashed back, sounding louder and sharper than he'd intended. He looked down at the floor again and added, "Don't go easy on me, though."
"Alright." Joey was reluctant to resume. "Just try to have fun, okay?" He grinned at his opponent, and Ryou seemed to relax a little as they resumed their duel.
Ryou could feel the Millennium Eye trained on him as they continued, reading his mind. It just made things harder for him by making him anxious. As Ryou ended his next turn, he glanced up at Pegasus, making eye contact with the creator of Duel Monsters. The instant he did so, he felt the foreign presence pushing into his mind. He felt Pegasus there just as much as he felt the Spirit of the Millennium Ring surge suddenly to block Pegasus from reading his mind. Pegasus turned away and Ryou looked up at Joey, who had just finished saying something as he drew his card. The wordless exchange between Ryou and Pegasus had lasted for a split second, but it troubled the teen further. The spirit... he was still with them.
By the end of Joey's turn, it was abundantly clear that Ryou had lost the duel. It didn't make any sense for him to keep fighting when he knew that he couldn't do anything. Surrendering when the outcome was certain was a gracious way to concede the duel; it was also just a way to give up. Ryou was doing both.
He lay his hand on his deck before anybody could realize what he was going to do, not wanting someone to try to talk him out of it. He could hear the others' gasps as Marik cried out in dismay.
"Ryou, what are you doing?"
"Ryou Bakura has surrendered. Joey Wheeler has won the duel!" Croquette announced, arm raised, as the white-haired teen quickly gathered together his cards so that he could escape as soon as possible. Once all his cards were in his hands, he turned and disappeared down the hallway behind him, taking a turn onto the stairs that would lead him up to the balcony, but stopping a little less than half-way up.
He held his deck tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white from the strength of his grip. Overcome with frustration, he suddenly turned around and kicked the wall, grunting as he did so. He wasn't experienced at kicking things, however, and he lost his balance, falling backwards and landing on the edge of the step as the cards of his deck slipped out from between the top and bottom cards, the ones his fingers were actually touching. His deck was spread out on the stairs around him, and after his terrible loss at a game that he knew better than his opponent did, it was the last straw.
He straightened out a little so that he could sit properly on the step and dropped his head into his hands, fighting hard not to cry.
"Are you okay?" Marik called from above and behind him, but Ryou didn't want to answer.
He didn't want to talk at all.
"Hey, look at me."
Marik gently removed Ryou's hands from his face and replaced them with his own, tipping his face upwards so that Marik could look him in the eye, but Ryou pulled away from him.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't here for the start of your duel. I really thought I'd be back by then." Marik's apology was so sweet and sincere as he patiently cupped Ryou's cheeks in his hands again and made him meet Marik's gaze. Ryou didn't pull away this time, so now he noticed that Marik looked truly regretful. "I'm really sorry. I needed to find Seto's body and give him the Millennium Rod back so that Seth could help us. It just took longer than we anticipated and—Oh, darling, please don't cry."
Ryou lifted a hand and wiped his eyes on the cuff of his sweater as Marik kissed his forehead.
"I'm better than that," Ryou whispered at last, his voice thick with emotion. "I'm a much better duelist than that!" His voice rose as he grew even more upset, and Marik hushed him, stroking his hair comfortingly. "I don't know what happened, I just... Maybe I was just anxious about my first high-level tournament duel, but I don't think that was it. I've been anxious before, like when I have to give a speech at school, but this wasn't like that. I couldn't even read my cards!"
"What do you mean, you couldn't read them?" Marik looked puzzled by this claim, but at least he didn't look dismissive.
"I-I just couldn't! I don't know why, but suddenly, every word I looked at was nonsense! A-And I couldn't remember the cards I lay face-down. One second it'd be in my hand, and I'd put it down and I suddenly have no idea what it is! I just don't know what happened to me..."
"It's okay, love," Marik murmured, cradling Ryou against him as he tried to calm him down. "It's okay."
Ryou's arms reached up around him in an embrace, linking his trembling hands together as they rested against Marik's back.
"That duel made me look awful," Ryou whispered, pressing into his lover's warmth as he tried calm himself. "I must have looked like an idiot up there."
"Don't say that about yourself," Marik reprimanded sharply, pulling away so that he could look into Ryou's troubled eyes. "You're not an idiot, and nobody thinks that."
"How do you know?" Ryou muttered sourly, too fixed in his belief of how the others had perceived him to readily accept Marik's correction. Logic couldn't sway him right now, and even though Marik didn't consciously recognize that, he still did the best possible thing he could have done then.
He leaned forward and stole a kiss, sliding their lips together with the ease of an experienced kiss-thief. Ryou relaxed against him as Marik lifted one knee to rest it on the step just below the one Ryou sat on. His arm slipped around Ryou's waist, supporting him as their tender kisses persisted. Marik was no longer thinking about why they were kissing; in fact, he wasn't thinking at all. What tore his lips away from Ryou's was the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Marik looked up to see Seth smiling bemusedly down at them from just a few steps up. The pair of boys blushed at the sudden audience.
"Be glad that it was me who came to check on you, and not one of the others. They'd never let you live it down."
He stepped closer and crouched down to begin gathering together the cards that had slipped from Ryou's hands, prompting Ryou and Marik to suddenly begin doing the same. Ryou accepted a stack of cards from Marik first, and then from Seth, but as Seth was placing the cards in his hand, he pulled them back.
"You're a good duelist, Ryou. Don't let one bad match discourage you. Understand?" His eyes were serious, and his tone was firm, and the inflections of his voice were different enough from Seto's that Ryou could actually believe it wasn't his friend. His expressions were an awful lot like Seto's, though, and not just because they shared a face.
"Understood," Ryou replied, and Seth handed him the rest of his cards. They all stood, Seth's regal posture seeming to set him apart from the casual teenagers beside him.
"Atta boy," Seth said with approval, patting Ryou on the shoulder. "Sometimes we lose in life, but the trick, my child, is to learn from each loss and move forward." Ryou gave Seth a small smile of appreciation, but Marik interrupted their moment.
"I thought I was your child," Marik protested indignantly, adopting a small pout.
Seth chuckled and put an arm around each of them, pulling them close to his sides as he said, "You're all children to me!"
Marik hugged Seth in return, quite pleased with the gesture. He'd received little physical affection when he still lived in Egypt, but once he'd had a taste of it, he realized that he'd been yearning for it his whole life. As such, he was eager to hug or be hugged in any circumstance. Ryou hugged Seth in return as well, but found himself thinking how unlike Seto such a gesture was.