AUTHOR'S NOTE
Seriously, I wished I owned Yu-Gi-Oh and/or Shadow Hearts, but sadly neither's the case.
Copyrights belong to the corresponding owners (that is, Konami and whoever owns Shadow Hearts these days)
Also, about text formatting:
~ .. ~ = Thoughts
/ .. / = Voice in the back of someone's head
TEXT = Flashback or dream sequence
Tea cried.
Joey barked at a fleeing man, went after him, only to come back empty handed and cursing.
Tristan just stood there, pale as chalk.
Yugi took this in with a head full of cotton wool. Everything would be fine, wouldn't it?
Well, maybe if there wasn't something stuck in his chest.
He dimly realised he was probably going to bleed out, whether that thing was removed or not. That man who'd fled had been the attacker, really coming out of nowhere. All they'd done was have some fun together, as it hadn't been for a while. Just some time wasting, walking around the block, chatting, laughing. The usual goofy jokes from either Joey or Tristan, Tea would scold them.. they didn't think much when a stranger in a white robe approached them all casually, a friendly smile on his not so exceptional, european face.
This way, they'd never seen it coming. Before they knew what happened, that man had pulled out something long and white, shouted something of divine justice and had rammed it right into Yugi, then fled before anyone could stop him.
"Yugi, hang on", Tea pleaded, shaking her friend's shoulder, who only breathed a weak 'I'm fine, Tea..' but otherwise didn't respond much. He coughed and blood ran down his cheek, right before his eyes closed and his body went limp in her arms, much to said girl's horror. Again and again she tried waking the smaller youth, calling out his name until her voice broke, all to no avail. He was out cold, the only lifesign being the pooling blood beneath his small frame and the shaky breaths he took.
While Tristan tried comforting Tea – unsuccessfully - Joey kept an eye out for the ambulance, pacing back and forth with the occasional curses. "Damn it, how long's it gonna take?!", he grumbled, when finally, finally the sirens were in earshot and only seconds later the ambulance raced around the corner, stopped near them and proceeded to load the gravely injured teen into the transporter. Tea watched this with tear stricken eyes, attempted to follow but was refused. Only relatives. Big chance, with his grandpa being miles from here.
The ambulance sped off without the three, leaving them shocked and alone.
School seemed like torture the days after that.
While at first some of their classmates had shown a shallow interest, most came to ignore the fact one seat was permanently empty. Joey, being more irritable than ever since that evening, had gotten called out a couple of times for starting fights with other students, while Tristan retreated into some kind of personal shell. And Tea? She just kept gazing out the window, thinking to herself.
Recess wasn't any better.
Gone was the lively talk, none of them felt like socialising, not even with their other classmates. This went to the point of rumors starting, which of course ended in more fights and more punishment for Joey.
As the days passed, Tristan put even more distance between himself and his friends until one day he too didn't appear for classes.
On the fourth day, Grandfather Mutou called Tea.
The next morning Tea and Joey went to visit their friend. The old man hadn't been very specific and was somewhat out of it too – who could blame him? They also decided to meet in front of the hospital, but the old man hadn't appeared half an hour past the time so the younger two went inside.
At first, the woman at the front desk wouldn't let them pass – Joey would later comment that this was pretty much on purpose -, but a few gentle pleas from Tea, her eyes already tearing up again, and some less gentle looks from a very much no-joking-matter-y Joey did the trick. A room number was given, a few hasty directions and they were sent on their way. Climbing stairs, pacing choking hallways, avoiding nurses and doctors as they rushed by, they finally found the ICU, where their friend was kept. Room 403.
A long walk, seeing the door was all the way at the end of the hall. It seemed longer with every step; fear crawling into both their minds. What if Yugi was breathing his last here? Tea even voiced her concern, only for Joey to snort and give a hearty "Nah, he'll pull through. He's Yugi, remember? All wimpy and shrimp looking, but.." - he couldn't find a proper comparison and trailed off. His positive attitude didn't reach all the way inside; he too was scared for his pal.
~I should've stopped that maniac.. why'd I freeze like that?!~, his thoughts played over and over in his head, not for the first time either in the last few days, making his blood boil and irritate him further.
~If he doesn't make it I can't forgive myself..~
When they finally reached 403, someone else stood in front of the glass window that allowed visitors to see their loved ones. A short, stout man, wide-eyed and bearded, hands against the glass as if he couldn't believe this was real.
"Mutou-san!", Tea greeted, making the old man flinch as if woken from a dream, then face them. His eyes had a haunted look, dark circles underlining them. He probably hadn't slept very well, if at all. He nodded a quick acknowledging greeting back, then turned to face his grandson again. Poor Yugi was surrounded by cables and machinery; an IV-stand, from which a tube ran down to his arm, constantly dripped something red into his veins. The dreadful thing luckily wasn't there anymore though.
"You'll have to forgive me. I couldn't take it anymore, I had to see my grandson", he began, voice quaking. Tea was about to tell him they understood his feelings, but the elder wasn't listening. "The doctors said he bled a lot during operation..", Grandpa Mutou explained further, a single shiver running through his aged frame before he had himself back under control. "But he will survive"
"That's great!", Tea smiled, a relieved sigh from Joey.
"But..", the old man said, freezing both their expressions. ".. something seems off"
"Off?", Joey asked. "What'cha mean, old man?"
Grandpa Mutou looked up, then at them. His sorrowful frown turned into a half-baked, sad smile.
"I'm not sure yet. Or maybe I am just a tired old man seeing things", the elder said, nodded to them in a means of saying goodbye before trodding off, leaving the two youths to themselves, them shooting each other questioning looks before taking the place the old man had occupied before.
"I can't see anything wrong.. he's just sleeping, isn't he?", Tea said, hearing the confirming hum from her companion, but a quick look at his face betrayed his worry. He tried hiding it behind a stoic, serious mask, but bits and pieces of his thoughts made it to the surface, clearly visible in the way his features flinched every now and then.
"It's my fault he's here", Joey finally said after a few minutes, pointedly not looking at Tea who'd turned to him in exasperation at his words.
"No it's not, you didn't stab him!"
"But neither did I stop that crazy son of a..!"
"You did your best!"
"But..!"
"Joey-kun..", she sighed, putting one gentle hand on his subtly shaking shoulder. He really was blaming himself, barely able to stay composed. The simple gesture helped though and he looked at her, a sad smile on his face. "Know what, 'm sorry. Guess we'll hafta see, right?"
"Yeah", Tea smiled back. "Let's let him rest for now. We'll come back tomorrow."
Joey nodded, then turned to Yugi, fully well aware his friend could neither see nor hear him. "And you get better soon, hear me, pal?", he shouted and his fist made a loud enough sound on the glass for Tea to wince and one or another of the staff to turn and look at them. Tea, being as embarrassed as humanly possible, flushed and shoved Joey down the hallway, despite his protests.
Little did they know Joey's call had been heard. A pair of ruby eyes slightly opened, once the two were out of sight. The heart monitor beeped faster for a second or two. "Hear that, partner..?", he mumbled in the drug-induced daze. A sigh.
"Right.. you're no longer..", he said to himself, before falling back to sleep.
The next two weeks passed in a blur, consisting of school, routine visits, worrying and trying to get their minds off things. Every once in a while, Tristan would join them in class or the hospital, but as he did he kept his distance for reasons he just wouldn't share. He was awfully silent, even when he was with them.
At the first day of the third week, they came to find the ICU room empty. Asking a nurse they finally – no thanks to the lady at the front desk – learned their common friend had been relocated to standard care. The nurse gave them the room number and watched with amusement as the three youths ran off as if their butts were on fire.
A knock on his door made said friend look up from a crosswords puzzle he'd been doing (about the only thing they would let him do). He'd been anticipating visitors; and feared them. He wasn't the bright-eyed, happy-go-lucky kid they were looking for. But still, he had to make them believe he was, lest he'd be a cause for more worry. So when first Tea, then Joey, finally Tristan entered, he forced his usually slanted eyes to relax, coughed a little to test if his voice wouldn't betray him (throat felt like fire though) and gave them a hearty smile.
"Tea, Joey! Tristan! How nice to see you!", he exclaimed, sounding every bit like the kid they were expecting. While they seemed startled at first, they almost immediately relaxed. Maybe him being awake was unexpected, in all likelihood it was. Bless Tea, she tried to hide her reaction by smiling brightly.
"How are you feeling?", she asked, her voice one heartwarming cheerfulness. So "Yugi" returned it – or tried to – denying any pain (they didn't have to know each breath was pure agony) and also tried turning the topic to how they were doing. Joey, being oblivious to that, would start about how the new teacher was a wimp, unable to overpower the thirty of his students; there hadn't been any homework so far, mostly due to the class demanding so. Tea joined, adding how there were new clubs in the making, some actually about Duel Monsters, altogether it was a merry round that went until late afternoon.
"So now it's in the zoo", Tea finished her tale of how that cat she found turned out to be a baby lynx, which had been long and detailed, but she'd noted how tired their spiky-haired friend looked. It was time to go anyway. Only one question remained.
"I'm so glad you are all better. Think we'll see you in school anytime soon?"
"Yeah, guess so. It's all healed and there's barely any pain" (the hell there was) "They may let me go next week"
"That's awesome! Isn't it?", she finally turned to Joey and Tristan, expecting some emotional support there. The boys nodded, put on their best smiles.
"Just not the same without ya", Joey agreed.
"Something's weird", Tristan said, once they'd left the hospital. His companions looked up, more surprised about the fact he actually spoke, rather than the content. In fact, if anything, they seemed to agree with him.
"He looks and acts like the Yugi we know-..", Tea sighed. "I'm happy he's alright.. I know he's probably in pain and still sick..but.."
"I know right? It's almost as if he's not himself or somethin'..", Joey added, making his friends stop in their tracks.
"Do you think..?", Tristan began, Joey's expression became grim as he felt his teeth clench.
"Yeah. That wasn't Yugi"
The next "week" turned out to be half a month. According to the doctors, Yugi had a hard time restoring the blood he lost; a very rare case, so they assured, that would probably require a special diet once he got out. In the meantime, he was fed fluids with high iron content, couldn't leave the bed and was less than happy about the whole situation.
Whenever his friends visited though, he made sure to act all cheerful and they'd always have a good time together. They didn't suspect a thing, or so the pharao thought. Although Tristan had begun to avoid the visits again; there'd always be something that was either an emergency, or utmost imporant, a family incidence or someone asking for a favor. So they saw him rarely if at all. To their bedridden friend, this wasn't such a bad thing (tho he'd never say that aloud); lately he'd felt drained even without company. A terrible, heavy exhaustion. He of course realised where that came from.
The problem was every night, when everything was dead-silent and there was absolutely nothing to keep his mind busy. Every single night he'd just stare at the ceiling, thoughts circling pointlessly. Going round and round about what to do once he got out of the hospital. For now, he could fool everyone, but how long would that work?
Sooner or later they would realise something was wrong. How could he possibly face them? Their sorrow, their grief, if they realised their friend was dead and all they had was him, who, by all rights, didn't belong in this world to begin with? He'd hoped Yugi, the other one, would suddenly turn up and send him back to his room inside their common mind. It had been weeks and there were no signs of his partner coming back; no voice, no presence, not even the slight feeling he wasn't all alone in this body that wasn't his. By all reasoning his partner could be gone for good. But the pharao refused to believe this, didn't want to believe it, denied the possibility's very existence.
His eyes met the Millenium Puzzle that lay on the handwagon next to his bed. If there was even the slight chance of finding Yugi, he would have to see for himself. Going into the depths of their mind. If he was there, somewhere, maybe he could get him back.
With this resolution made, his shivering hand reached out for the trinket...
No hospital room; no chemical scent, no beeping noises. Only three things, of which he hadn't expected either. First of all, usually him going to this place involved a lot of whoozy, blurry stuff, everything going dark first, him walking down a hallway and only then coming here. Just appearing out of nowhere felt – wrong.
Then of course, the two doors, one for each soul that was supposed to be here; one a wooden door that could easily be that of a child's room, the other an omnious stone wall with a large eye on it. He of course knew them, had passed them every time Yugi went to duel someone, or put himself into danger. Or, Ra forbid, when he was called out for other purposes.. (damn his partner for pulling that prank back in battle city, though it wasn't that bad after all)
The last one was more of a feeling that something was seriously off here. He couldn't name it, or see the source of this dreadful feeling, so he shoved it aside for the moment and went to explore.
His door didn't budge when he tested it. Figured. If he now went into his room, he might not get back out and this body would... Also, Yugi wasn't likely to be in there. He never was. How would he even get in there if he himself couldn't pass?
So the pharao turned to face the other door. The playful, friendly air coming from it stood in harsh contrast to the gloomy darkness resonating from his own. As he approached it in careful, cautious steps, it almost automatically swung open with a lazy, slow, soft swish.
Inside this room was a mess. Toys everywhere, a few books with unreadable titles strewn across the place. A bed in the corner of the room, a desk with a computer in the other. Slowly, his steps took him further into the room. His partner definitely wasn't here, but something was written on the computer's screen; an old, blocky model, the font a pale green on black background.
He was about to find out, when all of a sudden...
"Mutou-kun, time for breakfast! You need to eat you know!", was the voice ringing right through is ears, breaking whatever kind of trance that had been. He woke to find himself hugging the Millenium Puzzle to himself, dizzy and desoriented, looking up at the well-aged nurse assigned to him, holding a tray with all kinds of unseasoned foods. Since he didn't reply right away and just aknowledged her presence by staring at her with thought-clouded eyes, she frowned, set down the tablet on the foot end of his bed, then proceeded to ask questions he just couldn't focus on.
This wasn't any different from the usual switch; he always was kind of out of it for a moment or two, taking a while to reaffirm control over that body. But normally, there'd be the host willingly transferring all control he needed. He'd always hid this mental status behind either closed eyes or a confident body language, or even both, so nobody realised how vulnerable he was right after switching. This time there was no host and his soul had to settle in manually. And even as he thought he was done, it still didn't feel right. Maybe it was just the fact he'd been basically forced to awake. He decided that to be the most likely option and proceeded to further ignore the nurse's nagging questions in favor of stopping that throbbing headache from building. Couldn't she just be quiet for a moment?
Said nurse seemed a little worried now, likely due to the lack of response from her patient, then left the room in a hurry, likely to fetch a doctor or something. Once she was gone, he slowly sat up, nausea washing over him like a tidal wave all the way, claiming the tablet as he did. The food wasn't exactly tasty or anything, but it'd satistfy the void in his stomach. This too was new. He had eaten well the evening before, technically his stomach ought to be full but he felt as if he hadn't eaten for thousands of years. As the nurse came back, indeed a doctor in her wake, they found the patient eating like a starved wolf, but obviously not as comatose as the nurse had described, so the doctor left, shaking his head all as he went, mumbling something about women and hysterical and other less nice things. The nurse had watched him go, swalloed her anger, then turned to face the patient who had the nerve to scare her half to death.
"How are you feeling today?", she finally asked between two mouthfuls of his.
"'m fine", was the muffled reply. Much to her patient's dismay, there wasn't much more to wolf down. She took this as an opportunity.
"I can get you some more, if you want"
"Thank you, but I guess that was enough", the spiky-haired young man said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. These strangely slanted, ruby eyes that could be those of a hawk. The nurse found herself mesmerised by them and had to forcefully look away.
"You.. seemed awfully tired earlier. Are you sure, you are alright?", she began again after a moment or two, stealing glances at the teen who tactfully avoided crossing looks with her.
"Just a rough night", was the answer.
"Anything I could do for you? Something to help you sleep?"
"No, thanks" He tried a reassuring smile, but to the nurse, it looked more like the bared teeth of a mad dog.
"I-I see. Let me know if you need something"
With that she too left, a little more in a hurry than was appropriate. He looked after her until she was out of sight, wondering what got the nurse so upset.
That night he went straight into Yugi's room.
Determined to find more clues he didn't waste any time looking at the surroundings – nothing much had changed – and approached the desk in brisk steps. The screen was off, so he tried changing that, with little success. It stayed dark, with just an underscore blinking on the top-left. The message from before was gone and no matter what, nothing happened.
That is, until he was half about to just return to the real world, turned away with a sigh to do just that and only was stopped by a sharp beeping sound behind him, coming from the computer. He glanced over his shoulder to see the line moving, in its wake text, appearing word by word.
THE HEART OF THE CARDS GOT LOST IN THE GRAVEYARD
was what the line read once the cursor stopped moving. While the pharao tried figuring out what that meant, it went right on, clearing the screen as it did.
FIND THE MISTLE TREE
More riddles. More screen-clearing once he'd read the whole line.
THE GUARDIAN WEEPS
That one had him stop for a moment. Since the line didn't disappear, that was likely the end of the message. The screen turned black after a bit, the computer became silent.
"The graveyard..? What graveyard..", the pharao mumbled to himself, pacing a little to help with the thinking. "And what does the heart of the cards got to do with it? How can it get lost in a graveyard?"
Growling lowly to himself out of sheer frustration he didn't watch where he stepped and kicked a little doll. It squeaked as it hit the bed and caught his attention once again. The doll seemed oddly familiar; on closer inspection, it shared some similiarities with Tea. Now that he looked, there was more; one for each of them. Joey, Tristan, Grandfather.. huh, even he was there; a grim-looking replica holding a duel disk. And, almost buried by a pile of manga, a little Yugi-doll. Bright-eyed with a cute smile.
Buried.
The pharao looked up from the doll as a thought struck him, then found himself staring at – himself? No, into a mirror. A mirror he could swear wasn't there before. "The heart of the cards.. Yugi.. what is it that I'm missing?!"
A questioning glare over his shoulder at the computer screen that remained astonishingly blank.
Again he turned his attention towards the mirror, glaring daggers at himself when inside the reflection something changed; slowly, hard to perceive, one subtle change at a time, behind his other self appeared a black door, right next to the desk. When he turned around in one swift motion, nothing was there, while the door in the mirror was clearly there.
"What the..?" - it was right then the dream decided to fall apart.
The second he woke, he sat up with a sharp intake of air; that very sudden action seemed to cause something – or someone – to fall over with a crashing sound and a whimper. Still distraught from the dream – or what he assumed it was – he looked into the round that consisted of Tea, who picked herself up at this moment, Joey, who sat next to his bed and seemed weirdly relieved about something, even Tristan, who had his head in the clouds again.
It was Joey who spoke up first.
"Welcome back amongst the living", he sighed theatralically. "Ya're a deep sleeper, ya know? I kept calling ya."
Tea smiled apologetically, as she took her previous place, sitting beside Joey, looking at their common friend who, thanks to the rough awakening – again – had all but forgotten to put his mask in place. When he attempted to, Joey raised a hand. Still smiling, but it seemed somewhat strained.
"Don't bother. We know", he said, nodding confirmation to his words. "I don't know why you didn't tell us – we're your friends too, remember? - but from what I gather.. somethin' happened to the other Yugi, right?"
He received a nod from the spiky haired friend. Joey's look darkened just a little bit.
"Somethin' to do with that crazy bastard who stabbed ya?"
Finally the darker of them replied. "I can't say" – it felt so good not to use the high-pitched tone anymore. A true blessing. But, if anything, he noticed how Tea flinched.
"I've been trying to find him... but.."
"You mean, he's not .. dead, or something?", Joey asked, hope glimmering in his eyes, before he restrained himself. Even he could see it was hard for the other; Also, it was the other Yugi they were talking to. The one person who rarely gave a display of emotions. And this person was tired, or at least seemed like it.
"Whereever he is, I will find him and bring him back.. I promise"
Besaid Other almost regretted his words the second they were out. What if Yugi WAS gone for good? If there was nothing to bring back, how would he ever keep this promise? They'd already proven they saw right through his – pretty terrible – charade, so just pretending he'd found him wouldn't do any good.
Joey obviously wasn't amused. If anything, it seemed he contemplated using violence against something or someone but barely contained that impulse.
"Listen, buddy. Ya seem ta think we ain't your friends. We're just as much your friends as we are of your other half. Get that in ya head. Wether you find him or not is... ... is..." Joey likely wanted to say that it wasn't important, but couldn't bring himself to.
"Just do what you must, we won't be mad", finished Tea and an agreeing "Yeah. So don't worry. We're there, remember? One team", was the first thing Tristan said from the background, giving a thumbs-up.
Their common pal looked from one to the other, then silently smiled, nodded.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to drag you all down."