*Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is a week late. I had to take a break for a few days to rework the plot, since it wasn't going to flow quite right. That's done now, though, so hopefully I'll be able to update closer to weekly from now on... Thank you for your patience!

Also, thank you all very much for the kind reviews! I greatly appreciate the feedback. To quickly answer some of your questions, yes, the chapters' timelines will be vaguely alternating... yes, almost everything I put in here is relevant in some way or another... but, no, the outsiders (Bakura, Duke, the Kaibas) aren't likely to become major players, although Bakura will almost definitely make another appearance, at least. If you have more questions, I'll try to answer them -- but I won't give away the plot! That's going to remain a secret.

Oh, and, I've a bit of a request... I haven't had a ton of experience writing Téa and Tristan as serious characters, so if they're OOC, please tell me and I'll do what I can to fix it (what I'm doing with Joey is, alas, important to the plot). The feedback would be really helpful to me. Thank you in advance!*

~Chapter Three: The meaning of living free~

"And I play...!"

"Come on, Kuriboh!"

"...Curse of Dragon."

Joey groaned and banged his head against the table. "Can't I ever win?!"

"Aww, don't take it so bad, Joey!"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Tristan with a broad grin that dispelled any thought that he might be agreeing with Téa. "After all, you were only a thousand points off!" Chuckles rippled through the crowd that always gathered to watch the Game King play, and the students started to disperse, chatting among themselves.

Joey sighed again and mumbled into the table, "Sometimes I don't know which a' you I'm playin'."

Yugi frowned, hunching his shoulders, and looked up at him with dark eyes. "Don't you think I can beat you on my own, Joey? You're a good player, don't get me wrong, but I've been playing this game since I was three."

"Yeah, but at least against you I oughta have at least a one-in-ten-thousand chance of winnin'!"

"Aww, come on, Joey!" Téa pleaded. "Don't have sour grapes!"

Tristan slapped Joey on the back. "Yeah, that's right! Just means you haven't played ten thousand games yet, that's all!" He grinned across the table at Yugi. "So what's your schedule look like for the next twenty years, man?"

Yugi laughed and started flipping over the face-down cards and sweeping them into a pile. "At the rate he's improving, he'll be able to beat me every time by then!"

"Well, alright then!" said Joey with a smile. "Guess you'd better watch out!" He stood up, pocketing his own deck, and sauntered out of the room.

"Yeesh!" Téa breathed as she sunk into Joey's chair and mimed wiping sweat from her brow. "I don't know what's gotten into him lately. He's so on-edge!"

"Maybe he's just worried about Serenity," Yugi suggested. "I know he's got the money and everything seems to be going well, but still, after so long, it's got to be nerve-wracking for them both."

"I think you're giving Joey too much credit!" Tristan laughed, and waved aside their protests. "Whatever. Hey, either of you up for a game? I wouldn't mind not looking like an idiot the next time Joey challenges me."

Téa grinned and pulled out her deck. "Well, you've come to the right people! Both Yugi and I have an unbroken winning streak against our Duelist-Kingdom-second!"

"How about it, Yuge? Wanna play the winner?"

"Sure!" Yugi gathered his cards and stood up, clearing the table for the duelists.

Téa quickly shuffled her deck as she waited for Tristan to sit down. "So who're you gonna root for, Yugi?" she asked with a wink.

"Hmm... I think Fairy's Gift and the Lava Battleguard." Téa and Tristan laughed, and started drawing their cards. Yugi watched them, smiling, and casually shuffled his deck.

//You're very diplomatic, Yugi.//

/How voyeuristic, Yami!/

A smirk tugged at Yami's lips. //Very funny.//

/Well, if you weren't joking, then thank you. But I was just trying to keep everyone from fighting./

//That's exactly it, Yugi. You're always so quick to soothe and encourage.//

Yugi laughed inside his mind. /I'd rather be nice than lose a friend!/

'And are you just being "nice" to me by not noticing that it's me they're jealous of?' He started as Yugi smiled at him so brilliantly that he was sure the boy had overheard him.

/Thanks again for the compliment, Yami, but it looks like the Lava Battleguard needs my support./ He winced. /Well, not anymore. But I should still get back to the duel. Feel free to encourage my Dark Magician for me, since I'm unfortunately pledged to support his opponent!/

//I think he'll be okay on his own for today, but if I run into him, I'll be sure to give him your greetings.//

Yugi winked and looked out through a different set of eyes. "Good move, Téa! But she left herself open to a certain kind of attack, Tristan, do you see? Come on, we talked about this just the other day..."

"Hey, Yugi, that's not fair! What're you helping him for? Don't you want to play me?"

"Well, what can I say, Téa? I like to win..."

Tristan pretended to huff. "And here I thought I was a charity case!"

Yugi flopped onto his bed that night with a yawn that turned into a grunt as his back hit the mattress. "I wish every day were 'bring your beaver to school' day," he said wistfully as he looked up at the ceiling.

//Bring your... beaver to school day?//

"Oh!" Yugi giggled. /I kind of forgot, I used to talk to myself a lot before I met you, especially at nights like this. But yeah, don't you think? Then maybe I'd have an excuse to get a beaver!/

//Would you rather keep talking to yourself?//

/No way! Back then, my conversations always went in a circle -- they stopped and started at the same place./ He tilted his head to look at the ceiling from a different angle. /I heard that the Ancient Egyptians thought that life was like a circle. Do you?/

//I don't know... I never felt like I was standing still long enough to get a good look around. And now... it's entirely different. But maybe it's really just the same.//

/Well, I know my life can never go back to the way it was!/ Yugi touched the Millennium symbol on the center of the Puzzle. /It might be a little scary at times, but I'd never trade this for the world./ He yawned again. /Why's my closet so far away? It'd be much nicer to get changed for bed if I didn't have to move./

//I thought you said you weren't a morning person, Yugi.//

The boy sweatdropped. /Uhh, I guess I'm not just a tired person?/

//If you're not tired, then what's your problem?//

Yugi laughed. /Yami!/

The spirit grinned back unrepentantly. //There, now, don't you feel more energetic?//

Yugi threw a stuffed turtle at his yami's head, which the spirit easily caught. /Yeah -- maybe more than you'd like!/ He took off running as Yami ducked into his soulroom.

"Yugi? Hmm... He's asleep already. And in his clothes, too. He'll regret that in the morning, but oh, well..." Yugi's grandfather reached inside the room and flipped the switch on the wall, then walked down the hall humming to himself.

Inside his mind, Yugi blinked. /Uh, Yami? Did it just go dark out there?/

//Indeed it did. So now you'll have to walk to your light switch as well as your closet! See why you should always listen to your elders?//

Yugi threw his turtle at Yami's head again.

"There's no reason to be mean about it! If you don't want to come with us, then just say so."

"Don't you even care, Yuge?!" Joey let his arms fall to his sides, sighing heavily. It was a weekend morning, but the lack of school didn't seem to be soothing Joey's hot temper. "I told you that I had to go down to the hospital today to sign those papers for Serenity's operation, and you didn't even remember."

"Oh, I... I'm sorry, Joey. I just... I mean, you know I care about your sister a lot, and want her to get better as soon as possible, and... and, well, I mean, don't you?"

"Sure, Yuge. Sure."

"Um, well... d'ya want me to come with you?"

"It's fine." Joey turned and walked away.

"No, Joey... wait!" Yugi groaned as Joey didn't even glance backwards. "It's not that I don't care..." he murmured, then looked plaintively up at his friends. "I don't remember anything about it. When did he tell me?'

"Yesterday, while you were... you know." Téa tapped her forehead in the symbol of "crazy," but Yugi knew what she meant -- talking to Yami.

Yugi groaned. "Oh, man... How's he ever gonna forgive me?"

"Ah, don't worry about it, Yugi!" Tristan slapped him on the back. "Joey's just stressed out right now. Betcha anything, tomorrow he's apologizing to you!"

"You think so?" Yugi looked up at Tristan with a little hope mixed into the guilt and sadness on his face.

"Yeah, o'course. Don't worry about it." He turned his grin on Téa. "How about we grab something to eat before we head out?"

"Didn't you just eat breakfast?"

"Yeah, so?"

Téa threw her arms in the air with a disgruntled cry. "Boys!" Yugi and Tristan just laughed.

Several hours later, it was just as jovial a group that bumped into Joey as they walked down the street -- quite literally. The annoyed expression he got from being jostled barely flickered when he saw who had done it.

"H-hey, Joey. Sorry 'bout that."

"Hi, Yugi."

"Nice afternoon, huh?"

"Yeah, guess so."

Tristan rolled his eyes at Téa for their awkwardness.

"Although, I guess it's kind of bright. The sun keeps shining in my eyes."

"Mm, yeah. Mine, too."

"So, um... how'd your visit with the doctors go?"

It was like a taut rope inside Joey snapped its last thread. "It wasn't a 'doctor's visit,' Yugi, I wasn't sick! I was going down there to sign some papers!"

"I-I know! I mean, isn't that...? That's what I meant!"

"Don't even bother, Yuge." Joey cut across his protests with a slash of his hand. "If you didn't care yesterday, don't pretend to now." Yugi started to protest again, but Joey glared at him darkly and he fell silent. "Nah, I'm onto you, Yugi. I tried to help ya, but you just won't listen. And if you don't want my help, then I ain't gonna bother with you anymore. Goodbye, Yuge. Have fun with your 'games.'" He turned on his heel and stalked away.

"Joey, WAIT!" Tristan sprinted forward and spun around in front of the blonde. "Whaddya think you're doing, man?!"

Joey made no effort to keep his voice down. "The right thing! And if you have any sense, you will, too." He shoved past Tristan and left him staring.

"Yugi..." Téa's voice was soft and low.

"No, Téa. It's... it's... Just, no."

When Yugi flopped onto his bed, exhausted, that night, he still couldn't finish that sentence. Whenever it came into his head, he shook it out and smiled for the sake of whomever was there -- his friends, his grandfather... Now he was alone, and it haunted his thoughts -- but whenever he tried to think of an ending, it shied away and he found himself thinking in circles around it.

/Yami?/ he said, without raising his face from the bed. /What do you think?/

Silence was his only greeting.

/Yami?/ he tried again, again to no response. He laughed a little. /What, did you use up your life-time supply of words, or something?/ Again, nothing. He sighed.

/It's not your fault, you know.../

With his eyes pressed closed, he looked at the swirling colors against the blackness and found that they held the answer. He mumbled it out against his pillow.

"He's his own person. It's his choice..."