Chapter 39

"The Aftermath of the Finals: Recovery"

Everything was blurry when Yugi opened his eyes, and he didn't know where he was. He ached all over and he couldn't seem to get his eyes to focus on anything. There were voices around him, but they were hard to make out at first. They sounded kind of familiar…

"Hey…hey I think he's comin' around."

"Yugi! Can you hear me…?"

Yugi blinked hard, trying to see who was calling to him. Slowly, Tsuki became visible. She was standing at the foot of a bed that he realized he was lying in, with bandages on her face and arms, but smiling none the less. "Yugi..." she said, brushing a tear away from her eye, the rest of what she'd wanted to say getting caught in her throat.

"How ya feelin', Yug?" asked the first voice the boy had heard and he turned, wincing as a jolt of pain shot through the back of his head. With a little effort, he was able to see Joey sitting up in a bed next to him, chest and stomach in what looked like a cast, and band-aids covering his arms and face as well.

"I've been better…" Yugi said with a small smile, glad to be with his best friend again, "You don't look so good yourself."

"What this?" Joey gestured at his cast, "I've had worse…"

"As for you," said Mai, propping herself up from the other side of Joey, also covered in bandages, "We've been worried sick about you – you've been out for three days!"

"Three days?" he asked, startled. He tried to sit up, and immediately regretted this decision as his stomach exploded with pain when the skin tissue tried to contract, which would have allowed him to bend. He laid back down quickly, still bewildered, "Three days... Suddenly, he noticed something that made panic rise within him, 'Hey! Where's my Puzzle?"

"Relax, Yug," Joey said, waving a hand dismissively, "Tsuki's been takin' care of it. Ya should've heard the fight she gave the nurses when they tried to take it away…"

Yugi turned his gaze to Tsuki, who had come around the other side of the bed, holding out the Puzzle and blushing. He took it from her with a small, "Thanks…"

From a bed against the opposite wall, Athena caught his eye and gave him a quick thumbs up, "You really did a great job, Yugi. You and Yami both…the whole world is in your debt – and probably not for the first time either."

He laughed a bit, "Well, it was mostly Yami. I hope you're feeling ok, Athena. Jetsu did possess your body for a bit and Yami had to fight one-on-one with you- er, him…" Yugi blinked once, considering, "So, Jetsu is dead, right?"

"Yes…" said Vitani from the bed next to Athena's, "The police could find no trace of him…he was completely destroyed."

"As for me," Athena said, "I'll be fine. I get hurt almost as much sparring with the brother and sister back home."

Yugi moved his eyes past Vitani to the last occupied bed in the room. Kaiba was sitting up, wearing a cast identical to Joey's and his signature scowl. His right hand was heavily bandaged and Kaiba had his unwrapped hand overtop of it, almost protectively. He was staring out the window, apparently engrossed in whatever was outside, so Yugi thought better of trying to talk to him. "So… everyone's okay then?" he asked.

"Pity!" came a familiarly high, annoying voice. Weevil Underwood, complete in blue hospital pajamas, entered the room smirking and adjusting his large, yellow glasses.

"Whadda you want, Underwood?" Joey snapped.

"Just dropping by to see how the world's biggest goody-two-shoes is doing," Weevil said snidely, eyeing Yugi.

"Zip it…" Joey said warningly, "If it wasn't for Yug, we'd all be dead right now."

Weevil frowned, "You think I don't know that?" he said sharply, "I had been planning to thank him, but you've just ruined the chances of that happening." He turned on his heel and left the room.

"I…eh?" Joey blinked, confused for the moment, and then put a hand behind his head sheepishly, "Sorry, Yug…"

"That's all right," Yugi said, "It was almost a thank you…"

"Who needs gratitude like that?" Mai said indignantly.

Yugi had gone back to letting his eyes wander the room, finally resting on the bed on his opposite side, where Bakura was lying, awake but silent. "Hey…" Yugi said, straining to turn his head so that he could look straight at the white-haired teen, "How're you doing, Bakura?"

Bakura forced a smile, "Better when Barak takes over…" he said, "But he thought it best if I try to heal without his help…"

"Barak…?" Yugi echoed.

"That's the name of my spirit…" Bakura said, "He remembered it just yesterday…"

"Oh, wow…" Yugi said, then grinned, "I guess that's better than calling him 'spirit' anymore."

All at once, the spirit of the Ring appeared, sitting on the edge of Bakura's bed, staring coldly at Yugi. "Do you have a problem with my name?" he growled.

"No! Of course not!" Yugi said nervously.

A second later, Yami's transparent form materialized between the two beds. "Is this really the time to be fighting amongst ourselves?" he asked.

Barak just snorted and stuck his nose in the air, vanishing again.

The brief conflict solved, Yami turned towards Yugi. The fourteen-year-old couldn't help but notice how very tired his spirit looked. "I'm very proud of you, Yugi," he said, smiling, "Once again you have helped me defeat a great evil."

"I'm glad I could help," Yugi said, face flushed with pride.

"We could not have defeated Jetsu without you, Yugi. You do realize that, don't you?" Yami asked imploringly.

"I'm not really sure what I did that was all that special…" Yugi admitted.

"You accessed the Millennium Puzzle. I'd call that something," Yami turned, looking over at Tsuki, who was back in her own bed, "You two have a strong connection."

Yugi felt his cheeks grow warm, "Well…yeah…" he said, wondering how much of his inner thoughts Yami had access to.

Yami winked at Yugi, then addressed Tsuki again, "Do you have the Scale with you?"

Tsuki looked up, still a little unused to being addressed by spirits. "Oh – yeah!" she said, reaching under her pillow and pulling the Scale out, "You wanna talk to Dedi, right?" she guessed.

Instantly, Dedi's spirit formed beside her counterpart on the bed. "Glad to see you awake, Yugi," she said, and then turned to Yami, "Hi, honey."

"How are you feeling?" Yami inquired, ignoring the preliminary greeting.

"Still a little tired, I guess…but not to bad otherwise," she said, shrugging, "I'm just glad that we're all safe and back together again." She ruffled Tsuki's hair tenderly and the girl smiled.

"Yes…" Yami nodded, "it's a miracle…"

* * *

As the thrill of having the last member of their group among them again wore off, life in the Al Karnak Public Hospital got to be very dull. Talking lost quickly its appeal, and everyone was much too sore to really want to do much anyway, so they drifted in and out of sleep. Occasionally the nurses would come in, talking amongst themselves in Egyptian and bringing food and medicine to them.

Yugi found that not being able to move actually had its advantages. It had been a while since he'd been able to just think. Usually, the only sounds were the faint noises of the bazaar outside, and he was able to let his mind unknot itself after the stress of the past week. This meditation went mostly uninterrupted until evening, when he was paid a visit by someone very unexpected.

"Shadi!" Yugi gasped, instinctively moving to sit up, but winced and had to lie back down, "What are you doing here?? I thought Jetsu had killed you!"

The Egyptian man looked very unlike himself, dressed in the hospital pajamas and bathrobe, and rolling an IV tower along beside him, with a thin tube joining into one arm. He shook his head, "No I was not killed. Maeda's assistant Vitani could not bring herself to dispose of my body, so it was left in a cell in the pyramid. I assume the officials located me during their investigation."

"Oh…" Yugi said, "Well…that's good, right?"

"Yes," Shadi nodded, "When I awoke I found myself in a room with a very unique young man who calls himself Void…I must say I was rather intrigued by his gift…"

Yugi nodded, not quite knowing where this was going.

"But I digress," Shadi said, as if reading the boy's thoughts, "I snuck out of my room just now in order to bring you this." He held out a hand-made book with the Millennium Eye inked on the front page. "I began working on it as soon as I awoke two days ago. You and you counterpart should find it quite insightful."

Yami appeared beside Yugi on the bed, leaning over to see the book more closely. "What is it?"

"A complete copy of the scriptures you might have seen engraved on the walls of the pyramid," Shadi said setting the book in Yugi's hands, "I had it all memorized, in case the actual texts were ever destroyed. Now I pass it on to you – it is high time for you to know the things of your past, my Pharaoh."

"Thank you," Yami said.

Shadi bowed. "And now I must go…if the nurses find I have left, they will be most displeased." He said this with what was unmistakably (and uncharacteristically) a grin and then left the room.

Yugi smiled too and waved as the man left, "Well, maybe that'll keep you busy while I sit here and wait for my body to heal, Yami."

Yami took the book from off of Yugi's lap and opened it to the first page, "Shall I read it to you…?" he asked, almost shyly, "To pass the time?"

"Sure."

A Note from the Authors: Just so you know - this is not the end!! There will be one more chapter after this!! Stay Tuned!