A/N: Okay, this is why I'm not allowed to stay at home all day with a computer and my mom's diet chocolate shake things… ^sweatdrop^ Craziness ahead, two points off the larboard bow – you've been warned!
Rating: PG-13 for language and violence
Disclaimer: Wookieebeta does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!. She does, however, own a pound of chocolate fudge…
Time and Tide
----------------
Time and tide wait for no man.
----------------
Chapter One"I am so sick of this place," Joey spat. He threw himself down on the ground and drew his knees up to his chest, shivering. "I mean, being stuck here at all is bad enough, but for two weeks?"
"Shut your trap, mutt, before I find a muzzle."
"Oh yeah? Why don't you just bug off, Money-bags, or else I'll – "
Yugi sighed irritably. "Joey, Kaiba, please. Joey's right, this place stinks, and we all hate it, but your fighting is just making things worse – so just lay off for a while, all right?" Joey looked somewhat abashed, but Kaiba just scowled. Yugi rolled his eyes and stood, wandering aimlessly down the rocky beach. The puzzle around his neck glowed; Yami's transparent form appeared at his shoulder.
"Hey, Yami," Yugi murmured. "Why'd you come out?"
"You're worried." The former Pharaoh didn't seem to have heard the question.
Yugi gave another sigh as he pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders. "Yeah," he admitted. "I guess I am. We ran out of food yesterday, and there's no water here, aside from seawater, which we can't drink anyway… Not to mention it's freezing. And…well, I think Mai's getting sick, and Joey's not looking so hot either." He fell silent.
"Don't give up just yet," Yami urged him, putting his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Just wait. Something will come up, I'm sure of it."
Yugi shook his head silently, and it was a moment before either he or the spirit noticed the tears trickling down his face. They embraced for a moment, and then Yugi wiped his face and said, "We should go back to the others."
Seto Kaiba cursed under his breath. He was cold, colder than he'd ever really been before; he estimated the temperature to be somewhere around five degrees. He couldn't feel his fingertips. They'd gone numb nine days ago. He suspected he had frostbite.
"What I wouldn't give for a cup of hot cocoa," Joey muttered darkly. Kaiba glanced up in time to see the blonde's eyes flash to his face for a moment, expecting a biting retort, but somehow Kaiba couldn't bring himself to say anything. He nodded silently.
"Oh, don't even start," Ryou moaned. "And here I thought England was cold…at least there we had heat." The pale-haired boy was shivering visibly, but then again Kaiba was the only person who wasn't.
"Guys, hush! I think Téa's coming around." Tristan was bent over her, watching her face intently for any sign of movement. She'd fainted a few days ago and had been in and out of consciousness since then; Mai and Marik had followed suit shortly. The poor Egyptian had never faced such low temperatures before. Kaiba was amazed he'd lasted as long as he had.
Not that he said so, of course.
"Did I…faint again?" Téa asked, sitting up. There was a chorus of "yeahs", and Yugi came over to sit next to her.
"Are you feeling all right?"
"Tired, and hungry, and freezing, but other than that yes," she smiled. Kaiba bit back another scathing remark. They were all tired and hungry and freezing. They hadn't had anything but one or two raw fish for the last week, and those only because they'd drifted up on shore. The tiny island provided no shelter whatsoever; it was little more than a pile of rocks jutting up out of the sea. They were all pale and thin, and Kaiba had a bad feeling that none of them were going to make it out of this alive.
"Them" constituted most everyone from the Battle City Finals, minus Isis, Rishid, Kaiba's employees, and Shizuka and Mokuba. (Kaiba thanked his lucky stars for that – it would have been nice to have his little brother to talk to, but he couldn't bear the thought of seeing Mokuba as starved and hopeless as everyone else was.) According to Yugi, Bakura had tried to invoke some ancient Egyptian spell to wipe out whichever of the Big Five he'd been dueling, but something had broken his concentration and the spell had gone terribly awry, transporting the Tomb Robber here. Wherever "here" was. He didn't know why it had brought everyone else along, though; he said he assumed it had brought along all of the nearby Item bearers and whoever they held special attachments to.
Kaiba tuned back into his surroundings just in time to hear the mutt calling his name softly.
"Hey, Kaiba."
"What?"
The blonde gave him a wry smile. "I know it's a little weird, but…you want to duel? It's better than sitting around here doing nothing, anyway." Kaiba was a little taken aback. Joey – Joey Wheeler, the Chihuahua – was asking him to duel? Politely? He considered for a moment, then shrugged. He drew his deck out of his pocket in answer.
The duel was short, but furious, and Joey only lost by three hundred life points. Kaiba had been unable to draw his Blue Eyes until almost the very end of the game. Strangely enough, he felt a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth; he'd nearly lost, yes, and to the mutt to boot, but somehow it had felt good. Plus it had driven away everyone's lethargy for a few minutes. Ryou challenged Yugi; Yugi challenged Joey; Joey challenged Otogi; Yugi lent Tristan his deck and Tristan played Otogi. Marik and Mai both woke up and joined in. When the sun finally dipped behind the horizon that evening, everyone felt better than they had since they'd first arrived.
It didn't last. The following morning dawned clear and cold, and Yugi was sneezing uncontrollably. Snow began to fall around noon; by nightfall the entire group was huddled together for warmth, and Kaiba could barely hear himself think for the noise of chattering teeth. The weather didn't change for at least three days.
"Well," Yugi said between sneezes, "at least we can drink the snowmelt." Kaiba scoffed.
Ryou shuddered. He couldn't feel anything anymore. The spirit of the Ring had taken over for a while, but he'd been even worse off; like Marik, he was used to the hot Egyptian weather, whereas Ryou was used to the colder atmosphere of England. He was exhausted. "I'm gonna take a nap," he murmured softly, curling up in the snow. He wondered why he'd been so cold; everything seemed perfectly warm, now. Faintly he heard someone calling his name, but the darkness was beckoning softly…
"Ryou! Ryou, wake up!" Yugi shook his British friend's shoulders, but Ryou just murmured something unintelligible. Yugi pulled him into a sitting position.
What in the world is he doing? Kaiba thought incredulously as Yugi shrugged out of his uniform jacket and pulled it around Ryou's shoulders. Underneath, he was wearing only a lightweight sleeveless shirt that clung to his chest, revealing just how thin he'd really become. He's going to freeze to death!
"Just hold on, Ryou," Yugi whispered tearfully. Joey walked over to sit next to his friends, putting his back to Yugi's in an attempt to provide some warmth. After a few moments, the rest of his friends followed, and Kaiba was left to sit on his own. No one slept well that night.