Author's Notes:

Thanks again to all the reviewers.

I don't OWN Yu Gi Oh!

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Here and Thereafter

Chapter 8: The Disappearance

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Bakura was determined to destroy his hikari forever. The Millenium Ring's pointers were still directing him toward the invisible spirit. He was running around the school, hoping to stop Ryou from reaching the pharaoh. All the year levels had classes, so the corridors were mercifully empty.

"Damn hikari!" Bakura cursed as he stopped before another split in the corridor. "I shall destroy his spirit now, so he will never come back to thwart my plans again! I must stop him from reaching the pharaoh!"

The Millenium Ring's pointers turned right. Bakura followed the Artifact's lead. The Ring was leading him toward the school warehouse. A diabolical grin spread on Bakura's angelic face. The stupid ghost named Ryou made another fatal mistake by going into the warehouse. My, my, he was clearly getting hopeless.

Bakura stopped before the warehouse's doors. He threw back his head and started to laugh very loudly. It was the kind of laugh that was enough to scare even the bravest person on earth.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! Getting desperate now, aren't we, my hikari?" Bakura guffawed as he placed his hands on the doorknobs. "Do not worry—I shall give you eternal rest! I am sure you will enter the afterlife—you're soft enough for the god Osiris to take pity on you! I can never know—I have never died! Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

He gave the doorknobs a turn. There was a soft click.

Tears were coursing down Ryou's ghostly cheeks as he heard the doors creak open. He looked down on his fading hands, and he couldn't help but sob some more. Is this my end, finally? Am I going to disappear forever? What about my body? What about my life? Can't I have those things back? Can't I have a second chance to live?

"Give up this useless struggle, you disembodied spirit!" came Bakura's voice. "Hiding from me is merely delaying your obliteration!"

Ryou closed his eyes. "Oh god, am I finally going to end this way?"

He cursed himself. He knew he should have stuck with Yami's word to stay in the Game House, safe and sound. But he, Ryou, was so stupid enough to not listen. Had he stayed in the Game House like what Yami said, who knows, he could have been returning to his body now.

He had doubted Yami's honorable promise, and now he was suffering the consequences of his own doubt…

Ryou gathered his fading knees to himself. How could he doubt Yami and Yugi like this? Hadn't they even risked destroying a long friendship just for his sake? Hadn't they promised that whatever happened, Marik was going to help? Yami and Yugi only wanted a little more time. Now, with his clumsiness and stupidity, everything was going to end tragically.

Footsteps were coming closer. Ryou's eyes opened, looking blearily at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Yami and Yugi…" he cried softly as Bakura blasted away the boxes that gave him his last protection. "I'm very sorry for all the trouble…I'm very, very sorry…"

"The afterlife awaits you, hikari." Bakura sneered as he extended his right hand forward for an obliterating blast. "Goodbye."

Ryou looked up and met the Millenium Ring's power. Soon, he was surrounded with the golden light and then he was floating…far away…away from it all…

I'm sorry…

"NOOOOO!"

Things happened very fast. Yugi had been in the middle of a boring World History class when the Millenium Puzzle glowed and he switched control with Yami. Yami was standing, eyes wide and breathing heavily. The bewildered teacher and his classmates were staring at him in confusion.

"Mr. Yugi Mutou, are you all right?" the teacher asked as he pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "Have you been drifting off again? What has happened to you?"

But Yami could not speak. In his mind, things were repeating itself in a tripled speed. Ryou, coming. The Millenium Ring sensing him here. Then, Bakura going to the warehouse. Ryou crying. Ryou saying sorry for his stupidity. Bakura laughing. Bakura blasting Ryou with pure power. Ryou gone.

Yami gave a great shuddering gasp as the last vision repeated itself in his mind's eye.

Ryou gone.

Ryou gone.

Ryou gone.

Ryou gone.

RYOU GONE!

"Anak-frau-erh-kauht!" Yami exclaimed in the Ancient Egyptian tongue as he left his class in a hurry. He forgot to close the door.

"MR. YUGI MUTOU! COME BACK HERE!" The teacher yelled as he tried to run after Yami. "MR. MUTOU, YOU ARE CUTTING CLASSES! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

But Yami ignored him and dashed full-speed toward the warehouse. His heart was pumping wildly as he descended on the emergency stairs. Yugi's voice resonated in his head.

Hurry! Ryou might still be there! Yugi said. He too, was panic-stricken. He shouldn't have come! He knew he shouldn't have come!

Yami could not answer his hikari's wails. They burst out of the fire exit in the first floor and ran full-speed toward the main doors. They broke through it too with great haste and made for the warehouse, never taking a stop or second look.

"Isn't that Yugi?" Joey muttered as he saw his friend's distinct hairstyle as Yami ran toward the warehouse. "What on earth is he doing? He's supposed to be in World History…"

Joey jerked his gaze from the window and cast a furtive glance at their teacher. The fool was still busy writing the steps on how to balance a chemical equation. Joey smiled inwardly and returned his eyes to the window. He saw the hem of Yami's clothes before it disappeared with its owner into the school warehouse.

"What on earth…?" Joey frowned. "What the hell is going on here?"

"RYOU! RYOU, WHERE ARE YOU!" Yami shouted as he entered the dark warehouse. He looked wildly around for any sign of his friend's ghost. "RYOU, GODDAMN IT, ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU!"

Yami's violet eyes darted everywhere, but all he could see were boxes, unused chairs, broken stools, piles of dusty papers and bundles of outdated books. Swallowing, Yami went deeper into the warehouse in spite of his instincts going haywire.

"Damn…" he whispered hysterically. "Damn, Ryou, where are you? This is not a good joke!"

"Yugi, over here…"

Yami nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. He whipped around. "Ryou, I was worried, what on earth were you thinking—!"

He stopped in mid-sentence as Bakura emerged from the shadows, arms folded across his chest. Yami felt himself retreat. A drop of cold sweat fell from his chin.

"Tomb Robber!" he said. "Where is Ryou?!"

Bakura stopped some ten feet away from Yami. He cleared his throat and spoke again, this time in Ryou's voice.

"How rude of you! I am Ryou Bakura! Why are you calling me Tomb Robber? I haven't robbed any tombs!"

"GODDAMN YOU, WHERE IS HE!" Yami shouted, his voice echoing ominously in the warehouse's walls.

Bakura tilted his head on one side. The smile on his face went grimmer than ever before.

"He's gone." He replied simply.

Both Yami and Yugi felt themselves reel. Suddenly they couldn't see, feel and hear properly. Bakura, taking advantage of this shock, quickly stepped forward and performed the same roundhouse kick he'd used on Kaiba when he stole the KDC.

There was a loud crash as Yami slammed into the boxes of old school lanterns. The kick had knocked some sense into the pharaoh, but even before he could recover and fight back Bakura had already punched him in the face.

"You know pharaoh, I was still planning how to kill you." Bakura sneered at Yami, who was wiping the blood from his nose and lips. "But then, that blasted ghost interrupted my plans. So I have to do things in advance today, and I do hope you would consent."

Yami's eyes widened as Bakura gave him a strong punch in the abdomen. Blackness was soon stealing over him quickly—he was fainting, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Yami! No! Don't fall unconscious! Fight it! NOOOO! Yugi shouted to no avail.

The last thing Yami saw was Bakura's diabolical smile before he surrendered to the grip of unconsciousness.

It's five in the afternoon, and the classes in Domino High were over. Students were piling out of the school building, chattering away with friends. Some were going to chill out first before going home to do their tasks. Some considered the vice versa of this option. But we can be sure that three students were currently worried with things far more important than balancing chemical equations.

"Are you sure with what you saw, Joey?" Téa asked.

"I'm one hundred percent sure!" Joey answered frantically as he tore his hair. "I saw Yugi running into that warehouse—and poof—now he has disappeared!"

"But where could he go?" Tristan inquired. "He can't just leave the campus like that, the guards—"

"I don't care about those stupid guards!" Joey shouted. "It's our friend we're talking about here! Our friend who just disappeared into thin air! Do you two realize the situation we're facing?!?"

Tristan and Téa blinked up at him slowly. For some reason, this added to Joey's impatience.

"AARGGHH! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!?" He shrieked.

"Calm down!" said Téa. "Okay, we see your point. Let's go check the warehouse first, okay?"

Tristan led the way into the warehouse. However, there was no trace of Bakura and Yami there. The only things they saw were the remnants of the fight earlier that day: the scattered boxes and other things. They did not see the drops of dried blood on the floor.

"Looks like a tornado went through here." Tristan said as he surveyed the surrounding.

"But where is Yugi?" Téa demanded. "Where—?"

"I smell trouble." Joey spoke suddenly.

Téa and Tristan turned to him. Joey was holding up a piece of Yami's shirt, and it was smeared with blood.

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