Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. "One Song Glory" belongs to Rent.

This was supposed to be about Yûgi, and wound up being about Ryō. Again. I think I'm too fond of that character.

Though it doesn't come up, the other person that Tristan refers to is Yûgi (and thus Atemu) himself.
------------

.

The Game King is dead; long live the Game King.

.

He was worried about Yûgi.

They'd all dealt with the plane ride back from Egypt differently: Joey had stared out the window at the clouds, Bakura had slept, Téa had claimed that she'd gotten a cold and kept a packet of kleenexes close by, and Tristan and Devlin had played some game that involved dice and a lot of under-the-breath insults. Yûgi had toyed with the chain that had once held the Puzzle. He hadn't let go of it for the whole trip, except for the brief times that they went through metal detectors.

He still wore it, when he wasn't at school.

Joey couldn't figure out what to do. At first he stayed quiet and let Yûgi grieve--they all needed to do that, so it hadn't been hard--but after two weeks had passed, it began to worry him. Yûgi was still a lot quieter than he'd used to be, and he didn't smile as much, and when he did it wasn't as bright. And he wouldn't play Duel Monsters, despite Joey's efforts to coax him into a game. There was always some excuse, usually homework to be finished before the next class or work to be done in his grandfather's shop after school, that Yûgi would give to get out of it.

Finally, he mentioned it to Tristan, because Téa was hardly objective on this matter and it wasn't like he could really bring it up to Yûgi himself.

"Yeah, I noticed," Tristan said one morning before school. Joey had woken up early just to catch him before class started. Only for Yûgi would he disturb his sleep like that.

"So, what d'ya think we should do about it?" Joey asked. "I mean, he won't duel. It's twisted." He slouched into the chair he'd pulled from the desk beside Tristan. "But I've tried everythin' I can think of to get him to go out. He keeps shooting me down with all these excuses. An' I can't just say 'Get over it!' or anythin'; that's. . . ." He kicked at the desk in front of him. "Dammit."

Tristan leaned back, resting his feet on Devlin's chair just to piss off the other teenager when he arrived. "Have you talked to Bakura?"

"Huh? Why?"

Tristan shrugged. "He's probably the only one who can understand what Yûgi's goin' through."

"Atemu and that evil guy were totally different."

"Well, duh," Tristan said, rolling his eyes. "But Bakura's still gonna understand better than any of us would. And it's not like he'll refuse to help you think of something. Even if he hated Atemu, he still--"

"Hey, hey!" Joey straightened up. "What are you talkin' about?"

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "That'll he'll help you?"

"No, that crap about him hating Atemu."

Tristan just looked at him without speaking for a few seconds.

"What?!" Joey snapped

"You never noticed?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Tristan made an awkward gesture with his hand. "Joey. Man. It was pretty damn obvious. Why do you think he built that freakin' Memory World game?"

Tristan almost had a point there, but it was contradicting the fact that Joey would have noticed if Bakura had been that big of a threat to Yûgi. He glared. "Just because he got manipulated into . . . doing stuff that nearly killed us all . . . that doesn't mean that he hated Yûgi!"

"I never said he hated Yûgi." Tristan looked vaguely annoyed now. "I said he hated Atemu. They were different people. He and Yûgi are friends, so go ask him what to do."

Joey refused to accept the subject change. "You're not making any friggin' sense--why would he hate Atemu? Atemu kept saving him from that Ring spirit!"

"There wasn't a Millennium Ring until there was a Millennium Puzzle," Tristan replied.

Joey was quiet for a moment.

After the game was over, Atemu had told the rest of them what the evil Bakura had told him about Kuru Eruna. Then he had turned and given the normal Bakura an undecipherable look, before asking: "Did that truly happen?"

Bakura had paused. Then he had shrugged and replied "He thought it did," before holding out the Ring for Atemu to take.

". . . I still think you're talking crazy," Joey said after half a minute.

"Christ," Tristan muttered, glancing away. "Look, it's not like I'm the only one who. . . . I told you, it was obvious."

"How?"

"It was right there in his eyes," Tristan said flatly. "Every time Yûgi changed into Atemu, for a split second he'd get this really cold expression. You just had to look past that smile he's always hiding behind."

Joey stared at him. Tristan continued to look away, out the windows.

He still couldn't quite believe the brunet's claim, but he was starting to believe that Tristan believed it. "I don't--"

"Dammit Joe, either go talk to him or don't," Tristan snapped. "But I can't help you. Sorry."

Joey glared and was about to tell him to drop the attitude, but Devlin chose that moment to walk in and yell at Tristan for putting his dirty shoes on his seat. Tristan physically dismissed Joey by turning away and replying to the insult.

Joey shoved away from the brunet's desk, sat down at his own, and stewed until the teacher came in.

But the next morning, after Yûgi had once again turned down his offer to hang out at the arcade, Joey decided to take Tristan's advice. He even hauled his ass out of bed early again and (after delivering his papers with an incredible lack of precision) arrived at school half an hour before anyone else in their group would be there--besides Bakura.

The trip to Egypt had taken place during the fall break, and when the semester started a week later, Bakura had signed up for the track team. Or, more specifically, he had rejoined it. Joey had been mildly surprised to learn that the guy had been a runner at his old high school; Bakura had always struck him as the type more into games than sports.

(Tristan had commented--out of Bakura's earshot--that it explained a lot. When Joey had asked him what he meant, he'd replied: "For a guy to walk around with a bloody gaping hole in his arm and pretend it's nothing takes some impressive endurance.")

So, knowing that the team practiced before school during the winter term, Joey made his way over to the track behind the gym and waited for Bakura be done.

"Hey, Joey!" Bakura had replied as he walked up, wiping off his face with a hand. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah. Kinda. It's . . . it's about Yûgi," Joey told him.

Bakura nodded. "Okay. Can you tell me while I walk to the locker room?"

"Yeah." Joey clenched his fists and pushed them a little deeper into his pockets, slouching slightly as he walked. "You've--ya noticed that he's not hanging out with us anymore, right?"

Bakura frowned and tilted his head slightly. "I went out with him and Téa to eat burgers a few days ago. He's not nearly as talkative as he used to be, though, if that's what you mean?"

"No, I meant. . . ." Joey trailed off as he followed Bakura into the gym, felling vaguely uncomfortable at discussing this when surrounded by guys he didn't know. Bakura apparently picked up on it, because he started walking slower and fell behind the rest of his teammates. "He's still wearing the chain. And he won't play Duel Monsters anymore. Hell, he won't play games at all. It's . . . I mean, I miss Atemu too, but--I dunno, it creeps me out."

Joey had glanced at Bakura's face when he'd said Atemu's name, just to prove to himself that Tristan was wrong; but Bakura had glanced away at that moment.

"Well, it kind've makes sense . . ." Bakura replied.

"Yeah, I know, but still. It's not normal." He looked over at the other teenager. "Can you, like . . . think of anything?"

Bakura paused a couple feet from the locker room door. He sucked part of his bottom lip beneath his teeth for a moment, apparently debating something, before he finally looked up at Joey. "Let him mourn."

Joey started to reply, but Bakura held up a hand. "I know, it sounds like I'm telling you not to help him, but . . . I don't think you can understand what's happened, Joey. Even I can't claim to understand; but I know that every time he looks at his deck, it's going to bring back memories. It's going to take a while for him to be able to stand that."

"But . . . it's not like he never played it himself! It was his deck too! I know that he'll remember things, but I just. . . ." Joey shoved his bangs out of his face.

The other teenager looked away, before fidgeting slightly and pulling his ponytail up away from the back of his neck. There was an awkward silence between them for several seconds.

". . . ." Bakura leaned against the wall. ". . . You know, I still can't play Monster World," he said quietly.

When Joey looked over at him, he gave the blond a self-deprecating smile. "Even now that I know nothing can happen, I still. . . . It's going to take him a while."

Joey wasn't totally sure what to say to that. "Uh."

"Don't worry, though. He'll be okay in the end." Bakura smiled again, this time encouragingly. "He's the new Game King now, after all. And there are plenty of other games to play besides Duel Monsters. Just give him some more time--as long as he has us around, he'll be sad, but it won't turn into a harmful depression or anything."

". . . Yeah. I guess so." Joey shrugged. "I just don't like not bein' able ta do somethin' for him."

Bakura nodded. "I know . . . but I think this is the best thing right now." After a few more moments of silence, he straightened away from the wall. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"Er. No," Joey said. He shifted on his feet. "Thanks for the help. You're not gonna be late to class, are ya?"

Bakura shook his head. "It's fine!"

The other teenager had just stepped away from the wall when Joey's mouth blurted out without his permission: "Hey, Bakura? You didn't--hate Atemu or anything, did you?"

Bakura paused, staring down at the floor, and his bangs shadowed the expression in his eyes. Then he looked up and gave Joey a smile, before turning around and walking toward the locker room door.

Bakura waved a hand over his shoulder without turning around and called, "I'll see you in class!" And then he disappeared into the locker room, leaving the other teenager standing in the hall.

Joey stayed there for several minutes, before finally walking slowly to the classroom. Yûgi was sitting at his desk when he arrived, so he joked with him about copying Téa's answers to the homework for a couple minutes.

Joey didn't mention anything about dueling. Or games.