Hey everyone!
Ok, you have absoulutly NO idea how fun it was to write that last chappie.... It was hilarious, no? Very fun to read and write.....
Pruningshears, (And anyone else interested) Sorry for the slight inconvinience and confusion that was created by my last intro thingymabobber..... I told you I was going to put another reason into the chapter, but then... I needed to have Bakura in that last scene there, sorta, and I didn't want to wait any longer to have that scene by putting in a Bakura POV, and then I forgot to go back to the intro and tell you that fact.... By doing this, I totally confuseded pruningshears..... I promise I will put in another Bakura POV in this chappie that will explain that "Other reason" I was talking about before... In fact, It shall be first thing, to make up for it not being there last chappie....
To Kaos, who reviewed my last chappie. ???????????? What? Ok, you said something about "Honey I shrunk the kids," and I guess I can kinda see what that has to do with my story, but I don't get exactly what you meant.... other things in your review were also confusing. TO EVERYONE... Can you please make sure your reviews will make sense? I really do not like getting incomprehensible reviews...*Glances meaningfully at Kaos and Pruningshears (who's reviews have gotten better, thank you)* Incomprehinsible reviews neither encourage me or give me ideas or constructive critisism, and that is what the reviewing is for.... So, please. No run on sentances and abstract, half formed thoughts in your reviews... Thank you.
(Speaking of constructive critisism, I really don't mind getting that.... In fact, if you have noticed things I messed up on, feel free to tell me. I need it. Also, feel free to ask any questions that you have... So anyways, thanks)
By the way, Shells is still awaiting more reviews from you loverly people.... Cuz I now have a whole 62 reviews, (Thank you, thank you! *Bows*) but she only has 22..... That IS one more than last time, but still.... 62 to 22? She feels bad..... (Plus, now DVD hasn't been getting much reviews either... And now he's feeling bad too....) Thanks to anyone who contributes to them. (aka. "DMG" and anyone else who feels like contributing.)
Did I mention that I love confusing people? I have two names... (In real life...) One is my real name, and the other is my nickname.... The teachers always have to correct papers, and they look at names on seating charts and whatever to pass back papers... So whenever they have my real name on the seating chart, I always put my nickname in the heading of my paper! And whenever the seating chart has my nickname on it, I put my real name in my heading! ^_^ Confusing, no? Yes! That and the fact that I walk backwards home from school every... wait, I said that already.... ^_^
Ok, that was random....
(If anyone wants to contact me outside of reviewing and you don't feel comfortable sending e-mails, there are two other ways to reach me... First off, I like to log onto neopets, and my screenname there is Daricio_ (What else would it be?) Also, I go onto AIM. My username for that is..... Daricio! (Again, what else?) So, if you want to contact me, that's the way to do it.)
But now, without further adu... The fic! (Yea! I remembered the reason I started writing this intro in the first place! ^_^ )
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{Bakura...(See, whaddid I tell ya?)}
Last night was horrible. The Spirit of the Ring really knows how to make your life miserable... And still last a long time....
Bakura shuddered as he tried to push the memories he had been forced to endure out of his head. They were now fresh in his mind, so of course forgetting them was pretty much impossible at the moment.
He continued walking down the street. He knew he was late for school, but he really didn't care. He needed time to think and to clear his mind, and school was not the best place to go if you wanted to think about anything other than your classes. So he wasn't going today.
He just kept walking and walking and walking, not really paying attention to where he was going.
Up ahead, he suddenly spotted Yugi, running as fast as he could in the general direction of the school. He couldn't let Yugi know anything was wrong. He couldn't let anyone know.
That meant that he had to act as normal as possible. So he had to go to school. He ran to catch up to Yugi.
"Yugi, wait up!" He called, trying to sound cheerful. Yugi slowed down and looked over his shoulder at Bakura. Then he stopped completely to allow Bakura to catch up.
"Oh, hi Bakura." Yugi said, sounding very worried.
"Hi. I guess we're both late for school today, huh?" Bakura said, forcing a small smile onto his face. Yugi nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I guess we are." He said. They continued walking down the street towards the school.
Yugi seemed to have his mind on other things, and Bakura wasn't really wanting to talk to anyone anyway, so he didn't even try to start up a conversation. Instead, he was thinking to himself, and hoping the spirit of the ring was too tired to listen.
//Man, I really can't go to school today. That stupid spirit. I wish I never got that ring....It's a good thing going to the shadow realm uses up so much of his energy or I know I'd be there more often than I'd like... I really don't want to go to school. But with Yugi here next to me, I really have no choice. Maybe if he disappeared...// Bakura shook his head slightly, pushing away the thought. //What am I doing wishing Yugi away after all he's done for me? And besides, what are the chances he'd disappear anyway?//
He glanced over at Yugi who was staring at the sidewalk in front of him while he walked. He was definetly preoccupied with something...
//Probably talking to Yami...// Bakura concluded. //He does that a lot, now... Course I can't ever talk to... Whoever he is... He doesn't want me to call him Yami, so of course I do, but he never tells me what I should call him... Stupid, really....//
Bakura, again, wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, just walking next to Yugi and going in the general direction of the school. So, of course, he didn't notice when as he crossed the street, he left Yugi behind.
After he got to the other side, he realized what had happened and turned around to wait for Yugi, who was just standing there still staring at the ground. The traffic changed, and cars began rushing by. Through the passing cars, he could still see Yugi on the other side, waiting.
When the cars stopped once again to let Yugi over, however, he was gone. Bakura had absoulutly no idea where he went.
//Now that's strange.... Where did he go?// He stood there staring at the other side of the street for a while, before realizing that he now didn't have to go to school. He crossed to the other side of the street again and began walking.
As he walked, images and memories from the night before came swirling into his mind and he remembered them all over again.
The apartment... The link... The orphanage.... Kaiba.... not being chosen.... and feelings too. Happiness...... (Although not very much).... Sadness..... anxiety...... loneliness...... disappointment...... pain....
//That Spirit sure knows how to pick out all the worst memories...// Bakura thought bitterly. As if on cue, the spirit began whispering to him.
//Yes, I do, don't I? I'm very good at that...// he said to him. Bakura shuddered again and closed his eyes.
//Not....right....now...// He told the spirit.
//Oh, but why not? It's FUN talking to you, little Ryou...And it's not like I have anything better to do...// The spirit was talking just as menacingly as was usual, but he sounded very tired. The night before had totally worn him out. Using the powers of the Ring and the Shadow Realm really saps your energy.
Bakura was glad for that. It served him right.
//Go away.// Bakura said, quickening his pace, as if that could get him to leave.
The spirit just laughed. //I thought I told you, little Ryou.... I'll be with you forever....//
//No! Just go away! And don't call me that!// Bakura said, walking even faster.
//I told you that the first time we met.// The spirit continued. //I should think you would remember from last night.//
Unbidden, the memory swirled back into Bakura's view. It wasn't the spirit doing it, as he was too tired, but that didn't stop Bakura from remembering yet again anyway.
******************FLASHBACK TO LAST NIGHT***********************
//Stop this! Stop it!!! Stop it now!!!!!!!!!// He screamed at the spirit.
//Oh, but why? We still have something to do... Something to remember...Don't we?// he said evily.
//No we don't! No!// Bakura cried. //No!//
//Yes. Let's see it now.... Yes.... Let's see now... How much time... Ah... One and a half years from this point...// His Yami said.
//No...// Bakura thought, realizing what the spirit was going to show him. His own adoption, and the gift of the ring...//No, spirit.... SPIRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!//
It was too late. The room shifted, and Bakura sunk into another wave of sorrow.
The sorrow didn't come from the fact that Bakura was shifting. The sorrow was one of the relived feelings. Something he had felt before and was now being forced to relive.
He was still in the orphanage. One and a half years later. Many people and parents had come to the orphanage. Many people had been picked. But not him. Not Ryou. Cause Ryou wasn't good enough.
He was sitting on the bed. His bed. The same bed he had been assigned one and a half years before. Only now he had pushed it away from everyone else's and put up a little make shift curtain.
Another couple was walking down the rows of beds, but this time, Ryou really didn't care. They weren't going to pick him anyway. Nobody ever did. He lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. One of the lights was swaying. Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.
That light was always swaying. It was on a long cord hanging from the ceiling, and there was a window open up there. Domino, being Domino, always had a light breeze going through. So the light was always swaying.
Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and--
"Hello. What's your name?" Came a voice, suddenly by his side. He jumped slightly and looked over. To his surprise, the couple was standing next to him, looking him over.
"Ryou." He said. "Just Ryou."
"What a nice name!" The lady turned to her husband. "And it would match with our last name SO nicely. Wouldn't it dear?"
"Ryou Bakura?" The man said, thinking. "You're right, dear! It goes just perfectly!"
Then they both turned to Ryou and smiled. "Come with us! We'll take you up to the front desk, and you'll have a nice, new home!"
If this had happened a year ago, or even two weeks ago, Ryou would have been overjoyed, but as it was, he was just so surpirsed, that all he felt was a kind of a numb, tingly feeling. He got up from his bed and gathered his few belongings and took down his curtain.
Then he took Mr. Bakura's hand and was led gently out of the room.
//Fast forward// The spirit whispered. //Too many of those horrid goody feelings on the car ride home.//
The room swirled and Ryou was in front of a house, just getting out of a car. He smiled up at the house. His house. The door opened and they all went inside. Ryou looked around. It was a fairly big house. Nothing too fancy. It was obvious that they only got a modest paycheck.
Ryou loved it. It was the best place ever. This was the best place, the best family ever!
//Whoops. Not far enough. Time to prove you wrong, little Ryou....//The spirit said, shifting the time forward again.
//Spirit, stop it!// Bakura tried, and failed, once again. // This is enough!//
He recieved only the familiar laughter in return.
Ryou was lying in his new bed, in a bright blue room. It was now about three days later. He still loved his new home, even though he had to get used to a few new rules and habits of his new mother and father.
For instance, his father only called him by his new last name, Bakura, and told him to, whenever he was asked, tell people that that was his name. Somehow, Ryou didn't mind that too much. He had often been told, at the orphanage, that his name was a girl's name and that he should change it, so this was definetly an improvement.
It was now about 9:30 at night. Ryou tried to get to sleep, but his thoughts of things he had to remember about his new family kept interupting him.
Suddenly, there was the sound of breaking glass coming from downstairs followed by a muffled exclamation of surprise.
//Who's downstairs? Normally, around here, nobody stays up past ten. It's one of Father's rules...// Ryou thought to himself. He slipped out of bed, put on slippers and a bathrobe, and opened the door to his room.
Now that the door was open, he could hear someone downstairs talking to themselves. Ryou listened hard. After several seconds, he recognized the voice to be that of his father.
//Ah, but you knew that already...// The Spirit said, taunting Bakura.
//Shut... Up... This... Instant... Or you will regret it....// Bakura said. The spirit laughed again.
Strangely, his words were slurred slightly, as if he was having trouble saying them. Ryou went down to the bottom of the stairs and peeked around the corner towards the kitchen. His father was seated at the table faced away from Ryou. He was holding something in his hands, but as he was turned away, Ryou couldn't see it very well. There was a broken glass on the floor that had been knocked down, then forgotten.
His father was still talking, semi-loudly, and slurring, to himself. ".......... magic..... stupid.... merchant........ Ring...... cheap jewelry....... Can't do anything with.......stupid buy......Ryou maybe...........he'd like it......stupid kid........Get rid of it...."
"Father?" Ryou said softly, wondering what in the world he was talking about.
His father obviously wasn't expecting him and whirled around in his chair, facing Ryou. Ryou gasped slightly. In one hand he held a golden object. Almost like a golden dreamcatcher. That wasn't what Ryou gasped about. In his father's other hand... Was a beer can.
"Whaddya want?" His father grunted, still slurring his words heavily.
Ryou chose to ignore the beer can. "What's that?" He asked, gesturing towards the dreamcatcher.
His father looked drunkenly at it. "Ring." He said. "Why are you up so late?"
"You are too..." Ryou pointed out softly. This was not the right thing to say.
His father stood up and placed the beer can and the ring on the table. Then he took several drunken steps towards Ryou, bent down, looked straight into his eyes and asked, "Are you contridicting me, boy?"
Ryou quickly shook his head no. "Of..of course not, sir..." He could smell the alcohol on his father's breath.
Father straightened up. "I thought not." He said. "Now... What are you doing up so late, Bakura?"
"I... I heard something break.... I wanted to know what it was..." Ryou said.
"Oh..." His father glanced down at the broken cup on the floor. "It was nothing. Hit the darned thing and it fell.... But I'm glad you came down, Bakura. Very gald..er..Glad...."
"Why?" Ryou asked.
"The ring. I bought it, fool that I was, at a shop in... Egypt, I think it was.......Guy who sold it to me said it had magic.... that's a bunch of junk if you ask me.... Magic.... That could only be brought forth and released by the one destined to wear it....Big load of junk.... Fool that I was.... " He muttered to himself for a moment, then sat down in his chair again and returned his attention to Ryou. "Anyways, wanted to give it to you..."
He handed Ryou the Ring. "Um... Thanks...." He was really confused. "But... Why.."
"Why would I want to give something this valuable to a stupid brat like you?" His father asked. Ryou nodded slowly, running his finger over the triangle in the center of the ring, examining it closely.
"Cheap imitation. Stupid cheap imitation. Stupid.... So, hey... Little stupid Ring.... Little stupid kid..." He shrugged.
"Oh." Ryou didn't like being called stupid, but his father WAS drunk after all....
"DON'T YOU "OH" ME, YOUNG MAN!!!!!!!!" Ryou's father suddenly burst out. "THAT'S PLAIN DISRESPECTFUL!!!!!!! Got it?!?! MY house! MY rules! YOU do what I say, got it? GOT IT?!?!?!?"
Ryou's eyes opened wide and he nodded quickly. "Y-y-yes, sir."
"No more Ryou! You are Bakura, got it? NO MORE RYOU!!!!!!! Stupid name... stupid..... Bakura now.... GOT IT?"
Ryou nodded once more, backing slowly away from his father. "Yes.... Yes sir..."
"And no more "Yessir" !!! You say, yes DAD... DAD! I'm your father! When someone is your father, you call them DAD!!!! Correct? Right!"
Ryou nodded again. "Yes s- Dad.."
His father glared at him, looking first at his face, then at the ring he held in his hands. "Don't you ever listen to me?!?!?!?! Dimwitted.... MY house! MY rules!!! Put that blasted thing on!"
Ryou looked down at the ring and realized it had started glowing softly in his hands. Play of the light. His eyes playing tricks. It had to be. And he still didn't understand what his father was trying to tell him.
"Put it...on? Oh...." He put the rope necklace around his neck. "Like this?"
His father continued to glare at him, but nodded apporvingly. "When you get a gift, you use it. If it's clothing, you wear it. I gave that to you, you wear it. Don't ever let me catch you not wearing it. That's disrespectful of MY rules..."
Ryou nodded again. His father sighed and threw his beer can to the floor with a crash, spilling it's contents everywhere. Ryou jumped.
"How many times must I TELL you????" His father asked, holding his head in his hands. "MY rules..."
Ryou nodded again.
"Y-y-your rules." He said. "Yup"
"ENOUGH WITH THE NODDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You look like an Idiot when you do that! Nod Nod Nod! Stupid bobblehead toy... ENOUGH!!!!"
Ryou started to nod, then caught himself. "Yessir...er...Dad..."
Ryou's father shot a death glare at him. "Bakura..." He said warningly.
"C-can I go to bed now?" Ryou asked. His father continued to glare at him for several seconds, then finally nodded his approval and turned his attention to opening another can.
Ryou escaped as fast as his legs would carry him up the stairs. Before, he hadn't wanted to mess anything up so his new family would like him. Now he REALLY didn't want to mess anything up, for fear that his dad would yell some more, or do anything worse.
The Spirit of the Ring cackled, and Bakura frowned. //Anything worse? You better believe there's worse! That was nothing! Man, you are so soft and weak it's not even funny!//
//Shut up! I'm not weak.// Bakura said. //Maybe I was then, but...//
Ryou lay down on his bed, breathing hard. //What just happened?// He asked himself, looking down at the ring which was now lying on his chest. He took it off and placed it on the table next to his bedside.
Ryou retreated to his soul room once again. Something he hadn't done since a couple of days after coming to the orphanage. His soul room was now dusty. He began organizing, cleaning, and anything else he could do to get his mind off of his father.
After a while, he looked over into the corner of the room, where, in his old soul room, there had been the link. Now there was nothing. Absoulutly nothing. There had never been since that day.
Bakura braced himself. He already knew what was coming and he dreaded having to do it again.
There was not even a speck of mental dust or clutter in that spot. It was as bare as it was any other time he had looked there in the past one and a half years. But wait. What was that?
Ryou went closer to it and began inspecting it carefully. There was a link there. A mental link. It was a very small, tiny link, but it was there. Ryou pushed himself away from it, not wanting to endure going through a link and being an orphan again.
//And yet, look what you're having to do now.// The spirit teased Bakura. //Enduring it again!// He said, using Bakura's own old thoughts against him.
There was a sort of an essence, pulling him closer to it. Ryou pushed himself farther away, but as he did, the thing got bigger and more powerful. It ended up getting closer, and closer, and bigger, and bigger. It was invading his soul room!
Ryou tried to get even more away, but found himself backed into a wall. He couldn't get the soul room to get any bigger. He was trapped! And the thing kept getting bigger. And closer. It was pressing him in, now.
He opened his physical eyes with a gasp. Briefly, mentally, he checked over his soul room. It was just as it had been. Except that, where the link was, a very small door had appeared. He decided he wasn't going to go anywhere near that door.
Unfortunetly, as he lay in bed staring at the blue ceiling of his new room, the door had other plans. It began to creak open slowly and soon, a person entered Ryou's soul room.
He looked around the room, then, finally spotting Ryou, grinned. "Well, well. You certainly took your dear, blasted time getting me here."
Ryou shivered. "What do you mean? What are you talking about? Who are you? How did you get here?" The person only grinned again.
"I only took the time and energy to set up that link to bring you here and release me, what, a year ago? No, a year and a half ago. And you're only just now getting here." He shook his head, then grinned again. "Pity. We could have had more fun earlier, little Ryou."
"How do you know my name?"
"Well, you see, Little Ryou... The only way I could get out, was if the destined one came to me." He grinned once again. "And guess what, little destined one?... You came."
*************************END OF FLASHBACK************************
Bakura's thoughts were interupted very abruptly, because at that point, he was going so fast, he ran into somebody.
"Hey!" The person said, as their books and papers went flying everywhere. "Watch where you're going!"
"Sorry!" Bakura said, dropping to his knees to help pick everything up. The Spirit of the Ring laughed at him.
//And this is what you amount to, little Ryou... Sitting on the ground, picking up papers for someone who SHOULD have had them in her BACKPACK, but didn't.// The spirit taunted him. He ignored him.
"Oh! Hi, Bakura!" The person said, recognizing him. Bakura looked up. It was Tea.
"Hi, Tea. Sorry about this." He said, putting on an apoligetic grin.
"Oh, it's ok, Bakura. Are you Ok? We rammed into each other pretty hard..." Tea said, grabbing her math book off the concrete and giving him a concerned look.
"Oh, I'm fine. I should have been paying attention." Bakura said. He gave Tea the rest of her papers and books, then got up.
"Are you sure?" Tea said.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'll see you later, ok?" He continued walking down the street, no longer really caring that she would think something was wrong if he didn't go to school.
"Ok, bye." Tea said, going in the other direction. Suddenly she stopped and turned around to face Bakura's retreating form.
"But wait.... School's....that...way.." Her voice trailed off as she realized that he was ignoring her. "Well, that's strange." She commented to herself, before turning and heading off to school.
Bakura just kept walking. And walking. And walking. As if by walking he could escape his troubles. Escape his yami. Escape his past. He just walked. And walked. And walked. and....walked.
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Whoo! Ok, people... after all that misery and such, I can't continue the story without an interlude. Time to pick on Seto!!!!!
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{Interlude: Seto Kaiba} (Did I not just say this?)
"Mr. Kaiba, time to get up! It be social breakfast time!"
Seto opened his eyes and grumbled a short, curt, "go away." He had a whopper headache from the night before.
"Mr. Kaiba."
Seto slowly sat up and glared at the man. Suddenly, he realized what the man was doing. He was holding the door open, and gesturing for Seto to follow him out of the room. He got up and went over.
"What?" He asked.
"Social breakfast." The man repeated. "Normally we keep all yous fellers all locked up in yer rooms, but if we kept ya in ther all th' time, ya'd be even more nuts than ya are, eh, laddie? So, every breakfast, we let everyone eat together... ya know... Socialize...
A smile spread over Seto's face as he realized what that meant. He would be able to plan with Mokuba. "Ok, then. Let's go."
The man nodded and led him down the hall to a big room full of tables. It reminded Seto strangely of the school cafeteria, only a little bigger. Although, the school lunchroom didn't have blue padded walls.
Once Seto was inside the room, the man shut the doors and locked them, then went down the hall to get more people.
Seto looked around the room. Finally, he spotted Mokuba, waiting for him at an empty table. He hurried over and slid into the seat next to him. Mokuba smiled slightly at him.
"You tried to get out last night." He stated. Seto frowned and looked down at the table.
"I wouldn't really call it trying." Seto said. "I had... A visitor last night."
Mokuba's smile turned into a confused frown. "Who would?--"
"MR. SETO THE DOOR!!!! Mr. The Door! Mr. The Door! Hello!" an annoyingly familiar voice called.
Seto groaned slightly, turning towards the person who was now frantically trying to push his way through the crowd towards Seto.
"Mr. The Door!" Mr. Gice called again. "I got new name, Mr. The Door!"
Seto cradled his forhead in his hands, resting his elbows on the table in front of him and groaned again.
"Seto? Big Brother, who's that? Why's he calling you that?" Mokuba asked, his smile slowly coming back to his face.
"Never mind, Mokuba. Long story. I'll tell you later. For now, just ignore this guy." Seto instructed.
"Mr. The Door!" Mr. Gice finally made his way through the crowd and sat at the table opposite from Seto and Mokuba. "Hello! Long time no see!"
Seto followed his own advice and ignored him.
"I got a new name, Mr Seto!" Mr. Gice proudly announced once again. "It's Scott!!! Great Scott! Or you can call me G.S.! Or Bob! Or George! Or you can just call me Dr. S."
"Seto.... What IS his name?" Mokuba asked softly.
"Mr. Gice, I think." Seto replied. "He thinks his name is..."
"Great Scott, huh?" Mokuba asked Mr. Gice. "Why?"
Mr. Gice smiled and leaned forward on the table closer to Mokuba, as if he were about to tell him a great secret. "Well, you see, I was walkin' down the hallways a bit last night, ya know how I like my walks and all, right Mr. Thedoor?" Seto frowned. "Anyways, This guy suddenly sees me. He musta recognized me pretty good, cuz he knew my new name even fore I did! His eyes opened wide and suddenly he says, "Great Scott! It's You!" And he ran off really quick like. So that must be my name, see?"
Seto shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?" He asked himself.
Mokuba was struggling not to laugh. Mr. Gice was looking very pleased with himself. Mokuba leaned over to Seto.
"This guy is hilarious! When we get out, we have to let him out too. He's really not such a bad guy!" He said. Seto replied by groaning slightly again. Mr. Gice just smiled.
"Well, won't that be fun, then? So, Mr. Thedoor... Where we goin'?"
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{Shells}
"That was cutting it just a little close." Yugi said, sighing. "Bakura almost saw me disappear!"
"Sorry. I snoozed my alarm clock. Not my fault...." Shells said.
"I know, you're right. But still..."
"Alright. Are you ready to go?" DVD asked.
"Yup. Well... except one thing."
"What?"
"Can I have something to eat? I missed breakfast..." Yugi said, grinning slightly.
"Um... Not right now, Ok? I'll bring some cheerios or something on the car ride there."
"Ok. That's fine." Yugi said. There was a small pause, then he said, "Uh, Yami wants to tell you guys something..."
"Ok."
Yugi let Yami come out. He was just about to say whatever it was he was going to say, when the door suddenly burst open and Jrj entered.
Yami froze.
"Hey, guys. Ready to go? I just left my deck in here..." He went over to the far side of the room and grabbed his deck off of a shelf. "There. Ok, if you're not ready, get ready. See ya, Shells. See ya, DVD. Bye, Yami."
He exited the room and closed the door behind him. Out in the hallway, he suddenly stopped.
"Wait...."
He reentered the room and took a quick look around. Then he looked at his watch.
"Ok, I need something to wake me up... I coulda SWORN I just saw..." He left again, heading downstairs.
Yami got up from where he had quickly hidden behind the tin after Jrj had left the first time.
"I still don't get it." He mumbled. "I just don't get it."
"What?"
"How can everyone tell us apart???" He asked, shaking his head.
//Get used to it, Yami.// Shells suddenly heard.
//I can't!// Yami's voice this time.
"Hey..... Cool!" Shells said. DVD had the same look of wonder on his face.
"What?" Yami asked.
"Because of our link with Daricio... I can hear your guy's conversation!"
"Huh?"
"Yeah!" DVD cried.
"What?" Yami was confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I just heard you guys! Because of our many links, we can all talk mentally, as long as we're close enough to each other!" Shells said.
//Ok, cool.// DVD commented.
//Woah... Weird.// They all heard Daricio's voice. Shells grinned.
//This also proves something else.// She told them all. //This means that it's true. If we can get Daricio's soul close enough to her body, she should be able to get through!//
Everyone smiled. Then Shells packed the Yugi tin into her backpack and stood up. DVD gently picked Yami up and held him in his hand.
Yami sat down so as to decrease his visibility. Then, thinking better of it, allowed Yugi to take over once again to further decrease visibility.
Suddenly, Shells remembered something.
//Yami?// She asked.
//What?//
//You were going to tell us something... What was it?//
There was a pause.
//You expect me to remember what I was going to say after THAT?// Yami replied.
Shells grinned at the defensive note in Yami's voice.
They all went out to the car and sat in the back seat. Jrj was already in the car, playing his Game Boy Advance once again, and munching on some cookies.
Soon, they were underway, towards the hospital!
DVD let Yugi stand on the armrest that was up against the window. Daricio and Yami both assumed their temporary physical forms.
Daricio stared out the window in wonder. "Cool..." She whispered. "It's my town, only... bigger.... There's the sign we always pass... and that old building.... And there's our church..." Her voice faded away as she began just simply staring out the window.
Everyone else was watching her with mild amusement.
Once the car had gone out of familiar territory, Daricio changed what she was looking at. She looked down.
//Line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line,-//
//Daricio, stop it! You're going to make yourself and all of us carsick!// Yugi said, a strange cross between a frown and a bemused grin on his face.
//Oh, sorry.//
//Look at something farther away.// Yami suggested.
//Ok. Let's see..... Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tr-//
//Daricio!//
//Sorry.//
There was silence for a few moments, before Yugi suddenly realized something. //Um... Did anybody bring anything to eat?//
//Uh.... No..... Sorry..// DVD said. He looked over the seat at Jrj. He had a small pile of cookies by his side. Very small. Like, four left. He reached out and quickly snatched one.
//Uh... This may be a bit big... but, here.// DVD said, placing it in front of Yugi. His eyes widened.
"Wow... Biiiiiiiiiiiig cookie...." He commented. Daricio turned from the window to see. Her eyes widened as well.
"Yup. Big cookie." She agreed.
Shells giggled slightly. //Well, we can all talk in big sentances today, huh?//
This earned her funny looks from DVD and Yami and... no response from Yugi (Who was now eating) and Daricio. (Who had gone back to staring out the window)
Shells laughed.
The rest of the car ride was rather uneventful, except when the car went over a bump and Yugi's cookie rolled away under the seat in front of him. It seemed like almost no time at all had passed before the car was pulling up into the parking lot of the hospital.
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Ok, that's the end of the chappie for now... I hope you liked it! Now you must wait for my next chapter before you can find out what happens!!! Bwahahahaha!
Ok, well... I really need to end the chappie and get it posted up... Or else I'll have a bunch of people mad at me for not posting it.... So, I'll see ya next chappie, and please review!
--Daricio
Ok, you have absoulutly NO idea how fun it was to write that last chappie.... It was hilarious, no? Very fun to read and write.....
Pruningshears, (And anyone else interested) Sorry for the slight inconvinience and confusion that was created by my last intro thingymabobber..... I told you I was going to put another reason into the chapter, but then... I needed to have Bakura in that last scene there, sorta, and I didn't want to wait any longer to have that scene by putting in a Bakura POV, and then I forgot to go back to the intro and tell you that fact.... By doing this, I totally confuseded pruningshears..... I promise I will put in another Bakura POV in this chappie that will explain that "Other reason" I was talking about before... In fact, It shall be first thing, to make up for it not being there last chappie....
To Kaos, who reviewed my last chappie. ???????????? What? Ok, you said something about "Honey I shrunk the kids," and I guess I can kinda see what that has to do with my story, but I don't get exactly what you meant.... other things in your review were also confusing. TO EVERYONE... Can you please make sure your reviews will make sense? I really do not like getting incomprehensible reviews...*Glances meaningfully at Kaos and Pruningshears (who's reviews have gotten better, thank you)* Incomprehinsible reviews neither encourage me or give me ideas or constructive critisism, and that is what the reviewing is for.... So, please. No run on sentances and abstract, half formed thoughts in your reviews... Thank you.
(Speaking of constructive critisism, I really don't mind getting that.... In fact, if you have noticed things I messed up on, feel free to tell me. I need it. Also, feel free to ask any questions that you have... So anyways, thanks)
By the way, Shells is still awaiting more reviews from you loverly people.... Cuz I now have a whole 62 reviews, (Thank you, thank you! *Bows*) but she only has 22..... That IS one more than last time, but still.... 62 to 22? She feels bad..... (Plus, now DVD hasn't been getting much reviews either... And now he's feeling bad too....) Thanks to anyone who contributes to them. (aka. "DMG" and anyone else who feels like contributing.)
Did I mention that I love confusing people? I have two names... (In real life...) One is my real name, and the other is my nickname.... The teachers always have to correct papers, and they look at names on seating charts and whatever to pass back papers... So whenever they have my real name on the seating chart, I always put my nickname in the heading of my paper! And whenever the seating chart has my nickname on it, I put my real name in my heading! ^_^ Confusing, no? Yes! That and the fact that I walk backwards home from school every... wait, I said that already.... ^_^
Ok, that was random....
(If anyone wants to contact me outside of reviewing and you don't feel comfortable sending e-mails, there are two other ways to reach me... First off, I like to log onto neopets, and my screenname there is Daricio_ (What else would it be?) Also, I go onto AIM. My username for that is..... Daricio! (Again, what else?) So, if you want to contact me, that's the way to do it.)
But now, without further adu... The fic! (Yea! I remembered the reason I started writing this intro in the first place! ^_^ )
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{Bakura...(See, whaddid I tell ya?)}
Last night was horrible. The Spirit of the Ring really knows how to make your life miserable... And still last a long time....
Bakura shuddered as he tried to push the memories he had been forced to endure out of his head. They were now fresh in his mind, so of course forgetting them was pretty much impossible at the moment.
He continued walking down the street. He knew he was late for school, but he really didn't care. He needed time to think and to clear his mind, and school was not the best place to go if you wanted to think about anything other than your classes. So he wasn't going today.
He just kept walking and walking and walking, not really paying attention to where he was going.
Up ahead, he suddenly spotted Yugi, running as fast as he could in the general direction of the school. He couldn't let Yugi know anything was wrong. He couldn't let anyone know.
That meant that he had to act as normal as possible. So he had to go to school. He ran to catch up to Yugi.
"Yugi, wait up!" He called, trying to sound cheerful. Yugi slowed down and looked over his shoulder at Bakura. Then he stopped completely to allow Bakura to catch up.
"Oh, hi Bakura." Yugi said, sounding very worried.
"Hi. I guess we're both late for school today, huh?" Bakura said, forcing a small smile onto his face. Yugi nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I guess we are." He said. They continued walking down the street towards the school.
Yugi seemed to have his mind on other things, and Bakura wasn't really wanting to talk to anyone anyway, so he didn't even try to start up a conversation. Instead, he was thinking to himself, and hoping the spirit of the ring was too tired to listen.
//Man, I really can't go to school today. That stupid spirit. I wish I never got that ring....It's a good thing going to the shadow realm uses up so much of his energy or I know I'd be there more often than I'd like... I really don't want to go to school. But with Yugi here next to me, I really have no choice. Maybe if he disappeared...// Bakura shook his head slightly, pushing away the thought. //What am I doing wishing Yugi away after all he's done for me? And besides, what are the chances he'd disappear anyway?//
He glanced over at Yugi who was staring at the sidewalk in front of him while he walked. He was definetly preoccupied with something...
//Probably talking to Yami...// Bakura concluded. //He does that a lot, now... Course I can't ever talk to... Whoever he is... He doesn't want me to call him Yami, so of course I do, but he never tells me what I should call him... Stupid, really....//
Bakura, again, wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, just walking next to Yugi and going in the general direction of the school. So, of course, he didn't notice when as he crossed the street, he left Yugi behind.
After he got to the other side, he realized what had happened and turned around to wait for Yugi, who was just standing there still staring at the ground. The traffic changed, and cars began rushing by. Through the passing cars, he could still see Yugi on the other side, waiting.
When the cars stopped once again to let Yugi over, however, he was gone. Bakura had absoulutly no idea where he went.
//Now that's strange.... Where did he go?// He stood there staring at the other side of the street for a while, before realizing that he now didn't have to go to school. He crossed to the other side of the street again and began walking.
As he walked, images and memories from the night before came swirling into his mind and he remembered them all over again.
The apartment... The link... The orphanage.... Kaiba.... not being chosen.... and feelings too. Happiness...... (Although not very much).... Sadness..... anxiety...... loneliness...... disappointment...... pain....
//That Spirit sure knows how to pick out all the worst memories...// Bakura thought bitterly. As if on cue, the spirit began whispering to him.
//Yes, I do, don't I? I'm very good at that...// he said to him. Bakura shuddered again and closed his eyes.
//Not....right....now...// He told the spirit.
//Oh, but why not? It's FUN talking to you, little Ryou...And it's not like I have anything better to do...// The spirit was talking just as menacingly as was usual, but he sounded very tired. The night before had totally worn him out. Using the powers of the Ring and the Shadow Realm really saps your energy.
Bakura was glad for that. It served him right.
//Go away.// Bakura said, quickening his pace, as if that could get him to leave.
The spirit just laughed. //I thought I told you, little Ryou.... I'll be with you forever....//
//No! Just go away! And don't call me that!// Bakura said, walking even faster.
//I told you that the first time we met.// The spirit continued. //I should think you would remember from last night.//
Unbidden, the memory swirled back into Bakura's view. It wasn't the spirit doing it, as he was too tired, but that didn't stop Bakura from remembering yet again anyway.
******************FLASHBACK TO LAST NIGHT***********************
//Stop this! Stop it!!! Stop it now!!!!!!!!!// He screamed at the spirit.
//Oh, but why? We still have something to do... Something to remember...Don't we?// he said evily.
//No we don't! No!// Bakura cried. //No!//
//Yes. Let's see it now.... Yes.... Let's see now... How much time... Ah... One and a half years from this point...// His Yami said.
//No...// Bakura thought, realizing what the spirit was going to show him. His own adoption, and the gift of the ring...//No, spirit.... SPIRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!//
It was too late. The room shifted, and Bakura sunk into another wave of sorrow.
The sorrow didn't come from the fact that Bakura was shifting. The sorrow was one of the relived feelings. Something he had felt before and was now being forced to relive.
He was still in the orphanage. One and a half years later. Many people and parents had come to the orphanage. Many people had been picked. But not him. Not Ryou. Cause Ryou wasn't good enough.
He was sitting on the bed. His bed. The same bed he had been assigned one and a half years before. Only now he had pushed it away from everyone else's and put up a little make shift curtain.
Another couple was walking down the rows of beds, but this time, Ryou really didn't care. They weren't going to pick him anyway. Nobody ever did. He lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. One of the lights was swaying. Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.
That light was always swaying. It was on a long cord hanging from the ceiling, and there was a window open up there. Domino, being Domino, always had a light breeze going through. So the light was always swaying.
Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and--
"Hello. What's your name?" Came a voice, suddenly by his side. He jumped slightly and looked over. To his surprise, the couple was standing next to him, looking him over.
"Ryou." He said. "Just Ryou."
"What a nice name!" The lady turned to her husband. "And it would match with our last name SO nicely. Wouldn't it dear?"
"Ryou Bakura?" The man said, thinking. "You're right, dear! It goes just perfectly!"
Then they both turned to Ryou and smiled. "Come with us! We'll take you up to the front desk, and you'll have a nice, new home!"
If this had happened a year ago, or even two weeks ago, Ryou would have been overjoyed, but as it was, he was just so surpirsed, that all he felt was a kind of a numb, tingly feeling. He got up from his bed and gathered his few belongings and took down his curtain.
Then he took Mr. Bakura's hand and was led gently out of the room.
//Fast forward// The spirit whispered. //Too many of those horrid goody feelings on the car ride home.//
The room swirled and Ryou was in front of a house, just getting out of a car. He smiled up at the house. His house. The door opened and they all went inside. Ryou looked around. It was a fairly big house. Nothing too fancy. It was obvious that they only got a modest paycheck.
Ryou loved it. It was the best place ever. This was the best place, the best family ever!
//Whoops. Not far enough. Time to prove you wrong, little Ryou....//The spirit said, shifting the time forward again.
//Spirit, stop it!// Bakura tried, and failed, once again. // This is enough!//
He recieved only the familiar laughter in return.
Ryou was lying in his new bed, in a bright blue room. It was now about three days later. He still loved his new home, even though he had to get used to a few new rules and habits of his new mother and father.
For instance, his father only called him by his new last name, Bakura, and told him to, whenever he was asked, tell people that that was his name. Somehow, Ryou didn't mind that too much. He had often been told, at the orphanage, that his name was a girl's name and that he should change it, so this was definetly an improvement.
It was now about 9:30 at night. Ryou tried to get to sleep, but his thoughts of things he had to remember about his new family kept interupting him.
Suddenly, there was the sound of breaking glass coming from downstairs followed by a muffled exclamation of surprise.
//Who's downstairs? Normally, around here, nobody stays up past ten. It's one of Father's rules...// Ryou thought to himself. He slipped out of bed, put on slippers and a bathrobe, and opened the door to his room.
Now that the door was open, he could hear someone downstairs talking to themselves. Ryou listened hard. After several seconds, he recognized the voice to be that of his father.
//Ah, but you knew that already...// The Spirit said, taunting Bakura.
//Shut... Up... This... Instant... Or you will regret it....// Bakura said. The spirit laughed again.
Strangely, his words were slurred slightly, as if he was having trouble saying them. Ryou went down to the bottom of the stairs and peeked around the corner towards the kitchen. His father was seated at the table faced away from Ryou. He was holding something in his hands, but as he was turned away, Ryou couldn't see it very well. There was a broken glass on the floor that had been knocked down, then forgotten.
His father was still talking, semi-loudly, and slurring, to himself. ".......... magic..... stupid.... merchant........ Ring...... cheap jewelry....... Can't do anything with.......stupid buy......Ryou maybe...........he'd like it......stupid kid........Get rid of it...."
"Father?" Ryou said softly, wondering what in the world he was talking about.
His father obviously wasn't expecting him and whirled around in his chair, facing Ryou. Ryou gasped slightly. In one hand he held a golden object. Almost like a golden dreamcatcher. That wasn't what Ryou gasped about. In his father's other hand... Was a beer can.
"Whaddya want?" His father grunted, still slurring his words heavily.
Ryou chose to ignore the beer can. "What's that?" He asked, gesturing towards the dreamcatcher.
His father looked drunkenly at it. "Ring." He said. "Why are you up so late?"
"You are too..." Ryou pointed out softly. This was not the right thing to say.
His father stood up and placed the beer can and the ring on the table. Then he took several drunken steps towards Ryou, bent down, looked straight into his eyes and asked, "Are you contridicting me, boy?"
Ryou quickly shook his head no. "Of..of course not, sir..." He could smell the alcohol on his father's breath.
Father straightened up. "I thought not." He said. "Now... What are you doing up so late, Bakura?"
"I... I heard something break.... I wanted to know what it was..." Ryou said.
"Oh..." His father glanced down at the broken cup on the floor. "It was nothing. Hit the darned thing and it fell.... But I'm glad you came down, Bakura. Very gald..er..Glad...."
"Why?" Ryou asked.
"The ring. I bought it, fool that I was, at a shop in... Egypt, I think it was.......Guy who sold it to me said it had magic.... that's a bunch of junk if you ask me.... Magic.... That could only be brought forth and released by the one destined to wear it....Big load of junk.... Fool that I was.... " He muttered to himself for a moment, then sat down in his chair again and returned his attention to Ryou. "Anyways, wanted to give it to you..."
He handed Ryou the Ring. "Um... Thanks...." He was really confused. "But... Why.."
"Why would I want to give something this valuable to a stupid brat like you?" His father asked. Ryou nodded slowly, running his finger over the triangle in the center of the ring, examining it closely.
"Cheap imitation. Stupid cheap imitation. Stupid.... So, hey... Little stupid Ring.... Little stupid kid..." He shrugged.
"Oh." Ryou didn't like being called stupid, but his father WAS drunk after all....
"DON'T YOU "OH" ME, YOUNG MAN!!!!!!!!" Ryou's father suddenly burst out. "THAT'S PLAIN DISRESPECTFUL!!!!!!! Got it?!?! MY house! MY rules! YOU do what I say, got it? GOT IT?!?!?!?"
Ryou's eyes opened wide and he nodded quickly. "Y-y-yes, sir."
"No more Ryou! You are Bakura, got it? NO MORE RYOU!!!!!!! Stupid name... stupid..... Bakura now.... GOT IT?"
Ryou nodded once more, backing slowly away from his father. "Yes.... Yes sir..."
"And no more "Yessir" !!! You say, yes DAD... DAD! I'm your father! When someone is your father, you call them DAD!!!! Correct? Right!"
Ryou nodded again. "Yes s- Dad.."
His father glared at him, looking first at his face, then at the ring he held in his hands. "Don't you ever listen to me?!?!?!?! Dimwitted.... MY house! MY rules!!! Put that blasted thing on!"
Ryou looked down at the ring and realized it had started glowing softly in his hands. Play of the light. His eyes playing tricks. It had to be. And he still didn't understand what his father was trying to tell him.
"Put it...on? Oh...." He put the rope necklace around his neck. "Like this?"
His father continued to glare at him, but nodded apporvingly. "When you get a gift, you use it. If it's clothing, you wear it. I gave that to you, you wear it. Don't ever let me catch you not wearing it. That's disrespectful of MY rules..."
Ryou nodded again. His father sighed and threw his beer can to the floor with a crash, spilling it's contents everywhere. Ryou jumped.
"How many times must I TELL you????" His father asked, holding his head in his hands. "MY rules..."
Ryou nodded again.
"Y-y-your rules." He said. "Yup"
"ENOUGH WITH THE NODDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You look like an Idiot when you do that! Nod Nod Nod! Stupid bobblehead toy... ENOUGH!!!!"
Ryou started to nod, then caught himself. "Yessir...er...Dad..."
Ryou's father shot a death glare at him. "Bakura..." He said warningly.
"C-can I go to bed now?" Ryou asked. His father continued to glare at him for several seconds, then finally nodded his approval and turned his attention to opening another can.
Ryou escaped as fast as his legs would carry him up the stairs. Before, he hadn't wanted to mess anything up so his new family would like him. Now he REALLY didn't want to mess anything up, for fear that his dad would yell some more, or do anything worse.
The Spirit of the Ring cackled, and Bakura frowned. //Anything worse? You better believe there's worse! That was nothing! Man, you are so soft and weak it's not even funny!//
//Shut up! I'm not weak.// Bakura said. //Maybe I was then, but...//
Ryou lay down on his bed, breathing hard. //What just happened?// He asked himself, looking down at the ring which was now lying on his chest. He took it off and placed it on the table next to his bedside.
Ryou retreated to his soul room once again. Something he hadn't done since a couple of days after coming to the orphanage. His soul room was now dusty. He began organizing, cleaning, and anything else he could do to get his mind off of his father.
After a while, he looked over into the corner of the room, where, in his old soul room, there had been the link. Now there was nothing. Absoulutly nothing. There had never been since that day.
Bakura braced himself. He already knew what was coming and he dreaded having to do it again.
There was not even a speck of mental dust or clutter in that spot. It was as bare as it was any other time he had looked there in the past one and a half years. But wait. What was that?
Ryou went closer to it and began inspecting it carefully. There was a link there. A mental link. It was a very small, tiny link, but it was there. Ryou pushed himself away from it, not wanting to endure going through a link and being an orphan again.
//And yet, look what you're having to do now.// The spirit teased Bakura. //Enduring it again!// He said, using Bakura's own old thoughts against him.
There was a sort of an essence, pulling him closer to it. Ryou pushed himself farther away, but as he did, the thing got bigger and more powerful. It ended up getting closer, and closer, and bigger, and bigger. It was invading his soul room!
Ryou tried to get even more away, but found himself backed into a wall. He couldn't get the soul room to get any bigger. He was trapped! And the thing kept getting bigger. And closer. It was pressing him in, now.
He opened his physical eyes with a gasp. Briefly, mentally, he checked over his soul room. It was just as it had been. Except that, where the link was, a very small door had appeared. He decided he wasn't going to go anywhere near that door.
Unfortunetly, as he lay in bed staring at the blue ceiling of his new room, the door had other plans. It began to creak open slowly and soon, a person entered Ryou's soul room.
He looked around the room, then, finally spotting Ryou, grinned. "Well, well. You certainly took your dear, blasted time getting me here."
Ryou shivered. "What do you mean? What are you talking about? Who are you? How did you get here?" The person only grinned again.
"I only took the time and energy to set up that link to bring you here and release me, what, a year ago? No, a year and a half ago. And you're only just now getting here." He shook his head, then grinned again. "Pity. We could have had more fun earlier, little Ryou."
"How do you know my name?"
"Well, you see, Little Ryou... The only way I could get out, was if the destined one came to me." He grinned once again. "And guess what, little destined one?... You came."
*************************END OF FLASHBACK************************
Bakura's thoughts were interupted very abruptly, because at that point, he was going so fast, he ran into somebody.
"Hey!" The person said, as their books and papers went flying everywhere. "Watch where you're going!"
"Sorry!" Bakura said, dropping to his knees to help pick everything up. The Spirit of the Ring laughed at him.
//And this is what you amount to, little Ryou... Sitting on the ground, picking up papers for someone who SHOULD have had them in her BACKPACK, but didn't.// The spirit taunted him. He ignored him.
"Oh! Hi, Bakura!" The person said, recognizing him. Bakura looked up. It was Tea.
"Hi, Tea. Sorry about this." He said, putting on an apoligetic grin.
"Oh, it's ok, Bakura. Are you Ok? We rammed into each other pretty hard..." Tea said, grabbing her math book off the concrete and giving him a concerned look.
"Oh, I'm fine. I should have been paying attention." Bakura said. He gave Tea the rest of her papers and books, then got up.
"Are you sure?" Tea said.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'll see you later, ok?" He continued walking down the street, no longer really caring that she would think something was wrong if he didn't go to school.
"Ok, bye." Tea said, going in the other direction. Suddenly she stopped and turned around to face Bakura's retreating form.
"But wait.... School's....that...way.." Her voice trailed off as she realized that he was ignoring her. "Well, that's strange." She commented to herself, before turning and heading off to school.
Bakura just kept walking. And walking. And walking. As if by walking he could escape his troubles. Escape his yami. Escape his past. He just walked. And walked. And walked. and....walked.
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Whoo! Ok, people... after all that misery and such, I can't continue the story without an interlude. Time to pick on Seto!!!!!
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{Interlude: Seto Kaiba} (Did I not just say this?)
"Mr. Kaiba, time to get up! It be social breakfast time!"
Seto opened his eyes and grumbled a short, curt, "go away." He had a whopper headache from the night before.
"Mr. Kaiba."
Seto slowly sat up and glared at the man. Suddenly, he realized what the man was doing. He was holding the door open, and gesturing for Seto to follow him out of the room. He got up and went over.
"What?" He asked.
"Social breakfast." The man repeated. "Normally we keep all yous fellers all locked up in yer rooms, but if we kept ya in ther all th' time, ya'd be even more nuts than ya are, eh, laddie? So, every breakfast, we let everyone eat together... ya know... Socialize...
A smile spread over Seto's face as he realized what that meant. He would be able to plan with Mokuba. "Ok, then. Let's go."
The man nodded and led him down the hall to a big room full of tables. It reminded Seto strangely of the school cafeteria, only a little bigger. Although, the school lunchroom didn't have blue padded walls.
Once Seto was inside the room, the man shut the doors and locked them, then went down the hall to get more people.
Seto looked around the room. Finally, he spotted Mokuba, waiting for him at an empty table. He hurried over and slid into the seat next to him. Mokuba smiled slightly at him.
"You tried to get out last night." He stated. Seto frowned and looked down at the table.
"I wouldn't really call it trying." Seto said. "I had... A visitor last night."
Mokuba's smile turned into a confused frown. "Who would?--"
"MR. SETO THE DOOR!!!! Mr. The Door! Mr. The Door! Hello!" an annoyingly familiar voice called.
Seto groaned slightly, turning towards the person who was now frantically trying to push his way through the crowd towards Seto.
"Mr. The Door!" Mr. Gice called again. "I got new name, Mr. The Door!"
Seto cradled his forhead in his hands, resting his elbows on the table in front of him and groaned again.
"Seto? Big Brother, who's that? Why's he calling you that?" Mokuba asked, his smile slowly coming back to his face.
"Never mind, Mokuba. Long story. I'll tell you later. For now, just ignore this guy." Seto instructed.
"Mr. The Door!" Mr. Gice finally made his way through the crowd and sat at the table opposite from Seto and Mokuba. "Hello! Long time no see!"
Seto followed his own advice and ignored him.
"I got a new name, Mr Seto!" Mr. Gice proudly announced once again. "It's Scott!!! Great Scott! Or you can call me G.S.! Or Bob! Or George! Or you can just call me Dr. S."
"Seto.... What IS his name?" Mokuba asked softly.
"Mr. Gice, I think." Seto replied. "He thinks his name is..."
"Great Scott, huh?" Mokuba asked Mr. Gice. "Why?"
Mr. Gice smiled and leaned forward on the table closer to Mokuba, as if he were about to tell him a great secret. "Well, you see, I was walkin' down the hallways a bit last night, ya know how I like my walks and all, right Mr. Thedoor?" Seto frowned. "Anyways, This guy suddenly sees me. He musta recognized me pretty good, cuz he knew my new name even fore I did! His eyes opened wide and suddenly he says, "Great Scott! It's You!" And he ran off really quick like. So that must be my name, see?"
Seto shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?" He asked himself.
Mokuba was struggling not to laugh. Mr. Gice was looking very pleased with himself. Mokuba leaned over to Seto.
"This guy is hilarious! When we get out, we have to let him out too. He's really not such a bad guy!" He said. Seto replied by groaning slightly again. Mr. Gice just smiled.
"Well, won't that be fun, then? So, Mr. Thedoor... Where we goin'?"
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{Shells}
"That was cutting it just a little close." Yugi said, sighing. "Bakura almost saw me disappear!"
"Sorry. I snoozed my alarm clock. Not my fault...." Shells said.
"I know, you're right. But still..."
"Alright. Are you ready to go?" DVD asked.
"Yup. Well... except one thing."
"What?"
"Can I have something to eat? I missed breakfast..." Yugi said, grinning slightly.
"Um... Not right now, Ok? I'll bring some cheerios or something on the car ride there."
"Ok. That's fine." Yugi said. There was a small pause, then he said, "Uh, Yami wants to tell you guys something..."
"Ok."
Yugi let Yami come out. He was just about to say whatever it was he was going to say, when the door suddenly burst open and Jrj entered.
Yami froze.
"Hey, guys. Ready to go? I just left my deck in here..." He went over to the far side of the room and grabbed his deck off of a shelf. "There. Ok, if you're not ready, get ready. See ya, Shells. See ya, DVD. Bye, Yami."
He exited the room and closed the door behind him. Out in the hallway, he suddenly stopped.
"Wait...."
He reentered the room and took a quick look around. Then he looked at his watch.
"Ok, I need something to wake me up... I coulda SWORN I just saw..." He left again, heading downstairs.
Yami got up from where he had quickly hidden behind the tin after Jrj had left the first time.
"I still don't get it." He mumbled. "I just don't get it."
"What?"
"How can everyone tell us apart???" He asked, shaking his head.
//Get used to it, Yami.// Shells suddenly heard.
//I can't!// Yami's voice this time.
"Hey..... Cool!" Shells said. DVD had the same look of wonder on his face.
"What?" Yami asked.
"Because of our link with Daricio... I can hear your guy's conversation!"
"Huh?"
"Yeah!" DVD cried.
"What?" Yami was confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I just heard you guys! Because of our many links, we can all talk mentally, as long as we're close enough to each other!" Shells said.
//Ok, cool.// DVD commented.
//Woah... Weird.// They all heard Daricio's voice. Shells grinned.
//This also proves something else.// She told them all. //This means that it's true. If we can get Daricio's soul close enough to her body, she should be able to get through!//
Everyone smiled. Then Shells packed the Yugi tin into her backpack and stood up. DVD gently picked Yami up and held him in his hand.
Yami sat down so as to decrease his visibility. Then, thinking better of it, allowed Yugi to take over once again to further decrease visibility.
Suddenly, Shells remembered something.
//Yami?// She asked.
//What?//
//You were going to tell us something... What was it?//
There was a pause.
//You expect me to remember what I was going to say after THAT?// Yami replied.
Shells grinned at the defensive note in Yami's voice.
They all went out to the car and sat in the back seat. Jrj was already in the car, playing his Game Boy Advance once again, and munching on some cookies.
Soon, they were underway, towards the hospital!
DVD let Yugi stand on the armrest that was up against the window. Daricio and Yami both assumed their temporary physical forms.
Daricio stared out the window in wonder. "Cool..." She whispered. "It's my town, only... bigger.... There's the sign we always pass... and that old building.... And there's our church..." Her voice faded away as she began just simply staring out the window.
Everyone else was watching her with mild amusement.
Once the car had gone out of familiar territory, Daricio changed what she was looking at. She looked down.
//Line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line, line,-//
//Daricio, stop it! You're going to make yourself and all of us carsick!// Yugi said, a strange cross between a frown and a bemused grin on his face.
//Oh, sorry.//
//Look at something farther away.// Yami suggested.
//Ok. Let's see..... Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, Tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tr-//
//Daricio!//
//Sorry.//
There was silence for a few moments, before Yugi suddenly realized something. //Um... Did anybody bring anything to eat?//
//Uh.... No..... Sorry..// DVD said. He looked over the seat at Jrj. He had a small pile of cookies by his side. Very small. Like, four left. He reached out and quickly snatched one.
//Uh... This may be a bit big... but, here.// DVD said, placing it in front of Yugi. His eyes widened.
"Wow... Biiiiiiiiiiiig cookie...." He commented. Daricio turned from the window to see. Her eyes widened as well.
"Yup. Big cookie." She agreed.
Shells giggled slightly. //Well, we can all talk in big sentances today, huh?//
This earned her funny looks from DVD and Yami and... no response from Yugi (Who was now eating) and Daricio. (Who had gone back to staring out the window)
Shells laughed.
The rest of the car ride was rather uneventful, except when the car went over a bump and Yugi's cookie rolled away under the seat in front of him. It seemed like almost no time at all had passed before the car was pulling up into the parking lot of the hospital.
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Ok, that's the end of the chappie for now... I hope you liked it! Now you must wait for my next chapter before you can find out what happens!!! Bwahahahaha!
Ok, well... I really need to end the chappie and get it posted up... Or else I'll have a bunch of people mad at me for not posting it.... So, I'll see ya next chappie, and please review!
--Daricio