Wish You Were Here

Chapter 2:

By the time that they were all hyped and ready to go, it was around noon or maybe a little after. Yugi was holding the cruise tickets in his hand and Ryou and Malik had all the bags in their car. Marik was leaning on the side of Grandpa's van and watched as everyone made their little goodbyes.

"This is going to be the first time we've been away from each other in almost a year!" Yami and Yugi were teary-eyed as they hugged each other.

"Don't worry Yami," Yugi wiped his face off with his sleeve, "I'm sure Marik and Bakura will take very good care of you."

"Ugh… If you say so, Yugi. But I'm sleeping with one eye open."

"Bakura…" Ryou made puppy-dog eyes at his yami, "Don't have such a sour look on your face. You should be excited."

"Oh, for Ra's sake." Bakura groaned and looked at Ryou, "You know, I'm still gonna be mad at you for making me go."

"It isn't going to be so bad. Watch, by the end of the weekend you three are going to be tighter than leather underwear. It'll be fun."

"… Yeah, whatever."

Marik wasn't saying anything to Malik, who was standing right next to him. "Aw, come on. You're not going to see me for two whole days. Don't you at least wanna say bye?"

"No."

"Ooh!" Malik balled his fists, "Fine, then, I hope you burn in hell!"

"Okay, boys!" Grandpa had finished putting in the last of the yamis bags and hopped out of the van, "Let's shake a tail feather and get ta going! We wanna beat the traffic!"

"Well… I guess this is it." Yami said as Yugi headed for the other car, "Um, bye, Yugi."

"Don't get all weepy, you big girl! Here." Yugi held out a cell phone and put it in Yami's hands.

"Hmm? What is this?"

"It's a cell phone, silly. I know you probably don't know how to use it but you can call me anytime you want on it. So, don't cry."

"Do Marik and Bakura get a cell phone as well?"

"Urm, no. Malik and Ryou thought you should have it. Knowing Marik and Bakura, they'd use it to make obscene phone calls. So, you get to be the responsible one."

"O-Okay." Yami cheered up and hung the cell phone's strap around his neck, so that it hung right next to his millennium puzzle.

Grandpa honked the horn enthusiastically, Marik and Bakura were already inside and Yami climbed in last. They started to drive off as Malik, Yugi, and Ryou waved goodbye and took off in the opposite direction.

Yami starred out of the back window making little whimpering noises, "…"

"Oh, come on!" Marik groaned, "Yami, stop being a hikari's boy. You don't need Yugi with you 24/7! You've got to be your own man!"

"What do you know, Marik? You didn't eve say goodbye to Malik!" Yami shouted.

"He didn't care! It's only gonna be two days!" Marik whipped his head around to the passenger's seat, where Bakura was, "Bakura, man, back me up on this!"

"Eh… eh…" Bakura tried to hold back his sobs, but they all came rushing out, "AaAAaaAA…! Augh… Ry-Ryouuuu! I-I didn't… even s-s-say byeeeeee!" Soon, both Bakura and Yami were bawling extremely loud. Marik was sitting in the middle seat about to jump out the window, "This is so stupid!"

"Calm down," Grandpa yelled over all the screaming. He patted Bakura's spiky silver hair and turned on the radio, "Maybe some golden oldies will make them feel better!" He directed that at Marik.

The Temptations were playing and suddenly, Yami and Bakura's yells and screams turned into just sniffles.

'I've got sunshine… on a cloudy day… When it's cold outside… I've got the month of May. I guess you'll say what can make me feel this way- My girl…!'

Grandpa nodded his head in time with the music, "See? Isn't that much better?"

"At least it made them shut their faces." Marik rolled his eyes and sighed, "So… Gramps, where are we heading?"

"Well, Yugi showed me this map and…" He dug in his pockets, pulled out a colored piece of paper, and turned around to show Marik, "That star is where we're heading."

"Oh… yeah, well, what's that moon over there?"

"That's where the forest ranger's cabin is supposed to be. If you need anything, you should go there and-"

"Hey! Old man, who's driving!" Bakura screamed from the front seat. The van had veered off the road and they were racing downhill, through a cornfield.

Grandpa turned back around and grabbed the steering wheel, "Holy Toledo!" He tried to turn the wheel, but it wasn't moving, "Bakura, did you do something?"

"No… well, I got my dagger stuck in it… but that was an accident." Bakura bit his lip to keep his grin from showing.

The van jumped off a ramp and landed in a little stream. The water wasn't deep so, they didn't get stuck and kept going. Bakura was covering his eyes, as Grandpa maneuvered around the trees and managed to get the dagger out of the jammed steering wheel. Pretty good for an old man, right?

"Bakura, you dork!" Marik screamed as he bounced around in the seat, "It's your fault were gonna die!"

"Look on the bright side!" He shouted back, "Yami's gonna die, too!"

Marik nodded thoughtfully, "Well, there's that."

Grandpa looked in the rearview mirror at Yami, who was surprisingly calm, "Yami! Are you okay? Did you bump your head? Are you alive?"

"Do you think that if he was dead, he'd be sitting there, breathing?" Bakura asked sarcastically, "And keep your eyes on the road… o-or grass!"

Yami looked up, "Yes, I'm okay. I'm rather enjoying this."

"You fr-freak!" Marik was trying to stay seated, but it was hard when he never put his seatbelt on. "Stop the damn van! Can't you control your own vehicle?"

He slammed on the brakes and the van came to a screeching halt, right at the edge of a cliff. They were teetering on the edge and Grandpa sighed with relief, "Well, that was lot's o' fun, right boys?"

"If you call peeing in your leather pants fun, then, yeah, it was lot's of fun…" Marik fell backwards in his seat and sighed.

"We'd better backtrack. I bet we missed the campsite by four or five miles." Grandpa reached for the gear and accidentally shifted into drive instead of reverse. The van began to roll down the cliff and bounced from rock to rock. A huge dent was made on the hood and the engine caught fire. The fire spread to the front wheels and came up to the window shield.

"Ahhh!" Everyone, even Yami, screamed and jumped out the side windows. Grandpa had his seatbelt on and, thus, didn't make it out.

Along with the three boys, a few bags fell out of the sunroof. The van bounced off the ground, over the next cliff and into the river. It washed down stream and over the fifty foot waterfall.

Marik and Yami had landed in a couple of bushes. They sat up and watched the van tumble over the falls. Yami rushed over to the edge, his eyes wide with disbelief, "Grandpa…? Wait. Did Yugi's granddad make it out, Marik?"

"Eh, no. I don't think so." Marik put his left shoe back on, "You seen Bakura?"

"What's wrong with you! Yugi's grandfather just… h-he just… Oh, Ra!"

"Yo, Marik!" It was Bakura's voice, "Get me down from here! You know I'm afraid of heights!"

"Bakura?" Marik looked around. He didn't see anything. Suddenly, an acorn shot itself right into Marik's ear. He looked up and saw Bakura in a tree, "Oh."

"Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!" Yami was going under cardiac arrest as he paced back and forth around the tree that Bakura was in, "What am I going to tell Yugi? He's going to be so upset!"

"Relax." Bakura said, "I mean, he didn't have that many years left, anyway. At least he went out in a blaze of glory. Yugi would be proud."

"Jump, I'll catch you." Marik held out his arms and Bakura jumped down and landed on Marik's head, temporarily paralyzing him. They got up looked at Yami.

"Stop your whining. What's done is done." Marik cracked his neck and spotted the bags on the ground. "Hey, look, we've still got our stuff. We should-"

Ring. Ring. Ring. Yami neck started to make noise. It was the cell phone that Yugi gave him. He fiddled with it and lifted it to his ear, "Cell phone?"

"Heh heh. Hi, Yami." Yugi was chuckling, "We're on the boat! It's so beautiful out here! How're you guys? Did you reach the campsite, yet?"

"Oh… um, yes. We're here. It's nice, thank you, Yugi."

"You don't sound too good. Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes. I'm just a little… uh, homesick." In Yami's mind, he debated over whether to tell Yugi about his grandpa's untimely passing or not, "Yugi? I have to tell you-"

"Oh! Hey, I gotta go, Yami, we're about to go to a 'lamas' class. Ryou signed us up for it. I wonder what it is… Oh, well, see you!"

Bleep-bleep-bleep… Yami pressed some more buttons and the cell phone fell back down with the millennium puzzle. 'This isn't good.'