Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh. There. You happy?

Ryou: official, companion

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

"So how have you been doing, Ryou?" Yugi asked as he sat down with the tray of burgers and fries.

Jounouchi grabbed his stuff and slung himself down into the seat. "Yeah. How's it going."

"All right." Ryou smiled. "Thank you for inviting me, Yugi."

Yugi smiled. "You're a friend, Ryou."

"Really?" After everything that had happened?

"Of course." Yugi smiled understandingly. "It wasn't your fault." He sighed. "It wasn't even Bakura's fault. It was Atem's uncle's fault for making the Items."

"Hey, wasn't there a war on?" Jounouchi added, gesturing with a burger. "So it was the fault of the guys who invaded."

Bakura would have said it was Atem's father's fault for being a weak king. Too trusting. That wasn't a crime, was it? Unless you were a ruler. Unless you had power, and responsibilities. But who would think their own brother, their childhood companion, would do something so horrible?

Ryou looked at his burger and realized he had lost his appetite. When Bakura had told him what had happened, he had had nightmares. "People shouldn't fight." He had tried to stop Bakura. In the end, Zork had been the only one helped by Bakura's fight.

"You're right, Bakura. Everything's better if people are friends." Yugi agreed, clearly, then he sighed. "Bakura and Atem could have worked together, Akunadin would have been executed if Bakura had told him what had happened."

"A thief, work with the Pharaoh? Even I know that wouldn't have happened, Pharaohs weren't just rulers, they were gods, and tomb robbers were damned." Jounouchi looked at them. "What? I did a little reading, what with Ya… Atem and everything."

Yugi sighed. "I'm sure Atem would have helped him. He wanted to save and protect his people. No one should have to die."

"It's a Pharaoh's job to uphold the law, right? Even if Bakura had been his friend…" Ryou shook his head and looked down at his burger. "Forgive me, I'm not myself today."

Jou jerked, startled. "Man, Ryou, don't say that!"

Ryou blinked. Oh. "Sorry, Jounouchi."

"That's okay man." Jounouchi shrugged. "It's not like I was scared or anything."

Yugi laughed. "That's right, Jounouchi."

"You're right it's right." Jounouchi nodded firmly, arms folded, before starting to scarf down another hamburger.

Yugi took a bite of his and watched Ryou worriedly as Ryou sipped his drink. "Really, are you okay? I know… you can always talk to me. I know it wasn't the same for you, but I feel sort of empty. You get used to someone there. If you ever want to talk, it would be great for me too."

Ryou smiled. It was strained at first but looking at Yugi it blossomed into a real smile. He hadn't smiled like that since a while before Bakura had gone. "Thank you, Yugi."

A matching smile answered him. "You're a friend, Ryou."

Jounouchi nudged Ryou. "Hey, are you going to eat that burger?"

"Yes, I am." He took a bite.

Yugi took another bite of his and smiled. "I love burgers!"

Ryou laughed. Yugi was so much of a kid sometimes, after everything that had happened. It made Ryou glad that Yugi could still laugh like that, even though Bakura had tried to kill him.

They chatted about games and made plans to duel each other at lunch the next day, and then Ryou returned home.

He worked on the Monster World table for a while, making a few more touches to what was not an Egyptian game. Old-fashioned Monster World.

No Zork this time, either.

Then he sat down at his desk.

Took out paper, and a pen.

Took a deep breath and found himself remembering Yugi's smile and Atem's concerned look on the Battle Ship.

Dear Bakura Was Bakura dear to him? Well, it was the traditional start to a letter. The easy thing to right.

Yugi said something today. That if you had only told the Pharaoh more, everything would have been solved. That's horrible.

It means that if only you had used different words when you confronted, him, had more details in the accusation, none of this would have happened. None of it. He shifted his grip on the pen.

Could you and the Pharaoh have been friends, even thought he was an official and you were a criminal? Really, they were a lot alike, even beyond the fact they were both spirits, both had Shadow magic, both were gamers (although Shadow magic meant gaming, really), both had clouded memories, although Bakura had remembered more.

It would have been justice then, and not revenge. Sure justice. Surely he wouldn't have had the chance to summon Zork if all the Priests fought him, and you. Wouldn't have unleashed Zork and made the Pharaoh sacrifice himself to save the world.

Bakura wouldn't have had to seal his soul in the Ring in a last ditch effort to still get his revenge.

I know you respected him, at least. And he did you, even though you bent the rules. The enchanted dice.

I wonder if you're up there in hea… the afterlife thinking how stupid you were all the time. I hope you're in the afterlife instead of being devoured by Ammit. Dead permanently, soul gone.

He's probably forgiven you, Atem was a lot like Yugi. But I hope you can forgive yourself. He doubted Bakura would. He hated everything that got in the way of vengeance, and now he would know that the greatest obstacle had been himself.

I forgive you. I'm sure your family will too. I'm sure they're there. I hope you're happy. Happy there without him.

I'm happy. Yugi has been great. I still wish He didn't know how to end the sentence. That things had gone differently. It had all been so pointless.

But I'm sure you know that. What I went through was nothing next to you. I wish you're happy now, you deserve to be happy after all you went through. He deserved to be happy now.

I bet you're sitting there with the Pharaoh right now and having an honorable duel. I asked Amane to say hello to you, please say hello to her for me if you get this before she gets her letter. They wouldn't really get these. He wouldn't see them until he died, and he didn't want to die yet. Still…

I'm sure you'll like Amane. Everyone says she was a lot like me.

Can you rob in the afterlife? Maybe there are tombs to practice pillaging and no guards. He was just being silly now.

Sincerely, Ryou.

And he got back to working on the Monster World table for Yugi and his friends.