Atticshipping (Bakura Ryo/Mana)

. . .

You find all sorts of things in attics. Like girls from ancient Egypt who most definitely aren't supposed to be in this time period. Hm. Maybe that was because of the séance. Yeah. Probably because of the séance—he should probably stop doing those in attics without proper spiritual insulation.

She was a little ghostly, her legs fading in and out of existence as she struggled to sit up. She seemed to be made of smoke, with the dusty light from the attic passing through her at odd intervals and fracturing like a prism. Confused green eyes glanced around the room until they finally fell on Ryo.

For a second, the two of them stared at each other. For his part, Ryo had not been expecting…whoever this was. He had been kind of trying to see if he could talk to Atem. The nightmares of the other Bakura had become almost unbearable lately, and he wanted to see a friendlier face from that time who might be able to offer some advice.

For her part, she screamed.

"Stay back!" she said, her voice echoey and distant as she waved her staff back and forth. "I said stay back! I don't wanna make this a fight!"

"I really don't either," Ryo said. "Besides, I'm not entirely certain you're corporeal enough for us to make it physical."

Her mouth dropped open, and she looked down at herself. For a moment, she looked like she might scream again. Then she blinked, and poked at her own belly.

"Oh," she said. "That's kinda cool."

She shifted herself onto her knees, leaning forward on her hands. She stared at Ryo's séance set up.

"Are you summoning ghosts?" she said. "That's kinda dangerous."

"I'm aware," he said. "Luckily, I just got you."

"Me?" She blinked. And then recognition dawned in her eyes. "Oh yeah. I kinda forgot that I was dead."

Ryo tried to still a chuckle, but he couldn't. She was—well different from anything he had expected to meet during this probably ill advised séance.

"What's your name?" he said.

"Mana," she said.

The name rang a bell.

"You're…you're Atem's best friend," he said, remembering the story that Yugi had told them of the memory world. Her eyes lit up.

"You know Atem?" she said. "Oh! Wait! That's why you look like Bakura—sorry about screaming, I totally thought you were the other one, I mean, the one from my time, you know, but you don't have the same skin tone, so you must be Ryo! Atem talks about you lots!"

Ryo's heart fluttered.

"H-he does?" he said.

"Yeah! He says you were really good at doing the…the DM thing? He loved roleplaying with you. He's trying to teach me and Mahad how to do it in the afterlife. It's a lot of fun. I hope someday you can play with us! Oh, I mean—not any time soon or anything. Please have a long life first!"

Ryo felt actual tears pricking at his eyes. He tried to wipe them away before she saw.

"Are you okay?" she said. "Did I say something wrong?"

He looked up at the girl, with the green eyes, the messy brown hair, and the round, open, cheerful face, looking so concerned for him. He had to smile. So Atem thought of him like that…? Even his best friend knew Ryo somehow. That…that made Ryo happy.

"No," he said. "You said something really right."

. . .

A/N: They'd be such good friends omg. Next is Attentionshipping (Siegfried x Vivian).