Chapter 4

A/N: Hey this is a late Halloween Special! Hope you guys like it!

Ages:

10 ~ Bakura, Malik, Yami, and Seto

6 ~ Shada, Isis, and Mahado (almost 6)

3 ~ Heba, Yuya, Katsuya, and Melvin (almost 3)

Months ~ Varon, Namu, and Leon

Halloween ~1999

It was Sunday afternoon as Ryou hummed in her home. She was changing her month old baby, Leon, who is a very happy baby. He has blue eyes and a little bit of dark pink hair. She finished changing her son's diaper and put him in a lion onesie. Leon babbled as he yawned. Ryou chuckled and picked him up.

"Sleepy baby, shhh go on to sleepy mommy will hold you." Ryou rocked him gently.

Just then a barely ten year old Bakura peeks in.

"Mommy is Leon asleep?" Bakura whispers loudly.

Ryou chuckled and motioned Bakura to come in quietly. Bakura nodded and tipped toed in.

"He's falling asleep. Want to help me sing him a lullaby?" Ryou asked.

Bakura nodded as they went to the rocking chair. Ryou sat and smiled at Bakura who was watching a barely awake Leon.

"Can we do Mordred's mommy?" Bakura asks. "It's my favorite."

"Do you remember it?" Ryou asked.

"Yup!" Bakura smiled as he started to hum.

Ryou chuckled as she started to rock Leon and sang, Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep and carry you down into sleep. Child, the darkness will rise from the deep and carry you down into sleep.

Guileless Son, I'll shape your belief and you'll always know that your father's a thief. And you won't understand the cause of your grief but you'll always follow the voices beneath Bakura sang.

Soon Leon fell asleep and Ryou and Bakura finished the song. Ryou laid Leon in his crib as she took Bakura out of the nursery.

"I'm glad you're getting along with the baby Bakura." Ryou smiled.

"He's my baby brother, I love him." Bakura smiled.

"I'm glad. I know we haven't had a lot of time together. I'm sorry if I made you feel lonely." Ryou hugged him.

"I was a little lonely cause I couldn't play with you but dad said it's cause Leon needed you to rest. So I'm happy cause Leon and mommy are home!" Bakura smiled brightly.

Ryou smiled and kissed his nose, "You have no idea how much I love you."

"I love mommy more!" Bakura kissed her nose back and giggled.

"Ready to dress up for trick or treat?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah! Can I change now?" Bakura asked.

"Well it's a bit early but I think your Uncle Shadi, Auntie Marik, and your cousin Malik, Shada, Melvin, and baby Namu should be coming in an hour. So alright you can change but remember our deal Bakura?" Ryou asked.

"That I won't wear the ring." Bakura grumbled. "But I really wanna wear it."

"I know baby but it's best to keep it in your room when we go out. You don't want to lose it do you?" Ryou asked.

"No, but I love wearing it." Bakura looked down.

Ryou sighed, "I know baby. But you've almost lost it before and you were crying."

"I won't lose it I promise mommy." Bakura put his hands together as he pleaded.

"Bakura no. End of discussion. I know it means a lot to you," Ryou cupped his face, "and I know you would be sad if you lost it."

"I really miss him mommy." Bakura looked down with sad eyes, "He said we would be a family."

"I know baby." Ryou sighed, "Sometimes the gods have other plans for us. Maybe in another life we would have been a family. I know you miss him. I know it hurts not having someone you care about in your life."

"Like your mommy and auntie Amane?" Bakura asked.

"Yeah like my mother and my little sister." Ryou smiled, "But I like to remember the good times I had with them. That way I'm not sad."

Bakura nodded, "Okay mommy!"

Ryou kissed his cheek, "Come on let's both go change yeah?"

"Yeah!" Bakura smiled as he hugged him tightly before running to his room.

Ryou chuckled and went to her room to change.

After a bit of time Ryou came out with a baby blue robe and wings, with one being an angel wing and the other a devil wing. She hummed and headed to the kitchen and saw her husband cooling down the candy apples. Zigfried was wearing an angel outfit. She had a sneaky smile and tiptoed to him before poking his sides.

"Boo!" She yelled a bit making Zigfried jump and turn around.

He gave a sigh of relief when he saw his wife, "Look at you. You almost sent me to heaven." He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hehe sorry babe." Ryou kissed him. "You just had your guard down and it seemed fun."

"You're forgiven love." Zigfried kissed back and held her. "Ready for tonight?"

"Of course. We have our little party, then take the children trick or treating, then come back for the children to watch movies, and then put them to bed so the grown ups can watch movies." Ryou smiled.

"That's right. We'll have a fun Halloween this year." Zigfried chuckled, "How's our little Leon?"

"Sleeping thankfully. It's been a while since I woke up really late for feeding." Ryou smiled.

"Yes that's right, our baby is our second child. It has been a while huh." Zigfried chuckled, "But this time you have me by your side forever."

"Forever." Ryou smiled and leaned on him.

"Speaking of sons, where is our first born?" Zigfried asked.

"He's changing. He did go in before me. Maybe he's having some trouble. I should go help." Ryou said.

"I'm sure he's fine. He might be playing in his room. I'll check on him once I finish the candy apples if he isn't down by then. Go on and check on the preparations." Zigfried smiled.

"Well alright then." Ryou smiled as she went to check on the decorations. As he fixed up the living room adding spooky last minute touches she heard the door ring. "Ah that must be Marik. They're early"

"I got it!" Bakura yelled from the top floor as you could hear him running down the stairs.

"Be careful not to fall Kura." Ryou called out as she heard her son open the door.

"Bakura what are you wearing?!" Ryou heard Marik yell a bit. Ryou was confused and quickly checked on them.

"What do you mean what is he wearing? You were there when we picked out his cos-" Ryou gasped as she saw Bakura was wearing a tan skirt, a tan robe, and a red robe above the tan one. He also had his ring around his neck.

"Woah Kura you look so cool!" A ten year old Malik smiled. He was wearing a mummy outfit.

"Kura is amazing!" A six year old Shada smiled. He was wearing a snake charmers outfit.

"Kura cool!" A three year old Melvin giggled. He was wearing a skeleton outfit.

Namu yawned as he was held by Marik closely. He wore a fox onesie. Marik and Shadi were wearing a belly dancer's outfits.

"What's going on?" Zigfried came out of the kitchen to see what was happening.

"Bakura where did you get that outfit?" Marik asked as she noticed Ryou was still shocked.

Bakura looked down as he played with his fingers.

"Bakura I asked you a question." Marik gave Shadi Namu as she leaned down to him and grabbed his shoulders. "Bakura." She said sternly but Bakura didn't say anything. "Malik did you know about this?" She knew Bakura and Malik told eachother everything.

Malik looked down and kicked his feet a bit. "Maybe."

"Where did Bakura get this outfit?" Marik asked as she pulled him gently next to Bakura.

"I promised I wouldn't say." Malik muttered.

"Malik Ishtar-Dasiko you tell me right now or no trick or treating for you." Marik said sternly.

Malik looked at Marik before looking at Bakura who gulped. "But mama-"

"Right now Malik." Marik said.

"I got it in the mail." Bakura muttered.

"In the mail? And who sent it?" Marik asked.

"Kura's dad sent it." Malik muttered.

"His dad?" Marik looked a bit confused before she realized what her son meant. She glanced over at Ryou who was still frozen in place. Marik sighed, "Alright. Bakura Malik up to Bakura's room now."

"But auntie-" Bakura started.

"Right now Bakura. Up you two go." Marik said as Bakura and Malik nodded.

Bakura looked over at Ryou. "Mommy?"

"Bakura up. Now." Zigfried said as he pulled Ryou close.

Bakura looked down as he sniffled. "Okay." He and Malik went up to his room.

"Love are you okay?" Zigfried as gently as he rubbed Ryou's head.

"I-I…" Ryou felt her heart break. Seeing Bakura in that outfit reminded her of Akefia's family robes.

"Boy's why don't you two go to the living room with daddy." Marik told her two younger children.

"Did Kura and big brother do a bad thing?" Shada asked.

"A little bit. Go on you two." Marik said as Shada took Melvin's hand and led him to the living room with Shadi behind them.

"If you want I'll talk with the boys." Zigfried said.

"N-n-no." Ryou gulped. "I have to."

"Ry it's okay. I'll go get Bakura to change." Marik said. "Take your time."

Ryou sighed and took a deep breath before letting it out. "Together?"

"Alright." Marik said.

"Are you sure Ryou?" Zigfried asked.

"Yes. I should have known something like this was gonna happen. He asked me if he could wear the ring today." Ryou said.

"Alright. I'll be in the living room with Shadi." Zigfried said.

"Thank you babe." Ryou hugged him before she and Marik went upstairs.

Bakura's room.

Bakura was crying softly as he and Malik sat on his bed.

"Sorry Kura." Malik leaned and hugged him.

"It's okay Mal." Bakura leaned back.

"I still think you look cool." Malik said.

"You look cool too." Bakura said. "Mommy was really sad."

"I don't get it. It's just a robe. We wear the same when we go to Egypt to visit Auntie Ishizu and Uncle Rashid and Isis." Malik said.

"I don't know." Bakura sniffled as the door opened showing Marik and Ryou.

Malik and Bakura looked at them before looking down.

"Boys explain to us again how you got that outfit?" Marik asked as she closed the door before they stood in front of them.

"Me and Mal were playing outside when the mailman came." Bakura said.

"And the mailman asked Kura if he was Kura and Kura said yes." Malik explained.

"He gave me a box and said it was from my dad. That it was my Halloween costume." Bakura explained.

"He said to not show it to Auntie that it was a surprise." Malik said as he went to the closet and got the box out. "There's something in there for Auntie too."

Marik grabbed the box from Malik and checked it. It was labeled with the Kaiba Corp icon.

"What did the mailman look like?" Marik asked.

"He was really tall." Malik said.

"And had blue eyes." Bakura said.

"With tan skin and longish brown hair?" Marik asked as the two boys nodded.

"It's Seth." Ryou whispered as she checked the box. In it was a letter addressed to her with a small box.

"We'll check it later." Marik whispered to her as Ryou nodded.

"Boy's what you did was very dangerous." Marik said. "When you take packages from strangers it is a bad thing. I'm sure that man didn't look like the mailman either."

"When a stranger says that it's a package for you and to not tell your mommy or aunties that's a bad sign. You never take it from them." Ryou said.

"That man you saw is a very dangerous man. If you ever see him again scream for us or your daddy or your uncles." Marik said.

"We're sorry." Bakura and Malik say at the same time.

"Bakura," Ryou went to him and leaned down, "Why did you keep it a secret?"

"I thought it would make you happy. You like surprises. I thought maybe he would come home." Bakura sniffled as more tears started to fall. "He's never going to come back huh?"

Ryou hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry my sweet angel."

Bakura cried hard in his mother's arms.

Malik looked down. "Kura."

"Malik this is why we don't keep secrets from mommy or auntie." Malik leaned down to him. "It hurts us when we see you guys sad."

"I'm sorry mama. I thought Kura's dad would come back." Malik said. "The man said both of our daddies would come back."

"What?" Marik was shocked. She cupped his face and looked him in the eyes. "What did he say?"

"That our daddies would come back." Malik said. "But I don't want my real daddy to come back. I don't like him. He made you sad."

"I see. Did the man say anything else?" Marik asked.

Malik went quiet and shook his head.

"Mal." Bakura sniffled as he looked at him.

"Malik what else did he say?" Marik asked again.

"I got a box too." Malik said. "But I didn't want to wear the costume. It was really big."

"He said Ami and Set got one too." Bakura sniffled.

"Where is your box Malik?" Marik asked.

"In the closet." Malik pointed at Bakura's closet.

"Ami and Set's boxes are there too." Bakura said. "They didn't like their costumes either."

"I see." Marik said as she went to get the boxes out. All with the Kaiba Corp icon. "When did they bring these?"

"The man gave it to us to give to them." Bakura said.

"Set's box had a card too." Malik said.

Marik checked Seto's box to see the card gone. "It's not here."

"I think he took it." Bakura sniffled. "It had a lot of scribbles. It looked like his homework from his computer club."

"I see." Marik said.

"Did the man say anything else?" Ryou asked as the boys shook their heads. "Alright. Boys I hope you understand what you all did was dangerous. When Yami and Seto get here we're all going to talk to you four about this."

"Yes mommy/auntie." Bakura and Malik said in union.

"For now Bakura, change into your real costume okay." Marik said.

"Yes auntie." Bakura said.

"Baby do you want a picture with your robe?" Ryou asked as Bakura looked at him.

"But it makes mommy sad." Bakura said.

"I know but there's a reason why. Right now you're too little to understand. But I know when you get older you'll want to know." Ryou kissed his head. "I will explain one day. I promise."

Bakura leaned on him. "I want a picture."

"Okay go wash your face cause it's puffy while I get the camera." Ryou smiled.

"Okay mommy." Bakura hugged him and went.

"Are you sure Ry?" Marik asked.

"I am. It may hurt right now but I know he'll want to know. I can't keep that side of him from him forever." Ryou said. "Besides, he does look cute."

After a while Yugi's and Jonouchi's family came. Yugi and Dartz were wearing a couple magician outfits. Yami was wearing a vampire outfit. Mahado was wearing a ring master's outfit. The twins, Heba and Yuya were wearing panda outfits. And Solomon was a conductor as his wheelchair was dressed as the train.

Jonouchi and Valon were wearing greaser couple outfits. Seto was wearing a werewolf outfit. Katsuya was wearing a mechanic outfit. And Varon was wearing a puppy onesie. When they got to Ryou's house they all talked and soon sent the four oldest boys back upstairs with the boxes. Jonouchi and Yugi were very shocked when Ryou and Marik explained what happened.

"They can't come back. They gave up their rights." Yugi said.

"In each box there were letters for us and a package. We haven't opened it yet. We were waiting for you two." Marik said as she gave them their letters and boxes.

"Damn that Seth." Jonouchi growled as she opened the letter.

The others opened the letter before they all looked at eachother.

"It's an appeal." Ryou gulped.

"They want their rights back." Marik whispered.

"Oh hell no. They can't get our children back. Never." Jonouchi growled.

"Is this legal?" Yugi asked.

"I'm going to find out." Marik said as she got out her phone. "I'm calling our lawyer."

"Screw the lawyer. I'm calling Seth." Jonouchi said as she got out her phone.

"Jonouchi if we confront them now who knows what they'll try to do." Yugi said.

"I'm not going to stand by and let them try to take our kids. They wanna fight. I'll give them one." Jonouchi growled.

"Jonouchi we should check our options first. If you go attack Seth he can try to use it against you." Ryou said.

"They can't take our kids. All of our husbands legally adopted our sons." Jonouchi said. "They have nothing to stand on." Jonouchi growled as she looked at the box. She opened it before quickly closing it.

"What is it?" Yugi asked.

"That bastard." Jonouchi punched the table.

"Jono? What in the box?" Yugi asked as she gently opened Jonouchi's box only to find a key. "A key?"

"A key?" Ryou looked confused.

"It's a key to Seto's trust." Jonouchi growled. "A few years ago I got a message from him, though it was sent from Kaiba Corp. It said that because Seto has Kaiba's blood running through him that Seto automatically gets a trust fund and shares in the company. Despite Seth giving up his rights to Seto the company's policy is to always give their blood a set future. I sent this key back saying to never contact us again. He's using this trust against us. So he can say he can provided for Seto. That he already has it made."

Yugi looked at her box scared of what her's would have. "They can't do this."

"They won't get away with it." Jonouchi glared.

"Let's see what we have then tell the lawyer everything. Because the boys are ten they might have to testify." Marik said.

"Court? No Mar we can't put the boys through that." Ryou said.

"We'll see what our options are." Marik said as he opened his box. He saw that there were two more letters in it. He looked confused before he opened them and gasped.

"What is it?" Ryou asked.

"No no it's not possible." Marik felt tears fall as she fell to her knees.

"Mar!" Ryou went to her and pulled her close. She took the papers and read it. "He wants a paternity test for Melvin and Namu?"

"What? That's crazy. I mean he's always had a few screws loose but he's psycho to think Melvin and Namu are his." Jonouchi said.

Yugi looked at Marik. "Mar, are you meeting up with Mariku?"

Marik looked down. "Only twice. Around the time I got pregnant." He held himself. "He has a way with words you know. Fuck I fucked up."

"Oh Mar." Ryou held him.

"I'm screwed. If the tests say they're his I have to share custody with him." Marik whimpered.

"But Shadi is on the birth certificate right?" Jonouchi asked.

"Yes. Shadi's on them." Marik said. "Fuck I'm so stupid. I knew better. I fell in his trap like always."

"We'll figure this out. No matter what we'll figure this out." Ryou rocked her.

"We won't let him get to Melvin and Namu. That's out of the question." Yugi said.

"I can only pray that they're Shadi's." Marik sighed.

"For now let's see what we have." Yugi said as he opened his box. He looked confused as he took out another box but that box was made out of gold.

"A box within a box?" Ryou looked at it confused.

Marik looked at it, "Those markings, they're hieroglyphics."

"Hieroglyphics huh." Yugi sighed, "I know what it is. It's Atem's family heirloom. It's a puzzle." He opened it to show gold puzzle pieces. "It's in the shape of a pyramid. Apparently only those in Atem's family can solve it."

"Come on it's a puzzle it can't be that hard." Jonouchi said.

"It's really hard Jono. I even tried it once, I could only get it half way done." Yugi said, "It really is something. Atem finished it in under thirty minutes and it took me days to get it half way done."

"Why give it to you though? He knows Yami is his son." Marik said.

"It's probably the same reason Akefia gave Bakura his family ring. So our sons can get an attachment to them." Ryou said.

"I'm never showing this to Yami." Yugi said, "But I'm not sending it back yet. Atem will probably try to give it to Yami in person or pull the mailman stunt on him."

"What are you going to do about it then?" Jonouchi asked.

"Keep it hidden for now. If we see them in court I'll see if I can talk to him about taking it back." Yugi said as he put it away.

Ryou gulped as she looked at her box. "Akefia doesn't have money like Seth, he already gave his family heirloom to Bakura, and Leon is definitely Zigfried's son." She slowly opened the box and gasped. The other three looked in the box and were shocked.

"Jewels? There's so many." Yugi looked surprised.

"Did he steal these?" Jonouchi examined them.

"And give them to Ry so she can turn him in? He's not that dumb." Marik said.

"They're his mothers. In their family all the jewelry and stones the mother's had were passed down to the new partner of the family. That's why there are so many. He comes from a line of thieves, remember. He showed it to me once. Telling me that each gem had its own story." She took out a green emerald, "That each mother steals a gem, and that gem is the color of their child's future partner's eyes."

"Is that the one his mom stole?" Yugi asked.

"Yes. Before she died." Ryou looked down. "I always hated that my eyes look so much like this gem. Back then it had my heart fluttering. I thought I was going to marry him." Ryou smiled sadly at the gem. "How idiotic I was." She put it away. "I can't accept these."

"For now do what I'm doing and wait. It's possible he'll try to give them to Bakura." Yugi said.

"And we should probably check the legality of these. If the one his mother stole was the most recent who knows how much trouble you can get by having them." Jonouchi said.

"I know but these have a lot of history for Akefia, I can't just hand them over to the police." Ryou said.

"We'll figure it out." Marik said, "Let's talk to our boys first."

Bakura's room

"Told you we should have told our moms." Seto pouted as he touched his fluffy tail.

"But they were for us." Malik muttered.

"Yeah but now we're in trouble." Yami pouted.

"We always get in trouble though." Bakura crossed his arms.

"You guys always get us in trouble." Seto said.

"You do too. You just get caught less." Malik pouted.

"Because we're smarter." Yami stuck out his tongue.

"Yami that's not nice, you're all smart." Yugi said as she and the other mom's entered the room.

"Sorry mom." Yami looked at him.

"Now boys we talked it over. Yes you four are in big trouble." Jonouchi said.

"But we also understand why you didn't tell us." Yugi said.

"So starting tomorrow you four will be grounded for a week." Marik said.

"After doing homework you'll be helping Jii-chan's shop." Ryou said.

"And no that doesn't mean you'll be playing with the games." Yugi said.

"You'll be cleaning and organizing." Jonouchi said.

"Now you boys understand why we're angry right?" Marik asked.

"Because we kept a bad secret." Yami said.

"And we took a box from a stranger." Bakura said.

"That's right. Do you have questions for us?" Ryou asked.

"Are they really gonna come back?" Seto asked.

"No. They said that because they're trying to hurt us." Jonouchi said. "You don't have to worry about them anymore."

"Do we have to keep the stuff in our box?" Yami asked.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Yugi said.

"Can we go trick or treating now?" Malik asked.

"Yes." Marik chuckled.

"Come on boys let's go." Ryou smiled.

Bakura quickly went to Ryou and held his hand. "Can we have a candy apple mommy?"

"Of course." Ryou chuckled.

"Me too Auntie!" Marik smiled.

"Me too please!" Seto smiled.

"I want one too please." Yami smiled.

"Alright come along." Ryou smiled as they all went down to the kitchen to eat candy apples.

After all the children ate candy apples they all went out to do trick or treating. Laughing and smiling, as if what happened earlier never happened. After they were done collecting candy they went back to Ryou's house to watch children's Halloween movies. After they had all fallen asleep the adult's watched the horror movies. Though not even the movies scared the mother's as they had already been scared about their ex's coming back.