Blood.

Blood.

BLOOD.

Yugi just couldn't tear his eyes away from the page. The crimson substance was spilling over the edge of the book, pooling at Yugi's feet. He felt faint. He wanted to drop the book, get the blood away from him, but he couldn't. The red licked at his fingers, beckoning him to drown in it.

Then something in black ink appeared on the page.

Help me, Yugi!

Yugi's eyes widened, recognizing the smooth script. Atem, as he said, was in trouble. The ink was swept away in the blood and another took its place, the words blurred and smudged.

Yugi! Please help! My father, he just got shot by some thief and I don't know what to do!

Yugi was anxious now. He was holding a bleeding book, Atem was in trouble, and his feet were frozen to the ground. His first thought was that this was turning into a bad episode of CSI. His second was he needed to help Atem. He quickly he wrote a response.

Tell me your address, and I'll come.

Yugi wasn't really sure if he could go. It wasn't because his grandpa was out of town for two weeks-no, it was because he was scared. His gut was telling him he needed to tell someone of his situation, but he recalled Atem telling him that he shouldn't tell anyone of the notebook unless it's a dire situation.

This is a dire situation. A small part of his brain told him. His feet were suddenly unfrozen and he ran blindly back the other way to the park. His instincts took over, leading him to the swings where he was with Joey just a few hours ago. He quickly looked around the nearly empty park, and spotted a white-haired boy and a small build walking along the sandy path, his eyes downcast at the thick book he was holding. Yugi sighed in relief, the familiar face giving a small hope.

"Ryou!" Yugi yelled at the top of his lungs. The boy looked up suddenly and peered around, searching for the voice that called his name. He spotted Yugi and smiled. Yugi ran over to Ryou and almost slipped well doing so, but managed to keep his footing. Boy, the mud was sure slippery.

"Hello, Yugi, pleasure to-" Ryou began.

"Ryou, I need you to help me with something." Yugi said, feeling a little bit of guilty cutting Ryou off, but this was serious. He could imagine what his face looked like since Ryou looked worried beyond repair. "I need to show you something." Yugi handed the black book to the brown-eyed boy. Ryou dropped his other book and opened the book.

It was blank.

No blood, no writing, nothing. Yugi's worried expression changed to bewilderment. Just a second ago, the book was spilling blood.

Others may not see the writing unless the holder wishes it so. The words floated across Yugi's head.

"Reveal all." Yugi said suddenly.

Blood flooded across the pages and dripped off the sides. All the writing from his past conversation appeared as well. He would have thought that was cool if the blood didn't sicken him to his stomach.

"Oh my!" Ryou dropped the book on the ground, his face ghost white. "Yugi, where did you get such a book?"

Yugi explained how he found the notebook and how Atem wrote back.

"What a story!" Ryou said nervously.

Yugi nodded in agreement. "I know. Do you think you would be able to help me?"

Ryou eyed the book on the ground. "It stopped bleeding." He muttered to himself, talking as though the book really had blood. He looked back at Yugi, his soft brown eyes full of concern. "Yes, I will help you, Yugi."

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief and put his hand on Ryou's shoulder. "Thank you so much." He bent over and picked up the drying book, holding it gingerly. "Now all we need is for Atem to write us an address."

Ryou and Yugi waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Yugi's anxiety levels were through the roof. Why wasn't he writing an address? What happened? Was Atem okay? What is taking so long? Questions filled his mind, none of them answered. A very small part of him said to give up, but he smothered it. He would never give up. If someone needed help, he would answer.

'Course, he wasn't getting an answer.

He frowned.

"May I see the book?" Ryou asked. Yugi handed him the blood soaked notebook. Ryou flipped through the pages, pausing here and there to read something, and then stopped.

"Yugi, look at this." Ryou held the book so the two of them could see it clearly. Smack dab in the middle of the page were the words,

In case of emergency, come to this address:1460 Forth-Mount Drive, SW, Domino City.

"I think I found Atem's address," He said.

"1460 Forth-Mount Drive, SW, Domino City..." Yugi said, thinking. "I have no clue where that is." He sat down hard on the ground, feeling a bit defeated. "Do you know where it is?"

Ryou looked at the address then looked back at Yugi. "Yes, actually, I do. It's only a couple of blocks away from my apartment."

Yugi looked gratefully at his friend as he got up, a small hope filling his chest. He felt his lips curve into a smile.