27. Almost Normal

Tristan felt something moving across his chest and opened his eyes to find Serenity bending over him, pulling a blanket up under his chin. When she saw that he was awake, she straightened. "Oops, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"What time is it?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"Almost seven." She sat down on the coffee table beside the couch where he was lying. "You didn't have to stay here all night."

"Of course I did. Although I was supposed to be waking you up." He ducked his head, feeling guilty. He must've forgotten to set his watch alarm after waking her the first time.

"No, it's fine. I'm okay. I'm worried about Mai, though. It must've been bad if Joey actually left another guy alone in my apartment with me." She rolled her eyes. "Any idea what happened?"

"She's fine. Téa came by last night. She'd heard you'd gotten hurt and wanted to see how you were, and she filled me in. I guess Mai and Yugi ended up in some sort of Shadow Game that was a repeat of her Orichalcos duel against Joey. Yugi was Dark Magician."

Serenity's eyes were wide and worried, but she wrinkled her nose in confusion. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm not to clear on the details myself, but the important thing is that Mai won, and she and Yugi are both fine."

"How did Téa get involved?"

Tristan shrugged. "I'm not really sure on that, either. I have a feeling we'll hear all the details as soon as everyone's up." He swung his legs over the side of the couch, the blanket Serenity had been covering him with slipping to the floor. "I should go downstairs and make breakfast."

"Wait." Serenity put her hand on his arm. He looked at her and she pulled it away as if embarrassed. "I… thank you, Tristan. You're a good friend, you know that? Better than I deserve."

He sighed. "That's not true. I told you, whatever happens, we'll always be friends."

She looked down, her hair hanging around her face. "I know. I just feel bad for dumping all that on you. I had no right—"

"Don't worry about it." He tried to smile, hoping it didn't come off as a grimace. He really didn't want to talk about it anymore. If she wasn't willing to be more than friends, the sooner he stopped thinking about all the what-ifs and could've-beens, the better.

A knock on the door interrupted them before she could say anything more, and he was grateful for the distraction as she got up to answer it.

It was Yugi. "I hope I didn't wake you, but I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine. A slight concussion, I think, but I'm feeling okay. And Mai's okay, too?"

"Yeah, she's fine. I'm sorry I didn't come by last night to let you know."

"That's okay. Tristan said Téa came by last night to fill us in."

"Oh." Yugi looked a little embarrassed, but Tristan thought it was an odd sort of embarrassed, not like his usual sheepishness. He apologized again. "I'm sorry, I should've come myself, but I was so tired after Mai's Dark Game, it just slipped my mind. I'm glad Téa thought to tell you."

"So, we gonna get a full update?" Tristan asked, coming to the door beside Serenity. "From what little Téa told me, it sounds like a whole new kind of Shadow Game. Using someone's dreams of a past duel?"

"Yeah, this is definitely a new one, although Dark Games can take infinite forms. I think we should all meet downstairs in like half an hour. I already called Duke, and he said he could be here by 7:30."

"Sounds good. Want me to make some food?"

"No, you've cooked every morning since we've been back. I'll scrounge up some food."

"You sure? I don't mind."

"No, take your time, grab a shower or something if you want. I'll see you both in the common room at 7:30."

"Okay." Serenity shut the door behind him as he left.

Tristan turned to her. "All right, if you're okay, I'll just go back to my room and shower and I'll see you in a bit?"

"Yeah, sounds good. And thanks again, Tristan."

He nodded as he walked out the door, fighting back the urge to say something more.

After leaving Serenity's suite, Yugi stopped at Téa's door. As awkward as it still felt to be around her with everything being as it was at the moment, he'd resolved to make an effort to reach out to her. It wasn't her fault that he was uncomfortable in his own skin and uncomfortable with her because of it, and her friendship meant too much to both sides of him to keep her on the periphery for long. He stood in front of her door a moment, his hands in his pockets curled around the necklace, the top, and the crocodile that he'd grabbed from the nightstand when he'd gotten dressed. Taking a breath to fortify himself, he pulled his hands out and knocked. She took a moment answering; Tristan had already left Serenity's and disappeared into his own apartment in the other direction when Téa finally opened the door.

"Sorry if I woke you," he said, trying for a smile he wasn't quite sure he achieved. "I wanted to let you know that we're gonna all meet in the common room at 7:30 to hash out what happened last night and figure out where to go from here."

"Okay." She didn't quite meet his eye. "Do the others all know?"

"Yeah. I called Duke and checked in on Mai and Joey and Serenity and Tristan just now."

"How's Mai?"

"She's good. Seems more her old self this morning."

Téa nodded. "Okay, I'll be down in a bit."

"You might wanna wake Sara up, too. I don't know if she'll believe any of this, but she should hear what's going on if she's going to stay here. I hate for her to get dragged into all this."

"Uh…" Téa looked hesitant. "Actually, she's not here. She didn't come home again last night."

Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Two nights in a row? Is it just me, or do you find it a little odd for Kaiba to be so gung-ho all of a sudden?"

Téa gave him an odd smirk. "Wonder what exactly he's gung-ho about?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind." She waved it away with her hand, but Yugi was happy to see her look something other than miserable for the first time in days. And she was actually looking him in the eye again, which was a definite improvement, even if it made him a little uneasy.

"Well, I promised Tristan I'd scrounge up some food so he wouldn't feel it necessary to cook again. He's going to start feeling like our personal chef otherwise."

Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "You're not going to attempt to cook, are you?"

"I think I can manage… toast."

She shook her head. "Give me a sec and I'll come down and help."

She retreated into her apartment and he waited outside until she returned a few minutes later, fully dressed. They went downstairs to the kitchen where she rooted around the refrigerator while he went looking for cereal. There was some leftover miso soup and rice from a couple days ago, and she had Yugi heat that up in the microwave while she threw some vegetables and eggs together to make some okonomiyaki, or egg-based pancakes, which was Tristan's favorite dish. They worked together in companionable silence, setting out the food on the island. After putting some water on to boil for green tea, Yugi turned to find Téa looking at him wistfully.

Feeling self-conscious, he crossed his arms and leaned against one of the stools. "What?"

"Do you think Mai winning that Dark Game might have, I dunno, sorta lightened things up around here? Like maybe she beat back the shadows a little?"

He shrugged. "I suppose. Why?"

"It's just… spending time like this, just doing something simple like putting together breakfast, it's nice. It almost feels normal again."

He felt a twinge of guilt, but whether it was over how he'd been treating her the last few days or the confusion over his own feelings, he wasn't sure. "Listen, I… I'm sorry I've been a jerk lately. You aren't to blame for any of this. I just want things to go back to the way they were."

Her wistful expression turned more melancholic. "I do, too, but I'm not sure if that's really possible anymore."

He looked down, the tile floor offering refuge from eyes he couldn't quite meet anymore. "No, probably not."

She put her hand on his arm. He flinched, but didn't pull away, and she didn't move any closer. "Let's just put all that aside, okay? The only thing that really matters to me is getting… getting him back home and stopping these Dark Games. The rest we can figure out later."

The meeting started over breakfast in the common room with Mai and Yugi detailing Mai's strange dream-turned-Dark Game. Yugi was glad to see that Mai definitely seemed much more her old self again, brash and bold and more than a little pissed about being dragged into a Shadow Game in the manner in which she had. Joey looked murderous, ready to find Ramesses and pummel him into the dirt as he alternately hovered over Mai and Serenity. Duke and Tristan both looked ready for action of any sort, and Serenity, like Téa, seemed to be a little less self-abasing than yesterday. It made Yugi wonder if maybe Téa wasn't right, that Mai's defeat of Ramesses—or his proxy anyway—in a Shadow Game had somehow lightened the oppressive air that had developed since their return from overseas. He even felt a little more connected to his other half, not quite to the point of feeling normal or even being able to directly access memories and feelings that belonged to Yugi, but at least not quite as shut off from that part of himself, either.

After detailing the Shadow Game, they discussed the other developments of the day, including the strange way they seemed to have been "locked out" of the Shadow Realm and access to their monsters, Yugi's ability to get around that somehow, Joey and Mai's trip to Los Angeles to see Rafael, and Marik Ishtar's arrival in two days. They were just getting around to discussing how best to locate and question Valon about his presence in Battle City when the elevator door slid open, and Sara walked into the room. Behind her, much to Yugi's surprise, was Kaiba.

Joey was even more astonished than Yugi. "Is that Seto Kaiba? Gracing our home with his glorious presence? How did we become worthy of such an honor?"

"Don't let it go to your head, Wheeler. I didn't come her to see you. I came to see Yugi."

"About?" Yugi raised his eyebrow, still a little taken aback. In the four months they'd lived in San Francisco, Kaiba had never once visited them or even deliberately put himself in their path.

Before he could answer, Sara cut him off. "No, first I have to speak with you. In private."

He frowned. "Is something wrong?"

She folded her arms. "I'm not sure. I need you to tell me."

His eyes narrowed. "What is this about?"

"It's about Atem."

He exchanged glances with Joey, Tristan, and Téa before turning back to Sara. "There's nothing about Atem you can't discuss in front of the others."

"I'd rather speak with you alone," she said, her expression resolute. "Please. It will only take a moment."

Frowning, he relented with a nod and got up from his seat, motioning in the direction of the offices on the other side of the common room. "Would you like to speak in my office, then?"

"That would be fine."

He looked back at his friends. "I guess I'll be right back."

Kaiba took a step further into the room. "In the meantime, one of your little groupies here can fill me in on what the hell is going on around here."

Yugi's eyes widened. Usually they had to force Kaiba to listen to them when something weird was going on, but now he was seeking information from them? But he simply nodded again. "Yes, that's a good idea." Then he and Sara then left the common room and went into his office. He invited her to sit, but she declined, leaning against the wall, her arms still folded.

"What did you need to talk about?'

"Atem's name. I want to know who discovered his name."