Heya!~ It's day four of my ten day fanfic! Man I love writing this so far and the review I got from Stardustlover made my day! Now I'm all pumped up and ready to write! Well as a recap of the last chapter, Ryou met face to face with Winter Eternal after a few hours of freaking out over the phone with Malik. In case you are confused with which one is which Malik is the Hikari or the one who acts mostly sane while Marik is the Yami or the one who has completely lost all sanity. I'm not sure for this but it's all I can understand….. other than that let's start with a disclaimer!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. I only own Winter and the Eternal family.
February seventh was the day that Celia was engaged, I should have been happy right? I wasn't, I was worried, I was afraid. Ever since that suitor came to the house things have been strange, Vertigo has been quiet and off roaming the halls herself sticking to the nursery where her new born child Christopher would have slept had he not been wiped out by an illness the year before. Father has been sticking to his study with Grandfather and Grandmother has started sleeping even more. Even Celia has been on the roof deck lately with her suitor. What is going on here dearest mother? Can you send me a message?
When Ryou awoke to the sun shining in his eyes the next morn, Winter was gone. Well not really, he could "feel" her presence even though she was gone. Possibly residing in the manor, watching and waiting for him. This sent shivers down Ryou's spine as he stepped into the shower and made a list of things to do that day.
He could start working on the electrical systems of the manor but, that meant he had to go into the cellar which was possibly even stranger than the entire manor itself….. Ryou could also start on fixing the windows and repainting the walls, or work on replacing the stair cases so he could clean the upper levels and eventually the attic.
None of this appealed to Ryou as he stepped out of the shower and got dressed in a pair of old tan cargo pants and a black long-sleeved shirt. He looked at himself in the mirror once the steam had mostly cleared, something felt different about him. He felt fine in health but it seemed that his mental state had grown and demanded knowledge. Ryou turned and left the bathroom heading upstairs into his room, next to his desk was an old dark green shoulder bag. Empty and waiting for him, strange, he thought that he had put that under his bed… oh well maybe it was the ghosts of Eternal Manor.
Ryou was about to leave when a thought landed in his head. What if he researched the Eternal Murder Case? What if he researched the manor and Winter's family? One thing was certain for Ryou though, he would understand what happened all those years ago at the manor. A smile spread across his face as Ryou grabbed the bag and filled it with things he needed. Such as his phone, the article, Winter's Diary and a spare notebook with a working pen. With that Ryou bolted down the stairs in joy and grabbed his coat along with the keys to the groundskeepers house and his car. Running outside after locking the door Ryou unlocked the light blue truck that had been parked a little ways from the manor and slid into the drivers seat. The roof and the hood along with the back of the truck had wet leaves and slivers of soaking paper from the move to the manor. Turning the key the engine roared to life as Ryou's smile grew wider when he drove down the forest path. For the first time since he came here Ryou noticed that the Manor was about a mile away from a graveyard and that the entire land around the manor was on a very large hill, letting him see the city of domino in the sunlight of that Tuesday morning.
The drive took about an hour to get to Domino but once Ryou was there he knew what he was going to do as he drove into the parking lot of the local library by his house. Getting out of the car Ryou found that down in Domino the air was warmer and that the shift in weather was better than the two days of rain he had at the manor. Maybe it was warmer down here because of the altitude change or due to the fact that there wasn't the feeling of eyes boring into the back of his head. Maybe it was maybe it wasn't but, as Ryou walked up the steps to the library he did feel that something was going to be answered. A question that would be very important, who was Winter Jay Eternal?
Ryou stepped into the library and gave a nod to the head librarian as he headed for the local history section of the library. "Eternal Murder. Eternal Murder. Eternal Murder." Ryou whispered to himself as he scanned the rows and rows of books on the shelves for anything related to the Eternal Family or the Manor. There were a few on how the city of Domino was discovered or of the recent wars going on with Domino involved. After for what seemed like hours Ryou finally found a book related to the Eternal Murder. It was an eight inch by five inch book with a paper back cover of an old set of handcuffs inside prison bars with the red white and blue lights of a police squad car. The title was 'Victorian Murders.' There wasn't an author however and this disappointed Ryou as he wanted to see if he could contact the writer and ask him about the book. Turning the book over Ryou read the list of cases on the back, most of them he didn't care for but the last case on the list was simply titled "The Eternal Murder.". Placing the book safely in his arms Ryou continued to look for anything else related to the manor, wether it was building plans, history on the family or of the land Ryou took it with him to a table in the far corner of the library where he knew that it was quieter and wouldn't be noticed.
Laying the stack of books and files down on the four chaired oak table Ryou stripped off his coat and placed his shoulder bag on the floor next to him where he pulled out the notebook and the pen. Flipping open Victorian Murders, Ryou read through the long paragraph of the case jotting down notes as he went along. Once that book was done Ryou grabbed the next book on the stack titled 'Major Crimes in the Victorian Era' and wrote down all the information he could get from that. That was how the day went for Ryou, jotting down note after note until his hand hurt, reading paragraph after paragraph on the family, the manor and the murder that took place there. Ryou was in the middle of drawing the floor plans when some one called out his name, looking up Ryou's eyes met with a pair of familiar set of light violet eyes. "Oh. Hi Yugi." Ryou said after a pause to search his mind for a name. "I haven't seen you since graduation." Yugi said with a smile plastered on his face "What have you been up to?" he asked as Ryou put on the facade he had mastered years ago with his yam of making things seem alright. "Nothing much. I just got the job as Groundskeeper of a very old manor." Ryou said keeping his facade up. Yugi didn't buy it, "Are you sure?" Ryou questioned this and smiled "Yeah I'm very sure. It's a nice place up in the forest, next to a manor. Stunningly beautiful, even if the ghosts are-" Ryou stopped in mid sentence as he realized what he said and who he was talking to. If he told Yugi about the ghosts, about yesterdays haunting, Yugi would tell Anzu and Anzu would convince him to move, maybe even force him out. Ryou didn't wait for a response from Yugi before he bolted for the door, forgetting about his coat and stuff. All that mattered was that he got out of there before questions he didn't want to answer were asked.
He ran, though the library, out the doors and onto the street where he ran faster. He ran down alley path ways and through parks until he made it to their old highschool which was closed due to past incidents. Ryou bolted through the doors and up the stair cases to the roof where sun met him and a warm breeze brushed over him. He wasn't cold, he was afraid. Ryou Bakura was afraid of loosing the manor. Truth was he loved that place, he loved it since he laid his eyes on the ad for a job there. He thought that it would be a small haunting, one that wouldn't scare him. One that he could be amazed by, but now he realized that even though the manor was haunted there were reasons he didn't want to leave. One of those reasons was that he wanted, to help Winter. Last night when he saw her at the foot of the stairs just before he fell asleep, she was afraid as he was, he didn't know what she was afraid of but, Ryou couldn't stand to see other people afraid. He had a calling to help her, it seemed that he had a connection with Winter. Ryou walked over to the edge of the fenced up roof and looked down, he had once thought of ending his life. Right after the Yami's left, things weren't right to him. Things were alien to Ryou but, someone stopped him. He didn't know who but he knew it was a girl, she told him that no matter how strange things get, no matter how many people turn their backs on you there would always be someone who knows how you feel. Some one who cares. When Ryou turned around that day he saw no one and took those words into mind.
Today Ryou sat there, right where he wanted to jump and end his life almost four years ago, thinking about the girl that told him those words. "Come to think of it, that voice sounded a lot lik-" Ryou was cut off from speaking to him self when the door opened and Yugi stepped out. "I knew you were here." He said as he walked over to Ryou who didn't make a sound or even move, "Why did you run Ryou?" He asked as Ryou shook lightly, "Why?" Yugi asked as he dropped both Ryou's bag and coat at his feet before joining him on the ground of the roof. "Well…" Ryou stared to say silently as a bird flew over head, "I guess it was because I was afraid." Yugi looked at him questionably "Afraid? Why would you be afraid?" Ryou sighed and looked up at the sky while clouds rolled over head in big dark waves, a storm would be coming. "I was afraid because, I thought you would tell Anzu and you know Anzu, if a friend is in danger she pulls them out of it right away." He looked to the side at the forest surrounding the manor, from this hight he could just make out the roof of the manor. "Don't worry Ryou, I can't even tell Anzu anyway. She came back from NewYork last month, that's when I found out she only liked me because I looked like Yami." There was a saddened tone to Yugi's voice when he mentioned Yami. Ryou couldn't blamed him, Yami was like an older brother to Yugi. "I'm sorry to hear that." Ryou said as he looked down at the ground of the roof, "Truth is, I don't want to leave the manor. There is this girl there and she's stuck there forever until I can do something about it. In reality I think I feel a connection with her. It's like she thinks I understand what it feels like to be different." Ryou sighed as he met Yugi's eyes, "It's Winter isn't it? Winter Jay Eternal?"
"How did you know?" Ryou asked as Yugi dug through Ryou's bag and pulled out the black diary, "I kinda read her diary." Yugi said as Ryou smiled then looked at the horizon. The two old friends sat there for the remainder of the afternoon, even long after Yugi left, Ryou sat there and thought long about their conversation. In the end Yugi had checked out Ryou's material for him, Ryou stood and picked up his coat and bag walking back to the library and getting into his truck. Turning the key to start the engine Ryou looked at his cell across the seat next to him, should he call Malik? This question raced through his mind as Ryou drove back to the manor and walked back to the groundskeepers house. Once inside Ryou decided to not call Malik and head to bed, walking up stairs Ryou fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
YAY! It's done! Well this was a close call as I realized I needed to be somewhere for most of the night preventing me from writing. Who cares! I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow! See ya!