How hard can I procrastinate on updating LaD? THIS HARD.

Unbeta'd, give my mistakes a pep talk.

There's three worst case outcomes with Pegasus, Jounouchi decides as they plan for tomorrow at his place; the old man's outta town so they have his place to themselves. He's glad neither Bakura decides to comment on the bottles left everywhere - he doesn't remember letting anyone ever stay over in the original timeline, not even Shizuka. Honda once told him that, back when they were dealing with Hirutani's return, they'd opened the unlocked door and had bottles thrown at them for their trouble. It might not have been the most humiliating moment of his life but it came pretty damn close.

The first is what Bakura said; that he finds out about time travel and steals the device to save his wife and damn the rest of the world. The second is that he sees his own death at Thief King's hands and has them all thrown in a dungeon the second they set foot inside the castle, to rot as he pulls off the first scenario anyway.

The third is that he learns how Yugi will defeat him, but that's not such a big deal to Jounouchi. He knows Yugi can pull another victory off, even if both Bakuras are more cautious. That doesn't mean he won't find a way to expose him prior to the duel so Yugi can go in prepared though.

If Pegasus could read every mind all the time he'd go even nuttier, so he probably has to consciously choose who's mind to read. Bakura might be able to disappear into the background (so long as Pegasus doesn't realize he has his own Item) but Jounouchi knows he won't have that luxury. That doesn't stop him from simply poking around everyone's minds out of boredom between turns though.

He'd read Jounouchi's mind during his qualifying duels, no question, and he doubts he'll be able to simply stop thinking about anything but the cards in his hand. All Pegasus needs is one errant thought, one hint that he already knows what Pegasus is capable of, and he'll dig deep as he can. And that's just against Keith; god knows if he will be able to skip the match against Yugi like before. There's no way he'll be able to keep the memories out and he wouldn't be able to trick Pegasus into assuming it was all just wishful thinking. He can't predict Yugi, now that Atem has changed the rules of their relationship. He might need to duel Jounouchi this time.

They have to figure out how to block it. Maybe sheer force of will could do the trick, like it did with Malik's possession. The Ring might be able to at least interfere, but that might only work for Bakura. Two Items clashing is sure to draw attention too.

They could force his ownership of the Eye into the open, try to make a deal where he won't use it and as much as Jounouchi despises the guy, he can at least trust that Pegasus a man of his word. But they have nothing to offer him in return and how the hell are they supposed to 'figure out' that he has the Eye in the first place?

Wait a sec. He knows someone who already thinks Pegasus is a dirty cheat, someone who'd do anything to prove he was robbed. Bandit Keith's grudge would be so easy to exploit! All Jounouchi has to do is sound sincerely angry about Keith's loss and wanting to expose Pegasus for the fraud he is and he'd probably have him in the palm of his hand.

He doesn't like the idea of sucking up to Keith so maybe if he duels and trounces his flunkies again, Keith might respect him as a fellow duelist rather than a pest. He'd have to duel so well that Keith can't be anything but impressed, but he could do it.

Ick. All this shady business makes him feel like he's turning into Kaiba.

"Or I could just break into his castle and take the Eye when he's sleeping," Thief King suggests, entirely unhelpfully, when Jounouchi floats the Keith idea. "It wouldn't be hard."

"How's he supposed to release Gramps' soul if he's dead?"

"I wouldn't kill him this time! He'd be asleep. Besides, I didn't mean to kill him the first time..."

"Sure you didn't. I bet he'll totally snooze while you dig around his eye socket too!"

Thief King grumbles quietly to himself and ignores Jounouchi as he inspects Bakura's deck. They won't be dueling in the tournament but he could use someone around that's familiar with the strategy Jounouchi's more used to now, as much as he's had to prune it down to fit Duelist Kingdom card availability. Even if it means facing Bakura's creepy ass deck.

That said, Thief King sneaking into the castle isn't such a bad idea. Specifically, sneaking in to rescue Mokuba if he gets caught again. His disappearance is being hushed up like crazy, but a few kids at his school were more than willing to blab about not seeing him for a while in exchange for some soda. If they can keep Mokuba from being taken from them the first time around, they won't have to worry. If they lose him, they can get him back.

So long as Thief King can get Mokuba out of Pegasus' clutches and they can keep him safe with them until Kaiba wakes up, that means Kaiba probably won't go after Yugi. It also means Yugi doesn't have to go a second round of being afraid of the other him.

"Hey Thief, how hard would it be to break into Pegasus' castle, grab Mokuba and get back out?"

"Depends on how many bodies he's willing to throw at me. I'd be able to handle a small group, but if I have to protect Mokuba too I'd be overwhelmed before long. I'd estimate... half an hour, tops. If I screw up you can just reset, right? Like a save state."

"Would you do it?"

"Sounds like fun to me. Can't say I've ever stolen a person before, but there's a first time for everything."

Some things really don't change, Jounouchi thinks, as Thief King's smirk spreads across Bakura's face. He doesn't particularly like the idea of reliving the damn RPG again but he'd do it for Mokuba.

He'd relive his whole damn life for Yugi.

Jounouchi remembers to be cheerful when he comes to class the next day, as well as appropriately shocked at the sight of Grandpa waving out of the screen alongside Bakura. He looks about as chipper as a soul trapped inside a camera can be, as best as anyone can tell with how flickery the screen is. Everything's the same and everything's going to be alright, he thinks, until he finally gets a closer look at Yugi's face once class starts and Anzu and Honda are in their own seats.

He's seen that look in his eyes before, when Atem was willing to call an attack that could have - no, would have - killed Kaiba. Something had changed in the duel against Pegasus and it wasn't for the better.

He whispers, "You okay?"

He nods stiffly. He doesn't look okay at all. There's thick shadows under his eyes and he clearly hasn't slept. He can't see the Puzzle cord around Yugi's neck.

"We'll get him back," he says as loudly as he dares. Yugi's shoulders relax a little as he nods again. He hopes Anzu and Honda were able to make the same promise last night. When Yugi dozes off in the middle of class, Jounouchi reaches over when the teacher's back is turned and props up his book to hide him. He forces himself to pay attention in class best he can so he can help with his homework later.

Thief King may have made the choice but Jounouchi didn't fight him on it, so he might as well have thrown Grandpa's soul away himself. He's done this to Yugi.

Bakura slips him a note - or at least he thinks it's Bakura. He can't be bothered to tell the difference.

Stop thinking about it. Tomorrow is the start of the Duelist Kingdom tournament so you have to focus.

It must be nice to be able to shuffle things you don't want to think about out of sight in your head whenever you want, Jounouchi thinks. He's not sure if it's an ability Bakura picked up to deal with the Ring, or something he learned before it ever came into his life.

He manages to get away with letting Yugi sleep for most of the morning. When the bell rings for lunch, he shakes Yugi awake and together they go to the roof. Yugi leans against him as they sit by a wall out of sight of the door.

"What else happened in there, Yugi? And don't say I won't believe you, 'cuz you know I will."

Yugi's silence is answer enough, though really he should've figured that out the moment he saw the Puzzle wasn't on him.

"Was it something to do with that 'other you', the one we met in Bakura's RPG?"

"I think so. This tape showed up at our house, and... And then I woke up. Grandpa was in the radio and on the TV screen were instructions on how to get to Duelist Kingdom for some crazy tournament. I-I think the other me made a bet with Pegasus, and my grandpa was the ante."

That's not what happened. That couldn't have been what happened. Atem might be more suspicious and dangerous this time around, but it was the risk that he'd lose Grandpa's soul in the first place that made him think he had to kill Kaiba. He'd put himself on the line, sure, but would never choose to involve an innocent bystander. Pegasus was the one who took Grandpa's soul hostage. Atem wouldn't have even considered suggesting it.

He just has to hope he can endear Yugi to Atem without giving everything away. He can't imagine a world where Yugi and Atem end up like how Bakura and Thief King were before.

"Could you feel how the other you felt? Like afterwords?"

"A little." Yugi's hand reached up to where the Puzzle would normally rest, his hand closing on the space almost automatically. His eyes widened as he remembered he wasn't wearing it and the way his shoulders sank gave Jounouchi a little hope that he hadn't given up on the Puzzle just yet.

"Then I don't think he chose to put Gramps in danger. I mean, if he's the 'other you', then he's obviously gotta love him too, right? He'd never choose to hurt him because you wouldn't."

But Jounouchi would. Yugi's head leaning against his shoulder doesn't comfort him at all, for the first time ever.

"Thanks, Jounouchi."

He wants that to as well. He wants those words to fill him with joy so badly, but they don't.

He doesn't deserve them.

That night, the night before they set foot on the boat to Duelist Kingdom, he goes through his deck one last time. He looks at cards he hasn't seen the way he remembers them for years. In his time, the original cards had become precious in their own right when they stopped being printed and the artwork changed. The originals were way too valuable to carry around as part of a normal deck as a result, but in this timeline they're common as anything.

Time Wizard, Baby Dragon, Flame Swordsman...

All he was missing was the Red Eyes. Which he will get back, once he decides how he's gonna get a second place tournament winner to waste their time on a 'newbie' like him, let alone bet his rarest card. He doesn't want to start off on the wrong foot with Mai again, so he can't hope that she'll try and sic Ryuzaki on him.

Maybe they can start things off with Mai earlier for that matter, before they even get on the boat. She'll be expecting them to act like every other jackass she encounters, so hopefully this time she'll be pleasantly surprised.

Or her duelist instincts will recognize him for the threat he really is and make a beeline for taking him out of the tournament right out of the gate. He wouldn't put it past her. That would suck.

Or those same instincts will make her avoid him completely and observe from a distance until she's gotten a good grasp of his skills, so she can take him out at the finals. That would suck even harder.

Everything in his life always ends up coming down to chance, he thinks, as he tries to get some sleep.