As the Pharaoh slowly made his way over to Tea's house, he began thinking about how he should break the news to Yugi's most trusted friends.
He gave a little sigh.
It's all my fault... if I had been a bit more careful, Yugi could still be here with us...
He tried to hold back a sob, but he couldn't. He broke down into tears right there on the sidewalk. People passed by in cars and on the street staring at him, but he didn't care. He had lost his closest friend once more, he just couldn't bear the thought of him actually being lost forever. He couldn't stand to even bring up that fact. The fact that Yugi very well could be lost forever.
I'm alone again... He told himself, but then he shook himself feircely.
I'm not going to give up. Never ever. I'm going to find Yugi and the others and I'm going to bring them all back to where they belong. I know that Yugi would do the same thing for me if I had gone missing, and I know he would never give up on finding me, so I'm not about to start giving up when my friend is depending so much on me.
He slowly tried to put himself back together, he knew that he looked pathetic, and that his face was red from his tears, but he didn't care. All he cared about in this moment was getting to Yugi's friends and then figuring out how to get Yugi back.
By the time he had reached Tea's house, he had no more energy, he was fully drained, he had no strength. He felt like he was dying inside, and the fact that he had to break this news to Yugi's precious friends was almost unbearable, but he knew he had to do it, no matter how hard he had tried to turn away and forget.
It had taken Yami about an hour or two to reach Tea's house on foot, but the real reason it took him so long was because he was dragging his feet the whole time, dreading their reactions. He took a shaky breath, his head was spinning and his heart was beating fast, dispite the drained energy, he had reached Tea's door step and was about to knock, when Tristan opened the door and ran into the Pharaoh. Yami grunted in surprise and fell to his knees. Tristan blinked in surprise.
"Yugi? what's going on? you feeling alright?" he asked in a concerned voice.
Before the Pharaoh could respond, Tea was suddenly next to Tristan in the doorway. "Yugi!?" she said in surprise.
Is it really that much of a surprise that I came to her house? he thought to himself, but when Tea was bending down next to him, he realized that the look on his face, and the fact that he was on the ground, must have scared both of them half to death.
The Pharaoh blinked, clearly exhausted. "Tea..." he murmered. Tea's eyes were sparked with fear for her friend, and she wasted no time in ordering Tristan and Joey to carry Yugi inside and onto the couch to rest.
"Please... I..." he trailed off, he couldn't finish his sentence, he was so exhausted from all of today's events that, even in this uncomfortable position on Tea's couch, he fell fast asleep quicker than he would have ever thought possible.
By the time the Pharaoh had woken up, he had noticed that it was no longer growing dark outside, but growing lighter.
I slept the whole night? I didn't know I could have ever slept that long... I wonder what time it is... He wondered silently. He looked around for a clock, and finally found one on the stand next to him. It read 11:46.
11:46? I slept that long? he questioned himself.
"Well, Hello sleeping beauty!" Tea said walking over.
"Uh... Hi." The Pharaoh stuttered.
Tea blinked, "I hope you didn't mind sleeping over here, you looked almost dead when you came last night..." she trailed off, again worry gleamed in her eyes.
"Uh..." The Pharaoh began. But Tea seemed to have pushed her worry to the side.
"You know what Yugi... I don't think you've ever been in my house before..." she said, and then she smiled. "Are you feeling any better?" she asked, then thought for a moment.
"I could take you on a tour if you want, seeing as how you've never been here before." she said laughing.
She was in a good mood today it seemed.
The Pharaoh, still a little stunned about the past events, nodded absently.
"Tea... Where are Tristan and Joey?" the Pharaoh asked.
Tea smiled. "Well, they were getting ready to leave when you stopped by, and they seemed a bit worried about you, and they asked to stay the night... They stayed in the guest bedroom." She rolled her eyes. "And it seems even on weekends they like to be lazy, and, not that it's really any surprise to me, they're still asleep." she said in a flat voice.
But she smiled again, "Well, why don't we wake them up? and on the way i'll give you a tour of the place." she said.
The Pharaoh's eyes were still glazed with loss, but Tea didn't seem to have noticed.
"Come on Yugi." she said, and she pulled Yami off the couch and onto the floor. He swayed a little, his head getting dizzy for a moment,
luckily Tea was standing next to him in time to catch, and steady him.
Well, it's a good thing I didn't fall completely over, otherwise I don't think Tea would have enough strength to catch me. He mused.
As Tea and Yami walked around the house Yami noticed that there was more than enough space, and it could easily be too big for one person, but the Pharaoh dismissed the thought.
He looked around the house.
The front door was an average size door, but it didn't seem all that big compared to the rest of the house.
When you walk through the front door, all you really see is a stairway that leads both downstairs and upstairs. When you walked upstairs you were in the living room. But Tea always saw it as the 'family room' even though she lived alone.
The Pharaoh smiled to himself, noticing that when she said 'family room' she clearly meant that, to her, her friends were family.
There was a big TV hanging on the far wall, and two couches surrounded the TV, and a rocking chair was next to the long couch.
Yami looked around, When he first arrived at Tea's house, he didn't care to look around much, but now that he was looking at it, he realized that, even though Tea isn't rich, her parents clearly spoiled her rotten.
Yami laughed to himself and thought. Well, atleast she doesn't act rotten.
The Pharaoh didn't really have time to soak up all of his surroundings in the Living room before Tea dragged him further around the house.
Yami noticed that if you went closer to the TV, to the right you'd see that the wall breaks away and heads further into the house. That room was the dining room.
"And if you look over there.." Tea pointed her finger to the right of the table. "The kitchen is a big island." she told him.
She then walked towards the kitchen and beside the sink, there was a double door. She opened them up and behind the door was a halway, but not just any hallway, it looked more like a hotel hallway than any normal one he had seen before.
The doors were all evenly spaced apart, and, as Tea walked down the hallway, she pointed left and right, telling Yami that down this hallway was where all the bedrooms and bathrooms were.
The Pharaoh looked around, it was extremely bright in here, but yet no lights were on, but then he noticed that at the end of the hallway there was a big window that let sunlight leak in.
Yami stopped suddenly. "Tea..." he started.
Tea stopped beside him. "Yes Yugi?" she asked.
At the sound of his friends name he flinched, not just a little bit, a lot. Enough for Tea to notice, of course, he didn't want her to notice, but it seemed she had anyways.
"Yugi... whats wrong?" she asked.
The Pharaoh, unable to tell her at the moment shook his head sadly.
"Tea, I need to tell you all something... it's... important." he told her. "Do you think you could get Tristan and Joey?" he asked.
Tea, solemn for the first time that day, nodded and walked up to the nearest door, rapping her knuckles loudly against the door.
There was a loud, "What!" from the other side. "Joey! Tristan! come on you've been in there almost the whole day..."
She continued to scold them, but Yami had walked back the way he had come, through the double doors, past the island and dining room, and back into the family room.
He sat down on the long couch he had slept on that night, and drew a shaky breath.
A few moments later Tea had emerged from behind the wall with Tristan and Joey, both of them were in their pajamas, and their hair was scraggly and uncombed.
Tristan was mumbling some sort of insult about Tea, and Joey looked at her with a smug look on his face, but both of their eyes grew bright once they saw Yami sitting on the couch.
Tea sat down on the opposite couch that faced Yami.
"Hey! Yug, buddy, long time no see eh? how you feelin' this morning?" Joey asked, and Tristan nodded in agreement to Joey.
Yami didn't look at them both, only the ground, but he did motion for Tristan and Joey to sit down next to Tea.
Tea, Tristan and Joey all gave a puzzled look, but the Pharaoh didn't seem to notice.
"Yugi? whats wrong buddy?" Tristan asked when they were all settled.
Yami was still looking at the ground, a tear had formed and fell from his eye. Tea let out a tiny gasp of surprise, quiet enough that only Joey and Tristan heard it.
"Yugi?" Tea asked concerned.
for the first time that day, Yami looked up at the concerned faces of the 3 friends.
"No... not Yugi..." he stammered uncomfortably.
"Pharaoh?" Joey said.
Yami closed his eyes and nodded.
Tristan, by this point was utterly confused.
"Well... whats wrong Pharaoh? the longer you make us wait, the more I think i'll go crazy if you don't tell us what's wrong." he stated.
Yami knew that this was probably correct, according to Joey and Tristan anyway.
The Pharaoh drew in a long shaky breath. Worry, loss, and anguish sparking in his eyes all at once.
"Guys... it's Yugi..."
Tea stood up. "Yugi? Whats wrong with him? is he sick?" she asked.
Tears ran down Yami's cheeks, and he roughly shook his head to clear it, but also answering Tea's question.
"No... it's... well..." he stuttered.
Then unconsiously, he stood up and almost screamed and cried at the same time.
"Yugi! He's... gone!"
