A/N: Aaand this is where it gets wonky. Please forgive the liberties I took with canon. I don't even know. Also, shorty chapter. More coming tonight!
Disclaimer: Do not own YuGiOh, own all the OCs though.
Chapter 18 (The next morning)
The funeral home was nearly empty. There were two women hovering near the casket sobbing and three more people standing awkwardly behind them. Ryou guessed one of the women to be the dead boy's mother, and the other either the grandmother or another relative.
One of the men turned around when Yami and Ryou entered and looked them over, turning away without saying anything.
The group stood silently for what seemed like hours before saying their last goodbyes and turning solemnly towards the door and exiting. Yami and Ryou stayed behind as the funeral director came into the room to close the casket and take it to the cemetery.
The man looked very confused when he saw them. Yami placed his hands on the millennium puzzle and murmured a few words in Egyptian. The man's eyes slid out of focus for a moment. And then he stood still, as if frozen in time. Yami moved forward to the coffin. The boy laying there looked younger than he had in the picture. Around sixteen maybe, a year younger than Ryou. He nearly laughed out loud. Bakura would kill him for this. But he began chanting in Egyptian anyway, drawing Bakura's spirit from the ring, which was shining gold around Ryou's neck. After a minute or so, the ring ceased its glowing and Ryou's eyes widened as James Prince's body suddenly shone as if surrounded by a halo. Yami's voice rose in volume, his eyes closed.
Abruptly he stopped speaking and the glow went away.
The boy's body shuddered once and then went back to being as still as it was. Except that when Ryou looked closer, he could see that his chest was now rising and falling with the steady breathing of one who was asleep.
"Bakura?" he called tentatively.
The boy's eyelids fluttered, but he remained asleep. Ryou took a few steps closer.
" 'Kura? Is that you?"
'Ryou?' Bakura's voice said, but he was speaking through the mindlink, not from the body lying in the coffin.
'Oh Bakura, you're okay!' Ryou exclaimed happily through the link.
'Where the hell am I? Everything's dark.' Bakura responded, confused.
'Open your eyes, dummy,' Ryou laughed.
The boy stirred again, and then opened his eyes. Seeing Ryou, he sat up quickly.
"Ryou?" Bakura said softly, sounding strange coming from the black haired boy's body.
Ryou ran forward, throwing his arms aroud the other boy.
"Oh Bakura, I'm so sorry for everything! I'm sorry I ever doubted your love for me. I—"
Bakura cut him off.
"Why the hell am I sitting in a coffin?" He asked. Ryou laughed nervously. Bakura obviously hadn't yet realized he was in a different body.
"Um, well, see, the only way we could bring you back was to, um, give you someone else's body… someone dead… so, you, uh, look a little different," Ryou stammered. He pointed to the mirror on the other side of the room. Bakura turned his gaze in that direction, and almost immediately burst out laughing.
"Are you serious Ryou?" He asked, swinging his legs over the side of the mahogany box he'd been sitting in. He dropped to the ground. He was only about two or three inches taller than Ryou now, and nearly as skinny.
Ryou laughed tentatively. But then any fear he had was destroyed as Bakura hugged Ryou tightly to his chest and kissed him, his tears falling on to Ryou's face, mixing with Ryou's own. They were tears of jo which Ryou hadn't cried in ages, maybe his entire life.
"I'll never leave you again, Ryou," Bakura promised in a whisper.
"I know that," Ryou replied, emotionally. They tightened their hold on each other, clinging on for dear life it would seem.
Yami smiled at the two, hoping that eventually he and Yugi would be like that—be happy again.
But for right now, he was just glad for Ryou and Bakura. Glad that he could have helped them.