Alverna: Chapter 2!
Joey: At least you put Chapter 28 of 'How did it come to this?' up first.
Alverna: That I did. And this chapter is offically dedicated to Marilynjayfreak, my first and only reviewer so far.
Seto: Alverna owns nada. Enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 2
"It's an Egyptian Nutcracker!" Yugi exclaimed as soon as all of the tissue paper was clear.
The nutcracker was made from wood, as most nutcrackers are, and was painted black. He had a large golden collar that covered his shoulders and a minor part of his upper chest. A traditional pharaoh's head cover was on his head, the one most associated with King Tut, and a white shendyt was wrapped around the doll's waist.
(A/N: Visit this link for a picture of the nutcracker I'm basing this one, http:/ www. ebay. com/ itm/ Vintage-Pharaoh-Nutcracker-King-Tut-Cleopatra-Huge- /350299667541)
"Wow." Joey said as he looked over his best friends shoulder. "You think the nutcracker has some hair under all that hat?"
"Maybe." Yugi replied. "But the hat's probably glued on." After a brief try, Yugi was proven right. You couldn't take the hat off, but it did wiggle a little, so Yugi straitened it before gently touching the cobra charm on it. The cobra was known as a protector to the pharaoh.
"Hey," Ryou reached down, "a note fell out of the wrapping."
"Well read it." Tristan said as everyone eagerly leaned forward.
"Go ahead Ryou." Yugi nodded as he held his new, old looking, kitchen tool in his arms.
"Dear Yugi,
"I've sent you this nutcracker as a way to help you cope with some hard times that you've been going through. I'm sorry if I unintentionally brought up some painful memories, but I hope that this nutcracker will be able to help keep you stable when alone at night.
"Best of wishes, and Merry Christmas."
"It's not signed." Malik said as he read silently while his fellow Hikari read aloud.
"What did it mean?" Tea asked as she turned to Yugi. "You know, when it said, 'I hope that this nutcracker will be able to help keep you stable when alone at night.' What's that all about?"
"Well," Yugi looked down to his lap, and the nutcracker, "ever since Atemu left, I've been having a hard time sleeping. Memories keep me awake, mostly good ones. But once I fall asleep, all of the bad memories tease me and don't let me rest. I've had to resort to taking sleeping pills so I could get through the college finals last week."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Duke asked.
"I already told some people." Yugi sighed. "Grandpa, Ryou, and Malik."
"We're going through the same thing Yugi is." Malik explained. "And Yugi couldn't hide how tired he was Grandpa."
"However," Ryou picked up, "it has gotten better since we found an inanimate object to confide in. Just something that won't take back, sasses at you for crying, or unintentionally make a comment that would make things worse."
"What do you have?" Mokuba, a lot calmer now that he had stopped eating candy, courtesy of Seto.
"Like Yugi," Malik looked a bit sheepish, "we also were sent nutcrackers, but they had a no return sender. Just a note that said, 'it will help you cope', only in a lot less words."
"Could someone be stalking you guys?" Serenity asked. "I mean, they knew all of you were having trouble sleeping."
"It could be someone we know." Yugi replied. "Someone who can pick up on hidden feelings."
"Like who?" Seto asked.
"Fair point." Joey agreed. "Out of all of our adventures, we never met someone like that."
"I did." Yugi sighed again. "Atemu and I could pick up when the other was bothered by something. It usually helped to talk things out."
"I don't get what the big fuss about the nutcrackers, or the pharaoh, is." Rebecca cut in. "He's gone, like he should be. Finally at peace. So the nutcracker should get thrown out so we don't dishonor his memory."
"No!" Yugi cried out as Rebecca snatched the nutcracker from his arms, and threw it into a nearby wastepaper basket, where it made a resounding -CRACK!- "How could you!"
"Huh?" Rebecca took a few steps back from a now really mad Yugi.
"That's my nutcracker Rebecca." Yugi glared at her. "I decided what happens to it. And get over your hatred of Atemu already. He said he was sorry for what happened with the Orichalcos, and I forgave him. And that means I except everyone else to as well. Your actions are not making my life any easier. I'd really like to see you lose the other half of your soul and not feel lonely."
Silence filled the living room before Yugi picked his nutcracker out of the trash, noting the arm was broken.
"I need some time alone." Yugi said shortly as he turned to go to his room.
"Nice Rebecca." Tea turned her upset look to the girl. "You just put us back at square one with Yugi. Only this time, it will probably take longer to get him to come out of his room, and his shell."
Yugi lay on his bed as he cried softly and held his injured nutcracker under his chin. Why did life have to be so hard? He knew Rebecca hadn't meant to be rude, but her words still stung.
He missed Atemu, plain and simple. But he also loved him, as in, love, love. But he hadn't told Atemu his true feelings before he had crossed to the Afterlife with Bakura and Marik. Now he was gone, and Yugi would never see him again.
"Yugi."
A soft tap on the door brought Yugi out of his thoughts.
"Can Ryou and I come in?" Malik asked, hoping the answer would be yes.
"Okay." Yugi said quietly, and the two hikaris' let themselves in before closing the door again. While they did that, Yugi took a small piece of fabric, some toothpicks, and glue, and repaired the nutcrackers arm.
"You don't have to do this alone." Ryou said quietly. "It helped Malik and me when we would talk."
"What feelings did you two have for your other halves?" Yugi asked.
"Uh," Malik blinked, not expecting the question.
"You mean," Ryou raised an eyebrow, "besides the whole 'scared out to my wits that he would kill me' feelings?"
"Yeah." Yugi nodded. "You know that Atemu and I were close, and I wanted to know about you two."
"Well," Malik glanced down, "Marik did care about me to a point. But the real reason I ended that duel in Battle City, was I was scared because of my feelings for him. I felt… some sort of weird attraction. I now know that it was love. But it scared me, and I didn't want to confront it at the time. Now I truly wish that I had. He might have stayed."
"Bakura was a mixed case." Ryou admitted. "But I think we all knew that."
"Amen to that one." Malik said as he stole Yugi's pillow and flopped back on the bed, leading to Yugi's other pillow to hitting Malik in the face. "Ouch!"
"My pillow." Yugi growled as he grabbed his pillows and held them close, along with his new nutcracker.
"Anyway," Ryou shook his head at the childish antics, "I know that he cared to a point, like Marik did for Malik. Although I thought it was because I was his host. He needed me to survive. But when I fell unconscious during the whole Memory World adventure, I was in Egypt to, and for some reason I was also able to be seen."
"Lucky." Yugi grumbled.
"Not really." Ryou sighed. "Palace guards saw me and thought I was Bakura."
"I see the problem." Malik nodded.
"Moving on," Ryou cleared his throat. "Just as the guards over took me and were about to kill me, Bakura came up on Diabound and scared them off. He looked over at me and said, 'Do be more careful Ryou', and then flew off."
"He called you Ryou?" Yugi gasped. "I always thought he never called you by name, but by insults."
"Yeah," Ryou agreed. "But his concern unlocked my feelings for him. When it came time for him to pass into the afterlife, I was too shy to ask him to stay."
"We all were." Yugi said as he glared at Malik, who was trying to steal one of his pillows again. "No, you can't have it."
"You're not even using it." Malik said as he tried to take it back.
"It's for Atemu!" Yugi snapped.
"What?" Ryou asked a bit concerned. "Did the pharaoh come back?"
"I…" Yugi glanced down, "I named the nutcracker Atemu."
"I named mine Marik." Malik admitted.
"And mine's Bakura." Ryou chuckled. "We really are a basket case aren't we?"
"A basket case of nutty hikaris." Yugi giggled. "You guys want to spend the night?"
"Could we?" Malik instantly looked like Christmas had come early.
"As long as you help clean up from the party." Yugi gave a small smile.
"I'll do it!" Malik exclaimed.
"Ishizu and Odion are coming in a few days," Ryou explained. "So Malik wants to, 'savor his last days of freedom', as he put it."
"Such a drama queen." Yugi sighed.
"This coming from the kid who stole the winter performance with his four line solo?" Malik shot back.
"For the last time," Yugi said with two pillows in hand, "I was just singing!"
"Sure." Malik rolled his eyes, earning himself a one way trip off the bed by means of pounding pillows.
That evening, Ryou, Malik, and Yugi were crawling into their sleeping bags. Solomon had agreed to Ryou and Malik spending the night, but the house had to be clean before bedtime. So after the massive cleanup, Ryou and Malik went home, packed for overnight, and came back, bringing their nutcrackers with them so Yugi could see.
They both were made of wood, and were painted black like Yugi's. Ryou's had a tan shendyt, which represented lower class, a robe that looked like it belongs to someone of high class, basic sandals, and a head cover the reminded Yugi of what a shepherd would wear.
Malik's had a white shendyt, basic sandals, a spear, and a tomb guard's head cover, which looked like his pharaoh's head cover, minus the strips and cobra protection charm.
Rebecca had apologized to Yugi as they tossed some torn wrapping paper into the trash can. And Yugi forgave her, knowing she hadn't meant to be inconsiderate of his feelings. She and Professor Hawkins had left shortly afterwards for their hotel. There just wasn't enough room in the house part of the game shop.
Joey and Serenity headed out the door with Seto and Mokuba. Seto had insisted they live at their mansion with them. A bit too big as he put it, so now they didn't have to worry about their drunken father ruining their Christmas.
Duke and Tristan headed back to the Black Crown Game Shop, where Duke ran his own business. They needed to be there so that they could let the children of Domino Orphanage pick out up to $50 of games, per child. Yugi and his grandpa had done theirs earlier in the week. It simply was a good idea of Seto's that they were willing to let roll. Tea went with Duke and Tristan to help.
"Hey guys." Yugi whispered after the lights were off. "You awake?"
"Yes." Ryou whispered back.
"Now I am." Malik grumbled. "Something wrong?"
"Just thinking back to when I was little." Yugi sighed. "Grandpa always told me to make a wish on the star on the top of our tree. For some reason, I want us to do that."
"It's a nice idea." Ryou nodded. "Maybe I could fall asleep afterwards. My thoughts are all over the place and won't let me sleep."
"I was already asleep." Malik grumbled. "As long as you two won't bug me afterwards, and I don't have to tell what I wished for, I'm game."
"Of course you're not going to tell." Yugi answered as he propped himself up on his elbows. "That ruins it."
"Okay then." Ryou sighed as they stared at the star on top of the gently lit Christmas tree. "Make a wish guys."
They all wished for the same thing. They wished for the men who had stolen their hearts to come back to them, and live a full mortal life. Slowly, the Hikaris drifted back to sleep, each holding their nutcrackers close to them.
A few hours later, Yugi woke to the sound of squeaking. It wasn't Ryou or Malik snoring, they didn't snore. Sitting up as he rubbed his eyes, Yugi glanced around, curious to find the source. Until his eyes landed on the coffee table and he actually discovered what had made the noise that woke him up.
Sitting on it was a 'Giant Rat'. A real one. It was one of the new cards that Pegasus had made recently after Seto opened a new 'Duel Academy' the previous year. Though it was a lot smaller than the hologram in the game. It was about the size of a normal rat.
"Guys." Yugi whispered as he reached down to Ryou and Malik and began to shake them, not taking his eyes off the 'Giant Rat' on the coffee table for he feared it would disappear if he did. "Guys, wake up!"
"What?" Ryou jerked awake.
"This had better be good." Malik growled.
"There's a 'Giant Rat' on the coffee table." Yugi said as the 'Giant Rat' looked at them. "I'm not seeing things, am I?"
"No." Ryou shook his head. "I see it too."
"Same." Malik nodded. "What does it mean?"
The rat on the table let out a high pitched squeal, and other 'Giant Rats' came out of the shadows. They were followed by a hideous thing that was best described as a 'Bone Mouse' times seven. It had seven heads and its bones were seen all over the place, not just along the back of its spine.
"We never can have a normal life can we?" Malik asked flatly.
"Nope." Yugi and Ryou agreed together.
Alverna: End of Chapter 2.
Yugi: Please review! The more reviews and the faster they come, the sooner we can get out of that rodent situation. -PUUPY DOG EYES OF DOOM-