Not long afterwards, Ryou was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking around (what was apparently) his room. He was struggling to recognize something. There was the picture on the dresser next to his bed- the one with all his friends (he supposed). But then he noticed something strange- Malik had said this was the 'group' he hung out with, yet neither that evil Malik nor that wicked Bakura were in it. If they had been 'friends' for so long, why weren't they there? And why did he have such horrible memories of them both?
Ryou began curiously searching around the house- sure enough, there were several pictures of him and the larger 'gang,' but only one of his 'clone' and the darker boy.
And that single picture was very odd- Ryou was in front, smiling happily and giving a typical 'peace' sign. But Bakura was standing behind him, looking very annoyed. He didn't look like he wanted to be in the picture. Malik, on the other hand, seemed even happier than Ryou, and he was giving 'bunny ears' to Ryou and Bakura. There was also another man standing in the background with a rather goofy grin- he looked almost identical to Malik, except larger. Yet another mystery to add to the pile.
Light, pale locks shook back and forth in frustration. None of this made sense. He was a British-born teen with a father in Egypt and a home in Japan. He lived with a crazy psychopath who had physically abused him, and his 'friends' were a bunch of very random people who- for some reason- all got along. Oh, and apparently they did something that saved the world using magic and trading cards.
...how the devil was he supposed to accept all of this without his memories? Heck, right now he'd be happy if he just understood some of it!
He was just starting to get a headache when he heard the doorbell ring. Ryou jumped up, remembering the phone call he'd gotten shortly after the two maniacs had left. He headed downstairs, hoping that his 'other' friends could help make some sense of this.
"Ryou!" He was greeted by several enthusiastic cries when he opened the front door. A large crowd of teens was waiting on the front stoop, clearly expecting him to invite them inside. But they kept speaking in that unusual language... (Japanese, the nurse had said...)
"Oh! Hello! I heard about you- um, you're- my friends?" Ryou tried not to sound insulting, but it was hard to hide the fact that he didn't remember them.
The group looked a little crestfallen, but the smallest member stepped towards him. He was very short, but had a wide smile and lots of energy.
"Hi Ryou, I'm Yugi! I've been your friend for a long time, but if you don't remember me that's ok- maybe we can be new friends!"
His English wasn't perfect, but his words were still clear. Ryou blinked at the happy manner- there was something very endearing about the star-haired boy.
He smiled. "I'd like that. Please, come in."
A brown-haired girl was the next to step inside. "My name is Anzu- we're all in the same class in school at Domino High School." She lifted up a box that seemed to have several random objects in it. "We all got together and brought some things that you might remember- if you want to try looking through them, of course. Whatever you feel like."
Ryou was pleasantly surprised- they had all gotten together to help him? Even when he didn't know their names?
His eyes grew misty and he smiled appreciatively. "Thank you all; that's very kind of you."
"Nah, think nothin' of it!" The lanky guy Ryou knew to be 'Jou' spoke up. "'Sides, this thing's gotta be temporary- it's not like anyone could ever forget me!" The blonde threw out his arms in an exaggerated show.
"And yet, so many of us still try..." The tallest man in the back commented.
"Hey, whatcha say to me, rich-boy?!"
Ryou's eyes widened. "Mutt."
"Eh?" Jou turned. "Ryou?"
"That... that guy-" He pointed to Kaiba, "-he's always calling you 'mutt,' right?"
Everyone's eyes widened. Then Jou's shoulders slumped forward.
"Aw man... you mean that's the thing you remember?"
Everyone else started laughing, and Ryou realized they were all just teasing; not actually insulting their friend. He gave a slight giggle, and the smallest boy ('Yugi,' he reminded himself) turned to him.
"Hey, I saw that!" The shortest visitor grinned as he pointed to Ryou's face. "You remember how to do Ryou's smile!"
"Um, beg pardon?" Ryou was confused. 'Ryou's... smile?'
"Yeah!" The blonde nodded happily. "You've got a really special smile- your eyes close and your whole face looks really cheerful!"
"It's cute!" Anzu added, though she blushed when the shorter brunette stared at her funny.
The homeowner quickly invited the upbeat crowd in, and everyone settled into the living room. Ryou had a million questions, but he waited for his friends to get comfortable before speaking.
The language barrier was still strong, but thankfully Jounouchi and Kaiba both spoke English, and Anzu was somewhat fluent (as she dreamed of one day studying dance in New York). Yugi also knew a bit from school, but he wasn't fluent enough to hold a long conversation.
"Um, so... how did we all meet?"
Although the question was simple enough, the number of responses (half of them in that odd language) was overwhelming. Ryou nearly sweatdropped as he tried to figure out how to even address the issue. Thankfully, he was saved the trouble by the only girl in the room.
Anzu clapped her hands together loudly, and the group stopped talking. "Ok gang, this obviously isn't going to work- we need one person to tell the main story, and then everyone else can add anything they think was left out- politely, I mean." She gave Jou a pointed look, and the blonde gave an awkward laugh.
"Eh-heh... sounds good to me."
Yugi and Anzu were chosen to tell the main story (although Seto and Jou occasionally interjected with rather biased comments) and Ryou listened as they wove what was perhaps the strangest tale he'd ever heard.
"-so then they were both sympathetic to our circumstances, and granted the three of us a chance at living in the mortal realm again." The Pharaoh concluded, with Anzu translating (as no one but the three yami's were at the weighing by Ma'at).
Ryou's head was wheeling as the former Pharaoh ("Yami," as he asked to be called) wrapped up the incredible story. During the entire narration, he'd felt some random memroeis come back- most of which weren't very helpful, but some were rather reassuring (he was surprised how he remembered Jounouchi's sister and Yugi's Grandpa without any prompting).
Ryou hesitantly voiced one of his direst questions. "So... are Bakura, and Marik, and Malik... good, now?"
Yami sneered, but Yugi quickly interrupted. "They don't want to take over the world anymore, if that's what you mean. The darkness is mostly gone from their hearts."
Ryou raised an eyebrow. "'Mostly'?"
The past Pharaoh cleared his throat. "It's in their nature to be troublesome; and although they are no longer 'evil' they are still three very large pains in the-"
"Yami!" Yugi rebuked his darker half right in the middle of translating his words. "That's rude."
The Egyptian just mumbled something suspiciously like, "And they aren't?" But Yugi didn't catch it.
Ryou was still very confused- he had no doubts that his friend were telling him the truth (honestly, who could ever make a story like that up? Especially as it entirely explained his scars and scattered memories). But he was still unsure of why he and Bakura were roommates... and what was his relationship with the two blondes?
The pale boy held back a sigh. He had a feeling that no amount of quick questions and answers was going to explain this entire lurid saga.
Meanwhile, as Yugi and the others tried to jog Ryou's memories, two other duelists were just reaching the Ishtar residence. Malik opened the door and yelled out a warning to his family.
"Hey Ishiiiiizuu! I brought something home!~"
Bakura uncovered his ears and glared- what was he, a stray dog?!
"I swear to Ra, Malik; if it's another squirrel..." Ishizu stepped gracefully into the foyer.
"Nope! Something even nuttier!" He snickered at his own terrible joke. Bakura just closed his eyes in disbelief.
'Why the f*** am I here again?!'
The seer paused as she recognized the pale thief. "Bakura. This is a surprise." Her tone was rather terse- she clearly remembered what had happened the last time the tomb robber had visited.
Which reminded her; the kitchen pipes might be fixed, but they were still out of raspberry soda and Alka-Seltzer.
"Hikari-love~!" A large blonde-and-purple blur suddenly latched onto Malik.
"Hey, Marik-honey; you have a good day?"
Marik nodded eagerly. "Yeps! Odion took me through a car-washer! It was kinda creepy and really cool! It was like a monster was eating us alive! And everything was soapy and bubbly and- oh, Baka-thief is here!" Marik let go of his lover and ran to glomp the ancient outlaw.
As usual, Bakura simply waited until the last second before he casually side-stepped the thief, sticking his foot out so the crazed yami crashed to the floor.
Bakura smirked to himself. 'Is he ever not going to fall for that? Fool.'
Unlike the Pharaoh and the Thief King, when Marik had been brought back, the gods left a large portion of his twisted psyche behind. A way to 'cleanse the soul for more unbiased judgment' or some crap. All Bakura knew was that the overly-brawny fiend was now twice as dense and half as insidious as he used to be.
"Marik-love! Are you alright?!" The younger of the pair knelt down and checked his fallen dark. Marik smirked as Malik began kissing his yami's hands and knees 'better.'
'Then again, maybe he's smarter than he looks...' Bakura's nose soon twisted in disgust as the two blondes progressed to areas that Marik definitely hadn't hurt. Soon they were both quite distracted.
Ishizu cleared her throat, and Malik stopped. Marik, however, continued making little love bites up and down Malik's tan neck.
"Marik-honey, I think we should *ngh* stop for a moment."
"Hmm? Why?"
Ishizu was now towering over the two seated teens, and this time she cleared her throat loud enough to nearly shake the paintings on the wall.
"Oh, sorry Ishi-sis!" Marik got up, not looking the least bit apologetic. "Is it snack time yet?"
Malik quickly re-adjusted his shirt. "I think we should start working on supper- it's getting late, and we're going to have a guest for dinner." He pointed at the still-repulsed tomb robber.
The larger blonde stared at Bakura for a moment, tilting his head. "Hikari, isn't baka-thief too skinny for everyone?" He poked the growling tomb robber in the side. "Marik thinks thief will taste bad, too."
"OVER. We're going to have a guest OVER for dinner." Malik sighed while Bakura swatted away the tanned digits. "Ra, what am I going to do with you, love-bug?"
Marik grinned. "Marik-yami has some ideas for Malik-honey~"
Again, Bakura felt like gagging- when they weren't ripping each others' (already skimpy) clothes off, they were making up new, nauseating pet names.
'...REALLY missing that cardboard box now.'