"I told you already," Snarls Alister. "He was just looking at the mail and I was standing over there when he suddenly looked up and started screaming." Alister may be omitting some information. Before the boy even looked up, the green stone that Alister always wears had started glowing, but that had only been in response to some form of energy. The orichalcos stone had probably not caused any ill effects in the boy. Probably.
"Yeah, he started screaming for no reason while you were standing right there, and because of some odd occurrence, his unconscious body happened to be in your arms when we ran into the room," Says Tristan from his position by the couch and on the opposite side of the room from Alister. Joey, who has taken it upon himself to stand right next to Alister and glare at him, decides to contribute to the conversation.
"I found you fishy from the start. I doubt you're even his cousin."
Tristan steps away from his spot to join Joey in his guard duty.
"Yeah, and how come he did not mention you were coming to visit, because, usually, family does not just pop out of the blue like that?" Tristan's snarl and accompanying words are mostly for Miho's benefit. Whatever she saw happen in the hallway has caused her to completely withdraw into herself as she sits on the floor right next to the couch. Her quiet state has worked Tristan into a frenzy.
"GUYS, SHUT IT," Snaps Tea from her spot kneeling in front of the couch. "Whether Alister is telling the truth or not, it is not going to help us figure out what happened to Bakura and how to fix it if you continue your little macho fit."
The two fall silent at Tea's words and glance at the still figure on the couch. As he lays there, Ryo Bakura looks as though he is only sleeping and not in some unwakeable coma-like state. He has been like that for fifteen minutes.
"His name is Ryo." Mumbles a voice next to the couch. Almost everyone, except for the spiky-haired teen standing a little to the right of Tea, stares at Miho.
"He is our friend, so we should call him by his first name." Miho's eyes are downcast as she talks quietly enough to cause the others to lean towards her in order to hear.
"I agree with Miho." States Yugi who has finally finished conversing with the Puzzle Spirit about this matter. "Ryo is our friend. I mean, he practically died for us in Monster World."
The gang is silent in the wake of Yugi's words. One by one they nod in agreement.
Yugi walks over to Miho and stops in front of her.
"Miho, could you tell us what exactly you saw. You were the only one to see what happened, so you're the only one that can shed light on this whole mess." Yugi's tone is comforting and his eyes are kind. Miho looks directly into his eyes.
"I didn't just see something. I felt it, too." She becomes silent for a moment.
"Ryo was happily looking through whatever that girl gave him, and then the hallway started getting a little cold. Once that happened, Ryo started looking more and more terrified, and the hall kept getting colder and colder until I could only see my breath. Once that happened, Ryo looked up, but he didn't look at me. He…He was staring at something near his end of the hall. He looked so scared. Then, he screamed and I didn't know what to do because he looked so scared."
The end of Miho's story is met by a deafening silence.
"You're saying that he saw some kind of ghost," Says an extremely pale Joey.
Some emotion flickers within Alister's eyes.
"He knows something. Let me out."
Yugi does not see any reason not to comply with his Other's request. However, he is concerned by the eagerness in his Other's voice.
"Even if he is hiding something, we don't know for sure that Ryo's current state is Alister's doing. He could know something, yet be hiding it to protect Ryo.
A sense of annoyance radiates from the one within Yugi.
"I understand that. However, whether his intentions are good or ill, we need to know the reason behind Ryo's current state if we are to have a chance of helping him. In order to do that, we need to extract that information from Alister."
The word extract causes a sense of alarm from within Yugi. However, before he can protest, his Other Self takes control.
"Hey!"
"I am sorry, but I needed to capitalize on this moment."
Red eyes zero in on Alister, who is staring at the boy who just grew a foot taller. The man's eyes are wide and he looks as though he wants to take several steps back. He holds his ground.
The darker voice of the Other Yugi slides through the air.
"You know one of the causes behind Ryo's state." It is not a question. Alister merely clenches his fists in response. Dartz warned him of the merciless Pharaoh, so it is not good that he has been drawn into a confrontation with the dark ruler. Reaching the seal of orichalcos card before the Pharaoh could strike is unlikely.
"Please," The nicety sounds mocking. "Tell us what you know of our friend's predicament. Lying or avoiding the full truth is unadvisable."
The room's temperature drops several degrees. Alister narrows his eyes. It is beyond risky to continue to play the role of the boy's cousin, especially with a trigger happy five thousand year old spirit staring him down ready to unleash shadow magic if he so much as twitches wrong.
"I don't know much." Alister begins. "I'm not his cousin, so I do not know much about him." Both Tristan and Joey move towards Alister.
"I knew it. H-" The Dark Yugi holds up his hand to stop their advances and to silence their words.
"I will handle this." Red eyes glance at the two before refocusing on Alister. "Please, continue."
Alister stares for a moment before complying.
"I have only known him since last night. After I found him wandering around in the rain, I helped him-" Other Yugi interrupts.
"I said that lying and half truths are unadvisable. You do not have any more chances after this one." The chilled tone has the entirety of the room on edge, and almost everyone, except Alister, holds their breath in anticipation. Alister clenches his jaw before continuing.
"Fine, I was minding my own business last night by the bridge when out of the rain, some kid ran past me, climbed up onto the ledge, and jumped off." Alister ignores the gasps from the group and the look of shock on the dark spirit's face.
"After I dragged him out of the water and got his heart beating again, I managed to drag him back to his apartment, made sure he didn't die from hypothermia in the night- which he does not seem to remember. And ever since breakfast, he has been acting weird, although I don't know how he usually acts, but he seems distraught over that Amane girl that he received a letter from. If his words from last night are anything to go by, then she's dead."
Once Alister finishes speaking, there is no moment of silence. Only words that ring through the air and that reflect most of the inhabitants' true feelings on the matter.
"You're lying." Before she has finished speaking, Miho has pushed herself to her feet. She does not walk over to Alister, but instead, chooses to stand by Tea and glare at the false cousin.
"You're lying. Ryo would never…would never try to do something like that. He is too strong and too brave and he is happy, too. If he wasn't, then how come he smiled so much at school and at the arcade on Friday?"
"Yeah," Joey pipes in. "To expect us to believe something like that is ridiculous." Joey's fists clench. "Whatever you're trying to pu-"
"He is not lying." Other Yugi's voice is low and his eyes study the floor. The silence hurts. It does not make sense. What had they done wrong to miss their friend's decline? How had they let Ryo slip away from them?
Other Yugi looks up at Alister and then his gaze travels to Ryo.
Everyone has questions, but no one can even muster the simple ability to speak except…
"You mean he almost died last night," Mutters Tea. Before she can say anymore, there is a tricolored blur as Other Yugi moves to Ryo's side. He reaches down with one hand and grabs the piece of rope that had only a small near unnoticeable part visible above the boy's blue shirt collar. Other Yugi moves the other hand under the unconscious one's head to lift it slightly and then pulls off the Ring in one smooth motion.
While being careful not to touch the actual gold part, the Spirit of the Puzzle glares at the offensive object. The rest of the group stares at it with identical expressions of horror.
Ryo would have never put that back on of his own free will.
The Other Yugi's grip tightens at his lighter half's words.
"I-"
Ryo comes gasping back into the world of the living. Wild, unfocused eyes travel the room, and the boy flinches at the closeness of some unknown…Oh, Yugi.
Ryo relaxes and his breathing slows to a normal rate. He closes his eyes again, but this time it seems that he is simply trying to orient himself.
"Ryo-"
"You're awake-"
"Why were you wearing the Ring? That-"
"I was so worried-"
Only the Other Yugi, Alister, and an overwhelmed Ryo are silent amongst the maelstrom of questions. The expression of annoyance on Alister's face increases greatly the more Ryo looks overwhelmed by the questioning.
"ALL OF YOU. SHUT UP. The kid just woke up from passing out. He does not need to be bombarded with questions right after that." Alister's words bring a cloud of silence to the room.
Except for Ryo and Other Yugi, everyone stares at Alister. Ryo, who has finally collected himself, looks at the ceiling with darkened eyes. The Other Yugi watches Ryo.
"Why did you put on the Ring? Were you forced?" The last question originated in Yugi's thoughts.
"Yeah, man." Tristan intrudes on the exchange. "Did the Spirit come back and force you to put it on?"
Alister snarls at the two questioners. "I said no-"
"I wasn't forced." Says Ryo. His gaze travels to the Ring. He refuses to look at anyone in particular.
"Then, why?" The Other Yugi's red gaze bores into Ryo. The boy does not seem to notice.
"I wanted it to stop. I… I did not want to have to watch my…" Ryo falls silent. He pushes himself up to a sitting position on the couch. His eyes are empty, soulless.
"There has been something happening this past week that I have been trying to talk to you about, but I have kept forgetting." Ryo's voice is as empty as his eyes.
"If the Spirit has been preventing you from communicating with us-"
"No." Ryo meets the Other Yugi's eyes. "It isn't the Ring Spirit. Every night since a day after Monster World, I have had nightmares about the past. The morning after, I would wake up with every intention to tell all of you about them. By the time I got to school, the memory of those nightmares would have faded away, and I would only have the desire to hang out with all of you. The next night, I would remember the nights before, and the cycle would start again." Ryo has still not broken his gaze from the Other Yugi.
"Last night was the first night that I put on the Ring. I had wanted an explanation for them. I needed to know that they were just illusions. I needed alleviation from them. When I did not receive either of those things, I tried to…"
"But why, Ryo?" Miho's voice starts quiet, yet it rises and breaks with her next words. "Why would you do something like that? You could have called us before it got so bad that you… What nightmare could possibly make you turn your back on the freedom you fought for from that thing? Why would you try to…"
At first, Ryo does not respond. Instead, he turns his body so that his feet are touching the floor and then stands. He walks over to the pile of mail that he dropped and that no one bothered to pickup.
"Because they're dead."
He bends down, picks up the top letter, and straightens back to standing. Once he has looked at the return address, he turns back to face his friends.
"Who-" Tea's question dies when she sees the emptiness of her friend.
"My mother and my and a brother that I forgot. They are all dead. I have been seeing fragmented images of them dying over and over each night." His voice slowly descends into despair. He glances at the letter before continuing.
"I have been remembering my family's deaths for almost a week, except they died six years ago." Tears start to fall from Ryo's eyes.
"The irony of it is that I have been receiving l…letters from Amane for years, so she… she should not be dead. But she is…" As the letter slides through his fingers to the floor, the boy sinks to his knees. His head is bowed.
Tea, Joey, and Tristan are frozen in place with expressions of horror. Even though she covers her mouth with both hands, a whimper still escapes Miho as her eyes fill with tears. Alister stands off to the side. His eyes are shadowed and his expression unreadable. His arms are crossed and his fists are clenched.
The Other Yugi stands completely still. He does not know what his reaction should be to this.
"Let me out."
Yugi thinks in mimicry of his Other's earlier thoughts. The dark half mentally steps aside.
Yugi moves forward. There are tears forming in his eyes, but he blinks them away before reaching Ryo and kneeling next to him. At first, the broken child does not acknowledge the arms that wrap around him and that try to add warmth to his cold, cold world.
As he hugs Ryo, Yugi does not say anything at all. The boy eventually reacts by breaking down completely. He curls into Yugi and sobs for the second time in less than a day.
Even though Yugi tries to quietly shut the door to Ryo's bedroom, it still clicks softly. Although he doubts he woke up Ryo, Yugi winces at the slight possibility. The small boy creeps lightly through the hallway to the living room, where Joey and Alister stand far from each other and Tristan sits on a couch. They all look towards Yugi when he enters their peripheral visions.
"How is he?" Alister's voice borders on demanding. Joey remains silent and almost completely still while Tristan glances at Alister as if he is questioning his reasons for asking.
"Sleeping." As he talks, Yugi's weariness shows in his slouched shoulders. "It took a while, but he finally settled down enough to rest." Yugi deflates.
"I do not know what good it will do if he has those dreams tonight." After Yugi speaks, he notices Tristan look past him as though looking for something. "Miho and Tea are still by him. Miho refuses to leave his side and Tea thought it would be best to provide them company." Yugi and Tristan's eyes meet.
"How are those two and you holding up?"
Yugi sighs.
"Miho's been crying for a bit and Tea has hardly spoken. I…I'm alright compared to Ryo." Yugi looks to the ground. Except for trembling and clenched fists, Joey is still silent and still. Tristan shifts before asking another question.
"I know the spirit blocked the memories in the first place, but why now? Why is Ryo remembering now?"
The question causes Yugi to look up.
"Other Me thinks that the memory block operated on the same or similar magic that trapped people into figurines. If that is the case, then when the Ring Spirit was defeated in the RPG, the power that blocked Ryo's memories disappeared for the same reason as the spell that locked people's souls into dolls."
As Yugi's words come to an end, Joey finally moves from his position. However, instead of acknowledging Yugi's explanation, the tall adolescent heads towards the front door. As he opens the door and leaves, Joey is silent.
"Hey, man, where are you going?" Before Tristan finishes the question, Joey disappears. Yugi looks distraught.
"Joey!" Yugi winces at the volume of his own voice before heading after his missing friend. Tristan starts to get up until a look of understanding passes on his face. Alister narrows his eyes.
"Aren't you going after him?" The hostile tone causes Tristan to glare back with suspicion heavy in his eyes.
"No." He pointedly settles deeper into the couch cushion. "I all ready know what is irritating him, and, frankly, I would just rile him up more. Yugi, on the other hand, might be able to settle him down."
Alister shows interest by a slight decrease in the hostility of his glare.
"He has a younger sister, so-" Tristan stops explaining when he sees understanding in the other's eyes. "Ah, so you're an older sibling too." It does not make Tristan more comfortable around the guy, but his threatening air diminishes. Alister's darker look of before returns.
"Was." Alister leaves the room for the kitchen.
Tristan sits in a heavy silence. From the corner that it had been placed in, the Ring stares at him.
"Joey, wait." As Yugi enters the stairwell after his friend, Joey does not seem to hear him. The taller one has already made it half way down to the next landing.
"Joey."
When Joey reaches the landing, he turns, rears back, and punches the wall. The blonde's breaths come out in harsh gasps. His face is tinged red, and his eyes possess a fire to them. Yugi freezes in place.
"That bastard." The voice has dangerous intent. "What kind of monster could do that?" The voice growls. Joey punches the wall again. "Could kill someone's family, someone's little sister, and mess with their head to the point that he does not even remember?" The voice has grown loud and spiked. It echoes throughout the stairwell.
"We don't know if the Spirit killed-" Yugi's voice is cut off by the full brunt of Joey's fiery gaze.
"Why else would he erase his memories?" If it was just some car accident, why would he go through the trouble of hiding it so thoroughly?"
"He does have a point. Normal deaths would have given the Spirit the opportunity to manipulate a grieving child into clinging to him."
Yugi's eyes widen and his breath catches at the horror of the situation. The fiery look on Joey's face disappears as Yugi slides to his knees.
"Yugi." Joey moves forward.
"It isn't fair." The boy sniffles and finally allows, for the first time in hours, a few tears to escape.
"We thought we were helping Ryo to escape some evil and to not have to worry about hurting his friends and family anymore. But, instead we hurt him. Now, he is suffering through a greater darkness than before and he… lost the will to even continue on."
Joey kneels down to Yugi's level and places his hands on Yugi's shoulders.
"Listen, Yugi, nobody knew what was really going on underneath the surface, so it isn't your fault or anybody's fault that this is the way it turned out." Joey's voice has lost the dangerous elements within it and has instead turned comforting.
"What we did was the right thing to do, even if it hurt Ryo. He might have spent his whole life wondering why he never visited his family while some sick fiend wrote fake letters." Joey's voice harshens for a few words before adopting a calm tone again.
"You're right." Yugi nods. Determination sparks in his purple eyes, and he stands. "It would have been worse the other way."
"This means that the work we started in Monster World isn't anywhere near finished yet."
Yugi nods in response to his Other Self. To Joey, Yugi says. "Come on, let's go back upstairs. There are better ways to help Ryo than sitting here and stewing."
As Yugi turns and walks up the stairs, Joey follows. They leave the stairwell within a minute.
Within the shadows a few landings below where they used to be, a girl with near uncontrollable hair leans against the wall, slides to the ground, covers her mouth with her hand, and sobs. Maya ends up staying in a curled ball for the next three hours.
The ash from his soul room surrounds Ryo. Occasionally, a pile here or there will be moved or be completely blown away by some unfelt wind. Ryo does not notice any of this. He lays on top of the large folded blue bordered blankets from before. The boy shifts in his sleep and curls up closer to the only objects free of soot. The soul room melts away as he slips into his memories.
"I hate it."
"He isn't an it, he is an Eric." Amane looks up at her older brother. Her hands are placed on her hips and the sternness in her eyes is so much like Mother.
"I hate him, then." The tone of Bakura's voice is harsh. His glare focuses on the creature-baby- that Amane and he had been instructed to watch while Mother and the guard are at the store. The baby coos at them from his crib.
"Well, Ryo adores him, so why don't you let him take control." Amane huffs. Bakura's glare turns to her.
"He is sleeping, again."
Disappointment crosses Amane's face.
"It's been three days."
"I know." Bakura snaps. "But you know I cannot wake him up and besides," Bakura's glare shifts to the baby. "He should not get attached to something that I will get rid of." There is a flash of canines as the darker one grins. The shadows creep and curl around him.
"Mom would cry." Amane's voice is steady as she moves to stand in front of him.
Hesitation flickers across his features and the shadows creep back. The baby starts crying while the room brightens again. Confusion appears on both children's faces until Bakura feels a nudge at the back of his mind. The nudge becomes a full out shove, and he loses control.
Ryo steps forward, picks up the distressed baby, and rocks it in his arms.
"There, there, Mommy will be home soon."
From within a dark iron rimmed doorway, Bakura stares out in surprise. That was the first time Ryo had ever stole control. Amber eyes narrow. If Ryo favored the thing that much, perhaps the infant creature could stay. As he realizes something, the boy leans back into his room. Ryo was not awake when Mother left. That means that he must have looked into Bakura's memories. The room grows cooler.
While the dream fades, Ryo moves in his sleep. A bit more of the soot has disappeared. The boy grows still as he sinks back into the realm of dreams.
It is sticky. No matter how many times he runs his hands through his hair, they emerge covered in that red stickiness. If it was just from the man, then it should have been dried by now. It had been more than an hour since that worm died.
"Mom," He says over the mumbled words of the white-haired woman. "I am bleeding." Bakura uses his hands to feel his head for the exact spot of the injury. His mother, who has been digging with an orange handled shovel for the past fifteen minutes, does not acknowledge his words and instead keeps talking to herself or maybe to him. Bakura cannot tell.
"Your uncle finally responded to those letters that I sent him." She finishes digging and crawls out of the hole before she continues speaking.
"He is going to help us, get us into a proper home with a proper life." Her lower lip is trembling yet her hands are steady when she drags a large elongated black bag to the hole and pushes it in."
"Mom-"
"You won't have to take such extreme measures to protect us. You and Amane could concentrate on being children, and Ryo can have all the time he needs to recover." The woman's movements are frantic as she shovels back dirt into the hole.
"I could be a good mother again and could raise the baby in a good stable home."
Bakura's eyes darken.
"You're not going to keep it." He hisses. He looks pointedly at the hole. "He hurt you. You shouldn't have to keep the scars."
She still does not hear him.
"My brother's an archeologist. He might have uncovered something that could help you." After she speaks, Bakura does not even try to finish his sentence. Instead, he sways.
"Mom, he really hit my head hard…" The world darkens. When he opens his eyes again, Bakura is being carried back to the car.
"Please wake up. Please." There are tears in her voice.
"I'm fine…" His speech slurs, yet his mind remains clear. Not for the first time, he curses this weak body.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him do this to you. I shouldn't have let him hurt you." The woman is not talking about the man buried in the earth behind them.
The name and face of the one she speaks of eludes Bakura's thoughts. That is odd. He usually remembers everything in such clear detail.
"Mom, I'm cold. Where are we?" Ryo's voice drifts through the air. They reach the car.
"Ryo, honey, it is okay." The woman's voice cracks. "We were just about to drive home." She places the immobile boy in the front passenger seat.
"Mmmmm… Ok. I'm… tired." The boy's eyes flutter shut.
"Ryo, stay awake. Please, wake up." The woman moves to the driver seat. "Bakura, can you wake up?"
The car starts.
"Trying…" The word is almost inaudible.
"Wake up." The words echo through the dreamscape.
The boy turns onto his back.
"Wake up."
His eyelids flutter, yet do not open.
"You have had enough. Wake up."
Green eyes open. Their vision is blurred until they focus on the amber eyes right above them. The creature creaks as it leans closer to Ryo's face. Its blue features inches away from Ryo. The boy opens his mouth to scream, and his muscles tense as he prepares to jerk away from the puppet creature. Ryo falls back into the waking world before he can truly react. He manages to resist the urge to scream while lying in the pile of bedding. The tension remains in his body.
It is difficult exiting his room. Miho sleeps on the floor next to Ryo's bed. Most of the extra blankets and pillows are cushioned around her. Tea, who lies next to Miho, has managed to steal the remaining few pieces of bedding for herself. Ryo cannot step over both of them. Joey is sprawled out on the floor at the other side of the bed. He moves too frequently. Tristan is curled up at the foot of the bed. His new trench coat is balled up under his head. Yugi sleeps while leaning against the wall. He obviously fell asleep keeping watch.
Even though Ryo feels mostly cold, warmth sparks within him. They all stayed to watch over him. His friends who he almost left… Guilt surrounds the warmth. It sinks within his stomach and claws up his throat. The swell of the negative emotion makes him want to barf. Ryo needs to leave the room in order to deal with this. In order to think about this.
Since Tristan appears to be the easiest one to sneak past, Ryo carefully sneaks to the foot of his bed and steps off. As he places his foot on the carpet, his left foot is inches away from Tristan's face. To Ryo's surprise, it is easy to keep his balance just on the ball of his left foot as he pushes off his bed and manages to get both feet on the floor without falling.
"That isn't fair, Kitty. I couldn't climb up there."
The boy grins from his position on the roof half hanging over the side. His sister looks up at him from the third story window.
"You did not specify any limits to this game of hiding." The boy says with a wicked grin.
Ryo staggers. His hands clutch his head, and one foot nearly steps on Tristan's face. The whimper that escapes does not cause any human to stir within the room. The shadows are a different matter.
The moment the disorientation from the memory has subsided, Ryo flees the room with silent footsteps. Instead of running to the front door like he did yesterday night, Ryo walks briskly to the kitchen. Even after he crosses the doorway, one hand is placed on the upper right part of his face and covers one eye. His other eye is narrowed, and sweat trickles down his face.
"Rough night?" The voice from the table causes Ryo to jump. A yelp almost escapes him as he whirls around towards the source of the words. Alister sits at the kitchen table. His grey eyes are focused on Ryo, yet one hand is held above a deck of cards, like he was just about to draw the top one. His trench coat is draped over the back of the chair. Ryo is silent. He swallows, opens his mouth to speak, and then closes it again.
"You don't have to talk about it." Alister says once it is clear that Ryo would take quite some time to speak. "I couldn't handle talking for quite some time." The words barely reach Ryo's ears.
Alister looks down and draws a card. A lash of disappointment crosses his face.
"Could…couldn't talk about what?" Ryo is still sweating and trembling. He wants to run away again, but instead he sits down on the chair opposite of Alister. The red head looks up.
"When my little brother died, I couldn't talk about anything for weeks without verbally tearing someone apart."
Ryo audibly gasps.
"Sorry, I-"
"It's fine. I wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't bearable." If his voice was not so calm, his simmering grey eyes would say other wise. Alister looks down and draws a card. A glint of excitement appears in his eyes before he draws another.
"It…It's bearable?" Ryo's voice shakes.
Alister does not look at the card he drew; instead his gaze focuses on Ryo.
"Still hurts every day. But I found ways to live with it." Alister's expression hardens and his eyes turn tempestuous.
"That happened after I found a purpose. A goal to pursue." Ryo does not notice the clenched fist on the table. The words Alister speaks and his expressions captivate too much of the boy's attention. Alister's face relaxes before Ryo can comment. The red head draws his next card. Silence persists for a minute until-
"Are those Duel Monsters?" Ryo cannot comment on the previous subject. The memories he just gained still burn, and his body feels too cold. Alister glances at him. He does not push the previous topic.
"Do you play?" The young man truly sounds curious.
"No. Not yet. Yugi does and he is really good." Ryo's voice has lost some of its trembling.
"I know. I watched him beat Kaiba." There is a hard edge to Alister's tone when he says the name of Yugi's adversary.
"Are you sorting your cards?" Ryo pretends not to notice Alister's reaction to a name. Alister's expression becomes blank. The older one suddenly looks away. Ryo can swear that he sees a faint pink tinge to the other's cheeks.
"I am trying to draw certain cards." The words are mumbled. Understanding dawns on Ryo's face.
"Oh, I do that with dice."
Bakura rolls the die one final time in this game. Amane complains loudly as it produces yet another super critical.
"You're really mean sometimes, Big Brother."
When Ryo next opens his eyes, his head lays against the table. His hand clenches his head, and Alister's hand is on Ryo's shoulder.
"I am fine." The voice is monotonous as it overrides Alister's questions. Alister begins to move away. Ryo's voice gains a sound of desperation.
"No, stay there, please." Alister stops moving and listens to Ryo's ragged, gasping breaths. His hand stays on the boy's shoulder for the rest of the night.
Lurking in the hallway, a shadow watches. Three golden eyes of light sneak occasional glances in the room as it listens to the conversations between the two damaged individuals. There is a creak just outside the front door, and the spiky-haired shadow rushes to the front door in seconds. A peek through the spy hole reveals a girl with near uncontrollable hair and with a hand a few inches away from knocking. The shadow does not move and the girl, who has a tear-stained face, does not knock. She shuffles away after a few minutes. The shadow retracts down the dark path it created and back into the bedroom where Yugi lies sleeping. After it contorts itself back into its normal shape, the Dark Yugi ponders the pieces that he has gained from these observations.