*Gasp* I succeeded! Here's a new chapter within a week! ;D Hope you enjoy it.

Ch 6

…

"I'm in room 217," Marik said into the phone. "Yep… Alright, I'll see you soon. Bye."

He hung up and heaved a sigh, hoping to Ra that something good would come from this. He was willing to do anything to help, yes. But that didn't make things any less exhausting.

"You should eat while you're waiting, Master." Odion said. Ishizu had brought food from home and he was setting a small dish for his brother.

"I don't seem to have much of an appetite anymore, but you're right."

…

There came a knock on their door shortly after they finished, and Yugi Muto stepped inside looking a bit concerned.

"Hi," he said, closing the door behind him. "Is everything alright?"

Marik propped himself up higher on the bed, "It could be, with your help, Yugi."

"What's going on?" He looked at each of them as Ishizu brought a chair closer to the bed. "What happened to you?"

"That's a long story and – I'm afraid I need you to listen to the whole thing. Ryou Bakura's life may depend on it."

Yugi's eyes widened and he quickly situated himself on the chair before leaning forward to listen.

With occasional input from both Odion and Ishizu, Marik explained everything that had happened, all the way from the start of Bakura's plan to have his own body for a day. Many expressions passed over Yugi's face, but he did not interrupt. He briefly remembered who he thought had been Ryou Bakura coming over to him and his friend's asking if they'd seen Marik. He put it together that he must have really seen the Spirit of the Millennium Ring trying to find his host. He had looked so calm too… Yugi continued to listen as Odion filled in the pieces where he fought his brother and woke to find the spirit being held captive in the basement. They went on with as much detail as they dared, seeing as they had the young duelist's complete, undivided attention. They decided he needed to understand just how bad things had gotten.

"And thanks to Bakura," Marik said, his voice heavy with emotion from reliving it all, "My evil side has finally been destroyed. For good."

Yugi looked vacantly at the floor, his face pale. "I had no idea," he said. "I never would have guessed such a thing was happening. I would have… done something."

"It's probably better that you didn't," Odion spoke up. "More people would have gotten hurt if you and your friends had arrived. And I don't like to think what the police would have done had they seen any of it."

"That's true," Yugi said. Apart from the ancient spirit and dark magic becoming exposed to the public, the Millennium Items could have been confiscated.

"Anyway, this is the time when you can do something, Yugi," Marik said, getting up to sit in his wheelchair. It would be faster than walking.

"How so?" Yugi asked.

"Come with me and I'll show you where he is."

…

Yugi walked a little behind Odion as he wheeled Marik to Bakura's room. They stopped outside the window and Yugi took in the sight. Marik gave him a brief review of all the British teen had been through and watched as genuine sorrow crossed over Yugi's face.

"My god," he whispered to himself.

"I spoke with Bakura earlier on," Marik said. "He said he's doing all that he can to keep their body going, as well as clinging to Ryou's sanity. But he doesn't think he can do any more than that."

"This is awful," Yugi muttered. He turned to the Egyptian, "What do you need me to do?"

Marik let out a sad sigh. "It's pretty clear that Ryou doesn't want to speak to me."

"He doesn't really blame you for this, does he?"

Marik shook his head, "Whether he does or not, it doesn't erase the nightmare that he's been through. And he's still suffering from it."

Yugi looked back through the glass. Marik wheeled a little closer to him.

"I really don't think he'll be able to recover on his own."

Yugi gave a thoughtful nod.

"You know how important it is for your friends to be there for you when you need them. You've said time and time again that they're the reason you've pulled through all of your obstacles."

"It's true," Yugi agreed.

"He doesn't have that. And he needs it. Now more than ever."

"I see …" Yugi continued watching Bakura's sleeping form, going over everything in his head. "And the Ring Spirit will allow this?"

"It was his idea," Marik said quietly.

Yugi nodded again. "Alright. I'll do everything I can. He won't have to go through this alone."

Marik shut his eyes, inwardly relieved.

"I'll call Joey and tell him to have the others meet me," Yugi said. "I'll need to fill them all in before we plan how to go about this."

"Yugi," Marik wheeled closer as the other started to turn away; Yugi looked back at him. "Understand how serious this is."

Yugi turned to face him. "I can see how serious this is."

"Can you really?" Marik asked. "Look at him … He has absolutely no one. This isn't the time for you all to be flaky and just talk about being good friends. I need you to really be his friends."

"Wha-?"

"Because as of now, he never believed any of you cared one bit about him."

Yugi's mouth fell open. "He didn't?"

"No."

Bewilderment spread all across the other's face.

"I realize I'm asking a lot of you, but you're all he has left. I'm begging you, please -" Marik paused a moment to make sure he was heard, "– don't be just a fair-weather friend. He needs real friends. Thick and thin friends. Ones who truly care."

They stood just staring at each other.

"Because if he doesn't get better," Marik said, "He'll end up just like I was. I know it."

A solemn look crossed Yugi's face and he finally answered, "I do care, Marik. I mean that." He gave one last glance to the window. "And I'll do better to prove it this time. You have my word on that."

Marik clenched his fists around the arms of his chair and nodded. Then the King of Games went on his way. Odion placed his hands on his brother's shoulders, hoping the youngest Ishtar felt some encouragement now.

…

About an hour later Joey, Tristan, Tea and Serenity stood in shocked silence as Yugi finished explaining the situation to them. Around them, visitors and patients occupied the hospital cafeteria here and there, but there was enough buzz going around that no one else heard what the young duelist had to say. Now Yugi sat looking at the floor, feeling heavy as the reality of what had happened sank in that much more this time around.

Serenity had her hands together looking sadly from one face to the other.

Joey brushed his hair back and muttered under his breath, "Ah man." He walked about aimlessly.

Tristan moved his hands to his coat pockets, shaking his head at how this could have happened so close without any of them knowing. He hated it. "We should've gone with him. When Bakura asked us about Marik." He turned slightly away in discomfort. "We should've gotten up and helped him look."

"Marik's siblings said it was better that we didn't," Yugi said, looking vacantly across the room. "I want to say we should have gone or… we should have called someone or… I don't know. I have no idea what the right thing would have been."

"The right thing would've been to stop it from happening in the first place," Tea piped up. "But there was no way anyone could've seen that coming. Even the Ring Spirit didn't see it coming."

"Poor Bakura," Serenity said in a hushed voice. "I can't imagine how absolutely horrible it must've been."

Joey turned back and put a hand on her shoulder, "Well don't go tryin' now, Sis. It ain't gonna help anybody to put dat kinda stuff in your head."

"But it really happened, Joey." Her eyes glimmered up at him, "He had to go through it all by himself and he almost didn't make it. And what's worse," she looked sadly at the floor, "he might have died here in the hospital and we wouldn't have known."

A brief silence fell over them. Intercom chatter passed through the cafeteria, but they barely noticed.

"I thought of that too," Yugi said quietly. "If he hadn't made it, how would we find out? Would Marik have even called any of us? I imagine he would be too distraught, so he probably wouldn't. We might not have found out until someone said something in the papers."

Serenity hugged herself and leaned against her brother.

"Well he did make it," Tea said, matter-of-factly. "And we do know now. So we can be here for him when he needs it the most."

"But what are we supposed to say?" Tristan asked. "'Hey man, sorry to hear you were practically pummeled to death. Wish we could've been there to help, but we're here now if you want to talk.'"

Yugi looked sadly up at him and gave a small nod, "Pretty much."

Tristan scoffed, "That's pathetic! How is that going to comfort anybody?"

"It's a start," Yugi said. "I've been wondering how to go about it, myself. All I can think of is to just be honest. We didn't know he was in trouble, or we surely would've tried to help somehow. But know we've all been made aware so we're here for him. Whatever he needs."

"Dat's right," Joey agreed, sounding more enthused, "We've been through enough stuff of our own to know how much better it is when your friends are stickin' by ya. Now we can show him too." He gave Serenity a light squeeze, "Right?"

She smiled back at him, "Right."

He grinned, "Yeah. We'll be da best bunch a' buds Bakura's ever been with." She giggled at him.

"And what if he doesn't want that?" Tristan asked. They all turned to him and he frowned. "Don't give me those looks, I'm being serious. I want to help him out just as badly as you do, but what if he thinks we're just pitying him or something? That we're not being genuine?"

"He wouldn't think that, would he?" Tea asked, turning to Yugi.

Yugi shrugged, "I couldn't say."

"But," she added, "I mean would we really spend the time to come and see him if we didn't really care?"

Tristan took a step closer, "Well Marik said that Bakura never thought any of us cared about him to begin with. Why should he believe we suddenly care now?"

"Because we do," Yugi answered. "That's why I came here and that's why I called you all is because I honestly care about him. And I want to help him get better, no matter what it takes. How about you?"

"Definitely!" Serenity said at once.

Joey winked, "You better believe it."

"For sure," Tea said with a smile.

"I agree," Tristan said, "I just think we should be prepared for it not to go how we plan. That's all."

"You have a point," Yugi said. "But I've decided not to expect too much ahead of time. Just got to take this bit by bit and see how it goes." He stood up and straightened his jacket. "And if he doesn't believe us, well… then we'll just have to prove we are being genuine."

He gave Tristan a thumbs up and soon the brunette was smiling too.

"So what's da plan?" Joey asked. "We gonna go see him now?"

Yugi looked up the hall they'd come from. "I'm not sure if he's awake but we can go check. If so, we can stop in and say hello. Let him know we're here for him." He nodded to himself.

They all started walking and Serenity took hold of Joey's arm, a little excited. "And if he's asleep, we can write him a note to wake up to. We could leave our phone numbers so he can call us whenever he needs us."

"Good thinkin'," Joey said. "No hospital visiting hours are gonna keep us from cheerin' up our friend!"

"Oh, and one other thing," Yugi said. "We should probably start calling him by his first name from now on. I guess the Ring Spirit's kind of taken on his surname to distinguish himself these days."

"Huh," Joey looked upward in thought. "Sooo, Bakura's da bad one and we're gonna call dis one Ryou from now on?"

"Yep."

"Alright. Ryou, it is."

They continued down the hall, Yugi pointing out Marik's closed door as they passed, until they found a nurse working close to Bakura's room.

"Excuse me," Yugi said, "We're wondering if Ryou Bakura can receive visitors. Do you know if he's awake?"

She looked at 232's door then checked her watch. "Hard to say if he's awake, but I do need to check his numbers so I'll have to wake him regardless. You can see him for a short while afterward if you care to wait."

"Sure, that's fine," Yugi said. Tea nodded in agreement.

"It may take a while, I have some things to clean and replace as well."

"We can wait in the sitting room until you're done."

"Are all five of you wanting to visit him? I can't allow more than three of you at a time, I'm afraid."

"We'll figure it out. We know he needs rest so we don't want to take up too much of his time."

"Alright. I'll let you know when I'm finished."

"Thank you."

They made their way to the sitting area as the nurse checked some papers on her clip board and went to gather materials.

"What's she talkin' about she's gotta 'replace' stuff?" Joey asked.

"They've got him on a feeding tube," Yugi said quietly. "She probably meant she has to bring him fresh packs. Among other things he's attached to."

"Dang …"

"He can't eat on his own?" Serenity asked, "That's terrible."

"It sounds worse than it is," Yugi said. "I'm sure he'd prefer not to put much more stress on his throat for a while. The feeding tube's probably easier on him since it goes straight to his stomach."

"Is he even going to be able to speak?" Tea asked.

Yugi turned as he took a seat along the wall. "Well Marik did say he spoke with Bakura – you know, Ring Spirit Bakura – and that it was his idea to call us here in the first place."

"It was?" Tristan asked.

"That's what Marik told me."

Joey slouched down in the seat next to him. He lowered his voice a little, "I don't wanna be a dick but I gotta ask. He's not all mangled and hard to look at, is he?"

"Mm mm," Yugi shook his head. "Obviously he's bruised and got injuries everywhere, but it's not like he's unrecognizable or anything like that. It's just sad to see."

Serenity brought her hands together in front of her waist, looking sad again. "I wish we had something nice we could give him."

"There's a little gift shop downstairs," Tea offered. "Want to go see what they have? We have to wait a while anyway."

"Sure!" The redhead smiled.

Tristan turned as they started to walk off. "Want me to come with you?"

"Park it, bub," Joey's tone full of warning as he pointed to the seat on Yugi's other side.

"We got this," Tea said. "You guys wait for the nurse. We'll visit Bakura after you've had a chance to."

"It's Ryou now, remember?" Serenity said.

"Oh. That's right, Ryou." They continued on their way, talking about how that would take some time to get used to.

Tristan watched until they disappeared around the corner, then hung his shoulders before slumping into his seat with a quiet huff.

Yugi looked him over. "What's the matter, Tristan?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"He's steamed 'cause he can't ogle my sister," Joey piped up without looking at them.

"Shut up," Tristan said.

After waiting to be sure more bickering didn't take off from there, Yugi tried again. "Seriously though, Tristan. What's bothering you?"

The brunette fidgeted a little, making a motion like tapping his palm against the seat of his chair, but not actually touching it. He sucked on his lip and quirked his jaw to the side. "This whole thing," he muttered, shaking his head slightly. "It's seriously messed up."

Yugi waited but he didn't say more. The shorter duelist gave a nod of agreement. "I understand. It's uncomfortable, I think we all agree on that. But it's the right thing to do."

Tristan leaned his head on his hand and began bouncing his knee.

"But if you don't want to be here, you don't have to stay," Yugi said just above a whisper.

"I'm not going anywhere," Tristan muttered. "I meant what I said, I really do want to help him… I just," he shook his head yet again, "I don't know how."

They sat in silence for a while as others passed occasionally or conversed with their own company in the waiting room.

"I kinda feel da same," Joey said, sounding unusually serious. "I ain't got a clue how dis is 'sposed to go either. The last thing I wanna do is stand there like a moron trying to think what to say. Or … I dunno, say the wrong thing or somethin'."

Yugi leaned forward on his knees. "Well it's not like I've got an awesome speech prepared or anything like that. Like I said, I just plan to be honest, whatever is said."

More minutes of nothing but surrounding medical white noise.

"You're always good at sayin' da right thing though, Yug," Joey said. "Even when ya got nothin' planned."

Yugi smiled despite the heavy mood. "Thanks Joey. I hope you're right."

Then Joey heaved a sigh and let his head fall back against the wall, "But maaan, is it too much to ask for a freakin' video game or somethin' in dis joint? Dis is beyond boring!"

Yugi blinked and started snickering quietly.

Tristan rolled his eyes, "Seriously? This is a hospital, numskull."

"I know dat, ya grump."

"People work here to make others feel better, not entertain you."

"Well who's gonna make me feel better? These are sad times here. I gotta keep up a positive energy for Bakura."

"Ryou," Yugi corrected with a smirk.

"Right, dat's what I meant. Ya hear dat, hospital? Gotta do it for Ryou!" He began lifting stacks of magazines off the mini table as though they might be hiding some secret entertainment. "Our buddy's not doin' so good. Gotta find somethin' to lift his spirits up."

Yugi snickered to himself again. He couldn't help it.

"This isn't an arcade, you spaz." Tristan said, a hint of a smile on his lips as well.

"I ain't askin' for an arcade! I'll settle for a Gameboy or one of those little water thingy's ya flip the rings with." He got up and looked around. "They gotta have some way to pass da time."

Yugi leaned his head in his hands, openly smiling now.

"Ask nicely and you might get a coloring sheet and a four pack of crayons," Tristan said.

Joey turned to him. "They got those here?"

Yugi shook with muffled laughter and Tristan gave Joey a condescending look.

Joey immediately scowled, "Oh shut up, Tristan!" He patted his pockets. "They got a payphone around here? Maybe I'll prank call Kaiba."

Tristan made a face, "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because it's funny."

"Yeah it'll be funny when he hangs up on you."

"Oh, what do you know? Who's got spare change?"

"Joey," Yugi came up, wiping at his eye, "don't prank call Kaiba. Come on now."

Tristan leaned forward a little, "Are you tearing up, Yugi?"

"Ugh," Yugi wiped at his eyes again. "Guess the stress is getting to me. Think I needed a laugh."

"See, Joey?" Tristan said. "Who needs a Gameboy and a payphone? We got what we need right here," he gestured to the blonde. "Quality entertainment."

"Hell yeah," Joey beamed. "Dat's me! Joey Wheeler, stand up – whoa!" He jumped as he stepped in front of a passing nurse's aid and they bumped into one another. "My bad!"

The young girl gave him an odd look.

Joey stood still, trying to look suave like he hadn't been making a scene seconds ago. "How ya doin'?"

She blinked at him uncertainly before quietly excusing herself and continuing on her way.

Tristan and Yugi both erupted in laughter.

…

AN: Bit of a dumb ending there, I know :P but I was making myself sad and wanted to end on something a tad more uplifting.

Reviews are always really appreciated. Thanks so much for reading, you guys! Next chapter to be uploaded next weekend.