Yugi

I was at the hospital for seven in the morning. But a sign said that visiting hours did not start until nine, so I had to wait around for two hours. When nine o'clock finally rolled around, I started towards Bakura's room, but a nurse stopped me saying that children under twelve were not allowed into patient rooms. The nurses at this hospital were starting to annoy me.

It took a while to convince the nurse that I was indeed, over twelve. It wasn't until I remembered the school I.D. in my wallet that she allowed me to go.

I found Bakura's room easily enough. I found him, surprisingly enough, awake. He didn't seem so happy to see me. I quickly explained to him what had happened, but he didn't seem to care. I hoped that his attitude was just due to having had such a rough time, and not the permanent mood changes the doctor spoke of. Or what Yami was afraid of.

Yami reminded me to ask if Bakura had sensed anything weird. He answered no. Yami asked if I could see the ring, and I told him no. Yami told me not to ask if Bakura had it. It would be too suspicious if Yami Bakura had indeed come back.

I tried for an hour to make conversation with Bakura. He didn't make it easy. He seemed bored and only gave me simple answers. I noticed the newspaper, and asked if there was anything interesting in there. He said he wouldn't know. I picked it up and skimmed through it until I came across an article that caught my eye. "Mishaps at the Domino Theater".

"Bakura, they reported the accident!"

"Did they?" He yawned, bored as ever. "Why would anyone want to know about that?"

I dismissed him for the moment and scanned the article. Thankfully, they didn't report anything about the eye. They just told the basic story, gave a few quotes, and that was it. When I told Bakura that we were lucky they didn't say anything about the eye, he just shrugged. He wasn't acting himself at all. Maybe Yami was right...

Once the doctor arrived, thoughts that Yami Bakura could have returned were purged from my mind.

"I want my ring back." Bakura said calmly, but firmly. "It was taken from me yesterday. I want it back now."

So Bakura didn't have the ring. That ruled out Yami's number one suspicion. But it didn't really put me at ease. Did that mean that this was the way Bakura was going to be now? Indifferent, rude, and mean...?

Yami didn't know what to think after this discovery was made. He had been so sure. He was still stubbornly refusing to give up on the idea that something more was up. The doctor said that Bakura showed no signs of brain damage, and would be allowed to go home that afternoon, so long as we kept an eye on him.

When the doctor asked about the eye, I though we were done for. I never was able to think up a good story to explain it. But I didn't need to. I stared in shock as Bakura came up with a story of his own. It was lies, all of it. He said he was attacked by muggers in Egypt, and he showed scars that I knew came from another source. He said all this with a straight face. He kept a serious tone, and his voice did not quiver. And the doctor bought every word of it! I had never known Bakura to be able to tell a believable lie, let alone keep a straight face the whole time. It was a good thing the doctor did not notice me. The look on my face would have given Bakura away.

It seemed that no matter what was going on, the Bakura I knew was long gone.
 
 

Ryou

I didn't know how much longer I could take the nothingness of the shadow realm. I'd saved myself from wasting away only to be driven slowly insane. How had my yami been able to take it? The shadow realms drain on my power was astounding. Even the awesome magic of the millennium eye had been diminished dramatically. It had just enough left for me to entertain myself a bit by creating illusions in the darkness. One of the eye's powers had been to create these illusions. Pegasus had been fond of using them to intimidate others, like he had done on the night before the Duelist Kingdom finals. It helped me to have something to look at, to be able to see something in all this nothingness. I created simple images, a tree, a fire. Then images of my friends. This added to my worry and loneliness. There was roughly nothing I could do to help them from here. I could only do something if they came to the shadow realm, which would only happen if there was a shadow game. And THAT would only happen if my yami was discovered before he could take out his one and only threat, Yami Yugi.

Even if they came to the shadow realm, I didn't see much I could do. I was magically tapped. Spiritual energy kept me alive, but was of little use otherwise. I had to find a compromise. One that would allow me to both keep enough energy to stay alive, and have the power to help. I mused for a while on this before a plan formed. I wasn't sure how much good it would do, but I was tired of cowering in the back and waiting for others to rescue me. I would not stand back and watch this time. I had to take some kind of action. I would be ready when the time came. At least I would be provided my plan didn't backfire on me. The shadow realm was empty, but there was no room for mistakes.
 
 

Yugi

Once the doctor left, Bakura did not even seem surprised that he had believed the lie. He was so confident, but not necessarily in a good way. He was almost to the point of being cocky. It was disturbing. I wondered if I should tell the doctor just how much Bakura's personality had changed. There might be something wrong that they had missed. Should he have changed this much? He might need to stay at the hospital a while longer...

Just then, I saw the millennium eye glow out of the corner of my eye.

"Don't... tell... the doctor... anything," he said, dragging each word out so that it was like a threat, his eyes narrowed. "I have no intention of staying in this hospital any longer than I have to."

"I thought you didn't like using that eye!" I said, unable to conceal my outrage that he had been nosing around in my thoughts. "You said it was an invasion of privacy! You said you wouldn't go looking around in people's minds!"

"Did I?" he said, smirking. I had never seen Bakura smirk like that under his own will. "Seems like a silly thing to say. Waste of power, if you ask me. I have the magic, why not use it?" He lowered his voice again and said dangerously, "Seriously, don't go to the doctor, or you may need a little hospital stay yourself..."

He was threatening me! He was point-blank threatening me! Were I not holding him back, Yami would have emerged and done a lot more than give him a talking to. Even with the head injury as an excuse, I could not deny the fact that Bakura was being a jerk. I had never expected anything like this. I was beginning to think that it would have been easier to deal with him if he had had brain damage. The millennium eye glowed again.

"That doesn't seem like the sort of thing a friend would think," Bakura said in an accusing tone.

"Would you stop nosing around in my mind?!!" I practically shouted before remembering I was in a hospital. I did feel guilty about that, but I was really losing my tolerance. Was he trying to get rid of me, or something? He could have just asked! He didn't look hurt at all that I had yelled at him. Instead, he looked satisfied. He WAS trying to tick me off! Yami told me to let him put Bakura in his place, but I reminded him (and myself) that Bakura was sick and probably didn't realize what he was doing.

<Oh, he knows exactly what he's doing!> Yami said in my mind. <No bump on the head can cause all this! I don't know how, but it's that damned->

<Yami!> I cut him off. <I don't think we should talk here where we might be eavesdropped on.> He wasn't happy, but he yielded.

Bakura's arms were crossed in front of his chest, and he had a questioning look on his face. He seemed to suspect that I had been talking with Yami, but the eye did not glow. I still needed to call the guys and update them on Bakura's condition, though I did not know how I was going to phrase this. 'Bakura has gone insane,' crossed my mind.

I excused myself. Bakura looked suspicious, but waved me away. I told him that I was just going to call the others, but that suspicious look remained on his face.

This morning, I had thought that my mind would be at ease once Bakura woke up and I got a chance to talk to him, but I was more worried now than ever...