The Sealing of a Soul

Part Seven

Late Night Phone Call

Yugi stared at his hands, sitting on his bed. Only the light of the full moon trailing though the window looked in upon him. The young boy sobbed, tears streaming down his swollen face. His aibou, his hikari, no longer remembered him. He was nothing anymore, alone in the Universe, adrift without a boat any longer.

"Yugi, please, you need sleep." Yami whispered, coming into the room silently. Yugi made no move to acknowledge his presence.

"Yugi, please. Shinta just needs time to recover. He'll remember you, he just needs a little time right now." Yami whispered, trying to keep from crying himself. Yugi still had no memory of his former life, and Yami had given up hope of hi former hikari ever remembering again.

"Good." Yugi whispered, the first words he had said since Shinta had come home from the hospital, a month ago.

A tear trailed slowly down Yami's face.

"Yugi, please, you don't mean that." Yami pleaded, more tears flowing down his face, crimson eyes glowing sadly.

Yugi sat unmoving, pointedly ignoring Yami. Yami sighed sadly, closing the door behind him as he left the room, Yugi staring at his hands, crying in the dark.....

"Hey." a girls voice sounded from the other end of the phone. Yami's eyebrow lifted curiously.

"May I speak to Bakura please?" Yami asked, looking at the clock, hoping it wasn't too terribly late.

"Hmm? Sure, HEY DAD!!!!" the girl screamed, nearly shattering Yami's ear drums as he hurriedly whipped the thing away from his ear.

"Hello?" a familiar, albeit older, voice sounded on the other end of the phone. Yami sighed nervously. He had not talked to the Tomb Raider since High School graduation, many, many years ago.

"Bakura?" Yami asked, wondering if Bakura even still remembered him, though he doubted the ex tomb robber would ever forget trivial things like Pharaoh's and the such.

"Yes? Who is this!" Bakura demanded. Yami rolled his eyes, sinking into a kitchen chair. Bakura hadn't changed all that much over the years, so it seemed. He was still as hasty and as hot tempered as ever.

"Bakura, it's me, Yami." Yami sighed, hearing the sudden silence on the other end of the phone.

"Tsuru, I'm on the phone! Leave, now!" Bakura ordered. Yami could faintly hear a few choice comments from Bakura's daughter.

"Yami, what's going on? I thought you had died, or something, a long time ago." Bakura chortled, and Yami rolled his eyes. They were great enemies, and semi decent friends, at times.

"No, I didn't die. I nearly thought you had, it took me forever to find your phone number." Yami sighed, running his fingers over the cracked kitchen table. He really should get a new one.

"So? What made the great Pharaoh go searching for a lowly tomb robber? This has got to be good." Yami could practically see Bakura grinning his head off.

"How's Ryou doing? It's been so long since High School." Yami asked politely, dancing around the subject warily. He still wasn't sure why he had called Bakura in the first place.

"He's doing fine. He moved out to Kyoto, you know. He teaches English at the University. You still didn't answer my question, why did you call, Yami?" Bakura asked, caution practically screamed across the phone. Yami sighed, staring at his hand.

"It's..... it's about Yugi...." Yami trailed off, trying to regain his composure, dangerously close to breaking down once more.

"What about him, Pharaoh? You never did tell us how he died....." Bakura trailed off, thinking. "You killed him, didn't you?"

"He never died. He.... he was sealed in the puzzle."

"He was WHAT!?!?!?!?" Bakura shouted, nearly shattering Yami's eardrums once more.

"I.... I accidentally sealed him within the puzzle. Bakura, please, just listen!" Yami begged, no longer caring how he across anymore. Bakura sighed, and stayed silent.

"He.... My son, Shinta, he assembled the Puzzle recently. But, when Yugi came back, he.... he can't remember anything, Bakura!!! He can't remember anything at all, he thinks he was always in the Puzzle!" Yami kept his voice quiet, afraid to awaken or alert Shinta and Yugi. Bakura just sighed.

"Then, I'm sorry Yami. But I still don't see why you called me. What can I do? He wouldn't want to remember me in the first place, so I don't see why you called me." Bakura pointed out. More tears rolled down Yami's face.

"You were.... you were harsh to Ryou, back then..." Yami was cut off as Bakura swore, in their native Egyptian.

"If you called to be cruel, Pharaoh, I will kill you myself!" Bakura spat. Yami sighed.

"But, he, that day, he nearly died, he wanted to. Please, Bakura, how did you convince him to stop!" Yami pleaded, his voice cracking, sobbing.

"Yami, what's this getting at? Yugi's not..... Oh Gods, he hasn't, but you said he couldn't remember! Why would he try!?" Bakura demanded, thick tears rolling down Yami's face.

"Shinta was sick, he had to have a heart transplant, and the mental link, it was too much for him, for his mind. His brain wiped everything clean, up tot he day before he completed the Puzzle. Shinta can't remember Yugi. He probably won't ever." Yami sobbed, his hands shaking.

"I... I see.... So... Yugi is... stranded. He can't remember anything, and his... his hikari can't remember him...." Bakura sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"Please, Bakura, I don't know what to do!" Yami hiccuped loudly in the dark, silent house.

"I.... I'm sorry Yami, but I can offer no advice here. Just..... just watch him. I didn't let Ryou out of my sight for nearly a year after.... after the incident. I suggest the same to you. He's fragile right now.... try... try to get him interested in something..." Bakura sighed, fingering his address book silently, flipping easily to Ryou's phone number.

"Thank you, Bakura..."

"And Yami, don't pressure him. Don't try to make him remember anything." Bakura whispered, the phone buzzing softly as Yami hung up. He dialed a long-distance number with well practiced ease.

"Hey, Ryou....".......

'Aibou, please, why can't you remember me? Am I worth that little? I am I so very, very worthless?' Yugi thought to himself, turning the glittering dagger over in his hands. He had flinched the cutlery from the kitchen earlier that day, making sure no one had noticed.

No answer came to him, and Yugi was too afraid to open the mental link. Afraid that Shinta would be injured because of it, like he had been injured when Yugi hadn't told anyone about his hikari's illness.

Yugi plunged the dagger into his arm with sickening precision, digging into the soft, white flesh, blood surging forth, dripping sloppily onto the carpet, splashing crimson hues in the darkness, the inky red lapping at the bed sheets edge.

Not satisfied with one cut, Yugi began to slash wildly, his left hand limp, the muscles severed, his arms a mass of torn flesh, his skin an eerie white hue.

The door creaked open slowly, and then faster as Yami saw what Yugi was doing, a small lake forming on the floor, Yugi slipping gently into it as the enormous blood loss overtook his senses.

"Yugi, please!! Why!" Yami sobbed, picking the small boy up, and shaking him gently, searching for a pulse. Yugi smiled weakly, surprising Yami. He hadn't thought the small boy would be alive, let alone conscious.

"Yami..... I.... remember..... My Yami......" Yugi sighed, his eyes a cheerful amethyst, aglow with lost memories as his spirit faded, leaving Yami alone in the room, clutching a cold, dark, empty body.......

Gomen Ne!! ^_^;

I know, what a crappy way to end the series!! ^_^;

But, there was really nothing left, Yugi was fading, his mind was assaulted by sorrow, and he was always a dramatic character, so.... ^_^;

And no, I will not write anything for Ryou and Bakura (yaoi or non) if you request it. I don't see any story idea there, yet. If I do, I'll be the first to post them I'm sure!! ^_^

R&R please!!!