Yu-Gi-Oh!

Tired of the Way That Things Have Been

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. Any other characters and the story are mine! This is part of my Pendulum Swings timeline, which is my only current YGO timeline and a redemption arc for Yami Bakura. This one continues the Big Five storyline explored in the Static Code Analysis and Too Much That Time Cannot Erase fics. It's also a little attempt at trying to at least in part write something similar to the old lighthearted mystery timeline I used to do that so many people are still fond of. But knowing me, it will end up fairly dark. (The old mysteries seemed to do that too, coming to think of it. . . .)

Chapter One

"Wake up."

It was a strange thing, to be told to wake up. There was no way to wake from an existence as a wandering spirit, locked out of his body ever since losing in the Big Five's first virtual reality scheme. And yet . . . it did feel like he was coming out of a deep sleep. . . .

He slowly opened his eyes. Was this possible? So many times he had dreamed of being able to get back into his body, and then someone else's if not his. He remembered being able to possess Khu in the Shadow Realm to protect Mokuba. But then he had left Khu's body. No . . . he had been pulled out of it by some strange force. And now . . . now . . .

He really was back in his body. He was laying on a bed, his arms at his sides. Slowly he lifted one hand, turning it over and gazing at it in disbelieving awe.

"What . . . who . . ."

"You will learn the answers to those questions all in good time," the voice purred. So it hadn't been his imagination. Someone really was there.

He blinked and finally started to focus. The room was mostly dark; he could only barely see whoever had come in.

"And then what?" he rasped.

"Then we get down to business. Can you move your limbs?"

He tried, first his arms and then his legs. They felt strange, heavy . . . but oddly enough, he felt strength in them, even after months of inactivity in a coma. "Yes. . . . Did you do something to them?!"

"I needed you active immediately, instead of waiting for months for you to regain the use of your body through physical therapy. Try getting up and walking around." The stranger pulled out the IV and also unhooked all the other cords and implements.

The patient got off the bed with only minimal effort. It was like waking up from an ordinary sleep instead of a months-long coma. He walked around the room, his amazement and awe only increasing with each painless, flawless step. "This is incredible!" he exclaimed. "How did you do this?!"

"We'll talk about that later. Right now, there are other things to discuss."

He turned, looking towards the doorway. "What about the others?"

"You were the only one who made it back, at least for now. And that's just fine; your bitterness runs deeper than the others', doesn't it?"

He wasn't sure he would say that. Nesbitt's rage and hatred seemed far more destructive and outraged. And his own . . . well, it had been deep, alright. He still hated Seto Kaiba for so many reasons—using the Big Five, Mokuba . . . taking KaibaCorp from Gozaburo and breaking the man down. . . . And yet . . . he hadn't wanted to use Mokuba to get at Seto. He cared about Mokuba enough that thinking about him had restored him after sinking into the darkness of the Shadow Realm. And for him to have somehow made it back to the mortal realm . . . had his dark feelings faded to the point of allowing him through the protective barrier that thief had put up to keep the Big Five from possessing them? No one was supposed to have been able to escape the Shadow Realm without passing through that barrier.

He narrowed his eyes, looking back to the person who had provided for his freedom of mobility. "Let's just discuss what this is all about," he said.

"Very well," was the reply. "I'm most anxious to get into that topic myself."

Some Days Later

Seto Kaiba was hard at work in his office, completely focused on the words appearing across the computer screen as he typed. It seemed that things were proceeding quite well for once. He had repaired the damage the Big Five had caused with his augmented reality game. Now it was the star attraction at Kaiba Land, just as he had hoped. The Big Five's plot had backfired; more people than ever were interested in the game after experiencing what it was like when it had blanketed the entire city of Domino. Most people believed that Seto had not been responsible for that madness, which was also a relief. KaibaCorp had taken several bad blows to its reputation lately, but now it finally seemed that it was on the rise.

He hadn't been much in contact with Yugi and the others since their experience rescuing Mokuba from the Shadow Realm. Seto had been busy and their paths just hadn't had reason to cross outside of school. He was still trying to adapt to the realization that he had come to see them as his friends, and wondering how he was ever going to tell them what he had realized without it seeming stilted and awkward. Maybe there was no way.

Mokuba seemed to be feeling better, thankfully . . . although he was still sad and confused about Lector and what had become of their old guardian. Lector had tried to protect Mokuba from the rest of the Big Five in the Shadow Realm, and they had learned that he had also arranged for an escape from the burning building when Nesbitt had tried to murder Mokuba. The boy insisted that Lector had overcome a lot of his inner darkness or he couldn't have reformed after the shadows had overwhelmed him and pulled him in. He couldn't understand why Lector hadn't been able to make it out of the Shadow Realm with the rest of them. Seto certainly didn't have an answer for him, except that Lector had been trying to restrain that madman Khu from crossing over into the mortal realm. He probably hadn't been able to break away from that task.

Seto sighed. He still wasn't sure how he felt about Lector either. Had the man truly changed, or did he just care about Mokuba in spite of still hating Seto? If Lector had made it back, could Seto have trusted him? He couldn't see himself re-hiring Lector in any case, even if Mokuba pleaded. But maybe he would have, as Mokuba had suggested, try to anonymously arrange a different job for Lector.

Oh well. It wasn't likely that he would ever have those answers or need to think about how he would handle Lector.

Then the phone rang and his world turned upsidedown again.

"What is it?" he barked as he lifted the receiver.

"M-Mr. Kaiba," Roland stammered on the other end, "we have a problem."

"What do you mean, we have a problem?!" Seto snapped. "What problem?!"

"Well, Sir . . . I've just learned that one of the Big Five's bodies has disappeared from the infirmary."

"What?!" Seto gripped the phone so tightly it was a wonder it didn't break. "When did this happen?!"

"It was only discovered today, Sir, but it looks like it happened some time ago. Days, at least."

"That's not possible," Seto objected. "Someone would have had to have noticed before that!"

"If it was, it must have been by someone who was in on the body's disappearance, Sir," Roland said.

"No one on my staff would have been in on something like that!" Seto boomed. "Which Big Five member was it, anyway?"

"Lector," Roland told him. "And what's possibly even stranger is that all of the medical equipment is still in the room. Without that he'll die, unless the abductor has their own medical supplies."

Seto scowled deeper. What a bizarre coincidence in light of his recent thoughts. The last time he had known Lector was in the infirmary had been before that misadventure with Yami Marik kidnapping Mokuba to the Shadow Realm so he could speak to Lector after his spirit had been banished there. Seto hadn't even thought to check the infirmary after their return. Mokuba, on the other hand, surely would have, and he hadn't said anything about Lector being gone.

"Run background checks on everyone on the infirmary staff," Seto directed. "If someone really was in on this, I want to know now!"

"Yes, Sir," Roland promised.

Seto hung up and laced his fingers, the work forgotten. Why would anyone in their right mind steal the comatose body of one of the Big Five? For that matter, why would anyone in their wrong mind do it?

Well, maybe Yami Marik would, just to torture Seto and make him wonder about it. Or worse, to torture Mokuba and make him hope Lector had really returned to his body.

. . . There wasn't any chance Lector really could have made it back, was there?

Of course not. Even if he had, he would need therapy to use his body again. He never could have escaped the infirmary without someone knowing. This had to be the work of a new enemy.

Seto massaged his forehead. This was not what he needed right now. And he didn't look forward to telling Mokuba. He knew what the kid would think and hope.

xxxx

Bakura wandered into the living room when it seemed as though all was too quiet. Yami Bakura was sitting in the windowseat, staring out at the autumn night. At the moment he was choosing to appear in his form from mortality, and his favorite red robe was hanging over the edge of the windowseat while he rested one arm on his knee. He gave no indication of being aware of Bakura's approach, and Bakura had to wonder whether or not he was indeed aware, as he usually was. When the silence persisted, Bakura finally decided to be the one to break it. "Yami?"

Yami Bakura gave a barely perceptible move of his shoulders.

"You're still thinking about what Yami Marik put us through when he forced us into that cruel Shadow Game in the Duel Monsters' dimension, aren't you?"

Yami Bakura grunted in the affirmative. ". . . I woke up from a dream about it. . . . You died in a way I haven't remembered as having happened in that world, but I can't swear the dream was just a dream. It may have been a memory, since the Pharaoh didn't tell us everything."

Bakura gave a sad sigh and rested his hand on Yami Bakura's shoulder. "It's all over now, Yami," he said softly. "We're all alright."

Yami Bakura was silent for a moment. "The whole experience still feels like a dream regardless of knowing it truly happened. I wish it had been."

"So do I," Bakura said, "except for how close we all grew there."

"But those memories were taken from us thanks to that demon, so that is a moot point."

Bakura couldn't deny that. "I wonder where he is," he said instead.

"I don't know, and I would be perfectly content to go on not knowing." Abruptly Yami Bakura turned away from the window. "Let's think about something else. It's almost Halloween and we haven't even fixed the place up for it."

"What?" Bakura chuckled. It was so random he could scarcely believe he had heard right.

Yami Bakura smirked, leaning back against the wall. "I've always thought it would be amusing to decorate for a holiday that celebrates the macabre. I just never had any reason to actually put my mind to it before; I was too busy trying to conquer the world."

"I should have known you'd like that," Bakura laughed.

"Now that I don't have a great deal to do, it seems the perfect year to decorate. Just as long as we get it appropriately frightening," Yami Bakura quickly added. "Nothing cutesy or cheery will do."

"I hardly think we have the money to do something too elaborate," Bakura said.

"It doesn't have to be expensive," Yami Bakura said. "You might be amazed at what I could come up with on a tight budget."

Bakura had to admit he was curious. And anyway, they had both felt rather worn-out and discouraged after so many disasters of late. If Yami Bakura was interested in a fun, harmless project, Bakura wanted to support him. It might be enjoyable for them to work on it together.

"Alright," he said, warming to the occasion. "Téa just took on a seasonal job at a store in the mall. She said it's a holiday and party store that sells overstock from stores. Why don't we see what we can find there?"

"Fine." Yami Bakura got out of the windowseat and went over to the key rack. Bakura had the feeling he was just as interested in driving as he was to look at Halloween decorations, if not moreso.

xxxx

Téa sighed as she leaned on the front desk and watched her boss Mr. Thorton cautiously approaching the doorway of the store. It was always strange taking on work for that high-strung man, but since she had worked for him before and she needed the money, she had decided to go for it. He was a fair boss, but more than a little eccentric. At the moment, with Halloween in full swing, he was stocking plenty of Halloween decor but was leery of much of it. Right now he was trying to avoid an animatronic corpse that was crawling around the doorway.

At last he scooted inside and rushed to the desk. "Oh, thank goodness," he sighed in relief. In the doorway, the corpse was just crawling to where Thorton had been standing.

"Mr. Thorton, if you don't mind my asking, why do you even have those things on when you don't like them?" Téa asked. She wouldn't say "scared of them," but it was obvious he was.

"Because they sell," Mr. Thorton replied. "Customers like seeing how the merchandise works and then they're more likely to buy it. But oh, I can hardly wait until it's time to put out something nice and harmless, like the Christmas animatronics. . . ."

Téa gave a half-smirk. She wasn't terribly fond of Halloween creatures herself, but after all of their grotesque adventures, it was hard for her to be frightened of a mechanical creation.

She came to attention as Bakura and Yami Bakura suddenly approached the store. "Hi, guys," she greeted. "Uh, look out for the . . ."

"Hello, Téa," Bakura said with a wave and a smile. Then the corpse grabbed his shoe and he looked down with a start. It was such a surprising sight that he couldn't refrain from shrieking. "Oh my!"

Yami Bakura laughed. "That's so obviously fake!"

"But it's still startling," Bakura sighed, placing a hand over his heart.

Yami Bakura smirked. "Anything anyone could make would pale in comparison with the nightmarish illusions I could craft."

"I'm sure," Téa scowled. "Or the real lost souls you could bring into this dimension."

"You must have been talking to Tristan about what I did to Bonz and his friends," Yami Bakura said.

Mr. Thorton was bewildered. "Who are these people?"

"Well, um . . ." Téa was never quite sure how to introduce them. "It's Ryou Bakura and his . . . Egyptian cousin, Yami Bakura. . . ." She smiled weakly. "My friends. . . ."

"You have interesting friends," Mr. Thorton said, shaking his head. "I just hope that older one won't cause some kind of commotion in the store. . . ." He shot Yami Bakura a wary look. "He seems like a mischief-maker."

"Not to worry," Yami Bakura retorted. "We're just here to look. Perhaps to buy."

"Yami wants to decorate for Halloween," Bakura explained to Téa, who cringed.

"Well, now I know one place Joey won't want to visit on Halloween. . . ."

Mr. Thorton still looked wary. "So . . . um, what were you hoping to do for your decorations?" he asked Yami Bakura.

"Something chilling," Yami Bakura sneered. "Perhaps a graveyard and a few rising corpses. Appropriately realistic, of course."

Bakura scratched his cheek. "I'm not sure Father would like all of that much. . . ."

"Bah! He probably won't even be around," Yami Bakura countered.

Bakura couldn't deny the possibility.

Téa was barely paying attention to them. "Oh wow!" she suddenly cried.

Bakura jumped. "What is it, Téa?"

"I . . . I'm not sure." Téa ran to the doorway and looked out into the mall. "I saw someone. . . ."

Mr. Thorton blanched. "A ghost?!"

Téa ignored him. "He turned and looked at me, and I remembered seeing him before . . . or someone like him. . . ." She gripped the wall. "I know who it looked like, but that's impossible!"

"For Heaven's sake, who?" Bakura exclaimed.

"It looked like one of the Big Five," Téa said. "Lector, I think. And he was solid!"