Ryou trudged home, lost in his own despair. So great was this despair, that it practically rolled off of him in waves that spread around for a radius of fifty feet. His despair alone was enough to cause babies to become listless, and children to fall silent. The only thing he was missing was a large neon sign floating above him saying, "My life sucks. I am in Despair". Bright tears ran down his cheeks occasionally, to fall and shatter on the hard ground, flinging crystalline shards in all directions, thus causing several flat tires to the few cars passing obliviously by.

To add to this incredibly gloomy picture, it was also raining, the stereotypical wet, drenching rain that always seems to gravitate towards the depressed people.

You'd think that they'd give you a break, Ryou thought Miserably, not only am I Depressed, but I'm also wet. Why can't the sun ever be out when someone is Depressed? The universe must be conspiring to make me Miserable. And wet.

This is the song that never ends

It just goes on and on my friends

If Ryou had been paying attention, he would have noticed that he had just walked by a large mountain in the middle of the city that was painted bright pink, but we don't care about that and neither does he. Ryou sighed again. What did he do to deserve such an abusive yami? He was going to be late coming home again, and his yami would beat him again. That was the way his life was; it had gotten so bad, that he had been crippled for life a few times and died about twice, but somehow he always was fine the next morning, except for scars conveniently placed where they would be noticed at school and force him into all sorts of trouble with his friends and the Guidance Counselor.

Some people started singing it

Not knowing what it was

The rain was getting harder, so hard that Ryou was considering whether it wouldn't be faster to just swim home. It had also taken on an opaque quality, so that when somebody came walking down the street in the other direction, Ryou bumped right into him, causing them both to fall down.

"Sorry!" Ryou gasped, hoping the other could hear him, as they both struggled to their feet.

"No, I should be apologizing," said Malik, for that's who the other person was. Ryou looked at Malik, startled. Even in his own state of despair, he could not miss Malik's tone of voice, the kind of tone that practically shrieks 'I am Contemplating Suicide, somebody put me out of my Misery.'

And they'll continue singing it

Forever just because

This is the song that never ends

"What's wrong?" Ryou asked tentatively, because that's the kind of person Ryou was. He was a firm believer in his own worthlessness, and did all he could to make sure he reflected that doctrine properly in his behavior towards others.

"The usual," Malik said. "I'm feeling horribly guilty for the things that I did and the things my yami did, while he spends his time alternately beating me and committing mass murders all over the city. I still haven't figured out why nobody noticed him yet."

"I know what you mean," Ryou said. "Once after my yami killed me, he came to drag me away from the morgue, all the while yelling at me and hitting me because I didn't leave him dinner. The very doctors who had brought me there watched, but didn't seem to register what was happening to me."

It just goes on and on my friends

Some people started singing it

Not knowing what it was

"Ryou, I'm so sorry," Malik said guiltily, sure that this was somehow his fault. "You can blame me for it, if it'll make you feel better."

"No, no," Ryou protested, "someone as worthless as me shouldn't bother you with my pathetic problems."

The two stood in silence for a minute, while dramatic thunder rolled in the background. "If your yami beats you, why go back to him?" Malik finally said, shifting a little so that the tidal wave coming down the street wouldn't sweep him away.

"You know the drill; two halves of a whole, I feel so alone and worthless without him, and I'm secretly in love with him. You?"

Malik stared at Ryou in wonder. "Wow, it's the same for me! Isn't that an amazing coincidence?"

Ryou looked at his watch, which had stopped working several weeks ago. "I've got to get back, my yami's going to be so angry…" he bit his lip, the Depression hitting him again full force, and turning the already gray and overcast day even darker.

Malik, too, looked worried. "Five hundred yen says that when we get home we'll be raped. It never fails."

A tragic sigh escaped the pearly-haired boy's lips. "I've got to stop making bets with you. I keep losing."

The Egyptian shrugged. "You never pay up anyway."

This is the song that never ends….

The two Depressed hikaris parted, slogging their own separate ways through the thigh high waters, while the merciless rain continued to pour down on their abused, not to mention wet, bodies. They narrowly missed being hit by Moby Dick, who they didn't even recognize because they don't pay attention at school.