Hey guys!

Rather than keep uploading separate fics for the ygo_drabble community on LJ I decided to amass them inside this little collection. This will be updated weekly, when I submit the entry to the community.

...I kinda wish I'd started this when it was on a happier note, but this particular drabble is unfortunately ansgty. Mehhhhh.

The challenge this week is The Path Not Taken and this is set during season zero; it also is slightly AU. I hope you enjoy this and the subsequent entries to follow :)

He could get it.

He could take his socks and shoes off, wade into the murky water of the river behind the school, and spend the next three or so hours fishing around for that dinky puzzle piece he'd thrown in earlier (and here he felt like snorting. Like that thing was really solid gold). The little guy had stood up for him, after all, and it was rare these days when anyone did that much for him.

Honda, who had gone ahead without realizing that his friend had stopped walking minutes ago, backpedaled and rounded the corner. "Oy, Jounouchi. You comin'?" he asked in a drawl, summoning the last vestiges of his already patience to wait for a reply; having the snot kicked out of you for no real reason tended to shorten tempers all around.

Jounouchi weighed his options briefly and then shrugged. "Yeah, I'm comin'," he grunted, turning his back pointedly on the river and catching up to Honda. He'd fish out the stupid thing on the weekend.

The following morning a desk was empty in his classroom. Anzu was in tears.

Jounouchi listened in numb silence when the teacher announced that last night one of their classmates had been killed on school grounds by an unknown assailant. According to his grandfather's testimony from the police, the boy had remained behind after hours to search for something he'd lost and now they were searching for the culprit.

He did not stick around to hear the rest.

Some time that evening there was a knock on the back door of the Kame Game Shop.

When it was answered, there was no one at the door. On the water spattered doormat, though, was a golden puzzle piece with the eye of Wadjet on its front. It was resting on a scrap of paper, a crudely written message written in slightly blotched ink:

This is what Yugi was looking for.

I'll get the guy who did it.