Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

It was very dark. The only thing Ryou could see was a small ray of light pouring into the collapsed cave. It was too cold. How was he going to survive? The light grew more intense. It changed from a dull white to a bright gold to a blood red. What was going on? What did the light mean?
“Huh? What?” a white haired teen asked.
“Ryou! You’re finally awake,” a tri-colored haired teen said.
“Yugi? What happened? How long was I asleep?” Ryou asked.
“When we were at the game shop, you fell unconscious. We brought you to the hospital. You were asleep for at least 3 hours,” Yugi explained.
Ryou groaned and threw his head back onto the pillow. He covered his face with his hands.
“Is anyone else here?” Ryou asked.
“Yeah, um let’s see there’s… Joey, Tristan, Tea, Mai, Christian, Seto, and Mokuba…oh! Malik is here also,” Yugi said with a smile on his face.
Ryou nearly jumped at the mention of his name.
“MALIK?! Why the HELL is he here?!” Ryou exclaimed.
Yugi just laughed and shook his head.
“Ryou, you know that he is very sorry for what he did to us,” Yugi explained.
Suddenly, Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle and Ryou’s Millennium Ring started to glow. The air in the center of the room darkened with a fog and formed into two human forms. The light faded away, and stood before them were their Yami’s.
“Yugi, did you say that Malik here?” the tri-colored haired Yami asked. He looked exactly like Yugi, only he was taller, his voice was deeper, and his eyes were sharper then Yugi.
“Yes, Yami I did,” Yugi said rolling his eyes at his Yami.
“Why the HELL is he here?” the white haired Yami yelled, “That bastard tried to kill all of us! Or um…I should say tried to kill all of you…umm yeah…”
The Yami just blushed and hung his head.
Bakura was the name of Ryou’s Yami. His appearance was just like Ryou, but as with Yugi, Bakura was taller, sharper eyes, and had a deeper, but harsher voice.
“Bakura! He is not a bastard! Even though he did try to kill us, he was very sorry for it,” Ryou explained, “Besides, why do you care? He’s like, your best friend.” Bakura looked shocked at his Hikari’s response.
“Because…because he tried to hurt you…you and your friends I mean…Ryou, weren’t you the one who said ‘Why the HELL is he here’ too?” Bakura asked with a smirk on his face. Ryou blushed.
“Aw! You do care!” Ryou said laughing.
“Yeah, but that was only because it caught me by surprise! Besides, isn’t he going out with Keket, you know Christian’s best friend?” Ryou asked.
“I still don’t know what Keket sees in that weird little psycho sorry excuse of a man,” Bakura said as he sat down next to Ryou’s bed.
“Bakura you’re such in asshole,” Ryou said laughingly.
“Bastard,” Bakura said.
“Moron.”
“Son of a dog.”
“Kleptomaniac.”
“Shut up.”
“Make me,” Ryou said as he stuck his tongue out at Bakura. Bakura growled and vanished back into the Ring. Yugi was trying to hold in his laughter, but was failing and rolling around on the ground. And Yami was just standing, giving his trademark smirk at his Hikari’s actions and Ryou’s and Bakura’s.
There was a knock on the door, and Ryou's doctor stepped in.
"Hello Ryou, my name is Dr. Finn," The man said. He had short black hair with piercing blue eyes. He looked to be about in his early 30's. He held out a hand and Ryou shook it. The doctor turned to Yami and Yugi.
"May I have a moment alone to speak with Ryou?" he asked.
Yugi and Yami both looked at eachother and then Ryou. Ryou nodded and the two left the room.

Waiting Room

Tristan and Tea were sitting in the couch, with Tea's head on his shoulder. Christian was sitting next to them on the other end of the couch. There was another couch across from that one, and Malik was sitting on the left side with Keket sitting on his lap. Mokuba was laying down on the couch sleeping. Next to the doors of the hospital, was a chair where Seto was sitting holding a cup of coffee. His girlfriend, Christina, could not come since she was in America with her family. Mai was standing in front of the window, staring out at the dark sky. And Joey was pacing back and forth in between the two couches. He was very anxious of what was going on in Ryou's room.
Joey stopped pacing and looked up to see Yugi and Yami coming down the hallway, where Ryou's room was.
"Hey Yug! What's the deal with Ryou?!" Joey asked.
"He's awake now, but the doctor wanted to talk to him," Yugi explained.
"I hope it's not serious," Christian said with concern in her voice as she walked over to Yami and Yugi. She had shoulder length brown hair that was layered and grey eyes. And was 2 inches shorter than Yami.
"I hope so..." Yami said turing his head ot look back at Ryou's door.

Ryou's Room

"Well Ryou, when you were unconsious, we took some blood samples and I have some bad news," Dr. Finn began.
"What is it?" asked Ryou.
"Well, you have a very serious disease called Sceroderma," Dr. Finn said.
"Sceroderma? What is that?" Ryou questioned.
"It's a usually slow progressive disease marked by the deposition of fibrous connective tissue in the skin and often in internal organs," said Dr. Finn.
Ryou gave a blank stare.
"In English that means...?" Ryou asked.
"It means the hardening of the skin and eventually it will get into your internal organs," the doctor explained.
"Can you die from it?" Ryou asked.
"Over time...yes," Dr. Finn said.
Ryou looked like he had just been slapped in the face. H eleaned back into the pillow.
"How much time do I have left?" Ryou asked with tears stinging the back of his eyes.
"I would say about...7-8 months," Dr. Finn said.
Ryou broke down. He had no idea this would happen to him. He had only a maximum of 8 months to live? He felt so empty. He had no one to love...nor did anyone love him. Except his Yami, but that was a brotherly love...he wanted someone he could hold and love forever. Appearently that wasn't going to happen.
Abiou? I can't believe what I have heard!
Bakura...I want to be alone.
But Ryou, I...
Ryou cut off their mental link and continued to cry.
"Ryou? Would you like me to tell your friends?" the doctor asked.
"Umm...could you tell Yugi Mutou...then h-he can t-tell the others..." Ryou asked.
"Of course," the doctor said. With that, he turned and walked out of the room. Once Ryou was alone in the room, he cried even harder into his hands.

Waiting Room

Everyone was starting to get very tired. They have been in the building for 4 hours...ever since Ryou fell unconcious. That was ay 9:32pm, now it is 1:34am. Everyone came to their senses when they heard a male voice.
"Is there a Yugi Mutou here?" a doctor asked.
"I'm right here," Yugi said.
"May I have a word with you about Ryou?" the doctor asked.
"Um...sure," Yugi said walking with the doctor to the middle of the hallway.
When Yugi and the doctor reached the hallway, the doctor turned around, adn spoke.
"Ryou wanted me to tell you what I said to him," Dr. Finn.
"Okay," Yugi said.
"Well, Ryou has a very serious disease called Sceroderma," the doctor began.
"What's that?" Yugi asked.
"I'll summerize it...it hardens the skin, and it will eventually seep down into his internal organs," the doctor explained.
"Oh my god...is he going to die?" Yugi asked.
"He will," the doctor said.
"Is there a cure?" Yugi asked.
"One has not been found," the doctor explained.
Yugi looked completely shocked.
"How much longer does he have?" Yugi asked.
"At the maximum I would say 8 months," the doctor said.
"When can he leave?" Yugi questioned.
"He will be able to leave in the morning, but this disease will be very painful for him, his skin will stiffen, therefore, he won't be able to do many activities. Make sure he gets lots of rest," the doctor explained.
"I will and thank you," Yugi said letting some tears run down his cheeks.
"Take care, and if he gets into any extreme pain, bring him back immediatly," the doctor said patting his shoulder.
Yugi nodded and turned to walk back to the waiting room. When Yugi got back, everyone was staring at him.
"What's the deal with Ryou?" Tristan asked.
"Ryou has Sceroderma," Yugi said.
Everyone looked at him with a blank face. Finally someone spoke up.
"Sceroderma? I can't believe it," a blonde haired teen said.
"What's Sceroderma Keket?" Seto asked.
"Well, without the technical terms, it means the hardening of the skin and it will eventually get into his organs. He can die," Keket explained.
Everyone fell silent. Mokuba was awake the whole time, heard everything and began ot cry. Seto got up from his chair and walked over and embraced him. Tea, Christian, Mai, and even Tristan and Malik were getting teary.
"When will he die?" Malik asked. Everyone turned their gazes towards Yugi.
"The doctor said in a maximum of 8 months," Yugi said.
Everyone in the room turned white. They never knew a disease could work that fast. Even Keket did not know...
"Did the doctor say when he could leave?" asked Seto.
"Ya, the doctor said that he can leave in the morning. I'll go tell the front desk I'll pick him up at 10:00am," Yugi said.
Ten minutes later, everyone was gone from the hospital. It was 2:30am before everyone got to their houses. Yugi unlocked the back door to the Game Shop and went up the stairs to his room. Yugi would have a very restless sleep that night.

Ryou's Room

Ryou couldn't even shut his eyes, in fear that his skin would stiffen instantly and he would die. He sat up and covered his face with his hands and began to sob uncontrollably in them. Even though he was still in the hospital, he felt very unsafe. Little did he know, he was being watched over...

Unknown Place

"Master? Shall I go down there now?" a beautiful young woman asked.
"No, wait until the morning my child, then you shall bring him here safe and sound," said a voice.
"Yes, master," she said.

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