Painful Memories: Part III: Consequences

Fragments

The tension in the air was thick. Rishid was sitting on the couch while Ishizu bandaged him up. He'd gotten a nasty cut in the fight downstairs, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the one Bakura had almost given Marik. Yugi was still shaking. He was sitting in the lounge chair with Marik standing behind him. Yugi couldn't quite decide if Marik was trying to protect him, or keep his distance from the Thief. If he had nearly had his eye gouged out, he would be keeping his distance too.

Yugi had seen the Thief possess Ryou several times over the years, so he knew the instant that he was back. What concerned him more at this point was whether Ryou was okay or not. Had he completely lost his mind, or was that something else that had been controlling him? At the moment the Thief was sitting completely still and his eyes were glazed over. He had mentioned something about a conversation, but hadn't budged since then. That was about ten minutes ago. Yugi wondered if that was what he looked like when he was talking with the Pharoah. If so, he sure looked crazy.

Pegasus was pacing back and forth, looking more annoyed the longer it took. It must be difficult for him, helping the Thief return to Ryou's body after everything it had done to him. Not to mention the fact that Kaiba was in the back room still passed out. Ever since Kaiba's collapse, Pegasus had become extremely short tempered. He reminded Yugi more of Pegasus Crawford the President of Industrial Illusions, instead of Pegasus Crawford the friend that visited the game shop a few days back to share a pot of tea. He was nowhere near as upset as he had been at Duelist Kingdom, but his cool demeanor was breaking down.

"Is he ever going to snap out of this, or will he just be comatose forever?" Pegasus asked.

"He's sorting things out with Ryou, I'm sure," Yugi said. "I just hope Ryou's okay. He seemed really upset before he got possessed."

"Is that what happened?" Rishid asked from his prone position on the couch. "I thought that was the Thief that attacked us."

"What, really?" Marik said, stepping forward. "I know the Thief, and that wasn't him. He would never attack me like that!"

Pegasus chuckled, "Are you really so certain? He tried to kill Yugi and his friends a few years back, or is your memory so short?"

"Who cares? So did I, and you too, actually."

Pegasus waved a hand in indifference. "That's not the same thing! I was trying to bring back someone I loved. He was trying to resurrect a creature that wanted to destroy the world!"

"Does it make a difference?"

Pegasus sighed, "Honestly I don't even know why I bother with talking to you. Everyone knows you're biased about him."

Marik narrowed his eyes, "You're just as biased about this as I am!" He turned his attention to Yugi, "What do you think, Yugi? You haven't said a word about this either way."

Yugi took a deep breath, feeling very small and out of place on the armchair. He had been debating this very thing for the last few days, ever since Pegasus said that the Items would have to go back to their owners. He had known that the Ring would go back to Ryou, but he hadn't been sure if the Thief would still be there or not. He thought they had killed him in the Memory World, but then again, they thought the Pharoah had moved on. Since Ishizu seemed certain that he was there, and would return once Ryou was given the Ring, Yugi had struggled over his own feelings. He wasn't questioning what to do with the Thief though, he was questioning why he wasn't feeling any anger about the whole ordeal. Try as he might, he couldn't feel even a little bit of hatred for the man who had tried to kill him, his friends, and destroy the world. It was as though all of his anger had been sucked out of him. He couldn't tap into that intensity even if he tried. His reasoning was still there at least, as much as he could tell, and Yugi didn't need his anger to know the right choice, even if it was an unpopular one.

"I've had lots of people try to defeat me in a duel, hurt my friends, even kill me, but I've always given them another chance. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have made all the friends I have. I wouldn't have Joey or Tristan, Duke, or either one of you guys around. I know you two are going to think I'm ridiculous, but I think we should give him another chance. The way I see it, he devoted his entire afterlife to destroying us, and he failed. From what I've seen from you two, failure seems to change people. Maybe he's changed because of it."

"And if he hasn't changed?" Rishid got up from the couch and made his way over to stand beside Pegasus. "If he is still the same back-stabbing, untrustworthy person that we remember him as?"

Marik gaped at his brother, "Rishid..."

"I am sorry, Master Marik. I never fully condoned the two of you being together. He was a bad influence on you, and I fear that being with him again will turn you down a darker path."

Marik put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, "Look, if Yugi here thinks we should give him another chance, then we should!"

Oh jeez, was Marik really dragging Yugi into this argument?

"I'm not questioning him." Rishid said with a respectful nod, "I don't think any of us have the right to do that, but-"

Yugi sighed, "Look, I'm not the Pharoah anymore, I'm just Yugi. Would you all please stop following everything I say like it's the law? I make mistakes the same as everyone else, and so did he actually."

From the chair at the other side of the room, Ryou started laughing. It wasn't the maniacal laughter that they had heard in the basement when Ryou was possessed, but the cunning laughter of the Thief. He was smiling at them all with his arms crossed. "I couldn't have said it better myself, Yugi."

"Alright, you better have some answers." Pegasus said, "You pestered Ishizu the other night, and nearly got Rishid and Marik killed earlier. I hope you have some kind of explanation!" Pegasus tried to take a step toward him, but Rishid grabbed his arm.

The Thief's smile faded, "That wasn't me. I mean, I'm flattered that you think that I have those kind of reflexes, but I don't. In the state that Ryou was in, we were lucky he wasn't completely killed. Fortunately I believe I have everything sorted out."

Yugi was sitting nearly opposite from him in the big armchair, "What do you mean?"

The Thief looked him up and down for a moment, "Ryou's mind was fragmented. He was still functioning, but only barely. He had... dark tendencies that had to be walled up so to speak."

"So he was planning on killing Anzu earlier, wasn't he?" Pegasus said.

"Probably. I don't know, I wasn't there at the time." The Thief was trying not to snicker.

Marik smiled at him, "So you're really back? And you're alright?"

He took a deep breath and got to his feet. "I'm back, but we're not entirely in the clear. Once he knows I've escaped, he might unleash his anger on the Pharoah, and I don't know if he'll survive such an assault."

Ishizu gasped, "But you said if we brought you back you would be able to help us reach him!"

"I did, and I will! Honestly, calm down. I get back and all of you are squabbling like dogs." His words must have hit a nerve, because the room went quiet. There was something else about him too. Yugi couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something seemed clearer about him.

"You're different, aren't you? Something has changed."

"I... yes. I suppose freedom does that." He blinked and turned from Yugi's gaze suddenly. "We'll have plenty of time to discuss that later though. Gods, do we really only have three Item Holders?"

"No, there's five of them," Marik said started counting them out. "The Eye, the Necklace, the Ring, the Puzzle..."

"Nevermind the Puzzle. It's useless in its current state. What about the Rod, are you wielding it?"

Marik shook his head.

"Kaiba has it," Yugi said. "But he's asleep. Taking it was really tough on him. He caught on fire and-"

"Wake him. He can lick his wounds later. We need to move quickly before the Stranger learns what's going on. I don't think he realizes you've gathered against him. He's too busy enjoying the Pharoah's energy."