Rock Bottom: Season Zero

Monsters

A/N: Sorry friends, but this is the part where you go read the wiki description of the Monster World manga arc, because I tried rewriting it, but it was just too hard. Sorry. :(

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"Ryou!"

"Is he okay?"

"Hey man, wake up!"

Once the five friends had awoken from their strange Shadow Game, their first concern was to make sure that Ryou was indeed alright. He'd sacrificed his very soul in order to save them, and for a few minutes, he'd been dead. Actually dead. If the White Mage hadn't sacrificed himself to save Ryou and give back the soul that Ryou had invested in him, Seto didn't know what they would have done. How on earth would they explain that to Ryou's parents?

"Look!" Anzu pointed as the cord holding the Millennium Ring around Ryou's neck severed of its own accord, the artifact falling to the ground with a clink. Marik had his arm around Ryou's shoulders as the teen stirred and opened his eyes, sitting up with a look of confusion only to have Marik pull him upright so that he could hug him tightly. With cries of joy, the others piled on in a group hug, except for Seto, who merely pat Ryou on the head awkwardly. Ryou didn't seem to mind, though, since he grinned at Seto as warmly as he did the others. The relief of finding himself alive was overwhelming.

"How's your hand?" Seto asked, and in doing so, reminded the others that Ryou's left hand had been impaled on one of the turrets of Castle Zorc. Ryou was quickly released and ushered upstairs by a fretful Anzu and an affectionate Marik. Seto pulled out the Millennium Rod and looked down at it. He had so many questions for the spirit who had identified himself as Seth and played the game beside Yugi's Shadow against the Spirit of the Millennium Ring.

"Man, how come I don't get any magical doo-dads?" Joey pouted with crossed arms.

"Trust me, Joey, you don't want one," Seto answered sourly, putting it away and noticing that Yugi was holding the Millennium Puzzle and staring at it in a similar manner.

"Didn't it seem like your spirit knew mine?" he asked, looking up at Seto with his large, innocent eyes as he mused dreamily about what could be, in spite of a colossal lack of evidence. "I wonder if they were friends in ancient Egypt long ago."

"But didn't they both identify themselves as pharaohs?" Seto pointed out skeptically. "It seems more likely to me that they were rivals of some sort."

"Well, they could still have been friends," Yugi naïvely pointed out. "I'll have to ask Yami about it."

"It also seemed like Ryou's spirit knew ours from long ago, for that matter, and he was incredibly dangerous. How do we know that Yami and Seth aren't just as dangerous as him?" Yugi thought carefully for a moment before answering.

"Just because they are dangerous, that doesn't mean that they are evil," he said slowly, looking to Joey for confirmation, who nodded. "After all, I would say that you're dangerous, Seto, but you're also good." Seto scowled at that.

"Don't you think it a little strange that Yami can't remember his own name? Wouldn't he be able to remember his name if he could remember anything else?"

Yugi's forehead wrinkled with thought as he considered Seto's words. Unlike the violet-eyed teen, Seto was not optimistic about this arrangement. He didn't like the idea of a spirit being able to take control of him, talk to him, and exercise magical powers. While Yugi felt like he'd been given a purpose in helping the lost, troubled spirit find peace, Seto felt like he'd been shackled with yet another burden, something else for him to worry about, something more to complicate his life. Yugi's optimism was starting to grate on Seto's strained nerves. There were too many things for him to deal with right now, and this was the last thing he needed.