Bit of a change

Prologue

Yugi tried not to wonder why or how anymore. It had been two weeks already and he had gotten tired with the doubting and second guessing - tired of the bitterness he felt every time he ventured a guess about when the people he had loved as friends had turned into heartless monsters. It wasn't like he didn't care, he did care and that was the problem. He cared more about the two little children than he cared about the opinions of his friends.

Sighing he sat to the edge of the bed, his hand searching it's way to the albino white hair of one of the two children sleeping beneath his duvet. Still, even though he tried not to think about it, tried to tell himself that he had done the right thing no matter what anyone said, he couldn't help but sigh sadly and wonder. When had mercy begun represent betrayal in the eyes of those he had considered his friends and allies? He had always thought that mercy was a good thing, that mercy was one of the things that separated good guys from bad guys. Maybe he had been wrong about there being good guys in the first place.

The door to his room was opened quietly. Looking up he saw his grandfather - the sole person who hadn't shunned him because of his decision, the sole person who was in fact proud of him, the sole person who still believed in him. The old man smiled slightly. "Finally got them asleep?" he asked quietly, his tone amused though Yugi cold easily detect the slight tiredness in it.

"Yeah," the young gamer smiled sadly and turned to the children. "Now I'm just afraid that they'll have nightmares again," he stroked the white hair for a moment before reaching to stroke the golden one as well. Then he stood up and motioned Sugoroku to make away so that he could leave the room.

"It's truly a pity, two year olds having such horrible nightmares, but there isn't much neither of us can do about it," Sugoroku said while they were heading towards the living room. "Even with their memory all hazed up because of the ceremony, those two have seen and experienced some horrendous things. Things two year-olds can't understand."

"I know," Yugi sighed, hugging himself as if trying to ward off his own sadness. "I just hope that… I actually don't know. I know I can't do anything to make them understand what they remember any better and I know I can't do anything to make them forget either. I just… they don't deserve this, they're just kids now, no matter what the Ishtals and the others say."

Sugoroku smiled sadly and rested his palm on his grandson's shoulder. "I'm very proud of you," the old man said. "Have I said it already? Not so many would do what you did for anyone. Let alone a seventeen year old for his former enemies!"

Yugi smiled sadly. "I just hope that my friends - no… former friends would see it that way too," he sat down to one of the armchairs in the sitting room.

"I'll get something warm for you," Sugoroku said and left him to his own thoughts for a while.

Two weeks, Yugi thought to himself sadly. Two weeks ago Ishizu had came to him and Yami with an idea of giving Yami a body of his own. It was some kind of reform of an ancient spell, Ishizu was positive that it would give a perfect physical body to the unphysical pharaoh.

Yami had been ecstatic - and so had been Ryô who saw it as an opportunity to get away from his own darker half. Malik was going to go through the ritual as well so that he could finally, after years of madness, have some peace of mind. Yugi had been more than happy to accept the invitation to the ritual, just exited as Jonouchi, Anzu and Honda were about Yami having a body of his own.

The ritual hadn't gone as planned, something had gone wrong. Instead of adult bodies, the three yamis emerged in bodies that looked no older than year or two. There had been a great hassle for couple hours before they had gotten things somewhat sorted and facts in order. The ritual had failed only partially, as the yamis did have their own bodies even if younger than they were supposed to. None of the yamis had a full memory of whom or what they were, but they would possibly regain their memories in time as they grew normally.

The Ishtals had been more than happy to - ecstatic even - to take care of Yami and raise him. No one had any arguments to that, seeing that the little pharaoh had taken in liking to Ishizu already and that Yami was originally from Egypt so it would be right by him to grow up in his home. But dark Malik and dark Bakura… no one had wanted anything to do with them, no one had wanted to get even near them.

Yugi sighed and sunk into the covers of the armchair, remembering the following nightmare. They had thrown in suggestions about what to do to the two other boys. Some had thought about placing the two into random orphanage and others… others thought that the safest thing to do would just simply to kill the two and be done with it. Malik and Ryô had also been all for the killing as the two of them had first hand experience about the two yamis.

It still made Yugi shiver with disgust, the memory. How could they seriously think about killing two-year-olds? Dark Malik and dark Bakura had done some horrible things and there was no doubt about them being evil and slightly insane as well, but… they were two-year-old now, children! Even if they would regain their memories eventually, they were just kids and there was a great chance that if they would be properly raised they would become better persons!

When Yugi had stood up to protest against the killing, saying that it was murder… very soon his very own friends were asking him if he was siding with the enemy. They hadn't said it in exact words, but Yugi knew that they considered him a traitor, especially after he had taken dark Malik into his right arm and dark Bakura into his left and walked away, knowing that because of this action he would probably never see his own Yami again. But Yami would be fine; he would be well taken care of with the Ishtals, unlike dark Malik and dark Bakura.

"Here," Sugoroku interrupted his thoughts by offering him a steaming cup of hot chocolate. "It'll make you feel better."

"I can only hope," Yugi murmured but smiled and took the cup. He sipped the warm liquid and then just stared at it, feeling empty and lost.

In the two weeks after he had shocked his grandfather by bringing two kids home, things had slowly been going worse. Dark Malik - whom Yugi now called Marik - and dark Bakura - whom Yugi called just Bakura - had been at first very distrustful of him, confused about everything and very afraid. In the first morning Yugi found the two of them hiding underneath his bed, freshly woken up from nightmare and scared out of their wits. Making the two of them to trust him enough to take the help and eat the food he offered had taken two days - and the trust between them was still very frail.

On the third day Yugi had gone back to school to see Jonouchi, Anzu and Honda turning their backs to him and showing could shoulder. Mixture of Yami not being there anymore and Yugi taking care of Marik and Bakura was just about enough for them to go back to the way things had been before. Ryô was even worse than them; he showed outright hostility because Yugi had sided with his former Yami.

It hadn't yet happened, but Yugi knew that soon, now that he was no longer part of a tight group of friends, he would become free meat for the school bullies again. He was still the smallest kid in his school after all, and now he was alone as well, without anyone who would got his back. The people who had pushed him around before Yami had appeared were already eyeing him thoughtfully. The fact that he was the "King of Games" probably would just add their fuel to bully him when it would eventually escalate to that.

As the school had gotten worse, so had Yugi and that reflected in Marik and Bakura. Even thought the trust was frail at best between him and the two former yamis, he was about the only one who was there for the two. Although Sugoroku was there when Yugi was in school, Yugi was closer to the two, so his mood easily became their mood. As he got depressed so did the two until the house seemed to be shrouded by rain clouds even if it was sunny outside.

"It's going to get worse," Yugi muttered more to himself than to his grandfather who was now sitting on another armchair and lazily shuffling a deck of cards. As the old man looked at him for explanation, Yugi smiled sadly. "It… I kind of hope that I could move away somewhere where we could get a fresh start. Somewhere where people wouldn't look at me either as the King of Games or as Mutô Yugi who sided with the enemy. Somewhere…" his eyes clouded at the thought. "Somewhere where I could take the two out to playground without having to fear about meeting former allies or enemies or anything of the sort… somewhere where all this… just would be easier."

"You'd have to move out of Domino to get that kind of peace," Sugoroku said quietly. "Out of Japan entirely if you wanted to get to place where people wouldn't see you as the King of Games."

"I know it's impossible, it would just be so much easier."

"I didn't say it would be impossible," the old man blinked. "It's actually kind of good idea. Now that the Millennium Items have been sealed again by the Ishtals there wouldn't be any danger about turning your back and leaving. I just pointed out that you'd have to leave the country entirely."

Yugi looked at his grandfather with surprise. "Are you suggesting that I really should take the two and go?"

"It's not a bad idea, fresh start for the three of you would be just what you need," the old man pointed at him. "And there is the fortune your mother and father left behind that you haven't even touched. With that you could easily make your way about anywhere you wanted to."

Yugi's eyes darkened at the thought of the fortune. His father had been a business man and his mother had been a singer, both had left him quite bit of money when they died in a car crash but he hadn't touched the money at all. He wasn't sure why, maybe because he wanted to make his own way and relying on that money would feel like taking charity even if it was his. Or maybe he was just making sure that he had enough for the rainy day.

"You're good at languages anyway, fluent in English at least so maybe America, Australia, Britain…?" Sugoroku asked thoughtfully.

"Not America, Duel Monsters is famous there too and Australia… I don't know anything about Australia," Yugi frowned. "But Britain doesn't sound too bad. People whine a lot about the weather but it's fairly peaceful country, isn't it?"

Sugoroku smiled and sat up. "I have a few friends in Britain. How about I give them a call and we'll see where that will take us?"

Yugi nodded slowly. Yes. He needed a change and Marik and Bakura certainly needed a change. He was still seventeen, but he had already taken the responsibility of the two, and he most definitely wasn't backing out now. Yes. Britain sounded like a good idea.