Through the Mirror

Through the Mirror.

Mai was giving cookies to the children. "It's okay. It happens. We know you got excited about a cat that looked like yours, but your kitty isn't here either."

"I leave to clear my head and lose these little guys in the process," Joey cursed himself. "I don't know how it happened. They never tend to run off or anything. You guys are always good. If I could . . ." He didn't finish his statement.

"Cookies?" Mana asked.

Silhouette held out hers. "Here you go."

"You don't need to do that, Sil. Here you go, Mana." Mai gave her a cookie.

Hikaru looked at the cookie.

"Anyhow, it's okay you two," their Uncle Joey said. "No problem. Just, don't slip away like that on me again, okay? You two are my responsibility. Until we find you a permanent home, you are up to us to watch after."

"I think you should probably invite Bakura over," Mai said.

Uncle Joey just glared at his wife. "I don't know. You kids sure you wanna go with him."

"No." Silhouette stood up. "No. We aren't leaving."

"Right," Hikaru agreed. "Daddy's in another world."

"Yeah?" Their Uncle Joey didn't seem to know how to take that. "Sure, you could say that, but he can't take care of you anymore."

"Yes he will," Silhouette said. "He won't remember us, but he still loves us, and he will."

"Yikes," Uncle Joey muttered. "Don't do this you guys. It's not a good road to go down."

"Your daddy and your moms are gone," Mai said to them. "There was an accident, and-"

"-Momma Masika would still be there," Silhouette spoke up again. She pointed her dolly at Mai. "If there was an accident with Momma and Daddy, then why did Momma Masika die too?"

"Yeah, and the cats," Hikaru asked. "Why would the cats and Momma Masika just die? They weren't in the accident."

"God damn it," their Uncle Joey cursed. "If we told you, it would just confuse you more. You just need to understand that everybody was connected. Mana, why don't you go play with Silhouette for a bit?"

"Come on, Sil. We can go play house with our dolls." Mana grabbed her hand and pulled her away.

Hikaru got up to follow them, but his Uncle Joey stopped him.

"Come on, Hikaru. You finish your cookie and we'll go chat for awhile. Just me and you," he insisted.

Hikaru stared at his cookie. "Sil never talks too much, until it's really important. Then she gets demanding. She has a point though, Uncle Joey. You don't get it. We really did see them. They forgot us, but they love us, and they'll come back."

"Hi, yeah, they loved you. They loved you a whole lot, but it doesn't mean they can come back." His Uncle Joey hugged him. "Come on, let's go for a ride. You want to go to a playground?"

End of Mirror

It was hard to watch. Hikaru missed them just as much as they missed him. Yuugi stroked the mirror softly. He could only read what it said, but he could still feel it. They were trying to tell Joey and Mai, but they weren't listening.

"Jounouchi separated the kids so they'd stop questioning together," Anzu said as she looked away. "Daddy, Momma, and Momma Masika. I guess I was Momma."

"Anzu. I have subtitles on this thing, like it's an export video," he joked. "You don't have to stay here for this. We just need to learn their routines. I don't think we can even see the routines right now."

"Mana grows up to be pretty cute. Wrong hair color, but cute anyway," Jounouchi said, trying to lighten the mood. "I can watch it too, Yuugi. I've got it if you want to break away." He looked back at the mirror. "Can't see no more."

"Concrete gods is both of them. When they separate, maybe we can't see anymore," Masika guessed. "What do you think, Atem?"

Atem was quiet.

"Oh yeah." Jounouchi gave him a good pat on the back. "At least you won't have to change diapers."

"Jounouchi." Mai came into the store with Mana. "It's taking awhile to tell them. You said 'it won't take long, Mai, I promise.'."

"Oh. Right. I got sidetracked, Mai. Literally I had Yuugi and Atem's kids crying on me."

Her eyebrow just raised.

"Honest. They were from another dimension."

"If they had a tournament of the man who got out of trouble with the most bizarre explanations, you'd win," she said.

"Right, sorry." Jounouchi looked toward Yuugi. "There was a special on cards online I saw today only. I was around, so I thought I'd let you know."

"It would be a good idea to check out that sale." Atem finally spoke again. "Thanks, Jounouchi."

"Your welcome. Good luck you two. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" Jounouchi offered. "I better get going. I'll explain things better to Mai." He went back out the door with her. They heard him start to explain in the distant muttering. "So, you know how Yuugi and Atem's lives are like always messed up?"

"What if we try just one god instead of gods?" Anzu wondered. She picked up the mirror again. "Concrete god."

It worked. They saw Hikaru swinging on a playground.

"This version of Jounouchi is with him," Yuugi said.

"Their 'Uncle Joey' ," Anzu said. "We should learn their names and their world, if we want to get Hikaru back over here."

"Right." He tried it in English. "Uncle Joey." It sounded weird on his tongue. If he had any chance to directly communicate to Hikaru though, he needed to learn it better. "He's not gonna feel good if we just yank them again. He felt responsible about them missing last time." Yuugi looked over toward Atem and Masika. They both were quiet.

Neither of them probably counted on an actual Silhouette since the gods games. It wasn't even just someone new to learn to hold either, she was already six. They could see her becoming their own little person. Masika would probably have a better idea about that, she remembered about Mokuba being Heba.

Atem, might be a little more lost right now. While Yuugi couldn't wait to finally get Hikaru back where he belonged, he didn't know how Atem felt. ///Yuugi: You okay, Atem?///

///Atem: The other form of me, the one that is almost a god. He spoke to me and only me. He had very deep regrets and warnings.///

"Can we go back to Sil now?" Hikaru asked his Uncle Joey.

"Ever since you've been here, you and her have always been together. Why don't you take a break from each other for a bit?" Uncle Joey pointed out. "When I was super young, when I lived with my sister, I definitely had moments where I didn't want her around. Don't you ever get those?"

Hikaru just looked at him oddly. "No."

"Yeah." He sighed. "You two are a couple of unique ones sometimes. Good kids though," he said. "Really. I gotta get on Mana at least twice a day. At least. I don't ever tend to yell at you or your sister, you don't do much wrong."

Hikaru just shrugged. "Can we go back to Sil now?"

"This playground is less than a block away from home," his Uncle Joey said. "She's just playing house with Mana."

"Did you want something Uncle Joey?" Hikaru asked him.

"I want you to talk to Sil, about being more open minded about Uncle Tristan," his Uncle Joey said.

"Oh." Hikaru started to swing. "No one changes Sil's mind."

"Then can you change your mind?" his Uncle Joey said.

Hikaru just looked around. "We are waiting."

"Sure you are." Uncle Joey groaned as his cell rang. "Yeah, Mai? He what?" He rolled his eyes. "Yeah fine, I'm coming back."

Hikaru got off the swing. "Back to Sil?"

"Back to more than Sil. Bakura just showed up at my front door." Uncle Joey didn't sound pleased. "Come on, let's go walk home."