Rider (Part 1)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)

"Yuugi?"

Oh, that was her tempo. "Anzu." She was back. Just about the same time. Yuugi went toward her. "Are you okay?" She didn't look okay. "Okay, not okay. Satiah didn't do anything wrong while you were gone. She just took care of you. She rested and ate."

"She teleported to Bakuras from a dangerous ship," Anzu added to that. "I know. We talked."

"It's all over." Maybe she wasn't used to losing so much control and having to trust as much? It wasn't always easy at first. "I wasn't there either." He confessed. "Atem is back with me."

Anzu covered her ears. "Okay. Just. Fine, I know, you should have said something!"

Oh. She was fine with Yuugi now, but Atem was always a different matter. "He didn't want to scare her. We both came back not too long ago. Do you want to sit down in the kitchen or in the Game Shop to talk out some things you should know?"

"Uh." Anzu wasn't looking too pleased. Like she was talking to Satiah again. "That's not fair." She looked toward Yuugi. "That's not fair."

///Yuugi: I think she already knows somehow about the constant switching that might happen./// "Let's just go sit in the kitchen."

Yuugi sat with her and spoke to her, with Atem's aid of the events by her side. Anzu kept it together, her hands splayed on the table though oddly. "So, now Jounouchi has got a lot going on. It's going to be tough on him. All because I relied on him so much when I was younger."

"The dice." Anzu didn't seem so concerned about the scourge of the Bandit King being back, Jounouchi having his own spirit, or Shizuka's dragon. She wanted to know about the dice. "The dice. Monster World dice? Satiah is more concerned about that."

"Yes," Yuugi said. "Two criticals of 00, a 6, a 12, and a fumble of 99." He watched her stand up and leave. "Anzu?"

"I need a breath, I need a second." Anzu wanted to be left alone for a little while. "I'm going to my-"

"Anzu?" Gone. Again.

----

Bakura's Home.

Anzu felt herself in the middle of something hard. She moved around. "What in the . . .?" She watched the door to the room open. Ryou Bakura was there with a drink. "Bakura?"

"Anzu?" Ryou Bakura was trying to smile, but didn't seem too happy about her being there on the game board. "What are you doing here? Again?"

///Satiah: Anzu. I apologize. Let me take over.///

///Anzu: You just had my body for six hours.///

///Satiah: Yes, but I doubt you want to handle this part. You can watch what I am doing. You can interact. I need to tell Ryou Bakura who I am. It's time. If we don't, the King of Darkness will see this as dishonest. Either I tell him, or you tell him.///

///Anzu: I'll try conveying what you want./// Anzu let Ryou Bakura help her up. "Sorry."

"You're falling onto my Monster World again?" Ryou Bakura helped her off.

///Satiah: Tell him that your spirit knows why.///

"My spirit knows why," Anzu said. "Sorry. She has something she says she needs to say. To tell you."

///Satiah: Tell him to make sure Bakura, The Thief Bandit King, is there.///

///Anzu: You can't tell them about it!/// Anzu made sure she knew that. "She said she wants to make sure the Thief Bandit King is here."

"Oh. Yes, he is here," Ryou Bakura said. "I don't give him much breathing room all the time, but he's always here. Why?"

///Satiah: Tell him I am the only passenger he knows.///

"She said she was the only passenger he knows." Ryou Bakura's face suddenly twisted, looking sinister and odd. "I have no idea what that means."

"The name!"

"Satiah," Anzu said.

"I don't know it."

///Satiah: It's only one, and it was a later name. He probably doesn't remember. To assure safety, one used several names.///

"She said it was a later name." Anzu wanted to get back to Yuugi. Then again, she didn't. Then again, she wanted to bury her head in covers somewhere. "She said something about safety and many names." ///Anzu: I don't want to be here. I was having enough problems with what I had to deal with!///

///Satiah: I will not do anything against your wishes, Anzu. Please. Rest and let me deal with this. I promise. I can tell that you don't want to be here. It will be okay.///

-----------------------

Good. Anzu was finally resting. Satiah smirked. "I better not get too familiar again, or I'll cause problems for my host." Bakura was watching her. Intently. "Horseback riding was always the funnest game with me? I'm dropping in unannounced again?"

Oh, those eyes lit up now. "Oh. Rider?"

"I knew you'd remember. The memories are a little messed up, especially after thousands of years apart. But? My Ka still uses its ability to bring me straight to you."

Bakura just started to laugh. "Aw, yes, now it makes sense why she keeps dropping in. 3,000 years tends to make you forget things. There never was a safer place than with me, for you."

"Oh, I so enjoyed when Anzu and Yuugi played World Monsters over here," she admitted. "Ryou Bakura . . . what you used to be."

"Eh, I was never like that."

"Not exactly, but you were willing to not destroy the world when you were eight. Ten. Twelve." She went quieter. "Do you remember?"

Bakura twitched slightly. "No. Too long. Don't care."

"Ff-cking Liiiiiiar," she teased him. "Anzu is with Yuugi, while you?" She smiled. "If you straighten up, we could have fun again."

His nose wrinkled. "I don't care. I wouldn't care. I don't remember."

Ryou Bakura took back over. "Okay. So? You're dropping into the room?" He gestured toward his game with Monster World. "Because you are tied to the other Bakura?"

"Something like that." He didn't need details. The other Bakura already knew. He just needed time to adjust. After a demon taking over him for so very long, it would take time. "Could you call Yuugi again please?"

-------------------------------------

A little while later at the door

Ryou Bakura answered the door. "Hello, Yuugi. She's over there again."

Of course, he didn't sound very happy. "I'm sorry, Bakura." Yuugi went ahead and pulled out his wallet. "I don't know why this keeps happening. Here. Your game board must be getting really thrashed by now. You can get a new one. New parts. New accessories even."

"Thank you." Ryou Bakura took the money. "I will later. After this whole dropping in on my game world quits."

Yuugi went in and saw Anzu over in the corner. "Anzu? Hey. Are you ready to go home?"

"I believe that is still the spirit," Ryou Bakura told him. "Anzu is not wanting to respond to . . . to anyone. Is there something different about you, Yuugi?"

"Pharaoh's back." Surely he knew that.

"Uh? Um. Okay. Goodnight, Yuugi. Try not to stress her out? I'd like to actually sleep tonight."

Yuugi couldn't promise that. He didn't even know why she kept transporting there like that. He took her back home, not questioning her spirit yet. Well, he had tried to question her once. Her only response was 'when they were safe back home'.

------------------------------------

Game Shop

"Do you want something to eat?" It was getting later. "Anzu?"

"Her stomach says no." Still Satiah.

"You kind of had a hold of her for six hours," Yuugi pointed out. "I'd really like to ask her." ///Yuugi: Why after such a big fright did Anzu keep relinquishing control? Is she holding her down?///

///Atem: I don't think so. She was bothered by this whole moment. We know it has to be something large that Anzu doesn't want to face. Because of coming back. I am still responsible for the disruption in everyone's lives.///

///Yuugi: Everyone who is involved, understands. Whatever this is, we can get through it.///

///Atem: Ask her about the Thief Bandit and Monster World. If she is here, maybe that will break the ice. This clearly wasn't a one-time event.///

"Okay, you can't tell us . . ." Slip-up. "You can't tell me or my friends about Anzu." Recovery. "What about you? Do you know why you keep returning to the game of Monster World?"

"Anzu should speak first."

"This isn't connected to Anzu," Yuugi pushed. "Look? You're a spirit inside of Anzu that does remember the past. I think it could really help everyone if you explained more about who you are." Her eye caught his. "Everyone else involved was a monster or involved in taking over or saving the world. So? You can't just be no one."

She grasped her hand in mid-air with her eyes closed, like she was talking to Anzu. "Fine. The truth is I am a commoner. I was no one special. But?" She looked toward Yuugi. "I was a friend with someone special."

----------------------------------