Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ The Unforgivable Sin ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Rurouni Saiyan 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery / Drama / Angst | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 06.08.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 315 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery / Drama / Angst | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 06.08.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 315 | Status: Completed
Chapter 6
“Akira!”
Forgetting that Malik was even there, I sprinted down the steps, threading my way through the crowd and stopping at the curb to wait for a break in the line of cars.
Across the street, my brother began to run as well, though it wasn’t towards me as I had anticipated. Instead he took off down the road and ducked into the alley beside the restaurant.
“Wait, Akira!” I cried, jumping recklessly into the street as I watched his back disappear. Behind me I heard the honks of several automobiles and the curses of Malik as he tried to follow me, but I was hardly aware of them as I dashed into the alley where I had seen Akira go.
It was empty, but that didn’t deter me. No other alleys or paths branched from it, so I ran to its other end with all the speed in my automail legs. The street I emerged onto wasn’t quite as busy as the last, and as I looked around, it was easy to spot Akira strolling down the other side of the road, as if nothing at all were wrong.
“Hey, wait!” I called, pausing just long enough to let a car pass. Akira whirled around, spotted me, and once again darted into the nearest alley. Biting my lip in hurt and confusion, I chased after him. As I reached the entrance to the alley and peered in, I just managed to see him turning left into a branching alleyway. I ran to the corner and stopped abruptly. This alley ran all the way to a street several blocks away, with many other alleyways crossing it. It would have been impossible to find Akira again…if he hadn’t been peeking at me from around the nearest corner to the right.
He saw me looking at him and disappeared again just as Malik caught up to me, panting. I ignored him again, sprinting for the branch my brother had taken. I couldn’t lose him; I had so many questions to ask! I turned the corner and stopped dead again.
Halfway down the alley was a high wooden fence with no gate or hole. It blocked the entire way and was too high to climb. I doubt I could reach the top of it even if I jumped. And I could jump quite high.
“What the hell?” Malik said as he came up behind me.
“He’s…gone,” I answered, just as puzzled and more than a little dismayed. “I don’t understand. I saw him come down here.”
“You sure?” Malik moved past me and pushed the wall gently, then harder, and finally kicking it. “This wall’s as steady as they come, and the only way out of here is the way we came in. Unless he used alchemy…”
I shook my head. “No way. Akira couldn’t do alchemy; he didn’t have the talent.” Bitter tears of frustration welled in my eyes as I stared at the barrier, and I blinked them back. Of all things that could have happened…of all the people who could have showed up…this was too much to believe.
“Y-you saw him too, right?” I asked.
Malik gave me a strange look. “Of course I did,” he answered. “I pointed him out to you.”
“So I didn’t imagine him,” I said softly, placing my hand against the rough wood planking just to assure myself it was real. “Maybe…a ghost…” That wasn’t convincing in the least; I didn’t believe in ghosts. But I was willing to believe anything at that point.
“Ryou?”
“Hm?” I turned back to Malik and cringed at the look on his face. It was the sort of look my mom used to give me when she knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth about something.
“Who was he?” he continued. “Who was Akira?”
I stared at him for a full second before I remembered that I hadn’t told him what had happened. As close as we had become, he knew nothing of my past, save that I was from Serra’s Point. I doubt he even knew how I lost my right leg. I had kept so much from everyone here…hoping to bury my past, leave it behind forever. Well, that plan had just backfired in the biggest way possible.
I sighed, starting back the way I had come. “Why don’t we go back home first? It’s cold out here, and my story’s a long one.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, we walked in the front door of Malik’s residence, hoping to make it upstairs without being stopped. No such luck, though; Ishizu was waiting for us in the entrance hall.
“Finished at last,” she greeted with a smile. “How well do you think you did?”
“He passed,” Malik answered for me. “Can he tell you about it later, Ishizu? We need to talk right now.”
“O-okay,” she replied, confusion in her face as Malik grabbed my arm and dragged me to the stairs. But she must have caught on to the seriousness in her brother’s tone, for she didn’t ask any more questions.
“All right,” he said once we were safely in my room with the door shut. “Ryou, what the hell was all that about earlier?”
I cringed at his tone, though he didn’t seem to notice. Not that it would matter if he did; I wasn’t getting out of it this time. “I…that was my brother,” I mumbled, sitting on my bed and proceeding to study the floor. “My twin brother, Akira.”
“You didn’t tell me you had a brother,” Malik said with a frown as he pulled out my desk chair and straddled it.
“Well, that’s because he’s dead.” I bit my lip as I looked up at his shocked expression. “Or…he’s supposed to be.”
“Well, make up your mind!” Malik exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Is he dead or not?”
“As far as I know, he’s dead!” I snapped back. “I watched him get crushed under the train we were riding in during the Serra’s Point accident! Why else would I be so shocked to see him standing across the street earlier?”
Now it was Malik’s turn to wince. “I…didn’t know you were in the Serra’s Point accident,” he murmured, looking off to the side as he folded his arms on the back of the chair and rested his chin on them. “You never told me.”
“It’s…not something I like to remember.” I fell to my side on the bed and then rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling. “I saw him die…there’s no way he can be alive now…unless…”
“Unless what?” Malik asked, picking up on the unfinished sentence even though my voice was little more than a whisper.
“N-nothing,” I answered, cringing again. If there was one thing worse than watching my brother die, it was my failed attempt to resurrect him. And that was one subject I did not want to ever talk about again.
“You’re a bad liar, and you know it, Ryou. So why do you try?”
I sighed and turned my head to face the window. “Because I don’t want to talk about it,” I replied, hoping he’d get the hint and leave me alone.
“About the train wreck? Or about something else?” I could see Malik’s reflection in the window; he was giving me that narrow-eyed glare that would make anyone shudder. Including me.
“Do we have to talk about this now?” I asked, closing my eyes in an attempt to get away from that glare.
“Yes, we do.” I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head anyways. “Your brother, who has been dead for two years, was staring at us from across the street yesterday, and I’m rather curious as to how and why. And I know you are, too; you have to be. So if whatever you’re hiding has anything to do with this, you’d better spill it. Now.”
I flinched. There was no way around it now. Sitting up, I kept my head down, staring at my legs so I wouldn’t have to meet Malik’s gaze. “I tried to resurrect him,” I mumbled.
“What?” he asked, a note of confusion in his voice.
With a sigh, I turned my head to finally meet his eyes and spoke louder. “I tried to resurrect him using alchemy. Human transmutation, you know.”
Malik’s face was an interesting study of emotions. Horror, wonder, sympathy, and curiosity all flashed across it in rapid succession, giving me no clue as to which was strongest. “Y-you can do that?” he asked hesitantly.
“No,” I sighed, flopping back down. “I can’t. No one can; that’s why it’s forbidden. I’m lucky I didn’t die…all it took was my one remaining leg. And the…the creature that was there, when it was over, that wasn’t my brother. It wasn’t even human.”
At least five minutes passed as I stared up at the ceiling, unwilling to look back at my friend. After taking the time to let what I had said and all its implications sink in, he finally spoke again. “Dear…God, Ryou, that must have been awful. D-do your parents know?”
“Of course they do,” I answered dully. “How else do you think I ended up here? My father disowned me.”
“Oh.” I didn’t have to look over to know Malik was flinching; I could hear it in his tone. “What about my sister…does she know?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think so. If she does, she’s never mentioned it to me. And I’ve never brought it up around her.”
“Oh,” Malik said again. “So I shouldn’t either?”
“I’d appreciate it.”
He nodded. “Okay, I won’t. Now back to our problem–how is Akira still alive? Do you think that maybe you succeeded after all?”
“I-I don’t know,” I answered. “I don’t see how…when I first did the transmutation, there was a…a creature there. It…kind of looked like Akira, but it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.” I shivered at the memory.
“So…maybe it was incomplete or something. Maybe you really did succeed–it just took a little time.” Malik’s eyes were full of hope now as he theorized. “It’s been over a year, right? Maybe now the transmutation’s complete, and Akira came to find you.”
“If that were true, then why did he run away?” I asked miserably. “And why was he giving me such an angry look before that? It looked like…like he hated me…”
Malik sighed. “I don’t have any answers for you there, man. So, you don’t think that my theory’s true?”
“Alchemy doesn’t work that way,” I said, picking at the blanket I was sitting on. “At least not in my experience. If it’s not impossible, it’s close to it.”
“So that puts us back at square one, and I’m out of ideas.” Malik stood up and stretched. “And Ishizu no doubt wants to hear all about the exam, so why don’t we talk about this later? After we’ve had some time to think about it some more.”
“Sounds good to me,” I answered, also standing up. “I’d rather not think about the past right now anyways.”
* * *
I was in for a big surprise the next morning when I woke up. Or rather, when Malik banged on my door and woke me up.
“Hey!” he yelled as I rolled over groggily and shoved my pillow over my head. “Get your lazy self up! You’ve got visitors.”
Visitors? my mind questioned, bringing itself to a state of full awareness despite my desire to remain in bed. I haven’t had visitors since I came here; who in the world would want to see me now?
I pondered over it as I pulled myself out of bed and stumbled over to the drawers for a clean change of clothing. “I’m up!” I yelled in irritation at Malik as I pulled on a pair of brown pants and reached for a white shirt.
“Took you long enough,” he grumbled in reply.
I only rolled my eyes and began brushing my hair. “I’ll be out in a minute. Who’s here, anyways?”
Malik opened the door and stuck his head in long enough to smirk at me. “You’ll have to come down and find out,” he answered.
I resisted the urge to throw the brush at him and pulled it through my hair a few more times before setting it down. “It’s not anyone important, is it?”
“Depends on what you mean by ‘important,’ but what you’re wearing is fine, if that’s what you want to know.”
I frowned and walked into the hall, rather irritated with his riddles. He must have noticed my annoyance, for he gave me one of his mischievous grins as I walked past him towards the stairs. Great, I hope it isn’t Colonel Elric. I’m going to kill Malik if it is. I could feel the butterflies beginning to beat against the sides of my stomach as I thumped down the steps.
But when I reached the ground floor and turned into the living room, it wasn’t Colonel Elric waiting on me at all. “Hey, Ryou!” Yugi Mutou called cheerfully at the same time that Atemu smiled and greeted, “Long time no see.”
“Y-Yugi,” I answered in pleasant surprise. “Atemu!” And beyond them, a third, far more wonderful face. “Mom…”
She smiled at me, the sweetest expression I had ever seen. “Hello, son,” she said.
The words were barely out of her mouth before I flew at her and flung my arms around her in the tightest hug I had ever given. She laughed softly as she stumbled back a step, returning the hug with equal force.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you joining the military,” she said as she pulled away. “But if you think this is the right path for you, then I wish you the best.”
“Thanks,” I answered with a slight blush, already feeling much better about my decision to take the test. If my mom supported me, it had to be right. As I turned back to face my old friends, I asked, “What are you all doing here?” For over a year I had been gone, and now for them to show up so suddenly was rather strange.
“We heard you were taking the State Alchemist Exam,” Atemu explained. “So we came by to see how you fared.”
I looked at Yugi, who merely grinned and nodded, and then back to my mother, who smiled faintly. “Ishizu called and told me what was going on,” she explained. “She offered to let us all stay the day and night after the exam was finished.”
“Does Dad know you’re here?” I blurted without thinking.
She winced ever so slightly and looked off to the side, and I bit my lip, berating myself silently for asking. “He knows I’ve come to Central City,” she answered, meeting my gaze again. “He doesn’t know why.”
“I…see,” I replied, dropping my eyes to the floor.
“Enough of the depressing stuff,” Yugi interjected before the awkward silence could get too long. “Ryou, when do you get your exam results back?”
“Sometime in the week,” I answered. “Probably today.”
“Today it is,” Ishizu announced as she came into the room, followed by Malik. She stopped and bowed, smiling at my mother. “A pleasure to see you again, Maya. It’s been quite a while.”
“Indeed it has,” Mom replied. “Perhaps I should take the time to come and visit more often.”
“That would make us all very happy,” Ishizu said. “In the meantime, your results have arrived, Ryou. Go ahead and see what they are.” She held out a plain white envelope.
I took it, hands trembling as I worked it open. I was nervous enough about this; it didn’t help to have everyone in the room staring intently at me. Especially Malik, he was hanging over my shoulder. “Would you give me room to breathe?” I said, elbowing him back.
“Pushy,” he murmured, rubbing the new sore spot on his abdomen as I pulled a folded sheet of paper out of the envelope. My hands shook harder as I read it, barely able to believe what it was saying. I, Fuhrer Roy Mustang, do hereby declare Ryou Bakura a member of the military…rank of Major…given the name Illusory Alchemist…
Malik caught the paper as it fell from my hands, a huge grin spreading across his face as he read it for himself. “He passed!” he announced to everyone else, obviously guessing that I couldn’t use my voice at that particular moment.
Everyone let out a cheer, crowding around me with many hugs and pats on the back. I didn’t respond, too stunned to know what to do. After about a minute of bewilderment, I heard Malik’s dry voice cut through the myriad of congratulations, “Give the man some room to breathe.”
Yugi, Atemu, and Mom backed off at that, allowing me to regain a bit of dignity. “Illusory Alchemist, eh?” Atemu said. “Fitting.”
I nodded, a blush creeping across my face as the contents of the letter finally began to sink in. “I like the sound of it.”
“Says here that you have to report to the shrimp’s office tomorrow for your first orders,” Malik said, continuing to skim through the letter. “But in the meanwhile, Major Bakura, it’s party time!”
My eyes widened, and I felt my face turn bright red. “D-don’t call me that!” I protested.
“You might as well get used to it,” Ishizu said mildly. “It’s your official title now. But I believe my brother is right. This calls for a celebration.”
I grinned at everyone else as she left the room to go make preparations. Despite the strange occurrence of the previous day, things were finally looking up in my life.
“Akira!”
Forgetting that Malik was even there, I sprinted down the steps, threading my way through the crowd and stopping at the curb to wait for a break in the line of cars.
Across the street, my brother began to run as well, though it wasn’t towards me as I had anticipated. Instead he took off down the road and ducked into the alley beside the restaurant.
“Wait, Akira!” I cried, jumping recklessly into the street as I watched his back disappear. Behind me I heard the honks of several automobiles and the curses of Malik as he tried to follow me, but I was hardly aware of them as I dashed into the alley where I had seen Akira go.
It was empty, but that didn’t deter me. No other alleys or paths branched from it, so I ran to its other end with all the speed in my automail legs. The street I emerged onto wasn’t quite as busy as the last, and as I looked around, it was easy to spot Akira strolling down the other side of the road, as if nothing at all were wrong.
“Hey, wait!” I called, pausing just long enough to let a car pass. Akira whirled around, spotted me, and once again darted into the nearest alley. Biting my lip in hurt and confusion, I chased after him. As I reached the entrance to the alley and peered in, I just managed to see him turning left into a branching alleyway. I ran to the corner and stopped abruptly. This alley ran all the way to a street several blocks away, with many other alleyways crossing it. It would have been impossible to find Akira again…if he hadn’t been peeking at me from around the nearest corner to the right.
He saw me looking at him and disappeared again just as Malik caught up to me, panting. I ignored him again, sprinting for the branch my brother had taken. I couldn’t lose him; I had so many questions to ask! I turned the corner and stopped dead again.
Halfway down the alley was a high wooden fence with no gate or hole. It blocked the entire way and was too high to climb. I doubt I could reach the top of it even if I jumped. And I could jump quite high.
“What the hell?” Malik said as he came up behind me.
“He’s…gone,” I answered, just as puzzled and more than a little dismayed. “I don’t understand. I saw him come down here.”
“You sure?” Malik moved past me and pushed the wall gently, then harder, and finally kicking it. “This wall’s as steady as they come, and the only way out of here is the way we came in. Unless he used alchemy…”
I shook my head. “No way. Akira couldn’t do alchemy; he didn’t have the talent.” Bitter tears of frustration welled in my eyes as I stared at the barrier, and I blinked them back. Of all things that could have happened…of all the people who could have showed up…this was too much to believe.
“Y-you saw him too, right?” I asked.
Malik gave me a strange look. “Of course I did,” he answered. “I pointed him out to you.”
“So I didn’t imagine him,” I said softly, placing my hand against the rough wood planking just to assure myself it was real. “Maybe…a ghost…” That wasn’t convincing in the least; I didn’t believe in ghosts. But I was willing to believe anything at that point.
“Ryou?”
“Hm?” I turned back to Malik and cringed at the look on his face. It was the sort of look my mom used to give me when she knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth about something.
“Who was he?” he continued. “Who was Akira?”
I stared at him for a full second before I remembered that I hadn’t told him what had happened. As close as we had become, he knew nothing of my past, save that I was from Serra’s Point. I doubt he even knew how I lost my right leg. I had kept so much from everyone here…hoping to bury my past, leave it behind forever. Well, that plan had just backfired in the biggest way possible.
I sighed, starting back the way I had come. “Why don’t we go back home first? It’s cold out here, and my story’s a long one.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, we walked in the front door of Malik’s residence, hoping to make it upstairs without being stopped. No such luck, though; Ishizu was waiting for us in the entrance hall.
“Finished at last,” she greeted with a smile. “How well do you think you did?”
“He passed,” Malik answered for me. “Can he tell you about it later, Ishizu? We need to talk right now.”
“O-okay,” she replied, confusion in her face as Malik grabbed my arm and dragged me to the stairs. But she must have caught on to the seriousness in her brother’s tone, for she didn’t ask any more questions.
“All right,” he said once we were safely in my room with the door shut. “Ryou, what the hell was all that about earlier?”
I cringed at his tone, though he didn’t seem to notice. Not that it would matter if he did; I wasn’t getting out of it this time. “I…that was my brother,” I mumbled, sitting on my bed and proceeding to study the floor. “My twin brother, Akira.”
“You didn’t tell me you had a brother,” Malik said with a frown as he pulled out my desk chair and straddled it.
“Well, that’s because he’s dead.” I bit my lip as I looked up at his shocked expression. “Or…he’s supposed to be.”
“Well, make up your mind!” Malik exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Is he dead or not?”
“As far as I know, he’s dead!” I snapped back. “I watched him get crushed under the train we were riding in during the Serra’s Point accident! Why else would I be so shocked to see him standing across the street earlier?”
Now it was Malik’s turn to wince. “I…didn’t know you were in the Serra’s Point accident,” he murmured, looking off to the side as he folded his arms on the back of the chair and rested his chin on them. “You never told me.”
“It’s…not something I like to remember.” I fell to my side on the bed and then rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling. “I saw him die…there’s no way he can be alive now…unless…”
“Unless what?” Malik asked, picking up on the unfinished sentence even though my voice was little more than a whisper.
“N-nothing,” I answered, cringing again. If there was one thing worse than watching my brother die, it was my failed attempt to resurrect him. And that was one subject I did not want to ever talk about again.
“You’re a bad liar, and you know it, Ryou. So why do you try?”
I sighed and turned my head to face the window. “Because I don’t want to talk about it,” I replied, hoping he’d get the hint and leave me alone.
“About the train wreck? Or about something else?” I could see Malik’s reflection in the window; he was giving me that narrow-eyed glare that would make anyone shudder. Including me.
“Do we have to talk about this now?” I asked, closing my eyes in an attempt to get away from that glare.
“Yes, we do.” I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head anyways. “Your brother, who has been dead for two years, was staring at us from across the street yesterday, and I’m rather curious as to how and why. And I know you are, too; you have to be. So if whatever you’re hiding has anything to do with this, you’d better spill it. Now.”
I flinched. There was no way around it now. Sitting up, I kept my head down, staring at my legs so I wouldn’t have to meet Malik’s gaze. “I tried to resurrect him,” I mumbled.
“What?” he asked, a note of confusion in his voice.
With a sigh, I turned my head to finally meet his eyes and spoke louder. “I tried to resurrect him using alchemy. Human transmutation, you know.”
Malik’s face was an interesting study of emotions. Horror, wonder, sympathy, and curiosity all flashed across it in rapid succession, giving me no clue as to which was strongest. “Y-you can do that?” he asked hesitantly.
“No,” I sighed, flopping back down. “I can’t. No one can; that’s why it’s forbidden. I’m lucky I didn’t die…all it took was my one remaining leg. And the…the creature that was there, when it was over, that wasn’t my brother. It wasn’t even human.”
At least five minutes passed as I stared up at the ceiling, unwilling to look back at my friend. After taking the time to let what I had said and all its implications sink in, he finally spoke again. “Dear…God, Ryou, that must have been awful. D-do your parents know?”
“Of course they do,” I answered dully. “How else do you think I ended up here? My father disowned me.”
“Oh.” I didn’t have to look over to know Malik was flinching; I could hear it in his tone. “What about my sister…does she know?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think so. If she does, she’s never mentioned it to me. And I’ve never brought it up around her.”
“Oh,” Malik said again. “So I shouldn’t either?”
“I’d appreciate it.”
He nodded. “Okay, I won’t. Now back to our problem–how is Akira still alive? Do you think that maybe you succeeded after all?”
“I-I don’t know,” I answered. “I don’t see how…when I first did the transmutation, there was a…a creature there. It…kind of looked like Akira, but it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.” I shivered at the memory.
“So…maybe it was incomplete or something. Maybe you really did succeed–it just took a little time.” Malik’s eyes were full of hope now as he theorized. “It’s been over a year, right? Maybe now the transmutation’s complete, and Akira came to find you.”
“If that were true, then why did he run away?” I asked miserably. “And why was he giving me such an angry look before that? It looked like…like he hated me…”
Malik sighed. “I don’t have any answers for you there, man. So, you don’t think that my theory’s true?”
“Alchemy doesn’t work that way,” I said, picking at the blanket I was sitting on. “At least not in my experience. If it’s not impossible, it’s close to it.”
“So that puts us back at square one, and I’m out of ideas.” Malik stood up and stretched. “And Ishizu no doubt wants to hear all about the exam, so why don’t we talk about this later? After we’ve had some time to think about it some more.”
“Sounds good to me,” I answered, also standing up. “I’d rather not think about the past right now anyways.”
* * *
I was in for a big surprise the next morning when I woke up. Or rather, when Malik banged on my door and woke me up.
“Hey!” he yelled as I rolled over groggily and shoved my pillow over my head. “Get your lazy self up! You’ve got visitors.”
Visitors? my mind questioned, bringing itself to a state of full awareness despite my desire to remain in bed. I haven’t had visitors since I came here; who in the world would want to see me now?
I pondered over it as I pulled myself out of bed and stumbled over to the drawers for a clean change of clothing. “I’m up!” I yelled in irritation at Malik as I pulled on a pair of brown pants and reached for a white shirt.
“Took you long enough,” he grumbled in reply.
I only rolled my eyes and began brushing my hair. “I’ll be out in a minute. Who’s here, anyways?”
Malik opened the door and stuck his head in long enough to smirk at me. “You’ll have to come down and find out,” he answered.
I resisted the urge to throw the brush at him and pulled it through my hair a few more times before setting it down. “It’s not anyone important, is it?”
“Depends on what you mean by ‘important,’ but what you’re wearing is fine, if that’s what you want to know.”
I frowned and walked into the hall, rather irritated with his riddles. He must have noticed my annoyance, for he gave me one of his mischievous grins as I walked past him towards the stairs. Great, I hope it isn’t Colonel Elric. I’m going to kill Malik if it is. I could feel the butterflies beginning to beat against the sides of my stomach as I thumped down the steps.
But when I reached the ground floor and turned into the living room, it wasn’t Colonel Elric waiting on me at all. “Hey, Ryou!” Yugi Mutou called cheerfully at the same time that Atemu smiled and greeted, “Long time no see.”
“Y-Yugi,” I answered in pleasant surprise. “Atemu!” And beyond them, a third, far more wonderful face. “Mom…”
She smiled at me, the sweetest expression I had ever seen. “Hello, son,” she said.
The words were barely out of her mouth before I flew at her and flung my arms around her in the tightest hug I had ever given. She laughed softly as she stumbled back a step, returning the hug with equal force.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you joining the military,” she said as she pulled away. “But if you think this is the right path for you, then I wish you the best.”
“Thanks,” I answered with a slight blush, already feeling much better about my decision to take the test. If my mom supported me, it had to be right. As I turned back to face my old friends, I asked, “What are you all doing here?” For over a year I had been gone, and now for them to show up so suddenly was rather strange.
“We heard you were taking the State Alchemist Exam,” Atemu explained. “So we came by to see how you fared.”
I looked at Yugi, who merely grinned and nodded, and then back to my mother, who smiled faintly. “Ishizu called and told me what was going on,” she explained. “She offered to let us all stay the day and night after the exam was finished.”
“Does Dad know you’re here?” I blurted without thinking.
She winced ever so slightly and looked off to the side, and I bit my lip, berating myself silently for asking. “He knows I’ve come to Central City,” she answered, meeting my gaze again. “He doesn’t know why.”
“I…see,” I replied, dropping my eyes to the floor.
“Enough of the depressing stuff,” Yugi interjected before the awkward silence could get too long. “Ryou, when do you get your exam results back?”
“Sometime in the week,” I answered. “Probably today.”
“Today it is,” Ishizu announced as she came into the room, followed by Malik. She stopped and bowed, smiling at my mother. “A pleasure to see you again, Maya. It’s been quite a while.”
“Indeed it has,” Mom replied. “Perhaps I should take the time to come and visit more often.”
“That would make us all very happy,” Ishizu said. “In the meantime, your results have arrived, Ryou. Go ahead and see what they are.” She held out a plain white envelope.
I took it, hands trembling as I worked it open. I was nervous enough about this; it didn’t help to have everyone in the room staring intently at me. Especially Malik, he was hanging over my shoulder. “Would you give me room to breathe?” I said, elbowing him back.
“Pushy,” he murmured, rubbing the new sore spot on his abdomen as I pulled a folded sheet of paper out of the envelope. My hands shook harder as I read it, barely able to believe what it was saying. I, Fuhrer Roy Mustang, do hereby declare Ryou Bakura a member of the military…rank of Major…given the name Illusory Alchemist…
Malik caught the paper as it fell from my hands, a huge grin spreading across his face as he read it for himself. “He passed!” he announced to everyone else, obviously guessing that I couldn’t use my voice at that particular moment.
Everyone let out a cheer, crowding around me with many hugs and pats on the back. I didn’t respond, too stunned to know what to do. After about a minute of bewilderment, I heard Malik’s dry voice cut through the myriad of congratulations, “Give the man some room to breathe.”
Yugi, Atemu, and Mom backed off at that, allowing me to regain a bit of dignity. “Illusory Alchemist, eh?” Atemu said. “Fitting.”
I nodded, a blush creeping across my face as the contents of the letter finally began to sink in. “I like the sound of it.”
“Says here that you have to report to the shrimp’s office tomorrow for your first orders,” Malik said, continuing to skim through the letter. “But in the meanwhile, Major Bakura, it’s party time!”
My eyes widened, and I felt my face turn bright red. “D-don’t call me that!” I protested.
“You might as well get used to it,” Ishizu said mildly. “It’s your official title now. But I believe my brother is right. This calls for a celebration.”
I grinned at everyone else as she left the room to go make preparations. Despite the strange occurrence of the previous day, things were finally looking up in my life.