Ryou: And my dream was inspired by, of all things, KidsWB... *sweatdrops* Are you sure you didn't mis-type the script there 'SJ?

WSJ: Nope, I didn't. I'd been waiting to see "Evil Spirit of the Ring" for forever and a day, and then, finally, KidsWB shows it... On Halloween. And that's what at first struck this story into my mind. I was always going to write something like this, about Ryou thinking back to that night and suddenly realizing that it was Halloween, but I never fig'ured I'd end up working it in with VotH and SoS. *shrugs*

Bakura: Um, 'SJ, didn't you forget the disclaimer last chapter?

WSJ: *gasps* I did! Oh no! Ah, I'll just say it here! I don't own YGO, but Briar-Rose and Kuroi Karasu (and Jonathon, but I doubt he'll be in this) do belong to me.

()()()()()

All Saints' Night

Chapter 2: Scattered

"Bakura, how are we supposed to find them?"

Bakura looked over at Ryou, who was close to tears with worry, and was glad that his hikari couldn't see his scowl. If it weren't for Ryou being worried, Bakura would have just left the Pharoah and his idiotic hikari to their fates!

"I don't know aibou," he said through tightly-clenched teeth. Just because he was now protective of his hikari instead of abusive didn't mean he was suddenly best friends with Yami-Yugi.

Ryou and Bakura had been on the streets of Domino for a little over ten minutes, trying to find Yugi and Yami. They'd first gone to the Game Shop, but Mr. Moto had informed them that the two were out trick-or-treating.

"Bakura," Ryou said quietly. "I could try to get the Ring to find them."

Bakura looked at him in surprise. "You still wear it? It's useless without me inside,"

Two months before, when Ryou and Bakura had been pulled out of the Shadow Realm by Yami-Malik's spell, Bakura had been inadvertently evicted from the Ring, and turned mortal.

Ryou was silent for a moment. "Not entirely, I think it may still be able to sense other Millenium Items."

"Try it," Bakura said. "We've got nothing to lose."

Ryou pulled the Ring out from under his shirt and concentrated on it. Its power was seriously deminished without Bakura, but it did still carry some weight. After all, it had been able to pull Seto Kaiba's soul out of the Shadow Realm. It had grown weaker since then, but hopefully it could do this simple task its bearer was asking of it.

"Please..." Ryou whispered. "Onegai, Ring... Show me where the Puzzle is..."

A slight shudder passed through the golden artifact, as if it were waking from a long sleep. It began to glow feebly, and one of the spikes around the edge moved sluggishly to point east.

Bakura let out a small smile, and gently took hold of his hikari's wrist to guide him. "Come on Ryou, it's working."

After about ten minutes of playing follow-the-Ring, Ryou's ears, made sensitive by his blindness, heard something in the dark. He clutched at Bakura's arm to hold the ex-yami back.

A moment later Bakura heard what his hikari already had. Somewhere up ahead, very close, was the sound of soft cries and raspy breathing.

"There's a lot of mental talking going on," Ryou said softly, shrinking down behind his yami instinctivly. "I can sense it, but I can't tap into it. It must be Yami and Yugi."

Bakura nodded, and moved toward the mouth of the alley where he had identified the sounds as coming from. He was surprised when Ryou grabbed at his sleeve. "Please be careful Bakura! Something bad is going to happen!" Poor Ryou was almost in tears. "I can feel it! Please be careful! Onegai!" he pleaded.

Bakura smiled softly and pried his hikari's hands off his shirt. "I will aibou, stay here." He crept closer to the alley and peered in. What he saw nearly made him choke.

Yami stood with his back to the back wall of the dead-end alley, Yugi held protectivly behind him. Bakura was rather disturbed to see a slight glimmer of fear in the pharoah's eyes.

In front of the two Motos, with his back to Bakura, stood a man. He was tall, and what Bakura could see of his clothes and white-ish hair were dirty and stained.

Yami looked up from the man and gasped when he saw Bakura, causing said man to whirl around.

Bakura was amazed to find that he was facing... Himself. True, this imposter's hair was longer then his own, and his eyes were wider set and green. And glowing. Uh oh.

"Who might you be?" Bakura asked, backing up a step and trying to keep a smirk on his face for the benefit of Yugi and the pharoah. Really though, this was seriously freaking him out.

The look-alike sneered at him. "Name's Kuroi, pleasure to meet you." he said sarcasticly, and the voice was definatly not Bakura's.

From his place behind Yami, Yugi's eyes widened. "But you're dead! Yami and Yami-Malik killed you after you threw Seto Kaiba out the window!"

Kuroi's sneer grew and morphed into a smirk. "I know. Isn't it fun how so many supernatural things happen on Halloween?" He turned slightly to look past Bakura, out into the dark street beyond the alley. "Isn't that right, Ryou?"

There was a muffled squeak from the white-haired hikair, and Bakura's eyes widened. "Ryou! Don't you dare hurt my aibou, Kuroi!"

"Oh, but I already have," Kuroi said, letting out a fittingly demonic laugh that sent shivers down Bakura's spine.

Forgetting about Yami and Yugi for the moment, Bakura pivoted on his toes and ran for where he'd last seen Ryou. There he lay, in a rumbled white heap on the ground. Bakura let out a soft cry and dropped to his knees, feeling desperatly for a pulse. It was there, yet faint.

Out of sight behind him, Kuroi raised a hand to point at Bakura, muttering a few words in Egyptian. With a rather startled-sounding thump, Bakura landed in the dirt next to Ryou.

"Ryou! Bakura!" Yugi yelled, trying to get out of Yami's grip and run to his friends. "Let me go Yami!"

"No aibou," Yami said through gritted teeth. "I will not have you suffer the same fate. Not for a tomb robber."

"And what about Ryou?" Yugi asked, "You would have him die?"

Yami closed his eyes, wishing he didn't have to say what he was going to. He tightened his hands on Yugi's shoulders. "Yes, if that's what it takes to keep you safe. You mean so much more to me then anyone else Yugi, you are my first priority, and you know that."

Yugi felt hot tears in his eyes as he stared around his yami at the still forms of Ryou and Bakura. They just couldn't be... "What did you do to them Kuroi!?!" he asked, his shoulders shaking with sobs. "Tell me!"

Kuroi turned back to them with an insane light glimmering in his eyes. "Nothing that you won't soon be experiencing yourself!" he said. "I sent them back in time, to relive their most cruel memory, again and again, for all of eternity!" A deep laugh, one of pure sadism, emmerged from his throat, causing Yugi to bury his face in Yami's shoulder out of instict.

"You monster!" Yami yelled, coining Seto Kaiba's oft-used phrase. "I killed you once, and I'll do it again!" He pulled away from Yugi and leaped at Kuroi, his fists balled up and ready to pummel the other spirit into oblivion.

Yugi let out a scream as he watched the two go down, his eyes wide. "YAMI!!!"

The green-eyed demon and purple-eyed pharoah pulled away from each other, each backing up a step and breathing hard. Without warning, however, they froze, and the world faded to a million shades of blue and grey. Yugi stood stock-still with his mouth open, and then slowly moved forward, reaching out a hand to touch Yami's shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Yugi jumped and whirled around to see a tall man dressed in long grey robes. His face was young and clean-shaven, but his blue eyes looked infinatly old. It was like he had appeared out of no-where, standing right where Yugi had been a moment before.

"Wh-why not?" Yugi asked, swiping at his teary eyes with a sleeve.

The man gave him a kind smile and kneeled down to his level, offering him a kleenex. "It would take too long to explain. My name is Lobsang, and I need your help, Yugi Moto."

"My help?" Yugi asked, taking the tissue gratefully. "What can I do? And what did you do? To Yami and Kuroi, I mean."

"I stopped time for everyone but us." Lobsang paused, and frowned slightly. "Or rather, I sliced time. Even I have my limitations." He could see the question forming behind Yugi's eyes and answered it ahead of time. "Think of it as that we're moving really, really fast, or that those two are moving really, really slow."

Lobsang paused again, and shook his head, his shoulders slumping a little. "The Web of Time has been scrambled, and I'm too busy dealing with the after-effects to take the time and untangle it. Things are coming back that never should have been in the first place." He gestured to the two frozen spirits. "Like Kuroi."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked. "What's the 'Web of Time'? And how can I help?"

"Your Millenium Puzzle has the power that we need. The Web of Time is, well, it's a little hard to explain until you see it. Basicly it keeps time going the right direction, making sure the past leads into the future. But someone's tangled it, making the past and future cross in ways they were never ment to. Thus, Kuroi is back from the graveyard. That is also what gave him the power to make your two friends relive their memories. The past has never been closer then it is now."

Yugi sighed, one hand moving unconciously to the heavy gold artifact around his neck. "It's always the Puzzle, isn't it? And what do you mean, 'we'?"

Lobsang didn't answer, but stared at him for a very long time. Finally he blinked slowly, and seemed to come back to reality. "Myself and two friends are trying our best to get everything back to the way it's supposed to be. But Lu-Tze and Susan and I just aren't enough. We need more help." He looked again at Yugi, almost pleading. "Please, you are the only one strong enough."

Yugi looked back at Ryou and Bakura laying motionless on the ground, and then to Yami. "If I do, everything will be all right again?"

Lobsang nodded. "That's a promise."

Yugi took a deep breath, and then set himself for whatever would happen next. "M'kay, let's go."

()()()()()

WSJ: *grins* I don't own Lobsang or Susan or Lu-Tze. They belong to the almighty Terry Pratchett. *giggles* I'm sorry, but I needed Time, and I really couldn't help but stick Lobsang in there... *rubs the back of her head sheepishly* Reviews onegai!

Chapter 3: Ryou gets swept back a year, to a Halloween he hoped to never remember... Between his yami taking over and dueling Yami in the Shadow Realm, Player Killer's attack, and the beating that followed, it really wasn't a good night for Ryou, and now he has to watch it again, and realize that he was betrayed... Can he ever trust Yami and Yugi again after he realizes what they did that night, or rather, what they didn't do?

God bless minna-san!