The Ties Of Friendship

Author’s Note: Sorry to take a while with this, but I got the flu and I’m writing another big one which is taking a lot of time, and it’s winter here, I can only heat one room and it’s not the one where the computer is! I hope to have more tomorrow.


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Of course it didn’t go away. It only got worse and worse for Yugi. The police had witnesses who placed Yugi at the scenes of both murders. And they also had other evidence; Joey never knew what that was until the trial. When he tried to get into see his friend in jail, he found he was not allowed, and that worried him. Only relatives were allowed to see him, so he went to see Yami to find out what was going on.

Joey found Yami working in the shop. “Hey Yami, I came to see how things are going.”

“Things are not going well.”

“Where is Gramps? How is he?”

“As I said, things are not well. He is in the hospital.”

“What?”

“This has taken too great a toll on him, he collapsed.”

“Is he okay? Will he be okay?” Joey said very concerned, “Does Yugi know?”

“He is recovering and while his health might be restored. I doubt that he will ever be okay. And I have no idea whether he knows at all.”

“He? You mean you haven’t told Yugi?”

“How can I when he is the cause of his grandpa’s collapse. Solomon learned how much the bail was set at. He would have had to virtually give up this place. That proved a little too much for him.”

“I didn’t think of that. Man, so he can’t afford bail for Yugi. Have you seen him, they won’t let me in, I gotta see how he is?”

“My concern has been for Solomon.”

Joey got the feeling that Yami didn’t want to talk further about it and right then, he did not want to push it.

“Yeah, I’d best go see how he is. Are you going to the funerals?”

“I will honor my friends by attending. They deserve no less.”

Joey left after that to go and visit Yugi’s grandfather. But the old man remained unconscious when he was there.

The funerals were held on the same day. It was hard for Joey. He and Tristan had been friends before they added Tèa and Yugi. And losing Tea as well made it even harder. His sister Serenity was there, she had formed a relationship of sorts with Tristan. He saw Duke, Mai and Ryou, but they gave him the space he needed to grieve for his friends. Which he did, but it hurt worse knowing that most of the people there, blamed it all on Yugi. He wanted to shout at some of the things he heard. To tell them that Yugi was not capable of doing anything like this, but he couldn’t. Yami was there, and Joey noticed that not once did he defend Yugi. In fact he realized that Yami hadn’t said anything about him or used his name since it all happened.

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The bail for Yugi was too high. His grandfather couldn’t afford it and even Yugi didn’t want him to lose his home. Yugi was forced to remain in jail. Joey never knew until later how hard that was for his friend.

He had only gotten home a short time before the police had arrived. In that time he had tried to get Yami to talk to him, but Yami had refused. Then there was the turmoil of the police turning up to question him, before deciding to take him downtown. Yugi knew his grandfather had been upset and Yami had only appeared when they decided to take him away.

He had no idea how much trouble he was in until they later came out and told him that he would be charged with the murders of his friends. He had been shocked to learn of their deaths, then even more shocked that they believed he could have done it.

He had learned that his grandfather and Yami were there, but when Yami refused to see him, he asked that the puzzle be given to him. Somehow he knew that if he didn’t pass it on now, it would be taken from him and maybe locked up somewhere. It belonged with Yami.

Yami had taken his grandfather home and tried to protect him from the prying media and the angry people that took their aggressive taunts on them. Yugi was labelled a monster for murdering his friends. This horrible treatment did not let up and led to the old man’s collapse.

Because the victims were young and the alleged perpetrator also, the trial was brought forward. Though most had judged Yugi guilty already and there had been no other leads.

Yugi was shocked by the hate surrounding him, shocked at how it had aged his grandfather, but the biggest shock of all was that Yami believed he could have done it. He saw it in his eyes the moment he was led into the courtroom. Yugi fell into his chair, not really caring what was going to happen, his heart was gone.

It didn’t matter anyway. The case against him was excellent. The jury heard Yami’s testimony about the fight at the arcade and what he had said. Witnesses put Yugi at Tèa’s place and also at Tristan’s home. Even Joey had to say he had seen Yugi at Tèa’s.

Then came the damning evidence. His jacket. Yugi hadn’t known until that moment that somehow he had gotten the blood of both victims onto it. And the coroner described the first blow as coming from someone shorter than the victims.

Still when it came for him to be on the stand, he told the truth. That he had gone to Tèa’s to apologize, when she had told him to leave, he went to Tristan’s, then back to Tèa’s and home to do the same to Yami. Some heard that last thinking that he had planned to kill Yami too.

The jury didn’t take much time in finding him guilty. The judge sentenced him to life imprisonment. Yugi cried as he watched Yami help his grandfather from the courtroom. Then he was led away to his life of misery. He never had any idea why he had been set up so well, or by whom.

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Joey found that he would be allowed to see Yugi at the prison, and made sure to be there. The first time he saw his friend was a huge shock. Almost a month had passed since the trial and Joey looked into the eyes of a different person.

Yugi’s hair was not spiky; he had it under control in a ponytail, tied at the back of his neck. His eyes had circles under them and were red and bloodshot. There were red marks on Yugi’s neck and a cut above an eyebrow as well as a bruise on his left cheek. It was a pattern Joey would continue to see each trip.

“Oh Yugi, are you okay?” were his first words.

“Hey Joey, it’s good to see you. I really miss… everybody. But you didn’t have to come here.”

“Sure I did. I had to let you know that I still believed in you. I know you didn’t do what they said.”

Yugi’s eyes teared, “You are the only one then. No one else does.”

“Has anyone been to see you? I know your grandpa was ill, but –“

“Grandpa! Is he okay?” interrupted Yugi. “I never wanted him to be hurt in any way. I know this can’t have been good for him. I just wish I knew why…”

“He’s okay, Yug. You mean to tell me you didn’t know that he’d been… ill?”

“No. No one has told me anything since the trial. My lawyer is trying for an appeal, but… he doesn’t hold out much hope.”

“I’m sorry Yug. I would have thought you’d have heard something.”

Tears slipped from Yugi’s eyes, “Yami hasn’t spoken to me since that night… I never got the chance to… to.”

Joey had to hold back his own tears. He couldn’t believe that Yami had turned his back on Yugi so completely as to not let him know about his own grandfather.

A bell rang.

“Joey, if you can, please tell grandpa how sorry I am to have brought all this on to him. I hope he can forgive me, even if Yami can’t.”

“Yugi, this is not your fault.”

“No? I made an enemy somewhere. One that took this out on me, so it is my fault. My friends are dead because of me. My grandfather is sick, because of me. My…” Yugi closed his eyes, “Other friend, may never speak to me again.”

The door behind Yugi opened, visiting time was over.

“I’ll be back Yug,” said Joey as he watched his down hearted friend be led away.

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Knowing that Yugi’s grandfather wasn’t doing well, Joey offered to work in the shop. Yami had taken over as much as he could, but he found it difficult to be there all the time.

While there he tried to talk to Yami about what had happened. But Yami either ignored him or told him to let it be angrily. Joey never missed an opportunity thought, to try and get him to go to the prison with him. Of course Yami always ignored him.

So Joey was the only one to visit Yugi. See his pain, watch him fall deeper into depression and finally to give up.

But Joey wasn’t going to give up.

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Joey got a new job at Duke Devlin’s shop. He had to keep himself going, being down and out wouldn’t help Yugi any. Then in every spare moment, he worked on finding a way to prove that Yugi had not committed any crime. He decided to try and work out just who could have framed Yugi, who could be his enemy and sadistic enough to kill two of their friends to get him.

The one place to start would be in the Duelling world. Yugi had to have made enemies there. He had defeated so many who thought they were the best. Of those Joey knew he could eliminate Kaiba, as he had been out of the country when Tèa and Tristan had been killed. Pegasus had never turned up again after the Duelist Kingdom. They were both powerful enough to have easily framed Yugi and yet they could not have.

Yami Bakura and Ryou had left for England not long after the funerals of their friends. Marik had gone back to Egypt before the murders. So who did that leave?

Lieutenant Sakai could not give him anything else. All the evidence the police had collected had been revealed and had condemned Yugi.

Damn it.

Joey needed to find something.

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Joey turned up at the prison in time for his next visit. He put on his best face for his friend. But his best face fell at the sight of Yugi.

Both eyes were black and his hair sat ragged around his face, what was left of it.

“Gods, Yugi, what happened to your hair. Who beat you up?”

A tear slid from Yugi’s sore eyes, “There was a fight. I was in the middle. The winner… hurt me. He didn’t like my hair, hacked it off with a piece of metal… He… owns me now.”

This time Joey could not hold back the tears, “I’ve got to get you out of here.”

“Can’t… too late for me…”

“No Yugi, please don’t give up,” begged Joey, he wanted so badly to hold his friend.

“Too late,” Yugi wasn’t looking at him, he was too lost.

Joey sobbed for his friend, and left quickly. He went home and dug out his duelling deck, it was time to find out just who had it in for Yugi and that world was where he would find it.

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