Yu-Gi-Oh!

Walking With a Ghost

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. The other characters and the story are mine! This takes place in my post-series Pendulum Swings verse, which redeemed Yami Bakura and the Big Five. It's my Halloween story for 2019. I'm using the dub version of what Mako thinks happened to his father, because it's both more interesting and more "What the heck," as Yami Bakura will demonstrate.

Chapter One

Everything had been relatively peaceful for the last several weeks in Domino City, which was both very rare and exactly what the resident world-savers needed. Yugi and company were able to focus more on school and on fun times hanging out together. Seto and Téa in particular were enjoying spending time together more and more, much to Mokuba's delight. The Big Five were furthering plans for Penguin World. A site had been chosen and construction had begun. But as Fall deepened and Halloween decorating got underway (much to Yami Bakura's pleasure), the cynical ones in the group were certain that something would go wrong sooner or later.

Crump decided that he wanted to focus on the good things happening, at least for the time being. He had settled on Gansley's porch swing to enjoy the early autumn evening. The lower the temperatures dropped, the happier he became. Fall and Winter were the best seasons, as far as he was concerned. He might not be pretending to be a penguin any longer, but he still loved their taste in weather.

"Crump?"

Crump looked up in surprise. Now Nesbitt had decided to come out too, which was a surprise since he usually didn't seek out Crump for a conversation.

"What's up, Pal?" Crump asked.

Nesbitt hesitantly went over and sat down next to him. "I've wondered something for a while. . . . I never had the courage to ask before, but . . . do you resent me?"

"Whaaat?!" Crump stared at him. "Why the heck would I resent you?!"

Nesbitt shifted uncomfortably. "Well . . . you were Lector's friend first, and I didn't even like him, and now I'm always calling him my best friend. . . . It would be logical if you felt I took him away from you, or that I have no right to think of him as my best friend when I didn't like him at first. . . ."

Crump snorted. "That's crazy talk! Lector loves us both and spends time with us equally. And we're all a big family. Heck, I was over the moon when I realized you were coming to like Lector, and he you! You were both my pals, and I hated being stuck in the middle when you didn't like each other!"

Nesbitt started to relax. "I'm glad." He looked away. "These things never occurred to me before, maybe because I was too arrogant or overconfident. . . . But now that I want to be human, it's like . . . all the things I didn't think about have been floating through my mind like a system overload."

"You wanna be human, but you're still talking like a machine," Crump said.

"It's the only thing I know to relate it to," Nesbitt said. "I isolated myself from people to focus solely on my machines. I could tell you every part and piece needed to build a custom computer, but when it comes to how the human body works I'm a novice. The mind is even more confusing."

"Maybe if you think of it like a motherboard for people it'd make more sense to you," Crump said.

"I don't know if I'll ever make sense of human emotions and feelings," Nesbitt said. "I've always struggled with my temper, which I don't understand. And when I started caring so deeply about all of you, I discovered a whole range of emotions I didn't even know I had. I thought maybe I was devoid of those as much as I am of any romantic or sexual feelings."

"Heck, I don't think most people can make sense out of human emotions and feelings," Crump retorted. "I don't get them either, most of the time."

". . . I guess you probably related better to penguins than people," Nesbitt mused. Strange, but he had never thought about that before either—that he and Crump had in common relating to things other than humans.

"Pretty much," Crump said. "The girls rarely liked me, my parents didn't care, and a lot of the guys outright hated me. I was always the odd kid out, the one bullies targeted. Penguins seemed a lot better to me than most people."

"I'm sorry," Nesbitt frowned. "I was a loner, but by choice. Everyone knew I was more than capable of beating up anyone who got in my way, so they mostly steered clear of me."

"Better to be that way on purpose than because everybody hates your guts," Crump said.

"But . . . how did you know Lector was different?" Nesbitt wondered. "You must have been turned off of people and friendship by that time, yet you reached out to Lector and eventually won him over as your friend."

"I dunno how I knew," Crump said honestly. "I'd tried to make friends with people before and it fizzled out, so yeah, you'd think I would've given up. I pretty much had; I was really closed-off when I started at KaibaCorp. But there was just something I liked about Lector, so I tried again. It wasn't easy to break down his walls, but once he knew I wasn't just trying to butter him up he got pretty receptive to me. I finally had my first real buddy."

"And then you tried to reach out to me too," Nesbitt remembered.

"And you were sure a hard nut to crack," Crump said. "But I finally started making progress, and then Gansley and Johnson joined us and it was time to start all over again."

"You really felt that we were all different than the people you'd tried and failed with before?" Nesbitt said.

"Oh yeah. I didn't get it, but I sure felt it anyway," Crump said. "There was something special about each one of you. Lector told me that he felt it too."

"So did I," Nesbitt confessed.

"Of course you did," Crump said, "or you wouldn't have let us in."

"Interesting logic," Nesbitt grunted.

"But accurate. Right?"

Nesbitt had to nod. "You're right."

"The others probably did too," Crump continued.

It was such a strange thought, that they had all experienced such feelings, and yet it made sense, Nesbitt supposed, that if some of them did, they all did.

He turned to look out at the sunset. "Summer's over," he mused.

"Yeah, ain't it great?!" Crump gushed. "Fall and Winter are the best seasons anyway."

"Heh. Some people like Summer better, although I don't care and I know Lector likes Fall," Nesbitt said. "Johnson's probably sad Summer's over. I'm not sure how Gansley feels."

"I think Gansley's more interested in the stock market than in the seasons," Crump smirked.

"Probably." Nesbitt leaned back, letting the swing gently move them. It was definitely nice to just forget all their problems for a while and enjoy a few moments of peace.

xxxx

Yugi was leaning on the counter at the Game Shop, idly looking over the latest newspaper. "Hey, it says Mako Tsunami's been spotted in town," he said in surprise. "He's staying at a hotel near the docks."

"Hmm. I wonder why," Atem mused. "There isn't a local tournament."

"Maybe he's here to visit?" Téa suggested. "It'd be nice to see him and just catch up on things."

"Then he probably would have come by to say Hello before now," Atem said.

"Maybe he thinks he's found a clue to his dad?" Joey suggested.

Yami Bakura grunted in irritation. "The boy is completely delusional. You all realize that, don't you?"

"Hey," Tristan frowned.

"Why is it delusional to believe his dad is alive?" Téa asked, scowling a bit at the former tomb robber.

"Look." Yami Bakura pushed away from the counter and started to count off on his fingers. "The story you told Bakura and me was that a storm came up and the father tied Mako down to protect him. Then when Mako regained consciousness after the storm, he saw the lifeboat missing and 'knew' his father had made it out alive. You all should have spotted the problems with that right away. A storm that fierce could have simply washed the lifeboat away. That is most likely what happened. If we are to believe that the father took the lifeboat and left, there is no way he could be the honorable man Mako remembers. An honorable father would never take the lifeboat and try to save himself while leaving his child behind. Not to mention, refusing to come forward and torturing the boy afterwards?! There is no good reason why he would stay away, especially if he did indeed send Mako the Legendary Fisherman card through the mail. That would mean he was aware of his son's misery and was unwilling to do anything about it. Now, if you don't believe the father is that kind of person, he's dead. That's all there is to it."

A cold silence fell over the group.

". . . I've gotta admit, he actually has a point," Tristan said at last.

"Yeah, but Mako said he felt in his heart that his dad was alive," Joey exclaimed. "You know I'm all for believing in your gut even if logic tells you there's no way it could be true."

"Then what do you think his father is trying to do to him?" Yami Bakura said in irritation.

"I dunno! Maybe he's trying to . . . test him or something? Help him grow stronger?" Joey said helplessly. "I don't know! But I do know I'm not willing to say Mako's delusional. And I'm not willing to say his dad's a creep either."

Yami Bakura grunted. "Believe what you like."

Atem frowned. "It does seem like it would be a very cruel method of testing Mako. I can't see any purpose in it myself."

"Atem, didn't you look for Mako's dad in the afterlife?" Yugi asked.

"No, I didn't, because I assumed he was alive," Atem said.

Téa looked to Bakura, who had been very quiet. "What do you think, Bakura?"

Bakura shifted, looking awkward to be put on the spot. "Well . . . I don't really know," he stammered. "I've never met Mako. . . ."

"The boy idolizes his father and can't accept that the ocean got the better of him. End of story." Yami Bakura walked over to look at the new card packs on the counter.

"So . . . who sent him the card in the mail?" Joey persisted.

"It could have been anyone, perhaps a family friend, perhaps even someone who idolizes Mako as a Duelist," Yami Bakura said.

"And they left it anonymous to make it look like Mako's dad sent it?" Téa gasped. "They'd know Mako would think it was him!"

"Some friend," Tristan scowled.

"They might idiotically think they were doing a good thing, when in reality they would only be making everything worse," Yami Bakura said.

"Well, I think we should go visit Mako," Téa said. "I'd like to say Hi, and maybe we can help him if he's here on his quest."

The bell over the door jingled. "Hello, my friends!"

Everyone jumped a mile.

"Mako!" Yugi exclaimed. "We were just talking about coming to see you!"

"How are ya?" Joey asked.

"I'm just fine," Mako said. "Tell me, do you know a man named Démas Lector?"

Everyone exchanged stunned looks.

"Yeah, he's our friend," Yugi said.

"Could you point me in the direction of his home?" Mako asked. "I have learned that he or someone else in his family may have known my father and may have a clue to his whereabouts."

That practically floored them all.

"Why on Earth would he have known your father?" Yami Bakura blurted. "He and his family are wealthy businesspeople. I highly doubt they would know a humble fisherman."

"In his youth he lived in New Orleans, which is where Mr. Lector is from, I believe," Mako said.

"New Orleans is a big place," Joey said.

"Ah yes, but he lived in a neighborhood that I believe would have placed him in the school that Mr. Lector and his siblings attended," Mako said. "If Mr. Lector has older siblings, they might have even been in some of the same classes with my father."

Joey blinked rapidly in surprise. "Well, there's no harm in asking him!" he said. "He might be at one of his buddies' houses right now, though, so I'll text him and find out." He took out his phone.

"Thank you," Mako said.

xxxx

Nesbitt had finally gone in the house just as the phone rang. It wasn't unusual for the Big Five to answer each other's landline phones, so after two more rings and no one else picking up, he grabbed the receiver. "Hello?"

The last thing he expected was to hear a familiar and frightened voice on the other end. "Mr. Nesbitt?"

"Angelique?" Nesbitt raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing calling here?"

"Well, I was hoping to reach Mr. Lector, but his cellphone is busy and his maid said he was at Mr. Gansley's house," Angelique replied.

"Yeah, he is." Nesbitt sat down at the desk. "We're all here. What's the problem?"

"Well . . . Evangeline doesn't know I'm calling. She'd be upset if she knew; she didn't want to bother any of you. She still thinks it was partially her fault about everything that went wrong when you came out here last time."

Nesbitt grunted. This did not sound encouraging. "You still haven't said what the problem is."

"Evangeline has control of all the family businesses now, as you may remember," Angelique said. "That includes the Tolliver Arms hotel. And . . . strange things have been happening in it, especially the last few weeks."

Nesbitt massaged the bridge of his nose. "Let me guess. It looks like ghostly activity?"

"It could be," Angelique said. "There have been rumors about ghosts in the hotel for decades, but they were never malicious until recently. Several times they've thrown silverware in the kitchen and it's stuck in the wall. People on the top floor say that sometimes, usually late at night, they feel a dark presence and hear maniacal laughter. And a security guard swears that the other night, he went in the basement because he heard what sounded like a party, but when he got there, all the sounds stopped and there was no one alive having a party. I know that's not malicious, but it's more involved than anything that's happened before."

"We're not ghostbusters," Nesbitt said. It came out a bit harsher than he really intended, but he couldn't deny he was aggravated. Lector didn't need this stress, worrying about his younger sister and her friend. And what could they really do?

"I know you're not," Angelique said. "I don't know that you could really do anything, I guess. . . . But I just didn't know what to do. . . . I knew Mr. Lector would want to know. . . ."

"Yeah, he would," Nesbitt said grudgingly. "But what's Evangeline doing about it? Did she get her exorcist out there again?"

"Yes, but he hasn't had much luck," Angelique moaned. "It can take months to really cleanse a place." She shifted. "A nearby building just got demolished and Evangeline thinks the ghosts may be upset to lose their home, so they came here instead. Apparently that kind of thing can happen."

"Well, I can tell Lector about it, but I doubt any of us can do anything," Nesbitt said. "Not even the Pharaoh or Yami Bakura could do anything about the ghosts in your house. You need an expert."

"I know." Angelique sighed. "Thank you for listening, at least. . . . I'd better go. Goodbye."

Nesbitt sat there for a long moment after hanging up. He had just started to feel a little better about things, especially after that relaxing conversation with Crump. Now he was tensing up again. He really hated to tell Lector about this. He was afraid Lector would want to immediately fly out, and he doubted it would do any good. They would probably just get caught up in another bizarre series of events involving uncooperative ghosts. Right now they needed to stay focused on Penguin World. It was a good, solid project that was helping them heal from all the heartache they had been going through for the last several years.

"Nesbitt?"

He started and turned. Lector was coming towards him, cellphone in hand. He looked bewildered.

"Yeah, what is it?" Nesbitt asked.

Lector sat down on the other side of the small table. "I was just talking to a boy named Mako Tsunami. He was asking me about his father."

"Who?" Nesbitt quirked an eyebrow. "Why would you know anything about the guy?"

"I don't know much," Lector admitted, "but I do remember he was in Adele's classes at school. Now Mr. Tsunami wants to fly out to New Orleans to talk to her."

"Good for him," Nesbitt grunted.

Lector frowned at him. "What's wrong, Nesbitt? You seem out of sorts."

"Oh . . ." Nesbitt leaned back. It was so tempting not to tell Lector anything. They really couldn't do anything, so why should he burden Lector with this information right now? Evangeline hadn't wanted him to know.

Still . . . he knew Lector would want to know. If it was one of the others having trouble instead of Evangeline, Nesbitt would tell him even if they couldn't do anything. And Lector loved his little sister dearly. Lector would no doubt learn about the call upon returning home and talking to the maid. One way or another, he would find out anyway, and then he would probably also learn that Nesbitt had known and kept it from him. The very thought of that made Nesbitt's stomach knot up. He wanted Lector to be able to trust him. If Nesbitt lied to him, that might hurt him worse than if Nesbitt admitted to what Angelique had said.

"Angelique called," he finally said. "She and Evangeline are having some more ghost problems."

"I see," Lector frowned. "Evangeline didn't want to tell me, so Angelique took the initiative?"

"That's right," Nesbitt said.

Gansley, Johnson, and Crump were wandering over now. "What's this about Angelique and Evangeline?" Gansley frowned.

"Are we going back to New Orleans?" Johnson looked worried at the thought.

"I hope not," Nesbitt said. He related everything Angelique had said. The others listened, frowning.

At the conclusion, Lector groaned and rubbed his forehead. "While it's true that we probably can't do anything, I hate to just leave my sister high and dry," he said. "I would come if it was any of you, even if I didn't think I could fix the problem. Being there as support is important as well."

"It's illogical," Nesbitt complained.

"So you're saying it's illogical to take comfort from loved ones in a time of crisis?" Gansley grunted.

"No!" Nesbitt retorted. "It's just . . . I don't want any of us to get hurt there again. And . . . I don't want to be used again as the instrument to hurt any of you. . . ."

Lector gave a sad smile and laid a hand on Nesbitt's shoulder. "I know, and I can't blame you for being worried. But for that matter, getting involved in any calamity poses a risk to us. We can't just not ever get involved in anything anymore because we're worried about what might happen to us."

"So we're going?" Nesbitt sighed.

"I feel like I need to check on her," Lector said. "First I'll call and talk to her on the phone, although I'm sure she'll play down the seriousness of it for my sake. If I go, the rest of you don't have to come. But that's a pointless thing to say, isn't it?" He gave a wry smile.

"Yeah, you could say that," Crump shot back. "We wouldn't just let you go off alone!"

"Of course not," Nesbitt growled.

Gansley and Johnson echoed their agreement.

"Alright then." Lector got up. "I will call Evangeline. Maybe I'll call Angelique as well." He walked off down the hall with his phone.

Nesbitt slumped back in the chair. ". . . I considered not telling him about the call," he confessed. "I mean, when we can't really do anything anyway, I hated torturing him with what Angelique said." He hadn't really planned to ever admit it, but somehow he felt comfortable doing so. He wanted his friends to know of his darker thoughts.

Indeed, none of them looked judgmental. Although he wondered if he should be concerned that none of them looked too surprised, either.

"So why did you tell him?" Gansley asked out of curiosity.

"It was a matter of logic," Nesbitt said. "I knew he'd learn of it anyway, and I didn't want him to know I'd lied to him. After all, the whole reason I wouldn't tell him would be because I didn't want to hurt him, but if he knew I lied, he'd be hurt anyway."

Gansley smiled and nodded. "Very true."

"Here's a question, though," Johnson said. "If there wasn't any chance of Lector learning of it, what would you have done then?"

"I don't know," Nesbitt growled. ". . . But I probably still wouldn't have had the heart to do it in the end."

"Yeah," Crump mused, "I don't think you would have."

Nesbitt frowned. "I hope you're right."

"We're right," Gansley calmly replied.

Lector, who had lingered in earshot, smiled a bit as well before disappearing into the study.