Hey all, Hikari here. After some consideration, I opted to move the second Act of of Through Another's Eyes to another fic of its own, because of a few reasons.

One: Act One is already almost fifty chapters long. It's insane. And Act Two could easily rack up a similarly crazy chapter count, and I don't want to deter new readers from the story entirely. So, I'm going to split up each individual "Act" into it's own fic. Don't worry, though; the premise of TAE is still the same, and Selena will not be going away.

Two: While they're part of a larger, overarching storyline, each Act is, essentially, a self-contained story in and of itself. It doesn't make sense to have one fic be 100+ chapters, yet sound like there's several different fics being told in one file.

Hence, the splitting up of arcs. For everything that happens up to this point, go back and read the first Through Another's Eyes (you should be able to find it on my profile). If you've already been a subscriber to that fic, then read on, my friends.

As usual, my update schedule is once a month. No more, no less. Reviews, while appreciated, are not required-just, when you do, please don't be a one- or two-word wonder!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! in any way, shape, or form. It is the property of Kazuki Takahashi and NAS/TV Tokyo. I'm just running around in their world to stir up trouble.

Chapter 1

The Invitation

The past year has been, to say the least, a roller coaster. I showed up in Domino, Japan with no friends and a right eye that did nothing but bring me misery. How much can change in such a short time; within a semester I had friends, real friends, who were somehow unfazed by whatever heebie-geebies my Eye gives off. And following that, we hauled Jonouchi out of an old feud with his former gang boss (twice); dealt with a man who can shape our minds to suit his fancy; survived Seto Kaiba's "theme park of death", Death-T; and survived a game-night-turned-Shadow-Game. Of course, after all that I still had to head home for final exams, but I'm returning to my friends in January, and so far it seems to be going smoothly—well, apart from the fact that Jonouchi mistook my mom for me over the phone. I'm going to rib him about that.

But if I've learned anything since those days, it's that when you think you've passed the most of it…you haven't. We'd only just gotten to the base of our mountain, and we still had no idea how much farther our adventures would lead. The latest journey me and my friends were about to go on started with a package in the mail…and a man with an unusual eye of his own.

000

Selena plopped onto the couch. It was good to finally be back; she'd just gotten off her flight and back to the Kame Game Store, and all she wanted to do was sleep; she was tired, frustrated, and knew that no matter how well she slept tonight the jetlag would make school in the morning a nightmare. But to Selena, it was worth it.

Here in Japan, a continent away from her family's farm in Iowa, she felt more at home than in Des Moines.

All because of one short kid with gravity-defying hair. And his weirdo friends.

"Selena! Welcome back!"

Selena cracked open her eye. Said short kid with gravity-defying hair was entering the room, in a t-shirt, jeans, slippers, and looking way more awake than she was at the moment. "I hope you've got hot chocolate, because I'm dead."

Yugi laughed and handed her one of the mugs as he took a seat in the chair nearest to her. "How'd your finals go?"

Selena blew on her hot chocolate before taking a sip. "Well, considering all I had to do was fight off getting a swirly and find creative ways to deter my 'classmates' from cheating off me, rather well." She arched her eyebrow at him. "Did you actually pass this time?"

Yugi scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "Well…."

"I'll take that as a no."

"I passed!" Yugi protested.

"Barely." Selena deadpanned.

Yugi gave her a look. "I haven't told you my grade…."

"No, but I gave you guys my number and Anzu texted me. A D-minus, seriously?"

Suddenly, Yugi found his hot chocolate very interesting. "Okay, so maybe I didn't study as much as I should've…"

"Ya think?" Selena took a drink of her chocolate before nodding to the Puzzle. "Anything happen involving you-know-what?"

Yugi shook his head. "No, nothing that level of weird." He frowned and pointed to Selena's backpack. "I think your bag just…meowed."

Selena gave him a 'what the eff' look. "Uh…what."

"Your bag. Either I'm so tired I'm hearing things, or there's a cat in your bag."

Selena's expression intensified, but she put her hot chocolate down on the coffee table and pulled her bag closer to open it…

…and had to duck out of the way as a yowling ball of fur shot out of it and around the table a couple times, before shooting under Yugi's chair—which got a yelp out of the boy who was sitting in it.

"What the hell?!" Yugi yelped.

Selena dropped the backpack and peered under Yugi's chair, and two wide, yellow eyes stared back at her. She sighed; Selena'd recognize that tabby fur anywhere. "Good god…I have no idea how she managed it, but my cat Belle managed to sneak herself along when I left Iowa."

Yugi gave her a look. "Is she always that…insane?"

"I'm guessing the crazy dash-around-the-room and hide-under-the-chair is from being stuck in my backpack for the last fifteen hours." Selena said, getting up and shaking her head. "I have no flipping idea how she got through customs…or past the airport in San Francisco, for that matter." She dug her phone out of her pants pocket. "Belle's a spaz-cat. I just didn't think she'd pull that."

"Spaz…right. I'm going to go with 'hellspawn', personally."

Selena grunted and rubbed her eyes. "Whatever works…."

Yugi's mother came out of the kitchen, where she'd been getting the dishes set up for breakfast the next morning. "What on earth is going on in here? Did you bring in the Apocalypse?"

"If you consider a traumatized, jetlagged spasticat the Apocalypse, then yeah." She dialed her home number and waited for it to be picked up as she added, "I'll explain when I'm done calling home."

Mrs. Mutou's mouth went into a thin line, like she wanted to say more, but just nodded, then returned to the kitchen with an exasperated sigh. Selena just returned the dumbfounded look Yugi was giving her with a shrug when her mom picked up.

"Selena! Did your flight go OK?"

"Yeah; it was fine." Selena replied. "I ran out of books on the way here and spent the rest of the time wishing economy class had wifi, but I survived. Um…" She paused. "…have you seen Belle since I left?"

"No; she usually hides in the bushes next to the porch and mopes for a couple days after you leave anyway. Selena, why're you asking?"

"Well…." She started, but got cut off by Yugi.

"YEOWCH!"

"Selena? What was that?!"

"…That was Yugi. Belle's under the armchair and just scratched he hell out of his hand."

"What?! What the hell is Belle doing in Japan?!"

Selena sighed. "She stowed away. In my backpack. Don't ask me how she got past the airports' security, I have no idea." She watched as Yugi nursed his hand, grumbling several unhappy epithets under his breath. "All I know is when I got to the shop, my bag meowed and I opened it…and out shoots Belle and under the chair she goes."

"Oh dear god…" Selena could hear Mom groaning over the phone. "Well, we'll get a care package ready. And make sure you get Belle to the vet and make sure she's all right. And hope they don't think you're insane with that story…."

"I'm not sure I believe it either, Mom." Selena said, stifling a yawn. "Anyway, I just wanted to call and let you know I got to Japan all right, and that me and Belle are all right…mostly."

She heard a small chuckle on the other end of the line as Mom replied. "All right. I'm glad your trip went well, and try not to scare the pants off your friends. Again. 'Night, honey."

Selena smiled. "'Night, Mom. See you in a few months."

"See you, hon." Her mom hung up, and Selena turned her phone off.

"Well, that's taken care of." She strode over to the chair and crouched down, peering at the freaked-out cat hiding under it. "You, little one, need to get over your detachment complex."

Belle responded with a hiss.

Selena let out a tired sigh and stood as Yugi returned from the kitchen, no doubt where he'd been cleaning and dressing the scrapes. "Your cat is evil."

"What she is is absentminded." Selena sighed again, looking back to the chair Belle had taken refuge under. "She pulls crazy-ass stuff like this all the time; once, she tried getting into one of the birdhouses and Dad had to take the thing down and take her to the vet to get her leg out."

Yugi gave her a look. "Should I feel sorry for the cat or the bird?"

"Both." Selena said. "The trauma went both ways; Belle didn't like getting her leg stuck, and the bird didn't like a wacky cat intruder or having its home driven into town and broken open to get the cat out."

Yugi just groaned and shook his head. "Okay…I'm heading to bed. I'm tired, school starts at seven, and hopefully that cat'll be hiding somewhere else in the morning."

Selena snorted a laugh. "Hopefully. Don't count on it."

Yugi groaned from halfway up the stairs.

000

As Selena had expected, the next day was miserable, no small thanks to jetlag.

"Welcome back!" Jonouchi bounded into the classroom, yelling the greeting. Selena raised her head from her folded arms and flipped him off.

"Welp, it's still Selena, if she's flipping you off." Melhana said, clapping the blonde on the shoulder. She turned to Honda and held out her hand. "You owe me 500 yen."

Selena rubbed her eyes as Honda grumbled and got out his wallet. "Okay, why were you two betting on me?"

Honda fumed as he handed over the money. "Mel and I made a bet about what you'd do to Jonouchi when you got back. I thought you'd hit him over the head with a book."

"And I said you'd be too tired from jetlag to do more than flip him off." Melhana said, tucking the bill into her wallet, smiling. "So I just earned 500 yen."

Selena let out another groan. She was too tired to care. Jonouchi, on the other hand, was a little more scandalized, as could be heard from his "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because you were one of the ones we were betting on, genius." Honda said. "Mel, I'm never making a bet with you again."

"Uh-huh. Riiiiight. Let's see if you hold to that with the X-Games."

"If it make you feel any better, I kept out of it." Bakura said, dropping into his seat. "And tried telling Honda it was a bad idea. Which it was."

"Coming from the guy who got possessed by a psychopath…."

Bakura tossed a pen at him. "Shut up. And I'm not possessed anymore. And that was two months ago."

Selena stared at the long-haired gamer. "No offense meant—and if there is any, I blame jetlag and not enough caffeine—but where'd these stones come from?"

Bakura gave her an amused snort and jabbed his thumb in the direction of Jonouchi and Honda. "Those two. Now I can see why Anzu usually has a headache."

"Oh, just wait. They get worse." Anzu deadpanned, pulling out her notebook.

Bakura made a small choking sound. "The toilet seat wasn't the worst?!"

Selena stared at Jonouchi and Honda. "What. The. Hell. Was the toilet seat?"

"Err…." Honda looked away as Jonouchi shifted uncomfortably. "It wasn't as bad as it sounds…."

"Jonouchi got his head stuck in a toilet seat and we had to call the ambulance." Anzu said. Yugi was sniggering, and Bakura facepalmed. "After Honda got the bright idea to take pictures. Thankfully for both of their dignity, Yugi stopped Honda from putting them on Facebook."

Yugi shrugged. "Well, that, and if we put them up right away, we wouldn't have anything for blackmail."

Jonouchi, to his credit, was beet red. "You're all assholes."

Selena had to put down her coffee before she choked on it, laughing. "Well, now we have proof; your head really is in the toilet. Explains everything."

This time, it was Selena's turn to be flipped off. "Fuck off."

Selena stuck her tongue out and gave him the horns. "Only if you do first."

Bakura groaned. "Why. Just why."

Melhana patted the boy on the back in a consoling manner. "Don't worry, it could be worse; they could've teepeed Karita's house. Or put a giant penis in his front yard, like they were planning."

Bakura made a sound like he was dying inside. Selena made a sound halfway between a laugh and a dying crow.

Anzu bonked herself on the head with her notebook. "Don't. Remind. Me."

A nasty grin spread over Selena's face. "You know…if you two still want to put the penis in Karita's front yard, I could help with that…."

From the sound Anzu made, Selena was pretty sure she just ate a crow.

Bakura let out another small groan and got up. "I'll be back. I need another coffee…and that may not be enough."

"Mission accomplished!" Jonouchi gave Honda a high-five. "We broke Bakura."

"I can still hear you!" Came Bakura's voice from outside the room.

Yugi cleared his throat. "Well, since we're embarrassing people, I figure now would be a good time to mention that Selena brought a cat."

The others stared. "Okay. Run that by me again?" Anzu said.

Selena plunked her head back down on her desk with a groan. It had no effect on Yugi's continuing. "Last night after Selena got back to the shop, we found out that her cat had stowed away in her backpack."

Anzu blinked and looked to Selena. "He's joking, right?" She asked, pointing to Yugi.

Selena sighed and shook her head, still on the desk. "No, he's not; Belle the spastikitty, in all her wisdom, got the bright idea to hide in my backpack before I left Iowa." She explained. "I have no idea how she got through airport security, several times, or how customs missed her. All I know is she hid in my backpack for fifteen hours and somehow didn't poop and pee all over the inside of it."

"And then when she got back to the shop and let the ball of nightmares out, it shot around the table, under my chair, and decided my hand was a scratching post." Yugi held up his scratched hand. "Selena, I swear your cat is from Hell."

Selena raised her head again and rubbed her eyes. "Belle's a lot less…psycho, I promise." She said. "Spastic? Yes. Kinda dumb? …Yeah, a little. Psycho demon-kitty from hell? No." She leaned back in her chair. "Trust me, Belle's a harmless derpy ball of adorable. She's the reason cat videos exist."

Yugi raised his eyebrow at her. "Uh-huh. I'll believe that when she isn't hissing like an angry anaconda."

"Give her a few weeks and she'll come out of hiding and forget about the trauma, and start sitting on your stomach for a wake-up call." Selena said as Bakura returned, canned coffee in hand.

"Do I want to know what happened?" The boy asked. He held up his hand. "Er…don't answer that. I'm not sure I want to know."

Selena shrugged. "You'll probably find out this afternoon anyway. I might see if I can bribe her out with a bit of octopus, if we've got any. She went apeshit over the stuff the last time I was home…."

"Hey, that reminds me; tonight's the finals for the Duel Monsters national!" Yugi said. "How's about we all watch it together at my place?"

"Sure! Plus, it'll give Jonouchi a chance to get some practice in." Anzu said. "You guys in?"

"I don't have any chores at home, so I'm good." That was Honda.

A "Same here," came from Jonouchi.

Bakura held up a hand. "Eh, no thanks. I've got some stuff to take care of at home. I'll leave any crazy Selena brought back to you guys tonight."

Melhana snorted a laugh. "Hate to tell you this, buddy, but the crazy lives here. It just merges with the odd that hovers around Selena when she's here."

Selena made a noise in the back of her throat. "Funny. Real supportive, Mel." She grumped. "I'll remember that the next time we're playing Super Smash Bros."

"What about you Melhana?"

"I'll have to pass too, much as I wish I could be there." The Egyptian girl said. "I've got chores at home after school…and it's not something I can put off till tomorrow, unfortunately."

"Aww man…I was hoping we'd finally figure out what deck you had!"

Melhana winked. "Sorry, you're gonna have to wait a bit longer, Jo." She replied. "Besides, watching you wrack your brain's pretty funny."

Jonouchi sunk down into his chair grumbling something as the bell rang for class to start. Selena pulled her notebook, textbook, pens and sketchbook out of her bag.

Stuff like this is why she missed Japan.

000

"Oh, Yugi, before you get too drawn in; a package came for you today."

Yugi peered at the box Mr. Mutou had on the table. "Who's it from?"

His grandfather shrugged. "There wasn't a return address. It seemed safe enough, though; just be careful when you open it."

Yugi nodded as they headed to the living room. "Someone send you a birthday gift or something?" Selena asked.

Yugi shrugged. "No idea." The boy replied. "But…it couldn't be too bad, could it?"

Selena hmmed. "…maybe…."

Yugi frowned. "You think it's…not a prank or something, do you?"

"Meh…call me paranoid. But given the last year and a half, well…." Selena trailed off.

Yugi was spared answering when Jonouchi called from the living room. "Hey! Get in here, you two! The show's starting!"

Selena shook the suspicions out of her head as she and Yugi settled down with the rest of the group. As far as she was concerned, tonight was a night to be normal teenagers. And it would stay that way.

Which was why Selena was a little let down when Haga took down Ryuzaki. She was trying to coax Belle out from under her chair with a piece of jerky—the cat wasn't having any of it, but still—when the package from earlier was brought up again.

"Hang on…we can play a few rounds after we check out this," Yugi said, opening the package. The remaining four peered over as the box opened. "What the…."

"What's with the glove? And the tape?" Honda asked.

Selena shrugged. Jonouchi just grabbed the tape. "Maybe there's an explanation. Can you play this, Yugi?"

"Yeah, sure…." As Yugi plugged the videotape into the VCR, Selena rubbed at her eye.

Dammit, girl, don't get suspicious. Not now, no way. We dealt with the last of the crazy with Monster World. There is. No. More. Weird. Shit. It's just a package, there's no more freaky to deal with. She berated herself. It's all in your head, girl. Don't let it—or the Eye run away with you.

"At last! Good to meet you, Yugi-boy! I've been waiting for this moment for a long time!"

Selena rocked back on her heels. "Yugi, isn't that—?"

"Pegasus! Why'd he want to send you a tape?"

Yugi just shook his head. "I don't know…I haven't entered any tournaments."

"No, but you're hella good."

Yugi shot Jonouchi a look. "Again, I haven't entered any tournaments."

"Which brings us back to the question of why the creator of Duel Monsters would send you a…well, this."

"Oh, no, no need to be surprised! I just wanted to send a greeting to the real champion. You did defeat Kaiba-boy, after all." The image of Pegasus on the screen smiled. "And, challenge you to a duel, of course. I know, dueling a video recording won't be quite the same as in person, but it'll have to do, I suppose."

"This guy does know what Skype is, right?" Honda grumbled.

"I'll give you five minutes to build your deck, then we'll duel. Well, if you decide to accept, of course; if not, then this video will be rather pointless."

"That's hardly a challenge, though! He couldn't know Yugi's deck; he'd be guessing." That was Grandpa. Yugi, on the other hand was already getting ready to duel, a small smile spreading on his face.

Selena just shook her head and leaned against the couch. To be fair, Yugi is good. She said. And…Pegasus did know about Yugi beating Kaiba…but that also happened in front of a crowd of people. There were probably kids with their smartphones and stuff recording it so they could watch the duel later. I'll bet any number of videos of that duel are floating around the Internet by now.

She tried ignoring the itching in the back of her right eye. As much as she told herself otherwise, this felt…off. It wouldn't be the first time she had a false alarm, but….

The image of Pegasus looked up, and fixed its eyes on Selena. Selena's heart turned cold…that didn't feel like a glance from a recording.

It felt like he was looking at her.

It's a video recording, Selena. He's not here. Besides, he's just a man. Okay, so he's the creator of Duel Monsters and massively rich and probably a huge nerd, but he's normal. She let out a breath and shook her head. The feeling passed. Don't get wound up over nothing. Your Eye's spazzed out before. You're paranoid.

She put the niggling feeling to the back of her mind and watched the duel. She frowned at the first couple turns, where Pegasus got the guesses right…but thought nothing of it.

Mostly.

There was a sting in her eye—the same kind she got when a Millennium Item activated. The air in the room suddenly felt…heavier, as Yugi switched.

Alt-Yugi. He takes over when things get hinky. Did Yugi pick up the same…weird feeling I've been having?

Then again…Kumori Dragon had been sucked into the TV screen.

Selena groaned inwardly. If there was any hinkiness about….

"Aww, why so gloomy all the time? Can't we just enjoy the game?"

Selena's eyes narrowed. Something wasn't…right. Something was off. It was hard to believe with the bad jokes and smile, but Selena couldn't help but get bad vibes from the videotape.

Selena decided to act on her instincts. She ignored the duel for a few moments and closed her eyes, opening herself to just a thin stream of her power, just enough to feel those around her.

Behind her eyelids, Selena could "see" Jonouchi's, Anzu's, and Grandpa Mutou's auras beside her; bright yellow, soft peach, and dark brown, respectively, each "color" in a blob vaguely shaped like its owner. In front of her, burning much brighter—and, even with the limited amount she was sensing with, almost overwhelmingly—was Alt-Yugi.

And another presence. One that Selena knew shouldn't be there, couldn't be there, but it was.

A cold, silvery-white aura. In the same place as the TV. And it was nearly as overpowering as Alt-Yugi's.

Pegasus. It was Pegasus. Somehow, he was using the videotape as a conduit to duel Yugi in real time. Selena opened her eyes, and she saw Summoned Skull facing off against Illusionist Faceless Mage. Her mouth went into a thin line. I couldn't see the monsters before.

Playing a hunch, Selena looked to Anzu. "Anzu, can you see anything between Yugi and the TV? Like…the monsters, in the air?"

Anzu's brow furrowed. "No…Selena, what—?"

"Game over, Yugi-boy! Time for your penalty game!"

Selena felt it. She clapped a hand to her Eye as it activated. She felt that sort of power before, she was familiar with it…. "Yugi! Look—"

"Grandpa! Grandpa, what happened?!"

Still with her hand over her eye, Selena felt a cold trickle down her spine. Her eye was fully active. Bakura wasn't there, it couldn't be the Ring. Yugi's Puzzle was already active.

Grandpa Mutou's soul was gone.

Oh gods, what happened?!

What is Pegasus?!

Pegasus's image on the video tape hmmed. "Well, that was entertaining, at least. And now you've no choice but to come to my 'Duelist Kingdom'. As for how I read your hand…" he pulled his hair away from his face, and Selena felt bile rise in her throat.

"This is the Millennium Eye. It allows me to see into the soul of the person I choose. Nothing is hidden from me, Yugi-boy. Nothing."

Selena's hand fell from her own active Eye. That's a Millennium Item. That's why I was reacting. She looked to Grandpa's Mutou's comatose body. Did he use it to do something to Mr. Mutou? Hell, is that how that 'recording' was even made?

Pegasus's face went to static. It was replaced by Grandpa Mutou. Selena took several breaths, getting a hold of herself, and getting the Eye back under control. She ran her hands through her hair, hearing but not registering what was going on around her.

That was more than a duel. That was a Shadow Game. That was what my Eye was reacting to this whole time. Pegasus was using a Millennium Item, he just didn't go full-blast with it until the end. No wonder it felt familiar—Yugi has a Millennium Item. Bakura has one. Shadi had one.

Why didn't I make the connection?

Why didn't I warn Yugi?

And why did I think that, for once, things would be normal?

000

Normally, the crazy weird shit waits a few days before starting back up again. Hah, no such luck, this time; I'm not even in Japan twenty-four hours and the weird goes into high-gear. Millennium Items, Shadow Games, souls being stolen, and all the hinkiness are all too routine for me and my friends. But it isn't the Shadow Games or the Millennium Items that worries me.

It's that I didn't make the connection sooner. You see, I know what a Millennium Item feels like when it's activated. I don't know how to describe it; powerful? Heavy? Old? Like getting hit by a flood? Ech, it's really hard to explain and I suck at explaining things. All I know is that it's something that even though I can't put it into words, I know what it feels like. I mean, I've known Yugi and Alt-Yugi for over a year already, had Shadi in my head—do not want anyone in there again, nope, no thank you—and was put into a lead figure by Anti-Bakura. And each time my Eye goes off the rails.

So this brings me back to my main concern; I didn't recognize the Millennium Eye as another Millennium Item. Something that I should've been able to do. I'm not sure what bothers me more; the fact that I didn't recognize what I was picking up earlier, or the fact that the reason I didn't pick it up was because it was too familiar. That it was so familiar that I've started tuning it out.

Just what I needed. More reasons to hate my Demon Eye.