With a sleight of hand unmatched by any other, and a fiery glint in his eye that reflected the eagerness he felt inside of him. It was at this moment in every duel that the turnabout came, and the Pharaoh knew all he had to do was glide across the home stretch. His fingers danced above his deck for a split second, before he called out "My turn!" placing two fingers firmly atop the deck. His eyes burned into his opponent with fierceness unrivalled by any other, his smug smirk accenting the expression perfectly. "I draw!" In one sweeping gesture he had drawn but a single card from his deck, bringing it within his line of sight. His eyes fell upon it, showing just the results he had expected.

With nothing but a short, satisfied chuckle and the announcement of one attack, the Pharaoh had won the duel and had made his way across the arena to congratulate his opponent.

The younger duellist stepped up to the man, grin a mile wide and childish charm to match. "It was such a pleasure to duel against you, Mr King!"

The Pharaoh seemed pleased, extending his hand for a handshake. He was met with the enthusiastic compliance of the younger boy, who rapidly pulled his hand about.

"You gave me a hard time back there, you're well on your way to becoming a champion."

The boy turned red almost immediately, stepping back and unconsciously bringing his hands up to his face to hide his flustered expression. The Pharaoh simply smiled, holding back a full laugh, worried it might offend him if he did.

The pattering of footsteps caught the Pharaoh's attention as he spun around on his heels to see Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda running up to him, cheerful smiles upon their features. He was immediately wrapped in hugs and the verbal praise of the group. The familiar sounds of their voices and their positive auras wrapped him in a calming, warm sense of joy. They pulled back after only a few seconds.

"Good job, Yugi!"

"He really gave you a run for your money, Yugi!"

"You're getting rusty, Yugi!"

He laughed along with his friends, ignoring the light teasing.

A close voice rang out from within the Pharaoh, making him draw his eyes to the puzzle. It was faint at first, but picked up volume in the second sentence.

"It was a good duel, wasn't it other me?"

The Pharaoh turned to see the transparent figure of his partner floating just beside him. The smile upon his partner's face made his chest stir somehow, though he wasn't quite sure why. It was like something was missing, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Choosing to shrug the sensation off, he nodded and agreed with his partner.

A few seconds afterward, the group was hushed off the stage by some of the stage hands who had been working the event. They were led down a hallway where they were met with the face of Mokuba Kaiba, who seemed very pleased with himself.

"That was great, you guys! Brother will be thrilled that everything worked out with no complications." The small boy buzzed with an air of authority whenever he was among his brother's workers. He often worked as his brother's right hand man, and it really showed when he was directing staff around tricky situations. Even now, in the midst of a casual event, he kept up the strong, commanding aura. It was quite remarkable.

"We owed you a favor, that's all!" Jounouchi grinned, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I wasn't thanking you, Jounouchi." Mokuba frowned slightly. He pointed to Yugi, who had since switched with the Pharaoh. "He was the only one dueling after all."

"Don't mention it." Yugi reassured Mokuba. "We were happy to."

As the Pharaoh watched on from within the millennium puzzle, the underlying feeling of uneasiness still lingered. It was beginning to weigh down upon him heavily, but he stayed quiet and chose to watch. Yugi had seemed to notice however, as he cast a worried glance over the puzzle on his chest.

–

Later that evening, the gang had gathered at the local family restaurant in order to wind down from the day's events. Yugi and the Pharaoh had been switching constantly during the evening to keep up conversations, and the wear was beginning to show on both of their faces. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, and searching for some sort of distraction from the strange dreamy state he had been feeling all evening, the Pharaoh sent Yugi back into his soul room to get some rest while he stayed to talk to everyone for a little longer. Yugi was grateful for the rest, and left him to it.

The Pharaoh surveyed the room with his eyes, settling upon each person before they jumped to the other. He had a strange feeling of isolation which he hadn't experienced since he was first inside the Millennium puzzle, unable to make contact with Yugi for his fear of rejection, left to his thoughts for the longest time.

Jounouchi had been engaging in a full-blown argument with Honda for the past few minutes as he sat across from him at the restaurant table. His eyes gradually became more focused on watching the Pharaoh, a hint of concern in them. He slid out of his chair and into the other side of the booth, leaning down in order to speak quietly to him alone. Anzu and Honda picked up the conversation again within seconds, speaking as if Jounouchi was never there in the first place, or never left.

Jounouchi, delicately as possible, gently whispered to the boy next to him.

"Yugi?"

The Pharaoh seemed to jump slightly as he turned his head. He had been completely wrapped up in his own thoughts, so the sudden interruption had caught him off guard.

"What's wrong, Jounouchi-kun?" He asked, turning his thoughts to his friend.

Jounouchi had always been able to see the consideration for those around them in both Yugi and the Pharaoh's faces, and today it shone out more than normal. "Are you okay?"

He stuttered a bit for a moment, before taking a few seconds to breathe and really think about the question. He seemed to be working out a thousand separate replies in his head, weighing up the options he had.

Finally, he looked towards the floor, mumbling softly in reply. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Jonouchi, not satisfied with such a half hearted answer shuffled closer to him in the booth and wrapped his arm around the Pharaoh's neck, trapping him in a light, playful headlock. The Pharaoh's eyes widened at this, taken aback by the sudden movement. "Jounouchi kun?" He asked, gazing up as best as he could at the blonde.

"Cheer up, Yugi!" Jounouchi declared rather grandly, drawing looks from the other customers inside the restaurant. He payed them no mind as he continued on, voice full of boyish energy. "Today was a good day! You got to be in another tournament and won with flying colours!"

The Pharaoh glanced up at Jounouchi, frowning uneasily. "Jounouchi-kun..."

Anzu glanced over from the opposite side of the table, her features switching from unimpressed to concerned. "Jounouchi, cut it out."

Jounouchi cast a glance down, realising his mistake. He quickly dropped the Pharaoh from his faux headlock and apologised.

"It's fine." He assured Jounouchi, and in turn, the rest of the group. Anzu wasn't taking any of that.

"Yugi, you don't look well. Did we push you two too hard?"

The Pharaoh glanced down at his lap. "No, really. It's fine. I might be tired though, I'm not feeling very well..." He rubbed his temples. He felt slightly dizzy, mostly dreamy. Closing his eyes, he probed his heart for his partner over their mind link.

"Aibou?"

No reply. His heart beat quickened slightly, though he didn't know why. Something inside him was telling him to find Yugi, as quickly as possible.

"Aibou? Are you there?"

Nothing. Everything was silent. He attempted to push his focus back outside of his heart and body, but found himself unable to do so. Instead, he felt trapped. On the other side of the glass between him and the rest of his friends.

Inky black, shadowy darkness surrounded him from all sides. His hands ran over the glass in front of him. From deep within the shadows of the other side he saw the faint outline of his friends.

Something was pulling him. Gripping him. Down. Away.

He tried to push against it, but with nothing to grasp on to it was useless. He felt himself falling backward, pulled into the darkness. It went dark.

He was laying on something soft. Firm, but soft. A heavy weight on his chest. Light chatter could be heard. He sat up, opening his eyes. Looking around, he saw the familiar sites of the Pharaoh's bed chamber, back in Egypt.

His heart sank. There was a hole in his heart he had been trying to fill ever since he had left his friends, and this dream had widened it so much further. He only just now realised that he was shaking, his shoulders shook. Something warm ran down his face, he touched it lightly with his fingers to reveal... tears.

He turned over, pulling the blankets close to his chest. The Pharaoh, ruler of Egypt and King of Games, cried himself to sleep that night.