Hey everyone! Fallen here, with a new... well, I suppose it could be a series of one-shots. Only these are a tad... special, I guess you could say? Anyways...

I tend to be quite the dreamer - both during the day, and at night. It's pretty rare for me to have a dreamless night's sleep. But, unfortunately, frequent dreaming doesn't necessarily mean all of them are very pleasant. So I decided to come up with a way to vent them, and get them all out of my head. All of the one-shots that will be uploaded to this collection are actually a written version of dreams and/or nightmares that I've had in the past. In fact, this one was a nightmare that I had a week or two ago!

Not all of them will be as distressing as this one was, I promise. But, that also means that the Rating and/or Warnings will vary by the chapter. I warn you all now: the subconscious is a brutally honest place, and many of my dreams (good and bad) can be very vivid. So some of these things could be TRIGGERING. I'll do my best to give you all a Warning beforehand, so please do me and yourself a favor, and read the Author's Notes at the start of each chapter. Also, since I'll be writing these one-shots dream-by-dream, I obviously have no further plotting in-mind, so this collection will be on an indefinite hiatus.

Thanks everyone, and I hope you enjoy!

~ Fallen

Entry: I

Title: Breathless

Rating: K+

Word Count: 1,269

Warning(s): Mild Language, Depictions of Possibly Distressing and/or Triggering Content. Please use/read with discretion if these Warnings apply to you.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything involved with/pertaining to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. I do, however, own the plot/writing of this one-shot. Please do not Flame or steal my work. Thank you!

I can't breathe...

It was a simple thought, at first. Nothing more than the acknowledgment of a fact. But after a few seconds, the gravity of Yuugi's situation came back to hit him full-force.

Oh, fuck, I can't breathe!

He didn't know how he wound up in this kind of situation. He was running, but then he tripped, and the next thing Yuugi knew, he was caught in what was practically a spider's web of cord, and his throat had enough pressure around it to keep the air from entering his lungs. All around him, shiny black lines of cording tangled and twined together like the death trap they were. Curling around his ankles, legs and thighs. Snaring his wrists and arms. Constricting against his chest and abdomen.

And, more importantly, wrapping around his neck.

His legs kicked out in panic as he tried desperately to loosen the hold the cords had on his body, but every movement, every straining breath, only seemed to tighten them. Yuugi's arms shot up to grip at the line that cut off his airways and rubbed against the underside of his jaw oh-so snugly. The width was approximately half the size of a pencil's, but they were strong, and there were so many of them. Like vines. Tying him up and leaving his body to suffocate and hang.

Yuugi could hardly even choke out a weak cry for help between his measly gasps for air, but deep down, he knew no-one would come. And if they did, they'd just get caught, too. All he could make out were the wires, far as the eye could see. Surrounding him like a cocoon. He tried to dig the tips of his fingers between the soft skin of his throat and the cold, rough-yet-smooth ropes of ebony, trying desperately to give himself a little bit of breathing room as he thrashed about.

His face was starting to feel numb, and his limbs felt as if they were being dragged down by weights. His head spun and his throat burned and his lungs were screaming for air. Yuugi's scream of "help!" quickly dissolved into a thick, choking sound. Can't breathe! his mind repeated, can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe!

His fingers tugged and jerked and clawed at the wire, rubbing his skin so raw it bled, making it more slippery, and therefore more difficult to loosen. Yuugi kicked and writhed and wriggled and shook, pivoting his entire body to-and-fro in a dire attempt to free himself, to get down from wherever it was he was hanging, to breathe, but it all seemed to be for naught.

The teen could hear his heart hammering in his chest, the blood rushing thickly through his ears and out of various wounds along his skin as the cords' tight hold cut and bruised him. Each gasp was thick and gargled, each exhale restricted and obstructed. He could hear the pitiful sounds his own body was making as he struggled, and it sent a chill rattling through his bones as hot tears began to fill his eyes.

I don't want to die!

The weights grew heavier, the fog thicker, and the numbness quickly spread into his arms and fingers, which had begun to slip and slide helplessly over the slickness of his own blood. He could feel saliva fall down his chin as he vainly sputtered for air. Tears were quick to follow, burning hot trails down the sides of his face.

His wildly-kicking legs began to slow, and Yuugi felt the oddest urge to yawn. He was tired – all of that thrashing around had really worn him out! Yuugi could feel his muscles beginning to cramp up in protest to his frantic mobility. It burned. Badly. His arms were starting to feel a little sore, too, and he knew that his hands and fingers had probably gotten scraped up by messing with that damn wire so much. His head swirled and his eyelids started to feel heavy as the energy drained away.

Perhaps he should take a break to rest his legs? Maybe let an arm drop for a few minutes, so he could shake out the soreness? Then he could switch, so he could rest the other and still lessen the pressure on his neck a smidge. Then he could calm down, and try to find a knot, or something. Anything that might make it easier for him to get rid of the cords.

He felt his legs begin to still, and his hands start to slip. His chest wasn't hurting as bad, either; the painful sensation was dying away. His eyes fluttered groggily, and he was just so, so tired.

Yeah, a break sounded nice...

Yuugi let the remaining momentum of his suspended body lull him into a state of comfort, and his hands started to go limp...

...only to tense a second time as the pressure around his throat increased tenfold. And with it, so did the panic. Molten, white-hot fear and adrenaline and fear and desperation and more fear scorching his veins, heating his blood, renewing a hapless fight for survival and air and freedom.

One hand still gripping at the makeshift noose, Yuugi used the other to start tugging at the countless other knots and cords and wires that tied around his body, striking out with his legs again, as if to kick at some unseen force. Hurting it, disarming it, sending it and all of its fowl, dark, blood-slicked ropes far away from him and his neck so he could finally breathe again. The pounding of his own heart sounded like a drum in his head, and Yuugi felt every last artery in his body contract to the rhythm of his slowing pulse. His pulling and wrenching and not-quite-untying only seemed to twist the cords tighter, restricting his movements even more. The fog was thick and black and empty as it blanketed over his mind and senses. The tingling numbness made his limbs feel disjointed and awkward. The pain was both... hot and cold, all at once. It hurt, but it didn't hurt. The brightness of his amethyst eyes had dulled, and hot tears wet his flushed cheeks and he grimaced in a mixture of agony and defiance when the noose around his neck pressed harder.

God it hurts it hurts so much I can't breathe I need to breathe I need air fuck I feel like my neck's about to break it hurts!

With the last of what remained in his lungs, Yuugi choked out a raw, strained sob for help. And then there was no more. All the strength inside him was snatched away as his limbs fell still and his suspended body swayed on what was left of his limited momentum. His arms fell away from the cords and bloody knots and the noose wrapped around his neck ever-so-securely and he could feel the weight of his body pressing up against it and his neck and god it fucking hurts!

His sense of fight-or-flight was taking over, and at this point, he didn't know which was which. He just wanted to get down and get away and breathe and live sweet merciful god he wanted to live-

An unholy flame blazed beneath his skin when he heard the ominous crack inside of his own head and terror swept up Yuugi in its icy-cold arms when the agony just became too much to bear and he couldn't breathe and oh god it hurts so much please someone just kill me now please it hurts pleas-!

SNAP.

Yeeaaaaaah... needless to say, I didn't get much sleep after I woke up from this one. I could feel the pain in my neck when I woke up...

Because nothing's more fun than a late-night panic attack and running on three hours of sleep at school the next day, right?

Please leave a review, and tell me what you think? They're greatly appreciated!