I hate having to do these disclaimer thingies. I always forget.

And the oh-so-anticipated disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh. If I did, it would have a lot more mature content.


Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Pause…drip.

The former pharaoh of Egypt shifted his position, grunting slightly as he did so. The cave was dark, cold, and damp – not too welcoming, or comfortable. The rhythmic dripping of water from the roof of the cave was unnerving at first, soothing after that, and now it was rather annoying, and he wished he had something to cease the irritating noise as it continued to echo throughout the ample empty space. He had been here way too long, he was in need of medical help, and his friends were nowhere to be found, separated from him during the previous battle with medieval thugs on horses, clad in black armor and a vicious attitude. All his thoughts focused on his companions' well being – he prayed with every morsel of his mortal soul that they were still alive and well. In any case, better off than him.

It was not like he hadn't fallen off a cliff before – in fact, twice before. The first time, as he bitterly recalled, was back when he was forced to duel a brainwashed Weevil Underwood, atop a moving train that was probably travelling no slower than 90mph along a cliff side. Tea was with him. Miraculously, both had survived with only a few bruises and scratches, and spent about four hours unconscious. If he hadn't been so swallowed in grief and self-deprecation, he would remember more details about that specific incident. Still, he hoped Tea was fine now, here and today.

The second time was a far more terrifying experience, if possible. Bakura's Diabound's blast was so great and powerful, it had caused the chasm to collapse, causing his horse to go over the edge, and him soon after. He would have most likely been dead or at least laden with severe injuries if his devastatingly fatal fall hadn't been broken by the Nile itself. Again, only minor injuries were accounted for, save for the fractured hand when Bakura heavily stomped on it, causing him to let go of the edge of the cliff. Still, he was alive.

And he was alive now, only in a far worse condition than before, and whatever powerful deity who miraculously saved him from an untimely death twice before certainly did not put forth the same effort to preserve his physical safety this time around; bruises and abrasions littered his arms, legs, face, and various other parts of his body, and he was almost positive that his shoulder was dislocated and his ankle fractured, if not broken. His usual vibrant and wild tri-colored hair was dirty, tangled, and slightly damp from sweat. His hands suffered as well, instinctually attempting to steady him as he rolled and tumbled on the river bottom, resulting in deep cuts that seemed to never stop bleeding. Everything he touched, including his face, torn black tank top and blue pants, had bloody finger- or handprints. It would be rather disheartening to see, if anyone else were there.

Still, he was alive. Bleeding, aching, and in incredible pain and discomfort, but alive.

But what of his friends, he only wished he knew. He would go look for them himself, if he were even able to get on his feet. He had attempted several times before – fear of further injuring his already messed-up ankle, and his horribly stiff back, stopped him from getting anywhere. He had no choice but to sit, wallowing in his own miserable aches and pains, and depending on the support of the cave wall to keep him upright, until someone found him. The thought disturbed him, but he convinced himself to 'get the hell over it'. Time to be a man.

His Millennium Puzzle rolled lazily to the side, seeming now to be a burden rather than a heavily sought-after treasure. It was certainly heavy – a solid gold upside-down pyramid on a metal chain. If it weren't such a symbolic object to signify the bond he had with Yugi, or if it didn't contain so much power that even the pharaoh didn't dare to unlock a good amount of it, he would have probably willingly handed it over to those thugs. But no, he didn't, and that's what got him thrown off a damn cliff. Of course, that wasn't very smart on their part – now if they wanted it, they would have to find him first. And then they'd have to kill him. Although he was sure that the first task would be more difficult than the latter. He was lucky enough to find a spot secluded enough to stay well-hidden while he recovered. Though now, that seemed to be a bad thing as well as a good thing.

He wondered where his friends were right now. His heart twisted and writhed in worry for them. And he also pondered, if they were alive, were they out looking for him? Have they presumed him dead? Were they even alive? Damn it. He feared he would never know… if they never found him. He would die in this god-forsaken shithole, fretting over his friends' safety until the moment his heart stopped beating.

He frowned. No… he didn't want that to happen. He would go out and look for them, even if it killed him – and in his state, it was definitely possible. But it would be better than wasting away in an isolated place, being worthless and doing nothing about it. He'd made up his mind.

Instantly his fatigued bones creaked from being immobile for so long, as he forced himself to roll over on his stomach and push himself on his knees with his bloodied hands. His heart immediately began pulsating faster and harder from the strain and loss of blood. His shoulder screamed for him to stop, as it felt discombobulated, but he ignored his body's reactions to his efforts and continued to gradually stand on wobbly legs and sore ankle. Small grunts of pain escaped his dry lips at the searing pain, but nevertheless, he pressed forward, severely limping on that leg. It was amazing that he could even stand, let alone wander outside his safe haven. Despite his body's cries and pleas, he clumsily departed the cave, and entered the still, moonlit night.

As he stared up to the moon, he noticed there were two, side by side. Two moons? No, wait, he was seeing double. And his head was so light he felt it could float right off of his neck. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…

"J-…Joey," he croaked, realizing that he had not spoken a word for many, many hours. "Tea…Tristan…Yugi…where are you…" he sounded as if he had aged at least sixty years, but he didn't care. All he focused on was making himself audible to anyone who could hear him. He hadn't had water for hours, if not most of the day, and it wasn't helping him.

Suddenly, the dizziness was too much for him, and his body gave way as he weakly fell to his knees. His vision became blurry and animated with little color spots, and the dulling headache refused to subside. He pressed his hands to his head, forgetting about and ignoring the new blood stains, and cursed under his breath as he tried to steady the woozy feeling.

"No…I have to keep going… I'm not going to find them this way…"

"Yami…?"

Now he was hearing things. He could have sworn someone had just called his name. He must be losing his mind.

"Yami!"

Perhaps he wasn't. That voice was so familiar, he definitely knew it well. It was high-pitched, undoubtedly female, and it was shaky with fear and concern. It must have been… Tea? Impossible. But why was it impossible? Maybe he really was losing it… his thoughts were scattered and nonsensical, to say the least. He wanted to believe she was there, yet he couldn't.

His mind was clearly circling around mumbo jumbo by now, and by this point he was ready to give in and relinquish himself to anyone's open arms. Whether it was Tea's, Yugi's, Joey's, Mako Tsunami's… anyone's, really. He just wanted to sleep with someone close and comfortable, and make all the pain go away. He'd find comfort in just about anyone who wasn't out to kill him.

Thankfully, as soon as he came to, he was in good hands, and very friendly arms with soft, warm skin. The pain was still there, but the affectionate touch of a close female friend was far more than enough to ease it. It was rather strange – he didn't remember passing out, not at all. At one moment he just wanted to sleep, the next with his head resting on his brunette friend's crook of her elbow. His head was shifting a bit; it felt like they were travelling in some sort of vehicle.

His vision was a little blurry, but he could make out the visage of Tea's kind face, though apprehensive and tensed from worry. She mentioned something to the driver, perhaps something to the effect of announcing his coming-to, but it was all mumbling to his ears.

She shifted her eyes towards Yami again. "Yami, how are you feeling?"

It was faint and echoing, but he figured out what she said. "I'm fine. Are you and the others alright?"

She gave a faint smile. "Yes, they're all fine. But you're the one we're all worried about. When we found you, you were in pretty bad shape… but I guess you fared pretty well for falling off a cliff… we're taking you to the hospital now…"

"Where…are they…" He felt so weak and vulnerable; he couldn't get up to look for himself. He hated it.

"They're in the other Jeep with Marik and Ishizu. You really should rest. Your ankle is broken and you were bleeding all over. Your shoulder was also dislocated but Odion fixed that for you."

Yami checked himself over for the first time. He was lying on his back across the back seat of an open-roof Jeep, make-shift bandages covering his cuts and some wrapped several times around his ankle. And his shoulder was returned in its designated position, he noticed, which was kind of a relief – feeling his shoulder out of place was very unnerving.

Enough about himself; he wanted to know details. "Wha-what happened? Are they gone?"

"No, not all of them are gone, but we managed to force them to retreat. And thank goodness they didn't get the puzzle. Who knows what they would have done with that. Though I really don't know why they would push you off a cliff without taking it first… I mean that was kind of dumb…"

It was Yami's turn to smile. "Because they're dumb asses, that's why. I wouldn't give it to them so they became angry and wanted to punish me for my insolence. It's sure a good thing they didn't get this puzzle I suppose. You need brains as well as stamina to control it."

Tea giggled, though a little nervously. The mood seemed to lighten a little, briefly, before the driver announced their arrival at the Cairo hospital.

"We have arrived at the hospital, my king."

He was tan and bald, save for a long ponytail in the back of his head, accompanied by ancient scripture tattoos on the side of his face. He also spoke with a dead, nonchalant tone with a dry, deep voice. Undoubtedly, it was Odion. The mood became gloomy once again.

Yami found strength to hold up his hand. "Thank you, Odion, but please, no need for such formalities. Call me Yami, I would much rather prefer that."

"Uh… as you wish, uh… Yami. Allow me to help you." He addressed him awkwardly, as if he was extremely discomforted with calling him an alias name that was so casual.


His foot refused to budge; it was constricted by fresh bandages and a bullet-proof purple cast to match his eyes.

In fact, it was difficult to move at all. And his body was numb, on top of that. Thank Ra for painkillers.

Wait, where was the puzzle? He gripped the cloth of his hospital gown where his heavy treasure usually hung. His heart pace quickened with worry… he found it lying neatly on the table next to him. He quietly sighed in relief, and tried to will his heart to slow back down.

He raised his arms over his head and stretched all the way to his toes, feeling slightly dizzy from doing so. He moaned in his uneasiness. The nurse, absent-mindedly tending to his medical needs, chuckled at him.

"Just relax, honey. You've got quite a lot of painkillers in you right now. Your friends are right outside, would you like me to get them for you?"

She had a kind, young face – most likely no older than 25 years old. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a neat bun, with the nurse's cap on top of her head. Her teal-green eyes complemented her olive skin and averagely-plump lips. He certainly immediately felt comfortable with her, but he really wanted to see his friends. He nodded, but slowly, in attempt to shake off the light-headedness.

She offered him a soft smile before promptly exiting his room. When the door opened again, she trailed inconspicuously behind a very relieved Yugi, Tea, Joey, and Tristan. He held his arms open wide as his younger light approached him and embraced him in a vice grip. It hurt him slightly, but he didn't care.

"Oh my God Yami, we all thought you were dead!" Yugi exclaimed, refusing to let go. "Thank Ra and the holy god of Osiris you're alright!"

Yami couldn't help but smile at the boy, though he couldn't see him. His head was buried in the elder's shoulder, opposite of the formerly dislodged one. He gave his light one final squeeze before letting go, causing the younger boy to finally release him. He cast his eyes towards the source of a sniffling and choking sound, namely the very brunette girl who cared for him on the way to the hospital.

He reopened his arms to her and grinned. "Your turn."

Tea hurried to him and threw her arms around him without missing a beat. Yami exhaled sharply from being pulverized for the second time, but disregarded it completely once again.

"Don't ever scare us like that again Yami, you hear me?"

"Why do you guys keep reprimanding me?" Yami asked his friends, though jokingly, "what is this?" He wrapped his arm around her, and had begun to rub comforting circles on her back as her head nestled itself comfortably on his chest.

Tea laughed, her body shaking against his. "We were just worried about you, that's all. You gave us quite a scare!" Her voice was a bit shaky, and plagued with mucus. She must have been crying for quite some time.

He felt someone clap him on the shoulder. With the brunette still in his arms, he averted his eyes upward to see his Brooklyn blonde friend and his other brunette friend beaming at him, both with shimmering eyes.

"Looks like the Pharaoh is back to his old self again!" Joey said, with a rather uncharacteristically peppy tone. Yami smiled up at them.

"Glad to be back. I'm really glad you guys are okay."

Joey jumped at remembering something. He turned to Tristan. "That reminds me; score one for the good guys!" The teens high-fived, in their usual 'manly' victorious celebration.

Tea finally lifted her head from the pharaoh's chest. Her eyes were firm and serious.

"Don't celebrate just yet you guys. They're still out there, and they're still after the pharaoh. We need to be on our guard."

Yugi nodded. "She's right. But whatever they have planned, we can defeat them together!"

Yami returned with a nod of his own. "Right, we just need to stick together." His grip tightened on Tea slightly, as if to assert his statement.

"…and not getting thrown off cliffs would definitely help," added Tristan.

They all laughed merrily, with renewed determination.


While you wait for the second part to this, READ MY OTHER STUFF! It's just sitting there, waiting to be read and reviewed... I put SO much effort into perfecting each presentation of my stories and FEEDBACK would be nice. Thanks :)