Just a little sexy, supernatural thriller I whipped up for fun!

o.o.o.o.o.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.o.o.o.o.o.

The incessant ringing of Yugi's doorbell cut through his midday reverie and he hurried to the front door to see who it was. People didn't usually show up unannounced at his door on lazy Friday afternoons, and he immediately had a bad feeling about it. He braced himself for a policeman or an angry neighbour as he opened the door, but instead he found Jou standing there, looking a little worse for wear.

"Hey Yugi. Sorry I didn't call first, but can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Jou seemed tired, and didn't immediately answer. Yugi motioned him inside, and Jou brushed by him, immediately heading for the living room. Yugi watched him collapse on the sofa, arms and legs all sprawled out, and wondered what it was that had gotten Jou so down. He took a seat in the chair opposite Jou.

"How did you know I closed the shop today?"

"Well, I went to the shop, and it was closed."

"Oh. That makes sense. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Jou closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He seemed to be psyching himself up to something, and Yugi waited anxiously for whatever Jou might say. When Jou had pumped himself up enough, he sat up and looked Yugi in the eye.

"Remember you told me once that you have all this stuff in your head, like, memories or whatever, from when Yami was in there? About all that ancient Egypt stuff?"

Yugi was not expecting Jou to say that, and he frowned a little in confusion.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I think I need your help."

"Uh, ok. What's the matter?"

"It's Kaiba."

Again, Yugi was not expecting Jou to say this either, and this time his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"What about Kaiba?"

Jou seemed reluctant to continue, but he took another deep breath and pinned Yugi with the most intense stare.

"You cannot tell him I talked to you about this."

"Ok, it'll be our secret," Yugi reassured Jou. Jou's attitude was beginning to worry Yugi a little. He sat forward in his seat a little and probed gently. "What about Kaiba? Is something wrong with him?"

Jou looked like he was having difficulty finding the right words.

"He's um, different lately," Jou settled on.

"Ok, that doesn't really help. What do you mean?"

"He won't eat, he won't sleep, he…" Jou faltered, "he won't even touch me. Bad things happen when he does anyway, but…It's like we're not even in the same place anymore," Jou finished forlornly.

"What happened? Did you guys have a fight or something?" Yugi's eyebrows drew together in concern; he knew that Jou and Kaiba had had some knock-down-drag-out fights in their time, but he had never seen Jou this worried before.

Jou shook his head. "Not exactly," he answered Yugi, and he was being so evasive, he started to make Yugi suspicious. Yugi thought he had an idea of what Jou wanted and thought it best to quash it up front.

"You know, Jou, I can't use Yami's memories to curse him or anything. If you want some kind of revenge spell, I can't help you."

"Gee, thanks Yugi," Jou said indignantly. He looked wounded that that was Yugi's first assumption. This, of course, sent Yugi right back to square one, and he was once again as confused as he was at the start.

"Well, if you guys didn't have a fight, then what is it?" Yugi asked again, bordering on exasperation at Jou's roundabout explanations.

"I…there's something wrong with him."

"Well, what exactly? You're being pretty cryptic right now. I can't help you if I don't know what the problem is."

"That's the thing, I don't know! It's just all these different things adding up and it's…God, Yugi I'm actually scared." Yugi knew Jou was serious from his tone, and he instantly became attentive.

"Ok, well just start at the beginning."

"Alright. First, it started as these dreams. He said they weren't nightmares, just regular dreams, but they were all of him as Set, you know that old High Priest guy."

At the mere mention of Set's name, Yugi instantly became wary. "I remember. What was he doing in these dreams?"

"He didn't really say. I think it was, you know, temple stuff. Praying or something."

"Ok, then what happened?"

Jou looked soberly at Yugi. "Then they did turn into nightmares. He would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air like he was choking, and sometimes he'd say things like 'No, it's mine' or 'Let go' or 'I won't let you.' He still does."

"Oh," Yugi said, a soft sound of realisation as his brain whirred and bits and pieces clicked into place.

"Then he started spacing out while he was awake. I'd be talking to him and he'd just be staring at the wall - just staring, you know? And I'd have to shake him out of it, and he'd get this look on his face, like he'd been hallucinating or something, you know? Like he'd been somewhere and he was glad to be back."

Yugi mulled this over silently for a few moments, while Jou anxiously looked on. "What happens when he touches you?" Yugi prodded.

"Oh my God, this sounds so stupid…" Jou mumbled to himself before elaborating. "We get this little shock, a charge, like static electricity or something. Sometimes I get these flashes of light, and sometimes I think I see things, but maybe not. I don't know…it's only for a second, and then it stops, and it doesn't even happen all the time, but it's just so weird…"

"What do you see?"

"I told you, I don't know. I can't tell."

"What else? There's more, isn't there?"

Jou's mouth dropped and his eyes widened. "How did you…do you know what's wrong with him? Tell me, Yugi. It's not…you can fix it, right?"

Yugi didn't answer. Instead he said, "I need to know everything. Just tell me what else has happened."

"Well, see, this is the part where shit gets crazy, and I mean crazy. You are not gonna believe it."

"Well, just tell me anyway."

Jou took a deep breath to prepare himself. "Well, we were, you know…" Jou raised his eyebrows and looked at Yugi meaningfully.

"What?"

"We were together…"

"Uh huh, and?" Yugi was clearly clueless, and Jou reluctantly spelled it out for him.

"Oh God, Yugi don't make me say it! We were together in bed…"

"Oh! Oh, ok." Yugi's cheeks reddened, and he motioned Jou to keep going.

"Anyway, we were together and in the middle of it we…I mean, it just felt weird - different, you know? It felt like…I realised we were…"

"What?"

"We were…" Jou closed his eyes and swallowed, "...floating."

"I…I don't get it. I'm glad you guys have great sex and all, but I don't really understand…"

"I knew you wouldn't believe it. I mean floating, as in, hovering in the air, as in, levitating two feet above the bed."

"Uhhhm…"

"Yeah, can't really say anything thing to that, can you?" Jou looked as though he himself still couldn't believe it.

"Anyway," he went on, "I freaked out and we fell and crashed and he wouldn't even admit that it happened! He just kept saying it was a trick of the mind or something…and since then, I can't talk to him about any of it. He just…pretends nothing weird is happening. And now he's like – Zombie Kaiba. He hasn't been in to work in two weeks. He just stays at the mansion locked up in his study reading all these books and I know he's trying to figure it out, but he just won't even consider the idea that it's not his body or his mind playing tricks on him. That it's not…natural." Jou looked at Yugi in despair, continuing in a soft voice.

"It isn't natural, is it, Yugi?"

"No, it's not," Yugi confirmed almost sadly.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Jou looked fearful, almost as if he didn't really want to know.

"I think so," Yugi said slowly, nodding slightly. "I think Yami knew this was coming; I'm pretty sure I know what's happening to him."

"Then you can help him?" The hope in Jou's face was overwhelming, and Yugi wondered if he could help Kaiba at all.

"Well, that depends on Kaiba," Yugi replied cautiously.

Jou snorted. "Of course it does. What's first?"

"Well, we have to convince him that what's happening is real and dangerous. He has to believe that those nightmares and hallucinations are going to come true unless we stop it."

"'We?' As in, you and me? We have to sit him down and convince him that Nightmare City is for real?" Jou scoffed. "Why not just ask for the moon while you're at it?"

"Yeah, I know it's gonna be really hard, but we have to get him through this." The edge in Yugi's voice alarmed Jou even more.

"That does not sound good. What the hell is happening to him?"

"I think I'd better talk to Kaiba first."

"Ok, fine. Just tell me one thing. How bad is it?"

Yugi looked Jou dead in the eye. "It's really bad."

o.o.o.o.o.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.o.o.o.o.o.

Yup, this is happening.