First off, let me make it clear that this is ENTIRELY AU! So, no "that's not canon" flames please, although they are quite useful for burning Twilight books.

So, without further ado, here's the first chapter of my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fic.

- 1. Millenium Mistake (and its result) -

"You're finished, little Yugi!" Marik yelled triumphantly. By sheer luck, he'd beaten the young duelist, who stood dumbfounded at the other end of the arena.

How? How in the world did he beat me? Yugi wondered.

You did your best. That is all I could ever ask of you, answered the Pharaoh.

Thanks, Yami, but it wasn't enough! Or did you forget that now he gets Slifer the Sky Dragon!

Yami was silent.

"You know the rules, little Yugi. So, are you going to hand me your Sky Dragon? Or do I have to take it by force?" Marik growled, advancing on the frail boy with a sadistic glint in his eye.

"Hey, leave Yugi alone, ya creep!" Yugi's friend, Joey yelled, "Unless ya wanna come get a piece a me!"

"Yugi, get away from there! Before you get hurt!" his other friend Téa called. She had once seen Marik's ruthless evil firsthand, when he used his Millenium rod to control Joey's mind and forced him to duel Yugi. In the end, Yugi had forced himself to lose so Joey could escape the anchor they'd been chained to. Joey's magic attack had left him too weak to even sit up. Téa remembered seeing Yugi laying motionless on the pier, then sliding off and disappearing beneath the waves as the anchor fell and dragged Yugi to his watery doom. But then Joey had fought free of Marik, released Yugi, and pulled him to the surface. He'd been lucky to escape unharmed.

She knew Marik wouldn't spare him any amount of suffering now. And she was powerless to help Yugi. She felt tears in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. NEW RULE! I'LL TAKE YOUR EGYPTIAN GOD AND YOUR MILLENIUM PUZZLE! AND I'LL SEND YOU TO THE SHADOW REALM!"

Yugi closed his eyes, waiting for the painful sucking feeling of his soul being removed from his body.

I'm sorry, Yami! I'm so sorry! he thought as Marik pointed the eye on the Millenium Rod at his chest, as though preparing to shoot him. A beam of white light shot toward Yugi, who instinctively stepped backwards away from the light.

Suddenly a disk of white light formed at the eye on his Puzzle. It grew until it shielded his entire body. The blast from the Rod hit it full force. Yugi screamed as he shielded his eyes from the now blinding light. He felt as though he was falling. He felt his head hit the ground, but it was a distant feeling, like he was feeling it through someone else. A black fog started to cloud his vision. The last thing he felt was an airy, floating sensation before he succumbed to unconsciousness.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Something hard was digging into his back. A warm breeze blew across his face, carrying a strange scent like something burning. Everything was eerily quiet, except for an occasional distant rumbling. Yugi slowly opened his eyes and observed his surroundings.

The land was dark and black as far as he could see. He was in the middle of a vast plain, and off in the distance he could see dark, jagged shapes that were probably mountains. The sky overhead was filled with black clouds and an occasional flash of lightning. He herad the rumbling again and turned in the direction it came from. Much closer to him, he saw a tall mountain whose top glowed a fiery red-orange and smoke billowed out from it.

"Where am I?" Yugi asked aloud, though of course no one answered him. He'd never seen a place like this before. He'd certainly never been so close to an active volcano before.

I don't recognize this place either. Yami told him. Good, he still had the Pharaoh's spirit with him. I wonder if there are any people that could live here.

Only one way to find out. Let's start looking.

Yugi hadn't gone far when he noticed a track that seemed more well worn than the land around it.

"I bet that's a road. And where there's a road, there's a town at the end."

Then we had better start walking. Yami said.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Yugi had been walking for what felt like ages when he heard a distant rumbling, like a herd of wild animals on a stampede. The sound was growing closer, much faster than Yugi had thought it would. He broke into a fast run down the road but the sound was still gaining on him. Then he saw what it was. Or rather, what they were.

They were unlike anything Yugi had ever seen. They were huge, horse-like beasts with six legs each, two pairs in front and one in back. They were twice the size of any horse Yugi had ever seen, and with the strangest features. Instead of manes, they had stiff crests that stood up like a Greek horse's mane. They had long, narrow faces, almost like an anteater's, and two long antenna-like apendages grew from where an ordinary horse's ears would be. Each one had only a short stump of a tail. Atop the creatures' backs were riders like he'd never seen. Most of them were smaller, probably about average human size. But they were anything but human. They had dark brown skin and long black hair. Their ears were pointed, their eyes large and cat-like. They had long whiplike tails with tousels of hair on the ends. Leather armor and long cloaks covered them, and each carried a sword that looked more like a long meat cleaver. Bows and quivers of arrows were slung across their backs, and they all rode with no saddles. But what really caught his eye was the lead rider. He was twice the size of the others, and silver intaglio-patterned armor covered his entire body. A crown of six tall spines was built into his helmet. Spikes covered much of the armor, and a long black cape flowed down his back. In one hand, he carried a flanged mace that matched his armor, and a gold ring encircled his right pointer finger.

Yugi was so stunned by their appearance that he stood in the road, frozen in place, as the riders bore down on him. Suddenly, the leader's steed caught either sight or scent of him. It loosed a loud call, rearing up on its hind legs and pawing the air with its front four. The rider panicked for just a second, but quickly regained composure and shouted back to the others in a strange language neither Yami nor Yugi had ever heard before. At the command, the riders halted, and the leader dismounted, standing at his full twelve-foot-tall height and staring down at Yugi.

"Seylûn. Alveyut ma'arine. Gharaneldánaye tarkhán nástilón." The rider stared at him, as if waiting for an answer.

"Um...could you...say that again?" Yugi asked nervously. The rider seemed to realize something and bent down a bit to face him.

"Young one. Who are you? And what is a Son of Men doing in this land?" Thankfully, the rider spoke English too, it seemed.

"I...I d-don't know, b-but I'm...really sorry. I-I didn't mean t-to do anything, sir. Honest." Yugi answered timidly, a bit frightened by the leader's size.

"What is your name, little one?" The rider asked, his voice softer this time.

"Yugi. Yugi Mutou. and, uh, what's yours?"

"I am Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor. That is the name of this land. You say you do not know how you came here, little Yugi?" He couldn't help but notice Sauron calling him the same thing Marik did. But when Sauron said it, his voice was soft and kind, not at all harsh or threatening like Marik's.

"That's right." he answered. "I'm pretty sure I'm not from this world, though."

Sauron seemed to think for a moment before responding. "You must return to Barad-dûr with me, so that I may hear your full story."

"Okay. I guess it couldn't hurt." He seems nice enough, Yugi thought.

I sense no evil intent from him, Yami added.

Maybe he knows what happened. How we got here. Why we're here.

Hopefully. I hope he at least can help us get home. Or can lead us to someone who can.

Yugi was distracted from their conversation as Sauron gently lifted him onto his steed's back and mounted behind him. The Dark Lord shouted back to the other Riders, and the great beast lurched forward breaking from a standing start into a full tilt run. For Yugi, the ride was surprisingly smooth. The Dark Lord had one arm around him to hold him on, the other hand held his mace out to his side.

"Sauron, what are these others who're with you? They're obviously not humans." Yugi asked, hoping it wasn't an offensive question. Sauron probably smiled, but Yugi couldn't see it through his helmet, which covered Sauron's entire head.

"They are Uruk-hai. Their species are known as orcs, but they are a unique sort of orc. I will tell you more about them when we reach Barad-dûr."

"What is Barad-dûr?"

Sauron's voice softened more.

"My home." he answered. Yugi decided to wait until they were off the horse-beast to ask the many questions forming in his and Yami's minds. He contented himself with observing the land around him as they rode.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

They had ridden a good distance along the road, which Yugi noticed circled the volcano at what he hoped was a safe distance. Sauron tapped his shoulder and pointed ahead of them.

"There is Barad-dûr." Yugi followed his pointing finger and gasped.

It was enormous. Even the Kaiba Corp duel tower, which no longer stood, was tiny compared to what stood before them. A black tower reachd so high into the sky that even though they were still far away, Yugi still had to tilt his head back to see the top of it. Tiny dots of light, no doubt windows, covered its surface. It was built into the side of a mountain, but the mountain was barely a hill compared to the tower itself. Yugi followed the tower up into the sky and almost shrieked when his gaze met the very top of the tower. Two great spires rose from the tower, and seemed to hold up a huge ball of red flame with a black slit down the center. With a shock, Yugi realized that it was an eye. A huge, flaming eye.

"That is the Great Eye, lidless and all-seeing. With it, my gaze pierces rock, water, shadow, earth, and flesh. It also allows me to see through deceit and disguise." As Sauron spoke, the Eye turned toward them, a beam of red light extending from the Eye to the ground like a lighthouse beam. It turned toward him, and Yugi was enveloped in the red beam. He could feel the gaze of the Great Eye boring into every corner of his mind, his heart, and even his very soul. There was no part of him, or of Yami, that it couldn't see. It was pointless to fight it, they could both sense the power that radiated from the Eye. It was a power far greater, and far more ancient, than either of them had ever experienced. This power, they felt, was older than even Time itself.

The Eye left him as quickly as it found him. Yugi had been so distracted by the Eye that he failed to notice that they had reached the outer gate to Barad-dûr. He could now see that the tower could only be accessed by long, wide causeways with gates at either end like the one they now stood at. The causeways bridged a moat of red-orange lava that poured in by way of long, high walled channels that ran from the volcano to Barad-dûr. The gate they now stood at was at least four stories tall, with guard towers on either side. Two guards stood beside the gates. When they saw the Dark Lord, they signaled to other soldiers inside the towers. As they approached, the gates slowly ground open. Yugi could now see that they were made of metal and each gate was about five feet thick. The causeway was wide enough that twelve Uruk-hai could walk across shoulder to shoulder and not ever touch each other. They jogged their steeds across the causeway to another gate like the one they had just come through. They arrived in a large courtyard teeming with what Yugi guessed were normal, non-Uruk orcs who took their steeds as they dismounted. Yugi ran to keep up with Sauron as they walked toward the tower. They entered through a set of two-story-tall double doors. Yugi noticed that everything inside was black, too, lit by torches and huge braziers of fire. They came into a huge main atrium, but Sauron didn't stop. He led Yugi through another set of tall double doors into a long hall with a high ceiling. At the other end was a raised dais with a large black throne on top. A carving of the Eye was set at the top of the throne. Behind it hung an enormous tapestry depicting an elaborate red and orange star with a black center. Yugi guessed it represented the Eye, which seemed to be the symbol of Mordor. Two statues of some strange winged animal stood on either side of the dais. They walked past it and through a smaller (but still large enough for Sauron) door. Yugi guessed this was the entrance to the private areas of the tower, where Sauron, his officials, and his servants lived. Here, Sauron stopped and knelt on the ground.

"Climb onto my shoulder. I don't think you want to try to run up all the steps we have to climb." Yugi clambered onto the Dark Lord's right shoulder, holding on to the spikes of the armor. Sauron ran surprisingly fast up more stairs than Yugi cared to even try counting. It seemed like ages before they reached the top. They came into a smaller, not quite as grand atrium, where Sauron stopped and let Yugi down.

"If you ever need to go down, just take a laundry lift. You could probably do the same to come back up." Yugi nodded, standing and stretching for a moment, since he hadn't been able to yet. He let out a shriek as a painful tearing feeling ripped down his back and he collapsed to the floor. Sauron quickly gathered Yugi in his arms and lifted him off the floor.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt, Yugi?" Sauron asked, concern filling his voice.

"I...I don't know. It feels like I tore something in my back." Yugi winced when Sauron's hand tightened around his back.

"I'll have someone look at you." Sauron said as he took off at a brisk jog down a hallway. Yugi made the mistake of attempting to rearrange himself in Sauron's arms. His back seared with pain again, and he swooned before he could even cry out.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ooh, cliffhanger. Yes, I did just do that. Explanation. Yugi's back is hurt because spoiler spoilered spoiler. Actually, you'll learn the real reason in Chapter Two. Reviews please!

Note: Flames will be used for burning Twilight books, High School Musical DVDs, Justin Bieber stuff, and suggestions of Yugi/Kaiba or Yami/Kaiba pairings. Seriously, that's just sick.