(A/N: I've decided to stop spelling Yugi's last name like they do in the manga (Muoto) and spell it like they do in the anime (Moto).)


Previously in Chapter One (Feel free to skip this)…

After Yami discovers Yugi has gone on his own to duel against Seto Kaiba, he grows suspicious of the reasons behind this battle, and worries for Yugi's safety. Immediately, he informs Tea, and they rush off to Kaiba's Duel Dome, where they find Yugi crying in shame over his loss to Seto Kaiba. While greeting Yugi, they notice his anguish, and when they ask what has happen to leave him so dejected, they immediately wished they hadn't had to find out…


A hush fell over everyone, even Seto, as Yami and Tea absorbed this information. I bet my soul…It just didn't seem logical. Tea was in shock; she literally couldn't speak. After a stunned silence, Yami knelt down, applying just a tad more pressure on his hand resting on Yugi's shoulder, and said quietly, "You can't mean that, can you, partner?" He got no reply; Yugi was too frightened, and too ashamed, to confirm. But the fearful look in his eye and the way he shook like a leaf gave its own answer. Yami was suddenly angered. How did Yugi have the nerve to lie about something like that? "Yugi, I want the truth, and I want it now!" the pharaoh demanded, his eyes blazing. "It's true," spoke up Mokuba timidly, walking up beside his brother. Tea stared at the two Kaiba brothers, her heart beating inside her throat from fear, and, suddenly, she found her voice.

"You can't be serious about this, Kaiba!" she exclaimed angrily. "Of all the no good things you've put Yugi through, this is the sickest thing you've ever done! And how exactly do you plan to take his soul, if any or all of this is true? If I recall, only Pegasus was able to do that, and in case you haven't noticed, he had to use some sort of stupid card, which I know he'd never give to you! You're lying, I know you are!" With tears rolling down her face, she added in an outrage, "Just admit that all this was just some stupid game and let us go!" "Tea," Yugi spoke up, his voice suddenly much calmer than before. He walked up beside her and took one of her hands in both of his, never meeting her gaze, before continuing. "Kaiba isn't lying. I wish he was, though. I was just so sure that I would win…I didn't even stop to consider the possibility that I might lose. And now, I have to pay the price, whether I like it or not."

Yami didn't want to hear this; he wanted to rest assured that Yugi, his partner, the King of Games, had won, and even if he hadn't won, then at least that he didn't have to give up his soul. "Yugi…" he whispered, choking on the word, his voice shaking with anger. Suddenly, the anger and darkness, combined with his grief and intense care for Yugi, within his heart boiled over, and he suddenly lashed out at the spiky haired teenager. "Yugi!" he yelled, getting to his feet and running up to him. He grabbed the stunned Yugi by his shirt and held him inches above the ground, before pouring out his anger. "Yugi Moto, listen to me, and listen to me well," he commanded, his dark voice echoing inside the room. "You did not lose to Seto Kaiba, you did not bet and lose the God Cards, and, most importantly of all, you did not bet and lose your soul! How on earth could you have gone behind my back and taken part in such a dangerous duel? I'm appalled that you would so willingly bet the most valuable cards you own, but what could have possessed you to put your very immortal soul on the line? I'm disgusted, outraged, angered, horrified…hurt, upset, terrified beyond belief, and so many other emotions that I cannot even put into words."

Yami finished his rant with tears in the corners of his eyes, and turned away so Yugi couldn't see him cry. As he looked away, he let his grip on Yugi loosen, and the teenager stood before the pharaoh, shocked by the sudden change in emotion. Yami's anger shifted from Yugi to Seto. "Kaiba, I just know that this wasn't a fair duel! You rerouted the outcome of this game, and I know you affected Yugi's deck somehow!" "In other words, you cheated!" proclaimed Tea, her lower lip trembling and her face soaked with tears. With a smirk, Seto simply replied, "Does the phrase 'stolen cards' mean anything to you?" With a dramatic flourish, he reached into the inside of his jacket/cape and pulled out some of Yugi's best cards…including the God Cards! Yugi gasped, and exclaimed, "So you did steal my God Cards, along with some of my other cards, I see!" Even Mokuba looked surprised; he hadn't expected the accusations to be true. "How and why did you do it, Seto?" he cried.

"Mokuba, there are some things better left unsaid," he answered vaguely, looking directly at Yugi. The young teenager, who was usually mild mannered and despised the idea of violence, suddenly want to thrash Kaiba from one side of the very large room to the other. Slowly, though, his expression softened with sadness; there was nothing to be done about it now. Besides, he had given his word. Yami, however, wouldn't give up without a fight. "Kaiba, I challenge you to a real duel, and this time, return our cards. All of them," he added pointedly. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. I challenged Yugi to just one duel, for all or nothing. There's no changing the past, pharaoh. And besides, it's Yugi that I challenged, not you," Seto replied suavely. "And so what if I cheated? A win is a win, that's what I always say. So I'm afraid I must decline." He tossed Yami all but the three God Cards, which he returned to his jacket pocket. "And now, Yugi," he continued, shifting his gaze to the height challenged blond, "we carry out our wager." He glanced at Mokuba, who called out, after a moment's hesitation, "Guards!"

Out of nowhere, a couple of Kaiba's goons leapt out and grabbed Tea and Yami from behind, wrapping one arm around their necks. "Just so you don't try anything too stupid," Kaiba chuckled. "And in answer to your question, Tea, this is how I plan to take little Yugi's soul." In between two fingers, he held one of Pegasus' Soul Prison cards. Tea gasped, while Yami struggled to attack the guard who was standing in the way of him and Kaiba's vulnerable neck. Yugi's eyes overflowed with tears again, but he could not find any words to express how much Yami and Tea meant to him. So he said the only two words left to him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, looking Yami straight in the eye. The pharaoh, suddenly aware that this was real, this was happening right before him, began to struggle even more, though his efforts were in vain. "Yugi!" he screamed, his eyes suddenly softening with the flow of tears. "Partner, don't let this happen! Fight back! YUGI!" Tea couldn't scream, could only look on in horror. Yugi nodded his farewell, whispering, so softly that Tea could only read his lips, not hear him, "I love you forever, Tea."

She succumbed to the tears as well; what timing for a confession. And still, she could not speak; the horror of all of this had left her speechless. Trying to look bright, Yugi smiled, his eyes twinkling with tears, and reassured them, "I promise you that I'll be alright. Don't worry about me, but don't forget about me either." He studied the pharaoh, his smile overcome by sadness, before Kaiba grabbed him and shouted to the roof of his dome, "Open the hatch!" The roof of the Duel Dome opened up, and Kaiba's helicopter floated down as far as it could without causing damage. It was close enough, however, to rake the tears away from Tea and Yami as soon as they left their eyes, and the noise it made drowned out their screams. Seto, however, could make out Yami's loudest protest. "Kaiba, you sick bastard! This isn't fair!" he cried, his tears coming in giant spasms.

"Who ever said that life was fair?" Kaiba replied loudly as he, Mokuba and Yugi entered the copter. Yugi sat on the edge, his legs dangling from where he sat, and looked on in great shame and sadness as Yami and Tea struggled in vain to break free from the guards. "Yugi!" they screamed as the vehicle rose high enough so that they could no longer save him. With tears threatening to escape his own eyes, Mokuba whispered into a little communicator, "Let them go." Immediately, Yami and Tea were set free, and the two goons disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. "Partner! Partner! Partner!" yelled Yami desperately as tears fell down his and Yugi's faces. Yugi turned to Kaiba then, and whispered in defeat, "Do your worst Kaiba. Just get it over with. I lost, so just take your prizes and don't make my friends suffer anymore. This was all my fault, and I don't want my actions to cause any further damage. "Very well then," Seto replied darkly as both he and the King of Games stood up. He held the Soul Prison card against Yugi's heart, and, after a moment of pause, Yugi's large, purple eyes turned blank, and his body just stood there, motionless.

Kaiba, full of the feeling of victory, hissed, "Excellent," as a frightened image of Yugi appeared on the card. He glanced up at Yugi's lifeless body and snickered, "I suppose I should leave your friends a little souvenir." And with that, his foot connected with Yugi's stomach, and the hollow body fell out of the open helicopter door. He made no protests or any noise, however; he was practically dead. Mokuba looked on in horror as Kaiba laughed wickedly, Yugi's body tumbling through the open roof of the Duel Dome. He tucked the Soul Prison card in with the three God Cards, and commanded to the pilot, "To my private island. I want no chance of those idiots trying to find these cards. Step on it!" And the helicopter was gone, along with Yugi's soul.

It was as simple as that.

"Yugi!" Yami cried as Yugi's motionless body fell through the sky. Tea screamed in horror as Yugi fell faster and faster, coming nearer towards the ground. Yami, at the last minute, took off with a speed that would make a jet train look like a snail, and caught Yugi in both his arms, flinching from impact. He got down on his knees, Yugi's body cradled in his arms, and Tea mistakenly assumed that Kaiba had relented. "Yugi! I'm so glad you're alright! How did you change Kaiba's mind?" she cried with a smile growing on her face. She ran to Yami, and got down on her knees as well. "Yami, what's wrong? Yugi's safe now. Why are you still crying?" She reached to wipe a few tears from his face, but the pharaoh, full of grief and intense, bitter hatred towards Kaiba, swatted her hand away. "Yugi's not alright. His physical form is still intact, and he is even still breathing, but…" He bit off the rest of his sentence, his eyes forming two rivers at tears which connected at his chin.

Tea's gaze shifted to little Yugi's face, and her eyes widened in horror. His eyes were blank and unblinking, his skin was suddenly a snowy pale, and although his breathing was normal, he made no other movements. What a last laugh for Kaiba; he had taken away Yugi's soul, spirit and mind, but had left the body for them, like an empty shell on the beach. She almost drowned herself in her own tears, but Yami's cries were worse. "I let him down, I just know I did!" he exclaimed tearfully. "I should have insisted I duel with Kaiba. I should have made a run for it with Yugi while I still had the chance. I should have seen this coming before! I just know that this could have been prevented!" He had lost Yugi once, physically and spiritually, and it was like a cold slap in the face to have his spirit gone again. "It was my fault last time, as well. Yugi's been avoiding me for so long now. Every time I asked him what was wrong, he just waved me away. How could I have not suspected anything from his silence this whole time? He's been keeping something from me, that much I knew, and it turned out to be this! And I was too stupid to ask why he had shut me out from his life!"

Clutching Yugi's body and cradling it, even rocking it as though he were an infant, he screamed at the sky, "Kaiba! You have not heard the last of me! I'll get my hands on you; slaughter you if you give me the chance!" After swallowing the lump in his throat, he barreled on, "This isn't fair! I should have taken Yugi's place! Come back Yugi! I'm sorry I couldn't save you! I'm sorry I found out when it was too late! Partner…partner…YUGI!"

And when words failed him, he simply cried until his head grew dizzy with emotion, but one final conclusion was clear to both him and Tea; Yugi was gone, and it was very possible that they wouldn't get him back.


Yay. Glad I got that out of my system. I thought this turned out pretty good, considering. Eh, I guess I'll try a bit harder in Chapter 3. I still might not have all the aspects and principles of the game OR the anime right, but I've decided to bend all the rules like I see fit. Again, no flames. By the way, I want to make something known. I hate stories that drone on and on and on in way more detail than needed, and that's the reason, I guess, my fic feels rushed, but whatever. R&R, no flamies, positive reviews and gentle criticisms welcome. Ciao!