Disclaimer – "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Takahashi Kazuki and any other related owners/distributors/producers. "Danny Phantom" belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. I get no monetary benefit from this. My benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.

"Jumping at Shadows"
by DragonDancer5150

Chapter 1 – Respite

The hum of the twin rotors was a welcome backdrop to help fill the silence in the belly of the helicopter. Yugi sat slumped back on one of the benches lining the walls of the personnel cabin, looking at the exhausted faces of his friends. Jonouchi and Honda had collapsed against each other on the bench across from him, with Kaiba typing away on his laptop at the opposite end by the cockpit, Mokuba curled up between them. To Yugi's right, Anzu was staring at her hands clasped in her lap. Yugi wondered what she was thinking, but he couldn't bring himself to intrude on her privacy. Instead, he glanced sidelong through his bangs at the tall, broad-shouldered man to his left, sitting across from Kaiba – Raphael. He too looked lost in thought and, from what his other self had shared with him, Yugi could not blame him. The man's world had been turned on its head for the second time in his life and, this time, there was no one to step in and tell him what to believe. He would have to find his own way, and Yugi resolved to help him if he could.

But not now. For now, he had his own matters of the heart to deal with. The helicopter was returning to an American aircraft carrier, the captain of which had helped them get out here to begin with. The captain had been forced to pull back his fleet from the Atlantean temple when the waters got too rough from the storms of Dartz's spellcasting and the energies of the Duel Dartz had fought with Kaiba and Yugi's Other. That had been a good thing, as it turned out, because the helicopter flew over a little, all-but-unknown island on its way to rendezvous with the carrier, consequently picking up Yugi, whom Anzu had spotted standing on the beach after that portal had left him and the spirit there.

"/USS Intrepid, this is Kaiba Corp Double-Oh-Two . . . /"

Yugi tuned out the rest of the quiet chatter from the cockpit as Isono coordinated with someone on the ship. To follow what was being said, he would have to translate the English words – half of which were unknown to him anyway – into Japanese, and he just did not feel like going through that mental exercise right now. He had a feeling he would be doing plenty of that as it was once they landed. Yugi knew the captain and crew would want to thank the group of them and celebrate the fact that they had managed to save the world.

Yugi pulled his feet up onto the bench, crossing his legs and curling forward, elbows braced on thighs as his arms wrapped protectively around the Millennium Puzzle and his soul sought its way into the Item's mystical depths. His other heart had been too quiet since withdrawing into his soul room and, after all that the beleaguered spirit had been through, Yugi loathed for him to be alone right now.

He found himself in his own soul room, a warm, bright space of cheery yellow brick, stone floor strewn with every toy, game, puzzle, and stuffed animal Yugi had ever owned or wanted. He crossed to the door, pulling it open and stepping into the dark hallway, and studied the iron door before him. He set a hand to its veined surface, feeling a chill seep into his palm. He shook his head. It grieved him that his other heart lived in such cold, unforgiving darkness. The spirit's soul room looked like it had been designed from M.C. Escher's "Relativity," with stairs that went in every direction possible and doors interrupting any flat surface large enough to accommodate one. Of course, Yugi understood why this was. Unlike his own soul room, which reflected his complete soul, the room of his other self hid the spirit's true soul room even from the spirit, reflecting instead the labyrinth of the unknown that was the spirit's heart and mind, a conundrum that was as unbreakable as the puzzle of the spirit's sealed memories.

He leaned his forehead against the chill surface of the door, his heart sensing the repressed turmoil within. He had only been into that room two or three times, in reality, though he had stood at the door like he did now to soothe away its owner's nightmares more often than he liked to think about. His other heart had suffered from terrible nightmares for almost as long as he had been active – certainly for as long as he had been fully self-aware, or Yugi aware of his existence. Now, Yugi wondered what nightmares would come from the vile darkness his partner had taken into himself, locked away behind one of the countless doors in his soul room.

"Yugi!"

A hand shaking his shoulder, a worried voice in his ear, pulled Yugi's consciousness back fully into his body before he could get his other self's attention. He sighed as his eyes blinked open, and he turned his bleary vision to Anzu, his grin sincere but still a little more forced than usual. "Yes?"

Anzu studied him a moment, as if trying to determine which "he" he was, before a weary smile graced her lips. "We've landed."

Yugi nodded and uncurled, pushing off the bench to join the others waiting for the rear hatch to open. He glanced around again. Honda and Jonouchi were high-five'ing, apparently revived by excitement at the thought of the dinner that surely would be awaiting them. Anzu stood by Yugi's side, rolling her eyes at the two but still fond in spite of herself. Raphael hung back while Kaiba stood with his brother at the front of the small group so that he would be the first off the helicopter – and the first that the crew would see, greet, and hail. Yugi grinned, wondering if Kaiba was even aware of that, or if the only conscious thought in his mind was being seen at the head of the group, the "first" as he had to be in every other area of his life. Still, it worried Yugi to read the exhaustion in Kaiba's stance. To anyone else, Kaiba was as strong as ever, but Yugi knew him well enough to read the hidden weakness in his tall frame. He himself was barely awake on his feet, thoroughly drained by his other heart's efforts. A hand came up to cover the Millennium Puzzle as he wished his other heart a good rest.

Then, the rear hatch opened, and the small group was beset by raucous rejoicing.


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