'To just protect the things that are most important to us...that's already enough.'

Chapter Three: Without Your Light

Sorry for the lack of updates… but Kids WB JUST aired two new episodes Saturday, the 29th, so… yeah. I'll update again next week – the episodes this week (the 5th) barely showed Yami, so… Anywhoosle… on with the story!

(Oh, and I was thinking… although this is SO NOT associated with the plotline, I was wondering if there should be a little yaoi between our two leather-loving friends…? (lol, Julia…) Because, honestly if you think of it, the way Yami is acting, it seems like he TRULY LOVES Yugi, more than a yami-hikari relationship. So… yeah. What do you guys think?)

Last time, we left Yami and Tea on the train; this was right after Yami won the duel with Weevil. This time, we pick up from there.

Yami continued to stare at the Dark Magician Girl in his hand when, suddenly there was a lurch. He and Tea got down on their knees.

"What's happening?" said Tea in distress.

Yami couldn't answer.

That was when the train ricocheted off of the tracks and fell down a cliff.

It doesn't matter if I die now… and yet, it does, thought Yami. If I die now, I could care less… but then Yugi wouldn't be able to come back. But not even death would stop me from finding him.

But life is not that simple.

"Are you okay?"

Yami answered one word before all went black. "Barely."

This was not the first time that the event replayed in his mind's eye.

Raphael's guardian struck him down. He had lost. And then small hands push him out of the way. An angelic voice says that he will be taken away, and his angel is gone.

Yami woke up in a sweat. "Was it all a dream?" he muses aloud. He shakes Tea to wake up.

And then comes Sky, the dog, bounding in a licking both of their faces. The little girl Kris walks in and says that Sky had saved them.

Yami saw the old man Ironheart before he saw him.

He was bent down, picking up something. When he came up, he handed Yami his deck.

"I couldn't help but notice that you possess the legendary Eye of Timaos, the only one of its kind."

Yami sighed. "Take it. I am not deserving of its power."

"That's not true!" But Tea's voice sounded uncertain.

I am not. I abandoned Timaos, and he abandoned me.

Ironheart did not refuse it. "I will hold it until you're ready."

Tea asked about Weevil, but he had not been found.

Good. Weevil deserves to be where he is.

But Yami did not say this aloud. "No, I'm afraid there's a greater power at work here."

Ironheart looked pleased and surprised. "I must say young man, you seem to possess a wisdom that reaches far beyond your years. I've encountered many people in my years of travels, but there's something about you that I've never seen before… something in your eyes… I'm also sensing that you hold a great deal of loneliness in your heart…"

Yami looked down. Suddenly memories of Yugi envisioned his head: when Yugi first solved the Puzzle, when Yugi made friends with Joey and Tristan, when Yugi went to Duelist Kingdom, when he was clad as the Dark Magician, when he stopped Yami from defeating Seto Kaiba, when he saved Shadi, when he dueled against Rebecca, Bandit Keith, when he rebuilt the Puzzle in the fire, when he told Yami that he was afraid for him, when he saved Pandora, when Yugi had to duel his best friend, when he was chained up to an invisible wall of Shadow Magic, and, most recently, when he let the Seal of Oreichalkos take him instead of Yami.

I know that I can trust Ironheart. I sense that, although he is shrouded in mystery, he is kindred in spirit.

Yami quietly told him that he had lost a good friend, and answered his question when Ironheart asked what he would do when he found him. "I'll apologize for betraying him…"

Ironheart was willing to help.

Yami was surprised to hear that a valley could help in his search for Yugi, but he was willing to try.

"Finding the soul you seek is easy, leaving with your own in another thing." That is what Ironheart said, is it not? No matter – I do not care if my soul is the one to be taken in Yugi's place.

Hehe, evil spirits coming back. Yes, I do see them. The Paradox brothers, Bandit Keith, that Rare Hunter I fought, Pandora, the darker side of Marik, Weevil. Yes, I see them all. Somehow not seeing the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring does not trouble me.

Then, suddenly, as these sprits dance around me, I have a flashback of that fateful duel:

"I'm letting the Seal take me instead."

I looked madly around. "Yugi?"

Many of the spirit particles come together and make a transparent shape. And there, before me, stands who I've been looking for. His angelic face looks at me sadly.

"Is that really you?"

I gasp. "Yugi!" I run to him, only to run through him.

We turn to look at each other. "You came all this way just to see me?" he says, looking at me sadly.

My heart shatters. "Of course." I look down. "I wanted to say how sorry I am."

"I'm sorry too. I wish this whole thing never happened."

My little angel, I can never express my hatred towards myself. "It's my fault. I surrendered to my inner darkness. I allowed my anger to take over and you paid the pride. The darkness in my heart has started to grow. Without your light to keep me pure, I beginning to believe what Raphael said about me was true. Perhaps I was a wicked Pharaoh."

I suddenly have a flashback of that duel. Raphael speaks to me. "That's right Pharaoh, I heard that you were an evil king."

"What if I'm responsible for the destruction of Egypt? If I have such destructive power, then my soul should be the one locked away, not yours."

Suddenly my angel glares at me and turns cold like I've never seen before. "Well what good is that now? I'm the one locked away, not you!"

The shatters of my heart shatter. "I'm sorry."

"Well the last thing I want is your pity!"

He walks away from me, and then turns to face me, glaring. "Yugi…?" I am confused. Never have I seen my light behave this way.

"You said it yourself – you should be locked away with me."

"Hold on, that's not what I meant!" I cry, distressed.

"Oh, so now you're going back on your word?"

"What?"

"It's time for you to take responsibilities for your actions like a man! And there's only one way to do that…" A Duel Disk appears on his arms and he activates it. "It's time to duel."

I am shocked, frozen. "No…"

"What, scared?"

"Yugi, I'm not going to duel you!"

"If you're really sorry then you will!"

I have no other choice. I activate my Duel Disk.

But… if we have the same hands, how do we duel?

It pained me to attack my light, but I did several times.

And then…

"This card is about to change everything." He holds a card to his side, his hair ruffled by the breeze. His eyes are slightly narrowed as he stares at the card.

A sense of panic fills me as I realize what he holds. "Hold on! Is that what I think it is?"

"It's a whole new game with this!" I suddenly hear my voice in his as he says the fatal words: "I activate the Seal of Oreichalkos!"

The Seal comes down around us, and imprints itself on his beautiful face.

It's a whole new game now.

Yugi used the moves that I used against Raphael against me.

And yet… I manage to win.

When I played the trap card "Divine Wind," it sent his attack back at him, and doubled it. I could have sworn that I heard a, "He did it! He was able to send the attack back at me and double its strength!"

But still my heart shattered again and againas the attack hit him and I won. "What have I done? YUGI!" I run over to his side and gently pick him up. His angelic face is scratched. "Yugi! C'mon, speak to me…"

His violet eyes open and he gently says, "You passed the test pal."

I am confused. "Yugi, did you plan this all along?"

"It was the only way. By defeating me, you were able to defeat the darkness in your heart. You did what was best for me and for mankind."

Tears have filled my eyes by now. My sweet, selfless hikari, how could I have done this too you? "Yugi…"

"I'm… always… with you…" he says, and then disappears.

Tears stream down my face as I stare at my hands. I fall to my knees. Why is it always Yugi that takes my punishment? Why! WHY!

My light… I swear that I will not rest until you are safe once again… I will go through Heaven and Hell to get you back. I will go to the Afterlife and back to get you back. I will go to the Gods Themselves to get you back. Nothing in this world or any other can stop me.

"If it weren't for me you'd still be here…" I hear someone say. Is it I, or is it some fool who does not know…? "I'll never forgive myself…" But no, I realize that it is I, that those words that I utter are my own. The moment Raphael handed me that card was the moment that the fate of so many were sealed; their souls to be used as sacrifices, as mere casualties of war… but no, this cannot be so, for their lives are the lives of people that I treasure… but is it for their sake that I want them safe, or my own?

That same scene comes back to me.

It was almost as if I could feel my angel's arms push me out of the way, and hear his angelic voice whispering, "It only needs one of us, so I'm letting the Seal take me instead…"

But why!

The ground rumbles and cracks open. I move away as a soldier comes out of the ground. Its arm has a Duel Disk-like object on it.

I look nervously at it, when I hear voices. I ask the spirits what they want to show me. And then I see it.

An army of the soldiers like the one that just appeared are on one side, and the other an army of duel monsters. And then I realize what it is.

"The ancient war!" I gasp. I hear Raphael's voice tell me about it.

"The world was split into two groups: the good of heart, and all that were evil. They came to clash in a deadly war."

Was this what destroyed Atlantis?

I look around and gasp again. "Ironheart? Kris?" For there they were, in the ancient war.

"What does it mean?" I hear myself muse.

And then I'm back to the present.

I see a familiar green light come down to us.

The soldier just activated the Seal of Oreichalkos.

It summoned a weak monster in attack mode. The spirits whisper in my ear again. "Fear not, my Pharaoh."

Ironheart tells me to summon my monsters. The spirits will help me.

I make a fusion monster and summon it – Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast.

Chimera destroys the monster, but it comes back with more power.

I try Fissure. Again, it's destroyed, but comes back more powerful.

It destroys Chimera and brings back Gazelle. When it attacks, I try Mirror Force, but the same thing happens.

I summon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, whose special ability says that it cannot be destroyed by a monster with 1700 attack points or more. Although he's not destroyed when the monster attacks, I still lose life points.

I suddenly see another vision.

I see Ironheart and Kris, and then Timaos. I see another man on another dragon, and wonder who it is.

Timaos tries fighting them, but the man uses a "Sword of Kings" to bring him down. Timaos and the dragon attack one another, and the light brings me to the present.

I suddenly notice that Ironheart is running towards me, Kris and Sky following close behind. I try to warn them to stay away, but they don't listen.

Ironheart gets struck down. Kris softly cries but grabs the card he holds out anyway. He disappears.

Soon Sky, who was a Silver Fang, gets struck too. Sky disappears as well.

I warn Kris to stay away. She doesn't listen. She's almost reached me when she, too, gets struck. Her hand passes through the Seal and gives me Timaos.

"I trust you Pharaoh," she said, smiling. "Thank you…" And she, too, disappears.

I look down at Timaos and give him a silent plea.

"I hope you deem me worthy of your power. I'm truly sorry for having betrayed you. But the lives of so many innocent people are depending on you… so I ask you, not for myself, but for all of those at risk. Please… help me Timaos! The future of two worlds hangs in the balance. We must win."

As I say this to Timaos, I think of the different lives at stake: my angel Yugi, little Kris, her beloved Sky, the wise Ironheart, the golden-hearted Joey, kind Grandpa, the girl with dreams Tea, high-hoped Tristan, dependent Duke, my rival Kaiba, cheerful Mokuba, lonely Mai, bouncy Rebecca, intelligent Professor Hawkins, foolish Rex, bothersome Weevil, tiny Kuriboh, loyal Dark Magician, and needy Dark Magician Girl.

I know what I must do.

I sacrificed my Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and summoned Dark Magician Girl. I fused her with Timaos and made Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight. I raised their power with the Excalibur magic card.

When they attacked, they destroyed the one from the Oreichalkos.

The Seal disappears. I turn to the Dark Magician Girl and Timaos. "Well down my creatures. He's gone now, thanks to you two. But I feel it's just the beginning."

They both slowly disappear.

There is a tablet of Ironheart, Sky and Kris. I show it to Tea, explaining that they are spirits.

"This gives me three more reasons to hunt down this madman and bring peace back to the world once again."

Tea and I slowly go up the cliff. It marked our hunt for Joey and Tristan, so that we may go find my angel, and save him for real.