Yugi went back to sleep but not for long…he woke up again when the sun started to rise at 6:45AM by his watch. Deciding that he wasn't going to go back to sleep, Yugi walked downstairs and back down towards the kitchen. He was surprised when he opened the door to find Joey sitting at the table, drinking what looked like orange juice, but to Yugi he might as well have been drinking blood. He resisted the urge to gag.
"Oh, hey Yugi," he said tiredly. "What are you doing up so early?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Yugi said casually and sat next to him. Usually Joey had been known to sleep in until 11 o'clock in the morning, so seeing him awake before 7 was indeed unusual. Joey just sighed.
"Ever since me and Tristan investigated my room yesterday, there have been some weird sounds coming from a certain corner. It's been keeping me awake."
"What kind of sounds?"
"I dunno, they sound like growls. That, and shuffling sounds. Kind of like there's someone walking around in my room, but when I look, there's nothing there. It's kinda creepy if you ask me." Joey shivered. Yugi tried to offer some support.
"Don't worry Joey, I'm sure it's just-"
"Yugi, what happened to your arm?!" Joey said so sharply that it made Yugi jump.
"W-what?" Yugi looked down at his shoulder, and realized that the blood from his wound had soaked through the bandages, and leaked out onto his shirt and traveled all the way down his arm. He must have been so sleepy, that he didn't even notice. He wished he did though. It looked like someone tried to cut his arm off.
Yugi didn't even answer but rolled up his sleeve, took off the bandages, and started washing is arm off in the sink with another bottle of water. He refused to use the water that came out of the sink due to the fact that it was sitting in the pipes for a while.
"Here, I'll get the bandages," Joey said and rushed out the door to get them.
Yugi cursed himself for being so negligent as he poured more water over the wound which continued to bleed. He then looked at how the wound was, and strangely, it didn't look too much different, except that the skin was getting red in that area. Yugi wondered if spectral wounds were different to normal ones, because this one wasn't healing as fast as it should have. Not only that, but instead of the pain going away, it started to increase every day since he got it. Then there's an infection to consider….
Joey returned with the first aid kit in tow, and started to help Yugi wrap it up again.
"So what happened Yugi? You never mentioned…" Joey said looking uncertainly from him to what he was doing.
Yugi didn't say anything at first. Yesterday, he would have told Joey straight out on how he got it…the whole story. Now after what happened with the little girl, and after he had that dream where everyone died because he tried to tell them, he was afraid to. He felt like he and his friends were strapped to time bombs. If he told them anything, they would probably die. If he waited too long to do anything about it, he would probably die. He's not sure what of yet, but right now there were a lot of possibilities.
"I-I tripped and fell on a nail that was near the barn," he lied, hoping Joey would take it. Unfortunately for Yugi, he didn't.
"You know Yugi," he said finishing the wrap job and sitting at the table, gesturing for Yugi to do the same. "You're a terrible liar."
Yugi winced and sat down, avoiding his gaze.
Joey sat there staring at him, patiently waiting for an answer. Yugi felt like he was stuck in a corner. Then he had an idea, but wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do and if he did it, would he be risking Joey's life?
But Yugi knew Joey enough that he wouldn't back down, and so he had no choice but to give in... sort of.
"I can't tell you…I'm sorry."
Joey looked surprised. "Why not?"
"Because…I'm afraid that if I told you…that we might not leave here alive…" Yugi looked at Joey to see his reaction, and it was just as he thought it would be.
"W-what?!" Joey said. "Why would you think that?"
But Yugi already felt that he went too far on what he said, so he just added, "Just don't go on the third floor." And with that, he walked out leaving a confused looking Joey behind.
Ignoring Joey trying to call him back, Yugi walked out in the foyer feeling angry with himself. He didn't like pushing any of his friends away like that, but he was forced to, and it made him feel horrible. Wanting to clear his head, Yugi walked outside to get some fresh air. The sun was starting to rise, but some storm clouds were coming in from the West, and they didn't look friendly. Yugi sighed and went over to the barn to feed the horses. He stood out there for another hour, watching two ghosts argue just out of earshot, when Yami came up to him yet again.
"You like this spot, don't you?" he said walking up next to him.
Yugi thought about it, and he guessed it was true. Coming out and watching the sun rise was always calming, not to mention it was pretty too.
"Yeah, it's nice."
Yami stood out with him for a couple of minutes before breaking the silence. "Joey told me what happened this morning."
"Oh yeah…"
"Why couldn't you tell him?"
Yugi looked up at Yami and thought about his dream, and the pile of corpses. When he thought of either of those two things, the more he realized that it was always Joey, Tristan or Tea. He wasn't sure why, but now that he thought of it, Yami never actually appeared in that dream or in the pile of corpses. It was a long shot but it could be possible that the ghosts were afraid of Yami for some reason. So Yugi figured it would be okay to tell him about the dream he had. He deliberately left out what he saw in the closet though. It still scared him to think about it.
When Yugi was done recounting the dream, Yami looked troubled.
"There must be a good reason as to why these ghosts don't want you to tell anyone…I wouldn't think that they were doing just-"
"Just to mess with me? They might be…" Yugi couldn't help but say it but it felt true. He remembered the look on the faces of each and every ghost he saw, and not one seemed at all nice, not to mention that each one looked delighted by the fact that they were scaring him.
Yami sighed. "Look, let's go inside and talk. It looks like it's going to rain soon."
Yugi looked up, and realized that the clouds got a lot closer since when he last looked at them. It was definitely going to storm soon. "Okay…"
They then went inside and Yami led him back into the empty kitchen.
"Where did Joey go?" Yugi asked.
"I think he said that he was going to go back to sleep. He said he was up for a while…" Yami said starting to go through the cupboards for some breakfast.
Yugi sat down, suddenly feeling exhausted, like the consequence of not eating for two days was suddenly creeping up on him. Not only that, but he was starting to feel feverish, which wasn't the best combination. Yami must have noticed because he quickly walked up to him.
"Yugi? What's wrong?"
"…I just don't feel good," he said quietly. Yami put a hand up on his forehead, which surprised Yugi.
"Yugi, you're burning up!" Yami said. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't start feeling this bad until now," Yugi said.
"I think there's medicine in the first aid kit, so how about you eat something and then take that?"
Yami gave him a look like he noticed, so Yugi couldn't help but look at him.
"I can't…"
"Why?"
Yugi hesitated, hoping that he wasn't going to regret telling Yami this also, and then told him. When he was done, Yami looked shocked.
"You haven't eaten since we got here?"
"…No…"
"Yugi why didn't you say anything?" Yami had a mixture of emotions on his face, but Yugi recognized frustration, and worry in the mix.
"Because I was scared to, that's why!" Yugi couldn't help but say it, especially because that's how he felt since they got here. "I don't want to find anyone dead. I told you this."
"But you're telling me, so why-"
"Because you weren't in the dream," Yugi said quietly. "You didn't get killed."
To Yugi, it looked like Yami didn't know what to say to that at first. Was it because he found out before they warned Yugi? Or was it because the ghosts were afraid of him? Yugi wasn't sure, but he kind of hoped it was the last one. If it was, then there might be a chance of protecting everyone…and he might know how to do it.
"Alright, but please Yugi, just try and eat something."
"I can't." Yugi cringed.
"Yugi, you can't starve yourself. Your sick enough as it is!"
As he said that, Yugi got a glimpse of his reflection in the water bottle that was sitting on the table. He could tell that he looked very pale, which seemed amplified by the dark circles under his eyes. Not only that but his cheeks were starting to hollow out which was from, what Yugi thought, was from not eating, although that seemed weird for just a couple of days…No wonder Yami was so worried. Yugi was starting to look like the ghosts that he claims to have seen.
"Yami," Yugi said a little calmer. "I've already tried believe me. Every time I try and eat something I see- ahh, him!"
Yami looked where Yugi pointed but obviously didn't see anything. "Who?"
Yugi saw out in the window looking in on them, the old man that had stabbed him before, smirking at him as if he came to finish the job. Yugi was pretty sure that the last of the color in his face drained at that point.
"It's that man with the knife!"
At that, Yami growled and the puzzle glowed. "Where is he? Outside?"
"Yeah, but he's looking-hey!"
Yugi cut himself off as Yami went straight for the back door, and stood staring at where the man was. Yugi followed him but stayed near the door. The Millennium Puzzle was pulsating with energy.
"Back away you foul demon!" Yami yelled at it, and he released an energy blast throughout his outstretched hand. Yugi watched in fascination as the attack collided with the ghost. The old man let out a horrified screech and disappeared in a shower of particles. A second passed before Yami said, "Phew, I think I got him."
"What was that?!" Yugi looked at Yami with awe.
"That was the puzzle." Yami smiled knowing that by the look on Yugi's face that he destroyed the ghost once and for all. "After you urged me to try using the Puzzle for different things, I thought about what it could be used for and came to this conclusion. I'm glad to see that it works."
"I'll say. I don't think there's anything left!"
The two of them went back into the kitchen discussing what else the Puzzle could do, when Joey came back in the room looking distressed.
"Joey?" Yami asked looking concerned. "What's wrong?"
"My room! It's seriously haunted and I can't get any sleep in it!" Yugi and Yami looked at each other then back at Joey.
"Don't worry Joey, we just found out a solution." Yami said. "Just show us where it is."
Ignoring the puzzled look they were getting from Joey every so often, they had him lead them up to his room. As they climbed the stairs, Yugi tried not to look at Yami who he knew wasn't done pursuing the earlier topic of not eating. In a way, Yugi was hopeful that he would forget about it since there wasn't much that could be done about it.
Joey opened the door and pointed to the corner next to his bed. "Over there, is where I keep hearing stuff."
As soon as Yugi walked in the room, he could tell that something was off. Yami must have sensed it too, because he said, "Joey how can you sleep in here?!"
When Yugi looked over to the corner that Joey pointed out, he gasped in horror. In the corner next to his bed, was a black mass of something furry. It wasn't like any of the other spirits that roamed here. This was something inhuman. It was black, furry and had two little horns sticking out of the top of its head. He couldn't see any legs or feet, as they were probably underneath the mass of hair, so it looked like a large black, fuzzy ball. As if it sensed his gaze, a pair of red eyes poked out from underneath the tangled mess pile. Yugi immediately froze as the glare pierced his soul. The eyes were so dark, so sinister, and full of death that Yugi wanted to pull away so badly, yet he couldn't. He was locked in the intense stare of the creature that seemed to suck life. It was a gaze similar to the one when they were riding their horses up here, when he first started seeing spirits, only this one was aimed to kill…
He was only vaguely aware of Yami saying, "Do you see what's over there, Yugi?" However, he ignored it and focused on trying to look away. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not rip his gaze from the beast. Finally, Yugi felt someone turn him away from the mass, and when he could not see the monster any longer he finally snapped out of it.
"Wait what?" Yugi looked to find Joey was the one who pulled him away. He meant to look to see what Yami was doing, but Joey turned him around again.
"Don't," was all he said. Joey was seemed to be looking at him strangely. Yugi, trying to avoid Joey's gaze, looked down and could hear Yami shooting at what he knew was the creature. All the while, Yugi was panting, trying to regain his composure. It felt like all his energy was being sucked out. What had just happened?
Before Yugi knew it, Yami had finished the job and had walked over.
"What did you do?" Joey asked when he approached.
"Obliterate it using the puzzle." Yami said nonchalantly as if it happened every day. He then went up to Yugi. "Hey, Yugi, are you alright?"
Yugi looked up and noticed that they were both staring at him with concerned looks. "Yeah, but…what was that?"
"I was hoping you could tell us that." Yami looked at him closely as if afraid he might go into a trance again. "All I know is that it was powerful. It took me a couple of times to hit it before it disappeared."
"It wasn't human," Yugi said. It was an all of a sudden feeling that he got as he said it. He suddenly started to feel dizzy and along with that, came the feeling of him being suddenly lifted off the ground and a sense of detachment. He stood there confused for a second after the feeling passed, then looked down and received a shock:
He was looking at himself.
"W-what?!" Yugi said. He looked at his hands and they were transparent. What just happened? Yugi looked back at his real self, and realized that his body was lying on the floor, and he looked unconscious. Yami and Joey were freaking out, trying to get him up. "Oh no…did I die or something?"
"You're not dead," said a voice from behind him, and Yugi whirled around to see who it was.
Who stood…no, floated before him, was what seemed like a female ghost. She looked like she was in her twenties with round glasses and brown hair that was pulled tightly in a bun. Unlike the other spirits that roamed the property here, this ghost alone seemed to be the only one he met so far that didn't want to kill him. In fact, she seemed relieved to see him, but Yugi still had so many questions he wanted them answered before she said what she came to say.
"What do you mean? What happened then?"
"What you met in this room was no ordinary spirit. It is a form of demon that you will only find in these parts." the girl sighed. "They have a special ability to rip souls from their vessels and if they have their way with you, they will tear your soul to shreds and devour you."
Yugi gulped. "That sounds…painful. So what you're saying…what I just felt from it when I couldn't move…that was their ability?"
"Yes. They paralyze the victim with their stare, and if given the chance they rip you out. The effect was delayed, but it succeeded in casting your soul away from your body. Luckily for you, it didn't have the chance to rip you apart."
"But I can get back into my body, right?" Yugi said nervously. He looked back at Yami and Joey and suddenly realized that they were carrying his body downstairs. He made to follow them but the girl held him back.
"Please don't go. You can go back into your body once your body has had time to recover from the shock. But please, don't go anywhere until I've had a chance to speak with you…"
Yugi looked at her in surprise. "But I can see you guys, so why can't it wait until I reenter my body?"
If ghosts could cry, this woman would have done so right then. Her face scrunched up as if she was in pain and she let out a mournful moan, that Yugi was sure could be heard throughout the house. Yugi backed up from her, but it was then that she regained her composure.
"The other day," she said not looking at Yugi. "I tried contacting you, but the other people here…they didn't want that. When I persisted, they…they tore me apart. What you are looking at now is merely a shadow of my former self, and I can only be seen by anyone if they're in the state you're in now: When their soul is outside of their body. Even someone like you, who can see spirits won't be able to sense me when you're in your body. That's how weakened I've become…"
Upon looking at her, Yugi realized how true it was. Her very form shimmered like a bad hologram projector. She seemed to fade in and out so fast that he had to pay attention to it to even notice…but it was there. Her voice echoed more than the other ghosts around as if nothing more than a distant memory. Yugi suddenly became sorry for this girl. She was turned on by everyone to something that couldn't communicate with anything. That had to be a very mediocre existence.
"I'm sorry…is there anything I can do to help?"
The girl shook her head. "No, but that's not the reason I wanted to seek you out.
"The main reason I came to look for you is to warn you. There is an evil that lurks here, and once it is awakened, all is lost! All of you…especially you…your presence here causes it to stir. You must leave!"
"You mean what's up on the third floor?" Yugi pointed to the ceiling above them. "Why? What will happen if it wakes up?"
"Destruction…ruin…famine…" she said, then gasped as if she remembered something important. "Listen, there is a path that you passed on your way here. It's dark, you can't miss it. There's another evil spirit there, just as powerful as the one sleeping above us, only it hasn't been disturbed. If the one that's here wakes up, it will try and find the other one in that path, to join forces. You don't want them to do that…"
"Wait…what?"
"You must leave soon, or this spirit will awaken tomorrow!" the girl looked frightfully at the ceiling as if it could awaken at any moment. "It has almost already been awoken once, so it won't take long now!"
"I would love to leave now if I could, but I wanted to find out what's been happening to me first," Yugi said. He thought about it since he came here, and knew that was part of the reason why he hadn't tried hard enough to leave. He knew he wanted to do it, but a part of him wanted to find out the truth on his new abilities and why the spirits wanted him dead.
It was then that something else caught Yugi's attention: he felt just as sick while out of his body as he did inside it, which didn't make a whole lot of sense to him, seeing as how he thought it would be the opposite. The only thing that felt different was that he didn't feel hungry anymore, which did make sense to Yugi since you can't eat in spirit form.
As if the girl read his mind, she said, "That's right, you've had a horrible curse placed upon you, have you not?"
"A…curse?"
The girl looked down at her own transparent hands and seemed to contemplate something.
"Yes, it's the only way. I see now." she said and looked up at Yugi, who felt very confused.
"W-what now?"
"I'm going to aid you in getting rid of the curse. But if I do this, you must promise me that you will leave here and never come back. The fate of the world depends on it."
"Wait, what curse?"
"Just answer me. Do you promise?" she looked at him with a determined expression on her face, that Yugi couldn't say no to. Plus, it's not like he would want to come back here anyway, what with all the happy memories.
"I promise."
"Good. Now, since I'm like this, the curse will take a couple of hours to disappear completely. But when it does, you will notice the difference."
"…Okay…" Yugi was still confused, but answered her anyway.
"Also, this will take up the rest of the energy I have left, so after this, you will no longer see me, whether you're in your body or not. I will pass on."
"W-wait, then I can't do this."
The girl suddenly looked stern again. "Passing on is better than living in a world where no one can hear or speak to you. You feel pointless and unwanted. My form is fading as we speak. Believe me, I want this to happen. Alright?"
Yugi looked at her and realized she was sincere. She wasn't only doing this to help him, but to also help herself.
"Alright…thank you for helping me."
The girl smiled, and Yugi thought that if she were alive, they would have made good friends. In a way, she reminded him of Tea.
"Now hold still," she said, and placed an ice cold hand on his forehead. "This is going to feel a little odd…"
Suddenly, she started to glow in an eerie blue light, that soon spread to Yugi himself. It was a strange feeling of being covered in ice, but it was light. They held that position for a minute before the girl took her hand away. Yugi noticed as he looked at himself, that he retained the blue aura that once covered them both. He looked up at her questioningly.
"It will only start to take effect when you reenter your body…" she said as she started to fade away. "So, don't stay out for too long…and remember what…I said…"
Before Yugi could say anything, she disappeared into thin air, and the room was quiet once more.
