Welcome back my Yugioh loving readers.

Sarah: If you keep updating this fast people are going to get behind.

I KNOW! But I've just been on a roll lately with ideas that I can't stop! XD

Sarah: Whatever. Just do the disclaimer for yourself this time.

Why?

Sarah: Because this is like the third time I've had to do it in three days! X(

Fine. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any characters that aren't mine.

Sarah: Now let me read the reviews and see how to respond to them.

Alright.^^ Please enjoy chapter 7 of Weakness.


When Yami and Ryo landed, they found themselves on red mud with random pieces of buildings and other objects surrounding them. The landing had been kind of rough for both of them, so getting up involved a lot of groaning and rubbing of bruised body parts. When both men looked up at the sky, they felt their breathes get taken away. The stars and moon glowed with such a passion that the rest of their surroundings seemed to fade away. That is, until Yami saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, giant black shapes came towards them, snarling and growling with blood-lust in their squinty eyes. Ryo slinked back while Yami took a defensive stance toward the menacing beasts. Just when it seemed one of the creatures was going to make a move, a low, unfamiliar voice commanded, "Hey! Get away ya varmints!"

A burly man with stained and ragged clothing broke through the creatures and waved them away from Yami and Ryo, shouting, "Shoo! Shoo!"

Some of the shadows left right away while other reluctantly retreated after a stare-down with the strange man. After they all disappeared, the man laughed and lifted up his holey hat to scratch his greasy hair.

Yami was the first to find his voice. "Um…who are you?"

"Oh! The names French Fry," French Fry extended his arm out to Ryo, who hesitantly took it. "And you two?"

"My name's Yami and this is Ryo." Yami gestured toward Ryo, who smiled.

"Um…French Fry? What were those things?" Ryo asked.

"Them? Aw, they're souls of forgotten people who fell into darkness. They kinda haunt the In-Between, but I've never seen them try to attack another Forgotten, which means you two ain't been forgotten by the world."

"Huh?" Yami and Ryo asked simultaneously.

"Didn't ya two know? The In-Between is a place for forgotten things to take refuge. In life I was a homeless guy with no friends or family. Heck, French Fry isn't even my real name; it's what I gave myself when I came here. Why are you two even here?"

"We're here to see Azrael." Yami answered confidently.

"OHHHHH…that explains it…So, you want to see the big guy in the castle, huh? Does he want to see you?"

"Well…he's the one who brought us here." Ryo answered.

"Don't mean he want ya here. Azrael already brought two people here who haven't been forgotten yet and he lets them in the castle."

"They're our friends!" Yami interjected. "Azrael took them from us and brought Ryo and I here to try and save them."

French Fry laughed. "Now that sounds more like Azrael. Well, if that's what you're here to do, let me have the honor of navigating you both through the dangerous In-Between."

"D-Dangerous?" Ryo stuttered out.

"Yep. Those shadows weren't the only things lurking around. But I know this place like the back of me hands and I'd be more than happy to bring ya to the castle."

Ryo and Yami looked at each other and nodded.

"Lead the way French Fry."

"Woo Hoo! Come on! Let's go!" French Fry darted off and Yami and Ryo had to sprint to catch up to him.

As they ran, Ryo noticed the red mud sloshed beneath their feet.

"French Fry?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is the dirt red?"

"Oh! That's the blood of forgotten soldiers on the battle field. I've heard that it wasn't always this red, but with every new war, the ground gets redder and redder."

Ryo gulped, but Yami was focused on finding Yugi. Now that things weren't as crazy, Yami noticed that he could feel Yugi stronger than before and he didn't like what he was feeling. It was almost as if Yugi were unconscious, which greatly worried the ancient Pharaoh.

"Yugi," Yami thought. "Just hold on. I'm almost there."


Amane's eyes had been fluttering close when she saw a change in Yugi's state. Her eyes shot open as Yugi slowly woke up and began to rub the back of his head.

"Yugi!" Amane exclaimed is relief.

"Augh. What happened? Why am I in your bed?"

"Azrael threw you against a wall and you fell unconscious." Amane replied solemnly.

"Oh…right…" The events came back to Yugi like a movie as he recalled Azrael's call to Yami. Yugi's hand felt his cheek as he rubbed the where the knife had been twice now.

Amane finally saw the two cuts and rushed to Yugi's side. "When did these happen?"

Yugi chuckled nervously. "I got the one when I first arrived here and the second when Azrael contacted Yami."

"I'll be right back. I think I have some First Aid stuff in one of the cabinets."

Amane ran off and disappeared into the sea of animals, leaving Yugi alone. He sat up and groaned, his head killing him. He then cursed himself for being so weak, for letting Azrael put another knife up to his body and then throwing him into a brick wall.

Then, Yugi felt something in his heart. A warm, familiar feeling that reminded him of home. A feeling that felt like it shouldn't have been in the In-Between…

Yugi gasped when he realized the familiar feeling was Yami and jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror Amane had shown him. Yugi ignored the pain in his head as he tore the velvet covering and gaped in horror. The mirror showed him Yami and Ryo following a…homeless man (?) past broken pieces of buildings and other objects. The ground beneath them was blood-red.

"Yugi! Where did you go?" Amane cried out desperately as she balanced her first aid equipment and teddy bear in both arms.

She looked down the hallway where the mirror was and saw the short teenager standing there, his soul giving of shock and worry. Amane wasn't sure if she wanted to know what Yugi had seen in the mirror but went down to him anyway.

"Yugi? W-What is it?"

"They're here. Both of them…" Yugi said cryptically.

"Huh?" Amane put down the medical equipment and looked into the mirror.

She gasped.

Amane saw a stitched up soul with a love of French fries leading two souls, one confident but scared and the other determined and scared, down a path bleeding with moans of forgotten things. Although she didn't recognize the stitched soul, she knew the ancient spirit's confidence and her brother's determination anywhere; and their path was the same thing she had seen outside the windows of the castle for ten Earth years.

"B-But how?" Amane asked.

"This must have been why Azrael called Yami for." Yugi said somberly.

"If you don't mind me asking," Yugi and Amane watched Ryo say. "Why aren't you like those shadow things that tried to attack us?"

Yugi and Amane held a breath when they heard that something had attacked the two men and then wondered who French Fry was supposed to be.

"That's an easy one, I like being in the In-Between." The homeless man/ stitched up soul said, leading Yugi and Amane to the conclusion that he was French Fry.

"How can you like being here?" Yami asked.

"Well…Earth wasn't such a great place for me. I mean, not many people like homeless guys. I felt unwanted by the world. One day I finally died, don't remember how or why, and I found myself here. This place like French Fry for who he was, and that was good enough for me. Those souls that attacked you didn't want to accept the fact that the world had forgotten them and went mad. If I had to guess, I'd say they were trying to destroy you and get the lives you had on Earth for themselves."

Amane and Yugi were confused, but knew whatever those shadow things were, it was bad. And from French Fry had said, it sounded like there were a lot of them outside the castle where Yami and Ryo were now running.

"What do we do?" Amane asked. "We can't leave them out there! Azrael has never let me go outside the castle! What if…what if something horrible happens to them?"

Amane was about to cry when Yugi said, "We believe in them. As long as we put all our faith into the idea that they will make it safely to the castle they'll be fine."

Amane looked up at Yugi and saw the soul of a man full of hope and determination. She quickly wiped her eyes and tried to think as positive as Yugi. The way she saw it, if someone like Yugi could see past all the odds, so could she. Plus, she really wanted to see Ryo again. She missed him.

"Alright, I believe!" Amane declared.

Yugi smiled. "That's all it takes."


Azrael looked out from his balcony, knowing somewhere below him Amane's brother and Yugi's other half were probably running for their lives form some horrible, forgotten beast.

"That's where you're wrong…"

Azrael jumped at the voice and then relaxed.

"Jeez, give a guy some warning before you decide to speak to me, Suha."

Suha was the name Azrael had given the voice of the In-Between long ago. It meant "forgotten or overlooked" in Arabic, quite fitting for the feminine voice. She had no body because the In-Between was her body. Suha had only spoken to Azrael three times before; when he first tried to find a place between time and space, to tell him he had become forgotten like everything else that had ended up in the In-Between, and when Azrael wanted to make the In-Between a safe haven for Amane.

"Why are there so many people coming here who have not been forgotten? I didn't mind Amane, although I still have no idea why you brought her here-"

"She would have come here eventually." Azrael stated.

"…What do you mean? She would have been a scientific revelation. Everyone would want to learn about her."

"Exactly. Scientists would experiment on her, and then one of the experiments would go wrong and she'd die. Everyone would blame it on her condition and not the idiocy of the scientists and then they would all move on to a new freak of nature. Amane would eventually drift away until no one remembered who she was and then she'd end up here. I just wanted to cut out the middle man."

"…Anyway, then I noticed you brought the vessel child here without my permission, which I let slide. Now I find out you've brought two more people in, except they aren't at your castle. What gives Azrael?"

"I got bored."

"Hmph. Why am I not surprised…?"

"Those two men I've left out to the ferocity of the In-Between are here to rescue the vessel inside the castle. And maybe Amane, too. I'm not sure about her, though."

"That little twerp? They came to this dangerous place to save him? Why?"

"I don't know…but apparently he's a weakness to the older of the two gentlemen. Perhaps you've heard of the forgotten Pharaoh?"

"Heard of him? I've been trying to find him for millennia! The only thing I could ever get was his name!"

"Yeah, well, he's the older one.

"You're shitting me!" Suha exclaimed in disbelief. "The pharaoh of legends has a weakness, and it's that little boy?"

"Yep. The other man is Amane's older brother."

"Really? He looks…different."

"Well, he got older."

"Oh yeah, he still lives on Earth. Well, why haven't you killed the vessel yet?"

"How did you know I wanted to kill him?"

If Suha could have, she would have smirked. "You've been here for quite a while Azrael. I know you as if you were a part of me, which, technically you are. When you get bored and you see someone who ticks you off for whatever reason you either want to kill them or someone the love."

"Amane wouldn't let me. She said something bad would happen."

"Which I'm sure only made you more curious."

"It did."

"So…kill him."

"Ah, but the spirit and Ryo have just arrived, and you told me they weren't dead yet."

"Yeah, some homeless guy who actually likes the In-Between is helping them."

"Huh…weird."

"Well, if you aren't just going to plain out kill him, have a little fun with it."

"What are you suggesting?"

"What was that title the Pharaoh has taken in modern times?"

"The King of Games."

"Yes…why don't you challenge him to a game? A game full of…surprises."

"I'm listening."

Suha whispered a dark and twisted plan into Azrael's head that caused Azrael to smile wickedly.

"Brilliant! But…Amane will know of my intentions…"

"Azrael, darling, I am the In-Between. I'll cloud your true intentions and emotions from her for a while. And while you play with the spirit I'm sure Ryo will be having a reunion with Amane that will distract her long enough."

"Why are you helping me, Suha?"

"I always help my forgotten ones."

"It took you long enough."

"Remember Azrael, while thousands of years have passed on Earth, the In-Between isn't even half way through its first night, which is why you do not get hungry or tired."

"Well then, it still took you a couple of hours."

"Heh, sorry."

"That's fine. All we have to do now is wait for the pawns to come so we can play the final level of the game."

"Are you the good guy or the bad guy?"

"I'm the guy who will finally beat the forgotten Pharaoh."

Azrael and Suha then laughed at a joke only the most twisted person would find funny.


Sarah: A hobo? Really?

Yep.^^ He's one of my new favorite characters. I love his name. And, yes, he has a deep love of French Fries.

Sarah: Well, time to reply to the few comments you got because you keep updating too quickly.

*BLUSHES* Sorry.

Sarah: To Super Special Awesome Attack, YamiHeart and I love your name.

It's super special awesome! XD

Sarah: To DarkChao1663, Hey batta batta...*SMIRKS WITH BAT IN HAND*

AUGH! Don't hit DarkChao1663 with the bat they gave you! Their suggestion was very helpful!

Sarah: To R.N. Walker, Well, I'm so glad you don't mind dooming mandkind because of a FanFic.

If it means anyhting, I'm happy it's my FF destroying the world.

Sarah: To Kairi, YamiHeart is updating ridiculously quick, so don't worry about being lazy.

That's it then, I guess.

Sarah: Now stop typing for a little bit!

I CAN'T! XD

Sarah: You can and you will.

:( Please comment and come back next time, which should be soon...

Sarah: NO IT WON'T BE!

;P