Greetings Readers! This update came a lot earlier than I expected, but I got a burst of writing ability and thought I'd use it - hopefully, that's good with you. Here's Yugi's POV, which leads right up to where he helps Yami in the Valley. I hope you enjoy this!

I'd like to extend thanks to those who favorited, alerted, and commented on my stories - you keep me writing. And a very special thanks to PurpleWildcat2010, for encouraging me, discussing the future of this story with me, and catching all the grammar mistakes that slip by me. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. (If I did, Yami and Yugi would get a better reunion than the one in the anime. Just saying.)

Being captured by the Seal of Orichalcos was strangely anticlimactic.

I had managed to break free of my prison, run to Yami's side and push him out of the way before the Seal took me, but I wasn't sure what was going to happen. To be honest, I had no idea where it was taking me nor did I care – what was important was saving my friend. I certainly hadn't thought of the Realm of the Seal as being so…calm. After the rush and heart-pounding fear of Yami's duel with Rafael, to end up in a place of such stillness was a little unnerving. But I wasn't about to complain – I hadn't been used to fuel the Leviathan yet so there was time for the others to find me.

Looking around tentatively, I saw thousands and thousands of clear orbs floating around me, the occupants still and composed in their individual prisons. If the clothing on some of them was any clue, they had been trapped here a long time, and the orbs had an almost dusty look. I reached out my hand until it met with an invisible barrier, and I looked down to realize I was also in an orb. Surprisingly I didn't panic, simply sat down and folded my arms pensively. As of the moment there was no fear, only an eerie calm that bordered on apprehension, and the air of the place was as ancient as the tombs.

My heart stopped beating its frenzied staccato not long after I arrived, although I had no idea how much time had passed back with my friends. Time was insignificant here, at least until it came time to revive the Leviathan, which would never come. Likewise, there was neither heat nor cold, and my stomach didn't need food, nor my body need sleep. It was a good place for thinking, at any rate there wasn't much else to do.

I'd never seen Yami like that before. I'd seen him angry before, several times – but never so angry that he wouldn't listen to reason or endanger his friends. But some terrible rage had filled him, which had only intensified when he'd played the Seal kept me from getting though to Yami to help him. The Puzzle had once again come through for me when it began to glow as Yami lost the duel, and I was able to break the Seal and get down to him just as the green column began to close around him. The look of utter defeat in his then contrite eyes made my blood run cold and somehow gave me a final burst of speed to push him out of the way.

If Yami hadn't given into his anger and used the Seal, I wouldn't be in the realm of the Seal. I could not deny being disappointed and frustrated at him for playing the card, but I couldn't blame him for my predicament. I folded my arms and legs into a more relaxed pose as I settled on the floor. My decision to sacrifice myself to save him was completely my own, and I would do it again.

On a technical level, as a strategist, he was the more logical person to stay behind. Our friends looked to him for leadership, and he needed to be there to provide it; I wasn't nearly so important as far as leading the others went. That's not to say that they wouldn't miss me, worry about me, or try to save me, because I knew they would. I also knew that I was also helpful in our group. It's just that I wasn't so egotistical to think that they would be falling apart without me.

And as a friend, that was the only option. If I had any way of saving him, I would take it and I did. Besides, his spirit had already been trapped for five thousand years and the idea of subjecting to any more imprisonment gave me a bad taste in my mouth.

But was I imprisoned, or was I actually dead? Since all of the victims of the Seal had been soulless, none of them were able to tell us what would happen if the Seal took one of us. Stretching my neck, I looked around and shook my head. No, I wasn't dead. The end brought about by the rising of the Leviathan would be a lot more violent than this, if Dartz's greedy, almost gluttonous search for souls was any indication. Besides, some of these people had been here eons, which might explain their quietness that was close to hopelessness. My heart sank at the lack of feeling in those faces, nearly obscured by the dustiness of their more opaque orbs – how long had it taken for them to lose that feeling? I was also calm, but at least I had hope – I was calm because I knew that my friends would save us. My only regret was that I could not help them do so.

It might have been a few seconds or hours or days after I'd appeared in the Seal's realm, but a bolt of sorrow rushed through my body and made me sit up, panting for breath. The emotion certainly was not mine, but it took a few moments for my lethargic brain to deduce the source. I closed my eyes and sighed. Yami, stop blaming yourself. It was my decision – it's not your fault. I sent the thoughts repeatedly through the mind link, but it was clear that he couldn't hear them as the grief continued unabated. But that didn't stop me from trying, and slowly the sorrow eased up to only a constant echo in my spirit. I hoped that didn't mean that Yami was filled with this sorrow all the time.

I had adjusted to the echo of sorrow when a shock of fire-hot rage burned through me, and my eyes widened in concern. Yami couldn't let his rage get control of him again, what if his soul was the one captured this time? Fortunately, the burning rage was short-lived, although it gave way to dull guilt as the soul of Weevil Underwood came into our midst, creating a briefly loud cacophony which caused several of the other souls to look at him disapprovingly before returning to their individual solitudes.

Yami was in trouble, and I wasn't sure why. The cause didn't matter much at the time; I just needed to help him. But how could I, when I was in this completely different realm where not even my thoughts could escape to reach him?

After a time, I leaned back against the wall of my orb, closing my eyes more for a change of pace than out of a desire for rest or sleep, which I didn't need anyway. As my eyes closed, realization struck me and I suddenly knew everything. Yami wasn't coping with his own grief and guilt, and it seemed I was the only one who'd be able to break him out of it. I knew exactly what to do and how to do it – but that didn't mean I liked my job. It was going to hurt Yami, the last thing I wanted, but for his own good and for everyone else, I had to do it.

Light gathered around me and began pulling my orb to the edges of the realm. I steeled myself for the task ahead and managed a smile at the genuinely surprised looks of the other souls. I would need that moment of amusement to keep me going in the task ahead.

It was going to be hard – but to help Yami I would do anything.

A/N: And there's Yugi. I think of Yugi as very strong in his own right, so there was not a lot of angst here. One line that I like is when he says, "I'm not so egotistical as to think they'd fall apart without me." Oh, humble Yugi, how little you know about that.

Anyway, one more chapter to go - this being a chapter where Yugi and Yami talk about what happened, and Yugi comforts him.

Thanks for reading, and please review! They make me happy!