"I'd love too, just let me... Um..." Yugi wiggled, trying to reach back to where his cloak was snagged. But as he reached, one of the tears began to rip.

"Wait, wait!" Yugi pleaded, but gravity wasn't listening. With a heavy thump and a crash, he tumbled down the wall and earned himself yet another scratch.

"What a mess I must appear." He mused, running a hand through his hair.

Hate to break it to you, but you're not getting any cleaner anytime soon. The voice continued softly. As disgusting as this is going to sound, you seriously can't leave me here. If I fall... Well, you'd just better not let me fall!

"Well, what do you propose I do? I wouldn't have thrown the stone if I'd thought someone was actually in it."

Well technically I'm not really in the stone. I'm communicating through it.

"Then where are you?" Yugi said, exasperated. He was tired. It was nearly dawn, but getting kidnapped by an evil twin and carried away and nearly devoured by a dragon was beginning to take its toll on the young teen.

Look, I'll explain everything to you, but you seriously need to get the stone. Before I- he-actually wakes up would be better.

"But how? I can't just..." Sudden mental images flooded his thoughts, images he was sure were inspired by the voice in the stone.

"No." Yugi gasped, horrified. "No way! That's disgusting, I'm not going to and you sure as heck can't make me!"

Yugi... the voice sighed, but he would hear none of it.

"Forget it." He shuddered, his next words coming out as a squeak. "What if it wakes up when I'm..."

He's out cold right now Yugi. Please, you need to do this. Please.

"No. No, no, no, no, absolutely not!"

He wasn't exactly sure when he started moving, but he was fairly certain that it was not of his own volition. With every fervent and emphatic 'no' that escaped his lips he took another step towards the unconscious creature.

"I can't. I won't! You're crazy!" He shouted to no one in particular. The voice came back quickly.

Shh, you don't want him to wake up! He's going to be ticked enough when he does.

"So why don't I just let him slumber on for a while? If I'm lucky he'll wake up long after I'm dead and gone."

The voice took longer to respond this time. You don't really mean that.

"Oh yeah?" Yugi challenged, but he backed off right away. "No, you're right. I'm just so exhausted, its making me a little snappy."

He sighed heavily, examining the slumbering dragon. His tone was no longer as heavily opposed to this idea, provided that he, again, did not think about it. He looked at the dragon curiously, wondering how he was going to get in.

"Um..."

Here, let me.

The dragon's mouth opened slowly, teeth that were way too long to fit inside slowly extending to leer down at him like stalactites. Jagged daggers rose up to block him from below.

Yugi gulped fearfully, and immediately wished he hadn't. Such an action did not fuel pleasant thoughts when staring into the maw of a creature that could eat you and had tried to eat you in the past.

"How did you do that?" Yugi whispered.

Nevermind that now. Just hurry. I can't keep it up for much longer.

As if to emphasize the point, the dragon's jaw slipped down a bit. The stone started to glow again gently, so that Yugi could see.

Inhaling a quick breath of clean air, Yugi tentatively stepped into the Black King's mouth... and promptly slipped on his tongue. Down he went, landing with a wet and squishy squelch. Thoroughly disgusted, and too revolted to be scared anymore, Yugi tried to hoist himself to his feet again.

His boots could find no purchase on the slick surface, and down he went again.

"This. Is. So. Gross." Yugi mumbled, his voice echoing eerily.

And then, without any warning whatsoever, the tongue underneath him bucked violently, and he was pitched forward, toward the opening to oblivion. Scrambling to find a hold of some sort, he reached out and hooked his arm around a large tooth. A wave of slime washed over him, but fortunately he managed to keep his mouth closed. Sputtering in disgust, he put his head down and sighed.

"I can't do this."

You're almost there. Please, don't give up now. The fate of the world will hang in the balance.

"Yeah right." Yugi mumbled, beginning to inch forwards again.

I speak the truth. If you do not retrieve the stone, then the kingdom will fall.

Hesitant, but now realizing that the stone could be right, Yugi gently reached his hand around the bend of the dragon's throat while keeping a firm grip on the tooth.

Lower. A bit more, more, come on, you're so close!

"Got it!" Yugi yelled triumphantly, pulling a very wet and smelly gemstone up by the end of its chain.

The whole cavern trembled, and Yugi's hair waved in the sudden breeze. The dragon's breath hitched and trembled again, and Yugi paled visibly.

"You've got to be kidding me!" He yelled, gripping the tooth as hard as he could.

The force of the sneeze expelled him violently anyway. He hit the chamber wall with a soft thump, entertaining a brand new bruise. But he had the stone.

Well done. The voice congratulated him. I knew you could do it.

"Well, that made one of us, at least." Yugi replied, smiling tiredly. He held up the gemstone before his eyes, searching its flawless (if a bit dirty) surface.

"Now, who are you?" He asked again.

I... listen, I know I said I would explain, but I can't just yet. I need you to trust me for just a little while longer.

Somehow, Yugi was not the least bit surprised. "How did I guess?" He mumbled sarcastically.

I'm sorry.

"Whatever, I'm to tired to care right now anyway." He wiped some of the spit off of his clothes and tried to find a dry spot to curl up and just ignore the world. But just then the dragon snorted and blinked, raising its huge head from the floor.

No time to rest yet Yugi, You need to move fast. And repeat exactly what I say, alright? And no matter what happens, please don't lose the stone.

"No guarantees." Yugi murmured, tensing weary muscles and preparing to spring to the side. The dragon shook its head blearily as it continued to rise, and eventually its eyes found Yugi again.

Ready... Yugi crouched, not blinking. Ready...

The Black King suddenly lunged, wisely keeping its mouth closed this time.

Now! Yugi dodged to the side right before the blow fell, the blow that would have killed him.

He tucked into a roll as he sprang away, putting even more distance between he and the thrashing beast. But he had no where to go, nowhere to hide, and the dragon was done fooling around. It began to suck in another breath, this one making a light swell between its jaws.

This is not good. You've got to get out of there. The voice commanded, concern ringing behind the words.

"It's not like I can go anywhere, now is it? Yugi answered, unable to wrench his gaze away from the spectacle of the dragon's growing power.

Speak these words, quickly. And don't ask questions, now is not the time!

The voice then proceeded to mumble a string of words that sounded as gibberish to Yugi.

"What? I can't speak like that!"

You must! The voice commanded, and then repeated the chant, slowly so Yugi could catch it all.

'Abec d'ul toren isis mon vhen'.

"A-abec..." Yugi stammered, unable to concentrate with the dragon's maw barely ten strides away, and the fire in its belly growing fast. "Abec d'ul tor... d'ul toren..."

Isis mon vhen. Isis. Mon. Vhen.

The Black King reared back, ready to let loose his fire and burn the prince to no more than a scorch mark upon his floor.

"Isis mon vhen!" He screamed, falling to the floor in terror. The fire surged around him, red hot and dangerous. But it did not burn! He looked at himself in awe. The fire never came close to his skin, it was like he was incased in an invisible, protective shell. The gemstone was glowing brightly, and seemed to be deflecting the fire away.

When the great beast finished, and it found Yugi was still standing, unharmed, it was shocked. Enraged ever further if that was possible.

Quickly now, put on the necklace.

Without even hesitating, Yugi slipped the chain around his neck. And then, a surge of light erupted from behind his eyes, and he felt like he had been thrown backwards, though he did not move. Something seemed to catch him as he fell away from himself, and held him in place. He could feel his mouth moving of its own accord, his eyes flicking to meet the dragon's without his consent.

"If you do not wish to face your utter destruction, I would suggest that you stop trying to kill me." Yugi called, though the words did not form in his own mind before he spoke them. "I could kill you right now, for I am the Last Prince. And I'm sure you know what that means, you degenerate king. I can fulfill the prophecy."

If it was at all possible, the dragon actually paled. "You will die long before then." The dragon snarled.

"Only if you can catch me." Yugi replied with an unusual amount of confidence. Then he began to move, his legs sprinting him to the far side of the cavern without his direction or his consent. Yugi watched all of this happen with a very detached air.

Eventually he realized where he was headed: he was slipping around the limbs of the thrashing beast with an agility that surprised him. The dragon was thundering around the cave with a vengeance, trying to pin him against the wall, against the floor, anything to stop him from doing whatever it was he was doing. Yugi felt no fear course through him when a claw or tooth slashed the air above him, nearly taking his head from his shoulders. Though he himself was trembling, his body remained steady and strong. Like someone else was guiding him.

That theory was proven to be true just a second later. A glimmer of light shone at the very back of the small cavern. Moonlight glinted off of rippling water from a pool dug into the cavern floor, and without a second of hesitation or even thought to his actions, Yugi was flung into the black water.

The current that had been all but invisible under the surface of the still onyx water sucked him away instantly. A flood of tiny silver bubbles glinted in the fast fading moonlight, a testament to the small amount of air in his lungs. He careened down through the deep and dark tunnel at a breakneck pace, thinking every second that he was going to be slammed into the walls and have the rest of his air stolen. Already his lungs had begun to burn.

Yugi panicked, and his mouth snapped open, sucking water. Something from deep within himself, something stronger and calmer than he, closed his mouth again and gently soothed his blind panic. He found himself bound within his own mind. Not restrained, more like... embraced. Kept out of harm's way. Such a feeling was so very familiar to him...

And then it clicked, and he thought himself foolish for not realizing this before!

Suddenly he shot out of the underwater tunnel and tumbled head over heels into the lake at the base of the dormant volcano. He came up coughing and spluttering, grabbing air hungrily. He found he was in control of his limbs again, and so he swam for shore. With an exhausted huff and a spray of fine white sand, he flopped down on the ground and panted heavily, trying to breathe. He was so tired.

He pulled the gemstone in front of his face again.

"Show yourself." He commanded softly, no longer desiring a compromise.

A delicate mist surrounded him, swirling and converging, solidifying into the ethereal outline of a human. The mist swelled and took shape, a solid torso with arms that ended in slender fingers and legs that dissolved into tendrils of mist. His head came last, and he tilted it back and inhaled a deep breath, his eyes closed as though it was his first real breath of air in years. Which it more than likely was.

His eyes slowly opened as he lowered his head to meet Yugi's gaze, eyes that were filled with a gentleness and ferocity, wisdom and power.

He spoke no words. He did not have to.

I knew it. Yugi thought blearily, as exhaustion began to overtake him.

Before his very eyes, dressed in rich silk and fine linen, a small crown of pure gold resting atop his head and an elegant sword strapped to his waist, stood the First Prince.

Yami.