Yugi ignored the throbbing of his bruised back as he dove for the collapsing pharaoh. Catching him just before he hit the floor, he cradled the unconscious body as he felt the tears that were stinging his eyes fall and land onto Yami's face. He could hear Anzu gently comforting him and Jonouchi talking softly with Seto as the CEO shook his head and merely kissed his lover on the lips before leaving the room.
Jonouchi helped him put the pharaoh back onto the bed, taking notes in his mind when he saw the flits of pain that flashed over the once handsome face when their hands brushed across his back and bumped into some fresh bruises near his underarm.
"It'll be okay," Anzu gave him a gentle hug before leaving the room, tugging the resisting Jonouchi out with him after giving him a harsh glare and a brutal tug on the ear before gently closing the door behind them. This left Yugi and Yami alone in the room, one sleeping and the other in a silenced shock about how rapidly the events had just occurred.
Yami was supposed to pick him up at the bus stop two miles away from their Game Shop. They would normally meet half way at a coffee shop or at some random store then end up goofing off pretending to shop for hours at a time. Then that day, he never showed up. Kaiba had sent every search team in Japan to find him. They had searched every corner of every inch of the small island. They had done so for 1 and half years but they finally gave up and said that Yami had just gone missing and that they had to close the case. Even Kaiba could do nothing to stop them from changing their policies. Yugi had never given up and had searched even after they had said the case was closed, going through every mountain, skipping school most of the time in order to do so. Then two years later, all of a sudden Kaiba gives him a call after he got back for a Kyoto expedition to come to his mansion and here lies Yami, torn, beaten, looking as if he went through Anubis and then Ra chased him back to earth spitting fire and flames.
'I wonder what he's thinking.' Yugi clutched the puzzle to his chest out of instinct when a hollow feeling tore through his heart as he remembered the emptiness he has felt all these years when the mind link between them had been severed. Inching cautiously towards the edge of the bed, he lifted the chain with the jewel from around his neck, shivering when he felt the absence of the weight from his chest. Sitting down on the edge of the mattress, he leaned over his dark, ignoring the cuts and the bruises and gingerly, slipped the chain around the other's neck so that it overlapped with the gruesome, bloodstained collar. Instantly, he felt his body give an unearthly tug as he collapsed onto his other as he eyes felt suddenly tired. He could feel the chest beneath him rise and fall in a steady pattern with slight hitches then a moan. He was sinking, sinking into the golden tunnel as the mind link began to reestablish itself. Slowly opening his eyes again, he found himself within the puzzle in an all too familiar setting of twisting labyrinths and many door ways.
'Strange, we found all his memories, the last time I was here; it was a clear game room full of photos and ancient royal artifacts.' Yugi began to cautiously take steps forward when he remembered that this mind was full of traps and false floors.
"Mou Hitori No Boku," the matured teen called through the echoing chasms as he began to step from one door to another.
"YAMI," he called again when he opened another door that was once more found to be empty. Growing ever the more flustered, he began to race from door to door calling for his other self and calling for his dark.
"ATEMU!!" he screamed and the result was like an earthquake. The twisting stairways began to sink and the doors vanished left and right leaving only one with a golden eye in the middle of the now white room. Gaping at the sudden change in environment, Yugi stood in front of the door, hesitant and frozen with fear at what he might find. Finally gathering all his strength together, he opened the door, covering his eyes as blinding light hit them. Opening them slowly, he saw that the light had faded to reveal a dark room. Sitting facing him, against the opposite, curled up into himself was his dark.
"YAMI!!" Yugi shouted and began to bolt towards his dark only to be thrown backwards, slamming against the far sided wall as chains restrained any movement of escape. Struggling vigorously, the light stared helplessly as he studied his dark to find that there were chains binding his ankles while two shackles held the other's arms above his head. Also, a glowing, full length chain hung from that awful collar, the links clinking together. The part that scared Yugi the most and made him freeze was the blank, listless crimson eyes that stared in utter brokenness at the floor.
"Welcome back," a cold slithery voice laughed. Yugi watched as his dark froze completely as his eyes began to glint with fear, desperately wishing he could vanish into the wall. Cool, green eyes glowered back to stare at the chained Yugi.
"Looks like your Aibou is here as well." The voice laughed as he stepped from the shadows.
"DARTZ!!" Yugi gaped only to see the old Atlantis king roll his eyes in annoyance.
"Maybe its time for me to change forms, this human body has been driving me insane though the ladies seem to love it a lot." The slick voice growled.
"So you're not Dartz?!" Yugi was getting really confused. The form just shook his head again allowing black clouds to envelop him. A flowing white robe was revealed along with equally long and graceful black hair. Ominous green eyes stared back into the young teen's amethyst as long, tan, slender fingers tangled themselves within a clear, flowing sash that wrapped itself around the 6"1 body of the invading spirit.
"Do I look like that arrogant king known as Dartz now?" the slick voice spoke with mirth. Yugi only gawked.
'Wow, he's really…pretty,' Yugi couldn't help but continue to stare. Yami still hasn't moved or even bothered to look up at the new visitor.
"Not to mention those annoying fan girls and their fawning," the spirit sighed before floating back down to the ground and whirling to face the pharaoh and placing a single slender finger on his downcast chin before purring.
"When this is the only thing that I have ever wanted and now I have obtained. Three years of fun hm."
"YOU!!" the pieces finally clicked in Yugi's mind as he once again began struggling against the chains. "You were the one who took Mou Hitori No Boku away from me. You were the one who made him like that."
"Yes to first but maybe to the second." the spirit laughed as he knelt down to the fallen pharaoh.
"What do you mean maybe to the second, if you didn't do that to him," Yugi snarled when he looked at the gashes on the side of Yami's once flawless face, "then who did."
"Ah those," the spirit chuckled. Using his thumb, he turned the unresisting pharaoh's face to the side to look at the cuts. "I had my fun but these, sometimes when you give one too much power, they tend to abuse it."
"What do you mean," Yugi looked worriedly back at the pair. He saw his dark's eyes flash with fear. The spirit wrapped his free arm around Yami's chain, tugging forward so that their faces were right in front of each other's.
"I would never damage this beautiful creature on the outside, though inside," the spirit licked his lips, "I savored every moment of it."
Those words echoed into silence as Yugi gaped when he realized the meaning. "YOU BASTARD!!" The light was tearing at his restraints. "YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!!" The spirit opened his mouth to respond only to whirl back when a faint whimper caused the two of them to shut up.
"Aibou…," Yami groaned, his blank eyes shifting to look at his restrained light.
"Yami," Yugi gasped with surprise when the chains released him and vanished into thin air while his dark moaned in pain and closed his eyes. "YAMI!!" The teen bolted towards his other half when he saw the other's eyes drifting shut again.
"Damn," the spirit hissed as he dodged to the side when the smaller one came tackling right through him. The smaller ignored him as he knelt down in front of his other and began yanking on the shackles and chains that kept him chained to the wall all the while pleading for him to stay awake.
"Aibou…," the whisper was heard and Yugi immediately froze.
"Stay with me okay, we're going to get you out of here." Yugi pleaded as he once more began to yank on the bonds.
"Aibou…," Yami whimpered again.
"Hold on, I'll get these undone." Yugi hissed when he felt a jagged chunk of metal cut into his palm.
"It's too warm." This made Yugi freeze in his menstruations and look in shock at his other.
"It's too warm Aibou." Yami murmured again and this time, his eyes slid fully shut. Yugi panicked.
"Yami, Yami, Atemu, Yami," Yugi uttered again and again yanking on the chains while trying to get his other to wake up. Suddenly, blinding pain shot up his foot, causing him to jerk forward. Whirling around, he realized they were surrounded by fire. The spirit just stood, fingering his robes lazily all the while with a maniacal grin spreading wide across his feminine features.
"I'm sorry, my fingers slipped," he chuckled as he whirled back into the form of Dartz, green eyes glinting as the rest of him faded back into the darkness.
"LET US GO!!" Yugi screamed. The fire was drawing ever closer as the spirit simply turned around and began to walk away. "COME BACK HERE AND LET US GO!!" The spirit simply laughed again and gave a curt wave then vanished from the room.
Smoke began to fill the young light's nostrils, causing him to hack as the sensations burned his lungs. 'Yami, I'm leaving you here. I won't leave you here.' Yugi began once more to pull on the chains, yanking fiercely at their hooks. His vision was beginning to blur as the constant deprivation of clean oxygen was slowly shutting down his brain.
"Mou Hitori No Boku, I won't leave you," Yugi coughed as his attempts at the chain were growing weaker by the second. "I won't…leave…you…alone again." At that, the world spun black as he collapsed, hugging onto his dark.
