He was in a dream. In fact, Yami was certain it was one of those dreams where you had to know you were asleep, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been in this place some time ago. The memory of it was fuzzy, as if there were a translucent curtain dangling in front of his eyes that kept him from knowing the truth.

There was a vast amount of land laid out before him with crops growing. A little shack of a house sat in the middle, as shaken as Dorothy's house when it landed in Oz after the tornado. It was tilted and nearly tumbled over if the slightest of breezes should caress its termite infested wood. There was no other building inside except for a barn several feet away, but a quick glance confirmed the fact that no animals were inhabiting it except the spiders who made the cobwebs and probably an odd rat or too, not for some time.

The sound of laughter tore Yami from his memory searching. He pushed around the stalks of corn until he found the source and for a moment he swore he was seeing a ghost. Two children were sitting cross-legged on the ground, easily hidden around the tall crops. They were playing some kind of hand game that Yami couldn't remember, but had seen before. Sitting at their side was a puppy, barking and wagging his tail every time they clapped, sending the group into a laughing tizzy.

The girl was bright eyed with one of those faces that would continue to look beautiful every year she grew older. Her green irises were glowing with happiness as she declared victory over the younger boy and her giggle was enough to make a smile instinctively grow on Yami's face. Her hair was a tangle of golden strings and it appeared as if her cheeks were always blushing.

"You cheated somehow, Mana," the boy accused, though he was laughing along with her. He didn't seem to mind losing to her. In fact, Yami could easily guess he was infatuated with her and it wasn't hard to see why.

In response to his accusation, Mana pounced on top of her friend and proceeded to tickle him until he called mercy. The dog barked and helped the assault by kissing his face with long, wet strokes of his tongue and jumping from side to side each time the boy tried to escape.

When they both parted, gasping for air in between their remaining chuckles, Yami's eyes were drawn to the boy. His would-be ghost. He was the spitting image of the pictures his mother had on the fireplace mantel of him growing up. Crimson eyes aglow with inner flames and untamable spiky dark hair with blonde highlights; it could be his little self.

Why not he thought with a shrug. It's my dream.

A sudden hiss escaped the clench of his teeth and his hand immediately went to his shoulder where the pain burned. There was nothing there, but it hurt. He felt like he should know why. It bothered him that there was a nagging thought in the back of his head about this and a sick churning in his stomach about the whole situation.

All of this was something he knew, but for the life of him couldn't remember what happened next. He felt fearful and angry all at once; not so wonderful a combination.

B R E A K

The next time he looked up the boy and girl were gone and Yami was standing in front of the tilted house. It was nighttime now and the only source of light was a candle flickering behind one of the window curtains. Inside was the boy asleep in his bed, tossing and turning tirelessly. Once in a while he would cough and Yami couldn't help but feel his heart give a scared pause. The dog lay at the foot of the bed, curled up in a tight ball. It was at least twice the size of the last time Yami had seen it so he guessed that some time had passed. That cold dark feeling hung in the air as he watched his little dream look-a-like and for some reason he felt tears burn at his eyes. Something bad was about to happen.

Indeed something bad was going to happen. The scent of alcohol was heavy in the air and smoke was hovering along the ceiling of the small cabin. On the other side of the room, staring at the bed was an older man with garnet hair and mean, black eyes. A fury like no other attacked Yami's senses as he watched this man and, strangely, a murderous intent to slaughter him tingled in his fingers.

Why though? I don't know him and he's just a dream.

The clunk of wood and heavy footsteps permeated his thoughts and Yami looked up in time to watch the man pull the dog off the bed by the scruff of his neck. He followed his shadow to the other side of the cabin where he paused for a moment to pick something up and then he was startled by the front door getting kicked open.

Dragging the dog by the scruff of his neck, the man stomped out of the cabin quickly followed by a sobbing little boy, who'd woken up by the noise the door made.

"Please, papa," he begged. His pleas were ignored.

Yami was startled. The language wasn't anything he'd heard of before. It was old, very old; that much he could tell. Somehow he was able to understand it and that part made him somewhat afraid.

Following the duo as they slithered further and further within the cornfield, all the while the son begging his dad not to hurt his friend. Yami was several feet behind them when the cries turned to a high-pitched scream and an explosion of gunfire echoed throughout the air. Yami froze in his footsteps, watching as the older man walked by with his shotgun, a smug grin on his face. Tears came to his eyes and he pushed away the remaining few stalks to see the little boy crying over his dog.

Guns are monsters he remembered thinking that night.

He knew why his father had done that. First his mom had left and Yami had looked so much like her. For all the wrong reasons, his dad was forcing him to stay with him and making his life miserable in the process.

B R E A K

Time sped up again while Yami was wiping at his eyes and the next thing he knew he was standing in front of the barn entrance. Voices were coming from inside and he peeked in, instinctively knowing to look up.

Inside was a much older version of the boy, now in his teens. The girl, Mana, was beside him and Yami's breath caught in his throat when he laid eyes on her. She was gorgeous, just as he remembered. It was like coming home when he caught sight of her face and nothing ever felt more right. He'd been madly in love with this girl and she with him.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Yami," she whispered.

Yami could feel tingles running up his spine and he knew what conversation they were having. His dad had been in a drunken rage and had taken it out on him. It had caused an ugly scar down his back, but it had long since disappeared from his own skin.

How he wondered. Yami knew he should still have it because this was definitely his memory. No, that's not right either. This is my memory, but this is from several lifetimes ago. What the hell happened to make that scar go away? There was a wall blocking him from continuing through his memories. He knew the only way to find out was to keep watching, but an automatic feeling rushed inside him and made him scared out of his mind to continue. His mind only had to catch up with what his body somehow already knew and remembered.

"It's so ugly, Yami," Mana cried, hugging him tightly. "How could he do this to you? You're his son. If I wasn't so scared of him, I'd go give him a piece of my mind."

"No, Mana," he hissed. "You have to stay away from him." He pressed a kiss to one of her teary green eyes and smiled hopefully. "Soon," he promised, "Soon, we'll be able to run away from here and be together without hiding."

She nodded reluctantly. "I know, Yami, but what if you don't last that long?"

"I will. I promise. I'll do anything to keep him away from you so don't worry about a thing."

From the ground floor, Yami swallowed harshly. There was a pit in his stomach that he didn't like and he wished he could remember what was going to happen next. Without a fast forward button, he'd be forced to watch whatever horrible thing happened next and he didn't want to. Anything he could do to change this god-awful nightmare, he would. Even change it would be best, but that was impossible because this string of events had already happened.

B R E A K

"Get back here, boy!"

He was running. Somehow, without even moving, Yami was moving swiftly alongside his former self. Clasped tightly in his hand was Mana, also following behind him with tears swimming in her eyes. Yami wanted to hug her, but he'd just go right through her.

They'd been discovered just as they were getting ready to leave. His dad wasn't supposed to be there and had caught them just as they were coming out of the cabin with a sack of needed things. That sack was gone now. It had been dropped some time back in their desperation to get out of there, shortly after the first gun shot rang through the air.

Yami clenched his eyes shut tightly, unable to bear watched whatever it was that unfolded back. His body somehow remembered even though his mind didn't and he hated the feeling it was giving him. Something worse than horrible was about to happen and he'd be damned if he wanted to be an unwanted witness. His whole body shook with tremors and tears were flowing in his own eyes.

The dirt road opened and the couple panted for a second before Yami forced them both to continue. They didn't get far before the corn shifted and his dad came out, hollering and waving his gun around for them to stop.

Skidding to a stop, Yami's former self did the only thing he could. He pushed Mana into the field to hide and stood in front of the spot she disappeared so his dad couldn't go after her. Mana wouldn't go far, he knew. She was probably watching and Yami, both of them, shouted for her to get further away. She didn't, the real Yami knew that just like his former self should've known.

"You plan to be rid of me, boy," his father snarled.

"I plan to have my own life," he shouted back, shifting so his dad couldn't get passed him and after the only thing that mattered to him anymore.

Yellow teeth met him when his dad's lip curled. "She'll ruin you," he told Yami. "Women are no good cheats and liars. I've been protectin' you all this time."

Neither Yami believed that for a second. His father was the cheat and liar. He hadn't tended to his farm since his mother died and the crops were overgrown and nearly dead because of it. There was never any money coming in and Yami remembered eating from the stalks just to get something in his stomach, even if it meant getting sick from the bugs.

"You just come back over here, boy, and I'll make sure I forget you tried to run away."

Yami dug his feet into the ground and quickly shook his head.

"Don't make me do this, boy!"

"I won't!"

"Yami?"

The tentative voice made Yami jerk his head back into the field. "Mana! Get out of here," he hissed.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this, Yami. I don't want to see you get hurt."

Yami grabbed hold of her arms, pulling her into a hug. "This is the only way we can be together, Mana."

A cock of the gun was pulled back and Yami stiffened while the dreaming one was trying to push them into the field uselessly.

He didn't want this.

He didn't want this.

He didn't want this!

The boom of the shot gun exploded and Yami jerked back instinctively from the sound. He knew what had happened because he remembered it clearly. His dad had been aiming for Mana, but he'd thrown himself in front of the shot, landing on top of her in the process to protect her. He was still alive, but he'd been unable to move. Forcing himself to stay awake despite the urge to just fall unconscious to relieve himself of the agonizing burn running through his back.

If it had ended there, his whole body wouldn't be shaking with relived pain. If it had ended there, Yami knew, that probably would've been the complete end.

"You monster!" Mana dragged herself off the ground and threw herself at the man, fighting to steal the gun away. She had no chance and another boom sounded along with a thump as her lifeless body dropped.

On the ground, the former Yami was sobbing as he tried to turn and see where Mana was. Her lifeless eyes were staring back at him and both of them started crying for what they lost. Yami knew it was his fault they both ended up like this. If he hadn't wanted to get away so eagerly, they probably would've made it.

"Yami."

The one on the ground hadn't moved, but the real one did. He looked up from his fetal position in the dirt, unable to see clearly through the salt water in his eyes. There was a bright light, that's what he remembered, but now he could tell who it was that came to them. If it hadn't been for Yugi, he might think he'd gone crazy.

An angel knelt on the ground beside his dying body, lifting him so his head rested on his lap. The wings on his back were golden and long hair spilt over his shoulder in waves of white silver. Any other time it might have been divine beauty, but everything looked dead to him now. The lap given to him had been warm and comfortable, but nothing seeped through his frozen skin after seeing Mana dead because of him. His Mana. His precious, precious, beautiful Mana. She was all he wanted and it had been stolen away because of his selfishness. If he had really loved her, he would've pushed her away and forced her to never see him again.

"I have a job for you, Yami. You can come with me. You can watch over other people and make sure this never happens again."

He barely was able to nod at the feeling of cold, frozen death's fingers digging into his skin. The angel nodded and pressed a kiss to his forehead and that was all he'd been able to remember until he woke up again.

B R E A K

An alarm sounded throughout heaven and Yugi and Bakura were shaken from their content staring and easy conversation.

"What's going on," Yugi wondered. There was usually never an alarm unless something really bad had happened.

"Let's go see."

They spread out their wings and pushed into the air with an easy gust of wind. It carried them all the way to where a bustling crowd was gathering and Yugi used his influence to push to the front. An angel in the front was trying to find powerful others to join him. The minute he spotted Yugi, he grabbed him by the arm.

"Will you accompany us?"

Yugi slowly nodded. "What's going on?"

"A powerful magic has erupted in Domino. It's impossible to tell what it is because it's erratic. It could be an unsupervised rebirth or it could even be demons from the Underworld making another attack."

AN - Just a quick note, I would like to inform everyone that I now have posted my first entry on live journal and would love for any and all readers to check it out. It's where I'll post my original stuff though I will still update my fanfiction here. Check out my profile for the address. Thankies!