Chapter 14 (I DO NOTOWN YUGIOH)
His head hurt, why did his head hurt? He raised a hand to it experimentally, it wasn't actually injured but it throbbed painfully. Slowly he began to open his eyes, the lighting around him was dim and it seemed to assault his eyes, he blinked as they adjusted, but then he saw where he was and his eyes shot open. He was in some sort of labyrinth, the endless doors leading to more endless doors and stairs that went every direction and defied the laws of gravity as he could walk on them upside down.
"Where the hell am I?" he spoke out loud but no answer came to him. He searched through the many doors and found one with a symbol on it, a symbol that was an exact duplicate of the one on the millennium puzzle. Was he inside the puzzle, but that shouldn't be possible.
"Oh it's possible my friend." A darker and familiar voice said from behind him. Turning he came face to face with himself as he sat lazily over one of the many doors. "Hello Yugi, you have some awfully annoying friends."
"You?" Yugi asked, what was going on, the last thing he remembered was Desmond cornering him in the ally… no wait he DID remember what had happened. "What are you doing here what's going on? I need to get back so I can help Atem."
His darker self smiled, "So you can help him, when you were the one who was interfering with him from stopping Desmond, do you really think he'll be so happy to have you back?"
Yugi paused, he was right. With all he had done it was highly possible that Atem didn't want his help anymore…it was possible that he didn't want to be around him anymore. No, he couldn't think like that, but why else would he be inside the millennium puzzle?
"Because, they want us out of the way, and who can blame them, we did say we were strong and had no such use for the weak thing such as a bond." Yugi looked down, he was right again, he grabbed his right wrist and squeezed, if only he had been able to stop himself before, if only he could tell Atem what had happened, maybe they would believe him, forgive him… no it was too much to ask for.
"That's right, they want use gone, after all we did to them. They don't even want use near them." Yugi shut his eyes against the words his dark half was saying, hopping the 'can't see can't hear' principle would work here, but it didn't as his dark half continued with his poisonous words. Yugi gripped his wrist harder stopping the blood flow, 'Atem' he said in his mind, he yearned for his partners touch and his presence, but he was alone, they didn't want him anymore. He opened his eyes a slit and something gold caught his attention.
'The ring?' he looked at it and the words Atem had said to him came back to his mind, 'If there must be a reason then it is because I want you to have something that once belonged to me.'
Yugi smiled, he had been foolish and poisoning his mind with the words that his dark half was saying, the reason why he was here was not because they wanted him out of the way but they wanted him to come back to himself as the real him.
"Enough with your lies, that is not the reason why we are here. I'm here so I can gain control of my body back from you."
His darker self stared at him, "You want to go back, to rely on those weak things that you call bonds. What have those bonds ever done you good, when we were being cornered by a group of bullies or thugs. When have those bonds ever been useful all those nights we spent in our room alone, while the others were off having fun. Where were those bonds?"
"That was a different time, things were different back then. Now I have an even stronger bond, and I know he would do anything for me and I know I would do the same. So step aside I'm returning to those weak bonds that I have."
"No. I won't allow us to be that weak and helpless again, we are stronger and safer this way, I will not allow weakness anymore." His darker half said defiantly as he jumped from his perch above the door out of here. "You'll haft to beat me if you want to return to that old self." And a duel disk appeared on their arms.
"Fine, let's duel and then we will really find out which is the weak one." Yugi said and he activated his duel disk.
Atem ran through the corridors and threw door after door, trying to find Yugi to help him come back to himself. Atem bent over and wiped the sweat from his brow he had been running for what felt like hours even though it had probably only been a few minutes. He just didn't know where to look. All the doors looked the same and as soon as you went threw one a thousand new ones appeared.
'Atem…' a sad and desperate voice echoed through his mind, Atem knew that voice but couldn't find were it was coming from. With renewed strength he ran through the nearest door and continued to run blindly through the maze that was the puzzle.
Voices yelling "Duel!" bounced threw the halls to were Atem stood, someone was dueling. Atem listened carefully for other sounds that would tell him witch direction Yugi's voice had come from earlier.
"I draw." A darker form of Yugi's voice followed soon after. Yugi must be dueling his darker side, Atem thought to himself.
"Hold on Yugi, I'm coming to you!" Atem yelled at the top of his voice and took off running again.
Yugi looked up suddenly from his cards, his eyes wide. Was that…Atem? He glanced behind him but there was no one there, but he was sure he had heard someone there, he waited but nothing else sounded and disappointment filled his heart. It was his imagination. Atem wouldn't want to be near him any more, not after what he had done, his darker side was right. He drew a card it was the Silent Swordsman, the card that he had given to Atem and the one that Atem had given back to him. He shook his head, no, Atem still believed in some part of him that's why Atem had given it back in the beginning.
"I summon the Silent Swordsman in attack mode and place a card face down." Yugi said and waited for his darker half to make his move.
"I draw and summon the Silent Swordsman in attack mode and place one card face down." His darker half said and the smoky black mist surrounding his body grew and spread to his monster. Yugi watched horrified as his dark half's Silent Swordsman turned dark, in grey's black's and silvers just like Yugi's dark half.
"I attack with my Silent Swordsman." Yugi yelled and watched baffled as his monster attacked and was destroyed instantly, he was about to say something when pain shot threw his heart and he buckled to the ground. He looked at the ground stunned, not able to comprehend what he saw, his left foot and part of his leg had lost its coloring, almost as if the darkness had taken control of it.
"That's right Yugi, the more life points you lose the more I take control of your body, I am stronger than you are and so are my monster, that's why you lost." Yugi looked up, his dark self's monster was completely unharmed and growing stronger as the turn passed, so not only did he feel his monster being destroyed, but the more life points he lost the more he was possessed but his darkness.
Yugi finally caught his breath and stood wobbly and placed a card face down, and waited for his dark half to move.
"My move. And I place a card face down and attack you directly with my monster."
"Not if I play this, negate attack."
"That would have worked, if I hadn't played card defect." Yugi's eyes widened as the Silent Swordsman's attack hit and he fell to his knees again as both pain and more of his body was consumed by the darkness. How, was it even possible? The card his dark half had just played was the same card he had just placed face down, they had the same deck and were drawing the same cards. Yugi struggled to his feet, how was he supposed to defeat someone who had the same cards as he did and knew all of the same strategies, how was he supposed to defeat himself. He couldn't he knew, Yugi looked down at his duel disk, more than half his life points were gone, was it really even worth it to try and beat his darker self, he was so much stronger than he was, would it really be so bad to be stronger like that? His hand hovered over his deck, he should just surrender the duel…
Atem burst through a door and found he was looking threw some sort of window and below him were Yugi and his darker side. Yugi struggled to his feet and Atem gasped as half of his body was eaten by the darkness, and there was something in Yugi's eyes that said he was ready to give up as his hand hovered over his deck about to complete the jester of surrender. His darker half smiled evilly and said something to Yugi and further darkening Yugi's eyes.
"No! Yugi don't give up! Don't give in." Atem yelled and pounded his fist into the glass as he slid down to the ground, tears of frustration gathering in the corners of his eyes. He had to help, there had to be something he could do, light shone in the corner of his eye, it was from his duel deck. It got even brighter until a bright beam shot out of it and it disappeared. He pulled it out and one of his cards was missing.
Yugi's eyes were closed and he heard a voice calling out for him, he was sure this time it was Atem. He was yelling to Yugi to not give up, but was there really a point in continuing, his darker half was clearly stronger, he couldn't defeat him not on his own.
"That's right your weak and you can't do anything on your own, that's why you should let me take over." His darker half said. He was right Yugi was about to place his hand down when something shone and when he opened his eyes he watched as his deck was glowing slightly, something in him jumped and he instead pulled a card from his deck and gasped.
"What are you doing, you're to weak to beat me just give up and surrender." His dark half said as some hope crept back into Yugi's eyes as he was unable to see the light that shone from his duel disk. Yugi looked down at the card, it wasn't one of his own cards, it was one of Atem's and his most prized card, his Dark Magician. Yugi looked at it and narrowed his eyes, there was no way that he was going to give up and let his dark half control him, he would return to himself for Atem.
"I play card shuffle, I can place all my cards in my hand, field into my deck then shuffle and draw a new hand." Yugi said and placed the Dark Magician into his deck and shuffled and drew just the cards he needed. "I play block man in defense mode and then I place one card face down."
"That's it for your big come back? I told you, you are weak, now level up my Swordsman and attack Yugi's block man."
Yugi blocked as the impact hit and the pain of losing his monster shot threw him, but it had brought him one step closer to completing his strategy.
Atem watched as Yugi's fighting spirit returned to him, he stood and rubbed his eyes clearing the tears of frustration and sadness that had formed there but had remained unshed and began to search once again for a way down to Yugi.
Yugi watched as his dark half's monster had gained another level making it a level four monster and Yugi drew another card. His Silent Magician card, perfect, "I play one card face down and then my Silent Magician in attack mode." Yugi placed it down.
"Yugi, have you still not learned that your pathetic magician can't protect you or the remainder of your life points. Attack!" Yugi grinned he had noticed that his darker self, had also become arrogant the further there duel went.
"You attacked too soon, I play my time skip trap card. Although it won't power up my magician it still skips over your turn. Next I play Graceful charity making us draw till we have six cards and that jumps my magician two more levels."
"Fine but my monster is still stronger, attack. And this time you don't have any cards to avoid my attack." Yugi braced himself this was all part of his plan but it was still going to hurt, he grunted as the pain flooded his body and the darkness claimed more of his body.
Atem felt a sharp pain in his heart and it made him stumble to a stop as he tried to breath threw the pain, but it wasn't his pain, it was Yugi's. Atem pushed to his feet and continued forward until he felt an impact and he had to hold onto a wall for support as an even greater pain wracked threw his body making him grunt against it and grind his teeth. The impact was close he was almost there, Yugi was just ahead.
Yugi panted heavily as the pain subsided and sweat dripped off of him and onto the stone floor.
"Why are you struggling against me? Together we could be unstoppable." His darker side asked.
"Because, I don't want to be alone. Those bonds you think are so weak are what make me unstoppable. But you wouldn't know that since you reject them all." Yugi looked up as he rose on shaky feet, most of his body was consumed by the darkness but now everything was ready. He looked at his dark self and felt pity for him, his dark half was all his fears, insecurity's and darker feelings rolled into one and it made Yugi sad. He had once been there, long before he had met all his friends and most important Atem, but there was always that little part of him that feared they would all disappear and leave him in the dark and alone again.
"Make you unstoppable, look at yourself your almost completely mine and I have yet to see any of your friends or your partner to come and aid you."
"He already has." Yugi said as determination light his eyes, he would not return to the darkness but he also wouldn't leave his dark side there, his only option was to win. His darker self took a self-conscious step back as the look in Yugi's eyes changed and the words he had spoken registered in him and he feared them. If Yugi beat him he would be destroyed and alone forever, he couldn't allow that, he had to win so he wouldn't be alone ever again.
"But before I show you what I mean, I summon out water pon and marshmellon, but they won't be sticking around. I now sacrifice them to summon out the card that will end this duel. The Dark Magician, Atem's favorite card."
"But how, it shouldn't be possible?" his dark half looked at the card in his other half's hand.
"It shouldn't be possible but it is thanks to Atem's loyalty and feelings for us, feelings that you turned away from. Now come out Dark Magician. Next I play two magic cards to power up my magician even more. Magic formula and fallen comrade, allowing me to add seven hundred extra points for every magician in the grave yard and I count one. Giving the Dark Magician a grand total of 4200, enough power to completely take your life points down with one attack, now end this duel with dark magic attack!" Yugi yelled and watched triumphant as his darker half was defeated, but sadness claimed his face as he saw his other half kneeling on the ground.
Saddened Yugi approached his other self as tears trailed down his darker's face, "Leave me, you defeated me and will leave me behind in the darkness as well. Everybody eventually leaves and bonds become nothing more than wishful thinking."
Yugi held out a hand, "Come on it's time to go back." His dark half looked up, surprised he was being offered a chance to come with Yugi, hesitantly he reached for the out stretched hand. Yugi closed the last of the distance and pulled his other half back onto his feet, "You are not going to wander in the darkness, you are a part of me, one that I tried to not except but that was wrong of me. You are a part of me and I will not allow you to wonder alone in this darkness again, but to live with me in the light, we are one and the same."
Yugi smiled and watched as his darker half looked at him, was he really not going to be left in this darkness anymore, he could live in the light. He looked down as the cold in his body became warm and the darkness dissipated some and he began to fade. Yugi closed his eyes and felt as his dark half entered him and became a part of him, a part of him that he now accepted, his weaker and scared self.
Atem heard Yugi call his attack and leaned against the side of a wall as he watched the dust clear from the impact. Yugi looked triumphant as he looked to were his dark half kneeled on the ground in defeat, Yugi's face fell as he saw the sight of his other self as he walked over. He couldn't hear what was being said between the two but he had a good idea of what it was, Yugi stretched out a hand and pulled his dark half up and his dark half dissipated entering Yugi's body.
"Yugi?" Atem called out, and felt his heart lift as Yugi stared back at him, his Yugi.
"Atem." Yugi smiled and took a step when his entire body dropped to the floor, exhausted and tired out from his duel.
"Yugi, are you okay?" Atem asked as he ran and kneeled beside his partner.
"I'm fine, just tired out. I want to go home, will you help me up?" Yugi asked hesitantly, he was nervous that Atem would still become mad at him for everything that had happened but his worries eased as Atem offered him a hand. He was pulled rather easily off the floor and was pulled into a surprise hug.
"I thought I would never get the real you back." Atem said as he held his partner close.
Yugi smiled, and returned the hug weakly, "You wouldn't have if you hadn't come to help me, it's thanks to you."
"Let's get out of here, before Mahad is forced to knock Desmond out with a pipe again."
Yugi laughed at that and leaned on his partner heavily as he exited threw the door.