Chapter 53

There was no mind flood, no agonizing spasms of mind and soul. The light and the dark knew eachother too intimately for such a violent display; both were freed, and in an instant the ancient riddle had been solved. The one who could be seen yet not seen was now a single entity once again. Yami was Yami, who was also Yami Yugi, the light and the dark co-existing in a single soul.

However, Yami no Ni Koe was also irreversibly part of the whole.

Oblivious to this fact, Yugi coughed and heaved the last traces of dark memory from his lungs as he pooled liquid shadow on the floor. The flood had drained away, back to whatever torrid hole in Yami no Ni Koe's mind it had come from. The light had come, the nightmare was over. For the moment.

Not entirely sure exactly where he was, Yugi got to his knees, trembling with the aftershock of witnessing over five millenia's pain compressed into what now seemed less than a minute. He noticed that he wasn't in the same chamber as before; perhaps the Soul Room had re-arranged its contents due to the sudden seperation of its master.

The contents of Yugi's scrambled mind began to reassert themselves as well. It worked, he thought, giddily. He swivelled, causing the world within the boundaries of his vision to swirl dizzyingly around his head. Where was Yami?

Now worried that the the corridors may have altered themselves so drastically as to lose him inside, Yugi hesitantly took a step down one of the halls. For one panicked moment, he thought the walls might be moving; and maybe they were, but he couldn't tell. Something was shifting, a change was occurring. The stones seemed to whisper his name, and Yugi knew, then, that Yami's mind was his own once more, and Yami was calling him back.

Yugi put out a hand and felt the currents beneath the cool walls surrounding him. Yami was there again, the Yami he had known, the light and the dark. Yugi felt a strange wilting sensation; could this finally be the end?

He stood with his palm on the stone for a few more preciously peaceful moments, and then began his journey down the once more familiar passageways.

The bridge was being crossed, the length between them grew smaller. Soul Rooms were the manifestation of their owner's state of mind, their emotions and desires; now that Yami was back in control, the time it toook for Yugi to be re-united with his former partner was considerably shortened. The seconds, the minutes, the timeless hours.

As if in a walking dream, Yugi rounded another corner where the shadows grew deeper on the walls, and stopped.

Darkness breathed heavily in Yugi's ear as he stood, eyes focused on the figure near the wall. Yami stared back; violet echoing violet all over again. The sight of him, back in the realms in which he'd always belonged, sent untracable shivers through Yugi's skin. Here was the familiar. Here was the reborn... And was this reincarnation the same?

Yami smiled. That small, ancient and knowing smile he had posessed, bereft of the malice it had taken on under the darkness of its recent owners. It drew tears of relief from Yugi's eyes. "Back again," he whispered, and Yami lowered his head slightly in agreement. There was a rustle behind him.

Yami no Ni Koe's dark wrist rested on Yami's collarbone as his arm was around Yami's neck; the two wavered briefly behind the thick shroud of shadows. Yugi watched, paralyzed, as Yami Ni dragged Yami further down the corridor, until their struggle was lost in the black midsts.

Too late, Yugi's reaction time snapped back to awareness. He lunged forward, but met with only stone through the now active shadows. One last resort on Yami no Ni Koe's part... Yugi was sure this barrier was the final surge of energy that Yami Ni posessed. Yami and Yami Ni would be trapped together on the other side...

Yet, even as Yami had been resisting Yami Ni's grip, and though Yami Ni's hold was solid, there had been an unusual confirmation between the two; as if their souls had passed unseen messages to eachother. Something mutual had been exchanged. And somehow, Yugi was unafraid of what was transpiring beyond that stone wall.

There was nothing left to do but wait, and hope for whoever came back to him...