When they awoke they opened their eyes to a pitch black void of darkness. They floated in mid air surrounded by nothing but the cries and despair ridden voice of their friend, his voice echoing back his wails from invisible walls.
"Is this… Yugi's mind?" Tea asked, frightened. Her voice was swallowed by the darkness but it frightened her all the same.
"There's nothing here…" Joey said quietly.
"No...listen." Atem told them as he listened to the cries in the air.
I'm so alone… They're gone… it's all my fault… I should have listened… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I just want them back… take me instead… I'm so alone now… I never wanted this… bring them back please…
His voice continued, begging for his friends to come back and endlessly apologizing.
"He truly believes we're gone." Tea said sadly.
"We have to find him. He's got to be here somewhere. I'm sure once he sees us he'll see that he's not alone and that we are alive, right?" Tristan urged them.
"Right." Atem agreed.
"But… there's nothing here." Joey said. He was right… any direction they looked they were met with yet more void.
"Yugi!?" Joey called out. His voice echoed back but Yugi's became louder, drowning out his call.
"Ah, look!" Tea exclaimed, pointing behind Joey. Behind him was now a door. It was a simple door with nothing on it save for Joey's name inscribed into it delicately.
"It- it says my name." Joey said as they approached it.
"Maybe you need to go through it Joey…." Atem suggested.
"You think?" Joey asked excitedly. He hovered his hand over the door knob…. Unsure if he should open it or not.
"Why did he get a door and not us though?" Tristan asked.
"Yugi!" Tea shouted out into the darkness then and where she once stood was a door of her own.
"Oh! We must be announcing ourselves. I bet we each get a door to go through." Tea said happily.
Atem and Tristan both called his name too and just as before their own door appeared for them.
"Alright, this seems straight forward enough." Tristan said happily.
"Yes but what is on these other doors?" Atem asked.
"We're not going to find out by staring at them. Whatever happens guys we're bringing him back, right?!" Joey said enthusiastically.
"Right! Be careful guys! We'll see each other soon!" Tea said. They put their hands out, encouraging one another to succeed before they each took their own door and entered.
Joey.
As he walked through his door he was met with blinding light but when his eyes adjusted he saw he was in another one of the temples corridors and utterly alone.
"Okay… I'm sure there's a reason why I'm here." He said aloud to himself.
As if on queue he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Yugi running around the corner closely followed by his friends, including Joey!
"Now this is weird! There's two of me?" He asked no one in particular. They didn't stop as they ran towards him so he held out his hands in greeting and to get them to stop before they ran into him.
"Hey guys!" He said happily but they ignored him, instead running straight through him like apparitions. He felt his skin crawl and tingle at the sensation as weirdness crept over him like hundreds of small insects.
"Eeehh…. That's weird!" He exclaimed as he shivered and turned to watch them.
It was strange to see another one of him standing beside them, talking as if he was actually the real him. He watched him, sizing him up, comparing. He was identical to him to the point where even he wondered which one was real.
The other Joey hastily opened a door but immediately was sent back into the opposing wall, bleeding from darts that had sprung into him.
"Joey!" They exclaimed in shock and ran to him.
Joey was in complete surprise to see himself leaning against the wall, fading away into unconsciousness as they tried to help him. Even he knew it was no use though… the other Joey was dying. Joey touched one of the needles that hadn't gone into him, feeling the green liquid that coated it… it was poisoned.
"Oh! What did Yugi say?" Joey exclaimed to himself, thinking hard. "Thats right. I was shot with poison darts. This must be a memory! What he saw happened to me… or the other me…"
"We have to go."
"Go, I'll stay with him. Find the girl and come back." Tea told them.
"Are you sure?"
"Come on Yugi."
Yugi cried but left with Tristan and Atem all the same while Tea stayed behind. As they got further away though the scenery around Joey faded into blackness and then, as quickly as it had disappeared, the hallway was back to what it was before he had seen them.
"Okay...what now?" He asked.
He heard footsteps again and turned to see Yugi and his friends running around the corner, just as they had done a second ago. Joey wasn't with them though, but it was just like the scene from before. This time… they stopped around him and continued having the conversation they were having before Joey had opened the door.
"I don't understand…. It should be here." Yugi said.
"Maybe we took a wrong turn?" Tristan suggested.
"No I just came from here, this was it." Yugi insisted.
He knew this scene. The next line would come from Joey except … he was here now… he knew the other Joey opened the door and then was shot… so if he didn't open the door perhaps he would be okay.
"Well I'm sure she's around here somewhere. We just gotta keep looking." Joey told them.
"Okay well maybe we should try opening these doors?" Tristan suggested. He touched the handle of the door and instinctively Joey moved to grab him, tackling him to the ground before he could open it.
"Ah! Joey, what the hell man?" Tristan asked angrily.
"Don't be reckless Tristan. We don't know what could be behind those doors." Joey told him.
"Well we're not going to know if we don't open them." Tristan argued.
"Why don't we open the door together?" Atem suggested.
"How about we don't open that door and we open a different one?" Joey said back.
"Why don't you open the door Joey?" Yugi asked him.
Something about the way he stared at him made him feel cold… he was looking straight into him, past his soul and almost through him.
Suddenly his friends faded away, the hallway too except for the door and Yugi as he stared at him.
"Go on Joey. Open the door." Yugi insisted.
Joey wasn't sure what was happening, but he didn't trust the door. The last Joey that opened it was shot with poison darts, and while the corridor had fallen away the same door remained… if it had poison darts in it he had no idea what would happen to him. Would he die? Or would he start the sequence all over again?
"Open the door Joey." Yugi insisted again, more urgently this time.
"No Yugi. It's dangerous." Joey argued.
Yugi narrowed his eyes, becoming visibly angrier at his response.
"Open the door. That's how it happened, that's how it will happen. Open the door."
"No. The door never opened Yugi. I was never there to open it."
"But if you don't open it, then you won't die. This isn't how it's supposed to go!" Yugi urged.
"You don't want me to die."
"No I don't, but it's what happens! It's what always happens! You open the door, you die, it starts all over again!" Yugi snapped.
"I'm not opening the door Yugi. I'm not dead… nor am I going to die any time soon. I'm right here for you Yugi… and so long as I don't open that door, I'm always going to be." Joey said kindly, touching Yugi's shoulder gently and messing his hair.
"Why… this isn't… you can't change…" Yugi struggled to say in his confusion.
Joey pulled him into a cuddle, holding him close for comfort.
"I'm not dead pal. None of it ever happened. So that door is staying closed, okay?" Joey said to him calmly.
Yugi pushed off him gently, looked him in the eyes as if searching and then finally he held out his hand for Joey to take, dropping something small and cold in his palm before he closed his eyes and turned to dust before him.
"Yugi!?" Joey called, alarmed. He got no answer and nothing around him changed, not even the door that remained beside him.
In his palm rested a key. It was a simple key with a red stone in it, old in shape and solid. The door beside him didn't have a lock on it though.
"The hell do I do now?" He asked aloud. If he opened the door he risked getting shot by darts...but Yugi wasn't around and neither was anything else for that matter… not to mention now he had a key… maybe he passed whatever test he was in?
He hesitated but as he was left with no other choice he carefully touched the door handle. His palms were sweating and his heart was racing…
Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and swung open the door. He braced himself for the darts but when nothing happened he cracked open his eyes to see a bright a light on the other side. Nothing else… just the brightest of lights he had ever seen.
Relief filled him and he walked on in.