HCG: *bouncing-off-the-walls excited*

Karma: *confused* What's wrong with you?

Slash: Nothing's wrong with her. She just got a review, that's all.

Karma: Oh. So she's going insane because she got a review?

HCG: No, stupid! *smacks Karma* I'm excited because I honestly never thought I'd get a review, and especially not the first day I posted the story!

Karma: Oooh.

HCG: But I DID, so now, as I said, I will give you people the next chapter to read! And a special thanks to Weeping Angel, who was my first reviewer ^_^ THANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!

Slash: o_O;; Calm down Guardian.

HCG: ^_^;; Right. Okay. Karma, disclaimer?

Karma: *nods* HCG doesn't own Yu-gi-Oh, but she does own me'n Slash. And we're so much better so it's fair ^_~

HCG: Um...yeah! Story!

Notes:

Yugi is Yugi, while Yami Yugi will be referred to as simply "Yami."

italicized words are thoughts or dreams/memories

/word/ -- Yugi speaking to Yami in a mind link

//word// --Yami speaking to Yugi in a mind link

Shadow Turned Light

Chapter 2: Rude Awakening

The first thing Yugi felt that brought him back to consciousness was a striking pain in his head, as if somebody had tried to slice it open to get into his mind. The pain rolled away, as if deciding to leave the boy's head alone, but then suddenly returned with such a stab of agony that the young Hikari groaned without meaning to.

As the sound escaped his lips, he found it dragging his mind fully away from his foggy, unconscious mind. Shakily he tried to focus it, to make it think. He couldn't remember what had happened to put him in so much pain, but...he stopped momentarily as that mischievous jolt of pain in his head returned.

He squeezed his eyes tight to try and make it go away, but the action didn't work very well. Eventually the pain did subside, returning to a small, hardly-noticeable throb, but Yugi mentally reminded himself to look out for it.

Hah, he muttered to himself mentally, you're thinking of headaches as living things now? I have to watch it? Whatever happened to me, it must've been really bad to make me act like this.

He tried to laugh at that thought, but quickly discovered that laughing only provoked that annoying pain into coming back stronger than ever. He snapped his mouth shut and tried to concentrate on his position instead.

He still had his eyes closed--he hadn't opened them since he had first come back into consciousness--and he didn't really want to open them yet, either. His head still hurt, and he had the idea that light wouldn't improve matters much. Instead, he used other senses to take hold of his position.

He was laying on his back on something hard and cold. Stone, it felt like, probably concrete. He discovered that one of his hands was clutching the Millennium Puzzle protectively, as if guarding it from thieves.

I wonder if thieves really were the problem, Yugi mused. Nah, they would've knocked me out and ran with the Puzzle, not leave it here. Oh well, at least I've still got it.

He sighed and opened his eyes, blinking momentarily at the sunlight that shone into them. The sun was pretty low in the sky, he noticed--he guessed that in an hour or so the sun would go down and it would be night. I'd better get home then. Grandpa'll worry.

Shakily he pulled himself to his feet, assisted by a nearby wall. The movement brought the pain in his head back, and he winced at the feel of it, rubbing his head carefully.

Standing up, he had a better view of where he was then when he was laying down. It was an alley between two fairly small buildings, and he was near the middle of it. He glanced around slowly, careful not to jar his head too much lest he drag the pain back, and examined it. Just an ordinary alley, with nothing interesting that caught his eye. So what am I doing here?

All at once the memories came flooding back. His dream, the strange magical energies his Yami had discovered, the portal...

Wait.

That portal...what was so important about that portal that he couldn't remember? He sorted through the suddenly-returning memories, searching for the last thing he could remember.

He dropped like a stone, down to the abyss in the mind that waited for him. He found himself yelling hoarsely for his darker side, and in the next moment found his Yami grasping hold of one of his hands. His other was kneeling on the side of the sudden opening, straining to hold his Light up.

Yugi blinked. The memory had burst into his thoughts suddenly, filling in one of the holes in his mind. He remembered it now; it had happened in that strange mind realm. He dug deeper into the hidden memories, searching for what had happened after.

The shadows, ones very similar to those that had caught him just moments before, were attacking the pharaoh. It was as if they wanted him to let go of his Hakari and let him fall...

Success! Another memory found, another piece of the puzzle in place. He chuckled at his choice of words and glanced down at his Millenium Puzzle before digging through his mind again.

Yami was trying his hardest to drive the murderous shadows away, with the assistance of the Millenium Puzzle, but it didn't do him much good. To make matters worse, his hand was loosing it's grip...

Yugi shuddered. It was all coming back to him now...

But there was still one more hole in his memory to be filled in. Dreading discovering it, yet at the same time eagerly looking for it, he searched his memories one last time.

Slowly, so agonizingly slowly, his hand slipped from the pharaoh's grasp. Without any more support, he fell, tumbling end over end, towards the portal.

That right, the Hikari thought to himself. I fell through. But Yami...

The shock hit him suddenly. His yami...his yami hadn't gone through the portal with him, or at least as far as he knew. Desperately he tried his mind link.

/Yami?/

There was no answer. Nervous, Yugi tried again.

/Yami? Were are you? This isn't funny Yami!/

Still no answer. The Hikari was beyond nervous now, and he was growing worried. Hastily he closed his eyes to concentrate; the pain in his head had left without his noticing, and so it was easier for him to do so.

With no sound at all, Yugi suddenly found himself in one long corridor in his mind. Another mental realm of sorts, and far more important than the other one he had been trapped in. The hall had two doors in it, one on each side. One of them lead to Yugi's own soul room, and it was considerably lighter and cheerier than the room that faced it on the opposite side of the hall. Yami's soul chamber.

Yugi darted towards his darker spirit's room, but stopped short at the sight that met his eyes. The heavy door, usually closed and locked, stood wide open, as though somebody had left in a hurry. The chambers within were dark and twisted, as usual, but this time there was something that seemed to be missing; a feeling, the feeling of ancient life, courage, and wisdom that usually filled the room.

"Yami?!" the young Hikari called, growing more worried. As it was before, there was no answer.

Slowly, as if he expected his Yami to burst out and claim it was all a joke, Yugi concentrated and left the corridor in his mind, returning to his real body. After several minutes of silence, he stroked the Millenium Puzzle once and murmured softly, "Yami's gone."

* * * * *

Yugi had sat for a good fifteen minutes in silence, hidden in the shadows the alley cast on him and hiding him from the views of all the people that passed by on the street not too far away.

His Yami missing had come as a shock to him. He couldn't imagine what had happened to the ancient pharaoh; he had never known anything to injure the spirit, beyond the physical pain his Hikari received, and even then he only felt it when he tried to help his charge. But it seemed now as if something had injured him, or caught him, or...

Too many possibilities, Yugi thought to himself. I could run through them all day and still not even come close. And it doesn't help Yami or myself if I just make lists in my head. I have to do something.

Coming to such a conclusion, he stood up and walked slowly out of the alley to the street. It was then that he recalled he had no idea where he was.

He sighed. Today just wasn't a good day for him, he concluded, as he looked around for a recognizable landmark.

That was a major understatement.

There--he could see the tip of the KaibaCorp. building in the distance. Not far away, but not exactly close, either. He turned in the building's direction and returned to his slow walk, thinking to himself.

I wonder what that portal did, he asked himself quietly. I know it got rid of my Yami, somehow...I really wish I knew how. I wish I knew more about it, then maybe I'd stop asking myself these questions.

He tried to recall what his yami had said it was. He remembered the spirit saying that it was similar to a Shadow Realm portal, but different at the same time. As if it leads to somewhere farther away. Those had been Yami's exact words.

Farther away? What's farther away than the Shadow Realm?

He wasn't sure, but he needed to find out, and soon. Maybe one of the other Millenium spirits would know...

No, Yugi thought firmly, I won't ask Bakura. That cruel spirit would only make life worse for Ryou if I did.

He'd just have to figure it out some other way, he decided. All he needed was just a little more information, and he could piece it all together.

The young Hikari was abruptly brought out of his thoughts as he bumped into someone on the streets. It was a lady, he noticed, with red-brown hair and deep green eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said politely, glancing up at her from his rather short height.

"Watch where you're going!" She snarled in reply. She turned to meet his violet eyes, glaring daggers at him. And then...

"I-I'm sorry, sir! I didn't mean to...I didn't mean to yell like that! I-I-I apologize!" The woman backed away from him, looking nervous and with unshed tears in her eyes, and shaking hard enough to fall over. She turned and walked away, her movement more like a run.

Yugi blinked in surprise. That was weird. He didn't understand what had just gone on at all; the way that woman had been acting, one would think he was a bully. But being the victim of the school bullies for so long, he himself would never put others in that position.

So what had made that lady so afraid?

He increased the speed of his walk a little more; this was starting to creep him out. He was almost halfway to the KibaCorp. building, and was coming into more familiar areas.

Not having to spend all his time trying to figure out where he was, Yugi found himself observing the people around him. They were all acting strange as he went by. He received angry stares from the people on the other sides of the streets, and frightened glances from those on his side. When he walked, almost all of the people skirted around him by a good couple of feet. Nobody talked to him willingly; when he stopped one person to ask what was going on, the man gave a frightened squeak and darted away, as though he expected Yugi to try and hurt him.

The Hikari sighed and slowly accepted the way people were acting around him. He didn't like it, of course--he was frightening all these people out of their minds--but he couldn't do anything about it.

That portal must've done something weird to me, he thought to himself. Now I want to figure it out more than ever.

Yugi knew where he was by now, and had turned in the direction of the Game Shop to return home. People continued to stare at him with a mix of anger, surprise, and fear, making him more nervous than before. Eventually, the boy took to walking through the alleys when he could. Sometimes they were a shortcut, while sometimes they only lengthened his route home, but it didn't matter to him--there were hardly any people in the alleys, and therefore there was nobody to stare at him.

He was on a regular street, almost near his home, when he saw a person from school. Not exactly a friend, but somebody he would on occasion talk to during one of his classes. Filled with relief at seeing a friendly face, he ran forward, calling the kid's name.

The fellow student turned and stared with surprise at seeing Yugi running towards him, waving and yelling. With a startled yelp, he turned and ran full out, soon outdistancing Yugi with his longer legs.

Yugi stopped short, surprised and a bit hurt. Even people he knew were scared of him? He sighed, turned, and slipped into another alley, walking towards the Game Shop. He was beginning to hate the portal that had caused this whole mess for him. His yami gone, everyone scared of him...he didn't like it at all.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't notice the two heavily muscled men ahead of him in the alley. They were dressed in black from head to foot--shirt, jacket, pants, shoes, gloves. Both were staring at Yugi, but not like the other people on the street had--their faces held expressions of hatred and suspicion. The first one nodded to the second, and they moved forward skillfully, silently.

Yugi found himself suddenly caught in a strong grasp, arms pinned to his sides and toes dangling off the ground from his rather short height. He struggled, squirming and fighting as hard as possible, and wanting desperately to call Yami for help, when a knife blade was pressed to his throat. He stopped moving quite suddenly, gulping at the sharp twinge of pain at his neck.

"Good. Don't move," a voice behind him hissed.

Yugi obeyed, for his life, but could not resist asking quietly, "What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

The second man dressed in black answered calmly. "It's our job to catch those from the Opposition."

The Hikari blinked. "The what?"

The man scowled. "Don't play stupid with me. I don't have time for it."

Yugi sighed. "But I don't under-"

"Shut up!" The man roared. The knife that was at his throat--held by a second man, Yugi guessed--quivered and bit into his skin a little, leaving a small nick in it, and allowing a tiny trickle of blood to seep out. Just a pin-prick to the boy; he ignored it.

"I know that many of those fools out there--" The first man jerked his thumb towards the alley opening, no doubt signifying all the people on the streets, "--think you're the Great Leader. I'm not that stupid. I can see the difference. I don't know how you survived, but that's really not my area. Point is, the only way you could've lived is by getting help from the Opposition, and that means you're with'em. So," the man said, calm once more, and even with a small, sly grin, " it's my job to take you to the prison."

Yugi blinked in surprise. "What?!"

The man laughed. "Yeah, the game is up. We'll get all the answers about the Opposition soon enough, and the Great Leader will be able to continue his plans in peace."

"But I--"

"Shut up, kid," the man said, anger glittering in his eyes. "I may have orders to take you to the traitor's prison, but the orders said nothing about bringing you in unharmed."

Wide-eyed, Yugi stared up at his capturer in surprise. He wouldn't...the boy found himself wishing harder than ever that Yami was there.

"But be quiet," the man continued, "and maybe I'll be nice and not do anything to you."

Yugi sighed. He really didn't want to give in to these men, but it was the only way that he could stay unharmed. If he was to figure out anything about why these people were acting this way, he'd have to stay in one piece.

Nodding quietly, the Hikari allowed the men to shove him in front of themselves, forcing him to walk where they directed, leading him on to wherever it was they wanted to take him.

It was an uneventful trip, for the most part. His capturers lead him through a maze of alleys, not wanting to be seen by the people who traveled the streets. Everything was dark and shadowy within the alleys, leaving Yugi with a foreboding sense that churned his stomach uneasily. When he slowed down too much, the men would shove him forward roughly, not caring if he got injured or not. They were in a hurry, Yugi noticed quietly; they wanted to get rid of him as quick as possible.

Finally, they stopped in front of a large building, which sent an icy tremor up the young Hikari's back. The building was dark and dull, but it looked strong and ready to take on several dangerous beatings.

The men shoved him through the doorway and inside, shutting the door with a loud clang. To Yugi it felt like he was being sealed inside, never to come out. They lead him down several plain corridors, all devoid of life, each with only a few dim lights to show the way.

The boy found it a shock when he turned the corner the men directed him to and found a third man, also clothed entirely in black. He stared at the first two quietly, then spoke.

"Got another?" He sounded bored.

"Yup." It was the first of Yugi's two capturers, the one who had done all the talking. "An imposter, or maybe the real thing. Has to be with the Opposition."

"Good." The third man sounded relieved. "They're getting smarter, avoiding our traps and the like. The Great Leader will start to get angry with us if we don't catch more of'em." Yugi was almost sure he could catch a nervous sound in the man's voice. He even shook visibly, if only for a second. "And you know how he is when he's angry..."

The other two men nodded silently.

"On the other hand," the third man continued, "we caught one of their strongest members today. In there." He jerked his head in the direction of a door--a cell. What was startling about this particular cell was that, while most simply had bars to keep their captives locked in, this cell was completely sealed off by a solid steel door. "Dangerous one, he is," the man finished. "Would've gotten out of a regular cell with no problems."

Who could be dangerous enough to be put in there? Yugi thought to himself.

"Good," the first man muttered. "At least you caught him. Which one is he?"

The third man grinned. "Traitor."

Both the men behind the young Hikari started with surprise. "You caught him? Amazing! The Great Leader will reward you beyond your dreams!" There was a twinge of jealousy in the voice, but it was covered up quickly.

"I know." The third man was still grinning.

The first man sighed. "It'd be great to keep talking, but we've gotta get back out on the job. Where do you want this one?" He shoved Yugi forward unceremoniously.

The third man laughed. "Throw him in with Traitor," he said, chuckling, "and we'll see if they tear each other apart. You know how much the two hate each other."

The first man agreed, dragging Yugi towards the steel-door cell. Very carefully, the man unlocked it, shoving the Hikari in quickly and slamming the door shut.

"See ya, imposter!" came the muffled yell from the other side of the door.

Yugi stood still, finding himself in a nearly pitch black cell. The only light came from a dim lamp in one corner. A cot sat on one side of the room, but other than that the cell was bare.

Whirling, the boy turned back to the steel door and pounded on it with his fists. "Let me out! You have no right to leave me in here! Let me out, please! PLEASE!"

The only answer he received was laughter from the other side of the steel door.

The Hikari banged on the door until his fists hurt, but still nothing happened. His pleas to be released went unanswered. He quieted, staring at the steel door in shock.

How had he let this happen? And what had that portal done to him?

He was broken from his thoughts by a ragged gasp behind him. Spinning around, Yugi found himself staring at a young teen on the ground.

It was a boy, probably not more than sixteen. He was sprawled on the ground, as if he had collapsed there and didn't have the strength to get up. He wore a gray T-shirt with a light jacket, black in color, over it, and dark blue jeans. The boy's eyes were clamped shut, almost in pain, and sweat ran down from his forehead. His shirt and jacket were soaked in sweat as well; Yugi thought the boy was dangerously ill because of it.

The boy's most noticeable features, however, stunned Yugi beyond what he would have thought possible for his mind to comprehend. The boy's hair was silvery-white...that, and there was a golden ring, almost like a dream-catcher, hanging from a leather cord around his neck.

Bakura.

* * * * *

HCG: *pant* Okay, I've just spent the past three and a half hours writing this....so I'll just take a break now, yes?

Karma: You deserve it.

HCG: ^_^ Why thank you. Did you like this chapter?

Karma: Yup.

HCG: And how about you, Slash?

Slash: It's...weird.

HCG: It's supposed to be.

Slash: Oh...okay then. I liked it!

HCG: *pats Slash on the head* Good. Now for the readers...yeah, I know this is a little weird so far, and you've probably got tons of questions, yes? Well, don't worry, next chapter I'll answer most of them. Just hang in there!

Slash: So when'll you put your next chapter up?

HCG: Probably sometime next weekend. I don't have access to the internet over weekdays, but I'll write up at least one more chapter during that time.

Slash: ^_^ Goody, more weird stuff.

HCG: *grumble*

Karma: While you wait for another chapter...go review this one, please? HCG would me most grateful...and it makes her get to her writing faster!