Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Warnings: Torture.

Mindless Babble:

Mr. Motou sat on the couch trying not to break down. On one side of him sat Joey and on the other sat Tristan. They were both trying to comfort the old man, to no avail.

"Someone needs to tell Tea," said Tristan, not really wanting to be that one.

"Tell me what?" The young woman stood at the bottom of the stairs holding up a very pale Yami. "And before you start, it was either help him or let him fall down the stairs."

"What has happened?" asked Yami, his rich, smooth voice sounding strange. There was a weakness in it that no one had ever heard before. It worried his friends.

"Yug's been kidnapped," replied Joey before he lost his nerve. "The cop just left with a picture of him. There was a botched robbery at the bank. They think Yug might've been injured."

"He is unharmed now," Yami replied, as Tea helped him into one of the chairs. "I used the puzzle to take the injury from him and already its power is healing me."

"Are you sure you're gonna be OK?" asked Tristan. "I mean you did lose a lot of blood."

Yami smiled grimly. "It was not really my blood that was spilled, more of a symbolic representation of my life energy. Had I lost too much of it, though, I would cease to be. I… I thank you all for what you did."

"Hey, it was no biggie," said Joey, his mask of confidence slipping easily into place.

"I don't want to push you, Yami, but Yugi…" Mr. Motou couldn't finish. The tears that had been threatening to come broke through and rushed down the wrinkled cheeks in small rivers. He buried his face in his hands.

Yami stood and walked unsteadily to the old man. He placed his hands on the trembling shoulders and bowed his own head. When he spoke, it was with the voice that could put the fear of the gods themselves into the heart of any mortal man.

"I will not allow any harm to come to that boy. I swear I will find him and punish those that sought to bring him harm!"

"But how do we find him?" questioned Tea.

"Leave that to me," replied Yami.

Yugi sat on the floor of a bedroom in an expensive hotel. His captors had bound his hands and legs and gagged him. Thankfully they had tied his hand in front of him, so at least he was somewhat comfortable. He fingered his Millennium puzzle, a tear sliding down his cheek.

'Yami, why aren't you here? Why haven't you come for me?' he thought as another tear slipped down his cheek.

He looked up as some one entered the room. It was the guy that had grabbed him from the bank. Yugi had counted five people that had been involved in the robbery, four men and a woman. This man was easily the biggest one, tall with broad shoulders. He also had the smallest brain and the worst temper. He walked over to Yugi and picked the boy up by his shirt.

"I don't get it. I know I shot you after my mask slipped and you saw my face. How come there isn't a mark on you?"

Even if he wanted to, Yugi couldn't answer for several reasons. First, it's hard to talk clearly when there's a gag in your mouth. Second, he didn't know if there were enough single syllable words to describe what happened. Besides, Yugi honestly didn't know what happened.

"Oh, so you're not going to talk, huh? Let's see if I can beat it out of you, then!"

The man started punching the defenseless boy, eventually dropping him to the ground to kicking him. It seemed to take forever, but the brutality did come to an end. Yugi curled into a ball and tried to block out the pain. Once again he tied to call out to his friend and protector.

Tristan led the group down the street. He glanced back at Yami, a worried expression on his face. The spirit was being held up by Joey and Tea; his head bowed and eyes closed as he tried to focus on Yugi. Tristan glanced around at his surroundings. They seemed to be in a hotel district. If his friend were around here, it would be impossible to find him without the spirit's help.

"Yugi?"

Tristan spun around in time to see Yami step back and away from his friends. He clutched his stomach in agony. When he dropped to his knees, the three mortals rushed to his aid. His eyes were closed in concentration.

"Yami?" Tea asked softly.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Yami screamed out, rage mixed with sorrow and…fear? Tea wrapped her arms around the distraught spirit trying to comfort him. Surprisingly, he melted into the embrace. When he looked up, there were tears streaming down his face.

"He… he is blocking me. He has been hurt and he is blocking me from taking the pain!"

"Could you tell were he is?" ask Joey

Yami shook his head. "I know he is somewhere close by, but other then that …"

"Ok, here's what we're gonna do," Tristan said, feeling weird that he should be taking charge when Yami was with them. "We know that Yugi is somewhere around here, right? Well, all we have to do is go around to the different hotels and ask if they've seen Yugi. We can start here." He pointed at the building closest to them.

"Good idea, Tristan! I can even expand on that a bit." Joey dug into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. In it was a bunch of pictures, mostly of his sister, but then he found the one he was looking for and pulled it out. It was a picture of him, Tristan and Yugi taken on a school field trip. Joey reached out to give it to Tristan, but a shaky hand grasped it before the other could take it.

Yami looked at the picture. He remembered that day. Yugi had been so excited. It was his first field trip with friends. He had asked Tea to take a picture. Yami touched the picture, a wave of sadness washing over him like a tidal wave.

"Come on, let's get you up," said Tristan, not unkindly.

Yami handed the picture to him, and accepted help from Joey to get back up. The four of them entered the fancy hotel. Luckily, it had a big lobby. Tea took Yami to a waiting area while the two boys went to talk to the desk person.

"Hey, are you ok?" Tea could see that her friend was tired. After glancing around the lobby and seeing no one close by, she pulled up Yami's shirt to check on the wound. It was as she feared; the entire pad was soaked in blood.

'Oh, no, the bleeding hasn't stopped!' she thought to herself, wondering what she should do. She was about to go and get the boys when Yami stopped her.

"It is healing, do not worry," he whispered, his eyes closed. "It is just because Aibou is in another place, that I am not healing as fast as I thought I would."

"Are you sure? You look so tired."

"I am just worried. Yugi has only blocked me once, after that duel with Kaiba. This time, he did it to protect me." Yami sighed. "I am afraid that one day, he will not be able to drop that block. Or he may not want to."

Looking into the spirit's eyes, Tea saw a sorrow so deep; it hurt just to see it. "Yugi would never do that to you. You are his friend. Remember, that was what he wished for."

Yami looked at her gave her a tired smile. "Thank you, Tea."

By that time Joey and Tristan had come back. The desk person hadn't seen anyone matching Yugi's description. Joey glanced down at Yami, noticing that his shirt had been pulled up. He was about to ask when Tea stopped him.

"We need to find Yugi soon."

"Right. Well then, off to the next hotel!"

Yugi felt the carpet beneath his head becoming wetter with his blood and tears. He had accepted the pain from this, his second beating in an hour's time, but they had taken his beloved puzzle. Now he would die alone, without even Yami at his side. He wished he could have at least said goodbye to the spirit of the puzzle. The tears flowed freely now as he thought of his friends.

Yugi flinched as the door opened. He didn't even look up, not wanting to see the first blow. Already he could feel the broken ribs and left arm. He could only see out of his right eye as his left was swollen almost completely closed. His head was battered and bleeding and his whole body ached.

When the blow never came, he opened his one eye. In front of him knelt the woman. She was holding his Millennium Puzzle.

"I guess this thing means a lot to you. I saw the light in your eyes die when they took it from you." She helped Yugi sit up and then slipped the chain over his head. "Well, some of that life came back into that one eye. Let's get you on the bed and maybe a little more comfortable. Promise that you won't scream if I take the gag off?"

Yugi nodded. The woman carefully removed the cloth from his mouth. She then helped him onto the bed. She looked at one of the larger cuts on the boy's head and winced.

"I'm sorry for my brothers. They can be such jerks at times."

"Why are you here?" asked Yugi, pitching his voice low so the others couldn't here. "You seem too nice to be mixed up with those men."

The woman let out a bitter laugh. "Besides the fact that they're the only family I got, they won't let me leave."

"My friends are coming."

"What are you…" the woman was cut off when one of her brothers walked into the room.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" he screamed at her.

The woman stood up to defend herself. The man then slapped her across the face, sending her sprawling across the bed. He curled his hand into a fist, meaning to punch the woman in the stomach. Instead he ended up hitting Yugi, who had thrown himself between the fist and the girl.

"Oh, you want to play hero, huh? Let see how much fun it is after I beat you to a bloody pulp!"

"No, Bols! Don't hurt him!" The woman slipped out from under Yugi and tried to grab her brother's arm.

"Get off of me, Miaka!" The man brutally backhanded her into the wall. Her head hit the wall and she dropped to the ground unconscious.

"Now see what you made me do, you little brat!" The man, Bols, then preceded to take his anger out on Yugi, letting the blows rain down on the helpless teen.

This time, though, Yugi wasn't alone. He allowed the block he had set up, to drop. The last thing he was able to do before the darkness engulfed him was to mentally scream a name.

'Yami!'