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

Warnings: None.

Mindless Babble:

"Miaka, would you please sit down before you fall down."

The young woman collapsed into the chair next to the bed, her slender body trembling. She couldn't tell if it was from fear or shock. 'This isn't happening, this isn't happening!"

A sharp and painful intake of air brought her back to her feet. "Yugi?" She noticed that he had removed the IVs from his arm and hand as well as the oxygen mask.

"Not me! It's Yami!"

The former Pharaoh was convulsing, trying desperately trying to draw in a full breath of air. Thanks to her brothers, Miaka had spent plenty of time in hospitals to have a good idea of what to do. She motioned for Yugi to move over so she could move Yami from his side to his back. She grabbed the discarded mask and slipped on Yami. It took a few seconds before he started to breathe easier. Yugi soon followed, the color slowly returning to his cheeks.

"He needs help." Yugi's eyes were still wide with worry and now were starting to tear up.

"I think the phrase you were looking for was 'a miracle'," Miaka said. "Remember he took all of your injuries and you weren't supposed to make it through the night."

"I wasn't?" Miaka could hear the fear creeping into Yugi's voice.

'They must be really close,' she thought, sadly. 'I wish I could've had a brother like that.'

"Well, I think I might be able to provide that miracle."

Both conscious people looked at the black cat. Her markings were strange. Her eyes were outlined in gold and on her chest, a symbol that that strongly resembled the Eye of Ra. At first glance, Yugi thought it was the same eye that was on his puzzle but on closer inspection there were differences.

"I will need to ask that both of you donate something to help me."

"Anything!" Yugi exclaimed without a second of hesitation.

Miaka was a bit slower to respond. "What do you need me for? I don't even know either of them."

"Please, Miaka! Yami is the one that saved you from your brothers!" pleaded Yugi.

"Hey, three of them may be in a loony bin, but Bols is still on the loose!"

"No, Yami sent him to the Shadow Realm for his monsters to take care of!"

"The 'what'?"

The cat sighed impatiently. "A very not-nice place. Trust me when I say that your brother has been taken care of and will never bother you again. Now, please, Miaka! I need you most of all!"

"Why me?"

"I need your body."

"Excuse me?"

"Not that way!" the cat admonished. "My spirit needs a life energy to cast the spell that will save the pharaoh's life. Will you help us?"

Miaka looked at Yugi. His violet eyes were filled with hope. Hope that she would help him as he had tried to help her.

"Alright, I'll help." The young woman found herself enveloped in a warm hug. She looked down and found Yugi with his short arms wrapped tightly around her. Tears streamed down his cheeks and a smile like the kind she had seen precious few times in her life, shone on his face. She wrapped her arms around the small body, returning the hug.

They broke apart with Yugi turning to the cat-goddess. "What did you need from me?"

"Your Millennium Item. Please give it to Miaka."

The boy handed his puzzle to the young woman, who slipped the chain over her head.

"How do you walk around with this weight around your neck all the time?"

Yugi's laughter was cut short by the cat. The golden eye on her chest glowed with the same intensity as the sun. Maika could feel another presence joining her own. It was a gentle yet fierce spirit and surprisingly, it felt a lot like her own soul. Maika suddenly felt warm, safe and sleepy. A voice came from out of nowhere and told her that she could rest.

When Yugi could see again, he was a bit surprised. Where Maika had stood, there was another. The goddess had completely taken over, imposing her form over that of her host. Her body was slim but muscular, like that of an athlete in peak form. The semi-transparent dress she wore did nothing to hide that. Her skin was darkly tanned and without a blemish. The most noticeable change was the fact that a cat's head had replaced Miaka's human one. The markings on her face matched the ones on the cat that now lay limply on the bed.

The goddess spoke a few words and the world around the bed seemed to melt away. It was like being in the Shadow Realm but without the fear.

"Yugi, I am Bastet. I was once the protector of the pharaohs. Your Yami was particularly special to me. His mother died shortly after his birth. The song he was singing, to take away your wounds, was the very same lullaby that she would sing to him. I was rather surprised to find that he still remembers it."

She paused for a moment to gaze at Yami before continuing. "Being the son of a mighty pharaoh meant a life of loneliness. He had only one wish." Bastet focused her cat eyes on Yugi.

"He made the same wish I did," whispered Yugi, in awe.

Bastet nodded. "He often came to my temple just to talk. Though he never saw me, I think he could feel my presence. His father was died when he was ten and his visits became infrequent. Seven years later a rouge priest challenged him to a duel. The injuries he received from that battle were terrible. The only thing the priest could do for him was to seal his soul in the puzzle. I begged Thoth to find another way, but even he could not find anything better."

"Can you help him now?"

The goddess smiled, revealing lethal looking teeth. "This time, the wounds are physical, not injuries to the ka."

She leaned over and kissed Yugi on the forehead. "When you return, the hospital staff will believe that you are here to have the cast on your arm removed. The casts on your legs will be gone and you will have your hair back. And as far as they are concerned, your medical bills are paid."

"What about Yami?" asked Yugi, clutching his darker half's hand.

"He will be coming with me. I'm going to use Sekhmet to help take him," Bastet said picking up the cat. "The journey will be rough and she will be the vessel by which the pharaoh will travel. Your puzzle will protect me against any defenses he has set up."

With that said, the goddess walked to the other side of the bed, taking the feline with her. She laid the animal next to the unmoving form of Yami. She then placed one hand on the cat's head and the other on the spirit's forehead. She began chanting in what Yugi figured was the ancient tongue. Like Yami's song, it was beautiful. Yugi watched as his friend and protector faded from sight. Sekhmet glowed with unnatural light as she curled into a ball and fell asleep.

Bastet ended her spell and moaned tiredly. "I haven't done something that required so much energy in a long time."

She rested a few minutes, sitting on the edge of the bed. She tried to cheer Yugi up, but he was too worried. Bastet took the Millennium Puzzle from around her neck and tried to put on the boy. He blocked her.

Yugi answered the unspoken question. "When I have that on, our bond is even stronger. But right now there's a huge void in my soul from him not being there."

"True," Bastet replied, studying the object in her hand. "Did you know that this puzzle was the pharaoh's favorite childhood toy? He 'found' it in my temple."

Yugi looked up at the goddess, smiling faintly. "You gave it to him?"

The cat-headed deity nodded. "And if you wear it, you will be the first to know when he's ready to come back to you."

Yugi took the chain and reluctantly slipped over his head, and winced as the void intensified. "How long will he be gone?"

"I don't know. These are serious injuries and will require some time to heal." Bastet wrapped an arm around the teen. "Pray for a speedy recovery."

She stayed like that, with her head on top of Yugi's head, for a few moments. Then she stood. "I'm going to take Miaka back to her room. I'll only be a few minutes."

"What's going to happen to her?"

Bastet was startled by the question. 'No wonder my pharaoh calls this child "Hikari". His soul is so pure, the scales would surly tip in his favor and Ammut would be without his meal.'

"She has a plea bargain that works in her favor," Bastet replied out loud. "Now get some rest. I'll be back shortly."

About an hour later, the goddess appeared by Yugi's bed. She had left Miaka's body in her room, asleep. Now she was in her pure spirit form, almost transparent. Her golden cat eyes glowed with power now that she wasn't using it to control anothers body.

She gazed down at the sleeping boy. He looked so peaceful; Bastet almost didn't want to wake him. However, the doctor was coming to take the cast off of his arm. As she had promised, Yugi's wild hair was back and the casts that had been on his legs were gone. She had also found his bloodstained clothes on the way to Miaka's room. Bastet now whispered a spell and the blood vanished.

She placed a hand gently on the boys shoulder and he woke with a start. He sat up, absently rubbing his head. Yugi looked up at Bastet in awe.

"You really must be a powerful goddess to wake me up like that," he said. "Usually it takes Yami lifting the bed up, dumping me on the floor to get me up."

Bastet smiled. "The doctor will be here in a few minutes. I thought you might like to get dressed before he shows up."

"Are you staying with me?" asked Yugi, as he pulled on his pants, grateful to have something covering his hind end.

"Yes, until you are out of this wretched place and on your way home," replied Bastet. "Will you be able to make it home on your own? I would like to start attending to your Yami as soon as possible."

Yugi slipped his shirt over his head; a task made difficult by the bulky cast on his arm. "Sure. I don't live that far away. I can the bus."

"I'll send you home in a taxi, then. It's too late for you to be riding those dreadful buses." Yugi looked at her questionably. "My pharaoh would be angry with me if I let anything happen to you."

Yugi looked up from tying his shoes and found, not the beautiful cat-headed goddess, but a very pretty woman with long blond hair wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. The boy almost fell of the bed from shock.

"Well I can't be a goddess all the time!"

Luckily, Yugi didn't have to answer because at that moment, the doctor came in, apologizing for how overcrowded the hospital was that night.

The cab dropped him off at the front of the Kame Game Shop. He stood there for a few moments wondering how he should do this. It wasn't like he could go in there like nothing had happened. Bastet had told him that only the hospital staff had been fooled by her magic.

His thoughts were interrupted by someone opening the front door. Yugi sighed in relief. It was Tristan.

"Oh, hey, Yami. We thought we heard a car."

"Um… I'm not Yami," Yugi said shyly.

Tristan stepped outside and approached the shorter teen. On closer inspection, he realized the truth.

"My God… Yugi!" he whispered. "How…?"

"Yami, he… he traded p… places with me." Yugi could feel the lump in his throat growing. He had felt his aibou disappear into whatever realm Bastet had taken him to. It had felt like someone had ripped out his heart and put into a paper shredder. The tears that he had been holding back since woke up started to run down his cheeks.

Tristan did what instinct told him to and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, letting him sob into his shirt. He stayed like that until Yugi's tears dried. Then he pulled away keeping his hands on Yugi's shoulder.

"I don't want to rush you, but there are three very upset people in that house that could use a bit of good news even if it's followed by some more bad."

Yugi nodded and followed Tristan into the house. He halted just short of entering the living room. The taller boy looked over his shoulder wondering why his friend had stopped.

"I don't want to surprise Grandpa into another heart attack."

"Your grandpa is upstairs, asleep. It's only Tea and Joey."

Yugi sighed in relief. Now, he would have some time to figure out a way to gently break the news to his grandpa. He continued into the living room.

Tea and Joey were sitting on the couch together with the TV on. Neither one were really watching the news broadcast. Tristan walked over to the TV and turned it off. Both teens looked at him, surprised. Tristan gestured for Yugi to come and stand next to him. Joey was the first to respond.

"Okay, so now I'm so far gone, that I'm seeing Yugi alive and well, standing in front of me."

"You and me, both," said Tea, the strain of the day being reveled in her voice.

"No, guys. It's really me," Yugi said uncertainly. He saw the glazed look in his friend's eyes and was a bit frightened by it.

"Yugi?"

"Yeah, Tea. It's really our friend," Tristan said, looking in the girl's eyes. "Yami worked his magic and healed Yugi."

Joey reached out to touch the boy, as if he didn't believe that he was real. Once his fingers brushed the material of the dark coat, it was as if reality finally set in. He wrapped Yugi in tight hug with Tea joining him. Tristan had to rescue the smaller boy from suffocation.

"Let him breath, guys," Tristan said. "I, for one, would like to how this happened."

Yugi sat down between Joey and Tea with Tristan sitting on the coffee table in front of him. The boy could almost imagine Yami standing behind him, completing the protective circle of friends. That thought nearly drove him to tears again.

At first the words didn't seem to want to be spoken, but soon they were flooding out of him. Yugi told them of his time as a hostage and Miaka. He spoke of the dreams he had, dreams of his friends telling him not to leave them. At last he spoke of Yami.

"He came to me in one of my dreams. He seemed to be trying to tell me something, but I couldn't understand him. He reached out his hand and I grabbed it. Yami smiled and we stayed like that for some time. I remember that there was strange music coming from somewhere, like a man's voice singing. Then he was being pulled away from me. I tried to hold on, but I… I couldn't. All I could do was stand there, watching as one of my closest friends was ripped away!"

"Then you know how we all felt seeing you slip away from us, laying in that hospital bed," Joey said softly. He stared at the ground, unable to look at his friend. A small hand appeared on his knee and he had to look up.

"I'm sorry, Jonouchi," Yugi said, using his friends full name.

"Not your fault, Pal," he replied with a slight smile.

"Go on with your story, Yugi," interrupted Tristan, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Yugi went on to tell them about how he had woken up to a shocked Miaka and how she had helped Yami. He stopped there, not knowing how to explain what happened next. He wasn't sure himself.

"What's the matter, Yug?" Joey asked.

"Well, thing get a little weird now," responded Yugi.

"You mean weirder then a 5,000 year old pharaoh taking your wounds so that you would live isn't weird?" asked Tea, coming alive for the first time since Yugi started his story.

"Okay, weirder."

"Then, go on!"

So Yugi told them of the beautiful goddess, Bastet.

Torches that hung on the cold stone walls lit up some of the large room. Strange smelling incense hung in the air giving the area a misty feeling. The high ceiling that curved like a cat's arched back echoed with the chanting of the circle of dark robed men below it.

The men surrounded a ring of candles that, in turn, surrounded an alter that had been draped in heavy black material. On top of that, lay a motionless figure. Other then the strips of clothes that covered most of the wounds that covered his body he was naked.

Bastet stood next to the alter. Her priest had done an excellent job bandaging the damaged body. She could smell the herbs and ointment they had used to, hopefully, speed up the healing process. They had known that this man was important to their goddess and knew what would happen to them if they didn't do their best.

Bastet studied the man before her. His skin was lightly tanned were it wasn't bruised or damaged. His body was like hers, toned and muscular but lankier. And definitely masculine.

The goddess smiled and spoke softly. "Sleep well, my pharaoh. Your Hikari waits for you."