Yugi had an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he walked down the dark, deserted streets that night. He felt as though someone was following him. It was slightly unnerving.
There was a screech to his left, and he jumped up in the air slightly. Snapping his head in that direction, he relaxed a little when he saw it was only a cat climbing out of a garbage can. But only a little.
A weird shiver went through his spine. He shouldn't be there, he knew it. There was something in the back of his mind, warning him that something was amiss. Though the reason for that feeling, and what exactly it was, was all a mystery.
He knew he shouldn't have stayed at the arcade so late, but his friends had asked him to stay for a little while longer, and before he knew it, there he was by himself on the street.
The feeling that he was being followed was beginning to well up inside, his heart pounding in his chest. His eyes darted from side to side in trepidation. Was it normal that there were no cars around? Even at night, there should have been at least a few on the street, or some people passing by. But no. The entire area seemed to be desolated. He was all by himself.
Yugi? The boy jumped at the sound of Yami's voice. He had settled for the quietness of the empty street, he had almost forgotten the spirit of the Sennen Item.
'Yeah, Yami?' he replied.
Are you alright? You seem to be a bit jumpy.
'I guess I'm just feeling paranoid. I've never been walking by myself at night before. Plus, the street. . . .actually, it seems like the whole city. . . .is so bare. It's so strange. I would have expected to run into someone right now.'
Especially since you have such a strong feeling that someone is following you.
Yugi laughed sheepishly. 'You can feel that, huh?'
Feel it? You're practically screaming "Someone's after me!" in your head. It's kind of hard not to hear it, let alone feel it.
Yugi laughed softly, feeling better know that he was talking with the spirit. Still, the strange feeling just wouldn't go away.
He continued to walk down the street, engaging with Yami in some pointless conversation, just so he could push aside the feeling of apprehension in the depths of his soul. But the further he suppressed it, the stronger it would become.
As he walked by an alley, he could feel Yami suddenly turn serious. Yugi, he said, go by this area quickly.
'What? Why?'
There's a strange presence being emitted from there.
'From where?' Yugi wondered. He stopped and turned around. 'The alley?'
Yes. Now, don't stop! Keep going. The farther you get by that alley, the better.
'Yami. . . .'
Don't delay, Yugi! That presence is. . .
'Yami? Yami!' But Yugi got no response from the spirit.
"You've been cut off from him," a deep voice said. Yugi jumped, then turned around to see a strange man emerge from the alley. Dressed in a white robe, the man carried a staff with a clear, crystal ball on top in his pale, bony hand. His face was set in a scowl, and by the light of the street lamp above, Yugi could see that his pale blue eyes showed no emotion.
"W. . . . w-who are you?" Yugi asked, his voice quivering in fear. "What have you done?"
The man suddenly smirked, though his eyes still held no shine in them. "I've simply cut you off from the spirit of the puzzle, Little Yugi."
The boy's eyes widened. "H-how do you know my name?"
"There are many things I know about you, Mutou Yugi. The one thing I know most about you also concerns the spirit of the puzzle."
Yugi clutched the puzzle in his hands. "That's what you're after, isn't it? You want my Millennium Puzzle."
The strange man nodded. "I don't want to hurt you, Yugi. And I won't, if you just give me the puzzle."
But Yugi's violet orbs flared with fire. "Never!" he cried, pulling the artifact closer to him. He was still scared, but the boldness in his voice surprised even him. "I won't let you take my puzzle!"
"Yugi, I am only after the spirit that resides in your puzzle. I don't. . . ."
"Then I'm definantely not going to let you take it! Yami is my friend, and I'm not going to let anything happen to him!"
The man sighed, his pale blue eyes hardening even more. "Then you leave me no choice, and I will have to take the puzzle by force." Raising his staff in the air, the crystal ball began to produce an eerie green light. He began to chant in a strange language that Yugi couldn't understand.
The puzzle suddenly began to glow the same green shade as the man's staff, and slowly lifted off of Yugi's chest. Startled, he grabbed it from the air, and turned to run. He didn't realize, however, that as he turned to do so, the light around the puzzle disappeared, and reappeared around his body instead.
The man finally finished chanting, aiming the crystal ball on the staff towards the boy, the green light shooting out in a solid beam of energy. Only then did he notice that the boy had started to flee, and by then it was too late to call the spell of.
Yugi ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but it wasn't fast, as the beam hit his back. His head reeled back as he cried out in pain, then fell forward, hitting the ground.
The man stared in disbelief, seeing his spell hit the wrong vessel. He prepared to try again, since the boy would no longer interfere, but paused, thinking it over. He finally came to a different conclusion, and the crystal ball began to glow a bright blue. When that was over, he removed the spell he had place on the puzzle, his staff glowing a sickly yellow color.
He disappeared into the alley, knowing that the spirit from the Sennen Puzzle could now emerge from the item once again. He smirked, knowing full well the surprise that the spirit was in for.
Yami sighed tiredly, rubbing his temples with his index fingers. How could this have happen? Why? Why did they have to do this. . . . to his light? Couldn't they have just left the poor child out of this?
The door suddenly opened, and the weary spirit looked up to see Yugi's other friends: Anzu, Jounouchi, and Honda.
"Yami!" Jounouchi said, panting. He was obviously that he ran all the way as soon as he heard. "What's going on? What happened to Yugi?"
The spirit shook his head sadly. "I don't know. I wish I did."
"Weren't you with him the whole time?" Honda asked.
"Of course I was. Yugi was walking home last night from the arcade. He was acting strangely, so we started talking. But. . . . something happened."
"What happened?" Anzu asked.
"I don't know. I can't explain it. One minute, we were talking, and suddenly, we were cut off from each other. It was so strange, though. I had just suddenly felt an evil presence around us, and was trying to warn him of it, when the link between us was blocked off. I tried to come out of the Millennium Puzzle, but I couldn't until much later, when I found Yugi just like that."
The other three looked at the young boy lying in bed, watching as he slept peacefully, deeply, his chest gently rising and falling as he breathed evenly.
"I've tried many things to wake him up, but nothing seems to be working." Yami shook his head. "I can't even reach his soul. Usually, I would be able to get some sort of response when we talk through our link, even if he's asleep. But I haven't been able to get through to him.
Bakura walked in the room, holding a glass of water. Sitting in the chair beside Yami's, which was right beside Yugi's bed, he handed the glass to the spirit.
Yami nodded to him gratefully, taking the water and drinking half of it.
"You should rest," Bakura insisted. "You've been awake all night."
"How do you know?" Anzu questioned.
Bakura turned his brown eyes towards the teen girl. "I was walking home last night when I came across Yami Yugi and Yugi. Yami Yugi was trying to wake him up, but Yugi wouldn't respond. I helped him first take Yugi to the hospital, then back here."
"What did the doctors at the hospital say?" Jounouchi asked.
"Well," Bakura said, "after running some tests, they said that. . ."
"They said that Yugi was doing nothing more than sleeping!" Yami exclaimed, infuriated. "Sleeping! What kind of tests did they run, anyway! I'll show them sleeping!"
After calming the enraged spirit down, Bakura continued. "They told us to take Yugi home and let him rest. But for some reason, both Yami Yugi and I could tell that he wasn't 'just sleeping.'"
"We were just lucky grandfather is away for a while," Yami said. "Who knows what would happen if he found Yugi the way he is now?"
"But if he isn't sleeping," Honda said, "then what's wrong with him?"
Yami and Bakura shook their heads. "We don't know," Yami said. "And I have a feeling it will take a while before we find out."
The other three nodded, watching the boy as he continued to 'sleep.'
Suddenly, Bakura felt a strong chill in the room. A strange shiver crawled down his spine, as he looked over to the window to see if it was open. It wasn't.
Anzu noticed the strange look on the boy's face. "Bakura?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
He shifted his brown eyes to look at her, and was about to reply, when he stopped, looking past her. His voice was suddenly caught in his throat, his chocolate eyes widening in disbelief. It. . . . it couldn't be real! He had to be imagining it! There was. . . no way. . . .
He stood up suddenly, quickly, knocking his chair over in the process. The others looked at him, puzzled. He heard their voices, questioning him, but his mind couldn't decipher their words.
What the hell is wrong with you! he heard his Yami from within the Millennium Ring yell at him. So, not even Yami Bakura could see what he was seeing. Was he the only one?
Everything around Bakura seemed to disappear, the world beginning to fade away, save the young boy in bed. But, if he was in bed, how was this possible? If Yugi was lying in bed, how could he be standing in the doorway?
TBC