Onward ho! ;)

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Yugi was on his hands and knees, trying to take in as much air as he could. His hands were gripping at the cold stones so hard that for a moment Tristen was actually afraid they might break. Yugi's face was as pale as Bakura's hair, and he was sweating.

"Yugi!" Téa ran over to help him and was soon followed by the others. Joey and Téa each grabbed an arm and helped Yugi to his feet while Tristen checked him over for injury. "Are you alright?" Yugi didn't reply, just stood there in a daze.

He's gone, the young boy thought, searching his mind. I don't sense him anymore. I did it! I'm free!

Bakura, seeing his friend was in good hands, decided to check out the other person who was at the moment lying on his side unconscious. He looked oddly like Yugi only he was taller, more masculine, and had a slight difference to his hair and facial features. The white hair boy realized that it was the spirit from Yugi's item his own evil "twin" had battled in the shadow realm. Bakura blinked and looked back and forth between the spirit and Yugi, letting out a slight shudder as he thought of just what might have happened had his spirit ever become separate from him.

The teen knelt down and gently shook the surprisingly solid spirit's shoulder. The spirit moaned softly, drawing the attention of the others. Yugi, if possible, went even whiter and was now completely dependent on Joey and Téa's strength to hold him up.

He followed me here...I'm trapped again.

Yugi watched helplessly on as the spirit slowly opened his eyes, shading them with a hand while they grew accustomed to the glaring sunlight. The spirit sat up and rubbed his head while taking in his surroundings. He froze as his gaze fell upon Yugi.

"Are we in the Shadow Realm?" he asked, his voice rich and deep, another characteristic unique to him. The others looked confused while Yugi just looked sick, but Bakura was able to answer for him.

"I don't think so," Bakura said softly, causing the spirit to take his gaze off of Yugi. The boy was very grateful for this. "With all the experiences I've had of the Shadow Realm, it was dark and ominous. And I've never seen anyone without a Millennium Item or who wasn't trapped in a card there either." The spirit nodded as he stood.

"But then how..." he wondered, looking back at Yugi. The boy had finally gained enough courage to conjure up a glare. The spirit looked mildly surprised. There was a long silence as nobody knew what to say.

"I knew it wasn't a dream!" Téa suddenly stated. It had sounded good when she thought about saying it, but now it probably wasn't the best conversation starter. Oh well, there was nothing else to work with. "We really did get trapped in those cards, and there really were two Yugis and an evil Bakura weren't there?"

Bakura looked a little sheepish, and the spirit nodded an affirmative to her.

"Then you're the spirit from Yugi's item that's been helping him all this time!" Tristen decided to state the obvious.

"Helping?!" Everyone turned as Yugi finally spoke. "Helping?! You mean by killing my friends?!"

The spirit narrowed his eyes at this.

"Kaiba is not our friend."

"That's not the point!" Yugi shrugged Joey and Téa away. "You were willing to hurt someone in order to win a game!"

"It was not just a game," the spirit replied calmly, almost patronizing his other half with his composure. "The stakes were very high. I was only trying to help you get back your grandfather."

"It's not worth it if other people need to get hurt." Yugi dashed away the tears that were threatening to fall again. He had always had trouble holding back his emotions.

"What's with the 'twin' fest?" Everyone looked towards the steps as Mai approached. "Did I miss something?"

"Only Yugi arguin' with his exact look-alike who should be trapped in the puzzle around his neck," Joey shrugged. "Othawise ya didn't miss a thing."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Mai glanced at Yugi and then the spirit. "You look awfully familiar..."

"Yugi," the spirit turned back to his other half, ignoring Mai for the moment. "It was you who separated us. You were pushing me away and suddenly I was here."

"I wanted you out," Yugi said, his eyes still narrowed.

"Yes, and you accomplished your goal." The spirit frowned at the child, wondering at how he had gained the strength to pull it off. Yugi was a smart boy, but the spirit had always believed that in the dire end, he could be the one in control. It was not looking that way now. "Now how do we get back together?"

"You mean you don't know how to fix this?" Tristen sighed. He didn't understand everything that was going on here, but he figured that Yugi 2 would know what to do. The spirit had gotten them out of more sticky situations than he could count.

"Something like this has never happened before. At least to my knowledge," the spirit told him. "Yugi was the one who took us apart, so he should also be the one to bring us back together."

"Well I don't know," Yugi admitted. "And the truth is, that if I did know, I wouldn't do it!" The spirit took a step back. Yugi was quite happy to see that he had shocked the other man. Maybe now he could know how it felt to have your destiny stuck in the hands of another who was unwilling to play by your rules.

"Yugi you can't mean that," Téa said gently, trying to put her hand on his shoulder. Yugi shrugged her off and continued to stare down his double.

"I do. I'm glad I got rid of you! Things would have been so much better if I never solved this puzzle!" Yugi fingered the Millennium Item around his neck. He wanted to throw it away...even break the thing back into its little pieces. But something wouldn't let him.

"Yugi, please..." The spirit reached for him. Yugi pulled away as if he was afraid of being stung by the delicate fingers, then ran around Mai and down the steps towards the woods. He needed to get away from them all, especially him. He needed time to think. He just needed space.

"Yugi!" Everyone began to chase after, but the smaller boy had the advantage of surprising the others and therefore had a much larger lead. The trees soon concealed Yugi's path, making it near impossible for the others to find him.

The spirit didn't bother running after his other. Instead, he gently caressed the puzzle hanging on his neck. Despite his best efforts, Yugi had not been able to completely separate the two. The spirit could still sense the boy and instead followed his intuition while the others blindly ran around.

He found Yugi sitting by a small brook with his knees pulled up to his chest. The spirit came up behind his other, but just as he had used their connection to find Yugi, the boy used it to sense his darker side coming.

"I told you I didn't want you anymore!" He stood up and turned to face the spirit. "Go away! Just leave me alone!"

"Yugi, please, you must listen to me."

"I don't want to," the boy said through clenched teeth.

"Yugi..."

"Just stop!" Yugi launched himself at the spirit, tackling him to the ground. The force of his leap sent them both backwards and tumbling down the grassy hill. They finally stopped, a little bruised and battered, their clothing torn by the weeds and rocks. Yugi landed a few inches from the spirit. The spirit shook his head and mumbled something incoherent though Yugi could detect the words foolish and boy. He started to stand, ready to run from the spirit, but the other man grabbed his wrist with an iron grip. Yugi began to struggle.

"Don't. Move," the spirit said each word slowly and deliberately, and for once Yugi decided to listen.

"What's wrong?" he asked, a little afraid.

"Trap. Most likely set by Pegasus to amuse himself." The spirit closed his eyes and cautiously started to stand.

Bad move.

The ground beneath them trembled and collapsed, sending both Yugi and the spirit from the item hurtling towards the black abyss.