Sorry if it's taken a bit of time. I hope this chapter makes up for the wait! I really wanna thank all you guys who have been reviewing my story. It means a lot.
----------------------
Time seemed to stop as the ground collapsed beneath Yugi, allowing him a moment to realize what had happened and, according to the laws of nature, what had to take place. The ground had caved in. There was nothing under his feet. He was going to fall into a hole. And it was a very deep hole. Once this information had passed through his thoughts, time restarted with a speed too great for his mind to comprehend as his body was thrown into the pit beneath. He heard the dull thud of his body before he felt the sharp pain that lasted for only a second before the realm of blackness encircled him.
The young duelist shivered against the inky dark wondering where and how he had gotten where he was. Yugi began to walk around, lost, cold, and very afraid.
"Joey? Téa? Tristin? Bakura? Anyone?!" Suddenly he was underwater. The dark became a thing of the past as the necessitaty for air became the boy's only focus. Yugi tried swimming towards the surface, but he didn't know which way it was. He didn't even know how he had gotten under water in the first place! All Yugi did know was that his lungs felt like fire and his heart was trying to pound its way out of his chest. His rhythmic pumping became a rough thrashing as his time limit wore out.
The water disappeared, and with it, the darkness. A beautiful light surrounded him and forced oxygen back into his lungs. Yugi clung onto the light like a starving man clings to a crust of bread. The light was warm; it brought peace and comfort from the pain. It felt almost like someone was cradling him. A voice cried out to come back, and Yugi ran towards it. Slowly the voice, the feeling, and even the light faded, but this time Yugi wasn't scared of the dark that followed. The presence of the light was still with him; it's strength and courage coursed through his body. Nothing could harm him now.
Yugi's eyes fluttered as he returned to the realm of the conscious. He looked up to see the stars shining down through a rather large hole in the sky. A hole in the sky?
Yugi jerked up only to whimper as the movement caused pain to shoot through every muscle and joint in his body. Black spots danced at the edges of his vision, and he started to fall back when strong, supporting hands found his shoulders and kept him sitting.
"You should not move so soon, little one. You nearly died on me."
That voice sounds so familiar, Yugi thought. He relaxed his body and allowed his vision to clear before trying to twist around and see who was helping him. The spirit decided to make it easier on his injured companion and moved into Yugi's line of sight. The boy immediately stiffened and tried to back away. Only that firm grip on his shoulders held Yugi immobile and in utter terror.
"I'm not going to harm you," the spirit said soothingly. It was apparent the by his actions and by the look in Yugi's eyes the boy still rejected him. That knowledge hurt more than the spirit would have liked it to. "Please, allow me to help you."
Yugi looked his double over suspiciously. He didn't want the other man touching him, but he didn't have much of a choice. He couldn't very well move on his own. Slowly the boy relaxed and allowed the spirit to gently slide him over to one of the walls and prop him up. After seeing Yugi would be fine, the spirit moved away and sat cross-legged directly in front of his charge. The two regarded each other for long, silent minutes, sizing up the worth and strength of the other. Yugi, being the friendly teenager that he was, became the first to give in to the deafening silence.
"Where are we?" he finally ventured to ask.
"A deep chasm of some sort. It is like the place where Keith trapped us. To your right are a few passages," the spirit replied, gesturing in the general direction of the open spaces. "If we are not found soon, I fear we may have to attempt them." Yugi frowned at that.
"We can't go back the way we came?" An amused smile crossed the spirit's face, one that made Yugi feel even smaller than he was. Well how was he supposed to know what was climbable? Was climbable even a word?
"This is not a natural hole. The walls are too smooth with no handles to grip. Pegasus did his work well," the elder observed.
"Oh," was all Yugi could reply to that. The uncomfortable silence visited them again. The spirit seemed content to study the little one in front of him, and his never wavering gaze made Yugi shift uncomfortably. He winced.
"I told you not to move," the spirit said with a tinge of authority in his voice. "Apparently the puzzle doesn't have as much energy when we're separated, so I couldn't heal you fully from your fall. You're just lucky I was able to get you breathing again."
Breathing again? The dream with the water and drowning came back to him, and Yugi began to realize it hadn't been a dream after all. He had been dying.
"You said I almost died before, didn't you?" The spirit nodded in confirmation.
"You were not breathing when I came to, and your heart stopped for a moment. The puzzle was able to heal you and will continue to heal you if you give it the time to." The elder snorted. "Your modern rituals failed, by the way. I suggest reverting back to the old ways."
"Rituals?" Yugi asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, the ones you study off the glowing box."
"You mean the TV," Yugi corrected. The spirit shrugged. "I don't know of any rituals on the TV."
"The resurrection ritual." The spirit frowned when Yugi's puzzlement only grew. He could see and sense it. "When someone stops breathing, you put them on their back and spread their limbs out. Then you hit them on the chest with a closed fist and scream 'Live darn you' twice. Afterwards you shake them and while crying announce that they 'can not die on you'," he explained. "By the way, do you hit the patient three times or four?"
It took Yugi a few minutes to process what the other man had said and decipher the meaning behind the words. When the solution finally struck him, the boy fell over and started laughing hysterically. His other glowered and looked insulted.
"What?" the spirit demanded. Despite the pain it caused him, Yugi couldn't stop laughing long enough to form a coherent sentence. The spirit stood up and folded his arms over his chest.
"I demand you stop laughing this instant and tell me what's so wrong," he said firmly. Yugi's laughter died to giggles which he could fit phrases between.
"That wasn't...giggle...a ritual...snort...it was just...giggle...a TV show!" The boy sat back up and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
"TV show?" Now it was the spirit's turn to look puzzled.
"Um, it's like a play with actors and actresses just pretending to rescue hurt people," Yugi said. A light flush appeared on the spirit's cheeks as he began to comprehend his mistake. Yugi began to giggle again, causing the other to go on the defensive.
"Well how should I know?" he asked indignantly. "What kind of magic shrinks performers to tiny sizes so they can entertain you from confined spaces?"
Yugi blinked a few times.
"You're not from around here are you?" What kind of foolish question was that? Yugi thought to himself. Before him was a man that could be his identical twin except for a few slight differences that Yugi only wished would be granted upon his own form. Let's not forget this nearly identical twin lived in a puzzle that Yugi carried around his neck and merged with the boy during duels. Obviously he was not from these parts.
The spirit either ignored the obvious stupidity of the question or was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice.
"No," he sighed, looking up at the faint stars. "Not from your time at least. I'm...I'm not quite sure where I'm from."
"Well what do you know?" Yugi asked, his kind nature winning over and forcing him to try and help this man. The elder closed his eyes tightly and tried concentrating. Yugi could see beads of sweat forming on his paling face. The spirit opened his eyes and sighed, defeated for now.
"I have overcome many opponents, but I cannot conquer myself," he said sadly.
"Surely there must be something," Yugi pushed with a child's naivety. "Your mother, your father, your house...your name?"
"I know I am old, from an ancient time long before yours. I do know that I lived in what you now call Egypt. I also know I lived in a grand place with wondrous furnishings, and that my parents loved my dearly. I was trapped in the puzzle...I don't know how." He sounded frustrated. His hands clenched at his sides. "I don't even remember my name."
Yugi pitied his other at that point. Not to remember your family, friends, or even your self? It was a fate whose only equal was death.
"Well I need to call you something if we're going to be stuck here for awhile. And maybe a name might help you remember." The spirit turned back to Yugi and raised an eyebrow, the ache of unreachable memories replaced by curiosity.
"What do you suggest little one?"
Yugi's brow creased in concentration.
"Well, you are the spirit from my item. So how about Ki? It's not very original, but..." he trailed off.
"Anything will do besides Yugi," Ki said. Yugi frowned, and Ki realized he had messed up again. "Not that there's anything wrong with Yugi, it's just you deserve your own name and I deserve mine."
"Right because we're two different people," Yugi said.
"Exactly," Ki said, smiling. Then thought about it and frowned. "No, I mean...we're not but we are..."
"I understand," Yugi said, curling up as best as he could and closed his eyes, signaling he wanted to sleep. Ki sighed, knowing the boy was just being difficult now. The spirit was angry, but he wasn't sure if it was at the boy for being so stubborn or at himself for being so feebleminded.
Shaking his head, Ki slid out of his jacket and draped it over the boy before settling down nearby to rest his own body, trying hard not to groan as the muscles relaxed. It had been much too long since he had had to deal with these physical aspects of a real body. Right now it was just another annoyance added to the thoughts twirling through his spiky haired head.
Like the fact that Ki felt lost in his own body. He should be happy not to be attached to Yugi anymore. The boy only hindered his movements half the time. Yet Ki missed the presence of childish innocence blending with his own dark soul. Without Yugi he was just...what was he? Even he didn't know.
Sighing, Ki closed his eyes and leaned his head against the smooth surface. He hoped he could sleep. He wouldn't admit it, but his separation from Yugi left him paranoid beyond his grasp. And not for his own safety. It would now be even harder to make sure the boy came out alive from the danger that seemed to perpetually stalk him.
While the spirit was busy contemplating his own troubles, he failed to notice two curious orbs studying his motionless body. Yugi watched Ki for a few more moments before pulling the other's jacket tighter to him and falling asleep.