Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh – yet.

Warnings: bad psychobabble, shounen ai, slight religious themes and symbolism.

Sorry for the delay…school and work are hectic right now and it doesn't look like it's slowing down soon.

Abyss

Dr. Kosemura rubbed her temples and sighed. Her latest patient was absolutely baffling. When Jounouchi Katsuya was brought into the E.R. last night, she thought she had a boy with a rampant infection or a drug overdose on her hands. Well, the outward symptoms seemed to indicate either of them; a fever, shallow breathing, weak pulse, convulsions, delirious ramblings, the list went on.

The doctor's lips quirked in momentary amusement. Kid had a real fixation on ancient Egypt. Kept mumbling about being a soldier in the Pharaoh's army, monsters running around in the corridors, and once or twice about a High Priest named Lord Set. When he woke up from his sleep, she would give him a lecture about reading too many adventure novels.

If he woke up.

It was a sobering thought but true. Kosemura hadn't the slightest clue on what was causing Katsuya's illness. She had run blood tests, urine tests, tested him for any kind of narcotic she knew of…but nothing…absolutely nothing. Aside from getting some strange recordings of brainwaves, there was nothing wrong.

He was in perfect health.

This made her job as a physician all the more frustrating. There seemed to be no cause, nothing that could account for this boy's condition.

Like the alternative is any easier to swallow. Come on girl, you know it's a load of bunk.

Once, in that dreadfully boring Medical History 101 class she had taken while pursuing her M.D. her instructor had mentioned that people once believed that the body was filled with humors, that if they were out of wack, the person could become seriously ill or die. Well, of course that was a truckload of bullshit, but as the teacher went on, he referred to an emerging line of thought in the medical, and especially, psychological fields. That the mind could affect the body in more ways than could be imagined. After all, the brain was a mysterious organ, not much was known about it, not even in these days. Who knew what it was capable of?

She had had a good hearty laugh with several of her colleagues at a bar after that lecture.

And now…now she wasn't laughing. It seemed like the only explanation that could account for this. Either Jounouchi Katsuya had seen, or heard, or learnt something that his mind would not accept, and he was suffering from a sort of mental collapse that dragged the body down with it.

But she had never heard of anything like this! Not one case!

Sighing she went back to her charts and test results…she would keep searching for the cause…no matter how obscure it may be.

It felt like he was swimming in cold peanut butter as he tried to navigate the inky blackness he was trapped in. Every time he saw a spark of light and tried to move towards it, he was sucked farther into the shadows. And the dreams…or should he say visions, wouldn't stop assaulting him…memories that weren't his…

"Are they memories?" he asked no one in particular. He didn't really expect an answer…it didn't seem like anybody was currently occupying the same dark abyss he was.

/So he finally catches on…'bout time. /

Scratch that.

"Alright jerk, what are you doing messin' with my head?! What's with the creepy visions? And finally, why can't I get outta here? You trapped me in here, didn't you! I seriously want OUT!"

/Deal with the 'messin' with my head' stuff. We're stuck together now, hikari. And those creepy visions are my past, thank you very much, and yours too in a way. / The voice grumbled. /And get this through your thick skull; I'm real, not one of your fantasies. So stop fighting my presence and do yourself a favor while you're at it. Your little refusal of reality is killing you. /

The voice bitterly chuckled, /Not that it makes a difference to me…I died a long time ago. /

"Killin' me? I feel fine…"

/Sure you do. After all, you're a little detached from your body right now. News flash buddy, you're in a coma! /

"…What are you?" Jounouchi whispered. Things were swirling in front of him, faces, memories…places he'd never seen, but been to all the same.

/A shadow, / was whispered, / your shadow. /

"And…here?"

/Don't you know? / the shadow wonderingly replied, /We're in your mind…/

Yugi paced the hall outside of Jounouchi's room. He hated hospitals…before he'd met Yami he'd spent a fair bit of time in them, recovering from the various injuries bullies had chosen to inflict on him. He wrinkled his nose; hospitals usually stank of disinfectant and bleach, and this one was no different. Doctors and nurses rushed around him, attending to this and that, ignoring the worried wanderings of one small teenager.

He wondered when Dr., what's her name, Kosemura, would show up and tell him exactly what was wrong with his friend. It was torturous not even knowing what was causing the illness that had sent his best friend into a coma.

He strode back into the tiny chamber to see if there had been any change, though logically he knew that nothing had happened. The steady beep of a heart monitor greeted him as he sat down beside Jounouchi's bed. Yugi hollowly gazed at the medical equipment, at the IV that dripped a steady supply of medications, nutrients, and electrolytes down into his bloodstream.

What held his attention was Jounouchi himself.

When they had arrived at the hospital Jounouchi had launched into a fit of seizures. It had taken four muscle bound orderlies to keep him still as he tried to kick and claw his way free of the medical gurney. Then, as quickly as it began, it stopped and Jounouchi had gone as limp as a rag doll.

Some of the orderlies had needed splints and stitches.

He whisked some of Jounouchi's hair off his nose. It might have been his imagination but it seemed like Jounouchi's face seemed to subtly shift back and forth as he lay there. At times it seemed sharper than it should have been, but a few seconds later it had regained the softness it had seemingly lost.

Something then caught his eye. Looped around Jounouchi's neck was a leather cord like the one he used to keep the millennium puzzle hung around his own. Intrigued Yugi lifted up the blankets. Sure enough, underneath the thin hospital gown he wore, was a lump resting on Jounouchi's chest.

What is that?

He reached for the cord…

"Mr. Mutou?"

He jerked back like someone had stabbed him with a cattle prod.

"Dr. Kosemura!"

A sharp clack of heels accompanied the doctor as she swept into the room, Seto ghosting in behind her. She had a pinched expression on her face, and her hair was sticking out of sleek bun at the nape of her neck. Yugi shuddered. She was not bringing good news.

"Mr. Mutou, Mr. Kaiba, please, have a seat." She gestured to a pair of uncomfortable looking plastic chairs in a corner. "I assume you want to know my diagnosis."

She rung her hands, and began to pace. "I will be honest with you," she began, "I have never had a more baffling case in my twenty years as a physician. We have run every test that we have and…nothing. Absolutely nothing. All we have found are some strange brainwaves…"

"Doctor," Seto interrupted, "what are you trying to tell us?"

Dr. Kosemura swung one arm to point at Jounouchi. "What I'm trying to say is that there's nothing wrong with him. There's no physical cause f-for…" she stuttered, "this!"

"There's nothing wrong…" whispered Yugi absently, "nothing…"

Seto meanwhile was looking thoughtful as he studied the comatose and restrained teenager. "Doctor…" he murmured, "you said something about strange brainwaves?"

"Yes…" Kosemura looked at him strangely. "You couldn't possibly think…"

"Is it possible?"

"There's nothing that would support that line of reasoning."

"There's nothing that isn't supporting it either. Is it?"

A defeated sigh. "Yes."

Yugi jumped up and down while waving his arms. "Hey!" he said, "Mind clueing the rest of us in?!"

"It's called neural shock, Yugi. It's a psychological condition that shuts down the body and mind after the person discovers something especially traumatic. But there's no proof of that happening. And I'm not a psychologist…I have very little knowledge of the inner workings of the mind. It's a guess, at best. Nothing more…" Dr. Kosemura gave an irritated huff and glared at Seto. "You shouldn't be jumping to conclusions."

Her pager beeped. She glanced down at it and sighed. Back to the daily grind. She almost welcomed it.

"Gentlemen. I'm sorry I have to leave but I'm needed for another patient. Good day…"

She practically ran out of the room.

"Stop that!"

"What?"

"Staring at me. I'm not here for your viewing pleasure. If you must know, I've taken a few psychology classes. Comes in handy when dealing with board members."

"Then why are you here?"

"…."

"What's with the door?"

/ What?! /

"You know, the door. The one at the end of the creepy hallway in those visions of yours. Come on, if you're going to be crashing in my head, I'm going to be demanding some kind of rent. So pay up! I want answers and I want them now!" Jounouchi fumed. He didn't just have voices in his head, he had smart ass, secretive, rude voices in his head.

/Can I hear a please with that? / The shadow sing-songed. He was finding it amusing to irritate the teenager. Great, stuck with smart ass, secretive, rude, and sadistic voices…

"Just talk."

/ Is that a threat? Because it's pathetic at best. Even your friend Yugi can do better…shameful really. / He sounded bored. Key word: sounded. Underneath the boredom was a barely contained seething ocean of rage and hate. And the unmistakable feeling of violation. The door was clearly a touchy subject.

Jounouchi didn't find himself caring. The spirit could bitch all he wanted, but in the end, Jounouchi was going to know, one way, or the other.

/ You don't know what you ask./

"Visiting hours are over Mr. Kaiba. You have to leave him now."

Seto turned a questioning look towards the young nurse standing in the doorway. The woman shuddered as she received a death glare worthy of the best of them. But being a nurse required a little backbone, especially when dealing with irate and stubborn family and friends of the patients. She decided to stand her ground.

"It's hospital policy Mr. Kaiba. No exceptions, not even for you." She softened her tone. "There's nothing you can do for him. We're watching over him, rest assured we'll notify you of the slightest change. Go home, sleep, maybe pray a little…he'll be here when you get back."

Seto snorted. Home was the last place he wanted to be. With Mokuba gone on a school trip…it was just himself in the large, lonely house. Somehow being alone wasn't just jiving for him right now. Peculiar for the lone wolf. Sleep? Wasn't tired, and prayer…not happening. No one ever answered anyway. It didn't work.

It never worked.

"Mr. Kaiba….?"

"Mr. Kaiba is staying Mizuki. He's somehow wrangled permission from our director to let him stay, provided he doesn't make a nuisance of himself." Dr. Kosemura leaned on the doorway, a little frown marring her professionally composed mask. "Come. I need your help with patient Inoue." With that she trotted down the hallway, Mizuki at her heels.

Kaiba turned his attention to Jounouchi lying on the bed. "Don't get it in your head I like you after this. I d-don't," he faltered, and shook himself to regain the small bit of composure he had lost. It baffled him that he was doing this. Why was he doing this? He didn't know. The mutt was a source of dual amusement and annoyance for him…nothing more…

He did not care…

He took Jounouchi's hand.

Did not care…

He tucked the covers tightly around the teenager. Some fool had knocked them askew, probably by lifting them and not properly putting them back.

Then why?

"It's just…no one should be like this. Locked up, alone, helpless in an abyss of shadows…" He squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want to remember the consequences of his duel with Pegasus. He relived enough of it in his nightmares. "I remember it being cold there…I couldn't move…I was alone, with only my demons to keep me company. After a while…I wasn't sure of what was real or not. It was terrible…I'm sure you know, you're going through it right now. Perhaps that's why I'm here; just to let you know that you're not alone…I don't know…" It wasn't like Jounouchi could hear him…It was just…

He didn't know…

"It's getting warmer in here. Wonder why?"

No answer…

Jounouchi curled into a ball. Even though it had gotten warmer, he still felt cold. There was something about this place that leeched the heat from his body.

And it was still as dark as before.

He didn't know how long he floated there but he didn't really care either. Things were beginning to flicker in the blackness and that held his attention. They weren't the shadow's memories…they were his.

He could see faces there, all his friends drifting across the void. But there were differences there that couldn't be right. Ryou and Yugi were split in two, not quite identical copies. But that wasn't the only thing to be noticed. The versions that seemed to be the most innocent of the pair were aglow with a soft pearly light, while their more dangerous counterparts seemed to suck the gloom, seemed to be living shadows.

"Shadows…"

He had often noticed, during Yugi's battles in Duelist Kingdom, that a peculiar change had come over his best friend. Somehow, he became more confident, arrogant almost…his voice changed…and Yugi's eyes had seemed to get redder. That, and the fact that during these 'shifts', Yugi was wearing this tight, bondage style leather shirt, when ten seconds before, Jounouchi would have been willing to swear up and down that he'd been wearing something a tad more conservative underneath that uniform jacket. Not to forget that the people who threatened Yugi during these duels (and outside them too) tended to conveniently lose their grip on reality shortly afterwards.

And then there was Ryou. Ryou was exceptionally shy by nature, polite, and unobtrusive. Most of the time that was. There were moments when he seemed positively evil and psychotic. Oh yeah, weird shit happened around him too. Case in point: the mysterious murders of Pegasus's guards during the rescue of Mokuba. Honda had once told him that Ryou had pulled a card from his deck, a Man-eater Bug, brought it to life, and let it chow down on the hapless flunkies.

Jounouchi thought it was Honda's strange sense of humor trying to express itself again.

Apparently not.

And here was the thing he noticed most…both boys seemed to grow a couple inches when they were off on their mood shifts.

"Could it be…that Yugi and Ryou are really divided into two different people? Could this be real?"

Jounouchi shuddered. The voice had called himself his shadow.

"Could he be real…? Could any of this be real…?"

He found himself accepting the fact.

 The world shattered.

A loud beeping noise woke Seto from his nap in his chair. That was followed by a semi-scream, semi-croak. Jounouchi was trashing on the bed, his restraints hampering any movement that he tried to make.

The door burst open and a contingent of doctors and nurses swarmed into the room, Dr. Kosemura in the lead. Quickly they wheeled him out of the room to places unknown, leaving a stunned Seto Kaiba in their wake.

The shock wore quickly off though. Seto charged after them.

I hurt…I hurt…I'm being pulled somewhere but I don't know where…It's so dark. I can't see where I'm going.

The door loomed before him. The door in his dreams…He reached out towards it…certain that answers lay on the other side.

"Arrgh!"

Something had brutally yanked him back.

/ Some things aren't meant to be known. /

"Why not!?" he grabbed his doppelganger. He was tried of the run around, sick of the confusion, and just plain pissed at the cryptic bastard. He wanted answers. He deserved answers.

/Someday you'll know the truth…not now. /

A searing pain erupted in the side of his head. Things grew hazy. It was like someone had taken a baseball bat to his skull.

Everything burst into light.

"He's coming to!"

Someone was shinning a light in his eyes. Irritated, he swatted it away.

"Somebody tell me his pulse!"

"Kido! Put that light out!"

"Who wants to inform his family and friends?"

"Where's his father?"

"Detox…kid's alone then…"

"Somebody better tell them something. They're getting antsy out there. That Honda kid might break down the door any second!"

All these voices, speaking at once. Shut up. Shut up! My head hurts. It was babble, white noise. He wanted them to take a hike.

"Mr. Katsuya?" a soft voice asked. It belonged to a middle age woman with frazzled hair sticking out of a bun. "I'm Dr. Kosemura. You're at Domino Medical."

Jounouchi gave her a weak smile in response.

"Now, I need you to answer a few questions? Do you remember getting sick?"

"No…I…don't"

A frown creased his face as he searched for the events following that last day of school. There were huge holes in his memory. He scowled as he tried to remember anything. Nothing; the huge holes had become a void. Memories slipped through his fingers like sand.

"I don't remember anything."