Thanks so much for all the reviews! I never excepted this story to get so many on just the first chapter. You guys are the best!

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"This…This can't be happening!" Yugi shrunk away from his reflection and fell into a sitting position. "I…I can't be dead." He pulled his legs to his chest and buried his head.

"You know, denial is the first step." Yugi raised his head to see a smiling girl sitting on a stump. He continued to stare at the strange girl. She also had wings, but she seemed strangely happy. Her joyous expression then turned to a sympathetic frown. "Are you going to be alright?"

Yugi turned away in response.

~*~

"Yugi…Please wake up!" Yami cried as he held his light's limp body.

"Yami…I know it's hard but…" Joey said as tears filled his eyes. "…Our little buddy…Yugi…he's…gone." He looked away so no one would see him cry.

"No! I refuse to believe that!" Yami protested. "I'm not giving up on him…"

"It's no use," Kaiba said grimly. "He doesn't have a pulse. Yami, he's not going to wake up."

"Shut up! I know he's going to make it! Come on Yugi…" Yami began to shake his body violently. "Please…Just wake up!"

Tea slapped him. "Stop it!" Tears were flowing freely down her face. "Yami…"

Yami stared at her with rage. When he saw her crying, his face softened. "He's really gone…"

"Come on…I'll take you guys home," Kaiba offered.

Yami took off his jacket and slowly covered his aibou's face. He picked up the limp form and stumbled after the others.

~*~

"Are you going to be okay?" the girl repeated.

Yugi focused on a blade of grass. "…I never expected the underworld to look like this." Yugi continued to stare at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Well, this isn't exactly the underworld…How about if you tell me your name, I'll tell you more about this place. My name's Syra."

Yugi's gaze shifted back to Syra. There was something hypnotic about her eyes. "…I'm Yugi. Am I…Am I really dead?"

"Yes, but you don't need to make that big a deal out of it…"

"And why not?" Yugi was on his feet now. "Are you telling me that I should be happy about losing my life?"

"Look, you don't understand. This isn't just an ordinary afterlife or death place or what ever you want to call it. Only a special few can get in here."

"Special? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you had to have done something to gain entrance to this place. You had to have done some great deed, like saving the world or something."

"Oh, like that really helps. All that matters is that I'll never see my friends again…I don't care if I'm 'special' or not!"

Syra looked down. She looked hurt by Yugi's words. "…If it makes you feel any better, there's a reason that only a limited amount of people are chosen to come here." Yugi rolled his eyes. "The world is constantly in chaos, and there's a lack of people who are willing to risk everything to do something about it. To solve this problem, anyone who comes here is given the chance to return to the world of the living…"

Yugi's face suddenly lit up. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place? This is great!"

"Yugi, this isn't as easy as it sounds. It's very complicated, you have to…"

"I don't care what I have to do. I'll do anything if it means I can go home again!"

"Yugi…" Syra's eyes regained a sympathetic glint. "In order to gain this privilege, you have to remain here for 5,000 years."

Yugi's smile quickly disappeared as he sunk back down to the ground. "I'll never see anyone ever again…" Yugi closed his eyes as a tear rolled down his cheek.

~*~

Yami stared unblinkingly out the window as it began to rain. He hadn't moved from the room, Yugi's room, since Kaiba dropped him off. He didn't even stir when the door flew open and Tea stomped in.

"What is wrong with you? Mr. Muto said that you haven't moved since you got here!"

Yami closed his eyes. He just didn't care about anything anymore.

"Yami, you're not the only one who cared about him! This is hard on all of us…Not just you!"

Yami shook his head. "You don't understand! I promised that I would always protect him…He had faith in me, and I let him down."

"Yami…You can't be so hard on yourself."

Yami laid back on the bed and turned away from her. "Tea, I just want to be alone now."

~*~

"Where are you taking me?" Yugi asked as Syra dragged him through the forest.

"I'm taking you to your new place of residence," she replied.

"What?" Yugi stopped, nearly causing Syra to pull his arm off. " You mean I have a house or something?"

"Yeah, they kinda just pop up when ever someone dies and comes here."

Out of the corner of his eye, Yugi saw a man with graying hair approaching them. The man bowed to Syra. "Good evening, Lady Syra. Who is that with you?" he motioned towards Yugi.

"This is Yugi. He's a new arrival," Syra replied.

The man nodded to Yugi. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He frowned when Yugi looked away. "I understand how you must be feeling. Don't worry, you'll soon grow to like this place." The man put a hand on Yugi's shoulder, then left.

"Can we…please keep going?" Yugi asked, not wanting to take part in another awkward situation.

Along the way, Syra was greeted by a few other people, but lucky for Yugi, they left him alone. What surprised Yugi the most was that everyone looked to be sixty or older.

"Syra, why is everyone here so…old?"

"Well…" She began, "Most respectable heroes live to an old age before they die."

"But what about you? You don't seem to be any older than me…"

"I was murdered," Syra said darkly.

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

She let out a short, harsh laugh. "Don't be. It was because of my own blind stupidity that I got killed. The one person I trusted the most was plotting against me, and I was too dense to realize it."

Yugi sighed. He regretted asking that question. "Hey, you never told me why you're up here…" He figured that changing the subject might vent her anger.

Syra half smiled. "It started with this demon that came from who knows where. It destroyed whole cities, leaving nothing but blackened wastelands. At the rate of its destruction, it would have come upon my own home in a matter of days. My brother and I decided to put an end to its reign of terror by confronting the demon ourselves. During the battle, I did most of the fighting, while my brother hung back. When the beast was finally dead, I was exhausted." Syra narrowed her eyes. "My brother wanted all the glory of defeating the demon, so he took advantage of my weakened state and killed me- and while I was asleep! Then the bastard told everyone that I had died in the fight and that he was the one who killed the thing…"

"…I'm sorry about what happened...I'm also sorry about the way I acted.  I was so caught up in my own problems that I failed to realize what could have happened to you… I was being such a jerk."

"Don't worry about it. You were just upset because this happened so fast, and you didn't expect it. I knew full well that what I was getting into might have been too much for me to handle. Plus, I'm sure you have friends and family who care about you, who would never leave your side. I, on the other hand, only had my brother…" Syra closed her eyes. "It seems ironic how they went after the Life Stone for me, but not for you…"

"What? What's a Life Stone?" Yugi asked, looking confused.

Syra's eyes shot open and widened. "It's…nothing. It's nothing.

"Syra, what's going on?"

"I've said too much already…"

"Please, Syra, tell me."

Syra bit her lip. "It's…It's a magical stone that can bring someone back form the dead. It exists in the living world, yet no one has ever seen it. The path to obtain it is riddled with lethal obstacles, ones that none have been able to overcome. Most of the people seeking to restore my life lost their own in the process."

"Are there any other 'rules'?" Yugi asked, a small glimmer of hope returning to his heart.

"Yes. The stone can only be searched for by those her are still alive. You, however, can only stand around and watch. Also, even if someone manages to find it, it will only work before midnight of the next full moon after the person has died. After that, it's worthless."

Yugi slowly nodded. He was still clutching the small bit of hope he had left. "…How can I tell someone living about this?"

"Yugi, before I tell you, you need to think this over. You'll put everyone who goes on this quest at risk. No one has ever successfully found the Life Stone. It's doubtful that any of your friends would succeed where so many have failed."

Yugi hesitated. He didn't want to put his friends in danger, but… "…I just want to make them aware of this option. Whether they want to take this opportunity or not is up to them."

Syra nodded. " I understand. I will help you…"

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Just so you know, there will be NO romance! I'm trying to have the lowest Mary Sue rating while still having an OC. In fact, I was trying to find a way to make it OC free, but there's no character in Yugioh that could really take Syra's place…Oh, and for the records, if any of you have read my other stories, this is not the same Syra. Syra just happens to be my signature character, like Anna is for Hiroyuki Takei (creator of Shaman King). Those of you who read the articles in Shonen Jump should know what I'm talking about.

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