The Challenge

**

The Shadow Realm graveyard was a strange, confusing place. And boring too. Bakura had given up trying to read the inscriptions on the countless tombstones. The writing changed too often; ever shifting between names and dates and mourning for the dead. Most of these people probably didn't even exist, Bakura reflected. Probably just figments of someone's imagination.

No, the Shadow Realm had lost a lot of its intimidation factor for Bakura. After he'd hog-tied the Reaper of the Cards, there was very little left for him to do. Wandering around the graveyard, it was very easy to get lost among the graves, and then suddenly find yourself right back where you'd started.

Bakura had lost track of time a long while ago. So he was quite surprised when the very fabric of the dimension started to rip, sending trembling shockwaves all through the Shadow Realm. Some of the tombstones fell over, landing with heavy thuds and angry cracks of stone as they broke.

"What the hell?" Bakura muttered, waving away some of the smoke the dimension disruption had caused. "It can't have been a few days already…" That certainly couldn't be Yami coming to get him… Yami had enough skill not to cause disturbances like that when he opened portals to the Shadow Realm. So who…?

The Reaper of the Cards suddenly began to struggle against the ropes Bakura had tied him up with. He certainly hadn't had any luck with making certain Bakura would be trapped here forever, but maybe he could get this new intruder to his realm…

Bakura rolled his eyes, grabbing the Reaper of the Cards' scythe and cracking the duel monster soundly on the head with the blunt end of it. The Reaper went limp, and Bakura wandered off to find who had just entered the graveyard.

The ground of the graveyard was starting to warp the closer he got to the center of the disturbance. It began as only little ripples on the ground, but soon the earth became unstable. Bakura found himself slogging through what had once been solid ground, now turned into some form of murky swamp. Whoever had made this portal to the Shadow Realm obviously had no experience whatsoever, and their poorly crafted portal was warping the very fabric of the realm. With a raw, wild portal, the creator may not have even survived the trip over.

Remnants of the half-closed portal floated partially submerged in the swamp it had formed. It was a tortured thing, a tear in the Shadow Realm's reality that was struggling to close and right itself, yet held open by the will of its creator.

Where was its creator, anyway? Bakura was wading waist high in gray-green muck now, trying to ignore the slimy things that brushed up against him. As he neared the portal, he could see something floating in the mess near it. A child's body, by the size of it, he thought. Whoever it was looked to be half dead, though it didn't help that he was covered in the sewage-colored mud, either. Curious as to their identity, Bakura wiped some of the muck off the child's face.

"Yugi?!" Bakura grabbed the mucky body, pulling it closer for further examination. It was Yugi, without a doubt. Unconscious, and possibly bleeding somewhere from the dark stain starting to color the earthy swamp. "How the hell did you get yourself here?"

Yugi groaned, spitting out some of the swamp muck as he struggled weakly against Bakura's hold. He opened his eyes dazedly, blinking at Bakura.

"You're a mess," Bakura muttered, glowering at Yugi in distaste. "What were you trying to do, kill yourself?"

"Maybe…" Yugi groaned. "Hadn't… quite decided yet…"

"And what did Yami have to say about your flinging yourself into the Shadow Realm like this? He couldn't have approved."

"He doesn't exactly know…"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Yeah, figured as much. Well, come on, let's get you out of here."

"No!" Yugi wrenched away from Bakura, though the swamp prevented him from getting away too fast. "I don't want to go back! Seto hates me!" He began to cry, his tears leaving muddy trails down his cheeks.

"Is that what this is all about?" Bakura muttered. "Look, nothing's hopeless until your love is dead, and not always then, even. You're giving up too soon."

Yugi blinked his watery eyes at Bakura. "You think I could get Seto to love me again if I went back home?"

"Not looking like that, you couldn't," Bakura pointed out. "You look like you've been rolling in a sewer, and you don't smell much better. I suggest taking a shower before you run off after Kaiba."

Yugi giggled, then glanced at the fizzling remains of his portal. "I don't think I can get home… it took all my energy to make that, and it wasn't even very good. It'll be a while before I can do it again, and I might cause the same problems going home as I did here."

"You're just lucky I'm here," Bakura said, reaching to lightly touch the portal.

He lightly ran his fingers over the frayed energies, soothing and straightening them, and the portal stabilized under his hands. He'd had plenty of experience with Shadow Realm portals, and though Yami had confined him here, he could still use the basic shape of Yugi's wild portal to get them both out. The swamp around them began to dry out and drain, and soon Bakura and Yugi were standing on solid ground again, the last of the swamp much drying in flaky scales on their bodies. The repaired portal stood open and stable before them.

**

Yami was feeling very uneasy as he walked home from Kaiba's mansion. Yugi wasn't answering him through the mind-link they shared, so either his hikari had blocked him, or taken off the Puzzle. Or worse… but he didn't want to think about that now. This day probably wasn't the most frustrating he'd ever had, but at the moment, it sure felt like it.

Aside from worrying about the problems Yugi was having at the moment, Yami worried about Bakura. He kept telling himself that if anyone could handle themselves in the Shadow Realm, Bakura could. But for some reason that didn't alleviate the knot of dread that was currently making Yami feel a little bit nauseous.

Duke Devlin walked beside Yami, feeling like an outsider in this whole mess. He'd never really been in the 'inner circle' of Yugi's friends, and so all the nuances of relationships within that group was a little lost on him. Even though he was right next to Yami, it felt like they were a million miles apart.

"Yami?" Duke asked softly. "Are you alright?"

Yami cast him a glance that suggested that the former Pharaoh had forgotten Duke was there. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Really? Because you seem a little stressed out," Duke pointed out. "Maybe after we check to see Yugi's okay, you and I could… I dunno, go out and do something? Maybe have dinner?"

"Duke," Yami said quietly, "this really isn't the time…"

Duke sighed. "Yeah… I gathered that…"

Yami sighed, rubbing his forehead and hoping that if he pretended he didn't have a migraine, it would go away. With all of his other worries, he'd forgotten the complication of Duke Devlin's attraction to him. "Listen, Duke, so long as we're on the subject… it's flattering that you seem to like me so much, but-"

"But you're in love with Bakura," Duke said with a sigh. "And there's really nothing I can do to change that, is there?"

"I'm sorry, Duke…"

"Nah, it's okay," Duke said, half-forcing a smile. "I've sort of been expecting that from the very beginning. I just… I guess I didn't want to believe it. But I'll be alright."

Yami nodded, falling silent again. Despite Duke's assurances of being okay, Yami knew it would probably be something he'd have to deal with later. But for the moment he had more pressing problems.

As they neared Yugi's house, something golden glinted at them from the front porch. Guessing at what it was, Yami started to run, taking the stairs two at a time before scooping up the Millennium Puzzle. He traced his fingers over the design on the Puzzle, then unlocked the front door and hurried inside.

"Yugi!" he called, racing from room to room, searching for his distraught hikari. "Yugi? Are you here?"

"He's in the shower," came a familiar voice from the living room. Bakura smiled at Yami, walking in from the other room. "Hello, Pharaoh."

"Hello, Tomb Robber," Yami greeted quietly. "What happened?"

"You mean, how did I get out of the Shadow Realm?" Bakura asked.

"Yes," Yami agreed. His hands tightened slightly around the Millennium Puzzle. "Unless there's more."

"There is. Somehow, little Yugi managed to transport himself to the Shadow Realm, and couldn't get himself back out again," Bakura explained. He shrugged. "I just happened to be around, so I sort of… helped out." He examined Yami's face critically. "Are you mad I didn't stay in there?"

Yami thought about it, setting the Millennium Puzzle down on the coffee table. Finally he sighed, and smiled at Bakura faintly. "Bakura, it has been a particularly trying day. When all of this mess is sorted out, I plan on not getting out of bed for a week." His grin broadened slightly. "You're welcome to join me, if you wish."

That was as close to a direct invitation as Bakura was likely to get, but it was all he needed. "I may just take you up on that offer, Yami."

**

Yugi pulled on a clean t-shirt, which still smelled faintly of fabric softener, and decided he felt a bit better. Bakura had claimed first use of the shower the moment they'd gotten home, but thankfully the former tomb robber had left him plenty of hot water. Four washcloths were now unfit for further use after he'd cleaned all the Shadow Realm swamp muck off of himself, and he thought his skin even looked a little pink from all the scrubbing. But the simple act of getting clean had lightened his spirits marginally.

Just as Yugi was finishing dressing, someone started pounding on the door downstairs. Yugi considered going to answer it, but decided he didn't want any visitors. After everything that had gone on in the past few days, he was sort of ready for some alone time.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Someone had answered the door, and a few moments later Yami came upstairs. "Kaiba's here," Yami announced gently. "He wants to know if he can talk to you."

"No," Yugi replied tiredly. "I don't want to see him. Tell him to go away! He doesn't want anything to do with me anymore, why is he even here?"

Yami watched him quietly for a moment. "I know he hurt you, Yugi. But you two can't keep doing this to one another. Mistakes have been made here, but don't make another one by allowing this cycle of hurting continue. At least hear what he has to say?"

Yugi sighed. "Alright. You can tell him he can come up." 

Yami nodded, returning downstairs to pass along Yugi's answer to Seto. A few moments later, Yugi heard what could only be Seto Kaiba's footsteps coming up the stairs. He took a shaky breath, trying to brace himself for whatever it was Kaiba had to say to him.

"Yugi?" Kaiba asked as he came in, and if Yugi didn't know him better he would have sworn there was a note of hesitancy in his voice. "I wanted to say… I… well…"

He was trying to apologize, Yugi realized. And having a particularly difficult time of it. After what he'd said to Yugi before, Yugi wasn't entirely sure he was going to help make it any easier for Kaiba.

Unable to utter the word 'sorry,' and currently drawing a blank on an appropriate synonym to replace it, Seto gave up and just held out a small package to Yugi. "This is for you, Yugi."

A little caught off guard, Yugi took the box and opened it, revealing a neat stack of Duel Monsters cards. Drawing the first card off the deck, Yugi recognized the face of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. The next two cards were Blue Eyes White Dragons as well.

"This is your deck!" Yugi murmured with slight awe, hurriedly putting the three cards back on top of the deck, trying to hand the box back to Seto. "I can't take this, you put your whole heart in this deck…"

"Exactly," Seto murmured. "And I want you to have them both. The deck, and my heart. Keep it."

Yugi looked down at the cards, so silent Seto was unsure he'd accept the gift. He expected Yugi to throw the cards back at him at any moment. Instead, Yugi smiled.

"Prove it," Yugi challenged.

Seto blinked at him. "What?"

Yugi held the cards out to him again. "I am challenging you to a duel. If your heart is really in these cards, then prove it and win. If you win, I'll come back to you."

"And if I lose?" Seto demanded softly.

"Then you'll leave me alone."

Kaiba was silent a moment, then reached to take his deck back from Yugi. "I accept your challenge."