-CHAPTER 13B-

-Yuugi's POV-

The water in the cesspool was the filthiest, foulest sludge I'd ever seen. It was blood-warm and greasy, clinging to my skin in sticky black droplets. The stench was absolutely horrific, enough to make your nose burn and your eyes water. The current threw me on a disorienting roller coaster ride of ups and downs and sucked at me, trying to pull me under. I kicked out against the soupy, thick water and tried desperately to keep my head above the surface.

"Jou! Ryou! Jez—" I broke off and hacked miserably as some of the oily water splashed into my mouth. The water sprayed everywhere and left a nasty slippery feeling on my tongue and in my throat. What's in this stuff? I disgustedly wondered to myself. Is it poisonous? I shuddered and shouted, "Jez…Jezebel! Kaiba!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flicker of movement. I flailed my arms and somehow managed to ride the current to turn and see Jezebel being pummeled against a wall by the rushing water. She was thrashing her head from side to side, trying to avoid being blasted full in the face by the foul stuff while attempting to find some sort of handhold on the wall.

"Jezebel!" I screamed above the roar of the frenzied water. She either didn't hear me or didn't care as she hacked at the cement with her claws.

I've got to get to her…she'll drown if I don't do something to help, I thought, and tried to swim closer. The current hit me immediately, pulling me relentlessly back, away. No! I kicked viciously. I crept forward by mere inches, only to be dragged even farther away.

"Rrrgh!" I growled, frustrated. "Come on!" But no matter how hard I lashed out against the current, it always held me back, too far away to offer what little help I could. All I could do was watch as her claws broke away and she roared with pain as they began to bleed. I could do nothing at all when the current finally overwhelmed her and dragged her down, writhing in protest.

"Jezebel! No! Jezebel! Je—" A pair of hands clamped down on my shoulders and I was dunked underwater. I tried to yell with surprise, but got only another mouthful of polluted water for my troubles. I struggled against the hands, near panicking as the awful waters closed over my head and managed to break free of their hold. I burst back to the surface with a gasp.

"Yuugi! I'm sorry! Are you all right?"

Ryou, I thought. I blinked, trying to keep the slimy water out of my eyes and shakily replied, "I'm fine. Have you seen any of the others?"

His already pale face went completely white and I had to strain to hear him above the roar of the water as he faintly replied, "Yes. I saw Kaiba. He…."

"What? Where is he?"

A troubled flicker came over his face. "His wings…they must have been so heavy. They dragged him down and…" (he lowered his voice to a frightened whisper) "Yuugi, I think he drowned. I saw him go under and…." He trailed off, ominously leaving the rest up to my imagination. "Have you seen Jounouchi yet?"

I mutely shook my head. Kaiba? Drowned? It seemed ridiculous, impossible. There was no way that Seto Kaiba could be dead! But then…you saw Jezebel get pulled under, a nasty voice in the back of my head prodded. Who's to say the same thing couldn't have happened to Kaiba?

I came back to my senses in time to hear Ryou whisper, "I think we're the only ones left then, Yuugi. What are we going to do? How…how can we get out of here?"

"I don't think we can," I quietly answered. No, that can't be right! There must be some way out of this! Jou and Kaiba and Jezebel must still be alive…they have to be! We're all going to get out of here and go back to our time together. That's the only way it can be!

I felt a strange pull in the current and suddenly I was spinning away from Ryou as the water bucked in peaky waves around us. "Yuugi!" he screamed after me. I could hear him splashing against the rough water, then a choked-off yell…and then nothing but the rushing of the water.

"R…Ryou?" There was no answer. "Ryou!" Oh no, no, no, no! This isn't happening! "Ryou!" I can't be the only one left! I can't! "Ryou! RYOU!"

I groaned as my left thigh was seized with a gut-wrenching pain. Cramp, I realized. I forced myself to keep treading water, but the pain began to burn and spread up my leg and into my guts.

Don't give up…. My leg was weak, shuddering with the effort of keeping me afloat. Have to stay above the water…. It felt as though somebody was twisting a knife into my side. My arms ached.

This will never end…there's no way out. I couldn't kick any longer. I began to sink. Never, never, never ends…. The water climbed up my neck, past my chin, my nose, my forehead…. You'll die. The water closed over my head. No!

I twisted in a final pathetic attempt to reach the surface. My vision clouded with black splotches that slowly grew to cover everything. I let the last of my breath go and felt consciousness begin to slip away.

-Jounouchi's POV-

I was dying. Strangely enough, my brain came to grips with the fact long before my body did. Kind of hard to believe, isn't it? After all, everyone always pegs me as a hopeless optimist. But there was a long time between realizing what was going to happen to me and actually feeling my body weakening, losing its will to survive, finally accepting the fact that there was no escape.

I twitched my fingers and took a gulp of the nasty water that I was drowning in. This is it, I thought. I guess the world won't have Katsuya Jounouchi to kick around anymore…. Heh. What a pity. I shut my eyes, at peace with the fact that I was about to kick the bucket. And then…FLASH!

I wasn't in the cesspool anymore. I was back home… really back home, not lying in some hospital bed. Mattress on the floor, covered with a mess of sheets and blankets. Beat up phone. Window with bird crap spattered all over it. I was in my bedroom. I was huddled in a corner, heart hammering crazily in my chest. My hands trembled and my knees felt shaky. And for some reason, I was scared shitless.

"Worthless little prick! Stealin' all my goddamn money!"

Dad? I thought. Like I really want that asshole to be the last person I see before I croak.

"Where the hell is it?" Hands grabbing me, shaking me so hard my teeth clacked together in my head. "Huh? What the hell did you do with it?"

The hands let me go so suddenly that I stumbled back, slamming into the wall behind me. "I…I b-bought—" Jesus, I thought. Do I always sound this pathetic when he's drunk?

"The hell? What'd you buy, you ungrateful son of a bitch?"

"I bought food! W-we were all out a-and--" I could feel hot tears building in my eyes and sliding down my face. What in the hell is going on? I haven't cried in front of him since….

His face went burgundy and he opened and closed his mouth in wordless rage.

Wait a sec…I remember this, I realized. This has happened to me before…right after Shizuka and mom left. Is this supposed to be my life flashing before my eyes before I die? This memory isn't exactly at the top of my 'great life experiences' list, but whatever.

I cringed and closed my eyes as he raised one of his beefy hands into the air. I knew what was coming next, and I knew there was no way to stop it.

Damn, this is going to hurt.

CRASH! The sound of glass shattering made me jump with surprise.

What the hell? I thought. That's not what comes next…and my old man never drinks out of bottles. So damn cheap he can only afford the stuff that comes in cans. What the hell is this?

I cracked an eye open and saw an imposing man with squared shoulders towering over me. His hair was a salt-and-pepper pattern of grays and he was wearing a suit that must have cost a ridiculous amount of money. Glass shards littered the ground around his feet like confetti, and an intoxicatingly sweet smell wafted to my nose. I furrowed my brow, totally confused. Is that wine? I wondered.

I glanced back down at the expensive-looking Persian rug and saw that it was spattered with a reddish-purple substance. OK, so it is wine. Wait…Persian rug? Where did that come from?

I took a quick look around the room. Big mahogany desk that was polished so much it made my eyes sting. Two complete walls of books in carved shelves. A chandelier that was ornamented with crystal. A fireplace that was trimmed with gold.

OK…this isn't my room anymore, I decided. Where am I? What's going on? Who is this guy?

"I simply cannot believe what a spoiled, ungrateful brat you are!" the man snapped. Huh? I've never even freaking met this guy before. Where does he get off calling me a brat? I fumed. I would have gone on silently ranting if he didn't choose that second to go on with, "When I found you, you were nothing but a worthless, pathetic orphan! A street urchin! A damned mutt!"

I flinched at the word 'mutt'. Christ, what'd this guy do? Take lessons from Kaiba? I wondered.

"I took you in; you and that whelp of a brother of yours. And you can't even show me proper gratitude!"

What is this? I wondered. I don't have a brother. What's going on? What's he talking about?

"You will learn to show your superiors the respect they deserve, Seto. I will not tolerate being trifled with. Is that clear?"

Did he just say 'Seto'? Does this bastard think I'm Kaiba? What in the…?

I opened my mouth to tell him that he was a psycho and that my name sure as hell wasn't Seto. I was more than a little surprised when all that came out of my mouth was a bitter, "Yes, Gozaburo-sama." What in the hell? That isn't my voice!

I was shocked out my train of thought when the man's hand caught me on the cheek with a sharp slap.

"How dare you take that tone with me, boy! You'll learn respect if you ever expect to run Kaiba Corp. in my place. By God, you will!"

What?

He seized me by the forearm and dragged me across the room, to a small mahogany door. He yanked the door open to reveal a tiny closet, stuffed with coats and shoes. It was barely big enough for me to fit into, let alone sit down in. I wrinkled my nose as the smell of mothballs filtered to my nose. "You'll be rooming in here tonight, Seto," he snapped, shoving me into the mini-closet.

"But—"

"Hopefully by morning, you'll have learned your lesson."

"Wait!"

What is up with this? My voice almost sounds like…. As the door swung closed, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror across the room. I was tiny…no older than eight. Instead of my usual messy blond tresses, I had neatly combed brown hair. My eyes were blue. My complexion was a lot paler, and I was as skinny as a freaking beanpole.

OK, this isn't good, I decided. I am Kaiba. Is this supposed to be one of his memories…or am I just going bananas?

SMACK! The feeling of the heavy hand smashing into my jaw caught me so off guard that I yelped with surprise. The stench of cheap booze invaded my senses.

"Shut up, you son of a whore!"

Dad again, I realized. I'm back in my own memory again…at least I think I am. What in the hell was that all about?

-Seto's POV-

"Yuugi…Yuugi, wake up."

I snapped my eyes open, surprised. Is that Yuugi's grandfather? I silently wondered. What's that old man doing here? What's going on? Have I already died?

I felt a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me. "I know it's late, Yuugi, but you need to wake up."

Does he really think I'm Yuugi? He's even more senile than I figured him to be.

I was ready to tell him exactly what I thought of him mistaking me for his own grandson, but was absolutely flabbergasted when all that I found myself able to say was, "Grandpa…what's going on? Why—"

"I'm sorry, Yuugi, but I'm afraid I have some bad news."

I'm not your grandson! I thought. What's the matter with you? I sat up and was taken aback to realize that I was in a room that I had never seen before. It was a bedroom, that much I could easily surmise by the bed and dresser. From what I saw, it was a room that belonged to a very young child. The bedclothes were covered with various cartoon characters. The floor was littered with cheap plastic toys. There was a nightlight that looked like the Dark Magician shining on the wall near the door.

"Bad news?" I repeated, though not of my own volition. My voice sounded strangely higher than normal. What's going on?Am I in Yuugi's room? How did I get into Yuugi's room?

"It's about your parents," Yuugi's grandfather stated.

I yawned and inquired, "What is it?" I tried to add, "What am I doing here?" or "Why are you calling me Yuugi?", but I found myself unable to speak.

Yuugi's grandfather gave me a deeply sorrowful look and put his arms around my shoulders in a tender hug. I felt him shudder and realized that he was crying.

"Grandpa, what is it? What's wrong?" Why do I sound so different? And why did I just call him 'grandpa'? I'm acting as though I really am Yuugi….

"There was an accident on the highway," whispered Yuugi's grandfather. "Your parents—" his voice hitched and he sighed before continuing with, "They got caught in it. They died, Yuugi."

"W-what? No…they're not…they can't be! Grandpa!"

What's happening to me? Why am I seeing this?

I felt tears pooling in my eyes and I let out an anguished shriek. Yuugi's grandfather gave my shoulders a squeeze and whispered, "It's all right, my boy. It's going to be all right. We'll get through this together."

The scene became oddly blurred, as though I was watching it through a fogged window. Outlines became hazy and began to shift and melt away. I felt a bitingly cold wind gliding under my wings and blowing in my face and realized that I was flying.. Wings? I suppose that means that I'm me again, I thought.

The world slowly came back into focus. Everything was white and gray. The clouds were thick and heavy, and they hovered close to the ground. The ground was covered with a heavy layer of snow for as far as I could see in every direction. Even the sunlight was strangely colorless.

Now where am I? I perplexedly wondered.

"Come back here, you damn freak!" What? Where did that come from?

I took a quick look behind my shoulder and saw a small army of people on horseback thundering after me far below.

This isn't good…how did I get into this predicament?

"You can't get away from us!" Fssh! Something small and light whizzed by me, narrowly missing my head. I saw a brief flash of feathers, shaft and point. An arrow… shit, they're armed!" I realized.

I flew on, willing my wings to move faster, to flap harder and tried to dodge the arrows that whistled through the air. Below, I could hear the horses panting and snorting with fatigue and their riders cursing and urging them on.

"We'll catch you!"

Why are these people after me? What's—"Arrgh!" I screamed with surprise and pain as an arrow buried itself in my left thigh, just above my knee. I felt a thin trail of blood seep from the wound and trickle down my leg. There was a cheer from the crowd below me and I felt a second jab of pain, this time from my right wing.

I flapped wildly, trying to stay airborne, but my injured wing buckled and sent me plunging down. The cheer of the crowd became a roar of triumph as I tumbled through the air and landed hard on the icy ground. I struggled to get to my feet as the crowd drew near, but my wounded leg was unable to support my weight and the best I could do was a half-crouch.

I grit my teeth to keep from crying out as a hand latched on to my good wing and gave it a hard yank, but couldn't hold back a hiss of agony as the arrow in my other wing was forcefully wrenched out. These lunatics are going to kill me! I realized, and struggled to get away.

"Stay still, mutant!" snapped a rough voice from somewhere on my left. A pair of arms circled under my arms and around my shoulders in a bizarre bear hug that effectively rendered me helpless.

"So whaddaya think we should do with this one, boss?" queried a whiny voice from my right.

I heard a sadistic chuckle from somewhere directly behind me, and a deeper voice answered, "I think we need to fix him. You know, make him normal, like us." A wave of raucous laughter rippled through the group at this statement. The hands on my wings tightened their grip as the voice added, "First thing we'll need to take care of is those wings. No human's got wings, after all."

I gasped as my wings were jerked hard from behind. Something audibly popped out of place and fire shrieked through my right shoulder blade. I swiped the air with my claws and fought against the arms that were holding me in place.

"They ain't comin' off," said the whiny voice.

"Well, pull harder, moron!" snapped the voice behind me.

Another jerk and I felt the bones at the base of my wings shudder in protest. They're going to rip my wings off if I don't do something right now! I thought, and flailed against the arms that held me in their iron grip. My claws sank into something soft and fleshy, and there was a scream from whoever it was that had hold of me. Something warm and wet trickled over my claws to cover my hands. I felt the grip loosen and I wriggled, trying to get free of the arms.

"Oh sweet Jesus!" screeched the whiny voice as I broke free.

"Holy shit, this is a dangerous one!" hollered the voice behind me. "Let's go! Come on!"

I heard a rush of frenzied activity around me, and the pounding of horse's hoofs, and then all was quiet once again. The man that had been holding me slumped to the ground, neck covered in sticky blood.

He's dead, I thought. I killed him….

-Ryou's POV-

I'd sunk so deep into the cesspool that everything was pitch black. My lungs felt stale and they were begging me to get back to the surface for air, but I'd been tumbled around so much I couldn't even tell the difference between up and down. The weight of the water was crushing me, making my guts ache and my head throb. My mind went fuzzy, unable to differentiate between what was real and what was not.

I allowed myself to relax, to give in and reflexively breathed in the water. There was no pain as the water flooded down my throat and into my lungs. I felt oddly warm. My eyes slowly closed of their own accord, then…FLASH!

"How dare you try to get rid of me, boy? How dare you deny your destiny?"

I shuddered. I knew that awful, rasping voice well. I heard it in my nightmares often, and in my head daily. There was no way to mistake it.

I opened my eyes and realized that I was sitting on an overstuffed sofa. The floor was covered with a shaggy carpet that was a hideous shade of green. Scattered here and there around the room were all the knick-knacks and artifacts my father used to send me when he was out on one of his expeditions. My Yami stood directly before me, glaring at me as though I was a cockroach.

I'm home, I thought. How…?

"I…I…." What's the matter with me? I wondered. Why can't I speak?

"I…I…" mocked my Yami, pulling his face into a mask of disgust. "Worthless, pathetic excuse of a mortal! You make me sick!"

"I'm tired of being treated like a slave!" Once again, the words had come without my bidding. But even as the words left my mouth, I was attempting to find our mind link. Bakura, I thought, hoping that perhaps I had found a way to ask him what had happened. Bakura, listen to me, please. I need you to tell me how I got home.

"You don't even know the meaning of the word 'slave'," he spat.

Bakura, please! Answer me!

"And you don't know the meaning of the word 'decency'," I angrily replied.

Bakura! I don't know what's going on here, but I can't control what I'm saying! Can you hear me?

His eyes narrowed to poisonous slits, but he said nothing in reply to my outburst. I went on, bolder now. "You think that being the spirit of the Ring entitles you to use me, take over my body whenever it fits your fancy. You constantly hurt my friends and lock me away in my soul room without any warning whatsoever…and after you've had your fun making my life a living hell, you give me these excuses about 'destiny' and 'history repeating itself'!" I leapt off the couch, hands balled into fists.

He can't hear me, I realized as my mouth continued to speak of its own accord. "So can you really blame me for wanting to throw away the Millennium Ring? Can you look me in the eye and give me one good reason not to have the foul thing melted down and destroyed?"

Wait…I remember this, I thought. This was just after Duelist Kingdom.

Bakura gave me one of his most toxic glares, reserved only for when he was truly angry. "If you stop this insolence this instant, your punishment will not be too severe," he snarled.

Don't keep going, I silently pleaded with myself. You're going to regret it later. But of course, there was no stopping what I knew was about to come.

"I don't care anymore, Bakura. I don't! Besides, what can you do? You can't kill me, unless you want to be trapped in the Ring until kingdom come."

He was very quiet as he fixed me with a look that was ice-cold. Calmly, coolly, he stated, "Unfortunately, you are correct that I cannot kill you. However…." He trailed just long enough to let goose bumps prickle down my arms before going on with a sadistic grin, "There are things worse than death."

I felt a very strange sensation as he began to merge back into the Ring and realized with horror that he was attempting to take over my mind. I fought desperately against the fog that was creeping into my head, but it was impossible to resist.

"Since I cannot kill you…perhaps I will kill one of your friends in your place," he stated as he completely disappeared.

The scene went mercifully black after that grim statement.

I'm glad I didn't have to see him doing…whatever he did, I thought. If I'm not mistaken, that's the time that I woke up covered in blood…and it wasn't my blood. Of course, he didn't kill any of my friends…I'm sure it was a rabbit, or some other poor, defenseless creature. What a brute.

I was rudely pulled out of reflecting on Bakura's cruelty by the loud crack of a whip immediately followed by an excruciating pain in my back.

"Agh!" I yelped.

"Silence, slave!" shouted a voice from somewhere behind me.

That's not my Yami, I thought. What's going on? Aloud, my mouth once again spoke without my consent. "I have a name, and I would appreciate it if you would use it from now on."

"Your name is slave, because that's what you are!" the voice growled. There was another explosive crack and I groaned with misery as the whip landed on me again. I could feel blood beginning to run down my back. My arms were beginning to ache, and only now did I notice that I was suspended four or five feet above the ground, hanging by only my arms.

What's all this? I wondered. I don't believe that this has ever happened to me before…or has it? No! I'm sure that I've never been through this! "No, my name is Elijah," I replied. What?

"Oh, 'Elijah', is it?" SNAP! The whip sent fire down my back once again. "You have no reason to be high and mighty, 'Elijah'…you're a worthless slave! Do you hear me?"

Isn't "Elijah" what those sailors were calling me when I first woke up in the future?

"You are worthless!"

What's this all about?

SNAP!

I grunted with pain and, again, my mouth moved and I was powerless to control it. "I will escape," I murmured under my breath. "I will escape this place and become a mariner. Just you wait."

-Yami's POV-

I snapped to full attention as the machines around my aibou began to beep, screech and wail frantically. Something's happening, I thought, gazing down at Yuugi lying so very still in the hospital bed. What is it?

I examined his face and saw no change in its serene expression. He seemed no paler than before…all was as it had always been—except…. I allowed my eyes to stray to his chest, his deadly still chest….

He isn't breathing! I realized. He is dying!

"Yuugi!" I cried.

Please don't leave me, aibou.

"Don't give up, aibou! You're strong, you can do this!"

Live!

"Breathe, Yuugi…Yuugi, LIVE!" I screamed.

-Yuugi's POV-

I was lost in darkness, losing my will, my strength. I was dying, drowning in the filth of the cesspool. My body felt heavy and numb. Useless. Weak. I could no longer see, feel, hear anything. I felt as though I was floating through a sea of nothing.

I heard a voice, deep inside my mind. Yuugi….

Yami? I distantly wondered through the haze in my head. Hello, Yami. What are you doing here? Haha. I'm so tired….

Don't give up aibou!

I barely had the strength to think, Goodbye, Yami.

You're strong you can do this!

…How…? There was a roar in my ears, and I was falling…falling through space with the rushing in my ears.

Breathe, Yuugi….

I deliriously opened my mouth and took in a shallow breath of…air? What? I can breathe! I coughed and greedily sucked the air, wanting to fill my lungs with it until they burst. I was still in the cesspool; that much I was certain of, but as my head cleared and strength began to return to my body, I felt my fear draining away to be replaced with something I had never felt before. This cesspool is just another of the Ruler's illusions, I realized.

An unfathomable, ancient power was growing inside my being, burning me from the inside out. Fire was surging through my veins. It felt somehow right, natural and it was bright, so very bright. Golden light was radiating from my body, dissolving away the illusory whirlpool of foul waters.

Yuugi, LIVE!

"Aaagh!" I shrieked as the ugly browns and grays of the cesspool were consumed in an incredibly bright light.

The power was so strong it was impossible to control. I saw only a fleeting glimpse of the Ruler's bedroom, only a momentary glance of Jou, Ryou, Kaiba and Jezebel lying dead still on the stone ground, just a flicker of the Ruler himself before the power unleashed itself in a wave of light.

"Yaaah!" I shrieked as I felt the fire burst out of my body and bear down on the Ruler. It was so much power it hurt. From far, far away, I heard the Ruler scream and fall to the ground undeniably dead, but I couldn't stop. The power continued to explode out of me, unstoppable, invincible.

And then, finally, it ended. I slumped to the ground as the last of the light faded, utterly spent in body, soul and mind. Blearily, through a haze of fatigue, I saw first Ryou, then Jou, Kaiba and Jezebel stir and shakily sit up. I managed a tired smile as my eyes drifted closed and I fell into a deep, soothing sleep.

Author's Notes: Well…there you have it! Another extremely long installment of JK20. Now you know why I had to divide this chapter into two parts. I hope this wasn't too freakishly bizarre…. Anyways, the story isn't quite over yet. I've got a lot of explanations that will be in the next chapter, so everything will (hopefully) make sense.

Thanks to mandapandabug, AmunRa, shadowwaker, ShamanQueens, restlesspirit, WildBlackWolf and Viva and Yuki Tsukihana for reviewing! You guys keep me going!