Chaos: Long chapter; three pages. I just couldn't find a suitable breaking point...well, anyway, I'm wearing a protective suit, so just try and hurt me! Which I'm sure you will all want to do after reading the cliffie...(evil grin)

Flower: (sniff) I know I've written the end already but...I just want to cry! I feel sorry for Yugi...oh, and that reminds me...

Disclaimer: 'Yu-gi-oh!' and all related characters and aspects belong to Kazuki Takahashi, not to me. I do not own them. BUT OH HOW I WISH I DID!!

Flower: Review responses...

Strega - Yeah, well...it suddenly occurs to me that maybe Yami shouldn't be able to possess other people. That is, after all, the power of the Millenium Rod and...(eyes widen) Noooo! My story is ruined! And no, Joey gave the Puzzle back to Yugi, like the good friend he is. Humph. Not that it wouldn't be an interesting concept...

Yeah, well...it suddenly occurs to me that maybe Yami shouldn't be able to possess other people. That is, after all, the power of the Millenium Rod and...(eyes widen) Noooo! My story is ! And no, Joey gave the Puzzle back to Yugi, like the good friend he is. Humph. Not that it wouldn't be an interesting concept...

Funky - Glad you like. And belive me, Yugi CAN die. I just...haven't written it yet. Love suspense! (grin)

KitKat - Joey with Yugi's hair?! (splat) I shudder to think...anyway, yeah. Joey is a moron. But a lovable moron!

NM - Go Yami(s)!! If you're referring to Bakura, he'll be in the next story, but not until about 20 pages in and...oh...uh-oh...well, forget I said anything. It's another memory-loss story anyway, I might not post it. What do you think?

Wolf - Tell the truth, I wouldn't mind if it WAS a flame. Unless, of course, the overwhelming majority was flames and...well, nevermind. Anyway, it's my first story, I'm not sure about chucking in a huge amount of background info until people are used to my style...angst (twitch)...heh heh...angsty...well, anyway, I also tend not to reveal full plot details until the story is further in, so that people go 'Ohhhhh, I get it. So they were on HOLIDAY. But, wait...that means...OH NO!'. It makes angst more...shocking, know what I mean? Oh, this response is long...urp...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

And we wake up in the breakdown,

With the things we never thought we could be,

Yami cursed himself bitterly, again and again in a thousand dark forgotten languages, as he rocked beside the wall he had dropped against, the image still burning through closed eyes.

Finally he took his hands from his face, soul room coming back into view. He felt empty. He had run out of anger, the shock was still too fresh for pain, so he felt nothing.

He sat there for a long time.

Finally he managed to regain his senses and got up slowly, painfully. Yugi's mind was still blank, but worse than before; deeper, colder. Yami was, dare he admit it, scared to look.

No, dammit, he was terrified.

He didn't want to look into Yugi's soul room, and see whatever horrible sight lay within. He didn't want to enter the hospital, see Yugi lying there on the bed, empty of life. He didn't want to stay put, running over the same thoughts, the same 'if onlys', the same bitter regrets.

But he had to be strong. He had to try to make things better. If he didn't...

He would never forgive himself.

When he reached the joining door his hand froze. He couldn't bear it... But the longer he waited the worse it would be. He gritted his teeth and managed to open the door.

The door to Yugi's soul room was shut, and had turned black and rusting, corroding with every second. Yami was overridden by terror, but managed to reach a hand out to touch the door.

One touch was all it took. The door crumbled into dust at his feet.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tea looked at the people surrounding her. Solomon, ignoring them all, attention wholly focused on Yugi, endlessly waiting. Joey, his expression unreadable. Tristan, biting his lip so hard that it bled. Serenity crying. Duke Devlin resting a hand on her shoulder, his own eyes hollow.

She herself wasn't sure what she felt. As though there was an empty space where her heart had been. They all seemed to be suspended on a thread, waiting and watching. She felt as though she had stood there forever.

Happiness was a memory.

Laughter was something she read about in books.

She didn't realise she was crying.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

For a moment Yami saw nothing. Yugi's soul room was pitch black…but when his eyes adjusted he began to wish they hadn't. Darkness was good. Darkness was blind. Darkness was safe.

The floor was black and bare where previously there had been toys and games. The walls were melting from the top down, fizzling away bit by tiny bit, dripping down in dark grey streaks, revealing dark swirling purple skies beyond. The open door Yami stood framed in cast a shaft of light, just enough to see by.

Yugi was there, contrary to what Yami had expected. He was just at the end of the light, mostly shadowed, and had his knees drawn up to his chest, was hugging them, face hidden. A picture of defeat.

"Y-Yugi…?" Yami's voice was a hoarse croak that echoed around the dying room. He tentatively took a step forward. As his foot fell, it left a round imprint of light that seeped out and died about a handspan away, lighting the room further.

Yugi didn't move, as if a statue.

Yami slowly moved forward, footsteps leaving the circles of light that faded away behind him. He could see more now, see odd streams of purple vapour trailing away from all over Yugi.

"Yugi?" he said again, more for the sound of his own voice to break the silence than to get Yugi's attention. It sounded more like a whimper than a name when it echoed back to him. He knelt, just in front of Yugi now, and gently touched his shoulder.

The place he had touched glowed for an instant, alive, before fading. Everything he did seemed to shed light in this place. Even as that odd thought occurred to him, a small purple line spread across one of Yugi's arms, splitting out into a crack that leaked some of the purple vapour he had seen earlier.

Many other cracks spread around Yugi's body, some purple and leaking, some grey and dead. Fear forgotten in the horror of what might be happening, Yami slowly put a hand to Yugi's forehead and gently pushed his head back.

Yugi's eyes were open, but were only purple irises - had no pupils - and didn't move. A crack had wound its way around the left side of his face, splitting into a hole where it intercepted another. A stream of purple flowed from the hole, and through it Yami could just see the black that marked a corner of the fading room.

Though he had suspected it, it was still as if somebody had hit him in the face.

Yugi was shattering in front of his eyes.

It was at that point, back in the hospital, that Tristan was awoken by something. He looked up blearily from his rest at the end of the bed. The hospital staff had finally agreed to let them stay for the night, on small camp beds arranged around Yugi's own.

They had all insisted on staying. Tristan looked at his watch; 3.00. He groaned, but couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something had changed.

Then it hit him.

The steady, soothing blip of Yugi's heart monitor had stopped. Instead there was only a long drawn-out bleep, cutting into his ears, a small green line running across the screen with no fluctuation.

Tristan's yell could be heard all through the hospital, just as the emergency alarm blared out.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Flower: And then Yugi died! The end! No, only kidding. What kind of story would that be? Err...waittaminute...hmm...(evil grin)

Chaos: (whaps Flower upside the head) Fool! Write that into a different story! Anyway...yeah. Reviews are appreciated. (pleading look)