(a/n: I hate saying this, but NO HORRIBLY MEAN FLAMES for this story, someone read it once not on fanfiction, mind you and hated it, so this chapter is a very sore subject and I will STOP WRITING IT if you make me feel to bad. I do not mind critisism, but there's a line between correcting another writer and being horribly wicked. Remember, for crying out loud, I'm in seventh freaking grade. Okay, thankies!)

Yugi stood on a chair in the kitchen of his small apartment, grimacing. He was torn... for a rope was in a loose noose around his neck. If he stepped off the chair, then he'd never have to deal with any of this again... he'd be hung. Dead. But on the other hand, what if he was his friends' only hope? He took a deep, shuddering breath and closed his eyes, putting one foot out and about to drop off.

"Knock that off, Yugi!" said a voice crossly, causing Yugi to jerk his foot back on the chair in hesitation.

"What? Where are"

"Get down off that chair. It'll do you no good whatsoever. You heard me, get down."

Yugi gulped and obeyed the female voice, sliding the rope off and getting down off the chair. "Who are"

"You are just as bad as your father," the female voice sighed. "I've been here the entire time. And I mean since you were born. I've been watching over you. Did you really intend to take away your own life? Life is a precious gift, Yugi, a gift taken away to soon from most people. Be happy you've made it this far. Now I'm gonna hafta hurt you next time you try to do something so stupid... Take care of yourself, Yugi."

"Wait! Who are you!"

There was no answer. The ringing silence disturbed Yugi. He had left the door locked, so no one could have come in. No one would break in just to stop him from committing suicide, would they? Much less a girl? He gave up the mystery and glanced at his watch. Julia should be back any time now! Gotta hurry!

Julia nervously rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. She knocked, hoping Yugi would even answer. She heard a distant shout that sounded remotely like 'COMING!' and in a moment the door flew open and Yugi stood there, smiling tiredly. He wore a black shirt and plain jeans and his regular black boots. Surprisingly he didn't take off the kohl around his own eyes; Yami had taught him all about kohl and he refused to take it off. But he wore no buckles or chains, making him much more... how I say... presentable. Yugi smiled and nodded, stepping aside.

"C'mon in..." He said kind of breathlessly, glancing at her. Wow, what did Serenity do to her...?

"Yay! You look... not so punky! Good for you!" Julia smiled, laughing a little, "...Sorry, that was mean."

"No," Yugi rolled his eyes, "Just honest. I'm not a big fan of any color than black, but I'll deal."

"Cool!" beamed Julia.

Yugi smiled faintly. "You look good tonight, Julia." Not to say she doesn't alwaysoh, stop that! Stop it! Bad Yugi!

"You... You're smiling! You're smiling! YEAH! THAT'S the spirit! I'm so happy! You're finally smiling!" she laughed happily.

"Well," he said awkwardly, "Yeah. Is that really so surprising?"

"Er... Um... No, I guess not..."

"I'm sorry," he said and put one hand to his head, sighing, "That was pretty rude of me and I shouldn't have even said it."

"What's wrong Yugi?" Julia asked, standing on her toes to try and peer into his eyes. "You can tell me. I won't laugh, or get mad, or tell anyone or anything. N'stuff."

"...It's nothing."

"Please, Yugi?"

"I don't want to bother you, and it's nothing anyway..."

"C'mon. Please tell me? I just wanna help."

"I... You're gonna think I'm crazy," Yugi frowned, running a hand through his hair and starting to pace.

"No I won't," Julia said patiently.

"I heard a... a voice. A female voice. It was... strange. Pretty. It talked to me, stopped me from doing something stupid. It felt... familliar, yet I've never heard it. And it mentioned Yami," he said suddenly, remembering... 'You are just as bad as your father...'

"Sure..." Julia nodded hesitantly.

They walked out to Yugi's car together. Yugi sat in the driver's seat, remaining silent. The only sound was, as a matter of fact, was a cd Yugi had in, and it sounded creepy anyway. It was 'In the Chamber with Staind', an collection of Staind's music in an eerie string (violin and such) compostition. Julia sat up straight, glancing almost constantly over at Yugi and hoping he'd notice.

"Why do you listen to this stuff anyways?"she asked curiously.

Yugi shrugged. "I dunno... I just like it..."

"Why though? It's so depressing!"

"It's... different. Not depressing... Not really. Staind is a very deep band, albeit loud."

"Hm..." Julia paused then brightened, beaming. "We need to go to the beach!"

"...Why?"

"Because it's pretty and calming n'stuff! I wanna watch the sunset over the ocean! Yep! Yep, let's go!"

"Julia..."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Fine," Yugi nodded, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.

Within half an hour they pulled over and walked down the steep hill to the expanse of fine, white sand. The sun was an orange orb of fire falling into the ocean, which was a smooth, calm sheet of pure cobalt. Julia beamed and took off her sandals Good ridance, she thoughtand grabbed Yugi's hand, starting to drag him along.

"Come on!"

Yugi hesitantly took off his combat boots and rolled up his pant-legs to his knees, following Julia into the water. They walked into the cool surf together, hand in hand, the tide washing gently in and out around their ankles. Julia beamed.
"YAY! Thankyou so much, Yugi!" she grinned, then paused, "...What do you think the stars are?"

With the hand that was not in Yugi's she pointed to the changing sky. In the twilight a few diamonds were scattered across the multi-colored heavens. Yugi stared with her thoughtfully, trying to decide how to word his answer. It was a very complicated thing to explain, actually... Yugi frowned in concentration.

"Well," he said simply, "I think the stars are ghosts."

"Really?" Julia looked over at him, startled, then back at the sky, "That's so sad... I always thought that they were angels! I thought that they were guardian seraphs watching over us. See?" she pointed again, "Look how they shine... You have to see past reality into imagination, into your heart and yourself. In my mind they're angels... In to you they're ghosts... We reach deep into us. Most people, when you ask them what stars are, they take it literally... They'd say that stars are cosmic gases bunched together and the like... You're special, Yugi... Don't ever give that up... Always be cautious about thieves of hearts, imagination, and lives..." She closed her eyes, a pained expression on her face.

"What does that mean?"

"Um..."

"Julia?"

"It means people you'd least expect aren't always on your side..."

"...I get it. Someone backstabbed you so you feel this way. Right?"

"...Yeah." Tears formed in Julia's eyes.

Yugi put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'll be on your side, okay?"
"Thankyou. Can we go now? I'm not feeling so good..." she said, running a hand through her hair.

"Okay."

Yugi openned the car door for her and then got in himself. His face was one of concern, and Julia squeezed her eyes shut as they started driving back. Dangit, Dangit, DANGIT! I'm not supposed to feel this way... Oh, I'm not supposed to make friends with him...This messes everything up... Why? Why is my heart racing like this? This isn't good... this isn't good at all.

Julia stared at the ceiling. She felt really bad, for Yugi had given up his bed and went to the living room and slept on the couch. The ceiling fan whirred and shadows danced eerilly across the walls. A shiver crackled up Julia's spine and she pulled the covers tighter to her chin, her eyes squinched shut. Go away, go away, go away... You don't scare me, shadows... Now go away, just go away...

She felt something brush her cheek and she bolted out of bed, her bare feet making a thud on the thinly-carpetted floor. The borrowed nightgown ((she had raided Serenity's closet)) swirled around her ankles as she staggered backwards. Shadows loomed nearer and nearer... Many wrapped around her feet and wrists, pinning her to the wall. One even tugged itself into a gag across her mouth so she couldn't scream. A tall shadow towered over her.

"Weak... You are WEAK! You insolent FOOL!" the shadow-man smacked Julia hard across the face, causing her eyes to stream. "I TOLD you that he was the ENEMY! You aren't to become friendly with the enemy! You can't hide it, Julia... Not from me, not even from yourself. The way your heart races when you look at him, the way your face goes crimson when he speaks, the joy that leapt in your heart when he smiled at you... You are in love! Now stop this petty game-playing or I will send someone else on this assignment, and I will make sure you'd rather be dead. Am I understood?"

"Mmmmph!" she cursed through her gag and bit down, causing the shadow to withdraw.

The shadow-man grabbed her head and black fire surrounded her. The most agonized scream escaped her lips and the shadow-man dropped her, his shadows retreating. They disappeared, leaving Julia twitching in excruciating pain and misery on the floor. Yugi came running full speed into her room and as soon as he saw her he panicked.

"JULIA!" he dropped down beside her, pulling her onto his lap. She whimpered. "Julia... Dear God... What happened! Are you okay?"

"Uhnnnnn... Yugi..." she breathed deeplyfor a moment. "...Fine...I'm fine..."

"What happened? Jesus, you scared the daylights out of me!"

"...Bad dream... Yeah... That's it..."

"I'm not going to press, but I don't believe you."

"...Okay..."

"C'mon, I'll make some hot chocolate..." Yugi nodded, rubbing his stinging eyes.

Yugi put his arm around her waist and supported her as she stumbled upright. They went slowly to the kitchen, where Julia sat in a chair at the table. He took two mugs from the cabinitone read Staind and the other Metallicaand put milk in them, then sat them in the microwave. Yugi stirred in packages of hot chocolate mix and put a few mini-marshmallows in them, balancing them in one hand as he pulled out a chair for himself at the table. He sat the Metallica mug down infront of Julia and kept the Staind one for himself.

"Thankyou, Yugi."

"You're welcome."

"...Yugi?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't understand everything about this world quite yet. In Egypt you were betrothed... you didn't chose to like anyone. It was chosen for you. What's love?"

"Love? Ooooh boy... Tough one..." Yugi's brow furrowed in concentration and he took a sip of hot chocolate. "Love. Love is what someone feels when they meet someone of the opposite gender and feels special around them. Love makes you want to protect someone and do all you can to keep them safe and happy. It makes you feel warm inside, like you're wanted. Like your needed. It's hard to explain. It's just... when you meet that special person, it just kind of happens. Like magic almost. Your face gets red when you see them, and you're always willing to listen to anything they have to say, no matter how annoying or pessimistic or hyper they are. I can't explain it, but you'll know when you feel it. Why?"

"Oh, just... just wondering. I'm still trying to figure out this modern-day human thing."

"Alright," Yugi smiled faintly.

"...Yugi..." Julia pressed her hands to her face, tiny stars exploding on the inside of her eyelids as she put pressure on her closed eyes. "I think Anubis is really close. I mean REALLY close. Be careful, okay? Will you promise me you'll be careful?"

"I promise if you do."

"Alrighty then. That's just spiffy. Well, I'm... sleepy now... I think I can go... back to sleep..." she smiled feebly and put her mug in the sink, tottering off, so exausted she looked drunk to the bedroom.

Yugi stared after her, then stirred the hot chocolate, which was growing cold, with his index finger. Something was going on here. He could tell. There something Julia just wouldn't tell him, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what! Yugi sighed in frustration. There was a deeper mystery behind her. There had to be. He stood up, putting water halfway up into the two mugs so the remains of the hot chocolate wouldn't harden and be hard to wash. I'll find out just as soon as I defeat Anubis.