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Chapter 2

Yami was pacing round outside of Ishizu's closed door. He has cut short his visit to the market in favour of returning to the palace to find out how the boy was doing. He had been deeply shocked however, when Ishizu had informed him that the boy had collapsed and was coughing up blood. This was very bad, he had heard of such lung diseases and he knew it was rare for recovery to occur. However there was hope for the boy as he was in the hands of the best healer in Egypt. Ishizu had been known to bring people back from the brink of death, but on the other hand, the boy was very sick indeed.

Yami continued his pacing waiting for Ishizu to admit him so he could see how the boy was doing. He did not know why he felt so protective of him. Was it the fact he looked a lot like him? Or the fact that he was so small and frail? He didn't know. All he knew was that this one must not die. His thoughts were interrupted by a scream from inside Ishizu's room. Yami yanked open the door and dashed in to see what was going on.

He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what was going on. He saw the Dark Magician Girl floating above the boy on the bed and Ishizu trying to get her away from him.

"Get away from him Shadow creature!" she shouted trying to push the Dark Magician Girl away.

"What is going on here? Shadow Creature how is it you are here?"

Ishizu stopped at the sound of the Pharaoh's voice thinking that the Pharaoh would make the Creature go away. She had appeared so suddenly above the boy and was making for him – probably to kill him or something and she had been trying to stop it from hurting the frail form on the bed. But how was it that this Creature had managed to come from the Shadow Realm? Who had summoned it? Ishizu turned to the Pharaoh with pleading eyes and Yami narrowed his eyes at the Dark Magician Girl. He activated his ancient Duelling Armlet and shouted:

"Dark Magician come forth! I summon you!"

There was a flash of light and the Dark Magician stood before him.

"What is going on?" He demanded of him.

"My Pharaoh the boy summoned her, do not fear this though," he added quickly as the Pharaoh's eyes widened in shock, "He is a pure and innocent soul. This is not an evil power he possesses. It is his own talent. He is able to summon Creatures from the Shadow Realm at will."

"Just like me." Yami whispered and nodded completely trusting the Dark Magician.

"The Dark Magician Girl has been his personal comforter keeping the little one warm at night over the last few months. If she had not, he would have surely died before now."

"If we don't do something to heal his lungs he will probably still die." Yami said sadly. "There is something special about him I know it. Dark magician Girl you must do what you can." He said to her and she nodded always willing to help another.

The small form on the bed coughed violently and more blood made an appearance.

"He is getting worse My Pharaoh." Said Ishizu sadly shaking her head. "He may not survive for long."

"He must not die." Yami said and the fire of determination in his eyes evoked no arguments. "There must be a way to save him! And I will find it." He vowed and strode out of the room the Dark magician following.

Lost in a whirlpool of pain and suffering, Yugi dreamt, as he lay unconscious. He saw strange things, Shadow Creatures he had never seen before as well as the Millennium Items. He knew of their existence of course as he had heard tell of seven Items that wielded great power. The Pharaoh himself had one that could be seen hanging round his neck. Yugi had seen him when he watched from his favourite spot on the rooftops. In his dreams this time though he couldn't reach the rooftops. He tried to climb up the usually easy to scale boxes and crates but for some reason he couldn't grip onto the higher boxes and pull himself up. In his dream he felt his body grow weak and tired and he let go.

He fell backwards through the air plummeting to the ground and landing in the mud far below. His body felt weak and wracked with pain. He couldn't work it out. He knew this was a dream but if it was why was it hurting him so much?

He turned onto his side and curled into a tight little ball.

"Dark Magician Girl," he whispered, "Come to me." The pain was threatening to overwhelm him and he whimpered. Then he saw her floating towards him and he held out his arms to her. But something was wrong, a dragon had appeared from nowhere and started to drag the Dark Magician Girl away from him.

"No…" he whispered his voice barely audible. He knew this was still a dream but why was he so tired? His vision began to blur and he started to close his eyes but as he did, he saw the form of the Dark Magician Girl coming towards him again. He held out his arms to her again and she picked him up cradling his tiny body against her to keep him warm and safe. He snuggled into her welcome warmth and her energy flowed into him. Slowly he began to feel better though he didn't move, he just stayed as he was. His pain also began to lessen and he whispered a thank you to his friend. The only one he had ever had.

Yugi would never truly know how close he had been to death that day. If he had fallen asleep in his dream he would have died. The Dark Magician Girl knew and had almost been too late to save him. She had made it just in time though and given him the energy and comfort his soul needed to hang on to life for a while longer at least. If a cure wasn't found for his lungs soon though all efforts to keep him alive would be in vain as it would kill him anyway. There had to be a way to save him!

Yami stalked into the palace library and began pulling scrolls off the bookshelves into a big pile on the floor.

"There has to be a cure for him somewhere in this lot and I am going to find it!" he vowed.

"May I help you search my Pharaoh?" The Dark Magician enquired wanting to help Yami as much as possible and besides he also had a soft spot for Yugi having watched his day to day struggle to survive in an unfriendly world. The boy didn't deserve such an early and painful end to his life he thought sadly.

"Yes that would be appreciated Dark Magician, thank you."

Silence fell over the pair except for the sound of rustling scrolls as the two hunted and searched for a possible cure for Yugi.

After two hours nothing had turned up and Yami threw his hands up in frustration.

"Argh! There must be something somewhere that will help!" He thumped his fist on the floor in anger and the Dark Magician looked up feeling frustrated himself.

"My Pharaoh, there are more scrolls over there, maybe one of them has something?" he suggested and Yami went and grabbed an armful. Some of the scrolls were beautifully drawn and written and Yami was scrunching them all up in his arms. He didn't care, he just wanted to find something to help the boy. He couldn't figure it out, he had never felt this way about any other slave but this boy was different. Maybe it was his innocence? Yami had no idea he just knew he had to do something.

Ishizu walked over to the bed with a damp cloth in her hand. She looked at the Dark magician Girl who had the boy cradled in her arms giving him her warmth and energy.

"I'm sorry I attacked you." She said "its just that normally no one can summon the Shadow Monsters without special training or a Duelling Armlet for that matter."

The Dark magician Girl nodded.

"He called for me from inside his dream and I came to him. I do not know how he is able to summon us Creatures. He is very unusual in his ability to do this."

"Yes I know." Ishizu said and put the damp cloth to the boy's head. Again the boy coughed bringing up yet more blood. Ishizu used the cloth to clean him up before going to rinse it in the bowl. She looked out of the window at the Ra-kissed land.

'Please hurry My Pharaoh.' If something wasn't done soon, the boy wouldn't last the night.