He opened his eyes and found himself in a place he had never seen before. It was bright, but not blinding. It was rather beautiful. There were castles that shone like diamonds and their highest turrets reached into the sky; the rivers were filled with sparkling, pure water as clear as a crystal; the sky had no clouds in it at all; the grass was the color of emeralds and flowed gently in the soft, cool breeze. There was only one word to describe the beauty of this place: paradise.
He stood up and looked around. Six figures, clad in white, silver and light blue robes, were standing in an imperfect circle, talking amongst themselves in merry yet serious tones. He felt the butterflies in his stomach flying about as he approached them slowly and quietly. "Excuse me," he asked as politely as he could, "can you please tell me where I am?"
They stopped talking immediately. The six of them turned to look at him, turned back to one another, and whispered something. He was about to turn and leave them to their business, disheartened, when the petite one raised up her hands and lowered her hood. "Yugi?"
I stared at her in disbelief, then ran into her open arms and released tears of joy from my eyes. "Tea, oh Tea, I thought I was alone! I was so scared!"
"It's okay," she said, rubbing my back comfortingly. "We're with you, we're all with you."
The other five lowered their hoods as well. I peered around her arms and saw Tristan, Joey, Bakura, Kaiba and…Pegasus?
"Nice ta see ya again, Yugi!" Joey said with a huge grin, motioning Tea aside and mussing my hair playfully.
"Joey! You're okay?"
"Kinda. I've been better, I gotta admit that."
A look of confusion covered my face. "What are you talking about? We're all here together, alive and well!"
They all looked sullen, even Pegasus.
"Yugi," Bakura said softly, "this may be hard for you to take, but we're all dead."
I swallowed and backed away from them, shaking my head defiantly. "No, no, don't say that! We aren't dead!"
Kaiba nodded slowly. "But we are. All of us. This is heaven, and not all of us deserve to be here." The comment was obviously directed at Pegasus, who shrugged.
"Technically, you don't belong here either, Kaiba. Neither do you Bakura, or you Joey."
The three of them looked at the ground guiltily. I continued shaking my head and backing away. Dead? No, we just couldn't be dead. But if I was truly dead, then wouldn't Yami be here too? I fled from the circle and ran across the perfect world and yelled Yami's name until my lungs were fit to burst. Finally, out of breath and hope, I fell to my knees and stared into the emerald grass until the others found me. Tea locked me in her arms again, telling me everything would be okay. I shook my head and replied that it wouldn't if Yami wasn't here with me. I was scared; I wasn't ready to be dead, and I don't even know how I died. I kept denying that we were dead, but I could not convince them otherwise. They tried to get me to lie down, but I bluntly refused.
"I'm not moving from this spot until I see Yami," I said shortly.
"Yugi," Tristan said softly, "he's not coming."
I looked up at him through tear-stained eyes. "What do you mean? He's dead too—"
"No he isn't. He's alive. He was given a second chance, but I doubt we'll be blessed with that. The world needs Yami."
"I need Yami!" I yelled, then whispered silently to myself: "Where are you when I need you most?"
"Come on. There's something you should see," Pegasus said, turning and walking into a large regal building. Tea helped me up and forced me gently to follow. We entered a small, bare room that had only what looked like a birdbath in the middle of the floor. The water inside of it was crystalline and rippled as if it were being pushed along by the wind. They urged me forward; I cautiously approached the curious object and peered inside.
I saw many things quickly: Bakura, Joey, Kaiba, and Pegasus. Only they looked different. They looked darker. Then they changed into completely different beings. They were bowing before a tall, malevolent creature that looked familiar, yet I couldn't see his face clearly so his identification was unknown to me. Then I saw Yami. He was standing before that red-eyed man called Runihura and was screaming at him and pointing behind him. When the view changed, I saw that he was pointing to me. I wasn't moving, or breathing; I was bleeding everywhere. That's when my breath caught in my throat. I realized that I really was dead, and so were the others. But how could Joey, Pegasus, Bakura and Kaiba be dead when their bodies were still alive?
"Because the Bloodservants of Osiris killed us and possessed our corpses," Joey said quite sternly. I could have sworn that he read my mind.
There was another scenario on the water's surface now. It showed a dark creature with long multicolored hair, black, emotionless eyes, and tight leather clothing. He kept changing while I watched into something even more hideous. Large bat-like wings sprouted from his back, claws burst out from the tips of his fingers, and his muscular structure doubled. He began slaughtering the red-eyed man. Seconds later, that same dark and powerful creature was standing in front of…me. I saw myself smirk evilly as he thrust his hand through my chest and I pried out his hand before sending a violent electric shock through his body and throwing him through—through—the nearest wall. Then a metal pike sunk into his throat and came out the other side…
The images stopped. I was glad. I couldn't stand to watch it anymore. I turned to my friends, my face completely pale. "Was that…Yami?"
They all nodded.
"He is not what you thought he was. He is an ancient vampire who has consumed the blood of Osiris, the God of the Dead. Osiris' blood grants awesome strength to whomever drinks it, regardless of species. His Servants are planning to use your body to bring him back," Bakura said austerely. His eyes were shining with sorrow. "My yami fooled me as well. I should have known that he was hiding something from me."
"So Yami…is a follower of Osiris?"
"He was."
"But he had undoubtedly tasted Osiris' blood?"
"Osiris is the one who sired him."
My heart sank into my shoes. I walked through the small crowd and headed to an empty room in the building. "Please, I need to be alone for a little while."
They all nodded and walked out; none of them said a word.
I sat on a bench and put my face in my hands. "Yami…why didn't you ever tell me…?"