It took him quite some time, but he was finally able to sleep. Of course, even sleep did not take Yugi's mind off of his previous discussion. He knew to some extent, what Anubis said was not false. He had never suspected that he would start to believe that his friends were, in truth, tearing him, as an individual, apart. What confused him most is why he had doubt. Why was he losing faith in his bond with his friends? Was it because of the occurrences of the present time, or because he was beginning to accept what was known as the truth? Yugi was no longer sure what he believed anymore.
Anubis returned earlier than he had the previous times before. It was later at night that same day. Things were moving along faster than he had suspected them to, so he needed to keep up with the pace. It mattered not to him, though, because it all seemed to be working as he had hoped. He walked in to find little Yugi asleep. Only a few hours had passed, but Yugi had found a way to put his self in a deep, yet terrible sleep. A bit upset, Anubis was not worried. A simple punch woke him.
"Hello there," Yugi was rudely awakened. "Did you sleep well?"
Yugi did not respond to him. Yami Yugi watched on.
"What is wrong? Do you still wish to contest me, or have you accepted everything for how it veraciously is?" he asked him.
Yugi continued to be silent. Anubis slapped him across the face with his monstrous hand to try to get him to talk.
"The route of escape is still open for you," he reminded him. "All you have to do is release your inner self and it will all be over."
"If it is him you want, it is him you won't get," Yugi snarled at him.
"Why do you still defend him? I see he has done well defending you. Look at you, Yugi. You look miserable."
"I look miserable at my own desire."
"It is not just your outer appearance that looks worn, but your inside. I see it in your eyes. Inside you are just as rugged as you are on the outside. And he has done nothing to prevent any of this. How can you still stand for him?"
"If I am so miserable, why do I still defy you?"
"I did not say that you were so horribly beaten so that you cannot function. I merely mentioned that that is how you seem to be."
Yugi just snorted at him and looked away.
"Of course, I will have to change that."
He continued looking away, trying to seem courageous and strong. Anubis did not fall for his act.
"Who is going to save you? Help has not come to you, and you continue to suffer. Where is your light now?"
"It's hardly been two days," he muttered, "and my location is hidden. It's not always easy to find a hidden or missing person. I'm sure they're searching."
"What if they are not?"
"They are-" he tried to talk.
"They have other things to do in their lives, too. Why must they use all that time searching for you when they have not a clue where you are?"
"They're better than that! They wouldn't abandon me, no matter how hopeless it looked! Why can't you just accept the fact that they are not the examples of darkness in the world?" he yelled at him. "If you've watched my journeys, then you've seen what we've done for one another, and what how we treat each other. Perhaps it's not darkness experience, but jealousy. Jealous that you unfortunately never had the life you'd wanted, one with better relationships with people!"
Anubis just laughed at the ridiculousness of his statement. Yugi was clearly looking for a desperate way to fight back.
"You are more judgmental than I expected you to be," he stopped his light laughter. "You know hardly anything of my true life, so how do you know that all relationships I had were bad? Do you not think I tried to create relationships with people, just like the normal human being? With the exception of my lower class ranking and my cursed name, I was the same as everyone else. It was the shallow minds of the people which caused them to refuse to create any kind of relationship with me. They saw me as a lower class worker with a name that could bring misfortunes and shame to them, not as the person I was, which is how it is supposed to be. Shallow human minds filled with pride and greed extends all the way back to even a time such as then, where survival itself was difficult to achieve. As time passed, and technology and goods evolved in both value and usefulness, the mind of the people became hungry for more of the better, and it continued to grow worse. The greed for the better is what kept people connected, because they realized that they strived for the same things. Today, even that connection is beginning to lose its grip, because the selfishness of people is shadowing it. Selfish purposes have set people against one another, because now people wish to take from each other in order to gain more. And they will do it at any cost: trickery and deceit, war, stealing, any possible method which takes from others. If people continue this road of boastfulness, which history has told us, then humans are only leading to their own self destruction, and perhaps taking this world with it, for they have taken so much of it."
Yugi remembered someone speaking of a similar idea. A quick flashback of Yugi's duel with Rafael reminded Yugi that Doma was saying something like he was. Look around you, he remembered Rafael telling him, Human beings, stained with selfish desire, are destroying the world. Yugi wondered if Doma had any influence on what Anubis was talking about.
"The three types of people which humans have become, scavengers, carcasses, and predators, are all cursed with conceitedness, the only difference being how they seize what is they want. Predators use their power and strength. Carcasses die for it. Scavengers go after it when the time is right. All the actions of these three are all for their individual benefits.
"I have not been influenced by anything other than my own experiences," he said almost reading Yugi's mind. "Do not think I do not know about Doma, and how it too, had a similar feeling about humans' selfishness. When that man brought it up to you, I was thrilled to hear someone who saw people as I did, but you, as you have been doing this past day, have refused to believe it. If you claim the people in your life are what create your light, then this light of yours is not a guiding light, but a blinding one. It prevents you from seeing what is right in front of you, and you do not realize it."
Yugi was sick of arguing with him. He knew no matter what he said, he could not change his beliefs. Regardless of how much he told him how loyal his friends were to him, he would not be convinced. At that point, he was still confused from the previous discussion, and this was just adding more confusion to him. He did not know how to reply.
"I have to make you realize the truth," Anubis told him. "When you can understand it, you will be able to surrender."
"I won't surrender to an opinion," Yugi said. "The real truth is that everyone has a bit of avidity in them, but that doesn't mean it kills them. I've seen a lot of people, and I've even found some that I don't believe will be consumed by self-absorption."
"Those that you speak of are your so-called light, are they not? Scavengers such as them are among the most deceitful."
"If you tell me all this is fact, why don't you start justifying it? Thus far, I've given truth to my statement, because I'm still here! Now it's time for you to start proving yours! Don't just tell me the truth, show me it!"
It was what he had waited for him to say.
"With your greatest flaws, I shall…" he said.
His pearl began to glow again, and he put two fingers against Yugi's forehead. Yugi saw another blinding flash, but this time, he felt as if his body had been released from the shackles that held him, and he stood on his own again. His body was still in the beaten condition it was, but he was no longer hanging from the wall.
When Yugi opened his eyes, he stood alone in the beautiful city of Domino, standing on the sidewalks of the park. The climate was near perfect, the sky clear. All seemed so colorful and joyful. Yugi was unsure as to whether it was a vision, but it all seemed so real. He could come to no explanation to what it was.
Limping, Yugi walked down the sidewalk. He searched for somewhere to sit and rest his numbing body, but instead found all his friends, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, and even Yami Yugi, standing in a group together. Facing the opposite direction, they did not see him coming. Happily yet sluggishly, Yugi ran to them, having not seen them in what seemed like years.
"Hey!" he called to them.
They slowly turned around to see him. Yugi stopped right in his tracks when he saw the cold glares on their faces. They remained silent as Yugi looked back at them with a puzzled look. He did not understand the reason for their angry stares. Yugi looked away for a moment to see that his pockets were full of valuable items such as money and rare Duel Monsters cards. After observing this, he looked back to his friends, who were all but Yami Yugi, now holding something shining in their hands.
"What's going on…?" he said quietly.
He heard a clicking sound coming from Jounouchi's item. He looked closer at Jounouchi's item, and saw a sharp-ended blade at the end. What Jounouchi was holding was a pocket knife, as was everyone else as they opened theirs as well. Yugi didn't understand. They're not planning, he thought to himself. He took a step back to run into someone behind him. He turned around to see Yami Yugi. Once Yami Yugi knew Yugi had seen who it was, he grabbed him and put his head under his arm. His arm squeezed Yugi's head so he prevented it from movement, and his hands held the upper part of his weak arms from motion. Yugi was still baffled by what was happening. Hardly able to move because of Yami Yugi's grasp and fatigue, the only thing he could see was the sky turning dark as the sun disappeared behind grey clouds. He felt the air become cold and smell atrociously. He made a pathetic attempt to escape, but it was useless. He was too weak and his other half's hold too strong. Almost deaf to anything else because of the howling wind, he heard footsteps come towards him. With the little light remaining, Yugi saw three silhouettes of Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda standing behind him, raising the blades in the air.
An explosion in the city was set off, shattering the buildings!
Yugi felt the sharp pain enter his back as the blade cut through him. The blood squirted out, covering the stabber with it. Viciously, the blade was removed as a different knife stabbed through him. This was repeated several times, each person taking many hacks at his back, soaking them in the red liquid. And all the while, Yugi could do nothing, as he endured stab after stab from the people he believed to be his friends. The pain was immense on his already damaged body, but emotional pain was also taken in account, weakening him further. Eventually, he lost his strength to stand, but his alter ego kept him up, at least for a few more times. Then he dropped his body into his own puddle of blood.
He lifted his head up for a moment. In the background, his blurry sight was able to see someone watching on. He squinted to make his sight clearer, and saw that it was no one other than his mother. Trying to crawl away, his weak voice quietly cried for help. Yami Yugi stepped on his hand so that he could no longer crawl. With this, Yugi made one final cry for her, this time it being surely loud enough for her to hear. She blinked at him before turning her back to him and walking away. She then disappearing in the dark, leaving Yugi surrounded by his traitors, lying and choking on blood.
Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu bent down to him, laying their knives next to him. They reached into his pockets and took the valuables that were in them. They took everything and left him with nothing. After taking them, they let him be, and ran off. Yugi lied on the ground, motionless, still suffering from everything that had just happened. He tried desperately to breathe, but all he could inhale were little spurts of air, barely enough to keep him alive. Yami Yugi then flipped him onto his flaming back. He stood above him, holding onto his knees as he stared down at him. Yugi's eyes watered and signified he was hurt and betrayed. Dark Yugi apparently could not have cared less. Ferociously, he reached down, sending his hand right through his chest. He jerked out his hand after he had grabbed what he wanted: his heart. Having no true life of his own, Yami Yugi had taken the core of every life and made it his own, and he had obtained what he wanted.
Yugi no longer felt his soul in his own body, but it became part of Yami Yugi's. He saw not through his own eyes, but his other self's. Though he had no control over Yami Yugi's body, he could still see, hear, and think things as if he were in his own. His darker self's still hovering over his body, Yugi saw himself, dead and no longer in control.
Yami Yugi walked along and into the city, which was being destroyed by fighter planes flying above. The stench worsened, and everything became darker still. Buildings were collapsing as the Earth shook, and smoke was fogging the roads so hardly anything was visible. Having not a care in the world, Yami continued walking, watching the destruction of the city. He then walked by some tanks in the roads, as they like the planes were shooting down the city. On them, there was a label that read Kaiba Corp. Looking up, he saw the same label on a low flying fighter plane. Yugi, being forced into the back of Yami Yugi's mind, witnessed this as well, and could not believe what he was seeing. Kaiba Corporation, which was lead by Seto Kaiba himself, was attacking the city. Behind him stood the Kaiba Corp. Main Building damaged only by broken windows, indicating the idea of Kaiba Corp wanting to control Domino was likely to be true. Of course, Yugi could do nothing to prevent this, especially if he inhabited a body which he could not control.
He had walked to the end of the city, standing by the docks of the city. Yet again, he encountered Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda, dirtied from the smoke yet still running with Yugi's valuables. They ran in separate directions, trying to flee the city. Looking up, more planes began flying in, dropping bombs as they flew by. The bombs exploded, and Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda had all been caught in the blasts. This was all he saw, because he too began to run away from the incoming planes. It was no use; he could not outrun the bomb-dropping planes. The heat rushed upon him, and his body flew into the air. All the while, Yugi could only watch on…
Yugi gasped as he awoke back into the room he had been held captive. He was shackled the wall, just as he was before. The pain in his back and chest had disappeared; only the pain that had been there before remained. Everything had returned to the way it was. Sweat dropped down Yugi's face as he breathed heavily.
"It all seems like a mere illusion, but when you realize it is real, it hurts," Anubis told him. Yugi wasn't really listening to anything at that point. He was lost in the remembrance of what he had just been through. "I am going to leave you with that. I will let it rest with you. Remember, perhaps that is not how it will go, but it is how it will look, how it will be, and most importantly, how it will feel."
Yugi shook in shock.
"Tomorrow," was the last word he said before leaving once again.
He is gone, Anubis thought as he walked back to his chamber. He is broken.
Yami Yugi, who had seen the entire thing, came to Yugi. Even though he was not the one experiencing it, just watching it made him feel horrible enough.
"Aibou…" he tried talking to him. "That wasn't real. It isn't really like that. Don't fall for his tricks."
Yugi had no response, his thoughts holding on to the gruesome images of his experience. It was all he saw and concentrated on.
"It's not like-" Yami Yugi was about to say how life could never be like that, but he knew he'd be telling a lie. He couldn't think of what to say anymore. "Aibou, I'd never, they'd never…do anything like that. Don't you know that?"
Again, Yugi didn't talk to him. Yami Yugi knew that his friend's mind had drifted away. The Yugi he knew was gone, and he didn't know how to save him. Frustrated and upset, Yami Yugi growled at himself for not seeing this coming, and worst of all, doing nothing about it. His was losing his friend, and he had not an idea on how to bring him back.
I don't have anything but suffering, he heard Yugi think to himself. I can't continue this suffering. It hurts…so bad…