While the rain was clearing from the day before, the clouds remained, making the morning look grey. Regardless of the weather, the morning couldn't have come sooner for Jounouchi, Anzu, Otogi, and Honda. Bakura tagged along still in hopes of finding the Millennium Items. They all quickly made their way back to the Kaiba Corporation main building, obeying Kaiba's orders. Mokuba was already waiting for them and led them up to Seto's main office. Upon arriving, Seto was still on the computer. He looked up and stared at them angrily.
"So…" Anzu asked him.
Seto looked back at the computer.
"I was up all night looking for this, and I finally found it. Now it just has to upload," he finally told them. "It's almost done. Once it's uploaded, a map of the entire city will appear on the screen, and all the duel disks will be tracked by the satellite. Each duel disk is marked on the map as a red dot with a number it. We just need to find Yugi's number on the map and that's where he is."
"And if by any chance he's not in the city…" Otogi wondered.
"If he's not in the city, he won't appear on here," he replied.
The computer beeped. The upload was successful and the program was in use. Seto's eyes skimmed the screen, searching for Yugi's number. The gang joined him behind the desk until he gave a glare, signaling to them to get away. Without hesitation, they returned to where they had been standing before. Seto, along with Mokuba, continued looking on the screen.
"Got it!" Mokuba explained. "He's at the Dueling Dome at the northern edge of the city."
"You mean that place that got demolished by that one guy on steroids?" Honda asked him.
"Yep," Mokuba confirmed.
"Great!" Jounouchi said happily.
"Strange," Seto mumbled. "That place is currently under reconstruction. How could anyone even get near there? I've had it closed off."
"Worry about that later. Let's go get Yugi!" Jounouchi led them out the door.
Quickly, they all emerged out the door. Before leaving, Seto grabbed the card sitting next to his computer and added it to his deck in the card case on his belt. He grabbed his duel disk sitting on a chair in his office, put it on his wrist, and went to catch up with the others. He sensed something was not right and it may be required.
The time had come! Everything was coming into place. All that was needed now was the wrecked soul to release the strong one. Then all would be set. The second dimension could be opened anytime, but there was one thing he wanted to do before leaving.
Anubis returned to Yugi's prison. Yami Yugi, who had been trying to talk to him for several hours, froze. He hadn't talked any sense into Yugi, so now was not a good time for Anubis to approach him. Somehow, he knew what was coming. He knew that the damage had been done, and now he was attempting to force him to self destruct and collapse on his own. There was nothing that would bring him more satisfactory, because it would not be one kill, but two. As Anubis stood before him, Yami Yugi prayed that there was something left of Yugi, something that could stand against Anubis' hypnotic and truthful game of words.
"I see it in you," he told Yugi, who was avoiding eye-contact. "I see it in your eyes of blood-shot. They have been stained with the blood of the truth. And with that blood, they contain sadness, sorrow, and pain. You do not want this anymore. You want it to end."
Yugi remained silent, but Anubis had read his eyes correctly. He had never felt so empty, so hurt, so hopeless before. He felt as if everything was crashing down on him, and nothing was going to stop it from crushing him. Nobody would save him. And yet somehow, he was still holding on, holding onto the thread of an impossible hope that was on the verge of breaking.
"You know your way out," he reminded him yet again. "Give me him, and all is gone. You have nothing, but you can destroy one of the catalysts of your downfall, and leave with some pride on your shoulders. The pride of having the guts to face some of the darkness and destroy it will be with you."
He knew he was referring to his alter ego. By releasing his other half, he knew he would be asking for death for both parts of himself. By forcing him out, he would be submitting, giving up on everything. At the same time, he would escape from all he hated, which at the time was everything. Yami Yugi was sensing Yugi's thoughts of opting out.
Anubis again was using his pearl. There was a glow. Then it was as if Yugi went unconscious momentarily. What he saw within his mind was an extremely fast replay of everything that had been shown and hurt him. In an instant, the image was gone, but Yugi had seen and understood enough of it to become enraged with sadness. When the replay disappeared, Yugi screamed, unable to control himself any longer. He had been thrown into the deep end of depression, and was beginning to drown.
"You have nothing here! No respect, dignity, glory, love, anything you thought you had you lack! Anyone who you thought would rescue you is not coming, and they will leave you here to die! Anything you thought could use to fight the darkness is useless! Resistance will get you nowhere! If you want to be free from the pain, if you want to be rid of the suffering, you have to believe!" he yelled at him as Yugi continued to scream at himself. "Yugi, I am the God that will free you from Hell! Accept the truth, and then it will be over!"
The thread he held onto, it did not break. He had let it go.
Shutting his eyes tightly, Yugi activated the puzzle. With its power and his own, he began trying to force Yami Yugi out of him. Yami Yugi felt his soul being taken, just as if he were going to take over Yugi's body, only this time with much more force. He was about to let Yugi send him out when he remembered what he had told him, and with his remembrance of it, he began to resist him. He began trying to hold himself in, as much as he didn't want to.
"Come out!" Yugi called to him. "Let me end it all! It's for the better!"
"No, it's not," Yami Yugi responded, trying to push Yugi's force back. The force was much more powerful than he had anticipated. "What I am doing is for the better, much to my own regrets."
"You resist because you're just like every selfish bastard in the world. You know without me you'd cease to exist! Well I'm not going to be your shield anymore! Go take up someone else's life!"
"Aibou, I never saw you as a body I could merely use to relive!" he yelled, still holding back. Yugi's force continued to grow. "I wanted someone to share a life with! Someone who could help me find myself and teach me things I never knew. Someone I could go through Hell with, and be happy with until my time expires. I found that in you! I love the way you've shared your life with me! I loved things for the way they were!"
Yami Yugi's soul was near the point of being cast out of the puzzle and controlling Yugi's body. He didn't know how much longer he wanted to resist him.
"If I didn't have to 'share' my life with you, I wouldn't have gone through half the things I did! I suffered for you, and you let me! You don't understand the pain I've gone through! Maybe you should for once!"
He was beginning to cry. He knew that Yugi was trying to do what Anubis had done to him: make him submit. Yami Yugi could not do that! He couldn't throw away the fight. There was still hope that Yugi no longer saw. Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, they would all be here soon! They had to be coming to find them! Yami Yugi just knew it, but he did not know if Yugi would wait that long.
"I'm sorry for any pain I might have put you through!" he hollered. "Why have you turned to this? It's not like you! No matter how bad things ever got, you always had hope and trust in yourself and others that it would turn out okay! Aibou, I know it all seems helpless right now, but I know that help is coming to you! Just wait-"
He almost had Yami Yugi all the way out. The puzzle was shining brighter as he came closer to releasing him. Yami Yugi was doing all he could to stop it, but he was losing his fight with Yugi.
"I'm sick of waiting!" Yugi had completely lost it. "I'm sick of the world, life, the people, the pain, but most of all, the broken promises!"
Yami Yugi had just found an escape.
"What about my promise to you?" he reminded him as his soul and Yugi's were beginning to exchange. "You made me promise no matter what he or you did to try to let me out, I wouldn't do it! Even now, as I resist you from pulling my soul out, I am being true to my promise, am I not? I want to break this promise to you, Aibou! I don't want to see you suffer, but I made a promise to you that I wouldn't come out, and I intend to stand by it, no matter what it takes!"
Yugi opened his eyes as Yami Yugi and he were switching spots. There was something inside of him that had not been broken yet…
The puzzle shined brightly. Patiently, Anubis waited for the glow to die and see Yami Yugi now in the shackles instead of Yugi. When the light faded, he nearly went blind from shock. Still hanging on the wall, as it had been before, was Yugi. After everything, even with a shattered spirit, Yugi remained. Anubis was furious! He could not believe that his efforts had failed! He had done cruel punishment and showed him the horrible truth, and yet Yugi still defied him.
"You are a despicable piece of filth! You would rather remain in Hell? Then Hell is where you will live until you are put out of your misery! May Ra have no pity for you!" he screamed.
Enraged, he assaulted Yugi with more punches and kicks, reopening some of his wounds and creating new ones. He went on only for a minute, but it was a minute like no other. His already numb body's condition had just worsened more. Covered in blood, Anubis walked out of the room, leaving a broken Yugi alone.
In his chamber, he wiped the blood off him. He knew one way or another, he would get what he wanted. He had the power to make it happen. However, that was not the way he wanted to do it! After cleaning himself off, he leaned against the wall and sat for a moment to think, knowing soon he would have to prepare everything else. How?How is this? How is he still here? He should have been gone. He should have been dead, he thought to himself. He reached to the left of him where a dagger rested on the floor. He unsheathed it and looked into the blade. I will cut your line then. Either way, your fate is the same! I have already decided your fate…down in Hell!
A puddle of blood began forming under Yugi's feet. Yugi had said nothing after what had just occurred. He only stared blurrily at the ground, continuously contradicting his thoughts. He was ashamed of what he almost did, but he wanted to relieve himself of the pain and suffering. It was almost as if he did not understand why he didn't force Yami out. He was full of hate, fear, and despair. At the same time, there was love and courage. Where it came from he was not sure, but it was all that kept him there. He let a tear fall from his eye, confused as ever.
"I knew it," Yami began talking to him softly. "I knew you were too good for that. You're too strong to lose Anubis' mind games."
He was aware of the fact that his friend was still lost in the dark, but he wasn't gone. Yami was more determined than ever to find him.
"You remembered, didn't you, Aibou? You remembered the light within you," he began. "Maybe that God-posing ass spoke the truth of the horrible, but he left out a large piece of it. There is so much more than that, and it's all in getting through the darkness and into the light. You've soaked the rays of the sunlight before. Don't you remember how good that felt? How it warmed your body and made you feel good? Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, all of them. They were there with you so you'd not be alone and you'd someone to share it with. They did that and more for you, just as you've done things for them. Friends always influence one another, and in the end it is always for the good. You've had so much impact on them, and you've helped them discover the strength within themselves. Aibou, you give them strength!"
Yami was beginning to sense doubt in him.
"You give me strength," he confessed as he began to cry again. "I wish not to walk in the light with anyone else. Who knows if I would even be walking in the light if it weren't for you? You're the reason I have a life and a motivation. Without you, my heart may almost be empty and discontinue because of a lack of strength. Aibou, you are my light. Without you, I am nothing. I hate to sit back here and watch you fight alone, but it's at your own will that I do. And Aibou, I trust your choice."
He had done all he could. Yami Yugi could do nothing but sob in the back of Yugi's mind for his struggling friend. He was so wrapped up in his sadness and frustration that he did not notice an unresponsive Yugi crying with him, crying tears of despair, pain, and anger, but also of happiness; of fight; of hope.