A Matter of Lies and Death

x.x.x

"Where the hell is it?!"

Seto's normally pristine room looked like a tornado had tap-danced through it. Paper and books were scattered everywhere, and were continuing to be thrown in wild disarray as Seto searched frantically over the contents of his desk.

Mokuba narrowly dodged a flying paperweight as he stepped into the room to see what all the noise was about. "Seto? What are you doing?" He surveyed the growing mess with a mixture of surprise and awe. "What are you looking for?"

"My design!" Seto snarled, dumping out the contents of another desk drawer. "It has to be here, it just HAS to!"

"Your design for what?" Mokuba carefully stepped over some scattered papers.

Seto sat back and glowered at his desk, which he seemed to be blaming for the disappearance of his papers. "The one I made for a contest. It's the greatest Duel Monsters' arena ever designed, and it's sure to win if I can just find it."

Mokuba squatted down by Seto and started to put the piles of paper into some semblance of order. "When did you see it last?"

"Just the other day," Seto muttered. "I wouldn't have misplaced it, I'm sure I just left it on my desk, and…" His eyes narrowed as realization struck him. "Somebody took it!"

Mokuba glanced over at Seto uneasily. Surely it wasn't… "You don't think Yami took it, do you?"

Seto made a dismissive gesture. "No, of course not, Yami wouldn't-" He paused, looking over at Mokuba with surprise. "You know about Yami?"

Mokuba grinned, nodding. "Yep! I talked to him when he left your room really early this morning. Why didn't you tell me about him? You knew about him, but you kept telling me he was Yugi!"

Seto sighed. "Look, Mokie, you know you'd be the first person I would tell about seeing a ghost. You would be the only person who'd believe me! But Yami said he didn't want anybody else to know. I'm kind of surprised he told you even… but I guess it was better than letting Yugi take control and let him try to figure out why the hell he was standing in my hallway at two in the morning."

Mokuba nodded, a little relieved that Seto didn't think Yami took his contest entry. "So who do you think took your design?"

"Oh, I know who took it." Seto sighed. "Unfortunately, he's the one person who I can't get it back from. Noa Kaiba." No, there was no way he could even confront Noa about stealing his design. For one thing, Noa could afford to hire every high-priced lawyer in the city, the ones that weren't already on the Kaiba Corp payroll. Most days, Seto could barely afford to buy lunch in the school cafeteria.

"Noa Kaiba?" Mokuba glowered. "When was he here?"

"Just the other day," Seto said. "I don't know why he was here, he didn't really say much. Then Yugi showed up, and I only turned my back on Noa for a minute… and that's when he must have grabbed my designs."

Mokuba reached up to pat his big brother's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Seto. One day you're going to own ALL of Kaiba Corp, and then they'll all be sorry. Won't they?"

Seto smiled a little at him. "You're right. One day, we'll make all those damned Kaibas sorry for messing with us Nishimuras."

At that moment, the phone in the other room began to ring. Seto and Mokuba glanced at each other, then both ran for the door, racing each other to the phone. Seto nearly got to it first, but Mokuba leapt at him, latching onto his legs and tripping up his big brother. Seto landed hard on the carpet, and Mokuba grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" Mokuba said, barely even breathless from his little run. He listened to the caller for a second, then held out the phone to Seto, who was glaring at him from his current place on the ground. "For you!"

Seto grabbed the phone from his brother, frowning at him before answering the caller. "Seto speaking."

"Hi Seto!" Yugi said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Well, I've discovered being a cheating bastard runs in the Kaiba bloodline, but other than that, everything is just great."

Yugi's enthusiasm faded a little. "Oh. Really? What happened?"

Seto glowered at the memory. "Remember when you came over the other day and Noa Kaiba was here? Well, he stole something while he was here, and I don't think I can even get close enough to the Kaiba mansion to demand it back."

"Well, just talk to him about it the next time he starts following you around the city," Yugi suggested. "He can't seem to resist stalking you. It's kind of creepy, by the way."

Seto rolled his eyes. "Really? I hadn't noticed," he muttered, sarcasm dripping off every word.

"Don't worry about it," Yugi advised. "You'll get it back. In the meantime, want to come over? Grandpa just got a new shipment of Duel Monsters cards."

"Sure, I'll be right over," Seto said. He and Yugi said their goodbyes, and Seto hung up. He looked up to find Mokuba watching him eagerly. "What?"

"Are you going over to Yugi's?" Mokuba asked, all but bouncing with excitement.

"Yeahhh…" Seto said. "Why?"

"Can I come? Please, Seto?" Mokuba clasped his hands together, pleading for all he was worth.

"I thought Mom said you couldn't go anywhere until your room was clean," Seto said, heading back to his own room to grab his backpack.

"My room is clean!" Mokuba protested.

"Right." Seto walked down the hallway and opened Mokuba's door, staring over the wasteland of toys, books, clothes, and probably sentient life buried somewhere under one of the piles. "I don't see how you can stand to live in this dump."

"You're room's not much better right now!"

"That's different, I was looking for something." Seto ruffled up his brother's hair. "Sorry Mokie, we both know if I brought you, Mom would flay us alive. But I'll bring you back some new cards, alright?"

Mokuba frowned, but finally gave up. "Alright. But they'd better be really good cards!"

Seto laughed and nodded, heading downstairs. Passing through the dining room, Seto noticed a package on the table addressed to him. Briefly he considered opening it, then figured it could wait until he got home. If he didn't get over to meet Yugi soon, all of the good cards would be gone.

x.x.x

"Hey Seto!" Yugi called over across the store as Seto arrived. "You're just in time, Grandpa's unloading the shipment." He pointed to all the boxes piled up by the game store's counter. "That's all of them!"

"Even this one?" Seto asked, picking up a small package that was hiding among all the large boxes. That one was addressed to Yugi. "I think this one is yours. It looks really similar to the one I got this morning."

"Really? What was in yours?" Yugi asked, taking the package and blinking at it. He shook it; the contents rattled around a lot.

"I dunno, I was kind of in a hurry to get here, I didn't open it."

"Huh." Yugi shrugged, grabbing the box cutter his grandfather had brought out to open the shipment boxes. "Well, let's find out!" He slit the tape, opening up the box.

Inside were three items; an envelope, a video cassette, and a single glove that seemed to have an odd metal cuff around the wrist.

"Weird…" Yugi muttered, opening the envelope. Two Duel Monster's cards fell out, and a small token in the shape of the star. Still not understanding the significance, Yugi peered into the envelope to see if there was a letter. There didn't seem to be. "I wonder who sent all this stuff."

Seto held up the video tape. "Whoever it was sure wants to pique your interest. Shall we see what further clues this holds?"

"Yes!" Yugi grabbed the tape, hurrying to the back room. "We've got a VCR back here."

Turning on the TV and putting in the tape, Yugi and Seto sat back to watch the show. Except, there didn't seem to be much on the tape but static. "This is lame," Yugi mumbled.

"Lame, is it?"

The static on the screen cleared, revealing the rather amused face of Maximillion Pegasus. Both Yugi and Seto recognized him immediately; he was the famous creator of Duel Monsters, how could they not know him?

But how the hell could he be talking to them through the TV?

"I've been very eager to meet you, Yugi Motou," Pegasus continued. He held up a pack of Duel Monsters. "Perhaps you would do me the honor of a game?"

"Okay, this is weird," Yugi whispered to Seto.

Seto nodded. "It has to be some sort of trick."

"I assure you, this is no trick, Seto Nishimura," said the screen-image of Pegasus. "So, little Yugi, shall we begin our duel? It really is in your best interest to agree… unless you would prefer to let the spirit of your Millennium Puzzle to do your dueling for you…"

"The what of my what?" Yugi all but yelped, grasping at the familiar weight of the Millennium Puzzle around his neck.

"Oh, that's right," Pegasus murmured, feigning concern. "Your own other half hasn't yet deemed to reveal himself to you. Perhaps you should ask your friend Seto, he knows all about him…"

"That is enough," Yugi suddenly growled, Yami's fierce eyes glaring at Pegasus' image on the TV screen. "I haven't told Yugi for a reason."

"To protect him, how noble of you," Pegasus drawled. "But you didn't think about how knowledge of your existence might put the people you have told in danger, have you?"

This was all a little too much for Seto to understand. Sure, there was a ghost that seemed to spontaneously take over the body of his best friend. Weird certainly, but nothing that he couldn't handle. But now that ghost seemed to be holding an argument with a magical video tape, and that was just too strange for words.

"Are you threatening my friends?" Yami all but snarled, his tone dangerous.

"Of course not," Pegasus murmured innocently. "Not if you play this one little duel with me. Really, that's all I'm asking. If you win, I'll leave you and your friends alone."

Yami didn't even ask what Pegasus would demand should he happen to lose. Because Yami never lost. He pulled out his card deck, setting it out on the small table in front of the TV. "Alright then. Let's duel."

"One more thing," Pegasus interrupted, holding up a deck of cards of his own. "You only have ten minutes to beat me. If time runs out before the end of the duel, you automatically lose. Are you ready then?"

"Just go."

It was almost surreal, watching Yami duel Pegasus. Seto sat back, finding himself somehow able to ignore the strangeness of the situation, in favor of wondering who would win. On the one hand, Pegasus was the creator of Duel Monsters, surely he had every card, every strategy, every upper hand a player could ever have. On the other hand, Yami was the most incredible player Seto had ever seen. It was a very close duel.

And Yami was winning.

Pegasus seemed to be very unconcerned with that, however. Even as Yami set up a final deadly strategy, Seto realized why.

Winning or not, Yami was running out of time.

Was it Seto's imagination, or was Pegasus stalling during his turns. He glanced down at the little clock at the bottom half of the screen, his eyes widening as he realized how much time was really left. 12 seconds.

"Now let me see…" Pegasus murmured, pondering over the cards in his hand. "I think I'll play…"

9 seconds.

"No," Pegasus decided, deciding against one card and moving to consider another one. "Not that one…"

6 seconds.

"I will play…" Pegasus slowly picked out a card from his deck, laying it facedown. "This one."

3 seconds.

Yami barely had enough time to snatch his next card from his hand, ready to put his finally move into play, when…

0 seconds.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Pegasus said cheerfully. "Time is up. And you were doing so well too! But I guess that means I win, hmm?"

"That isn't fair!" Seto nearly leapt from his seat. "Yami would have won and you know it." If there was one thing Seto couldn't stand, it was not good cheaters.

"Of course he would have," Pegasus murmured, that same fakey cheerful smile on his face. "But he didn't do it in ten minutes, and so I win. And now I shall collect my prize."

"What prize?" Yami demanded.

"Well, think of it as more of a down-payment. You can win it back at my tournament, if you care to come."

"What prize?" Yami demanded again.

Pegasus brushed back some of his silvery hair, that had previously obscured one of his eyes. Where a normal eye should have been, a stylized golden eye had been placed, gleaming with the light so brightly it almost seemed to be glowing from within. Seto stared at it, recognizing the symbol immediately. The same eye design was on the front of Yugi's Puzzle.

But as Seto stared at that eye, he started to feel very odd. Dizzy, light-headed almost. He felt like he was going to pass out…

"No!"

Yami's shout broke whatever strange spell had been cast on Seto from that eye. Seto glanced at his friend, finding Yami hard to look at. Yami stood tall and regal, that same eye design glowing bright as the sun from his forehead, casting obscure shadows all around the room. Even Pegasus cringed away, though his own golden eye continued to glow brightly. Seto had no choice but to cover his own eyes or go blind…

"You… shall…NOT…" Yami growled, his voice strained with the effort of holding back whatever powers Pegasus held.

In a second it was over, and Yami crumpled to the ground. The TV hissed loudly with static.

Seto blinked, trying to clear the spots from his vision. Then he hurried to Yami's side, trying to somehow revive the unconscious spirit.

"Come on Yami…" Seto murmured. "Yami… Yugi… one of you wake up, at least!"

"Seto?" A light hand touched Seto's shoulder.

Seto leapt up, whirling around to face this new complication. Before him stood a man far paler than anything Seto believed possible, with hair white as snow and eyes the color of a cloudless sky. "Who are you?" Seto demanded. "Whoever you are and whatever you want, just go away! I've got enough to deal with at the moment."

"More than you know," said the man, nodding gravely. "My name is Kin. I'm a Blue Eyes White Dragon."

Seto stared at him, then very slowly sat down on the floor. "I'm sorry. My weirdness tolerability is severely overtaxed at the moment."

Kin nodded, taking a seat on the floor as well. "Situations where we Duel Monsters have a need to make contact with mortals are very rare. If it helps, I think you're taking it very well."

"Taking it well?" Seto yelled. "You had better start explaining things very quickly, or I'll show you just how quickly I can go from taking it well to complete raving lunatic!"

"Alright, alright…" Kin murmured. "What do you want to know first?"

"Start with what the hell Maximillion Pegasus did to Yami."

Kin nodded, watching Seto with his intensely blue stare. "Alright. From what we in the Shadow Realm can tell, Pegasus needs Yami's powers for something. To get them, he has to beat Yami in a duel."

"He just did that," Seto pointed out.

"A fair duel," Kin corrected. "Pegasus has this whole big plan that is going to take place at his Duel Monsters tournament on his island. Pegasus' intention here was to take your soul, using it as bait to force Yami to attend this tournament."

"My soul?"

"Yami managed to stop him, though at great cost. When Yami interfered with Pegasus, Pegasus accidentally ripped out a chunk of Yami's soul, rather of grabbing yours."

Seto looked down at the prone form of his friend. "That's why he won't wake up?"

"He is injured, but he will wake up soon. That is what I came here to talk to you about." Kin looked down at Yami as well. "You must keep him from overexerting himself, or preferably, from coming out at all. With Yami's soul torn like this, he is in danger of… shall we say, spiritually bleeding to death. Unless the other piece is recovered, both he and Yugi will die."

"Yugi too?" Seto gaped at him.

Kin shrugged. "When Yami comes out of his soul room, he and Yugi's souls are very close, nearly melded together. We think Pegasus got a piece of Yugi as well." Kin looked at Seto seriously. "Bring them to Duelist Kingdom. Help them recover their souls. Or all will be lost."

Seto glared at him. "You don't ask for much, do you?"

Kin smiled at him faintly. "We will all be aiding you as much as we can, but you must do this. For Yugi and Yami's sake, if not the entire world's." He stood up, bowing down low to Seto. A mist of purple and black darkness swirled up around Kin's pale form, and as it faded, so did the self-proclaimed dragon.

x.x.x

Yugi did wake up a little while later, though with wakefulness came a pounding headache. Seto said around long enough to make sure Yugi got to bed alright, and then headed home.

The package was still sitting on the dining room table when he arrived. For a long while he just stood there and glared at it, before finally ripping off the tape. Inside was an envelope containing a duel monster's card and a star-shaped token, and a single glove with the odd metal band around the wrist.

In a fit of frustration, Seto tossed the box and all its contents across the room.

x.x.x

A package was waiting on Ryou's doorstep when he got home from grocery shopping. He managed to juggle around the paper bags he was holding so he could pick up the box, carrying the whole load inside without dropping anything. Curious as to who sent the box, he plopped down on the couch and ripped off the tape.

Inside the box was a glove, and an envelope with a star token, a Duel Monsters' card, and a letter. The letter graciously invited him to participate in an upcoming Duel Monsters Tournament, hosted by Maximillion Pegasus on his own private island. There was a large cash prize, plus a free ride on a cruise ship to and from the island. It really sounded like fun.

I don't have time for this, a voice growled at the back of Ryou's mind.

Ryou shivered at the now familiar sensation, the feeling of being pushed back, of no longer being in control of his own body. The Ryou-that-was-not-Ryou tossed the package's contents back onto the table, dismissing them as worthless.

"I am here to collect the Millennium Puzzle, not to play some silly game," Bakura growled aloud.

But I want to play in the tournament, Ryou whimpered softly, trying not to anger that strange presence that seemed to take over his body more often than not these days. But still… he wanted to join all those other kids and play Duel Monsters, no matter how silly that darker presence said it was.

Bakura ignored Ryou's pleading voice, though something on the letter did catch his attention. Hosted by Maximillion Pegasus? Pegasus was the possessor of the Millennium Eye, was he not?

Bakura had come to this city to steal the Millennium Puzzle, but there were other Millennium Items out there to steal as well. And these Millennium Items had a way of ending up in the same places, so if the owner of the Puzzle ended up on the same island as the Eye, why shouldn't it be possible for the spirit of the Millennium Ring to get them both at once?

"You know, I think I will let you go to this little tournament," Bakura murmured, picking up the pack of Duel Monster's cards he kept. He rifled through the deck to pull out a single card. "I'll even make certain you win."

The Millennium Ring glowed, digging deep within to drag out Ryou's cowering soul. Bakura listened with amusement to Ryou's terrified shrieks, silenced suddenly as Bakura sealed away the boy's soul inside of his favorite card. Bakura slid the card back into the deck, shuffling it, and setting it down. He reached into the package once more, removing the glove from the box, and pulling it on with a certain satisfaction.