Journey of One Thousand Miles

x.x.x

"You'd think by now I'd be used to this," Yugi murmured to himself, squinting through the darkness, trying to discern the odd liquid shapes moving and flowing just out of the range of his vision.

He'd been here before, in his dreams, at least a dozen or so times in the past couple weeks. The warm, enveloping darkness, where everything was peaceful and safe. Usually he could just relax in this place, knowing that wherever or whenever he woke, things would be alright, or perhaps even strangely better than they were before.

But not this time. Somehow his dark quiet place was disturbed. Yugi's body, and similarly all the air around him, thrummed with pain. He'd gone to bed with a headache, but somehow now the ache was all over him, itching in some places and burning in others. He tried to focus on something beyond his immediate area, trying to ignore his hurts. Maybe if he was lucky-

"Yugi?"

Yugi brightened a little, sitting up straighter and wincing at the pain this caused him. He was here! Sometimes, in brief glimpses, Yugi could see the dark mirror image of himself in this dark place. But this strange and wonderful Yugi-but-not-Yugi had never spoken to him, except in the first dream, when Yugi had first seen the dark place and met this other.

"Yugi?" came the voice again, rich in tone, as the figured moved forward from the darkness. "Are you alright?"

Yugi nodded, then guessed that this other person couldn't see so well in the darkness, either. "Yes… I'm alright…" A sharp stab of pain reminded him otherwise. "No," he corrected himself. "No, something hurts bad…"

"I know." The figure moved in closer, to where Yugi could see him.

Yugi let out a startled cry, to see this figure so much like him in front of him. This Not-Yugi was badly battered, clutching at his side where blood leaked profusely through the fabric of his shirt, staining a sticky trail all the way down one leg.

"You're hurt!" Yugi gasped, trying to clamber up to help. Halfway through the movement, Yugi collapsed again, curled up on himself, wracked with painful jolts.

"So are you," the Not-Yugi pointed out, carefully sitting himself down beside Yugi, rather than trying to get Yugi to stand up again. "Relax, the pain will ease."

Yugi took a few shallow breaths, swallowing and blinking back tears. Relaxing slightly, the pain did begin to ease off a little. "What… what happened?"

"We were injured in battle," the other said quietly. "And it's… my fault. I thought I could protect you; if only you didn't know about me, you would be safe…" He took a deep breath, his hand on his would clenching tighter in the pain that brought. "I should have told you from the beginning."

"Told me what?" Yugi whispered.

The other turned to look at him. Yugi found himself staring at eyes vastly different from his own, glinting red even in the darkness. "My name is Yami. I was brought to you through the Millennium Puzzle."

Yugi blinked and automatically clutched at his puzzle, the familiar and comforting weight hanging around his neck. "My puzzle? So it really is magic, it wasn't just a fairy tale?"

"Even I do not know the full extent of its powers," Yami murmured softly. "All I know is that it was in those pieces my soul resided for hundreds of years, until you put them back together and brought me out. You and… your friend. Seto."

"Seto?" Yugi's eyes widened, suddenly remembering when the pain had started, Seto had been there. Someone had tried to hurt Seto! "Is he here too? Is he hurt?"

"He's fine." Yami managed a pained little smile. "You acted very bravely, helped me to save him. Do you remember what happened with Pegasus?"

"Not… not really…" Yugi admitted. A lot of his memories from earlier that day were blurry, foggy from the pain perhaps. "Is that who hurt us?"

"Yes." Yami scowled, looking off into the darkened distance as if he could see the cause of their pain there. "He has an item. Marked with the same symbol as this." Yami lightly touched the golden eye centered on the front of the Millennium Puzzle. "It has powers. He tried to take Seto's soul with it, but we intervened, and… Pegasus took a piece of us instead." Still scowling, Yami grabbed the edge of his shirt and wrung the blood out of it.

"A piece of our souls?" Yugi asked. He swallowed. "Are we going to die?"

"No!" Yugi jumped at Yami's emphatic reply, and Yami's expression softened somewhat. "No. We're not going to die. But we're hurt, both of us, we have to be very careful from now on. Until we can get the pieces of our souls back, we're not going to heal."

"You're hurt worse," Yugi pointed out. "You should rest. I'll do… whatever needs to be done."

Yami looked like he wanted to protest, but their was no arguing with the truth in Yugi's words. Yami was badly injured, and would only be hurt worse if he tried too much. "And Seto. Get Seto to help, he knows of me." Yami frowned, remembering someone else that knew his secret. "Mokuba knows of me too. They're probably both in danger, because of me, as well."

"You rest," Yugi insisted again, trying to sound in control and capable. "With Seto and Mokuba helping, we'll have our souls back in no time. Okay?"

Yami had visions of all the devastation Pegasus could wreak upon these few mortals that were his friends, with whatever unknown powers that golden eye of his possessed. Swallowing down that stab of genuine fear, and the demands that Yugi keep himself and his friends out of this, out of harm's way, Yami just closed his eyes and nodded. "Alright."

x.x.x

Pegasus was very unhappy.

All of his servants ran to get out of his way as Pegasus stomped through the hallway. No, no, no, this had gone all wrong!

Well, perhaps not all wrong, a shrewd part of himself put in quietly. He had gotten the bargaining piece he'd needed. Yugi would definitely show up to the tournament now. He had to.

To save himself.

That was why Pegasus was unhappy. His aims had been to take the soul of Yugi's best friend, Seto Nishimura. Stealing the whole soul away would have left Seto's body empty, a veritable zombie, but he wouldn't have been hurt! Yugi and that damned spirit of the Millennium Puzzle shouldn't have fought back. It only made the situation worse, for everyone.

Pegasus stormed into his private chambers, slamming the door shut with more force than he'd ever shown anything. He snatched up the single card that lay on the table, staring at its face. This one of a kind Duel Monster's card depicted two vapor-thin ghosts, both of them caught up in a permanent twist of agony. With his Millennium Eye, Pegasus could see beyond the card, into the whole different world that it contained.

Inside this realm of shadows, Pegasus had caught two souls, or rather pieces of souls, ripping out a chunk of each by mistake. The Shadow Realm echoed with their ghostly cries of pain.

He could just return them. Pegasus glowered, tossing the card back onto the table. No, he knew he couldn't do that. He hadn't meant to hurt either the boy or the spirit, but the damage was done. They would just have to come here and battle to retrieve them.

Because there was too much at stake now to show mercy, as much as Pegasus wanted to.

He moved to the window, looking out over his island. New additions dotted all over the islands surface, the ingeniously designed Duel Monsters arenas. The finishing touches were being put on them now, just in time for them to be ready for the tournament. Pegasus had been pleasantly surprised by all the entries he'd gotten for the contest he'd held, but this entry had been far and away beyond his expectations. The boy who had entered it, Noa Kaiba, was brilliant.

And so, everything was ready. Anticipation knotted within Pegasus. For his beloved's sake, he hoped he won. For Yugi and Yami's sake, he hoped they did.

x.x.x

"Are you certain about this?" Ishizu Ishtar walked toward the front deck of the boat, watching the lone figure that stood there gazing out over the expanse of water. "You really want to go through with this?"

Her little brother Malik turned to look at her, though something dark and unnatural glinted within his gaze, something evil. "You didn't have to come." The hints of darkness faded from his face for a moment, and he almost looked regretful. "Perhaps you shouldn't have."

Ishizu touched the pendant she always wore around her neck, allowing her fingers to trace the design of the golden eye. "I will be safe, and I choose to be by my brother's side. No matter how misguided he is."

"Misguided?" Malik laughed, a laugh tinged with the darker thing, the thing that Ishizu sensed growing stronger and bolder within her brother. "You never have any faith in me. But you'll see. You'll see, and you'll be sorry for doubting me."

"I'm already sorry," Ishizu whispered, but Malik had already turned his attention away from her. She brushed back some of her dark hair, walking to stand beside him, letting the sea air breeze over her. "It'll still be a while before we arrive."

"Do you think Pegasus is expecting us?" Malik murmured, his voice cool, but a hint of malicious intent playing around his smile.

"He has the Millennium Eye; if he has not seen our approach already, surely he will sense the presence of our items before we arrive."

Malik nodded with satisfaction, his grip tightening around the Millennium Rod, which he carried with him always. "Good." He grinned out over the sea, unable to see their destination before them, but knowing it was there. The "Duelist Kingdom," as Pegasus had named it. "Good," he whispered again.