King of Games, Thief of Hearts

x.x.x

"Aww, can't I come, Seto? Pleeeaaase??"

Seto rolled his eyes, stuffing another clean shirt into his backpack. "I told you already, Mokuba, no, you can't come. For one thing, you weren't invited. For another thing, I'm not going to have a good time at this tournament; I'm going to save Yugi and Yami's souls from being torn to pieces by a whacked out psychopath with silver hair."

"But I can help!" Mokuba insisted. He stubbornly held out his own backpack. "See, I'm already packed even!"

Seto sighed, closing his pack. "Mokie," he said softly. "It's going to be dangerous. This guy can steal people's souls! What'll Mom say if I come back with you as a soulless zombie?"

Mokuba glared at him. "I want to help Yami and Yugi. They're my friends. And besides," he folded his arms and smirked, "if you don't let me come, I'll tell Mom that you hit me."

"Oh please. I've never hit you, and never would, and you know it."

"Yeah, but I'm little and cute, I know how to pretend to cry, AND I'm the younger brother. Mom would believe me, and you'd be in trouble," Mokuba pointed out. "Then neither of us would be able to go."

Seto just stared at Mokuba for a moment, before finally giving up. "Damn, you've got a point. Alright, fine, you can come. But you gotta ask Mom first. And remember, I'm going to this thing to save Yugi, and I don't want to have to worry about saving you too."

Mokuba nodded enthusiastically. "Yay, I get to come!" He ran out of the room, yelling down the stairs. "MOM! Can I go with Seto to the Duelist Kingdom tournament?"

"Is your room clean?" Ms. Nishimura called back up.

Mokuba looked over at his bedroom, and the total chaos residing within, clearly visible from the hall. Very quietly, he closed the door, satisfied that she probably wouldn't peek in there until after the boat had left. "Yes, it's clean!"

"Then yes, you may go. But Seto's in charge while you're there, I want you staying where he can keep an eye on you."

"Don't worry," Seto said, coming out of his room and heading downstairs. "I'll keep a leash on him if I have to." A car honked from outside. "C'mon Mokie, that's our ride. Bye, Mom!"

x.x.x

Yugi's grandfather dropped them off at the dock, where the large cruise ship awaited its passengers. Seto had kept a close eye on Yugi during the ride there, and though he appeared alright for the most part, he had kind of a… strained look to him, and he wasn't as talkative as normal.

"Let's try to find Joey before the boat leaves…" Yugi murmured, standing on his tiptoes and trying to see over the large crowds of people.

"Mm.." Seto looked around half-heartedly, then frowned at Yugi. "Are you sure you're up to coming to this? I mean… I could probably take care of it on my own, you don't look so well…"

"I'm fine…" Yugi murmured. "Just, I dunno, a little tired I guess. But I've got to go, Seto. I have to help save Yami too. I promised him…"

"Alright. But you be careful on this trip…"

"Look, there's Joey!" Mokuba pointed. "Hey Joey! Over here!"

"Hey guys!" Joey made his way through the crowd and over to them. "Isn't that the biggest ship you've ever seen? It's almost half the size of the city!" He grinned. "I bet the food's great too! I hear cruise ships always have the best food…"

Only Mokuba seemed to show any enthusiasm for the trip, and Joey frowned at the other two. "What's wrong with you two? Out of everybody, you should be the most excited. You two'll probably get second and third place."

"Oh?" Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Who're you expecting to win first place?"

Joey grinned at him, easily confident in everything he did. "Me, of course!"

"Riiight…" Seto muttered. "Come on already, let's go find our rooms…"

Large crowds of duelists were already lining up to get onto the ship, and it seemed to take forever for everybody to climb onboard. When at last everyone was boarded, the ship cast off, sailing slowly into open waters and then making for the Duelist Kingdom.

x.x.x

"Would you HURRY UP?" Shiroi shouted down the hallway. "We have to go now!" He stood impatiently by a swirling portal of black and purple lights, which hung open waiting to transport them into the realm of the humans.

Exodia tromped down the hallway as fast as he could, with most of Yami's guardians hurrying behind him. When they reached the portal, Shiroi quickly counted heads. "five…six… seven… Where's Hansha?"

The dark portal fizzled suddenly, hissing with displeasure before finally folding and dying out of existence. Shiroi turned to gape; where the portal had been now stood Hansha, arms folded and looking upset.

"Hansha!" Shiroi shouted. "What the hell was that for? We have to go!"

"We can't go," Hansha murmured sadly. "And you know why we can't go."

Shiroi glared at him. "Yeah, a bunch of stupid outdated rules. In case you don't remember, Yami just had his soul ripped in HALF, and now that… that THING is there on the boat with him. We're his Guardians; we're supposed to protect him. And we haven't been doing such a great job of it lately."

"We're supposed to protect him from the things he can't handle," Hansha clarified gently. "And he can handle the Tomb Robber, even in the condition he's in. You know we can't give aid in a Game; Yami must do this on his own."

Shiroi grit his teeth slightly, before finally hanging his head and giving up. "Alright, alright… but what about the others? Surely they should have some warning, some protection, before the Game starts. And someone has to be there to make sure Yami remembers his limits."

Hansha thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "Go get the twins. Gin and Kin can talk to Seto, but that's all the interference I can allow."

Somewhat grumbling, Shiroi nodded, turning to go and find his brothers. Already the other Guardians were dispersing, returning to their other duties, though Exodia still stood there, watching the scene, as silent as ever. Shiroi blinked, then smiled at the giant weakly, lightly touching Exodia's arm as he walked past. "At least you were willing to come with me, rules or no rules…"

Exodia turned to watch him go, as Shiroi ran down the hallway to find Gin and Kin. Always, he thought, before beginning his own lumbering trek down the hall. I would follow you anywhere.

x.x.x

"This is our room?" Mokuba asked, slowly setting his backpack down and scowling at the small area. "It's so tiny! It's even smaller than my room."

"It isn't all that bad," Seto said, putting down his pack as well. "Besides, they weren't expecting two of us. Here, toss down a few pillows from the bed, alright? I'll sleep on the floor tonight."

Mokuba nodded, scrambling onto the bed to grab a few of the pillows and the top covering, tossing most of them to the floor, and chucking the last pillow at Seto's head, just for fun. Seto smirked as he picked up the pillow that had just hit him, immediately tackling Mokuba and beginning to pummel him with the soft projectile. They were both laughing insanely when the room door opened.

"Having fun, I see…"

Mokuba let out a delighted cry. "Yami!" He pushed Seto away as he leapt up, running to glomp onto Yami.

"Yami?" Seto sat up, frowning at the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "What are you doing out?"

Yami just looked amused at Mokuba, then glanced at Seto and shrugged. "I'm helping to locate Yugi's room."

"It's easy to get lost around here…" Mokuba murmured, finally letting go of Yami, grinning up at him. "This ship is huge! I'd bet it's even larger than the Kaiba mansion. Here; we'll help you find the room!" He grabbed for Yami's hand, dragging the Millennium spirit out into the hallway.

Seto smiled faintly at Mokuba's obvious attachment to Yami, grabbing the room key before following the two out.

/…Yami?…/ Yugi's voice reached tentatively into Yami's mind.

…Yes? Is there something the matter?…

/…Seto and Mokuba can help me find the room. You shouldn't stay out too long, you know. I can feel you getting weaker…/

Yami smiled faintly. …And here I was thinking I would be the one protecting you. As you wish it, then…He closed his eyes briefly, allowing Yugi to regain control over the form.

Feeling much better from the brief rest he'd had while Yami was out, Yugi grinned at his friends. "I'm pretty sure the room's down this way!" He took off running down the hallway, calling back for Mokuba and Seto to hurry up.

They ran after him, and in a short period of time, managed to get themselves magnificently lost. But they were having a great time, running around the hallways of the ship, examining each identical hallway for some sign that perhaps they'd run through this one already.

"Hey, look!" Yugi pointed as they sprinted down yet another dull hall. "There's Ryou, maybe he knows the way."

"Ryou?" Seto blinked, frowning slightly at the white haired boy down the hall. He did look familiar, but Seto hadn't ever spoken to him before.

"Yeah, he's in my History class," Yugi said. He waved as they ran over. "Hey, Ryou! I didn't know you played Duel Monsters."

"Well, only a little," Ryou admitted sheepishly. "It was quite a surprise when I got the invitation to the tournament. I don't suppose you know where room 316 is…?"

Mokuba groaned. "Oh no, you're lost too? We're never gonna find our room again…"

Ryou nodded. "I've been wandering around here for a good half hour now. They really should provide maps."

"Well, we'll help you find it," Yugi promised, grinning. "That's how we ended up here, we were looking for my room, and then got turned around somewhere, and… well, now we're not sure the way back to Seto and Mokuba's room, either."

Mokuba was already scouting ahead down the next hallway. "Yugi! What was your room number again?"

Yugi looked at his little slip of paper with the room assignment number on it. "Room 206."

"I found it!" Mokuba declared.

They all ran down the hall to catch up with him, and all of them let out a slight sigh of relief when Yugi's key fit the lock.

"Wow…" Mokuba murmured, peering inside. "This is a lot bigger than our room!" He went in, having decided it was pressingly important to test how bouncy the bed was.

"Come on in," Yugi invited. "We'll rest a while before going to look for the other rooms. It's been a long search!" He dumped his luggage on the floor, then began a quick assessment of the room.

"Yeah, this is nicer than ours," Seto murmured, grabbing his little brother off the bed. Mokuba giggled, squirming out of Seto's grasp to go examine the mini fridge.

"Well, so long as we're resting," Ryou murmured, sitting down at the table and pulling out his duel monsters deck, "how about a game, Yugi?"

Yugi grinned, grabbing his own deck and sitting at the table as well. "Sure!"

"We warned, though, Yugi's really good!" Mokuba said, grabbing another chair so he could sit and watch the game. "And he's got some really good cards."

"Oh really?" Ryou smiled at Yugi as he shuffled his deck. "What's your favorite card?"

"Hmm…" Yugi rifled through his deck a moment, then pulled out one, showing it off proudly. "This one. The Dark Magician! He always comes through for me…" He slipped the card back into his deck, beginning to shuffle it.

"Not always," Seto reminded him, smirking faintly as he pulled up a chair as well. "I seem to recall my Blue Eyes White Dragons taking down your Dark Magician a time or two."

"You have Blue Eyes White Dragon cards?" Ryou seemed impressed, then shook his head. "I don't believe you. There are only four of those, I can't believe you'd even have one of those."

"I won them off a snotty rich brat," Seto said, retrieving two of the three Blue Eyes White Dragon cards from his own dueling deck to show them to Ryou. "They're my favorites."

"Mine too!" Mokuba added. "No offense to your Dark Magician, Yugi, but the Blue Eyes are the best!"

Yugi laughed. "Well, every player has their own favorite." He put his deck down on the table. "You ready, Ryou?"

"Yes, I'm ready. Oh! Wait, I forgot one more thing…" Ryou's eyes narrowed suddenly, his soft smile changing into a wide, vicious grin. Seto glimpsed the stylized eye-design he'd come to dread glowing brightly on Ryou's forehead, and then he saw only darkness.

Bakura grinned in satisfaction as Yugi, Seto and Mokuba all toppled forward. Their souls floated hazily, confused and startled at having been ripped so suddenly from their bodies. Seconds later they were dragged forward again, each soul imprisoned within its favorite card.

"You've gotten sloppy, Pharaoh," Bakura whispered, shaking his head and grinning at Yugi's prone form. "That was far too easy." He frowned then; it had been too easy. A duel had to commence before he could claim the powers of the Millennium Puzzle… so what the hell was taking his opponent so long? If Yami didn't come out soon, Bakura was taking the Puzzle, rules or no rules.

But, so long as he was waiting…

Bakura glanced over at the other soulless forms. Mokuba was of no interest to him, but Seto… well, at least Seto had something that was worthwhile. Bakura reached for Seto's Duel Monsters deck, pulling out the two Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. Now these at least were worth something. Smirking at his new prizes, Bakura added the two cards to his own deck.

Yami groaned faintly then, finally stirring. His head was spinning; it was far too soon to be out again, he'd barely had time to recover from the last time. The wound Pegasus had caused to his soul weakened him more than he'd realized, and he could feel it throbbing, aching somewhere inside, growing stronger with every passing moment.

He grit his teeth, looking first to Seto and Mokuba's slumped forms, then turning his glare to the smugly smirking Bakura. "You-! What have you DONE to them?"

"It's about time you showed up, Pharaoh," Bakura said. He tapped his deck lightly. "Shall we begin?"

"Bring them back!" Yami demanded. He clenched at his side unconsciously, trying to will down the pain that even now was threatening to become unbearable.

Bakura's grin widened, delighted at the realization that the Pharaoh was even now trembling slightly with pain. "You've been injured! What a nice surprise this is. Well Pharaoh, if you want your friends back, I suggest you start drawing your cards before you pass out!"

"Swear to return them," Yami commanded, though his voice sounded slightly ragged. Oh gods and immortals, it even hurt to talk!

"If you win," Bakura clarified. "If you win, they're all yours, but if I win…" He snickered, noticing the pained strain on Yami's face. "…when I win, their souls are doomed. And your Millennium Puzzle is mine. And you… heh, by then, you'll probably be dead. So draw your cards and let's get this over with."

No choice. I just pray I can finish this quickly. Yami drew his cards, scanning over them. Somewhere in the distance, he heard a rumble of thunder, and he glanced up at his opponent sharply.

Bakura still sat casually in his chair, absent-mindedly tracing over the design of the odd amulet he wore around his neck, crafted in the same style as the Millennium Puzzle. Yami scowled at it, vaguely recognizing it but unable to remember where he knew it from. As he watched it, though, its golden designs glowed and glittered at him, and all around Bakura a hazy cloud of darkness swirled up, encompassing the rest of the room.

This too was familiar, and Yami remembered it to be quite deadly. The words "Shadow Game" came to mind.

But Yami had more important things to worry about. The first being, of course, rescuing his friends from whatever this fiend had done to them. Himself coming out of this mess alive would come in as a close second, though.

Please let me have something good to play…Yami's gaze rested on the cards again, relieved to find the Dark Magician already in his hand. "I play the Dark Magician, in defense mode."

By now the mass of shadows swirled thickly around the edge of the room, swirling over the furniture and walls, obscuring them from view. As Yami laid down the card, its surface began to glow. Yami stared in horror as the Duel Monster he had called actually appeared- albeit very miniature- and looked around in confusion. Even more disturbing was that the Dark Magician looked exactly like Yugi.

"Yugi?" Yami whispered.

The very tiny Duel Monster blinked up at him, let out a startled cry, took a stumbling step backward and fell on his rump. "Yami! Y-you're huge!"

"I… think perhaps you are just very small…" Yami murmured uncertainly.

"If you two are quite finished," Bakura interrupted. Little Dark Magician Yugi let out another yelp at seeing Yami's opponent. Not only was Bakura also much larger than the miniscule Yugi, he also had the sort of look on his face that suggested he might find squishing Yugi like a bug to be very entertaining.

Bakura examined the cards in his hand lazily, although he already knew precisely which cards he held. He'd made sure to place the two cards he'd stolen close to the top of the deck. "I play this…" he set down the card on the table. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

x.x.x

This was possibly one of the oddest dreams Seto had ever had. He didn't even remember falling asleep. He remembered darkness… and then suddenly he was standing across from Yugi, who was rather comically dressed as the Dark Magician. And behind Yugi was Yami, a rather disturbingly overlarge Yami.

"Yugi?" he called over to him. "What is going on?"

Yugi stared at him. "S-Seto? Is… that you?"

"Of course it's me, who else would I be?"

"But…" Yugi swallowed, carefully standing up, clutching the staff of the Dark Magician in trembling hands. "You're a dragon!"

"What?!" Seto looked down at himself. It wasn't too difficult to see what Yugi meant, considering he now had a rather long, serpentine neck. Along with four feet, a long tail, wings, and gleaming white scales. "What the hell is this?!"

"I… I think we've been changed into our favorite cards," Yugi murmured. He pointed at something behind Seto. "By him."

Seto turned slightly, narrowing his eyes at Bakura. He recognized the style of Bakura's pendant. "Oh hell, not another one. How many of those damned items are there?"

"Quite a few, actually," Bakura said conversationally. "But I imagine this will be the last you'll ever see. Your turn, Pharaoh."

Yami drew a card, closing his eyes a moment as he tried to will the pain away so he could play. Unfortunately, he didn't have much in his hand worth playing. "I lay one card face down, and end my turn," Yami said, laying down a card. Even if the Dark Magician was stronger than a Blue Eyes White Dragon, how could Yami ask Yugi to attack Seto?

Bakura, however, didn't seem to have any such problems with that. "I summon my second Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he announced, laying down a second card.

The card glowed briefly a moment, before the light condensed into a second dragon. This one, however, was much smaller than Seto, and looked… younger, almost. Seto gawked at the littler Blue Eyes. "Mokuba?!"

The tiny dragon blinked up at him, gaping. "Seto! You're a dragon!"

"So are you!"

The Mokuba dragon looked down at himself, eeping, his tiny wings flapping. "I'm a Blue Eyes White Dragon! This is awesome!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that yet…" Seto murmured. He glanced up at Bakura, whose side he was unwillingly playing on.

Bakura just grinned. "Now for the attack… my first Blue Eyes, destroy the Pharaoh's Dark Magician!"

Seto, of course, had absolutely no intention of destroying Yugi. It didn't seem like he had much of a choice though; his dragon form moved of its own will, wings stretching out to raise him upward. Seto's throat burned, and he opened his mouth even as he felt the power for the attack rising. He closed his eyes against the sight of his own white lightning attack racing toward Yugi.

Every inch of Yugi's body felt like it was on fire as he was enveloped in white lightning. But his agony only lasted a brief moment, before he vanished from the playing field.

x.x.x

Yugi opened his eyes tentatively once the pain stopped. He was all alone now, Yami and Seto and Mokuba were nowhere to be seen, even Bakura was gone. For some reason, he was in the middle of a gloomy, deserted graveyard.

"What is this…?" he whispered, looking around. His gaze rested on the nearest tombstone.

Chiseled into the cold, gray stone was his own name.

"Crud."