Chapter Twenty-One: You Found Me

Subaru, noticing Yami's worrisome and depressive facial expression, approached him with caution so as not to startle the age-old Pharaoh.

"Pharaoh..." Subaru started but was cut off when Yami raised his hand in mid-air in order to silence her.

"Yugi..." he muttered almost inaudibly to himself. Subaru then realized just what was bothering him.

"I..." The young priestess nearly froze up but was able to continue what she was saying. "I'm sorry. I was unable to protect him... I failed miserably. This is all my fault. If I didn't want to beat Kalika so badly then Yugi would still be alive..."

"No..."

"What?"

"No Subaru, it's not your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's my own. I'm supposed to protect Yugi and I failed. I couldn't save him and now I'm paying the ultimate price..."

"That's not true and you know it! You tried to protect Yugi the best you could! It's not your fault at all! Besides, you weren't exactly in the best position to do any saving anyway. That's why I'm saying it's my fault. Both my sister and I were the only ones capable of saving Yugi and we didn't. I knew what I had to and I never did it... I'm sorry Pharaoh, I truly am. Please forgive me..." Subaru bowed gracefully to the Egyptian being before her. Suddenly she felt a warm hand gently touch her left shoulder. She looked up and saw Yami staring directly into her chocolate brown orbs.

"I'm not angry with you Subaru, nor am I angry with your sister. You did your best and I'm proud of the both of you. You defeated Kalika and that's all that matters."

"I..." Subaru paused for a moment before continuing on with her statement. "Thank you Pharoah."

"No need to thank me. Now, let's go and see if we can find Yugi. He has to be around here somewhere, I'm just not sure where. We defeated Kalika so that means that she should of returned Yugi to us, right?" Yami looked at Subaru with questioning eyes.

"That's what I'm thinking," Subaru replied, keeping a straight face. She then followed Yami around the building that they were currently standing on. No luck. Even with countless searches they still could not see any sign of Yugi. Subaru sighed. "Where could he be? He couldn't have gone far. I mean, he was badly injured after all and if you think about it, anyone to survive a fall deep within the depths of what looked like an ocean can't be unharmed. Unless of course they're immortal which I highly doubt Yugi is..." Those words nearly made Yami break down. "I - I didn't mean it that way! I just meant... Oh Ra..." The priestess sighed heavily as she took a seat on the cold pavement. She looked over at the others and noticed that they were still asleep but breathing. At least they're okay. She sighed in relief. I just hope Yugi is the same way. I need to find him for the Pharaoh's sake. I will not rest until he is found. It was then that Subaru noticed Yami sitting beside her. "Oh, Pharaoh..." Her tone of voice was barely audible so Yami had a difficult time hearing her.

"What's wrong?" he inquired.

"It's...nothing..."

"Listen, I know it's more than nothing. You wouldn't be acting this way if it was nothing. So please tell me. You know that you can trust me," Yami assured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to provide both comfort and warmth. She tilted her head up to look at him, her usual shimmering chocolate brown orbs now dull with almost no hint of happiness whatsoever.

"I...I just want to find him so badly. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to him. He's your hikari and I should of kept a closer eye on him. If I was watching him more closely than none of this would have happened..." A few teardrops slid down her cheeks as Yami wiped them away with the sleeve of his jacket.

"It's all right. I know how you feel and you don't have to worry. We'll find him. I know he's around here somewhere, we just haven't been looking hard enough," Yami stated reassuringly.

"Well..." Subaru struggled with what she wanted to say for a minute before finishing her statement. "Okay. If you say we can find him then I believe you." She flashed a small smile of which Yami the emotional gesture.

As both Subaru and Yami walked around the building once more, Yami stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a shadowed figure lying nearly unconscious in a nearby corner. He, along with Subaru, quickly ran over to the being, hoping that they weren't too late. When the Pharaoh was not even two steps away from the apparent male figure, his eyes nearly went wide-eyed in shock.

"Yu - Yugi!" Yami exclaimed as he knelt down, gently picked up his hikari and cradled him in both arms. "I...I was afraid I had lost you..." he whispered softly into Yugi's ear.

Subaru looked at the pair with an even wider grin plastered across her face. "I'm glad you two are finally re-united with one another."

Yami looked up at the priestess. "Thank you. I'm glad as well. I just hope..." His expression than died down to one of depression.

"Hope what?" Subaru questioned.

"That he's still alive..." Yami then bowed his head down so that his bangs were covering his once violet orbs. Subaru knelt down beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder as a sign of comfort and sympathy.

"I know he is..." she half-smiled.

"How...?" Yami pondered as he felt her hand lift from his shoulder. He then saw her place a single hand on Yugi's chest, or to be more precise, directly on the resting place of his heart. She closed her eyes and not even five seconds later, re-opened them.

"I can feel his pulse. He's alive."

Yami sighed heavily with great relief. "Thank Ra..."

"We'll just need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. He seems to have a few open wounds that need to be bandaged and...what's this?" It was then that Subaru noticed the red spiral mark that Kalika's ribbons had left on Yugi's right arm. "It looks almost...fresh...like it hasn't been long since he aquired it..." Subaru examined his arm a little closer, trying to determine just what had happened to him.

"That would probably be because of his dreams..." Yami spoke from under his breath.

"What dreams?" Subaru raised an eyebrow at this and looked rather confused.

"Long story. But to make it short, ever since we came to Hong Kong and even beforehand, Yugi has been having these weird dreams that he can't explain, nor can he even tell me. I think they had something to do with Kalika and I'm guessing that she was trying to get to me through him..."

"Well that explains that. But right now, I'd say our first priority is getting Yugi to the hospital as quick as possible." Subaru then looked over to the others who were beginning to awaken. "Hey sleepy-heads, it's about time you woke up," she smiled and giggled a little.

Joey was the first to sit up as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Ha, ha, very funny. I was having a good dream too! I dreamt that I owned the entire McDonald's food chain! Man, do I ever want Mickey D's now." Joey then started drooling as Yami and Subaru both gave him a weird look.

"Well I can see Joey's back to his old self again," Subaru smirked. Yami simply nodded his head in agreement.

As everyone else began to sit up one at a time, Subaru explained to them that they had to get Yugi to a hospital as quickly as they could so that the doctors could bandage him up. One cut refused to stop bleeding even when Yami had tied his jacket around it. The blood soaked right through the material and started to drip onto the cold, hard pavement. Everyone nodded, stood up and walked over to the nearest door which lead down to the bottom floor of the building. Yami, still holding Yugi in his arms, followed the group with the utmost caution.

When they all got outside, Seto pulled out his cell phone and called for two taxis, seeing as how not everyone would all fit in one. The minute they both arrived, the CEO ordered them to drive directly to the nearest hospital.

Yami, who sat in the same taxi as Seto, pulled Yugi closer to him with his arms wrapped gently around the small teen. "Don't worry Yugi. We'll be there soon, I promise. Just hold on a little longer..."

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE