Rating: PG
Warnings: one dead guy.
Notes: X-over, because it amuses me.
Summary: How Yuugi acquired Yami.

Glitches

Yuugi was lonely, cold, and tired. Clouds overhead obscured the few visible stars, casting back Domino's city lights as a sullen orange glow. The completed puzzle rested heavy and cold against Yuugi's chest, as inert as any common chunk of metal.

It had been something of a disappointment, when the last piece had slid into place... and nothing had happened. Yuugi had thought for just a second that the puzzle was glowing, but then it was gone, if there had ever been anything there in the first place. Despondant, Yuugi had snuck downstairs and out of the house, needing to get outside for a while.

Running a thumb along one edge of the inverted golden pyramid, Yuugi frowned. He wasn't sure why he had even taken it with him - some lingering hope, perhaps.

Echoing footfalls sped down the road, and the sound of... it sounded almost like... gunshots! Before the young teen could react, two figures clothed head to toe in complete black had flickered past him and were gone. Leaving behind the face-down corpse of someone in a business suit not three meters away from Yuugi.

Hands clenched tight on the pyramid, Yuugi started to stumble back from the corpse. He didn't manage even a step before something struck him. Only, it wasn't like getting hit - he'd been beaten up enough to tell. This was... like being squeezed. Squeezed out of himself. Something pushed at him, and the world started to flicker, fading and sparking as he stretched and tried to scream with a throat closed by panic and-

Something was glowing with a pure, sharp light, and Yuugi looked down to see bleeding hands locked tight around the Puzzle. He frowned as he pulled tingling hands away and let the metal pendant fall to his chest. Something was different. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, but... maybe he was in shock? He didn't feel like he was. Curious, he walked over to the dead body in the road and kicked at it. Definitely dead, that kind of boneless flop only came from dead bodies. And he shouldn't know that. In fact, something was definitely weird. He reviewed who he was. Motou Yuugi, lived with his grandfather at Kame Game Shop... no, not right. It was as if there was something... something he'd forgotten.

Reaching up to one ear, his hand closed around an earpiece, carefully lodged. Yanking it out, he stared at the curled plastic wire leading from it. Cold washed over him as something tried to surface in his mind, claws closing in around his thoughts and the Puzzle was radiating light.

With a curse, Yuugi tore the rest of the communication device from his clothes and flung it violently away. Danger, he was in danger. He had to protect Yuugi... wait. He was Yuugi, wasn't he? No time now, something was coming for him and he didn't know how he knew but he knew and he ran, as far and as fast as he could. Heart pounding in his throat he finally made a sharp turn and twisted past the eyesight of the ticketsellers of the movie theatre, ducking into the first running movie he came across. The Puzzle finally stopped glowing as he lost himself amongst the anonymous crowd. Plopping shakily into a seat, Yuugi shivered.

He let the mindless babble of the movie wash over him for a while, let it soothe jangled nerves as his breathing evened out. Okay. Okay. It looked like he might not be Yuugi, which was a really freaky feeling because he remembered being Yuugi, being small and helpless and constantly bullied... and he could feel the warm, trusting presence sleeping next to his spirit, curled up contently like small fluffy kitten next to a leopard. Yuugi.. or.. whoever he was... rubbed his temples. This was very confusing. And, he realized belatedly, that thing he'd done instinctively to get past people unseen was not something a normal person could do.

Whoever-he-was stroked the Puzzle gently, knowing from the way his hands felt that the injuries from not half an hour ago had already completely healed. He wanted to not think about it. He wanted to just... shut his eyes and make it all go away. Or at least get a little bit further away, give himself space to think. Leaning back into the warmth of... well, of Yuugi, the.. other Yuugi... decided to do just that. He knew how to get home, so.. he'd do that. And then he'd go to sleep, and hopefully it would all look better in the morning.

Groggy and stiff, Yuugi put up a hand to block out the morning sunlight streaming through his window. Why was he in bed? He was wearing his pajamas? He didn't remember putting them on.. in fact, he didn't remember even going to bed. Blinking to clear the cobwebs from his brain, Yuugi grew more and more alarmed as he realized that he didn't remember anything after leaving the house for a walk last night - it just... faded away.

Yuugi glanced nervously about the room, wary of any other changes. Nothing caught his eye. He'd apparently come back home, put on his pajamas, and gone to bed. All without remembering a single moment. Yuugi's hand went automatically to the Puzzle that hung about his neck, which felt warm, probably from the sunlight streaming into the room. Wait, the Puzzle? Looking down at the golden pendant, Yuugi thought he felt... happy? Well, he had managed to solve the puzzle he'd been struggling with for eight whole years, that was a big acomplishment. Even if it hadn't miraculously answered his wish.

...Back to the missing memory. Yuugi frowned. Maybe.. it was like sleepwalking? He hadn't done anything strange, just come home and gone to bed. Maybe he was worrying too much. Thumb stroking unconsciously along a golden edge, Yuugi decided that unless something else happened, he'd write it off as sleepwalking. And really, he felt better than he could remember ever feeling before - he felt confident, almost. Today, he thought with a smile, felt like the first day of a new life.

End Ch 1