AN: I would like to thank all of you for sticking with me for this long. I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Yes, I know, cliche, and a writer should avoid that, but its true. So, here you go, the end to it all!

Chapter 11

Endings and an Epilogue

"I've won my second challenge. Now it is time that you let Yugi go." The Pharaoh's voice was suddenly calm and low, but serious and determined.

"I'm sorry, but our agreement clearly was that whoever reached two wins first would win our war."

"I did, so quit this pointless dawdling and release him!"

"Oh, but I'm afraid you are mistaken. You see, it was I who reached two first, with our little fiery face-off, and of course our little test of luck at our first encounter here." The Collector smiled wide and false, full of love for his cleverness and spite at the other man. He turned pointedly away from Yami's gaze, and began walking toward the glass enclosed room where Yugi stood, still holding the Millennium Items, the spirit's deeply violet eyes flaring with anger at the brush-off. "You really didn't think I would let you have him that easily, now did you? Money may be boringly commonplace, but it can come in handy when you wish to have certain things go your way. Money means power, and here I have all the money. You never truly had a chance." His eyes slid back to meet with Yami's, their slitted stare evil and self-satisfied. "If I were you, I would think of leaving while I was not quite ahead. Our match was…fun, but I'm beginning to grow weary of your presence. It really wouldn't be good for your health to stay around much longer."

The shadows on the floor began to wiggle and writhe menacingly, and Yami knew he was being threatened with more shadow creatures. He held his ground. "I will not leave here without Yugi. You will let him go now." His voice was deadly calm now; he knew this statement was likely to incite the wrath of the man, and he was ready for it. "You claim to value him for his light. So do I. But not for its rarity, as you do, but because it is freely given. By showing me his light, he pulled me from the darkness I was in. I cherish this light, not because of what it is, but because of who it makes him; a friend, partner, and companion. By knowing him, I have been able to see my own light, and for that I owe him much. And that makes him worth more to me than any mere object or valuable could ever be!"

"So touching, truly it is, but I'm afraid you only wasted your breath. Don't you get it? You've lost, you're through, there is nothing more you can do here. So why don't you just GO AWAY!" The Collector's voice had been rising over the course of his statement as his patience grew thin. At his last final shout, the wavering forms of the threatening shadows leapt from the floor and surrounded the pharaoh. "This time, my irksome friend, you don't have your little golden toys to save you! You really should have listened when I told you to leave! Now I'm going to enjoy watching you die!" Yugi cried out in fear as the shadows contracted around his friend, creating a sphere of black that rippled with malice, through which the hazy form of the pharaoh could be dimly seen.

From within the encircling darkness Yami's voice came, confident and unafraid. "If you believe I am only capable of defending myself with those items, you are mistaken. I have not only my own light on my side, but the light of all my friends as well." The shadows loomed closer, pressing in on him. His eyes were shut tight, head bowed and hands clenched at his sides, as he dug deep inside himself for the strength to fight back. A light began to grow around him, shoving back at the encompassing gloom. It was his light fighting against the surrounding dark, and he fought to fill it with every ounce of strength he had. It shone with the light of his courage, bright and strong. It shone with the light of his determination, a deep underlying glow pulsing like a heartbeat. It shone with the light of his anger and need, a rippling red sheen coruscating within the swirling brilliance. And it shone with the will to save his friend, streaks of golden shooting around and out at any shadow that got too close. But even with all his strength, the light grew smaller and smaller around him. He needed something more, he couldn't do it on his own, so he dug deeper into his heart, searching for the lights he held there, reaching out to them, wherever they were. He needed his friends.

Kaiba was in the middle of planning his next tournament, and not in a particularly friendly mood. On his monitor flashed the faces of potential participants, their stats appearing beside their generally frowning expressions. A familiar spiky-haired face popped up, coinciding with a sudden thought on someone he hadn't thought about for quite a while.

He looked at Yugi's face on the screen, his expression that of the more serious one he always wore when dueling. In a chair beside him, Mokuba shifted positions restlessly. "How do you think he's doing? Been a while since we've seen the gang."

"Good. But knowing him, he's probably in some sort of trouble. He always is." And Kaiba went back to staring at his screen, wondering why he actually felt a little worried about his usual opponent, and feeling as if, for only a moment, he was actually there with him and his brother.

Rebecca rifled through her deck, occasionally adding or removing a card from its careful balance. Every so often she stopped and stared at a particular one, reliving fond memories of duels that they dredged up. She pushed her glasses up her nose, then placed the top card on the bottom of the stack.

The prepubescent college student smiled as she looked at the card revealed. It was Ties That Bind, the one that Yugi had given her. His caring laugh rang through her mind, and she giggled girlishly too.

"Hey, cutie, wherever you are, you better not forget me. You, too, I suppose, pharaoh, though I haven't quite forgiven you yet!"

Duke boredly flipped through the channels on his TV, stopping on the news. The anchorwoman's voice drifted through the sounds of the wind blowing outside. She wrapped up the weather, as if he couldn't figure it out for himself, and began talking on a more interesting topic, Duel Monsters, the usual evening report on the latest fads, even though this one wasn't all that new. The typical part of the report came, and the faces of friends dueling against familiar opponents flashed on the screen. He watched as Yugi beat down a dragon with his Dark Magician.

He remembered his time spent with Yugi and his friends, and the pharaoh, too. A laugh escaped him as he looked at the poor fool's face as he was defeated. "You should know better than to face down my friend the King of Games. He can always win, especially when he's got his friends with him!"

Bakura looked up from the book he was reading, shaking the soft clumps of white hair from his face. The familiar feel of magic brushed against his consciousness, accompanied by the feel of an ancient presence. But it was friendly, unlike the one he was accustomed to. The pharaoh's touch inside of him made him worried, it had to be the pharaoh as he was the only nice spirit he knew. He could feel his weakness, and his search for strength inside him.

"Well, I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do what I can." In a dark, unheard corner of his mind, the last remnants of a different, malevolent spirit laughed at the attempts of his rival.

Joey, Tristan, and Téa stood once more at the end of the alleyway. The lunch of greasy burgers and fries were a distant memory, forgotten in the blowing wind and worry. Darkness was coming, the day growing old, and soon evening would fall. And their friends had yet to return.

"Hey, guys, ya feel that?" Joey asked suddenly, "It feels likes something's happening."

"Yeah, I feel it, too," Tristan answered, "It feels kinda like it did that time back at Pegasus' castle, but different. I think it's the pharaoh!"

"Look!" Téa cried, slipping her hand out her pocket. A soft golden light shone off of the back of her hand as she held it out to them. The two boys held out theirs as well, and saw they were also glowing. Placing them together, they formed three quarters of a friendly smiling face across their skin.

"Wherever they are, they need us. We're here for you, you guys!"

Against the glass, Yugi's hand glowed golden, the light shining happily against the cold sheen of the linked bracelets. He smiled at the portion of the smiley face drawn all that time ago when he and his friends had pledged their friendship. Inside the sphere of darkness, however, the light was still small, and growing smaller.

"Pharaoh, don't give up! We're all with you!" he shouted. His words hung in the silence, falling on the deaf ears of the gathered ill-reputes. But the light responded, the pharaoh's eyes opening wide. A sudden surge pulsed through the light pouring out of his body. It grew in intensity, brightening to what might have been blinding if it wasn't covered by the veil of shadows. The lights of all his friends added themselves to the spirit's own vibrant glow, a swirl of multihued colors bursting forth in resplendent radiance.

"As I said, I have the light of my friends on my side! And they will help me to defeat you!" The sphere shattered at his shout, dissolved into smoky wisps and tendrils of swirling black. But the light grew brighter and stronger still, flaring until Yami couldn't even be seen behind its glare. A shattering resounded throughout the room, the glass enclosing Yugi exploding outward, the coins and jewels scattered as the floor resonated with the pulsing of the light. Yugi looked away from the brilliance, and gasped; the chains about his wrists and neck had shattered just like the glass. As the Collector staggered in shock, he ran, slipping on the fallen gold and sparkling glass shards, stopping as he reached the pharaoh's side.

The light died down, losing none of its power at its leaving. Yugi handed the Millennium Puzzle to the pharaoh, smiling. Yami took it, and one last flash came from him, smaller and less intense than before. The bracelets and collar fell off and clattered to the floor, where Yami bent slowly to pick them up. "You're finished," he said simply, placing an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders, and tossed the broken jewelry at the Collector's feet. "And I suggest that you let us go home before I show you my shadow powers. I really don't think you would like the shadow realm."

The Collector's eyes flashed with what looked like fear for the very first time. One look at Yami's eyes told him he was serious, and the last remnants of light about him reminded him of the reality of the threat. He frowned in anger, but summoned a shadow. "That'll take you home," he said defeatedly. Yami just smiled and turned toward the waiting transport, Yugi following him right at his side, and they stepped through and were gone.

"Mari, follow them. No one makes a fool of me. You know what to do." At his cold words, the assassin slipped through the dark as it faded away.

Epilogue

The glow on the three friend's hands reached a peak, then flared a final time and faded.

"Is that a good thing, or a bad one?" Tristan asked, turning his hand over as if looking for an answer.

"What's dat, guys?" Joey shouted, pointing down the alley. A shadow rose from a sidewalk crack, expanding to form a portal, unlike the figures they had seen before. They crowed around, hoping with all their hearts that their friends had returned. A familiar purple-clad figure emerged on the side opposite from them, a smaller figure of brown and beige in his arms. The two stopped and looked around, unaware of their presence, and that of the third arrival.

The woman, dressed all in skintight green, approached the two oblivious new-arrivals, drawing a fancy, gilt knife with edges that glittered in the winter light. "Take this, you rich-" Joey's obvious rhyme was cut off as the pipe he had grabbed at the end of the alley collided with her head. The knife clattered on the ground as she fell backwards into the vanishing portal and disappeared. The pharaoh spun around, his lone form staring at the spot where Mari had been.

"Pharaoh, you're back!" Téa cried, rushing over to him. "But who was that with you when you came through?"

Yami just smiled and laughed, then the puzzle flashed. "Come on, Téa, it hasn't been that long that you've forgotten me already!" Yugi said up into her startled face.

"Hey, it's Yuge!" Joey ran over and threw his arms around Yugi, lifting him off his feet in a big hug. Téa and Tristan joined in, hugging and laughing, too.

"Oh, Yugi, we were so worried!" Téa cried into his coat.

"Uh, Joey, you can put him down, man," Tristan said even as he ruffled Yugi's hair.

"It's good to see you guys again," Yugi remarked as his feet once more met the ground. "And it's thanks to the pharaoh." Then his three friends looked at him as he laughed. "True!" he said in response to a silent comment by the unseen spirit. "He said he couldn't have done it without you guys, and wants to say thanks."

"Dude, it was nothing you wouldn't have done for us. You're our friend, so we gotta stick together!" Tristan said, looking off to Yugi's right where he thought the spirit to be, even though Yami was on his left. "Now let's go home!"

AN: And that is how it all comes to a close. I realize that Yugi and Yami have more friends than that, specifically, I didn't put in Mai, but I couldn't figure out how to get her in there. I guess all those other friends were enough! Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for other stories I may post, like the new one I currently working on, Four Hearts, a DNAngel fic. I plan on posting it soon.