Damn, its been a month since my last update! Stupid college, stupid work, stupid stupid!

Well, I hope I didn't kill any of you with the long wait (people seeming to prefer fics with low reader mortality rates and all) but the wait has ended!

...Which will in no way keep me from taking forever to post the NEXT chapter...

Ah, phooey.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Claimer: I own alls the stuff I makes up!

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It was a LONG while before either of them wanted to try putting any of the Millennium Puzzle's pieces together again. Even the most thorough (or frantic) review of the sensation provided no explanation as to where it had come from or whether it would happen again.

The really disturbing part was that, on some level, it had almost felt pleasurable to Yami's well-trained senses. What it had felt like to Yugi, the mage-demon didn't know, nor did he want to ask.

It might have been hours later when Yugi spoke again.

"Do…um…Yami, do you think…"

"Hmm?"

"…Maybe we should…do you think we should try to put the pieces together again?"

Yugi wanted to do it again?

"You want to do it again?" Yami asked.

"Well…it could have just been a one-time thing. And, I don't know if it was painful for you, but it really wasn't for me. Just…kinda weird. And unexpected. But it won't be if it happens again…does that make sense?"

It certainly sounded perfectly reasonable when Yugi explained it like that. However, when Yugi tried to pull the two connected pieces apart, in order to recombine them again, the metal refused to separate. If not for the clearly visible line between them, it was as if it had always been a single large piece of metal. When Yugi tried to combine two different pieces together, the metal refused to come together at all, the same as every previous attempt.

"We were each holding a piece last time," Yugi reasoned from this, "Maybe that's why neither of us could get it before - this puzzle needs to be solved by two people at the same time, how weird!"

"You may be right," Yami said, taking hold of one of the two pieces Yugi had been holding up.

When pressed together, the pieces connected with a click. Yami had been anticipating the strange feeling blasting through him again, but instead it came far more gradually and gently the second time. And this time it definitely felt good. There was no doubt in Yami's mind that the feeling was the work of magic. It was there as an incentive perhaps, to insure that whoever tried to solve the Millennium Puzzle wouldn't quit halfway through.

"That was…" Yugi trailed off, trying to fit his thoughts into words.

"Strange?" Yami offered.

"Yami, the whole world has gotten very strange at this point, it needs a stronger word than that," Yugi replied, sounding almost amused.

"Actually, do you know what just occurred to me? Maybe this puzzle wants to be completed, and this feeling is the puzzle's happiness or something."

"Sometimes powerful magic does gain personalities," Yami agreed, "An artifact once belonging to the Twelve Guardians of Night would need to be very powerful indeed. Hmm, I suppose you will want to finish it now."

"Of course," Yugi said, "Besides, what about this? If this puzzle is going to be so powerful, maybe we can use it to get back home!"

Of all the…Yami wanted to slap himself. Very hard. It was so obvious, so simple! He really WAS turning completely stupid!

"And how long ago did you get this idea?" Yami asked, hoping his voice sounded less self-recriminatory to Yugi then it did to himself.

"Only a few minutes," Yugi replied, "And I since I wasn't sure, I didn't want to bring it up."

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Yami and Yugi worked on the puzzle. It was a little awkward at first, as Yami only had one hand free and the box of pieces was rather small, but within five minutes they had connected two more pieces. The jolt that hit them was similar to the second surge, sudden and not unpleasant. Once Yami and Yugi got a bit better at coordination, another two pieces were connect, and then two more.

Yami almost refused to keep working on the puzzle after four surges had raced through his body. Now the feeling was starting to get very…strange, for lack of a better word. It felt almost like the surges were pulling at him, drawing him out and binding him to something that was outside himself, and even the very thought of such manipulation was invasive. The intrusion only got more defined with the next surge.

"What's wrong?" Yugi asked, pausing as he noticed Yami's obvious discomfort.

"I feel…uncomfortable," Yami replied, his eyes gazing into the distance as he reached inward, trying to figure out exactly what was happening.

"Oh…" Yugi hesitated, "Is it…does it seem like something's trying to reach inside you? It sort of feels like that to me, but…it actually feels like its okay, like its supposed to be there."

"It feels like it wants to be there. Whether is should be or not is something different," Yami replied.

"Should we stop?" Yugi asked.

"…We need to get out of this place," Yami finally said, "As long as you feel you can continue, we should finish the puzzle."

"Okay," Yugi said, returning his attention to the Millennium Puzzle, "I think this next piece connects to these two we already put together."

Only a few pieces later, the pair of them were staring down an almost-complete Millennium Puzzle. The Sennen on the front looked up from the puzzle's seat in Yugi's cupped hands, the gold gleaming almost innocently. Yami was holding the last piece.

As for how he felt now…there was no way to explain this to anyone now. It was as if a fissure into fire had opened up inside Yami's body, in the exact size and shape and spot of his heart. It was throbbing in time to his heartbeat, almost painfully.

"Ready?" Yami asked.

Yugi nodded.

Yami pressed the last piece in. There was a curious moment when nothing happened, not even another of the jolts and surges that had happened every time before. The completed Millennium Puzzle rested in their hands, a cool metal weight.

Then it started to glow, brighter than any sun, and the power that burst out burned itself into Yami's very being, his soul…

…The next thing Yami felt was cold concrete underneath him and a painfully complete weariness…

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