Note that I forgot last time: The 'royal we' (heh) was not contemporary to Ancient Egypt. It was used for the first time by Augustus Caesar in the year thirty. I'm using it because I'm positive the Pharaoh wouldn't use the same speech patterns as everybody else and I've yet to find out what the Egyptians used. So it's a substitute for something that served the same function. Bit hypocritical of me, but it's sort of a translation so it's okay. I hope.

MODERN DAY

Chapter Six

" 'Some other place

Somewhere

Some other time…' "

Moonlight's dim glow filtered unobtrusively through the thin curtains of Yugi's bedroom, striking dust hovering in the air and gathering on the dingy fabric; a soft blue that lit up the humble and cluttered room unassumingly, illuminating without prejudice. The darkness was privy to a minute glimpse of the divine in the figure sitting up in bed against the wall, his small corner of space somehow contriving to be infinitely darker than any other.

In spite of his qualms about the way in which he'd discovered his ability to take his own form, Yami found himself physically sitting at the head of Yugi's bed, staring sightlessly at the floor. He was at a loss for why; why he couldn't sleep, what he was thinking about, why he would risk possible harm for no reason at all... He couldn't even begin. He had been carefully detached from his thoughts and actions as he had waited for everyone, including his partner, to fall asleep, before taking up his vigil and setting Yugi's head safely in his lap... but it was an opportunity to think he'd been sorely wasting so far.

They had all decided (after much discussion) that they needed to try to control the situation as much as they could- as they hadn't been able to in the past- and put a plan of action into play. It was difficult to come up with a plan of any kind when you had no idea who you were facing, whether or not they were even an immediate threat to the reality where people lived or if they were going to attack again any time soon. It was finally decided that they could do very little right away with no idea what they were up against; and Tea had decreed the first order of business was a night of unbroken rest, because who knew when they could afford that luxury again?

Yami knew he was the only one not taking advantage and he found it absurdly comforting to know he was completely alone- as much as he ever could be, since he took Yugi's presence for granted. Dark, exotic and much stronger than he was used to after so long in Yugi's body, his new 'surroundings' gave him plenty to take pause on… but it wasn't what he was thinking about. After so much time being so mind-bogglingly close to Yugi, but never able to touch him with his own hands, embrace him and give comfort or congratulations or consolation… never having seen him with his own eyes... It was all he could do to sit and gaze at the boy sleeping peacefully next to him, a foreign phenomena that he could only sit back and experience in a state of suspended wonder….

He doesn't look at all like he feels on the inside…

And yet…

He wondered if he shouldn't see some small part of himself in Yugi: that they were separate halves of the same soul- a strange sort of blood brother or something- was so engraved into his mind he was shocked not to see the slightest bit of resemblance. Then again, how could anyone reasonably think there would be? Yami was a Pharaoh, it made sense that he'd look like an Egyptian. He wondered still if there was some part of this bond that had been completely passed over, because as he looked and let his fingertips brush over the soft curves of Yugi's face he felt some entirely different emotion of protection and appreciation rising in him. Something he could swear he'd felt before… at a loss as to where.

His brow furrowed momentarily before he brushed the thought aside. It wasn't important. Everything felt different in general, everything evoked new respect and enjoyment from him as he looked at it with his own eyes. How long had it been since he touched something; really touched something, because it was his hand that had reached out and his fingers that brushed the surface… The wood of the desktop was cool and smooth, the drywall hidden under many layers of blue paint was textured, bumpy and strange, the sheets were coarse and ordinary… Yugi's adolescent skin was soft and warm… comforting and familiar.

His attention slowly returned to the prone form across his legs, ruby-brown eyes drawn from the cool, crisp blue silhouette of the window back to what made this place seem like home even though it was suddenly completely alien to him. He felt oddly detached and separate from the rest of the world, stewing in his unbelonging and his inability to reach out to a time in which he was only a shadow. Even as his long fingers tangled themselves curiously in Yugi's wild hair and reveled in the silkiness of it. Stealing secret little pleasures from hiding themselves in his locks, in the folds of the bedclothes, in the hallow of space between Yugi's chin and chest, arm and side, fingers and palm.

Was this only an illusion of reality, or did cheap cotton really feel like that? He couldn't know, he'd never touched it before, not in this life, not with these hands... It was strange to think about it, to know that this was somehow just how he had looked and existed thousands of years before Yugi was born or the continent on which he lived had been colonized or this house had been built. He had lived when this place belonged to nature, had lived and had been something different again than what he felt now. That was right, wasn't it- he'd never been human and had never been free... but he could be now... couldn't he?

Yami's head spun as he remembered for the first time the full significance of his physical self. He wasn't just a warlock of Shadow Magic, wasn't just a King, wasn't just a spirit content to dwell relatively quietly in some adolescent head: Yami, Atemhotep, was a god. He was weary with the implications of that fact before he'd even started to consider them. He had sacrificed himself all those eternities ago, hadn't he? What sort of cosmic backlash had that created- was he still divine? How could he be so fallible if he was divine? How could he not remember how his own religion worked if he were one of the deities- how could anyone forget something like the true faith? Was this body real, did it bring him into his own with the gods or was something else required- or did he give up his divinity along with his life and his memories: Was he still Atemhotep at all?

He shook his head, wincing when this didn't drive the thoughts away. Perhaps Yugi could be distracted from saving the world long enough to get him a book on the religious practices of his native land, though somehow he doubted it would yield any advice for a lost member of the Divine who hadn't quite made it to the heavens... Surely the westerners couldn't have figured out quite that deeply into their affairs… that would be giving them far too much credit.

Gods of Kemet, guide me however you may... Help me… I've forgotten how to pray.

He distracted himself from his desperate attempt at communion by glancing at Yugi again. His only form of kith or kin in this universe, his only connecting link, the only thing that could keep him sane through all of this. His tanned fingers were still pulling themselves through the hair that fell over Yugi's forehead, his shockingly dark skin contrasting sharply to the pale to which he'd become accustomed. Yami smiled grimly at his severely damaged sense of national identity before allowing himself to become fascinated all over again by the vastly different face of his other half, not at all like his own and yet so familiar... so familiar in such an alien way.

He was snapped violently back to reality as his partner squirmed in his sleep and let out small protesting noises as he shifted, the movement growing more and more desperate with each second. Yugi was never restless in his sleep. He never spoke in the night. But shifting became thrashing and whimpers became mumbles and mumbles became full, coherent words and sentences of alarming clarity.

"…isn't happening!" Yugi grunted, sounding all at once annoyed, dismayed and terrified.

"How could you let him die! He was innocent!" he was almost shouting now.

"No! I don't care!"

"Don't you understand that I can't let you do this, no matter who it's for! I want you! I'll always want you... always..." Yugi was sobbing, his limbs flailing wildly as Yami stared down in alarm before finally wresting hold of himself and grabbing Yugi's arms, pinning him to the bed so he could straddle his waist and hold him down. (Small one! Wake up!)

Yugi struggled against Yami, but was helpless to his other's vice-like grip and bruising strength. "Please… p-please… don't do this to me." He was whimpering again.

(Yugi…) Yami whispered, feeling helpless and loathing every second of it.

The teen's sobs were tiny and pathetic and he went on muttering as he finally stilled, relenting to his Darkness' superior force, "Don't leave me… please… don't leave me…"

All at once he woke with a start, his eyes opening wide, but not looking the slightest bit surprised to find himself in the strange position Yami had wrestled him into, /Yami! Remember my visions/

(Yes, but I don't see...) Slightly bewildered and uncertain whether the disturbing fit could be passed off as a bad dream or if he should go on full alert, Yami sounded petulant and annoyed- a sure sign he was worried.

/It's the same thing… the same source, it must be! I don't think it's from the necromancer, Yami/ He almost seemed to giggle as he used one hand to push his Darkness off him and onto the mattress with a protesting creak of bedsprings as he shot up into a sitting posture at the same time. /I think it's somebody or something trying to help us- that's on our side! Isn't that great? I can't wait to tell everybody about it. It'll be easier with someone else on our side, huh Yami/

The bemused spirit-who-was-not-a-spirit looked up into his other's happily beaming face with a long suffering smile, accustomed to Yugi's sudden bouts of five-year old enthusiasm. (Undoubtedly.)

..;:..

The morning proved amusing to Yami, who seemed entirely unaffected by sitting up almost all night and who took no end of joy in the reactions he could so easily provoke from Yugi's friends. He wondered absently when they had become 'Yugi's friends' and not his friends, but came to the unsettling realization that in his sudden independence he couldn't really call them that. These people, though he knew them inside out and backward, it wasn't his experience getting to know them, it was Yugi's; besides, they knew nothing about him and had never been remotely close to invitation inside his impossibly jumbled inner self. The walls he'd built the second he'd been coherent enough to do so when he was released from the puzzle had never come down for anyone but Yugi.

Not that he had had much choice where Yugi was concerned; although he had never thought about it before, he couldn't help believing that he would have let Yugi in regardless- he didn't know how it would have happened, but he felt that it was true down to the inky black depths of his ancient soul. He was not so sure he'd want to let anyone else in. Not that he didn't care about the rest of the gang… he was just… a very private sort of individual. Or something like that.

Yugi was business-like as soon as the troops were seated around the breakfast table, foodstuffs within grabbing distance and everyone at least awake enough to nod at the appropriate times. The small teen laid his hands down on the shiny surface of the tabletop, Yami sitting immediately to his right, a silent, brooding presence with his muscled arms crossed over his chest. Everyone assumed he would contribute little to the meeting.

"I think there's someone out there trying to help us." Yugi said, his soft voice crisp and more confident than usual. He sounded so hopeful, but so serious, it almost made the others at the table sad, though they couldn't have explained why. "I'm not sure if they're in the Shadow Realm or here or… I'm not really sure of anything and Yami says he couldn't sense anything."

Yami took hold of Yugi's hand as subtly as he could, which wasn't very, and cleared his throat; tactfully requesting everyone's patience as tried to speak. "I sense… not a spirit- no living creature- I sense might be a cord- link- " he frowned and looked up at his partner, as if the answers could be found in Yugi's eyes. Perhaps they could. "I sense a connection, to what… know not." He shrugged elegantly.

Yugi's hand squeezed his in silent congratulations and then released. "I had more visions last night, that's what prompted all of this."

Joey eyed his friend skeptically, "You think that the visions are from somebody trying to help? But they came with Yami getting his own body last time and all that."

Tea frowned also, "Last time you just came out of the Shadow Realm and your battle with that necromancer, don't you think it might be more than a coincidence? What makes you think it's not the bad guy?" She looked troubled as her gaze traveled from Yugi to Yami and back again, as if unsure who would answer her.

"I don't know, guys," Yugi answered honestly, his bright eyes lit with familiar certainty, "I just know it. I can feel that it's someone who wants to help us- I can feel it when I think about what I saw. Haven't we trusted our guts before and been right?"

"What did you see, anyway, Yug? Maybe our guts'll tell us something." Joey, ever practical.

Yugi stilled for a moment, considering, "I saw Pharaoh on the throne- that was yesterday."

Yami stared blankly, alarmed, (Small one… you did not tell me of this.)

/I'm sorry, Yami…I just… I didn't feel like I could talk about it./ The sending came with feelings of remorse and sadness along with an imprint of the uncertainty and unease Yugi had felt with the visions when they first came. He turned physically and begged his other half with his eyes to understand.

The darkness blinked against a surprise well of hurt that stung him sharply in the chest, (You didn't feel you could talk about it with me? Yugi, I…)

"What else did you see, Yugi?" Tristan had cleared his plate and was studying his friend's troubled expression over the syrupy remains of his breakfast.

/Other me, Yami, I'm sorry, I… I'll try to explain later./

Yugi tried hard to push his sudden guilt to the back of his mind. He hadn't even thought to tell Yami about what he had seen, only that he had seen things that might somehow be connected with what was happening to them now- never what he actually saw. He was suddenly doubtful of his own conviction that the visions were from a benevolent source, if they were; what compulsion could possibly keep him from telling the other half of himself from whom he had no secrets? It couldn't have come from within, he would never want to keep something from Yami…

"I saw a man with tattoos and long hair dragging a body and then a terrible fire… something awful was happening, I couldn't see what, but there was a horrible feeling of dread and- and… evil. Then there was people arguing and Pharaoh talking to someone wearing a cloak that covered his face." The teen worried his lip, feeling as if he were leaving something out, but unsure what it was.

Yami stirred uncomfortably, suddenly hating his incredible dependence on Yugi as he put his hand out for contact again. Warmth closed over his fingers, but he tried not to think too much about it. "In night, partner, you begged one not to leave you… were say that you would want them always. Remember you now what you saw?"

Yugi paled and his grip on his Darkness tightened. "I don't know what I saw… but the sadness… almost overwhelmed me. Something very terrible happened to whoever is sending me these visions and I think it might be someone from Yami's past- why else would they remember him in such a personal way?"

(But I do not remember-)

/We have to do our best to figure this out, it's the only lead we've got on anything. Please, Yami, you've got to try again to unlock your memories so we can explain my visions and find whoever experienced all these things. Whoever it was, they were betrayed in the worst way… I want to help them./

(How could they still be alive if they are from my time?)

/Maybe they're not./

Yami frowned again, long fingers curling possessively around Yugi's hand. He didn't think he liked where all of this was going- he didn't think he like it at all. (What if?)

/Then our first idea stands. We have t go back to the Shadow Realm./

The spirit said nothing, but snaked an arm around Yugi's waist and buried his face in the small of his partner's back. He didn't particularly care that everyone was now staring at them in question, he wasn't even sure why he suddenly needed the comfort of Yugi's closeness. The contact helped clear his thoughts. (Yugi, this isn't going to be like anything that's happened to us before. Then we always knew what we were fighting for, who we were up against… there was always an end in sight, a goal. This time… I'm not going to let that place take you from me; I get the feeling that might be what it has wanted from the beginning.)

Yugi looked at the floor, covering Yami's hand across his stomach with one of his own. /Why/

(Because without you, I am nothing.)

"We have to find out who's sending me the visions, since I think it might be somebody from Yami's past, first Yami is going to try to unlock his memories again. Meanwhile, we're back to square one from yesterday; we have to start searching the Shadow Realm." Yugi hesitated for a moment before adding, "Yami is afraid I might be a target, not just for the necromancer, but… there is ambient Darkness in the Shadow Realm and it doesn't really like me at all." He grinned.

"So how are we gonna search?" Joey was pretty sure he remembered that not even Yugi could stay in there for long, but he'd be the first person to admit he wasn't good with things like that.

Yugi's eyes went blank again and the group shifted uncomfortably, knowing he was talking to Yami about the situation and much more at ease about it now that the pair could have spoken aloud and had chosen not to. It wasn't long, though, before Yugi glanced around the table in a pregnant silence, sizing up each of his friends in turn.

"Yami says he can protect us now, but he's not sure how he may be affected or if he can take everyone. I think-" he paused, his mouth open in mid-sentence.

(Yugi… I have… a rather enormous request.)

His brow furrowed, "What is it?"

Joey cocked an eyebrow in confusion and glanced at everyone else.

(I… I can try again within myself to uncover the secret of my memories, but… I fear it will be as futile as ever even though everything feels different now that I can be apart from you. Things that never worked before may make all the difference now- except…)

As Yami paused to think of the right words for his request, Yugi struggled with what he had already said. Now that he could be apart, Yami thought he might be able to come back to himself? Had he been preventing his other half from realizing who he was all this time just by being in the way? He didn't like to think it, didn't like the repercussions it would have if it turned out to be true.

But Yami was talking again, (I think… Yugi, if you can wait to search the Shadow Realm, I think that the one who was meant to unlock my memories wasn't me… it was you. I ask that you come with me into the puzzle, we can work on it together! I'm sure that you would recognize things that mean nothing to me anymore.)

/I- I don't know about this, Yami, I…/

(Please, Yugi, you know me better than I know myself… my other half… Will you do this?)

Clearing his throat, Yugi took another uncertain look at his friends, "Guys… change of plans… I think we have to wait to search the Shadow Realm until we know what we're looking for. Yami and I are going to try to unlock his memories… together."

Three blank stares met him.

Yugi coughed. "We're trusting you guys to guard my body while I'm unconscious and to find out all you can about necromancers."

"What'll we do if something shows up? We don't have Shadow powers." Tea pleaded with her eyes, unconsciously reaching out to Yugi as if imploring him not to leave them when they knew so little about their situation.

"Know you will think of something do we." Yami's musical, accented voice interrupted, surprising everyone, "Trust you, our friends, completely with our lives."

Yugi nodded in agreement.

Tea sighed and rested a cheek in her palm, knowing already this couldn't end well.