Hey peeps! Welcome to the chappy where you FINALLY get to see who the bad guy is, yay! Sorry this took so long guys, but I've literally been working all day on this (lots of breaks, it take a LONG time to get into writing) But I basically started at 1:30pm and now it's... 11:20pm -sweatdrops- I have SCHOOL in the morning!
Anyway, no blabbing, enjoy the part peeps!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

"This is talking"
"These are thoughts and mind-messages"

Chapter Twelve - Of Light and Darkness

Returning to his body felt strangely like slipping into water. When his spirit touched part of his body, sensations ran back to that area, and he could once again feel hot and cold. A cold air rushed over him and he shivered before his eyes fluttered open, blinking his vision clear. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the dark pool of water on the dais before him; they weren't here yet, but he knew they were coming.

Getting to his feet quickly he walked towards the dais, stopping at the bottom of the steps and standing silent, waiting. The three other people in the room looked at him oddly for a moment, but a sudden explosion of water tore there attention from him.

Three orbs, similar to the one of Yami that was beginning to drift off the floor, a brighter colour now because of Yugi's life-force flowing into it, exploded out of the water, darting upwards towards the ceiling before dropping down again. They curved upward again just inches from the floor and darted in separate directions; one towards Steve's unconscious form, the other towards Ryoura's, and the last floated towards Yugi, much slower then the other two.

Steve's body lurched when the orb struck his side and absorbed into him into him, his eyes snapping open. The second went to Ryoura, though when it struck he merely took in a large gasp of breath, his eyes still closed.

The last floated down and hovered before Yugi.

Yugi took a deep breath and stared a the orb floating before his eyes, reaching his hand up to hover beside it, palm facing it's surface. "Yujhi...?" He whispered, closing the space between his palm and the orb. His eyes slid closed at the orb dissolved into a blanket of light the poured over his body, giving him a palely glowing form. The surrounding glow exploded suddenly into what looked like a million glows dust particles, was gathered up by a non-existed wind to form a slow-moving whirlwind of light before Yugi. Once again, it exploded, and in the centre of the whirlwind stood Yujhi, eyes closed and head down. Tears brimmed in Yugi's eyes at the sight of his hikari, "Yujhi..." he breathed again, shocked.

Yujhi groaned a little and opened eyes sea-blue eyes, blinking heavily as if he had just woken up. "Huh... wha..?" he slurred, straightening up and looking around himself blearily before looking at Yugi, his eyes widening. "Yugi?"

Yugi stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Yujhi's shoulders, hugging the younger teen tightly, "Yujhi, I can't believe you're here! I was so worried about you..." he pulled away and held Yujhi's shoulders, looking his light in the eye, "I'm so sorry! If I'd just come sooner, then none of this would have happened and-"

"Yugi no," Yujhi said, shaking his head, "This wasn't your fault, it was Mark's. I could have refused his challenge, but then he would have probably killed me. And he'd already done something to you, putting you out of action. He caused all of this, not you."

"But if I had come sooner... You wouldn't have had to go through all of this..."

"Yugi, it's ok." Yujhi reassured, smiling. He placed his hand over his heart and looked down, as if you check we was still there and not imagining this entire thing. "I'm just glad to be myself again... and to be back in the real world with you guys."

Yugi smiled and hugged Yujhi again, "Me too..."

"Ow..." Steve moaned, pressing his hand against his head to try and suppress his throbbing headache, "My aching... everything..."

"To much info bud. You ok?" Joe asked, kneeling down in front of him. Ilia was holding Steve in a sitting position and rubbing his shoulders for comfort.

Steve nodded, "I think so..."

"It's just the use of magic," Ilia explained, "You're bodies not used to it, so it's just a little strained." Smiling brightly she threw her arms around Steve's shoulders and laughed. "I'm so proud of you! you got Yujhi and Ryoura back without hurting yourself!"

"Yujhi? Ryoura?" Joe spun around, realisation suddenly hitting him. Spotting Yujhi and Yugi he grinned and darted over, wrapping his arms around the two smaller boys and hugging them tight. "Oh man Yujhi, where the heck have you been? We've missed ya!"

Yujhi laughed along with Yugi. "I've missed you guys too."

Somehow managing to wriggle his way out of Joe's bear hug, he stumbled back and looked around. Steve and Ilia looked fine, Joe had dragged Yujhi over and now pulled Steve into a group hug. Looking over he saw Bakura holding Ryoura into a sitting position, talking to him to try to get a reaction out the teen. But Ryoura's eyes had slid shut again, and he was breathing very heavily. The orb of light was hovering nearby patiently, as if waiting for something. Focussing on it, Yugi frowned, "Yami, what's going on?"

"I need you to get everyone over here," Yami's voice explained, the orb drifting closer to Ryoura and Bakura. "It's to help Ryoura."

"What?" Yugi blinked as he started to walk towards Yami. "Is there something wrong with him?"

"My life force is weak, Yugi. I died a long time ago," Yugi flinched, he still hated to here Yami say that, "Ten thousand years ago, and again five thousand years ago, each time becoming weaker. I know Bakura is the same age, but his life-force is renewed each time his bonds himself with a hikari. Mine is worn... It won't sustain him much longer."

Yugi nodded in understanding, "So you want us to get him some of ours, right?"

"Yes. And..." Yami paused for a moment, "And I will need exra energy too if I'm to help you. As I am now I'm in incomplete soul, half of what I should be. The remainder of my soul is still in the afterlife, so my powers and influences are weak. I need more energy to be of any real use to you, but I promise I won't take enough to endanger or weaken any or you immensely."

"I know you won't," Yugi nodded. He trusted Yami over anyone else's, and the way he had tried desperately not to absorb Yugi' life force earlier was proof he would keep his word.

Bakura frowned and shook Ryoura's shoulders lightly, "Ryoura, say something."

Ryoura force an eye open and looked at Bakura, then closed it again, raising in exhausted arm and given Bakura a weak hit on the forehead, "Promised Yujhi I'd smack you 'cross the head if you took to long..." he explained in a whisper, his voice hoarse. Why was he so exhausted? What had that spirit-guy done to him?

"Bakura..." Yugi said as he walked up next to the tomb-robber and his lighter half, who seemed to have fallen into a sleep-like state though he was fully awake. Ilia, Joe, and Steve standing behind him, Yujhi by his side.

Bakura looked at the group suspiciously, but realised that Yugi was the only member who didn't look confused, the orb of light floating beside him. "What?"

"We have to help Ryoura," Yugi said, kneeling down to Ryoura's right, Bakura at his left. The others looked at each other, bewildered, but Yujhi quickly knelt next to Yugi. Joe sat next to Yujhi, and Ilia next to him, Steve completing the circle by kneeling between Ilia and Bakura.

Without a worked of explanation, Yugi took hold of Yujhi's hand and looked at him until he realised he was supposed to continue the chain, holding Joe's hand. Steve didn't look all that pleased to have to hold hands with Bakura, and he didn't want to put the Millennium Rod down, so he just held a fist holding the rod out to Bakura. The tomb robber eyed Yugi suspiciously, but he still didn't say a word. Reluctantly he placed his hand on top of Steve's, then a hand on Ryoura's shoulder like Yugi was doing.

"Okay... we're ready..." Yugi muttered to Yami, though the others thought he was talking to himself.

"Don't panic, and keep the circle. It will make things easier," Yami warned, and waited until Yugi had relayed this message to the others. As soon as he did, the orb that was Yami swerved into the air, spun around, and did something Yugi had not expected; he darted straight towards Ryoura and hit him in te chest, entering his body.

Ryoura's eyes snapped open immediately and his head jerked up, a hiss-whisper of an Egyptian spell came out of his mouth, though the voice was clearly not his. Once again, that odd feeling of his life-force being drained overtook him, but he could also feel someone else's life force entering his body; it was as if the energy was running in a circle, evening out the amount of energy they all had.

It stopped suddenly, a wave of magic forced each one of them to separate their hands from one another, and the shock caused Joe to fall back flat on the floor. "Whoa!" he yelled, propping himself up on his elbows, "What the heck was that!"

Ryoura yelled slightly, though his voice was a mingle of his own and Yami's, and the orb shot back out of his chest again, Bakura catching his shoulders before he fell backwards. The orb shot forward with so much speed it had almost hit the wall behind the pool before it stopped, curved around and darted straight for Yugi.

Steve jumped when he saw the direction it was heading. "Yugi, Yujhi watch-!"

Yugi leapt to his feet, still slightly bent over, and threw out his hand. The orb flew passed him like lightning, but his fist somehow closed around it as it passed right through his outstretched fingers. The speed pulled him sideways, he pivoted on one foot, then stomped the other down on the floor, preventing himself from falling, his hand held above his head. In his hand was a shimmering silver Khepesh sword(1), the blade straight at first, then arching slightly with a diagonal point at the end. The group gawped at Yugi as he stood, staring upward at the sword, staring at the hieroglyphs printed on the blade; Atemu.

Tearing his gaze from the sword Joe crawled forward and looked at Ryoura, frowning. "Is he ok?" he asked Bakura.

Bakura shook his head to say he didn't know, then looked at Ryoura, who seemed to have fallen unconscious leaning against him. "It should have worked... why isn't he-?"

"Well clearly it didn't, look how dead I am," Ryoura raised his head and looked at Bakura, grinning.

The tomb-robber was overcome with relief to see Ryoura was all right and seemed to have plenty of his energy back, but Ryoura's little joke prevented any chance of an emotional gesture. "You prick, what you do that for!" Bakura yelled, shoving Ryoura away from him. The teen just laughed.

"Ryoura, your ok!" Joe cheered, almost tackling his friend in a bear hug. His cheer caught everyone's attention, but soon it was Ryoura who hugging everyone else instead of them hugging him. "Man, I thought you were dead!"

"Won't get rid of my that easy!" Ryoura smiled as he let Ilia go, then looked over at Yujhi. "Welcome back."

"You too."

"Guys..." Yugi frowned, staring at the stairway leading to the next level downward, the way the lost soul had clearly gone. "We have to stop him."

"Him?" Yujhi frowned, looking over at Yugi. "What are you talking about?"

Yugi sighed angrily. Of coarse, the moment the Yujhi returns from the Shadow Realm he would have to be thrown into yet another problem. Turning around to face his lighter half, Yugi said, "Yujhi, I don't want you getting involved. You've been through enough already, you all have," he looked up at Ryoura, who had fallen quiet. Yugi tapped his finger off the edge of the sword, drawing Ryoura's attention to it for the first time, and looked back at the stairway. "I should go alone... You'll need Bakura too protect-"

"Where'd you get that?" Ryoura interrupted, pointing at the sword. Yugi just looked at him curiously, silently questioning his behaviour. "I... I've seen it before..."

"Really?" Joe blinked, scratching the back of his head. "Don't tell me Yugi managed to steal it from somewhere."

"No..." Ryoura muttered, suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything. But they kept questioning, so finally he said, "In a dream... I saw it in a dream."

"Oh..."

"I'm not kidding!" Ryoura protested, looking over at Joe. "I'm serious, and Yugi had it in my dream too!"

"Maybe," Ilia tried, "It's just a coincidence."

"No it's not, I know it's not," Ryoura muttered, grabbing his hair and growling. He'd had his suspicions before, but the sword in Yugi's hand confirmed them. "How could I have been so stupid! I should have known all this was going to happen!"

"Ryoura, how could you have known all this was going to happen? Maybe Yugi's right." Steve said, putting a hand on Ryoura's shoulder. "You and Yujhi should probably go back to camp."

"I've been having that stupid nightmare for months, and it never dawned on me that it might actually mean something!" Ryoura yelled, pulling his hair hard, "I'm such an idiot! I knew that spirit was here and the nightmare told me what he was planning, why didn't I say anything!"

Bakura growled and grabbed Ryoura's wrists, pulling them away from his head. "Ryoura calm down! This is not your fault, you didn't make that lost soul do anything, so stop pretending it is!"

Ryoura shut his eyes tight, "Always with the gentle approach, eh Pep'...?" he muttered, clearly not seeing the truth in what Bakura was saying. He'd dreamt of being stuck underwater, of Bakura covered in blood the same way he was right now, and he'd dreamt Yugi using that sword; how could he have let all this happen when he'd been given the same glimpse of the future every night?

"Well..." Yujhi said awkwardly, trying to change everyone's focus away from Ryoura. He looked at Yugi and clenched his hand into a fist. "Whatever's going on, I'm not going back."

"Yujhi-"

Yujhi shook his head at Yugi and held up his hand, "No, let me talk. I've been stuck in there for months, reliving a nightmare where I got chased and almost eaten by a dragon and had to fight the same painful challenge over and over again. I've been through a lot, but that just means I'm stronger now. I'm going; I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I stayed and something happened to you guys."

Ryoura nodded in agreement, but didn't raise his head. Ilia and Steve looked at each other, then at Yugi, smiling. "We're going too!" Ilia said.

"And your not leaving me behind," Joe grinned, clenching his hand to a fist and beating it off his chest, "You guys need me."

Ilia and Steve rolled there eyes, Ryoura and Yujhi smiled and Yugi bit his lip. "But guys..."

"Just let them come Yugi..." Yami's voice echoed, causing Yugi to look down at the blade. Surprising, everyone else in the group looked around also.

"Where the heck did that come from?" Joe almost yelled.

Yugi lifted the sword and looked at the blade, seeing the reflection of himself in it. "Why?"

"Because you know as well as I do that they cannot be stopped. If you leave them behind they will just follow you afterwards."

"You've got a point... Ok guys, you can come," he said, earning a quiet 'yes!' from most of the group, but a glare from Bakura, who was clearly still worried about Ryoura's condition, "but stick close together and don't do anything stupid.

"We have to move now. We've wasted to much time already," he said. When the group nodded he spun on his heel and walking quickly towards the stairway, Yujhi running to his side and the Bakuras close behind. Behind him he could faintly hear Joe yelling 'Another spirit! In the sword!', but his heart was racing at such a pace it was pounding in his ears, his hand gripping the handle of the sword painfully.

"Yugi?" Yujhi's voice echoed in his mind, and Yugi looked over to his hikari, "Whose 'Yami'?

Yugi smiled; he'd missed speaking to the younger boy this way, it was the most honest and open way of communication and showed how much they trusted each other, to open their emotions to one another. "He was my darker half, five thousand years ago. Here," he held his hand with the sword out, "Would you like to say hi?"

Yujhi looked at the sword uncertainly, then placed his hand on the handle under Yugi's hand, focussing on the sword. "Hello?"

He could almost feel Yami's smile as he chuckled, "Hello Yujhi. I trust you've been taking care of Yugi for me?"


The spirit sighed as he strolled into the final level of the temple, stretching his arms above him lazily. "What a lovely walk," he muttered to himself as his finished his stretch, putting his hands back in his pocket and taking his time as he walked to through the room, taking in his surroundings.

On every wall, as in every room, were paintings and hieroglyphs telling stories. A dozen or so thick pillars were lined parallel to the wall, paintings of Pharaoh's and Gods along them. But everything in this room was not dedicated to the Gods, but the Millennium Items. Each item had a section of the wall dedicated to it's powers and how it had been used to aid the High Priests and Pharaohs of the time. No mention of the terror Bakura caused with the Millennium Ring. "Propaganda... pretending these items were used only for good..."

The spirit glanced lazily at the last two columns before the alter, chuckling. "The Pharaohs who started and ended it all in a matter or years," he muttered. The column on his left was painted with the image of Pharaoh Akunumkanum, and on the column to his right was the Pharaoh who sealed the Millennium magic away, Atemu.

"You wasted your life, the items have never rested 'for eternity'," the spirit muttered, moving his gaze from the column and stepping up the few steps onto the alter. Behind the alter was what looked like a huge tablet of stone covered in hieroglyphs and a Millennium symbol just a little above the centre. On the ground before that was a statue, and within it, shining brightly from the flames that had magically appeared when he entered the room, was the Millennium Scales, the Millennium Eye and the Millennium Key.

"Hello there..." the spirit grinned, reaching down and plucking the Millennium Items one by one from there holdings. He grinned as he felt the magic in his body increase in strength with each item he touched. With the final item he sighed happily, relishing the power flowing within him. "So much power..." Too bad he'd already sent those monsters to attack Yugi and the others, he would have liked to done all of the damage himself.

But as the monsters came to mind, a sinister thought came to mind. Grinning, he shut his eyes. "My monsters..." he said playfully, "Your master has a new command..."


"Yugi, there's something here."

Yugi froze his mental conversation with Yujhi and Yami when the former-pharaoh's voice had spoken up, the sword in his hand flashing white for a second as a type of warning. Freezing in his tracked, Yugi looked around the corridor; the level of magic was very high here.

Bakura seemed to have sensed it too; and with one swipe of his arms from right to left the Millennium Sabre appeared in his hand, glowing with the green magic from which it was made, though much weaker now without the Millennium Ring. Holding the blade out in front of him, his eyes scanned the area for any signs of movement. He could feel Ryoura grasping what little magic he could in preparation for an attack. "Don't." he said simply when he felt Ryoura pull on his life energy to power up more. Ryoura frowned but when back to using pure magic.

Yugi stood unmoving, his stance wide and the sword held directly in front of him, eyes scanning the area. A movement further down the corridor. His eyes locked on it, narrowing when he saw the wolf-like figure creep out of the darkness, fangs bared and yellow eyes glowing. "Silverfang..." Yugi muttered, tightening his grip on the blade. The wolf was followed by a number of other monsters of all shapes and sizes. Beasts, zombies, dragons; there was at least a dozen monsters to stand against the power of five weakened magic users, Steve and Joe.

Silverfang, who seemed to have taken on the role of leader in the pack, stopped about eight metres away, the line of monsters stopping behind him, baring their teeth, flexing their long claw-like hands, growling hungrily.

It was a Poison Mummy that made the first move. It's blue and red mummified form ran towards the group. But before Yugi had a chance to even consider attacking, Bakura had sped past at an alarming speed and met the creature half-way, slicing his flaming sword through it's middle and separating the top-half of it's body from the bottom. Large slugs, worms and maggots fell out of the severed half lying on the floor, but it's form did not lie still. Instead, it's hands moved to pick itself up.

As Bakura beheaded the monster with his sword, the real fight began. All at once the creatures charged, and Yugi did likewise, charging forward with the sword held out sideways. The blade flashed as he swung it forward, striking a Battle Ox across it's calf muscles. The ox-monster screamed in agony and collapsed, two glowing cuts remaining on it's legs in place of a bleeding wound, but much more painful.

"Yujhi! Monsters! Ryoura yelled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the only card he had with him at the time; his faithful Uraby.

Yujhi nodded and reached his hand out, gripping Ryoura's and allowing the other boy to use his magic as well as his own to summon the black dinosaur. It roared and charged at a few of the creatures that had managed to pass Yugi and Bakura. Ilia managed to summon a Sacred Crane as well, and ordered the bird into attack.

"Shouldn't you be doing that right about now?" Joe muttered to Steve as a Man-eater Bug began to advance on them.

"I dunno how!" Steve growled, fumbling with the cards in his hands. Typical that when he really needs a monster all he can find are trap and magic. Even if he did find a monster, he was just going to have to hope his instincts would kick in and help him summon them.

"Steve!"

The Man-Eater bug had leapt at Steve and knocked him to the floor, causing him to lose his grip on the Millennium Rod and send it spiralling towards the wall of the corridor, his cards falling all over the floor.

The creatures large, pincer-like arms clung to his arms, holding him to the ground, and it's mouth hovered over him, numerous rows of teeth snapping teasingly at him. It bent down towards his face and instinctually turned his head sideways, scratching the side of his face off it's far-to-close teeth, and he tried desperately to dig his knee into it's stomach. It was armoured, though, so this move harmed him more then the monster. Almost grinning, the Man-Eater bug closed it's teeth around his head, digging them into the skin under his jaw and the side of his head. Steve yelled as it's teeth pierced his flesh, like little knives.

There was a sickening crack sound and blood splattered all over the side of Steve's face. But it wasn't his own. The Man-Eater bug fell limp on top of him and he gasped from the weight, but it was quickly pushed off him. Gasping for Breath, Steve looked up at Joe. "What did you...?" he looked down at the Millennium Rod in Joe's hands, the wing-like edge on the head of it covered in blood.

"This thing makes a pretty good axe. Or a mace," he said, pointing over at the Man-Eater Bug lying dead on the ground, the Millennium Rod having struck right through it's skull. Handing the bloody Rod back to Steve he held out a card. "First monster I found."

As Steve summoned a Different Dimension Dragon, Yugi and Bakura continued there fight with the larger monsters, Ilia's Sacred Crane helping them. Bakura had received a lot of bruises, but not serious cuts, just a few nicks here and there. Yugi didn't receive many blows, as the power of his sword proved too powerful for some of the monsters, but when he received a blow it was a hard one. He had been struck hard in the back by the tail of a dragon, and it hurt so much he was slowed down. He also had deep cut down the side of his face, but the rest of the damage was minor cuts, like Bakura.

"Yugi!" Yami's voice yelled in his mind, "Yugi I-" he sounded like he was cut off from the sudden stop, but then he spoke, stronger then before, "I'm gaining more power! I don't know how but my powers growing!"

Yugi cut through the stomach of another monster; the blow didn't seem much stronger yet, "That's a good thing, isn't it. It can help us."

"And I may be able to get my own form too... I can take care of this now Yugi, get Bakura to move back!"

Yugi relayed Yami's words to Bakura and the tomb-robber, though reluctant, leapt back when Yugi said he had a plan. Holding the sword out in front of him. The sword flashed, as it did when it warned Yugi of the monster presence, and a dome of light suddenly encased all the monsters before him. The monsters screeched in agony, but it was only a few seconds before all fell silent. A ripple of thick magic flew from the dome as it disappeared, running through Yugi and Bakura harmlessly and striking the monsters the others had currently been fighting, causing them to screech also before disintegrating entirely.

Yugi stared forward with his mouth open in shock. Where had Yami gotton such power? He looked back to see if the others were all right. They were standing looking around, looking bemused and lost, wondering what had happened to the monsters they had been fighting. A glow caught Yugi's attention and he turned forward again.

Yami's voice echoed in his mind, "If I can get a solid form, I can help you defeat this enemy." Where the dome had once been stood a glowing figure, though the light had begun to dim by the time Yugi had turned to look at it. Yugi's eyes widened as he realised Yami was trying to materialise before them. "Yami no, don't drain yourself!" he called, but Yami didn't listen.

The light dimmed further, and in a matter of seconds it was gone entirely. Yami stood, arms spread out beside him, eyes closed and a soft glow surrounding his frame. When the glow disappeared, his body crumpled to the floor.

"Yami!" Yugi yelled, running forward and skidding to Yami's side. "Yami, are you ok?" he asked, shaking his dark lightly.

Yami groaned and opened his eyes, blinking once or twice before looking up at Yugi. "Whoa..." he sighed, pulling his hands to himself and pushing himself to sit up. "That... Didn't work exactly as I planned..." he muttered, rubbing his head.

Yugi frowned, "Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

"No, I'm fine," Yami smiled, sighing again as he tried to push himself to his feet. Yugi stood up quickly and grabbed Yami's forearm, helping him to his feet and letting the taller boy lean on him for support. "Thanks Yugi."

The rest of the group walked forward so they were level with Bakura. "Who's that?" Steve asked, looking at Yami with confusion.

"That's the pharaoh who used to be his yami," Bakura narrowed his eyes, "What's going on? How did he get here."

Yujhi looked up, "His spirit was in the sword."

"Yami, what were you thinking, you could have destroyed yourself," Yugi scolded, but Yami merely smiled.

"I know what I'm doing Yugi," he said, laying his arm around Yugi's shoulders.

The sword flashed in warning.

Suddenly Yami stood up straight, spun Yugi around and tightened his arm around the smaller boy's neck.

"Yami!" Yugi gasped, "You're... choking me!"

"I know..." Yami grinned sinisterly, leaning his face against Yugi's and narrowing his eyes in amusement. "But don't worry..." he muttered, drawing something from underneath his black jacket, "Your death will come last..."

It his hand Yami held the Millennium Ring.

Yugi's eyes grew wide.

The Lost Soul that had plagued them was Yami!


To Be Continued


(1) An ancient Egyptian battle sword.
BWAHAHA! That last part was frickin' FUN!
So Bwaha! Yami was the evil guy all along! Some of ya guess it, some of you didn't, so I hope ya liked it!
The entire explanation as to what's going on will be in the next chappy, but I will say that Yami being the bad guy was hinted at ALL the way back in Torturous Trust, in the last few chaps XD
So please review and I hope you guys like it! Slán for now!
Bay Bay!
Bayleef