Hey guys! So sorry for the long wait, but this chapter was really difficult to write. Lots of little writer's blocks, le GRR! But it's all done now, so yaz can read on XD Hope yaz enjoy!

Thanks so much for the reviews everyone! They mean a ton to me, especially for this story coz it's been going to over TWO YEARS! Le WOW!

Warning: Character death.

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

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

Chapter Sixteen - Sacrifice

Darkness, then a pounding pain in his skull. Yujhi groaned loudly as his eyes fluttered open, his hand travelling to the pounding spot on the side of his head, pressing against it. His vision was blurred, fuzzy shapes before him shrinking in and out of view. But his hearing was clear, and with it Ilia's scream registered in his mind before anything else.

Blinking hard he pulled his hand away from his head and pressed it on the floor, forcing himself into a sitting position. The pain in his head blanked his vision for a moment, but he blinked a few times and caught himself before he fell again, leaning heavily on his arm. Raising his gaze, a number of figures cleared before his eyes.

Bakura was knelt by Ryoura near the entrance to the room, the younger Ring-guardian having forced himself up onto his elbow. Joe was leaning against a pillar nearby, hands pressed against the smooth stone surface to stay standing, and Steve was leaning against a pillar further away, Ilia sitting beside him with her hands over her mouth. Every one of them were deathly silent.

And every one of them where staring beyond Yujhi.

Yujhi's heart began to race; what was wrong with them? Why were they all so pale? Something, like a hand of ice, gripped his heart. "Yugi." He twisted his body around painfully and winced, but forced his eyes open. The breath he held left him the moment his eyes landed on crimson liquid.

His yami lay no more then ten metres away at the foot of the alter, hands gripping both the handle and the blade of his own sword, the blade of which had embedded itself half-way through the throat of their enemy; an almost identical spirit. Blood dripped from the dark spirits throat, slithering along the blade of the sword and down the arms of Yujhi's yami, mixing with his own blood that trickled from the cut in his hand from gripping the blade.

But more blood was pouring from the wound in Yugi's stomach, creating a large pool of crimson life-liquid around his body.

The golden head of the Millennium Rod rested lower on Yugi's stomach, but the blade had completely disappeared into his body, drowned in the blood of the body it had impaled.

Yujhi's breathing became sharper and faster as the image before him didn't disappear. He shook his head, blinked hard, but it didn't disappear; Yami Yugi and the spirit stared at each other with wide eyes, not breathing, not moving. "Yugi." Yujhi shuffled slightly, making a move towards his other half.

Then all at once, both Yami Yugi and the dark spirit sighed, eyes drifting closed slowly. As soon as Yami Yugi's violet orbs were hidden behind his eyelids, his arms collapsed, and the dark spirit collapsed on top of him.

Unmoving.

"Yugi no!"


Drifting into the spiritual dimension had always been the greatest sensation Yugi had ever felt. A feeling of comfortable warmth would spread over his soul, warming him in ways that no physical thing could. Every time he slipped though the water-like fabric between physical and the spiritual dimension of the same world, he felt safe. Nothing of the physical world could hurt him here, even though he could see and hear it.

Yugi sighed heavily as the wave heat washed over his soul, warming what the fear of death had chilled in the physical world. Another being appeared beside him, and without opening his eyes he knew it was Yami. He did open them, though, when he heard Yami's gasp of pain. Pain? In the spiritual realm.

Looking to his Yami Yugi was shocked to see his other's face twisted in pain. "Yami?" he whispered, drifting over and placing a hand on the spirit's shoulder.

"I'm alright," Yami insisted, waving a hand dismissively, making Yugi jump; his hand seemed to be made of smoke, losing shape and breaking apart in the air when it moved, only to drift back and form a wavering form of his hand when he stopped moving. "I'm just... recovering..."

"Soul Destruction," Yugi said, more a statement than a question, but Yami nodded all the same. Of coarse, his soul would be damaged because of the two attacks his darker side had used on him. Luckily, there was no better place to heal a soul than in this dimension.

"What have you done..."

Yugi jumped as the snake-like voice hissed through the air, but turned calmly to face it's owner. The darker spirit was floating a short distance away, mere feet within striking distance or both Yugi and Yami. But he didn't make a move to attack; he just remained still in the air, staring at the pulsing black palms of his hands and flexing his fiery fingers slowly. "I believe," said Yugi, calmly, "that we have beaten you."

"No!" the dark spirit hissed, his eyes jerking up to meet Yugi's. In this realm, the spirit no longer took on the form of Yugi's yami. It had returned to the fiery black being that had appeared over three months ago intent on claiming the lives and souls of Yugi's friends, eyes now nothing but two large slits in what would be considered a face. Veins of green ran through his form now, though; the life-force holding him together that he had stolen from Ryoura. "You cannot defeat me!"

"We already have, darkness!" Yami's powerful voice returned as he straightened himself up, no longer showing signs of weakness from his dark sides Soul Destruction spell. "This physical body that you relied on to exist is dead, your connection with the Millennium Puzzle was severed the moment you separated from Yugi, what hope could you possible have to defeating us now?"

The spirit hissed loudly, in a voice that seemed to echo around the two Puzzle-spirits. Yugi drifted closer to Yami as the dark sprits eyes narrowed, "I won't let you leave here..." he hissed angrily, crouching back before leaping off an invisible floor, darting for Yugi and Yami, "Your souls will remain here with me!"

Yugi leapt back when the spirit pounced, but Yami merely closed his eyes. The dark spirit threw out it's claw-like hands and latched around the shoulders of his true soul.

"Yami!" Yugi called in shock as the spirits claws dug into Yami's soul.

But Yami merely winced as if he had stung him, barely twitching as the dark spirits claws sank deeper into his soul. Opening his eyes he stared into the red slits of his darker half. "It is time you returned to me..."

"Never!" the spirit hissed, obviously furious that Yami stood so defiant. He pulled back, intent on using his 'claws' to tear out his true spirits confident eyes...

... but found he could not more. Eyes widening, he jerked himself away from Yami again, but his claws remained embedded in his true soul. "No!" he yelled, trying again and again to tear himself from Yami's soul, but not succeeding.

Yami winced painfully as the spirit jerked away from him again, "Yugi... help me..." he whispered, extending his hand back. Without a word Yugi drifted forward and placed his hand on his other's wrist, then, drifting forward, reached his other hand out towards the dark spirit. At the sight of Yugi and spirit began to try harder to pull away, but still couldn't. Yugi pressed his fingers against the spirits arm, cringing as it screamed in fury as Yugi's fingers slipped through it's skin, just as it's own claws had slipped into Yami. It kicked and thrashed, screaming and cursing loudly and angrily, but Yugi did not pull away. Instead, he closed his eyes as Yami did.

"Though a darkness beyond that of my heart..." Yami whispered quietly, raising a hand and digging it into the other arm of the spirit, gaining another scream of anger from him, "I accept you back as part of my soul."

"No!" The spirits cries fell on deaf ears, a blinding golden glow erupting between the three spirits. The spiritual bonds that tied Yami and Yugi undid themselves, throwing themselves open and slithering through the air like snakes. The dark spirit cried out as they wrapped themselves slowly around his form, pulling him and the two spirits closer and closer to each other.

"Y-Yami," Yugi whispered fearfully, unsure of what was happening.

"Do not worry Yugi..." Yami whispered, but before he could say anymore it was time; time to entangle this estranged fragment of a soul back into the bond that it was released from long ago.

"Yu..." Yugi breathed slightly, but quickly held his breath. What was he doing?. "Yu-" he stopped himself again. Something inside him was encouraging to cast his spell. Opening his eyes slightly he glanced at Yami. The older spirit seemed to sense his gaze, and nodded. Combining their spirits; it was the only way. Taking a deep breath, with confidence this time, Yugi cried out, "Yu-Gi-Oh!"

The dark spirit cried out at once, but it echoed into nothingness as his spirit was pulled into his true soul. Yami gasped in shock at the sudden intrusion of darkness, but no sooner had it entered his body did the evil become purified, moulded into a true reflection of the Pharaoh's soul.

As Yugi and Yami's souls combined once again they drifted back into their physical body, a cold feeling overcoming them as they did so.

"Yami?"

"Yes Yugi?"

Yugi was relieved to sense no change in his other half's spirit through their mental link, but fear had suddenly returned to him, "Are we going to die?"

Silence. Then, "If they body dies, we shall too."

That chill. A fear only death could bring.


"Yugi! Yugi!" Yujhi yelled, shaking his yami's shoulders hard. He had pushed the other spirit off Yugi's body, but almost wished he hadn't when he was met with a motionless form. "Don't do this to me Yugi," he whispered, his vision blurring behind salty tears, "Please don't die!"

"Yujhi?" Ilia whispered as she lowered herself down to kneel next to him, having been the only member of the group with enough strength to move to his side. Swallowing the lump gathering in her throat Ilia tried to avoid looking at the wound in Yugi's stomach, as well as the blood she had to kneel in, forcing her attention instead on the near-hysterical teen next to her, "Yujhi," she said again, "he's-"

"Don't," Yujhi interrupted angrily, turning to glare at Ilia with fire in his eyes, "you dare tell me he's not going to make it. Don't you dare! He's still breathing!" he yelled, pointing at Yami Yugi's slowing rising chest; so slowly it was as if a heavy weight was resting on it. "He's still alive!"

"Yujhi, we don't know how long that will be for," Ilia tried to reason, struggling in vain to prevent tears from running down her face. The violence, the blood, the sight of Yujhi so torn; it was all to much for her. She forced her gaze to lower to the head of the Rod, the blade still deep in Yugi's stomach, but quickly looked away, covering her mouth. "So much blood..."

"B-but he's still alive!" Yujhi argued, turning away from Ilia and gripping Yugi's shoulders once again, shaking him lightly, "Come on Yugi, wake up.. Please Yugi..." he gripped the material of Yugi's shirt and lowered his head, tears streaming down his face, "Please Yugi! Please don't leave me!"

"Bakura we have to do something," Ryoura choked, rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes before tears had the chance to fall, "Isn't there something we can do?"

"If we could get our magic back from that spirit," Bakura said in a strained voice, placing a hand on Ryoura's shoulder and pushing himself to his feet, only to collapse again on his knees. Cursing loudly at the floor he sighed angrily, raising his gaze to look at the body of the dark spirit beyond Yugi. "If Yugi's to have any chance he needs to be healed."

"How could we get out magic back?" Ryoura asked, pulling himself up to his hands and knees. He stopped when his head began to spin, shutting his eyes tight.

"Break through his magic barrier, maybe with the Sabre...?" Bakura tried once again to get up, but his vision instantly darkened and he had to freeze, "Damn it! Have I any strength left?" No. He had used all the magic he had in his last attack on the dark spirit. He needed time to recover. Time that Yugi didn't have.

Suddenly there was a shift in the air as Yugi and Yami's combined soul slipped back into the realm and returned to it's body, alerting the senses of the most active magic-users. Yujhi's gaze snapped to his yami's face, and he felt a stab of pain when Yugi's face constricted in pain.

"Yugi? ... Yugi can you hear me?" Yujhi whispered, and was shocked when Yugi began coughing heavily, his clothes, and Yujhi's, becoming even more stained with the blood that had begun to gather at the back of his throat.

Panicking Yujhi slipped his arm behind Yugi's shoulders and lifted him slightly off the ground, causing his yami to gasp at the new flare of pain that the movement caused in his stomach. "Yugi? Yugi!" the hikari shouted, trying desperately to get a response from his darker half. Yugi muttered something in a low whisper, but in his weakened state it came out as nothing more then a slurred hiss. His eyes fluttered open momentarily, but quickly closed again. "You can't fall asleep!" Yujhi muttered, tapping the side of Yugi's face lightly. The spirit's eyes opened slightly, staring blankly forward, "You can't fall asleep, you-" Yugi sighed painfully and his eyes slide shut, "Yugi? Yugi! Wake up! Wake up Yugi, come on!"

But Yugi just lay motionless in his arms, breathing slower and shallower with each intake, drawing closer to his last.


"Yugi... I'm so sorry..." Yami's voice echoed in his hikari's mind, full of sincerity.

Yugi's body had been so aflame with pain that he had lost consciousness despite his efforts to stay awake. His soul, now bound to his dying body, was quickly weakening with ever drop of blood he lost. Though he knew once the end came he would be a soul of new energy, with nothing of the physical to hurt or hinder him, the feeling of the last of his physical life-force separating was the most terrifying sensation he had ever felt. "I'm scared Yami."

There was silence from the other side of the link, and for a moment Yugi was worried that Yami had left him, or his soul had somehow died first, but after a few seconds their link reopened, and Yugi was met with a string of mixed emotions. "We can't let it end this way."

"What?" there was no containing neither the shock nor the confusion in Yugi's voice, "But... what do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, but our task is not let fulfilled..." Yami's voice sounded a little strained with that message, "As much as I want your pain to end, I need you stay in this world just a little longer."

"Longer?" as fearful he had been of death, Yugi was shocked to find a little resentment towards Yami's words; how long would he be left trapped in this world? "But Yami, I-"

"I'm sorry Yugi, but as the Guardian of the Millennium Puzzle and successor to the Pharaoh's powers, you have one more task to fulfil."

"... The Millennium Items..."

He could almost sense Yami's nod as he began to understand, "And you cannot leave Yujhi, not like this, he would never recover..." that last comment seemed to strike something inside the younger spirit. In the past few minutes of action his hikari had slipped from his mind. There was a sudden powerful pull in Yugi's mind, and fear gripped his heart. Yami's soul had separated from his own!

"Yami!"

"Trust me Yugi!"


"Yujhi, please stop!" Ilia yelled tearfully, gripping the shorter boy's arm tightly. Once Yugi had stopped making any response to Yujhi's words, the teen had begun yelling and shaking his yami, trying to get him to wake up. "He's not going to wake up Yujhi!"

"Shut up!" Yujhi yelled, pulling his arm out of the girls grip, "You don't know-!"

"Leave him alone Yujhi!" the two by Yugi's side turned to look at Steve, who was struggling to push himself to his feet. "You're just making things worse!"

Yujhi blinked, then looked down at Yugi's deathly pale face, "But he-"

"Steve's right Yujhi..." Joe muttered, leaning his back against the pillar he was using for support, "You... You're just making this harder on all of us..."

Ryoura looked from Joe to Steve, shocked. "But we can't give up on him. There's got to be some chance that-"

Bakura lifted his hand and dropped it on his hikari's head weakly, silencing the teen, "Not without our magic, Ryoura... All of which is trapped in that Yami's body..."

"You..." Yujhi breathed, turning his attention back to Yugi. His once calm face now looked strained; maybe he was struggling to wake up? Yujhi felt fresh tears filling his eyes. "We can't... he's not-"

"Yujhi-!"

Ilia's cry had been cut off as she was shoved aside by the darker spirit, who had somehow managed to pull himself to his feet. He had pulled Yugi's khepesh blade from his throat, and now pressed his right hand to the wound to try and slow the blood gushing out. He struggled to breath, coughing up blood with every gasp of breath, and his face was deathly pale, eyes wide and full of pain. Yujhi didn't have time to react before a barrier of magic surrounded the dark spirit, then rapidly grew, striking both Yujhi and Ilia away from Yugi's body. Raising one shaky arm the spirit blinked blearily down at Yugi's form, then narrowed his eyes. Dropping to his knees, his fingers dug deep into the open wound in Yugi's stomach.

The younger spirit instantly cried out, torn from unconsciousness by the blinding pain. Yujhi pushed himself up and shook his head, pushing himself quickly to his feet. "Yugi!" he charged towards the two spirits, but struck something hard. A ripple of yellow light ran in a circle around the spirits; a barrier. Raising his fists Yujhi pound hard on the barrier, ignoring both the blinding ripples of light that appeared with every strike, and Ilia and Joe, who had both managed to make it to his side. "Yugi! Let him alone!"

"How..." Bakura breathed in shock, eyes locked on the dark spirit. He was so close to death, this attack must be antagonising. Was he that determined to see Yugi dead? Ryoura had managed to push himself to his feet, but the burst of adrenaline wasn't enough. He stumbled and gripped Bakura's shoulders to stay standing. "There's nothing we can do Ryoura..." Bakura muttered, "He's won..."

But inside the barrier, hidden from view by the continuous waves of light that ran over it's surface, Yugi was struggling to hear the mental voice of the spirit whose magic was quickly drifting into him, alighting his body was fresher and stronger pain. He could only catch a few words from the link, distracted by the waves of fire through his body.

"..will hurt ... return... lunar energy... highest..."

"Ya..mi..." Yugi muttered painfully, crying out as the hand was pulled out of his injury, finished healing the damage within his body and now focussing on the external damage. This was a much less painful process, and even though his was still shaking with the pain left by his internal healing, he managed to open his eyes and look into those of the spirit about him. The body created by Yami's dark, but now inhabited by his true soul. A dying body. "Why...?"

Yami's eyes softened for a moment at Yugi's question, then widened again as another coughing fit struck him. Yugi shut his eyes and turned his head away as some of the splatters of blood hit the side of his face. Yami hand, which had been hovering over Yugi's wound to heal it, pressed down on Yugi's injury as the spirit struggled to stay upright, making Yugi cringe. He quickly moved his hand away, but without that little support he collapsed on his side next to Yugi, barely breathing, coughing blood up heavily when he did. Yugi groaned loudly and lifted a hand to lay on his stomach. The cut was still open, but mostly healed. "Why...?" he whispered again, "Why did... you do this.. to yourself?"

"It was the only way," Yami's mental voice sounded so calm, as if it was completely unaware of the flaring physical pain his body was in.

Tears sprung to Yugi's eyes, "To kill yourself! To let yourself die!"

"Yugi," Yami's voice was stern, silencing Yugi, "There was no other way. You need to be healed, and this body was the only one with enough strength and magic to do so."

Yugi shut his eyes tight, the warm slither of tears running down his face. He desperately wanted to look at his Yami, but was afraid of what he would see. "You sacrificed your own life..."

"Just as you did for me all those years ago." "Yami," Yugi choked, pushing himself up into a sitting position, surprised that his pain had dulled greatly, though was still strong. Yami forced his eyes open and looked sideways. A small smile appeared on his face, forced but genuine. Yugi shut his eyes tight to rid himself of tears, then reached down and wrapped his arms around his dark, pulling him up so his head rested on Yugi's arm and his body lay across the younger spirits lap. Yami's eyes drifted closed weakly, and Yugi shook his head, "I don't want to lose you again..."

"You have one last task to fulfil Yugi... Yami's voice sounded slurred and tired. It was nearly time. "When you return in two weeks... you'll see me again."

"How?"

"My spirit will return to end what Akunadin began all those years ago... We will destroy the Millennium Items together..."

"In two weeks."

"Yes.

Yugi remembered a mention of lunar energy. "At the next full moon?"

"Yes..."

The message had come as a sigh; he was drifting away. "Yami I..." Yugi shuddered at the weakness of the link. He didn't know what to say. "... Goodbye..."

A sigh of relief echoed through their mind-link, and Yugi could almost sense the smile on his other's face that accompanied his next words;

"For now, my brother... for now..."


Yujhi struck the barrier, but this time was shocked to find it shattered easily, breaking into what looked like thousands of shards of glass. He instinctively threw his arms to up protect himself, but the shards turned to dust before disappearing completely. Just as he began to move his arms away from his face, a sudden force struck him hard in the chest, throwing him clean off his feet and through the air. He crashed to the floor and struck his head on the stone floor, instantly throwing his hands up to put pressure on the area of pain.

Ilia and Steve had barely had a chance to notice Yujhi had been struck back before they, too, were hit with powerful beams of light, thrown back also, but being taller they had managed to remain standing, merely stumbling back a few steps. Steve blinked in shocked and dropped to his knees, pressing his hand against his chest. "This... this energy..."

Bakura had been prepared for the attack, bracing himself as another beam of light shot from the area once alight with the magical barrier. It struck him hard, but he merely winced and was pushed back a little. Ryoura had not been nearly as prepared, and was thrown back with the force of the attack, losing his footing and falling backwards.

Clenching and unclenching his fist Bakura grinned, then opening his hand he allowed a fiery green ball of light to appear in his palm. "Our powers are back..." he muttered in satisfaction, clenching his hand and extinguishing the flame.

"Major magic-rush..." Ryoura muttered as he sat up, rubbing his head. The wave of magic rushing through his body almost made his tired mind dizzy, but he quickly shook it away. "Where's Yugi?"

Yujhi forced himself to sit up and look in the direction of his yami. Yugi sat silently in the centre of where the barrier had once been, his back turned to the group and his head down. Getting slowly to his feet Yujhi took a step forward.

"Yujhi..." Ilia hissed warningly, "We don't know if that's really Yugi."

But Yujhi ignored her, taking a few slow steps forward, then quickening his pace. "Yugi?" he said as he came within a few feet of his yami. Yugi made no sign that he had heard Yujhi, so the teen stepped up beside him, taking in a sharp breath when he saw the blood smearing Yugi's clothes. Much of the blood on his stomach and pants was his own, but blood was stain all over his jacket and shirt, a few splatters of blood hardening on the side of his face. He was sitting alone, surrounded by a pool of blood, which he gazed into with dead eyes. The Millennium Items lay nearby, scattered across the floor. "Yugi?" Yujhi reached out and tapped the spirit's shoulder lightly.

Yugi made no response, but just as Yujhi went to tap him again he spoke. "He just disappeared..." he said, his voice as dull and lifeless as his eyes. "When he expelled your powers his body could not sustain itself. It just... He just..." Yugi's voice cracked a little, but instead of continuing he swallowed hard and lowered his head, falling silent.

Yujhi frowned, unsure of what to say. Who was gone? The spirit? Wasn't that a good thing? He shook his head, "I don't understand what's going on, but I better wait until Yugi's feeling better before asking him what happened." Holding a hand out to his yami, Yujhi spoke in the calmest voice he could. "Come on Yugi..." the spirit opened his eyes and turned to look a Yujhi's hand, "Let's get out of here."

Yugi stared at Yujhi's hand a moment longer, then closed his eyes, raising his own hand up. Yujhi took his yami's hand and helped him to his feet, inwardly sighing with relief. He was worried Yugi was going to refuse to leave. He pause, however, to retrieve the Millennium Items.

No one in the group spoke as they made their way out of the temple. Bakura had chosen to lead the group, Ryoura and Joe close behind him, followed by Steve and Ilia, while Yugi and Yujhi walked at a much slower pace at the back. Yugi kept stopping a looking back towards the stairs they had just climbed or the corridor they had just walked threw, but a small tug on his sleeve by Yujhi would quickly pull him back and he would begin to follow again. Steve had wrapped an arm around Ilia's shoulders, but though he desperately wished to ask if she was alright he dared not break the silence.

It took much longer then any of the group had expected to reach the entrance of the temple, but they had been running coming in, and they had not had to stop for rest on their way in either. As soon as the sun struck their skin, most of the group could not help but smile. They were truly out of the temple now, leaving all the danger behind.

Bakura took a deep breath as he reached the top of the kill leading away from the temple, enjoying the fresh air after spending hours underground, then turned to face the group. "We should make our way to the nearest town." "Ya," Steve nodded in agreement, blinking hard to try and adjust to the brightness of the desert sun, "We need to get to a hospital and have our injuries checked."

"And food sounds really good right now..." Joe slurred, blinking blearily.

Ryoura looked to his blonde friend and frowned. Unlike the rest of the group, Joe did not have magic, so he must have lost a lot more strength than them. If the rest of the group were tired, Joe was exhausted. "Pepper, is there a quicker way to get to the city than riding on horses?" he hadn't realised until he'd spoken just how tired he was; his voice was slurred and a little hoarse.

Bakura smiled slightly to himself. Pepper. Ryoura only called him Bakura when times were serious or dangerous, or Ryoura was worried or scared. Clearly he felt much more relaxed now. "I could create a portal to the last city we visited."

As most of the group began to gather what few belongings they had and find the horses they had been using, Yugi turned and made his way back towards the temple. Worried, Yujhi turned and ran after him, but almost collided with his yami when he stopped at the edge of the crevasse of sand the temple was situated in. Raising his hand Yugi shut his eyes, and a soft glow of golden light surrounded his hand. The wind around Yujhi's feet picked up, and grains of sand began to be blown into the crevasse. As the winds picked up Yugi took a step back, as did Yujhi. He continued to step back as the winds increased, throwing tons of sand down into the crevasse and burying the temple slowly. Within a few minutes the winds died abruptly, and before the Puzzle Guardians was a perfectly flat area of sand.

"It's gone," Yujhi almost sighed with relief, then blinked as Yugi walked forward. "Yugi?" he called, jogging up next to his yami. "What's the matter? Where are you going?" Yugi didn't answer, he just continued to walk, then stopped abruptly. Raising his hand again he faced his palm down towards the sand. A ball of light appeared in his palm, then dropped and sunk into the sand. The grains of sand shimmered oddly for a moment, then dulled, returning to normal. Yujhi looked at his yami questioningly.

Yugi glanced up at Yujhi, reading his expression instantly, and returned his gaze to the sand. "We have to come back."

"What!" Yujhi was surprised by his own outburst, but quickly ignored the edge of embarrassment in his mind. "You want to come back here? Are you crazy! I never want to come back here again!"

"We have to," Yugi said calmly, turning and making his way back to the group.

"But why?" Yujhi ran up to Yugi's side, "If you had to come back then why burry the temple again?"

"So no one else finds it." Yugi answered simply, still not looking at his light.

"But-"

"Yujhi," Yugi stopped and turned to face his light, "There is nothing left to fear here, and in truth their is little here that I want to return to. But I have a destiny to fulfil, and for the good of the entire world, I must return."

"For the good of the world?" Yujhi frowned, confused.

Yugi shook his head, "I will explain later. I have to talk to Bakura about his Millennium Ring before I can explain everything, anyway." A ripple of magic drew his attention back to the group. Bakura had creased a swirling portal before them, and they were all looking at it with both interest and caution. "It's time to leave."

Yujhi opened his mouth, as if to asked more questions, but seemed to decide against it. He followed Yugi back to the group, who were all glancing at each other nervously.

Bakura rolled his eyes and gestured to the portal. "Would you prefer to walk?" the groups eyes widened and he nodded, "Thought so. Now get moving."

One by one the group walked through the swirling portal, disappearing as if it was a doorway of light. The horses caused less trouble then they had feared, strolled through the portal without so much as flinching. Unlike Joe, who jump back and forth every time he touch the cool fabric of magic until Steve shoved him through.

Bakura stood beside the portal and watched each person go through, surprised when he realised one was missing. Looking over he spotted Yugi looking back in the direction of the temple and frowned. Sighing he stepped in front of the portal and glanced back, "Two minutes. I'm closing the portal whether you're through or not."

Yugi nodded and took a deep breath as Bakura stepped through the portal, held it, then let it out. A fiery pain shot through him and his face twisted in pain. "Yami said it would hurt..." he reminded himself, then raised his gaze to the area where the temple had been. The flat sand was quickly being thrown out of shape, making the area look no different to the rest of the desert around it. Taking another deep breath Yugi spun on his heal and walked quickly towards the portal.

"Two weeks... Just two weeks..."

Yugi stepped through the portal, a wave of coolness drifting over his skin. He allowed his arm drift back and absorb the magic holding the portal open. When he had stepped out into a dark alley the portal quickly shrunk to the size of a tennis ball, then disappeared entirely. Steve and Ryoura were the only members of the group not there, and for a moment Yugi was worried something had happened, but then he spotted them with the horses in the street by the alley.

"What took you Yugi?" Joe asked, yawning.

Ilia looked back from her place near the alley's entrance and the mention of Yugi's name, "Are you alright?"

The Puzzle guardian nodded, "Yes, I'm fine."

"Well then can we go look for a pizza or something?" Ryoura called into the alley, "I'm starving!"

The group gathered together out in the streets once Bakura ensured Yugi had completely destroyed the portal, then made their way towards the hospital. It wasn't long before the teens began chatting noisily, avoiding any mention of the action they had faced in the passed few days save to ask Ryoura if the cut in his arm was all right. At then mention of the injury Bakura had instantly made his way to Ryoura's side and placed his hand on it to check it.

"It's fine," Ryoura protested, poking Bakura's hand to try and get him to let go.

But Bakura just shook his head, allowing a little magic to examine the injury, "If the sand gets into it you could get an infection."

"Wah, mommy's all worried," Ryoura said in a baby voice, pouting. The others laughed and Ryoura grinned at Bakura as his yami glared at him, "What? you mean mommy's not worried?"

Yugi felt a sting in his heart at the sound of the groups laughter.

"How am I going to tell them?"


To Be Continued


One more chapter, then an epilogue. Aww, tis nearly over...
Really sorry for the serious anti-climax where the dark spirit was defeated. I tried to make it interesting, but either I read it to much or I didn't succeed. Sorry -sweatdrops- Hope it was some bit interesting anyway.
Please review peeps, t'would be much appreciated XD
Slán slán till next time!
Bay Bay!
Bayleef