Yami thought that the whole conversation could have gone better. He didn't want to have the discussion about his existence at a late-night gas station alone. He wanted his friends and Grandpa to be by his side as he explained everything to the rest of the Muto family. Yet, destiny, or the Gods or whatever kept shoving Yami in these situations just had to have both Tetsu and Ryuichi work at this mart too. The awkwardness that permeated the whole conversation could have been cut and harvested with a scythe. Each of Yami's words sounded so hollow, even though he meant every one of them. He felt he couldn't leave this mart without explaining his side of the story to the two; he owed them that much after his penalty games.

'Just… Gods, why does Junior have to be here too?' Yami thought after using the little magic he had to levitate a few candy bars. The father's horrified and unbelieving expression told Yami this was not helping their relationship.

The entire explanation, Yami found himself reverting to his old way of talking. It was a much more formal and intimidating voice. He didn't intend to speak like that, but he felt it was the only way to make them understand. Yami's following explanation only caused more questions, all because he didn't want Trudge and Fuwa to know everything about him. While he did regret his past actions and felt it his duty to explain things, he was still wary of the two that once hurt Yugi so much. Yami did not want them back in their shared life.

Then Yami's apology… Oh, his apology. He wished he had the eloquence of Téa or Grandpa as he apologized, yet every word seemed to come out with a dry plop. Even when it came to Yugi, Yami always found his apologizing skills lacking. Once again, he meant everything he said; he just wished he had the words to back up his feelings. Yami knew no one would accept an apology like he gave. Ryuichi's following anger was proof of that. Yami was way out of his element here. As a pharaoh, he'd think that he'd had training for diplomacy. Still, if Yami once did, he certainly wasn't remembering those lessons now. It all became so much worse when Yami lost his temper.

"He is no protector. He's a demon!" Ryuichi yelled. Yami felt as his blood boiled over. His control over his emotions had reached its limit for the night. He snapped his head towards the two that were at one time not much better than him. His quick retort back at them only made Tetsu more fearful and Ryuichi angrier. His anger then led to the thing Yami had been secretly fearing would be said about his past in front of Junior.

"It was more than that. You enjoyed hurting us!" Ryuichi shot back.

"You WHAT?!"

What had been boiling immediately froze as Yami turned to Junior. The Pharaoh knew what it looked like, and it might have even been true at one time. Junior now had to face that Yami, whether he believed the Pharaoh was his son or not, seemed to inherit all of his worst traits. His old need to toy with others, his seeming enjoyment of it, and even his ability to see monsters. It was every part of Junior the man had tried to get away from. Yami saw it in his narrow eyes and curled fists. He was a lion ready to spring. Yami quickly took another step back, Dark Magician leaping to his side and prepared to defend.

"You… You enjoy hurting... and many others… you see monsters too." Junior whispered.

Yami watched with apprehension as Junior lost all his color and grew still. Yami recognized that stance, the face of someone who was just mind crushed. Yami swallowed hard. Even though there was no shadow magic involved here, he was just as worried about the damage done. He then took one tentative step forward. Junior seemed more like a small deer than a lion at that moment. Yami needed to get him out of here, away from the Pharaoh's past mistakes.

"Let's go home, Junior. We need to talk to Grandpa." Yami whispered, fearing that he'd make Junior jump. The man only nodded, everything gone from behind his eyes.

Yami wasn't sure if Junior was in a state to drive, but that worry was put aside as Ryuichi reminded them that they had slushies to pay for. At that point, Yami was too tired to be annoyed; he simply wanted to get home and away from this messed-up day. Junior was at least mentally present enough to move to the back and get his wallet.

Then those robbers barged in.

Yami immediately recognized their ilk when they turned their guns on him. The left-over scum from the city, a pair much like the old villains he used to give penalty games to. However, Yami had promised Yugi long ago never to play such games with people again, no matter how bad (not that he could with how little magic the new rocky Millennium Puzzle carried). His inner justice wanted him to fight these two; it was screaming for him to do something, but what could he do that wouldn't get the others shot? Junior immediately handed over his wallet. Yami waited for the men to leave with gritted teeth when it happened. One of the two robbers just had to recognize him.

'Oh, come on!' Yami mentally yelled at the universe as he backed up. He was not letting them take his deck. It thankfully did not carry the Egyptian God Cards at the moment. However, even still, Yami was not allowing these robbers to get their hands on a single card. He also knew he couldn't let the second robber keep everyone else at gunpoint. Yami fell back on an old trick of his, using his confidence to bluff.

"With the gangs in this city just about wiped out, you two are all that's left, aren't you?" Yami threatened as he activated what minuscule magic he had left. He then pulled out his deck and started shuffling it to add to the small magical effect. He wanted both robbers' eyes on only him and away from the others. Yami suddenly became more interesting than anyone else in the room.

Yami continued to back up, talking near nonsense at this point to keep both robbers' following him. It was a small game, a staring contest. The first to blink would lose. If Yami stopped, the robbers would break out of the tiny enchantment. If the robbers paused, he would run for the back exit. Yami, in the side of his eye, checked to make sure the others had gotten out. When he saw no one else in the mart, he started backing up more quickly now that the others were out of danger.

This little plan was going great. Yami was almost to the corner where he could break for the exit. He then suddenly felt his back hit a shelf. He had accidentally stepped too far to the right instead of walking straight backward. He never lost eye contact, but his sudden stop caused one of the robbers to wake a bit. He started reaching out for the deck. Yami was prepared to use the man's reach against him. When the man grabbed his hand, Yami would pull him in front of his partner and escape. Then Junior walked up, breaking the small spell completely for both thieves.

Yami's heart stopped when he saw that Yugi's father hadn't left. The Pharaoh wanted to scream in both anger and fear for the man to run.

"Please! You guys might want to see this." Junior said in a panicked voice as he pointed down at the half-filled slushie cup. Both robbers glanced at each other suspiciously. One brought up his gun to point at Junior while they both looked down at the cup.

With a crunch, Junior completely crushed the cup, causing its remaining contents to spray in both robbers' eyes. As each recoiled back, Junior immediately dropped the cup and grabbed the outstretched arm holding the gun. He held the man's wrist and twisted the gun out of his surprised grip. In the same movement, he yanked the man forward and punched him square in the face. A gunshot rang out, and Yami shut his eyes in surprise. He had only been that close to a gunshot once before.

"Drop the gun and get on the ground," Junior said in a loud yet clear voice. Yami peeked to see that Junior had turned from the downed robber and faced the remaining man, his partner's gun aimed at him now.

The last robber was still stumbling back; his weapon pointed straight at the ground as he attempted to wipe the slushie from his eye. The gunshot had been from his weapon, and it left a stray bullet hole in the floor. By the time the thief looked up, he was staring down a barrel and those emotionless crimson eyes.

"You let your gun go off in your surprise; you're not trained. So, here's the question of the hour. Do you think you're fast enough to bring your entire arm up before I flex my finger?" Junior said, nearly laughed. The robber's eyes grew wide. All his bravado was gone as he looked at Junior's well-trained handle of the gun. Then he glanced to see his partner, who was knocked out with a single punch.

"Drop the gun and get on the ground."

The clatter of the gun as it fell to the floor let Yami take his first real breath as the robber kneeled, his hands behind his head. After Junior kicked the other gun far across the mart, he glanced at Yami.

"Champ, I want you to walk slowly around and stand near the register. I don't want you in grabbing range if either of these men decides to do something…." Junior then moved the gun's barrel just a little closer to the still conscious robber. "…Very stupid."

Yami didn't need to be told twice. He slowly sidestepped the unconscious one and walked to the register.

What had frightened, no, more than frightened, completely terrified Yami most about this whole experience wasn't even that he was one hair from death. He had dealt with that too many times to count. It was the smoothness and speed Junior had disarmed these two, all with that smile on his face. It wasn't the kind smile like Yami had seen at the arcade or lunch table. This was the mad smile of a man enjoying having these two at his mercy.

'I found I loved having power over others. To the point of enjoying hurting them….' Junior's words echoed through Yami's head. The Pharaoh's heart turned to ice as he thought about what he just unintentionally did. First, he overwhelmed Junior to the point of breaking his mind; then, he helped give him a gun.

Yami felt as his face went pale. He tried to hide his fear by putting his hands in his pockets, but it must have been clear he was unusually spooked because he felt a hand on his shoulder. Yami looked up to see Dark Magician by his side. The strange duel spirit's face readily showed worry. Yami smiled back at the spirit but found he couldn't relax.

"I'm fine. Thank you." Yami whispered to Dark Magician.

"So, you really can see it?" Junior called, looking at the duel spirit. Yami was at first surprised, but then he slowly nodded.

"Wow… that, that." Junior then sighed. "That explains so many things I didn't even know I was questioning." He seemed relieved for a moment; then, his concentration returned to the robbers.

"Do you think those two boys called the police in their rush out?" Junior asked, gesturing to the sliding doors.

Yami quickly glanced out into the darkness to see no one there. "I… don't know."

"We might want to do it then. You have Yugi's phone?" Junior asked, his glare never leaving.

"Ah, yes. Right here." Yami quickly turned away and fumbled for emergency services. As he spoke to the operator, he noticed Junior forcing the robber to follow at gunpoint to the slushie machines. Yami lost sight of them behind some shelves, but soon they came back out with some thick black wire, probably from the dispensers. Junior then had the robber sit down with his hands behind his back. Junior used the wire to tie the man's hands together and sat him in a corner.

"There, that way I can better watch both of you if your buddy so happens to wake up. And before you think you can break that wire and take me by surprise, you'll find I'm a quick shot and have an even quicker temper." Junior said with that twisted smile returning to his face. The robber quickly nodded and kept his head down.

"They're already on the way." Yami yelped, feeling a sudden need to get Junior's attention away from the robbers.

"That's good. Hopefully, the police get here before this other bozo wakes up. A punch like that usually keeps them down for a good bit." Junior shrugged, talking like this was an everyday occurrence. Yami shivered when he thought this probably was for Junior at one point.

"So, I want the how, why, and all of it," Junior said, his eyes or gun never leaving the two robbers.

"Huh?" Yami asked.

"It's your turn to explain, Yami, and tell me everything," Junior said, his voice dipping into a more threatening tone. "Yami is your name, right? That was what Yugi's friends called you earlier. I'm guessing they already know?"

Yami could only nod. "Yes. Grandpa knows too, but he only found out this afternoon. However, Yami isn't actually my name. As I said, I know nothing personal about myself."

"Isn't that convenient," Junior said, the first time Yami heard that kind of sarcasm from his voice. "Let's jump to the most important question then." Junior took his eyes off the thieves to stare Yami down. Everything from the quiet man Yami had seen earlier that day was gone from his scarred face.

"Where is my son?"

The Pharaoh could only stand in silence. Yami wanted to speak, but he found his voice refused to work. There was a weight on Yami's chest. He tried to tell himself that he had faced more dangerous conversations. Each with worse villains that would have happily ended him if he backed down at all. Yet this man, this man that looked so much like Yugi, was the one to make him falter. Yami found he just couldn't say it. How could he explain to this enraged dragon that he had failed his son?

"Well? If you were serious about your declarations of caring for my son, you better know where he is." Junior said, a hint of a growl coming to his words.

"He's soul is missing... He disappeared this morning, but I know where he is. It involves duel spirits… I think." Yami managed to say, his eyes darting from the gun to Junior.

"You think?!" Junior truly did growl this time. "I'm going to need more than that, oh great pharaoh. Where is he?!"

"In the duel monsters world. I think he was pulled there by a wishing well-"

"Is he safe?!"

"I-I don't know for sure. But we saved that land last time we were there, so I don't believe he would be in immediate danger-"

"Now entire worlds of these things! Why haven't you or your floating friend there got him back yet? Can't you use some of that dark magic?"

"It doesn't work like that-"

"Oh! You seemly had all this power to torment Yugi's classmates, but you can't get Yugi back?!" Junior snarled.

"I'm trying-"

"And why was he taken there in the first place?! Why didn't you stop it if you were so set on protecting him?!"

Yami found his breath to be failing him along with his voice. It felt exactly like when Dartz almost convinced him to surrender. That feeling of sinking and being unable to swim up or even move. He was drowning in his own body. It was somehow worse than facing literal demons and mind-melting shadow magic. Here, he was alone, tired, and forced to face his worst thoughts being shouted at him by someone so much like Yugi. The Pharaoh was absolutely terrified.

"Why aren't you doing more to bring him back-?!" Junior began to yell.

Yami flinched in response to the words he rightly deserved. But Junior was cut off when Dark Magician stepped in front of Yami and thrust his scepter forward, pointing right at Junior. Junior stopped mid-sentence as he glared at the duel spirit.

The magician gestured at himself, then to Junior. Specifically pointing out their height difference. Then the magician gestured to the smaller Yami.

Junior looked over the spirit, their eyes meeting. Then he turned his gaze back to Yami. His scowl immediately disappeared; in fact, all his anger seemed to fly away.

"You're just a kid," Junior whispered. Though they were across the room from each other, the silence of the shop allowed Yami to hear his quiet words. Yami perked back up as he looked at Junior's changing demeanor.

Junior's hand covered half his face as he shook his head, "I'm yelling at a confused and scared, dead kid." He groaned.

Yami, unsure of what to make of that statement, took a step away from Junior. He ended up putting his back to the register as he tried to get control of his breathing again. As Yami slowed his breath, he heard Junior whisper something to himself in Japanese. This was a language Yami had picked up a few words in thanks to living in the same house as Yui for years. While he couldn't translate most of it, he thought he heard something along the lines of,

"What are you doing, Solomon?"

Junior then pulled his hand away and looked at the reflective metal plating on the slushie machines. He was silent for a while. "You only remember your life with Yugi?" Junior eventually asked, his voice much gentler.

Yami kept his eyes away from the father as he answered. "Yes, I've only ever been by his side. He is everything to me."

Junior then looked back to Yami with a sad smile. "Yugi really is a great kid. You must miss him right now. It would be extremely lonely to go from sharing a body to being on your own, even with loving people surrounding you. Especially when you don't have any other reference point of how life is supposed to be."

Yami crossed his arms in front of him, surprised that he so quickly guessed something Yami did his best to hide. "It… is. I have my friends and Grandpa now, but…."

"It's not the same. You can have a hundred people in the room with you, but you still feel like a monster pretending to be human. It can get so lonely it hurts." Junior said.

Yami wasn't so sure if he related to all of that, but he wasn't about to voice those thoughts. He instead felt as his breath returned to normal, and his goosebumps subsided. Yami took in his first controlled breath and turned back to Junior. There stood Yugi's dad, the short, soft-spoken man who went way below the speed limit and liked vanilla shakes instead of Yugi's strawberry shakes.

"When you feel comfortable, Yami, I hope you'll explain more about Yugi and these spirits. That time doesn't have to be tonight, though. I'll believe you when you say you don't think Yugi is in immediate danger. He is the King of Games, after all. Let's just focus on the mission in front of us." Junior said with a small smile that mixed sadness and regret equally.

Yami felt his shoulders relax. While he still wanted to be nowhere near Junior and those muggers, his overwhelming anxiety attack had subsided. He was able to stand tall.

It was silent. The only things that dared make a sound in the mart were the air-conditioning and freezers.

"I'm sorry." Junior breathed.

"Pardon?" Yami asked

"For all this." Junior vaguely gestured around with a groan. "It's been a scary day for both of us. I didn't need to go and make it worse; you didn't deserve all that." Junior said as he exhaled a long breath.

Yami thought a few moments before speaking. "I understand. You want to protect Yugi, and a robbery doesn't exactly calm someone down."

Junior looked surprised to hear Yami speak to him. "Heh, yeah. It's why I try to avoid unneeded fights outside my job. I don't want to go too far just to 'win.' But I often judge wrong on what's worth fighting for." He said as he glanced to Yami's deck, specifically the Kuriboh card still on the top of the deck. Yami noticed him do it and smiled to himself.

"We'll have much to talk about after all this."

Finally, the police came. At that point, everything became almost dream-like to Yami. His tiredness from a full day of running around the city, emotionally draining confessions, and use of shadow magic finally caught up to him. Yami did his best to stay standing, but he found his legs to be turning to jelly right under him.

'Is this normal for a mortal body?' Yami thought before shaking his head to keep his eyes open.

When the police burst in, they demanded Junior drop his gun. Junior complied immediately, and the cops cuffed him. Once the police got the full story from the two, they took the real criminals away (once they woke the one with a newly broken nose) and freed Junior. The main problem was there was no video footage of the robbery. It ended up being the two Mutos' word against the two robbers. Yami was at first worried they'd blame Junior, but it turned out the two robbers were wanted criminals. The police were happy to take the two back to the station.

As the police started getting official statements, Yami collapsed mid-sentence. Thankfully Junior caught him, and Yami woke up. He did his best to hide his embarrassment at failing to stay awake in such an important conversation. Yami assured everyone that he was unhurt and did not want to go to the hospital, yet he was still weaving on his feet. The police knew then that the two Mutos were done for the night (or morning as it was). They trusted the two would follow up with them and gave him the address to the police station for the morning. Junior thanked them, and the two finally walked back to the car.

Yami collapsed in the passenger seat, and Junior started the car up. Dark Magician kept close to Yami, and it was clear even to the tired Pharaoh that Junior didn't know how to react with the duel spirit around. Instead of driving right through him like before, Junior went around the spirit and gave the occasional awkward wave at the magician. Dark Magician's face remained blank.

"That was very nice of those officers. Usually, it takes much longer to…." Junior began to say, Dark Magician floating alongside them. Junior then noticed Yami bobbing his head in his attempt to stay awake. Junior closed his mouth and merely smiled. They drove back in silence, letting Yami drift off.

…

"Hey, champ. You need to get into bed." Junior said as he opened the side passenger door. He had almost slunk back into the house without noticing that the kid hadn't woken up yet. Yami jolted awake at Junior's words but quickly fell back, his eyes only managing to stay half-open.

"Very well…" Yami tried once again to sit up, but his body seemed determined to lie back. Junior's brows furrowed as he noticed the kid's losing fight with consciousness.

"Are you ok?" Junior asked as he kneeled and started looking over Yami for any sign of an injury. Did a stray bullet fragment hit him? Was he bleeding out somewhere? Was the experience too much for the boy?!

"I'm fine… Just very tired. I think that magic took a great deal out of me... The Millennium Puzzle usually takes most of the strain… but since Yugi left, the puzzle has been off..." Yami managed to say before closing his eyes.

"Hey, hey!" Junior felt as his heart started pounding against his chest. He tried to pat Yami awake, but the boy was out. Junior then felt for a pulse and breath, both slow but only as slow as a sleeping child's rate should be. He then frantically looked to Dark Magician. The spirit looked over the Pharaoh and sighed. It then pointed to Yugi's window.

"Is something there I need to get?" Junior asked, about ready to dash for the shop. Dark Magician shook its head and gestured to Yami. It then pointed back to Yugi's room, all while putting its hands together and resting its head on them, the sign for sleep,

"Rest, he just needs rest." Junior sighed in relief. He reached into the car and lifted out the Pharaoh. "Geez, Yugi, you've grown since I last had to lift you, err Yami. Whoever this is." Junior did his best to whisper his complaints as he had to take a few frantic steps back to stop them both from toppling over. Once he had found his balance, he had a small feeling that a certain magician was laughing at him. He glared in the spirit's direction, but the spirit's face was still blank.

"I'd love to see you help Houdini," Junior whispered. Dark Magician's expression never changed, no judgment or mirth on its face. Junior frowned at the mage, realizing that he was once again talking to things that weren't there, something he promised he'd never do again.

'Then again, apparently, these things are real? And there's a whole world full of them that Yugi's at. If that's true… how did they end up as cards, and how did I see them before duel monsters were invented?!' Junior shook his head in an attempt to clear it. That train of thought could quickly run him over if he wasn't careful. Junior had to focus on the priority mission, get this boy in bed. Then he could have an existential crisis about a children's card game.

As Junior snuck into the house and locked the door behind him, he almost expected his father to flick on the lights and be sitting by the register in his bathrobe, like he used to do when Junior snuck out. Here there was nothing but a dark game shop. Not even the sounds of the city could be heard. As Junior began to head for the stairs, Dark Magician floated through the door. All of Junior's neck hairs stood on end as he backed up from the spirit, preparing to defend the boy in his arms. Once he remembered who the ghost was, Junior got control of himself and relaxed.

As Junior carried the boy up the stairs, he couldn't help but look down at his face. Junior had such a strong need to hug his sleeping son, but this wasn't his son, now was it? It might as well have been a stranger he was carrying. Now that Junior knew the truth, he understood every weird thing he had seen the day before. Earlier, when he got back from the airport and woke up who he thought was Yugi, Junior had noticed many startling differences. While the boy was close to Yugi, there were too many discrepancies in his mannerisms and facial features. Thanks to how the boy acted yesterday, Junior guessed his mental age to be about at Yugi's, but that was the only real similarity. Junior had been trained to notice such inconsistencies, and his quick-thinking brain did what it loved to do, overthink everything.

Junior had jumped from someone taking Yugi's place to the Neo-Spacians he had met at Area 51 coming back for him and every idea in between. Spirits had only crossed his mind once before Junior decided he was becoming paranoid again. It had been over a year since he had last seen Yugi; changes would happen, right? This Yugi did seem more like the Yugi he saw on TV too, yet still… Junior's danger alarm never entirely went away.

It all came to a head in that convenience store. Junior now regretted choosing such an open place to discuss his past, but he had always felt much safer there than at the shop. How was he supposed to have foreseen everything that would happen? The scariest thing of all that happened in that mart was that the kid's explanation made so much sense to Junior.

From the few words Yami and the two boys said, Junior could connect so many dots, too many dots in Junior's opinion. It had thrown so many of his long-buried faults back in his face. Then those robbers… Junior would have let them take his things; they were replaceable. But when they started grabbing for his son's deck, it flicked a long-dead switch in Junior. They were daring to do the thing he had felt so much shame for fiddling with earlier in the day.

Junior cringed as he remembered what he did afterward. He thought he was stronger than that, to fall so easily back into his old dragon persona. Then to go and take his frustration out on innocent Yami… It felt like he had just erased all the growth he had done in his years in therapy and working on himself as he traveled the world. Professionals had told him many times that the dragon would always be a part of him, whether he wanted it to be or not. The key was to control it.

'Yeah, right.'

Junior had hoped that he had buried the dragon, that it would never show itself again, but this clearly proved he was still dangerous. Oh, how he wanted to end those robbers for daring to mess with his son. How he wanted to prove that he won over them! While he managed to control himself, he had let all his anger out on this kid. This kid that was probably the 'friend almost exactly like him' that Yugi always alluded to in his phone calls. Junior was still a danger to his family; he had been wrong to come back. He had to leave.

Junior quickly dropped Yami in Yugi's bed and turned away. He was figuring out how fast he could get out of Domino city and if he had to wake Yui for it when Dark Magician floated through the doorway. Junior knew he could walk right through the spirit, but he found the magician's eyes holding him. Once again, there was no judgment from Dark Magician's side, but Junior couldn't help the shame that broiled in his chest.

"I'll get out of your way," Junior whispered as he stepped to the side. Dark Magician floated past him and stood beside Yugi's bed. It reached out for the deck Yami still wore on one of his many belts, but the spirit went right through the physical material. Yami then murmured and turned over, laying on the deck pouch.

'That can't be comfortable.' Junior thought as he realized he had left on all of Yugi's studded jewelry and belts. He didn't even think to take his shoes off. "Here, I got that," Junior whispered to Dark Magician as he tiptoed back to the bed. He started getting all the accessories off in the gentlest manner he could. As he worked, he remembered a time when Yugi had forgotten to take off his spiked jewelry when he first found his style. Yui nearly had a stroke as Yugi came down for breakfast with his neck covered in mysterious red dots. Junior smiled for real for the first time that night as he recalled that funny morning with his family.

Once everything was off, Junior's hand lingered on the Millennium Puzzle. It certainly wouldn't be comfortable to sleep with that on, but if the spirit came from it, would it be safe to take it off? Junior looked hesitantly to Dark Magician. The spirit pointed to the bed's side table.

"Put it there?" Junior asked. Dark Magician nodded. Junior then carefully removed the puzzle and chain. Yami didn't even react to Junior lifting his head.

"He must have really been tired," Junior whispered as he laid the puzzle out on the table and covered Yami in the bed's blankets. He then looked to Dark Magician for any comment. None came. "Not much of a talker, are we?" The spirit remained silent, though it did bow to Junior. It then floated to the chair Junior had put the deck on. The spirit sat down, its scepter across its lap.

"Staying here for the night?" Junior asked. Once again, the spirit only nodded. "Good, he'll need someone to watch over him," Junior said with an affirmative nod. "I'll just get out of your hair then. Thank you for all you've done for the two." Junior said, guessing from Yugi's past comments that this card spirit was around since the very beginning. The ghost didn't answer, though its gaze did follow Junior as he left the room. Junior had just passed the door frame when he felt his heart sink; he couldn't help but turn back around to check one more time to make sure everything was fine. It was just the sleeping boy and Dark Magician. Junior sighed and walked away, ready to begin his plans to leave, when he heard a small whine. He immediately turned to see Yami's face scrunched up in a grimace. The boy then rolled on his side and tugged his blankets closer.

Junior left the door in a rush. Only for him to half-sneak, half-run back to the doorway with a chair in his hands. He put down the chair and sat outside Yugi's room.

"I've seen soldiers dream the worst nightmares after experiencing situations like he just faced at the gas station. I want to be here in case he falls out of bed or needs my father for support. That's something you can't exactly help with on your own, so I hope you don't think I'm intruding." Junior whispered over. Dark Magician looked at him for a few moments, then did the sign for sleeping as it gestured to Junior.

"Don't worry. I can sleep on this chair just fine. I find I'm not a fan of Yui's overly soft bed anyway." Junior said as he leaned back. "I'm happy to stand guard all night for him."