Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Yugioh!

Chapter 13

"I hate to break to you two, but I'm pretty sure the kid doesn't have a demon in him."

Bobby, Sam, and Dean were sitting around the kitchen table in Bobby's home. It had been two days since the incident involving the demon and, during that time, Sam and Dean had attempted everything they could think of to draw out whatever might be inside of Yugi.

Dean had gone so far as to trick the teenager into walking over a Devil's Snare he'd drawn on the floor in Bobby's office and hidden neatly beneath an old rug. Yugi did not seem to notice and was mostly curious as to why his cousin had called him away from the book he'd been contentedly reading. Dean's mumbled excuse had earned him a bewildered and mildly concerned look from Yugi, who strongly suggested that Dean needed to take a nap.

"You're acting really weird." Yugi had said as he wondered aimlessly back to his room and shut the door behind him.

The demon trap hadn't phased Yugi even slightly. It was becoming obvious to the Winchester brothers that there was not, in fact, a demon possessing their cousin. However, they had become more and more suspicious that something was going on with the soft-spoken teen. He had clearly withdrawn from them since the incident with the demon in the city. Yugi no longer sought out his cousins to play games and seemed to be avoiding them along with everyone else in the household. In fact, he spent most of his time wandering around the junkyard or holed-up in his room.

Unable to come to a conclusion on their own, the brothers waited until Yugi and his immediate family were out for a brief trip to the grocery store to bring the question before their mentor, Bobby.

"I won't deny that something strange is going on, though," Bobby continued.

"Yeah, but, Bobby, we haven't been able to figure out anything. If it's not a demon, then what is it? A spirit?" Sam asked.

Bobby fixed Sam with a thoughtful stare, "I'm way ahead of you." He sighed and continued, "I've been doing some research on that Puzzle of Yugi's, and I've contacted a few friends who I thought might be able to help. Info is pretty limited, but I've been looking into Yugi and that Puzzle for the past week and I've turned up some things. Most of it doesn't make sense. It's something called The Millennium Puzzle, first of all, and it's supposed to be impossible to solve. Sugoroku said Yugi solved it two years ago."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances but said nothing, waiting for Bobby to continue with what he had learned thus far.

The older man sighed again and shook his head. "The damn thing's supposed to be cursed and there are more of these Millennium Items. From what I can tell, they've been at the root of more than a few troubles through the years. That last tournament Yugi won had reports of all kinds of crazy shit going on and Yugi was at the middle of it all."

"When you say it's cursed, do you mean like the Mummy's Curse kind of deal? It looks Egyptian." Dean raised an eyebrow. He'd seen cursed objects plenty of times but, other than some mood swings, Yugi didn't seem to be suffering from the typical curse symptoms and he'd had the thing in his possession for a long time.

"Oh, it is definitely Egyptian. One of my contacts was able to tell me more about the items and, boys, it's just plain disturbing. There are…rumors…that some of the items have human souls, or worse, locked in them. Something about a battle long ago and some obscure Ancient Darkness. Maybe it's all nonsense. Melly and Sugoroku didn't seem to think anything was wrong with Yugi, but, I swear, sometimes there's this look in his eyes…" Bobby let his words trail off, unable to express his meaning in words.

"So, wait," Sam interjected, "Are you saying there might be some kind of Ancient Egyptian…spirit? In this Millennium Puzzle thing? Could it be possessing Yugi? How would a spirit even get in the house with the kinds of wards we have up?"

"I don't know, but, from what I've been able to dig up, that Puzzle belonged to some kind of sorcerer. Egyptian magic is potent stuff, boys. If I'm right about this, we have our work cut out for us."

"There's no way I'm letting some Ancient Egyptian asshole control Yugi!" Dean declared, anger flaring at the possibility that Yugi might be in trouble.

Bobby nodded in agreement, "I hear you, and I'm with you. I have an idea, but we can't run into this half-cocked. I need you boys to stay calm. We have some homework to do. Figuring out what is going on is half the battle. Now we have to figure out how to stop it."


It had been four days since the encounter with the demon and Yugi was bored out of his mind. The Pharaoh had been listless and quiet for days, attempting to hide his presence as deeply as possible and dreading what might soon come to pass.

Yugi had mostly stayed in his room, avoiding his cousins, Bobby, and his mother. It felt like a gulf stood between them now. Something in the way the Hunters looked at him now made him certain that they were onto him. They might not realize the details yet, but their eyes told a tale of thinly-veiled suspicion. They were smart. It was only a matter of time before they did something that might be more harmful to him or Yami.

He missed them, too. Though Yugi hadn't realized it, he craved the sense of comradery that family can bring. The teen had thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his cousins, playing games, and hanging out. Other than Yami, Yugi never had anything like siblings or cousins to bond with. Now, however, he felt completely alienated from them. How could they ever understand?

He sighed and pulled his phone out, responding to a few messages from his friends and then playing a mind-numbing puzzle game to pass the time. The days were becoming excruciating.

Yugi had broached the topic of leaving to Yami soon after the incident in Sioux Falls, but the older soul had discouraged the idea vehemently. He couldn't just leave his family and the demon that was after them was still out there, after all.

/But Yami, you drove the other demon away! I am sure we'll be okay./

/Yes, Yugi, I did, but she also hurt you before I had a chance to respond. Who knows how many of them there are or what powers they possess? I would not see you risk yourself in that way, simply to avoid a potential conflict with your family. This is still the safest place for you for the moment./

Yami seemed so certain of that, but Yugi couldn't fully agree. Who knew how far Sam and Dean might go to destroy what they believed to be a supernatural threat?

They'd already tried several times, Yugi knew, to do something to him. Yami had been able to easily identify their Devil's Snare. Naturally, it hadn't had an impact on the Spirit, but he sensed the powerful binding magics at work. Currently, they seemed hung up on trapping the wrong kind of entity. Yugi didn't want to think about what might happen if they started hunting for the correct thing.

Yami was strong and seemed mostly impervious to the methods one would employ to deal with Spirits. By the usual standards, the Pharaoh shouldn't have been able to set foot inside of Bobby's house with its wards and protective magics. Those spells, however, did not cause Yami to bat so much as an eyelash, and he had even placed a few of his own charms on the place to protect it. Some of the old Egyptian spells to ward off dark entities still echoed in his mind and he believed in being as careful as possible when it came to Yugi's safety.

Bobby was exhausted. He'd barely slept the past few nights as he searched feverishly for information on the Millennium Items. The middle-aged Hunter called every contact he could think of who might have even an inkling of information on the Millennium Items or Egyptian magic. It was tiring work, but they were making progress.

Sam had been busily researching Yugi on the internet and was finding some disturbing bits of information about the teen. He watched dozens of videos of Yugi's duels, read multiple articles about him and his dueling tactics, and scoured fan forums and discussions. Individually, none of what he found would have been alarming.

However, Sam was quickly overwhelmed with the evidence. Articles spoke of the young duelist's cool and confident dueling personality and the videos Sam found made him all but certain. It was becoming painfully obvious that Yugi, their kindhearted and gentle cousin, changed drastically when he dueled. Sam barely recognized the young man in the videos, smirking confidently at his opponents and never faltering. His voice was deeper, somehow, and the periodic stutter that Yugi sometimes exhibited was never present. His eyes held the same fierceness that Sam had observed in the alley a few days before and his stomach dropped when he zoomed in on one of the shots to find that Yugi's eyes were a startling shade of crimson.

Everything about Yugi seemed changed. It was astounding that a person could be so completely different from one moment to the next. Unless Yugi had some form of multiple personality disorder, there weren't many explanations remaining. Yugi wasn't always just Yugi.