Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh! or Supernatural. It's probably for the best.

Chapter 15

He felt himself slipping away, floating bodiless within a primordial sea of nothingness. Darkness. It was empty and cold and lifeless. He wondered how he came to be banished in such a terrible place. Fear clutched at his heart like a vice. It hurt. He wasn't sure how it hurt but everything hurt. Maybe he should be thankful for the pain. It was the only evidence he had of his own existence.

Where am I?

Was it a place? How could it be a place if there was nothing there? What did he even mean by "a place"? Had he been somewhere before the darkness? Was there more beyond this neverending and empty hell? He thought so. Something tugged at the back of his mind but…gone. The thought slipped through his fingers and he forgot that he'd ever asked the question.

Who am I?

He knew he had to be someone. Probably a "he", whatever that was. How else could he be asking so many questions? He reached for memory to remind him…but he could not find it. He felt it just beyond his reach, but something was in the way...keeping him from remembering whatever it was that wanted him to remember. There were no faces, names, or words. No others. Were there others outside of this place? Had he been with others? He desperately wanted others now. Maybe others could cast some light in this darkness.

What is light?

He wasn't sure. He craved it desperately, though. Maybe light could drive the fear away. Maybe light would give him a reason to continue fighting. He was jealous of those who had light when he had none. Why shouldn't he have light, too?

It was hard to fight, to hold on, especially when he did not know why he needed to fight. His drive to exist was diminishing quickly, and he felt the writhing darkness tighten around him. He would have screamed, but he didn't know what a scream was, and he had no voice besides.

He was nothing. The darkness told him so. It whispered frightful things in his mind and tore pieces of him away like a hungry tiger. He could feel it surging around him, drowning him in its suffocating embrace and trying to snuff him out.

Why did he continue to resist it? It would be so much easier, wouldn't it? It would be easier to simply give up. He could let the Shadows have their way with him. They would take him. He could become Shadow himself and he wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. He wouldn't have to feel anything anymore. It would all be over, finally…after so long.

That last thought confused him. Had he been here a long time? He didn't know. He wasn't even sure that these thoughts were his own. Something in him wanted to keep going. There was something he had to do, he was sure.

He felt warmth.

Yami.

A whisper, but not the hissings of the shadows. A voice.

Yami, wake up…

He listened. Yami. What is Yami? The word seemed familiar. It meant something to him.

Yami…

Yami…

"YAMI, WAKE UP!"


Yugi ached all over. It was physical pain, to be sure, but it was more than that. His heart indescribably hurt. He realized, with a lurch of terror, that something was missing. Or someone.

Where is Yami? He reached around in his soul, searching for the other presence. He found nothing.

The teenager's eyes shot open. His body felt sluggish and his mind whirled, confusing his senses. The lights were too bright, and he shut his eyes tightly again to block out the assaulting radiance. He could hear people speaking, heatedly, but their words were muffled and distant.

He blinked, trying to clear the spots from his vision. He was lying on the floor and someone was holding him, arms wrapped around his torso protectively. Yugi focused his eyes on the face above him and found his mother there, gazing down at him with concern in her eyes. She whispered gently to him, trying to lull him back to sleep, but he refused. He had to find what he was missing.

"Yami…" Yugi whimpered, his voice little more than a whisper. His mother squeezed his hand reassuringly.

A familiar voice cried out, and Yugi sat up with a start. The sight that met him chilled his very blood. Before him, lying within a menacingly glowing, chalk-drawn circle, was Yugi's closest friend and guardian. The Pharaoh was collapsed onto his side, his eyes shut tightly. His features were distorted with misery and terror; he was shaking and thrashing about desperately. The Spirit's arms were wrapped around himself tightly, as if he hoped that doing so would stop his suffering.

Yugi's cousin, Dean, was standing over the Spirit with a look of sadistic satisfaction and triumph marring his otherwise handsome features. He held the ancient Millennium Puzzle in his hand, treating the artifact with utmost disdain. Yugi quickly took in the state of his prized Puzzle and felt his heart lurch. Most of the Puzzle was still intact, however, several of the pieces were scattered at Dean's feet. He understood the state Yami was presently in, now. The Spirit had told him before, only briefly, of the horrors he encountered when the Puzzle was anything less than whole. This could not continue.

"This was the plan from the beginning," Dean said angrily. "I don't see why we should wait. We got it away from Yugi and it's vulnerable. Time for this ghostie to say, 'goodbye'."

Hot tears stung Yugi's eyes as Dean's words settled in. His mind worked in overtime to try and remember what had brought him to this point and place. He remembered his mother calling him and then a door slamming. Then he remembered…pain; the pain of having a part of his soul ripped away from him in less than a breath.

His mother, Bobby, and his cousins had all tricked him. The people he cared about had deceived him and had hurt his best friend and closest companion. They had hurt him, too, almost as deeply. Yugi felt an uncharacteristic anger surge through him at the realization and he instinctively pulled away from his mother, refusing to look at her or speak to her.

Yugi struggled to his feet, fighting the wave of dizziness and nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. His knees trembled with the effort of supporting his body.

"Stop!" His voice cracked and his throat clenched uncomfortably.

Dean paused, the look of triumph fading from his face, and turned to regard his younger cousin. Sam and Bobby glanced at each other, clearly uneasy at this latest development.

"I'm glad you're awake, kiddo." Sam said, offering Yugi a small smile. Yugi responded with a cold glare, refocusing his attention on Dean. This situation would not be defused so easily.

"What are you doing to Yami?" Yugi's voice sounded almost threatening and shook with barely-controlled rage. None of them had ever seen the boy in such a state.

Dean opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to find the words he needed. He had not expected Yugi to be upset with them. If anything, he had expected gratitude and happiness from the boy for being freed from the control of the Spirit of the Puzzle. Not only did Yugi seem to be well aware of the Spirit's presence, he was trying to protect the creature. The very idea was preposterous.

"We're saving you, Yugi. This spirit has been controlling you for God knows how long." Bobby approached Yugi and gently placed his hand on the boy's thin shoulder. Yugi jerked away from the contact, stepping away from Bobby and edging closer to Dean.

"Saving me?" Yugi laughed bitterly. "You think you're saving me? Do you know what you have done?!" The teen was nearly hysterical now, and tears began to flow from his reddening eyes.

Yugi knelt on the floor to retrieve the pieces of his broken puzzle. A strangled sob escaped his lips as he gathered the pieces. He could see Yami and could tell the Spirit was suffering terribly, but he could not sense him. He didn't remember a time when he'd ever felt so empty...or betrayed. It was as if a great black hole had opened up in his heart and was threatening to engulf the rest of him.

The teen stood, scowling at the oldest Winchester, and clutching his precious Puzzle pieces to his chest. Maybe, if he held them close enough, some of the emptiness he now felt would go away. Yugi could barely stand the hollowness.

"Give me back my Puzzle. Now." Yugi held his hand out, willing it to stop shaking.

"Yuge…" Dean began, uncertainly, "I can't. It's not safe. It's done something to you. You're not thinking straight."

Yugi spoke, louder and with more force this time, emulating Yami's own way of speaking. The tears that had been overflowing earlier were finally stoppered. "You don't know anything, Dean. Give me back my Puzzle."

Each of the Hunters were standing now, and they closed around Yugi cautiousy. He was obviously in a state of distress and not thinking clearly. Perhaps they had caused him more harm than they realized in putting him through this. They needed to restrain him until he could be reasoned with.

This was a mistake, Sam thought to himself. The Spirit was right. We shouldn't have been messing with magic we don't know anything about. Yugi was right. We don't know what we're doing. Dean just had to go and break the damn thing.

Dean made no move to return the Puzzle to Yugi. He was still relatively certain that he had been right to do what he had done, even if Yugi didn't understand. This Puzzle was a threat. It wasn't as if Yugi could make him give it back, anyway. The teenager was boiling mad, but he was still just a kid. There were four Hunters in the room and he wasn't exactly a challenge without the Puzzle and whatever magic it held.

Right?

"Yugi, sweetie," Melanie Mutou approached the distressed teen, speaking in her soothing and comforting way. "I know you don't understand, but this is for the best. That Puzzle is dangerous." Secretly, Melanie hoped she was right. If she wasn't, then she had risked her son's health for no good reason. She wasn't sure if she could deal with that.

It was then that Yugi snapped in a way he never expected or experienced before. The teen felt an indescribable power surge through his veins and infiltrate his bones. It seemed to break forth from his small frame with the force of an explosion. Yugi cried out with the unstable and violent release of energy. It burned and bit at him. He could feel it behind his eyelids and under his fingernails.

Bright, pure light engulfed the small room, knocking the four Hunters back with a frightening ferocity. Dean's grip on the Puzzle loosened and he dropped it as his body was sent hurtling backwards into one of Bobby's large bookcases. Books fell from the overstuffed shelves, sending paper scattering to the wooden floors. Sam and Bobby toppled backwards over the thick Cherrywood desk behind them. Bobby crashed into a wooden chair, causing it to splinter and break beneath his weight.

Melanie was hurled to the ground, the air knocked out of her lungs by the sudden force. She groaned and went silent.

When it stopped, Yugi found himself to be the last man standing. There was little time, however, to consider what had happened. He had to save Yami…and he had to escape. Quickly, Yugi snatched his Puzzle up from the ground and frantically snapped the loosened pieces back into their proper place.

"Yami!" he called, though the Spirit did not stir.

The diminutive teen hurriedly used his feet and hands to scratch out and blur the ominous hieroglyphic markings surrounding his friend, calling out to the Spirit with more urgency and shaking him roughly. Though Yami was a spirit and had no body of his own, Yugi was able to still interact with him physically at times, and the magic of the circle seemed to have given Yami's form more stability and substance for the moment. Yugi barely comprehended that Yami now looked the part of the Egyptian king.

At some point in the few minutes since Yugi had awakened, Yami had stilled, ceasing his tossing and turning. His eyes were now open, staring into nothingness. The Spirit seemed far away and faint, somehow, and Yugi felt a chill run up his spine. Yami felt so…dead.