Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: First of all I would like to thank DarkSideOfTheLight for recommending my stories to so many people. You rock archrival! ;) Also I would like to personally thank: DarkestHour, HeartOfTheDragon, I'mADreamer and SteamPunkGabe for giving my story the time of day. :) Last but not least, all of you who keep my stats rising, although we need a bit of work in the REVIEW department… (glares).

Enough with my ranting, on with the story!

"None of your business, spirit. Get out of my way."

I tightened my fists, feeling my nails dig into my palms. Just looking at him made me mad beyond reason, my very being itching to pummel him right out of that "holier-than-thou" attitude of his. I had every right to do what I did. He deserved it. Why did I have to be the one to pay for his decisions? Why did he get to live while I was nothing but pathetic left-overs? No one had the right to judge me. After all, if I didn't take care of myself, nobody would do it for me.

"Why did you attack Bakura?"

"None of your business." I repeated. "Who died and made you king anyway? I can do whatever the bloody hell I feel like doing!"

"You tried to kill your own brother!" he shot back, narrowing his eyes. His voice remained flat and he made me feel like an insect, pathetic and worthless. I couldn't take it, I couldn't take that bloody voice anymore.

"I don't care! I don't want him to be alive!" I shouted. As if turning a switch off, all of my anger left me, the only thing remaining an unbearable sorrow. Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes for what felt like the billionth time that day. "I don't care. It's not fair. Not fair at all." I whispered, not even trying to hold my tears back. "I just want it all to end. I don't care anymore."

The spirit did not even flinch at my abrupt mood swing. "But you do, don't you? That's why you are still here." Now he sounded calm, almost detached. "You do care and it hurts, but you care anyway. Because he is your family and you love him."

"Shut up! Shut your bloody face!"

"And what's worse is that you know you would go over a thousand more Shadow Realms to protect him. Isn't that true Amane?"

"No it isn't. Never again." I shook my head violently. He had no idea what he was talking about. He had no idea what I had done and what I had enjoyed doing. Just standing took a tremendous effort on my part, because all I wanted to do was collapse and scream until there was nothing left of me. "I want him dead. I want to kill him. It's all his fault."

"Kill him?" he repeated and then sighed. "Is that really what you want?"

"Yes. With all of my heart."

"Then I will not stop you. Do as you please."

I watched in astonishment as he disappeared. Had he just... gone away? Everything aside, I was about to kill my brother. You don't just... I don't know, just give an emotional speech and then get bored and let someone kill... their own... brother...

I couldn't quite comprehend what had happened. I could see the events clear as day in my head and I understood the reasoning behind my actions. Admitting it hurt like bloody hell, but that didn't change the fact that I didn't understand why I had done what I did.

I had tried to kill Ryou just because I got scared. I mean, sure, that bloody wanker could've probably avoided setting off a boulder that chased us halfway into a dark cave. I still had no idea how on Earth he managed to survive that one. Could it be the Millennium Ring? I guess it could be, however I hadn't sensed one morsel of energy coming off of it. Not even Bakura had managed to keep himself completely concealed from me, but then again the spirit of the Puzzle was not someone I could sense if he was not in spirit form in front of me or in possession of Yugi's body. The Puzzle's power in itself yes, but not the spirit's existence. So how could Ryou survive a boulder running him over?

I shuddered yet again at the images that immediately accompanied that thought and gritted my teeth. I would stay in control, no matter what. What I had done today was moronic and completely inexcusable. I had to admit that I was rather... upset with myself.

Still, one question remained. If I had reached a point where I could not control myself around Ryou and had come to be dangerous for him, what should I do? Leave him? Try to stay away until I was fully recovered?

But that was impossible. Ryou was the one from whom I drew my power from, who kept me together. The mere thought of abandoning him was unbearable. I could never make myself stay away, not ever. I would just have to make sure that nothing would happen to him again, not because of me. I didn't care how- "because I said so" would have to cut it.

Catching up with Ryou and his friends was easy. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle did not make any dramatic appearances either, for which I was thankful. He seemed to be in a nark over the whole murder thing, so I decided to make an attempt at keeping a low profile. You know, not go on any murderous rampages or anything. Life was tough like that.

The dark in the cave was really getting to me as well. It was not so dark that I could not see in front of me, but it was uncomfortable all the same. Chills were running down my spine and I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched.

Watched.

The idea came down on me like a lightning bolt to the head. Which, if my suspicions were true, it would be an amazing thing to happen to me since the alternative was much less appealing.

This could be an illusion. Everything that had happened so far, from me being released from the Shadow Realm to this very moment could've been nothing but another trick. Was it? How on Earth would I know? It could be. It would explain why Ryou was still alive or why the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle hadn't destroyed me after I snapped. It would not be the first time that something like that had happened. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I could feel cold sweat running down my spine. My breathing became rugged and my eyes widened. This could be what was really happening here. I could be dreaming while those disgusting leeches were feeding off of me like I was a five-course meal.

One.

I knew my mind wasn't safe, in fact it was not only their target but their source of power as well.

Six.

I should have realized it immediately. The easy escape, the absurdly familiar "Shadow Game", the fact that everything seemed to run so smoothly up to this point...

Eleven.

Even the faces I had seen were faces I had seen before. Kaiba was the guy I had seen playing Duel Monsters with Yugi in that tournament and of course Yugi and co. were Ryou's friends. They were all familiar faces that could've easily been plucked out of my memories and used against me. It was so stupid of me to think otherwise.

Sixteen.

Time had no meaning in the Shadow Realm, as well as space, direction, logic itself. It was a Chaos-born realm and so only the rules of Chaos could be applied inside. Therefore, what seemed like a day to me might be only a second there.

Twenty-one.

The stench of rotten flowers filled my nostrils. For a second, I could swear to God that my feet were wet.

Twenty-six.

Thirty-one.

Thirty-six.

How could I be certain of where I was?

Fortyonefortysixfiftyonefiftysixsixtyonesixtysixseventyoneseventysixeightyoneeightysixninetyoneninetysixonehundr-

"Look! It's the exit!"

Joey's yell broke me out of my trance, only to make me realize that I had lost sight of the gang. I broke into a sprint, ignoring my breath that had become ragged somewhere along the way and the cold sweat that I was covered into. As the first rays of light came into view, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I passed right through the people in front of me and once outside, I tried t clear my head from everything. I tacked my previous... speculations into the farthest corners of my mind, reasoning with myself that whatever was to happen would eventually happen regardless of whether I tried to test if dead get heart attacks or not. I needed to be an optimist and a bloody optimist I would be. Nothing could get me down, oh no, not me, Amane Baku-

"Faster! Can't you move faster you morons?"

Don't cry. Crying isn't optimistic at all. Plus it gives you wrinkles.

As a guy two or three times Joey's size punched a smaller guy pale enough to be a zombie, I went back to where I had come from- literally.

"I need vacation…" I murmured in desperation and with slow steps that I made sure conveyed my misery with the situation to anyone that might be watching, I returned to the cave.

Ryou and his friends were taking a shot at moving the giant boulder, which must be a close relative to the one that tried to turn us into pudding a while ago, away from the exit but to no avail. And that wasn't particularly surprising considering that the only real muscle in the team were Tristan and Joey. I mean, with all due respect, Yugi simply couldn't be of any use.

Ryou and Tea were the first to quit. They must have accepted that boulders were against them today, end of story. Yugi, Tristan and Joey kept trying however they gave up soon after the other two.

"Looks like we are trapped." announced Joey.

"Oh come on, there's gotta be another way out of this place!" said Tristan, although he didn't sound all that confident.

"But these tunnels run everywhere! We could be lost in here forever!" Tea yelled in frustration.

At that moment, the Millennium Ring's energy spiked. I narrowed my eyes as I saw one of the Millennium Ring's prongs pointing at the opening that had led us here. My brother though didn't seem too concerned about devil's best pal going all pointy on him and simply followed the direction it was urging him to move towards.

"Bakura?" asked Tea.

"Hey Bakura, what gives?" shouted Joey behind him as Ryou came to a halt in front of another path.

"It seems my Millennium Ring is taking me in this direction." he said simply.

"Why?" asked Tea again. Seriously, everybody found it so normal that an ancient artifact was acting on its own accord that they didn't even freak out? Just a little bit? Then I caught a glimpse of the Millennium Puzzle hanging around Yugi's neck. Yeah, forget that I said anything.

"Well, Yugi and I think that my Millennium Ring can detect other Millennium Items." Ryou explained while he followed the Ring's directions. After a short while however, it became blatant that it was not only my personal reserves of patience that were running out.

"So… we're getting anywhere Bakura?" asked Joey.

"It's like we've been walking forever!" complained Tristan.

"This doesn't look like the way out; it looks like a big maze!" exclaimed Joey in surprise, looking around him in sudden alarm.

"That's right. And look at the walls down here! All the rocks are neatly arranged. It seems… man-made!" Tea pointed out.

I looked around, noticing the walls. She was right. Oh bugger it! I'd have a flutter it was another trap. Pegasus was someone I would gladly put his head under the wheels of a big lorry and then go back and forth, back and forth…

No! Bad Amane! These are bad, bad, Bakura-worthy thoughts. I would not think them. I was a better person and I would not think of the satisfying sounds his head would make while I drove back and forth over it…

I was dragged out of my personal pool of stupidity when Ryou suddenly abandoned his slow pace and broke into a run.

"Follow me! The Ring is pulling me this way!" he yelled behind him, urging the others to follow.

"Well, tell it to pull slower!" shouted Joey behind him and to my surprise I agreed with him. I had never been a fan of physical exercise while I was alive and that hadn't changed during my time as a spirit. And why would it? Running was of no use to me. I was supposed to be able to float around screaming "boo" at regular intervals and dragging my heavy chains behind me, showing to the world that being a cheap old bugger is not the way to live the life. But was I? Oh no, of course not. Instead I had to run around like everybody else, while that bloody berk got to be carried in his stupid ancient cursed artifact. I was dead and a girl! I deserved that ride!

I would have probably went on to a more advanced level of meaningless inner ranting that had no relation to our current situation whatsoever, if I hadn't noticed that all those backs in front of me were not moving anymore. And of course, as every other self-respecting ghost, I tripped over my own feet, passing right through Joey and getting very intimate with the floor.

"I will take my vacation in Hawaii." I mumbled while standing up. "Where the sun shines and the sea is blue and shirtless boys serve drinks in a coconut that has a little umbrella on it. I love little umbrellas."

I took a look at where Ryou had led us to. And I saw -oh, the surprise- a Duel Arena. The others gasped.

"What is this place?" asked Tea freaked out.

"You have entered-"

"Sacred grounds!"

"Where only duelists-"

"Can be found!"

We looked around to see who were those talking but came up with nothing.

"Well, we're duelists…" said Joey hesitantly.

"In order to pass-"

"Across this chamber-"

And then they appeared.

They appeared. Two freaks doing ninja moves. I felt so… cheated. We had walked through a big, dark, cold and creepy cave for hours on end just to end up with…this. The pain was almost physical.

"You must agree-"

"To face the danger."

"So let the contest-"

"Now begin!"

They stopped the fake fighting moves that must have taken at least a good two minutes to complete and turned to us with their arms crossed in front of their chests. The one was wearing an orange cloak over a ninja suit and the other a green cloak over a ninja suit. They were bald and they had funny noses. Apparently, this was a classic case of identical twins gone wrong.

"You are trapped-"

"And the doors are al locked."

And then they struck a pose. Yeah, the pain was most definitely physical now.

"You face the brothers… Paradox!" they said in unison.

"Employed by Pegasus as eliminators-"

"To take all your star chip indicators!"

"You gotta duel these goons Yugi?" asked Joey

"And if, by some crazy fate's whim you manage to win-"

"Why then, a puzzling new test shall immediately begin!"

"For over my shoulder you see a door! And over my brother's-" I turned my gaze behind them and indeed, there was a door with a symbol engraved on it, identical to the tattoo he had on his forehead.

"One door more!" said the one in green, his door's symbol the same as the one in his forehead as well.

"They test the choice-"

"That you must make!"

"Which of these doors will you take?" they finished in unison.

"The one leads to an endless maze!"

"Where you will wander all your days!"

"The other door is the path you need."

"Choose correctly and you'll be freed!"

"Which door leads out?"

"And which leads to your doom?"

"That's for you to guess-"

"And for the brothers Paradox to know!" the one in green finished.

"So… even if Yugi wins this match we could still end up lost into these caves forever?" asked Tea frustrated. When did Yugi say he would duel? Must have missed it while trying to block the constant rhyming out of my poor, poor eardrums.

"Against us, one mere duelist would be grieved!"

"So you must duel as a team!"

I felt the Puzzle awakening and the spirit took over Yugi's body.

He took a step forward. "Tag team it is. And I would be honored if Joey fought by my side."

"You got it bro."

They took their places on the arena.

"Alright brothers Paradox! Me and Yugi are gonna clean your cloaks!"

"Prepare to be puzzled!"

"Prepare to be fooled!"

"Prepare to be baffled, for in this field we rule!" they finished together. How did they do this? They were practicing rhymes in their free time? Also, I should mention here that we were trapped in an endless maze because the two lamest villains ever wanted to play Duel Monsters. The situation was pathetic no matter how you looked at it.

"I am gonna baffle them both if they don't stop rhyming!" said Joey.

"You and I both Joey." I nodded my head.

"Now, enough of your wimps!"

"Time to wager your star chips!"

"I'll throw down two." Joey growled and placed his star chips on the board.

"Plus four more, for a total of six." added the spirit.

For some odd reason this seemed eerily familiar. Thinking about it, it reminded me of when my Dad taught Ryou poker, some time before things started to go seriously downhill. I liked that game and I watched them play every night. I suppose it was something they did in an unconscious attempt to salvage their still existing relationship. They would wager beans since Ryou didn't have any money and my Dad would put a CD in the stereo. My Dad, someone who hated to lose, never went easy on Ryou and I knew that, as soon as he started to win it meant that he was getting good at it. I liked to think that we were playing together, so I would sit next to him and shout at him to play this or that card. We laughed together or shared news or whatever we wanted to say was said there. However after they had one of their first big arguments, they never played again. I shook the memory away and focused on the duel.

I also pretended that I never felt my eyes tear up.

The duel was a long one- both teams were good at what they were doing, however the Paradox brothers –whose names turned out to be Para and Dox, for the love of God- seemed to have the upper hand for the most part. At one point, the brothers mentioned the test with the doors once again, something that made Joey recall a similar story where a bloke wanted to go to a village of truth tellers. However, next to it was a village of liars. The kid was in a crossroad and he couldn't know where to go, so he decided to ask a villager that was passing by for directions. Not knowing which one he was, a liar or a truth teller, it came down to him choosing the right question, one that would lead him to Truthville no matter the villager's origins. So he asked the villager to take him to his own village. If he was a liar he would take him to the village of the truth tellers because he would be taking him to the wrong place and if he was from Truthville, he would take him to the right village on account of being truthful. That made apparent for Joey that we needed to first figure out which one of the brothers was telling the truth. Para smirked and offered Joey and Yugi had one question.

Joey immediately asked them to show to us the door each of them guarded. They both showed Dox's door which led to some cheers from Joey. However, all I had to do was to check the spirit's expression to know that there was something fishy here.

Joey noticed it too and when he questioned him about it, the spirit answered that there were some minor changes in our current situation that in fact proved Joey's conclusion wrong. See, if there were two villagers instead of one, one truthful and one liar, the liar could never admit to it, because it would mean he was telling the truth. That statement could be made only if both of them were liars.

"Long vacation in Hawaii after this." I murmured, pinching the bridge of my nose. "In fact, I will move to Hawaii and stay there."

The duel ended with Joey and the spirit as the winners. The only thing left was to pick the right door and we were out of here once and for all. I sighed and then blinked. Had I just... Never mind.

"Now… which of you brothers guard the door that leads out of here?" asked the spirit smirking. So that was his ingenious strategy?

"If you value your lives you'll choose my way…" Para nodded towards his door.

"Select my side, or else you'll pay!" Dox urged us.

"Not this again! Can't you two just act normal and give us a straight answer for once?" asked Tea exasperated.

"I'm giving you a straight answer!" they answered in unison.

"You sad bastards! Let me go, let me at them!" I shrieked towards no one in particular, flailing my arms angrily. Nobody was holding me back of course but it's good taking it off your chest. Especially after all I had to take off my chest after spending so much time having to listen to their constant rhyming.

"The answer is, we can't trust either of these two." explained the spirit calmly.

"Ok, any bright ideas?" asked Tristan.

"Uhh… sure. Don't I always?" Joey perked up, causing almost everyone to shake our heads in desperation.

"Nyeh, zero respect..." he mumbled.

"We'll decide with these." the spirit presented us with two coins where he had drawn the symbols on the doors. I sweatdropped but stayed focused.

The brothers laughed. "Okay, heads or tails?" asked Dox.

"Neither. I marked each coin to represent a different door. The coin that I keep clenched in my fist will be the door that I have chosen."

"So… ready?" asked the spirit confidently. After a few seconds he opened his right fist and revealed the coin that represented Dox's door.

"The coin is marked for Dox's door." said Para, trying to smirk. I refused to acknowledge that grimace as a descent smirk.

"But was your choice good or was it not?" finished Dox.

"What say you Dox? Shall we tell which door is right?" asked Para.

"In due time Para. I'm enjoying their blight."

At that I started taking deep calming breaths. I would not allow their rhyming to affect me. I refused.

"Was it Para?" asked Joey.

"Or was it Dox?" asked Tea after him.

"Yeah, fess up!" said Tristan. I kept my attention to the spirit. His smirk had widened now, which was probably good. Right?

"I say…"

"You choose wrong! It was his doorway…"

"All along!" finished Para and they burst into laughter

"So Dox's door was the right one?" asked Tea.

"Not quite." said the spirit smirking. That seemed to confuse the brothers.

"Oh yes it was!" yelled Para.

"Except if we had picked it, Para's door would be the right one." the spirit stated calmly."You can choose which door leads to each path, can't you? Ensuring that we choose wrong."

"That's not fair! You guys are cheatin'!" shouted Joey angrily.

They smirked cockily. "Too bad, too late, you chose a way. It means…"

"In this maze you will stay!"

I stood with my mouth on the ground and then anger surged through me. Oh, I could make them tell us, alright. I began gathering energy around my clenched fists, intend on shoving them both right up their... noses.

"Well, actually…" said the spirit, making me turn to him. "You never saw our choice." The coin in his hand… was Dox's! Okay, I was lost here. "I figured the two of you would pull a stunt like this. So, I pulled a stunt of my own with these two coins." he explained. "Instead of marking them both with just one door insignia, I marked the second coin with two." he said and tossed it up. "One insignia on each side. That way we couldn't lose."

Para and Dox gasped.

"Ha! Beat ya at your own game!" cheered Joey.

"Both of them! Now if you excuse us, we have a score to settle with your boss." said the spirit proudly. Well, he had every right in the world to be proud.

"Alright then! On to Pegasus's castle!"

We were practically running to get out of there and this time I didn't care about ancient artifact rides one bit. I was out first since I didn't have to get a giant door out of my way and when I felt the breeze I allowed a chuckle to escape me. And then another, until it turned into a full-blown fit of laughter.

I laughed and laughed, running around like a psychotic kid that was in a candy store holding everyone at gun point, thus allowed to eat anything it wanted to.

That was a pretty messed up metaphor, even for me.

I waited for the others to come out and when they did, I noticed that the Ring was active again.

"My Millennium Ring is pointing…"

"There, to Pegasus's castle!" Tea yelled, unexplainably cheerful about it. I disregarded it as lack of oxygen.

I noticed Tea staring skeptically at Yugi and stifled a laugh. She was the one who would most likely figure out that something was going on with the whole personality-switching thing first. The girl was smart and she also had a gut instinct strong enough to outmatch anyone's.

Joey, Tristan and Ryou had already run to the castle and they were climbing a ridiculously big amount of stairs. I decided that I would not run, instead I would take my sweet time with those.

"Amane, we need to talk."

I turned around to see the spirit with a serious expression on his face. I sighed. Sod's Law huh? Oh well.

I took off as quickly as possible. "Sorry, have to catch up to Ryou, bye!" I shouted behind me. When I gained a few meters on him I turned my head to see how close he was, only to find him with a ridiculous-on-his-face dumbfounded expression, mouth agape and all. I snickered and began climbing the stairs two at a time.

All seemed well for now.

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS FAITHFUL READERS! If you are still there that is… Sorry it took so long to update, that chapter proved to be really hard.

Anyway, Christmas cake for everyone who will review! Last but not least, special thanks to halo cat. She knows why. ;)