Omg, guys! I'm so proud of myself for actually making progress in this story. Also working on Lights, Camera, Action! I'm going to write a few more chapters for that story before I update. But I got up to ten chapters for Nevermore! :) I'm so excited to share them! ^^ Anyway, thanks for your support and I hope you're enjoying this fic so far. I may up the rating...it starts to get a bit...dark...in a few more chapters...so uh...be prepared. If anything, I'll edit it so it's not so bad. Depends on you guys and if you think you can handle it.

Please review! Thank you!

Yugi stumbled into his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed tiredly. He rubbed his face into the pillows, trying to find comfort in his bed. It had been a tiring night and he really needed a good night's sleep, especially after the run-in with Yami Sennen.

He took a few deep breaths before turning onto his back, staring at the blank ceiling, grimacing as he noticed the shadows stretching across the pale, white walls; ominous and sinister. He shook his head and pulled the blanket over his head, shutting his eyes tightly. Don't be afraid, Yugi. They're just shadows. They aren't going to hurt you.

He relaxed a bit as he thought this until a slight vibration beside him caused him to become alert once more. He reached out for his phone and brought it to his face to investigate who had texted him. A grin spread across his face as he read the text, 'Yugi? Are you alright? You haven't responded in a while. Having too much fun partying?'

Yugi chuckled and texted back, 'No. I'm at home now. Sorry for the late reply. My phone was glitching earlier for some reason.'

'Oh, I see. I was beginning to grow worried for you.'

'I'm fine, Atem. Thanks for the concern though. Anyway, you'll never guess what happened on my drive home!'

'What happened?'

Yugi suddenly felt anxious. Should he tell Atem what happened? Should he tell anyone what happened? Then again, it wasn't as if he was told not to tell anyone. His fingers danced slowly across the keyboard on his phone, 'My car broke down in the middle of the road right next to the Old Cemetery! Talk about luck, right?'

Yugi half expected a joking reply back but instead Atem sent back a rather serious text, 'What? Are you alright? If that happens again, run immediately, understand?

Yugi frowned, 'What? Why?'

'...That place is dangerous. Never go there alone, alright?'

Dangerous? Yugi thought to himself. On another note, Atem just moved to Domino, right? How could he possibly know that the Old Cemetery was dangerous? However, Yugi decided not to think about it and instead continued on with his story, 'I understand. Anyway, you'll never guess who helped me.'

'Who?'

'Yami Sennen!'

There was a long pause between replies. Yugi had almost thought Atem had fallen asleep or something. It was fifteen minutes later that Atem finally replied, 'Oh, is that so?'

'I know! Crazy, right?! It was so weird! He just appeared out of no where and then after he helped me, he sort of just...disappeared.'

'Did he now?'

'Yeah. But before that, he was acting a little weird. He kept glancing around the trees. He seemed upset or anxious about something. I tried to ask him what was wrong but he just cursed at me and told me to get in the car. When I looked back up to thank him, he was gone. Creepy, right?'

'Yeah...creepy. Anyway, you should be getting some sleep now, Little One. It's half past one.'

Yugi nodded to himself. He did feel tired and his eyelids were already heavy with sleep. And so he texted a quick 'good night' to Atem before pulling the covers over himself once more. However, just as he wa about to place his phone on his nightstand, he received a final cryptic text.

'Sleep with the light on. Stay out of the shadows.'

Yugi frowned again. What did Atem mean by that? But he didn't need to be told twice. Without wasting a second thought, he reached over and turned the lamp on beside his bed. He then placed his phone down for the night and relaxed into his bed. It wasn't long before his eyes fell closed but not before he felt a cold sensation brush across his cheeks; as if someone had ran their fingers gently across his face. Before he could question it anymore, he fell into a deep slumber, unaware of the pair of crimson eyes watching him through the shadows in the corner of his room.

Running. Yugi was running. To what and where, he did not know. A heavy blanket of mist surrounded him, obstructing his view from anything around him to give him some sign of where he might be. He panted heavily as he continued to run, following the trail laid before him. His bare feet hurt, dirtied with mud and blood. The twigs and small, jagged rocks in the ground cut his sensitive feet.

His lungs felt like they were on fire as he continued to run wih all his might. Finally, his eyes caught a shadowy figure moving through the mist. He looked towards it as it grew closer and closer. And then suddenly, out from the mist flew a raven, shrouded in something dark, yet alluring. Yugi followed the ebony colored bird. It let out a screech and soon the mist cleared some, allowing Yugi a better view of his surroundings.

His blood ran cold when it dawned on him that he had been running through the Old Cemetery. Why was he here? And where was this bird leading him? Finally the bird descended and landed on top a lone gravestone in the back of the cemetery. Yugi kneeled down and cleared the vines and weeds from the stone to get a better look at the name.

Yuki Hayashi.

That was all that was inscribed onto the stone. No date of birth, just the name, not a familiar one to Yugi but it caused something to stir inside him, he just did not know what.

Just who was Yuki Hayashi? Another screech tore through the air and Yugi lifted his head to look up to the mausoleum where on the roof sat a Pheonix, a white Pheonix; its wings as pure white as freshly fallen snow. The raven sqwaked back and flew towards the White Phoenix, talons extended.

"NO! Don't!" Yugi pleaded.

But his voice did not reach the bird's ears. The raven and the Phoenix collided. Black and white feathers fell from the sky, littering the soil below. Yugi held his hand out as a black feather landed gently in the palm of his hand.

"Yugi."

Yugi lifted his head up at the sound of the voice peered through the mist, only able to make out a faint silhouette of a person and then he caught the eyes; fiery, blood red eyes.

Yugi jolted upright in bed, sweat beading on his forehead and the bridge of his nose. He panted heavily as he looked around his dimly lit room. He held a hand to his chest, feeling his erratic heartbeat beneath his fingertips. What was that? He thought to himself.

Yuki Hayashi. That name seemed to engrave itself into his mind and no matter how much Yugi wanted to ignore it and shake it off as nothing but a strange, yet vivid dream, in the back of his mind he knew that something wasn't right. He sighed and glanced over at his alarm clock on his nightstand and saw that it was around three-thirty in the morning.

He groaned and fell back against the pillows. Great, it was half past three in the morning and he was wide awake thanks to that dream. Slowly, he sat up again and swung his feet off the edge of the bed, staring at his window, covered by thick curtains. He slid off the bed and grimaced as his feet made contact with the chilled hard wooden floor.

He drew the curtains back and jumped back in fright as he was met with hundreds of crows sitting in the tree beside his house, staring back at him with ominous red eyes. He screamed and stumbled backwards, pushing himself as far away from the window as possible. No, no! This is just a dream! He shut his eyes and pressed his fists to the sides of his head, shaking his head frantically.

Just a dream. Just a dream! You're seeing things, Yugi! He took a deep breath and lifted his head up again and sighed in relief when he saw that the tree was empty; the pale moonlight slipping through the gaps in the tree. He gulped and closed his eyes again, trying to get ahold of himself. That was when he heard a loud tap against his window. His eyes fluttered open and his heart stilled when he saw Yami staring out from his bedroom window.

Yugi got up and slowly walked to the window. Yami's eyes were as haunting and unsettling as usual as they moved frantically, as if searching Yugi's room for something. Yugi turned around but saw nothing there. He propped the window open and tilted his head in confusion, "Yami?"

Yami snapped his eyes back at Yugi and Yugi gulped as those eyes narrowed, "What the fuck are you doing screaming in the middle of the night?" He hissed.

Yugi blinked. Yami had heard him? More than that, Yami was home. Yami was never home. That just seemed to throw Yugi even more off. No matter, he still felt guilty for waking Yami up like this, "I-I'm sorry, Yami. I-I thought I saw something."

"Saw what?" Yami's voice came out harsher than intended and Yugi visibly flinched at the hostility his voice seemed to carry.

"I-I thought I saw crows in the tree. Th-they were staring at me. I-I got scared. But I think it was just a dream."

Yami looked away momentarily, muttering something under his breath. Yugi didn't try to understand. He knew that it was most likely a string of curses. Yami had a very colorful vocabulary. "Yami?" Yugi tried to catch the other boy's attention.

Yami slowly turned back to Yugi, his eyes flickering with something Yugi could not make out. "Get back to sleep. And sleep with the lights on."

"I am. I have my lamp on-"

"Not enough. Turn on your room light."

Yugi furrowed his brows, "But then I won't be able to sleep. Why do I-."

"Fuck!" The other boy hissed through clenched teeth as he glared at Yugi fiercely, "Do you have to question every fucking thing I tell you? Shit, Mutou. You give me a fucking migraine!"

"S-sorry…" Yugi bit his lip and turned away, a bit hurt. He heard Yami curse again and his glanced around his room until they landed on the Yami's jacket hanging on the chair beside his desk. "Oh, Yami, I have something of yours."

"What?" Yami grumbled.

Yugi walked over to the chair and took the jacket off the chair and walked back over to the window. "I still have your jacket. I thought you'd might want it back. I washed it, too. It smelled kind of funny and had dirt stains-"

"Keep it." Yami muttered.

Yugi's head snapped up as he tilted his head in confusion, "What?"

"Are you fucking deaf, Mutou? I said keep it!"

"Why?"

Yami sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "Seriously, you need to stop fucking questioning everything I tell you and just do it."

Yugi bit his lip and set the jacket on the bed. He didn't know why Yami wanted him to keep the jacket. After all, it seemed rather expensive and it was made of leather of all things! Yugi wasn't exactly one to wear such a material.

An audible sigh caught his attention and he turned back to Yami who retreated back into his room, his fiery orbs boring into Yugi's mind. "I'm not going to tell you again, turn on your damn lights. If not, whatever. I don't give a fuck." Yami slammed his window shut and closed the curtains.

Yugi bit the insides of his cheeks. He didn't know why Yami was so hostile towards him. What did he even do? Had he angered the boy in some way? Then again, this was just Yami's nature. He was harsh, cold, and uncaring towards anyone or anything. But then his mind wandered to what happened earlier that night. Yami had helped him. Even if it was because he was simply doing his 'one good deed of the day', he helped. And someone who helped others couldn't be all that bad, right? No, deep down inside, Yami was good and Yugi knew that.

He actually felt bad for Yami. After all, it must be tiring hating everything and everyone in the world. Yami was always alone but Yugi wanted to be able to change that somehow. No one deserved to be alone. Not even someone like Yami. No, not even him. He walked over to the light switch and flicked the lights on, chasing away all the darkness.

He crawled back into bed and reached over to pick up his phone. Just as he touched the device, it began to vibrate. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was none other than Atem. A smile graced his lips as he answered the call, "Hello?" Yugi spoke, his voice light and child-like.

A deep, breathy chuckle touched his ears, making him shiver. "Hello, Little One."

"Hi, what are you doing calling at four in the morning? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Another chuckle, "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're up, too, aren't you? Or have I woke you up? Although, judging by how clear your voice is, it seems you've been up for quite some time."

"Well, you're not wrong actually."

"So, what's got you up at this time of the night-morning?"

Yugi smiled and rolled onto his back, pressing the phone to his ear, "I just has a strange dream is all. And then I had a little chat with Yami.

"Yami?" The tone of Atem's voice changed ever so slightly; laced with curiosity and...irritation? "The town Psychopath?" He joked.

Yugi giggled, "Yes, him. Apparently, he heard me scream so he checked up on me, I guess. It was strange though. He kept looking around my room and he got mad at me when I asked him why I should leave my lights on. I mean, I usually leave my lamp on but he insisted that I leave my bedroom light on, too. Strange, right? I can't exactly sleep with this much light and-" Yugi stopped for a moment, realizing he'd been rambling. "Atem?"

There was silence on the other line and Yugi frowned. Had he bored Atem? Was he talking too much? As if sensing his worry, the other finally responded. "Sorry. I just...I just wanted to savor it."

"Savor what?"

"Your voice."

Yugi's face heated up in an instant, his cheeks practically glowing. He bit his lip and licked his lips slighly before responding, "R-really?"

"Yeah. It's very soothing. And it reminds me of someone I used to know." Yugi could hear the smile in Atem's voice.

"Oh, really? So, you're just using me then?" Yugi joked.

"Never. I'd never do that. The person I'm interested in is Yugi Mutou now. And I'd very much like to get to know him."

"Well, I'm sure he'd very much like to get to know you, too."

The two laughed quietly. Yugi found himself relaxing bit by bit as he listened to Atem's voice. "So, talk to me. Tell me about yourself. Who is Yugi Mutou?"

Yugi smiled to himself before telling his story. And the rest of the early morning went on like that, the two engaged in light conversation, sharing a few hushed laughs and whispers. It was around five in the morning when Yugi finally began to feel sleepy. His eyes slowly closed as his grip on his phone loosened and his breathing evened out as he fell into a peaceful slumber, but not before the gentlest of whispers touched his ear, "Sleep tight, Little One."

Crimson eyes scanned the dimly lit streets, narrowing ever so slightly as they carefully peered into the shadows. His wild, untamed tri-colored locks danced in the wind as it blew by gently, caressing his skin as he perched himself on the roof of the house that belonged to the boy next door. He was masked in shadows, hidden from the mortal eye.

The sound of wings caught his attention and he turned to find his tanned look-alike standing there, arms crossed over his chest. "I had a feeling you were here."

"What are you doing here?" Yami hissed.

"I should be asking you that. I thought you didn't 'give a fuck' about what happened to Yugi? And yet, here you are, watching over him."

Yami huffed and turned away, "Don't get the wrong idea. I don't give a fuck of what happens to the kid, I just don't feel comfortable of someone playing games so close to my home."

Atem's expression turned serious then, "So, I was right. Somewhat has chosen Yugi as their target…"

"Someone's playing a shadow game, alright. As to why they decided to make such a weak kid their victim, I don't know. All I know is that if they come anywhere near me, I'll fucking tear them apart." Yami snarled.

Atem studied Yami for a moment before glanced out into the distance for a moment, his eyes focused on the slow rising run. In just a few hours, the sun would rise and they would have to retreat back inside, for there would be no shadows to hide in once the light touched the earth. He turned back to Yami and clicked his tongue, "I heard what you did for him."

"Oh, don't you start! I don't fucking care about him. I don't think anything of him. In fact, he's damn annoying and nothing but a nuisance in my life! He could die for all I care!"

Atem chuckled and shook his head, "Oh, so you don't mind if I were to, say, ask him out?"

Yami paused for a moment, shock evident on his face. However, it was gone as quickly as it appeared and his eyes hardened, swimming with shadows. "Didn't you hear me? I don't give a shit. Do what you want with him."

"If this bothers you, tell me now and be honest with me. I'll stop." Atem said, seriously, gauging Yami's expression.

Yami turned away and clenched his jaw, closing his eyes, knowing that Atem would be able to read them as always. "I. Don't. Care."

"Very well. If you say so."

Yami took another step away but paused momentarily, "But I warn you now, if you lose your shit because you can't control it, don't come crying to me."

"You underestimate my self-control, Yami. It's you that needs to learn control. The shadows are practically buzzing around inside you, waiting to be unleashed. I can see it in your eyes."

"And I see that all you're going to say is bullshit. So, good night, Pharaoh."

Atem grimaced at the title but quickly recomposed himself. "Good night, faithful servant."

Yami stiffened at the title. He had not heard that for five millennia now and it stirred something within him. Images flashed in his head of his past and he quickly closed his eyes to block the memories out. "Don't fucking call me that." Yami gritted his teeth.

"Then do not call me Pharaoh. My kingdom is long gone."

"Yeah. That's not the only thing." Yami said bitterly before the shadows surrounded him, cloaking him.

Atem watched as the shadows cleared, revealing the spot empty now. He sighed and held his hand out, shadows spilling from his fingers, crawling along the roof of the house, spreading until the shadows completely encased the small little house.

He jumped down from the room, landing soundly on the ground and dematerialized into shadows, slipping through the window. He stood at the side of Yugi's bed and reached a shadowy hand out to gently touch the pale cheek, causing the little one to shiver slightly. "I couldn't have you in the past but I'll do everything to have you now."

Atem leant down and pressed a soft kiss to the boy's brow before leaning away. He stared down at Yugi longingly for a moment before fading into the shadows as the light filtered in through the curtains.

Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift feat. The Civil Wars

I remember tears streaming down your face

When I said, "I'll never let you go"

When all those shadows almost killed your light

I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"

But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

Don't you dare look out your window, darling,

Everything's on fire

The war outside out door keeps raging on

Hold on to this lullaby

Even when the music's gone

Gone

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound