Author's Note: December 12, 2007 – For those of you not new to this story but have it on Author or Story Alert (and I THANK YOU for that, by the way, if you do) before this date, please note that this, Chp 5, is not it. I am reposting the story, though it does include new material – Chp's 12 on. Please see the explanation in Chp 1.

ARGH! I hate how FFnet's coding will nit-pick - and randomly CHANGE - what characters it will recognize!

Disclaimer –"Yu-Gi-Oh!" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Takahashi Kazuki and any other related owners/distributors/producers. The world of Reirinsei and all related characters and concepts belong to Lunnaei. Dragon's just havin' fun. We get no monetary benefit from this. Our benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.

"Otherworld I: The Door"
by Lunnaei and DragonDancer5150

Chapter 5 – The Cruel Fate

"What the heck – !?"

"What's happening?!"

"Ah!! Big-Brother!!"

The blinding radiance was gone as suddenly as it had come and, for a brief moment, no one could see well enough to discern what had just befallen them. Jonouchi blinked tears from his eyes, trying to force them to focus once again.

"Big-Brother! No, Big-Brother!!"

Jonouchi turned first to see Mokuba on his knees beside his sibling's unconscious body. Sugoroku, too, had crumpled mysteriously. He watched Bakura drop down next to Mokuba, checking for a carotid pulse first on Kaiba, then Sugoroku, and nod uncertainly. "They . . . there's a good, steady heartbeat on both of them. They're just . . . passed out."

"Yugi!!" Jonouchi swung around in a sudden panic back towards the stone slab. He saw that his best friend was conscious because he was not laid out flat like the others, though he had collapsed to hands and knees, shaking hard. The God cards were nowhere to be seen. "Yugi! Hey, Yugi!! Are you okay!?" Jonouchi crouched down next to him, Anzu on the other side. No one was even sure which soul was in charge at the moment.

The other slowly sat back on his heels, his bangs hiding his face. He caught up the Puzzle in both hands. "Other Me . . . " a small, tremulous voice whispered in utter disbelief. "H-he's gone!"

"WHAT!??"

"The Other Yugi is gone?!"

xxxxx

Still hunched over, Yugi pressed the Millennium Puzzle to his forehead, trying desperately to "feel" into it somehow. Then, he half-turned over his shoulder to meet his friends' shocked expressions. "He's not in the Puzzle . . . or in my heart! I don't know where he is!" Hot tears slid unheeded down his cheeks in response to the terrible grief that had taken a sudden stranglehold on his chest.

"N-no way . . . " was the only comment forthcoming from anyone, Jonouchi shaking his head.

For a moment, stunned silence dominated the exhibit chamber. Even Mokuba kept quiet except for the sniffling as he pulled his brother's head into his lap. Bakura busied himself with shifting Sugoroku into a more comfortable position.

Completely oblivious to his insensate companions behind him – indeed to any of his friends' presence for a moment – Yugi knelt doubled over the Puzzle in heart-wrenching bereavement, the smooth metal surface unnaturally cold against his brow. WHERE DID YOU GO?! Nakama . . . Other Me, where are you?

A soft voice broke the silence. "The pharaoh has gone to the world of his memory." Everyone jumped, having forgotten the Egyptian's presence.

The World of Memory?! Yes, Shadi had said that before. Yugi twisted to his feet, turning to face Shadi, only then to note the bodies on the floor behind him. "G-grandpa!? Kaiba-kun!!"

"Y-yugi . . . " Mokuba's big eyes met his with fear and grief as deep as his own.

Yugi whirled on the Egyptian. "Shadi-san, what – ?!"

Shadi raised a hand to stay the group's anger. "I have done nothing. The power of the Millennium Puzzle took them with him. I had suspected as much." He met Yugi's eyes with unaccountable calm. "The pharaoh must face his fate again. In his search for the truth, he must travel into the maze of long-lost memories."

Yugi was still trying to rein his chaotic emotions back under control. "The . . . World of Memory?"

"Yes." Shadi gestured their attention to the stone panel. "The God Cards that the pharaoh won in Battle City have fulfilled the ancient prophecy. When the pharaoh presented them to this stone slab, it opened the door in the Millennium Puzzle to the place where his memories were sealed. Those memories of three thousand years ago – when the pharaoh lived – have been revived, and now he walks in the world of his memories."

Yugi shook his head. That made no sense to him. "Does that mean Other Me has gone through a time warp to three thousand years ago?"

Shadi shook his head in reassurance, betraying his first hint of emotion concerning the situation. His eyes soft, he encouraged them, "That's not it. Even as the pharaoh becomes part of the World of Memory, his memories of the present will remain. What is taking place is purely mental. His memories are replaying themselves in his soul. The secrets of the Millennium Items will be revealed as well."

"Then, no matter where he goes," Anzu pressed, "he'll still remember us?"

"Yes. The World of Memory is built of events that actually happened three thousand years ago, and so the course of events is already determined." He met their gazes steadily, willing them to understand and prepare themselves. "The pharaoh must relive his cruel fate once more." Yugi's eyes dropped away from his almost immediately. The young man knew exactly what he meant, had long been fearing it for his friend's sake.

"His 'cruel fate'?" Anzu echoed. "What do you mean?"

"I think I know," Yugi murmured, his voice almost too soft to be heard. His heart ached painfully with the realization. "He'll experience his death . . . for the second time." His eyes found Shadi's again for confirmation, even as he heard Anzu's deep gasp of horror from next to him.

"Yugi – ?"

Yugi turned again at Mokuba's wretched voice. The boy was stroking his brother's hair almost absently, his face wet with tears. Yugi crossed to kneel by his side, his gaze finding Bakura's with a silent question. Bakura only shrugged and shook his head. Yugi slipped one of his hands each into Kaiba's and Sugoroku's – his rival-friend and his grandfather – then looked over his shoulder up at the Egyptian, tears falling anew. "Why, Shadi-san? You said the Puzzle took them along with My Other Se – I-I mean, the pharaoh. Why did it take just them? Why not all of us!?"

Jonouchi growled. "Yeah, why is that?!"

"We want to go, too!" Honda asserted.

Shadi studied the group for a long moment. At length, he met Mokuba's eye and gave the boy a small, genuine smile of comfort. Stepping to Kaiba's side opposite Yugi, he crouched down and lifted the teenager in his arms as easily as he might have hoisted a small child, carrying him to the cushioned bench along one wall of the room. He laid Kaiba out with extreme care, commenting quietly over his shoulder, "Honda, Bakura, pull the other bench over next to this one. Jonouchi, bring Mutou-san here and lay him on that bench. We could have a very long wait."

The group did as instructed, though Jonouchi growled, "That don't explain nothin', Shadi!" as he held Sugoroku cradled in his arms while the bench was set into place.

Shadi shifted Kaiba's feet to one side with care, settling himself on the end of the bench. "As I said, this was not my doing. I cannot say for certain, but it does seem to confirm what I felt to be true as soon as I laid eyes on them. I believe that they went and you did not because theirs are reincarnated souls. Their spirits are a part of the pharaoh's memories, though I cannot say how. This is one adventure that none of you can follow. You cannot help him directly this time, but he will not forget what you have done for him up to now, even as he relives his more distant past, and he will return to you as soon as the World of Memory has played itself to conclusion."

"As soon as . . . as he d-dies again . . . and remembers how he got trapped in the Puzzle in the first place." Yugi choked on the words, eyes closed in anguish at the very thought, his hands balled in tight fists at his sides. He had promised. He had promised the spirit, his closest friend, that he would always be there . . . but now, when his dear friend must be in the most need . . .

"No, Yugi, he is not." The gently whispered assurance snapped Yugi's attention up to Shadi once more. The man gazed back at him with a soft smile. "He is not facing this alone. Kaiba and your grandfather were drawn in together with him for a reason, and they are two people that he both respects and trusts. Your friend is not alone in his trials."

Yugi swallowed and gave a reluctant nod. "I understand."

"And your promise to him has not been broken."

That one caught Yugi off-guard. "H-huh?"

"When he needs you the most, I have no doubt you will be by his side. You were not there three thousand years ago. He remembers now the past, but there is yet the future for which he still walks the earth to begin with. Everything that you and he have fought for together was to get him to this point, to allow him to unlock his memories and regain his true name. Once his journey through the World of Memory is completed, however, I suspect his real quest will only just begin. That is when he will need you more than ever . . . all of you."

A long silence followed the pronouncement. At length, Bakura licked his lips nervously and ventured after a deep breath, "S-so . . . how will we know? When he's done, I mean."

"Chh," Honda muttered, "when those two wake up."

"He will know." Shadi inclined his head toward Yugi, who nodded.

Honda packed the Puzzle's box back into the knapsack as Bakura excused himself to fetch drinks and snacks for his companions, courtesy of the employee break room. Yugi settled himself against the wall by Kaiba's head, where he could see his grandfather's face. With his knees drawn up and the Puzzle comfortably tucked against his abdomen, he pulled the blank cartouche pendant from under his shirt, fingering it disconsolately. The question would not let him be – what had happened so long ago? What could possibly have taken place to make someone have to forget the very core of his self?

The minutes ticked by in silence, leaving each of those present lost in his or her own thoughts.

The night before had been a long one and, as the time wore on, Yugi found that he was drowsy in spite of himself. His chin dipped forward several times before he finally gave in, wrapping his arms around his shins and laying his head forward on his knees.

Great strife washed around him in dizzying waves of pain, terror, and death. The threat had been building for several days, ever since that thief had shown his ugly face in the throne room, with his stolen gold and his blasphemous bearing. He was after the seven Millennium Items, but what the villain released was far greater and more terrible than even he had expected. The final war that erupted was not only over the kingdom, but for the very existence of humanity itself against a horrific darkness.

Not even the powers of the three hidden gods could stand up to the abyssal menace. Before the demon, whole contingents of his mighty army were swept aside like fragile reeds before the surging waters of an angry Nile, and his priests fell one by one around him. Even his beloved vizier, the advisor appointed to his side at his father's death when he took the throne at too young an age –

A terrible, anguished cry filled the room, the sound yanking Yugi back to consciousness. Before he could focus his sleepy vision, he recognized his grandfather's voice – but not the language he was speaking. Sugoroku had sat bolt upright, burying both fists in the front of Bakura's school jacket, snarling off demands and questions.

"Err . . . Y-yugi!?" Bakura sputtered.

Sugoroku paused, seeming to come to his senses a bit, recognizing the name as if from some far off time or place. He turned over his shoulder, then was scrambling to his grandson in shock, but the sight of the figure on the bench next to his stopped him cold. "Hem-netjer-tepet Seti!!" He shifted then to take in more fully the sight of Yugi, reaching tentatively as though he barely dared hope, tears of remembered horror and present joy filling his eyes. "Per-aa.i, in ankh,ek?"

Standing, Shadi placed a gentle hand on the old man's arm and shook his head. "Nen. Netef sa ny sa,ek. Sugoroku, sekha,ek."

"Sek-ha-ick what?" Jonouchi wanted to know.

The old man eyed Shadi severely. "Sugoroku?!" He looked downright insulted, then muttered in a peevish tone. "Tepey 'it ny it.i' . . . Tjatey Siamun Muran ren.i."

Yugi had leaped up by this point, grabbing Sugoroku's arm. "Grandpa!!" Sugoroku regarded him without fully understanding whom he was seeing.

Suddenly, the Millennium Puzzle flashed with power again, this time the force of the energies slamming Yugi back into the wall. He slumped, knocked out of his senses.

"Yugi! Yugi!!"

He heard his name called, but it took a moment to gather his wits about him enough once again to look up. Even as he did, Kaiba's back arched with a violent intake of breath, and his eyes were wild and unseeing as he surged to his feet, throwing Mokuba off before his mind could comprehend what had been clinging to him, who fell back with a hurt tremor of "Big-Brother?" "In tjen.i . . . ?" Kaiba wanted to know. His eyes found Sugoroku's, then filled with more genuine relief than any of them would have thought possible as he gripped the old man by both shoulders. "Tjatey Siamun, in ankh,ek?!"

Shadi placed himself between the two of them, shaking the shoulder of each slightly to gain their attentions. "Kaiba Seto, Mutou Sugoroku, sekha,tjen." When they stared at him without comprehending, Shadi repeated himself in Japanese. "Kaiba, Mutou, remember yourselves." Slowly, comprehension dawned in both pairs of eyes.

A groan from Yugi brought everyone's attention back down to him. Jonouchi dropped to his knees by Yugi's side. "Yug!! Hey, you okay, buddy?"

"I-I . . . yup, I'm all right, Jou-kun." Yugi rubbed the back of his head where it had connected rather painfully with the wall. Looking down out of reflex as he did so, a small, golden plate of interrupted metal surface snagged his attention. "AAH!!" He caught up the cartouche pendant into his hand. No longer empty, there were five symbols carved inexplicably down its surface. "His name! My Other Self's name!!" he exclaimed excitedly. "It has to be!"

Kaiba grabbed Yugi's arm. "Did . . . did he make it back as well? The pharaoh?"

Yugi could not help but marvel at the look of undeniable concern burning in Kaiba's laser blue eyes. He might have been talking about his little brother for all the earnestness he demonstrated. "Er . . . y-yup – oh! Yes!!" Yugi silently berated himself for a fool. Even in all the excitement of strange languages, how could he have missed the return of his other self to the Puzzle? He closed his eyes and reached inward. Rather vaguely, Yugi could sense the spirit, but there was no responding touch. N-nakama . . . ? He opened his eyes and looked up, meeting Kaiba's with a growing sense of dread. "He's here but . . . he's not answering . . ."

Kaiba turned to Honda without explanation, snatching the knapsack before the other could protest. Yanking it open, he rummaged through the golden Items within, pausing as his hand found the shaft of the Millennium Rod. He hesitated only an instant before absently pulling and setting it aside, then found his original objective down at the bottom. He turned then, thrusting the Millennium Key into Sugoroku's hands. "Siamun, you were one of the Six Chosen Priests before Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen made you his son's vizier. You know how to wield this. Get us in there to check on the pharaoh!" To everyone else's surprise, Sugoroku did not question, only gave a grim nod and turned to his grandson.

"Ah . . . Grandpa . . . ?"

Sugoroku gave him a reassuring smile. "It's all right, Yugi. I know what I'm doing." He touched the Key to Yugi's forehead, Kaiba setting his hand over top of Sugoroku's.

As power flashed from the Key and the Puzzle, Jonouchi leaped forward to set his hand atop Kaiba's. "Not without me, you're n – !"

The brilliant light of power threatened to blind them all, then was gone, and four souls with it.

Author's Notes: Please be sure to check my bio page for any updates, etc. Thanks!

HUGE THANK YOU to my friend TaiChara for helping me translate these comments!!! ((grin)) And please note! - words with dashes in them are correct. Where there are periods in the middle of words is ALSO correct. Words with commas in the middle of them . . . the commas SHOULD be periods too, but for some reason FFnet's system kept /dropping/ the words completely if I spelled them that way... :HEADDESK!!!: Why did it accept some and not others? .....I have no /freaking/ idea.

Hem-netjer-tepet Seti!! – "High Priest Seti!!"

Per-aa.i, in ankh,ek? – "My Pharaoh, do you live?"

Nen. Netef sa ny sa,ek. Sugoroku, sekha,ek. – "No. He is the son of your son (meaning: your grandson). Sugoroku, remember yourself."

Tepey 'it ny it.i' . . . Tjatey Siamun Muran ren.i. – "First 'father of my father' (meaning: 'grandfather') . . . My name is Vizier Siamun Muran."

In tjen.i . . .? – "Where am I?"

Tjatey Siamun, in ankh,ek?! – "Vizier Siamun, you live?!"

Kaiba Seto, Mutou Sugoroku, sekha,tjen. – Kaiba Seto, Mutou Sugoroku, remember yourselves.