Chapter 4: Sleep Away Your Problems

Yami shifted from one side to the other in his sleeping bag. The blue sack was very cozy, and the red lining inside kept the warmth in place. The soft pillow his head rested on top armed a fresh, clean smell. A few sounds rumbled outside the house such as a few cars driving by and birds chirping. All appeared peaceful.

The pharaoh slowly opened his eyes to a lightly lit room. Feeling sleepy, he never wanted to forsake his pleasant makeshift bed. He admitted sleeping felt great. Aside from lying on the floor, he understood why his partner hated exiting his bed and would gripe about attending school.

"Yugi!"

Yami immediately stood up only to tumble down due to being trapped within his bag. The wave of memories from the past day crashed over him hard. He tried desperately over and over to free himself, but the possessed zipper refused to move.

"And I thought you were great." Yami mumbled to himself.

After finally loosening his zipper, he stumbled over to the bed and checked on his partner. He stood at the side of the bed and gazed down upon his friend.

The small boy slept on his back motionless. His big, puppy dog eyes were closed, yet the sealed eyes gave him an angelic countenance. His breathing appeared normal, and his facial expression remained still. His heart rate had not altered either.

Maybe, just maybe, if Yami shook his partner, he will wake up and everything may return to normal. Well, aside from them being separated, but it was better to still have him awake to help rather than remain under some strange spell.

Yami lifted up his right arm to gently shake his partner. The act failed, so he tried to shake him a little harder.

"Yugi?" he tenderly called out. With no response, he tried again. "Yugi."

But still nothing happened. Yami fell on his knees and shook his partner even harder.

"Yugi!" he cried sympathetically. "Please, wake up!"

Yami shifted Yugi from lying down to sitting up. He joggled him harder. "Yugi, it's me, Yami! Wake up!"

The teen's body fell towards Yami's. The young angel was still sleeping.

Yami delicately took the resting form and placed him in his original position.

"What can I do? Yugi, please come back."

Yami worried about his friend. The boy should be living his own life, yet he was in bed motionless.

"What am I to do," he asked himself despondently. Looking at the desk with textbooks, he realized Yugi still had school. He gasped. He could not live with himself if his partner fell behind in his studies because of a problem that did not belong to him.

"I'll see if I can take his place! It's the least I can do for him."

The former pharaoh surmised his friend would be fine since the night passed on peacefully. After hugging his dear friend once more, he walked out of the room and towards the bathroom. He decided to act the same routine Yugi performs in the morning.

After undressing himself, Yami stepped into the shower and twisted the handle decorated with a blue rim. Water immediately cascaded down and hit his body. Right as the chilly sensation flew threw, he gave out a yelp. He quickly reached for the other handle with a red rim and switched the blue one off. The water changed from freezing, to cold, to warm, and finally boiling. Yami hurriedly turned off the water before his skin cooked.

"I don't know how Yugi manages to take one of these every day!"

Walking out of the bathroom with a light blue towel wrapped around his waist, Yami searched for a school uniform in the closet. He did not find any. He decided to put back the clothes he originally wore, the blue pants and black muscle shirt. He had seen on some drama shows with his companion how kids can wear something else if they're uniforms are filthy.

"Maybe Yugi's school allows the option of wearing a uniform." Yami mumbled to himself.

As he walked downstairs and into the kitchen, he noticed Yugi's grandpa sat at the table eating some type of sandwich. Yami knew sandwiches were usually reserved for lunch, not breakfast.

Solomon then noticed Yami was standing on the stairs staring.

He smiled as he welcomed, "It's about time you got up."

"Um… Do you know if Yugi's school allows uniforms to be a choice?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

"Well, with Yugi in his… condition, I wouldn't want anyone to raise suspicion."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I called the school this morning and told them that Yugi wasn't feeling well."

"But what about the others? I thought everyone was planning to come over."

"Yes, and Tea was the first one to show up. I told her I was going to call the school and tell them Yugi was under the weather."

"But, I didn't hear anyone when I woke up. Maybe I can convince—" Yami was interrupted by someone coming through the game shop door.

"Hello?" the voice called out.

"That sounds like Tea," Yami noted out loud.

Both he and the old man went to go confirm what was just suggested.

Wearing their school uniform, Tea and Joey stood right in front of the door. The female teen molded a concern look on her face while the blonde carried determination to find a solution.

"Shouldn't you both be in school right now?" Yami asked surprised, caring about the wellbeing of his good companions.

"We got out at noon today," Tea explained.

"Noon?" Yami questioned, baffled about how much time flew by between the other day and now.

"I didn't want to wake you because you had such a long day yesterday." Solomon sincerely explained towards the spirit. He longed for his grandson to be free from the mysterious spell, but the former pharaoh deserved some rest after a hectic day; a problem could not be solved by a sleepy mind.

Before Yami could reply to his time jump, the phone on the wall rang. The old man assumed it was a customer, so he answered it. "Hello, Kame game shop."

He listened carefully to the other side. He hung up and looked at the group with a serious expression craved on his face. "That was Ishizu. She said to tell Yami to meet her at her office right now."

"Did she say anything about what's happening to Yugi?" Yami asked with anxiety building within. His heart raced as he prayed a solution was found for his partner.

"She didn't say anything aside from saying you needed to comer over right away," the elderly man informed.

Yami nodded and went straight for the door.

"Wait, man," Joey said. "I'll go with you!"

Yami accepted the company, and both were off to the museum.

Tea watched as the two left.

"Tea," Solomon called. "Do you want to see Yugi?"

The girl turned back and nodded. She headed upstairs thinking about the tense, short day. She missed having her small buddy wearing his bright smile attending the same classes as her. The whole day had felt empty without his jovial presence. And such absence affected everyone in their group.

She sat in the same chair she did yesterday. Her attention was on her friend, who was still slumbering.

"Yugi, I hope you'll wake up soon."

She fought back some tears she did not want to show even if no one else was there.

Xxx

The two darted their way to the historical museum. They were in a rush, yet they politely dodged oncoming pedestrians on a clear day.

With all the rest he received, Yami was able to pump he reenergized legs.

Joey explained to Yami how Tristan was dragged into doing some errands for his sister and will meet up later. Yami then told Joey about his mishap with the iniquity of the shower. The blonde student laughed and told the spirit he had to let the water warm up.

Both arrived at the place safely.

Yami sat on the concrete and rested a bit as he was not accustomed to committing himself into so much physical activity. His heart raced both from running and the anxiety of what had been happening. He knew he could not complete this journey alone.

"Come on, man," Joey chuckled as he offered to help Yami up. He wanted along with everyone else for the safety of his buddy. "Let's go see if there's any good news."

After accepting the support to stand, Yami stood up. The pair walked in and was still amazed at all the Egyptian artifacts that had survived all this time.

"My Pharaoh," came behind the two a voice.

"Ishizu, we came over as fast as we could." Yami explained.

"You said you wanted us here and here we are!" Joey said with a grin.

"Let us discuss the matter further in my office."

Xxx

Yugi found himself happily walking down a smooth path with his parents in a green forest with an endless blue sky. He was between the two, and they were joyfully holding his hands. He was glad he could enjoy the simple activity with them once more.

Walking in silence, he thought he heard a familiar voice call him. Without thinking, he released his parents' hands to see what was drawing him. The voice was filled with concern and worried. Out in the distance it called out his name once more.

"What's going on?" Yugi pondered. "That almost sounds like… Yami."

The voice broke off into quiet sobs. After chasing around to the sound of the volume increasing, he heard the voice suddenly stopped. He turned back around and saw his parents had vanished.

"Where'd they go?" Yugi asked himself confused.

One moment he was with his parents, and the next he was left all alone. Searching for them, he found himself in a dark forest. All trees withered away, and the grass stopped growing in the same spot he stood. The once smooth walking path now looked rugged and cumbersome.

"Mom? Dad?" Yugi called as he continued walking deeper and deeper into the woods. He felt chilly. Wrapping his arms around his shoulders for warmth, he moved on curiously.

The trees now looked lifeless and limp. The sky went from clear blue to pitch black. No stars or even a giant moon glowed.

"This is getting scary." Yugi mumbled frightened. "Dad? Mom? Are you here?"

Breathing became a challenge as the fog grew thicker and thicker. He noticed a door a few feet in front of him. The gateway appeared the same as the ones found in the virtual game he was trapped in with all the others as they participated in Battle City.

As Yugi made his way towards it, he heard the same voice. By now, it sounded similar to Tea's. Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, a painful sensation struck his chest.

He dropped to one knee. He grabbed his chest to lessen the pain. He coughed and noticed it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. Just then, he remembered a time he was beaten up at school. Many kids would pick on him because of his height and lack of muscles. Yugi felt himself becoming cold and lonely.

Someone snatched him from behind.

He tried to break free, but he felt too exhausted. He heard his parents' voices. Opening his eyes, he saw his parents. Each one asked him if he felt all right. Unexpectedly, Yugi stopped feeling any discomfort; it was as if he was never in pain.

"Yugi!" both parents cried out at the same time.

"What were you doing?" Yugi's dad asked.

"I was following you and Mom, and then I found myself in that—" Yugi's voice trailed off only to see the dark forest had vanished.

"Yugi, you must be more careful!" the woman in concern shrieked.

The two reached for the child and brought him closer to them.

The boy accepted the gesture as he allowed their care to warm him up. Despite the love he longed for, he was a little bothered with where he was.

"Was all that just an illusion?"

Xxx

Tea, who sat by her friend's side, noticed Yugi's face morphed from peaceful to worry. She also took notice his body shivering. She instantly stood up to go search for some blankets in a hallway closet to keep her friend from catching a cold. Last thing she wanted was for Yugi to become ill after waking up. Walking back, she observed she fine when Yugi's body started to shiver.

Returning towards Yugi's bedroom, she thought she heard coughing. Running to Yugi's room, she saw him sitting up straight with his right hand grabbing his chest and the other made into a fist he was coughing into. She right away dropped the blanket and went to go see what was wrong.

"Yugi!" she screamed as she held her friend, so he would not lose complete balance.

"Yugi! What's wrong?!" the girl began to shake Yugi's body but the coughing still continued.

All of sudden, the hacking stopped, and Yugi's body limped towards the female teen.

Relieved the incident had stopped, Tea gently placed her friend's body on his back. She then went over to where she dropped the blanket and picked it up. She gently placed it over fallen companion.

"Yugi," she whispered with tears threatening to fall.

Out of the blue a window crashed.

"What as that?!" she gasped.

Xxx

"What did you find, Ishizu?" Yami asked as all three of them sat down.

Ishizu held one of her books in her hands. The volume was a simple brown one with a yellow title on front. It was old but still intact its pages with legible print. She placed it on her desk and opened to a page where a green tab had been placed.

"I've found this piece of information to be interesting." she began as she pointed to a particular paragraph.

Joey and Yami lend closer to see the text.

"It's about a pharaoh who had a battle between him and some rebels. The enemies were very strong and highly skilled, so the pharaoh had to use some souls for magic in order to defeat them." she summarized the reading.

"So-souls?" Joey felt a little creped.

"But what does this have to do with Yugi?" Yami asked, facing the woman.

"You said the man who claimed you took the lives of his loved ones was you?" Ishizu wanted to clarify. "The pharaoh who used this power was you."

"What!?" Yami argued. "I would never use anyone to fight my battles, nor would I do anything my people for battle like this!"

"Yes, you didn't." Ishizu agreed. "You announced anyone who was willing to help may choose to do so. You only needed one hundred souls when you received a thousand."

"What?!" Joey yelled in disbelief.

"Yes, when the man you spoke of mentioned the pharaoh taking away his loved ones, he must have been referring to this event," the woman stated.

"But still, how does this relate to Yugi?" Yami repeated. He became fascinated to hear a little about himself, but his heart remained focused on his friend who remained in danger.

Ishizu closed the book and put it aside. She took another one from her desk, this one being purple and appearing older, and opened it. "This is a sleeping spell often used in the ancient world. There are many texts that refer to this."

"A sleeping spell?" the two boys echoed.

"The purpose is to have the victim sleep for the rest of his life."

"That doesn't sound like a good way to plot revenge." Joey stated blandly as he crossed his arms. "Wouldn't it have been better to just challenge Yami to a Shadow Game or something?"

"This spell is much worse than what it seems." Ishizu corrected. "The human body can survive without food or water, but that time is limited. If Yugi is asleep for more than that, his body may suffer terrible and severe consequences."

"But couldn't we shake Yugi to wake up?" Yami asked, working to find a solution. "I've tried it before, but if I shook him hard enough maybe…"

He trailed off as he reflected on his efforts to save his friend.

"The person within the spell is the only one who can wake himself up." Ishizu informed, understanding the former pharaoh's dilemma.

"Well, isn't natural our buddy would miss us?" the blonde assumed. "Surly he would dream about us, remember us, and want to wake up."

"No, the caster usually seeks out what makes the victim truly happy, so he may never want to wake up."

"What!?" Joey yelled shocked.

"Oh no…" Yami gazed down at his fists, remembering what the man did. "He must have seen what Yugi truly cared about when he impelled his fist into Yugi."

"And what about this spell in today's world?" Joey asked. "We dunno when this bad guy is gonna tell us how to wake up Yugi. Could we have Yugi sent to the hospital and have him hooked up to machines or something? Maybe that can give us more time to find a cure for him."

"Perhaps," Ishizu agreed.

The image of his light being hooked up to machines burned Yami greatly. He had enough. He could not stand someone mistreating his friend. He did not know what Akana had seen, but he could not stand by of someone toying with Yugi's heart. He had to set things right. He at once stood up. "I must find that man who did this!"

He and Joey, who felt the same, rushed to the door.

"Pharaoh, wait!" Ishizu pleaded. She knew of the mission in mind, but she still had important information to deliver.

Joey and Yami were about to exit when they looked back. They gazed into her somber eyes, knowing she still needed to dispatch something important.

"You must wake him up but be careful; this will not be an easy task." the Egyptian woman advised. "To him, all will be perceived to be real. Many people who have broken the spell go mad, unable to handle this world. You must find a way to awaken him without hurting him too much."

The former pharaoh nodded, understanding his instructions. He sprinted out of the room with Joey right behind him. They were both determined to rescue their friend.

The sun beat down on the pair as wind rushed against them. They kept running and running, knowing every second that past would mean a closer minute until Yugi's possible death. They passed by many shops while avoiding crashing into other pedestrians. Yami huffed as his legs and chest charred, but his mission persisted him. He pondered about the possible aftermath, yet he was driven mad that someone was toying with his buddy's heart.

"Don't worry, Yami!" Joey assured as they raced across the city.

Yami remained mute but gave his attention to the tall student.

"We'll be there for you and Yugi for what this guy did to him!" Joey vowed.

Yami only nodded. He knew Yugi had urbanized a strong bond with anyone. They only needed to focus on defeating Akana, unaware of how close the battle was drawing.

Out in the distance Yami saw the game shop as they arrived closer and closer. Soon, he and Joey both saw a tall teen running towards them.

"Hey, it's Tristan!" Joey observed. He was right.

The tall brunette quickly met up with them.

"What's up?" Joey asked as he slowed down. "Any news with Yugi?"

"There's big trouble, guys." Tristan informed with a grim face.

"What's wrong?" Yami asked in concern.

"Yugi's been kidnapped," was all the teen could say.

"What!?"

The trio ran down faster to the scene of the crime.

"Tea told me someone broke a window and then there was gas everywhere," Tristan continued.

"It must be him!" Yami thought bitterly as his heart raced faster and faster as though it would burst out of his chest.

As they arrived, the group saw Tea and Solomon were outside.

The female adolescent stayed silent as she handed Yami a note written in Egyptian.

Pharaoh, meet me in the park tonight. Bring your deck as we will finally decide your fate.

- Akana.

P.S. If you chose not to show up, something even more horrific will happen to your precious treasure.

"Yugi!" the group yelled.

"Damn him." Yami mumbled as he crumpled the note in anger.

To be continued….