Author's Note: Well...I know its been a while, but here is another chapter. In my own little way I've tried to really inject the angst into this one as a way of saying sorry for the wait. It was never this angsty when I first wrote it I swear! Anywho, in the case that anyone reads this I may as well give you an explanation as to why I have taken so long in updating this. First off school started up for me a few weeks ago and now that I'm in sixth form I'm a bit rushed what with A levels! Also I have, in that time, been made editor of my school newspaper which has been cause for a lot of stress and time consumption over the last few weeks!

So that is why! Either way here is a real kicker of a chapter for you! I'll say a minumum of 11 reviews for this one and then you can have the next chapter (how evil am I!) although if you manage that in under three days you may have to wait since I'm off to France with school...Now then onward, to the angst!

Chapter 12

-:Simultaneous Loss:-

Each player sends the top card of their Deck to the Graveyard

Yugi slowly nodded his consent to Yami's request. He could feel his energy slowly being sucked away by the shadows. The shadows inside of him and the shadows around him. He was a single pinprick of light in timeless darkness, a lantern with its flame flickering and dying, ready to be consumed by the seemingly endless blackened space about it. Even nodding his head took a huge amount of effort, but he wasn't going to let Yami down, no matter what the cost. Very slowly Yugi dragged himself to his feet and looked at the cards Ieb had previously called his hand. He had to destroy all of his own monsters in this turn in order to open up his life points to Yami for the next turn. What made it worse was there was no surrender in shadow games. If there had been his task would have been much easier.

Yami watched as Yugi dragged himself to his feet. At that point both pride and fear swelled in the Pharaoh's heart. Pride because even when slowly dying Yugi still had his bravery and strength of heart. Fear because it seemed to take a lot for Yugi to pull himself up. Was Yugi fading faster than he had thought? If so his entire plan might backfire and he might loose Yugi altogether. As he looked over Yugi did look like he was going down hill quickly. It almost appeared as if he were disappearing, both literally and mentally. Was it that the shadows were closing in on him?

"You can do this aibou! " Yami encouraged his friend fiercely. "I trust you, my Hikari!" Once again a sense of pride washed over him. So many people under estimated Yugi, they saw him as weak. But he had his own brand of strength, the strength of purity and the courage of tenderness. There was no-one else in the world like Yugi, and at that moment in time Yami was overwhelmingly proud to know him.

Yugi swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. Blinking rapidly in order to stop his eyes slipping closed. He was exhausted but he knew his own life swung in the balance. All around him shadows were closing in, growing ever closer. He could hear them whispering in his ears. Telling him to just let go and let the darkness take care of him. He would never have to feel pain again. All would be calm, quiet and simple. The darkness would watch over him and make sure he never had to worry about anything, all he had to do was give up. It only took two words. 'I surrender' then the eternal night of the shadow realm would care for his soul forever. The shadows would take good care of him. Yugi smiled a little at that. He could just do with a simple, peaceful rest. The offer was too good to pass up. Suddenly the darkness about him seemed warm and inviting, just like slipping under bed covers in winter. Slowly Yugi moved his hand to the duel disk. All he had to do was surrender…just give up his soul…that wasn't too high a price to pay for eternal peace…was it? Just as Yugi settled into the cradle of shadow that the darkness was fashioning for his eternal sleep a voice rang out. It was a strong, confident voice and its words sparked a realisation in Yugi that brought him back from the brink in an instant. The shadows reeled back angrily, who was it that would dare shine a light in the endless darkness?

"I trust you, my hikari!" The words were a beacon to Yugi and suddenly he felt stronger. Hikari. Light. That was him, he was the light, the sunshine through the rain and the calm eye in the centre of the storm. Yugi's eyes were suddenly wide open and he drew in a breath.

"Your trust isn't misplaced Yami." Yugi said under his breath. Quickly Yugi cast and eye to Ieb's cards and then looked down at his duel disk. Three monsters. He would have to trigger some traps to get rid of them. Yugi drew a card to show the start of his turn. "Perfect." He said to himself, ignoring the fact that the world was shifting in front of him. "First I play Two Pronged Attack!" Yugi threw the card onto his duel disk. "Which means two of my monsters are destroyed so that I can take out one of yours! But since you have no monsters you won't loose any!" On Ieb's side of the field Skull Guardian and Spell Canceller shattered into sparkling fragments. Somewhere in the blur that was his vision Yugi could have sworn he saw Yami smile and Yugi smiled back weakly. He would never fail Yami, and this was no exception.

Next was Yami's turn. Looking to his hand the Pharaoh nodded to his friend. Everything would be over soon. Drawing a card Yami began his turn. It was dark magician. If Yugi was going to be beaten this would be the card to do it, the card that represented their friendship and the strength of their bond they shared. It was perfect.

"Using the card 'Curtain of dark magic' I summon the legendary Dark Magician!" With that the purple clad sorcerer appeared from behind the black curtain onto Yami's side of the field, Yami's life points ticked down to 350, halved by his use of 'Curtain of dark magic'. Yugi smiled a little to himself. Yami was even thinking about his dignity at this point. Of all monsters Yugi would be honoured to loose to Dark Magician and he knew that Yami knew that.

"Thank you." Yugi said quietly, since he had little energy left. Yami heard him though, and nodded with a small smile.

"Next I activate the spell card 'Thousand Knives' and I'll use it to destroy your face down monster!" Immediately knives flew across the field and one of Yugi's face down cards shattered, momentarily displaying Horus's servant before he exploded into coloured shards. Now there were two face downs left and only one monster on Yugi's side of the field. "Ready Yugi?" Yami asked with honest concern. Yugi nodded. "Right then, in that case Dark Magician, attack his Mudora! Dark magic attack!" Dark Magician immediately followed orders and a moment later Mudora disappeared, sending Yugi's life points plummeting down from 500 to 0.

The shadows were growing closer. Their darkness intensified as the essence of night swirled and fluctuated about the two duellists. Neither had noticed but the shadow realm was getting closer and closer to claiming a soul. Inside of Yugi's mind Ieb smiled in his soul room. He knew the workings of the shadow realm, after all he had lived there for over 5,000 years. The darkness was moving in to claim a soul, and it certainly was not going to be his. As quickly as he could Ieb darted out of his soul room and across the hallway, slamming Yugi's door and chanting something quietly as he knotted his thumbs together and placed his palms on the door. A moment later light lit up the seal on the door and Ieb smiled. Being an ancient Egyptian sorcerer did have its good points. With a grin on his face Ieb rushed back to his soul room and sealed the door from the inside with a similar magic. The Pharaoh would never forgive himself when he realised what winning his precious duel meant for Yugi.

Yami watched as Yugi's life points worked their way down to zero. This was it. Shadow games always judged the soul of opponent and punished them accordingly. Ieb would be banished and Yugi would finally be free. However, as Yugi's face scrunched up Yami suddenly knew it was not going to be that simple. Something was going wrong and panic was rising inside of him, tightening its grip on his heart.

"Yugi?" The Pharaoh asked, concern clear in his voice. "Yugi what is going on?" However when he got no answer Yami raced forward to his friend, holding him close. "Yugi please!" Yami almost yelled. Finally Yugi's face relaxed and he spoke quietly.

"I can't get in." He whispered, his strength being sapped by the force of the shadow realm. "He's locked me out of my room." It was then that the enormity of what Yugi was saying slapped the Pharaoh in the face. If Yugi couldn't get into his soul room then he couldn't swap Ieb into power. And if he couldn't force Ieb into control then…

"No!" Yami screamed, his eyes widening, his emotions rushing into his face and voice. "No! Yugi don't leave me!" The ancient spirit screamed out desperately, his heart breaking. Yugi smiled softly, his eyes slipping closed.

"Its ok." He breathed as his soul was pulled out of his body and into the darkness. "Its not your fault." Yami tightened his grip on Yugi, embracing him as if that would prevent him from leaving. Tears were streaming down his face and Yami made no attempt to stop them. "I know you'll find a way Yami." Yugi whispered, "I trust you." With that he went limp in Yami's arms, empty and lifeless. Yugi Moto was gone.

"Y..yugi…?" Yami sobbed, clasping his best friend's body close to him. He had just sent Yugi to the shadow realm. His closest friend, his host, his soul partner was gone to a place worse than death, and it was all his fault. Now there was nothing holding him back. Yami let Yugi's limp body slip to the ground then he threw back his head and screamed. He would never forgive himself. Ieb had beaten him. Finally he knew what was most precious in his life, what Ieb had planned to take from him all along. But for Yugi Yami's sudden realisation was too little too late.

Reviwer's Section:

gowb: Lol /scurries off to look at gowb's stories/ I'm sure you are an awesome writter! Don't be self consious! As to an update pattern... /blushes/ I am unfortunately lacking in one of those...however I may have one for my next story! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter...if you could call it enjoyment lol. Yes, I am evil to Yugi, but it is only because I love him so much lol/glomps Yugi who glares at Trikki/

Yami Yuugi: I'm glad you like Lafayette/cuddles moody looking bunny/ I'm close to starting up on his story very soon! As to what Ieb had in mind...here it is! Is it 'under control' err...I'll let you be the judge of that...but from where I'm sitting Yami doesn't seem too in control lol! I'm touched that you think my characterisation is good /blushes/ really made me smile with that comment! Thanks for the episode by the way, and I can't wait to see what you come up with for the trade! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope to hear from you soon!

Coco Gash Niccals: /Ruffles Ieb's hair/ Little tyke, gets so over excited. /Ieb glares at her/ Anyways, yes, questing...ONWARD! P.S hope you liked th chapter and that the angsty-ness didn't kill you...or Yugi... /Prods Yugi who is lying in shock on the floor/ Err...Yami? Come here and kick him till he wakes up will you?

Masami Mistress of Fire: What are you talking about...Yugi's fine/Read chapter/ Er...Yugi will be fine/Reads future chapters and winces/ Ah...eventually! Hope you liked the chapter! and er...update soon!

Cactus Bob: /salavates/ Brownies...mmmm... Anyways, about Ieb! Yes he is an unhinged, revenge obsessed ancient spirit, but you can't hold that against him! I'm sure you'll grow to love him eventually!...or something like that lol

dragonlady222: Your wish is my command! Yugi did manage to loose sucsessfully...however I'm not quite sure that the outcome was what you were looking for lol, don't worry, everything will be alright in the end I think!

cheekyeyes: I did say that it was going to get pretty heavy on the Yami self blame front...I hope it didn't put you off too much! There's a nice fight scene coming up though that is worth hanging around for! As to the speed of my updates well...er.../coughs/ they've not been too hot recently, but I hope to get better!

Psycho Kage Suma: I'm glad! I hope you really enjoyed it and that you continue to enjoy the chapters in the future!

Yimi Makuya: Well, well, well! Someone is on the ball! This chapter will have no doubt answered your question! I hope you liked it, but try not too guess too many plot points hmm/winks/

Well, once again thanks for your reviews and your patience guys! I hope to have the next chapter up shortly! I am penning the penultimate one as you read this right now! The tension is rising! See you next chapter!

Trikki