YEAH BUDDY I UPDATED. SURPRISED? SO AM I :D
Well, here's your chapter! ^^ sorry for how late this was. It wasn't as late as the last chapter was, but I was messing with this chapter because I felt it was a bit rushed in the beginning… I still didn't like how it turned out for the first part, but the rest of it is pretty good. Also, lots of dialogue… :) Enjoy!


Yami was still in disbelief that his father was here; he had thought that he'd never see him again. Of course, there was still the afterlife, but Yami was still not sure if he'd actually meet up with everyone from him past. He had faith, yes, but there was always this lingering sliver of doubt. He'd have to ask his father about this.

He looked up at his father, "Father… What's it like in the afterlife?" he asked. It wasn't exactly what he'd wanted to ask for sure, but regardless, he was still curious.

"Well, first off it-"he was cut off suddenly. His eyes grew to huge saucers, like something was wrong.

"Father, please, tell me what's wrong." He urged. His father looked at him with fear in his eyes, He couldn't respond, Yami realized, and before Yami knew it, his father's figure began to faze, almost like a hologram skipping. "No!" Yami shouted, "Stay with me, father!"

Yami's father's eyes softened, and he smiled. It was like he was telling Yami that everything would be ok, so, why didn't he feel alright? He felt like his heart was being pulled again, like he was losing something he just got back. His father, he realized, he'd just gained back his father and now he was losing him once more. He was dead, and was talking to him as a spirit. But, was it real? Now that he thought about it, the beach wasn't very realistic, and the water? Well, he didn't want to think about the water.

Before Yami's father was completely gone, he heard a voice drift over to him; it was faint, but he could still hear. "Be safe, my son. I'm always looking out for you."

Yami felt tears well up in his eyes, but he refused to shed tears; he had to be strong, and if he wanted to make it out and get Yugi, he'd have to focus.

How did he get here? Kuriboh had guided him to a rippling vortex of sorts. Who was here? His father. Was there a meaning behind that? How did he get here? If it was a trap… he'd never forgive himself for falling into one. If it was real… he didn't know. Nevertheless, he'd have to move on in order to continue. So, the real question was how to get out of this and get back to where he had been before with King Oren and Queen Izumi. He thought about what was going on there, but he couldn't really guess. It seemed though, less than an hour ago, he'd been with the King and Queen, but just a few seconds ago, he'd been on the island, and then stepped into the ripple.

Was the ripple for anything specific? Was it just space? No, there had to be some type of purpose, some type of explanation as to where he was. But, where exactly was he? Everything that surrounded him was black. Black floor, black walls… but wait. It didn't feel like he was trapped. It felt more like… He had his eye lids closed. He could see, but there was nothing to see. Just blackness was what remained.

Yami started to feel exhausted. He needed to stop asking questions and listing the things he knew. He had to find a way to get out of this mess. He sat on the black floor- if you could even call it a floor.

He hadn't even begun to sort through what he knew before there was another rippling vortex that formed in front of him. What he saw didn't process in his mind until after it happened.

A young girl, around Yugi's height, probably around the age of eleven, was forced through the ripple, and she collapsed on her hands and knees. "No!" she screamed in frustration. "Not this place again! I hate this!" she shouted in outrage.

Three… Two… One… Zero. Yami jumped to his feet, realizing what happened. There was a girl, and she'd been here before. Had she gotten out then? It had to be that. Maybe she knew the way out of here!

When he moved to get to his feet, the girl seemed to notice that he was there. She took a step back, like she was frightened of him. "W-Who are you?" the girl started. Yami thought a moment as he analyzed whether to trust her. She was wearing a bright red shirt with big stars covering the front, and she was wearing a thigh-length white skirt. Her shoes were actually working boots with laces; they were brown and they came up almost to her knees. Her hair was a pretty black colour tied in pig tails with ribbons. She also had the boldest and prettiest eyes he had ever seen. Her stance showed confidence, but her eyes betrayed her and showed her true fear and confusion. She was also staring at him, expecting an answer to her question no doubt.

"My name… It's Yami," he began, "And who might you be?" he questioned curiously.

The girl smiled shyly then, "My name's Kali," she said in a small voice, "Kali Kohanna."

"Pretty name," Yami commented, He did this to make her feel a little more relaxed, but he did mean it. Her name was pretty.

"Thank you," she replied with a happy smile.

Yami nodded, "So… how'd you get here? Why are you here?" he asked as politely and as friendly as he always did when he was around strangers.

Kali thought about this a moment, "I don't really…" she let her sentence drop, "Wait a minute…" she said, and her eyes started to grow rounder as she stared at him.

"What is it?" Yami asked, concerned.

"Y-You're…" Kali backed away from Yami slowly. Yami stared in confusion, "I'm what?" he asked.

"Y-You're…"she shook her head. "You lied to me,"

"Lied?" he asked, "About what?"

She took a breath, "You aren't Yami, are you?"

Yami was momentarily startled, "What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"You're Yugi! You're the one who was working with… them!" Kali shouted.

Yami's eyes widened. "Yugi!?" he exclaimed, "You know who Yugi is?!"

Kali's retreating steps faltered for a moment, "What are you talking about? You act as if you aren't him… But you look exactly like him! You have to be Yugi!" she shouted.

Yami just shook his head, "No, I'm not."

"H-How then…?" she questioned.

Yami sat on the black floor again, and signaled for her to join him by patting the 'floor' beside him. "I'll explain, if you'll let me," he said in a calm voice. Kali seemed to debate this, but then made up her mind by hesitantly making her way over to him, and sitting down beside him.


Kali sat there, stunned. "So… You're an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh from a five-thousand year old artifact?" Yami simply nodded and she turned to him.

"Ok, so let me get this straight," she murmured. "Not only were you a pharaoh, but you lost your memory as well?" she questioned, her expression clearly puzzled. "So, wait... how did you lose your memory then? Did you save the world or something?" Kali asked.

Yami sighed, all signs that he came across told him that was the case, "To be honest, I have no clue. I don't know who I am, and I don't know anything about my past… or even my real name."

"So, your name isn't really Yami then?"

"For all I know, it could be, or it could be something completely different."

"Well," Kali shifted her position on the ground, "How do you know you're a Pharaoh from Ancient Egypt then?"

Yami thought a moment, trying to word his thoughts correctly to a young girl, "It makes sense," he concluded, "And, every bad guy I face calls me 'Pharaoh' and mentions to me why he wants to destroy me; revenge of sorts, I guess… and there were mentions of Ancient Egypt as well." He finished.

"All of them?" Kali asked, "The bad guys, I mean."

"Uh-huh," he confirmed.

"Huh, well, you must be a Pharaoh then," she paused for a moment, "You must have done something really big in order to have had other people want revenge," she said.

Yami pondered this. "Hmmm… I never thought about that before,"

Kali blinked, she then stood. "Well, I say you're an ok guy. I feel that I can trust you now that I know a bit about you." She said warmly; she smiled down at him. Yami returned the smile, but then, when he asked about her story and how she got to where he was, she immediately let her face fall.

"It's honestly a long story," she replied. Yami shrugged, "You listened to me, so it's only fair that I listen to you; plus," he added, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in how you came to be here."

Kali cracked a small smile, "Ok then, where to start…" she sat down again and started thinking hard.

"Have you ever met Mira or Sora?" she began.

Yami's expression darkened. He could already kind of guess that something had happened and Mira was responsible.

"Mira, I have personally met," he answered, "And Sora? I heard of her briefly…"

"That's to be expected," She confirmed, "Sora doesn't do much."

Yami raised his eyebrow, "How so?"

"Well," Kali started nervously, "Sora… She's, well, I wouldn't say she's actually a good person, but she's not exactly bad either..." and in barely a whisper, she quickly added on, "And Sora and Mira are my cousins."

Yami's eyes had widened, he didn't hear what she had whispered correctly, he had only heard the first part: Sora being bad…

"Yugi's in danger," he whispered, deep emotion surging through his voice. He lurched to his feet, and started desperately looking for an exit. There had to be some way to get out of this. He started running everywhere, even though he knew it was probably useless; there wouldn't be any exit signs, there would be no guide, or easy way out. He'd have to make his own way and get out. His rapid heartbeat seemed to want to explode from his chest when he realized this. It was probably due to the urgency and desperation he was feeling.

"Wait!" Kali called after him suddenly. He heard panting behind him; when he glanced back, he realized that she had gotten up from the floor, and had raced after him. "Yami!" she called, "What did you just say?!"

Yami slowed and halted. Kali caught up then; they were both panting due to the hard running. As Yami caught his breath, he replied to her: "I said that… Yugi was in danger," he repeated.

Kali raised her eyebrow, "How?"

"Yugi… the day I met this little boy… I had seen… a crystal ball of sorts…" he said, still trying his best to make out a full sentence, but he paused a moment.

"That isn't a crystal ball," Kali answered before Yami continued, "I guess for you though, it would be kind of considered as a telephone,"

Yami blinked, and then continued. "I looked in it, and saw Yugi; I was somehow able to communicate to him with my thoughts though. When our conversation ended, he said…" Yami gulped then, "He said that he was ok thanks to a friend he would trust with his life… Sora."

Kali's eyes widened in fear, "Oh no…" was all she could say. Worry was clear in her expression, however. At this point, everything seemed clear to him, as well as Kali. They made a silent agreement between each other. They would have to find Yugi and get him back safely.

It was oddly comforting to know that he wasn't the only one in a desperate search to find Yugi. Still, though, why would she want to find Yugi so badly? Do they know each other?

Perhaps she's just heard of him before, and when I brought Yugi up she felt that he was important… yeah, that makes sense. He thought.

Kali began to roam around, probably looking around for a possible exit, Yami didn't know.

"Kali," he addressed her, "Do you… know Yugi?" he asked."

She halted, and turned her gaze towards him. "On a level…" she answered carefully.

Yami cocked his head to the side, "What do you mean by that?"

She sighed, "That's quite a tale as well."

"Is there any basics you could tell me, then?"

"It wouldn't make sense,"

"Why not?"

"It's a story, Yami, not information." Kali said with a sigh of irritation.

Yami groaned, "We don't have time for that, then…" but Kali seemed to be mulling it over, "We might…" she replied.

"What?"

"Well, I was in her before, I remember, so we might have time to squeeze in another story…" she said.

"You were in here before?" he questioned, he had guessed the first time, but it seemed his guess was correct.

"Yes…" she replied.

"How'd you get out?"

"I didn't get out by myself…" she said; Yami gazed at her curiously, trying to figure out all the possible ways she could get out with another person. After a while he seemed stumped.

"How then?"

"Well," Kali began, "My Aunt discovered me by accident, and she freed me." Kali said simply.

"And…? Who was your Aunt? Maybe she'll be able to help." Yami suggested.

Kali shook her head, "She won't be able to help," She paused for a moment, gathering her words to answer his questions. "My aunt?" she thought, "I know you met her once…"

Yami thought about this for a minute, "Was I here in your time?" Kali's only reply to this was a nod.

Yami sighed, the only person he could think of who might qualify was the King and Queen… but wait, didn't Kali say that Sora and Mira were her cousins? He knew that Mira's mother was the Queen, so… then it must be her… right? He asked her just to make sure, and she nodded again. So, then that solves that mystery…

"Queen Izumi's your Aunt," Yami stated again, "Yes," Kali repeated. "I knew you had met her before," she added.

"It took me a while to figure it out, but I narrowed it down," Yami said in a light hearted tone. Kali smiled a little, but her smile fell a little as she dove into her thoughts. Both Yami and Kali stood in silence for a few moments, thinking about their next actions.

"We need to get out of here and find Yugi." Kali stated. Yami nodded in agreement.

"You were saying that your Aunt got you out… So, how can we get her here to get us out?" Yami questioned.

Kali shook her head sadly, "She was able to get me out by waking me up; she just happened to come across my body, and she shook me awake," Kali answered.

Yami couldn't help but feel a little surprised by this answer, "Waking you up? So, you mean we're asleep now?"

Kali nodded, "Yes, kind of. Our minds are somehow connected though, allowing us to communicate."

"But what about the running? I ran out of breath-"

"Brain signals," Kali cut him off, "What your brain thinks you are doing causes your body to react. When your mind thinks you're doing hard activity-running for example- your heart rate increases, causing the blood to flow through your body even faster, The simple fact that your heart is pumping so fast, causes that drained feeling. Instinct, if you will." She stated.

"Oh," was Yami's startled response. Since Kali appeared to be only ten, it seemed she was smarter than she looked. "Is there a way we can wake up ourselves, then?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Kali thought, "But, from what I understand, we need to be woken up from the outside."

"Hmm," Yami thought, "My Millennium Puzzle is on my body… but it's not on me at the moment- Uh, what do we do when we wake up?"

Kali seemed to be debating internally about this.

"You'll probably have to find me first," Kali said.

"What do you mean 'find you'?!" Yami exclaimed; Kali closed her eyes for a minute, before opening them again, ready with a response.

"I know I'm a little kid, and I may not be too good at thinking things through, but I just have this feeling that just because our minds are linked, it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to be near each other." Kali reasoned.

"That makes sense," Yami agreed, "But how are our minds linked then?"

"I've no idea," Kali answered.

"Ok then…" Yami fell silent again, trying to think up what to do next.

"After you find me, I guess our next priority would be to look for Yugi." Kali planned.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. But then, after that, things will start to get a little complicated." He warned.

Kali just stared blankly at Yami, "But isn't our only goal to save Yugi?" she questioned.

Yami shook his head, "Remember what I told you about the Millennium Items when I explained to you who I was?"

Kali's eyes suddenly lit up with realization, "Oh! They were all taken away, along with everyone that ever knew about them… except you and your Puzzle… it's the only one left…"

Yami nodded, confirming everything she stated, "And, I aim to save everyone and get the Millennium Items back."

Kali nodded, "If you'll have me, I'd like to help you any way I can," she hesitated, then added on quickly, "I know I'm only ten, but I can do a lot and I can-"

"You can help me," Yami cut her off. Kali's eyes sparkled in delight. "Really!?" she exclaimed happily; there was no way she could possibly hide the glint of excitement and happiness in her gaze.

Yami nodded, "Yes, once we get out of here that is,"

He was about to start planning how he was going to work out how exactly he was going to wake up, when a sudden thought struck him.

"Kali, if you aren't near me, I'm going to have to find you, correct?" She nodded to this.

"Alright, what is the last place you remember being at?"

Kali thought for a moment, then she winced a little and gave a big shudder.

"I…" her eyes started to grow rounder, and started to water a little. "I actually…" tears then started to fall from her eyes, "I may not be able to help you after all…" She then collapsed into sobs and Yami took her into his arms and hugged her. He gently petted her hair and rocked her from side to side-something he had tried to do when Yugi was upset, but he then found out that he couldn't physically touch him at the time.

"Shhh… It's ok, calm down." He whispered as he hugged the girl even tighter to his chest. He didn't like it when anyone cried, or got upset. He didn't know if he was that way when he was Pharaoh, but nevertheless, it's what he felt now.

Kali tried to calm herself as best as she could, and eventually succeeded, but she was panting and hiccupping due to how hard she had been crying.

"Can you tell me why you may not be able to come?" Yami asked in a soft voice.

Kali buried her tear-streaked face into the front of Yami's T-shirt. "I was taken into a secret room with my brother and sister… I could see Yugi there too, but he was unconscious, laying next to the wall," Now that concerned Yami, but he let her continue, "Mira strapped me to a table…" she paused, trying to even out her breathing, trying to prepare herself for the next big part to tell. "My brother and sister were forced to watch… Both Mira and Sora… they were…" Kali took a deep breath then and finished her sentence with the last of her strength. "They were killing me!" She then collapsed into racking sobs in Yami's T-shirt again.

"I can't remember what happened after that," Kali managed to gasp out a few minutes later.

Yami mulled this over, "Well," he reasoned, "How would you be here if you were dead? You said so yourself that our minds were linked. If you were dead, you would have no mind to link to."

"W-What?"

"If our minds are connected like you say, then you would have to be alive in order to have that link, right?"

She looked up at him; she was still being squished against him.

"I'll find you, I promise," Yami reassured her.

She smiled a little through her fading tears, "Ok, I'll hold you to that,"

Yami then released his grip on her and she broke away.

"I'll wait here for you until you wake me up." She said.

"Is there any specific way to wake you up?" Yami asked, but she shook her head no.

"I guess you try to wake me up however you can," then a bolt of curiosity shot through her, "Wait… How do you plan to wake up?"

"A theory of mine… Which I'm counting on," Yami answered. "I've no idea if it'll work or not, but I think my Millennium Puzzle can wake me up."

She nodded, "I think it'll work, from how powerful you tell me these items are, I'm pretty sure it'll work."

Yami nodded, "If you have faith, then so do I. I'll see you soon."

"I'll wait for you." Was the last thing she said to him as she sat back down on the dark ground.

Yami stood still, closed his eyes, and clutched at the place where he knew the Millennium Puzzle would be on his actual body. It was hard to believe that this body he had currently was just a projection from his mind. It felt so… solid.

He pushed that thought to the back of his mind, and tried to concentrate solely on the Millennium Puzzle. He heard a tiny gasp, and he cracked open his eyes a little to see that he had a faint glow around him. He shut his eyes again, and tried to focus harder on the Puzzle; he even started pleading to it in his mind.

Millennium Puzzle, he thought, Please, I can't do this alone. Wake me up. Please!" He begged. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, Please! He shouted internally.

There was a sudden burst of light that even Yami could see from underneath his eyelids.


As the light receded, he tentatively opened his eyes. To his amazement, he was in the same place he collapsed in the first place. No one was there, though. It just seemed like they had left him there, however, it didn't seem at all like the King and Queen would do something like that. Something was definitely wrong.

He wanted to investigate more, but his first priority was Kali. He never went back on a promise, and he had promised her that he would find her and wake her up.

As his mind began to function and process the events, his surroundings reminded him of what happened before he had passed out; he had been hearing things. But what were they? He remembered the Queen telling him about the servants- err, Waythers. But, when he had looked out the entrance to the big throne room, he saw servant people- but only he could see them. Was it possible that he was seeing spirits? Was it possible that it was Yugi screaming back then? If it was Yugi, that meant he was already in trouble. This meant that he would have to find Kali quickly, so that they could search for Yugi together.

He stood up, a little too quickly; He swayed, getting a momentary headache and a drop in blood pressure- causing his vision to go black for a few seconds. He looked down at his clothes, checking to see if he was presentable. There was a little dust on his pants, probably from being on the floor, and then he noticed red splotches on the ground; at the sight, his hand raced up to one of his ears, and he tentatively touched it. It felt crusty, and from the feel of his neck, and the feel of his shoulders of his coat, it became painfully obvious that his ears had been bleeding for quite a while. He bent down on one knee and glided his fingers across the red area- the dried up blood.

As Yami felt the blood, he came to the conclusion that he had been out for a longer period of time than he had thought. He had thought that he was out for at least two or three hours at the most, but no. He was out for at least three days.

He had to hurry; he had no idea where to even go, what time it was, or where he was even going to start. First things first, though, he had to find Kali like he had promised.

He got to his feet again and tried to walk at the fastest pace he could go at the moment, which, was only a half-stumbling speed walk.

He got to the hallway and saw four different directions he could go.

Damn he thought, which way do I go?

He was about to turn left upon remembering he had walked in the first time by the right, when all of a sudden he saw a familiar face. A very familiar face. One he had been looking forward to seeing. He froze in place again, letting the person draw nearer to him.

"Y-Yugi?!" Yami exclaimed, "Y-You're alright?!"

Yugi stood there a minute, his eyes widening. "Yami! Yeah, I'm fine. How did you-?"

Yami cut him off, "Yugi, we have to find the others and get out of here."

Yugi just nodded.

"But… First, I'd like to find Kali."

"No, you can't!" Yugi exclaimed suddenly; Yami's expression grew confused and surprised. "Why not? Kali's on our side…"Yami said.

"No…" was Yugi's reply.

"Yugi, I couldn't sense any evil come from her, and she was even able to have our minds connected, which, doesn't usually happen when that person is evil."

Yugi sighed, "Never mind, let's go get her then…" A pause, "…Where is she?"

Yami thought about where she could be, and that room… but Yugi probably wouldn't know, Kali had said he was unconscious… which he decided that he would talk to Yugi about later.

"The Infirmary?" Yami guessed.

"We can't go there." Yugi said abruptly.

"Why not?"

"People. They'd see us." Yugi stated simply.

"Hmmm…" Yami thought, then an idea came to him. "What if we pretended to be Waythers?" he suggested.

Yugi stared at him a while, blankly. His expression didn't give off anything. Not even confusion or uncertainty. It was just… blank. Yami began to feel a bit unnerved by this, because he'd never seen Yugi stare at him like that, and never for so long. It almost seemed like he was glaring rather than staring, now that he thought about it…

"Yugi?"

Yugi blinked, "Uh…Yeah… Sure, I guess we could start there."

Yami nodded, trying to forget what had just happened, "Alright, any idea on how to do that?"

"Well," Yugi began, "We don't need to dress up, just change a few things. Then, I guess we just show up and pretend to be on a job…" Yugi guessed.

"hmm… Alright then. What can we change?"

Yugi tugged at Yami's blue jacket, "You'll need to take that off, it's caked in blood."

"Uh, right…" was Yami's response. He waited for a type of comment or some form of concern to appear in Yugi's eyes like usual… but nothing happened.

As Yami slipped his jacked off, he thought it was odd- Yugi seemed to be acting very strangely. If he knew Yugi like he thought he did, Yugi ought to be at least curious as to how he was bloody- it seemed Yugi was always concerned about Yami's safety… Of course Yami didn't always agree with this, but Yami found that he missed Yugi's concern. Yugi always made him feel as if there was someone who actually cared about his well-being.

He must have changed a lot, Yami realized, the future must have done this to him. Seeing how everyone has acted for so long, and the fact that he was around Sora doesn't help either.

But then, thoughts of Sora appeared in his mind. Wasn't Sora evil as well? How could he be here if Sora had a tight leash on him?

"Next, is to get you cleaned up," Yugi interrupted his thought train.

"Right," was his response. He decided to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. Yugi was with him, and by all means, Yugi would stay with him, not matter what happened.


As Yami and Yugi exited the bathroom, which they had entered upon Yugi shoving Yami inside in order to clean up, they both looked better than when they had first walked in. Yami's blood was scrubbed off carefully; Yugi would watch and tell Yami if he missed a spot- Yugi didn't seem too keen on touching Yami's blood. Yet another odd thing. Yami had a body of his own now, and Yugi did as well; Yami would have thought that Yugi would have been at least happy to see him, and want to hug him- Yugi always said that he wanted to physically hug him, though, this was a while ago, so he wouldn't be too surprised if Yugi's thoughts changed.

"This way," Yugi directed. Once they had left the bathroom that was just a few meters away from where they stood outside the Throne Room before, they turned right to continue down the hallway.

The hallway was huge, there were many paintings on the walls; they were very detailed portraits that were painted. The very first two portraits he saw were of King Oren and Queen Izumi themselves. There were others as they walked along; a few were flipped around so as to never be seen, and a few were removed all together. As Yami hurried down the hallway, Yugi suddenly stopped, causing Yami to bump into him.

"Hey Yugi…?"

"Nothing, come on, hurry." Was his quick response. He then started to speed walk, which was very odd. Yami tried to keep up but his body still wasn't fully recovered from his collapse not too long ago.

"Wait! Yugi! Slow down!" He shouted, because as he was thinking this, Yugi's pace kept on increasing. Yugi did hear him however, because he had turned back to shout: "Yami! Please hurry!"

He sounded… scared? Of what though? He couldn't feel any presence…

He finally lost sight of Yugi five minutes later, and he stopped to catch his breath. He was breathing quite heavily for barely a speed walk.

"Damn," he cursed aloud, "How am I gonna find Kali now?"

As he gathered his breath, he felt a small tug on his sleeve. He turned around in alarm, scared out of his wits, but he was met with two familiar faces.

"Yami? Where are you off to?" came a small boy's voice.

"Shiro, nice to see you again," he said, smiling, then added, "I'm looking for someone is all… where's your sister?"

Shiro looked up with his innocent round eyes, then he looked over his shoulder, and low and behold, there stood Miki. She gave a tiny wave, and Yami seconded that motion back to her.

"Alright, well, I best be going. Yugi ran off without me so I have to catch up." Yami told them.

"You found him!?" both Miki and Shiro exclaimed.

"Actually, technically, we ran into each other." Yami corrected.

Miki and Shiro looked at each other, then, "Take us to him,"

Yami was rather taken aback by this demand, but nodded. It had to have been something important if they were in that much of a hurry to get to Yugi.

He hurried down the corridor as fast as his legs would carry him, stumbling along the way. Miki and Shiro went to either side of him and wrapped both his arms around one of their shoulders to support him. He glanced at them gratefully.

"Where were you off to? Any specific destination? That friend of yours, we'll help you find her if you want…" Miki said.

"Thank you, I'd like the help." He smiled. He then thought a moment, "Yugi and I were headed to the infirmary…"

Shiro looked up at him, "Why the Infirmary?" he questioned. Yami tried to shrug, but couldn't. "Dunno," he voiced instead. "It's a place where she could be."


"Here, the Infirmary's here." Miki whispered as they stopped by the nearest door. Yami slid in behind Miki as she entered, and Shiro slid in behind Yami. He was surprised to see the place swarming with activity.

There were a few nurses dressed in white, running to gather mini oxygen tanks with masks attached to them, and blood bags. From Yami's knowledge, he wasn't too sure what they were for, and few other nurses grabbed something else Yami didn't recognize, but he did notice them grabbing several bags of clear liquid- fluid, he realized. One of the nurses glanced at them; she has brown hair and brown eyes, almost an exact replica of Tea, only she was shorter.

Seeing as they didn't need anything, she snatched up a bag of fluid from the nearest drawer, and disappeared behind a white curtain.

Yami, Miki and Shiro all looked at each other, and, with a nod from all three of them, they made a silent decision to follow her.

It may lead to people from my time, and with luck, Yugi could be there with Kali waiting for me. He thought hopefully.

Miki and Shiro tugged him along, but a clear voice rang out across the room, "No! Don't!"

Yami and the siblings all froze and whipped their heads around.

"Yami!" the voice shouted angrily.

To Yami's astonishment, it was Yugi who had called out.

"Why not?" Yami called back. Yugi was standing at the opposite end of the room, which was connected by yet another doorway.

"Because, Just trust me." He said in a rather annoyed voice.

Yami had never known Yugi to act annoyed with him before, or even angry towards him. The Yugi he knew would have a calm voice, telling him that it was strictly 'not ok' to do something, and it was never 'just because'. Nevertheless, Yami brushed it to the back of his mind.

"Tell me what's behind the curtain at least?"

Yami thought he saw a flicker of uncertainty and fear flash before Yugi's eyes.

"Sick people on the verge of death," was Yugi's scared whisper of a response. Yami could hear Yugi, but it didn't seem like he was trying too hard to be heard. He had then heard Yugi mumble something about 'being in there once' which made Yami very uneasy and sad for the young boy. No one deserved to be kept in a room full of half dead people.

"He's right," Miki whispered sadly, "From time to time, the nurses and doctors rush patients in there who look half dead already."

"I see…" Yami thought, "but-"

"You're going in there anyway aren't you?" Shiro guessed.

Yami nodded, "Y-Yeah, I'm still a little curious, and," he added, "My friend may be in there…"

There was a shuffle of movement out of the corner of Yami's eye. He turned to look, and where Yugi should have been, was an empty doorway. He heard retreating feet that sped into a run. He made to go after him, but a soft, fast paced beeping sounded from the room behind the curtain. His head swiveled back when he heard loud voices over the top of the beeping.

"If your friend is in there, they won't let her leave, even if you ask politely." Miki commented, "That beeping is someone's heart monitor. If your friend is in there, this could be the perfect opportunity-"

"But what if it's her heart monitor?! What then?" he shouted in alarm.

"Well…" Miki trailed off. "If we're going to go in and get her, we should probably do it now." Shiro interrupted.

"Right," Miki and Yami said in unison.

Shiro disappeared behind the curtain, while Miki and Yami waited for the 'clear' signal. When Shiro did give the signal, Yami and Miki both darted behind the curtain just in time to catch Shiro opening the metal door. There were no windows behind the curtain, so he couldn't see anything that was going on until he was inside.

When he entered the room, he found it to be bigger than he expected it to be; it was as big as the Throne Room. There were rows of beds, but they were all spaced out with machines on either side. Many people lay on the beds with tubes all over their bodies and breathing masks on their faces.

The beeping noise he had heard before had increased in volume, and the number of nurses were now increased due to the doctors that had joined them. Yami tried to pinpoint where the beeping was coming from, and found that where the nurses and doctors were gathering the most was around one particular bed. He couldn't see who was laying on the bed though, due to how many people who were blocking his view.

He was about to go up and push his way through, he didn't know why, but he heard a wail in the background. It was not a wail of pain, it was a wail of grief.
He turned around though to see Miki and Shiro flopped over a bed, hugging each other and someone beneath them. He walked over to them and pulled both Shiro and Miki away. When he looked at the person they were hugging, he let out a barely audible gasp. There, lying on top of the covers was Kali. She had only an oxygen mask on with a portable oxygen tank beside the bed. She wasn't changed, like all the other patients. She had on exactly what she had on when they met. She had on her red tank top with yellow stars and her white knee-length skirt, however, her shoes were off. What made him feel a stab of sorrow, was the condition of the clothes she was wearing. Her clothes were caked in blood- more than he had when he woke up. It actually looked like she had described; Mira and Sora did seem to try their best at killing her.

"Kali," he breathed. He quickly picked up the oxygen tank, which he gave to the shocked and startled Miki and Shiro. They seemed to be in a daze, but they looked like they knew what was going on, and held the tank.

Yami scooped Kali's body up as gently as he could; sideways so that her side was facing towards his front- Tea and the others would probably call it 'bridal style' even though it didn't feel that way.

He found Kali to be lighter than he thought she would be, though, considering that she was still a child, it wasn't too much of a surprise for Yami.

On his way out, he passed several other people, but there were only two who he recognized: The King and Queen, side by side; their beds were pushed together and were especially big.
When Yami first saw the two, he made an effort to walk a little faster and not pay too much attention. If it were true that Queen Izumi and King Oren were the Aunt and Uncle of Kali, then it must be the same for Miki and Shiro.
Luckily a few nurses came over and blocked their view as they walked past. But what struck an odd chord in him was the fact that no one seemed to notice Yami, or the others.

He wouldn't blame them though. The beeping was still going on- they hadn't been in the room that long anyway. As Yami exited, he heard the doctor shout 'Clear!' and there was a high pitched noise and then a thump.

When Yami left the room completely, he could still hear the doctor shouting 'Clear!'

He thought about the King and Queen, eventually he'd come back for them; they were nothing but kind to him and he thought he should try to help them as best as he could, though, why they were even in there in the first place was beyond him.

After Kali woke up, and after he found Yugi, they would all work together to free everyone taken from their time, as well as the Millennium Items, and stop all this madness once and for all.


Yami set Kali down on a couch inside Miki and Shiro's bedroom. When they were exiting, Yami wasn't sure which way to go, so Miki mentioned that their room was closest and a safe place to stay just in case. The door connecting Miki and Shiro's room to the hallway was slightly ajar, and from time to time there were footsteps outside, walking past from one end of the hallway to the other.

Just when Yami thought he could go about waking Kali up, he heard something. Footsteps. By the sound of it, there were lowered voices sounding. Waythers no doubt.

"Shhh," he whispered to Miki and Shiro when they struck up a conversation. He wasn't exactly sure what piqued his interest in the voices outside the room, but he ignored the lingering question. Two female voices were sounding.

"-Was Scary," One of the girls whispered.

"I know, I heard the poor thing almost died. If it hadn't been for Vix, the poor boy would have died for sure," the other one whispered back.

"Agreed Yume, but… he's still pretty strange. Ya ever saw a boy like him?"

The one named Yume was silent for a few moments. "Nah, I've never seen anyone with that odd'a clothing,"

"Who'd ya think it was?" the other girl asked quietly.

"Dunno," Yume responded, "I saw the boy right outside the first dorm of the Wayther area; he was screamin' so loud my eardrums almost burst,"

"Did ya hear that Sora was with 'em? Cryin' even?"

"Naw! Really? She don't cry… But, She mention a name to ya?"

"Yeah, I think so; She told Vix when he asked about the name,"

"And?"

"Yugi Matta or something or other…"

Yami's whole body froze in place. He couldn't move. This was so shocking, he couldn't even blink. His body felt tense. All sound- including the women's voices, were drowned out by a sickening feeling of dread.
He knew that the person the women were talking about was Yugi… was he still alive? Did he make it through? It hurt him to think he had just been there not too long ago, and thought of the whole situation to be a good thing so he could get Kali out of there… even then he had heard the doctor, probably Vix, shouting 'Clear!', and it didn't even faze him when it should have.

The whole time. The whole time it was Yugi. Yugi was the one dying. He was dying and there was not a single thing he could do about it.

A sudden thought struck him though, a thought that turned his blood to ice. Yugi, he was fine before, even standing by the doorway when they had first heard the beeping. So… was it really Yugi in that bed, then? Or, was there really two Yugi's? If there were two, then which one was the right one?

Yami couldn't think anymore. He was so confused now, that he didn't know what to do next. Was the half-dead Yugi the real one? Or was it the other one? Or neither…?
All these thoughts made him get a pounding headache that made him want to curl into a ball and cry.


Soo… XD yes. I was sort of happy with how this turned out, but I didn't like the first part…

Anyway, I wanted you to know that on my profile, I have a poll set out about this story, and I'd very much like for you to vote!

Also, a few thoughts for next chapter:

1. Which Yugi is the real one? Or is neither of them Yugi?
2. What's the deal with Sora? Why was she crying?
3. What is happening to Yugi?

You'll find out the answer to all of these questions next chapter! (let's hope we won't have to wait about a few months for the next chapter XD that would suck… OH YES. I STAYED UP UNTIL 1 WHEN I HAVE TO GET UP AT 5 TO TYPE THIS FOR YOU. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY :3 Jk, love you guys.)