| Shadow (Season 0; Before 5th Episode)
He had been afraid at first - incredibly afraid.
It just wasn't normal to black out for periods of time with no recollection of what happened in between. Especially not with the circumstances that surrounded each black out. They weren't necessarily the same in terms of the happenings surrounding the black outs, but there was a definite pattern to them. Yuugi or one of his friends would be in trouble and out of the corner of his eye he'd see the Millennium Puzzle glow faintly before his vision turned black. Then, he'd suddenly wake up in an entirely different situation and sometimes sore or physically exhausted, but nonetheless safe from whatever was threatening him or his friends.
At first he had tried to ignore it - play it off as himself being incredibly sleepy and not paying attention to his surroundings.
It became hard to ignore his friends' constant questioning in how in the world had he mustered the courage to challenge a criminal to a game - said game ending with the man burning alive.
It became hard to feign ignorance when his grandpa had asked about him showing any signs of dark powers.
It became hard to look the other way when the news report was always talking about a mentally broken student who had threatened him from his school, a man with pixaleted eyes of a show that had once taken advantage of him and Jounouchi for ratings, a man gone missing only for a metallic, clock-reminiscent version to be found in the basement of the arcade he frequented
It became hard to pretend that there wasn't a shadow that was settled in the depths of his mind - never close enough for him to always realize it's there but not far enough for him to forget about it completely.
He hadn't been sure what to make of that other presence. On one hand, that shadow was the reason he was constantly anxious and in fear of the shadow. On the other, he felt... gratified. It had felt so good that the people who had hurt him couldn't do it anymore.
And he hated it. Yuugi hated how good it felt.
Yuugi could admit that he wanted justice. He could admit that he wanted those who had hurt him and his friends to learn their lesson - but he didn't want them hurt. He didn't want anyone to be hurt; emotionally, physically, mentally, it didn't matter in what way, he simply did not want them to be hurt.
The shadow hurt people. It even went as far as to destroy them.
And it scared Yuugi.
This is a sort of prequel for Remorse. I think I'll change Remorse's placement for a little after this one instead.