A/N: I was surprised at how easily I was able to write this chapter once I actually sat down to do it. It's just one of those things where you know exactly how the scene's all going to play out, even before you start writing the first chapter of the story. Strange, isn't it?

Warnings: YxYY, Mpreg, Language, Violence, Mature Themes, Character Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters involved in this fic.

Yami looked to the sky; massive drops of rain splattering on his face and rolling down his entire body. It was now nearing midnight, and Yugi was nowhere to be found. Tristan and Joey stood a few feet away, completely drenched in rainwater; their fearful eyes focused on Yami's lost ones, which were blinking back the wetness falling from the sky.

Yami had utterly rushed into the situation; after reading Yugi's letter he had immediately took off to Ryou's apartment and torn down the door through sheer force, both hoping that Yugi was there and also that he was not, yet the place held no inhabitants. Panic overtook him, and he phoned his and Yugi's friends, quickly telling them the news and all about Yugi's theory, ultimately informing them of how desperately he needed their help. That was at eight o'clock. Four hours had gone by, and the boys had been completely unable to locate Yugi or Ryou. Tea was told to wait at the Game Shop in case Yugi somehow showed back up, and after the first hour of them being unable to find him, she called Solomon. He was on the first plane ride back home. She had also called the cops, and they were now off searching the streets for suspicious activity, but Joey and Tristan had insisted on staying with Yami while he searched.

And they now stood victim to their own fear. Yami finally dropped his head and began slowly walking forward; Joey and Tristan looked at each other with unreadable stares before following.

Yugi continued to push through the streets, his eyes barely beginning to adjust to the intense sunlight he had forsaken for so long. He had never been so grateful to see intense dark clouds coming in from the west; promises of the nearing storm. He was about halfway to Ryou's place, and the light was beginning to disgust him.

The small boy stopped at a crosswalk, impatiently waiting for the traffic to clear. A light breeze ruffled his spiky hair, and he closed his eyes for a moment, forgetting for a mere second that he wasn't allowed to be enjoying this. As he thought of this, his two hands squeezed the object he held within the center pocket of the much too big for him cream colored hoodie he wore. As upset as it made him to wear it seeing as how it was part of his old pregnancy wardrobe, it was the only thing big enough for him to hide what he was holding while still being able to utilize it quickly if necessary. With his hands frozen in his hoodie, he watched as a young woman walked up on the other side of the crosswalk holding a tiny black-haired boy on her hip. Yugi found himself unable to turn away, but soon realized as the woman laughed and danced with her son while waiting, that he was not a part of their happiness. He would never ever be fortunate enough to have that.

Yugi sharply turned his head away, and was about to walk to the next crosswalk to wait there instead, when something caught his peripheral vision. He turned his eyes to the dimly-lit alleyway behind him, and froze as they met with white. The figure was far off, but even as Yugi squinted to get a better look at the person with his back to him, he couldn't help but notice how hard his heart was thumping. He had to get a better look. Yugi abandoned the crosswalk and stepped into the empty alleyway, completely entranced by the figure he had seen farther off. He sneakily made his way closer to the walking figure, and hid behind a large crate to avoid getting too close too soon, however he soon realized that he was actually much closer than he thought. He scanned over the edge of the side of the crate to get a better look at his victim.

Well, perhaps fate was on his side today. Yugi knew that tall, spiky haired figure all too well. As he narrowed his eyes, he waited silently until Ryou had stepped almost out of sight before starting the chase again. There were various twists and turns to the path the albino seemed to be set on, but Yugi managed to stick right behind him. Several streets were crossed, and the surroundings were becoming less and less familiar. About forty minutes later, Ryou stopped and Yugi finally took the time to look around; they were in the midst of a group of similar giant wooden warehouses. From the look of them, each were abandoned; it didn't look like they had been used a whole lot in years. Ryou looked to be headed into the centermost one whose front doors were already open. Yugi waited until Ryou had disappeared inside before running after him, not caring if he were caught at this point. It was quiet, he had Ryou completely alone, and the boy was going to talk. Oh, was he going to talk. Yugi clutched the cold object in his pocket with his hands in reassurance. The warehouse was completely dark; Yugi could barely see a few feet in front of him. The lights suddenly harshly flashed on, and Yugi squinted as the shadow of a figure danced along the walls of the warehouse.

A soft chuckle echoed through the space.

The second the sound reached his ears, Yugi snapped. He spun around, and with one hand pulled out and held the object in his pocket straight ahead of him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk…now Yugi, didn't your parents ever teach you not to play with guns?"

"Bakura," Yugi seethingly stated. The small boy's hand didn't falter. He glared up at the wretched albino before him, his deep violet eyes daring the sharp brown ones to make contact.

Bakura laughed. "Well would you look at that. Little Yugi Muto's grown a bit of a backbone. Never would have guessed. Although I do hope you know how clumsy you are. I could see you following me five minutes in..."

Fire spurred within Yugi's eyes. "What did you do to me, you bastard…"

"Goodness, language little one! That damn Pharaoh must really be a bad influence on you…"

"What did you do to me," Yugi repeated, each word enunciated through clenched teeth.

Bakura couldn't help but chuckle. "I gave you life, and what did you do? You gave it all away. Shame on you, Yugi Muto, shame on you," he teased.

"No," Yugi stated with such intensity that it caused Bakura to immediately stop his chuckling. "It was you, you did this to me and then you took it away, you heartless piece of-"

"I must say I quite like this change in you Yugi. However, you still are a naive idiot…"

"What do you mean?" Yugi demanded.

"Of course it was me, you fool. But tell me Yugi, did you or your Pharaoh happen to pay any attention to the world outside your little fine and dandy one?"

Yugi's eyebrows scrunched together, and the boy narrowed his eyes more.

"Each day I destroy more and more of this stupid city, and not one person has been able to track me down."

Yugi's eyes snapped open. "You? You're the one-"

A forgotten memory soared through Yugi's mind; he saw himself running faster than he ever believed possible, Yami could be in the museum, Yami could have been in there…

He shook off the fear that was unconsciously seeping through him as he remembered everything else that had been burnt down.

"It was the perfect plan you see. Everything ran right under the Pharaoh's nose, but did he see it?" he struggled with the urge to laugh again. "Oh no, no, no, because the big bad Pharaoh was off playing Daddy."

Yugi slowly shook his head in disbelief. He and Yami had let the whole baby problem get in their way of helping others. How many had lost lives to Bakura with him and Yami out of commission?

Yugi's hand trembled slighty.

"How was your morning Yugi?"

Yugi snapped out his thoughts, but was thrown off by the question.

"Because I must say mine was marvelous. Domino bridge proved to be as much of a challenge as I imagined it to be. My, my, was it exhilarating to watch it fall."

Yugi froze. Hundreds could have been on that bridge; Yami himself rode that bridge on his way to KaibaCorp every morning…

Yugi screamed and prepared the gun for fire.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Bakura bluntly stated. Yugi just glared, his breaths coming heavy.

"One, these warehouses are going down next. You see those?" Bakura said with a nod behind him, and Yugi finally noticed several large gas barrels lining the walls of the warehouse. "If you were to miss, well…" he said with a wide grin. "And two, it's ridiculous to think you can kill me Yugi. Surely you remember that I am nothing but a spirit? Now Ryou, on the other hand…"

Yugi's eyes fell defeated to the ground and he lowered the gun as Bakura began to slowly circle him. He knew this of course. Could he risk murdering his old friend? What if Ryou wasn't a part of this? As Yugi thought, each circle brought Bakura closer, and closer…

"You know, I can give you back what you want Yugi…" the demon started.

Yugi gasped, his blank eyes staring at the floor, desperate tears immediately streaming down his face despite his will.

"Only this time, I've got a wonderful idea…" Bakura whispered with a grin once he was directly behind Yugi, causing Yugi's head to snap up in confusion. "Now Yugi, what would our dear Pharaoh say if he discovered you were pregnant with, oh I don't know, my child?"

Yugi cried out in horror and jumped away from Bakura, raising the gun again with shaking hands; the small boy taking slow steps backwards.

"Would he be devastated?" he questioned, his eyes blazing, his grin intensifying. "Well, would he? Hmm, I always liked the idea of having an heir, and this just might be the right way to go about it. Oh is your Pharaoh in for a real treat…"

"No," Yugi begged as Bakura advanced. "No, you can't do this!" he cried. Yugi gasped when his back hit a wall, Bakura was coming closer…

And once again, everything froze in Yugi's world. All sound vanished, and Yugi looked up at the albino, his steps coming incredibly slow. Wide violet eyes focused on Bakura's grinning face. That grin was so familiar, so-

Yugi screamed as the villain vanished, and his father materialized in Bakura's place. Spiky black hair with red streaks replaced the white, and blood-red eyes consumed the boy's chocolate ones. The same grin though, that same horrible grin…

The small boy clutched his head with both hands, gun still in one, screams tearing from his throat.

A chuckle.

"You're more fucked up than I thought, kid."

The voice was a mix of both Bakura's and his father's, the voice of a true demon.

Tears crashed down the boy's face as he found his own voice.

"Look, you have no right to touch me. I won't let you touch me anymore!"

"What?" the figure said as he cocked his head to the side.

"You stay away from me!"

The figure laughed and advanced.

"I said stay-"

Another step.

"You bastard, you stay-"

Step.

"I SAID-

Step.

A gunshot rang through the warehouse.

"Yami, Yami, stop it. We're gonna find him, we just, we just gotta keep looking okay?" Joey said as he attempted to lift his unresponsive friend off the street.

"You can't be serious! You're giving up already?" Tristan yelled. "Yami, I swear if you don't get up right now, Joey and I will kick your ass big time. Yugi needs you, okay? We have to keep looking. He'll turn up, he will. "

"Ya know Tristan, what we need to do is split up again," Joey said as Yami shoved the blonde's hand away and finally rose on his own. "Go to Tea, she's probably freaking out on her own," Joey muttered with a short glare at Yami.

"Hell no, I want to keep looking-"

"Do it, Tristan!"

"No way, you can't leave Yami on his own. Guy doesn't even know what he's talking about-"

"Will you just fucking go Tristan!? Look, I'll call you in a bit and I'll trade ya, but right now Tea's on her own, and trust me, Yami'll be fine."

Tristan sighed and shrugged off the harsh rain. "Fine, whatever."

"Keep an eye out for Yug on your way back. If we have no luck I'll call you in an hour."

"Got it. Take care, guys."

Tristan reluctantly ran off, heading back to his motorcycle as Joey sharply turned to the soaked Yami.

"Now you listen to me Yami, the situation has turned serious. The more we cover, the better, so you take that way, got it? I'm gonna head over to the pier, and check that area. Did you get that?"

Yami nodded, eyes still to the ground.

"You can't give up now Yami. Yugi wouldn't give up on you."

"He already did."

"God, will you listen to yourself!? Yami, you got something good going in your life, and you can't lose him now. He's hurt okay? We've all been hurt at times. But we can bring him back, I promise you. Now, question is, are you ready?"

Yami raised his gaze to meet firm honey-colored eyes.

"Let's do this Yami," Joey said, determination written all over his face.

Yami was slightly taken aback by the sudden power within the blonde's voice, and soon he felt that strength bleed off into him. The Pharaoh finally nodded at his friend, rain pouring all around them, and the two tore off in opposite directions.

Yugi fell to his knees, the gun falling out of his quivering hands and landing a few feet away from him.

A bleeding body lay directly in front of him; face buried in the ground. After several deep breaths, Yugi crawled over to the figure, and with tears still falling down his face, turned over the body to see his face. Pale, soft features. Closed chocolate brown eyes. A content smile.

Yugi immediately had the urge to throw up and turned away, trembling all over. With his hands and knees covered in Ryou's blood, he screamed and clutched his head, his breaths coming so quickly that he knew he was hyperventilating.

As regret immediately began to fill his very core, Yugi looked up, his lost, blank eyes meeting the silver gun laying a few steps away. Without a moment of contemplation, Yugi crawled towards it, his movements seeming ridiculously slow. After what seemed like a lifetime, his hand fell upon the gun's handle, and tears marked the ground as his eyes closed and he gave a sigh of relief.

Before he could pick it up however, a thought crossed his mind and his eyes snapped open. He stood and turned back to face Ryou. The Millennium Ring laying on his chest gleamed with the light of the warehouse. He stepped over to Ryou, unable to look at his face and checked for a pulse for confirmation; there was none. Yugi looked to the open doors of the warehouse and made up his mind. He couldn't leave Ryou here. Yugi lifted one of the albino's arms over his shoulder, and half-carried, half-drug the taller boy to the exit. He carried him past the gravel outside, and into the nearest alleyway. He finally released Ryou, and rested for a few seconds before his gaze fell to Ryou's chest. To exactly what he needed. That beautiful, powerful, gleaming Ring.

With a small apology he removed the Millennium Ring from Ryou, and stared at the item as he held it within firm hands.

Another memory suddenly flashed in his mind; Marik, Bandit Keith, a warehouse, and swarming flames ran through his head. Fear. Fear. Fear. Suffocation. Yami…

Yugi almost lost the Millennium Puzzle that day. If it had burned, Yami would have gone with it.

Yami would have been lost…

Yugi was surprised to find himself already back in the warehouse, the Ring thrown near several gas barrels, gun in hand.

This would create one heck of a fire. Yugi was sure each and every one of the neighboring warehouses would burn down with this one. Staring at the Ring, everything from the last several months played in his head. All of the hurt, excitement, fear, hope, and love. Oh, the love.

Yugi shot at a barrel at the back of the warehouse and hit it dead on, causing it to ignite. The barrel nearest to it caught fire almost immediately, and Yugi took one last look at the cursed Millennium Ring before turning his back to it and serenely walking out of the place.

The dark clouds he had seen earlier were now almost directly over him, Yugi noticed as he stepped outside of the warehouse. Rain. But it wouldn't reach the warehouses fast enough. The first one was already almost completely lit.

In a matter of seconds, the Ring would be gone. Bakura would be gone. And in a matter of minutes, he thought, he would be gone too.

Yugi thought hard of his next destination, but smiled as the location visualized so beautifully in his head. It would be raining over there. Perfect.

Yugi pulled his eyes away from the burning building after the next warehouse caught fire, and retreated into his now calm and tranquil mind as the sky turned grey.

Yami was amazed at how much his spirits had lifted within the last ten minutes, even though they really weren't supposed to. He quickly hung up with Tristan, and was just about to call Joey to tell him the news when he realized that Yugi's cell phone was receiving an incoming call from the blond himself.

Yami immediately hit accept, and called Joey's name. The reception must have been bad, because Yami couldn't make out a single word Joey was saying.

"Joey, listen, Tristan just called saying that the cops found a body and he had to go to identify it in the case that it was Yugi, but it was Ryou. He's dead. And Tristan said the Millenium Ring was gone. I can't explain it, but I have this feeling that Yugi got him."

Yami's eyebrows scrunched together as Joey broke down on the other line.

"He did it, oh god, he did it…"

"I think Bakura's gone for good," he said, pride radiating through his voice. "Now we've just got to find Yugi…Joey? Joey, what's wrong?"

As he listened to Joey sobbing uncontrollably on the other end, something he had never heard before and certainly didn't want to ever hear, an unspecified fear crept into his heart. He tried to shake it off as he continued to question the blonde.

"Joey, what-"

"The pier. You need to come down here right now," he managed.

"Joey…" Yami started, but soon found he didn't want to ask the question.

"Please, you need to get over here now, please…"

Yami choked, but the word he was dreading left his lips anyway.

"Why?"

"Yami, he's…he's dead."

Silence.

"Yugi's dead."

The phone fell to the floor.

Several intense black-and-white images flashed behind Yami's eyes in a matter of seconds: Yugi turning and smiling at him, Yugi tightly hugging his grandfather, Joey with Yugi in a playful headlock, Yugi running from Yami, laughing so hard tears fell from his eyes, Yugi curling up next to him, Yugi mouthing 'I love you'...

Black, silence, suffocation…

Yami stopped breathing.