Warnings: Coma, Yami losing his shadow form and smut. A tiny little bit, but still. This chapter is pretty soft actually.

I'm so sorry for the wait, but my life just got impossibly harder. I feel like I'll have to end this fic much sooner than I wanted to... so sorry if things seem a bit too rushed! I'm hoping to have a chapter for DK, one for BC and one for MW. Maybe DSOD will make an appearence too, but we won't know until we get there!

Anyways, enjoy the chap guys.

"Y...Yami...?" Was the whisper that came out of Seto's trembling mouth.

"Game, Start!"

Kaiba blinked and aligned his back to the leather armchair once again. A warm smile grew on his face.

"Yami... you almost scared me to death. Come here... I missed you."

Deep red eyes just stared blindly at the other male. Yami approached, but not to embrace Seto or kiss him on the cheek... Yami approached so he could sit at the other side of the table. His eyes turned away from confused blue orbs as he shuffled the deck on his hands.

"Yami... what are you doing?"

"Duel me." The former spirit whispered, muscles tight with tension.

"What? Why?" The CEO asked with genuine confusion littering his voice. Yami swallowed dry when he saw just how soft the other's blue eyes were. They tricked anyone who wasn't aware of what exactly Seto was capable of doing.

"..."

Yami didn't bother responding.

The love and care inside the business man's eyes soon became tainted with anger as his beloved friend ignored his questions.

"Yami." He growled. "Explain yourself right now"

The red eyed teen remained silent.

Anger kept building inside the young CEO, and soon he slammed his hands on the table once again.

"Fine! Have it your way. After this pointless duel we can go home." Seto's eyes were completely filled with menace when he finished those words.

The former ghost shivered slightly on his place. He hated seeing Kaiba act like this. It just... wasn't the kid Yami was determined to protect at all costs. What happened? When did things go wrong?

"Seto..." He whispered. It hurt to act like this. It hurt so badly. He just wanted to run into Seto's arms and never let go of his aibou again, but-

"What's wrong? Are you afraid?" Kaiba growled, ready for the start of the duel. Yami swallowed dry once again before accepting his aibou's challenge.

He had to fix this.

Kaiba was extremely strong. Yami could barely hold himself up to his skills, and the insane smile on the other's face wasn't helping matters to the spirit's concentration.

"Mou hitori no boku..."

The soft whisper inside the ghost's mind made him blink and turn his head around.

Yugi's ghostly figure was there, smiling at him. "You have to remember what Grandpa said, mou hitori no boku."

What Grandpa said...?

With a deep breath, Yami drew a card. His face distorted into a frown when yet again, it was a useless monster with very weak attack stats. Kaiba had tree Blue Eyes in the field, and one more attack would have him doomed. The only thing he could do was stop Kaiba's dragons for some turns by activating Swords of Light. An insane smile filled Kaiba's face. He knew that he had this victory in the bag. He was leaning his shoulders on the table, darkened blue eyes examining his opponent with a malicious glee.

Yami's entire body was shaking upon the other's stare. He couldn't lose this. He wouldn't lose this.

Looking at his hand again, he noticed that the monsters he had looked... weird. It was like they were... broken pieces of each other. He had two legs, two arms and a head. But what could he do?! He didn't have enough turns to summon all of these pieces!

Grabbing his Puzzle tightly, he let out a sigh of despair. What Grandpa said...?

"Now that you have it... no one will ever be able to defeat you..."

"Now that I have it...?" Red eyes widened in realization. "My Puzzle!"

Yami looked at the golden artifact in his hands. But what could it do to help...?

Then finally, he understood.

The Puzzle pieces- the cards were puzzle pieces. "Right Arm of The Forbidden One". "Left Leg of the Forbidden One." They were... parts of something else.

They were parts of someone else.

With a deep breath, he looked up to Kaiba, red eyes filled up to the brim with determination. Seto's smile wavered.

"I summon Exodia, The Forbidden One!"

"W-What!" The CEO gasped as a pentagram appeared behind his Yami. Large yellow hands pulled themselves out of the shining star, grasping the table where the duel was taking place with indescriptible strength. Using their newfound equilibrium to leverage the rest of their monstrous body out... a terrifying face soon appeared. The unknown being emanated power.

Kaiba could feel his heart jumping inside his chest. What was that thing?!

He couldn't breathe. The pressure was too strong- the fear was too strong.

"E-Exodia! But that's impossible! No one has ever been able to summon it!"

"It's time for you to pay for your sins, Kaiba..." Yami's voice was almost a whisper. He closed his eyes and raised his hand.

"Exodia... OBLITERATE!"

The last thing Yami was able to hear was his aibou's terrified scream before he cowardly pushed himself back inside the Puzzle and left Yugi alone to deal with the mess he left behind.

Months went by. Kaiba went into some sort of catatonic state, and despise Yugi's best efforts, Yami wouldn't talk anymore. The ghost spend his days locked inside the Puzzle, curled up miserably in a dark corner. Soon, Yugi decided it was time to stop.

"Mou hitori no boku..." Whispered the kid, sitting beside the curled up ghost. "I... you know that it was necessary, don't you? Seto-kun could have killed all of us- Jou, Anzu, Honda... even me and you. You did what you had to do."

A soft hum was emitted from the mass of darkness. Yami was still very depressed over what happened.

With a sigh, Yugi patted what he assumed that was the spirit's head.

"Don't beat yourself up like that. It's not even like the punishment is going to last forever."

"I know." The ghost answered in a whisper. "But- I-I can't believe I did that to Seto. He doesn't- I don'... I can't believe I did that. What if it wasn't even necessary? He was trying to make me come back to him- he was- I..."

"Yami." Yugi said firmly. "You did nothing wrong. Seto was out of control. He hurt Mokuba. He hurt me. He hurt our friends... he hurt you." The smaller teen pulled his friend closer. "All you did was help him. Help him to find another way. If he's as strong as you kept saying to me, he'll be out of that coma in no time."

"Yugi..." Yami muttered, yellow eyes peeking out of the darkness. The boy realized he was actually petting the spirit's back during all this time. "Thank you... I'm... thank you..."

"No worries." Yugi smiled. "Let's get out of here, ok? Mokuba is worried sick about both of his bros." Yami let out a shy smile. He ha to explain everything to Mokie and... go see Seto again. He was glad Yugi was being gentle enough to take him there.

The mansion seemed darker and scarier than usual. Yami could almost FEEL Seto's absence and it hurt him so badly. He followed Yugi through the dark corridors, his amorphous body slithering right beside the other.

Yami was very quiet. He was ashamed to be here. He was ashamed to walk through the corridors Seto once walked. He was so ashamed.

"Yami..." Whispered the teen. He didn't have the chance to say much more before a small figure attacked him.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Yugi feel flat onto his back, trying to push whatever was pulling his hair out of him.

"Leave Yami alone you low-classed B-AAAH! "

The kid shook from side to side violently as Yami grabbed him by the waist with a set of slimy tentacles. Yugi finally was left alone, startled and out of breath on the cold floor.

"Mokie?" The ghost blinked in confusion. What was his little aibou doing?

The dark-haired kid hugged the tentacles around him, eyes filled with water. "Yami!" He sobbed.

Yami pulled Mokuba closer, envelopping him with his long, dark arms. The kid began to sob on his chest and mumble about something that was too muffled to hear.

It reminded Yami of Seto when he was young.

"Mokie..." He whispered weakly. "Mokie, everything will be ok. Everything will be alright, you hear? I'll fix everything, ok? Nothing can ever beat me, I never lose. I will never lose. And you know that's true for Seto, too."

The entire situation was too familiar. WAY too familiar. It was almost like living a deja vu.

But nevertheless... he could feel his little aibou calming down. With a sigh, he started muttering...

"Mokie. We're here to visit Seto. Please apologize to Yugi. He's a friend."

"A friend?! What are you talking about, Yami!? Didn't you see what he did to Seto? He-"

"That was me, Mokie." The ghost whispered, eyes turning blank as he tried to hide his emotions. As low as the phrase was, it echoed through the corridors, a courtesy of Yami's haunting voice.

Confusion-filled dark eyes looked up to him.

"H-Huh?"

"Seto... he was... out of control. He was hurting you, me, and lots of other people."

Mokuba quickly disentangled himself from Yami's grip, pushing him away. The spirit whimpered in a pained way.

"W-Why? Why would you do that? S-Seto... he's- HE'S EVERYTHING WE HAVE!"

"M-Mokie... Seto is fine. He's building his own heart once again... this time, without anyone to tell him how to be and what to do. He'll wake up. And he'll be just like he was in the orphanage, I swear. "

The kid gritted his teeth in nervousness. He didn't know how to feel. Yami never lied. He was... just too innocent and nice. His level of trust in him and Seto was borderline stupid. But... if their ghost really did that to Seto... how could he trust him?

"I... I..." With a sigh, Mokie brought both hands to his head. "I trust you. Seto HAS to wake up. He just HAS to." Looking up to Yami, he saw just how... HOPEFUL the spirit's eyes were. And not just that... the ghost's jaw was semi-opened, a silly, golden smile appearing on his dark face.

Mokuba felt horrible about what he had to do.

"Follow me, you two. I'll take you to were Seto is."

Yami followed him happily, body now floating leisurly over the ground instead of dragging itself through the corridors.

It didn't take any time for them to arrive. Mokuba swallowed dry before opening the doors for his big brother's room.

It was time to settle this.

Yami slowly entered the place, testing the waters. He sniffed the air, turning his nose. It smelled like a hospital. Like dozens of medications over medications. It was disgusting.

The spirit floated to the wheelchair in the far end of the room. He could feel Seto's presence there. A very weak, exhausted presence, but it was there. Yami approached meekly, yellow eyes scanning the sight before him.

Seto was resting innocently against the cushioned wheelchair. He looked so fragile like this. So... helpless. It made Yami's protective senses burn brightly to life. The ghost immediately curled up protectively around his aibou, growling like a wild animal.

He squeezed Seto tightly, nuzzling him tenderly. "Aibou..." He whispered, a loud purr filling the room a few seconds later. The ghost was deeply satisfied with Kaiba's warmth. It assured him that his aibou was very much well and alive.

"Well, this went a lot better than I expected." Mokuba commented to Yugi, the slightest bit of humor filling his voice. The purple-eyed teen watched the scene before him with widened eyes.

"Has Yami always been like this?" He whispered in wonder. Mokuba got flustered.

"Uhhhh... yeah. He's very... cuddly. It's a bit hard to make him let go after he starts curling around you."

After hearing Mokuba's words, Yugi turned back to the scene before him in awe. Yami began to nuzzle Seto's face, a soft purr filling the room. The two other boys started to feel uncomfortable by standing there, so Mokuba signaled to the older male so they both could leave.

Even after being left in the dark,the ghost was unfazed. He kept caressing his aibou, sniffing lightly at how much he had missed the other's warmth.

This went on for some weeks. After being reunited with his aibou, Yami refused to leave. Yugi had to visit him in the mansion, which Mokuba allowed happily. He was sick of being alone in that huge place.

When Yugi came to visit, his friends usually did too. There was a blonde one, a weird-haired one and a girl. Mokuba could recall seeing them in Death-T. His brother didn't pay them much mind, but Mokuba could see that they were truly great friends. It wasn't anyone who could defy his brother and stay alive. Their bonds were what brought them to victory... he just hoped that he, Seto and Yami had such strength to get over what they were going through as well.

Weeks soon turned into months, and months got dangerously close of becoming an year.

Mokuba, Yami and the Yugi-tachi got almost accommodated with their new routines. The younger Kaiba brother could see desperation starting to dwell inside Yami's eyes, but the ghost was trying his best to not let him give up hope.

But it was hard.

It was so hard.

The employees were starting to whisper lies around, important members of the company began to thirst for Seto's place in the CEO chair. That bastard Pegasus came to Seto's headquarters and walked around as if he owned the place.

Mokuba couldn't help but start to get desperate.

He couldn't handle all of this on his own.

Seto had to wake up.

Yami promised he'd wake up...

...

It had been an while since Yami moved from his place on Seto's chair.

The ghost obviously felt very bad for his actions, which made Mokuba wonder why the spirit did them in the first place. Seto may have been mean, and screamed at them, and even hurt Yami in some occasions, but he was still Seto!

Wasn't he...?

Tired of dwelling in these depressing thoughts, Mokie tried to convince Yami to go eat something. The spirit didn't move.

Mokuba went back to wondering what Seto would do to Yami when he woke up.

Yami didn't look like he used to at all. He hasn't looked like his old self for months. Actually... even since they left the orphanage he hasn't looked like his old self.

The Yami they knew was a sweet, loving amorphous monstrosity.

But this Yami...

After he met this Yugi kid, he started to change. The ghost may have tried to hide it, but Mokie noticed that he lost his ability to shrink and grow at will. He lost his claws. The sharp teeth.

And now... he was losing his natural color as well.

One day, without warning, Yami's eyes melted down his face. Mokie almost freaked out thinking that the poor ghost had gone blind, but he could see just fine.

It was just a scare.

But as time passed, Yami changed more and more. The darkness in his body melted out, a tiny bit each day, every time he interacted with Yugi and his friends, every time he got a bit more distant from Seto.

It... hurt.

It hurt to see Yami changing like that.

He was the only thing Mokuba ever saw as a stagnant, unchanging thing. An eternal protector, always there for company and assistance. An eternal friend.

But...

"Hey, Yami..." He approached the now almost fully-transparent ghost. Fiery red eyes looked at him. A soft smile opened on the man's face. He now had normal, white teeth to go along with his pale, wavering body.

"Mokie."

His deep voice echoed hauntingly around the room.

"Why... why do you mimic Yugi? You have the tricolored hair, the weird adornments, even the uniform for God's sake. What's so special about him?! You barely even know each other!"

"I'm not mimicking him, Mokuba." Yami answered softly. "We just happen to look alike."

"Seto is not going to like that." The young kid growled.

Seeing Mokuba's unamused face, the spirit smiled and looked out of the window.

"I have a theory." Yami went silent, trying to contain himself for suspense's sake. "He must be a descendant of mine."

"WHAT!?"

"I AM a ghost, you know." The spirit laughed. "And I feel... connected to Yugi somehow. As if we were fated to meet." The man's usually hardened eyes became a very soft shade of red.

"Mokuba... tell me. How did Seto get my Puzzle? I need to know. I really, really need to know. Please."

"Uh..." Muttered the kid. Mokuba swallowed dry before whispering:

"We got it from Yugi."

"What?"

"We got it from Yugi!" He forced out. "Yugi had it first. Seto... Seto got it later."

Yami's figure wavered.

"So he stole it." He whispered weakly.

"NO! Seto wanted to give it back but Yugi never came back to the orphanage and we didn't know what to do and-"

"Don't worry, Mokie. I'm delighted with how things came out. I'm delighted that we got to meet each other. I love Seto with everything I have." The ghost smiled, floating over the unconscious teen's wheelchair.

"But you two have to accept that I'm bonded with Yugi, too."

Mokuba swallowed hard, anger written all over his face. "If it wasn't for him, this mess would've never happened."

"Seto was corrupted by Gozaburo's lessons, Mokie. He'd have started to hurt us if 'this mess' had never happened. I'm sorry."

Mokuba suffocated a sob, rubbing his right eye with his pajama's sleeves.

He didn't want to say it. He really didn't want to.

"I know, Yami. I know."

He felt so heavy.

It was like he had been sitting in the same place for over two years.

"Yami..." Was the first thing he groaned.

"Seto...!"

The ghost's response echoed through the entire room.

"Seto! SETO!"

The CEO still hadn't opened his eyes, but a huge smile grew on his face. Yami was here. Yami was really here.

Something similar to warm waves of air wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Yami..."

"Seto...Seto...Seto..."

Blue eyes opened slowly to an weirdly transparent ghost glued to his chest.

"Yami... you...?"

"Yes, it's me. I swear. It's me."

"You're... different..." Kaiba's weak state of mind could only relate the spiky locks of hair and beautiful sharp eyes to Yami and no one else.

"You've been gone for a while." The spirit sobbed. Holding the CEO's shirt up, he licked the other's abdomen, from his navel to his chest. Nibbling the soft skin, he went back down.

"Hmmmn... hmmm..." Seto moaned. "At it already? I'm proud of you." He teased with a smile.

A loud purr was his only response.

When Yami carefully pulled his pants down, Kaiba took a deep breath. "Hm. Careful there."

"My teeth aren't as sharp as before." Yami said softly over the half erect member, making Seto gasp at the feeling.

"Good." He muttered.

When Yami wrapped his tongue around the sensitive flesh, Kaiba let out a loud groan. "I-I guess your tongue is still the same."

Yami hummed in response, pulling the warm, round head in. He slowly pushed his head forward, shivering with the feeling of Seto's member sliding down his throat. It seemed way bigger than before...?

When the CEO's member was comfortably situated inside him, Yami started to move his head up and down. Seto began to pant heavily, holding the spirit's head in a tight grip and forcing him to speed up the pace. Yami was happy to oblige.

Kaiba tilted his head back, screaming out his pleasure in such a way that it was incredible that no one came to check up on him yet.

That lasted for a good handful of minutes until finally, he choked one of his screams by biting his lip. With a satisfied sigh, he released inside Yami's mouth. His essence dripped out of the ghost's lips, tainting the floor. The spirit backed away carefully, tongue swinging around as he tried to capture as much descendance as he could.

"That... was... a nice way to wake up..." The CEO panted out with a huge smile on his face. Yami swallowed the cream in his mouth before hugging Seto once again, nuzzling his neck.

"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry Seto..."

Kaiba immediately knew what his ghost was sobbing about.

He pushed Yami close, giving him a fiery kiss.

"Don't worry. Don't worry at all. I had lost myself. I had lost myself for the stupidity of that man." He sighed when Yami simply kept whining.

"I love you. I swear. " The CEO mumbled, remembering how awful he was to this wonderful, loyal being attached to him.

It seemed like Yami wasn't going to respond, but he suddenly heard a soft...

"I love you, too."

Seto hugged the spirit tightly. He was still dazed from being unconscious for so long, he was still sore and he was still confused as hell but... he was free. He wasn't tied to that bastard Gozaburo any longer. He had no weight hanging on his back.

...It seemed that things were going to get better and better for them now.

They could only hope.

Howl3, Hey there, friend! S2. It's been an awful while, hasn't it? You're the most consistent out of all my reviewers and I feel so sorry for not being able to update for you, ugh. I hope your health is going well, you deserve to be the healthiest person in the world! I'm glad that you liked the previous chapter and can only hope you'll like this one as well, haha! ^w^

IMPORTANT: Hey, Valentine! Of course you can translate my fic in Thai, just don't forget to credit and link me to it, please! ^^. I hope you see this, I couldn't message you because you're in as a guest and I take a long time to update. I'm actually pretty surprised you want to translate this, hahahah. I'm very flattered! S2

As always, if you like my fic, please comment, fave it, follow it, anything like that is a HUGE, HUGE support and makes me update so much faster than I usually do! Especially now that the fic is heading to it's end... oh man, it has been so much time since I started it... especial thanks for Howl for hanging around for so long, you deserve all of my love!