Chapter 11: The Truth Behind Fear
Yugi's POV
"You're not going to try to try to get rid of me" Shadow repeated in a whisper, but no one paid him any attention.
"Are you insane?!" Bakura shouted, running up to Yugi and grabbing him by his shirt and shoving him backwards into the nearest wall. "He's the most powerful essence of fear and you're just going to let him run free in your mind?"
"Bakura!" Yami shouted and grabbed one of Bakura's arms. "Put. Him. Down!"
Bakura reluctantly placed Yugi back on the ground, but pulled him close and got in his face. "If Shadow possesses you again don't count on me to help next time." Then Bakura released Yugi and walked back over to Ryou.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him." Ryou said and scowled at Bakura. "He might have a good reason for allowing Shadow to stay in his mind."
"Yugi?" Malik asked and Yugi turned to him questioningly. "Why are you going to leave Shadow in your mind?"
"Because I need him." Yugi replied, walking back over so that he was once again facing Shadow. "You're my fear, aren't you?"
"Duh." Shadow said, looking at Yugi as if he were mentally challenged. "All fear originally comes from the dark, it's just contained by the light of the host. Your light was going out," Shadow said to Yugi with a smile, "so I decided to take over, since you weren't strong enough to shine your light anymore."
"Yeah, I know." Yugi said.
"So if you get rid of him, you're also ridding yourself of your fear?" Ryou asked and Yugi nodded. "Wouldn't that be a good thing? You would never be afraid again."
"That's true," Yugi told him, "but without fear we would never enjoy the thrills of life."
"How so?" Marik asked, not understanding why fear would be needed to enjoy life.
"You're all idiots." Shadow said quietly before Yugi could answer. "Without fear you would never enjoy the exhilaration of riding on a roller coaster, or of the nervous excitement of a first date, or of the successful feeling of passing a test." Shadow looked away when everyone stared at him.
"Exactly." Yugi said and smiled over at Yami. "And I don't want to loose any of that."
"But Yugi," Yami said, "how do you know that your fears won't go out of control again?"
"Because I'm going to heal him." Yugi replied, cutting into his palm with his fingernail and putting the wound to Shadow's mouth. "Like this." Shadow snarled in anger when he couldn't resist the smell of his host's blood and clamped his mouth shut on Yugi's palm. When Yugi pulled his hand away the threads of light released Shadow as he began to shift. He kept Yugi's appearance, but lost the claws, long teeth, and black eyes to be replaced with short sharp teeth, short black nails, and soft grey eyes. "This is his original form before he got out of control."
"So he's not a threat anymore?" Bakura asked now that he had calmed down.
"No." Shadow laughed and grew his claws out and showed them to Yugi. "Just remember Host, the next time you fall because of your fear, I won't lock you away somewhere watching, I'll destroy you immediately. So, don't surrender to the dark, because I'll be waiting and watching for the slightest show of weakness." Then he vanished.
"Where did he go?" Malik asked, looking around.
"To the part of my mind that holds my fears." Yugi replied.
Yami shuttered when he remembered the duel with Pegasus and he had seen Yugi unconscious in the part of his mind that held his fear. I wonder if he was seeing all his fears during that time? Yami thought and Yugi smiled when he could once again hear Yami's thoughts.
Yes I was. Yugi told him through their link and Yami looked at him in surprise.
The link is working again? Yami asked him and Yugi nodded.
"Apparently the link is up again for those two." Bakura said, annoyed.
Yugi laughed and nodded.
"Oh Yugi?" Yami asked and Yugi looked up at him questioningly. "Who were you talking to before you used your power?"
"Anubis's daughter, Nya." Yugi answered. "In my first life I was the son of Anubis and Nya was my older sister."
"What's she doing in your head?" Bakura wondered.
"In my first life I willingly allowed the strongest of the darkness into myself and since I could travel through realms I was able to control it, but there was a price I had to pay for going into the realm of darkness and I accepted. The price was the immortality I got from my father and the power to travel between realms. I can now only enter the realm of the dead and the realm of the living, but first I had to die. As my first life was ending Nya promised that she would remain my sister throughout all my next lives if I promised to allow her in my mind."
"Why?" Ryou asked.
"Because she didn't want to say goodbye." Yugi replied as if it were obvious.
"So she just experiences all you go through." Bakura asked thoughtfully.
"Yes, but for some reason I was not able to hear her until now." Yugi said, worried.
"Maybe you just weren't ready to hear her until now." Yami reassured him.
"I think you're right." Yugi said cheerfully and hugged Yami tightly.
"Well what do we do now?" Malik asked smiling, already knowing the answer.
Yugi turned to his friends to see the happiness and relief slowly coming to light for them all. "Let's go home." Yugi said, letting his own relief come out.
"Let's." Yami said pulling Yugi close and gently pecking him on the lips. "It's time for this nightmare to be over."