Going On

Disclaimer - No, I don't own them. I'm not making any money off of torturing them like this. So don't sue me, because all you'd get is my kids, and you REALLY don't want those three hellions, do you?

Author's Notes - FUCK NO! I will be in my bomb shelter, thank you very much! Bakura, they are all yours!

*grumbling thief takes the keyboard* Okay . . . here's the next chapter. Just remember, if you manage to get through me and Sephiroth to kill her, she can't finish the story, and NO, IT'S NOT DONE YET! So don't get your damn panties in a twist and flame, because I'll just use them to torture that dumbass Pharaoh and his annoying little light some more. *stalks off to join the bomb shelter crew*

Chapter 16 – Right Before Your Eyes

Yugi awoke slowly, the presence of a body next to his confusing him until memory returned, and with it the heartache of his loss.

Rising up on one elbow, he stared down into the flickering eyes of his dark and sighed. There had been no change . . . although why he had thought there would be was beyond him. He ran his fingers lightly over the bronzed skin of his love, letting the satin feel of the little unmarred flesh that was there filter into his consciousness, tears gathering in his amethyst eyes.

He had a sudden mental image of Snow White, locked in her glass coffin, awake and staring at the world, but unable to move or interact with it, and shuddered violently, a choked sob catching in his throat. Was that how Yami was now? Was he looking up at the ceiling, trapped within his own body, unable to move? Or was he not even in there at all? Was he locked in a battle with Kage for dominance over the battered flesh?

Reaching through their link, he came up against the solid wall Yami had built, feeling his mental fingers slide along the smooth, glassy surface. No purchase, and no weaknesses . . . Yami had thrown every last bit of what he had into making sure they were all safe from Kage in everyway he could. He wished there was some way to reach his dark, some way to feel that comforting presence, even if he couldn’t speak or interact with him in anyway. He needed to know that Yami was all right.

But that was a false hope, and he knew it. Of course Yami wasn’t all right . . . he would never be all right until he was free again.

“Oh Yami,” he whispered, tears falling from glistening amethyst to drip silently onto that upturned, still face. “I’m sorry I broke my promise to you. I should have stayed here, should have tried to convince them of what I knew. It’s my fault your like this now, trapped in there . . . gods, how can you ever forgive me? How can I forgive myself?”

A glittering pile on the desk drew his attention, and he frowned slightly through his tears before rising to investigate. It was the Puzzle . . . or what it was in its unassembled form. Who had brought it in here? It had to have been Marik, knowing how his guardian thought. Maybe he would feel better if he reassembled it . . . not like it would do anything. It was merely a pretty piece of jewelry now, after all . . . the presence it had once held was lying on the bed behind him.

Setting to work on it absently, he didn’t notice the dim, nearly invisible figure of Shadi in one corner, who smiled before fading out of sight. The Balance would be restored. No light could live without its darkness.


*-------*-------*-------*------*


Kaiba opened the door to the library slowly, a slight smirk crossing his features as he spied its current inhabitants sprawled in various areas of the room, unconscious and in some cases snoring.

Ryou lay before the fire, his head propped on his yami’s back, sleeping peacefully. Bakura’s head was pillowed on his crossed arms, an open tome laying inches away where he had been reading it before passing out. Malik and Marik were both at his table, with Malik snoring loudly, their arms stretched out so that their hands were clasped, even in sleep.

He himself had gotten little sleep last night as well, pondering the current dilemma in his own way, and doing his own research. The internet was a wonderful thing, after all, and even in this day and age, mystical bullshit was always ready at hand for anyone who wanted to access it. After he’d finally accepted what had been right before his eyes the whole time, he’d done a lot of his own research on the subject, so had a fairly good database of sites with which to start his search.

Surprisingly, he had actually uncovered something interesting enough to warrant Marik’s attention. So now, he leaned over the blonde, gently shaking one bronze shoulder to wake him. Lavender eyes gazed up at him blearily as they opened, and he wafted the cup of coffee he was carrying in front of the blonde, who grabbed it in desperate hands and took a huge gulp, grimacing at the taste.

“Not enough sugar,” he grumbled, causing the billionaire to chuckle slightly.

“You eat to much of that shit anyway,” he replied. “Come on . . . I have something I want to show you.” Quirking an eyebrow curiously, Marik rose to follow him from the room, leaving the other occupants still sleeping quietly as they strode toward Kaiba’s office.

Seto noticed with some amusement that even though it wasn’t as sweet as he would have like it, Marik was still gulping the coffee he’d brought down. What some people wouldn’t do without for their morning caffeine fix . . .

“I found this early this morning,” he murmured, sinking into the chair behind his computer. “I thought it might be of interest.” Marik stood at his shoulder, still absently sipping on his coffee as he read the article Seto had found. Lavender eyes widened, and he set the coffee down suddenly to lean forward, getting a closer look before pulling back with a gasp.

“That makes so much fucking sense!” he murmured. “That’s what Bakura’s dream meant!” Sapphire eyes glanced up at him, and he shook his head. “Bakura had a dream in which a voice told him that the Puzzle was a key. But we couldn’t think of what it might be a key to. But if this article is even remotely right . . . we may have just found our way to reach Yami.”

“So, the Puzzle is the key to Yami’s soul?” Seto asked. Marik nodded.

“It housed his soul for years . . . millennia even. Of course it’s tied to him metaphysically. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I guess with all the stress I’d completely forgotten that damn thing is even here.”

“Okay, so let’s think about this for a minute,” the brunette murmured, gesturing Marik into a seat. The blonde sank into one of the chairs facing his desk gracelessly, more a flop of limbs than anything, although he managed to do so without dropping so much as a single bit of his coffee. “The Puzzle is tied to Yami . . . but is it tied to Kage as well?” Lavender eyes darkened before Marik shook his head.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think Kage mistakenly severed that tie as well when he found his way out of the Puzzle.”

“But won’t he have regained that by melding with Yami again?” The blonde head tilted to one side for a moment in consideration before he shook his head again.

“Not likely,” he murmured. “Maybe if Yami had been weaker, if Kage had succeeded in breaking him . . . but we forced Kage to make his move before he was ready to do so. Yami blocked off everything from him, which would include the link with the Puzzle, even with it in pieces.” He ran a hand through his hair raggedly. “Now, if we can just find a way to turn this information into an advantage.” He yawned suddenly, drawing a chuckle from his current companion.

“How much sleep have you gotten?” Kaiba asked. Marik shrugged.

“A couple of hours, if I’m lucky,” he replied. With a snort, Seto rose from his desk.

“Go get some more sleep . . . it’s not like Yami’s going anywhere,” the brunette said, pointedly walking to the door and holding it open. “We can think more about this when you wake up.” Marik nodded wryly. His mind was sluggish as hell at the moment as it was . . . there was no way he could come up with any answers in this condition, no matter how much coffee he drank.

“I’ll just go back to the library,” he muttered, standing with a stretch before making his way back down to said room. “Thanks for the information, Seto. It helps.” Seto nodded.

“I want him back just like the rest of you do,” he murmured. “I’ll do anything I can to see that it happens, if it’s possible.” Marik nodded, and disappeared back into the library, the door clicking closed quietly behind him. Seto returned to his computer, resuming his search for any other information that might come in handy. Little did any of them know that events were rapidly spiraling out of their hands upstairs.


*-------*-------*-------*-------*


Each click of a piece into the Puzzle, each placement of a missing portion of the golden item, brightened the room Yami found himself locked within. He could feel each piece as it was returned, like he was slowly being put back together along with it. With each click, the bond between himself and Yugi grew stronger, more pronounced . . . and yet, his sense of Kage remained the same. It puzzled him, yet at the same time it gave him hope. Now if only he could figure out what exactly was going on.

He’d spent what had to be hours pacing this small area of his Soul Room, trying to figure out what Shadi had meant by his words. A Shadow Game, the mysterious Egyptian had called this . . . but it was hard to play a game without knowing the rules. So, he had to figure out the rules. That was his first task . . . and a difficult one. Especially when he didn’t know the purpose of the game.

It was obvious who his opponent was . . . or was it? Kage was barely a tug on his consciousness at this point. So who was his opponent? Not Shadi himself, obviously. But if not the Egyptian, and not his shadow, then who? Or was it a what rather than a who? Gods, he hated games where he didn’t know the rules, nor who his opponent was.

But this was a game he wasn’t going to lose . . . not if winning it would give him back his life and Yugi.

The Puzzle was rapidly taking shape now . . . he could feel it. Yugi was solving it faster than ever before – he found he was proud of his aibou. His love was so smart, so kind, so . . . so everything that he himself was not. Was it any wonder that Yugi was his hikari, his light?

A glimmer of light caught his attention, and he turned toward it cautiously, crimson eyes widening as a door began to take shape . . . a familiar door, one that stood closed and sealed tightly behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to confirm it was still there, and then turned to the one slowly becoming apparent on the opposite wall. What was going on here?

He approached it slowly, reaching out to touch it . . . and froze with a gasp of pain as agony shot through him. Something was blocking the evolving door . . . something familiar, something he never wanted to confront again. His pain, his guilt, his sorrow . . . it was all there, before that glimmering door.

This then, was the Shadow Game . . . and his opponent. He would have to confront himself, and his memories, overcoming them to move on with his life. If he did not, he would be trapped here . . . forever.


*-------*-------*-------*-------*


Kage glanced up, a smirk crossing his features as he sensed a weakening in the shields holding him to his prison. So the Pharaoh was losing his strength . . . how wonderful. Blood red eyes narrowed, twisting the aquiline features as the smirk widened into a bloodthirsty smile.

There would be no one to stop him this time . . . no one to halt his progress toward what he wanted. His revenge, and his freedom . . . forever.


*-------*-------*-------*-------*


Bakura awoke with a snort, starting upright and dislodging Ryou harshly as red-brown eyes widened. There was Shadow Magic at work somewhere in the house. He looked over at Marik and Malik, who were both still sound asleep, curled together on the couch.

Obviously it was neither of the blonde’s . . . and Kaiba didn’t know enough to be doing anything with his own abilities. That left one individual unaccounted for . . . and that individual was supposed to be unconscious.

“Marik! Malik!” he snapped, rising hastily to his feet. Two different sets of purple eyes snapped open, and they both scrambled hastily to their feet as they sensed the same thing that had awoken Bakura.

“Yugi!” Marik gasped, and dashed for the door, the two yami’s hot on his heels, leaving Ryou to stare after them in stunned shock before he too made it to his feet to follow them.

The three figures raced up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time, hitting the landing at a dead sprint and rushing down the hallway toward the open doorway of Yami’s room, where they had left the fallen Pharaoh and his hikari hours before.

Bakura skid into the room, just as Yugi finished placing the last piece in the Millennium Puzzle. A golden flare lit the room, throwing it into harsh contrasts of shadow and light as Yugi squeaked in alarm, dropping the Puzzle and staggering away from the desk with an arm thrown across his eyes.

Bakura grunted as Marik brushed roughly by him, grabbing Yugi and dragging him into a far corner of the room protectively as Malik ran across to the desk and dropped the shirt he had been wearing over his light t-shirt over the Puzzle, dimming the sudden harsh glow.

“Yugi, what the fuck were you thinking!?” Marik panted, hugging the slighter youth close as he stared over at Malik and Bakura.

“I didn’t think anything would happen!” Yugi said. “I mean, Yami’s out of it, right!?”

“It’s still a Millennium Item, you idiot!” Malik snarled. “They’re never powerless!” He stared down at the glowing item, where it could still be seen under the thick material of his shirt, glowing like the heart of a small sun. “Great Ra, what the fuck is going on?” he wondered quietly.

Behind them, none of them noticed the figure on the bed slowly beginning to move, all eyes fixed on the glowing Puzzle.


*-------*-------*-------*-------*


The door was fully there . . . and on the other side of it, he could see Yugi. He wanted to reach out, to take his aibou’s hand, to kiss those soft lips and hold that lithe body against his. But there was a barrier, a barrier of his own regrets, his own fears and sorrows, his own pain . . . his memories of the things Kage had done, both to him and to his friends. It was a barrier he would have to overcome, if he wanted his life back.

Crimson eyes narrowed, angry with himself and his hesitation. Everything he wanted was there, before him, beckoning him . . . and yet he continued to let his fear hold him back, keep him from stepping forward and taking what could be his if he had the courage. Why was he hesitating?

‘You were weak,’ the shadows whispered. ‘You were weak, and they paid the price. Can you face your weakness? Can you honestly think you can protect him again, when you were the one that hurt him so badly? You cannot even protect yourself.’

“No,” he murmured, shaking his head. “I protected him as best I could . . .”

‘And it wasn’t enough. It will never be enough, Pharaoh. You should have died millennia ago. You don’t deserve this life . . . this chance. Fade away peacefully, as you were meant to. Don’t make this harder on yourself than it has to be . . .’

He snarled, crimson eyes narrowing as his hands balled into fists. The shadows were right . . . he didn’t belong here.

“I love you, Yami. I can’t live without you . . . please, come back to me.” Yugi’s voice, Yugi’s words. His aibou wanted him here.

“We want the chance to get to know him.” Other voices . . . Bakura, Kaiba, Tea, Joey . . . his friends. They wanted him here as well.

‘They don’t know the real you . . . the you that Kage was spawned from . . . you are evil, you are darkness, you are our master . . .’

“Darkness is nothing without light,” he snarled, and stepped forward.


*--------*--------*--------*-------*


“Bakura! Look out!”

Bakura had barely enough time to respond to his hikari’s warning before he found himself pinned beneath a lithe body, staring up into blood red eyes from barely inches away.

“Thief,” Kage snarled. “Motherless bastard . . . did you honestly think you could get rid of me so easily.” Bakura felt the kiss of cold metal against his throat as Kage snarled over his shoulder at Malik and Marik, who had started toward him. “Back off, traitor,” he growled. “You and your hikari can stay over there with little Yugi until I finish with the Tomb Robber.”

“You’re trapped, Kage . . . once again, you have nowhere to go,” Bakura snapped back. “You can’t get past the shields on the doors and windows, and the body you’re in is too weak to do much else. Give up and die like the fucking bastard you are!”

Kage chuckled, shifting restlessly on the pale body, a smirk crossing his features.

“You can’t kill me without losing your precious Pharaoh,” he murmured. Red-brown eyes narrowed, and Kage’s smirk widened into a grin. He knew he had the upper hand. What they didn’t know couldn’t hurt him . . . and they didn’t know that he had no idea where the Pharaoh was. He could barely sense the bastard weakling anymore. But they didn’t know that at all, and that was his advantage. In the meantime, he could have a little fun before forcing them to release him.

Leaning down, he lay a teasing kiss on the side of Bakura’s mouth, grazing his lips across the shuddering male’s cheek teasingly before coming with his mouth to rest near the outer shell of the thief’s ear.

“Perhaps before I go I can get a sample of that sweet mouth of yours again,” he whispered, and felt the thief stiffen beneath him. “Or maybe your precious hikari . . . is he as delectable as you, I wonder?” He grunted as Bakura suddenly threw him off, landing on his back with a hiss of pain before he scrambled back to his feet, watching with a smirk as the thief shuddered helplessly, huddled on the floor.

“You . . . won’t . . . EVER . . . touch Ryou!” Bakura snarled, staggering to his feet. “I will see you to hell personally myself first!”

“Touchy, touchy, thief,” Kage said mockingly, waving his knife back and forth like a tell tale finger. “Such a difference from the cold, unfeeling bastard you were back in Egypt. I must say, I liked you better back then.”

“Fuck you!”

They glared at each other, unable to break the strange taboo that had fallen over them. Kage was between the four teenagers and the door, making it impossible to escape with Yugi. What was he planning on doing?

Yugi whimpered slightly, amethyst eyes staring at Kage in horror. Yami was in there . . . somewhere within that body, his love was trapped. Was it as it had been the last time? Did he watch it all through Kage’s eyes, unable to stop his darkness from doing anything? Had they lost Yami for good with his foolish belief that the Puzzle was nothing more than a piece of jewelry now?

“I will get out of here,” Kage snarled after several moments passed. “You can’t stop me . . . and you can’t leave as long as I’m between you and the door. It appears we are at a stalemate in our little game.”

“Let us speak with Yami!” Marik snapped, surprising all of them. “Then we’ll talk about deals.” Kage clicked his tongue against his teeth in disappointment.

“Please, Tomb Keeper, do you take me for a fool?” he asked dryly, slapping the silver blade against his palm. “Why would I relinquish my one advantage? The Pharaoh stays were he is . . . he’s useless to me now anyway. I’ll find a way to rid myself of him eventually – when I’m done playing with him.” He smirked as Yugi’s choked sob slithered through the silence, turning blood red eyes to the diminutive hikari hungrily. “Besides . . . there is something else I want in this room.”

Tan arms tightened around Yugi protectively, even as Malik stepped into the path of that gaze, hiding Yugi from the demented spirit’s sight.

“You’re not getting him Kage,” the blonde yami growled, clenching his fists dangerously. They were in a precarious position . . . Kage had the upper hand, and the shadow knew it. Any move they made was dangerous now, and there was no simple way out of this.

Movement by the door drew the room’s occupants attention, and Bakura charged as Malik shouted at a warning to Kaiba as the brunette stepped through the barrier. Kage was faster, whirling to grab the brunette and use him as his key through the door.

Time froze as Kage grunted, staggering slightly before Seto before staggering backward, clutching at the knife hilt that protruded from the blade buried in his heart. Sapphire eyes met bloody red in shock . . . he’d been carrying the knife simply as a precaution, not intending to use it. It had simply been instinct for him to raise the blade when he had . . . gods, what had he done?

“You . . . fucking . . . priest . . .” Kage snarled weakly, staggering before he fell to his knees. He drew the blade almost disbelievingly from his chest, watching as thick, red-black blood followed it to pour down the bandages around his bodies chest.

“NO!” Yugi screamed, struggling against Marik’s hold on him as he saw the wound. “YAMI!” The blonde holding him grunted as an elbow impacted with his sternum, knocking the wind out of him as Yugi broke loose, rushing to the fallen shadow's side. “Where’s Yami!?” he shouted, shaking the body violently as blood red eyes rolled back. “Where’s my yami, you bastard!?”

“In . . . hell,” Kage coughed, a blood stained smirk crossing his aquiline features. “With me . . . forever, now.” He coughed again, a spray of blood spattering across one pale cheek as Yugi sobbed, shaking the limp body more harshly as his anger, hatred, and despair grew. One blood covered hand rose to grip his chin tightly, and he whimpered as Kage brought his face down closer, pressing his lips to Yugi’s brutally. “Say goodbye to your love, little hikari,” he snarled against the soft flesh. “He’s mine forever again.” The grip suddenly loosened, falling slack before the hand fell limply to the floor, the life that had animated the battered body in his arms suddenly fleeing, and leaving Yugi cradling what had once been his love . . . his yami.

“You bastard,” Yugi whispered . . . and broke into choked sobs, huddling over the body brokenly as everyone else stood frozen in shock. They had lost.