Giving In

Disclaimer - I don't own them, or I'd be having one hell of a Valentine's Day.

Author's Note - HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! This is my gift to all my wonderful readers, especially to ACID, who brought this whole story about with
her challenge. So you can all thank her for it : )

Lot's of angst and darkness in this chapter, so I hope you all leave your happy thoughts at the door . . . there are no happy thoughts here.

As for the ending . . . I have no idea how this is going to turn out. I may wo ewo endings, or I may do one. We shall see.

Chapter 6 - Of Shadows and Dreams

"In the news today, sixteen year old Yugi Motou and seventeen year old Joey Wheeler have both disappeared in what can only be explained as the most
bizarre kidnaping in the history of Domino City. Both youths were taken from the Kame Game Shop two nights ago. Police say that there was no sign of
forced entry, although the back door was left wide open. There has been no word from the kidnapers, and police are looking for any and all information
that can be given at this time. If you have any information on the whereabouts of these two teenagers, please call . . ."

Duke shut off the TV with a sigh, one hand running through ebony hair as he turned to face the remaining members of Yugi's friends.

"What the hell is happening to us?ristristan growled from his perch on the armthe the couch. "We've faced demented Egyptians, psychotic millionaire's . .
. hell, we've even faced a five thousand year old Tomb Robber in the body of a friend and come through it in one piece, and now this! What the hell is
going on?"

"I'm worried about Ryou . . . has anybody seen him at all since Yami was released from the hospital?" Tea murmured from the recliner nearby. Everyone
shook their heads.

"He's been h up up in his house . . . I even tried to call over there to let him know that Yami and Joey were missing and I didn't get an answer," Duke
muttered.

"Maybe we should go over there . . ." Serenity said. Tristan shook his head.

"I have no interest in dealing with that demented spirit that lives inside his Ring," the brunette said firmly. "With Yami missing, there's ne are around to
keep him in check if he decides to pull something."

"I don't understand . . ." Tea said softly. "What's going on?"

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

Yugi paced his Soul Room, worried about what was happening outside in the real world. He had neither heard nor seen anything of the dark Yami since the
Game of Truths . . . he was worried about Joey. Most of all, he was afraid for his yami. The Pharaoh had looked so weak . . . was he even still alive? He
didn't dare reach out through their link to see . . . he didn't want to draw the other's attention back to himself if he could help it. But his friends were in
danger . . .

T SIT SIZE="+1">He glanced at his Soul Room door, considering for what seemed like the hundredth time his only feasible plan of action. If he could just get to Yami . . . get
to the Pharaoh's Soul Room and release the five thousand year old spirit, they might have a chance. But . . . what if the dark was waiting out there for him
to do just that?

He sighed, running a hand through his limp hair. He didn't have a choice . . . he would have to risk falling into the dark's hand again. He shuddere he he
remembered what had happened the first time before shoving it out of his mind.

He approached the door slowly, and came to a stop as another thought entered his mind . . . one that was terribly unwelcome, but important none the less.
How could he face Yami? What would he say? What would he do? How did he really feel about his other now . . . now that he knew what Yami had been
capabf alf all along and had been hiding from him?

Yugi shrank back from the door, his heart suddenly pounding painfully. He still loved Yami . . . he could feel that, but that emotion was slowly being buried
by pain, resentment, and fear. Yami wasn't the same person he had fallen in love with . . . had never been that person at all. The Pharaoh he had come to
know had been one half of a whole, the other part locked away until recently. Yugi found it hard not to blame himself, even as he grew angry at Yami for
doing this to them both.

"Why didn't you TELL me!?" he shouted, a small fist connecting with the door as he let the anger run it's course. "Why did you have to be so stubborn?
We could have stopped this . . ." he whispered, falling to his knees as he was blinded by tears. "Oh Yami . . . why?"

*Because I did not want you tainted by it, little one,* Yami's voice whispered through the link. The voice was barely there, almost non-existent . . . but it
was his yami all the same.

"You can hear me? Where are you!?" he murmured, wanting to reach out through their link but still afraid.

*Yes . . . I can hear you, Yugi. I wish that I could . . .* the voice trailed off into silence for a moment. Yugi got this feeling that Yami was pausing to gather
strength. *It doesn't matter now. What's done is done. Forgive me little one . . . I was doing what I thought was best. Instead, I have put you and the
others in more danger than you can possibly comprehend.*

"But why, Yami? We could have helped you . . ." Yugi whispered, leaning his head against the door as the tears trickled slowly down his pale cheeks.

*No, my light. There was nothing that could be done . . . my darkness was uncontrollable and all consuming. You . . . do not remember the first few
months after my awakening.*

"What?" Yugi said, startled . . . and then began to remember all those periods of blacking out that had plagued him during those first months. "That was
you?"

*Yes. I . . . took over without thought whenever you were in danger. I . . . we killed people, young one, in order to protect you, even before I KNEW you.
It wasn't until I became truly aware of what and where I was that I made the decision to change as I did . . . I feared that it was doing you more harm than
good for me to control you like that. Especially when your grandfather began sending you to that sigh-col-oh-gist.* He sensed Yami's sigh through their
link. *I could no longer endanger you like that . . . it was hurting me as well to do so. So I changed. I was not aware of what I did . . . I just knew that my
darkness was harming you, so I shut it out, controlling those urges that wanted to kill and maim anyone who dared to harm you. And that side began to hate
you for what I did.*

"You should have told me!" Yugi said. "I know we could have done something . . . Bakura isn't all that bad . . ."

*No, little one . . . but that is because he was used to being isolated and alone during his life. I was never alone . . . always surrounded by people, never left
in silence. Five thousand years spent . . . floating . . not nothing, with no one to talk to, no one to interact with . . . until you awoke me, that was all there
was. It changed me young one, and not for the better. The ruthless side of me that did anything to protect my kingdom became something more . . .
something darker and more menacing. That is what is loose now . . . and it hates the living almost as much as it hates me.*

"Yami . . . where are you? We have to get out of here . . . we have to warn the others . . ."

*I am where I always was, little one. Trapped within my Soul Room . . . alone and separated from you, even as you are.*

*NO!" Yami shouted through their link . . . but it was too late. Yugi had opened the door, charging out into the hallway, freezing when he saw the changes
that had been wrought. The hallway had become like an extension of his Soul Room . . . the walls everywhere covered in blood. A thick river of it ran down
the middle of the stone corridor, which went on and on forever in either direction, although Yugi could not truly see it because of the inky blackness that
enveloped either end from where he stood.

"Oh my god," Yugi whispered, horrified. "What has he done to me?"

*Yugi . . . you must get back in your Soul Room!* Yami whispered, his voice desperate. *You are not safe outside of it . . .*

"No!" the smaller teen whispered harshly. "I can't just sit by and watch as this fiend wrecks everything we've worked so hard for!"

"You should have listened to him, little one . . ." a voice hissed behind him. Hands clamped firmly over his mouth and arms, bringing him back against a
leather clad chest tightly even as he kicked and struggled. He managed to get loose, biting down on the hand that covered his mouth as one small foot
connected with a knee. He turned to run . . . and gasped as he was slammed into the wall, seeing stars as his head connected with the hard stone. He
screamed as teeth clamped down on his shoulder, drawing blood as a hand pawed roughly at his most intimate parts through his clothing.

"Sweet little hikari . . . how we have missed playing with you," the dark Yami murmured, pulling back to stare into wide, panicked amethyst eyes even as
the taller body held him pinned between it and the wall. "You're friends are fun . . . but this is so much more fulfilling."

"What have you done to them?!" Yugi shouted . . . and was promptly slapped, his head rocking to one side with the force of the blow.

"Do not shout at us, little brat. We are in control here, not you. But to answer your question . . . your precious Joey remains in the Shadow Realm,
comatose still after our last Game. Bakura we assume is at home nursing his pride . . . the others have yet to fall to our hands, but they will soon enough."
Yugi started as he heard Bakura's name . . . the Tomb Robber had been faced with this shadow and lost? Was there no hope left? "Now then . . . to pick
up where we left off . . ." The familiar yet unfamiliar face leaned closer, licking a cold trail up the side of his neck before pausing with his moprespressed
almost intimately against his ear. "We yearn to feel you around us again, little light. Your warmth to warm our coldness . . ." Yugi shivered, moaning in
horror as images of the previous encounter with this shadow of his other flashed through his mind. He fought against the overwhelming despair and horror
that was engulfing him, trying desperately to think through the rapidly expanding cloud of fear . . . and gasped as he was suddenly released.

"You will NOT touch him AGAIN!" the Pharaoh growled, stepping in between his other self and Yugi, his form practically crackling with rage as he used
his body to shield his hikari. The dark Yami picked himself, dripping blood from where he had fallen, a maniacal grin spreading across his face as he took
in the appearance of his lighter self.

"So . . . you brave the darkness to protect the light again . . ." the shadow murmured, casually licking blood from it's fingertips. "But now your are
vulnerable, Pharaoh . . .just ma it it through that darkness unscathed has left you much weaker. It will not be long before we become one . . ."

Yami growled, even as he shivered. The dark was correct in it's assessment . . . it had taken much of his flagging strength to get through his Soul Room to
the door in order to prevent little Yugi being raped again, but he had deemed it more than worth it if he could give his light the chance to stop this madness
from going further.

*Yugi, get out. Take control and shatter the Puzzle,* he whispered silently. Yugi stared up at him in shock, unmoving.

"Go!" Yami commanded, and lunged, taking his shadow down beneath him as he tackled his dark other, flinging them both back into the river of blood.

"NO!" the dark howled, struggling wildly to escape as it saw Yugi rise and sprint down the hallway. Yami held on with a strength born of desperation,
pinning this dark self down ruthlessly as he felt Yugi draw away from them.

Yugi ran, instinctively following his other's command even as he knew Yami was risking everything for this one small chance. He could sense his other's
growing weakness . . . knew in his heart that Yami was putting more on the line than Yugi would ever have allowed him to. This could very well end his
existence . . . but could he really shatter the Puzzle? He knew what it would do to Yami . . . if the Puzzle was shattered, Yami would return to the darkness
that had birthed his own evil self, floating in a void of nothingness until the Puzzle was reassembled. He couldn't do that to Yami . . . even as he was scared
of the dark other, he didn't want to lose his love.

He blinked, finding himself suddenly in his body in an unfamiliar building. He could hear the rats and other creatures scuttling in the walls around him.
Disoriented, he felt for the Puzzle around his neck, unsure as to exactly what he was going to do . . . and gasped when he found that it wasnherehere. He
looked around wildly, trying to find it . . . and saw nothing.

** Yami . . . it's not here!** he shouted, panicking . . . and sensed his other's pain. **YAMI!**

Yami staggered back, a blow to the ribs having forced him to release the dark other, who had summoned a knife in his desperation. He pressed a hand to
the wound, temporarily stemming the blood flowing from it as he glared at his dark self from his position against the wall. He was still in between the dark
and Yugi . . . he only hoped he had enough strength to give Yugi time.

*You . . . must . . . find it, little one,* he whispered, his voice terribly weak. *Hurry!*

**You're hurt!**

*DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!* Yami shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. *Yugi . . . find the Puzzle sha shatter it! It's our only chance!*

Yugi scrambled around in the darkness, trying to find a light that would allow him to see further than the few feet around him. He breathed a sigh of relief as
he found the light switch . . . and stumbled towards the Puzzle as the light revealed lying on a table near the far wall.

"NO!" the dark shouted, suddenly appearing in physical form near where Yugi had originally found himself. Yugi had his hands around the Puzzle, raising it
above his head to shatter it when his body froze on him. He struggled wildly, trying to force his frozen mus tos to move . . . and praised whatever gods
were listening when his fingers at least responded. He watched as the dark Yami made his way towards him, even as he worked his fingernails underneath
one of the Puzzle's pieces.

"I've gou nou now, little one. Time I took control of matters," the dark hissed, reaching for him . . . and then froze as a blinding flash of light lit up the
room. "What the . . ." Yami snarled, lowering the hands that were holding the Puzzle above his head, suddenly finding himself back in possession of Yugi's
body. He examined the item carefully, and swore when he found what he was looking for. The center piece, with the Eye of Horus engraved upon it, was
gone.

"That little bastard . . ." the shadow growled. "He didn't manage to shatter it . . . but that's almost as good."