Chaos Effect

Chapter 7

Or, they were but were deactivated. She'd been forced to turn the brights on in order to safely make her way along the long drive towards the shoreline estate. And when she reached the gate she found the small guardhouse situated near the gate empty. Stepping out of her car she slowly made her way around to the building and saw that there was power just no one around and nothing actually turned on. And the guardhouse was oddly clean... even the most loyal of employees, if forced to do such work, left tale-tell signs that they had been there. A paper or a magazine on the counter, a soda can cracked open, a portable TV. The only thing Yuri found as she poked about the small guardhouse was garbage in the trash and from the way the fruitflies were buzzing about it and the rot on the shriveled up apple core it had been several days since someone had been in there.

Finding the switch for the gate she mentally debated the legality of what she was doing before remembering that Tea was connected to all this and opening the drive up.

'No one rushing out, no alarms... nothing,' she thought as she got back in her car and drove towards the dark house. It was so creepy to see a house that large and modern quiet and unlit. Yuri was used to Domino, where even at the darkest times of night there was light and life going on all over. One could find dancing, music, entertainment, meals, anything. There was no 9-5 in Domino. So for her to be driving up to a building that was so... dead... was chilling.

Reaching the door she got out of her car, keys held firmly in her hand as she slowly made her way up and, after standing there for a moment, knocked. "Hello? Domino Police. Open up."

Nothing.

After about five minutes of waiting that felt like hours in the silent inky night she pulled out her pocket maglite, the high intensity beam cutting through the darkness as she began to move about the perimeter of the mansion. She could see the mini spotlights that were installed to illuminate the house sitting cold and dark and if it wasn't for the fact that she'd seen power in the guardhouse she'd have wondered if there was an outage.

'Something is very wrong. If someone were here they would have responded... and if they'd left in a hurry they wouldn't have turned off the security system.' She frowned at that. 'And these types of systems are automatic... someone turned them off on purpose.'

She almost missed the broken window. She'd reached as far as she could go only to find that the mansion came right up the cliff face of the shore. She'd just been getting ready to turn around when she'd spotted the curtain dangling out the window and shining her light up she could see that the window was shattered. Slowly she lowered her light towards the rocky waters below and really hoped that it had been an object that had tumbled down and not a person.

Yuri pulled out her radio as she got back to her car, beginning to go along the other side of the mansion. "Dispatch, this is Detective Yuri Gardner."

"This is dispatch."

"I'm at the Kaiba Mansion. All the security systems are off, no sign of anyone here, and I just found a broken window overlooking the water." She shone her light towards one of the front windows but all she got there was a hallway; she was glad for that, as she was getting so jumpy from the quiet that if she'd spotted even a painting she may have begun to scream. But no... just wall and carpeting and a plant of some kind. "I'm moving around the otherside but we need to get a team to investigate. It's looking like Mr. Chaos was right and something has happened with the Kaiba family... wait." She paused, spotting a light in a downstairs window. "Dispatch, I might have someone. Please hold."

Clipping her radio back onto her belt Yuri slowly made her way towards the lit up window and kneeling down saw it looked down into a servant's hall. She rose, looking for a side door, only to pause when she felt something press into her back.

"Turn around, slowly," a man said grimly. Yuri nodded, keeping her heads out to her sides, and saw that the new arrival was well over 6 feet tall dressed in a black suit with an earpiece on his ride side, his right finger extended and jabbing her in the chest to keep her in place. "Who are you?"

"Yuri Gardner of the Domino Police department," she said. While the man looked like the standard security one would find for a corporate office the fact that he was here and not guarding a lobby had all her cop instincts screaming. Still, she played it casual. "We got a report of a disturbance here and I was sent to investigate."

"There is no disturbance. You need to leave."

"The broken window begs to differ." She nodded to the earpiece. "Tell whoever is in charge I need to speak with them."

"I don't think you understand how this goes. You don't give orders-"

"Actually I do. If there is a report of a crime I can, within good reason, investigate. Security turned off, broken window, and now you acting fishy? That is enough. So either get your boss down here or I radio in for more backup."

The suited man glowered at her, clearly not used to people refusing to obey his commands, but finally reached up and touched his earpiece. "Roland, there is a Detective Gardner here about a disturbance report..." Suddenly his entire demeanor shifted. "Yes, I said Gardner..." he stated as he raised his hand, pointing his finger at her. "Don't move. Turns out we do want to talk to you-"

Yuri lashed out, grabbing his wrist and jerking his hand away before twisting until there was a crack. The suited man roared in pain and Yuri decided to further surprise him. He'd clearly thought that their size difference gave him an edge but Yuri had been trained how to put down men twice her height and weight and easily drove her foot into his kneecap, causing him to stumble before she yanked on his other arm and threw him over her shoulder. The man landed with a thud but Yuri already reached into her pocket and pulled out a 20 inch long piece of high grade military cable, wrapping it around his bicep and then twisting it so that it formed a noose around his arm. The bruiser howled as she wrenched his arm back but she kicked him in the back, forcing him down onto the ground. Her handcuffs came out and she pressed her knee into the small of his back.

"Stay down before I really hurt you!" she snarled. "Dispatch," she said, pulling her radio free again. "Send officers to the Kaiba Mansion. I was just attached by an unknown assailant who was communicating with others. I might have company soon."

"Officers will be there in five minutes, detective."

Yuri reached over and grabbed him by the scalp, yanking his head up as she clipped her radio back onto her belt. "Let me guess... the name Gardner interested whoever you were talking to?" She pulled a bit harder, causing the man to groan in pain. "You're going to tell me what the heck is going on and what Mokuba Kaiba and my sister have to do with it or so help me you'll wish you'd never been born."

"I can answer that."

Yuri turned, prepared to tackle the new arrival, only to pause when she saw it was an older woman in a black dress, her hair in a tight bun on her head. Yuri remained alert but the woman held out her hands in a gesture of peace.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Mrs. Nash, the housekeeper." She looked down at the man Yuri had pinned and scowled. "And that man is the one who has been holding me and the staff prisoner in our rooms for the last day and a half." The housekeeper looked back to Yuri. "I will tell you everything I know... if you promise to help Mr. Kaiba and his brother. They are in grave danger."

~MC~MC~MC~

Even when I knew it was coming appearing in the Shadow Game was one of the oddest feelings I'd ever had in my life. One moment I had felt a strange thrusting sensation, which I realized later was my soul being ripped from my body but in the moment the closest I could come to describing it was the feeling when you suddenly become hyper conscious of yourself and your place in the world. The sudden striking feeling were you are no longer rushing through your day half on autopilot but rather actually felt who you were and your role in all of reality. An out of body experience where you just paused, even just mentally, and took stock of where you were. That was the feeling that had struck me when that demented spirit and his ring had hit me and the gang with his magic.

And then in the next moment I was standing someplace completely else, dressed in clothing I'd never worn before, and feeling... different. Yet oddly normal, as if where I was might be the most natural thing in the world. The first reaction would be the say that it was like waking from a dream but there was nothing slow about it like nor was it like an alarm turning on and causing you to start and snap awake. As I stood there I couldn't help but think of one of Pegasus' cards from the TCG, of all things. Toon Rollback. In my mind I saw my life as a piece of old-fashion film, the kind on the huge reels one might see in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and it was being cut with scissors, a chunk taken out representing the time between Yami Bakura hitting me with his magic and the Pharaoh summoning me to the field, then the whole thing being stitched back together. The closest I'd ever come to blacking out was when I'd slipped in a puddle of water at work and hit my head on the ground but even then I had vague memories of the moments afterwards, my mind slowly rebooting as I scared the hell out of everyone by going about my business. But this was different. A blink of an eye, that's all it was. One moment feeling the magic strike me the next finding myself standing on a massive dueling field, dressed in the robes of Endymion.

I looked down at myself with mild wonder. The robes were beautiful and ornate yet oddly comfortable. Even the double shoulder pads and huge sleeves didn't hinder my movements. The huge golden belt-like structure I wore around my waist was made of a very light metal and as I rolled my shoulders I found that the entire thing, despite the heft of the material, was rather easy to wear. 'Magic,' my mind reminded me and I smirked a little at that. The upper part of my head was covered in Endymion's mask but unlike the other times I'd wore masks and headpieces I didn't feel the odd twinge of pain or itch. Instead the headpiece seemed to be an extension of my body, no different than my hair, without any restriction to my vision. The lenses in the mask functioned like my glasses, thankfully in both the fact that I could easily see and I thought I'd have looked REALLY stupid with glasses on over that mask and helm. Endymion's cape fluttered slightly in the breeze that came from everywhere and nowhere and looking back I was surprised to see that the metal ring that was behind all the Endymion cards wasn't actually attached to my clothing... in fact it didn't seem to be metal at all, as my cape easily passed through it. 'Magic,' I again reminded myself as I gripped Endymion's staff (and internally I cackled in glee at having a magical staff and wondered if I could organically declare to Yami Bakura "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!") before turning towards Yugi and his friends.

Looking at them I quickly realized that we were deep into the duel as all of them had been summoned to the field. Tea was still hiding under the card that the Pharaoh had set, with Yugi, Tristan, and Joey trying to hide her. On the other side of the field was a card I was pretty sure was a certain bug with a taste for man flesh and above us-

"...you know I've had dreams about this but I'm the giant and there is a sexy blonde woman with me," I said, looking at the two of them. I turned to the others. "So, what actually have we gotten- uh, guys?" I saw the gang was staring at me, rather startled. "What?"

"Edwin?" Tea said from where she knelt on the ground. "Is that you?"

"Uh, yeah." I frowned at their confusion. They were all dressed up to and they knew I had thrown my card into Yugi's deck. It couldn't be the headpiece and mask as that still left my lower face uncovered and Tristan had on something covering the bottom of his face. "Okay, am I missing something here?"

"You just... look different," Yugi said.

Tristan nodded. "Older."

"What's with the beard, man?"

Beard?

I reached up and my eyes went wide as a felt a very familiar bit of scruff on my chin. Hurrying over I grabbed Joey's head, his helm rather shiny, and looked at my reflection.

It was me.

The real me. The me before I'd awoken in this crazy world. Mid-Thirties me with my circle beard and no weird red stripes... it was me. The true me. I couldn't help but smirk, staring back at my reflection. It just felt so good to be myself again, even if for only a little while.

"Well well well," Yami Bakura said, reminding me that he was here. "Now this is rather interesting. These forms are a blending of your favorite cards and your soul... and here we have someone whose soul doesn't quite match his form. An old soul in a young body."

"Oh, you have no idea," I snarked before I turned to the gang. "Alright, so I got the general gist that we are the cards in the card game, Whitey Bulger up there is now evil, and there are two Yugis. Anything else I need to know about?"

"You are... handling this rather well," Tristan said after a few moments.

"I've led an interesting life," I stated, rolling my hand to motion for them to continue. "Facts, details, information... I can't make bricks without clay."

"Bricks? Ed man, we're playin' a card game for our very lives!" Joey complained.

"That was a Sherlock Holmes quote you... nevermind, information please!"

"I'd kind of like some myself," Tea complained. "I woke up dressed like this under some cardboard and the guys are trying to hide me from giant Bakura..."

"Trust me, you want to stay hidden from him."

The Spirit of the Ring looked at us with a smirk. "Discuss it all you want, you are merely wasting your time."

"He's right, we have to do something now," Yugi said, stepping forward. "Maybe if I-" I grabbed his wrist, an idea suddenly striking me on how I could really screw with Zorc. "Hey! Edwin, what-"

"Actually he's dead wrong," I said, giving Yugi a small shove back before I stepped forward.

"Hmmm?" Yami Bakura said, regarding me with interest. "Have you come to die? Chosen to sacrifice yourself to save the others?"

The Pharaoh spoke up. "Edwin, stay back now!"

"Think of a strategy to deal with whatever problem we have. I'm going to talk to our host."

Yami Bakura laughed. "Are you going to try and beg for mercy? Play upon the bonds of friendship and humanity to try and get me to release you? I'm afraid that won't work... I have none of that. But if you wish to waste what little time you have left..." He rolled his free hand dismissively.

I though merely smirked. "Naaaaaah, I think I'll do something I've always wanted to do." I looked down at my wrist before looking right back up. "Dormammu, I've come to bargain!"

Yami Bakura stared at me for a moment, a rather befuddled look on his face, before he began to chuckle and then outright laugh. I merely stood there, letting him do just that, occasionally glancing over at the Pharaoh and the gang as they stopped discussing strategies and watched Zorc cackle at my comment. It was rather over the top, with him throwing back his head and howling with laughter, but then again he was a villain from Japan and he had one on Ultron that his plan wasn't "Rocks fall, everybody dies.".

"Oh, now this is interesting. I sensed that you weren't truly a part of Yugi and his little friend's group. An outsider... an impurity trying to fit in but unable to. Too old, too different, too awkward. You don't function like them, think like them, even though you long to be a part of their inner circle." He was hitting on points that were completely true but I did my best not to let him see that. Had I actually been a 20-something his taunts might have actually worked to shake me but I was in my mid 30s and knew my demons. I began to hum to myself...

'I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed. Get along with the voices inside of my head. You're trying to save me stop holdin' your breath, and you think I'm crazy, you think I'm crazy...'

"So tell me, what is it you propose?" Yami Bakura asked leaning in close, eyes showing malicious interest. "A trade? Perhaps something of value for your lives? I knew the likes of little Yugi and his friends would never barter with me... but you? You are far more pragmatic, I can tell. You don't have their virtues. Whatever is it do you have to offer me? Your servitude, perhaps? The puzzle?" He grinned, face nearly splitting apart as the grin grew wider and wider. "Or," he whispered, "are you going to turn on them? Offer their souls in exchange for your own safety. Is that it? Would you sacrifice them to save yourself?"

I could feel the others staring at me, their gazes burning into the back of my head. But I refused to even glance away to reassure them. I couldn't afford weakness, not now. I stared up at the giant form of the series' Big Bad... and smirked right back. "Not in the slightest. See... I have something you'll want desperately, Palpatine. So desperately that you will give ME what I want."

"I desire only a few things... seven things to be exact. The Puzzle will soon be mine, along with Pegasus' Millennium Eye. Then the other Millennium Items. And you... do not wield any of them."

"Thank God for that," I said drolly. The Millennium Items simply gave me the creeps. They offered too much power and the cost to forge them... the blood of so many innocents... it had been far too high. And the fact that only two of the wielders could be called 'heroic' (as Shadi did jack-shit so he was at best the ghostly quest giver... and even then had also given the villains their items) meant I wanted nothing to do with them. Let alone wield one myself. I slowly began to turn away from Zorc, looking about the shadow realm. "Your freedom, creature. I'm offering you your freedom."

"Whatever are you talking about?" He gestured at the board. "I am not the one whose soul is trapped in a card, forced into this Shadow Game."

"Yes... my soul. And their souls. And you. And Big Yugi up there."I gestured at the shadows around me. "We are all in this Shadow Game. Trapped until it ends. And... it's our move." My grin became more sinister. "So what happens... if we do nothing?"

Yami Bakura blinked at that. "What?"

"What if we do nothing? There's no time limit, you didn't set one. Not like Pegasus; see he was smart. He put a time limit on all this when he first faced Yugi. You rushed in and in doing so? You trapped yourself. It is now our turn and if we do nothing... the Shadow Game doesn't end. It goes on and on and on. Trapping you."

Yami Bakura looked about him at that, realizing just what I was saying.

"Is... is that right?" Tea asked.

"I mean... yeah, if the duel doesn't have a time limit so long as the Other Me doesn't say it's the end of his turn..." Yugi pointed out.

Joey though huffed. "So what, we just wait here? Forever?"

"Why not?" Tristan said, getting into my idea. "These are our souls, not our bodies... what is time to us? Better than one of us dying!"

The Pharaoh made his presence known. "Except your bodies are around us and time is continuing on for them. If we don't do something eventually all of us will need food and water." I hid my wince at that; I'd forgotten that time was still going on around us. So it wasn't the timeless trap Dr. Strange had created.

Yami Bakura cackled. "That's right! You'll need to hurry if you don't want to return to a corpse!" He laughed, mocking our plight. "What a heavy burden you have! You must rush into battle, sacrificing at least one of you to my Man-Eater Bug, or you must all find your souls trapped forever in the Shadow Realm, your bodies decaying as you desperately attempt to find way to avoid the inevitable!" He threw out his arms. "YOU ARE DOOMED EITHER WAY! THERE IS NO SAVING ALL OF YOU! SO WHO WILL BE THE ONE TO DIE AN AGONIZING DEATH?"

Tristan stepped forward. "I got this guys... I've been to that graveyard before."

I heard Joey slam the butt of his sword into Tristan's gut. "Sorry pal, but I can't let ya do that. Not this time." I heard him race forward. "Don't worry, I got that overgrown-"

I shot my arm out and clothslined Joey, sending him to the ground.

"And I'm sorry too, Joey, but I can't have you being a heroic idiot just yet." I turned back to Yami Bakura; during his little gloating it had occurred to me just what I could do to get out of this mess. It was a risk... a huge one... but worst case we used the original plan from the anime. Still, if I could keep Joey from having to face the Reaper of the Cards and keep the young ones from the trauma of thinking one of them had died, I would.

I once more stepped forward.

"And what's this? Have you decided to trade your life for theirs? Is that your bargain?" Yami Bakura asked. "Plenty have been willing to trade away so much they hold dear just to save their own pathetic lives. Have you come to do that too? To grovel before me and beg me to slay them in exchange for you merely having to live with the guilt that you let them die?"

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. "See, you seem to forget that we are still trapped." I began to pace. "Yeah yeah yeah, my body is out there. Same with the rest of the gang. Living bodies that will die in a few days." I slowly turned my head to lock eyes with Yami Bakura. "Same as you."

He frowned.

"I think you've been a spirit so long-and don't lie I already figured out you aren't the real Bakura, just some ghost or wraith that's using his form-you've forgotten completely what it is like to be alive. To live, breathe, all that. And right now... the exact same problem the five of us have... you have." My smile grew all the more sly. "Except all the worse."

"What are you talking about?" Yami Bakura demanded.

I gestured at myself. "I am a soul in a trading card. I don't feel hunger, I don't need sleep. I can go on and on and on and not feel a thing. But you? Heh. You need all that. Tell me... when is the last time you felt hunger pangs? Were so tired you couldn't keep your eyes open? Needed to pee so badly you thought you would burst? Well, I don't know about the last time but I do now you are about to feel all of that very soon. While I can stand here and taunt you about it. Make it all the worst by never letting you forget any of the pain you are going through. Remind you of how tired you are and how much you just want to shut your eyes... does the Shadow Realm allow you to sleep though? Or will you only feel the fatigue?" A thought occurred to me. "Magic comes with a price. Takes something. A cost. I wonder... could it be your energy? Your endurance?" I saw his mouth twitch, ever so slightly, and knew I had him. "So it's even worse that just you being awake and conscious. You are constantly being drained, a siphon of energy being pulled away from you, drop by drop by drop. Do you feel it right now? Stealing a bit more from you, making it all the more painful to sit there as your stomach grumbles?"

"Shut your mouth you little wretch!" Yami Bakura snarled.

But I wasn't done. Not by a long shot. "When is the last time you ate? Or slept? Big Yugi might be tired but he at least had a decent meal. So that will help him. But you? I bet you've been stalking us for a while, forcing the real Bakura to ignore his biological needs. Can't ignore them anymore... that clenching in your stomach, the way the tension is building behind your eyes as you grow more tired and just want to sleep, the weariness in your muscles. They say the human body can only go a few days without water... and dehydration is a terrible way to die."

"I said shut up!" Yami Bakura roared.

I rolled my wrist about in a lazy dismissive gesture. "And yes, I know that my body is out there. But the thing is I'm right now in a magical coma. Saving energy." My smile blossomed like the Grinch's when he got a terrible, awful idea. "So all we have to do is stand here and watch you destroy yourself." I paused, looking down at his deck. "Unless... you forfeit the game. Lay your hand on your deck and end all this. Free us, free the real Bakura, and bugger off to whatever darkness spawned you. That is my bargain."

"Never," Yami Bakura snarled. "I will find a way out of this and I will destroy you! Your suffering will be legendary... in all planes of existence the tales of what I'll do to your pathetic soul will be whispered with dread!"

"The only thing you'll do is suffer and die like the pathetic little rodent you are," I snarled. "Forfeit the Shadow Game! NOW!"

"You are going to risk them all?" he asked and I could tell he was latching on to anything he could find in the hopes of getting me to reconsider. He turned his focus from me to the others. "Are you willing to let him gamble with your lives?"

I turned to see Tea glaring at the giant Bakura. "You already forced us to gamble with our lives! With your way we have to say goodbye to one of us. With Edwin's idea we have a chance."

"A pretty good one, from the way you are trying to convince us not to go with it," Tristan pointed out. "I think you know he's right!"

"Yeah!" Joey declared, walking over and clapping me on the shoulder. "Thanks for stoppin' me from doin' something stupid, pal." He looked up at Yami Bakura and sneered. "We go with Edwin's plan."

"Because we'd rather be together than play your game!" Little Yugi said firmly. "You want to force us apart, to make us pick the hardest choices, knowing that not only with it cost us a friend but fill us forever with guilt that we couldn't save them. You are evil and we aren't going to play your game anymore." With that Yugi tossed down the Dark Magician's staff. Tristan followed by throwing his Cyber Gun away, and soon Joey's sword and Tea's staff joined the pile.

The Pharaoh finally chose to speak at that moment. "And you are forgetting one thing, spirit: there is a way out of this where no one falls. If you forfeit this match and end this Shadow Duel then all of us survive." He closed his eyes, a slight smile tugging on his lips. "My turn will go on until you fall. The choice is yours."

Yami Bakura looked at us, eyes wide and filled with hate, and slammed his hands down on the giant playfield we were on. "Stop this! Make your move! Attack! Defend! Do something!"

"Do something," I said in a nasally mocking tone. "Is this what the mighty Spirit of the Millennium Ring has been reduced to? Whining like a petulant child?" I couldn't help but snicker. "How long were you locked away, plotting your revenge? 1000 years? 2000? More than that? Gleefully rubbing your hands together, thinking about all you would do when you were finally free, how you'd claim all the Millennium Items and maybe that would win you the respect of all the other gods and goddesses? That maybe daddy would finally say he loved you? And then, on your first attempt, put your plan into motion and what happens?"

"Edwin..." The Pharaoh warned.

"You get trapped by me... a lowly mortal! Someone who can't even see without his glasses beat you and trapped you like the birch tree you are!" I began to laugh even harder. "I mean... can you hear them? I bet you can. Listen closely... and you can hear every demon and vile filth... laughing."

"Who... who are you!?" Zorc raged.

"I am the Devil in the Pale Moonlight," I said, rolling my tongue against my teeth. "And you never stood a chance. You know why? Because you can project yourself out as being so big and so powerful but in reality you are JUST. SO. SMALL." I began to shake. "Heheheheh." My body trembled even as Yami Bakura and the others stared at me and after a moment I threw back my head and let rip a Joker laugh to make Hamill proud.

"You... you..." Yami Bakura grabbed his deck and pulled out a card. "Let's see you laugh when I force you to kill your friends! Change of Hearts!" He slammed the card down on the field and the Real Bakura's soul appeared... only to pause when all around us the Shadow Realm shuddered.

My laughter died and my mood went to cold mockery.

"Someone just made an illegal move," I whispered.

"...no," Yami Bakura hissed. "You..."

"Tricked you. Ya. Got you so mad you didn't think straight, made an illegal move... and Big Yugi, please tell the Spirit of the Ring the punishment for making an illegal move in a Shadow Game."

"He loses the duel," The Pharaoh said, thrusting out his hand. "Penalty Game! Mind Swap!" The confused Real Bakura and Yami Bakura suddenly swapped places. "For your illegal move I banish you to the card graveyard, Spirit! Begone!"

"NO!" the Spirit screamed and before The Pharaoh could complete his magical attack the winged Yami Bakura leapt at me, wrapping his fingers around my throat. I fell, struggling to tear him away, the others crying out, but I found myself falling forward, the cold, dead fingers of Zorc clenched around my windpipe, his maniac eyes staring down at me, spittle falling from his lips as he pressed down on top of me, slamming my head into the ground over and over-

~MC~MC~MC~

Yugi blinked as he awoke, shaking himself as he pulled himself up from the forest floor. He looked over to see Bakura pulling himself up, looking at them owlishly as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He didn't need the powers of his Puzzle to know that this Bakura was the true one, their friend from school who was one of the kindest and most gentle souls in all of Domino. The others were slowly coming awake as well, sitting up from where they had fallen. Joey rubbed his eyes, Tristan groaned, and Tea let out a yawn.

"You okay, Bakura?" Yugi asked.

"I am now," the british teen stated. "Thank you."

"Man, I just dreamed a giant Bakura went mental," Tristan complained.

"Yeah, me too pal," Joey said.

A scream pierced the air.

Yugi and his friends all started, whirling around to find Edwin screaming, scrambling backwards wildly, thrashing and flinging his left hand about while his right went to his throat. His eyes were wide with panic and fear, darting about with no sense or reason, his face a mask of utter pain and terror.

"EDWIN!" Tea cried out but the man kept twitching and spasming, fighting off threats that weren't there. Occasionally he would strike himself in the face, one blow sending his glasses flying as he tried to scramble back, eventually coming to rest under a tree. Bakura stepped away, his hand rising up only to fall down limply at his side. Yugi, for his part, watched on with pity as Tristan and Joey darted forward and grabbed hold of Edwin before he truly hurt himself, but he still was gasping for air, his breath coming out in rapid blasts. Tea knelt down and began to stroke his hair, murmuring softly as she did so. "It's okay, it's okay. You're safe."

Joey looked at Tristan. "I don't think that was a dream, man."

"I don't think so either."

"Edwin?" Mokuba called out, emerging from the tent rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What is... Edwin?"

Yugi watched, fascinated, as Edwin's entire body trembled, his jaw clenched and eyes slamming shut as he squeezed his hands into fists. Tea continued to run her fingers through his hair to help him calm but Joey and Tristan let go of his wrists and moved over towards the frightened boy.

"What happened to him?" Mokuba asked.

"We... well, it's hard to explain," Tristan said weakly. "But Edwin took on someone very bad and they got in a nasty shot before we got rid of him."

"But that jerk's gone now, dontcha worry about it," Joey said, looking over to see Edwin reigning himself in, suppressing his fear and turmoil in the face of the startled young man. "Ed and the rest of us saw to that."

"Joey's right," Edwin got out, finally opening his eyes. The wildness was gone but Yugi could still see a hint of the fearful madness in them, especially when he glanced at Bakura. But there was something else... something that was just as bad in Yugi's opinion. It was as if Edwin suspected that the Bakura before them still wasn't the true Bakura. And he knew he'd have to make sure that Edwin didn't hold what had happened with the Spirit of the Ring against the true Bakura, for he was just as much a victim as the older man. "I'm fine, Mokuba."

The boy pressed his lips together. "Seto tells me that a lot... and whenever he does I know he's not fine."

"How about fine enough," Edwin said with a weak mirthful huff. "Come 'ere, kid." He gestured for Mokuba to sit down beside him and Tea moved to his other side, keeping herself close in case he had another panic attack. Tristan and Joey moved to clean up from supper, wanting to give the other three some space. "How about a story, huh? Something light and fun?" He was grinning but Yugi knew how utterly false that was. It was a smile that one wore when they didn't want anyone to ask how they were doing, how were they feeling. A smile that didn't fool the people who cared about you but they didn't mention that because they knew that you needed them believe the lie. Yugi had worn that smile himself many times when he'd come home from school and his grandpa had asked him how his day was. "Hmmm... how about... no, that might not be age appropriate..."

Yugi quickly walked away from the group, their voices growing fainter until they were little more than murmurs in the wind, mixing with the quietness of the forest. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, he knew, not after what had just happened with the Spirit of the Millennium Ring, and yet he knew he needed to get some space from the rest of the group, to collect his thoughts.

Sitting down on the ground next to a fallen tree stump he closed his eyes and began to slow his breathing. He imagined that the darkness beneath his eyelids was a great chamber, similar to the ones his grandfather would tell him about. The hidden world in the pyramids and temples throughout the world that the elder Moto had journeyed through when he'd been a young man seeking out adventure. Yugi let himself fall into the darkness but it wasn't like he'd tripped or he'd tumbled from a plane. He wasn't hurtling out of control, spinning about as the air whipped around him and the ground raced towards him. No... this was more controlled. It was like sinking into a warm bath or diving into a pool. He let himself slip down, further and further into the darkness that was all around him, lapsing into a meditative state. And the farther he fell the more the darkness began to give way to reveal things all about him. At first they were nebulous, shapeless, but with every breath he took they gained greater form. A stone floor. Walls carved with images of the past. Torches were hung, their flames flickering and weak but growing in strength. Stairs... many stairs. Some the correct way but others turning sideways or upside down. And they had to lead somewhere and the moment he thought that doors appeared. But doors to where? Other rooms. Many looked like the chamber he found himself in but he found that rather boring and thus other rooms were created... his room when he'd been a little boy, toys scattered about and posters on the wall. School and his homeroom. The game shop. All of this he formed into being within his mind, creating order in the chaos that was his thoughts, and in doing so he knew without even understanding how he knew that he had placed all his thoughts and memories and desires within those rooms, giving them space to breathe so that...

"There is no place to hide," a mature voice said.

Yugi turned and found himself staring at another version of, well, himself. Taller though, more mature, the baby fat and awkwardness of his youth giving way to lean features and a determined gaze. His face was sharper, and so was his body, and even his hair seemed more dangerous than Yugi's wild locks. Everything about the figure before him spoke of strength and power... it was how he had always imagined himself when he was alone in his room, dreaming of being strong enough to fight back against the bullies that tormented him. He could see that the figure was similar to the way the Spirit of the Millennium Ring was to Bakura and yet he knew at once that this being meant him no harm.

"I'm not quite sure I understand what you did but... you did very well," the other version of him stated. "But you didn't create this place just for me to admire it."

"No, I didn't," Yugi stated, stepping forward. "I-" He paused, verbally backing up and starting once more, wanting to get his thoughts properly organized. "Ever since I solved the Millennium Puzzle I sensed something within myself. Another force. At first I thought you were just an aspect of me unlocked by the Puzzle... all my strength and will crystallized so that I could act upon such feelings without my hack-ups getting in the way."

"I thought the same of myself," the other Him admitted. "I knew nothing save for your memories and thus believed I was you. Just a... darker version." The Other Him grimaced. "I suppose that is why I was... harsher with our opponents than I am now."

"I was going to ask about that," Yugi stated. "But you aren't me, are you?"

"I do not think so, no," the Other Him stated. "And yet..." he looked down at his hands. "This form... it feels right. Natural. I sense I could look different in here, if I wanted to, but I do not desire that. It would be..." Now it was Other Him's turn to grasp for the right words. "...unpleasant," he said finally with a helpless shrug.

"So you are and aren't me. We are just... connected, somehow."

"Indeed," Other Him stated. "As you have dueled my ability to be my own person has grown stronger. Before it was very much like I was dreaming... you may have used my power but I was not there to truly guide you. Now I sense our minds have further split, so that we have become two rather than one." He turned and began to walk about the chamber, running his hands along the images carved into the walls. "I believe though that the two of us would be unable to converse as we are now if it weren't for the duel we just fought in... and the foe that separated us within that Shadow Realm."

"The Spirit of the Millennium Ring," Yugi said. "I think... you might be like him." He considered what he had just said and his eyes went wide before he began to flail his hands about. "Wait! I didn't mean it like that! I can tell you aren't like him because you aren't evil and wanting to imprison me in a card and-"

"Yugi," the Other Him said gently, with bemused smile on his lips. "It's quite alright. I understand what you are getting at. And I do think you are right. Much like the being that inhabited Bakura's Ring I too am a spirit linked to a Millennium Item." He looked about the chamber. "I think when you completed the puzzle you allowed me to be set free. And I also think the reason why your grandfather failed to solve the puzzle is clear."

"I was meant to solve it," Yugi finally said. "Because of our connection."

"Destiny is a fickle thing," the Other Him, the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, stated. "And when it chooses to assert its will can shock us all."

Yugi nodded at that, moving to stand closer to the Spirit. "What do we do now?"

"What we set out to do when we came to this island: free your grandfather." When Yugi looked at him in surprise the Spirit smiled. "I still see him as my grandfather, Yugi. Your memories are strong and the bonds you forge are mine now as well. And even if they weren't... our bond means that I can do no less than aid you."

Yugi nodded in gratitude. "Thank you. And I promise, when this is done, we'll figure out just who you are."

"Thank you. But now go... your friends need you. I will be here, ready to assist you when you need me."

"You can do more than that," Yugi said even as he began to rise up. "You have my permission to share my mind. You don't have to hide here waiting for a duel."

The Spirit smiled in gratitude, choosing not to say a word. His pleasant demeanor remained until Yugi completed disappeared; then his smile fell and he began to walk around the labyrinth that the boy had created within the mind that the two of them shared.

Yugi had created what each of them would only learn latter was called a 'mind palace'. It was a way of organizing thoughts and memories. Everyone had a variation of it, from the most basic to complex mental representations. For most of the population it was merely thoughts that were tucked away and only pulled forth when needed, like a junk drawer where the memories that were move used always ended up on the top and front white those that fell out of favor moved to the back and were eventually lost. Others were able to trigger memories with smells or sights or sounds or key words. And far more complex were visual representations within one's mind, where memories could easily be stored, left undisturbed for decades only to then be recalled in stunning detail when needed.

Yuig hadn't truly understood what he had created and the scope of it and thus it had been easy for the Spirit to hide within the chambers his own thoughts and memories, blocked off by doors that looked like the carved walls of the great chamber.

It was far more sinister sounding than it actually was. The Spirit didn't know who he was and wasn't hiding that information from his partner. And while he had created a few rooms he'd only put a memory, singular, into a sole room, leaving the others empty.

'And I did so to protect him,' the Spirit thought as he touched one of the many images of the Dark Magician that had been carved into the stone wall. The mental construction was so real that he could 'feel' the cool rough stone on the tips of his fingers. 'As much as it grieves me to do so. I wish I could let Yugi know about this... but at this point I don't know enough myself about what had happened and I will not risk drawing him into needless danger.'

He drew a distorted C upon the image of the Dark Magician and the carving twisted and reshaped until it resembled not their favorite and most trusted Duel Monster but another Magician: Endymion.

The door that had been hidden within the wall swung open and the Spirit stepped into the memory...

The gang was crying out in shock, rushing forward to try and help Edwin who had fallen to the ground, eyes wide and hands clawing at the talon-like fingers of the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. The dark wraith was throttling the man, fingers tightly wrapped around his neck as he squeezed harder and harder. The real Bakura looked on in shock and the Spirit didn't know what to do. The duel was over and yet it continued on in a new twisted form. And the stakes were Edwin's life.

And then all of them began to faint, the Spirit watching as Yugi and his friends fell into a heap, their forward momentum causing them to fall face first and skid forward for a few moments before coming to a stop in a tangle of limbs. The Real Bakura fell backwards in a heap and even Edwin was still. The Spirit of the Ring didn't notice at first, his focus solely on the man that had bested him, but then he suddenly jerked up, his hands yanked off of Edwin's throat along with the rest of his body. He was lifted up, rising so that no part of him touched the dueling area. The Spirit of the Ring hung for a moment before he was thrown by some invisible force and when he landed the Spirit of the Puzzle was startled to see his rival was once more his size.

"You dare?"

The voice boomed out all around them, feminine and beautiful and terrible. Illuminating yet cold. Breath-taking and bone-chilling. Both Spirits turned as one and finally looked up to see a woman standing before them, towering over them. Her hair was a light yellow, like faded flower petals, and her skin was as pale as ice on a winter's night. The only thing that was lighter than her flesh was the long dress that flowed down her form like cream and a weak light emanated from it, making it hard to look at her. But what the Spirit of the Puzzle would forever remember was her face, for she had the features of one who could charm the world with a smile.

Instead her eyes were narrowed and her mouth was twisted in a thunderous scowl that made his heart ache.

"Did you think I would meekly stand by as you hurt him, brother dear?" the new arrival asked. "He who is more precious to me than all the wealth in all the planes of existence?"

"Who are you to question me?" The Dark Bakura demanded.

She smiled, bemused by that. "Do you not remember? No... you don't. You are merely a fragment of my brother, a part of his game. A splint that came off a greater whole and believes itself to be far larger than it is. You are my brother but only a fraction. And that will not save you."

"Save me?" The Spirit of the Ring roared, hands clenching into fists as he rose. "Do you know who I am, woman? The power I possess? I do not know how you entered this Shadow Game but you will regret it!" He rushed her as he had Edwin but the new arrival merely raised her hand and when he was within reach of her lashed out and backhanded him, the crack of her strike nearly felling the Spirit of the Puzzle while it did just that to Dark Bakura.

"Oh you pathetic little patchwork," she said, looking down at her fallen foe with disgust. "I know exactly what you are... great power torn apart, a small piece stitched onto an abused soul. It makes you a threat, yes, but you are a pale imitation of your full self, my dark brother. You disgrace him by believing yourself to be him. Oh yes, I know who you are." Her lips curled into a sneer. "But you know nothing of me. Woman? Please." She leaned down but then locked eyes with the Spirit of the Puzzle. "I am a God."

He trembled at that, feeling the truth weigh upon him, forcing him to accept without any denial. She was all she claimed to be.

"Know this, patchwork... I will not interfere with what my dark brother is planning. But just as he has in you as his piece I have mine." She reached down and placed a finger on Edwin and suddenly the man was as large of the other three, his body draped over the stump they'd been playing their shadow duel on. The Goddess reached down and stroked his cheek, trailing her fingers along his face in a gentle caress that all the same left bloody marks as her nails nipped at his skin. She looked at him for a moment before thrusting out her hand. "Go to the realm of death, patchwork. A... time out, as the mortals of this time say... is needed." The Spirit of the Ring cried out in outrage but that did not prevent him from disappearing. "He will return," she warned the Spirit of the Puzzle, not bothering to look at him. Her focus was on Edwin, staring at him with an odd mixture of emotions. Tenderness yes but also... possessiveness. She touched his blood and brought it to her lips, licking her fingers clean and smiling in pleasure even a heartbroken tear rolled down her cheek. "His stitched together soul is too powerful to be banished in such a way, as you have banished others. He will return and you must be better." She finally turned to look at him. "Do you believe what I say?"

"I do. Of him... and your nature." The Spirit looked down at Edwin's unconscious form. "What did you do to him? Are you the reason he looks so much older?"

Her laughter was a mimicry of amusement but there was a coldness there that could not be chased away so easily. "You see his soul. His true self. All I did was free him from the vessel the Patchwork placed him in. It was already cracking, unable to contain him... there are beings in this world far too large to be contained in such small spaces. I think you would understand that best."

The Spirit narrowed his eyes. "You know that he is planning something, the evil Spirit of the Ring."

"I know my brother is and that his stitched together minion plays a role. So do you. So does my Edwin."

"And you have the power to stop it but won't?" He waited but when she didn't respond he asked, "Then why don't you?"

"Because it matters little to me what happens to any of you. The world could be destroyed and all life as we know it wiped out... yet something would survive, even if it took millions of years, and things would begin again. Such is the cycle. Good? Evil? These are your constructs, not mine. I am beyond them."

"Yet you saved Edwin," the Spirit pointed out. "Why?"

Her eyes when pure black, sucking up all light that came in contact with them. "Because he is MINE."

And then the next thing he knew Yugi was descending into the chamber.

'I do not know who you are, Edwin Chaos,' the Spirit thought to himself. 'I can't be sure you even know yourself. But one of great power claims you as their own.' He clenched his hand into a fist. 'And thus while you are not my enemy... I can't count you as an ally anymore.'