"Guardian Eatos, attack his Kuribabylon! Judge him for this! Attack, and end this duel!"

Yuugi raised his arms over his face.

The beautiful, winged angel with the fearsome eyes swung her blade, and within a single attack, Yuugi could feel it—all the pain that he had inflicted on his monsters in a thousand white-hot lashes across his body, across his soul. Striking him with ferocity, iron brands across back. What he had done to them. The sacrifices he had made using the souls of his friends. What he had done to Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.

Why? Why did he do all of that? Why did he...?

The darkness rose from the ground, a slow boil from the earth from where it had perched itself on the walls. Surging inwards where his monsters had tread, he could feel all of it then—rushing back into him, back into the Puzzle as the game ended. Each second was like feeling it all over again, the pain he'd shared when he'd solved the Millennium Puzzle the first time, and his soul was branded by the Puzzle. The pain of being trapped in the darkness. It seared him, feeling like his very being was being set ablaze, and he cried-out a second time, openly, head thrown back as he grabbed his arms, as the darkness settled into gold.

He didn't even realize he'd been carrying it for so long. He didn't even feel it the first time he had solved the Puzzle.

It couldn't have...it couldn't have come from him, could it?

But it had been true. Everything had been true. What he'd felt before. What he'd said before. He didn't want to be left-behind, while his Other Self was always his goal. He wanted to join him by his side. He didn't want to be a victim, he didn't want to always need to be rescued. He wanted all of that. It couldn't have been a lie, if it was all true.

He stood there, standing, staring at the ground where the darkness had vanished, shaking. It was all true. It was all a part of him. All of this was a part of him, all along.

"Yuugi!" Jou cried, from across the little island everyone was watching from—he hadn't even noticed that they'd been there before. He hardly even noticed now. "Yuugi, you have to get out of there! You know what happens when you lose! You know-!"

It was time to move.

The Seal lit-up as the duel ended. Yuugi, still recovering from the massive power that used his body as a tool, looked-up as Raphael approached him, the projectors in his duel disk only then beginning to shut off. "Time to pay-up, little King. The Seal never leaves the field without taking a soul. And this time, it's you. Now, become a part of the Great Beast."

He couldn't let this happen!

The Seal began to close as Raphael watched, and Yuugi took a few deep breaths as his mind cleared, the darkness returning to the inside of the Puzzle, where it had been imprisoned all this time.

This was okay. Yuugi knew, if they lost, that the Pharaoh could still save the world. He put his hand on the Puzzle peacefully and shut his eyes. He waited for the end to come.

The Pharaoh would always save him. He trusted in his friend, more than he trusted anyone in the world. His Other Self could do anything. He was amazing. He was the one who would save the world. That was the Pharaoh's destiny, not his. Timaeus chose him, and even if Yuugi had ruined it this time by being in his way, then he could still save the world.

That would be Yuugi's contribution. He was fine with that.

No! Not him! He doesn't deserve this! This wasn't his fault! The Seal tricked him! This isn't right! /This isn't your price to pay! This is your body, your life! You deserve to live! Partner, fight!/

The Pharaoh's fist hit the door again. Eyes blinding red with will, stronger than he'd ever felt before.

/I won't let him take you! I won't let anyone take you!/

Throwing all of his magic at once against the doorway, with the shadows finally returned to him, he was finally able to push through it, blowing the wooden door wide-open and off of its hinges, throwing himself out of the Puzzle. The Seal reached Yuugi's feet, and he could already feel his partner losing the will to fight.

Not this time. He wasn't losing him again.

'Partner. It's your turn to fight.'

Yuugi's eyes opened in shock at the voice of his Other Self, when he was suddenly thrown out of his body and into spirit form. The Pharaoh stood, shivering in his body, his eyes squeezed shut.

'Other Me—NO! OTHER ME!' Yuugi cried, taking a few steps towards the Pharaoh, his hands out, though he was met with the Seal, and he jolted back in shock. His Other Self pushed him back, too, surrounding himself with darkness, and looked back over his shoulder. He smiled out towards Yuugi, and out towards his friends, giving a thumbs-up as the Seal finally closed.

'I believe in you, Partner.' He said, voice warm with affection as Yuugi threw himself at the pillar with the full force of his shoulders, not making a single dent, no matter how hard he tried.

'OTHER ME! NO!' Yuugi cried, his voice high with desperation. 'No! NO! PLEASE, NO! PLEASE! You promised you wouldn't go! You PROMISED!'

The circle glowed, alight on his forehead as a pillar of green light rose from where the Pharaoh stood. The Seal of the Orichalcos was reflected in the air as the Pharaoh looked up at it, seeing the gaping jaws of the Great Leviathan as it eagerly awaited him—one of the few souls that could wield the Gods. He knew that was his fate.

He remembered—only the faintest impression—of staring-down a great beast with three, red eyes and knowing he would die, and knowing he would die because he loved. It was comforting that it was the same.

The Pharaoh only shut his eyes. 'I'm sorry, Partner. I love you too much to let you go.'

The Millennium Puzzle lifted half-off his chest while the ever-present, subtle gleam of the Eye of Horus shone richly, the mystical light of the Item that always seemed to be on it dulling while its inhabitant was pulled from it. It fell, flat on his chest, becoming nothing more than a hunk of gold.

Yuugi's body, with no soul inside of it, began to fall. Yuugi let it hit the ground when he was pulled-back inside, as he blacked-out.

He came-to with Honda and Jounouchi worried over him.

"Yuugi!" Jou said, propping his head up against his arms, the little King of Games half against him. "Yuugi, come on, open your eyes! Speak to us!"

"Jounouchi...?"

Yuugi slowly opened his eyes, his hands immediately going for the Puzzle. Finding it, fingers curling around it. Probing with his mind, searching for the warmth and life that he had carried with him for almost two years.

Empty. Just a piece of gold.

Useless, gaudy, cold metal. An ugly bauble without him.

"I knew you could do it!" Jounouchi said brightly, while Yuugi started to sit up. The blonde paused, noticing the slow movements, the shake on the edges of his fingers. Physical exhaustion from an all-night ride, and a Shadow Game on top of the game of the Orichalcos. Emotional exhaustion from...everything else.

"Yuugi?" He asked. "Are you alright?"

Tears welled in Yuugi's eyes, spilling-over his cheeks as everything started to hit him—really started to set-in. His hand refused to leave the Puzzle, squeezing it tighter, some of the pieces loosening under his grasp. He forced himself to let-go of it. He couldn't shatter it. Not without him there. Not if he came back.

He had to come back. He had to.

"No." He whispered. "No, I'm not."

"Yuugi?" Anzu crouched on his other side, one of her hands finding his. "Yuugi, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this. I can't do this alone." Yuugi choked-out, feelings spilling over without his will, glancing desperately between his friends, hoping any of them would understand. But, how could they? How could he ask them to? Why was he so selfish...?

It should have been him!

"Alone?" Honda asked, frowning. "But Yuugi, you're not alone, all of us are right here."

"No!" Yuugi pushed himself out of Jounouchi's grip, but his body stumbled, unused to having so much magic pushed on him, and he fell to his hands and knees. Jounouchi was at his side again in an instant.

"Yuugi, what's going on?"

"It took him!" Yuugi said, tears splashing in the dirt, as one of his hands rose to his face, wiping his cheeks with the heel of his palm while sobs wracked his body. "I was the one who did all of those awful things, but it took him! It took him, and he went-away and left me behind!"

"Took who?" Jounouchi asked. "Yuugi? Who did he take!"

"He took the Other Me!" Saying the words made it real, made him unable to live in shock any longer. His shoulder crumbled as he held the Puzzle tighter to his chest with one hand, grabbing his bangs with the other.

He couldn't do this alone, he'd never done this alone. Even when he was separated from his Other Self before, he could still sense him when the Puzzle was taken-away from him, he could still count on getting his Other Self back. But this wasn't his Puzzle chained to the wall of the warehouse or taking it off to give to Jounouchi when he was controlled by Malik. The Puzzle was empty, and he was alone—alone up against Dartz, his swordsmen, and the Great Leviathan, after everything he'd done to his monsters.

He was alone. Completely and utterly alone.

Why couldn't it have been him?

"Yuugi..." Honda said, starting to approach him, but Jounouchi touched his shoulder, holding him back with a shake of his head.

"We don't know what he's going through right now." Jounouchi said simply. "None of us can relate to him. The best that we can do right now is to let him grieve, before we get up and keep going."

Honda frowned, and opened his mouth as if he was about to protest, but another look at Jounouchi silenced him, and he looked-away.

It was an hour before the RV arrived.

In that time, Yuugi's sobs had petered-out into silence, broken only by the occasional shuddering of his shoulders. In truth, it only took him a few minutes to stop crying, but that didn't mean anything was alleviated. No, all it left behind was the crushing feeling of loneliness, the knowledge that, when he was quiet, so was everything else inside of him. As if he had been hollowed-out, leaving half of a person behind.

When had it come to be this way?

Surely, he hadn't always been this way. He preferred the quiet when he was younger. It had been why he had so much trouble making friends. He liked being able to spend time by himself, the ability to gather his thoughts without intrusion. He didn't know when the silence had become suffocating, when the unnatural had become so natural that being alone in his head—the way that a person should be—was so utterly wrong that it made him feel sick at the thought that this could be permanent.

Why had it become this way?

He had no answer to either of them. All he had was silence.

It was Ryuuji who had driven the RV there, loudly proclaiming how grateful that they all should be at how he'd saved their hides, before he got a look at Yuugi, and stopped dead in his words. Honda shook his head before he could ask, and but Rebecca immediately threw open the door, her arms locking around Yuugi who froze-up in her grasp.

"Darling!" She cried. "Darling, what's wrong? Who hurt you? Was it one of Doma's swordsmen?" She asked, before she pulled herself back and got a good look at him.

Yuugi bit his lip. Remembering what he had done this for in the first place as he looked in her face. "Rebecca, I'm...I'm so sorry that I couldn't save your grandpa. We tried to chase Raphael down, but he forced me to play the Seal, and..."

"It's okay!" Rebecca said, grabbing his hands and squeezing them tight. "My grandpa—he came back to me! They brought him back after they got you!"

"They...they did?" Yuugi asked, disbelief hitting him. "But why...?"

"I'm not sure...but it's wonderful, isn't it? My house...we can fix that! It's my grandpa that's important! And now we can stop everyone together!" She threw her arms back around Yuugi, holding him again with a wide smile on her face. "We can save the world!"

They brought her grandfather back? Then...he was just a lure, all this time. A lure to get me out. A lure to get the Other Me out. And it worked. It worked because I was stupid and we fell for it. Yuugi could feel his throat closing again, unshed tears in his eyes as he pulled himself away, confusing Rebecca.

"Yuugi?" She asked. "What's wrong?"

"Now's not the right time." Anzu said. "What we have to do right now is get to work on stopping Doma. Saving everyone is most important."

"Did someone hurt him?" Rebecca demanded, while Yuugi drew himself in more, arms wrapping around his shoulders. "Was it one of those horrible swordsmen?"

"The Other Me." Yuugi said, looking down. "He took the Other Me."

"Another you?" Rebecca asked. "But aren't you Yuugi? What other Yuugi is there?"

It felt like Yuugi couldn't speak. How was he even supposed to begin to explain? Luckily, Jounouchi cut him off. "Anzu is right. Is your grandfather okay?"

"He's resting right now." Rebecca replied with a frown. "But if someone hurt my darling, then I'm going to make him pay!"

"We will." Jounouchi promised, a frown on his lips. "We will make him pay."

Yuugi was silent.

"Master."

At the end of the long hallway separating the two, Raphael knelt.

"Master, I have done as you asked."

"Indeed." Dartz sat, drink idly tipped towards his lips. "But you have only done it halfway."

"Halfway?"

A single, green eye glimmered, the Orichalcos imprint in his pupil glowing as the immortal turned in his seat, regarding the Guardian Duelist with something akin to amusement, though it was doubtful if he could feel that anymore, if he could truly feel anything anymore. "I forgot to mention that little detail, didn't I? No fault of your own, I suppose. An old man can be forgiven for his follies, can't he?"

Raphael lowered his head further, his stomach twisting as he felt that gaze on him again. That horrific eye—it always made him feel like he was being looked-through, like the Great Leviathan was seeing him through his master's face. Like he was being regarded as a meal every single time his master looked at him. "Of course, master."

"Then you doubt me?"

"No, master."

"Good." Dartz began to walk down the table. "I almost thought you forgot your place."

"Never, master."

Dartz stopped, just before him. Raphael dare not lift his head, for fear of his master's eye, for fear of his master's rage.

"The Pharaoh is two souls, Raphael. One half ancient, one half modern. Go back out there and get me his other half to awaken the Leviathan."

Duel him again? Memories of the first duel hit him. That darkness. So much of it. He had no idea where it came from. How it almost devoured him. "Master—"

"Do you doubt me, Raphael?" Dartz's voice, ever patient, ever smooth, interrupted.

He could feel that eye.

"No, master."

"Of course you don't." His voice was almost a purr. "So, go and take his soul again."

"Yes, master."

A/N:

And number 3 it is!

Also, if Yuugi seems OOC, that's because he's in shock, as well as in grief over losing his (quite literal) soulmate, and is also feeling the crushing guilt of what he perceives to be losing him by getting him killed with his own actions. On top of that, there was also the temporary release of the piece of Zorc in the Puzzle on his soul, only amplifying his negative emotions and making it worse.

As you can tell, too, Yuugi growing independence will be the story I'm going for. I also added Anzu to the group because she deserves to be there. Hoga and Ryuuzaki will come into play later, and I added the RV so we could get to the plot stuff fast too.

This won't be an exact recreation of Season Four. A lot of stuff will be tweaked and refined along the way.

I really, really enjoyed the engagement, though! Please tell me what you think, and if you have anything you'd like to see! Thank you again!