A/N: Hi! It's been... five years. Bloody hell. I don't think there's a logic excuse for that, other than me getting a life (???), falling out of the Yu-Gi-Oh! hype, and just losing inspiration for the story in general. I also can't lie and say that I've always had an ending planned, because I didn't. But recently, in a spur that cannot be explained other than sudden, blessed inspiration, I've reached what is believed to be the rest of this story. So rest assured – there will be an ending.

I don't know how many of my original readers will still stick to this story, I don't know if anyone new will bother with it, but for anyone reading this – I hope you enjoy.

Before beginning the chapter, I'd like to point out that all chapters have been revised. To know what's changed, check the note at the start of the first chapter.

Let us begin.

Mirror

X

- l i e t o m e -

"Yuugi."

The voice was distant, vague. He felt like he was trapped underwater, and the voice tried to reach him, a hand outstretched, far beyond the surface.

"Yuugi!"

His eyelids were heavy. His skin felt like it was being pierced by a thousand needles. For a moment, he had a strange feeling. Like he knew he had control of his body, but he couldn't move. Trapped, somehow. Tied by invisible ties.

Was he dreaming?

He was awake, at least.

"Yuugi, please wake up."

The voice was strong, as were the arms that shook him gently. The cold air surrounding him, enveloping him, drastically forced his eyes open. Those arms, those hands, even they were somehow affected by the cold, but they still held their own warmth. He never knew how he could do that. He supposed it must have been because… Because he was who he was.

"Yami…"

Yuugi opened his eyes. Yami sighed in relief, reluctantly letting go, leaving Yuugi to lean against a cold wall. Consciousness returned to him slowly, recollections his last moments of lucidity as well. Yami stood up, sword in hand, glowing slightly with an unknown source of light. Yuugi held his head. His memories were a mess.

"What… happened?" He asked, sitting up straighter. His back sort of hurt.

"You've been out for a couple of hours," Yami said, sheathing his sword, probably feeling it wasn't needed. "I had nowhere to bring you, I'm sorry." He looked down, apologetically. Yuugi didn't mind the alley they found themselves into. It was not like things could get possibly worse.

"I… What… happened?" He finally managed to look up at Yami. The other had yet to look at him directly.

"We've been attacked. You…" He started, but was cut by the other boy.

"No, no… I… remember that. I mean, what happened? What's going on? Am I… dreaming?" Yuugi tried to use the wall behind as support to stand up, and Yami quickly hurried to his side to help as well. There was no escaping Yuugi's eyes then. "Why can't I wake up?"

Yami held Yuugi's gaze, and the reassurance Yuugi usually felt from him did not come. This something that he had talked about, it must have been more serious than he had anticipated. Then again, thinking about it, he could have avoided Yami some trouble if he had stayed home like the TV had said.

Was that before or after he fell asleep? Yami still hadn't answered him.

"You're not dreaming, Yuugi," he said, looking away and taking a few steps back. When he looked up at Yuugi, he was more serious than the boy had ever seen it. It was scaring him. "The portal has opened."

"Portal?" Yuugi questioned, and they both started to walk out of the alley, into the white-filled streets. There was still no one in sight.

"The Portal between this world and my world. It shouldn't exist, but…" Yami bit on his thumb nail absentmindedly. "It must have something to do with this," and as he spoke, he pulled his pocket watch into view. Yuugi frowned at it.

"The watch you mentioned… Wait, portal? Does that mean… I'm awake? And… This mist, you… Our worlds, they…"

"They've merged," Yami finished for him. "My world is affecting yours, like a door that has finally opened and everything from the other side has started to leak out. The mist, me…" He had a sad smile. "And that," he pointed at the dead hound who tried to hurt Yuugi.

"So, that means… Everything can come here," Yuugi visibly paled. "But… how? Why? And… that world is…"

"Dangerous, yes," Yami started walking, never once taking his eyes from the hands of the watch. "And I'm afraid I can't answer to all of your questions, Yuugi…" Yuugi stopped, watching the other's back for a second before running and hugging him. Yami looked at him from over his shoulder.

"I'm glad you're here…" Yuugi said, and Yami's tense shoulders seemed to relax for the first time he was there.

"Me too," he said, and both resumed walking. Yuugi didn't know where they were headed, but he never had to worry about destination for as long as Yami was with him. It was like that until then, and there was no reason to stop believing it.

A thought sudden hit the smaller boy.

"My grandpa…!" He circled Yami, standing in front of him and in his tip toes to try and reach his eye level. "My grandfather left home yesterday! The fog had already started… Is he… Is he okay, is he going too…?!" Yuugi suddenly gasped. "My friends! They know nothing about this! Are they going to be okay, I have to find them…!" He touched his forehead in mild despair, and Yami had to take him by the shoulders.

"Calm down, Yuugi!" He said. "We can't go looking for your grandfather right now, the fog it's…"

"Unpredictable," Yuugi finished sourly. Yami's eyes softened.

"Yes. I'm really sorry. We need a better plan than wander blindly in the fog," he let go of Yuugi, who looked up at him with the most heartbroken expression. Yami could have winced.

"What do we do?"

"We need to find the door," Yami said, taking a cautious look around to reassure himself that he and Yuugi were safe. Even if they were never really safe.

"The… door?" Yuugi questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Is it an actual door or some sort of… meta… uh…"

"Metaphorically speaking," Yami smiled, "it's more like a source. Something must have triggered the portal… Or some one."

"So if we find the source…"

"We close it," Yami concluded. Yuugi's smile seemed brighter.

"Then let's go!" He beamed, but Yami blinked at him.

"It's not actually easy… The closer we get to the source, the more clouded with fog becomes our vision and surroundings. We can get lost before we even reach it, and who knows what we might find…" He brought his hand up, looking at it, uncertain. "And I'm not sure how much of my powers I've brought with me."

Yuugi took hold of that hand with both of his. He must have been scared, he must have been uncertain, but his smile was soothing.

"I'm sure you'll make things right," Yuugi said, and Yami wasn't sure if that was reassuring or not.

"We'll make it," he said, looking at the watch again. The time showed twelve o'clock, and it hadn't moved for the last minutes Yami had been checking it. Perhaps it wasn't as much as pointing the time as it was…

"This way," he said, and started walking in the direction the watch pointed. He didn't know how he knew where to go, but he did. And if Yuugi had faith in him, then there was no reason for him to doubt himself.

-

He smirked a sinister smirk. The child in his arms did not falter, did not say anything. There was a glow in his eyes, an inhuman glow that messed the lavender up and into a darker, unnamed color.

"It seems a new character has showed up," Marik said, still looking down through that one window, up in his modern tower.

"What happens now?" Malik asked, clinging to Marik's neck. Marik unconsciously licked his lips.

"Now we step in the spotlight," he said, and with that, opened the window. The cold wind threatened him but he wasn't affected. Holding onto the window frame for support, he whispered for Malik to hold tight and not let go, and he didn't even have to say it.

With that, he jumped off the thirteenth floor.

-

In the eye of the storm, the core of the mist, two figures stood. One more fragile, tiny, almost a puppet waiting to be broken. The other, taller, imposing, threateningly mad.

Monsters surrounded them, trapped them. Their growls echoed in the white, the eyes glowed red trails in the air. The smaller one did not move from the taller one's side. The taller one did not move from the smaller one's grasp.

Bakura smirked. And from the tip of his index finger, a single, tiny flame appeared.

He murmured one word and one word only.

"Burn."

And Ryou did not look away as the monsters wailed in excruciating pain.

- X -