Note: The title comes from the title of a book I read a long time ago. I always liked the phrase, so I was trying to come up with a one shot that went along with it, and this is what I came up with. This is a take on that cliché fic where Yugi is scared of the dark and Yami comforts him. It's still cliché, but I tried to give it a little more depth than I've seen in some other stories. Enjoy.

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars." –Og Mandino

Being afraid of the dark was something most children outgrew long before their teen years. That Yugi had not done the same seemed like a grievous failing on his part. Here he was, a high schooler scared of the dark. Perhaps part of the reason he still held on to this silly fear was that he didn't have the same parental support as many other adolescents. He didn't have a father to check underneath the bed for monsters or a mother to tuck him in and hold him until the fear passed. Even so, it didn't matter. He shouldn't be so weak.

Yugi pulled his covers up to his nose so that only the top of his head was visible above the nest of comforters and sheets blanketing his bed. His wide eyes peered out at his darkened room, straining to see in the pitch blackness and make sense of the shadows lurking there. There! Something moved! What was sneaking up on him now?

But no, was that just the shadow of his dresser wavering slightly as the faint moonlight shifted? He let out a breath, but didn't relax. One false alarm didn't mean that nothing was there. He continued to stare sightlessly, his mind wide awake and insisting that there was danger here, lying in wait.

There! Something had definitely moved that time!

"Yugi?"

The boy finally relaxed a little as Yami's translucent form emerged from the Puzzle and perched on the edge of his bed, glowing slightly in the darkness. The spirit looked at him with concern.

"What is wrong, Yugi?"

Yugi laughed shakily, the sound weak even to his own ears.

"N-Nothing."

Yami looked skeptical. "Then why are you afraid?"

Yugi looked away, ashamed. Of course the spirit would sense his fear. They were too close for him not to. Usually Yugi would be grateful for the added support, but right now he didn't want to admit his failings to his friend. Yami was always so self-assured and confident and brave-nothing like Yugi. Yugi knew Yami wouldn't judge him for his fear, however irrational, but some part of him still shied away from revealing his weakness.

"I-I'm…I'm afraid of the dark," he admitted finally, fixing his eyes on a patch of shadow on the other side of the room. The spirit didn't speak at first, but after a moment Yugi heard his soft sigh emanate from the darkness.

"Are you really?"

Yugi frowned a little and glanced back at Yami. "Of course."

"Nothing here will hurt you," the spirit said soothingly, though a troubled look had appeared on his face.

"I know."

Silence fell over the room for several minutes before Yami sighed and spoke again.

"Yugi, I would like to show you something," he said. "Do you trust me?"

Another frown crossed the younger boy's face. His friend was asking odd questions tonight. "Of course."

"Then will you come outside with me?"

Yugi blinked in confusion. Yami wanted him to go outside? In the middle of the night?

"Yami, it's the middle of the night. It isn't safe to be wandering around outside, and Grandpa wouldn't be happy if he found out."

"Do you trust me?" Yami asked again, arching an eyebrow. "It is not as if you are sleeping anyway, and I will keep you safe. We are not going far. Please, come with me."

After a moment of hesitation Yugi nodded and slid out of his bed, abandoning his pillow fortress to grab his jacket and shuffle outside, Yami walking beside him the entire way. He tiptoed through the silent game shop, careful not to wake his grandfather. Closing the front door behind him softly, he threw Yami a questioning look.

"Where are we going?"

The spirit shrugged. "Here is fine."

He walked a short distance away, beckoning Yugi to follow him. The younger boy walked over to the spirit and halted beside him, the damp grass of the yard tickling his bare feet. Perhaps he should have had the foresight to bring shoes as well, but he had been more concerned with being as quiet as possible as he left the house. At least he had a jacket. He pulled it around himself more tightly as a barrier against the chill wind.

"Alright. What did you want to show me?" Yugi asked, looking around nervously. There were even more shadows out here, and it was making him jumpy. Grasping shadows seemed to reach for him, cast by the gnarled, twisted branches of the winter-bare trees lining the lawn. The wind shifted the piles of dry leaves strewn about the grass, setting them rustling. Something else moved. The neighbor's cat? Perhaps something a little less innocent? Yugi shuddered and fixed his gaze on Yami to distract himself from the sensation that someone was sneaking up on him from within the inky blackness.

The spirit was already watching him, an unreadable expression on his face. His violet eyes stared at the boy for a moment more before shifting their gaze upwards. Yugi's eyes followed, and he found himself looking up at the night sky.

"Beautiful, is it not?" Yami asked conversationally.

"I…guess so," Yugi answered.

The moon's silvery light and the golden gleam of starlight shone brightly against the surrounding darkness. Although the moon's pale glow was enchanting, it was the twinkling stars that held Yugi's undivided attention. There must be thousands of them scattered across the vaulted sky. It took his breath away.

"It is funny to think that if it were not for the darkness, this beauty would not exist," Yami said finally, after leaving a brief pause for Yugi to admire the star-spangled sky. The boy didn't answer, instead waiting for his friend to continue as he kept his vigil over the stars. "The stars are always there, hanging just out of reach, but it is only in the darkness of night that we can see them. The darker the night, the brighter the stars. It is the blackness that provides the canvas for the moon and stars to stand against."

He fell silent, and for several minutes the only sound was the gentle whispering of the wind.

"You know," Yami said eventually, realizing that Yugi had no intention of speaking, "Many people believed that when we die we become stars. Ancient Egyptians did not subscribe to this belief, but that does not make it automatically untrue. Perhaps it is not necessarily that we become stars, but something similar. After all, many cultures believe that even after we die we can watch over those we love. Is that so different? It is a rather uplifting idea, is it not?"

This caught Yugi's attention, and he finally looked back at the spirit. "Will you…When you regain your memories and leave…?"

Yami nodded. "I will always be watching over you from the sky, and I will always, always, be here. If nowhere else, I will live on in your heart and in the night sky. Yugi, you will never be alone again. I will be with you always."

Yugi felt his breath catch and let his gaze slide away from Yami's so that his friend couldn't see the tears welling in his eyes.

"Always?" he whispered.

"Always," the spirit confirmed softly. There was a moment of peaceful stillness before Yami continued. "I understand that you are going through a difficult time. My presence and that of the Millennium Puzzle have drawn many enemies to hunt you and your friends down. These past months have been very trying for you. You never wanted the responsibility of saving the world, never wanted to put you and your friends in danger."

"It has been hard," Yugi agreed quietly, "But I'd do it all over again for you. I want to help you, and I'll see this through to the end."

"I know you will," Yami said fondly, a faint smile crossing his lips. He hesitated as if searching for the right words. "Sometimes it feels as if danger is always lurking around the corner, does it not?"

Yugi nodded whole-heartedly. "Yeah, it does. It always feels like Bakura or some other enemy is waiting to pounce whenever we aren't paying attention. It feels like they're watching us, hiding in the shadows."

"So," the spirit breathed, his voice soft, "Are you really?"

Yugi blinked at him in confusion. "Am I really what?"

"Afraid of the dark."

Ah. That had been what Yami had first asked after Yugi's admission.

"Yes."

"Are you really?" Yami repeated. "Is it really the dark you fear?"

Yugi felt a flash of irritation and opened his mouth to retort. Of course he knew what he was afraid of. He had lived with this fear for years. Surely he would be able to tell if the darkness frightened him.

But even as the protest formed on his lips, he let it die, a thought crossing his mind. Was it the dark he was so afraid of? He thought back to Yami's earlier non sequiturs. He had thought it odd that the spirit had switched from talking about the stars to discussing the enemies they faced, but he was beginning to see a connection.

If he was being honest with himself, Yugi had outgrown his fear of the dark. He realized that he had abandoned it quite a while ago, now that he thought about it. Nighttime still frightened him, but he feared the things that hid in its shadows, rather than the darkness itself. With everyone out to wreak havoc and steal the Puzzle, his world had become a much more dangerous place. He feared the enemies stalking him, feared the responsibility that had been thrust upon his shoulders, feared for his friends' safety, feared that he would fail.

He feared many things, and with such serious concerns preying on his mind, did he really have time to waste being frightened of something as silly as the dark?

Yugi turned back to Yami with new eyes. "No. No, I guess it's not."

Yami smiled a little, but didn't reply. Perhaps he sensed that the boy needed time to sort out his thoughts and consider this new revelation. Regardless, Yugi was grateful for the respite.

He tilted his face upward again, searching the skies with his piercing gaze. His eyes jumped from one shining pinprick to the next, tracing invisible patterns through the stars. He could make out the traditional constellations and recalled the stories and myths that went along with them. Even more enthralling were the pictures he drew himself. With a little imagination, that cluster of stars over there could be Kuriboh. Those sparkling lights there could portray the Millennium Puzzle. With even more imagination and artistic license, those stars could be the Dark Magician. And one day, one day, he would be able to see Yami up there as well.

As if sensing the shift in his thoughts, Yami began speaking again.

"There will always be hard times in your life, Yugi. There will always be times when you feel like giving up, when it feels as if you have reached the end. Everyone faces dark times, but remember, the darkness will always pass. For every hard time you suffer through, there will be good times that follow.

"The darkness can hide many evils and enemies. It is good to be wary of it, but do not be afraid of it. The world is full of opposites. Without the blackness there would be no light. Besides," his gaze drifted upwards once more. "The night brings its own beauty, don't you think? It is the darkness of the world that reveals its greatness and magnifies it.

"For darkness shows the stars."

Note: So yeah, I warned you that it was cliché, ha ha. Mostly I just can't see Yugi being so scared of something like the dark with everything else he has to be afraid of once the Puzzle comes into his life, and I wanted to reflect that.

I was told that this comes across as Yugi being scared of the dark and Yami helping him through it, which wasn't actually my intention at all. I meant it more to mean that Yugi used to be scared of the dark and was associating new fears (e.g. enemies trying to steal the Puzzle and hurt his friends) with his old fear, so that he never realized he had overcome it. I can't really see Yugi still being scared of the dark when he's in high school either, and I think some of the stories that talk about that make him seem a little more childish than he is in my mind (no offense, some of those fics are still really good). Sorry if the concept is a little confusing. That's what you get when you read a story written by a psych major, ha ha. I apologize if I didn't really get my point across.

On the other hand, my other reviewers seemed to understand, so I'm glad you liked the story!