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Aibou...Aibou, wake up.

Hm? When had he fallen asleep? What time was it?

The sun is high.

Midday then. That meant he'd only been out a few hours, at most. Good.

Speaking of good things, what was that smell? Kisara's cooking? No, there was more pepper. But not enough to be tou-sama's cooking either. So who made it? Unless...but no. He would never do that for him.

Or maybe he did? Yami had rescued him yesterday, apparently.

Only one way to find out.

Yugi opened his eyes slowly, prepared for the pain of the lighting of his room, but there was nothing. He sat up and looked around, but there was only Pharaoh. He thought he saw a flash of familiar dark red in the doorway, but dismissed it. He often saw things that weren't there.

Next, he turned his attention to the plate on his bedside table. On it was a simple hamburger, moderately sprinkled over with ground black pepper. Yugi picked it up, mindful of the black flecks of pepper, and took a bite. The burger was warm and different than what he was used to, but delicious nonetheless.

He quickly scarfed it down and swung his legs out over the side of his bed. He still had to check on jii-chan. Maybe now that he'd solved the puzzle, his condition would improve as well!

Pharaoh watched him silently, taking pleasure in his young mast-partner's- joyous expression as he followed him out the door.

Yugi walked down the hallway and to his grandfather's room, where he'd been sleeping hooked up to various machines for the last two years. The old man looked especially frail with all those tubes connected to him, but Yugi had grown used to it.

"Good morning, jii-chan," he greeted softly, taking a seat at the chair beside the bed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't check on you earlier. Things have been pretty busy lately." He sighed.

"Kisara-chan's still looking after the shop, and...I finally solved the Millennium Puzzle. The stories were true," he smiled, "there really is a spirit inside it. He's very formal, but also very kind. He looks a lot like Yami-nii-sama, too."

He looked down and frowned. Pharaoh caught bits and pieces of memories featuring a smiling old man.

"I think...I'd really like it if you could wake up soon, jii-chan..."

For just a moment, Yugi felt hopeless, and in that small moment, the spirit behind him saw the light- that precious, precious light that was his soul- begin to flicker before it glowed bright again. And then, in that moment, and a little into the next, the spirit came to an abrupt and halting realization.

Physical ailments he could fix, but if ever there came a time where Yugi lost hope for good, he could never fix that.

For that reason, he absolutely could not- would not- let Yugi's light falter.

Yugi felt a twitch beneath his hand. Then he heard a light, faint intake of breath. And then, for the first time in what felt like forever, he dared look at his grandfather's face, and saw a pair of amethyst eyes identical to his own.

His breath hitched.

"J...Jii-chan...?"

The old man's eyes shifted towards him, recognizing. Alert. Aware. Awake.

The boy's hands were trembling, and he wanted to cry. God, please don't let this be a lucid dream! A shaking and wrinkled hand turned so it was clasping his own. It felt warm.

Yugi felt happy- so happy, so relieved, and so tired. But he had to tell them...tou-sama and Kisara-chan would be overjoyed!

Quickly, he gently removed his grandfather's hand from his own and darted out the room.

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"Tou-sama! Come quick! It's Jii-chan!"

"Yugi? What's wrong? What happened?"

"Come see- hurry!" Yugi tugged on his father's arm till he got up, then he led him upstairs and into his grandfather's bedroom.

"What happened, son? Why are you suddenly so..."

Akhnamkanon trailed off as he was dragged to the doorway of his father's bedroom. His brown eyes took in the old man in his bed, disbelieving. A small part of him was sure this was just a dream, or else Yami had 'accidentally' spiked his food with hallucinogens. And yet...

"F...father...? You are..."

"Good morning, my son. And Yugi-kun, also." His voice was as jolly and kind as ever, as if he'd just woken up from a nap instead of a coma.

"I'm sorry I was asleep for so long. The truth is, I got so caught up in my dreams, I didn't know how to get back," said Sugoroku to a still-incredulous Akhnamkanon, " until a mysterious young boy came to me and guided me back to the waking world. He was very kind, indeed," he continued, shifting his focus to his awestruck grandson, "and he looked very much like you, Yugi-kun. Though maybe it'd be more accurate to say this; he looked very similar to Yami-kun. Very strange..."

"It must've been Pharaoh!" Yugi exclaimed, realizing.

Akhnamkanon turned to him.

"Son? Who is this 'Pharaoh'?"

The boy looked down, an embarrassed blush tinging his cheeks.

"Pharaoh is...the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle."

Now it was Sugoroku's turn to look shocked.

"The Millennium Puzzle!? Then, that means you've solved it, Yugi-kun! Now, tell your old grandfather what you wished for- I can already see you didn't wish to get any taller!"

Yugi's blush darkened a little, and he began twiddling his thumbs. Even though Tou-sama, Yami-nii-sama, and Kisara-chan knew about his wish now, it was still embarrassing to think of revealing it to his grandfather. Once again, the spirit of the puzzle sent him a bit of confidence, mixed in with smug satisfaction.

"I wished for friends- true friends who wouldn't betray me, and whom I would never betray."

Now there was only pride. Pharaoh was proud- of him? Yugi didn't understand, but such musing was best left for later.

His grandfather wore a knowing smile, as if he'd expected this turn of events.

"I always knew you'd solve it one day," he said at length, " and I knew also that when you did solve it, you'd wish for something innocent and light. What a lucky man I am, to have such a kind grandchild..."

Suddenly Yugi felt tired again, as the day's events caught up to him and he was forced to realize just how emotionally drained he was. Now, how to escape without seeming rude...

Thankfully for him, Akhnamkanon noticed his son's predicament and came to the rescue.

"Father, it's been a long day- especially for Yugi-kun. You wouldn't mind if he rested up in his room a little longer, would you?"

"Oh no, of course not! Yugi-kun, scoot on up to bed now and I'll have Kisara-chan get you when it's time for dinner!"

"Hai..." Yugi said tiredly. As he started to walk away, his father put a hand on his shoulder.

"And son," he said, "you don't need to worry about your homework tonight if you don't feel up to it. I'll phone the school and tell your teachers what happened. They'll understand." Yugi gave Akhnamkanon a grateful- albeit a little tired- smile.

"Arigatou, Tou-sama."

The man gave his son's shoulder a gentle pat.

"Now, go on and rest."

Yugi nodded, too tired now to really speak much, and walked up to his room.

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Like before, the spirit watched as Yugi collapsed onto his bed with a yawn. Once he was laying down and covered up, he opened his mouth to speak. Pharaoh put up a finger, a polite wish for his master's silence, and spoke up instead.

"Hush and sleep, aibou, and if it pleases you, I can visit you in your dreams and answer your questions there, or else wait till you wake. Your sire is right- it has been a long day for you, despite having only been an hour or so, and with your mind as exhausted as it is, you won't be able to understand my answers to your questions."

He moved so he was right beside Yugi and knelt down so his blond bangs just barely brushed the boy's forehead. Yugi closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose, smelling some sort of exotic and flowery perfume- or, what he assumed to be perfume- mixed with a musty sort of scent which could only be described as 'that old book smell'. It was calming to his senses.

"Now, sleep, my partner, and I shall answer your questions shortly."

Yugi was asleep before Pharaoh got halfway through the sentence.

The spirit smiled fondly down at his relaxed sleeping face and gently entered his mind.

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Like before, Yugi's soul room was bright and open, with a few toys scattered here and there. There was a desk with a stack of stationary atop it and many colorful pens and pencils, displaying that Yugi was both a creative and logical thinker ( though more so creative), and a simple grey vase containing a few poppies. The spirit wondered how he'd missed these the last time he was here, but didn't dwell on it.

Yugi was already sitting up in his cot, his glasses absent and a patient smile on his face, silently allowing Pharaoh to take all the time he needed to familiarize himself with his soul.

Oh such an innocently naïve master Yugi was.

Maybe he'd take that offer up some other time, but not tonight.

"You wish to ask something of me," he stated simply, patient. Yugi nodded and jumped right in.

"Yes, I do. Firstly, why have you chosen to call me 'Aibou'?"

"Do you dislike it?"

He shook his head quickly.

"Oh not at all- I like it simply because you chose it. I'm just curious."

The spirit hummed and took a few moments to form a satisfactory answer.

"The ancient Egyptians believed no one was higher than the Pharaoh, so for you, my master, to name me such, meant that, according to these beliefs, I would have no master- no one to serve. However, it is the will of the gods themselves that you be my master, and so I was forced to compromise, and declare you as my partner instead. I thought using your tongue would be a nice touch- after all, Aibou sounds more pleasant than Sharik."

"I see..."

"But you have more questions, do you not?"

Yugi nodded his head.

"Why did you help my grandfather wake up?"

"Do you dislike that I did?" Pharaoh countered. Yugi shook his head.

"Not at all. I'm very glad that you did."

The spirit hummed knowingly.

"And that, Aibou, is exactly why I did it. If your light were to fade," he drew closer so that he was looking into Yugi's eyes, his own crimson orbs gleaming.

"If your light were to fade, I could never bring it back, and that is something I will never allow."