Yami, known by many as 'the Pharaoh', found himself wandering in the Stone Wilderness, a place where the spirits roam with their spine-shattering voices polluting the air. The surrounding area perfectly reflected his current persona: empty and haunted. His iron will to face the boy he betrayed prevented him from backing out, even when he was accompanied by balls of light attempting to steer him away from his destination.

The spherical lights represented not the gentle spirits that tried to protect him from danger, but the malevolent spirits that acquired an undying thirst for revenge; many who faced the Pharaoh and suffered the bitter taste of defeat. As soon as Yami entered the circle, a collection of lights collaborated to form the body of a young boy.

A young boy with a similar hairstyle to the Pharaoh's own; a young boy who was considered a friend and a partner to him, even after his soul was taken away. The young boy, known as Yugi Muto, opened his eyes to see the one who betrayed him, wanting to know if it was really the Pharaoh.

The darker half called out his partner's name, relieved to know that Yugi was alright. However, the Pharaoh's touch was like an apparition passing through a human body. He then turned to see the back of his partner. Confusion reigned in Yami's mind. How could this be? Yugi, wearing a frown, turned his head to face his darker half staring at him in bewilderment.

"You came all this way just to see me?" Yugi asked.

"Of course," the Pharaoh replied with a sombre tone. "I wanted to say how sorry I am."

"Sorry?" Yugi responded, turning his head away from his other self. "What do you have to be sorry about, Pharaoh? What could you have possibly done to hurt me?"

Words failed the Pharaoh upon hearing Yugi's words. He was sure that Yugi was confused over the fact that he had to apologise. "Yugi… I…"

Yugi's posture remained the same. "Go on, tell me what you did to cause me so much pain." Yugi exclaimed with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yugi, I played the Seal of Orichalcos in order to win the duel against Raphael, remember?"

"Yeah, I do." Yugi answered, hurt by the thought of his darker half's betrayal. "Clear as day." Yami swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat, before he opened his mouth to speak again.

"As do I. Yugi, I am so sorry for what I had done that day. No words can truly express how deeply I regret my reckless decision. No words can excuse my thoughtless, unspeakable, despicable actions, no matter the reason was for wanting so desperately to win."

The baritone voice cracked under the pressure of having to face up to its owner's misdeeds and lack of judgment.

"I have not forgiven myself and I doubt I ever will for what I did to you and my monsters. Including my friends. As much as I wish not to lose my friends and their trust, I deserve to… for my greatest mistake. I will do what I must to make it up to you if you would give me the chance to, but I would understand if you choose not to."

Yugi had not been mentally prepared for this moment. Having someone apologise for their mistakes was one thing, but forgiving the very person who ignored and betrayed you was a completely different story. He knew he had to tell the Pharaoh how he truly felt about what happened that day, regardless of how much it may hurt.

Wearing the same frown as before, he turned his head to face the young King, whose eyes were dulled from the look of grief and remorse.

"Yami… I appreciate you coming all this way to see me so you could apologise, but I… I'm afraid I can't accept your apology." Yugi then turned around, body and all, to look into Yami's eyes; his face, however, still unchanged. "It simply isn't enough."

"I know." Yami replied, his tone and voice unchanged.

"What you did back there in that duel is not just something you can sweep under the rug, Yami. Yes, you're sorry for what you did, but 'sorry' doesn't cover what you did. You let this happen. You chose to let this happen, no matter the cost. And at that moment, you let your true instincts go to waste."

Wearing the same stern expression, the boy immediately left his alter ego's side shortly before stopping in his tracks and turning to face him again. "It was already too late by the time you realised just how badly you screwed up before we were separated by the Seal's power."

Yugi's blood began to boil at the memory of his partner's reckless, foolish decision. It wouldn't be long before the unsympathetic tone in his voice immediately changed into one of bitter anger. "And you know what the worst part is? You knew how evil and dangerous that card was and you still played it! You knew what it could do to you and your monsters and you still played it! You knew it could take your soul after losing the duel, as long as it's on the field, and you still played it!"

"I know." Yami replied, his tone and voice still unchanged.

Yugi, however, wasn't finished yet, for the desire to further discuss the tragic, devastating events of this particular duel was growing stronger than ever. "And now, you have the nerve to tell me that you 'made a mistake'. A mistake is when you accidentally spill a can of soda on the floor. A mistake is when you shove a ton of food down your throat, only for it to suddenly come back up again. How can you say that what you did in that duel was a mistake? How dare you say that what you did was a mistake!"

The tone in the young boy's voice was filled with contempt, resentment and ruthlessness. The Pharaoh, hearing those words, felt a sharp pain in his chest and a tight squeeze in his throat, yet he didn't dare to display any signs of emotional weakness.

"Yugi…" he managed to say.

"We all make mistakes, Yami… but this, THIS, was NOT of them!" Yugi yelled, before his voice changed to a venomous tone. "Raphael may have goaded you into playing that card, but YOU made the decision to play it. You wanted to play it. You NEEDED to play it. You chose to ignore my warnings not to, and you let your dark side break free from the chains that bound it. The power of the Orichalcos seduced you, Pharaoh, and you simply gave into it. You accepted it. You embraced it. And you loved every second of it."

Yugi couldn't help but smile a little over those last few sentences. The urge to laugh at the Pharaoh's crumbling 'tough guy' persona was strong, but not strong enough for the innocent angel to go through with it.

"N-no…" Yami mumbled, now showing signs of emotional distress.

Yugi's mask of innocence shattered into pieces, revealing a face wearing a malevolent smile before he continued to chastise his darker half.

"And when everything you worked so hard to achieve, every sacrifice you made to achieve victory, came crashing down on you, you regretted it. No… you feared it. You begged forgiveness from your monsters, but you weren't really sorry at that time. You were scared." His face and tone became serious again. "The only time you were truly sorry was when… I stepped in."

The young boy's words knocked Yami for six. "Yugi, I…"

"Never meant for this to happen?" Yugi interrupted. "Never meant for me to step in to save you? I know you didn't mean for it to happen, Yami, but it did happen. And if it weren't for you, you wouldn't have been as broken, alone and miserable as you are now. You were so full of confidence, possessed such wisdom, such knowledge and great potential. Yet… you threw it all away just for the sake of winning a simple duel."

He felt his anger rising again. "A simple duel that required you to foolishly put your soul on the line. I told you time and time again that that card was evil. Yet you chose to betray me, betray the Heart of the Cards, betray your monsters… betray the very people who looked up to you and trusted you."

Yugi felt his rage dissipating a little, changing his tone to one filled with doubt. "Speaking of which, I wasn't sure if I could do that until you promised never to go against my wishes again. But on that tragic day, you did." Rage burned once again from deep within his soul.

"Just because some guy showed up out of nowhere declaring how evil you are and forced you to play that card to, ironically, prove that you weren't evil. But then you became the very thing I never thought you'd become: a monster. A tyrant who cared nothing about the safety of anyone, as long as you had power!

"You corrupted your monsters, abused them, treated them like they were nothing and you sacrificed each and every one of them in a selfish attempt to win!" Yugi roared. "You even tried to corrupt Timaeus with the same power and he left you alone, left you to fend for yourself!"

Yugi chuckled at the sheer thought, before turning bitter again. "It's a good thing he did. I'd like to think that he would rather be trapped in the Crystal Seal than to be released by an evil power source.

"Can you imagine a corrupted Timaeus on the field? I'd rather not, because if he was corrupted, I doubt that we would ever look at him the same way again. Seeing that red, sinister glow in his eyes every time we looked into them. And to think, you were one of the Chosen Three to use his power for good, NOT for evil! Now you tell me, Pharaoh. How can you consider something like that to be a mistake?"

Yami's eyes remained static, before shifting his forlorn violet orbs to the ground. "You're right." Yami admitted resignedly, gently shutting his eyes before opening them again. "I cannot call what I did a mistake. I had gone too far that day. I allowed my anger, my desperation, my desire to win to take over, and you paid the price."

"Yes, I did." Yugi hissed bitterly. "Because of you. It was all because of you! But if you had the lost the duel without the Seal in play, then… what was it you said? 'Two worlds would be destroyed'?"

"Yes, I did say those words." Yami acknowledged. "The Seal took you away from me, and without your light to keep me pure, I'm becoming evil, Yugi. I'm beginning to believe that Raphael said about me is true. Perhaps I was a wicked Pharaoh."

"Let me ask you something." Yugi responded. "If you were a wicked Pharaoh like Raphael said, wouldn't that statement contradict everything Ishizu said about you being a good Pharaoh? Or are you simply concluding that Ishizu was lying about your past?"

"Well…" the Pharaoh replied. "I just… don't know anymore. If I'm capable of such horrific behaviour, then it's my soul that should be locked away."

"Well, you're right about one thing: your soul should be locked away." Yugi replied with a hint of venom. "But what good is it now? I'm the one who's been locked away forever, not you. I was the one who stepped in to save you, all because you were unbelievably stupid enough to play that evil card, despite having no good or real reason to do so! 'Two worlds would be destroyed'. Well, it would have been the case if your soul was taken away instead of mine!"

Suddenly… "Argh!" Yugi's hands tightly clutched his head in a split second, his knees struggling to support him. The Pharaoh's face was riddled with curiosity, confusion and concern. The sight of his partner suffering in agony, slight or excruciating, was tearing him apart.

"Yugi! Are you alright?" the Pharaoh called to the boy while slowly approaching him.

"I… I don't feel so… Argh!" Yugi's left hand quickly moved to his chest, clutching it with a vice's grip. The pain that seared in his head teleported straight to his heart. It was brutal for poor Yugi; it felt as if he was suffering a heart attack. The support his knees gave him was now gone.

"Yugi! YUGI!" The Pharaoh rushed to his lighter half's side, crouching towards him to turn him on his back. "Stay with me, Yugi!" he cried.

Yugi's face had fear written all over it. His eyes shifted all over the place as if frantically looking for any signs of life. "Pharaoh, it's so dark." Yugi cried, fearing for his life. "I can't see. Where are you? I'm scared!" The desperate attempt to make his eyes work was not enough to keep him from hyperventilating.

"Yugi, I'm right here." Yami confirmed, attempting to console him. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Yami, help me!" A pre-pubescent scream tore from Yugi's throat as the pain fiercely continued to burn inside him. "My head! My chest! It hurts!"

"It's OK, Yugi. You're going to be fine." Yami was stunned. Never in all his life had he ever felt so helpless… until now.

"Pharaoh, I don't want to go. Not like this. I'm so- ARRGGHH!" The pain located in Yugi's chest and head was too much for him to handle. So much so that he couldn't properly owe his darker half an apology. The young boy's eyes began to moisten and leak. The mission to fight back the tears was a miserable failure.

"I'm scared!" Yugi cried, tears shedding profusely. "I'm so scared. Please don't leave me. Don't leave me all alone." Yugi's reached out his hand towards Yami, who proceeded to do the same.

"I'm not going anywhere and that's a promise I intend to keep." Yami's hopeful tone was enough to crack a slight smile from his lighter half.

"Ya…mi…" Yugi's eyes failed to keep him awake as he slipped into the darkness; his youthful, gentle face no longer showing any signs of life. Yami's eyes widened at the sight. It was as if time had come to a stop and the colours from the world were sucked right out of it.

"Yugi, stay with me! Yugi!" Just then, a familiarly known symbol, on Yugi's forehead, revealed itself to Yami. "Oh no, this can't be happening! NO!" Yugi slowly opened his eyes to reveal a sinister, red glow in them. His face no longer possessed any form of expression.

"No! Yugi, please!" Yami cried, fearing the worst yet to come. "Don't let the Seal control you!" The Pharaoh's words failed to reach Yugi, who resulted in shoving him to the side before towering over him. The young boy's face was riddled with contempt and disappointment, startling his other self.

"Hear my words, Pharaoh." Yugi announced, with a hint of malice in his voice. "Yugi Muto is no more."

"Yugi, please. Think of the boy you truly are." Yami cried, hoping to reach out to him again.

"I am," the young boy replied, "and I am not Yugi. Not the Yugi you know anyway." His fists clenched. His teeth pushed each other in a struggle for dominance.

"The lazy leech, the worthless whelp, the poor excuse for a hero and a student. The naïve fool who would always get himself and others into trouble." Yami stared in disbelief. He couldn't believe his ears. Not once did Yugi ever call himself those kinds of words.

"Don't say that!" Yami whispered audibly.

"But it's true." Yugi replied, with the tone of brutal honesty. "I lost Exodia for good and I nearly lost my own life and endangered Joey and Tristan's lives because of my naïve foolishness. I would always rely on everyone else to do my work for me, just to make things easier for myself."

The tainted child then smiled to himself, his eyes cast onto the ground. "Heh, if I was any stronger, I would have given Kaiba a verbal lashing for what he put me through: forcing me to choose between saving Grandpa sooner and saving Grandpa later."

Yami could barely blink at the sight of his friend putting himself down such in a brutal, unforgiving manner.

"Do you remember that, Pharaoh?" Yugi enquired, looking his other self in the eyes again. "Kaiba then said that I was weak because I couldn't save my Grandpa sooner. Granted that sparing Kaiba was the right thing to do, he still had no right to say I was too weak to go through with hurting him. In reality, he was just jealous because I was strong enough not to go through with it."

The Pharaoh could barely have the strength to stand up. Yugi was never known to be this smug, conceited and arrogant. Could this be the Seal's doing?

"And here I was, wallowing in self-pity, choking on my own tears. Instead of being everything I wanted to be, everything I was supposed to be. I should have been the one scold to him, not my friends."

Hearing those words was too much for the Pharaoh to bear. "Yugi, listen to yourself." Yami pleaded, taking several steps back.

"Oh, I am." Yami's lighter half replied. "And it's all true. The weakling I once was would always get stepped on, pushed around and taken advantage of. Well, not anymore. I don't need anyone's help, and I certainly don't need yours."

Suddenly, the Seal of Orichalcos formed around the Pharaoh. At that moment, he knew this could only mean one thing…

"Yugi, please!" Yami begged as the Seal lit up. "Yugi, stop!"

"Adios… Your Highness." Yugi responded nonchalantly, wearing a malevolent smile. "Or is it Your Majesty?"

It was already too late by then. Nothing could stop the Seal from taking the Pharaoh's soul now.

"No! Yugi! NOOOO!"

And from that point, the world faded to black.