Pairing: Seto/Jou, Yami+Yugi

Beta: JennieB - The best

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, damn it!

Notes: Lyrics in italic and between quotes belong to Dream Theater.

Jou was in the dark. Again. He sighed, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before he dared to take any step forward. Suddenly, a blue glow appeared above him, illuminating his path softly. The blond blinked.

He was in a room full of mirrors. Several copies of his own reflection were looking at him, all of them wearing the same surprised look that was stamped on his face. "They are fucking kidding with me," Jou said to himself, and the reflections repeated the words silently, their mouths moving synchronously. He started walking, very cautiously, looking where he was going and staring at his reflections every now and then, anticipating that there would be some trick any minute now. At least the pain in his arm had been reduced to a faint throb.

He walked for some time , and still nothing happened. It felt weird to have several versions of himself following him around, but eventually Jou started to get used to it, and his mind started to focus on finding the third gate that would lead to his dragon. Almost twenty minutes had passed before the blond noticed something different. He stopped, stepped backwards, and his eyes widened. This reflection was different from the others; it was still him, but at the same time, not. His skin appeared darker, and his clothes he wore were different – It was some kind of…

"Oh my God," muttered Jou as he stared at his Egyptian counterpart.

The reflection smirked back at him, tilting his head to one side as if examining his modern incarnation. This Jou wore a white loincloth, a golden necklace adorned his upper body, and his amber eyes were rimmed with eyeliner, which gave a dark look to his face. Jou touched the mirror slowly, feeling the cool glass against his fingertips.

"What the hell?" he murmured when the reflection raised his hands and touched his fingers in response. He could feel those fingers against his skin. The blond stepped back, and then the reflection smiled again, giving him that infuriating smirk. Finally, he raised both hands and slowly mouthed something. Jou could read his lips:

'Got you.'

As soon as he read those words, a pair of hands reached out of the mirror behind him and grabbed him around his waist, pulling him back hard. Jou gasped in pain as his back smacked against the mirror, and he felt the material cracking behind him. "Motherfucker!" exclaimed Jou as he struggled to get free.

His past self laughed, even though no sound was made. One hand left his waist to grab him around his throat. Jou panicked and started struggling more, feeling like his lungs were being filled with water. He couldn't breathe. The Jou in front of him opened his mouth to speak again.

'You will pay for hurting him.'

His vision was starting to go dark around the edges, and his body was becoming weaker by the minute. He focused all his energy on staying awake; he knew he couldn't pass out now. His wounded arm escaped from the makeshift sling, and before he could think about anything, he drove his elbow hard against the mirror behind him. His yell of pain echoed throughout the chamber, but the hand strangling him slipped from his throat and fell limp, disappearing after a second. The blond fell to his knees, coughing for breath, and his arm hurting like a motherfucker all over again.

His old self tilted his head to one side again. Jou looked up and saw the question form on those lips.

'What did you do to Seth?'

Jou blinked in curiosity at the question, and then he went over the riddle in his mind again. 'The answer's been right in front of you'. The last verse rang a bell inside of him, and he looked into the amber eyes, ones that were so like his. "I'm not a ghost," the blond explained, feeling pretty stupid at that moment to be talking with his own reflection. "I'm not the one who hurt Seto. Can't you see that we are the same person?"

The reflection looked like he was thinking about Jou's words, and then he raised one of his hands and opened his mouth again.

'Seth is being tortured. I can feel it.'

Jou widened his eyes and, despite all the enormous physical and emotional pain he felt, he got up, gently cradling his arm again. Carefully, he slipped it back into the arm sling, and then he approached the mirror once more to touch his reflection. He felt those fingers touch his in response. "Where is he?" the blond asked slowly.

'With the traitors.'

He arched one eyebrow at that before drawing closer.

"Why do you want to help Seth? I thought that you two hated each other."

The reflection smirked at that before he lowered his hands and opened his mouth.

'That's not quite right.'

Jou blinked and lowered his hands, as well. He looked at his watch and frowned. He had ten minutes left before the next gate opened. "How do I get out of here? I have to find Seto."

The reflection tilted his head again, and then raised his finger, pointing to the left.

'They will stop you. Run without looking back.'

Jou nodded, and then smiled in response. He kind of liked his old-self – even if he had tried to kill him earlier. He looked at the hallway full of mirrors and took a deep breath. "Ok, let's do this."

He started running and now, more than ever, he was thankful for being a P.E. teacher. He had never ran so much in his life, not even when he was in Hirutani's gang. He had gone about five meters down that hall when he heard all of his reflections suddenly start screaming. He tried to cover his ears with both hands, but the sound was outrageously loud. "Oh, fuck, just shut the hell up!" exclaimed the blond as he continued to run. He saw the reflections break through the glass, and he knew that they were coming for him. He let out a squeak of surprise, and then started running even faster. A moment later he could see the passage right in front of him.

One hand caught him by his foot, and he fell to the ground. The reflections, now looking more like zombies than him started to go after him. He kicked the damned hand away and got up, half crawling, half running as he continued toward the exit. Another hand gripped him hard on his wounded arm. Jou hissed in pain and punched the creature's face. As soon as he did that, a white hot pain traversed his cheek, and his heart sank. He had come to the quick realization that if he fought against those things, he would get hurt as well. Just great. "Well, I guess that means I'll just have to pass through the third gate a whole lot faster!" the blond exclaimed to himself, and he looked down at his watch. Two minutes.

He tried to avoid the collisions with his reflections, and any time he would throw them away, he was hurt equally in the process. As he approached the passage, he saw some lines being drawn in front of him – lines which quickly formed into words.

"Third,

Try to break through
Long to connect
Falls on deaf ears and fails muted breath."

He just threw himself against the passage, and everything went black.

-----

"He's strong. Stronger than we imagined."

"He's the incarnation of Jono after all."

"Yes, but to pass through three gates? No one could ever do that."

"He couldn't have passed the first one if that girl hadn't helped him."

"Complaining about Sechat will get you nowhere."

"So, what do we do about the blond?"

The shadow smirked, the expression deadly. "Make him remember."

The other shadow smiled, and nodded in agreement. Like water being disturbed by a pebble, he vanished into thin air. The first shadow turned around when his companion had left, and his cold, grey hand grabbed the pale face by the chin. The beautiful face that was smeared with blood and bruises.

"Looks like your daughter warned your beloved about the dangers of this labyrinth, high priest."

Seto didn't answer; he was still passed out. His body was covered with only a loincloth, one that was now stained red with his blood. His body was suspended in mid-air.

The shadow laughed, the sound low and cruel. "Let's see if he will pass through the next stage of the labyrinth. Maybe he can even find us – if you're able to resist us until then."

He let go of the brunette's chin and his head fell to rest against his chest, still unmoving. The shadow then disappeared, leaving Seto alone in the chamber.

TBC