https://youtu.be/7LH95oiiFF0

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"...I tried asking Seto if we could go to a hospital...but.." Mokuba bit his lip as his hand squeezed your hand,

"...What he has won't be saved with a hospital." You shakily replied, "But...you did your best."

It seemed like the attention shifted back to Mokuba, as Tea locked eyes with him. "Mokuba! When are we moving Joey to a real hospital?" She asked,

"I got bad news. I don't think we're gonna move Joey anywhere." Mokuba responded, "Those orders came from Seto."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Tristan growled as he ran over to Mokuba.

"He says the doctors we have are good enough," Mokuba confirmed,

"I don't believe this!" Tristan clenched his fists as he glared at Mokuba.

"Besides, our engines are damaged and we can't move." Mokuba added, "....it happened when we escaped that explosion from Gozaburo Kaiba. When we landed, the engines got damaged, so we can't go anywhere." He relayed the news while keeping eye-contact on the floor, "..I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"So we're stuck here?!" Tea screamed,

"But we'll make sure that a helicopter will come by! We sent a notification to radio headquarters!" Mokuba assured,

"...you're doing your best. Don't blame yourself too much." You squeezed his hand,

"(y/n) is right." Yami nodded,

"Just...just don't-" Mokuba bit his lip,

"Tell Seto?" You finished and nodded your head, "Don't worry, we won't."

"Our lips are sealed, Mokuba!" Tristan nodded as Mokuba let go of your hand and bolted down the hallway to secure a helicopter. The door to the infirmary closed as you still remained outside. Yes, you still refused to go in and look at him. Besides, that weird irritation is still with you, only this intense atmosphere is making it worse. Jolting your head in an angle that made your neck crack, you closed your eye shut, feeling the urge to punch a hole in the wall. You felt so irritated right now, but at this point, you were unsure of the cause. Rubbing the back of your neck, the door opened and Yami slowly walked out of the room. You froze in place, remembering how you slipped away from his grasp when he told you he didn't want you going anywhere. Already thinking of the punishment he's gonna give you (though it would probably be aggressive hospitality), you took a deep breath and looked at him.

"...I didn't mean to leave like that..." You mumbled, "sorry...it's just..I'm really irritated right now-"

"I know. Everyone is frustrated and upset." Yami's eyes averted to the infirmary door. "Just as we both are. But this is far from over. All it takes is this one duel that's in the way before my prophecy is to be fulfilled."

"Who left?" You asked,

"Kaiba." Yami growled,

"you sure he isn't the evil you're destined to beat?" You raised an eyebrow as Yami lightly laughed.

"No, he isn't. He may seem like one but he isn't." Yami clenched his fists and his eyes went shut. He physically flinched, as though a thought came to mind or maybe Yugi told him something. You watched him as your eye softened, for some reason, now you can feel how much of a burden and psychological pain this must bring on him. What could you even say to make things better for him? For both him and Yugi?

"....You know." You cleared your throat, "....I am not sure for everyone, but I have confidence that you'll be able to kick ass and beat up this prophecy."

Yami's eyes went wide and stared at you,

"I know it's a...burden and all, but I believe in you. Both of you can do this." You rooted for him. Yami took a deep breath, walked over, and wrapped his arms around your waist. As he did so, the irritation in your veins vanished and your arms instinctively wrapped around his back, gently rubbing circles. Yami soon relaxed in your arms as you felt his chin rest on your shoulder.

"...Thanks, (y/n). We really needed that." Yami whispered.

"Yeah...no problem." Admiring his sudden courage and boldness to do that, you nodded your head. You felt Yami shift his head, as his cheek rested on your shoulder. It was quiet for at least a minute, and before you were debating if he fell asleep, Yami suddenly moved his hand to his pocket and pulled out a necklace. He slowly lifted his cheek off your shoulder and stared at the necklace. Your eye drifted over to find a golden necklace with a Millenium Eye on it.

"...is that a Millenium item?" You felt stupid as you asked.

"Yes, the Millenium necklace. Ishizu gave it to me. This necklace gives me the power to see events before they happen. Something tells me to use it and see what it shows me." Yami responded.

"Then do it, see what you see." You shrugged. He nodded and clenched onto the Millenium Eye, his eyes slowly going shut to see what the item is showing. After a hint of golden glow from his hand, his eyes shot open and stared at you in shock,

"...the necklace showed me dueling Joey after the finals." Yami said,

"Oh dang, really?" You asked as Yami nodded, "...Then that settles it, you're gonna win."

"....I hope so." Yami stared at the necklace in his hand as he laced his free hand with yours.

"Attention duelists, may I please have your attention." The speaker came through, "Go to the top floor to commence the second semi-final duels of the tournament! Yugi Motou will face off against Seto Kaiba. The winner will continue onto the final round!"

"...I want to check on Joey. Come with me." Yami whispered.

You froze in place, "Y...Yami...I'm not too-"

"Please." Yami's eyes narrowed, "I know it's hard, but I really want you to come. It's the least you can do since you ditched me before."

And there it is. Just as you thought he'd forget.

You furrowed your eyebrows at him, "...I said sorry."

"Actions do better." Yami grinned as he squeezed his hand that held yours. "I'll be here. We shall go together."

With that, he pulled you away from the wall and walked into the infirmary. Duke, Tristan, and Tea stared at Yami.

"How is he?" Yami asked,

"He's pretty much the same, Yugi. But knowing Joey, he'll do whatever it takes to wake up." Tristan responded as Yami approached Joey's bed. He let go of your hand and you stared at Joey. You stared wide-eyed at how bad Joey looked despite the heart monitors implying he's fine. You felt no soul coming from Joey, it's like Marik robbed it from his body.

"...that's my job."

Yami took the duel disk off the bed and slipped it on Joey's arm, "then he'll need this."

"His duel disk?" Serenity looked at Yami,

"He'd want it close by." Yami nodded,

"Good point." Tristan nodded,

"For what?" Serenity asked,

"It's his toughest fight." You responded as you rubbed Serenity's shoulders. She relaxed into your arms quickly as you rubbed gentle circles.

"...Look after him. I shall return from this duel as soon as I can." Yami patted your shoulders and took off.

"Yugi!" Tea called and ran after him. Soon, Tristan and Duke followed, leaving you alone with Serenity, Ishizu, Mai, and Joey. Serenity clenched onto her brother's hands as if her life depended on it. Your eye averted slowly from Serenity to Joey as the irritation from earlier returned. Cracking your neck once more, you stared at Joey intensely, as though you were waiting for him to open his eyes and go 'Sike! Got you! Ya shoulda seen the looks on ya faces!', but no, you're staring at a lifeless body...

....at least that's what you thought until you began to sense something inside Joey. Perking up, you froze in place and stared at Joey's chest. What in the world is that? Just as you were focusing on Joey, the door opened and the trio that ran after Yugi came back.

"(y/n)! You doin' alright?" Duke asked as you lost total concentration. Silently cursing at Duke, you looked at him and sighed,

"Yes, why?"

"Yugi seemed really worried throughout the duel, he said you weren't feeling well," Duke replied while you saw Tea scoff in the back. Feeling your eyebrow twitch, you shook your head,

"Yeah, I wasn't, but I'm feeling fine now-"

"For now." You heard Tea mumble. Now feeling a nerve twitch, you stretched a smile as though for comfort at Duke.

"This is getting ridiculous," Tristan clenched his fists. You perked up, is someone finally going to defend you from this weird form of relationship between you and Tea?

"Marik is going too far!" Tristan continued as you felt your spirits die down. Right on point, the Seal let out a roar of laughter.

"Such naivety! It's so lovely being involved in these mortals!"

"Yeah...he is. But I'm sure Yugi will take care of it." You assured, "I believe in him."

"You saw the way Marik wiped out Mai and Joey." Tea scoffed, "Yugi may lose."

You exhaled through your nose while keeping a forced smile. The urge to punch this woman has significantly increased, and your irritation isn't helping.

"No, he'll win." You shook your head, repressing the anger that literally skyrocketed in your veins. "Don't you know who he is? We're all friends with him-"

"You sure?" Tea frowned at you. "Cause yeah, his friends are here, but not in my eyes."

Oh. Oho. Ohohoho.

You let out a huge exhale to hide the anger that now seethed through your entire body, so much so that you felt your back begin to act. "....Now...listen up. Cause no one is gonna say it, I will." You straightened yourself up and let go of Serenity in fear you'll tighten your fists. "...You're not exactly being the friend you claim to be."

Tea scowled, "What?"

"You heard me." You nodded, "And you really think now is the time to be so pessimistic? Seriously? I figured since literally two of our friends are in a coma, you'll be there for them- but no, here you are, bitching about the negatives and sitting in the corner and glaring at me for literally. doing. nothing." You hissed and raised your hand up when you saw Tea about to talk, "Shut it. I'm still talking." You glared, "If you're gonna keep up this negative bubble, do it in your own room. No one wants to hear it from you right now if you keep it up like this. Do you want to stay? Either think positive or zip your mouth and stay in that corner. If you're gonna talk badly about someone, make it about Marik. Not me."

Your whole rant about her was at the tip of your tongue, and it took so much to hold it in. As much as you wanted to rat her out, now isn't the time for that. That'd just make it seem like you want this situation to be about yourself, and that's the last thing you want.

"Hold on, ladies." Tristan walked between you and Tea, "I understand the atmosphere is bad, but that doesn't mean you two should go out like this on each other."

You heard a crack somewhere inside your body as you shifted to Tristan,

"You should be telling that to Tea whose been saying Yugi's gonna lose. So much for friendship when Tea's literally doing jack shit when needed the most."

"I'm just worried about him!" Tea glared, "What's wrong with that?!"

"Nothing is wrong with that!" You shook your head as you felt your voice growing, "Literally nothing! We're all worried here. It's not just you! But we're not handling it like you!"

"I care in my own way!" Tea yelled,

"Not the right one, it looks like." You shook your head,

"Guys." Tristan tried coming in again,

"You're just acting like that cause you think you're Yugi's friend." Tea bit her lip, "You're the one hiding literally everything from us."

"GUYS." Tristan raised his voice, "Now isn't the time for arguing like this! Both of you calm down!"

"I'm completely calm!" You lied, you're now extremely pissed off, but you did your absolute best to remain calm.

"...Tea, what does (y/n) have to do with this?" Duke asked,

"Duke..." Tristan glared at Duke,

"What? Just asking." Duke shrugged his shoulders, "(Y/n) has nothing to do with this situation."

"You know what." Tea rubbed her temples, "I need to get out for a minute." And with that, she left. Tristan rolled his eyes and went after her. Pure silence filled the room for a few seconds before Duke looked at you.

"....You were completely right, you know." Duke mumbled. Feeling drained, you collapsed next to Serenity and rubbed your temples as your back began to throb in pain.

"...thanks...at least someone understands." You mumbled,

"....if Joey were awake, he'd one hundred percent defend you on the spot." Serenity weakly smiled.

"Tea's mind is scattered everywhere." Ishizu chimed in and rubbed your back, "Forgive her, I'm sure she'll reach her senses soon."

"It better be, because (y/n) is right. We can't be so negative in times like this." Duke frowned, "I don't even know what's wrong with her."

The door opens and Tristan walks in extremely frustrated, "Sorry about that guys, I don't know what's wrong with Tea."

"Literally no one knows." Duke sneered, "What's up with her? Be honest, Tristan. Tea's always like this when (y/n) is around."

"I don't know." Tristan rubbed his temples, "She's being a little weird but she's worried about Yugi."

"And?" Duke raised an eyebrow, "That excuses literally what just happened?"

"No, it doesn't. I think she's just upset with how this whole thing is affecting Yugi. She is really close to him after all." Tristan answered,

"'Kay? So is (y/n)." Duke sneered, "But she isn't making us feel like shit."

"No, it's just..." Tristan pinched his temples and clenched his eyes shut, "....just leave Tea as she is. She'll go back to normal soon."

"She better." You mumbled as you averted your attention back at Joey. With your back pounding, you wondered about what you sensed before Tea came in and ruined the whole mood to a level worse than how it was before. It came from inside him, so what the heck is going on with him? You stared at his chest to try to figure out what it was, and right on queue, you sensed it again. It was like a tiny heartbeat that was separate from his own heart. You were able to easily recognize this, and when you did, your eye went wide open.

That's his soul right there.

As if on point, Joey's finger twitched right as you felt the little heartbeat soar temporarily before being shunned down by something.

"Hey! His finger is moving!" Tristan pointed out. You kept your full attention on Joey's little soul as you slowly were able to grasp the gist about what is happening.

You were able to sense Joey's soul being suppressed by something dark, but he's actively fighting it. It's just as you and Yami told Serenity, this is Joey's hardest duel. Your irritation slowly grew as you were able to determine what is actually happening. Is there any way you could help? He's literally right there, is there any chance you can take him and yank him into reality? It seemed like hours of you just watching this soul struggle, you really felt the need to help; it's the least you could do but you didn't know how. You could bargain with the Seal like how you did earlier with Mokuba, but you felt like that'd abuse your power as the vessel-

"I want that one."

Your brain halted activity and you turned pale, '....What do you mean by that?'

"We can bargain again. I'll help you. Besides, you'll cry about it for hours and you won't help with what you're ACTUALLY supposed to do."

'...I can't tell if that's supposed to be offensive or a compliment'

"Take it as you will. He's right there. Besides, we'll meet him again."

'...what's that supposed to-'

"Don't make me change my mind. We have duties. This is a distraction I will kindly get rid of."

Okay...well that just happened. You weren't entirely sure if you could do it without some visual effects, it was the matter of how you're gonna distract everyone-

"HOLY CRAP GUYS CHECK IT OUT!" Duke screamed as he pointed at the window, "THERE ARE TWO GIANT MONSTERS!"

As though fate was on your side, everyone got up and ran to the window. You stared at everyone In pure shock yet bliss, quickly averting your attention back at Joey. Taking a deep breath and praying no one turns around, you closed your eye and remained entirely focused on Joey, placing your hand on his. You felt something ignite on your back and your eye, and within moments you woke up to find yourself surrounded by blue fog and what appears to be blue dead mannequins. You looked around to realize they were literally everywhere. They all appeared to be leaning against each other in a certain direction, and you quickly noticed where they were aiming.

Right there, staring back at you with wide eyes was Joey. He looked traumatized but shocked when he saw you. Without hesitation as though you knew exactly what to do, you tied your middle finger to your index and placed it in front of you. The whole room around began to shake as lightning struck on everything that tried attaching itself to Joey. A familiar growl appeared from behind you, and within seconds all the mannequins vaporized with a disturbing shriek- as though you had vaporized actual people. Your back started to heat up, as though it was absorbing the aura around both you and Joey as you reached your hand out to the high schooler. It seemed he got the idea, as Joey immediately lunged forward and grabbed your hand. Feeling something break from behind, you pulled Joey away and followed whatever was behind as you felt it was the Shadow realm.

Right as you felt that break, you slowly opened your eye and found yourself back at the infirmary. Everyone's attention was still at the battle, completely unaware of what just happened. Frankly, neither did you; you kept your eye on Joey who was now completely awake with his eyes wide open. Joey's eyes slowly averted to yours, his whole body shaking.

"....wh....what was that?" Joey mumbled as his voice now caught the attention of everyone in the room.

"JOEY'S AWAKE!" Serenity screamed with delight and ran to her brother to hug him tightly. Tristan's eyes lit up, as so did Duke and Tea's.

"Friendship really does wonders!" Tristan armlocks him once Serenity let go of her brother. Throughout this whole experience, Joey's eyes remained latched to you.

"It really does! Joey I'm so glad you fought out of there!" Tea shouted with glee,

"...I...I didn't-" Joey mumbled

"You did! How would you be awake just like that?!" Tea lightly punched his arm, "You scared us! After you lost to Marik you were in really bad shape!"

"You were! You really scared us!" Tristan nodded,

"I lost..?" Joey stared at Tea, "When did I lose?"

"You lost to Marik and uh, you ended up in the Shadow Realm." You answered, now feeling extremely dizzy and tired. The irritation seemed to fade entirely, now feeling the side effects. "Then, uh, surprise, you're here."

Joey's eyes narrowed when you said it like that. You figured he would, as he looked at Serenity,

"Sorry I worried ya, Serenity." He gently patted her head, "What's happening now with the duel?"

"Yugi is fighting Kaiba as we speak." Tea answered, "let's go see what's going on with the duel!" She shot up and ran to the door, "Come on! Let's go or we'll miss it!"

"Right behind you!" Tristan ran after her,

"(y/n), you coming?" Duke asked as Joey got up with Serenity. You were debating if you should go, but the dizziness stopped you. You politely shook your head,

"No thanks...I kinda need some time alone to uh...get things together."

"You alright?" Duke asked,

"Yeah, just overwhelmed with everything. I can't process things as quickly as you guys." You joked with a forced closed-eye smile.

"Oh...okay. I'll swing by later!" Duke said as he walked over to Joey and Serenity, "Ready?"

Joey nodded, and after looking at you once again with pure confusion, he walked off with Serenity and Duke. You, now being alone with Mai, slowly looked at her. Is there any way you could do the same for her? Maybe if you focus hard enough, you'll be able to do the same and yank her out of that prism she's stuck in? Your hands shakingly grasped Mai's and you closed your eyes to try and sense her trapped soul but found nothing. There was too much going on in your head as you felt the fatigue smack you in the face. It was as though you were now experiencing the mental drain in everything that has happened so far. Feeling nauseous and dizzy, you rested your other elbow on the bed to rest your head on your hand to keep yourself up. You can't do anything anymore, you didn't feel the same as how you were before with Joey. The irritation is gone, you had a hunch whatever activity Dartz was doing was igniting this whole acid trip in the first place. It hurt to keep your eye open as you closed it to try and rest, but the nausea wasn't letting you. You let go of Mai's hand to rub your eyes, your hands rested on your face as you weren't sure what to do at this point. Feeling yourself twitch from time to time, you let out a groan and released your hands from your face. you leaned back and watched Mai with guilt seeping over you. Why couldn't you do the same with her? She is right here, you could just sit down and take her out! No one is here, you have the time to do it, so what's stopping you now?

"...I'm tired of all this..." You groaned as you rolled your eye back and stared at the ceiling. "...why can't I be normal?"

Within seconds of you asking, the door opened. Startled, you looked at the door to find Yami, Joey, and Duke coming in. You tensed up when you saw them, they all looked concerned to a certain level. Yami approached and sat next to you,

"(y/n), you're extremely pale. What happened?" Yami asked,

"She's overwhelmed as I said." Duke frowned, "And while we're here in private, we gotta talk about Tea."

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I'm aware of how Joey "came to his senses" with the Shadow Realm, but I figured it's too soft on him compared with how Mai has been handling it. So I figured I'd tamper that a little bit and make Joey experience more of what the Shadow Realm is supposed to be rather it is him having a duel and leaving the Shadow Realm as though it was easy as pie (cause honestly, if you ask me, I feel that should've been the same energy with Mai then if that's how things are gonna go).

https://youtu.be/S7w6Fqa_Fn0