Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and/or its characters!

•••YUGI's POV•••

Suddenly, everyone was looking at me. Ramsis' dark eyes were glistening deviously.

"All this time..." he said. "It's why I was able to kill you, in the first place!"

He laughed at himself. "I have been so foolish... Did you know about it? Or did he make you believe it?" Ramsis grinned.

He was making a fool out of me. "You have no idea who you're up against," I hissed at him.

"I have killed you once, and now I will kill you twice. You're nothing," Ramsis hissed back with big eyes.

"I wasn't talking about me," I said.

It all started to dawn on me. I had seen it in the vision that the Millenium Items made us see, but I couldn't believe it. I was upset. But now I understood.

Ramsis smirked. His eyes focussed on the dead pharaoh's body, still lying motionless on the ground. "The pharaoh isn't doing anything anymore," he said. Then he looked at Yami. "And the other part isn't functioning properly either."

"You're saying that Yugi isn't the Artist," Seth said. "You're being ridiculous."

"Am I?" Ramsis said. "How come I could kill him if he was to be immortal? How come he was able to command Slifer? You all saw how the beast obeyed him."

"You're saying that he is... A Guardian...?" Marik said.

Ramsis look was sharp. He didn't answer Marik's question. Dark strings appeared around him, and before I knew it, they had gotten to the other side of the ominous void and had wrapped themselves tightly around my wrists and ankles, lifting me up in the air and pulling me towards the center of the deep void.

Joey, who was standing close to me, tried to grasp me, but it all happened so fast that he could only say my name.

"Everyone was protecting you... While you didn't even deserve it..." Ramsis said. He shook his head.

"Enough, Ramsis! Let him go!" Joey yelled.

"Or what? You'll summon the Gods and try to roast me again? It worked so good the previous time!" Ramsis mocked. "Besides, it will roast your dear friend here, too."

"What do you want...?" I stammered, not trying to look down.

His voice became loud and furious. "I want... A honorable duel... With the Artist... Because all this time, you have tricked me, and fooled me, but you have to know that I am the most powerful man alive..."

He looked away from me, and with his hand still up in the air, still holding the strings, his look went to Yami.

"Face me, you coward!" he yelled. "You lied to me, the whole time! Everything you have ever said to me has been a lie! Now, be the person you should be!"

Yami opened his eyes. As if touched by a miracle, he suddenly seemed to be full of life and energy again.

He stood up, and he stood in the way he would always stand. In all his beauty, his power...

Seth's jaw dropped. "How is that even possible...?" he stammered.

Marik just shook his head.

I gasped. I wanted to cry, both from happiness and from sadness. He was alive, he was still here, more attractive than ever, but he had lied to everyone of us... And this wasn't a little lie, no, this lie would influence my life.

"If you hurt him... You will die..." Yami hissed at Ramsis, his eyes looked like they would burn him down.

"Why didn't you tell me...?" I asked him with my tiny voice.

Yami's look suddenly changed as he heard me, he looked at me with his big moons, opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to say it after all. He bit his lip.

"If everyone believed that you were the Artist, Yugi, and not I, everyone would protect you with their lives. I know it is selfish, and I know I should have told you, but I couldn't risk to lose you again," Yami said.

"You really thought about everything..." Ramsis said.

Yami nodded. "I made everyone forget the real past with a potion that causes amnesia. I replaced their memories by the ones I created, by making sure that everyone that knew that I was the Artist ate enchanted honey. I painted the murals in the tomb. I made the Crystal of Life and Death, making sure that Yugi's touch was the only thing that could activate it. It's why I can control time and space."

I shook my head. This wasn't happening. Yami wouldn't do those things to me. To us.

"I'm sorry, Yugi. I just love you too much. I had to," he said.

"Very touching," Ramsis said. "But now, Pharaoh..."

"We will duel," Yami said finally.

"Winner gets all," Ramsis said, grinning, and looking at me.

Yami closed his eyes. In front of him, his other half, the pharaoh, a bloody mess, stood up. The dead figure opened his eyes, and a bright light was visible on the place where his eyeballs should be. Yami walked towards the body, and when they touched each other, they became one. Now Yami was finally fully himself again.

"First, put him on the ground," Yami demanded.

"What fun would that be?" Ramsis said as he opened the duel by attacking Yami with his dark powers.

Yami stepped back, but at the samd time he tried to get closer to me.

"Can we do something?" Joey asked the two Guardians, when he saw Yami struggle.

"I am afraid not..." Marik said.

"Ishizu," Seth said.

"Oh, guess we can actually do something," Marik said. "Bakura, Joseph, keep an eye on Yugi."

I looked down to see Bakura and Joey look at some big pieces of sandstone that had come down from the roof. They seemed to float on the void, like some kind of magnetic stones in a magnetic field.

As Yami and Ramsis were dueling until one of them was dead, or in Yami's case, until one of them fell into the void, I saw that Seth and Marik were attempting to free the still unconscious Ishizu. For one moment, I felt weak.

"We're coming for you, Yug'," Joey whispered from beneath me. He and Bakura were floating towards me, standing on a big piece of sandstone.

"Be careful," I said, afraid as hell that they would fall into the deep hole beneath them.

Light flashes were coming from the other side of the room, and although I knew that Yami would win, I was scared.

"Don't worry, Yug'," Joey said. "He will win."

I nodded. I still tried not to move, my whole body was stiffening from fear. One wrong movement from me or Ramsis and I would fall down.

"Hold still," Bakura said as he tried to remove the dark strings from my wrists.

"Stupid things..." he growled. He let go of me, and suddenly his Millenium Ring lit up, blinding me. My wrists felt hot, and before I knew it the strings broke. Joey supported my shoulders so that I wouldn't fall down, for my ankles were still tied.

I felt hopeless. Everything was actually different from what I had believed. I wasn't special. Yami only had made me feel like that.

Ramsis and Yami were like two opposite forces, that canceled each other. When Ramsis attacked, Yami had no problem to defend himself, and it was kind of vice versa.

"Hold still," Bakura repeated as he reached my ankles.

But before he could do anything, a black orb crashed into the sandstone Joey and Bakura were standing on. Joey couldn't hold my shoulders anymore, making me fall down. I was hanging upside down, my ankled still tied to the strings.

"Bakura!" Joey exclaimed, and when I looked I saw Bakura hanging from the edge of the giant piece of sandstone. "Take my hand!"

Another few orbs followed, but they crashed into what was left of the roof. Everything came down, almost hitting Bakura and Joey. The whole void became covered in stone, and because the other pieces were hitting the one where Bakura and Joey were standing on and hanging from, they drifted away further and further from me.

Joey was able to pull Bakura back on their stone. He bit his lip when he saw me still dangling in the sky. "We should jump from stone to stone to get to him," Joey said. Bakura was still pale from his fall, but he nodded.

They came towards me, and I was already getting dizzy from all the blood that went to my head.

"The jump here's too big, Joseph, we will never make it," Bakura said, holding Joey back.

"But Yugi..." Joey said. "Don't worry pal! Hang on!"

My head was pounding again. It wouldn't stop. They couldn't make it.

I once read that you could hang upside down for half an hour before you die. I wondered how long I was hanging already.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back. "Hang on!" Joey said again, still waiting until the space between the rocks was short enough to jump over it. It was useless.

"Don't worry, I got you..." I suddenly heard from behind. Two warm hands wrapped around my ankles. The strings broke, and Yami caught me in his arms. He put me down next to him on a piece of floating sandstone. He held my hand.

Everything was still pounding.

"Stay here. I'll be back soon," Yami said, letting go of my hand.

On the edge of the void, I saw Seth and Marik carrying Ishizu. I was so glad they got her.

"Is that everything you got?" Ramsis yelled at Yami. The whole time, the only thing he had done was blocking Ramsis' attacks.

Oh no... Without passing that test he wouldn't get his powers back...

"You fear me... I'm doing just what it takes to get rid of you," Yami said.

"I'll show you what fear is!" Ramsis exclaimed. He rose up his arms, and as a result the walls all bursted. Water was pouring out of them, like giant waterfalls, thousands of litres a second.

Yami's eyes widened. Water was one of his fears. I remembered.

The water streamed right into the void, taking every last piece of stone that was lying on the floor with it.

Yami didn't run. He didn't even move. I don't know whether he was in shock or not, but he let it all wash over him.

Ramsis smirked. "You fear water... One of the most valuable gifts in Egypt..."

I could see Yami's face appearing above the surface again. He took a deep breath. "You can't control water..." he said. "That's what made me fear it. But you can, dear Ramsis, learn how to swim."

Yami let the water take him to the void, and he quickly jumped on top of one of the stones. He hurried towards me. Ramsis came after him.

Yami had three fears... And he must overcome each of them to earn his light...

I saw Yami rushing towards me, and I knew that he lied to me because he loved me so much. And I loved him more.

He had been afraid of his other half...

"You're making a fool out of me again, Yami! Attack me!" Ramsis yelled.

He had been afraid of water...

Yami spread his arms, as to protect me from Ramsis.

But he was still afraid of losing me...

"I wanted to give you an honorable duel..." Ramsis hissed. "Now you're letting me no choice but to just kill you."

"Let me go, Yami. You must earn your light," I said.

Yami turned around. "Never."

"Enough! I'm tired of you, Yami! I have been for the past 5000 years! This is it!" Ramsis hissed. His eyes became pitch black, and as if he was being possessed by some kind of dark force, he was covered in black lightning.

And the lightning didn't struck Yami. It struck the stone we were standing on. It broke in two, and when I slipped down, I was just able to cling to the edge of the stone.

"Take my hand, Yugi!" Yami said as he knelt down.

"Pull him up and I'll kill him," Ramsis said.

Ramsis looked amused. His smirk was even more disgusting than usual.

Yami's lips twitched. "Don't do this," he stammered.

My hands couldn't hold it anymore. They were slipping. I moaned.

And then I couldn't hold it anymore. I fell, but Yami was just in time to grab my wrist. He clenched his teeth.

I looked at him. I would die either way, falling into the void or getting killed by Ramsis. But if Yami let me go... He would earn his light.

"It's okay, mou hitori no boki. You can let go," I said. Everything hurt.

"No! Yugi!" Joey screamed, wanting to tun towards me, but Seth held him back.  "Don't make it any worser, Joseph..."

Everything was still pounding.

He couldn't hold his tears back. So did I. I stared into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed and he pouted.

"You're perfect," I said. "No need to apologize for that."

He smiled and sobbed. He leant down, and used all of his strength to pull me up. He kissed me, sweet and tender, and I cried while tasting him, knowing it was the last time.

Our lips let go of each other, and while Yami bit his lip and closed his eyes to fight the tears, he let go of me.

Light was surrounding Yami. I could see it when I was falling. Light spreaded across the room, through the void, everything lit up. It felt like a dream.

I closed my eyes

And then the pounding all stopped.