The Scars that Remain

Stepping into the Light

The black sea of darkness was the only thing visible to the Pharaoh. The sound of silence remained in the shadows until...

"Pharaoh? Pharaoh, wake up!" A voice rang out from a distance. No response was given to its owner. "Pharaoh! PHARAOH!" Still nothing.

"Yami." Yami slowly opened his eyes to witness the blurred face of the same boy who berated him in his sleep. The vision soon became clear. That same boy, Yugi Muto, wore the face of worry and concern, shortly before relief and joy took over.

"I'm so glad you're alright." Yugi sighed. "You scared me." The boy moved himself away from his other self, giving him enough space to move his legs to the side of the bed. Yugi seated himself on the edge of the bed as the Pharaoh turned his gaze to look into the boy's eyes.

"Yugi, what are you doing here?" the Pharaoh enquired.

"I heard noises coming inside the Millennium Puzzle, so I went inside to check it out." Yugi replied, remembering his journey to the Puzzle's insides. "Then I learned that the noises were coming from the behind the door of your soul room."

As Yugi, in flashback, entered the Pharaoh's soul room, the place literally became a maze filled with multiple doors and possibly hundreds of stairs each facing every direction you could think of. "Knowing how the Puzzle works, since there was always a maze behind the door; it took me a while to get to you. The noises made it easier for me to come and find you."

Eventually, one of the doors, in the depths of the Puzzle, caught the young boy's eye and he opened it to take a look inside. "And when I did, I saw you tossing and turning in your sleep." Yugi said, remembering the gut-wrenching shock he witnessed. "You were mumbling to yourself."

In the present day, inside the Puzzle, Yami knitted his brow in need of answers. "What noises did you hear along the way, Yugi?"

Yugi took a deep breath and exhaled. "Well, you were rambling on about how sorry you were for your... greatest mistake. You claimed that you'd never forgive yourself for what you did and you vowed to do anything to make it up to me. You even said that you'd understand if I didn't want to give you the chance to."

His innocent eyes slowly waltzed on the ground before gazing into Yami's violet orbs. "Pharaoh, I know that what you did feels like the worst thing you've ever done, from your perspective, but you don't have to keep punishing yourself over it."

Yami frowned a little more, unable to process what Yugi just said to him. "You can't change what has already happened. And what you did, Pharaoh, already happened. You played the Seal and lost the duel, but you overcame the darkness in your heart and travelled all the way to Dartz's lair to rescue me."

A smile graced the young boy's lips. His hand reached out towards Yami, gently squeezing the former King's hand as a gesture of comfort. "You have done more than enough to make it up to me, and of course I would have given you the chance if you had asked me to. I said it once and I'll say it again: you acted like a true hero. And even heroes make mistakes, just like everyone else."

The innocent one conjured a cute yet slightly larger smile. The darker half, however, was not so easily convinced to do the same. A thought entered his mind; he needed to know if Yugi was being honest about one thing.

"Would you consider my actions in my first duel with Raphael a mistake, Yugi? Because it doesn't really feel like it." A heavy sigh passed the Pharaoh's lips. "Not anymore, at least."

Yugi's smile slowly fell. "Why would you say that?" he asked, curious to know why Yami was still berating himself.

"I dreamt about seeing you again in the Stone Wilderness." Yami replied. "The dream didn't go the same way as the real event did." Yami swallowed with great force before opening his mouth again. "You... gave me a long, well-deserved lecture about what I had done. You told me that what I did wasn't a mistake. You said I wanted to play the Seal of Orichalcos and I embraced its power, only to then fear it when the tables turned on me."