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It had been bad enough when something had sliced
across the link, cutting him off from Yugi and preventing him from doing
anything to find his friend except go to his last location. When fear crashed
across the link from Yami just milliseconds before Harry lost the link
completely, the English Wizard knew something had just gone very, very wrong.
Yami didn’t get
frightened. In the four years he had known the Pharaoh, Harry had never known
Yami to be scared of anything. But he had been in the final moments before the
link had shattered. Terrified of something.
Harry didn’t know what but it scared him. Knowing that
there was something out there that could frighten the Pharaoh. Especially when Yami’s
fear had been followed by the complete disappearance of the link. The logical
part of him reminded him that the link had been playing up all summer. Every
time Yugi and Yami had been in a Shadow Game the bond had disappeared, leaving
Harry panicking and even without magic messing with it it had been fragile.
Still something was different this time, something
within him screamed bloody murder and vengeance and everything else along those
lines. His heart knew, before Wolf could let out his mournful howl and the
wails of every Duel Monster in the park could rise along with it.
Yami Mutou was dead.
Truly dead this time. Not just suspected or
unconfirmed. The Duel Monsters could feel it, the shift in the balance of power
as the Shadows latched onto Yugi, the new Pharaoh, feeding the maelstrom of
pain and power that had risen in the centre of the park.
Without having to think Harry knew what was
causing it, his own heart echoed with the same pain and grief as part of
himself suddenly vanished.
This wave of magic, this tornado of light,
shadows, grief and pain, was Yugi’s scream as half of his soul was ripped away.
Without thinking Harry darted for the tornado.
Yugi was alive, for now at least, but Harry knew what would happen. With Yami
dead, Yugi wouldn’t want to live. Not after the steady decline he had suffered
during second year. They all knew what would happen. Yugi would slowly lose his
mind and his grip on his powers, until he burned himself out.
Harry could easily see Yugi not even thinking
about that possibility. Instead he could easily see the scream of Yugi’s soul
being turned on whoever had caused the death of the Pharaoh and taking them
both out.
He couldn’t let it happen. He didn’t want it to
happen. He needed his friend just as badly as Yugi needed him. Without Yugi and
Yami to keep him from sinking into misery every time the populace turned on him
he didn’t think he could cope with Hogwarts, or life in general. He needed
their unconditional support, the unconditional support of all of his friends in
fact.
And it had already been proved that without Yugi
the gang would fall apart. Yugi was the glue that held them together. Last
summer, when Yugi’s soul had been stolen, the team had dissolved, almost
irreparably. They needed Yugi.
Harry tumbled as the tornado of power vanished as
quickly as it had arrived. Rolling to his feet, he caught a glint of gold and
silver in the undergrowth. He pulled on the metal chain, dragging what it was
connected to out of the bushes.
Seeing the Millennium Puzzle discarded as if it
was a piece of trash drove the worry into anger as he took off again. The item
was his friend’s greatest treasure and the symbol of the bond they had all
made. To see it covered in dirt and muck infuriated him.
He slipped the chain over his head as he continued
running, only to stumble again as Yami’s darkness slipped into place in his
mind. Realising that Yami must have been sent back to the Puzzle upon his
demise he used a trick he had learned from Yugi. Somehow he managed to keep
enough of his mind on his sprint to prevent him from injuring himself, while
the rest slipped into the Puzzle.
The corridor was dim. Yugi’s door, which usually provided
the most light was sealed tight, closed for the first time since Harry had
joined the bond. Yami’s on the other hand, was wide open and the corridor was
wet, as was the entrance to the Pharaoh’s soul room. Inside, still within the
puddle, Yami was led on the ground, unconscious, almost as if he’d been washed
into the room.
“Yami!” Harry darted forward, shaking the Pharaoh,
trying to wake him. “Yami wake up!” Harry frowned when Yami let out a pained
groan and tried the one thing that would always
bring Yami round in one shot, “Yugi needs you!”
“Yugi?” Yami asked, eyes opening slowly as he
tried to pull himself together, “I can’t…”
“He’s still alive.” Harry promised the Pharaoh,
hoping that the disappearance of the tornado didn’t mean he was a liar. “I’m
going to him now.” Harry paused, let out a deep breath and then made an offer
he was not entirely ready to make as he helped Yami to his feet, “Take over.”
“Harry…” Yami trailed off, hesitation at taking
over his friend’s body warring with his innate desire to ensure Yugi’s safety.
“Go!” Harry shoved him towards the door.
Yami didn’t need any more encouragement to dart
out into the corridor and take control of Harry’s body in order to rescue the
light half of his soul.
Harry had known he wouldn’t.
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