Archive of Our Own

Yuugi’s face still ached from Ushio’s beating and he was more than slightly terrified for he had forgotten all about Ushio’s ultimatum in his celebration of completing the Millennium Puzzle. He’d strung it on a leather cord and he took a moment to clasp it, unable to keep his grin back. After eight years he had finally solved it.

His smile faded as he entered the school and as he inched through the hallways but there was no sign of Ushio. He had just made it into his classroom when someone else entirely stopped him in his tracks.

“Hey, Yuugi!”

Yuugi froze at the doorway as Jounouchi came up to him, slinging an arm around him. The last time he’d seen Jounouchi, he’d been lying on the ground bruised and bleeding, blaming Yuugi for his injuries. They hadn’t spoken after Ushio had delivered the same beat down to Yuugi but had both slunk home in silence.

But there was no trace of malice in Jounouchi’s face and in fact this was the friendliest he had ever been to Yuugi.

“H-hi Jounouchi,” Yuugi said, eyes wide in shock.

Jounouchi didn’t seem to notice and propelled him towards Yuugi’s desk. Anzu was sitting against his desk and she greeted them both though her look sank a little when she saw Yuugi. She got up so Yuugi could fall into his seat.

“Hey Yuugi,” she said and she looked around him but whatever she was looking for wasn’t there so she turned her attention back to him. “You’re not going to ask to copy my homework too, are you? I need a break from Jounouchi asking me.”

“If you’d just share it like a decent person…” Jounouchi started but he was also craning his head around enough that Yuugi figured it was worth the risk of asking.

“What are you guys looking for?” Yuugi asked.

“For Sai. What, you run out on him or something?” Yuugi blinked at him but before he could say anything Jounouchi lit up. “There you are! Were you taking too long primping this morning?”

“Some people try not to look like they just rolled out of bed, Jounouchi,” Anzu said with an eyeroll. She said it with a smile too though.

Yuugi was going to laugh despite his confusion but then he saw who Jounouchi was talking to. It would have been more prudent to call him another Yuugi for the person Jounouchi spoke to was Yuugi’s identical. But Yuugi never had siblings, something he had bemoaned for then at least he could have had a friend, even if it would have been somewhat forced by necessity.

This other Yuugi waved in greeting to Jounouchi and threw his bag onto what was presumably his desk. He joined them, sitting on top of Yuugi’s desk without an apparent care in the world.

“I forgot something so I told Yuugi to go on ahead of me,” he said by way of explanation. The other Yuugi, this Sai, smiled at Yuugi.

“You sent Yuugi on his own. You guys haven’t been apart in years. What if his heart had broken?” Jounouchi said with a teasing grin.

“It’s not like he would have gotten hurt just getting to school,” Sai said with an amused look.

“Yeah, Yuugi’s not like you, Jounouchi. He doesn’t attract weirdos and creeps,” Anzu said.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means people like Yuugi and all you do is antagonize people,” Anzu said.

“You should be more like Yuugi. Everyone loves him,” Sai said.

“What.” Yuugi couldn’t help saying something at that. The other three turned to him, all grinning as if he had said something ridiculous.

The first teacher of the day came in and everyone snapped back to their seats. Yuugi couldn’t focus on anything that was taught but that was fine; a day of failing wasn’t out of the norm for him. Heck, it was a lifetime of failures and disappointments, something that he had become resigned to even as he had hoped for something to change.

But he’d expected it to be a slower change rather than this sudden drop into a new world. It was true though, that no one had harassed him on his way into the school, but even Yuugi had days where nothing bad happened to him.

To add to Yuugi’s shock Jounouchi’s friend Honda joined them for lunch, complaining about his dog almost making him late for school today. The others nodded and commented appropriately as made their way to the school roof so they could sit down to eat.

Sai was seated between Anzu and Honda. He looked comfortable there, as if it were their regular routine. Yuugi watched as everyone else settled down, each of them without protesting in any way shape or form. Yuugi sat between Honda and Jounouchi, trying to focus but mostly trying not to touch or jostle them in anyway. It was Yuugi’s yesterday that they had been bullies after all.

None of them were talking about Ushio though. Yuugi tried to keep silent but it was impossible.

“Hey Jounouchi?” Yuugi asked as he leaned over. “What happened with Ushio?”

“Everyone is saying he went to the hospital. Something about he’s gone crazy,” Jounouchi said with a scowl. “I’ll kick his ass if he shows up again.”

“That guy wasn’t a human, he was a freaking mountain, and you were not going to ever be able to kick his ass,” Honda said. He was scowling too but the look vanished after a moment.

Yuugi looked at him. Neither of them looked as bad as they had yesterday. Jounouchi had a bandage on his cheek but from what Yuugi knew of him, that seemed relatively normal. He always seemed to be in some kind of trouble at school.

“I so could have,” Jounouchi said.

Before they could devolve into a pathetic exchange Anzu shook her head at both of them. She glared at Jounouchi and Honda.

“I don’t even know why you guys got involved with that bully. And you had to drag Sai and Yuugi into it too.”

“Hey, come on, Anzu. It’s not like we meant to piss him off,” Jounouchi said.

“I’m just glad he left,” Honda said. “And hopefully he won’t come back.”

“You coward,” Jounouchi said.

“No,” Honda said. “You’re just a blockhead.”

Yuugi barely had time to move before Jounouchi pounced on Honda but even Yuugi could tell it was a play fight. He ended up sitting next to Anzu but then a moment later she got up to stop Jounouchi and Honda.

“Remember when we used to do that and Mom would yell at us that we would fall down the stairs?” Sai said.

Yuugi stared at him. It took a while for his mind to process everything for surely this Sai should know what was going on. He was the key to this unraveling of sanity but if he was so wrapped up in the madness then there would be no answers from him. Yuugi dug his nails into his palms to see if he could still get hurt.

“I don’t remember that,” Yuugi said slowly, unclenching his hands before he began to bleed. The sharp burst of pain faded away.

“It was a long time ago,” Sai said, unaffected.

Before Yuugi could formulate a response to that Anzu sat back down beside him. She gestured at Jounouchi and Honda who were shuffling around, picking up their scattered belongings from where they’d kicked Honda’s bag open.

“I can’t believe we’re friends with these idiots sometimes,” Anzu said.

“I can’t believe you punched me,” Jounouchi said.

“I wouldn’t have had to if you guys could have kept from knocking everything over. You spilled my drink everywhere,” Anzu said.

Yuugi followed in silence as everyone got up to return to class. Sai walked next to him, his steps gradually slowing down. Yuugi matched his pace and he wasn’t surprised when Sai turned slightly to address.

“We can talk after class. I promise,” Sai said.

Yuugi nodded, not trusting himself to say anything. He cupped the Puzzle with one hand and slid into his desk without looking at Sai for the rest of the afternoon. In a way he wished he hadn’t solved the Puzzle because trying to solve it had been a good way to get his mind away from the rest of the world.

Anzu, Jounouchi, and Honda joined them as they left the school and walked out together, and Yuugi’s mind apparently still had room to boggle at the fact that he had a group of friends to walk home with. Yuugi kept quiet, sticking close to Sai until they waved their goodbyes to the others and turned down the street. There was a moment of heavy silence before Sai cleared his throat.

“So-”

“Who are you?” Yuugi asked. He stopped and clenched the straps on his backpack as if they were his support. “I solved the Puzzle last night. And now Ushio is apparently gone. And everyone is acting like you’ve been here all my life. But you haven’t been.”

“I am the Puzzle.”

Yuugi blinked a little at how easily the answer came. Sai had a serious expression on his face, calm and terrifyingly sane as his gaze bored into Yuugi’s, and he nearly took a step back. But then Sai’s look shifted into something a little more human.

“Or, that’s not really right, but I came from there,” Sai said, frowning a little as he tried to pick out his words. “You solved it and that freed me somehow.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re sure of that,” Yuugi said slowly.

“I don’t remember anything,” Sai said with a troubled smile. He shifted his bag from one hand to the other. “It’s honestly as if I were just born. I know you and I know that you solved the Puzzle. That’s really all I’m certain about.”

“But how does that explain anything?” Yuugi asked, staring down at the Puzzle. It wouldn’t give him any answers and at the moment its heft seemed to pull him down. “People don’t just show up like you do. I don’t have a brother.”

“You didn’t. Now you do,” Sai said.

“I don’t,” Yuugi said.

Sai didn’t say anything more to that. He shrugged his shoulders then turned to walk towards Yuugi’s house.

“Where are you going?” Yuugi asked as he followed, panicked now that Sai was apparently still continuing.

“To my home. Your home. It’s the same,” Sai said, keeping his eyes on the ground.

“Listen, maybe you’re just confused. You aren’t-”

“You know I’m not,” Sai said shortly.

“But-”

“Do you really think I’m lying?” Sai asked. He still didn’t look up at Yuugi.

Yuugi almost nodded but something stopped him.

Anzu was his friend but they hadn’t really been hanging out lately. She had dance classes and she was on the student council so she was always busy. Plus she actually cared about getting good grades so she would study and do her homework like she was supposed to. She hadn’t had time to play with Yuugi and his games. But she’d been there with him today.

And yesterday Jounouchi and Honda had spent lunch bullying him. Yuugi could still call up the fresh humiliation and hurt at their words as they taunted him. He looked down at the Puzzle. Today they almost seemed like different people but Yuugi could understand that he’d simply never seen another side of the two. Jounouchi and Honda had talked to him as if they were friends, as if Ushio had been a shared enemy rather than simply antagonistic towards them all.

And the way everyone had spoken about Yuugi, it sounded like he didn’t get bullied often. He apparently had them all as friends and if not, then he was supposedly relatively well liked.

People could change but not for Yuugi’s sake and never so suddenly.

Sai stopped at the door and looked at Yuugi. He smiled but it was a tired expression rather than smug as Yuugi had expected.

“That’s what I thought,” Sai said and he pushed the door open. “We’re home!”

No one answered but Yuugi followed him up the stairs and stopped at his doorway.

“Is this still my room?” Yuugi asked. He didn't look inside just yet. If he had to share a room with this strange person he wasn’t sure what he would do.

“Yeah. We used to share it but last year we cleaned out the attic. I wanted my own room,” Sai said.

There a moment where Yuugi could see that past; where a pair of twin brothers had shared for so long but that to grow up they each needed their own space to live and change. Yuugi suspected that if that had happened he would have wanted to cling to his imagined sibling rather than let him go. But he couldn’t remember it because he’d never had a brother.

Yuugi sighed in relief and threw himself on his bed. But Sai didn’t leave and after a minute Yuugi felt he was still in the room so he sat up.

“Can you, um, please get out?” he asked, scratching as his head as he tried to figure out a polite way to tell him to leave his room but mostly his life.

“Mom and Grandpa are coming home now,” Sai said, nodding his head at the sound of the door opening. Yuugi looked at him, not bothering to hide his suspicions, but Sai shrugged. “I can’t see the future, okay? I heard them, that’s all.”

Sai went downstairs and Yuugi followed reluctantly. Yuugi watched as no one pointed out the obvious and something in him fell a little.

“We came back late but we brought dinner. Grandpa got a big order so we’re celebrating,” his mom said as she opened all of the boxes and began serving the food.

“A big order?” Sai asked as he sat at the table.

“The antique go board,” Grandpa said and Sai squawked a little.

“You sold that? I wanted to play on it. Yuugi and I were going to bust it out-”

“You were not going to ever touch it,” Grandpa said, scandalized. “It’s an antique! I’ve told you how I won it and you wanted to play on it like it’s one of your cheap board games?”

“I get all my games from you, Grandpa,” Sai said.

Yuugi would have laughed at Grandpa’s ensuing outburst but he was frozen to his seat. Everything about this was wrong but no one would notice. Or maybe they couldn’t but Yuugi didn’t know which was worse. His family was talking with this stranger so intimately and somehow he had seamlessly blended himself into Yuugi’s family.

If Yuugi could push away the horror he could see this happy dinner, two brothers poking fun at their grandfather while their mother laughed at them all. But that wasn’t his world.

After dinner Sai went straight up to his room giving Yuugi a chance. He pretended to help with cleaning up even as he knew that would make his mom suspect him of wanting to ask for something. Although in this case it wasn’t an advance on his allowance so he could buy more figurines or games.

“So. Question. Has Sai always been here?” Yuugi asked in halting pauses.

His mom and Grandpa both stared at him.

“I know that’s a weird thing to ask but-”

“If you and Sai are fighting again, please go patch it up,” his mom said. “You two are such good friends. I hate it when you fight.”

“Now, now. They’re brothers. It’s just a fact of life that they’ll knock heads sometimes,” Grandpa said in a soothing tone.

“We’re not fighting,” Yuugi said.

“That’s good,” his mom said. “Now go do your homework and don’t you dare tell me you already did it, Mutou Yuugi. You and I both know that’s a lie. I see through your little charade.”

Yuugi went off, no questions answered, and he almost wasn’t surprised to see Sai lingering at the bottom of the stairs.

“How did that go?” Sai asked. He was leaning against the wall and he followed Yuugi up the stairs.

“Horribly,” Yuugi said. He shook his head with a helpless laugh. “They’re both acting like you’ve been here forever.”

Whatever happened it was strong enough to convince everyone that Sai belonged here.

“I’m sorry,” Sai said.

Yuugi looked at him. He did seem genuinely apologetic.

“I guess you can’t help it,” Yuugi said, looking away. He sat down on his bed. Sai was at the doorway. “You can come in.”

“Are you sure? I know this isn’t what you were expecting but-”

“I wasn’t expecting anything,” Yuugi said. He ran his thumb against the edge of the Puzzle. “I solved the Puzzle and made a wish. That’s all I did. But if you were trapped in there then I’m glad solving it let you out. I guess I just don’t really understand why you showed up here as my brother and why everyone believes it.”

“The Puzzle is powerful. I don’t think you knew what you were getting into when you were trying to put it together,” Sai said. He didn’t come in any further than the doorway but Yuugi appreciated the distance so he didn’t point it out.

“Yeah,” Yuugi said. “Grandpa said something about the powers of darkness but I still don’t really get what that was supposed to mean. I kind of just thought that it meant it could grant me a wish.”

Sai shifted around and said nothing. After a minute of awkward silence, he began to inch his way to the door.

“Okay, good night,” he said and made his escape. Yuugi blinked but at least he was alone now.

Yuugi fell back on his bed and set the Puzzle where he could see it. He was glad he solved the Puzzle, he probably wouldn’t have done anything different, but this certainly wasn’t what he expected.

“Maybe having a brother won’t be so bad,” he murmured aloud.

#

Sai claimed he couldn’t remember anything from before his time in the Puzzle and after a day of spending time with him, Yuugi didn’t doubt him. Everything seemed to confuse him though he kept up a good front at pretending like he was a totally normal person. It worked on everyone except Yuugi.

Yuugi who had to explain everything from toothbrushing to television. Sai seemed to work on autopilot for often he would stop in the middle of doing something and turned to Yuugi to ask him to explain. It was fine when they were watching television or doing chores and less fine when Yuugi was showering or trying to sleep.

Also he liked to copy Yuugi’s homework which baffled Yuugi because he was a terrible student. Homework was something that kept Yuugi from playing games and made his mom angry with him. Sai would stare at the worksheets and books for hours before finally sighing and snatching up Yuugi’s papers.

But he liked to play games with Yuugi so that pretty much made him a fantastic live in friend. It was really the only requirement Yuugi had in mind whenever he had imagined a world with a sibling.

“Okay, so, the goal of this game is to control the most land. Here are your dice,” Yuugi said as he set out another game. Afternoons were much better now that Sai was here to play with him. They were slowly going through Yuugi’s game collection.

Sai insisted on beating Yuugi at least once before he could be persuaded to move on. The best part was that Sai was good at games. Once he got a hang of the rules, he was more than a match for Yuugi, and they traded off wins. Sai kept a running tally of who had won the most games though Yuugi was just glad to have someone to play with so even when Sai was in the apparent lead, Yuugi didn’t care.

Sai took his four dice and inspected the six sides. He watched as Yuugi finished setting the board out and wrote out the counter sheet.

“How are you, Yuugi?” Sai asked.

Yuugi blinked and stopped writing.

“How am I? I’m great?”

“That’s good,” Sai said, nodding slowly. “I don’t want to have brought you harm.”

Yuugi blinked again then realized what Sai was asking.

“Appearing out of nowhere was weird but you like playing games. I haven’t played with anyone in years,” Yuugi said. He paused for a moment, not noticing Sai’s alarm. “Well, that’s not totally true. Grandpa liked to play games with me. He was the only one.”

“What do you mean? Anzu, Jounouchi, and Honda would have played with you,” Sai said.

“Anzu used to. But she stopped coming over. She had dance class, and then she was chosen for the student council, and she got busy.” Yuugi smiled a little. The Yuugi who had always been alone was still inside him, curled up and waiting for this dream of friendships to be done. But for now his days of being lonely were over. “And the day before I solved the Puzzle, Jounouchi and Honda were picking on me.”

“Oh,” Sai said. He shifted in place and looked up at Yuugi with worried eyes. “That’s very, uh, different. I thought you’d all been friends before and I showed up as part of that group.”

“Nope,” Yuugi said with a small laugh. “But that’s okay. We’re friends now.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Sai asked. It was Yuugi’s turn to shift around for Sai had an intense expression on his face. But Yuugi couldn’t run away. “Your whole life changed in an instant. You said Jounouchi and Honda were bullying you one day and your best friends the next. That’s got to have some effect on you and probably not a good one.”

Yuugi blinked at him then shrugged when it was clear Sai was waiting for an answer. It probably wasn’t healthy but he had friends now. He’d wished for friends and he got them. Maybe they wouldn’t have been his friends without the Puzzle and they probably weren’t the people Yuugi would have chosen. But they were his friends now and Yuugi was overjoyed.

“It’s alright,” Yuugi said lightly. “Come on, Grandpa doesn’t like this game because he says it’s horrible but that’s just because I beat him really bad one time. I haven’t played it in years.”

Sai nodded but Yuugi could tell he wasn’t convinced by his answer. But it really was fine. Even if tomorrow the spell broke and everything returned to the way it was, Yuugi knew what having friends was like now. He could deal with loneliness again if it came to that.

#

The escaped prisoner at the Burger World pointed at them and demanded one of them bring him food. He specified the weak looking one and Yuugi was getting to his feet when Sai shifted.

“Let me go, Yuugi,” Sai murmured, so low that Yuugi barely heard him.

“But-”

“Just give me the Puzzle and let me do this,” he said and that made Yuugi stop for Sai had never asked for the Puzzle from him before.

Yuugi let him gently remove the Puzzle from around his neck and he watched as Sai left to get the food. There was no fear in Sai’s tone or demeanor as he slid into the seat across from the prisoner. Not even when Anzu tried to warn him away, thinking him to still be Yuugi, and was hit across the face for her efforts, did Sai react.

They were too far away to hear. Yuugi watched as close as he could to try to understand what they were talking about and he would swear later that he hadn’t looked away, but Sai never did a thing. Then the prisoner began to scream and in his panic he dropped his gun. Sai took Anzu by the hand and he shouted something, which everyone in the diner took to run.

Yuugi ran too, but he stopped at the door, looking at the prisoner. The man was lying on the floor, howling that his body burning and thrashing about as if it really were afire. But there were no flames in sight, only the smell of vodka that had spilled when he had dropped the bottle.

Jounouchi called out to him, urging him to get out, and Yuugi followed him to where Anzu and Sai were standing. Anzu was clinging to Sai, nearly toppling him over, but Sai held her up. Yuugi waited until the police finally arrived and once Anzu was talking to them, explaining what had happened, did he get a chance to talk to Sai alone.

“What did you do to him?” Yuugi asked.

“I played a game with him and he lost,” Sai said.

“That’s not true. You’re-”

“I’m not lying,” Sai said and his face was thunderous. “Don’t. You can’t accuse me of that. Not you.”

Yuugi fell silent.

“Here,” Sai said, giving him the Puzzle back. “We’re going home soon. You can go now if you want.”

“I’ll wait,” Yuugi said and Sai turned away as if to say that if that’s what Yuugi wanted to do, it was fine.

When they got home an hour later Sai went straight up to his room and Yuugi waited for a moment, wrestling with himself. He followed him, determined to get some answers. If he waited Sai would think up a plausible excuse. Sai wasn’t a liar, not as far as Yuugi could tell, but he could avoid a topic just as well as Yuugi could.

Sai was lying face down on his bed but he didn’t seem asleep. Yuugi knocked on the door for show since he knew Sai had heard him enter his room. He went over to sit down on his bed.

“What happened?” Yuugi asked, as gentle and soft as he could.

“I had to save Anzu,” Sai said, his words muffled through the pillow.

“You know that’s not what I’m asking,” Yuugi said.

Sai inhaled and sat up.

“You want to know what happened, what I did to that man, but what if I tell you and you regret solving the Puzzle? What if it’s enough to make you fear me?” Sai clenched his hands and his face was clouded. “I don’t want that.”

Yuugi waited. After a few minutes of Sai sighing and muttering to himself, he moved so he could sit next to Yuugi. They were a hair's breadths length apart but Sai wouldn’t touch him.

“The one who solves the Puzzle gains the powers of darkness,” Sai said. “You don’t know what that means. I don’t even know what that means. All I know is that I can make things happen with this power. I can twist people’s minds and I don’t even think it needs to be under the form of a game; but at least making it into a game gives them a chance out of it.”

“Out of what?” Yuugi asks.

“Penalty games. Punishment. Judgement.” Sai looks at his hands. “I did it to Ushio. That’s why he vanished from your world. He went mad. And I don’t regret doing that.”

“I wondered where he went,” Yuugi said.

“You’re not angry?” Sai asked.

Yuugi shrugged a shoulder.

“I’m trying to understand right now,” Yuugi said. “Maybe I’ll be angry in a little bit. You’re not finished though, right?”

“I had to save Anzu. I had to. Even if it meant using that power again. You can understand that.”

Yuugi nodded. He probably would have done the same thing. If he’d had the power, he wouldn’t have sat back and let people get hurt, especially not his friends.

“Do you have to give them a penalty game if they lose?” Yuugi asked.

“If they lose a shadow game they have to take a penalty game,” Sai said, and there was a tone in his voice that was beyond him. Sai knew nothing about his past but this was certain to him. He knew how these shadow magics worked.

“I hadn’t thought about it but this probably means a lot to you too, doesn’t it?” Yuugi said, holding the Puzzle in his hands. For something that was all angles and points, it seemed to fit perfectly in his grasp, and it didn’t ever seem to get in the way despite its bulk.

Sai stared at the Puzzle for a few moments then nodded.

“I don’t know anything about myself but the Puzzle is important to me,” Sai said. “I can’t explain why but I know it’s part of the key to figuring everything out. It’s part of me, I think.”

“Part of you?” Yuugi asked, letting go of it.

“Not physically. It’s not like my heart or leg,” Sai said, amused. He’d definitely noticed that Yuugi had drawn away from the Puzzle. “But I feel connected to it.

“Here,” Yuugi said. He lifted the Puzzle from his neck and offered it to Sai. “We can trade off days.”

“But you solved it. You said it took you eight years,” Sai said. He made no move to take it and in fact, he wouldn’t even look at it. HIs gaze was firmly on Yuugi.

“If it’s important to you then I want you to have it too. We’re supposed to act like brothers, right? I’m pretty sure brothers are supposed to share.”

“Is that your reasoning?” Sai asked, baffled.

“You said you can’t remember anything. But the Puzzle brought you here. It’s something you remember. Maybe it was yours before you lost your memories. And if it is, then it should be yours, right?” Yuugi swallowed and before he could stop himself he brought the Puzzle closer to himself. “I should give it to you but I solved it. It’s mine. So all I can do is share it because I’m too weak and selfish-”

“Stop,” Sai said. “Stop talking about yourself like that. You’re not like that at all. Yuugi, you’re so kind and-”

“I’m really glad you saved Anzu today. Even if it meant you hurt that other guy,” Yuugi said. “The same with Ushio. No one really could tell me what happened but he left after you showed up. I’m not a good person at all.”

Sai didn’t say anything.

“I used to get beat up a lot. I didn’t really have friends, anyone, looking out for me. And there were so many times I wished I were strong enough to fight back.”

“So you’re not scared of me?” Sai asked.

“I’m a little jealous. You can protect the people you care about and you’re strong enough to stop people from hurting you,” Yuugi said.

“You’re wrong. You have nothing to be jealous about, Yuugi. I have nothing to my name but this strange power and I know it’s not something I should be using like this. But it feels right to do so and I have so little,” Sai said, clenching his hands.

Yuugi leaned over to jostle him. The contact made Sai jump in place.

“I don’t think you’re a bad person,” Yuugi said. “I think even when you find out about who you were and why you’re here, I get the feeling that you’ve never been a bad person at heart. That’s why I’m not scared of you or this shadow stuff. You’ve only hurt people who hurt me first. It’s not like you’re going around giving penalty games to every jerk you meet on the streets.”

“I-I don’t think my powers work that way,” Sai said with a small smile.

“Then we’re okay,” Yuugi said. “It seems like you need the Puzzle to use your powers, right? Then I’ll hold onto the Puzzle when you feel like they deserve a penalty game.”

“I think that could work,” Sai said, looking down at the ground.

Yuugi got up and stretched, the Puzzle still dangling from his hand. Sai eyed it now and he reached out for it. Yuugi handed it to him, watching as Sai slid it around his neck, and to his surprise, he felt sort of proud.

“Okay, let’s go eat. I didn’t get to eat any burgers and I’m starving,” Yuugi announced.

Going without the Puzzle seemed odd now but he glanced back to see Sai following with a smile. Yuugi all but bounced down the stairs. They’d figure out this shadow stuff and Sai’s lost memories.

#

“So you guys are switching the Puzzle?” Jounouchi asked when he saw Sai walk into school with the Puzzle around his neck.

“Yup,” Yuugi said.

“Why?”

“It feels right,” Yuugi said.

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow at that but he didn't question it any further. But the idea didn’t leave his mind for at lunch he brought it up again.

“Is it okay? I mean, it took you like, ten years to solve that thing.”

“Eight years but okay,” Yuugi said, scrunching his face. An extra two years would have been hell.

“Yeah, see, that’s still a long fucking time.”

“It’s important to Sai too,” Yuugi said. “We’re sharing it. I’m still the one who solved it.”

Jounouchi narrowed his eyes at him but Yuugi just smiled at him. After a while Jounouchi sighed and slung his arm around Yuugi.

“You’re too damn nice, Yuugi. But I’m glad you got to solve it,” Jounouchi said, letting go when Yuugi protested that he was being choked. “I would have felt really bad.”

“Me too,” Yuugi said. “Wait, what was that again?”

Jounouchi scratched at his head and looked everyone except for Yuugi.

“Well. You know. I sort of stole a piece and uh, threw it into the pool. I went and found it after Ushio kicked our asses but still. It was a shitty thing to do.”

“You were the one who brought it back?” Yuugi asked, his chest aching.

“Well, yeah, I had to,” Jounouchi said, scratching his head and not meeting Yuugi’s eyes. “Be a real dick move to fuck your puzzle up like that. I couldn’t do it anymore. Definitely couldn’t do it now that we’re friends.”

“Yeah,” Yuugi said with a laugh so he could hold back whatever was in his chest.

The Puzzle had given him friends but that had all happened before he had solved the Puzzle. Yuugi didn’t say anything, letting the topic flow towards the class they’d just had. It was enough to know that Jounouchi hadn’t been part of the Puzzle’s magic.

#

It was a familiar pain, being punched in the face, but it had been so long that Yuugi had forgotten not to tense up when the blow was coming for him. He almost didn’t remember that he needed to put ice on his cheek to keep the swelling down. It had become an anomaly rather than routine.

Kaiba would be the one to break all of that and remind Yuugi who he had always been. But a stolen card that carried Grandpa’s heart was something that Yuugi would have always fought for, with or without the Puzzle completed. And Kaiba was too proud of a gamer to not accept a duel even as he still denied his thievery.

Yuugi waited until the last bell had rung and lingered at his desk. Sai waved the others goodbye since they all had somewhere to be right after school. He didn’t complain as Yuugi took his time nor did he notice how quiet Yuugi was.

“Let’s go, Yuugi. I want to eat,” Sai said, the Puzzle swinging against his chest as he pushed himself off the desk he’d been sitting on top of.

“Wait, Sai,” Yuugi said. Sai made to keep leaving. “Sai!”

“What?” Sai blinked at him.

“I need to ask you something,” Yuugi said. “Can I have the Puzzle?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sai said, slipping it off. He didn’t let go when Yuugi grabbed it though. “Do you need it for the rest of the day or what?”

“Just for a while, I guess,” Yuugi said.

“Cool. Keep it tomorrow too then and I’ll take it back after that,” Sai said without qualms. He watched Yuugi place it around his neck then raised a hand to wave him off. “I’m gonna go check out one of these clubs everyone keeps talking about. Why didn’t you ever join one? They seem like fun. A lot of classmates are in at least one.”

“It’s not really my thing,” Yuugi said, averting his gaze. He wanted to keep his mind on his duel with Kaiba but at Sai’s question, it made him realize anew that his world had changed. This Yuugi might have joined a club if his brother had been alongside him. And maybe this Yuugi would have made more friends.

Sai rolled his eyes at him but it was a teasing expression more so than an exasperated one. He left and Yuugi took a moment to wrap a hand around the Puzzle. Yuugi kept his hand on the Puzzle as he headed towards one of the upperclassmen rooms, unsurprised to see Kaiba sitting at a desk, waiting for him. He slid into the opposite seat and took his deck from his bag.

“What, you couldn’t come without your brother to back you up?” Kaiba asked with an amused sneer.

Yuugi blinked then turned to see Sai at the door, hand on the doorway, as if hesitant to come in. But his steps were certain as he entered the room.

“How did you-?”

“You asked me for the Puzzle,” Sai said softly. “You’ve never done that before.”

“I needed it,” Yuugi said, averting his eyes from Sai.

“No, you didn’t want me to have it,” Sai corrected, still in that soft tone. He didn’t seem hurt but there was something about his voice that made Yuugi on edge even more than this duel.

“You were going to use it against…” Yuugi trailed off but everyone in the room knew what his next word would be.

“As long as he doesn’t help you I don’t care,” Kaiba said and he turned away from Sai. “Still. I’m surprised that you’re the one to challenge me, Yuugi. I was expecting you to run off in defeat. Asking your brother to duel on your behalf wouldn’t have shocked me. It’s always the weak who ask for help.”

“If I win, I want my Grandpa’s Blue Eyes back, Kaiba,” Yuugi said, calm. He could tell Sai was pissed off but without the Puzzle, Kaiba would be safe from him. There wasn’t much Sai could do though Yuugi wouldn’t have been too surprised if Sai straight up punched Kaiba.

“And if I win?” Kaiba asked with a glint in his eyes.

“You won’t,” Sai said.

“You don’t want anything from me. You’ve already taken what you wanted,” Yuugi said, ignoring Sai’s interjection.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kaiba said. “Honestly, I don’t even have to accept this duel.”

“You will because this won’t be an ordinary duel,” Sai said.

Yuugi froze. His hand dropped to make sure he still had the Puzzle before he looked to Sai. Sai was standing by their desks, his gaze steady on Kaiba. Yuugi looked away and set his deck in place. But when he placed a monster card, the creature rose to life, and he ignored Kaiba’s exclamation to grab Sai’s arm.

“Sai! You can’t! Sai!”

“Kaiba wants a more thrilling game, Yuugi,” Sai said, his eyes appearing to glow. But when Yuugi looked close they seemed the same as always. “I can provide that.”

“Yuugi! Focus on your duel with me,” Kaiba said, breathless. His tone made Yuugi look at him and Yuugi was struck with the thought that Kaiba was alive for probably the first time in years. “Let him continue. He’s right; this is the kind of game I’ve been searching for. Don’t you dare take your attention away from me right now.”

Yuugi looked back at Sai but Sai’s focus was on Kaiba. And he had the strangest sensation that his words would fall on deaf ears. Yuugi swallowed his fears and doubts so he could turn back to his duel.

The game progressed normally up until Kaiba summoned Grandpa’s Blue Eyes. Despite Kaiba calling his attack, the dragon didn’t move, and instead vanished before their eyes.

“That’s not fair,” Yuugi said. He didn’t add in the ‘technically’ part because if Kaiba had never stolen the Blue Eyes then none of this would have happened. “Sai, that’s not part of the rules to Duel Monsters.”

“This isn’t Duel Monsters; this is a Shadow Game.” Kaiba was furious and there was no way he understood what a Shadow Game entailed.

“The Games test your hearts,” Sai said. “I don’t control that.”

Yuugi gripped the cards but when Kaiba snapped at him to draw, he threw down a Monster Reborn to take back control of the Blue Eyes. Even when the dragon fired upon Kaiba he made no attempt to end the duel.

“I’ll be taking the card back, Kaiba,” Yuugi said as he swept his cards back up. He placed the Blue Eyes on the top so he could keep a close eye on it.

Kaiba said nothing, staring at his laid out cards, no doubt his mind reeling at his lose. Yuugi wanted to say something but he wasn’t sure what to even start with. But he had Grandpa’s card and that was all he really needed.

“Wait, Yuugi.” Sai held out a hand to stop him from leaving and Yuugi felt a chill run up his spine at Sai’s tone. This was not his brother; this was the being who had been locked in the Millennium Puzzle. “Kaiba lost. You must name his penalty game.”

“No!”

“Yuugi,” Sai said in a low warning tone.

“I-I’m not doing that,” Yuugi said, and they both knew he was referring the prisoner Sai had dealt with. “This was a duel to get Grandpa’s Blue Eyes back and I have it. I’m done with Kaiba. Let’s go.”

The Puzzle thumped against his chest as Yuugi sped out of the room. Yuugi wanted to be home, to return the Blue Eyes to Grandpa, and to go back to his unusual normal life. He stopped once he realized that Sai wasn’t right behind him.

Then there was a scream and Yuugi cursed at himself. He ran back to find Kaiba howling in terror and Sai on the ground, nearly passed out. Yuugi went to Sai first, leaning down to help him up.

“What did you do to him?” Yuugi asked in horror as he stared at Kaiba, his grip on Sai’s arm too tight. He knew the answer but he needed to hear Sai say the words.

“Penalty game,” Sai murmured. He kept his eyes closed and Yuugi was sure it was because he didn’t want to look him in the eye.

“What?”

“You wouldn’t. I had to. He lost the shadow game, Yuugi. He had to take a penalty game. That’s how it works. Even I can’t break that.”

“Stop it!” Yuugi watched as Kaiba began to soundlessly scream, his voice already raw and broken. “Sai! Sai! Stop it! You have to-”

“I can’t,” Sai said and his words were so final Yuugi knew it wouldn’t be worth it to try arguing.

“If you could, would you?” Yuugi asked softly.

Sai looked at him and nodded slowly.

“Okay. Okay then. We have to get Kaiba help. And get you home. A-and then we can talk about it,” Yuugi said.

Sai tried to nod but instead he just fell completely unconscious, his body dropping like a dead weight, nearly taking Yuugi down. Yuugi looked between Sai and Kaiba, both out of commission. He sighed as he set about sorting this mess out.

#

It was next day, at nearly eleven in the morning when Yuugi went in to check on Sai and found him half awake. Yuugi sat down on his bed and waited for him to be slightly more alive. When Sai realized he was there, he mumbled something that Yuugi took to mean he was awake enough to begin talking.

“It’s Sunday so my Mom isn’t worried about you yet for sleeping in so long,” Yuugi said.

“Right, Sunday means no school,” Sai said, rubbing one eye. He didn’t make any motion towards getting out of bed.

“If you miss lunch though, she’s going to come up, and she might make you go to the doctor,” Yuugi said. He pretended to think. “I don’t think you’re up to date with your shots since you haven’t existed so-”

“What.”

“I’m just thinking out loud-”

Sai groaned and shoved his head under his pillows. He muttered something about it being too early for this kind of torture. It took Yuugi a few more minutes of incessant cheerful talk before Sai gave up and got out of bed.

After Yuugi had bullied Sai into eating something for breakfast, they went back up to Yuugi’s room. Their bags were lying beside Yuugi’s bed, homework neglected for the cards they were shuffling as they set up a new round of menko.

The first round went slow because Sai stopped to admire all the artwork on the cards and Yuugi distinctly did not point out which cards were more traditional and which were more cartoon characters.

“Hey, Sai?” Yuugi said. Sai didn’t answer as he shuffled his cards around so Yuugi reached out and stopped his hand. “You do that a lot.”

“Do what?” Sai asked.

“When I call out to you, you don’t respond right away.” Yuugi let go and continued the game. “It’s not just me either. It’s with everyone.”

“I don’t have a name,” he said with a wry smile. “I figured you’d be the first to notice. I always have to pay attention when people call out “Sai” because it’s not my name. Whatever my name was and is, it’s lost to me.”

“If ‘Sai’ isn’t your name, then I should call you something else, right?” Yuugi said.

“Like a nickname?” he said, frowning as he sorted through his cards.

“I guess. It sounds kind of dumb when you say it like that.”

“Not really,” he said. “I don’t have a name. ‘Sai’ is just for the world around me. It’d be harder to live here without a name.”

“I still don’t understand how you just happened and everyone hasn’t noticed,” Yuugi said as he mulled over some names. He’d have to think of something good.

“The magic of the Millennium Puzzle, I guess,” Sai said with a shrug. “I don’t understand anything. Honestly, sometimes when I’m spacing out, it sounds like everyone is speaking gibberish around me, like I don’t even know the language. I move before I know what I’m doing half the time. But when I don’t think about anything and just let myself go with it, no one looks twice at me. It’s when I stop to think that I tend to confuse people.”

“Is that why you always copy my homework?”

“I don’t copy yours because you don’t even know what you’re doing,” Sai said with a wry smile.

“You definitely do. Or, you used to. Copying Anzu’s homework is definitely smarter,” Yuugi said and Sai laughed a little.

“Do you think she’s noticed yet?”

Yuugi looked away. Anzu was his friend but that didn’t stop Yuugi from noticing how her look lit up around Sai or how her gaze followed him. He had seen the way she leaned a little closer, how she always managed to sit beside him, and how his absence was noted straight away. Maybe if he didn’t watch her as closely as she watched Sai but then, none of that is Sai’s fault. Sai, who was staring at him, waiting for his response.

“I don’t think so,” he said softly.

“Good because I think I like having better grades than you. It makes me seem like a reliable older brother.”

“I’m the older brother,” Yuugi said. “I was around here first.”

“I look older. I might be older,” Sai said, musing. “If I’m a ghost of some kind then I’m definitely older than you.”

“You’re not even a year old. No way are you the older sibling,” Yuugi said with a grin. “You’re still a baby.”

Sai threw a card at his head and it caught in Yuugi’s hair. For some reason that made him snort with laughter and so Yuugi retaliated by shoving one of his pillows into Sai’s face. Their cards went flying as Sai grabbed a blanket and rolled it up so he could fight back.

When the cards settled and the two were spent, Yuugi lying on his bed and Sai on the floor, Yuugi looked over at Sai.

“I hope Kaiba ends up alright,” Yuugi said.

He’d found a phone in Kaiba’s briefcase and called someone, who had identified himself as Kaiba’s butler. The man had been shifty looking when he had come around a few minutes later but the bodyguards seemed legitimate. And they all got into Kaiba’s limo which was a familiar sight to Yuugi.

It hadn’t been his best and brightest moment but he’d also had an half-unconscious semi-brother to take care of. Sai had managed to walk by leaning on Yuugi and luckily his mom and grandpa had been in the shop when Yuugi got home. Because the moment Sai hit the bed he was out cold again and there was no way anyone could have missed out on how awful he had looked at the time.

Sai stiffened but he exhaled and nodded.

“I think he will be,” Sai said. His hands went to his stomach, as if he had been going to grab the Puzzle. “I don’t know what happened to him but I don’t think he was always so cruel. A penalty game isn’t meant to last forever. And I wouldn’t doubt it he recovered from it.”

“I don’t think I understand that,” Yuugi said with a frown.

“I...think it’s because of you, Yuugi,” Sai said, his face twisting as he tried to find the right words to say. He sat up so he could face Yuugi properly. “You hold the Puzzle, you solved it, and I think it has some of your influence now. And you don’t want to hurt people. You give them second chances and you think the best in them.”

“So, what, the penalty games are softer?” Yuugi said. His heart began to sink. It was one thing to be weak but another to spread that.

“Not really. I think it’s more that you give people a way to find their path back to the light,” Sai said and Yuugi laughed, sheepish.

“That’s sounds a little dumb.”

“It’s not,” Sai said. He sat up to look at Yuugi. “It’s something I could never do. I don’t know how you do it. But it’s a better way to be.”

Yuugi fought a blush and rolled over so he could lie on his stomach and avoid Sai’s look.

“I’m serious,” Sai said. “If anything you should be the one to have the power of the Millennium Puzzle.”

“I don’t think I would use it that much though,” Yuugi said.

“Exactly. You would only use it when you had to. My first thought when people piss me off is to shadow game them so they can learn their lesson,” Sai said. He looked a little worried when Yuugi turned back to see if he was actually serious or not.

“You don’t, though,” Yuugi said. “Just because you feel like doing something, that doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“Yeah, but still; that thought probably wouldn’t have ever crossed your mind. I didn’t even have the Puzzle and I still summoned a Shadow Game,” Sai said.

Yuugi didn’t say anything.

“It...wasn’t easy. Without the Puzzle I couldn’t control it. I think it’s because I hated Kaiba so much that I was able to do it. I know he’s the one who hit you,” Sai said.

“He’s not the first,” Yuugi said.

“That doesn’t make it better,” Sai said, frowning at Yuugi.

“I know,” Yuugi said softly. “But hurting him doesn’t help anything either.”

Sai nodded slowly. He leaned up against Yuugi’s bed.

“I don’t want to call Shadow Games like that. Not without your permission and definitely not without the Puzzle.” Sai paused. “I really don’t think you would have ever called a Shadow Game on someone.”

“I can think of a few people,” Yuugi said, smiling a little even as he was serious. “I think everyone has a few people in their lives that they’d like to hurt. Though it’d be nice if that wasn’t the case.”

“Again. You’re much nicer than I am,” Sai said with a chuckle. He made to get up and leave.

“Hey, wait,” Yuugi said. Sai stopped for him. “I was thinking and I don’t think it’s really right to give you a nickname when you’re still looking for your actual name. But I can call you ‘brother’ because it’s not really a name and no one would get confused if I just called you that, right?”

Sai blinked.

“I suppose but you’ve always said we’re not brothers.”

“We’re not but I think I would have liked it better if we had been,” Yuugi said. He looked down at the Puzzle. “No, I’m sure I would have been happier if you had actually been my brother growing up.”

Sai managed a stoic expression for about two seconds before he had to blink away tears and a stupid grin.

“Okay. Yeah. That’s good. I like it.”

Yuugi smiled and nodded.

“So, Brother, help me clean up my room,” Yuugi said, looking around his card strewn room.

Sai snorted a little.

“Fine, fine,” he said. “If I have to help my little brother clean up his mess.”

“We’ve been through this. You’re the little brother,” Yuugi said.

Sai laughed but he started to gather all the cards up on the floor. Yuugi set about to clean up the ones on the bed. Maybe they hadn’t been born siblings but the Puzzle had brought him to Yuugi. Even if it had all started from a wish Yuugi had his true friends and a brother by his side. They would definitely be able to solve the mystery of Sai’s lost memories together.