Part 2

-----"Your foolish games are tearing me apart." -Jewel-----

"We argued," the boy continued. "We almost never argue anymore, but something...it was really bad." His voice was rough. "He left our hotel room and took off running. I felt something was wrong. I know he felt it too, but he..." he took a deep breath. "Then, I couldn't feel him at all. We're linked - we're one! I should be able to, but I can't, and..." As he spoke, he turned his pyramid-shaped pendant over and over in his hands. Wesley finally got a good view of the jewelry and his eyes widened.

"Young man, is that the Millennium Puzzle?" The boy sighed and nodded.

"The who now?" asked Gunn, who'd joined Cordelia by the teapot. She looked at the tall black man and shrugged.

Wesley elaborated for the group. "This boy is wearing one of a set of several linked items of power. Ancient Egyptian, I believe...the texts are a bit fuzzy, but they're said to have souls trapped within them, or be able to trap souls, or something to that effect." On that statement all eyes but Yugi's turned to Angel, and everyone but Yugi edged slightly away from him. Angel, for his part, sidled away from Yugi.

"It's complicated," Yugi replied, "but I don't really use the Puzzle's magic, Yami does. I'm really worried about him." He looked up at Wesley. "Seto said you were good people and that you could help me find him."

"Seto...Kaiba?" Wes asked, receiving a nod. He sighed. "Well, that explains that."

"Who's Seto Kaiba?" Angel asked, and Wes looked up, the ghost of old pain in his eyes.

"A member of the young billionaires club. I met him when I was seeing Virginia. He must have heard enough about A.I. to recommend us."

"Wes's ex-girlfriend?" Gunn murmured. "You think maybe this Seto was the next guy..."

"In Virginia?" Cordelia murmured back. "Could be." She brought the tea service out to the main lobby and Gunn followed. She pressed a full mug into Yugi's hands and the boy smiled thankfully. His hair was beginning to dry into stiff spikes.

"Perhaps it's best if we begin at the beginning," Wesley said. "You and this Yami are linked through the puzzle somehow, correct? And you're concerned because the link is not working?"

Yugi nodded. "It doesn't feel right. It's not natural. I guess I felt something wrong ever since this morning, but it was...subtle, until we had that argument, and things just seemed to explode. I don't know what happened." The boy sounded lost, and something in his voice caused a twinge in the chests of all present, living or otherwise.

"What was the argument about?"

"Hey," came a new voice from the door, "I don't think that's important right now. We just gotta find the guy, right?"

Yugi grinned. "Jounouchi!" A string of syllables followed, in Japanese, too fast for anyone but possibly Angel to make out.

"Goin' by Joey while we're Stateside, remember, Yug'?" the blonde responded, to stares. "What? I learned English Brooklyn-style. Wanna make something of it?" He happened to be looking at Angel, so Angel just shrugged.

"Where's everyone?"

"Well, got a call from Tea and Tristan," to Yugi's blank look, he added "Anzu and Honda - you musta been sleeping through the English names thing. Anyhoo, they were still heading to Domino Airport; it's gonna take awhile for them to get here."

"That's right - they got later flights. And Seto?"

"*His Highness* is parking the car. I tell ya, Yug', you owe me for havin' ta be alone with that..." Joey noticed then that everyone was staring at him. "...guy that's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

"Maybe you are more perceptive than everyone thinks," said the tall new arrival, as water beaded off his trench coat. He shook the water from his brown hair. Cordelia saw the drops fly in slow motion.

//Well, that was some prime bitchery, // she reflected, //and I should know. But...yummy, rich...bitchy...yummy...dating Virginia...yummy...uh- oh. //

"Nice coat," said Angel.

"Thanks. Oh, by the way, you can name your fee for this project; I'll pick it up." Which was something the staff of Angel Investigations was not used to hearing, and they all straightened, animated by a new sense of purpose. "There's one condition. You must find Yami within the next three days. We have a Duel Monsters card clinic at the Children's Hospital, and I want this settled by then." And then, more personally, "Hello, Wesley. It's been a while."

"Seto. Frankly, I'm surprised you remember me. It only took you two minutes to destroy me at Gin."

"Well, Virginia...thinks highly of you." And oddly, Seto Kaiba did not look the least bit smug when he said this. //Interesting, // Wes thought. The two and Angel had drifted away from the rest, and Wesley thought it was time for some candid conversation. "Seto," he asked, "Have we any reason, truly, to suspect foul play? This Yami ran off by himself - he might not want to be found."

"If it were anyone else, I'd be more willing to entertain the idea," Kaiba said. "But for him, hurting Yugi is inconceivable. If anyone else caused the kid this level of worry and anxiety, Yami would tear them apart. I know this from personal experience." His eyes narrowed. "I've never met anyone more capable of taking care of themselves, but I wish I could honestly tell you I thought Yami was just fine."

* * *

"Hey, kid, don't struggle and you'll be just fine. We ain't gonna hurt you."

He struggled, of course, every time he found something that seemed remotely like an opening. But anything he tried was absorbed. He'd even relieved one of them of a knife and jammed it into his leg. It had barely fazed the man, whose limp was steadily disappearing.

"We'll even play that game you wanted when we get where we're going. Hope poker's okay. I love poker."

"We were supposed to play it now," he muttered. But when he'd tried to use his most devastating ability....

// "We're going to play a little game," Yami said, cornered. And he'd summoned his power, but it had found no purchase in the other man. They were still there, still in the alley, and he was still stuck with several obscenely strong opponents. "Yeah," the leader replied, "It's called 'Give it up and come along quietly, 'cause we don't get paid if we bruise ya.'"//

//This is not good, // Yami thought. //At least my Light is safe. As it should be. He needs to be kept safe. Safe from the pain I bring. Safe from me. //

* * *

"Well, since we're all safely on retainer, and boy, do I love saying that, let's round up the rest of the troops," Cordelia said. "Wanna get Fred and Lorne down here?"

"Aren't you the boss?" Kaiba asked Wesley, under his breath.

"Yes, but if you wouldn't mind telling Cordelia?"

"Lorne? You think?" Angel was almost up the stairs when he paused. The last two of the Angel crew were in Connor's room, and Angel took any excuse to see his pride and joy, but there was a specific issue with involving his preferred baby-sitter.

"Look, I'm getting no vision-y anything on this, so Lorne's our next best hope," Cordelia said. As Angel shrugged and continued, Wesley said, "He's got a point. Lorne..."

"Look, the kid's wearing ancient magic, and Money here knows Virginia, who comes from major magic-trafficking cash," Gunn said. "I seriously doubt they'll have a problem with..." Then he stopped at the simultaneous gasps from their Japanese guests. Their jaws had dropped, their mouths hung open, and they'd paled to the point where their cheeks were nearly highlighted in blue. "Okay, doubts quashed."

They were, of course, staring at the staircase. Descending was Angel, a thin, dark-haired woman, and another man. Said man was impeccably dressed and coiffed, and was also just about the same shade of green as a Swamp Battle Guard. He also sported a small pair of horns.

Lorne sighed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Whh...Whaa?" That was Joey.

Kaiba, meanwhile, composed himself and nodded. "Lorne, I presume." He was surprised anew when the green...demon?...bowed low and greeted him in perfect Japanese.

Yugi, for his part, stood and smiled shyly. "I'm sorry. We've been rude. It's just that we don't usually see people who look like you unless we're playing cards."

"Got that right," Joey murmured, still eyeing the green man but trying not to be as obvious about it.

Lorne, for his part, had begun gathering preliminary impressions immediately. There was stress and worry, but not to a terrible degree, from Kaiba. He was a man in control, someone wedded to power but using it to cover...then the blonde. Seemed uncomplicated on the surface, but it was a surface current over depths...and the short kid..."Whoa."

"Whoa? Good whoa or bad whoa?"

"Can't tell yet, princess. Just...getting major interference here."

"Hi, I'm Fred," said the dark-haired woman, waving from the stairs.

"Hi Fred," Joey and Yugi replied. Seto glanced over, then back.

"Okay, here it is," the green Lorne began, "I'm kinda the house psychic these days, and I read better if you're singing. So we'll try that first, and then go for the hands-on approach if we've gotta. And we might, 'cause there's definitely something in the way." He took a seat opposite Yugi.

"Why singing?" the boy asked, looking at Lorne curiously.

"When you sing, you put your heart and soul into it, even if you don't mean to. If you're soul-linked to this guy, then hopefully I'll see him too. Go ahead, kid, give it a try. Anything." His voice was kind.

And Yugi sang. His light tenor wove its way around an old, wordless melody, and Lorne began speaking softly over the song.

"He loves his grandfather very much. He's concerned about a white-haired boy because the darkness in him won't stay buried. He's scared for Yami. He's never seen him frightened like that...ohh...ow...."

"Lorne?" Wes asked, and the demon shushed him.

"I'm okay..." but he tapped Yugi on the hand and motioned for the boy to stop. He looked at the group, and said, "All right, here it is. I felt the link...it's like a cord spun from his soul. I tried to follow it, but there was all this static, like snow on TV, y'know? I barely followed it to the door before I lost it. Looks like it's time for plan B." He motioned to the couch and Cordelia and Gunn stood. "Lie down there. I'm gonna try something else."

"Okay, this is getting seriously weird," Joey said.

"Yeah, but you can handle it," Lorne replied. "You're adaptable, and you know it, too. You just gotta realize it, consciously."

"That's what I'd expect from a fraud psychic," Kaiba said, "telling people what they want to believe."

"You don't like it, you don't have to pay me," Lorne replied. "You ought to think about why you constantly have to cut down the easy marks to bolster your own ego. And by the way, your brother is never going to forget how much you love him. Even if you are gone a lot, it shines so brightly that he can't help but see it. Trust me, he knows." Lorne stood behind the couch arm. "...you jackass..."

"What?" Yugi asked

"Not you." Lorne put his hands on Yugi's temples. "Okay, now close your eyes." Yugi did so, and a moment later, Lorne followed suit.

Drawn by an impulse she couldn't explain, Cordelia moved closer. So she was there when Lorne began to tremble. She was able to put her arms on his shoulders to steady him, as the two of them lifted and began to hover an inch off the floor. And maybe, just maybe, she was able to apply a little bit of braking thrust when the two of them were blown back across the room.