Yumi's POV

I spent most of that night lying awake, staring at the ceiling in shock as though I were still standing in front of that grand tablet. I could barely feel the sheets crumpled against my mostly bareback. My head didn't even feel like it was pressed snugly against my pillow; it barely felt like it was even there. And I could feel this ever so slight ache in my cheeks from not being able to stop smiling earlier.

I turned in my bed, now lying on my side facing the wall of my room. I couldn't sleep; my mind was swimming. There had been this hidden part of my life for 16 years and I had no idea about it. And all within the last 3 months the life I had come to know took a sharp right into this crazy world. Just the idea of actually having been someone else in another time, not to mention a princess of an all-powerful nation...it sent my brain into overdrive. What was I like back then? Was I a nice princess like the ones in the Disney movies or some bitchy tyrant that everyone secretly wanted dead? I hope it's not the second. Maybe I was a philanthropist for my people, or maybe some sort of military leader! The possibilities seemed endless to me.

"I-" I stuttered out, not really paying much mind to what I was saying, "It's amazing Yuma..." I ran a hand through my fairly knotted hair while flopping onto my back once again to stare at the same white ceiling that hung over my head, "So much is changing...everything is getting crazier and crazier and I don't know if it's a great thing or not..."

Yuma's spirit appeared to me, sitting cross-legged at the end of my bed. Her tired eyes looked to me with a gleam of happiness; this was the first time I had seen her face without that huge goofy grin on it since the museum. And rightly so, I mean she found out she was married, to Yami no less! I would be excited too if I were her. But the whole night was draining for all of us. There was so much new information to take in so quickly, but at least it gave us a direction to start looking in. Now that we know all this, we can start finding answers to all the questions that have been looming over our heads from the start.

She reached out a bare arm and held out her hand for me to grab, "Come here," she told me. I slipped out from under the covers, a chill running across my bare skin, and scooted against the wall to sit next to her. Yuma took my hand in both of her's, "There's no doubt that everything is changing...it will keep changing no matter what."

"But is that a good thing?" I inquire, staring down at my feet, "There is not one thing around me that has stayed the same within the past few months and everything is still so new. I have no time to get used to one thing anymore Yuma, it seems as though when one thing seems to become 'normal', something life-changing comes about."

Yuma stares off into the void of my dark room. She then closes her eyes and let her head fall back against the wall, "Maybe that's just what 'normal' is for you Yumi, as nerve-wracking as that may be."

I let out a heavy sigh and let my head fall against the wall as well, an audible thump resonating throughout the pin-drop-quiet room. "If that's the case then I'm never going to sleep well again." I curl my knees up to my chest and hug myself. I look over towards the clock. My eyebrows furrowed together and I run my fingers through my tangled mane in frustration, "My god it's 3:47, and I have to wake up for school tomorrow..."

"Why don't you call Yugi?" Yuma suggests.

I turn to her, flashing my confused expression, "Why? I don't want to wake him up."

"He is not asleep right now."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know things," she says flatly. She picks her head up off the wall and nods over to my phone sitting on my desk only feet away, "That...and you're phone has gone off a couple of times within the past hour and took the liberty of checking the screen. He was awake as of ten minutes ago."

I uncurl my body, press up unto my knees and reach to unplug my phone sitting in its charger. I grab it and sit back onto my feet before unlocking it to check my messages. A couple of messages were from random group chats I was put in for classes, some from a group chat of my friends from America (Harley being one of the members to send in random memes this late at night), and then one from Yugi sent ten minutes ago. I click on the message and read it aloud to Yuma, "Hey. Just wanted to check in after today. How are you?" Before I could even think, my lips curved into a small smile.

"Well, that is sweet of him." Yuma coos, scooting forward to look over my shoulder at my screen.

"Yea," I say absentmindedly. I start typing back, reading aloud to Yuma, "Hey, doing alright. Just a lot to process. Hbu?" I hit send on my screen and almost immediately I can see that pulsing thought bubble on my screen that tells me he's typing, "Damn why is he awake right now?"

"Probably for the same reason you are," Yuma states, "Go fly to his house. You two could probably use each other's company right now."

I nearly drop my phone from the shock, "Yuma!" I yell a little too loudly. I wince and cover my mouth with my hands. Once I am sure that I haven't woken up my grandmother, I move my hands away from my mouth, "Are you nuts!" I whisper-yell, "What if his grandpa wakes up and finds us together."

Yuma cocks her head to the side"What do you mean? His grandfather likes you. I do not see a problem."

I feel a sweat drop form on the back of my head, "You're missing the point Yuma...that looks bad." I stare back at my phone and see that Yugi has responded, "Yeah, it's a lot to process. You're a real princess!" I smile again reading over the message Yugi sent me, warm butterflies raging in my stomach.

Yuma looks over at me and a small smirk appeared on her face, "Looks like you're having second thoughts..."

I huff as a small blush arises onto my cheeks ugh...sometimes she just gets me too well. I lock my phone as I kick my feet out from under me and stand up off of my bed. "Yea yea come on Yuma we're going over," I say as I begin to throw on a dark sweatshirt over my sports bra and dark sweatpants over my running shorts to blend in with the night sky. Without saying anything Yuma disappears inside the millennium bracelet, probably still adorning that stupid smirk that convinced me that I can't trick myself into not wanting to go over. Maybe just sleeping in the same room as someone will help calm my nerves. I pack up my books into my school bag for the morning and throw my uniform into a separate drawstring bag.

Before leaping out the window to fly to Yugi's house, I take one of the flashcards off my desk and write a note to my grandmother. Went to stay at Harley's tonight, will call in the morning. I folded over my covers in an attempt to kind of make my bed and left the note on my pillow. "Alright, I guess this is happening." I gather my bags and climb on top of my desk to undo the latch of my skylight. I float up through the window, close the skylight back over, and ascend into the sky towards Yugi's house.

The night air felt crisp against my exposed skin, makes sense since we are nearing the Autumn months. The stillness of Domino's suburbs was confusing to see, during the day the sidewalks are bustling with people. However, in the dead of night, the only things awake right now are the rats and me. Every once in a while one of the street lights flickering below me will catch my attention as will the occasional feral cat that I see walking between the garbage cans trying to find food. Some clouds overhead began to block any of moonlight that shines, and the smell of rain begins to hand in the air. Better hurry, I think to myself.

I begin to see the yellow and green structure come into view. The lights that normally illuminate the "GAME" sign have been shut off for the night. The store building looks dark, except for a light coming from a desk lamp shining through the skylight atop the building. I fly up to the skylight window. Immediately, I don't see Yugi. I press my hand up to the window and look in. I finally see him sitting up in his bed, his back pressed against the backboard as he reads a book. I lightly tap on the glass with my fingernail, and I see Yugi sit up straight and look around his room confused. He then looks to the skylight, rubs his eyes with the sleeve of his black pajama shirt and sees me, a surprised but happy look on his face.

Yugi jumps up off his bed and climbs up onto his desk to open the window, "Yumi!" He whisper-yelled, making sure not to wake the neighbors or his grandpa, "What on earth are you doing here?"

A small smile curled onto my lips, "I thought you could maybe use some company," Yugi looked at me with wondering eyes, "Mind if I come in?"

Yugi shook his head out, trying to come back into focus, "Yea come in," He looks past me and into the night sky, "It looks like it's going to rain soon." He climbed off his desk to allow me a place to land.

I crouched down to close the window and slid down off his desk and into his room. A silence fell upon the room as I laid my bags down in the corner by Yugi's closet. I looked around the dimly lit room at a couple of band and duel monsters posters. Suddenly, the memory of the day that Maximillion Pegasus took my grandmother's and Yugi's grandfather's soul to get us to compete in the Duelist Kingdom competition floods my thoughts, "Wow, you know the first time I was here was two days before Duelist Kingdom." I said

Yugi looked at me with a soft smile, "I remember that day... feels like it was forever ago."

"It really does," I say distantly. So much has happened since that day. Yugi, our friends and I all set sail for the Duelist Kingdom Tournament, I found out I was an alien, we won our grandparents souls back, I reunited with Gohan, I found out I can heal people, Sebastian kidnapped me and almost killed me, and it seems as though we are one step closer into recovering Yuma and Yami's lost memories. It's surreal how much has happened in a short three months. I snapped back into reality when I realized I had zoned out and started staring at the far wall. I shook my head out and looked to Yugi, who was trying so hard to conceal the fact that he was confused as to why I had come to his room at four in the morning, "I'm sorry for barging in like this Yugi, I should have told you I was gonna come over."

Yugi shook out his confused look, "No don't apologize, is everything alright?"

I walk around and sit down on his bed, scooting all the way towards the wall and letting my feet barely hang off, "Kind of...I just can't sleep." I admit honestly.

Yugi looks at me wanly, his eyebrows slightly droop down and his big kind eyes look sad, "I think I can guess why," Yugi walks over, his plaid red flannels slightly dragging on the floor and crawl on his bed to sit down next to me. He gets comfortable, and then brings his knees up and hugs them close, "As awesome as it is that we are getting closer to figuring out where Yami and Yuma came from, I can't help but find it hard to process everything that has been happening."

I snicker a little to myself and look at Yugi, "So I take it you haven't gotten any sleep yet either?"

Yugi looks at me and flashes a small smile, "Nope...I've just been thinking."

I wrap my hand around Yugi to take one of his arms. I intertwine my fingers into his and rest my head on his shoulder, "Penny for your thoughts?" I say.

"Well I'm exhausted for one," Yugi says, nestling closer to me. I let out a small chuckle, "And two...well, I don't know how to put it into words. We're living this insane life that months ago I could only dream of. It's exciting but also so..."

"Terrifying." I finish. Yugi looks down at me and I hold my gaze on to the Dark Magician poster that hangs directly across from where Yugi and I are sitting, "Yugi...this is absolutely terrifying. I feel like my life is slipping out of my control and there is nothing that I can do right now to fix any of it."

"Well, are we ever in control of our own lives?"

"Yugi, it's 4 am my brain isn't functioning enough to be having this deep of a conversation."

"Alright that's fair," Yugi says with a sigh, Yugi starts to shift and I let go of his hand as he stands up off the bed. He goes over to his desk lamp and turns it off, "I think we should try to get some sleep, the first bell is in four hours." Yugi started to take one of the two pillows that he had propped himself up against not too long ago and walks over to his closet. He started rummaging around in there to find something, "I'll go sleep on the couch in the common room and you can stay here."

I begin to speak but only a squeak escapes my breath before I catch myself, Yumi don't be like that, you're a big girl you can sleep here alone. Yugi caught that I was trying to say something and turns around with a quizzical look. "I..." He must have been able to read my mind or something because right after I choked on my words, Yugi closed up his closet and walked back over to his bed. I smiled and scooted closer to the wall as he put his pillow back on the bed next to me. Yugi climbed into bed and got under the covers, I got under as well. He extends his arm out for me to lay down and I nestle my head on Yugi's chest.

As I lay there, suddenly I remember my conversation with Yuma only a couple of days ago, about how if Yugi and I don't ever act like a couple then we may get stuck in the whole 'just friends' thing and never get the chance to be a real couple. But right now, we don't have to hide anything in the confinement of Yugi's room. I move my head to look at Yugi, his eyes have just started to close and my head moved with the rise and fall of his chest, "Thanks Yugi..." I whisper, hoping that he doesn't hear me

His eyes flutter open and he looks down at me, "For what?" he asks.

I nestle back down and look towards the foot of the bed, "For being patient with me through this whole, 'acting like we're just friends' thing." I say as I grip the covers and pulled them closer to my face, "I know it's probably frustrating for you."

I feel Yugi start to mindlessly play with my hair that is tied back in a loose ponytail, "Yumi I understand why we have to," he starts, still playing with my hair, "Don't ever think that I don't know that. We'll take care of Sebastian and then we can be ourselves." he stopped playing with my hair and kissed the top of my head, "Get some sleep Yumi, we still have school tomorrow." I nodded my head and closed my eyes. Within minutes I fell asleep to the sound of Yugi's heartbeat and the light rain that began to tap against the skylight.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Tea, do you mind sending me your notes from math?" I say as I grab my normal shoes out of my little locker. My body lets out a yawn and my eyes tear a little, " I think I fell asleep for most of the class." I rub my eyes trying to rid them of the tired feeling that held stubbornly in my eyelids. I slipped off my school shoes, starting to put on my normal shoes.

"Yea, I can do that..." Tea trailed off as she finished putting on her normal shoes. She put her school shoes back into her locker and turned around to me, "Long night last night?" She asks.

I fall against the locker in an attempt to put my other shoe on without having to sit down. I grunt escapes me, "You could say that." I say absentmindedly. Some students walk through the space between the lockers, going between Tea and I. Once they leave, I look around to make sure that no one else is around. "I don't know if Yugi told you yet," I speak in a low whisper, " but we found out some crazy shit about the spirits in our Millenium items."

"Yea! Yugi was telling me earlier." Tea strode across the hallway to my locker just as I was able to shove my foot into my other shoe, "The Spirits were the Pharaoh and Queen of Egypt! And you were a princess!"

Just hearing that come out of someone else's mouth was making everything seem more and more real. I softly closed my locker and let out a heavy sigh, "Yea, it's wild." I say scratching the base of my bun trying to relieve the pain from my overly-tight hair tie. Tea and I begin to head towards the front doors of the school, "Where did the boys run off to?" I say, trying to divert the subject.

Tea brought her hand to her chin, looking pensively at the floor as we walked, "I think they all ran off to the Main Square. Something about this tournament called Battle City."

What!? That's this weekend? "TEA WE NEED TO CATCH UP!!" I grab Tea by the wrist and bust through the doors of the school, "I can't believe those rats left without us!"

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

The Main Square was tightly packed with spectators, duelists, and the hologram projections of their duel monsters. Everywhere Tea and I walked, we had to push past people to be able to move anywhere. Neither Yugi or Joey were answering their cell phones, but we did manage to reach Tristan. Supposedly, the boys are all together towards the center of the Main Square. And of course, since the King of Games was dueling in this tournament, that drew a big, dense crowd. The sound of the crowd cheers rang intensely in my ears, giving me next to no shot to be able to hear any of the boy's. My screwed up powers coupled with a large number of people made it hard for me to track the boy's energy signals.

"You think we're almost towards the front?" I yell to Tea, who held onto my wrist for dear life as she pushed her way through the crowd for us to get through. I could not see a damn thing other than Tea and the people we were pushing through; everyone was too tall! Thankfully Tea was just tall enough to be able to see the holograms of the duel well enough to be able to navigate both of us to the front.

"Just about!" She responds as she pushes through another layer of people. The only thing I could see of the duel was that Exodia had been summoned, which is a drastic move in and of itself. That must mean that Yugi is dueling since he is the only one to have all five cards that summon Exodia. I know that there are probably other monsters on the field, but the crowd is blocking my view. As we maneuver farther towards the front, a black chopper flying over the crowd distracts me from Exodia. There were no distinguishing marks on it, which I found odd. But I did notice that it was heading towards one of the skyscrapers with a helipad on the top of it. Tea notices the chopper too, "Huh, probably just some newscasters not wanting to get anywhere near the crowds."

I watch as the chopper began to land on the top of the skyscraper, "Can't say I blame them." By the time that I had turned my attention back to the duel, Exodia was gone. That's odd, Exodia is a hard monster to get rid of...

We finally pushed through the last layer of people just after the monster's had all disappeared from the duel. The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as the duel between Yami and this creepy guy came to an end. Yami's opponent laid sprawled out on his back on the street. It looked like Yami had won, but his opponent didn't look too hot. Although, that could be because the seemingly tall, blond man just had this sickly complexion to begin with.

Just as I was about to run up and congratulate Yami, a sharp chill ran down my spine and even through the length of my tail. I stopped dead in my tracks. My muscles tense at whatever my instincts are picking up and the hair on the back of my neck stands high on end, something doesn't feel right.

Yuma's spirit emerges from the bracelet. Her expression was tense; her normally cool posture was stiff and alert, "Yumi, I sense something... weird." She states nervously.

I look to her, my brow arching in confusion, "I can't sense anything out of the ordinary... but I have a bad feeling." As Tea runs up to congratulate Yami and join the rest of our friends, I slowly back out of the now dissipating crowd before any of my friends can notice that I'm gone. I back out to the edge of the crowd the remains, looking all around me as I scan the square for any suspicious characters. I hear the chopper began to take off in the distance and my eyes immediately darted over to the top of the skyscraper. A figure at the top of the building begins to stand up.

I shake my head out, "I must be seeing things..." I say to Yuma, she responded with silence. I turn to her to make sure she heard me but she floats seemingly frozen in her place, "Yuma, what's wrong?" Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung agape. Her limbs shook like a leaf, "Yuma...you're scaring me..."

I look back to the top of the building, the figure now fully erect. The sun shone brightly behind the figure making it hard to see anything specific. The figure did not look human, it had short stature and thick tail protruding from its back. It looked like the figure had no hair and from where I was standing, I could not make out any distinguishing features other than the large tail. But the figure had a familiar shape, not unlike this picture that Gohan drew for me years ago when describing a foe that they had fought on Planet Namek. But that's impossible...he got blown to pieces by Future Trunks...

In the distance, I can hear my friends asking Tea where I went. I wanted to go to them, but I was afraid of taking my eyes off of the ominous figure that stood atop the building. "Hey, Yumi!" I hear Yugi call as I hear four sets of footsteps headed my way.

A large cloud rolls through, blocking the sun's blinding rays. And to my horror, I can finally confirm that the figure I was staring at was who I feared it to be, "You've got to be fucking kidding...not here!" Frieza stepped closer to the edge of the building. I did not notice that his eyes were not open until two bright red holes appear suddenly on his face. Frieza scanned the area for a couple of seconds, sweeping his eyes across the thousands of people that littered the Main Square.

The four sets of footsteps stop. I could feel the confused gazes piercing through me. No one spoke for a few seconds, I think they were trying to figure out what was going on, "Yumi, you look like you've seen a ghost." Joey comments, his voice slightly shaky with nervousness.

Freiza stops his scanning of the crowd as Joey spoke my name. Then his eyes landed on me, and a cold smirk curls up on his face. I swallowed hard, I was in no shape to fight him off. From what I understand Goku had to go Super Saiyan to fight off Freiza. I might be able to transform, but I don't know how long I'm going to be able to hold onto that power. This is so bad...there could be thousands of casualties...

"Yugi," I mutter, not taking my eyes off of Frieza, "I need you to call Gohan."

"What?" Yugi questions, following my gaze up towards the top of the skyscraper were Frieza stands, "What do you see?"

Frieza begins to shift his stance. He raises his arm toward the Main square. Small sparks of energy begin to gather at the end of his arm. My stomach drops, I hear Yuma gasp next to me, "No time to explain..." I say beginning to take a hold of my energy in preparation to fend off an attack, "I need you all to evacuate the people."

"Yumi, you need to tell us what's going on!" Tristan exclaims.

Just then, a ball of energy begins to take form at the end of Freiza's arm. My friends gasp as it grows in size from that of a lemon to a car, "What the hell is that!" I hear someone unfamiliar exclaim. Murmurs from the crowds became loud with questions. From the ground, the crackling of energy could be heard coming from the top of the skyscraper that loomed over the main square. Dark clouds began to gather from all directions, blocking the sunlight from coming through and turning the Main square nearly as dark as night. The wind picked up, flowing towards the blazing yellow ball of energy.

"Yumi...say something!" Yugi exclaimed. Then Frieza released the blazing ball of energy, sending it hurtling towards the ground...and the thousands of people that stand frozen in the Main square of Domino. 

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!!"

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Hey Everyone, It's been a while. 

I can't promise that this story is going to get done in a timely fashion. But I'm going to chip away at is while I'm on break from school. 

Happy Reading!