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It had been a long night. Yugi and Joey met countless duelists, Weevil had thrown Yugi’s Exodia pieces into the sea, Téa and Tristan made their way onto the ship, and Joey explained everything about his sister Serenity. All of them could use a nice long rest.
It took a while, but Yugi managed to fall asleep. He held his puzzle box in his arms, close to his heart. After all, it was all he had left of his grandfather.
Yugi began to dream.
He walked forward in an endless void. Not like the awful Shadow Realm that Pegasus had taken him to; just a never-ending blackness. Eventually, he ran into a mirror that stretched on for infinity. He fell to the ground.
“Ow!” Yugi winced. He got up and held his nose, still in pain from bumping into a giant mirrored wall. “What’s a mirror doing all the way out here?”
Yugi looked in the mirror. His reflection didn’t look right. It had Yugi’s clothes, a similar face, and similar hair, but it was taller, and the eyes were more…intense.
Yugi tested the mirror. As Yugi moved, the reflection mimicked him. He jumped. The reflection jumped. He waved. The reflection waved. He touched the mirror. The reflection touched the mirror. He made a goofy face. The reflection made one right back. Seeing the silly expression on what looked like such a serious face made Yugi laugh. The reflection laughed too.
Only, it didn’t have Yugi’s laugh. It was another voice entirely.
Yugi gasped and stepped away from the mirror. The reflection was slower on the uptake; it took him longer than Yugi to stop laughing. Once he noticed Yugi’s change in position, he mirrored it. It could’ve been his imagination, but when the reflection saw how surprised Yugi was, it almost looked confused.
“What are you?” Yugi questioned.
“What are you?” the reflection repeated. It was the same voice as the laugh, alright.
“I’m Yugi. Yugi Muto,” Yugi explained. “Who are you?”
“I’m Yugi. Yugi Muto. Who are you?”
Yugi chuckled. “We can’t both be Yugi Muto. And I’m pretty sure I was Yugi first.”
This time, the reflection offered no reply.
“You sound familiar. Have we met before?”
The reflection opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a faint voice.
“Yug! Yugi, wake up!” the faraway voice called. It had a distinct New York accent.
“Joey?” Yugi and his reflection said at the same time.
“Hey, wait. How do you know Joey?” Yugi wondered.
“Boy, he picked one heck of a day not to wake up,” another voice complained.
“Can you blame him? He’s been through so much...C’mon, Yugi! We’re nearing the island!” yet another voice pleaded. This one sounded female.
“Do you recognize them, too?” Yugi asked, unsure how much this reflection knew.
“Joey. Tristan. Téa. My friends,” the reflection nodded.
“And Grandpa?”
“I joined this tournament to fight for my grandfather’s soul.”
“No, but...I don’t know how you know all this, but that’s all me. I’m Yugi. Joey, Tristan, and Téa are my friends, and it’s my grandpa’s soul that’s missing. ”
“Jeez, he sure is a deep sleeper,” Tristan noted.
“You gotta wake up, Yug!” ordered Joey.
Yugi’s reflection smiled.
“I have to wake up now.”
“I’m the one who has to get up. But I’m not done talking to you! How do you know so much about me? Why do you think you’re Yugi Muto? Who are you, really?”
Before Yugi could get any answers, he shot up awake.
“Took ya long enough. We thought ya’d never wake up!” Joey teased.
“Are you alright, Yugi? You sounded like you were muttering something in your sleep,” Téa stated.
“Joey...Téa...Tristan. I’m fine, yeah. Just a weird dream.”