Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh nor am I making any money from this fic.

This is a kiriban for fairyMei33, who might be the 200th person to favorite me. She requested a fic where Yugi's friends realize Yugi's light magic and the importance of Yami's role as guardian of it.

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It was over now, at least.

There was a large patch where the floor had melted through: if it wasn't too hot to go near (they could feel the heat on their faces), they would have been able to see through to the next floor of the parking structure.

The nearby cars that had escaped the blast were partly melted, and made plunking sounds as the metal cooled. "Uh, guys? We might want to get out of here," Jounouchi pointed at the stairs. "People are going to be coming to ask questions, with cops. You guys should be okay but I've got a record."

Anzu and Honda admired his bravery as he walked over to where the cause of this devastation (their best friend) lay shuddering in Yami's arms as the darkness muttered soothing words. Jounouchi knelt down and slid his arms under their tiny friend, their faces turned red by the heat. "Come on, Yugi, it'll be okay." He lifted them up. "Yami, get back in the puzzle, okay?"

"I should carry him." Yami's eyes, which usually glowed with the force of his personality, were dim as he tried to stand.

"No, you're still tired from that talisman that bastard used to keep you in the Puzzle. You're about to fall over. Get in the Puzzle and keep trying to cheer Yugi up," Jounouchi ordered.

Yami bowed his head. "My thanks."

"No problem, you're our bud." Jounouchi shrugged. "Honda, you check the stairs for cops, okay? Maybe we can say it was some psycho trying to kill Yugi so he could be King of Games."

"That wouldn't be far wrong," Honda grumbled and headed ahead of Jou.

Anzu followed nervously. Jou and Honda had seen plenty of violence before. Well, she'd seen Pegasus, and Malik, but that wasn't quite the same as physical damage, as Yugi screaming and light emanating from him like a bomb going off.

That man had… killed people and stolen their souls, worse than Pegasus, and normally Yami and Yugi would have beaten him together, but Yami had been trapped and so Yugi had been all alone… he'd brushed them aside like flies.

And then Yugi had yelled, and… with the talisman vaporized, Yami had appeared and caught Yugi as he fell, which had startled Anzu as Yami almost never did that in public. Not that there was anyone here but friends, now.

They got him home safely, his bodyguard now as they had been for years, and thought that Yami's dark games, though they could be terrifying, were better than Yugi let loose, wondered at the power in their small friend's frame, and knew that he was not like them, even Jounouchi with the power of luck: not the one that had solved the Millennium Puzzle, not the one that Yami guarded so fiercely.

Still, he was their friend, and that made everything else not matter.

Inside, Yami held Yugi, assuring him that his friends hadn't been hurt by the explosion of his power, that they still cared for him after this terror, for how could they not love him? Dark hands adjusted golden bangs, and Yugi's body finally fell into true sleep instead of the stillness of a soul not there.

And the four relaxed.