A rewrite of the scene in "On the Wrong Track Part 1" where Yami leaves Anzu. This heavily references YGO manga vol. 5 duel 41, the one with the love tester. I own nothing.

On the Right Track

"Sorry, Anzu." He muttered as he stood from his seat and moved around her.

Anzu watched as the Pharaoh strode away from their group, his shoulders tense, as he made his way to the front of the train car, his hair swaying lightly as the train moved. Honda peaked around the side of the seat and watched him. Anzu sighed and sat back against her own seat. He was always so standoff… "Poor guy…" She whispered.

"I think he needs to be alone for a while. You know?" Honda muttered as the Pharaoh slid open the door and entered the small antechamber between their car and the next. The door closed behind him and all they could see was his blurred shadow before it moved to the right and disappeared, meaning he had not gone to the next car, that he was simply hiding in the small room between the cars.

"He's already alone," Jonouchi swished his soda around, staring ahead. "Isn't that the whole problem? He's crushed," he glanced at his friends. He smiled and gave them a thumbs up. "But, he'll be good as new soon enough 'cause we're gonna rescue Yuugi!"

Anzu nodded briefly. "There's no doubt." They would get Yuugi back…They had to…

They all sat back in their seats. It was quiet for a moment before he and Jounouchi returned to their previous discussion. Anzu tried to listen to their soft murmurs; however she just could not seem to focus. Her friend...no…friend did not describe him. He was more than a friend to her. The other Yuugi was…She slapped her hand against her armrest in frustration, causing a tingling numbness to dance across her palm and travel up to her wrist and then arm. What was he? Friend was too inadequate a word.

What word described a very close friend? A friend that had saved you time and time again? That you had loved since you first heard his voice?

The intercom beeped quietly and the conductor began talking quietly over the system regarding their next destination. Anzu never heard any of it, though, as the beeping had reminded her of something. Her Lovely Two.

She could hear once more in her mind the sound of her and the other Yuugi's Lovely Two. The sound meant they were a perfect match, right? So…the Pharaoh was in fact not her friend. He was in fact something more. He was her other half. Her soul mate.

She reached into her backpack and dug around for a moment until she came across the old pocket game. She did not even know if it worked anymore, it was so old. She didn't even know why she carried it with her on all of their adventures. Maybe just so that she could remember that she and the Pharaoh had a special bond together.

She looked back up towards the door. The window still was blank of his shadow. She wondered briefly if he had gone to the next car, but she pushed that thought away. The Pharaoh would not want anyone to see him if he was…It was nearly impossible to imagine the other Yuugi having a moment of weakness. To be crying. She clutched the Lovely Two tighter.

He needed to know that he was not alone. They would get Yuugi back. Didn't they always win in the end?

She stood up and moved out into the isle. Honda and Jounouchi looked up at her, their conversation momentarily stopped.

"Anzu? Where are you going?" Honda asked.

Anzu didn't turn to look at them or answer them as she made her way towards the front of the car. When Honda called out her name, she paused, her hand on the handle.

"He needs some time, Anzu."

Anzu looked back at her two friends. "He needs a friend. He just lost the one person that was the closest to him in the whole world. Do you understand how alone he is? He was alone in the darkness for millennia and the one person that freed him is gone. He's scared."

Honda looked down, his eyes casted in shadows as he silently agreed with her. Jonouchi met Anzu's gaze from across the car. "Bring 'im back, Anzu."

Anzu nodded once before turning back and sliding open the door. She stepped inside and slid it shut behind her. She looked to her left and didn't see him. She turned to her right…and what see saw nearly shattered her heart. The Pharaoh sat on the floor, curled into himself. His face was buried in his arms as they rested atop his knees. Hearing her, he shifted to the side, burying his face more into his arm.

"Please leave." His muffled voice whispered out to her. She had never heard him so quiet before and she could tell he had been crying from the way his voice cracked.

She knelt beside him and placed her arm around his shoulders. "Come here," she whispered as she pulled him to her. She hugged him tightly to herself, the fingers of one of her hands running lightly through his unique hair. He was tense for a moment before he finally gave into her embrace and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. They sat in silence for a few minutes; the only sounds were that of the train racing over the tracks, causing them to sway, and of their quiet breathing.

"Why did you come?" He whispered.

Anzu shivered lightly as she felt the warmth of his breath against her neck. "I…You needed a friend."

He pulled away from her slowly and stared into her eyes. Anzu hand moved from his hair to his cheek. Her thumb gently stroked it, whipping away the salty remains of his tears. He placed his own hand over hers, gently grasping it and stilling it.

"Thank you, Anzu." He whispered.

Anzu's hand fisted against his back. She gasped when she felt something hard in her hand. The Pharaoh tensed, expecting the worse. Anzu let go of the Pharaoh and held her hand out before her, uncurling her slender fingers to reveal her Lovely Two. She had forgotten to put it back in her bag.

"Sorry, I forgot to put this dumb thing back," she muttered.

The Pharaoh stared at it for a moment as realization slowly dawned on him. "Is that the pocket game?"

Anzu sighed. "Yeah. I…er…found it in my bag."

The Pharaoh smirked for a moment, really smirked. It was his smirk that he gave before issuing a challenge. Seeing it, Anzu's own lips curled into a small smile. She had brought him back, if only for a moment. However, what he did next wiped the smile from her face and replaced it with a look of confusion and wonder.

He reached into his school jacket and pulled something out. He slowly unveiled it, revealing his own Lovely Two. Anzu blinked and then her eyes widened. She reached out her free hand and gently stroked the pink plastic, wonder coloring her face. He had kept it…after all this time, he still had it…Her eyes met his.

He smiled softly. "You trusted me with it. It's a treasure. Of course I kept it." He answered her unspoken question.

Anzu averted her eyes from his, a small smile gracing her lips. Her eyes softened as she remembered that day. "Tsuruoka was such a jerk, huh?" She spoke quietly, nervously. All of her braveness from before had left her and now she was suddenly a shy girl…alone with the boy she had come to love remembering a simpler time.

The other Yuugi twirled the tester between his fingers. "He rather was. Teachers are meant to help students, not torment them. Of course, that torment caused Yuugi to want to raise his test score. I suppose it…all worked out in the end, as you would say." A melancholy tone reached his voice and his eyes saddened once more at thinking of Yuugi.

Anzu licked her lips. They had gone back to Yuugi…It seemed as if there was no way to avoid thinking about Yuugi. After all, even though the Pharaoh had his own names –Yami, Pharaoh-, he was always the other Yuugi. He did not have his own identity, he shared Yuugi's. Looking again at the testers, she reconsidered that. The Pharaoh did have his own identity. It had been he that the tester had rung for, not Yuugi. Surely that meant that they were in fact two separate people.

The dancer looked again into his eyes. "Hey, let's see if these things still work, huh?" She turned hers on and the small screen slowly came to life, giving off a faint grey glow as it showed off her stats. Her thumb rested over the small rubber button that would send off her frequency. "Is the King of Games up for a quick game?"

Absent-mindedly, the Pharaoh turned on his own tester on. Anzu pressed down on her button roughly, determination seeping into her eyes. She needed to hear the beep…They both did. If it beeped, not only did it mean they were a match, it would show the other Yuugi that he wasn't alone. And he needed to know that he was never alone.

He slowly sent his own frequency out. A bead of sweat formed on Anzu's forehead. 'Please, let the bell ring…Let me hear the sound that says our thoughts are as one…'

And lo and behold…blbeep, blbeep, blbeep, blbeep.

They gazed at each other over the testers. The Pharaoh's crimson eyes were wide. Anzu smiled softly. "You're never alone…I'll always be here for you. I promise."

He opened his mouth to reply only to be interrupted by the door being slammed open. They pulled apart quickly, hiding the testers from view and avoiding Jonouchi and Honda's eyes like school children caught doing something they should not have.

"In case you hadn't noticed. Sumthin' weird's going on here," Jonouchi informed them.

Anzu nodded slowly. "Yeah…" She whispered quietly.

Only she was fairly certain they were talking about two separate things…

Fin. Not sure what I'll work on next. Have some ideas for some post-cannon and some rewrites.

~MutantEnemy101