[fic] Vital signs - Yugioh, YamixYugi, angst/tragedy, PG, theme 027 (100_chances)
Theme: 027- Vital signs; for 100_chances
Author: Chey (duelist_gurl163)
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst/tragedy
Pairings: YamixYugi
Archive: Here
Warnings: AU
Spoilers: None.
Summary: A lifetime only lasts so long.
Disclaimer: Yugioh doesn't belong to me.
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Yugi hated the beep of the ECG. Hated everything it stood for, hated everything it didn’t stand for.
He rubbed his thumb gently over Yami’s knuckles, his grip tightening as he tried to ignore it. Yami must have felt the pressure, because his eyes opened and he glanced to his side.
“Yugi.”
Against his wishes, his eyes welled up with tears. He couldn’t take it, hearing the once deep, confident tone reduced to this. “Yami?”
“None of that,” Yami reprimanded, seeing the wetness, a hint of his former strength breaking in.
“I’m sorry.” Yugi wiped his eyes. “I just…don’t understand…why.”
He closed his hand over Yugi’s, replying simply, “A lifetime only lasts so long.”
Looking down at the man in the bed, Yugi could barely breathe around the sobs he was forcing himself to swallow. A lifetime…it had seemed like such a long time, back in their youth. But now a lifetime had been reduced to only moments, measured by a harsh, unemotional beep.
The memories unreeled before him. The day he met Yami, their first date, when they moved in together, the night Yami proposed to him, their wedding, the special anniversary many years later when they renewed their vows…
Then the day the ambulance came when Yami collapsed. The day they got the news about his heart. All those tests and surgeries and trips to hospitals and meetings with specialists…
The day the ambulance had to come back to their house. The day Yugi had to sign the hospital paperwork for Yami, authorizing them to take him off life support. The day he knew, deep down, that Yami wouldn’t be coming home again.
And now here they were...out of days, out of memories, out of time.
Yami looked over at him. The years had changed many things, but Yami’s eyes still looked the same as they did the day they met; deep, violet and expressive. Now his eyes were soft, as if he knew what Yugi was thinking about, and he squeezed his partner’s hand. “Yugi, it’s okay to let go.”
Yugi shook his head. “No. I won’t let go. Not until…not until you’ve…” He couldn’t say the words, and finally just whispered, “I promise you won’t be alone.”
Yami smiled slightly and shifted to meet Yugi’s eyes more easily. “Promise me something more?”
“Anything you want.”
“I know by now…it’s obvious that life is shorter than we expect. But you still have time left, and Yugi, promise me that you won’t spend it all grieving. I want you to keep living. I want to be able to watch over you and see you smiling. At least try. Okay?”
Yugi could tell he was doing his best to attempt to soothe the pain, and bit away tears as he managed a tiny smile. He wanted to scream, wanted to plead with Yami to stop saying these things, to get up and come home and be okay. But he masked it all for Yami’s sake and simply reached out with a shaking hand and stroked back Yami’s hair. “I promise.”
“Thank you,” Yami murmured and then sighed, closing his eyes.
“Yami?” He gripped his hand. “Yami?!”
“I love you, Yugi,” he whispered.
Yugi, trembling, pressed his hand against his lips as he whispered back, “I love you, too.”
Yami smiled gently, and as he did the frequency of the beeping changed, but Yugi knew there would be no rush of nurses to his side. Medicine was useless now. In the end, Mother Nature controlled life and death, and Yami had asked for it to be that way. I’ll know when to stop fighting, he’d told Yugi, years before when Yugi tearfully begged him not to give up. And when that day comes, when I decide it’s time, I want you to let me go.
So Yugi said nothing and alerted nobody. He just bowed his head, his tears escaping as he held Yami’s hand; and beside him, the ECG calmly beeped away the end of their lifetime.
X - X - X
Notes: Now you see why there was no way I could post this on their birthday? ^^;