[fic] Coming Forth by Sundown, Chapter 07 - Yugioh, drama/romance, PG-13
Title: Coming Forth by Sundown
Author: Chey (duelist_gurl163)
Chapter: 7/13
Overall rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/romance
Parings: YamixYugi, JouxMai, and references to YugixAnzu and YamixAnzu
Archive: You're lookin' at it
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Post-series, so many spoilers, including Yami's real name.
Summary: His was a story that ended in light. At the time, nobody realized that ending one story would only cause the beginning of another.
Disclaimer: Yugioh's still not mine.
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06
---
Anzu had almost returned to Marik’s house when she spotted a familiar figure running from it.
“Atemu? Hey! Atemu!” She tried to wave, but he ignored her and kept running. Inside the house she heard shouting, and suddenly had a bad feeling. Making a split-second choice, she went after him.
“Atemu! Slow down, it’s me, Anzu!” She called, reaching for him as he slowed at a corner, managing to grab his wrist. He stopped, but didn’t look at her. “Atemu? What’s going on?”
He dropped to the ground, his arm limp in her grasp, his breath shaky from running.
Anzu knelt beside him. “Atemu? Are you okay?”
“I…he…they were talking…”
“What? I don’t understand. Start from the beginning.”
“I…was in the kitchen. And…Marik…came out to talk to Ai-” He stopped, realized who he was talking to, and corrected himself, “Yugi. He took Yugi into the other room…but I still overheard the conversation.” He swallowed.
“The God…that Marik thinks I am…is supposed to cause the end of the world. Th-that’s the duty…I’ve been ignorant of.”
“Oh Atemu, nobody knows that,” She tried to comfort him. “There’s no proof that you’re Atum. And besides, if he was a creator God I’m sure he had a lot of duties, it doesn’t mean it’s that one.”
He didn’t seem to be listening, his head down as he spoke. “I don’t want to cause the end of the world…I…don’t want to hurt…h-him…and Marik went behind my back to tell Yugi…to tell him…that I was going to destroy all of you...It’s my fault the underworld opened and my fault…those poor people were killed…”
At that moment, Anzu realized the reason his voice was so shaky wasn’t because he was panting from running…but because he was trying to speak around sobs.
“Atemu...”
His voice rose, almost manic. “I d-don’t want to be a God. Yugi will hate me…the rest of you will hate me. I don’t want to hurt anyone…I don’t want him to hate me.”
This was twice he’d mentioned ‘him.’
“Atemu, are you talking about Yugi? You don’t want to hurt Yugi?”
He bowed his head, tears sliding down his face as he struggled for control. It reminded her of how he’d acted when he was telling her about the Ceremonial Battle and Yugi. That was the same conversation he had admitted to having feelings for someone here on Earth in.
Suddenly, she knew what was really causing him to cry.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” She asked softly. “When you told me you knew what unrequited love felt like…you were talking about Yugi.”
Atemu closed his eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. I was never supposed to…”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Yes, I did. I did the worst thing possible. Falling for him…was the worst thing I could have ever done. Because of it, I hoped…for just a moment…that he would lose the Ceremonial Duel. So that…I wouldn’t have to leave him.”
Now she knew why he’d been so understanding when she told him she’d hoped he wouldn’t leave.
“It hurts,” he whispered. “I never…honestly believed we would have anything…so it shouldn’t hurt, but it does. The more I think about it…the more it hurts.” His arms rose, wrapping around his head and shoulders as he shook, choking, “Why does it hurt so much?!”
She didn’t know what to do. Part of her was still in shock from the truth, and the other just felt pity, seeing him so hurt. “Atemu…” She touched his shoulder, feeling him flinch.
“It’s horrible, Anzu. This isn’t my world. The fact that I’m in this world is bad, because it means something is wrong. I knew there was no good reason for me to reappear here, yet when I realized where I was, and I realized I was back here in your time…my first thought was that I could see Yugi. I should have been worrying about why I was here. I should have been trying to figure out how to go back to my world. But instead…all I thought about…was that maybe I could see him again.”
“Atemu, that isn’t a crime. You love him, wanting to see him is natural.”
“We all know I can’t stay.” He mumbled, seemingly babbling as she patted his shoulder helplessly. “We all know…that I have to find a way to make those spirits go back and then I must go back. And even if I could stay…I could never tell him…he can never know…”
“Why? Because you’re afraid he’ll turn you down?”
“No…I…I would understand if he didn’t feel the same. I could deal with that. I’m more afraid…of hurting him.”
“You wouldn’t hurt Yugi, Atemu. I know that for a fact.”
He shook his head. “You remember…back before Battle City, when we were only just starting to understand the Millennium Items…I wasn’t going to tell him why I was entering that tournament, because I thought he wasn’t ready to know. But shortly after he found out anyway…and even though I know it hurt him, he kept on fighting for my sake. And Anzu…only now, after it’s all over, have I realized…I was the one who wasn’t ready to know. I wasn’t ready to know…that he didn’t need me.”
“Oh, Atemu.” She gave him a half-hug, wishing she could help, understanding all too well the kind of pain he felt.
“Ai…I mean…”
“It’s okay to call him ‘Aibou,’” she said gently. “Even if you’re not speaking directly to him.”
“Aibou…used to always say that I was his goal. But he never knew…that he was my goal.” Atemu looked up at her. “To achieve the kind of strength he has, the kindness and open heart that he has…is something I’ve never been able to do. I knew the idea of making me leave hurt him, but he knew how badly I wanted to discover who I was, and he gave up so much for me. To tell him…would be to disrespect all the pain he put himself through for me. I owe him so much, so why…why can’t I control my emotions for him?”
“Would it really be so bad if he knew? What if you were allowed to stay here?”
“Yes.” He took in a long shuddering breath, sounding as if he was forcing out the words. “I can never be with him. The only way Aibou can keep growing…is if I’m not in his life. I saw that…when he and Jounouchi fought. I saw it in the Ceremonial Battle. If I told him…if I tried to stay with him…I would always just hold him back.”
Watching him struggle with the words, she remembered only hours earlier listening to him tell her, “And I realized that Yugi will always be stronger without me.”
Yugi’s freedom is all that he can give him, she realized. Letting Yugi go to reach his potential strength is the only way Atemu can show him his love.
“Yugi’s lucky,” she finally said. “He’s lucky to have someone like you who cares so much about him.”
Atemu swallowed, eyes squeezed shut. “He’s not lucky. Aibou will hate me…if I…have to destroy…. I don’t care if he doesn’t love me, but I can’t live if he h-hates me…” His words faded back into sobs. She put her other arm around him, hugging him for real.
“Yugi’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay. Forget what Marik said. We’ll work the prophesy out and fix things. Yugi won’t hate you. You never wanted this to happen, and Yugi could never hate you.”
“Atemu? Atemu!” Someone else’s voice echoed nearby.
“Who’s that?” Anzu asked, looking around.
“The others must be looking for me.” He murmured.
At that moment, Jounouchi walked around the corner and saw them on the ground. He hurried forward. “Anzu, Atemu! Are you guys alright?”
Anzu stood up quickly. “We’re fine, Jounouchi. Atemu just needed some alone time.”
“Yugi’s really worried…what with the news going on about murders and everything.”
“Then let’s go tell him that he’s okay. Atemu will come back to the house soon, right?” She asked, looking back at him.
Atemu nodded, wiping his eyes. “Just give me a few minutes.”
“Alright.” Jounouchi left, but not without a quick worried glance over his shoulder at the man huddled on the sidewalk.
“Thank you,” Atemu whispered to Anzu as she looked back at him.
“It’s okay.” She replied, bending down to pick up the bags. “Come back soon, alright? You heard Jounouchi, Yugi is worried about you.”
“Anzu…I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to…deal with this. What with everything, and how you feel about me, you never should have had to-”
“Don’t worry about it. Really Atemu, I’m just glad I could be here.”
“Can I ask you for a favour?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t tell Aibou what I told you tonight…okay?”
“Yugi has a way of finding things out,” She replied. “You remember…that didn’t work before.”
“Not this. This is different. Please…don’t tell him.”
“I won’t.”
- - -
Yugi was lying on the guest bed when he heard the front door open. Jounouchi had found him and told him he’d found Atemu and that he was alright, but Yugi still felt a worried knot in his stomach and had gone into the room to lie down and avoid the others. He lifted his head at the sound of the door. Outside there was some muted discussion, and then a figure slipped into the room.
“Aibou?”
Yugi sat up quickly. “Atemu?”
“Um… Marik managed to contact Ishizu, they’re working out some sort of plan…and Anzu has food, and everyone is talking about sleeping arrangements…if you’d like to come join in.”
“Oh…okay.”
Atemu lingered by the door. Then he stepped forward. “I’m sorry Aibou. For running out. I know…it’s dangerous…I shouldn’t have scared you all.”
Yugi shook his head, standing. “You had every right to. Marik never should have come and tried to discuss…what he found…with me before talking to you.”
“He’s just worried, he didn’t mean any harm. He told me he was sorry, but he didn’t really need to. I understand, I’m worried too. And he might have a point. I...I’m not saying I fully believe…that I’m supposed to be Atum, but…if I am…” His voice bordered on pleading. “Aibou, if I have a choice, I wouldn’t…I would never…”
Yugi shook his head again, walking closer, looking up at him. “Atemu, I don’t believe that you would ever bring about the end of the world. God, pharaoh, or human. Even if that is your duty, I know you will find a way to save everyone instead of killing them. I believe in you. I know you, you’d find a way around that duty.”
Atemu looked down at him, and felt his heart flutter as he looked into the violet eyes he remembered so well…perhaps too well. He smiled slightly. “That means a lot.”
Yugi smiled back at him, then lowered his eyes and moved toward the door. “We’d better get out there, before all the good sleeping places get claimed.”
“Good idea.”
- - -
“I am not sleeping on the floor.”
“Well I’m not sleeping upright in a chair!”
“I call the couch-”
“No way, I already claimed the couch.”
“Then I call the guest bed.”
“Well if I have to sleep on the floor I want to be in the guest bedroom, it has nicer carpet.”
“I think Mai and Anzu should get the bedroom, they’re girls.”
“How very chivalrous of you…but I think Atemu should get the bedroom, he’s the one under the most stress.”
“Stress? There’s evil spirits attacking! We’re all stressed!”
Atemu and Yugi, having just left the bedroom and walked into the middle of the argument, glanced at each other. “Er…”
“Ah, Atemu, Yugi, good. Where do you guys want to sleep?”
“Anywhere is fine,” Atemu said quickly, deciding on the spot that no sleeping place was worth the fight. Yugi nodded. “Yeah.”
“This is ridiculous, we’ll never stop arguing long enough to get any sleep,” Mai said. “Why don’t we just draw names?”
Everyone went silent.
“That’s a good idea,” Marik said, jumping up. “I’ll get paper.”
- - -
Yugi ended up with the guest bed.
“I feel kind of bad about this,” He said as he pulled down the covers, looking down at the floor at Jounouchi, who had ‘won’ the guest bedroom floor with the thicker carpet. “Everyone else is either in chairs or on the floor…”
“Don’t argue Yugi, just enjoy it and get some sleep.”
“Atemu has to sleep out on the floor in the living room, and I get a bed. That’s really unfair. He’s the one dealing with the most right now. Worrying about the prophesy and what to do…he should have at least gotten the couch.”
“Mai offered to switch with him, but he insisted he should stick with what he got by lottery.”
“Honourable to the core, that’s Atemu.” Yugi sighed and stretched out in bed. “Good night Jounouchi.”
“’Night Yugi.”
Surprisingly, Yugi found that after lying down he felt incredibly tired. He had planned to stay up and try to think about the situation and what they should do, but within moments he was asleep.
A half hour later, Atemu sighed and got up. He’d been staring at the ceiling ever since they went to bed, and while Honda, Anzu, and Mai all seemed to have fallen asleep quickly, he couldn’t. He planned to go get a glass of water just for something to do, but as he passed the guest room he found himself taking a detour to peer in. Jounouchi was snoring, and Yugi seemed to be fast asleep as well.
Tip-toeing inside, Atemu located the foot of the bed and sat down, gazing at Yugi sadly.
He still looked so innocent. Time had not changed him much since they’d parted.
Aibou…
He was taken back to when he was the spirit of the Puzzle. Sometimes at night he had done this…sat and watched Yugi quietly, trying to send him good thoughts to protect him from nightmares, wondering about their future.
A strange feeling, half soft and half anguish, churned inside of him as he sat quietly, watching the bedcovers move as Yugi breathed. He was still wearing his bracelets. Atemu resisted the want to stroke his hair, just sitting there in the twilight.
Aibou, can I watch over you tonight…just one more time?
x-x-x
Notes: Overuse of ellipsis FTW. xD Well eventually Atemu was going to have to be all *aaaaanngst* because anyone who knows me knows there are very few things I love more in this world than Atemu angst.
I'm getting worried about people being disappointed at the lack of action in this. I mean, all the characters are doing is talking. Which is what I had intended for realism's sake, the whole scenario I came up with just couldn't involve action, all the conflict is on an internal level...but still, it's making me worried. Even though I never even insinuated there would be action in the first place, I'm still worried. *shrugs helplessly* (Also I have no idea why this part of the text looks different than the rest. LJ thinks it's funny to mess with me.)
Hopefully-exciting plot thingy and minor fanservice next chapter, though, I promise. ;3
Author: Chey (duelist_gurl163)
Chapter: 7/13
Overall rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/romance
Parings: YamixYugi, JouxMai, and references to YugixAnzu and YamixAnzu
Archive: You're lookin' at it
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Post-series, so many spoilers, including Yami's real name.
Summary: His was a story that ended in light. At the time, nobody realized that ending one story would only cause the beginning of another.
Disclaimer: Yugioh's still not mine.
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06
---
Anzu had almost returned to Marik’s house when she spotted a familiar figure running from it.
“Atemu? Hey! Atemu!” She tried to wave, but he ignored her and kept running. Inside the house she heard shouting, and suddenly had a bad feeling. Making a split-second choice, she went after him.
“Atemu! Slow down, it’s me, Anzu!” She called, reaching for him as he slowed at a corner, managing to grab his wrist. He stopped, but didn’t look at her. “Atemu? What’s going on?”
He dropped to the ground, his arm limp in her grasp, his breath shaky from running.
Anzu knelt beside him. “Atemu? Are you okay?”
“I…he…they were talking…”
“What? I don’t understand. Start from the beginning.”
“I…was in the kitchen. And…Marik…came out to talk to Ai-” He stopped, realized who he was talking to, and corrected himself, “Yugi. He took Yugi into the other room…but I still overheard the conversation.” He swallowed.
“The God…that Marik thinks I am…is supposed to cause the end of the world. Th-that’s the duty…I’ve been ignorant of.”
“Oh Atemu, nobody knows that,” She tried to comfort him. “There’s no proof that you’re Atum. And besides, if he was a creator God I’m sure he had a lot of duties, it doesn’t mean it’s that one.”
He didn’t seem to be listening, his head down as he spoke. “I don’t want to cause the end of the world…I…don’t want to hurt…h-him…and Marik went behind my back to tell Yugi…to tell him…that I was going to destroy all of you...It’s my fault the underworld opened and my fault…those poor people were killed…”
At that moment, Anzu realized the reason his voice was so shaky wasn’t because he was panting from running…but because he was trying to speak around sobs.
“Atemu...”
His voice rose, almost manic. “I d-don’t want to be a God. Yugi will hate me…the rest of you will hate me. I don’t want to hurt anyone…I don’t want him to hate me.”
This was twice he’d mentioned ‘him.’
“Atemu, are you talking about Yugi? You don’t want to hurt Yugi?”
He bowed his head, tears sliding down his face as he struggled for control. It reminded her of how he’d acted when he was telling her about the Ceremonial Battle and Yugi. That was the same conversation he had admitted to having feelings for someone here on Earth in.
Suddenly, she knew what was really causing him to cry.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” She asked softly. “When you told me you knew what unrequited love felt like…you were talking about Yugi.”
Atemu closed his eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. I was never supposed to…”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Yes, I did. I did the worst thing possible. Falling for him…was the worst thing I could have ever done. Because of it, I hoped…for just a moment…that he would lose the Ceremonial Duel. So that…I wouldn’t have to leave him.”
Now she knew why he’d been so understanding when she told him she’d hoped he wouldn’t leave.
“It hurts,” he whispered. “I never…honestly believed we would have anything…so it shouldn’t hurt, but it does. The more I think about it…the more it hurts.” His arms rose, wrapping around his head and shoulders as he shook, choking, “Why does it hurt so much?!”
She didn’t know what to do. Part of her was still in shock from the truth, and the other just felt pity, seeing him so hurt. “Atemu…” She touched his shoulder, feeling him flinch.
“It’s horrible, Anzu. This isn’t my world. The fact that I’m in this world is bad, because it means something is wrong. I knew there was no good reason for me to reappear here, yet when I realized where I was, and I realized I was back here in your time…my first thought was that I could see Yugi. I should have been worrying about why I was here. I should have been trying to figure out how to go back to my world. But instead…all I thought about…was that maybe I could see him again.”
“Atemu, that isn’t a crime. You love him, wanting to see him is natural.”
“We all know I can’t stay.” He mumbled, seemingly babbling as she patted his shoulder helplessly. “We all know…that I have to find a way to make those spirits go back and then I must go back. And even if I could stay…I could never tell him…he can never know…”
“Why? Because you’re afraid he’ll turn you down?”
“No…I…I would understand if he didn’t feel the same. I could deal with that. I’m more afraid…of hurting him.”
“You wouldn’t hurt Yugi, Atemu. I know that for a fact.”
He shook his head. “You remember…back before Battle City, when we were only just starting to understand the Millennium Items…I wasn’t going to tell him why I was entering that tournament, because I thought he wasn’t ready to know. But shortly after he found out anyway…and even though I know it hurt him, he kept on fighting for my sake. And Anzu…only now, after it’s all over, have I realized…I was the one who wasn’t ready to know. I wasn’t ready to know…that he didn’t need me.”
“Oh, Atemu.” She gave him a half-hug, wishing she could help, understanding all too well the kind of pain he felt.
“Ai…I mean…”
“It’s okay to call him ‘Aibou,’” she said gently. “Even if you’re not speaking directly to him.”
“Aibou…used to always say that I was his goal. But he never knew…that he was my goal.” Atemu looked up at her. “To achieve the kind of strength he has, the kindness and open heart that he has…is something I’ve never been able to do. I knew the idea of making me leave hurt him, but he knew how badly I wanted to discover who I was, and he gave up so much for me. To tell him…would be to disrespect all the pain he put himself through for me. I owe him so much, so why…why can’t I control my emotions for him?”
“Would it really be so bad if he knew? What if you were allowed to stay here?”
“Yes.” He took in a long shuddering breath, sounding as if he was forcing out the words. “I can never be with him. The only way Aibou can keep growing…is if I’m not in his life. I saw that…when he and Jounouchi fought. I saw it in the Ceremonial Battle. If I told him…if I tried to stay with him…I would always just hold him back.”
Watching him struggle with the words, she remembered only hours earlier listening to him tell her, “And I realized that Yugi will always be stronger without me.”
Yugi’s freedom is all that he can give him, she realized. Letting Yugi go to reach his potential strength is the only way Atemu can show him his love.
“Yugi’s lucky,” she finally said. “He’s lucky to have someone like you who cares so much about him.”
Atemu swallowed, eyes squeezed shut. “He’s not lucky. Aibou will hate me…if I…have to destroy…. I don’t care if he doesn’t love me, but I can’t live if he h-hates me…” His words faded back into sobs. She put her other arm around him, hugging him for real.
“Yugi’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay. Forget what Marik said. We’ll work the prophesy out and fix things. Yugi won’t hate you. You never wanted this to happen, and Yugi could never hate you.”
“Atemu? Atemu!” Someone else’s voice echoed nearby.
“Who’s that?” Anzu asked, looking around.
“The others must be looking for me.” He murmured.
At that moment, Jounouchi walked around the corner and saw them on the ground. He hurried forward. “Anzu, Atemu! Are you guys alright?”
Anzu stood up quickly. “We’re fine, Jounouchi. Atemu just needed some alone time.”
“Yugi’s really worried…what with the news going on about murders and everything.”
“Then let’s go tell him that he’s okay. Atemu will come back to the house soon, right?” She asked, looking back at him.
Atemu nodded, wiping his eyes. “Just give me a few minutes.”
“Alright.” Jounouchi left, but not without a quick worried glance over his shoulder at the man huddled on the sidewalk.
“Thank you,” Atemu whispered to Anzu as she looked back at him.
“It’s okay.” She replied, bending down to pick up the bags. “Come back soon, alright? You heard Jounouchi, Yugi is worried about you.”
“Anzu…I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to…deal with this. What with everything, and how you feel about me, you never should have had to-”
“Don’t worry about it. Really Atemu, I’m just glad I could be here.”
“Can I ask you for a favour?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t tell Aibou what I told you tonight…okay?”
“Yugi has a way of finding things out,” She replied. “You remember…that didn’t work before.”
“Not this. This is different. Please…don’t tell him.”
“I won’t.”
- - -
Yugi was lying on the guest bed when he heard the front door open. Jounouchi had found him and told him he’d found Atemu and that he was alright, but Yugi still felt a worried knot in his stomach and had gone into the room to lie down and avoid the others. He lifted his head at the sound of the door. Outside there was some muted discussion, and then a figure slipped into the room.
“Aibou?”
Yugi sat up quickly. “Atemu?”
“Um… Marik managed to contact Ishizu, they’re working out some sort of plan…and Anzu has food, and everyone is talking about sleeping arrangements…if you’d like to come join in.”
“Oh…okay.”
Atemu lingered by the door. Then he stepped forward. “I’m sorry Aibou. For running out. I know…it’s dangerous…I shouldn’t have scared you all.”
Yugi shook his head, standing. “You had every right to. Marik never should have come and tried to discuss…what he found…with me before talking to you.”
“He’s just worried, he didn’t mean any harm. He told me he was sorry, but he didn’t really need to. I understand, I’m worried too. And he might have a point. I...I’m not saying I fully believe…that I’m supposed to be Atum, but…if I am…” His voice bordered on pleading. “Aibou, if I have a choice, I wouldn’t…I would never…”
Yugi shook his head again, walking closer, looking up at him. “Atemu, I don’t believe that you would ever bring about the end of the world. God, pharaoh, or human. Even if that is your duty, I know you will find a way to save everyone instead of killing them. I believe in you. I know you, you’d find a way around that duty.”
Atemu looked down at him, and felt his heart flutter as he looked into the violet eyes he remembered so well…perhaps too well. He smiled slightly. “That means a lot.”
Yugi smiled back at him, then lowered his eyes and moved toward the door. “We’d better get out there, before all the good sleeping places get claimed.”
“Good idea.”
- - -
“I am not sleeping on the floor.”
“Well I’m not sleeping upright in a chair!”
“I call the couch-”
“No way, I already claimed the couch.”
“Then I call the guest bed.”
“Well if I have to sleep on the floor I want to be in the guest bedroom, it has nicer carpet.”
“I think Mai and Anzu should get the bedroom, they’re girls.”
“How very chivalrous of you…but I think Atemu should get the bedroom, he’s the one under the most stress.”
“Stress? There’s evil spirits attacking! We’re all stressed!”
Atemu and Yugi, having just left the bedroom and walked into the middle of the argument, glanced at each other. “Er…”
“Ah, Atemu, Yugi, good. Where do you guys want to sleep?”
“Anywhere is fine,” Atemu said quickly, deciding on the spot that no sleeping place was worth the fight. Yugi nodded. “Yeah.”
“This is ridiculous, we’ll never stop arguing long enough to get any sleep,” Mai said. “Why don’t we just draw names?”
Everyone went silent.
“That’s a good idea,” Marik said, jumping up. “I’ll get paper.”
- - -
Yugi ended up with the guest bed.
“I feel kind of bad about this,” He said as he pulled down the covers, looking down at the floor at Jounouchi, who had ‘won’ the guest bedroom floor with the thicker carpet. “Everyone else is either in chairs or on the floor…”
“Don’t argue Yugi, just enjoy it and get some sleep.”
“Atemu has to sleep out on the floor in the living room, and I get a bed. That’s really unfair. He’s the one dealing with the most right now. Worrying about the prophesy and what to do…he should have at least gotten the couch.”
“Mai offered to switch with him, but he insisted he should stick with what he got by lottery.”
“Honourable to the core, that’s Atemu.” Yugi sighed and stretched out in bed. “Good night Jounouchi.”
“’Night Yugi.”
Surprisingly, Yugi found that after lying down he felt incredibly tired. He had planned to stay up and try to think about the situation and what they should do, but within moments he was asleep.
A half hour later, Atemu sighed and got up. He’d been staring at the ceiling ever since they went to bed, and while Honda, Anzu, and Mai all seemed to have fallen asleep quickly, he couldn’t. He planned to go get a glass of water just for something to do, but as he passed the guest room he found himself taking a detour to peer in. Jounouchi was snoring, and Yugi seemed to be fast asleep as well.
Tip-toeing inside, Atemu located the foot of the bed and sat down, gazing at Yugi sadly.
He still looked so innocent. Time had not changed him much since they’d parted.
Aibou…
He was taken back to when he was the spirit of the Puzzle. Sometimes at night he had done this…sat and watched Yugi quietly, trying to send him good thoughts to protect him from nightmares, wondering about their future.
A strange feeling, half soft and half anguish, churned inside of him as he sat quietly, watching the bedcovers move as Yugi breathed. He was still wearing his bracelets. Atemu resisted the want to stroke his hair, just sitting there in the twilight.
Aibou, can I watch over you tonight…just one more time?
x-x-x
Notes: Overuse of ellipsis FTW. xD Well eventually Atemu was going to have to be all *aaaaanngst* because anyone who knows me knows there are very few things I love more in this world than Atemu angst.
I'm getting worried about people being disappointed at the lack of action in this. I mean, all the characters are doing is talking. Which is what I had intended for realism's sake, the whole scenario I came up with just couldn't involve action, all the conflict is on an internal level...but still, it's making me worried. Even though I never even insinuated there would be action in the first place, I'm still worried. *shrugs helplessly* (Also I have no idea why this part of the text looks different than the rest. LJ thinks it's funny to mess with me.)
Hopefully-exciting plot thingy and minor fanservice next chapter, though, I promise. ;3