Title: Gambling With Destiny
Author: Phoebe Delos
Series: Yu-Gi-Oh! DM
Story Summary: A twist of fate during the Ceremonial Duel leaves everyone saying goodbye to the Yuugi they didn't expect to lose. The pharaoh, lost and alone, must place his trust in a mysterious stranger if he wishes to have any hope in winning his partner back from an old enemy.
Story Rating: Teen for Language, Violence, & Occasional Dark Tones. Rating may raise later due to sexual tones or other warnings.
Spoilers: The end of the series, and anything prior. That includes a certain spirit's real name.
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, never did, never will.
Notes: I'm going to warn right now that this is going to be a story that doesn't have the most straight forward of concepts. There will be things that are hinted at or said that are seemingly illogical, and won't be explained until towards the very end of the story. But trust me when I say I know where all of it is headed. Hopefully a more challenging ride will result in a more rewarding finish.
:: Chapter One ::
"Silent Magician... Launch a direct attack to the player!"
The duel monster raised its staff at the waterlogged command, a blinding flash shooting across the arena, bright yet nothing more substantial than the flicker of a forged hologram. But in that place where logic gave way to fate - allowing two people to fight when they shouldn't be able to exist separately, simultaneously - that attack was as real as any bullet or knife. That strike, unable to cause any physical harm, was the decisive move in a battle of life and death... even if the soul at stake was not even alive.
A gasping echo of voices filled Atem's ears as the light died away, allowing him to see once more, and he opened his eyes slowly, no true shock in his gaze. From the moment Monster Reborn floated out of that golden box everything had been a given, and he had found a steady calm in acceptance long before that final attack struck. Vision restored, his attention stapled itself back upon his partner as everyone else kept staring at him... The only one he wished to look eyes with refusing to look up.
The Silent Magician faded away in a burst of millions of colors, the Duel Disks on both players' arms turning off with a quick series of noises that reverberated throughout the Ceremonial Chamber. As the electronic beeps faded away a tense hush settled over them all, no one daring to make a sound. But that lasted only a beat before Yuugi could no longer hold back his sobs, falling to the ground with it, unable to bear the weight of the choice he just made.
The sound of Yuugi's cry shattered Atem's stillness. Quietly crossing the length of the former dueling space, Atem couldn't help but smile down at his partner's bent head, the satisfaction he felt in the proof of the young man's strength at the forefront of his mind. It overshadowed any other emotions swimming through him – emotions that could not be allowed expression. No, if he were honest with himself, Atem longed to rush forward and embrace his partner until his tears dried, to ramble off confessions and absurd desires that could only selfishly undercut everything they had worked so hard to achieve. But Atem had long since learned to keep such feelings to himself, and he wasn't about to start sharing then. Not when it would only make things so much harder, so much worse for both of them.
No, what mattered was quelling Yuugi's sorrow. Stalling just before his partner, he allowed softer feelings to reign, a smile slowly forming as he finally broke the silence.
"You did it, aibou. You win."
The only answer was a hitch in his sobs, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to kneel down, to touch a cloth-clad shoulder with a hand actually, truly solid, as he went on telling Yuugi to stand, to embrace his role as victor. It took some more urging, Atem reminding his former vessel of his own unique strength that he considered so obvious, and so unquestionable, before Yuugi finally managed to glance up and truly meet his gaze. The searching look in those wild violet eyes tugged at the late pharaoh's composure, but he covered the weakness by pulling the young man to his feet, his gratitude for Yuugi's constant courage and guidance managing to come out smoothly, just a hint of everything else he wanted to say slipping into his voice. And, whatever he was or was not able to hide, his words did steady Yuugi enough to still his tears and speak.
"Mou hitori no boku..."
"I am not the other you anymore."
A sharp whisper of a gasp escaped Yuugi as his gaze questioned him, the confusion swimming in his eyes warning Atem that he needed to make his point fast, before he mistook his meaning for a rejection of the name, of all that they had shared.
"There is no other Yuugi than y-"
The words died on Atem's tongue as a bizarre sensation washed over him, erasing everything he had prepared to say in his efforts to place the feeling. Yuugi apparently felt it too since he did not bat an eye at Atem's sudden silence or the removal of the hands that had rested so naturally on his shoulders. His brow simply furrowed in a mirror focus of his own.
The feeling... It was not particularly unpleasant, vaguely like catching a stray cool breeze from a door opening in another room. What was so strange was the sensation was not a physical one, nor even of the mental sort that he and Yuugi had shared for over two years. It was a chill shooting straight through the soul, and Atem was aimlessly reminded of a saying he must have heard someone say to Yuugi at some point.
Have you ever felt like someone was walking over your grave?
Atem was still staring unseeingly at his partner when a collective intake of breath caught his notice. Having all but forgotten the presence of the others in the room, the sound made him almost jump. He managed to subdue the urge - though Yuugi wasn't near so fortunate - and turned his eyes questioningly towards those standing about the chamber. But their gazes were not on him, and as Anzu pointed over his shoulder with the hand not covering her mouth Atem turned around to look at the wall behind him.
That time he did jump, and he stepped in front of Yuugi without a thought as he stared disbelieving at the sight before him. The gate that should have stayed shut until he called his true name was already open, unsealed and pulled back its heavy doors without a sound to warn him. And what lay beyond those doors made Atem compulsively slip his hand back and grab Yuugi's wrist in a firm grip, ready to pull him as far away as possible.
He did not know what should have been beyond that gate, but everything inside him screamed that what he saw was not it. There was no shining, welcoming light, nor a black darkness ready to welcome his soul into the shadows for the final time. There wasn't anything there at all. It was impossible, incomprehensible, but there was simply nothing beyond that door. No color, no movement, nothing. And just staring at it made that earlier foreign feeling that had struck him moments ago return with a vengeance.
As he felt Yuugi tug his wrist free to instead clasp his hand with his own fingers Atem turned back to him, ignoring the confused calls of their friends as he met his partner's gaze, struggling to keep his anxiety from his own face.
"Aibou, get off the stage. Grab the puzzle and-"
"I am not leaving you to face-"
Atem's order and Yuugi's interrupting protest were both cut short as a different voice reached their ears, prompting both of them to slowly turn and stare at the gaping hole in baffled wonder. Atem had not even guessed what might come out of that place... But nothing even close to this could have ever occurred. What he heard was not growls and roars of a monster, nor even dark threats or whispers of a tainted spirit, the likes of which might crawl out of the dark world.
What he heard was singing.
The voice was very light and soft, feathery in its quiet lull as it fell over them, the fear Atem felt seeping away bit by bit. Pulling out of the protective, alert stance he had taken before his partner, he felt Yuugi move to stand at his side, the grip of their joined hands relaxing so much that only a twitch of movement would break the hold. But Atem did not look at the one beside him, his eyes fixed before him, expecting the source of that sound to arise from the emptiness. What was the point of concern, after all? Something that beautiful could only be divine, straight from the gods!
A flicker of movement finally urged him to look away - a task no one else in the room managed - and Atem could do no more than languidly stare as Yuugi approached the doorway, caught by the sheen of tears in his partner's eyes as he walked away. The sight set off a warning in the pharaoh's heart, screaming to be heard, but the balm of music fogged everything so... He could not make a sound. He simply watched in frozen, disassociated horror, as the wrong one walked through the door. The instant the last inch of Yuugi stepped into the nothing the music stopped and the stone doors slid shut with a crash so fast the stone cracked from the impact.
And immediately sanity returned to the room, followed by panic.
"What... what just happened?"
"Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"How would I know? Why'd that door open on its own? It's not supposed to do that, is it?"
"N-no! The gate was only supposed to open for the pharaoh when his name was-"
"Who cares about that? What the hell happened to Yuugi?"
The cries, fighting, and fear echoing all around him didn't earn even a twitch from Atem. He had not moved a muscle since the doors slammed shut. The fact that he should be trying to calm his friends didn't even enter his mind. He just kept staring at the sealed gate, waiting for what happened to proven itself a hallucination, or a trick, or for the gate to reopen and give him back his partner. Surely, surely, it couldn't be true... Not again.
But every mental cry he gave of his partner's name remained unanswered, their link severed when the items gave him his own flesh. There was nothing before him but a closed door and an empty, solitary mind.
"...Atem..."
Those closest to the duelist stalled their fighting when they heard him speak, and a wave of silence swept slowly across the group. Otogi followed Honda's surprised stare. The directing gaze of his sister turned Malik and Rishid around. Seto's coat was tugged by his brother when he didn't stop fighting with Jounouchi. Sugoroku placed a stalling hand on Anzu's arm.
He was turned away, but the way he kept saying his own name over and over, more anger seeping into his voice with every second, made the pharaoh's growing panic obvious.
"Atem... Atem... Atem!"
"Yuugi..."
"Atem!"
"Yuugi, it's not going to work! Just stop-"
Atem shrugged off Jounouchi's hand without looking, refusing to take his watery glare off the faded eye above, manic desperation clouding his eyes as he stepped forward to pound a fist into the stubborn door. Honda stepped up to his other side, trying to grab his arm to stop him from trying again, but he ignored him just as he did the pain that shot through his arm. But he could only manage a couple more slams of flesh on stone before Honda and Jounouchi managed to wrestle him back.
"Atem! Why won't it-"
"Yuugi!"
Jounouchi finally managed to catch his attention by stepping right in front of him - cutting off his view of the door - and hauling him up by his coat collar, meeting his gaze even as his own brown eyes wavered with sorrow.
"Stop it, Yuugi, he's gone! He's gone..."
Jounouchi deflated at his own words, losing his spark to fight as the unexpected truth hit him too, and his grip loosened on Atem, allowing the numb pharaoh to fall to his knees and slump over into a stance near identical to the one his partner had taken just moments ago, at the end of their duel. The room went silent as some started to cry, some froze shell-shocked, and the rest simply stared sadly at the fallen pharaoh. Yet not a one of them give a word of protest at Jounouchi's presumptive claim. While no one understood what had just happened, the collective belief felt completely undeniable.
Yuugi had gone somewhere none of them could follow.
The room grew suffocating with the sorrow choking them all, but the fear of setting off something even worse kept everyone quiet. Unfortunately, even their silence could not hold back the inevitable. Those who had not been present when Rafael managed to separate the two souls both known as Yuugi from one another were in for a baffling, cruel surprise at the agony that erupted before them, but those that had seen Atem fall apart and scream to the heavens felt no shock at the cry wrenched from that kneeling form.
They had simply hoped they would never have to hear it again.
"Aibou!"
The sound of shuffling cards echoed in the open desert air, not far from the stairs leading down to the ceremony chamber. The crash and cries of the duel below had just died down, and been shortly followed by a distant voice that could only be described as divine. And it had all been well within the hearing range of the solitary soul sitting in the shadows of the surrounding cliffs. Whoever it was did not move a muscle to investigate the odd sounds, or run in fear of them. The shadowed figure just kept staring at the entrance with an expectant gaze, dark eyes otherwise completely void of expression.
It was the constant shuffling of the Duel Monsters deck, sharp and rushed, that would have given away the anxiety coursing through them... Had anyone been there to see.
The shuffling only stalled when the singing did, a resounding slam of rock vibrating up through the sands. Caught in the hanging silence that followed, the person nearly bent the cards as hands tensed. Eyes caught wide and anxious on the stairs, and teeth mindlessly chewed on a bottom lip as the stranger waiting for... something, anything to happen.
"...aibou!"
The heartbroken cry was muffled by the distance and yet the unknown witness flinched. Cards slid through loose fingers to glide unhindered to the sands.
It was over... The Ceremonial Duel was over...
But the true trial... It was just beginning.