The stadium was full of roaring fans. Sometimes the King of Games wondered how they didn't exit these games with roar throats. Maybe it would have been worth it. He enjoyed his duels as much as his fans must have. And this was another one of those absolutely amazing duels. Kaiba had been standing opposite the field from him for a good stretch of time now. Both were giving it their all, like they should be. Two rivals who never backed down no matter the circumstance. Playing their best, their hardest, always trying to one-up the other man, always trying to find cracks and holes in each other's strategies to exploit. It had been an amazing duel up to here.
Throughout it Atem could feel the anxiety burning deep in his chest, the excitement as well. Almost too physical a feeling at times, where he'd feel the pressure and the tightness building up in him. As Kaiba fusion summoned his Blue Eyes Ultimate, he found he could hardly breathe. Staring down that beautiful dragon was one of the best feelings in the world- second only to winning against it. And he would, even if he didn't have the right cards in his hand just then. He trusted his deck. His deck would never let him down. Even almost scared as he felt, he knew he'd come through. In the end he would never give up.
Kaiba had to turn back control of the duel- fusion monsters weren't allowed to attack on the first turn, of course. But the dragon roared, a promise of death if Atem couldn't draw the right cards. Again his chest grew that much tighter, his breathing short as his hands shook. He announced his turn, a little less enthusiasm as he should, almost as if he couldn't muster the energy for it. A slight wince as that pressure in his chest turned painful. As he drew his hand up to draw his cards, an ache formed in his left arm. Just another side effect of the duel, he was sure.
"Place one card face down!" He announced, the crowd going a little quieter in order to watch Atem work his magic. If he was going to do something amazing, now was the time. And he never failed to deliver. "Now, play Angel's Charity!" The spell card appeared on the field as he called for it. He drew three cards, looking over them carefully. Discarding two was a tough choice, but in the end he did what was best. With one card left in his hand he smiled, then winced, a hand rising to his chest to try and ease the pressure manually. Whatever was going on could wait.
"Now that I only have one card in my hand I can special summon this- Gale Dark Knight Gaia! Due to its constraints, if I only have this card in my hand I can summon it without tribute!" The Knight and his horse appeared on the field, ready as ever for battle. Though the attack was only 2,300. It was definitely not enough to face off against Kaiba's Ultimate Dragon. A fact which the brunet would note and smirk at.
"Is that all you've got?"
Atem nodded, another wince as he raised his hand to his chest. The field became a bit hazier, his strength feeling sapped from him all of a sudden. "End turn!" The duel would go on though.
Kaiba barely noticed after having control handed back to him. He was going to win this one, he was sure. Whatever trap Atem had laid for him couldn't stop the might of his dragons. "My turn, draw!" He called, but whatever card he picked didn't matter. He was ready to win back his title once and for all. It had been twenty long years of this relationship, and this game, and he was finally going to win it. He looked across the field to Atem... something wasn't right. There was a slight bubble of worry- ..no, not worry. Never worry. His rival could handle himself just fine. And a duel was a duel. "Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba began.
Atem's stance had caved slightly, knees bending in order to hold his weight easier. Something wasn't right. As he stared up at those dragons rearing their heads back, mouths full of energy, the world stopped spinning right and everything went dark. That pain in his chest intensified, the pressure in his arm had gotten so bad that it had somehow gone numb. "Activate..." His voice was weak as the attack headed straight for him.
No, no that couldn't be. He had a trap for this, he couldn't lose. But he felt so weak just then, his voice wouldn't carry. He couldn't play it. The attack hit him full force, decimating his monster and then bursting right to him. The King of Games dropped to his knees, vision circling in black before fuzzing completely. Faintly he could hear the gasps and screams from the audience. "Acti..." His voice was hoarse as everything finally ceased to make sense, his hand holding to his chest, trying to alleviate the pain; he let go of his consciousness, falling forward to the ground.
Kaiba stood opposite his rival. He'd watched the attack go through. The intensity of it had marred Atem's voice out- which was a little unusual. Atem was proud and loud when he had to be, especially during duels. He had also been sure that the King of Games had set a trap for him. Even knowing that he went into battle. So when he saw those lips move, though he couldn't make out the sound, he was sure something was about to happen. But Atem passing out on the other side of the field? That had not been in the game plan.
He had no idea what to do- which was weird for him. He had a good panic mode to revert to. But being watched by millions of people in the stadium and across the world, he couldn't just rush to Atem's side. Wouldn't that make them look... suspicious? Something was seriously wrong. But he had medical staff for that, though no one seemed to be moving. They must have thought it was an after effect of the attack. But a yard across the arena and Kaiba could tell that something was very wrong.
"What's the matter with you? Go!" He shouted to the staff standing just off to the side. They jumped, then scrambled onto the field with their kits. He motioned for a microphone. "This duel is postponed." All he would say for now as he nodded to his security staff to start herding them out.
Slowly he walked across the field, arms tucked across his chest as he did so, biting back the feeling in his own chest. Worry. What a stupid emotion. He wasn't worried for Atem. Never.
No one would know.
His rival's duel disk was handed up towards him while they worked. He rolled his eyes but took it carefully. Stupid old thing. Atem never bothered upgrading, having too much attachment to his old model. Obviously Atem wasn't dead, which was good news, so Kaiba let his shoulders drop just slightly, just a little. Holding the duel disk, he removed the card from the trap and spell field.
"Tch."
Mirror force. He would have walked right into it. As usual. That means Atem would have won.
That bastard.
The air around him was stale. His consciousness was slowly kicking into gear. He was awake before his eyes were open. Atem liked those moments. They were good for accessing what was around you, though he couldn't tell much. The bed beneath him wasn't his own, he could tell by how stiff it was under his back. The air wasn't crisp, but it was clean. It was quiet- ... scratch that, there was the faint sounds of birds just to his right, which meant he was near a window. And there was quiet breathing to his left. ... ah, breathing and faint typing.
Seto.
He blinked his eyes open finally, greeted with a blank white room. There was a TV in the corner, chairs littered around, some flowers all the way in the front of the room (if he was in the back, which he supposed he was). The door to the room was closed. He turned slightly to get a look at Kaiba. He looked tired, but that was usual. He was sitting in a chair close to the bed, laptop open. Working no doubt.
A panic hit him so quickly as he realized he wasn't wearing his clothes. His arm rose as if that would fix the problem and he realized he was without his duel disk. Had someone-
"Calm down." Kaiba's voice cut through the anxiety. "I have your disk back at the mansion."
"My deck?"
Glasses were removed from the bridge of the CEO's nose. "What good would your duel disk be without your deck, idiot?"
Atem relaxed back onto the bed. With that little crisis solved he eased, looking around the room more. There were machines just near the window, but they seemed to be turned off. He was hooked up to an IV; staring at the tube in his wrist; he almost had the faint want to just rip it out. What were they putting in him? He sat up a bit more, adjusting the pillows behind him to ease the position. His hands folded in his lap as he looked at Seto. He was almost scared to ask, but he knew his rival was waiting for him to do so.
"What happened?"
Some more typing before the man bothered to close his laptop. His eyes glanced up finally, looking over Atem's condition. "You had a heart attack." Plain, simple, something that had easily been fixed and taken care of.
"What?" Knee-jerk reaction as crimson eyes widened. His hand automatically went to his chest as if he could feel out the source of the problem.
"It's over with now. They fixed you."
"Fixed me? What the hell does that mean?" So suddenly he was feeling angry. It wasn't supposed to be directed at Kaiba. This wasn't Kaiba's fault. So suddenly he was feeling scared about his own mortality. Could he have died on the field then? Why had his body given out on him? What if it happened again?
Kaiba rolled his eyes, raising one leg up along his knee. His fingers knitted together. "Calm yourself."
Fear ignited in his chest. "Why? Will it happen again?" Would could he do and not do now? Was his heart weak? Would it give out on him any minute?
"Atem, take a deep breath." This wasn't going to work with his rival all worked up. Kaiba needed him to relax a little, though he had anticipated this kind of reaction. Seeing it now was somewhat tiring, though.
He tried to take Kaiba's advice as best as he could, knowing he might have been overreacting just a little. That didn't make it easier. But he calmed slowly, breathing deeply, looking away. Feeling weak in front of this man was never easy, looking it was even worse. He'd collapsed- ... His eyes returned to Seto's. "What about the duel?" The last thing he remembered was getting hit.
"Postponed. But you would have won." A sour note in the brunet's tone.
The details of the game slowly trickled into the blank space of his mind. A smile came to his lips. "That's right..."
The man opposite him bristled slightly with a snarl. "You think my failure is funny?"
"What?" A stupid question for reaction's sake. He shook his head, still smiling. "Now who needs to calm down?"
But that statement didn't make the brunet feel any better. If anything it darkened his mood. He glowered and looked away. "Done panicking over your health then are you?" He couldn't help but bite back. It's what he did best.
Atem's hand slowly moved back over his chest. He closed his eyes. His heart was beating a steady cadence, a proud and strong one. As if he could speak with the separate parts of his body he went totally still, just listening. Kaiba had said they'd helped him- or fixed him, rather. Sometimes he didn't like modern technologies, sometimes he didn't trust modern medicine over traditional healing. But whatever they'd done, he felt healthy. He felt fine. His heart was telling him everything would be okay. And he believed it.
Kaiba watched with a mild and morbid curiosity and Atem went so quiet. Something stupid, he was sure. Maybe even praying, as if that would help. The load of bullshit that it was, whatever helped Atem get over his problems was fine by him. He didn't want to be nursing a baby back to standing position. Atem was too proud for that. So if he could get over it on his own, that was absolutely fine.
The King of Games smiled as his rival, looking at him. "Can we go home?"
Seto had a small space of confusion. That was a really fast recovery. Even he hadn't been expecting that. But since it suited his needs, he smirked. Fine. "Yes. Whenever you're ready."
"After I get my clothes back." A wry smirk of his own. The gown he was dressed in was very thin. He could feel it even from under the warm covers.
Papers were signed, doctors and nurses moved in and out of the room for one last check-up. They deemed him to be fine, and Atem seemed to be functioning fine, so he was termed medically fine on his charts. Ready to go back into the wild and do whatever it was that the King of Games did. They gave him some advice and a prescription for something, but he ignored it. Good thing Kaiba was around to pick up after him- just this once, he promised. It was better to let Atem get back into the swing of his life for now than to worry him over what kind of precautions he needed to take.
Leather was slipped back on, sitting back on the bed as he fixed his boots. A very cheery nurse walked back into the room, pushing a wheel chair. Atem looked up at her. "What's that for?"
"You!" A fan, no doubt, with the way she was grinning at him.
A thin eyebrow arched. "What?"
"Hospital policy. You have to get wheeled out."
Sitting in that thing? Letting someone push him around? Absolutely not. "I'm fine, thanks." He still tried to be courteous about it despite his utter dislike of the situation and that grin so suddenly.
"But you have to. It's the rules." Her tone took a downturn, saddening.
Kaiba scoffed from his corner of the room. "Screw the rules, he's fine." Seeing Atem in a wheel chair was the last thing he wanted to witness. Even looking at it now was almost hard. It reminded him too much of...
"It's the rules! Don't make me get the doctor!"
The two duelists exchanged glances. Could they really get out of here without that? Rules. Hm.
It was too bad for them that Kaiba owned the city and could do whatever he wanted. By extension just this once, Atem was allowed to override rules for his own gain. And he was glad for it. He had no desire to be pushed around the hospital grounds in that. The two men walked side by side proudly down the corridors and outside. The sun was bright, greeting Atem with a warm glow. He smiled again. Things were falling back into place.
"Just going to stand there?" Kaiba asked with a smirk as he nodded towards his car already waiting.
Atem followed his lead, getting in and securing a safety belt. He knew at times Kaiba's dislike of the rules would lead the brunet to race at unbelievable speeds down these city streets. "Where are we going?"
"Back to the arena. Where else? We have a duel to finish."
So soon? Atem found himself questioning that. Yet at the same time he'd probably expected it and was happy to hear it. Getting back to dueling. Getting back to life. "Sounds good."