Disclaimer: I do not own YGO.

Now a 7 part series.

My Dearest Anzu:

I asked Yugi to give this letter to you.

Please, dearest, do not cry for me, for I am at peace now.

I...Forgive me for not having the courage to tell you this in person. I fear that I have not the courage or will to bid you farewell in person. I am unaccustomed to such displays of emotion. It is the most un-Pharaoh like that I back away from a duel of emotions. Forgive my cowardice.

You are deserving of this truth. So you shall have it. This letter is the only way.

Understand, please, that I do not mean to hurt you any more than I already have by leaving. It is my destiny to go and your destiny to remain, if only for a little while longer.

You must know that Yugi often chides me for my lack of awareness about how I affect you. He cannot be more wrong. I may be a spirit of my former self, but rest assured that my mind contains every fiber of the man I used to be. I feel the way you look at me. I sense the way your gaze lingers when you think Yugi is not looking. You look at me the way I wish to see myself- as a strong, courageous, and wise man. I am forever in your debt for that gift because I have not seen myself like that for centuries. You restored my vision and in so doing returned the world to all you love. I am forever in your debt.

I am aware you visited Yugi yesterday as we were preparing our decks to bid me farewell. I was a coward to not answer you with my heart. I fear I have not the strength to look into your eyes and tell you that I feel the same way that you do. I cannot tax my host with the turmoil of my emotions.

Anzu, I want you to know that I look at you the same way you look at me. I gaze at you a little too long when no one else is looking. You are always the first person I see in a room. I memorize your laugh, your mannerisms, your quirks. I see you the way you do not- as a beautiful, beautiful human being who has sacrificed everything for her friends and the people she loves.

That is your gift to me, Anzu.

My gift to you is my heart. I have not the time to list the myriad of ways that I love you. I always have. I heard your voice in Yugi's mind long before I heard your voice as Yami. I love the way you sigh when something profound strikes you. I love the way you sing when you think no one else hears you (by the way, Joey and Tristan and the gang agree you are quite the artistic talent). Most of all I love the way you dance when the world is watching. You put so much light into my soul that I feel as if I am capable of conquering the darkness within through the bleakest of our hours together.

My only wish for you, love, is that you continue laughing, singing, and dancing now. I shall be blessed when you think of me as you do. I know not where I shall be, but know that I shall be watching over you as I have since you were born.

Yugi informs me that to inform you of this is "creepy." I know not the meaning of that word, but I feel that you would forgive my impertinence, would you not?

Until now I have only read about the ancient concept of soul imprinting. I have not felt the bliss until now. You were not born in my time, but I felt your light the moment you were born in Yugi's time. We are, after all, three parts of the same soul. Yugi and I are the wholes of one half and you are our better half. Yugi has loved you for all of his life just as I have loved you for all of mine. I loved you before I knew you. If that is what Yugi means by creepy then I apologize; my heart tells me you would understand me if I explained myself in this way.

My love, it is a tragedy that you were not yet born in my time. To ME. If you had been, you would have been MINE. My first and only queen of Egypt. Your grace and compassion would have lightened Egypt the way you have lightened my life. As it is, I can only give you the throne of my heart for all eternity.

The fates must have laughed at me when they placed us together in this time. It must feel to you as if your dreams are crumbling piece by piece, your heart shattering shard by shard. Try as I might I cannot save you from that feeling. Anzu...my dearest...my hopelessness shreds my very soul. I only wish I was the man I once was. If I were, only tears of happiness would mar your perfect face. You would dance forever by my side until the sands of Egypt were no more.

My love, it is our destiny to find each other and separate like this. I do not know why that is and I curse the Gods for it. May the spirits of my ancestors forgive me for that transgression, for I curse them every second you are not by my side. You are truly too good for this world of ours. Destiny or not, you deserve more than I have the power to give you. For all I have possessed in my centuries of life, I am but one man, hopelessly in love with a creature so pure as you.

Anzu...darling...I...I have not left you forever as you fear. I am always with you in your heart as you are always in mine. Thank you, my love, for bringing love back into my life when I had given up all hope. Because of you, the world is safe. Because of you, I can go in peace.

I ask only that you let me go to the afterlife. Abandon the what could have beens and the what ifs. They will only cause you pain. Please think of me when you dance, and I shall be forever by your side when you do.

I remain, with all my love, until we meet again,

Your Dearest Atem

Please review!

As I wrote to one of you, the idea behind the Lights series was to bring Atem and Anzu together, tear them apart in the most brutal way possible (thanks, Canon!), and then gently glue them back together but leave them broken in the places where fate already intervened. That's the magic of fanfiction and I hope my little experiments, to borrow the words of one reader, "stabs you guys in the feels."