Yugi watched with a watery smile as his other half stepped towards the doors that would never open again. Some part of him refused to believe it, thinking that if he denied it that it wouldn't be true. That his other half wasn't leaving forever with no chance of coming back again.
Atem flashed one more smile at his friends, his eyes lingering on Yugi with an unspoken fondness, before turning to walk through the doors, giving a thumbs up as his coat turned into a cape in the blinding light of the afterlife. Yugi barely registered seeing Mana, Mahad, and everyone else from Atem's memories, too caught up in trying to keep himself from collapsing.
Finally the door slammed shut with a loud bang that resonated within Yugi. It was as if with the closing of the door, the dam holding Yugi's emotions broke, unleashing a flood of tears that streamed down his cheeks.
He fell to the ground, his eyes trained on the place where Atem had been standing.
He's gone.
The thought sent a new wave of hot tears to his eyes, immediately following the path created by his old tears. A vice gripped his heart as reality seemed to drift away from him.
He felt so empty. When Ya-Atem defeated Dartz and reclaimed Yugi's soul, Yugi didn't understand why the pharaoh had been so hysterical without him. From what the others said, Atem had walked around a shell of a man, showing emotion only when crying for Yugi or dueling for information on Yugi's whereabouts.
Now that Yugi was the one that was alone, once again the sole inhabitant of his body, he understood completely. He had been with the Pharaoh so long that he had forgotten what it felt like to be the only soul in his body.
He didn't like it.
How did people live without their other half so close?
How did people live after their other half was gone forever?
He didn't want to.
The difference between him and Atem?
Atem fought anyone who had information so he could get Yugi's soul back. He wouldn't rest until Yugi was back in his body, souls connected and intertwined like they were before.
Like they should have stayed.
Yugi was now a monster, the one who purposely sent Atem away all over a card game. If only he had lost…
A winner should not be on his knees.
He won the duel, but he lost so much more.
You are a true duelist.
But he would give it all up happily just to have him back.
We will never truly be apart. The lessons we have taught each other will stay with us forever.
But that was all Yugi had left. Lessons.
Atem's presence would be engraved in Yugi's heart forever, a place where only he could fill because only he would be able to reach it.
Yugi would never be complete again, for he had watched as his missing piece left him forever.