Title: Second Chances
Word Count: 1914
Pairing: Puzzleshipping, Tendershipping
Summary: Atem and Yami Bakura are dead. But it's not going to stay that way for long. Something's going down, and given Atem's past experiences it's probably evil.
Authors Notes: Yeah, I'm writing Yugioh fic. I have no real excuse for myself. Feeling nostalgic, I guess. This is a radical rewrite of a fic I wrote in a notebook back in high school! I'm glad my taste has improved so much over time!
Thank you SO much to my wonderful beta readers!
And as always, I love to talk to people. If anyone reads this and feels like getting in touch with me? Go for it! I like meeting people!
The afterlife was different than Atem had expected- though he wasn't entirely sure what he had expected, after his whole stint in modern Japan. It certainly didn't meet the expectations he had back in Egypt, where he would take everything entombed with him to the next life where he would join the gods.
It wasn't bad, though. It's appearance was undefined, but was warm and comforting, like stepping into the sunlight on a beautiful Egyptian day. And almost everyone that Atem had known in life- his original life- was there. Well, more or less.
He suspected that he was only able to see the spirits of those he had some connection to, as since coming to the afterlife he'd only seen people he knew, or at least knew of. There were his old friends, the priests that had held the Sennen Items alongside him. They were around often, and seemed just as they had in life. Then there was his father, and the mother that had died when he was young. And ancient relatives of Atem's seemed to come by from time to time, to meet the relative that had taken so long to come and join them all. They never stayed long, though.
Souls preferred to take their eternal rest with those they had known in life, after all.
That was where Atem's afterlife was atypical. He had his friends and family from the past. But he also had a spattering of people unconnected to that. He'd been able to seek out Yuugi's grandmother once, just to see how she compared to the memories in his former partner's mind. And once he'd come across the soul of Pegasus J Crawford, frolicking joyfully with the soul of his deceased lover.
Pegasus had greeted him cheerily, not holding any grudge against him from their feud in life. After all, his wish had finally been granted.
Atem's wish would be granted eventually too. The light of life didn't last forever, and it would come to an end for Mutou Yuugi and the other friends that Atem had left behind when he'd finally moved on. He just had to wait, and finally he'd see them all again.
That's what he was trying to explain to the spirit he was currently seated beside on the rocky outcrops that bordered the edge of the afterlife, while they stared out over the world of the living. The spirit that was more or less in the same position as him.
Though he didn't really expect the thief- what was left of the thief now that his vengeance had been stopped and he'd been forced to rest- to listen. He'd just felt bad for the spirit. Where Atem had an afterlife full of friends and family, the ancient thief had so little. Very few of those sacrificed at Kul Elna had moved on.
The thief spent all of his time alone, just staring out and watching the life of his former host unfold without him. It was pitiful, really. Atem had to offer a few words of support, even if in life (and a good portion of death) the thief had been his enemy.
"In less than a century they will all by up here with us. Don't forget that, thief. Dwelling on the separation like this is pointless. And pitiful."
The thief let out a dark laugh, his voice still laced with malice towards the Pharaoh. Even with Zorc's shadow gone, the hatred remained. "You're just as pitiful as me, then. After all, you come here to watch nearly as often as I do."
Atem really couldn't refute that. He did come here to watch his partner fairly frequently. Because even though he was in a world full of people he cherished, he cherished Yuugi more.
But he could manage to wait. Another century was nothing compared to the three thousand years he'd already been dead. Besides, it wasn't as if anything could be done about it.
"In fact..." continued the thief, "I think you're even more pitiful than me. After all, I don't intend to stick around here and just let my yadunoshi live out his life without me like you seem to be content to do. I'm going to find a way back."
Atem scoffed at the thief's insane delusion of somehow escaping from the afterlife so that he could go and further inflict himself on Bakura Ryou. It wasn't possible for spirits to just come back to life at will- if it was, who would stay dead? And besides, as pitiful as the thief was, it was definitely better for the world that he wasn't in it. It was much better for Bakura-kun at least, not to have to deal with the company of an ancient lunatic out to kill all his friends and plunge the world into darkness.
Well, presumably there would be a little less darkness plunging going on now, but Atemu was fairly certain the 'killing all his friends' part would still apply. It was just... the thief's hobby or something, he supposed. Thank Ra he couldn't cause any trouble here.
"There's no way back to that world, Tomb Robber. Just give it up."
The thief scowled at Atem and resumed looking out over the mortal realm. "There's always a way, Pharaoh. It's just a matter of waiting for the opportunity."
Atem was glad that opportunity would never come. He hoped.
The young man sighed as he pried open yet another crate. It was late, but he had to finish doing inventory of all the new artifacts that had arrived at the Domino Museum that day so that tomorrow the new displays could be set up. There were still quite a few crates of ancient Egyptian relics left to unpack piled up in the museum's back rooms.
The museum's owner seemed particularly fond of Egyptian artifacts. He always seemed to be arranging for some exhibit or the other of that nature to be shown. Oh well, it sold.
"What number crate is that, Yuuta?" The professor asked, looking over the clipboard holding the list of everything that they should have received. Yuuta glanced at the number on the box before reading it out.
"Forty-three."
"Hm. Stone tablet of unknown origin. Seems pretty dull, compared to some of the other things we've unpacked tonight." The professor peered over his shoulder, peering at the rather small stone tablet on its bedding of shredded paper. It really was a little out of place, amongst the golden treasures and ancient relics they had been unpacking all night.
"Well, I guess we need the plain stuff to make the fancy items stand out a little more." The young man chuckled and knelt to look more closely at the tablet. The engravings were intricate, and he could make out hieroglyphics spelling out something about returning from the dead for something. That was a little creepy. "I wonder what this tablet was for..."
"We'll have to ask Iida-san if he has any ideas tomorrow. He's the expert, after all." The professor replied, offering Yuuta a smile. "Anyhow, item accounted for. Let's get the crate sealed back u-"
He was cut off by a gust of wind blowing through the room. A stack of Iida-san's papers flew off a nearby desk, scattering around the room. The lights flickered as one lone photograph landed in the box, right on top of the stone tablet.
Not as bad as it could have been, really. Yuuta snatched the photograph of Iida-san and his family off of the artifact and set about gathering up the papers that had been blown around. The professor, meanwhile, searched for where the wind had come from.
In the end, he found nothing. He supposed the old building was just getting drafty.
When the lightening began Yuugi looked up from the business textbook he'd been studying, peering out the window with curiosity. Was it supposed to storm tonight? He'd been pretty sure that the weather report had called for clear skies.
Well, the weather report hadn't been entirely wrong. The skies were clear—Yuugi could see the stars twinkling between the increasingly violent flashes of lightening. It wasn't raining. Maybe it was just some kind of freak electrical storm.
"Yuugi! Are you still awake? Look at the lightning!" Yuugi's mother called from down the hall, making the college student jump. He hadn't realized his mother wasn't already in bed.
"Yeah, Mom, I was just watching it!" He called back in response, turning towards his bedroom door just in time for his mother to look in on him.
"Try not to stay up too late, Yuugi. You need your rest. I wouldn't want you to start talking to yourself again." It had been four years, and his mother still wouldn't stop mentioning that. Yuugi couldn't blame her, though. He'd never tried to explain the spirit of the Sennen Puzzle to his mom—he knew that telling her would have just convinced her that he was even crazier.
It wasn't like it mattered, anyway. He wouldn't be talking to himself ever again. His other self had moved on to the afterlife. He wouldn't be returning.
Yuugi fought off the familiar spell of intense grief that flooded him when he remembered the friend that was no longer with him. Time really didn't do much to make it easier.
"Don't worry, Mom. I'll sleep soon. You should get some rest too."
Atem blinked as the hazy film that separated the afterlife from the world of the living seemed to, well, wrinkle. He'd never seen anything like that happen before.
"What in Ra's name is that?" He muttered, looking over towards the thief to see if he might have some sort of insight into what was happening. The other spirit looked just as surprised as he was, though. Well, he supposed that meant he could scratch 'evil plot by the thief' off his list of explanations for what was going on.
The veil between the worlds sparked with color and life, stretching and warping further as the phenomenon continued. The thief rose and moved towards the barrier.
"Hey! Where are you going, thief? That could be dangerous!" Atem was up in a flash, following after the thief. Something was going on, and the thief couldn't be left alone.
The thief rolled his eyes. "Dangerous? What, do you think we might die again or something?"
Atem had to reluctantly admit that the thief had a point. Though there were things other than death to be afraid of.
As the two of them moved closer the film seemed to reach its breaking point; an opening suddenly ripped its way into existence. Atem's eyes widened, as the spirit of the Sennen Ring first gaped and then slowly allowed a smirk to crawl across his features.
"No way back to that world, eh, Pharaoh?"
"You can't possibly be thinking of-"
"It's not like I have anything to lose." The thief replied with a smirk, making a dash for the opening while calling his last words over his shoulder. "Maybe I'll be nice and send your precious partner to see you once I get back to the land of the living!"
Those words were all it took. Atem didn't even think twice about diving into the void after him. Even if this ended up ripping his soul to shreds he couldn't take the risk that the thief would be able to make his way back to the world of the living.