Title: Eden
Genre: Friendship/Angst
Rating: T+
Warnings: AU-ish. Two-shot? Hell, I dunno. Not meant to be taken in a romantic nature, but do as you please.
Summary: Atem wants to understand Yami's love for Yugi, but the Puzzle was never one for happy endings.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Serena: Iunno, but I wrote a thing. Hope you enjoy the thing. If not, that's cool, too. *rolls away*
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Chapter 1: Wish Upon a Puzzle
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The golden light illuminating his father's pendant gradually faded into nothing as his surroundings finished shifting around him, the upside down pyramid quickly plummeting from its previous heat to ice within his small hands. The shock of the sudden change in temperature caused him to drop the item and it fell to the green earth, glints of light reflecting off its golden surface before it disappeared into a sea of soft jade.
"!"
The young child's eyes widened and he wasted no time in dropping to his knees and scrambling to retrieve the item. Caramel-colored hands quickly shoved tall stalks of grass this way and that and fingers scrapped against the cool dirt, desperately hoping to catch hold of the dropped item.
"No, no, no! Where are you?!" he cried out, blades of grass grazing his bare arms and cheeks. The strip of land he was kneeled down upon was relatively flat and the overgrown vegetation would have acted as a blockade. The pendant could not have bounced too far away from him. "Please. You can't disappear on me..."
It didn't seem to matter how long the poor child sat there combing through the sea of grass or where he moved his search to. The object had quite simply vanished without a trace, despite how impossible that seemed. Still, he continued to swim the jade sea in hopes of catching a glimpse of gold or a brush of the rope that was tied to the item's loop and it wasn't until a flower smacked him in the face that he stopped and realized where he wasn't.
"Hey!" he whined, rubbing at the eye the flower had whacked. He glanced up at the tall flower and blinked in astonishment. "Wow..."
The flower that had so kindly hit him was bathed in an iridescent purple glow that seemed to radiate straight from its core. Its soft-colored petals fanned out and overlapped each other to form a sort of cone or star shape. Lily, he thought was the name for the flower.
'It's so pretty. I didn't know flowers could glow.' he mused as he continued to stare at it in awe. He reached out a hesitant hand to gently brush his fingers against the glowing lavendar petals. They were soft to the touch. 'Mother would love this.'
The child briefly entertained the thought of plucking it from its home and bringing it back with him, but decided against it. For one, he didn't want to hurt it and two, he didn't know where home was.
A frown marred his features as this thought came to him and he let his head tilt upwards, strikingly violet eyes drinking in the canvas overhead. The sky above was painted in a radiant sunset. Shades of yellow, orange, pink, and purple streaked natural gradients across the clouds, all gradually dissolving into dark blue as the sky grew darker.
'Where am I?' he wondered, pushing himself up from the ground. He dusted the dirt off his knees and patted the dirt off his hands as best he could before allowing his attention to return to the sky. 'This place looks nothing like home. There's no sand or...anything.'
Moments before, he had been home (in his father's room, to be precise). He had actually been waiting on his father to return when his father's pendant (a sacred artifact to his people) had called out to him. The child couldn't quite explain it, honestly. There had simply been this strange, unignorable tug in his chest and an overwhelming urge to take hold of the object. Perhaps it had been the will of the gods or his imagination, but he had not ignored the ache. He had reached out for his father's pendant and the next thing the child knew, he was...here.
He blinked as a fuzzy orb of light suddenly drifted past his eyes (making him go cross-eyed for the briefest of moments) and he took a few steps back to distance himself from it. The fuzzy orb gave off a faint yellow glow and helped illuminate the ever darkening world along with the glowing flower.
"There's more..." he mumbled, eyes catching sight of more drifting light particles.
Surrounding the young boy were countless more orbs filling the area and spread out within the sea of grass were more glowing lilies. Their respective glows cast a dreamy haze over the world and kept it alight with a calming presence. It was quite an otherworldly sight and he felt at peace. It was strange, so he thought, because he felt he should probably be panicking and he wasn't. His father would certainly be proud of him for keeping his calm, at any rate.
A light breeze began to blow just then, ruffling the child's unruly, multicolored locks in gentle caresses. The grass and flowers began to gently sway to and fro and the orbs of light began to drift in the direction the breeze was blowing until they bumped against a wall of gnarled wood. The wood was attached to the thick trunk of an enormous tree. It was tall and bursting with vegetation. Its many thick branches were home to countless leaves and supple, rounded fruit hung here and there, practically waiting to be picked and eaten.
'Hm.'
He slowly began to make his way over to the overgrown tree, curiosity taking hold of him. He wasn't particularly hungry, but he couldn't say he had ever seen fruit quite like it before and he had certainly never seen a tree so massive in all his short life. He wanted a closer look. Once he reached the tree, however, he discovered (with a bit of disappointment) that the branches were too high up for him to reach. He placed his hands on his hips and stared up at the branches.
"I'll be tall enough to reach you one day." he stated, sending a small glare up at the tree.
The leaves only swayed in response.
The child sighed and let his hands fall away from his hips. He wondered if anyone back home had noticed his disappearance yet and, if they had, he hoped they weren't too worried. He did have a rather nasty tendency to wander off, after all.
'Maybe I can return home before anyone notices I'm gone. I cannot leave without the Puzzle, though. What should I do?'
He let his gaze wander down from the branches as he began to move around the base of the tree. The thing was so overgrown that portions of its roots were jutting out of the earth. Some were just high enough that he could walk under them (which he tried out with a childish sort of glee), but most were just barely sticking out of the ground and he had to be careful not to accidentally trip over one. He did well not to do so, at first, but after another run under an uprooted sliver of bark, he didn't pay attention to where he was walking and fell over backwards after tripping over a root.
"Oof!" he grunted, hitting the ground none too gently. "Ouch!"
He glanced up from his sprawled position along the ground (intending to send the tree another little glare), but merely blinked in wonder as his gaze met an identical pair of violet.
It was another person he had tripped over, not a root.
"Sorry!" the child quickly apologized as he pushed himself onto his knees. He stared up at the other person and tilted his head at him. His hair was similar to the child's and he even had the same narrowed set of eyes, but his skin was very pale and he was wearing very strange garments. The boy thought it was all a little weird (mostly the "looking alike" part), but he didn't question the obvious. "I didn't see you sitting there. What's your name?"
The stranger seated on the ground had his back to the tree. One leg was bent with an arm draped over it rather lazily and the other leg was stretched out in front of him (being what the child had actually tripped over). The man shifted his position a little and clutched at something he held near his chest protectively.
"That depends on whose asking." a deep baritone responded. That intense violet gaze was sheering a hole through the boy's head. It was almost menacing. "I have many names. Which would you prefer?"
The child blinked and then promptly frowned at the response. What kind of answer was that? He knew he had probably disturbed the man, but he didn't have to be so rude.
"My name is Atem." the child stated, deciding on introducing himself first since the stranger wanted to be cryptic. "I'm ten summers old. Now, who. Are. You?"
The stranger leaned back against the tree bark and did nothing more than stare down at the child as a lengthy silence stretched out between them. The man's features were set in a depressingly neutral expression and Atem couldn't help but shift uncomfortably. He felt like he was being silently judged by those sad eyes.
"...Yami, I suppose." he answered at last. He let out a short sigh and turned his attention back to the golden object in his hands. It was hidden too well for Atem to see what it was, but he was more curious about the stranger than what he was holding. So, it didn't matter. "My age doesn't matter anymore than my name does. Why is someone so young here by themselves? Where are your parents?"
"Uhm..."
Atem blinked at the question and shook his head a little, unsure of how to answer. His mother and father were safely tucked away at home (wherever that was) and he was fairly certain his father's pendant was what brought him here in the first place, but how could he explain any of that? The man looked like a foreigner and Atem wasn't certain if he could (or should) explain things to him. It probably wasn't a good idea. Atem didn't know him, after all.
"Mm." Yami hummed, waving a hand in the air briefly. "It's none of my business. Forget I asked."
Yami returned to staring at the object he was holding and that coupled with his overall demeanor made Atem knit his eyebrows together.
'What is wrong with him?' he wondered to himself, silently watching the elder man practically mourn over the object. 'Why is he so sad? Maybe he's lost like I am?'
"Why are you here?" Atem asked, curiosity compelling him to learn more about the stranger. "Or, I guess, how did you get here? Are there more people here, too?"
Yami ran his fingers over the surface of gold he held, the movement practically a caress.
"I don't know." he answered, not bothering to look up again.
Fair enough. Atem didn't know why he was here either and even though it made sense for there to be other people around (surely he and Yami couldn't be the only ones in the entire...wherever this place was), Yami didn't seem too concerned about finding anyone else. So, he probably wouldn't know to begin with.
"Well, how long have you been here?"
"I don't know."
Again, fair enough.
"Where do you come from?"
"I don't know."
...what?
"Do you...have a mother and father waiting for you at home?"
"I don't know."
That lifeless monotone was starting to grate on Atem's nerves. Yami didn't even sound the least bit annoyed by the onslaught of questions being thrown at him.
"...is Yami even your real name?"
"I don't know."
Atem crossed his arms in a huff. Honestly. Was there anything this Yami did know? How could he not be certain of his own name, for goodness sake?!
"Why are you so sad then? Surely you can answer that." Atem tried yet again, more than a little irritated with the situation.
At the question, there was an unpleasant shift in the air that made Atem shiver slightly. Yami stilled in his constant touches against the slate of gold and remained silent for a few moments. The gentle breeze that had started before suddenly stopped and the area was plunged into a chilling silence.
"...I lost someone very important to me." came the answer, the monotone breaking. There was such a deep sorrow in his voice now that Atem felt guilty for becoming irritated. Yami sounded like he would cry. "...I don't know if I'll ever see him again."
Atem shifted, arms uncrossing and fingers moving to fiddle with the short grass underneath him. He hadn't expected this turn of events and he wasn't certain how to approach the issue.
"Oh..." he mumbled rather lamely, at a loss for what to say. "I'm...sorry for your loss."
Yami pulled both knees to his chest and slumped against the tree base, further shielding the item from anyone's view.
"It's my fault." he continued, tone suddenly scathing. "I don't deserve anyone's pity."
"Why?"
Atem's curiosity was as much a gift as it was a curse. In this situation, it probably would have been best to not question anything further. Realizing this too late, Atem didn't think he would even receive a response, but Yami proved him wrong.
"I did something stupid and he...he sacrificed himself to save me."
'Sacrificed?'
Despite not explaining the situation, Yami managed to make it sound horrible. There had to be more to it than that, though. "Sacrificed himself" implied this person did so freely...
"Who was he?" the child asked, seeking to get to the bottom of it all. "Was he a friend or relative?"
Yami glanced up at him and let out a soft sigh.
"You ask a lot of questions." he mused, shaking his head slightly. "...Yugi...is his name. He was a very close friend of mine."
'Yugi.' Atem repeated to himself, pleased to have at least this much. It was a strange name (as was Yami's), but Atem kind of liked the sound of it. Their names flowed of his tongue with surprising ease. 'I wonder what happened. Yami doesn't seem like a bad person. He just seems really sad.'
"What was he like?"
Yami rose an eyebrow at him.
"Are you always this curious?"
"I'm a child. I'm allowed to be curious."
Yami blew out a short chuckle (much to Atem's surprise) before releasing another sigh.
"Touché." he replied. Atem had no idea what that meant, however. "If you insist, then alright."
Atem moved to seat himself in a more comfortable position, eyes aglow with wonder. Admittedly, he did love hearing stories about other people and to have managed to bring Yami out of his shell, even just a little bit, seemed like a personal victory to him.
"Hm...where to begin? There is so much I could say about him...mm. The obvious, I suppose. He was...a very kind individual and so selfless and forgiving it infuriated me at times."
A tiny, fond smile was slowly sneaking its way across Yami's lips. It made his eyes light up with an affection so strong it nearly took Atem's breath. The child didn't think Yami even had such an expression, but it certainly suited him a lot more than his neutral or angered ones.
"I can't count the number of times he's risked his own life for others. He's so brave. I've really never met anyone quite like him and I doubt I'll ever meet another. To be honest, I wouldn't want to."
Yami's gaze fell back to the trinket in his lap and he began idly rubbing a thumb against it. A shadow of despair was slowly beginning to seep its way into him and once again, Atem thought the elder man might cry.
"He's the sort of person you can spend late nights and early mornings talking to about anything. Even something silly like how the stars appear as if they're winking or how he thought the neighborhood cat was a ghost because he swears up and down he saw it walk through a wall."
Yami paused long enough to quickly swipe a hand under his eyes. Atem didn't need to see the moisture to know why Yami stopped.
"...and if someone ever needed help, even if he wasn't on particularly good terms with them, he wouldn't hesitate to go to their aid or defend them in some way. He has so many amazing qualities and...and I'll always love him. Even if he never forgives me for what I've done."
Love...
It was oddly entrancing to watch and listen to the way Yami spoke of this person he called Yugi. His eyes would narrow slightly as liquid fire pooled in his irises, smoldering with boundless affection so strong it was a miracle he could contain it. His lips would curve into the tiniest of smiles, a fondness etched so clearly that Atem would have to be blind not to notice it. Simply put, Yami's whole demeanor changed into something Atem had been unable to pin a word to it until now.
Love.
But this love Atem was seeing was a form of it he had never encountered before. Lovers, friends, cousins, siblings, parents...he knew those. But this...this was something else entirely and Atem didn't understand it. It did not fit in with the others. This was much more intense than a simple brotherly bond or one shared between friends, but it wasn't something that could be lumped together with people who loved as husband and wife do.
The child tilted his head and hummed briefly.
"He sounds like a really good person." he said, only sending Yami a quick smile when he glanced up at him. "I'd like to meet him one day. Do you think I could?"
Yami let out another short chuckle and wiped at his eyes one more.
"Maybe."
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Serena: I love using ZenWriter. Its music was seriously perfect for this story. Originally, this was going to be a one-shot, but the story ended up being longer than initially plotted. So, I figured breaking it down into chapters would be better than posting a giant thing all at once. Dunno how many it will have, tho. Maybe just one more? Iunno. But, uh, yeah. Just another thing for me to meddle with.