AN: Hello!

Welcome to Set The Stars In Motion, my non-crack Synchroshipping series.

I really don't have much to say here. Not at this point anyway.

Just note the following:

- Slight AU, as in this Yuugi and Atem have seperate bodies as a result of what happened after the ceremonial duel (it will later be explained in this fanfiction)
- Will be a MATURE fic. The rating will change when this occurs
- Each chapter switches from Atem's POV to Yuusei's.

I hope you enjoy.

Set The Stars In Motion

Chapter One - Atem
Shadows

Nothing had been ordinary about my day.

First being with a grieving Yuugi after watching his grandfather die in the city square. Then being tossed back in time and meeting two duelists from the future. Then Paradox and a duel with Judai and Yuusei... Winning and returning everything back to normal. Eventful, hmm? Well it certainly wasn't the day I'd hoped for, but Aibou was happy to have ojii-san alive and the world was in order. That was what mattered.
Perhaps the whole thing was just boggling. Sure, I had survived inside the Millennium Puzzle for thousands of years. But time was such a strange concept to me still. How did we travel through time that way? How were things just... okay again? If anything, I'd come to learn that time was something far too complicated and delicate to be solved so easily. Duel or no duel, Paradox had to leave scars somewhere, didn't he? I couldn't look forward to be certain of Judai and Yuusei's fate. I could only look at my own world and my own time and simply hope that all was well. No murders, to destruction, no sudden change of events or any of that sort. Aibou insisted that it was okay but I was still not convinced of this. Not when I closed my eyes and felt the tendrils of ancient shadows lingering near my heels and just slipping into my peripheral vision from time to time. A hunting, chilling, terrible feeling that would crawl up my spine and slide between my ribs to grip my heart until it hurt to breathe. It made me want to abandon my own skin. I wanted to scream in both agony and frustration. What was wrong? Why was this suddenly happening?

"Mou hitori no boku?"

I rolled onto my stomach and opened one eye to gaze around the empty bedroom. Aibou was calling from downstairs.
I'd gone down for a nap due to feeling sick to my stomach after an anxiety attack. The attack had been sudden and violent, completely unexpected for me. I wasn't one to fall victim to such things, so why now? Again, I could only assume the worst right now. It looked to be nearly night, the sky a colour somewhere between a midnight blue and a violet. A pretty colour, really. Sometimes the streaks of purple reminded me of Aibou's eyes. Eyes that had never been my own when we had shared his body. I could recall occasionally glancing at the mirror and wondering who the stranger was. Perhaps in our separate bodies we looked alike, but my eyes could never match Aibou's in colour or gentleness. They could never unsee what I had seen. They were not pure eyes like his. Stained red like the blood of those lost in my time, I found shame to know these were not the eyes of an innocent man.

I rolled out of bed and made my way down the stairs when Aibou called once more. He didn't sound worried, though I did detect... anxiousness? Concern? It was a little hard to tell. My mind was too foggy and distracted by other things to focus on his tone enough.
I rounded the corner to find him at the front door. "Aibou, what are...?" My voice faltered. All the breath seemed to be sucked out of me as if stuck in the gut by a heavy object. A battered Yuusei stood at the door, helmet cracked and skin covered in a rainbow hue of cuts and bruises. He had those same shadows around him and they ran through me like a hot knife. I recovered once the shadows dispersed, but not before I saw the worry on Aibou's face.

"Yuusei? Why are you here?" I asked.

"I can't get back to my own time. Paradox... I don't know what happened. My duel runner went through some sort of rift or tear... I don't know." He leaned against the doorframe with a heavy sigh. I could now see the thin trail of blood on his arm and dripping onto the welcome mat. "I managed to get here. It was the best I could do."

The dark pressure in my chest returned and I swallowed the hard lump in my throat.
I was right. Paradox had left a scar in time.

"Mou hitori no boku?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Yuusei needed our help right now. I placed Yuusei's arm around my shoulders and supported his weight by keeping a firm hold on his waist. I guided him to the guest room while Aibou fetched the first aid kit. I didn't think Yuusei's injuries were too severe with the exception of the deep gash on his left arm. I convinced him to lay down and remove his jacket to show us the extent of the damage. I stepped back while Aibou tended to he cuts.
"Can you tell us what happened?" he asked Yuusei, wrapping his cut knuckles.

"I'm not really sure."

I took a seat on the chair in the corner of the room in an attempt to gather my thoughts. But I was too distracted and unnerved by Yuusei's appearance and story to let my mind calm itself. "What's the last thing you remember?" I asked.

"Falling off my duel runner," he said quietly, wincing as Yuugi cleaned the deep cut on his arm. "I brought Judai back to his time. And when I tried to to get back to my own... It was weird. It sort of just rippled and then it was an explosion. I was thrown out of the loop and I crashed here. That's honestly all I remember. But it's like I'm time-locked. I couldn't go back or forwards at all. Crashed twice trying," he muttered. "That's all."
His eyes moved across the room to where I sat. I met his gaze for a moment and then frowned. "What are you thinking?" I asked.

"Paradox."

I looked down at my knees, hands balling into tight fists. "I've been thinking the same thing," I muttered. "Something happened. Something has changed even if we don't see it now."

"Mou hitori no boku..."

I looked over at Yuugi. He looked concerned. Worried.
"Atem, have you noticed anything different."
"It's just a feeling," I whispered. "I've sensed things. Shadows that I haven't sensed in... in a very long time. Not since the puzzle was in pieces. It's almost as if something is fractured. A piece is missing." Before either could speak, I stood and made my way from the room. I needed to think. I needed to have a moment to just be on my own as the crushing weight of the shadows began to press down on my chest once more.

I needed to be alone.
I had to subject myself to one of my worst fears. Solitude.

-xxxx-

Crushing. Suffocating.

They grabbed me, beat me, cut me, stabbed me, and devoured me. Punished me.
I was nothing. They treated me like nothing.

I think I sobbed. I'm not really sure to be honest. I just know that it hurt.

Worthless. Useless. Pathetic.

Death.

"Stop it!" I screamed, clawing at my ears and trying to force the shadows to stop their whispering. They seemed to be inside, feeding off of my energy. I felt the cold bite in my heart, my lungs and my throat while I yelled. The more pain I felt the hungrier they became. The more vicious the bites.
Thrashing was useless. They held me too tight and soon I couldn't feel my fingers. My hands. My arms... I was slipping away into emptiness. Deeper into darkness until not even my own screams could pull me from the hell I was being dragged into.

I woke with a start.

I clutched my chest and looked wildly around the room until my eyes found a figure I hadn't expected to see. Yuusei was sitting at the desk across from the bed, just watching me.
"What-"
"You were screaming. Yuugi-san is out right now so I came to see what was going on." His fingers adjusted the reading lamp while I caught my breath, still disoriented from my dream. I felt the cold sweat all over my body and it made my skin crawl. I wanted to peel off my own skin and throw it away. Perhaps the shadows would leave me be if I did that.

"Maybe Paradox went back further," said Yuusei quietly. He touched the globe on the desk and spun it slowly. "I won't let myself sit here and be stuck in a time that isn't my own. I need to know what happened to my time. To my friends. What matters to me now is figuring out what Paradox did, and we have no of knowing where he is or where in time he may have gone to. But we'll have to do something. Start somewhere. I won't just pretend this isn't happening."
Yuusei stood and moved toward the bed. He looked down at me with a hard stare, the shock blue of his eyes cutting through me as if I were paper. It was strange to be looked at this way. To be studied. Aibout never did such things, and even Kaiba didn't match such a powerful stare.
I felt a shiver go up my spine when his eyes narrowed.

"I need your help, Atem. I know that much."

And then he was gone. Just like that – out the door and heading down the hall.

I pulled my shirt off and tossed the damp article of clothing toward the hamper without much care if it made its mark or not.

He was right, of course. But I couldn't dwell on it right now. Sleep was too tempting even if terrifying.
I surrendered to the hold once more.

The nightmare returned.

-xxxx-

I rested a hand against the window, looking down into the back area where Yuusei was trying to fix his duel runner. It was the early hours of the morning, and the sky was still dark. I made my way outside, taking care to be quiet so as not to wake Aibou. I stepped into the cool morning air and took a deep breath. Yuusei looked back at me and only gave a short nod before he resumed his task.
I stepped close after a moment and looked down at the runner. It was still such a strange thing to see. Duel monsters of such things... What a bizarre change to the game.

"Look at the sky."

I blinked in surprise but didn't question the words. I looked up and found myself staring at a pattern of stars I'd never seen before. It was overwhelming, almost. Star clusters and patterns I had never seen on any other night.

"They've changed," I said quietly.
"Yeah."
"This is bigger than we think it is... isn't it?"
Yuusei gave a snort.

My attention returned to him and I took a seat on the ground a foot or so away. I wish I'd brought a sweater out, but hopefully the soon-rising sun would warm me.

"Whatever Paradox did is bigger than everything, Atem. Bigger than just you and me. The stars are different. The world we live on is different than from what it was just yesterday. Are you prepared to deal with what that might mean for us?"
Yuusei turned to face me. He leaned forward on his knees and closed his eyes after a moment. Though I had only known him for a short period of time I already respected him. Not just as a duelist, but as someone who was like me now. He was in the wrong time. Trapped. Lost. I felt for that reason I could trust him and believe in him. Yuusei had no reason to lead me astray. He wanted to go home and restore the proper sequence of events in time just as I wanted to do now.
Yuusei was the only one who would be able to understand.

"We can start at the library tomorrow. Maybe there's documents or something," I suggested.

Yuusei nodded and resumed his work. We sat in silence for several minutes. The sky was beginning to lighten and the stars were fading from my sight.

"It's sad. I wish the sky was always this beautiful," said Yuusei, looking up once more. "I wonder why they changed."

"I'm going to get you home, Yuusei."
I don't know why I suddenly said those words. Why did I make a reckless promise? Perhaps it was because Yuusei deserved it. Or maybe I just wanted him to feel secure when I could not with such fear and darkness surrounding me.
"I promise you that much."

"We'll start tomorrow then," he replied simply. "Hopefully there's something."

"I hope so, Yuusei. Otherwise I don't know what we'll do."