I started this last year and decided to put it on hold because I would never finish it by 9/11/2012. So, I finished it this year. Atem's "calling" line at the beginning comes from Peter Pan. This fic was more or less two fics merged into one. I own nothing.

Words: 2,431

Rating: T (Character Death, implied gore)

Pairings: Vanishshipping, slight peach

Calling

It was quiet aboard the cruise ship like vessel. All of the passengers had long since fallen into fitful slumbers, dreaming of the coming day. Though, one of the passengers was awake. He crept along the dark hallways like a cat, giving off no noise and hiding in the shadows. He should have been in his room building his deck. He should have been preparing himself for the coming day. His last day. But he was not.

He had to see her. He had to tell her goodbye. She had come to Yugi earlier but his lighter self had turned her away. All for the better, Atem had thought. He knew that Yugi had long since gone to a far off and dark corner of their mind. Atem was utterly alone, or as close as he could be in this body. And that was good because he did not want an audience for this goodbye.

He knocked quietly on her door. He was given no reply, but that did not stop the former Pharaoh. He silently opened her door and snaked in. Closing the door behind him, his eyes went to the view before him. Anzu lay on her bed, curled onto her side and clutching a plush Happy Lover to her chest. The silvery moonlight made her coloring appear bleached out. However, it did nothing to stunt her beauty in his eyes.

He went to her bed quietly and kneeled beside it. Atem carefully reached out a hand and using his slender and pale fingers, he softly brushed aside her auburn hair. Her noise twitched in response.

"I am too late it seems," he murmured. "You have already fallen asleep."

He leaned closer to her and ever so gently, brushed his lips across her cheek. He longed to kiss her lips, but it would be pointless to if she could not respond to him. He pulled away, his crimson eyes drinking in every last detail of the girl he would leave his heart with.

"Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me calling," he breathed before standing and leaving her to her slumber.

However, if he had lingered a moment more, he would have seen the fluttering of her azure eyes and her croon of "Atem…"

Two and a half years later.

Time is an odd entity. It can pass in blurs or it can drag by so slow that it can seem to last for millennia. Occasionally, twenty year old Anzu Mazaki would pause and think over the past two years of her life. It had passed by in a blur. She could go into her memory and pick out an instance, say the time she was named the season's Swan Queen, and examine it. But, it was like watching a movie. She wasn't quite sure it was her. Certainly, the blue eyed beauty she saw in her memory was her, but she could not emotionally understand it. How had she gotten there? What had she done afterwards? It often gave her a headache if she focused too hard.

And she wasn't sure when her memory had started to fail her. Or when life had started speeding up like a roller coaster after the first gut wrenching drop. Maybe it had been after she had graduated high school. Or maybe as she and her friends stood outside Atem's tomb in Egypt as it crumbled away, taking every last trace of him out of their lives and from the world.

Yes, she assumed. That is when it happened. Her memory began speeding up from there. Almost as if as soon as the desert had stilled and Yugi's voice faded from the wind, she strapped on the protective belts of the coaster.

And now, as she rode the bus towards lower Manhattan, she couldn't help but wonder why life was suddenly slowing down. Why her senses were perked. She hadn't felt this…alive since leaving Japan. She leaned her head against the cool window. Maybe it was because she was on a mini adventure. Since she was a foreigner, she needed a Visa to legally live in New York and dance. For some reason, her Visa had yet to go through even though she had been there nearly a year and a half; thus, she found herself seeking legal assistance.

The bus rolled to a stop and Anzu excused herself from the seat. She followed the line of people that exited the vehicle and joined the crowd that swarmed the sidewalks of New York. She had grown used to the speed and tempo of the Big Apple. With a smile on her face, she headed towards the tall buildings about a block away.

She entered behind a group of business people. As they went their separate ways, she made her way to the information desk in the center of the ground floor. She smiled at the woman sitting behind the desk. "Hello, I'm look for Mr. Smith's office. He's in office 95-B12. I think that means the 95th floor, but I'm not sure," her tone was polite, but also held a question.

The America women smiled; her teeth perfectly straight and white against her red lips. "You're right, miss. Just take the elevator to your left," she said as she pointed to the said elevator. "There'll be another reception desk when the doors open. Just ask for his office."

Anzu bowed her head and pledged her thanks before heading towards the elevator. She entered it with another group of business people; three men and two women. The elevator gave a jerk as it began its escalation. Anzu was slightly surprised at how it felt a little faster than others she had ridden in before, but assumed it was due to the amount of stories it had to travel. The girl watched the numbers climb. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10….

A man swore under his breath and Anzu gazed over at him. He looked up from his bare wrist to the woman beside him. "Ma'am, do you have the time? I left my watch at home."

She nodded as she gazed down at the dainty silver watch upon her wrist. "Yes, sir. It's 8:43," she smiled.

"Thank you," he replied.

Anzu's sights returned once more to the numbers. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17…It was almost nine. She hoped that her business would be concluded soon. She had a dance lesson at ten thirty. Maybe her teacher would forgive her if she was late. After all, she could not dance if she did not have her Visa. Then again, she knew that some dance instructors were fickle. Worry began to build in her stomach. She wished she had not eaten breakfast.

Suddenly the elevator's movements seemed too fast as her head began to ache. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,….

'Anzu…'

Her head jerked up and she glanced around. Had someone just…? Impossible. These people were strangers. None of them knew her. And even if they recognized her from the play bills, she went by an American name. Her mother was European and her father was Japanese. Her English looks helped her to make it in New York and her manager said it would help her greatly if she went by an American name. The only time foreign names would help her would be if she went for The Lion King.Thus, she found herself taking her mother's maiden name of Gardner and picking the English name of Tea. She never understood why exactly her Japanese name would have any affect on her the public saw her, but she had heard whispers that the man overseeing everything was a tad racists towards Japanese. Apparently, his father or something had died in Pearl Harbor. She had not liked that. She wasn't even alive in 1941.

Regardless, someone had said her name.

'Don't be scared…'

Scared? Why would she-

The elevator came to a relentless stop on floor 85. Anzu nearly lost her footing along with the others. Nervous murmurs started around her and a loud grinding noise sounded from above. Screams and heat slammed against the lift and everyone inside collapsed as the elevator jerked down a floor. Anzu reached into her purse for her cell phone. She flipped it open to read the time. 8:46. She began to push the buttons for 911 when another call blinked onto her screen.

"Yugi?" She questioned as she pressed the call button.

"Anzu, I-"

Suddenly, the elevator's roof gave out a creak of despair before caving in…smoke, fire, and debris plummeted down onto those inside. "YUGI!" Anzu screamed.

XXX

Across the world in Japan, Yugi sat in his bed, his cell clutched between his fingers as tears poured from his eyes. "Anzu! Anzu!" He cried pitifully. Her beautiful face blinked on the screen in the caller ID box. Below the tiny image were the words Anzu Called End 8:47.

XXX

Anzu opened her eyes. Breathing heavily, she sat up. She could barely see through the thick smoke. She moved her hand through the dirt below her, seeking her phone. Her hand brushed something. But it wasn't her cell. It was soft. Turning to her left, the smoke cleared like magic and her eyes rested on a still and bloody body. "Oh my god. Somebody help!"

On reflex, she reached out and attempted to help the girl. Anzu's hands passed through the girl's bloody and charred shoulder. "Wha…"

It was then Anzu noticed the girl's pink cell phone –Anzu's pink cell phone- clutched in her hand…The screen was cracked and the there was no way the phone would ever been usable again, but Anzu would know that faded pink color and the tiny Kuriboh charm anywhere. "Oh my god. I'm dead." The words came out in a rush as if she had not completely processed the body or the words. Anzu sat back on her bottom and examined the –her- corpse. Besides the burns from the fire that must have gone out during the plummet to the ground floor mixed with the dust created by the insulation and dry wall, a piece of metal was lodged into her chest. It wasn't very thick or long, but it was sharp and precise.

Anzu swallowed. There really was no point. Since she was dead (a thought she would muse over later), there was no lump in her throat, there was no saliva in her mouth…It was another reflex. It amazed her how much she still resembled herself. Fleetingly, she wondered if this was how Atem had felt. It was silly to think of him here, but-

Atem. The voice.

Lurching to her feet with a quickness she never possessed in life, she turned away from her body and glanced up. She was shocked to see the sky. The building was destroyed. It was gone. She was gone.

However, that didn't stop her from calling out to him. "Atem!" Had he known? Was that what he was trying to tell her? What about Yugi? Yugi had called and-

Her knees buckled. Yugi…Honda…Miho…Her friends…Her parents…Her role…She would never have them. They were gone to her. She dropped down to her knees. The rocks and bits of metal did not hurt or faze her. Leaning over, she braced herself on her hands. Tremors passed through her and she coughed, but no bile came out.

It seemed she would not dwell over her death later…She would dwell now…

XXX

He knew it would happen. Anubis had come to him earlier and told him. The god had almost seemed pleased. There was little Atem could do. His Shadow Powers had shrunken down to measly party tricks. However, he had been able to tell Yugi…

"Call Anzu," he had said. "Tell her how you feel."

He had been able to communicate with Anzu. But, again, there was little he could to do warn her. It was forbidden to mettle in the course of time. And by the time Atem had learned her fate, she was already in that cursed building…Talking to the woman who had made it out…Talking to the woman who would live to a ripe, old age with grandchildren and a loving husband. Anibus had told him that the woman would die in her sleep at age ninety-two.

Atem knew it was fickle to hate this woman. She had done nothing to him or Anzu. In fact, the reason he had fought all of those battles was so that people could marry, have children, and die in peace. More importantly, though, he had done it for his friends. He had done it for Anzu, Yugi, and the others. He wanted them to be happy. And now…now they would grieve for one more friend.

Anzu would need help crossing over. He knew that much from his final death.

The former prince materialized behind her doubled over form. If he had a heart, it would have skipped a beat; he was upset that she was in agony and he was happy to see her again. Granted, he wished he could have seen her under better circumstances.

"Anzu," he called softly.

The girl froze briefly before slowly looking over her shoulder and spying him. Her eyes…those oceanic eyes he loved so much…widened. "Atem," she mumbled back, her voice cracking on tears that would not fall. If it was possible, Atem was sure her eyes would glaze over with tears and she would sob.

Finding that she could not sob, Anzu scrambled to her feet and did the one thing she knew would get her emotions across. She sprinted the short distance to him and threw her arms around him. She did not pass through him like she had passed through her body. Instead, she contacted with him like she would have contacted with Yugi while she was alive. He was solid. He was real.

"Atem," she gasped before burrowing her head into his neck.

In the past when Anzu had hugged him, he had been slow to return it. But, now he clutched the girl to him tightly, a hand reaching up to tangle into the silken locks of chocolate. For the first time in years, Atem felt at home.

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children." -President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001