Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did, well, let's just say I would change a few things.
Summary: Yugi's feeling as he was dueling Atemu for the last time, sending him away permanently.
Author's Note: This is not a one-shot and I am reposting this story because I forgot to add a few notes. I will be typing this story as soon as I can and then uploading it, but for the time being I cannot because we are doing finals in school this week and next so I am short for time, but I'm working on typing up the next chapter right now!
Please review, even flames; I'd like to know how to improve my writing!
Even Kings Have to Fall
Yugi Motu's P.o.V.
I heard my yami saying something. Words directed at me. It was my move, the final move of the duel; the final duel that mou hitori no boku would ever play because I was about to win the Ceremonial Duel. This duel would not only decide the fate of the former pharaoh, Atemu, but also the fate of me and my friends. "Go on, your move," he urged me on. But how could I make my move? I desperately wanted to surrender but how could I do that to Yami?
"I don't get it, what's Yugi waiting for? All he has to do is attack and duel is over," my new friend Duke Devlin inquired.
"That's just it: when the duel comes to an end the pharaoh will be released, and we'll never see him again." At least Rhyou understood, even if partially, why I was so hesitant to tell my Silent Magician to attack. Yami, no I had to think of him as Atemu now, like he said he is no longer my darkness but another person from me. But, in my mind he would always be Yami to me.
Atemu must want me to end the duel so his soul can finally be at rest where it rightfully belongs. "Alright! Silent Magician attack his life points directly!" There was a strong gust of wind as I sent my monster to deal the final blow.
"Wait, so did Yugi win the duel?" 'Oh Duke" I thought 'I wish I hadn't but I believe I am the victor of this battle.'
"If his attack is successful then yes," Ishizu answered Duke's question. How could it be unsuccessful though? Yami… I mean Atemu, didn't have any face down cards or monsters to defend him. I couldn't take it anymore, I broke down. I collapsed to my knees and felt burning tears slide down my cheeks.
"Congratulations, well done. Yugi, a champion doesn't belong on his knees. You achieved a great victory for us both," My yami encourages me to get up off the ground. But I hadn't achieved a victory. I had known by accepting this duel I would ultimately lose. If I let Atemu win the duel, I lost and if I miraculously won the duel, then I would lose something far more important than a mere duel could ever mean to me. I would, and now will, lose my yami, my other self, mou hitori no boku. By winning this duel I've sent away the being responsible for me becoming everything I am today.
"I was focusing so hard on playing the game that I forgot what winning this duel would actually mean. By defeating you, I've sent you away, for good." 'Why had I tried to win?' I shouted at myself but a little voice in the back of my head screamed out 'You know that the pharaoh doesn't belong here, and you wanted to show him that you're strong enough to be on your own.' 'But I'm not strong enough' I retorted at the voice in my head.
"No, you have opened the door for me. Thanks to you, my spirit can finally be at rest. Once again, I'll be back where I belong. Fate brought the two of us together for a reason and then we fulfilled our destiny. We've protected man-kind from the return of the Shadow Games and we've both grown tremendously along the way." He was trying to comfort me, I could tell. But, unlike every other time he'd comforted me, it didn't work. I desperately wanted to ask if fate had a reason for ripping us apart and if so, what the reason may be. If fate had a reason to why I now would have to suffer alone, without the man who meant just about everything to me.
"I'm going to miss you." But saying that I would only miss him was like saying that Death Valley in August wasn't hot. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him, but in only minutes, I wouldn't see him ever again. 'I can't let him see what this is doing to me. How could I forgive myself if I made Yami-Atemu- feel guilty about what is best for him, and everyone, everyone except me? I have to at least try and be strong, if not for me then for Atemu.'
"You do realize we'll never truly be apart right?" Yami's words confused me. Was he not leaving in just a few short moments?
"Huh?" I expressed my utter confusion at his words.
"The gift of kindness you've given me and the courage I've given you, will remain with us and that will forever bind us together." I understood that maybe not everyone thought of Atemu as the nicest pharaoh there was but I, after knowing and being with him for almost every second of every day for more than three years, was skeptical into believing Yami could've been as cruel as he was sometimes perceived. For him to say that I, the weak and childlike Yugi Motu, could ever teach the possibly greatest person that ever has and ever will live was touching. And, Yami definitely had made me more courageous. Tough I still am a weak boy, irrelevant of what Yami says.
"Right." I understood what he was saying, although I didn't completely believe him. Then, suddenly the Eye of Wedjat began to glow.
"Hey look!" Tristan exclaimed.
"What's up with the eye?" Joey, my best friend aside from Yami of course, wondered.
"Now that the battle ritual is complete, the Eye of Wedjat that guards the door to the Spirit World has awakened and the spirit of the Great Pharaoh, which was trapped within the Millennium Puzzle for 5,000 years, is now free," Ishizu, the all knowing former owner of the Millennium Tauk and the, for but a few seconds longer the Pharaoh Atemu's tomb keeper, explained. I watched as Atemu walked up to the door, ready to leave this world, and me, forever.
"So this is it?" Tea voiced my thoughts for me. 'How could it end like this?'
"The time has arrived, tell the Eye of Wedjat your name," Ishizu told Atemu. 'How is she so calm?' I felt like someone was ripping out my heart and stepping on it repeatedly right in front of me. And that someone was Atemu, my yami, my saiaino.
"I am the son of Aknamkanon. My name is Atemu!" I heard his strong baritone voice resounding through the halls of the temple. The doors began to open. Those doors would soon take away all the happiness and confidence that Yami had given me and then we truly would be separated, forever. Atemu took a few steps towards the blinding light, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. It seemed everyone had the same thought as me.
"Pharaoh!" We all called in unison. We all even ran up to him at the same time.
"Don't go!" I wish I had the courage Tea did to plead with the Pharaoh to stay.
"So that's how it ends, huh? Nice, you think you can just show up and change everybody's life and then just leave?" Tristan said something that surprised me. I mean, I know we're friends and all, but I didn't think Tristan would say something so… so deep. I could see in the Pharaoh's eyes that he was pained deeply that everyone wasn't exactly accepting his departure. I wiped away the tears and tried to make his leaving as easy as possible on him.
"What Tristan means is we don't want to say good-bye." I hoped that those words somehow helped him move on without too much guilt. Now it was tea's turn to make a speech to Atemu.
"Exactly. Pharaoh, I know walking through that door means your spirit will finally be free and it's all for the best, but it doesn't seem fair. I mean I feel like we were all just getting to know you. In fact, you were just beginning to get to know yourself. And now, you're being taken away from us. I know we should be happy for you, but it's really hard to do that when you're losing your best friend and you just don't understand why it has to be that way." That's when she couldn't hold it in anymore and she broke down, salty tears of grief running down her rosy cheeks. I just couldn't think of anything that would take away the immense guilt imminent in my saiaino's eyes. The next thing I heard was Joey's voice, but the words that he spoke were hard to believe that anyone, let alone Joey, could think of on the spot like that. I couldn't tell if he was trying to comfort Tea or Atemu, I guess it was probably both.
"I guess there are some things we're not meant to understand. Just look at me, I go through half my life not understanding what's going on, but I know that true friends may be hard to leave, but they're impossible to forget. And even though his stay wasn't as long as we would've liked, we're lucky we knew him at all."
"Thank you Joey." Yami must have been as touched as I was at what Joey had just said. I saw Yami turn around and face the doors of the Afterlife once more.
"Hey Pharaoh! I hate to break the terrible news to you, but you're not going anywhere 'cuz everything you've given us stays right here in our hearts." I guess Joey really can be mature when the time calls for it.
"Right," Yami agreed with Joey's second little speech. It was now my turn to encourage Atemu.
"Like we always say, it's your move!" That was the last thing anyone said to him because he took one more step towards those doors, gave us the thumbs up sign and walked into the doors of the Afterlife. As he was walking, an unknown wind blew back the midnight blue leather jacket he wore and turned into his Egyptian Pharaoh's clothing. As the doors began to close, Tea attempted to run up but Joey restrained her. She then just started to cry yet again. "Well Pharaoh, good-bye." I hoped he could hear me. Suddenly, the temple began to shake and the stone walls were about to crash upon us at any moment.
"What's that?" Rhyou wondered.
"An earthquake!" Duke yelled.
"It's the Millennium Stone!" I shouted, just as the Millennium Stone, and the floor beneath it, crumbled, sealing the items away in a bottomless pit for the rest of eternity. "The items are gone!"
"And we should do the same." Joey was right, if we stayed any longer, we would be buried alongside the Pharaoh.
"Run for your lives!" yelled my grandpa.
"He's right let's go," it was the first time Mokuba had spoken in quite a while.
As we were running Tristan yelled, "Hurry!" we were running as fast as we could though, and eventually we ran up the steps and were outside Atemu's final resting place.
"Now that the Pharaoh has returned to the next world, the Millennium Items have been permanently sealed and our duty as tomb keepers is finally complete." Ishizu explained why the Millennium Stone crumbled into nothingness. I felt empty. Now, I couldn't even keep the Millennium Puzzle as a momentum of my time with the greatest pharaoh to ever live.
"So this is the end? It feels weird," Tristan stated simply and I couldn't agree more. Wasn't there always supposed to be a happy ending?
"Yeah," Joey agreed solemnly.
"What were you geeks expecting?" Of course, one of Seto's greatest flaws had always been not knowing when his pompous attitude is permitted and when it is time to just be nice or shut up. Now was one of those times as we were grieving over the loss of one of our dearest friends.
"Fireworks, sappy music, somethin', at least make one of your little wrap up speeches Yuge." 'Umm… well that was unexpected, well, I have something.'
"Well, sometimes, the ending of one adventure is just the beginning of another."
"Ahh, much better," said Joey simply. I had to allow myself a laugh, just one short chuckle.
"I think we better start to head back." Rhyou was right, we were still in school after all. In a few hours we were aboard a plane, heading back to Domino City, back to our lives. We may have the same number of bodies as when we arrived but in spirit, our numbers were one less now.