The young boy lay on his knees, shaking with tears. "Yugi," a soft voice said comfortingly while placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be on your knees, you won, you should be happy."
Yugi sniffled. He raised his head to look his Yami in the eyes. "How can I? It's all over, and I won't get to see you anymore!" His head fell, and the tears started flowing faster now. "Aibou, I'll never really leave, I'll still be with you in spirit." Yami assured the younger boy, pulling Yugi's chin up so he could look in his eyes.
"But it's not the same!" Yugi cried, throwing himself in Yami's arms. Yugi kept crying, thoroughly wetting Yami's shirt. "Shh, Aibou," Yami whispered, stroking Yugi's hair. "It will be alright. You've become stronger with me here, and I know that if I'm still here, I'll just hold you back from your true potential. You've surpassed me Yugi."
Yugi bit his lip, trying not to cry. "Say your true name, and the doors will open!" said Ishizu. Yami walked in front of the doors that would grant him access to the afterlife. "My name is Atem!" he said with confidence. The whole room shook, and the doors slowly opened, revealing a blinding light coming from whatever was behind them.
"Don't ever forget us okay?" Anzu said through her tears. "We'll always be friends!" Jounouchi shouted happily even though he was tearing up as well. Yami smiled and nodded his head. He started walking towards the opening in the door.
No…no, it can't end like this…! Yugi quickly brought himself to his feet and ran towards the pharaoh. Yami heard Yugi's footsteps and turned around but barely got a glimpse of him and Yugi ran into the gap in the door. "What? Yugi, wait!" Yami yelled and raced towards the doors, but a dark shape pressed him backwards. "Yugi! Wait!" Yami got to the doors, but it was too late. The doors were closed and Yugi was gone.
Everyone stood around the doors in shock. What had just happened? Yami was still in the present, but Yugi had gone to the afterlife. Yami walked towards the doors again, and said, "My name is Atem." The doors didn't open. "I said, my name is Atem!" Yami started pounding on the doors, repeating his name over and over again, trying to get the doors to open back up.
"Atem, stop!" Marik grabbed Yami's shoulders and pulled him away from the doors. "The doors only open once for each person. You can't open the doors again, I'm sorry." Yami broke away from Marik's grip and slumped to the stone floor. His mind was blank except of the thought, How could I have let him do that? I could have stopped him, I could have!
But couldn't think even that for too long because Yami felt a breeze go by, then a cold arm wrapped around his throat. "Wha-" Yami said but was cut off by a silver knife that was pressed to his lips.
"Anyone moves and he's dead!" said someone from above Yami's head. I know that voice…
"Bakura!" Jounouchi shouted. "I thought you were gone for good!"
"Bakura, let him go!" Anzu's voice.
"Ha! Why should I? He only just ruined all of my plans!" Bakura pressed the knife harder on Yami's mouth.
"Bakura, how are you even here!?" Marik asked. "The pharaoh killed you in his memories!"
"Yes of course he did, I was there! I remember! But you should know better than anyone else where souls go when their bodies are discarded, Tombkeeper. Hm, let's take a guess. Anyone?" Bakura looked around at the circle of people. No one offered any guesses. "Oh well, I guess I'll just tell you. When a soul is prepared to go to the afterlife, it must go through a little test if you will, to determine if it gets to continue its' journey to the afterlife."
"This test is where the lord of the dead, Anubis, will weigh your sins against the feather of righteousness on a scale. And if your soul is clean, you get to continue to the afterlife. But, if your sins fall on its' side of the scale, your soul is devoured by Ammit, Anubis's pet demon. As you can imagine, there is quite a long waiting line to get to this test, what with so many people dying every day. I was in that line, but I escaped and took a 'shortcut' to the afterlife. Then I just had to find the exit, which were these doors, and wait for an opportunity to get out. Any more questions?"
"Yes," Ishizu said stepping towards Bakura. "Why are you here now? You could have just stayed in the afterlife and had a peaceful rest of eternity."
Bakura looked down at Yami and grinned. "Well, like any good villain, I had to get my revenge." Yami's eyes went wide.
"Bakura, please wait! We can negotiate here." Ishizu said.
"Negotiate? Ha!" Bakura scoffed. "You have nothing I want!"
"I beg to differ," Marik said. "Atem going back to the afterlife was a special case, he had trapped his soul in the Millennium Items and was able to manipulate the Items to get in. You, on the other hand, are just a soul that has come to the realm of the living without a means to travel back to the afterlife. In short, you're trapped here now."
Bakura's eyes widened. "But I'm sure that if you release Atem, we can figure something out." Marik said. Bakura glared at Marik, and Marik looked back with a cold stare. "Tch," Bakura grumbled and let Yami fall onto the stone. Jounouchi ran up to him and pulled him away from Bakura. "Fine! You've got me then!" No one moved. "Well, what do you want me to say?! 'I'm at your mercy, please spare me?' Because that is never going to happen!"
In truth, no one really knew what to do. They had all thought that it was going to be over after this. Atem goes to the afterlife, and everyone else would get on the boat back to Japan. That's it. No one had expected this. Rishid stepped forward and grabbed Bakura's arms and led him up the stone stairs to the cars that they had arrived in. He didn't protest.
Everyone else followed them, Marik and Yami bringing up the end. "I'll follow you out, I…I want to-" Yami struggled for words. Marik placed his hand on Yami's shoulder. "I'll be waiting at the top of the stairs." Marik whispered, a knowing smile on his face. He turned around and started towards the stairs. When Marik's feet disappeared from Yami's sight, he turned and walked up the steps to the doors of the afterlife. He walked around the rubble that was once the Millennium Tablet, it and the Items that it held sunken into the ground. He blinked and continued towards the doors. He placed a hand on them, and after a moment of silence, he whispered, "I'll be back, and I'll rescue you. No matter how long it takes." Yami closed his eyes and swallowed a sob. "I promise."