Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
This little thing was dumped by one of my more energetic plot bunnies. I've never had a fic write itself so fast and easy. Hope you'll like it.
The fic starts after the end of the manga since I was never happy with how it ended. But this is a try to at least keep the canon as much as possible. Only AU after the manga... is that AU at all? XD;;;
Chapter 1: Night Everlasting
It still hurt. Not as much as before, but it still hurt. He didn't think the pain would ever go away. The loss had been too deep, too heart wrenching in the way when you lose something that's as important as your very life.
Yuugi looked up at the silky darkness above, seeing no clouds but yet the slow flutter of white stubbornly continued, smothering the night in overwhelming fluffy cold.
He wished he could see the stars. He could remember they had looked like a sea of diamonds in the Dreamworld. Sighing, the multi-hued haired youth steered his feet back towards home again, boots dragging in the already inch-deep layer of snow, breath fogging in front of his face with every warm exhalation.
Was this it? Was this all there was to the rest of his life?
Empty?
He knew of course that it only felt empty. He still had all his friends, and he couldn't have been happier with Katsuya's support and friendship. The blond filled the void as well as no one else could.
Unfortunately, the void was still there.
He had a lot to thank Anzu for too, but in the end they hadn't been enough. They had been together for a while, lasting almost a whole year before they broke up. They were both looking for something else... the same thing actually.
Yuugi shook his head, sending snowflakes dancing in the air as he disturbed them from their rest on his spikes, trying to dislodge these thoughts.
But they always came back when he was alone. That it wasn't enough, that something fundamental, something he had had but now were lost, was gone.
And the hole it had left could just not be filled.
A mitten-clad hand strayed to where the Puzzle used to hang from its chain, and that felt empty too.
Missing.
He knew you had to grow up, but how could this be part of it?
He had been whole, dammit!
Had felt the reassuring warmth of his soul being one again, and then it had been ripped apart, again.
Light fell sharply across the pavement for a few steps before it darkened slightly again, Yuugi having moved out of the streetlamp's immediate reach, plunging him into cold, but somehow comforting shadows once more.
And, despite having been treated less than stellar by his other half, Ryou was the only one who really understood.
He was the only one who'd felt that oneness, that feeling of being whole again, of getting back something you didn't even know had been missing, and then, in the end, having it ripped away.
They had both become much closer than before, shared pain and all that.
Warmth and light suddenly flowed over the short young man like a wave of water, almost physical in its intense presence and Yuugi looked up, amethyst eyes locking onto the blond in the doorway.
He couldn't help but smile brightly at his friend, the freezing cold of his dark thoughts being chased away by that one person's familiar presence.
"Jounouchi-kun! You came!" Yuugi laughed and launched himself at Katsuya, hugging him hard around the waist.
"Ow! Yuugi! Of course I came! Can't let my friend down, now can I? You've got a firm grip there." Katsuya grinned and stepped back, forcing Yuugi to come inside the game shop if he didn't want to be dragged.
"Yuugi, you're back in good time. You didn't get too cold, did you?"
The youth smiled at the concern in his grandpa's voice and shook his head.
"No, Jii-chan, I'm fine. It's warm in here. Oh, Bakura-kun! You came too."
The albino boy nodded and smiled slightly, silently thanking Yuugi for the invite to join him and his grandpa for Christmas.
His father hadn't come home this year either, and the apartment seemed so empty. Especially now that he truly was alone... But Yuugi had known it wasn't just because his father wouldn't be home for Christmas that was the reason he had been down lately. So he'd been invited to celebrate Christmas with Yuugi, and apparently
Jounouchi had gotten an invitation too. Ryou wasn't going to ask why. They all had their problems and secrets.
The night progressed cheerfully, all thoughts of loss, missing things, and problematic family banished from their minds, instead it was all filled with laughter, warmth and cheer, friends and family being close.
"Jii-chan?" Yuugi frowned at the envelope tied with a bright red-and-green ribbon and was addressed to both him and Ryou.
"Go on, open it. I have discussed with Isis and she thought it was a good idea... maybe it will help." Sugoroku said with a gentle smile, sympathy deep in the dark eyes lodged amongst the wrinkles.
Both youths frowned at each other, and then shrugged. They were even more confused as it turned out to be plane tickets. To Egypt.
"Jii-chan..?" Yuugi's voice was a whisper, he couldn't help it. Feeling welled up just at seeing the name of the country where his other had gotten peace, and where he lost the other half of his soul.
One of Ryou's pale hands were gripping his arm, but that was all right. They both needed the support. An old, wrinkled hand settled on Yuugi and Ryou's shoulders respectively and both boys looked up, meeting Sugoroku's concerned gaze.
"You need to settle this. It needs to be fixed. This can't be how it was supposed to end! Not if it means I have to see my grandson and one of his friends falling apart silently, loosing their light slowly but surely."
Yuugi had cried when his other had to leave, but he wouldn't cry now, not yet, but he hugged his grandpa tightly, eyes squeezed shut. Maybe it could be changed, or fixed somehow. Maybe he'd get the missing half of him back.
When the two young men stepped off the plane and were slammed with the wave of dry heat they knew they were, maybe not home, but close enough.
The on-runway bus that took them to the terminals was hot and stuffy, but it didn't matter.
They were in Egypt.
The energy fairly swirled around them, filling them with an internal glow that was familiar. Both almost missed it because of the familiarity, but they looked up at the same time, startled, when they realized it was Shadow magic they were feeling.
The energies of the Shadow Realm were dancing around them, caressing them in welcoming waves. And it did feel welcoming, as if the Shadow Realm had waited for them to come back. But was that good, or bad?
"Mutou! Bakura! Over here!"
Ryou and Yuugi looked around from their trolley and its immediate course to see Malik Ishtar, his sister Isis, and their foster brother/servant Rishid stand close to a row of seats, apparently having waited for them.
"Malik-kun, nice to see you again. Isis-san." Yuugi and Ryou bowed, somehow feeling much better already, but if it was because they were about to do something about their predicament, or because they were in Egypt where it all began and ended, or maybe even because of the Shadows' welcoming, they couldn't say.
"It is nice to see you again. I hope we can do something." Isis said with a smile before gesturing for them to start walking.
Yuugi grinned, feeling the happiest he'd been in a long time now, redirected his attention towards Ryou and Malik and all three young men grappled with the recalcitrant trolley to get it to go where they wanted it to; the wheels seemed to want to go in one direction each.
And despite their history, this somehow made it easy to forget it, or ignore it, whichever, and just bond.
Stretching out endlessly above them were the night sky of Egypt, cloud-free and infinite, the stars all as bright as far-away supernovas. The air was still warm, but definitely cooler than it had been before, more of a comforting hug than a smothering woolen blanket.
Yuugi, Malik and Ryou were lying on the balcony to the apartment the three Ishtars were living in now, looking at the sky but not really saying anything, only a comment here and there being felled, and all of them clearly avoiding the reason for why they were here.
It's easy to jinx a good thing and besides, it should all have been over and done with over a year ago, and yet they were here, the shadows of memory casting an almost oppressive weight over their minds.
"Don't worry, when the gods' see what this is doing to you, I'm sure they will allow some kind of change." Malik muttered, the sentence coming out slowly, almost as if it was being dragged out of him.
Ryou tipped his head to the side and smiled thankfully at the sandy blond Egyptian.
"Thank you Malik-kun. It means a lot to us."
Malik didn't answer, just shifted nervously, a sneer stretching his lips as he looked up at the brilliant night sky again. Yuugi and Ryou smiled at each other, easily understanding that Malik wasn't used to helping them, or anyone for that matter, and was actually trying to make them feel better, how uneasy it made him feel or how unused he may be to it non-withstanding.
"Hey, Malik-kun?" Yuugi's voice drifted lazily over the soft wind brushing over their skin as the boy rolled over so he was laying on his side and facing Malik.
"Yeah?"
"Have you been practicing your dueling?"
Malik grinned and nodded, sitting up.
"Of course I have. You game, Mutou?"
With a mischievous laugh, Yuugi nodded, blonde bangs bobbing. Ryou grinned and sat up too, ready to follow the duel.
"I get the loser." He said, leaning his chin in the palms of his hands while his elbows rested on his knees, white hair slipping over his shoulders as he leaned forward.
Youthful laughter drifted upwards towards the sky, the energies of the Shadow Realm swirling in subtle eddies and currents around the three gifted boys, all of them feeling it and knowing that with just the smallest of pushes, the duel could be very real indeed.
This made all three nervous, as the Shadow Realm should supposedly be more settled now, and excited all at once. They were apparently gifted with the touch of Shadows even without their Items, which made them feel good.
They weren't as everybody else, and would never be.
But in the back of Ryou and Yuugi's mind a question was clear; why hadn't they felt the energies of the Shadow Realm back in Japan?
Deep inside the Shadow Realm three beings stirred, having been roused by the presence of such powerful souls connected to the Shadow Realm. But all three could also feel the discordance around the two young souls; they were breaking, even if it wasn't very apparent.
And by the very virtue of what they were, this was a very bad thing indeed. Balance is needed in everything, and if the light in a soul breaks and is flooded by darkness, especially two souls such as gifted as these two boys' were, the consequences could be serious.
"This cannot continue. We did not know the consequences of allowing the darker halves of the Pharaoh and the thief their rest, but it is apparent the balance is being disrupted." The first being, large and slender, a long shadow curling in the darker surroundings, said silently.
Well, 'said', might have been the wrong word, since it was more of a distant bellow, the sound only like a whisper because it seemed to come from so far away. The second one, glowing slightly in short flashes, inclined its head. Heat seemed to rise from its' strangely metallic surface.
"Agreed. While the darkness that once disrupted us has been taken care of, the Guardians of Shadow are severely affected by having been joined, and then torn apart again. Our judgment was not satisfactorily in this instance." The low rumble of the second being's voice was comforting, like the purring of a giant cat, or maybe a very large, but far-away engine. The third one waved its hand in a surprisingly graceful movement, with a thought to how large the thing was.
"And as the Shadows have not been sealed away, and the Guardians not whole, they are not at their full potential and cannot feel the energies of the Shadows if not close to a nexus. This is unacceptable. They cannot protect and care as they are." Its' voice was like the distant roar of a furious storm, only barely held at bay, but churning under the surface.
The three looked at each other, the darkness around them not disrupting their conversation at all, and nodded.
"So will it be."