Hello!! Well, this is my SECOND attempt at a YGO! fic, but the first one didn't come out as planned, so...it got deleted...
I DO hope you enjoy this one, though!
Disclaimer: If you're looking for the owner of YGO! …you're looking at the wrong person…
Summary: When Yugi first put together the Millennium Puzzle, he obtained a new puzzle: Yami's past. But, what if he'd completed the puzzle before that? AtemxYugi, drabble-ish, oneshot
Pairings: AtemxYugi (that's right, not YamiYugixYugi, ATEMxYugi!)
Warnings:Boyxboy, shounen ai, ancient Egyptian spirits coming back to life...secong YGO! fic...ruuuuuuuuuuuun!!
So, now, read on!!
Puzzling Puzzle
The truth is: I always knew Yami was in the puzzle. Since the first moment when I completed it, sliding the last piece in with an audible 'clink', I felt something change in me.
Then, of course, we went ahead with Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, America, Atlantis, Egypt…we had so many adventures. However, there's one part of our adventures nobody knows, but me.
Before the Ceremonial Battle, Yami knew as well, but ever since he left, I've been the only one who knows of our first meeting. Sure, everyone thinks I had no clue about him until Duelist Kingdom, but that's due to the fact that I didn't want anyone to know.
I had always been picked on in class, I was always the inferior student, the one everyone bullied, I never had any friends…but I suppose you know all this, huh? At least, it was always like this until Atem came into my life. He was my first friend, and my first secret. And that what I hoped he'd remain as.
Yes, I know it was selfish, and yes, I should've known better. But, in reality, not one of my adventures with the Pharaoh could ever be compared to that first month of our meeting. After the month was over, I began to make friends, and my adventures begun. With a price.
No one knows what Atem and I lived in that first month. No one, until now. I've decided to finally be honest, and tell everyone about my very first adventure: meeting my other, other self.
So if you please, accompany me, four years into the past and a month before you'd ever heard of me, to the last day of my life before the puzzle…
Domino City, four years and a month prior--
"Yugi! Yugi! Wake up! I think you'll be late!" amethyst orbs fluttered open.
The owner lazily glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside, before jumping up in surprise. After a few minutes of scrambling around, the rather petite boy was dressed and ready to go. Jogging down the stairs, he quickly reached the house's cramped kitchen.
"Morning Grandpa!" he called to the elderly man in front of the stove.
Said man turned around and smiled at his grandson, handing him a plate full of eggs. Shoving the food down his throat and gulping the remains of his orange juice, the boy raced out the front doorway.
When he reached his classroom, he sat at his usual desk by the window and stared at the many teenagers entering the building. They seemed eager to start the school year. The boy most definitely was not.
As he looked around, he noticed various girls giggling and chatting excitedly about random subjects. His wandering eyes stopped on a girl he found familiar. Racking his memories for information on her, he remembered her name. Anzu Mazaki.
They used to be best friends when they were in elementary school, but junior high had separated them, in more ways than one. She had become a cheerleader, and become popular. He had entered loneliness and 'no one' status.
His gaze continued, and he found himself staring at a blonde head. Jounichi Katsuya, if he was correct. Although he didn't know the boy personally, he'd heard he was from a tough neighbourhood, and a bully. Right, avoid him at all costs.
The teen next to him had brown hair in a rather pointy fashion, and they were both laughing over something. Honda Hiroto, he thought. He was the blonde's best friend and fellow trouble maker. Stay clear of their path, noted.
Moving on, he noticed a rather pale boy with white hair. Albino? Well, whatever he was, the observant boy didn't know him. Probably new, by the looks the other students were giving him.
He sighed as the teacher entered, and his first day of class begun. As the day progressed, our young hero couldn't really feel like anything different was going to happen today. Except, he might finish that puzzle he'd been working on…
As the last bell rang, and with the thought of the puzzle implanted into his brain, the boy sped out of the school grounds. He reached the game shop, where he lived, let himself in and dashed up the stairs. Entering his room, he immediately began to work on the puzzle.
Five hours later, and he still couldn't make heads or tails of it. Rather frustrated, he lied back in his chair. Suddenly, as if by magic, a thought struck him. His nimble hands began to work once more, and the figure before him began to take shape.
Quickly, and in swift movements, he was done. Feeling completed, he turned of the light and soon entered a deep slumber. Or at least, so he thought.
Light suddenly struck his eyelids, and opened his orbs. Blinking a few times, he found himself in a rather childish room full of toys and whatnot. Staggering up, he admired his surroundings.
A door was right before him, but the handle was already being turned. A man came in, older than the boy, but with a stunning resemblance to him. The boy gasped, as did the man.
He wore white linen, and various golden jewels. Ruby red eyes held shock and bewilderment, the puzzle the boy had just completed hung at his neck. He was taller, and probably older than the boy, with tanner skin. But the resemblance was there.
In two long steps, he was before the younger version of himself. He kneeled down, and held his hands against the boys rosy cheeks. The boy blushed, and the man smiled kindly.
"So this is what was behind that door…" he mumbled.
"Um…excuse me? Sir?" the young boy timidly whispered. The man's eyes once more turned to him, and he chuckled.
"Yes, young one?"
"Is this a…a dream?" once more the man chuckled, and moved his head in a negative fashion.
"I am afraid not, this is your mind, your…soul room, if you will, a place only a select few know how to enter, mine's at the other side of the hallway," he gestured to the door he'd come from.
"Oh," was all the boy said, clearly confused.
"You're…beautiful," the man breathed suddenly, after a moment's silence. This comment caught the boy unawares, and forced him to blush. Again.
"And, you're innocent, I wish I would've known you when I was still in power," he commented.
"In power?"
"Yes, I suppose I should introduce myself then…my name is Pharaoh Atem, from Egypt, I lived in the world of the living a long time ago, but due to a certain chain of events, I was forced to capture my soul into this puzzle, and banish my memories…"
"Banish your memories?"
"Yes, I'm not really sure why I've retained them," the Pharaoh's eyes glazed in thought. The boy, meanwhile, had allowed his eyes to turn as big as saucers.
"But enough about me! What about you, you seem so similar to me! You must be my future self, me reincarnation! I suppose it was you who finished the puzzle, er…"
"My name is Yugi, Pharaoh,"
"Call me Atem,"
"Atem!" he giggled.
Atem grinned, and motioned for Yugi to come closer. Yugi did, and, to his great surprise, was awarded with a kiss. A chaste one, yes, but a kiss nonetheless.
For a few seconds he didn't respond, wondering if he should be kissing another male. Then decided he enjoyed the feeling, and responded. Once the kiss was over, the tan man smiled pleasantly.
"Yugi, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship!"
And so it was.
For the next couple of weeks, the two became inseparable, not that they already were separable, but they became even closer emotionally.
Sharing kisses now and then, some passionate, some chaste. Everything was going perfectly, like a fairy tale!
But oh, it was not meant to be, for a week before the month was over, the puzzle shattered. For no explicable reason, the boy reached the house to find the puzzle pieces scattered across the floor.
The lone figure of the man became more and more transparent. Whilst the young boy tried in vain and heartache to put it back together before the man disappeared completely.
A week later, the puzzle was complete again, but the boy did not find the Pharaoh he had wanted to find. He found someone else, also a look alike, but not the Pharaoh.
And so there you have it…
You could say I always knew Yami's name, but the truth is, I didn't think of him as the Pharaoh. I never did, I never will. Pharaoh Atem is the man I met, the man whom I loved, and who was gone before Yami even entered the picture.
Not even when we entered memory world did I see Yami as powerful as Atem, he never gave me the same feeling Atem did. Sure, he was kind and generous, we were friends. But that was it. Friends.
Not even when he left for good, after the Ceremonial Battle, did I see Atem. I wonder if there's two Pharaoh's, the one from ancient Egypt, and the one I called Yami. I've met both, as I believe Bakura has, and I think they're completely different.
They posses similar qualities, that's true. They look alike, true. They're good at games, true. But here's the bittersweet truth above all else:
Yami...
With all his skills and powers...
Could never be my Atem.
There ya go!
Reviews, constructive criticism? Welcome!
Flames? As well! As long as your not telling me how this is sick and wrong, then go ahead!
Thank you for reading!