This story is based on ye olde "evolution theory" setting so often used in shows like Heroes and X-Men. I don't believe anyone particularly "owns" this setting, but I wanted to say for the record that—as you well know—I did not invent the "evolution theory" setting.

Yu-Gi-Oh! © Kazuki Takahashi

"Only the foolish believe that suffering is just wages for being different," – Cheshire Cat, American McGee's Alice

Atem stared at his crystal-clear reflection in the bathroom mirror. He felt more tangible now that he wasn't see-through, now that he was in the modern world, now that he wasn't sharing Yugi's body anymore.

But at the same time, he felt a little separated from himself. Perhaps it was a side-effect of coming back to life after five thousand years. But a part of him didn't fit, or something wasn't right, as if he hadn't explored all the chambers of his mind yet and there was a very important piece of him still lying inside, undiscovered.

As he stared deep into his aubergine eyes, he wondered what lay behind them. There were some more mysteries deep in store for him, there had to be…

He sighed. He was being overly dramatic because of a small identity crisis. His time for mysteries and adventures was over. He was a normal kid now, difficult as it would be to accept, and he wouldn't be out saving the world or searching for his lost memories. He would be starting eleventh grade.

Yugi knocked on the bathroom door. "Um, Atem?" he asked tentatively through the wood. "I know you're not going to the bathroom in there." How Yugi knew that, Atem didn't want to ask. "What's wrong?"

"Come in, Yugi," Atem said, and Yugi walked inside and sat on the toilet. Yugi stared at him, wordlessly entreating him to explain. "Have you ever felt that this life is a little… monotonous?" Atem asked.

"No," Yugi replied simply. "Even after everything we've done together, I don't feel that."

"How?" Atem asked. "Unlike you, I just can't seem to accept that my adventures are over."

Yugi shrugged. "Well, maybe your adventures aren't. If you think that you still have something left to do then… I'll be right here for you when you have to do it!" Atem smiled gratefully and hugged him sideways.

"Thank you," he said softly. Yugi began to walk out of the bathroom when all of a sudden Atem gasped in pain and held his arm. Yugi spun around.

"What's wrong?" Yugi asked. Atem dropped to one knee and began to shake violently. Yugi rushed back over to him. "Atem, what is it? What's wrong?" he asked again.

Reddish foam began to spurt from Atem's mouth. "Yugi…" he choked, and he collapsed onto his side, convulsing. Yugi was about run to call the hospital when he saw perfectly circular red marks form in a long line all down the outside of Atem's arms. The circles grew redder and redder until blood began to pour from them.

Yugi knew that this wasn't a normal illness, and he knew that the hospital wouldn't have any idea of how to treat it. Atem's convulsions slowly diminished, but he was still breathing. The bleeding on his arms slowed as well, but it was still severe enough to form a pool that leaked into the hallway.

Since he couldn't call the hospital, Yugi would need to employ the little first aid that he knew to stop Atem's bleeding. He grabbed a large amount of gauze from the medicine cabinet and pulled Atem off the floor onto his lap.

It was a comfortable temperature… seventy-one and a half degrees, to be precise… but how could he have known that? The air pressure was fair, and the humidity wasn't great enough to bother anyone… Someone had an electric light on, fluorescent, so it must have been evening. The window was open and let in a light east-bound breeze… but how could he have known that?

His eyes were closed; he could see nothing. The room was nearly silent. Yet there was someone there with him… someone very sleepy, but terribly worried and horribly concerned.

Atem forced his lead-heavy eyelids to open, and they blinked at the fierce light. Yes, it was evening, and yes, the window was open, and yes, Yugi was sitting with his eyes half-closed in a desk chair next to him, but how could he have known that?

"Yugi…?" he muttered. He wanted to push himself up, but he felt amazingly weak. His arms could barely move.

"Hey," Yugi said gently. "You lost a lot of blood, so you shouldn't try to exert yourself too much."

"What happened?" Atem croaked through a hoarse throat. "I remember a pain in my arms… and then…" He stopped. For the first time, he noticed the strange sensation in his arms. It was different from numbness—it was a cacophony of feelings. It was as if he felt everything that his arms touched more clearly than ever, but then again, it wasn't quite his arms that were feeling everything…

Yugi put a comforting hand on Atem's chest. Atem's eyes searched the ceiling for unfound answers. "It happened while you were asleep," he explained. "D-don't worry, Atem, it's going to be fine. It doesn't matter that you're one of them…"

One of them? One of them!? Though Atem's breathing was steady and calm, his mind was racing. "The others and I are here for you, no matter what, okay?" Yugi continued. "And other people have had mutations way worse than this…" But Yugi's eyes drifted unsurely over Atem's arms, and now Atem knew why.

Slender, three-inch-long spines extended from his arms and stuck straight out. They were black and they stood out against Atem's pale skin. Atem stared at them, hardly comprehending what he saw. "Atem, it's alright…" Yugi said softly. "D-do you need some time…?"

"No, don't go," Atem requested. His voice was still raspy, but it was strong and undistorted by emotion. So Yugi sat by quietly as Atem searched his mind for his own opinions.

Mutations had not been widely liked since they had started to appear a year ago, but that didn't matter if Yugi and the others were on his side. As for the spines themselves, their presence would be difficult to get used to, but they were oddly fulfilling—in a way, Atem felt as though they completed him, as though they were the part of him he had been missing. Being a Mutation was shocking and confusing… but it was fine, because Yugi was fine. If Yugi didn't accept Atem, Atem probably wouldn't have either.

Then Atem noticed that Yugi was still sitting in respectful silence in the desk chair. It was a little unfair to ask him not to leave and then ignore him. Atem slowly pushed himself up and leaned against his headboard. He began to cough, and Yugi rushed out of the room, presumably to get a glass of water. But he was gone for quite a while.

After about five minutes, Atem found enough strength in his limbs to pick himself out of bed and stumble around the house. Yugi was in the kitchen spontaneously preparing macaroni and cheese. He turned around as he heard Atem enter, looking disappointed and distressed. "I was making you dinner, since you haven't eaten since this morning. But you weren't supposed to get up. You're still recovering," Yugi chided.

"I'll be fine," Atem contradicted, dropping back down into a chair tiredly. "People go through this every day, remember?"

At first, Mutations were believed to be victims of a rare disease that infected and warped a person's DNA. Researchers must have spent hundreds of millions trying to design a cure, but a cure wasn't possible. The people with the mutations had been born that way, unchangeably.

More and more of these people began to surface, until the "Normals" began to identify Mutations as another race, perhaps even another species. But in the eyes of humans, different equaled bad, and many Mutations became ostracized. This was until many of those Normals began to turn into Mutations, and the new species' ostracism would have meant filling up Australia with their numbers.

All of Atem's friends had been major advocates for the Mutations since the beginning, and Atem knew that they would be his advocate as well, spines or no spines. And Atem would accept himself in time as well… it would just take some getting accustomed to.

Yugi stared at Atem's spines. He couldn't help himself. After the first day or so, they had proved themselves to be more like tentacles than spines, really. When Atem was in an angry or anxious mood, they would shrink to three inches and become stiff. When he was sad or tired, his spines would deflate and hang limply by his arms. When he was happy, his spines would double in length and writhe freely.

The writhing motion made Yugi sick to his stomach, and he was angry at himself for that. No part of Atem should disgust him. But no matter how much Yugi tried to ignore them, their wriggling drew his eyes back, making his stomach turn in nausea once again.

He was supposed to be concentrating on the movie that he and Atem were watching together, but it wasn't happening. Yugi would be grateful if he came out of this movie with only a general idea of the plot.

Atem's eyes flicked toward him, glittering with amusement. Yugi immediately looked away, but Atem had already noticed him. "Something wrong?" Atem asked.

"N-nothing," Yugi stammered. Atem grinned and turned back to the movie. Yugi tried to force his sight back to the movie as well, but as soon as he did he felt the repugnantly smooth feeling of scales against his skin, as if a dozen garter snakes had suddenly slithered into the house and wrapped themselves around his arm. Though it was late July and swelteringly hot, Yugi shuddered.

"Alright," Atem said, releasing his tentacles' hold on Yugi's arm. "I think we have something to discuss."

Yugi shook his head fervently. "No, we don't," he said quickly.

"Then explain why you continue to look at my tentacles and turn green," Atem said knowingly. "I appreciate your unfailing support of me, Yugi, just like I appreciate the support of the others, but if you're uncomfortable with me being a Mutation…"

"No! That's not it," Yugi argued. He looked down. The movie continued to play in the background. "When you're happy, your tentacles have a tendency to… move a lot, and it kind of gives me goose bumps."

Atem laughed. "Are you saying you don't want me to be happy?" he asked. Yugi looked horrified, and Atem laughed even more. "Yugi, I was joking. I know that this isn't the most glamorous mutation to have, but I'm sure that you will get used to it, just as I got used to it. I'm not angry at you for being a bit grossed out; I just want to make sure that I give you enough time to adapt."

Atem cheerfully poked Yugi with one of his spines and turned back to the movie. But his tentacles writhed even more at his outburst of amusement, and Yugi felt his stomach churn once again. Atem just smiled, completely comfortable with himself, his mutation, and Yugi's reaction. And deep down, Yugi respected that more than he could say.