Disclaimer: I do not own YGO.
Part of a 7 fic series.
Atem stood on the banks of the Nile. It was dawn and he was alone. Not even his closest advisers intruded onto his private morning ritual of watching the sunrise. Even in the afterlife he was entranced by the sun. The whole of Egypt could have collapsed into a war-torn stupor and he would not have noticed as long as the sun rose each morning.
In Egypt he had been Pharaoh. King. Leader. A man who lead his court and people into a battle for their existence. In his spirit life he had been Yami. The other half. The guiding spirit. A man who led his reincarnated form and friends into battle for the world. After five centuries, the ritual of praying for peace is as natural to him as breathing.
Here in the afterlife there was no worry of war and evil; here there is perpetual peace.
He prayed still.
The sand whispered beneath his feet as he walked towards the water. The birds and lilies surrounded him. The beginning of a beautiful sunrise captured his eye. A triumphant symphony of red, orange, yellow marched across the sky. The colors twirled to the beat of the music and he smiled a smile that failed to reach his soul.
This ritual always reminded him of Anzu. She was music to him. The very construction of the theme of his unconscious mind. The outline of her form was beyond every door leading to light. Her encouragement. Her strength. Her spirit. He knew she was somewhere, dancing, and the movement of colors across the sky reminded him that she was not there.
Against fate and his wishes, she was not with him in the afterlife.
"We make a good team, huh?" Anzu's husband asked her. He reached over and took her hand.
"Um-hmm." She stroked the back of his hand. The lines were long and lean, with callouses on each side. She smiled gently, yet her gaze was focused the sunrise beyond him.
Molten gold climbed over the horizon. A kaleidoscope of colors frolicked in the river below. They were driving home from one of their many corporate charity galas that spanned from dinner until dawn. Last week it was a fundraiser for underprivileged children. This time it was a ballroom dance for the new wing of the Domino City Egyptian Exhibit. She thought of Yugi and his wife, the head curators and archaeologists of the newest exhibit on reincarnation. They had volunteered to baby-sit Alex and Kelly for her while they went for a long overdue drive.
Anzu watched the colors dance in the sky. Her husband smiled at the wistful expression on her face. Neither of them noticed the semi truck veering into their lane nor their car careening into the waters below.
Darkness.
Atem stared as the colors melted. Crimson into gold, cerulean into blue, horizon into water. Blue, cerulean, navy pooled together. Exactly like the way her eyes shone when she danced.
He wondered about fate at he contemplated the water. Did he upset the cosmic balance by going into the future? What about returning to the past? He did not truly belong in either his past on future lives. He was a spirit searching for a home he now found. He fulfilled his destiny. He should be free and yet he did not anticipate the emptiness that came with the closing of the door.
He accepted the emptiness as a necessary part of his departure. He knew Yugi and Anzu were destined together in that world. It was wrong of him to feel for her when his other soul had already imprinted on hers. His coming and leaving should not have disturbed their connection but it did.
And still...he felt for her, even in the afterlife. She was a figment of his future that he searched for in his past. All his life he had been waiting for someone. Not the daughters of the blustering nobles who paraded around court. Not the foreign rulers who danced the same waltz. Not even the officials who subtly and not-so-subtly guided him to various doors. Not one of them sparked an ounce of interest.
Now he knew why.
He was waiting for her. For her to laugh that wonderful, soul-bursting giggle that made him want to place the world at her feet. Waiting forever, it seemed, for destiny to smile upon him like he was worthy of human comfort after the loneliness of both of his lives.
Saving the world was heroic, yes, but it sure was hell a lonely way to go.
Anzu fell on someone with a dull thud. She felt a heartbeat, an arm, and then a hand.
His hand. She knew that graceful outline by heart. Long, graceful, smooth. Her heart memorized that hand long ago.
Her eyes shot open.
Atem stopped breathing. There. In his arms. Anzu...falling out of a flash of gold in the sky...onto the banks of the Nile...and landing on his chest. If he moved, she would vanish again, into the shadows where he wouldn't ever see her again.
Finally he let out a small breath. The pain was excruciating. Realization hit him. It was most definitely his chest that broke her fall...which meant she was...real?
He felt her hand encircle his.
Perhaps destiny rose with the morning sun after all.
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