"What do you mean?" He'd asked, startled,
"I mean exactly what I said, Joey."
"But I don't understand." He shook his head, attempting to give it back but Yugi wouldn't take it.
"It's all right, you don't have to. But I want you to use it, since I won't be any more"
"What?"
"No more games for me Joey, I'm done."
"But Yug…"
"It's all right, it's not like I'm dying; I'll still be here, I just won't be duelling anybody."
"I-I'll take real good care of it Yug."
"I know you will." Yugi smiled up at his friend. He'd had to give up his deck. It reminded him too much of Yami, and that only hurt, only made him sad.
That conversation had been years ago. Yugi was the same height Yami had been… but he didn't like to think about that. Yugi had moved out as soon as he graduated and got a small apartment in a big city far away with the money he earned working at a local convenience store. Thought being far away would make the memories stop haunting him, lessen the pain. It didn't work. He cut his hair as well, too much like Yami. Yugi sighed as he looked in the mirror at someone who was obviously not Yugi.
"What do you want?" He asked the non-Yugi creature.
What do you want?
"Yami." Yugi answered the non-Yugi creature. He sighed and the non-Yugi creature sighed with him. Yugi turned away from the mirror and got ready for work. Days that started like this only got worse.
"Yugi?" Tea's voice would have echoed through the apartment, if the apartment had the ability to echo.
"That's odd."
"Wonder where he went…"
"The door wasn't locked."
"He should be here, then."
Yugi's friends came to visit every so often, on pre-arranged days. Yugi would always leave the door unlocked and greet them when they came in. But he would never smile. He hadn't smiled in a long time. Not since the Pharaoh had left. Some of them found it hard to remember those times, when Yugi was smiling and happy.
"I say we search."
"Agreed."
What they found when they entered the bedroom was unexpected to say the least. There was Yugi, laying on the bed, face up and perfectly still, candle burning in his hands, which lay over his chest, and a smile on his face. On the table there was a bowl of water, a second candle in it, and a note by its side.
Tea,
Congratulations on marrying Duke.
Joey,
Good luck with Kaiba.
As for me, I've gone to be with Yami.
-Yugi
Upon further inspection, the candle in the water matched the one burning in Yugi's hands, four letters written in the pure white wax.
Y
A
M
I