Stuck in the Limelight
Me: Hey! This is just another one-shot of mine.
Yugi: Let me guess, I get beaten to a pulp again.
Me: Nope!
Yami: *stares* It's a miracle!
Me: -_-; shut it, Yami.
Anyways, this is an angsty, introspective one-shot from Yugi's point of view. Yugi doesn't have it as good as we'd like to think. This is his view of the whole thing.
Enjoy!
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I have a celebrity's life, and I'm only sixteen. My picture has been in the paper more times than I can count. A large crowd of fan-girls follows me from class to class. I have a massive circle of friends. Everywhere, there's someone wanting to duel, someone telling me how cool I am, someone asking for my autograph. Business at the game shop has never been better.
You'd think I lead the perfect life.
Yugi Motou. King of Games. Those two phrases go together so often that it's practically become part of my name. I'm recognized wherever I go. I'm treated with such respect that it's mind-boggling.
Celebrities don't usually lead great lives, you know. They get into drugs, into affairs, into alcohol. Or something happens and they get screwed over.
They don't notice which one of us is in control, and they don't care. They only know that I'm the 'King of Games'. That I fought hard to win back my grandfather, who, according to the papers, was kidnapped. That I fought to the death to win Battle City.
But, they don't know that it wasn't me who dueled. They don't know that I almost killed Kaiba in our rematch on top of the tower. They don't know that I was forced to duel my best friend whose mind was under Marik's control, and that both of us almost died.
They don't know. And they don't care.
Sometimes I feel like a cheater. I never did all those things. I never dueled, I never saved the world. That was him. Not me. But it's all accredited to Yugi Motou, duelist extraordinaire.
Other times I feel like a tagalong. They don't know, but it's not me they want. It's him. No one has ever come after me, screaming for my blood. That's him. Yami. Former Pharaoh and powerful mage. A brilliant strategist. Pegasus never wanted me. He wanted my Puzzle. Yami. Marik never wanted me. He wanted Yami. Yami's powers.
I just got dragged along for the ride. Even Marik said so. "You're nothing but a vessel for the Pharaoh to occupy." He knew he'd hit home. And he did. The only reason why I'm involved in this is because Yami needs a body to occupy. My body, to be exact.
I'm the one who has to deal with the aftermath. The bruises, the scrapes, the windburns from the blasts the duel monsters throw at each other. And at the duelists themselves, sometimes. The pounding headache, the utter exhaustion. Sometimes Joey had to carry me back to my home. Or wherever I was staying at the time.
Yami can take a lot more pain than I can. Maybe because he knows he won't have to put up with it for long. Or maybe because he knows that I've been used to such treatment.
He terrifies me sometimes. I was lulled into a false sense of security back at Duelist Kingdom. He was so kind, so willing to help. Gentle. Until that day on top of Pegasus's castle, when I realized that he would go to any lengths to attain victory.
Kaiba still doesn't understand that I saved his life. He just thinks that I chickened out. That I fell into a state of shock because I lost.
I fell into that shock because I finally realized that Yami wasn't as benevolent as he appeared to be. That he was a lot darker than he let on. And, to be honest, I was scared. I'm no fool; I saw what he did to Panik. I thought that I was next because I defied him.
Of course, Yami apologized. He said he only wanted to help. That he wanted to work with me. I have a tendency to trust too much.
On the other hand, my grandfather is with us, safe and sound. I'm not trapped in a card. It's strange. Yami seems to care for me a little.
I remember Battle City just as well. I came close to death more times than I can count. Again, because Marik was after Yami.
He took control of my body a lot more often. There was a period of time when he was in control for days.
Do you know what that's like? It's like being paralyzed. I couldn't move. I could only see what Yami looked at. I couldn't feel or hear anything if our mind link wasn't open. I couldn't speak.
It's scary, not being in control of your own body. It really is. And I had to go through that for hours. Days. I think the longest Yami was in control was a week and a half.
I cried when I came back to my own body. Cried because I could feel, I could see, I could control where I moved my head.
No one understands. Not even those who know of the spirit who shares my body. They think it's the greatest thing to have such a wonderful, powerful, protective ally.
Not that I mind Yami. We're on much better terms with each other. We're close friends. And he is rather protective of me.
It's just that I got screwed. I'm being lifted up for things that I didn't do, being praised for attributes that aren't mine.
It makes me feel so inferior. I have this great, powerful, perfect being within me, and I don't measure up to half of what he is. I'm even shorter and smaller than he is.
He has to tell me what to say, you know. I freeze up in front of all those fans. But he whispers encouragement and tells me exactly what to say. And I say it.
I wonder why he doesn't mind. He never seems to care that if I'm in control I still get the limelight. He never seems to care that he got stuck with a shrimpy wuss of a hikari who was always picked on.
There are a lot of things that I'm uncertain of. But there are a few things that I know for sure.
I know that I'm a hypocrite.
That I got both a blessing and a curse.
Yami and I will never be separated.
We'll never leave the limelight.
And a celebrity's life isn't all it's cracked up to be.
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Yugi: ...Well, I have to say that that wasn't as bad as your other ones.
Yami: I actually think this one's decent.
Me: Thank you!!! ^___^
Well, you know what to do! There's a SLIGHT chance of a continuation from Yami's POV, but don't count on it. R&R!