The walk home was rather long and lonely, but Yugi made it back home all the same. He was surprised who he saw in the game shop when he had entered.

"Hey Yugi!" Grandpa greeted from behind the counter. "Look who's here!"

Yugi's eyes widened upon seeing a fellow class mate with long white hair. The boy turned around and smiled with his luscious brown eyes.

"Hi Yugi," he cheered.

"Ryou? What are you doing here?"

He didn't mean it offensively, but it sort of sounded that way. Thankfully the young man didn't seem worried by it, and gestured to the wall of cards behind the counter.

"I'm just looking to trade in some Duel Monsters cards. I'm looking forward to playing the game without having to worry about some crazy destiny or consequence behind it."

Yugi couldn't get over how happy Ryou looked. It wasn't even that the boy looked overly boastful or anything of that sort, but he just appeared so peaceful and relaxed. It was something Yugi was dying to taste.

"Yugi, I invited Ryou for dinner. Maybe you two can watch a movie or something after?"

He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"But it's a school night, grandpa."

"Oh don't worry about that," the elder winked. "Say, Yugi, can you help me grab a few boxes from the storage room? Then we can lead Ryou upstairs and get him a drink."

Yugi nodded in assent, peering over at the white haired boy all the while. There was something about him that gave off comforting vibes… a sensation that didn't feel in reach.

The two walked over to the backroom. Solomon peeked over his head to make sure Ryou wasn't listening before beginning to talk.

"Yugi, I invited your friend for dinner so you could catch up on life and hopefully cheer up a bit. I can see the exhaustion in your eyes, I think you need this, my boy."

"Do you just invite any of my friends over that you see?" Yugi muttered.

"Come now, Ryou is different. He knows what it's like to be inhabited by another spirit. This could really help you. It'll be effective to talk to someone that knows what you're going through."

Yugi rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I know you're trying to help, Grandpa, but Ryou was possessed by a demonic spirt! I shared my body with a wonderful Pharaoh. There is nothing to compare between the two of us! He has no idea what I'm going through, heck, he's probably having a blast right now! Couldn't you see that smirk on his face? He's living the life! And I'm losing mine!"

He didn't mean to snap, and he especially didn't mean to have Ryou standing by the entrance staring at them in shock.

"I'm sorry, Ryou!" Yugi reached out.

"Save it, Yugi," he spat while walking towards the exit.

"Ryou!"

The boy stopped right before the door, turning his head back slightly.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Yugi. It's too bad you'll never know."

With that, he continued his journey back outside.

"Oh Yugi," Solomon sighed. "I just don't know what I'm going to do with you," he rubbed his head in defeat.

Yugi felt awful inside. He was going through troublesome times, but the last thing he wanted to do was hurt his friends. He prayed Ryou would forgive him in the future, but right now he just couldn't deal with the confrontation.

"What do you mean, Grandpa? Please don't talk about me as if I'm a broken tool."

Solomon met his grandsons amethyst eyes, which seemed so dark to him recently. He ached to help the young one, but was unsure of how to go about it.

"Yugi, we need to talk. We have to figure this out together."

The last thing Yugi wanted to do was cry, but the tears were welling up in his eyes without his permission.

"This isn't the millennium puzzle, there is nothing to figure out!" Yugi sobbed. "I'm alone. That's it. He's gone. Every time I go to my room, I'm alone. That's it. That's all there is!"

Yugi stood there for a single moment, tears welling from his eyes faster each second, and then made a run for his room.

The boy jumped onto his bed and cried into his pillow. Solomon didn't follow him, but as the hours passed, people grew nervous.

"Yugi, come eat dinner please!" Solomon knocked on his door.

Yugi refused to leave, he clung to his knees and used his elbows to wipe away a few stray tears. His phone buzzed a few times an hour. Sometimes he would read the texts, but mostly he just ignored them. None would be replied to.

Joey: Yug, how are you buddy?

Tea: Yugi, how are you? Call me.

Tristan: Hey kid, what's up?

None of it was important. None of it mattered. If anything, he was just angry. Angry at himself for how childish he was behaving, and angry at Yami. The hours passed by with no difference in sight. Eventually, his guilt ate at him, and he picked up his phone to make a call.

"Hello?"

"Ryou…it's me, Yugi."

"Hi Yugi," he mumbled.

"I want you to know I'm really sorry about what you heard at the shop. I was just really tired and upset. To be honest, I still am."

"I can help you, Yugi. If you let me."

"I don't know." The boy drew patterns with his fingers on his bedsheets. "I feel like a lost cause."

"Let me let you in on a little secret."

Yugi's ears perked at the sound of that.

"Bakura was a son of a bitch. You knew it, I knew it…everyone knew it. However, he was manipulative. And I would be lying if I told you that everything he made me do was completely against my will."

The King of Games gasped at what he was hearing. Was his friend serious?

"Ryou?"

"He told me what the royals had done to his village in his previous life. They slaughtered everyone in his home town, just so the royals could have more power. He was the only survivor."

Ryou's voice sounded rather shaky as he spoke. It appeared that the Brit was re living some painful memories.

"I mean, think about it. What else does someone like him have to live for if everyone you ever knew was killed by the Pharaoh's people?"

"But that wasn't under Yami's jurisdiction…nor his fathers! It was his evil brother's…" Yugi called defensively.

"When you're an unknown villager, you don't know the difference between who is who in the Royal family. All you know is that they are to blame. Bakura grew hateful of them, of course, and became the Thief King. He took back what the palace stole from him, so he told me. Except, nothing could ever pay back the family and friends he had lost."

Yugi cleared his throat in fright. The way Bakura was being explained, well, he sounded like a sympathetic character. The poor boy couldn't imagine his home being destroyed by a dictator of any sorts. He would grow to hate them too.

But he also knew that the Pharaoh was not responsible for what happened to Bakura. It was his evil uncle. Neither the Pharaoh at the time nor Atem approved of that.

Though he had to admit, somewhere in his heart he was thankful for it, as crazy as it was to say. For without it, he would have never had the puzzle and could have never met Atem. Though, perhaps, things would have been easier that way.

"So as you see, Yugi, this wasn't easy for me. Bakura had told me this story quite early in our relationship. If I wanted to, I could have put up a much bigger fight to keep him out of my mind, and I did towards the end of it all, but by then it was too late. At first, I saw him as a friend. It took me quite some time before I realized how problematic he was."

"Did it hurt, Ryou?" Yugi whimpered over the phone. "To lose him? I know he was a maniac, but did it take some time before you got over it?"

"I'm still not over it, Yugi. This is probably something I can never truly get over. It changed my life."

Yugi sighed at the sound of that. That was probably the last thing he wanted to hear.

Oh great, I'll have to sulk for the rest of my life, he thought.

"But I wouldn't have done a single thing differently. Besides, just because I may not be able to get over it, doesn't mean I have to be upset all my life. It just means that I have accepted what happened as part of who I am. Once you come to terms with it, things seem a lot better. You just need to accept it, Yugi. Moving on doesn't mean forgetting. Just like holding on to memories doesn't mean going back. It all goes together somehow. You'll see."

Yugi absorbed the message and nodded.

"Thank you, Ryou."

"I just hope I helped."

"You did," Yugi smiled softly.

"Maybe sometime you could tell me about your Yami. I'd like to hear more about him."

The boy's heart grew heavy at that thought. All he could picture was his lovers deep crimson eyes, sharp cheekbones and seductive grin. What he would do to hold him.

"I'd like that," Yugi stuttered.

"Go get some sleep," Ryou suggested. "Maybe take a shower beforehand."

Yugi chuckled.

"So they tell me. See yah, Ryou."

"Goodnight, Yugi."

Well, he wasn't feeling great, but he did feel like he went up from a miserable to a numb. A nice hot shower might just thaw his frozen heart.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Go to sleep, please go to sleep," he mumbled to himself while flopping sides of the bed. He found it rather funny how during class he felt like sleeping was all he could do, but when he was finally comfortable in bed at 2 in the morning, it was the last thing he manage.

Thoughts bounced off the walls of his mind, making it impossible for him to drift off into a slumber. A part of him was scared to sleep anyways; worried that those nightmares would come back.

After another hour of tossing and turning, Yugi resigned the fight to sleep and grabbed his phone to scroll through. He opened up 5 new messages.

Joey: Dude, you better not be ignoring me again.

I'm gunna beat your ass in a duel if you're ignoring me.

Yugi grinned softly at his empty threat.

Tea: Yugi, please call me. I want to talk to you.

Goodnight, Yugi.

Yugi felt a little bad for not responding to Tea. He knew she only wanted the best for him, but lately he found her so annoying. Sure he loved a good friendship speech when he was happy and in the mood, but couldn't she understand that what he really needed now was alone time? Maybe he would tell her tomorrow.

Tristan: Can you help me build a better deck tomorrow?

He closed out his messages and continued browsing around his other apps. His friends were trying so hard to keep him distracted, but it wasn't really working. If anything it made him a little more disturbed that they were trying so hard to make him forget his loved one.

I mean, he's not coming back anyways.

Yugi made his way to his pictures, gazing upon all of the old selfies he and his friends had taken after battle city. If only for a moment, they were all so happy to feel safe and be together.

He continued scrolling, but it didn't last long. His fingers stopped once he came across an unfamiliar picture. He hadn't seen this one before.

In moments the overload of emotions attacked the gamer, making him feel sick to his stomach.

Joey was taking the picture. They were in front of his Grandpa's game shop, the lot of them. Tea and Tristan were smiling innocently while Joey held up a peace sign and stuck out his tongue like a kid. However, what really got him was the fact Yugi wasn't in this photo.

It was Yami.

He had a cheeky grin on. It appeared as though the Pharaoh was a tad confused by what was going on, but decided to go along with it anyways.

Yugi wasn't sure how to feel. Was he supposed to laugh at his sweet Yami trying to smile for this selfie? Was he supposed to cry because it was someone he would never see again? Whatever the case was, he knew it would bother him for the rest of the night. He sent the picture to Joey, knowing he wouldn't get a response until a reasonable time in the morning.

You took this picture on my phone and never told me?

He quickly went back to find the picture and laid down on his bed. There was no way he was sleeping tonight. He gripped his phone tighter, staring at the picture as if it gave him life. Though he resisted for some time, the comfort of seeing Yami lulled him to sleep.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Yugi dropped to his knees in distraught, tears pouring down his eyes. His hands were shaking in fright, knowing that the move he made was one that would banish his lover away from him.

Footsteps slowly confronted him, his other kneeling down before him.

He took a hold of Yugi's chin, raising it to meet his gaze. The young boy took a deep look into his other's eyes, knowing that soon he would never see his perfection again.

Atem pitied the little one, it was clear by the look on his face. He cocked his head to the side, crimson eyes widened…not a tint of red on his creamy skin. Yugi sobbed continuously, feeling as if his lover was investigating his emotions for reason.

"But….but you said you would stay with me forever…" Yugi whimpered in humiliation.

Atem perked his lips.

"Aww, is that what I said, little one?" He responded mockingly, still checking out his partner's every emotion, as if he was trying to understand why he felt the way he did.

Yugi wept harder at the sound of his voice, trying to avoid his gaze and drop his head once more. This time, Atem aggressively raised Yugi's head, and appeared rather annoyed.

"People will tell you anything so they can get what they want." He glared into the little boy's eyes once more before dropping his hold and jumping to his feet. He towered over the boy, crossing his arms in disgust.

"You better learn that now before this world destroys you." He made his way towards the door to lead him into the afterlife, announcing his name for the spirits to hear. The doors opened slowly. Atem strutted his way towards it, Yugi watching his every move in misery. He was caught by surprise when his other stopped at the door, if only for a moment.

"If there was anything you got out of having me be with you, I hope that was it." His head hadn't turned to face the one who looked up to him. No. Instead, he happily journeyed himself into the afterlife, leaving Yugi to scream as the doors shut behind him.

People will tell you anything so they can get what you want.

"I won't forget, Atem," he sobbed once more before it all faded to black.