Ah! Another one gone! What sort of day is this!?

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And thanks to everybody for reading this fic!


At eight o'clock sharp, Yugi walked into the library. "It seems as though you were able to sleep well last night," Atem observed.

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, I slept much better," he said. He could barely keep the quaver out of his voice and the tremor out of his hands. He was incredibly nervous. The consequences of his failure were enormous—Yugi would be caught and punished, and Atem would continue to be possessed indefinitely.

"Have a seat," Atem instructed. Yugi sat down in the plushy chair, playing with his fingers. "You've learned quickly. I think that we can proceed beyond simple memory reading and start actual memory erasure. You've seen that memories take the form of a written chronicle. When erasing memories, imagine that you're taking white-out to that chronicle. Cover up those memories so completely that they can never be retrieved."

"Won't that person notice that they're missing whole parts of their life?" Yugi asked.

"You didn't," Atem said. Yugi staggered. Atem had erased his memory? "If you knew about Lethe's Anodyne, you could have been killed. In order to protect you, I erased the parts of your memory that could endanger you."

Yugi refused to accept this. Even if Yugi's life depended on it, Atem would never violate his mind like that, especially not after losing his own memories and searching for three years to get them back. Or… would he? He had lied to Yugi about this place, even though Yugi had believed that Atem would never lie to him. What else was he capable of doing?

"Like nature, the human mind hates a vacuum," Atem explained. "It will devise its own memories when it has none."

Yugi nodded quietly. Although he was very disappointed in Atem's actions, he needed to concentrate and counter-possess Atem as soon as possible. Yugi tuned Atem out as he spoke and instead turned on his soul vision. Staring at the Frankenstein-like monster, he willed himself to find someway to get Atem's soul under his control. Suddenly he saw tendrils extending from his body and slithering their way over to Atem's ankles. They wound their way all around his body and finally plunged into Atem's ears. In the middle of a sentence, Atem cried out and fell to his knees, shaking.

Yugi heard a voice screaming in his head. It rang through Yugi's mind and gave him a piercing headache. "Please… please, stop shouting! I'm trying to help you," Yugi said mentally.

"Leave me alone! I'm tired of being in the dark," the voice retorted angrily. "Let me go."

"I'm trying!" Yugi yelled. "And if you'll stop screaming at me, I might be able to figure it out." The voice was silent. Yugi exited his mind and focused again on his tendrils of control. He extracted them from Atem's ears, and Atem's stitched soul slowly morphed into a new monster, a different monster—a monster of shame and regret. In the real world, Atem blinked.

"Yugi?" he asked quietly. "That was you?"

Yugi slid to the ground and hugged Atem with all his strength. "It's you, it's really you! It's you, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's me," Atem answered. "But I don't understand. Ulysses was controlling me… How did you possess me?"

"You read the book a few weeks ago, remember?" Yugi asked. "Soul seers can counter-possess. I didn't think I could, but I tried. And now your soul's at least a little back to normal."

Atem looked at the ground. "It seems as though we've both been keeping secrets from each other," he said. "You know why I didn't tell you about Lethe's Anodyne. Why didn't you tell me that you are a soul seer?"

"I promised my mom," Yugi explained. "She was worried that people would be afraid of me or try to use me if they knew. I knew that you wouldn't do anything like that… but I promised."

Atem nodded. "I understand. And I hope that you understand my reasons as well."

"I get why you didn't tell me," Yugi said uncertainly. "But… you erased my memories."

"Only because you asked me to," Atem replied. Yugi peered at him. "You saw my soul and you realized what was going on with Lethe's Anodyne. When I explained what danger you were in, you suggested that I write myself a note in Ancient Egyptian and then erase both our memories of our conversation. I would read the note and know that you had told me to work my way to the upper echelon so that I could take down Lethe's Anodyne from within. But I didn't tell you. If I had, I would have endangered us both."

Atem sighed. "But I failed, Yugi. I have done terrible things—violated peoples' minds—in order to reach the upper echelon, but an upper named Ulysses was able to read my thoughts and determine my plan. He captured you and initiated you, and when I confronted him he possessed me. I've watched as he's used my body to torment you… to hurt you. Yugi, I'm so sorry."

Yugi shook his head. "No, none of this is your fault. But what are we going to do now? This Ulysses probably knows that I counter-possessed you, and we're still enslaved to Lethe's Anodyne."

Atem frowned, deep in thought. Yugi couldn't imagine that there was any way out of this situation, but suddenly Atem looked up. He didn't seem very happy at his idea, which worried Yugi immediately. "We need to find some way to make it so that we never existed here," Atem said. "Erase the memories of those who know us, delete the records of our serfdom, and escape to Earth. If we can manage to stay safe on Earth for just a night, then we'll be safe."

"But how are we supposed to do the first two things?" Yugi asked. "Almost everyone here knows us, and those records are guarded or something. Besides, Ulysses is probably coming after us right now."

"Then we should hurry," Atem said. "If I can manage to combine your mind-magic energy with my memory-erasure, we might be able to project our power so that we can erase everyone's memories at once. And after you erase someone's memory, they pass out, buying us time to erase the records of our existence."

"Do you think we can actually do that?" Yugi asked. He kept glancing toward the door. He felt frantic and rushed and overwhelmed. Ulysses could come in at any minute.

Atem seemed as stressed as Yugi, but he stared Yugi in the eye with determination. "We might fail, but we must try," he said. He extended his hand. "Please, Yugi, lend me your strength." Yugi grabbed Atem's hand and squeezed it tightly. Atem closed his eyes and concentrated so hard that Yugi could see the muscles in his jaw.

All of a sudden, Yugi felt exhausted. The world seemed to swim before his eyes, and he was simultaneously starving and sick to his stomach. He thought that he was going to pass out, but Atem did not let his hand go. Yugi began to feel his life slipping out of him. He wanted to cry out, to tell Atem to stop it, but he couldn't even find the energy to form words. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Atem released Yugi's hand, and they both collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air.

"Yugi," Atem said softly, in between breaths, "we… need to get going."

"I know…" Yugi answered. "But… I'm so tired." Though tired too, Atem managed to push himself up to a standing position and, with a groan, pulled Yugi to his feet. He hooked Yugi's arm over his shoulder and managed to keep them both standing.

"We don't have much time," Atem panted. "We can sleep when we get home. But…" His knees shook dangerously. "But we need to erase those records. Come on." Atem helped—dragged, rather—Yugi to the door, and they slowly wound their way between the unconscious bodies of the volunteers and headed to the records room. The three men who worked there were asleep at their desks. Atem carelessly pushed one out of his chair and let Yugi fall into it.

"You know computers better than I do," Atem said. Yugi desperately tried to clear his head. The monitor in front of him was just a blur. He focused his eyes and opened up the database that recorded all of the serf information. The table was ordered alphabetically, last name first, so Yugi scrolled down to the M section and found Mutou, Yugi and Mutou, Atem. He deleted both of those rows and then checked the recycle bin to make sure that absolutely nothing remained. Then, to be safe, Yugi checked the Persons of Interest table as well. He and Atem were not present.

"Okay… that looks like that's all," Yugi said tiredly. "Let's get out of here."

Atem put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, and the world dissolved into silver smoke. Atem focused on their target location: The Turtle Game Shop, Domino, Earth. Suddenly there was a large thump. Yugi started to laugh. After transporting, he had fallen straight on his butt, because he had been sitting when they left Lethe's Anodyne.

Atem fell onto his knees with a smile on his face and hugged Yugi from the side. "You did an excellent job, Yugi," he said quietly. "Let's hope that they never realize we were there."

"Yeah," Yugi said. He closed his eyes. "I just want to go to sleep forever…"

Atem smiled softly. "Let's go to bed, Yugi," he said.


When Yugi woke up and peeked into Atem's bedroom, he was pleased to find that Atem was still there and still sleeping soundly. For the first time in history, Yugi had woken up before Atem. He leaned against the wall, watching Atem doze. He had never seen Atem sleep before. He looked so… young. Like a teenager. When Atem was awake, you could see the maturity and aged wisdom in his eyes, his speech, and everything he did. You could even see it etched into the face of his soul, or into that of his former soul, at least.

Last night, Atem's soul had turned from one monster into another. His soul had been mutilated by the evil things he had done. Yugi let his eyes see Atem's soul and viewed the same deformed creature. "Please," Yugi said. "Please don't feel so ashamed. I want to see you whole again."

Atem stirred slightly. He had heard Yugi with his unconscious mind. Maybe if Yugi kept talking to this part of him, then it would make more difference than speaking to him while he was awake.

"Atem, I don't blame you for anything. I know that you did what you thought was best," Yugi continued. "I know that you felt helpless and alone, but all that you could think about was protecting me. Doesn't that prove how good you are? Doesn't that prove how much you care about people? You are kind, and you have a pure heart." Suddenly wings sprouted from the back of Atem's soul. Yugi smiled. It was working!

"You… you're a great leader, and you're really mature. You've had some hard times and you've had some enemies, but you've won every battle and come through stronger." Atem's soul grew old and scarred; a sheathed sword appeared at his side and a crown appeared on his brow. Now he looked almost exactly like he had when he returned to life, except for a few more scars. Yugi smiled. "There you are."

Atem's eyes opened slowly. He looked at Yugi and chuckled softly while rubbing his eyes. "I believe this is the only time you've woken up first, Yugi," he stated. Yugi nodded. Atem sat up and took a long, deep breath. "It looks like we're safe. It worked."

"Yeah," Yugi replied. "How are you feeling?"

Atem paused for a moment. "Better than I have in a long time," he answered finally. "Much better."

Yugi smiled. "There you are."