Chapter 11 (I DO NOT OWN YUGIOH)
"A-atem" Yugi whispered before his overly exhausted and abused body finally gave out on him. Surprised at the quick collapse Atem barley caught Yugi before he hit the ground. Atem looked down at Yugi, at this close rang Atem could see every bruise and cut and could feel the unhealthy lightness of his weight, he hugged close to him, not ever wanting to let go again. He hadn't noticed he had been holding Yugi tighter until Yugi let out a pitiful whimper from pain and shifted only to flinch at the pain that caused.
"It seems that we were lucky, Yugi cares so much for you even under someone's control he wouldn't lay a hand on you, even if it cost him his life." Seto said kneeling beside the two, he picked up something gold, broken and split, it was the earring that Atem had fixed that first day, that day that felt like a million years ago.
Seto's presence finally brought Atem back to the situation at hand, there was a battle going on and there enemy had been oddly quiet for too long. Glancing back he saw that Tal was amassing a large amount of power, and there was only one thing he could need all that power for, and that was to call forth Dansike the Destroyer.
"Quick Seto signal to the magicians, Dansike is about to make his entrance."
"That's right Pharaoh, Dansike will come and wreak havoc on your kingdom, and to make sure your pathetic magicians are unable to destroy him I'll merge my own body within his." The purple stripes began to spread, slowly engulfing his entire body, the mask he wore finally cracked and fell away reviling a melted and scared face. "No longer will I become the outcast of the kingdom, no, instead I will be the ruler of this new kingdom!"
"Your… mad." Yugi said quietly, barley auditable.
"Yugi!" Atem's surprise was obvious as Yugi tried to return to his feet, slowly Atem rose with him, steading and balancing him. Leaning heavily on his lover they both looked at their enemy, feeling the immense magical power amass behind them.
"It does not matter what you think of me, for I am no longer Tal but Dansike the Destroyer!" a flash of dark purple light emanated, and once where Tal had been standing was a dark light slowly designating into the sky. Thunder crashed and lighting flashed as Dansike began his resurrection into life, and when it was all said and done the monster that stood in front of them was as tall as an Egyptian god, with black claws and wings, an oozing purple smoke swirling down to form a body of purple mist and yellow eyes that craved destruction.
"I… I don't think just the power of the magicians will be able to stop him now, we might need the power of the Millennium Items to help seal him away, and possibly the gods to help weekend him." Yugi said looking at Dansike as he roared out loudly to the world that he had arrived.
"You might be right, but there's nothing we can't handle when we have each other." Atem smiled looking down at his weakened partner, Yugi smiled back relived to finally be back in those strong safe arms.
"The ritual is almost ready we must destroy him, we only have one shot." Seto said coming from behind them, followed by the other wielders of the Millennium Items. They nodded and together Yugi and Atem called forth the three Egyptian gods, the effort almost sent Yugi to his knees again, and he would have if not for Atem. Atem instructed the gods to distract and weaken Dansike as they waited for the ritual to finish.
"We need to combine our powers with that of the magicians to finish sealing this monster." Atem told his priest, nodding there understanding they followed Atems lead and began adding there powers to the ritual. Yugi watched as Slyfer wrapped his long body around the wings of Dansike only serving to enrage the beast further, he raised one of his darkly clawed hands and swiped it down word, straight toward them!
"Move!" Yugi yelled. The priests moved in time, but because Atem was also bearing his weight he was slower, he wasn't going to make it in time. Yugi quickly pushed him out of the way following closely enough behind to avoid a direct hit but the surrounding force flung Yugi several feet.
"Yugi!"
"I'm fine, finish the ritual!" Yugi tried to force himself up once again, only to fail and fall back to the ground.
Atem knew Yugi was right he had to finish the ritual, if he didn't there would be no second chance, pushing everything else out of his mind, he focused on the ritual only. When the power was finally at its max he spoke the ancient words, "I am Atem, Pharaoh of Egypt, and I demand that the powers that lie in the realms of the gods aid me to seal this darkness." The ground shook as a large stone tablet rose from somewhere in the ground "I call upon these powers of gods, humans and monsters alike, to aid me in sealing" he opened his eyes and with it the power that had been coursing around him was set free to swirl around and begin to drag Dansike into the tablet. "Now I command you to SEAL!" there was an enraged shrike as the last bits of Dansike was dragged into whatever portal that allowed creatures to be sealed inside the tables.
As things began to calm it was interrupted but an earth tearing crack, as the tabled began to crumble to nothing but dust and with its demise also came the demise of Dansike the Destroyer. The soldiers began to yell and cheer with cries of victory, there enemy was no more and that meant there home was safe.
"My King!" Seto yelled distressed. Turning he saw what was making Seto so panicked, it was Yugi he wasn't moving and he was barely breathing.
"YUGI!"
The darkness was so comforting, but it was lacking something, or maybe he thought something was missing. It was lacking a certain warmth, a warmth that warmed not only the body but the heart and soul, but what was it, or who? Yugi didn't have an answer, no he didn't even know for sure if it was really missing or just his imagination.
Yugi….
The voice was soft and gentle as a lovers caress. Lover? Did he have someone he loved, or was he all alone like he had been before.
Yugi…come back to me.
It was the voice again, it wanted him to go to him, but then he would haft to leave the comforting embrace of the darkness, no that was too much to ask, he liked the darkness and was content to stay there… but still. There was something about that voice Yugi just couldn't ignore, it made him curious and as he got more curious he realized that the voice held a soft warm feeling, almost like Atem's…ATEM! The voice belonged to Atem, Yugi had to find him, he had to know if he was okay.
The light was dim as Yugi slowly opened his eyes and let them adjust, the room he was lying in was Atem's chambers. When did he come back here, and what happened? As he tried to recall a nagging thought in the back of his mind was demanding to be paid attention to, and when it finally was he wished he could of ignored it longer, as the sore and cramped muscles told him he had been lying still for too long along with other duller, aches. Slowly, very slowly he rose to a sitting position, he felt very weak, he thought about the cause, and the last three days slowly began to resurface in his mind, making him wish he could forget again. Forget all the pain, all the suffering, and his… betrayal. Yugi had almost taken Atem's life with his own hands, it scared him, was he always destined to cause pain to those he cared about?
"Yugi?" Atem whispered in his sleep, slumped over by the side of the bed. There was a pained and worried look on his face even in his sleep, and that made Yugi sad, careful he began to reach out, but hesitated, he no longer deserved to touch Atem's soft hair. Before he pulled his hand back, Atem twitched as if the thought had awoken him. Atem groggily woke up, looking up he saw Yugi and the next second he was crushing him in a hug. "Your awake, thank the gods, you're awake." Yugi had no words to say not even a complaint at the pain Atem's crushing hug was causing all he could do was sit there motionless even though he wanted to hug him back with the little strength he could muster. "Yugi, what's wrong?"
Yugi turned his head unable to look his beloved in the eyes, "I'm glad you're okay, even though…" he bit his lower lip hard and clenched a fist unable to finish his sentence. Closing his eyes Yugi fought back the tears, "I'm sorry. I almost killed you." Yugi said mostly to himself, he still couldn't believe what he had almost done.
"Yugi..." Atem looked at the sadness that began to consume his loved one, he reached out a hand to comfort him and reassure. "It's not your fault."
"Don't touch me! I- I can't, how can you forgive me so easily?" Yugi shook his head in denial as if the motion would erase the memories, Yugi looked down at his shaking hands. "I-I can still feel the knife in my hands as it almost cut into your throat. I could of killed you!" Yugi covered his face with his shaking hands hiding the tears that had begun to flow down his cheeks.
Slowly Atem wrapped his hands gently around Yugis shaking wrists, he pulled Yugis hands away, Yugi tried to resist but was still too weak and exhausted, and slowly his face was revealed. "Yugi," Atem spoke softly as if anything harsher would shatter the fragile boy in front of him, "I don't blame you, because you saved my life by taking my place as Tal's prisoner. I don't blame you because you spent days at the mercy of their torchers. I don't blame you because no one should have been able to go through what you did and still have the will to fight back the shadows when there mind had been banished. I don't blame you because you endured it all and continually fought back even went there body had been dying. I don't blame you because you did it all for me. I don't blame you because I love you and am glad that you are back in my arms where you belong. That's why I can forgive you." Yugi slowly looked up, to amazed that he was being forgiven just like that, it didn't make sense. But then again it didn't really makes sense that he was here in the afterlife with a five thousand year old spirit, but that didn't make it any less true or real.
Yugi was tired, of fighting, of blaming, of everything, except being loved by this man. He laid his forehead against the bare chest and just gave into everything. Into the pain, the fear, the sorrow, the safeness, the happiness, and most of the love he felt for Atem.
