Well, now there's only one fic left to finish. Thank you guys for sticking with me all the way, namely:
Yizuki, dr-fan/mai-lover, dragonlady222, Erik's Champion, Sorceress Casandra180, Avalon's mists, Suma Amoru, A Silent Thunder, The Danvers Girls, Imagine.EXE, Panguins-in-American-Oh-my, and Garden of Everything.
And now we bring it to a close.
Bakura smiled sickly at his new captive. Atem was lying on the floor, shuddering with pain, too exhausted to move. "Come now, Atem, did you really think you could escape me?" Bakura asked tauntingly. Atem coughed. "I have an entire world at my disposal. I was going to catch you some day."
"That doesn't mean… that I shouldn't have tried…" Atem wheezed. He pushed himself up onto all fours. "I've been waiting for this moment my entire life, my old friend."
"What moment is that?" Bakura asked.
Atem chuckled and spat the blood out of his mouth. "The moment where you kill me."
Bakura laughed aloud. "I'm not going to kill you, you fool. Not yet, at least. I want to keep you alive for a few more days—weeks, if I can manage it. You and the rest of your crew."
Atem's eyes narrowed. "Yugi…"
"Yes, Yugi and Tea and Joey and Tristan," Bakura replied. "They are all going to go through the same thing as you, because of you." Bakura bent down by Atem's ear. "You're their captain, Captain Atem. It's your duty to protect them, and you failed," he whispered.
Atem stared at the ground. "Twenty years ago, our parents were killed by Reavers," he said. "We trusted each other—we depended on each other. And after all this time, Bakura, I still don't know why you betrayed me."
Bakura grinned. "Trusted each other? I never trusted you. I never trusted anyone after my parents were murdered before my eyes. I betrayed you because it was convenient for me."
"You are heartless," Atem stated. "Even when you were a child, you manipulated those close to you for your own good! And I bet you became king the same way! No one would ever choose you, Bakura. And rather than work to become truly proficient at anything, you undermine others to get what you want the easy way."
Bakura growled. "I am king of Osiris! Do you think you're better than me?"
"After you sold me into slavery, I worked hard to earn this life," Atem said. "After seven years, I was freed, as the law requires. But my owner supplied me with everything I needed to survive because I had served him so faithfully. Then I dedicated myself to becoming a captain for another seven years, and here I am. I am better than you. I didn't hurt others to get my position."
Bakura pressed a brand against the back of Atem's neck in rage. Atem's screamed. "There. Now you have a pair," Bakura seethed. Atem panted, clutching his new wound. "I will kill you, Atem. But I'm going to make a spectacle out of you first. I'm going to show all my people that they will pay dearly if they disobey me, and that no one escapes my wrath."
Suddenly the palace shook, all the way down to its foundations. Atem took his attention off his burned skin and looked around. "What's going on?" Bakura asked. He walked over to the stairs, but the ceiling collapsed. Gigantic pieces of debris rained on him, and Atem could dimly see a ring-laden hand grasp for free air.
Atem summoned all of his strength and picked himself off the ground. The burns and gashes on his skin throbbed and stung. He crawled over the pieces of ceiling as quickly as he could, and he limped up the stairs into the main hall.
Bakura's subjects were running around the palace in terror. The walls rumbled and quivered. Atem pushed his way through the panicked crowd to the prisons and searched the dark hallways for his crew. "Atem!" Yugi yelled. Atem dashed over to Yugi's cell.
"Yugi, are you all right?" Atem asked. Yugi nodded.
"What's happening upstairs?" Yugi asked. "It sounds like the building's coming down."
"It is, quite literally," Atem said. "We need to get you and the rest of the crew out of here, quickly." Atem dashed off to the prison guard's office and sifted through the drawers of the desk. There had to be a spare set of keys in here somewhere…
Finally, Atem unearthed a large set of rusty keys. Dust began to sprinkle down on his head, and he hurried back to Yugi's cell. "The others are a few blocks down," Yugi said. "We've been yelling back and forth to each other for the last couple of days."
When Joey, Tristan, and Tea saw Yugi and Atem approaching, they cheered. "Ya guys are all right!" Joey yelled. "Captain, what's goin' on out there?"
"I hate to think," Atem said. "But I fear that Osiris is once again under Reaver attack."
"Reavers?" Tea asked. Atem opened their cells doors. "Then we need to get out of here, fast!"
They nodded in agreement, and they ran out of the prisons without a look back. When they made their way outside, they saw three large A-type ships. They were firing on Bakura's palace relentlessly. Yugi spotted a nearby armored vessel, and he veered towards it.
The armored ship was a B-type Gateguardian. It was slow and difficult to steer, but its super-reinforced hull could withstand the heaviest of blows. Yugi flew them out of orbit and far away from Osiris. The Reavers ignored them—they had many more victims trapped on the planet.
"We made it," Tea breathed. Tristan smiled, and Joey looked relieved. But Atem stared unhappily at the ground, clenching his fists. "Captain?" Tea asked.
"Skydragon is gone," Atem said. Tea's jaw dropped. In the bridge, Yugi's hands loosened around the controls. Their ship, their home, was lost to Reavers.
Bakura had ruined everything Atem had worked so hard for. He had dedicated his life to that ship. Now it was lost forever. "We'll just need to get a new ship," Atem said. The others looked up at him with surprise.
"But… but captain…" Tristan stammered. Atem shook his head.
"Skydragon's time is over," Atem said. "We need to move on. You will all remain my crew, if you so desire, but if you choose to leave, I'll understand."
"Leave? Ya think we're gonna leave just 'cause we lost our ship?" Joey asked. "We're like a family, captain. We're not gonna quit just 'cause things get a little hard."
"Right," Tea said.
"Hopefully we'll be able to trade this ship for another C-type," Atem mused. "We have no money."
"We'll find something to do," Tea said. "If we need to, we'll find other jobs. We're still a crew, and that's what matters."
Yugi stared at the new ship's controls. It was still a C-type, and it was still a Firefly class, but it was a different model. This wasn't home yet.
Tea was desperately trying to patch the defective parts of the new ship's engine. She was beginning to realize why this vessel had been so cheap. She would be able to fix most of it, but they would have to get along without a few parts until their next job.
Tristan was scrubbing the mold off the kitchen walls. Joey was organizing his bunk and mourning the loss of his weapons. Atem was trying to think of a name for his new craft.
Yugi tuned his receiver to the local news. The screen was small and the video quality was terrible, but the noise would help with Yugi's slight feeling of melancholy.
"For those of you who are just joining us, we've heard evidence of an alien attack on the outer rim planet Osiris," the newscaster said. "Many eyewitnesses are claiming that these aliens are the 'Reavers' from popular mythology, but there is no hard evidence supporting this theory. Yami Bakura, the king of Osiris, died in the assault, and the world seems to be completely under alien control. We'll keep you posted."
Well, if there were eyewitnesses, then at least some people had survived. But the Reavers were becoming much more aggressive, and they had gained control over an entire planet in a matter of days. If anything could threaten the Alliance's pristine rule, the Reavers could.
Yugi could only imagine how Atem was feeling. His sorrow at the loss of his home must have been immense—but his guilt must have overshadowed that completely. It had been his decision to take that job on Persephone, where they had been vulnerable to Bakura's ever-expanding jurisdiction in the outer-rim. It was his responsibility to keep his family safe. He had failed.
Atem strode into the cockpit. "Well, how do you like it?" he asked. He sat down in the copilot's chair. The brand on the back of his neck had healed, but a white B-shaped scar still remained.
"This reminds me of the first time I sat down behind Skydragon's controls," Yugi said. "Have you thought of a new name yet?"
Atem sighed. "I can't think of a thing. Would it be horribly unimaginative of me to name this ship 'Skydragon' also?"
Yugi laughed. "I guess that nobody's going to complain. How did you come up with Skydragon, anyway?"
"I have just one memory of my father," Atem said. "I was young, very young, and he was telling me a story about Earth-That-Was. A long time ago, in a land called Egypt, there were three great monsters that spread destruction throughout the land. They were called Obelisk the Tormentor, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and Slifer the Sky Dragon. The pharaoh, the king of Egypt, sealed those monsters away, but five thousand years later, they were released from their prison.
"A great battle began between three men. Two of the men fought for their own purposes, to gain the power to control the world. Obelisk sided with one of those men, and Ra sided with the other. But Slifer the Sky Dragon allied with the warrior who fought for good, for the sake of all mankind. With the help of the Sky Dragon, the good warrior won, and the world was safe again. And like the pharaoh from five thousand years ago, the warrior sealed away the great monsters so that their power could never again be used for evil."
"… Skydragon is a very good name," Yugi replied softly. "We'll use it for this ship too." Atem nodded. "Captain… it wasn't your fault that we were captured by Bakura."
Chuckling softly, Atem said, "I appreciate your consolation, Yugi. But you're wrong. At times like this, it seems like I'm just another member of the crew. However, I'm still your captain. It's my duty to protect you, and to make the decisions that will keep you safe and fed. I made a mistake, and it nearly cost us our lives. It was entirely my fault."
"Yeah, you're the captain," Yugi agreed. "And you know I would follow your orders no matter what. But we've been best friends for way too long for you to take responsibility for all of us yourself. If you did something right, then so did we, and if it's your fault, it's ours, too. That's how this thing works."
"I don't think that you understand," Atem said gently.
"Maybe I don't," Yugi answered. "But don't you like my philosophy better than yours?"
"It certainly sounds good," Atem laughed. "Perhaps I'll give it a try." He patted Yugi on the shoulder, and when he left, Yugi was pleased to see a smile on his face.
"Everyone, we have another job, on Elara," Atem said to the crew. "We're going to be transporting a load of ramen noodles to Nix." The Alliance had responded to the Reaver threat when the aliens began attacking the Plutonian cluster. A brilliant, bloody war had been fought, and the Reavers had been driven back to the outer rim.
Atem sat down at the kitchen table. "So who's winning?" he asked. Yugi, Tea, and Tristan were once again playing a game of Cornucopia. Joey was watching them carefully.
"Tea's winnin'. Tea's always winnin'," Joey answered.
"Um… Four strawberries," Yugi said hesitantly.
Tea grinned at him. "Five strawberries." Yugi shifted in his chair. That grin made him uncertain.
"I fold," Tristan said quickly.
Everyone in the room thought that Tea was once again going to take the game, but Yugi suddenly leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face and said, "One pineapple."
Tristan raised his eyebrows. There was only one pineapple in the entire deck, and it was superior to all other cards, even strawberries. Yugi couldn't possibly have been lucky enough to actually draw the best hand in the world, four strawberries and a pineapple. But he was a terrible liar, and Yugi seemed so confident.
"I… fold," Tea said at length. She put her cards face down on the table, and the crew turned to Yugi. Yugi laid out his cards and… he only had two pears, two oranges, and an apple.
"What?" Tristan exclaimed. "Dude, you didn't have those cards after all?"
Yugi smiled and shook his head. "I guess that I don't have to clean out the cargo bay for a week…" Tristan fumed. That would be his job, since he folded first.
"I didn't know that it was even possible for you to lie, Yugi," Atem chided.
"I'll play you again, double or nothing," Tea bargained. She looked flustered. She had never been beaten at Cornucopia before. But by Yugi? He had to be the worst player on the ship!
"No thanks, Tea, I have to set our course," Yugi said, laughing. He walked to the bridge, glowing with his success. He sat down in the pilot's chair and programmed the auto-pilot for Elara, in the Jupiterian cluster. He leaned back in the seat and sighed contentedly. This crew was his family. This ship was his home. As long as there was a sky above him, that would always be true.