Yugi devoted the rest of his day to working on the puzzle. His goal was to complete it as quickly as he could. Atem had made a promise with him before he left, and it gave something more for Yugi to look forward to. Despite their sharing a body and despite some of the truly intimate things they had spoken when he shared his body, Yugi could tell their relationship was going to elevate when the spirit obtained a body of his own. He was looking forward to an especially important moment when Atem returned. Atem had something for him, just like Yugi had something for him.

Just as it was with the puzzle the first time, the pieces came together almost on their own. It wanted to be completed as badly as Yugi and Atem wanted. That feeling was building up in his stomach; the one someone feels right before a life-changing test or before they're approaching their crush. It seemed unreal that it was going to happen, but all Yugi did was believe in it.

An unchecked number of hours passed before Yugi finally completed it. He felt such a sense of accomplishment as he held the once-again completed Millennium Pendant. He was so excited to see that beam of light again, knowing this time, it would be for a different reason.

However, there was no reaction this time.

Yugi checked the puzzle all over to make sure no piece was out too far from the rest; but it was perfect. The puzzle looked like it was meant to with nary a piece astray. Yugi shook his head.

I don't understand! Why is nothing happening?

"Atem?"

Silence.

Atem did not respond. Did not appear before Yugi.

Confused, Yugi looked at the puzzle again. "Atem? What's going on?" When he received no answer again, Yugi grew angry and began shaking the pendant. "What the fuck is going on?"

In his anger, he hadn't realized the tears strolling down his face. It felt like everything was closing in on him, suffocating and torturing him. It was too much. Everything he'd been told—closing his store, taking a trip to Egypt with some man he'd never met, reassembling an item that should have never been found again—it was all just an elaborate lie.

"Is that all this was?" he snapped bitterly, eyes glaring into the pendant. "Just some overthought out plan from Kaiba to get back at me? And all you are is some stupid holographic projection bouncing from some stupid camera that someone's controlling from a remote fucking area to fuck with me?"

Yugi wanted so desperately to throw the puzzle across the room, to break it into smaller pieces. Just like his heart. He couldn't bring himself to do it, though. It was never his, but the memories it brought back, were. Defeated, he put the puzzle into the box and pushed himself away from the desk. He needed to get away from it. He looked at the clock, discovering it was past one in the morning, and decided it would be best to go to sleep. There would be no reprieve in it, however.

The only solace I'll get from this, is to never see the puzzle again.

The following morning, Yugi's eyes had been sealed from his tears. He couldn't remember when he stopped crying or when he fell asleep, but he supposed he must've exhausted himself into sleep. Crying was always a body-taxing hobby. I should know…

As he slowly made his way out of his bed, he stayed careful to avoid eye contact with the box that contained the Millennium Puzzle, wanting to quickly grab fresh clothes and shower. He hoped he would be able to return home early—he wanted to get away from it. Everything he'd worked himself up for was just a lie. Seto Kaiba had planned the perfect plan and had successfully broken Yugi's spirit.

He spent a prolonged period of time in the shower, not wanting to get out and thinking about everything that has transpired over the last several weeks. It was a long, convoluted trick that played out so smoothly. At this point, Yugi wouldn't be surprised if Honda had been in on it, despite having an extreme disliking towards Kaiba. Things had been so rocky between the two, though; that maybe he felt Yugi deserved it. Possibly even like what they did to Kaiba when he went to the psychiatric ward. Maybe this is what it had taken to finally learn that things like this weren't possible and he would need to move on from it. He certainly wasn't better for it, but he was broken enough to let others mold him into what would make them happy.

Maybe my own mother was in on this, too, he thought numbly. She wasn't happy with my decisions either.

At this point, Yugi was sure he was just coming up with solutions that would never happen. Seto Kaiba, maybe, but not Honda or his mother. It was like when Atem first started appearing to Yugi and was tormenting him by not actually being visible. Except it was worse this time, as now the spirit wasn't answering him at all. Weakly, he called out to Atem, both orally and mentally.

Still, the pharaoh was silent.

He couldn't help it—the tears came rolling down his face faster than the water could wash them away. He couldn't believe that after all he'd gone through; it would it end like this. It seemed far too cruel. It was just a shame his shower would have to end sooner than he wanted it to. He couldn't deal with the appearance of a prune, let alone when his own skin looked like it.

The tears didn't stop falling when he stepped out, when he dried off, when he showered, or when he brushed his teeth. He'd given up on wiping them away, resigned to letting them fall and hit whatever they wanted as he continued to move about. He sat down on the bed, now completely dressed. His shoes still needed to be put on, but he wasn't ready to leave his room yet. He couldn't face these people.

To be totally honest, Yugi had no clue as to what to expect when he completed the puzzle again. If he were to compare it to the first time, this time was quite anticlimactic. He couldn't have said for sure there would be a brilliant light to explode from the puzzle. Or for Atem's presence to miraculously show itself in front of Yugi. All corporeal and there and touchable.

He let out a heavy sigh. Still, the tears continued to fall. He could feel them landing on his hands. He was exhausted, though. It was all he could do but to plop unceremoniously back onto his bed and close his eyes.

For the second time in a single day, Yugi's eyes were sealed by his tears drying over his eyes. This time, he was more frustrated than depressed, tired of dealing with tears and their side-effects. They were debilitating and such an exhausting way to use ones' energy. Looking at the clock told him it was four in the afternoon. He was neglecting his health by not eating once more, only there was nobody here to chastise him about it. Still, he could hear Jounouchi's words pounded into his head for not eating. He sluggishly and numbly got off the bed to grab the menu to order food through room service.

It was inconvenient, but the cook staff didn't start preparing dinner until five, and lunch had finished roughly ten minutes ago. They told him he could order, but they wouldn't begin preparing it until almost an hour later. Yugi was too indifferent to care and used his politest words to express as much. He wasn't incredibly hungry to begin with.

He sat back on the chair and plopped his arms on the desk before letting his head drop on top of them. He didn't want to call Dr. Haasan and tell him the puzzle was complete, but he didn't want to fall back asleep and risk missing room service with his food. Slowly, he lifted his head, picked up the phone, and dialed a number.

"Hey, Yuug!" Jounouchi's chipper voice broke through Yugi's brain like a much-needed slap in the face.

Yugi smiled weakly, glad to hear such an optimistic sound. He felt bad that he was about to dampen it with his own mood. "Hey, Jou."

There was silence, then, "Yugi? What's the matter?"

"I finished the puzzle," he replied. He knew it was a weak attempt to change the subject—the blonde was too stubborn to let it go when he knew something was wrong.

"But somethin' happened… What happened?"

Yugi shrugged. "Nothing happened. I just put it together. It's done and Dr. Haasan and Kaiba will be happy."

"What does Kaiba have ta do with this?"

Yugi couldn't tell if Jounouchi was annoyed or confused or a mixture of both. "He's the reason the archaeologist was able to get in contact with me. He wanted me to put the Millennium Puzzle back together, so that he could face Atem again."

"Man, whatta snake…" Yugi could imagine the expression Jou was currently wearing. "Whatta 'bout Atem, though? I thought when ya put the puzzle back togetha, he'd come back."

"We're not… really sure how that was supposed to happen," Yugi answered honestly. "We just did what we were supposed to. We really had no way of knowing how it was going to turn out."

"What do ya think is the issue?"

"I don't know," came the response. "At this point, I think it was just a clever holographic projection. Something Kaiba managed to cook up. And everything was just a ploy to get me to agree to coming here."

There was silence as Jounouchi thought about this. "Naaaahhhh. No way, Yuug. I think there's just somethin' else that needs ta happen before he can come back. 'Sides, if your theory was true an' all, he woulda called me a dog! No way Kaiba woulda given up that opportunity. Bastard's too smug for his own good."

That's true, Yugi thought carefully. Saying it aloud would run the risk of listening to the blonde rant about Kaiba for way longer than he wanted. He loved Jou, truly. But he wasn't mentally equipped to listen to a Seto Kaiba-filled rant. "Honestly? I don't know what to think. I've tried getting in touch with Atem, but he hasn't answered me at all…"

"That's really weird, Yuug," the blonde agreed. "But… I still don't think Kaiba has anything ta do with this. Maybe somethin' big needed ta happen, but it couldn't happen until after you put the puzzle back together."

Yugi hummed, a noncommittal response.

"I'm sorry, man. I'm tryin' to make ya feel better."

"I know. I appreciate it."

"Well, I gotta go," Jounouchi said hesitantly. "I'm sorry, Yuug. They want me ta open tomorrow an' I don't really wanna stay up too late."

"No, no, I get it," Yugi assured. "I just needed someone to talk to for a bit that wasn't a money-hungry archaeologist. And I visibly shudder at the idea of talking to Seto…"

The blonde laughed. "I get it. Well, night, Yuug."

"Yeah. Night."

There was an ending noise before nothing but dial tone hit Yugi's ear. It wasn't soothing, but it was better than listening to his own thoughts. He was truly one of those people who could hurt his own feelings; he certainly didn't need anyone else's help to do it for him. Then again… listening to Seto insulting me would be another human being's voice… Better than listening to my own annoying voice…

He stood up from the desk to rummage through his luggage and pull out his music player. He needed to listen to something depressing and relatable. The last song that had been playing was just ending and the new song that began to play was not what Yugi wanted to hear, but he couldn't bring himself to skip it. It had a soothing beat and the singer's voice was soothing, too. Yugi wanted nothing more than to run away, like the song had started with.

"I'll be your wild card. Be your wild card."

Yugi's eyes closed as he let himself get lost in the beat and her voice. He could imagine a scene between him and Atem, slowly approaching each other. There was no reason to speak as everything they ever wanted to say would be conveyed through their eyes.

"Got me spinning heavily. Wonder how you taste?"

He imagined what it would be like, wrapping their arms around each other, holding tightly and too afraid to let go. He tried to think of how Atem would smell and how it would fill his senses and cloud his mind, preventing him from thinking about anything else. Imagined what his lips felt like and what he would taste as they explored each other more and more. Would he taste spicy and exotic? Something completely indescribable? What would happen if they kept holding onto each other?

The sound of a knock on his door woke him up from his daydream. The music had been low enough, so he was still able to hear outside noises, but he was a little surprised to hear the same song playing. He must've put it on repeat without realizing it. Even sadder was the fact that it had been playing for over an hour without Yugi caring. He took his earbuds out and got off the bed to answer the door.

He smiled at the employee who wheeled in the tray with his food. "Here you go, sir," she said. "I hope you enjoy."

"Thank you, miss," he replied politely.

She nodded, just a faceless girl Yugi would never remember, and left, closing the door behind her.

The dinner was nothing special, but something Yugi knew he would be content with eating. It was sustenance and contained nourishment he knew his body was going to need. Especially after he had exhausted it all by doing something so trivial as crying. When he was finished, he called for room service to collect the tray, making sure to wheel it outside his door. He figured it was time to return the completed puzzle back to Dr. Haasan.

He didn't bother to call for the man, instead just putting his shoes on, grabbing the box, and leaving. When he left the hotel portion of the building, he saw Nile standing near the Staff Only door, most likely keeping an eye out for any potential stealers. The Egyptian noticed Yugi and approached him.

"Did you finish the puzzle?" he asked, a smile on his face.

Yugi nodded but didn't return the smile. "I'm just on my way to give this back to Dr. Haasan."

Nile's smile dropped. "Okay. I'll go with you."

The former duelist shook his head. "No; that's okay. Is he on the top floor?"

A nod in response.

"Okay. Well, have fun protecting ancient artifacts." As much as it was supposed to be a joke, Yugi just couldn't deliver it in the way it was meant to.

Nile was concerned but stayed quiet, letting Yugi walk onward.

When Yugi reached the top floor, the door was closed. He listened for voices but didn't hear any. When he tried the door, it was locked. When he knocked, he could hear someone talking on the other side, though he couldn't hear any words.

It opened, and there was Drew.

"Yugi!" he greeted happily.

Yugi held up the box with the Millennium Pendant inside and Drew's smile grew wider.

"Oh, splendid!" He took the box from Yugi, whose arms dropped lifelessly to his sides. It went unnoticed. "Come in, come in. I closed this part of the museum down. I was too busy to allow patrons to visit this section." He moved to the side to allow Yugi passage before closing the door behind him. "I'm quite amazed that you managed to complete the puzzle so quickly. I thought for sure it would take a couple of days. How long did it take you to complete it the first time?"

Yugi shrugged. "Few years, I guess."

"Wow," the archaeologist marveled. "I truly think this thing has a mind of its own. Almost like it chooses who it wants to piece it together. But of course, I think it's just a matter of putting your mind to it and keeping your cool. After all, those who do things in anger or impatience tend to make more mistakes. You must be truly amazing at keeping your mind so even. I was getting frustrated so easily when I tried to put this together."

Yugi stayed quiet and by the door. The further Drew walked away from him, the further away from the pendant he was. And that was what he wanted.

"What do you think, Yugi?"

The former duelist shrugged. "I don't know how it works."

"I suppose the Millennium Items are truly a work of mystery and awe…" There was silence before Dr. Haasan spoke again. "Is something bothering you, Yugi?"

"No, not at all," the other replied quickly with a shake of his head. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep that well."

The other seemed sympathetic. "I understand that. You could've waited until tomorrow to hand me this. I would've been as equally excited as I am now. You still had plenty of time to complete it."

"It's all right," Yugi replied dully, shrugging his shoulder. "I'm sure I'll get plenty of sleep tonight."

Dr. Haasan pursed his lips. "I suppose that is true. If you don't mind waiting just a little bit, I can fetch that money that I promised you." He began to turn around, but caught Yugi's head shaking rapidly, so he stopped.

"It's okay," he insisted. "I'm just really tired. I just want to go to sleep. Pay me before I leave Egypt." He even ghosted a smile across his face.

Unconvinced but finding no reason to push for answers, the archaeologist reluctantly agreed, bidding Yugi goodnight. He was a little surprised to see how quickly the other had moved to leave the room, wondering what on earth had happened to make him act like this, but knowing he was far from being in a comfortable position to ask.

This time, when Yugi passed Nile, he didn't greet the man.