A/N: I'm writing as I go! No plan! But I managed to do what I wanted to do... sort of. Lol. I hope you like this chapter and I am so looking forward to happy feels again. I've been putting you guys through so much stress, thank you for sticking through it!
Atems pov
He's stunned. Yugi. Hes just standing there. He looked as if he got smacked, or he felt some serious jolt of pain but … nothing happened. I didn't do anything to him. He was in mid taunt… is it Yugi? Is he fighting back? Is this my chance to use the Key to free him the rest of the way?
I don't know. Is he okay?
"Yug?!" Joey calls to him, something until now I couldn't do.
"Yugi! Please tell me your okay!" I shout, praying that in this strange stupor that Yugi has actually broken through.
He moves slightly, slowly looking up as if taking in his surroundings. The wharf first, then he sees the water. His movements are too slow to be Bakura, to confused. This must be Yugi.
"YUGI!" I call, letting the desperation and relief hit my voice. I don't know what happened to Bakura but if I can just talk to Yugi then maybe we can figure out what to do about this. The Shadow Game is still in place, if I'm going to die here then I will not subject my soul to it if I can help it.
He looks at me and for the longest while he was confused, almost not here but then he blinks, takes in a sharp breath and sees me. Yes! It's Yugi! He's back!
"Yugi you did it! You fought back!" I exclaimed, cheering. There's not a lot I can do with my ankle still chained but I am so thrilled all the same! He's free! Now all that's left is to end this to end this Shadow Game, free us and give Bakura the beating he's been waiting for.
"Ate-hah ahh! No!" Yugi grunts, quickly grabbing his hair as if to block something out. He's recoiling, almost doubling over as much as he can without falling over. He looks and sounds as if he's in pain but … wait… no. Does Bakura still have a hold of him?
"Yugi keep fighting him!" I urge him desperately.
Now's my only chance. I'm not likely going to get a better chance than this!
The Key comes to my hands with a lot more ease than I expected. It's as if it sensed I needed it and materialised into them. It must be as Shadi says: the Key is needed to free him. I'm sure it will guide me.
I hold it to him and feel it's power surge through me just like the Puzzle would when I would use it's abilities. I felt the eye warm my forehead and the whispers it sang guiding me on what to do. I pictured Yugi's mind as my target and imagined a lock the key needed to break and when I was sure the key had found it's mark I turned it. Instantly I was transported through what felt like space, travelling an eternity of distance through a tight vortex but once the second had passed I found myself in a dark area, void of life and light. I could almost hear my breath echoing off the invisible walls and the pressure around me was almost suffocating. This is completely unlike the mind I had grown accustomed to. Did I use it wrong? Where am I?
"Yugi?!" I call out and was almost frightened by my own voice whaling back at me. There's nothing here. I can tell from the sound, from this empty feeling around me seeping in.
"YUGI!" I call back but again… nothing. There's no answer.
"Where are you?" I whimper.
"He's not here." I spin to the voice and immediately spy Bakura, but my vision blurs. For a second it looks like Yugi but my Yugi would never look at me with eyes so full of hatred.
I run to him. To hit Bakura and to hold Yugi, I don't know what I will do when I get there but I run, desperate to catch whoever is in front of me but as I get there, he fades. Into a million dark stars blending in with my surroundings and all I can hear slithering around my skin is the low thunder of his laughter.
"WHERE IS HE?!" I demand of the dark.
"He belongs to me now." Bakura declares, some distance from me. He doesn't shift. He doesn't fade, his image doesn't dance. He's right there. If this is Yugi's mind then he is keeping him from me. The Key managed to grant me access inside but not to him it seems. Bakura has an even tighter hold on him than I realised. I must get through to him. If this is his mind then maybe he can hear what happens here.
"BAKURA RELEASE HIM! HE BELONGS TO NO ONE!" I scream, sprinting towards him yet again. This time I'll hit him. This time.
I'm going to hit him. He's going to pay. He's going to release him if I have to kill him right now.
I grab his shirt and in a bout of adrenaline I pull back to smack him as hard as I can until I heard the whimper. All around me. Through me. Above, below, behind… his whimper. It chilled me and I froze. I blink and Bakura is Yugi. My dear Yugi. He's crying. He shaking. He's in my hand, recoiling from me, terrified of the monster before him; of me.
"Is that the face you want your dear Yugi to see when he closes his eyes?" Bakura sings behind me.
I release Yugi to swing at him only he's gone, nothing more than a whisper on the wind. I have had just about enough of this.
"BAKURA FACE ME YOU COWARD! FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN."
Suddenly I do not know what is happening. I am spun around and then punched straight in the jaw with such force I fall back, hard onto whatever surface this is. My head is spinning but I am quick to recover, balling my fists to clock Bakura only I stop short of hitting Yugi who is straddling my body, winding back to throw another punch at me.
"YUGI NO!" I scream, dodging his vicious attack. His face is contorted into so much pain and anger it breaks my heart to see but it is all I can do not to get hit by him. His tears are streaming, his teeth are gritted and his eyes… so lost to despair I feel as if my heart is gone.
"You did this." Bakura says condescendingly somewhere above him and again I needed to dodge another punch.
"YUGI STOP!" I shout, catching his next punch. It hurt my palm and I am glad it didn't hit me anywhere else. But I don't let him go no matter how much he pulls and fights. "YUGI PLEASE STOP THIS!" I plead with him.
"Why would he? If it weren't for you he would have a normal life. He wouldn't be involved in this conflict." Bakura says. He is not helping!
"BAKURA SHUT UP!" I scream passed Yugi.
"No." Yugi cries softly and I stop. I pause and look upon him. He stops fighting me, shaking with his tears. He closes his eyes, scrunching his face as his body melts, sinking but never all the way. He holds himself up before he looks at me with pain filled sobs that takes my breath away. What pain does he feel? What is happening?
"You need to go." He cries and the knife in my chest turns.
"He doesn't want you here." Bakura says. I ignore him. He's trying to get to me but I need to focus on Yugi now. I need to block out Bakura.
"Yugi I -"
"He's right." He says but… I can't believe it. "I don't want you anymore." He cries.
"No. Yugi please. You don't mean that." I say, letting go of his weakened fist to grab his face, stroking his cheek and the tears away. His lips tremble though but I feel the slight turn, the faintest of leans into my palm. He's still here… but Bakura's hold is tight. "You don't mean that Yugi."
"I want to be alone." He says but I do not believe that.
"That's not true. You've been alone, you don't want that. More than anything you don't want that." I try to say but he shakes his head no.
"No I do! I can't hurt anyone if I'm alone and they can't hurt me! You need to leave. Please. Just leave me alone." He begs of me but no. I do not accept this.
"Yugi listen to me. Look at me."
"No! I don't want to hurt you!" I shrieks at me, balling his eyes out now. I stop his fist from hitting me but I don't think he was aiming at me this time.
"I told you. He wants you to leave him alone, Pharaoh. I'm trying to grant him this reprieve. If you would just surrender little Yugi, your dear little Yugi, will be at peace." Bakura says almost gently. His tone is designed to convince me, to lull me into submission; but I will never submit to him.
I touch Yugi's face, gently brushing his cheek and lock my eyes with his, trying to coax another reach from him. He doesn't recoil, but he's crying too much to respond.
"Yugi. Look at me." I whisper.
"I don't want this. I don't want to hurt anyone." He whimpers, more to himself than to me.
"Ife." I whisper and finally he looks at me, crying still but at least he's looking. "You would never hurt anyone."
He blinks, surprised but no less in pain. Not yet.
"You are my best friend Yugi. More than that. You are everything to me. You would never hurt me." I say, fighting my own tears back.
I can almost see him. Behind those eyes I can see he's reaching. He wants to believe. He can almost see me.
"How clingy are you? You heard the boy, he doesn't want you anymore. Yugi, if you want to be alone then get rid of him. Do him a favor and free him from you." Bakura says. I watch his face scrunch with the resistance he's trying to keep up. This is it. This is the fight he needs to win.
"Yugi. Come back to me. Please. Come back to me." I beg of him, stroking his hair from his face and trailing it along his jaw. He sees me again, struggling to maintain his focus. "Listen to my voice. Come back to me Yugi. Please. I love you."
His eyes widen, almost large with the freedom he's so close to claiming. He's still struggling: the mental chains Bakura has on him are not broken yet but they're weakening. Come on Yugi.
"You would never hurt me."
There. His eyes shine and the sharp breath he takes right before he presses his lips to mine in a single, deep kiss has me convinced he just broke his chains. But… there's something wrong about this kiss… something forlorn about it. Something final.
And then a range of sensations rushes through me. I feel pushed and pulled at once, a wave of cold, a burst of air exploding in my lungs and then the hard wood of the wharf. I see such bright light but as it settles I see that I am back in the real world. I can breathe. The gravity of the world feels as if I am floating. I feel so free and yet… so alone. Yugi…
I look up and see him holding his head in his hands, doubled over as if in pain. My friends are calling out to him and then I noticed the world. The Shadow Realm… it's gone. The sunset sky is a welcome sight and the fresh salty air of the ocean is something I take great pleasure in.
"You. ARE. MINE!" I hear the command shouted from behind us and see none other than Bakura strutting out of some boat house, holding the Millennium Rod and pointing it straight at Yugi.
"NO! BAKURA STOP!" I scream, desperately reaching as if I could possibly stop him but then I hear Yugi screaming something so horrible I am paralysed.
"NO! STOP IT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He whales, falling to his knees as he cries out to the heavens still trying to rip out of his hair.
I try to use the Key again but I am locked out of his mind. I heard him screaming but that's as close as I could get.
"YOU BELONG TO ME!" Bakura shouts angrily, giving the rod a good push and immediately Yugi's screaming intensified but what's more… I could feel something tugging. I follow this feeling to the Puzzle and I see it glowing, vibrating against it's chains. It seems to want Yugi but it can't get to him. It's powerful though, if it needed to it could free itself from it's bindings but … I think it's me it's bound to. If it wasn't hung up on that pole it would probably go to him and save him like it did that day… but while it's bound to both of us maybe I am stopping it.
'You will lose the puzzle today - one way or another.'
Before I even know what I'm doing my hand is over my deck. The Shadow Game is gone but the duel is still going. My soul won't go to the shadows but if I forfeit the duel while Bakura doesn't have a claim on Yugi the puzzle will go to him. We're co-owners of it after all; now I give it all to him. He was always it's new master anyway. Now it's where it belongs.
Almost as if the transition was instant I felt the tugging stop and in a blinding flash of light the Eye of Wadjet glowed brightly from both the Puzzle and Yugi's forehead. In the next second the Puzzle disappeared to float in front of Yugi, shining it's golden light between him and everything else. I shielded my eyes from it and heard Yugi's scream cut off followed by a very irritated and confused grunt from Bakura. That can surely only mean good things: Yugi is free. Completely now.
I peak between my arms with squinted eyes and as the light fades I see the Puzzle first, still floating in mid air and slowly his silhouette comes into view, kneeling on all fours but very much conscious… good. Now is he okay?
"Yugi?!" I call out to him and hope that he looks at me. Please look at me.
He doesn't though. The chain of the Puzzle loops around his neck, hangs off him heavily as if the Puzzle too is tired and then he collapses lazily; unmoving and frightfuLly still.
"YUGI!" I shout. I try to get to him but I forgot that my leg is still chained to this platform. The Shadow Game is over, I forfeited the duel but this chain wasn't magic. Of course it's still on me. I can't get to him like this.
I heard a commotion then and saw to my relief Tristan and Joey fighting off their stunned captors with ease. Joey elbows one in the ribs and then kicks him in the stomach while Tristan smacks the back of his head into his captors chin before he swings him overhead to land heavily on his back. Then the one man left holding Mr. Moto tries to use him to protect himself but eventually lets him go, pushing him into Joey and Tristan and runs for it, well and truly out of sight.
"Alright!" They cheer, high fiving and rejoicing. Mr. Moto ignores them and runs to Yugi and I watch with great interest, hoping to catch some form of movement or sign that he's alive. The mental torture he's been through today was too much. Way too much. I just pray the Puzzle was able to protect him somewhat. I can't imagine what this experience will do to him though and then there's… that anger. I know it was Bakura controlling him but that anger came from somewhere else, somewhere within Yugi. Bakura was just using it, directing it … but it was Yugi's. That pain was something Bakura could not fake. It was too raw in his mind to be anything but real.
"Atem dude." Joey and Tristan come over to me but Yugi is more important. They need to go to him.
"Yugi. Go check on him." I tell them. Tristan nods but Joey stays with me, trying to free my chains.
"Damn it, needs a key. Hang on, I'll go check the guys." Joey says, petting my shoulder before he leaves but again, I am more interested in Yugi. Come on Yugi… move. Wake up.
"Dude he's okay!" Tristan calls over to me and I am flooded with relief. He must just be unconscious. Thank the gods and all things holy. I feel like crying. So much that I actually do bury my head in the wood and let myself sob quietly. Thank the light. Thank Ra. Thank Osiris and … just thank everything. Oh my Ra.
"That little punk." Bakura seethes. I forgot about him!
I look to him, getting back onto his feet too. He must have been thrown backwards from the Puzzle and it got him good. He's wiping blood from his lip and simply boiling with frustration. But now he's not attached to Yugi, he's free game. Just as soon as Joey finds the key to these shackles this little bastard is mine.
"That little punk is too much for you to handle Bakura. What is it that you were saying about weakness? You have 5 Millennium Items and that's still not enough to get past the Puzzle or to control Yugi. You are nothing Bakura and you always will be!" I spit. I revel in his anger, in my own as well. All the taunting, the arrogance, the attacks on my friends … I am not holding back now. He has crossed too many lines and it's about time I put him in his place.
He turns to me, teeth gritted and fire in his eyes. I am well aware he can hurt me seriously like this. I am angry but anger won't protect me from a direct attack of a Millennium Item. But an Egyptian God will …
"You talk some tough words for someone not in a bargaining position." He says, clicking his fingers.
Then behind him, Diabound emerges from the blank space of air carrying two squirming bundles. It's only on closer inspection I see that he's carrying none other than Ryou and Tea.
My heart seizes and immediately I am back to terrified and confused. How did they get here? We left them at the school, they were safe there. Unless Bakura had eyes on them. No… I cannot let them get hurt. Even if we're currently fighting with Tea I cannot let him hurt her or Ryou.
"Bakura! Let them go! They can do nothing to you and this fued is with me!" I say but he tsks me, wagging his finger disapprovingly.
"The girl is an accomplice to Ryou's vicious assault. They tried to take the Rod from me and may have succeeded were I anyone else. So this does involve them now." He says.
On closer inspection I see the red mark and trail of drying, half wiped away blood coming from his temple. Whatever they had done had actually hurt him. I dont know who did it but I am very impressed they got close enough to smack him so hard. Unfortunately it looks as if it ended with badly injuring Ryou. He's struggling against Diabounds grasp too but he seems to be in a great deal of pain. Tea has a lot more life in her but she's too weak to fight against his strength. "Atem! Please help us!" She screams desperately and my heart goes to her. I need to help them. But how? I am chained here and it is too dangerous to set my Gods after Diabound while he has hold of them. Then there's the Puzzle around Yugis neck. And the Key will only allow me into someone's mind, I cannot fight with it. What do I do?
"I'd like to offer you a proposition." Bakura declares and I have little choice but to listen. "The boy, for your friends lives."
No.
He wants me to choose between Yugi and them? That won't happen. I cannot choose, that is not fair. I cannot lose Yugi, but I cannot live with myself knowing that my choice will kill Ryou and Tea. No.
"Bakura! I will not play with their lives!" I say angrily.
"This isn't a game." Bakura says rather seriously. I need the puzzle but I cannot obtain it until I win it from Yugi, since you so foolishly relinquished it to him. I do not need your friends and frankly I should kill them for assaulting me anyway. So choose. I leave with either their blood or Yugi, alive."
Alive. If I choose my friends he'll keep Yugi alive… but I cannot subject him to such torment. I cannot let Bakura take him. Beyond the obvious Yugi is terrified of him. I cannot in my right mind just let him be taken by him.
"Yugi!" Tea screams and out of instinct I look to him and watch him slowly rise to all fours. Mr. Moto and Tristan give him space but they're there to help him if he needs. He wobbles, head down and hair hanging past his features so I cannot see his expression but he appears heavy and weak. He really shouldn't be moving.
The puzzle hangs heavily from his neck and I can almost feel the weight he must be feeling. Not only is the Millennium Puzzle a very powerful object but his fear of anything near his neck too… still he lifts himself up. First to all fours, then to his knees.
"Put… them… down." He says through heavy breaths and with a strained voice.
"I intend to but I was waiting for his majesties decision." Bakura says slyly. Yugi's in no mood for his cheek, evident by the murder in his eyes as he looks up at him. He's weak, exhausted. 100% tapped out of mental and physical energy. He's standing now purely on emotion, on his anger and hatred for Bakura and its enough to intrigue him.
"Do you want to challenge me instead, little runt?" Bakura asks him, turning his full attention on Yugi. This is bad. If Bakura attacks him he's done for. It won't matter how mad he is or if he can master the Puzzle in time Bakura is way too strong right now.
"YUGI STAND DOWN!" I implore him but he ignores me.
"Fine then… lets play a game." Bakura says and I do not like his tone. What is he going to do? I don't like this.
He clicks his fingers again and the shackle on Yugis leg opens, freeing him. Mine remains closed and I still don't know what's happening.
"If you can fetch them all from the water without drowning you keep the puzzle for now. If you can't, you will either belong to me or your puzzle will."
What? Who from drowning? Tea? Ryou?!
Another click of his fingers and the latch on my platform clicks. A second later I feel gravity rush past me, pulling me brutally into the freezing cold depths below. Its so fast I barely had time to take a breath and with the rush of water I lost half of what I pulled on impact.
It is freezing down here! Colder than I thought this water could be. This is like liquid ice. How is it so cold?! And I'm sinking. I can't fight against this weight I didn't know was attached. How am I sinking? I only saw myself attached to a chain on the wharf, I didn't know there was something beneath me! Swim! Swim!
The surface is getting farther and farther away and the cold is making it almost impossible to keep in this air. My arms feel so heavy and its a struggle to even move them let alone push against this weight. My brain feels so tight in my skull. I can barely think. My lungs are on fire… I can't breathe! Yugi!
Is this… it? I dont… even get to say goodbye? I dont get to hold him? I dont get to see his eyes or hear his voice?
One last chance to tell him I love him? That last kiss in his mind… was my last?
…
At least…
He's free.
Yugi.
I'm sorry.
I feel something touch my arm and then it holds my mouth closed. I look but the water makes it hard to see. I think its Tea. How did she… get down here? And then I feel something change the current beside me and I see Ryou struggling to swim by us. He is half nursing his hand to his chest but its difficult underwater. I dont understand. How did they get down here? And why are they so deep? They're not chained too they should be able to swim up to the surface.
Tea swims down to my feet and I don't know how much longer I can hold this. My lungs burning aside its getting too cold to think. I keep forgetting I need to hold my breath. I keep forgetting I can't breathe!
Ryou is holding my mouth closed now and I don't know if I hate or appreciate it.
Its getting so hard now. I feel like my heads about to explode. I need to breathe!
My body moved on its own and I wish it didn't. I moved my head and my mouth opened to swallow water and with every cough I take in more. Im drowning. I can't stop! No! Yugi!
…
Yugi…
…
Darkness.
Its quiet. And loud.
Thumping. All around. Everywhere it thumps.
Weightless.
And heavy.
Life is dark.
But the dark becomes light. The darker it is, the brighter the light becomes. And the more it swallows me, the faster the light engulfs me. And through the light, at first its a silhouette but it gets closer and its form is revealed to me, as my father.
He stands so tall in the light, proud as he should be. He is a great man, so strong and wise and kind in his own way. He was everything I aspired to be as King and as a man. But he stands there, with a kind, warm expression; something I so rarely saw and the smile is welcoming. I want to go to it. I've missed him so, longed for his wisdom and almost forgotten the warmth and strength of his company. I reach for him but his hand stretches out to me, telling me to stop. To not come closer. I am accustomed to this, but in this white light, why? Still, I obey. Like the good son I am, I do as my father tells me without question and I bow. I avert my gaze to him for he is my Pharaoh and to look upon the vassal of the Gods whilst he commands is disrespectful.
But then his fingers touch my chin and he pulls my head up to look upon that warm, unfamiliar smile he wears.
"My son." His voice radiates through me, echoing in the halls of my mind like I imagine the song the gods would sing. I feel so at ease, like nothing ever was ever wrong. "I am so proud of you."
My heart almost collapses with the words. All I have ever wanted was to live up to my fathers name. To be a great King for my people. To hear him say those words … I can rest easy with those. I lean into the cup of his palm, letting his warmth soothe me and lull me towards sleep.
"It is not time for you to rest yet, son." He says and slowly I look up to him. I am confused. Why can I not rest? "The world still needs you. There is a strong young man who still needs you."
Who? Who needs me?
"Join us when the time is right, but that time is not now, my son. I love you. You have made our people proud."
Tea's POV
We are thrown onto the hard, damp wood of the wharf, coughing and splattering and choking on the air and water in our lungs. I am shivering, my teeth are chattering. I can't feel my feet or my hands and the air feels like sheets of ice. I was almost warmer under water but here at least we can breathe.
Breathe… Atem!
I look around wildly and I find our friends coming by us to check if we're okay. I see Ryou writhing in pain, nursing his broken wrist as he coughs up water and Atem… he's not moving. At all. His ruby red eyes are closed, water leaks past his lips but his chest does not rise. Not a single inch. He's not breathing!
"Atem!" I squeak, coughing up more water I didn't know I was swallowing. Joey beats me to him, rolling him onto his back to listen to his chest while Tristan holds his wrist. I feel so afraid. He just… can't die. He can't!
I see movement now, like the sun was leaving and I look but it isn't the sun. It's … Yugi. He's glowing gold and his hair is moving with a power I can only feel. He looks godly, almost divine but I don't understand how. He's not facing us, in fact he's walking away to stand defiantly before us… facing Bakura. His sights is solely on him … while his boyfriend is dying.
"He's not breathing!" Joey's voice cuts me and I look.
"Quick CPR." Tristan says but Joey is already on it. He's pressing on his chest, almost jumping on it while Tristan gets in position.
I feel the tears and let them fall. I don't want to lose him even if we're not talking. What we're fighting about is stupid, I just want him alive and happy and if that means with Yugi then so be it! But why is Yugi not paying attention? He could be dying!
"Yugi!" I say loudly to him but he doesn't look at me, doesn't even flinch. So I get up, wobbly at first but I march myself up to him, touch his shoulder and freeze. The power...coursing through him is immense. I see now the Millennium Eye cast upon his forehead, the golden glow in his eyes replacing every ounce of the lavender we love. This… isn't Yugi. It can't be. I look to his chest and I see the Millennium Puzzle upon his chest, hanging from his neck and it's glowing too. In fact I think thats where all this power is coming from. Maybe… maybe it's controlling him somehow and that is why he's not paying attention. Maybe I can get through to him.
"Yugi. Atem is dying. He can't breathe! Please, go to him."
"COME ON ATEM, BREATHE DAMN IT!" Joey shouts in frustration behind us.
"DiaBound. Bring me that Puzzle." I heard Bakura shout and as I look I see the monstrous DiaBound diving toward us. Yugi's not about to move, but if we don't he'll probably kill us. So I try to push him but he doesn't move. How is he this strong?
"YUGI!" I scream at him and finally, he moves but it's to move me behind him just as DiaBound reaches us. He freezes in mid air, poised to attack and maim or kill … but he's frozen… and Yugi looks at him. Unphased and unimpressed he looks upon DiaBound as if he is nothing.
"Yugi?" I ask, afraid of him now more than anything. What is happening to him? Just as I wonder though I feel a pulse of power push DiaBound away and on instinct I cling to Yugi, trying not to be pushed away myself. DiaBound is sent flying though, high into the sky and far out to see. And I watch… in absolute awe because it's now I realise that to Yugi, he is nothing.
I've never seen him use this kind of power. Not even Pegasus or Bakura has displayed this much power. Marik maybe but this… this was incredible and insane. I don't even know if our little Yugi is in there still. He went from being tortured by Bakura to controlled by the Puzzle I… I hope he's still here.
I heard coughing and wheezing followed by cheers of relief and I look behind me to see Atem finally moving. He's choking and they're quick to put him on his side so he throw up all the water but he's alive! Thank god he's alive!
"Yugi! Atem's alive!" I say to him, hoping this news might bring him back but he doesn't change at all. Can he not hear me? He moved me out of the way before he must know I'm here.
"Seems I underestimated you, little Yugi. You may have won this round, but I will get my hands on that puzzle, and the Key. And now I know where they both are. I won't be playing games next time." Bakura says, and as he speaks DiaBound materialises beside him, allows him to climb onto his hand and they both disappear.
We stay here a moment waiting, wondering if he'll strike from the shadows but as the time goes on I am more and more concerned for Atem. I look back and see he's breathing easier now, still short of breath and rasping, a few small coughs here and there but he's okay. Tristan's gone to Ryou now and Joey and Grandpa are helping Atem sit up… so now it's only Yugi, standing here like a golden statue.
"Yugi?" I ask carefully and almost as if my voice gave it permission the Puzzle stopped glowing, the eye left Yugi's forehead and the godly glow around him faded, leaving him weak. He closed his eyes, sighed and fell into my arms.
"YUGI?!" I shriek, lowering him to the ground. He's completely limp now and unresponsive. I don't know what happened? Was the puzzle too much to maintain?
"YUGI!" I heard Grandpa shout and soon he was with me, checking Yugi over. Searching for a pulse, a breath… and all I can do is hold him. Grandpa sighs in relief though when he finally hears his heartbeat and I am so relieved. To lose Atem is one thing, but to lose them both… I don't want that.
I want my friend back.
"Lets get these three to the hospital." Joey calls to us.