"I feel guilty sometimes." Atem admitted, avoiding the eyes of his girlfriend who was laid across the bed, her head resting in his lap.

"About what?" Téa looked up and shuffled her head a bit.

"About…this." He said softly, still avoiding her eyes. He deeply sighed.

"This?" Téa didn't understand what he was referring to.

Atem gave a sad smile, looking down at her momentarily and looked away. "Us." He whispered.

Téa moved to get up and opened her mouth to yell at him for saying something so stupid, but Atem, put a finger up and said "Wait," before she had a chance. She sat up looking at Atem.

Atem tried to say something, but as he tried to open his mouth to say it, he stopped and had to try again, as if he couldn't get the words to say what he wanted to say.

"Yugi loved you." He began.

Téa blinked, and then gave a small, but reassuring smile. "I didn't know at first."

Atem smiled back. "I used to tease him about it." Téa could only grin back. "A younger and foolish version of myself told him I could help him win you over." Téa huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Now I feel guilty." Atem looked down. "This is what I wanted for you two. It should be Yugi here with you, not me. I've stolen you and everything from him." A tear slipped from his eye.

"Atem…" Téa reached out to touch his face.

"It's true, isn't it?" Atem huffed. He turned his face away. "I took everything from him." He said angrily. "I'm a horrible person."

"No, you're not!"

"I should have been the one dead remember? Not him."

Téa froze. Her stomach instantly clenching hard. No, it felt like a dagger went through her heart. A memory of her saying something similar in the hospital about Atem being the one dead instead of Yugi replayed in her mind. He was repeating what she had said at the hospital when she woke up and had been confused.

"I'M SORRY!" She screeched, tears immediately streaming from her face. It startled him. "I didn't mean it like THAT!" She sniffed. "I couldn't choose between you…" She said quietly. "You dead was just what I was used to...I was confused!" She covered her face. "You were dead and he was alive! Then suddenly I wake up and it's flipped."

Atem nodded. "I'm sorry…" He didn't mean to upset her. "It's just that, I feel wrong."

Téa's heart started beating faster, as she struggled to say words. "What exactly are you saying, Atem?" It sounded accusatory, but she didn't mean it that way.

"I, uh…"

Did... did he want to break up with her?

He looked away, "Nothing." He mumbled and pushed away to get up. Téa hesitated, wondering if she should let him go. But if she did, he would avoid it again.

"Oh, no you don't!" She yanked at his arm, catching him off guard. He looked at her expectantly with his amethyst eyes. She was NOT going to let anything come in between them now. "Sit." She commanded, and he obliged.

"Téa…" He started, his eyes softening.

"No." She said firmly. "Look, whatever this is, we can't just push it to a corner and pretend it didn't happen. We're together now." She gave a soft smile. "We have to be honest with each other, and support each other. Talk." She commanded.

Atem hesitated. "I did, I just…" Téa eyed him. Reluctantly, he relented. "I feel like a terrible person, ok? I feel like a thief. I stole Yugi's life for crying out loud! This body wasn't supposed to be mine! Nothing was supposed to be mine. Not these clothes, not my home, not even you!" He screeched as Téa narrowed her eyes thinly. "They were… all should have belonged to Yugi!"

"So I'm just an object that belonged to Yugi huh?"

Atem opened his mouth in shock. "No. I mean. I, uh…Well he was in love with you." He twiddled with his fingers. "And you were in love with him, so…"

"I don't belong to anyone. I'm my own person! It doesn't matter if Yugi was in love with me or even that I was in love with him. I never owed it to him to be with him. I could have still said no! I mean who knows, if I was still planning to go to New York, maybe I'd have turned him down because of distance."

"Would you have?" Atem asked genuinely surprised.

Téa sighed, rubbing her arm uncomfortably. "No." She bit her lip. "I would have tried to at make it work, but that's besides the point!" She puffed. "The point is it's my choice. It wouldn't have been Yugi's, yours, my parents or anyone else's for that matter." Atem opened his mouth to say something, but Téa continued. "I make my own decisions. I fell in love with you too. Not because of Yugi, but because of the kind of person you are." She lifted his chin up, staring him in the eyes. Atem gave a shy smile.

"Look," she added. "Some things may have belonged to Yugi at one point, but Yugi loved you too. He would have wanted you to have all of this, hell, he shared everything with you when he was alive. He wished he could have given you more than what he had." She reassuringly rubbed his arm. "Don't feel guilty. You're not responsible for circumstances. We just have to make the best of them."

She pressed her lips together, and pulled Atem to close to her, curling her arm around his. Téa placed her head on her shoulder and sighed, her eyes suddenly feeling heavy as she said softly. "He'd want to have given you everything."

Yes, I'm alive! I've been insanely busy, but I'm going to try my best to finish this story up! Still have a surprise or two in store for this story, but shouldn't be too many chapters left.

It would be lovely if you left a lovely review to motivate me :)

~Startistica