Author's Note: Hi guys! I apologize for the agonizingly slow updates. The semester has started and I have started writing my senior thesis, meaning that I can only manage a few paragraphs at a time. I still have not finished editing this chapter yet, but I wanted to at least put up a rough version of the chapter in order to thank you guys for your infinite patience. As a treat I have added a certain point of view. I hope that you enjoy it! I've bounced back and forth between separating this chapter into two parts, so I might decide to make the last part of this chapter the beginning of chapter 25 at some point.
Thanks to all of my readers who have stuck with me through 24 chapters and the ridiculous waits. You guys are awesome! This of course includes angiembabe, yami mayonaka, and lalalei, my best friend who's not even in the fandom and puts up with me anyway, and all of you lovely readers!
This part is important:This chapter is unedited and will replaced with an edited in the very near future. Please forgive any typos or grammar mistakes. I will do my best to smooth them over in the next few days so that you get a sparkling clean version as the final product!
-TheEagerScribbler
Chapter 24: Limits
Yugi's pov
"Um...Yugi…"
Yugi snapped his head to face Joey. "What?"
"Why are ya waving a pencil around and staring at you deck like you expect it to talk back? Did ya learn some magic for the Dark Magician or somethin'?"
Yugi looked at his hands and did see a pencil in them. "Oh, I was just, uh, thinking, that's all. I'm trying to figure out how to improve my deck for Kaiba's Second Battle City. After all of this is over he wants me to compete."
"Are you sure that's such a good idea Yug?'
Yugi shrugged. "He won't announce it until all of this over. At that point nobody should be out to get the puzzle so it should be fine."
"That's not what I was askin'. Are you sure it's a good idea to enter another tournament run by money bags? I thought you hated the spotlight?"
" Recently I've had a customer who said the duel monsters used to be a game, but now it's a way of life. He's right, and I miss those days. I don't have a problem with the Spotlight Joey, I just prefer to play for fun."
"We duel all of the time. Most of the people you know are duelists," he pointed out.
"The last time I checked I run a game shop and I'm the King of Games. I don't think I have much choice."
Joey scowled. "You mean you wouldn't be friends with me if you had the choice?"
Yugi pretended to think about it, but they both knew what the real answer would be. "Well, you eat me out of house and home so…"
"Well that's just great, you big jerk. To think that I was gonna offer to help you get ready."
"That's all right Joey. I can just ask Mai. She's pretty, smart, and talented. She's the perfect dueling partner."
He had to try not to laugh at the comical expression on Joey's face. Then Joey doubled over with laughter and pointed towards the door. Tea stood, leaning against the door frame with an eyebrow raised. "What was that Yugi?"
"I meant my wife. My wife is pretty, smart, talented, and the perfect dueling partner."
"That's what I thought you said." She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. "I know that you're busy, but would you mind manning the shop for a little while? I need to get some groceries."
"Tea, are you sure that going out alone is a good idea? I could come with you-"
"You know I like to help out in the shop on my off, but if you want cleaning supplies for the shop and food to cook for dinner I'll need to go."
Yugi began to tidy up the table and ready himself to leave. "I'll go with you."
Joey got up first and walked over to doorway."Nah Yugi, you go and man the shop. I'll go with Tea. Mai wanted to go and buy some of that shampoo that she likes anyway. You'd think that a hair stylist would have her own personal stash of shampoo!"
"Just be careful."
Without warning Akari stormed into the room and yelled, "What the hell is with everyone?"
"Language!" Yugi warned.
"A girl was just tortured and put into a coma and you're over joking about card games? It's like you don't even care!" Angry tears shone in her eyes. She hastily tried to wipe them away but they kept falling. It occurred to Yugi that from an outside perspective their behaviour probably did seem callous, and these circumstances were far from ordinary.
Joey a quieting hand on Akari's shoulder and said, "'Kari, what happened is horrible, but Bakura wants us to fall apart because if we do, he wins. If we act like she's dead already it's like we've given up. Did you know that Grandpa, Kaiba, Mokuba, Mai, and me have all lost our souls in shadow games?" Her eyes widened. "And I'm still here alive and kick'en ain't I? So are Mai, Kaiba, and Mokuba, and Gramps lived to a ripe old age didn't he?" She nodded. "Sometimes you just have to keep goin' because there's nothin' else to do."
Akari wasn't able to meet Joey's eyes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have accused you of not caring."
"S'okay little girl. You're just like your old man. That's not a bad thing."
Akari's righteous anger turned into an expression of minor teen annoyance. "Uncle Joey!" she whined.
"You eighteen yet?"
She stared blankly. "No, what does that have to do with anything?"
"If you're not a little girl then I'm old. I'd like to think that I'm not old yet so.."
"I hate to say it, but I don't think it works that way." Tea pointed out. "Don't you remember when we-"
Joey stuck his fingers in his ears. "La la la I'm not listening!"
"Just go!" Yugi groaned. "I'll still be here when you get back. Just try to make it quick, okay?"
Tea kissed him on the check and started dragging Joey to the door. "Come on Joey. Let's go."
"Yes ma'am." He turned to Yugi. "See you in a bit!"
Yugi kissed his wife goodbye, waved to Joey, and then made his way to the shop while desperately trying not to think about how every goodbye could be their last. Instead his mind wandered over to his was impressed with how well Akari was handling everything. She was understandably upset, but she was still holding up admirably. Kaiba was right, his daughter was stronger than anyone had given her credit for. Akari had gone upstairs to her room, presumably to mess around on the internet and listen to music, which is what she usually did when she needed to calm down.
That meant that Yugi was left alone in the shop with only his thoughts. He was grateful for the silence that came with a slow day because he could use the break. Lately he had been feeling to tired-they all had. Initially he had thought that he'd have trouble sleeping, but it seemed to work the other way around. These days he couldn't think of anything that he wanted more than sleep.
Yugi blinked and saw a shadowy blur. He blinked again and it was gone. He rubbed his eyes. Maybe these shadows were just a symptom of sleep deprivation and not the result of some sort of plotting on Bakura's part. There was another option that he didn't want to consider. "Maybe I really am going crazy." He murmured. That kind of thinking was going to get him nowhere. That kind of thinking was exactly what Bakura wanted. It was obvious to all of them by now that the real purpose of their games had been to wear them. He pointed out their weaknesses and doubts and ruthlessly exploited them for his own gain. In a sense Bakura's true objective was moderately successful in the very least. Everything that they had been through in such a short span of time was beginning to take a toll on them. How had they managed all of this so well when they were all basically children the first time. Yugi leaned back in his chair tiredly. "How did we do it?"
"How'd you all do what? Really Yugi Boy, you shouldn't say things out loud unless you're prepared for others to hear you." Yugi looked up in surprise and Saw pegasus standing in front of the counter in his usual suit.
"Hi Pegasus. I thought you were swamped with meetings?"
"Even someone as busy as me needs to make time for a lull in my schedule. Otherwise I'd find myself in less than peak condition. We can't have that now, can we?"
"No, I suppose not," Yugi agreed.
"Excellent!"
This was starting to become very odd, annoying habit. It wasn't exactly that he disliked him. In the beginning her did, he had kidnapped his grandfather and stolen his soul, but with time and more experience with the items he had come to understand him better. He was just desperate and the shadows had exploited that. Joey, Mai, Tristan, Tea, Mokuba, and Seto couldn't entirely understand what it meant to be a wielder of a millennium item, of shadow magic. It was corrupting and intoxicating and he could only imagine that someone who was grieving would have been especially vulnerable.
What Yugi objected to was that he would just pop up at random times and drag Yugi places in order to offer unsolicited advice. It might have been nice when he was a teenager and didn't know anything except that he had better not screw up with the world at stake, but he was grown man now and didn't need his advice on life or magic. His objections didn't matter. If Pegasus wanted Yugi's time then he might as well save the time he would have wasted arguing and close up shop. Despite his sometimes flamboyant appearance Maximillion Pegasus was still a CEO and he always got what he wanted.
Ten minutes later he found himself at an ice cream shop that Pegasus had bribed the owner to close early so that that they could talk in private.
"You do realize that we could have just done this at home? I have icecream in the freezer."
"Where's your sense of fun? I seem to recall that you used to have one of those."
Yugi shrugged and said, "Fatherhood does that to you."
For a brief moment Pegasus narrowed his eyes and put down his spoon. "I wouldn't know." Yugi cursed himself. He should have known that children would be a sore spot, a reminder of the future that he and his wife never got to have.
"What did you want to talk about?'
Pegasus rebounded quickly and leaned back in his seat with a dramatic sigh. "Talk."
What exactly did he want him to say?
"I think you know, Yugi boy. You're keeping it all bottled up inside and it's not healthy. You need to come to terms with your own demons before they make you vulnerable to Bakura and the shadows. Besides, who could possibly understand about that better than me?"
He had been confiding in his wife and friends plenty. He just didn't choose to divulge his doubts and fears to Pegasus, and why would he? They weren't exactly close.
"Don't give me that lip Yugi. I'm only trying to help you," Pegasus gently scolded.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it," he accused.
"I'm not!" Yugi defended himself, feeling entirely like a little kid being chastised by his parent.
"Last time I checked the eye doesn't even work like that!"
"You're missing the point Yugi boy," he snapped.
Yugi calmed himself and took a deep breath. How much would it take for Pegasus to leave? "What do you want to know?"
"You tell me. I could always fish it out of your mind, but actually saying it outloud can have therapeutic value."
He was beginning to understand why Kaiba thought that the man was so obnoxious. He expected eccentric, and Yugi could handle that. However, the constant meddling now that he had the eye back had not made him seem any more likeable than they thought he was, and even that was the subject of much debate. "He has her soul," Yugi sadly stated. "She's nearly my daughter's age, and now she's…" He stopped, unable to say it. "She's a child! Why should she have to suffer because the adults can't get their act together?"
Pegasus frowned thoughtfully and took a bite of his pink and blue cotton candy flavored ice cream. "Yes, children are in the unfortunate position of having to rely upon adults for their well being aren't they? However, here's the thing Yugi boy... the poor girl is hardly a child, and fate chose her just like it chose you. Sometimes the world is a terrible, cruel place, but that's just the way things go. Don't let this guilt destroy you. I can see it nipping at your heels Yugi boy. You're far stronger than I ever was, but it wouldn't do for you to slip would it now?"
"What?"
Pegasus put down the the now purple colored spoon and soberly faced Yugi. " How many times have you stared into the face of evil knowing that if you failed your loved ones and the entire world would suffer. You've watched friends lose their souls, faced evil incarnate, lost the spirit of the puzzle, and have had to endure the terror of your daughter's kidnapping. Now a girl has lost her soul and you feel as though it's all your fault for being in their lives. There's nothing to be ashamed of. You've been through alot and your brain is trying to process it. If you persist in calling yourself weak I'm not going to allow you to leave here."
"Is that a threat?" Yugi asked cooly.
Waving his spoon in the air the air the man exclaimed "Nonsense! It's impossible to threaten anybody while eating such delectable food, wouldn't you say? You and I both know that you're going to give in because you're just dying to share this with someone, so just let the words tumble out of your mouth and I promise that I'll keep your secrets."
He decided to ignore the ridiculous claim you couldn't threaten someone over ice cream because that was exactly what Pegasus was doing and decided to finally give voice to the doubts lurking in the corners of his mind. "What if we can't do it?"
"Yugi Mutou, King of Games, holder of the millennium puzzle, vessel of the great Nameless Pharaoh…" Pegasus mused. "You feel like the saving the world is only your burden to carry. Which of those is your true reason for those feelings? Well, whatever the case," he said dismissively, " Your mind has had all that it can handle, which you should absolutely tell your wife, even if I am bound to secrecy. Sometimes taking comfort in your beloved's arms is the most effective way to heal," somehow Yugi got that feeling that he was looking straight past him into a far off time when he was happily married newlywed. " If you let it consume you you may force us to take action against you. That would be truly tragic. You've seen Marik Ishtar and myself. Only you know the full power of the puzzle, but I'm betting that if you willed it to, the puzzle could inflict more damage than my eye, and it seems that some of us are still recovering from the damage left in it's wake."
Suddenly it hit Yugi. "You think that I'm a liability." He wasn't crazy! Bakura had that type of power, was it really so unfeasible that he was there, watching them? Maybe he was a little paranoid, but surely that was a good thing if it kept them all alive.
Pegasus pushed his now empty ice cream cup to the side. "That depends on you, I suppose."
"Listen to me Pegasus. I'm more than well aware that the odds are against us and that no one else sees these shadows. I still think it's Bakura, but I'm willing to admit that maybe it's my eyes playing tricks on me. "It's just that I'd rather be cautious and alive than ignorant and dead. I'm not crazy, my sanity shouldn't be what's in question! I'm not the only one who's being worn down by all of this! Have you taken a look at Ishizu or Mokuba lately? Have you noticed that even Seto's looking like exhausted these days? We're talking about a CEO that hardly ever sleeps! We're all tired, we're all struggling, and none of us have any real idea of what Bakura's planning. No matter what we do we're going to be at a disadvantage."
"You do have a point Yugi boy, this has taken a toll on all of us. Just be warned, I'll be evaluating everyone very carefully. We can't allow anyone to endanger the rest of us." Was he extending that analysis to himself too? If anything Pegasus was the one to watch out for. Yugi's spoon paused midway to his mouth and then put it back down. He was being ridiculous. Why was he starting to think of Pegasus as the enemy?
"That's not going to happen. If anything we're better equipped than we were back then," Yugi pointed out.
Pegasus made that dangerous sort of eye contact that told Yugi that he was looking straight into his mind. "No we're not. The challenges that you have faced were predictable, and this is anything but."
Yugi's first instinct was to start yelling and hurling insults. His hands were balled into fists so tight that he could feel his fingernails cutting into the palm of his hand. If anyone should be suspected it was Pegasus. They all knew that he had been inclined to give into the darkness. Yugi could sometimes see it in his eyes when he was trying to be friendly. It seemed genuine in the beginning, but could he still say the same? For all he knew it could be an act. He had done a pretty damn good job fooling the rest of the world with the facade of the eccentric business man-sometimes he even had Yugi and the others 's meeting was a good reminder that there was more to Pegasus than met the eye. No, he had to stop thinking this way. Hadn't he resolved to stop thinking of Pegasus as the enemy only moments ago? Why was he doing it again?
"Was that all?" Yugi managed to say without any of the irritation that he was feeling seeping into his voice.
Pegasus' eyes narrowed. "Yes, I suppose we are."
"We're baaaack!" Joey shouted as he entered the shop. "Hey Yugi, you really should control that wife of yours. She's an absolute tyrant when it comes to groceries."
Tea accidentally on purpose stepped on Joey foot and Yugi tried not to laugh at their antics. "Excuse me, for a second I thought that you just told my husband that he needed to control me. I nearly lost my balance because of the shock."
"See what I'm talking about?"
This time she ground her foot into Joey's, not even bothering to pretend that she was wasn't upset. "The only thing that needs to be controlled is your impulse shopping, Joey. Now, if I were you I'd start putting away groceries before you dig yourself into an even deeper hole." With that Yugi began to sort through the groceries and put them into their appropriate places.
Today's grocery trip had been unusually big because they were feeding so many people. He also noticed the large bag of flour. So she planned on more baking? Yugi had eaten so many baked goods that he could hardly stand to look at them in the days since Akari had been kidnapped. Of course he wouldn't tell her he felt that way-he'd be willing to do anything if it helped her to deal with the mess that they were in. Maybe that was what Yugi needed, a hobby. Maybe he needed some hobbies that didn't involve Egypt or duel monsters.
Once they had all finished and Joey was sprawled on the couch and Tea was sitting in her favorite chair Yugi plopped down to floor at his wife's feet. "I was thinking, maybe we should go down to the pier tomorrow. We've all been cooped up for way too long and I think that it's starting to get to us." Pegasus' warning was still fresh on his mind.
"What's brought all this one? You've been dead set on staying home unless it's absolutely necessary," Tea eyed him curiously.
"Pegasus." Yugi said simply.
"What about him?" Joey asked.
"He and I talked. He thinks that we're all getting burned out, and while I hate to admit it, he's right. We can't just go on vacation, but maybe we can make our own fun here."
"I smell a duel monsters tournament at your place. You practically have all of the top ranking duelists here anyway!" Joey pumped his fist in the air.
Yugi shook his head, "No, I think we need to get away from Duel Monsters." He expected protests from Joey or teasing from Tea, but it never came. Instead they both agreed with him. "Let's tell the others then."
"I'm on it!" Joey whipped out his phone and started to dial numbers. "Mai should be here any second, but we'll have to tell everyone else."
Almost as if on cue there was a knock on the door. Sure enough it was Mai, who held four pizzas. "Joey and I thought that it might be a good idea to order pizza as a surprise. Maybe the four of us can cook something tomorrow, but tonight we need a little fun."
"Thanks Mai!"
"Of course, that's why everybody adores me! I even made sure to get extra, because, well, you know Joey and Tristan."
The pizza turned out to be a good idea. Kaiba came for about an hour for dinner before even Mokuba's pleas for his brother to take a break could no longer keep him from the office. He walked out the door shortly after saying, "If you aren't going to be productive I've got better things to do with my time." Mokuba could only apologize and leave with him. If his brother was going to work then he figured that he should too. The rest of them spent the night enjoying eachother's company and trying to forget the danger at their door step. It was almost like before, and Yugi found himself clinging to the sensation of normality. For once he felt himself be able to relax and participate in his friend's usual ridiculous banter and debates over the virtues of their favorite movies.
At night Pegasus, Ishizu, and Marik left to go back to their hotel rooms but Joey, Tristan, and Mai stayed and camped out on their living room floor for the night. Somehow they had all mutually agreed without even saying anything that they were going to have a sleep over. They needed the comfort of each other's company. The way that they rationalized it was that there was safety in numbers, but truthfully they wanted to forget all of their troubles like they used to when they were children.
Yugi and Tea curled up against each other and watched as Akari passionately defended her favorite movie to her skeptical uncles. "She's back," Tea smiled brightly. "She's finally back." He couldn't agree more. By two o'clock Yugi was the last one awake, and even he was losing the battle with sleep. Somehow the situation seemed less terrible with his friends at his side. If he closed his eyes he could pretend that he was in another place and time things didn't seem so bleak they felt as though there was a bright future ahead of them.
Atem's pov:
When Yami met Yugi he was small and covered with marks that served as reminders of the casual cruelty that human beings were capable of. He seemed intent on going through life attracting as little attention as possible. Yami saw something beneath the glassy violet eyes of the boy who was bullied. Behind loneliness and resignation there was a fire that spoke of a quiet, enduring strength Yami could not comprehend. If it was there why didn't he fight back? His passivity drove him to frustration.
If Yami had needed to sleep perhaps he would have mistaken this for weakness, but not needing sleep left a great deal of time for thinking, and he had come to realized that the boy's strength laid in his compassion. The boy was no stranger to pain, but he still placed himself in completely avoidable situations and refused to fight because he understood pain, loneliness, and insecurity. As time went on began to see the value of mercy and compassion, but he could not begin to fathom how the boy chose who he was going to extend it to. By some odd turn of fight two of Yugi's bullies became his friends and protectors and frankly the situation left him baffled. How had known the goodness that laid in those boy's hearts when Yami could not even sense it? At least for them he had evidence of Yugi's instinct, but what about his sympathy for Kaiba and Pegasus? Pegasus has stolen his grandfather's soul and nearly erased him from existence, and yet he felt pity for him. He felt much the same way about Kaiba as well even after nearly killing his grandfather and obstructing his efforts to save him during the tournament. Some dark side of Yami demanded blood but as always, Yugi refused allow it.
Something within Yami screamed for justice to be served on his partner's behalf, but the boy would not hear it. "That's not up to us," he'd said. " We don't have the right to punish them. That's why we have judges and juries. Besides, they were just desperate. They deserve a second chance. I don't believe that they are bad people at heart." As time went in he began to see his point. People were more complicated than good and evil and there were many shades of grey. Couldn't some of the things that he had done when he first woke up in the puzzle be considered bad? Yugi seemed to think so, but he did not condemn him.
Over time they had grown close and their way of thinking became influenced by each other. The spirit who once had no name and no identity other than the one that he occasionally borrowed from a boy began to be moulded into his own person, and that person would always bear the mark of his friendships formed in the 20th century. His existence could be broken up into four eras: Life, his time as the spirit Yami before he formed a close relationship with Yugi and his friends, his time as the spirit called Pharaoh after he formed close relationships with them, and now his time in the afterlife. Yami, Pharaoh, and all that made him Atem during his life were still there, but they blended together to form a new person. He wouldn't be the person that he was without his friends, and he felt even stronger affection towards them because of it.
It was those bonds that kept him awake while almost everyone else in his piece of the afterlife was was the trouble with being a Pharaoh, even in the afterlife certain thoughts and decisions weighed heavily on him. Mahad said that what made him a good ruler, but Atem thought that it only served to make him a very tired one.
He sat on the couch in his quarters and drew a blanket around himself. He wondered if his friends were also having trouble sleeping that night. Their situation was dire enough that they would all be on edge. He didn't need to watch them to know that Yugi's mind would be unable to relax until either very late at night or very early in the morning. When Yugi was anxious he would always lie awake contemplating his problems. The Pharaoh would sometimes force Yugi into soul room so that his mind could rest in peace. He didn't have that option now, and as each day passed the weight of his problems began to crush him further.
During the days since Yugi's daughter had been kidnapped Atem had watch as anxiety and stress began to take its toll on became more and more paranoid as the hours ticked by, his daughter was having trouble sleeping because of her kidnapping, and Tea was terrified all of the time but trying to hold everyone together. After the time that they had spent together Atem could tell when she was faking being ok, and now was one of those times. What use was being a Pharaoh when you could not extend a helping hand to your own friends? He used every resource at his disposal to help them it never felt like enough. This was his battle long before they even took their first breaths. Why should they suffer because of his own failures?For some reason the gods were absolutely insistent on that and were unwilling to relent even the slightest bit, so instead he was reduced to cryptic warnings and being forced to watch his friends suffer.
As the Pharaoh watched he could tell that something wasn't right with Yugi. The strong young boy who faced the very incarnation of evil in the face with courage worthy of a great warrior was struggling in ways that the Pharaoh had never seen him struggle, and that terrified him. What if this was what broke Yugi? He would have live with the fact that he had destroyed his closest friend for the rest of eternity. Being dead made the Pharaoh useless, and that thought was one of the most disturbing things about the situation for him.
With thoughts like those there was no point in pretending that he would be able to sleep, so Atem grabbed a torch and began to wander until he reached his favorite spot in the garden. In the daylight it was as eternal oasis blanketed with green and dotted with colorful flowers that at one point he might have found exotic. Under the bright moon and stars that illuminated the night it was no less beautiful. The sounds were soothing and had often aided him in clearing his thoughts. Suddenly he was startled by a voice tentatively calling out, "My pharaoh, is that you?"
"Yes, it's me Mahad."
"You went out without protection!" Mahad suddenly froze. Suddenly Atem could see the exact moment when Mahad realized that he forgot himself. "My apologies." If only he could get him stop this ridiculous deference. Was he really that bad in the past that his own friends were so terrified of him?
"Mahad, nobody is going to hurt me. They wouldn't have even made it here in the first place. I only needed some room to think and this area," he made a sweeping motion across the area, "is most peaceful at night."
"Forgive me for infringing on your privacy then."
"You were only doing your job," Atem reassured him. "Would you like to join me?"
"Of course!" Mahad caught up with him quickly, but was careful to keep a step behind him.
The pair meandered through oasis without a particular oasis in mind. The afterlife was modeled after Egypt during his reign, but even with his memories back he still had places to explore and things to re-learn. In his mind's eye he could vaguely remember a similar place that he had discovered with Mana and Mahad. Would things always be this way? Would he always be forced to work with memories of half-forgotten days?
Mahad leaned down and picked a fruit from a low hanging vine and handed it to the Pharaoh. He recognized it as a date, his favorite fruit. "They always taste better right off the vine."
He was right. They were juicy and sweet. Atem reciprocated the favor and picked one for Mahad. "Here."
Mahad bowed and gratefully accepted the fruit. "Thank you." He nibbled at the fruit as they walked, but Atem knew that he would be as alert as always. Old habits died hard.
"You don't need to do that every time." It was an ongoing argument that neither of them had won in 20 years. Atem wanted his friends to treat him as an equal but they refused saying that they could be friends and respect his position (although Atem argued that if he gave them permission they were not disrespecting him). They said that was just how things had to be here, even if that was not how they had been in 20th century Japan, wherever that was. Neither Mahad nor Atem were particularly bothered by how long their agreement had been going on because they had an eternity to settle their argument.
"Of course my Pharaoh," This time it was said with the barest hint of amusement. As quickly as it came the amusement was replaced by something else that he couldn't quite recognize. "You fear for your friend," he gently stated. "It is only natural, but one cannot hope to defy the will of the gods. Worrying about it will not change must be." Although the words were well meant they provided little comfort.
"What else can I do, if not worry about them? They are fighting our war, and from the look of things…" Words had power, and saying them would only make them more real. Both of them knew that Bakura was even more powerful this time around. For some reason they had refused to listen to his advice to go Egypt right away, and now the clock was ticking.
"They are fighting a battle as old as time. It is everyone's battle." For a moment the two men were silent, but the weight of their conversation made their usual easy companionship feel heavy.
Mahad was the first one to break the silence. He opened his mouth, and then closed it as if he thought better of what he was going to say, and then with hesitation said, "There is something that they might do." The dim glow of the torch was just bright enough to show the regret on his face.
Atem's eyes widened in realization of what his friend was referring to. Panic surged through him and the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. "No, I refuse to let it come to that!" More quietly he said, "There has to be another way." While his friends were fighting he could research. He owed them that much.
Mahad stayed silent, preferring to not lie to him. He thought that such a thing was impossible, but he was not a Pharaoh. Very few things were impossible if he looked in the right avenues. With two lifetimes of experience and six experts on shadow magic at his disposal they would come up with a solution because he could not afford to fail. Suddenly Atem felt tired. "Come, we should both get some rest before the sun rises." They may not have any physical need for sleep but their minds needed the retreat.
His friend followed him in silence until they had to part ways. Without thinking about it he put out the torch and then laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He hoped that Yugi, at least, was sleeping. He was going to need it.
