This chapter explores some of the feelings and thoughts that Yugi and his friends might have been feeling during the journey home from Egypt.
I hope you like!
Chapter 2.
It felt strange without the Millennium Puzzle resting against his chest. The bulky object might have appeared heavy to other people, but it was never a burden for Yugi to wear.
During the flight home from Egypt, he kept touching his chest, wishing the Puzzle might magically return. But it was gone –Atem was gone.
Yugi was still not sure how he felt about that. It all happened so quickly. So quickly, in fact, that none of them had really been given enough time to say a proper goodbye to their friend.
The Ceremonial Duel itself had all been so surreal. And despite knowing the possible consequences, they had all gone along with it. Yugi knew deep down what would happen, but had still been determined to win. And when he finally did win, his his victory had left him so stunned that he collapsed to his knees. His heart and lungs felt utterly crushed. He did not know what to say, except that he was sorry. And in those final moments, all he was capable of doing, was watch through tear glazed eyes, as Atem walked purposefully through those doors and into the brilliant golden light.
When the doors closed, leaving them all standing there, in the dank, musty gloom of the temple, staring at the spot where Atem had stood only moments ago, it finally occurred to Yugi that he should have spoken up. Not telling Atem how grateful he was to have known him, and how much he meant to him, was something Yugi was going to regret for a long time –possibly forever.
But despite his sadness at losing such a close friend, Yugi now felt a sense of acceptance over Atem's departure.
Maybe it was because Atem had accepted his destiny so easily, that Yugi also felt the need to do the same. Atem was ready to go. It would have selfish to keep him here much longer.
Since the very first day he solved the Puzzle, releasing Atem's spirit and merging their souls, their relationship had constantly been evolving. It had taken a little bit of time to fully trust each other, but once they had forged their bond, they had seemed inseparable.
However, after Atem re-gained his memories, things had become different. It was hard to explain, but Yugi felt there was now an awkward distance between them.
They were no longer two sides of the same coin, feeding off one another in perfect harmony, but two distinctive individuals, both with strong personalities, sharing one body – one that Yugi had ultimate control over.
Yugi wished it was not awkward. He had tried to reassure him that sharing a body was not a problem. He didn't mind. They were like twin brothers and always would be.
Atem did not say much, but Yugi was still worried about him. There was something bothering Atem and he wanted to help. But Atem kept trying to avoid him and started spending more and more time hidden inside his soul room.
Yugi had peeked into his room. It was no longer a confusing maze of stairs and doors, but a chambers fit for a King.
"You like my new room Aibou?!" As always, Atem crept up on him from nowhere and Yugi had jumped out of his skin.
But in this more relaxed environment, Atem admitted that his reluctance to talk had nothing to do with having to do with sharing a body, but more to do with what he had learned about his life... and death.
Looking back, Yugi wished he had taken advantage of this rare opportunity to discuss their feelings and talked more openly about the possibility of him leaving this world for the next world. But the subject of death was not something either of them wanted to dwell on, so Yugi shrugged and apologised for disturbing him, saying that he actually came to say that Ishizu had arranged a date for them to go to Egypt.
Atem thanked him and Yugi said goodnight and left, They did not discuss it again; both of them knowing deep down that their time together might soon be over.
And now it was.
He let out an inward sigh of regret and disguised it outwardly as a yawn.
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Sitting next to him, Anzu was going through a whole set of emotions of her own. She thought she had it all figured out, but now she was unsure how she was feeling about losing the part of Yugi that had caused her to fall in love with him in the first place.
No! She should not be thinking that.
Atem had been a long dead spirit from inside the Puzzle. He was not an extension of Yugi's soul. He had found out who he really was and had now passed on to take his place in paradise. He even looked happy, giving the thumbs up as he stepped into the light.
She was okay with that, really she was. It was how it was meant to be and she was relieved that after three thousand years it had all gone the way the Gods had planned.
Yes, she was sad he had to go, but not as heartbroken as she thought she might otherwise have been. In fact, she was more heartbroken for Yugi. He had shown such great strength and courage in beating Atem. But the reward for his victory was to send away a friend he loved so dearly and looked to as a brother and role model.
Would her love be enough to replace what Yugi had lost?
She remembered back to the time she first became aware that Yugi had another side to his personality. At first, he was her superhero, and when she discovered her superhero was Yugi she could not have been more delighted.
Her behaviour had been questionable though.
Wanting to see Yugi's other side had been no excuse for putting herself and others in danger.
She and both Yugi's might have put her actions aside as an awkward topic, never to be discussed, but she felt foolish now for her behaviour.
The realisation, at Duelist Kingdom, that the other Yugi was not actually Yugi, but was a long dead spirit from inside the Puzzle, only served to confuse her feelings further.
She had even thought she could have the best of them both! Until that night on the clifftop, when Yugi revealed his wounded feelings over her attraction to his other Self.
That was probably the moment when her feelings for the boy she had known since they were five started to develop into something more romantic.
She heard him yawn and could not resist a glance out of the corner of her eye at him in the passenger seat next to her. Her heart gave a little flutter, unnerving her. It was true, she did love him for who he was.
She wanted to look away, but was caught by his lovely long eye lashes.
Any hope she had that he would not notice her studying him were dashed when he turned to meet her gaze. Why was she looking at him like that?
They both blushed.
"You okay Yugi?" She said, for want of something to say, and whispering so as not to wake Yugi's grandfather asleep in the window seat.
Yugi muttered that he was fine, but a light shrug of the shoulders told her that he was not all that fine. "How about you?" He said quietly in return.
"I'm Okay, I guess. Tired. Be glad when we're home." She stifled a yawn and smiled sheepishly.
He checked his watch. "Another hour and we should be landing," he said, smiling at her so softly it made her heart jump.
"Hmm," she nodded, shifting in her seat so that she could lean over and snuggle against his shoulder. "In the meantime, you can be my pillow."
Resisting the temptation to kiss her soft hair, he let his cheek rest against her head and placed one of his hands over the hand she was resting on the armrest between their seats. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
He smiled to himself when he felt her turn her palm upwards and curl her fingers around his, giving a little gesture of reassurance in return. The unspoken sadness filling the air around them, comforted by a simple gesture of touch.
Knowing that Anzu was here for him meant a lot –all his friends meant a lot right now.
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Sitting just across from Yugi and Anzu, in the seat on the end of the middle aisle, Jonouchi was restless. As someone who always needed to be doing something, he found long flights tedious.
But although he was restless, he also felt exhausted, and that just served to make him all the more fidgety.
He tried to sleep but was unable to. Every time he closed his eyes he would start re-living the moment Atem walked through those doors, leaving Yugi behind –leaving them all behind.
What the heck did they all do now?! They had fought against pure evil, saved the world a few times, helped an Egyptian Pharaoh -who just happened to live inside his best friend- find his name, and kill the biggest, ugliest fucking monster Jonouchi had ever laid eyes on.
You could not just go back to being a normal civilian after all of that! Could you?
Because of his own heroic efforts, his expectations of himself had grown. He was worth more than the gutter now and he had Yugi and Atem to thank for that.
But despite the part he played in saving the world, he still needed to keep growing as a person, and definitely not revert back to his old ways. The idea of life in a Yakuza gang frightened him now, and the best way for him to stay out of that shit, was to be a decent guy and a good friend.
The all lost someone they loved yesterday, but out of all of them, Yugi had been closest to Atem.
So far, his little buddy seemed to be holding up pretty well, but who knew what might be going on inside that spiky head of his? Yugi had always been good at hiding his feelings and pretending he was okay, by putting up a positive front; a legacy of all the bullying he had suffered, much of it at Jonouchi's own hands.
He owed Yugi big time, and was gonna make damned sure he was there whenever Yugi needed a friend.
And what about Anzu?
She was right when she said it wasn't fair that Atem had to leave, but Jonouchi was still unsure of her intentions. If he had not grabbed her, holding her back, would she have been prepared to run into the light chasing after him?
Or was she going to try and stop him leaving by confessing her love?
Either way, it would have broken Yugi's heart.
He glanced across the aisle in their direction. They were talking, but their voices were too hushed for him to hear what they were saying.
Now she was cuddling up to him all smoochy like, and Yugi was smiling contentedly, with his eyes closed, and was holding her hand as he rubbed his cheek against her head.
Jonouchi wondered if they were both on the rebound from losing Atem. Easing their grief by showing each other affection, was good, right?
"Psst..!" He nudged his sleeping friend, with the result that Honda's head lolled over and came to rest on Jonouchi's shoulder.
Honda made a contented humming noise, hugged Jonouchi's arm, smacked his lips and then drooled on Jonouchi's tee-shirt. "Shizuuuuukaaa..." he murmured, much to Jonouchi's horror.
A sharp dig to Honda's ribs with his elbow was enough to jolt his sleeping friend from his dirty little fantasy.
"What the!" Honda's head snapped up and he made a repulsed face when he realised he had been dreaming about Shizuka while cuddling up to her brother!
Scowling, Honda rubbed his ribs as he sat up straight. He was about to reprimand Jonouchi for having sharp elbows, but closed his mouth when he saw his friend gesturing across the isle at Yugi and Anzu.
He leaned forward to look but Jonouchi pushed him back into his seat.
"Don't make it obvious we're watching them, moron," he mouthed.
Honda rolled his eyes. "How am I meant to know if I don't look, idiot?" He whispered.
"I dunno. Be more discreet or something." Trying not to appear obvious, the pair glanced across at Yugi and Anzu. "See what I mean? She's cuddling up to him."
"So what?!" Honda shrugged. "I always suspected they were more than just friends anyway. Hopefully it's helping to make losing Atem a bit easier."
Jonouchi rolled his eyes. "That's what worries me!" He emphasised. "You must've seen Anzu's reaction to the Pharaoh leaving, yeah? Well, I'm worried she might be using Yugi as a substitute."
Honda sighed, then thought about it for a second before coming to his own conclusion. "Whatever is going on, it's not our business to interfere. Yugi's proved himself to be every bit as strong as Atem, and I think that's what Anzu always wanted. We have to let them work it out for themselves."
"You're probably right." Jonouchi chewed his lip for a moment. "The next few weeks are gonna be tough without Atem."
"Yeah..." He sighed reflectively. "But we'll get through it. Just gotta stick together."
Instinctively, the pair gazed at their hands where Anzu had once drawn the smiley face. The ink had long since been washed away, but if Jonouchi squinted hard enough, he could still imagine it was there, bold as the day it was first etched.
They might have just lost a friend, but he would never be forgotten.
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