Chapter 7

Yugi didn't spot any porcine aviators, but he was pretty sure most of his life flashed before his eyes on the short drive to the Golden Age Assisted Living facility.

The car slithered to a stop, nosing down as Atem stood on the brakes. He had gotten the hang of acceleration a bit too quickly for Yugi's peace of mind; deceleration - not so much. Without waiting for Atem to switch off the motor, Yugi pried his fingers loose from their death-grip on the dash and practically fell out the passenger door. A second later, Atem was there, picking him up off the asphalt.

"Well," Yugi said with patently false cheer, "that's my near-death experience for the year."

"It wasn't that bad!" Atem bristled at the slur on his driving skills. "I got us here in one piece, didn't I?"

"Yes, and you only had to magic three cars, two fire hydrants, and a very startled llama to do it."

Atem's brow furrowed into an irritated frown. "What the hell was a llama doing on the highway, anyway?"

"It was minding its own business, inside a trailer heading for a petting zoo." Yugi shook his head. "I don't even want to think about tomorrow's headlines."

"Hmph." Atem folded his arms over his chest. "No one will remember anything out of the ordinary."

"You made them forget?"

Atem nodded.

"Well, that's… good, I guess." Sighing, Yugi straightened his clothes and looked across the parking lot to the low brick building that was their destination. "Before we go inside, I want you to promise me you'll behave. No funny stuff. Just grant my wish and we leave. Got it?"

"If that is what you desire."

Yugi stared hard into Atem's eyes. "I mean it. No magic except for my wish."

"I have agreed, master." Atem cocked an eyebrow. "And I do have an attention span greater than that of a goldfish."

Yugi had his doubts about that, but he kept them to himself. He shut the car door, only then noticing how much shinier it seemed than it had when they left the garage. Apparently, the other traffic wasn't the only thing Atem had magicked on the drive over.

Letting it slide for now, Yugi took Atem's hand and tugged him toward the main entrance.

The doors slid open to let them pass. Too bad the center didn't have automatic doors. Yugi shot a narrow-eyed look at Atem, but resisted the urge to punch him in the arm. From Atem's bland expression it seemed clear he didn't even realize what he had done. Using magic must have become second nature for him. Yugi could only hope the genie wouldn't do anything too obvious where anyone else could see.

Atem looked around curiously. "Why are we here?"

"You'll see." Yugi towed him to the reception desk where the bored receptionist popped her gum at him by way of greeting. "We're here to visit Professor Hawkins."

She checked her computer. "Looks like he's in the craft room. That's down the left-hand corridor and-"

"I know where it is, thanks." Yugi smiled and headed in the proper direction, Atem beside him.

They found the craft room without any problems. Yugi had been to the center plenty of times to visit his old mentor, and he knew his way around. Only a handful of people were using the room, clustered around a round worktable piled high with colorful papers, paints, and glue. Yugi nodded toward the gray-haired gentleman standing by one of the windows and staring out at the sunny garden beyond.

Yugi touched Atem's arm. "See the man by the window? That's Arthur Hawkins. After my family died, he became something of a mentor to me. He was my grandpa's best friend…" Yugi shook himself. "None of my remaining relatives or friends were interested in archaeology, and Professor Hawkins always encouraged me. It's thanks to him that I got my doctorate. Even when I got discouraged, he wouldn't let me quit. I owe him a lot."

"Yugi…" Atem's voice was gentle. "Why are we here?"

"Arthur Hawkins was a brilliant man. His work on the ancient Orichalcos legends alone -" Yugi cut himself off with a sharp shake of his head and turned to face Atem. "He has Alzheimer's. His mind has deteriorated to the point where he doesn't recognize his own granddaughter. Or me."

Silhouetted against the window, the professor seemed unaware of his surroundings. Hawkins was a tall man, but his posture had grown stooped with age. It pained Yugi to see his mentor in such a state. He chewed his lip, thinking. This, he decided, was worth a token. Yugi took a deep breath.

"I wish-" A token appeared in his hand, warm and solid against his palm. Yugi clenched his hand around it. "I wish Professor Hawkins' Alzheimer's to be cured and his mind restored to the way it was before he became ill." Wide eyes shining with hope, he held out the token, offering it to Atem. "That's my wish."

-o0o-

Atem's heart clenched. "Yugi… I'm sorry. This wish… I cannot grant it."

"You can! I've thought really hard about this. See, it is a selfish wish, because seeing Professor Hawkins restored to the way he was would make me happy, and happiness is a benefit, right? So, you have to grant it!"

"The rule says you must receive a direct benefit. While curing Professor Hawkins' disease might make you happy, only Professor Hawkins would benefit directly."

"No, please…" Yugi clutched at Atem's arm tightly enough to bruise. "Listen, I'll give you the other two tokens back. I don't even want them! Just give me this. Please? I won't ask for anything else, I promise. Please, Atem, please. Please grant my wish."

The sincerity of Yugi's pleas twisted something inside Atem. For the first time in millennia, doubt cracked his rock solid belief in the utter selfishness of humankind. No master had ever begged him for anything, much less to give away wishes for another's benefit. But, staring into Yugi's eyes, Atem knew Yugi meant every word.

"If I could give you this, I would." Atem forced the words past the constriction in his throat. "But-"

"No! No 'buts'!" A sheen of unshed tears made Yugi's eyes luminous. His fingers dug into Atem's biceps. "Look at him. Please, just look- He had such a brilliant mind, such - And now he can't - He doesn't even understand why -"

"Yugi, I'm sorry. I can't grant this wish."

"Please." Yugi's voice was a hoarse whisper. "Please, I know you can help him. Just try. Please."

With gentle hands, Atem cupped Yugi's shoulders. "I admire you for wanting to do this. More than you can know. I have never known anyone with such a kind and generous heart. But I cannot do as you ask."

Yugi jerked free of the loose grasp. "Don't give me that! Why won't you even try?"

"The rules -"

"Don't you dare quote those damned rules to me!" Yugi scrubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. It came away wet, but he didn't care. "Why are you doing this? You said you were here to make my dreams come true. Does it amuse you to toy with my expectations like this?"

"I have not!"

"The hell you haven't," Yugi growled, spinning awkwardly on his heel and stalking back into the corridor. "And the hell with you. If you won't help me-" He stopped and glared at Atem. "I want to speak to your boss - your supervisor or superior or whatever the hell you call the head genie."

"There is no 'head genie'!"

"Then, whatever you call the guy who made up these stupid rules. I want to talk to him!"

Ordinarily, being spoken to in such a manner would have had Atem reconsidering the newt option, but he couldn't get angry with Yugi now. The betrayal in Yugi's eyes tore at him.

"The rules are simply the rules," Atem said. "I don't know who made them or why, I just have to obey them." However, he had never had reason to attempt to circumvent this particular rule. He didn't know if he could, but for Yugi's sake, he was willing to try. He held out his hand. "Give me the token."

Hope lit Yugi's face, and he pressed the token into Atem's hand. "Thank you. Oh, thank you!"

"I don't think this will work," Atem warned softly. "But I will do what I can."

Yugi hugged him tightly, and then gave him a not-so-gentle shove back into the doorway. In other circumstances, Atem would have found Yugi's impatience amusing. Atem's fingers closed around the hexagonal token, the edges digging into his palm. He took a deep breath, focusing his concentration on his master's heartfelt desire, on the magic residing inside him. He waited for the pulse to strengthen, willed the magic to fill him before surging through the token with the white flare of a granted wish. One heartbeat passed, then two.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, putting every ounce of his considerable willpower behind the effort. For Yugi, he thought. Please, let this work. Let me give him this.

But the magic rejected him. There was no white flare, no surge of power as the wish was granted. There was nothing but the certain knowledge that he had failed his master. For some reason, that knowledge saddened him as it never had before. Opening his hand, he offered the token back to Yugi.

"No…" Shaking his head, Yugi refused to accept the token. With a sigh, Atem slipped it into Yugi's pocket.

"I'm sorry." If the wish had not been beyond his personal power to grant, he would have done it, even without the token. He reached for Yugi's hand, only have his own batted away.

"I never thought you'd be so cruel." Yugi spun away from him and ran, gait awkward even with the cane. The sight - and Yugi's accusation - stabbed through Atem's heart.

Atem materialized in the parking lot in time to watch Yugi's car peel onto the highway with a squeal of smoking tires. The genie sighed. He blinked out and reappeared in the passenger seat beside his furious master. "I'm not trying to be cruel. The rules -"

"I don't want to hear about your damned rules." Yugi's hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel. "In fact, I don't want to hear anything from you!"

"You're driving in the wrong lane."

"Argh!" Yugi yanked on the wheel, dodging oncoming traffic and getting the car back into the proper lane. "I said don't talk to me!"

"Yes, master. Next time, I will allow you to drive head-on into a speeding semi-truck."

Yugi shot him a fulminating glare. "You are the worst genie ever."

Well, that hurt. Atem hated being a genie, hated the forced servitude and isolation, and the lonely dreams which showed him life but kept him from living it. But he had come to take a perverse pride in at least doing the damned job well. To have his failure rubbed in his face, especially by Yugi, stung more than just his pride.

When Yugi slammed on the brakes, Atem realized, with a surge of relief, that they were home. He relaxed his death-grip on the edge of his seat, certain his fingers had left permanent dents in the upholstery. He glanced over to find Yugi glowering at the steering wheel. Atem opened his mouth.

Apparently sensing that Atem was about to speak, Yugi snapped, "Don't." He took a deep breath, then another, letting it out slowly. "I don't care what you do - just don't talk to me for awhile, okay?"

Reaching for the door handle, Yugi froze when Atem said, "I am only trying to serve you, master. I am not free to pick and choose which rules I will obey."

The plastic handle creaked in Yugi's grip. "What part of 'don't talk to me' don't you understand?"

Stung by the sheer dislike in Yugi's voice, Atem bit off his apology. What did it matter if his master was angry with him? In the past, had he not taken pleasure in thwarting his master's desires? He tried to ignore the little voice in the back of his mind that whispered to him that this master was different.

Yugi climbed out of the car and shot toward the house as fast as his legs could carry him. His limp, Atem noted with narrowed eyes, had become quite pronounced. Obviously, Yugi had over-stressed his leg running from the assisted living center, and made things worse on the drive home.

At the doorway, Yugi whirled on a silent Atem, who had followed along behind him. "I have something important to do tonight, and I don't want you to mess it up. You got that? I mean it, Atem. If you screw this up for me, I'll - I'll - I don't know what I'll do, but I promise you won't like it!"

Atem didn't much like this, either, but he clenched his jaw and forced out the words of his standard reply. "I exist only to serve you, my master."

"Don't start with me!" Yugi threw his hands up in an I'm-at-the-end-of-my-rope gesture. "You spout off a lot of subservient nonsense, but what you say and what you do are at opposite poles."

Yugi jabbed his index finger at the genie's chest. "I want your word that you won't do anything to screw up my date with Seto. No weird shit. No embarrassing statements I'll have to lie to cover up. And absolutely no magic. Can you at least do that for me?"

Atem gritted his teeth. He knew why Yugi was so angry, knew that anger covered Yugi's disappointment. Biting back angry words of his own, Atem bowed.

"If you dare spout that 'your wish is my command' line, I will punch you right in the nose," Yugi warned Atem as he rose.

"Yes, master."

A sharp nod. "I'll hold you to that," Yugi said, and stalked into the house.

Keeping as much distance between them as the curse allowed, Atem followed his master. He refrained from pointing out that he hadn't promised anything - and had no intention of doing so. "Worst genie ever" or not, Atem had to obey the rules. Even when obeying the rules meant disobeying his master.

Slouching through the kitchen in Yugi's wake, Atem gave one of the chairs a vicious kick. One thought kept clamoring for his attention.

Who the hell was Seto?