Chapter 18

Unaware of Atem's epiphany, Yugi offered him a faint smile. "So... We're back to where it all began, huh? Doesn't seem like it's only been a few days since we first met."

No. It seemed both a lifetime and the merest passing of a heartbeat to Atem. 'The best few days of my life." And not nearly enough. He wanted more days with Yugi; all of them, in fact, though the voice of his heart was whispering that even that would not suffice.

The tips of Yugi's ears turned pink and his gaze flickered away. He bounced once on his toes, as if psyching himself up to move. "Guess we should go find the puzzle so we can get out of here, huh?"

Frankly, Atem would have preferred never to be within a thousand miles of that accursed artifact, but it seemed he had little choice in the matter. Yugi would only be happy once they had retrieved the damned thing, and nothing was more important to Atem than making Yugi happy. They would put the damned thing somewhere safe, and then he could concentrate on making the most of every remaining second he shared with Yugi.

"It's upstairs. On the floor where I first appeared to you."

"How can you tell?"

"I can sense its magic. It... pulls at me, even now." Even at this distance, dark echoes of the puzzle's magic still throbbed through Atem's skull like a building headache. He shook himself and, with determination in his stride, started for the elevator. "Let's get this over with."

-o0o-

Atem led them straight to the puzzle, pulling an oblong carton from the shelf and holding it down to allow Yugi to lift the golden item from its resting place, nestled between a moth-eaten fez and a pack of Zener cards with a "V" scrawled on the case in black magic marker. Oh, yeah. He'd tossed all the weird little objects with no obvious home into that box. He'd planned to sort everything properly... sometime. Later. When he had more time. Or, you know, leave it to the next unfortunate soul the university suckered into this Herculean task. (From the state of the archives, Yugi was certain he wasn't the first to come up with that particular plan.)

Turning the puzzle over in his hands, Yugi watched Atem return the carton to the shelf. It was hard to believe that such a small thing had brought so much chaos (and joy) into his life. Hard to believe that, in a short while, that same object was going to break his heart.

Reminded against his will of what was to come, Yugi returned to Atem's earlier revelation that the magic was warning him their time together was growing short.

"How will it happen?" When Atem turned to look at him, Yugi continued, "When you have to go back to the shadow realm. I mean, a giant, swirling vortex isn't going to appear out of nowhere and just... slurp you up like the last noodle in a bowl of soup or something, is it?"

"...Your mind is a terrifying place, sweetheart." Atem's lips twitched, hiding a smile at Yugi's attempt to lighten the charged atmosphere. "No giant vortices. I promise."

"How can you be sure? You said yourself that you've never been in this exact situation before."

"No, but I think 'watch out for the giant swirling vortex' would be one of the rules the magic would impart to me. Probably in large glowing letters. It does seem to enjoy my... discomfort."

By which he meant "torture." Damn Bakura and his evil magic for doing this to Atem in the first place. If Yugi could go back in time, find the bastard, and stop him before he hurt Atem, he would. Too bad Atem's magic didn't allow for changing things that had already happened, or that would be Wish Number Two on Yugi's list.

"You know I would wish the curse away, if I could. ...Right?"

Atem's gaze softened. "I do know."

He stepped away from the shelf and cupped his hand over Yugi's cheek, his thumb stroking a tender caress over Yugi's lips. Yugi shivered as the sensation kindled a wave of heat that started at the point of contact and flashed toward his groin. He bit back a moan of longing.

"In all the years that I have lived, I have never known anyone like you." Atem's voice was deep and low, as much a caress as the brush of his fingers against Yugi's skin. "I fear I never will again."

"I know I'll never meet anyone else like you." And Yugi wasn't referring to Atem's magic or the fact that he was a genie. He was thinking only of the man – a kind and gentle man beneath his armor of sarcasm, strong and yet vulnerable, a passionate man that set Yugi's body aflame as no other lover ever had.

With an impish twinkle in his eyes, Atem mimicked his old arrogance. "Of course not! I am quite singular, after all."

The involuntary laugh escaped as a rather watery snort, and Yugi quickly blinked against the stinging moisture in his eyes. Now was not the time to get maudlin. There would be plenty of time to wallow in his misery once Atem was gone.

"Yes, you are that," he said, instead, giving the genie a playful shove. Atem winced, shifting away, and Yugi's eyes widened. He hadn't shoved the man that hard. "What-?"

"Sorry. The puzzle—"

Now, it was Yugi's turn to wince. "No, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." He backed away, not wanting to give up the comfort of Atem's touch, but even more reluctant to cause him pain. Yugi glared at the source of the problem. The puzzle glinted in the light from the window, somehow managing to make reflected sunlight look smug. "I'm really starting to hate this thing."

"Join the club."

Grimacing, Atem wandered over to the nearest of several tall windows that looked out over the courtyard. The light limned his body in gold and, for a moment, Yugi could imagine Atem as the prince he had been, clothed in finest linen and extravagant jewelry laden with precious metals and gemstones. The picture his imagination painted took Yugi's breath away.

"Yugi?" Atem's voice called Yugi back from his fantasy. Glancing up, he saw that Atem had focused on something specific below their third story vantage point.

Yugi frowned at the tension he could hear in Atem's tone. "What is it?"

"Did Mokuba mention anything about his brother being on campus?"

Ignoring a twinge from his leg as all his muscles tightened in reaction to the sudden flash of anxiety those words evoked, Yugi hurried to join Atem at the window. It was all too easy to pick out Seto's tall form striding toward the front entrance of Crawford Hall. "No, he didn't, but he did say that Seto's been avoiding him. Maybe he didn't know Seto was here."

"Or maybe he called him here." Suspicion hardened the line of Atem's jaw. "Perhaps there has been less avoidance between the brothers than he would have you believe."

"I don't think he'd lie about that..." But if Seto really had been pushing Mokuba away, and had offered him a chance to repair their relationship by spying on Yugi, would Mokuba have taken it? So many strange things had happened lately that Yugi couldn't honestly rule it out. He sighed. "Maybe. I don't know anymore."

It wouldn't have to be Mokuba, of course. Anyone could have spotted Yugi's car or seen him entering the Hall. Seto might even have had someone watching for Yugi, ready to report to Seto if Yugi made an appearance on campus.

No. Yugi shook himself. There was no point in descending into full-blown paranoia. He knew that something was off about his friend, knew – or, at least, strongly suspected – that Seto had somehow figured out the truth about Atem, but that didn't mean he was stalking them, now. "His being here might not have anything to do with us, you know. It could just be a coincidence."

Atem favored him with a repeat performance of the Eyebrow of Ultimate Skepticism.

"Oh, don't give me that look! You don't know any more than I do."

"True. But, unlike you, sweetheart, I am not inclined to give Kaiba the benefit of the doubt."

Yugi felt his face heat up with both embarrassment and pleasure at the casual endearment, even as the butterfly troupe made a return engagement in his stomach. God, if only Atem meant those words the way Yugi wanted him to. As he ducked his head to hide his flush, the sight of the puzzle in his hands reminded of more pressing matters.

"We shouldn't be here when Seto arrives. We don't know for sure what he's discovered about you, but we shouldn't give him any more clues." He held up the puzzle. "Let's get this thing home and figure out what we're going to do next."

Atem nodded. "Is there another way out of this room? If he comes up by the main elevator, we'll encounter him in the hall, if we leave as we came."

"Can't you just 'alakazam' us outta here?"

"Not and take the puzzle with us. Remember, my magic cannot affect it."

Oh, crap. Yugi had forgotten that little twist. And he could hear the mechanical groans of the ancient elevator as it decanted a passenger onto their floor. They were running out of time! He looked around with renewed urgency.

This workroom took up most of the back of the building. It had several doors, but all of them opened onto the central hallway. Unless they wanted to crack open a window and repel down the wall, there was no way to avoid running into Seto on their way out. Maybe they could hide in the maze of shelves until he had accomplished whatever errand brought him here.

Grabbing Atem's hand, Yugi pulled the startled genie behind the nearest set of floor-to-ceiling shelves just as the main door swung open.

Argh. Edited to fix several typos. (Still have no beta reader, and I was typing while listening to my grandson tell me about his Transformers toys while the G1 cartoon played in the background, so we're lucky this turned out in English and not Cybertronian. ;D) Even though I edit before posting, there are always some mistakes I never spot until I go over it online. ARGH.

And! A quick reminder that I post drabbles, previews, and outtakes (etc.) in my Dreamwidth journal. Look for .org(slash)profile to find me. :)