Day 19: Yugi was a troubled soul that had to live through a number of lives, each one harboring a terrible requirement in order to transcend into the next...

He had to watch his very soulmate die.

But each death wasn't without purpose as he will soon come to realize.

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Yugi didn't know how his life turned out to be this way...but knew for a fact he hated it. He was an interesting case where he transcends time and space. He didn't know how this came to be; born with it, some sort of accidental and terrible lab experiment, magic. The lad didn't know but the requirements of each life cycle as he calls it stems on one fact.

One terrible, horrible and downright infuriating fact.

What was that requirement, you ask? Yugi had to experience the sight of his soulmate dying. Again. And again. And again. When he saw the man who was called his soulmate the very first time at a ball in 15th century England, he was stunned this is the one that was bound to him through every lifetime. He wasn't that lucky, couldn't imagine himself to be. But when they met eyes and found they were connected in such a way, Yugi couldn't bear to think of ever losing him. But fate was finicky and a very cruel bitch. Yugi thought he would live this life in England peacefully until his dear beloved suffered an accident that he couldn't recover from. Yugi was in tears as he bid the man goodbye upon drawing his last breath then the night he fell asleep, he was pulled into yet another time and place. Each time was met with the same. He finds the man he was bound to, either already together, married or just starting out as friends that grows into love.

With each jump into a new life where he found the charismatic man who hardly changed a single detail about him, Yugi never felt such happiness as he was embraced in familiar, warm and comforting arms...but it never lasts. It could happen in a day, it could happen in a month, no matter how long Yugi was able to live in blissful ignorance that he could have just one jump be a full life in which they could grow old and die together to end this incessant curse of jumping time, his beloved had to die. May it be assassination, an accident or even war, something takes the life of his soulmate and finally, it was drawing Yugi to the final line. He never would consider his own death but it was slowly becoming a thought to pursue.

"I'm so tired." he whispered one night as he laid in bed, a sizable, four poster king with ruby red sheets and the softest pillows he could ever imagine to rest his head upon after the last he jumped when his precious love was taken, poisoned at a corporate party. He never did live that one down for he was right there...right there. Yugi could've done something, anything, if he had read the room quicker, had realized the toast was a fake as the one hosting it. His shoddy praises to butter up his partner, talking of his deed within the firm. He was as sly with a sharp tongue like a viper's. If Yugi had only...

"What's the matter, dove?"

The voice broke his thoughts, looking into burning scarlet. Yugi looked down at the sheets to match, feeling bad he had woken him. "It's...nothing, Atemu. I'm just thinking." Yugi murmured, feeling the bed shift and an arm slide around his naked middle. Your thoughts are too busy, Atemu chided, hugging his partner close. To feel that warmth and hear that concern just broke his heart all the more. Married to the richest aristocrat in Paris, France was begging for a jealous foe to take his life. Luck would have it that Yugi was able to live a month of bliss in Atemu's care and heartfelt love but know that soon, it would end and he would be jumped to another point in time. He had long lost track of whether he was going forwards or back with each one.

He just wanted it all to stop...stop in a time where Atemu's death isn't a certainty.

A hand slid over his hip as lips brushed along his neck, Atemu snuggling close to him with a soft smile. "Don't fret, dove. Whatever ails your troubled mind will find peace soon." he murmured and Yugi wanted to believe it. Oh how he wanted to. But his mind would never find peace, he will be trapped in this eternal cycle of death and rebirth. As long as there was history of some sort to reach, Yugi will be there to live it from the outside. With a whimper, he turned in Atemu's arms and buried his face into his neck. Whispered in a tone filled with such sorrow, that no matter what happens, that Yugi will always love him. Atemu smiled a secretive smile, kissing the tips of his partner's hair.

"I know, dove. I know."

Yugi sniffled and held him and was held in return. He didn't want to lose this, he never wanted to lose this. Fate, just let him be happy and end this transcending time travel hell until he was of old age. He was begging now...

But fate still wasn't on his side. Yugi had never cried so hard at the funeral hosted. Not even a second month in and Atemu was lost to him once more. Talk of inheritance and other legalities mean nothing to him as Yugi wouldn't even be in this life long enough to make use of it. "I want...this to end." he sobbed, hand clenched over the closed coffin of his deceased partner. He wanted this to end, if not for him then at least for Atemu. Give him a life where he can live...even if it means Yugi isn't a part of it any more.

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When Yugi woke, he knew he was in another bed in another time to live yet another life of heartache and pain. He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms with a whimper, not wanting to imagine where he was now. "Atemu..." he whimpered, fearing what life awaited for him. When he opened his eyes, he blinked then took another take of the surrounding area. The place looked like a literal palace, with gilded walls and glowing torches. The bed was a painful reminder of the one he had left but instead of ruby red sheets, they were a creamy white with a patterned edge. Now if Yugi had to remember previous lifetimes, he was sure that he had taken a role of palace consort to Atemu as a king or prince assassinated on a number of foolish instances from someone sneaking in or a coup to usurp the higher power.

So why was he back? With another sigh and deciding it was time to face the music for the purpose of this jump, Yugi climbed from the bed and moved towards the door, pushing it open and gazing down the halls. As with any palace, the first thing to do was to find the throne room. That would be where Atemu likely was. Yugi wandered down the long hallway, taking in the details of the place and with each step he noticed that this didn't seem like your ordinary palace. This one felt more divine, like a temple hosting a god of some sort. But, he reminded, depending on the time and place, any king or prince would be revered as a god. This was surely nothing different. Continuing on his way, he began to see statues, tall imposing beings that he noted were of Egyptian descent.

So back in Egypt was he? Perhaps this life would be better received, Yugi mused bitterly. He saw the giant archway ahead and took in a deep breath. Now or never, he thought and went to head through and the sight to meet him was...unexpected. It was a large hall, something reminiscent of a meeting hall and there, the physical embodiment of the statues he had come past stood there before him. But what alarmed him more was who stood there before them. Familiarity hit him like a truck and Yugi felt his voice catch in his throat before shaking off the shock to slowly calling the name that fell from his lips so many times before, either out of anguish or passion.

"A-Atemu?"

At the call of his name, the figure turned to reveal just that, a warm smile spreading across his face before he bowed to the god of the dead and moved towards him. "Finally. You have transcended to the place where you truly belong." Yugi blinked, feeling his hands being grasped into a stronger pair and looked into those familiar scarlet eyes. "What...do you mean?" Atemu had knelt before him, freeing a hand to rest over Yugi's cheek. "You have lived many lifetimes and had to witness my death more than what was fair. But now you've reached your true calling. You have reached the pantheon, my true home and now yours as well."

"So...you're telling me that you're—"

"Yes, I am a god, little one. A demi-god to be exact. And too long I've waited for my soulmate. The other half of me that was trapped in a cycle that I had to force in order for you to arrive here and take your place at my side to become a god." It all felt too surreal, that this was just the grounds of trying to make him happy before tearing it all away from him again. But when he looked to the gods that stood behind them, their eyes the only source to show their emotion for those that had the facial structure to make a smile nigh impossible for some, Yugi knew that fate finally stopped her cruel tricks. He was finally able to be happy and with his partner in a place far beyond the mortal coil. A place where Yugi could finally live the long life of bliss beside Atemu and wouldn't have to worry about another jump ever again.

Atemu held the sobbing form close, petting his head and assured that all was right in the world now. "No longer do you have to suffer our souls finding their way back home."