C3
Atem set down the cartouche and sighed. He stood up, then had to lean on the desk to get his
balance back. Now that he no longer needed to keep hold on Zorc, he was in full use of his powers,
but laying this particular enchantment had been more than enough to drain him.
He opened the door of his room and walked across the living room to his brother's.
"Yugi? I'm done."
The door opened. "Can I see it?"
"Not now, it's still settlng in. I placed a containment seal on it but it may still be dangerous.
But the hard part is over with."
"Good. Just in time for DuelMon View." For the last 6 hours Yugi had been holed up in his room, in
an effort not to make any noise that might distract Atem in his work. It was a relief to be free.
"DuelMon View?"
"It's a new program on my favorite game channel. Indutrial Illusions sponsored."
"So there's going to be TV programs about it now? KC must be working hard."
Duel Monsters used to be an inconspicuous game, but ever since Kaiba had rented the entire
Domino City for a tournament it had started to gain public attention. And since KC Grandprix,
the popularity had skyrocketed.
"You know how II only uploaded duels in the finals on Youtube? Well, they've gone back and
dug up the records of all official tournaments and they're showing the good duels. Come on,
you can watch it, too."
Yugi looked carefully at Atem as they settled into the couch. His friend never let his problems
show if he could help it, but now he was showing unusual signs. Whenever Atem was tired or
in pain, his pose got straighter, his voice lower and more forceful. But now there was a distinct
heaviness to his movements, and his voice kept going from his usual baritone back up to his natural
tenor. Was he that much fatigued? So much that he couldn't even control himself?
"You okay?" Yugi asked.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"Maybe you should just take a nap or something-"
"I can't sleep now. Not until it's completed. Let's just watch the show, it'll help keep me awake."
Well, at least he was admitting he was exhausted.
The duel of the day happened to be Kaiba's, of all people. They watched as the 14-year-old version
of him wiped the field with Black Hole and Heavy Storm, summoned Lord of Dragons, then used
The Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon 2 Blue Eyes and blasted the opponent's life points to zero.
"He does that a lot." Yugi remarked.
"Either that, or the Virus cards." Atem answered. "I suppose he doesn't see the point in dueling seriously with most people."
"Wonder why he plays it anyway," Yugi said. "I mean, it's not like he enjoys it."
"He does. Just not the way you do. And he loves battle for its own sake."
"I thought he hated wars."
"Because it kills people that aren't ready to die. Battle against people who are, or at least those
that deserve it, is fine."
Yugi jerked at that. He looked at Atem. "Nobody deserves to die."
"Do you still think so, Yugi?" Atem asked quietly. "After everything you saw last year?"
Yugi shook his head. "It can't be right, killing people." He wondered how zoning out on the TV had
suddenly turned into this.
"In the old days, punishment by death, not just by the law, but also as personal vengeance, was
what was right for serious misdoings."
"But that was before, people know better now." Yugi insisted.
"I would say that people have more capacity to be lenient with criminals," Atem answered. "Still, you
have a point: laws that harsh aren't needed in this age." He glanced at the clock and stood up.
"That's enough rest. I should get back to keep an eye on the talisman."
"Okay. You want me to record this for you?"
"No, it's fine."
Once back in the room, Atem suppressed an urge to throw himself onto the bed and instead,
sat down on the chair. Since the day he turned 10, he had been taught to behave in solitude the
same way he would act when others' eyes were present. It was good practice and kept him from
unconsciously slipping into wrong gestures.
He leaned back and crossed his legs. Being a few meters further away would hardly prevent him
from reacting to a break in the seal, and Yugi must have seen through the excuse. Yet he had
chosen to pretend he hadn't.
The matter had always been between them, ever since Atem had nearly killed Kaiba at Duelist
Kingdom. Yugi had been terrified of Atem then, and while seeing Atem rising to fight Pegasus
for Kaiba's soul had alleviated most of that fear, he had not understood either act. And he never
spoke of the matter again. Not even when Atem tried to leave Pandora to his death during
Battle City.
Yugi wasn't wrong; Atem knew that the 21st century was much more lenient on human beings,
imbued them with more value than other eras. People could afford to make mistakes, afford to
keep alive those that their ancestors would have considered worthless trash. Yugi wouldn't be
the only one to avoid harming other humans at all costs, and while Atem thought it couldn't
possibly be a completely healthy state of mind, the way Yugi could not distinguish between
kindness and selflessness, he still loved his brother's capability for compassion. And Yugi did
understand that you had to fight and destroy your enemies in some contexts.
It was during duels that problems arose. Despite everything that had happened, Yugi, as well as
Jonouchi and the others, still saw Duel Monsters as the innocent fun they originally knew it as,
and considered the Games of Darkness a despicable twist. Yet to Atem, the sacrifice of life and soul
was what he knew to be its true form, and what made it worthy.
S
S
S
"Even if the truth had remained as it was, it would still not have lasted." she said. "Your bloodline
would not last. Egypt would not last. As time pass, all will fall into dust and be forgotten."
"If it is going to be forgotten anyway, why should I go through with this, this monstrosity?!"
"Because it will not stay so. Shards of us will remain, and the shards will resurface-his name must
not be among them."
"It isn't enough that his soul will be shattered into dozens of pieces-his name, the name of the
greatest king to walk this earth, has to be destroyed like that of some criminal-"
"Is it your grief that prevents you, or is it that you don't want to become even more of a failure?"
"Go ahead, say what you will ofo me. But I will not let it end like this-"
"…"
"…"
"….."
"-let it be so, then. And my descendents will carry a part of the burden, engraved into flesh."
S
"-ster, Sister!"
Isis snapped back to attention. Marik was giving her a worried look.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry."
Her brother looked unconvinced. "You do that a lot these days," he said.
"I just have something on my mind, but it's nothing you should be worrying about," she lied.
"Is something wrong at the bureau?"
"No, it's personal, and you really don't have to worry."
"Well, you can always talk to me-"
Isis decided to adopt a different tactic. "Now, Marik, everyone has private things they don't want
to talk about to anyone, not even dear little brothers." She smiled teasingly. "How would you
answer if I asked what your plans were with that girl you were looking at yesterday?"
Marik blushed. "Oh, come on-"
"You see?"
"Really," her brother protested. "I don't have plans for….anything of that kind, sister. I'm in over my
head, trying to clean up my own mess."
"Ah, yes. You were saying something about meeting with Pegasus?"
Marik nodded. "He should be the one to know best about how the cards are circulated. Of course
I should talk with him."
The conversation had successfully been returned to its original topic, and Marik did not ask after
her again. Isis was relieved. She didn't know exactly how her brother would react if he heard the
truth, but he had been so happy when his duties as a Gravekeeper had been fulfilled, that she
did not have the heart to tell him.
While she knew that the duties had been handed down for millennia and that the bond with
the past was deep and strong, she had never imagined it to be anything more than being part
of the clan, nothing personal, and had thought it completely severed when the duties ended.
So why were the memories of the ancient priestess returning?
NOTE: I remember someone remarking once how it was almost weird, the way the 2 Yugis got on so well with each other.
It's not like they didn't have different opinions on some matters.
I also once saw a 'personality scale' Takahashi used to decide on his character's actions. One of the scale was self-love vs altruism,
1 to 5 for either way. Kaiba had scale 4 for self-love. Atem had scale 2 for altruism. Anzu had scale 3 for altruism. Yugi had scale
4 for altruism. I didn't see anyone with scale 5 for for altruism, although not all the characters were on the list, so there may be
someone. Anyway, I don't consider scale 4 for either self-love or altruism to be a completely healthy state of mind.
By the way, another of the scales was self-control vs 電波度. Normally, 電波度 means a tendency to do odd things(being a 電波 type
means that you're insane) but since the other end of the scale is self-control I'm guessing that Takahashi also meant the tendency to
follow your desires and impulses-and it turns out that normal Bakura is scale 5 on 電波度, while Yami Bakura(not to mention Kaiba and
Yami Marik as well)was only scale 4 on 電波度. Now that was spooky.
About Atem's powers-the holders of the other Items showed some awesome powers, like the time Marik repelled bullets. But we
never see a lot of Atem's powers. If he wants to damage someone, it has to be done through a game. And he couldn't protect himself
against Pegasus's Eye(Major contrast to Jonouchi, who wasn't even an Item holder and still threw Marik off). So I'm guessing that
most of his soul-power was locked up in the seal keeping Zorc down.
About Atem's voice-if you watch the Japanese anime throughly, you can discover that his natural voice(or at least his voice actor's) is
quite high-toned, but he forces it down into low-key.