The ending is completely to blame on my helplessness and a friend who is just too much Yami Bakura to be healthy 3 Thank you. Or something xD

Crown

Slowly and considerately Atem traced his fingertips over the smooth golden surface.

His crown was still as bright and beautiful as he remembered. Just the reflection that stared back at him had changed a little, but he couldn't care less about that.

It had been a long while since he had looked at his old clothes and cape and jewelry he had worn on the day he had decided to go back with Seto. The day he had not only put his eternal rest behind him – he should have known there was nothing like eternal rest when you left someone like Seto Kaiba on the other side anyway – but also went back to the place that had become his home, to the people that were not only his friends but his family. And of course to that one person he'd never have thought of ending up in this particular way.

Although never might be the wrong word. There had always been a special tension between them after all, even when they were not dueling. Or rather especially then. He didn't get to say goodbye to him properly though and he understood his anger at him and his absolute devotion to get his last duel but he never would thought that Seto would really manage to come to his place. He was deeply impressed and approving though when he had appeared in the throne room and Atem had realized what this tension between them really meant.

Nevertheless he was still a little surprised that they actually worked out as well as they did. And that they were actually taking things even further now. He got nervous whenever he thought about it but it was more like a sort of curious anticipation that had him on edge. If his life had gone according to plan he'd had probably ended up with a Nubian princess or a noblewoman of his harem and not an arrogant CEO. Funny or unbelieving as it was for him at the beginning he was now convinced that Seto was the better choice for him. Even if he kept shaking his head at himself.

"What's so funny?"

Atem jerked and turned around to see Seto standing in the door frame, arms crossed over his chest and looking expectantly at him. He smiled. "Nothing actually."

He moved to put his belongings back into their hidden place in the closet but Seto grabbed his wrist and stopped him. Kneeling down next to him Seto first looked intently at him without Atem being able to decipher the meaning behind his look, then tore his gaze away and picked up his crown, turning it around in his hands. "I didn't know you still had it…"

Atem nodded, still not sure what went on in Seto's head. "I couldn't separate myself from it somehow."

"Hm." Seto put the crown back into Atem's hands and he absentmindedly started to stroke over the material again, only waking up from his trance when Seto talked to him again. "You don't need it anymore."

"No…" He admitted softly but still hesitated a little before he put the crown back to the rest of his stuff. "But even if I don't need it anymore these are the only remnants of the person I once was, of the things I left behind. Of course, I turned into someone else over time and gained a lot more for what I lost but it helps me to remember the long way I came before I ended up here." He said and then couldn't help but chuckle. "I can't believe we're still having the same dispute over past and future after all these years."

"That's because you are ridiculously sentimental."

"Something you can't be accused of."

"I would have gotten rid of these things a long time ago."

Atem nodded slowly not knowing what else to say since he knew somewhere in his heart that Seto was right and he felt his hard gaze on him for while, but then he snatched the crown out of his hands and examined it once more.

"It's pretty good hand work though. And pure gold I suppose."

"It is. We… the Ancient Egyptians considered gold to be the flesh of the gods and it was a symbol for eternity and survival."

Seto nodded, still turning the crown over in his hands. " So it'd be a waste of good material if you just threw it away." Atem furrowed his brows and looked questioningly at him. "You could melt it down."

"Melt it down?"

"You kind of said it yourself – this crown as well as your other stuff is just a relic of a time you don't live in anymore, a person you aren't anymore and a past that's long been over. So why keep it? Melt it down and turn it into something new, something that fits better to your life now."

Atem blinked, somewhat astonished but actually taking quite a shine to Seto's idea. That way he'd literally turn the past into the future and the more he thought about it the more he liked it. "And what should I turn it into? It's too much gold for rings…"

This time a fleeting smile flew over Seto's face and he looked just a little flustered. "I'm sure you come up with something."

Atem leaned closer to him, suddenly feeling a lot lighter as he thought about what to do with all this gold. "A picture frame? Or a frame for a mirror? A vase? Or a necklace with a pendant on it? I'd say we turn it into a statue of Blue Eyes and Dark Magician but we already have so many of them and Blue's statue should be silver and not gold. Oh! But we could turn it into a statue of us both. A small one, surely but it'd turn us into gods!"

Seto raised his eyebrows somewhat defiantly but the wicked gleam in his eyes told Atem that he had definitely struck a chord. "Sounds flamboyant."

"And thus just how you like it."

Seto smirked. "You're surely getting the hang of it."

It was then that Atem had another idea and he could literally feel his eyes gleaming with excitement and he made sure that his gaze was locked with Seto's before he told him. "I'll turn it into rings. And handcuffs and beads and a cage and…"

"Are you seriously suggesting to turn your crown into sex toys?"

He shrugged and grinned mischievously at Seto. "We'll see about that."