Disclaimer: I don't own yugioh or taylor swift's song "long live" They are both just inspiration for my story.
Long Live
Atem, Yugi, and Akila walked back to the game shop in silence. Well, Atem and Yugi were talking to each other through their mind link, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. How was Bakura back? How were the items brought back? Did he have all of them now aside from the puzzle? Akila walked behind the two, confused more than ever about what was going on. How did he know about his parent's death? She shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Akila!" Yugi called to get her attention, snapping her out of her thoughts. She didn't realize that the long walk back to the shop was already over. She had been so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't realize. She had walked past the store in her daze. "Don't forget your guitar." Yugi said with a smile on his face that seemed contagious, Akila smiled back. Akila walked in the store behind Yugi, followed by Atem, to be greeted by a concerned grandpa standing behind the counter.
"What happened?" He asked as Yugi showed him the pouch with the gold pieces inside it.
"He gave me this to put back together again." Yugi said as his grandfather gawked at the pieces as if he thought he was seeing things. He had watched as it fell into the darkness, how was it back? "We don't know what he's planning. I'm hesitant to put it together. " Yugi stated as he held the center pieces in his hand, happy that it was once again with him. He had missed his puzzle and what it meant to him. It was because of the puzzle that he had his friends, and it was because of the puzzle that he had Atem as well. Akila looked at the two of them, sensing something between the two of them she hadn't noticed before. Yugi and Atem smiled at each other and then at the puzzle pieces. It was their bond she was feeling. Their bond was so strong that she could feel it coming off them.
"So that's the puzzle you were in for so long?" Akila asked awkwardly feeling slightly forgotten. Atem smiled and nodded. Seeing the puzzle there, in pieces, made everything just a little bit more real, a little bit harder to deny. "Can I see a piece?" Akila asked, holding her hand out. Atem and Yugi looked at her confused. She shrugged at them. "Maybe it could trigger a memory, kind of like amnesia. If they hear something familiar, or see something familiar it could trigger a memory. Well if this thing was in my past then maybe it will make something click." She said with another shrug. "What can it hurt?" She looked at Atem for approval. If he wanted to know his past as badly as he claimed then he would let her try something. Atem must have said something to Yugi mentally, because out of nowhere, Yugi handed her the puzzle pieces. She held it in her hand, pulling it closer to take a better look at it, running her fingers over the cold metal.
"Anything?" Atem edged as he, yugi, and his grandfather looked at her anxiously. She didn't know what she was expecting to happen, but it didn't. The only thing she notices was a small pin prick feeling in her head.
"Just a headache." She said wearily. After she said that though, she notices that small pin prick was getting a bit better. Her footing on the ground wavered slightly; Atem caught her before she fell over. "I think it might be working…" She said shaking her head as if it would get rid of the growing fuzzy feeling in her head that was starting to obstruct her sight.
"Let's get her into the other room and let her lay down." Grandpa suggested, concerned about Akila's condition. He had learned over the years to not be surprised by anything, though. Atem agreed, and without asking, lifted Akila up, bridal style, to take her into the other room. Akila groaned in pain from the movement, but then cuddled against Atem once he gave her a moment to get comfortable before he headed into the housing area of the shop. As they made it into the living room, Akila decided to go against her bodies wishes and slowly opened her eyes, not liking the inability to see where she was going. As she opened her burning eyes, she let out a gasp when she saw Atem. His already tan skin was complimented with gold earrings and a gold crown.
"Are you ok?" Atem asked her having heard her gasp. Akila shook her head again and let out a chuckle.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just need to sleep I think." She said, Atem laying her softly on the sofa. Almost right away, when she hit the soft material, she felt like something was pulling at her consciousness. At first she thought she was just dizzy and disoriented from what was going on, but then she noticed everything was going dark and distant.
"Atem! Atem wait!" A woman with long dark hair ran down the hallway towards the exiting Pharaoh. He turned to see his queen running behind him, wobbling with another explosion that shook the palace, raining derby from the crumbling ceiling.
"Husn!" Atem called after her, watching as she jumped back at the sight of a large stone from the ceiling crash into the ground, the impact throwing her to the ground. For a moment his heart stopped as he waited for the dust to clear to see what happened to his wife. "Husn!" He called again, too anxious to wait, but his better judgment told him not to run recklessly towards her. He needed to stay alive for what he was about to do. He ;et out a sigh of relief when he heard Husn coughing as the dust settled.
"I'm okay!" She called weakly in between coughs as the dust threated to suffocate her. Once it was safe, Atem ran to her helping her up. Fresh tears ran down her dust covered face, and he knew they weren't from fear or pain, but from sadness.
"You shouldn't have followed me." He barked at her.
"And you shouldn't be so willing to sacrifice your life!" She barked back. Normally no one would have dared to stand up to the Pharaoh of Egypt, but right now she wasn't barking at the Pharaoh, she was barking at her husband. "You have a son you need to raise to be Pharaoh, I can't do it alone!" She said, making a fresh round of tears roll down her face. She growled at her sign of weakness as she brushed the tears away, but the dust that covered her face showed they had been there. Atem sighed, knowing what she was trying to say. She was afraid of living without him, but this was something he needed to do. He grabbed onto her shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes, looking completely serious. However, he didn't look like a Pharaoh would. She didn't need Pharaoh Atem, she just needed him.
"Listen, I have to do this. If I don't then I won't have a son or a wife or a kingdom. I need to do this for the people, and I need to do this for my family. Seth will act as Pharaoh until Heba is old enough and ready to rule himself, he will be fine. So will you." Husn broke down for good this time. She just couldn't keep the tears from falling any longer. Atem sigh, he hated to see her upset even though he knew she had a right to be. He pulled her into his arms and let her crumble in his chest as she begged incoherently. He wished he didn't have to do what he was about to do, but it was what needed to be done to save everyone. Another explosion and the quake that followed snapped them back into reality about the situation. The ceiling was about to give way again.
"Atem, cover your ears!" Husn warned him, seeing a big chuck of the ceiling that was about to come crashing down on them. She needed to keep him alive, not just because she didn't want him dead, but because of what he was planning. She hated helping him with this, but she had to and she knew it. Atem quickly reacted to her warning, and placed his hands over his ear, hard, blocking out as much sound as he could. The moment the ceiling gave way Husn let out a loud shriek, but it wasn't normal. It was like the sound of her scream slowed its fall, making it quake, and then finally explode into dust that rained down on them. Immediately Husn started coughing again, inhaling a lot of the dust. She couldn't breathe now. She had inhaled too much. Atem grabbed her and quickly rushed her into a room that seemed to be safe, for now. Not knowing what else he could do for the woman that just saved his life, he started to beat on her back, happy when he saw some dry dust coming out of her mouth, and even more relieved when she started to cough out load. She was getting air again.
"You need to be careful about that." He could hear her wheezing still and it worried him. She needed her voice, it was her weapon, and he soon wouldn't be around to protect her. "Here, take this." He said as he removed a ring off his finger that had a blue gold scarab beetle on the top of it. "So you'll always have me with you." He said as he slid it carefully on her fingers, making a fresh round of tears roll down her cheeks. Atem quickly kissed her, possibly the last kiss they would share. "Now go, get Heba to safety." Husn went to argue, but Atem stopped her. "I don't want you to see this. Please, go get Heba. And don't forget, you promised to find me in another life." He smiled, making her think back to a comment she made the night she became queen.
"I promise…" She said in defeat as she released her hold on Atem, and felt him get up to leave. "I love you…" She said, unable to watch him leave to his fate. He stood at the door and smiled down at her, knowing what he was doing would help her, that because of him, she would live.
"I love you too, my queen." He said before walking out of the door.
Akila slowly started to open her eyes, tears immediately falling from her eyes because of what she saw, or remembered. The throbbing headache that knocked her out started to fade now. She slowly sat up, realizing she was on the couch Atem placed her on. She had a blanket on now, which she figured was placed on her after she knocked out. The room was dark, and she realized that it must be night by now. She had to go home.
"You're awake!" Akila turned around to find Yugi in the doorway. He must have been checking up on her. "Um, my grandpa just got off the phone with your parents. He asked if you could stay the night. He told them that the while gang was here." Akila was surprised that the old man would do that for her. It must have been getting late. It would be kind of hard to explain that I was passed out on their sofa without alarming her parents.
"What time is it?" She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake them up.
"Just after seven. Grandpa is going to order up some pizza. We didn't know how long you were going to be out, but we wanted to make sure you got something to eat when you woke up. How are you feeling? Did it work?" Akila chuckled a little. She could tell Yugi had been holding back the question, and he just couldn't anymore.
"It worked. I feel conflicted right now, though."
"What did you see?" Yugi didn't want to press the issue too much, but he was just as curious as everyone else was.
"I saw Atem as he was getting ready to do whatever it is he did to save his kingdom. I'm assuming what he did put him into the puzzle." Akila felt her throat clinch up at the memory, and she felt the need to cry again. Yugi bit his lip and walked up to her and hugged her. He couldn't think of anything to say. It was all he could think to do to comfort her.
"Yugi, I ordered the pizza" Grandpa entered the room to find Akila crying on Yugi's shoulder. "Young lady, are you okay?" He asked concerned. She let go of Yugi, and smiled at the old man, wiping her eyes. She nodded at him. Yugi turned to his Grandpa and gave him a look that told the old man that he would explain later.
"I need to talk to Atem. Is he home?" She asked, realizing she still held the pieces of the puzzle in her hand. Yugi and Atem didn't take it from her. She gave it back to Yugi to keep with the other pieces.
"Joey called not too long ago. He is having issues with his dad. I asked Atem to get him. He was going insane; I was hoping to get him out of the house to calm down. I was thinking him helping a friend would take his mind off you." Yugi said apologetically. Akila didn't mind, she didn't know what she was going to tell him really. After what she saw, though, she just wanted to see him.
"Is Joey okay?" Akila asked concerned. She had heard once that his father was a drunk, and an angry one at that. Yugi nodded with a smile.
"He's fine. Atem is just getting him to come stay here. His father tries not to act as angry when there is someone else around, and lets Joey leave. The last time Joey left on his own, he had a black eye from his dad trying to stop him from leaving. It's just safer this way." Akila felt bad for Joey.
"If there isn't enough room for everyone I can just go home. It isn't a problem." Grandpa let out a laugh that reminded her slightly of Santa Clause's laugh.
"Don't be silly. There is plenty of room in the Motou house. You will sleep in Atem's room, and the boys will share Yugi's room. He has a bunk bed, and we can bring out the air mattress for Atem to sleep on." Akila felt bad that she would be kicking Atem out of his room, but she didn't understand why Yugi had a bunk bed if Atem had room his own. Akila's confusion must have been written on her face, because Yugi decided to answer her silent question.
"Joey comes over a lot."
"Hey Yug!" Yugi laughed a little as he heard Joey's voice from the other room. Joey had the best timing in the world it seemed. "Hey, why is it so dark in here?" Everyone could hear Atem behind him attempt to tell him not to turn on the light, but he wasn't fast enough and Joey flipped on the light, making Akila cover her eyes in pain. She hadn't been exposed to light in a while, and her eyes weren't prepared for the sudden brightness.
"It's okay Atem, she's awake now." Yugi called to him as Atem entered the room. When Akila saw Atem walk in, she smiled in relief. She was happy to see him after everything she saw, and felt.
Yugi cringed a little, like someone was yelling in his ear. "I'm sorry Atem. I wanted you to relax a bit." Yugi said, responding to Atem verbally instead of mentally. Atem blushed lightly as everyone looked at him.
/You could have said that in here, aibou./ Atem said, trying to keep his cool. Yugi chuckled, and felt like tormenting his darker half a little more.
"Next time, don't yell. I did it for your own good. You need to learn how to relax." Another blush made its way on as he let out a growl. He hit his hand against the door frame before he turned and walked down the hallway towards his room. Yugi smiled at Akila, trying to reassure her. "He's been a little uptight lately, since everything started. He's just a bit anxious. But him being anxious won't help anyone, so I'm trying to get him to relax for his own good." Akila could understand what Yugi was saying. "Why don't you go talk to him. I'm sure it will calm him down." Akila nodded at him before she walked off to find Atem. The first room she looked in was plain with pill containers on the night stand by a glass and a pair of reading glasses. That made her assume it was Grandpa's room. She walked to the next room, which was painted blue and had a bunk bed in it. That was Yugi's room. Down at the end of the hall was another room that looked about as plain as Grandpa's room, but this one held a body in it. Atem was pacing his room, deep in thought. He didn't notice Akila at all despite the fact that she was standing right in the door way.
"This isn't what I was expecting your room to look like." She said with a smile on her face as she saw that she had broken his train of thought. She walked into his room and sat down on his bed as she searched his expression for what he was thinking. But, like always, he was hard to read.
"It was their guest room, but they gave it to me when I moved it." He said simply. The tension between the two was thick, as neither one of them knew what to do. Akila, confused about her feelings, and Atem was just as equally confused. "How are you feeling?" He asked, trying to relax as Yugi had told him to.
"fine…" She was trying to get Atem just to ask what she knew he wanted to ask. Atem sighed, irritated with people messing with him when he just wanted answers.
"Did you see anything?" Akila sighed and nodded.
"I think I saw the last time I ….she saw you alive." She said, correcting herself, as she felt tears threatening to resurface. Atem looked at her and sighed a little, feeling bad for causing her pain. She shook her head and smiled at him. "Are you alright now that you know what I saw?" She asked him, making Atem aware that he was still pretty tense.
"I'm sorry, with Bakura's involvement in everything; it just has me a little on edge." Akila understood, after all her involvement in this made her uneasy.
"Don't worry about it, but you really should listen to Yugi and calm down a bit. You make me nervous sometimes." She admitted, looking down at herself, realizing she was fiddling with her fingers, something she was told she only did when she was nervous. Atem noticed her fidgeting and place his hand over hers, feeling her right away stiffen up at his grip. She glanced up at him, surprised by the gesture. He looked down at her with a soft smile playing on his lips.
"I will not let anything happen to you, I promise." He said, making Akila smile with a slight blush. She knew he couldn't watch her every second of everyday, but the gesture was still comforting. Was he going to be her knight in shining armor?
"You care about me, don't you? You don't know that much about me, but you still care about me." She said, unable to grasp the concept that he was so willing to protect her. Her insecurities made her wonder if it was because of her past. The same could be said for her feelings towards him. He was handsome, and caring, and everything she liked in a guy, but she couldn't help but doubt her feelings because of their past.
"I have become attached to you real quick, and would like to know more about you, of course." It was then that Atem remembered what Bakura had revealed to them at the museum. He was hoping to forget about it and let her talk about it when she felt ready, but it was bugging him too much right now. "Why did feel like you had to hide your parent's death?" Akila sighed at the comment. She was waiting for someone to bring it up, and slid her hands from Atem's before sitting at the end of the bed. Atem stood in his place, giving her a chance to collect her thoughts.
"I didn't want it to define who I was to people. I didn't want their pity, and I didn't want to be thought of as the little orphan girl. When you see my parents you can tell it's really obvious that I am adopted. I just don't like talking about how I became an orphan is all." Visions of the police officers that came to her house to tell her what happened flashed through her mind, and tears pricked at her eyes and she growled at herself. She was crying too much today and she didn't really feel like being the weak little girl. She could see it in Atem's face that he really wanted to ask what happened, but wanted to respect Akila's wishes to bring it up. She let out a sigh. "They were coming to pick me up from school one day. It was the first time in a long time that their work didn't have them working when I got off of school. I was really excited." Atem took a seat next to her and it made her sigh. It was rough going through this out loud. It was the first time she really went in depth about what happened. Something about Atem let her feel safe about opening up to him. "However, when it came to time for them to pick me up, they didn't show up. I was upset, but I figured something happened at work to hold them up and they would make it up to me when they got home. They usually got me a candy bar or something small to say 'I'm sorry'. But this time there was no 'I'm sorry' candy bars, there was a police car pulled up to my house and my neighbor was talking to the police. She came to my house after school to watch over me while my parents were at work. She took one look at me, and everything froze. People say I was too young to really understand what happened, but I knew they were gone before anyone told me." The tears that had been threatening to spill finally did, but she didn't start crying. She hadn't in a while. The memory now only brought about tears. Atem sat still, trying to figure out what exactly to do right now, but he couldn't.
"Everything happens for a reason. I know it isn't comforting to hear, but it is true." Akila sighed at his comment. He was right, she didn't want to hear that, but she knew he was right. If she had grown up in Egypt with her real family, she would have grown up to be a completely different person.
/I hate in interrupt, Atem, but the pizza is here./ Atem looked towards the doorway, and saw Yugi's shadow against the wall. Yugi's sniff alerted Akila to his presence to her as well. Atem noticed that she knew he was there and leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"Yugi's an orphan as well." Akila bit her lip, and realized how stupid she was being. Yugi didn't hide the fact that he was living with his grandfather instead of his parents. She stood up and walked to the doorway, and saw Yugi leaning against the wall brushing his tears away. He didn't even notice Akila there until she wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened at the contact but smiled.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I came up here to tell you the pizza was here, but I heard what you were saying."
"It's fine." She said as she let him go and smiled at him. "I didn't even think about you living with your grandfather."
"That's the beauty of it. After people realize what happened, they feel bad at first, but then they kind of forget about it. You didn't have to hide that from us" Akila nodded, and realized that she could tell them both anything without judgment, and that was a comforting thought. ===============================================================
Author's Note: I know, such a tearjerker chapter, right? Well hopefully that won't always be the case here. Atem and Akila are starting to get a bit closer, so who knows how long it will take them to throw caution at the wind and just get together. Hmmm who knows…I don't even know. Well until next time.