So we tie off Atemu's astral adventure and begin a new one~

Chapter 6: Devil at the Crossroads

Seviticus respectfully lowered Atemu into a Hive wall in the inner sanctums when they Phased back to the Reapers' home. Atemu shook in his exhale and resting his hand on his shoulder Seviticus took a place on his knees beside the younger Reaper.

"Well done brother," he praised, "we can relax again with a new victory. You should go home. We stole you from the Natural World at a most inconvenient time I'm sure."

"Atreyu," Atemu groaned, "I want to wait till he's here."

"You are made of good mettle." The Champion chuckled. "Then I will stay with you till then. Don't concern yourself too greatly. Amar will take only the greatest care to bring him home."

"I know," he sighed mildly comforted by the thought, "they're old friends aren't they?"

"Yes," Seviticus assured him, "Amar and Atreyu had known each other since the dawn of time. They may not be partnered but they are enduring companions. If ever there was a Champion I would trust my Faen with it would be brothers Jenzar or Amar."

"You knew Jenzar too?" Atemu murmured mutely. "What was he like?"

"He was and is a hero." The Champion answered. "He said he would be the first one out and the last one back at the call. A great brother: steadfast, dependable, loving, courageous and virtuous. There's none finer and few as legendary. He and Atreyu were among the first to pair at the beginning of the universe. They held great sway in Sanctuary and I have always admired their work when we are stationed on planets together. I'm sure you'll meet him one day. You'll be great allies."

"How can you tell?"

"You're just the sort of soul he respects," Seviticus smiled, "he'll be eternally grateful to you for protecting Atreyu so well."

"I haven't done well," Atemu groaned. "I'm a miserable excuse for a Specialist."

"It's a difficult burden." The Champion soothed patting his shoulder. "You found him though, before Amar or I, and you saved him by throwing yourself into combat. You're learning the most challenging lesson, that is, to see through illusions to the true nature of things. You're a talented Reaper. I was there when you warned us all of the Seer uprising a year ago and helped us quell it. You ought to give yourself more credit."

"Thank you." Atemu muttered but bringing his knees to his chest he felt little joy at the prospect.

"Atemu?"

He perked. If his energy had been greater he would've lurched to his feet at Amar's arrival but found himself unable to do more than glance keenly to the red head.

"He would not leave till we were aware you'd returned safely." Seviticus chortled brushing off his knees to stand tall, proud, once more.

"Thank you Sev," the red head sighed patting the Champion across the broad shoulder as he passed, "it was glorious to see you again."

"It's my pleasure to serve beside you Amar," he answered smoothly but sincerely, "we must all help each other on Earth while we search for Jenzar. Take care of yourself and send your Faen Denn-Elec Flennous my esteem."

"And give Vegas Helldreem mine," Amar wished generously as they parted stride and Seviticus slipped into the tunnels from view.

"Is Trey well?" Atemu muttered eagerly as Amar sighed and drew his attention back to him.

"He phased out to rest in his body back in the Natural World." The Champion answered. "No lasting damage was done. His core will replenish his strength in a matter of hours. He'll be safe and well and glorious as ever in no time Atemu you need not fear."

"I do though." He murmured. "Why was he there anyway? What happened?"

"As far as the Gate Keeper tells me Atreyu was visiting a Ferry Man. It was a social call Atemu nothing he needed you for. He was ambushed in that Transient Space by dumb luck coming back." Amar hunched before him sombrely as if Atemu was a small child. "All's well."

"What's a Ferry Man?" Atemu frowned.

"Our cousins," Amar answered. "They too are children of the Gate Keeper and answer to him. They order movement between the Veil in a very different way. Ferry Men are like reverse Champions. They partner in the Natural World with Children of Lilith who are siblings of the Seers. The Children of Lilith are souls made from pieces of chaos whom, in the Natural World, can wreck destruction unless a Ferry Men is there to keep them from throwing things into dismay. It's a thankless job. Ferry Men often love their charges as Champions love their Feans but the Children of Lilith can only be contained by being directed to hurt Ferry Men instead of themselves or other souls. Ferry Men come to the Supernatural side of the Veil to visit Grieving Temples where they can mourn their lot. Atreyu is close with one of them currently and was observing him during the mourning ritual to gauge his health."

Atemu eased. What a miserably profession for a being to live trapped in. To be a soul reincarnated endlessly to endure such torment was a dreadful concept to fashion. Amar seemed to appreciate the charitable nature of Atemu's pity and nodded in condolence.

"It's difficult," he agreed to Atemu's silence, "but it's not for us to make trouble in. You must go home Atemu. Atreyu left exhausted. You've done your duty."

"I feel like I've failed."

"No," Amar promised, planting his hand upon the Reaper's tender neck. "These things happen. It's the nature of serendipity. It's why Atreyu has a Reaper in the first place. So alleviate yourself of any guilt and rest for a job well done."

"Would you have let Denn-Elec get ambushed?" Atemu rued.

"I would not disappear like Jenzar and leave someone else to act on my behalf." Amar shrugged almost resentfully. "Please Atemu, we'll talk more tonight. I think it's for the best we meet again. You need to understand a few things for your own safety but you've done very well considering the circumstances."

"Alright," he finally conceded, defeated as he was Atemu couldn't deny he would eventually need to return to the Natural World. "I'll speak with you tonight?"

"Indeed you will." Amar promised.

"Thank you brother."

"Anytime."

Yami's head was throbbing. He managed only barely to make his way onto his stomach then onto shaking forearms. If the couch had not been so nearby Yami was sure he never would've made it to the furniture he dragged himself up onto. The nausea had faded but his head throbbed with a pounding migraine, his limbs stiff and aching. He breathed deep, eyes shut, and took his time to very carefully regard the lounge room.

It must've been early afternoon. It had been ten, maybe a little earlier, when Yami had been on the phone with his publisher. The sky was beginning to darken outside his curtains however and when he leant into his elbows Yami could see how the coffee had dried into the carpet round the remains of his mug.

This was bad…

It took a great number of haggard lies to assuage his publisher after their call had unceremoniously ended. Yami was fortunate, he felt, that Coco decided his lap was an appropriate spot to nap during the apologetic call or the author was convinced he would shake off the end of the couch.

That settled Yami was stiff with indecision. He should call someone for help, to tell them, but he… it was too frightfully bizarre. Yami wanted to fix it himself. It was all well and good when mysterious things happened to Yugi but he was still mildly concerned he was actually losing his mind to some cancerous brain tumour. What if, he asked himself again, his dreams were real? If he and Yugi had different vantage points on the same Supernatural universe Yami had been writing about all these years? What would that mean for him?

Well it would mean he was a traitor for one and in danger from all number of monsters he would know were real. It would mean that, by telling the whole world, he had endangered and insulted all number of his allies on both sides of the Veil. It would mean there was a real Atreyu somewhere, perfect, and heartbroken.

Yet, it would mean by extension that Yami had a grand purpose. It would mean Yami was totally Atemu. It would mean he had done all those brave things under the confidence of a dream mentality. It would mean he was part of a proud history and community that stretched through the ages. It would mean he had real past lives and powers to unlock. It meant potential. It meant something Yugi could be proud of. Yugi would believe him, Yami was sure, Yugi would understand and the mutuality of it would give them more to share.

Though, there was always that niggling self-doubt that ate at him. Yami was going mad. Maybe he was breaking up into fragments for no discernible real life reason. Maybe he was losing his grip on the tangible. Maybe he was an egotist tempted by the play pretend heroics.

Yami couldn't dive too deep into the thoughts as exhausted as he was. He fought through it instead blanketing the ideas at the back of his mind to pressure his stiff body to perform the practicalities: shower, dinner, act normal.

He didn't want to sleep but he was, he couldn't deny, still wrecked. His mattress called to him in a way that was both eerie and tempting. Yet, if the dreams were real, then he had a duty as a Reaper to meet with Amar. Amar who might be real, a real friend, to Yami who might indeed be a real hero and traitor…

Lord what if he had passed out behind the wheel today? Or crossing the street? Or in some other disastrous situation that didn't involve motor vehicles (which seemed to be the only disaster his haggard imagination could supply at the current point in time)?

God, Yami couldn't fathom totally attaching his identity with Atemu…

There was a bang-thump that rattled his windows as the sound intermingled with a tangible dry crack.

He jumped.

The window, most immediately before him, to the dark side walk outside the front of the house had just been assaulted. The crack searing a seam down it was a nasty product of some foul deed and cautious Yami stumbled up to inspect it from where he had been buried in thought with his elbows on his knees like a man hunched in prayer.

There were…

People outside his house…

He couldn't put his finger down on a more exact adjective. They weren't punks, adolescents, no they were adults. Indeed they looked more like civil neighbours the pair of them. Yet they unnerved him staring with bright upturned smiles through his now damaged window. They had an appearance of misdeed, a lack of care about their generally ruffled composition, hair mused, clothes rumpled, eyes very bright and deep under the lamp light.

One might have very well been a woman, the other a man, but they were too scruffy. The man made a little gesture to Yami like a milkman in an old public service announcement from the fifties as if he were tipping his hat. They woman pressed against him, arms through his, and they treaded off along their merry way again leaning into each other to straighten their postures.

The woman said something, leaning up into the man, about five feet away as they strolled and the pair of them gave whooping cackles like hyenas. High, uncomfortable, voices worked through the air ways to Yami's ear drums and distinctly unnerved he pulled the curtains tight.

There was a long, very cold, moment in the house as he inhaled sharply to himself.

The emails!

His mind was shambled, scrambled, but that was the first thing which floated sickly to the surface of his focus. Those emails, for the fan claiming to be Atreyu, maybe…? Yami was scared for himself. He had to throw a line to the universe somehow, find out what was going on, be active and in some small way ask for help.

Please, if this really is Atreyu, I need your help. I think something, maybe Seers, have found my trail. I think they know where I live. I don't know what to do.

Atemu had never phased in twice in such a short period of time but he was quite comforted to find Amar waiting for him in the enclosed, secure, temple of the Hive that was their astral home. The Champion gestured for him to follow languidly and straying up the earthen ramps led them to a sunny alcove, because the sun always seemed to be awake here, where they leant their backs into the cool walls.

"We need to talk." Amar prefaced. "You're young Atemu. I think there are a few things about Atreyu you need to understand."

"You're right." Atemu couldn't argue that. There was the weight of a million things he didn't understand hanging over him now.

"The Gate Keeper doesn't want you knowing anything much right now, after you published those books, but I would never forgive myself if I didn't caution you." He sighed and Atemu's stomach curled painfully at their mention. They shamed him. "Listen, that first life which lasted for centuries, when all this was set in place things were very different for Champions and Faens. We didn't exist here in the Hive like other Reapers. We lived in an In Between Space where we built ourselves a home. Like the Watchers built Atlantis the Faens had a city of their own we called Sanctuary."

Atemu frowned.

"I've never heard of it." He confessed. No, wait… Seviticus had mentioned that word hadn't he? Atemu just hadn't been paying attention.

"It's a last great secret. Every Faen and their Champion lived there for decades." Amar recollected gently. "We were all very intimately linked. It was a magnificent place to be. We were all so very in love, so very happy, and so utterly peaceful. When you have the kind of magic the Faens have at their disposal, to create and heal, combined with Champion Reapers so contented there's no need for strife or nastiness. Sanctuary was a paradise. Jenzar, Denn-Elec, Atreyu and I were especially close during that time."

"You all met then," Atemu supposed, when the original bonds were formed. Still it was an odd concept to think that the Faens had known each other. Especially given now they had to have no knowledge of each other outside the bare minimum for the sake of safety now (a secrecy which Yami might've devastated for the three hiding on Earth).

"We were more than allies, you must understand, we were a family." Amar stressed in reverent nostalgia. "We lived under Third Star, the mother and Supervisor of the Faens, in Sanctuary and it wasn't uncommon for the Faens to make families in such a way. There wasn't gender or children or real time or death until the second life. So we were as much bonded as people could be. I loved all three of them intensely and I still do."

"Why would Faens leave then?" He whispered. "If Sanctuary was paradise why leave? The Watchers had to be dragged out of Atlantis."

"Faens are curious, Reapers adventurous, and we both share a very loving sense of purpose. When the Gate Keeper and Third Star took on protection of the Veil, conscripting all their children to its service, we didn't shy away from the call. We were proud." The Champion seemed very torn at the beauty and tragedy of the memory. "We celebrated in Sanctuary for days. I don't know exactly how long. We cried, we kissed, we understood that once we took on the vow of secrecy and went to work the Faens wouldn't see each other or Third Star, their mother, until Doomsday and that some of we Champions would bear the same burden. It stripped our families to separate ends of a vast new universe."

"It sounds dreadful…"

"It was," Amar promised, "but we did it because we knew someone had to. We were filled with love and charity and hope but, more than that, because we had each other. I have Denn with me now, forever, and Jenzar knew that he would always have Atreyu beside him. That was our promise to make it bearable as well as to make us all unstoppable challenges for the Seers. Our partners are our one constant in an ever changing eternity that we, unlike some soul types, remember each lifetime in vast detail."

"I don't understand why you're telling me this." Atemu confessed shamefully. The more they continued, the greater his guilt amassed, the more extreme his shame towards Yami, his current incarnation or avatar became.

"Atemu, when I'm in the Natural World, in my current body I'm not as stable or as at peace as I am here. I'm subject to hormones, culture, weaknesses of youth and all manner of factors which can't touch me here when I astral project. Atreyu is the same. We all are. Even the kindest Faen has been a dictator or a serial rapist in one life or another." He paused carefully. "What I need you to understand is that you need to be cautious, not of the Seers, but of Atreyu right now. He's cares for you deeply, we both do, but he's not his majestic self or at least not as he should be. Without Jenzar this life is unbearably painful for him and with the strain your books have placed on the day to day life of his incarnation he's all the more volatile."

"You think he'd hurt me?" Atemu blinked bemusedly.

"Not Atreyu but his current incarnation might be inclined to it." Amar warned. "I'm sure Atreyu himself has cautioned you about his feelings. I'm sure he's warned you. He's kind like that. The thing is Atemu that neither Atreyu nor I nor Cobalt, who's taking to trailing you, know exactly what Atreyu might be capable of at the moment."

"He wouldn't." Atemu insisted stubbornly.

"Atemu that's what you don't appreciate." The Champion sighed. "This absence of Jenzar hasn't just been for a few years or a few decades. That would be normal as part of resettling into a new reincarnation. We haven't been able to Jenzar Fraveous for four hundred years."

"What…?" He was positive then that his stomach had fallen through the floor in horror.

"That's why the Gate Keeper is so desperate, that's why Atreyu is mad with grief and worry, no Champion's ever been missing that long." Amar stressed poignantly. "Atreyu's going out of his mind by now."

"How does that happen?" Atemu baulked. "Where is he? Where on Earth does a Champion hide? Doesn't he know Atreyu needs him?"

"Of course he does," Amar snapped. "He may have been a philosopher much of his time but he would never abandon Atreyu. He couldn't even if he wanted to. Third Star and the Gate Keeper specifically reincarnate Champions and Faens in such a way that they're irrevocably bound to meet in every lifetime. That's the problem here Atemu. Jenzar would only be gone this long if something had happened to him, if someone had trapped him or injured him or his soul had gotten lost in some Transient Space. Something serious has happened to him and we have no idea what that is. It's terrifying. For all we know the Seers have a new weapon against us. For all we know they've finally found a way to destroy energy, souls, matter.

Atreyu has to deal with that. Now your books as well, which have made this situation all the more dangerous, and for all I know his current incarnation is much more affected and muchmore dangerous."

Everything fell very neatly into place inside Atemu. His grief, his guilt, his horror and his understanding overlapped and intermingled in a perfect contingency that was devastating. The insult he'd lodged against the Reaper Core was much more serious than he had fathomed. He had told all their enemies, not just the Seers, about this exodus of a Champion, told them which planet his lonely Faen was trapped unguarded on, expelled the potential of their vulnerability…

More than that Atreyu had warned him, both during Yami's dreams and by emailing the author, that he was being forced to take action.

Atreyu's incarnation was furious at him somewhere.

What way would Atreyu think to punish in the Natural World? What were the options? Killing him seemed too brutal for the Faen but souls could be reincarnated. What would it matter between two friends if you killed each other once or twice to settle a dispute and enforce silence back over the ranks? Someone probably had already put that forward as an option for Yami's fate. After all the Reaper Core didn't typically discipline for trespasses in the Natural World unless they were sever. Atreyu's current life could attempt most things and only fear reprise from the human police. He had innumerable choices. Would Atreyu ruin his more material aspects: his career, his fame, his reputation? Would Atreyu, maybe, if he was Yugi perhaps…?

"Oh God," he stumbled weakly. The sky was falling. Amar let him reel; let him feel the weight of the burden, all on his own.

"Hell hath no fury like a Faen scored Atemu." He cautioned warily. "I love Atreyu but you need to know. You need to be careful. Cobalt has been watching you, I've caught him, and he'd only do that if something special is going on. I doubt your pairing with Atreyu as his temporary body guard is the sole cause of it. He's been following Atreyu for a while now but he's much more focused on you than he should be. All that says to me is that something has started you should be aware of."

"God…god…" Atemu sighed miserably as Yami panicked with him.

"I'll help you if I can brother," the Champion swore, "and Atreyu is merciful by nature but for now you need to know what threats are imposed around you. You need to be aware. This isn't a disaster Atemu this is how we preventit. That's why I've warned you. We can weather this, avoid it, I just want you to appreciate the severity. Now is not the time to panic."

"If not now then when?" He scoffed. "I've endangered the entire Veil, Earth, the Reapers, and myself! I've hopelessly stirred a Faen to vengeance! What more is there to panic over?"

"When the sky really falls, then we panic," Amar answered curtly. "Not a moment before then. You lose out now before the fat lady sings and you may as well be doomed. You've got to hold your ground Atemu. Work with me. Don't run away."

"Then what do I do?"

"Be cautious, be savvy, be aware." Amar reiterated the basics Yami had never fully appreciated when he was awake. "Not just here but when you're phased out. Talk to me, call me, and I'll come. Most of all don't panic."

Easier said than done was the obvious cliché.

Yami had never taken a dream as seriously as he did that rather sombre picture from Amar. He tried to draw upon the pool of positives. If this doomsday sense pounding down on him was real then there were things Yami could do. If was true he was a tired and proved hero with skills. He could repent. He could find Atreyu and make things right. Amar was a real ally who would support him.

Despite all that however the new dawn bought very little hope and very little relief. He was drained. Not physically but emotionally by the turbulence of the last day. He was torn, stupidly, between believing himself and panicking or denying it as fantasy a little longer. That was the very root of the problem.

His prerequisite check of the house that morning brought nothing more than bad news either. The windows were intact but his chances of appealing to an informant for help were crushed when the reply email read:

Welcome to my life.
Trey.

That was all his inbox had received in the night from what may very well have been the real, current, reincarnation of Atreyu Damestaire who was apparently insensitive to his plight or at the least apathetic. He had warned Atemu and Yami and now it appeared his sympathies had been exhausted before Yami had realized the implications of their tenuous power over his life.

In a way, crumbled at the kitchen counter, buried in his forearms Yami could hardly contemplate his third book while instantaneously it was all he could occupy his mind with. Now it felt real.

Yami was pathetic. Even the shrill ring of the doorbell off put him.

"Hey!" Yugi beamed blustering into view as Yami reluctantly spread the door open to him. Flushed under the morning sun, arms overflowing with a haphazard tangle of tumbling flowers, the young man was as enchanting as Yami had ever seen him.

"Hey," he croaked lilting into his laugh, "where'd you get those?"

"Picked them on the way here," Yugi grinned to the flowers he cradled lovingly. "If they're on the side walk or over a fence they're free game."

"Typical." He sighed leaning into the frame. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd pop in," he shrugged but his radiance retracted mildly. "Hey, are you okay? You look wrecked."

"I had a horrible night," Yami admitted, hesitant only to get Yugi involved in what may at best be his mental breakdown and at worst a supernatural war. "I almost called you but I crashed. You want to come in?"

"You kidding?" Yugi scoffed sweeping past him into the house. "You aren't getting rid of me now."

The young man had never entered Yami's house. The fact he crossed the threshold, only after Yami's express permission unsurprisingly, was momentous to the author. It was a juxtaposition of peculiar elements to see Yugi so effortless make himself at home in Yami's kitchen spreading his bounty over the island counter. It was soothing to have Yugi here. Yami could feel some of his fear, his madness, alleviating in the freshness of Yugi's presence which brought a cool breeze into his dank inhospitable home. It was remedial immediately upon his mood and he wished, acutely, that he had summoned the sweet creature to his side earlier.

"So what happened?" Yugi demanded curtly.

He flittered about the kitchen as he spoke. When he began he had laid the flowers on the counter then turned to open the window and in the process stacked two or three of the dishes in Yami's sink out of the way. It was so homely to him to observe. Yami had never seen anyone make themself so immediately comfortable, motherly, in a stranger's house. There was an innate social boundary of propriety Yugi seemed utterly, innocently, unaware of as he bypassed it.

"Terrible dreams the last few nights." He diagnosed miserably as he leant back into the opposing side of the counter watching the little fairy. "Then last night some psychosthrew something at my window. It was creepy and now… I just feel gross… it's like the house isn't safe anymore."

"Good thing I'm here then," Yugi assuaged easily, as if it were a simple everyday aliment Yami had recounted for him.

"Yeah?" Yami blinked.

"Oh yeah, easy," he waved flippantly. "We'll take the house back and make it hallowed ground in no time. I'll make you a protection box."

"Protection box?" He paused. "It's not a hassle is it?"

"No way," Yugi laughed, "I've got everything on me half the time. I make them for Ryou and Kaiba all the time. You have a little glass bottle or a little tin or something you don't mind ruining?"

"Um… I think…" Yami mumbled sliding round the counter, compelled by Yugi's instruction to forage under the sink. "How about plastic?"

"Works better if it's something more natural," the young man retorted.

"Old sugar tin?"

"That'll be perfect." Yugi purred taking it briskly from Yami's fingers as he presented it.

Like a mother gathered round her children to bake Yugi heaved his bag onto the counter with unconsciously meticulous gestures. He heaved tradition, familiarity, with the process and stumbling exhausted into a stupor Yami came to stand beside him as he hummed. All at once Yugi resume speaking to Yami, as he made order out of the counter, in that same motherly voice of knowing, experienced, instruction.

"I used to do these all the time in High School when I felt unsafe." He explained. "It keeps all sorts of bad things, nasties, out of the house. Physical or not. See, way I see it, there's two types of magic: unconscious and conscious magic. Unconscious magic is really strong and it's what fucks people over in horror movies. If you don't feel safe in your house, if you think ghosts or demons can get in, you basically open a door for them. Conscious magic is similar. It's like in churches when all these people pray to something, believe in something, put their focus into something and it fills that place with an energy you can feel which is powerful. Ever notice how libraries and churches never feel empty? How they always make you shut up?"

Yami nodded dumbly.

"This," Yugi gestured to the little tin, "is a combination of unconscious and conscious magic. We're going to consciously sanctify your home which is going to subconsciouslymake you feel safer. That combination creates a double seal but it only works if you believe in it okay?"

"Okay," he coughed to the little one's soft smile. "Can I make these?"

"So long as you pump your energy to them, believe in them, you bet your cotton socks you can." He smiled. "Okay, so, we're working in symbols here."

He dipped his hand through the pockets of his bag and came back with a little plastic bag of supplies.

"Rock salt purifies," he explained tipping a handful in, "Iron wards of spirits, Silver's good against demons, water purifies everything…" a quick trip to the tap. "You have a…?"

Yugi twisted and Yami stood stiff to attention as he glanced.

"I'm going to need a little bit of food, something homemade or unprocessed, so we can make an offering to whoever looks after you and I'm going to need something of yours that's solid to sort of symbolise you and that this is your house."

"Oh," Yami fumbled, "um… one sec, I've got an old pin from high school upstairs, um…there should be something in the fridge if you want to…?"

"Yep, on it," Yugi flittered easily.

When they came back Yami felt like a child watching his family assemble the feast on Christmas Eve. There was something so deliciously old fashioned about the sensual faith Yugi so strongly embodied. He tipped their things into the tin and began picking out flowers to stuff into it.

"Something to give it juice," he explained, moving right along. "You can keep the iron, the silver and the pin in there but you've got to change the rest over every few months. Every few weeks if it's getting a lot of use."

"How will I know?"

"Take a peek." Yugi shrugged bluntly. "If everything looks like death in there you've been over working it. Now," he dug back into his bag drawing back a pocket knife, "got to make a sacrifice. Got to show the universe and all its nasties that you're claiming this place and you'll fight for it and they better not mess with you. Got to show whoever looks after you that you respect them too. Make a covenant."

"I have to…?" He gestured to the little blade and cringing watched Yugi nick at his own thumb squeezing a thick, syrupy, drop of crimson into the pot with his opposing index finger and thumb.

"I'll do it this time. Girls get to cheat and use menstrual blood. Sacrifice fertility." Yugi chuckled at his squeamishness sealing the tin tightly. "Now…"

"Now?" Yami prompted.

"We put this somewhere safe," he gestured ceremoniously, "right after we walk it through the house. Get its fingers in every room and show it the dimensions of the space."

"Should I…?"

"I'm not rifling through your bedroom." Yugi laughed. "Go on. I'll put the flowers in some water. What's left of them at any rate."

Yami found himself laughing, lightened, as he accepted the petite tin. It was so simple but it felt so heavy with archaic implication in his fingers.

When he returned through the lounge to place the little box on the mantle of the plastered up fire place above his desk Yugi was tapping up the crack in his window. Everything was infinitely better somehow after the gesture. Yugi's softened knowledge appropriated into slick practicality was soothing on his frazzled nerves. Yugi was quite convinced his problems were a simple matter to solve and, as Yami took him for the expert, it calmed him impossibly.

"Thank you," he professed slipping his arms generously round the young man's waist as Yugi came down from his tip toes at the window and pivoted into his arms. "It seems so silly but I feel better."

"Not silly if it makes you feel better," Yugi smiled, blissfully forgiving of Yami's unthinking insult to his practices.

"You're right." He agreed gesturing cordially to the couch. An invitation Yugi took by nestling down into the pillows, glancing to him expectantly, prompting Yami to throw his arm round the petite shoulders and sink into the sofa. "I'm so glad you came over. I've been a mess all morning."

"Been there, lived through that," Yugi assured him sincerely. "You get a club jacket at the end."

"Is it well made?"

"Korean," the smaller sighed miserably spreading his hand before him, "says: Fucking Thanks Universeon the back."

"Joy." Yami laughed revelling in the aloof sarcasm.

"Yeah," Yugi chuckled, "sometimes I wish I'd just gone to Hogwarts, ya know? Their idea of magic had way more pluses."

"But less gay sex," he quirked.

"There is that." The smaller consented to serious consideration. The moment broke water however and Yugi laughed. "It's fine though. You get used to periodically being scared out of your wits."

"Don't tell me that." Yami groaned. "I don't want to know that. I mean… what the hell are you supposed to do if demons or whatever get bodies? Are people? Or inpeople? Or can physically hurt you?"

"Pfft," Yugi chortled languidly into his arms, "that's easy. If they've got bodies you can punch them in the nads. Bodies are a weakness. Worry about what you can't see. You can heal your body, your body is temporary, it's when something hurts your soul and your heart you should be worried."

"I don't know," he sighed, "bodies' feel pain."

"Not for long." The smaller insisted knowingly. "That's the hard thing to learn though: not to be afraid of physical pain, not to be afraid in general of facing things or yourself. Confidence and fearlessness count for everything in the end but even if you believe in reincarnation like I do it's still hard not to be afraid of death. Life's a struggle."

"I swear I could get dreadfully depressed at this rate."

"Life's also awesome." Yugi added responsively. "There's sex and chocolate, bad TV, brilliant comedians and someone else is always worse off than you. It's just perspective. You've got a millennium of chances to do things and try things and learn. Reincarnation can be kinda sucky but it's a great deal."

"You need to a write a self-help book."

"Thought about it."

"What's holding you back?"

"Procrastination is more timeless than taxes and as certain as death." Yugi replied lazily. "What's holding your book back?"

"This shit." Yami snorted. "That and I'm too busy falling madly in love with you."

Yugi smiled satisfactorily but even in Yami's arms made no motion to curl up into a kiss. He leant into him, drawing his legs up onto the couch, slumped his head onto the older man's shoulder and became very small instead.

"I think I'm falling in love with you too." Yugi confessed quietly, eventually, into the afternoon warmth burying against him.

"Now that's scary." He smiled down to the creature, enfolding Yugi as best the couch would allow and smile struggling curiously Yugi planted his chin on Yami's shoulder to graze the window with his gaze.

"I better go," the young man mumbled eventually, languid in Yami's arms.

"You don't seem to me moving," he teased.

"Stop being so comfy," Yugi ordered, playfully begrudging.

"You first."

Yugi thrust his tongue out in response.

Atemu had not been so painfully nervous in what felt like years. The exhilaration of the hunt as he phased in, the jumble of Yami's ponderings, memories of Yugi, and concerns of Atreyu all weighed upon him as he found himself fact to face with the seamed steel of elevator doors.

"We're going down." Atreyu elaborated beside him in greeting before the Reaper was even really aware of him.

Atemu prickled, anxious, and found the Faen. Atreyu's smile was tinder warm this evening, glowing softly, that peculiar alchemy of love and sorrow playing through his eyes as he regarded the Reaper. Atreyu was painfully gorgeous this evening yet so contrasting in his elements Atemu was thrown at a loss. Atreyu's face held no glamor beside the glyphic swirls marking his forehead that shimmered with a translucent mother-of-pearl quality across his pale skin. His Needle was a whip tonight, glowing violently, wrapped round his waist twice or thrice over the smooth surface of the combat suit he wore. The effect was futuristic, alien, yet Atreyu appeared as at home in the garb as he did with translucent fairy's wings or in an angle's robe.

"Thank you," he murmured suddenly under Atemu's stare, "for saving me the other night."

The sincerity of it, the gentleness of the tone, could've flourished in a song.

"It's…" Atemu knew he should say something, something traditional to what brothers' said in the Reaper ranks: pleasure, glory… all those silly words they used to express their joy in keeping each other safe and supporting the cause. It was the etiquette of the place. The nature of their camaraderie played on his mind but he couldn't form the words he knew were appropriate.

Amar had warned him and he had to wonder: was Atreyu really at war with him in the Natural World? Did he hate the Yami who shamed Atemu and shared their sacred secrets? Atemu should have been be strict, guarded, against his own heart yet Atreyu Damestaire was as evanescent in his beauty as the moment they met.

"You saved me when we met," he remembered, it tumbled out of his lips before he recognized how it might be taken. He had said it more in reflection but it could be observed as a proper response. To say that he owed Atreyu, that they were even, was reasonable.

The Faen saw through it.

"How could I forget?" He smiled but left it to lie.

Yami had been a carefree fool that night when they met. Atemu's hunts had seemed dreams akin to paradises where he was safe, unbeatable, and where the sun was never cruel. He had yet to understand the dichotomy of this world: half fantasy, half nightmare, and how brutal it could turn all at once. Atreyu had manifested, already there, when Atemu had wandered too far into an odd place and found himself embroiled in trouble as the Faen had been repairing a tear. Atemu had been so lucky then not to be hurt. What would happen to Yami if he was hurt? He had never asked himself that. He had always escaped consequence.

"We're almost there." Atreyu warned and Atemu caught the flash of a tear-drop like crystal dangling, dancing, from the Faen's earlobe under the lush hair as he glanced. "You'll like this dimension."

"Our task?" Atemu supposed.

"The laboratories are infected with magic that has crossed from another realm." The Faen explained. "We have to cleanse it. Get the red paint out of the blue."

Atreyu paused, seemed unsure of something, but then gave into what Atemu realized was the urge to smile, playfully, and confessed:

"It'll be fun."

Atemu fumbled, lost, at the sheer perplexity of Atreyu admitting to the secret of feeling the thrill, euphoria, which the Faen always held under a guise of elegance. Atemu knew, had suspected, that Atreyu being as easy in his understanding of the Supernatural as he was would enjoy the glorious nature of their hunts more than Atemu could being so clumsy in his inexperience. The Faen had never admitted it to him before though and as Atreyu tucked a soft fragment of hair behind his ear to reveal that twinkling drop of crystal, his radiantly inhuman eyes focused on the elevators doors, Atemu found himself beaming ridiculously. He wanted to kiss that ear.

Forgiveness perhaps?

But those emails Yami received from the human claiming to be Atreyu's reincarnation and Natural World vessel…

Atemu wanted to speak, to ask, lips parting but to his dismay he was too late.

"Now." Atreyu whispered, flashing with keen intensity, as the steel slid open.

1 So Atemu found Atreyu who was off on a social call, rather than official business, and who got mixed up in an accident. No big bad for us yet.

2 Who are the people who sent a very clear message to Yami by breaking his window? Human or not? Seers or not?

3 Sanctuary (for all you sightseers) will return later~

4 Well, now we have a number for exactly how long Jenzar has been missing. Let me just emphasise: this is why the Reapers care he's missing. It would be normal for Jenzar not remember who he was for a while after reincarnating, normal for him to take a while finding Atreyu, and that is fine. The fact he hasn't shown up a speck for 400yrs is not normal (and also a secret the Reaper Core was trying to keep under wraps till Yami blew the lid on the fact he was missing). As for if he's dead, again, in this world only the body dies and the soul reincarnates so something has either: happened to Jenzar's soul or someone has figured out how to destroy matter/souls (we're fucked if so).

4 Just reminding: Cobalt has popped up multiple times since the first chapter but we've never met him directly.

5 Yugi and Atreyu's little twitches, little smiles and hesitancies might be something for your theorisers to think about too!

6 I know Atreyu seems a little unsympathetic sometimes, a little old fashioned, but I hope you guys can forgive him his anger and his sadness while we get to know him better. He's a sweet character really but everyone's allowed to have a bad century or two every now and again. I'm curious though: what do we think Atreyu's current incarnation is up to? What about his emails? Will he really not help Yami? Will he be our big bad? Will he kill Yami or punish him some other way? Has he already started?

Love you guys massively and I hope you have a great week. Please excuse any errors I've had to run off to a party.