Hey Kiddos! Little bit more feel good for you this time~
Chapter 18: Rapture and Revelry
Yami had no difficulty then in finding his feet. A light had been switched on inside him. No, rather, a furnace was ablaze inside his soul which had so recently been cold and wispy and unrealized. He was himself again! He held inside him a perplexing vastness of power that he could not believe could exist within a mortal form outside Yugi's.
Oh Yugi…
Yami laughed, everything was perfect, everything was perfect but somehow he wanted to hold all the thoughts inside him till he had hit the finish line. He was himself! He could barely repeat it enough. He knew himself at last! He was finally as he should be! He was really alive, salvation upon him, finally all he had been meant to become. He carried that aloft overhead like a banner and nothing seemed too grand.
He left his shoes forsaken, ripped his shirt over his head and pattering effortlessly down the stairs knew he could run a marathon. There was something miraculously bewitching about the sun, the real sun, upon his skin when he locked the front door behind him. He felt the rays of it, drew from it like Atreyu drew from the moon, and let it pluck warmly against his skin. He couldn't afford, couldn't care enough, to be embarrassed as his arse hit the driver's seat of the car in pj-pants, bare breasted and barefoot. He'd spent centuries as savages, primal, he'd spent lifetimes never knowing shoes and weathered almost black by the strip of the sun against the paint of his skin.
This was beautiful, simple, glorious.
Earth was still Earth as he knew it, Yami was sure, but somehow he felt as if he was seeing it differently. He'd missed four hundred years of Earth! Four hundred years of history! Part of him hiding in Sanctuary the rest captured by the Seers in some hell pit in Tartarus and even as Yami thought it, remembered it, he knew without doubt that had indeed been him. That aside still he'd missed four hundred years of watching their latest home planet grown, diversify and change as he always loved to watch it unfurl with the epic poetry of eternity visible to him.
Yami laughed, full, brimming back with everything. He was sure he could've done anything the world called upon him to do.
Time condensed, seemed shorter, his mind whirring scattershot through the diagnostics as it adjusted to this mass inclusion all at once. It didn't hurt. Rather it eased his burn because in seconds it appeared he was parking the car at his favourite place.
Yugi, by the intercession of kind, sweet, dexterous and teasingly dramatic fate, was on the front porch just escaping the doorway. Yami knew, sensed, with new eyes that Yugi, having realized it at the nest, had been rushing to come assist his transition back together. He'd underestimated the fastness with which the fractions of Yami's souls could fuse.
"Yami?" He laughed, perplexed a little, as the other bounded up the front steps and in a motion had the Faen in his arms.
Yami couldn't speak, couldn't bear to, it meant not kissing Yugi for a second. In a single motion, experience blooming to make him effortless, Yami had his arm round Yugi's back and under his knees. In a glimmer Yami had his lips burning, aching, against Yugi's as he carried him back through the forgotten open door.
He'd done this a million times. Carried Atreyu over some threshold or another for whatever reason he could construe to find.
It smacked him then as he kicked the front door snapped shut behind them and dropped to his knees. That thought interlocked with Yugi's lips into his and a whole new, glorious, wave assaulted him. He lowered the Faen, never losing momentum, Yugi splayed over the carpet, Yami's arms captured round him, lips running against each other wetly. The kisses played quick, brief, teasingly damp as they were caught in the trap of joy that compelled them to stay prized against each other. Yami couldn't think of anything more creative, anything more skilled or romantic but to kiss and kiss and kiss with nothing else but lips on lips and cheeks and patches, corners, of Yugi's face.
His mind was too filled, far too fast, to focus on anything more. Yugi's thighs were round his hips as he rested his weight into his knees, barely risen off the carpet, and Yami held him so tightly that he almost thought he would hurt the beauty. Yugi's arms squeezed snug round his shoulders locking them together and Yami could feel the acutest detail of every perfect swooning sigh the Faen made as he desperately reached up into him.
Yugi's core was blooming, greater than Yami's but then only because it was unlimited, and Yami could taste it in the boy's kiss. This was his. All of this was only his. It had always been his. No one else would ever challenge him for Yugi, no one else would ever replace him in Yugi's eye, and no one could. Truth be told Yami could taste that not a force in the universe could part them anymore. Like stretching two ends of a rubber band apart, yet again, they had twanged back together with the tension and momentum of polarising opposites.
This was his Faen. He knew it, Yugi knew it, everything was back in place and every kiss hit him in a way Yami had not been able to feel it until now. Any of the kisses he'd dealt until now had been naïve with perfect love but they lacked this taste of locked eternity. He could feel the plushness of Yugi's lips, feel them bruise against each other hot and needy and desperate. He could see, behind the lids of his eyes, every kiss he had ever dealt this beautiful bundle sequestered safely in his arms. This was his to protect for all of time. That was his purpose: to be a Champion among Champions for this glory. This was heaven on Earth, the payment for his hard work maintaining order, this was the prize for a Champion so spectacular that even split in two he had been able to find his Faen, protect him, storm a nest and defeat a Seer Queen.
Oh, sweet paradise, Sanctuary was in Yugi's kiss as they tried to meld together. How many times, countless times, had he run his fingers through this hair and brought these lips to his? How many demons had they slain? How much good had they done? How many times had they made love?
He couldn't believe, couldn't dare realize, that his Yugi, his Atreyu, had spent four hundred cold years alone. Yami couldn't fathom that he had not been there to catch every swoon, every tear and defend every impasse. The concept that Atreyu had been unprotected, unloved, and had lived, breathed, and died without him was agonising. Never again. Never ever again.
"Oh, I love you," Yami fumbled in a swoon, panting and clutching at the smaller body where they had fallen utterly uncaring.
"Fuck…" Yugi sniffed and he realized, at once, the strange truth of it.
"You're crying!" He warbled horrified, brushing at Yugi's tender cheek.
"Of course I am you idiot!" The Faen sobbed, trembling as he batted at his face past Yami's hand, laughing high through open lips. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"Oh baby," Yami laughed, "I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry. I'm never leaving you again."
"Don't you dare," Yugi warned sharply, "I'll kill you if you ever do that to me again."
"I'm so glad you're here." He fawned.
"I'm so glad it's you." The other confessed.
"I'm a retard," Yami laughed, fingers stroking deft and softly desperate over Yugi's face. "I didn't even know I was me. I'm an idiot! How did I not know my own name? Where the fuck did I get Atemu?"
"Atreyu plus Amar," Yugi snorted lightly, "I think it was a cover name you used once."
"Yes!" He baulked in realization. "I remember!"
"Fuck, I should have realized," he groaned. "You pulled Pheramoraout of your ass though!"
"I'm brain dead." Yami laughed happily. "Utterly ridiculous. Thank God you're safe."
He was compelled then by another rush of vicious, possessive, protectiveness and squeezing gathered Yugi tightly up against him.
"Thank God…" he repeated into thick locks.
"Okay," Yugi sighed, seeming to gather himself as he coughed. "First thing's first."
"Hmm?"
"We have to tell the other's we're okay," he shushed the Champion halfway through his complaint, "and then you have four hundred years of making me sleep in an empty bed to make up for. Deal?"
"In style." Yami grinned. "Oh! Hey!"
"Yeah?" Yugi supposed squirming out from underneath him onto his elbows.
"Tomorrow we go see your Grandfather." He decided.
"Hm?" The Faen blinked, "I don't know, there's a lot of other stuff to worry about first."
"Like what?" Yami snorted. "Anything that doesn't feel insignificant compared to this? I want to get you your family back. Right now. If I'd been here, if I hadn't written those books, you'd have a grandfather and I'll be fucked if you don't get him back."
"Fine," Yugi grinned, "but means you have to introduce me to your mother."
"Eh you've met my mother millions of times. I'm terrified." He snorted. "We'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere."
"Ever." The Faen stressed warily.
"Next life time you have to be a girl." Yami ordered, almost excitedly and laughing Yugi shook his head.
"What?"
"Because we're going to have a truckload of kids," he shrugged, "and you're going to have them in a clean, nice, safe hospital so help me God."
"Okay, okay," the Faen shushed at him good humouredly, "you are so over excited. Chill your burners. We'll get to the babies and the family reunions. Can we focus on calling Kaiba and Ryou for a sec?"
"Sure!" He chirped. "Can I do it?"
Yugi fell back laughing, an exasperated parent, and shaking his head sighed. For Yami, for Jenzar, today was Christmas. He was home, safe, Yugi was his and everything could finally, perfectly, go back to normal. His core was back, his power was vast and immense, and he had a chipper little lifetime to look forward to in Japan. Talk about a home run.
"Fine," the Faen surrendered. "Off ya get, let me get up, we're not fucking on the carpet."
"My care factor, it's tiny," Yami snorted and resisted the urge to remind Yugi they'd made love in worse (in the rain once, in the mud, after running from German mercenaries and that was just Earth! They'd conceived Morph once that way hadn't they? Or Drea? Yeah, Drea. They tended to conceive Morphis on window sills. God, he wanted their kids!). Instead, brain overheating, settled for helping the Faen back onto his feet.
"Steal my phone. Call Kaiba." Yugi ordered lazily, smiling, ever practical. Yami almost didn't like it. Yugi had been practical for all their time together here but Jenzar remembered a fanciful, freer, Atreyu. "I'll reset the salt line."
"No," he ordered tugging Yugi in closer, "don't worry about the salt line. Nothing's getting into this house."
"Yami-" He laughed.
"No, listen," the Champion insisted, curling his fingers round Yugi's hand and flaring, from the pits of his belly, a surge of that Heaven's fire that was suddenly inside him. "Nothingis getting into this house ever again."
Yugi shivered, faltering felt the surge and fumbling seemed a bit bemused.
"I…" he laughed weakly. "I almost forgot how strong your protection spells can be, the fortification vibe, I…wow…"
"Yeah," Yami purred, squeezing the stunned little fingers between his hands. "Champions' Magic. Remember? You can do a lot of incredible things I can't but even without salt lines or silver or protection boxes I can still make sure nothing sticks its nasty head inside our home unless it's fucking invited."
"I've been making due without it," Yugi murmured, softened a touch by the memory. That practicality, that weathered lonely strength he'd built up these past four centuries softened fractionally under a wisp of returning knowledge that Jenzar was back and would keep them safe like he was supposed to. "Guess it's just habit now…"
"I'm sorry," Yami repeated, bringing those fingers to his lips. "No more worrying about it. I'll take care of it." I'll take care of you.
"Okay," the Faen flourished, ever so subtly, under elegant self-restraint but the corners of a relieved, beaming, little smile escaped despite his best efforts to keep his expression assured. Yugi, Atreyu, lightened a little to let go of some of the responsibility of total control over the coven, of their supernatural life, to trust Jenzar back into his duties.
"I'll call Kaiba." He grinned.
Yugi only laughed and shoved him to the chunky Victorian side table to fetch up the Faen's phone and click through the contacts.
"Argh what?" Kaiba moaned. Apparently the hunt had exhausted him.
"Morning Sunshine!" Yami laughed boisterously.
"Yami? The fuck…?" Kaiba mumbled groggily. "You- oh shit. No. Don't fucking tell me…?"
"Okay then I won't," he cackled, "you have a fantastic fucking day!"
"Who the fuck makes you a Champion?" The Watcher groaned in horrified mulling. "What cruel fucking God decided that was a great part of the master plan?"
"Who cares! I'm a Champion!" Yami laughed. "I get to kick your ass next time you piss me off!"
"Jesus fucking Christ," Kaiba sighed. "Go fuck Yugi or something you need a chill pill you happy little shit. Fuck. Fucking typical you'd be Jenzar Fraveous you retard.Get the hell off the phone!"
"Fuck you too," Yami cackled utterly ecstatic. "Bye Kaiba!"
"Mother fucking universe…" the Watcher sighed slamming down the phone.
Yugi had taken to laughing, languishing, against the wall behind Yami as the Champion soaked up his own enthusiasm hopelessly. The Faen seemed to be shaking his head. Yami was tempted for a moment to text Ryou his assurances to more quickly reach back for Yugi but then, struck but it, dialled the number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Ryou," Yami plucked, "it's me. Can I talk to Bakura for a second?"
"Um," Ryou murmured, "Hi! Sure?"
Yugi blinked and, pushing off the wall, sauntered to Yami to try and wrestle the phone from his hand. Laughing, the Reaper hooked an arm round the bemused Faen to hold him against his flank with Yugi's arms pinned against him by the wrap of Yami's arm. The Faen threw his head over the yoke of his shoulder to cast odd expressions and mouth to Yami: what are you doing?
"Hello?" Bakura snapped gruffly. "The hell you want lunchmeat?"
"Hey Bakura," Yami greeted mildly smooth and easily exuberant, "just wanted to let you know we solved Yugi's Champion problem. So the sheriff's back."
"And what," he snorted nastily, "the fuck do I care Atemu?"
Bakura was laughing at him on the interior, poor Atemu who would never have the Princess, but Yami knew exactly what it was he wanted to say before knowing he had intended to say it and it unfurled like venom so easily from his tongue he was sure Jenzar was sighing it.
"Jenzar now," Yami purred, "and you care, you traitorous little maggot, because if you ever come near my Faen again I will destroy you. This is my home and my coven. So I would recommend we think very carefully about how we treat Yugi andRyou from now on. We understand each other?"
"Hah," Bakura sneered, "enjoy your witch and stay the fuck away from my Ferry Man."
"I'd like to see a parasitic bottom feeder like you make me." He grinned through his baritone. "You have a nice day now."
He hit the end call button languidly, as Bakura began cursing him, with such utter disregard it empowered him. Yami could feel the powerful, immense, strength of Jenzar rippling within him totally. He had meant it and he knew he could carry it out with this incredible power he possessed. His possessiveness, his protectiveness, drove him to establish the rules of their new home now he had returned properly with all the authority he was sanctioned with to do so. Yami, as a Champion, knew he had the right to enforce law upon whatever demon was within their circle. It was tradition: Bakura had received his warning and with Jenzar's honour Yami wouldn't think about striking first but if the Child of Lilith stirred him then he would now feel no guilt in bringing wrath upon the demon.
"Yami!" Yugi cawed in stunned horror. "You just… you can't…"
"You've threatened him before," Yami shrugged, placing the phone down on the side table. "Just letting him know where stands. It's only polite. Never mind him. I just want you now."
"Lord," the Faen heaved in a sigh, "I really have forgotten what it's like to have you back on security detail. I think I almost forgot how… devoted doesn't quite cover it."
"Happens," Yami snorted nonchalant, turning the Faen gently in his arms to bring them face to face and as he brushed his nose along Yugi's brow all that childish excitement came flowing naturally back. "Can I go kiss you now? Let's curl up."
"Uh…" from a stunned mullet Yugi shook his head in exasperation, laughing airily, "you spaz. I swear. By the way, so, are shirts apparently against your religion now?"
It took Yami a second to realize what Yugi was implying by gesturing at the stark ruffled nature of his appearance. He and Jenzar had forsaken shirts and socks to get here in a flourish and hadn't batted an eyelid.
"Pretty much," he decided with a chuckle, before suggesting eagerly: "Bed?"
It was a switch, immediate, from one chain of thought to the next with a kind of innocent lack of preamble. This was what had mystified Yami not so long ago: how the ancient ones could grasshopper from one emotion to another with startling speed and little whiplash. This was him now. All beaming with love and vicious to protect it in a strange new way of living that rendered Yami almost a reborn being. He was overwhelmed with power, aflame, and empowered by billions of years of memories that flew through him but didn't for a second overcome his sanity. He was there, all the same, but yet more himself in a way altogether more realized, confident and, admittedly, hyper.
Yugi was the same age, if not the same species of being, and he understood but was heavy under what Yami realized was another problem as the Faen laughed at him. Yugi seemed tense. Was the weight of letting go of his vicious self-control and authority after centuries of protecting himself such an effort? Of course, he and Jenzar conferred, Atreyu had become a capable soloist in a way that made permitting even Jenzar back in strange and frightening. Yugi and Atreyu had been in total control and so wild to have Jenzar back perhaps he hadn't considered how to go back to normal once he had him. This wasn't a switch, it wouldn't happen immediately.
"You've got shell shock," Yami remarked offhandedly in realization and Yugi tilted his head up curiously at him, "you've been fighting so long it's like when soldiers go home and you tell them they don't have to anymore. They can't get used to be normal right away."
"I'm sorry," Yugi sighed on reflex but with sincerity, "I'm so happy you're back you can't even imagine it. I'm so fucking happy it's you." His hand wandered over Yami's face. "I love you so much. I'm sorry."
"It's fine," he shrugged easily, "I'm home. We just might take a while to get back to ourselves. It doesn't matter. Nothing can ruin today."
"I know," the Faen swore, smiling a little more coyly nearly shyly. "Go cuddle? I want you."
"Yes. So yes," Yami laughed.
There was so much to say, to do, so many buds of thought to develop and places to go but they would have to breathe and slow down to get there. Yami couldn't find everything today. They would need more time. Luckily, Jenzar grinned, they had millenniums of it.
"I'm not going anywhere," the Champion murmured as they swayed into each other, to himself really. "You're not going anywhere. Forever. Mine."
"Yours," Yugi cooed, purred a little more relaxed.
"There's a swoon," Yami rumbled back pleasurably, that was what he wanted: that happiness, that gooiness, seeping back into his Faen till Yugi was slack and happy and safe. He took the other's hand lightly, stealing a kiss, "come on."
There was something rightful, his, about collapsing on the tapestry print covers of Yugi's bed and gathering him up back in Yami's arms. Nothing dirty or shameful existed. Yami wasn't a traitor or some seducing thief rather this was his to be a part of. He was glad though that he'd waited to pluck this if only because it reassured him and because it perfected Yugi's contentment to have happiness found in the right sequence rather than by skipping ahead and healing it later.
They'd fallen back to kissing. Yugi shuffled closer, Yami's thigh slipped between his, and the Faen seemed to want to crawl up inside him closer than Yami's form would allow as the Fairy traced his shoulder blades.
"Why do you do that?" Yami whispered, nuzzling his hair, as one arm held the smaller close and the other roamed down his slide and up under his shirt along Yugi's spine.
"You have really pronounced shoulder blades. You're always kind of broad even though you're slender. They never really change much." The Faen murmured, nipping forgetfully up his neck. "I just remember you holding me when I'd get upset and I'd bury my face in your chest. You used to be way too tall for me to reach up around your neck without stretching. So it's easier to grab your shoulder blades. They feel like you. I don't know…is that silly? It's not much of a reason."
"No," he promised, catching the edge of Yugi's cheek as the Faen's lips found the arch of his neck under the chin.
"They just make me calm," Yugi muttered, pressing his mouth into the junction of the Champion's bare shoulder. One arm was stuck, trapped, between them while the other ran from between Yami's winged bones down his spine and slipped round to smooth up between them as the Faen mapped out the skin of his navel and the expanse of his chest.
Yami sighed. He could fall apart purring under the soft, familiar, ministrations of Yugi reaccustoming himself with his body. The Faen's fingers ran up his chest, traced his tendons and the grooves of his neck on one side as Yugi sighed to kissing the other. Yami's hand grasped his bare hip, his waist, felt how the heat of the skin burned more brightly under the thinnest layer of clothing. Just beneath the surface, submerged in cotton, Yugi's body was heated and warm to Yami's touch. His fore arms were supple, his neck was cool, everything exposed was milder in consistency but the skin that Yami found hidden pressed glowing under his hand.
Yugi slackened in his touch, some of that invisible but ever present tension inside the Faen letting go under the coaxing of a Champion's fingers. Had Yugi always been this stressed? This tightly wound? Or was Yami merely more aware of it now he had Jenzar's memories to contrast with? Maybe the Champion's capabilities made Yami more sensitive to it? Let him see it when Yugi kept it casually hidden to him.
"You've been the oldest and the strongest this whole life time," Yami muttered, "you've been looking out for me and Kaiba and Ryou and Mokuba…"
"I don't care," Yugi diverted gently, it was like his writing it seemed. Something the Faen did but would take no acknowledgement or praise for. "I wanted to. I still do. They're family."
'Family' was an explanation that cemented to Jenzar an understanding of Yugi he passed on to Yami easily. Atreyu had always been like this, always made little families where ever they went and he held them. Faens kept order, balance, protected, loved… it was an inclination Atreyu in particular always seemed to stray towards. Without Jenzar he supposed it was only more likely Yugi would take on his matron role viciously. The things Atreyu had done for kin in the time Jenzar had loved him could alone turn Yami pale. It was strange. Yami and Jenzar were so utterly, inseparably, united that thoughts flowed unbroken with understanding between them. In each observation of Yugi Jenzar's memories supplied layers to Yami's knowledge.
"This," Yami smiled, nudging Yugi onto his back gently. "Is why I love having kids with you, you know? You're such a good…mum, dad, whatever. It just seems right for you to make life and you always love it so much. So gorgeous…"
"Heh," Yugi snorted fingers roaming over Yami's arms and the arch of his shoulders, his eyes drifted distantly over the skin only to meander back to the Champion's face in acknowledgment. "You're so biased."
"You're perfect." Yami swore, half on his elbow, thigh settled between Yugi's as he lay almost atop the Faen rolling up the hem of his shirt.
"No," the Faen insisted lazily, "you win that. I've always liked you better than me."
"Hmm," there was ripple of contentment roaming in Yami's veins. Every nice, wonderful, thing Yugi had ever said about Jenzar was Yami's now. He had gotten a rare glimpse, he realized, into seeing how his kin truly felt about him when he was gone, when they didn't recognise him, and he had gotten to meet them all again for the first time. "You'd still fall in love with me…"
"Huh?" Yugi blinked.
"We usually remember," Yami muttered helping the Faen pull his tee over his head and drop it over the side of the mattress so the Champion's hands could feel his exposed flanks, "you usually figure out it's me. This time neither of us knew I was Jenz and we still fell in love again. After four billion years you're still not sick of me. You'd still do it all over again."
"You're not mad?" The Faen whispered hesitantly and Yami was taken aback. "I… I didn't know it was you I may as well have given up on you and buggered off with someone else."
"No," he snorted in amusement, "that's not it at all. No way. Just cause you fell in love with me as Yami and Atemu doesn't mean you betrayed me. It's better than that. It means if we could do all our life times over again, if you could choose between Champions again, if you didn't know me from a hole in the wall you'd still chose me. It's wonderful. It reminds me you love me, really, not just cause you've always loved me. Does that make any sense?"
"I'm still sorry," Yugi murmured sincerely, "I feel like I gave up on you for a minute there. I hate that."
"You didn't." Yami insisted. "Not even for a second. You're so much stronger than anyone I've ever met. They don't make em like you Trey, baby, Yugi."
He smiled unfurling, forgiving himself, to wrap his arms round Yami's neck and the Champion rediscovered the grooves of his hips with tender thumbs. There was power and possession in how Yugi purred under him, gave a little breath, arched and gave into Yami what was his time honoured right. No one else had Atreyu like this. No one really, truly, had this with this soul in Yami's hands. Other men and women had touched a body, stolen kisses or nights but the true core of Yugi, the true timeless self, was only every spread before Yami, Jenzar, like this.
Yugi's fingers seemed so intent on reaffirming Yami's features, stroking his cheekbones almost as if to reward the Champion for his kisses. Yugi's tongue brushed the seam of his lips and the elder felt heat kindle hotly in his gut. When he'd stolen those touches, when Yugi was sick after the Bull Seer attack, the Faen hadn't wanted him like this, he hadn't reached out and it made it sweeter to be wanted now when Yami's tongue moved slickly between Yugi's lips. Yugi's grip round him flexed in welcome, thighs flexing round Yami's and pulling free with freshly wetted lips he hooked his arm round Yugi's waist and took a slow, languid, moment to make the procession down the Faen's clavicle.
Yugi sighed, quiet and easy, up into him as the elder planted another tight kiss between his pectorals straying wistfully to lap at a hardened bud. Yugi exhaled, let go a sound that was a little more of that softly stroked desire and Yami felt the air expand in his chest as he pressed his lips round the pebbled skin.
Those sweet little fingers, delicate, carded through Yami's hair, brushing it from his face distantly as Yugi lay back so willingly into his coaxing and his fussing.
"Oh…" another heady swoon escaped and Yami knew he was wanted, so welcomed to this body, which was aching up for him.
Yami slithered down, buried his face in Yugi's smooth navel, dug his tongue into the indent and made the Faen sigh with another stroke of his thumbs into his hips.
"I want you." Yugi whispered. There was something about it, something old and softly purring, that made Yami raise his head from where he had pressed his cheek into the smaller body and immediately he found the Faen's eyes. Heady, almost dazed, indigo eyes had found a depth not previously shimmering from the boy. That ocean that was Atreyu had cooed into Yami and meant this. Yugi adored him.
Yami was drawn up at that, couldn't help himself, as tender as he was for Yugi inside him Jenzar seemed even more prone to fall to pieces in fawning over the Faen. It made them softly malleable. Too merciful to be teasing as Yugi became so terribly pliant, so wanton, and hushed Yami let the Faen kiss him harder. Yugi's arms came snug round him, pulled Yami down more fully into him, and the petite little fairy was instantaneously plush, luxurious, glowing. Jenzar made Yami moan, it flowed through the pair of them, he'd hadn't forgotten in all his years of imprisonment that sensual adoration that seeped milk and honey like from Atreyu. This was the sight he longed for, had missed most, the glimmer that was Yugi lusting so very thoroughly yet gently. This was the swoon of the Faen that whispered to Yami: make love to me. I only want you.
They ceased kissing at an impasse, Yugi plucked his lips on Yami's forehead, hooked his thumb in his own waist band and nudging gently pushed the Champion to peel back off him. Yami rolled into his side and somehow very elegant Yugi rolled the fabric down his thighs as he drew up his knees. Creamy, unbroken skin was exposed between them and Yami, Jenzar, felt himself exhale with some foreign relief at the knowledge that Yugi at least hadn't been badly damaged in protecting himself during the Champion's absence.
Flames fanned Yugi seemed unknowingly sultry as he titled his head to kiss Yami and curled his fingers to tug at the Champion's waist band pulling the hem out and letting it snap back to emphasise his point.
"Please?" He prompted softly and alight Yami couldn't resist another sign into those lips as he lay back and struggled with his own pants. Yugi propped himself on his elbow, watched, lips barely parted and utterly satisfied when Yami slumped back to smile at him.
"What do you want?" The Champion inquired. He would do anything for Yugi and sliding off his elbow the Faen lay back beside him to kiss at the tip of his nose.
"I just want to touch you, be close," Yugi fluttered. "I remember but this body doesn't know how anymore. I don't think I can make it…relaxed enough to make love just yet. Settle for touching me?"
Creamy skin, rosy lips, perfect curves against his skin and under his fingertips… the image alone promised to make Yami moan. Jenzar reminded them to nod, the pair of them were apparently clueless dopes it seemed, and cooing Yugi laughed. The Faen pushed himself up, sat, and with something of a beaming smirk beckoned the Champion to sit with him. Yami fumbled onto his hands, pushing himself up, eager as a spring to taste him and enfold him. Jenzar would've done it before Yami could hold him back if Yugi hadn't slipped into his lap and hooked his legs snuggly round the Champion hands settled on his shoulders, thumbs rubbing into the groves of skin as Yugi leant to kiss him.
Yugi came flush against him. Rapturous Yami was unsure where to settle his hands, lips locked with the Faen's nipping at them teasingly, and folding easily into him Yugi rolled his hips. Yami moaned, Yugi swooned hushing as their foreheads rested together and empowered the Champion's fingers ran over the curve of the Faen's arse pulling him closer to grind them. Yugi's legs hooked flexing round his waist and arched, Yami's hands found his hips and-
"Ah…"
"Oh," Yami purred huskily, to have Yugi whisper pleasured against his cheek brought strength into his limbs.
Quiet moans, cutting, hoarse delicious sounds escaping Yugi that drove Yami to see how with the coaxing of his fingers and the rocking of his hips he could draw more of those wondrous sounds free of the Faen's taunt throat. He remembered these sounds, these perfect omissions that were all his as Yugi cleaved to him and Atreyu came wholeheartedly into the equation.
"I love you," Yami sighed, teeth scraping along the column of Yugi's neck, "somuch."
Yugi's fingers sunk through his hair tugging his mouth back to the desperate Faen's and through a gasp the smaller fused their lips together. The smaller became needy pushing, titling, into Yami and holding him the Champion let Jenzar direct him to give an authoritative, possessive, roll of his hips grinding up into the other. Yugi's head fell back.
"Oh…" he groaned.
"That's it," Yami whispered, cradling the back of Yugi's skull. Fingers curled in thick locks as their skin slickened the Champion bringing their noses back together and making them lean into each other as Yami took full control of their motions. "So good."
"Love you," Yugi swore fevered, cupping his cheeks.
"Good?" He lapped behind the arc of one elfin ear, teeth scraping the lobe, arm slung low round those hips as he rocked them into each other.
"Hmm…" Yugi mewled, breathless, "so good… Ah!"
The moan extended, they chorused, Yami held him closer, tighter, Jenzar's possessiveness taking full protective bloom to feel the Faen fall languid and unfold vulnerably twitching against him. The Faen's arms slackened round his neck, thighs eased and moaning Yami took a long moment to slow his hips through the last lurching twitches of his impulses.
Yugi twisted ever so slightly under the quilting, ruffling the tapestry, and stirred Yami snuggled back down on reflex. The Faen moaned low, rolling into his chest, one slender leg hiking up over Yami's slack hips as the Champion stretched down to his toes arching his back. Yugi's cheek lay against his clavicle, the Faen's knee cocked over his hip, petite fingers limp on Yami's chest and nothing in the world could've been sweeter. He pried his eyes apart, groggy. Merging ever so slightly with Yugi had soothed the wild surge of energy pounding through him but the fire was still there.
His skin felt peculiar stretched over his frame as Yami considered it. Atemu was gone inside him yet not truly. Atemu, he and Jenzar had merged. The line Yami had drawn in the sand between he and Atemu had disappeared and now he was, inside and out, by some conversion back to his true self: Jenzar Fraveous. Yami Sennen was a name for this life time, temporary, a face for now that would age and die and then he would find a new one. That didn't scare him, that wouldn't be the death of Yami in any real way. He, himself, would continue to exist even after he escaped this body. He'd synced with immortality.
There were flickers of a moment when Jenzar seemed something all himself and Yami someone else but that seemed only to be the contrast between what his current reincarnation knew and what the storehouse of information which was his core held. Jenzar wasn't so much a separate entity when he gave Yami a hint this way or another rather when Yami strained his mind to remember the details of his own life it was as if some carbon copy of himself was handing him a note.
He didn't feel like he'd lost anything. He didn't feel like he'd lost Atemu or even what was Yami. He was finally completely himself. Confidence flooding, contentment thick, power immense and order restored. Yami's insides had been filled, his broken puzzle pieces reassembled back to their final and naturally intended shape.
Nostalgia prompted him to remember not so long ago when he'd felt a traitor in this bed. When he'd felt diabolical for desiring Yugi and Atreyu. When he had been willing to let go of the Faen and prepare himself for Jenzar's dislike. Never again. Jenzar pulsed at the back of his conscious driving him to squeeze Yugi's warm body a little closer. He would never again think of sharing or surrendering this being. Yami and Atemu might've been willing to let Yugi go for a better man but, perhaps a little selfish, Jenzar would've slaughtered himself to be the best and to deserve the Faen forsaking all else and utterly repugnant to willingly walk away from this fairy being. Jenzar, layered into Yami, assured them they had no reason to ever walk away from this beauty. This ancient being was theirs, claimed by their own hand and authorised by Atreyu for an eternity. They were not the 'other man' destined to prove themselves Yami was, Jenzar affirmed, the man of this house and anyone who would like to joust for their lovely regal fairy had best prepare themselves for battle.
There was a mingling of innocent joy and ancient possession in the protectiveness of a Champion. Simple love and endless determination proved to be a powerful coupling. Yugi's skin on his, Yugi's ease with him, was precious. Yami soaked in the afternoon sun tasting the glorious satisfaction of it. Under Atreyu's doughy covers in the netted light rippling through the submerged and obscured home. The Faen's magic hummed gently half gooey warm but contrastingly cool and slick in a non-physical way. His core restored Yami could sense every detail of magic in the house. He could feel rather than see the layers of magic Atreyu, Yugi, had lain in these rooms which soaked right through the walls and lay in stacks of forgotten but acutely alive layers. It was as if Yami could see the gooey, fungal, cross section of a rainforest floor or a compost bin rich with nutrients.
More than that Yami could sense his own magic. The puddle he had once possessed to draw upon was an ocean. Perhaps not endlessly self-perpetuating like Atreyu's magic which knew no boundary but the warehouse of strength Yami now had to draw on and form spells with was a world all its own. Yami could think of nothing he couldn't attempt at least once with so much power. He could feel his magic; ruddy, crimson and sharp crisscrossing the house like strings, beams of sunlight, fire… He could feel it unconsciously wrapping the house locking it with wards. He could feel it tangling and netting round Yugi in old familiar motions as Yami had done for centuries. Spell after spell after spell of intention made physical: love, safety, security, protection…all snug round Yugi, invisible but present.
Atreyu was a mender, creator and healer, the fairy, the ocean, Gaia. Atreyu fixed things, healed wounds in the Veil, saw the truth of matters and made them beautifully new and right. This however was Champions' magic: for war, battle, defence and victory. Yami's duty, Jenzar's duty, was as a warrior against monsters and insidious magic. Yugi fixed the Veil and Yami made sure he could do it. He kept them safe in the Natural and Supernatural and now, core aflame and returned, he could finally, actually, do that. No more panicking, no more sleepless nights, no more heavy weight upon Yugi as the most powerful to be combat driven in striving to protect their coven single handed.
Something thrummed, beat, and perplexed Yami glanced down. The red pendent round Yugi's neck had been utterly forgotten by the author in all this nonsense but now, to see it round the Faen's neck and splaying across his own chest brought a smile to his face. Yami carefully ran his fingers over it, feeling the Lance of Lazarus hidden within, and sparking to him the Lance which was a product of his own magic, he now realized, hummed with heat within the little glass pendent. It seemed to coo almost in Yami's fingers, newly responsive to his whims, and Yami remembered rather proudly how not so long ago he had doubted himself capable of ever making something so intimidating for Yugi. He had made this and even with him split in two the Lance of Lazarus had done its' duty. He was so proud of his creation it was almost paternal.
Yami still liked himself. Yami was still at peace. Better now was only the assurance, the certainty, that Yugi was his and happily, guiltlessly, so. How surreal was this? How bizarre to be, himself, Jenzar Fraveous. He was the lover of the Third Faen of Earth, the distinguished star among stars, Atreyu Damestaire. He was a Reaper Specialist and the Champions of Champions. At this rate his ego might explode from such doting…
That this was real hit Yami even harder, left him staring dumbstruck and beaming at the canopy of the four poster bed. That four years of writing fiction had surmounted to this reality was more than an escapist self-confessed fan boy like himself could take.
Jenzar inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring, and sighing revelled in the thick smoky atmosphere of the Hive with its ceremonial fires which had blazed since his infancy. His body felt firm, physical, and hardy. He was taller again, darker again, his armour had returned to its black steel from the cotton of the Aztecs and rather than weighty the steel was comforting and wisp light in his motions. He had perfect flexibility for combat. The armour itself really had no weight rather it was an eternal layer of Jenzar's magic coating him more fortified than his previous armoury if only for the returned strength of his core.
He could feel the glyph of his tattoo across his cheek, ebony on honey Arab skin, and its presence more than anything made him feel himself at last. These things: the feel of his tattoo, the flexibility of his armour, the warmth of the Lance of Lazarus against his clavicle ready and waiting for combat were things he hadn't even known he was missing. Yet now they were returned to him he was so incredibly comforted by them.
"Welcome home."
Atreyu, still sparkling freshly, greeted and Jenzar found his gait as the Faen's slender fingers brushed his elbow. The little fairy stepped round him from behind to come face to face and at once Jenzar caught a honeyed glitter in Atreyu's aubergine eyes. The sultriness of this creature as Atreyu met his eyes now was a glimmer neither Atemu nor Yami had ever seen revealed in this sweet matronly fairy. The angel had never looked at them with this desire.
"My little one," Jenzar purred, and smirking, soothed, the Faen pushed his weight onto the balls of his toes to take the Champion's shoulders in his hands.
Jenzar was given no opportunity to inquire more past that sincere statement because at once Atreyu's fingers were cupping the back of his neck, dragging his taller body down, so the Faen could buck up on his tip toes and fuse their lips together. Atreyu grasped him with such passion, such appreciative adoration, Jenzar floundered to swoon as the Faen kissed him as if he might bruise the Champion's lips before he let go.
"Let us greet our kin?" Atreyu supposed, dropping back to the heels of his feet, dragging his bare forearm temptingly over the seam of his lips at the wet slither of saliva he had created between them.
"Uh…I…" Jenzar quirked coming back to himself from the distraction but struggling for any greater eloquence. To think that Atreyu would kiss him or push flush against him with such a flourish of true desire was still delightfully foreign yet immensely satisfying.
"You can't stare all day Love," Atreyu teased, "despite your known preference for shiny objects we have work to undertake."
"Trey!" He laughed, feigning insult. It was a particular pleasure after these cold months to see his Faen so playful with him here. This was Atreyu in private, this was the great Faen of Earth playing coy and teasing. This was secret beauty for Jenzar's eyes alone.
"What ever can I say?" He giggled. "You've always had a poet's weakness for things of fascination but I don't suppose you can gather enough words to carry out a brief conversation with your clan after four hundred years?"
"I have tomes of words I could use for you." Jenzar snorted playfully. "The others are here?"
"Dying to celebrate," Atreyu elaborated, grasping to thread his fingers through Jenzar's unhesitatingly. "Come, Amar and Seviticus are waiting."
"My brothers!" He cheered at thought.
"The children too," the Faen tempted as he tugged, "and Yusei, Timaeus, even Cobalt!"
"Ha!" Jenzar scoffed merrily. "Come to laugh at me, no doubt, how glorious!"
"So easily amused," Atreyu retorted unabashed, "you are so swept up."
"It feels as if I've hardly seen them or rather as if they have hardly, really, seen me." He shrugged as they strolled. "Do they know yet?"
"Jenzar Fraveous!" Amar called boisterously throwing his arms out as they reached one of the inner courtyards near the coliseum and laughing, train of thought forgotten entirely, Jenzar left Atreyu's hand to sweep the redhead and evergreen Seviticus up into either arm. He was taller than either of them now.
"Easy!" Seviticus chortled as Jenzar quiet nearly bowled the two of them over and hefted them off their feet.
"Apologies," he beamed, "I hardly know my own strength anymore!"
"It's so good to have you back," Amar promised hand slamming firm with his own strength between Jenzar's shoulder blades. "Find your body I trust?"
"Aye indeed!"
"And what of Atemu?" Seviticus supposed hooking his arm round one shoulder with a jovial nonchalance as he glanced from Jenzar to Atreyu. "I've yet to see our hero tonight?"
Atreyu chuckled and sweeping his hand gestured over Jenzar from head to toe in an inclusive explanation the other Champions required no elaboration on.
"My gods!" Amar groaned miserably, slapping his hand against his brow, falling back into laughter. "However could I miss it? Oh Atreyu forgive me dear one!"
"I know, I know," the Faen laughed, "you, I and Seviticus must assemble a fools' club for this oversight. We hardly knew our own."
"Of course," Seviticus snorted, slapping at Jenzar. "Only you, only our one and only Jenzar Fraveous, would be so genius and yet hapless enough to be split asunder, find his way back brainlessly and not only assist in but salvage his own rescue mission!"
They shared a cackle, gentle in their teasing and it was familiarity Jenzar recognised as the change in Sev and Amar which allowed them to unleash their full strength as they bumped into him or used their sharpest barbs as they spoke. These were the words of dear friends too old and knowledgeable to be deeply polite or portray any image as they had to protect Atemu who was to them a child still. At that thought tenderness, rather than embarrassment, stirred swelling within Jenzar.
"Thank you," he mumbled between them, "I can't thank you both enough."
"Oh, whatever for?" Amar snorted. "I didn't even recognise you in your disguise!"
"Aye but, Amar, you've done so much for me." Jenzar found himself gushing stupidly to the redhead. "You never gave up on me, even as Atemu, you protected my children and Atreyu for me. You've been so kind and good."
"We are family," the Champion shrugged, almost embarrassed. "If something dreadful had befallen me I did not doubt for a second you would've gone to any length to protect Denn-Elec for me. I have always been bitterly close to you and Atreyu as you have been with us. What brother would I be if I abandoned you?"
"Oh and Sev," Jenzar sighed, "you and I so hardly know each other and yet you have gone above and beyond your duty as a comrade to help us! True you and Vegas are the only other Champion and Faen on Earth but there have been times of late when you have put yourself in much greater danger than necessary or through greater efforts than needed just for our sake. I can't thank you sufficiently."
"Hush," Sev scoffed with equal flush to Amar as he tossed his verdgis locks. "I have never forgotten you from Sanctuary, or our times stationed on other planets, or your many accolades through history. You are a good soul. You have always been kind. I would be ashamed of myself, like any Reaper would be, if I could not say that I was here to do my utmost."
"Well now you are surely one of my closest brothers," Jenzar decided firmly, "and please never hence hesitate to call upon me for anything. I should owe the both of you till the Doomsday! Atreyu would've been so unguarded without you both I couldn't bear it!"
"Atreyu is far too beloved to have been alone," Amar snorted. "All's well you great affectionate fool. Now cease worrying, you are most welcome, I don't regret a moment of my part assisting you so let us join the rest."
1 Okay, so, last chapter: Yami didn't puke up his core or Atemu so don't worry. Yami has, till this point, been existing without a core (which is why he couldn't unlock his memories and why Dartz said there was no Atemu Pheramora because that's not his true name). He's been running off power he received from Third Star who tried to heal him in Sanctuary. Now he has his core back he's back to being Jenzar Fraveous rather than just a piece of Jenzar. What he puked was the junk he accumulated trying to survive without a core. It was kind of like a cleansing. Make sense?
2 Careful readers will remember Yugi tracing Yami's shoulder blades in chapter 4 and yes there will be a proper lemon later. Sorry kids but anal sex doesn't happen in a day!
3 Good news and bad news next chapter~ As well as the YGO identities of: Amar, Sev, Denn-Elec, Vegas, Morphis, and Nephele. Stay tuned and lodge your guesses while you have a chance!
Love you guys, thanks for all the amazingly sweet reviews. We're not done with this fic just yet thank fully.