Hello everybody, Amme-chan here with your new chapter.
I must say I've been a little disapointed with the lack of response to the previous chapter (four I think), was it that bad? If so I hope that this one is better so it can merit a few comments. Thank you to those who did comment, and sorry for the false alarm when I re-edited and re-posted the last chapter - there was a mistake in it that I Hated so much I just had to get rid of it.
This took so long because of exams, then a sever case of me being ill and too bad tempered to write anything good, some busywork around my house, than finally just pure lack of inspiration and motivation. The low number of reviews for the last chapter were pretty demotivating I must say ... But it's here now because I think if I kept it back much longer eveyone would abandon me.
Anyway. No one has guessed yet why I called Yugi: Aibou "224" - there's a legitimate reason for this number.
An amazingly big "thank you" to my beatuiful, wonderful sister winged sapphired wolf for being the beta for this chapter, and making sure it's good enough to be posted. All worship the wolf!
Anyway, thank you all so much for reading my rambling comments and please enjoy the new chapter.
Atem groaned as his life-support extension began to shriek as it ran low on power. It dragged him from a very comfortable sleep, one of the most comfortable he had ever experienced – that was quite a statement since he slept on cardboard and covered himself in tattered rags. Atem was also noticeably warmer than normal.
The good night's sleep was strange, Atems were meant to be active. He wasn't supposed to like sleeping, his directive and life support didn't leave room for enjoyable sleep, sleep was technically quite dangerous for his survival even if he did need it to keep mentally fit … it was very strange.
Atem shook off the final chains of sleepiness, stretched and sat up. When he moved something heavy and warm fell off his arm onto the bed. It landed with a dull thud.
Atem looked down groggily when the noise was made, that was new.
He blinked in alarm when he saw Yugi.
His skin was pale, illuminating whiter in an almost ghostly way when his suit's blue stripes lit up neon blue, it made him look unwell. Atem missed the slightly rosy glow he had when he was outside, and when he had been dancing. His face seemed set, there was no expression, not even peace which was natural for sleep. Then his arms were in an unnatural position too, both of them fixed to a silver sphere …
Yesterday came back to him, he smiled at first as he relieved all the moments that made him feel happy. There was the basic fact that he was no longer alone, but the sharing, the conversations, the dancing all lit up his face too.
But he soon lost his smile when he realised that Yugi was still asleep.
It was because he didn't have a life support. Atem panicked slightly at his realisation, if he didn't have that he wouldn't be able to know when to wake up!
He worriedly put a hand on Yugi's chest and felt for his breathing with his teeth biting his lip. Was Yugi broken because he didn't have a life support? That idea scared him. Having only ever known Atems and their complex needs along with their basics he had nothing to base Yugi's needs against. He knew he ate, moved, thought, and slept – Atem sighed in relief when he remembered that Yugi had woken up that other time he had slept, when he left him his blanket in the air vent. So somehow Yugi knew how to wake up without a device telling him.
How he managed that was mind boggling to Atem.
But he relaxed with the knowledge that Yugi could care for himself without basic support. Yet it was morning, and he clearly wasn't managing it alone this time, so he would need help, Atem decided. Atem thought about what he needed to do to help Yugi to wake up.
However he couldn't think for long, his life support shrieked louder, signalling a dangerously low amount of energy, and left no option but to obey. He couldn't afford to have it run down. Atem huffed and pulled on his shoes and stood up to open the base to get outside.
Waking up was always the worst part of the day for Atem, everything was dull and slow until he lay in a patch of sunlight. It was still bad this morning even if he woke up next to Yugi who was very nice to look at and very warm to hold.
Atem clumsily put in his nose plugs and contacts, poking himself in the eye a few times when he nearly dozed off in mid motion. He needed sunlight, fast, he'd feel more awake once he had resupplied his energy. If he didn't recharge his life-support and muscles he would fall asleep and stay asleep as it would take energy from his muscles until he was comatose or dead.
Atem paused, his life-support still sounding its alarm, as an idea came to him: Atem woke up because he needed sunlight, maybe Yugi needed sunlight too!
Atem grinned at the idea; Yugi was lucky Atem was here, Atem never had anyone to look after him. Scraps maybe, but the robot was generally stupid and simple, with preprograming making it unable to make choices beyond the ones set.
But Atem now had an idea of how to wake up Yugi.
Excited, he stumbled back indoors and picked up Yugi to take him outside. Because Atem was naturally strong he had no problems in lifting Yugi up into his arms and walking outside, even with rapidly depleting life-support power.
The day outside was grey-brown overcast, it was never clear enough to show different weathers. Occasionally the dusty cloud choking the Earth's atmosphere did eventually thin enough to glimpse the sky and the sun. But that was a rarity. There was just enough sunlight filtering through in the dawn, Atem could take advantage of it all day if he had to.
Atem glanced down at Yugi before turning to the side of the Bunker or Storage shed he lived in, they climbed onto the roof and Atem carefully set Yugi down on a clear patch before taking a seat next to him. Atem arranged his body as gently as he could, trying to make Yugi as comfortable as possible. When he woke up he would be glad to be comfortable, Atem always was. He had once fallen asleep on a Decomposer, he was achy and sore all the next day and night.
Atem settled on the roof and leaned back with his face to the sun, and smiled lightly as he felt the life giving rays charge him up. His head cleared of the desire to sleep and his muscles flexed as they regained energy. It felt like his body was shedding an old skin, leaving him feeling young and energetic. Atem also liked the warmth the sun brought, it was relaxing and comforting.
Atems were dependant on the sun, children of it, Atem couldn't imagine life without the celestial orb – then again he never had the creative brain power to think about 'what if's because he was slightly mentally lacking due to lack of stimulants, as shown in his limited speaking skills.
When the beeping from his chest stopped, telling the world that it now had sufficient energy, Atem opened his eyes. He glanced down his shirt and saw that he was fully charged. It took him maybe five minutes to prepare for the day. The worst five minutes of every day as long as he didn't have an accident, waking up was like dragging his feet through mud until he got his daily wake up energy dose.
He looked at Yugi and stared in surprise. He wasn't moving. He wasn't awake, nor showing signs of awaking like opening his eyes or moving.
Atem had never seen anyone not react to the sun before. It made his skin crawl with the … the strangeness. He soon overcame his unease with Yugi's immunity to the sun's energy and became concerned again. He had expected the sun to make him feel better just as it did to him. He knelt over Yugi and felt for his breathing on his chest, he was still breathing. He wasn't waking up though, not even when Atem shook him slightly.
The tan humanoid rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms with a frown of deep concentration. He was attempting to understand why Yugi was still sleeping. His idea of putting him in the sun was the most obvious answer to charge his energy for the day, every one he had ever known had done it.
Maybe he took longer to charge?
Atem made a worried noise and waited, he turned and watched the murky outline of the sun rising into the sky. The temperature rose to about mid-thirties centigrade, it was going to be a mild day. When the sun was significantly higher he turned back to Yugi and hoped that at least his eyes were opening.
Yugi was still breathing low and slow, his body relaxed and unresponsive.
Atem looked apprehensive.
Stupid plant. He glared at the sphere holding it before looking back at Yugi and scratching his head to try and think of another way he could help him.
He had to wake up! Sleeping for a long time meant he was Dying!
He didn't want Yugi to be dead. He didn't want to be alone … this was the most important task of the day! He had already made up his mind to ignore his Directive, despite the uncomfortable urges he got when he consciously ignored his compulsion. He could hold it off for just about a week if he was determined enough, but eventually anxiety and stress forced him back to his job.
Atem absently ran a hand through Yugi's hair, for him it was a way of comforting another, he hoped Yugi would know he was trying to help him, that he would do everything within his abilities to help him. He hoped Yugi would be reassured by his soft stroking.
He hummed slightly as he rethought the problem. Yugi wasn't waking up because he wasn't getting what he needed, Atem woke up because he needed the sun, if Yugi did not need the sun what did he need?
Atem sat there for half an hour thinking of possible ideas to get Yugi to wake up, he fiddled with his shoelace and idly made shapes in the sand with the tip of his finger.
Eventually he remembered that Scraps had not been sent to search yet, and moved downstairs to get it charged for the day. He sent it off with a small wave, the robot trotting away in search of something edible, because there were now two people who needed to eat Atem would likely have to send Scraps out more to have enough.
Atem picked up a tin of filtered water and a packet of crisps with a flash of inspiration, and went back up to Yugi.
Atem smiled at him as he set the food out before him, hoping that the desire to eat and drink would wake him from his unnatural stillness. Yugi needed food and water, he had seen him eat so this was correct. Atem kept his hopes up and turned Yugi so he was sitting up facing the food. But Yugi didn't move.
Atem waited two minutes before realising that the bribery wasn't going to work, he sighed and took a long drink of water. He only drank half then carefully moved Yugi's head into his lap so he could cautiously pour a bit of water into his mouth. Atem remembered his Mother and his younger self doing this for those who fell asleep, he didn't remember who they were, but this was supposed to help them, make them eat and drink like they were wake. He vaguely remembered a long forgotten incident of finding one Atem still alive but with such a damaged life-support he was comatose because it wouldn't charge. Atem couldn't wake that one up.
He made sure that Yugi swallowed before tipping a little more, he didn't want Yugi to choke. He felt anxious again, if past experiences were true then the combination of not waking up and needing to be fed by someone else meant that …
His thoughts were interrupted when a loud rumble of thunder echoed from across the sandy desert that had once been an ocean.
Atem looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of the black clouds moving towards the littered city that Atem called home. The clouds meant rain, and rain meant water!
Atem needed to collect as much as possible. It was foolish to drink the water sitting in the ground, even the water filters couldn't handle that thick gunk and oily grime. Whatever water the filter produced from ground water was sure to be poisoned. However if it came from the sky it hadn't touched the poisoned earth and it was easier to filter and safer to drink.
Atem pointed excitedly at it, "Yugi!" he said, propping him so he could see the rain. Now he would have more water to drink, the ration of one flask per day would end!
Atem carefully lifted Yugi back up and placed him back onto his bed, out of the way, while he dragged all kinds of containers into the open where the downpour would fill them up. Barrels, cups, canisters, anything that was sealable and water proof was something that was placed outside and partly buried in sand and rocks to keep them from being washed away. Atem packed the sand around them tightly, leaving only the lids and open container tops uncovered.
Heavy typhoon-style downpours were a blessing for the water they promised, but just as equally dangerous with the floods they caused. Atem hoped Scraps would get home in time as it would never survive the water. He then went about placing rocks around his home to stop the bunker slipping due to flowing water pressure off the dock where his bunker was. The last time that had happened it had been terrifying, it had only moved a meter or so, but in a few decades his home could be over the lip of the dock and he may have to find a new one – and recollect all his treasures, that was a sad and worrying thought. So he prepared for it by trying to stop the water from getting under, that meant packing yet more sand around his house along with the stones. It took nearly all day.
Scraps came trotting back, empty handed yet in one piece, just as the rain was starting. Atem picked it up and brought it inside then closed the door.
The rain sounded like a constant drum on the roof, and a never ending whisper of 'hush' through the walls, the thunder shook the ground and the lightning – though silent – set the air on edge with Static.
Atem shuddered slightly and put Scraps next to Yugi while he went and disconnected the lights from their electric plugs. He remembered once when one of the turbines on top of his home was struck by lightning; all his lights had burst with electricity overload. He just felt he lightning hit his house, the lights went bright, then he was standing in pitch blackness in a sea of glass. It took two days to get the glass fully out of his bunker, and another three to replace the lights. He didn't want to be in the dark again so took them out so they weren't on, and therefore couldn't explode.
Scraps' glowing, camera eyes showed him where the bed was, and he stumbled over to it, tripping over the usual items until he managed to feel where Yugi was and sit with him in his lap, leaning into his chest. The way his suit lit up made Atem relax as he had some light, and the warmth of his body helped him feel happy he wasn't alone. He absently snuggled Yugi affectionately as he listened to the storm rage on outside.
Atem didn't sleep well due to the deep rumbles that echoed through the afternoon and into the night, he was deeply concerned when the loud thunder had no effect on Yugi, Atem cringed every time and his arms held Yugi a little tighter. Once again he had no idea on how to help him, and that made him sad.
"Yugi …" he tried to find the words "Y-up. Wayy-k up …"
Atem's next idea came to him while he was sitting with Yugi on the roof the following morning. He had waited until he had charged and dutifully, or droneishly, went to gather the water he had collected. Full containers were harder to move than empty ones, so this took most of the morning and midday to achieve. But soon he had enough clean water to last him at least another month, there was a barrel full, two old gas canisters, several flasks and one bucket full stashed along one wall of the bunker.
When Atem was finished he filtered some water and brought a packet of crisps up for Yugi and began to gently feed him, he made the crisps soggy with water and then patiently helped him chew and swallow with oddly precise manipulation of Yugi's jaw. He gave his precious food to Yugi while eating nothing himself, though his stomach twisted and ached hollowly at the sight and smell of nutrition, he only allowed himself a few cups of water to still his stomach.
He paused in his tender care to frown at the silver sphere. If Yugi hadn't of made that and seen the plant he would be awake and eating for himself, they'd explore more treasures and talk even if Atem wasn't very good at talking. He's listen though, whatever Yugi said he'd listen to him, understanding irrelevant.
He sighed deeply and ran a hand through Yugi's hair. "Yugi …"
Stupid plant.
It shouldn't be there, it should be away.
Atem perked up. Maybe he could take it away from Yugi and then he'd be better.
In his head it made perfect sense, Yugi only started sleeping when the silver sphere and plant were around. Now he had to take it away and Yugi would be normal again. Atem grinned to himself and reached down to grab the sphere and yank it away from Yugi's grasp.
The sphere, it seemed, had other ideas.
The moment Atem had grabbed it the ball sent a painful shock through his skin, across his hands and all the way up his arms.
Atem let go with a yelp of pain at the electric shock, his life-support began to beep in alarm, the electricity wasn't good for his heart and the adrenaline from the scare had also pushed the heart rate up slightly. But soon it was back to normal. While his heart calmed Atem looked at his hands and rubbed his numb, tingling palms together to get some feeling back. He made a confused noise and tilted his head while he wriggled his fingers to undo the numbness caused by the sphere of silver.
He tilted his head at the sphere helplessly. Nothing had hurt him like that before, he could tell by how his life-support acted that it was hurting him despite there being no physical wounds or bruises. He wasn't sure how to respond to it; Fire burned and left scars, cuts bled and sometimes needed stitches, bruises came when he hit something, they all caused pain but he knew how to treat and avoid them and their pain. This sphere was something alien to him, a strange hurt that had already seared its imprint into his memory.
Was it hurting Yugi that way!
Atem sat up in alarm. Yugi was touching it all the time, and had been for days! Without a life-support he couldn't tell if Yugi was in pain like he had been from his brief contact. What if he had been hurting all along and Atem had been ignorant?
Distressed at the thought Atem tried to wriggle his fingertips under Yugi's hands to pry them off the painful sphere. Yugi's fingers were fused to the surface, and unknown to Atem the nanos that made up the sphere were still circulating through his veins and this anchored the sphere to Yugi as firmly as a limb was to a torso. They caused Yugi no pain, the electric shocks were to ensure the safety of the plant inside the nano's shell. It would only hurt outsiders.
Ignorant of such things Atem grabbed the sphere with both hands and endured the painful jolts and spasms. Atem grit his teeth as his life-support began to wail and his chest began to tighten. He was determined, but the sphere was stuck fast!
Finally a shower of sparks escaped the life-support and Atem felt an awful sensation over his chest.
He let go and gasped for air with wide eyes, he had collapsed and was holding one arm against his chest as his heart jumped to an irregular rhythm. He kept gasping irregularly, swallowing air and holding his breath while he willed the painful tightness to loosen. His life-support's heart monitor was showing an alarming rhythm. The electricity had gone through both arms and across his chest, across his heart, the metal skeleton and life-support making him that much more conductible. Atem was experiencing a heart attack due to sudden electric surges through his chest. He lay in pain, just waiting it out as his life-support began to finally get his body back under control, still spitting out the occasional spark.
The life-support was speeding up his bodily reactions; more GABA and adrenaline to steady his heart and calm his nervous system. Any normal human – and a few humanoids – wouldn't have survived the electric surge. Luckily Atem was not normal, and was clearly unlike any other humanoid. This was just more proof.
Atem was fit enough to survive it, and he took care of his life-support, and he was a unique model of humanoid; those were the only reasons he survived the suicidal move, however noble the intention was.
Finally his body returned to normal.
He stayed still for a few moments, catching his breath and relaxing his body to try to forget the tightness. He looked at Yugi and hoped desperately that he wasn't feeling that too, he was holding it all the time. He let out a small whimper and touched his fingertips very gently to the back of Yugi's hand in worry, the other hand automatically going to smooth out Yugi's hair to sooth the sleeping one.
He had no way of knowing that Yugi was fine. That all his efforts were for nothing.
The sparking life support called Atem away from Yugi on the rooftop to the bunker where he repaired a cracked screen, luckily the only thing that was damaged. The screen was the result of too much electricity and it had broken to relieve the pressure. Atem sighed when he had repaired himself.
He felt weak after that and quickly re-joined Yugi on the roof so the sun could help him recover. The sphere sat there connected to Yugi's gloves and skin innocently. Atem studied it with his intense red eyes and decided against trying to pry it off again.
On the horizon when he next looked was another sign of the typical Earth weather. Another storm approached, a sandstorm. Atem went inside and locked down the Bunker as usual and began to wait it up until morning. The storm lasted all day and into the night.
Atem was awake for most of that time, he was starting to get anxious. His nervous twitches and impulsive yet slightly forgetful behaviour tell-tale signs that his Directive had been ignored too long to be healthy.
Atem sat Yugi and himself before the magnified IPod screen and they watched 'Hello Dolly' together. Atem watched, only half distracted, Yugi lay limply and unresponsively. Atem had given Yugi his own daily meal again and a cup of water, but Atem was now starting to fear the worst.
He stroked Yugi's head again and held him a little more securely in his arms, a small squeeze that made him feel a little better. He imagined trying to hold onto Yugi's life tighter so it wouldn't slip away. Yugi had not woken up for just over three days. That meant, by all Atem-model standards, that he was dying, and Atem was not doing the right thing to wake him up.
Atem made a miserable noise and rested a hand over Yugi's gloved one, careful not to touch the metal – his naïve way of expressing his loving feelings.
He felt sorry, sad and a little depressed and frustrated that he was so useless in helping Yugi. He didn't want Yugi to become like the many other humanoid bodies that littered this city. Atem wasn't used to feeling so many different things. Normally awe, curiosity, loneliness, and brief moments of sad and happiness were present, however these emotions now, in Yugi's presence, felt different somehow. They were intense, and some were new, and they moved him significantly more than emotions inspired by himself did.
Atem kept up his idle petting of Yugi's hair throughout the movie, something caught his eye though, it was two people sitting on a bench. There was a man and a woman and they were holding hands, watching the sunset.
Atem looked at Yugi and wished they had a bench, and that Yugi's hands weren't touching the painful silver sphere, then they could do that. It would show how much he cared; the couple in the movie clearly used it as a way of showing their feelings, right?
Atem's mind at once wandered to the idea of recreating that very scene to demonstrate exactly how he felt.
The slightly clueless humanoid knew where several benches were in the city, and he knew where some of the best sunsets could be seen. It would be a little while to walk, but it would be worth it. Atem had acknowledged that he wouldn't be able to keep Yugi alive in his sleeping state for much longer, maybe two more weeks, until he weakened to the point where his breathing stopped. So he should make sure that Yugi's time was spent meaningfully, he would do all he could to give Yugi the best goodbye he could give.
Atem smiled slightly and began to drift off as the ending credits rolled onto the screen, causing strange shadows in his home. There was a box digging into his back, his legs were numb from Yugi's unaccustomed weight, and his head had nothing to lean on but a shelf an inch too low to be comfortable, but to Atem this was close to perfection.
He had company. He was warm, the lonely feeling was close to gone, and even the hunger aches and the Directive anxiety he brought upon himself were less painful. Yugi didn't move or speak, but Atem could feel his shoulders and back move as he breathed. He was still only sleeping.
He was so focused on Yugi's breathing and warmth didn't even realise his eyes had closed.
After waking to the sound of his wailing life-support, Atem had charged for the day and moved to get ready for their – what was that word? Something like counting, beginning with a C - outing.
He clumsily put his contacts in and ran a nervous hand over his hair to try and knock some of the dust out of it. For some reason he felt self-conscious, he wanted this to be good enough for Yugi and that included himself.
He then turned to Yugi and placed the nose filters in his nose, leaving his own exposed to potential gas.
He knew it was a risk to go out without them, but he couldn't bear to have Yugi exposed to the danger while he was safe. He then put a pinwheel in the crook of Yugi's arm, it would have to do in the place of the red blob on the end of a stick that the man gave to the woman in the film. Atem hoped that Yugi would understand what it stood for, the woman seemed very happy to receive it.
He had wracked his brains, trying to remember if he had seen one anywhere in the city, they were clearly key in these outings. But in the end the closest thing he had found was a pinwheel, rusty red.
Atem picked Yugi up bridle style and began to stroll through the city. He coughed a few times on his way, his nose not used to inhaling dust and sand due to his nose filters, but it wasn't bad. They walked, and sometimes climbed, down several streets until they came to a river of sludge and grease.
Atem frowned at it. There had once been a bridge here. A quick glance around revealed that the bridge had been blown down in the recent storms. It was a slightly overdue event since it had been so rusty and twisted.
Atem sighed and put Yugi down on an old car seat so he could investigate the path before them.
There was a clear path a few meters down the river, but there were piles of trash on either side, and it wasn't directly across from them either. Atem scratched his head slightly and wondered if there was a way to walk across water, other than a bridge.
After a few minutes staring at the water he noticed several items floating. After watching them curiously Atem realised that he could build a bridge with items that floated.
Atem saw a large tyre that had once belonged to a construction machine, and pushed that into the river to form the base of the 'bridge'. Then he threw in several planks of plastic for a floor and carefully climbed down to make sure it was stable enough, he didn't want to risk falling into the poisoned watery-sludge that resembled tar.
The floor wasn't very stable, he moved the plastic around a little so it was lodged where it could support some weight. He grinned when his idea appeared to be working and climbed back up to bring Yugi to see his creation.
He pointed excitedly when he pulled himself up.
He tripped over an old metal pole though and sent himself sprawling into the ground. He got up after a second to process what had just happened and sheepishly smiled at Yugi. He felt a little embarrassed. He winced when he moved his arm and saw several scratches on it. He sighed and was thankful he wasn't bleeding, but he knew he'd have another bruise. But at least it wouldn't be too big, he had bruised the arm with the metalic elbow.
Atem picked Yugi up and carried him over his shoulder while he got into the floating tyre. He placed Yugi carefully and gingerly sat opposite to balance the weight. Atem placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder to keep him from falling and grabbed the wall and began to drag the heavy tyre through thick tar-like sludge.
Atem's arm was burning by the time they had managed to reach the other side, down about thirty meters and across five. But when he saw how far they had come the burn felt well earned, it even made his smile glow with pride.
Finally, after getting out and trekking to the very edge of the city skyscrapers they came to the best place for a sunset.
Atem sighed to himself absently; it was a lovely, yet lonely place.
It was one of the few spots in the city that had been cleared completely of trash. It was an old concrete dock edge with lamp posts lining the curbs and old iron railings barring the drop into the dry ocean. There was a bench of metal sitting facing out to sea. The clearness of the space made it seem special, like a grove in a forest, it left you wondering how and why the trees left a space for the sky to peek into the dapple-shaded depths.
Atem walked across the clear space and paused a moment to look around. It was perfect.
He placed Yugi down on the bench, fretted for a few seconds as he made sure that Yugi was comfortable, then pulled his backpack off to get the things for their evening out. He had packed a light bulb, his best food – a bar of chocolate, a flask of water, a blanket and his Yu-Gi-Oh book. Atem put them on the bench and shyly sat next to Yugi, with a charming smile as always.
He always smiled around Yugi at first, eventually he'd remember why he was sad but for now he'd just imagine Yugi was returning his smile. Just like he always did.
Atem covered Yugi in the blanket and moved him so he would be able to see the sun going down. When he looked himself his eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Yugi!" he called as he pointed at the sunset, for once the sun was below the clouds and polluted air.
The golden orb that was so bright Atem could barely look at it made him feel warm, he felt energetic and alive. He loved when he was able to see the bright circle. It cast a reddish-pink glow on the clouds above it, the sands were not a lifeless sandy brown under its rays, they were gold like the golden pyramid, the sky had shades of blue, orange, pink, and grey weaving through the horizon. Atem stared at it with his face full of awe.
He unconsciously leaned into Yugi, wanting to share the moment, and tried to take his hand again.
The sharp electric shock broke his dreamy expression and brought him back into reality.
Atem sadly closed his hand around Yugi's wrist instead. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was close, and returned to leaning against him while admiring the colours.
Eventually he decided to progress their outing and moved to picked up the light bulb and put it on Yugi's hand, it lit up a little and Atem smiled, remembering how Yugi lit it up back in his house. He then moved onto the book.
He held it up a little clumsily and opened it to the first page where the main character stood talking with his friends. Atem pointed at the main character "Its Yugi," he said, trying to explain why he thought that it would be a good name for his companion in real life. He couldn't say his real name, or title, or model, so he hoped that 'Aiee-you' wouldn't mind having a name he could say. He showed how they looked similar and pointed at the other characters he knew.
Atem began to flick through the book, reading aloud some of the words he could read with his poor literacy skills, and mimicking the actions of the characters when he couldn't read the dialogue or describe verbally what was happening.
When he reached the end of the book he shared the chocolate between them, he gave most to Yugi. Atem licked his lips at the sweet, melting treat and hoped Yugi liked it as much as he did. He carefully manipulated his jaw and throat with soft presses to make Yugi chew and swallow to make him eat it. Chocolate wasn't a common find. Scraps hardly ever found something so sweet tasting, that's why they were Atem's best meals.
The sun began to dip below the horizon and Atem put the light bulb on Yugi's arm to light their way home. It wasn't smart to stay out past dark, he had broken the rule before, but with company – company that was very special to him – he wasn't as willing to make acceptations when it came to safety.
Once home he packed up and tucked Yugi into his bed and turned his radio on so it played the soft lullaby. But he wasn't tired because he had gotten an extra boost of sun. Atem sat next to Yugi and sadly put a hand over his hand, while the other ran gently through Yugi's hair.
His expression was the saddest he had ever worn.
Yugi wasn't going to wake up.
Atem let out a sad noise like a denied puppy and scooped Yugi into his arms and held him tightly, he pressed his head against Yugi's as he tucked him against his chest. Atem let out a strange whimper, that was his version of crying, and felt his throat tighten and his chest ache.
He didn't want Yugi to die. But he had done everything he could think of!
There were no other options left for him to try.
Atem put Yugi back down in the bed and curled up next to him. He fell into an uncomfortable sleep.
When Atem woke in the morning both arms were shaking and his heart monitor displayed a quickened pulse.
He had reached the limit of ignoring his Directive. He absolutely had to work today, if he put it off anymore his health would be affected and he would become increasingly irrational. Atem had seen work deprived Atems start beating on their friends, and walls, and themselves. He had watched as they ran off into the distance with no nose filters obsessed with working off the internal tension, he had heard their insane screams and angry yells, he remembered running from them when he was barely at maturity too. Atems shot through childhood so he must have only been a few months old when these memories happened.
Atem sent Scraps on its way and quickly got ready for work, he threw worried glances at Yugi and knew he should really get working so he wouldn't end up becoming a danger to him, but he didn't want to leave him alone … on the other hand taking him with him would be dangerous too.
Atem slung his backpack onto his back and placed Yugi in the sun at the entrance to his home, hoping that he may recover miraculously on his own, then quickly jogged to the nearest Decomposer.
Atem worked for three hours at a furious pace, just as one who was starved wolfed down food or one parched drank water glutinously. It was only just after noon when he felt normal again.
He sighed when he felt his life-support finally tell him to have a break. It had been monitoring his stress levels all day, it only now displayed a calm body that needed a rest, his Directive was sated for another day or so. He leaned back against his shovel, the fold up he always had in his backpack, and breathed deeply when he felt all the tension brought upon himself drain away. Often Atem-model biology was a cruel pacemaker.
Atem looked up at the sky and his thoughts returned to the lonely, sad fact that he was helpless to help Yugi.
He had never felt this alone before. Now he knew what company and the absence of lonely feelings was like, the opposite was hitting him twice as hard. Now he knew what happiness was he could only feel extra sad now it was gone. Atem sighed again. His fingers went to his belt pocket. He pulled out the flame-maker that Yugi had activated and absently flicked the switch.
The small flame wasn't nearly as impressive as it was in the dark, but the orange, yellow and blue shape flickered and stood proud against the dull grey and brown colours of the littered city.
Atem watched the flame with sad eyes. He didn't want to go back to how he had lived before … it was too sad, too dull, too lonely and too repetitive. Grey. Everything was grey until Yugi arrived. The colours were seeping out of the world around him and Atem could do nothing to stop it.
The flame suddenly gutted when a strong gust of wind blew it out. Atem jumped and looked around for the source. A dull roar soon registered in his ears and drew his attention up above his head.
Atem's jaw fell open while his eyes went wide when he spotted the large spaceship, or fire making monster of metal. His eyes followed it as it neared the ground … it appeared to be landing in the bay just beside his home!
Atem's heart at once jumped in panic.
He had left Yugi alone!
Atem grabbed his backpack as he ran by it, shovel still in hand, and ran as fast as he could over uneven terrine to get to his home. The fire could hurt Yugi, the metal monster could crush him, an unnatural amount of dangers and scenarios raced through Atem's mind.
He turned a corner and saw where it was now stationed. The metal monster had stopped spewing flames and was now towering over Atem's storage-bunker home from the bay floor just beyond the rusty, falling apart, metal dock. Atem could see a long mechanical arm extending down over Yugi. It used its blue lights on him, bathing him in the beams.
Atem arrived just as the light beams stopped shining. The arm began to lower ominously.
Atem knelt by Yugi and activated his shield, the purple energy, he hoped, would protect them from this metal monster. It would not hurt Yugi or separate them.
The arm shot a blue beam of light at the pair. Both Atem and Yugi were surrounded in glowing blue energy. It was a strange sensation to be surrounded in that light, it felt like constant static over skin, and yet it also felt like a swaddling blanket without warmth or texture.
Atem couldn't move.
He looked around his protected bubble – inside his purple dome he appeared to be safe, and twitched his exposed body slightly, but other than that he was paralysed. The light surrounded the shield too, Atem had one hand on Yugi, and worriedly shot looks down at him then up at the looming metal giant. Atem tried to move his arm to block the light more, but he was moving so slowly. It was agonising how hard simply moving his arm was now!
The robotic arm came no closer. A light flashed and it slowly rose back up towards the ship.
Atem's heart monitor showed an alarming heart rate as his pure fear rushed over him – he was not touching the ground. The metal monster was lifting him up with the paralysing light!
They were lifted into the air and into the ship through an open hatch in the main middle second of the ship. The door had a shield over it too to prevent any dust or unwanted particles entering the hull of the automatic ship. The shield also pulsed blue. To Atem it was a threatening and scary sign that it would do something else harmful or restricting to him. Atem tried his best to squirm away, but all he could manage was to wriggle in his own stiff skin.
Inside the metal monster was a hollow hallway. The hallway was only a meter and a half wide, and tall, with oval windows on all sides, showing the faces and torsos of other units dressed as Yugi was. They were all asleep and seemed to be surrounded in a strange watery light. Aibou's would recognise this as the freezing animation foam they had to stay in for the duration of their journey. To Atem it just made them look haunting, like they were covered in gloss, and it made their features slightly blurred.
The inside colours were all silvers, greys and whites, with the occasional set of lights, but otherwise it was modern, perfectly smooth, with metallic surfaces on all sides. The glass casings also seemed slightly metallic in how they constantly reflected the silver of their surroundings.
The robotic arm that held Atem and Yugi in its grasp steadily moved them over to the final empty pod at the end of the hallway or row. It rotated them so Yugi was hovering over the empty pod like someone levitating over a coffin. But it banged Atem into the wall too since he was an unknown add on, he grunted but couldn't move to rub the sore side he was developing. The arm then lowered Yugi into the pod, pushing Atem further against the wall.
Seatbelts strapped around Yugi's legs and stomach and the beam of light stopped holding them. Atem fell to the floor, on top of another pod window, the moment he was free of the light's power. The beam was now absent which meant that gravity was the stronger force working on his body, therefore he fell. He wasn't being pressed against a wall anymore but this wasn't much better. Atem nervously sat up, looking down at a pod with a person sleeping under him with something close to horror.
There was a loud hiss and Atem looked up to see Yugi's pod window sliding into place. Yugi was now cut off from him. A second later the pod began filling up with the strange substance all the others contained. Atem put his hands against Yugi's pod in alarm and desperately tried to pry it open, push it in, break it, anything!
But it stood firm against his strength.
Atem jumped when the ship's hanger door sealed shut, leaving him in near darkness save for the one window to the outside world next to Yugi's pod. He was trapped.
Atem glanced at Yugi anxiously, hating to leave him alone, before carefully stepping away to look outside the window. The view was much like the one from his home rooftop, just endless desert, clouds and trash items. He glanced down from the impressive height. There were trails of smoke and flame starting below him. The metal machine was blasting and scarring the ground again.
Atem tilted his head, it didn't seem nearly as scary when he was inside the metal shell, he could barely hear it. He then gripped the side of the window as the floor started shaking.
It was a good thing he braced himself, the G force that followed nearly flattened him against the floor as the spaceship took off into the sky. It pressed against the thick atmosphere and blasted its engines at maximum power. Atem fell to his knees, his back uncomfortably pressed against his legs into the floor, knocking all the air out of him and forcing all the blood to his lower body. It felt like all his organs had moved too!
The force increased until Atem felt like he'd pass out due to the pressure on his lungs preventing him from taking a steady breath, and throw up from the disgusting sensation of his insides pressing against each other unnaturally. Atem let out a groan of misery at the awful sensations, but, luckily, about half a minute after it had started it ended.
The rocket had passed into space, outside the Earth's atmosphere and the pressure over Atem's body was gone with the air outside the spaceship.
Atem looked up and took a few deep breathes in the aftermath, willing his body to return to normal. He felt lightheaded and dizzy, he felt a little sick too. It was fortunate that he hadn't eaten for a few days, to it would have reappeared. The blood in his body slowly returned from his feet to his head and his life-support stopped displaying strange signals as he relaxed. When his head eventually stopped spinning he took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before flopping.
Only he didn't flop.
When the tension left his body he merely floated in the same spot he had been a moment ago. He was drifting an inch off the ground …
Atem blinked at his position over the floor and put his hands on the ground in confusion. As far as he knew suddenly weighing nothing was not normal. The pressure of his hands on the smooth surface only caused Atem to rise higher. Atem reached up and gripped the window again, it was the only thing he could hold onto, everything else was so smooth that he just pushed off it when he applied the slightest pressure.
Atem pulled himself to the window, and struggled to get his feet under him because having his feet fly above his head was unsettling, but his normality was soon forgotten about when he saw what lay beyond the spaceship glass.
Atem stared.
It was so beautiful. The rich inky blackness stretched as far as the eye could see, even when his contact lenses activated their zooming feature he couldn't see a wall or end to the darkness that cradled the many coloured lights. The lights that decorated the black canvas were infinite in number and just as varied in colours and combinations and shapes: Swirls, dots, lots of dots, splatters, different coloured shapes, comets, and the occasional explosion frozen in time.
Atem drank in the sight with pure wonder, like a child seeing the outside for the first time after a lifetime in darkness. Atem was like that in a sense.
The ship was navigating a course around the Earth, using it's gravity to sling shot its way into space to save its precious fuel. Atem soon had his first view of his home planet, one that hadn't been seen by any kind of man for over 700 years.
Earth, his home, he recognised it somehow. It was a big brown-grey shimmering ball floating in space. There were hundreds of thousands of satellites orbiting the Earth, they once served Man's every whim, creating a hazy bubble effect around the desert-like planet. There was one spot of blue near the east and several of black smudged everywhere else for the poisonous seas but the majority of the surface looked sepia in tone for the mountains of trash. The Earth was also wrapped in a strange looking mist, a poisonous, suffocating layer of thick cloud that looked like a thick blanket where it sharply cut off. There was a swirling motion on the Earth's surface, several of them, some black and grey and others brown and yellow; sandstorms and typhoons.
However the view of Atem's home from the heavens, however hollow and shadowy it seemed compared to healthier versions, was as breath taking as ever.
Atem's eyes couldn't get any wider. There was a joy in his chest at the sight of all this beauty and light before him, it didn't even matter that he wasn't touching the ground anymore. He pressed his face closer to the glass in an attempt to memorise every detail of what lay beyond the ship, he wanted these awe inspiring sights to be tattooed into his brain forever.
He turned to Yugi with a smile so wide it hurt his face, but he couldn't stop. "Yugi! Look!" he said, forgetting that Yugi was sleeping. He wanted Yugi to see it too. Atem turned back to the view of Earth and memorised every inch of the view that passed his window.
The ship fired its engines at last and began to move on from Earth into deeper space.
Unknowingly, taking an extra passenger.
Okay now Atem's next adventure will be on the Axiom starliner. Aibou/Yugi will be very surprised to see Atem bumbling around his home.
This chapter was kinda hard to write because it's quite slow paced, however I tried to use it to my advantage by showing you some more of Atem's past and of his ways of surviving. Also his interpriation of romance since he's got to have Wall-e's innocence and naivity. (Respect the classic/orgininal! That's a number one rule of mine - I hate any kind of art or remake that just disregards the original inspiration.) Anyway I hope that I did my job well, I'm sure you'll let me know.
But now we're leaving the setting of Earth and we'll be following Atem into the Axiom so we'll explore that ship in more detail this time around. You'll see it as Atem sees it and I hope that my future choices in characters will be approved of - I've got their names all fitted to their jobs! And trust me that was no easy to do!
We'll meet M.O.E's character and I can't wait to show you who's going to take on his role!
Other humaoids you'll meet are: STEWARDS - the police robots in Wall-e, the return of R-ex for GO-4, the person who'll take MOE's role, and possibly that chapter will stretch into the 'rouge robot' ward where you'll meet the rest of the colourful cast, if not that'll be in the chapter after.
I hope this has you excited, sorry for taking so long to get this to you all, thanks for your paitience and your comments. Love Amme-chan.