Yugi sat on the bed and watched as his mother walked slowly around the room, touching things once in a while and showing obvious pleasure that it was tidy. She gave one final look at the balcony and the view it provided before she sat next to her son, pulling him close and hugging him for the hundredth time since they've been reunited. Atem made sure the door was shut before he sat down in the chair at the foot of the bed. He didn't even want to think about how mad Kaiba would be if he found out that he'd brought another human here to the angel's realm. He watched as Michelle rubbed her face in Yugi's hair and placed a kiss atop of his head. Then she let him go and folded her hands in her lap, watching Yugi expectantly.

"Now, start telling me everything that happened since I left." She said; ready to hear about the damaged she had caused. Yugi shot a glance to Atem, who nodded encouragingly.

"Well…" Yugi took in a deep breath. "After you left dad was furious. He hardly ever came home. He eventually got used to it, though. He didn't start beating me until I turned nine. He broke my arm once when I was fifteen." Michelle stifled a small gasp. "It was—and still kind of is—the worst thing to ever happen to me. I tried, mom. I really did try to keep him happy." Yugi shook his head. "But he just got worse and worse. He started to slip. About three days ago, it all climaxed. He truly believed that it was all my fault for you leaving him, and that I needed to be punished. Actually, he still does blame me for everything. Suddenly, he stopped beating me and walked to the kitchen, leaving me alone on the floor."

Yugi shuddered. "Then he called me, and knowing that I'd get it worse if I made him wait, I walked to the kitchen. As soon as I walked through the door, he went psychotic. His eyes were...really off and scary. I'm pretty sure he crossed the line of sanity that night. He had a knife, and he stabbed me." Yugi lifted his shirt just enough for Michelle to see the thin scar just under his ribs.

Michelle was horrified. "He stabbed you?" She shook her head; not able to fully comprehend how Saguaro had slipped so far. "But…if he stabbed you…then..." Her face gave away the struggle in her head. A stab wound like that wouldn't be a scar in just three days. "How are you still..." She trailed off, unable to say it out loud.

"Alive?" Yugi guessed, a knowing look playing across his face.

"Yes."

"Atem saved me."

"But—how?"

"After his father had stabbed him, he somehow was able to escape from his home and make it to the park." Atem spoke up. "I don't know how he did, though. His will power is just that strong." He grinned to Yugi briefly. "I found him collapsed under a tree and I came over. Then I saw the blood—and there was a lot of it. He seemed totally sure that he was dying. I couldn't leave him, so I brought him back here and healed him by…well…" Atem stopped and looked at Yugi. It was up to him if Atem told her the truth or not.

"What?"

Yugi gave a nod to Atem, letting him know that it was okay. Atem's gaze turned back to Michelle. "To save him, I had to turn him half-human."

"Half...?" She repeated with difficulty, her brow furrowed. "I don't understand. What's the other half? How can he be half of anything?"

"Yugi is now the first half-angel in the world." Atem told her straight up.

"Half-angel?" She broke out in laughter. "You really had me going there for a minute." She stopped and noticed that they weren't laughing. "Wait, like with the wings and halos and harps?" Atem clicked his tongue at the stereotype, not even bothering to hide his distain. Where humans had come up with that picture, he would never know.

"Well, You got the wings right." He said. She simply blinked, unable to believe she was hearing right.

"Just watch, mom." Yugi stripped his shirt off and let his wings open up behind him. Michelle's hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes widened.

"You have—and they're—Oh my—they're real?" She reached out hesitantly, trying to calm herself. "Can I…?" Yugi smiled and nodded, encouraging her. She let her fingers touch his wing carefully, then her whole hand. She loved his wings at once. Nice, supple white feathers as smooth as the afterglow of the sunset. When she touched them, they seemed to reach back to her, eager. It felt like she was dipping her hand into light itself. All at once, he pulled her hand away and started to cry silent tears.

"I'm sorry," Atem said quietly, mistaking her tears for sadness.

"Sorry?" She gave a watery giggle. "No. Don't be. I'm just so happy. You saved his life, and for that I'll always be in debt to you." Surprising him, she leaned over so she could take his hand, he looked at her, taken aback. "Thank you, Atem. I have always known Yugi was sent from heaven. Now he just has the wings to prove it." With one slight squeeze, she released Atem and looked back to Yugi. "Can you really, you know—fly?"

"Yes, I can." Yugi laughed when his mother gave a little round of clapping to express her delight.

"Oh, how lucky you are." She sighed longingly. "To be free in the vast sky." She stroked her son's wing again, smiling. "So what do we do now?" She asked. "I can't leave Yugi again, but I also can't take him away from you, Atem..." She pulled her hand back, not missing the look Yugi and Atem shared with each other. "I guess I have no choice. I'll just have to come visit a lot, won't I?"

"Don't be gone so long this time, mom."

"I won't." Michelle promised, giving him yet another hug. They held each other close, neither of them wanting to let go. Atem smiled and hoped that together they could start picking up the pieces of their shattered life. One by one, till both were complete again.

Kaiba, the king's trusted right hand man, sat back in his study chair and groaned, rubbing his temples. Everything was so messed up right now. Not only did he have to do all of Atem's duties—because Atem so objected to doing them himself—but now Kaiba also had to hide from all the other angels that there had been a new being created—a half-angel. It would be mayhem if other angel's found out that they're own king broke one of the biggest laws. Kaiba didn't know what he was going to do with him. Atem seemed set on denying his role as king, and it just made more trouble for Kaiba.

'This is all because of that son of a bitch…' Kaiba thought angrily, referring to Yugi's father. If he hadn't gone nuts and stabbed his own son, then Atem would've never saved him, thus there wouldn't be a problem. 'Unfortunately,' Kaiba added to himself, 'humans are extremely pathetic.' He then thought of Yugi. 'Well, maybe not all of them—' At that moment, two other shadow angels suddenly burst into the room; eyes set in a glare. Kaiba, keeping his head in his hands, looked back at them, waiting for whatever stupid reason they were about to give for disrupting him.

"Kaiba, why the hell is there a human scent around here?" Bakura said, his dark brown eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"I can't say." Kaiba said as calmly as he could, never wanting to punch Atem as much as he did at that moment.

The other, Marik, blinked in disbelief before saying, "But nothing happens in this realm without you knowing!"

"I never said that I didn't know. Just that I couldn't say."

"Well, fuck." Marik said, knowing it's pointless to try and get Kaiba to talk when he was set against it. "Then we'll just have to bring this up with the king—"

"If you want to get your head ripped off, go ahead." Kaiba waved his hand at the door. "Actually, please do. It will save me the trouble."

"Fine then." Bakura folded his arms and his great, dark wings shook themselves out a little. With a sniff, he turned on his heel. "If someone is allowed to have a little human as a play thing, so am I."

"Sounds fun!" Marik said with a grin, following after the other. Kaiba stood up and dashed around his desk.

"What are you two doing?"

"I'm going to the human world." Bakura said over his shoulder as he walked down the hall.

"You can't! It's—"

"Against the law," Marik finished for him, turning so he was walking backwards next to Bakura. "Yeah, yeah. But by the smell of it, somebody already broke the law, so why can't we?" He looked to Bakura. "Hey, you think we can find a cute one for me?"

"I don't see why not," Bakura replied, and they turned the corner. Kaiba let out a long swear and dashed to his room, grabbing a shirt and yanking it over his head as quick as he could. He quickly ran after the two, determined to do whatever he could to stop them before things went horribly, horribly wrong.

If there were two people who should never be in the human world, it was Bakura and Marik.