16-Oblivious of The Fallen Garden

Cleaned up the shop, swept the floor, restocked the products...

Hid the Millennium puzzle in his room...

Yup, he was done here.

Even though his grandpa said he didn't have to run the shop, he still wanted to help out. It didn't sit right with Yugi if he didn't. Guess now was the time to take a break. He walked upstairs to the apartment, half of the house, and went to the living room. He sat on the couch and laid back. He sighed. He haven't talked to his friends in days. They had to be worried sick. But ever since the recent shadow-walker attacks on the city, the creator of Dual Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus evacuated the city. There were rumors that Pegasus had some governmental power. Guess they were true. He didn't know where they were evacuated to, and he hasn't been out of the house since the attack today. He wondered, why didn't Pegasus order Yugi and his grandfather to evacuate? Speaking of which, his grandfather was still out there. Geeze, he was bored and worried. He wanted to go out, just for a second. He couldn't...Yami told him to stay put. It was too dangerous. But it was killing him. The boredom...

A deep chuckle rumbled in his mind.

"You humans never cease to humor me."

"Atem?" Yugi spoke out loud.

"Yes. I see the boredom in your eyes. And I see some worry as well. You should indeed relax, as you planned."

"But..." Yugi began. "It's hard to do that. I'm worried about my friends and Yami. And there's nothing to do."

"Aah. I see. Well, then, come in."

"H-Huh?" Yugi blinked.

"My world. Come. My Heavenly Garden."

"Seriously?" Yugi smiled.

"Yes. You are always welcomed. Just relax, and go to sleep..."

Yugi nodded. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body, allowing himself vulnerable to Atem's magic. Putting his mind in submission. Letting himself to be taken away.

He slowly opened his eyes. He recognized the golden skies and plush clouds instantly. He was laying on a green field. Underneath the tree Yami and Atem once sat under. Yugi then felt guilty. He was the reason why Yami broke Atem's heart. He suddenly regretted coming to his world. Atem probably despised him.

"No, no. I would never think that." A familiar baritone voice said. Yugi cursed himself. He forgot since he was now in his mind, he could hear every thought. Two beautifully tan legs stood next to him. Yugi trailed the legs upwards and looked at his face. Atem, smiling sympathetically at him. "I understand your guilt. But you do not have to feel that way. None of this was your fault. Who anyone falls in love with is fate." He crouched down and sat beside the boy. Yugi sat up and continued to stare at the man. Sorrow and pity glazing over his eyes. Atem sighed. "You did say you were bored, yes?" He asked.

The boy slowly nodded. "But," He started. "I want to apologi-"

Atem was quick to cut him off. "I do not want your apology simply because there is nothing to be sorry for."

"But I ruined it!" Yugi yelled. Atem just stared at him. "If I had any idea Yami felt that way about you, I would have never accepted to be with him!"

"Yugi-"

"Because I know he still loves you!"

The older stared at the boy with dark eyes. Daring him to say another word. However, the light user still kept speaking.

"He still loves you, I know he does." Yugi averted his eyes up towards the skies. Trying to avoid Atem's gaze. "I just feel guilty." He finally said. He sighed, staring at the golden fluffy clouds. "None of that was my place to say..." He pointed his gaze back at Atem, his expression holding nothing but sorrow. "I'm sorry." The boy's innocent purple eyes reflected the man's dark red orbs. Staring back at him, but with a softened expression. After all, the young one was right. He did practically take Yami away from him. However, it was not his fault. Yami seemed to have been already out of his grasp as time went by. He didn't want to think of any of this as Yugi's fault. He closed his eyes and sighed through his nose.

"Forgiven."

Yugi's frown began to curl. He started to smile. "Thanks."

"Now then..." Atem smirked, making Yugi frown again. "Since you're bored, I have a game we can play."

Yugi raised a brow, watching Atem beginning to walk around him slowly. A lion circling his prey. Before Yugi could say anything, he saw everything darkening. He looked up, seeing that whatever was giving this world light, was fading away. The clouds were darkening, as if it was about to rain. He looked around, seeing that all plants and animal life were dying. Deer fainted, birds collapsed from flying. Roses shriveled up, and the grass deteriorated into shrubs. The lakes and ponds' waters turned black, poisoned. The tree Atem and Yami once sat under, now bare like a dead tree in winter. Everything was fading into a sickly dark purple color. Black dead leaves, the dead grass filled with fallen dead animals. Ravens and crows now arising from dead bird corpses. The world turned completely evil.

"I think this is the perfect way to pass the time. I think it is time that I tested your abilities." The older male smiled at Yugi. Yugi slowly turned to Atem, his eyes widening. Atem was no longer wearing those ancient Egyptian robes. That royal pure combination of white and gold, was no longer there. He was nude, with a weird dark purple substance covering his pelvis and legs. His eyes no longer red, but now golden yellow. Eerily glowing just as Yami described.

'W-What the...'

"Welcome to The Fallen Garden, Yugi."

He's killed every single guard in every floor.

Killed every soldier standing by in the hallways.

Has eaten alive every doctor he could find in the quarantine zones.

Was it enough?

No.

Yami ran down the hall, black shards sticking out of his arms like swords, swinging mercilessly without a care. They were still coming. He was sure he was at the lowest level of the building by now. And where there were more guards, was something valuable they wanted to protect. Not only that, but he sensed Seto's aura. That must be what they were trying to hide. Well not anymore.

It was an entire cell block. And inside was just another quarantine zone. After killing the guards in front, he went inside. It was much similar to what he woke up in, only there were no test tubes. No capsules. Only cells. Prisons. And Seto's scent got stronger. Yami marched through, not giving a damn who saw him. Not caring that the doctors who were experimenting on some kind of species, were calling for help. He easily sliced them down, and made his way over to a cell. There he was.

They had him strapped in a chair. Something like you'd see in the nut house, with the electric chair. Yami narrowed his eyes at Seto. The man was unconscious still. As he was about to tear off his restraints, he felt something sharp poke his back. And not just once, but several times. Yami paused. He suddenly felt dizzy. He wondered...Was he just shot with the same needles he was pierced with back in Seto's office? That only pissed him off even more. However, he had no time to kill who dared to do this to him. He dropped to his knees, eyes becoming heavy. He lost feeling in all of his muscles, his power deteriorating. He fell to the floor, and passed out, once again.

No...

Wake the hell back up.

His eyes snapped back open. Bright red blood shot eyes shrinking. Pupils shaking, and dilating rapidly. He pushed his hands onto the floor and got right back up. Standing on his two feet, he gritted his teeth and looked around for the vermin who dare shoot those needles at him. Guards. Even more guards. Circling around him, guns raised. And who would have guessed, the man of the hour, standing among them like some kind of God, that man. That man with the silver hair. With the Millennium eye. The one who did all of this shit in the first place. He took a step forward, and he was shot at. He easily dodged, and was about to charge at the man regardless of more gun fire. However, the man held up a hand.

Yami glared at him and paused his movements. The man stepped aside, and behind him, a soldier pushed Seto in front of Yami. Seto was indeed awake, but he was still in restraints. The man smirked, patting Seto on the shoulder.

"Now now, Yami. That is your name, yes?"

The dark one's eye twitched. The man's voice was so God damn obnoxious, he could almost throw up. Yami continued to glare and say nothing. The man hummed.

"I see. A quiet one, I guess. Well, Yami, please. Calm yourself. There's no need for such horrid violence." The man put a hand to his chest and smiled. "My name is Pegasus. Maximillion Pegasus. You see, this building is a research facility. We experiment and test paranormal things. Such as yourself, and Seto here. However," Pegasus glanced at Seto who stared off into the wall, not bothering to listen to the conversation. "I do not care much for Seto. For he isn't...as intriguing as you are to me."

Yami raised a brow, skeptical of Pegasus' dubious ideas.

"I would like you to stay. Here with me, to be one of my gifts."

"Oh fuck that." Yami cursed mentally.

"After you come with me, I shall let Seto go. How is that?" Pegasus smiled, reaching a hand out to Yami. The dark one stared at his hand as if it was vile puked on a pile of shit, still not speaking a word.

The man sighed. "Too bad..." He snapped his fingers and turned around. "Execute them both. I could still always experiment with their corpses." He said as a matter-factly. The guards were going to shoot at Yami, but never did. Pegasus realized this, not hearing any gun fire and turned back around. Yami smirked, raising his hand slightly. The guards fell to the ground one by one. Pegasus looked to the floor, and saw ink like blots crawling towards the shadow-walker. They wrapped around his body, and eventually absorbed into his skin like slime. He took their shadows, ultimately killing them.

"You know..." Yami spoke up. "Without your shadow, you cannot live. It is another vital part of the human body. It is like..." The dark one stared at the corpses, as if trying to find an answer somewhere in one's blood. "...Ripping the heart out of an infant." Yami smiled. "It is very dangerous to tamper with. Like, you, tampering with me, for instance. I am very dangerous."

Pegasus frowned, angrily so at Yami's cockiness. He was about to open his mouth, but before he would even think to say anything, literally, his brain shut down. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and fell to his knees. The dark one blinked in surprise. He heard the clearing of the throat in front of him.

"The idiot forgot I had shadow powers as well." A familiar voice said. Yami turned to Seto, and smirked triumphantly. Seto ripped the restraints off of himself and looked at Yami. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to kill him. That Millennium eye is protecting him. However..." A smirk appear on Seto's face this time. "Doesn't mean we can't salvage it from him. Wouldn't want to have it go to waste, right?"

An evil booming laugh escaped from Yami's mouth. He cackled darkly, clapping his hands.

"Hell yes." He walked over to Pegasus' body and turned him over so that he was facing him. Yami grinned, and pulled his hand back, palm opening up as if he was about to rip something out. He swung his hand down, swiftly shoving his fingers in the man's fake eye like a claw. He seized it, feeling some squishy parts as well. He pushed his fingers just a bit more. He moaned, gaining Seto's attention. He panted lightly, feeling himself getting hard. Seto blinked in utter shock.

Was Yami getting aroused from ripping someone's eye out?

The shadow-walker licked his lips, and with a loud pop-

"Aah..!"

The bloody Millennium eye was out. Yami grasped it in his hands tightly, feeling immense power. He began to chuckle, giggle...Then laugh. Only one more item. One more item left. Atem would come back.

Seto seized Yami's arm roughly, making the dark one turn around. "Yami. You need to calm down." He said, calmly. Yami narrowed hi eyes in confusion.

"The fuck are you talking about? I am fine."

"Are you really? You don't curse like a sailor so often like you do now. And you sure as hell don't moan like a whore in heat from ripping someone's eye out. You're on a blood rage. And you need calm down from it or else you'll lose yourself. Got it?" Seto stared into Yami's red evil eyes. The dark one blinked. Those were almost the exact words Atem said. Yami swallowed hard and looked down. Would Atem be ashamed of him for this? No, he shouldn't care about what he thinks. Seto sighed and helped him up. "Keep that thing with you at all costs. Let me tell you where the final item you need is, then we need to get out of here."

Yami nodded slowly. He felt himself calm down, his anger dying, and his composure settled back.

"Marik has the last one."

"What..?" If he had the last item, why couldn't Yami ever sense it on him? Seto, being able to read his thoughts answered his question.

"He's been practicing his black magic very well. Somehow he made a seal to make the aura of the Millennium item invisible to others. So I couldn't even sense it myself. How I know, is that I saw a vision of him, holding the Millennium rod." The young business man glanced over at Pegasus' body. "You need to get out of here. Find that boy, Yugi, make sure he's safe. Marik now probably knows he's vulnerable without you there to protect him. He will be coming for him. I have to get back at my office and make sure everything's okay. We'll meet up tomorrow. You can't fight Marik alone, talk with me first."

Yami groaned in annoyance, hating the fact that he had to depend on Seto for help, and he hated to be told what to do. Though he was right. His strength alone can't take down Venom, and he did need to go back to Yugi before shit stirred up again. He looked up at Seto and nodded.

"We shall meet tomorrow. If something is to happen, I will come to you right away."

Seto nodded in agreement. "I'll see you soon."

The two men backed away from each other, swiftly turned around and ran off to their separate ways.

'Run, run, run run!'

If Yugi were in school right now, he'd be asked to be on the track team. He ran so fast, that he could hardy believe he was able to sprint so well. Why was he running? Well, apparently, when Atem said he wanted to see what Yugi can do, he began to attack him. With humongous dark orbs filled with black magic. So, wanting avoid all of this madness and not able to free himself from Atem's world, he ran. Very fast.

He tripped, jumped, dodge rolled, and ran as fast as he could to get away from Atem's attacks. They were absolutely terrifying and unbelievable. As he ran through a dead garden, something dark, sharp and purple pierced out. 'A finger..?' Yugi quickly backed away. Suddenly, erupting from the ground like a tall golem, a giant hand, filled with shadows arose with the company of it's arm. It bent, and tried to swat Yugi away. Yugi screamed and ran the opposite direction almost automatically. A familiar deep voice laughed at the boy. Yugi tripped once again and fell on his side. Purple aura began engulf into a ball in front of Yugi, then soon unraveled, revealing Atem.

He swiftly landed on the ground and slowly walked towards Yugi. Those cat-like yellow eyes stared into his soul. Yugi gulped and backed away. Now, don't get him wrong. Yugi would secretly love to stare at Atem's bare body, with his genitalia barely being covered by dark purple substances. However, it's kinda hard to admire his body with him trying to kill him for some reason. The boy's eyes shown nothing but fear. He had no idea why Atem was doing this. He was truly scared. Atem was ungodly powerful. He could kill him easily. The said man's smile had faded. An angry frown and two golden glowing eyes glared at him. Pupils sharp like snakes. They stared into him so hard. So dark...so evil..

So monstrous...

The elder slowly reached his hand out to Yugi, as if wanting to hold his hand. Yugi opened his palm, feeling warm light forming into it. Atem stepped a little closer. 'Too close!' The boy's eyes shook. The power forming in his hand becoming bigger. The man got closer. He shivered, trembled.

He snapped.

In one quick movement, Atem found Yugi's hand in his chest. Bright light blinded his devilish eyes, and absolute paranoia reigned over him. Being stabbed in the chest...Brought back painful memories. But this time, this pain was far more excruciating than in Egypt. This time, he was stabbed with pure light. Holy, angelic pure power, that was so painful, his scream was hesitant. Yugi gulped. Not knowing what he was doing was the right thing or not. The light power grew bigger and bigger, making Atem's heart quake in pain. Before Atem could react, his body did it for him. Everything for him just faded down. He felt so weak. He needed to rest.

Atem's pupils grew bigger. His eyes lowered, and a low painful groan left his lips. His voice was hoarse, and his expression looked surprised, even with his eye lids lowered. He had no idea Yugi was capable of this power. Atem croaked silently, and fell backwards. The original shadow-walker fell on his back and turned his head to the side. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. The boy just stared in shock.

He just took Atem down, in one strike.

"H-Hey. Quit messing around. There's no way I took you down so easily." The boy pleaded, not believing for a minute that he was this strong. Atem coughed and moaned in agony.

"You are proof."

"..?" Yugi blinked at Atem with a confused expression.

"You are proof..." The man slowly sat up, leaning on his elbows, panting slightly. "...That pureness truly over comes evil." The man made a weak smile and stood up on his two feet. He wobbled a bit, still feeling weak. "I had no idea you were that powerful." Atem smiled, his eyes returning to their original red color. "I am very proud."

As he said those words, the world began to turn back to normal. The ponds and lakes began to return to their rich pure waters. The grass and green fields grew their leaves once more, and the sacred tree sprung back to life. All the forbidden flowers bloomed once again, and animal life arose from their dead states. Galloping and prancing about. Ravens and crows vanished into thin air, as beautiful birds and butterflies flew into the skies. The dark sky blended into light yellow, giving the world it's bright glow again. The cloud were white and fluffy just as before. Everything was back to how it was. The Heavenly Garden.

Yugi smiled seeing the world go back to it's beautiful state. It made him wonder...Why couldn't the real world look this pure and innocent? The boy looked at Atem with an even bigger smile. He noticed the purple substances on his body faded away, and only a towel was wrapped around his waist.

"I'm sorry. For hurting you like that." The boy received a smile back.

"No need to apologize. Your strength is amazing." The tan man gave the boy a warm pat on the head. He stared into Yugi's eyes once again, as if he wanted something. Needed something. He got closer to the boy, his bare chest beginning to rub against him. Yugi blushed, recognizing the same feeling from Yami. Atem looked down at the boy, feeling great warmth and affection. Nothing but innocence...Nothing but beauty, compassion, kindness, persistence, self-control, modesty, generosity, patience...All heavenly virtues. Atem sensed no sins in this boy. He was like some kind of angel. However, he sense some darkness. The darkness was from Yami, so it was, in a way, welcoming as well.

Just as Atem was going to say something else, his eyes dilated in fear. "You need to leave." He mumbled.

Yugi cocked an eye brow. "Huh? But-"

"You need to leave, now!" Atem's voice was filled with panic. "I need to get you out of here...Find somewhere safe to hide!

Yugi began to panic as well, confused as to what he seemed so afraid of. "A-Atem? But why are you-"

"Something or someone, is trying to find you. They are evil. It is not Yami. Please find some where safe to hide. And do not come out!"

Suddenly, everything went white.

The boy's eyes snapped open. Yugi sat up immediately and looked around. An intruder?! What was Atem talking about? Whatever it was, he needed to find a safe place to hide and fast. He got up from the couch and ran to his room. He closed and locked his door, then made his way to his bed. He could hide under here-

"Yugi?" An elderly voice called.

"Jii-chan?" Yugi thought. It was only his grandfather. Why did Atem panic for him? He's not evil at all. Yugi sighed in relief. He walked over to the door and unlocked it. He opened it to greet his grandfather.

And boy did he regret it.

A sinister looking man stood at his doorway. He had tan skin similar to Atem's and sandy blonde hair. His eyes were light violet orbs, with that weird Egyptian eye liner. He wore a purple sleeveless hoodie, and tan pants. His mouth held a very disturbing grin. Yugi's heart thrashed in his chest. His heart beating a million times faster than it should.

"Looking for this?" The man asked. Yugi slowly looked down. The smell of blood immediately hit his nostrils. He looked what was in the man's hand, and screamed.

It was Sugoroku's dead body.

END 17

Like I said before, I ain't dead yet. Why did it take so long to update? Work man. Work.

Now, I shall say again, there will be deaths in this story. Some of which that some of you won't like.

I'll see you all soon. And happy holidays.