24-The King's Back

Like the other rooms, it was just a huge empty one that held Atem's statue. It was very dusty and worn down here. The statue of Atem was chained to the floor by his wrists. To the sight of it, Yugi's eyes widened.

"There he is-!" Yugi was cut off.

"He's turned to stone from being damned. This is a punishment." Yami stared at his immobile ex-lover with what Yugi thought was shame. "He did a lot of bad things...Things that I think even I do not know of. He killed a lot of people."

Yugi frowned at that. "So this is the price he had to pay." Yami nodded to conclude his statement.

"Of course, he was punished physically and painfully first. Those are the rules of hell." The dark one turned to Yugi.

"So where are we supposed to put the keys?" He asked. Yami took a quick glance around the room.

"There's no where to place them...So I assume we put them near Atem." He explained. Yugi carefully and slowly took a few steps near the former pharaoh, and tapped his cheek. He winced and immediately retracted his finger away. Atem's power was still there, and it stung. Yami scolded him.

"Fool. Have you not damaged your hand enough from ignorantly touching things?"

"Tch." Yugi stuck his tongue at him. "Like you're one to talk!"

This made Yami chuckle a little. "Pfft. Whatever." He held out his hands and shadows appeared above them. Like portals, they dropped the millennium items into Yami's hands out of their voids and soon vanished. The shadow-walker carefully approached the statue, not wanting to be shocked either. Ever so gently, he knelt down to his level, and slowly placed each item in front of him, closely next to each other. He watched Atem's stone face to see if anything would happen. Yugi, curious as well, sat next to Yami and watched to see if anything would happen.

Each item glowed bright gold.

The Millennium Puzzle, Atem's power.

The Millennium Eye, Atem's rage.

The Millennium Scales, Atem's sense of better judgement.

All three disappeared into golden dust.

Yami blinked. "The fuck-" Yugi covered his mouth, urging him to silence himself and watch.

The dust swirled and drifted towards Atem, circling around him. As the dust landed on parts of the stone where skin should be, they became absorbed. And those parts, faded from stone, to beautiful tan caramel flesh. The two stared in amazement as the statue began to turn to human, slightly moving and trying to break out of his binds. Soon the stone texture was gone, and nothing but flesh and bones covered him now. The arms, the legs, thighs, feet, hands, fingers, his face, all returned back to their humane appearance. Even his clothing returned to their fabric texture.

Suddenly, the temple began to shake violently. So violently, that Yami and Yugi collapsed onto the ground and held onto the floor. The chains that held Atem down snapped on their own and faded away into ash. Wine red eyes snapped open, and a few coughs followed.

Atem was alive.

He covered his mouth as he hacked, not being able to breath for so long. He almost fell, holding himself up with his now freed arms. His vision was fuzzy, he couldn't see straight. So many millennia being some still object took so much out of him. He tried pushing himself upwards off of the floor, but to no avail. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and passed out, eyes closed.

Yugi rushed to the man's side, catching him before he fell. The building was falling apart. They needed to leave, now! "Yami! We have to get out of here!"

Yami was already spilling his own blood making a circle. Yugi ran over and bit his thumb, spreading his own blood and mixing them while making two dots. The symbol of Ying and Yang appeared once more, and a slit grew from the ground inside the circle. Rubble fell down, and it wouldn't be soon before they were trampled by the debris. They both looked at each other, worried expressions. Yami looked at his former lover on Yugi's back, unconscious.

'Atem...'

Yugi yelped as he lost his footing and fell backwards. Yami did the same, and only watched.

'We did it...We finally did it.'

Indeed you did, love.

"...ami.."

De ja vu?

Yami's eyes were closed. Once he realized that they just completed his main objective since he got to this fucked up town, euphoria filled his body, and he just passed out once they fell through the portal. He finally got his friend back, finally. After so many damn years of nightmares and the torturing agony of loneliness, the countless centuries of just being angry at the world over such an old incident that happened in ancient times, he felt free. Free of these binds of hatred and solitude.

However...He could not earn his wings yet.

He still had one last bind tied around his eyes.

Fear. Fear, that sees evil.

"..Ya...i..!"

Yugi's voice, definitely.

"Yami!"

Crimson eyes slowly opened to see a familiar, cute face of the one he loved. "Yugi."

The boy smiled brightly, his purple eyes shining more beautifully than normal, not dull as they used to be. "I got him." Yami smiled back.

"Good." The shadow-walker sat up with a grunt and sighed. Looking around, he noticed they were teleported back to where they first opened the portal, in the middle of the ruined streets. He then took a look at his former lover, and his smile only got a little bigger. Yugi caressed his seemingly sleeping face and rubbed his cheeks gently with his thumb. Of course, not the one that was bloodied. His skin felt so smooth, yet so cold. One would have thought he was dead, but Yugi saw by the way that his chest lightly rose and fell, that he was breathing. And that he was alive. The boy gestured for Yami to come closer, to which the other hesitated and shook his head.

"Come on. He's not gonna hurt you."

He is not going to hurt me...

"You don't have to touch him. You can at least say hello."

"Why would I?" Yami retorted. "He is unconscious."

"People hear a lot of things when they're not conscious, so just do it. For him." Yugi gave him a pout, which Yami couldn't resist. He groaned in annoyance and complied.

"Alright fine."

He then gave Atem a rough poke in the cheek.

Yugi face palmed.

Yami stood up off on his feet and picked up the man's body. "We still need to get away from here. I sense humans coming this way-"

The ground suddenly shook, and they both heard the screams of SWAT soldiers. The streets, as if they weren't screwed up already, were being pushed against buildings. As if an earthquake was tearing into the ground. Buildings tumbled and collided. Windows bashed opened. Some buildings even crashed into each other. And now they were coming in their direction, as if they were purposely trying to crush them. Yami acted fast, and picked up Yugi as well in one hand while carrying Atem in the other. He quickly ascended into the air and backed away from the area.

Yugi gulped. They were almost destroyed. "We need to fly out of-Aah!" A sky scrapper fell backwards towards them. Yami quickly moved out of the way and jumped onto the roof of another wrecked building. Yami heard a familiar annoying cackle once they were safe.

"Akefia." He scowled. "Flying will not work. We need to get out of town, then fly to the forest."

"Won't he follow us?" Yugi questioned.

"Shit...He might."

"Can't we just confront him?"

"And have our asses handed to us?" Yami let out a fake laugh. "No way."

"No, seriously. I could use my magic to distract him!" Yugi frowned. "I don't want him following us."

The dark one sighed hopelessly. That was a terrible idea, bound to have nothing but bad consequences. "Very well." But it was more than what he could ask for in ideas. "I sense someone else with Akefia. What will you do about that?"

"Maybe we should split up. I could neutralize them and get to you and stun Akefia."

"Yugi, that's fucking insane. What if they are stronger than you think?"

Yugi glared at Yami. "You have a better idea?"

The other only shook his head. "No..." He sighed.

"Where do you think they went?"

"Not entirely sure. But I'll find them eventually, and I'll destroy Noxious myself." Akefia grumbled. "Damn bastards are slippery." He knew that those mortals wouldn't dare fly. He'd be able to see them easily. Anywhere they'd go, he was planning on following. He sensed them, but not anywhere close. Poison must have flown a good few yards away. And that little brat he had with him, he thought he was a pure light, but oh was he mistaken. That boy looks like he's about to turn into something wretched. And Akefia would love to see that play out.

In fact, he stirred up a devious little idea in mind. But he'd explain it to Venom later when the time was right-

The fuck was that? He sensed them move. But he only saw two targets. Where the hell was Noxious? He knew he would be unconscious. "Damn." They were going to a building.

"Venom! Follow."

"Yes master!" Venom flew in the direction of Poison and that boy along with Akefia. Hm, still didn't know what to call him.

"..."

No one was in this building, and like everything else in this city, it was on its last leg. It was easy to jump through the broken window. Yugi hoped Yami would be okay on his own, but he was even more worried about Atem. He hated leaving his body alone like that, but it was their best decision. Neither of them wanted his body to be harmed if they were to go into battle.

Yes, Yami was absolutely right. This idea was crazy and stupid. But in the past few hours, they've been doing nothing but that. Mind as well be routine.

But as of now, the thing on his mind right now the most, was Marik. The killer of his only family, brought a bundle of horrible emotions inside of him.

Rage, sorrow, confusion, recklessness, destruction-

That was only the half of it. But, he couldn't lose himself right now. He wasn't even here. Yami...He killed him. Decapitated him. It had to be someone else. Bakura was dead, and unfortunately Ryou was as well. Maybe it was Pegasus?

"You seem to be in deep thought. Hope you don't mind if I intrude a bit." Interrupted his thoughts.

Who in hell was that? And why did it sound so God damn familiar? The same voice that made his teeth grind against each other, that made him bite his tongue until it bled all out like a sponge, that made his very nails chip against his skin, trying to scratch off an annoying itch he's been trying to get rid of forever. That made him want to throw up vile on the floor and rip out his own fucking hair.

"Aww. You look irritated. Want me to help soothe your pain?"

That same taunting tactic Yami always hated. This is freaking impossible! Yami said he killed him! Why the fuck was he alive!? And why did he come HERE!?

"Surprised to see me? I can tell by the way your eyes dilate."

Yami never...

"My master, Akefia was nice enough to sew me back together after your boy-toy's little episode of ripping off my head."

That bitch. The same dusty blonde hair, light purple eyes, that dumb ass kohl on his eyes, that purple jacket...

"That's right, little one." A grin. Yugi's eye twitched. "Poison never killed me. I'm still up and kicking, and I'm stronger. Not that it matters for you. Everyone was always stronger than you. Even that little pest, Ryou."

Your weak. Your weak. Your weak. Your weak. Your weak. Your weak. Your weak. Your weak.

"What? Just gonna stand there and let me continue? Aww, I can see that you're bound to snap. What do I gotta say to make that happen, huh?"

STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT FUCKING STOP IT

"Look at the way you just stare at me with those vengeful eyes. A pretty purple. Almost like someone else I know."

DON'T YOU FUCKING SAY IT!

"Kinda reminds me of ole' jii-chan, huh, Yugi?"

SNAP went his sanity.

Unfortunately, Yami was unaware of Yugi's rage as he was being beaten down, himself. For the fifth time, he was slammed into the wall, his forehead bleeding. He coughed, he felt the wind knocked out of him. Every time he tried getting back up, he got knocked to the ground. The worst part, is that he couldn't land one good hit on the fucker. That damaged his ego, bad.

He felt the collar of his shirt being yanked, and he was roughly held up to the air. He saw Atrocious' disgusting sneer mocking him, right in his face.

"So Poison, what's this all about? I know damn well you have something up your sleeve. Even your not dumb enough to rush in and try to fight me head on like this."

Yami spit a drop of blood out of his mouth and weakly chuckled. "H-Heh. Your absolutely right. This is a pretty fucking stupid idea." Yami made a smirk of his own, making Akefia frown in anger.

Yami cocked his neck to the side, puzzling Akefia. A small shadow began to form in the nape of his neck, and instantly formed into the long edge of a sword, pointing right at Akefia's adam's apple. He paused, noticing the situation he was in was dangerous. Yami could rip a nice hole in his throat if he took one more move.

He dropped Yami, who quickly back up on his feet and wiped his mouth of any more blood. He was slowly regenerating, but nothing beat Yugi's fast healing magic. Guess that's the price you pay for not being a pure light like he was. Or at least, currently was. Cracking his knuckles, he got in a fighting stance, a weapon already forming in his hand. Akefia did the same.

Once again, De ja vu.

Only this time, he wasn't fighting some cheap knock off, he was fighting the original.

He couldn't take anymore. Why, why did he have to be so damn weak?

Yugi was thrown onto the floor, a foot shoved onto his chest, making his gasp and cough. Marik, who hair was raised up with his eyes shrunk to peas like he just got through an exorcism, was beating him down like a wet blanket. He couldn't get back up, he was too tired, to hurt to move. He beat him to a pulp in just under a few minutes.

No matter what Yami and Atem said to praise him, they were never right.

He was always just some weak little kid just like back in high school. Just some nobody little boy, who couldn't even stand up for himself. He hated this. He hated that he was doomed to be like this. He could never get strong enough to beat him. Never strong enough to avenge his grandfather.

No, screw that!

The boy shoved his foot into Marik's crotch, making the latter whimper like a puppy and back off. He covered his mouth from screaming. Yugi internally laughed at the bastard's pain. He coughed once, and got on one knee. He was preparing a blast from the palm of his hand. He glared at his grandfather's killer with furious eyes. The purple bright eyes, now once again a pale violet.

After Marik whipped his head at Yugi, about to yell something, he stopped. His eyes dilated a little, and he couldn't move.

Yugi meanwhile, was smirking just like Yami would. A huge white glowing orb, maybe bigger than the one he used on Yami when he snapped, was in his hand and it was only growing bigger by each second.

"Shit!" Marik finally got the sense to turn around and run, but it was too late.

Yugi already threw it, and it was headed for his direction.

"Damn you Poison." Akefia mumbled. "Just stay down!" He yelled as he kicked Yami square in the chest, knocking him out of a broken building window. The kick was so hard, Yami felt like he would of threw up his own lunch if he had any today. He was thrown all the way across from the building they were fighting in, to another one. It looked like the same one he dropped off Yugi in-

"Holy shit."

Yami saw nothing but white.

And heard nothing but a huge explosion.

It literally blew away both buildings into nothing, sending rubble everywhere, and throwing any one in the blast into random places. Yami felt like his skin was being constantly splashed by acid. It burned like hell, no doubt light magic.

Could this have been Yugi's doing? Knowing how fast he gets stronger, probably.

Soon, the light of the blast faded out pretty quickly, and Yami found himself falling down into another torn up building. He saw someone standing on the roof, looking for something like a sniper.

Yugi?

"Yami?!" He yelled. Yup, what a coincidence. The boy held out his arms as Yami landed straight into them, making him lose balance a little, but it was a great catch. "Oh my God-Are you okay!?"

"Yeah. You?" Yami asked, but it even hurt to speak at this point. He could see that his little one was roughed up too. Yugi gently rubbed his hands up against the shadow-walker's abdomen and began healing his body. Yami sighed in bliss. Dear Ra did his magic feel so good. Or at least, his healing magic. Whatever the hell that huge blast was that he made, that did not feel good. The power of destruction felt different than the power of healing.

He stood up on his own feet once more and looked down at the mess they've all made since this first started. This city would practically be sunken into the ocean if they kept fighting here. Yugi hugged him tightly, which caught the elder male off guard. He hesitantly hugged back and gave a quick peck on his spiky head.

"..."

Was Yugi crying? He kept hearing small sniffles. He gently cupped the boy's face, lifting up his beautiful face to reveal watery dim purple eyes.

"Yugi..."

He looked so sad. It nearly broke his cold black heart.

"Why are you crying?" He asked. Yugi just shook his head and buried his head into Yami's chest.

"I-I hate being so weak. Marik isn't dead, you didn't kill him. A-Akefia sewed his head back on, and he's really strong now.."

What? "Sewed?" Argh, Yami was a fool. He should have known Atrocious would find some way to restore his only lackey. And poor Yugi, not only not strong enough to stand up to him, but from what it looked like, was beaten up by the very person whom he wanted to so badly take down on his own. He could see the darkness in his heart grow, but not from rage, from sorrow. "I am very sorry, Yugi." He whispered, holding him close like they were the last ones on earth about to meet their demise. "I know how you feel. I understand your pain. Uselessness, weak and too fragile for battle. That is exactly how I felt when I saw Atem die." The younger male did not answer. "Are you okay?" He gently asked.

Yugi slowly nodded and broke himself away from the embrace. "Yeah." he wiped his eyes and his nose, looking down at the ground.

"Well I really hate to break up this repulsive moment," Oh God. Atrocious, followed by Venom, floating right in front of them. Shadowy aura faded from their feet as they levitated. "But I do believe we were all in the middle of something."

That blast must have really got to them both, because they both looked scraped up pretty badly. Though, they were regenerating as they spoke. Maybe it didn't take them down, but Yami was positively sure it burned their skins like hell.

"Good idea trying to blast us all into Oblivion, little one," Atrocious taunted. "But we're still here!" A laughter followed. Yugi only bit his lip, his eyes not visible. Yami was beginning to panic. They needed to get out of here. The plan failed. Unless Yugi could make another blast, they were done for. But he sense that the he just couldn't do it. Even Yami knew that his energy was low from using so much power, and that his light magic might not even work in his sorrowful state.

Damn, what could they do!?

The buildings began to shake again. No doubt, Akefia was going to finish them off here. They were tumbling, and soon they would collide within another building and get really hurt. Yami picked Yugi up, and prepared to fly away. Yes, he probably would be taken down easily, but he had no choice. Yugi was weak, and he didn't even heal himself. He felt his life force slipping. The buildings shook more, he was going to lose his footing.

"What the-!? Who the hell is doing this!?" Atrocious shouted. The hell? That bastard wasn't doing this? Then who the hell was? It certainly wasn't Venom, he wasn't ordered to do so, nor would he ever disobey Akefia, nor did he even possess the power to do so.

Okay, so he couldn't feel all of his muscles, but that was a normal thing after being asleep for so many years, right? Nothing he couldn't fix later. Let's see, four people. Two of those people were the ones he loved greatly. It wouldn't take too long to fly there, hell he was only a few feet away now. He made the buildings shake for a distraction until he got there.

They were going to be so happy when they saw him alive and actually moving. And of course, Atrocious would be pissed. But that only made things sweeter. He could finally be reunited with them, and actually have joy in their lives for once.

So, he let his magic drift to his back, creating wings of gold. He flew faster and up to the building where they were now standing.

"Y-Yami, look." Yugi whispered. Yami barely heard him. He took a glance behind them at the sky and his jaw almost dropped. Akefia scoffed while Venom's eyes widened in fear.

"Y-You..." Yami couldn't find what to say. "You were awake the whole fucking time!?"

Atem chuckled. Some things truly never changed. He floated in the air with his legs crossed as if he was sitting on a throne. "It's good to be back after so long. Wouldn't you say,"

Akefia growled.

"Atrocious?"

"Noxious." He hissed back.

END 25

If you all didn't notice, I'm posting much much more faster now. Why? Because the ending of this story has been planned since two months ago. I already have drafts written down and ready to be typed as we speak. I wanna get to a certain part of the story very very soon. Its my favorite part of the entire story. And I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to it. Also, I really wanna end this story soon. Its been a long time going, and now it needs to lay to rest. One last thing, I need to ask a question, and I need all of you guys to answer. Should I make a sequel to this? I have had plans, and I even wrote a couple of rough drafts of a sequel to this story. If enough people say yes, then I will make a sequel once this story is over. If enough people say no, I will then begin an entirely different story after this ends. Please review your answers, or PM me if you wish. Buh bye. :)