25-Bow Down

Some errors have been made, Akefia admitted that. He hadn't expected Noxious to appear so quickly, he thought he had just enough time to take down his two little servants first. How could he have waken up so fast? No doubt they would have to battle, but they both knew they were both equally-matched. And after those little quarrels, Akefia doubted he had the energy to take him down.

That disgusting golden dust was starting to flow through the air like a fog. Surrounded in the enemy's magic-not a good place to be. And that bastard just sat there in the sky, smirking like the smug prick he was.

Venom wasn't helping, he was only panicking and watching like a scared little puppy.

The two had a stare-off, Akefia was glaring while Noxious only gazed. He slowly raised his left hand, his caramel skin glimmering in the sun. Everyone's eyes dilated.

He was about to summon a hand.

"Oh dear Ra, he would make even more of a mess." Yami grumbled. Yugi gripped his shirt tightly.

"I-Is he about to-!?" He couldn't finish his sentence.

"Shit. Hold onto me!"

The ground shook even worse, as if the worst natural disaster Earth could muster was upon them all. Buildings fell down completely, worse than the crisis of 9/11 that happened in America years ago. The entire street broke apart completely as something was growing from within underground. A beautiful yellow light shot out like a blast and quickly dissolved the next minute. The dust around the city grew larger and all particles were being pulled into the underground like a black hole.

The first thing everyone saw, a giant finger. A golden one.

"He's really gonna do this here!?" Yugi shouted.

"Oh no." The other mumbled. The building they stood on top of was falling down, and he could see that finger was quickly arising into a full grown hand. It flexed its fingers and opened its palm. It was going to grab something, this way. It was tall, taller than a sky scrapper. For something so large, it moved fast. It shot out from its position, and extended towards them all. "Heads up!" Yami ascended and bolted away from the falling building, flying next to Atem with Yugi safely in his arms.

Akefia and Marik however weren't so lucky.

They tried to fly away as fast as they could away from it, but it was no use.

"AAHH!" They were seized in a death grip-lock, and yanked backwards. Akefia was beyond angry, Atem could see it on his face. It was scrunched up, furrowed eye brows, a furious toothy scowl. Marik was looking around frantically, whimpering in fear as there was no escape. They both felt the wrinkles of the hand close them in tightly around its humongous fingers. The very life was being squeezed out of them.

Atem made a fist, and squeezed tightly. The giant hand did the same, and crushed them into submission. They screamed painfully, and it was a satisfying sound to the trio. Well, rather to Atem and Yami.

The former pharaoh then raised both arms, a bird spreading its wings. He made a mischievous smile.

"Yugi, covers your ears and close your eyes." Yami warned. Yugi blinked.

"W-Why?"

"Trust me, just do it." The elder commanded. The boy gulped, but did as he was told. Yami covered one of his ears with one hand, and had one eye closed. Akefia and Marik knew what Atem was going to do next, and they nearly pissed themselves realizing that they couldn't do anything to protect themselves from the next attack.

Atem swung his arms forward, and made a resounding CLAP.

It was so loud, his magic dust bounced from the vibrations like a wave length. Yami winced from the reverberates, as Akefia and Marik screamed once more. Their ear drums were literally being skull-fucked. The giant hand squished them more, to make their pain worse.

"ALRIGHT!" Akefia shouted. He was panting heavily, sweating and even drooling from the intensity of the agony. Marik was out cold. "What do you want!?"

Yami uncovered his ear, and gently shook Yugi to let him know he could reveal his eyes and uncover his ears as well. Apparently, the attack still affected him, because he was shaken up from the wave lengths. He trembled in Yami's arms. Atem gently tapped his chin, cocking his head from side to side.

"Hmm...'What do I want'? Ahh. I know." Atem rose from his imaginary throne and floated over to the knuckles of his giant hand. He slowly walked across them while staring at his two worst enemies. He sat down on the third knuckle of the middle finger and crossed his legs. "Good morning."

"It's fucking afternoon, you asshole." Akefia spat.

"Ah, true. But in your position right now, Atrocious, you are not in control. For I am, and right now, this is my world. And right now," He snapped his fingers. The giant hand squeezed harder, making the other shadow-walker groan in torment. "I say its morning."

"F-Fuck you!"

"No thanks, I have people for that." Atem retorted. From afar, he saw Yami roll his eyes. "Now you listen to here." His voice grew low, and his red wine eyes began turning into a bright sinister yellow. "I do not appreciate you and your lackey causing harm to the ones I care about."

"The fuck are you on about?"

"Alright, I shall be blunt." Atem leaned a little forward. "Stay the fuck away from them, or I will personally introduce your spine into your fucking colon. And believe me, your relationship will be pitifully dreadful."

"..." Akefia said nothing, only glared. Blood dripped from his ears and eyes.

"I will let you both go. We will all meet again. Back at Pegasus' mansion. That is where we shall settle this once and for all. We will visit when the time is right. I would like for you to wait for our arrival patiently. Is that okay?" He asked with a bit of sarcasm.

The other only nodded slowly.

Atem snapped his fingers once more, and the giant hand dissolved into a huge pile of gold dust. It almost looked like sand. Akefia fell, but quickly flew back into balance, catching his partner. Atem stood there looking down upon him like a peasant.

"What do I call the little one?" He asked.

Yugi flinched, he was talking about him. To this, Atem narrowed his eyes at the boy. The younger stared back, not being able to read what Atem might be thinking. The man glanced back at Akefia. "Innocuous."

"Innocuous? Nontoxic and harmless eh?" A smirk slowly began to play on his lips once again. Yami looked down at Yugi who continued to stare at Atem. That name didn't really fit him well right now. His hold on the boy got a little tighter, not wanting to let him go. "Ha, well..." He carelessly dropped Marik down, not caring about his rough landing to the ground. This made the others alert, he was going to do something rash. "Pleased to meet you!" And just like that with less than a second later, he launched towards Yami, but was aiming for Yugi.

He was so fast, Yami couldn't move out of the way fast enough. He covered Yugi's head and hugged him closed to his chest for protection from the impact.

...It never came.

Slowly, Yami looked up to see Atem in front of them, seizing Akefia by the throat. He sighed in relief, they were safe.

"I see that you have not heeded my warning." He made a murderous grin. "Now I have a reason to break your spine into nothing and shove it right in your ass." His threat stung loudly, even though his voice was dangerously calm. He clenched his fist and swung it into his jaw, making his entire head twist inhumanely and breaking his spine. He flung towards the ground, and landed with a very loud crash.

"Come." Atem commanded them. "Let us return home."

Yugi and Yami both gave each other a look, but nodded in return to Atem.

"Well, mommy and daddy are fighting again..." Thought Yugi as he had to sit through one of Yami and Atem's infamous arguments. He almost wished he wasn't injured so he could fly on his own away from them. They were more than half way to the house and they had to erupt into an argument now? Apparently, Yami was pissed because he didn't like the fact that Atem basically requested a fight at a specific place.

"I cannot believe you scheduled a fucking brawl!"

"And I cannot believe you are still going on about that. Calm yourself, Yami. We will all be strong enough to take them on eventually when the time is right-" Just as he finished his sentence, he stopped in his tracks, wobbled from side to side and fell over. Yami quickly moved to catch him with his other arm. He scoffed, agitated.

"The asshole is exhausted no doubt."

"We need to take him home, now." Yugi's voice held a lot of worry. Theit companion just got back from Hell, he couldn't faint on them now.

The poor man looked like he was having a fever. His forehead was sweating and he breathed heavily. Yugi gently put a wet cloth onto his forehead and made sure he was tucked in good. Yami explained that for someone who's been in Limbo for so long, they cannot use their power once leaving to the human world or they'll immediately feel weak. Atem used a lot of power, only making things worse for him. He'd have to stay in bed for a while. Fortunately, he got him to calm down and fall asleep.

Once they got home, Yugi healed himself and carried Atem upstairs to bed himself. Yami went to the bathroom to shower. Yugi had to strip the man of his old Egyptian robes and had to throw them away. They were cool looking, but way too tattered and even dusty. Besides, he couldn't walk around in modern day society with ancient royal clothes on. He was sure Atem didn't mind sleeping in the nude. The man seemed to like the concept of nudity rather well, though that wasn't his fault. After all, he had to live in a society where nudity wasn't a big deal. However, part of him felt like he actually liked it in a dirty way. And from what Yami told Yugi about their relationship, he probably does.

After making sure the man was comfortable, he stepped out of the room and walked towards the bathroom to check on Yami. He knocked first and peeked in. Yami was still washing up. He made his way in and closed the door. "I'm not looking." He said as he made his way to the sink to wash his hands of any dust or dirt he still had from touching Atem's clothes.

"Well I would rather that you did." The elder responded, making Yugi roll his eyes.

"Atem's asleep now, he's okay." The boy heard Yami turn off the water and step out of the shower. He noticed that his lover was wet and naked, making him blush a little.

"That is good, I suppose." He looked at Yugi with hungry eyes. " I wanted you to myself anyway." He quickly came forward, and pushed Yugi against the wall, pinning his arms above his head. The boy gasped at the sudden action, and began to moan from Yami beginning to kiss along his neck. He caressed his round face with one hand while holding the boy's arms up with the other. He pressed his lips against his and kissed him with so much passion, his breath began to turn hot again.

Between kisses, Yugi tried to get a word out, but Yami never let him. Until Yugi gave a firm bite of the lip, making Yami moan and retract his lusty lips.

"Nmm..." The boy panted. "Will you give him a chance?"

"Yeah.." Yami quickly responded back and began to caress the younger one's body all over, making him moan louder.

"N-No." Yugi some how got his hands free and grabbed Yami's hand from continuing any further. "I'm serious."

The elder sighed, annoyance in his voice. "Look, it is not easy." Yugi let go of his hands.

"We both understand that, but we all want this to work out. If we're willing to try, why can't you, Yami?" His purple eyes held some sadness. The other didn't respond, looking downwards. Yugi realized, the way he was suddenly acting. Why they argued so much, why Yami always had mean words to say to Atem, why he was so hesitant in speaking with him, especially alone. The way he didn't seem to like talking about him, and his hesitance to everything that involved Atem. He was absolutely happy when they rescued him from Limbo, so that meant that he still really cared about him. So then, what was...

He was still scared.

The boy didn't know that their mind-link was up, so Yami heard every thought that went through his mind. He scoffed.

"I do not fear Atem anymore."

"Yes you do." Yugi retorted. "This is getting to the point where you're becoming a coward."

"I am not a fucking coward!" Yami raised his voice. "I am not weak!"

The boy's dark aura appeared. "Yes the hell you are! You're a coward for not trying! He's not going to hurt you again, Yami!"

"And how the hell do you know that!? You do not know him like I do!"

"I know him well enough! That man's heart is crumbling, Yami. You of all people should know how that feels!" He seemed angry, but his face held so much sorrow, it was hard to tell which he was feeling. Maybe it was both. "Being alone and unwanted...Losing the only love you ever had, we've all experienced that. We all have shared the same pain, and that should be enough to gain your trust. He's helped us throughout this entire ordeal, and yet you still cower away in fear because you're afraid of getting hurt!"

"Shut up." Was all he said. He got a little closer.

"That's what it is. And you won't even give him a chance! Yami, you're going to get hurt in a relationship. That's practically the freaking the law of love!"

"Shut up, Yugi." Another warning.

"Why are you the only one backing out of this!? We all have been hurt before yet we're still willing to try! Why can't you be fair too?!"

"Why the fuck are you making a big deal about this shit!?" Yami shouted back.

"Because," Yugi started again. "Don't you see? I want-No, we both want to make peace! We just want to be together and make everyone happy. After everything we have been through, you're still acting like a scared little kid! That's the fucking problem and you won't accept it!"

When did Yugi curse so much...?

"If you really loved us, you-" The boy was painfully slammed against the wall, making him shut his mouth.

"Keep your fucking mouth shut and be obedient like you used to be, damn it."

Yugi's eyes widened in shock and hurt at what he said. He looked like he was going to cry but, for some reason, he started to smirk. And it was a dark one. "Oh I get it. So you're going to hit me now? Like Atem did to you? You gonna beat me to a bloody pulp like Marik and Bakura did to me?" Those words stung horribly in Yami's mind, making him tighten his grip on Yugi's wrists. Nearly breaking them. The pain was nothing to Yugi. He wasn't going to back down. All his life, he just took the torment of bullies and other people who took advantage of him. Well not anymore. To hell with being a punching bag. To think, Yami could learn a thing or two. "You're only repeating the cycle Yami. Is that what you want?"

Speaking of the dark one, he never noticed until now that Yugi said that, he was hurting Yugi. He was actually...Abusing him. The boy only laughed as Yami broke down.

"Well go right ahead. Hit me, choke me, cause believe me when I tell you this Yami," Yugi leaned his head a little forward, just enough so that he could whisper in Yami's ear. "Things won't be like in Egypt. Because unlike you, I'll fight back and win. I'll kick your ass, and this relationship can be over just as easily."

He let go of the boy almost automatically. Yami was silent. Yugi rubbed his wrists and continued.

"I'll ask this once more, will you give Atem a chance?"

The shadow-walker nodded.

"That's all I wanted. Go get dressed." The boy walked out of the room.

To this, Yami slid his hands through his hair and tightly closed his eyes.

He refused to cry.

Three days later, Atem already has gotten used to the new human world and some of its customs. He knew very well of Yami and Yugi's argument, for they woke him up from his slumber and he heard the most of it, just enough. He kept his distance from Yami so he wouldn't make him uncomfortable. He never realized how much he upset him. He never realized that he scarred him. And he was sorry for that, but no matter how many times he apologized, Yami was still haunted by the hurtful memories. Yugi and Yami didn't talk much to each other, but it wasn't Yami's fault. Yugi seemed to be distant specifically towards him, which probably only made Yami hurt more. He heard Yami cry in the bathroom last night while no one was around. It was his fault the two were at odds.

There's never another feeling like being in the middle, while your two best friends are upset with each other.

Since Atem no longer had any clothes, he had to make himself a copied attire of one of Yami's. For he wasn't familiar with the modern clothing line yet. He trotted over to his new mate to see what he was up to. He was in the kitchen at the counter with a cutting board. Yugi was stabbing a strawberry, not slicing it. He seemed angry, which worried Atem. Another bad thing, ever since their argument, his darkness grew much worse, probably something else Yami blamed himself for even though this was Atem's fault.

"Yugi.."

His eyes were red. A crimson red. That wasn't right.

What they feared was really happening. The boy never even responded to him.

Atem quickly stepped back, and engulfed himself with shadows to teleport to their bedroom. Apparently, Yami was in the middle of putting on his pants. Yami looked up and saw him, yelping and closing his legs. "Bastard, stop doing that!"

Atem ignored this. "It's happening." He said.

"What is?" Yami asked while fastening the buttons on his leather jeans. His face became puzzled as Atem started to pace the room.

"He is turning into a twilight user which is not as bad, but his persona is becoming corrupted and evil."

Yami's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying there are worse effects of this?"

"Yes." Atem frowned. "Everything about him can change. His voice, his age, hell, even his entire physical appearance. He would become someone we do not even recognize! Yugi would not be Yugi anymore!"

Yami looked towards the floor. Of course, some of this was his fault. His darkness got worse from their argument. He felt it. He shivered at the thought. Yugi had a special kind of darkness, and it was called MALICE. Everyone had their own, but Yugi's was uniquely evil. "He has been changing. He does not sleep, he barely eats anymore, and he is very snappy. He does not even speak to me anymore, which is my fault..." Yami knew Yugi for a while now, and he knew the boy loved to eat, talked to them and he was never a snappy person. Nor did he ever curse once a day in his life. He truly has changed.

"We could only stop it by making him feel more positive emotions. but after what has been happening, that is getting pretty hard to do." The former king sighed. "It is best that we try our best not to annoy him in any way possible so we do not make it worse. Try to make him happy at all costs."

"So you're saying this darkness will never go away?" Yami asked, scared of the answer. Atem only shook his head.

"The only way to get rid of his rage would be for him to get his revenge, but revenge is never the right path. It would only calm him down, but not get rid of his darkness. This may be become permanent." He hated speaking the truth, but neither of them could stop this. Yugi was cursed at this point. Yami scratched behind his head and nodded.

"You are right..." He got up and took a shirt from the floor, shrugging it on. "We should be getting stronger."

"Indeed, but Yugi is the first priority. He needs to practice his magic more." Atem suggested.

"Yeah..."

"Who knows," Atem slithered his arm around Yami's shoulders and pulled him closer. He knew he told himself he'd give Yami space, but the other would never get used to him again unless he made his move. Yami was reluctant but gave in, laying his head against Atem's shoulder. "He might get stronger than us both."

"..." Yami said nothing. Atem was about to let go, until he felt cold fingers lightly rub against his chest. He smiled a little at that, he was getting more comfortable around him. At least one good thing happened. "I'm sorry." He whispered. Atem heard it loud and clear. His smiled widened as he felt the other peck him on the cheek and leave the room quickly.

"I love you too, Yami."

END 26