Hi people! Ok, misunderstandings outta the way and I'm going for it! I like this story and I'm going to continue with it. I love you guys!!! Thank you for your reviews, means the world to me.

This is a short chapter, just Yugi's POV, showing how he deals when he realises Atemu has left. Lots of guilt! Sorry, chapter done quickly and probaly very badly.

Yugi.

Unexpected consequences

Sleep came uneasily that night. I was...almost haunted by Atemu's words. I honestly hadn't known how to react to him. Jou had got there first and let his fists say his words. I was....frightened.....ashamed.

When the veil of sleep lifted from me in the morning, my lips tingled. It was a pleasant, yet odd feeling. I couldn't work out why. It was almost like something warm and soft had been pressed so tenderly to them. In an effort not to wake me, it had worked, I'd never felt it. Until now. But, it left despair in its wake.

Something was very wrong. I just didn't know what.

Slowly through my sleep muddled mind I realised, I felt empty inside. Like something important was missing. A part of my soul was absent from the house. I scrabbled to my feet, still dressed in my pyjamas and hurried to Atemu's room. He wasn't there. The bed was made, his clothes folded neatly away. Panic grew in me as I dashed down the stairs.

"Atemu! Where are you?" I called

"Yugi?" Grandpa answered from the kitchen. I threw myself through the doorway, praying Atemu was there. He wasn't. Just Grandpa, holding cutlery. "What's wrong?"

"Atemu! Have you seen him?"

"Not since last night. He had a nasty gash on his face. Wouldn't talk to me."

"He was hurt?"

"Yes. You didn't notice?"

"No. Oh, god! Help me look for him!"

Grandpa didn't understand none the less he put the utensils down and hurried outside into the shop. I sprinted back upstairs, darting into every room. My room, Grandpa's, the bathroom and back to Atemu's own room. He wasn't there. He was no where! The emptiness was growing inside me and the world became a little too light. I squinted, had things always been this bright? It kind of hurt, stinging my eyes like the glare of sunlight.

Why?

I could hear Grandpa downstairs, shouting for Atemu with an ever panicking voice. My voice was joining his in panic, shooting through an octave.

"Atemu! Answer me!" I called "Please!"

"Yugi, he isn't here." Grandpa said softly

"But he has to be. Where else could he be?"

"He was upset last night. Would he have gone somewhere?"

"I...I....I know! I'll call around!"

"Good. I'll look in the shop again."

I was already at the phone before he was out the door. Jou's number sprang to my mind and my fingers stabbed at the numbers.

"Jou speaking."

"Jou! Have you seen Atemu?"

He snorted "Not since yesterday. Nice bruise?" I thought for a moment he sounded faintly guilty.

"Get over it! He's gone missing!"

"You sure? Probably sulking somewhere."

"JOU! No! The link is broken. I'm sure he's done it!"

"The mind link? Isn't he tied to it?"

"Apparently not. I....The Puzzle!"

I dropped the phone, forgetting to hang up. The puzzle sat gleaming on his desk. I let out a small wail as I brought it to my chest, cradling it.

No.....

This was so wrong.

I trekked back to the phone, pressing the hard plastic form to my ear.

"Yug! Are you there?"

"I'm here."

"What happened? Did he come back?"

"No...He left the puzzle behind."

"Really?!

"Yeah....what have I done?"

"I'm coming round!"Jou declared

He hung up and the phone slide from my cold fingers.

"I am so sorry Atemu. My Yami."

He didn't respond. He was gone.

"Yugi?" Grandpa asked hesitantly. I turned to him, I could see it. How guilty he felt.

I opened my hands and showed him the puzzle. His face went solemn and his eyes shimmered. I could see his thoughts, tearing him apart.

Why....?

How had things gotten this far......?

"Yugi? What happened last night?"

Bile rose in my throat, trying to get around the sudden lump that had formed in my windpipe. My hands shook and I clasped the cold puzzle like a life raft.

"He said he loved me. I couldn't answer him. Jou hit him, he fell onto the table, that must've been why he was bleeding. Jou insulted him and then we left. I was too confused to face him when I came back. I didn't know he was hurt! I didn't!"

"Sssh! Yugi, I know. I know." Grandpa folded his arms around me. "I'm sure he knows too."

Did he really? I was such a jerk to him yesterday. I didn't even dream he was hurting.

Jou must've run to get here, his chest was heaving and his face was flushed. I thought I saw panic and fear in his eyes. I pulled him inside at the same time that Seto's limo pulled up. I blinked in surprise but ushered him inside as well. Jou didn't even ask, he was up the stairs and in Atemu's room before I could breathe, Seto close behind him. The room was hauntingly empty without Atemu; I waited to see him jump out with a smirk and a cocky reply. But he didn't. Tears were stinging my eyes, I was in shock before, adrenalin pulsing through me but now, I just wanted to cry. I wanted Atemu back, he was always there for me, even when he was hurt, he protected me. Was I now going to have to fight without him? I don't want to do that.

"Yugi. Look." Seto's voice was uncertain.

I took the paper of him, noticing vaguely as he riffled through the scribbled pages on Atemu's desk.

21/11/09

Please, please forgive me,
But I won't be home again.
Maybe someday you'll have woke up,
And, barely conscious, you'll say to no one:
"isn't something missing? "

You won't cry for my absence, I know -
You forgot me long ago.
Am I that unimportant...?
Am I so insignificant...?
Isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing me?

Even though I'd be sacrificed,
You won't try for me, not now.
Though I'd die to know you love me,
I'm all alone.
Isn't someone missing me?

Please, please forgive me,
But I won't be home again.
I know what you do to yourself,
Shudder deep and cry out:
"isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing me? "

Even though I'd be sacrificed,
You won't try for me, not now.
Though I'd die to know you love me,
I'm all alone.
Isn't someone missing me?

And if I bleed, I'll bleed,
Knowing you don't care.
And if I sleep just to dream of you
And wake without you there,
Isn't something missing?
Isn't something...

"Atemu could....write?" I whispered

Why hadn't he told me? Every word was crafted together and so full of pain and anger.

"Y-Yugi."

I glanced up, Jou's face had paled, he was staring at the page. I looked down, smudged across the bottom was a red line. My heart lurched inside my chest.

"Blood?" I gasped "Oh! Grandpa said he was hurt!"

"Must've been from where he fell on the table. Nice going, Mutt." Seto growled

"No....I didn't mean to hurt him....please.....tell me I didn't make him bleed!" Jou stammered

"You did, though. I yelled at him. So did Seto."

"I know what's happened." Seto said, his face was strangely grave.

"What?! What's happened?"

"We hurt him. So he ran away from us."

And suddenly I understood. Understood and died a little inside.

"Well...we'll just find him! Bring him back and apologise." Jou declared

"We can't."I mumbled. My gaze falling to the puzzle, still clasped in my shaking hand.

"Why not?" Seto demanded

"We wouldn't be able to bring him home. He doesn't want to be found. There's nothing we can do." I whispered.

These words, they were his heart, his soul. Why hadn't I felt him hurting? Why had I shut him out, so that he felt this was his only resort? He felt that escape was his only way to cope. He didn't come to me?

"You sound like you're giving up, Yugi." Seto growled. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes; I hadn't even noticed they were falling. "We will find him. You'll see!"

Behind that steely gaze, I knew Seto was worried about him. I could see that Jou was, the situation was weighing down on us. I nodded weakly.

I'm so, so, sorry.

Somewhere in the confusion the rest of the gang had turned up, waiting on the doorstep with hope in their eyes. I distinguished it without opening my lips, my eyes were red and puffy. Jou was quiet, staring at the place where the glass table should've been. Even Seto was unnaturally quiet, didn't snap at anyone. I showed them the pages of songs we had found. I watched horror and heartbreak well in their eyes. I saw guilt as well. Even a spark of emotion in Bakura's eyes. Atemu never knew he had this support behind him. We were stupid enough to never tell him. Now we were suffering our mistakes.

No. That's not right.

We were suffering MY mistakes.

I never told him how much I appreciated him. Never ever thanked him or brought him something. Never told him to sit down and that I'd do the cleaning for him or help out in the shop. So many things I should've said and done, should've given. But I didn't.

"I didn't even realise he felt so bad." Ryou mumbled "He never let it show."

"I know. But he's very good at that." Grandpa agreed, settling on the sofa opposite me.

"Yugi...These lyrics....I'm afraid he heard us....when we spoke about him." Anzu whispered

I felt the blood drain from my face. There were so many times I'd insulted him when I'd been angry. Called him names, intentionally said hateful things. But why did I do it? It made no sense! I'm....a...brat. He was right. But I was wrong. He isn't evil and harsh. He's wonderful.

Oh, Atemu. Please, please come home!

"I can't believe we did that." Jou groaned "He's our friend."

"He always just took it if he was hurt. Even if it was us that hurt him. Never said." Anzu murmured

"We were selfish enough to vent our anger on him. Just because he wasn't there didn't give us the excuse to insult him behind his back." Honda sighed

"We don't have an excuse, do we? We were so wrong." Ryou said softly. He was close to breaking point. Bakura slid closer.

"We made a mistake." He said, his voice was harsh, critical. But...THERE!....underlying, well hidden guilt and fear....We ALL wanted him back. "We pushed too hard and he panicked. That's why he's gone. He was afraid."

"But, he was a Pharaoh. He can't have run back then, did he?"

"No. He didn't."

"I believe there is something very important we failed to notice." Grandpa said slowly, wringing his hands together. WE all looked expectantly at him. "He was Pharaoh once, in a different time and a different place. But he never grew up. At heart, Atemu is just a boy. He got scared, something came that he didn't know how to handle and it frightened him. Remember, Atemu always had himself to rely on. When he didn't know what to do, survival instincts kicked in. He took himself away from the threats."

"Threats? You mean us?" Jou asked. But we already knew he was right.

"Yes."

"What do we do now?"

".....I don't know."

"He isn't coming back is he, Yugi?" Ryou asked

They all looked up at me. I shook my head.

"No. He isn't coming back. But we're going to find him!"

Just.....promise me ......you'll wait for me......

.....and somehow....you can forgive what we've done.

AHHHHHHH!