Prompt XXI: Heart

"You may have grown faster than you needed, but that doesn't change anything."

Atem turned and eyed her critically, flicking his tail. "You don't think so?" he said slowly, tilting his head. "You don't think bloodying my paws and littering my territory with bodies changes me so much?"

"I didn't say it didn't change you. I said it doesn't change the rest." She shook her head slowly, still seated so easily with a regal stance and brilliant glowing blue eyes. "You're still my son and I still love you. So what changed there?"

"And how do you know I haven't changed so much you don't recognize me anymore?" he hissed. "I took her head off and you were upset for her but not me."

His mother narrowed her eyes. "Is that what you saw?" she asked slowly, as if she were measuring her tone. "You saw me upset for her and not you? Because I flinched when you moved your tail?"

Atem blinked, wanting for a moment to bare his teeth and snarl but also to back away and leave it alone. He considered her a long moment, then huffed and wrapped his tail around his paws. She didn't even look at it, eyeing him fiercely for a moment. A few long moments passed and he looked away, flustered and unable to speak.

"Atem."

He didn't look over, aching at the tone in her voice, and barely suppressed a snarl when she shifted closer. He bore his teeth more pointedly but didn't object when she nudged his shoulder gently.

"You haven't changed so much. You're still my little God Dragon."

He huffed and sulked for a moment, grumbling, "I'm not little" as if it were the most important part of the conversation. But it wasn't true. Or at least he didn't think it was. It seemed like he was nothing like he had been. He was bitter and tired and his scales itched sometimes when he was alone, as if he were trying to shed all the blood he'd spilled despite it all.

His mother laughed softly. "No, I suppose you're not so little anymore." She licked him and Atem glanced at her sideways, considering her face. She looked tired and more than a little older due to the two centuries that had passed, but she still had the same smile and the glittering eyes that he'd always adored growing up. "You certainly don't need anyone to protect you anymore."

Didn't he? He wished sometimes he still had at least someone. It was hard doing everything on his own, without someone to help or just keep him company. Timaeus was more than enough when he visited, but the moons without were long and hard and he hated them more often than he'd admit to himself.

He just wanted someone to care enough that he wasn't alone so constantly.

But he liked being alone at the same time as he yearned.

It meant no one saw the limp he was hiding, no one saw the wound gouged in his side or his cheek or his wing. It meant no one looked too close and saw his frustration when he struggled with anything. It meant no one noticed he was too tired or scared to stay in one place for too long because of the thousand suitors demanding his attention every moon. It meant no one saw it when he felt he would break beneath the pressure.

"I'm sorry it came to this."

Atem nodded but didn't answer. What was there really to say? He'd killed her in front of his mother and he had no qualms that he'd done so. She deserved it for her blatant disregard. The rules were clear and never misleading. All she had to do was adhere to them and she'd have survived the encounter.

He opened his mouth to answer when she stared back almost restlessly, but the words died in his throat. And he felt something budging against his side, as if something were pressing into it. His mother hadn't moved, going to speak again, but Atem couldn't hear the words. His eyes snapped open and the darkness of the den was cut with translucent blue-green.

The Gandora paused beside him, sounding flustered when he mumbled, "Sorry. I got lonely" as he stretched out and smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Atem blinked and yawned, then rose to his paws and stretched. Yugi gave him a startled, almost mortified look, but Atem merely arched his back and plopped to his stomach after a moment. He lay his chin on his paws as Yugi exhaled a breath that sounded rife with relief.

Had he been scared Atem would move?

"Are you all right?" Yugi asked after a moment. "Did you want me to move? I can. I just figured you were resting so nicely and I… I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's fine." Atem flicked his tail and considered him as Yugi settled a little more comfortably against his side. Their eyes met for a moment before Yugi licked his face.

"You weren't having a nightmare."

"No… I…I dreamed about my mother." He yawned and wiggled his toes, listening to the sand shift beneath his long claws. Yugi watched him intently, as if he expected Atem to add something more negative to the explanation, but the God Dragon offered a small smile. "She came to see me a while back, when I took the head off an Earth Dragon who wouldn't acknowledge her defeat. We were talking about…how much I had and hadn't changed."

Yugi smiled and licked his face again. "Did she tell you your heart's still the same no matter how much you deny it?" he teased. "I hope she did, because you never seem to listen to me when I say it."

Atem opened and closed his mouth, then huffed. "I didn't listen to her when she said it either," he grumbled, smirking when Yugi snickered and licked him again. He raised and turned his head to consider him after a moment. "She…also mentioned again that I just needed to wait for the right dragon to come along. It was…the usual conversation we had when I was younger, but…more, I guess, after she saw what I went through on a regular basis."

Yugi hummed encouragingly, but Atem didn't care to continue, and the Gandora didn't push. Instead he leaned forward and licked him again, snuggling into his side. "Maybe if you're hearing it from more than one source, you should consider it's true," he teased.

Atem grunted. At least Yugi hadn't met Timaeus yet. He'd never hear the end of it if the two of them decided to swap tales and talk about him. He closed his eyes and huffed again, and Yugi snickered as he licked him a few more times. He settled after a moment, laying his chin on Atem's neck, snuggling into the scales and sighing contently.