CHAPTER 15: THE STORY WITHOUT A SCRIPT CLICHÉ

THE STORY WITHOUT A SCRIPT CLICHÉ: Despite the World War II backdrop, the question that kept threading its way through the 1942 movie, Casablanca, was a romantic one: will Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa Lund end up with Humphrey Bogart's world-weary Rick Blaine or Paul Henreid's heroic resistance leader, Victor Laslo? The characters remind themselves and each other endlessly that no one knows how the story will end. They're absolutely right. Filming began before the writers had figured it out. And yet, they're speaking to a larger truth as well. Even when you have everything neatly slotted into place in your head, real life has a way of rewriting the script.

MORAL: When it comes to uncertainty about what you're feeling and where you're going, was Casablanca a case of art imitating life, or of life imitating art?

Yugi liked helping his grandfather in the store. It made it easier to talk if his hands were busy sweeping or breaking up boxes.

"It's going to be so weird heading back to school like nothing's happened," Yugi said.

"Is this a plea to get out of school before it's even started?" Sugoroku asked.

Yugi grinned. "Of course not! It's just… it's like the world suddenly decided gravity doesn't matter and I'm just trying to find the ground. When I left Domino, I knew I'd be coming back without Atem. I was ready, or as ready as you can be to send your partner off to the after-life. I did everything I was supposed to." Yugi grabbed a broom and swept furiously for a minute. "I guess I did come back without Atem in a way… just not like I expected. I got Atem back and lost him all at once."

"He's here almost every day," Sugoroku pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's not the same. I guess it couldn't be." Yugi disappeared down an aisle with the broom, then reemerged. "I got everything I wanted and so did Atem. I'm glad. I just wasn't ready to be glad." Yugi swept the next aisle. Sugoroku waited patiently. At this rate he was going to have the cleanest floor in Domino. Yugi came back. He shrugged. "I don't know what I'm feeling. Sometimes Atem will be his old self, everything'll be great, and then he'll say or do something I never saw coming and it's like I'm meeting him for the first time. The Atem I knew was always super confident, always in charge, and now he's going nuts over picking ice cream."

"Was he?" Sugoroku asked.

"Yes. Of course he was."

"Or was Atem simply being who he thought he should be?" Sugoroku suggested. "It's easy to make decisions for everyone but yourself."

Yugi swept another aisle and returned the broom to the back room. He started on the glass display shelves, wiping away imaginary fingerprints. "I don't know anything, anymore. I don't get why Atem moved in with Kaiba when they were rivals, not even friends. Or why he keeps trying really weird food. All he says is he wants to see if he likes it. I'm not even sure if the clothes he's wearing match his taste or Kaiba's. They certainly don't match anything we wore together. I didn't know he hated hippos." Yugi shrugged. "Maybe he didn't know that either."

"Even without dimensional travel, people change."

Yugi stuck his chin out. "I'm not changing. Neither are Jounouchi or Anzu or Honda."

"You'll be graduating high school in March and going on to college. Anzu will be headed for New York. I think, very soon, you'll see more changes than you expect."

Yugi frowned. "Whether I want to or not."

Sugoroku nodded. "But some of the changes will be good ones, and some of the most important things will stay the same."

"Like my friends still being my friends?"

Sugoroku nodded. He winked. "And the world being full of hot girls."

"Grandpa!" Yugi shrieked.

Sugoroku laughed. "When I was your age…" he said and winked again.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief when Sugoroku dropped the subject. They moved on to stocking shelves. Yugi knew his grandfather had a point. He had his own life. So did Atem. It was natural that things would change. He should be deliriously happy, with no reservations or nagging sense of loss for a parting that hadn't happened.

Across town, Kaiba and Mokuba spent the day testing Kaiba's prototype Duel Disk in the computer labs in the Kaiba Corporation basement. They went upstairs to Kaiba's office afterwards. Mokuba dropped his backpack on the floor and threw himself on the couch. Kaiba smiled. It was one more note of confirmation: they were home, this was real.

They went over the results from the latest test. Kaiba outlined his plans for the next set of revisions and leaned back in his chair. "If there's one thing I learned from limbo, it's how much potential my Duel Disks have. I bet even without limbo, I could still figure out a way to travel between dimensions."

Mokuba shuddered. "Please don't."

Kaiba laughed. "I have plenty to keep me busy in this universe." Kaiba closed his eyes. His laugh softened to a smile. Atem had told him that he had the same unlimited potential as his Duel Disk. "I'm sorry we didn't duel there."

"You didn't?" Mokuba asked, his mouth dropping open.

"It was a missed opportunity," Kaiba agreed. "I didn't want to risk our ability to get home and the Duel Disks were a necessary component. If I'd known how easy it would be, once we'd cracked the code…" Kaiba shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I don't want to duel him anyway until the prototype works perfectly. And we have time now. We bought ourselves that."

Mokuba shook his head. "I don't get it," he admitted. His brother wanting his system to be perfect for a duel was one thing; his wanting it to be perfect for Atem, another.

"What?" Kaiba asked.

"Everything. You were spitting mad at him. I saw you when you got Isis' email. You cursed him out all the way from Domino to Egypt. Then you both disappear and the next minute you're all kissy-face."

"It wasn't one moment to the next. Not for us. There were whole other lifetimes."

"That's the weird part!"

Kaiba ran a hand through his hair and waited until it flopped back into place. "It made me think about what – and who – I wanted. Seeing all these other worlds…" Kaiba paused. He looked away from Mokuba, as if he could peek into that other world for a moment, as if he could draw strength from it. "In one of them, we were old, almost 40 even. We were babysitting your kids."

"My what?"

"You had two. The boy had just learned to walk – or run. Atem was tiring himself out chasing him. I was on the floor with your daughter. I'd built a holographically enhanced stage…" Kaiba paused again. A faint wash of pink dyed his face. "... for a fashion show… you know… for her dolls."

Mokuba howled with laughter. "Now, that I'd like to see!"

Kaiba ducked his head. "It was… nice. Anyway, then you and your wife came…"

"My what?" Mokuba screamed.

Kaiba shrugged. "You were older, too."

"This is so creepy!"

"Anyway, you both came and took your kids home."

"What do you mean home? I thought you said we were home!"

"You were married, remember? You had a home of your own."

"You kicked me out? Why?" Mokuba's eyes widened. "You didn't need me once you had Atem?"

"What? No! It was the other way around." Kaiba paused, hunched into himself, remembering the world where Mokuba had left, where they'd grown apart, where they'd barely talked. "I'll always need you. I don't know why you weren't all living at the mansion. I don't remember everything, only whatever the other versions of me were thinking about when I was there. It's just as well. It's hard enough keeping it all sorted in my head without more data added to the mix."

"Still weird," Mokuba muttered.

"Anyway, you had a house of your own on the estate. It's not like you were on another continent. We saw each other every day."

"That part sounds stupid. What else happened?"

"Nothing much. Atem and I sat on the couch. I had a whiskey. We were in each other's arms."

"Is this going to get gross?"

Kaiba grinned. "Yeah."

"I don't know, Nisama. What was so special about that world? It sounds boring to me."

Kaiba shook his head in place of a reply. How could he explain to Mokuba that it was the only world that came with a guarantee of happiness – without admitting how much he craved the love he'd felt all around him, simple, tangible, uncontested? "It was ordinary, like just a regular day. But it wasn't boring. It was… peaceful. I was home."

"It sounds like you want that world."

"I do."

"But I wasn't in it! Not really."

"I don't want to move there! I want the same things here. With you. The real you."

"What if I never have kids? Or a wife?"

"I don't give a shit about any of that as long as you're by my side."

"Where else would I be?"

"Nowhere else," Kaiba said firmly. He whispered, "I hope," to himself. "I know the destination. But I don't want to miss any of the journey getting there. I don't want to be old without getting a chance to live those years first. I even had gray hair!"

"Weird," Mokuba agreed.

"Stupid, huh?" Kaiba hung his head. "Besides, I can't believe in a happiness I haven't bled for."

Mokuba was tempted to say, "Be careful what you wish for," but that could have been said about a lot of his brother's life. He nodded instead.

Mokuba and Kaiba left work and swung by Yugi's house to pick up Atem. After dinner, the three of them changed into bathing suits and went to the pool. Atem jumped on a float, and lazed around, staring at the sunset sky, idly wondering where Kaiba had found swimming trunks that managed to mimic dragon scales. Kaiba and Mokuba swam laps. Atem watched his rival; Kaiba moved with a draconic grace.

Mokuba joined Atem and they had float races while waiting for Kaiba to finish. The three of them sat in the hot tub together. Kaiba leaned back and let the hot water massage his shoulders.

"This is perfect," Atem said, gazing at the newly emerged stars. "Why do you like swimming laps?" he asked.

Kaiba shrugged. There was something about the repetitive movements as he cut through the water that calmed the whirring in his brain, that got him to disengage. "It's peaceful. The buoyancy of the water makes me feel lighter."

Atem chuckled. "For me, it's like being on a treadmill," he said, forgetting that Kaiba had a treadmill in both his office and home gym. "It feels like being chained to destiny, only with water standing in for fate." Atem thought for a moment. "If I was to design a pool, I'd want one that reminded me of home, one that was for playing and bathing as well as swimming."

"I thought this was 'home.' Wasn't that the point of everything we went through?" Kaiba asked, his voice as stinging as gravel suddenly flung on the wind.

Atem narrowed his eyes. "Yes, of course. I meant my childhood home in Egypt and the Nile."

"What was it like?" Mokuba asked quickly.

Atem sighed. "Beautiful. Flowing currents and lotus flowers on the water, mingled with shallows where you could splash and play."

"It sounds like fun!" Mokuba said.

Atem turned to Kaiba. "I suppose you have something to say about letting the past rule my life."

"Absolutely."

Atem raised his chin. He was shorter than Kaiba, but he managed to look down on him anyway. "I don't care."

"Good!" Kaiba snapped. "Because I'm not turning my home into some fake fantasy of ancient Egypt!"

"Of course not. You're too busy leaving it as a monument to Gozaburo."

"Shut up! You have no right to say that!" Mokuba yelled at Atem.

Atem and Kaiba stared at each other, shaken, aware of a line widening in front of them that neither wanted to cross.

"Atem can say whatever he wants. If I can't take it, that's my problem. I'm too busy looking to the future to care about the past," Kaiba said, not conceding the point, but not arguing further.

"Or to enjoy the present?" Atem asked.

Kaiba grunted. "Do you have a problem with the present?"

Atem nodded in acknowledgement and smiled. "No."

Kaiba grunted again.

They got out of the hot tub and headed for the house, quietly. They showered. Mokuba went to bed. Atem and Kaiba headed for the game room. Kaiba poured himself a glass of whiskey, took a sip, grimaced, and set it aside. Atem smiled. There was something endearing about Kaiba's determination to develop a taste for whiskey. This was the stubborn jerk he'd followed back into living.

Kaiba sat on the leather couch. Atem leaned against him, feeling surprisingly at peace after their quickly extinguished flare-up. It reminded him of their fights and the quiet moments that had followed as they'd stared at alien stars.

"Do you ever feel like you…" Atem drew in a breath, taking comfort in the dim light, so reminiscent of the dusk that came and went at will when they'd been between worlds, "...miss limbo?" Atem started to add, "I don't really miss it, of course," but Kaiba's bark of laughter cut him off.

"You really have that confident air down to perfection," Kaiba said in admiration. "You fooled even me. I thought you were sailing through all of this, no moments of back-sliding, no wistful second thoughts."

Atem smiled. "I should have known I wasn't alone in this. I miss that most of all… whenever one of us was scared or hopeless, the other was always there. It was easier to be myself when there were just two of us."

Kaiba nodded. "We had time and a clear goal. We still do."

"I don't."

Kaiba turned to stare at him. "Don't you want to reach that future we saw?"

"No. I want to reach our future."

"So, you'd be okay if we wound up in a future where we said goodbye? Where you ended up with Yugi? Where Mokuba and I drifted apart? Where we never saw each other again?"

"No! Try listening. I want a future with you. But I want it to be ours and only ours. I thought you wanted that too."

Kaiba lowered his head. "I do. It just feels…"

"Confusing?" Atem asked.

Kaiba shrugged, then nodded.

"I know," Atem said softly. "I thought once I made the big decision to remain, all the little ones would fall in line, like ducks following their mother to water, that my new self would flow back into my old life as easily as a tributary joining the Nile. I thought I could change, but that every relationship would stay the same." Atem smiled. "I'm glad we have each other."

"I'm glad, too. I never expected to have anyone but Mokuba in my life." Kaiba gathered Atem into his arms. "I'd never believed in happiness before, not until I saw it in front of me, not until I held you as we lay among the flowers and watched the stars go by."

"When I'm with the others, I feel the weight of everyone's expectations. They want their old friend back." Atem shrugged. "Friends expect things from each other, that's the beauty of friendship, having someone you feel safe enough to expect things from. It's not like the obligations of destiny or kingship. It's softer, warmer, and yet, the fear that I'm failing is a cold thing." Atem shook his head. "You expect things from me, too, but that's different."

"Honesty and courage," Kaiba answered automatically.

"Those I can handle."

Kaiba wanted to rant about Atem's friends, he wanted to call them selfish parasites, but he was bent double trying to live under the expectations of that older Seto, who didn't even know he existed. He wanted to meet Mokuba's expectations and he was pretty sure neither of them even knew what they were. He hugged Atem tighter; one hand tangled in Atem's hair. He grinned suddenly, pleased with himself for coming up with something flirtatious to say, something worthy of that older Seto. "And sex, of course. That's fast becoming an expectation."

"And one that's a pleasure to meet," Atem purred.

Atem leaned forward until he was lying on top of Kaiba, and kissed him. His hands started stripping off Kaiba's shirt. Kaiba shifted abruptly, trying to yank Atem's tunic over his head, and they tumbled off the couch onto the floor, their fall cushioned by the thick shag rug.

Atem grinned. There was something delightfully taboo about screwing on Kaiba's game room floor.

Yugi was still chewing over his grandfather's words as he walked with Jounouchi to meet the rest of the gang. He knew his grandfather was right. They were all changing, it was part of growing up. Atem was just doing it a little sooner and a lot more dramatically than the rest, which was honestly something he should have expected. Yugi sighed to himself, unaware that they'd been walking for several blocks without his saying a word or responding to any of Jounouchi's jokes.

"What's up?" Jounouchi asked. "You've been quiet lately. Usually, I'd think you were huddled with your other self, but he's got his own body now."

Yugi smiled in place of an answer.

"C'mon, buddy, spill! We're friends."

Yugi paused while they waited for the light. It sounded selfish even in his own head. He loved being in his own body. Why had he expected Atem to stand still? The light changed. As they started walking again, Yugi stumbled through voicing his confused thoughts aloud, interspersed with disclaimers and apologies. "Atem had this whole huge adventure and I wasn't there and I don't really get what happened," he concluded. "I thought he'd want everything to go back to normal. But I don't remember Atem laughing this much, or flirting, or being excited about ice cream. I didn't even know Atem thought about Kaiba like that and now he's living with him! I don't know what's in his head and maybe I never did. I feel so stupid, like if I was a better friend, I should have noticed something was up. Every time he got wound up about seeing Kaiba, I thought it was just about dueling."

"Nah, I don't get it either. I thought I knew your other self. And I never saw any of this coming," Jounouchi said.

"Atem," Yugi said with a sigh. "His name is Atem. That was the last thing he said – that he wasn't my other me – before… well… before everything."

"Yeah, right. I keep forgetting. You know what I think? Kaiba got into his head in limbo and now he's getting just as selfish. This is Kaiba talking, not Atem."

"But is it selfish to want a life?" Yugi asked.

Jounouchi scowled. "I hadn't thought of it like that," he admitted. "But something's got to be wrong if his choices make you feel bad."

Yugi frowned. Jounouchi was trying to make Yugi feel better but running down Atem was making him feel worse instead. Yugi had plenty more to say, but saying it to Jounouchi who would just get more wound up was impossible. It was bad enough that he resented the change, that he wondered what exactly had happened, if he'd stopped being good enough the moment Atem had stopped needing his body to live. Yugi was used to bottling up his troubles, but even though he knew he should keep his mouth shut or change the conversation, he couldn't help admitting, "It's so weird. I know we're lucky. I like being myself, and only me."

"Of course, you do!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "You deserve that! You both do!"

"It would have been so much worse if Atem had left. Can you imagine what it'd be like going back to school with Atem gone?"

"We dodged a bullet for sure," Jounouchi agreed.

"In the face of that, how can I let all of this little stuff bother me?"

"You need to talk to Atem," Jounouchi said decisively. "If he knew what you were feeling, he'd want to fix things."

"I don't know what to say. It's all smushed up in my head. Atem being back, me being happy by myself, him being different, living with the Ceremonial Duel."

"Huh? What about the Ceremonial Duel?" Jounouchi asked.

Yugi stopped short. "I almost sent Atem to the after-life and he didn't want to go! I thought I was helping. I don't know why he didn't tell me. He said he didn't know how to choose, not when it was his life instead of what card to play next and I never knew that either. I went along with everything, even letting him walk away forever when he wanted to stay. What do I do with that? Kaiba was right to stop him. But I wasn't the one grabbing his arm and getting him to think. What kind of friend does that make me?"

"You're a national treasure, Yugi, and you should know it. You're the best friend a guy could have. You make everything better. Even me and Atem."

Yugi lifted his shoulders and dropped them and smiled. They started walking again. Jounouchi stopped him before they reached the corner and put his hands on Yugi's shoulders. "You can't know stuff he didn't tell you. It's not your fault."

Yugi's face lightened. He realized he'd been waiting for someone to tell him that. "I want to be a good friend, the kind he deserves. I need to do it right this time." Yugi pasted a smile on his face and waited for it to feel natural settling there. "I guess it's all new for him, too." Yugi shrugged. "Maybe making choices is his problem and dealing with change is mine."

They walked the rest of the block in silence. At the corner, Yugi said, "I didn't know how ready I was to stand on my own until I won. Maybe Atem needs time, too. We'll work it out. We see each other just about every day and text or talk in between. It's not like he's ghosting me." Yugi's smile turned genuine at his unintentional pun.

"Look on the bright side," Jounouchi said, slapping Yugi on the back. "It makes it easier to get closer to Anzu without a third wheel everywhere you go. I love Atem like a brother but he's a lousy wingman."

Yugi laughed. Jounouchi had said something he could totally agree with.

Kaiba was in his office when Isis' video call came through. He grinned slightly as he took the call. Isis got straight to the point, as always.

"I was surprised to learn you're one of the major donors for the last stages of the excavation of the pharaoh's final resting place," she said in place of a greeting.

"Surprised? Or curious? I've already gotten the official thank you note. High quality engraving."

"I'm glad you got the beer recipe. In light of your donation, I was wondering if it's the most expensive recipe in the history of the world."

"I sent the donation before you sent the recipe."

"So you did."

"Let's say I was repaying an obligation of sorts."

"The standard answer," Isis returned.

"Then let's switch to questions. If I'd arrived too late to stop Atem, would you have given me permission to excavate the site, even suspecting I might use the knowledge to go after him?"

"That seems oddly specific for a hypothetical question."

"And that's not an answer."

"I'd like to believe I would have helped you. I, too, have my obligations. We were opponents once. I used my Millennium Item against you, knowing it would destroy you."

Kaiba grinned. "Only if I lost."

"That doesn't lessen the weight. It's my actions I feel remorse for, regardless of consequences."

"Been there. Done that," Kaiba replied.

Isis laughed. "Is that absolution or indifference?"

Kaiba's smile flashed across his face. "Damned if I know."

"You visited alternative worlds. You asked me what I would do. Now I'm asking: what did I do?"

"The same."

Isis shrugged. "You don't need to feel obligated to me for what a different Isis did on another world."

"You don't get to define my obligations," Kaiba said, repeating Isis' words to him at their last meeting.

Isis smiled. "Check."

Kaiba wondered if Isis had led him on, daring him to repeat her next words, to admit to them. He crossed his arms and scowled. "Or who I feel friendship for," he said defiantly.

Isis raised two fingers to her forehead in mockery and salute. "Check and mate."

Kaiba paused, reviewing all the different versions of himself – and of everyone – that he'd seen. "Some things rarely change regardless of the world."

"Maybe that's a destiny of sorts," Isis said softly.

"If so, it's one we create for ourselves, one that arises from the core of who we are and soars into the light," Kaiba returned.

"I spent so much of my life chained to what I thought was my destiny, I don't know whether to envy you, having seen endless possibilities."

"I don't know either," Kaiba admitted. "I'm pleased with the result. I guess that's all that matters."

"Is it?" Isis asked.

Kaiba grunted. "You know how I said that the future is infinite?"

"Of course," Isis replied.

"It's different when you see it in action."

"Ahhhhh…" Isis said. It was hard to tell if the sound was sympathetic or gloating: maybe, it was a little of each. "It's not easy, being touched by magic," she said gently.

Kaiba snorted.

"You can substitute whatever scientific – or pseudo-scientific – explanation you prefer," Isis added, with more bite in her voice.

"Every moment is irrevocably etched into my brain, and yet, it's impossible to reconcile any of it with my life. Each world was as real as my existence here, and yet they were happening in a dream of other dimensions. You've heard of the many-worlds theory?"

"Of course. As well as the belief of my clan that the gods sung multiple worlds into being."

Kaiba grunted. "The many-worlds theory sounds more logical. But living it is another story." He barked out a laugh. "You want to talk about faith? My bedrock belief was that the future was within my control, that I was the one determining it." He snorted again; the derisive sound was aimed at himself, for once. "You'd think engineering my way out of limbo would have confirmed that."

"It's still within your control. Just not in the way you thought." Isis paused, but Kaiba remained silent. "It's hard to be touched by magic, in whatever form it takes, and even harder to figure out where to go once it's gone and all you're left with is yourself and an unknowable future." She laughed, a hint of malice in the soft bell-like sound, as bracing as a cool spring rain. "We're finally on the same page. You may have seen a multitude of lives, but each one is unique – and only one, in the end, is yours. It's up to both of us what we make of it."

Kaiba grunted again, softly this time.

Isis' tone turned playful. "I hope you enjoy your beer."

"The recipe looks tasty," Kaiba parried.

"I didn't suppose it was for you."

"You think I would go to all this trouble for Atem?" Kaiba asked, testing the water.

"I think you'd go far further."

Kaiba leaned back, thinking of the worlds where he traveled dimensions to find Atem. He grunted. "I'll let you know how it turns out."

"Are you adding brew master to your skill set?"

"That's what I have a staff for," Kaiba scoffed. "Thanks for reminding me I need a project manager."

After Kaiba got off the phone, he called Isono into his office.

"Isis sent me a 3,000 year old beer recipe," Kaiba said as soon as Isono entered the room. "I've translated it from hieroglyphics into Japanese. You'll need to hire a brew master, preferably one experienced in artisanal brews. A background in ancient Egypt would be a plus. Supervise finding a location, assembling supplies, and working with the brew master to hire additional staff as needed. Let me know when fermentation is complete. I want these instructions followed exactly, with no modern short cuts."

"Very good, sir," Isono said, faintly.

Isono couldn't pretend this was the oddest request he'd ever received or even the most unexpected. He surveyed his boss behind his sunglasses. Kaiba was mildly feverish with excitement, and for once it didn't concern a duel or revenge or Kaiba Corporation. Kaiba's excitement centered around a person, the second Yugi who had come back to the mansion with them. Isono reviewed their duels. Maybe the excitement wasn't as new as he'd thought. But there was something hopeful about it. Isono permitted himself a slight smile. "I'll do my best."

Kaiba nodded, then focused on Isono's smile. "It's an experiment," he said.

"Yes, sir. I understand. Most things are."

Kaiba frowned, wondering just how far Isono's understanding went. He tapped his fingers on the desk, glad Isono's eyes were hidden behind his glasses. He remembered Isono on the ride to Egypt, a silent presence watching his back. Isono had made the arrangements to bring everyone home. "Thank you," Kaiba said. "I wouldn't trust this to anyone else."

"You can count on me, sir." Isono bowed himself out of the room.

Kaiba went back to work until the end of the day. Mokuba was at a friend's house. Kaiba headed to the garage, got in his car, and swung around to pick up Atem. Kaiba pulled up to the Mutou's house at the back of the game shop. He leaned on the horn. Atem and Yugi were inside watching a movie.

"Finish the movie," Yugi said. "I'll go see what Kaiba wants."

"How do you know it's Kaiba?" Atem asked, his eyes still on the television screen.

"Who else would be honking the horn like they're going to break it?"

Atem laughed and returned his full attention to the movie.

Yugi strolled outside.

Kaiba was sitting in a silver sports car that somehow managed to look like a dragon. He frowned at Yugi and the world.

"Atem's watching 'I Robot.'" Yugi said. "He'll be done in a minute."

"If he wanted to see it, I could have gotten it for him."

"How could he ask for something he didn't know existed? I guess I never watched it when he was… you know… with me or maybe he was deep in his soul room back then."

Kaiba frowned. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "I was done with work. I thought I'd see if he wanted a lift home. I figured he was here." Kaiba's frown deepened to a scowl. "I got used to him being around." Kaiba refused to add that he also got uneasy when Atem wasn't.

"I know. I was used to that too, being around him all the time."

Kaiba's answering nod was surprisingly companionable. Yugi suddenly wondered if Atem felt the same way when he wasn't with Kaiba, like an essential piece of his life had been torn away, no matter how temporary the separation. Maybe he even felt that way about Yugi as well and it was just that neither of them were used to Atem having split loyalties.

Atem ran out to the car, leaving the door open in his haste. He stopped to hug Yugi. He shouted, "See you tomorrow," then jumped into the car and embraced Kaiba. Kaiba waved to Yugi and floored the gas pedal. Yugi waved back. The car jumped out of the parking spot and raced off down the road, but not before Yugi had seen the huge grin that had bloomed on Kaiba's usually guarded face.

"How did you like the movie?" Kaiba asked Atem.

"I loved it! Sonny was so brave, learning who he was, finding his own identity and destiny, when everyone thought he was just a machine!"

"The special effects weren't bad for the early 2000s. Not up to my standards, but not terrible either." Kaiba paused, then confessed, "The plot was pretty good too. I liked Alfred Lanning."

Atem wasn't surprised Kaiba approved of the technological genius who'd killed himself to undo the damage he'd caused. "He was an honorable duelist."

Kaiba leaned over and kissed Atem, without slowing the car. "So was Sonny." He lifted two fingers to his forehead in salute. "Here's to honorable duelists, wherever they reside."

They entered the house, changed into swimming trunks, and headed for the pool. After Kaiba had swum his laps, they relaxed in the hot tub.

"Even without reeds and shallows to splash in, this is very nice," Atem said, leaning back against the tile wall of the tub. "It's strange. Sometimes, like a phantom limb, I feel the pull of a destiny that no longer exists. I came back to make decisions, but sometimes I miss being tied to a road that didn't allow for detours or U-turns. It took courage to follow that road, even to the bitter end. This takes a different kind of courage, not to be afraid of drifting, of taking my time, of making mistakes, one that's harder to master."

Kaiba grunted. Even here, even with Atem, he couldn't admit to his deepest fear: that once Atem had his friends back, once he had other choices, Kaiba would no longer be his, that no matter how hard he tried, he'd never reach the future he'd seen, the one where Atem had loved him. Kaiba drew in a breath and tried to master this new flavor of courage. "I keep thinking how cluttered everything is, how many distractions, how full of people, how easy it is to drift apart."

"You came back to a job and responsibilities and a life of your own. I understand that. I'll always respect it."

"I didn't mean that. I came back to you as well." Kaiba frowned. He couldn't go any further. He refused to be an object of pity.

"Sometimes I miss how quiet it was, when we were the only people in the world," Atem said.

"And then there's moments like this, when I feel like we've brought the best of limbo home with us," Kaiba replied, drawing Atem into his arms.

.

Thanks to Bnomiko for betaing this chapter and helping me get it ready to post in time for my fanfiction anniversary! And thanks so much for being my beta for 17 of those 20 years! It's been a blast!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I posted my first fanfiction 20 years ago, on July 20, 2003 and I was amazed I'd managed to string almost 1,500 words together. Over a million words later, I've learned so many things through writing fanfiction: to have confidence in my own voice, to believe I have stories to tell, and to trust, if I write from the heart, if I try my best to explore these characters, to glory in their complexities and contradictions and flaws, without fear of being too earnest, too passionate – and ultimately, too uncool – that passion would enrich the story itself. If I explored the themes that are important to me, if I delved into the character's emotions as honestly as I could, those things would, through some strange alchemy, resonate with the people reading the story. In a way, fanfiction taught me to be brave.

Twenty years ago, I posted a story and found a community. That community has taken many forms and migrated many times from Yahoo Groups and GeoCities to LiveJournal to Tumblr and Twitter to Discord and beyond. But in a vital way, the community of people sharing the things they love and supporting each other, has remained recognizable regardless of the form it takes, and I'm thrilled and proud to be a part of it. I'd like to thank everyone for being part of those 20 years. Here's to enjoying many more!

In celebration, the rest of my Author's Notes are going back to 2003 where the characters yell at each other and at me, fangirl Japanese is so KAWAII, and random comments in parenthesis interrupt the dialogue. I hope you enjoy it!

Yami Bakura: Enough yakking! This is boring.

Anzu: You don't get a vote. You've not even in this story.

Yami Bakura: That's why it's boring.

Ryou Bakura: Don't be mean to her. At least she remembers who I am.

Kaiba: Barely.

Me: I let you out of limbo! You should totally be thanking me.

Kaiba: I got out of limbo on my own!

Anzu: Get real. She's the one in charge.

Atem (looking around): Who? Horakhty's here?

Anzu: No. HER! The writer. She can make you do whatever she wants.

Me: Mwahahahaha

Kaiba: No one controls my actions! Especially not a third-rate writer with a fourth-rate plot!

Yugi: I want popcorn and front row seats for this fight.

Me: Be nice or you're never getting laid again.

(A.N. Teehee I'm so evil!1111!)

Me: But if you're both nice to me, I'll take you shopping in the next chapter

Atem: I LOVE being back in Domino!

Kaiba: (smirks)

Atem: You conceited jackass!

Kaiba: (still smirking)

(A.N. I'm imagining him raising an eyebrow and looking smexy)

Atem (takes Kaiba's hands and stares deeply into his cerulean orbs): My beautiful, sexy koi.

Kaiba: Did you just call me your beautiful, sexy carp?

Atem: "Koi" doesn't mean "lover?"

Jounouchi: I think you got it right the first time. Fish works for me *))))

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!11111!

SOCIAL MEDIA NOTE: I am on Tumblr, Dreamwidth and Pillowfort as Nenya85. Come check me out there!

To paraphrase Louise Rosenblatt, "A story's just ink on the page until a reader comes along to give it life." This is my way of saying that I'd really like to hear what you think. Please comment.