Okay, so, a quick note; I probably won't update this story again until the 10th. I have things going on on the 6th and 8th and they should take all day, with little time to read and edit. Compromises will update daily due to how small the chapters are.

Chapter XLVIII: Promises

"Father."

Atem jerked backwards, startled and blinking in bewilderment. The river kept running behind him and he stared at the hatchling as he came closer. Yami smiled and tilted his head, rushing forward to rub beaks with him in greeting. Atem blinked long and slow, studying him intently for a moment. Yami looked healthy and happy, despite the events earlier in the day. He huffed and shook himself out as he looked him over.

"You came to visit me?"

"I spoke to Yugi first. I wanted to…talk to him first. I figured it was your turn now," he said with his head tilted. He smiled faintly. "Although, I don't think you really need all the help Yugi did."

Atem nodded slightly. "So, you don't plan to ask me if I'd truly keep my word to Jaden if it came to that?"

"Why would I do that? I know you would." Yami tilted his head and smiled. "I trust you to do the right thing, what you have to. I know you will choose what you feel is the best."

"I would attempt to, yes," he answered, studying him for a moment. He searched his face and narrowed his eyes, considering him curiously. "I'd like to think I make good decisions when I use my gut."

His son grinned and shifted his weight, moving closer. He looked as if he wanted to rub beaks with him again, but Atem did not know why. He tilted his head and watched him for a long moment.

"Can you promise me something?"

Atem blinked. "What is it?"

"When the time comes and you have to make hard decisions, don't hesitate."

He studied him intently. "I see."

"It will make sense later. But I need you to promise me that."

Atem snorted. "I've never hesitated on a gut feeling before. Why should I now?"

"I didn't think you would, but…if it ever happens, remember your promise and hold to it. You can't hesitate."

"Do you see the future?"

"I can see small snippets, just before individual choices are made. But yours are still in the dark until they're made, and even then what I see is a split second rather than the minutes I can with Timaeus or Yugi." He shifted his weight. "It's a slow development. And I wish I could explain it, but—"

"I don't need to know the future. I just need to know the present," Atem interrupted. "I don't live in the past and I haven't made the future. It comes as it must. And I'll deal with things as they arrive. The future doesn't need to be seen."

Yami smiled slightly. "Yugi would have given his hearts just to know what yours would be."

"Yugi has always been more hopeful than me."

"I know. It makes your relationship as mates even more interesting sometimes," he snickered. "You're so closed off and Yugi is always there to try to break down your walls."

Atem snorted and smirked. "Yeah."

Yami rubbed beaks with him again. "I wanted to say I don't doubt you'll make the right choices," he said abruptly. Atem tilted his head, puzzled. Why did it almost sound like a goodbye? Was it a farewell? "I just… I love you."

Atem blinked and narrowed his eyes. "I love you as well." He tilted his head. "But I don't understand. What is the purpose behind this? Why are you…here?"

Yami laughed softly, and Atem swore it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. "Because I wanted to make sure you knew. I wanted to make sure you knew how much I love you."

"I don't understand."

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

"So, then why don't you explain the meaning behind this visit, Yami?"

"I already have. I love you. That's why I came to see you. I love you and I wanted to make sure you knew that." He paused. "I wanted you to know I have faith in you, no matter what you might decide in the future."

"You worry me."

"I know." Yami laughed again. "But you'll understand soon."

"Why can't I now? What's so important I must be in the dark about so many things?" Atem asked, studying his face intently. "You said I could disrupt everything, but wouldn't knowing my capabilities and how I affect things make everything so much easier? I don't understand that my ignorance might be so powerful as to stop things spiraling out of control."

Yami lost his smile, searching his face before looking away. "I'll tell you myself when the time comes. But until then, you should trust that I do not want to hurt you and I wish you'd never suffer pain of any kind."

Atem curled his lips back into a small snarl, unnerved. "What? Why do you believe I should suffer pain?"

He fell silent for a long moment. "As Ironheart said, the shadows are long and dark for you. There's going to be pain and misery and grief."

"Nothing I am unused to."

Yami looked up at him after a moment, searching his face. The look on his countenance was curious, puzzled, and for a few heartbeats he simply considered. Then he laughed softly and turned away, shaking his head slightly.

"No, but I don't think even you'll come from this unscathed."

"Is that so?"

"Unfortunately I believe it is."

Atem wanted to answer but couldn't think of words to offer. He blinked and turned away, studying the water. It wasn't as if he'd come out of past incidents without harm. He'd never come from problems unscathed. Somehow he was too exhausted or maybe too shaken. Sometimes he was lost to his thoughts and unable to focus. He couldn't think straight at times, nor consider the task of trying to attempt to force himself to.

His head ached, though it was dull and fuzzy. He looked over again. Yami hadn't moved from his seated spot, though Atem swore his eyes had darkened slightly.

"Did you know you could heal us so quickly like that?"

"No, but I had to try. I had to know if I could heal you both like that. I've never tried to make it work so quickly before. Usually I give you more time to relax and then work my magic. But it was… I couldn't afford to, especially when Yugi was so wounded."

Atem blinked. "Yes. I appreciate the haste."

Yami laughed. "I figured you might."

"You shouldn't have put yourself in that situation."

"I know."

"You almost got Timaeus and Yugi killed."

"No. Jaden wasn't going to kill them. He was after me. After he'd subdued them he would have left them there. He would have healed them after the fight was over. But he wasn't going to kill them just to get to me."

"No? He certainly seemed ready to kill Yugi. Timaeus fought Yusei, and Yusei didn't have a bone of ill will toward him. If he'd turned on us as Jaden had, he could have easily killed Timaeus."

"I wouldn't have let him."

"You believe you could have stopped him?"

"I know I could have. I stopped you killing Bakura and yourself."

"You keep insisting I would have hurt myself. Why?"

"It wasn't just that. If you had struck him, you would have cut your jugular because of the angle. But if you hadn't managed to hit him, he would have struck you in the eye with his tail. You both were aiming for each other, and it could have killed you both so easily. I…I couldn't have lived with myself if you were hurt because of me and died because I didn't act when I should have."

Atem grunted. "One heart lost wouldn't have made a difference."

"It would have." Yami shook his head. "It would have made a huge difference."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I wouldn't have interfered and hurt you if I'd thought otherwise. If there had been another way to fix the problem—"

"I told you not to apologize to me falsely."

Yami snorted, smiling. "I know. But I feel like there's so much I should apologize for."

Atem fell silent and shook his head, then looked him over and narrowed his eyes. "Did you save Yugi when we fell over the cliffs? Was it you?" he asked softly, searching his face. There was an urgency in his tone that he didn't know how to suppress. His hearts began to thunder in his chest. "Or did I misjudge and assume it worse than it was?"

Yami smiled faintly. "No, it was me. Your fear urged me to wake for a short period of time. I…don't know how I did it, actually. I was aware but I also wasn't. I focused so hard on him, on ceasing your panic, that I did it. I stopped his body temperature plummeting. I raised it. I made it stable again. I…I guess I incubated him as he had my egg."

Atem nodded slowly. "I don't expect you to explain everything to me. I just… I wanted to make sure."

"Because that's why you spared me when I hatched."

He studied him. "Yes. I knew you'd saved Yugi. And that's why I allowed you to live when I first spotted you and originally thought to kill you instead."

Yami smiled. "I wouldn't have been upset with you even if you'd killed me then. I won't be upset with you later if you have to end my life."

"You wouldn't have known anger when you first hatched." Atem snorted. "How should you know you wouldn't be upset should I have to kill you now?"

"I trust you. I'll let you decide if you must strike me down later." Yami got up and rubbed beaks with him again. "I have to go. I was planning to talk to Timaeus, too."

Atem smirked. "Tell him I said hi, I suppose." He paused and narrowed his eyes, studying him. "I've been meaning to tell you that you have to ask Timaeus if he wants his eye back. I've seen you trying to heal it."

Yami blinked, faltering. "I…"

"The scar is less noticeable than it was before. But his eye… If you want to give him his eye back, you need to ask his permission." Atem tilted his head. "I know you love him and want to do this for him. But I don't think he wants this."

"If he doesn't, it's because he's scared," Yami stated, raising his head with a defiant glint in his eyes. "He doesn't know what he'll do if he has both eyes again. But he dreams with both, not just one. And he's… I want to give him his eye back."

Atem nodded and looked away. "Ask him his permission before you do something that involves him, Yami. We don't know that this might not hurt him in the future."

"Hurt him? How would it hurt him?"

"He'll have to adapt to being able to see from his right eye again. He's been so used to using his left that it will likely be jarring if he could use his right again. But if you ask him and he says yes, then do it. If he says no, you must promise to respect that. His decision matters."

Yami blinked and looked away, nodding slightly. "I'll stop if he says no."

Timaeus woke to a cold den. The air was unusually frigid and there was something oddly lacking about the large space. He yawned and stretched, then looked about the den to make sure Yami was not beneath his paws as he circled. He lay down and smacked his lips, yawning once more before he closed his eye and settled more comfortably. Yami had probably taken to rest with one of his fathers, most likely Atem, in fact. The thought made him smirk faintly.

It was amazing how attached Yami was to the Sky Dragon.

He didn't think it had to do with something so shallow as looking like him. But he did wonder if it had to do with their similar temperaments. Yami worried more than Atem, but the God Dragon instilled a soft and steady calm in the hatchling. It was clear whenever they looked at each other just how easily Atem could sway his mood. He was calm, cool and collected as always, and Yami fed on that energy. He fed on it and emulated it and loved to be around it.

No doubt he'd also chosen to play about in Atem's dreams, as he had Yugi's. Yami had even come to him for a few minutes, rubbing beaks and saying he'd see him when he woke but that he didn't plan to stay in their dreams. He'd said he wanted to rest on his own, to see what his own mind conjured in the meantime.

He flexed and wiggled his toes where they rested beneath his chin.

He blinked his eye open and yawned once more. In front of him Yugi was curled up facing away, as Atem was. Both of them were fast asleep still. Timaeus got up and stretched himself out, glancing around. Where was Yami? He looked around and paced about, whispering, "Yami?"

But there was no movement or acknowledgment.

Maybe he was in a deeper sleep than usual. He'd felt that way before he'd woken. It had been almost impossible to wake, as if Yami's departure from his rest had put him into a tighter snare of sleep. He stretched himself out once more and curled up, studying Atem and Yugi as well.

"Yami?" he tried again. There was no answer but he looked about hopefully for a moment. Then he lay his head on his paws. That was fine; Yami might have just been sleeping or perhaps he was just too tightly snuggled with one of his parents to care he was calling for him. There was no urgency, after all, and it wasn't as if he were wounded.

He closed his eye again and woke hours later to Atem moving about the den. Timaeus rolled over and stood up, stretching, and yawned softly. "You okay?"

Atem looked over slowly, studying him and then the spot around him. "Yami isn't with you."

"I thought he was with you." Timaeus felt a shiver trail down his spine. "Is he not asleep with Yugi?"

Atem shook his head. "Yugi went outside to see if he was somewhere nearby," he said softly, blinking and searching his face. He bristled after a long moment, then turned away and narrowed his eyes. Timaeus saw the gem on his forehead darken faintly and he shivered as they looked at each other. "I don't think he's nearby if he ran off like this on his own."

"Why would he have run off?"

Atem didn't answer, narrowing his eyes before he jumped atop the ledge and headed out the den. Timaeus hurried after him, pausing and considering, and then followed diligently. They looked at each other as they continued past the outcrop and along the riverbank. Atem turned his head and scanned every inch of their surroundings, studying intently as if to find any hint of paw prints about the dirt.

"Did he visit you?"

Timaeus hesitated. "He did. It was only for a few minutes. He asked me to promise I'd take care of you if anything happened." He ignored the way Atem stiffened for a single second before looking over. "When I agreed he told me he'd been trying to heal my eye since we met, but he didn't know that he could go so far as to restore an organ like that. He said he'd been trying for so long, but the furthest he got was minimalizing the scarring left over. I never even noticed."

"The only reason I knew was because at times when he laid with you, he'd wake and rub at his eye and look miserable. He didn't let me see it often, but he was blinded for a few minutes each time." Timaeus stopped short and stared, horrified. Atem stopped as well, watching him. "He wouldn't realize I was awake yet because he couldn't see me immediately. And when he realized, he'd pretend there was nothing wrong."

Timaeus shivered. "I didn't know he was doing that."

Atem turned away. "I know. I didn't bring it up. And I don't think Yugi ever saw it." He paused. "I was hopeful he would stop on his own when he realized it was hurting him. I should have known better, but—"

"Atem."

Timaeus noted with pure amazement that Atem did not seem particularly shocked by the horrified tone in Yugi's voice. It was only as the God Dragon took off to find his mate that Timaeus realized Atem had been expecting the worst. He'd gotten up, woken Yugi to search, and known something was wrong. He'd known something was wrong and he'd anticipated the worst. If they found Yami dead, Atem likely wouldn't blink he was so prepared for bad news.

He wished he'd taken the time to brace himself as well. Yugi's voice terrified him. Atem's silence now made his blood feel cold. The faster they ran, the more certain he was it was worse than he'd wanted to admit it might be.

The clearing they stood in was charred, several trees scorched almost to nothing. Blood splatter lined much of the undergrowth and it was clear there had been a struggle. A gaping chunk of flesh colored bright red on the inside and darker on the outside, smeared with dirt and straw and remnants of bark, lay in a pool of blood feet away.

Jaden had come back so soon?

Why would he have come back so soon? Atem had seemed so certain he wouldn't…

Atem turned away and padded back towards the den.

Yugi faltered a moment, then raced after him. "Atem?"

Timaeus stared at the burned flesh and the blood splatter and turned to look at them both again. Yugi had cut Atem off a few yards away, searching his face frantically.

"Atem—"

"I won't wage war over a life lost," the God Dragon snarled, moving past Yugi once more. He didn't quicken or slow his previous pace, walking steadily. "It won't bring him back."