Chapter LIX: Unstoppable

Atem turned his head and leveled the Red-Eyes with a sharp, glittering stare. "I've done more than enough to earn your half of the story. I've been patient. I've waited. I've sat here and listened to you belittle me. I've taken into account your festering hatred of me and the problems I pose for your son. I've done that. And now I'm done waiting. Tell me what you know of the edict."

Yugi bristled faintly, startled by the dead tone of his words. He bore his teeth and breathed roughly through his teeth, unsure what to say. Did he intervene? His mother was clearly upset even thinking about before the time she'd laid his egg. She'd never told him anything of it. She'd refused. His father had instead taken over storytelling if he requested her life before she'd found him.

The Luster Dragon stared at Atem for a long time, then chuckled. "I like your spirit. You only take so much stalling. You put up with more than you deserve. And yet you only ask what you came for."

"I have little right to more than my original inquiry."

Yugi looked between his parents and Atem. The God Dragon was unwavering, staring with impatience but without hostility. His father seemed more amused than ever, as if he were waiting for the most important event of his life.

"How humble of you," his mother sneered. "I'm amazed by your humility."

"You should be. If I were Jaden, you'd have already told me."

Yugi watched his mother's face twist with frustration, eyes flashing with resentment for a single second. She turned away, growling softly, and shook her head. Yugi could tell she'd wanted to argue but couldn't. Atem was right. Jaden would have used his abilities to make her speak by now. The fact that Atem sat there waiting, as impatient as he was, spoke volumes.

"I was born in the very beginning of it, in the Fire Clan." She huffed and scowled at Atem for a moment. "There were only a few clutches he didn't destroy, and mine was one. He ate most of the eggs, but he kept about ten of us. I don't know why he decided we were the ones, or how he chose us. The most I know is he ate all but one of every nest. I suppose he meant to pit us all against each other."

"He didn't?"

"We were too young. He pitted the older hatchlings against each other. The nursery was a public execution area. It was a slaughter spot. He showed us what he'd done to the Fire Clan leader to demonstrate what he wanted from us. He wanted to see us gut each other and all but eat the corpses." She paused and shook her head. "He forced two siblings to fight to death in the pit for fun. They beat each other bloody and got themselves all but torn to pieces fighting like that. He reveled in it. It happened like that every night for a moon before he was found. Adults fought to be free enough just to survive outside of containment caverns. A lot of them died from lack of sunlight or food. He liked to starve a few of them. Others he'd feed the dead bodies."

Yugi shuddered and glanced at Atem sideways. It occurred to him then that had someone like Sartorius or even Keith managed to force themselves upon him and he had been bound to them due to his genetics, he could very well have been forced to commit mirroring atrocities. Atem could have been forced to murder and starve and isolate prisoners in a war he didn't want part of.

He wondered what would have happened had that Uria managed to survive the ice breath. Would they have forced Atem to do such things? Or had they merely wanted recognition as a capable dragon that had overpowered a deity?

If Atem had been forced to do the things his mother was describing, how much worse would it have all turned out? Atem was the most dangerous dragon in existence if Yami had been truthful. He'd said Atem had the greatest power out of the God Dragons, even if he didn't recognize it as such. He'd said Atem could have brought the world to ashes should he have gone down another path. He'd said Atem would have turned to a monster had it not been for Timaeus—if he'd survived past the rotting of his side to see another day.

Atem glanced at him in his peripheral but kept his main focus on Yugi's mother. The only reason he knew he was watching was because he could feel it like teeth scraping his bones. He shivered and looked at his mother again.

"What did he look like?" Atem asked abruptly when there was only silence for a long minute. Yugi blinked and raised his head, tilting it as he considered his mother. She turned to Atem with a bewildered expression. "Sartorius. You saw him, right?"

"Oh, yes. I saw him. He made sure each of us saw him when we hatched, so that he could force us to imprint on him in order to prove loyalty. That's why pitting us against each other never seemed to be second guessed by the hatchlings. We didn't know any better. He was there and he was the first face we saw. We saw him as…" She trailed off and turned away. "The mother was a Wind Dragon mixed with a Gandora. She looked mostly like a Gandora-X species, but she had the fur and huge double-jointed wings. Her colorings were a mix of black, gray and pale purple, and she had gems all over her body. The center of her chest plate looked like a huge, gaping eye where the gem was discolored. Every single one of her claws looked like chunks of sharpened gold."

Yugi saw Atem freeze in place beside him. The Slifer sat up taller, eyes widening and the gem on his forehead becoming oddly clear. It sparkled as if it were a star against his scales and he stared, so statuesque Yugi feared for a moment he was not breathing.

"Atem?"

His mate jerked and looked over, blinking. "What?"

"What's wrong? What's…?"

He blinked again, then looked to Yugi's mother. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I… Just continue, please."

Yugi's father tilted his head. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

Atem shook his head. "No, I… I think I know the mother," he breathed. Then he growled softly. "It doesn't matter. Please, just continue. I want to know more. What was he?"

Yugi's mother curled her lips back to show the ridges of her teeth in pure hatred. "Oh? You know her? Do me a favor and spit on her corpse when you cross paths with her next," she spat. "She gave birth to a monstrosity. She deserves death in the most painful manner—something like the executions her son put my family through."

Atem looked away. "That's not my call. I can't just…"

"Oh, yes, look at that. The Sky Dragon has no backbone. What a surprise."

"Mom," Yugi snapped, chomping his teeth at her face and barely missing her beak, "enough. Stop it."

She glared at him for a long minute, then looked to Atem again. "Are you incapable of defending yourself or is Yugi just so happy to do it for you?" she scoffed. Atem stared at her silently for so long Yugi noticed her visibly shift her weight. She scowled and shook her head sharply. "He looked like a Heart-Earth Chaos Dragon, but he had the Gandora-X chest and legs and he had six wings."

Atem blinked and Yugi tilted his head, studying his mate. Atem looked as if he was growing ill. His gem had turned cloudy and he'd opened his bottom mouth as if to breathe more easily. He looked exhausted as he glanced around and barked an uncertain laugh.

"He really was Jaden's."

"Wasn't that obvious? The mother was a Gandora, second generation or not."

"Her father was the Gandora. Her mother was a hybrid of another kind, but with ties to an Earth species. That's why she…" Atem fell silent for a long time, sounding distracted. He seemed as if he were talking to himself, and Yugi didn't think he'd realized they'd been discussing Sartorius's mother, not the female's. "And then she produced Sartorius. And Sartorius being a third generation Gandora with Earth, Fire, Wind and likely Water Dragon genetics… He would have been nearly unstoppable."

"He wasn't," Yugi said firmly, though he was shaken by Atem's distant, distracted tone. "He wasn't unstoppable. He may have been nearly, but he wasn't. He died. He was killed. No one is unstoppable. Sartorius wasn't. Neither was Keith."

Atem blinked and looked over at him sideways. "No, they weren't," he agreed, though his voice was tinged with annoyance. Yugi wondered if it was aimed at him, but the thought filtered away when he saw how dark the gem on Atem's head had gotten. He was annoyed with himself, no doubt frustrated by the lack of answers and growing questions. "They weren't unstoppable."

Yugi searched his face. Atem had killed Keith himself. He'd stabbed his tail through his chest and destroyed his hearts. He had been the only reason Keith didn't remain to terrorize anyone else. Atem had done that. It hadn't been Jaden or Yusei or Leviathan. It had been Atem.

He wanted to remind him of that. He wanted to point it out and see Atem's face light up as he reminded himself of the fact. But Atem didn't work like that. And he knew he still blamed himself for Keith even getting so far. He hadn't killed him immediately upon losing his courtship challenge when he'd tried to attack him a second time and fled upon failing, and somehow that equated in Atem's head to him being the reason that Keith had gotten so far and done so many terrible things.

He didn't see his victory as more than a frustration, because he hadn't prevented the problem before it reared its head. He put too much on himself that couldn't have been prevented.

Yugi wondered if anyone even recognized that.

He wondered how often it had been overlooked, if he himself had done it at some point. He remembered being startled when Atem had snapped at him that he'd thought killing Keith meant he no longer had control of his life and yet somehow he still haunted him. He remembered him being tired and frustrated, as if Keith had shown himself to torture him despite his death.

"Yami could have been," Atem said so quietly Yugi almost missed it. He froze, eyes widening in shock, and stared blankly. "He blinded us and he stopped me killing Bakura. He could have stopped anyone who faced him. He could have been unstoppable if he'd grown and utilized his abilities long enough."

Yugi bristled. "Atem—"

The God Dragon looked over. "What? I'm not wrong," he hissed. And then he turned away to look at Yugi's parents again. Yugi could tell they hadn't heard him, because both seemed puzzled. "I've never seen a Heart-Earth Chaos Dragon before. I've heard of them, but…"

"The name is misleading," Yugi's father said quietly, "but they're Fire Dragons. They're called Heart-Earth because the world was born in fire, remember? They're considered the first species of Fire Dragon alongside the Uria."

Yugi blinked. They were the first two Fire Dragon species? He glanced at Atem sideways. "Is the Uria stronger?" he asked before he could stop himself. "Or is the Heart-Earth?"

"Uria. It's no contest," Yugi's mother scoffed. "A Uria is basically power incarnate. You don't know strength until you see one of them in battle. They are the closest definition of unstoppable."

Atem curled his lip. "I'm aware. I know all too well."

Yugi's parents gave him surprised looks but didn't question it. His mother turned back to Yugi briefly. "Heart-Earth Dragons are nothing to be taken lightly, but they're a far cry from a Uria. They're called the Lords of Searing Flames for a reason."

Yugi nodded. "Sartorius… Did he have offspring?"

"Several clutches. But he ate them if they hatched and had even the smallest scale out of place or took the wrong breath. He wasn't satisfied with any of them, but one of each nest was allowed to live. I think he planned to pit them against each other as well, but he never got that far." Yugi's mother shuddered. "I was set to fight Honda to the death and it was interrupted. Jaden came to fight Sartorius and he fled when Yusei arrived to save him."

"He saved Sartorius?"

"No, he saved Jaden," his mother huffed. "Sartorius had almost killed Jaden before Yusei appeared to stop him. Jaden resolved afterward to kill him, because he realized he wasn't going to be able to reach him. He'd tried, and Sartorius…"

She trailed off for a moment.

"He almost tore Jaden to pieces. It was one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen. He tried to carve Jaden open to eat his hearts in front of everyone."

Yugi froze, horrified. "What?"

"He didn't care Jaden was his father. He saw a problem and he sought to eliminate it. Yusei burst in at the last second and saved him. Sartorius fled to the Water Clan and killed Shadi there." She looked away. "But I don't know past that. I only know he managed to kill Shadi and eat his hearts in front of the Clan and I don't know how he got to him. I'd have thought Leviathan would have intervened, but for whatever reason…"

Yugi turned to Atem, about to open his mouth, but the God Dragon shot him a sideways glance that told him to hold his tongue. He tilted his head, bewildered, but his mate got to his paws and shook himself out.

"Thank you. I'll leave you to spend time with Yugi." He gave Yugi a sideways glance again, warning him not to argue. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

The flash of his eyes was a statement of its own—Make them count.

Yugi watched him go as he spun around and his red scales rapidly turned transparent. He moved like a shadow through the undergrowth, the foliage swaying as if stroked by a strong but isolated wind. He shivered as Atem disappeared entirely from sight and turned back. His mom stared at him expressionlessly. His father sighed softly and shook his head.

"Do you think we gave him any of the answers he wanted?"

"I think he's struggling to digest the news. I think he also put something together in his head that he doesn't want to share just yet," Yugi answered, grimacing.

He was more than slightly certain that was what had truly happened. Atem had pieced together information that he was afraid to share for the moment. He wanted a little while to digest it on his own before he tried to explain. He needed those few minutes. But he also wanted Yugi to have them with his parents. He realized, despite everything, as much as Atem would have liked otherwise, if the edict was declared again Yugi could not leave him. He could not come and hide with his parents. Atem cast the blind spot, not Yugi. And they'd see him there with his parents. They'd know where he was. They'd know and they'd hunt him down.

"He's tired and I think he's angry." Yugi sighed softly and tilted his head. "He's not one to share all the time. It's from his wonderful problems with his brothers and suitors. There was no relying on anyone else, so he tends to hold emotions inside of himself until they force themselves out."

Yugis mother nodded. "I see. And you're okay with that?"

"I'm not going to force him to share with me if he isn't ready. That's not fair on him. I can't just look at him and demand he tell me things when he doesn't feel right doing so." He paused. "Atem has always come around and told me afterward. Even when things get bad, he's always come around and told me whatever it was on his mind."

"Why did you let that egg hatch?"

Yugi stared at her a moment. "Why did you let mine?"

"You're not a Divine."

"And Yami was nothing like Sartorius."

His mother was quiet for a long minute. "How old was he when Jaden got to him?"

Yugi felt sick as he whispered, "He's been dead for two years now. He didn't make it to his first year."

His mother blinked, faltering visibly. She hesitated, opening and closing her mouth. "I…I'm sorry, Yugi. I didn't…" She shook her head. "I wouldn't have wished that on you or anyone else, even with how dangerous he could have been."

"Yami wouldn't have wanted to hurt a fly. He gets that from Atem."

She snorted as if he'd told a joke, then faltered when he failed to smile. "Yugi, he's called the Red Death for a reason."

"And my species is called the Dragon of Destruction, yet I don't recall ever destroying anything." He glanced over his shoulder toward where Atem had disappeared and turned back. "Plenty of suitors left his territory alive. Just as many perished when they overstepped. He never killed anyone just to do so. And there are no corpses hanging from trees to warn away others."

"That's true. I never saw one," his dad offered with a small smile, trying to calm the tension. Yugi mirrored the expression to show his gratitude and turned back.

"Mom, if you plan to dislike him do it for a reason. I don't want to cut you out of my life just because you're upset with him for a reason I don't understand. I get that you're afraid of his reputation and I can understand why you're nervous that his status might draw Jaden and the others' attention. I get it. I even understand now why you would have been so afraid of Yami. But that still doesn't…justify anything. It doesn't make it right. You can't treat him like this."

"Everything I didn't want for you is what you've chosen."

Yugi nodded. "My life is my own. Atem is my life. He's my heart and my breath. I chose him the moment I saw him. What happens now is on me, no matter what."

His father tilted his head toward his mother and studied her curiously. Yugi searched her face as she scowled back at him, then growled, "You think he can protect you? You truly believe that?"

"With everything I am."

And he wished she would have lied and said she believed it as well.

Instead she let out a soft, bitter laugh. "Then I hope he proves himself worthy."