CHAPTER 17: THE SPARRING PARTNERS CLICHÉ

THE SPARRING PARTNERS CLICHÉ: Quarrelsome couples can be counted on to add spice to overly sweet concoctions. And as much as we hate to admit it, they sometimes satisfy our need to see a dumpster fire on a trainwreck that's going off a cliff. Nick and Nora Charles waltz through The Thin Man series, trading playful jabs while sipping martinis and solving murders. And then there are the couples, from the 1740s Hogarth series of oil paintings, Marriage A-la-Mode, to the 1989 movie, The War of the Roses, who take the phrase, "until death do us part," as an instruction manual.

MORAL: On a scale that starts with a flirtatious dance-off and ends with a masochism tango, where do any of us fall?

Mokuba was glad that Yugi was the first to arrive at Burger World. Yugi had the same dazed look on his face: like he'd gone into outer space, and it was great, except there wasn't any gravity and you couldn't tell which way was up.

They ordered sodas while waiting for the others to arrive. Mokuba almost laughed when Yugi asked how he was doing.

"Who knows, anymore? I wanted Nisama to smile more and he is." Mokuba paused and took a gulp of soda. "I just don't know if I'm part of the reason why."

Yugi nodded.

"He even asked me what I wanted to do the other day. But it's weird, like he's counting items off a checklist. Talked to Mokuba today – check. Remembered to leave work in time for us to eat dinner – check. It's like we're flying somewhere and he's put the plane on autopilot and I don't even know the destination."

Yugi nodded again. "I keep waiting for things to go back to normal. I hated the Ceremonial Duel. I knew if I won, Atem was going to leave for good. And then this miracle happened and Atem returned…" Yugi's voice trailed off. Mokuba was staring into his soda; it was hard to tell if he was listening.

"Nisama keeps looking at me like I'm about to disappear. I don't get it. He's the one that vanished into thin air."

Yugi nodded for a third time, starting to feel like a bobble-head doll. "I was talking to Jounouchi the other day and he gave me some really good advice."

Mokuba snickered.

Yugi raised his chin and stared Mokuba down. "He did. Do you want to hear it or not?"

"Sorry," Mokuba mumbled.

"If you want to know what's up with your brother, you're going to have to ask him."

"I guess," Mokuba said glumly. Yugi was probably right, but the list of things his brother was willing to talk about was a lot shorter than the list of things he wasn't.

The gang arrived in a herd and crowded into their table. The next few minutes were a blur of them greeting each other, ordering, getting their food, and starting to snarf it down.

"We should go to a baseball game or something as a last fling before school starts," Jounouchi mumbled through a mouthful of burger.

"I'd love to see the Domino Dragons!" Atem said, taking a sip of his soda. "I've seen them on television but it's not the same thing as being at the park. Their new pitcher, Daisuke Yamai, is amazing!"

"You like baseball?" Yugi asked, surprised.

"Hey! How do you know this stuff that Yugi doesn't?" Jounouchi asked, in between stuffing food in his mouth.

"Why shouldn't he?" Anzu countered, chomping down on a French fry. "They're not photocopies of each other."

"It's good to try new things," Bakura said softly.

"We've watched the Dragons on television. My brother likes baseball, too," Mokuba put in.

"Given the name, I'm surprised your brother hasn't bought the team," Jounouchi said.

"He hates the mascot. It looks too cuddly," Mokuba replied.

Everyone laughed.

"In one world, we were all baseball players. I was a pitcher." Atem turned to Jounouchi. "You played first base."

"That sounds awesome! Now, that's a world I'd like to see. What did Yugi play?" Jounouchi asked.

Atem hesitated. "He was the trainer."

Anzu smiled at Yugi. "You found a way to make everyone play better, just like here."

"Freaky but cool," Honda agreed.

"Yeah, imagine being a baseball player instead of having to go to school. I can't believe our summer vacation is almost over," Jounouchi grumbled, shoving the last of his burger in his mouth.

"At least you've got a plan for being on time for the rest of the year. My plan," Honda said smugly.

"That doesn't make up for having to go back in the first place. School sucks!"

"Hey, don't discourage Atem before he starts!" Honda warned.

Bakura looked up in mid bite, surprised. His head swiveled between Jounouchi and Atem, who was ignoring his food and most of everything else.

Jounouchi snickered and tapped Atem on a red and gold brocaded sleeve. "You're going to have to get used to wearing a uniform again instead of all this fancy stuff. It'll be like old times!"

Yugi turned to Atem. "Aren't you excited? We'll all be going to school together!"

"What?" Atem asked, uneasily aware he'd been thinking about Kaiba in his baseball uniform instead of paying attention. "School?"

"You're coming back with us, aren't you?" Yugi asked. "It'll be fun!"

Atem flushed. He knew school was starting. Yugi's life had been ruled by its schedule. The gang had been grumbling about it all week. "I forgot," he confessed.

Yugi blushed as well. "I just assumed you'd want to be with all of us."

Atem stared at Yugi. After all his talk of decisions, this one had caught him by surprise. Atem couldn't shake the memory of the world where he'd come back with Kaiba only to drift away. The reverse suddenly seemed like just as big a danger. He saw himself standing still as everyone he loved moved away, because he was too stubborn to follow. School beckoned, whispering to him from an alley, promising escape: his days planned out in advance, his decisions lined up neatly in front of him, already made. What else was he going to do while Kaiba was at work and Yugi was in school? Wander around Domino as if he was a ghost again? Visit Sugoroku until Yugi's grandfather was sick of the sight of him?

It was easy to push back against Kaiba, to assert his own right to drift, to reveal his own uncertainty as if it was a spoil of war. But now he was facing Yugi, whose lips were starting to drift downwards as concern filtered across his face. Atem scowled, disgusted with himself. He'd always been the one to act, to push forward. Of all the consequences he was willing to accept, having Yugi see him as pitiable wasn't one of them. Atem winked at Yugi, his old confident grin firmly in place. "Of course, I'm going to school with you!"

"Great!" Yugi yelled.

The gang cheered. Mokuba looked at Atem, confused. Atem already had a high school diploma, courtesy of his brother. Mokuba got the appeal of hanging out with your friends, but he didn't get why you had to sit in school to do it, or why anyone wanted a normal life, whatever that was. But everyone was smiling and the gang was reaching across the table to slap Atem's arm or grab his shoulder.

Atem smiled back. He'd made a decision. He glanced at Mokuba's puzzled face and firmly put aside the suspicion he'd avoided one as well.

Atem tried to remember everything he could about school. Yugi and their friends had liked some classes and dreaded others. Their main objection was being cooped up in the same building all day. Atem wondered if it was like being stuck in the Puzzle, only bigger.

"Are you okay?" Anzu asked. "Is this what you want?"

"Of course, it is," Atem replied with trademark bravado. "I'll get to find out for myself if Math is really as boring as Yugi thinks."

"Believe me, it is!" Jounouchi laughed. "But we'll all be together and that's worth any amount of boredom. Besides, what else is there to do? Hang out by yourself all day?"

Honda shrugged. "And it's supposed to prepare us for the future or something."

Atem grinned. "And now I have a future to prepare for."

After they'd finished eating and paid the bill, a limousine pulled up in front of the restaurant and honked its horn.

"That's my ride!" Mokuba said. He ran outside and jumped into the front seat beside Isono.

"I don't want to go back to school," Mokuba announced as Isono headed towards the mansion.

Isono suppressed a smile. "A common sentiment."

"The summer went by too quick!"

Isono nodded. There was something refreshing about listening to ordinary schoolboy gripes. "It always does."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Isono assured him.

"If you came back from the dead, would you want to go to school?"

Isono sighed to himself. "It's hard to say what I'd do in the unlikely event I came back from the dead."

Mokuba pouted.

Isono relented. "I can't imagine school would be the first thing on my list."

Mokuba nodded in approval. "I know, right?"

They rode in silence for a couple of blocks. When they were within sight of the grounds, Mokuba blurted out, "Yugi said that Jounouchi said that if I wanted to know what was up with my brother, I'd have to talk to him about it."

"Mister Jounouchi said that? It's good advice."

Mokuba snickered. "Yeah, I was surprised too."

Isono nodded but didn't answer.

Mokuba sighed, wishing he could demand that his brother break down, by percentage points, the component parts of his newfound happiness. Isono pulled up to the front entrance. "Thanks," Mokuba said to Isono.

"Any time," Isono answered.

Mokuba exited the car and squared his shoulders as he faced the mansion. Now he just had to figure out what to say.

Kaiba came home shortly after Mokuba. They went to the game room and sat on the couch, waiting for dinner. They played a video game. Before Kaiba could start a second one, Mokuba turned to him and said, "I don't get it."

His brother frowned. "What?"

"Why Atem is going to high school. I mean he could do anything. Why pick that?"

Kaiba's lips tightened. "Atem did what?"

"You didn't know? I figured you guys had talked about it." Mokuba frowned. "It was weird. I didn't think Atem was even listening. He looked surprised when Yugi brought it up, like he'd never thought about it before. There was this freaky pause. Yugi looked like he was going to cry. But then, Atem went along with it."

Kaiba's lips thinned further. "Went along with it?"

"Kinda… yeah."

Kaiba grunted and dropped the subject. They went in to dinner. Kaiba stared at his food as though it offended him. Mokuba couldn't help but feel like a storm was about to break and he was glad to escape up to his room before Atem got back.

Atem walked in the front door then came into the game room to find Kaiba pacing the floor.

Kaiba poured himself a glass of whiskey, grimaced, then choked it down. He swiveled and transferred his glare from his drink to Atem. "When were you planning on telling me you're going to high school?"

"Right now. I don't have to clear my decisions with you." Atem returned.

"Your decision? Or did everyone else decide it for you?"

"Why do you care?" Atem parried.

"I set everything up – all your identity documents – just so you could avoid wasting your time in high school!"

"Maybe you should have asked me first!"

"I did. I listed an Egyptian High School Diploma as one of the items I was having forged as well as hacking into their database! Or did you think you had to collect one from every country like they're booster packs? That going to high school was like showing up for a tournament? Oh wait, it is – you have to register first to do either!"

The blood rushed to Atem's face. He hadn't thought about it or remembered. But if Kaiba thought he could talk to Atem like he was an idiot…

"It's still none of your business! Why shouldn't I go to high school if I want to?"

"Which brings me back to my original question: do you – not Yugi or anyone else – want to go? Just tell me why."

"I don't understand," Atem said.

"You want me to repeat it in ancient Egyptian?"

"Stop mocking me!"

"When you stop dodging! Just tell me this is what you want and I'll shut up," Kaiba insisted.

Atem glared at Kaiba, trapped. He didn't know what the truth was. He refused to lie. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"No. You don't." Kaiba crossed his arms and waited.

"I'm going! That's all you need to know. Who are you to challenge me?"

Kaiba snorted. "Your rival."

Atem's face twisted into a question mark. "Everyone goes to high school."

Kaiba pounced. "Is that what you came back for? To be everyone? Or to think for yourself for once?"

"It happened so fast. All my friends are going."

"What's the matter? Afraid they won't be your friends if you don't do what they want? If you don't think and feel exactly like them?"

"No!" Atem shouted a little too quickly. Kaiba had drawn first blood and they both knew it.

"They why do you give a fuck what Yugi and his little band of cheerleaders expect? They expected you to vanish into the after-life, too." Kaiba threw back his head and laughed. "Maybe you should have obliged them if all you're going to do is be a good little lemming, ready to jump off a cliff as long as all your friends are doing it too. Didn't you learn anything?"

"What about you?" Atem shot back. "If you really want to be that older, wiser version of yourself that you're obsessed with, maybe you should practice listening instead of yelling, starting right now! I just got off one pre-arranged path. I'm not jumping on another!"

"Unless it's what Yugi and his friends want you to do," Kaiba sneered.

"Hard as it is to believe, I value my friends. And that's what scares you, isn't it? You're never going to build a bridge to that future you want. It's never going to be strong enough, not until you get a handle on your own fears!"

Kaiba's laugh cut as deeply as his words. "Playing Mirror Force doesn't make anything I said less true. Do you really think I haven't dueled you all these years without recognizing your tactics? You can attack me all you want. It's not going to make my question go away. Why did you bother coming back if you're just going to go along with what everyone else wants like you're still Yugi's other me?"

Atem roared, "You don't get to tell me what to do!"

"I'm not going to stand by and watch you turn yourself into a ghost again! I'm not telling you what to do – except to think for yourself." Kaiba drew himself up to his full height and looked down on Atem as though he'd found him clinging to the bottom of his shoe. "Otherwise, you might as well go crawling back to Yugi. Maybe you should try to reattach yourself to him while you're at it. We all saw how well that worked out."

"How's this for a decision?" Atem screamed, drawing himself up and glaring at Kaiba, matching him in anger if not in height. "I don't have to put up with you every time something doesn't line up with whatever roadmap is in your head. You don't want me to think for myself, you want me to agree! And you need to back off, because here's another decision for you to chew over: I don't have to stay!"

Atem slammed out of the house. Once the gates had closed behind him, he realized he wasn't sure where to go. He shook his head, remembering Yugi and Sugoroku telling him he always had a home with them. He'd had enough of his rival; tonight, he wanted his other self.

The walk helped him cool down, helped him come up with a smile and several plausible excuses for crashing at Yugi's place for the night. But when Yugi opened the door and stared at him in surprise, Atem simply said, "We had a fight. Can I stay here?"

"Of course, you can!" Yugi said, leading him into the living room. Sugoroku looked up. He nodded when Yugi asked if Atem could stay over. They went upstairs to Yugi's room to lay down a sleeping mat.

"What happened?" Yugi asked.

Atem shook his head. "I'm not sure." He relayed the fight, all the comments jostling together in his mind and spilling out. He shook his head again and tried to put everything in its proper order. "He found out I was planning on going to high school. Seto asked me why I wanted to go. He reminded me I'm not even enrolled, that all my documents would have to be redone."

"That's no big deal," Yugi said. "Kaiba could fix that, easy."

Atem frowned. "It was the way he said it, like it was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard. He said that I only wanted to go to be with you guys."

"What's wrong with that?" Yugi asked. "I do stuff to go along all the time. That's what friends do."

Atem frowned. He'd come here knowing Yugi would be on his side. It was what he wanted to hear. Atem opened his mouth to agree, surprised when the objection, "But what if it's not what I want?" popped out, instead.

"What?"

"I didn't choose to go to school, I let it happen to me. It's one thing to go along with you to a movie or Burger World, another to decide what to do with my life based on what everyone else thinks best."

Yugi paled. "Like the Ceremonial Duel? We thought that was what you wanted!"

"And I didn't think – either then or now. It was easier not to. I thought I'd learned better." Atem's brows drew together. Kaiba had been obnoxious, but he'd also had a point. Away from Kaiba's braying voice, Atem could see that now.

"How much thinking does it take to go to school? It's okay. Don't worry. I'm sure it's a shock, breaking up with Kaiba, but you did the right thing, moving back here. You're home now. It'll be like having a brother! You'll see. It'll be great!"

Breaking up? Moving in with Yugi? Atem felt like he was back in the days leading up to the Ceremonial Duel. He'd felt the same way at Burger World when the gang had talked about returning to school: events were sweeping him along and he was caught in their current, helpless to resist. He remembered Kaiba asking, "Didn't you learn anything?"

Atem frowned. He was the only one who could lay hands on the steering wheel – or step on the brakes. "Wait! I didn't break up with Kaiba!" Atem shouted. He paused, trying to sort it out. Did Kaiba think they'd broken up? "I'm mad at Kaiba. I couldn't look at his sneering face or listen to his taunts a moment longer. That's why I came here."

"You can admit you made a mistake. I can't imagine ever talking to Anzu like that, even if we become a real couple."

Atem sighed. How could he explain something to Yugi that he didn't understand himself? Seto Kaiba attracted and repelled him, sometimes in almost equal measure. Kaiba staunchly defended Atem's right to choose his own course – and then insisted he do it all instantly. He confused grace with pity and so, neither offered nor accepted either. He'd seen Atem when Atem himself had seen only a shadow. Atem had once taken "Darkness" as his name; Kaiba had illuminated it. The road of their history was also the road of their growth, and Atem didn't want to walk it with anyone else.

"Why would you want to stay with him? It sounds awful!" Yugi continued.

"Tonight was awful. But that's not all that's going on." Atem knew what he didn't want. What he did was much harder to decipher. He pressed his lips together. He didn't care if Yugi thought he was weak or indecisive. "I'm not breaking up because of one fight."

"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you want." Yugi paused and added, "It didn't take you guys long to start fighting."

"It usually doesn't," he reminded Yugi. Atem looked away. He'd hoped his Yugi would understand, even if he didn't go as far as cheering them on. It was a reminder he was stuck on this world with no way to hit the reset button when things went sideways.

"Let's just finish getting ready for bed, okay?" Yugi said, squeezing Atem's shoulder.

Atem sighed in place of an answer. He was tired.

"Everything will look better in the morning," Yugi reassured him.

Atem nodded. Laying in a dark room seemed easier than talking.

Kaiba went to bed hoping the act of undressing would break the spell and he and Atem would wind up back in limbo, happy to have escaped yet another poisonous world, happy to be back together as they lay in each other's arms and watched the stars.

It didn't.

Kaiba tossed himself awake the next morning. His bed was too big; his sheets missed Atem's warmth.

He looked up at his stained-glass dragons soaring across his window, remembering that Atem had liked them. He wanted to close his eyes again and pretend the night before hadn't happened, that the morning would magically bring Atem back to him.

Real life was harder. There was no rescue coming. If they wanted to reset the board, they'd have to set up the pieces themselves. There were no guarantees. A single fight could end it all. Kaiba shivered, afraid Atem was right, that he'd never reach the future he'd seen, the future where Atem loved him. He was never going to be enough.

All the sweet, meaningless words Atem had said in limbo ran through his mind: "You're an honorable duelist, no matter the battlefield… with my rival by my side… you're beautiful… I believe in you… I'm glad I got the chance to show you, on world after world, that you matter to me… with all my heart… trust me…"

Kaiba thrust himself out of bed. He showered and dressed, donning his coat like armor. He might be headed for another loss, but he wasn't going down without a fight.

Kaiba sent a text and went down to breakfast. He suddenly remembered the dragon bowl from his childhood, from the world where his parents had lived. He wanted it back.

Mokuba came downstairs and joined him. Kaiba grunted in greeting. Mokuba didn't comment on Atem's absence, pretended he hadn't heard Atem storm out of the house the night before. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Kaiba's contribution to breakfast consisted of pushing the food around on his plate.

"You're looking at your phone again," Mokuba said after Kaiba had glanced at it for the fourth time.

Kaiba hadn't realized how many times he'd checked his messages to see if Atem had replied.

Atem hadn't.

Kaiba grunted in warning.

Mokuba bit his lip. "He's walked out on you twice now. Maybe it's time to move on."

"Shut up and mind your own business!" Kaiba roared.

Mokuba flinched.

Kaiba closed his eyes, seeing that same flinch after Death-T, in that first alternative world, seeing Mokuba leave him in another, escaping from the desert their house had become. Kaiba scowled and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't need to review alternative worlds to see how he lost Mokuba. He had enough ammunition in this one.

"I'm sorry," Kaiba said.

Mokuba stared at him in shock.

"We're a team." Kaiba gave a pale glimmer of a smile. "I wouldn't want my vice president to be a 'yes-man.'"

Mokuba grinned.

Kaiba ran his hand through his hair again. "For the first time, in limbo, I saw what I wanted."

"I thought you wanted to get home to me."

"I did things I didn't know I could, just to get back to you. But I saw a world where I was happy. I can't let it go. I can't. It would kill me."

Mokuba sighed. "You never can."

Kaiba drew in a breath but didn't answer. Part of him knew he was supposed to say something, that refusing to talk was how they drifted apart, but he couldn't work up the energy. Containing his anger so he didn't lash out was hard enough.

They left for Kaiba Corporation together, both hoping that work would be a sufficient distraction.

Yugi's alarm woke Atem up the next morning. He looked around, blinking at the familiar room, trying to figure out what had happened. Was this another alternative world? Then he remembered. Atem groaned and covered his eyes with his hands, as if that would make their fight magically disappear, as though if he wished hard enough, he and Kaiba would wind up back in limbo, where they could talk it all out.

Atem got out of bed, trying not to wake Yugi. If any talking was going to happen, it was going to be on this world, and Atem had no idea what to say.

The stand-off continued throughout the day. Yugi offered to stay home with Atem, but school was starting tomorrow and Atem didn't want Yugi to miss out on his last day of freedom with his friends. Atem walked around the city, trying to recapture the excitement he'd felt upon his return. He tugged at the collar of his T-Shirt, adjusted the waistband on his sweatpants. His borrowed clothes lay uneasily against his skin. He'd washed his own clothes in the morning and hung them up to dry. Now, he was left with these interlopers, an unwelcome reminder of the night before.

He headed towards the pier, accompanied by Kaiba's dragon roar ringtone heralding each new message or call. They arrived regularly on the half hour mark; Atem wondered if Kaiba had set a timer. Atem didn't respond. He was angry: at Kaiba, at himself, at the Domino school system for landing him in this mess. Kaiba's words – not the furiously taunting ones, but the rare softer sentences – ran through his mind: "Just tell me this is what you want… Am I supposed to sit back and watch you give up… Didn't you learn anything?" Each blast from his phone reminded Atem of Kaiba's questions, as insistent as Kaiba himself. Atem didn't have an answer. By the time he'd returned to Yugi's home, he'd grown to like the noise. It was the sound of Kaiba's panic; it carried the promise of return. But Sugoroku and Yugi winced with each new alert. Atem turned his phone off. It was a relief to finally go to bed, even if he'd given up the hope of waking up in limbo.

Sugoroku sighed as he got out of bed the next morning. He rubbed his lower back out of habit, stretched, threw a robe over his pajamas and pushed his feet into his slippers. It was a good thing he was an early riser, otherwise the idiot leaning on his car horn outside would definitely have woken him up.

He went downstairs and opened the door and muttered, "I should have known." Sugoroku changed into his outdoor shoes and walked up to Kaiba's silver sports car, which managed to look more like a dragon than a car should.

It was the silver on silver detailing, Sugoroku decided, the faint hint of interlocking scales, the suggestion of gleaming eyes in the headlights. He was glad the noise had stopped.

"I want to talk to Atem," Kaiba stated.

"We heard. All evening until Atem turned his phone off. I wish Atem had chosen a less obnoxious ringtone for your calls and texts. Then again, I can see why he felt an annoying one might be more appropriate."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "I programmed my ringtone when I gave him the phone."

Sugoroku smiled. "That explains it," he said blandly. "Atem's asleep. At least I hope he slept through the racket you just caused. Half the neighborhood's probably awake."

Kaiba frowned. He raised his hands to bang on the horn again, then slammed them into the top of the steering wheel.

"Thank you." Sugoroku said.

"What for?"

"Taking your anger out on your steering wheel instead of our ears."

"I still want to see him."

"At least you haven't resorted to kidnapping."

Kaiba held his gaze for a moment. "Kidnapping proved surprisingly ineffective."

Sugoroku pushed out a puff of air in place of laughing. So much for expecting an apology, unless Kaiba thought he'd already offered one by putting the Kame Game Shop on its preferred vendor list, an advantage usually reserved for larger chains. "Your coma lasted longer," he couldn't resist saying.

Kaiba laughed at that. "Like I said, surprisingly ineffective."

"Go home. Get some sleep," Sugoroku said with unexpected gentleness.

"Atem looked like you," Kaiba said suddenly.

"I don't understand." Even for Kaiba, this statement seemed unnecessarily cryptic.

"There was this one world where we were old," Kaiba explained. "Not as old as you, but heading there. Atem had small creases around his eyes. He was stockier. Not fat, but solid. He was still short." Kaiba shook his head. "I never expected to be that old."

"You want to grow old with him."

Kaiba tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Yes."

"Go home," Sugoroku repeated. "You can't always grab the future by the throat. Sometimes you have to wait and let it come to you."

Kaiba frowned. "People keep saying that. It's never made any sense. What if it doesn't?" He put the car in gear and blasted off down the block.

Sugoroku sighed and went back indoors.

.

Thanks to Bnomiko for betaing this chapter.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I feel like, given all the stress that Atem and Kaiba have been under since their return, a fight at some point was inevitable. I also wanted it to feel like each of them were contributing to the fight in different ways, largely because, right now, both are avoiding dealing with the things that are really bothering them.

Both Atem and Kaiba remember things the other one has said to them, but they both remember them incorrectly. When Kaiba remembers all the caring things Atem has said to him, he remembers them as happening in limbo, even though some of the statements were from after their return. I could see him idealizing limbo a bit though, and remembering them being more blissful there than was the case. Atem remembers Kaiba saying to him, "Am I supposed to sit back and watch you give up?" But Kaiba actually says, "I'm not going to stand by and watch you turn yourself into a ghost again." I could see Atem somewhat softening what Kaiba said, making it into more of a question, because he still cares about Kaiba and wants this relationship. I could also see him switching in the words, "give up," because at this moment Atem is wrestling with the feeling that he did give up. In both cases, they're getting the substance right, white their memory of some of the details are being affected by their emotions.

I've tried in multiple chapters and on multiple alternative worlds, to have Atem note that Kaiba both attracts and repels him, sometimes for the same reasons.

Baseball Dragons Note: There actually is a team named the Dragons in the Japanese major league. The Chunichi Dragons are a real-life team in the Japanese Central League. Daisuke Yamai played his entire career with the Dragons. He is most noted for his combined perfect game with Hitoki Iwase in the 2007 Japan Series to clinch the title for the Dragons for the first time since 1954. I couldn't resist paying homage by borrowing his name as Atem's favorite pitcher.

Stay safe everyone!

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.