Hovering At the Edge of Oblivion
Desperation
Disclaimer - Nope, don't own them still. One could only wish.
Author's Notes - Glad you're all enjoying this so far : ) Hope you continue to do so. And yes, I'm glad to be back too : )
Chapter 2 - Desperation
The museum was relatively quiet for a Saturday afternoon, the soft whisper of muted conversation drifting like delicate spring blossoms on the still air.
Yugi fingered the VIP pass Ishizu had given him nervously, aware of the eyes on him as he passed by exhibit after exhibit without slowing, heading
unerringly towards the back of the museum where the exclusive Egyptian artifacts were being housed until tomorrow.<
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Yami had been silent since their conversation in the stock room, but Yugi could feel his other's wary contemplation as he made his way through the
artifact littered hallways. He wasn't worried, himself . . . if they happened to run into Marik, so be it. Marik was a good guy now , or as close to a good
guy as he was ever likely to get considering his history.
As if his thoughts had summoned him, said blonde Egyptian came abruptly into view, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black jeans, white cotton
shirt billowing around his lean frame. From the appearance of things, he was supervising the safe packaging of some of the artifacts.
Almost against his will, Yugi found himself appreciating the way the black jeans hugged the long, muscular legs and tight behind. The shaggy blonde hair
looked much darker than it actually was when it was compared against a white shirt, and the golden jewelry gli lik like beacons in the dim lighting.
*Yugi? What is it?* Yami asked quietly, wondering why Yugi had frozen in place once he saw Marik. There wasn't any fear within the link . . . but he was
confused at the tumult of emotions.
**Nothing Yami. Just . . . surprised,* Yugi replied, forcing his limbs to move. If it weren't for the fact that he loved his yami . . . well, Marik was beautiful
to look at, to say the least.
"Yugi," Marik murmured, a soft smile blossoming on his face as lavender eyes met amethyst. "Ishizu will be glad you could come. She was . . . concerned
that Yami might not wish you to be here." The smile faded at that, lavender darkening almost to violet with pain, the unspoken acknowledgement that he
was the reason Yami would have objected in their depths.
"It's in the past, Marik," Yugi replied, one pale hand reaching out to rest on the cotton clad arm comfortingly. "You've changed . . . you're not the person
you were." The blonde head dipped for a moment in acknowledgement of the sentiment, but the lavender eyes did not lighten. Yugi knew it would be a
long time before he forgave himself for everything that had happened. "How is Odion?" he asked, changing the subject slightly.
"He's still recovering," Marik said, shrugging slightly. "Ishizu says that once we get him back home, he will recover faster." He sighed, then shook his
head. "Anyway . . . Ishizu is back in her office, getting some of the paperwork for this whole mess straightened out. Come on, I'll show you the way."
Turning, he strode off, shortening his strides to allow Yugi to keep up easier. They chatted amiably as they made their way towards the museum offices,
the conversation light and sporadic in topic.
Yami satk wik with a sigh, his concern about Marik vanishing in the face of his obvious pain and guilt for what had occurred. This was the first time since
Malik had been banished that he had been present when Marik met Yugi . . . his aibou had deliberately left the Puzzle at home the other times, knowing that
Yami would object rather strongly to him going anywhere near the blonde Egyptian so soon after Battle City had ended.
He was still slightly puzzled by his hikari's initial reaction to seeing Marik, however. Why had he frozen as he did? Unless . . . crimson eyes widened, a
snarl crossing his features for a moment before he got control of himself. Yugi . . . wasn't in love with Marik, was he? Through Yugi's eyes, he studied
the blonde minutely, but found nothing to concern himself. And Yugi certainly wasn't acting like a person in love . . . so what was going on? Faced with
another puzzle about his hikari, his mind went straight to work, distracting him from what Yugi was doing.
Nearing the offices, Marik slowed down a bit, shortening his strides even further until Yugi looked up at him in confusion.
"Is there something wrong, Marik?" he asked. In response, he found himself suddenly pulled against a firm, cotton clad chest, darngerngers tangling in his
hair gently as firm lips took his in a gentle, unassuming kiss. So sudden was the surprise that it took several moments before Yuouldould respond . . . and
by that time, Marik had backed off.
"I'm sorry," the blonde murmured. "I . . . had to do that, at least once. You're a very special person, Yugi. I just . . . thought you should know that."
Yugi smiled softly . . . and then Marik found himself pinned against a nearby wall, staring into burning crimson eyes warily.
"Why?" Yami asked, his voice practically a growl. "Why did you DARE to kiss my hikari?" In response, Marik smiled.
"Because I knew it would bring you out, even if you had no wish to come," the young Egyptian replied. "And I know that you've blocked him from the
link . . . which is what I wanted. You need to tell him, Pharaoh." Released suddenly from the grip pinning him to the wall, Marik regained his balance
slowly, watching Yami for any flash of that famous temper.
"Tell him what, Marik?" Yami asked, backing a few steps away from the teenager before crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you talking about?"
Marik shook his head, amused.
"That you love him, Pharaoh. You need to tell your hikari that you love him." Lavender eyes met crimson over the tiled space between them, their gaze
suddenly serious. "Ishizu had a dream last night . . . a prophetic one. And since it came to her without the Millennium Necklace, she believes it to be
serious enough to pass on. Your feelings for Yugi will be integral in whatever new danger is to come."
Tri-colored head tilting to one side, Yami regarded Marik solemnly for a moment before replying. Yugi was practically pounding on the other end of the
link . . . it ware are that Yami took control so abruptly and without permission, and he sounded like he was worried that his other was going to kill Marik.
"Why couldn't Ishizu tell me this?" he asked finally.
"She's not here. She's at the airport, seeing to the stuff being shipped out today." He sighed, stepping closer to the unyielding figure. "Yami . . . you must
believe me. Trust in Yugi and tell him how you feel." He handed Yami a tightly rolled scroll. "She also asked me to give you this. She said it would help."
Yami merely glanced at it before shoving it into a hip pocket, turning to leave.
"Thank you, Marik," he murmured. "But I warn you . . . ever think of doing such a thing to my hikari again, and the consequences will be severe." Marik
smiled, chuckling slightly to himself as he watched the spirit stalk off, conversing out loud with Yugi.
2">
*-------*-------*-------*--------*
**I mean it Yami! Tell me you didn't hurt him! He didn't do anything wrong!** Yami growled under his breath, stalking out of the museum, crimson eyes
burning. He'd stopped answering Yugi out loud once he noticed the people giving him strange looks, but that hadn't stopped the conversation.
*I did not hurt him, aibou. But as far as not doing anything wrong, that is something else entirely,* he replied.
**He kissed me! What is so wrong with that!?**
*Because I wanted your first kiss to be with . . .* Yami caught himself before he finished that sentiment. No matter the fact that Marik had said he should
tell Yugi he loved him, doing so was an entirely different prospect, and not one the usually confidant King of Games sus sure he could handle. Yugi and
he were so closely entwined . . . and what about this person who Yugi had fallen in love with? He wasn't going to be allowed to think for long, however . .
. Yugi was not about to let the matter drop.
**What about my first kiss?** The question was rampant with curiousity. Yamrambrambled to come up with a suitable response.
*It should have been with the one you loved,* he murmured finally. Yugi sighed.
**That would have been impossible in any case, my dark self,** he replied quietly. They were interrupted from further conversation by a shout from
behind them as they walked down Domino Main Street.
"Joey! Tristan!" Yugi called, once again back in control of his body as Yami retreated. "Hey guys!"
"Hey Yug!" Joey said, coming to a stop beside him. "We stopped by the shop and Gramps told us you had gone to the museum. How did it go?"
"Yeah . . . and why the hell did you have to go there in the first place?" Tristan added. Yugi shrugged.
"Ishizu asked to see Yami and I about something . . . it wasn't really important, just some information she found," Yugi said, glossing over the whole
thing. Absently his fingers caressed the scroll in his back pocket. What was it that Marik had handed his other? Sighing, he decided to leave it until later.
"So . . . what are you guys up to?"
"Well . . . we were headin' over ta Kaiba Land. Figured we'd get some game time in . . . ya know, practice and all that," Joey replied, shrugging. "Thought
we'd see if you wanted to come with us." Yugi smiled slightly, feeling his other's sudden interest. As much as Yami didn't want to admit it sometimes, he
lived to play games and Kaiba Land did have some of the best around . . . as well as the best challengers to his title.
"Sounds like fun," he said, and felt Yami's surge of excitement. "Let's get over there . . . I have a rather anxious friend who's wanting to play some
games." Joey smiled, shaking his head as Tristan took the lead.
"As long as they aren't Shadow Games, I'm a happy person," he murmured. He nearly jumped when a deeper voice than Yugi's answered him from the
figure at his side.
"I intend to have fun, Joey," Yami said, walking beside the tall blonde solemnly. "Shadow Games are never fun." Joey smiled in embarrant.
"No offense, Yami," he said quietly. "It's just that . . . with everything that's been going on, it would be nice to just play an innocent game for once that
won't cost me my soul or nothin if I lose." Yami nodded, his crimson eyes dark with understanding.
"None taken, my friend," the former Pharaoh replied. "Let us go play."
*--------*--------*--------*--------*
Several hours and numerous opponents later, Yugi walked into the Turtle Game Shop once again, humming to himself quietly as he let the satisfaction and
contentment of his yami wash over him through their link. It was nice to feel Yami so happy . . . it was rare that his other was anything but the solemn
guardian.
"I take it you had fun at Kaiba Land," Solomon murmured as he spied the smile on his grandson's face. Yugi nodded enthusiastically.
"Yup," he said, hopping up on the counter with the help of a nearby stool. "Yami even went up against Kaiba in that new virtual reality game he released
last week." Solomon rolled his eyes, but didn't bother to ask who had won that match up. It was too obvious by far.
"Well, dinner will be ready in about an hour, young man. Why don't you head on upstairs and start cleaning your room until then?" Yugi sighed, having
forgotten about the mess his room currently was, but did as his grandfather suggested, trudging up the stairs slowly, oblivious to the amused gaze of the
elder Motou.
It wasn't until he sank onto his bed that Yugi recalled the scroll that Marik had given his other. Absently, he removed it from his pocket, laying it on his
desk just within arms reach, amethyst eyegaregarding it curiously. He felt a slight tug on his link with Yami, and the former Pharaoh appeared, his
translucent body standing a few feet from the bed. Crimson eyes were also trained with almost deadly intent on the scroll in question.
Yugi found his eyes drawn to the lithe, leather clad frame. Translucent or not, Yami was still a force to be reckoned with, and Yugi couldn't help but drink
in the sight of his yami, memorizing each curve, each feature of that powerful figure. At last noticing that his perusal of his dark was causing certain areas
of clothing to tighten painfully, he cleared his throat and turned back to the scroll.
They were both reaching for it when it happened . . . for the first time since the end of Battle City, they touched. Yugi felt a cold tingle as his fingers
brushed his yami's, the slim digits sliding over and through the ghostly, slightly darker ones almost before thealizalized it had happened. Yugi flushed,
pulling his hands back as if burned. Had it always felt like that to touch Yami when he was in his ghostly state? It was . . . erotic, in a way that he had never
imagined. Amethyst eyes rose, his mouth opening to apologize to Yami . . . and his breath froze in his lungs. Crimson eyes bore into his steadily, but there
was a strange shimmer to them that had never been there . . . and a palpable aura of pain and disgust surrounded the former Pharaoh.
"Ya . . . Yami?" he whispered, his voice choking on the pain he sensed through the link from his other. He was startled when Yami backed away, his arms
crossing over his chest in a strangely vulnerable gesture that was oddly out of place on the usually confident figure.
"I apologize, aibou," Yami murmured, his voice barely able to be heard over the sudden pounding Yugi's heart was making in his ears. "I . . . did not
mean to touch you. I had forgotten how much it . . . unnerves you." He sighed, shoulders dropping slightly as crimson darkened to almost black. Yugi
was left speechless, the despair that swamped him from his link with his dark robbing him of the voice with which to ask what was going on. "I shall leave
you for now."
Yugi reached out, one hand raising futilely in an attempt to stop his yami from leaving before he could say something, before he could explain his reaction
for what it was. The gesture came too late . . . between one heartbeat and the next, Yami winked out of existence. He staggered in the next moment as the
link between them suddenly disappeared, leaving him alone and bereft of the comforting presence of his other for the first time in what felt like forever.
Blinking back tears, he sank onto his bed, staring at the Puzzle in agony. What was going on? Yami . . . his yami never closed the link, and he had never
once seen Yami react in such a way to something so non-threatening. Those tears became overwhelming as a thought dawned on him . . . had Yami
sensed his response to their accidental touch and been repulsed by it?
Yugi gasped, his heart pounding painfully as that thought became clearer. Of course Yami had sensed his sudden interest . . . their link had been wide
open! Oh god . . . desolation washed over him in a dark tidal wave of despair and hopelessness. Before he even realized it, he was fleeing the room . . .
fleeing everything that had just happened, trying to outrun the pain of the other half of his soul's rejection.
Stairs and store flew by unseen as Yugi fled the house, into the darkened night of Domino City, leaving behind the Puzzle and the still as of yet unlooked at
scroll.
*-------*-------*-------*-------*
Yami never sensed Yugi's flight, lost in his own world of despair and agony over what had occurred.
"How could I have done something so stupid?" he growled, pacing the room angrily. "Reaching for it as if I could actually affect it . . ." He sighed. That
wasn't the source of his pain and he knew it . . . the anger was merely a distraction from the true problem - Yugi's reaction to accidentally touching him.
A pang went through his heart at the memory. Yugi had jerked back so suddenly he'd had no more than a moment to realize what was happening and
relish the feeling before it ended. Had it truly been so terrible a feeling that it had horrified and disgusted his aibou? Crimson eyes closed in defeat, the
usually stoic spirit sinking to his knees as silent, crystalline tears marked glittering tracks down his upturned face.
Yugi's reaction only served to underline the fact that his love for the young man he was tied to was hopeless. It was obvious to him that the tri-haired teen
didn't share his feelings . . . why would he, when he was so vibrant and alive, and Yami was, quite obviously, dead. It was a doomed wish from the very
start . . . but that knowledge had not stopped him from hoping that perhaps someday . . .
His thoughts were broken off abruptly as he sensed hands other than Yugi's picking up the Puzzle. In a flash he was outside the Puzzle, Shadow Powers
ready at hand to blast whoever dared touch his aibou's most prized possession without permission . . . only to come face to face with his hikari's
grandfather.
"Yami . . ." the elderly Motou murmured, and then paused. The silence lasted only a moment, but it was long enough.
"Where is he?" the spirit growled, the Eye of Horus blazing into angry brilliance on his forehead. Yugi was in danger . . .
"He . . . Yugi was hit by a car, Yami. He is in the hospital. The doctor's . . . say he may not come through." Yami stared at Solomon silently, his own
eyes wide with shock as the elder man collapsed, sobbing.
*Yugi . . .* he thought, opening the link to silence. * I failed you, my aibou . . .*