Shatterpoint

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! and all the characters herein belong to whomever and I am making no monies whatsoever. The plotline belongs to me and me alone, and all the original characters (meaning those you have never seen before) belong to me.

Author’s Note: This is purely fiction. I hated the way they ended the series and if the series had been mine it would have been chocked full of slashy goodness. But alas, it is not. Anyway, this takes place after Atemu has traveled to the Afterlife. I have also used the Yin-Yang symbol and its meanings for the sake of story with some tweaks. Oh, the other thing, the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses make cameo appearances.

Beta’d by the most wonderful friend I have ever had in my life. God knows where I would be without her input, late night giggle sessions, and vanilla coffee! Thank you, my Darkwatch.

Normally the Yin is the light side and the Yang the dark; I have switched them for sake of the story. The different meanings of the Yin and Yang apply to each of the characters, but I had to switch them.

Yin- (the Dark Side of the symbol) Yami
Yang- (the Light Side of the symbol) Yugi

Italics – thoughts.
. . . italics – flashback
Speech – bold italic speech is the speech in a flashback.
Speech – bold speech is the speech of a spirit.

Summary – The Nameless Pharaoh, Atemu has passed into the Afterlife where he belongs, but what he has left behind is something no one could have seen coming. Yugi, alone and missing a piece of himself has returned to Domino City a mere shell of who he was...will his friends be able to pull him out or will he reach the shatterpoint?


Shatterpoint
by TheDarkSynfulLegend

Chapter Three – Soul Release


“We have been waiting for you, Pharaoh.” Came a voice as Atemu walked in further, sliding off his sandals in order to show the utmost respect to the Gods who had graced him with their presence.

As he toed off the sandals and stepped forwards, he realized that they were in a pyramid formation and were on a raised dais with three levels. Ptah, Ba-Pef and Osiris were on the lowest platform, each one of them seated on a golden throne. Amun and Isis were on the level slightly more raised, Amun looked serious and Isis looked at him with concern in her eyes. And on the very top was the God of the Sun himself, Ra. He crossed the floor with almost delicate pads of his feet and knelt before the Gods and Goddesses of Egypt, keeping his eyes downcast on the floor before him.

“Why do you not look at us, little one?” Isis inquired, as she smiled at him. Her rich green linen dress fell to her delicate ankles, and the top she wore was more like a poncho and hung on her lithe frame making her seem more ethereal than she already was. Upon her head was a headdress shaped like a throne.

“I am not worthy of gazing upon my Gods and Goddesses.” Atemu replied.

Obviously it made the one dressed in a golden linen tunic, his chest was bare but he wore a wesekh, and a large plumed hat trimmed in ostrich feathers. “Yet you are here, seeking something.”

“Do not pester him, Amun. After all, it is rare that we have one of such before us.” Ba-pef spoke, as she turned her head and gazed at him. “We all know why he is here, but the query is, does he?”

“Well, answer.” Ptah intoned his voice deeper than the Nile as it washed over the kneeling Pharaoh like a blanket. He was dressed in a tight white cloak and not much else, and in his hands he was holding a long staff with a crook on the end.

Atemu cleared his throat and rose to his feet but still kept his eyes downcast, “I . . . I do not belong here.” He started to say as he swallowed and tried to think of what he wanted to truly say to these who would listen. “When I first arrived I was . . . at peace, but now . . .” his voice trailed off.

Ra, who had been silent as he watched the young ruler approach spoke then, “Ba-pef, show him the tablet.” He said, his voice echoing through the chamber. Ba-pef looked up at the Sun God and nodded slowly, “Atemu, the tablet you are about to see is going to be your salvation or your undoing.”

Ba-pef rose from her seat and stepped off the raised platform, as she raised her delicate hands before her and chanted in the Egyptian Language though her speech was more ancient than what Atemu knew so he had no clue what she was saying. He stumbled backwards however as a portal in the middle of the floor appeared. As the tablet rose from the portal, Atemu’s crimson orbs widened as he saw himself etched in the stone.

“What . . . what is this?!” He asked, his voice sharp.

“Your soul, little one.” Ba-pef responded, “look.”

Atemu raised his eyes slowly to the tablet and saw that Yuugi was also in it, but the stone etching was sitting down, his knees drawn up into his chest. “Yuugi…” Atemu stepped forwards and placed his hand on the stone but was shocked by a crackle of electrical energy and he yanked his hand back. “What happened to him?”

Ba-pef gave the ex-pharaoh a soft smile as she moved to stand next to the tablet, “when Yuugi solved the Millennium Puzzle it bound you. You know this to be true, little one.” Atemu simply nodded, “but what you did not fathom, either of you is that when you bound by Souls, you would share each others pain, passion, every emotion on the spectrum.”

Atemu shook his head slightly, “but why does Yuugi look this way in the tablet?” he asked, clearly not comprehending. There was no answer from any of the Gods, as he glanced at all of them with wide eyes, “Please, I need to know.” His lower lip trembled, as he struggled not to cry as pain lanced through him once more, and swimming before his eyes was Yuugi. “Yuugi?”

You left me. You left me alone when I needed you most.

“I…I thought this was where I belonged.” The image of Yuugi shimmered out as Atemu sat there with a dumbfounded look on his face. “Bring him back!” he snarled, as he rose to his feet and glared at the Ancient Egyptian Gods.

Ra rose from his seat as he stared down at this young pharaoh. “SILENCE! You do not make demands of us, young Pharaoh, you came to us, show respect.”

Atemu swallowed as he realized he was going to overstep his bounds in a few moments, but as the apology was on the tip of his tongue, he was cut off. “My Lord, Ra. Let us discover why he has come.”

“I want him back.”

“You cannot go back, it is not that simple.” Osiris spoke, even as Ba-pef moved quietly back to her seat and retook it.

“His soul, your Yuugi . . . is in fluctuation, he will not survive as an empty shell which is what he is now.”

“I am in the Afterlife, where I was told when I was a child was filled with beauty, love and laughter, but I find nothing here but pain and despair.” Atemu responded. “I am a shell without him, and I did not realize what he was to me, until it was too late.”

Amun narrowed his gaze on the Pharaoh, “I sense that you are lonely, young ruler.”

“I lost something very special to me, and now, I am on the journey to return to him.”

“What would you do if you did see him again?”

“I would apologize for abandoning him when I did not understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That he did love me and that I felt the same.” Atemu replied with a tremble in his voice, “I must go to him, I owe it to him. He saved me . . .”

“Did he? Or did you save him?” Ptah queried as he shifted the staff in his hand.

Isis gave the young pharaoh a genuine smile, “if you answer honestly, young Atemu; you may find our answer worthwhile.”

“I . . . I am just not complete without him. I feel that he was my light, my purity and now . . . it is gone.” He whispered, as he glanced over at the tablet, noticing that the image of Yuugi was starting to flicker. “what is happening to him?”

“He is lost.” Ba-pef said. Atemu looked up at her, his ruby eyes filing with tears, “but all is not lost, he needs something, and I think you are realizing what it is that he needs.”

“Me.”

Ra nodded, “Ba-pef, explain to him why, while the rest of us confer on what we wish to do.”

She rose gracefully and waved her hand dispelling the tablet, and beckoned to Atemu, “come with me, little one.” Her voice was soft as they passed behind the raised dais, and headed into yet another chamber. The floors were sandstone, but there was a large pond in the center but the waters in it were stiller than death. She crossed and stood on a small stone stair that led down into the pool but made no move to enter it. “You must enter the pool, young one. You must see the depths of love that your soul-mate has for you.”

Atemu wavered for just a few moments as he gingerly stepped down into the pool and as soon as his foot hit the water, the ripples of the pool began to change colors. Azure, crimson and finally amethyst, the same shade as Yuugi’s eyes. “What…what is happening?”

“Watch, and learn.”

. . . Yuugi was seated on his bed rocking back and forth, a wooden puzzle clutched in his fingers. He was dressed in a pair of pants that seemed almost too big for his already small frame. Yuugi’s normally beautiful hair was snarled and tangled as it lay around his shoulders in limp strands . . .

Atemu’s heart broke as he looked at the one who he loved and lost, he looked so forlorn, and Atemu was reluctant to move as though it would break the power between himself and the connection with Yuugi, however slight it was.

“Allow me to show you one of those moments when he realized he could not and would not lose you, little one.” Ba-pef says, as she waved her hand and the images shifted to show Atemu something he had never seen before.

. . . The puzzle had been shattered and was chained to a post, Yuugi stood alone in the midst of a flaming building. “I have to get my puzzle and get out of here!” he snapped, tugging at the puzzle, as he looked around briefly, “I can’t get out and this could be it for me, and for the spirit of the puzzle. But I will not give up.” Struggling he started to put the puzzle back together, even as the flames grew in size and the heat tripled in intensity.

Pieces of the building were falling all around him, but Yuugi was concentrating on the puzzle. He was determined to finish it. When he heard the door fall open behind him and voices shouting. “Yuugi!”

“Let’s go! You can’t stay here!”

“I can’t! I have to finish the puzzle!” Yuugi replied, he was so dizzy and the heat had gotten to him. “Finished!”

“C’mon, we have to go now!” Honda was saying as Yuugi mumbled something about not leaving without his puzzle . . .

Atemu blinked back tears as they welled in his expressive eyes, “He wouldn’t abandon me, not even with his own life at stake.” He was saying, as he stared down at his smaller half, Honda was carrying him out of the building which was still ablaze even as firefighters fought it. Yuugi was covered in scratches and Atemu sighed as he watched the images shift once more. Though he remembered this all too well.

. . . Yuugi’s spirit appeared next to Atemu’s as he was holding the Seal of Orichalcos, “that card is evil, don’t play it. Promise me you won’t!” Yuugi’s eyes were filled with unshed tears, as he watched Atemu nod and he faded back into the depths of the puzzle to watch.

Atemu moved his hand with the Seal in his hand, and suddenly couldn’t do much with it as Yuugi was grabbing on his arm holding him in place. “Pharaoh, no! You can’t play that card! It is affecting you!”

“It is the ONLY way, now let me go!” Atemu snarled as Yuugi looked on with worried eyes.

“Please, don’t play that card!” Yuugi begged, as Atemu laid the card down and activated the Seal. Yuugi let out a scream of pain as he was thrown backwards as the Seal of Orichalcos came to life. He was sealed off from the Pharaoh and there was nothing he could do about it. “the monsters are alive with that Seal, Pharaoh, they have feelings and they know what you’re doing. How could you?!” Yuugi was thinking to himself.

It was over, the Pharaoh had fallen in a duel and his soul was going to be taken by the Seal. But Yuugi was not about to let that happen. Grabbing his puzzle that he shared with Atemu, he held it up, “With all the power in the Millennium Puzzle, I break the seal!” Yuugi shoved the puzzle into the seal that separated him from Atemu and appeared behind him. “I won’t let this happen to you!” he shouted before shoving Atemu out of the way of the seal.

“Yuugi, no! What are you doing here?!”

“The seal only needs one of us, and I’m letting it take me instead.” Yuugi responded, as he had tears streaming from his eyes and a soft smile on his face.

“NO! Yuugi!” Atemu spoke, as the seal’s emerald glow went upwards taking Yuugi’s soul upwards . . .

Atemu turned his head away in shame, “how did I not see his love for me then. Yuugi sacrificed himself for me…” he whispered, a lone tear tracing its way down his cheek.

“He did, young one. He did it because he loved you. He loves you still but his spirit is lost in the void, and only you can pull him out of it.” The Goddess of Souls replied.

“Can you….show me what he is doing at this point in time?”

“I can. However, are you sure it is what you want to see?”

“Yes.”

“So you say, so it shall be done.” Ba-pef responded, as she knelt by the pool and rested her hands over the waters, “mystical waters of the lyrehs plane, show us the soul-bonded of the Pharaoh.” The waters rippled and parted, energy crackling along the edges of the pool.

~*~*~*~

Anzu was quietly reading in the chair in Yuugi’s room. “Yuugi, would you like me to read to you?” She asked for the fourth time, as she glanced over; honey brown eyes gazing at her friend who sat on his bed, holding the wooden replica of the puzzle in his hands. “Yuugi?” Yuugi shook his head slowly, once to the left, once to the right then back to the center. Anzu sighed and shook her head a bit, “Well do you want to do something?” Another shake of the tri-colored head, Anzu rose from the chair and stretched, “I’m going to go find lunch, and you will eat something.”

As soon as Anzu was gone, Yuugi chewed on his lower lip. He held the puzzle to his heart. Atemu, I knew it had to be me during that final duel, but . . . I wish it hadn’t been. I didn’t want to fight you. I wanted you to stay. He swung his legs out of the bed and padded to the golden box on the shelf, lifting it off, he opened it up and pulled the top card off the deck, it was the Dark Magician. It was the hardest duel of my life, not because you were a great duelist, but because winning the duel means I would lose my best friend and the man I love. Putting the card back in the box and closing it up, he quickly went back to his bed and flopped down on it, curling into a ball and clutching the puzzle to his chest. I want you back, I don’t care if you don’t love me…I just can’t live without you.

~*~*~*~

“I do not wish to see anymore.” Atemu said, as he collapsed against the stone steps and looked up at the Goddess. “Please.”

She tilted her head then nodded in acquiescence. “As you wish.” Ba-pef finally spoke, her voice softer than the wind waving her hand and dispelling the images. She turned her head when she heard soft footsteps behind her, “Ptah, you have need of us?”

“Yes, the others have debated and Ra has made his decision.”

“What is his decision?” Atemu inquired. Ptah leveled a sharp look at him, “my apologies my Lord, I meant no disrespect.”

“He has asked that you join him in the sanctuary.”

“The sanctuary?”

“Yes, come with me, Ba-pef, you come as well.” Ptah finished as he walked past the garden and through an archway in the very back that Atemu didn’t know was even there. “This is the sanctuary,” he commented, as he stepped aside to let Atemu enter.

The chamber was deep and narrow, and there was a statue of Ra in the center, he was in his true form, the body of a man with the head of a hawk, a golden disc on his head. There were five recesses and in each one stood either a God or a Goddess that he had met previously. The floors were made of white lime stone, and had been polished to a high shine. The walls themselves covered in hieroglyphs carved into obsidian stone, “this place…”

“is only accessible to those I choose to allow entrance, young Pharaoh.” Ra said as he appeared in a blazing ball of fire and light at the very rear of the chamber, and he stood before a door that Atemu had seen once before. Ptah took his place in one of the alcoves at the nod of the Sun God, and it was then and only then that Ra beckoned Atemu forwards. Padding forwards on his bare feet, Atemu paused in a stone etching of the Sennen Eye that was in the center of the floor. He gestured to Ba-pef who nodded, “There is one last thing you must see, young ruler before we can give you the verdict that we have chosen.”

Atemu steeled himself as he blinked and stared at the mist that appeared before the door to the Afterlife that he had seen in the Valley of Kings where the Millennium Stone rested. “I am ready.”

“Are you?” Ra asked, as the images began to take shape in the mist. “We shall see.”

~*~*~*~

Author's note: Again review I love them. They feed the plotbunnies!