After the Light

Title: After the Light

Author: Java Green

Email: javagreen@animail.net

Pairing: Yet to be decided, there will be Yugi/Atemu though in later chapters as well as other slash pairings, Seto/Joey, Ryou/Bakura

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Angst (I am an angst slut), violence, language, SPOILERS for the last Manga, Presence of a Mary Sue, slash, sexual situations

Summary: Yugi's sister arrives on a spirit mission of her own and in the process the Pharaoh returns to his friends.

Notes: Keep in mind as you read this that I've only seen two episodes of the show. I was interested in the concepts (as I play with light/dark relationships a great deal) so I began reading fan fic and started on one of my own. I will continue writing that one. But as I was hunting around I read the Egypt arc translated to English on a site, and my Mary Sue awoke with a desire to bring back the Pharaoh…this fiction will not be updated often. I have a rather large heap of things to get written.

As a note of pointless information I have three Mary Sue characters. Jules aka the Java Sue (who is me) tends to lurk in self-insertion fics and is purely for humour's sake. Maeve (everything I wish I could be) appears and puts stories as I wish they would go. And Z…who…is a bit of a secret.

I make no pretense of hiding that this story is revolving around a MS. So don't complain to me bout it later because I have given you ample forewarning.

Genre: Romance/ Angst

Disclaimer: The characters of Yu-Gi-Oh weren't my concepts and I have no hold over them, nor can I charge for others to hold them. This fic is purely self-indulgence.

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The Final Scene:

The group of people stood in the dessert sands with looks of sorrow and determination etched on their faces. Dust continued to curl up from the debris of the fallen tomb at their backs. The dust of memories floating up to dissipate with their cousins in the dessert beneath the burning sun.

The full impact of Yugi's loss struck him as he stood, the dust filtering around him. The utter silence in his thoughts. The lack of the soothing weight upon his breastbone. The void of his soul room.

He was alone.

Sinking to his knees in the sand he wrapped his arms around his body and sobbed uncontrollably. His tears falling from his grieved eyes into the fragments of the tomb and to evaporate beneath the harsh light of the all-seeing sun. His friends lowered their faces into shadows. Each one standing motionless and solitary in the light as they remembered all that had brought them to this point in time…

Seto's piercing blue eyes did not fall downwards. He stood over the others watching them quietly, his stoic face revealing nothing of his feelings to the world. He had just lost his greatest nemesis to the underworld. His greatest advisory…as well the one who hauseaused his skills and his strength as a person to grow had just walked away. The tall youth straightened his shoulders as he gazed out over the others, one arm around his little brother's shoulders offering comfort. He would watch over this group as the one known as Atemu had. He would take care of them now.

Mokuba sniffled beneath his unruly dark hair a ways back from the gathering of others. He and his brother had found this all so hard to believe…but now at the end it was undeniable. The spirit that had helped him had been real and was now gone.

Anzu sobbed with her hands over her face. He was really gone. Anger and sorrow poured from her heart as those words echoed in her thoughts. How could he just leave them like that? How could he leave her…she had loved him…and now he was gone…forever.

Honda wrapped an arm around Anzu and hugged her to him as she cried. Everyone knew how she had felt about the other Yugi. She was understandably upset now that he was gone. He rested his head against hers as he watched the dust swirl up from around the collapsed tomb. The guy that had brought them all together as friends was gone. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around all of it. That Yugi and Atemu were two different people.

Duke looked down at his shoes trying to avoid the sorrow around him. The wind tugging at his dark hair as his thoughts tugged about in his mind. One of his friends was dead. How did you deal with that?

Joey moved uncertainly from foot to foot as he fought with his tears. He looked around at all the faces around him and clenched his fists. Why did that guy have to go? Why couldn't he have stayed? Now everyone was sad and there wasn't anything Joey could do to stop it. He couldn't beat up sadness and make it go away. Could he?

Ryou's green eyes are filled with tears as he watches Yugi shaking on the sand. He's not entirely sure of things right now. Highly unsure of himself and where he fits in. He can understand what Yugi is feeling more then any of the others here, he can understand the sudden empty feeling in his mind and chest. He still feels a hint of jealousy about how close Atemu and Yugi had been, he still feels regret that he never had been given the chance to know the tomb robber as well. To understand why fate put them together and never gave them a chance to speak. Ryou's tears fall down his pale cheeks in grief for his and for Yugi's loss.

Isis lowered her face and closed her eyes, reaching out she gently took her brother's dark hand in hers. It was over. Relief lifted the weight of the burden that she had carried on her shoulders from birth. The lines of worry and responsibility fell from her face as she turned it towards the sun. The pharaoh was free. And so were her brother and she. Yet…something continued to nag at the back of her mind. Shaking it off she decided it was unimportant and all that mattered was this moment.

Malik took his sister's elegant hand in his own and squeezed it with a lopsided smile. Though his eyes glittered with moisture at losing Atemu, he felt her joy in their freedom and his rest as well. Someone would have to remain to guard the tomb to ensure his rest. But the destiny was over. It was all over. The darkness was gone and only light remained.

Yugi continued to sob hopelessly under the dessert sun. Although his closest friends surrounded him he had never felt so utterly alone. He could think of all the wonderful things his other me had done for him and all that they had been through. He told himself everything was just beginning for him…that this was how things were meant to be…but he couldn't stop the pain tearing at his insides as he wailed. He had won the game. He was meant to win the game. How come winning meant he had to lose so much? His best friend, his guardian, mentor, teacher, his love…

Grandpa wiped his tears away from his weathered with the back of his hand. Looking at all the sad faces around him he wondered what he could do to cheer them up. All these events had come together to this point in their lives. This was the final chapter for Yami but their story kept going, right? He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of folded paper. Unfolding it he looked down at the phone number and address jotted there in his own hand. "Yugi?"

The only response he got was the boy's continued sobbing.

The elderly man walked over and kneeled by his grandson and placed a hand on his back. "Yugi, your sister and I talked on the phone before we came here…she's involved in a tournament here in Egypt for the next couple weeks…she left me the hotel she was staying at and her cell number if you were interested in seeing her again…"

The heads of the group turned as one to look at Sugoroku. "Wait, Yuug has a sister?! Why din anyone tell me?" Joey demanded loudly.

"Probably because you're a pervert?" Honda bitched back.

"I had no idea Yugi had a sister either, what's her name Yugi?" Anzu looked hurt.

"A tournament? What does your sister play Yugi?" Duke asked jamming his hands in his pockets.

Yugi looked up at his grandfather and the piece of paper he was holding, tears still streaming down his pale face from his large innocent eyes. "Maeve…she's in Egypt?" he reached up and wiped his face, smudging sand there.

Sugoroku nodded brightly. "She is." He looked at the others. "Maeve is Yugi's older sister, she's a college student in America doing some course about preservation. When Yugi was little his parents divorced, and Meave went with his good-for-nothing-ass-of-a-father." He twitched angrily before calming himself and continuing. "Anyhoo, she plays an advanced role-playing game. And she's very good at it! She's one of the best! Her and her team are in a special circuit that travels the world and plays for prizes. It's a very involved game. Because you aren't just using the cards…you are the cards as you travel the game map. You have to be 18 to play." He added glancing at the eager looks from a number of the gang. "She calls me once a week to check up on Yugi and me, but I haven't seen her since her bastard of a father took her away to live in America with his new wife and left Yugi's sweet mother all alone to take care of my grandson." Tears whelmed in his eyes. "I'm glad my grand-daughter got more of my genes than his." He wiped the tears from his face again. "When I said we were coming to Egypt she told me she'd be here too and if Yugi wanted we could all get together and visit."

Yugi nodded, sniffling and forcing his tears away. "I would like to see her again."

"I'd like to meet Yuug's sis." Joey said excitedly.

"So would I!" Anzu piped up. Honda, Duke and Ryou all nodded.

"Another gaming Mutou? I think I'd better see this." Seto stated from behind them.

Isis and Malik exchanged confused glances. There was a sister?

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