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They should have never pressured Yugi into dueling.
He’d tried saying no. Over and over again…but they’d pressed on…
And now Yugi was hurt. Really hurt. He was fighting for his life all over a duel he hadn't even wanted to partake in.
Tea closed her eyes as tears emerged. They squeezed past her eyelids and trickled down her face.
It was amazing she even had any tears left with how much she’d cried over the past few hours.
The door to the waiting room slid open and she opened her eyes to look, but the doctor went to a woman on the other side of the room.
She sighed and looked at the rest of her friends.
Joey was leaning against the wall, head down and fists clenched as though ready to fight someone.
He was angry. And he wanted to take it out on someone. Especially one person in particular.
Except…that person was gone. He and his friends had run off as soon as they’d realized what they’d done.
Tea closed her eyes against the memory, willing it to leave her brain so she wouldn’t have to see it happen over, and over, and over…
But she knew the memory would never leave her. It would never fade.
Because, even after all they’d been through…this was one of the worst things she’d ever seen or experienced.
Yugi had won the duel against the punk who had challenged him.
Of course he had won.
It was laughable that the guy and his stupid friends actually thought he could beat him.
And when Yugi had won - despite the insults that had been hurled at him all game - he’d remained humble, respectful, and kind.
Because of course he had. It was Yugi.
Unfortunately, though, the guy wasn’t going to take losing with any sort of dignity.
The duel had brought forth quite the crowd, taking place in a courtyard so it was hard to miss. Afterward, with the help of his friends, Yugi had managed to escape those clamoring around him and asking for his autograph, but when they’d approached the street…the loser had run up behind him…
One moment, Yugi had been right next to them. Smiling and chatting.
And the next…
Yugi hadn’t even had time to react before the man had shoved him into the street.
Right in front of an oncoming utility truck.
The screams of anguish and shock that had resonated around them would haunt Tea’s dreams forever.
Along with the blood that had spattered on the vehicle and along the street.
Joey and Tristan had tried running after the monster who had done this as well as his friends, but had been stopped by Tea practically screaming at them to not waste their time. That Yugi needed them...
Tristan looked about the same as Joey in that moment, if not more solemn than angry.
And Atem…
Atem was an absolute wreck.
He had been inconsolable in the midst of everything, but now…now he just looked empty. Blank.
He was sitting in a chair away from them. His head was down as he stared at his hands. He didn’t move. He didn’t look up.
She knew that this was just how he dealt with things. He would shut people out. Everyone except for Yugi. And sometimes Solomon...before he had died.
While it had absolutely destroyed Yugi to lose his grandfather – the only parental figure he’d ever known – Anzu couldn't help but feel grimly thankful that the old man was no longer around to experience this. It would have probably been too much for his old heart to take.
Unbeknown to Tea, Atem was also thinking of Solomon.
He had been eighty years old when he’d passed just two years prior. Atem had wished he’d gotten a few more years with him, but five years was enough for the man to demand that Atem call him Grandpa.
He had sounded so exasperated when he'd said it…
"Quit acting like a stranger in your own home, boy! Just call me 'grandpa!'"
“His own home” being the game shop, which Yugi had continued residing in after high school. Atem had obviously followed suit, not even dreaming of parting with the one he had shared a mind and body with for so long. And especially in a world that still felt so foreign to him.
The five years Atem had spent living under the same roof as Solomon and Yugi were some of the happiest years of his life.
He still dueled and took part in whatever tournament Kaiba forced upon him. But most of the time, he was content keeping as low a profile as possible, with Yugi by his side.
The final duel to separate his own soul from Yugi’s had taken a lot out of them both. Yugi had been the first to retire his duel deck in order to attempt to live a normal life...and to try and relieve some of the trauma he'd experienced from the game.
Solomon had been sad to see his nephew leave the game, but he had also known that Yugi needed time to mentally recover.
His cards would still be there whenever he decided to pick them up again. Loyally awaiting his return.
“You’ll look out for him won’t you, Atem? Yugi…he’s strong and can take care of himself, but…that boy…he’s the light of my life. Promise me that you’ll look after him. Promise me.”
Atem could still hear Solomon’s words clear as day. Weak and raspy as he lay in his hospital bed dying, but firm in resolve.
Atem had promised.
And he had failed.
A choked sound left his throat and he ducked his chin further into his chest.
Tea noticed Atem becoming more distressed and started to move closer, but the waiting room doors sliding open halted her.
“Yugi Mutou?”
As soon as the name left the doctor’s mouth, everyone stood to attention. Atem darted right past the man, not even caring to stop and speak with him, but Tristan grabbed his arm.
“Hold it, buddy. Gotta talk to the doctor first,” Tristan said patiently, knowing Atem still struggled with stuff that regular people considered general knowledge.
The doctor fixed Atem with a curious stare before he began relaying the information on Yugi’s condition.
It was a gruesome list of injuries. Every detail made them feel short of breath as their chests and stomachs clenched painfully…
A fractured leg and hip.
One arm shattered from clavicle to ulna.
Fractured ribs.
A serious concussion.
A ruptured spleen that they ultimately had to remove.
Severe lung and cervical spine bruising.
Every detail sent a new surge of guilt that shot through each of them like freshly sharpened arrows.
“C-can we see him?” Tea asked quietly.
The doctor nodded and led them to the room that held their friend. Joey and Tristan had to keep pulling Atem back as he continuously attempted to rush ahead, despite the fact he didn't even know where to go.
Upon approaching Yugi's room, however, there was no containing him. He didn’t waste any time entering, not even giving the doctor so much as a nod of appreciation.
The man didn’t seem to think anything of it, but Tea apologized on his behalf anyway.
When the doctor left them to visit their friend in peace, they were not at all surprised to see Atem already at Yugi’s bedside holding his hand. The hand that wasn’t suspended in a trapeze and covered in plaster.
The plaster covering Yugi’s hip and leg appeared rather bulky on his small frame, sticking out from the white thermal hospital blanket and resting on a large foam pillow.
There was gauze across his forehead. His eyes were already well on their way to blackening to a grisly dark purple.
A tan brace was fitted around his neck. An endotracheal tube was being held in place by a clunky piece of blue plastic that rested atop his lips. The tubing trailed up past his chin, into his mouth, and down his throat. The noise it made could only be described as a sort of mechanical “breathing.”
The doctor could have only prepare them so much for the state of their friend, but it hadn’t been enough.
The way he looked…so broken and impossibly small in that hospital bed…it was enough to make them all start crying again.
“Yug…” Joey said in a rough voice so filled with remorse. “Oh, Yug…we’re here, buddy. We’re right here.”
He wanted to grab his hand, but had to settle with touching his knee instead.
Yugi didn’t budge.
There wasn’t even an inkling of a sign that he knew they were there.
“It’s all my fault…”
Tristan, Tea, and Joey looked at the source of the broken voice.
“Atem…” Tea started.
“I was supposed to protect him…and yet…” Atem sobbed. “I failed him. I’m so sorry, Yugi. I’m so sorry..."
Atem looked like he was about to say more, but choked on another sob and pressed a hand to his mouth, squeezing so tight his nails left crescent indents in his skin. It was as though he felt he wasn’t deserving enough to express such emotion. Not when he'd failed Yugi so terribly.
“Atem, you can’t take the blame for this,” Joey said, eyes shadowed with regret. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I was the first to speak up. I was the first to tell him he should duel that nobody. If I’d just kept my big mouth shut…”
Joey trailed off, gritting his teeth and clenching the hospital blanket.
“Don’t be stupid,” Tristan spoke up, eyes not leaving his friend's injured form. “I pushed him the hardest. I demanded that he show that guy who was boss. Which he did because he won, but…”
But at what cost?
The words remained unsaid, but everyone was thinking them.
“It wasn’t worth it. We should’ve just let him walk away, damn it!” Tristan hissed through gritted teeth, tears budding along his lashes again.
“It’s true, we could’ve all done something different, but…” Tea spoke up. “We all know what Yugi would be saying right now…”
They were silent for a few moments.
While no words left Yugi's mouth, they echoed in their heads as though he had actually spoken.
“He’d be saying it’s not our fault,” Joey said lowly. “He’d be saying it’s okay, and to not beat ourselves up.”
“Yeah. Yeah, he would,” Tristan nodded, looking down at the floor.
“You’re all talking like he’s dead.”
Everyone startled at the snappish voice.
Seto Kaiba stood in the doorway, arms crossed. His little brother Mokuba was by his side.
Kaiba looked angry. Livid even.
“Well? What happened?” Kaiba demanded.
“You mean you don’t know? This is your hospital,” Joey snapped.
Tea elbowed him.
This may have been a Kaiba Corp. hospital, but that didn’t mean he knew everything that went on within its walls. Even though, he probably boasted that he did.
“I’ve heard a lot of he-said, she-said from a bunch of nobodies. But I know you four were actually there up close to the action,” Kaiba snapped. “So, I’ll ask you again… what happened?”
Tea was the first to speak up after a moment of silence, but once she started speaking her voice faded away as tears gathered in her eyes again and clogged her throat.
“It was…”
“A duel gone wrong,” Joey finished darkly.
“A duel gone wrong? No. As far as I’m concerned the duel went right seeing as Yugi won.”
“If ya already know what happened, then why are ya even here, Kaiba?” Joey bit back.
Kaiba glanced down at the injured form in the bed.
Something flashed in his eyes.
It made Tea recoil a bit, blinking an gasping silently.
“Mokuba was worried. I just wanted to figure out how something like this could happen. Not only to the world’s top duelist, but to-”
Kaiba stopped himself from saying anything more. Abruptly cutting his sentence short and swallowing the words he'd almost spoke.
How could this have happened to Yugi?
Yugi of all people?
No...
He didn't allow those words to leave his mouth. Because then that would make everyone think he actually cared for him. Like a friend and not simply a rival to defeat.
Because, that's all he was, after all.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Kaiba’s hard gaze moved to Atem.
“And you. How could you let this happen? Aren’t you always hovering over him like some kind of guard dog?"
"Now wait just a damn minute-" Joey spoke up as he stood from his chair, metal legs scraping harshly against the tile.
“Kaiba!” Tea snapped. “Can’t you see he’s distraught enough? What’s the matter with you?”
“Tea.”
She loosened her fists and looked at Atem. He was still looking down at Yugi. He hadn’t even looked up when Kaiba had entered the room or when Mokuba rushed beside him to Yugi’s bedside.
“Kaiba’s right. It is my duty to protect him. I made a promise. And I broke it. I failed. And now Yugi is…”
He trailed off, tears falling once more.
Kaiba could’ve said more. He wanted to say more. But, for once, he refrained.
It was a rare act of kindness from the man.
“Well, seeing as this is my hospital, I will be stopping by again to ensure the King of Games is receiving proper treatment.”
“Thank you, Kaiba,” Atem murmured.
Kaiba grunted in response before jutting his chin toward his brother. “Come on, Mokuba.”
Mokuba nodded, but before leaving, he placed a gentle hand on Yugi’s plastered chest.
“Get well, Yugi,” he whispered.
The room was silent when the brother’s left. But only for a few moments before Tristan spoke.
"Don't listen to him, Atem. He's just being Kaiba."
"Yeah..." Joey muttered, glaring at the door Kaiba had just exited through. "A no-good, lousy, son-of-a-"
"Joey..." Tea lightly scolded.
"What? He's a jerk, Tea! You know it, and I know it!" Joey defended himself, raising his voice a little more than was suitable for the environment they were in.
"Would you quiet down, you moron?" Tristan said, lightly whacking the back of his head.
Joey growled and glared at him.
"I don't know..." Tea murmured softly. "I know Kaiba's a jerk, but...something seemed different this time. He actually seemed...concerned."
"What?" Joey exclaimed. "Kaiba? Concerned? You've lost your mind, Tea. The only thing Kaiba's ever concerned about is himself, money, and Mokuba...and Duel Monsters. But that's it."
Tea didn't reply. She didn't have the energy to argue.
She stood by her opinion, though.
The look in Kaiba's eyes, and the way he had been holding himself...he’d seemed genuinely troubled and out-of-sorts by the whole situation.
Almost as though he were realizing, for the first time, that Yugi was more than just an object blocking his path. A goal to surpass.
Like he was finally realizing that Yugi was someone he actually cared about.
Tea sighed, letting out a soft hum.
Unbeknownst to her, Kaiba had ordered the nurses to alert him the very second anything changed in Yugi's condition. Whether good or bad.
Mokuba observed silently as his brother berated the staff, voice one of the angriest he'd ever heard it.
Oddly enough, it filled his heart with warmth.
Because it was proof that Kaiba really did care about other people. Or...some other people. Yugi in particular.
It also filled his heart with a regret and sorrow that didn't quite belong to him.
Regret because it had taken so long for his brother to get to this point...
And sorrow that he may not get another chance to show Yugi his real, true colors. And his real, true feelings.
Despite Kaiba's barking orders that the doctor better do his damndest to keep Yugi alive...Mokuba knew that all they could do now was wait.
Mokuba just hoped that Yugi would wake up soon. And that he would be alright.
.
.
.
.
.