Love eternal (book 5)

Chapter 12: arrival

Several hours have passed since the new information that was dropped on me by Atem. We now both sit on opposite sides of our soul room just staring at each other in absolute silence. I already knew that he and I were one and the same but I never expected the puzzle to sever our souls entirely. As much as I would like to discredit everything he said I find it difficult to ignore it. There are several reasons why I shouldn't ignore it. One being that he knew about the gap in my memory while the only two people who knew about that were Yugi and Solomon, one of which has been gone for several years now. The second being that he is an almost mirror replica of myself and it's hard not to believe something that is basically coming out of your own mouth. I run my fingers through my hair slowly as I release a quiet sigh. This whole endeavor was already going to be complicated without this whole "your life should have been mine" bullshit. Now it seems to have only gotten a hundred times more difficult to handle. What a wonderful twist of fate this is.
"You've been awfully quiet." Atem says finally breaking the silence. I glance up at him in surprise. He eyes me with a cool look of disinterest and disdain, yet he still made the effort to start a conversation with me. I must be making some kind of leeway with him.
"I wasn't certain that you would want to talk to me after what you just revealed." I answer softly, my voice carrying through the still chamber. Atem leans his face in his palm as he analyzes me. His eyes are narrowed slightly as he watches me and his lips are set into a straight, critical line. "To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if you tried to feed me to the shadows."
"If you truly are a part of me then you know that I would never do that." He answers smoothly. A single dark eyebrows raises as he peers down at me from his golden throne.  "Wouldn't you agree?"
   "Yes." I say with a faint smile. "It wouldn't really accomplish anything now would it?"
   "Hardly." He consents. "And there is also another important factor that you are overlooking."
   "There is?" I ask confusedly. "And what would that be?"
   "I don't want to hurt you." He glances down at his ring adorned fingers, twiddling his amethyst ring around his finger nervously. "Hurting you wouldn't take away the loneliness I have felt for the past eighteen years."
   "I truly am sorry." He glances over at me with blatant curiosity. "If I had known that you were in here I would have tried to find a way to get you out of here long before this point." Atem glances back down at his hands. His fingers curl tightly into a fist before releasing and falling open. "You have to believe me."
   "I do." A soft sigh of relief escapes me as I slump against the wall. "Though I wish that we knew how to fix this situation we have. I would rather not have to force my way into the world just to be able to hold Yugi and see my son."
   "You have a daughter too." I say with a faint smile.
   "Twins?" He asks with an astonished expression.
   "Twins." I nod slowly. "Both are absolutely incredible and I'm insanely proud of them. If I was still able to hand away the crown of pharaoh I wouldn't know which child to give it to."
   "I see." Atem smiles faintly. "I look forward to getting to meet them someday." His smile falters and fades. "If that is even remotely possible."
   "We will figure something out, I'm certain of it."
   "I wish that I shared your optimism."
   "You must have some hope deep down." I meet his eyes and smile. "We both need to have a positive outlook if we are going to have any hope of fixing this situation."
   "When you talk like that you sound just like Yugi. Are you aware of that?"
   "I am now." I chuckle. Atem chuckles lightly at my response. "We will both find a way to see him again, together, as one."
   "I certainly hope so." He murmurs softly. "I apologize for my previous actions."
   "Don't apologize." I say seriously. "Believe me when I say that I completely understand why you did it. No one ever wants to be alone, especially not in a place like this. I understand why you did what you did."
   "It doesn't make it any less deplorable." He frowns, his eyes downcast. "My anger towards you and my jealousy have been eating away at me for eighteen years than I thought I needed to get revenge on you. That desire didn't get me very much now did it? Though I will admit that I enjoy the company. It's nice not to be completely alone any longer."
   "Well at least you and I are getting along now." I smile. "Though it took us a lot longer than I care to admit."
   "Very true." He smiles as he rises from his throne. "But we can't change that now." He suddenly goes stiff and his head snaps over towards the door of our soul room his face as serious and forgiving as stone.
   "What is it?" I ask as I slowly rise to my feet.
   "There is someone new inside of the puzzle." He says slowly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Wait." He murmurs. "There is more than one."
   "More people inside of the puzzle?" I ask incredulously. "How in the hell did they even get in here?!"
   "That is something that I intend to discover for myself." Atem says lowly as he storms out of the room. I race after him and quickly grab onto his arm. He glances back at me with a slight look of irritation. "You and I just started to get along, don't ruin it by getting in my way." He says seriously.
   "That was never my intention. I am coming with you."
   "What?"
   "You are not doing this alone." I say sternly. "You have done enough things alone. It's now time for a change of pace. You have a teammate now." Atem stares at me suspiciously for a moment, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes narrowed. After a few seconds his jaw clicks shut and his eyes return to their normal appearance.
   "Very well." He consents as he allows for me to walk beside him. We say nothing as we both begin to walk through the deserted and silent halls. "Thank you." He mumbles after we have made it quite some ways. I say nothing but simply smile in response. Right now we need to focus on just who is inside of our puzzle and how they managed it. And what we are supposed to do with them after.
   "Father!" A familiar voice calls through the halls. I pause as my heart pounds in my chest.
   "What is it?" Atem murmurs.
   "Yami!"
   "Father!"
   "I know who is in our puzzle." I whisper. "It's our family." Atem's eyes go wide as my words sink in and faster than I could even blink he starts running in a dead sprint towards the source of the voices. Tears well up in my eyes as I race off after him. They're here! They're actually here!