Distance

Gone

Does this count as puzzleshipping if there isn't a puzzle anymore? This and more unanswered questions dead ahead, captain!

I promise this gets happier as it goes along.

Please enjoy "Distance"

XXXXX

Yugi was kneeling on the floor. Tears streaming down his face. He believed that Yami was gone forever as he played his last card and their duel which had been destined by fate finally ended. But now, looking up, he was staring into familiar eyes, so similar to his own but with a hue of crimson.

"You're... you're still here?" Yugi blinked away tears as his Yami, his partner... Atem, stood in front of him.

"Yes. I still have business here." Yami smiled at his friend and clasped the shorter boy's shoulder.

Yugi's heart did a little flip of joy. He hadn't been ready to say goodbye. There was an ache that was subsiding with every breath Yugi took. As the moments passed and Yugi stared into his other self's eyes, his mind grew lighter.

Yami would stay.

They wouldn't have to be separated. The others had surrounded them now. Jou asking one hundred questions a second. Anzu crying with joy. Yugi wondered if this meant Yami would still be confined to the puzzle but it appeared Yami had learned a few things in the couple minutes he had gone through the blinding light after their duel. Yami was no longer confined. He had his own body. Yugi could spot the differences immediately but he was sure the others wouldn't pick up on them as quickly. Their eyes for one, or the slight difference in their hairstyle, even their jaw bone structure and cheek bones. It was a whole new experience seeing Yami in his own true body, not just a projection. Yami's skin remained pale, similar to Yugi's but even there, just a slightly darker shade than his own. Yami confirmed that the millennium items were gone, buried deep in the earth. Yugi was relieved to realize that his life would go on with his best friend still by his side... or so he had thought.

Seto had managed to acquire a forged birth certificate, and produced fake school transcripts for the Pharaoh and, together, Yugi and Yami graduated from Domino high school, with Yami passing as a cousin of Yugi's from northern Japan. Yugi had decided to stay in the area and work with Kaiba Corp as a game designer and Kaiba agreeing he could work while going to college. Yugi's dream was still to create his own games under his own company, but Kaiba Corp was a good start. Especially with all the changes that Seto had been making for the better. Yami however apparently had very different plans than what Domino could offer. It was a quiet afternoon just a few days after their high school graduation when Yami sat down Grandpa and Yugi at the dinner table to discuss his own college plans. Yugi could tell that Yami was nervous to say anything at all.

"I've decided to go to the University of Cairo."

Yugi's heart dropped into his stomach and he couldn't help his reaction as he cried out.

"You mean... Cairo, Egypt?!"

It made complete sense that Yami wouldn't stay in Japan, but Yugi felt the familiar sting of being left behind as he watched his look-alike from across the table.

"Obviously they would have an excellent Egyptology and anthropology program." Nodded Grandpa, "I think it's a wonderful idea, my boy! You'll make an excellent archeologist."

Yugi clenched his fists on his lap at the news until his palms stung from his nails digging into them. Why so far away? Wasn't there some program in Japan he could go to? Yami didn't seem to be picking up on Yugi's frustrations.

It was different, not sharing their mind link. Still, Yugi would have thought after all that time sharing one mind that even after their connection was broken Yami would have known how this made Yugi feel. And it wasn't to say that Yami wasn't attentive most of the time... but occasionally it felt as though Yami was ignoring Yugi's reactions. Yugi remained silent as Yami explained about the college and program he had picked and how he felt called to return to Egypt to study.