Return of the Kings

Chapter 8

The two of them spent the next several hours talking about the last 6 years. Yugi refused to lay in bed at first, taking to looking out the window and gently strolling around the room until he grew tired of moving. Atem watched him carefully, observing his movements while he listened to his college stories and where his adventures took him. Multiple times he suggested he lay down and in the end Yugi finally agreed to at least sit on the bed with him.

Yugi told him of how Pegasus awarded him his scholarship to attend college, and how he was nervous at first but before long he allowed himself to get sucked into the work rather than the guilt of taking such a gift. He felt better once he learned down the track that Pegasus's ulterior motive was to get Yugi into Egypt so he might rediscover the Millenium Items and any other secrets the Egyptians held. To Atem's relief Yugi had found the Millenium Items but did not hand them over to Pegasus. Instead Pegasus settled with an array of new cards to bring out for his business as well as the guarantee that the items were kept safe. There were only 4 people alive that knew of the item's whereabouts and Yugi, while grateful to Pegasus, stood firm in this decision.

He told Atem of Kaiba's successes over the years and how Mokuba was now a director for one of his branches here in the city. This took a lot of pressure of him so now he could have more time to duel... of course there wasn't much competition for him as the new King of Games but he dueled more or less for publicity and to assert his dominance. Joey still strived to beat him and they more or less have grown to admire one anothers tenacity. Underneath Kaiba's exterior it was pretty obvious that Kaiba would almost be disappointed if Joey didn't challenge him... almost.

Yugi told him stories of his trips to Egypt, to France, England, Washington once and even LA for various lectures and tours, assignments and practical studies. He became very independent over the last few years. Once there was a time when he was required to travel so much he was home for a total of 2 months.

He told him of old girlfriends and that he and Tea and had dated briefly... they ended on friendly terms however because they barely had time for one another... his degrees had him travelling and her dancing had her touring, it was too straining when they were together ... there were no hard feelings though and this was almost 3 years ago. Since then Yugi hadn't found anyone.

Atem asked about Rebecca and Yugi had to laugh. He knew of course her feelings for him but they never dated as much as she wanted to. Now though she was engaged and working as a highly classified government researcher in Washington. What she did exactly Yugi didn't know but she was doing very well for herself.

They were interrupted once come lunch time and a nurse came in to deliver a small bowl of rice and beef with sushi on the side, a small cup of herbal tea as well. Now Yugi was hungry enough to eat and listened eagerly to Atem as he described the afterlife. From what Yugi remembered of it it was just a white expanse of blank space... but according to Atem's tales that was just the thin veil between the afterlife and the living world they referred to as the Veil. Beyond that the afterlife was like a dream one could loosely manipulate with your desires and thoughts. If you wished to live through a memory you could, if you wish to visit other souls you could join them, if you wished to rest in your dream of hopes and desires it was only a thought away...anything you could possibly wish for was catered to you, your own personal heavens you could share with if you wish... Of course being a dream time seemingly had no meaning. He could live through his life and rejoin his friends and only moments may have passed for them; and like a dream, often times previous adventures would be forgotten, slipping away like smoke among clouds...even now he could not tell him of details, only the knowledge of how it worked and the certainty that he had at least once seen his friends, caught up with them and rested in peace.