Thanks for reading all the way through – I hope the journey was worth it.

Same disclaimers as before; don't own them, never will. I'm only borrowing them for sheer pleasure and to satisfy that pesky muse. Also, see previous apology for the accent thing. It just works for me.

Onto our conclusion…

Enjoy!

Nothing. Naught.

Then…

Pain. Ripping, horrible, unendurable pain. But even that was better than the cold void, the absence of everything.

Around the agony came flashes of something else, distant memories, like dreams, of a mind, of thoughts, of feelings. He…was. He had a name. He had…a life. He existed.

Thoughts started to trickle through, slow at first, as though fighting through an eternity of obstruction. He was a boy. A hero. A duelist. Yugi.

"I am Yugi. I am." Blinking, he realized he could see, realized he had a body, or a form at least, that was familiar and known even if it wasn't quite physical. Like glass breaking, the pain shattered around him, and suddenly Yugi remembered everything, each and every detail that had been lost in that abyss of emptiness.

"Pharaoh!" His voice echoed in the darkness which reminded him uncomfortably of the many Shadow Games he had played with his partner years ago. Swirling, inky blackness surrounded him. But he was alive. Or something. In one piece, anyway.

"Yugi! Are you all right?" Yugi turned toward the familiar voice and saw Atem floating nearby, anxiety written in every line of his face. "When I woke up here, I feared…"

"No, I'm okay. I think. Where are we?" Yugi asked.

"I'm not sure. But wherever it is, we're together." The pharaoh closed the distance between them, facing his boy, though he would have to get used to Yugi being a man now, and staring at the hikari that meant so much. That was worth risking his immortal soul just to be near.

"Right. But pharaoh…"

"Use my name."

"What?" Yugi blinked confusedly.

"Use my real name, Yugi. You fought so hard to help find it for me. You should at least get used to it," Atem smiled smugly, an edged gleam in his eyes. It was as close as the Egyptian ever got to humor.

"I'll have to, I guess. I mean, if the ritual worked. Did it work?" Yugi could feel himself almost blushing.

"I suppose we'll find out."

The shadows surrounding them seemed to be lightening slowly, like the sky just before false dawn. Instinctively, the pair moved close together, feeling something in the pressure around them. Whatever the final determination was going to be, it was going to happen now.

"Yugi?" Atem looked down at the soul who had given him life and hope time after time. "What you said before, about this being worth it because you could see me again?"

"Yes?"

"I feel the same." Almost shyly, the pharaoh extended his arms around Yugi, not as a protective gesture this time, but a genuine embrace, less frenzied and desperate than the one from their initial meeting. Yugi pulled him close, hugging him tenderly.

"I know."

No matter what happened, for that instant, they were truly two-made-one, and that unity brought a peace with it that no heaven could ever quite equal. The last of the darkness was fading rapidly to light, and a shiver of magic whispered around them. Holding determinedly to one another, Yugi and Atem prepared themselves for whatever came next. Whether they lived or vanished, either was better than ever being apart again.

--==OOO==--

"Yugi!"

Ooohh, this was truly the worst migraine in the history of migraines. The champion duelist blinked hard against a wetness that was clogging his eyes as he tried to force his screaming brain to accept vision. Blurs above him slowly resolved into faces: Anzu, Honda, and Jounouchi were kneeling around him, their faces white and frightened.

"Hi, guys," he said weakly. His mind was trying to tell him that he was forgetting something important, but it seemed inconsequential against this rapidly-fading headache.

"You're okay! I knew you'd make it! Man, don't you ever scare us like that again!" Honda admonished, a tremble in his voice betraying more than he was saying.

"What happened?" Anzu asked tightly.

"I…uh…aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon?" Yugi suddenly noticed his best friend, the recently-married man whose brown eyes were still wide. Sense was flooding back into his thoughts as the pain receded.

"Long story, Yuge," he scowled. "That's why we came looking for you. But first, seriously, what happened?"

"I'm…not sure." He was suddenly seized by fear. He remembered thinking that he had seen his lost other self once more. That they had dared everything to reunite. Had it all been a dream?

"No, Yugi. I'm here," whispered a wonderfully real voice in his mind before loss could overtake him. "I always told you that you were much stronger than you gave yourself credit for." Atem appeared beside him in spirit form, visible only to Yugi's eyes. The sight galvanized him, and it shot a sudden and pounding pressure through both interdependent hearts. "We made it. I'm here, and now we'll be together for all time. We'll never be alone again."

Unexpectedly, Yugi felt more hot tears run down his temples and he closed his eyes to relish the feeling. While his three friends fussed around him, worrying kindly, inside he was dancing for joy with the other half of himself. For the first time in years, he was complete once more. The nightmare was over. Life, real life, could begin again.

"I'm okay, really," he shushed the others as he struggled to sit up while brushing away the wetness on his cheeks. "It's complicated."

"Shall I tell them?" Atem wanted to know.

"No," Yugi replied silently, smiling internally, ready to cry again at the simple act of speaking with Atem mind-to-mind once more. It was a more soul-deep method of communication than any either had ever known before. "I'll let them find out. It's…kinda tradition, you know. And I can't wait to see their faces when they see you again!" An answering smirk warmed the back of his mind. Both could well imagine the reaction of their friends to the news, which would probably be a lot more positive than the first time Yugi had admitted that there was another being living within him.

"Can we get into it later? We've sorta got a problem," Honda said, shaking the champion duelist out of his mind abruptly.

"Are you sure you're okay, Yugi?" Anzu asked, her concern still deep.

"I feel better than I have in a long, long time." The smile that crossed his bright features caught Honda, Anzu, and Jounouchi completely off guard. He looked happy, relaxed, confident. That was the face of a Yugi they had rarely seen in years.

"Good. 'Cause you're gonna need it, buddy," Jounouchi said as he helped him to his feet, feeling that his best friend's inexplicable glow was slightly contagious.

"What happened?"

"Well, Mai and I were on our way to the resort when a couple of guys jumped us and challenged us to a duel, and…" As the blonde man sketched out the strange encounter that had caused him to break off his honeymoon in a rush, Yugi felt his smile growing wider. "…So we came straight here, since we figured you if anybody would know what to do now."

"It's about time we had another adventure!" Yugi exclaimed, spreading his arms so wide he almost demolished a carefully-balanced pile of the new Capsule Monsters on a shelf. The gesture was entirely reminiscent of Atem; Yugi had definitely picked up a flair for the dramatic from his Egyptian half. Somewhere inside, he could feel the touch of a soul so close to his own he had not been himself without it there. The earth's gravity could only barely keep his feet on the ground; he was a heartbeat away from flight.

"That's what we were thinking!" Honda agreed. Anzu smiled.

"All right, then! Mai's waiting with the car. Let's go!" Jounouchi pumped a fist in the air triumphantly as Yugi's enthusiasm fed his own.

As Yugi joined his friends in their rush to their next journey through danger and the great unknown, he fingered his deck at his hip and glanced to the spirit that hovered beside him. There was so much he still wanted to say, so much in his heart he needed to express, so much still to admit and recognize and embrace about what he felt and wanted and hoped for the rest of their life together. But there would be time now. All the time of forever. For today, there was a challenge waiting.

And when they spoke, neither Yugi nor Atem knew which had formed and shouted the words that would lead them into eternity.

"It's time to duel!"