Challenge Name and Number: Back, #31
Drabble Title: In the Shadow of the Pharaoh's Back
Word Count: 241 (not counting this bit)
Warnings (if applicable): N/A
Pairings (if applicable): N/A
Author's note: Because I thought this fit best, and I'm posting early because I have no time to post it later. Also, I found it to be a bit angsty...huh.
Summary: He would always be two steps behind the Pharaoh.

He was always staring at his back.

It did not matter how far he had come or how much he had changed since he had first begun this crazy journey, because every step of the way he was always confronted by the sight of his partner's back as it also advanced on this path; he could develop and grow all he wanted, but no matter how hard he tried he was always two steps behind. His accomplishments were always overshadowed by the Pharaoh's.

Somewhere deep down, he knew he would never catch up to him. He would always be watching his other half as he moved forward, both of them marching to the beat of their own drum and both of them intrinsically divided so that he never got ahead of the Pharaoh, but that did not stop him from trying anyway; he could not simply give up, and therefore he tried his absolute best to get ahead.

It was oddly fitting, therefore, that the Pharaoh's back would be the last thing he would see of his friend as he walked through the door to the Afterlife. He accepted this with defeated resignation even as the tomb collapsed around them and the small group emerged from the darkness and the cloud of dust cast by the collapse.

Yugi had always been behind the Pharaoh before, and now he would forever be trapped in the shadow cast by the Pharaoh's receding back.