A/N: Welcome to chapter 15 of Overcoming Differences!

Which, ironically, I've given the title of the story. I rock when I can't come up with chapter titles…

So yeah, like promised this is the last chapter. I don't think I should say much, since my ending A/N is quite long, so I'll just let you guys and girls read.

Without further ado, I'll let you get to reading this new chapter. Remember that I don't own Yu-gi-oh! or any of its characters, that mobiumshipping rocks, and that I love reviews. I also made another allusion towards the song I talked about in chapter 14. 'wou dat alles anders was' belongs to Snotneuzen.

Enjoy!

0o0o0

Overcoming Differences

Yugi and Chris rolled around at a leisurely pace for a while. Yugi kept on smiling encouragingly at her, pointing out things around them. The flock of birds twittering in a nearby tree, a squirrel moving bashfully close to a picnicking family and a group of children playing soccer on the field. Though they had gone painfully slow at first, the distractions made Chris soon forget what she was doing. She soon got the hang of rolling herself around and became a little bit braver, even daring to go a little bit faster.

She had a bit of a scare when the ball the children were playing soccer with suddenly came rolling their way. But instead of trying to dodge it Yugi rolled himself straight towards it. While the chair was still rolling he bent forward and picked up the ball. With a smile he threw the ball back towards the kid running towards him, who yelled an apology and a thanks in return before rejoining his friends. She admired how sure Yugi was in his wheelchair, like a rider would with his horse.

The thought made her bite her lip. She had been a rider herself before the accident, but ever since then she hadn't gotten an opportunity to get back into it. Not that she knew how to. How would she be able to ride a horse if she couldn't even use her legs?

Instinctively she grabbed Skye, her stuffed white wolf still sitting in her lap. She squeezed it hard as she felt the tears return. She hadn't realized before how much she missed horse riding. Since she had been confronted with so many things after she had finally been discharged from the hospital and put on extensive therapy to recover as well as she could, horse riding hadn't crossed her mind yet. It had been her favourite activity, something she looked forward to every week. She even saved up her money so she could take extra lessons whenever she had the opportunity. So to realize that this too was something she'd lost because of that stupid accident was very painful to her.

Yugi looked over his shoulder when he realized he wasn't hearing Chris's wheelchair rolling behind him anymore. He quickly turned around when he saw that the girl was squeezing her stuffed toy for dear life and trying to hide her tears behind her bangs, "Are you okay Chris?" He asked with concern lacing his voice as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Chris hiccupped but managed to shake her head. Yugi could see that she was seriously upset, and not able to resume their casual stroll. He quickly looked around to see whether he could take her off the path they were now on and to a quiet spot where she could calm down. They had been rolling along the edge of a small lake. There were several areas set off from the path where people could get a good view over the blue water. Luckily there was one such place close by and it was clear of other people. Deciding that this would be a good spot Yugi turned back to the crying girl, "You think you can get yourself over there?" He asked as he pointed towards his intended direction.

The girl briefly glanced up, and gave a quick, but hesitant, nod. Still clutching Skye in her right hand she grabbed the push bars again and slowly rolled herself forward while more sobs racked through her body. Yugi stayed close by her side as he helped to guide her to that spot where she could have a little bit more privacy with her grief. There was only so much he could do to help her though, since being in a wheelchair himself prohibited him from pushing her there himself.

What annoyed Yugi the most as they slowly made their way was how nobody seemed to care to help them. People either seemed to be ignoring the scene, or just shot them curious stares while not reaching out to help. Yugi internally rolled his eyes at these people. Was it really that hard to stop staring and ask if they needed any help?

Once they arrived at the viewing area Yugi made sure to put Chris's wheelchair on brake before parking himself at her side. He gentle rubbed her back in whatever comfort it would provide while the girl resumed squeezing Skye close to her while she cried.

They sat there like that for a few minutes before Chris finally calmed down enough to speak again, "Sorry, I did not mean to start crying like this."

The first thing Yugi noticed was that, although she spoke clearly, she was speaking very slowly, as if she was conscious of every word and every syllable. Though she had seemed to stutter before, she really hadn't spoken enough to really notice it. Yugi knew from speaking to Dartz earlier that this was sadly the result of the brain damage she had suffered. Though she could speak, she couldn't do without a second thought like any healthy person. Where a normal functioning mind would take the concept of the intended message and transcribe it into spoken language within a blink of an eye, her mind was unable to do so. She had to make a more conscious effort to do so.

"It's okay." Yugi reassured her, "But would you mind telling me why you were crying?"

Chris turned her attention back to Skye, still squeezing the poor stuffed animal as an outlet for her raging emotions, "You would not understand." She mumbled slowly, pushing the syllables past her lips as if they refused to leave her mouth, "You do not know what it feels like. I cannot do anything anymore. I am useless."

A really weird feeling crept up in Yugi's gut. The way she had spoken those words made him feel gutted. They were spoken with such conviction that it would be difficult to persuade her otherwise. In fact, he didn't really know what to say or do here. All he knew were the slight hardships he had to go through when he was young, but again, because he didn't know any better, the word hardship was perhaps even too much to describe it.

He quickly thought to himself. What would he like to hear if he was troubled by his own disability? The answer came to him surprisingly fast. Whenever he was down he always liked it if his boyfriends were understanding towards him. Not that they could really understand how it felt, but the fact that they acknowledged that he had that feeling would already make him feel better. It was worth a shot.

"You're right that I cannot completely understand your situation. I can only imagine what you've been going through these past few months. It's not strange that you're having a hard time dealing with it." He said, pausing briefly to allow the words to sink in before continuing, "But I wouldn't say that you're useless. There's so much you can still do even though you're now in a wheelchair."

"No." Chris bit out bitterly, "You can do that, but I cannot. I cannot even talk properly anymore."

"But you can talk." Yugi stressed, "Doesn't that count for something?"

Chris fell silent, thinking over the young man's words as she now fiddled with the ears of the white wolf, flipping them repeatedly through her fingers. After a while she spoke up again, "I was thinking just now, before I started crying, that I couldn't ride a horse anymore." She bit her lip in an attempt to keep more tears at bay.

"You used to ride horses?"

Chris nodded, "It was my favourite hobby. I always said that nothing would matter as long as I could ride horses. But now…I cannot…" She trailed off.

"But that's not true Chris." Yugi exclaimed, making Chris look at him in confusion. Yugi smiled at her and explained, "It's never been my thing, but there are plenty of disabled people who ride horses."

A little glimmer of hope appeared in Chris's eyes before is disappeared again. Yugi would have missed it if he hadn't been studying the girl's face so intently for any type of reaction, "But it is not the same." She countered as she looked away again.

Yugi sighed and shook his head again, "Of course it isn't." He admitted, making her look back in confusion because he agreed with her so readily, "Just like doing pretty much everything else isn't the same. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing. Just because riding a horse with a disability is different than without one doesn't mean it's any less fun right?"

Chris continued to look at him, and a small smile appeared on her lips, "Maybe you're right. I could try at least."

Yugi smiled back, happy with the victory he had gained over her, "Exactly. Look, I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I think life is about overcoming differences. Yeah, it sucks that you can't walk anymore, and that you have trouble speaking, but you also get the opportunity to tackle a different life, find new ways to do the things you did before."

"Overcoming differences huh?" Chris pondered, falling silent as she thought over his words.

Indeed, her life after the accident had been very different so far, and she had fought hard to regain what she had lost only to find out that she couldn't obtain it anymore. Her desire to have everything turn back to normal is what made her so depressed because it wouldn't. But instead of trying to reach her former standards she now started to realize that maybe she should accept that she couldn't and deal with the differences.

And who was better to help her than the person sitting right beside her? She was now glad that her father had taken her to talk to him. He was doing a much better job of motivating her than her parents did. Not that she didn't love them, or didn't appreciate what they were doing for her, but with her mother playing down the situation as she had towards her father, and her father now being upset about that, the tensions within her family were very palpable. She felt awful for being the source of their fights, and it didn't help her out one bit.

She glanced towards Yugi, a small blush creeping up her cheeks. Was it wrong to ask him for his help though? Would she betray her parents if she did? After all, they were the ones she was supposed to turn to. Also, she really didn't know Yugi that well and his boyfriend was her father's charge. It felt a little bit strange to seek help from him. Yet at the same time she didn't know anyone else who she could ask.

"Something on your mind Chris?" Yugi, who had noticed she had gotten really quiet, interrupted her thoughts.

Chris quickly thought over everything again, heaving a sigh and making a quick decision, "Will you help me? I mean, my parents are doing the best they can, but…" She trailed off.

"But they already have got enough on their minds?" Yugi gently supplied where she stopped, hoping to finish her thought.

She nodded and started rubbing her arm in discomfort, but Yugi's gentle tone also made her feel that she could trust him, "Mom thought she could handle caring for me on her own, and did not want dad's hard work to be for naught because I had an accident. He really loves Atlantis and had been working so hard to prepare for the tour that she did not want him to come home. She has been doing her best to adjust to the situation, but when dad found out when he got home he got very angry. He feels that she should have called him home so he could have been there for us. He has been feeling very guilty and tries to help me whenever he can, but he does not really understand what I can and cannot do."

"I can understand that." Yugi said with a brief smile, "Yami is that way too. If he had his way I wouldn't be doing anything."

Chris frowned. Even though she didn't know Yugi that well she knew for a fact that he was very active, so somewhere along the way they must have come to an agreement, "Then how did you make things work out?"

"Well, I already knew my limitations before I met him, so I could put him in place whenever he was being too imposing. He accepted it."

"I am not sure whether I could do that." She said demurely, "I do not want to bother them, and even I do not know what my limitations are."

"That's completely normal Chris." Yugi said reassuringly, "They are your parents. You love them and want to make them proud. I can only imagine how stifling it is for you to be caught between them and their bad decisions. It's okay that you are uncomfortable in standing up to them. I was only able to do it because I had years of experience before I even met Yami. And I'm willing to help you out if you want me to. That's why I'm here today."

The smile returned to Chris's face as she looked at Yugi with gratitude. She felt reassured by his words and was glad she had spoken to him about it. It was as if a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders. The future looked to be a little bit brighter. Things would become slightly easier for her with his help, she just knew it.

0o0o0

"I did it Yugi!" Chris's cheerful voice sounded over his phone.

Yugi's lips cracked into a smile as he leaned a little bit more comfortably against Atem, "Yeah? How did it go?"

"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. As soon as I got on it was as if I'd never even left. It's weird that I couldn't use my legs, but the horse was so sweet I hardly even noticed it. I did everything I used to do before the accident."

"That's awesome Chris. I'm glad that you found the courage to try it out. I'm proud of you."

"I should really thank you Yugi. You gave me the courage I needed. I'm so glad you talked me into trying horse riding again." She fell silent for a moment, though Yugi could hear her talk briefly to someone else, "My dad's here too. He wants to talk to you. Is that okay?"

Yugi nodded, though Chris couldn't see it, "Sure thing."

"All right. I'm going to have a look at the other horses. Thanks again Yugi, bye!"

Yugi heard Chris hand over the phone to her father, hearing the latter caution his daughter to be careful and not take too long before he brought the device to his ear, "Yugi?" He said.

"Hello Dartz, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes Yugi, I did. I wanted to thank you for helping out my daughter." He fell silent for a while and Yugi could hear him sniff a little bit before he started speaking again with a slightly broken voice, "It feels so good to see her happy again."

"It's all right Dartz. I'm happy I could help out." Yugi reassured him gently. He was simply glad that he had been able to do something and make everything a little bit better for Chris and her family.

"Yes, well I wanted to thank you anyway. If there's anything I could do in return please let me know."

Yugi thought about the offer. He looked up at Atem, who turned his head to meet his gaze with curiosity, then to Yami, who was oblivious of his boyfriend looking at him and didn't look away from the television show they were watching. He had everything he wanted. There was honestly nothing Dartz could give him that would make his life any better than it already was, "It's fine, really. I didn't help out just to get something out of it for myself. You just work on helping your daughter and I'll be happy."

"All right." Dartz conceded, "Just know that if you ever need a favour you can come to me."

"I'll keep it in mind Dartz." Yugi assured him.

"Right. Thanks again Yugi, bye."

"Bye." Yugi returned the greeting before hanging up his phone and pocketing it.

"What was that all about squirt?" Atem asked him in curiosity, "What did Dartz want from you?"

"Remember I told you Chris wanted to try to get back into horse riding?"

Atem nodded. It had been a while since Yugi's first conversation with the teenage girl in the park, and his boyfriend had spoken with her several more times after that. Though Yugi had kept his conversations with Chris strictly confidential, he had told his boyfriends about her wish to climb on a horse again.

"Well, she called me to tell me she had just taken her first lesson." Yugi continued, "She sounded really happy and Dartz wanted to thank me after that. He also told me he'd like to do something in return, but I don't want anything."

Atem hummed and gently squeezed his disabled boyfriend to his side, "I'm glad we're good enough for you squirt."

"Will you two be quiet?" Yami snapped, "I'm trying to watch."

Yugi pouted a bit at Yami's reaction. It wasn't like him to be so uninterested and uninvolved in the conversation. He should be happy too and join in their moment, but instead became snappish over a stupid television show.

"Don't mind him squirt." Atem soothed him softly, "He was up all night again playing Pharaoh Music Studio. You know how grumpy he gets when he's tired."

Yugi huffed and crossed his arms, "Well that doesn't give him the right to be so snappish. By the way, why were you up all night anyway?"

"None of you business." Came the snappish reply.

"What?!" Yugi exclaimed, getting angry, "Well excuse me for being curious about why my boyfriend thinks some stupid programme is more important than a good night sleep."

"Hey!" Atem called out, "Don't call Pharaoh Music Studio stupid just because he's becoming addicted to it.

Yugi snapped his head to Atem, "I thought you were on my side Atem. Are you just going to sit here and allow him to talk to me like that?"

"I didn't say that." Atem tried to defend himself.

"All right, stop it!" Yami yelled.

He started rubbing his temples, trying to get rid of the headache that he had gotten. He sighed, which unwillingly turned into a yawn, making Yugi glare at him as if it was proof that he wasn't getting enough sleep recently. For a brief moment he thought about snapping something back again, but stopped himself as he knew that would only aggravate matters even more. He didn't like fighting with his boyfriends, but he just couldn't help but be grumpy when he was tired.

After he had calmed himself down enough Yami turned his head around, adopting an apologetic expression, "Sorry aibou. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

But Yugi wasn't going to accept such a simple apology, "You're avoiding my question Yami. I'm not buying your meek attitude all of a sudden. If I had known that you would become addicted to that stupid programme I wouldn't have encouraged Atem to create it."

"I'm not addicted, I'm just-" He started to counter, but he didn't finish the sentence.

Yugi didn't seem to notice the sudden break off though, and continued to counter back, "Then how do you call it when a person is sneaking out of bed to play some game all night?"

"It does look suspicious darling. Is there something you're not telling us?" Atem added.

Yami looked back and forth between Yugi's glare and Atem's curious face. He then understood that there was no way out of it now. He had to come clean. The singer sighed in defeat, "All right, I'll show you." He stood up and walked into the direction of their home office, "I was hoping to keep it a secret, but I guess I'll show you."

Yugi and Atem looked at each other in confusion. They didn't have a clue as to what their boyfriend was talking about. A secret? Since when did Yami keep secrets from them? He never did that.

While Atem stood up to follow Yami Yugi moved over to his wheelchair. Once in their home office Yami booted up their laptop and started the programme. Yugi felt annoyance creep up again, but decided to remain silent while he found out what his boyfriend wanted to show them. Atem was merely curious, and kept trying to read his boyfriend's face but failed.

Both were startles when a moment later a song played softly through the office. Yugi and Atem didn't recognize it, even when after a short while the lyrics kicked in. Yugi briefly thought that Yami's synthesized voice just couldn't compare to the real him, while Atem wondered whether he could have Yami record some better samples. But their thoughts were broken when he realized what the lyrics were about. First Yami sang of having a friend in a wheelchair, but admiring him for being able to live a normal life. After the chorus, in which he wished everything was different, but couldn't change anything, he sang the story of a girl who was dealing with being in a wheelchair recently.

When the song ended they regarded Yami in confusion, hoping for an explanation. Yami gave it to them, "During the tour I met a young boy in a wheelchair. He was being harassed by the other visitors until Rafael put a stop to it. He told me that Follow you Dreams gave him the strength to learn how to walk again. I was so moved by his story, and then when Yugi told us about Chris I got inspired to write this song."

"And you always write better songs at night." Atem concluded brightly.

Yami nodded, "It's weird how people treat others who are in a wheelchair as if they carry some kind of disease. I was hoping this song could bring a change to that. I'm not sure whether I should keep this version though, since it's so personal to me and Dartz, but I wanted to finish it nonetheless, so worked all night. It also gave me an opportunity to try out this feature of the programme."

"I think it's beautiful." Yugi said, making Yami look at him, "Not just the song, but the whole idea is just beautiful sweetheart. I would love it if you would publish this song."

"You aren't angry anymore?" He asked with hope.

Yugi smiled and shook his head, "No, not anymore."

Yami smiled in return and leaned down to hug his boyfriend, "Thank you Yugi, and I'm really sorry for snapping at you earlier."

"It's okay. Just don't keep secrets like this from me anymore all right? You know I'll support you in everything you do."

"And he isn't the only one." Atem spoke up, "I think it's a great initiative too, but you shouldn't have kept it from us."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry"

"Enough about this. Let's just enjoy the rest of the day together. And Yami, no working on the song tonight. You're going to catch up on some sleep." Yugi said.

"Yessir." Yami mock saluted, making the other two laugh.

He was glad that he had made up with his boyfriends. He hated fighting with them and should have known better with regards to his secret little project. But he was mostly glad that Yugi was being so positive about it. It was his worry over Yugi's reaction that made him keep it a secret in the first place. He had worried that Yugi would think that he was focussing too much on him being in a wheelchair, instead of the actual person. But he guessed it was actually the exact opposite that he wanted to achieve. He wanted people to see that disabled people were just like any other person, except their bodies weren't fully functional. It could be hard on them and their environment, but with love and care they could live very good lives.

In the end he hoped that all differences in the world could be overcome.

0o0o0

A/N: AND CUT! It's a wrap people. Man this chapter was hard to write. I knew how I wanted Chris's scene to approximately go, but ended up scrapping characters (Joey was supposed to be there at some point) because I couldn't make it work out. As for the final scene, that one was completely made on the spot. It required a lot of editing, scrapping, rewriting and all that good stuff, but in the end I'm quite satisfied.

So yeah, this is the last chapter of Overcoming Differences. It was a nice project to see whether I could write a story without writing the plot down first. In the end I found out that it works better for me to actually do that, because I feel that my stories are better structured when I do. What I do like about this story is how the title eventually came to signify multiple situations. We have our beloved trio who had basically already overcome their differences, Seto and Joey who seemed to be an impossible match but still got together, and Chris who had to deal with a total different life. So yes, even though I've been criticizing myself over this story, it still has its good points and it was fun to write.

But now it's time for a new challenge! My new story, Fractured, is nearly geared up and ready to go. I need to finish the plotline, but have got like 3 chapters or so already written and waiting to be edited. The first chapter will be in 2 weeks. It'll be my first real dive into the Final Fantasy VII fandom, so I apologize for all you Yu-Gi-Oh! fans who might feel left out. Don't worry, I'll come back to this fandom, but you'll have to wait until the next story.

See you around! Please leave a review.