Yugi yawned and stretched, covering his eyes from the bright light coming through the window, and his feet hit the floor, when the memories of what had happened the night before hit him.

Was it a dream?

He frantically looked around his room, and found himself alone.

Of course it was a dream. Of course. He fought back tears. Why would those dreams start again? He'd had them almost every night back when he was 16, but they'd been happening less and less over the years, even if they'd never disappeared completely. Why would those kinds of dreams suddenly return now?

He sleepily made himself walk into the rest of the house. School had just ended for the year a few days before, so his young friend would be home, and he'd probably still be asleep.

Yugi wasn't entirely sure he could face him, after that.

Was it really a dream?

It had to be.

But then, what about the Seal? What about the talk they'd had? Was he thinking about it too much?

To his surprise, the kitchen light was on.

"Oh, you're awake! Good morning, Yuugi!"

Yugi hated the fact that he was having to fight back tears, even then.

"What... are you doing up so early? It's summer now, right?"

"Well, after last night, I figured I'd get up early and make you breakfast."

"Last night?"

Yugi met the other's eyes, and again he saw age that the boy didn't have. His expression was much older than what should have been on the face of someone his age. His shock melted into a warm smile.

"You think it was a dream, don't you."

Yugi was in complete shock for a second. It wasn't a dream? But he couldn't possibly be that lucky, could he? It can't have really happened. His tears threatened to fall, at the memory of the words he'd heard last night, so typical of something his other half would have said. He had hundreds of dreams like that. Dreams where he'd come back, dreams where he'd never left, dreams where Yugi had passed on, and gotten to see him again. Every time, he'd wake up feeling cold and alone.

The boy dropped everything he was doing, and crossed the room to pull Yugi into what must have been the most meaningful hug he'd ever felt. He held him close, arms all the way around him, younger and stronger than Yugi himself had been in a long time.

The beautiful feeling of their souls being so close came back. The feeling of finally being complete again, after nearly two decades.

"It wasn't a dream. I'm here, Aibou."

Yugi felt his tears finally streaming down his face, as he moved to wrap his arms around the other.

"It... it was real...?"

"Every second of it."

"So... you're... you're..."

It seemed it would take even more persuasion to get Yugi to believe it, now that he was fully awake.

"My soul was once sealed inside the Millennium Puzzle. Yes. It's me. It took me a while to realize it, but it's me..."

He pulled back just enough to look into Yugi's eyes, the warm look he reserved only for his Aibou gracing his features.

Yugi looked back at him, the familiarity in his expression painful.

"T-Tell me... something only you could know... something... Jou couldn't have told you..."

Although his next expression was one that Yugi found equally as painfully familiar, he didn't expect it. He was smirking as if he had that perfect winning card in his hand.

He bowed his head until his forehead was against Yugi's, and he closed his eyes.

What happened next made Yugi gasp and he nearly choked.

For the first time in 17 years, he felt an emotion not his own.

Love. Not the romantic lust most people use the word for. Just, love. Pure, clean, untainted, love.

Yugi closed his own eyes, mentally reaching without even realizing he was, and although he couldn't feel his Yami's mind like he used to be able to, he was seeing images.

At first it was hard to tell it wasn't his own brain coming up with them and throwing them at him, to mock him.

And then, they became clearer.

He recognized the duel with Kaiba, on top of the tower in Duelist Kingdom. Only, this was just before he was awake. It was from his point of view, but it wasn't his memory.

A flash, and suddenly, he was watching himself and his friends on a giant Monster World board. This must have been what Yami had seen. It was his point of view.

It was his memory, Yugi realized.

And if he was really seeing his memory, seeing it from a point of view that he couldn't have seen it from himself, then that meant...

Another flash and he saw himself enveloped in green light, smiling gently, saying goodbye.

Somewhere distantly, in the real world, he felt a hand suddenly holding his own. Tightly.

But it didn't stop there.

He saw what happened moments after he'd let his soul get taken by the seal. Despite how often Yami had shared his memories with him in the past, this is one that he'd never let Yugi see.

Fast forward, and he saw his own face with an evil smirk, and the seal on his forehead. He heard himself fling horrible words and insults at his darker half, and then he'd seen himself take the final blow, as the duel ended.

And he saw himself fading, his eyes closing, and spirit becoming transparent, right before the other's eyes. He heard himself tell him what a good job he did, and that he'd always be with him.

For the first time ever, he heard what Yami's agonized scream after his spirit faded, sounded like.

He saw his own soul floating in front of him, and vaguely, through Yami's memories, he felt how glorious it was to have his soul returned after what had felt like years of being alone.

He heard a voice coming from the real world, and it slowly pulled him back.

"Could Jou have told me that?"

It was Yugi's turn to throw his arms around him, clinging desperately.

"Yami..." Yugi clung onto him as if he'd fade away if he let go "Yami..."

"Do you believe me now?" He said gently.

Yugi was crying, but he somehow managed to say

"I... I missed you..."

He led Yugi to the dining room table.

"Here, sit." Yugi was still crying. "We have a lot to talk about, hm?"

Yugi nodded, through his tears.

"Wha-what do...I call you, now...?"

He sat across from Yugi as he answered.

"I don't see why you don't still call me Tobi. It is my name, after all. And, I happen to like it."

Yugi nodded again.

"But... if you still want to use the nickname you gave me back then, I won't mind."

"I missed you...Seventeen years...it's been so long, Yami..." Yugi was drying his eyes with his hands, looking more like 8 years old in that moment, than 32.

"It's been a while, hasn't it... you look older, Yuugi."

"This is so... so strange..."

"After everything that's happened to you, this is the strange thing?"

Yugi laughed, a warped sound considering he was still crying.

"You're right... my life has been pretty crazy... or, it was, back when... you were still here."

"You know... the first thing I remembered, was seeing through your eyes. Literally. I didn't think much of it, at first. I thought, maybe past lives were real, and I was seeing flashes of one. I didn't know yet that it was you. It wasn't until I remembered your face that I got confused. I recognized you, but I was confused."

"...and then you tried to tell me and I yelled at you...I'm sorry..."

"It's ok. I understand why you were upset. I was presenting you with an impossible situation, and asking you to accept it without question. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I fully realized it. I knew the past was important, and I knew the Puzzle was important. During that conversation I remembered a lot."

"You did...?"

"Mhm. And as soon as I'd spoken your nickname, I remembered what it felt like when we switched places. I realized the truth of our...relationship. Parasite and host. It took me a while to process, as I'm sure it did you, when you were experiencing it the first time."

"It must have been so confusing... and I told you not to talk about it...I'm sorry."

"Most everything slowly came back after that. And then I remembered the end. I remembered leaving you. I couldn't be alone anymore. I didn't care if I had to lie through my teeth as to why I was there, I needed to see you. I had to know I was still with you."

"So that's what happened last night..."

Yugi didn't care how much time was passing. He didn't care about anything in that moment other than the person in front of him.

"That's what happened last night."

"And I... I still didn't believe you..."

"You believe me now, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

There was silence between them for a minute, but it was anything but awkward. Both of them were content.

Yugi was going back through what had just been said.

"Yami?"

"Hm?"

"You know I never saw you as a parasite, don't you?"

"It's only accurate, Yuugi."

Yugi shook his head.

"No. I never saw you like that."

"But Yuugi, I... I possessed you. Frequently, and occasionally against your will."

"And I didn't mind."

"When I think about it now... in this life... it sounds frightening. I'd be scared, if the roles were reversed, and I was the one being possessed... I understand now, deeper than I possibly could have when we were together. You must have be so scared in the beginning..."

Yugi looked thoughtful.

"You know, the beginning was scary. Only because I didn't know what was going on. The duel with Kaiba scared me. I was scared at Death-T. But other than that, it was ok. I wasn't scared like you're thinking. Do you remember the times I willingly switched on you?"

"You did?"

"You don't remember. Just after Duelist Kingdom, I made you go on a 'date' with Anzu. It was the first time I figured out how to force you to switch places."

He blinked, as if that statement confused him.

"I don't remember that yet. I will, it'll just take time."

"That's ok." Yugi said, smiling now.

"Death T was the first time you knew what was happening, and still let it happen, wasn't it."

Yugi nodded.

"At first at Death T, I was terrified. I was putting the pieces together. I finished the Puzzle, and then just by chance, I start to black out every time I get angry or scared? It was too ironic. But when I first realized it, it scared me. But then, I needed you. I needed your help, and even though we couldn't talk, I wasn't afraid anymore. When my friends said they wouldn't leave me, I wasn't afraid anymore."

Silence again for a while, as both of them were processing what was said.

"Well," he started slowly, "It won't ever be that way again. I'll never have to do that to you again."

"Yami... I never minded... I wouldn't care if you did it again right now. I just missed you."

"This is amazing, Yuugi...for the first time since I've remembered... I can touch you. I can physically comfort you. I can hug you. This is...is..."

Yugi saw realization in his eyes.

"It felt real in our soul rooms..."

"Not for me..."

Yugi's eyes mirrored his realization.

"So... so it's like I got to hug you... to hold your hand... to feel you there, but... you couldn't feel the same...? Mou hitori no boku, I never knew... I thought you could feel it too..."

"No..."

Shock still in his eyes, he stood up, pulled Yugi out of his chair, and hugged him tight again.

"Yuugi..."

It wasn't until he heard the sharp intake of air, that he realized Yami was crying.

It was different this time. It wasn't the boy he adopted, crying. Not the teenager, who was bound to cry sometimes.

This was his Yami. His unbreakable darker half.

"My Yuugi..."

And Yugi realized that he needed to be the one to comfort, this time. Like he had so many times before.

"A-After the Orichalcos ordeal... I wanted so badly to exist physically right alongside you...just for a minute...so I could do this..."

"The Seal..." Yugi hugged him back.

They stayed that way for long enough that it wouldn't have been acceptable or normal, to anyone else.

Yami cried, his head resting on Yugi's shoulder.

When he pulled away, he was shaking, just slightly.

"I never thought I'd get the chance...to be with you like this... to see you like this... to exist like this again..."

Yugi smiled.

"I didn't either."

"This lifetime...is going to be..." but he was crying too hard to finish his sentence.

"I want to spend it with you." Yugi said.

"I-I've gotten 16 extra years," he said between his sobs, "...and now... I get time with you... I... I..."

"The whole rest of my lifetime. I want to spend it with you. I missed you. I really missed you."

"Yuugi... Aibou..."

"We're going to make every minute of this, the best. I'll show you everything. I'm sure you remember living now, more than once, but there's still more you have to see. Forget school, I have money, you won't need it. We can see the world, if you want."

"Yuugi, slow down," he said, smiling now, "We have plenty of time. No limits, this time. No deadlines. No deadly hunts for lost memories. Just... life."

"Life...this'll technically be your... third?"

"That I know of."

"Well," Yugi started, full on grinning, now, "You know what they say,"

"Third time's the charm."

Author's Note:

And that, my friends, is the last chapter in this particular fic. If you've read this far, thank you so much! This is quite an old work, (2013 perhaps?) and it's age shows. I write these characters differently now, in a lot of ways, and I do hope I've improved since then. If you've gotten all the way through, I do hope you've enjoyed, and I hope you'll stick around for more where that came from!