Forever is All I Want

It's time.

You tremble as your hand tentatively rises in response to the light, insistent, longed-for tug. For the first time in what has felt like ages, you feel the foreign yet familiar sharp taste of fear, because while you have literally existed for this moment, some part of you has difficulty believing it's happening. Doubt besieges you, swamping your courage, and then…

His voice… and it's the voice only you know anymore, have memorized the nuances down to the very lilt and timber...

Your fear subsides. It's replaced by another familiar, far more welcoming, emotion: resolve, fiery, untamed, determined. You promised. You promised and now…

Now you're keeping that promise.

Grasping the thread, you let it pull you, at first cautiously, before a sudden violent thrust forward sends you spinning into… what… where… light… dark… and then…

You're there. You don't understand why you know, or how you know, but the second you feel the heat upon your body, you just know. You open your eyes and for a moment, you are overwhelmed by the sensation of being almost literally brought to life by sunlight. Your mouth opens slightly and you close your eyes again, because within the sun there is pleasure, and warmth. It fills you and you… you smile.

Gradually your eyes open and you take stock of your surroundings. The sunlight is pouring through a large window, flooding the room you are standing in. You slowly turn and are surprised to see a small child sitting at a small table with a coloring book. You don't recognize the child, yet at the same time, he's very familiar to you. His large violet eyes meet yours, and he smiles sweetly, not at all startled by your appearance, before he goes back to his crayons. You lift your gaze beyond him and finally you figure out where you are.

Across the room you can see there is a bed and in that bed is the withered form of an old man. There is an oxygen mask on his pale, wrinkled face, and an IV drip trailing from his nearly skeletal arm. You don't recognize him either, not from his looks, but by the strength and taste of his soul, you know who it is. You know.

You trick gazes with the small boy again, a boy that can't be more than three years old. You smile at him and he smiles back again. This time he speaks.

"You're here for my grandpa, huh?"

You nod.

The boy beams again. "It's you, isn't it? You're him, right?"

You have a vague idea of what he's talking about and something tells you the 'him' he's talking about is you. You reach out and touch the top of the boy's head, carding your fingers through his sunny hair as you pass him on the way to the old man's bedside. His head turns and his gaze follows you, watching silently.

There is another person at the man's beside, a young man in his late twenties that resembles the one you have come for so closely, you have to stop for a moment, shocked. He's leaning forward quietly in his chair, his forehead resting on his folded hands. His expression is full of sadness, resigned. His father is dying and there is nothing he can do about it.

Suddenly the old man opens his eyes. Though the body is a mere husk now, the eyes are the same and unburdened by the demands of old age. You stand on the opposite side of the bed and reach for the withered hand lying atop the bedcovers and slide your fingers through his. The young man on the other side of the bed cannot see you. But the old man does, as those beloved eyes settle on you, and very slightly, a small smile stretches his lips. Very slowly he turns his head to the young man, who has noticed his elderly father's consciousness. The young man takes his other hand between both of his own. "Dad?" he begins tentatively.

"I love you, son."

The son bites his bottom lip for a moment before replying, softly. "I love you too, Dad."

Yugi smiles at his son one last time before his eyes close, forever. The son kisses the back of his father's hand before silently bending his head and weeping. The little boy gets up from his coloring and runs over to his father to comfort him. "It's okay, Daddy, it's okay," he's saying as his father pulls him into his lap and holds him close.

You release the hand and step away from the bed, closing your own eyes to the grief before you. They open again, startled, when you feel a hand slip into the one lying limp at your side. Looking sharply to your left, Yugi is standing beside you. Yugi, as you remember him, Yugi as he will always be in your eyes.

He does not look at you. Not at first. He watches his son and grandson comfort one another, before letting his eyes rest upon his own body one last time. Finally he turns to you and reaches for your other hand. You cannot look away from his smiling, youthful face, his shining eyes, his… everything.

"You came."

You reach up and caress his cheek, run your thumb over his lips. "I always would have come for you, my aibou."

Yugi throws his arms around you and plants a full-hearted kiss upon your mouth. You embrace him close as the light from the window fills the room, encapsulating all, until it gently dies down. As you pull away from one another, you realize you are both ankle-deep in clear water. Reeds surround the both of you, swaying gently in the breeze as a beautiful sunset burns bright red, orange, and gold. Yugi gazes around, his arms still around your neck, before returning to your eyes.

"Is this…?"

"Yes."

Yugi reaches for your face and holds it between his hands. You lean in so both of your foreheads are touching. "I love you so much," he whispers heart wrenchingly. "Always have. No one could take your place. No one ever can."

You kiss him again. "No one will have to."

"Good." He leans in close to your face. "Promise me forever, mou hitori no boku."

"I promise you forever, aibou," you murmur against his lips. "Forever is all I can give you now."

He laughs a pure, joyful sound that fills both of you. "Forever is all I want."