Atem opened his eyes slowly. Where was he? He was on his stomach, and there was a dull pain in his back.

"Welcome back to the world of this living."

Atem turned his head. He knew that voice.

"S...Set," he whispered, staring at the tan-skinned brown-haired blue-eyed man the was sitting next to him, wiping a cloth gently over a black pole—no wait, that was Atem's wing. That's right, he remembered now. They had stolen Yuugi from him, and he had felt so angry. He'd awakened the thing he'd tried to hide for years, that angel of death inside of him. He closed his eyes. Seto was cleaning those cursed wings of his, probably rubbing them with a disinfectant that wouldn't do any good. They rotted no matter what.

He was lying on a bed. His bed. How had he gotten there. He looked at Seto, waiting for that man to read his mind as he always did.

"They told me there was a minor problem near your vicinity. 'Minor' my ass. You were practically bleeding to death when I found you lying there. Those bastards, never understanding the work they're doing." Set paused. "I wish there was a way to set all these people free. Even the ones who came willingly for the powers are afraid of what they can do. The one benefiting from this is the government, using their power to create an elite force of super-humans. God I'd like to punch their brains out. They think people like you are expendable, like everything's perfect as long as it's for the good of the country. It's all a load of bullshit, I tell you."

Atem smiled a little. "Same old Set Sennen. How many times have I heard this rant?"

Set sighed. "A million and one, probably. My feelings never change."

Atem closed his eyes again. "Neither do I."

This time, Set didn't respond. He licked his lips—a nervous habit—then looked down at the man lying in front of him. Atem always beat himself up about what he was. He listened to them, the officials and scientists. They branded him failure, they branded him useless. They didn't know what Atem was capable of and they never would. Then again, Set didn't exactly want them working with Atem, he didn't want them working with anybody. He'd rather all those people be sent home without being experimented on at all. Of course, Set never got his way, that was how things worked out.

The day went on and Set continued his treatment on Atem's wings. It had been known for a while that rotting flesh was not something "ordinary" or "healthy." However, Set and Atem both knew well that those cursed wings would never heal, never mend, never grow back to the luster they once held. Those wings were doomed to carry the pain of the dead, all those who suffered at the hand of the mad scientists who created the demonic experiment.

That day should have been a boring day, both Set and Atem expected it. But as Atem wandered to the window, he found something unexpected. There was a small group of protestors in the quad, holding signs and chanting various sayings. "Free the people," "Humans aren't lab rate," and things like that.

"Set come see this," Atem muttered. The named did as was requested.

"First time I've ever seen that," Set commented.

The girl in front—a girl with white hair and pasty skin—seemed to be really into her protest. She kept waving her sign around. She didn't stop when the others froze in place. Not even when a large guard approached her. He said something to her, she said something back, and he punched. Punched her. Right in the face. She fell back.

Set ran to the door with Atem close behind him, cursed wings hidden.

"What the hell are you doing?" Set demanded of the guard—a bulky man with an armored fist, obviously an experiment.

"Following orders, Dr. Sennen," he explained. "I was told to get rid of the protestors by any means necessary."

"And that allows you to assault people?"

"All I want." He kicked the girl to prove his point. Set let out a growl-like noise and shoved him away from her, creating a barrier with his body. "If you stand in the way, that means I can hit you, too," said the Guard, raising his hand, fingers extended so the armor became a blade. He lunged, Set didn't flinch. There was the sound of metal piercing flesh. Set gaped.

Atem winced, but didn't move from where he was, protecting Set from the blade that now dug into his arm.

"Lucky me, I get two new toy—" The Guard's voice stopped, his eyes drifting from his hand in Atem's arm to the ground. Black. There was thick black on the ground. It was coming from... Atem? So black, oozing, viscous like spoiled milk. Dripping dripping dripping on the ground and it was blood. Blood, it was blood. It was Atem's blood. Oh good. He jerked away.

"What the fuck is this? What. The fuck. Is this?" he demanded of Atem. The psychiatrist only stared at his arm, quietly, shocked. His blood was... black? It had never been black before. Only that thick disgusting something from his wings was black. But his blood, this was his blood. This was his blood. How could his body deal with it? Like this? Wouldn't that be hard to pump through his body, something of this consistency? He was dragged back to reality by a scream. The Guard was screaming. Wow. Atem stared.

"You're blood! Ugh this is so gross!" he snapped, then ran off. As he fled, Atem couldn't help but notice the lack of armor on his hand. Huh, was he that disturbed? The psychiatrist turned around and looked at Set and the girl he was tending to. She was on her back—awake—and he was giving her basic first aid. They speaking quietly to each other. The girl then let out a soft laugh, like bells ringing. Atem stared longer than he should have and, catching himself, quickly turned away. The protestors were standing around awkwardly, staring in shock at what they had just witnessed.

"You should leave," Atem told them sadly. "There's bound to be more coming."

He expected them to turn and go—and some of them did—but then someone cried out, "His blood is black!"

Atem froze.

Set froze.

The source of the voice, a twelve-year-old boy by the looks of it, stepped forward. His eyes glared angrily at Atem, as if it was his fault his blood was black.

"Your blood is black," he repeated.

"It is," Atem replied after a moment of silence.

The boy frowned. "Why's it black?"

"I don't kno—"

"You were an experiment, weren't you?"

Silence. Atem just stared at the kid, as did everyone else. This kid had the nerve to ask these things so accusingly? As if Atem hadn't just protected them.

"Well? Why are you helping them? What incentive do you have? You should be destroying this place, since you know how terrible it is!" The boy snapped.

"I want to help the others," Atem replied.

"Shut up! You think you're so self-sacrificing, but you're not! No one would suffer if you destroyed this stupid facility!"

Atem stayed silent.

"Are you going to let it get to you?" Set asked Atem. It'd been three days, and Atem was now sulking on the couch in the living room of his apartment. Set was still staying with him, looking over the file with the notes from three or so years ago. In fact, it was almost just like three years ago. Almost.

The protestor girl—she said her name was Kisara—was staying with them now. Set made up an excuse about her being injured and him having to keep an eye on her. Kisara didn't seem to mind staying with him, either. Atem was beginning to suspect something, but he never asked. He was mostly preoccupied with the little boy's words. Should he destroy this place? It was causing so many people grief, especially people like Yuugi. The boy was so gentle, it was sickening to think of what they were going to put him through. Atem shuddered at the thought of Yuugi shooting at targets, then at people.

The "Successes" were trained for war.

"Atem," Set said, bringing the psychiatrist out of his thoughts, "you know that guy who attacked us?" Atem nodded slowly. "Well, apparently he lost his powers."

Atem stared. "Uh... What?"

"He lost his powers, that metal armor he could create. He can't create it anymore. He's a regular human again."

Atem stared at Set, shocked. "He's... How did this happen?"

"I have a few theories," Set said. "But I'd need to test them. I'd like to start with the easiest and most difficult to believe. Care to join me?" Atem stared, then nodded.

The boy Set chose as his guinea pig was rather young, no more than 14 or so. His black hair was unkempt, his eyes cold and untrusting. Of course, he was an experiment. He could kill by singing, like a male siren. It was known that he hated his power, but there was no known antidote for the poison they injected into him and so many others. This self-loathing he had made him an incredibly unpleasant person, most tended to avoid him altogether. That was precisely why Set pulled him out.

"What are you gonna do to me today?" the boy asked as Set led him into a bathroom (there were no security cameras in bathrooms) where Atem was waiting for them, syringe in hand. "Oh no, I'm not getting any damn shots!" He tried to run, but Set stopped him.

"It's not for you," Atem told him.

Set opened a folder. "Kaden, what exactly do you hate about your ability?"

"I wanted to be a singer, y'know try out of American Idol and all that shit. But now I can't cause they'll all die when they hear me!" Kaden replied angrily.

"And there's no way to get rid of it," Set said.

"Are you just tryin' to rub it in?"

Set continued to distract Kaden while Atem—carefully so the boy wouldn't see—inserted the needle into his arm. The blood came easily (not what he was expecting), but still black. Set had to be wrong. There was no way this strange black substance was an antidote for these people. But Set was adamant about trying it. There was no arguing.

According to the older psychiatrist, there should be no need to inject Atem's blood directly into a patient's bloodstream. The guard who lost his power had only barely come in contact with it, so it should work if he just used it as a lotion. Atem emptied the syringe into his hand, and almost immediately the watery liquid congealed to the consistency of oatmeal. Huh. Maybe it was a mutation designed to keep Atem from bleeding to death (his wings did constantly bleed when brought out). That would explain why it hadn't always been like this. At one point, his blood had been red.

Atem rubbed it on the back of Kaden's neck.

"Woah! What the hell? What are you doing?" Kaden demanded, jumping away from Atem. "Ew, what is on your hand?"

"It's nothing." Both Set and Atem had said this in unison, and rather too quickly at that.

The two took Kaden to the sound-proof room he practiced in and instructed him to sing to a hamster. The small creature collapsed after hearing his voice, but on further inspection it showed that the hamster was only unconscious. Kaden's powers had weakened. He was given the hamster as a present and sent on his way with instructions of not to tell anyone what happened. Set and Atem returned to the restroom so they could talk in private.

"I didn't cure him," Atem muttered.

"But you weakened him. We'll have to keep checking up on him the next few days. That idiot guard didn't lose his powers until three days later." Set crossed the room and opened the door. "Don't stick around too long, Atem. They'll get suspicious."

The younger nodded and waited until he was sure Sat was gone. They had to avoid suspicion, and going and leaving the same places together would raise such suspicion. Both Atem and Set were known to be against the experiments. They were here to help the people—victims—not to earn the money. Atem looked down at his arm, a small bruise was forming where he drew blood from himself. This blood of his, could it actually cure these people? He opened the door. Was it possible that his existence threatened everything the government had worked for? The though was amazing, exciting even. He had so much power over them, and they didn't even know! He had the power to put an end to this atrocity! And then he ran into something.

Or someone.

"You okay?" he asked automatically. Gentle and sad purple eyes looked up at him, brightening once they saw him. A smile spread across that child-like face, and the boy threw his arms around Atem's neck. No words escaped his lips.

"Yuugi!" Atem gasped, taking a step back to balance himself. "Yuugi, you're okay. God I was so worried when they took you away from me! What did they make you do? What did they do to you?" Yuugi looked down, releasing Atem's neck and stepped away a little. He didn't say anything, but Atem was getting used to reading his body language. "Did they make you fight?" A nod. "Did they make you hurt someone else?" Another nod. Atem frowned. To force this gentle child to do such horrific things. Suddenly Yuugi looked up, determination in his eyes. He pointed at Atem. "Me?" A nod. "What about me?" Yuugi rolled his eyes, Atem found his face growing hot at the sight of this child acting defiant. It was adorable.

"You..." Atem blinked. Had Yuugi just spoken? His voice was so soft, maybe he'd imagined it. "Are you okay?"

No, he definitely didn't imagine it. Yuugi had asked him a question, and now the boy was staring at his feet, his face incredibly red. It was even cuter.

"What are you talking about, I'm fine," Atem said, acting like the spoken words were no big deal. He didn't need Yuugi to feel self-conscious about speaking.

"Wings," Yuugi replied, pointing to Atem again. "I'm talking about your wings."

Atem stared. Although Yuugi's voice was quiet and shy, it was at the same time determined and "he won't take no for an answer." Atem smiled. "Yuugi, you must have had some sort of dream, I don't have any wings."

"Don't lie!" Yuugi screamed. His hands clapped over his mouth, and both he and Atem stared at each other in shock from the strength in Yuugi's voice. He removed his hands and started again, quieter. "Don't lie to me, Yami. I know what I saw."

"Yuugi..."

"Please, don't lie to me. I know you're an experiment like the rest of us, I saw your file and—"

"You what?" Atem stared at Yuugi. Yuugi saw his file, all those notes, he had almost killed someone. Yuugi's face drained of all it's color, apparently Atem's expression was angrier than he had meant it to look.

"D-don't get mad, it was just there on the desk and I saw a little of it. Just a little, please, I..." Yuugi's voice was getting quieter and quieter until it completely faded away. He stood there under Atem's gaze, and then ran. He didn't look back once, not even when Atem called for him.

"Dr. Sennen has requested all patients go to the meeting room immediately. He has something very important to tell everyone," the woman on the PA system said in that sickly sweet voice of hers. Atem glanced up. That was his queue.

A month of experimenting with Atem's blood had led to the conclusion that yes: he was the cure. They had done a little research and found that the facility had it's own water supply hidden deep in the depths of the building. For some reason, the scientists believed that normal water would interfere with there work and requested to get all water filtered twice before being placed in the tank. That water was then pumped all throughout the building. The idea was that Atem would contaminate the water with his blood, and then Set would set off the emergency sprinklers and every patient and the chemical that created them would get doused in an antidote. I was a genius plan, Atem had to admit as he walked through the halls of the underground facility. The walls were blank, just like the rest of the building, and it reminded Atem of an asylum. He laughed at the thought. It seemed to fit this place well.

He finally reached the room he was looking for and unlocked it with his badge. That room was also blank, the only landmark worth mentioning in it was the water tank itself. It was huge, raising up at least four times Atem's height, and it appeared to dig into the ground as well. Atem couldn't help thinking about how much blood it would take to give this thing enough contamination to have any effect on the people here. Oh well, he wouldn't know until he tried. Atem started climbing the ladder. Surprisingly, it didn't take that long for him to reach the top. He slowly opened the lip of the tank, holding it up so he could look at what he was about to dive into. Then he pushed it the rest of the way open.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, searching for a knife to cut his arm with. Something hit his shoulder. He heard the bang after he felt the pain. A gun.

"Well, well, well," said that grossly pompous voice, "look who we have here. Dr. Atem Yami, gonna go for a swim in our little water supply. Well, I figure I might help you out."

"Smith..." Atem gasped, one hand clutching his shoulder, the other on the rim of the tank.

"I don't know what you're up to Yami, but I don't like it," Smith continued. Atem heard the click of his shoes as he walked across the floor, getting closer and closer to the ladder.

"What makes you think I'm up to anything?" Atem asked.

"Because you're you, Yami!" Smith fired again, hitting Atem a little lower on the same shoulder. The psychiatrist gasped out and bent over the tank, watching his blood drip into the water. This was terrible and yet convenient at the same time. He jumped into the tank just as he heard another bang! of the gun. Just missed him.

"You're quick, Dr. Yami," Smith said, climbing up the ladder, "but you can't get away from me in there. I'm gonna make sure you never see the light of day again! Or even the light of fluorescent lights!" He laughed at his little joke, finally reaching the top and aiming at Atem's head. "Good bye, you little pest." His finger tightened. Atem closed his eyes.

There was another bang, but it sounded different. Not like a bullet-firing gun, but like a laser being shot. Atem opened his eyes to see Smith doubled over the rim of the tank, face contorted into a wince. His back was smoking. The fat man turned his head a little to look where the shot had come from.

"Oh, it's you, of course. You want to protect your precious little doctor, don't you," Smith spat. "Well, no one will question me if I kill you both, you fucking homo incest buddies."

Homo incest buddies? What did he mean by th—oh god it was Yuugi. It was true that he and Yuugi looked similar enough to be related. But why? Why did Yuugi come here? Shouldn't he be with Set, getting cured?

"Leave him alone," that adorable childish voice growled, losing some of its adorable childishness.

"And what are you going to do about it, kid? You're dead meat!" Smith turned and aimed for Yuugi. That was Atem's chance.

Arms reached out around Smith's chest, pulling him back. Smith fired, but too late. The bullet his the ceiling harmlessly. There was a huge splash, and Smith fell under the water, now black with mutant blood. Smith tried to say something, but only bubbles escaped his mouth. He tried to swim to the surface but Atem pulled him back, pinning against the bottom of the tank. Smith's face glared back, struggling, making the pain in his lungs worse. Atem felt it, too, but he had to bear it. He had to put and end to this evil man. The wings spread automatically, fingers turned to talons. Eyes dark, murderous. It wasn't Atem Smith saw anymore. No, it was an angel, and angel of death made of the hatred of all the previous "Failures" using Atem as there medium to exact their revenge on Smith. He was terrified, and his eyes showed it. Atem smiled, a demon's smile. He cinched the tie around Smith's neck tightly, then shoved it onto a broken nail to stick there, keep the body from floating up. Smith struggled and struggled and then his eyes closed and there was nothing left but darkness.

Atem gasped, head breaking the surface.

"Atem!" Yuugi gasped, leaning over the rim of the tank. "You're okay! But... But where's..?"

"It'd be best if you didn't ask," Atem replied, eyes darkening. Yuugi's face went pale, then he nodded.

"I won't tell anyone."

"It doesn't matter, no one will look."

Yuugi blinked, then climbed down the ladder so Atem could get out.

"C'mon Set! Waddya gotta tell us?" called a rather rude patient from the crowd. Set looked at his watch. Should be long enough.

"I'm here to tell you all to not move an inch," he said finally, lighting a lighter and holding it up to a sprinkler. The water sprayed out immediately, evincing some cries of surprise from the crowed. The cries slowly turned to murmurs of confusion as the water turned from clear to black. What was it? No one knew.

Set smiled, hair slicked down and black water dripping in his face. The smile faltered when cool hands touched his arm. He looked down.

"Kisara, what are you doing here? You're getting soaked," he said to the girl. She only smiled at him.

"So are you." Her hands wrapped around his arm, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's beautiful, to see all of this come to an end." She paused. "Set, you know I..."

He was barely on the ground before he heard feet hit the ground. Had Atem seriously jumped?

"What are you doing here?" Atem asked, his voice was angrier than he meant it to be. Yuugi flinched.

"I... I didn't know where you were, I was worried."

"You should be with the others, being cured!"

"But..."

"You could be a normal human again, Yuugi. You don't have to live as a monster like me!"

Yuugi didn't flinch at the words, instead he looked into Atem's eyes, unfaltering. "It's not fair, then you'll be the only one left with these stupid powers. You'd have to bear it alone."

Atem didn't reply, he couldn't reply. Yuugi was thinking of him, thinking of his well-being instead of the other way around. And it was... It was nice to have someone care. It was nice to be cared about. He smiled. "It's okay Yuugi, I won't be alone even if I am the only one left." Yuugi tilted his head in confusion. Atem laughed, Yuugi was so cute. "I'll have you, silly." His lips curled into a smirk, and Yuugi stared, before smiling back and laughing, too.

"You'll always have me, Dr. Yami," he said throwing his arms around Atem's neck. This time Atem responded by wrapping his own arms around the boy's waist.

"Just call me Atem, Yuugi," he whispered.

"Okay," Yuugi replied, nuzzling against Atem. "Okay, Atem."

Atem pulled Yuugi closer then, tilting his own head so he could access Yuugi's easier. Yuugi returned it, tasting the blood on Atem's mouth, forgetting what it did. Of course, when he did realize it, he didn't care. He'd never felt anything like this before, and it was amazing. Atem pushed him against the tank, their kissing becoming more and more passionate. Neither would say things were getting out of hand, because neither felt things were. And they weren't the only ones.

A/N: The end! I really hope you all liked it. R&R or whatever. I also really hope everyone's in character, since OOC bugs me so much. . Well, maybe Kisara was OOC for a little while, since I made her more like a strong-willed young woman than a meek "please give me water" girl. idk.

What was Kisara going to say? You decide. ;D

This concludes this series 3