Half of this has been sitting in my fanfiction folder for about a week or two and I pulled an all nighter to finish it. I guess I needed a small break from InuTaisho. Anyway, I own nothing.

Nightmares

A young woman with short brown hair dug through her purse to find her keys. She sighed in pleasure when the cool metal brushed against her deft fingers. They jingled as she pulled them out and she flipped through the key ring to her apartment key. She slid the key in and turned it to the side, releasing the tumblers. She bushed opened the door and stepped into the apartment. Puzzlement widened her cerulean eyes to find the apartment empty. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly midnight, where was her roommate?

She stepped inside and closed the door, leaving it unlocked for when he came back. She kicked off her shoes and moved slowly to the kitchen. She wasn't used to coming home to an empty apartment, and quite frankly she hated it. Loneliness was exactly why she and her roommate had moved in together.

Anzu gripped the kitchen chair she stood behind tightly as a wave of pain flooded through her. It had been two years since Atem had left. Two years of heartache. Two years of waking up from nightmares, night after night. And in those nightmares, her dream Atem was nothing like the real Atem. He was so cruel…

The others had been able to pick up the pieces and move on with their lives. All except her and Yuugi. After a few weeks, the two had somehow found themselves living together in her apartment. It had been a nice companionship as the two had found comfort in each other.

They didn't really speak much as she was hardly ever home. Between waitressing and dancing auditions, she was only home to sleep, shower, and eat. Yuugi, on the other hand, was almost always here. He worked a little at the card shop now that his grandfather was getting too old to do it all alone. Occasionally he would play in a small Duel Monsters Tournament.

Deciding it was too late –or early, however you look at it- for dinner, Anzu left her purse on the counter and went to her room. She pulled her waitress uniform -a tacky bright pink dress and white apron- off and slipped into her pajamas. She flicked the lights out and climbed into her warm, soft bed. It wasn't long before the nightmares started.

V

Anzu found herself in a dark room. The only light was from a bright spotlight that shone down on her. Her cerulean eyes widened. She knew this nightmare. This was the most common one she had. Even though she knew everything that would happen, it still terrified her.

Anzu slowly turned around and as if on cue, another spotlight shone down across from her. A shadow appeared in the middle and Anzu felt her chest tighten. Tears sprang to her eyes on reflex and she reached out her hand. She could not stop herself from taking the first stumbling step forward and then running towards him.

"Oh Gods…Atem!" She cried out, tears running freely down her face.

Before her, the shadow materialized. Tri-colored spiky hair framed Atem's pale face. He wore his blue school jacket over his shoulders like a cape. (Something Anzu had thought was quite adorable.) His crimson eyes held no recollection in their depths. His handsome features were twisted into a sneer. Anzu stopped, panting, just outside Atem's spotlight, in the darkness.

She reached her hand attentively into his spotlight, only to have him slap it away and step back. The shock always caused Anzu to fall to her knees. She looked up at him with wide, childlike eyes.

"Atem…Why? We've missed you. I've missed you." Anzu could barely move her lips to get the words out.

Atem laughed cruelly. She winced as if struck. She swallowed pass the lump in her throat. "Pharaoh, please come back."

Atem kneeled before her. "Why should I come back, little Anzu?"

Anzu closed her eyes. "Because…Because I love you." She whispered.

Atem threw back his head and laughed again. "And do you think I love you back, little Anzu? You fool. Why do you think I left? You and your constant friendship speeches were such a bore. And saving you was starting to become a constant job."

Anzu closed her eyes. Maybe she could will herself awake. It was only a dream, it was only a dream…Anzu gasped loudly as Atem grabbed her by the arms. Her eyes widened and fear gripped her heart as Atem stared into her eyes with such hate and loathing. This part was new…

His eyes suddenly softened. "Just let me go, Anzu." He whispered.

Anzu blinked. "Atem, I can't."

Atem pinched his eyes closed and sighed heavily. "You have to let me go."

Anzu's flushed from anger and awkwardly crossed her arms over her chest. "No. You were –are- my best friend. I'm never going to just forget about you! I love you!"

Atem slowly opened his eyes. They seemed aged somehow. "If you love me, Anzu, you would let me go. I have been coming to you every night in your dreams to try to force you to move on, and it seems I can not. This love you have for me is killing you slowly."

Anzu's arms dropped to her side. She felt numb. "You mean…you've been able to come back all this time and you…try to scare me?"

Atem frowned slightly. "I have not been able to 'come back.' All I can do is enter dreams. Only yours actually."

Anzu leaned closer. "What about Yuugi's?"

Atem looked away. "Yuugi…does not wish to see me."

Anzu looked away also. "Then why is Yuugi living with me? I thought it was because he was hurting."

Atem's hand trailed up to Anzu cheek, which he cupped and used to turn her to face him. Anzu leaned into his calloused hand. She placed her hand over his and intertwined their fingers. "Yuugi does not wish to see me because I had hurt you by leaving. He moved in with you because you were hurting."

Anzu felt herself choke up. "He still has a crush on me, doesn't he?"

Atem smiled slightly. "Oh, I think it has gone pass crush, Anzu."

Anzu sat up straighter. "Well, I guess I'll have to tell him there's someone else."

Atem's smile fell. "Anzu. You can not go on like this."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes I can. I've done it for over two years. And besides, if you could come back to my dreams, why not make them happy? Maybe then I would not be so de-." She stopped. Her hand fell away from Atem's and she tried to look down, but he held her face tightly.

"Anzu, this is not living. You just admitted that you were depressed. Sure, perhaps some of the nightmares were dark, but I was doing this to protect you."

Anzu's eyes narrowed. "I don't want to be protected."

The ancient Pharaoh gently pushed a stray lock of soft chocolate hair behind her ear. "I want to protect you, Anzu." He whispered.

Anzu felt her eyes water. "Atem, I-"

Blindingly bright light flared to life in Anzu's room. She jerked into a sitting position, a few pillows falling to the floor. Her eyes were wide as she took in the shadowy figure standing in her doorway. His lithe body was dressed in black and his wild hair spiked around his head. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Atem…" The name was a whisper on her lips.

The figure stepped further into the room and Anzu's heart sank. Yuugi stood in her room. One of his eyes was swollen and black and his face and arms were covered in shallow cuts. Anzu gasped and jumped out of her bed and rushed to his side.

"Yuugi…what happened?"

Her life-long friend looked up at her weakly; his childlike amethyst eyes were distressed. "Anzu…I was coming back from Honda's house…and there was a girl…" He stopped and winced.

Anzu chewed her lip. "Come here, Yuugi." She led him to her bed and sat him down. "Sit here. I'll go get the first aid kit."

Yuugi nodded and Anzu quickly went to retrieve the kit. When she returned, Yuugi still sat on her bed. He stared down at his dueling deck that he held in his hands. Anzu frowned. Yuugi slowly looked up at her.

"You tried to help a girl and you got beat up, didn't you?" Anzu asked gently.

Yuugi nodded silently. He looked back down at his deck. "A guy was trying to take her purse. Before, Atem would have…" He drew in a shakey breath.

Anzu placed the kit on the bed and kneeled before him. She looked up into his eyes. "Yuugi…it's good that you tried to help the girl, but you're not Atem. You can't fix things the way he would have. You have to fix things your own way."

Yuugi's eyes narrowed. "And how is that, Anzu? I tried to save you from that attacker that one time, but I couldn't. Atem had to. You would think that after all those years I would know how to fight. But, I can't. The only thing I can do is play childish card games."

Anzu reached out her hand and placed it over one of Yuugi's that rested on his knee. "Yuugi, you don't have to fight."

Yuugi's hand fisted under hers. "But, I want to be able to protect you."

Anzu felt herself go cold. 'I want to protect you, Anzu.' Was it possible that even though they were different people, Yuugi and Atem shared some of the same thoughts and feelings? Yuugi had gotten beaten up trying to protect some girl, trying to prove that he was just as good as Atem.

'Oh, I think it has gone pass crush, Anzu.' She searched Yuugi's eyes. Yuugi was trying to be like Atem because she had loved Atem, not him. Yuugi was wasting his time though. Anzu knew she would never get over Atem. And if she could ever get to a place where she could move on, Yuugi would just be the rebound guy. And who would want to be second? She licked her lips and drew in a breath.

"Yuugi, you're never going to be Atem. You…you have to let me go." She whispered quietly, stealing the pharaoh's earlier words.

Yuugi's lips quivered. "Anzu…"

She slowly reached up her hand and pushed his blonde bangs back, only to have them fall right back into place. She giggled before becoming serious again. "If you love me, Yuugi, you would let me go. I know you've just been living with me to help me move on, but it seems I can not. This love you have for me is killing you slowly. And…I love you enough to not want you to go out and get killed trying to protect some faceless girl."

Anzu felt terrible, but she had to 'break up' with Yuugi. This relationship was not healthy for either of them now that she knew why he was there with her.

"But what about you, Anzu? Atem's never coming back. Are you just going to continue like this?"

Anzu looked down. "Yuugi….I honestly don't know."

X

They had silently decided to end the conversation there. Anzu treated Yuugi's wounds and then he collapsed in his bed, exhausted. Anzu glanced at her alarm clock. It was nearly two in the morning. She sighed and lay back down in her own bed. This time, sleep came much faster.

She was back in the dark room. She almost smiled when she saw the Pharaoh waiting for her under his spotlight. This time, his features held the carefree smirk she had grown to love. She eagerly went to him.

"That is called plagiarism."

Anzu playfully smirked up at him. "Well, friends are allowed to plagiarize. How do you think Honda and Jou passed most of high school?" Atem chuckled. She looked away. "What do you call this?" Her voice was quiet.

She heard him breathe in deeply. "A tryst that has gone on long enough. I have thought about what you said. I will leave you alone and never come back."

Anzu's heart sped up. She could hear the blood pulsing in her ears and her palms began to sweat. She lurched towards Atem, taking hold of his black muscle shirt. "No!" Fear clouded her eyes. Even if he was just going to scare her, she needed to have the nightmares, she realized. They kept her connected to him.

Atem placed a hand over hers, pressing it further to his chest. "Do you feel it, Anzu?" He whispered huskily.

Anzu shook her head, tears dripping to the ground. "Feel what?"

"My heartbeat."

Anzu's gaze slid down to their hands. All she could feel was the warmth from his body. No heartbeat. She looked back up, lost.

"I do not have a heartbeat, because I have no heart. I have been dead for over five millennia. My heart has long since decayed away in some tomb, forgotten, in Egypt. The body I had for the short period before I left was merely a shell for my wandering soul. Anzu, we can not be together. Not this way. I want you to continue your dancing career. To be happy." Atem's voice was quiet. The tone he used was the same he had used on Kaiba's blimp with her before going to battle Marik. She knew he was trying to get a point across.

Anzu pulled her hands away. "I can't be happy without you."

Atem frowned. "It seems we have reached an impasse."

Anzu gripped her upper arms, hugging herself. "Is this where you are all the time? Here?"

Atem glanced around, as if just noticing their surroundings, or rather, lack there of. "Not all the time. Unless I am showing you this particular nightmare. Mostly I reside in Paradise with my Egyptian friends."

"So, you can go wherever you want?"

He shook his head. "No, just into your mind and Paradise. Only here I came choose my surroundings."

Anzu glanced around her. "Why do you mostly choose this then?"

He shrugged. "The darkness seemed to calm you after a few times. I thought it would be easier."

She closed her eyes. "That's only because I had thought it was dream and would know what would happen when. And…you were always more dark than light."

"Anzu…" His voice was pained.

"Before," she interjected. If she kept him talking, she could keep him longer. Now that she knew that her dream Atem was the real Atem, she wanted to keep him around longer. "You said you went to Paradise with your friends, what's it like?"

Atem searched her face. "Truthfully, the others tell me I am a downer. Mana continuously preaches about how the future has changed me. She says she hardly recognizes me now."

Anzu smiled slightly. "Trouble in Paradise, eh?"

Atem smiled in return. "You could say that."

"Why are you a downer? Do you not like it?" Anzu drew her lip into her mouth.

The Pharaoh shrugged. "I do not have all of my friends there with me. I am merely bidding my time until them. At the most, I will just have to wait about eighty years for you all to join me."

Anzu shook his head. He was so indifferent. Then again, what were a few decades to him? He had waited millennia to be released from the Millennium Puzzle and then a few more years after that to finally go to his final resting place.

Anzu gasped quietly as an idea struck her. Excitement lit up in her eyes. "Atem, neither of us are truly happy…" She began.

Atem's eyes narrowed. "Anzu…" His voice held a warning.

"What if I joined you early?"

Atem's eyes widened and he grabbed her fiercely. "Anzu, do not even think of ending your life early. You are going to live a long, happy life."

Anzu narrowed her eyes up at him. "With Yuugi? Because that is working out so well. And, it's my life. It ended the day yours did."

His crimson eyes narrowed in response. "I can stop you."

Anzu set her chin and shook her head. "No you can't."

Around them, the darkness began to brighten. Atem growled in frustration. Anzu was waking herself up.

"Damn it, Anzu! You can not do this!"

Anzu was shocked. She had never heard Atem swear, especially at her. She shook the trifle thought away. "I can and I will."

"Anzu, no!" Atem shouted.

V

Anzu opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. She threw her covers off and jumped out of her bed. She slid on her sandals and quietly raced out of her and Yuugi's apartment.

She bounded up the one flight of stairs that would take her to the roof. She opened the door and shivered as the pre-dawn air hit her. It was fall and she had yet to pull out her warmer pajamas. Her light blue, thin shorts and spaghetti strap top were little protection.

She braced herself and stepped out onto the roof. She walked slowly towards the ledge and stepped up onto it. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"You wanted me to be happy…Well, I'll finally be happy."

She lifted her foot slightly. Behind her, the metal door crashed open and she quickly stamped her foot down. She did not turn to face the intruder.

"Anzu, no!" A deep voice cried out.

Anzu gasped and her heart stopped. Her eyes widened as she slowly and carefully turned around. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

Atem slowly walked towards her. Anzu's chest heaved, her head shaking from side to side in disbelief. 'I didn't jump yet…it must still be a dream…' However, when he stopped before her and reached up his hands and placed them on her waist, she knew it was not a dream.

Atem gently pulled her down to him and held her to him. One of his hands went to the back of her head and he held her closer. His lips went to her ear.

"If you ever try anything so foolish again, I will have to mind crush you." His voice was husky and full of relief. "I am just…happy that I got to you in time. Saving you is becoming a constant job."

Finally, everything sunk in. Atem was here, with her. He had saved her from doing something completely foolish, as he had called it. She threw her arms around him, her eyes wide.

"Oh Gods! Atem, you're back!" She clutched him to her before looking up into his crimson eyes. "How? Is it for real?"

Atem's eyes saddened. "It is only for a short time, aisuru. When you left the dream world, I went to Yuugi's dream world and was able to force my way into his mind."

Anzu felt a lump form in her throat and her shoulders began to shake. "You're in Yuugi's body again."

Atem nodded his head. "Yuugi is mad that you were going to kill yourself. I am not sure who is angrier with; you for attempting it or I for making you feel the need."

Anzu took a step away from him and then pounded her small fists on his –on Yuugi's- chest. "I don't want this anymore! I understand why you had to leave, so please understand why I have to follow you!"

Atem took her fists in his hands and held them. Anzu attempted to free herself, but soon gave up and just looked up at him pitifully.

"You have to let me go, Anzu."

Tears flowed freely down Anzu's face. "What if I can't?"

Atem's eyes narrowed as he seemed to think something over. Anzu waited patiently until he made up his mind. He released her hands and placed both of his hands together and closed his eyes. Anzu watched, confused, until he opened his eyes again and held a card out to her.

She took it and turned it around to see the monster. "The Dark Magician?" She looked up at him.

"That is my personal card. I have enchanted it so that if you ever need me, you need only wish on the card and I will be there. I will talk with Isis so that in those brief few moments, it will be the real me, not me in Yuugi's body."

Anzu held it to her chest. "And the dreams?"

"They seem to calm us both down. I will continue to come see you. No more nightmares, though."

Anzu nodded her head and smiled brightly. "I'd like that."

Atem cupped the side of her face. "Will you be content with this? To love and be with a phantom you can only be with in your dreams?"

Anzu nodded. "Yes."

He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. "If you ever find a man you decide you love more, I will stop coming in your dreams. However, I will insist that you keep the card incase you ever need my help."

"There will never be anyone else." Anzu was certain of that.

Atem squinted over Anzu's shoulder as the coming dawn. "I must leave you now."

Sadness flooded Anzu. "Of course." Before she had met Atem, the darkness had always scared her. She had loved the sunrise. Now, sunrise would become her enemy and the darkness would become her closest ally. If he preferred the darkness of night, the time of dreams and nightmares, then so could she. It was a small price to pay.

Crimson eyes traveled across her face, studying it. "So many things about the past I wish I could change," he murmured.

"I love you, Atem." Anzu whispered. It felt nice to say the words out loud.

He pulled her back to him and kissed her softly and passionately. Anzu closed her eyes at the sensation. If only it had been his body…

He pulled away ever so slightly, his lips still brushed against hers as he spoke. "And I love you, Anzu."

Anzu kept her eyes closed as he kissed her one last time.

"Goodbye, aisuru."

Anzu felt him move away from her. "Goodbye, Atem." She opened her eyes and Yuugi stood before her. He looked tired and concerned.

"Anzu, are you okay? Atem just kinda barged into my head and said you were in trouble. He said…you were going to kill yourself." His amethyst eyes were full of worry.

Anzu turned away to face the rising sun. She looked down at the Dark Magician. "You know, Yuugi. Things are starting to look up."

"That's good. I guess you and the Pharaoh made up then?"

Anzu smiled. "I guess you could call it that."

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Yuugi yawned and said he had sleep to catch up on. Anzu told him she would be right behind him in a few minutes. A few minutes, however, stretched into an hour as she watched the sun rise.

She may not be able to have her true love with her all the time, but she could still have some of her happy ending. She did still have her friends. And she had her dancing to focus on. She decided she would not give up until she had reached the top. Atem wouldn't have it any other way. She would be the Dancing Queen to his King of Games. And then, once she had lived a long and happy life, she would be with him. Forever.

Because, after all, what were a few decades compared to forever?

Fin. Review please.

~Azarath101