Transformation
(i’m finally feeling good enough to participate in puzzlejune!!! I’m not a super puzzleshipper -i don’t really hardcore ship anything in ygo- but I hope y’all will enjoy some little fics)
It’s startling. Yugi looks in the mirror one morning, a few months after Atem left, and- well... he’s startled. There’s no other word to describe it. There’s something about him that’s different, that’s new. Maybe he stands a little taller. Maybe he’s a little more confident. Maybe he’s finally getting that growth spurt everyone told him he would get.
He thinks back to just a few years ago, remembering what he was like before he put together that puzzle that changed his whole life. What would he be like if that had never happened? Where would his friends be? What would he be doing? Yugi would probably still be the same small, meek boy he was before: no backbone, no friends, almost no willpower, afraid to tell his own opinions.
For the millionth time (probably), he unconsciously reaches for the puzzle he used to wear around his neck, feels a lump rise in his throat when (for the millionth time) it isn’t there. He misses Atem. He misses him terribly, likely always will. Atem was part of him, after all. They shared a soul and thoughts and feelings. It’s hard to just let that go.
More than that, though, they helped each other. They became better people because of one another. Atem calmed, became less raging anger and confused pain, became more gentle and thoughtful and peaceful. Yugi grew, not just physically, but mentally. Yugi became tougher and more vocal, ready to voice his own opinions more forcefully.
Looking in the mirror again, Yugi can see a little of Atem in himself now, in the way he carries himself, in his newfound confidence, even the way his hair sticks up a little differently. The thought brings a smile to Yugi’s face now. They had changed each other, and that’s no small feat.
“Yugi!” Grandpa calls from downstairs, “If you don’t hurry up, you won’t get any breakfast before school!”
“Coming, Grandpa! Be down in a minute!”
He takes one last look in the mirror, and his smile widens. Thank you, Atem. And as he finishes putting on his uniform, he can almost hear the voice of his now-gone companion replying with thanks of his own.