Shadow Game of Connect Four? (Part 2)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)

Game Shop

Atem waited by the security door. He had the code to the first door but he couldn't remember the second. He tried his luck at the code, but he had no more luck. He watched Yuugi's car coming toward the Game Shop. "Yuugi!" His heart beat hard as he watched him come out of the car. They reunited a moment while Anzu watched on, herself only too happy.

"You got everything?" Yuugi quickly questioned. "You don't know how this happened? Oh, we are the same size. That's different."

Mm. "I could actually use some food," Atem realized, hearing his belly growl. "My stomach actually hurts."

"Into the Game Shop, we'll get you something." Yuugi eagerly opened the door. "Anzu? Do we still have leftovers from last night?"

"I think so."

"Great, and you should definitely eat too if you haven't," Yuugi pointed out. "It's been a hard day. Night, I mean. The whole thing has been tough."

Yuugi's attention was divided on who to concentrate on. Atem could see that. He would try and allow Yuugi some time with Anzu, but-

"This can't be a good thing, right?" Anzu questioned Atem. "I mean, it's great that you have your body back, I didn't mean it like that. It's really great!"

"Yes," Atem said, not wanting to miss the moment as Yuugi was unlocking the door upstairs. "You need to stay with him, I can't interfere anymore and you need each other."

"Can we not talk about that down there?" Yuugi complained as he opened the door to upstairs. "I can hear you know."

"You're trying to change the subject," Anzu warned him. "I remember you, Atem. You're the take charge side of Yuugi."

"Upstairs?" Yuugi questioned. "Anzu."

"I am." Atem watched her head upstairs before heading up himself. ///Atem: Side of Yuugi./// He opened the door and looked around. For so long, this felt like a home. It was where Yuugi had lived, but he rarely traversed the halls and rooms himself.

"There's plenty of room," Yuugi said to Atem. "Don't worry about it. You can get some rest. Satiah can too, she'll need a place and I already invited her to stay. This place used to hold four people." He seemed to get lost in himself.

"My grandpa. My mom. My dad, occasionally, when I saw him." Atem repeated everything Yuugi just thought, at the same time as him. "I know. Our connection won't leave because we are separated, Yuugi. You are still a part of me, and I am still a part of you." He watched Anzu get nervous a moment. "It's okay. We spent a long time thinking the other way too. I'm fine."

"Atem," Anzu addressed him. "You saved the world. You helped to defeat evil more than once. In none of that time did you earn your body back, it wasn't even a question of if it could be possible. And you and Satiah suddenly . . .?"

Yes, Atem knew what she was getting at. "I will have to take Yuugi's ear from you when you go to bed."

"What does me having to- Oh." She glanced toward Yuugi. "It's fine."

"We don't share a room or anything," Yuugi said. "Did you want anything, Anzu?"

"I want to know what's going on with Satiah." Anzu wasn't selecting food, she wasn't letting up. "Dead people don't just rise, Yuugi!" The suffering still bothered her.

"That's? You know, that's not a nice way to put it," Yuugi tried to correct her.

"She is right, Other Me," Atem corrected him. "She doesn't want to deal with the triviality of pretending this doesn't exist. I believe there is a reason Satiah and I attained our bodies back. Something big will be happening soon."

"Like what?" Yuugi asked. "What could happen? You got rid of the curse of the millennium items. So what else is there?"

He needed to discuss it with Yuugi first, not Anzu. "We should talk as Anzu sleeps."

"You're trying to get me out of the room." Anzu was suspicious. "What's going on with Satiah?"

"She's going to stay with Bakura for the night," Yuugi told her, with a sound like he'd already told her several times. "I promise, first thing tomorrow we will go and see her if Ryou Bakura doesn't bring her back early enough."

Anzu still looked jittery. She was insistent like her old self, but she was not coping well. The power that followed, it was intense. There were many danger signs he could see, even her attention seeming to dart all over the place whenever she heard a simple noise.

Atem looked toward Yuugi. ///Atem: Is it okay if I hug Anzu, Yuugi?/// Like he thought, Yuugi wasn't surprised he could hear him without words. They were still connected, and it would never leave them. He went over to Anzu and stole a hug. She almost seemed to not care. Very unlike her. "I know you worry of Satiah because of what you endured. I assure you, she isn't in pain, she is happy. Too happy to call for long, but she will. She is finding a friendship she lost thousands of years ago, but she will come back to you." Now she was starting to cling back.

Atem looked toward Yuugi. ///Atem: Listen, Yuugi. She was holding millennium power. Not an item, the power of all the items from the afterlife. If Satiah hadn't taken it, she would have died a brutal death from the intensity of it. I could have done nothing but softened it./// He heard an inaudible gag from him. ///Atem: The pain has ceased from dealing with that raw power, but just watch her. Now more than ever, you need to remember your friendship. All of them. Beyond the circle of your deep friendships. Show her, remind her how many people she once had.///

///Yuugi: Yes, I promise. I'll call everyone I can think of. Beyond the circle. Um? That would include. Uh. Otogi? He wasn't really her close friend.///

///Atem: Direct or indirect, anyone who comes will remind her of a community of support. Honda, Jounouchi, Mai, you, me, Satiah and Shizuka should just be the base.///

///Yuugi: So should we have a party or something?///

"Connect with them quickly and we will figure it out, Other Me," Atem said. "Meanwhile, I believe this is your cue."

Yuugi went over to Anzu. "It's okay. I'll get you to bed." She didn't seem to fight with him about the issue. Even a worse sign, Anzu was a natural hard-headed friend.

Yuugi had stayed with Anzu longer, no surprise, so Atem ate leftovers he found. Yuugi was still gone, so later he followed his body's calling again. As he got up from the couch, he heard Yuugi a short distance away.

///Yuugi: Do you know if it's all gone?/// Yuugi came around the corner. "She's still not herself."

"The soul is a complicated thing. While we can feel our connection, I had no way of knowing about the Spirit of the Ring when I first met Ryou Bakura," Atem reminded him. "Even Satiah, she had laid dormant all that time. To stay with Anzu she must have even survived in my memory world somehow, without leaving her. Buried so deep." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Yuugi. There is no way to see what is going on inside."

"As long as she is handling it," Yuugi said. "What do you think is coming, Atem?"

"I don't know, but Anzu is right to be worried." Atem sighed. ///Atem: Too much power, enormous power, is gathering on the side of good on Earth. If Satiah turns Bakura, you are right, even he may be on our side this time. All of it together is a sign that good is going to be fighting a dangerous evil in at least equal strength.///

"You're right, it is going to be something big," Yuugi agreed. "But we have to concentrate on what we know for now." He touched his head. "I just wish I could know about, just a little future. Just Anzu's. The future is so up in the air."

"Anzu is important, but for the moment, we have to have a discussion about Satiah."

Atem told him of the prophecy Kaiba had once known. "She might be this 'light goddess', Yuugi. She has millennium power that came back from the afterlife. I have to get it back."

"Anzu couldn't handle that power, and you are in a mortal body too now," Yuugi warned him. "How do you know you can handle it?"

"I've dealt with strong power. It's been my weapon ever since I lived in that puzzle." Lived. "This was optional, Yuugi. I still don't know why. None of it." He looked at his chest, where the puzzle should be laying. "I should have figured this out by now. I need that power." He took a deep breath. "I have to get it back. I have to tackle that light."

"Atem. I don't like this." Yuugi took a step back. "You don't even know Satiah. I don't either, she was inside of Anzu. Only Anzu knows her."

"We shared a sandwich." That wasn't nearly enough. "I need that power."

"What are you going to do?"

"I am going to get it the best way I know. Play a game with her. If she does have millennium power, it should turn into a shadow game. Does Anzu know Satiah's favorite game?" Atem asked. "I will need it." Yuugi still didn't look well. "I need that power, Yuugi."

"There's no puzzle. There's no extra luck now." Yuugi held his forehead. "In fact, if she does have millennium power, then she has the extra luck, so what are you going to bet?"

Atem didn't answer. "Her favorite game please."

Yuugi just shook his head with a slight sigh. "Her and Anzu used to play a game of Connect Four. It doesn't involve luck, so at least that's on your side. I'll get it for you." Yuugi left a moment to retrieve it. "Just? Be gentle to her," Yuugi reminded him as he gave him the Connect Four. "She may be Bakura's friend, but she is also Anzu's and she saved her. I don't know the details of what you'll bet in a game, but she's a good person, at least in that aspect. I think."

"I know she isn't the enemy," Atem said, "and I will do what I can."

"But, what if it doesn't turn into a shadow game?" Yuugi asked. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to go." Atem couldn't answer that. Didn't want to answer that. "I will see you in the morning, Yuugi."

"I hope. Just be careful, Atem, and I mean you too," Yuugi warned him. "Be careful, Other Me."

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