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Alright, everybody. This is it for Mutation. I hope that you all enjoyed it, because it was a pleasure to write.
Thanks to Deviousdragon, , Alex Fisher, DragonZap, dragonlady222, Shamise, Naomi-Yuko, YamiKoi, and Cheeky-eyes for reviewing!
Thanks to Alex Fisher and Dragon of the Apocalypse for favoriting!
Thanks to Alex Fisher, Deviousdragon, InkedButterfly, Panguins-in-American-Oh-my, Shamise, and Skittles the Sugar Fairy for alerting!
And thanks to everybody who read. You guys rock.
“It ain’t your fault, Atem. Ya did your best,” Joey said encouragingly. “Yug’s gonna understand that.”
“I don’t know what Yugi’s going to do anymore,” Atem retorted. “Yugi’s nearly insane, Tea’s possessed, and Bakura’s back all because of-”
“Marik,” Tristan interrupted. “This is Marik’s fault, not yours. You’re the good guy, remember?”
Atem didn’t respond. He opened up the door and walked upstairs. He heard talking. It was probably Yugi gibbering to himself again. It made Atem’s guilt double to hear him like that. Atem stepped into the kitchen, Joey and Tristan close behind him. “Yugi?” Atem asked softly. For the first time, Yugi did not look up. He just kept talking to himself. Atem put his hand on Yugi’s shoulder.
Yugi jumped up, shouting madly. He backed up to the counter and sank down to the ground. “Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it,” he said over and over again. He held his eyes and leaned his forehead on his knees, willing the images in his mind to go away.
Atem rushed over to his side. “Yugi, it’s not real. It’s just me. It’s alright,” he said soothingly. But Yugi did not come back to himself. He grew more distressed with every word. Atem hooked his hand under Yugi’s chin and forced him to look into his eyes. “It’s just me.”
Yugi stared into Atem’s eyes and found nothing comforting there. He pushed Atem away and ran into the bathroom. Atem heard him lock the door. “What’s wrong with Yugi?” Tristan asked, bewildered. “He usually trusts you.”
“I think that his psychosis has gotten dramatically worse,” Atem said sadly. “Possibly because he was home alone like he was when he was killed. I have no idea what he sees me as.”
Joey stormed up to the bathroom door. “Yug’, we don’t wanna hurt ya, but if you don’t come out o’ there we’re gonna have to break this door down,” he stated. Atem grimaced at Joey’s tone. It would only frighten Yugi more.
“G-get away from me, m-monsters!” Yugi stammered.
“Yugi, please, just listen to my voice,” Atem said. “I don’t know what I look like to you or if I could be considered a monster or not. But I know that neither I nor my friends intend to harm you. Do you believe me?”
“… You don’t want to hurt me?” Yugi repeated.
“Yeah, man. We, uh, come in peace,” Tristan said spontaneously. They waited for a moment as Yugi was silent. Then Yugi opened up the door. He refused to look at them, though.
“I g-guess I can trust you,” Yugi said softly. “You haven’t tried to hurt me so far, and you sounded like you meant what you said. But what do you want with me?”
“Yug’, we’re gonna hafta ask ya ta go out on a limb for us, ‘kay?” Joey asked. Yugi nodded uncertainly. “We’re your friends—Joey, Tristan, and Atem.”
Yugi’s eyes widened. “What happened?” he asked, now staring at them.
“You are hallucinating again,” Atem explained. Yugi held his forehead and closed his eyes. He was fighting the false images. When he opened his lids again, he saw the real world.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Yugi couldn’t find the words, but Atem nodded his understanding. “Where’s Tea?” They had expected that inevitable question, but they still weren’t ready to answer.
“Marik… possessed her while we were fighting Bakura,” Atem said finally. “She’s under his control now.”
“Tea… But you have to get her back!” Yugi said. “You have to go back there and face Marik and get Tea back!”
“Yugi, you don’t understand,” Atem explained gently. “This is the third time we’ve tried to attack Marik or Bakura face-to-face and this is the third time we’ve lost. We can’t defeat them ourselves. They are too powerful for us.”
“So… you’re just going to give up?” Yugi asked. “You’re going to let Tea be Marik’s slave for the rest of her life?”
Atem, Joey, and Tristan sank with guilt. It sounded horrible when Yugi put it that way, but they didn’t have any other choice. “Marik’s power is too strong, Yugi,” Atem said sadly. “If we went back, Marik would just possess us or even worse, kill us.”
“I know, but I can’t accept that we’ve lost Tea forever!” Yugi exclaimed. “There has to be another solution!”
“If you got any ideas, you let us know, Yug’,” Joey said. “‘Cause right now, we’re stumped.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been much help so far,” Yugi lamented. “I’ll try to think of something.”
Atem realized something. “Yugi, you could be the answer to everything,” he said suddenly. “I have an idea.” Yugi looked up at him. “It might not work, but it’s the best plan we have.”
An unexpected knock rapped on the front door. Marik stared levelly in its direction. Who could be behind it, he wondered. Bakura walked over and opened it up. Yugi stood there with tears streaming down his face, and Marik laughed aloud at the sight. “So the pharaoh’s resorting to sending his human to come fight me? Pathetic!”
“I’m not here to fight you,” Yugi retorted. “I’m here to join you.”
“Why would you do something like that?” Marik demanded.
“Atem… Atem’s been mean to me… He’s treating me like I'm nothing!” Yugi yelled. “I can’t stand feeling that I’m less than him anymore. I want to help you take revenge. I want to make the pharaoh pay.”
Marik appraised him. The boy did seem fairly distraught. Maybe he was telling the truth. Either way, Marik would be able to break the pharaoh a little bit more when he put Yugi under his control and sent Yugi after him. Marik smiled at the thought of the two Mutou brothers at each others’ throats. One of them would have to kill the other.
“Then you will get your wish,” Marik said. He entered Yugi’s mind and was shocked. It was chaos. The line between reality and imagination had been blurred so much that the two were almost indistinguishable. He tried to secure a hold on the boy’s consciousness, but it kept slipping out of his mental grasp.
Marik retreated, panting. Yugi smiled. “Atem was right,” he said. “Your powers don’t work on someone who’s technically crazy. I guess insanity has its benefits.” Yugi walked up and stared inquisitively at Marik. “Marik, why did you do it?” he asked softly. “I thought we were friends.”
“Marik isn’t—I’m not—Get out of my sight!” Marik exclaimed incoherently.
“Marik?” Yugi asked. “Is that… you?”
Marik held his head. “Get out of my head!” he yelled. Yugi backed away in fright. Marik moaned in pain and fell to his knees. He sat there, shivering.
“Marik…” Yugi muttered.
Marik looked up. His lavender eyes were clear now—confused, but friendly. “Yugi, what are you doing here?” he asked. Tea took a sudden breath and looked around. Bakura came to himself and began screaming incoherently. Tea picked up a nearby vase and smashed it over Bakura’s head. Bakura passed out.
Marik and Yugi stared at her. She stared back at them. “Where’s Atem and Joey and Tristan?” she asked. She didn’t remember anything that had happened to her after the docks, just like Marik didn’t remember and Bakura didn’t remember.
Yugi sat down and explained it to everyone but Bakura, who could hear nothing in his present condition. Marik looked aghast at the things he had done. “This is all my fault,” he said at the end of Yugi’s narration. “I brought Bakura back to life… I killed you… I betrayed our friendship.”
“No, it was your power. It wasn’t your fault,” Yugi argued, shaking his head. “I know that it must be hard for Mutations to deal with their abilities. I know that it must be scary and lonely to be so dangerous to the people you love. So… I forgive you, Marik. And I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you.”
“What are you going to do now?” Tea asked Marik.
Marik sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m going to go back to Egypt. There are too many unpleasant memories here.” Marik glanced over at Bakura. “And what do you plan to do with him?”
Yugi thought about it for a moment. “Bakura was evil to begin with,” he mused. “He didn’t deserve to come back. But I don’t feel right with just killing him. Maybe a mental institution will take him.”
“Yugi?” Tea asked. “What… will you do?”
“I’ll… I’ll be alright,” Yugi said, blushing. “I mean, I’m getting better… I just need some more time, that’s all.” Tea nodded uncertainly. But they both knew that it was his mental disorder that had saved them, one that had been showing no true signs of diminishing for a while. Maybe, they both thought, Yugi would never get better. Maybe he would never return to the happy personality that he once possessed.
Yugi stared into Peter’s eyes. They seemed to swirl and glow. They beckoned Yugi to come into their depths and stay and be comfortable. Yugi felt himself relax and disconnect with his body until he was staring contentedly at nothing in particular, a soft smile on his lips.
Atem watched the process closely, his tentacles tuned for mischief. If this Peter did anything to his Yugi, he was going to pay dearly.
Peter was a superhuman hypnotherapist, and he had offered to help Yugi with his mental illness. They met in the neurotics’ ward when Atem had taken Yugi into the hospital to see if anyone could help with his hallucinations.
“Hello, Yugi,” Peter said genially. Yugi smiled at him. “Tell us what happened after you died.”
“Don’t remember,” Yugi replied cheerfully. Peter was stunned. His hypnotic persuasions had never failed before. Yugi must have not remembered at all, not even in the deepest core of his being. But this meant that Yugi’s psychosis was not caused by post-traumatic stress.
“Listen to me, Yugi,” Peter continued. “Your friends are your friends. Your world is your world. You don’t see anything other than what is real.”
“I don’t see anything other than what is real,” Yugi repeated.
“Wake up, Yugi,” Peter commanded. Yugi blinked suddenly and straightened.
“Did it work?” he asked.
“That’s for you to say,” Peter answered. “Do you see anything unusual? Anything that shouldn’t be there?”
Yugi looked around for a moment. Atem held his breath. “Everything’s normal,” Yugi said finally. Atem exhaled happily and embraced Yugi.
“You’ll have to keep an eye out for me,” Peter said, standing up and getting ready to leave. “You know where to find me—neurotics’ ward, just like last time.”
“Thank you,” Yugi said gratefully. “If there’s any way we can repay you…”
“Nah, I still live at home; I don’t need anything,” Peter replied, shrugging. “See ya around, Yugi.”
Peter saw himself to the door, and Yugi leaned back in his chair. The kitchen wouldn’t be turning into a hellish nightmare-scape anymore. His friends wouldn’t change into horrifying distortions of themselves. He could, for the first time in four months, relax completely.
The snow was alighting gently onto the window, making a soft pitter-patter sound. It was cold and dark outside, but it was warm and bright inside. It was comfortable. Atem would know the exact temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and electric charge of their surroundings. Yugi didn’t care. He didn’t need to know.
Tristan and Joey were probably having some sort of mock battle in the street. Tristan would throw Joey into the wall, and Joey would get up, unharmed. Yugi didn’t care. He didn’t like to fight.
Tea and Serenity were probably enjoying a cup of tea or hot cocoa while Serenity made a snack. Serenity would cut her hand on a knife, and Tea would heal her. Yugi didn’t care. He could heal well enough on his own.
Marik was probably avoiding the crowds in Egypt. He would persuade someone to leave him alone while he led his solitary life. Yugi didn’t care. He didn’t want to live a solitary life.
“Are you alright?” Atem asked.
Yugi looked over at Atem and his tentacles and grinned. “Yeah.”