duel 11. video (cw: death or dying)

[puzzlingly]

「It's been a while since he's made a video post in which he looks actually serious, he doesn't look sad for a change, just thoughtful.

When he finally speaks he does it uncharacteristically (for him) quietly, even though, firm.」

How do you deal with loss?

When people leave this place or, when you know you will never see someone you care for again?
When they pass away.
Do you try to forget about them... or... 「No, that thought actually hurts.」

What is that helps you to move on?

「If they do at all.

This has been in his mind ever since Maedhros and Celebrimbor were gone, and even way before. He didn't knew them personally, but he could see how much pain their departure had caused — only one person had made him feel that way, but it wasn't Yugi who left, it was him. Atem left them all and he cannot help but wonder, was he the cause of grief among his loved ones, the ones that survived him when he decided to give up his life, and then when he had to move on from the world of the living a second time?

He doesn't wish to think so highly of himself, but it's hard, specially when all his life the world did use to revolve around him. But he worries about those he left behind, they would be fine, wouldn't they? Heh, if only they knew he hasn't moved on at all, that he still talks to his partner in his head all the time... What a little hypocrite.」


「private text: Kaiba Seto」

Mokuba is gone.

「But Atem is sure he already knows. He doesn't expect a reply.」

Comments

[puzzlingly]

「The reaction is a little funny, is she trying to see if she can see through him? He tilts his head a little bit.」

What do you mean?

「Are there kinds?」

[writtendestiny]

[Not in the least (that would be silly), but she's certainly trying to decide if she trusts his story.]

Did he know you were there?

[Of course there are kinds.]

[puzzlingly]

Not at first. In truth I didn't think we were supposed to meet each other, but circumstances made it happen that way. Instead of him rejecting me, he let me stay, he let me share share his body and thought of me as a friend.

「It's not as easy as it sounds, there was something about some magical items that allowed two souls share a body, but why get into the unimportant details, right?」

Yugi helped me regain something I had lost, and... eventually the time for me to depart arrived. But I guess I got stuck here instead.

「He might have spent a long time as a ghost but he's not quite an expert about them, so he's a little curious.」

What kind of ghost does that make me?

[writtendestiny]

[She purses her lips slightly, but the frown lingering on her brow smooths away.]

I suppose that makes you the good kind.

[It's the best answer he could have given, really. She doesn't expect her opinion to matter one way or another, but it's always good to know who here might be trusted.]

[puzzlingly]

「He can see her reaction, it's a curious one indeed. But he does not judge, he knows his story is strange and that a lot could have gone wrong.」

Do you have experience with that? Ghosts, I mean.

「Just like people, he supposes, good and bad and the random odd one.」

[writtendestiny]

A little. [She shrugs one slender-boned shoulder.]

Magic is everywhere where I'm from, but it's usually bad news for humans.

[puzzlingly]

What else is there where you're from, other than humans?

[writtendestiny]

Phaeries.

[Her nose wrinkles, almost imperceptibly as she says the word. It's been a long time since she held any active malice towards the Phaerie people, but she still doesn't like them very much.]

Liars and tricksters who torment humans because they see us as lesser beings.

[puzzlingly]

Because they don't possess magic?

「It's just a logical assumption, but maybe there might be a little more.」

[writtendestiny]

Maybe. I don't know. [That said, some humans do possess magic, just... not that kind.]

They look at us like we look at... farm animals. We're like livestock to them. Most of them, anyway.

[puzzlingly]

「That's fair, there weren't exactly magic people in his world either, even if magic exists.」

May I ask why?

[writtendestiny]

You could ask them, if one of them was here.

[There's a bite to her voice that she doesn't mean, and her lips press together in a thin line with a faint tension in her jaw.]

Do you wonder what a bug thinks of you before you step on it? Same thing. They're not like us.

[puzzlingly]

Fair enough.

「That's a good reminder that he should do what other people keep telling him to do, to mind his own fucking business. It's not like he can do anything anyway, right?」