Wings of Time

An Abandoned Reality

It was raining. Yugi wiped water from his eyes and tried to remember how he had gotten there. A crosswalk spread out on either side of him and people were walking by with umbrellas and raincoats about their shoulders. Despite the rain slowly soaking his school uniform through, no one seemed to pay him any mind. Cars waited, puffing in the cold air.

Dazed, he followed the last of the crowd onto the sidewalk. The light turned green and the cars thrummed by. He tried to find somewhere he knew and recognized the grocery that was only a few blocks away from home. He went towards it, rubbing his arms and watching his breath rise. What had he been doing before this? And why couldn't he remember?

When he turned the corner, his hands growing numb, he was never more happy to see his grandpa's game store. He could take a warm shower, make himself some tea, maybe watch an old western with his grandpa, for he suddenly realized how lonely he felt. It was like a painful ache in his chest, like a flu. He splashed across the street just to stop as a group of people came out of the haze. He stopped, hesitant of strangers. On hearing Joey's voice, however, he grinned and waited for them to see him.

One by one, his friends appeared. Joey and Tristan were bickering somewhat playfully as they usually did and Tea and Ryou were watching the two with amused smiles. And behind them all was someone that made his mouth drop: Yami, with his own body, laughing along.

He ran forward, unbelievable happiness fit to burst in his chest.

"Joey! Yami!" he jumped up and down. "Guys!"

None of them reacted. If anything, they didn't hear or see him at all. But that couldn't be.

"Heya! What you guys up to?"

They were almost face to face with him, but still they didn't see him. He frowned and waved his hands. Surely they'd see him once they walked into him, wouldn't they?

But as they came up, laughing and talking, they simply walked around him as though he were a statue in the middle of the sidewalk. Something barbed and acidic started to grow in his gut as he watched them go. When Yami stopped he thought for a thrilling second that he had seen him, but it was only to say good-bye to the others and walk into the game store. Yugi, however, stayed put, letting the rain run in rivulets down his face and down his jacket.

"Yami?" he whispered.

What was going on? Was this a memory? A vision? A dream? But how could it be anything but real, he could feel the cold and the rain. He could even smell that fresh wet concrete and the car exhaust the next block over. He could hear the sigh of the sky. He could even hear his heart beating in his chest and his breath as it rose into the air.

Numbly, he went into the shop. He heard the bell ring and his shoes squeak against the floor. He could see the puddles he left after him as he walked in.

But even then his grandfather sitting at the counter didn't look up. His feet were up by the cash register and a game magazine was open in his hands.

"Grandpa? Come on, at least you've got to see me."

But he just turned a page.

He couldn't move. Yugi could feel something terrible constricting his throat. This was...this was...

He knew it. He knew this would happen. How could he have been so naive to think it wouldn't?

Suddenly frightened, he spun on the spot and ran out the store into the rain. He ran as though chased by bullies, eyes streaming with rain or tears, he couldn't tell. He gasped for air in the water. His legs burned.

He found himself in a park he use to play in as a child. Blindly he ran to a cluster of trees in the corner and hid behind them to bury his face in his knees. He didn't care that mud was getting all over his pants. He was soaked already. And it wasn't like anyone cared. Even Yami.

"Hello?"

The sound was so sweet, he could almost taste it, and he looked up.

Wet blond curls sticking to her face and framing her sky blue eyes, Aleah smiled, leaning down so she could look right at him.

"What's wrong, Yugi?"

The sound of his name filled his lungs with air for the first time.

"Aleah..."

"Yeah?"

"I think I might be going crazy." he tried to return her smile, but his cheeks just twitched.

"How so?" she asked as she sat down with him in the mud, arms draped about her beautiful slender legs.

"No one seems to see or hear me. It's like they've...forgotten about me."

She frowned. "Well, I'm afraid they have."

He flinched. "What?"

"They got carried away with the pharaoh, you see. You were right, too cool. But hell, they're just shallow, don't let it get to you." she stuck out her tongue, looking so spunkily cute he felt himself blush.

"But...but they're my friends."

"Supposedly."

"But even grandpa didn't notice me."

"Weird. But he's been taking to Yami like a new grandson too. Really, don't think about it. It'll just make you depressed."

He felt his heart sinking again. He buried his face in his arms so she wouldn't see the tears in his eyes. All he needed was to ruin any speck of manliness he had in her sight by crying.

"Why haven't you forgotten me?" he asked her.

"Because I'm not lame. And I like you, Yugi."

He almost smiled at that. "Oh?"

"I'd be an idiot to forget you. You're my friend, and you got me that turkey sandwich, remember? Souls are bought with chipotle, ya know."

He couldn't help but chuckle wetly and tried to wipe at his nose covertly. "I'm actually feeling pretty hungry. Want to go get another?"

She beamed, looking both pleased that she was cheering him up as well as the sandwich, when a voice called out her name over the rain. She looked around the tree. Yugi tried to ignore the fact that he knew who it was. He would've known that voice even after a hundred years of not hearing it at all.

"Oh..." she said, "actually, Yugi, can I call you later for that sandwich date?"

"Of course." but he already knew she wouldn't be calling. He already knew not to hope.

"Cya later!" she leapt to her feet. "Oh, and don't worry about the others, Yugi. But call me if you need someone to talk to."

And with that she left him in the mud to run to her caller. Yugi knew he didn't want to see, but for some reason he couldn't stop from pulling himself to the side of the tree.

As he expected, Yami stood under an umbrella, waiting for her with a smile. He watched as she ran to him, platinum blond curls bouncing back and forth across her back, to throw her arms about his neck. Yami laughed out loud and pulled away just enough to smother her mouth in a kiss.

Something broke within Yugi then. He could almost hear the snap. The mud grew thicker and he could feel it sliding around his ankles and up his pant legs.

Yami broke away long enough to say he loved her and to hear her say she loved him too before they fell back into their kiss.

The mud creeped farther till he was thigh deep, but still, he didn't care. The broken thing within him was growing heavier and heavier, dragging him into the mud. It rose up his hips, tickling to his waist.

At last, they turned and walked away from him, forgetting him in the rain, the cold, the mud, the dirt, the earth, the clouds and sky-

He slipped down the tree, his fingers feeling every groove of the bark, and curled into a ball in the mud, waiting for it to rise past his eyes, then his nose, and then his entire face.