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There was a gaping chasm in the place where Yuugi's soul had once been. Pages from books fluttered around in the wind; toys dangled precariously from the edges of broken bricked walls. There was a blood-stained star-printed blanket caught on a bamboo tree that had once been in the corner of the soul room, and it flapped around in the wind like a flag. The bamboo was brown and shriveled, all its leaves gone. The door to Yuugi's soul room, which had always been open to anyone who entered his heart, stood closed.
Not that it mattered — everything around it was gone. The Orichalcos had seen to that.
The spirit stood in front of the door, focusing on it so he didn't have to see the destruction all around him. The puzzle was a dead weight around his neck and cold in his hands, its warmth gone along with the piece of his heart that was called Yuugi Mutou. A gust of wind came, and one of the toys lost its battle with gravity and slid away, falling into the darkness below. The spirit swallowed painfully, his vision blurring together as tears filled his eyes.
Around him, there were voices in the wind, but none he wanted to hear because they weren't his partner's. It didn't matter, though; this was hell, and there was no escaping from things he didn't like anymore.
"You have to snap him out of it, Anzu."
"Why me?"
"Because— b-because you're a girl! And girls are good with emotions and crap!"
"What! That's idiotic, Honda, and and— Ugh! Jounouchi, you go talk to him."
"I ain't saying anything to 'im."
"Jounouchi!"
"Leave him be, Anzu. It's gotta' be you."
"Why does it have to be me?"
"Because I don't want to talk to him either! You're the one that likes him, aren't you? Go talk to him!"
The spirit flinched. And the sensation of that — the way Yuugi's head jerked, his eyes closed, his lips lifted — brought him straight back to reality. Goosebumps exploded on Yuugi's arms and his body shook violently, as if it was trying to throw the spirit out. Perhaps it was, the spirit thought wildly. Yuugi's body had always allowed his soul to take over when he needed to — to become one with him — but it had always been at Yuugi's permission. Without him, Yuugi's body was revolting.
His vision began to swim and Yuugi's heart pounded as his throat closed up. The Pharaoh was blind and mute, a churning wave of nausea threatened to bring up everything Yuugi had managed to eat that morning. With that feeling, came memories.
"Darling! I have to cook for you! Sit, sit!"
"T-Thank you, Rebecca."
"Don't thank me, Darling! I've been doing research; I have to be a good cook to be a good wife, right?"
"U-uhhhhh..." Oh, shoot, did she just say she wanted to be my wife?
Yuugi had looked over at him, because he was asking him, but the spirit hadn't been paying attention. His mind was elsewhere, on the Orchialcos, on his duty, his destiny. Why did he care if Yuugi was dealing with a marriage proposal over his all-American breakfast?
But now Yuugi would never have to deal with a marriage proposal, or the slightly unwanted but "let's-not-hurt-her-feelings" attention of a little girl, or his all-American breakfast because he was gone. He was gone and he was never coming back, and the puzzle would just be a lifeless weight around his neck and his soul room would just be one massive maze with a gaping hole in it, just like the hole in the spirit's heart named YuugiMutoupartnerIloveyoudon'tleavemepleaseforgiveme.
"P-Partner," the spirit sobbed, feeling tears slip down Yuugi's cheek. He wondered, for a brief moment, if it was truly him crying, or if it was Yuugi's body mourning his lost soul. He was filled with the intense desire to search for Yuugi again and he clutched the puzzle to feel, for the thousandth time, if his partner was in there, somewhere...
There was nothing.
Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. Yuugi's lungs stopped working and dark circles began appearing and popping in front of his eyes. The spirit knew Yuugi's body was furious now and pushing back full force, trying to suffocate him out. He felt a stab of panic, but he couldn't leave Yuugi's body. Without a soul in it, it would just be a corpse on life support. Without a soul in it, it would just be Yuugi's dead eyes, his blue lips, blood oozing from under him and the spirit was screaming, screaming, screaming—
"Yuugi!"
There was a blur of pain to his back, and the spirit gasped. Yuugi's body relented and his lungs filled with oxygen. His back throbbed as he breathed, a hand rubbing circles against his chest while a voice hissed, "Geez, Yuugi, breathe. Breathe."
His vision swam back into focus and he could see Anzu kneeling down beside him, clutching Yuugi's hand in hers. There were tears in her eyes, and the spirit couldn't look at them without feeling the urge to throw up violently. His eyes jerked away, to Honda beside him, ordering him to breathe, and then to Jounouchi, glaring murderously at him, the accusation in his eyes and in his fists. You took my best friend from me.
"I'm sorry," he said to Jounouchi, and then Yuugi's stomach lurched violently. There was no stopping it this time, and the spirit heaved, feet scraping against the floor as Yuugi's body jerked. Honda clutched his shoulders; Anzu backed away. The spirit was at least thankful for that as fire ripped up his throat and out in a rush of sickly-sweet bile and half-digested food.
"Shit," Honda cursed as Yuugi's body shuddered madly in his hands. Anzu sobbed something and got up, while Jounouchi turned away. The spirit had no strength to do anything but lay there, feeling his head roll back against Honda's shoulder. His vision began to darken and the spirit welcomed it with open arms, his eyes sliding closed.
There was nothing else in this world without Yuugi in it.