Main Points:
Yugioh Canon Adjacent, Legacy!verse
Chapter Summary: Yami's departure doesn't quite go as planned.
Word Count: 270
Rating: teen
Notes: Attempting Joey's accent, because I can be out there in fanfic. Or something.
As Atem passes through the gates, a white light appears and speeds into Yugi. For a moment, Joey wonders whether this is supposed to be happening and no one bothered to tell him before the confused and panicked muttering between Ishizu and Marik indicates that no, no, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go. And then his best friend starts to fall.
“Yuug!” Sure, Yugi might have gone a little further toward the platform than the rest of them had, so getting to him was a little difficult, but Joey Wheeler wasn’t about to let a friend fall if he could help it. Instantly, it seemed, there was a crowd around, but it was almost as if they didn’t exist. “Come on, speak ta me, pal!”
It takes a minute of freaking out before Tristan helpfully checks the pulse and reassures them all that Yugi’s not dead, which is something. Still, every moment that those eyes don’t open is another moment Joey has to worry.
“Come on, no, we can’t lose you both,” Téa whispers, kneeling next to them, and then she’s slumping over, too.
“No! What’s goin’ on? Wasn’t this how it was supposed to happen? Why this, why now?” Joey slams his fist against the floor and then winces. Stone hurts.
“I don’t understand,” Ishizu whispers behind them.
Like she’s a clockwork toy and has just been wound up again, Téa sits back up. She’s crying again, but then, not even that stuck up brat Kaiba’s eyes are dry. “Are you all right?” he asks, voice harsher than normal.
“I…” Now she just looks confused, and more than a bit freaked out. “I—I think I was just in Yugi’s mind, but…it was weird. He didn’t recognize me at all.”
Instantly, there’s a clamor again, everyone crying out all at once. It takes a chunk of rubble taking a chunk out of Joey’s arm for anyone to realize that the temple is falling apart. He picks up Yuug, who’s usually easy enough to carry but feels even more worryingly light now. It’s probably good, generally, because his arm hurts. “Come on, guys, we gotta move!”
For a moment, he’s worried that everyone’s too shocked to move, but Kaiba scoops up Mokuba and starts leading the charge. The younger Kaiba is protesting, but it throws the others into action. So rich boy’s good for somethin’. Good ta know.
In his arms, Yugi starts stirring a little, which is a good sign and Joey feels his eyes start to fill again, but it makes it harder to see and to run, and if it makes him drop his friend, with the wound...
Eventually, he feels a slight tug on his jacket and a scratchy, weak voice asking, “J-Joey? Why are you carrying me?”
“Because the temple’s collapsing, and I wasn’t gonna just leave ya dere,” he responds matter-of-factly, smiling a little through the tears. Yugi knows him.
“Oh, okay.” Yugi nods slightly and stops moving around so much.
“Next time ya collapse, warn a guy, woudja?” Joey asks. He’s trying to be light-hearted, but from the weak, reassuring pat he’s probably not very successful.
“I’ll do that,” Yugi states cheerfully.
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