By: DDLDarkHeartofWater

DD: Hi. This is a Yamishipping one shot (I love Yamishipping). So this month's one shot is based off a story my mom told me; one of her friends moved to America and was saying, "I'm so glad to escape this family bullshit and start over." So, I thought 'what if the yamis got to do that?' They deserve it after all the stuff that happened to them. So, they get to start over in a new country, where no one else knows them. I hope that's close enough to the new beginnings theme. *fingers crossed*. Enjoy the story and the rest of the magazine Killer Queens! And Happy 2016!

-YGOMAGAZINE-

"Where the fuck are we?" Yami Marik grumbled.

Yami Yugi shook his head. "No clue," he muttered, resting against the wall.

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes. "What else is new?" he muttered.

Yami Yugi's crimson gaze turned to him, and the taller boy glared down at him. Yami Bakura scowled back up at him.

He hated that Yami Yugi was taller than him now. Due to the fact that the boy had died when he was seventeen and that his family had a record of late growth spurts, he hadn't finished growing.

Now? He was nearly as tall as Yami Marik. Yami Bakura, on the other hand, had been about twenty when he died, so he had finished growing.

It was embarrassing.

"Hey, Ring Spirit," Yami Marik called. Yami Bakura and Yami Yugi turned to see him at the edge of the alley that they had appeared in from the Shadow Realm. "Are you coming?"

"Don't call me 'Ring Spirit'," Yami Bakura hissed. "And why would I go anywhere with you?"

Yami Marik shrugged. "Suit yourself." He glanced at Yami Yugi. "How about you, Puzzle Spirit?"

"I'm with Yami Bakura on both accounts," Yami Yugi replied. "Don't call me Puzzle Spirit and why would I go anywhere with you?"

"Don't call me 'Yami Bakura' either," Yami Bakura hissed.

Yami Yugi rolled his eyes. "Then what do you want to be called?"

Yami Bakura hesitated. "Akefia. Akefia Touzoku. That was my name back in Egypt."

"Fine. Akefia it is then." Yami Yugi turned to Yami Marik. "What about you?"

"Malik."

"Isn't that rather like your host's name?" Akefia asked.

Malik rolled his eyes. "So what if it is?"

"I just find it amusing. I thought you hated him."

"I do."

"Then why-?"

"Are you looking for a third death?" Malik growled, fists clenching. When Akefia didn't reply, he turned away. "So, are you two coming or not?"

"Where are we going to go?"

"Well we can't just stay here and pine over why we're back," Malik pointed out. "We are back, and there's no point in asking why. We need to get food and somewhere to stay."

Yami Yugi and Akefia exchanged a glance before nodding. "I hate to admit it, but that makes sense," Akefia muttered. He walked up to Malik with Yami Yugi.

Malik glanced at the latter. "What about you?"

"Hm?" Yami Yugi blinked.

"What do you want to be called?"

Yami Yugi hesitated. He hadn't expected either of them to care. And despite the fact that Akefia hadn't asked, he also looked interested. "...Atem Sennen," he decided.

"How original," Akefia snickered.

Atem rolled his eyes and shoved the thief. "Shut up."

-YGOMAGAZINE-

The three came to a stop outside a dingy looking motel. One of the windows was broken and covered with a plastic bag, the car park was nearly empty and splattered with food, alcohol and vomit and the sign had several broken letters so that the 'Sleep Eazy' Motel had become the 'Sle__ _azy' Motel.

"Sleazy Motel, huh?" Akefia smirked. "Sounds fun."

Atem rolled his eyes. "Of course you would say that. Anyway, we can't stay here. We don't have any money left." He had reluctantly agreed to let Akefia steal some money so that they could eat dinner, but only enough for cheap fast food.

Akefia smirked. "Yes we do."

Atem narrowed his eyes. "You son of a bitch."

"Hey, do you want to sleep out here?" Akefia spread his arms, indicating to the car park. "Be my guest."

Atem hesitated. Malik rolled his eyes and grabbed Atem by the shoulders, steering him towards the entrance. "Let me make it easy for you. We're staying here."

Atem reluctantly walked inside with the two. The receptionist glared at them and muttered something in a language that neither Akefia nor Atem were familiar with.

Malik on the other hand answered back fluently. Atem and Akefia both stared at him as he took the key from the receptionist. "We're in room one zero four."

"All of us?" Atem raised an eyebrow.

Malik shot Akefia a glare. "Somebody didn't steal us enough money for any more."

Akefia folded his arms, closing his eyes. "It's not my fault the rooms are expensive."

"They're twenty dollars a night!"

"Oh shut up, both of you," Atem groaned. "Let's just go to our room."

They began walking down the hall. Atem glanced at Malik. "What language was that?"

"Maori," Malik replied. "When Marik took control of someone, he always took information that he thought would be useful, including languages, so I know about..." He tilted his head back in thought. "Twenty seven languages. Give or take."

"Convenient," Akefia muttered. "Did you find out where we are?"

"America. You couldn't figure that out by the currency?"

Akefia shrugged. "I never really bothered to look into what Ryou was learning."

Atem looked at him in surprise. "You called him Ryou."

Akefia shrugged. "Yeah. We shared a body for eight years, after all."

"I've never heard you refer to him as anything but host or yadonushi."

"Disassociation," Akefia muttered. "I thought that if you knew I cared about him even in the slightest, you'd hurt him to get to me."

Atem shook his head. "I would never do that."

"Well I know that now." Akefia rolled his eyes. "Let's just get to our room. I need sleep."

However, when they reached it, there was another problem. "Only one bed?"

Atem sighed. "Great... Well, there's a couch, so one of you can take the bed and the couch and I'll check to see if there's a spare blanket that I can lie on."

They shot him a look. "You're going to sleep on the floor?" Akefia asked. "The mighty Pharaoh?"

Atem glared at him. "Well if you want, I can take the bed and you can take the floor."

"No; I'm fine with the bed."

"Hey, who said you were getting the bed?" Malik protested. Atem sighed and left the room to find blankets. By the time he returned, Malik had reluctantly agreed to take the couch.

None of them spoke as they lay down to sleep. They didn't have any clothes to change into so they just lay there in what they had appeared in.

The darkness grew and grew until no one could see anything. Malik clenched his jaw but he couldn't hide the slight whimper.

Atem frowned and sat up silently.

Malik didn't notice. The whimper turned into a soft sob. Malik bit his lip fiercely to try and hide it.

Atem stood up and walked over to him. "Malik," he whispered. The younger yami jumped. "Are you okay?"

"My... my back," he whispered. His voice shook. "I-it's burning..."

Atem hesitated before gently wrapping his arms around him. Malik tensed. "What are you-?"

"Let's just pretend," Atem murmured, "that when the lights turn off, it's an alternate universe. I'm a different Atem, you're a different Malik and Akefia's a different Akefia. And when the lights turn on again, our other selves don't know what happened in the dark."

Malik hesitated before nodding. He relaxed in Atem's arms and tears trickled down his face.

Atem gently rocked him back and forth. "You could just turn on the light," they heard Akefia mutter.

Malik shook his head and swallowed. "T-the electricity doesn't w-work," he choked out. "The receptionist told me w-when he gave us the key..."

All was silent again for a few minutes. Then they heard shifting. "Get over here. Both of you. There's enough room."

Atem stood up. Malik hesitated but Atem took his hand and gently pulled him up.

Malik followed him over to the bed and they lay down. Akefia pulled the covers over the three of them.

It grew darker still and Malik's tears continued to fall. Akefia gently rubbed his back. "It's okay, Mal. It's okay."

Surprisingly, the burning began to subside. Malik buried his head in Akefia's chest. Atem wrapped his arms around Malik, resting his head on the younger yami's chest. "We've got you," he murmured.

Slowly, his body stopped shaking and his tears subsided. Akefia rested his head on Malik's shoulder but didn't stop rubbing his back. Malik hesitated before wrapping an arm around the two and pulled them closer. Neither of them pulled away.

"Is this okay?" Malik whispered, his voice cutting through the darkness.

"Of course," Atem muttered. "We're in the alternate universe."

"I mean in both," Malik corrected. His voice was still shaky, but it wasn't as bad. "In the light too."

"Of course," Atem repeated. He looked at Akefia. "Right?" He sounded just as unsure as Malik did, despite his words.

Akefia hesitated. His eyes flickered to Malik and Atem. "Yeah," he murmured. "I think so."

Silence took over again. Just as the darkness began to fade, the three fell asleep in each others' arms.