Crossing over into the afterlife was like being thrown in a pool of water. But not in a bad way- more like Atem had been on fire the last five thousand years, and the water finally doused the flames. He hadn't realized how stressful it had been on Earth, with the afterlife attracting his soul like a magnet, but the Millennium Puzzle keeping him tethered.

Atem was still in his Egyptian Pharaoh's garb, and his family and friends were still before him. Mahad, Seto, Isis, Mana. They stretched out their hands to him, inviting, laughing. Atem stood in front of them.

He tried to speak, but he couldn't find his Atem heard a grating noise behind him, and whirled around to see the Gateway grinding shut. He caught a glimpse of his friends- Tea, Tristan, even Kaiba, who was looking surly and still in denial- before the stone door shut, sealing him in and away from his friends. Forever.

Yugi, Atem thought. He desperately hoped his friend, his partner, his host, was all right. And he didn't mean host like Yami Bakura had. No, with him, Bakura was simply a vessel, and Bakura's soul a nuisance. Atem meant host in a completely different sense. Yugi had solved the Puzzle, taken him in, and given him the best treatment possible. And Atem, in return, had as a guest made sure to treat Yugi's body and soul with the most respect possible. Well, except few Mind-Crushes. And then there was that whole Seal of Orichalcos thing…

He turned back to his Egyptian friends. As hard as it was to bear leaving his new friends, he had to admit that the call of the afterlife and of the people from his past were much stronger.

(Plus, Seto the Priest was much less of a jerk than modern Kaiba was.) Besides, even if Atem did stay with Yugi and the others, they wouldn't last forever. Eventually, they would die too. Then Atem would be back to square one- only there might not be anyone left to open the Gateway properly that time.

Mana mouthed, Pharaoh!-apparently she and the others couldn't speak. She held out her hand to him and beamed. Atem had a sudden thought. Mana still looked the same age as she had been when he had last saw her- could she really have died so young? He shook the the thought out of his head. Possibly she was just appearing to him the way she was most familiar. Atem smiled and stretched out his hand.

Then everything went wrong.

The whole void shuddered and went dark. Well, not exactly. The white space abruptly turned a shade of silver. Atem suspected that the whole cavern had been sealed. He knew that once the necessary soul-his-was in the afterlife, what or whoever controlled the cave would let it collapse to further hide the Gateway and the Millennium Items. He was just starting to wonder if all his modern friends had gotten out safely when every one of his friends and family opened their mouths in unison, like they were trying to call out Atem! and vanished like smoke.

Atem tried to cry out, but, like them, his voice no longer worked. It wasn't because of emotion anymore. He was about to run to the spot his loved ones had been standing before, but then the sensation started- like falling down a long way, only from every direction. There was no air pressure, wind chill, anything, so Atem couldn't even tell what direction he was going. The only change in scenery was a couple of distant gold dots- maybe other spirits?- lost in the ocean of silver. Then suddenly he stopped, like he had just hit bottom, or top, or whatever. The entire void flickered from silver to gold, and Atem immediately felt the effects. He was even deeper into the afterlife than before. If coming into the white and silver light was little putting out a fire, this was like slipping out from under the weight of the sky. Atem sighed in relief and began to totally relax for the first time.

It didn't last long. The whole void tipped upside down (or it could have been right side up, or sideways even- it was impossible to tell) and Atem suddenly remember the stories his father told him about the Land of the Dead. To get there was a treacherous, horrible journey- that wasn't even counting the Judgement.

Atem's last thoughts before everything turned black were: I hope the start of your new life is easier than the start of my afterlife, Yugi. This is only the beginning of the end.