A/N: Oh hey! This is the first fanfiction I've ever posted! I'm actually pretty excited about this. I think Usagi-squared is too. Well, since she and I wrote this together. WOOO.

Summary: They say that death is only the begining of the next great adventure; and boy were they right. Starting with the resurrection of allies old and new, with enemies to match, the now graduated 'Nerd Patrol' as the CEO calls them will have more to worry about than just college and card games. CanonAU.

Pairings: Thiefshipping, (Future)Puppyshipping, implied Deathshipping, (Future)Clashshipping

Spoiler Alert: This fanfic is set after the Yu-Gi-Oh series, so if you haven't watched (atleast) to season 5, be prepared for spoilers.

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and any other items mentioned in this belong to their respective owners. The idea of this fanfic is Usagi-Squeared and MINE. Take that.

Reviews are always welcome, and so are comments Enjoy!

Graduation. The dictionary has three short definitions for this term, and all of them are nouns. One. An act of graduating; the state of being graduated. A definition that serves little use if you don't know the meaning of the root word, graduate. Two. The ceremony of conferring degrees or diplomas, as at a college or school. Another definition that serves little purpose, in that modern day allows many a person to succeed without such an object. And three. Arrangement in degrees, levels, or ranks.

None of these definitions can describe the feelings felt during the process of graduation. Nor the events that occur because or during it. To 'graduate' is to pass by degrees; to change gradually. But the event as a whole marks such a drastic change that this cannot possibly be true.

No... To graduate is to change but...

A change so important as graduation can only be drastic. For it marks an entrance, an acceptance, into a new world. A world that is both similar and dissimilar to the one that any involved in this ceremony of graduation are leaving. A change that could be good... Or bad.

'It's Been A While'

From: Ryou Bakura . changeofheartryou yahoo .co .jp

To: Yugi Mutou darkmagicattack yahoo .co .jp

Yugi-kun? It's me, Ryou.

I know we haven't spoken much since Yami- Atem I guess now- left... How are you? Ever since I transferred out, I've been all right I suppose...

Malik sent me an e-mail the other day. He's invited me to Egypt for the summer, but he sent two tickets. I asked him about it, but he can't return them apparently, so he told me to bring a friend...

Would you like to come? I understand if you don't, it must be a hard subject and...

In any case, if you can, please let me know before Saturday.

- Bakura Ryou

'RE: It's Been A While'

From: Yugi Mutou darkmagicattack yahoo .co .jp

To: Ryou Bakura changeofheartryou yahoo .co .jp

Ryou? Wow! I didn't think I'd hear from you!

It has been a while hasn't it? I'm all right myself... Though we graduate soon, the others are thinking of trying an exchange after the summer is over. I don't think I will; Grandpa isn't as strong as he used to be, and I'm worried about leaving him alone. I know my mom is there, but leaving him for six months seems a little too much.

The summer doesn't sound too bad though. My mom is a teacher, so she'll be at home at all times until September... I'm sorry I couldn't respond earlier! It's not too late is it? Because if I can, I'd love to come. I haven't been keeping much contact with Malik myself... How is he?

- Mutou Yugi

'RE: It's Been A While'

From: Ryou Bakura changeofheartryou yahoo .co .jp

To: Yugi Mutou darkmagicattack yahoo .co .jp

Calm down, Yugi-kun!

It's not too late; though you barely made it. If you can, pack for the summer and meet me at the Tokyo airport for 7 this Saturday. The plane doesn't leave until noon of course, but you know how crowds are...

Are you sure it will be all right for... Never mind. In any case, I'll see you at the airport then.

Ja matta ne, Yugi-kun.

- Bakura Ryou

Travelling by plane to any country outside of Japan was something like traveling through time, Ryou thought to himself as they landed in Egypt. If you went one way, it was as though time never changed. Or, stranger yet, that you'd in fact gone backwards, loosing hours and hours of time thanks to the sheer speed of travel. And yet it was also possible to skip over these hours as if they were nothing, travelling ahead of time rather than against it.

It was odd; but he chose not to bring up the oddly confusing and philosophical comments when they left the airport, instead smiling calmly as Malik greeted them both. "Hey! You both made it!" He put down the sign that said, in messy kanji, 'Ryou and Yugi'. It was a little unnerving to be referred to by first name really, but Yugi didn't seem to mind, and Malik's first culture went by those standards really. He might have learned Japanese, but his customs were still a mix of arabic and ancient Egyptian. Mostly arabic these days though; the modern world had little or no use for the 'old ways' outside of history lectures and archaeological digs.

As Ryou bowed his head lightly and whispered a 'Hello, Malik-kun', Yugi grinned and pulled his bag towards where the tanned blond was standing. "Malik! It's been a while!"

There was a flash of something in Malik's eyes when he looked them over and came to help with the luggage. A spark really, a mere fragment of some sort of negative emotion. Guilt, or perhaps mere sadness, he thought. But he couldn't be sure, so as they took the taxi back to Malik's large-but-not-a-mansion home outside of Cairo, he kept silent and let the other two speak amongst themselves.

So many questions... 'How are you?' 'I'm doing great, what about you, and your sister?' 'Pretty good ourselves, we recently sold..' He knew it was rude, but the plane trip left him tired... So he ended up tuning out half of what they were saying until Yugi nudged him in the side. "Ryou! We're here."

"Ah- S-So sorry, I..." The albino shook his head, before bowing his head in embarrassment. "I must have fallen asleep..."

As they stepped out of the car, Malik laughed. "Ahaha, I know how you feel- jet lag really sucks huh?" He continued to grin, taking a few of their bags and nodding towards the door to the house. "Come on- there's a lot I want to show you guys, and you need your rest."

Yugi muttered something about not being tired, and beside him, Ryou rubbed the back of his neck. Of course he wasn't tired, he'd slept on the plane...

Malik, however, would have none of it it seemed and continued bringing things inside. "Yea yea, that's what I thought too, and then I ended up collapsing in the hall at the hotel I was at in Domino. Trust me, you're tired." The teen held the door open, letting the others in. "I'll show you where you're staying- normally other members of the Antiquities council use this place but..." He shrugged, shutting the door as the other two came in and listened. "Well, they've been all over the place recently, so it's become more of a house for me and the others; and they aren't even here right now, so it's lonely!"

"Lonely... Where are they all Malik?"

He looked down, blinking. "Er... Well, Rishid is just meeting up with someone from his work... But my sister took off for a research assignment in Greece."

The other two blinked, Ryou voicing their question on the matter. "Greece? I thought she preferred Egypt..."

There was another shrug, and Malik led them up the stairs and down the hall to a pair of bedrooms. "Don't ask me why she took it. I think it has something to do with the alliance Egypt and Greece had all those years ago though, we'll find out when she comes back." He grinned, leaving the bags by the room and heading back down the hall. "I'll wake you up in the morning guys- just get some sleep, so that you don't fall off my bike tomorrow!"

"Malik has a bike?" Yugi turned to Ryou curiously, and the teen shrugged slightly.

"He did have a bit of an attachment to them, so it's not too surprising..." He grabbed his bags, giving Yugi a soft smile. "I'll see you in the morning, neh Yugi-kun?"

He waved his hand. "Just 'Yugi' is fine you know. You don't need to be polite all the time." He knew it wouldn't do anything, but he mind as well try. "Any ways, see you then Ryou!" They both disappeared into their rooms. Oddly enough, Yugi did in fact succumb to the horrors of jet lag a few minutes later, falling asleep without even changing out of his clothes on the bed.

Ryou however, couldn't sleep. There were too many things bugging him. He didn't know why, but they were. Malik's email... He'd lied about that. He didn't want to, but Malik seemed desperate enough. 'I want you to bring a friend ok? I'm sending you two tickets. Don't tell them I did it on purpose!' But why would he have to do that..? That look he'd had in his eyes when he spotted Yugi seemed almost... Horrified. As though by bringing Yugi, everything had changed.

But what was everything?

He sighed as he got changed into his pyjamas, laying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. He'd been feeling so confused... After the events of Battle City, he hadn't seen Malik in person too often. Seeing him again didn't help his confusion though. He had never met 'Yami Marik', or 'Marik' as the others had taken to calling him. Not directly, at least. Sure, he had heard about him, but by the time Marik and his own 'Yami', that 'other him' that he scarcely knew... Well, he found himself, to his immense confusion, stuck with both Malik and 'Yami Bakura' in the shadow realm.

Another sigh. He couldn't bring himself to hate this strange 'other Malik' that was now gone. He should have. But he never could really hate anyone. There was... Always another side to things wasn't there? And yet Marik was merely another half of Malik. A personality, nothing more, created from an intense and traumatizing event in the past.

Yes, he thought as he rolled over. Marik wasn't, and never was real...

But why was it that a part of his heart ached for that side of Malik when he saw him now?

Change. To become something, or someone else by any kind of means. The events that transpired that day, Ryou thought as he stood flat against the wall, were nothing like he had ever expected from Malik. And yet he could understand why. To some extent. Nonetheless, he should have caught it.

It had been a beautiful day.

Warm and sunny, and while Malik had jokingly told them they'd be sick of it in a week, he didn't think that he would. The summer heat was pressing down on all of them as they walked to a small corner store and gas station. Ryou had marvelled over Yugi's perseverance- while he was walking in thin shorts and a t-shirt, the short, triple hair coloured teen was still walking around in the leather he'd become fond of with the completion of a now lost puzzle. And he was still walking and skipping ahead with a grin.

"How does he do that..?" Malik laughed as his friend voiced that question, his hands in his pockets as all three walked along the side of the dusty, cracked road.

"Who knows; maybe having a pharaoh living in him for four years allowed him to acclimatize!"

He sighed, shaking his head. "And me..?"

The blond smirked. "You're just pasty, Ryou. I don't think anyone with that skin tone can stay outside long without burning into a crisp!" While they continued talking about things like that, Yugi drifted further and further ahead; before long, you could see the tiny figure that was the current 'King of Games' waving his arms from the gas station.

Which was probably for the best, considering what their conversation turned to.

Bakura... His last name, and also the name of his now, apparently dead other half. Like the pharaoh 'Atem' who had lived in Yugi's puzzle, the spirit of the Millennium Ring was also gone now... As lost and unseen as the items themselves were now. It had been... Unnerving, the conversation. What was Bakura like? If you could bring him back, would you? Hey, do you think if that happened, then time would repeat? The conversation had thankfully been cut short when he'd mentioned that Yugi would soon be able to hear them. So, nodding, Malik had gone into the store to get slushies, soon coming out with an extra large for each of them.

He'd thought that was where the conversation would end. Just as a curiosity, nothing more. They walked out into the desert, sipping their drinks and each feeling something completely different. Yugi was oblivious, cheerful, as if he'd been missing something and regained it just now. He wouldn't be surprised if it was true to say the least... But then, everyone had different ways to recover from a loss.

Malik seemed equally happy, but in a strange, almost hidden sense. Like he was hiding, plotting something. And it unnerved him, more so when the blond stated that he was going to show them an old temple ruin he'd found. "A temple," Yugi had asked curiously as he slurped the slushy. "Does it have anything to do with... Him?" The answer had been no, of course not.

But he wasn't sure... Not about what he had to do with, but what they were walking into. It didn't feel like a temple. It didn't even feel like much more than a smoothed out cave, the stairs and hall reaching down, down, down into a cool room lit with torches. The room was blank. Mostly. Symbols and hieroglyphs lined the walls and floor, a large circle in the center with oddly well positioned torches and candles...

He'd bit his lip, and everything happened so fast. Yugi had run forwards with a smile, looking around curiously as he commented on the lights that Malik had added. 'It's like a hideout', he'd said, 'we could play all kinds of games in here and-'

Ryou stood frozen, unable to hear himself shout a warning as Malik grabbed one of the torch stands and swung it forwards. He'd reached out but his feet had remained glued to the floor in fear as Yugi turned and dropped the slushy. Half frozen, sugary ice mush splattered all over the floor, dotted with just a small bit of blood. Followed by Yugi's unconscious and prone form as Malik replaced the torch stand he'd used to knock him out. "Malik... Malik what did you..." He shook, frightened and scared, more scared than anything. What was he doing... What did this room mean, what did the conversation, the e-mail... Was this why? Was this why he had to bring a friend? Was all of this... The trip, the walk... The slushies... Was all of it just a ploy to end up here, in this room?

"Shut up, and listen! Or you'll be next!" He was so scared... If it had been the past, his 'other him' would have come out, argued against the threat. Ah... But then, his other him would have likely helped Malik with whatever it was with a wide and maniacal grin too, wouldn't he? "You're going to do nothing. You're going to stand at the side, over there, and keep an eye out in case someone comes. I can't have anyone interrupt Ryou... No one, understand!" What was going on... He sounded crazed, desperate, as though about to explode into a mess on the spot. He couldn't say anything. He couldn't do anything. He merely nodded stiffly, weakly, and stood by the doorway cowering with fear as he watched. Watched Malik drag Yugi's body into the center of the circle, drops of the cherry slushy clinging to his shoes and melting away in a pathetic imitation of blood.

He stood there. Watched, with horror as Malik left the circle to stand on the side and take a seat in a kneeling position... Listened, as ancient and rasping words escaped his mouth in a foreign language he could never possibly hope to understand, filling the room. Sank to his knees with wide and quivering eyes as the room glowed in response. Glowed, hummed... And as the torches blinked out all at once, a light appeared from the center of the circle... And exploded into a vicious, blinding pillar.

Ryou covered his ears, ducking down as a shock wave of hard, visible sound blasted over his head. Vicious, undying screams could be heard, be it from Malik, Yugi, or from some strange other source he could not tell. And still he watched, unable to tear his eyes from the sight as Malik held his arms in the air. He watched as the blond continued his chant, unmoving and unaffected even as the pillar of light swirled in a cyclone around the room. It covered everything in it's blinding rays, the solid and yet gaseous clouds of light that he saw. The entire ceiling was covered, clouds of it falling to the ground, and still the worst had not come. For as his eyes widened still more, a task he thought impossible, a solid stream of the light separated from the funnel. It separated and spiralled around the room to counter the twister of light that was there, as though fighting against it, or even being pulled away. The screams intensified, and the cyclone itself began to narrow, twist itself into a thin stream as the larger thread continued it's maddening dance around the room.

And then, as the cyclone narrowed to little more than a hair-thin thread, the snake-like ribbon of light crashed into it. An explosion occurred... And for a brief moment as he covered his eyes, he thought he'd heard a voice from months and months prior to that day.

But he didn't know what that voice had said, as he opened his eyes to stare at what the light had brought into the room.

Ryou didn't know Egyptian after all.