AN: Welcome to the sequel to 'Return to the Past.' This story focuses on Yugi and my OC Mariah, who is a descendant of Mana's. I suggest you read Return to the Past before reading this though. Without anymore talk, let's get to it!

Prologue

Yugi Muto sighed softly as he rolled over on his bed with a low yawn. He opened his eyes and rubbed them for a moment as they adjusted to the light that filled his bedroom. A smile came to his face as he saw the still sleeping form of his girlfriend Mariah beside him, her long brown and blond streaked hair falling over her face as she slept. He thought for a moment, remembering what had happened the night before. He and Mariah had both fallen asleep watching a movie, and somewhere around three in the morning, they'd both woken up and trudged to bed together. He listened for a moment to her soft breathing before he swept her hair out of the way to gently trace the tattoo she had recently gotten on the back of her shoulder, the Japanese Kanji for courage. The fact that she'd gotten it brought a smile to Yugi's lips, the last thing Yugi would have thought Mariah needed was a reminder to be courageous.

A lot had changed over the last few months, since Atem was no longer sharing his body and living in the past with Mana. Not long after he'd returned, his grandfather had a sudden heart attack in his sleep and was gone by the time that Yugi had found him. Since then he had graduated high school, and took over running the game shop on his own, with Mariah assisting him. He still dueled frequently, Mariah being his biggest cheerleader as his group of friends had gone their separate ways after finishing High School. Joey was still around, but Tristan had gone to explore the world, while Tea...

A jolt of anger surged through Yugi, and as if she could hear his thoughts, Mariah's head suddenly sprung up, "Huh...? Wha...?" She looked over her shoulder, her eyes still hazy with sleep, before she turned over and snuggled up to Yugi, her eyes closing once again.

Yugi cringed slightly. He'd forgotten that Mariah took after Mana in some ways. She wasn't a magician like Mana, but there was something inside of her that somehow let her know whenever Yugi was angry or in pain. Yugi had been confused about a few things after returning from Egypt, and for his own sanity, he decided to trace both his and Mariah's families back to Ancient Egypt, with some help from Ishizu and Kaiba, who had access to records that nobody could even dream about. It turned out that they had a common bond, both of them coming from Mana and Atem's bloodlines. At some point, according to the research Yugi had done, Mana and Atem had two children, a son and a daughter. Mariah was a descendant of the son, while Yugi was a descendant of the daughter. That was the only common link that their two families had in those five thousand years that had passed, and Yugi was just fine with that. He'd be a little more worried if he and Mariah were more closely related than that.

While he got lost in his thoughts of the hours of research he had put in to tracing his and Mariah's lineages, Yugi didn't realize that Mariah had decided to not return to sleep. Her fingers traced his bare chest with a feather-light touch, and he glanced down at her, "Good morning," He said, kissing the top of her head.

"Is it?" Mariah asked, sitting up a bit, a smirk flashing across her face. At first Yugi had gotten a chill each time Mariah had smirked at him when they got together. Her relationship to his bloodline was evident in that smirk. "I wouldn't have been able to tell by the way your anger surged through me before. What's got you so angry, Yugi?" She asked in a soft voice, putting her head back down on his shoulder.

"I was just thinking about Tea."

Mariah scrunched her nose and shook her head, "Why?" She asked, her voice laced with disgust. Yugi knew any time he mentioned Tea's name, Mariah's blood began to boil. Mariah wasn't possessive when it came to him, but Tea had tried more than once to break them up, and that was something Mariah couldn't stand.

"Thinking about the last few months," Yugi answered with a soft sigh. He moved his fingers through Mariah's straight hair before he kissed her forehead. "You know, I don't think I could have made it through them without you."

Mariah frowned as she looked up into Yugi's amythest eyes, "You miss him, don't you?" She asked in a knowing tone. She knew very well about Yugi and Atem's bond, though she didn't know Atem particularly well herself, she'd heard each and every of the stories Yugi had to tell about him.

"Will you stop that?" Yugi asked with a laugh. He sighed softly. That was the thing about the power Mariah had. It was almost like she could hear his every thought and she somehow knew exactly what to respond to it, even if it was painful for him to hear.

"I'm sorry," Mariah sighed back. She sometimes worried that Yugi might tire of her constantly being able to know what was wrong with him and get annoyed with her for the power she couldn't control. "You know that you're the only one I have this problem with. I'm fine around everyone else, it's just when you and I are together."

Yugi nodded, "And I don't mind it, at least not most of the time." He hugged Mariah close and sighed contently, "So, it's Saturday, my Mariah. What would you like to do today?"

The wicked smirk appeared on Mariah's face once again as she looked up at Yugi and Yugi felt a chill shoot through him that partially had to do with the smirk, and partially with the black shadow tendril that was suddenly snaking its way up his bed, "What the hell...?"

Yugi looked around as the black tendrils appeared all around the bed, and suddenly something else caught his eye in the doorway, a pair of sparkling amethyst eyes, not unlike his own. A soft gasp escaped his lips as he heard the familiar dark chuckle, Not interrupting, am I?