Yugi stood before a crowd upon a stage, with his arms bound to two posts. His torso was bare and felt as if it were burning from the hot Egyptian sun, as his bottom half was covered with a dirty, bloody kilt that labled his as a slave.

A man with a whip came up behind Yugi, "This is a lesson to all you slaves who think you can get away with anything around here!" the mans voice was raspy and it rang through the crowd which made everyone shiver with fear, all Joey, Tea and Tristan could do was sit back and watch or they'd be in the same boat. Tea's head dipped low as she began to cry for her friend as for Joey and Tristan, their heads were turned in shame because they knew they could do nothing.

The pharaoh (Atem's father) was sitting in a booth behind the crowd to witness Yugi's punishment, he sat there with a smug grin on his face. He loved the look of fear in Yugi's eyes.

Atem rode on a horse from the palace as fast as he could to get to the witnessing of Yugi's punishment, before they do anything. 'Yugi, I am on my way and I will do everything in my power to help you and our friends be free of this life,' "Yah!" he yelled as he whipped the horse reigns to make him go faster.

"Father, wait!" everyone in the crowd head turned towards the prince of Egypt and bowed down in his presents. His friends had a smile on their face, 'I knew you'd come for him Atem..' Tea thought with her head bowed.

Atem's horse skid to a stop as sand was thrown everywhere from his hooves. Atem jumped off and stood before his father, "What are his crimes father?" he asked almost desperately. Unphased by Atem's appearance he merely said, "Listen and you will hear my son."

The man holding the whip behind Yugi held up a scroll and read, " The crimes that were commited of this slave were as follows: Being out of quarters after hours, theivery of these items," the man laid the items out on a table for everyone to see, which consisted of fruits and a half a loaf of bread. Looking at the items Yugi hung his head ashamed. The man continued with one last crime, "And, impersonating the prince of Egypt. Earning him 50 lashes." He rolled to paper back up and unraveled the long thin piece of leather as other slaves in the crowd gasped and protested.

"Wait!" Atem reached a hand out to Yugi but the pharaoh overruled Atem and carelessly said, "Proceed." The guards surrounding the pharaoh were told to detain Atem until the punishments were over. Suddenly a 'crack' was heard and Atem watched with horror as his love was being punished for simply being hungry.

Crack!

Yugi's body tensed up as he cried out in pain..

Crack! At the 25th whip lash all Yugi would do was jump and whimper..

Yugi could feel the blood running down his back as his body shook with pain.

Atem looked on with tears welling in his eyes, 'Yugi I'm very sorry for my father's doing, I swear I shall make it all better..'

Crack! 45…

Yugi was now struggling to stand, his face looking more pale by the minute from the blood loss.

50..

"Last one slave…" Yugi got ready, time seemed to be going by so slowly as he a waited the final blow, dull, pain filled eye met the furious crimson eyes of his Yami…no…the Prince..

Yugi heard the whip being thrown back and forth quickly as the tip of it caught his back he convulsed and cried out. The man freed Yugi of the ropes around his wrists, Yugi collapsed on the floor and just stayed there, his breathing was labored as he desperately tried to ease his pain. He slowly tried to push himself up off the ground and collaped again and the last blurry image he saw was Atem then everything went black.

A few hours later, Yugi awoke to people talking, he opened his eyes only to be met with a stone wall with cracks in it, he raised himself up onto his elbows and looked towards his friends and noticed he was resting in Atem's sleeping chambers it seemed. They stopped their conversation as they saw the poor soul awake.

"Yugi!" Atem and the others ran to the bed that he was laying on. "A-Atem…I'm sorry.." Atem got to eye level with Yugi, "Yugi, what on earth are you sorry for? I should be the one apologizing to you! I-" Yugi raised his hand up to stop him from talking, "Atem…I-I'm sorry for stealing that food I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway." Atem just looked at Yugi it utter disbelief.

"Yuge, you were just hungry, that's nothin to be ashamed of pal, I mean, look at'cha your paper thin!" Atem said nothing but agreed with Joey, he brushed back blonde bangs that hid Yugi's beautiful violet eyes. Just then, the door swung open to reveal the Pharaoh. The slaves got to their knees in respect of him but he didn't say a word as he walked over and grabbed Yugi by the arm yanking him to his feet and was pulled away, not caring if the boy was in pain or not.

"Father! What is the meaning of this? What do you plan on doing with Yugi?" the Pharaoh turned towards his son, with his firm grip still placed on Yugi's arm. "He is a distraction to you and your studies, he will be placed on the sold to another master my son." Atem and the others gasped, "Father please, no!" the door was slammed shut and his father locked it from the outside to where Atem can not come to the rescue.

The pharaoh's face turned from stern to sad with in seconds, as he listened to Atem's knocking and pleas coming from the other side of the door, 'I know you love him my son, but I can not allow my son, the prince of Egypt to have a male partner…where would the next prince come from? I must do this to protect our family's bloodline, I am sorry my son…'

Atem slid down the door thinking of ways to get his Yugi back, Tea put a hand on his shoulder, "Atem I'm so sorry.." He stood and turned to her and she was surprized to see tears in his eyes. "I cant lose him Tea, I love him…I cant believe my father would do such a thing.." Atem wiped his eyes, "Atem, you might wanna see this.." Atem looked over at the Brooklyn boy out on the balcany. Atem walked over and looked at what Joey saw. There was a wagon filled with goods being pulled along by a horse and behind the wagon was Yugi, tied to the back as he was pulled along as well.

Atem slammed his hands on the balcany rail as he leaned over and yelled Yugi's name. Atems voice rang through the court yard and to Yugi's ears. He lifted his gaze as he heard his name, he looked both ways and nothing, then his name was called again, looking behind him, up at the balcany he saw Atem, Joey,Tristan and Tea. Tears welled up in his eyes and silently called Atem's name, "Atem..my friends…" before he was pulled away farther, Atem yelled, "Yugi! I WILL find you and we will be together again…I promise!"

Joey had tears in his eyes as well, "Stay strong Yuge! We'll all come for you!"

That was the last thing Yugi heard as he was dragged off into the blistering heat of the Egyptian desert.

'I trust you Atem, I just hope I can last that long…I love you..'

Chapter 1.

Thanks for reading everyone! Ill update soon, and about all the violence, im in a fucked up mood.. sorry. Ha-ha.