A/N: I had a chapter from about every current story at least halfway written out but i forgot and make sure fanfiction didnt delete them but of course they did and i had nothing backed up :"(

REWRITTEN AS OF (June 2018)

Chapter One: Fade Away

They say to move on, your mind must forgive and forget to healthily move past traumas and experiences. But sometimes, memories can be the only thing keeping one tied and not giving the soul true rest. It can sometimes keep bringing you back to very place you started.

And in one fell swoop, all feeling to her skin, noises in her ears, and air in her lungs, came to her and she knew she was alive once again, much to her distaste.

Her body felt weak but heavy due to lack of use. Her heart hurt, no, really everything hurt. Ryoua couldn't bare to open her eyes and face the reality that was to placed upon her once she did. To her, it wasn't fair. For what purpose was she to live again? She had no desire to walk upon the Earth, to feel its simple pleasures and its massive pains.

Ryoua had lived two lives and while she could understand why she was brought back after her life was ended prematurely in her first lifetime, she could not comprehend why she was here now, living and breathing. Truly a cruel fate.

So, she opened her eyes to face her cruel fate. The room was bright and she closed them tightly to shield her retinas from the bright light. She achingly brought her frail arms to eyes and rubbing them slowly gently and attempted to view her surroundings once more and was even more confused about her current situation that before.

She wasn't confused on her whereabouts or even what time period. Nope, she knew exactly where she was. This was certainly a chamber inside Pharaoh's palace, a grand room even fit for a queen.

That made her stomach churn with uneasiness at the thought.

Interestingly, Ryoua had been brought back in the seemingly same time period as her first lifetime, but what for? Gods were tricky and that was something she knew too well since she was the human incarnation of one. But why bring her back to the original timeline? She had too many questions with no one to answer them and she took a deep breath and let it out, urging herself to sit up.

Moving was far from easy and it hurt like hell, but she was able to sit up off the edge of the bed she had been placed in who knows how long ago. Ryoua brought her palms face up for her eyes to curiously examine.

"Seventeen years, huh?" She mumbled to herself as she determined her age. Ryoua should have met and eloped with Bakura by now, but here she was, laying in a bed in Pharaoh's palace after practically waking up out of a coma. So what happened? Had her and Bakura never met at all? Was she married to Pharaoh like he had planned? Again, too many questions with no one to answer them.

Suddenly, the door to the chamber she was in opened and Isis stepped in, gasping when their eyes met.

"Lady Ryoua? How are you-"

"What has happened? I need you to tell me everything." Ryoua demanded.

Isis took a deep breath and approached the woman before her. "My lady," she spoke gently, "I believe we have all been brought back to live the fate we were meant to the first time. This is just an assumption. The Gods want you to be with the destined Pharaoh, not the Thief."

Ryoua felt her eye twitch out of anger and irritation over the entire situation and her inability to have any choice or control over the matter. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"Through two summers."

"So I have never met Bakura?"

"Not to my knowledge, my lady."

Ryoua felt tears well up, felt her chest begin to burn and her blood boil with the sheer frustration of it all. What was so wrong with her and Bakura? Why was it so important for her and Atem to be together? What great purpose did their relationship serve and why was it making everyone suffer in the process of trying to make it work?

"Has Bakura made himself known as the Thief King yet?" Ryoua asked hesitantly.

Isis shook her head and spoke calmly, "No, but there are rumors of him. I have expected him to make an appearance to the kingdom within the coming weeks."

She was crying before she had a chance to even understand why. "What do I do, Isis?" she asks brokenly, "Am I to pretend I didn't spend two lifetimes at his side, that I didn't love him with my whole soul and my entire physical being? If that is what the Gods ask of me I am not sure I could accomplish it."

"Only you and Pharaoh may determine that. Sadly, my lady, I think it depends on how badly you want to remain in the afterlife after this lifetime is finished."

Ryoua's stomach turned. The Gods had backed her into a corner and they were giving her two options and that was it, huh?

"Isis, is everything all right? I heard voices and-" Atem stopped dead as he laid his eyes upon his bride. He rushed to her, bending to his knees in front of her and clasping her hands within his. "Ryoua," he spoke gently, "I never thought I would look into your eyes again."

Again, her stomach turned with an uneasy feeling and she didn't know what to say, what to feel. Atem had been a very different person in her first lifetime, a horrid and terrible person who caused her nothing but Atem she had met in her second lifetime had been attached to the Millennium Puzzle and had no memory at all of who he once was. So she was skeptical of the one before her.

"Well," she spoke shakily, "here I am."