Chapter 1: Saying Hello to Old Friends
Six months passed, and Yugi still missed Atem every day. He headed up to bed with a heavy heart, missing his friend's companionship more than ever. As he shut the door behind him, enclosing him in the dark, he sighed. "I wish I could see Atem again just for a moment."
"Wish granted." A familiar voice replied, an obvious smile in his voice.
Yugi's heart leapt into his throat as he recognized the voice. "Atem?!" he squeaked, fumbling for the light switch. He found it and the light momentarily blinded him. There Atem sat in his desk chair, arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other, a smirk on his face. His skin was bronze in the light. "Are you really here?" he asked, sure he was dreaming.
Atem uncrossed his legs and arms and stood. He strode over to Yugi and took his hand. He placed it right over his heart. "Do I feel real?" he asked quietly.
Yugi's eyes widened as he felt Atem's heart beat steadily under the tunic he wore. "You would not believe how much I've missed you!" Yugi blubbered, tears in his eyes making Atem's form blurry.
Atem chuckled. "I didn't expect you to become a blubbering mess by seeing me again."
Yugi finally composed himself and took a deep breath. "Did anyone else come with you?" he asked. "Did get to be with Hali?"
Atem smiled at his questions. "Yes, I finally got to be with her. Egyptians believe in a utopian afterlife filled with work, and plenty of food."
"What was yours like?" Yugi laughed.
Atem shrugged. "Dueling the ancient style and spending my spare time with the people I care about. With a few exceptions." He smiled down at Yugi.
"The gang will be so happy to see you!" Yugi cried, hurrying to the phone. He picked up the phone and began dialing before Atem stopped him. "What?"
"It's late. You can tell them tomorrow. We need to go to sleep." Yugi went to his bed and climbed in, yawning.
"Yugi?" Atem asked, noticing that there was only one bed in the room.
"Oh, right. Do you mind sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor? That's what Joey did. It's in the closet." Yugi gave him an apologetic look.
"That's fine. I'm just glad to have my own body. And I can be a normal teen." Atem went to the closet and took a blue sleeping bag out.
"Atem? I hate to break it to you, but you were never a normal teen." Yugi chuckled.
"You know what I mean." Atem rolled his eyes as he set up the sleeping bag beside Yugi's bed. "No saving the world, nobody to save. Just go to school and be a teen."
"You liked being a savior, admit it." Yugi chuckled again.
"True, but it got a little old having to do it all the time." Atem went to the door and turned off the light, then made his way back to the sleeping bag. He crawled in and they were soon asleep.
The next morning, Grandpa came in to wake Yugi up and gasped in shock as he saw Atem sleeping in the sleeping bag. "Pharaoh!" he exclaimed.
Yugi and Atem sat up, startled awake. "Grandpa!" Yugi looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, he showed up so late."
"How did you come back?" Grandpa asked, his eyes still wide. "Are you really back?"
"I'm really back." Atem promised. "I don't know how. I was in the afterlife, missing this time and suddenly a portal appeared and I went through. I found myself in Yugi's bedroom."
"Give me a hug. I've missed you so much." Tears were in Grandpa's eyes.
Atem struggled to get out of the sleeping bag and got up going over to Grandpa. The old man hugged him tightly. "I missed you too, Grandpa." He whispered.
"Now, are you hungry? I can whip up some breakfast really quick." Grandpa offered.
Atem's stomach growled loud enough for them to hear and he chuckled a little. "Now that you mentioned it, I'm starving. Seems like I haven't eaten in a thousand years." He joked.
"Explains why you're as thin as a rail. Come on down and I'll fix breakfast." Grandpa left the room.
Yugi's cell phone rang and Atem raised an eyebrow. "When did you get a phone?"
"Grandpa thought I was responsible enough to have one." Yugi explained. "It's Hailey." He answered the phone. "Hey, Hailey. What's up?" he listened to the answer. "Yes, Atem showed up last night, why?"
Atem frowned as Yugi listened to the other end. "You have to be kidding me! Come on over. I'm sure they'd be happy to see each other."
As Yugi hung up the call, Atem asked, "Who is she bringing that I would be happy to see?"
"Hali showed up at her house last night. Because it was late, she didn't call." Yugi explained.
"Well, let's go out to meet them." Atem hurried out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time. Yugi followed him and they left the house.
Hailey, Hali, Luna and another blond girl were walking down the sidewalk toward them. Hali spotted them and waved.
Atem heard an engine, which grew louder as the seconds passed. He whipped his head in the direction of the sound and saw a car weaving on the road, heading straight for the girls. "Watch out!" he cried, running as fast as he can toward them.
The girls cried out as Atem knocked them onto the nearby lawn, but he didn't have time to get out of the way as the car jumped the curb and slammed into him, knocking him down.
"Atem!" Hali and Yugi shouted. Yugi ran to his fallen friend as Hali rushed to his side. "How is he?" he asked, anxiously.
"I do not know." Hali panicked as she examined Atem's unconscious form. His leg was at an odd angle as well as his arm.
"He needs an ambulance. Hailey, call 911." Yugi ordered.
"Of course." Hailey nodded, dialing on her cell phone.
Hali touched Atem's cheek. "Atem, please live. I cannot lose you again." She murmured.
The paramedics arrived and took Atem to the hospital.
Atem slowly woke up and groaned. Every part of his body hurt. "Atem?" an anxious voice asked, touching his cheek.
Atem opened his eyes and Hali's face swam before him. "Hali? Where am I? What happened? Why does every inch of me hurt?" he rasped.
"Yugi said it was called a hospital. You were hit by what he called a car. He said it was like a chariot, but if you ask me, it looks nothing like a chariot." Hali scowled.
Atem chuckled, which made the ache in his ribs flare up sickeningly. He groaned, closing his eyes. "Don't make me laugh." He moaned. He felt something tickling his nostrils and reached up with his casted arm to touch it. "What the-? How bad was I hurt?" He asked, eyes widening at the cast.
"The doctor said you broke your arm, leg, and a few ribs. And they said you had a con-cuss-ion?" Hali explained, hesitating on the pronunciation of the word. "That is what they do to fix it here."
"I know. I've been in this world for a while." Atem closed his eyes, trying to get his head to stop spinning.
"How is the patient today?" a male voice asked, and Atem opened his eyes again. A young doctor had entered the room with a chart.
"I feel like a truck hit me." Atem explained. "Am I going to be all right?"
"You'll be fine with some rest. It'll take six weeks with your arm and eight for your leg for them to heal. Until then you'll be on crutches."
"Can I see my friends and family?" Atem asked, hopefully.
"Just stay in bed and you can see them for a while." The doctor nodded and poked his head out to wave them in.
Hailey, Joey, Tristan, and to Atem's surprise, a tall man that looked like a tan Seto Kaiba entered the room. "Kaiba? What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?"
"You do not recognize your own cousin?" Seto raised an eyebrow.
"Priest Seto?" Atem gasped, then groaned, holding his ribs with his good hand. "How did you get here?"
Seto went over to the bed. "I appeared in this huge palace with a man that looked like me except he was very pale. And rude. He was not happy to see me."
"You met Seto Kaiba." Atem realized. He chuckled without thinking and winced. "I can imagine he wasn't happy to see you."
"It's going to be confusing if both of you are named Seto. We need to change your name, since the other Seto is not going to be willing to change his name."
"How about Seth?" Hailey suggested. "It's close to your name."
Seto thought for a moment and then smiled. "I like it. Call me Seth."
"When can he go home?" Yugi asked the doctor.
"I'd like to keep him for the rest of the day for observation. He can go home tomorrow. You should leave and give him some rest." The doctor suggested.
"We'll be back to pick you up." Yugi assured him, squeezing his good hand.
"I will see you soon, my love." Hali leaned in and kissed him tenderly.
The group left and Atem settled into an uncomfortable sleep.
