A/N: Alright, I got some great feedback on this story, and today I felt inspired to finish this chapter. I hope you like it! I'm glad you guys liked the first chapter! Reviews are appreciated.


Yugi sat up and stretched his arms, unsure of when he had fallen asleep. The last thing he remembered was crying over his grandfather. He glanced down at the coffee table that sat next to the couch and frowned. Lying on top of it was a cup of hot cocoa.

Yugi picked it up hesitantly, knowing that it was impossible for it to have been recently made. He was all alone. His entire family had been stolen from him by Kyuusei. Yet, when he brought the cup to his lips, he immediately withdrew it because of how hot it was. It couldn't have been made more than five minutes before he had awakened.

"It's nice to see that you're finally awake. I knew the smell of hot cocoa would do the trick."

Yugi blinked. He recognized the voice instantly, and suddenly the memory of his brother's seemingly impossible return hit him like a brick wall. He also remembered fainting, which explained why he had been asleep.

Yugi frowned and his brow furrowed as he continued to stare at the cup. He couldn't bring himself to look his brother in the eye, still afraid that it was all just an illusion fabricated by his mind in a desperate attempt to not be lonely.

"Yugi…" Yami said softly, soothingly.

Yugi tightened his hold on the cup and continued to stare blankly ahead. He had so many things that he wanted to say, but only one of those things actually slipped out of his mouth. "If you've been alive all this time, why didn't you tell me?"

Yami walked around the couch and knelt before his younger brother. Yugi's eyes studied him, still bewildered by the idea of him being alive. Yami tried to smile, but it was a pathetic attempt. He knew that Yugi was bound to be angry over what he was about to say.

"It was for your own good. It was to keep you safe. You cannot even begin to understand how much it tormented me to not see you, Yugi," he whispered and looked away.

Yugi had the cup in a vice grip now. He stood up abruptly, catching the attention of Yami once more. "I don't understand? No, you don't understand! For almost two years I've believed you to be dead! My brother, my best friend! You suddenly show up, tell me that you're not dead, and you just expect me to feel nothing but joy? I feel hurt, betrayed!"

Yami nodded solemnly. "What you don't understand is that I knew you were hurting. I saw you when you received the news of my 'death' and it killed me. But I couldn't say a word. Knowing that you believed me to be dead, knowing that you were in pain and not being able to do anything about it…that's what you can't understand. It…it was hell."

Yugi's expression softened and he plopped down on the couch again. He took a sip of his hot cocoa and stared intently at Yami. "Tell me why. If you supposedly couldn't tell me, why did you wait until now?"

Yami's expression crumpled in sadness. "It was because of me that our parents were taken away. I couldn't let that happen to grandpa. He had to look after you; I wanted you to have as normal a life as you could inside of this chaotic mess of a country. I made a promise to you the day those officers took our parents away. I promised not to reveal myself to you unless I was all you had left." Yami chanced a look into Yugi's eyes, which were glistening. "Yugi, I've been watching you. I've been waiting for the inevitable. My foolhardy rebellious tactics triggered a chain reaction, and I knew one day you would be left alone." Yami placed his hands on each of Yugi's, which were still holding onto the cup very tightly. "I want you to live with me. We'll never be apart. You'll never be alone."

A few stray tears slid down Yugi's cheeks. Yami beamed at him and wiped the tears away with his sleeve. "Where do you live?"

Yami smirked. "Oh, it's nothing special."


Rebecca tapped her pen against her clipboard. Her next appointment was a half hour late, and she was beginning to get worried. Whenever one of her patients wasn't a soldier or military scientist, she would get excited. She liked being able to spend time with real people instead of those that Seto had turned into mindless zombies.

She sighed deeply. Mokuba didn't know what Seto had done to Japan…in fact, it was for the best. If Mokuba learned that his brother had turned into a power hungry animal he would fall apart. Rebecca would never be able to live with herself if that happened.

Rebecca glanced down at the clipboard again. "Solomon Mutou…" she read aloud, her brow furrowing in deep thought. "That name sounds so familiar."

She sat there for a long time merely staring at the name. Her eyes then drifted over the rest of the patient's information, eventually reaching the man's age.

Rebecca smiled in recognition. "Oh that's right, grandpa spoke of him…" Rebecca trailed off as her thoughts lingered on her missing grandfather. It didn't take a genius to find out where he had been carted off to.

Seto Kaiba had enlisted Arthur Hawkins to be one of his researchers, one of his weapons engineers. Arthur had refused, spitting on the idea of serving the man who was running Japan into the ground and causing pain to its many inhabitants. He disappeared soon after.

Rebecca bit her lip to keep from crying. She missed her grandfather every day. The possibility of seeing one of his best friends as a patient was great, but that only increased her worry since the patient was forty-five minutes late…

The phone rang. Rebecca jumped, surprised at hearing the noise after sitting in silence for so long. She reached out for the receiver shakily and picked it up, pulling it to her ear.

"This is Dr. Hawkins."

"Good afternoon, Rebecca."

Rebecca's eyes widened in horror at the sound of the voice on the other line: it was her grandfather's kidnapper himself.

"S-Seto…why are you calling me here?" she tried to mask the fear and hatred in her voice, but she didn't do a very good job of it.

Seto chuckled. "Why, I need a doctor, of course. I was forced to fire my previous physician."

Rebecca shook her head and frowned. "Why me?"

"As you know, I have plenty of enemies. You, however, I can trust…for if you try to dispose of me, Mokuba will never forgive you…and I'm sure that's incentive enough for you to keep me alive."

Rebecca gritted her teeth. He was right. "Did you move my three o'clock appointment?"

"It has been taken care of."

Rebecca sneered. "You can't do that! You can't move appointments without the consent of the patient, that's wrong, illegal even!"

"I'm the leader of Japan, I can bend anything to my will. I have armies at my command and the controls to thousands of missile launches at my fingertips…and you're telling me that I can't move a measly appointment? You're delusional if you believe the law applies to me!" Seto growled impatiently. There was a short pause as Seto calmed himself. He chuckled once more. "Besides, how could he possibly come in for an appointment when he's not even in town?"

Rebecca's blood turned to ice. "H-how do you know he's not in town?"

There was another brief pause. "Let's just say…he's visiting an old friend."

Pain erupted in Rebecca's heart. Of course, Seto's statement could've meant anything…but Rebecca knew the true meaning behind it. Solomon Mutou was gone. He was with her grandfather.

"You're a monster."

Seto laughed joyously. "Now, now…be nice, Dr. Hawkins...unless you wish to join them, that is."

Tears streaked down Rebecca's face as her hand tightened on the receiver. "You can't, Mokuba would never forgive you…"

Seto snorted. "Who are you trying to convince, me, or yourself?" He paused. "He would never believe anyone that called me a kidnapper, a murderer." He paused again for dramatic effect. "No one would ever know the truth, Dr. Hawkins…no one would ever look for you. No one would ever save you. With the wave of my hand, I could have you paraded off to Kul Elna and no one would bat an eyelash."

Kul Elna…the camp where her grandfather and Solomon Mutou were being held…held until their deaths. It was a horribly kept secret from the start. Anyone who spoke out against the tyrant that was Seto Kaiba…disappeared. Rebecca had heard rumors that the prisoners were worked to the bone, with little to eat or drink, even through sickness, rain or shine. They were worked until they couldn't be used anymore…

Rebecca's hands trembled as she began to weep. "P-please…Seto…let them go… and just…just leave me be…please…"

There was silence on the other line. For the longest time, Rebecca merely sobbed into the receiver for the dictator of Japan to hear. After a while, she began to wonder if he had hung up.

"I'll be expecting to have a slot of your time opened up for me tomorrow morning. Perhaps if you do your job well, I'll consider it."

Click.

For a moment she just sat there, staring at Solomon Mutou's name and listening to the dial tone. It was like her mind had shut down in that instant…and then violently rebooted in the next.

She stood abruptly from her chair and ripped the phone out of the wall. She chucked it across the room with a furious shriek. She swiped her clipboard and other papers to the ground along with her pencil holder, causing the room to echo with the clatter of the metal on the tile.

She kicked the metal cabinet behind her desk multiple times before dropping to her knees in defeat. She pounded her fist against the cabinet as tears continued to stream down her cheeks like waterfalls.

She knew that she would never see her grandfather again. She knew that her own life was teetering over the abyss. Not even Mokuba's friendship could save her now.

Seto Kaiba was already planning her disappearance. She could feel it.

Her only hope was to beat him to the punch.


"The old museum? You've got to be kidding me!"

Yami raised an eyebrow as he glanced down into Yugi's disbelieving face. "Why's that?"

Yugi tilted his head to the side. "If you've lived here this whole time, how have they not found you?"

Yami looked back up at the museum. "I haven't been living here this whole time. We move from place to place, staying at each one until we feel that it is unsafe." Yami smiled. "This home is my favorite."

"…We?" Yugi asked in confusion. Yami didn't offer him an explanation, however.

Yugi followed his gaze and stared at the museum. It was broken down and abandoned…what could possibly be so special about it? Gozaburo Kaiba had maintained the museum during his reign over Japan. He had believed that the past was a great learning tool in order to better the future. Ancient civilizations from all over the world had been represented in the Domino City Museum.

When Seto Kaiba had taken over after Gozaburo's mysterious death, he had shut down the museum. Seto didn't believe in living in the past. He believed in looking to the future and the future alone.

Yugi jumped slightly in surprise as Yami grasped his hand. Yugi grinned up at his brother happily.

"It's your move," Yami told him. "If you don't want to live here with me I'll completely understand."

Yugi laughed. "That's a funny joke. Of course I want to live with you!" In order to prove his point, Yugi surged forward in a sprint, dragging Yami along with him by the hand.

Yami chuckled at his little brother's enthusiasm as they entered the old building. It was indeed in horrible shape. The floors were a mess; papers strewn over the floor and broken glass everywhere. There was strange graffiti on the walls and some of the doors were hanging off their hinges. Yugi stared at the mess in total awe as Yami pulled him along gently.

"Believe me, it gets better."

Yugi raised an eyebrow. I sure hope so… he thought skeptically.

They walked through the halls, Yugi taking in the different exhibits. They were all in total disarray. Many of the display cases had been broken, and many of the artifacts had been stolen. Paintings and mannequins had been vandalized.

Finally, they reached a closed off room. Yugi glanced up at the sign hanging above their heads, which read: The People of the Nile.

He looked over at Yami, who was watching him with a smirk. Yugi's heart began to beat faster. This had to be it…this room had to be what was so special.

Yami gestured for Yugi to enter first, and Yugi didn't hesitate. He quickly pushed the door open and burst into a scene of absolute beauty.

The ancient Egyptian exhibit had been preserved perfectly.

Glorious golden artifacts lay beneath untouched display cases and the walls were adorned with astounding Egyptian paintings. Lit torches hung on the walls, illuminating every inch of the chamber. In the center of the room there was a throne. Besides the display cases and exhibit descriptions around the room, it was obvious that the chamber was the recreation of an ancient pharaoh's throne room.

Lying on the throne, however, was the most remarkable artifact of all…and it was one Yugi was quite familiar with.

He sprinted to the massive chair and scooped up the golden necklace. He traced his fingers over the lines covering the strange, upside down pyramid. He turned around to face his older brother with tears in his eyes.

"The Millennium Puzzle…Yami, you finished it!"

Yami beamed at him. "It was all I had left of you, Yugi."

Yami slowly approached Yugi and gently took the Puzzle from him. He placed the intricate artifact around his neck and sat down on the throne.

"I remember coming here as a kid," Yugi said. "They had some guy dress up like a pharaoh and sit in that chair. He would tell kids stories about the ancient Egyptians and everything." Yugi laughed and shook his head. "I never thought I would be living here."

Yami reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. He shuffled it and then held it out to Yugi. "Would you mind playing a game of Five Card Draw with me?"

Yugi smiled. "Sure, why not?"

They each took turns drawing until they both had five. They each looked at their hands, and Yugi handed Yami two cards that he wanted to discard. After, he drew two more and smiled. He looked up at Yami, who merely sat there with a satisfied smirk.

Yugi blinked at him in confusion. "Aren't you going to do something?"

Yami's smirk widened. "I don't have to."

Yugi frowned and then shrugged. He showed Yami his hand, revealing two aces and three queens. "Full house!" he declared triumphantly.

Yami nodded. "That's very good, Yugi…but I'm afraid I have you beat."

Yugi stared at him in disbelief. "No way, show me!"

Yami drummed his fingers against his cards before revealing them to his little brother. Yugi gawked at the cards in disbelief, not even noticing as two doors in the back of the room opened.

Yami chuckled deeply. "Royal flush," he stated calmly.

Yugi dropped his cards, allowing them to float slowly to the floor. He reached out and snatched Yami's cards, examining each one individually. He shook his head. "B-but…you didn't even do anything…"

Yugi looked up at Yami, only to realize that they were no longer alone. At least thirty people had assembled behind Yami's throne, each wearing a black hooded cloak. Each hood had a golden eye on the top, similar to the eye on the front of the Millennium Puzzle.

Yugi searched Yami's eyes for an explanation, but all his brother did was grab one of the cards in Yugi's hand. He held it up for Yugi to see, and realization set in.

Yami was holding up the king of spades.

Yugi looked at each of the thirty faces gathered behind the throne before gazing at his brother in a new light. Yugi nodded in acknowledgment and respect.

"You're the King of Games."