Life, Again

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: If you haven't noticed, this is fan fiction.

"Atem what?" she asked after it was clear he wasn't going to say anything more.

"Atem Mutou." he lied. He couldn't tell her the truth, so he would just have to lie.

She raised an eyebrow, and then quickly dropped it back down again. She yawned. "Okay… so Mutou, have you ever heard of magic?"

He hesitated, before nodding. He knew the Shadows were a type of magic, and the magicians back in Kemet could perform magic. He wasn't sure if this was the same magic, since they hadn't use magic to lock doors, and certainly hadn't use sticks of wood to channel it.

"Okay… so…"

He spent the next few hours listening to her half-explain magic and its government, including about the almost-war going on, and the man who most people called He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. There were quite a few words he didn't understand, seeing as he wasn't English, and was relying on the English lessons that had been drilled into Yuugi's head to communicate.

"…so, nobody is actually supposed to go down into the Death Chamber, but with all the damage that was done last June, they had to do major repairs." She yawned, for probably the twentieth time. She really needed sleep, Atem thought. "They're calling it the DoM Battle of 1996, now."

What?

"1996?"

"Yeah… you know, this year." She peered at him. "Or are you from that Muggle religion, whats-the-name, that has a different number of years or something?"

"No. I am Egyptian."

She blinked, but Atem didn't pay her any attention. Yuugi had solved the puzzle in 1998, and the Ceremonial Duel had happened in 2000. He had somehow gone backwards by four years in time. That was… disconcerting. Well, the shock hadn't really set in.

Not that he ever had legal documents in the modern world, but now he was truly alone. No friends, no family… he shivered. Yuugi was still trying to solve the Ra-forsaken Puzzle, Jounouchi and all would be safe, Kaiba was probably still psycho, Mokuba with Kaiba and Otogi making up games or something. Yuugi had the unfinished Puzzle, Ishizu had the Necklace, Malik had the Rod - and Mariku -, Pegasus had the Eye, Shadi had the two others and Ryou Bakura… here he hesitated. Ryou Bakura would be thirteen, bordering on fourteen… he wasn't sure whether he had the Ring or not. If he did, he felt a shred of pity towards the gentle boy - the other Bakura, the thief, would be taking over his life for a long time.

"So, what's your excuse?" the sleepy woman - no, witch, asked.

"Excuse me?"

She waved a hand. "You know, your reason for exactly why you, a Muggle, came randomly out of the Veil, in the very heart of the Ministry. It's bad enough that You-Know-Who snuck in, but now a Muggle getting past our defences? We're doomed." she muttered.

"…I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know."

She swore a bit then. "Can you remember anything?"

Atem put on an expression of thinking very hard. When in a place you've seen before, it's best to have (fake) amnesia. "I… no."

She stood up, and yawned once more. "Stay there for a second, kid."

She went out of the room, and Atem considered making his escape. Unfortunately, the witch was still outside the room, and she had mentioned that the windows weren't actually windows. A few minutes later, a man came into the room, wearing the same type and colour of… robes that the witch had been wearing. He took a seat without looking at Atem. He was silent, and so was Atem. Soon, the witch (it still felt like an insult to call her that, but it couldn't be helped), came back with a tall, sickly-looking man - no, wizard, and a middle-aged man with grey hair. The silent man left.

"This is not happening," the middle-aged man said anxiously, running a hand through his grey hair. "This is not happening…"

"What do we do, Fudge?" the sickly-looking man said, before coughing like a seal.

Fudge sighed, running his hand through his hair again, while the witch yawned quietly, covering her mouth with a hand.

"He claims to be a Muggle, right? Use Veritaserum, and pray to God that he doesn't know Occlumency." Fudge eventually replied. "Go and get someone from the potion room, and ask them where it is. Tell them Fudge wanted it."

The witch nodded, murmuring a 'yes', before speedily moving out of the room, closing the white door gently behind her. However, she opened the door again, and walked straight back in, accompanied by an elderly man. Atem vaguely wondered whether his white hair was natural, like the Bakura's. He inwardly laughed as he pictured the other Bakura growing a beard - he would probably kill whoever mistook him for an old man. But that's not a good thought, he uneasily remembered.

"Dumbledore!" cried Fudge, and dropped his hand from his pepper-like hair. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"I came as soon as I heard that someone had come out of the Veil," the elderly man, Dumbledore, spoke. "Where are they?"

"I am here." Atem simply said, and Dumbledore turned to look at him. Just like he had expected, his gaze lingered for a moment on Atem's blood-red irises.

"Well, what is your reason for coming out of the Veil?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.

"He has amnesia, sir. All he can remember is his name and country of origin. He also claims to be a Muggle." the witch interrupted, respectfully.

Dumbledore nodded his thanks to her, and turned back to Fudge. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Use Veritaserum, and if he's a Death Eater, put him in one of the holding cells. If he's not, then just Oblivate and leave him in…" He turned to the witch. "Where did you say he came from?" She replied, and he continued. "-Egypt."

Meanwhile, Atem was feeling a little insulted. They were acting as through he wasn't even in the room. He had been a king, once upon a time. He wasn't used to this.

Dumbledore gave a disapproving look to Fudge. "It's illegal to give Veritaserum to a minor. You know that, Fudge."

"How old are you?" Fudge asked Atem.

Atem's red eyes glittered, like jewels set against a brown background, as he tried to remember. How old had Yuugi been, when he had left him? He finally located the answer in his mixed-up memories. "Seventeen." No respectful title to this man, unlike the witch.

"See, he's an adult. Now, go and -" Fudge began.

"Ah, but according to Muggle laws, he's still a minor." Dumbledore interrupted. Atem stared in slight confusion. Wasn't it twenty when he became an adult? He recalled Yuugi telling him that different countries had different rules, and relaxed. Indeed, this country was certainly strange, though Japan had never seemed that strange. Most likely because he had known everything that Yuugi had known.

"Now, I'll take him off your hands," Dumbledore was saying. What?

"But Dumbledore -" protested Fudge.

"I do have some political power," Dumbledore interrupted. "I'll look after him. He's in good hands, and I heavily doubt he's a Death Eater." He nodded towards the witch and the man, and they left. "Now, Fudge, I believe you have a Muggle Prime Minister to be seeing?"

"What? Yes, but, how, h-how… oh, never mind." Fudge stuttered, and then gave up. He then departed, shaking his head, and muttering under his breath.

Dumbledore turned back to the child. "Now, what is your name?"

The child took his eyes off his closing door, and Dumbledore took the chance to study the child. He was certainly exotic-looking, with dark skin, eyes lined with some sort of make-up - it looked distinctly like kohl, he thought - and the most unique hairstyle he'd ever seen. He inwardly chuckled. That included all the purebloods who had tried to dress up as Muggles without proper research. The crimson eyes unnerved him a little, though. He couldn't help but think of a certain Riddle, and he had no doubt that other wizards that strayed across this boy's path would as well.

"My name is Atem Mutou." the boy replied, and Dumbledore couldn't help notice that he had a Japanese last name, while his first name was Egyptian, and he claimed to be from Egypt. Dumbledore kept on smiling, although something about this boy was terribly, terribly off.

"Well then, Mr Mutou, I'm glad to formally introduce myself to you as Albus Dumbledore, Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Dumbledore smiled warmly. "Would you like a lemon drop?"

He held out a box towards Atem. He is crazy, Atem thought. Utterly crazy. Atem declined, and Dumbledore put the box back… wherever he had it. One moment it was there, the next it wasn't.

"Should we get going?" Dumbledore prompted, and Atem slipped off the bed. He gathered all his clothes and various jewellery into his arms, and it was there that he spotted something that should not be there.

It was the Puzzle.

Gleaming gold as always, the completed Puzzle lay in amongst the jewellery. The Wadjet eye stared up at him unblinkingly, almost mockingly. Atem realised he wasn't breathing and relaxed, but it couldn't ease his tension. If the Puzzle was with him, did that mean that mean Yuugi didn't have the Puzzle? Was his soul inside the Puzzle? If Yuugi had the Puzzle, did that mean there were two versions of the Puzzle? If so, could the dark energy-

"Is something wrong, Mr Mutou?" Dumbledore inquired.

Atem breathed out, and stood up straight, determinedly not looking at the Puzzle amongst the items in his arms. "No, Mr Dumbledore. I am fine."

"You'll have to address me as Professor Dumbledore," Dumbledore corrected, and turned to sweep out of the room.

Atem walked after him, and wondered just what sort of mess he had gotten himself into. All he had wanted was to see long-lost family and friends again.

But, destiny had a particular habit of screwing up his, to put it in Jounouchi's words.

A/N: I updated! And I'm not sick this time! So, Atem gets a whole lot more screw age than initially just landing in the middle of some magically society, and Dumbledore has some plans for him. Also, a few notes: Fudge isn't Minister, but 'advisory position', so I took that as he's the Minister's lackey, and kohl is the stuff Egyptians used to line their eyes. Like a sort of eyeliner. J Let's hope I'll update again… Oh, and the 'sickly-looking man', is the Head of Department of Mysteries.

(Also, I have a poll up on my profile, a Yu-Gi-Oh one. Anyone care to take it?)

And, now onto the bit that everyone should read.

On the 5th of February, 2011, an esteemed author, Brian Jacques, died at the age of seventy-one. I'd like to have a moment of silence, please. It may seem irrelevant to most of you, but I only found out recently, as I admittedly haven't been in his fandom for a quite a while. He was the author of the series Redwall and the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, and a brilliant one at that. I'd like to thank him for making some years of my life significantly happier, and many other lives at that.

I know that no one will ever write stories quite like he did. Thank you, Brian Jacques.

The younger writers of today (the ones with imagination!) will continue the Redwall adventure in your absence.

For while there are people to read it, the adventures of Redwall will continue on until the end of time (or books).