Dark Destinies
Chapter 2- Alive

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! It is property of Takahashi Kazuki

Thanks for all the reviews! Enjoy!


The cold rain beat down on his bare skin, though he found himself unable to react to the cold touch.

It wasn't as dark as it had been moments before, though there wasn't much light either. He could feel the pain, physical pain. That and the fact that his weightless self was pinned firmly to the ground gave him the distinctive hint of not being in the shadow realm any longer.

Atem sighed. He didn't kno.-

Hold on! Atem sighed again, and then inhaled sharply, holding the air in his lungs until they seemed to burst. Finally, he let the air out slowly, up to the point when the feeling of emptiness consumed him. He repeated the whole thing over and over again.

He could breathe… it was not only a remembrance of how to inhale and exhale, but legit breathing! With air! He smiled, feeling his lips stretch, feeling his lips cracking and sending chills through his body. He felt the rain and the filthy floor underneath his cheek. It had been so long, so very long…

The raindrops fell into his half opened eyes, racing each other towards the floor. It seemed as if the gods were lending him tears.

He was alive… alive in every sense of the word. He savored the syllables that formed in his lips as he pronounced them. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't supposed to be, yet he was.

A thought nagged at him at the back of his mind and Atem sent it away, but it just came back. How had The Voice done this? It had given him a body to fight, why was that Voice so absorbed in dueling Atem? In hurting Yugi?

Sighing, Atem shook the thought away. It didn't matter, not now. What was of outmost importance was finding Yugi. Atem chuckled, scowling himself for being so selfish just moments before. To think he could rest for a while, to rejoice in being alive.

"Five days huh?" Atem asked to himself, feeling his unused vocal chords vibrating. It felt good, unreal. Five days were not enough.

The happiness he had felt was beginning to wither; only five days… he urged his body to stand. It was futile. His muscles were burning with fatigue and he had to gulp down the urge to scream in annoyance. He couldn't remember being so tired in his life, it was just too much.

Feeling his eyes flutter close after a couple of tries to get out of the rain, he yawned heavily and tried to maintain consciousness. But his body simply wouldn't obey. The only thing he could hear was the rain that hit the concrete with all of its might that carried a rhythmical pounding. And even though it ailed against his skin and had already damped him to the bone, he could not keep from drifting off.


"Kuriboh stop," Atem mumbled as Kuriboh pressed against his side, "Let me sleep."

He could still feel the rain pouring down on him. He should be moving to find some shelter, but if only he could sleep a bit longer.

Kuriboh didn't seem to like the idea. He nudged the former pharaoh painfully in the thighs, making him groan in annoyance. Yet, the furry ball ignored the warnings of his master and kept doing it.

Angered at the duel monster, Atem turned to scowl the poor thing, only to find himself being snarled at by the sky above. He felt himself jumping straight out of sleepiness and unto his feet. What the.-?

Kuriboh, who had in less than a second hid under the pharaoh's leg, was cracking up, pointing at his panicked master.

"If you dare tell a soul, you shall pay."

Kuriboh didn't need to be told twice, he nodded his head wildly with genuine worry in his eyes.

Atem sighed as a light from above illuminated the alley he had ended up in. The shadows of the three walls that constituted it seemed to reach for him, as if curious upon who he might be. Another roar followed. Atem remembered them now, thunder. Yugi had tried to calmly explain it to him during the first storm he had ever encountered as a spirit. It was an overstatement if he said he hated them. It sounded as if the world was ending, and why not? In his time, when Seth* ordered a storm to hit Egypt, there was always death.

Quickly, praying to Seth and hoping Horus* wouldn't mind, he headed straight for the street, or not so straight since he could barely keep his gaze focused.

The street was deserted, save a stray car passing by. That was good, because, glimpsing at himself, he found his body lacking something very important. Perfect… Atem cursed under his breath, but decided not to give it much heed. He couldn't really do anything about it right now, could he?

"Yugi Mutou!" a woman's voice carried to his ears through the thick raindrops. Atem turned to the source of the voice, feeling his cheeks burn at the sight of a middle aged woman standing just outside a limo with an umbrella. She was staring wide eyed at him. Atem could tell she was making a very big effort not to let her gaze fall from Atem's bare chest. This was just perfect.

"Yes!" she yelled into a cell phone she had had glued to her ear, "Ab…Absolutely, I will!"

She hanged up and her eyes wondered a bit before she could compose herself, "shit, shit, shit…"

"Please Mr. Mutou, come with me. I…" her voice trailed off as her gaze lowered again. Atem was tempted to cover himself, but didn't. Instead, he chuckled at her reaction, or maybe at the irony that he was being confused with Yugi. Maybe even at his burning hatred for his new found enemy who had conveniently given him a body that lacked clothing.

"Would you please.-" She tossed him her umbrella, "COVER YOURSELF!"

Atem did, noticing the woman breathe for the first time since he had seen her, "come with me, Kaiba… requests your presence."

Atem started.

There could be nothing worse but to have Kaiba know that he had been found wondering the streets naked! He had wanted Yugi to be the first one to know of his staying here too! Gulping he decided to take the risk, a ticking clock reminding him of his mission. He would need all the help he could get.

'Poor woman', Atem thought as he slid into the limo where the woman immediately offered him one of Kaiba's jackets to tie around his torso, though she caught her more than once glimpsing at his bareness, as he switched from umbrella to jacket. He was starting to feel rather uncomfortable, though it was better than being outside, it was… toasty.

The trip was short, or maybe it was the fact that Atem was knocked out in exhaustion. His father would have punished him for that, to sleep in presence of anyone. It was all too clear in his mind, almost as if his father was actually standing before him, calmly explaining the 'whys' to Atem while using his disappointed look and his 'you better not bring yourself into my presence until dinner.' He pressed his eyelids harder together, only to hear his father's voice once more. He would have given anything to have his father punish him again.

He felt the woman poking him, then leading him half-asleep out of the limo under the rain. It seemed better when he hadn't had to deal with tiredness… Not really, he smiled to himself and remembered he was alive.


"He's waking up Seto!" a very familiar voice called from afar.

Waking up? What? Atem opened his eyes to a sharp pain in his head. There was a woman besides him who was completely dressed in white, just as her surroundings. He blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust. It was just too bright.

"Where am I?"

"You are in Domino's Memorial Hospital…" someone answered him. Atem's eyes widened when he turned to the boy who had spoken.

"Mokuba?" he gasped, "Kaiba? What are you doing here?"

The woman that had been checking some beeping machines to his left turned her attention to Kaiba.

"It's better if you leave now Mr. Kaiba. The patient needs rest."

"He will rest when he is dead," Kaiba answered as a matter of fact, "Now leave. I have business to do."

The woman seemed startled by such audacity, trapped between an inner fight to obey Kaiba or to do her duty to assist Atem. In the end, she left, eyeing Atem as if she would never see him again.

"Your name… your age… where you came from…the name of the eye in the puzzle Yugi once had… Joey Wheeler's favorite monster… and the card Yugi used to beat you."

Atem blinked, confused. Then again this was Kaiba. Wait, could he believe Atem was who he was? There was only one way to find out.

"Atem. Three thousand though you could say I am eighteen… nineteen years old I believe. Memphis, Egypt*. The eye of Horus. Red eyes Black dragon…" he sighed, feeling something in his throat that made it hard to answer the last question, "Monster Resurrection."

"Were you high last night?"

"What?"

"Seto!" Mokuba yelled suddenly, and the two brothers argued upon who was right. Atem sighed again, sitting up. He neither cared of their arguing nor knew what this 'high' word meant. It did leave him with some time for his mind to catch up with the moment.

He was in a hospital. Yugi and Atem had been to several ones throughout his time with him. He knew what they looked like very well.

"I must find Yugi," Atem said calmly, knowing that if he screamed at Kaiba, it wouldn't lead him anywhere.

Mokuba stared at him victoriously, "I told you so!"

"That means nothing," Kaiba replied, "I still don't believe this is him!"

'Being who? Oh!' Atem thought, sending a quick prayer to Thoth* before he spoke.

"Kaiba, you must listen and listen carefully," he said, "I am Pharaoh Atem… I know you know it, but arguing about it won't give us anymore time."

"Give us anymore time?" Kaiba seemed a bit curious now, just as Atem had hoped.

"Yugi and whoever knows him are in danger," he said, knowing that The Voice was not going to leave anyone out of the game, "I have to warn him.-"

"Wait…" Kaiba said, "You are telling me this after my assistant found you in the street naked? That you are an all too powerful pharaoh? That apart from supposedly being dead, you are supposed to have some dignity? To be Yugi's hero?"

"That is quite unlikely. Is it not Kaiba?" Atem said, seeing Kaiba's eyes boring into his. If he was right of what he said, Kaiba would take the bait. He smirked when Kaiba did.

"Why is Yugi in danger?"

"Someone wants to kill him," he said, being careful of how much information he should share, "That is why I'm back, I must protect him."

Kaiba rolled his eyes in pure annoyance, "I cannot believe I'm actually going to fall for this, but I'll go along with your game 'pharaoh.'"

Atem nodded, ignoring the mocking tone and the obvious fact Kaiba didn't want to believe him.

"So what are you going to do with your extra four days? Or are you only going to go back to the streets and run around naked?"

Atem gritted his teeth, but then again…

"How do you know I have five days?"

"You have four," Kaiba said, "you wasted one already."

Atem narrowed his eyes, changing his attention to Mokuba. Kaiba was getting on his nerves. He could feel the shadows that served him tensing. He still had yet to know how much control he had over them. It was almost scary.

"Mokuba, did anyone tell you I was coming?" Atem asked.

"Ishizu… she said someone had shown her," Mokuba looked up at his brother who only shook his head, "We thought you had told her you were coming."

Atem nodded. This was not good. The only other being that should have known he was coming was his adversary. It was unlikely for him to have told someone as influential as Ishizu. Yet again, he could be wrong. It could all be part of a greater plan he hadn't comprehended. It could be that by telling Ishizu first, she would freak out and try to help. Somehow, Atem's enemy might use her to open a chance as she gets closer to Yugi, without anyone knowing, hence, making it easy to go around Atem and going for Yugi right on.

Or maybe it was to ensure that everyone knew what was going on. With that, the ones who knew would try to protect Yugi, making Atem's mission harder since he would have to protect everyone.

Or maybe he was just over thinking it. His enemy probably wanted him to think so many ways things could happen with such a simple act. It could have been that the enemy wasn't thinking at all, just as it had appeared unsure with what rules he should apply for the game.

Atem had heard the voice well though. That playfulness his enemy had used to get Atem's guard down in the shadow realm. It was a lie. Atem was playing against someone that had played this game before, not only once, but several times.

"Uhmmm… Hello?" Mokuba asked, waving a hand across Atem's face, "Have you not been hearing what I have been telling you at all?"

Atem blinked at Mokuba. He had completely forgotten where he was, "It is possible I may have been arguing with myself while you talked."

Mokuba face palmed himself while Kaiba smirked.

"Don't you need Yugi to argue within your own mind?" Kaiba asked.

"Actually I believe you should try it sometime," Atem tried to stop himself but couldn't, "It helps you distinguish what is right and what is wrong." He should not have said that. Oh Ra! Let Kaiba be in a joking mood today! Only Kaiba didn't joke… at least not about himself.

"I need to find Yugi…" Atem said before the anger in Kaiba's eyes fell to his already half opened mouth, "Mokuba? Where is he?"

Mokuba thought for a moment and then said, "He's in his way to school."

School huh? Atem sighed. He remembered those endless hours where Yugi had to sit still, listening to this one teacher and this other talk. Sometimes, to kill time, Atem had paid attention to them. He still didn't get why Yugi couldn't understand math, it was just too easy.

'Well then, we have some time before I can contact Yugi without making a chaos. So let's fix some things before Yugi gets out of school, shall we?' Atem thought as if someone inside him could hear him. Out loud, he stated, "I need a phone and a number to contact Ishizu."


*Seth: God of the desert, storm, and violence

*Horus: God chosen to protect the pharaohs at the time (enemy to Seth).

*Memphis, Egypt: Capital of Egypt 3000 years ago. PLus, to those who didn't know, it is in lower Egypt which is at the verge of the Nile's Delta, meaning that it's not in the middle of the desert like some seem to think :P

*Thoth: the god of wisdom

Hey everyone! I want to point out to those that wanted Yugi POV to come up in this chapter to work with me for a second. Yugi was sleeping throughout this chapter lol. So unless you want me to write about his way of sleeping then you can review/messag me that lol.

Please review so I can get better! If you have questions about it, ask! If you have suggestions, suggest! If you don't have anything to say... don't worry, you can think of something XD