Chapter 2

Atemu had never been so shocked in his life. One second he was shaking the Tomb Robber by his shoulder to wake him up; the next, he had a knife at his throat with an angry Tomb Robber wielding it. He'd never seen someone move so fast, and where the hell did the knife come from?

"Calm down, Tomb Robber! It's me, Atemu." Oh sure, he sounded confident but really he was petrified. One little slip, one tiny flick of his wrist and it would be his blood spilt on the floor.

"I'm well aware of who it is, Pharaoh. Just let this serve as a warning; never try and wake me up or you may find yourself with your throat slit." He pressed the knife firmly against his throat briefly, before he moved away, the knife disappearing with a whisper of smoke.

"Point duly noted." Atemu replied dryly, sitting up and glaring at Bakura, wishing to wipe that damnable smirk off of his face.

"Good, back to the matter at hand. What the fuck is going on?"

"You have such a way with words Tomb Robber." A growl from Bakura stopped any further laughing at his expense and Atemu turned serious.

"Right, first of all, tell me what you know and I can fill in the gaps."

"Fine. First of all I noticed that the brat started leaving the Puzzle at home. Strange, but not really any of my business if you'd had a falling out or something, so I left it alone. But suddenly one day I stopped being able to sense you and the brat seemed unusually happy. A few weeks later I get pulled here." Atemu nodded solemnly.

"Right well, Yugi had been feeling…discontented with me. He felt that I had taken over his life and that people liked me better than him. So he decided that leaving me at home was better alternative. A few weeks ago – well I guess it's been that long. I haven't been able to keep track of the time – we had a massive argument where he took apart the Puzzle and damned me to hell." Bakura and Atemu both shivered – Atemu from the memory of that torturous time and Bakura from the emotions he experienced. "I had no idea of the passage of time. I was barely conscious until you woke me up here.

Bakura sighed and raked an angry hand through his hair. "So in conclusion, we have no idea what the fuck is going on."

Atemu let out a bitter laugh. "Apparently not."

Maybe I can shed some light on what's going on. Bakura immediately tensed at the unknown voice.

"Who the fuck are you?" he demanded but was brought up short when he heard the voice laugh.

The Pharaoh knows who I am. It was then that Bakura noticed that Atemu had been unnaturally quiet. He turned to look at him and found the Pharaoh pale with a wide-eyed-and-clueless look on his face. He nudged Atemu's shoulder to get his attention. The Pharaoh looked at him as if he was in a trance which frustrated Bakura to no end.

"Well?" At the Pharaoh's blank look he was forced to elaborate. "Who is it then?" he said slowly as if talking to someone stupid. Atemu opened his mouth to speak, but stopped and shook his head instead. He repeated this several times until Bakura could take it no more and drew back to let loose a punch right at the Pharaoh's jaw. The contact knocked him out of the funk he seemed to be in. Atemu glared at Bakura before deliberately turning his back on him.

"Mahaado, I thought you were lost to me. How is it you are speaking to me?" he whispered, fearful it was just his twisted imagination conjuring up another illusion to break him.

It is truly I, my friend.

Tears sprung to his eyes. There was never anyone who could replace his best friend, Mahaado. Bakura just rolled his eyes from all the theatrics.

"How is it possible that you are here? I thought only the Tomb Robber and myself that were sealed in the items only to return again in the future."

When the Tomb Robber killed me, at this statement, Atemu had to clench his fists just to stop himself from wrapping them around the Tomb Robber's throat. Either that, or clocking him around the face just to knock that smug smile off of his face. my soul transferred to the Dark Magician and I became your protector. When you sacrificed your soul to seal the Shadow Games, I was sealed with you so I could continue to guard yo–

"Yes, that's all fine and dandy but that still doesn't answer why we're in the Shadow Realm." Bakura interrupted, glaring upwards as if it would be able to reach Mahaado.

Shaadi said that the only way to save the Pharaoh from losing his soul and his mind to the Puzzle was to take him and the Items to the Shadow Realm for protection.

"Wonderful." he said sarcastically. "So why am I here?"

You misunderstand me Tomb Robber. Yes our actions saved Atemu's life but the aim of our actions was to protect the Items and the spirits which reside in them from further abuse. However the only way to save Atemu was to do this and therefore we chose this method.

"Riight, so why can't I go home since the Pharaoh here is the only one in danger from his brat."

Although the Pharaoh's the only one in danger, there is the chance that your hikari can lock you inside the ring as well. You two are very much dependant on you other halves; if you were to go back you'd be at their mercy because you can't survive without them. Until you learn how to survive without them, you can't leave.

"So you mean to say that the only reason we're here was so you could find some unselfish way of saving you precious Pharaoh without upsetting the delicate balance and all that crap?" He turned to glare at Atemu. "Well congratulations Pharaoh. Once again you've managed to get me into another crappy situation." He stood up and stretched, his back arching painfully and multiple cracks sounding as his spine clicked.

"Where are you going?" Atemu demanded. Bakura stared down at him incredulously.

"You don't expect me to hang around while you lot go all nostalgic and take a trip down memory lane? I'd rather fuck Anzu." He smirked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some wandering souls to terrorise." And with that he took off, walking in a seemingly random direction, a sadistic smirk on his pale features.

xXx

Ryou's hand slammed down hard on the alarm and it gave one last ring before it died. He turned over, planning to go back to sleep when it occurred to him that he only set an alarm on a school day and therefore he had to get up. He crawled out of bed and made the bed sluggishly, still half asleep. Once he was satisfied with the made bed he sat down on it. He raised one hand to cover his mouth when he let out a jaw-popping yawn and the other hand reached toward the bedpost, groping around for the Ring. He pulled his hand back, shocked, when he couldn't find the Ring and looked to the bedpost for confirmation. He carried on staring at it as if by strength of will he could make it appear. When he realised that it wasn't working, he stopped himself from hyperventilating and tried to think where the Ring could be. He was still pondering this on the way to the bathroom and as he stepped into the shower he figured that Bakura must've gone out last night and left the ring in another place.

He sighed; even though Bakura wasn't the best yami in the world (what an understatement), when he had the Ring with Bakura stowed away inside at school, no one picked on him and if they tried…well Bakura gave them a little trip to the Shadow Realm (if he was really moody) or threatened them really badly (if he was feeling charitable). Apparently no one was allowed to pick on Ryou except Bakura himself. He sighed again as he turned of the shower and stepped out. He got dressed and went down the stairs, hoping to see his ring laying sofa or hanging on the back of a chair…or something, but to no avail. The living room was empty. He closed his eyes in attempt to reach Bakura through the bond; he got absolutely nothing. Oh, the link was still there but Ryou couldn't sense Bakura at the other end. Ryou decided that now was a good time to panic since there obviously was a problem. He throttled a sigh as it threatened to escape his mouth – seeing as it was becoming a habit - , went to the kitchen and made himself some breakfast. He finished, not even half of his breakfast eaten, and left the house, grabbing his bag which was by the door. He decided that he would talk to Yugi when he got to school and see if he knew what was going on.

He was lucky; he made to school without any incidents. Since he was a little early for school, he moved over to where Yugi was sitting along with the rest of the gang.

"Hi everyone." He smiled as he got various responses from everyone. "Hey Yugi, could I talk to you for a second?"

Yugi turned to look at Ryou. "Sure, what's up?"

"Something bad has happened; the Ring's disappeared and I can't sense Bakura." Both of Yugi eyebrows rose.

"I thought you'd be elated that the Ring has disappeared." Ryou stared at him, confusion written into his features.

"I know Bakura wasn't the best yami but he did look out for me and keep me company. Why would you think that I'd be glad that Bakura's gone?"

Yugi leaned in and glanced around as if he was about to share a secret. "You know, to get away from all of his abuse." Ryou's eyebrows winged upward in shock and his mouth fell open.

"Oh, gods no! Bakura never abused me. He may have called me names when he was in a bad mood but he never hit me. He said that I wasn't worth his time. The worst he's done is slap me and that was when I was having a nightmare and my screams kept him awake." Now it was Yugi's turn to look shocked. Ryou nodded firmly, putting an end to that speculation. "But anyway, do you know where Atemu is, or where the Puzzle is?" Yugi smirked, one that looked so out of place on his features and was just so very wrong.

"Well Atemu's in the puzzle," At this the smirk got wider, "but I don't know where the Puzzle is."

"Well aren't you at all worried?" Yugi looked puzzled.

"No, why would I be?" Ryou nearly ripped out his hair in frustration.

"Atemu might be in some sort of danger!"

"Why would I care whether he's in danger or not?" At the dawning look of horror on Ryou's face, Yugi scowled. "Besides, I'm pretty sure he's fine anyway." Ryou couldn't believe it. Yugi and Atemu were inseparable; they were the best of friends as well as being as close as brothers. So where did this 180° come from?

"Yugi, what did you do?!"

"I took apart the Puzzle."

"What?! Why?"

"You didn't know what it was like, Ryou. Atemu was taking over my life! He didn't feel I was competent enough to do anything myself and felt the need to tell me how to live my life. My friends liked him better than me; Kaiba wouldn't duel me, saying that Atemu was really the person to beat; everyone named him as the King of Games. He stole the girl I liked when he didn't even like her himself. It was like everyone forgot about me now that they had a better version to hang out with. I wasn't gonna let him steal my life, so I just trapped him in the Puzzle."

"Yugi, how could you do that to your other half?"

"I don't see what the big deal is; I just trapped him in the Puzzle. The only problem he'll face is being by himself. I spent the first 13 years of my life alone so he can do it too." Ryou straightened and schooled his features into a blank mask.

"You have no idea, do you?" It was a rhetorical question, one that caused Yugi to scowl and glare at Ryou. "First of all, that's not really comparable; you spent only 13 years alone, Atemu will spend the rest of eternity alone, and since you don't know where the Puzzle is there's no chance of saving him. Secondly, you have no idea of what really happens to a spirit trapped in an Item. Didn't Atemu ever tell you what it was like being in that Puzzle for 3 millennia?" At the continued glare on Yugi's face, Ryou carried on. "It was torture, pure and simple. Atemu's going to have his soul twisted and tormented, his mind ripped to shreds. He endured that for 3 millennia, and now he'll endure it again for the rest of his existence, or at least until his spirit crumbles under the pain." Ryou turned and walked away, moving to the other side of the classroom. "I hope you're proud of yourself, Yugi, because you'll have to live with your decision for the rest of your life."

xXx

Ryou stopped talking to Yugi ever since that day. He still talked with Jou and the rest of them but whenever Yugi came, Ryou walked away. Yugi was still resolute in his decision, feeling that Ryou was exaggerating just to make him feel guilty. Weeks went by, and then months. Ryou withdrew more and more from the rest of the world, only leaving his house to go to school and do grocery shopping. He hadn't seen his father in forever so he was left alone in his house. Even though he talked to the others, he wasn't a part of their tight-knit group so there weren't many attempts made to draw him out of his self-induced isolation.

Soon years had gone by. Everyone had graduated and gone to college. With no more power-hungry maniacs to threaten the citizens of Domino city, everyone's life settled into a routine. Ryou was so bored that he wished for the days when Bakura tried to take the Sennen Items, anything to break up this stifling boredom that seemed to have descended on all of them.

Even Kaiba was disgusted with the monotony of his life. Every day was the same thing for him and he was determined to do something drastic to break it. Work swamped his life and he wasn't able to duel, now that the one and only opponent that felt the same passion for the game, had the same ruthlessness, and who he didn't mind losing to (although he would sooner admit to watching Pokémon than admit that), had disappeared without a trace and hadn't been seen for several years. He and Atemu were the only ones that had battled on a regular basis since Battle City, and since they'd stopped, interest for the game was waning. Even if he was unable to duel didn't mean that was going to let the game that had been a focal point throughout his whole life die out.

He got to work; made a few phone calls, found a date where he wasn't swamped with work and reserved the whole of KaibaLand for this event. About a month after his initial idea, everything was ready for the public.

What did he do?

Organise the first ever tag-team duel tournament.

xXx