"You're not supposed to be here." Anzu's voice came out in a low voice. She turned her head to look away, lightly biting her lip which trembled slightly.

Atem sighed. "I know."

The girl blinked, her eyes widening. He didn't just say what she had just heard, did he? Slowly, the apricot turned her head to look at the ancient ruler. His face didn't change...until her eyes met his. Worry crept in suddenly and slightly. No dramatic change was made to his face, but if one knew him well, they could tell;he was nervous. And he wasn't the only one. The girl swallowed lightly, followed by a soft sigh, "Then,"

Her eyes shifted down into her lap before sifting back up to look at his crimson red eyes once more. "Why are you here?"

His breath hitched lightly so she wouldn't notice. The pharaoh's brain was searching for an answer that didn't seem to come up right now when he needed it. Why are you here? In all actuality, he didn't know himself anymore. Yes, he had to somehow convince her to trust him again to help save both his world and hers…but there was something else that he saw from this, something that actually wasn't related to his duties as a ruler to his people. And while his mind was away at trying to deduce his answer, his eyes kept their lock on the girl in the bed.

Anzu's worry grew slightly more when she didn't hear an answer from him. She swallowed lightly, still staring into his warm pools of blood.

"Atem…" Her voice snapped him out of his trance. Blinking a few times and sighing once more, he decided on his answer.

"I honestly do not know, but," he spoke and then took a few steps forward. The pharaoh's face and body could be better seen in the light, his golden jewelry decorated with gems gleamed in the sunlight; and to Anzu, this, was a breathtaking sight. Her breath hitched. Even when she was in "Egypt" with Yuugi and the others to help the pharaoh, he never looked like this. Looks like two years had done him some justice after all on his physical appearance. "There are more important issues on hand. I need your help."

At this, the brunette cocked an eyebrow, somewhat still in shock and trying to process everything. "With what?" she asked. Anzu lightly chewed on the inside of her mouth as she waited for the ruler's reply. It took a moment of waiting, but she finally got one a few moments later.

"Darkness has fallen upon Egypt again. Isis told me that the power that I have already is not enough to vanquish it."

"I thought we already destroyed the darkness two years ago when…"

"That's what I thought as well," he cut her off and she kept silent. "But apparently, this is a new threat, one that had no affiliation with the previous."

"So how do you plan to destroy this new threat?"

"That's where you come in." Sapphire eyes dilated.

"M-Me?" her hand went on top of her chest and Anzu leaned forward slightly. Atem only nodded. Her heart stopped for a second and she once again bit her lip. The pharaoh slowly raised his arm, holding out his open hand.

"Will you come back with me?" he asked. Anzu was still shocked that she was apparently the only one that could "help" him. The apricot bit down on her lip slightly more and then looked down at her lap. Sapphire eyes narrowed as liquid began to cloud her vision. Her fists were clenched the bed sheets more now, along with her teeth. All of the overwhelming sadness from two years ago just hit her like a ton of bricks.

"You could have stayed." Anzu's quiet voice spoke.

Crimson eyes widened slightly at her hushed voice. He was taken aback by her comment for a moment.

"You could have stayed…with us." Her voice rose slightly towards the end of the sentence. Her bangs covered her face, hiding her tears that fell below her onto the lavender bed sheets.

Atem's eyes softened with guilt and sadness. He could tell that she was upset to say the least, but there was really nothing he could do. His arm slowly fell to rest back at his side, swinging slightly from the force that gravity put on it.

"You know I couldn't stay." His voice was as soft and low as hers at the moment. He looked down, his body moving on its own.

"I wish that you had stayed with us…"

"So that's what's going on." Mai put her coffee cup down, staring down at its contents. "Poor girl…" She then looked up. Yuugi was smiling grimly at the blonde woman while Honda and Jounoichi stared down at their beverages. The brown haired boy sighed lightly, propping his head up on his hand.

"Lately, she's been having nightmares," Yuugi continued on. "She refuses to tell me what they're about, but…I think they might mean something. She keeps saying that it's repetitive." The boy looked up from his drink to look at Mai. The blonde woman's amethyst eyes widened slightly when seeing his matching color eyes. The duelist's eyes were almost…no, they were pleading. He looked so lost, not knowing what to do next.

Mai sighed lightly, looking at the boy a tad sympathetically. Her eyes then trailed down to her drink as she took in what she just heard, which was a lot. The blonde gnawed lightly at her bottom lip, deep in thought. Meanwhile, the group became silent. Yuugi then widened his eyes.

The tri-color haired boy then looked down and reached his hand into his pants pocket, trying to fish something out of it. A second later, his hand appeared, holding a black cellphone this time. Wasting no time, Yuugi flipped it open and pressed a button on it before holding it to his ear. It began to ring on the other end of the line.

The other three pairs of eyes observed the boy as his eyes were focused at the table while he was waiting for whoever he was calling.

"Hey, this is Mazaki An-" Yuugi hung up and tried calling again. Something told him that there was something wrong right now. The phone line buzzed again.

"Something wrong, Yuug?" Jouno asked, quirking his left eyebrow lightly at the shorter boy. Yuugi seemed to focused on the call that his ignored him.

"Hey, this is Maza-" The multi-color haired boy hung up and then looked up at Jouno.

"She's not picking up." He stated bluntly before fishing out his wallet and throwing a few 2000 yen bills onto the table and then ran out the door, shoving his wallet back into his pocket as he bolted out the door.

"Yuugi, wait!" Mai shouted as the three that were left in the café ran after the champion duelist, abandoning their drinks.

Yuugi didn't slow down. If anything, he went faster. Damn it! Something better have not happened to her…!

"Why should I trust you?"

The words felt like a knife in his heart. But then again, he wasn't surprised with her response. Atem's eyes widened slightly as the pain began to make his chest feel numb.

"Anzu," he addressed her with his usual monotone voice, trying to keep his feelings bottled up. "I came back here for -"

"Only for you to leave again." She cut him off spitefully, glaring daggers at him with her ocean blue eyes that clashed with his crimson. He could tell that Anzu was clenching her jaw right about now.

Atem sighed heavily. "Anzu-"

"I don't want to hear it!" she screamed, which really startled him. Atem almost jumped back. He could hear his pulse ringing in his ears. He never saw her like this before; never. It was like she was someone else.

"You didn't care!" the floodgates had now opened. Tears kept pouring down her face. "Otherwise you would have stayed!" Anzu's voice came out in broken sobs. Atem still stared at her, baffled and having no idea as of what to do next.

"Why? Why didn't you car-"

"That's not true!" the pharaoh's voice bellowed throughout the room, stunning the dancer. It took a second, but he realized what he did and leaned back slightly, breathing out the air that was trapped in his lungs.

"That's not true." He repeated. Anzu kept staring at him, stunned by what he had said. She was so sure that she was right…

"I had to go. If I didn't, there would have been consequences for my selfishness. I did what I had to do to protect you all, including yourself." Atem was back to his monotone, void of any emotion other than hoping that she would understand him. "You really think that I didn't care?" the venom tainted the word "care" when it left him.

Anzu's eyes widened even more. The front door downstairs then slammed open. Atem turned around to look at the bedroom door when he heard feet beginning to run up them. He didn't have much time.

Hastily, he walked over to the brunette's bed, resting his tanned palm against her forehead. "Sleep, Anzu." He commanded her in a low voice that was slightly above a whisper.

The girl's eyes slowly fluttered shut and her body began to lean backwards. The pharaoh's other arm came behind her and guided her down onto the soft mattress of her bed. He carefully removed his hand from her back, his left hand still on her forehead. Anzu was now fast asleep.

The footsteps came closer with each second, and he knew this, but he couldn't help but brush the bangs away from her eyes, musing about how beautiful she was at that moment. He smiled a bit, sadly. He really did hurt her, didn't he?

The bedroom door then slammed open.

"Anzu!" Yuugi then ran into the room, a look of determination completely gone and replaced with shock within a matter of seconds upon seeing the Pharaoh by Anzu's bedside.

"Yuugi, what's wrong?" Honda asked him as he, Jouno and Mai ran into the room, only to be greeted with the same surprise that Yuugi got.

"It can't be…" the words left the blonde woman's mouth in a gasp mixed with a whisper, almost too breath-taken to speak.

Atem stared at them with an expressionless look before a current of light erupted out of him, threatening to push the trio back with the ferocity of the wind.

With both arms crossed up in front of his face, Yuugi tried to take a step forward against the wind, only to find that he couldn't move without being blown back against the wall in back of the three duelists besides himself.

With each passing second, the wind died down and the light slowly faded from the room. The four waited a moment before looking up, suspicious that something else might happen. Nothing did.

Yuugi slowly lowered his arms and stood back up straight again. His muscles relaxed as he slowly walked over to the bed with Anzu lying in it. The tears rested on her face, still slowly trailing down to the side and letting gravity take its toll on them.

Amethyst eyes widened slightly once more in shock though. Atem was gone. Or was he even there to begin with? Maybe he was starting to see things too…

Yuugi shook his head vividly for a moment, clearing his head. He looked down at Anzu's sleeping form before looking at the spot where the pharaoh had been. All of this left the young duelist baffled in his wake and with all of his thoughts trailing back to one question: What the hell happened?

You guys have no friggen idea how long I was stuck on this chapter. :'D

Anyhow, I rushed it towards the ending when I figured out how to end it, so forgive the sloppiness ^ w ^;;;

See you next chapter! :D

~Sandy