Hey, guys so this update is slightly early, mainly because I've been doing nothing today but am being forced to do pointless university stuff by my school even though I've already got all my plans in place (insert eyeroll). Anyway, instead of leaving you hanging I have decided to post this two days early because tomorrow I am busy doing a political excercise (boring but I like the teacher) and Wednesday I'm being forced to go to Imperial College London to look at courses I don't want to study but will take up my day (get the picture? I'm sick of university stuff!).

Anyway, you probably didn't want to know that, but it's why this is here now rather than Wednesday which is when I planned to update it. You can no longer complain that I am slow or unreliable.

Please enjoy this installment, it is longer than the last one, I promise!

"I, son of… of the Great House… honoured of the Gods… err…um…" Yugi trailed off, unable to remember the correct words to the speech he had to give in front of the court. In three hours from now they would reach New Thebes and Yugi had never felt so unprepared in his life. Wesret was a hard language to learn and although Atemu and Mahad were good teachers, they were forced to resort to learning the words as they rode, as they ate, at any moment they could spare. They had been accosted by a sandstorm the night before and would have reached the city earlier but Yugi had thanked whatever gods were out there that he could squeeze in a few extra hours of practice. He had a grasp of the words much better than he had that morning.

"That was good Yugi. Close and almost at the end," Atemu said softly, concentrating on keeping the great grey stallion from killing any of the guards or other horses. Of course, his brother would have the craziest horse out of the entire heard of horses that had been brought. Hotep was prowling ahead, hunting some poor waterfowl or other animal. "The full incantation is, I, son of the Great House, honoured of the Gods, Prince Yugi, have returned home to the city of New Thebes to take my place as Prince and protector of the lands."

"So halfway then," Yugi groaned.

"Better half the incantation than none of it at all," Akhefia muttered darkly from his own dark steed. The mare was almost as wild as Khamet but Yugi didn't know her name. Akhefia muttered it under his breath at times but Yugi could never catch what he had said. Atemu scowled at Akhefia and the mare squealed as Khamet gave her flat ears. She returned the gesture and Atemu steered Khamet further away before the pair could kick and bite each other.

"He's doing well. It took you years to finally master Japanese," Atemu snapped and Yugi was reminded of all the times that Akhefia had slipped up, said the wrong thing or something strange and been mocked for it. He then remembered that the other boy had dealt with this by throwing punches and swear words at those who had laughed and that after the first year most people gave him a wide berth. "Try again, Yugi," his brother murmured and Yugi sighed, already dreading the moment he would actually have to deliver the speech. In public speaking he had always forgotten his lines, always mumbled at the floor until the teacher took pity on him and told him to return to his seat. How was he supposed to do it now?

"I, son of the Great House, honoured of the Gods, Prince Yugi have returned…" Yugi struggled to remember the word for home, grasped it and continued, now joltingly. "Have returned home… to the city of New Thebes and… no… to take my place as Prince and… and… God what's the word?!... oh yeah, as Prince and protector of the lands." Atemu laughed quietly at his outburst but smiled encouragingly at him.

"That was brilliant. Try it again." Yugi, feeling more confident now that he had got them right for once, tried again.

"I, son of the Great House, honoured of the Gods, Prince Yugi have returned to the city of New Thebes to take my place as Prince and protector of the lands." He blinked, amazed at the fluidity of the words now that he knew them. Before they had sounded like gibberish, now they actually meant something. Before Atemu could speak, Akhefia broke in.

"That's good but do you remember what to say after that?"

"Huh?" Yugi stared at him bewildered. Atemu hadn't said anything about that. At least, he didn't think he had… there had been so much to take in during the past week that he might have missed it. Atemu tensed in front of him.

"What are you talking about Akhefia? After that, Father presents Yugi officially to the people and all Yugi has to do is smile and wave. It will be me who actually has to speak," Atemu snapped and Yugi could feel his brother's nerves at that. He had been having even more trouble than Yugi at remembering the speech his tutor, a man by the name of Shimon, had devised for him. Which was strange because Atemu seemed to have a perfect memory of most other things. Akhefia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah and that's going to go well," he muttered but drew back before urging his mare on and cantering away. A moment later he veered off to the side, heading towards the cliffs that had risen abruptly above them the other day. Yugi watched him leave, a feeling of dread hanging over him. Akhefia had been quiet ever since they had passed wide around the ruins of a tiny village, burnt out and broken. Yugi had briefly wondered what it had been but had been alarmed when Atemu swayed rather dangerously in the saddle. Mahad, noticing this, had cantered over on his own steed and spoke to Atemu quietly in Wesret but Atemu had seemed so dizzy, he was barely able to give a reply. In the end, the reins had been given to Yugi who, after three days of riding felt marginally confident in riding the horse, and he had spent the rest of the day in charge, while his brother leaned into his shoulder, breathing heavily as if he had run somewhere very fast. Yugi had made a mental note to ask later and now seemed the perfect time.

"Where's he going?" Yugi asked carefully, knowing somehow that the answers would not be easily forthcoming. He had a sense that although the court and its workings had been explained to him, something crucial had been left out and he was only staring at a half formed painting.

"To the thief court most likely. They have a central base around here," Atemu said, watching his friend recede into the horizon. A moment later he was gone.

"Atemu…" Yugi felt his brother tense up again but he had to know. He felt he had the right to know after being left so long in the dark. "Atemu what was that village back there? What happened yesterday?" He felt a shudder pass through Atemu, as if even the memory of the place made him feel ill all over again.

"That was Kul Elna," Atemu said quietly. "It was once a thriving village but now… now it is only a shell, home to ghosts and shadows." Yugi heard Atemu swallow thickly, saw his fists tighten on the reins. "It was where Akhefia lived when he was a child." And also Ryou Yugi thought, horror rising up. He couldn't imagine what it was like, to pass the place you had once called home at least twice a year and know that everything you owned there, everyone you knew was gone. But there was still something unexplained, something so innately wrong with the place it had caused Atemu to come over feeling faint and ill.

"That's not just it is it?" Yugi muttered.

"Yugi-" his brother began, but Yugi scowled cutting him off.

"I know you're not telling me something Atemu! I'm not stupid!" he snapped and Atemu recoiled, the mask that he hid behind here snapping back into place. The closer they got to New Thebes, the more that seemed to be happening, and it was like he was talking to a stranger and not his brother.

"It doesn't concern you," Atemu muttered, staring down at the reins, his expression blank. Yugi frowned.

"You mean like how all of this was none of my business? Like how being a prince didn't concern me?" The anger dissipated and Yugi leaned his head between his brother's shoulder blades, the hard muscles softened by the soft cloak. "Please stop lying to me," he whispered, so quiet he hoped his brother couldn't hear, but he knew Atemu had. His brother always knew what he said as if they had grown up together. Yugi remembered the letters, the lonely tone of the twelve-year-old boy. Seto says that mother is gone. He's only telling lies right? 500 letters that had never been answered and yet Atemu still wrote even after ten years. Perhaps, in their dreams, they had grown up together but Yugi had stopped fantasising about it since he had been eight. After their mother's death.

"It's… complicated," Atemu muttered as if he could sense the dark road Yugi's thoughts were wandering down. "You have to see it to believe it." That sounded odd. He was already finding it hard to believe in New Thebes but he hadn't questioned its existence. Did this have something to do with the references about magic Atemu had made in his letters? He remembered Mana saying that she was an apprentice magician but he had thought that that was something to do with religion. That was the way it had been in Ancient Egypt: the magicians worked with the Temple Priests to reveal the will of the gods in their own mystic ways (probably illusion and sleight of hand). But why would that be different now? Unless… but Yugi wasn't sure what the unless was. There was something nagging at the back of his mind, some instinct he had never used until now but every time he attempted to grasp for it, it would slip away like water. The answers would have to come from Atemu.

"Will you tell me when we get to New Thebes?" Yugi asked. Atemu paused at that and pulled Khamet up as a yellow streak appeared from out of the desert. Hotep settled around Khamet's hooves, feathers stuck to his muzzle. The leopard licked at them- or more accurately the blood droplets that came with them- as he prowled around them. Atemu gave Khamet a single calming stroke with his hand before urging the horse forwards. Khamet tossed his head in the air, snorting in disdain at the leopard, before leaping forwards into a trot to join the rest of the caravan that would soon turn into a royal procession.

"I'll show you when we return to the city. It's… easier to explain that way," Atemu said quietly, not looking at him. Yugi nodded silently, noticing the uneasiness of the other animals now that the predator had returned. "Your lines. Practice them again."

"I, son of the Great House, honoured by the Gods, Prince Yugi have returned home to the city of New Thebes to take my place as Prince and protector of the lands," Yugi said, surprisingly automatically. He blinked, straightening. "I remembered it!" Atemu laughed under his breath, but he sounded uneasy about it.

"Well done and just in time. We've reached New Thebes."

Joey had no idea how it had happened. One moment, he was casually walking up the street, contemplating his mother's offer, when something had grabbed him from behind, something huge and dark and tentacled. He had struggled, squirmed and cried out for help until his throat was hoarse but the thing kept pulling and pulling, until he was dragged, kicking and screaming, down an alleyway and through a wall as if the solid object didn't exist. And then, the most unbelievable of all. The tentacle wrapped around him was attached to a creature Joey had only ever seen in Duel Monsters. Pumpkin King Joey thought absently, staring at the impossible. I've been kidnapped by a Pumpkin King.

"Did you know that in Ancient Egypt, the people used to play a game much like Duel Monsters, Joseph?" said a voice buried within the shadows. A very familiar voice, if you brought it up a pitch or two.

"K-Kind of. Ishizu told us about it in the museum…" Joey stuttered until the disembodied voice laughed.

"Oh yes, the sorceress would have told you anything at that point if only to keep you safe but unfortunately for her, she was sworn to silence. On pain of death." There was a cruel pleasure in that, a delight in torture. "Unfortunate, in the fact that it failed to keep you safe and it will fail to keep precious little Heba safe as well." Another laugh as Joey creased his brows together. What was this person going on about? Ishizu had spent the better part of the day silent, lending a helping hand every so often to Mr Hashini to inform them about each item. She had said nothing about keeping them safe and who was this Heba person? Joey didn't know anyone who went by such a strange name.

"What are ya talking about? I don't know anyone called Heba! Let me go!" He squirmed in the tentacle again, struggling against the organic restraints but they only became tighter and Joey cried out as something, or several things, suddenly bit into his skin. Teeth, Joey thought, the bloody monsters has teeth on these tentacles.

"Do you think I would let such a valuable piece of leverage like you go?" A dark laugh. "You'll have to do better than that Joseph if you wish to be free of your bonds."

"Stop talking from the shadows you coward!" Joey shouted. It was a tactic he had learnt from facing his own bullies and Yugi's. If you stood up to them, called them out on what they really were, normally they would let you go, run off once they knew you were tougher than them. "Show yourself!" This didn't seem to work on his captor though as it just gave off a dark chuckle.

"As you wish." The shadows seemed to retreat, leaving a single figure visible. Joey couldn't stop his jaw from swinging wide open. It was Ryou, and yet at the same time not Ryou. This person shared all the same looks: immaculate blue suit, white hair, brown eyes, pale skin. Except his hair was wild, some locks sticking up like devil's horns around his forehead and his eyes were aglow with the kind of insanity you only saw in asylum's. The ones no one was allowed to visit because the patients were too crazed. He was smirking, looking pleased with himself. A golden pendant hung around his neck, glinting in some dark light.

"W-Who are you?" Joey breathed, wondering how the world seemed to be slipping away ever so slightly. Was it his imagination or were the walls moving? Could he see other Duel Monsters in them or just demons? Was he even in Japan anymore?

"Well, you might know me as Ryou, but as you can tell, I am him no longer. Over the thousands of years I have had many different names but for now, you may call me Bakura."

"What have you done with Ryou?" Joey cried, scared that this would be the end. 'Bakura' seemed to see this too and his smile grew.

"Can't you hear him?" Bakura's voice was soft, silky and he raised one hand to cup an ear. Joey could hear it too now; a faint shouting that was clearly Ryou.

"Run Joey! He'll kill you! He wants to kill everyone!" Joey gulped, going limp in the tentacles, knowing that it was pointless. Somehow, this creature had taken over his life and he was helpless to stop him.

"What do you want with me?" Joey asked quietly now. Bakura gave him a smirk.

"You never allowed me to finish my little history lesson. You see, Duel Monsters actually came from a magician's game, a game of great destructive power that I and the shadows controlled. We levelled cities, destroyed lives and whole countries collapsed under our reign! It was a good time to be around… if you were a shadow." Another maniacal grin as he began to pace. "But some of the mortals didn't like that and began to contain us within stone tablets. Their help came from three powerful beasts, perhaps a third each of my power. Their names were Obelisk, Slifer and Ra and the Egyptians worshipped them as gods. It was a bitter struggle and in the end it was a war between myself and the. They allowed their essence to be fused into the body of a human soul, teaching the boy who would be king the spells to defeat me. And he did, for a price. All mortals forgot about the shadows, forgot about me but they also forgot about him. He was powerless to stop me from returning, from influencing the weak into freeing me but I was thwarted again." Joey snorted against his better judgement and received a blow across the back of his head, so hard that it left his ears ringing.

"You dare mock me insolent mortal!"

"Well, you're not having much luck if one old timer king can defeat you," Joey sniggered through the stars dancing around his head. Bakura's face was twisted into a snarl and he grabbed the back of Joey's head, wrenching his head back by his hair.

"That king had the power of the gods! He was as youthful as you are now but he was not alone! You wanted to know who Heba was? Look through your memories and tell me you cannot find him!" Bakura snarled at him, eyes flashing dangerously.

"I already told you I don't…" The world around him shifted and suddenly he was staring out at an image of his primary school days. There he was, eight years old, football in one hand and lunchbox in the other, about to leave for the playground until his eyes found a tiny boy curled up in the corner. He had the craziest hair that Joey had ever seen and big- currently wet- violet eyes.

"Hey, what'cha crying for?" eight-year-old Joey asked. Little Yugi glanced up, sniffing and rubbing one eye. Joey had forgotten how adorable Yugi had looked back then.

"My mum just died. They said she was in an accident and went away but I know what they mean. They thought I wouldn't because I'm little." Little Yugi sniffed again. Little Joey considered this a moment, before stretching out a hand.

"You shouldn't have to sit in here by yourself. My mum left too, but she's not dead. She took my little sister with her though so now I'm all alone with my dad. Where's your dad?" Little Yugi stared at the hand and little Joey gave an easy smile. "My name's Joseph Arnold Wheeler."

"I don't know. He didn't come home for the funeral. Neither of them did." Another sniff before little Yugi took the proffered hand. "I'm Yugi Heba Motou. You don't have to stay with me. I like to sit indoors and play puzzles." Joey shrugged, pulling the smaller boy to his feet.

"Do you know how to play Duel Monsters?" The scene faded but dread had already settled into Joey's stomach.

"That doesn't prove anything."

"Really?" Bakura wasn't even pretending to be suave evil now. His fingers felt as if they were ripping his whole head of hair out at once. "Don't you want to know what the pharaoh and his precious twin brother looked like?" Joey was about to say 'no, he really didn't' but it was too late. The shadows rippled again and they were sitting in a huge throne room. A man who looked startlingly like Akhnankhamun sat in a throne as two boys stood in front of him, their backs to Joey, with their heads bowed. The one on the left began speaking first.

"We apologise father."

"Yeah," the one on the right said. "We didn't mean to ruin Seth's spell! It was an accident!" The man scowled at them deeply and the one on the right bowed his head again. The one on the left muttered,

"Heba, we're in enough trouble as it is. It was obvious it wasn't an accident."

"And I said we should do it on Uncle Akhnadin but no we had to get Seth back after he spread that stupid rumour about you and Mana." There was a pause and Joey got the feeling that the one on the left was blushing. "That wasa rumour right…?" More silence and the one on the right was suddenly trying to cover up sniggers.

"Enough!" the man on the throne snapped and the boy on the right shut up immediately. "I do not approve of these childish pranks. You are both princes of Egypt, I expect better of you. You, especially, Atem. When I am no longer and have entered the afterlife, it will be you who will sit upon this throne and you who will hold back the shadows." The one on the left tensed and Joey would have felt incensed for him if he wasn't so shocked. No, it can't be… but it could. And it was proved only a moment later. "Leave me, the pair of you. I will decide on your punishment later. And Heba," here the man glared almost playfully at the one on the right, "don't tease your brother else I'll tell him about you and Aisha."

"Dad!" the one on the right cried as they both got up but his brother had already started to pull him away. As they turned Joey caught a glimpse of the two most familiar faces he knew and wished it was different. The scene faded and he closed his eyes, trying to block it all out.

"You see it now Wheeler? You are my leverage, for with your life on the line, the pharaoh and his little Heba will do anything. And I intend to make Egypt burn!"

Soooo, cliffhanger on cliffhanger. I told you I wouldn't leave the entire journey to New Thebes out! I'm sorry there is so little Mana, Mahad or New Thebes in this (next chapter guys hang in there) and I was a little cruel since I was going to include the New Thebes part here but then realised that what I had planned would make this chapter far too long and it wouldn't be updated in time so this chapter was scaled back. But, important plot information hinted at, even if it was slightly fillery (I don't care that that's not a word. It is now.)

So, review answers!

Guest: This is a ManaxAtemu fic but it's one of those ones where both are trying to pretend their only friends because class and stuff since in this story Mana is a peasant girl (technically) and Atemu a prince. And since Ancient Egyptians had a funny affinity for marrying their sisters, I took the noble birth approach instead :) But thank you for your review and I hope you are enjoying this story!

Aqua Girl 007: Oh, no Yugi is wearing a top- I just called it a tunic because I didn't know the name for it (thank you for that. I can file that away for further use. Archaeology, yey!) If you're struggling to visualise what Yugi is wearing think Atem but with no funny gold bits at the side of his crown, no shoulder piece and red cloak. Ate still has blue because the Ancient Egyptians were big on jewels such as lapis lazuli, red precious stones (i forget the name, meesage you later with it if you like) etc. so I would imagine that the rich would dress in such colours as well. But thank you for your lovely review. I was slightly concerned people would be confused by that so I'm glad you understood what I was getting at :)

angiembabe: Eh, the kids pop up from time to time as the plot calls for it. Their more like supporting characters than main ones but they may have a part in the climax (whenever we get to that). Luckily for Yugi, he's had a week for a crash course in New Thebes and don't worry, Atem won't be leaving him all alone! Thank you for your lovely review however and I hope that cleared things up for you :)

Gracey88: I'm glad you think so. Thank you for that, it was a great confidence booster!