Yugi woke groggily atop the soft sheets of his bed to the sounds of joyful laughter coming from downstairs. He heard Grandpa scolding someone for some reason but he couldn't think of who it could be. He cared little though, yawning and stretching as he enjoyed the warmth of the sun painting his bed. It had been long since he enjoyed the comforts of a mattress and the freedom to sleep soundly. Or … had it? He felt like he had been camping recently but thinking about it now he didn't remember sleeping outside. Then again… he didn't remember where it was the last place he slept.
Ignoring it he slowly slid himself out of bed and into a fresh pair of clothes: jeans, a black singlet and his beloved leather belt. The jeans felt strange though, restricting in the knees. That was weird, had he put on weight? He felt unused to how clingy his clothing was; like he had been wearing much looser stuff lately but these were definitely his clothes. Maybe he was remembering a dream.
As he touched the handle of his door though he felt … wrong. His bedroom door was so foreign to him … no he was foreign to his room. He hasn't been in his room in months so why was he waking here? In fact the last room he woke in wasn't even his own; it belonged to … no that's not possible.
Waking in a Pharaohs bedroom was nothing more than a dream.
He laughed it off and walked downstairs, finding his friends happily waiting for him with Grandpa in the living room.
"It's about time you woke up." Joey said happily, pushing Tristan off him roughly. They had been tussling about and that must have been why Grandpa had been shouting.
"Come on Yugi. We'll be late." Tea said excitedly. She was here too. Bakura as well, politely sipping tea on an armchair. Why were they here? And late for what?
"Late for what?" Yugi asked and they all looked at him as if he had just spoken a different language.
"Late for what. Oh you're funny this morning." Tristan laughed.
"Come on Yug. Gramps made breakfast for ya. It tastes good." Joey giggled.
"Yes and if it wasn't for me he wouldn't have any Joseph!" Grandpa snarled, swatting him again with a wooden spoon.
Yugi absently walked to the table before the bowl of rice and beef and stared at it, ignoring the whining from his blonde friend. He hadn't had this in ages. He loved Grandpa's cooking and was salivating over the flavour but … it felt wrong. He should be having bread and cooked chicken, or fish, or even a serving of fruit… shouldn't he? He had been having much of that recently… right?
"They didn't have this in Egypt." He mumbled to himself.
"What was that Yugi?" Tea asked him.
"Oh. Nothing." Yugi gave her a smile and dug in, leaving all his worries behind as the rich flavours coated his tongue and warmed his soul. How could he complain when such amazing food was gracing his stomach.
"Well, hurry up. We should be at the airport in 20 minutes." Tristan urged him.
He froze, mid swallow of beef and staring at Tristan like he had just sprouted another head. What did he say?
"Airport?" Yugi asked, hurrying to finish his bowl.
"You okay, Yugi? You didn't forget what today was, did you?" Tea asked. He gave her an expected look and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"Atem, Ishizu, Marik and Odion are coming today? From Egypt?" She said, trying to jog his memory.
Atem… he's coming from Egypt?
'But he's in the afterlife.' He thought.
Afterlife… so was he. He never died but that's where he was. He was in Egypt until now. He was eating their food, sleeping in their beds, dressed in their clothes and his friends were not there…
This wasn't real. He didn't dream any of that. He couldn't have. Not… what everything that happened. Especially not everything that happened between him and Atem… he couldn't have dreamed that … but then Atem was here now? Since when? Why? How did he not know this?
He stood immediately and they watched him, confused as to why he was so alarmed.
"You forgot didn't you?" Tea asked, annoyed.
"No… but Atem's in the afterlife Tea. He left. Years ago." Yugi stated and they all shared an uneasy glance.
"Yugi… He came back. With us. We went to the afterlife after you and brought you both back. Don't you remember?" Tea asked him, concerned now.
"He … came back?" Yugi asked quietly. He didn't remember that. He was with him in his Palace … that was the last thing he remembered. He didn't remember his friends coming to get him or them deciding to leave.
"Don't you remember Yug?" Joey asked.
"Come on man. We went through all that trouble." Tristan whined.
"I must be a little slow this morning." Yugi said quietly, half ignoring them. How could this be…
"What happened to Thomas?" He asked them and they shared another glance.
"Thomas disappeared. He never came back with us Yug." Joey said.
"And … how did we get back?"
"Man you really slept wrong didnt ya?" Tristan said.
"The Jewel. We opened the portal and walked on through. Yugi, are you okay?" Tea asked.
He was not okay. None of this made sense. How could he forget returning? Why was Atem in Egypt if he came back with them? There were massive holes in his memory that he was missing and for the life of him couldn't figure out why. How could they know this?
Unless it was possible they did know about Thomas and the Jewel… but then what about…?
"And Osiris?" He asked.
"The Egyptian God of Death? What about him Yugi?" Grandpa asked.
"He let us go. He said you'd be safe if you left so we left with you. Atem came with us, said he didnt want to stay in the afterlife." Joey said.
There's the lie. They didn't know about Osiris. They didn't know Osiris was following him and they didn't know Yugi was endangered by being in the afterlife.
They couldn't… could they? Could he have forgotten this much too?
"Right…" Yugi said quietly. He knew in his heart this wasn't real. He distinctly remembered being with Atem in the afterlife but it wasn't possible they could have known about Osiris. Unless something happened between his conversation with Atem and now…
"Well maybe seeing him will jog your memory. Come on. Let's go." Tristan said excitedly.
Atem swung his blade downwards only to have it caught on Karim's scimitar. Sparks flew as metal grinded against itself, two fiery souls trying to burn one another with their gazes. With a single push Atem released his hold and they spun around each other, capes swirling behind them until they were a decent distance apart, eyeing one another with cold, calculating patience.
His heart was racing, his skin itched and his body burned. He hadn't fought like this in some time and with everything going on had not been practicing as he should have been but Karim's injuries from their last encounter kept them even. Thankfully Atem was also trained better but Karim was no amateur. He was a master swordsman and dirty fighter … both of which Atem had learned as well. He carried himself with grace and precision but as King he must know all ways of the sword; including the dirty ones.
Sweat dampened their hair and clothes as the relentless sun beat down upon them and all around them men screamed and died, fought and fell from sword and magic alike.
Atem had paid little attention to his forces, needing to trust that they were handling themselves while he focused on Karim but he was aware that many of the buildings had been fought in, attacked and some even damaged. The horses had long fled, Isis was guiding terrified villagers outside of the fighting area with Spiria as her aide. Karim cared little for hostages now. He was having too much fun fighting the Pharaoh.
"You look tired Pharaoh. Don't tell me the youngest King of Egypt is wearing down so quickly." Karim taunted.
"On the contrary, it is you who appears weakened. Are your injuries from Slifer bothering you?" Atem retorted, readjusting to give himself a more prominent position.
"Heh. That dragon of yours is powerful, it's a wonder he obeys commands from you. You are but a boy among predators now." Karim proclaimed.
"Do not underestimate me. For everything you have done to my people, my friends and to Yugi, we will see which one of us is the predator."
"You care for the boy don't you? I've watched how close you two are. Had I known he was that important to you I'd have crippled his legs so he could not escape."
His smug tone infuriated him, let alone the mental image of him hurting Yugi more than he already had. This man seemed to take pleasure in it and it made him sick.
"I only hope you live long enough to see what our friend Thomas does to him. That is, if Yugi is still alive. I'd count your blessings if I were you. The longer it takes Thomas to return, the longer I would guess Yugi still breathes."
"Tell me what you know of Thomas's plan." Atem commanded of him but all he did was shrug him off.
"I only know Thomas is bent on paying him back. A hand for a hand is what he would say. Of course that was before he got the jewel back. Since then I'd say his desires for his blood's only grown. I don't think he'll stop short of a slow death."
Atem glowered at him, jaw clenched and fingers turning white around the hilt of his sword. He needed to be done with Karim now if he wanted to find Yugi but he had no idea how to even start looking for him. Karim might be the only one who knew … which meant he might need to get a little dirty to make him talk.
"Shame too. Yugi's scream's of pain was a delight to hear. I've tortured many souls in my time but few compare to his whimpers. That fiery look of hope and fury between painfilled tears was adorable. How fun it was to shake his resolve time and time again."
That was it.
That right there, was the worst thing Karim could have said.
Overcome with such intense anger Atem moved as quick as lightning, drawing his weapon and screaming towards him to strike at him. Karim had only a second to block the attack, and the next and after that he dodged him, maneuvering around but the rage blind King swung dangerously at his face, successfully slicing his cheek and forcing him to stagger backwards. He drew up his sword just in time to parry Atem's following attack but his assault never stopped. He drew a dagger from somewhere to catch him off guard, swung his sword to try and maim him, or injure him but Karim dodged the dagger, parried the sword and quickly ran from him, forcing Atem to chase him quickly.
"Come on Tristan." Joey hurried him quickly, practically bouncing behind his friend from their cage.
"I'm going as fast as I can man, wait." Tristan complained.
He was picking the lock, or trying to with two sticks they had found in the sand. Currently they had been moved to iron cages within a cellar but when they heard the fighting start thats when they knew they had to get out. No one would be down for them in a while and if they were right, then at least Yugi must have been up there and might have needed their help.
Tea and Bakura were in a different cage, cheering Tristan on and trying to listen in case someone came down for them. Where the other villagers were they had no idea but right now they had to worry about themselves.
But the longer Tristan took the worse the fighting became. They heard clashes of metal, blasts of fire, screams of people fighting and possibly dying. And if that wasn't enough, shortly after the fighting started some of the Items began to heat up and vibrate in what they assumed was irritation. The namely: the Ring, Rod and necklace. Their eyes glowed but they did nothing. Why only those items they didn't know but it couldn't have been good.
"Damn it!" Tristan cursed as his stick broke and fell outside of the cage.
"Gah! Tristan!" Joey snapped.
"Well I'd like to see you try tough guy!" Tristan snapped back at him. "Why don't you use the rod on the lock if you think you can break us out of here better."
"Use the… Tristan that's a great idea!" Bakura said happily.
"What do you want me to do? Mind control the lock?" Joey asked.
Bakura ignored him though, holding the ring in a way he remembered doing long ago and asking it to burn the lock of his own cage. One of the cones glowed and lifted shortly before a blue beam of light shot through the iron lock. It snapped off, falling into the sand and the cone fell lazily again.
"You did it!" Tea exclaimed happily, jumping onto him with excitement. Bakura laughed in sheer surprise that had worked and felt warm that the Ring would still obey him. He had never touched it since he was free of its influence even with the amount of times Yugi had brought them home to study. He never truly trusted it again even knowing the evil spirit was gone but … he felt the fool now because it seemed the Ring still trusted him.
"Alright man! Now spring us and lets go see if they need our help!" Tristan said happily.
Freed from their own cage they quickly raced up the stairs and burst through the cellar door. Blinded by the brightest of lights they staggered, protecting their eyes from the harsh sun rays of the outside world, their ears prickling at the clearer sounds of conflict surrounding them.
They had been down there for long enough that it was difficult to adjust again but what they saw astounded them. Egyptians fought relentlessly around them. Some of them they recognized as the bandits that captured the town, noticeable by their tattered clothing and crude weaponry; others they didn't know though. Some were dressed in fine white linens now stained red and brown with blood and dirt, gold jewellery protecting various places of their bodies and their swords were finely made. Others were brightly coloured dresses and skirts, waving staves around as they cast various magic at the bandits and surroundings. They were too well armed to be other bandits or soldiers of a nearby town...they had to be the Pharaoh's army … but who was the Pharaoh of this Egypt? Yugi was here then it was possible Yugi sought out the aid of the King but … was it foolish to be hopeful it was their King?
"Hey look there." Joey pointed and they followed his gaze to a man dressed in white, his chest bare save for the gold chest plate and a tall blue hat upon his head. He waved a golden rod around, forcing a group of bandits to crash inside a house with ease. They recognised the man though, clear as anything.
"Kaiba!?" They exclaimed loudly.
There was no doubt. This man was Kaiba. Only… Egyptian. They knew about this man. Yugi had spoken about him and with all their adventures they knew Kaiba could trace his lineage back to this man… this was his ancestor.
"Wait if he's here then maybe that means Atem is too." Tea said, hopeful.
"I think you're right Tea. Look there!" Bakura said, pointing in a different direction.
They followed his gesture to find the familiar form they knew so well fighting off Karim. His darkened skin, his pointed hair, his flowing blue cape and stunning jewellery; it was him. Their friend.
Pharaoh Atem.
Yugi remained quiet during the trip, trying to remember the details of his time in Egypt. He remembered that his friends had come and were captured by Karim and Thomas. He and Atem were about to leave the Palace to go get them but beyond that he remembered nothing more. He held his belief though. It was possible he doesn't remember and It was possible Atem might have answers for him. He'd know for sure when he sees him though.
They were waiting by the baggage delivery. Their plane had landed and passengers were leaving. They waited anxiously, peaking over heads and between bodies, trying to glance the former Pharaoh and their Egyptian friends. Finally they caught a glimpse of Odion towering over the other passengers and once they broke the crowd they saw Ishizu, Marik and beside them Atem, now dressed in modern Egyptian clothing. He smiled wide when he saw him, bracing his excitement like a child at Christmas but Yugi held his emotions in check. Instinct told him to smile, to run to him and embrace him but his mind kept him in check. This might not have been real despite how convincing it was.
"Hey! Hey guys!" Joey waved loudly. They smiled and laughed and joyfully came over while Marik and Odion left to fetch their bags.
"Guys." He said happily once he reached them.
"Hey! How was the trip?" Tea asked, hugging him deeply.
"Good. Considering. Im not used to flying myself though. Its good to be on the ground again." Atem laughed. He looked at Yugi and smiled but whatever expression Yugi wore seemed to make him hesitate. He paid it no mind though. He was stuck on observing him. He talked easily enough in their tongue and seemed to be happy but there was something … off. He couldn't put his finger on it. Was it his posture? How well his tongue formed their language? His mannerisms? The lack of cheeky glances? He didn't know but he didn't like this.
What's more though: he didn't like how he didn't like this. Everyone was happy. He was safe at home and Atem was with him? This should have been a dream come true… but maybe that was what's wrong: how dreamlike this felt.
They seemed to float from one setting to another. One moment they're at the airport the next they're home again, swapping stories as if nothing happened. As if Atem had simply gone to Egypt for a while.
As they caught up Yugi watched him, noting every slight movement and the tones of his voice, searching every detail and finding them correct but as a whole misplaced. Even his friends seemed transparent to him. Grandpa most of all. Bakura wasn't even present now but it seemed as if he had been staying with grandpa for some time… but before the Afterlife Yugi had been staying with Bakura. No one mentioned why Yugi had moved back in with grandpa, just that they had returned to the afterlife and here they were.
"What do you think, Yugi?" Atem asked him all of a sudden, drawing him out of his thoughts.
"Hmm?"
"Party this weekend? Celebrate Atem's returning?" Joey asked him.
"Oh … sure. What day is it now?" Yugi asked, not even caring that he should probably know.
"Wednesday… Yug you've been spacin all day man, you still not woken up?" Joey asked him again.
"Apparently not. So … this weekend then?" Yugi asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Everything felt wrong. Wednesday… this weekend.. Time was so off.
"What about this weekend?" Tea asked innocently and he looked up to meet her only she was wearing a red cocktail dress and his loungeroom had been filled with balloons, streamers, confetti and welcome home banners. His friends were about pouring drinks, setting everything up when Joey turned on some loud dance music. It surprised him so much it made him jump in his seat but only Tea noticed and giggled, handing him a wine glass.
"You okay?" She asked sweetly.
She was so breathtaking to behold tonight, with her hair pulled back the way it was to expose her slender neck, her short dress to show off how long her legs were, beautiful red lipstick and subtle eye makeup … if he wasn't already in love he'd likely fall for her all over again.
"I'm fine. I just … didn't realise the weekend had come so quickly." Yugi lied, taking the glass from her. He swirled it around, hesitant to drink but she didn't notice. Instead she sat beside him, watching their friends enjoy themselves. Even Atem was wrestling with Tristan over some form of snack.
"It sure did. Seems like only yesterday that we were all in Egypt together huh? Or the Afterlife I guess." She said.
He nodded, agreeing with her completely. She had no idea how true her words were. It was only yesterday he was in the afterlife. He knew it. That sentiment was the truest thing he had felt since waking up here. The party, his friends … Atem… none of it was real.
"Atem seems really happy here." She said.
"He does." Yugi agreed. He wished this was real because he really did look happy. He'd seen him smile like that when they were in the afterlife. When he dragged him underwater, when they ran around the city, when they wrestled in bed … It was almost infuriating that whatever this reality was could imitate his happiness like it was real.
He stood to excuse himself, hoping to find some quiet place he could think but before he could leave he was stopped by Joey.
"Hey Yug. What do you think we should serve first? The -"
"It doesn't matter Joey. Whatever you want." Yugi said roughly, trying to walk past him.
"You okay man?"
"I'm fine Joey, let me pass." Yugi said impatiently but Joey put his hand on his shoulder, making him stop.
"Dude whats wrong? This is supposed to be a good time, whats happened?"
By now everyone had stopped to look at them and someone had turned down the music. They were now the center of attention and Yugi could feel his irritation growing.
"I'm fine guys. Just enjoy yourselves, I'll be back." He said, finally pushing past Joey and leaving the room.
He'd give almost anything to be left alone right now… and to his chilling surprise, one blink later he was alone. It was well and truly night time. The party was over and his friends had left or fallen asleep. He was standing on the balcony of the living room, looking out to the city streets while Joey and Tristan snored inside.
So… whatever this world was reacted to what he wanted? Well he wanted out. He wanted Atem. He wanted to know where he was, why he was here and how to get back to where he was supposed to be. But closing his eyes yielded him nothing this time. He was still on the balcony, still at night and his friends still snored.
"Osiris…?" He whispered, not even sure what he was hoping for but perhaps he would show himself and explain what was happening. Unfortunately he was just as silent as ever. "Atem…" Yugi whispered. Again not sure what he was hoping for. Maybe his voice to call to him from the distance, maybe a light to break through and guide him back to him … but nothing happened. He was alone here, in this world of fake smiles and fake laughter and fake everything.
Was this his afterlife? Did he die? Is this a test he's meant to pass or was he supposed to find peace here?
Or was it more sinister than that? Was this a cruel trick played on him. Was he being kept here while Atem and his friends were in danger? Were they in danger?
It was infuriating not knowing what was happening but what could he do? For the moment, this was his life and he needed to play his cards close to his chest until he knew the game he was playing.
"Atem… guide me." He prayed silently.
