SUMMARY: Kaiba arrives at the end of the Ceremonial Duel just in time to throw a monkey wrench into Atem's dignified exit, accidentally propelling them into a nexus between dimensions. The law of unintended consequences is the new King of Games as Kaiba and Atem stumble their way through world after world, exploring the choices they've made – and all the ones they never considered. When you're nowhere, where do you go next?

TIMELINE: This manga-based story starts right at the end of the Ceremonial Duel and then branches off in its own direction. In the manga, Kaiba was not present in the Memory World arc or at the Ceremonial Duel.

MANGA NOTE (Death-T): In the manga, Kaiba steals the Blue Eyes White Dragon from Yugi. When he refuses to return it, Yami no Yugi challenges him to a penalty game. Kaiba loses and undergoes the promised "experience of death" and then re-experiences being ripped apart and killed by duel monsters every night. Kaiba builds Death-T to avenge his loss and in an attempt to make his nightmares stop by forcing Yugi to undergo his Death Simulation Chamber. When Yami no Yugi wins, he shatters Kaiba's heart, giving him the chance (and forcing him if he wants to recover) to rebuild it without the darkness that has consumed it.

I can't start a story without expressing my deep sense of admiration and gratitude towards Kazuki Takahashi for creating such vibrant characters and for his generosity in sharing them with us.


CHAPTER 1: THE AIRPORT RUN CLICHÉ

THE AIRPORT RUN CLICHÉ: From the 1920 silent film, "Girl Shy," where Harold LLoyd misses a train and then jumps from car to car to fire truck, steals a trolley, a police motorcycle and a horse and buggy to stop his girl from marrying the wrong guy – to Sue Charlton shoving her way down a packed subway platform in the 1986 "Crocodile Dundee" – the airport run is a testament to love overcoming all obstacles, even a New York City rush hour crowd.

Of course, when a New Jersey man tried a literal airport run to give his girlfriend one last kiss, he ended up with a $500 fine and 100 hours of community service, proving that some clichés are better left to fiction.

And when it comes to Kaiba and Atem, sometimes you have to be the airport run cliché you want to see.

MORAL: Clichés are stories we love so much, we can't resist telling them over and over.


Kaiba stole down the pyramid steps, silent as a tomb robber, with Mokuba at his heels. Noise was the right of invited guests; stealth became him better.

Kaiba was in the same outfit he'd worn throughout Battle City, where Yugi – or rather, Atem – had promised him a duel, where he'd said they were friends, where Atem had sworn that Kaiba's life chip had value, that the mark of a duelist was rising above a defeat.

Where Atem had lied.

Kaiba paused, scanning the enormous room that opened at the foot of the staircase, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. As expected, everyone was there. Kaiba crossed his arms, refusing to acknowledge anything deeper than a cleansing rage.

Atem had insisted he was Kaiba's friend. But he hadn't bothered telling Kaiba that a life or death duel was about to go down. The head of Kaiba Corporation's Intelligence Department had earned herself a bonus with the news that the gang had gone to Egypt. Kaiba hadn't cared. He'd assumed they'd return; he'd assumed he and Atem had time for a final, decisive duel, one that would prove he'd learned, he'd grown, one that showed that friendship really had been in their cards all along.

He'd been wrong.

Isis had emailed next. Amid the mystical ramblings about past lives and destiny and duty, he'd grasped the salient point: Atem and Yugi were going to duel. Atem was planning to leave, to forsake Domino for the after-life if he lost. Kaiba hadn't been surprised, as if the whole time he'd been trying to puzzle out the meaning of friendship, what he'd really been waiting for was the inevitability of betrayal.

The only remaining mystery was why Isis had given him a heads up. Kaiba had been grateful and puzzled in equal measure.

Kaiba had paced his office all night, swearing to stay home with each step. At daybreak, he'd flown to Egypt instead and headed straight to the dueling site in yet another of Egypt's endless supply of pyramids.

Kaiba shook off his unprofitable memories. He signaled to his brother to keep silent. Not that it mattered. The gang was so focused on the duel, Kaiba could have flown a helicopter in without attracting attention.

He'd missed the beginning and middle of the duel. Yugi had the Silent Magician on the field, his Spell card, Gold Sarcophagus sat next to it. Atem's side was empty, except for a face down card. Atem flipped it over, unveiling Monster Reborn. Kaiba smiled. He'd timed his entrance perfectly. Atem was about to revive one of his god cards. He'd win the duel and then Kaiba could light into him for his hypocrisy and demand his own rematch since he obviously couldn't depend on Atem's word.

"Boring and predictable. It was hardly worth the trouble it took to get here," Kaiba grumbled.

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, like you're not going to demand a duel now that the warm-up round is over." Mokuba gestured to the duel disk on his brother's arm. "I mean, you did come prepared."

"Okay. Barely worth our time," Kaiba said with a grin.

Kaiba turned back to the duel, drumming his fingers against his side, as he waited impatiently for Slifer the Sky Dragon's attack, for Yugi's life points to drop to zero, for this boring charade to end. But Yugi opened Gold Sarcophagus, revealing his own Monster Reborn nestled inside, a combination that stabbed Atem's spell card through the heart, negating its effect. Kaiba whistled silently as Slifer disappeared, one more ghost in a monument to death.

"What happened?" Mokuba whispered.

"Yugi sent Atem to his grave along with his god card. He drove a knife through Atem's Monster Reborn. The message seems sufficiently clear."

Yugi unleashed his final attack. Atem's life points dropped to zero. Kaiba's eyes gleamed in the dim light. What would Atem do now? When it came down to it, was Atem really prepared to lose and die?

Yugi sank to his knees, sobbing.

Kaiba snorted. Yugi was crying. What else was new? Kaiba shifted slightly on the stone floor, waiting for Yugi's tears to work.

Except they didn't.

Atem stopped for a moment, murmured something predictably consoling to his one-time partner and headed towards the after-life without glancing back.

Kaiba had come for a duel and a victory. He'd arrived in time for the kill, in time to watch Atem throw his life chip on the table, in time to see him lose.

Atem's supposed friends stood around uselessly, watching Atem walk to his death as if he was crossing the street.

As if death wasn't forever.

Kaiba wanted to shout Atem's name, the name he'd never used. He wanted to yell, "Wait!" as if his cry had the power to change Atem's mind, the way Atem had changed his. Kaiba wanted to scream at Atem for choosing death, he wanted to beg Atem to stay. He wanted to ask why this was happening, why he was the only one who didn't rate an answer.

Except he didn't.

The words were too sharp and jagged, too ready to shatter like glass in his mouth. Kaiba couldn't figure out how to release them without slicing himself to shreds.

Atem was almost at the door.

It was the end.

"No!" Kaiba yelled. He was used to making snap decisions and living with the consequences later.

This was something else, something beyond thought or choice or consciousness.

Kaiba lunged forward before he was aware he was moving, scattering Yugi's friends in his headlong dash. Their shouted words were beyond Kaiba's ability to decipher. Atem turned to face Kaiba, off balanced and flat-footed. He stared at Kaiba open-mouthed, eyes widening, until he looked like Yugi more than ever before, even as his skin darkened and Yugi's clothes morphed into a tunic and cape, leaving only the Cheshire Cat grin of his duel disk, the last remnant of his life, clinging to his arm.

"Kaiba," Atem breathed, an invocation, a warning, a welcome.

Kaiba looked up at the sound of his name as he reached Atem; the force of his rush and their combined body weight propelled them forwards. They fell together with snowflake gentleness, then careened with blizzard speed straight through the doorway.

And then they were somewhere impossible. They could have been walking on clouds, if clouds were shaped like white, tabula rasa flowers and capable of holding their weight. The sky above them was the improbable blue repeated each day as the sun drops below the horizon, but the stars that flickered above belonged to the deepest night. Kaiba stared at the unfamiliar constellations; they didn't match any configuration seen on Earth, in any latitude or season.

Kaiba lowered his gaze. He could see a city in the distance, somewhere in the shadowed land below them… Domino perhaps. It was neon bright in the night. Atem faced a wind-swept desert, a town, a palace.

They turned and looked at each other.

Kaiba could see the palace over Atem's shoulder. Was that the after-life Atem had been trying to reach?

He turned back, but the city had been replaced by a park. A fountain burbled in the background.

"I don't understand," Atem muttered.

Kaiba switched views again. A river flowed through the after-life, if that's what it was. Green reeds waved in the breeze. It looked peaceful, if you were into that kind of thing. Kaiba grunted, refusing to let doubt infect him.

"Where are we?" Atem asked.

"How should I know?" Kaiba replied irritably. "It was your door."

"I thought I saw my court waiting to receive me. Then, you grabbed me and everything changed. What have you done?"

"Stopped you before you killed yourself. You're welcome."

"That was my destiny!"

"Did you choose it?" Kaiba shot back just as swiftly.

Atem stared at him. Why did Kaiba always ask the questions no one else did? Why were they always so hard to answer?

"What is choice?" he finally said.

The silence stretched between them, their breaths muffled by the flowerlike clouds beneath their feet, by the wide expanse of starred sky above. Kaiba's words strode out, marching to a funeral beat. "Choice is the footprints you can't erase no matter how hard you try, the decisions that trail behind you with every step you take forward. But you evaded that responsibility, didn't you? You passed the buck to Yugi or destiny or whatever was handy while the rest of us had to slog through the mud, owning every second of every wrong move."

Kaiba scowled. Including this one. Why had he leapt to save someone who obviously didn't care? Atem would have died. Kaiba would have survived, as always. "I didn't want another victory through attrition," Kaiba muttered.

Atem stared at him, startled. "What?"

"Losing might be death, but survival isn't a victory. It's merely the price you pay."

"After everything we've seen, after all the times we've dueled, how can you stand there insisting that losers deserve death? You know better! The road of battle is about life!"

Kaiba applauded, each slow, sharp beat of his hands merciless in its contempt. "Nice lecture. It'd go over better if you hadn't just lost a duel and tried to kill yourself."

"Enough, Kaiba!" Atem ordered.

Kaiba raised two fingers to his forehead in salute, just as he had when he'd flown off from Alcatraz. "Congratulations. Well played. You got me to doubt everything I'd been taught – that losing equals death, that friendship leads to betrayal – and just when you'd almost succeeded, you chucked your fine ideals into the graveyard like a 3-star monster that's served its purpose." Kaiba gave a bark of laughter, bitter as poison and just as quickly spat out. 'You agreed with Gozaburo all along and I was the pathetic fool too deluded to see it."

Atem opened his mouth. He screamed something, but the blood was pounding in Kaiba's head, Gozaburo's laughter was ringing in his ears, driving out all other sounds. Kaiba closed his eyes and sank to his knees, clutching his hair.

The noise quieted. Kaiba opened his eyes, still dazed and drawn. He was sitting down. That strange limbo world with its cloud flowers and impossible stars had vanished. He was facing Atem across a small dueling table. Kaiba breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow, they'd found their way back to Domino. He recognized the dueling arena at KaibaLand. The crown roared his name, or maybe they were just chanting for blood. It was hard to tell in the soundproof box. Atem was back in Yugi's school uniform – and in Yugi's skin – once again.

Kaiba swayed in his seat, dizzy and nauseous, as if his molecules had been torn apart and then reassembled in a slightly different configuration; thousands of theories about teleportation, dimensional portals, many-worlds and topological phases crashed together and tore through his mind.

A spasm shook his body. Kaiba shivered, straining for alertness, as if he'd woken up underwater and needed to force himself to surface before he drowned. He gave a final gasp and sat up in his chair.

He glared at his opponent, his momentary weakness, forgotten. He straightened the cuffs on his white school uniform jacket, traced the gold embroidery. It was fitting for a coronation. He was Seto Kaiba, creator of Death-T, soon to be the Duel Monsters champion again.

Kaiba studied at the board. Swords of Revealing Light held his mighty Blue Eyes White Dragon powerless for one more turn. Yugi's Dark Magician was facing him. Kaiba smiled. He was about to crush Yugi… or more specifically, the Other Yugi, the Yugi who haunted his dreams. Kaiba didn't mind the wait. He wanted to enjoy every minute of watching dread creep into the Other Yugi's blood-dark eyes.

Yugi had to know he was doomed, that a penalty game lay in wait. It was time for Kaiba to be the master here. It was time to prove that friendship wasn't real, that brotherly love didn't exist, that Gozaburo was right. After today, Kaiba wouldn't be the only one who'd experienced Death, who'd learned the hard way that the cards had teeth.

Kaiba drew another card. Another dragon. He laughed as it tore through Yugi's Dark Magician.

Kaiba was so close. He was going to crush Yugi. His dragon – the one that had remained loyal – was going to deliver the final blow. Yugi should have been the one facing that penalty game the first time, a mistake that Kaiba was about to correct.

"It's time for the last turn," Yugi said, seeming to gain confidence as he looked at the four cards in his hand.

"Not quite. My turn hasn't ended, yet," Kaiba said as he played Card Destruction, sending both their hands to the graveyard. He watched wide-eyed as Yugi discarded four of the five cards that made up Exodia.

Yugi drew his final card and silently placed Exodia's head face up on the field.

What more proof did Kaiba need that Gozaburo was right, that friendship and unity was an illusion, that power was all you needed… that losers deserved to die?

It was time to sweep Swords of Revealing Light off the field. It was time for the kill.

And maybe then the nightmares would stop.

"Blue Eyes White Dragon – attack!"

Yugi's life points dropped to zero. Those red eyes looked haunted, now. Kaiba grinned and got up. "You know the drill. It's your turn to face my penalty game."

Kaiba exited the Death Simulation Chamber. He watched as the monsters emerged and then crowded closer. The crowd roared in approval. Kaiba threw his head back and laughed. This is what it meant to win, to be a king among men. This is what it meant to be in control… to be safe.

A hand tugged at his sleeve. Mokuba. He'd forgotten.

"Please," Mokuba whispered. "He saved me."

"I should have expected you to stab me in the back. Gozaburo predicted it."

"I didn't! I just wanted to help. I want you to be happy. I want you to smile again. Please, Nisama."

Kaiba shook Mokuba's hand off his arm. "I'm willing to overlook your behavior. Once and only once," he hissed. He gestured to the Death Simulation Chamber. "Shut up before you end up like him, and this time they'll be no one to rescue you."

Mokuba took a step back, wiping his nose on his cuffs and trying to control his sobs before they angered his brother even more. Kaiba ignored him. The monsters had reached Yugi. He was screaming raw piercing cries, his mouth barely able to form pleas for a mercy that was never coming. Kaiba wondered if the weaker Yugi – that cowardly crybaby who sent his other self out like a rabid dog whenever he was too afraid to attack himself – would die as well. Kaiba hoped so. Seven minutes to insanity or death. Kaiba smiled as the Other Yugi's shrieks reached a crescendo and then dropped to pitiful, beaten whispers; Yugi's throat could no longer scream.

"I won," Kaiba said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, trying to hold onto the moment, those precious seconds when he could love himself, when he could believe he was triumphant.

And that suddenly, Kaiba lost his grip on everything. The table vanished. The crowded stadium swirled together and exploded as swiftly as a duel monster shattering. Kaiba staggered backwards, finding his footing in the clouds beneath his feet. Only the feeling of victory remained, lingering in the smirk on Kaiba's lips as he regarded his opponent.

Atem. His rival's name was Atem, not Yugi. How had he forgotten?

Where had he been?

Kaiba swiveled, his movement clumsy in its speed, half expecting to find himself back at Death-T, half expecting to see the Death Simulation Chamber reemerge, with Atem inside of it, screaming helplessly, hopelessly. Had he – even for a second – wanted that? Kaiba thought of Mokuba, cringing away from him, and shuddered.

"You bastard!" Atem shouted. "Damn you! How dare you drag me through some warped fantasy where you managed to beat me?"

"You think I did this? How?" Kaiba asked. He wanted to scream that it hadn't been him presiding over Death-T.

Except he had.

"Don't lie! You're the one who brought us here. You're the one who creates illusions that can hurt!"

"If I was going to create a virtual world, do you think it'd look anything like this mess?" Kaiba asked, sweeping a hand around. "A boring, shapeless waste of space with nothing to look at except a bunch of weird flowers?" Kaiba pointed at the palace shinning in the distance. "You think I put up a couple of flat screen monitors and decided to run vacation locations on a continuous loop? Give me some credit!"

Atem bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Kaiba's genuine outrage at the slight to his technical ability was the most convincing proof he could have offered.

"It's just like you to scramble for the high ground." Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he lined up his kill shot. "You've conveniently forgotten that there's two of us here who've used illusions to torture. Your friends might help you gloss over it, but I know what you are."

Atem stiffened. "So do I," he spat out. "But you were the one enjoying that scene, weren't you? Did it give you a sick thrill?"

At last, a question Kaiba could answer. He smirked. "Yes."

"How can you…"

"Admit it? I'm not the one who has problems staring down my own darkness."

"Staring it down? Or reveling in it? Did it make you feel like a big man? Like a king?"

"King of what?" Kaiba scoffed. "The other rats in the sewer?"

"I don't know what happened – or why," Atem said. "Maybe it was to bring you face to face with your own stupid choices. Nothing mattered in that moment of victory, did it? Not your brother, not even what you were doing to yourself. I saw it. But don't pretend you have no regrets, that if you had the choice, you'd step into that world without a backwards glance."

Mokuba's face flashed before Kaiba's eyes. He scowled. Mokuba was none of Atem's business. "What's the matter?" he taunted. "Didn't like your taste of death? Why? No friends encouraging you to kill yourself? It's not so pretty when it's the real thing and you're alone and terrified. Maybe you have some things to learn, too. How did it feel, Pharaoh?"

"Horrible. Like failure. Like helplessness. Like I deserved to be tossed aside. Like…"

"Like losing equals death? It's easier to dish out than to take, isn't it?" Kaiba hissed, his voice talon sharp.

"And the worst part is that I failed Yugi. I gambled with both our lives." Atem bowed his head.

Kaiba's mocking laughter echoed in the vastness of limbo. "Can't you ever be honest? Of course, you weren't afraid for yourself. You're too noble for that. Of course, even as you were begging for mercy, it was only because you'd disappointed your partner."

Atem flushed. He'd been devoured by his own fears, too lost in them to be aware of anything else. His screams had been a raw plea for life, a burning need for one more day. He'd managed to ignore his own yearning to exist, to be, in his headlong rush for destiny and Yugi's freedom, until Kaiba had disinterred a desire he'd never to admitted before. In that final moment he'd been alone and he'd wanted more.

"I loved seeing you naked, stripped of your dignity, of your fake self-righteousness. I loved seeing you rolling in the mud with the rest of us, fighting for every second," Kaiba panted.

"Stop it!" Atem screamed, his voice still hoarse. He tackled Kaiba into the softness of the flower clouds at their feet, white dots sprinkled among blood-dark purple leaves. They perfumed the air with the taint of anger and regret. "Why do you always have to trash everything in your path?" Atem hissed as they wrestled among the flowers.

Kaiba flipped him over. "What about you? For all your talk of standing up after a loss, you just couldn't work up the balls to do it! You upended my life and then you were going to cut and run! What happened to our road of battle? What happened to our lives having value? What happened to everything you ever told me?"

Atem opened his mouth. It took a few seconds for words to escape; they were softer and sadder, now. "How did we get here, Kaiba? Once we understood each other. We could talk. We were… friends. I know we were. I won't accept anything else."

Kaiba flopped down on his back next to Atem, his strength suddenly spent. Atem shifted his arm, moved his hand, then stretched out his fingers until his pinkie was resting on Kaiba's as they both stared at the sky.

Kaiba's first impulse was to roll away from even so tentative a connection, except he felt like he was still in a soundproof box, alone and untouchable. But Atem's pinkie was on his, grounding him, his last fragile tie to the world he'd known, to the friendship he'd denied. He curled his own pinkie slightly, holding them both in place.

Kaiba frowned, thinking of the alien world they'd just left. Was that how Atem saw him? As the architect of Death-T as if nothing had changed from that moment to this?

Atem's touch, slight as it was, argued otherwise.

"I don't know what we are any more," Kaiba said wearily. "I thought I did. Then I heard you were fighting a duel. That you were leaving. I found out from my security team. Even Isis emailed. She thought I had a right to know. Or maybe she wanted to see me challenge destiny one more time." Kaiba shut his eyes and whispered, "Why didn't you?"


.

A huge thanks to Bnomiko for agreeing to beta this story!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: One of the best things about starting a story is that you get to thank people. And I couldn't start a story without thanking Bnomiko, whose friendship I value more than I can express without sounding hopelessly corny. You're such a big part of what makes this fun! I'd also like to thank Rainstormcolors, who saw this story when it was a just a paragraph. I'm so glad we got to know each other! Thanks to Splintered_Star, KaibaCorporationintern (Bobtailsquid) and Desidera for listening to all things Yu-Gi-Oh! and everything else, and the gang at the 18+ prideshipping Discord, Dark Pride of Dimensions (Check us out!)

Rainstormcolors showed me fanart of Kaiba and Atem standing amid flowers, looking at a city, which really inspired how I saw limbo. I'm including a link to the picture. It's the last one in the collection. Both the collection and the artist's other work is lovely!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's something exciting about writing the first Author's Note. Two things came together to create this story. Way before the movie came out, I was really caught by the title, "The Dark Side of Dimensions." It evoked a vision of Kaiba and Atem falling through dimensions, tumbling in and out of alternative worlds. As I was working on another story at the time, this simply remained a vague image. Later, when I was trying to think of a title for "A River in Egypt," someone said that they'd read the story, even if the title was "Just Another Prideshipping Story," which honestly, was such a great compliment, I was walking (like Kaiba and Atem) on clouds. But it also got me thinking about clichés and why we (okay, me) love them, And I wanted to write something that looked – without hiding behind a veneer of irony – at what I love about these two characters and the stories we tell about them. This story is the result of the unexpected fusion of those two ideas.

For me, this story gelled and became real the moment Atem asked, "What is choice?" The moment he said it, I realized just how many different aspects to and definitions of choice there are. Kaiba gave one answer in this chapter, but others may occur to him and to Atem as the story goes along.

Stay safe everyone!

SOCIAL MEDIA NOTE: I am on Tumblr, Dreamwidth and Pillowfort as Nenya85. Come check me out there!

One of my favorite quotes is the line from Dune: "Beginnings are such delicate times." I find this true for stories, and I'd love to know what you think of this beginning. Please comment.