Authoress' Note: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and any of its contents. (How come we always have to do that?) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapters...really tired....anyway, thank you again to Starheart! I really appreciate this!

(17 years later)

A young prince ran through the halls of the large palace, his blond bangs moving to the side as the calm breeze passed him, his red and black hair staying still as he ran. He was now 17 and was very carefree. It was daytime, and he was running away from his mother and father's advisor, who was forcing him to do the translations from the wall of hieroglyphics.

"Your Excellency, you must what you are told otherwise I will tell your father!" His mother's closest advisor, Rei, yelled after him, slowing to a stop in front of a servant.

The prince stopped running and turned around. "If you tell Father, then I will tell Mother how pesky you are." he said, a small grin on his face. He knew if his father would not listen to him, his mother would because his mother favored him more than his father did.

Rei's blue eyes started to twinkle as she too smiled at him. "Ah, Yugioh, you are so stubborn. Do anything to get away from work. Very well then, go on. You know how I treasure my friendship with your mother and my position, so go. But you will do the translations later otherwise you will not get to…er... goof off. with my son, your High Priest P. Seto." she said as she tossed her light brown hair and picked up her white dress and walked back to the east wing of the palace, where her quarters and study was located.

"Rei, wait!" Yugioh called.

Rei turned around to face the prince. "Yes, sire?"

"Thank you once again from saving me. I promise that I will do my work later."

She nodded again to him. "My prince, 'Promises are meant to be kept, not broken' and 'You do not understand your place in life. You only understand what fun it is to not do as your elders tell you, but someday you will realize what you did wrong.' You will one day see how much you will need this all. Mark my words." she finished, quoting a verse from one of Yugioh's mother's favorite scrolls of her sayings.

Yugioh rolled his eyes and said, "Must you always quote my mother?"

"Yes, I always must. She is young and wise and has many famous sayings. Now go, have fun before I tell your father." she said. Yugioh nodded and started running out of the palace again. Rei chuckled and continued to walk towards the east wing, remembering her youth because she used to do that a long time ago.

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Yugioh ran through the entrance hall of the palace. 'Ra, help me. I'm only 17. I'm a little young to be the next pharaoh of Egypt.' he thought as he kept running.  But while he was in deep thought, he ran into one of his best friends, the High Priest P. Seto, who was holding a ton of scrolls in his arms. The two guys ran into each other and everything fell on the floor.

"Oww….watch where you're going next time! For the prince of Egypt and the heir to the throne, you sure are clumsy!" the High Priest said. He brushed off the dust on his blue-violet robe and straightened his headpiece.

Yugioh slowly stood up and did the same. He flung his blue cape back and straightened his gold crown. "Watch it. You're talking to a royal, you remember?"

"Yeah, right, a royal fool." P. Seto teased. His eyes moved to the crown Yugioh was wearing and he gasped. "Oh…my…Ra! Your father really…but you're only 17!"

"Yeah, he did. He just made me swear on my birthright on being the next pharaoh. He needn't have done that because I have no other siblings. And so what if I'm 17? You are too…" Yugioh sighed heavily. "And then comes the training and all the stuff I have to learn."

"Look, Yami, I'm really sorry about your father and his sudden illness, but he did the right thing. Knowing you, you might not keep a promise..."  

"Look, Seto, don't worry about me, just worry about what my father's going to do if you don't get those scrolls to him!"

P. Seto slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot! I'll see you later!" he said and ran off. Yugioh laughed and continued to run out of the palace, thinking, 'You're so lucky, Seto. You don't have to soon run a country after your father dies..' But once again while he was in deep thought, Yami ran into none other than his mother, the Queen Nefertiti II. He paused at the sight of her and turned around, hoping to get away from his mother before she…

"Prince Yugioh, do not dare to turn your back on me!" Yami froze and turned around to face his mother.

"Yes, Mother?" he asked, bowing and kneeling in front of her.

Nefertiti's hand cupped her son's chin and made him rise. "Arise now, my son, for you are pardoned. Now, what may I ask are you doing trying to get out of the palace once again instead of learning your rightful duty as the prince and the heir of the throne of Egypt? Where is Rei?"

The prince stood up and gulped. "Umm…"

"Ah, I see, my son. You have yet again threatened Rei…"

"Mother, it wasn't a threat, it was a bribe!"

"Ah-ha! So you have been bribing Rei!" Nefertiti said, her eyes glowing with amusement. Yami looked at his mother with his crimson eyes wide open and then scowled.

"Mother, I don't know how you do it." he said.

"It's my touch. Now, Yugioh, I told you not to go bribing Rei like that. You know she will always subside from forcing you to do something because she values my friendship and her position so much." the Queen said sternly, giving her famous "You-better-listen-to-me-otherwise-you-will-pay" look, peering at her son with her gentle lavender eyes. Her eyes met his as he looked guiltily at her.

"Yes, but, Mother…."

"Don't you 'But Mother..' me! Yami, I will pardon you this time, but next time I will tell your father." she said.

"Tell Father what?" a voice asked. Queen Nefertiti and Yugioh turned around to see Pharaoh Seht standing there, his arms crossed. He was now 58, 17 years older than before, and this was his 47th year reign of being pharaoh of Egypt; but he was weaker due to his stress. But despite his age, he was still a strong pharaoh.

"Umm…tell you to talk to Mother about the crown." Yugioh said quickly.

The Pharaoh slowly walked gracefully over to his son, the Millennium Eye shining on his forehead. The young prince gulped, knowing that when the eye went off, his father would know he was lying.

"My son, I am the Pharaoh of Egypt, one of the chosen people of Ra. You cannot hide from me. You are the next one to inherit my position and you will soon see how I work with my powers. The Millennium Eye can see all. So tell me, why have you been avoiding Rei and your lessons?" Seht asked.

"You see Father, Rei wished to grant me a day off, but there was a catch, as there are to any other deals Rei makes. So she said that if I work harder this week, she would let me go free today. But she was clever and made me dumbfounded and tricked me. So I ran from the chamber of writings and she went after me. She wouldn't listen so I threatened. Then she agreed to let me go free and I ran into High Priest P. Seto and then into Mother and into you." the prince explained.

"As you insist, Father." Seht said, getting up from the floor.

"And who is this young prince?" the spirit asked, walking over to where Yami stood. "Ah, you must be Prince Yugioh, my grandson." he said.

"Yes, I am." Yami said.

"You've grown into a fine young man, I can see it." Rahotep stated, the golden eye glowing again. All of Pharaoh Seht's relatives had the dark power to control the Millennium Eye. The old spirit opened his eyes, which were also scarlet crimson, just like Yugioh's and Seht's eyes were. "I haven't seen you since you were first presented to me by your parents, which was 16 years ago. Now, if I recall, you are now 17 years old, correct?" Yami nodded again.

"He is supposed to get his guardian…" Seht trailed.

"My son, I know that already." Rahotep said, waving his hand at his son. "Okay, Yugioh, everyone in the royal family and all the people have their own personal guardian to guide and protect them when they are 17. Now one of these two mages," he pointed to the magicians in purple, "are destined to be for you."

"Father, obviously the Dark Magician is his guardian because the Dark…" Seht cut in.

"Silence, Seht!" The spirit turned to his son. "Haven't I taught you nothing? You remember my father, your grandfather, telling you who your guardian was. It is tradition for the past ruler before you to tell the next in line, which in this case after you is Yugioh, who and what his guardian is! Seht, when Yugioh marries and he and his queen have a child, you can tell him and have your turn. But for now, let me handle this." Rahotep finished his lecture.

"I'm sorry, Father, I just want what's best for my son." Seht sighed, bowing in front of his father.

"Arise now, for you are pardoned." Rahotep turned back to his grandson. "Now, this mage," he pointed to the one who had an elaborated costume and that had a long beard, "is my guardian, the Dark Sage. He is the grandfather of this young one, the Dark Magician." Rahotep pointed to the other magician, who was much younger. The Dark Magician jumped high and landed next to the former pharaoh. He then went up to the prince and bowed.

"My prince Yugioh, I am the Dark Magician, your guardian. I am here to serve you with all of my heart and soul." the spellcaster replied.

"I accept you now as my permanent guardian. Arise now, fearless magician, and show me your talents." Yugioh said.

Rahotep smiled as well as the Dark Sage. "Well, we must be going. Our time here is not for long, so good luck." he said.

"Thank you." Seht, Yugioh, and the Dark Magician mumbled to the two. The spirit nodded and disappeared into the portal. Before the Dark Sage left, he said to his grandson, "My dear magician child, you have my blessing for this job. Do not let your lineage and heritage down; we have served this family for over 5000 years. And most importantly, don't let the prince and his family down. We're all counting on you."

"I promise, Grandfather." the Dark Magician said. And with one last smile, the sage followed his master into the portal.

"Well, I think Yugioh was supposed to do something, like….go and play?!" Rei said. Everyone nodded and hugged Yami on his achievement of earning his guardian and left him to go wherever he pleased to today. The pharaoh and the queen went ahead with Rei and the Magician of Black Chaos and Cosmo Queen were about to leave along with the Dark Magician Girl when she spoke up.

"Wait, Dark Magician!" she yelled after the prince and his guardian.

The Dark Magician turned around and looked at her. "Yes?"

"Do you remember me at all?" she asked, walking over to him.

"Wait…" the spellcaster said, having a mental flashback of seeing this young girl magician in his mind with him when they were younger."Show me your staff. You look strangely familiar to me, and if you are who I think you are, your staff will prove it."

 The Dark Magician Girl held out a short light blue staff with a pink orb in the middle of the top of the staff. The Dark Magician looked carefully at the pink orb and found a sapphire diamond in the middle. He looked up in shock.

"Black Magician Girl, is that really you?" he asked. She nodded as they embraced.

"Whoa, you two know each other?" Yugioh asked.

The Dark Magician nodded. "Of course. She is my sister." he explained to his master. "That's why she looked so familiar. I could tell that she was really her because she has Mother's staff." He sighed. "Oh, dear sister, why didn't you contact me telepathically and tell me you were here?"

"I promised Grandfather."

"Oh. But why did you change your name from Black Magician Girl to Dark Magician Girl?" the Dark Magician asked.

"It was everyone's favorite nickname for me. My mistress and every other guardian here in this palace called me that, so I decided to change it. Now we really do sound like siblings!" the Dark Magician Girl laughed.

"My dear Dark Magician Girl! Come, we must go!" her mistress called.

"I will see you later. When your master or mistress calls you, you must obey. Remember that." The Dark Magician Girl winked at her brother and kissed him on the cheek. "Master Yugioh, I will see you later." she said and vanished.

"Well, that was a wonderful reunion!" the Dark Magician said. "My sister is so good at disappearing…"

"I know. Anyway, why don't we go deeper into Memphis? I need to see someone at the Nile now." Yami said. "Come."

"Master, wherever you may go, I will follow." The two walked out of the palace and out into the open areas of the town of Memphis and to the flowing banks of the Nile River. It was a clear, sunny day and on these days Yugioh would goof off, but today, he had something else on his mind.