Here's the next Chapter!

DISCLAIMER: YuGiOh and all associated characters belong to Takahashi-sensei, not to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4 - Yami no Game

"You challenge me to a Shadow Game?" Atem asked slowly, knife suspended in midair. The robed man jerked as though he'd been shot, looking worriedly from Atem to Yugi and back again.

:Yes. I know as much about the yami no game as you do, Atem-kun. I challenge you to one, here and now.:

"Very well." A smirk with no humour touched Atem's mouth. Yugi knew that look. It was the expression his yami gave those he was about to feed to the shadows: a promise of insanity or death. "I will drive you mad before I send you to Yomi. It seems a fitting punishment."

****************

Atem turned away from Yugi, trying to control his raging emotions. The man who had greeted him followed, protesting.

{Holy Son of Osirius, surely you will not allow this creature to live?}

{I did not give you leave to speak.} Atem snapped. {I will do as I please; you acknowledge that I am Pharaoh, do you not?}

{Yes, Great One.} The man looked shocked for a moment, then knelt on the spot and made obeisance. {Forgive me, Blessing of the Sun, Mighty King of Upper and Lower Egypt.}

{Oh get up.} Atem muttered. {You look ridiculous down there. Just unchain him,} he pointed to Yugi {and bring him over here.} Atem walked back to the bier, sitting on the cold stone. Four of his new 'attendants', who evidently spoke neither Japanese nor Egyptian, hurriedly exited to a small antechamber and pulled out a massive wooden throne, elaborately carved and inlaid with ivory and gold. They brought it over to him.

{Mighty Pharaoh} one said in halting and even more badly accented Egyptian. {We bring this to you.}

{My thanks.} he answered politely. The wood was padded with thick cushions and he settled in their softness. The leader of the 'attendants' brought Yugi, still chained hand and foot, to kneel before him.

{I thought I told you to unchain him.} Looking at the man, Atem thought he flushed.

{I did not want to expose you to danger, Son of the Morning.}

"I'm not too worried." Atem muttered in Japanese. He gestured and the man bowed, unlocking Yugi's chains. The boy seemed to barely have the strength to stand: Atem checked his impulse to help him. He's a murderer, he thought to himself. He tortured his friends and enjoyed it. What had happened to his gentle aibou? Had Yugi really been deceiving him this whole time?

Perhaps he had. Atem forced himself to harden his heart; to look at the boy - the young man - as a stranger. But it was hard, seeing those tear-filled violet eyes that glinted with an odd mix of anguish and determination.

"Well, Motou-san?" Atem asked, watching those bright eyes flash with hurt at the formal address. "You have challenged me - it is your right to set the rules of the game."

*****************************

Yugi rubbed his sore wrists and tried to control himself. Atem glared at him, seated on a throne like the Pharaoh he had been. Yugi knew he had to win this - more importantly, he had to prove that he was innocent. If he failed, he would die, drowned in darkness and madness, while Atem spread that dark taint over the whole world.

The amulet around his neck still weighed a ton, seeming to drag at him as he took a single step closer to his yami. The Sennen Eye on the puzzle glinted, giving Yugi the germ of an idea.

"I set the rules, ne?" At least he seemed to have regained some control over his voice. The words still came out ruder than he intended, but at least he'd meant to say them.

"Hai."

"Take us to the Shadow Realm." If they could just get away from the robed man…

"Very well." Atem gestured again, and darkness swirled around them, isolating them from everyone else.

The amulet around Yugi's neck flared with an ugly green light and he screamed in pain. He could feel it trying to take over his body, perhaps invigorated by the dark magic all around. Atem blinked and surprise ran across his feature before he schooled them to impassiveness. He watched unmoving as Yugi struggled to remove the chain. Finally he rose and strode over to the smaller teen, grabbing the links himself and pulling of off. Yugi collapsed, gasping for breath. Atem studied the necklace.

"Is this what made you do it?" he asked finally. "Is this what made you kill Anzu and the others?"

"Kill…Anzu?" Yugi choked out. "I never…"

"No?" Atem grabbed Yugi's chin in his free hand. "Then see what I saw, Motou-san. See and feel what I did, and tell me still if you are innocent. If you can then I will free you. If not…I will see the lie in your words, and I will destroy you. Will that do for a game?"

"If I lose…" Yugi murmured. He reached out and pulled a knife from the sheath at his yami's waist. "Here is the game, mou hitori no boku." He pointed the blade at his own stomach. "Look into my mind, Pharaoh. If you find me guilty, then leave me here to die."

Stunned, the Pharaoh jumped back. Was it a trick, a trap? No, the pain in Yugi's eyes was too real.

"I trust you, Atem-kun. You never p…punish the innocent. I would rather commit seppuku than have you hate me. I love you, mou hitori no boku." He closed his eyes and bowed from his knees, traditional Japanese style, still holding the knife at his stomach. Waiting. That finally released Atem's stunned shock. Grasping the puzzle in one hand, he reached out and touched Yugi's head with his other hand. The Puzzle flared, and Atem looked…

He saw everything Yugi had. The capture, the words of the robed man, everything. And thanks to the magic of the Millennium Puzzle, he knew it for truth.

Gently he took the knife from Yugi's grasp. He felt tears of his own forming, and his hatred, so strong towards Yugi, turned inward. How could he have doubted? He knew, yet had been deceived.

Placing the sharp weapon back in it's sheath, he raised Yugi to his feet, then removed the Puzzle from around his neck and placed it around his aibou's.

Kneeling, the former Pharaoh of all Egypt bowed, forehead to floor before his partner in utmost humility. "I beg your forgiveness, Yugi-sama. I am so sorry."

"It's okay." Yugi blushed and hugged Atem. "It's all okay. When you touched my mind, I saw what illusions they showed you. It's okay, really. Get up, please. It's not your fault."

Yugi and Atem knelt there for a long time, it seemed, both crying. Finally Yugi grinned and flicked a tear from Atem's cheek. "Now what would your courtiers have said if they had seen you crying like a little baby, mou hitori no boku?"

"I don't know, aibou, and I don't care." Wiping his face with the corner of his cloak, Atem looked up a Yugi. "I'll take us back to the real world, so I can do to that man what I had planned to do to you."

"Sounds good."

Surprised, Atem raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. "I didn't expect that, aibou."

"He nearly got you to kill me and tried to use you." Yugi grinned, a little shamefaced. "I think that he deserves a taste of your magic. Pharaoh."

Laughing, Atem gestured and they both appeared in the real world.

The laughter cut off as Atem fell forward with a choked cry into Yugi's arms. A knife, silver with snakes around the hilt, emerged from the small of the Pharaoh's back.