Chapter 3:

Birthday bash!

The next morning, Atem slowly woke up stretching and cracking his neck. He looked down form his top bunk and saw that no one was below him. "Yugi?" he called climbing down from his bunk. He missed the second ledge and fell off the ladder onto his back. "Ouch!" he yelled rubbing his head. He slowly stood up and made his way into the kitchen.

"Yugi?" he called again. But there was no sign of his friend anywhere. He went out into the backyard finding Yugi alone. "Yugi? Is something wrong?" he asked walking to him. Yugi turned and smiled. "Happy Birthday, Atem," he said sweetly. Atem was confused. "Yugi, what do you mean?" he asked looking around. "Where's your friends at?"

"Right here, bro!" yelled Joey giving him a noogie. "Ow!" Atem cried trying to get out of the grip. "Hey I called dibs, dude!" Tristan cried pitching in. "Guys!" Atem said while laughing. "Stop it!"

The boys let him go and Atem just smiled. "See? I told everyone about your special day and they all came to say hello," Yugi said with a smile.

"Atem?" a small voice asked. Atem turned towards the sound seeing his best friend standing behind him, hands behind her back and blushing like mad. "Tea'…" he whispered going to her. "I missed you," he said softly. "I did too," Tea' said with a smile. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Atem's face turned cherry red. "Oho! Atem's got a girlfriend!" Yugi teased.

"Atem and Tea' sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-NG!" Joey and Tristan chanted. "Guys! Quit it!" Atem said blushing furiously. "Come on, man, we're just jokin'," Joey said. "Yeah, we all know you like Tea', even me," Yugi said with a smile. Atem's faced turned almost as red as a strawberry as did Tea's. "Hey, who's up for a swim at my place?" Joey said smirking.

"Count me in!" Yugi cried. "I'll go too," Tea' said smiling at Atem. The once Pharaoh smiled. "Well…it is my birthday as well," he said with a smile.

"Come on! The water won't leave until we get there!" Joey cried running to his house with the others on his heels.

After a while they were all swimming in the pool. Atem was just relaxing in dark purple swim trunks and was wearing black sunglasses and laying on one of the beach chairs reading Game.pro. "Come on, Atem! The water's great!" Yugi cried from the other side of the pool and jumped in. Atem raised his glasses up at him smirking. "Can't a Pharaoh just enjoy a day for once?" he smiled and snapped his fingers. "A little service here!"

"Come on, man! It's fun!" Joey cried as he dunked Tristan. Atem rolled his eyes and continued to read. Before he could, he saw Tea' walk in with a red bikini and a little butterfly at the right cup. Atem was stunned. She looked amazing!

Tea' noticed this and giggled. "Someone like my bikini or are you just happy to see me?" she asked. Atem blushed and didn't say a word. He set his magazine aside and went to the other side of the pool where Yugi was and sat down letting his feet dangle in the cold water. He looked up to the sky smiling as he felt the cool breeze of the afternoon wind rush him. He sighed happily letting the wind blow through his hair.

Suddenly, something grabbed him by his feet and he was pulled under. "Atem!" Yugi cried swimming over. Joey was the one who surfaced laughing his head off. "Joey! That wasn't nice!" Tea' snarled. "Come on! A little fun can't hurt. He should be comin' up for a payback by now," Joey said smirking. After a while, nothing happened. "Ah, man," Joey stuttered with fear in his voice.

Rolling her eyes, Tea' dived in the pool looking for the once Pharaoh and splashing Joey. "Hey! What was that for!" he yelled.

Tea' looked around in the pool swimming as fast as she could. Where could he be? She thought. From the corner of her eye, she saw something float. Thinking it was just a leaf she swam closer. To her horror she was wrong.

It was blood. She followed the trail down towards the Pharaoh where he lay unconscious and unmoving, his hair moving slowly with the water, the blood coming from a crack in his skull from when Joey pulled him under. She swam faster and hauled him up and swam up to the surface. She burst through with a gasp of air holding the lifeless Pharaoh in his arms. "Tea'! Are you okay?" Yugi asked as she swam towards the group setting the lifeless body on the ground and climbing out. "Yeah…I hope Atem is…" she panted as she got beside him and started giving him mouth to mouth. She put her head on his chest to listen to him breathe. Not even a gurgle answered her. She got on top of him thrusting at his chest. After a few minutes, Atem began to cough and sputtered up water.

"Atem! Are you alright?" Yugi cried. "…y-yes…" he rasped holding his throat. Tea' went inside to get a towel and wrapped Atem in it. "Does that help?" she asked.

"A…a little…" Atem rasped as he gave a small cough. "Sorry about that, man," Joey said sadly. Atem just smirked. "It's quite alright," he said placing his hand in the water and using his magic turned the puddle in his hand to ice cubes and placed them down Joey's back. "Ah! It's cold!" Joey cried squirming around. The others just laughed as did Atem coughing a little.

"Maybe you should rest a little," Yugi said helping him to his feet and leading him in the house. He carried him upstairs and set Atem on Joey's bed and covered him up. "Thanks, Yugi," he said with a smile. Yugi smiled back at him. "Try and rest a little. We'll check on you later," he said as the gang went back downstairs for the party.

Atem closed his eyes and fell asleep, drifting off into a nightmare.

-Dream-

The once Pharaoh awoke and sat up. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked around the room, only it wasn't his room. It was Yugi's. "Yugi?" he called. He then got up and went downstairs. No one was there. He looked outside and he saw nothing moving. No cars, no birds, no bikes, nothing.

He went over to the phone to call Yugi. Just as he did, the line went dead. He shrugged his shoulders and went to watch TV. But what was on was static. He turned off the TV and went to the fridge to get something to eat. It was completely empty.

Hewent to look at his cards. But every single card was gone. This is insane… he thought. Suddenly, he heard a shrilling laugh. Atem turned around, his heart just racing a mile a minute. Then it hit like a ton of bricks.

"BAKURA!" he yelled.

All the sudden, an orb of shadows appeared out of nowhere. Bakura stepped out of the orb, a smirk on his face. "What do you want?" Atem snarled. "Why did you come back, Pharaoh? Answer me that!" he said with an evil sneer.

"What are you doing here!" Atem snarled getting impatient. Bakura chuckled. "Why did I come here, you ask, dear Pharaoh? I remember when I added a piece of my soul to your puzzle, that puzzle has your soul inside it, a part of my journey to find your soul, I uncovered a door that led me to it! I decoded to use my power to multiply myself and investigate that door, the doorway to your soul. So for all you know…I am a part of you, Pharaoh!" his whole body transformed into the giant shadow creature Atem had destroyed long ago.

"No! What are you planning to do!" Atem cried in fear. "Simple, my Pharaoh. I want you…to murder young Yugi Mutoh!" Bakura snarled.

-End Dream-

"No!" Atem yelled as he jerked awake with a panicked cry, sweating. "Bakura…part of my soul…? I wonder…" Using his powers, he looked deep into his soul. All of the sudden, he started screaming and hiseyes dilated and fell off the bed gasping for air. He tried to stand up using the bedpost for support. "There's a part of my soul that won't let me enter…Bakura…" he said to himself.

All of the sudden, he began screaming again falling onto his back trying to block out whatever was hurting him. He suddenly stopped and opened his eyes. His eyes were now a dark red color, a sense of evil brewing in them. He stared at his hands in thought and began to cackle madly."I've done it!" he cackled in a voice that didn't belong to him.

Bakura was taking over his whole body! "Atem is gone. I am here now." He then jumped out the window shattering it and landed on his feet. He went out smirking to himself. "This should be fun," he smirked. He ran into an alleyway and disappeared into the night.

(R&R! Thanks for helpin, Exodia!)