Hi, and surprisingly here on time is Chapter 5! I will say though, that I will definitely not be updating next week and maybe even not the week after, so at the latest the next update should be 30th August. My apologies for that, but I have a dig coming up this weekend and then I have a whole bunch of research/trips for my dissertation in the week after that, which doesn't leave a lot of time for writing. I also would like to get back on top of writing this so that I have a couple of chapters ready for any more eventualities like this, or where I inevitably hit writer's block, so you shouldn't be left hanging for too long.

Anyway, other than that, I hope you enjoy!

To avoid confusion:

Words Yami speaking mentally

Words Yugi speaking mentally

"Words" Characters speaking Japanese

"Words" Characters speaking Ancient Egyptian

"Words" Characters speaking Arabic

"Words" Characters speaking Akkadian

The train carriage was silent as they sped through the countryside. There was no sound except that of Kaiba tapping away at his laptop, but Yugi found he didn't mind so much. Harry had wandered off with some of his other friends when Hermione and Ron had gone off to perform their prefect duties and no one else seemed to want to sit with the four odd newcomers. Marik was taking this time to catch up on his sleep and Ryou had his nose buried in one of their many new school books- his Divination one by the looks of things. Yugi himself had been going through his deck, but after three hours even that was getting old. He resisted the urge to ask how much longer the train would be.

I wonder where the other two went off to Yugi mused to Yami. The Pharaoh was quiet, lost in his own thoughts and shook himself off at Yugi's interruption.

I'm not sure but they seemed very keen to get away from us he replied. Yugi bit his lip, thinking that his friend was right. They had arrived on the platform, only to meet up with Atem's sisters who had fluttered out their goodbyes in Coptic, the elder of the two wrapping him in a hug before he was half attacked by the younger of the two. It had been funny but, when Yugi had been about to approach and ask if they wanted to join them, they had seemingly melted into the crowd. He had tried asking Marik what that was all about, but the young Tomb Keeper was strangely tight lipped about the whole affair. He didn't really seem to know where he stood with them.

They were distracted from their musings when Kaiba suddenly cursed and slammed his laptop shut, loud enough to make Ryou jump and Marik awake with a start.

"What on earth is up with you?" Marik asked, disgruntled that his nap had been interrupted.

"It just shut off! Three hours on this blasted train, with no battery issues and it just stops," Kaiba growled, face stormy. Yugi blinked and then checked his phone, which had been charged to full using the solar powered charger Kaiba had brought with him. It too was dead.

"But that doesn't make any sense," he said, tapping the start button, despite knowing that it wouldn't do anything.

"According to Hermione, it's because of all the magic," Ryou said, but he didn't sound very convinced. Kaiba looked just as disgusted by that description as he rooted around in his luggage for something. Marik just frowned.

"Well, if that were true, wouldn't all the technology we use not work? We're constantly surrounded by Shadow magic and it has never affected technology like this." He was looking almost as disgusted as Kaiba. Considering that he had only spent a handful of years with technology, he didn't look thrilled to be reliving his years in the tombs.

There must be some kind of magic at work that stops your phone from working. May I? Yami asked and Yugi gladly relinquished control over to him. Watching from spirit form- which was always a weird experience- he was able to note that Hermione had just slipped in through the door. Right as Yami poked at the enchantments on the train, making the entire carriage take on a strange fuzzy light before reverting back to normal.

"Oh! What did you do?" she exclaimed, looking around the carriage as if the effect was going to appear once again. In what had to be the fastest switch they had ever done, Yugi found himself back in his body and gasping slightly for air. Sorry Yami murmured as Yugi attempted to catch his breath. Sometimes, the Pharaoh forgot that breathing was essential for Yugi's body and it was slightly deprived of air when they changed back.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Yugi said, giving her his best abashed face. "I was curious because all our technology stopped working all of a sudden!" Hermione blinked, before understanding dawned.

"Oh, yes, well technology doesn't work at Hogwarts. I'm surprised you had it working even this far into the journey," she said, her voice clearly emanating 'I told you so'.

"Except for the fact that my tech has worked perfectly fine around all other kinds of magic," Kaiba snapped, who had been fiddling with his own phone, apparently in the process of taking it apart. "Your excuse that it's due to too much magic is bullshit." If looks could kill, Hermione would have been dead five times over considering the looks she was getting from the rest of the carriage, not just from Kaiba. Hermione, however, looked confused but was stopped from answering as Ron appeared behind her.

"Hey, apparently one of the transfers lost their pet…" he trailed off, noticing the tension in the air. "Er, what happened?"

"Nothing, Kaiba's just upset that he can't get hold of Mokuba," Yugi said quickly. It wasn't exactly a lie- just not the whole truth. But he also didn't want to answer any awkward questions regarding the Millennium Items. They had agreed amongst themselves that these wizards had no need to know of them or the power they wielded, a sentiment that seemed to be shared by the two Tomb Keepers that had joined them. Hermione looked mollified by this as Ron just shrugged.

"Oh, well then we'll-"

"And what do we have here?" a voice suddenly interrupted, causing both Ron and Hermione to become rather tense. Into the compartment stepped a thin-faced boy with slicked back pale blonde hair and two of the thickest boys Yugi had ever seen. They seemed more like gorillas rather than people.

"Malfoy," Ron spat as the other boy sneered at him. Yugi squirmed in his seat, unhappy by this turn of events. He didn't like conflict at the best of times, but this boy had clearly only come here to cause it.

"I heard that the old man had invited some filthy Mudbloods from overseas," the boy- Malfoy- drawled. "But I didn't think he actually had." He was staring down at Kaiba's half dismantled phone with the expression one would give to a piece of dogshit their pet had left on the carpet.

"And you are?" Kaiba bristled, already at his limit of idiots for the day. Malfoy drew himself upwards- as if that would make a difference to someone who was easily six foot and towered over everyone-, turning the sneer towards him.

"Draco Malfoy," he said, in a tone that indicated he thought less of Kaiba then he did of dirt.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Kaiba sneered right back. Malfoy had stepped into playing a dangerous game with someone who was used to ignoramuses on a daily basis. The boy's face twitched in irritation.

"My father-" he started but Kaiba cut him off.

"I couldn't care less about your father. I'm Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation and I won't be spoken to in such a way," he spat, eyes narrowed at the boy. Malfoy's face went white in rage; he raised his wand and was presumably about to attack Kaiba when something long and white suddenly launched itself at him from under Ryou's seat.

Three things seemed to happen all at once. Ryou jumped up onto his seat, Malfoy attempted to get away, lurching to the left, but was cut off by a tanned hand which had almost casually reached out and caught the snake's head, fangs extended and spitting venom towards Malfoy. The blonde boy whimpered, turning to see who this new adversary was, only to come face to face with blood red eyes. Atem gave him a long cool look before shaking his head.

"Looks like Diabound smelled a rat after all," was the only comment he made. The snake thrashed angrily in his hand, attempting to get away but, strangely, not biting him. Malfoy staggered away from him, mouth opening and closing in horror, before turning tail and running out of the carriage, his cronies following him. Ron, who was pressed right up against the wall of the compartment was staring at him.

"Where the bloody hell did that come from?!" Ron half shouted. Atem ignored him, as did the snake since Akhefia had rounded the corner.

"Why were three idiots running down the train?" he asked, in a tone of voice that stated he really didn't care. Atem simply raised the snake, which was considerably calmer now that it's master was in sight.

"Make sure Diabound doesn't eat anyone," was the only answer he got. Akhefia merely shrugged and allowed the snake to slither back into his robe through his sleeve. Yugi noted that the pair were dressed in more western clothing now- Atem was wearing a loose cotton shirt with black cargo trousers, while Akhefia had black jeans and a t-shirt on under his signature red robe.

"You have a pet snake!" Ron squeaked and Yugi was suddenly reminded that that was why he had been there in the first place. Because Akhefia had apparently lost him, although hadn't bothered telling Ron what exactly he was looking for.

"What's it to you?" the older boy growled, as happy as ever. Ron made an odd noise before fleeing down the corridor, Hermione following close behind. Atem looked mildly confused before giving an odd shrug and then turning to Kaiba.

"Ah, here," he said, picking up Kaiba's laptop, much to the other boy's protests. Pulling a marker from a pocket he quickly scribbled something over the top and, one murmured spell in Coptic later, handed it back, suddenly working. Kaiba stared at it for a moment, before narrowing his eyes.

"What did you do?"

"There is a spell here, stopping all Muggle technology from working unless the wizards allow it. It is a counter spell we made to prevent this," Atem explained. He was then suddenly inundated by requests from Marik and Ryou to fix their things too. Atem looked a bit alarmed but politely agreed, casting the spell over their phones, laptops and duel disks too. Then he turned to Yugi.

"Was there anything that you wanted to work?" he asked politely. Yugi stared for a moment, still trying to take in the last few minutes, but then shook himself off and shyly held up his phone.

"Ah, yes please. Um, just let me find my computer and duel disk," he said. Atem simply gave him a soft smile and a nod, already working on his phone. When Yugi had finally located his other things, Atem was finished with his phone. He quickly worked through the other things before doing the same for Kaiba. Yugi looked them over, noting that this spell seemed much like the protection spell over their door back in Grimmauld Place. There was his name, and the odd cartouche representing the Pharaoh, along with a brief line of neat hieratic next to it.

What does it say? Yugi asked the Pharaoh. He felt him glance over it over his shoulder.

Exactly what he said it does. Our names along with permission to allow it to be used. By the feel of it, it also stops others from using the technology without your permission as well so it would only work for others if you gave it to them for use Yami explained, one ghostly finger tracing the lines gently. It was so weird how close Atem's handwriting was to that of his. The other two boys had given their leave, explaining that they would most likely arrive in the next couple of hours and they still had a few things to do along with getting changed. Yugi made a face at the thought of the black robes folded in the trunk that the lady at the shop insisted they all needed, cut slightly longer on him to accommodate for any switches with the Pharaoh- it would be odd if they swapped and suddenly his robes were too small for him. It wasn't too noticeable, and he had given the excuse, jokingly, that he might grow some during the year which had given the friendly witch in the robe shop a laugh at the very least.

Kaiba was eyeing the glyphs on his own tech with an odd expression but had made no comment. Unlike them, he had also had Atem use it on his calculator too- Kaiba refused to use medieval methods for his Arithmancy class. Yugi wondered what he was thinking. Yami had told him what he had learnt that first day in the country and it was glaringly obvious that Atem was the cousin Kaiba had been talking about, but it was impossible to get anything more out of him. He barely even treated him like family- more of an unwanted relative that he just couldn't get rid of. But every so often, Kaiba would get this strange expression on his face, like he was considering something, but Yugi didn't want to pry. It really wasn't any of his business.

"So, now that our stuff works, anyone up for a duel?" Marik asked.

The train compartment was silent as they slipped into their new robes. The black robes of the wizards felt different to the usual Mage's robes that Atem was used to wearing but so far that was fine. He and Akhefia hid their regular clothes underneath them- the school had tried to insist on some kind of uniform in case the robes opened but Atem had ignored them on principal- they were not here to make friends. In fact, the only reason they had come at all was sat three carriages down. To think that his father would insist on this after having ripped his own family apart… sometimes Atem wondered how much they would have to pay for what had happened all those years ago.

Haphiri was sat quietly in the corner. No amount of modern magic had any hope of keeping her out from where she wanted to be. She was studiously watching the world go past the window and Atem could appreciate that- having spent his whole life living in a desert, the overflowing amount of green was overwhelming at times. He had spent the first two hours after leaving London merely staring out of the window, wondering why this place was so blessed by the gods while his own people struggled to grow anything of their own. That was, until it started raining constantly and he wondered if such a blessing could also be a curse.

"So, what now?" Akhefia snapped, allowing Diabound to explore. This time they kept the door shut so that he couldn't escape so easily, not that Atem was sure it would do them any good. If the snake particularly wanted to get away, it would.

"The Sorting," Haphiri said, tone bored. "I believe Bill told you this."

"Akhefia wasn't listening," Atem teased, but he hid the growing apprehension he was feeling. The Sorting would mean the possibility that they would all be split up, and it was difficult to tell where they would each go. Bill had given them a brief overview of how the Sorting worked and where each person, depending on personality of all things, would go. The Four House system didn't sound awful, but the way that the children were split was almost… cruel. They think themselves better in the world but constantly divide themselves from within Atem had thought. The Egyptian Ministry had also given them this warning- their own school had never bothered with such a system, since they worked so closely with the Mages, but had warned them- along with Bill- that the rest of the world did not think the same way. And they had also been clear about the manipulations of Dumbledore as well. Not that I was in need of such a warning. He was hardly hiding his attempts to force us here.

Mage magic was one of the few magics that the Western world of magic could barely understand. It was something practised very rarely and, honestly, most British wizards only heard of it once they became Unspeakables within their own Ministry. Bill had stated that he had been helped by not only one of the teachers at the school, but also one very odd Unspeakable witch who occasionally was able to use Shadow Magic to warn off anyone attempting to get into certain areas of the Department of Mystery. Atem had never met her, although she certainly sounded like an interesting character.

"You know what must be done?" Haphiri asked. He nodded, and she gave a soft smile. "Good. Remember, Severus will help you." And with that, she was gone. Akhefia eyed the now empty train seat warily.

"And how exactly does a wizard help us?" he asked to the empty air, grumpy as always. He had been ever since his father had forced him to accompany Atem, although he couldn't say he himself was so upset. Akhefia was a good friend, despite the other boy's kleptomania and prickly exterior. He also didn't hold him to the same standards his father did- after all, Atem knew the difference between the past and the present and the presence of Yugi only served to support that. He was also silently glad that Mahad had agreed to not mention that Yugi was here. He did not want to see his father's reaction, especially not after the news that the Puzzle had been solved eight years ago by someone else.

"Not sure but I think Haphiri wants to adopt him," Atem mused aloud, not voicing his thoughts. Akhefia seemed to have picked up on them anyway, making a face but keeping silent. The fact that Severus Snape, a man that Atem had never met, was the first person she had sent Bill to after their initial meeting spoke volumes. He still recalled the first time he had ever met Bill as a grumpy eleven-year-old. The fact that he had almost dropped a tomb on the man's head had probably not helped with any first impressions, despite the whole incident being an accident. Akhefia, having heard the story second hand, had laughed so hard that Atem had been worried he would choke to death before he had finished.

It didn't take long for the train to pull up to the station. They were guided to the carriages by the three students they had met only the day before- it had been decided that since they were older they would be sorted separately and therefore, should arrive earlier than the younger students so that they could meet with Professor McGonnagal first. Atem had yet to figure out what the point of that was, unless it had something to do with trying to avoid embarrassment with Kaiba over arriving with a group of eleven-year-olds.

Harry was looking rather confused when they clambered in, staring at the Thestrals that were pulling them. His friends were staring at him like he was crazy when he mentioned that there was something that was pulling them and Atem internally rolled his eyes. There was no need to shame someone who had clearly seen death not so long ago, let alone been marked by it for his entire life. The others also seemed quite capable of seeing them, although he decided not to point out that the only reason they could was because they spent so long hanging around with a ghost amongst other things, and therefore it didn't particularly matter whether they had seen death or not.

After assuring Harry that he was not crazy (Akhefia huffing the entire time), it took very little time to finally arrive at the castle. Atem supposed it was an impressive structure here, but for someone who had spent their life around technological marvels and the architecture of ancient cities, it actually seemed pretty normal. And small, for a school, although he supposed not everyone was forced to learn magic while being dumped in various tombs of varying sizes and traps. He kept quiet about that observation, instead deciding to watch his cousin instead. Kaiba had been staring at him, eyebrows drawn together and clearly still wanting to talk about his 'sisters' but Atem had so far brushed him off rather successfully. It wouldn't last forever though.

Passing through the wards was an interesting experience. Not as nauseating as being around Orichalcum, but definitely not a pleasant experience. Luckily, he was able to hide that far better than he had he day before and, while he wanted to blame his reaction on fatigue, he knew it truly hadn't. He had been warned when he had started studying magic: the more he practised, the more dangerous it would be for him. He had had to beg for years before his father would let him be taught some basic spells by Mahad originally, and that had only been after he had accidently set fire to half his room. Haphiri's only reaction had been to inform his father that it was hardly surprising. Atem's magic was directly linked with the past- to her, to the Puzzle and to a destiny that he couldn't fulfil. Being so close to that problem, so close to the Item his father craved for him, only compounded the issue. To have Set here too… It made him wish that Haphiri and Nofret were able to stay with them, rumours be damned.

Once they had entered the Entrance Hall, they were left in a small alcove as the younger students were gathered in front of the doors where Harry, Ron and Hermione had disappeared through. Atem assumed that inside was the Great Hall and the opening feast that Ron had been raving about on the way over. As far away from Akhefia as he could possibly get. Atem wondered what his issues with snakes were.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," the grey-haired witch in front of them was saying. "When the First Years have been sorted, you will be called into the Great Hall to do the same. From then on, you will join the others in your House-"

"I'm sorry?" Atem asked, startled. The professor looked annoyed at being cut off and opened her mouth, about to say more but Atem carried on talking, not listening. "It was agreed with Dumbledore that we would have our own dormitory, Sorting aside." It had been a concession that had been made like drawing blood from a stone, but it had been done for a good reason. Atem had no wish to keep the other poor children awake at night and he was not going to let the old man back out of it. McGonnagal blinked, looking startled and suddenly unsure of herself. She was saved by a tall, pale man with dark greasy hair appearing over her shoulder.

"The transfer student's dorm has already been prepared. Those that wish to stay with their House are welcome to if that is what they want," the man said, voice dripping with a condescension that was incredibly well feigned. McGonnagal obviously didn't catch it, twitching slightly in annoyance.

"Of course, Professor Snape," she said, voice tight and body stiff. Atem gave the man a quick once over and wondered how much of his appearance was a mask, and how much was the truth. Considering the waves of magic that were drifting from the man, not much of his outward appearance was reflective of his true nature. With that cleared up, he simply waited as Yugi talked nervously with his friends about the upcoming sorting. If he listened particularly closely he might be able to understand the Japanese, but instead shifted uncomfortably to the side, wanting to get away from the gaze of one very suspicious ghost. Unfortunately, this meant almost walking into Kaiba.

"You never answered my question," his cousin stated, voice somehow even quieter than his friends. Akhefia, who was leaning against the wall and glaring out at the rest of the world, twitched but stared resolutely ahead of him, listening but not interfering.

"What was it that you wanted me to answer?" Atem asked, feigning ignorance. He was given a glare that he ignored.

"Those girls were not your sisters," Kaiba hissed, fists clenched. Atem paused and blinked at him, wondering.

"Perhaps not in this life," he said carefully, eyeing Kaiba's reaction. If his cousin noticed the change in languages, he didn't openly show it.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Akhefia made a noise that could have been a cough or a concealed laugh- Atem was willing to bet it was the latter. Instead of deigning this with an answer he rapidly returned to English, noting the return of Snape.

"Is it time for the Sorting?" he asked, voice pitched loud enough that the others would hear but not enough to carry further than the man approaching them. Yugi and Ryou both jumped, looking incredibly nervous. Atem couldn't blame them- how did you explain to a hat that not only were there two people living in one body, but also that could it please stay a secret? As much as he would like to be a fly on that wall, he was also glad it wasn't him. He had enough secrets of his own.

They entered the hall, watched on all sides by the student body. He noticed the banner for Slytherin House was a silver serpent and raised an eyebrow, wondering how appropriate it was to laugh. He had no illusions as to where Akhefia would end up and he got the feeling that his friend was going to enjoy creating merry hell throughout the school, starting with its most jaded house.

"When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and the Sorting Hat will sort you into your House," McGonnagal said, holding a mostly rolled up piece of parchment. He supposed that it had the names of the younger students on it as well. "Bakura, Ryou." The boy with the Ring went slightly pale and swallowed loudly as he rose to the stage. Now will they sort him alone or as part of a unit with Necrophades? Atem wondered. The tear on the rim of the hat opened.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" it bellowed and Atem internally nodded. Host it was then. But how would that hold up for him and Akhefia?

"Ishtar, Marik." The hat considered him for a while before deciding.

"SLYTHERIN!" The blonde-haired boy politely handed the hat back to the Professor, but Atem caught the look of blatant terror in the Tomb Keeper's eyes.

"Look after him," Atem murmured to Akhefia right as McGonnagal called, "Kaiba, Seto."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Kheti, Akhefia." Akhefia gave a short grunt and dropped unceremoniously on the stool.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat actually took longer than Atem thought it would.

"Menes, Atem." Atem swallowed any rising nerves and sat on the stool. He could see Ron glaring away at Akhefia right as the hat dropped over his eyes.

And what do we have here? Another old soul? Atem blinked at the voice of the hat. Speak for yourself he thought back to it and felt the thing laugh in his head. It was strange. Ah, well spotted little prince. But where to put you? Cunning enough for Slytherin but certainly not ambitious enough. Atem rolled his eyes. His only ambition was living to his seventeenth birthday and that was it. He had already accepted that that was unlikely to happen anyway. Clever, but knowledge is not what you are looking for either. Loyal, yes, very loyal to your friends and subjects and certainly hard-working… But you're also brave. Foolishly brave by the looks of this. The hat suddenly poked a memory and Atem shuddered, breath catching in his throat. Pain, pain, agony of the knife sliding in, Haphiri's tears damp on his face- Leave that alone! Atem snapped at the hat, mentally yanking the memories from the hat's proverbial grip. It twitched, irritated. Well, now I certainly know where to put you it stated grumpily.

"GRYFFINDOR!" There was cheering from the table of the golden lion and Atem, stepped off the stool, careful not to stumble. He passed Yugi just as the other boy's name was called. He felt cold, the memory of a night from before he was born still stuck at the forefront of his mind. He sat in the proffered seat next to Harry as quiet speculations were whispered around him. It didn't take long for the hat to make its decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Don't sit next to me, don't sit next to me, I don't want to know how being dead feels like… Thankfully, Yugi dropped down opposite him, next to Hermione. Dumbledore then stood, eyes twinkling with that annoying, knowing spark.

"Now that all of our new students are sorted, please, dig in!"

And now everyone is finally in one place (except Bill)! Don't worry, Bill will return, most likely in the chapter or so. For now, he has been replaced by our favourite Potion's Master.

Speaking of Sorting, it took me a while to decide where everyone would go. For some characters it was easy- Ryou, who we don't see much of in the Dub, is pretty loyal but since we don't get much of a feel for him aside from half of Season 1 and bits and pieces from Season 2 (and I am aware that Season 1 is dubious at best in canonicity) I took a bit of creative licence. That, and I have accounted for Yami Bakura as well in this which will become a bit clearer in the future. Marik was also somewhat easy as well as Yugi- Marik in this is only just out of manipulating others and while he is working on becoming a better person, the Hat seems to take from stuff in your past rather than you as an actual person now. Yugi, because... well, it's Yugi. Anyone stupid and/or brave enough to stand in a burning warehouse to put a piece of jewellery back together when he could have quite easily picked up the pieces and put them back together later in the hospital is pretty much dumped in Gryffindor, the House of doing before thinking (ahem, I mean courage and bravery). Akhefia went to Slytherin because I like causing havoc.

Weirdly enough, I had a minor argument with myself about where Kaiba would go. Now I know that the main argument would be 'but he's pretty manipulative and ambitious straight into Slytherin', but Kaiba uses this as a front to keep people out rather than it being his true nature (or at least that is my interpretation). And Kaiba is incredibly protective of family, although this is usually mostly just Mokuba. In fact, he very nearly ended up in Gryffindor, but I decided in the end it would be more interesting to stick him with Akhefia for a bit and see where it went from there. Atem and Kaiba, while the more natural choice, seemed to me a bit too easy and this story is not about what is easy (also Kaiba by virtue of last name, got sorted first and therefore, the only reason he would have ended up in Gryffindor in this story would have been if he asked to go with his cousin and so, this was a miscalculation on his part as well).

Also, hi Draco. Do not expect special treatment from me. And yes, Umbridge is here, but we shall get to her next chapter.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter and I'll see you in the next chapter when I get to it!

DGtnsl: Yes, Atem and Kaiba are cousins from birth in this and this will be elaborated on further, later down the line (for example, how that works, why Kaiba and Mokuba are orphans, why they didn't get shipped straight back to Egypt after their parents' deaths etc.) but for now, that's pretty much all you need to know. As for the mess of Atem-Yami-Akhefia-Necrophades… well, that would be spoilers ;) Let's just leave it at, there is a reason but for now it isn't going to be revealed yet. And in my mind, Necrophades (or Yami Bakura outside of this story) is mostly just a chip of Zorc with a thin veneer of the original Thief King to pass as somewhat human. Don't worry, I'll explain more later (I'm sorry half of this is 'wait for more info. It's coming up', I'm not deliberately trying to be vague, it's just that it really is just not er, soon.) But I'm glad your enjoying it so far!

Vaasth: Don't worry, it keeps tripping me up too! That may be why Yami has minimal presence so far in the story because we already know about him (blank stale as he is) and I am trying to introduce more aspects of Atem. But, hopefully, it shouldn't get too confusing for you or me! But thank you for your review and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Bananarock509: Woah, ok lot of questions! Don't worry this time I do have answers! Ok, so most obvious elephant in the room- Atem's name. Well, first of all, 'Atem' is a different way to spell 'Atum' which was the name of an early Egyptian deity, an offshoot of Ra in fact. So, in that regard, you could make the argument that is who modern (and ancient) Atem is named for. However, I would also argue that, since the Pharaoh doesn't know that that is the name he is looking for (and also prophecy but unfortunately, that is a spoiler) then just hearing the name is not going to just trigger his memories. To me, a certain number of conditions have to be met before Yami can get his memories back, doubly so in this story. Just think, in the dub he had to go back to his own memories, re-live fighting Zorc and nearly die just so that Yugi etc. could get his name and only after they had seen it in his tomb, not heard aloud by anyone (and yes, I know no one says it, but it's clear that they do know it considering mana point blank refuses on grounds that it wouldn't be appropriate). Hopefully, that clears that up a bit.

Yeah, I understand watching the version you grew up with, and not wanting to get drawn into different versions. I myself, haven't read the maga but am aware of certain aspects of it, mostly for this reason (although I do have to admit, I did see the Japanese version of the last episode of Yugi vs Atem, where he sounds like he's summoning Satan rather than Winged Dragon of Ra). But that's personal preference, and I get that and that's fine. Hopefully, this story shouldn't confuse you too much since the Dub is the version I'm lifting from the most but if something does come up that's not in it, I'll most likely point it out in the notes above for you and anyone else who isn't familiar with the three or four different versions of original Yugioh.

And finally, we get to Yugi! So er, my explanation for this is fairly simple. Family genetics. We see in episode 199, in Solomon Motou's flashbacks that he had very similar coloured hair to Yugi, and on the one very brief scene we get of Yugi's mother (which was only in the Japanese dub and was cut by 4Kids for some reason, not including her standing nest to a revived Grandpa at the end of Season 1), she is most definitely where he gets his eyes colour and facial shape from. Why does he look like the Pharaoh then? Well, it is possible that he is a distant descendant of the Pharaoh's family, since we don't know canonically (from what I know anyway) whether Solomon could have married an Egyptian, or even earlier in the family. Just because they are in Japan now, does not necessarily mean that that is where all their ancestors came from. And yes, I know Atem didn't have any children (technically) but he could still be one of Set's descendants who would have carried similar genetics to eventually end up with similar to the Pharaoh (and since Yugi is not an exact copy of the Pharaoh, I would argue this is closer to the case). Or, I suppose, one could make the argument for historical doppelgangers, but that to me seems like the easy option and a bit of a cop-out. So I'm just going to mention it as one side of the argument. So, no he isn't a straight up reincarnation like Seto (in this fic) but that doesn't mean he can't fulfil the prophecy or help the Pharaoh. Remember, he chose to help Solomon when he was shot and about to fall, and allowed Yugi to solve the Puzzle. Those conditions don't necessarily mean that the person who solves the Puzzle has to have a direct link to Yami. I know that that is somewhat accepted as canon, but since this story has got nothing to do with 'half-soul' concepts, I can't use that argument here. Also, if I did prescribe to that idea here (and I mean just this fic, and not other fics I have written for Yugioh where I have used the half-soul fanon) then that would bring up HUGE issues with Yugi's character in general, which should hopefully become clearer to further into the story we get.

Anyway, thank you for reviewing and I'm sorry I've written you half an essay to answer all your questions!