Chapter 4

Seto laid in bed in complete darkness. All curtains were drawn to block out the sunlight. Atem had lied when he said that he would be alright; that he wouldn't dream about that woman again.

He wasn't alright and he did dream again about her. But he wasn't in turmoil or in deep sadness or anguish. This time, he was greeted with such a warm feeling he couldn't describe it as anything else by happiness. Not the happiness he had known when he won a duel monsters game, or when his company's stocks were teetering into the trillions at the moment. Or even when he was around his brother, the only person he actually loved.

No, this kind of happiness filled his being with so much light and joy that it scared him. He faintly remembered the dream... vision... a memory. He was dressed in blue egyptian robes, his skin dark from the many days in the sun. His view of the river, so wide, he couldn't see the other side. So crystal blue and clear, he could see the wildlife swimming just below the surface. The summer breeze kicked up slightly which made sitting outside that much more enjoyable.

He was just a few feet away from the woman that haunted his dreams night after night. She twisted and turned emotions that he had never experienced before. Her back was facing him; her legs tucked under her. Her hair was pulled away from her face; just her profile alone made his heart skip a beat. When she turned her head to face him, her gaze took his breath away. Those magenta hues eyes glittered with joy as she smiled. She held out her hand for him to take. To sit down next to her.

His vision faded soon after. His body naturally waking up to start the day. But he didn't move from the bed.

How? How could a dream stir such emotions and desire? He had never met her in his life. His life. Not some past life he refused to acknowledge.

Every dream he had was some event with her. Azula. Her name was Azula. He knew that because he called out to her in his dreams countless times in the last several days. He saw her in the gardens, or in her study, or secretly in her bedroom. It didn't take long for him to figure out that they were having a secret love affair. He didn't know when it took place, but he knew he cared for her deeply. They were supposed to run away together; to give up the responsibilities they were sworn to do until death. He had dutifully honored his position as High Priest. To serve and protect the Pharaoh and Queen of Egypt. But he was willing to throw it all away.

For Azula.

"This is ridiculous." He whispered under his breath as his mind began to flood with more memories. Not just of Azula, but of High Priest Seto. His journey as an orphan boy for some time before his father, Aknadin, another one of the Pharaoh's High Priests. That knowledge was hidden as he was trained to become one himself and to rule against the current Pharaoh and take the throne for himself.

Too bad that didn't go as planned.

It annoyed Seto that their lives were damn near identical. An orphan himself that was taken in by a powerful man only for him to take over and rule his empire.

A small knock on his bedroom door disturbed his mind from traveling down memory lane any further.

"What?" His voice was ragged.

"Good morning, Mr. Kaiba." He heard the maid speak. "I just wanted to let you know that your guests have arrived."

Seto groaned inwardly. Why did they have to come back? Why couldn't they figure out their shit on their own?

"All of them?"

"Uh...yes, Sir. I believe so."

"And where is Mokuba?"

"In the library with them."

Perfect. "Thank you. I'll be down shortly." He announced. He didn't move until he heard the soft click of the lock. Mokuba could deal with them for the moment while he dealt with his personal problem.

By the time Seto had made his way to the library, he could already hear the loud chattering of the group from halfway down the hall. He opened the double doors, the scent of breakfast meats and coffee surrounded him. He saw several buffet trays filled with and assortment of sausage, bacon, eggs, and waffles. Along with muffins, bagels and a selection of beverages. It made Seto wonder if Mokuba told the chef that he would be feeding an army and not a group of ten people.

They all sat on either side the dark leather sofas, stuffing their faces as they looked on at the images displayed on the projector. He could admit that Ishizu and Solomon did work fast. Instead of taking hours to decipher the codes, they took numerous pictures of every corner and angle of the sarcophagus. All the images were in two rows going across the large white screen.

Sudden flashes of memories floated around his head. Of him crying over the lifeless body, growling and fighting anyone who tried to tear him apart; then he, Atem, and another man, circling the body. Using the power of the Millennium Items, they encased her is a clear cocoon to preserve her body.

Seto could feel the weight in his arms has he carried her towards the coffin, all the while he blamed himself. That punishment to spend eternity in the shadow realm was for him. He should have been quicker on his feet to stop her. He was one of the High Priests, sworn to protect the Pharaoh and Queen. That night he had failed both of them. She had sacrificed herself for him and he was doomed to stay by the man that he blamed equally for that tragedy.

"Seto?" Mokuba whispered, noticing that his brother had been standing in the doorway for some time. His eyes fixated on the screen as if he were in a trance. He stopped from getting from his seat when he saw Seto raise his hand. He didn't want the others to notice his presence and he had to pull himself together.

He closed his eyes to steady himself, discreetly wiping away the wetness from his face. He leaned back again the door, too weak to move further. He hoped he could muster up the strength from this emotional roller coaster to continue this.

"This is definitely a work of art. I've never seen anything like this." Solomon gazed at the pictures in awe. In his entire career, he had seen some spectacular things, but this artifact in front of him blew him away. He had never seen such detailed work. The coffin in length was exactly eight feet long and five feet wide so he knew just by looking at it whoever was inside was small in stature. The carvings were unique, starting from just underneath the Millennium insignia at the very top; the hieroglyphics read from left to right, were carefully written into a blueprint of some kind.

"Can you read it, Grandpa?" Yugi asked from the other side of the room. He could tell that his grandfather was excited to help unlock the puzzle.

"Yes." Using the remote. He enlarged two of the images.

"Wow!" Tristen's mouth hung up as he and the others got a clearer view of the hieroglyphics. "How long did it take to crave all of that?"

"Eighteen days." Atem answered.

"Why so long?"

"Mahod, Seto, and I had to do it in secret. We buried her in simple coffin, before the sun rose. Afterwards we took our time, making sure everything that she had written was exact. Once we were finished, we placed her in there; three years before my own demise and my own spirit was trapped in the Millennium Puzzle."

"So…" Joey scratched his head. "…she's in there. But how do we get her out and get her soul back?"

"If I'm not mistaken, we have to call back her soul from the Shadow Realm first and then we unseal it."

"This is the incantation." Ishizu tapped the screen. The pictures shuffled to one side leaving only one in the middle to enlarge. "But what do we need to preform it? I'm sure we just can't say the words and it's done."

"You're right, Ishizu. There's a lot more to it." Atem moved next to her studying the screen for himself. His hand moved over one; tapped it. The previous image was replaced. "This part is the spell needed to retrieve the soul." He then moved his hands to another. "This part is what is needed to unseal the coffin."

He stepped back, letting everyone see where he was referring to before moving on. "The script on both sides of the coffin will tell us what is needed to open the portal to the Shadow Realm. Now all we need to do is follow through exactly. We only get one try to get it right; one wrong move, whether it's the tool we use or a slip up of one word and we miss our opportunity."

"Yeah…no pressure there." Mokuba mumbled from behind them.

"OK!" Solomon rubbed his hands together. His heart was pumping with excitement. He loved puzzles and this was right up his alley. "First things first, we need to find out what and who needs to perform the spell." The elder looked up at the Egyptian woman. "Ms. Ishizu, I know I'm good at reading this kind of stuff, but it wouldn't hurt to doubled checked my work just in case."

"Of course. Any way I can help." Nodding, Solomon began working his way around the photos of the coffin, reading the script piece by piece.

"Well, it's a riddle, that I can tell you for sure. I just hope you can jog your memory some and remember just exactly what she meant when she wrote this."

"I'll try." Atem nodded.

"It says: 'Three that were close holds the power of the bloodline. The one that bound is the one that will release.'"

Everyone was silent. Unsure as to what the riddle meant. Atem thought it through, trying to understand what Azula was trying to say from beyond.

"Three?" He started to talk to himself, trying to walk through that night again. "There were four of us that night; myself, Azula, Uncle, and Seto." He mumbled, pacing the floor in thought. "Are you sure it says three, Solomon?"

"Yes." Both he and Ishizu said in unison. Atem stopped moving, staring hard into space.

"It says 'Three that are close.' I was the one of the closest to her. The next, of course, would be Kaiba…"

"Why Seto?" Mokuba wanted to know why his brother was involved.

"Kaiba is the reincarnate of High Priest Seto, the man that Azula was in love with."

"Wait." Yugi stopped his doubleganger's thought process. "You said that Azula was your Queen." Yugi couldn't think that Atem would allow such disrespect as to be married to him while she was lusting after another man.

Atem looked on in confusion. "She was my Queen, but that didn't stop her from loving who she wanted to love. But what they were doing was forbidden, so they met in secret for years." He drifted off back into thought, dismissing the look of disbelief on everyone's faces.

"Why three? She wasn't close with anyone else." Atem scrubbed his face with his palms. He was getting frustrated.

Three. Why in hell would she write three?

"What about that Mahod guy you were talking about?" Yugi interjected. "Didn't you say he was her teacher?"

"Yes, but Mahod is not in this room. None of you are his reincarnate."

"There's no one else?" Marik asked. He could see the growing defeat etching in the Pharaoh's face. They had come too far to quit now. "No one in this room is a reincarnate five thousand years ago?"

"Solomon is Shimon, our Grand Vizier. But he was more close to me than her. And Ishizu, you're the reincarnate or Priestess Isis, however Azula couldn't even be in the same room as Isis without throwing something at her." Atem wasn't going to rehash the affair and mess that Seto left Isis when he finally got the courage to follow his heart, despite the consequences.

"No, only I and Seto were the ones that were close to Azula."

"So…it has to be Yugi then." Mokuba came to that realization after several moments of silence.

"What!? Why me?" Yugi was really not prepared for this.

"Because you are the reincarnate of the Pharaoh." As the teen said that the two stared at one another. Silent words passed between them.

"Then it shall be Yugi." Atem agreed, being the first to break their gaze, to turn his attention to the elder Ishtar. "Read the second part." He ordered. "There should be more on the other side."

"It reads: 'The blood run cool as the heart beats steady. The protectors stand at the quadrants of the earth, the guardians at the corners of the dwelling. Speak the words thrice: Guide the guardians to the light'."

"I give up." Joey threw his hands in the air. "Why are there more people in the mix? You just said before only three needed to do this."

"Listen, I'm only reading what it says." But Joey was right. Why were there now four more that needed to complete the spell?

"Maybe we should take a break." Yugi suggested. The tension and frustration was thick in the room. "We're tired. Let's rest and try again tomorrow morning."

Atem glared. Stress and fatigue began to cloud his judgment. He wanted to snap at him; tell him that he was being lazy and not trying hard enough. He was smart enough to complete the Millennium Puzzle on his own, that ultimately released his spirit, he could figure out a simple riddle.

Wow…Listen to yourself. Atem couldn't believe what he was thinking. Yugi was right. They were all tired and feeling mixed emotions at the moment. On top of it, he only had one shot at this. He couldn't risk the chance of messing it up.

"Pharaoh? What do you want to do?" Ishizu believed that Yugi was right, but she would do what the King wanted, and if that meant staying up all night in figuring out the riddle, then so be it.

"Let us take a break for now."

Yugi sat on the steps outside of Kaiba's manison letting the rays on the afternoon sun warm his face. He let his mind process everything that had happened in a matter of hours.

This was nothing new to him; since the Millennium Puzzle and Atem entered his life, the past four years were nothing but an amazing adventure surrounded by his love and passion for the duel monsters game. He had never dreamt, at the young age of fourteen, all the amazing places he had seen and the amazing things he had done. All the people, good, bad, and indifferent, he had met, challenged, and some even became friends. And it was all because of Atem, the ancient spirit that lived inside the puzzle.

At first, he was unaware of that his spirit existed and was wary of its capabilities. Once he realized just how ruthless the spirit could be, he lost trust in it and refused to let him possess his body. But over time, he built his trust with him again, and that turned into something more than he expected.

However, those feelings didn't surface until after the Pharaoh was gone. At first he was sad; someone that he considered a close friend was no longer around. But as the weeks past into months, he realized that his sadness was turning into depression. He no longer had an urge to play the game, or talk to his friends and hangout. There was a point where he barely ate; barely gotten out of bed. Sometimes he didn't sleep because every time he closed his eyes and dreamed, he was there. He was always there. Who knew he had such immense feelings for the man. A dead man if he really got technical. It sounded crazy, but when you spent so much time with someone…hell! They shared a body! Who would blame him?

When he opened his eyes that morning, he just knew he was dreaming. There he was, dressed in the normal leather jacket and jeans. He knew it wasn't real; even when he started to move, to wake up, to speak; he knew his heartache was now messing with his mind. Atem was there, in his bedroom, asking a million and one questions and Yugi couldn't begin to answer. He was there, he was alive. That's what mattered to him.

It took him two years to finally ease his mind that Atem wasn't going anywhere. That some unknown force was going to take him away from him again. Everyone around them realized the change in him and thought it was the renewed friendship between him and Atem. It was, Yugi could admit that, but it was so much more that he couldn't share. Not with anyone, especially Atem.

Even though he had grown taller, become more handsome, more mature, he still didn't think he'd be a fit for the former ruler of Egypt. To be honest, he didn't know if he was that kind of man and he was too afraid to ask out right; too afraid until this morning. He was going to tell him, after everyone left, Yugi was going to tell the Pharaoh that he had feelings for him with full acceptance if he was rejected. He just had to get it off his chest.

Now he felt there was no point. Atem was married. He had someone he loved above all else; loved her so much that he even allowed her to have an forbidden affair with one of his priests, who just happened to be Seto Kaiba, of all people.

Did Atem think about her often? Did he dream about his Queen? What was she like? From what was spoken about her, she sounded amazing. She was probably beautiful as well. How could he compete with her?.

And if she was revived then Atem would go with her and be together here in the modern world.

Yugi coughed out a sob, covering his face with hands as tears flowed from his eyes. He knew, three years ago, he had a right to reserve the fear of separation. No matter what, Atem was going to be taken from him.