Wow, 1300 words! It's a record!
Disclaimer: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! and don't want to.
I thought Egypt was hot BEFORE I saw Pharaoh Atem.
"Where is he? It's been hours…" Atem thought. The others had already left after eating and talking for a while. "Yugi said he'd be back soon… I hope something hasn't happened to him…" Panic seeped into his emotions. What if something had happened to Yugi? Was he alright? What could he do, if anything?
Only two days into their separation, and Atem had let Yugi slip through his fingers. He berated himself. "I'm so foolish…"
As Atem worried, he heard someone enter the front door. Soft, padding footsteps approached the kitchen. Atem rushed out, finding Yugi walking slowly to his bedroom.
"Yugi, where have you been all this time?!" Atem asked frantically.
Yugi stopped, his bangs covering his face. Suddenly, he spun around. "Foolish king of those who are dead! Do you want to join your subjects that badly?!" Yugi yelled at him, his voice full of disdain.
"What?" Atem asked, shocked at Yugi's reaction.
"What?" Yugi asked innocently. How could he go from psychotic to normal, innocent Yugi within seconds?
"What you said to me… I…"
"And you deserved every word of it!" Yugi spat in that odd, wrathful voice he had used just moment before. "The dust of their bones is messy, isn't it? The blood of their hearts stank as it dyed the sand black!"
This wasn't Yugi. It couldn't be. "What are you saying?" Atem asked, backing up into the wall.
"I'm saying," Yugi said cheerfully, "That we should talk more about your past. I hardly know anything about your life back in Egypt."
It was unfathomable. Yugi, staring at him with icy blue eyes, was switching back and forth between personalities at record speeds.
"Yugi…" Atem asked tentatively, "Are you alright?"
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked, with a cute, confused look on his face. "I'm fine."
"… You're sure?" Atem asked. How was he going to tell Yugi about what just happened?
Yugi paused and looked down the hallway. His gaze flipped back to Atem, and he sneered. "We have work to do." Yugi said coldly.
Then in an instant, Yugi grabbed Atem at the collar and physically threw him into the opposite wall. But when Atem opened his eyes, he was not still in the hallway.
Atem found himself in a gargantuan cavern. There was a large, strange seal on the floor, and the sounds of human screams filled his ears. Something dripped on his hand… it was thick and red… like blood. When Atem looked up, he saw Yugi was peering at him, studying him.
"Yugi…" Atem said faintly. "Where are we?"
Wherever he was, it was a horrible place. The blood had come from the ceiling, or more specifically, the person on the ceiling. As though gravity did not apply to him, the poor man lay on the ceiling with his intestines replaced by a few blood-stained human skulls.
Yugi laughed hysterically, glancing at the man on the ceiling as well. "This… my king… is Pandaemonium." He said darkly, a frightful smile on his face.
"What?!" Atem exclaimed. Pandaemonium was the terror-inspiring capital of the Shadow Realm… how had he gotten here?
"We brought you here." Yugi said, seeming to read his thoughts.
"That's not Yugi…" Atem thought again. "Where is my partner?"
"We?" He asked aloud, catching on. Yugi… whoever it was… laughed once again.
"We are legal residents here." Yugi said, grinning.
"What do you want with me? Leave Yugi out of this!" Atem yelled.
"You don't understand, filth." Yugi said, his blue eyes narrowing dangerously. "We don't care who we hurt, who we kill. We want to be free. And we follow the orders of he who would help us."
Atem noticed two distinct personalities in within Yugi. One was almost playful, and acted disturbingly cheery. The other was nothing but wrath, and constant spat at Atem with disgust.
"And who is that?" Atem asked.
"I'm sure you'll see him soon. Until then…" Yugi's eyes flashed menacingly. "Let's play a game."
Atem stood. "What game would that be?" He asked.
Yugi giggled, smiling brightly. The other personality had taken over. "It's simple, OK? Here's the deal: You try and kill me, I try and kill you. I win, game over."
"What makes you so sure you'll win?" Atem said defiantly.
"That's simple too. You see, if you win, Yugi will die, and you'll be all alone." Yugi said.
Atem was stunned as he realized the truth that this… imposter had spoken. How could he fight if Yugi could get hurt? But he couldn't let Yugi go on like that… he had to try.
"So how do you play this game?" Atem asked.
"Oh, you're interested are you? And I thought our master was murderous…" Yugi said softly.
"Shut up!" Atem yelled back.
Yugi sneered at him, his wrathful side showing himself. "Idiot Pharaoh… I'll explain. We'll be using our spirit's energy to summon Duel Monsters. Familiar, isn't it?"
"Go on." Atem said, struggling to control his hate.
"Then we'll be using those monsters to attack each other. We'll have full use of magic and trap cards as well." Yugi said, disdain obvious in his attitude.
"Very well, then." Atem said reluctantly. "Let's duel!"
Yugi lifted up his hand and his icy eyes began to glow. Suddenly a duel disk appeared on his arm. "I summon Curse of Dragon!" he yelled, throwing a card out onto the field.
Atem found a duel disk and a deck on his arm as well. "I summon Dark Magician Girl!" he said, copying Yugi. "Then I use the magic card Book of Secret Arts, increasing her attack power."
"It seems you're off to a good start." Yugi said, laughing.
Atem's eyes narrowed. "Dark Magician Girl, attack his Curse of Dragon!" When Curse of Dragon was destroyed, Yugi doubled over, clutching his stomach. Then he stood up, laughing and clapping his hands.
"Well done, Pharaoh. But that won't last for long. I use the magic card Brain Control!"
"No!" Atem exclaimed.
"Vermin. Dark Magician Girl, attack Atem directly!" Atem screamed in pain and fell to his knees. It felt like his entire body was on fire. He struggled to stand up.
"Yes. Get up. Get up and fall back down." Yugi said softly, looking at Atem as though he were a child.
Atem glared at him. "Now Dark Magician Girl returns to my control!" he said, breathing heavily. "And I summon Celtic Guardian!"
"You make waste as much as you are a waste." Yugi said. "I use Swords of Revealing Light! Now your energy shall be lost on useless monsters." Yugi was right. Atem felt his energy being sapped with each passing moment. "Now I summon Gandora Dragon of Destruction! Its special ability destroys all of your monsters."
Dark Magician Girl and Celtic Guardian were gone. Atem collapsed out of exhaustion and despair. Even if he did win, Yugi would be lost.
"Stop it…" Yugi said suddenly, clutching his forehead. "No… no… I don't want to go back…" he said, bending over in pain.
"Yugi…" Atem said, concerned despite himself.
"Get out! Get out! You don't belong here!" Yugi yelled, and shrieked an otherworldly scream, falling to the ground.
"Yugi!" Atem said, running over to his partner's side. "Are you alright?!"
Yugi looked up at him, his eyes back to their normal color. "I don't have much time…" he said softly.
"It's really you?! My Yugi…?" Atem said.
Yugi stood up shakily. "I summon Dark Spear." He said faintly.
"Yugi, what are you doing?" Atem asked, worried.
Yugi grabbed the spear that had appeared. "I'm sorry." Yugi said softly, and drove the spear through his own chest.
"Yugi, no!" Atem yelled, catching Yugi's small form as he fell to the ground.
"It was Bakura…" Yugi said, smiling as blood trickled from his mouth. "He wants to open the door… between all the worlds…"
"Yugi, no…" Atem choked, tears streaming down his face.
"Every world would make war with every other… and he would rule the survivors… he wanted us to kill you… your blood… opens it…" Yugi said, his eyes drooping.
"You can't… I can't do this without you…" Atem said.
"Don't worry… I believe in you… besides… it'll be nice… to see my mom… again…" And Yugi closed his eyes, and breathed his last.
"Yugi… partner…" Atem sobbed, tears flowing freely and shoulders convulsing. How could he let something like this happen? How could he be so careless? How could this occur only two days after he and Yugi were split? He had to stop Bakura… for Yugi's sake.
"Bakura will pay."