A/N:AUGH. Told you, RANDOM times these chapters are coming out. I was already working on what would possibly be like the seventh chapter. O_O damn brain. And then it had random inspiration like 20 minutes into writing into chapter four!

Oi vay

On a side note thanks to those few who have stopped by and shown interest in this story :) please be patient with me as I write slow. ) anyways onto the story~

Interlunar

Chapter 3: Frustrations and Innovations

Warning: Coarse Language

"Where did you come from?"

Beri hung her head, her hair falling around her face making it impossible for Yuugi to see beyond it. He could feel the danger vibes coming off her but he couldn't stop asking questions; he was determined to solve her. It was one of his most endearing characteristics; being stubborn to the point that jumping out the window is actually an option. He'd been interrogating her for a while now, and each minute that ticked by counted down till when she would crack and finally answer his questions; either that or he could kiss his ass goodbye but it was taking longer than he thought; usually people would have started flowing out answers by now but this woman was extremely stubborn. More so than him.

Yuugi was naturally curious; he can't help it and after sitting around mindlessly watching Beri work her magic on Atemu while he sat perched on a rather large boulder, his arms holding his knees to his chest, it was hard for him to contain his questions any more. As long as she had her healing hands on Atemu, they would not be able to strangle Yuugi. Of that he was certain.

So no harm in asking harmless inquiries.

"Fuck midget, can't you let me work in peace? Go annoy one of those bone bags over there." She gestured her head in the general direction of where the other unconscious bodies were. No one had stirred, but Yuugi had examined them all and they were all okay, just minor cuts and bruises. Talk about extreme luck. All there was to do was wait for them to stir and according to Beri, that would be a while.

Yuugi shook his head stubbornly. "I'd much rather like to get to know you. After all you did save my life."

"Oh lucky me." Beri grumbled. She dipped down even lower towards Atemu's body, her face inches from his chest. His upper half was almost completely covered by her incredibly long hair and Yuugi wondered if that was intentional or not. He dared to slinky off his boulder and get closer to the two, resuming his previous position when he was certain that he was at a reasonable distance.

"You make a lot of sarcastic jibes but I think they are a cover."

An impatient sigh. "Do tell Dr. Phil, I've been dying to know why I have this urging need to use sarcastic wit to deal with morons." She rounded on him, her hair flying into her face, giving her a demonic look. "I don't need your psycho- analysis. Keep your so called findings to yourself. Some of us are trying to keep others from crossing over understand?" Flipping her locks out of her face, she went back to healing Atemu. ignoring the stunned look on Yuugi's face.

She did that a lot, he found. Whenever he stated something that he had observed about her, Beri would snap at him, stopping just short of tearing out his jugular. Mental note to self; she is extremely sensitive about herself, and about others trying to figure her out.

He thought he heard a snort, but that could have easily been a rock grating against another rock. Yuugi cleared his throat and dived back in with more questions, all of them flowing out his mouth his brain not really thinking about what he was saying.

"How did you get here? How old are you? What are you doing here anyways, I mean a tomb isn't exactly a hot vacation spot. It seems that you know the other me. How do you know Atemu? Is i-"

"NO!" Beri was slow to shut Yuugi up so she couldn't have stopped him from saying his name. A blast sent Beri flying backward, slamming her body into a giant boulder and something snaked its way toward Yuugi and grabbed him by his throat. It lifted him out of his sitting position into a standing one. A chill crept into the air, ice forming along the cracks in the walls and bleeding in. Yuugi clawed at the thing around his throat but his fingers only scraped along his own throat. Whatever it was, it was squeezing his windpipe, but not enough to completely cut off his air; only enough to make it hard to breathe. His eyes darted down, trying to see his attacker but there was nothing there. All he saw was purple mist gathered around where the pressure was.

Slowly the pressure decreased. As it decreased, the young boy felt ice claw its way down his throat and into his veins, circulating his whole body and the mist start to thin out until it had completely vanished, taking the pressure with it. Yuugi shivered violently, teeth chattering. Looking down at himself he saw that his clothes had ice clinging to them, his hands were plagued with blue patches, which were creeping out to encompass every square inch of flesh. His body temperature plunged, of that he was certain. The air around him became less frigid and more comfortable, his fingers turned a darker shade of blue as he watched them.

A hand clamped onto his shoulder but it didn't feel like any normal human hand. It felt like is was composed of fire. It burned through his jacket and into his flesh, making him writhe under the touch. Yuugi collapsed down onto the floor, kicking his legs out behind him, screaming at the contact. One of his kicks landed on a target and he heard what sounded like a screech. Sitting up, he had a brief moment of salvation before it came again, it's fiery presence burning his skin. Again he flailed but this time, the hand was clamped on too strong. The young boy writhed under the touch, but he had no escape. Squeezing his eyes shut against the pain, Yuugi fought with all his might, trying blindly to escape, his body screaming for him to get to safety. The hand pushed him down onto the ground easily as if he weighed nothing more than a feather, forcing him onto his back. Still he thrashed about blindly.

Suddenly he couldn't move his legs.

Straining against whatever held him, the thing tightened its grip. Yuugi clawed down at his legs and felt something slippery and long sharp poked his fingers hard enough for him to move his hand away out of reflex. As soon as his hand was gone, another thing wrapped itself around Yuugi's torso, binding his arms to his body. He struggled but his attempt where useless. All he could do was wait for the pain to go away.

As the time went on, the heat simmered down to a normal temperature, and Yuugi felt his body relax. He opened his eyes cautiously not sure what he would see. Emerald eyes were glittering in the dark, blank and not blinking. He tried to look down to see what what holding him but he couldn't lift himself up enough. Beri had both hands placed on his chest, keeping him firmly on the ground.

Blinking suddenly, Beri moved back, saying something in an ancient tongue. The bindings around Yuugi loosened and suddenly they were slithering off him. Yuugi sat up, feeling sore all over but strangely okay and saw what had been binding him.

A snake.

A single strangely long, super thick snake.

And it was turning to gold.

It slithered up her arm slowly, winding around her, flicking its tongue at the air. As he watched, his jaw dropped to the floor. It all happened in a blink of an eye; one second it was a real living thing then suddenly it reverted to a gold arm band with emerald eyes. Suddenly, Beri was an inch from his face, making Yuugi cringe a bit and wondering in the back of his head if this woman had ever heard of personal space. Her eyes were darkened and smoldering.

"What the fuck? Did you not just hear me say a few hours ago NOT TO SAY HIS NAME? You're insanely lucky that what you said was not his true name. If it was you'd be lost by now. Gone; scattered as molecules in the air. What the hell we're you thinking midget?"

"I-" Yuugi stammered, at a loss for words. He was blinking rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on. A slide show of images from the last few minutes kept flashing through his minds eye, along with all the pain and the emotions associated with those images. Taking a few deep breaths he asked the first question that popped into his head. "What happened to that snake?"

Beri didn't move, didn't blink and if Yuugi didn't know any better, it looked like she wasn't breathing, not taking her dark eyes off of his face for an instant. Her gaze intensified until Yuugi started squirming. He looked to the side, and took a double take when he saw the snake was real again and was slithering up his body. It was a king cobra, it's hood flared and tongue darting out, tasting the air. Yuugi's eyes were glued to its movements, his body tensing, ready to fight or fly, his heart pounding out adrenaline into his system. The snake raised its head until it was as high as Beri and hissed, baring its long fangs. Sweat formed on Yuugi's brow.

"She is under my command, and you're damn lucky that I'm in a good mood. Next time you ask such a dumb question, your getting bitten by Jet here." The snake hissed once more, darting forward a bit to give Yuugi an extra scare then went back to Beri's upper arm and changed back to gold. Yuugi didn't realize he was holding his breath until he let it all out in one fell swoosh, his entire body relaxing. "Now as I was asking, what was going through your head exactly?"

"N-Nothing!" He stammered, blinking away all his muddled thoughts, focusing on the here and now. "I didn't think! Honest, I just don't know what the big deal was with his name and- wait a minute. What do you mean that's not his real name?"

"No questions! Think before you do anything that stupid again okay?"

"Look the reason we are even in this mess to begin with is because you didn't tell me everything that I needed to know. I have a right to know everything possible." Beri clamped her mouth shut tightly, narrowing her eyes. Yuugi could practically taste the rage and hate that was directed at him. He took a deep breath, calming down his still racing heart.

She snapped her teeth together. "Fine, but I'll only answer significant questions." If Yuugi wasn't so shaken up about the past few events, he would have done a little victory dance. Beri moved away from him and leaned against a boulder, folding her legs up to rest her elbows on her knees. Yuugi slowly sat up, wincing as hot pain danced down his side. He took a breath and began what was sure to be a long and frustrating Q and A session.

"Okay, so my first question still demands an answer."

"I mean exactly what I say. That's not his real name but a clever play on words so that it still retains some of his original name's power."

"Why not let him keep his original name?"

"Put simply, because if any normal person so much as muttered it, they would kill him." Beri answered coolly

Yuugi blinked. "Why would he have a name that could kill himself?"

Beri sat in silence for a bit, staring at her hands deep in thought. "Look you have to understand that The Pharaoh is a very special soul. He is an ancient one that is as old as time itself. When he was first bequeathed his name, he was whole, all that he was living inside one body. Something happened and he ended up loosing most of who he was, including his name. Now if he was to learn what his name was now, all those memories would flood his mind at once, overloading it and causing his head to implode quite literally."

"That's terrible! What happened exactly?"

"Not important." Beri snapped.

"Wait, how do you know all this?"

"Not important either midget!"

"It is though." She was about to snap at him again but Yuugi beat her to the punch. "I need to know if the information I'm hearing is viable."

Beri immediately snapped her mouth shut, glaring at him. "I suppose you're right." She hissed rather painfully. "Because I was there when all this happened. I'm not as old as the Pharaoh but I'm old enough. Before you interrupt again, I'm a spirit stuck on the Earth for the time being through some freak-" She stopped midsentence, her eyes wandering to the side, as a thought dawned on her. She furrowed her brow and bared her teeth in anger. "Son of a bitch!"

Yuugi jumped a few feet into the air. "W-What?"

"Those damn kids! I knew they had a grudge on me for thousands of years but this is low. Lower than low!" Upon seeing Yuugi's confused and shocked expression, Beri tried to elaborate. "There were two spirits here as well. I needed their help for what I was about to do and they were the only spirits that could. But then they tricked me. Instead of helping the Pharaoh, they trapped me here!" She ran her fingers through her hair, teeth bared and brow crumpled. "But wait a minute..." She swiveled around facing the former Pharaoh. "OH SHIT." Taking his hand, she turned it palm side up. Yuugi gasped slightly, seeing the jewel embedded inside the flesh so smooth looking and not a single scar indicating that it was newly placed; he for sure didn't have that thing before this whole mess began.

Looking over her shoulder briefly at Yuugi, she stated simply "You've had three years sucked out of you."

Yuugi's head was spinning not sure exactly what was happening anymore. "Huh?" Beri seemed to be jumping from one topic to the next and it was hard for him to keep up with her. It was like she had hundreds of thoughts processing at once and her mouth was trying to keep up.

"When you said his 'name' the shadows attacked you and sucked three years of your life and gave it to the Pharaoh." Beri pressed her thumb on the centre of Atemu's forehead and closed her eyes. She continued to speak to Yuugi. "He can't sustain his own body without some sort of donation of life energy. I asked two of my accomplices to do this earlier but they were sneaky little bastards and gave that life source to me instead of him. The Pharaoh just got his donation from you."

"Why would those two do something like that?"

"Revenge."

"What do you mean?"

"It was something that happened a long time ago. It's not important now, and I mean that." She stated before Yuugi could interject. "All that matters is that I'm stuck here indefinitely while the Pharaoh has a limited time." She opened her eyes and removed her thumb. Yuugi scooted over to sit beside her, looking down on Atemu with worry.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Beri gave a ghost of a smile at Yuugi, not taking her eyes off Atemu. "I'm sure you'll be able to ask him that question soon."

As if he could hear them, Atemu opened his eyes.

Ever since Atemu had been pulled into the darkness, he had been floating aimlessly inside his own body, not able to feel his own limbs, his senses clouded and useless, his thoughts muddled and disjointed. The only thing that he was aware of was the hot pain that coursed through his body, not once letting up or showing mercy. It lit every cell inside him on fire, burning him from the inside out. He thought he would be living like this for the rest of his life but was relieved when it started to dissipate. Slowly, the fires were extinguished as a soothing coolness crept into his system, filling him with immense joy. He was brought back to his body fully; he could feel his arms, legs and torso once again and his senses were becoming alert once more. He heard two voices talking; one masculine yet high pitched, which Atemu could easily identify as his aibou and the other womanly but very commanding which had to belong to that spirit Beithwal. His eyes blinked open and he saw the two hovering over him, both looking at him with mixed feelings. Yuugi's face changed from one of worry to one of joy as soon as he saw Atemu's eyes open and Beri looked annoyed but a little amused, her expression not changing. Slowly, he sat up, rubbing his eyes at the sudden brightness.

"The other me!" Yuugi cried, throwing his arms around his other half. Atemu grunted at the force of Yuugi throwing his weight at him but returned the hug, a small smile forming on his lips. Yuugi gasped suddenly and moved away, his eyes wide. "Oh god! I-I wasn't thinking! You must be so sore after you've gone through all that, I mean what with the flying around the chamber and the sucking of sou-"

"YUUGI." Beri cut him off with a shout. Yuugi blinked, but still looked at Atemu with apprehension.

"Are you okay? I mean, how do you feel?" His eyebrows creased in worry as his eyes swept over Atemu, looking for any bruises, cuts or any other imperfection that would ruin his otherwise perfect skin.

"I'm fine aibou." The Pharaoh said, waving off Yuugi's maternal nature. And, strangely enough, he was. All that pain and suffering he went through, seemed like a bad dream even though he knew it was real. Just like the ceremonial duel and what happened after.

Which reminded him...

"What exactly did you do to me." He stated it more as a demand then a question. Beri bit her lip; the first sign of nerves she had openly displayed.

"It's complicated but-"

"Tell me."

"... I was going to anyways. All that happened was that since you needed to stay here a little extra longer, I figured you would need a better way of existing in this world. Consider it a gift." She moved closer to Atemu and grabbed his right palm, flipping it up to reveal the jewel buried in his skin. "This jewel stores life energy which then is pumped into your body, giving you an actual body of your own, however it is only borrowed energy. Once your fuel source runs out..."

"Yes?"

"You'll be torn apart particle by particle until everything that was you is gone into the air."

Atemu blinked, his heart rate picking up slightly but he kept a clam exterior. "How long is that."

Beithwal's eyes darted to Yuugi then went back to the Pharaoh. "Three years."

Yuugi mulled this over for a bit. "Couldn't he just get more life energy? I mean I could give him some more-"

"What?" Atemu yelled making Beri wince and Yuugi slap his mouth shut, looking guilty. He turned his blazing crimson eyes to the former spirit, looking like he was ready to tear her limb from limb. "You gave me part of his life?"

Beri dropped his hand, making frantic motions with her own. "No no no! It's not like that." Her eyes slightly widened, sweeping the ground around Atemu. At the corner of his eye, he could see the faint purple mist of the Shadows gather around him, clawing at him with greedy fingers, sensing his distress and anxious for some action. Atemu narrowed his eyes, waiting for her to explain. She continued on frantically. "It was an accident! Maji and Awry were supposed to give you their energy but they decided instead to give it to me instead, damn bastards. " At Atemu's look, she shook her head. "Don't ask. It's a long story."

I expect to hear it later then, He thought to her as the Shadows around him shrunk down to their normal level, slightly disappointed to not get anything. He still didn't trust her, but some instinct inside him told him that he had to keep her alive. For the time being. She mentally sighed.

One of these days, you will. But I might not have to tell you.

The Pharaoh was about to say something to that when he heard a groan echo throughout the chamber. At the sound, Yuugi's eyes widened and he stood up quickly, his body rigid and tense. His face broke out into a grin as more groans followed the first. Beri smacked her forehead, muttering something in a foreign language, but Atemu didn't pay her much attention. He straightened up, standing next to Yuugi and faced the same direction he was.

All their friends had awakened and were rubbing there heads and stretching. Taking Atemu by the hand, Yuugi lead his other half towards the group. For once, Atemu was happy to let his aibou take the lead.

Atemu knew they were all staring even though they all tried their best to shield it. Most looked at Beri with a variety of expressions; Ishizu and Anzu looked a bit miffed at her, scowling when they were certain she wasn't looking at them, Otogi, Honda, Jounouchi and even Seto were hungrily eyeing her as if she was the hottest thing they had ever seen, Mokuba just smiled at her and Malik and Sugoroku eyed her with suspicion. Yuugi had told them everything that she had told him while Atemu, laid back and observed the situation, after they had settled down from first the joy of having the Pharaoh still with them and then confusion for why he was still there.

Otogi cleared his throat, slapping on a charming smile which was aimed directly at the former spirit. Before he could so much as open his mouth, Anzu slapped him on the shoulder sensing what he was going to say and trained her eyes on Beri. She was leaning against a boulder, counting the cracks in the ceiling with the Pharaoh right beside her, who had his arms crossed looking pensive.

"I think we should talk this over." Anzu narrowed her eyes at Beri. "Alone." She ignored the glare that Otogi and Honda threw her.

Beithwal rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, you can all have a chat in this corner while I go to that corner way over there and plug my ears shouting 'La, la, la' over and over again." Atemu's mouth twitched and Yuugi couldn't help but chuckle a bit too, hiding it with a cough. Beri flipped her hair back, giving Anzu a predatory smile. "I think, little girl it would be smarter if we got out of here first don't you think? I mean logically speaking. You can all sort out your domestic problems later."

A dangerous look crossed Anzu's eyes; it looked like she wanted to punch Beri. Yuugi chuckled nervously, motioning with his hands as if to calm Anzu down. "Look she does have a point Anzu-chan. We have to figure out how to get out of here. We've been down here long enough I think."

"And how pray tell are we going to accomplish that?" Atemu spoke up for the first time since him and his aibou walked over to the group. "In case you haven't noticed Aibou, we are completely in-cased inside this rocky tomb." Yuugi scratched the back of his head, thinking up ideas.

"We could simply move the boulders?" He suggested, knowing full well that it wouldn't work. Atemu rolled his eyes at his hikari with a small smile on his lips. Beri crossed her arms and sighed. Otogi snapped his fingers as if an idea just occurred to him.

"Wait, what if Ate- I mean the Pharaoh used his Shadow Magic to disintegrate the boulders?" He said excitedly. Atemu creased his eyebrows together.

"I don't think it works like that Otogi-kun." He stated flatly.

Beri scoffed. "You really haven't been using them much have you?" At his glare, she shrugged and continued. "You can do whatever you want with the Shadow's as long as you have the strength of mind to do it and not loose yourself in the do have a mind of their own you know. Although." She gave him a sideways glance, and if Yuugi didn't know better, he could have sworn a flash of worry came and went in her eyes. "I wouldn't try it in your state."

Atemu scowled at her; no one could tell him what he could and could not do. He had defeated numerous enemies always when the duel favored them and came out victorious. He had lead a nation from when he was just a teenager, and defeated the most feared creature in all of creation.

I think I can handle moving some boulders. He thought sourly.

Without a word nor a sound, he got up and walked to where the staircase used to be. Yuugi and Beri both got up at the same time to stop him but they were shoved back down by invisible hands and were kept there. The rest of them all scrambled up, but like the other two, they got shoved down as well.

"Pharaoh!" Yuugi cried, worried that he would expend himself. He had just recovered from God knows what. If he over extended himself with his powers he could...

No. Atemu had been almost pulled from him once. Yuugi wasn't going to let that happen again. He struggled restlessly against the invisible binds that pulled him to the ground, keeping his eyes on his yami. Atemu raised his hands, his back to the group of friends. A small wind picked up, making his cape and hair flutter slightly as the same purple mist that attacked Yuugi gathered around his feet. It climbed its way up his body, outlining him in it's purple haze. It twined its way to his hands, red lightning crackling inside the mist. He flexed his hands, making the aura expand until it was an inch thick. Sliding a foot back, he clasped his hands together, turning his torso sideways but still facing the doorway. The lightning leaped into his hands and he threw it forward, the mist carrying the lightning within. It was a powerful blast. A strong wind picked up blowing towards the sky, Atemu's cape fluttering up. The moment his blast made contact with the rocks, they disintegrated into dust, its particles flying at where he was. The bonds tying Yuugi slacked ever so slightly and he was up before they could drag him back down. Fighting his way through the dust and debris, he found Atemu who was still standing but his knees wobbled. Yuugi placed a gentle hand on his other half's shoulder. Instantaneously, he relaxed into the touch, the mist around him falling back down to the ground. The wind died down and the dust particles nestled into the earth and Yuugi looked forward. The way was completely clear; sunlight streamed into the room lighting up Atemu, his gold jewelry glinting.

Yuugi took a moment to look at his profile; his skin was dark like the rest of him, his normally blazing intelligent crimson eyes, softened a bit and his features hard yet soft, commanding yet vulnerable, prideful yet humble. It was a plate of contradictions but it was impossible for it to be described any other way. The sound of fabric rustling told Yuugi that the others were free as well and were up and at 'em. He looked behind him and was surprised to see Beri there, smiling softly. At that moment, Atemu decided to collapse into Yuugi, his eyes closing completely. Yuugi staggered under the additional weight but quickly righted himself, checking to make sure Atemu was breathing.

"Here, I'll help." Beri grabbed one of Atemu's arms and propped it around her neck. Yuugi did the same with his other, not complaining for once that someone was helping him. Sharing their burden, the two started walking up the steps into the sunlight, the group of friends right behind them.

A/N AGH! Sorry for the delay. Lots of stuff happening around my house involving technology failing around me, birthday parties, hanging out with friends and house work .. This whole social life is BRAND NEW TO ME.

Anyways, ya hope you enjoyed that bit 3 Poor Atemu xD. There is a reason why Beri keeps switching personalities. trust me o-o