Chapter 1:

Atem awoke in a somewhat familiar place, but he could quite place it. His mind was fuzzy and it took him a moment to realize he was in his room at Pegasus's Castle on the Duelist Kingdom island. It took him a few more moments to realize that he shouldn't be waking up in this body, but in his mind space. He propped himself up to a sitting position on leaned back slightly, putting his weight on his hands that kept him upright. He shook his head trying to clear the fog from his mind. Unfortunately it did nothing to lift the haze. A flash of memory came to him suddenly and was gone as quickly as it had came. The memory was of him and Pegasus dueling in the Shadow Realm. The memory, though vague, triggered a feeling of dread and a sense that something terrible had happened. He tried calling to Yugi with his mind... and received no answer. A woman's voice startled him from his thoughts, a woman's voice that he didn't recognize. He looked over at her, she was dressed in white and had a cap on her head that had a red cross at its center. She smiled at him and continued, "Its go to see you're finally awake. Can I get you anything?"

"Who are you? What happened?"

The woman filled a small foam cup with water and handed it to him. He only realized how thirsty he was when he looked at the fluid. She answered his question while he drank, "I work here as a nurse. You can call me Kara. As for what happen, none of us are really sure. Your friends found you unconscious after the battle. You've been in a coma for a day and a half. We thought you might not come back. The doctor was ready to call it. After all, in your condition you couldn't have held out much longer."

This statement took a moment to register, and when it did it confused Atem. He had been fine, what was she talking about?

"My... condition?"

The smile faded from Kara's face and she pulled out her pocket mirror, handing it to him. His eyes widened. What Atem saw in the tiny mirror looked like a ghost. His skin had groan many shades paler and there were dark circle around his eyes. He was thinner somehow and over all he appeared rather ill. He reflection was him but not him. Nothing had actually changed, but his normal appearance had become sickly, as though his body were losing a battle with a terrible disease. His dark hair, which was usually spiked up at strange angles, now hung down lifelessly. His blonde bangs, generally spiky and always in their place, were dull and hung close to his face. One look at him and you could tell something was definitely wrong.

"The duel... how did it end..?"

Kara took her mirror as he handed it back to her, "You won. Everything you see here belongs to you now. Its all yours."

"And my friends..?"

"They're still here. They wanted to see you. To know that you're ok."

Atem threw the blanket that covered him up to his waist to the side and put his legs over the edge of the bed. He was wearing pale blue hospital pajamas, the same dotted patten on both the pants and shirt. He took a deep breath and stood up, but his legs felt like his muscles were made of jello and he fell. Kara helped him up and back on the bed. Before he could ask why she explained, "You've been in a coma. You're muscles have deteriorated considerably so you're too weak to walk. Hold on a minute. I'll get a wheel chair and take you to see your friends."

He sat at the edge of the bed while she walked out the door in to the hall. Kara returned ten minutes later and helped him into the chair. Atem, who had always been so confident and collected, found that this was all a lot to take in. There was a blank in his memory while he was dueling Pegasus. The first half of the battle was hazy and out of focus in his mind, but the second half was nonexistent. It was just gone.

Atem and Kara continued down the hallway, coming out at the balcony area above the stadium, which was now back to being an ordinary room. Tea, Tristan, and Joey rushed over to him, glad he was ok. They were shocked by how sickly he appeared but didn't let that get in the way of their reunion.

Tears started to fall from Tea's eye's, "Oh, Yugi! We thought we lost you!"

Joey crossed his arms in front of him and grinned, "Yeah, Yugi. You gave us a real scare."

Tristan grinned too and gave Atem a punch to the arm, "That was a close call, Man, but lets forget the sad stuff. You won!"

A thought dawned on Atem, "The souls, were they released?"

Tristan smiled slyly, "See for yourself."

At that moment Mokuba ran down the opposite hall toward them, "Yugi!"

Atem stared at the boy, surprised, "Mokuba!"

The child stopped in front of him and brushed his long black hair from his eyes, "Yugi... You saved us."

The boy smiled, "Thanks to you, Yugi, Seto and I are together again. I wanted to thank you and see if you were ok. We're going to be heading home soon."

Seto Kaiba put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder and looked at Atem, "Thank you, Yugi. My little brother is everything to me."

Atem nodded, "I made a promise. I'm glad you two can be together again."

They looked each other in the eyes and a silent acknowledgment passed between them. They were still rivals, but they had a new respect for one another.

"We should be going. The helicopter's waiting outside."

With that Kaiba and Mokuba turned and walked away. Before stepping out the door Kiaba turned back to face Atem, "Until the next duel."

Then the two disappeared through the doors of the castle, on their way home.

Atem watched them go. Suddenly a sharp stab of pain went through his mind and he clutched his temple, wincing. A memory came back to him of the duel with Pegasus. He had just made his final move and won the tournament. He and Yugi merge their minds, standing in the hallway between the two rooms of their shared mind space. They were smiling, happy they'd defeated Pegasus. Yugi's eyes were bright and shining and with them stood their friends in the corridor, all celebrating the victory, when all of a sudden their friends disappeared and a blinding bright light filled the space. Then the light vanished and everything became black.

Atem opened his eyes to see his friends stared worriedly at him. Tea was the one to speak, "Yugi... Are you alright?"

He nodded slowly, "Just tired."

Kara cleared her throat and spoke up, "Its been a long day. I'll take him back to his room so he can rest."