Authors Note: Firstly, I apologize profusely if that took forever and a damn day to get through. There's a lot of back story on our characters, after all, it has been seven years since Atem and Yugi dueled. I wasn't able to get a clear answer as to how long Atem possessed Yugi's body but if we ASSUMED that they were together for over a year when Yugi was 16 then the time frame would put him at 23 so that's what I'm sticking with. I really felt it was important to be realistic on just how big an effect the Millenium Items had on each of them-as a whole-and as individuals. I REFUSE to believe that all of them walked away with no emotional/physical scarring! Fictional it may be, but unrealistic the human nature is NOT. Power changes people, and those Items were crazy powerful. Anyway, I'll step off my soapbox now; my point is that after the next couple chapters there will be less back story and more dialogue and definitely more action. And more Yugi of course! For the shippers, be patient! It is definitely gonna be slow build, and in one case may even be dubious consent/realization. Why? Cause I'm EVIL and that's how I wanted it! :) Questions/comments/reviews are welcome but not necessary.

Present Day ~Past Events~ 'Thoughts' "Mental Links"

Chapter 2: Desecration PT1

Two men sat at the edge of the dig site, enjoying doing nothing after hours of digging with cool canteens of water. Both were tired and half asleep as it was, and the sun going down cast shadows on the dirty crevices in their faces. Almost all of their fellow diggers had headed back home or were just now leaving, which left the site rather quiet. They spoke to one another in their native language, discussing how soon the good Professor would pay them for their labor and how attractive the Ishtar woman was. Neither noticed a figure clad in black creeping slowly toward them.

'I need information...These two will have to do for now..' She crept forward until she stood before them, effectively silencing their conversation. Before either of them could even comprehend her presence she shot forward placing her hands on either sides of the younger man's face. The man's eyes widened before rolling back into his head. His friend let out a startled yelp as he crumpled to the ground, standing and trying to back away but she was on him in a flash. She kicked out with her booted heel and caught him behind a knee causing him to kneel. He screamed, throwing his hands up in a desperate wheeling motion to defend himself but she knocked his hands away. Her palms connected with his temples and instantly his every thought, every memory flashed before their eyes in quick succession-each mental picture frayed by a dark glittery substance before halting suddenly. His mind and body went numb, and he barely felt her hands release his head as the ground rushed up to meet him. He didn't even feel impact as his vision went dark.

A cell phone sitting on a desk vibrated to a catchy tune. It buzzed amongst a pile of papers, newspaper clippings, a small laptop and a black studded belt with a dueling deck stacked haphazardly next to it. Yugi's tri-colored head popped up off his pillow looking for the source of the noise, eyes landing on his phone blinking with a phone call. He launched himself off the bed. Almost tripping over the half-packed suitcases at the foot of his bed, before fumbling with the phone and hitting the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Yugi! I've been trying to skype you for the past hour, but I guess since you didn't answer I thought you were busy. It's not a bad time is it?"

"Oh hey Rebecca, no it's not a bad time," He yawned and scratched his head, "I was just laying down for a bit. Grandpa and I have been busy making arrangements and cleaning the shop before the trip."

"Okay well, fire up your computer! I have a surprise for you!" Rebecca sing-songed, sounding like she was almost hopping with excitement.

Yugi chuckled, "Alright, give me a minute.." He sat down and open the laptop, opening a screen browser. "Ooookay, it's up. Should I ca-"

"Nope! I'll call you! BYE!" CLICK.

'Well, alright then.' Yugi stared at the computer screen waiting for Rebecca's call to come through. Rebecca, himself and his Grandpa were going to fly out in two days and meet up in Cairo before traveling to see the Professor. Looking around at the state of his room he knew he'd have to finish packing tonight. He wondered what the surprise was... Hopefully not a date for him and Rebecca. Oh God, what if it was a date? She would totally pull a stunt like that. Yugi blushed slightly thinking back on all her flirtatious advances over the years. He had to admit she had blossomed from a brilliant young child to a beautiful, scarily intelligent young lady...but if he was being honest he had never seen her as anything more than a friend. That and the age difference was enough to turn heads. A fact she pointedly ignored every time he brought it up or tried to let her down easy. Rebecca had followed in her Grandpa's footsteps and was making headway in the archeological field as well as taking the dueling community by storm (behind himself-still reigning KOG, of course). Already graduated from a prestigious university with three masters degrees, fluent in multiple languages and making really REALLY good money... she was a damn good catch. And for some reason she only had eyes for Yugi; he couldn't figure out why but she did. His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Grandpa? Is that you?" Yugi called out, hearing the footsteps stop suddenly. He listened hard, waiting for the tell-tale squeak of the fifth stair to give his Grandpa's position away.

…...squeak..

"GRANDPA! YOU BETTER NOT BE CLIMBING THE STAIRS!" Yugi screeched. He leaned his chair back so his voice could carry down the hall better. "The doctor gave you strict orders! Don't think for a second I won't enforce them and keep you home from the trip! I've got a sitter lined up as we speak!"

He kept his voice stern, but some giggles escaped when he heard frantic thumping going back down the stairs and into the kitchen, followed by low angry muttering and banging around. He had seriously considered putting up a baby gate to emphasize his point but he didn't want to wound his grandfather's pride anymore than it was; his recent fall had fractured his hip and strained his bad back -keeping him secluded to the downstairs living area and game shop. Grandpa Mutou, with his new cane, and in his own words-had been reduced to the "handicapped, old geezer" he never wanted to be. The doctor told him he'd heal well enough much to Yugi's relief, but he'd have to take it easy and stay out of trouble. The silver lining that had definitely cheered Grandpa up was that he would still be able to travel to Egypt to see his old colleague-IF he didn't make his condition worse.

His laptop played a tune, signaling an incoming call. Yugi clicked on and watched as a window filled the whole screen. Rebecca sat smiling at him wearing red half-moon glasses, her long blonde hair falling down around her shoulders.

"YUGI! I've missed you! You weren't at the Duelist Conference in Hong Kong! What happened?"

"I've missed you too! I wanted to go but I got caught up here at Kaiba Corp. Mokuba requested that I test out some new dueling gear they want to use for the next Battle City tournament. Besides, I heard you did really well, and me being there would just have cramped your style." He gave her a sly smile watching as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh please, we both know I'm capable of defeating you! Opportunity just hasn't presented itself yet. Given that you haven't been to any of the tournaments I've registered in this year I'd say you were trying to avoid dueling me..not that I'm surprised. Winning four championships in a row must look pretty intimidating."

"Hahaha! Oh I know you're tough competition! You'll get another shot at my title at some point. Don't worry though, I promise not to go easy on you." He teased. She gave him a look that said 'you'd better not', before giving her own sly smile back.

"I'll hold you to that promise Yugi, and when you lose you're taking me out to a nice dinner! And I mean nice as in fancy dinner. You'll wear that snazzy tux you wore to Pegasus' banquet last year" at this she winked at him, "and I'll wear a pretty dress and we'll borrow a limo from Kaiba Corp. for the night.." Her eyes kind of glazed over as she talked about their potential date. He could practically see the hearts dancing in her eyes. Oh boy.

Heat crept up Yugi's face. If he wasn't blushing before he was now; he didn't think himself that handsome or desirable so flattering comments always made him a bit uncomfortable. He chuckled nervously and was about to open his mouth to distract her before someone beat him to it.

"Hey! I thought we were calling to surprise him, not threatening him with a date!"

Yugi watched as a blue-eyed brunette squeezed on screen next to Rebecca. She smiled and waved at him. Rebecca glared at her.

"I am NOT threatening him! You can't threaten someone with a good time, can you Yugi?" She waggled her eyebrows like a villain in a vaudeville. Yugi wasn't paying attention; genuinely surprised, his face lit up at seeing his childhood friend.

"TEÁ! HEY! How are you?! I haven't seen you in-wait! What are you doing in Hong Kong? I thought you had a big show in New York?"

She laughed at his exclamation, "I do! It's tomorrow evening. Rebecca is here with me in Manhattan! She happens to be a fan of Broadway shows and I managed to save a front row seat, best seat in the house I might add, in exchange for a plane ticket."

She had moved to New York two years ago to live out her dream to become a dancer. Graduating with honors from high school she scored a scholarship to Julliard. She worked her ass off juggling two jobs to afford tuition, impressing her tutors with her incredible work ethic. With a degree under her belt and a good word put in from her instructors she landed the job of a lifetime. She now did performances for a number of recitals and musicals on Broadway. Yugi was damn proud of her. Second to Rebecca, she was doing great and things were working out in her favor. He missed her terribly though; he rarely got to see his friends after high school. They had all made a pact that every school break or big holiday they'd all make plans to travel together and catch up on each other's lives. Last year's trip to London had been incredible! And it didn't hurt that they had good connections so they could travel in style. He'd have to remember to bring up where they'd go this year for vacation later.

"Sounds exciting! So what's this surprise I'm hearing about? Do I get a front row seat to the show too?"

Rebecca and Teá both looked giddy as they pulled out long slips of paper-plane tickets. Waving them in front of the camera lens so Yugi could read the destination. He squinted at the tiny lettering.

"Wha-wait! Hold still, I can't see what it say-CAIRO! You're coming to Egypt with us?" He smiled so wide the girls could see all his teeth; they nodded while doing a little happy jig. Yugi whooped and did a victory punch into the air. Rebecca fanned out the tickets, showing more than two.

"That's not even the best part! These other tickets? Those are for Joey and Tristan! I'm overnighting them to Japan tomorrow! I've made reservations for all of us to stay a few extra days in Cairo so this will be doubled as our yearly trip! SURPRISE!" She squealed. Teá laughed and high-fived the younger girl.

"AWESOME! You must have read my mind about this year's trip!" Yugi beamed, wiggling with excitement himself. Technically he was supposed to be going to study under Professor Hawkins for an "intern program", but he supposed he could juggle work and play. Especially if it meant a week in Cairo with his best friends.

"Rebecca, are you sure? That's a really generous gift, I don't want to inconvenience you…" Being the responsible adults they were (most of the time) had its perks, like affording expensive trips to other countries. He felt bad for her footing the bill for their stay, and he really hoped she didn't put any cards on file-especially if Joey was going. The tabs they've racked up in the past were shameful! They joked that even Kaiba's credit card would have declined had they been in possession of it. In fact, he was pretty sure Tristan was still paying off some debt from a crazy weekend in Kyoto.

"Relax Yugi, I've got it! I'm gonna be there to work anyway and those trailers are so awful after long periods of time I'm looking forward to a few nights in a hotel. Big comfortable bed, room service, air conditioning, hot tub...Remember to pack your swim trunks!" Her eyes had a wicked gleam to them as she eyed him through the screen.

"I don't think anyone will be paying any special attention to me. Not with Joey Wheeler walking around in all his bathing suit glory." He cackled at the girls' horror-struck expressions. The image of the teeny tiny purple Speedo that the guys had dared him to buy coming to the forefront of their minds. Not an image they wanted, but not one that was easily forgotten either.

Yugi caught his breath when he heard his Grandpa calling for him downstairs, "Yugi, what's going on up there? I could use a little help if you don't mind."

He leaned his chair back again and called back, "I'm talking to Teá and Rebecca on Skype! I'll be down in a minute!" He turned back to the girls and they exchanged goodbyes. They'd see each other in a couple of days anyway. Closing the laptop he hopped out of the chair and bounded to the stairs with a spring in his step. Excitement slowly started building in his gut. This was gonna be an amazing trip, he just knew it!