Atem awoke early when the sun shone through the ivory colored canvas making up the large tent he shared with his friends. Having arrived at the dig site late the previous evening, with only enough time to set up camp and turn in, Atem was not surprised none of his friends were awake yet. He was actually considerably surprised he wasn't more tired himself. It had been a long weekend, and his body was having a little difficulty adjusting to the sudden travel.

Nonetheless, he sat up and stretched, and pulled his sleeping bag off of himself. Jounouchi, Honda and Yugi were in the tent with himself. He stepped around his friends carefully and exited the makeshift structure. Immediately upon stepping out, he breathed in the morning desert air.

He smiled at himself when he realized the first thought to cross his mind upon exiting the tent was that he wished Seto had been present to enjoy the air with him. He wished that he could call the man, but even if he'd had a phone of his own, he knew there was no reception in the area, and he expected that Seto would be busy anyhow. Atem did not expect the man made a habit of making time to talk on the phone without purpose.

Atem found his way to the makeshift canteen that had been set up the previous night and found himself a bottle of water. As he drank, thinking over the events of his weekend, a hand clamped onto his shoulder and he jumped, trying not to choke on his water. Cheerful laughter erupted from behind him.

"I didn't mean to startle you, my boy," said Professor Hopkins with a smile. Atem returned the smile to a degree, as soon as he had composed himself.

"I'm fine, professor. Good morning. I admit, I'm still surprised to see you've joined us on such short notice." The professor pulled a container of water out of the cooler for himself.

"Oh, I wouldn't miss a chance to dig with Mr. Mutou for the world, so long as I am able." He chuckled at himself. "Who knows how many years this old body has left? I've got to take every opportunity I can get." Atem nodded, but glanced back out toward the open desert. He liked Professor Hopkins, but conversing with him was not where his attention pulled him. The scientist followed his gaze and took a deep breath.

"It is beautiful out here, isn't it? I've always enjoyed the desert."

"It is." Atem nodded.

"Atem." The Egyptian hummed his response. "I won't be one to pry, but…" The professor hesitated, and Atem sighed, knowing what subject the man was intending to touch on. "Your friends all think a great deal of you. I know everyone here is trying to show you their support, and wants for you to see this opportunity they'd given you, not as a prison, but as freedom. You have your own life now, and you're free to live it as you choose. You need not be so wary of this extra freedom." The old man sighed, but a smile graced his lips. "My field of science is not that of the mind, so I don't have much expertise to draw from to help you. I can only hope that this excursion will provide you with the change of perspective you're looking for."

Atem blinked. When had he said he was looking for a change in perspective? Was he, even? He must have been looking for… something, to even cooperate on coming along for the trip.

"I'm not going to lecture you. But, to my understanding, part of this trip was to give you some things to think about."

"I'd figured that much." Atem said quietly. "Thank you, Professor," he said after some time, without looking at him. He'd meant it as more of a closing statement than a measure of gratitude, and he hoped the professor understood that. He seemed to, since he didn't say anything further. He patted the Egyptian on the shoulder again before walking off back to his tent.

Yugi and his crew stood underneath the cool shade of a tent, carefully dusting and categorizing various trinkets they had found during the dig so far.

"Be careful with that brush, Jounouchi," Yugi warned while watching his friend clean off an old piece of broken pottery that had been found, less gently than the demonstration he'd been given. He stood nearby Honda, who was cleaning off a similar artifact, brushing the dirt and dust off into bins in front of them in the crude cleaning station that had been constructed. When one piece was finished to satisfaction, it was placed on a soft cloth and set aside.

"Will you guys be alright finishing up?" Yugi asked his two friends.

"Yeah, Yug', we got this." Jounouchi nodded. Yugi eyed Atem in the distance and wished to speak to him.

"Great," he said. "I'm going to go for a drive with Atem."

Jounouchi and Honda nodded before Yugi walked off.

Yugi found his other self, along with Anzu, on the tailgate of the pickup truck the group was using to travel between the camp site and the small town nearby where they bought their supplies. They seemed to be speaking quietly together, and while Yugi didn't want to interrupt, he had something on his mind he'd wanted to discuss.

Atem and Anzu looked up as their small friend approached.

"Hi, Yugi," Anzu smiled.

"Hello," Atem greeted as well. Yugi smiled and waved. He was relieved the two did not appear to be in the middle of a heavy discussion, and that he would not be disrupting anything too consequential.

"How is the clean-up coming along?" Atem asked. "I'm sorry, we should have been helping."

Yugi shook his head. "No need. It's going fine. The guys are just finishing up."

"We found a lot today," Anzu noted cheerfully, thinking back over their haul.

"Yeah, it's been great," Yugi agreed. "Uh, Atem? Would it be alright if I borrowed you for a few hours? I'm sorry, Anzu. I don't mean to interrupt." Anzu shook her head.

"No, it's alright. We were just catching up while we took a break. Are you guys going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Yugi nodded, but Atem wore a puzzled expression on his face.

"Okay. You guys take care. Have fun!" She squeezed Atem's hand before hopping down off the tailgate, and ventured over to the clean-up area. Yugi kept his feet on the ground and propped his elbows, arms crossed, on the tailgate so he could look directly at Atem while they spoke.

"What do you need, aibou?"

"Well, to start, I wanted to check on you." Atem's gaze fell away from his friend's face, but Yugi put up a hand to redirect his attention. "Please look at me. I know you don't want to talk about what happened. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. But I want to touch base with you. I want to know how you're feeling." Atem kept his eyes on his young friend's face as requested, but didn't answer. "I want to help you, Atem, however I can. And I think you want to feel better. So you need to let me. Talk to me."

Atem tried not to huff in frustration in front of Yugi. He wanted his privacy, but his friends… why must they care so much? he asked himself. "I know you're just trying to help me, Yugi. But… I just need to figure this out for myself. I need some time."

"Okay," Yugi nodded. "Okay. Take your time - however much you need. I don't want to be pushy. Just don't forget that we're here for you. You can talk to any one of us." Atem gave a small nod. He wanted to change the subject. He wanted his friends just to gloss over the entire occurrence. He would rather put the focus onto his friends, if he had to think about anything.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but will you at least take a drive with me?"

"Where?"

"You'll see when we get there. But you'll have to drive. I'll direct you."

Atem considered Yugi's intentions. He expected that he knew where his motivation for this sudden drive likely stemmed from, and it made him uneasy. Nonetheless, he obliged his small friend, closing the tailgate and rounding the vehicle to the driver's side. Yugi followed to the passenger door and climbed into the large vehicle. Before sitting down, he retrieved a folded piece of paper from his back pocket, laying it across his lap and smoothing out the folds and wrinkles. Atem turned the key, which had already been hanging in the ignition. He looked over at his partner, noting that the paper draped across his knees was a map.

"Is our destination far?" he asked.

Yugi hesitated. "Yes and no. It's not too far, but the Professor did warn me that it's rough traveling in a vehicle. We'll have to drive slower."

"Can you at least tell me what's so important that we do this now?"

"Um, consider it a surprise. I think you'll like the place." Yugi said with a smile.

"Professor Hopkins told you about this… place?"

"I asked him about it. Okay, no more questions! I don't want to risk you figuring it out before we get there!" Yugi said cheerfully. "Now, we should take this road back out of the camp, and once we get onto the main road…" Yugi rattled off the starting directions.

Atem committed the directions to his memory and put the truck in gear. He wasn't very used to driving, and in an ordinary vehicle he knew Yugi would be the preferred operator, but the pick-up the group had been borrowing belonged to Professor Hopkins. Yugi simply couldn't comfortably reach the pedals like he could in his grandpa's car. Atem wasn't much taller, but it was enough. The truck wasn't brand new and the exterior was in rough shape, but thankfully it was an automatic, and Atem didn't have much difficulty picking up on operating it. He had driven between the camp and the nearby town when needed in the week and a half since the group had begun their excavation. Luckily, the desert roads were highly simplistic, and most of the time operating the vehicle was the only thing Atem had to pay attention to, aside from directions and conversation.

Atem snapped his fingers, as though he'd just remembered something.

"I did have something to talk to you about, Yugi," he said.

"Yeah?" He smiled, happy for any chance to get his friend to open up. "What is it?"

"I wanted to ask you about something Kaiba started telling me. He told me about the tournament he threw since I'd left." He watched Yugi's face, waiting for a flicker of understanding, but all he saw was confusion. "He and Mokuba were in Domino on business?" Atem urged Yugi to finish the story, but the small duelist shook his head.

"I guess I'm having a little trouble recalling. Tell me what Kaiba said?" Atem relayed the story Kaiba had told him.

"He said that you were forced to duel for everyone's safety. Yugi, why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

Yugi shook his head. "I'm sorry, Atem… That never happened. I don't know why Kaiba would have told you that. He hasn't thrown a tournament since Grand Prix. Kaiba Corp seems to be focusing more on…" Yugi continued speaking, but Atem had stopped listening. He grumbled under his breath, which finally caught Yugi's attention and he stopped mid-sentence.

"What is it?"

"I know why he said that to me." Now that he thought back on it, Seto's story seemed so transparent. Why hadn't he caught it?

"I hope his aim wasn't to worry you over nothing, just to give you something else to think about. The last thing you need is to-"

Atem's eyes lit up and he pounded a fist against the steering wheel. "The wine!" He exclaimed, cutting Yugi off again. "Damn that man," he almost laughed. Yugi's look of confusion returned. "Yugi, you know it isn't a habit of mine to drink often."

"Special occasions," Yugi nodded. He was the same, himself.

"Kaiba picked up on that quickly. He served wine with dinner every night. I suppose that's just common practice for a rich man?" He questioned. He really had no idea how the billionaire lived, only that he had no problem opening several varieties of expensive bottles during a single weekend, to only drink a few glasses of each.

"He told me," Atem switched back to his previous subject, "that during this tournament, you had a difficult time handling the pressure. I told him that I believed you were strong enough to handle anything." Yugi blushed and tried to shake his head but Atem stopped him. "If it weren't the case, you would not have been able to defeat me in our duel, and I never would have left."

Yugi tried to stop himself from thinking that he might have preferred if that had been the case.

"Kaiba tried to make me think you weren't strong enough to stop needing me. He was trying to give me some… sense of purpose, I suppose."

"That does seem sort of… obvious. But I don't see how that links back to the wine."

"The wine is why I didn't see through his act. He'd given me too much to drink." Atem did laugh this time, looking up at the clear sky above him. "He knew exactly what he was doing. And here, I've been worried about why you wouldn't tell me such a thing had occurred."

"I'm sorry. I would have, if it was true. I would have wanted you to know." Atem smiled. The reassurance did give him some sense of relief. Had he really let himself worry about Yugi that much? He'd been trying to tell himself that Yugi was strong, and he knew his friend was, but a sense of… protectiveness tugged at him. Now that the Egyptian thought about it, it had been there all along.

While the Egyptian truly wanted the best for his dear friend, Atem was forced to face the fact that, whether Yugi truly needed him anymore or not, he still wanted him to.

The vehicle finally came to a halt on the side of a dusty road. The professor had been correct in warning of the rough terrain. The area was rocky, littered with the remains of what looked to have once been a great city. Now all that lay before them was rubble.

"…This is it?" Atem asked quizzically.

"Mhm!" Yugi nodded cheerily and folded his map. "Does this place… mean anything to you? Do you remember it?"

Atem stared out the window at his surroundings for a moment. He could make out fallen pillars, cracked into pieces, some with the bases still planted firmly in the ground. The walls and borders of buildings and homes could be made out here and there. Roads were no longer easily distinguishable, but there were paths here and there that seemed traversable. Thick layers of dust and sand smothered everything. The area had not been untouched recently, certainly there had been explorers, but there was enough evidence remaining for Atem to piece a handful of clues together.

To an archaeologist, it would have felt like standing in the wake of a tragedy.

But to Atem, it held a sense of home.

"I do," he said finally. He exited the vehicle, and Yugi was at his heels.

Ahead, several hundred yards beyond the mess where Yugi had stopped the truck, Atem could see an enormous structure, more intact than the rest of their surroundings. His feet automatically carried him toward it.

The fortress was blocked off on all sides by thick, heavy walls, far too tall to climb. Stone pieces of statues of the Egyptian gods set to guard the entrance to the structure were strewn about. Atem was thankful the two of them were small, and they found a large fissure to slip through. He found himself standing on the inside of what had once been his own palace courtyard. The place that had once been so lavish in its age now fell in ruins, but Atem did not feel sorrow as he studied his surroundings.

Instead, the man moved with purpose, through used-to-be passageways of the palace building and over the remains of destroyed interior walls separating the rooms that now hardly existed. When he felt like he had reached his intended destination, he stopped.

An actual ceiling covered a large corner of the huge room, though there was no covering over most of it. The bright blue sky and hot sun shone through and beat on his cheeks. A set of six steps led up to a damaged platform, a dais, on top of which sat what little was left of the throne. He turned to Yugi.

"This place is different today, of course, but, I can still recognize parts of what's left. This was my throne room. This whole place… is where I grew up."

"I know," Yugi nodded.

Atem closed his eyes. "I can still remember my initiation ceremony, when I first became king. And this was the throne of my father before me." He approached the dais where the great kings of this city had once perched. The throne was no longer standing, only cracked pieces remaining, but he remembered what it had looked like. He looked back at Yugi, who still stood at the doorway.

"I'm going to give you some privacy," Yugi said. "I'll wait for you in the truck."

"Yugi, are you sure? I don't have to do this. We can go back."

Yugi shook his head. "Go on! We came here for you. I'll be fine!" Yugi encouraged.

Atem looked back to his dear friend, but Yugi just waved to him and left in the direction of the truck. He sighed and turned back to the remains of his destroyed kingdom.

A/N: I am terribly sorry for the delay in updating! At the last minute before chapter seven went up I decided I wasn't satisfied with the ending for this whole piece, but I was drawing a blank on how to better it from my original intention. It took way too long, but I think I've got it now. The next installment will not take me nearly so long. Again, I'm sorry! I have no intentions of leaving this piece unfinished.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and for everybody's patience. If all goes according to plan, the next update for this story is to be the last, and ought to be up soon.