It hadn't been easy for Atem to drag himself out of bed on Saturday morning.
He was comfortable and warm and Yugi was curled up next to him with the most innocent expression Atem had seen on him in three years. Sure, he hadn't talked to him at all in that time period, but he'd seen him around. Seen him when he was out and about with his lackeys. He was always frowning, then, always glaring at passerby. He never looked happy. Never seemed pleased to see anyone.
And if he wasn't angry, he was completely neutral.
Regardless, he had detangled himself from Yugi, crawled out of that incredibly comfortable bed, and stretched. Yugi had stirred slightly, but hadn't opened his eyes. He just rolled over and curled up tighter. Atem felt guilty for not waking him up, of course, but that didn't stop him from scribbling a note and leaving the same way he'd come in on Thursday night.
He still wasn't sure how Yugi had reacted, but he hadn't had much time to stop and check his messages since right after he'd left. Viper had caught the trail of Pegasus, finally, so they'd been on their way to meet the man since Saturday morning.
Currently, it was Tuesday afternoon and he was beginning to realize why they'd been told Pegasus was difficult to get in contact with.
"Please tell me that's his island." He turned to Viper pleadingly.
The Bandit was looking distinctly green - had ever since they'd gotten on the boat. After a brief pause with his hand over his mouth, he nodded weakly. "It is. What a recluse."
Atem snickered, brushing his fringe out of his face. "Indeed. You feeling alright?"
"No worse than I have the rest of the time on this infernal contraption." Viper shrugged.
"Your face is starting to rival your hair." Atem pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it is." The man sighed, running a hand through the green locks. He was silent for a moment while his hand went to his lower lip and slowly twisted each of the four labret studs that sat below it. "Wish it wouldn't just give me away like that." He finally said with a sigh. "And I wish I'd worn my rings instead of the studs."
"Why's that?" Atem didn't pretend to understand the appeal of sticking something through the skin below or above your lips, but he wasn't one to judge.
"I'm used to 'em. I tend to fuck with them less." He paused to twist one of the studs again. "I always feel the need to move the studs for some reason."
"Can't help you there, buddy." Atem gave a rather helpless shrug. "I don't even know how to handle my pierced ears let alone anything else."
"Your ears are pierced?" Viper blinked. "I never noticed."
"Probably because I just wear studs most of the time." He tucked some of his fringe behind his ear and tapped the stud. "They're not exactly noticeable."
There was a very brief laugh before Viper had to slap a hand over his mouth again as they sailed through a wave. Atem waited patiently to see if the other would finally lose his lunch, but Viper just stood very still for a moment, swallowed hard, and lowered his hand. "Okay. I'm fine. And you're right, they aren't. Everybody's got their ears pierced nowadays, after all."
"No kidding." Atem gave him a smile. "On the bright side, we're getting close to the island."
"Oh, yeah. Only two or three more nautical miles of bullshit." Viper sighed. "I'm gonna go belowdecks and try to eat something. Hopefully we don't hit any more waves."
"Hopefully." Atem agreed. "I'll tell you when we land, alright?"
"Alright."
While he watched the other meander toward the stairs, he wondered what Pegasus was going to be like. Would he be like the other millionaires he'd met in the past 11 or 12 years? Stuck up, snooty, and reclusive? Or would he be one of the rare, flashy ones who realized that their wealth wasn't exactly permanent?
Only one way to find out, really.
For him, it was a relief to finally pull up to the docks. For Viper… Well, he doubted it. There was a grand lurching as they pulled astride the docks. As he was about to turn to head down the stairs, he saw green hair pop up. Viper looked incredibly ragged. Atem almost felt the need to apologize personally for the waves having been so unruly today.
"Let's… Disembark, shall we?" Viper stumbled toward the boarding ramp that the captain was diligently lowering for them.
"Alright."
Waiting at the end of the pier was a man in a suit and shades. His expression was severe - a firm frown, an only slightly less firm downward incline to his eyebrows. Atem wondered how someone could press their lips so tightly together.
"Atem Sennen, I presume?" The man asked when they reached him.
"Yes."
"Who's your… Friend?"
Viper gave him a long-suffering look before turning to the man and simply saying, "Someone who just got off the boat because they needed to be on solid ground for a while."
The man nodded. "Fair enough. Seasickness?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
He nodded again. "You may accompany us to the castle if you like. Pegasus is quite adamant that anyone who sets foot on the island be treated like a guest. Especially seasick ones." The man sighed, then, and bowed his head. "I am Kemo. Please, follow me."
Viper shot Atem a winning smile. It wasn't as if he'd needed to say anything, but judging by that frown, Viper was pretty sure Kemo didn't want him there. It probably had something to do with the green hair and piercings - a lot of people didn't seem to like those. He doubted that Pegasus would be a fan of them, either.
Oh well. What did he care what others thought about him? If they had a negative opinion, they could shove it. He didn't really care if they had a positive opinion, either, but he could at least stand to hear someone compliment him.
"Master Pegasus will meet you in a moment." Kemo told Atem, then turned to Viper. "And I've received orders to escort you to the kitchen and get you a few peppermints to settle your stomach."
Viper threw Atem a "What can you do?" look as Kemo walked off without another word. He scuttered off after him, then, leaving Atem standing in the middle of the ridiculously large dining room alone.
Somewhere, he heard a clock ticking away. He let himself get distracted, fall into a trance as he listened to the steady tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. in the background. He found himself lost in an imaginary world where Yami was still around and the world wasn't going to shit.
"Well hello there, bounty hunter." A new voice said with a chuckle.
This voice was snobbish, clearly someone who was full of themselves and very little else - sans, perhaps, pure bullshit. Atem hadn't even turned to face the man, yet, and he already didn't like him.
Typical.
"Hello." He said as he turned, "Pegasus, I presume?"
"You presume correctly." He smiled. "And don't worry - you'll find ample reason to dislike me, I'm sure." He snickered, "Aside from just my voice."
He quirked an eyebrow. "What in the world gave you the idea that I dislike you for your voice?"
Pegasus' smile morphed into a smirk as he tapped the side of his head. "I know these things, bounty hunter. I know them just as well as I know that your name is Atem and you are not who you say you are."
Part of him felt panicky at that, but for the most part he was just confused. Not who he said he was? What kind of bullshit was that? He was Atem Sennen, bounty hunter, brother, and apparently prospective love interest for his missing brother's lover.
"Oh, it's no bullshit, Atem. You simply don't remember what you're hiding. Trauma tends to do that to people."
"Whatever." Atem shook his head. "If you know so much, then you know why I'm here, yeah?"
"To ask me about little Noa Kaiba, of course."
"Well?"
"Well, what, bounty hunter? You think it's going to be that easy?" He laughed. "Let's just put it like this, boy - he's not the only one where he is."
"What…?" He scowled, "What's that supposed to mean, Pegasus?"
Pegasus rolled his visible eye and turned to walk away, pulling something out of his suit and throwing it over his shoulder.
The Millennium Puzzle clattered to the floor in front of Atem, causing his throat to close up immediately. It couldn't be - he hadn't seen that in three years. He hadn't seen it since Yami disappeared. It had still been around Yami's neck back then.
That meant…
"Not all is as it seems in your life, bounty hunter." Pegasus' voice drew his eyes back to him.
He felt all the breath in his lungs leave him. Embedded in Pegasus' eye socket, previously covered by his long silver hair, was the Millennium Eye. Oh, he knew all about that. No wonder Pegasus knew what he was thinking…
With that information, he managed to block him out.
Pegasus laughed. "You might ask little Yugi-boy what his real plans are, bounty hunter. And while you're at it, ask him who the Bandit and Phantom Kings are - he's quite familiar with them."
And with that, Pegasus was gone and Atem found himself picking up the Puzzle right before he was grabbed by the shoulder and somewhat roughly escorted back out of the castle. Viper was being carried next to him, boredly sucking on a peppermint.
"So what'd he say?" He asked once he'd been sat down next to the boat.
"... I know where my brother is. Kind of." He sighed, voice small. "... He's wherever Noa is."
"Whoa, seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Hell, dude, let's get back to the mainland, then. I'm sure they're there somewhere. Is that… Pyramid thingy… His?"
"Yeah."
"Then I can use it to track him, bro!"
"Awesome."
Normally, Atem would have been excited by that, but he was still a little bit too much in shock. His brother was alive, possibly. Alive and probably stuck with a sick kid. And Pegasus was too much of a huge asshole to tell him where they were.
He'd probably have to play a Shadow Game with him to get the information he wanted.
Dammit. He'd thought he was done with Shadow Games after Marik and Bakura stopped attempting to murder Yami… He should have known better, probably, but that didn't stop the irritation from bubbling up under the surface.
He hated Shadow Magic.