Marik's prediction couldn't have been more accurate. With the Ishtar sibling's help, they made it back to Japan, and ultimately back to Domino City. Ishizu had even gone as far as to arrange a car for them that would take them to the Kame Game Shop owned by Yugi's grandfather. It was a grueling fifteen-hour flight from Cairo to Tokyo and by the time they reached the game shop, Atem, Mana, and Mahad were all exhausted. None of them managed to get much sleep on the plane. Atem had flown several times when he'd shared Yugi's body, but it was a completely new experience for his partners. He couldn't blame them for being nervous. Using magic to get there might have been an easier solution, but as only Atem had ever traveled between the two locations, he didn't trust that they would be able to traverse such a long distance.
Marik had accompanied them back to Domino City for reasons that he was rather vague about, mostly claiming to want to make sure they arrived in one piece, but once they reached the game shop, Marik continued on his way, telling Atem and the others to have Yugi reach out to him if they needed him, and if anything, he would check in on them in a few days. As he left, Atem made a soft comment to tell Ryou hi from him, which only earned him a smirk and a wink from the departing Egyptian.
As Atem stood in front of the game shop, his former home of five years, that tug he had been feeling for the last few months seemed to strengthen. He stared up at the apartment he knew to be on top of the store. Yugi was close, he was more certain of their bond now than he had been in Egypt. He just had no idea how his old partner would react, and that uncertainty made him uneasy. He started to bounce on the balls of his feet just slightly. Was he doing the right thing? Should he have reached out sooner? Maybe they should wait longer or maybe he should have come alone.
Before he could ponder it for much longer, the door to the Game Shop opened and a young, unfamiliar woman stepped out, a broom in her hand, earbuds in her ears. She didn't seem to notice them at first and Atem had to do a double take, looking between the woman and Mana. Though the young woman's hair was different, their faces were almost identical. He couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Mana?"
The young woman paused, pulling her an earbud out of her ear, "It's Mariah, actually," She responded, turning to face Atem, Mana, and Mahad, before the color drained from her face, the broom falling from her hand before Mahad instinctively reached out to catch it. Mariah looked Atem up and down, her eyes going wide with disbelief, "Oh. My. Ra."
The phrase had Atem's eyebrow quirking slightly as Mariah backed up a step, "Sorry, Mariah," He said, trying to keep his tone even. "I, um… I'm a friend of Yugi's. Is he home…?"
"YUGI!" All three of the Egyptians flinched at the shriek as Mariah continued to back up before her spine came in contact with one of the large windows at the front of the store. It was moments later that Yugi Muto himself appeared through the door. The moment he appeared, however, Atem felt as though he had been punched in the gut, doubling over with a soft oof, causing Mana and Mahad to step in front of him
"Mariah?" Yugi's voice had changed. It was no longer as high pitched as Atem remembered. He was taller too, his gaze slightly sharper, but still rounder than the former Pharaoh's. The similarities had Mana and Mahad both doing a double take of their own as the two stood opposite one another. "What's wrong?"
Mariah shook her head, just pointing over at the three Egyptians. As Atem straightened, Yugi felt a similar punch somewhere in his abdomen as ruby irises locked with amethyst ones, all the air between the two of them seeming to vanish at once. Time stood still, even the noise of the passing cars seemed to fade into the distance as every sense seemed to tunnel on one singular being, "Yugi," Atem finally managed to breathe, the whisper of a name seeming to break the spell between them.
"Pha—Atem?" Yugi's eyes went wide, his jaw dropping as he looked the other up and down. His gaze shifted to Mana and Mahad and he blinked hard, as though he were trying to convince himself that Atem was really in front of him. "Oh my…." He shakes his head, blinking hard once again. "I… I remember you," He says to Mana, who smiles and waves her fingers cheerfully at him. "And you," He turns his attention to Mahad, "You're the spirit that was fused with the Dark Magician, aren't you?" Mahad nods and Yugi's attention finally turns back to Atem, "And you! What the hell are you three doing here?"
"It's a long story," Atem says softly, finally managing to force more air into his lungs after a few moments of difficulty. He glanced towards Mana, not missing the way her fingertips were glowing, clearly having sent some magic his way to ease the pressure in his chest, "But I can assure you that all three of us are very much here. And alive. Please, may we come in so we can talk? I apologize, we did not mean to startle your…."
"Fiancée," Yugi finishes the sentence for Atem as he leads the way into the game shop. Walking into the store was something of a comfort to Atem. It had changed a bit over the years, but at its core, it still appeared the same. "This is Mariah Khalil, my fiancée. And she knows all about you, Atem. I think that's why seeing you freaked her out. I did warn her that we look alike…."
"Hearing about it and seeing it are two completely different things, I must say," Mariah clears her throat, looking between Atem and Yugi once again. "I apologize for my reaction. I thought I was losing my mind for a second. While you are quite handsome, you're definitely not Yugi…."
"Understandable," Mana nods. The magician was naturally a curious one, and suddenly she found herself fascinated by the young woman who led the way back into the game shop. "We're still getting used to all of this ourselves. You look really familiar…."
"It seems doppelgängers living centuries apart aren't completely unusual," Mahad muses softly, glancing around the shop as he and Mana followed everyone else inside, causing the corners of Atem's lips to twitch. He had a sneaking suspicion about a connection between Mana and Mariah as well. Everything considered, it wouldn't be the most unheard of thing.
Once they were inside, Yugi flipped the open sign to closed and locked the door to the game shop behind him, not wanting them to be disturbed, "Sooo… How is this all possible exactly?" He asks, leaning on the counter. He still wasn't certain that he wasn't dreaming; that Atem was actually standing in front of him, dressed in his own modern clothes, looking as though he very much belonged there. The longer he thought about it, his chest suddenly started to tighten, a sense of panic that he hadn't felt in years returning to him. All at once, a horrible feeling of dread hit Atem as well as Yugi continued to speak, his hand moving to his chest where the pain seemed to radiate from his heart. A soft, choked sound escapes the former pharaoh, drawing concern once again from the two magicians, but this time Atem shakes his head once, signaling for them to not interfere, "I watched you walk through that door. I defeated you in that duel… I had to deal with the consequences of the hardest decision I ever had to make on my own…."
"Yugi," Mariah's voice is gentle, her hands resting on either of his shoulders. All at once the pain in Atem's chest eased as well as Yugi drew a slow, deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's it," Mariah murmurs softly to him, her fingers moving to rub small circles on his back. "Slow, deep breaths. You're okay. You're safe. And it would seem, so is he."
Guilt seemed to flood Atem's body all at once, and for once, he seemed to be at a loss for words. He never knew what happened after the Ceremonial Duel. Once the door closed behind him, for a time he wasn't allowed to view the modern world. The gods told him that he needed to give himself and those he left behind time to adjust. When finally he did get to check on Yugi, he had seemed okay. He seemed to be moving on with his life, graduating high school and continuing to duel. Could it be that somehow he had been shielded from the negative things Yugi might have been experiencing? He did manage to cross over briefly twice, once when he felt Joey in a state of panic and anguish, and once a few days after that when Yugi's spirit called out to him from the reconstructed Millennium Puzzle, though that reunion too had been brief, long enough for him to see that Yugi was truly okay at that point.
"Yugi, I am so sorry," Atem says sincerely after clearing his throat. "I know how much pain that duel caused you. I was still connected to you then. And I can see and feel how much the memory of it still hurts you even now as I think our connection has reformed itself since I returned from the afterlife. But you know it was never my intention to hurt you from the day we met. Fate just led us down an incredibly difficult path from the start. You did everything right."
"I thought I was losing my mind again," Yugi scoffs softly, sweeping his bangs out of his face for a moment. Suddenly things from the last few weeks were starting to make sense after listening to what Atem said about their bond. "About three months ago I started having these weird flashes randomly. Sometimes they were just strong emotions, other times I was actually seeing things. I was seeing Egypt, Marik and his siblings, the most beautiful night sky… And all of that had been getting stronger and more frequent recently. This whole time it was you, wasn't it?"
Atem nods, "I was seeing and feeling things from you as well, though I didn't realize it at first. The whole reason any of this is possible is because the Creator of Light took pity on me. The gods sensed that my spirit wasn't able to fully rest in the afterlife, and they felt that after everything I endured that I deserved a chance to live a normal life. They gave me a choice and allowed Mana and Mahad to come back with me as they knew these two were the main reason that I couldn't instantly accept the offer,"
His gaze turns back to his two partners, Mahad currently with his arms around Mana from behind, his head resting on her shoulder, Mana's hands resting on top of his. Just looking at the two of them seems to send a wave of comfort through his very being. He truly did love them both, even if he didn't say it frequently. The three of them had never really needed words for such things. Even when he had been king, it had always been both of them.
"The three of you are together," Yugi surmises, not missing the way that they all look at one another. It was good to know that at least Atem hadn't been alone when he crossed over.
Atem doesn't hesitate as he nods, "After my memories returned to me before the Ceremonial Duel, it became clear to me that we had a bond much deeper than a king and his subjects. The three of us grew up together, practiced magic together… we took care of each other when everyone else was too busy running the kingdom. Things changed as we got older, obviously, but the way that we felt for each other never did, though obviously it wasn't exactly acceptable for a king to be having those feelings for one of his high priests and a magician in training, much less so at the same time."
"And, unfortunately, your time as king was short lived, as was my time as a high priest," Mahad points out, causing a chuckle to escape the former pharaoh. There was no denying the reality of their lives. "Mana's the one who outlived us all," He goes on, giving the magician in his arms a gentle squeeze.
"Only for a decade or two," Mana shrugs as she giggles and relaxes back into Mahad's embrace. "My heart always belonged to the both of you, though. There was never any doubt about that for me."
Yugi didn't miss the love that seemed to radiate from Atem's gaze as he watched his two partners together. It was very much the same way he felt when he was around Mariah, "So, now that I can understand how you came back, can I ask why you decided to come back? From everything I've ever learned, I would have thought you'd be happy in the afterlife."
Atem shakes his head, drawing a slow breath, "Yugi, I was never able to actually live a life where I was able to do what made me happy," He starts to explain. "As a prince my life was mapped out for me, as pharaoh my life was cut short to save the people I swore to protect, as a spirit trapped in the puzzle the only goal was for me to come back to protect the world from the evil I had locked away, and once that was done, well…" His voice trails off.
It felt weird to basically spell out his former life, "Essentially, that was all I was meant for. I was a sacrifice so the world could live on, and the two times I sacrificed myself I lost everything that made me happy. The Gods of Egypt finally took pity on me. They saw that I was enjoying my afterlife with some of the people I care about, but they also could see that I wasn't as happy as I deserved to be for someone who sacrificed what I did."
Yugi listens intently, his gaze never wavering from the former pharaoh's. He knew what Atem had sacrificed all too well, considering he had seen at least part of the memories that the Egyptian God cards had unlocked, "Well, they weren't wrong about you deserving a chance to actually live a normal existence. But you're not exactly normal are you?"
Atem glances back at Mahad and Mana, who were both giving him and Yugi space to talk, which he appreciated, but he was also comforted by their presence, "Not exactly," He agrees. "The Gods allowed us to keep any abilities that we had when we lived in Egypt, which includes our abilities to practice magic."
"You wouldn't have happened to create some… unnatural things in the middle of the desert a few days ago, did you?" Mariah asks, arching a brow in Atem's direction. He had to admit, he was curious about the young woman who stuck close to Yugi's side. She seemed almost too relaxed with the knowledge of everything they were speaking about. Most people didn't just encounter a previously dead Pharaoh and two magicians and barely bat an eye in his experience.
"How do you know about that?" Atem asks, shifting just slightly back towards Mana and Mahad, his instincts to protect them bubbling beneath the surface. He knew the two of them could more than handle themselves, but the fact that news about what the three of them had done for fun in the desert had spread even this far was surprising to him
"I'm working on a degree in archaeology with a focus on Ancient Egypt," Mariah answers with a shrug. "A few of the students in my class saw a news article on some unexplainable occurrences lighting up the night sky the other day." She looks Atem up and down, "Actually, thanks to Yugi, you're going to be part of my eventual thesis paper, Pharaoh."
"Please, call me Atem," The former pharaoh's cheeks heat slightly as they often did when someone used his formal title. "I was Pharaoh in another life, after all." He glances at Yugi, tilting his head just slightly, a question clear in his eyes.
"You don't have to worry about trusting her, Atem," Yugi assures him with a nod. He reaches out and takes Mariah's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm happy to tell you all about her, as I've told her everything about you. But maybe we should take things a little slow. You all look exhausted. I know the trip from Egypt to Japan isn't an easy one. I can keep the shop closed today and we can take some time to catch up."
Yugi's words caused Atem to pause again, his brow furrowing slightly, "Yugi… where's your grandfather? Shouldn't he be running the store? And your mother? Is she well?"
Sadness passed to Atem through his link to Yugi once again and he almost regretted asking the question, "My mom is great," Yugi nods, Mariah squeezing his hand gently. "She decided to move to America with my dad about a year ago when my dad got transferred there for business full time. Unfortunately, Grandpa passed a few months before that. He passed peacefully in his sleep. I guess you never crossed paths with him in the afterlife, huh?"
Atem's gaze went to the ceiling once again as he sent a silent prayer to the gods to keep a watch over Yugi's grandfather, wherever he may be, before he shakes his head, "In my experience, the afterlife is what you make of it. It's vast and endless and has so many possibilities. I will say, however, that I rarely traversed outside of my own immediate area. Even I was afraid of what I might have found if I went too far. My afterlife was probably incredibly different from anyone who lived in modern times, though. What joy would modern beings find in spending their days in the hot desert with only the Nile and palace pools and ponds for relief?"
"You make it sound like our afterlife was a bad thing," Mahad comments, causing a soft chuckle to escape Atem. "Though, to be fair, what you described is what brought us joy when we were alive. I guess people today have other forms of enjoyment."
Atem nods, drawing a slow breath as he stepped closer to Yugi at last, closing most of the distance between them, "Your grandfather was an incredible man, Yugi," He says softly. "I have no doubt in my mind that whether it be by the Egyptian gods or some other deity, your grandfather is fully enjoying his afterlife."
Something inside Yugi seems to splinter, Atem watching as tears formed in his former partner's eyes. He watched as the young man before him drew a slow, shaky breath, clearly trying to reign in his emotions, "I-it is really nice to have you back, Atem," Yugi's voice cracks as he speaks, a moment before he all but launches himself at his former other self and hugs him tightly, Atem's arms instantly going around him to return the embrace. For a few long moments everyone else in the game shop seemed to fade away completely, the former spirit finally reunited with his former host.
