This is dedicated to my good friend John, who has his birthday today and turned... old. Like, one-fourth-of-the-century old (as he likes to remind us).
Cheers, John! Here's a chapter where everybody is old(er) - and some of them balding, just like you! XD Happy birthday!


Chapter 5: The meeting

The first thing Atem noticed when he woke up was the bright sunlight that hit his eyes. The second was the pain in his back, as he lay in a very uncomfortable position on Yuugi's leather couch. Next to him, Yuugi was still fast asleep, with his head on the armrest and his legs tucked underneath him; there was no other sound in the room apart from his slow breathing. A stray sun ray had made its way through the window and up to Yuugi's head, lending to his hair a bit of the gold that was missing.

Atem watched him for a while, feeling his heart swell at the image. At that moment, Yuugi's face looked serene and much less troubled than it had the night before. It looked a lot more like the Yuugi of eleven years ago, the one Atem had known so well. His Yuugi.

He sat up slowly, so as not to disrupt his still sleeping partner, and rubbed his stiff neck. No matter how comfortable that couch was, sleeping on it had not been a good idea. Not that they had planned to spend the night in the living room; they had really believed they wouldn't sleep at all. They had so much catching up to do that they expected to stay up talking all night long. However, they'd both been so exhausted they barely managed to discuss anything substantial before dozing off in their seats.

Atem stood up as soundlessly as possible and walked to the window. The city, still glistening from the night's downpour, was sparkling white and gold under the light of the morning sun. Clear blue framed the last remaining clouds. Τhe sky promised of a beautiful day.

He looked back to Yuugi, wondering if he ought to wake him up but, at that moment, Yuugi stirred. His eyes fluttered open and a sleepy, content smile formed on his lips.

"Gmmorning, 'tem," Yuugi mumbled as he stretched.

"Good morning, aibou," Atem smiled back.

Then Yuugi's head snapped up, his eyes wide and alert. He looked around madly and horror dawned on his face. "Oh no," he whimpered, looking at the blue sky outside. He shot out of the couch and dived for his phone, shouting to no one in particular, "What time is it? What time is it?" When the screen of his phone lit up, he let out a desperate wail. "It's 9:30! I'm late! Too late! I'm... Oh, shit! Wait here, Atem, I've got to make a phone call!"

He tapped and swiped at the screen before bringing the device to his ear. He had already started running down the corridor that led to his room when he said, "Good morning, Saito, this is Yuugi Mutou. Listen, I'm not gonna be able to make it today-" The rest of the conversation was cut off as Yuugi entered his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Fully awakened thanks to this sudden flurry of energy, Atem stretched his new body. His joints popped, relieving a bit of the stiffness he had earned by sleeping on the couch, and he sighed in contentment. Owning a body still felt weird, but at least he did not feel as exhausted as the previous night. He was hungry, though.

He considered making breakfast for his partner and him, but Yuugi had told him to wait there - and frankly, he had no idea how to make breakfast, or what kind of breakfast Yuugi ate these days. He remembered with a small painful clench at his heart that Sugoroku was the one to prepare breakfast every morning, before Yuugi headed out to school. He remembered waking up to the smell of steamed rice and the sound of the old man's joyous voice. Even through Yuugi's body, he had appreciated such things; small, peaceful intermissions among the craziness of his quest.

He would have really liked to make breakfast, for old times' sake, but he decided against the risk of creating chaos in the kitchen, so he just waited. Thankfully, it did not take long for Yuugi to reappear, holding his phone and smiling triumphantly.

"Okay, that's settled!" he said. "The guys will be here in about half an hour, so we have time for a quick breakfast. How does toast sound?"

"Sounds perfect, aibou."

They were sitting around the coffee table and still munching at their toast - with Yuugi gulping down an incredible ammount of coffee - when the intercom buzzed.

"They're here!" Yuugi exclaimed and hurried to answer the door while trying to stuff the last of his toast in his mouth.

Atem stood up, too, and wiped at his hands nervously. He was excited at the prospect of seeing Yuugi's friends - no, his friends - but at the same time he was afraid to. After seeing all the unsettling changes in Yuugi, he was nervous about what he would meet once the rest of the gang walked past this door. We wiped again at his sweating palms, trying to gulp down his anxiousness.

The doorbell rang and Yuugi opened the door. All of Atem's nervousness disappeared as a familiar voice boomed in joy, probably echoing across the whole building.

"I can't believe it! It's true! You're here!"

Then the whirlwind of noise and energy that was Katsuya Jounouchi charged towards him, dropping a motorcycle helmet somewhere along the way and laughing with pure, uncontained joy. Atem barely had time to open his hands in a welcoming gesture before Jounouchi crashed in him and clasped him in a vice-like hug.

"You're here!" Jounouchi shouted, lifting Atem off the ground. The pharaoh gasped in surprise and immediately started laughing as Jounouchi started rocking him like an oversized toy. "Welcome back, buddy! Welcome back!"

"Good to see you, too, Jounouchi!" Atem said in-between his chuckles.

Jounouchi put him back down and beamed at him, patting his shoulder rather forcefully in his excitement. "How are you, Pharaoh?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Atem replied, trying to discreetly get away from his reach. "How are you?"

As he eyed Jounouchi from head to foot, he realized he didn't really need an answer. Jounouchi hadn't changed much since the last time he had seen him, but there were a few small - yet obvious - changes. Back then, his eyes used to burn with the passion of proving his worth, along with some deeply-buried pain that fueled his determination. Now the brown irises sparkled with fulfillment and happiness. His blond hair was as thick as ever, tufts falling over his forehead with a charming carelessness instead of being forced into a wannabe-cool haircut. He did not look as tired as Yuugi; not even close. His posture radiated confidence as he buried his fists in the pockets of his leather jacket and smiled widely at Atem.

"I'm fine! Things are really good lately - no, things are great!"

"I can see that," Atem chuckled. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, buddy! So, tell me, how did this happen? When I read Yuugi's text I thought he had lost it!"

Yuugi laughed. "When I first saw him, I thought I had lost it, too!"

"I know, this is huge! I mean, he has his own body and everything!" Jounouchi shouted, poking Atem to stress the truth of his statement. "And he's back! He's back! Whoa, this really is huge!" He ran his fingers through his hair and fell heavily on the couch, looking utterly flabbergasted by the realization. "Okay, you've got some explaining to do. Tell me everything!"

"All in good time, Jou. Let's wait for the others to arrive first."

"Oh come on, Yuug!"

"Be patient. Honda just texted me. He picked up Ryou, they'll be here soon." He held out his phone for Jounouchi to see.

Jounouchi's eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait... does that mean that Bakura's...?"

He let his question hover, but he did not really need to finish it for Atem and Yuugi to know what he meant. They both nodded and Jounouchi let out a low whistle, falling back onto the sofa's cushions and staring at the opposite wall.

"What about Malik?" he asked suddenly.

"He was in Tokyo for a shooting, but he took the night train. Hopefully he'll be here in a few hours, too." When Atem cast a questioning glance at his Yuugi, he held out his phone again. "He texted me while we were sleeping."

"Did he also see his... you know?" Jounouchi asked, voicing what was also Atem's question.

Yuugi shook his head. "I don't think so, or he would have mentioned it. He did say he has something important to tell us, though."

"Man, this is too much for one morning. I need coffee," Jounouchi sighed, rubbing his eyes. He shot back up and rushed to the kitchen to fumble with mugs and the coffee pot.

"What exactly did Malik say?" Atem asked, approaching Yuugi. His excitement had once more been replaced by anxiousness and a very uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong.

Yuugi passed him his phone and Atem read the text that was listed under the name Malik Ishtar.

Ryou called me. His yami is back, too. I just boarded the train and I'm coming back to Domino as fast as I can. I'll come straight to your place once I arrive. Tell the rest to wait until I'm there, I have some very important news to share.

Atem frowned at the little screen. "That's not very enlightening. Couldn't he say more?"

"Don't worry, he'll be here soon. It's a six-hour train ride from here to Tokyo and he sent this around 3 pm, so he should be here in about half an hour. One hour, tops."

Atem huffed as he gave the phone back to Yuugi. "Do you think he knows something? He was a tomb-keeper, after all."

"Patience, other-me," Yuugi said softly.

"You guys are killing me with not saying anything!" Jounouchi groaned from the kitchen, reflecting Atem's frustration perfectly.

"You be patient too, Jou!" Yuugi shouted.

Jounouchi emerged from the kitchen, carrying a steaming mug and pouting at his friend. "I'm literally dying! Come on, just tell me-"

"Do you still have your shoes on?" Yuugi screeched.

"Oops! Sorry!"

Jounouchi set his mug down on the coffee table and hurried to the entrance hall.

"It's not my fault!" he tried to justify himself as he took off his biker boots under Yuugi's glower. "I wouldn't be so distracted if you answered my-"

"You weren't distracted enough to forget about coffee!"

"Coffee is a primary need!"

Yuugi snorted just as the intercom buzzed.

"I'll get it!" Jounouchi yelled, flashing Yuugi a too-innocent smile as he pressed the intercom button to let the others in.

"Saved by the bell," Yuugi grumbled as he joined his best friend in the hall.

Atem remained behind, finding himself once more overwhelmed by this scary kind of anticipation - only, this time around, anxiousness about the news Malik would bring was added to the mix. He couldn't fathom anything more important than Malik's yami returning, but if that was the case, he would have mentioned it... wouldn't he? He didn't know Malik as well as Yuugi did, but he had known his yami. And he wasn't at all happy at the thought that they'd had to deal with both the Thief and Malik's psychopathic second persona.

He was so lost in these less-than-pleasant thoughts that he was caught completely off-guard when the door opened and a child's voice chimed happily, "Unca Jou!"

"Heeey! There's my favorite girl!" Jounouchi boomed and child's laughter filled the appartment.

Atem took a few steps towards the little group that was huddled in the threshold and felt his mouth drop in surprise. Jounouchi was holding a child in his arms, a little brown-haired girl no older than three years old. Behind her stood Hiroto Honda, laughing and looking at the kid with adoration. Then he spotted Atem and his own eyes went wide with surprise, too.

"Pharaoh!" Honda exclaimed. He crossed the threshold and reached Atem with a few strides. "I can't believe it!" he said, crushing him in a hug.

"It's good to see you, Honda," Atem laughed.

Honda broke the hug and took a step back to take a better look at him. "Whoa, you look... Well, you look like Yuugi. Kinda."

Atem nodded and took this chance to better look at Honda, too.

Honda's adult version was not surprising in the slightest. Contrary to the rest of the group, he was the one who had always looked older than he was, graced with a tall and strongly-built body since his teens. So, the differences Atem was seeing now were the expected ones: short hair balding on the top of his head and a few tired lines around his eyes - probably courtesy of the adorable little girl that was in Jounouchi's arms.

"Is this your daughter?" Atem asked, more than a little dumbstruck, and Honda nodded proudly.

"Yep! This is Miko, my little princess! Miko," he said, taking the kid from Jounouchi's arms, "say hello to Atem!"

Miko inspected him with her huge brown eyes but, instead of saying hello, she asked, "Are you unca Yuugi's brother?"

Yuugi, who was standing next to Atem, laughed and said, "No, Miko. He is... an old friend."

The child did not look convinced, so she kept looking at Atem with suspicion.

"Would you mind if we took this inside?" an irritated voice cut across them and everybody's attention turned to the other figure on the threshold.

Ryou Bakura was still easily recognizable thanks to his white hair, but the first thought that crossed Atem's mind when he laid his eyes on him was that he looked terrible. In the years that had passed, his body had grown taller and the angles of his face more defined, but he was unnaturally thin, his cheeks too hollow. His hair fell haphazardly over his shoulders as he stood hunched, with his hands in the pockets of an oversized jacket. His eyes looked puffy and tired, as if he had not slept at all, and his complexion had an unhealthy hue. The look on his face bordered between anger and defeat.

He noticed Atem looking at him and nodded curtly, without even attempting to crack a smile. "Hey, pharaoh."

"Hello, Bakura," Atem said, deciding against approaching him for a more intimate greeting since the look in his eyes was less than welcoming.

Yuugi walked past Atem, diving into the already crowded hall to close the door. Atem took a few steps away, to give them more space to move freely and take off their shoes, but he made sure to keep an eye on his partner and on what was being said. Yuugi approached Ryou and put his hands on his shoulders, examining his face with a frown.

"How are you?" he asked Ryou, using the same tender and concerned tone he had used last night on the phone.

Ryou took his hands out of his pockets and he tried to undo the lacing of his sneakers with fingers that shook violently. "I need some coffee," was all he said as a response.

"Ryou, man, I don't think coffee will be ideal for your nerves right now," Jounouchi said, pointing at his friend's trembling hands.

Ryou just shook his head and opened his mouth to retort, but Yuugi cut across him. "Did you get any sleep?"

"No," Ryou said, looking at Yuugi as if he couldn't believe he even considered such a thing. When Yuugi shook his head disapprovingly, Ryou said, "I had to be alert, in case he tried anything funny." He spat out the pronoun with such hatred, it was not hard for Atem - or anyone else - to figure out to whom he was referring.

"Unc'e Ryou is sad," Miko informed them in a low voice.

"I'm not sad!" Ryou hissed with a lot more aggressiveness than he had to, causing Miko to cower against her father.

"Hey, don't take it out on her," Honda said with an authoritative tone Atem could never imagine hearing in the man's voice.

Ryou huffed and a bit of the hardness in his face melted away. "I'm sorry, Miko. I'm just angry."

"Not angry at you, sweetie," Honda specified, stroking Miko's hair just as he shot Ryou a stern glance.

"No. I'm angry at... a bad guy," Ryou said, hunching back over his shoes.

"Dad can beat up all the bad guys!" Miko said cheerfully.

Jounouchi narrowed his eyes at Honda and a crooked, teasing grin appeared on his lips. "Are you still teaching her such lies?"

"You're jealous 'cause it's true," Honda said smugly, turning his back on him and strutting off towards the living room with Miko in his arms.

A soft beeping noise made Atem's attention turn back to Ryou, who took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "Malik just arrived at the train station and is looking for a cab. He'll be here soon."

"Good," Yuugi said, gesturing to them to follow him to the living room.

A few minutes later they were all sitting around the coffee table, each with a mug of steaming coffee and a big plate of biscuits in the center. Atem was sitting cross-legged on the carpet next to Yuugi, looking at the group of his friends without being able to suppress a fond smile. They had been through so much together, shared so many good and bad times. He'd never imagined he'd see them this grown up. He was glad that he was given the opportunity to sit among all of them again, even if he had no idea how he had ended up there.

Of course, Anzu was missing from the picture. The gang did seem a bit incomplete without her, but no one else was questioning her absence, so Atem did not either. He did not want to get a rise out of Yuugi again - not when they had obviously more pressing matters to discuss.

Honda, who was sitting on the carpet with his back on the couch and Miko on his lap, was the first to breach the subject of Atem's return. "So, pharaoh, what happened? How come you're here?"

"Wouldn't it be better if we waited for Mal-"

"Oh come on Yuugi!" Jounouchi whined for the umpteenth time that day. "Don't keep us in the dark anymore!"

"Aibou, we don't have much to explain, anyway," Atem said. Yuugi sighed and shrugged, so Atem took this as the cue to keep talking. "I have no idea how I came back, actually."

"You're kidding, right?"

It was Ryou who had spoken, sitting up straight and looking at Atem with narrowed eyes.

"No," Atem said, frowning at the implication that he was lying. Then another thought crossed his mind. "You met the Thief, right?"

Ryou sank back onto the cushions, brows looming low over his eyes. "Yes."

"Did he know anything?"

Now all eyes were on Ryou, who huffed in irritation and said, "When I asked him why he's back, he said he doesn't know. But he's obviously lying, isn't he?"

"I'm not so sure he's lying," Yuugi said slowly. "Atem has no explanation for it, either." He turned to the pharaoh for confirmation.

Atem nodded and said, "That's true. The last thing I remember was the gate opening to admit me in the afterlife. And then I woke up on a street in Domino, close to Yuugi's house."

"Just like that?" Honda asked, playing absently with a tuft of Miko's hair.

"Yes. I just came to under the rain, with no clue as to how and why."

"Alright," Ryou pressed on, looking at Atem, "you might not know why, but that doesn't mean he doesn't. He's done it before".

"Wait," Yuugi said, lifting his hands up in an appeasing gesture. "Let's take it slow. You met the spirit of the Ring under your house, right?" Ryou nodded. "How was he?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did he look?"

"Umm... Just like me, I guess. Except for... You know... The eyes and the look on his..." Ryou's hands started shaking against his mug and his face scrunched up in a struggle to suppress some emotion.

"Okay," Yuugi said encouragingly. "And Atem came back looking... mostly like me."

"Minus the hair," Jounouchi pointed out.

"Well, he has my hair. Or rather, what my hair would look like if I didn't... dye it and stuff," Yuugi said in a low voice as Jounouchi snorted.

"Why do you-?" Atem started, but Yuugi shook his head.

"Not now, Atem."

"It's 'cause he's a businessman now," Jounouchi chuckled.

"Well... yeah." Yuugi admitted. Anyway, the Thief comes back looking like Bakura and Atem comes back looking like me, instead of how he looked when we were in his memories."

"Just like the old days," Jounouchi said; Ryou visibly shuddered.

"Yes, except that they have their own bodies now," Yuugi added.

"Did the Thief have the Millennium Ring when you saw him?" Atem asked Ryou, whose expression turned even more sour with every mention of his yami.

"No. He was completely naked. There was nothing on him."

Honda looked about to make some sort of joke, but Yuugi shot him such a stern look that made even Atem cower.

"Then how could he have caused this? He should have the Ring, shouldn't he?"

"I don't know!" Ryou shouted. "I'm sure he found a way-"

"When you asked him, what did he say?"

"He said he didn't know a thing," Ryou replied with a clipped voice. "He acted all shocked and shaken. I would have fallen for it, if I didn't know what a hypocrite he is."

The rest glanced at each other awkwardly, until Yuugi decided to voice what they were thinking. "Maybe... maybe he was shocked."

"Don't be so naive, Yuugi!" Ryou hissed in a way that made the hair on the back of Atem's neck stand. It had reminded him of another voice; the voice of the one Ryou despised and yet resembled so much. The more Atem looked at him, the more uncomfortable he felt. It was hard to accept that this cold, harsh sound had come out of the once gentle Ryou Bakura. If Atem didn't know better, he might have thought it was Ryou's darker counterpart sitting on that sofa.

"And we can't just assume that your yami is the one responsible for this," Yuugi stood his ground firmly.

"Wait," Jounouchi piped up, "where is he now?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Ryou growled through gritted teeth.

"You don't look like you don't care, mate," Jounouchi said quietly.

Ryou's reaction was instantaneous. He set his mug down such force that coffee flew all around, splashing on table and the carpet; Miko let out a drawn-out whimper and hid in Honda's protective hug.

"How do you want me to look?" Ryou said in a high-pitched voice. "He reappears after eleven years and acts like no time has passed, like... like I owe him to take him in, like I'm his good old loyal host waiting for a parasite. He walks in," his voice grew so shrill it sounded like he was on the verge of hysterics, "and orders me around and calls me yadonushi, like... like..." He let out an incomprehensible sound and let his head fall in his hands.

A tentative silence fell among the rest of the group. Ryou's tangled white tufts obscured his face, but everybody could hear his harsh, short breaths.

They looked at each other uncomfortably, without really knowing what to do - except for Honda, who was trying to soothe his scared daughter. After a few awkward seconds, Jounouchi scooped up closer to Ryou and wrapped an arm around his shaking shoulders.

"I'm okay," Ryou said, raising his head and sniffling. Indeed, his whole face was red but his eyes were dry. "I'm just so fuc-"

"Language!" Honda snapped, gesturing with his head towards Miko.

"-king pissed," Ryou concluded, not showing any indication that he had heard him.

"Hey, Miko!" Yuugi said suddenly with put-on brightness. "Do you want to play with uncle Yuugi's cards? How does that sound?"

The child, who had been hiding in the lapels of Honda's jacket, turned around and cheered up when she saw Yuugi's warm smile. "Yes!" she chirped, nodding with enthusiasm. When Yuugi extended his hand, she jumped up and followed him to his room.

Once the pair left, Ryou turned to Honda, keeping his eyes downcast and not actually looking at him. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's okay," Honda said with an empathetic grimace and stretched his now free legs. "But... Tell us what happened, man."

Ryou huffed and said in a much softer tone than before, "He appeared under my house. I didn't recognize him at first, so I tried to help him, but then... I saw who he was and I... I ran." He seemed quite embarrassed to admit that; he was fidgeting and still didn't look any of them in the eye. "Then he knocked on my door and demanded that I let him in, and I got pissed and asked him why he's here and how he managed to come back. All he said was that he didn't know, so I told him to stay away from me and left."

"You just left him outside?" Jounouchi asked; on his face was etched the same disbelief Atem had expressed the night before.

Yuugi walked back into the room, but he paused at the edge of the living room, standing with his back on the kitchen counter and listening to the conversation from afar.

"Should I have offered to provide lodging and entertainment to him, like a good host?" Ryou snapped.

"That's not what I'm saying..."

Atem wanted to point out that it might have done no harm to have kept an eye on the Thief, but he caught his partner's glance and remained silent. Yuugi's words from the previous night passed silently between them. They are not us, Atem.

"Anyway," Ryou went on, "after that, and since he apparently has trouble taking no for an answer, he kept ringing at my doorbell and shouting - and ringing all of the doorbells in the building, for that matter. And then I called the police."

"You called the cops on him?"

"Yup. He scurried once he heard the sirens, I saw him from the window. Thankfully, he didn't show his face again after that."

"How do you know?" Honda asked.

The smile that appeared on Ryou's lips turned his face ghastly. "I kept watch all night."

Yuugi was shaking his head. "You told me you'd try to sleep," he said as he approached the group again and wiped Ryou's spilled coffee from the table.

"I couldn't possibly sleep after that!"

"Still," Yuugi said simply as he plopped down next to Atem.

"So..." Jounouchi said, sitting up and looking at them, "we have no clue how or why the yamis came back, we have no clue where Bak- the Spirit of the Ring is now, and we know nothing yet about Malik's yami." Yuugi nodded and Jounouchi let out a long exhale. "Well, that's great."

"We should wait for Malik. He said he has something important to tell us. Perhaps he can help," Yuugi said and stood up again. "I'm going to check on Miko."

After Yuugi left once more, silence fell between them. Ryou was sitting with his arms folded, glowering at his knees and biting at his already chapped lips. Jounouchi was staring at nothing in particular, apparently lost in thoughts, and Honda was sipping at his coffee, looking at Atem every now and then with a look of marvel on his face despite the gloomy mood that had settled over them. After a while Jounouchi sat up and smiled at Atem.

"Hey, what's the afterlife like?"

Atem chuckled. "I'm afraid I can't answer that. I don't remember."

Jounouchi's eyes went wide. "What, you can't remember anything?"

"I remember... a sort of peaceful feeling. But nothing more."

"Oh man..." Jounouchi whined and dropped back to the pillows with his hands behind his head.

However, Atem appreciated his effort to start a more light-hearted conversation, so he turned to Honda. "So, you're a family man now."

Honda smiled widely and nodded. "Yup! And Shizuka is a great wife and an amazing mother."

"Shizuka?" Atem said, looking from Honda to Jounouchi. "Jounouchi's sister?"

Honda and Jounouchi nodded simultaneously - Honda with a dreamy look on his face. "Yes, she's amazing! She is sweet and kind and beautiful and so, so hot in bed-"

"Do I really have to hear that?" Jounouchi moaned, making an act of covering his ears.

Honda sniggered. "You should be happy that I'm so in love-"

"Yeah, be in love, be my guest, but I don't need to know about your sex life!"

"For how long have you been married?" Atem asked, trying to put out the bickering before it heated up.

"Five years, more or less. We got married right after Yuugi and Anzu."

Atem's spirits dropped a bit, but he took the opportunity to lean in closer to the table and lowered his voice. "What happened with these two, anyway?"

"Hasn't Yuugi told you?" Jounouchi asked.

"He told me that they're getting a divorce."

Jounouchi shook his head. "If he hasn't told you more, then I don't think we should. It's not our place - you get it."

Atem frowned. He hated being left out of something so important, especially since it involved his partner; still, he understood Jounouchi and appreciated his loyalty to Yuugi, so he didn't press on even though it nagged him.

The intercom buzzed for the third time that morning and made everyone jump. Ryou looked up, something like hope glittering in his eyes. He hurried to the hallway and pressed the button just as Yuugi emerged from his room and ran towards him.

"Malik's here?" Yuugi asked, his excitement barely contained.

Atem could see the back of Ryou's head but not his face as he nodded. The he proceeded to open the door and wait by it, moving his weight from one foot to another in apparent impatience.

Atem barely managed to get a glimpse of Malik Ishtar appearing on the doorstep before Ryou literally collapsed on him. He clutched at Malik, whispering frantically something indistinct.

Malik hugged Ryou back and stroked his white hair, murmuring, "I know, I know."

When Yuugi slipped around them and closed the door, Malik looked at him over Ryou's shoulder and gave him a faint smile. "Hey, Yuugi."

"Welcome back, Malik," Yuugi said, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, everyone's been waiting for you."

Malik whispered something in Ryou's ear and untangled himself from his bear hug; Ryou stepped back and, for the first time that day, Atem saw him wipe his eyes. Then all three of them joined the rest in the living room, Malik smiling widely and bidding them all a good morning before he went straight to Atem and extended his hand.

"Welcome back, pharaoh."

So far, Malik was the one who seemed less changed by the passage of time. His hair had the same sandy color and the same length as before, his skin the same tanned tone, his eyes that otherworldly hue that bordered on lilac. The only notable difference was the lack of his signature kohl lines under his eyes, as well as the numerous gold accessories. Dressed as he was in jeans, a black hoodie and a leather jacket, he seemed a lot more... normal than Atem remembered him. He still stood out thanks to his hair and his darker skin, but he did not look so out of place anymore - not as incompatible with the rest of the world as he had been.

"It's good to see you, Malik," Atem said, taking his hand and shaking it.

Malik looked around and his eyes lit up. "There's coffee? That's great! I didn't manage to get much sleep on the train."

He threw his leather jacket on the couch and darted to the kitchen to grab a mug.

"You were in Tokyo, right?" Jounouchi called at him.

"Yes!" Malik yelled back. "We are shooting for that new Tom Cruise movie."

"You are an actor?" Atem asked.

Malik chuckled as he approached the group again and shook his head. "Not exactly. I'm a stuntman." He sat down to the sofa next to Ryou and took a sip from his mug.

"A what?" Atem asked with a perpelexed frown.

"I perform all of the dangerous tricks in a movie in place of the actual actors," Malik explained. Then he puffed out his chest and smiled proudly. "Of course, bikes are my specialty!"

"What new Tom Cruise movie?" Honda butted in.

"I can't tell you much, it's top secret stuff. But I've gotta be back by tomorrow or I'll lose that job. We're shooting a scene first thing Thursday morning-"

"I've heard Tom Cruise does his own stunts, so they won't need you," Jounouchi said, waving a hand airily.

"I'm not Tom Cruise's stuntman, you idiot. I'm the co-star's - Brandon Miles'."

"Yeah right," Jounouchi sneered. "Like that'd happen!"

"I know, I'm way too hot to be his stuntman," Malik said with a nonchalant shrug. "People are gonna tell the difference!"

Ryou gave Malik a slap in the back of his head, causing him to choke on his coffee and spill some down his chin.

"Hey!" Malik moaned as the rest of the group burst out laughing.

Ryou let out a few quiet giggles and a glimpse of his old self came back to the surface, only to be stifled again when he coughed himself back into sobriety. "Come on, let's focus. You have a lot to say."

"Yeah... Okay," Malik sighed, looking quite reluctant to talk now that the time had come. He looked at his - now half empty, thanks to Ryou - mug and let out a short, humorless laugh. "Where to begin...?" he murmured, apparently talking more to himself rather than his friends.

"First things first," Atem said, before his decisiveness faltered as he realized he had no idea what was the best way to phrase his question. "Did you see your... err... yami?" he asked quite hesitantly, looking closely at Malik for any sign that his question would lead to an outburst similar to Ryou's.

Malik pierced him with steady, lilac eyes, apparently noticing his hesitance and his uncertainty. "No, I did not see Mariku," he said calmly, stressing the last word enough to show that this was how he deemed appropriate to refer to his yami.

Atem started a bit at the use of that name, but he did not question it. However, he couldn't help but compare the two men that sat across from him. On the one hand, Ryou seemed to want to avoid talking about his yami even through the use of vague pronouns, whereas Malik... Malik used his own name to refer to his darker half and seemed determined to make clear that everybody should do so.

Atem nodded, to show that he understood, and Malik seemed pleased by this gesture.

"I did not see him," Malik went on, "and, to be honest, I'm not even sure Mariku is back."

"But the Pharaoh is back and the Spirit of the Ring is back, so..." Honda said in the tone of one who tries to break some grave news to a reluctant listener.

"You forget, Honda," Yuugi said quietly, "that Mariku was not the same as Atem or Bakura." Ryou cast Yuugi a deathly stare when he heard his name being used for his yami, but the latter ignored it. "He was not a soul trapped in a Millennium Item. He was the personification of Malik's..."

"Hate and rage," the blond Egyptian said, nodding. "He was a mass of shitty feelings grown strong enough to become a separate entity."

"That still doesn't mean that he can't be back," Honda said.

"I think I'd have met him by now. The other two appeared relatively close to their other halves."

"Wait..." Yuugi said, climbing to his knees and looking at Malik with a frown. "If you didn't come to talk about Mariku... What was the important thing you had to tell us?"

The moment Yuugi voiced this realization, everybody sat up with new-found alertness. Five pairs of disconcerted eyes fixed on Malik.

Another humorless smile stretched Malik's lips, making him look excessively sad and tired. He cleared his throat and faced their stares with a solemn expression.

"The truth is, at first, I had no idea that your yamis were back. I would come here to talk to you anyway. Of course, now I see that what I want to tell you might be connected with the spirits' return."

Not even a breath could be heard when Malik paused and cleared his throat again.

"Ishizu called me last night. They made a pretty unique discovery in one of the digs back home and... I think it concerns us more than we think."

He sighed and looked them in the eye, one by one.

"How many of you have heard about the Millennium Spellbook?"

.

.

.

In case you missed that, I really like coffee.

And Tristan procreated! XD

Miko's name is a reference to Devilman Crybaby, because I just finished the series and it totally broke my heart.

As for the Malik/Mariku thing... I'm using this version of the names so as to be able to tell them apart. I would use 'Malik' and 'Marik' (which is quite common in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom) but, with only one letter different, even I get confused sometimes... So I decided to use the more Japanese-sounding version of Marik's name for the yami. Seasoned readers might be familiar with this - to the new readers, sorry if this is too confusing.

(By the way, that Brandon Miles actor is entirely made up, as well as a Tom Cruise movie that was shot in Tokyo in 2012. Don't try to look them up, they don't exist)

HUGE THANK YOU's go out to everyone who has commented so far. It's great to see the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom's still spreading the love! ^_^

How about some feedback on this one, too? Give some love to our boys (they've got a long road ahead of them)!