"Urk… Where am I…"

His voice was a faint whisper, barely audible in the dimly lit room. He felt a dull ache in his head as he tried to lift his eyelids, which felt like they were glued shut. He had always struggled to wake up, but this time it was worse than ever.

"You fainted from the heat." A familiar female voice informed him. "His majesty carried you here."

She sounded bored and unimpressed. He recognized her as Mana. "How long for…?"

He croaked, feeling a sharp pain in his throat. He touched his neck gingerly and winced. His mouth was dry and bitter, and his stomach churned.

"It's been a whole day since you collapsed." The girl said, twirling a strand of her chestnut hair around her finger. "You can't see him though. 'Tem'Tem is busy with his royal duties for once, sorry to burst your bubble."

She smirked sarcastically. He wondered what she meant by that. Was she jealous of him? Did she know something he didn't?

"What's th-" He tried to ask, but before he could finish his sentence, he felt a surge of nausea. He clamped his hand over his mouth, but it was too late. A stream of blood spewed out of his lips, staining his hand and his clothes. He gagged and coughed, struggling to breathe. It felt like someone was squeezing his lungs with an iron grip.

Yugi felt a wave of dizziness wash over him as he scrambled for his mask. He sprang off the leather bed and grabbed the mask from the corner of the room, tumbling to the floor as he did. He secured the mask to his face and breathed deeply, trying to soothe the stabbing pain in his chest with the fresh air.

"Damn it.." He looked up and met Mana's gaze from her chair, her eyes icy and aloof.

"What in Anubis' judgment is that on your face?" she inquired blandly, leaning back on her chair with a listless expression.

"I…" Yugi faltered. How could he explain this to her? He was only allowed to talk about his life (in a vague way) to others in case of emergencies.. Right? "It helps me breathe.."

"Okay. Whatever." Mana shrugged, shoving her stool away and standing up. She sauntered to the door and glanced at Yugi with contempt. "Stay away from Atem."

"Are yo-" Yugi coughed softly, rising and resting on the wall. "Are you mad at me? Did I upset you somehow?"

"No." She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow, her voice sharpening in a way that exposed her lie - or at least her uncertainty. "Why do you ask?"

"You're acting hostile." Yugi tweaked his prosthetic so it functioned better and approached her. "It's rude. What could you possibly have against me? I barely know you."

"That's the point." Mana scoffed, faking a smile before skipping away.

"What a jerk." Yugi grumbled.

He waited for her figure to fade away to the next room, and grabbed one of the weapons he had brought. Yugi strapped it to his back and stepped out into the hallway, a solemn, still-ill-looking expression gracing his covered face.

The hallway was a splendid sight that dazzled the eyes of anyone who entered it, yet Yugi barely looked at it for the first few days that he had been there. It was a long and wide corridor that led to the throne room of the pharaoh, where he received his guests and subjects. It was lined with massive stone columns that supported the high ceiling, which was painted with stars and celestial symbols. The walls and columns were decorated with colorful paintings and hieroglyphs that depicted scenes of the pharaoh's achievements and divine connections, such as his battles, his offerings to the gods, and his coronation. The floor was covered with fine carpets and mats that muffled the footsteps of the visitors, who had to walk barefoot as a sign of respect. Along the hallway, there were statues and vases that displayed the wealth and power of the royal household, such as sphinxes, lions, lotus flowers, and gold vessels. Atem seemed to take pride in his vase collection, Yugi didn't see the point of collecting something that breaks as easily as glass or as a dying man's ego. The air was filled with the scent of incense and flowers that were offered to the gods, creating a pleasant and sacred atmosphere. The hallway was a magnificent display of the pharaoh's authority and glory, and a reminder of his eternal presence in this world and the next.

He peeked around the corner to the side-entrance of the throne room. Mana was right; Atem sat, bathed in sunlight and his own pride, on his throne, speaking with a serious expression to a group of people Yugi hadn't seen before. The people stood up from the ground, keeping their eyes on the Pharaoh as their bare feet carried them out of the audience hall.

Yugi watched intensely from behind the entrance as he collapsed on the golden throne, his eyes barely open and his mouth gasping for air. His crown was a torture device on his head, and his robes were drenched with blood. The heat of the sun scorched his skin, and the weight of his sins crushed his soul. The boy could see his face, longing for death to free him from this hell, this nightmare, this curse known as responsibility. He was the pharaoh of Egypt, one meant to be a powerful ruler, but here the King sat, a young, pained soul.

Yugi took a sharp breath in.

He was the most powerful ruler in the area. This… child. A child who tempered and cried when things didn't go his way. Despite that, sitting on the throne made him appear as untouchable - even if he was just as killable as the children who accompanied their families to prostrate.

The boy sighed, the resemblance to people in his own past was uncanny.

Yugi decided not to disturb the busy king and turned around. He walked along the long hallways until he reached the exit. He breathed a sigh of relief and gazed at the courtyard where he had fainted earlier. He saw the men he was supposed to train sitting in a row and chatting. Yugi let out a loud sigh and stepped into the sunlight, catching their attention.

"Sir! You're alright!" The smallest of the group jumped to his feet, followed by the others.

"Yes… Yes, I am, but I better not do anything too strenuous for now." Yugi dabbed his forehead with his sleeve, "Instead, I want to teach you some strategy."

He folded his arms, and the men quickly lined up. Yugi looked for a stick and grabbed the first one he saw. He cleared a patch of dirt with his foot and drew a very primitive map of the throne room on the ground. The men watched in wonder, as if they had never seen any form of writing before.

Yugi spoke with a bitter tone. "I won't follow your usual tactics."

He pointed at the blueprint. "This is where the throne is. And these are the balconies around it."

He looked up at the men. "Can we reach them or are they just for show?"

The men were confused for a while before they got his meaning. "We can get in there."

"Good, good." Yugi marked four circles and arrows on the ground, the arrows pointing from the circles to the throne. "Four of you will hide behind the railings in them with your crossbows."

A soldier asked seriously, "Will you use some magic to conceal us? Only a powerful Ka can-"

"No? We'll use the magic technique of being fucking quiet." Yugi smirked. "The attack will be in about 11- uh- mornings. On the Pharaoh's birthday. How do they celebrate it?"

"They are planning a feast in the great hall, to celebrate his birth as a god." The shortest of the men spoke. That one was Yugi's favorite, he had a bias being short himself.

"At night?"

"Uh.. Yes."

"See? No magic needed! Shadows are all you need to hide. Not.. Uh.. What was it again?" Yugi looks up at the men with a slightly bored glance.

"Ka, sir?"

"Yeah, yeah, that."

Yugi traced the blueprint of the building on the ground, using his memory of the layout. He marked some spots outside the hall with circles. "You'll be stationed on the roof," he told the others. "If you see anyone suspicious approaching, you can take them out with your crossbows."

He arranged the circles in a zigzag pattern. "Some of you will be higher up, some lower. The ones on the lower level will have blades, so you can chase down any assassin quickly without waiting for backup from the roof."

"But we can't jump from that height without hurting ourselves or wasting time on landing," one of them whined.

"Not with that attitude." Yugi said. "I survived a fall from the sky, and I'm fine."

The men looked at him with disbelief. "No offense, commander, but we need some proof of that. The Pharaoh may have chosen you, but we need to see it for ourselves."

"Really? You're going to challenge me when I already told you I'm not in the mood for physical activity today?" Yugi said, annoyed.

"He can't do it," another man said. Yugi raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," he said. He spotted a balcony that was about the same height as the roof they would be jumping from. He climbed up the wall effortlessly, ignoring the men's stares.

"I'll show you how it's done. But just so you know, you've just earned yourselves 30 laps around the Palace grounds."

Without wasting any precious time, Yugi swung his agile legs and dashed from the high balcony. He landed on the narrow railing of the balcony with his metallic prosthetic foot and propelled himself forward. He felt the hard ground under his bare foot and ran with full speed and confidence before stopping in front of the men with a little skid.

"Now, am I hurt? Did I waste time landing? Hm?"

In his time, jumping off of high places was just second nature. He felt a surge of nostalgia as he recalled all the buildings he had scaled down, all the helicopters he had escaped from mid-air, all the enemies he had pursued while falling… Yugi grinned, happy that those skills finally came in handy.

"I want you to demonstrate your long-distance shooting skills. The top four will be my personal snipers." Yugi gestured at the row of targets. "We'll be shooting from the opposite end of the courtyard."

"That's.. Quite far." The tallest man sounded a bit anxious.

"Yeah, that's the point." Yugi folded his arms again, "A sniper is a long-distance shooter who specializes in a single target. You have to be accurate, you cannot afford to miss."

Yugi picked up one of the crossbows and examined it, feeling its weight in his arms. It was heavy, very rudimentary of a design… He had never used one of them before but he had to maintain his image of being experienced so he held it in the posture that he saw them holding the bows before and loaded it a little clumsily with a confident smile. He released it and fired the bolt with a quick breath, hitting it right in the center of the distant target.

"Wow. Amazing. You have the skill of Montu." A soldier commented.

"Who the heck is Montu?" Yugi muttered to himself, forcing a smile as the soldiers looked at him with worry. "Oh.. Uh.. Haha.. I was kidding!"

"You should not mock the Gods, the Pharaoh would be angry."

Yugi shrugged at that, ignoring it and tapping his foot on the ground. "Whatever. Go. Shoot, now, before I lose my patience and shoot you instead."

The men quickly lined up and started shooting. Yugi sat down and watched closely as he wrote some symbols into the ground. "狙撃チーム:" and started noting down who was the best and worst of the group by giving each soldier a number.

"What does that mean..? I have never seen such writing before." A man on break asked. Yugi looked at him and, after a moment, snapped.

"And why are you not out there practicing?"

"So.. Sorry sir!!" They ran away, Yugi sighed deeply as he continued writing into the ground with his stick. His mind rushed with thoughts as he began writing notes in his own language, he found his mind wandering as he wrote, losing focus a little.

He was overcome by a weird nostalgia. He longed for the war-ravaged, polluted city where silence was unknown. He couldn't get used to the clean air here, which didn't hurt his lungs when he breathed without his mask. He couldn't stand the quietness of the world. The silence gnawed at his heart, he yearned for the noises of jets flying by with bombs, he craved for the shouts and screams and even though he never thought he would, he missed the voice of his boss berating him... He shook his head and got up from his chair.

"Sir, are you okay?" The soldier who had been loafing around earlier asked. Yugi rubbed his temples and nodded.

"I'm.. Fine. Haha, the sun must be getting to me again so.. Uh.. I'm going to take a break inside." He said with a shaky laugh, turning his back on the group and walking away. "Don't stop practicing."

"Yes sir!"

Finding himself wandering around randomly in the long halls, Yugi looked up at the ceiling as he walked. He stepped upstairs and stood on the balcony where he was just a few nights ago. Yugi looked over the stone balcony. He pulled a small box out from his pocket and flipped it open, pulling out a cigarette and the lighter tucked deeply within the beaten up box.

He looked at the white cylinder solemnly, holding it in his two fingers gently as he rotated it in his hand. Yugi fiddled with the zippo lighter, flicking its lid open with his thumb and glancing at the words engraved into its base. 'Sennen, Yami.' Yugi sucked in a sharp breath, struggling a few times to light it with his Zippo . He placed the cigarette to his lips and took a heavy suck of it, blowing out the smoke. The taste of thick smoke gathered in the back of his throat.

It tasted like home.

Yugi felt a cold sensation against his cheek that itches. He ignored it, looking down to the world beneath the balcony. His breaths quivered. The urge, the insatiable urge, to just let himself go. Yugi took another puff of the cigarette, blowing the smoke out towards the clear sky.

He didn't want to smoke these cigarettes. He had vowed not to, but he barely brought any sort of cigarettes with him apart from these special ones - the ones his precious Yami gave him - so he felt like he had to.

Why was he even doing this? Neither world really deserved to be saved. Yugi glanced at all the people beneath him, working carelessly in harmony. Each starving, depressed, lonely, but still going without a care nor argument in them.

"They're all going to die for nothing." Yugi muttered under his breath, even with his long awaited dosage of nicotine, he was still as irritable as ever.

"Yugi?"

Yugi suddenly turned around, his back hitting against the balcony's banister. In the doorway, stood Atem's proud figure, his gorgeous silky hair blowing ever so gently in the rare wind.

"What is wrong?" Atem walked over, his bare feet made loud patters on the ground as he firmly stepped forwards. "I came here to rest for a moment, I did not expect you to be here too."

"I... No... No.. Nothings wrong, I'm fine." Yugi gave Atem a small smile.

"Then why are you crying?"

Yugi stopped. He touched his cheek with his spare hand, feeling the cold streams of tears run down them. His face dropped, desperately wiping his eyes. He took another hit of the cigarette, sighing deeply.

"I.. Am fine!" Yugi gave Atem another big smile.

Atem frowned, "What's that in your hand?"

He pointed to the cigarette.

Yugi shook his head. He gave it a long, hard stare in his hands before butting it out into his palms, not wincing at all at the burn it caused, and threw it away over the balcony.

"Nothing much."

Yugi shrugged. His eyes lowered, one final tear dropping to the floor as he kept his smile firm and turned his back to the sky and all who watched from it.

"Nothing that important, anyway."

He arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "Really?"

"Are you alright, yourself?" Yugi inquired with concern. Atem seemed to pause for a moment, as if searching for words.

"I have to listen to many more subjects... And then I have to..." He stopped mid-sentence, his mind wandering elsewhere. He wearily shifted his long cape away from his front and sighed deeply as he looked out at the world below. "The gods are putting a lot of pressure on me..."

"Do they... do they test you?" Yugi asked tentatively, not sure if their religion was similar to the modern ones.

Atem gave him a curious glance but remained silent, just nodding slightly and keeping his eyes on the small world beneath them. He could see the people going about their lives, unaware of his troubles.

"Don't they test you too? Since you were sent by them." Atem finally broke the silence after a long while. Yugi felt a pang of panic, remembering that was the lie he had told. He chuckled nervously.

"Uh... Maybe they do."

He walked to the door, gripping the zippo in his hand tightly as he breathed out. He felt a mix of emotions: guilt, curiosity, admiration, fear.

"I'm going back to the training court. Don't overwork yourself, Pharaoh." He threw a final glance at the King before vanishing into the dark hall.

As the sun moved across the sky, Yugi trained the soldiers in the art of shooting bolts with precision and speed. He tried to focus on the task at hand, but his thoughts kept wandering to other matters. He wondered what was happening in the throne room, what secrets were being hidden from him, what dangers lurked ahead. He felt restless and uneasy, but he did not show it to his men. He wanted them to trust him and follow his orders without question. He knew they needed to be prepared for anything. When the night finally fell, he dismissed the soldiers and let them rest. They had worked hard and deserved a break. He dragged his weary body down the hall, feeling every ache and pain in his muscles. He glanced at the throne room door, curious and tempted. He hid in the shadows, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside.

Atem's face was grave. He was not the only one. Everyone in the room shared the same solemn expression. There was a figure, bound in ropes, standing in the hall. A coarse brown hood - more like a ragged sack with crude stitches - covered their head, stained with blood. Yugi caught a glimpse of white hair escaping from under the hood, but their features were hidden. The figure attempted to move forward, but was pulled back by a guard. As they struggled on the floor, they uttered something and threw something small towards the Pharaoh. One of the high court members, Priest Seto, intercepted it and handed it to Atem.

The court was incomplete.

Yugi felt the weight of the millennium item she had given him in his waist bag... His heart sank.

This was not how history was supposed to unfold...

Someone was meddling, weren't they? Someone besides him... Yugi backed away, his breath hitching in his chest.

He turned and fled.

He sensed that something terrible was about to happen.

-- A/N --

Hihi! The Author here, sorry for the long wait for the update! My house was stuck by lightning so I had absolutely no Internet for ages, and then I had a bunch of medical issues lul.

New (pretty big) chapter very soon!

Have a great day,

- D.W