Can I just stop for a second and celebrate FIFTY CHAPTERS! When I started this, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I've not only learned a lot about writing in general, but I've also seen my writing massively improve. My sister really helped a bunch in the improvement area.

So we're quickly approaching the Kaiba encounter. Only a few more chapters!

If you haven't already, take a look over at my AO3. I have a few more works there than here. I recently added a little 582 word crackfic in script format where I 'talk' with a certain, uncooperative Thief. I would have posted it here, but for some reason FFN kept changing the format of a specific part and I gave up fighting it, so it became an AO3 exclusive like my murder/smut piece. The title of the crackfic is called 'Talking with Myself'. It's pretty much what pure insanity looks like when the author has reached the point of no longer trying to pry the keyboard from their forehead.

BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZ-

Yugi's hand slid tiredly off the alarm. He lay there for a moment, working up the ambition to get up and get moving. After several long moments of procrastination, he sat upward, reluctantly forcing himself off the bed and onto the floor. He barely opened his eyes as he plodded half-asleep down the hall to the bathroom, the call of nature being his number one priority at the moment (and the primary reason he'd ended his procrastination).

After he'd finished taking care of nature's call and washed his hands, he splashed some cool water on his face, hoping it would help with the waking up process. Thankfully it did the trick, allowing him to continue forth with his morning routine more awake than before.

As Yugi re-entered his room, he started to feel something was off. Looking around and spotting the other bed in the room empty with the bedding untouched, he realized why. Marik hadn't returned, and it appeared Imhotep hadn't stuck around either. It was eerily quiet in his room without either…and without Atem in his head. He scrunched up his nose a bit at that thought, still trying to come to terms with the kind of person Atem really was.

He didn't want to think about that right now. Right now he just wanted to finish getting ready for school. He wanted semi-normal, even if it was just the routine of throwing on his uniform and heading downstairs for breakfast.

As Yugi made his way down the set of stairs, his nose was greeted by the salty aroma of bacon frying, making his mouth water. His grandfather hadn't cooked bacon since before Marik had come to live with them. He rushed down the remainder of the stairs, skipping the last two and jumping straight to the floor before turning sharply and practically running towards the kitchen.

"Good morning, Yugi!" Solomon greeted cheerfully while wearing an apron and holding a spatula. "You're just in time! I'm making bacon and scrambled eggs!"

Yugi stared dumbfounded for a moment, his mind trying to grasp the sight of his twin sitting casually at the kitchen table.

"Hey…" Imhotep said in a less than enthusiastic tone while leaning his chin on his palm. His face showed just as little enthusiasm. He was also wearing a recognizable school uniform.

"What's going on?" Yugi puzzled, wondering why Imhotep was wearing a Domino High uniform.

"Mkhai found out about my little 'freak out' and told Shae. Now she's making me go to school to help 'correct' my social anxiety," Imhotep replied, rolling his eyes. "Oh, and apparently your roommate is moving out, and I'm moving in," he added, not sounding happy about the new arrangement.

Yugi's face fell and he groaned internally. So much for 'semi-normal'.

Solomon set down a plate of food in front of Imhotep. "Oh, come now…you make it sound as if you are being punished! I'm certain you'll find yourself fitting in quickly! Plus, you'll have Yugi and his friends there with you!" he said reassuringly, giving Imhotep a big pat on the back.

Imhotep's head and shoulders fell a bit, obviously not looking forward to going back to the source of his first freak out. He picked up a piece of bacon, sighed, then popped the whole thing into his mouth.

Yugi sat down and started eating his own breakfast that had been placed on the table. "Grandpa's right about one thing," he began, talking between bites. "You'll have me, Joey, Téa, and Tristan there to help you out if things start to become too overwhelming."

Imhotep swallowed a mouthful of egg, looking over at Yugi as though he weren't entirely convinced. "Yeah, well, Shae's boyfriend and that other guy will be there too…"

Yugi nearly choked, remembering what Imhotep had said happened between Atem and Bakura after the gathering. "Can we talk about something else? I haven't had bacon in nearly a month and I would like to enjoy it," he said dryly.

Imhotep finished wolfing down his breakfast, then took his plate over to the sink. "Like what? How just the other day I would have been jumping for joy at the idea of attending school with you," he began. "You saw the crowd that flocked to me when they thought I was a 'dog'...now imagine the crowd that's gonna flock to see your twin," he added unenthusiastically.

Yugi paused mid-bite, looking down a bit as he slowly chewed and swallowed. "I don't really have any advice to help with that. As it is, I still get overwhelmed when it's me they're flocking to."

Imhotep looked over, appearing somewhat surprised. "You feel that way too? But you always look so confident!"

This prompted a chuckle out of Yugi. "Me? Confident?" He shook his head, his mouth turned up slightly in a small smile. "Nope. I've just always had someone there to help reassure me." His smile faded into a small frown. "But now that person isn't with me all the time and I've begun to question whether I really ever knew him."

"Are you seriously still hung up over the fact that our old man enjoyed sex?" Imhotep asked as he casually leaned against the kitchen counter.

"How would you feel knowing that there was someone like that in your head that would forcefully take control at times and leave you not remembering a thing?"

"At least I wouldn't remember it. I could live with that. Having seen that shit though…it's not something you forget."

Yugi's head fell forward. "I give up." He picked up his dishes and carried them over to the sink.

"You know, there's a lot more to him than the whole sex thing. It's true that he wasn't entirely the person you had come to know, but for the most part you saw who was. He's not really all that different." Imhotep stated, attempting to cheer Yugi up.

Yugi contemplated as he washed his dishes. "I think it just makes me wonder, what other things don't I know about him? What other things were kept hidden simply because he didn't have access to his memories?"

"Not much, honestly. Unless you want to know things like how he always had a fondness for cats…even though they didn't seem to be fond of him," Imhotep chuckled. "He got scratched up and bit a lot."

Yugi instantly found himself chuckling at the idea of Atem trying to pick up a cat only to have it bite and scratch him as it tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

"So, did that help bring you out of your hang up about the old man?"

"For now," Yugi replied with a smile. "I guess I just need a chance to sit down and talk with him. Since he's been revived, I haven't had the chance to really do that."

"Yeah, I kinda messed up all the timing Shae had planned. She was originally going to have everything set up for an easy transition. The only pressing matter he would've had, would've been the inevitable meeting with Seto Kaiba."

"You didn't know about the ritual trigger though," Yugi stated.

Imhotep shook his head. "No, but I should have. I knew the barrier's purpose, and I know enough about barriers in general that it should've been obvious," he said dejectedly. "Instead I was too enthused with the idea of showing off the tomb. I didn't think things through. I just did whatever I wanted without thinking about the consequences."

"Kat didn't seem too upset about it though," Yugi commented.

"Only because she wasn't about to let the old man get away with scolding me. If he hadn't started laying into me first, you would have seen something entirely different."

"Well, it's done and over now. Atem's back, and now you're here…and you get to attend school with me!" Yugi stated, trying to cheer up Imhotep.

Imhotep smiled slightly. "Yeah, as much as I enjoy the idea…I'm still worried about all the people and what they'll think."

"Well, just pretend everyone is an NPC in a game and each one has their own set of dialogue options. All you have to do is select the option you think works best," Yugi suggested.

"Ugh…dialogue choices? I suck at those! You think you've picked the sarcastic option, and come to find out it was a flirt option! Or worse, you try to pick the option that increases one of your stats, but come to find out it got coded wrong, so not only do you fail the speech check, but then you have to fight the NPC when all you wanted wanted was to level up your fucking skill!" Imhotep ended his rant, staring at the space in front of him, his hands wringing the neck of an imaginary character.

"Ooo-kay…so that was a bad suggestion…" Yugi said while glancing away nervously.

Imhotep lowered his hands and came back to the present. "Uh…sorry," he said sheepishly. "I guess I'll have to get used to large groups of people no matter what, so I guess if I gotta, it might as well be when you and the others are around."

Yugi nodded, "And you already know we'll be there for you."

"That's right!" Imhotep said, psyching himself up. "I think I'm ready now. Domino High, ready or not, here I come!"

Yugi laughed at Imhotep's enthusiasm. "I don't know if they'll be able to handle someone like you!"

Imhotep grinned. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Let's go!"

Both quickly put on their shoes and grabbed their bags, then Imhotep encased them both in Shadow and vanished.

Imhotep teleported them to a spot just down the block from the school, allowing them to walk the remainder of the way so that they could hide the fact that they had traveled through magical means. As they got closer to the school he saw the purple Mustang that he had helped teleport from the palace to Domino the night before. He also spotted the Tomb Keeper strutting through the front gate of the school with his hands stuffed in his pockets like he was king of the world.

"Marik, wait!"

Imhotep watched as his mother quickly exited her car wearing only pajama pants and a loose tee along with her boots, which were untied. She chased after the Tomb Keeper, his school bag in her hand.

"You almost forgot this."

'Ignore it. Don't say anything,' Imhotep reminded himself.

Part of the discussion with his mother the night before had been about him having to get used to the fact that this was how things were now. His parents were separated, and his mother had moved on. It also was starting to look as if his father had moved on as well…with the Thief King of all people.

"Whoops," Kat giggled as she stepped back a bit from Marik and began to unbutton and re-button his shirt. "It's crooked. That's my fault," she added with a playful smile.

Imhotep glowered at the pair, able to easily figure out the context of the situation as he watched his mother straighten the Tomb Keepers collar and then comb through his hair with her fingers.

Kat turned to head back to her vehicle, stopping when she saw Imhotep and Yugi approaching.

"Ohmygods! Look at you!" she said as she excitedly rushed up to the nearly identical teens.

Imhotep groaned internally. "It's not that big a deal," he said while trying to shoo her away, as she had taken to fussing over his shirt and collar now.

"Let me get a picture," she said while smiling, stepping back a bit and holding out her phone.

Imhotep groaned audibly this time, his shoulders falling in exasperation. "Really? You're as bad as Mkhai…"

Kat lowered her phone, her brow furling slightly in irritation. "Am I not allowed a 'first day of school' photo?"

"I'm only going to school because I had a little freak out," Imhotep said bitterly. "It's not my fault I don't know how to interact with people."

"You know why I did it," Kat stated defensively.

"Yeah, and it was for nothing. All those years locked away…and it was for nothing."

"Leave her alone," Marik said as he approached and pulled his girlfriend close to him by her waist.

"You stay out of this," Imhotep demanded, his face drawn into a tight scowl.

"No." Marik said in regards to the demand, bearing a scowl of his own.

Imhotep scowled even more deeply. "You're not my father."

"Good, I'm not trying to be," Marik stated firmly. "All Kat asked for was a photo. You don't have to be a dick about it."

Imhotep was about to say something back when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It's just a picture," Yugi said. His mouth turned up slightly in a reassuring smile. "Grandpa always takes my picture on the first day of the school year. I think he'd like to have one of our first day of school together."

Imhotep relaxed a bit, then heaved a groaned sigh. "I guess…"

He looked up to see his mother's head hanging slightly, staring distantly towards the ground.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "Solomon would love that…"

Kat looked up, her smile from earlier gone as she quickly took a picture of the two then headed back to her vehicle without a word and left.

"That was painful," Marik said quietly.

"What?" Imhotep questioned, becoming hostile towards the Tomb Keeper again.

Marik faced him, looking at him in disappointment. "She asks for a picture for herself, and you get all pissy about it. Yugi suggests you do it for Mr. Muto, and you're suddenly okay with it. Can you not see the problem with that?"

"Shae rarely goes 'mom' mode. She's just doing it because she's trying to make herself look good in front of you," Imhotep replied defensively.

"That's a lie," growled another voice as it approached. "Kat could care less about 'looking good' in front of anyone."

"Wow, Bakura. You look like shit," Marik commented towards the pale elemental's disheveled appearance.

"Thanks," Bakura said sarcastically.

Imhotep groaned. "Great, now you're both here…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bakura questioned.

"I'm not dumb," Imhotep said bitterly. "I know about your little 'outing' yesterday. I still can't believe he's giving up and moving on with the likes of you. I could somewhat understand if it was your old appearance, he liked that one…but as you are now…?"

Bakura got up in Imhotep's face, his eyes narrowed as he stared down at the stunted teen. "There's nothing going on between the Pharaoh and I. Never was, never will be. Got it?" he growled in warning.

The two stared intensely at one another.

"I'm not afraid of you," Imhotep stated bitterly after a long moment.

Bakura stared hard, then smirked devilishly. "No, you're not. But I know who you are afraid of…"

He stepped back a few paces, closed his eyes for a brief moment while taking in a deep breath, and became relaxed. When he opened his eyes, they had changed to brown. He smiled in the same cherubic way Ryou used to.

"Yugi, is that the long-lost twin brother you were telling me about?" he said loudly in his best Ryou voice. "You're right, it's crazy that there are two of you now!"

Several faces looked up and towards the pair of spiky-haired teens.

Imhotep instantly paled.

Bakura turned on his heel while waving to the pair that was now behind him. "I'll see you inside Yugi!" he said loudly again, still pretending to be his former host.

"Come on, we better hurry before everyone rushes over here," Yugi quickly suggested.

Imhotep swallowed hard and nodded, trying not to focus on pairs of eyes trained on him along with the whispers and pointed fingers.

Yugi took his hand and the two practically ran inside with Yugi leading the way.

They arrived in the classroom to find Bakura already sitting in his seat. He stared smugly at the pair.

"That was dirty, Bakura!" said Yugi in disapproval of what the elemental had done.

"I haven't the faintest idea as to what you're talking about," Bakura said casually, pretending that he hadn't just plastered the focus of the whole schoolyard onto the spiky-haired pair.

"That wasn't very nice of you," Marik said with a scowl as he entered the classroom behind the other two.

Bakura looked at him with a raised brow. "The kid hates you, and you want to stick up for him?"

"I'm not sticking up for anyone. I just don't think it's fair that you resorted to something so petty."

"Says the person that once went around mind-controlling everyone."

Marik's scowl intensified. "I've changed since then."

Bakura made an impressed whistle. "Wow…the Tomb Keeper 'changed'. Guess that means I need to suddenly become 'Mr. Nice-guy'," he said sarcastically. He narrowed his eyes towards Marik. "News flash: I'm not 'Mr. Nice-guy'. Just because my soul's no longer split in half doesn't mean I've changed a whole lot. It just means I'm less inclined to steal souls and commit murder without a good reason."

"I get that you're not a 'nice' person, Bakura," Yugi began. "But that doesn't mean you have to be cruel."

"Cruel? How is forcing someone to face their problem head-on 'cruel'?"

"He's facing his problem just by being here. You don't have to add to it," Yugi chided.

"Meh, whatever. Baby the creepy kid then," Bakura said in dismissal.

"I'm not 'creepy'!" Imhotep shouted defensibly.

"You play in the Shadows."

Imhotep scowled. "Says the person with a penchant for creating Shadow Games…"

Bakura's face fell. "Okay, you got me there." He huffed irritably and rolled his eyes. "Okay…you win. My earlier tactic was a bit…dick-holish."

Marik gave him a scowled look of disapproval.

"Hey, that's as close to an apology as I'm giving! If you three don't like it, then go fuck-off elsewhere!"

"At least you admitted that you were being a dick," Imhotep stated. He then shrugged. "Good enough for me."

Yugi hung his head in exasperation. "This is going to be a very long day…"

I have discovered two things recently. 1- I hate writing school scenes. 2- I hate writing Yugi. Nothing against him, he's just waaay to optimistic and good-spirited. It's difficult to give him 'issues' without making him too OOC. I need PAIN. I need TRAUMA. It's difficult writing POSITIVITY.

So I have a little question for you, the reader:

Is there anything that has been mentioned in passing that you would love for me to delve further upon? For example, during chapter 9 Bakura mentioned his encounter with the White Lady. I wrote a little one-shot that delved deeper into it. I have a few that I've wrote down the basic idea behind, and even one that I started, but I would love to know if there's something YOU want to know more about. I love world and character building, and I would love to share more of the TWoF backstory that YOU are interested in learning more about.