This chapter is broken into two different chapter continuations. The first half wraps up chapter 54, the second half wraps up 55. It was the best way I could think to keep things kind of time-synched.

TW for second half: Implied attempted rape from a past recollection perspective.

Bakura was staring in mass confusion at what had unfolded in front of him. One second his best friend was having one of her 'depressive episodes', and now she was suddenly…happy? -ish? And it wasn't him that had pulled her out of it?

"What the fuck kind of magic did you just pull out of your little Dark Magician hat?!"

Yugi released Kat from the embrace, then looked blankly at Bakura. "What do you mean?"

"Kid, you should be fucking minced-meat by now. Instead, she's-..." Bakura gestured sharply with his hands towards Kat, his face contorted in extreme confusion.

Kat glared boredly toward the other elemental for a second, then smirked deviously as she lunged at him and wrapped her arms around him. She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. "Awww…does Kura puppy feel left out?" she mocked.

Bakura shuddered as his skin began to crawl. "No. Now let go of me. You're doing that thing that freaks me the fuck out."

"Okay…but under one condition," Kat said in a sing-song pitch.

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "And what is that condition?" he asked warily.

"Imhotep needs a new mentor, and I want only the best there is to teach him…"

Bakura's face fell. "Really? You're playing on my own super-inflated ego to convince me into doing something I don't really feel like doing?"

Kat batted her eyes again.

"You suck," he groaned as he pried the tiny elemental off of his side.

"So? I haven't heard any complaints," Kat commented as Bakura walked away.

He paused momentarily, glancing back with one of his devilish smirks. "I bet I can do better,"

Kat gave him a devilish smirk of her own. "I'll have to get Atem to weigh in on that."

Bakura's face quickly fell as he turned and sulked his way downstairs, holding out a middle finger towards Kat the entire way down.

A pair of disgusted groans accompanied the elemental's departure.

"Really, Shae? Why did you have to make a comment like that in front of us? I was just getting where I could stomach looking at that guy," Imhotep stated in disgust.

"He has a name, learn to use it. After all, he is going to be your new mentor. There's not much else I can teach you," Kat replied.

"What about the containment circle? You promised!"

"Well, you have two options with that: Learn from me, or learn from the one that I learned from."

"Choose the latter! She doesn't know shit!" Bakura shouted from downstairs.

"Um, excuse me?! I helped create the barrier around Domino, thank you very much!" Kat shouted back.

"Helped. Keyword. Also, you helped punch a hole dead center of it. It doesn't work that well if people can still get in."

Kat leaned over the railing so she could look at Bakura as she shouted back at him. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"How many times have I told you not to summon things over top of convergence points?"

"I didn't! It was near, not on!"

"Nope. You placed that obelisk smack dead-center of a convergence point. You know that fucks up the flow."

"Well, sorry that I can't detect ley lines as well as you!"

"What can I say, it's a gift," Bakura stated dismissively with a casual grin.

Yugi attempted to stifle a laugh as the two continued to bicker back and forth, meanwhile Imhotep simply hung his head.

"I suddenly prefer the mobs of people…" Imhotep stated unenthusiastically.

"I'm actually kinda envious. You get to learn real magic!" Yugi said with a smile.

"You could learn magic too, but only basic spells. Nothing like what we can do."

Yugi perked up a bit. "Really? Like what kinds of spells?"

Imhotep thought for a moment. "Basic stuff. Minor element alteration and such. Practice enough, and you might be able to combine things to form more complex spells. For me that stuff was easy, but I had my magae to help. You would have to learn how to tap into the different parts of your own being in order to be able to use heka."

"What's heka?" Yugi asked in confusion.

"It's just another word for magic," Kat explained, taking a second from arguing with Bakura to look back at the two from over her shoulder. "You should ask Atem to help you. He was naturally gifted when it came to learning magic. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to teach you everything he knows."

She quickly turned and leaned over the railing as she heard the swinging of the kitchen door.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing in my kitchen?!"

"Making a grocery list!" Bakura's slightly muffled voice shouted from below. "If I'm staying here, there's no way I'm gonna eat take-out for every meal!"

Kat quickly hopped over the railing, landing on the floor below. "Hey! I have a few requests! And nothing with a strong salt or fish flavor! Atem hates both!" Kat shouted as she rushed towards the kitchen.

"What's that? You want sashimi?"

"NO FISH!"

"I heard LOTS of fish and salt…"

Yugi stared at the railing his mother had just leapt over. "She gets over things pretty fast."

Imhotep shrugged casually. "Eh. She's been massively bipolar for as long as I can remember…and as long as our old man can remember too. One second she's trying to rip your face off, the next she's excitedly focused on something else. You get used to it."

Yugi's stomach rumbled loudly. "I think it's time we head back. I'm sure grandpa is done making dinner, and we forgot to tell him we were leaving."

"What were we having tonight anyway?" Imhotep questioned.

"Beef curry. Grandpa thought you might like it," Yugi replied with a smile.

Imhotep spaced out a bit. "Never had it, but it has 'beef' in the name, so I definitely want to try it…" He then turned his gaze back towards his twin. "Well, what the hell are we still standing here for?!"

Yugi chuckled as Imhotep quickly placed a hand on his shoulder and encased them in Shadow.

Marik stared at Atem in confusion. "What do you mean she's always been that way? She told me that when she gets like that, it's her Isfet's influence taking over."

Atem rested his head back against the building he was sitting against. "I might not remember small things about Katrina, like her favorite color or things she likes that doesn't somehow involve me…but I do remember the kind of person she's always been."

Marik looked at him in confusion. "I still don't understand?"

Atem closed his eyes briefly, reopening them as he brought his head forward and looked back over at the young Tomb Keeper. "Those who visited from far away lands often heard rumors long before they arrived in my throne room. Most notably was the story of 'Maahes'…though many took that story seriously upon seeing Malik for the first time. He did an excellent job at keeping up the ruse."

Atem took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he was about to say next. "There was another rumor that was less desirable. It involved the common knowledge that my Queen was not from a royal bloodline, and claimed that I had taken a whore as a wife…which was not true. Katrina's mother was a courtesan, but that did not mean that she was one herself. Many tried to take advantage of what they assumed was a woman that would simply lie before them and allow them to do whatever they pleased. They also assumed that she was my weakness. I'm certain you recall what you scolded me for after I brought up the memory of first meeting her?"

"You mean how the Royal family didn't make friends, but allies?"

Atem nodded. "And how I had raised a common girl to be my favored, and how that was dangerous for her…and for me as a Pharaoh," he said in reminder. "You were right about the hearts of men being filled with greed…and I assure you that there were many."

"I would assume with Malik standing guard, no one got close enough to actually touch her though, right?" Marik asked, concerned that something bad might have indeed happened during that time.

Atem chuckled a bit. "Malik was very good at his job, but Katrina had a habit of sometimes wanting to be left alone and slipping past him. I asked her more times than I can count to not do so when we had visitors…but that may have been unfair on my part as we constantly had them."

"I'm still a bit confused. What does any of this have to do with Kat being like Malik?"

Atem ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out how best to word what he was about to say. He became very somber and serious. "Katrina could somehow always spot the kind of man that would want to take advantage of her long before he could finish his trek across the room. She toyed with those men. She didn't lead them on in the normal sense. There were no words exchanged. Usually it was a simple glance, or sometimes she would ask not to be introduced, allowing them to think that she was one of the servants."

"You're referring to the game you two played with the servants being painted?" Marik questioned, remembering the story Malik had told him.

Atem raised an intrigued brow. "You've heard of that?"

Marik nodded. "Malik told me about it. He said you would place bets."

The corner of Atem's mouth curled upwards in amusement. "Yes, we did…and I suppose it had become a game. It was amusing at first…but that was until a certain incident."

Marik's posture had slowly relaxed from the tightly drawn-in state it had been a few minutes prior. He was now focused on the story being told. "What happened?"

"There was a foreign dignitary that claimed it was unfair of us to deceive him. He became angry and claimed that it was rude to place temptations in front of weary travelers and judge them based on whether or not they gave in. He compared it to placing water in front of a thirsty horse and telling it not to drink." Atem released a resentful sigh. "I could find no argument with that logic, aside from the fact that they were men not horses…and that they should have better control over themselves based on that fact."

"I take it he didn't see it that way?"

Atem shook his head. "No. And I made the regretful decision of allowing him to stay instead of having him and his men escorted from the city."

"What happened next?"

"He managed to corner my Queen during one of her moments of attempted solitude."

Marik was suddenly overcome with worry. "He didn't hurt Kat, did he?!"

Atem shook his head. "No. Malik tracked her down and stepped in before the man could do anything more than lay a hand across her face…but the fact remained that he had intended to do more."

Marik was listening intently, wanting to know what happened next, but Atem paused for a moment before continuing.

"Malik hauled him before me, and I was ready to have him executed…but when I looked up and saw the loathing and hatred in Katrina's eyes…I knew death was not the punishment she had in mind."

"If you didn't have him executed, then what did you do?"

Atem shook his head. "I deferred judgment to the one he had wronged. Let's just say he left our kingdom that day carrying his manhood in a box."

Marik blanched while instinctively making a move to protect his own 'manhood'. "Ouch."

"Trust me…'ouch' was not the word he used. More like a series of profanities, screaming, a few curses on our house, then more profanities and screaming. There may have been a declaration of war in there as well, but I wasn't really focused on him. I was more focused on the fact that I had just witnessed the enjoyment my wife had displayed as she took the blade to his groin."

Marik looked away, taking a long moment to process what Atem had just shared with him.

"But in a way…he deserved it…"

"I never said he didn't. If anything, Katrina's methods were creative and cemented the fact that she was not someone to trifle with." Atem stated earnestly. "That doesn't change the fact that she enjoyed it."

"It was still just a one-time thing. It doesn't make her like Malik."

"That's where you are wrong. That man was not the only one to have earned her ire, or the only one she enjoyed punishing. Katrina holds no qualms when it comes to physically assaulting others…as you've obviously seen when she assaulted Bakura from behind. Giving her a legitimate reason to harm you makes it all the more enjoyable for her. Malik, on the other hand, is more hesitant. He will brandish his weapon as a warning, as you saw earlier with his claws, but I knew that he would not use them on me. I would have to do something unforgivable for him to strike at me."

Malik suddenly became defensive. "You heard him in there! He wanted to eat my fa-...the man who raised me! I didn't like him any more than Malik did…but eating the man?!"

"Malik is a literal lion. Lions have been known to eat people." Atem said casually. " Don't forget that Mkhai told us that shifting causes each of them to display their more animalistic nature, and that Malik has a harder time keeping that part of himself under control. You've seen Katrina and her more feline mannerisms. She didn't always have them. And Bakura…well…I don't remember him being so easily irritated with everything." His face fell a bit as he remembered some of the things Bakura used to do. "If anything, he always had that stupid grin on his face while turning everything into a huge joke."

"Um, he still does that."

"No, no. He was much worse."

Atem sighed. "The point I'm trying to make is that Malik is like the others. There's a part of him that is different from how he used to be, but unlike Katrina and Bakura, he hasn't allowed that part of him to…" Atem paused, trying to find the right word. "I guess the best way to put it is that he hasn't merged the two parts of himself into one like the others."

Marik hung his head. "He's literally two different people…and I'm viewing both as one…which is unfair of me. I don't like it when others keep seeing the person I was and thinking that's who I still am."

"Like how I used to," Atem commented.

Marik nodded then ran both hands through his hair. "Gods. I'm just as stupid as you right now."

Atem scowled. "I really wish everyone would stop considering me the epitome of stupidity…"

"Sorry, but you make it too easy," Marik said with a chuckle.

"I do not."

"Kat's favorite color?"

"Shut up."

Fun fact: Kat doesn't technically have one color she likes more than another. She likes them all almost equally. Black is just her go-to for apparel because not only is it good at hiding blood, it pretty much goes with everything. If she saw something that she really wanted just for the sake of having it and had to choose a color, she would buy each color and display them like a rainbow.