Two chapters today, and more in the coming days. It's getting that time of year where I need to shelf a few things, and weekly posting is one of them. I already had up to chapter 100 planned to post before I went on break, but the original schedule I had set to do that isn't going to work. Chapter 100 will be posted before the end of October, then I'll be on posting break until January.

TW: Dissociation

Atem stared out the window of his new penthouse apartment. The view high above the city reminded him too much of the same view he once had from the palace main balcony in Amarna. The shopping district sat far too close to where the market would have been; the tower that was Kaiba Corp replaced the temple to Ra; and the Nile was now the sea that had both taken Yugi to Duelist Kingdom and brought Marik to Domino for the first time.

A loud knock on the door interrupted his comparative thoughts.

"It's unlocked," he said loudly. He felt empty, and lacked the energy to move from the spot he'd been standing in since his arrival.

The door opened and closed, but he didn't look to see who it was. He honestly didn't care at the moment.

"Just thought I'd stop in and see how you're doing," Mkhai said on approach.

"I'm fine. How is she?"

When Kat had destroyed his duel disk, he'd seen red. As she'd marched her way towards Kaiba he'd begun to go after her, but then Malik had stepped in and made the attempt to pacify her. The Ishtari had only provoked the emergence of 'Dark Kat', and no one wanted to step near her after that. When she'd collapsed before reaching her intended target, he'd calmed and felt a small sense of relief. The crisis had averted itself, and now everyone could carry on with the rest of their day. He'd only just bent down to gather his scattered deck when the unexpected happened.

Atem knew he wouldn't easily forget the image of his former wife's eyes opening wide, appearing empty and soulless as her hands came up and began clawing at her neck while making a strangled sound. He'd frozen, the rush of bodies and voices around him becoming a blur of commotion that he'd barely registered. He wasn't sure how or when it had happened, and he didn't even remember moving, but somehow he'd ended up in Kaiba's helicopter. He hadn't even realized that's where he was until it had landed on the roof of the penthouse. He'd stepped out, following Kaiba around with his body on autopilot as the CEO showed him around. He wasn't even aware that Kaiba had left until he saw the helicopter fly past the wall of glass with the CEO sitting in plain view.

"Marik hacked into her mind with the Rod and helped bring her back. Other than being quiet, she's okay. I'm sure she'll be back to her normal level of making my life hell by tomorrow," Mkhai replied as he came to look out the window alongside Atem.

"Does anyone know what happened?"

Mkhai shook his head. "Not exactly. Bakura said it was an attack of the mind. My best guess is that she's been under a different type of stress than what she's used to. Her mind doesn't know how to cope with it."

For the first time since his arrival, Atem looked away from the window, re-cementing his gaze instead onto his half-sibling. "You can't seriously believe that something going on in her mind provoked that kind of a physical response?" he said in disbelief.

Mkhai sighed heavily. "It's something that happens a lot with immortal beings. Their minds are always fracturing, and some are more susceptible to the breaks than others; like with Malik. Small breaks are mostly noticeable through changes in behavior…but larger fractures present in a completely different way. For Sis, she has a lot of larger fractures that are just kinda floating in place. They're easy to navigate around for the most part, because they're too big to miss. However, you can easily tell when one gets bumped, because her infamous 'inferno scream' is the usual end result."

"She didn't scream this time. She behaved in a way that looked as though she were being strangled," Atem stated, his brow furled to express that even he knew what they'd witnessed didn't line up with what Mkhai was describing.

Mkhai looked away from the window and brought out his datapad. "Trust me, I know. But let me show you something. Remember that marker I was excited about finding in both you and Yugi? Remember how I showed you Sis's stats as a comparison?" He quickly tapped through several options and brought up what he was looking for before turning it to show Atem. "Do you see this?" He pointed out what appeared to be a large spike on a chart. "This shouldn't be here. It's never been there before, and it only lasted for the duration that Sis was experiencing…whatever you want to call it. It vanished just before she woke up."

Atem took the datapad from Mkhai so that he could study the chart more closely. "So what does this mean?"

"That's the thing! I haven't the slightest clue!" Mkhai shouted in exasperation. "I've been able to keep track of everything that goes on with her in both a physical and magical sense for the past few years with the implant I've created. However, the technology is still new and I don't have a lot to compare my results with. That being said, I have a really strong gut-feeling that this shouldn't be showing up on her charts."

Atem heaved a sigh while shaking his head and handing the device back to Mkhai. "Great, so instead of answers, we end up with more questions."

"I'll figure it out…eventually. I just hope it's before…you know," Mkhai said awkwardly while trying to not say the implied.

"That would be nice, but if you don't figure it out until after I die again, then it is what it is," Atem said as he finally removed himself from his place by the window to go take a seat on the sofa instead.

"But what if you don't die again? Think about it: You didn't technically die the first time. Your soul got transferred into an object."

Atem leaned his head back into the sofa and brought an arm across his eyes. "I'd rather not think about that right now."

His arm was lifted from his face, to his annoyance, and held suspended in the air while Mkhai looked down at him.

"You're just delaying the inevitable. You know I'll just keep pestering you until I get some form of an answer."

Atem groaned. "If I do, I do; if I don't, I don't. Is that a good enough answer? I honestly don't care at the moment. I'm just trying to make it through another day in a life that I was never meant to have."

"That you know of…"

Atem jerked his arm free and sat up straight. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe this was intended. Who knows what a Fate-Weaver might have intended for you," Mkhai said casually.

"A what?" Atem asked in annoyed confusion.

Mkhai rolled his eyes. "I can't believe after five millennia and being married to the literal offspring of a god, you still don't know the different deity classifications."

Atem stared boredly for a long moment. "Learning 'deity classifications' hasn't been at the top of my list of priorities," he commented.

Mkhai rolled his eyes again. "Long story short, Fate-Weavers do as the name suggests: They weave the threads of Fate into their own preferred outcome. Small tweaks along certain points to create their grand design. Some designs can be created in a few decades time, but I've seen some take several centuries. If there's a Fate-Weaver at play, then they've been setting things up since before any of us came into existence."

"You think a god intended for me to be trapped?" Atem questioned.

"You get trapped, your now ex-wife not only murdered your murderer, but died and became an elemental because the masses refused to believe that she would kill her own kin. Your personal Ishtari also became an elemental, along with…wait for it…your ex-wife's adopted sibling. Even better, all three were the unknown offspring of gods. There's more! All three elementals just so happen to produce heirs around the same time, and those heirs somehow all end up in Domino without knowing a shred of truth about their shared background. Mass series of coincidence? I don't think so."

Atem flopped back into the sofa. "Wonderful," he grumbled. "I hope I get to meet this 'Fate-Weaver' someday so I can strangle them."

"There's multiple, actually…and they're all women. Besides the Greek Fates, the most prominent one is the Elder…who you don't wanna mess with. Even Sis isn't stupid enough to piss her off…even though she likes to dance precariously close to the line."

"That doesn't surprise me."

A notification chimed in, prompting Mkhai to look at his datapad to read the message.

"Ugh. The king of annoyance requests my presence to finish up with some details about the work agreement," Mkhai groaned.

Atem gave him a confused look.

"Kaiba," Mkhai replied in explanation.

Atem motioned in understanding.

Mkhai sighed as he began to make his way towards the door. "You know how to reach me. I'm practically available at all hours, because keeping the world ignorant to the fact that immortals exist is a never-ending task that I've, unfortunately, taken upon myself."

"And you still find time for games, how?" Atem called out.

"I'm very good at multitasking!" Mkhai shouted back before closing the door behind him.

Mkhai has become a more involved character, and is now more than just pop-in humor.