"Oh come on! That is so not fair!" said Bakura.

"All's fair in death and dice rolls," said Ryou smirking.

"Especially when the DM is freaking Hades," snarked Vil.

"Now, now boys. Not my fault you suck at rolling initiative..."

"Or that you banned trick rolls," said Atem.

Hades smirked at them all, which had Ortho Beta snickering.

Honestly, Vil never anticipated having regular Dungeons and Dragons night with the Greek god of the underworld. If he hadn't accidentally found a game board that looked suspiciously like the game, he never would have commented on it to Ryou in Hades' earshot.

Hades was more surprised the mortals had a similar game, and it hadn't taken him more than a week to master the rules. And since Atem and Bakura needed to be in his favor, the Pharaoh had quickly suggested having a regular D and D session with the god.

Being the ruler of the Underworld was dead boring. Hades had jumped at the chance to avoid that, and was pleasantly surprised to discover how much fun it was.

Idia had jumped at the chance to play D and D with others, especially those he could tolerate to be around for long periods. The Ortho twins had joined in, mostly for moral support.

Which had lead to this. Hades was having great fun being the Dungeon Master, as it was the role he usually played while toying with the lives of mortals.

Part of the restrictions to the 'game' was that they could only play as human, beastkin, faerie, or mermaid as their characters, as well as current job roles.

Vil was aware of the fact that they were probably playing with the lives of those among the living, but found it hard to give a damn. So long as it wasn't anyone he knew or cared about, he could ignore that fact. Everyone else was of a similar mind, and as such opted to avoid making characters based on anyone they actually knew.

On the plus side, Vil could honestly state that he was now on very good terms with one of the Seven. Not enough that Hades would do him any real favors, but enough that he might avoid actively screwing him over if he made a deal.

Atem had already made an agreement to teach Hades how to play Duel Monsters so he could one-up Zeus and the other gods during the dueling tournaments hosted at random. So far he had avoided a complete embarrassment, but he wanted to show off his superiority. Especially since no one really wanted to beat Zeus and earn his ire.

The last tournament, Hades was rather pleased to have won rather soundly against everyone else. Atem had no issue continuing the lessons if it meant he could be properly reincarnated and not have to use Yugi's body anymore.

Bakura had simply signed a minimum of one hundred years acting as "Hades' Bitch" as Vil had put it. It was honestly a better deal than Zorc had gotten and he was given assurances that the items would be permanently laid to rest and his village allowed passage into the afterlife that had been denied them for the past five thousand years.

The fact Vil was not going to interfere with him making Atem's life hell was just bonus, really.

Vil glared at the dice in his hand, and rolled. He was relieved that he managed to get the bare minimum to survive the encounter, though he would have preferred a nat 20. Still better than anything lower than a ten though.

Idia snickered at his expression. He had since gotten over his disbelief that Vil was just as much of a gamer as he was, but had to put it to the wayside. Vil had been able to match his nerd speak tit for tat without missing a beat.

Hades was rather gleeful acting as the DM and telling his players about how badly the dice had screwed them over.

He was actually enjoying himself, and it was nice to have people willing to let him indulge in his personal story-telling and venting against how the other gods treated him.

Besides, at least these guys didn't bitch if their characters died. He had tried to introduce the game to the other gods, and they always got so snippy about their characters dying or not getting any decent loot for killing weak monsters.

Their session continued well into the night, and no one commented on their baggy eyes...at least, not after Yugi commented on a D and D session that went on too long.


Jounouchi wasn't the only one giving Atem and Bakura the side eye. Pretty much all of Yugi's friend group was.

"So who's this?" asked Anzu, biting the bullet. Yuu was next to her cuddling with Grim.

"They're our cousins from Egypt," said Yugi simply.

"Uh-huh. What's the real story?" asked Jounouchi.

"Kaiba at some point in time got annoyed he couldn't duel the pharaoh and broke into the afterlife. Hades decided he didn't want a repeat so he offered a deal in exchange for them to be properly incarnated," said Yugi without hesitation.

Jounouchi snorted in amusement, as he could believe it.

"So they're properly alive this time?"

"So long as they uphold their end of the bargain to Hades," agreed Yugi.

"You know what this means, right?" said Jounouchi grinning. "We need to have a proper welcoming party to celebrate!"

"Wait...so this is the spirit of the Puzzle?" said Marik, staring at the more tanned version of Yugi.

"And the thief king from the Ring," said Yugi smirking. "We are not telling your sister this, I want to see her find out the hard way."

Marik was grinning wickedly at that. This was going to be hilarious.

A few hours later...

"So what sort of bargain did you make?" asked Jounouchi.

"The God of the Underworld wants to one-up his fellow Greek gods, who have taken up Duel Monsters. Who better to teach them than the former King of Games?" said Atem.

Jounouchi blinked. Then he looked to Bakura, who was eating as much as he could while trying to get Marik drunk for later. He was not touching that dynamic with a ten-foot pole.

"Bakura agreed to be Hades' bitch for the next hundred years minimum," said Yugi smirking. "Means he gets semi-immortality, among other things."

Bakura flipped him off, and Yugi stuck his tongue out at him.

Thanks to Idia, Atem and Bakura had 'modern' identities, which made it easier for everyone. Atem was living at the Game Shop, usually borrowing Yugi's room which freed him up a bit to take on more modeling and acting jobs.

By this point Yugi had transitioned to online schooling, since he wasn't really getting anything out of high school anyway. Sure, it allowed him to spend time with his friends, but he was dead bored out of his mind.

Besides, this allowed him to improve his image as "Vil" before Night Raven. At least he wouldn't bored out of his mind since knowing the subjects ahead of time allowed him more free time to improve his personal products. Atem had zero issues working at the shop.

The fact it only took Kaiba a week to discover the spirit of the Puzzle was out and demand he duel him. He lost, spectacularly, but Yugi was just glad that Kaiba's obsession was now firmly where it belonged.

Away from him!


Vil vaguely recalled the sledathon in Epel's home town. And what better time to see if Epel remembered as well, since the festival was due in a week?

He was due another vacation anyway, and it was only three days.

"Why are we going to Harveston?" asked Ortho Alpha.

"It's the backdrop to Sled Over Heels, Idia has already been trained to race and is somewhat familiar with the terrain, and this will be a good bonding experience for you two," said Vil simply.

"What's the real reason?" asked Ortho Beta.

"I want to mess with Epel...and to test a theory I've had regarding the Royal Sword Academy."

"What sort of theory?" asked Idia.

"Don't you find it strange that Night Raven College has never won anything if the Royal Sword Academy is in attendance as a possible competitor?" said Vil. "Case in point the Song and Dance Competition. They literally won by a single vote."

Idia paused.

"That...is a weird coincidence," he admitted.

"So I'm going to do a simple experiment," said Vil. "I want to see if there might be a curse on NRC students that prevent them from winning if an RSA student is present."

Now he had Idia's curiosity piqued, as it was extremely odd that they had never won against the Royal Sword Academy in Spelldrive or anything else that involved competition once in his memory. The mere fact the RSA won three years in a row despite having Malleus on their side was extremely sketchy, to say the least.

Besides, it gave him another chance to enjoy the scenery without the last minute practice...and he would be able to compete with Ortho on his team.

Vil couldn't wait to see Epel, mostly to confirm his theory that anyone who had been present at STYX that day had the same memory dump.

"Um...can Grim and I come as well?" asked Yuu timidly.

"Of course you can. You've been there before, so you can show us your favorite places," said Vil fondly. Grim cheered at that.

"Mind if I tag along as well?" asked Atem.

Vil eyed him for a moment, before a wicked idea occurred to him. He began dialing someone.

"Who are you calling?" asked Idia.

"Ryou and if I'm lucky, Bakura and Marik. Why not have two teams compete and see who is better?" smirked Vil. Atem grinned at that.

Mostly Vil wanted him to suffer the frigid cold that he'd heard Sebek whine about for a solid week. Atem, Bakura and Marik were unlikely to know how to deal with a snowball to the face.

The resulting snow ball fight they had before the sledathon made the extra expense absolutely worth it.

In Harveston...

Vil was so glad he had abstained from his usual wig, because Epel didn't really recognize him at first. Which was perfect, because it meant he could troll the petite teen for stress relief until Epel figured out who he was.

Idia and Ortho were a lost cause, but Vil had expected as much. Idia had gleefully agreed to pay for the trip, mostly because Vil wasn't expecting him to socialize in the least and would happily divert attention from the introverted nerd.

Jounouchi, eager to see more of Vil's world, had agreed to be the fourth member of the team.

Epel kept shooting Yugi glances, mostly out of puzzled familiarity. He seemed relieved to know that Idia remembered everything, but was highly confused as to why they were there so early.

Yugi kept his scarf firmly wrapped around most of his face. It also doubled as camouflage, since it prevented Epel from being able to recognize him too quickly. His red and gold streaked hair contributed to that as well, since Epel remembered him with his gold and lavender tipped hair instead.

Seeing Atem, Bakura and Marik sneeze over freezing their asses off from the cold temperatures made Yugi cackle with dark glee inside.

It was as they changed into more...weather appropriate...clothing that Epel got a good look at his face. He gaped in shock.

"Vil-senpai?" he said in disbelief. "What happened to your hair? And why are you so short?!"

Idia straight up cackled.

"Pay up! I told you he'd mention your height!" said Idia.

"Yeah, yeah...I'll send it to your preferred cash app later," said Vil rolling his eyes. "And you...how many times must I instruct you that ain't is not a proper word?"

Epel was still in shock that his housewarden was almost the same height as him, and that his hair was so weird. He shook it off, before he adjusted his speech pattern a bit.

"So you remember too?" he asked. His voice was much softer and the accent was mostly nonexistent.

"Epel, I was the source of why we ended up in our younger selves," said Vil flatly. "At this point the only one we haven't confirmed is Jamil...though at least I won't have to suffer watching Idia pine after his boyfriend anymore."

"Like you're one to talk, with how quickly you gained the approval of Rook's family," snarked Idia.

Epel was just glad he wasn't alone...while inwardly groaning because there was no way in hell Vil would dare allow him to talk in his usual accent so long as he was around.