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Chapter Text

Leaving Hekigan and boarding the plane back to Domino was almost a shame.

Once Battle City had been over and the threats of soul stealing and devastation had stopped, they were no longer under threat of immediate death. Once that’d ended, they’d been easily able to relax and enjoy themselves in Kaiba’s theme park.

Between the many rollercoasters, the duel Yugi got to have against the Queen of the Merfolk during one of the mermaid shows, and the huge card library, where they had refreshed their decks and met up with their friends from the Domino Senshi, Domino High’s Duel Club, as well as a young, powerful, magical duelist and her Duel Spirit Guardian, they’d explored every inch of the park over the course of the two weeks.

Katsuya and Shizuka had gotten to spend some time together enjoying the beach along the top edge of the island, which was something they hadn’t since before their parents divorced.

Sakhmet, the Spirit of the Puzzle, had previously been known by as Pharaoh Atem, while sat upon the throne of Egypt, a name she had used in memory of her twin brother, and more recently she'd been named Meisa, by her modern Grandfather.  However, Battle City and the events afterward, had enabled her to recover her given name, along with her full magical power and memories.

Not that she had needed any of that while playing games on Hekigan, and between her and the Bearer of the Puzzle and girl she called her twin sister, Yugi, they had won a lot of plush toys from the carnival stands in the Spellcaster, Fiend and Machine-based Yami section.

So many, that they had ended up stuffing some in the suitcases of their friends, while others had been given to some of the kids in the apartments around the one they’d been given to use during the Battle City finals.

Yugi, Anzu and Katsuya had managed to get their Duel Disks customized at the various custom stores across the park, with Yugi using the Allure of Darkness store in Yami, while Katsuya had got the work done at the Dragon Mirror store, in the more Dragon, Thunder, Pyro and Winged Beast-based Yama, or Mountain, section, and Anzu had utilized the Wild Nature’s Release, which was based in the Beast, Beast-Warror and Insect based-Sogen, or Meadow, section.

Honda and Katsuya had been fascinated by the staged motorcycle dueling show, Speed World, where it looked like two people were dueling while doing motorcycle tricks and racing around an arena, to the point that Anzu needed to remind them not to try and emulate it on Honda’s motorcycle.

The only place they’d avoided was the Virtual Reality lounge in the stadium, not wanting to get caught in another trap like the one that’d locked them into a dangerous game against Kaiba’s older brother, Noa, a few months ago. The brother no one had known existed because his father had put his mind into a computer, planning to stuff it in someone else, only for Kaiba to prove more competent and the poor boy to be left behind in a server that never changed, day in day out.

Yugi still couldn’t blame him for going a little nuts.

They’d even managed, with the permission of the Kaiba brothers, to free the souls of those who were lost because of Akhenaden’s assault on Kul Elna, into the park, so they could enjoy some freedom and peace before they moved on.

Still, as they checked in for their flight, none of them wanted to return to normality and Yugi’s suitcase was so overstuffed with toys that she and her twin had won, that it was heavier than it should be. That meant she had to pay an overweight baggage fee and endure some less than subtle teasing from her friends.

“You could’ve let me have a few more.” Shizuka grinned at her, walking backward at the side of her mother as Mai strode ahead, her long legs giving her the advantage.

“Seriously Yuge, how many are in there?” Her boyfriend, Jonouchi Katsuya, snickered as they headed for their gate, both looking forward to going home and sleeping in their own beds, and not wanting to go back to work and practice and everything else returning to normality would entail.

“Well, there’s at least eight variants of Kuriboh.” Mazaki Anzu betrayed her with a huge grin while ticking them off on her fingers. “One for each colour of the rainbow, plus the brown one.”

“Nine.” Bakura Amane joined in, causing Yugi to fake a pout. “With the rainbow sparkly one.”

“Ten with the winged one. Plus, the miniature Blue Eyes and Red Eyes figures she got from that archery game,” Honda Hiroto continued to tease, reminding Yugi of just how good Sakhmet was at archery now that she had her memories back and making her wonder if the Pharaoh would like to join Domino High’s archery club.

‘Only if you want to as well,’ The Pharaoh answered. ‘It’s your body after all.’

Yugi paused, sadness flickering through her. Since they’d faced Hanaq, a woman possessed by Zorc, born from the wrath of Ishizu Ishtar, made a deal with the demon God to protect themselves and their friends in the future, and found out about Isis’s Menfet and their murderous actions towards several of Yugi’s previous incarnations, her Anesan had been more careful about using Yugi’s form and intruding on her life.

Sakhmet had gone from wanting to spend as much time at her side as Yugi allowed, to being unwilling to take more of Yugi’s life than she needed to. Even though the Pharaoh had returned the parts of the soul that’d been taken during the duel, and even though Yugi wanted to share her life with her twin.

‘We share it, Anesan. Which means you get to do things you like too.’

‘We’ll see. We don’t get much spare time.’

That was true. Between running the Duel club at their school and helping Jiisan with the family store, it wasn’t like they had a lot of free time. Plus, with the upcoming threat of the one who’d stolen the Millennium Necklace from its Bearer during the Battle City tournament, it wasn’t like getting involved in something else they might have to spend time away from was a good idea.

Not that they had to worry about making that choice until the school year started again. They still had another couple of weeks before that happened.

“And the three different Dark Magicians from that one guy who was cheating at the card game.”

Katsuya’s addition to the count brought Yugi’s focus back to the conversation and reminded Yugi of the gentleman in question. She’d reported him to Mokuba in the middle of their first week, after she’d counted the cards and realized that he was palming the winning numbers. Mokuba had him replaced in hours.

Not that card counting wasn’t cheating as well, but if the vendor was cheating, she wasn’t above doing it to beat him at his own game. Something her sister hadn’t been able to say anything against, since she’d done the same against the Thief Queen when they’d played their first Shadow Game against each other and Ba-Khu-Ra had been using dice tricks to ensure her rolls.

“One of those is in my carryon though,” Yugi opened her satchel to reveal the purple robed and armoured Dark Magician. “The red and blue ones are in my suitcase, but he wouldn’t fit.”

Before her friends could continue their teasing, boarding started, forcing them to pay attention to what the attendants were saying, and by the time they settled in their seats and taken off, Yugi’s mind was elsewhere.

As she thought about what was still to come, her hand went to the pendant Amane had given her after she emerged from the island’s hospital, having needed a few days to recover from drowning and then burning through most of her life energy to protect and save her friends.

Glancing down at it drew a smile from her. The sun pendant bore the given names of almost everyone important to her, except for her grandfather’s, and having it there was a comfort. The supposedly silver pendant was warm to the touch and helped her take a deep breath and chase away the worry about what she’d been told by the Tomb Keepers.

It was one of the many things that’d overshadowed the whole vacation.

Yugi didn’t understand why the King of Atlantis wanted the Millennium Necklace. From her own experience and that of the Thief Queen, Ba-Khu-Ra, his power easily overwhelmed that of the Items. The Necklace was probably much less powerful than any scrying spell he could use.

The only thing she could think of, was that the man who was now known by the name Azaes Dartz Vasillikos, and was CEO of Paradius, had links to the Day of Betrayals, that had led to the war between Sakhmet and Ba-Khu-Ra back in Ancient Egypt. Taking the Necklace now prevented the pair from opening the gates to the afterlife and leaving before he could take their souls, though why he hadn’t done so back in Egypt was beyond her.

She knew, at some point, they would have to go after him, but the King of Atlantis had yet to show his face during their post Battle City recovery period and Ba-Khu-Ra was still pulling herself together after Hanaq had nearly burned Amane’s soul to ashes and had successfully managed to drive the Thief Queen to the very brink of destruction. Only a combined effort between Yugi and Sakhmet had saved the Thief’s soul.

Until she was fully recovered, and they had a way to counter act the green magic that overwhelmed theirs so easily, it was far too dangerous to even try to recover the missing Millennium Item.

Until then, she was going to enjoy the three-hour flight and the peace and quiet that would soon end when she returned to the shop, including the in-flight movie selection, from which she was delighted to see the new Disney movie, Tarzan. Something that she’d been wanting to see and unable to, since it’d only just been released in the States.

She couldn’t help but wonder how Kaiba had gotten the newest movies on the small fleet of planes he’d bought specifically for transporting park guests to and from the mainland. He must’ve paid a small fortune. One she was certain would pay itself back in short order with how busy the park’s airport had been.

As she settled in to watch the movie, she felt her twin uncurl from her mind and watch through her eyes, enjoying the view. Slowly Yugi drifted back, allowing the Pharaoh more control. Still watching but dozing off, bit by bit, until the words drifted through her mind, the visuals completely passing her by, til she was drifting, floating in the very clouds she was flying through, until she slipped completely into darkness.

Able to sense her twin’s slumber, the Pharaoh chuckled and paused the movie, not wanting her to miss a moment. Instead of watching without her, she turned her attention out the window and watched the waters pass by below them.

Despite the memories of her modern life, the Ancient memories that made up so much more, made the Pharaoh part of her absolutely enthralled at being able to be this high up, astounded by the sight of so much water, and utterly unnerved of the idea of being in a metal tube that could levitate like this.

“Easy, Met,” Katsuya’s voice was low enough that only she could hear him. “It’s perfectly safe, you don’t have to be afraid.”

“Who says I’m afraid?” She shot back in a whisper, almost offended that he could read it on her face.

He just glanced down at her hand, which, when she looked, was clenched around the arm so tightly that her knuckles were white.

“Oh.”

She took a deep breath and released the arm of the chair, releasing the breath in a small chuckle, “I guess I’m not quite able to suppress my ancient tendencies yet. Back when I lived, something like this would’ve been quite impossible and it’s harder than I realised to push back against the need to have my feet firmly back on solid sand again.”

“We’ll have to go to the beach sometime soon then,” Katsuya leaned back in his chair. “If you don’t mind Shizuka coming, of course.”

“Buy me an ice cream and we’ll call it even. Not that I’d ever object to Shizuka’s presence.”

She really wouldn’t. Shizuka had been the first person outside of her main group of friends who’d accepted her without question. Even Mai had had a million questions and not entirely believed she was her own person to start with. For that, she would always be grateful.

Stirrings of magic within her own mind and a powerful burst of fear grabbed her focus and she dove into the corridor between the Soul Sanctuaries, only to be drawn into her twin’s soul room by the sounds of whimpering.

Entering revealed her Imoto, tossing and turning on the bed, caught in the throes of a nightmare and the Pharaoh reached out to wake her, only to be dragged into darkness, where a huge, easily nine or ten foot tall figure whose shoulders were at least as broad as two Yugis, was menacing her twin.

A figure whose shadowy shape reminded Sakhmet of someone from her past, sending terror coursing through her as she dove forward, planting herself between her twin and the brute. “Leave her alone!”

The laugh that erupted from the dark figure was dark, dangerous, vicious and the hand that swept her aside send her tumbling to the ground, her head bouncing off the ground as something in the world around her shattered like broken glass.

Hearing the sound, feeling the world break around her, she pushed herself to her hands and knees, panic flooding her system to find her twin in the brute’s grasp, dangling by her throat, her breath coming in hoarse rasping gasps.

Fury crashed through the Pharaoh, causing the air to shimmer and her eyes to glow as she staggered to her feet, feeling weak, like she’d been drained of strength, forming a ball of light magic, her personal magic, the first magic she’d learned in Egypt before the Shadows had twisted her aura, in her hand, even as she hesitated to launch it, in case she hit her twin.

Glowing amber eyes and sharp canine teeth on a face full of vindictive mirth  sneered at her hesitation.

And dropped Yugi.

Before the girl could push herself up, the Shadows had risen around her, forming into vicious canines that leapt at her, dragging her down, down, away from her twin, away from the light…

“Imoto!!”

As Sakhmet dove forward, the darkness exploded in a burst of fire and heat, driving the Pharaoh back.

“Let the games begin!”

And suddenly she was back in Yugi’s soul room, with a gasping, trembling twin who latched onto her, shaking. Sakhmet clung to her sister, having been terrified that the flames had claimed her, just as they’d claimed Atem.

“I’m okay… I’m okay…” Yugi’s voice shook as she tried to process what she’d seen. “That… that wasn’t real. Just a nightmare.”

Sakhmet shook her head, finding it hard to calm down when the brute had looked like the monster of her childhood, the sorcerer Anubis, who’d killed her brother and tributed his soul to the Shadows.

It was Anubis’ fault that Atem was trapped in the darkness to this day, and Sakhmet wanted nothing more than to never see the brute again.

“We need to get the rest of my memories out of your soul room, so my old night terrors stop haunting you,” The Pharaoh sighed finally when she was able to calm herself, drawing on her twin’s strength for comfort.

“He was huge.” Yugi’s nervous laugh echoed Sakhmet’s trembling, “I think he’s even taller than Kaiba.”

“Easily,” The reply came with a deep breath. “Now imagine running into him when you were thirteen.”

Yugi, who was tiny at thirteen, tiny enough to be mistaken for seven or eight, squeaked.

“Come, Imoto,” Sakhmet pulled away and tugged on her sister’s sleeve, needing to push the image of the brute harassing her twin out of her mind with something fun and distracting. “I paused the film and there’s still time before we land.”

“R… right, right.” Yugi nodded, still unnerved by the memory-laced vision that weighed upon her much the same way the nightmare of falling and scattered gold had just before she’d been pushed down the stairs and the Puzzle had shattered.

She just hoped that it meant nothing as she slipped into the body to finish watching, rewinding to the point she’d started drifting off, so she could watch the whole movie, glad she had found a way to change the language, since sections of the film moved too fast for her to keep up with the English.

Having to rewatch some of the film extended its play time enough that between her nap and the meal that the stewardess provided, it was just ending when the plane touched down at Domino International, bouncing twice before smoothly taxiing into their gate.

However, getting through customs was a nightmare.

Yugi didn’t have to worry about attempting to bring weapons through, since Kaiba had already brought the Millennium Rod and the dagger within, through on his private jet and paid for it to be ignored. She just needed to collect it from him when she got home.

That didn’t mean she didn’t have to wait in the huge crowd of daytime commuters, in a boiling hot customs line which moved at a snail’s pace.

As the friend group slowly shuffled through the rope drawn line, Yugi checked her passport, unable to help but wonder what her twin’s passport would look like, if she had one. Would it be an Egyptian one, or Japanese?

And what name would she choose to put on it?

‘Do Japanese people have middle names?’ The Pharaoh asked curiously, seriously considering her twin’s flippant consideration.

‘No.’ Yugi grimaced, confusing her friends until they saw the far away look and realised she was talking to her Anesan. ‘If someone has a foreign parent they might have two given names, but it’ll cause chaos with any legal paperwork. There’s no space for a middle name anywhere.’

‘Then I’d have to pick one…’

The Pharaoh wasn’t sure she liked that. Sakhmet was her name, but she didn’t want Jiisan to think she didn’t still appreciate the name that he had given her.  

‘I mean Mutou would still be my surname. I didn’t have one in Egypt. I was just Princess Sakhmet of Kemet.’

‘Mutou Sakhmet is still a nice name.’

‘If Jiisan approves. And if it ever became relevant,’ Yugi felt her Anesan stretch. ‘It’s not like I have my own vessel to need one.’

That was true. Even the Shadow-gifted ability to create a solid form, earned through their attempts to fight through Ishizu’s insane minions and the Shadow Games they’d created, still wasn’t a real body of her own. It could fade at any moment or be ‘put away’ when going through somewhere that needed ID.

A nudge from one of her friends drew Yugi’s attention back to the real world. Anzu’s subtle point made Yugi look two or three groups down, where a pair of young women were staring at something on their phone while chattering.

Confusion flickered through Yugi, as she wondered why she needed to pay attention, only for her to hear...

“...It’s a new exhibit too. It’s a shame.”

“Did they really take the mummy?”

“Some priceless artefact too. The museum’s offering a lot of yen for information for their return.”

Yugi squeaked and ripped her own phone out of her pocket to search for information, suddenly worried that the exhibit that’d been broken into had been the one with her sister’s tablet and jewels in.

Thankfully it wasn’t. Instead, the theft had taken place in the exhibit that was being set up to replace Anesan’s when it was taken back to Egypt, as the museum in Cairo was demanding the rightful return of ‘their’ artefacts. Something Sakhmet was tempted to dispute, since she lived in Japan and those were HER things, but didn’t dare in case she landed her twin in trouble.

She was minorly irritated at the Tomb Keepers for transporting them unofficially, because once they were back in Egypt and being examined by experts there, she wouldn’t get to see her things ever again. Not until they went on display for the general public at least, and even then, she’d have to travel to Egypt, and she didn’t want to do that.

Because she couldn’t ignore the thought that when she returned to her homeland, she probably wouldn’t ever leave again.

And she wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t sure when she would be.

It had to come at some point, but she didn’t really want to think about it. Not until she had all seven Millennium Items and had dealt with the Zorc issue.

She didn’t get to flick through the photos of the stolen artefacts before she was being directed to a customs booth where she found herself under scrutiny from a border agent.

“Passport.”

Yugi handed it over, photo page open, and waited, not expecting too much of an issue, only for the woman to scowl and look her up and down.

“Is there a problem?” Yugi asked, suddenly nervous despite being a Japanese citizen trying to re-enter her own country.

“Your photo doesn’t match up.” The woman answered sharply, staring at her with sharp eyes.

Yugi winced, her hand rising to her hair. 

When the photo had been taken, she had long hair. Hair she’d grown out over months and months, until she liked how it had looked and felt like more than the bullied child she’d been for so long.

But during the final moments of the conflict with Hanaq, Sakhmet had been manhandled by their brainwashed best friend and forced to kneel, left foot forward, pressing her into a position of submission and respect that was utterly humiliating for the Pharaoh.

But it hadn’t been enough for the creature.

Hanaq had drawn the blade from the Millennium Rod and forcibly sliced through her hair, chopping it short and leaving it a complete mess, in a show of power over the Pharaoh’s life and soul. Worse, it’d reduced Yugi’s appearance back to that tormented child she’d tried so hard to distance herself from, stripping her of confidence and pride.

It was a harsh violation that’d shamed Sakhmet and left deep wounds in Yugi’s heart and would take months to fix. After all, hair couldn’t just be glued back on. Even if it could, the memory would still be there, and it wouldn’t look the same.

Anzu, Mai and Shizuka had tried their best to help her tidy it up, and the resort’s hairdresser had managed to make it look presentable, but it was a far cry from the hair in the photo.

“I was attacked by another competitor at the tournament, but does this help?” Yugi pulled out her Duelist ID, which the Kaibas had updated for her, and her Student ID, which still had her photo from before she had started growing her hair out, so it still looked like a starfish.

The customs officer took both with a scowl and checked their validity in the system, something that only worked because Yugi was re-entering at the Domino City airport. The confirmation that Yugi was who she said she was, and was also, in fact, a celebrity made the woman pause, huff, and look at her.

“Make sure you update your passport before you travel again.”

“I will.”

Yugi let out a relieved sigh as the woman FINALLY stamped her passport and handed it back, before allowing her through the barricades, letting her back into Japan, and she joined her friends on the other side.

It’d taken so long to get through that their bags were already on the baggage carousel and they had just enough time to see Mai off to her next flight, which would take her to Paris, before racing to get Amane to check in for her flight back out.

The Bearer of the Millennium Ring was nervous as she gave her ID to the woman at the desk, her friends hovering behind her, but soon Bakura Amane was all checked in for her three-stop flight to England. A trip that would’ve been nonstop if she’d flown from Tokyo, but instead had to bounce through San Francisco and New York, since she was flying out of Domino.

It was a trip that would take almost two days but would allow her to finally get back to the manor she’d been left by her aunt. Both to raid the library there and decide what she was doing with the place.

The English half of her bloodline, the Flamels, had been occultists, long before Bakura Sora, Amane’s father, had ever met Diana Flamel, her mother, or had her or her little brother Ryou, and Amane hoped to find something in their archives that would help them against the King of Atlantis.

Or at least something that would help the spirit of the Ring finally start atoning for all the harm she’d caused across the millennia.

It wasn’t like Zorc could stop her anymore.

The Pharaoh’s deal, forged after they’d put an end to the threat of the Ishtars, had ensured safety for all those named by the Pharaoh, in exchange for her allowing the creature that was fragmented between the Items to live a little longer, and for his assistance in defeating the Atlantean jackass.

And both Amane and Ba-Khu-Ra had been named by the Pharaoh as people under her protection.

Much to their delight and Zorc’s irritation.

Plus, Ba-Khu-Ra herself had managed to re-negotiate her contract with the Embodiment of Suffering. Having discovered the truth, that while Zorc, then known as Apophis, HAD saved her life, the Pharaoh hadn’t betrayed her when the deal with the Dark God was struck. That meant only half the contract was able to be fulfilled. As such, she’d managed to ensure the safety of her soul and that of her sister, Amane, in exchange for working to help the creature reassemble himself.

He could still ruin Amane’s work, which is why she planned to keep it mostly in her soul room, where he was no longer allowed to tread, but he couldn’t threaten or hurt her to stop her trying to save her sister any longer.

She paused outside security to hug her closest friend, who’d saved her life and soul at Battle City and given her a reason to live long before that.

“Mutou Yugi, you’d better stay safe till I get back.”

“I’m more worried about you. I wish I could come with you.” Yugi shifted from foot to foot, once Amane released her.

“I’ll be fine,” The Ring Bearer was certain of that, “I have to be. School starts in a couple of weeks. I don’t have time to get into trouble.”

Two weeks was more than plenty of time to get into trouble, especially when she was soul-bound to a demon and a thief, but she appreciated that Yugi didn’t point that out and grinned around at the others.

“You lot keep her out of trouble. She’s the one who attracts it.”

“Not deliberately,” Yugi’s half-hearted, pouting protest made her friends chuckle.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got her back.” Katsuya promised, patting Yugi on the shoulder, “Not that any of us plan on dealing with magical bullshit, or ghosts, till you get back. No more than normal anyway.”

“I was about to say,” Sakhmet took over, raising an eyebrow at him even as she was grinning.

“You don’t count,” Katsuya’s hands went up, aware that the Pharaoh wasn’t above embarrassing him if he insulted her. Or throwing pillows, after she’d learned how to move things like a poltergeist over the last few months. 

“Do I count?” The Thief Queen’s appearance startled Katsuya, who let out a low curse, but pleased Sakhmet, who’d hoped to speak with her before they split ways.

“It appears so.” The Pharaoh’s reply was as amused as the smirk on the thief’s face, “If you need me…”

“I’ll be halfway across the globe, Pharaoh. There’s nothing you’ll be able to do.”

Sakhmet grimaced. Ever since the quarter-final duel with Hanq had reduced Ba-Khu-Ra’s soul to ashes and nearly ended Amane forever, the pair of them had been in recovery. They were definitely stronger now than they were a couple of weeks ago, but the Pharaoh knew her former Shadow was nowhere near back to full strength.

So, she handed her a small plastic keychain with Dark Necrofear on it.

“I have one of these, remember?” Ba-Khu-Ra asked, jangling her keys at her, where an identical one hung. “I picked it up from that dart game on Hekigan.”

“Scan the one I gave you with your magical senses.”

The Thief paused and followed instructions for a change, reaching out with her aura and trying to work out what was different about the one the Pharaoh had given her, only to pause when she felt Shadows locked into the trinket, ready to be unleashed at any given moment.

The same way the Shadows had been locked within the Mementos that Ishizu had given to the minions that she had set upon the Pharaoh during Battle City. The ones that could be broken to provide enough power for a summon or Shadow Game.

“You made me a Memento?” Ba-Khu-Ra’s eyes locked with Sakhmet’s, shock widening them and throwing her off balance. “But…”

“It takes a memory. I know. I don’t need to remember how awful that cayenne pepper ice cream tasted, and I thought…”

The Pharaoh hesitated. Once she and the Thief Queen had been more than just allies. They’d been friends and very much more.

And while she refused to allow Ba-Khu-Ra to hurt her again, the way she had in Egypt, while caught up in the throes of PTSD from the trauma of seeing her entire village and family burn, or while she’d been deep in the clutches of the demon, she did miss the companionship and comfort that they’d offered each other.

She hoped that showing how much she wanted the Thief Queen to stay safe, that she wanted it enough to give up a memory for her, despite her memories being one of the most precious things she owned, would indicate that she had the hope still burning in her heart that one day they might have that connection again.

The Thief’s hands shook as she swapped the keychains over, understanding just what a gift the Pharaoh had given her. Not because of what it was, but because of what it took to make.

Then she turned back to the Pharaoh, hiding how disconcerted she was behind an amused smile, “Guess I’ll have to come back with a better gift to show you up.”

“Just having you back sane would be enough.”

It really would, considering this was the first time she had ‘sent her Shadow on a mission’ since the disaster of the day that Ba-Khu-Ra had nearly been killed by palace guards, and thought Sakhmet had ordered the hit after her right-hand man and High Priest, Mahad, had tried to bring her in. Ba-Khu-Ra had needed to make a deal with Apophis that day to save her life and he’d been more than willing to take on a new Priestess.

While the Pharaoh had been attacked by assassins carrying the ensignia of the Thieves Guild, Ba-Khu-Ra’s guild, who’d managed to score her with their poison laced blades, creating a drug induced illness that had left her incoherent for two weeks and allowed those around her to screw up so many things that recovery and peace between them had been impossible.

Three thousand years later they thought they knew the truth. That the King of Atlantis had set them at each other’s throats. However, the downfall of Sakhmet’s reign had entirely spawned from that day and now the Pharaoh worried they were giving their foe another opening.

“Remember, you have to uphold your end of the bargain too, so I’ll know it’s not you if shit hits the fan this time,” The Thief Queen reassured her. “Because otherwise you’d get stabbed, a lot, and I know you value your twin’s life too much for that.”

That was a valid point. Her end of the bargain with the demon, had included not being able to harm, or arrange an attack, or cause an accident for anyone on the demon’s list of names without getting stabbed. Of course, Ba-Khu-Ra and Amane had been on that list, since they were his most valuable pieces on the board.

Or some of them.

The name Mutou Yugi, the name of her own twin had also been on that list.

It had confused the Pharaoh to start with, since she valued Imoto’s life far too much for that and it went against the demon’s stated goal of her demise. Until Imoto had pointed out that technically draining her of energy to access the full power of the reborn Pharaoh could be counted as harming, if the demon really wanted it to, meaning he’d essentially put a leash on Sakhmet’s magic.

Since if she harmed Yugi, Zorc would know and be able to start stabbing.

And probably wouldn’t stop.

A line from the Broadway show Anzu had made them watch, Chicago, popped into her head, suggesting possible consequences.

“He ran onto my knife. He ran onto my knife ten times.”

She acknowledged the probable accuracy of that thought, then pushed the consideration aside, not wanting to think about her potential death if she screwed up.

Instead, she nodded to the thief, accepting her words. “Just come home safely. Imoto and Amane are only halfway through that game board they’re working on.”

“That? I was going to use that as the trap for when you got your memories back,” the Thief’s snicker made the Pharaoh give her a very flat look, “But it would be nice to see it finished. Plus, we need to work on all the pieces for the Kul Elna shrine.”

That was true. Alongside the memory-gemstones from Sakhmet’s past life friends and family that’d been given to her, had also been Sakhmet’s copy of the list that she’d assigned Isis to create. One that held all the names, jobs and a light description of the people of Kul Elna. Every last one her uncle had murdered or seen to the death of.

It was a heavy scroll, both because of how large it was, and because of the importance of that which was written upon it.

Which, thinking about it, was more likely the reason Imoto’s case was overweight…

‘Oops.’

The giggle her twin gave in response to her embarrassment at not figuring that out sooner helped her relax and smile at Ba-Khu-Ra.

“I look forward to working with you on it, upon your return.”

Taking that for a dismissal, the Thief Queen retreated to the Ring and Amane shifted her carry-on bag so it sat comfortably.

“I’ll see you all just before school starts.”

The delighted and shocked squeak she gave as her friends hugged her amused them, but their actions warmed her heart greatly and made it hard for her to head through security.

Still, she went, reminding herself she would be back in two weeks and would, hopefully, have some useful information with her.

Once they could no longer see their friend, the six of them headed for the taxi rank to go to their respective homes.

“You gunna be alright tonight?” Honda asked Yugi as he held open the door for her, Shizuka, Anzu and Katsuya’s mother, before letting it shut in Katsuya’s face, “Rebecca’s still at the shop, isn’t she?”

Yugi let out a sigh. Rebecca Hopkins, the granddaughter of her Jiisan’s best friend and the formerly All-American Champion, had been avoiding her ever since she’d used a Memento against Yugi and nearly gotten one of them stripped of the ability to play games ever again, and then gotten herself and Katsuya into a game that’d nearly gotten Katsuya killed by Ra.

Rebecca had travelled back four days earlier, on the original travel date, while Yugi and her friends had gotten an extra four days out of the trip because Yugi had spent four days in the island’s hospital after the Battle City finals and the final showdown with Hanaq. So, the coming confrontation had been stalled.

However, they weren’t going to be able to avoid each other once they were staying in the same home, and she knew Rebecca was still bitter about the absolute humiliation of her Quarter-final defeat, where Yugi had defeated her in just two turns.

And of being stripped of the Senior Division National Championship, after Industrial Illusions had made it clear that her false accusations of cheating, which had not only slandered Yugi, but also the company that made Duel Monsters and the CEO of Kaiba Corp, and her temper tantrum on a livestream that was being broadcast worldwide, was not fitting for the Senior Division Champion.

It made sense, since the Senior Division was sixteen and up, a bracket that Yugi and her friends were only just old enough for, so the twelve-year-old Rebecca certainly wasn’t old enough to claim the title, even though she’d worked hard to earn it by dueling her way through all of Bandit Keith’s replacements.

There were other Senior Division Champions that were below that age. Kaiba and Yugi for example had both been overall World Champions of the game long before their sixteenth birthday. In fact, Yugi was pretty sure Kaiba wasn’t sixteen till October. However, neither of them had humiliated themselves or Industrial Illusions on international television.

And it wasn’t like Rebecca no longer retained her Junior Division title; it just was humiliating for her to have the Senior Division title stripped away and given to the one who’d lost to her during the American National Finals.

Especially when Industrial Illusions had released a press statement explaining exactly why.

“I’m hoping her Jiisan’s come to pick her up,” Yugi admitted, still not sure how she felt about the girl and feeling guilty about Ishizu dragging her into Yugi’s mess. “So, she doesn’t start yelling at me again.”

“Good luck?” Anzu offered, “You have my number if you need me.”

“Mine too.” Honda added.

“Thanks guys.”

It did help to know they had her back, and the hand Katsuya put on her shoulder reminded her that he would be there in person as well.

‘Plus, you have me.’

‘Yes, yes I do.’ Her twin’s reminder drew a smile from her, and she directed it at her friends.

“Let me know when you’re home safe?” She asked as four separate drivers put their cases in the different car boots and opened the doors for their passengers. Anzu in one, Honda another, Shizuka and her mother in another, while Yugi and Katsuya were at the rear.

“Will do.”

With the promises of her friends secured, Yugi clambered into her taxi, Katsuya behind her and the driver shut the door behind them.

“Where you heading?” He asked as he clambered into the driver’s seat.

“Home please, the Kame Game Shop.”

“It’ll be about thirty minutes.”

As much as she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Rebecca, if she was there, that sounded wonderful and, as she buckled her seatbelt and pulled out the cash to pay the man on arrival, she couldn’t help but be excited to see her grandfather again.

Chapter Text

The shop was crowded when the taxi started making its way up the road the Kame Game Shop sat on. Crowded enough that the queue went more than halfway down the street.

Yugi could feel the irritation that trickled across the bond from her twin. She couldn’t blame her, she knew she was looking forward to spending time with their grandfather and introducing herself properly, having not seen him since she’d gotten her True Name back.

And as much as the store being busy was good for profits, there was going to be no time for such an introduction until they’d cleared the queue.

“Do we have a new release?” Katsuya looked as confused as Yugi felt at the sight, though she did notice the Duel Disks on every arm in the crowd.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

Yugi frowned, noting the pointing as the taxi went past and becoming unnerved by the fact that those waiting were perking up and almost seemed excited as they rose to their feet or put away whatever they’d been distracted with.

No… that wasn’t the body language she was reading.

These were predators who’d just spotted their prey. She didn’t want to paint them as bullies, but that was the aura they were giving off. That of those who’d hurt and harassed her in the past, picking on the weak and vulnerable to get their kicks.

Vultures who were just waiting to descend upon their victims.

It wasn’t quite the same aura as the Duelists that’d been gathered at Fountain Plaza when Battle City kicked off. That’d been dangerous too, but in a much more battle ready, heavy focus. Like lionesses and panthers hunting, or eagles ready to swoop and take a clean kill.

This was different. This was a dirty, vicious intent, one for murder, rather than combat.

Her twin’s ancient memories, forged from the time Sakhmet had spent learning to defend herself, had her trying to work out where their weapons were hidden, only for her eyes to widen as she realised something.

Their weapons weren’t hidden. They were on full display.

The Duel Disks.

These were Duelists. Duelists who were hunting her. Despite there not being a tournament or anything on, meaning she had no reason to…

‘The Queen of Games contract.’ Sakhmet’s tone was unamused and cold, ‘We can’t decline challenges more than three times or we’re at risk of losing our position. Which, if you want that, I’ll support you, but…’

‘We earned that, we need it for university, and losing it on a technicality would suck.’ Yugi agreed, ‘I have an idea… if you’re up to duel with me.’

‘Always, but what are you thinking?’

As she explained to her twin, Yugi fired off a text message to Mokuba. Since she was a Kaiba Corp sponsored Duelist, after signing a contract with them back in December, she was certain they’d want to know she was organising a mini-event on the fly.

She got a response from Mokuba, and he let her know he was sending an official judge and some security over to ensure things went smoothly, and a photographer to record the event so they could use it to their advantage.

She took a deep breath as the taxi pulled up outside her grandfather’s shop and let Sakhmet take control.

“They’re here for a duel. All of them,” she warned her best friend. “We can’t refuse them without losing the title, and we only have the sponsorship that’ll pay for Imoto’s further education because of it. But we can set the rules, since this isn’t an official tournament.”

“And we can take them all down,” Katsuya’s eyes narrowed as he nodded, his own aura flaring, hot and dark, as he considered the threat to the future of his best friend and partner. “Should we get Anzu in on this?”

Sakhmet paused, having not considered adding Anzu to the roster of Duelists. Then she mentally kicked herself. If Anzu was up for it, then there was no reason not to include her. She was a skilled Duelist; she’d proved that when she’d taken her Lunalight Beast-Warriors and stepped willingly into a Memento-created Shadow Game to help Sakhmet defeat the tag-team Duelists, the Labyrinth Brothers, Mei and Kyu.

“If she’ll join in. I know she was tired. I’ll text her and while we’re waiting for an answer…”

She paid the taxi driver and stepped out, barely recognizing the gathered crowd or the yelling and calls of her twin’s name, until she’d recovered her suitcase from the car, and it’d driven away, allowing the driver to get away from the insanity.

Then and only then did she acknowledge the crowd.

“I wasn’t anticipating dueling today, and not waiting for an official announcement is rude.”

Her scolding didn’t seem to have much effect except for on a select few who flinched away from her gaze.

“However, I am taking my bags inside and saying hello to my Jiisan, then I will be out to duel as many of you as I can safely get to today, but anyone who jumps the line or shoves anyone else to cut in won’t be given a duel. Some of my friends will also be dueling those further along the queue, though I’m confirming numbers now. Anyone who loses to one of them, won’t be given a duel by me.”

That set the cat amongst the pigeons and turned some of the vicious energy towards Katsuya, who didn’t shrink away.

“Also, we’re not playing by ante rules. I won’t be giving up any of my cards if someone should manage to beat me. KC security and a judge will be coming to ensure the duels are played fairly, with no attempts to attack others. If these rules are against your liking, you can wait until an official tournament to duel me.”

Her gaze was challenging as she examined the queue and she was disappointed but not unsurprised to see several near the middle of the line step out, having clearly come specifically to try and take her God cards. Not that she planned to use them.

“None of that is me refusing a challenge. I will get to each of you who are willing to abide by the rules in turn, but it may take a couple of days. You will either have to be patient, or leave.”

That seemed to settle the crowd and they allowed her to step into the shop, where her grandfather, Doctor Mutou Sugoroku was talking to the Kobayashi triplets, while their older half-sister restocked the Duel Monsters displays which, apparently, the crowd outside had emptied out.

Giving Katsuya an idea.

“Hey guys,” he caught their attention as he unhitched the Turn-o-Matic, which dispensed numbered tickets to customers so the people at the checkout could keep up with crowds. “Don’t suppose you’d do us a favour and pass out numbers to all the crazies outside while we get our bags upstairs?”

“You want us to duel some of them too?” Maru, who had brown hair compared to her brothers’ black, but the same brown eyes, had heard her rule setting and looked hopeful as one of her brothers, Koji, took the ticket dispenser.

“I don’t kn…”

‘I mean we are teaching them too and it would be good practice for the new season.’ Yugi’s consideration made her twin pause. ‘We might even be able to turn this into a club event over the next few days if we call some of the others and see if they want a turn too.’

‘True, and if the Duelists near the end of the queue are distracted, they won’t be watching our duels and prepping their decks to deal with us,’ The Pharaoh agreed, liking the idea if the triplets had the required tech.

“Do you three have Duel Disks?” At Sakhmet’s question the triplets grimaced and their older sister, Kiyoko glanced at the display, her shoulders sinking.

The Pharaoh winced as she remembered that the only source of income, besides the money their mother sent from her job in Tokyo, was the pay Kiyoko got from working full time at the shop. It wasn’t a bad wage, but it certainly wasn’t enough to buy three brand new Duel Disks at first release. Not to mention  paying the rent, all the bills and for the triplets’ education as well.

She glanced at Jiisan, who caught her plan almost instantly, reminding Sakhmet of one of the hundreds of reasons she loved her grandfather, and nodded. Then she looked at the triplets.

“Once you’ve given out the numbers, you can take a Duel Disk each from the display today, and we’ll sort out an instalment plan for payment.”

The delighted noises from Koji and Maru made her grin, but the other boy, Koichi, turned to his older sister with a sharp look. “If you can’t afford it, it’s okay.”

Kiyoko, a white haired, blue-eyed young woman, who adored her siblings and just wanted the best for them, glanced at Doctor Mutou, and when the shop owner nodded, confirming his granddaughter’s words, she smiled.

“Go ahead.”

Then and only then, Koichi let himself get excited and he bounced out the door after his siblings.

“Do I get a hello to go with the aid requests?” Jiisan asked, pouting, only for Yugi to take control of the body and hug him tight, having missed him dearly and been so afraid at various points of Battle City that she wouldn’t ever get to see him again.

The return hug was just as secure. The two of them were the only family each other had officially now, though Sakhmet was an undocumented member of the Mutous and Katsuya was as good as family, since Sugoroku had Kangoken, physical custody, for him, even if his mother held Shinken, making her Katsuya’s legal guardian.

That meant they treasured each other greatly. They’d never been apart for more than a week before now, so the nearly three weeks Yugi was on Hekigan had been as hard for Jiisan as they’d been for Yugi, though she’d been far more distracted than he, with all the carnival games and rides she had enjoyed.

Their reunion sparked sadness within the Pharaoh, whose family had long passed away. Even those who’d survived her, her cousin, Seth, her son, Akefia and her unofficial half-sister, Mana, would not have lived to the modern age. In fact, she knew Mana had not, and had, instead, done to herself what Mahad had done, locking her soul within her Ka Beast so it could be there when Sakhmet needed her.

For a moment, just a moment, she was jealous and couldn’t help but wonder if her family would welcome her back in the same way when she walked through the Gates of the Afterlife and joined her finally.

Then, realising her thoughts had caused her twin to start to pull away, she pushed them aside, trying not to let the homesickness for the palace she’d grown up in, and the family who she missed more with every passing day, interrupt her sister’s homecoming.

It didn’t quite work. She knew it wouldn’t, since she could sense everything her twin felt, and vice versa, but it did allow her sibling to relax a little, and offer Sakhmet a mental hug of her own, before thrusting Sakhmet into the body again so she too could get a hug from their grandfather.

“I’ve missed you too, Meisa,” he promised quietly, hugging her just as tightly as he had Yugi and helping ease the pain in her heart. “This house has been far too quiet without the pair of you.”

“Sakhmet now,” she whispered quietly in his ear, trying to avoid Kiyoko hearing but wanting to tell him that more than anything.

“I have my name and memories back, but I will always appreciate and answer to the one you gave me when I had none of my own. You have been nothing but kind to me, even when I was little more than a scared and dangerous ghost, and I love you, as I loved my family back in Egypt, I promise you that.”

The hug tightened, showing that the love was reciprocated. “We’ll talk about it later, but you will always be a granddaughter of mine, and welcome in my home.”

“Thank you.” She meant it, and he could see it as she pulled away. The way her eyes sparkled and her honest smile told him that her gratitude was genuine.

Katsuya was surprised to be the next hugged, causing the Pharaoh to chuckle as she went to pick up her bag, then she paused, “Jiisan, am I taking this upstairs or is Hopkins still here?”

Jiisan wasn’t entirely surprised that Rebecca had lost first name privileges with the Pharaoh. Given names in Japan were only normally allowed to be said by those who were close friends or family and to use it without permission was the height of rudeness. That Yugi allowed so many to use her given name, rather than insisting they referred to her by surname, was because she was used to being treated with such disrespect by those who’d bullied her for so many years, but he suspected that Sakhmet wouldn’t allow it much longer.

And Rebecca certainly wasn’t amongst Yugi’s close friends and family. Not anymore.

The twelve-year-old, who was only a year younger than the Kobayashi triplets, had told him everything upon her return to the shop, and while he suspected she would learn from this mistake, she was too busy smarting from the consequences of her actions to have fully processed her mistakes yet.

“Arthur will be here to pick her up this evening,” Sugoroku offered. “She hasn’t left your room except for food since she got back.”

Sakhmet wanted to think she was ruminating about what she’d done and trying to think of ways to be better, but she didn’t trust that was the case. She couldn’t after Rebecca had refused to apologise to her or her sister, even after everything they’d done for her.

The Pharaoh didn’t like to admit that if she’d been in control for the Shadow Game against Rebecca, then she, most likely, wouldn’t have tried to stop the Penalty from setting in. She wouldn’t have risked it backfiring upon herself, or worse, her twin, when they were so low on energy.

Imoto had been the one to take action.

Despite Rebecca’s accusations, despite being stripped of her power and her sister for the duel and reduced back to a pre-Puzzle state from the nightmare years of her life, when she’d been bullied, helpless and alone, Yugi had fought the darkness to protect a child who hadn’t known the full dangers of what she was playing with.

Yes, she’d needed Sakhmet’s help, but she alone had saved Rebecca’s Dueling career, and her life, and Rebecca hadn’t acknowledged those facts. That more than the game itself, which had been an act of a child who’d been coached by their enemy, was why Sakhmet was still furious at her.

And now she was sulking in Imoto’s room.

Sakhmet just hoped she hadn’t broken anything. Some of the figures and manga books up there were limited edition or out of print and she knew her sister would be upset if they got damaged.

Before she could even attempt to climb the steps to take her bags up, Katsuya stepped in.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. You check to see if Anzu’s answered.”

She nodded, letting him take the suitcase and carryon bag up the stairs and pulling out her phone.

Anzu, to her delight, had agreed to meet up with them, and had promised to pick up snacks on the way, so they had something to eat.

‘Best. Friend. Ever.’

Sakhmet couldn’t disagree with her Futago no Imoto, or younger twin sister’s assessment. Ever since the Black Clown fire, where Anzu hadn’t realised just how upset and in trouble Yugi had been, and Yugi had ended up in a medical coma for two weeks and hospitalised for longer, Anzu had been going out of her way to ensure that she was there to support them whenever they needed it, often thinking of things they hadn’t.

Like snacks to keep their energy up, for example.

She shot back a text, asking Anzu to pick up some energy drinks on the way too, then felt her sister nudge her. ‘Imoto?’

‘Should we ask Rebe… Hopkins for assistance with the crowd? There’s so many of them that everyone would get plenty of duels in.’

The Pharaoh’s head tilted as she considered the girl upstairs again.

Rebecca had a Duel Disk. She was a capable Duelist. And this would give her a chance to prove to herself and the dueling circuit that she was a good player who won well and lost with dignity.

It would be a chance for her to start climbing back up the ladder of respectability. One the Pharaoh wouldn’t have thought to offer.

‘If you want to and think we can trust her to behave. We don’t need her dragging down our reputation with her tantrums.’

Yugi let out a soft sigh across the bond. Her twin had been uptight about their standing even before she’d gotten her name back, something Yugi now understood was because all her past life, she’d been pressured to act and react with dignity and not give any nobles or enemies and opening to drag her down. And she wasn’t wrong to be concerned about the damage Rebecca could do.

Her defeat of Rebecca in just two turns had stifled  some of the rumours of cheating that’d been flying around and their winning the Battle City tournament in two more spectacular duels, one of which had been Sakhmet against Kaiba, while she’d dueled against Mai herself, had helped even more, but the accusations hadn’t stopped coming in.

Yugi wasn’t sure they ever would.

Mai had shared that those sorts of rumours often followed a Duelist around. Female Duelists more so than male ones, purely because it was a fact that men didn’t like to lose to women. She’d even pulled up a study done by scientists that’d proved that lower skill gamers were more likely to be rude and misogynistic towards women than higher skilled ones who were secure enough in their gameplay to not be threatened. 

It sucked, and Yugi wasn’t sure whether including someone on her ‘team’ who’d formerly added to the accusations was a good idea or not.

‘Let me talk to her,’ Yugi decided finally. ‘If she won’t promise to behave, she can stay in my room and miss all the fun.’

‘Alright.’

The Pharaoh switched out again and Yugi headed upstairs, adjusting her purple and gold cased, black trimmed Duel Disk on her arm as she went. She was still rather pleased with how the custom store on Hekigan had modified her Duel Disk, with a purple base and gold swirling and lights, and was looking forward to getting to use it in a bunch of completely and utterly normal duels.

She passed Katsuya on the stairs and passed on that Anzu was on her way, before taking the rest two at a time and heading for the attic conversion that made up her room. It felt weird knocking on the door to her own bedroom, but she knew Rebecca wouldn’t appreciate her just bursting in.

When the girl within called her in, she took a deep breath and stepped inside, trying to ignore the way Rebecca’s clothes were strewn across the room, her manga was not only out of order, but dispersed everywhere, and several of her figures had been moved or knocked over. Plus, all the little gachapon toys that’d rested on her windowsill, out of Rebecca’s way, were missing. 

It was frustrating, and incredibly rude for the girl to not have looked after the room, since Yugi had moved out of her own bedroom to let Rebecca use it while she was there. But Rebecca had been in the room for a couple of weeks, so Yugi guessed that things would’ve gotten moved in that time. She just hoped she could find things later.

“Oh… Yugi.”

Rebecca’s hopeful expression faded when she saw who’d walked through the door. “Welcome home?”

“Thanks. Glad you got back safely too.”

The half-question made Yugi tempted to turn around and forget her idea, but she knew that would be immature. “How’re you feeling?”

“Fine.” The reply was sullen, and the pre-teen refused to meet her eyes, confirming her earlier thoughts that Rebecca still disliked her. “You?”

“A little tired, but I’m good.”

It wasn’t a lie. She and her twin had overstretched themselves when they’d released the souls of Kul Elna into Hekigan to enjoy some freedom in the modern world, before they travelled with the Pharaoh to the afterlife and get away from the pain and suffering the’d undergone for the last three thousand years.

But it’d been worth it to see the happiness on Ba-Khu-Ra’s face and the sheer joy of the spirits who deserved the chance to enjoy life in whatever way they could now. Especially after they’d gotten permission from the Kaiba brothers, or at least Mokuba, who’d promised to keep any item the spirits tagged as ‘theirs’ safe so they could be transported when the time was right, within reason of course. They couldn’t just attach themselves to one of the rollercoasters.

Yugi and Sakhmet just wished they knew where the soul of Sakhmet’s brother, Atem, was, because he hadn’t escaped with the Kul Elnan spirits, even when they’d specifically searched for him.

They were going to try again later, once the crowd of Duelists had been dispersed and they had Jiisan’s permission to let Atem roam the shop, but for now, they needed to focus on the here and now.

“What do you want?” Rebecca asked before Yugi could say anything else.

“There’s a crowd of Duelists outside who are hungry to duel someone and I wanted to know if you wanted to join us in working through them.”

“They don’t want to duel me,” Rebecca glowered at her. “I’m not good enough for them. They all want to duel you.”

“They don’t know you,” Yugi countered, seeing the girl’s upset and envy, and hoping to turn it around. “You’re a good Duelist. The Quarterfinals weren’t a good display of your skills. If you come and duel as part of my team, you can prove that.”

“Your team?!” The loud, dismissive, angry demand nearly caused Yugi to flinch. “Why would I join a team you formed?”

“Because they won’t duel you otherwise, because this is your chance to prove you’re not as childish as they think you are, and because this is a chance for you to recover some of your reputation.” Yugi listed off, counting the reasons off on her fingers, “And because I don’t want you to leave hating me.”

“I don’t…” The flat look Yugi shot her way made Rebecca pause mid lie.

“You do. I can read it on your face, in your body language and in the way you’ve trashed my room.”

And it made Yugi sad. She’d once hoped to make a friend of one of the few female Duelists near the top of the ladder.

Not that Mai wasn’t a good friend, and she’d managed to befriend another Duel Queen before she’d left Hekigan too. The young woman who had led the mermaid show was North America’s Duel Queen and had been on the island with her pod of merfolk actors, to both perform and teach Kaiba Corp’s hired actors how to do what they did so well.

The pair of them had faced off in a duel when Yugi had attended the merfolk show and Yugi and her friends had gotten to meet the actors behind the scenes afterward and have a go with a tail or two, as part of her prize for winning.

But she’d hoped to start building a network of female Duelists so they could support and protect each other when they travelled for tournaments and having Rebecca hate her for something that wasn’t entirely her fault was a bad start.

Rebecca did at least have the grace to look guilty as she glanced around the room, her shoulders sinking as her eyes rested on the Duel Disk, which she’d been so frustrated with that she hadn’t bothered to get it customised while on Hekigan, despite the only places that could customise it being on the island.

She’d seriously considered giving up dueling. Despite it being something she was passionate about, just the thought of picking up her deck had made her angry and upset and she’d tried to bury her humiliation in games and rides, only for the theme of the park to force her mind back onto the problem at hand.

Giving up dueling would be admitting that she was as bad as people thought she was. And allowing Yugi to bully her out of the game. She needed to get back in and prove herself as a good Duelist, one who wasn’t just jealous.

But joining Yugi’s duel team…

“I know what it’s like to be shunned by everyone.”

Yugi’s words caught her attention.

“When I was younger, I was bullied and hated by all my classmates. I was only good for getting beaten up, or stolen from, or used for price reductions at the shop. I hated it, I hated being alone and having no one. Jiisan was amazing, but I had no one outside of him. There was no one my age who wanted to spend time with me.”

Rebecca’s lips parted and her eyes widened in her shock.

“I buried myself in gaming. It was the only thing I was good at, it’s still the only thing I’m good at. And gaming saved me. Without games to bring me joy when I had nothing, I wouldn’t be here today. And you tried to take that from me, you tried to take away the one thing that kept me going. You tried to rip away something that’s an essential part of my soul.”

Rebecca flinched, understanding just how much damage she’d nearly done.

“If it hadn’t been for the Puzzle, I still would be alone. I’d still be failing school, and I wouldn’t have friends, either.” 

Yugi could feel her twin wrap her spectral arms around her shoulders, trying to support her.

“I don’t want that for you,” The Queen promised, leaning against the door. “I didn’t want you to lose your title, I even tried to speak for you with Industrial Illusions, but it didn’t work. I certainly don’t want you to stop playing. You’re too good to give up because of this and I don’t want you to be cast out by any friends you have back home. If you duel here, proving that you’re a good Duelist who earned her place in the tournament, who knows how to win and lose with dignity, it will help you keep your friends and help shift I2’s impression of you. I want to give you that chance.”

Rebecca was shocked. She’d never considered that Yugi used games like she did, to fill a hole in her life where someone or something was missing. She’d only thought that Yugi had been trying to push her out of the game.

Now that she understood what she’d nearly done to her, Rebecca wouldn’t have blamed her if that had been her goal. 

For the Queen to forgive her, to try and protect her by giving her this chance, even after all the damage Rebecca had done to her reputation, was more than gracious.

It was mercy she didn’t deserve. 

“Of course, if you don’t want to come outside, I understand. It’s not easy to face the scorn of others, and the Duelists outside are… pushy.”

Yugi grimaced as she pushed herself away from the door. “It’s up to you. I won’t make you. But once Anzu gets here, the dueling will start, so you have till then to decide.”

The Queen of Games turned to leave but paused when she heard Rebecca call.

“Yugi… I mean Mutou-san.”

She looked back over her shoulder, at the other Duelist.

“If it’s okay? I’d like to duel as part of your team. At least until Grandpa gets here. And I promise, I’ll be on my best behaviour and not accuse anyone of cheating or yell and throw a tantrum like I did on Hekigan.”

Yugi watched her for a moment, trying to read the sincerity of her desire.

Then, seeing no untruth in Rebecca’s actions, she smiled.

“Come on down then. There’s a lot of Duelists and we’ve got to work out a plan.”

Rebecca bounced off the bed, happy to get a chance to redeem herself, and snatched up her Duel Disk and deck and shot towards the door.

“Let’s go."

Chapter Text

Kaiba Seto was pleased to get back to his company’s headquarters.

The last couple of weeks had seen him on enforced medical leave, after his grievous injuries and temporary death. The only work he’d been allowed to do was paperwork and video conferences. Something he would’ve objected to strongly, if going against it wouldn’t risk Isono’s guardianship of him.

Neither he and Mokuba were adults, and emancipation would’ve taken too long to get in the courts to prevent the Big Five from seizing guardianship after Gozaburo’s death, and with it, control of the company. That, and it was almost impossible to achieve emancipation here in Japan, a fact that’d made him tempted to move his base of operations to somewhere like America or England for a while, until Isono had stepped forward.

His right-hand man had been the only person who Seto had been able to trust during his days under Gozaburo and he’d continued to be loyal after he’d signed the guardianship papers, not even attempting to take the company from the Kaiba brothers or sway their choices in any way, except to occasionally remind them of school matters and, as he’d needed to do in this case, medical issues.

If the state did a wellness check and they found Seto was in bad condition, they could take both him and Mokuba. If that happened, there were members of the Board of Directors who would more than happily seize the company from them, claiming they were in no condition to run a multinational corporation.

Azaes Dartz Vasillikos was one such investor. The CEO of Paradius wouldn’t hesitate to take full advantage of the situation, and he would run Kaiba Corp into the ground to get every last yen of profit out of it before he either sold it for peanuts, or closed it down, just as he’d done to other companies. 

Seto hadn’t been able to take the risk. Instead, he’d done what the doctor insisted and taken bed rest, allowing the remaining burn injuries that hadn’t entirely been magically healed to mostly recover, to the point he no longer flinched when he moved, nor needed to be bandaged most of the time.

That had meant he hadn’t been able to get into his own company for what felt like forever. Two weeks was almost an eternity in the world of business, and it actually WAS an eternity in the world of game development, so he had a lot to catch up on.

Not to mention…

“The cameras are all set up, Niisama.”

Mokuba was bouncing as he followed his brother into the elevator, carrying the metal briefcase that contained his brother’s Duel Disk and the paperwork Seto had been working on till three am this morning, as well as an envelope the doctors had given him with the DNA test results he’d asked for two weeks ago.

And the Millennium Rod, which they needed to return to Yugi, but hadn’t wanted to let out of their sight until it was collected.

“They’re ready to record the advert for the space competition. Also that English girl you hired for her duel program?”

Seto just nodded, remembering the girl in question, Baker, as a talented programmer who’d dared to sneak into the VIP area at a game convention to pitch her idea to him directly.

“She’s worked out how to convert it so it can be run on KC smart phones.”

Which meant it would soon be possible to run a duel from your phone using the system he’d signed on, with anyone else in the world. Not that it would ever replace the physical cards, because those were needed to compete for the big prizes at the top of the game, but it would open dueling to many more people, and bring in huge profits when people started buying online booster packs to flesh out their virtual decks, rather than just relying on daily booster gifts.

Industrial Illusions had been a fool to turn her away, but Seto had seen the potential and snapped her up in a heartbeat, and because he’d given her a chance, she was turning out to be quite valuable.

“Give her a bonus and make that a focus for that group. Tell them that if they get it running smoothly and without bugs by the end of the year, they’ll get a bigger one.”

“Yes, Niisama.”

It was a relief for Mokuba, to see his brother stalking the halls of the tallest skyscraper in Domino City and barking orders. The minutes that Seto had laid on a stretcher, badly burned and not breathing, after his defeat at the hands of the witch that’d taken Mokuba hostage, had been the worst moments of the younger Kaiba’s life.

Mokuba had been alone. All alone. For the first time in his entire life.

And he hadn’t been able to accept it. He’d gotten his brother to Yugi, who poured every single drop of power she and her friends had left, into trying to revive his brother.

Something that’d only worked because the Pharaoh had learned how to control the incredible powers of the Puzzle so she could revive her twin when Ishizu drowned Yugi during the life and death duel, and because they had needed to revive the dead once before that, when Bakura Amane had given her life to save her friends from the Spirit of the Ring back during their first game; an event that taught the Mutou twins they could utilise game magic to revive a fallen comrade in real life.

And still, Seto had only come back to him because he’d fought against the assholes in the underworld to return to Mokuba, because he’d promised to never leave his brother’s side.

Mokuba had been so scared and so happy that day, and he’d promised himself that he would never get into a situation where he could be used against his brother again. He’d even organised self-defence lessons; to go with the lockpicking lessons he had been getting from Bakura.

Lessons that’d started last week, while his brother had been starting his own exercise regime once more. One that he had to start slowly because he tired easily.

Mokuba was the one to convince his brother to rest as much as possible for the last couple of weeks, both for his own health and to keep their guardianship secure, and he knew the enforced rest had been driving his brother up the wall, across the ceiling and back down again. 

But it’d been needed, and seeing how frightened Mokuba was about Seto’s health had driven home the need for Seto to look after himself for once.

Seto might’ve missed it in his determination to get up to his office, get the advert recorded and then get on with the important department meetings he’d been unable to get to for the last fortnight, but Mokuba didn’t. The sight of the staff members they provided so much for, smiling as they entered the building and being happy to see them was a pleasant surprise and lifted Mokuba’s mood greatly.

Once they were hidden from those watchful eyes, by the sliding doors of the lift, Seto leaned against the cold, metal wall, taking a moment to recover his strength. He knew he could call Yugi in, and she’d use her magic to heal him up the rest of the way, but he didn’t want to do that. Partly because it’d taken her four days to leave the hospital on Hekigan, due to the constant exhaustion caused by; reviving him, playing a Shadow Game, restoring twenty-thousand stolen souls and healing her foe.

Something she had done even after the brutality of the Shadow Duel against the demon-possessed lunatic who now rested in a jail cell for kidnapping, blackmail and extortion, along with the brothers whose fake Duel Monster card sales and usage had gotten them thrown in prison for fraud.

For now, at least.

Seto planned on making the male Ishtars an offer. Their cards had been perfect enough to make it through Kaiba Corp’s stringent checks, so he was seriously considering hiring the pair of them on to work for him in exchange for a more lenient sentence. For themselves and for their sister.

But not a completely forgiven one. They didn’t deserve to be forgiven. They didn't deserve to be fully healed of their mental and physical wounds.

Just like him.

He didn’t deserve to forget the consequences of his actions. Not when he’d sacrificed almost every soul on his island to protect his brother. If it hadn’t been for Yugi, almost every single guest and staff member on his island, in his theme park, would’ve been lost to the Shadows. Possibly forever.

He wouldn’t undo his actions, not when it’d saved Mokuba’s life, but there was a weight to his actions that he couldn’t shake off.

A weight that, if the DNA test came back positive, confirming the words of the spirits he’d spoken to, had nearly doomed him to join his father in Hell.

He’d put off opening it, unsure if he wanted the answer, but he needed to deal with it sooner or later, and he hoped that getting that answer would help settle his mind.

Doing so would allow him to focus on recovering his strength, so he could be the protector his little brother deserved once more. And on fixing the fact that focusing  had been problematic since his loss.

Not because it was a real defeat, because he refused to accept that a rout caused by blackmail was legitimate, especially when the choices had been between losing, risking death, and tributing twenty-thousand souls, or winning and allowing Ishtar to feed his brother to the darkness.

There had been no way to win. So, there had been no way to lose.

No, his focus had been shot because he had, supposedly, butted heads with Gozaburo, breaking his nose in two places, and seen his birth family for the first time since their passing several years ago.

Including the aunt that’d been killed in a car crash before Mokuba was born.

The one Seto had never met before her passing, because she’d been evicted from his birth family for her choice of husband.

His personal doctor had confirmed that visions of the afterlife were a well-documented occurrence in those who’d gone through a near death experience, so it wasn’t like he was entirely crazy. And the doctor had confirmed that sometimes those vision came with the family knowing things that the victim didn’t but later turned out to be true.

But he needed to get his mind off it, because it was keeping him from working properly.

And that wasn’t good enough.

Recording the advert helped. The idea of shooting a deck of Duel Monsters cards into space to teach aliens to duel was absolutely ludicrous, but it was entertaining enough that it lightened his mood a little. Plus, the chance to find some new talent in the world of card design was always good.

Even if the competition was open to children of fifteen and below, rather than adults, it was never too early to encourage the next generation of game designers and Duelists to start showing their skills.

Seto’s adoptive father had attempted to crush the creativity and fun out of him, tried to tell him that there was no money, no future, no life in gaming, and this was his reply.

To aid and abet the next generation to be better than their predecessors.

He knew that Gozaburo would hate it. That he would be rolling around wherever he’d landed after being kicked back to Hell, screaming profanities at Seto’s actions.

And the thought caused him an insane amount of pleasure.

He’d seen the creature that Kaiba Gozaburo had become with his own eyes, and refused to be that snake, that bitter, twisted, decrepit monstrosity who only wanted to cause pain in others.

He could be better. He WOULD be better.

He could’ve given in. He could’ve let the loss on Hekigan break him. Let it destroy his spirit and fall into outrage and hate, the way he’d allowed himself to fall when he’d lost to the Spirit of Yugi’s Puzzle.

But he refused.

Because seeing what Gozaburo had become, realising that there was no one who would fight death for Gozaburo’s sake the way they’d strived to help Seto, knowing there were those who actually cared enough to help him return to his brother, had taught him something important.

Something he’d needed to learn a long time ago:

Defeat didn’t have to mean death.

It was just ironic that it was his own death that’d taught him that.

He even had an idea of how he was going to move forward with supporting the growth of the future, he just needed Industrial Illusions to sign off on it.

But that could come later.

As the camera crew scuttled away with the camera to edit the footage together with some duel footage and make it an advert that Kaiba Corp could be proud of, Seto pulled the envelope out of the briefcase and slumped down in his desk chair.

“Niisama?” Mokuba asked, leaping up to sit on his desk, having been hesitant to leave his brother’s side since the incident.

“Do you want to do it?” Seto asked, holding out the results for his little brother to take.

Mokuba hesitated, and then  pushed it back toward Seto, knowing his older brother needed to know to settle his own mind.

At Mokuba’s move, Seto tore open the protective covering, scanned the cover letter, then passed it to Mokuba while scanning the detailed results.

“Results show a 19.5 percent match when testing Mutou Yugi’s DNA against the DNA of Kaiba Mokuba, and 19.6 against Kaiba Seto. This is consistent with the range of results amongst first cousins in 95 percent of families tested, which varies between 4.2 and 23.4.”

Mokuba’s expression twisted to one that Seto found hard to read as he delivered the results.

“In comparison, Kaiba Mokuba and Kaiba Seto, as siblings, share 59.7 percent DNA, which is within the normal range of 38.1 to 61.9.” 

“Not that I had any doubt.” Seto sat back to watch his brother’s response, trying to ignore the fact that his background check and his near-death vision had been confirmed.

Yugi was his cousin.

Mutou Yugi was 19.5 percent a Kaiba.

Well, Takamoto technically, but he and Mokuba were Kaibas now. And she was related to them, which meant she was technically part Kaiba.

As much as any Kaiba was a Kaiba these days.

“Niisama?” Mokuba asked, letting the pages fall to the table as he turned to his brother. “What does this mean for us?”

“What do you mean?”

He offered his little brother a hug and Mokuba didn’t hesitate to cling to him, curling in tightly as Seto wrapped his arms around him.

“What do we do about this? She’s one of us. Do we tell her?”

Seto wasn’t sure. He’d needed to know for his own mental health, but he hadn’t thought past that.

There was an echo to the knowledge that the Queen of Games was his cousin that made it feel right in a way that was frustrating. It matched with what he’d seen when he’d taken the Millennium Rod from Yugi so she didn’t have to take a weapon through customs.

Not that he wanted to admit he’d seen the memories of Pharaoh Seth upon contact with the Millennium Rod. Memories the Pharaoh had sealed into the item, hoping one that day his cousin would see them and understand why he’d done what he did.

Memories that Seto had no intention of sharing, because the excuses of the dead didn’t deserve to upset those who had to live through their mistakes.

He didn’t like these results. He didn’t like that his modern life was echoing the ancient life that he’d tried so hard to push back, refusing to accept that the past could define the present in any way.

Even though the entire plan for his future had been made because of events of his past.

And even though, if what Emma-o’s court had implied was correct, and reincarnations were new people, not just reskins of old ones, Yugi and her sister weren’t the same person. Meaning his cousin WASN’T a long dead Pharaoh, just the descendant of one.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to. We don’t even have to make the decision now.” Seto said finally, “There’s time to decide.”

“We need to call her in for some publicity shots for the advert anyway… if I call her in tomorrow or the day after, maybe we can tell her then?” The younger Kaiba offered, not wanting to put it off too long when an accident could rip away your family members at any moment but also needing time to process the news properly.

Seto would trust his brother’s judgement on the matter. 

“If that’s what you want. In the meantime, I have an investor meeting in about fifty minutes to discuss the impact recent events have had on the company.”

“Well, you can reassure them on the cost of sponsoring Yugi at least,” Mokuba finally grinned, showing Seto the reports he was getting in on his phone of how the gauntlet Yugi had set up was running. “She’s proving her worth already.”

“Good.”

Seto couldn’t help the burst of pride that the news inspired in him and wondered if that would continue to be a thing moving forward. “Let’s hope that keeps up.”

Because cousin or not, he still wanted to defeat her and her sister.

After Yugi had defeated him on Duelist Kingdom, and the Spirit of her Puzzle had echoed the victory at Battle City, he still wanted to prove himself better than them.

And all three of them would have to be at the top of their games for those duels to be satisfying.

And for his future victory to feel anything less than hollow.

Chapter Text

Yugi was enjoying herself greatly.

Swapping between her and Anesan kept them from getting too tired mentally, and the various decks their opponents were running kept them thinking. They couldn’t get complacent or fall into a pattern when each rival Duelist brought something new to the table, and no two decks had been the same yet.

She’d even gotten to face someone running a version of her Battle City deck, the one she’d run for most of the tournament but edited greatly in the Royal Magical Library card store in the Yami section of the theme park before she came home, preventing a mirror match.

No one had pushed them hard enough that they’d needed to bring a God card out yet, but they’d still been able to push back with all their skill and work through a decent number of Duelists. Those that couldn’t handle them went down easily, while those who were a threat lasted much longer.

Still, not one of them had worked through enough of their deck to know she and her sister weren’t running the Divine Beasts. Instead, the God monsters rested in their side deck, safe from thieves and where they couldn’t hurt anyone.

That wasn’t stopping the twins from having fun though. It wasn’t often they got to duel at their best outside of a tournament, and getting to let loose in a duel that wasn’t life and death was a balm to their soul that they greatly needed after the trauma of dueling for their lives against Hanaq’s pawns.

From what she’d been able to see of the duels her friends were playing, they were having fun too.

The triplets were holding their own, with a surprising win-loss ratio for Duelists who’d never played at a level higher than School Nationals, and Anzu seemed quite pleased to have built up to a fifty-fifty ratio. A ratio Yugi was rather proud of her for, considering she’d started off nervous, and it’d shown in her dueling until she’d gotten into the swing of things.

Now she was waltzing between opponents with her Lunalight Dancers and doing much better.

Katsuya was kicking ass, which seemed to be helping his mood greatly. She knew the loss against Hanaq at the Legendary Ocean Wave Pool on Hekigan had been bothering him a lot. Seeing the grin on his face as his dragon and gambling deck crushed his foes, she guessed that getting the chance to prove his skills against Duelists who claimed to be Internationally ranked  players was proving to himself that he was as good as Yugi knew he could be.

Even if she didn’t recognise a single face amongst the crowd.

And Rebecca, well…

“And that’s it.”

The American girl grinned at the pair of Duelists she’d crushed at the same time, having challenged them both at the same time when they’d taunted her about the loss to Yugi on Hekigan.

“I believe I just beat both of you. Guess you don’t get to prove you’re better than me after all.”

“Why I oughta…”

Yugi started towards the bigger of the two Duelists as he stepped forward, raising fist, but she was beaten to it by one of the security guards Mokuba had sent over, who grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away.

“That’s the rules, punk.” The huge guard reminded the aggressive man, who glowered back in response. “Anyone who loses to one of Yugi’s friends must wait until an official tournament to try again. You lost. So, get lost.” 

Yugi wasn’t entirely happy with the guard’s phrasing, but it made his point and his friend, the one who’d talked him into tag teaming against Rebecca, just pulled the asshole away and the pair left, heading down a nearby alley.

She didn’t get to see them disappear from sight before her next opponent caught her attention and she turned her focus that way, and in doing so, missed both their whining and the darkness closing in behind them.

“I don’t know why you got so pissed. If you hadn’t messed up my field, I’d have had the little brat.” The one who had been smart enough to pull his friend away complained. “You’re the one that fucked us up.”

“Yeah well, maybe if you hadn’t gotten my hand tossed turn two, I’d have had my ace on the field instead of the graveyard!” The second shot back with a snarl. “Where she could bring it back and use it instead.”

“You’re the one who…” The first started again, only to trail off when he realised that their surroundings were growing dark and there were whisps of some weird mist rolling around their feet. “Uhhh…”

“What are you whimpering about?” His duel partner demanded, looking around and scowling, unable to see what the other man was seeing. “It’s just a little dark.”

“It’s not just dark… it’s…” The first duelist screamed as a figure emerged from the darkness pooling on the floor.

A huge brute of a man, easily nine or ten foot tall, with dark skin, long, blonde hair, and narrow brown eyes, whose shoulders were so broad that he blocked the way forward. A glowing blue glass and gold pyramid with the wadjet eye upon it hung from a rope around his neck and glowed with a cold, unfeeling light, creating the only illumination the Shadows would allow.

Terrified, one of his prey tried to turn and bolt, only to find a pair of huge, black-furred, snarling jackals, blocking the way back . They snapped at his foot, causing him to back up until he bumped into the man that’d arose from the shadows.

The second scream was enough to cause the brute to laugh and grab the Duelist by the head before throwing back him to the feet of his ally, who backed up a few steps, his hands clenching into fists. “Wh… who are you?”

“Someone who could give you the power to wipe the floor with the brat that beat you, and her Queen, if you can defeat me. Of course, if I win, I’ll take something of yours for myself.”

Without even hesitating, the man on his feet activated his Duel Disk, causing the one on the ground to look up at him in shocks. “Are you really gonna fall for that?”

“That little bitch beat both of us and now this freak thinks he can do the same. I ain’t backing down and you shouldn’t either. I bet this is just a prank and he’s got a camera or something and is gunna publish this everywhere if we run away like cowards.”

That got his friend on his feet, the thought of being humiliated a second time too much to bear. He activated his Duel Disk and glowered at the man before him as he drew his opening hand…

They didn’t stand a chance, and the darkness muffled their screams enough to avoid alerting those dueling in the streets nearby.

Once his meal was done and the unconscious bodies were added to the dumpster with the several others that he’d been able to pick off, from those who’d been dismissed from the Pharaoh’s gauntlet, he tossed their ruined Duel Disks aside, patted his jackals on the head and moved back to the end of the alley to continue his surveillance from the shadows.

He was almost impressed, despite the hate that burned as hot as a furnace.

Watching from here, watching the Pharaoh and her modern incarnation working as a team to plough through their foes was a work of beauty. She’d grown stronger since the last time he’d met her. Much stronger.

Just picking her off, here and now, would not work the way he’d anticipated. Especially not with the group of guards she’d assembled around herself. They were physically weak compared to him, even the tall, blonde that reminded him of one of the men that’d accompanied the Pharaoh to rescue his precious twin heirs.

But they were all potent Duelists who could summon their beasts to aid the Pharaoh in battle.

Actually, summon them, unlike some of the beasts of the challengers, which carried a little magic to them, but were mostly illusion and trickery.

He let out an amused huff as the thought occurred to him that his old mentor, Akhenaden, would’ve been jealous. He’d caused so much pain and suffering to create the golden treasures that his brother had been so proud of, and even more to create the Pyramid of Light that now hung from his student’s neck.

Only for children to be able to do what he’d desired so greatly with flimsy toys.

Not that the Pharaoh and her older guards were children.

Unlike when he’d ripped her and her twin brother from her home, back when she’d been a Princess, the Pharaoh and her closest entourage, the brunette dancer and the blonde warrior, were clearly older.

They weren’t children anymore, too young to defend themselves and understand their true power, but adults who’d fully realised their potential and were capable of defending themselves.

And that meant he would have to be careful.

He could easily take them on, one on one, but one summoned monster was worth thirty well-trained warriors, and the Pharaoh and her entourage could summon many. Not to mention the fact that the Pharaoh could hide behind her modern incarnation at any moment.

And in the rare moments between duels that he got to sense the energies of the Pharaoh and her Other Self mingling, he knew, without a doubt that he couldn’t possibly take them on together.

He would have to separate them if he was to stand a chance of getting what he wanted.

A chance to tear this world asunder for the agony and pain that Akhenaden had caused creating this form for him, and a chance to take back the magic that’d been ripped away from him when the Pharaoh had created her seal.

His whole life had been ripped away from him by his former master to ensure the destruction of his Pharaoh brother and secure his son, Seth, as Pharaoh, no matter what incarnation the boy was in.

Except the Pharaoh’s brat of a daughter had stolen away his chance of furthering his divine powers and destroyed everything he’d built up around himself.

He’d only survived that day by allowing himself to become one with the darkness, to let the Shadows Akhenaden had forced upon him send him into deep sleep, so he might one day awaken, as originally planned by his master, in a time where his son was reborn and the warrior Akhenaden had created, could make him a King.

By the time the one watching the duels had reawakened, when the Millennium Puzzle had once more been assembled, unleashing a wave of Shadows upon the world, the seal had been in place, limiting his abilities, but now the Shadows were seeping back into the world through a seal cracked beyond repair. He’d been recovering his strength, and with the extra power he was gathering by feasting on those who’d fallen at the feet of the Pharaoh and her people, he was now certain he could fulfil his task.

Not that he had any plans on making the little bastard King.

No, he was going to rip the True Name and the Divine Avatars from the bitch who’d nearly destroyed him, and then use his mastery over the Shadows and the powers of the God Monsters, the avatars of the Gods who’d abandoned him, to make the boy pay for the crimes of his father.

Slowly. Painfully. Until the King-to-be was screaming for mercy.

A mercy he had no intention of providing.

He just needed to work out how to separate the Pharaoh of Darkness from the group she’d formed, and the young woman with the soul of a Queen, but the body of a scholar.

The thought entertained him.

In the past, in the brutal time that he’d lived in originally, she would never have survived as a royal. She was puny, clearly untrained for combat, and she let too many of her foes walk away.

She would’ve been killed by those who sought her throne long ago. Or possibly captured and used as breeding stock for someone stronger and more cunning than her. 

If he’d been smart, he would’ve thrown the Princess to his men back when he’d first had the royal twins dragged to his camp. Then she wouldn’t have ever been a problem, the sacrifice of her brother would’ve given him the Gods, and he would’ve destroyed everything all those years ago without having to worry about her reincarnation now.

Still, as he watched another Duelist be defeated and released, he knew that regretting the past would only prevent him from making the best moves here in the future.

And that meant gathering as much strength as possible and making the perfect moves to break a pair of souls he’d craved the destruction of for thousands of years.

For now, the best move he could make was to intercept each defeated warrior and drain them of their soul while their defences were lowered, their Sword of the Soul damaged or knocked from their hands by their humiliation at the hands of the Pharaoh and her court.

And once he was certain of his strength and found his perfect moment, he would strike.

Chapter Text

Seto hated shareholder meetings with a passion. They were nothing but a waste of his time where those who thought they knew how to run his company knew better than he did, had the audacity to try and tell him how bad a job he was doing, even when profits were up, and staff turnover was low.

Today’s video conference was no different. 

“Your theme park appears to be doing well, but it’s too soon to see if it will make a profit on the investments we put in.”

Vasillikos, a man of Greek heritage, who had pale blue hair and green-yellow heterochromia, was, of course, the one to start the negativity, as he almost always was.

“We put billions in between us, Kaiba, so we expect a return on that, sooner rather than later.”

“Ticket sales and events have already seen the next three years booked out,” Seto shot back. “With additional food, drink and vendor sales, the park is due to pull even within a year and a half. Anything after that is pure profit and can be used to pay you back and improve facilities and additions, as well as open the next Kaibaland.”

“As well as create a decent dividend I hope.”

Tanaka was a black and grey haired, half-blind young Asian man whose red eyes had gone grey on his scarred left side, who liked to dabble in the occult and had a preference of dealing with animals over people. Something that Seto couldn’t entirely blame him for, since animals at least, were semi-predictable. Even the feral ones that attacked did so for a reason, whereas humans could turn on you for absolutely no reason at all.

“My animal sanctuary in Hokkaido could use a boost and the profits from your park would help.”

“KC Dividends are due to be paid out next month, as per usual, and just the launch of the park and the bookings for events of the stadium have already been more than enough to ensure a good payout.”

Seto narrowly avoided rolling his eyes as he spoke, having mentioned that in the e-mail he’d sent out before this meeting, along with sending the individual shareholders a reminder of their profit totals for the previous quarter.

“I do hope the next Kaibaland is somewhere less isolated. Getting materials to and from that island was more expensive than building there in some cases, if the reports are to be believed.”

Seto hid a grimace at Ludenburg’s interjection.

She was a black haired, red eyed, Asian-American woman who’d officially made her fortune through running bars and clubs, though unofficially she was a rather prolific gambler. That was how she’d met Crawford and been dragged into the world of Duel Monsters, via one of his casinos in Vegas back when he’d had his Millennium Eye and had been able to outplay her at every turn.

Occasionally she collaborated with already existing pubs to ensure the survival of the bar and the continuing wages of the staff. The merfolk actors she’d sent to Hekigan, to train Kaiba Corp’s own, ready for their own shows on Hekigan, had come from her latest collaborative effort.

Seto, who’d looked the place up before allowing her staff to train his, had found that they came from ‘The Dive Bar’, which was owned by a pair of married lesbians. Seto had been highly amused to find out that one of the owners, the one who’d been one of the merfolk actors previously and bought the bar from her previous boss, had wagered the premises in a game against Ludenburg, and come out on top, earning herself and her wife the funds they needed to repair after a fire that would’ve left them homeless and the merfolk out of work.

And they had never had a single accident in the tank caused by staff.

Plenty of drunks who had to be fished out  by security or one of the merfolk, but the staff at least had always been considerate and careful.

So, he’d allowed it, even paying the bar more than they would’ve taken, had they been open, rather than lending him their merfolk. Something that he’d hoped Ludenburg would’ve appreciated, but apparently not.

Instead, she leaned back in her chair, pouting.

“The next Kaibaland is actually planned for somewhere near San Fransisco. Near I2’s Headquarters.”

Kaiba glanced at the screen where Pegasus J. Crawford, the CEO of Industrial Illusions was watching events from his computer. The man was his primary business partner even after the mess that’d been Duelist Kingdom and the attempted hostile takeover, yet had said little to the group, seeming distracted by something off screen, making Seto wonder what was going on at Industrial Illusions.

“Indeed, Kaiba-boy.”

Pegasus J. Crawford finally spoke up. The one eyed, silver-purple haired man was, thankfully, almost always willing to back Seto up, mostly because the other CEO knew full well that without Kaiba and his company, Duel Monsters would’ve never exploded in popularity the way it had.

The game had been just another card game, played at the same level as Pokemon or Magic the Gathering before Seto’s holographic technology had turned it into the pinnacle of card gaming, played by everyone who had any sort of influence.

Including a couple of Princes of various countries and the Queen of England. 

Of course, the fact Seto had evidence of kidnapping and hostile takeover attempts that could bury Pegasus also helped.

“The land is already purchased, and the permits are going through the courts now, so it should be possible to start building in the next eight months.”

“Provided the red tape doesn’t slow things down like it normally does,” Vasillikos seemed determined to keep the mood dour. “And we have the money after paying for the Mutou sponsorship.”

Seto’s eyes narrowed at the jab.

Yugi’s sponsorship wasn’t that expensive when her stipend only actually amounted to the cost of a full-time employee, and it was the duty of a sponsor to pay for event fees like transport, accommodation and food when they sent someone to an event anyway. The only part of her agreement outside the norm was the increased security and her tuition, something that he could justify paying from family funds if he had to, considering she was a blood relation. Not that he had any intention of telling Vasillikos or any of the other serpents in this call that, unless it would turn a loss into a win.

“Actually, Yugi’s sponsorship isn’t the biggest cost.”

Another Board member present, Fujisaki Chihiro, spoke up, tapping their pen against the desk. To all appearances, Fujisaki was a young woman with short brown hair and wide brown eyes, but Seto knew that was just a front for a young man who’d been bullied so badly as a kid for being small and weak, that they’d transferred schools and donned a female appearance to stop the bullying. When it’d worked, Fujisaki had stuck with it and buried themselves in the persona, which had allowed them to live a far more normal life.

Or at least one where they weren’t battered and bullied for being weak.

Personally, Seto didn’t care if Fujisaki was male or female with the sheer scope of their programming potential, which he was still trying to hire on for his company. Talent was talent and as far as he was concerned, he would continue to use whatever pronouns would work towards that goal.

“Oh?” Vasillikos leaned forward, paying close attention now. “And what is?”

“The tournaments,” Fujisaki grimaced. “Not that they’re not worth the cost, when they keep people interested in our technology, Duel Disk sales are far above prediction for example. But they don’t help the reputation of the company when Kaiba Corp’s CEO comes third in his own tournament, and even then, only because one of the semi-finalists got disqualified.”

“After the fact,” Vasillikos informed the group. “After Kaiba lost to her.”

Seto tensed. Mokuba had scrubbed that duel from the systems and it hadn’t been held in the stadium, meaning no one should’ve known about it. The only way Vasillikos could’ve known about it was if Mokuba had told him, which he wouldn’t have done, or if he’d gotten that information from one of Seto’s men.

In which case he needed to find the leak.

“So, you actually came in fourth?” Ludenburg asked him, giving the screen a highly unamused look.

“That duel wasn’t officially tied to the tournament,” Seto managed to keep his scowl from his face, knowing it would make him seem childish. “And allowed my men to make their move after Ishtar attacked another competitor.”

“Mutou,” Tanaka frowned. “She mentioned that she’d been attacked by another Duelist when Digital Duelist cornered her for an interview.”

“Yes, the poor girl did say that was why her hair had been cut short,” Ludenburg sat back, her gaze softening. “And that Kaiba Corp’s security handled it the moment they were able to.”

“My men escorted Ishtar off the island, with her brothers, and got her arrested for her actions,” Seto huffed, still irritated that Yugi had put that out publicly, even if she’d needed a cover for the sudden haircut, which had occurred when the demon-possessed Ishtar had forced her to bow and cut through her hair to humiliate Yugi.

“Still, you did duel her and you did lose. Should we be looking for a new figurehead for our Dueling section?” Vasillikos asked. “Especially considering the dip in share prices after you lost to Yugi. Again.”

Seto gritted his teeth at the jab.

“Kaiba-boy is the best choice we have to run Kaiba Corp,” Pegasus spoke up, shaking his head. “No one else could create the tech he since has. Plus, his Duel Disks and theme park has caused the stocks to bounce back.”

“Maybe. It seems that he can’t be relied upon to defend the company though.” Vasillikos’s eyes narrowed, the green one almost seeming slitted, like a serpent’s.

“That’s not fair to him,” Tanaka disagreed. “Against Ishtar, he took the fall to ensure that one of the company’s more valuable assets was protected, and losing to Yugi doesn’t matter when she belongs to Kaiba Corp. It wasn’t like anyone didn’t expect that loss anyway. He’s not beat her once since she came onto the circuit.”

His words wounded Seto’s pride more than the jabs about his ability to run Kaiba Corp. The only one who thought that was a problem was Vasillikos, who would do anything to get control of another business he could ruin.

That there was no one who disagreed with Tanaka’s statement about his duel against Yugi told him how far his reputation as a Duelist had slipped.

“You’re right,” Ludenburg relaxed, just making the issue worse. “If the share prices hadn’t bounced back, I’d be more concerned, but they’ve almost doubled since Hekigan launched and we do own Yugi’s dueling career. If it’s such a huge issue for Kaiba-san to lose to her, can’t we just insist she takes a fall?”

Seto had never thought he could be so offended as he was in that moment. For them to think he NEEDED Yugi to deliberately lose to him for him to stand a chance…

“I am not…”

“That isn’t needed,” Crawford cut off Seto’s furious snarl, giving the young CEO a side eye that told him to take a deep breath. “Kaiba-boy is an impressive Duelist and Yugi can’t keep up with his skills and deck changes.”

“You say that, but he lost to her at ‘Death-T’, Duelist Kingdom, that publicity event in Tokyo and now on Hekigan,” Vasillikos could see how annoyed Seto was and kept pushing. “She’s humiliating him and she’s humiliating Kaiba Corp. If he can’t beat her the next time they duel, I may have to call a Vote of No Confidence.”

“Now now, Vasillikos.” Ludenburg tutted as, under the desk, Seto’s hands balled into fists. “There’s no need for that yet. We have Yugi on a leash, Kaiba’s technology has us at the top of the engineering world, we even developed computers that can rest in the palm of your hand. We can let her have her little crown, it belongs to Kaiba Corp anyway.”

“It belongs to Industrial Illusions, actually,” Crawford pointed out, well aware he needed to end this talk now before Seto blew his top. “The Queen of Games title at least, but her career belongs to Kaiba Corp, and isn’t she already proving herself worthy of it?”

“Yes. Yes, she is,” Seto snapped out, pushing down his fury and pulling up the reports Mokuba had forwarded him from the Gauntlet going on at the game shop and shared his screen so his investors could see them. “Thirteen Duelists taken down by her, personally, with no losses, and thirty-seven defeated by the group she assembled to assist her.”

“I don’t recognise some of these names,” Tanaka frowned, reading the screen, “Jonouchi and Hopkins were Quarter-finalists, but the rest…”

Pegasus was surprised to see Hopkins’ name on the list considering the immature and irresponsible behaviour she’d shown on the island. He suspected that either she’d harassed her way in, or Yugi was giving her a chance.

Either way, he would have to get a report on how she had acted to see whether she was worth keeping an eye on anymore.

“I recognise Mazaki,” The CEO of Industrial Illusions spoke up. “She’s one of Yugi-girl’s motley. I’m not surprised she’s learned to duel at a competitive level while hanging around her.”

“And the three Kobayashis?”

Crawford and the others looked confused, but Seto knew this one.

“Yugi runs the Domino High Duel Club. The one that made second place at school nationals. Those are three of her teammates.”

Seto had paid close attention to the roster of names that’d been on the list of those coming to Hekigan from that group. There’d been four Kobayashi names on the list. The triplets were part of the Domino Senshi, the school duel team, while their sister had once applied to Kaiba Corp’s art department, but had been refused and now worked at the Kame Game Shop.

Yugi’s shop.

“So, the only Duelist in her team today who wasn’t trained by her directly was Hopkins?”

The final Board Member, the newest one, finally deigned to speak. Neota Alain was a tall young man in his mid-twenties, with short black hair and almost glowing catlike yellow-green eyes. His posture and musculature had warned Seto that he was a practitioner of martial arts, and his gaze reminded Seto uncomfortably of staring down the Winged Dragon of Ra, or a predator ready to strike at any moment.

He ran a hotel chain that he’d inherited, one who ran the chalets in the Sogen section of Hekigan, alongside a successful event management business that’d been built from the ground up over the last few years. Neota Entertainment, the event company, had assisted Kaiba Corp in ensuring the Battle City was almost flawless, meaning he’d not been on Hekigan with the other shareholders because he’d been dealing with the practicalities of getting the city reopened. 

Neota Entertainment also had several sponsored Duelists on their books, none of whom had made the Quarter Finals of Duelist Kingdom or Battle City.

Something it looked like Neota wanted to change when he asked, “Have we considered getting this girl to train more Duelists for us?”

“Possibly to take over the Pro-Circuit since it’s so stale right now,” Ludenburg agreed with Neota.

Seto grimaced at her mentioning the Pro-Circuit. There was a difference between official tournaments and the ‘professionals’. Those that called themselves pros were more like professional wrestlers, whose duels were organised in advance, wins and losses were scripted, and there was an underlying story to each ‘season’. In fact, many big name Pro-Duelists made more money from a loss than a win, if they played by the script. 

Though Ludenburg following the Pro-Circuit did explain why she would suggest that Yugi be made to lose to him. Amongst the so-called ‘professionals’ that happened all the time to manipulate odds and create profits.

“Would she have time around school?” Tanaka seemed open to the idea of a Dueling tutor group, suggesting he would be open to the idea that Seto had, but didn’t want to broach around  Vasillikos, knowing he would sabotage it.

“It’s certainly something I can have my Sponsorship Team reach out to her about and have feedback for you by the end of the Quarter.”

“Then we should leave you to get on with that Kaiba-san,” Ludenburg half-bowed to the camera. “I look forward to hearing more on this in our next meeting.”

“Me too,” Tanaka grinned. “Having more duelists of Yugi’s calibre running around could make things more interesting.”

“I don’t think it matters.” Vasillikos deadpanned as the pair of them logged off. “What I want to see is you crush her into the ground or remove her from competitive Dueling. I don’t care which. I just expect results. Soon. Neota, I’ll be contacting you shortly about a business matter.”

“I’ll never jump into bed with you on any project except this one.” With that, Neota left the call.

Vasillikos raised an eyebrow at the abrupt departure, then let out an unamused snort and cut the call too, leaving Seto and Pegasus alone.

“That rotten, backstabbing…”

“I did tell you not to get involved with Paradius, Kaiba-boy.” Pegasus grimaced. “But you didn’t believe me.”

That hadn’t been true. He’d believed Pegasus, but he’d been so self-assured that he’d thought himself a more ruthless businessman than Vasillikos.

He still thought himself a better one, but he could admit that his thirteen year old self had been overconfident.

“I don’t need Yugi to take a fall. No matter what the Board of Directors think.”

Pegasus wasn’t surprised that was what had Kaiba’s hackles up. His dueling skill was the thing he was most proud of in this world. For someone to suggest that he couldn’t win a duel without his opponent throwing was the height of offensive.

And for that opponent to be Yugi… well…

“I know.”

Crawford was certain it might happen someday. Kaiba wasn’t a perfected Duelist, he still had room to grow.

“But you don’t have the cards you need right now.”

“What do you mean? My deck has the best cards in it.”

“Not all of them. Perhaps you should pay me a visit, Kaiba-boy, before you face her again. I may have been working on a little something that will aid you.”

Seto hated that he needed Pegasus’s help, but there was no one else he could turn to for the newest cards. If he wanted to continue to get support for his Blue Eyes White Dragons, he had to go to the creator of the game.

“Where are you right now?”

“My mansion just outside of San Francisco. I can have a guest room made up.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Kaiba-boy, you’ve been on medical leave for two weeks…”

“And I’m back now. I don’t need any special assistance. I’m not weak.”

He stared the other CEO down, refusing to show weakness or pain in front of the man who’d tried to take his company and HAD taken his brother.

And hating the sympathy and concern he could see on Pegasus’s face.

“Alright, Kaiba-boy. I’ll see you soon, just mind the storm that’s rolling in.”

With that, Crawford ended the call.

Once he was alone, Seto slammed his fists onto the desk and allowed the pain that pulsed up his arms and made his hands ache, to ground him, then he rose to his feet, fired off a text to Mokuba, letting him know where he was going, and stalked from his office.

He didn’t need Yugi to deliberately lose.

He could defeat either of the Mutou twins at any time.

No, he could defeat both at once!

And he would prove it by earning the cards Crawford had designed, rather than being given them.

Chapter Text

As the sun set over Domino and the last of the queue skulked off, Yugi and her friends were utterly exhausted, but feeling quite proud of themselves.

“That was, what? Fifty-something Duelists?” Katsuya asked as he sank down on the curb side, too tired to even keep his head up.

“Something like that.” Anzu agreed, slumping down next to him with a grin. “Between the seven of us. That’s not bad.”

“No, you’ve all been amazing, thank you so much.”

Yugi’s gratitude was honest. She and her sister had been switching back and forth between Duelists, but even they were absolutely at their mental limit, enough that they were beginning to make stupid mistakes. None that’d been irredeemable thankfully, but enough they would’ve been in trouble if they’d needed to duel anyone else.

And with how many people had been in the queue today, they would’ve been dueling for days if they’d needed to fight all those people alone. Instead, with the assistance of their friends and teammates, they’d managed to clear the line in just a day, which deserved a thank you.

“How does dinner on me sound? We can order in whatever you like.”

That sounded great to everyone, but as they staggered and stumbled inside, the triplets were collected by their sister, who’d helped Jiisan close the shop for the night, and herded home. Jiisan did give Kiyoko some cash to let them get a taxi home and buy them all dinner for their assistance instead though, cheering the triplets up.

“Jiisan?” Yugi called as Kiyoko herded her siblings towards the door, “Once the prize check clears, I’ll pay for their Duel Disks. As a thank you.”

“You don’t have to,” Kiyoko’s eyes widened, aware that while Kaiba Corp was selling the Duel Disks at a price far below what they’d expected to retail at, but that didn’t mean they were cheap, and just one was Y24,000 on its own, the equivalent of $150.

Buying all three of them…

“The Battle City prize pot was a million yen,” Yugi smiled reassuringly, “I can afford it without any problem, and they really do deserve it. They kicked butt today.”

Her praise made the younger Kobayashis grin at each other, and Kiyoko bowed deeply.  “Thank you, Mutou-san.”

“Yes, thanks Yugi!” Suddenly realising they were being rude and following the lead of their elder, the triplets bowed before they headed out to get in the cab.

The moment they were gone, Sugoroku turned to Rebecca, whose head hung low and her body swayed with fatigue. “Your Jiisan’s upstairs. He came in while you were dueling.”

Nervousness crossed Rebecca’s face at the thought of seeing her grandfather. She loved him dearly and he’d fought hard to get custody of her over her maternal aunt and uncle, who were intent on ignoring Rebecca’s wants and needs and insisted that she should be studying with kids of her own age.

Kids who were far, far below her in education and intelligence level, since she started college in the fall, and would most likely bully her incessantly for being a nerd, just like the kids in the schools she had been in previously.

Especially after her performance during Battle City.

However, she knew he was greatly disappointed in her for her rudeness and that he’d been forced to cut his expedition off short to come and collect her from the Mutous, and she couldn’t help but worry that he’d send her away.

Anzu’s reassuring hand on her shoulder bolstered her resolve and helped her gather the strength to climb the stairs to see him.

As she went, Yugi gave Rebecca time to have the needed conversation by turning to her grandfather, “Can we get in more?”

“You’re going to buy one for all your teammates?” Jiisan could see where his granddaughter was going.

Yugi shook her head. “We might not need them for school tournaments, but it would be good to have some for the club at least, just in case or for practice. If I buy one for everyone, then we’ll have people joining just to get a Duel Disk.”

“Probably the better idea. We can work out how many you need later. Go on up, I’ll lock up and join you.”

Yugi followed his directions, Anzu and Katsuya in tow, and stumbled up the stairs to find Doctor Arthur Hopkins hugging his granddaughter.

“Ah, Yugi, I was hoping you would be kind enough to take a look at something for me,” The archaeologist and history professor smiled at the Queen of Games as Rebecca pulled away. “If that’s okay, of course.”

“Sure.”

She had no idea how she could be helpful, but if he thought she could be of assistance, she wasn’t going to say no. He was still her Jiisan’s friend after all, even if Rebecca had burned a few bridges.

Doctor Hopkins spread out the photos he had from his dig across the living room table as Yugi took the food orders and called around to get the deliveries sorted. By the time that was done, Sugoroku had joined them and pulled out the notes he had from Arthur’s previous digs, having been keeping a copy for him in case there was a fire or something that ruined the originals, which were kept at Arthur’s ranch.

“I have reason to believe that Duel Monsters existed before Ancient Egypt,” Arthur explained as Yugi let her sister step forward to look at the pictures. “But I’d like an expert or two to take a look.”

“I can help,” Katsuya came forward too, fascinated.

Examining the photos, which were of a Grecian-style temple but in plain grey slate, with an odd green marble in some places, that worked shockingly well together.  The only light in the images were from the archaeologist group’s own flashlights and floodlights, making it difficult to see some of the dimly lit images, but there were carvings that both Duelists recognised amongst depictions of battles and day to day life.

“Were they using Duel Monsters for farming?!” Katsuya sounded incredulous.

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Sakhmet’s reply was soft as her fingers brushed the photo of a male figure on a throne, with a canine Duel Monster which looked a little like Silver Fang, and it reminded her of her mother and her serpent Ka beast.

“Oh?” Anzu pressed, hoping to get the Pharaoh talking about her past.

“Back home, those who could call their personal Ka beasts often got them to assist with heavy or hard tasks. There was one farmer down south whose bull-like creature often helped them plow the fields. He always had the best crops thanks to it, and the earliest harvest. My father said it was because, by summoning his Ka beast to work the land, he was putting his life into Egypt’s harvest, and it was repaying him.”

“Ah, you must be Sakhmet.”

The Pharaoh startled and stared at the old archaeologist, who, instead of looking like he thought she was crazy, had the appearance of a child who’d just had Christmas and their birthday rolled into one, with all the presents that would come with both holidays.

“It’s an honour to meet a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt in the flesh.”

“I’m Pharaoh Atem and this isn’t my flesh, not anymore. It’s Imoto’s,” Sakhmet quickly corrected.

She didn’t know Professor Hopkins well enough to feel comfortable with him using her personal name over her Pharaonic one. That was a right only her family and closest friends had back in Egypt.

Plus, she was still uncomfortable at how naturally the body had adapted to her during the duel with Hanaq, when her twin’s soul had been torn apart piece by piece by the Shadow Game and used to restore Sakhmet’s.

“But it’s an honour to meet you too, Jiisan has told us a lot about you.”

“I apologise,” He bowed realising his mistake and not taking offence. “All good things I hope.”

“Mostly, though he did mention the snake you put in his sleeping bag,” The Pharaoh’s amused smile made Arthur grin back. “I want to thank you for something.”

“Oh?” The doctor looked confused, wondering what she had to thank him for.

“Your Blue Eyes White Dragon? The one you gave Jiisan? I need to thank you for letting me use her during Battle City. If you hadn’t, Imoto and I wouldn’t be here right now. None of us would. She literally saved our lives.”

Arthur noticed the flinch that caused in his granddaughter, but he ignored it for now. Her behaviour was a conversation to have with her when they were alone, and she couldn’t stand to be more embarrassed right now.

Instead, he smiled. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t entirely happy that you were risking… her?”

When Sakhmet nodded at the pronoun, he nodded.

“However, I’m glad she could help. That she was able to assist you in such a critical moment means I made a good choice by trusting Sugoroku’s judgement of you.”

That made the Pharaoh grin back him and turn back to the photos, “As for your carvings here, they’re very similar to some of things we used Duel Monsters for…”

As she went over the carvings with the elderly archaeologist, occasionally picking out the specific Duel Monsters from the scene, her friends curled up on the sofa and seats around the room and shared a smile at how happy Sakhmet was to be able to tell Doctor Hopkins about things from her past.

A few weeks ago, it wouldn’t have been possible.

Before she had acquired the three God Monsters, she’d been a shade who hadn’t known her name, nor had she remembered anything of her past. Her life had been blank, her family were just a bunch of names and brief flickers of images shown to her by Azra, the Tomb Keeper who’d held the Millennium Necklace before it was stolen, along with her soul.

Now Sakhmet knew names and faces, she remembered who she came from and where home had once been. Most importantly, she had stories, true ones that couldn’t possibly be a lie because they flowed too easily and came with silly anecdotes.

Stories that brought her to life and made her open up more than she ever had before.

Especially when telling stories like when, in harvest season, she and her twin had gone down to the farms, because EVERYONE came out to assist during harvest season, even her father, the Pharaoh. The Duel Monsters that could be summoned using the Items had been a God sent blessing for the workers.

The bright, delighted laugh she let out as she described how she and he brother, Atem, who’d taken her Pharaonic name from, had gotten so covered in mud that they’d been unrecognisable, and got herded with the other kids to bundle reeds only to end up chasing each other with reeds, pretending to wield swords for the entertainment of the other children was infectious and caused them to grin broadly.

It was a delight to see, and Yugi too was enjoying the show, having taken spirit form and sat on the TV stand, where her silver tabby, long-furred cat, Ginka, happily purred away while Yugi ran her spectral hand through her fur to watch her sister buzz around.

“How old are these ruins?” Sakhmet finally asked, her curiosity finally beating her desire to talk as the food finally arrived and everyone started tucking in.

“About ten thousand years old.” Arthur sat back, enthralled with her tales and making so many notes that he was concerned he would need a second suitcase to carry them all. “Atlantis was around long before your country, but from what I’ve been able to find…”

He changed the photos over, spreading out a set of nine that revealed a wall mural that showed a glowing, serpentine eye in the sky over a ringed city, with green comets or meteors falling to the ground and into the ocean which was rising up to claim the city.

“They destroyed themselves.” Sakhmet breathed, “Or something attacked them.”

“Not sure yet,” Arthur admitted, pausing to practically inhale a dumpling or two. “That’s the problem with being this far away in history, without anyone from the culture to tell us what happened.”

Sakhmet pursed her lips, midway through unwrapping her burger. She knew of someone from the culture that Arthur would probably absolutely love to talk to, but she didn’t dare introduce them. Not when the Atlantean King had already proven to be a lying jackass who would happily crush other countries into the ground.

She couldn’t trust that he would give truthful information. Or even let Doctor Hopkins walk away with his soul.

She liked Jiisan’s friend, and she didn’t want Vasillikos to rip out his soul too.

Of course, that all relied on the idea that the Tomb Keepers had been honest with her for a change. She had no reason to trust they’d done so, after everything they put her and her friends through, and while Diva had been a new player on the board, he hadn’t been above manipulating them just like any other Tomb Keeper.

Which reminded her…

Having talked about papyrus scrolls and clay tablets for so long caused her to need a moment to remember how to unlock her twin’s phone and send a text message, before she messaged Mokuba, asking if he’d ever looked into who’d attacked Azra.

They were pretty sure it‘d been arranged by Vasilllikos. Their supposed allies were convinced it’d been one of his men, and it matched what she and Ba-Khu-Ra had sensed from Azra when they’d investigated her soulless body, but they didn’t know how he’d done it.

And they couldn’t prepare or defend themselves against him until they knew that.

Getting verification from Mokuba would confirm that they could trust Diva to a certain degree and help them find out what they needed to know.

They’d asked when it had initially happened, but between Kaiba’s brief demise, the entire island getting dragged into the Shadows, getting her memories back and the duel, they’d completely forgotten to follow up.

Now was the perfect time to do that.

Oddly, his reply didn’t verify or deny anything. Instead, he promised to pass her the information once he’d clarified a few things and asked her to wait patiently. She didn’t mind doing so, because she couldn’t move against Vasillikos right now anyway, but she knew the Kaibas had access to everything, so it should’ve been easy information to acquire.

He did, though, confirm that he’d harassed Crawford into updating the Industrial Illusions website in tandem with the Kaiba Corp one, meaning that she only had to accept challenges officially registered with and organised by either of her sponsor companies, instead of any random person on the street, which was a huge relief.

“Can I take a copy of these, old friend?” Jiisan’s question cut through the Pharaoh’s thoughts and made her look up.

“Of course, Solomon,” Hopkins grinned at his long time dig partner, using the nickname he had given him many years ago, when Sugoroku’s wisdom about a site had been proved right again, much to Arthur’s frustration. “And then I’ll head off with my granddaughter so we don’t miss our flight. You are packed, right dear?”

Rebecca squeaked and inhaled the last of her food, then scrambled for Yugi’s room, letting them know she was very much not packed.

“Oh, Rebecca…” Arthur’s shoulders sank.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give her a hand.” Anzu reassured him as he started collecting the photos and documentation for Sugoroku to photocopy.

“I’ll help.” Yugi headed up behind her, with Katsuya not far behind.

Reaching Yugi’s room revealed a small whirlwind of movement as Rebecca scurried around the room and collected everything of hers, before stuffing it so unceremoniously into her suitcase that she couldn’t get it zipped up and needed Katsuya to sit on it while she wiggled the zipper until it did up.

While she fought with her suitcase, Yugi glanced around her room and took a deep breath to try and maintain a form of calm. She knew Rebecca had made a mess, but without the clothes hiding the worst of it, she could see that it would take hours to clean up, get rid of the snack wrappers and empty pop bottles, check nothing had been damaged and put it all back where it belonged.

Unaware of Yugi’s thoughts, Rebecca let out a triumphant crow once she managed to get the padlock on. Then she paused, looked around the room and turned to Yugi, her eyes unable to meet the Queen’s.

“Yugi… Mutou-san? I…”

Yugi nearly corrected her, since she had given Rebecca permission to use her first name when she had first come to visit, but she stopped herself. She suspected that the younger Duelist was using her surname and an honorific specifically to denote respect, and possibly for an apology and wasn’t going to stop her.

“I’m sorry.”

Rebecca confirmed her thoughts.

“I’ve been rude, I tried to ruin your gaming career, I got you hospitalised, I trashed your room and still you’re being nice and let me duel with you, and…”

“Rebecca, breathe.” Yugi held up a hand, cutting off Rebecca’s rambling. “Everyone makes mistakes, and yeah, I’m a little mad…”

‘More than a little,’ Sakhmet piped up from the mental peanut gallery. ‘I can sense your mood boiling from here.’

“I’m a little mad that you thought trashing my room was okay,” Yugi ignored her twin. “But I’m not going to yell at you about it. It wouldn’t fix anything.”

“O… Okay.”

Seeing the tears building in Rebecca’s eyes, Yugi pulled the girl into a hug, one she could feel Rebecca needed because she was trembling like a leaf.

“All I ask? Next time we meet up? Is that you’ve grown up a little and stopped listening to rumours. I want to be able to be your friend the next time we meet, instead of an enemy. But it’s up to you. You have to decide if you want to keep acting like this, or whether you want to be someone who’s more mature and responsible, because I promise you, this sort of behaviour won’t make you any friends. And it might lose you some.”

“I… I don’t have any,” Rebecca admitted as she pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m starting college in September though, so maybe, if I follow your advice, I’ll make some there.”

“College?” Katsuya’s eyes widened so much Yugi thought they might pop out of his head.

“Yeah…” Rebecca looked a little nervous at his reaction, “I earned my way in already. Grandpa helped.”

“Good luck?” It was a question from Anzu, but more because she was impressed and kind in awe of a twelve year old who was intelligent enough to get into post-education schools before she even finished high school.

“Thank you,” Rebecca’s smile widened at the good wishes, even as her grandfather called her name insistently from downstairs. “And thank you, again, Yugi.”

Yugi bit back her retort that Rebecca had never thanked her before and tried to be the bigger person as she saw the girl downstairs and out the door.

Then, finally, once it was just her, her friends and her grandfather, she let out a frustrated noise.

“Yugi?” Her grandfather asked, worried.

“You should see the state of her room, Jiisan.” Anzu sighed, having been given permission to call Sugoroku ‘grandfather’.

“Yeah, Rebecca did a number on it,” Katsuya scowled in the direction the pair of Hopkins had gone.

“I’ll just sleep downstairs. I’m too tired to deal with it tonight.”

Yugi tried to wave it off, but she was disappointed. She’d wanted to collapse in her own bed, surrounded by her own things, and to be denied that by a brat of a child who’d entirely messed up her own life was irritating.

“No, you won’t,” Anzu shook her head, startling her friend.

“Anzu?”

“What do you think, Jou?” Anzu grinned at Katsuya, “Between the three of us, we should get that room liveable in an hour or two, right?”

“Right.”

Yugi couldn’t help but stare at her friends, her heart lifting and a smile forming. “You guys are the best.”

“We’re your friends,” Anzu reassured her as Katsuya put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her towards the stairs.

“You’re as tired as I am.” Yugi tried to protest, able to see the way Katsuya’s shoulders drooped and Anzu rocked on the balls of her feet, a sure sign that she was trying to stay awake.

“You’re not talking us out of this. Come on.”

Between the three of them, and with the occasional assistance from Sakhmet, who used her powers to herd things out of corners that those with a mortal form wouldn’t be able to reach easily, it only took an hour and a half to clean up and get the room at least semi-organised.

It wasn’t quite right. There were a couple of things that needed to be fixed and more that needed to go back in their original places, but the garbage was gone, everything that wasn’t sorted was waiting for her on her desk, the bedding had been changed, and the room was organised enough that Yugi could comfortably sleep in her own room tonight.

“Thank you,” Yugi hugged Anzu and would’ve done the same for Katsuya, except he shrank back from her, making her start to back off, before he pulled her into a kiss that utterly delighted her and made her toes curl.

“You’re welcome. Now get some sleep,” Katsuya ordered when he pulled away.

“But…”

“We’ll find our own way down and out,” Anzu promised, disrupting Yugi’s thoughts by ruffling her hair.

“You sure?”

“Kaasan was at Kaiba Corp late anyway, she’s waiting outside to pick me up on her way home,” Anzu showed Yugi the text message confirming her words as she tried not to be disturbed by how short Yugi’s hair was compared to a couple of weeks ago, knowing Yugi was sensitive about it. “Get some sleep, in case more lunatics show up tomorrow.”

“Check this out.” Yugi giggled, showing them the updated websites on her phone.

“Oh good, maybe we can sleep in then,” Katsuya grinned, “Night Yuge.”

“Night Katsu, night Anzu.” Yugi waved them off, before flopping back onto her bed.

‘You mind if I go get our spares?’

“You’re not tired?” Yugi blinked, sitting up to stare at her sister who’d emerged from the Puzzle to sit on the end of the bed.

‘I’m tired, but I have too much on my mind,’ The Pharaoh grimaced. ‘And I don’t know whether the Shadows churning around here is because I’m wound up, or whether I’m just being paranoid.’

That was fair, and as tired as Yugi was, she didn’t want to lie down until her twin was ready to rest, so she toddled downstairs to the basement and grabbed her spares. As she headed back up, she was glad that they’d been downstairs rather than where Rebecca could trash her organised system.

That would’ve taken DAYS to fix, even with the help of her friends.

Once back to the room, Yugi and Sakhmet compromised. Normally they would deck build at the desk, but instead they sprawled across the bed and cuddled in next to each other as they unwound by going through their deck and making improvements, based on the lessons they’d learned during the gauntlet until finally they drifted off together, comfortable, settled and content in the choices they had made.

Chapter Text

The moon shone through the window of the attic conversion, illuminating the Pharaoh and her sister, who were caught in the gentle arms of the God, Bes, who ruled over dreams, as they shared a vision of a future where they got the life they wanted, free of stress and worry, with those they loved.

A future that upon waking, they would know would be impossible, since those who’d died in Egypt couldn’t claim a second life and live with them in the modern era, but one that let their fear and frustrations float away.

Which was why neither of them woke when the Shadows slithered along the floor and pooled at the side of the bed before swirling up, shifting and twisting, first into a demonic, twisted canine whose jowls were easily big enough to devour the sleeping girls. Then it rose to its hind legs and warped further, taking the form of the man who’d been hunting wounded Duelists earlier in the day.

He let out a low growl as he beheld the sight of the Pharaoh and her heir. Their peaceful expressions and comfortable positions sickened him when he compared it to the hell Akhenaden had put him through and the rough situations he and those who’d served him had come from.

Once again, the royal brat was living it up in luxury, while others suffered.

As she always had.

The temptation was to take them out now. Kill them both in their sleep and then go after the last target of his fury while the world fell apart around him.

But that would be passing up an opportunity he couldn’t miss.

Just like in Egypt. His men could have killed the royal twins where they laid in a drugged sleep, but he’d insisted on having them brought to him to be used against their father and uncle.

And so he could strip the Crown Prince of the Divine Avatars that the Gods had granted him to protect Egypt with and use them to devastate the country, and, one day, the world.

He would’ve succeeded too, if it hadn’t been for the little bitch who now lay before him.

This time though, he knew better than to underestimate her.

And better than to let her have anyone who could assist her.

He reached around with one of his huge hands, hands that were easily as big as the living Pharaoh’s head and placed his hand on the girl’s back, over her heart.

He couldn’t kill her, not if he wanted to get the spelling of the name that controlled the darkness from the Pharaoh.

But he could do this…

The Pyramid of Light glowed as he unleashed the spell he had prepared. The Shadows sank into the living Pharaoh, causing the girl to whimper in pain, her peaceful expression twisting and her form twitching as he began to sever the bonds her soul had created, one by one, starting with her connection to her twin.

Before the spell could slice through the connection fully, the long deceased Pharaoh suddenly vanished and the Millennium Puzzle lit up like a beacon on a moonless night, forcing his magic out of the girl and pushing him back.

The eyes of the physical form snapped open, revealing shimmering ruby filled with power and ready to strike at who or whatever had hurt her sister as the Pharaoh shot to her feet, only to freeze when she beheld who was in her room.

“A… Anubis…”

The sheer shock and horror in her voice made him give her a sharp-toothed grin before dissolving into the darkness and flowing down the stairs, into the dark corridors of the apartment and out into the night, through the gaps under the doors.

Sakhmet hesitated for a moment, frozen in place, before she gave chase, her heart pounding in her chest at the thought that the demon of her childhood, the one who’d stripped her twin brother from her, had been in her sister’s bedroom.

It wasn’t possible. She knew it wasn’t. She’d killed him thousands upon thousands of years ago. He’d been utterly decimated by the Gods that she’d unleashed upon him and his minions.

He couldn’t be real. He just couldn’t…

Her denials were backed by the fact that by the time she made it to the living room, his stench and magical trace had vanished without a trace.

Her breath came in short pants as she tried to process what she’d seen, what she’d felt.

She knew her twin had been in pain. They’d been sharing the same dream, so she’d known the moment her twin’s heart had ached and the darkness had tried to separate them, so the evidence said that he’d been there.

But he couldn’t have been. There was no way…

It HAD to have been a figment of her imagination. A nightmare trying to invade their sleep and force her into awareness. It HAD to have been.

Because she couldn’t, wouldn’t believe that he was here, now, in the modern era, in her home, in her BEDROOM, trying to rip another twin away from her, the way he’d murdered her brother.

Trying to ruin her life.

Again.

Still, unwilling to take that risk or leave the monster of her nightmares another opening to harm her or her sister, she shot into the kitchen and scooped up the chalks lay there.

Normally they were used to write on the one cupboard that’d been painted with blackboard paint, allowing them to write on it for shopping lists. But right now, while she was lacking the usual materials she’d use to lay down warding spells and until she could get some form of permanent paint to set the spells with, it would do.

Then she darted down the stairs and, with the chalk and some of the pebbles from their backyard, laid down a circle around the shop, warding against evil spirits and those who wished those within harm. As she laid down the last of the hieratic text, it glowed with a golden light and sank into the pavement and wood, laying out a warding circle that would last a few days.

Then another.

‘Anesan?’

And another.

‘Anesan!’

Her twin’s sharp, concerned call made her pause after the third, her hands trembling.

‘Are you alright?’

Imoto separated out in spectral form, her hand resting on Sakhmet’s.

‘You’re trembling and you’re casting the same spell over and over.’

‘I’m layering it, so we have more time to work out a better, more permanent way to protect our home from that monster, or at least have a chance to renew it before all three layers fade.’

That didn’t entirely reassure her sister, but as she stepped back inside and locked the door behind her, she felt much safer with the magic flowing around her and no more sightings of the creature.

Able to feel herself shaking, Sakhmet took a deep breath, fully aware she could just be being paranoid because her sister had been in pain and the shadows in the room had formed weird shapes.

After all, it’d only been a couple of weeks since Imoto’s soul had been torn to pieces and put back together. It was entirely viable that the twinge of pain and Shadows had been the consequences of that and what she had seen had been a nightmare.

But she couldn’t take that risk. She couldn’t take the risk of losing another sibling to the monster that called itself Anubis.

She just couldn’t.

‘Anesan?’ Her twin ghosted through the door and put a hand on her arm, trying to reassure her. ‘I’m okay. Are you?’

She wasn’t. The last thing she wanted was that creature returned to this world. Though she knew well that she could defeat him now, in a magical fight at least, the harm he’d done and the devastation he’d wrought on her life made him more terrifying to Sakhmet than the Demon God Apophis, himself.

If it hadn’t been for Anubis, she would’ve never been Pharaoh. She would’ve never had to live a lie for four years, pretending to be her brother, until her secret was forced out into the open.

She would’ve been her brother’s First Wife, his Queen, the one who ran his household, finances and day to day life in the palace, working on the nobility to soften them up for her brother’s laws and regulations. She would’ve been the one organising his other wives, the ones he would’ve taken from foreign countries to ensure peace treaties, and the children that would’ve come from those relationships.

She would’ve been able to work closer with Ba-Khu-Ra, preventing the chaos that had occurred, and possibly ensuring that her brother could do what she hadn’t been able to.

Anubis had ruined everything when he’d gotten his men to rip her and her brother from their home. Everything they’d planned for, everything they’d worked towards.

It had all been for nothing after Prince Atem’s death, because his sister hadn’t been able to live long enough to see it all to fruition.

‘Anesan…’ Able to sense the pain and grief in her twin’s soul and see the tears building in her eyes, Yugi latched onto her in a tight hug.

‘I… I’m okay.’

It was a lie, one of the very few that she’d ever told her twin, and she wrapped her arms around her sister, letting her powers check Imoto over, confirming there had been Shadows in play, but unable to tell exactly what Anubis had been trying to do.

‘He tried to hurt you. He…’

‘I’m okay. I’m okay. I promise. I’m not going anywhere.’

Yugi nuzzled her Anesan, letting her feel that yes, she was still here.

It’d been a shock when pain had slammed into her and tried to sweep the rug out from under her feet. She’d tried to resist, to fight what was trying to pull her away from her sister, but it wouldn’t have been enough. Anesan’s fast reaction had protected her and saved their bond, but the sheer panic that was now flooding through Sakhmet told Yugi that whoever had attacked her was someone that her twin knew.

The silent trembling from a spirit who did their utmost to hide their fear, was disturbing and made Yugi worried.

‘Talk to me?’

‘That...’ She felt her twin pause and gather herself, as if even saying the name was terrifying. ‘That was Anubis...’

‘I’ve met Anubis.’

Yugi frowned, remembering the God of the Dead that she’d played Hounds and Hares against to return to the living world when she’d drowned at the docks. He had looked nothing like the man who had been looming over them in their bedroom.

‘That wasn’t…’

Then it hit her.

Anesan was talking about the sorcerer, not the God.

‘Wait what? I thought he was dead!’

The Pharaoh had too. She’d been convinced of it. The fact that he’d survived the sheer inferno that’d been unleashed upon him and his forces scared her.

If that hadn’t stopped him, what could?

‘So much for not getting into trouble while Ba-Khu-Ra and Amane are away.’

A slightly bitter laugh escaped the Pharaoh at her Imoto’s words. She HAD promised to stay out of trouble.

But it seemed trouble was determined to find her.

The sound of movement upstairs made the Pharaoh bolt up there, hoping she hadn’t missed him and he hadn’t gone after someone else she cared about, only to find Katsuya moving around the kitchen.

“Katsu?”

“Can’t sleep either?” He asked, waving a pack of hot chocolate at her.

“Either an old enemy broke into the shop or I’m having nightmares,” Sakhmet slipped onto a stool, grimacing at Katsuya’s shocked stare. “And I’m hoping it was the latter, but...”

“How would...? The place is locked.”

“You remember Anubis? The man who killed my twin brother?”

“Yeah?”

“Either I was seeing things or he was there, looming over us, dissolved into a puddle of darkness and fled. I know which I prefer, but I’ve warded the shop in case it really was him. He won’t be able to get back in tonight.”

After Battle City, when not sharing information had gotten them into a duel that’d resulted in the brief death of her twin and nearly destroyed the world, Sakhmet wasn’t going to hide this from him. Especially when he lived with them most of the time.

“Did he hurt you?” Katsuya’s tone was sharp as he glowered at the back door of the apartment.

“Tried to cast something on Imoto, but I couldn’t catch what it was. I pushed his magic out of her too quickly,” she grimaced. “She’s okay though.”

“Good. If he comes back, I’ll punch him,” Katsuya shook the hot chocolate at her again and when she nodded, he started making her one too. “Since when could you do wards and stuff?”

“Since about three thousand years ago, but I only remembered how to do it once I got my name back,” The Pharaoh leaned on her palms as she watched her one of her most trusted friends flit about the kitchen. “But I couldn’t have done it before anyway, I’d have stopped Ba-Khu-Ra and Amane visiting by accident.”

“If you could block them, why didn’t you stop Ba-Khu-Ra like that in Egypt?”

“Because I didn’t have the ability to ward the whole country, and I didn’t want to, not until after I thought she was going to kill my son. Then I warded the whole palace and had my Priests assist me.”

“You really cared about your kid, huh?” Katsuya’s grin made Sakhmet smile sadly.

“He wasn’t just my son; he was my miracle. I didn’t think I could conceive.”

The sad shock from her twin echoed the sympathy on Katsuya’s. Mesta, the Head Healer who’d been treating her, had been sorry for her too. Sakhmet hadn’t been in any condition to appreciate it back then. She’d been too busy mourning her brother and their future.

“I thought my Jt… my Otousan’s line would end with me. Then I stopped taking Akhenaden’s potions, for anything, and fell pregnant with Akefia. I had to protect him, he could’ve been my only chance for an heir. And yes, I loved him dearly.”

She missed him deeply, but the box of jewels filled with memories that he’d left for her had confirmed that Seth had raised him well, and that helped ease her pain.

“Thinking about it, I suspect Akhenaden was behind the lack of siblings within the harem too. Jt was taking potions made by him and I know the harem were too. Mana’s mother was allergic to some of the ingredients, which is probably how I got a half-sister.”

“If you knew your uncle was an asshole, why were you drinking anything he gave you?” Katsuya turned to raise an eyebrow at her.

“Because he was the only one who was allowed to brew painkillers in the palace, so if I injured myself, I had to go to him. At least until Ba-Khu-Ra started getting me potions from outside the palace.”

Another thing that had confirmed in Sakhmet’s mind that she hadn’t been behind the poisoning. She could’ve tainted the potions Sakhmet had been taking at any time.

She hadn’t.

“Anyway, once Akefia’s life was threatened, there was no going back. I warded every palace window and entrance I could, right up until the day I let her in to do the sealing ritual and even then, the garden where the Queen of Sparta was hiding with her son and mine was warded, just in case. I’m going to do the shop moving forward too, now that I remember how to do it.”

“It won’t mess with customers?” Katsuya asked, sliding a mug across the counter to her.

“Shouldn’t, unless they’re planning to harm us.”

The Pharaoh hadn’t thought about that when she had laid her wards, but right now keeping Anubis out was more important.

She added, “Or possessed by evil spirits.”

Katsuya nodded, blew on his drink to cool it, then jumped up and sat on the counter next to the window, watching the night sky as the Pharaoh opened her mouth to continue, then paused as she felt her twin yawn and gently nudged her. ‘Go on and get some sleep, I’ll talk to Katsuya a little longer if that’s okay?’

‘Just let me say good night to him?’

Imoto didn’t have to ask. The Pharaoh stepped aside and let her take control.

Yugi smiled brightly at her boyfriend, but his lack of response, made her heart twist painfully, leading her to ask, “Good night?”

“You’re going to bed?” He asked awkwardly, looking uncomfortable.

His reaction made Yugi mentally wince. Before Battle City, he’d been happy if she decided to say goodnight before she dozed off in her Soul Room.

It looked like that had changed.

“Anesan’s gunna be up a bit longer, but I’m gunna crash out, so I thought… never mind...”

With that, she retreated.

‘Imoto…’ The Pharaoh reached across the bond, able to sense her sister’s heartache.

‘Get us to bed at a semi-reasonable time? Please?’

‘I will, but…’

‘Good night.’

As her twin settled down in her Soul Sanctuary to sleep, Sakhmet let out a sigh, moved across the kitchen and joined her friend on the counter by the window, trying to work out how to ask Katsuya what the issue was between him and her sister.

“I’m not tired yet, so is it alright if I talk with you?” The Pharaoh finally started.

At the question, Katsuya seemed to relax and didn’t hesitate to move over so she could get a good view of the world outside.

“You did well today,” she continued. “I don’t think any of your opponents got past you.”

“Nope.”

Katsuya was quite proud of himself for that. The only other ones who had a flawless record for the day were Yugi and Sakhmet and that wasn’t unusual. Between them, they were the Queen of Games, and they held that title for a reason.

“I trashed every last one of them and I’ll do it again tomorrow if you need me to.”

“My loyal knight,” The Pharaoh chuckled, leaning back against the wall for prime star viewing opportunities. “Seriously though, we’d be lost without you.”

The way his expression twisted made her pause and grimace.

“You’re thinking of the docks.”

“The docks, the stadium… I killed her, Mei… Met. And I held you down for that monster. She could’ve taken your head instead of your hair.”

“I’ll answer to either, you know that.” Sakhmet sighed, having been worried that this’d been eating away at him with how withdrawn he had been since Battle City. “And yeah. You did, but you weren’t in control of yourself. I’m not angry at you, for what she made you do.”

Today had been the first time in weeks that he’d kissed her twin, and he hadn’t been responsive to any attempts to cuddle, which had made her very tactile sister worried that he secretly disliked her now, because everything he had been through because of her.

She had wondered how long Katsuya could stew before this erupted out of him. He’d been so quiet that it was only been a matter of time. Apparently now, with the added pressure of someone possibly breaking into the shop crushing him, was the moment.

She watched him carefully and noted the way his shoulders sank. “You think I should be.”

“I KILLED Yuge. I forced you to KNEEL.” Jou snarled, so furious at himself that he was taking it out on her. “I don’t even care that I nearly helped Hanaq end the world. I hurt you both! I don’t deserve her, and I don’t deserve this.”

He gestured around at the kitchen, but she knew what he meant. The life the Mutous had helped him pull together from the mess his father had been driving him into.

“Yes, you do, you…”

“No, I don’t, Met. Mokuba said he broke free when Seto was in pain. Just in pain. I didn’t manage it when I killed my girlfriend! I failed when that bastard had a blade to your throat! I should’ve never let her use me like that, but I didn’t protect either of you. I couldn’t, and I…argh 

He slammed his hand into the counter, which vibrated with the force.

“And somehow, somehow, you and Yuge completely forgive me when I don’t deserve it. I failed you. I failed her. And you can both do better than...”

“Jonouchi Katsuya. Listen to me.”

The snap in the Pharaoh’s voice made Katsuya trail off.

“You messed up, yes. Imoto drowned as a result of your duel, yes. Our hair was shorn, and Hanaq nearly slit my throat, all true. But you know what? I’d still rather have you at my back. Because you are one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met, and you didn’t stop fighting the entire time she had a hold of you. You even told Honda that Ishizu still had her claws in you, specifically so he could stop you from hurting me again, remember? Can you imagine what would’ve happened if I’d taken you to the museum with me?”

Katsuya shuddered at the thought. If he’d been there, while they’d been unconscious and reliving the memories of those last months in Egypt, the demon-possessed Hanaq would’ve been able to kill them, through him, before their power was fully activated.

Ending everything.

“I felt you trembling the entire time she had you holding me down. You were trying to fight free, even when she had the weight of twenty-thousand souls behind her. You probably would’ve managed it if she hadn’t been wielding the power of almost every soul on the island. You were the one who carried us to the infirmary and insisted I stay with Imoto after we blacked out. I haven’t forgotten that.”

Katsuya relaxed a little at the reminder that he’d verbally fought with his mother and her former coworkers to ensure the Puzzle stayed with Yugi so Sakhmet and Yugi could support each other in their recovery.

“I don’t believe you don’t deserve everything you have. And I certainly know that if I dared try and tell you otherwise, Imoto would scream at me. She loves you. Enough to risk her life saving yours, and if you asked her if she wanted you to walk away from her, she would tell you she never wants you to leave, but will let you go if you want to walk. In fact, she thinks you’ve been hiding the fact you hate her, because you’ve been avoiding her.”

“What? No!” He yelped backing up slightly and falling off the counter with a yelp and a thud that echoed around the quiet apartment, spilling his drink everywhere. “Ow…”

“You okay?” Sakhmet asked, peering over the edge and offering him a hand up.

“I’m sorry, what?” He asked, even as he took the offered hand.

“She thinks you hate her, or at least you’re angry at her,” The Pharaoh clarified. “Because you’ve been avoiding her as much as possible since the Finals. She thought you were waiting for the right moment to break up with her.”

“I’ve been waiting for her to see sense and break up with me!” Katsuya’s voice rose to a squeak. “After everything I did?”

“She doesn’t blame you. She’s never going to blame you.” Sakhmet huffed in reply, “Blaming you for Hanaq and Zorc’s actions, would be akin to blaming her for mine. You’d never say she set a guy on fire, would you?”

“No, that was you.” 

Sakhmet’s gesture was very much a ‘and there you go.’

Seeing it, Katsuya’s shoulders sank. She wasn’t wrong, he shouldn’t blame himself for Ishizu and Hanaq’s actions, any more than he would ever blame Yugi for Sakhmet’s.

And in letting the guilt eat him, he was pushing away the best thing to happen to him.

“I should talk to her, shouldn’t I?”

“Tomorrow, once you’ve both slept,” The Pharaoh stretched. “And you’ve had time to decide how you want to approach it.”

He nodded, his head tilting as he considered the girl sat in the moonlight. “How’re you doing?”

“What?” The confusion that pursed the Pharaoh’s lips amused Katsuya as he cleaned up his drink.

“You’ve been quiet since you got your memories back, you just found out an old enemy might be back and is targeting you both, and you keep pushing the conversation off of Egypt when you aren’t being questioned about it. So, how’re you feeling?”

Sakhmet let out an amused huff. She often forgot that the goofy exterior hid quite an intelligent young man.

“Honestly? Like you’re not the biggest fuckup in this room.”

“How are you a fuckup?” Katsuya was honestly confused as he stared at her, utterly confused. “You saved everyone.”

“This time, but…” She shook her head, “In Egypt? I left such a mess behind that it took Seth and Akefia years to clean up. The memories Akefia left me don’t speak of it directly, but I can see the strain on his face, the slow rebuilding of the city around him… I left a lot of work for him and Seth to do, in order to undo the damage my war left behind and…”

Her shoulders sank and her gaze turned outside, to the moon and stars, “He doesn’t blame me, or at least he doesn’t say he does, he blames Ba-Khu-Ra, which… fair, and not, at the same time. I promised her justice for her people and that I would do whatever I could to ensure they got an afterlife but Akhenaden died in cust… no.”

She grimaced and shook her head.

“No. Seth admitted he murdered his Jt, so say to protect me. I still think it was to ensure Akhenaden’s afterlife.”

“He didn’t get it though,” Katsuya reminded her. “Not if he was in the Eye when you fought Pegasus.”

“That would’ve been Ba-Khu-Ra’s fault.”

Sakhmet got a half-grin, half-grimace.

“According to our beliefs, once someone was buried properly, as Akhenaden was originally, they were allowed to enter the afterlife. If their tomb or grave was then disturbed and their body damaged, they were booted out, because they no longer had that tie to their form. Apparently Ba-Khu-Ra taking Akhenaden’s head and putting it in my bed as a threat counted, and I guess he attached himself to the Eye to get revenge.”

“She did WHAT?” Katsuya’s eyes bulged and his voice rose an octave.

“Shhh,” Sakhmet gestured downwards, not wanting Jiisan to be woken up. “She cut the head off his mummy and put it in my bed. It was a threat and a warning. She could get into my chambers at any time, and I wouldn’t even be safe in my tomb.”

“Wow, she was nuts,” Katsuya was almost impressed. 

“She was a lot more like Hanaq back then. She’s mellowed over the last three thousand years she had to wait for me to wake up,” Sakhmet shuddered, remembering the deranged woman who’d threatened to torture her to death in her own throne room on that last day.

“Damn…”

“Yeah. I’m a little cross that Akhenaden didn’t just get eaten by Ammit for his crimes the moment he entered Anubis’s court. If Jt spoke for him after everything he was found guilty of, I’m going to be having words.”

Katsuya frowned, confused. “Wouldn’t a God have judged your uncle as an asshole anyway?”

“Pharaohs were demi-gods and the ones who connected the Gods to the mortal realm, so we could speak for those who served us and get them absolved of their crimes. It’s how I’m planning to try and stop Ba-Khu-Ra getting devoured.”

Sakhmet sighed, leaning back against the window, thinking of the way her father had always favoured his twin brother.

“Jt and Akhenaden were twins, and Jt always seemed to let his brother get away with everything. Atem and I constantly had our ideas pushed aside because of him. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if Jt spoke for him, even with his crimes, but I hoped…”

Disappointment and frustration seeped into her tone, “I hoped Jt would hear his crimes read and finally realise Atem and I weren’t lying when we tried to get him to understand that our uncle was dangerous. That his protests in front of Scales had been lies, no matter what the Item said.”

“I thought you said the Scales knew when someone was lying?” Katsuya frowned, confused.

“They’re supposed to, and my uncle always answered with ‘their blood never touched my hands’ or ‘I didn’t kill them’, which was a LIE. I KNOW it was a lie; he admitted to being behind their deaths after he was arrested, but I don’t know how the Scales never tagged it. It never made any sense to me.”

She shook her head, her shoulders sinking.

“I just hoped that once the Gods forced the truth from that… that serpent hatched ass, Jt would finally stand up for us. For his family.”

“Maybe Anubis just hadn’t gotten to Akhenaden yet?”

Katsuya could see how much the thought of her father speaking to the Gods for her traitorous uncle hurt his best friend.

“People die every day, so maybe he was making Akhenaden wait in the queue to be judged and eaten, just to annoy him.”

The thought of that eased a smile onto Sakhmet’s face.

“How does that relate to Ba-Khu-Ra going off the deep end anyway?” He nudged her back on track, able to see how much this whole conversation was upsetting her.

“If I hadn’t…” She trailed off and ran a hand through her hair, a grimace forming when she remembered it had been cut short by the demon. “I allowed myself to be blackmailed into giving Akhenaden a burial, something the people of Kul Elna never got, and between that and the fact Seth sent guards to collect her son…”

“There was no way to calm her down.”

“She was infuriated,” Sakhmet agreed. “Ba-Khu-Ra loved her boy as much as I loved mine. After he was hurt by Seth’s men, any attempt to talk to her was worthless. I tried. I tried so hard, but she…”

Sakhmet’s hand went to her throat. Zorc’s attempt to strangle her during the Black Clown fire after her twin suffered a bad concussion, was an echo of the past. An echo of when Ba-Khu-Ra had attacked her in the nursery, when she’d also suffered a head injury and been strangled.

And both times, they’d lain unconscious for weeks afterward.

“Met?” Katsuya’s call drew her mind back to the present.

“I loved her, but I couldn’t reach her, not back then. She was too far gone, and I let that love blind me to it. I should’ve stopped her. Instead, I didn’t even try, not truly, not until she went after my son, and by that point Apophis, now known as Zorc, had made her too powerful. I had no choice but to seal us both away. And for my choices, my people suffered, and you all have been through so much that I…”

She shook her head and trailed off.

Silence fell for a minute or two as Katsuya digested her words. Then he leaned back on his palms and asked, “What would’ve happened to Ba-Khu-Ra? If you’d stopped her back then?”

“She gave herself to Apophis, so the Gods probably wouldn’t have been kind when she reached the afterlife,” Sakhmet winced. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten a chance to speak for her.”

“And her people?”

“I’d have done my best to ensure their afterlives like I promised. I might actually have succeeded too. I know Akefia tried to finish my work, but I don’t know if that tomb’s still safe, so now I need to do something similar here in the modern era as well.”

“What about Yuge?”

“She wouldn’t…” Sakhmet’s heart froze as she remembered that the whole reason her Imoto existed as she was, was because of what had happened in Egypt. “…Wouldn’t exist…”

“So, in refusing to kill Ba-Khu-Ra until the last, you protected her soul, gave her a chance to see her family again, and allowed me to meet Yuge?” Katsuya pushed.

He wasn’t wrong. Ba-Khu-Ra had a chance of getting an afterlife now, and her twin was a wonderful bright light in this world that brightened up the lives of the world around her.

“Yes, but…”

“And your cousin and kid cleaned up the mess that got left behind, right?”

“As much as they could.” Sakhmet grimaced, thinking of the damage her seal had done to the flow of magic in the world. “There were certain things that they couldn’t undo while the seal remains.”

“Can you fix that now? Having the extra firepower might help against that Atlantis guy.”

Sakhmet paused and considered it. Now she had her name back, she could unlock the Shadows themselves, bringing the magic back into the world fully and rebalancing the scales of magic that she’d so badly tipped.

And it really would help to not be fighting with the seal any time she wanted to do something insane. Plus, if she had more Shadows freely available in the world, she would need to draw less from her twin’s soul to use them.

But she had to consider the dark creatures and evil Gods that’d been thrown through doors and holes opened in her seal. The moment she tried to release the magic, they would attempt to break through, the same way they had when she’d brought through the spirits of Kul Elna.

If the Shadows overwhelmed her on the way out, she wouldn’t be able to stop those that really needed to remain sealed from breaking through.

“Maybe, now that I have my name, I have the key to the door, but… it’s dangerous. Really dangerous,” she admitted slowly. “You remember what the Tomb Keepers said in Tokyo.”

He nodded, remembering the warning about the other dark things that people had locked away.

“I don’t know what’s been forced through my seal. I could accidently unleash something like Zorc. Multiple somethings. I probably shouldn’t take that risk even if…”

She closed her eyes, trying not to think about the magical nations that’d been left completely defenceless by her actions. She hadn’t had a choice in the matter, she’d been forced into action because no one had come when she’d called for aid.

That didn’t mean that she hadn’t harmed many during those actions.

The damage she’d done had not only severely damaged Egypt’s standing internationally and undone all the work she’d done to try and earn back the truth her uncle had so spectacularly destroyed, but it’d also stripped the world of Shadow magic, unbalancing the world and damaging the defences and inner workings of many nations.

Nations that no longer existed.

“Even if there’s people it would help?” Katsuya asked softly, able to guess what she was thinking from the way her entire posture had collapsed and she’d slumped into the wall.

“I don’t even know if they’re alive anymore,” Sakhmet’s voice wavered as she tried to bite back the tears. “There were nations that relied on magic that I possibly wiped out with my seal, and I can’t ever know if they managed to find a way around it, or whether I… I…”

She cut herself off because she couldn’t say it.

She couldn’t ask the world if she was responsible for genocide.

Katsuya put his hand on her shoulder and the weight of it helped her ground herself.

She hoped she wasn’t. She hoped that they’d managed to find ways around the damage she’d done and continued existing, but that was something that she couldn’t find out.

Except maybe from Ba-Khu-Ra when she got back.

Her hands clenched.

If they’d just answered her calls for aid, if she hadn’t been alone to deal with the situation, if her Priests had been more focused on finding a way that could end the threat without being so focused on saving her...

Then maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t have that weight on her shoulders.

But those were all wishes. Wishes she couldn’t make come true.

And what was that saying that Jiisan had told her once? Ah, yes…

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

She had no way to undo the harm she’d done in the past, no way to apologise to those her actions or inaction had hurt. The only thing she could do was ensure that the future was a better one, and see if she could find a way to safely unleash the magic back into the world for those who needed it.

‘Diva.’

Her twin’s soft, concerned reminder made the Pharaoh jump, causing Katsuya to pull back and her eyes to widen, having not wanted her twin to know about any of this.

‘Diva had the ability to change things. Remember our hair?’

Sakhmet hadn’t appreciated him touching her twin, but there’d been a moment where their hair had been back at the length it had been before the demon had cut it short, but…

‘He also implied his power wouldn’t be fully unlocked until I left.’

At Sakhmet’s reminder, Yugi flinched.

‘Never mind then. We’ll find another way.’

‘What if there isn’t one?’

Silence resounded from the soul bond.

“Met?”

“Imoto woke up,” Sakhmet answered Katsuya, seeing the concern on his face. “She made a suggestion, but I don’t know if I could trust it.”

“That Diva kid?”

“I can see why Imoto loves you, you’re not as dumb as you play on TV, are you?”

“I’m not just a pretty face and muscles,” his bright grin and ‘strongman’ pose lifted the moods of both Mutou twins. “I thought he tried to hex Yuge on sight?”

“Why do you think I’m hesitant to trust him or his powers?” Sakhmet grimaced. “I’ll find another way if I can, I just need to work out how to unlock things safely. And that’s something to worry about once Anubis has been dealt with. If that really was him.”

She was still hoping it wasn’t.

Katsuya nodded. Unlocking the Shadows while another foe was running around who used them was probably an awful idea. Especially with as shaken up as Sakhmet seemed about him.

“Speaking of that asshole, you’re sure he can’t get in right?”

“He shouldn’t be able to get past my wards unless I let him in,” Sakhmet shrugged, “Which I’m not going to do.”

“Then we should probably get some sleep. Or at least try,” Katsuya stretched and yawned. “Or we’re going to be useless in the morning.”

Sakhmet wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep, but she could feel the fatigue born from too many duels the day before beginning to drag the body back down and her twin’s mind with it, even if her mind was racing, and keeping Imoto up wouldn’t be fair when she needed the rest.

“Alright…”

Seeing her hesitation, Katsuya grinned at her. “Hey, if you’re really that nervous, I’ll sit with you until you fall asleep.”

“I don’t need…” Sakhmet squeaked, embarrassed, but stopped when she felt her twin’s mood plummet. “If you’d protect Imoto for me, I’d appreciate it.”

“O… Of course.”

The hesitation in his voice combined with the fact he had suggested going to bed the moment she woke up, caused Yugi think he only wanted to stay with her because Sakhmet had asked, and she seized control, her heart aching and shame flashing through her and showing in the flush in her cheeks.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. Good night.”

With that she turned on her heels and stalked towards her bedroom.

“Yuge!”

She ignored his call and slammed her door shut behind her.

‘Imoto…’

‘He likes you, Anesan. Not me.’ Yugi’s heart ached like it was being torn in two.

‘That’s not true. You know that’s not true. He told me earlier he loves you.’

That didn’t match up with his actions, and despite her twin being the person she trusted more than anyone else in this world, Yugi couldn’t believe her, not about this.

She’d known it was coming. That she could never match up to Anzu, or Mai or Sakhmet, that she’d put him through too much to ever deserve him, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

‘Good night, Anesan.’

With that, she slipped the chain of the Puzzle over her head and hung it over the bedpost, before slumping down onto her bed and muffling her sobs with her pillow until she finally fell asleep.

Chapter Text

As Seto landed the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Jet on the lawn of Pegasus’s mansion after a seven-hour flight, he couldn’t help but detest time zone changes.

The sun was far too bright for 1am, mostly because in San Francisco it was 9am and already the weather was hot and humid, making everything feel heavy, and the skies above had dark clouds gathering to create a storm that would prevent take off once he was done here.

Meaning he needed to be done quickly if he wanted to get back to Japan at any point today.

Pegasus J. Crawford had been waiting for him and strode over to the jet as the cockpit popped open and Seto leapt down onto the lawn, landing a little heavier than he normally would as fatigue and pain tried to drag him down.

“Kaiba-boy, do you have to ruin my gardens?” Pegasus sounded aggrieved and, in the mood Seto was in, it was a little satisfying.

“I’m nowhere near your flowers and this patch of grass was already dry as hell,” he couldn’t help retorting. “Your gardener is doing far more damage than I am.”

Pegasus just sighed, knowing that expecting an apology from Kaiba was like expecting to draw blood from a stone.

“Follow me and I’ll get you the new card.” He gestured and turned for the mansion, a huge, marble construction building with multiple colours of roses climbing the pillars and walls, turning the already fancy building into something out of a fairytale.

Confusion buzzed through Seto’s mind as he followed the other CEO inside. Crawford had always been a challenge for him, had always pushed him and tested him before giving him anything and he had come expecting, no, craving, a duel, so why…

“Why are you just handing it over?” Suspicion narrowed Seto’s eyes and sharped his pace. “You never just give me anything.”

“Kaiba-boy…”

Pegasus stopped and turned to look at him, an expression on his face that Seto hadn’t ever seen before.

Concern and sympathy.

Making him realise Pegasus had seen his stumble and already figured him out, even without the damned Millennium Eye.

And it drove him over the edge.

“No, Crawford. You don’t have the right to pretend to give a damn now,” Seto snapped out, furious. “Not after you kidnapped my brother, ripped his soul out, tried to have me killed and tried to take my company from me.”

Pegasus shut his mouth and stared at him.

“You’ve been testing me since the moment we met, and I won’t take anything less from you now. Just because I’m not back at 100% yet, doesn’t mean I’m not capable of dueling you. Or of doing my job.”

Pegasus stared at him for a little longer, then nodded and started for the mansion’s duel arena, where he frequently tested new cards, “Alright, Kaiba-boy. You want a duel, I’d be more than happy to oblige, but I’m not going to go easy on you just because I lost my Eye.”

“I don’t want you to,” Seto snapped back, frustrated with his weakness and with the other CEO for treating him like he was a child. “I can tear you down, no matter what you throw at me.”

“You can try.”

He gestured for Seto to enter the arena room ahead of him and Seto didn’t hesitate, so wound up from the Board meeting and Pegasus’s sympathy that he needed this.

He needed to prove himself.

Not because he was scared of defeat, but because he knew that since he was a young CEO, it wouldn’t take much to convince others to fall behind Vasillikos, should a Vote of No Confidence be called. Especially when he’d been in a coma for months after his first defeat and had been forced into a two-week medical leave just after the biggest launch Kaiba Corp had done since he’d taken over. He suspected that they’d insist he be kept on but someone else ran the company, which he refused to accept.

Kaiba Corp was his. He’d suffered and bled for the right to develop it into what it’d become, and he was never, ever going to let it go.

Defeating the Creator of Duel Monsters at his own game for the first time, when Yugi was still the only other Duelist to defeat him, would prove he was still at the top of the game and ease some of the concerns that Ludenburg and Tanaka had, and stop the calls for Yugi to be made to throw the next duel they fought.

He refused to accept any victory given to him like that. He utterly refused.

Any victory he would take from either of the Mutou twins had to be when they were entirely focused on him and at their best, or it wouldn’t be a conquest he could accept, or a defeat they would deserve.

Ignoring those who gathered on the balconies above the arena to watch the duel as Pegasus turned the now outdated system on, he shuffled his deck and slammed it into place.

“You seem to think I have something against you, Kaiba-boy,” Pegasus sounded almost disappointed as he took his own place, shuffled and set his deck and drew his opening hand. “Despite me putting all Industrial Illusions’ weight behind your little park and tournament.”

“After what you pulled? You know exactly why I don’t trust you, you snake,” Seto hissed back, drawing his own opening hand. “Just make your move.”

Pegasus just waved his order off, glancing up at the balcony to check who was watching and relaxing; It was Gekko and Scott, two of his sons, along with Scott’s girlfriend, a woman Pegasus didn’t particularly like, but who knew everything about Duelist Kingdom because she’d been with Scott when he’d gotten the call about Pegasus’s hospitalisation.

Then a pair of children, a red headed, green eyed girl, no more than five or six, and a silver haired boy with blue eyes around the same age, poked their heads over the railing, standing on her tiptoes, trying to watch the duel.

The girl, who was slightly shorter than the boy, had to strain farther to watch her new, adoptive father play the game he was so proud of and rose to her tiptoes.

Scott, seeing her straining to see over the solid oak railing, scooped her up and set her upon his shoulders, where she giggled and waved at Pegasus, but when Gekko offered the same to the boy, he shook his head and chambered up so he was sat upon the railings.

The soft but slightly nervous look on Crawford’s face as he waved back, warned Seto that he should watch his words around the children.

“Now now, Kaiba-boy.” Pegasus scolded as he considered his hand and picked out the move he wanted to make. “That was over a year ago, and we’ve both grown since then.”

“Just make your move.”

“I play Toon Bookmark.”

Pegasus slipped his magic card onto the field, upon which briefly appeared a pale blue slip of paper with huge googly eyes and two red and gold tassels, which exploded into smoke with a cackle.

When the smoke cleared, the book Seto had been concerned about sat upon the field, bouncing back and forth.

“Which allows me to pull Toon World to my hand so, of course, I play it. At a cost of 1000 lifepoints.”

“Still wasting time with your cartoons?” Seto scowled, watching Pegasus warily.

He’d seen the Toon monsters in action before, when Yugi had faced the creator of Duel Monsters and knew just how dangerous they could be.  

“You need to lighten up Kaiba-boy.” Pegasus chuckled, even as his lifepoints dropped to 3000. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying something. Relaxing with cartoons is how I unwind after a rough day, and it means I get to spend some quality time with my daughter. You understand wanting to spend time with family, don’t you?”

Seto’s eyes narrowed slightly, wondering what Pegasus knew and who the boy was, if he wasn’t one of Crawford’s adopted spawn, but not wanting to ask outright.

Instead, just to irritate the man, he huffed, “Anime is better.” 

The brief disappointment on the other CEO’s face amused Seto. “I suppose I’ll just have to help you appreciate the beauty of western animation with this. The Toon Cyber Dragon!”

Confusion made Seto scowl as Toon World opened to a page that looked like a computer in a pop-up book, and a level five Toon monster, a silver or steel scaled serpentine creature with glowing golden eyes, weaved its way out of the screen.

It let out an electronic laugh as it wound its way around its summoner and waggled its long, forked tongue at Seto as its 2100 attack points were projected on the field.

The giggle that the sight of it drew from the girl on the balcony made Seto wonder what his brother would think of such a creature.

He knew what his cousin thought about Toon monsters and was determined to do no worse than her.

“And my Toon Harpie Ladies!”

Two chibi harpies erupted from another page of the book, which resembled a mountain and shot into the air, chasing each other in a game of tag, before settling on either side of Pegasus and chittering to each other while gesturing to Seto. One had the blue eyes and magenta hair of the lead Harpie Lady, while the other had the short orange hair and green eyes of Harpie Lady #2.

Both had 1300 attack points.

Seto couldn’t help but wonder who, on his 3D modelling team, had wasted time designing different Toon harpies, when only Pegasus was using them, but also, if Harpie Lady #3 was also programmed, and whether they had the same file names as their full-size counter parts, Airo, Ocupete and Keraino.

Not that it mattered right now.

“How did you summon three monsters in one turn?” 

“My Cyber Dragon can be special summoned if neither of us have a monster on the field, and my Harpies can be special summoned from the hand once I have Toon World in play. You’re just lucky you haven’t had a chance to make a move yet, or my girls would be destroying your back row.”

Which was good, because Seto was going to need his backrow. Toon monsters could attack directly when there was no Toon opposite them. Thankfully, since he’d gone first, Pegasus couldn’t attack on turn one, meaning the duel wasn’t over already, but if he didn’t get himself set up properly, this duel would be over next turn.

And he refused to lose that easily.

“I play this card face down and end my turn,” Pegasus finished.

“About time.”

Seto drew and relaxed a little. If he could survive the next turn, he was certain of his victory.

“I play two cards face down and summon Lord of D. Then I activate my Flute of Summoning Dragon!”

“Oooh!”

Seto smirked at the excited coo from the girl as his Lord blew three simple notes on the flute and two of his three dragons took the field, their opaline scales shimmering in the sunlight streaming through the windows, their sapphire eyes glowing.

“They’re pretty.”

The smile the girl’s words drew from Pegasus was open and honest.

And completely at odds with how Seto had thought Pegasus would feel about facing down two Blue-Eyes White Dragons, especially when the pair unleashed an attack on Pegasus’s side of the field that exploded in a ball of light and lightning that flash blinded the spectators and duelists.

“Ow… That was rude.” Pegasus grumbled as he blinked the sunspots from his eyes and glanced up at the balcony where his three children and his guest were rubbing their eyes while Scott’s girlfriend had covered her eyes before the light had erupted out and was leaning on the railing.

“They’re pretty Kaiba-boy, but they can’t harm my Toons while Toon World is on the field, you know that.”

“Doesn’t mean that attack wasn’t satisfying.” Seto smirked back, hiding his concern as Pegasus drew.

“See, you can enjoy things,” Pegasus chuckled as he considered his hand.

“Stop taunting me.”

“Fine, fine. I guess I’ll just end this duel.” Pegasus rolled his eyes, disappointed that it was over already. “Cyber Dragon, attack his life points directly!”

The serpentine ‘dragon’ started forward, weaving between the two white dragons on the other side of the field, before Seto could call, “I activate Attack Guidance Armor!”

Harpie Lady 2 yelped as she was suddenly wearing a heavy, steel chest plate that had a spiked opening that resembled a mouth and two red marks on each side that resembled eyes.

Blood red eyes that glowed, attracting the attention of the Toon Cyber Dragon and drawing it back towards Pegasus’s field.

“What?!”

The dragon unleashed a bolt of blue lightning that struck the harpie, making her screech in pain and flash, revealing the skeleton underneath briefly before exploding into light, taking 800 of Pegasus’s life points with her.

“Oh boo,” Pegasus pouted, putting on a show of being unhappy to hide the irritation that Kaiba had found a way around his Toons. “That won’t save you from her sister though! Toon Harpie Lady! Attack him directly!”

Seto couldn’t stop the second attack going through. The Harpie Lady, furious about her sister’s destruction, shot skyward, screeched at Kaiba and dove, going over the heads of the pair of dragons in a diving kick that slammed into Seto, causing him to stagger backwards as 1300 lifepoints drained away.

He couldn’t help but be amused when she chittered in his face in what was clearly a lecture. Someone clearly had far, far too much time on their hands, but it was this level of attention to detail that made his company’s holograms so alive and unmatchable.

And it didn’t really matter, because he could win this duel now.

“I activate Burst Breath!”

One of Seto’s Blue-Eyes White Dragons let out a bellow and unleashed a torrent of light and electricity that swept across the field, destroying everything that had less defence than she had attack points.

The Toons, being immune to attacks but not to trap cards, couldn’t escape the inferno, and they let out pitiful cries before shattering into a million shards of light that tumbled to the floor.

Seto’s Lord of D. wasn’t immune either. He saluted his Duelist before the eruption hit him, sending him to the graveyard.

But his effect saved Seto’s other dragon, who watched her sister collapse onto the field and let out a mournful roar.

“And thanks to the cost for your now empty book, I now win! Blue-Eyes! End this!”

The remaining dragon didn’t hesitate. She snarled at Pegasus before firing her attack directly at him, knocking him off his feet and erasing the rest of his lifepoints.

“You can stop disrespecting me now,” Seto bit out, scooping his deck up as the older man sat up. “I’ve proved myself better than you. Easily.”

“Actually, I have a lot of respect for you, Kaiba-boy,” Pegasus looked almost hurt as he collected his own cards up. “You have done quite spectacularly since you took control of Kaiba Corp. I don’t know any adult who could burn a multinational company to the ground and rebuild it from the ashes successfully, yet alone someone your age. I have been quite impressed, and I suspect you will continue to impress me.”

“Then why did you…” Seto trailed off as thunder rolled through the arena, causing him to dart to the window and stare at the torrential rain and fork lightning that was raining down outside.

“Damnit.”

“You’re welcome to stay until the weather clears, Kaiba-boy.” Pegasus offered, “I need to talk to you about a few things anyway.”

The younger CEO grimaced. He didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to be, but the storm preventing take-off left him no choice.

Before he could answer, he heard Gekko wonder if his father was feeling well, and Scott shoot back that ‘not everyone is a perfected Duelist like you’, before Pegasus’s adopted kids and their guest headed for another part of the mansion.

The phrase ‘perfected Duelist’ made Seto raise an eyebrow at Pegasus, who let out a sigh and nodded towards the exit.

Seto followed, curious despite himself, and found himself led to a conservatory, where the heavy storm rain ran down the glass roof and into the plants below. The view through the windows showed Seto the swimming pool and allowed him to see his Blue-Eyes White Jet, which was waiting patiently for him.

“Take a seat Kaiba-boy,” Pegasus sighed.

“I want that card,” Seto shook his head, unamused.

“Gekko’s already going to get it from the safe,” Pegasus waved it off. “Come now, these seats are some of the most comfortable in the house.”

Seto hesitated a moment longer, then took a seat in one of the wicker chairs, sinking comfortably into the plush red silk cushions.

“You’re not a perfected Duelist either, Kaiba-boy.”

Pegasus grumbled as he slumped upon a chaise lounge of the same materials, and sprawled across it. Seeing Seto’s scowl at his words, he waved a hand at him.

“There’s no such thing as the perfect Duelist, or the perfect deck, and being perfected isn’t a good thing. It means you can’t improve. You’ve grown as much as you’re ever going to.”

Seto paused and nodded, sitting back.

“You’re nowhere near that yet, neither is Yugi-girl. I thought you might’ve been before she came onto the scene, but she’s forcing you to grow again, which is good for you. Stagnating isn’t good for anyone’s creativity.”

Not that Seto got to create as much these days. So much of his time was taken up with the business side of Kaiba Corp that he didn’t get to develop the way he had in the past.

Pegasus saw the grimace the thought caused and chuckled, leaning back in the chaise. “I’ll give you some advice now: make time.”

“Get out of my head,” Seto’s snap just made Pegasus laugh harder.

“I’m not in your head, Kaiba-boy, I don’t need to be. I had to take the same advice myself.”

Seto paused, then nodded, remembering that his host was less than a decade older than him and had only been the head of his company and family for eight years.

Meaning he’d been slightly older than Seto’s age when he inherited Industrial Illusions.

“When I first inherited my father’s business, I was buried in paperwork and barely got time to paint. The casinos took up all my time and energy. It wasn’t until I started delegating and enforcing some time each week to work on personal projects that I started being able to handle things properly.”

“I handle things fine,” Seto scowled at the implication. “And how was Duelist Kingdom ‘handling things properly’?”

“Duelist Kingdom was a mess caused by a bunch of loose threads trying to fray at once,” Pegasus rolled his eyes. “That man’s promise of seeing my dear Cyndia again, your technology bringing my game to life, and Yugi-girl revealing herself.”

“Explain?”

“As I explained in Tokyo, Duel Monsters comes from Ancient Egypt,” Pegasus gestured to Crockett, who brought him a white wine spritzer without being told and handed Seto a mug of tea.

He would’ve preferred coffee, but it eased the fatigue headache that was settling in.

“I don’t care about history lessons, Crawford.”

That and Seto didn’t need to be told about the origins of Duel Monsters when he’d seen them first hand through the memories from the Millennium Rod.

“Get to the point.”

“My point is, I was promised a way to see the dead again. Even bring them back to this world. When I heard about your story, I thought you might be interested in joining my crusade.”

“I have no interest in seeing Kaiba Gozaburo ever again.”

Seeing him in the courtroom in the afterlife had been far too soon for him.

“What about your birth parents?”

Seto let out a slow hiss. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed his parents until they’d shown up at the trial that would determine whether he stayed in Yomi or whether he went down to Hell with the other murderers. Their words, their pride in him and his brother, had been a reassurance he hadn’t known he’d needed.

He could well imagine that a younger, more insanity-infested Kaiba Seto, would’ve jumped at the chance to see his parents again.

“If you wanted me to join you, why kidnap Mokuba and attempt to kill me?”

“You went into a coma before I could determine whether to approach you or not,” Pegasus shrugged, making Seto scowl. “You pissed off the wrong person and ended up unconscious for months. Kaiba Corp started to crash, despite Mokuba’s best efforts, and I was left no choice but to take control if I wanted to keep your technology from falling into the wrong hands.”

That was understandable, if irritating.

“That and your Solid Vision  holograms provided an option for a form for my wife’s spirit to inhabit, once I had her back.”

“My solid vision holograms can’t touch…”

“You say that, but think about the amount of times the monsters have been real, Kaiba-boy. The number of times you’ve been knocked about by ‘holographic’ beasts. It wouldn’t be hard to focus a spirit through a system and let it work through a virtual form. That’s what I wanted your tech for. To bring back my wife.”

Seto paused to consider that. If he could get that working, he could duel the Mutou twins one on one without having to consider the other one always being in the vessel. The one who’d once been Oneesan, then Meisa, and now Sakhmet, could have her own holographic form that could allow her to walk around without her sister.

She could duel without her sister.

And he had someone he was pretty sure would welcome being a test dummy for that. Being able to get outside the computer system he was trapped in would be a welcome relief, Seto was sure.

“Of course, a touch of magic is required, but somehow you’ve gotten your system to focus that without too much input, which I find quite incredible, the Duel Disks are essentially a Duelist’s magic wand.”

Pegasus putting it like that made Seto understand where Yugi came into it, making him glower. “There’s no magic in my technology.”

“Kaiba-boy…” The older CEO tried to push, only to trail off as the scowl deepened, realising he was losing his audience.

“I might be fully aware of magic, but I have no interest in it. Its only use to me is to use it as a benchmark. I’ll keep improving my technology until it can outmatch it.”

“No technology can bring someone back from the dead, Kaiba-boy,” Pegasus reminded him. “And you’ve had personal experience of magic doing that.”

“How do you…?” Seto hissed, having thought his brief death on Hekigan had been kept quiet.

“I have my sources. They let me know the cause of your two weeks’ leave.”

“You hacked my systems,” Kaiba’s quick mind was easily able to work out how Pegasus knew information Seto had deliberately kept from the investors and the public.

“If you will use Blue-EyesWhiteDragon  as a password…”

“There’s a number combination at the end that should’ve prevented you accessing my computers.”

“Four digits can be cracked quite quickly with the right programs,” Pegasus smirked back. “That’s not the point, anyway, my point is that there’s things that technology just can’t do.”

“Yet.”

“Yet,” Pegasus allowed. “But then what is magic except something science isn’t sufficiently developed enough to explain?”

That was a valid point, and a direct echo of something the Pharaoh had said, which irritated Seto a little.

“Now that you’re awake, I have no reason to follow Vasillikos’s play should he actually try to force a Vote of No Confidence. I happen to enjoy our little tit for tat, and I have no desire to lose everything we’ve built together.”

“That’s shockingly reasonable.”

“Kaiba-boy, if Gozaburo hadn’t picked you up and I’d been alerted to your intelligence, I’d have adopted you in a second. Every one of my children were adopted because they brought something to the table, and your engineering skills, combined with my finances and… well… it makes me wonder what we could have been together.”

“I wouldn’t have left Japan without my brother.”

Seto couldn’t help but wonder what his life would have been like as a Crawford, rather than a Kaiba.

“Completely understandable,” Pegasus waved it off. “And he’d have been welcome too. He’s a little younger than I normally like to adopt, there’s a reason my sons are close to my own age.”

“Oh?”

“It’s because he likes to pick those of us up, who need somewhere to go,” Gekko answered Seto’s question as he entered the conservatory with a briefcase. “He doesn’t normally adopt younger children who still have a chance of being picked up by other parents. We all were close to aging out and being left on the streets. Father saved us from that future.”

“And stopped you all from wasting your potential. All of you have a brain that’s far too fine to waste,” Pegasus agreed happily, taking the briefcase from his ‘Crown Prince’ and unlocking it. “Besides, you all might only be five or six years my junior, but all of you are sons to me.”

That made Gekko grin broadly, even as it reminded Seto that Pegasus was 25 to his sons 18-19. And that those who ran the branches of Industrial Illusions were only two to three years older than him.

“What about the little ones earlier?” He couldn’t help asking.

“Edo isn’t mine. His father was one of my best card designers but met with an unfortunate end recently. I’m just looking after the boy until the legalities of his adoption go through. Including background checks. His father was one of my best, so I want to ensure that his son has a good future.”

Seto nodded, aware that Pegasus had a reputation for always being good about looking after his people and their families.

“And the girl?”

“Samantha?” Pegasus paused, protective irritation flickering across his face. “What does it matter to you?”

“I’m just curious.”

He was more curious about what cards were in the briefcase, but Pegasus was stalling.

“Sam was on her fourth foster home when I was alerted to her potential,” Pegasus’s irritation turned towards those who couldn’t deal with her talents. “She’s not unlike Yugi-girl in that she has the attention of the spirits, plus her embroidery is already quite impressive.”

“But she’s a troublemaker?” Seto guessed from her having been in four foster homes.

“Trouble finds her, as happens when you see the dead. I’ll admit that’s a gift I don’t miss, now I’ve lost my magical sight.” Pegasus grimaced, not envying his only daughter, “Her previous homes were… discomforted by her talking to the air. Here, it’s a normal Tuesday.”

Seto let out an amused snort. It was probably Tuesday at the Mutou residence as well, considering Yugi frequently spoke to her sister when no one else could see her. Though it did make him wonder what more unusual talents Crawford’s other children had.

“I’m going to be keeping an eye out for more children with potential like hers,” Pegasus continued as he opened the briefcase, his expression shifting to confusion as he checked what was inside. “Magical children deserve a loving home, just like any others.”

The older CEO paused as he considered the two cards within the case.

Last night, not long after the Kaiba Corp board meeting, he’d felt something weird wandering his hallways. His magical senses weren’t what they used to be, but his potential had been awoken by his ownership of the Eye and his skills hadn’t entirely faded.

He hadn’t been able to ignore the roar of the power of the God monsters momentarily flooding through his system. It was a feeling he’d only felt while developing their cards and he would never forget it. It was their pulse that allowed him to sense the dark energies stalking around his mansion.

Not wanting it to harm his children, or approach his youngest, he’d tracked the darkness through his night deepened hallways. However, when he’d found its source, it’d been in his bedroom, next to the safe that he had within.

For a moment he’d seen a huge brute of a figure who was more like a giant than a human, reaching through his safe, but then it’d been gone.

He’d examined the room carefully, but he hadn’t had a chance to check the case, knowing that Kaiba would want to see him open it personally.

Now…

“You only said one card,” Kaiba raised an eyebrow at him as he took the two cards, his eyes widening as he saw the abilities on what he held and slipped both cards onto his Duel Disk to be scanned by the system.

“I only made one, Kaiba-boy. Please return the other.” Pegasus grimaced, holding a hand out.

“Why should I?” Kaiba asked, staring at the things in his hand.

“Because you hate magic, and the second card was forged through magic. Magic I wasn’t responsible for. I can’t guarantee what it would do to your systems, and you can’t afford for it to mess up the duel between you and Yugi-girl with Vasillikos hounding you.”

Seto turned his words over his mind for a moment or two, then snorted, “I don’t need magic to beat Yugi.”

With that, he dropped the Pyramid of Light card into Pegasus’s palm.

Where it erupted in black fire and dissolved into ash.

“Oh… lovely,” Gekko grimaced.

“I can’t help but be amused that you knew which card was for you without having to ask, Kaiba-boy,” Pegasus was legitimately amused as he wiped off his hand with a handkerchief.

“I’m the only one who can run a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. That makes it obvious.” Seto shrugged, glancing out the window where the storm was still raging.

“That’s something I need to talk to you about. If I keep creating cards just for you, then I’m wasting the potential of the archetype. I have artists slavering to work on Blue-Eyes related cards and I can’t unleash their potential. I want to re-release the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. With different artwork of course, so yours and Yugi-girl’s are still unique, but…”

With the dark clouds still stretching for miles, Seto decided now was the time to bring up something he’d decided upon since his return from the afterlife. Something that would help the future of the game and of games development.

“Speaking of magical and talented children,” Seto ignored Pegasus’s attempt to ask permission to re-release the limited-edition dragons. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that the quality of game developers is dropping across the board. Too many universities are focusing on outdated technology and programming languages that aren’t useful anymore.”

“Yes… there’s been a few issues,” Pegasus agreed, not happy to be ignored, but curious as to where Seto was going with this.

“I want to open my own school, for Dueling and Game Development. So we can train the next generation and help those with… extra-curricular talents, learn how to control their abilities in a safe environment, so they don’t turn into little psychos.”

“Still thinking about the Ishtars, Kaiba-boy?”

“The Ishtars, Yugi’s early days, several other issues I’ve researched across the globe,” Seto scowled, still angry about having no choice but to take the fall against Ishizu.

Pegasus nodded, thinking aloud. “It would probably end up as a private school, we would have to give scholarships to those who couldn’t afford it.”

“Give a strict entrance exam so we know who has potential and that wouldn’t be an issue,” Seto nodded, leaning forward as he spoke of a topic he had become quite enthusiastic about since he had decided to focus on forging the Duelists of the Future. “If you have time to discuss the matter?”

“We appear to have a little time still,” Pegasus nodded as lightning flashed outside. “We can start hashing this out between us, and then perhaps we can return to the dragon conversation?”

“Perhaps.”

Seto was hoping that the rain would ease up before Pegasus brought up that subject again as he dove into the details of his passion project.

Chapter Text

The sound of Hikaru Utada’s ‘Never Let Go’ dragged Yugi out of a miserable sleep.  

She batted around for her phone, managing to catch it just before it vibrated off of her desk. Checking the caller ID revealed a number she didn’t recognise and she nearly buried the phone under her pillow instead of answering it, except for the fact the sun had barely risen. Any phone call that’d come in at this time in the morning had to be important. 

“Mutou Yugi speaking,” she mumbled as she answered it. “Who’s this?” 

“Mutou-san, I’m Director Hasegawa of the Domino Museum. I was hoping to ask you to come in to aid in an investigation that we’re in the middle of.” 

“I’m not sure how I can help,” Yugi sat up and rubbed her eyes, confused. “My history grade isn’t the greatest.” 

“It’s to do with the Nameless Pharaoh exhibit.” 

That caught her attention. She snatched up the Puzzle and slipped the chain over her head as she asked, “Is something wrong?” 

“Not necessarily, but we recently discovered some hair strands on the diadem that was on display, meaning we can do a DNA sampling for the Nameless Pharaoh.” 

“You can what…?” Yugi breathed in her shock, able to sense her twin listening in. 

“There’s a possibility that we can trace the Nameless Pharaoh’s line back to a name, or a dynasty at least. We can certainly identify any living relatives using mtDNA and Y-DNA testing.” 

“And you want to test me?”  

“One of the tablets we have on display has your likeness upon it. While I apologise for disturbing you at this early hour, I couldn’t get the museum’s forensic anthropologists to ignore the idea that you might be related somewhere down the line. If you would come in so they can do a DNA test and cease harassing me, that would be greatly appreciated.” 

“Sure, I can be there later.”  

Excitement pushed aside the upset from last night. She definitely wanted to know if she was directly related to her twin and the ancient family who’d claimed her as one of their own when they’d met during her brief trip to the afterlife. 

“Is nine okay? I have to help my Jiisan open the shop before I can leave.” 

“Let’s make it ten, so I can get the tests set up and my people can get into work. I’m afraid you might get asked for an autograph or two. One of my anthropologists is a fan and another has a daughter who’s been obsessed with Duel Monsters since she watched you and Kujaku-san in Battle City.” 

Yugi smiled softly at the mention of the duel. As much hell as Battle City had been, the finals had been fun. Her and Mai, putting all their wits, pitting all their passion, all their skills against each other had been amazing. One of the best duels she’d ever played. 

“Ten sounds fine,” Yugi could feel pride pulsing from her twin, who still enjoyed watching the memory of that duel on repeat in her delight at her twin’s boldness and genius. “And I don’t mind. As long as they ask nicely and don’t wave things in my face to sign.” 

Unlike the group who’d cornered her by the burger stand in Yami back on Hekigan. 

“I’ll make sure they’re polite, I promise. See you at ten.” 

With that the call ended. 

‘Did he say what I thought he say?’ Sakhmet asked, appearing in her spectral form and sitting on the desk with a grin. 

‘That we might be blood related as well as soul? Yeah.’ Yugi giggled, ‘How awesome is that?’  

‘Not that we know for sure yet, but I know my Sns, my Snts, my Jt and Mewet would be more than willing to welcome you.’  

Yugi recognised Jt and Mewet as Father and Mother but was unsure of the other words. So, she reached for the copies of the Egyptian memories that her twin had allowed her to take, so she could understand the language in case Anesan slipped between that and Japanese.

‘I thought sister was Sen?’  

‘Depends on the accent, Sen or Snt are both accurate, though Sen is closer to what we’d call an Oniisan in the written Hieroglyphic. There’s no direct translation for the letter E, so brother is Sn when written, which sounds like Sen, while Snt was the more feminine form. Ba-Khu-Ra was from Kul Elna, which was out of the way and didn’t have written Hieroglyphic as accessible. The hieratic would’ve been in use more because of merchants and traders, and her accent would’ve favoured Sen, over the more formal Snt.’  

Yugi nodded, grateful for the lesson. It was one thing to have the memories, but it was another to use a language easily when it was not your first. 

‘Either way, you’d be one of us, one of the royals, a St-Nswt of Kemet, a Princess of Egypt, and you’d deserve everything that came with it.’  

Yugi was honoured by the praise but had trouble imagining herself living the sort of lifestyle she remembered from her twin’s memories, so she tried to make a joke instead, ‘Except the murderous uncle, I’d hope.’  

‘None of us deserved that,’ Sakhmet leaned back on her hands, her mood not diminished by the mention of Akhenaden. ‘You’re definitely a sibling though.’  

‘Oh?’ Yugi asked as she headed for the wardrobe and paused at the mirror, considering herself carefully. 

‘Akhenaden tried to wipe our entire line out. His attempt on your life at Duelist Kingdom was…’  

‘Traditional?’ Yugi tried to tease, only to see her twin’s shoulders sink. ‘Anesan… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…’  

‘It’s not…’ The Pharaoh sighed, ‘With the return of my memories, comes the return of all the anger and grief that I suffered at his hands and the fear that I might one day lose you, the way I lost almost everyone else. When I thought I’d lost you, when we dueled against Pegasus and Akhenaden, I couldn’t remember everything else he’d taken from me, but it tore my heart in two. I’ve nearly lost you twice since then, not to mention the docks… I… I can’t joke about that. I’m sorry.’  

‘I’m sorry, Anesan, I shouldn’t have… sorry…’  

Yugi couldn’t blame her, and she shuddered at the reminder. The docks had been devastating. For her, for her twin, for her friends and family… 

She’d needed to speak with her parents, she’d needed the closure it’d provided, and drowning had given her a chance. And the chance to meet their ancient parents had been incredible. The chance to bring back their words to her sister, who’d died believing her family hated her for the actions she’d taken to protect Egypt, was something that’d been direly needed. 

But she’d destroyed herself trying to protect her friends, drained herself of every last point of life energy she had, and her twin and friends were forced to watch as she faded away, until all that was left was a barely surviving soul in a trembling shell; one that’d been blown away by Ishizu’s Cemetery Bomb and sent sailing into the ocean where, in her severely weakened condition, she’d been unable to do anything but sink to the bottom of the water. 

She’d been forced to fight for her life, gaming against a God in order to return, while her friends and family had done their utmost to revive her, to bring back the friend who’d given everything for them. 

For him… 

Yugi’s heart sank as she turned towards the wardrobe and the mirror attached to it.  

She’d given everything for Katsuya. Died for him and his sister. And she wasn’t what he wanted. 

She wasn’t surprised. She’d always been small and weak, with an appearance that belied her age. Not a year ago, she had been mistaken for someone more than five years her junior. She wasn’t bold and brave. She wasn’t strong and fit. 

She was just… her.  

She’d hoped that their bond, the fun they had together, the way they could trust each other and didn’t need words to convey their thoughts mid-duel, was enough. 

But she’d been wrong. 

And she couldn’t blame him. Not with the trouble she’d dragged down onto him. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. 

‘Imoto…’  

‘I… I can’t hear it, Anesan.’ Yugi cut her off as she started getting dressed for the day, forgoing the dresses and leggings of her pre-Battle City wardrobe, the ones Anzu and Mai had picked out to help her feel confident and look good.  

Instead, she pulled back the shoulder length, shorn hair that Mai and Anzu had helped her at least neaten out, into a messy ponytail and slipped into her old, worn blue jeans and black tank top, finding it hard to want to look good when she was feeling so empty. 

The Pharaoh frowned as Yugi slipped a belt on, and slipped their deck into a holster upon it, able to sense her twin’s dejection. ‘Imoto… I have something you need to see.’  

‘Anesan…’  

‘Please.’  

Yugi froze. Her twin often asked for things, but the word ‘please’ was not one that Sakhmet used often, not even with her. 

‘Alright.’  

At Yugi’s acceptance, Sakhmet fed her the memory of her conversation with Katsuya last night, every moment of it.  

Yugi’s heart raced as she was shown the depth of Katsuya’s feelings. She’d thought he hated her, that he was angry and upset over what had happened because of her. 

She’d been selfish, so very selfish. So focused on her own pain, her own recovery from the hell that Battle City had become, her own guilt about what those she cared for had suffered, that she’d missed that which dragged down one of the most important people in her life. 

Her hands balled up as her confidence, her love, her trust in him, and in their relationship, reignited. 

‘I need to talk to him.’  

‘Yes, yes you do.’  

Relief hit the Pharaoh hard at her sister’s bounce back. She hated seeing her twin upset at the best of times and watching her start to fold in on herself and drop back into the self-loathing that’d been ruining her before she’d solved the Puzzle, was agony.  

But she needed to know one thing.  

‘You know I wouldn’t steal him from you, right?’   

The plaintive question made Yugi pause and then hug her twin.  

‘I know. I might have thought he liked you more than me, last night, but I’d never think you were trying to steal him from me. You wouldn’t hurt me like that.’   

‘Don’t get me wrong, he’s cute and loyal enough that if this was Egypt, I’d consider him, but I don’t need an heir in this age. I have one.’   

Sakhmet chuckled, ruffling her twin’s hair as she relaxed, having been worried about her twin’s reaction last night.  

‘You. So, I don’t need to worry about guys. I can entirely enjoy something I believe Katsuya and Honda call bird watching.’  

Yugi took a moment to appreciate that the tastes of her and her sister were different, in that she liked both genders equally, while Sakhmet very much preferred women. Then what the Pharaoh had said caught up with her and she burst into giggles. 

The idea of her twin sat in Burger World, ogling cute girls the way she often saw other teens do was entirely too entertaining to allow any part of her bad mood to survive and she bounced down the stairs, hoping to catch Katsuya before he left for work, only to hear her grandfather cussing from down in the store. 

Noting that Katsuya’s backpack was gone, suggesting he’deither had an earlier start than she thought, or he’d left early, possibly to avoid her after last night, she rushed downstairs to find her grandfather pressing against the door, where three men, all wearing Duel Disks and broadly built, were trying to force their way in. 

“Get out!” Sakhmet seized control and snapped at them, as she sent a subtle wave of Shadows their way, pushing them back and allowing her grandfather to shut the door in their faces and lock it. “Sorry, Jiisan.” 

“It’s not your fault.” He sighed as she helped him right the display case by the door. “They tried to demand a duel the moment I unlocked the door, but they tried to enter at the same time and got stuck.” 

“I’m not dueling today. They changed the rules on our contract, so I don’t have to.” Sakhmet scowled at the Duelists waiting outside the windows as she picked up the last of the merchandise and got it settled. “I will go tell them they have to go though.” 

“Just be careful.” 

“I will.”  

Instead of going outside to tell them, she headed up to her grandfather’s office, which had a window that looked out over the road and threw open the window. Looking out revealed the crowd was bigger today than it’d been the day before, including some who had come back despite being defeated already.  

As she looked out and people called her name, a memory flashed across her mind of her making announcements from the announcement balcony of her palace. 

Then, as the calls died down, she called out, “Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corp have both agreed that all Challenges to my title have to go through them. If you want to duel me, you must apply to them, or face me in a tournament. So, there’s no gauntlet today. I won’t be dueling any of you.” 

The noise that came from the Duelists below as they protested and shouted that she wasn’t allowed to decline a challenge was loud enough that it startled pedestrians further down the road and made her twin wince. 

Her plan was to not respond to any of it and, once the noise had died down, to tell them to leave and stop blocking the entrance to her family’s store.  

That plan was ruined when several Duelists decided it was a good idea to try and force their way into the store and drag her out to face them.  

Sakhmet cursed and dove downstairs, having caught sight of a few of them being pushed back by the wards she’d laid last night, but not enough of them, suggesting that those who were being repelled planned harm, while the rest were simply demanding a duel and trying to force their way in, which wasn’t a violent enough action against the souls inside to trigger the wards. 

Something she needed to remember for later. 

“Shutters?” She asked, even as she dove for the system that controlled the security shutters.  

She wasn’t fast enough, and the door burst open, allowing entrance of several Duelists who started yelling at her as the display fell over again, sending the toys upon it tumbling across the floor once more.  

“I paid thousands to get here!” 

“You can’t just change the rules, that’s not fair!” 

“I came halfway across the world, and I want my duel!” 

“I’m not dueling anyone who invades my home and damages my property!” She snarled at them, even as she reached for her phone. “Now get out before I call the police!” 

That made a couple back up, but more poured in. Jiisan managed to pull back to the counter, to protect the cash register, but Sakhmet couldn’t get there herself before one of the Duelists grabbed her by the left wrist.  

Her phone started ringing as she tried to plant her feet to prevent herself being yanked from the building, but her tiny frame and weight didn’t allow her much resistance.  

Answering it revealed Mokuba on the other end, and she snapped at him, hoping her grandfather had called the cops on her behalf by now. 

“Now isn’t a great ti...” 

She yelped as she someone behind her, shoved her forward, and the push and pull forced her out the door and into the crowd of Duelists who closed up behind her, trapping her in a ring of demanding Duelists. 

“I. Am. Not. Dueling.”  

Sakhmet bit out as she pocketed her phone and rubbed her wrist, which ached, making her concerned that the pull had re-damaged the wrist, which’d originally been injured when they’d run into Hirutani the first time.  

“You can’t make me, so I suggest that you all disperse before the police show up.” 

There were a few murmurs from the crowd, and she did see a few leave, but not enough. 

“You can’t refuse.” One of the taller, broader built Duelists, puffed up their chest and strode forward, staring down at her behind their sunglasses, attempting to intimidate her.  

Compared to Anubis, he was a gnat, and she just stared at him. 

“I can. Again, if you check with Kaiba Corp or I2, I don’t have to accept any challenge from anyone off the street. Plus,” she held up her left arm, revealing finger marks around her wrist. “You’ve just hurt the arm I need to wear a Duel Disk, so if you think I’m putting that sort of weight on it, you can think again.” 

The one who’d grabbed her was suddenly the focus of several glowers and dark looks. 

“I understand you’re all disappointed because you’ve come a long way and spent a lot of money, but your Duel Disks can be tracked by Kaiba Corp, as part of their anti-theft measures, so anyone here who tries to break the rules and force the issue could get blacklisted.” 

That made a few more leave. 

“I’ll make sure that those who leave before the police get here and apply on the website get priority consideration. I promise. And I won’t press charges for breaking into my shop.” 

That made a large chunk leave, leaving her with just four to deal with. Two of which had been part of the crew that had dragged her out of the shop. 

And one of which was sunglasses guy. 

“We’re not leaving until we get our Duels.” 

“Then you can wait out here to be moved on by the police,” Sakhmet tried to move past him, only to be shoved back into one of the others, who grabbed her, holding her tightly enough that she let out a hiss. 

For a moment the Pharaoh wished she dared to Challenge him there and then, but she couldn’t in the middle of the street, in the middle of the day. Or at least had the strength she had in Egypt, when she had needed to learn to fight to protect herself and her country. 

Then one of them fumbled with the pouch at her waist where her deck rested, and she realised what they were about to do. 

She slammed her heel into the toes of the man holding her and twisted away, aware that her twin preferred pacifism but refused to allow the God cards to be stolen from her. As she bolted for the shop door, sirens sounded, alerting everyone in the area that the police were nearly there. 

The four fled as Sakhmet pulled her phone from her pocket, wondering if they’d ever actually planned to duel her, or whether theft had been their plan the entire time.  

“Hey Mokuba.” She sighed in relief when she saw her call was still connected.  

“You okay?”  

“I’m fine, nothing I can’t heal. Shop door’s messed up though and the last couple of guys tried to steal the God cards from me. They ran when the cops arrived though.” 

“I’ll get some extra security assigned and send someone around to fix anything you need fixed.” Mokuba promised.  

“Thanks.” 

“We’re your sponsor company, it’s our job to look after you.”  

Sakhmet and Yugi had done research into sponsors before they’d signed the contract with Kaiba Corp, and knew that what was being offered was above the norm. They didn’t know why, but...  

“It’s appreciated. Really.” 

“While that’s being sorted, and our guys are sweeping for any other thieves, would you come in to do some duels for us? Your Jiisan won’t get swamped by Duelists if you’re not there and we’ve got an ad coming out for a card design competition that I’d like some fresh footage for.”  

It wasn’t a bad idea, plus he didn’t have to ask. Part of their contract with Kaiba Corp ensured that they had to be ready to duel at any moment. It was nice to be asked after the assholes she’d had to deal with over the last couple of days and the fact that he’d asked rather than demanded, made up her mind. 

“Sounds good. Can I stop by the museum first? They want us there for a DNA test at ten.” 

“DNA?” The confused squeak Mokuba let out amused the Pharaoh. “Why?” 

“Imoto and I might be blood related.” 

“Oh. Oh! Nice.” Mokuba audibly relaxed, making the Pharaoh wonder what was going on. “Sure, I’ll have a driver pick you up and once you’re done there, they’ll bring you to the Kaiba Dome for the duels.” 

“Sounds good.” 

“Just don’t forget the god cards. My brother wants footage of those above all else.” 

Of course he did. The more he got to see them in action the more chances he had to make a plan against them. 

“I’ll bring them.” 

“Great. See you soon.” 

As the police entered the shop to take statements, the call dropped.  

Chapter Text

They were late as they pulled up to the museum; dealing with the police had taken longer than they’d anticipated, and the limo driver had wanted them to be sure they had everything they needed before they left the shop for the day.

As such the museum director was waiting for them when they arrived and Yugi bowed as she gave him a sheepish grin, “I’m so sorry, there was a break in and…”

“You’re fine, Mutou-san, thanks for coming.”

Yugi couldn’t help but be surprised at the respect shown as he herded her inside. He wasn’t the first to refer to her by the honorific ‘san’ rather than the less formal, more child related, ‘chan’. It’d been something that’d been happening more and more since Battle City and, thinking back to the phone call, he’d called her it then too.

However, this was the first professional adult outside of Kaiba’s staff to do so. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was him just being polite, or because he needed a favour.

‘Or it could be that he saw your duel against Mai in the Finals and respects your skill.’

Sakhmet’s suggestion was a viable one, especially since his staff were fans, so they’d probably either talked about Battle City a lot or watched it in the lab.

‘Our skill. He probably saw your duel against Kaiba too.’

‘Maybe.’

The labs were bright, sterile and unnerved Sakhmet as her twin followed the director through to the room where those who wanted to do the testing. For somewhere that studied history, it seemed so cold, so lifeless, that she couldn’t help but hope her mummy never fell into the hands of somewhere like this.

There was so much context that could be lost by removing artefacts from their original locations and so much harm that could be done to a tomb and the one whose afterlife they were disturbing. A damaged or removed mummy would force someone out of the afterlife and prevent them from ever returning to Aaru, and those in the modern era just didn’t seem to care.

If, in getting her things here to Domino, they’d screwed up her chances of getting to see her family by messing with her tomb, she was going to…

‘Easy, Anesan.’ Yugi assured her, as she felt her twin’s anger bubbling, ‘We won’t be here long and your things are heading back to Egypt soon. I know the modern-day Egyptians have been respectful with artefacts and in returning things to tombs, or at least keeping everything together to aid in keeping someone’s afterlife open, even reconsecrating new ones if needed. I just wish we could send your name over too.’

‘One day. Once it’s safe.’ Sakhmet sighed, remembering the debates she’d seen online about getting things brought back from the British Museum and returned to Egypt where they belonged. That was a fight she wanted to join in on but wasn’t sure how to explain away her knowledge of the past.

It wasn’t like she was alive, and even if she was, she was young enough by modern standards that people wouldn’t listen to her.

As she entered the room and saw her own, golden winged diadem led on the table, she stepped forward, grasping control without thinking as she reached for it, caught up in her memories of her father presenting it to her just days before his death.

“Oh Jt, I hope that I did right by you and that my actions have not done anything to ruin your afterlife.” She breathed in her native language without thinking, even as she spotted a couple of strands of hair caught in the exact point the wings of the crown had always caught on her hair, “I promise I did everything I could to protect Egypt and I would have done more, if there had been any other options. I didn’t want to die there, I didn’t want to leave the country you did so much for, but I know my son did both of us proud…”

She trailed off, stopping just before picking out the hairs, seeing the way the archaeologists were poised to lunge for her, only to have paused when she’d spoken. “What?”

‘That was Ancient Egyptian, Anesan.’ Her twin whispered into her mind, ‘I think you impressed them. Not sure how many of them understood you though.’

The Pharaoh drew herself up as tall as she could and looked around, noting that three of those in the room were Asian, two women and one man, another male looked white Caucasian, while the last, another man, was possibly middle eastern and was watching her carefully.

Not wanting to get her twin in trouble, she managed, “Sorry, I have relatives in Egypt. They taught me the language.”

There were a few looks around the room, then shrugs as they accepted that possibility, mostly because there weren’t many other ‘logical’ answers.

Except for the man who watched her with a look that clearly stated he suddenly thought she held the answers of the universe.

“You seemed to know this crown?” That one asked, as she was led to a chair so they could take the samples they needed.

“It’s from the same era as my Puzzle.” Sakhmet answered easily, with an easy shrug that hid how disturbed she actually was. “My family told me stories of the Pharaoh that my Puzzle belonged to and showed me drawings of artefacts that had been described to them.”   

“Don’t suppose you have a name in your family records?” Another asked, even as a couple frowned, their eyes turning to her Puzzle, causing her to shield it with a hand.

“I know the throne name, Atem. And I might have the personal name somewhere, I can look. I think it’s related to one of the Egyptian Goddesses.”

And that was the most she could give them right now, because she couldn’t afford her true name to get out into the public when it was the key to the lock keeping the Shadows at bay.

At least if they worked out which Goddess she meant, they couldn’t get the spelling right, because of the A in her name, where there was an E in the Goddess’s name.

“Goddesses?” The white male anthropologist scowled. “The hieroglyphs and hieratic say the Nameless Pharaoh was male. The throne name fits though.”

“Of course, the hieroglyphs say male.” One of the Asian women spoke up, swatting at the one who’d questioned her. “The role of Pharaoh was a male one. Other female Pharaohs were recorded as male in the official records. And Atem could be used for men or women. It wasn’t a single sex name.”

Whatever the ones who’d been staring at her and her Puzzle had been thinking, the room erupted into a furious debate over the gender of the Nameless Pharaoh, what the name could be and which of the numerous Goddesses the Pharaoh had been named after.

While they were debating, some reminding others that the records could be inaccurate and others saying this was more than they had before and she’d clearly recognised the crown, Yugi switched back into control. She couldn’t help but be amused by the chaos that her twin had caused as they took the DNA samples needed for their tests.

She thought she might slip away without those autographs in the chaos, but she wasn’t that lucky. When it was announced that they’d taken all the samples they needed, it was decided that the DNA sample would determine the gender of the Nameless Pharaoh and this was a chance they wouldn’t get again.

At which point several things were shoved Yugi’s way to sign.

“It’ll take a while for the full panel to come through,” Yugi was warned once that was dealt with. “Possibly longer if anything unusual comes back.”

“That’s fine, it’s not like I’m moving out of Domino,” Yugi grinned. “I’ve had to wait for DNA test results before, so I was expecting to have to wait a bit.”

“What were you being tested for, if I might ask?” The one who was watching her closely after her twin’s slip, asked.

“There was an accident at the docks, and I hit my head when I fell in the water and drowned.” She paused when she saw the horrified and worried looks on their faces. “I got better, but the doctor wanted to check my DNA hadn’t been damaged from overhydration.”

“That’s not… Yugi-san? It would take days for DNA to be overhydrated. How long were you out?”

“I think minutes? Not long enough I couldn’t be revived.”

Confusion sank in. If the doctor had been lying about that, then why had he needed a DNA sample from her?

“You were being scammed then. You couldn’t have had degradation that quickly.”

“Kaiba Corp paid my medical bills.” Yugi tried to reassure them.

“Kaiba Corp were being scammed then.”

“Probably trying to get as much money from them as possible,” another of the group agreed.

“Did they say which type of test they were doing?” The director asked, now curious himself.

“An autosomal? I think?”

“You don’t…” The director paused, “Mutou-san, that’s a family test, not a medical one.” 

“What?”

At Yugi’s surprised yelp the group sat back, realising that as much as she knew about Egypt, she knew nothing about their full field of study and suddenly remembered that Yugi was sixteen, not a twenty to thirty-year-old with years of research and study under her belt.

“You don’t know who they were testing you against?”

“Didn’t say, I honestly thought it was for medical reasons and was just relieved when it came back clear by the end of the week.” Yugi pursed her lips, trying to remember if anything had been mentioned to her at the check-up the doctors had insisted on giving her.

She didn’t think so, and now she was tempted to say something to Mokuba about his doctors doing unnecessary tests, in case they tried to charge tourists to Hekigan for things they didn’t need.

“Well, this one will take a bit longer to process than that one. Autosomal take days. mtDNA tests take six to eight weeks,” the director tried to redirect her. “But we have everything we need, thank you for coming in, despite the chaos at your place.”

“It’s no problem, I really want to know if I’m related to her too. I’ve heard so many stories that she feels like family.”

“Do you have time to share those stories?” The one who had been staring at her since Anesan’s burst of Egyptian asked hopefully.

“Not right now? I have a sponsor meeting at Kaiba Corp, but I could come back?” She offered, hoping they’d forget about them and the supposed family records considering that none of it existed outside of hers and Anesan’s head. “Or send them in once they’re written down?”

“That will be fine.” The director showed her to the exit, but she hesitated before she stepped through, able to sense her twin’s longing.

“I know it’s closed, but can we… can I go see the Pharaoh’s exhibit? Before it’s all packed for shipping?” She didn’t think she’d be allowed, but the director surprised her, leading her to the exhibit in question and letting her inside.

“I wouldn’t normally allow a private viewing, but if you really do have familial ties, then maybe you can give us something we can prove before we send this all back to the authorities in Egypt with my friend back there.”

Yugi paused, wondering if he meant the middle eastern man and considering her words and options, before asking. “Is there enough hair there to do an autosomal test as well?”

“Yes, but you shouldn’t be closely enough related for that to show anything, it normally only goes back ten generations.”

“Yeah, but I look almost exactly like her, so maybe?”

It was a stretch, but the director nodded. “Maybe. Anything else?”

“Let me look around? I’ll pass on anything I remember.”

At her request, she got the private showing that her twin wanted. The Pharaoh split into spirit form and made her way through the room, coming to a sudden halt in front of an ancient, slightly moth-eaten dress made of a cream coloured, sheer fabric that shimmered in the museum lights that had a purple and gold threaded sash. One that looked too big for the Pharaoh as she was now.

‘Anesan?’ Yugi asked gently, putting her hand on the Pharaoh’s arm.

‘I wore this while I was pregnant with Akefia. I was so frustrated because it was too floaty to be good for fighting in, but Isis and Mana convinced me that I needed something to show off in. I got to wear this dress twice, before there was just no time or energy for parties.’

Yugi glanced around and when she couldn’t see anyone, she hugged her sister.

‘I…’

The Pharaoh paused and swallowed. Yugi could feel the lump in the Pharaoh’s throat and the tears building up in her eyes, as if it was her own emotions choking her.

‘I can see things here, that I would want in my tomb. Things I’ll want with me when I finally get to go to the afterlife. The Tomb Keepers went through my things and picked out some of my most important items to get this display put up and I…’

Anger pushed back at the sadness, causing Sakhmet’s hands to ball as she pushed away from her twin and stalked towards another case, where a set of golden knucklebones rested.

Yugi recognised them as the set that had been gifted by the Athenian ambassador.

‘These were mine. My dice. And I’ll never get them back. Nor will I get back my sword, or my jewellery or…’

As she spoke, she gestured to the cases in question, where the beautifully designed Blade of the Rising Dawn, a San Mai, or five layered blade, whose gold painted bronze core, gold and bronze Damascus and bronze edges looked like the dawn skies, rested, or the gorgeous ruby, amethyst and gold wesekh collar which would have rested over her shoulders and around her neck. 

‘These are MY things and they’re not where they’re meant to be. How do I even know I’m where I’m meant to be? What if my body’s been messed with? I’ll never… never…’

The Pharaoh retreated to the Puzzle, unable to handle the sight of her things strewn about, displayed for the world to see, despite their true purpose and meaning, and barely able to resist the urge to start a Shadow Game against the people who’d been so nice to them, in order to reclaim that which was hers.

When she’d believed that she’d died and there had been no chance of her ever making it to the afterlife, it’d been one thing. She hadn’t liked it, but she’d been able to accept her self-sacrifice came at a cost.

Now she knew there was a chance, now that she remembered just how important her tomb was to her chances of seeing her family ever again, this display of her wealth and power was heart wrenchingly terrifying, absolutely infuriating and utterly emotionally devastating at the same time.

The sheer strength and weight of Sakhmet’s emotions drove Yugi to her knees, where tears raced down her cheeks as she sobbed out the pain, the anger, the sheer unadulterated grief of her twin and let loose the howls of heartache that echoed through her soul and escaped through her throat.

She covered her mouth with her hands and muffled the sounds, not wanting the museum director to hear her, even as she let the emotions flow, unwilling and unable to stop them.

Her twin wasn’t wrong to be upset and even trying to stop her letting out her feelings seemed cruel, no matter how much she just wanted to console her. Disturbing her now would just cause the Pharaoh to suppress the emotions, rather than let herself feel them.

Yugi couldn’t do that to her, instead she channelled the grief, the anguish, the anger and the longing for her family and her home and let it out.

She didn’t hear the doors open, but she did hear the footsteps moving across the hardwood floor and she forced herself to her feet, not wanting to have to explain why she was so upset.

“Mutou!” The anthropologist who’d understood every word of Sakhmet’s Egyptian, called her as she slipped into the next room, but Yugi didn’t stop.

Instead, she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, eyes closed as she tried to gather herself.

‘S… sorry Imoto.’ The Pharaoh’s quiet, exhausted apology made her sigh, ‘I shouldn’t…’

‘It’s okay. I promise.’ Yugi reassured her, mentally and emotionally tired after the outburst too, but reaching out now that Sakhmet was able to talk through the emotions she could feel were still dragging the Pharaoh down, and wrapped her twin in a mental hug. ‘You’re allowed to be upset. I’m sorry too. I never really considered what displays like that mean before.’

‘It’s… it’s disrespectful,’ The Pharaoh tried to explain calmly, but Yugi could feel her still mentally vibrating with emotion. ‘I understand they want people understand the culture, but they also know enough to know what our tombs mean to us. They wouldn’t like it if we came after them, and those from my religion messed with their tombs just because we weren’t in the same belief system. Or for curiosity’s sake.’

Yugi didn’t argue. She couldn’t. Every culture had their own beliefs about the afterlife. Yugi had done a lot of research into them to see if she could find anything that could help her Anesan and Ba-Khu-Ra. Tombs, graves, burial sites, they were all sacred to those cultures and she sincerely believed in them, and that disturbing them should only be done with the greatest respect, if there was no other way to protect the afterlives of the deceased.

Especially after her trip to the other side, and after meeting the Egyptian God of the Dead himself.

‘I know. I’m sorry.’

‘You don’t have to be sorry. It’s not your fault,’ Sakhmet grumbled as Yugi opened her eyes and looked around. ‘I’m just… my things wouldn’t have ended up on display unless the Tomb Keepers allowed people to take things from my tomb, which means strangers have been in the room with my… our body, the one we shared in Egypt. I don’t even know if our vessel is amongst the spells that Seth and Isis went against my orders to provide for me. Any consequences of their actions could be for nothing, if I can’t make it over there.’

Yugi nodded as she examined the room, her eyes widening when she saw the broken case in the middle of the room, which held a stone sarcophagus, the damaged case on the wall that held a triangular stone tablet and a photo of something and the ‘crime scene’ tape on the door opposite. She turned to look at the one she’d darted through and grimaced when she realised that it too was laced with the yellow tape.

Meaning she’d escaped into the new exhibit, the one that’d been stolen from.

‘Oops.’

She reached for the door handle, but paused when the Pharaoh nudged her. She slipped into her own spectral form, allowing her twin control, and the Pharaoh headed for the broken case, her already raw emotions spiking and trembling as she beheld what was within it.

‘Anesan?’ Yugi joined her, her eyes widened as she beheld the stone tablet, which had the God monsters engraved upon it, one at each corner, with the wadjet eye in the middle, its centre point painted a deep, bloody red.

Along side it was the photo of the missing artefact.

It was a blue glass pyramid, base down, with a silver hoop that had a rope attached, and a golden eye that, just like the tablet, either had been painted blood red, or had a red glass bead in the centre.

And she recognised it.

‘Isn’t that Anubis’s pyramid?’

Sakhmet nodded, her voice frozen in her throat, her hands trembling as she wheeled around to stare at the sarcophagus.

It was huge, easily almost twice as long as she was tall, and where traditionally there was a mask of the one being buried, to help them retain their visage in the afterlife, there was a canine face.

It was him. This display was HIS.

She couldn’t deny it anymore.

HE had been in her room last night.

HE had tried to cast something upon her sister.

HE was roaming her modern home.

‘Anesan?’ Yugi asked, stepping towards her twin.

Sakhmet didn’t answer. Instead, her eyes traced a set of hieratic text carved into the coffin, trying to absorb the words even as her breathing came in short, sharp gasps and her mind refused to process.

So caught up in the horror of her past, that she missed the Shadows swirling behind her, rising up and taking the form of a giant of a man before unleashing a dark burst upon the Pharaoh.

But Yugi didn’t.

‘ANESAN!’

Sakhmet turned, confused by her twin’s sudden fear and shout. She had just enough time for her eyes to widen at the wave of Shadows that were heading her way before Yugi shoved her out of the body and out of the line of fire.

The Shadows slammed into the girl, who tried to brace, tried to push back at the tidal wave, but it was too much for her and sent her crashing through the remaining glass and into the stone sarcophagus. Her head slammed into the heavy coffin, causing a burst of light and pain that sent her spiralling away into the darkness. 

‘IMOTO!’

The Pharaoh dove into control as the unconscious body hit the floor, her world spinning, fading in and out as pain pounded in the back of her head. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees but couldn’t get to her feet before the figure that Yugi had seen, grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up.

“…mine now brat... taken your guardian… trapped… game… can’t win… rip… power… take… Gods…”

Sakhmet couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying, the blood pounding in her ears as his hand squeezed her throat, deafened her too much, but she didn’t need to. Instead, she kicked out at him, pushing him back, allowing her to unleash a burst of light that caused him to let out a bellow and release her.

As she hit the floor a second time, the doors burst open, allowing those in the doorway who’d been drawn by the noise, to see Anubis looming over the injured Queen.

He snarled at them, unleashing a wave of Shadows that knocked them back, before melting into the darkness.

The moment he was gone, Sakhmet lunged for her sister’s Soul Sanctuary, terror making her furious as she snapped out, “Imoto, you can’t just…”

She stopped dead in her tracks, frozen to the spot as she beheld the toys strewn over the floor, but the complete and utter lack of any soul.

Her twin wasn’t there.

Her twin wasn't THERE.

“Imoto?! Imoto!!”

Wisps of Shadows swirled around the room as her hand went to her heart. She could still sense her sister’s heart, it wasn’t like before, at the docks. Her twin was alive, somewhere, but she wasn’t here, where she should be.

And then it hit her, and the words Anubis had snarled out made sense.

A game.

That was where Imoto was now. Trapped in a game that’d been meant for her.

The question was where…?

The wisps of darkness trickled along the soul room floor and Sakhmet followed them, hoping they’d lead her to her sister, only to find they led through her own soul room and through the huge metal doors at the very back.

The ones that led to the Millennium Puzzle.

She wanted to go after her. Wanted to find the game and do what she could to put a stop to it.

But the body being shaken, as if someone was trying to wake her, stopped her.

If she dove into the Puzzle, if she abandoned the vessel, then it’d be taken to hospital and the Puzzle would be taken from her twin, leaving the body soulless while Anubis was still roaming the living world.

She couldn’t take that risk.

She’d have to trust her twin was bright and strong enough to hold her own, until she could get somewhere private and safe and assist her.

“Please, Imoto… stay safe.”

Chapter Text

Yugi’s head pounded as her eyes flickered open. She rubbed the back of her head,  where the worst of the pain was. Her world swirled for a moment, causing her to close her eyes and open them again.

The pain slowly died down as she took several deep breaths, and upon the second opening of her eyes, they revealed a soft, feather down pillow and a linen sheet that certainly didn’t belong to her. She sat up slowly to discover she was laid in a golden- framed bed whose headboard looked like the Winged Sun Disk of Ra, in a room built of sandstone and marble.

One she recognised as her twin’s Soul Sanctuary.

‘Anesan?!’ She called, wondering if she’d been knocked out by the blast and put to bed by the Pharaoh until she awoke on her own.

When there was no answer, she bolted to her feet and darted to the doors, only to find that what was beyond wasn’t the corridor that led out to her body, but another hallway of the great palace her twin had ruled over.

“Princess? Are you feeling better?” The messy blonde haired, olive skinned guard at the door asked, seeming concerned. For a moment she was stunned by the brown eyed young man, who mirrored her boyfriend in looks, then Yugi reached for the memories that her twin had still to recover from her soul room.

Within the mess, she was able to find the name of the man, as well as the fact that he was a trusted companion who’d been bought from the slave markets by Shimon as a companion to the royal twins, after being sold into slavery by his Grecian father to pay off debts, and had earned his freedom, and his position in the guards, by protecting her and her brother.

“Yes, thank you, Djau.”

She gave a watery smile, suddenly understanding who Mahad had been referring to when he had called Katsuya, Djau, but not how she had somehow been transported to the past.

“I’ll let Atem know,” he grinned at her, bowing back, deeper.

“Th… thank you,” she retreated and shut the door behind her before leaning upon it.

It was entirely possible she’d collided with one of the memories that still rested in her Soul Sanctuary when she’d dived in the way of the blast that’d been meant for her twin, but something about this didn’t feel right.

When she’d watched the memories of what had happened in Egypt, when Anesan had gotten her memories back, she hadn’t been able to interact in any way. She’d been nothing but a spectator in events.

Right now, she was acting on her own. Though, if what Djau had implied was true, she was apparently still in the role of Princess Sakhmet.

She moved across the room to stare into the bronze mirror upon her dresser, where a bunch of gorgeous and expensive jewellery was laid out. It wasn’t the perfect reflection of modern mirrors, but it was reflective enough to reveal a dark-skinned girl with bright, wide red-purple eyes, blonde fringe and black hair that faded to red at the tips.

Confirming that she looked like a younger version of her sister. A version of her from Egypt, one that Yugi she didn’t think could be more than ten or eleven. Maybe a little older, Yugi herself had looked ten when she’d been twelve or thirteen.

‘Anesan?!’ She tried to call again as she moved away from the mirror and over to the double doors that led out onto the balcony, aware that, in her twin’s Soul Sanctuary, they led, instead, to the interior of the Millennium Puzzle and the infinite ever changing maze within.

There was still no answer as she pushed open the doors to reveal the balcony on the other side and the stunning view of the capital city below her.

She stared at the view, taking in the sight of the sun setting over the Nile in the west, its rays sparkling upon the rushing waters.

It was beautiful, but it was also terrifying.

Because it meant she was no longer in the Puzzle, or her body.

She was in Egypt, somehow.

And she didn’t know how to get back.

If this was a memory, she would be fine. She just needed to let the scene play out and follow it through to the end, and she would wake up in her own vessel in the modern world.

If it was anything else, then she didn’t know what she was supposed to do.

“Princess?”

Yugi startled at the call and turned to find Mana giving her a small, worried smile.

“Mana! He… hello.” Yugi stammered, smiling at someone who, in the modern era was a good friend and, in the past, had been a half-sister and one of her closest allies.

“You’re awake then. You worried everyone when you fell asleep midway through court this afternoon. They were worried you were going to miss the party.”

“Party?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten, your Highness!” Mana squeaked as she steered Yugi back into the bedroom, “One of the most important days of your life and you don’t remember this at all?”

“I…”

“Maybe you did hit your head when you tumbled from your chair,” Mana fussed over her, checking her head over. “There’s no way you could forget your own birthday.”

“My… oh.”

She didn’t have any memories of Anesaan’s birthdays, not in her soul room. The Pharaoh had scoured her room of those memories. She’d seemed desperate to do so, in fact. Yugi hadn’t stopped her, knowing that anything like that would allow her access to memories of her family.

And those were more valuable than any other.

However, she’d loaned her twin some good memories of hers to rest and recover with when she’d been tired and injured before. It was possible that Anesan had given her some of her own in return, to help her rest until her head stopped aching.

In that case, all she needed to do was let the memory run its course, and then she would be able to wake up. It shouldn’t take too long, memories moved faster than real events, and she could be at her sister’s side and dealing with Anubis soon.

In the meantime…

“I’m fine Mana,” Yugi promised, deciding to enjoy the day she’d been offered. “Really, I was just tired earlier.”

“You did attend Atem’s sword training this morning,” Mana allowed, relaxing a little as she backed off. “Before sunrise. You’d have thought they’d have given you both the day off, considering how important this birthday is.”

“No rest for the wicked, I suppose. No matter how old they are,” Yugi shrugged.

“You and Atem are anything but wicked, your Highness,” Mana scolded. “And today is your thirteenth! You’re an adult now. Tomorrow Atem will officially be Crown Prince and you’ll be his future Great Wife, the future Queen of Egypt.”

Yugi’s eyes widened. Atem had died when he was thirteen, so this was the very last birthday her twin would’ve shared with her brother. The very last birthday she’d celebrated as herself, rather than under her brother’s name.

This had to be a very special memory to her twin, and she was being allowed to experience it.

“You can use my name, you know that,” Yugi offered, trying to make the girl feel comfortable.

“Not today, today you are the future Queen, and everyone should show you the respect owed.”

“Mana…”

“Everything you two have built up to starts today,” Mana reassured her as she pulled out the dress that’d been made specially for this evening and the cotton shift that would go underneath it. “You don’t have to ask for permission to do everything, anymore.”

Yugi understood just what that meant.

The freedom it would provide would allow Atem and Sakhmet to start fixing everything their uncle had broken. They would be able to control their own finances, their own households.

They would be able to put the first steps of their plan into place without having to fight their uncle every step of the way.

“I can’t wait,” Yugi breathed, thoroughly aware that she would be awake before that, but unable to imagine a world where the Princess wouldn’t be looking forward to that at this point in her timeline.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Mana agreed as she laid out the dresses and turned to ensure the door was shut.

Blushing, Yugi quickly changed from the tunic Sakhmet had fallen asleep in, into the plain cream shift dress that went down to her ankles, then she turned her gaze upon the beautiful, but heavy, beaded dress.

It was stunning. A net of golden thread laced with amethyst, ruby and obsidian beads that shimmered and chimed as she moved the dress, unable to help but wonder how much it was worth, and what’d happened to it when everything had happened with Anubis.

It had to be worth the ransom of a small kingdom at least, and it was a sign of just how much Sakhmet’s father had valued his daughter, even when she’d been just a daughter, rather than the next in line.

As she slipped the golden net over her head, it caught on something, and as she tugged on it gently, trying not to break the delicate webbing, it pulled on her hair, causing her to let out a pained yelp.

“I’ve got you,” Mana chuckled, gently untangling the dress from the strands of hair and helping her ease it down over her head and settle it around her shoulders. “There we go, almost ready. You’re going to shine like Ra’s sun chariot this evening.”

Yugi just nodded, still stunned at the quality and wealth of the dress as Mana helped her slip into her sandals and laced the cord up around her legs.

“I’ll call your handmaiden; she’ll be able to braid your hair for you and bead it.”

Yugi frowned slightly, aware that Mana had been one of the only people that Sakhmet had allowed to braid her hair. “Can’t you do it?”

There was a moment’s hesitation, then Mana shook her head.

“I can do child braids, your highness, but you’re an adult now. I need to learn the correct patterns and styles. It’s better if I get your other handmaiden to do it. She worked with your mother’s handmaiden, after all.”

That made sense, but the hesitation made Yugi ask, “Mana, are you okay?”

“I… I’m just a little envious, Princess,” Mana admitted with a sheepish grin as she affixed the wesekh collar that went with the dress, around Yugi’s neck, tying it a little tighter than necessary. “I wish I were allowed to come. If I was officially recognised, I would be able to celebrate with you.”

“I could speak with Father,” Yugi offered, reaching up and adjusting the cord for comfort, not calling Mana on the poor placement considering how upset she seemed at having to miss the party.

“I don’t have a dress and having me there would be damaging to his reputation.” Mana shook her head again and backed up after placing Sakhmet’s bangles and anklets on the dresser. “He never recognised me as his, even though mother never received another noble in such a manner, so having me at your party would draw attention from you and Atem and remind people of that whole mess.”

“If I could, I would have you there, you know that right?” Yugi felt bad as she patted Mana on the arm.

“I know.” Her half-sister smiled ruefully at her. “Why don’t you finish signing that paperwork while I get your handmaiden?”

“Paperwork?”

At her question Mana gestured to the stack of tablets and papers on the desk in the side room.

Yugi put the jewellery on and headed within and was relieved when she found that she could read the script upon the clay tablets and papyrus scrolls. It was all palace duties and household assignments, things that until today, had been organised by Lady Ai, who ran her father’s household, but now were her own to organise.

She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing as she went through them, but she understood the basics of the ones that confirmed or denied wages to her staff, and she reached for a quill to sign then.

“No need for that, sister,” Atem’s words as he caught her hand before she could put Sakhmet’s name down. “Not tonight. We can worry about our household in the morning.”

“But people need to be paid,” Yugi worried.

“I’ll sign it,” Atem reassured her, putting his own name down. “You worry about your hair. You don’t want to turn up a mess, do you? And your handmaiden’s here.”

Yugi glanced at the door where Mana and the woman in question were waiting.

The expression on Mana’s face was odd. Unhappy and frustrated.

“Mana, are you…” The moment Yugi started her question, the girl turned away.

“I’m fine, Princess,” Yugi could tell it was a lie. “I just thought… you need those signed before the party. If you don’t put your name on them, they won’t get sorted and it’ll slow down everything.”

“I can handle it,” Atem bit out, confusing Yugi, who couldn’t understand why Sakhmet’s brother, and her best friend would be disagreeing.

“I…”

“It’s alright, my Lioness.” Atem reassured her, his frown turning to a smile. “It’s our household, right? We’re in this together.”

“R…right.” Yugi nodded, she trusted Atem, after the times his Shadow-trapped spirit had helped her, so his reassurance helped her relax.

Plus it was good that her brother didn’t seem angry that his sister had put this all off until now.

“Now, shoo. We’ll be late if you don’t get yourself sorted,” he pushed her out the door, and turned towards the desk.

“Your Highness,” The secondary handmaiden, whose name Yugi couldn’t remember, bowed. “You look stunning in that dress. Your mother would’ve been so proud of how well it fits on you.”

“M… My mother?” Yugi asked as she followed the woman to the mirror and sat on the stool.

“She’s the one who commissioned this dress and collar for you. It was her final instructions to the jewellers and dress makers before her unfortunate demise.”

Yugi ran a hand over the beads, now understanding how much this dress would’ve meant to her sister. This was a Coming of Age gift from Sakhmet’s mother. Her final gift.

Yugi let out a quiet curse as she realised something. The wesekh collar, the one she wore now, had been in the museum, amongst the items on display.

No wonder Anesan had broken down so badly.

It was one thing to have her property taken and displayed without her permission, but for such an important treasure to be lost to the museums and private collections that would never appreciate it the way the Pharaoh had…

Yugi was almost tempted to recruit Ba-Khu-Ra to steal it back.

Almost.

The handmaiden was an expert, and by the time Atem had signed all the paperwork, her makeup was done, and her hair was braided tightly. Gold, engraved beads ringing as she shook her head, the blonde fringe braided back as a circlet, the red ends peeking out between the treasure shimmering in her hair.

It looked stunning, and it reminded Yugi of the beads and braiding she’d seen on Amunet when she’d seen the girl in her twin’s memories.

It was tempting to try it on her own hair once she got back to the waking world, but she knew that it wouldn’t suit her Japanese form like it did her Egyptian one.

“Thank you.” She gave the handmaiden a smile that clearly stated her gratitude and appreciation and got a happy grin back.

“It’s my honour, your Highness.”

“You look good, my Lioness,” Atem smiled as he helped her to her feet. “Father will have to keep the noble boys away with a stick.”

“You don’t look bad yourself.” Yugi complimented as she took in the full visage of Atem’s own gold, obsidian and ruby wesekh, the purple shedyt kilt and the embroidered fabric belt that told of Atem’s many victories in games and in combat.

“Mother hired only the best,” The tension in Atem’s frame drained a little at the reminder of his own Coming of Age gifts.

“She really did,” She offered Atem her arm.

The Prince did a double take, then took it with a small grin. “Shall we?”

“Yes, lets.”

As the royal twins headed out, leaving Mana behind, the young girl let out a frustrated hiss, looked at the dodged paperwork and incorrect signatures, and had just enough time to let out a wail before she was dragged, by snarling jackals, into the Shadows that the rising moon cast in the room.

Chapter Text

Seto breathed a sigh of relief as he corrected his course, having been thrown off by bad turbulence, and was able to switch the auto-pilot back on. He’d been delayed by the storm, but now he was only an hour from home. He wanted nothing more than to get back to Domino and see exactly how he was going to work the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon into his deck before he used it to crush the Mutou twins.

Which was why he frowned when he saw the call light flashing on his dashboard and allowing it called up a holo-screen with Mokuba on.

“I’m in the air, Mokuba,” he warned, needing to constantly adjust direction even as the auto-pilot handled speed and everything else. “Can this wait?”

Mokuba winced, knowing he wasn’t supposed to disturb his brother while he was in the air, to ensure he didn’t crash, but…

“There’s a few things you need to know before you get in, so you’re prepared.”

The waver of his brother’s voice eased the irritation Seto felt at being disturbed and made his tone softer when he asked. “What happened?”

“Yugi’s shop was broken into this morning.”

“What,” Seto scowled, wondering who had the audacity.

“A bunch more Duelists showed up, and when she pointed out the new rules, they dragged her outside and tried to force her to duel,” Mokuba agreed with his brother. “A couple of them even tried to steal the God cards from her.”

“Get me names and I’ll get them blacklisted.”

“Already on it and sent builders to fix the door. Additional security too, they’re doing sweeps of the surrounding area to make sure there’s no more thieves hiding. Which is where the next problem comes in. They’re finding soulless bodies.”

“It’s unusual for Meisa to rip out souls but if they attacked Yugi...”

Seto was surprised, the Pharaoh had done everything except rip out souls, including murder and shattering a soul, so this was new for her.

Still, she’d always been at her most dangerous when Yugi was hurt, and he had other concerns.

“Wasn’t her. She was too tired by the time she finished dueling yesterday and she didn’t have time this morning before the limo took her to the museum, which we’ll get back to.”

Seto raised an eyebrow, wondering just how bad this day had gone. “Could be Bakura or Ishtar.”

“Ishtar Ishizu is still in jail. Her brothers can’t afford the bail,” Mokuba shook his head. “And Bakura Amane is out of the country.”

“You’re sure?”

“Confirmed it with Yugi. She’s heading home to deal with some family inheritance issues in England.”

Which meant there was something on the prowl in his city. Something new and unexpected.

Something that needed to be stopped.

“Where’s Yugi now?”

He had no desire to see her kept from starting back at school in a couple of weeks because she was caught up in yet another insane situation. It would be bad for her education and for Kaiba Corp’s reputation.

It wasn’t that he was worried about her at all. Of course not. 

“At the museum, they wanted to do some sort of DNA testing against DNA samples found in the Nameless Pharaoh exhibit, but, uhh…”

“Mokuba.” Seto snapped, having no concentration available for prevaricating .

“She was attacked while visiting the Pyramid of Light exhibit. She’s getting checked out now, but some guy threw her across a room according to museum security. Possibly the same guy who’s stealing souls.”

Seto huffed, irritated. He’d been away from Domino for less than twenty-four hours, and somehow everything started falling apart without him.

“I’m having her brought here afterward. She’s agreed to do some duels for us, for footage for the ad. I figured she could face some of the CPU opponents you’ve designed, using decks built with cards we’ve scanned into the system.”

That helped Seto relax. The moment she was in their custody, she would be safely behind their security, and whatever or whoever was after her wouldn’t be able to get to her.

“Do we have footage or a photo of the attacker?”

“Can you take video right now?” Mokuba asked, not wanting to make his brother crash.

“Send it.”

The security footage from the museum was grainy, but allowed Seto to see exactly what’d happened and warned him that he’d need to pay people for their silence on the matter.

Not that he should have to. It wasn’t him throwing magic around in public. However, it wasn’t Yugi either, most of the time. He didn’t want her getting into trouble and have to vanish off the map. To that end, he frequently covered up magical crap. It was costly, but necessary. If magic being real got out, it would cause all sorts of chaos.

“Has Yugi said anything to you about it yet?” He asked, not wanting to admit to the way the ancient memories were screeching in his brain.

He knew exactly who that was. Seth hadn’t been a High Priest yet when the royal twins had been kidnapped in Egypt, but he’d been amongst those who’d gone with the group to recover them.

The one who’d thrown Yugi across the room with magic and tried to strangle her, had the audacity to call himself Anubis, Lord of the Dead.

Seto couldn’t help but wonder what the real God of the Dead thought of that. 

“She’s not talking to me. Or anyone. Except to answer questions.”

Mokuba’s answer confused Seto, who didn’t think she knew how to shut up.

He couldn’t help but wonder just how bad the concussion was from slamming her head into that heavy stone coffin.

She certainly wouldn’t be at the top of her game and ready to face him when he got home if she was hurt, which irritated him. He’d wanted to challenge her to a duel today, but no matter how much Vasillikos harassed him, he wasn’t going to face her at anything less than her best.

“Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Turns out Yugi messaged me during Battle City because someone stole a Millennium Item. She was hoping I could get her information on who it was.”

“Why do we care?” Seto snorted, having had much bigger issues to worry about during Battle City than a set of magical trinkets.

“We care because it turns out it’s one of Vasillikos’s bodyguards. Valon, I think. And according to Yugi, he stole the Item Holder’s soul.”

Seto paused. “One of Vasillikos’s bodyguards? As in CEO of Paradius, Vasillikos?”

“Yeah… I have footage of that duel, if you want to see it, but Niisama, what do we tell her?”

“Nothing. The footage was deleted in the insanity of Ishtar’s actions. She doesn’t need to know.”

Yugi couldn’t go up against Vasillikos . It was that simple. If she’d thought that the Otogis could financially ruin her, it was absolutely nothing compared to the devastation that Paradius could rain down upon her and her life.

And he refused to be the reason she started her own downfall.

Not that it was entirely altruistic. She was also a Sponsored Duelist of Kaiba Corp so if she antagonised one of the company’s investors, he would either be forced to drop her, or run the risk of Paradius trying to ruin him, the way they’d ruined so many other companies.

A frown crossed his face as he pulled the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon from his deck.

Vasillikos was pushing him to duel Yugi. In fact, he’d been doing so, so insistently, and so obnoxiously, that Seto had flown thousands of miles to confront the creator of the game.

And apparently, he had something against Yugi.

Seto wondered if Vasillikos was aware something was kicking off and was been waiting for Seto to walk into whatever trap was planned, and get himself killed, so he could try and seize control of the company.

Because without him, Mokuba didn’t have enough shares to keep Kaiba Corp out of the hands of the Board of Directors.

Suddenly he was glad he’d listened to Crawford when he’d told him that there was only supposed to be one card. The Pyramid of Light card Crawford had reclaimed quickly had turned to ash, so it shouldn’t be possible for it to be used against him.

Unlike the glass artefact, which he’d seen being worn by the one who attacked Yugi, and he could bet would show up again soon.

“You sure, Niisama?”

As Domino came into sight, Seto nodded. “We’ll deal with that ourselves. It’s a security issue on our island, after all. She doesn’t need to know, not yet.”

“Yes, Niisama.”

“I’m going to be landing any moment now, have the landing pad ready for me and a meal. If Yugi’s coming here to duel, I’m going to at least enjoy the show.” 

“Fillet mignon with fois gras?” Mokuba asked, reaching for his phone to make an order with their person chef for his brother’s favourite food.

“No, not right now. Something I can work around. Sandwiches, or the like.”

“Yes, Niisama.”

“I’ll see you in less than an hour.”

“See you when you land.”

When the call ended, Seto let out an irritated hiss.

He’d hoped, with Battle City over and the Ishtars dealt with, that the insanity would’ve stopped. The fact that so much had dissolved into chaos in the time that he’d been away told him that wasn’t likely to happen any time soon.

It was tempting to blame Yugi for it. Things had been quiet until she got home from his theme park, and it was her who was attracting the magical mayhem. However, he also knew she was quite content with a quiet life and was happy to keep her magic to herself when she was left alone.

Even Meisa was entirely content with being a Mutou and keeping to herself as long as she was treated with respect and got to duel occasionally.

Neither of the Mutou twins could be blamed for this. They were no more at fault for those who harassed them than he was for the idiots who refused to accept his father had thrown himself out of a window and kept harassing him.

It just meant he needed to move faster on the technology he’d started planning after Battle City. His scientists were already working on developing sensors that could register the events that he could prove happened via camera footage, despite them being supposedly impossible. Once he had that available, he could work out a way to block or negate magical attacks and use that technology to protect those who mattered to him.

Until he had that up and running, however, he had to work out other ways to keep himself, his brother, and his cousin safe.

Including from Vasillikos.

He scowled as he slipped the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon back into his deck.

He’d thought he knew what kind of threat Vasillikos was. He’d thought of him as a business threat only. The fact he now owned a Millennium Item made him a magical threat as well, and made Seto wonder what he wanted with it.

If it hadn’t been for the sheer level of damage Vasillikos could do to someone’s reputation, finances and life, Seto would’ve been content to let Yugi and her geek squad handle it, but he couldn’t.

Nor could he ignore the threat that was on his doorstep.

His trip into the afterlife had forced him to acknowledge that part of his soul had been in Egypt when Yugi’s twin had been alive. He’d based his whole defence on that fact to prevent his soul being tossed into Hell, on the fact that souls could be different people at different points in time.

Which meant he had to acknowledge the memories that were foisted upon him by a long dead priest, when he’d taken the Millennium Rod from Yugi, if only to himself.

And if he acknowledged them, he couldn’t deny the threat that the sorcerer that had the audacity to call himself Anubis truly was.

The man, if one could call him that, was built like a tank. Even Seto wasn’t certain he could take him in a fight, because he was fast for his size, almost supernaturally so. He was also not above attacking from the Shadows, as proved by his assault on Yugi in the museum and the many soulless bodies that Seto’s security had found lying around Domino.

Seto paused, adjusted his jet’s position in the air to prepare for the slow, downward spiral that would allow him to land safely, and dialled his brother back.

“Niisama?” Mokuba asked the moment he picked up, confused.

“I scanned a card earlier, the Pyramid of Light. I need you to delete it from the system.”

“Niisama?” The confusion doubled at the shock of his brother’s orders. “Are you sure? You’ve never…”

“I know I’ve never deleted any cards from the system before, but I need you to do that now.”

He couldn’t take the risk that Anubis had sunk his fangs into the Kaiba Corp systems, when Seto had scanned the card that represented his artefact, for many reasons.

Chief of all being that he’d put far too much time and effort into the KC-Cloud to allow some asshole to damage it, especially some ancient asshole who wasn’t even supposed to be alive and had the audacity to attack a piece of Kaiba Corp property.

After all, Yugi was the second most valuable Duelist on Kaiba Corp’s books, and that meant she belonged to the company, and it had a duty to protect her. 

He refused to allow anyone to remove her and her sister from the board before he took the position of King once more.

Because his trip to the afterlife might’ve allowed him to understand the monster that’d raised him, as well as taught him that Defeat didn’t have to mean Death, but he wasn’t ready to accept that he couldn’t take back the title of World Champion.

Anyone could be defeated. He just wasn’t going to challenge the Mutou twins until this latest mess was over, because he refused to be second fiddle to the mess that was currently their lives.

Adjusting his flight position again, a thought hit him.

Crawford had been set up to unleash the Pyramid of Light upon the Queen of Games, or worse, Anubis had somehow predicted that Seto would seek out Crawford’s assistance in crushing his rival, and set him up to trigger whatever the asshole had planned.

It made him wonder how long the freak had been eavesdropping on conversations and how much of the security that Seto had been convinced would keep intruders out, had failed.

Or if Vasillikos had directed Anubis to Crawford.

There was even a chance the two weren’t working together, they’d just started causing trouble around the same time. One that was actually rather strong, considering Vasillikos’s goon had stolen a magical artefact and Anubis was working alone and carrying one around.

Not to mention both were stealing souls, suggesting that one would try for the soul of the other.

He half-wished that they would deal with each other so neither he or Yugi had to.

“Niisama?”

Mokuba’s tone was shaky, making Seto glance at the screen instinctively, even as he tried to ensure a smooth landing.

“Talk to me, Mokie.”

“It’s not letting me delete the card.”

“If it’s because I put it in, you have the override codes.”

“That’s not… Niisama, I’ve deleted it six times. It keeps coming back.”

Seto cursed under his breath, wondering what sort of parasite he’d allowed to get into his system. “I’ll handle it when I get in. If Yugi starts dueling before I do, have her duel the CPU opponents from the backup system.”

“That one can’t handle the God cards.”

“I know.”

Seto didn’t like the idea of losing the chance to get footage of the Gods to practise against and learn from, but he liked the idea of letting Anubis’s little game play out even less.

The KC-Cloud was HIS damnit, and he wasn’t going to let some asshole take it from him.

“You sure, Niisama?”

“Lock down the Cloud too. Let’s not have this virus get into the rest of the system,” Seto continued, showing Mokuba just how serious about it all he was. “And speaking of viruses in the system, make sure your older brother  has his systems locked down too.”

“How do you…?” Mokuba squeaked, having not realised that Seto knew he’d recompiled Noa’s code, reviving the, technically, oldest Kaiba brother.

“You think I wasn’t paying attention to your side project? Or your sudden purchases of advanced online courses and e-books? I know you’ve been working with Noa. I just trust you enough to know you have a leash on him.”

“I…”

That was a huge sign of faith from his brother. One that stunned Mokuba. A couple of years ago, Seto would’ve torn down the project the moment he found out about it, just because Noa had been a threat.

For him to trust Mokuba enough to let him revive a former foe and work with him on improving the teen’s mental state, caused such joy and relief in the youngest of the Kaiba brothers, that he had to hold back tears as he answered.

“Yes, Niisama.”

“Also, ask Noa to meet me in a video call. I have an idea that I believe he might want to be involved in.”

“Can I ask what it is?” Mokuba asked as Seto started final decent preparations, planning to land his dragon safely on the runway next to the dome.

“Crawford reminded me that the holosystem can create monsters that are close enough to real that they can interact with the living world…”

“You think you can make him a body,” Mokuba breathed, hopeful.

“I think I want to test it out and he’s the perfect guinea pig.”

Mokuba couldn’t deny that. “When should I arrange the call for?”

“Not right now, I want to get the system cleaned of this virus before I risk introducing another one.”

Mokuba didn’t want to risk his brother taking back his plans, so he didn’t even whine at him for calling Noa a virus.

Instead, he just said, “Yes, Niisama.”

“I’ll touch down in about ten minutes, keep trying while I’m handling that.”

“Of course, talk to you soon.”

With that, Mokuba dropped the call and Seto turned his focus onto landing safely and not damaging any part of the stupidly expensive dragon jet.

He didn’t want to have to wait weeks for repairs to be done before he could use it again. 

Chapter Text

As Yugi made her way through the palace, she was astounded by the sheer wealth on display. The gorgeous tapestries, the extravagant vases and statues, the beautiful floral displays, all reminded her of the display of power and wealth at the Kaiba Mansion.

She was pretty sure it was the same thing here as it was there. Showing off the wealth of the palace allowed the Pharaoh to prove to foreign ambassadors that the country was wealthy and strong, the same way it allowed the Kaibas to show off to other businessmen and women and awe them with their display.

It also made her wonder about how life ran outside the palace. She knew very little about Ancient Egypt outside of the monarchy, the nobles and some basics about day-to-day life. Her twin knew more because she and her brother had regularly snuck out of the palace so they could learn more about the people and what they needed improved, but most of those memories had ended up in her twin’s Soul Sanctuary.

Yugi knew, however, there wouldn’t have been need for a Thief Queen if the level of wealth she saw here was equally distributed amongst the people as well.

There was a temptation to poke her head out of the palace and take a look for herself, but Atem had a firm grip on her arm, and she didn’t want to spoil the night for him.

Not that she was sure he was looking forward to their shared party. The pensive expression and tense shoulders spoke of an underlying concern leading her to wonder, “Atem? Are you alright?”

“I’m…” Atem hesitated, then he sighed. “I don’t know, my Lioness. I’m looking forward to this, but also… this night is going to be hard. Tomorrow much harder. There’s so much I want to do and say, but...”

When he trailed off with a shudder, Yugi reached out and put her other hand on his arm. “We can do a lot tonight though. Think about all the connections we can build.”

Atem’s reply was a mumble, one Yugi didn’t fully catch, and a flash of irritation.

“Brother?” She pushed, concerned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No. I just…”

Atem swallowed and paused just down the hall from the great double doors that led to the throne room, allowing Yugi to hear the music trickling through the partly open doorway. Music involving lutes and harps and instruments that Yugi had never heard before, making her curious.

But she’d considered Atem her brother ever since she’d learned of his existence, because his twin in the ancient era, was her twin in the modern age. And her brother was more important than the music.

“Speak to me? Please?”

“Lioness, I…” Atem’s shoulders sank, his whole frame trembled, and he gritted his teeth. “You’re…”

He shook his head, staring at the floor.

“We could skip,” Yugi offered, causing Atem’s head to snap up. “Go hang out in the city until dawn instead?”

For a moment, hope dawned on Atem’s face, then a hand clamped down on Yugi’s shoulder.

She startled and looked up to find an older, taller man, with greying beard and hair, and warm purple eyes, wearing the crown of the Pharaoh.

Yugi knew who he was. She’d met him in the modern era, when she’d briefly been thrown into the afterlife , when she had drowned at the docks.

He’d claimed her as his then, as part of his family. She’d been honoured to be acknowledged as such and would never forget his face.

This was Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen, Sakhmet’s father.

“Father! H… Hello!” She squeaked, suddenly nervous despite herself.

“I hope I didn’t hear you two were planning on avoiding the party?” The Pharaoh asked, giving the pair a sharp look. “There’s so many ambassadors waiting to speak with you about your plans, and Lords who are looking forward to meeting the real you, that your reputations would never recover.”

Yugi bit her lip. Atem clearly didn’t want to go in, and that worried her because she couldn’t imagine why, in the memory of the most important moment of the twins’ lives, he would’ve been hesitating.

“If you’re worried about poison getting into the food,” Akhenamkhanen offered, “there’s tasters on all the doors. No food or drink will get in without being tested. You won’t need to worry about that tonight.”

Atem let out a relieved breath and his whole frame relaxed, suggesting that he had been worried about that.

“You’re not the only one who wants to protect your sister, Atem,” The Pharaoh reassured the young man. “You’ll be safe once you pass through those doors, if I have anything to say about it.”

“Then we should definitely attend. It’ll be the safest place in all of Egypt with you protecting our backs too,” Atem grinned at his father, seeming relieved that someone else was on their side.

“Oh good, because I was worried I was going to have to send Mahad and Seth to hunt the pair of you down and drag you in,” The Pharaoh chuckled. “I’ll give you both a moment, then I expect to see you both mingling. Remember, if you can’t remember the name of a Lord or Lady, use the titles, and let them tell you if it’s incorrect. You are the Crown Prince and Princess, you are outranked by no one but me.”

“Not even uncle?” Yugi needed to check, since she knew that Akhenaden was out to wipe out Akhenamkhanen’s line, and had only Atem and Sakhmet left to remove at this point.

“Not even your uncle,” The Pharaoh grinned as he took his hand from Yugi’s shoulder. “You’re both adults now and coming fully into your roles and titles. He no longer has the right to tell you what to do . Or complain  to me about your actions, as long as they’re not harming the country.”

Which explained why their father had been so harsh with them until this point. Everything they did that Akhenaden didn’t like, had been complained about to their father, by his brother, who had some sort of sway over him.

They just didn’t know what.

“All I ask is that when you humiliate him, you do so in a manner that I don’t have to punish either of you for.” 

“Of course,” Atem and Yugi answered in unison, then grinned at each other.

“I love you both,” The Pharaoh grinned. “Those outfits suit you both so well.”

“Gifts from mother.”

At Atem’s words, Akhenamkhanen looked like he’d been sucker punched in the gut. Grief creased his face and caused Atem to latch onto him in a hug that was clearly needed by both of them. Yugi waited until they pulled apart and then smiled at her royal father.

“She’d be proud of you both,” He nodded to her before turning for the doors. Then he paused. “What should I have the men on the door announce you by?”

“Crown Prince and Princess,” Atem cut in quickly, before Yugi could say a word. “Of course. If we’re only overshadowed by you, then our names are sacred, are they not?”

“Of course,” The Pharaoh’s tone was weird. Tense. Not unlike Mana’s when Atem had interfered with Yugi signing the paperwork, making Yugi frown. “I’ll see you both in a minute, you can’t be late.”

With that, their father entered the throne room.

The moment he was gone, Atem’s face scrunched up and he took a shuddering breath that sounded like he was trying to suppress a sob. Yugi reached for him, but before she could touch him, he spun Yugi around to face him.

“You need to listen to me, right now, Sister , dearest.”

His voice was tense, sharp, causing her watch him carefully and offer. “Atem? You know you can call me…”

“Don’t…”

Yugi froze at the snap. The paling of his skin and widening of his eyes made it clear that the bite wasn’t because of anger, but fear and upset.

“Atem? Brother?”

“Don’t say it. Don’t write it. Just. Don’t.” Atem breathed, “You can’t. Not here. Not now.”

“Why?” Confusion made Yugi tilt her head, wondering why Atem wouldn’t use her sister’s name.

Atem opened his mouth, flinched and closed it again. Frustration crossed his face and his hands balled and unballed. Then he took a deep breath and leaned against the nearest wall.

“This is our Coming of Age,” He started, picking his words carefully. “Before today, our names were open, usable by anyone. But we’re adults now. There’s a level of respect due to us that means we must be referred to by title. Plus, now that we have influence in the palace, our given names are gifts to be used only by family and those who we trust. If a Noble uses it freely, it grants them power, because it implies that they’re in our inner circle. But if we get the right name ourselves, we have the power.”

Yugi nodded, understanding. “But you’re my brother, so why can’t you use my name?”

“Because this is a…” Atem flinched again, letting out a hiss of pain that worried his companion.

“Atem?!”

“Give… give me a moment,” he panted, gathering himself.

Yugi hesitated, trying to work out why his behaviour was so weird and yet so familiar.

“You must keep your name a secret, no matter what happens. Even from Jt and I.”

Atem’s tone was reassuring, but his expression was pained and frustrated as he forced out the words, confusing Yugi.

“Think of it as a game. One I know you can win.”

“Okay, A… dear Brother.”

Atem gave her a shaky grin at her self-correction. “You’ve got this, my Lioness.”

“I hope so.” Yugi smiled back, still concerned, but trusting her brother.

“Then let’s go.”

They headed for the great double doors, which were opened wide for them, revealing nobles and ambassadors from across Egypt and the wider world.

Yugi hesitated in the doorway, nerves hitting her as she realised every head in the throne room was turned in their direction. Crowds had always made her nervous, and though she was getting better on that front because of the help and support of her twin sister and friends, she had none of them with her in this moment.

But she did have her brother, and he nudged her gently. When she glanced in his direction, Atem winked at her.

“This is a game too, sister,” he whispered in her ear. “One where all we have to do to win, is be polite and pay attention to their wants and needs. We don’t have to promise anything, we don’t have to do anything during this party, but we need to look like we’re considering things. The better we connect to the nobility, the easier our futures will be.”

Yugi nodded her understanding.

“Be the Queen, you know you are. The Queen that others respect and look up to,” Atem smiled. “The Queen that kicked…”

He stopped suddenly, flinching again, making Yugi’s concern spike again. “Are you sick?”

The tiny, bitter huff he let out wasn’t reassuring, “No, no, a little sore from sword training this morning, but I’m fine right now.”

She wasn’t sure he was telling the truth, but she nodded and took a deep breath.

She could do the Queen thing. The public speaking classes Anzu had helped her get had taught her how to push past her nerves and past bullying trauma. Plus, she’d needed to develop a public face to help deal with the crowding of the fans during the two weeks she had been in Kaiba’s theme park. There would be no shame in using that persona now.

“Presenting the Crown Prince and Princess!”

She held her head up as they were announced to the room and smiled, refusing to show the nervousness that hid beneath as she and Atem entered the room.

They passed a group of men and women sat by the doors, tasting plates of boar, pheasant and exotic fruits, alongside jugs of beer and wine, ensuring that nothing that got into the party would result in the deaths of those feasting and dancing. The sight of them helped Atem relax and seeing him calmer, helped Yugi breathe.

“They have Ithacan wine!” She overheard one of the tasters crowing, “Sweetest and strongest in the whole world!”

“Don’t tell Lord Rath that,” Another chuckled. “He’s been saying his grapes can beat Ithaca’s for months.”

“King Odysseus and Queen Penelope  couldn’t be here, but they sent thirty vats,” Atem shared with his sister as they passed the tasters. “Especially for our birthday. A gift from one God-touched King to another. That, and we provide most of their grain and beef because they’re an island and don’t have much room for farmland.”

Yugi tried to remember who Odysseus was and could only come up with the legends her grandfather had told her, about a King who was advised by the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, War and Crafts, Athena. If he’d been real, it would make sense that he would want to make an ally of Atem, who had the Blessing of Ra, Osiris and Set, in the form of the Divine Avatars, the Winged Dragon of Ra, the Sky Dragon of Osiris and the God of the Obelisk, who, in the future would be known as Obelisk the Tormentor.

Divine Avatars that, after Atem’s passing, had been sealed within Sakhmet’s soul, rather than allowing them to fall into the clutches of the Prince’s murderer.

She couldn’t help but wonder whether the downfall of Egypt would’ve gone differently, if Ithaca had been able to aid them, instead of being caught up in the Trojan war.

“And that dour-looking gentleman is Lord Rath,” Atem warned her as an irritated looking man approached, draped in expensive silks that Yugi knew had to have come from the Silk Road, all the way from Asia.

“He’s probably angry we didn’t use his wine for this occasion. Why don’t you go and talk to his wife, while I deal with this?”

For a moment Yugi was almost offended that Atem didn’t want her around to assist, and then a memory flickered through her mind, one of Sakhmet’s. A memory that informed her that this had always been the plan. Atem would ply the noblemen while Sakhmet would integrate with the noblewomen and get the wives on their side.

Because in Egypt, men and women were equal and held equal status, so the husbands had to listen to the input of their wives. Unlike Athens, where the men kept their women locked away and barely allowed them any chance to live as individuals.

“Of course,” Yugi smiled and glanced around, noting which woman was watching the approach of Lord Rath with exasperated unsurprise. “Good luck, Brother.”

“You too, Sister.”

With that Yugi ducked away, narrowly escaping before Lord Rath could approach.

“My Prince, I simply must have a word,” She heard Rath start his complaint as she weaved between the nobility, drawing on the memories of her twin to know what she needed to do. She nodded to some, pausing for a brief moment with others, before reaching the woman she was trying to get to.

“My Lady, it’s good to see you. I do hope you’re enjoying the festivities,” Yugi nodded politely, knowing from her sister’s past, that she should only bow to her father and brother now. No one else.

“Princess!” The woman bowed, a small, embarrassed smile. “I apologise for my husband. He doesn’t seem to be able to accept that his wine just isn’t up to standard.”

“It’s not that,” Yugi shook her head, trying to mitigate the situation. “But we couldn’t turn down such a gift from Ithaca. It was sent specially for this party.”

“It is beautifully sweet too,” The woman relaxed at Yugi’s words as a servant came past, offering an alabaster goblet filled with the stunning black wine of the island nation, to the Princess.

Yugi took it hesitantly, noting the wine, which was a very deep red colour, was so clear, it allowed her to see the imperfections in the cup.

Then, curious, she took a sip.

It was a heady wine. Stunningly sweet and fruity, with a flavour that informed her that peach and possibly strawberry had been included in its brewing and made her want to take another sip.

“I would make sure you get something to eat before you drink too much, your highness,” the noblewoman warned her as she drank half the glass. “It’ll help prevent you from getting too drunk, too quickly. I recommend something including bread.”

“Thank you,” Yugi honestly meant it, not wanting to get too drunk and miss the chance to take in some of her sister’s past.

“You’re welcome, Princess…” The way the Lady’s voice rose and trailed off at the end told Yugi she was trying to get the Princess to give her, her name, but she didn’t let herself be suckered.

Instead, she nodded again and headed for the buffet table, passing the group of professional dancers who were setting the mood for the night with their stunning displays.

Yugi couldn’t help but notice one of them looked like an ancient version of Anzu, as she reached where the plates of food that’d gotten past the testers were laid ready to be tucked into.

She didn’t take a lot, she didn’t want to take more than she’d snack on and waste food, but she did take the Lady’s advice and grab a couple of rolls, which she filled with the meats which smelled mouth-watering.

Once her plate was full, she reached for her goblet, then paused.

Anzu and Mai had told her that if she ever left a drink unattended, she should consider it ‘gone’ for her own safety and get a new drink. They’d been insistent that it was one of the unwritten rules for Girls Going Out.

She trusted them both, because they were both more social than she was, and Mai was old enough to drink in the modern era. So, since she’d turned her back on the goblet, she left it on the table and took herself over to a seat where she could tuck into her plate of food.

From her corner, she got a good view of the proceedings. That meant she got to see the way that despite her uncle’s place at the side of the Pharaoh, he was being actively ignored, except by a man in the robes of an acolyte of Sobek, who was acting as a personal servant. Instead, the Lords flocked to her brother to discuss the future of the country, now that Atem was finally old enough to be next in line.

The way that her father watched his son with a deep pride told her he must’ve been devastated when he’d learned of Atem’s demise.

“Room for another, your highness?”

She startled and looked up to find a huge, tall man with almost glowing eyes and short black hair, whose posture and musculature told her that this was someone with combat training and the empty scabbard at his waist confirmed her thoughts.

“Certainly, Lord…?”

“King. King Neos, of Neotasha,” Neos corrected her, his head tilting as his catlike yellow-green eyes narrowed a little, “You’ve forgotten already, Princess…?”

“I’ve already had a goblet of wine.”

Yugi apologised, ignoring the push for her own name, or rather her twin’s name, and the undercurrent of power that made her heart race and her knees try to shake. She shifted up the bench to make room for him, only for him to sit opposite her.

“And it’s stronger than I’m used to.”

“Ithaca’s wine is known for that,” The foreign King chuckled, relaxing as he waved over another server with a tray of goblets, these ones filled with Ithacan white, which was as clear as water and sweeter than the black had been. Just as strong, but Yugi could taste the honey in the brewing much clearer than in the other wine and there was less of the fruity taste.

Not wanting to insult her company by refusing to drink with him, she took small sips around bites of her sandwiches. Sandwiches that seemed to amuse the King, making Yugi wonder if sandwiches had even been invented yet.

“How are you finding being an adult?” He asked, seeming curious. “Has your uncle actually allowed you and your brother to start doing your duties yet? Or is he using his newest sycophant to harass you both?”

Yugi let out an unamused snort. She remembered Akhenaden from her twin’s memories and from their interactions with him on Duelist Kingdom and had no love or trust for him. Especially considering he’d arranged for the demise of most of her ancient siblings.

“He hasn’t set his acolyte on us yet. But he’ll do his best to stay in a position of power. He’ll keep moving things around in the background until we can stop him.”

“Glad to see you’re aware of that,” Neos nodded, tilting his glass at her in his appreciation. “My sisters couldn’t be here because of their… prior interactions with the man.”

“Oh no…” Yugi winced, aware that Queen Menhit had been down to Egypt for treaty talks after Akhenaden’s death, but unaware there had been issues before that. “I’m sorry, what happened?”

“My sister Anat is about your age right now, because of a ‘mishap’ with some masonry that happened while she was here, discussing a potential marriage to your father when he was younger, and when Menhit came to investigate, your uncle called her a whore.”

“He likes that insult,” Yugi replied swiftly, aware he had called Sakhmet that after his arrest.

“Hmm, he’s careless with people too. I heard his last personal acolyte got mixed up with some jackals and no one’s seem him since.”

Considering what Akhenaden had done with Amunet’s body, Yugi couldn’t help but wonder if the man was down in the body pit with her. She shuddered, making a mental note to bring that up to the Pharaoh later, when they had a quiet moment.

Feeling nauseous just thinking about poor Amunet, she turned her focus to something else, anything else, and decided to instead try and recall what she’d ‘remembered’ while watching her twin’s memories of the past, about the royalty of Neotasha.

She knew it was a magical nation that controlled a chunk of the trade routes and helped keep peace among the countries in their general vicinity. She also remembered it was ruled by three siblings, who were considered Gods by their people. Anat, who ruled over death. Menhit, who ruled over fertility. And Neos, who was their God of War.

Which explained why Neos looked like he could push over the palace if he wanted to.

Sakhmet had heard rumours that they reincarnated within their own royal family and every time they did, they went back on those thrones. That’d never been confirmed, but the fact that there was an Anat ruling right now, despite having died long before Akhenemkhanon and Tiamat had married, suggested it wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

Yugi wasn’t going to judge anyone else for reincarnating, considering how many times she’d done it herself, before she had become the teenager she was nowadays but she was curious about something.

“If I can ask a personal question?” She asked, certain it was the wine making her bold, but curious.

Neos nodded.

“Do you remember your past lives when you come back? Or do you start fresh?”

The King startled and stared at her for a moment, then grinned, “Oh we remember, your highness. So, if you cross us in one life, don’t expect us to be willing to trust you in another.” 

She couldn’t help but be envious. She didn’t remember any of her past lives. She didn’t know anything about the history she had lived or the lessons she had learned.

“It’s not always easy, mind,” She didn’t know if Neos read her mind, or whether he saw it on her face. “We wake up to our memories and powers once we’re strong enough to handle them, and that can be quite overwhelming. I’ll admit there’s times I curse myself for the spells I locked upon my soul millennia ago and wish I didn’t have to remember the wars I’ve fought or the times I’ve died.”

That made a lot of sense and Yugi nodded, suddenly glad she didn’t have the memories. She knew her past selves had died of illness, weakness and murder. None of which sounded pleasant and having to remember all of that would certainly be disturbing.

“Do you regret it?”

“Doing what was needed for my nation to survive? No. Outliving almost everyone I care about and knowing that next life I’ll have to build a new family, except for my sisters? Yes.”

She understood that well. There were things from her sister’s past that Sakhmet regretted but wouldn’t undo because they had been good for her country, even if they had resulted in negative consequences for the Pharaoh herself.

“Of course, it helps when you have reliable allies, which, the three of us are hoping you and your brother will prove to be.”

“We want to be,” Yugi reassured him with a bright grin, unsure what happened to Neotasha after the sealing, but knowing, at least, that they wouldn’t have had to deal with Apophis because he wouldn’t be around to attack them.

“We have no interest in letting our uncle destroy Egypt’s reputation any further than he already has.”

Neos stared at her a little longer, then nodded and pulled out a gift wrapped in the cured pelt of what Yugi was pretty sure was a fox pelt. She untied the cords to reveal a furry, embroidered, shawl, and a gold handled blade in an embossed leather sheath. Yugi recognised that there were shimmering runes of some kind amongst the embossing and embroidery but didn’t have the required magical training to recognise what they did.

She glanced at him, then carefully unsheathed the small, wavy edged dagger, whose pommel was made of a large ruby.

“The shawl is from Menhit, the sheath from Anat, and the dagger is my gift to you.” Neos explained as Yugi examined it carefully. “The shawl will help hide you from enemies and the sheath will allow the blade to go unnoticed. The dagger is for stabbing.”

These were valuable gifts, ones specifically magically designed for her and the appreciation on her face as she thanked him was honest, even if she didn’t think she would be stabbing too many people before she woke up in her modern form.

She carefully put the dagger back, then used the cords to tie the sheath to her leg, under her shift dress, not wanting to be seen wandering around the party with a weapon, before trying to work out where to put the shawl and finally settling with tying it around her waist for now.

“If the dagger could end up in your uncle at some point, I’d appreciate it, but I understand if the opportunity never arises,” Neos casually shrugged as he leaned back. “We’re still convinced that he was behind Anat’s mishap.”

“Wouldn’t be the last royal he killed,” Yugi spoke without thinking, mentally stalled, then covered her mouth with one hand while pushing the wine away with the other, suddenly aware that she wasn’t entirely in control of herself and that it was probably the fault of the alcohol.

Neos stared at her, then leaned forward and pushed the wine back towards her. “I think we have things to talk about.”

“Are you hogging the Princess for yourself, King Neos?”

A new voice made Yugi startle and look up. The man speaking looked like an older, male version of Queen Tiamat, Sakhmet’s mother, with shorter, but curlier black and red hair, but with a few more blonde streaks, making it not dissimilar to hers and Atem’s, and a neatly trimmed beard.

“I’d like a chance to take my cousin for a dance.”

Yugi blinked as he offered her a hand. She’d known Sakhmet, and her siblings, had been half Persian, but hadn’t known that Tiamat had brothers, or that they’d visited Egypt at some point. It explained why Sakhmet had been so hurt that even her Persian relatives had left her to fight all alone when the war with Ba-Khu-Ra had happened.

“Prince Baraz, second in line to the throne of Persia,” he introduced himself. “Your mother was my aunt.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, your highness.”

Yugi felt rude not introducing herself properly, but the smile on his face only wavered for a moment before he was pulling her to her feet and away from Neos, who scowled.

“There’s time for politicking later,” Baraz laughed at the irritation. “This is her Coming of Age, she should have fun! Not all of us get one over and over again, like you.”

Neos paused, then nodded his allowance of Baraz’s point, “I’ll be here for a few days anyway. We can discuss it later. Do save a dance for me.”

“I will., Yugi had enough time to promise before Baraz swirled her into those who were caught up in the music.

Fully aware that she didn’t personally know the moves that were being performed, she dove into the memories that her twin had left within her room and relied on them, until the buzz from the wine and the sheer joy that Baraz and several other dance partners created, entrapped her in the music and swept her concerns away.

Chapter Text

Sakhmet found herself unable to focus as the limo pulled up outside the Kaiba Dome.

She hadn’t wanted to keep heading for the duel she’d agreed to earlier. Imoto still hadn’t returned from whatever game Anubis had set in motion, and any attempt to reach out to her came back with silence. Following the Shadow trails into the Puzzle hadn’t helped either, because the sheer weight of the darkness within the Item easily drowned out any attempts Sakhmet made to find her twin.

Worse, the maze within the Puzzle got more complicated the more upset and confused the one wandering it got. Every question in the quester’s mind added doors, every doubt added floors.  

And none of that helped her find where Anubis’s game had spirited Yugi away to.

It didn’t help that she felt like she was covered in his Shadows. They’d coated her mortal form and invaded her Soul Sanctuary and she couldn’t chase them away without risking cutting her ties to Imoto and being unable to find her.

She just wanted to go home and find her sister, so she could shift the horribly invasive feeling of another’s magic within the space where her soul and her memories rested, and hug her twin tightly.

However, the limo driver had refused to return her home without the express permission of a Kaiba, so she was pleased to find Mokuba waiting for her at the entrance and was planning to tell him that she was going home, only for him to start talking the moment she opened the door.

“Security is still chasing Duelists away from your home, the new door will be up in the next couple of hours, and I’ve already started putting together a case against the guy that attacked you at the museum.”

“You won’t find much. He should be dead,” She hissed out. “I need to go home, he has Imoto.”

“What?!” Mokuba yelped, staring at her.

“He tried to drag me into a Shadow Game and caught Imoto instead. I can’t reach her right now.”

She knew the frustration was clear in her voice, but she didn’t care.

“I know where she is, he’s dragged her into the Puzzle, but I need time somewhere safe to get to her. Preferably before something else happens.”

“You can stay here,” Mokuba offered without hesitation. “The shop isn’t locked down yet, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

“I’ve warded the shop, he won’t be able to get in,” Sakhmet shook her head.

“He won’t, but others might.”

Mokuba’s response made the Pharaoh huff. She wanted to deny his point, but she couldn’t. Not after this morning, and any attempt to change the wards would require magic she didn’t want to spend right now, in case she or her sister needed it.

“I’ve got to deal with an issue anyway, so if you want to hang out with me, my security will keep the asshole away while you search.”

Sakhmet hesitated. She would prefer to be behind her wards, where she knew Anubis couldn’t get to her, but she also knew that the shop wasn’t as good a protection as Kaiba’s security, as long as they weren’t possessed.

“Alright,” she sighed as she fired off a group message to her friends, letting them know she was at the Kaiba Dome and warning them to be careful because there was an asshole on the loose.

“You can stay in the computer room with me. There’s only one way in or out,” the younger Kaiba grinned, just glad that he had gotten her to stay. “How is Yugi stuck in the Puzzle?”

“It’s a maze in there. A mess of corridors and traps. I didn’t set them up, so I assume it formed to protect its powers and my hidden name and memories,” The Pharaoh grimaced. “But it’s both hard to get into…”

“And hard to get out of,” Mokuba nodded, understanding. “Can you get to her?”

“As long as I can leave the body safely unattended,”

Sakhmet didn’t like that he’d been able to bypass her defences so easily and steal her twin away from her.

“Which I can’t do until I can guarantee Anubis can’t get to us.”

“Well, all I’ve got going on is a small virus issue, so you should be safe here. Someone scanned a card that’s messing up the system.”

“Oh? Which card?” Sakhmet asked, curious despite everything going on around her.

“Pyramid of Light.”

Mokuba wasn’t sure what the words Sakhmet used meant, he recognised them as Ancient Egyptian because his brother had used them under his breath since he’d touched the Millennium Rod, but Mokuba knew curses when he heard them, which led him to ask: “So that’s a problem?”

“That’s Anubis’ artefact,” Sakhmet grimaced. “Which means he’s got his claws in your systems.”

“Shit.”

The Pharaoh agreed with his sentiment. The fact that her enemy was in the mainframe that connected to every Duel Disk in the world, and every Duelist, was a huge issue. She didn’t know what he was going to do with that, whether he planned to go after other Duelists, or whether he was just testing how far he could reach.

“I was going to let you go up against some of the pre-programmed holographic opponents that Niisama duels so I could get that footage, but I can’t clear that card from our systems and there’s something forming in the network, so…”

Sakhmet’s eyes narrowed. ‘Something’ was a bad sign. It meant Anubis was up to something.

Right now, he thought he had her in his trap and she was Imoto, which meant whatever it was he was up to was designed to go after Imoto. Possibly by challenging her to a Shadow Duel while Sakhmet was unable to protect her from the darkness.

A small smirk formed at the knowledge that her twin was stronger than Anubis gave her credit for. She wasn’t the weak child that she’d been when she’d fought against Pegasus. She could stand up to the Shadows now, if it wasn’t a prolonged game.

Her stomach churned as they passed a clock, and she realised that it’d been more than two hours since Anubis had attacked them in the museum.

She needed to get her twin out of the game, but she couldn’t leave Anubis to mess with the KC systems, where he could get anywhere and to any Duelist at any moment. Plus, it could take her hours, if not days, to find her twin within the Puzzle, which was time Imoto might not have.

But if she took Anubis head on, she could demand the release of her twin as part of her victory conditions.

“Get me in a duel against that thing.”

Mokuba didn’t like the tone she snapped out. He was a Kaiba; he didn’t follow the orders of anyone except Seto. However, when he looked at her, he could see the anger and fear in her eyes. The same anger and fear that his big brother had shown when Hanaq had held him hostage.

And Yugi WAS his cousin. Meaning she was a Kaiba too, and she needed his help.

“I can’t promise it’ll be safe,” he warned as he took her up the elevator to the arena floor.

“Imoto’s not safe.”

Mokuba nodded, understanding the drive to protect a sibling. “Alright, this way.”

Sakhmet felt her phone go off in her pocket as she followed Mokuba out onto the arena floor and readied her Duel Disk. Checking it revealed that her friends were on their way, which was a relief. Knowing they were safe right now allowed her to focus on the issue at hand.

Her sister was in trouble because of her. And she needed to take out the one who threatened her before he ended her life, the way he’d ended Atem’s. Triggering his trap and pulling his attention to her would do that.

She took a deep breath as she shuffled her deck and watched the huge computer room, which was shaped a disc, slide into place overhead, its projectors lighting up and shimmering with rainbow colours.

This wasn’t going to be easy. Just the thought of standing opposite the man who’d terrified her in the first days of her adulthood in Ancient Egypt, when she’d still been a tiny thirteen-year-old, barely out of childhood, made her hands shake and nearly caused her to drop her cards.

But Imoto mattered more than her trauma. After everything her sister had been through because of her, she needed to push through the terror that was trying to drive her to flee and stand tall.

Besides, if she let herself be afraid now, if she let Mokuba see her fear, then it would get back to Kaiba and she refused to show anything that would make him think any less of her.

Despite her determination, despite her drive to protect her sister and take down Anubis for good, her heart pounded in her chest so quickly that it hurt, and her face was pale as the disc above her finished its movement with a loud clang.

The moment the system fully booted up, Anubis’s twisted magic erupted from her Puzzle and churned around her, knocking her to her knees before sweeping across the field and swirling up until it consumed the computer lab and seeped into the computer systems.

Mokuba didn’t hesitate to try and shut off the holo-system, trying to avoid losing control of the network that he and his brother were so proud of. The computer didn’t respond to him. It wouldn’t take his codes, and pulling the plug did nothing as the darkness poured back down onto the field, splashing up the sides into the stands before the waves pooled back to the centre of the arena.

Where they rose up and took the form of a huge demonic, black furred, red eyed canine, for a moment or two, before tumbling down into a giant of a man, easily twice as tall as the Pharaoh.

“A… Anubis…” Sakhmet hated the way her voice trembled, the way all the fear and pain the man had caused her caused her to struggle to push herself to her feet.

And most of all she hated the way that Anubis knew she was terrified of him. Because the smirk that graced his features told her that he revelled in it. That he enjoyed knowing that he’d left a lasting trauma that still haunted her three thousand years later.

“Well, well, well, little Princess,” He chuckled, stepping towards her, making her take a step back. “I thought I had you all locked up in my game, but it looks like I get to show your twin exactly what I did to you and your brother.”

“Don’t you dare!” Fury at the threat helped Sakhmet push past the terror.

“Why shouldn’t I? She has what I need to make this world suffer,” The brute smirked. “She has your name, and you let her get swept away.”

“She’s not involved in Egypt!”

“You think I care if she was involved in events back then? I wasn’t given immortality by your uncle to deal just with events back then.”

Anubis chuckled, amused by the widening of Sakhmet’s eyes and the way her jaw dropped.

“Oh, you never knew? Your uncle knew his son couldn’t hold the throne back then, so he forced me to become this, to become the living avatar of a God, so he could ensure that in the future, his son could take the throne of the reincarnated Queen.”

That Akhenaden had been thinking so far into the future stunned Sakhmet, having never imagined that she would still be here three thousand years later.

“So actually, I’m meant to tear your little runt to pieces. I just have no intention of giving Akhenaden’s brat the throne after I do it.”

He grinned at her, revealing sharp canine teeth.

“Instead, I’m going to destroy this world using the Kaiba Corp system and the monstrosities I’ve brought with me.”

“I won’t let you,” Sakhmet promised, still trembling, “And when I win, you’re going to give me back my sister. Unharmed!”

“Oh, you’ll get her back in pieces after I rip your name from her,” Anubis swore. “She’s running out of time, and she doesn’t even realise it. She thinks she’s caught up in your memories. I’m surprised you didn’t tell her the truth of what happened on your thirteenth.”

“No…” The gasp that escaped the Pharaoh made her enemy chuckle, a vicious nasty laugh that reminded Sakhmet of her time at his, non-existent, mercy, after she and her brother had been kidnapped after their Coming of Age party.

“I’ll do you a deal though, Pharaoh. Give me the God Monsters, surrender your name and power and she doesn’t have to suffer the way you did.”

It was tempting. So, so tempting. She knew she couldn’t. She knew she shouldn’t. That to surrender to his demands would be the end of the world.

But she remembered the pain Anubis had caused them both, trying to take the Gods from her brother. Just the thought of her twin going through what she and Atem had, made her heart tremble.

“I…”

“Don’t you dare surrender to him.”

She didn’t dare turn her back on Anubis, but the sound of Kaiba’s voice stiffened her back and straightened her posture.

“Your Imoto is a gamer of your calibre,” Kaiba continued as he stepped up to her side and activated his own Duel Disk. “Possibly higher. No match for me, of course, but to surrender now is to say you have no faith in her.”

The ‘no match for me’ earned him a sharp look from the Pharaoh, but that had been his goal. Pushing her to step past her fear and start focusing again.

He’d recognised her reaction to the brute that’d taken over his systems even before Anubis had started gloating.

It was the same reaction he’d barely hidden when he’d seen Gozaburo through the bars of his cell in the afterlife. It was the reaction of a child when brought face to face with someone who’d abused them and left lasting mental scars.

And that someone Seto respected as highly as the Other Yugi was reduced to a terrified child was unforgivable to him.

That and that alone was the only reason he would admit, for stepping up and standing at her side.

Sakhmet stared at him. He was right. She knew he was right. Her Imoto was a spectacular gamer. She’d defeated Kaiba, she’d outplayed Pegasus and Akhenaden, she’d defeated Mai and had even been winning against Otogi in an unfair game.

And Shadow Games HAD to be fair. Which meant her twin would find a way to turn the game around, as long as Sakhmet gave her the chance and the time needed.

Plus he hadn’t promised to return her twin alive and she would rather fight to give her a chance, than risk him killing her out of spite.

Which was why she nodded to her rival and turned back to Anubis. “I won’t betray her by giving you the means to destroy her world.”

“If you won’t give me the avatars the Gods gave your brother before I killed him, I’ll rip them from you! You’ll suffer and scream at my hands once more and you’ll die knowing that you’ve sacrificed another twin to save your own, worthless life!”

“Not using my systems you won’t,” Kaiba snarled out, throwing out the arm wearing the Duel Disk to shield the Pharaoh.

“I’m not going to let you ruin my company because of some ridiculous three-thousand-year old grudge.”

“Then I’ll duel you both! You’ll both die here today!” Anubis laughed, his left arm warping and twisting until a Duel Disk of his own had formed upon it. “And I’ll get to eradicate both Akhenemkhanon’s heir and Akhenaden’s in one fell swipe!”

“We won’t lose to you! You have no idea how strong we are,” Sakhmet swore, feeling more confident, more able to stand against her terror with Kaiba standing at her side.

Both Kaiba and Sakhmet drew their opening hands, their stances shifting as they braced themselves for what was to come.

“Let’s duel.”

Chapter Text

As the music finally slowed, signalling that the party was beginning to come to a close, Yugi panted for breath, tired and hot from the many songs and gentlemen who’d insisted on taking a turn dancing with the Birthday girl, including her own father and brother.

Thirsty and needing a drink, she reached for the nearest goblet of wine. Luckily the nearest servant had a tray with two drinks upon it. Yugi didn’t hesitate to take a glass of the white from the man, who smiled and nodded to her, before heading into the crowd.

Yugi noted that he was heading toward her brother as she gulped down the drink, one that Yugi expected to be sweet and taste of honey, only to get an aftertaste of something bitter as she took her third mouthful. She spat it back out on instinct and checked the goblet.

The sight of the cloudy liquid within made her frown. The previous white wine had been clear. Clear enough that she’d been able to see a small chip in the alabaster. This was cloudy and nearly opaque.

And left a bitter aftertaste. Really bitter.

She wasn’t sure if it was just a different type of wine. It was possible that they’d run out of Ithacan, but she remembered rules two and three of the Unwritten Rules for Girls Going Out. If your drink tasted weird, or looked strange, spit it out, put it down and get a new one.

Plus, rule four was if you were handed a drink that wasn’t right and could still see the one who gave it to you, report them to the nearest security guard so they can’t try it with any other girl.

Especially if you’d drunk some of it.

Seeing the servant beelining towards Atem, dodging those calling for drinks made up her mind for her. She headed towards the servant, catching the attention of the guard by the exit to the gardens and waving him over as she went.

Noting the guard moving across the room towards his daughter, Pharaoh Akhenemkhanon headed in that direction as well, allowing him to see Yugi reach Atem just as he reached for the goblet and snatch it from his hand.

“Sister?”

“Don’t. It’s not right,” Yugi warned, as the Pharaoh caught up to them. “Mine’s bad too.”

“Daughter? What do you mean?” Akhenemkhanon asked, confused as the servant tried to sneak off and Atem’s eyes went wide, and his breathing turned shaky.

“Stop him!” At Yugi’s yelp, the guard grabbed the servant. “Father? Are we serving anything other than Ithacan tonight?”

“No, why?”

At the Pharaoh’s question Yugi showed him her goblet and the one she’d taken from her brother. Both were the same cloudy texture and, when the Pharaoh scowled and called over a taster, the woman dipped a finger into the wine, licked it and let out a hiss.

“The wine’s tainted my Pharaoh. But I promise, I personally checked the white wine that came in. It was good when I tasted it.”

The sound Atem let out startled Yugi, who turned to see him suddenly need to lean against a table, terror evident on his features.

“Brother!” Yugi reached for him, “You didn’t drink any did you?”

“No… no…” His voice shook, his dark skin paled, “I just… thank you, for catching that.”

She smiled and patted his arm, trying to ignore the way her head was beginning to spin.

Instead, she turned her focus towards the furious Pharaoh who was getting the wine jugs checked, only to find that the rest of the wine was untouched, meaning this had been a targeted attempt on the twins. Something had been slipped into the goblets rather than the wine.

As Akhenemkhanon had the guard escort the servant outside, where he could be questioned without disturbing the party, and called his brother over to have him taste the wine, Yugi watched nervously.

“Poppy milk, brother,” Akhenaden’s scowl told her nothing, since he was always scowling. “Someone tried to knock your children out. Not that I could blame them, they’re always causing trouble.”

“Now, brother…”

Yugi couldn’t push past the dizziness anymore and had to sit down, alerting the royal family that there was something wrong.

“Sister!” Atem pushed past his own fear to help her to a chair, “You drank some, didn’t you?”

“Couple of mouthfuls.” She admitted shakily as the Pharaoh’s worried gaze turned towards her, "Maybe half a cup?”

Before her family could respond, the warning bells along the walls started ringing, disturbing the party and sending it into disarray.

“Fire!!”

The scream erupted from the other side of the hall, near one of the windows, drawing their attention and causing the guards to rush in that direction.

“Get her to your rooms,” the Pharaoh ordered his son, his expression darkening. “Take Mahad and Seth with you. And a few guards. Akhenaden, you’re with me.”

“Yes, father,” Atem didn’t hesitate to help Yugi back to her feet, letting her lean on him. “I’ve got you.”

Yugi nodded weakly. Her body was getting heavy, and walking was an effort, but her mind and heart were racing.

Someone had tried to drug her and Atem, and her sister would never have given her a memory where she’d been drugged to help her recover and rest.

Which meant this wasn’t a memory. This wasn’t something her twin had planned.

It was something Anubis had done to her.

“Shit…” She breathed, furiously trying to force her swirling, unfocused mind, to push past the opiates and concentrate.

The adrenaline caused by her anger and shock allowed her to straighten up and think, but she knew she was on a timer before the poppy milk overwhelmed her, and she didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing...

Then it hit her.

Atem’s earlier actions echoed those of the NPCs in the Virtual World Shadow Game. The NPCs in the game had reacted with pain any time they’d tried to tell her something the rules of the game wouldn’t allow them to share, or anything that broke the fourth wall of the world that they were in.

Atem’s reactions when he’d tried to talk about protecting her name and recovering someone else’s, were the exact same. Meaning that she hadn’t fallen into a memory when she’d been knocked unconscious by the blast, she’d been sent tumbling into a Shadow Game.

One to steal her sister’s name from her so her foe could unlock the Shadows.

One she hadn’t known about until this moment.

Even though Atem had tried to warn her.

She knew what events the game were based on too, and she knew her twin would never, ever have picked this one out for her to play a game around. Not when it was the kidnapping, when someone had managed to drug both twins, sneak them out of the palace and drag them to Anubis’ encampment.

It made horrible sense. Today was Atem and Anesan’s thirteenth birthday. Atem had died when he was thirteen.

Yugi grimaced. She wasn’t going to let that happen here if she could help it.

Thinking about Atem’s warning gave her the hint that she needed Anubis’ name, his real one, the one he had before he had the gall to name himself after the God of the Dead, if she wanted to win.

But where did she start looking for Anubis’ name? Who could’ve known him before...

She could’ve gone back to the party and kissed Neos as she realised that he too was on her side and had given her a giant clue.

“Brother. Wait.” She gasped out, “Where’s Uncle’s office?”

“Why?”

“His last acolyte messed with jackals and disappeared.”

“Then Anubis started threatening the palace,” Atem got it with a grin. “You think the name’s there?”

“Gotta try. And quickly, before they’re done dealing with the fire.”

And before Yugi lost the fight to stay awake.

Atem didn’t hesitate. He turned away from the stairs up to the bedrooms and headed for the offices.

“But my Prince, your father said…”

“Mahad. Don’t argue with me,” Atem snapped at the man, startling Yugi since she knew from the Mahad that had become the Dark Magician, that he and Atem had been best friends back in Egypt.

“But…”

Yugi paused, as a thought hit her, then took off her wesekh collar. “Mahad, Seth, can you run this upstairs for me?”

“My Princess?”

“And take some guards. If they were planning to kidnap us once we passed out, they’d expect us to return to our rooms. You might be able to catch them.”

Atem gave her a small smile at the idea, but Seth nodded as he took the collar from her.

“And if you’re right, it would be unsafe for you to head up there,” Akhenaden’s heir agreed with her. “We’ll check, but Atem, can you keep the Princess safe on your own?”

“Of course. We’re both had magical training, so I can call my Ka Beast. I’ll protect her.”

Following the plan laid down by the royals, their guards shot towards the bedrooms, allowing Yugi and Atem to dart towards the offices. Thankfully they didn’t have to go too far, allowing Yugi to slide into the chair at her uncle’s desk as the dizziness started to come back.

“Do you know the name of his new helper?” Yugi asked her brother as he shut the door behind him.

“Gyasi. His name’s Gyasi. He introduced himself earlier,” The Prince nodded, “We’d want older papers, a month, maybe two.”

Yugi nodded and started checking any and all papyrus and clay tablets she could reach, thanking her twin sister for the memories that allowed her to read hieratic and hieroglyphic texts.

As she worked through, she could feel her thoughts slowing and her movements stuttered, suggesting she wasn’t going to be able to fight the opiates in her system much longer, making her wish she’d thought to check her goblet before she’d drank.

As the hieratic on the papyrus she was reading blurred, she let out a soft curse and looked up at her brother. “Atem, I…”

The door slammed open before she could say what she was thinking, revealing their uncle, his assistant and four guards. Atem scrambled to his feet and Yugi tried to follow, only for her legs to give out under her.

Thankfully, putting the desk between her and her uncle.

“Atem, Princess, you shouldn’t be in here,” Akhenaden’s voice was level, but Yugi had heard it before, across the dueling arena, and knew he was angry. “You know that.”

“We can be wherever we want now,” Atem corrected his uncle. “You no longer outrank us.”

“I can read your mind, nephew. You realise I can’t let her win?”

Yugi hissed quietly as Atem’s stance shifted, his eyes narrowing. “I thought we couldn’t talk about the game? I couldn’t tell her anything!”

“We couldn’t, until she broke the script,” Akhenaden chuckled, his Shadows shifting around the room, “You’re both supposed to be unconscious and halfway to Anubis right now. She saved you. And she broke the plot, meaning we can act as our characters would, and well…”

“Uncle was never on our side,” Atem hissed as Yugi unwrapped the shawl from around her waist, planning to grab her brother and cover them both, if she could, “You’re going to hand us over.”

“Every role, except hers and Anubis’, is played by a soul that’s trapped in the Shadows, oh Prince. Meaning you’re the only person in this game who doesn’t want her to lose,” the spirit playing the role of Akhenaden sneered, making Yugi realise how in trouble she was.

And how biased against her the game truly was.

“The rest of us want out of this hellish realm and that means getting her name. Now step aside, before I have to make you.”

“Never,” Atem waved a hand and his personal Ka beast appeared, a Feral Imp that snapped and snarled at the men who tried to approach it.

“Atem…” Yugi breathed, knowing her brother was taking a huge risk.

When she had first started learning to summon, Mahad and Mana, the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, had made it clear that the death of a personal Ka beast could result in the death of its summoner.

“Oh Atem, Atem, Atem,” Akhenaden snickered. “That won’t win. Not against an Item Holder.”

Yugi couldn’t get a good look at the monsters that were summoned from her place behind the desk, but she did see the blue skin and gold armour of the pair that assaulted the Feral Imp, who did its best but couldn’t stand against the assault.

Atem’s cry as his Ka beast was destroyed and he collapsed, drove Yugi to fling the shawl Neos had given her, over him, able to see him breathing, barely, and force herself to her feet, using the desk to hold her up.

The moment she rose to glare at her uncle, the false Akhenaden was in her head. He wasn’t as good as the real one though and Yugi distracted him by throwing image after image of the modern world in front of his probe, even as she reached for her own magic, not wanting to lose here and now.

She gritted her teeth as she reached for the deck that normally rested at her waist, noting the two monsters, a pair of Slate Warriors, that’d assaulted Atem’s Ka beast were approaching her, blades drawn, only to find it wasn’t there.

She couldn’t summon from her deck. She would have to summon her Ka beast.

And she’d never done that. Even before the warning from the magicians, she and Anesan had been wary, because the one time they’d reached for her Ka beast with their powers, something dark and destructive had called back.

Anesan didn’t think it was her Ka beast. The Pharaoh had been certain that a soul as balanced towards light as Yugi’s was, couldn’t possibly host a dark monster, and that the echo they had felt was Zorc responding instead.

So, they’d practiced with her deck until she could summon without even touching it.

But Yugi didn’t have a choice now. She was barely able to stand, her head was swimming somewhere six foot above her and her brother was down, possibly dead.

If she didn’t want to lose here, she needed her Ka beast.

“If this goes bad, forgive me, Anesan,” Yugi breathed as she reached within her own soul and called for the beast within.

“What are you…?”

The creature that answered her was dragonic in nature, its scales a black so dark that it absorbed the light from the area around it, orbs of ruby shimmering in lines down its face and neck, all the way down its sides and right out to the end of its tail.

Yugi’s breath stuttered, even as she felt the bellow it unleashed as if it was coming from her own throat and her own vision doubled again, allowing her to see through her dragon’s eyes as one of the guards dove out of the door.

That wasn’t Zorc…

As the Slate Warriors lunged forward, swords drawn, light erupted from the rubies, destroying everyone around it. Yugi dove to protect Atem from the devastation, shielding him with her body as the creature wiped out everyone else in the room and brought down part of the roof, before shimmering away.

As the dragon faded, the last of Yugi’s strength went with it, sending her tumbling into the dreams that had been trying to steal her away ever since she had drank the tainted drink.

The last thing she felt before she was dragged under by the tides of sleep, was something clamping around her arm, a wall slamming into place in her mind, cutting her off from her magic, and rope wrapping around her wrists.

But she didn’t have the strength left to resist as she was pulled off of Atem, who was hidden from their foes by the magical shawl, and she was dragged away…

Chapter Text

“Yugi!”

Sakhmet was glad to hear the voices of her friends calling her as they came barrelling into the stands, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off her opponent as he sneered at her and her tag team partner.

“Yugi? Is that what you call yourself in this era?” Anubis demanded as his lifepoints climbed to 8000, the sum of both Sakhmet’s and Seto’s.

The warrior drew his opening hand and considered the cards within it. “Or is that the name of the little Princess I have wrapped up in my other game?”

“Wait, he has…?”

“You harm one hair on her head, and I’ll ensure you never see the light of day again!” Sakhmet snarled, cutting off Anzu as Anubis picked the move he wanted to make.

“I would worry more about yourself. Her life will end as soon as I break her soul and drag your name from what remains. Your torment is just beginning!”

With that, he set three cards face down and smirked. “Soon you’ll join the restless souls of those who you failed to protect, Pharaoh, and I’ll start the introductions with this…”

He activated the permanent spell card, Call of the Mummy. A crack appeared in the floor, a gaping maw that pulsed with dark energy as an obese, rotund mummy with a huge, spiked axe that it swept in the direction of the duelists opposing it as its attack points showed 1700.

“My Call of the Mummy allows me to summon one of the undead who wander Duat to my side, as long as I have no other monsters on the field.” Anubis gloated , able to see the anger and nervousness of the Pharaoh’s little cohort. “As is my right, as the Lord of the Dead.”

“You’re not Anubis, not the real one,” Sakhmet hissed back, offended at his sacrilege. “You’re nothing but a bully who enjoys picking on those smaller than you.”

“If you keep insulting me, I’ll spend time breaking a few extra bones after I get your name from your brat.”

The Pharaoh let out a hiss and backed up a step, unwilling to risk the safety of her sister. Especially when faced with the man who’d killed her brother and ritually sacrificed his soul to the Shadows in an attempt to gain control of the Divine Beasts.

“That’s better. You remember how easily I can snap a person into pieces, don’t you? Do you want that for your brat?”

Seto’s hands balled into fists as the Pharaoh flinched, unable to help but equate her reactions to the way he’d come to flinch just from the sight of the riding crop his teachers had hit him with, when he’d gotten an answer wrong.

Suddenly he understood her cold demeanour and cautious nature much better than he really wanted to, because he’d used the same defences himself.

“Hurry up and finish your move,” he snapped at the brute he was facing. “You’re stalling.”

“Are you that eager to die, spawn of Akhenaden?” Anubis jeered as he laid another monster card on the field.

Another mummy rose from the abyss, crawling out of the rend in the floor, drawing a squeal of fear from Katsuya, reminding Sakhmet that he was afraid of ghosts and the undead.

“I am Kaiba Seto. Akhenaden means nothing to me, Ancient Egypt means nothing to me,” Kaiba sneered in return as the creature staggered to its feet, its wrappings slowly winding back into a humanoid form and its attack popping up at 1800.

“If you want revenge on some ancient spawn of some fool, you’re thousands of years too late. You have to deal with me now, and I’m going to crush you, even if Yugi’s too busy trembling with fear.”

Sakhmet shot him an irritated look at his words and stood straighter, refusing to embarrass herself in front of Kaiba and show the innate terror that buzzed along her nerves and made her hands shake. She moved to draw and smirked as flames rushed through her, reminding her of the power within her deck and pushing back at the darkness that her bad memories had been drawing forth.

“I set two cards face down,” she slipped the cards into two of the slots on her Duel Disk. “And summon Queen’s Knight, in defence mode.”

The red armoured woman took the field and shielded herself and her Duelist with her three-pronged shield, her defence showing at 1600.

“You think that puny warrior can protect you from me?”

“I have faith in Imoto,” The Pharaoh swore, glaring at Anubis’s mocking laugh. “And I have faith in the monsters she and I picked out together. We’ll defeat you here, and she’ll beat whatever game you’ve got her trapped in, and together we’ll crush whatever plan you’re scheming.”

“Your little friends already gave me the key to winning that game,” Anubis bragged, drawing horrified noises from the others. “I needed her name, and now I have it. I can end that game and her life, any moment I choose.”

The Pharaoh’s face paled and her friends swore but Seto rolled his eyes.

“Oh please,” the CEO sneered as he drew his own card.

“I’ve done my research. Shadow Games bend just as far for one player as they do for the other, which means the Shadows wouldn’t just let you end it for something you got outside the game, without giving her an out too. If you could even contact whatever fragment of your sick, twisted little mind, you’ve got pitted against a Game Master who can beat real challenges in her sleep. You’re just wasting time playing mind games and trying to distract my tag partner. I’m not so easily swayed.”

Anubis glowered at him as Sakhmet took a deep breath, knowing Kaiba was right.

Then giggled as Katsuya asked, “Did Kaiba just compliment Yuge?”

“Must be feeling sick,” Honda murmured back.

“I’ll play two cards face down and one card in defence mode,” Seto snapped out, frustrated with how easily Anubis was able to play with the Other Yugi, and pleased to hear the mirth because it meant she wasn’t entirely lost in the emotions that were clearly impacting her enough to stop her using logic.

“That’ll end my turn.”

“Pathetic.” Anubis snorted, unamused and unimpressed. “Too scared to even attempt an attack.”

He drew, paused, then smirked.

“Fine, I’ll use this chance to build up my forces, ready to tear you both to pieces, by summoning this.”

He laid a monster card on his field and in response yet more mummies crawled out of the ground, a pair of crumbling, decaying creatures whose moans unnerved some of their foes as their attack flashed at 1500.

“And I’ll use my Wandering Mummy’s effect to flip all my mummies face down, into defence mode and shuffle the field.”

“What?”

Confusion flashed through both Seto and Sakhmet. Regenerating Mummy was stronger than Queen’s Knight, and Sakhmet had no other monsters on the field. The only thing that made sense was that Anubis was wary of her back row and instead had laid a game of Russian Roulette for her monsters, after all…

“Now, if any of your monsters hit my Giant Axe Mummy with an attack that’s lower than his defence, not only do you lose lifepoints, but your monster gets dragged down into Duat! Now, Pharaoh, make your move.”

Burning heat shot through Sakhmet’s senses as she drew, alerting her to the contents of her draw before she could look at the card in question. The Winged Dragon of Ra shimmered in her hand, its fury pulsing through her mind, letting her know the Gods were as disgusted by the man who now called himself Anubis as she was.

Not that she could summon the Divine Beast yet.

Instead, she called, “I summon King’s Knight, in attack mode!”

The bronze armoured King took the field and raised his shield to cover his Duelist without hesitation, while pointing his sword at his enemy, attempting to threaten him.

“And because King’s Knight and Queen’s Knight are on the field, I can summon my Jack’s Knight!”

The blue armoured man, with 1900 attack points, nodded to the Pharaoh as he took the field, then turned to look at his foe. His eyes widened as he took in the sheer size of the enemy, then his stance shifted, widening to a more solid, defensive posture.

“And with that, I’ll end my turn.”

“I didn’t think you were a coward, Yugi,” Seto sneered at her as he drew. “You should be ripping through his pathetic weaklings.”

“Some of us think before we attack,” Sakhmet shot back.

She was irritated since she’d held back only because Giant Axe Mummy had 2000 defence points, more than the attack of any of her monsters, and she wanted to ensure that next turn, she could call her God Monster down on her enemy and teach him a lesson about messing with her and her sister.

“Oh please, you’re just scared to take a risk,” Kaiba accused as he picked out his card, trying to goad her into being angry enough to take some risks. “I’ll show you how a True Duelist fights. I summon my Kaiser Seahorse!”

The creature in question, a blue scaled warrior coated in purple and green armour let out a bellow as it aimed its spear at the cards before it, threatening its foes with its 1700 attack points.

“Kaiser Seahorse, attack the left card!”

Mokuba held his breath as the Seahorse warrior lunged forward and drove its spear deep into the card in question, which erupted in light, briefly revealing Anubis’s Regenerating Mummy, which shrieked and shattered.

“When you destroy my Regenerating Mummy, it returns to my hand,” Anubis smirked as the dust particles from the mummy swept back into his hand. “Meaning you’re not rid of it yet.”

“Yet,” the emphasis Seto put on the word as he gestured for Anubis to make his move amused the brute, who drew.

“I’m not surprised she’s wary,” he sneered as he called his mummy monster back to the field. “She’s already had her sister take the hit for her, the other game was meant for her, not the little one. She probably doesn’t want to throw another soul in front of the warhorse.”

Sakhmet gritted her teeth, forcing herself to bite back the retort that she knew Anubis was trying to draw from her. He wanted her to react. Wanted to see her get upset and angry. Wanted to throw her off her game.

Kaiba deserved a better duel partner than that, and Imoto needed her too much to let herself lose here.

“Not that it matters,” Anubis continued, disappointed when he didn’t get the reaction he wanted. “I’m going to kill you both, it doesn’t matter which one dies first! In fact, Regenerating Mummy, attack his puny seahorse!”

The restored mummy launched itself across the field, spectral energy trailing behind it and bandages rushing ahead of it, wrapping around Seto’s Kaiser Seahorse and preventing it from fleeing before the mummy’s maw opened wide and clamped around its shoulder.

The Sea Serpent monster screeched and shattered into pieces, draining 100 lifepoints from Seto’s total, reducing him to 3900.

Seto’s eyes narrowed. While losing a small amount of lifepoints was irritating, Anubis could have done much more damage if he’d gone after the Pharaoh’s monsters with his other beasts. He was holding back for some reason.

The CEO just wished Anubis had attacked his face down Peten the Dark Clown, which would’ve allowed him to trigger his face down Crush Card Virus.

Sakhmet too was confused by Anubis’s play. He’d always been a warrior, a warlord, a hyper-aggressive, violent son of Apophis , so his defensive dueling made no sense at all. He was clearly building up to something.

And the Pharaoh had no intention of letting him unleash it.

“I’m not going to let whatever plan you have come to pass, Anubis!” She snarled out as she drew. “I sacrifice my trio of Knights to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra!”

The three arcana knights turned into balls of light, which shimmered as they swirled upwards and merged together before erupting in a light so bright it blinded everyone in the arena.

Anubis let out a pained cry as he shielded his eyes, causing Sakhmet to smirk as she started chanting the summoning call. She had a God at her side. In fact, she had the most powerful of the God Monsters on the field.

And with Ra’s effect, she could burn away all of his mummies and burn him to ash, keeping her friends safe and freeing her to dive into the Puzzle and find her sister before Anubis could do anything permanent.

As the great, golden phoenix unfolded, her fierce joy was dented by Anubis’s sudden, vindictive, maniacal laughter.

“There it is!” Anubis cackled as the divine beast screeched at him. “There’s what I’ve been waiting for!”

“What?” Confusion flooded through Sakhmet. She knew he’d wanted the God Monsters in the past, but she didn’t understand why he would want her to pit one against him now.

“And I’ll force you to summon the other two! I activate Obligatory Summon!”

At Anubis’s cry, one of his face down cards flipped face up.

“Now you have to summon every Divine Beast you own!” 

Utter confusion pulsed through the Pharaoh as she drew the other two Gods from her deck.

“If you want to lose that quickly, I’m not going to complain, Anubis! I summon Obelisk the Tormentor and the Sky Dragon of Osiris!”

Summoning two God beasts without a tribute was draining. They drew from her life energy as Osiris swirled down onto the field from the skies and Obelisk rose from the ground, shaking it so hard that the fissure Anubis had opened collapsed in on itself.

“You wanted to meet the Divine Beasts, well here they are, Anubis! The Winged Dragon of Ra, Obelisk the Tormentor and the Sky Dragon of Osiris!”

The Pharaoh gestured to them in turn, revealing attacks of 4900, 4000, and 3000.

“I…”

“Not so fast Pharaoh!” Anubis cut her off before she could activate Ra’s effect, “I have another card to play. I activate the Pyramid of Light!”

“That’s not a…”

The Pharaoh trailed off, remembering what Mokuba had said about the KC systems, as a trap card flipped up, revealing exactly what Anubis had called.

The pyramid hanging from the rope around Anubis’s neck glowed in time with the card, which lit up a bright, cold pale blue light that shot upwards, before splitting into four and forming a square around the Duelists. A wall of light came shining down, cutting Sakhmet and Seto off from the outside world.

And trapping the Gods outside the duel. 

Ra let out a furious screech and unleashed its fire upon the pyramid, only for it to shine brighter and cause the ground to shake as if it was absorbing the energy that was being loosed upon it. In response, Obelisk roared and took a swipe at the barrier, only to be shocked by a burst of white lightning.

Lightning that consumed all three Gods and caused them to shatter into pieces. 

As Sakhmet and Seto stared in shock, Mokuba was forced to disconnect the control hub and escape using the emergency cord as the roof of the Duel Dome started to collapse. He narrowly escaped before the computer room too, collapsed into the shining shield and was vaporised.

Seto noted his brother’s escape with relief, but the Pharaoh wheeled around and glowered at Anubis, fully aware that she was now painfully wide open for a direct attack.

“How did you do that?!”

Anubis’s smirk widened as the Pyramid unleashed a burst of light into the air and formed the Eye of Anubis upon its side, which stared into the souls of Sakhmet’s friends for just a moment before unleashing a tornado of wind which dragged at them, forcing them to hold onto the railings in front of them to prevent themselves being physically sucked into it.

But they couldn’t protect their souls, which were torn from their bodies and sucked in, sending them all tumbling into the darkness. Their cries caused the Pharaoh to turn and watch, heart pounding in her chest as their bodies collapsed to the rubble strewn floor.

Fury swept through Sakhmet, pushing back the fear and the memories of pain, to allow her to snarl, “What did you do?!”

“I removed your God Beasts from play,” Anubis laughed, cold and cruel. “And your friends from this world! Their souls will wander the labyrinth of the dead until the end of days!”

Sakhmet let out a low growl at the realisation that Anubis hadn’t been content with taking her sister away. That, had things worked as he’d planned, it would’ve been her little sister stood here, all alone except for Kaiba, to face the brute in a duel to the death, while the Pharaoh was trapped in the hellish memories of her past.

“Let them go! Let them all go, Anubis!”

Her demand only drew another crow from the beast before her. “Your sister is as good as dead. Her weak, pathetic soul won’t survive what I have planned for her, but if you want your friends back? You’ll have to defeat me in this duel. If you can now, since I’ve taken away your most powerful beasts!”

“Imoto is far stronger than you think she is,” Sakhmet snapped back. “She’ll tear your game to pieces and be back here before this duel ends!”

“She stands no chance against me, and you’re wide open for my beasts to tear you apart on my next turn!” Anubis sneered, “I win!”

“Not yet! Just because you stole my Gods, doesn’t mean I’m completely defenceless!” Sakhmet warned, laying a card face down on the field, “And it’s not your turn next.”

“No.” Kaiba drew, angry about his brother’s near death and the destruction of his Duel Dome. “It’s mine.”  

Chapter Text

As Yugi started to wake, she attempted to stretch, only to find she couldn’t move her arms. Panic pushed her to struggle and open her eyes, only to reveal a rough sack cloth bag had been shoved over her head and tied in place, preventing her from seeing what was going on, while something coarse was wrapped around her wrists, keeping them bound behind her back.

As she struggled, she felt something cold prickling against her right upper arm, a cold, possibly metal band that stung sharply, causing her to let out a pained squeak and stop fighting.

Listening to what was going on around her allowed her to feel the rise and fall of something beneath her, the repetitive pounding on something on soft ground, the feel of the air rushing past as she was taken far from where she was supposed to be.

Yugi’s heart sank as she realised that despite her best efforts, she’d still been grabbed by Anubis’s men. Meaning Atem could have been taken as well.

Refusing to let the plot progress the way Anubis wanted it to, she reached for her magic, determined to not give in without a fight, only for the band around her arm to heat up, and Yugi to come up against a glass wall, separating her from her powers.

She could still sense them there, but she couldn’t reach it. She was being blocked.

Before she could try to untie herself again and rid herself of the arm band, the animal, probably a horse, changed direction, passing through something that felt like jelly as it headed down and slid until it cantered to a stop amongst a murmuring crowd.

A hand grabbed the back of her dress and dragged her to the ground, which Yugi hit with a pained yelp. Those around her laughed at the sound, warning her there were no allies here.

“My Lord, I bring you a gift!” The one who had grabbed her crowed, “I present to you, the Princess!”

With that the sack was torn, allowing it to fall onto her shoulders and freeing Yugi’s head.

The bright, Egyptian sunlight momentarily blinded Yugi, forcing her to blink until she could see properly again. As the haze cleared, she got to see exactly where she was.

It was a tent encampment arranged around an oasis and surrounded by sand dunes, hiding it from outside view. Above her, there was something that shimmered, covering the camp in a dome, possibly some sort of shield that kept the animals in and kept sandstorms from burying the camp.

Several smaller tents were arranged near the back, around a fire pit that was already roaring away, several spits loaded with various fowl were being turned, ensuring there would be enough food for the people of the camp.

Not far from the cooking area, another, small tent, next to a cauldron where herbs and plants hung from poles and an older woman with eyes the same purple as Yugi’s, was watching events unfold with the only worried gaze in the entire crowd.

It would’ve all been picturesque, if it hadn’t been for the sneering, vicious looking crowd surrounding her. Terrifyingly, they weren’t all human. Many of them were a disturbing mix of humanoid and animal. Many of them had features recognisably similar to the predators in the cages around the area. Sharp claws, vicious teeth, feathered wings and serpentine tails, were all clear.

And none of them looked like someone Yugi and her school-trained judo skills would stand a chance against, as their huge brute of a leader approached her slowly, stalking her, like a predator stalking its prey.

Relieved that Atem wasn’t here, but furious that Anubis was cheating so badly, Yugi tried to rise to her feet, only to be forced to kneel before Anubis, head bowed.

“Welcome, Princess, to your final resting place,” Anubis smirked as he grabbed her dress and dragged her up. “Unless you give me the name I desire.”

“I will never let Anesan down like that,” Yugi hissed back, glaring and struggling. “I’ll never give you her name.”

“You’ll regret those words,” Anubis promised. “This game is already over. With your capture, you have no pieces left on the board. Every piece is on my side. Because every soul that helps me is guaranteed freedom, just like the Kul Elnan souls you and your sister released. You’re out of moves.”

“Not quite.”

Yugi normally hated violence, but she didn’t have another choice, and she kicked out at the brute of a sorcerer, managing to rip herself free of his grasp by ripping the beautiful, beaded dress. The threads snapped apart, sending it tumbling to the ground in pieces and leaving her in the shift dress beneath, as she bolted away, using her tiny size to weave between the grasps and grabs of Anubis’s people and dart for the top of the dune, almost making it out.

Until she bounced off the shimmering shield and was sent crashing back into the sands.

“Nice try, girl.”

Anubis laughed as two of his people dragged her back to him and tossed her in front of him. She tried to back off, but Anubis stepped on her right leg, painfully pinning it to the desert sand and preventing her retreat.

“But the barrier doesn’t just keep people out, it keeps them in. You need one of these to get through it.”

He waved a circular pendant with a canine on it in front of her face.

“You came in with one of my people, but you won’t get out the same way. You’re trapped here, with me. But give me that name, give me the name your twin claims as her own, and I’ll let you live.”

Yugi’s breathing sped up and her eyes widened as she understood just how much of a prisoner she was. None of Anubis’s people would help her. Not when he promised them freedom. And she couldn’t use her magic or escape on her own.

But if she could use the dagger Neos had given her to cut her wrists free, she could take the armband off and find a way to break free.

“You can’t kill me if you want the name to be worth anything,” Yugi spat back, glaring up at him, refusing to bend to him in any way. “My life is tied to the seal. Ending me, ends it, and your control over the darkness.”

Anubis paused to consider her words, then he smiled. A nasty, sharp toothed smile that made Yugi shudder.

“But keeping you alive, keeping your soul here, gives me all of the power. Especially once I force the name from you.”

“I will never, ever, give you that name!” Yugi promised, able to feel the darkness she’d called up earlier swirling, begging to be unleashed on the one before her, only to be blocked by the armband's hieratic spell.

“Oh, you will. Because eventually, everyone breaks.”

With that, he put all of his weight onto her leg.

Pain shrieked through Yugi’s nerves as a sickening snap echoed through the sand bowl, causing her to let loose a scream that made her enemy laugh.

Anubis chuckled as he stepped back from the gasping, trembling teen, nudging the leg with his foot, causing another cry as the broken bone shifted wrong, showing Yugi just how screwed she was.

There was no escape now. Even if she got herself untied and set her Ka beast on the camp. She couldn’t walk on a broken leg, yet alone run and she needed her magic to be able to cast any healing spells.

Plus, she had no way to get the name she needed from the paperwork back at the palace, if it was even still possible with the destruction her ka beast had wrought and no way to get allies into the camp, even if she had them.

But there still had to be a chance to win. Because Shadow Games had to be fair and no matter how hopeless it looked, or how biased the game was in Anubis’s favour, the game had to swing just as far in her favour.

And she still had a piece on the board.

Atem was still free, and he knew what he needed to find.

That meant she had a chance.

She knew the royals came to Anubis’s camp to free the twins, and the spirits had to act as their characters would, so they would come for her and hopefully Atem would bring the name with him.

She just had to keep Anesan’s name safe until he did.

Unless she could goad Anubis into giving her his name.

Yugi shakily glared up at the man who looked ready to snap more of her bones like twigs, refusing to bend, to break, to give in to the bully before her.

No matter what.

“You wouldn’t know a good name if it kicked you in the teeth,” she bit out, trying to hide her pain. “You had to steal one from a God to seem imposing. I’ve met Anubis, you’re nothing like him.”

Anubis’s face twisted into a furious scowl as he dragged her off the floor, causing her injured leg to shift and drawing a cry from her lips, so he could snarl in her face.

“I am greater than him! I am Death. And your world will die at my hands!”

“I will never… give you what you need… and even if I can’t stop you…” Yugi gasped out, her world spinning from the pain. “Anesan will kick your ass… You’ll never defeat her.”

“Your sister is already trapped in her own game. I’ve already taken the Gods from her!” Anubis waved his free hand, and a glowing sphere appeared, showing events in the real world.

Yugi’s eyes widened as she beheld her Anesan and Kaiba, Duel Disks activated, facing a version of Anubis with his own more flesh toned version of their weapons in a duel.

“She thinks that defeating me there, will get you back,” Anubis sneered. “She doesn’t realise she’s given me what I tried so hard to take in Egypt. Even better, as her life points drain away, so does her life and power. It all comes to me, here, to use on you.”

“Y… You kill her, you kill me.”

Even now, even as injured as she was, Yugi tried to protect her sister. “Then you lose your powers over the darkness.”

Seeing the crowd murmuring at her warning, Anubis let out a howling laugh, “You think a lie like that will stop me?”

“I’m not… ack!” Yugi went limp in his grasp as his palm impacted with her face and jarred her mentally and physically, leaving her teetering on the edge of consciousness.

“You won’t break my camp with your lies,” Anubis snarled, turning for his tent and taking her with him. Once they were within the covered shelter, he tossed his captive to the floor.

Agony screeched through her as her broken leg hit the floor, causing her to momentarily lose the fight to stay awake, only for a foot to slam into her stomach, winding her and forcing her back into awareness.

“You think I care?” Anubis snarled as he drove his foot into her again, “You think I want anything but your world’s destruction? Your uncle created me specifically to tear you limb from limb, and once that’s done, once I’ve broken you, and gotten my revenge on your sister? Your world will die. Slowly, or quickly, I don’t care which. My camp think we’ll rule, but as far as I’m concerned?”

Another glowing orb appeared, showing Yugi the future Anubis planned, where her world ended and her friends, her family died.

“Your world can burn.”

Yugi’s stomach churned and her heart pounded in her chest as she realised what that meant.

“You’re going to kill us… win or lose…”

“That’s right, little Pharaoh.” Anubis sneered, “If I get the name, I’ll tear it apart slowly, but if I’m close to losing or you die, I’ll watch it be swept away in an instant. And you have your uncle to blame.”

“A… Akhenaden? How? He’s dead…”

“I was human once. I was a Priest, I had a name, a normal, human name!”

For a moment Yugi was almost hopeful that he was going to spit it out in his fury, but his hands balled up and he kept raging instead.

“And I was his loyal servant. I was the one priest who never questioned him, or his motives. I helped him deal with ALL his issues!”

The sphere shifted scenes again and again, revealing a much scrawnier man with features that clearly showed this was the same man as the one towering over her.

A man who was at Akhenaden’s side when Princess Amunet was thrown before him after being dragged from her bed.

A man who held the tiny Princess Nephthys down, beneath the waves of the Nile, until she no longer drew breath, after she’d been pushed from the boat.

A man who was at the head of the group of guards, and had been the one to push past Queen Tiamat, knocking the almost newborn baby Prince Thoth to the hard, unforgiving floor, and who’d pulled a dagger on the Queen, resulting in her death.

“I was utterly, utterly loyal to him! And his schemes! I was his right hand, his Shadow, I kept the blood from his hands!”

Anubis’s foot slammed into Yugi’s stomach again, winding her once more, as he took out his rage out on her.

“And because he couldn’t defeat his brother, because you and Atem were just too unified and cautious to remove, because he knew his son was too soft to take the throne that was rightfully his, he ruined me! He turned me into this! So, I could destroy you generations later, when you had grown weak and soft, and set his son on your throne!”

The sphere shifted again, showing the man who’d murdered so many of Sakhmet’s siblings and her mother, on the orders of his High Priest, strapped down to a table as Akhenaden and several others approached, with sharp tools, potions and bowls filled with parts of some kind of animal.

Yugi’s eyes widened as she realised they were the brain, heart and liver, parts of a person that were removed during the mummification process.

And that the process was probably how Anubis was creating the army of monstrosities that waited outside.

“He and his priests connected me to the God of Death, Anubis, by replacing parts of my body for those of one of his jackals,” Anubis hissed out. “I became this. I became a God Beast, a living mummy, a member of the undead, just to be defeated by your sister and trapped underground for millennia until you freed me!”

“I didn’t…”

Another change, this time showing the way the Shadows shuddered and twisted the moment she’d solved the Puzzle, breaking the enchanted chains on the sarcophagus that had held him.

The same sarcophagus that Yugi had slammed into in the museum.

“You freed me to complete my mission. To hunt you down and kill you, just as I was created to do all those years ago. But…”

The scene shifted back to the duel, where Kaiba stood at her sister’s side, facing down their enemy.

“I have no intention of putting Akhenaden’s spawn on any throne! I’m going to kill him, you, and her, and I’m going to tear your world apart and enjoy watching the suffering, the pain, the terror!”

“Then w… why not kill me now? Why waste time with this duel? With this game?” Yugi asked, horrified, mired in guilt and not wanting to die, but wanting to understand.

“Because I’ve spent thousands of years imagining how I was going to make Akhenemkhanon’s reincarnated daughter suffer and scream,” Anubis snarled at her, his teeth bared. “And I’m going to keep you alive to go through all of it, until either the duel ends your life, you give me your true, ancient name, or I grow bored of your shrieks.”

“I’m not giving you Anesan’s name. I will never, EVER, give you Anesan’s name!”

Yugi glared up at him, fury burning in her chest even as she trembled in her fear and pain, understanding the threat and unable to see a way to protect herself from it right now.

But unwilling to give him the pleasure of seeing her break.

Because, if he was to be the last bully she ever faced, she would not die begging or bowing.

She refused.

“I will NEVER bow to you! Anesan and Kaiba WILL defeat you and I WILL get away! You won’t ever get what you want!”

Anubis’s face twisted in fury at her defiance, despite her completely hopeless situation.

Then he laughed, a vicious, cold, cruel laugh and kicked her broken leg, forcing her to try and hold back the scream he wanted.

“I already have her God Beasts. All I need to do is connect them to my soul. Something I’ll have done by the time this game and this duel ends.”

He snickered at the paling of his captive’s skin and the tears of pain she was trying to hold back.

“And you’re all alone, with no friends, no family, no help. You’re physically weak and worthless and now you’re stripped of your powers; your magic is useless too. And with your leg broken and wrists bound, you can’t get away. You’re completely at my mercy.”

“That doesn’t mean I’ll give you what you want.”

Yugi spat at him, having never been so angry and so frightened in her life and hoping that in his coming assault, she could get him to break the armband suppressing her magic so she could show him just how strong she could be.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

Anubis smirked, apparently more amused than angry by her continued defiance.

“I was hoping you’d stay determined. Because this will be so much more fun, if I get to snuff your fire out myself.”

As the window to the living world vanished and Anubis approached, Yugi flinched and her heart quivered as she braced for what was to come.

In response to the fear flooding forth that she was so desperately trying to hide to prevent Anubis seeing it and claiming victory, Yugi’s hand lit up where Anzu had drawn the symbol of their friendship, as her heart protested the unfair game, and cried out for the allies she needed so badly.

Chapter Text

Seto was deep in thought as he considered his hand.

The Pyramid of Light was a powerful card. One he’d nearly been able to play. One he half wished he’d taken from Pegasus, but knew he would’ve considered himself weak for playing, once he knew it’d been forged by magic.

One he needed to destroy.

“I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Pyramid of Light!”

At his call, a cyclone of wind erupted from the card he’d been about to play. It rose upward and span out slamming into the walls.

Only for the Pyramid to glow and the winds to sputter out.

“What?”

Anubis’s laughter drew Seto’s confused glare.

“Your puny magic can’t even dent the Pyramid of Light. It draws on the souls of those doomed to wander Duat for eternity. As long as that connection stays strong, it can’t be destroyed.”

“Cheat,” Seto hissed out, this whole fiasco reminding him why he was working on countering magic. “Fine, I activate White Dragon Ritual to summon Paladin of White Dragon!”

Storm clouds swirled above them as he sent a monster to his graveyard to pay the cost of the ritual. From them emerged a glowing ball that shifted and twisted until a white dragon roared to the heavens, its rider, who was clad in white and gold armour, levelled his spear at the mummies on the enemy’s field.

“Attack Regenerating Mummy!”

At Seto’s order, the Paladin swept across the field at high speed and slammed its weapon into the mummy, who screeched and returned to Anubis’s hand, taking 100 of Anubis’s lifepoints with it.

“And now I sacrifice my Paladin to bring forth the mighty, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”

The Paladin shot back up into the sky, disappeared into the storm cloud and vanished. As the clouds faded, a bright, midday bright light was revealed, one that swooped down and landed with a roar as it faded to reveal the opaline scales and bright blue eyes of the ace of Kaiba’s deck, its 3000 attack points a real threat to Anubis’s field.

“That ends my turn.”

“Your dragon won’t save you. This duel is already over,” Anubis sneered as he drew, picked a card from his hand and held it high.

Purple smoke rolled down and out across the field, coating the steel floor and reaching Sakhmet’s knees. From it rose tombstones of grey slate and white and black marble. Twisted, gnarled trees grew up, faces emerging from the bark, while their leafless branches reached out to thin spindly fingers. As the smog fell to the players’ ankles, it revealed bones strewn across the floor, skulls that stared with empty sockets and rib cages that let out eerie chimes as rats skittered across them.

As the Blue-Eyes White Dragon upon the field screeched in sudden shock and pain, drawing the gaze of both her summoner and his tag partner, her scales dulled to a bone white and part of her side and tail rotted away, revealing the bone underneath, her eyes fading from their bright sapphire to a pale cloudy sky.

“What did you do?” Fury pulsed through Seto as he turned to glare at Anubis.

“You may be the King here, you may rule this city, but now your reign is over,” Anubis heckled as his mummies rose from defence mode and leered across the field. “Now the Realm of the Dead holds court, and as long as it does, not only are the monsters on the field and in the graveyard nothing but Zombies, but only Zombies can be tribute summoned, meaning your most powerful creatures are now out of reach.”

Seto let out a low, irritated hiss, while Sakhmet considered her hand and quickly started to replan her move.

“Mine, however, are tied to the power of the Pyramid and can be special summoned. Now it’s my turn.”

With that, he held out his hand and two gelatinous forms emerged from the magical pyramid hanging around his neck. They landed heavily on the field and absorbed that which was around them as they warped and grew until a brown-furred, feline-faced leonine male warrior with a massive golden mane, clad in blue armour with sharp claws and vicious teeth, and a cream-furred sphinx with golden feathers in her wings, the face of a woman and long red hair roared at them.

“Meet Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia. They’re going to tear you apart!”

Sakhmet managed to hide the grimace as their attack scores appeared at 3000 and 2500 respectively. Far more than her total number of lifepoints, even without the mummies who looked tiny in comparison to Anubis’s sphinxes.

Before she could react, however, her left hand lit up with the part of the friendship symbol she shared with her twin and anger and fear and pain slammed into her. Her right leg buckled, screeching in agony as it shifted awkwardly, sending her crashing to her knees with a pained cry.

In the haze and confusion caused by the anguish screaming through her senses, she felt her twin reaching out to her and tried to grasp on so she could pull her back. The Shadows fought against it, but the Pharaoh’s mind managed to momentarily grasp her twin’s, allowing them to connect.

Not long enough for a conversation, but for just enough time for her to flush the connection with worry and concern, and her little sister to shove determination and fury her way, as a promise she wasn’t breaking, along with a bundle of recent memories into Sakhmet’s mind before they lost their grip on each other and the pain, thankfully, mostly died down.

Not enough to make the Pharaoh worry that Imoto had been killed, but enough so that the Pharaoh was able to focus on the duel and the memories she’d been given.

Memories that included her brother, her home, her Coming of Age, the death of the game’s version of Akhenaden, induced by Imoto’s terrifying black dragon Ka beast, and the gloating of the brute that’d imprisoned her twin.

Every. Last. Moment.

As she processed the information shared, Sakhmet’s mind stalled.

She knew the man in the memories.

The man who’d served her uncle loyally.

The man who’d become Anubis.

The man who’d taken so much of her family from her.

“You.”

If she thought she’d been angry at Ishizu after Imoto’s drowning at the docks, it was nothing compared to the sheer unbridled hatred she now bore towards Anubis. A hatred that drove her past the pain and fear and had her spitting out the word in her native tongue as she rose to her feet.

“You Ra forsaken spawn of Apophis. It was you. You were the one who killed my siblings, you’re the one who took my mother from me. Amunet and Nephthys. Thoth and Mewet. It was ALL you.”

“How did you…? Oh.” Malicious glee lit up Anubis’s face as he came to a realisation, “You’re still connected to the little ‘Yugi’. Your vessel. That’s how you know. How does that broken leg feel?”

Seto stiffened at the brute’s words, his eyes narrowing and his hands balling in fists, almost crumpling his cards, but Sakhmet was too caught up in her emotions to notice.

“You keep harming her and I’ll rip your soul apart and feed it to Ammit personally.”

Sakhmet promised, favouring her right leg, even as her words were a vicious hiss, her hands balled and unballed, the Puzzle glowed and the Shadows flared around her form, rolling and spiking like flame.

“Oh, I’m going to completely ruin her, then I’ll have her healed and I’ll do it again. And again. Until she’s screaming your name and begging me for mercy,” The brute promised. “Then I’m going to kill her, slowly, painfully, enjoying every moment, just like I enjoyed the orders your uncle gave me.”

The temptation once more hit Sakhmet to just give it to him. To surrender her name to protect her twin.

She even started to open her mouth to offer it, in exchange for her sister’s freedom.

Then she remembered what he’d done to her family and that not only could she NOT guarantee Imoto’s life by doing so, but she would be dooming the world to his non-existent mercy after he probably killed her out of spite.

“You…”

The Pharaoh’s eyes narrowed, and she started to snarl out another threat, only to be stopped by pain lancing through her left arm and the sensation of her left shoulder agonisingly twisting out of place. It caused her to bite down on her tongue, refusing to let loose the cry that Anubis wanted to hear, even as her right hand clasped the shoulder, which momentarily refused to work.

“Yes, your uncle gave me those kill orders, I don’t deny it.”

Anubis chuckled at the sight of her gasping in pain, confirming his suspicions that anything his game self, did to the pathetic modern incarnation, the Pharaoh would feel.

“He’s the one who wanted them dead, but it was me who landed the final blows. How do you think he could swear before the scales that he never laid a hand on them?”

It made so much sense. It answered the last questions she had.

It filled in the final piece of the puzzle. 

“I knew he needed to be able to tell your father he wasn’t responsible for their deaths, so I’m the one who wrapped my hands around Amunet’s neck and got to enjoy having power over her life as it drained away and her heartbeat stuttered to a stop. And I’m the one who threw her body into the pit to rot with the rest of the trash, like a half-foreign brat deserved.”

Sakhmet’s eyes widened as she finally fully understood what’d happened to her older sister. Shocked to her core, she let out a low growl and her natural divine golden magic weaved its way into the Shadowy flames encircling her as she seriously contemplated the utter soul destruction of another for the first time in her long life. 

Seto saw the way the Pharaoh’s whole frame shuddered, the way her breath came in short, sharp bursts in her fury, and he understood her rage. She was always unstable when Yugi was threatened or hurt and right now, Yugi, his cousin, was both.

Plus, if something had happened to Mokuba and his murderer just started callously describing how he’d killed him, Seto knew he would be just as unreasonably angry.

He was just irritated that he could understand every word of a conversation that was being held in a long dead language.

“I’m the one who pushed little Nephthys from the boat,” Anubis continued. “I held her under the waves of the Nile and kept her there while her struggles weakened, until she no longer fought, and the last bubbles carrying her breath popped.”

Sakhmet took a step forward at the description of her little sister’s death, then froze, knowing that lunging for the man would do nothing except antagonise the magic holding the game together and that endangering herself would prevent her being able to help her twin after this duel was over.

“That was meant to be you, by the way. Your uncle told me to ensure you were on the boat with us, but you wouldn’t leave Atem’s side, and your father wanted you both with him. So, it was Nephthys instead.”

That didn’t make her feel any better, in fact knowing that she could’ve been killed so coldly, sacrificed to Sobek without hesitation, only increased her wrath and made it harder to hold her place.

“I’m the one who knocked newborn Thoth from your mother’s arms while chasing the white-haired runt who dared to invade your uncle’s study. I even stepped on him deliberately to ensure his death on my way past and cut off his final cry.”

She took another step forward.

Her eyes glowed blood red as she remembered how happy her parents had been for Thoth’s birth. How she and Atem had celebrated and rejoiced in the birth of a new sibling and the securing of their father’s line.

Seeing it, Seto moved towards her.

“And I’m the one who got to watch the light fade from her eyes, the colour fade from her face and feel the warmth leave her skin after I drove a knife into the heart of that jendeh and twisted it.”

Even if he hadn’t left her mother for last, Sakhmet would’ve known who he meant. Her mother had been a Persian Princess who had married Akhenemkhanon to secure the alliance of the two nations, and jendeh was an Ancient Persian word.

For prostitute.

“For a foreign whore, she really was a beauty. If your father hadn’t been on the way, I’d have had some fun with her, but I didn’t get more than a taste…” 

That was the final straw.

Unable to control her utter, utter outrage any longer, Sakhmet screeched and lunged for Anubis.

Uncaring about the duel.

Uncaring that he was several feet taller and made of far more muscle.

Uncaring that she could cost herself the game here and now in her blazing desire for vengeance upon the one who had done so much to her family, ripped so much from her and was stood there gloating at her about it.

Only for Seto to wrap his arms around her and hold her back.

“Get control of yourself, Yugi.”

Seto snarled his words in Japanese deliberately to snap her mind back to the present, while trying to keep his grasp on a struggling, hissing creature who wanted nothing more than to tear her enemy to pieces with her bare hands and glad that he was much stronger than his cousin, whose form the furious spirit was using.

“I understand why you want to tear him apart and after the duel, I will help more than willingly, but this outburst is what he wants. You’re letting him win and you don’t want to lose to this scum.”

His tone and words seeped into the Pharaoh’s mind, and she froze momentarily, let out an frustrated snarl and went limp before speaking in a very level, very flat Japanese.

“Let me go.”

“You’re not going to try and attack him?”

“I’ll let my cards do it for me.”

“Mummies, Sphinxes, tear her apart!”

Anubis’s triumphant cry forced her attention back onto the duel and Seto released her to make her play, allowing her to activate her face down card.

Anubis’s monstrous army bounced off an invisible wall before they could reach the two Duelists, letting out furious howls and moans as they landed heavily back on their summoner’s side of the field.

“I won’t let you win,” Sakhmet swore as her Negate Attack trap card faded away. “I’m going to make you pay for everything you’ve done and everyone you’ve hurt.”

“You can’t do anything against me.”

Anubis too switched back to Japanese, making Seto wonder how he’d learned the language, even as he was relieved to see the Pharaoh come back to sanity. The CEO had never anticipated one of the Mutou twins turning physically violent, but he couldn’t entirely blame her. Not with the truths Anubis had been spitting.

“My Pyramid was designed specifically to counter your Pendant.”

Anubis’s words surprised Sakhmet, who’d never known where the Pyramid had come from.

“To break its powers of Unity and shatter the bonds it’d created. Your Uncle spent lives and souls creating an Item of Discord for himself, planning to overthrow your father and claim his rightful place, but after he turned me into this, I stole it and took it with me.”

Of course.

Of course, Akhenaden had created another Millennium Item when his Eye hadn’t been enough power for him.

Of course, he’d been spiteful enough to ruin more lives for his own good.

“My father was the true Pharaoh,” Sakhmet snarled out, refusing to lower herself to snapping again, but infuriated by the implication that her father had stolen what’d been rightfully inherited from his father.

“Your father was the younger twin. Akhenaden had evidence. Akhenemkhanon should never have been on the throne,” Anubis countered. “Especially after he married that Persian heifer and diluted the royal line. And you should never have been sat on that throne.”

“Grandfather gave the throne to father for a reason.”

Sakhmet snapped out as she drew, trying not to lose it at the insult to her mother.

“Considering the murders you conducted in Akhenaden’s name, the assassinations he ordered on his own family, I’m not surprised he was passed over, and my father, a good man whose final lesson to me was that the lives and happiness of the People of Egypt are more important than even the life of the Pharaoh, was put upon the throne.”

She grinned as her deck provided exactly what she needed to start Anubis’s downfall on this end, while, hopefully, her twin held strong on hers.

“I activate Dark Magic Veil,” She called, inserting the magic card into her Duel Disk, “Paying 1000 lifepoints to special summon the Dark Magician Girl!”

As Mana took the field, in a burst of stars, spinning her staff like a baton and practically dancing into place, Sakhmet’s lifepoints tumbled to 3000. As they fell a blue-white aura rose from her and was absorbed by the Pyramid, causing it to glow and leaving her fatigued and momentarily dizzy.

“What… just happened?”

Hearing her confusion, Mana span around, trying to ignore the greying of her skin, the sharpening of her teeth and the way her outfit turned ragged and torn as she offered her support, but Anubis let out a cackle.

“In this Shadow Game, when you lose lifepoints, you lose life energy,” He smirked. “Meaning any time you spend lifepoints, you’re just killing yourself. And your twin. And better yet, it all drains into the me in the other game, the one that’s breaking your ‘twin'. The weaker the two of you get, the stronger I become.”

Sakhmet glanced down at the band of Shadows around her wrist which symbolised her deal with the demon. Seeing it still there, with no changes confirmed that her actions hadn’t yet broken her oath, possibly because the Shadows could tell she needed to do this to prevent worse harm, which calmed her a little.

The news was bad, but the Shadows were willing to let her defend herself and she had faith in her sister. Imoto would find a way out of the situation and come back to her, she just needed to ensure she didn’t lose here.

“Good to know, but my turn’s not done. I then activate Sage’s Stone, allowing me to summon the Dark Magician!”

Mahad joined his apprentice on the field in a burst of darkness, standing in between the two girls and their foe, his staff shielding them. As his own skin slowly turned a gruesome shade of green, pieces of his armour fell apart and his hands grew vicious claws, he did a double take when he saw who the opposing Duelist was, then his stance shifted.

“My Pharaoh, stay back,” His words made Sakhmet’s eyes widen. “Mana, don’t let him get his hands on you.”

“I won’t, I’m not going to let our Pharaoh down again, I promise.”

“Mahad, Mana, he has Imoto trapped in another game.”

Sakhmet warned the now zombified magicians, causing Mahad to wheel around and stare at her in horrified shock.

“We need to win this quickly and with as little lifepoints spent as possible. I don’t have my own life energy. Any I spend here, is hers, and will give her less to fight her own battle with.”

“We’re with you, my Pharaoh.” The Dark Magician promised.

Sakhmet nodded, pleased to have her oldest friends with her, deciding to save the worst news for later, and noting the unamused look on Kaiba’s face at her conversation with her magicians, suggesting he was either envious he couldn’t do the same with Blue-Eyes, or he was irritated at the continued displays of magic.

“I activate Dark Burning Magic!”

As the spell card hit the field, Mana and Mahad held their staves together and combined their magic, which created a huge burst of purple energy wrapped in a bright, pink magic, that swept Anubis’s field.

Anubis had just enough time to activate one of his face down cards, the quick-play spell card, Poison of the Old Man, allowing him to recover 1200 lifepoints for a total of 9100, before the magic decimated everything, sending his graveyard field, all of his mummies and his Sphinxes to the graveyard.

Everything except his Pyramid of Light.

As the magicians and Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes regained their living forms and complexions, Sakhmet threw her arm forward.

“Mahad, Mana, show him the true power of Unity and attack him directly!!”

The magicians didn’t hesitate, unleashing a wave of magic that slammed into Anubis and ripped away 4500 lifepoints and sent him crashing to the floor.

Sakhmet vindictively enjoyed the sight of him bouncing across the field and coming to a crashing halt against the shimmering blue wall of the Pyramid.

Then a purple-blue aura arose from Anubis and was sucked into the Pyramid, just as the life energy that had left her had done and realisation hit the Pharaoh.

Shadow Games had to be fair.

If the life points she and Kaiba lost went to him, the life points that Anubis lost would have to go to Imoto.

That was how she could help her sister.

She couldn’t be there in the game with her, but the more life points Sakhmet ripped away from her opponent, the more life energy Yugi would have to spend in her own Shadow Game, to use on survival or spells.

Determination surged through her, now that she had a way to help her twin to focus on, and the strength it gave her allowed the Pharaoh to glower down at Anubis as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees and glared at his lifepoint counter, which read 4600.

“I am the Queen of Games, Anubis. A Duel is MY realm, and you’re not going to take that, or anyone else, away from me.”

“That’s my job,” Seto snapped out as he drew. “And no pathetic loser can get between me and my goal. Especially one who’s too scared to take Yugi on, face to face, like a real Duelist and has to skulk around in the Shadows.”

“You…” Anubis snarled as he picked himself up off the floor and staggered back to his feet.

“I activate Polymerization!” The CEO cut him off. “Fusing the two dragons in my hand with the one on the field!”

Three bright balls of crackling light spun up into the air and merged together, becoming a shining sun laced with blue tinged lightning.

As it swept downwards, spiralling around the two Duelists, it grew wings and a tail of the brightest white that the Pharaoh had ever seen, before morphing into the mighty 4500 attack point, three headed dragon that was the apex of Kaiba’s deck.

The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Her scales were blinding as the Pyramid’s light reflected off of her scales and her eyes shone with ethereal light. Her roar was furious and commanding, causing Anubis to take a step back.

“Ultimate Dragon! Teach him what being a true Duelist is all about!”

At her summoner’s command, all three heads unleashed a burst of burning, blazing light that slammed into Anubis, ripping away another 4500 and slamming him back into the Pyramid once more, pinning him there with the force of the attack before he hit the floor and more of his stolen life drained away.

Leaving the brute with just 100 lifepoints left.

Satisfied, the dragon curled up behind her Duelist who set a card face down, as Anubis lay prone, unmoving. 

Sakhmet took a shaky breath as hope bloomed in her chest. Hope that he was down and wouldn’t get back up.

Then he let out a cough and pushed himself up with trembling arms.

“This... this duel... isn’t over,” Anubis swore as he pushed himself up, his eyes narrowing as the world spun and his vision faded in and out. “Your attacks mean nothing.”

“Our attacks have reduced you to just 100 lifepoints, Anubis,” Sakhmet countered. “This duel is as good as done.”

“Not yet,” Anubis warned, drawing shakily . “When Teleia and Andro Sphinx are destroyed at the same time, I can special summon a greater sphinx. Theinen the Great Sphinx!”

The beast, who had Teleia’s cream sphinx body and wings and Andro’s lionesque head and torso appeared on the field with a ferocious roar that physically pushed back everyone who faced it down. It’s attack started at 3500, but the spirits that erupted from the Pyramid around Anubis’s neck were drawn towards it and consumed by the great beast whose attack kept climbing and climbing, until their Duel Disks simply gave up tracking it and displayed the infinity symbol.

Just as they did when Obelisk’s God Hand Crusher effect was activated and he gained infinite attack points.

“He is the perfect beast, unstoppable by anything you have on the field. Your pathetic dragon, your worthless mages. They mean nothing. Not while they walk the Realm of the Dead.”

With that the graveyard field reappeared, the mist swirling and consuming the field and the Magicians and Dragon regained their zombie forms.

Meaning Sakhmet and Seto’s ability to tribute summon was severed once again. Not that it would matter if he attacked. His beast could wipe out either of their lifepoints this turn.

“You put up an amusing fight. You even got close.”

Anubis sneered, enjoying the power he had over his opponents.

“But this duel is over. This world is done. This game and your lives, belong to me.”

Chapter Text

Waking up was an unpleasant experience for Anzu, but opening her eyes revealed something that pushed her to sit up and gawk at her surroundings.

The sandstone maze would’ve been confusing enough if it’d been a normal maze, since she had no clue how she’d gotten there, but the sheer chaos of sight before her made her realise she might be in deep trouble.

Not that she was alone.

“Jonouchi! Honda!” She shook the boys, who groaned and pushed themselves sitting.

“What the hell was that?” Honda grumbled, rubbing his head with his hands, suggesting his head hurt as much as Anzu’s did.

“Screw that, where the hell are we?!” At Katsuya’s yelp, Honda’s eyes opened.

“What the…?”

Anzu was inclined to agree with the boys. The maze around them didn’t just go left to right, or up and down. Instead, its stairways led to nowhere, or went upside down, and some of its doors clearly opened to long drops into the abyss below them. Long enough drops that the floor far below was impossible to see.

And in the dark corners, the Shadows twisted and spun, reaching out with tendrils of darkness that faded away as they reached too far from their protective corners, into the strange cold, unwelcoming light that shone in a way that didn’t feel right.

After all, light very rarely actively chased darkness into holes and nooks and blazed away until the darkness screamed and faded to nothing.

“Do you think this is the game that freak was talking about?” Anzu asked, biting her lower lip, “The one he said he’s got Yugi trapped in?”

That reminded the other two of how serious the situation was, and drove all three of them to their feet, despite the heaviness of their limbs and the slow, steady increase of fatigue.

“It’s gotta be,” Honda scowled, looking around before bellowing. “Yugi!”

His voice echoed around the maze, but there was no reply. Instead, the maze remained empty and lifeless, except for the magic warring around them, making them all worry.

A worry that was enhanced when their hands blazed with light as an echo of pain and fear pulsed through them and they felt a tug upon their hearts.

A tug they knew too well from previous experience. They each gazed at the friendship symbols, made from parts of the smiley face Anzu had drawn upon them during Death-T, which was shimmering brightly upon the back of their hands, before turning to each other.

“Yugi!” Anzu gasped, remembering the few times the bond between them had lit up like this, and knowing that their friend was in deep trouble.

“We need to find her.”

Caught up in his concern, Katsuya decided to try the nearby door, thinking that perhaps it would open to another section, where their friend would be waiting. Instead, as he took a step into the room within, the floor crumbled away, causing him to fall with a shriek.

“Jou!”

Anzu and Honda didn’t hesitate to lunge forward and grab his arm, stopping him from dropping all the way to the ground far below. Anzu and Honda pulled him up, back onto solid ground, and the door slammed shut behind them.

“Wh… what the hell?” Katsuya panted, shocked by how close that had been.

“Boobytraps,” Honda huffed, already irritated by the situation and only made more frustrated by Katsuya’s carelessness. “He clearly didn’t mean to make this easy.”

“This isn’t his realm.”

A female voice behind them made them all wheel around, hoping that it was Yugi, only to find a young girl, maybe nine or ten years old, her hair in braids that had beads shimmering in them. The trio stared at the dark-skinned child, who had the same red-purple eyes as Sakhmet, when she was united with Yugi as one being, but whose black hair lacked the blonde fringe and red tips of their friend, confirming this wasn’t Yugi or her sister.

“This Realm is supposed to be Pharaoh Atem’s shield, the maze that protects her memories and Ren from those who would steal them. An infinite maze that gets more complicated the more questions the seeker has, and the more protection the Pharaoh needs. But Anubis tainted it and connected it to the Realm of the Dead in his desperation to rip those secrets from her.”

She gestured upwards, drawing their attention to where two giant Pyramids floated, the Millennium Puzzle and the Pyramid of Light.

“What the…?” Honda gasped out, beholding how the Pyramid of Light had crashed into the Puzzle, breaking part of it and causing fragments to float off into the darkness.

“There’s a God weakening the barriers between worlds, and the sorcerer the Pharaoh now fights, either doesn’t realise how much he’s helping him, or doesn’t care,” The girl continued, shifting nervously from foot to foot. “If Anubis succeeds in his goals, and kills them, this realm will burst open, the dead will walk, and everyone will die.”

Anzu couldn’t help but wonder if that God was working with the Atlantean King that had stolen the Necklace, like ‘Apophis’ was working with Ba-Khu-Ra, but Katsuya didn’t care.

“We have to stop him,” Katsuya growled, stepping back as an aura pooled out from the girl’s feet, pushing back the Light and the Shadows, protecting her AND the trio of teens and reversing the drain that had been slowly sapping away their strength.

“I know,” The girl smiled sadly. “But I’m dead and I don’t have a role in the main campaign. I can only help so much. You’re all alive, you can still find and help my Snt, before she’s lost forever.”

“Snt?” Honda frowned, “You mean Sen? Sister?”

“Jt claimed Yugi as a daughter. So yes, I mean ‘sister’,” The girl tilted her head, confused as to why they would be confused by that when her royal father had made it quite clear that Mutou Yugi was a daughter of his. “She’s a Princess of Kemet, just like me. And just like my little lioness sister was before she became Pharaoh Atem.”

“Can you lead us to her?” Anzu asked hopefully, realising that this was the spirit of one of Sakhmet’s sisters and kneeling so she could look the girl in the eyes, “She’s in trouble and she needs us.”

“I know. She’s already earned herself a path to victory, but the game she’s in is unfairly balanced and she needs help to make it work before Anubis realises he’s already lost and ends the game early.”

“He’d… That cheating bastard,” Katsuya snarled, furious at the thought, as Honda let out a hiss, fully aware what the child meant by that.

The little Princess pouted at Katsuya’s cursing, “Jt won’t approve your marriage to Snt, if you keep talking like that.”

“Ma…Marr…” Katsuya started, eyes bulging, but Honda cut in.

“Where is Yugi?” He pressed, hoping the girl could lead them to her.

“I can’t show you,” She shook her head.  “Because she’s in pain, the maze is trying to hide her for her own protection, but I can chase the magic away and keep the maze from twisting until you follow her call. Her heart is calling yours, just listen.”

“But how?” Honda glanced at Katsuya who was staring at the symbol glowing away on the back of his hand.

“Yuge…” He breathed, his heart aching.

The last time he’d seen her, she’d walked away from him, angry and upset and he didn’t want that to be the last time he ever saw her. He didn’t want to lose her. Not then, not now, and certainly not like this.

“Hold hands. Now,” Anzu’s attempt at an order would normally annoy him, but they’d seen how much stronger a physical connection made them during Battle City, when it’d been the only way to save lives.

Now he didn’t hesitate to grasp Anzu’s hand with one of his own, while the other snatched that of a hesitating Honda.

His hand glowed brighter as the little magic he had accumulated over the time spent with Yugi and Sakhmet, responded to his emotions and reached out across his magical connection with his girlfriend. His eyes widened as a pained whimper reached his ears, and agony surged through him, nearly sending him crashing to the floor.

“She’s in so much pain…” Anzu gasped, favouring her own right leg, suggesting she was feeling what he was.

“Anubis wants the Pharaoh’s name, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it,” the Princess murmured quietly, unable to look them in the eyes. “Even if it means breaking his opponent’s body and soul to pieces.”

“Stay strong, Yuge, we’re with you,” Katsuya promised, hoping she could hear it as he gritted his teeth against the agony, recognising the pain of broken bones from his days running with Hirutani, warning him what sort of foe they were up against.

“And we’re coming to get you,” At Honda’s words, Anzu’s and Honda’s hands lit up simultaneously and the trio of lights shot skyward before curving midair and heading deep into the maze, leaving a trail of shimming lights behind it. 

The teens didn’t hesitate to bolt after it, and when the little Princess couldn’t keep up, Honda scooped her up and put her on Katsuya’s back. The Dragon Duelist didn’t hesitate to ensure she was safely in place, before continuing to bolt after the light, gasping out, “So… Are you Amunet? Or Nephthys?”

“Amunet. Snt spoke of me?”

The surprised delight in the child’s voice as she confirmed she was the older sister, rather than the younger, made Katsuya glad he’d asked, even as he wished he’d saved his breath, because running with a heavy load wasn’t easy.

“Her siblings mean a lot to her,” Anzu promised, her breathing coming much easier than the boys, since she was always working on her fitness to ensure she was at her peak for dancing. “She’s even put your names in the Mutou family shrine, to show her respect for you all.”

The bright smile that caused lifted Anzu’s heart a little, even as nervousness trembled through her. She didn’t know what they were about to jump into, and their usual magical heavy lifter was caught in a duel that would prevent her from coming to assist, while their backup mage was already injured.

“Can you tell us how we can help?” She asked Amunet, who grimaced slightly as they raced under an archway and into a narrow corridor.

“I’m not sure of the details of the game,” Amunet admitted. “But I know Yugi and Atem were playing from the start, and because Anubis invoked the Realm of the Dead, Jt could dive in the moment Yugi called upon the Shadows to balance the game. Plus, there’s some other spirits who wouldn’t want Anubis to win, who were there from the start. So, you won’t be alone.”

“Then how… did he get his hands… on Yugi?” Honda gasped out, angry at the thought of his friend possibly being abandoned by those who were supposed to be on her side.

“I don’t know. The game is based on events that happened back in Egypt, but I died long before this, so I don’t have a role and can’t see within. I only know what I heard Jt telling Mewet on his way out the door.”

Jt, they understood, was father, but Mewet was an entirely new word. One Anzu guessed was probably ‘mother’ but didn’t like to assume.

Katsuya wasn’t focusing on the words though. He remembered what Sakhmet had told him about Anubis. That the sorcerer had gotten the royal twins kidnapped out of the palace, and was the one who’d killed Prince Atem, forcing Sakhmet upon the throne. Plus, Anubis had snuck into the Kame Game Shop and attempted to strike Yugi and Sakhmet in their sleep.

If the game was, as Amunet thought, based on Ancient Egypt, and Yugi had been injured to the point she’d magically screamed for aid, then Yugi and Atem were in the hands of the enemy already. Anubis had already dragged them from the palace and taken them to his camp, where Atem’s life had ended all those years ago.

And Amunet had been certain that Anubis would end the game if he thought he was going to lose, meaning they only had til Sakhmet kicked Anubis’s ass in the duel before Yugi’s life was at risk. Something that wouldn’t take long under normal conditions, but certainly would be a matter in a few turns with Kaiba at her side.

Because as much as Katsuya disliked Kaiba for everything he’d done to them, he couldn’t deny that he was a good Duelist.

A stream of white-gold energy trickled along the trenches beneath them, heading in the same direction they were going, causing Anzu to let out a startled noise. “What is that?”

“Life energy,” Amunet’s voice wavered, “He’s draining energy from the Pharaoh and Seth as they duel.”

That made Anzu’s worry spike. Sakhmet’s life energy was Yugi’s, which meant as the Pharaoh was drained of strength, Yugi would be too, making it harder for her to fight her way through the game Anubis was tearing her apart in.

She didn’t get to warn the boys before they reached a door. A door that the light guiding them darted through, before fading away, alerting them that this was their destination.

“Let me down,” Amunet murmured, shifting on Katsuya’s back. When he carefully dropped her, she eased her way over to the door and poked her head in, before retreating with a nervous expression.

“What’s wrong?” Anzu asked, but Katsuya just pushed past and entered the room.

Inside, the walls were blue, the same blue as the glass on Anubis’s Pyramid and there were a set of eight sarcophagi, four on each side, of a ruined room whose roof was beginning to fall in. The creatures inside those weren’t entirely humanoid, making Katsuya wonder what the hell they’d been in life.

But they weren’t what held his attention.

On the other side of the room, a huge sarcophagus, one that was easily big enough for the man that’d been dueling against Sakhmet and Kaiba, lay on a raised podium, above which glowed a bright red jewel within an engraving of a pyramid.

The moment he stepped within the room, the glow from the gem brightened and the vacuum that’d dragged him into the maze started once more. He tried to back up, only to find the pull was too strong. As the blood red light burst out, overwhelming his senses and his feet lifted from the floor, he heard Anzu and Honda calling his name.

Panic flared as momentarily he tried to pull back, but the drag was just too strong and Anzu and Honda grabbing him didn’t help as they too were pulled from the floor.

Then they were at an even height with the gem and could see within to the world beyond, allowing them to see the palace of Egypt and the tents of Anubis.

And all he could think as he was dragged into the gem, and the game, was that Yugi needed him.

And he would never, ever let her down.

Not ever again.

Then the darkness took him, dragging him down, down, down, until he slammed into a body that wasn’t entirely his, and there was a moment where it felt like he was fighting for control of his own form, before the spirit he was fighting faded away and a swirling rush of memories downloaded into his mind, making him understand why Sakhmet had been so overwhelmed when she’d gotten her own history returned.

As his eyes opened, revealing the sun setting over an ancient city to a man leaning on the walls above it, he just hoped he could find the others quickly and they could find Yugi, before it was too late.

Chapter Text

Katsuya was confused and irritated as he beheld his surroundings.

Thanks to the memories he’d received when he’d taken control of ‘Djau’ from the spirit who’d been playing the role before him, he knew where he was and what was expected of him.

But he didn’t know where his friends were and that worried him.

Since he’d entered this world with Anzu and Honda, he’d expected to wake up somewhere close to them. That hadn’t happened. Instead, he’d ended up taking control of a guard on the wall, who was coming to the, hopefully, end of his double shift.

He only had a double shift because the guards who’d been due to take over from him at midday, had been caught up in the fire that’d erupted at the royal birthday party. The injuries they’d sustained had prevented them from doing their jobs.

And since the Princess was missing, he didn’t have anywhere else to be.

His character’s frustrations bubbled through him as he watched the merchants with the palace supplies come into the palace and be checked over.

Djau hadn’t been born in Egypt. Instead, he’d been born in Athens, Greece, and sold into slavery by his bastard of a father, who’d needed every obol he could get to pay off gambling debts and buy booze.

Something Katsuya could sympathize with very well, considering his own life before his father had passed away.

Shimun, the High Priest who held the Millennium Rod, had purchased him from the slavers. The royal twins had needed someone they could interact with who wouldn’t try and use them for their connections, and Djau had landed on his feet. He’d supported them, and they’d treated him like a person for the first time in years, in return. Better in fact, as they’d been protective of their new friend, and had ensured that he was always welcome and safe.

Not unlike Katsuya’s own experiences with the Mutous in the modern era.

And then there’d been an assassination attempt. Djau hadn’t wanted either twin to be hurt so he’d tackled one of the jerks who’d attacked them, and stolen his sword. He hadn’t been very good with it, since a slave wasn’t allowed to have anything they could use to harm their masters, but the additional armed body had allowed the twins, who WERE combat trained, to hold off their attackers until Mahad and the guards could get involved.

That incident had earned Djau his freedom, and he’d jumped at the chance to take on an Egyptian name, separating himself from his past forever. When Atem had offered to get him training in any job he desired, Djau had asked to join the royal guard so he could protect those who’d given him a chance to live free of chains.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, after one of Atem’s magic classes with High Prietess Isis, who bore the Millennium Necklace, the Crown Prince had called Djau and Akhenaden’s son, Seth, to his chambers.

Djau didn’t entirely trust Seth. He might’ve been raised away from the palace, but he was still the son of Akhenaden, the third in line to the throne. Which made Seth fourth, and he was certainly arrogant enough to dream of one day taking that seat.

However, Atem had invited Isis in and shown Seth and Djau visions that proved that they’d been like brothers in another life. Upon seeing that, Seth himself had suggested they swear an oath to protect each other, to prevent Atem having to worry that Seth would stab him in the back, and to ensure that they’d always keep that strong bond.

Djau suspected it was also so Seth could be sure that Djau wouldn’t ‘deal’ with him to protect the Prince.

Atem had been agreeable and the three of them swore a magically binding oath that not only would they protect each other, but Atem had asked that they also protect his sister. Since Sakhmet had stood up for both the other boys, they’d agreed.

It amused Katsuya that, in a way, he was still fulfilling that oath in the modern day.

Which was why it grated so badly that his character hadn’t been allowed to be there last night.

Djau had been kept off duty for the party, due to his shift earlier in the day, and while he’d gone running to help the moment he’d heard about the fire, he hadn’t been where he needed to be. Meaning he hadn’t been there when the twins had been attacked and the Princess kidnapped.

Something the other guards hadn’t let him live down.

“Oi, Djau. I thought you’re a bodyguard, not a wall mook,” his replacement smirked at him as he approached to take over. “So, what you doing here?”

“Didn’t you hear? He wasn’t with his charge and she got taken by some asshole last night,” another one taunted from where he was settling on the wall. “Took out a section of the palace to stop her brother getting grabbed on her way out.”

Katsuya blinked as he realized that if he ignored the jabs, this was actually useful information. Though that didn’t sound like Yugi.

Protecting another was entirely within character for her, that didn’t surprise him. But taking out a section of a building? That wasn’t like her. She was violently non-violent. Kindness was her weapon of choice. Choosing to be kind and nice despite the horrors of the world around her was her way of fighting back.

She was capable of fighting back when given the tools, like games or magic, but she wouldn’t have wanted to risk hurting innocent people by taking out part of the palace.

“Where were Seth and Mahad?” He asked, frowning, remembering Sakhmet mentioning that the Dark Magician had previously been Atem’s bodyguard and one of her closest friends, while the memories had informed him that Seth had been invited to the party as Shimun’s successor.

“Catching the assholes that were waiting for the twins in their room,” The first guard rolled his eyes, even as the second gave Katsuya a weird look. “Someone tried to drug the twins at their party, and the Princess realized the kidnappers would probably be waiting in their suites. They managed to catch almost all of them. They’re in the dungeons now, where the Priests are trying to get information from them.”

And that told Katsuya where he needed to go, once he’d located Anzu and Honda. If they could get the location of Anubis’s camp from those assholes, then they’d rush off to the aid of their friend.

Who was all alone, in the hands of the enemy.

Then their words and the amount of time that had passed, finally sunk in.

‘Last night’. It was sunset now, and Yugi had been in Anubis’s hands since last night.

His hands balled into fists, his frame stiffened and vibrated as he tried to control his fury and fear that it had been so long, in game, and no one had thought to use something like the Necklace to find Anubis’s camp, or the Rod to…

“Hey, wonder what that ass is burning,” the second guard leaned further over the wall to get a better look.

“That’s one of Akhenaden’s men ain’t it?” The first asked as Katsuya glanced in the direction the second man was looking.

There, a man dressed in the robes of a priest, was sat at one of the braziers by the entrance to the stable yard, throwing papyrus into it.

“Well, the Princess did kill Akhenaden with her Ka Beast to protect her brother. It’s not like he’s gunna need them.”

Katsuya remembered the name Akhenaden. 

He was the asshole who’d attempted to kill Yugi on Duelist Kingdom, who’d seen to the deaths of all the people of Kul Elna, who’d possibly ensured the deaths of Sakhmet’s siblings.

If one of his men was burning information, then there was something important on those papyrus scrolls. Something someone didn’t want to get out now that the man was dead.

Katsuya grimaced. Things just kept getting worse. If Yugi had been pushed to summon against an Item Holder, it could’ve gone badly and then with the time she’d spent in Anubis’s hands…

Unable to wait long enough to take the stairs, in case the information was lost, Katsuya launched himself over the wall, rolled onto the stable roof below and slid into a pile of straw.

Ignoring the heckling from the pair of guards he had been talking to, he headed for the brazier.

“Hey!”

At his shout, the priest yelped and threw the whole pile in his arms into the flames before bolting away.

Katsuya felt the ground shake as he bolted for the brazier and the energies in the area swirl violently, almost as if the game itself was objecting to the burning, suggesting something vital was on those scrolls.

He grabbed the edge of the brazier and yanked with all his weight, pulling it over and sending the scrolls, coals and flames scattering all over the floor.

"What the…!"

Katsuya ignored the yelling of others in the area as he kicked sand over the flames, saving several scrolls and preventing the straw laden floor from catching fire, before snatching one up and attempting to read it.

Only to discover a problem.

Djau could read hieratic and hieroglyphic, thanks to the twins insisting on him sitting in on their lessons when he had been serving them, which meant Katsuya could now read them, but Katsuya didn’t know what it was about the scrolls that was so important.

To him it looked like a bunch of random information, sent by a ‘Huya’, regarding some encampment in the desert, and some temple orders aimed at a ‘Priest Nakht’ regarding trash removal, animal disposal, a rite involving a jackal, and arrangements for a boat trip during a festival to Sobek.

It didn’t look like much, but the scrolls felt heavy in his hands, important, so when a High Priest came running, backed by guards, Katsuya shoved a couple into his belt and then bowed low, recognizing the man approaching, carrying the Millennium Rod, as High priest Shimun.

“What in Ra’s name are you doing?”

He looked so much like Doctor Mutou, that the man’s demand made Katsuya flinch. The elder Mutou had been the first adult to really give him a chance in the modern era, and the disappointed tone was so much worse than if the High Priest had been angry at him.

“One of Akhenaden’s men was burning information. Information the Pharaoh might need for his investigation,” Katsuya replied, trying to keep his words formal and not reveal that he had no idea what he was doing.

“Give it to me.”

Katsuya handed them over without hesitation, unsure who in this game world was on Yugi’s side and who would stab him in a heartbeat. The moment the High Priest saw what was on the burned and damaged papyrus, his eyes widened, and he ordered the other guards to clean up the mess, while gesturing for Katsuya to follow him.

“Hold onto those scrolls,” Shimun hissed at Katsuya once they were safely inside. “With how violently the magic was reacting, there’s something on them the Princess needs to win. You did well to grab it before it burned. If you hadn’t, the game could’ve been over.”

“I need to get to her,” Katsuya grimaced, something in the back of his mind warning him not to use Yugi’s names after Anubis’s gloating. “Don’t suppose you know where she is? Or what the rules are?”

“The Pharaoh is getting a location now.”

Shimun’s smile reminded Katsuya both of a shark, and of the look Jiisan got when he had all the cards he needed to turn a game around.

“Your Princess is brilliant, getting the attackers caught, saving the Prince and utilizing Anubis’s own magic against him to get allies, but time is short, the longer she’s in Anubis’s hands, the higher the chances of him defeating her, and Pharaoh Akhenemkhanon doesn’t want to waste any more time than he has to.”

Katsuya nearly stumbled at the reminder that Sakhmet’s own father was actually here, in the game, having come running the moment Anubis had bound the living world to the world of the dead.

“As for the rules, Prince Atem has them, but he hasn’t woken up yet. I was just on my way up to the infirmary to get them from him.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“I should hope so.” The old man huffed as they passed a huge hole in a wall and the ruined mess of what used to be an office.

“What happened?” Despite everything going on, Katsuya was curious. The room looked like something had cut through the furniture, blackening it with heat as it burned through, almost like a laser, while the walls were scarred with deep cuts in the stone.

“All we know is the Princess happened,” Shimun grimaced. “We’re hoping to find out more once Atem awakens.”

Katsuya frowned and considered the damage. “The Princess did this? How?”

“Her Ka Beast.”

Katsuya blinked, confused as to how something like Kuriboh could’ve done this much damage.

Shimun paused to consider him, then asked, “How much do you know of Ka Beasts?”

“They’re a piece of our souls. We can summon them to defend ourselves, but if they’re destroyed, it could kill us.”

Katsuya was just glad that his first summoning, in the Black Clown Fire, hadn’t been his last.

“That’s all true,” Shimun allowed as he herded Katsuya further into the palace. “But what I don’t think you know, is that the more a person goes through, the more they have to fight to survive, the more powerful their Ka Beast becomes.”

And with everything Yugi had been through across the years, the sheer destructive power unleashed in that room suddenly made sense.

“We don’t know why she unleashed it, but the Beast the Princess let free killed her uncle and three guards.”

“Why not just use the Necklace?” Katsuya questioned, certain that since Yugi would be without her Puzzle and deck, she’d reached for the one monster she was certain she could call on, but she probably hadn’t expected to end lives with it.

Not that most of the lives here were real lives, just game pieces on Anubis’s board.

Game pieces that would go out of their way to stop her escaping this hellhole.

“It can’t see the actions of an Item Holder.”

“So, watch from the Prince’s point of view, or the Princess’s?”

The modern-day teen couldn’t help but be amused when Shimun’s eyes widened, telling him that that hadn’t been considered before.

“I’ll speak to Lady Isis. You stay quiet and well behaved,” when Katsuya gave the old man an irritated look, Shimun stared back at him, “You’re playing a role right now. You need to be aware of your position.”

“I’m listening.”

“Look in the mirror.”

Katsuya paused and turned towards the great bronze mirror. The sight within made him do a double take as he realized that he hadn’t just stolen the form of someone back in Egypt.

He’d stolen a form that looked almost exactly like him, except with a more Grecian complexion and slightly longer hair.

“Your mind might be whoever you are in the modern era, but right now your form is that which it was during these events three thousand years ago. Right now, you’re Djau, Palace Guard and Bodyguard of the Princess.”

Shimun’s words felt right. Before he’d entered this game, Katsuya hadn’t remembered being Djau, but Mahad, the Dark Magician and the Pharaoh’s Right-Hand had called him such and Zorc had mentioned that he’d reincarnated many times across the years.

As such, he could firmly believe that the memories that’d downloaded into his mind when he’d entered the game, were HIS memories.

Or at least the memories of one of his previous lives.

“You’re not highly enough ranked to try and make suggestions,” Shimun continued. “So letting me do the talking will prevent anyone realizing you’re not part of this game world. There’re too many spirits seeking freedom, who want to sabotage the Princess’s chances to let them find out you’re on her side.”

Katsuya paused to consider the Priest’s words.

“How do I know you’re on our side?”

“If I wasn’t, I’d have left you with those guards, and you’d be dead now,” Shimun pointed out with a flat expression and deadpan tone.

“Point…” Katsuya’s shoulders sank as they reached the corridor where the infirmary rested.

“I understand you’re worried, young man, but I’m on your side. I’m on HER side. I was in Egypt and I always will be,” Shimun smiled softly, seeing the concern in his companion’s posture and expression. “And she’s proving my faith in her is right. Both forms of her are. One dueling the man who took everything from her, one standing strong against the asshole trying to rip her Ancient name from...”

The sounds of shouting from the Healer’s Hall a few doors down made their heads snap in that direction. The moment Katsuya recognized one of the female voices, he ran.

After all, Anzu needed him.

Chapter Text

Dreams had seized Anzu the moment she’d been dragged into the jewel. Dreams of a young woman called Ahset, who had wanted to dance more than anything, but had been forced to find other work to pay for the dance school.

That was how she’d found herself in the palace kitchens as a line cook, right up until she’d found herself helping the royal twins out. Prince Atem and his sister had often snuck out of the palace to spend time amongst the commoners.

It was a tactic they’d employed in order to learn how Egypt truly worked outside of the palace and was needed to start making their plans. After all, they couldn’t improve Egypt, without knowing Egypt.

But leaving the palace without guards left them vulnerable to attack and that was how Ahset had met them. She’d found them sneaking through the servant’s entrance, sporting matching black eyes and a dislocated shoulder for the Prince.

It’d been the first time the twins had seen what sort of people the guards that roamed the city could be.

It’d also been Ahset’s first time interacting with them, and she’d shown her skills by resetting Atem’s shoulder and showing them how to make healing compresses that could ease the bruising on their faces. Skills she’d learned because when you lived amongst the general populace you couldn’t always afford a Healer, and learning basic first aid was a necessity.

In thanks, the twins had offered to pay for her dream, but she’d insisted on making it on her own and paying for it with her own hard work. Partly because she really did want to earn it herself, and partly because she’d been worried that the patronage would dry up if the twins grew bored of her.

After all, other nobles had been known to take advantage of commoners and throw them away once they no longer found them amusing. Ahset couldn’t trust that the royal twins were any different.

Instead of being offended by her insinuations, Atem and Sakhmet had instead, gotten her a better paid position as an Apprentice Healer in the palace. It was an exhausting job, and there were days when she regretted taking it, but the night classes at the dance school would’ve been out of her reach without the money it brought in.

The dream slowly faded as the memory of being one of the dancers skilled enough to perform at the twins’ Coming of Age party, only for a fire to break out, sent her heart racing and her mind spiraling.

As Anzu slammed back into her vessel and awareness, she let out a soft hiss and tilted her head to stretch out the aching neck muscles that were complaining about how she’d been sleeping.

“Mazaki Anzu, you need to stop sleeping sitting…”

As her eyes opened, and she took in the the barren limestone walls, and reed-stuffed mattresses on wooden frames, supported by leather strips, she realised she wasn’t at home anymore.

She was in the infirmary in the palace of Egypt.

“What…?”

“Ahset!”

Anzu shot to her feet on instinct, surprising herself. She turned to find the one calling her was an older woman with greying brown hair, and sharp green eyes. A woman dressed in a fancier version of the tabard that Anzu herself was wearing.

“I know you haven’t been off duty since the Princess was taken,” Mesta, the woman in question, looked exasperated. “But I have too much on my hands to deal with this alone and Aani quit. I promise, once things calm down, I’ll make sure you get a huge bonus, but I need you awake right now.”

“S… sorry,” Anzu apologised, smiling sheepishly and hoping that her other friends weren’t the ones in the beds.

“Just take this to the Prince,” The Head Healer handed her a cup of some sort of herb mixture. “It’s one of the last Akhenaden made, before the Princess killed him, but it should wake up the Prince.”

Anzu frowned at the name ‘Akhenaden’. In the modern era, it was well known that Akhenaden had been a treacherous snake, but here, in the ancient past, it’d taken the Pharaoh she knew, years to get enough evidence to prove it.

If he’d been providing potions to the palace, there was no way they would have the right effects.

This would, after all, be the perfect opportunity for their foe to do away with the Prince.

And Amunet had said they needed Atem, because he knew the rules and what they needed to do to help Yugi win this game.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Anzu didn’t hesitate to head in the Prince’s direction, passing a reflective surface that revealed darker skin, slightly longer hair, but her facial features, warning her that she’d been put into an Ancient version of herself.

Not that she cared. Her friend was in trouble and that was all she could think about, only for her train of thoughts to derail entirely when she reached the Prince’s bedside.

He looked so much like Yugi had before she’d gotten the Puzzle. Except for the skin colour, since Atem’s was much darker, that of an Egyptian, rather than a Japanese, he was almost an exact match.

Enough so that for a moment, Anzu’s mind flashed back to the two weeks after the Black Clown Fire, when Yugi had been in a medical coma, recovering from injuries to her head, throat and lungs that could’ve been fatal.

Injuries caused by a mix of the Otogi family and the Demon God, Apophis.

A Demon God that had since been put in his place by the Pharaoh within the Puzzle.

At least for now.

Still, now she’d seen Sakhmet’s brother for herself, she understood better how he and Sakhmet had been mistaken for each other in the past and how the Pharaoh had been able to slip into her brother’s place so easily.

Pouring a cup of water from the jug on the table and taking a sip of it herself to make sure it was safe, she was about to nod to the guard at Atem’s bedside and help the Prince drink it when she saw a glint of metal in the man’s hand.

A glint that came from a blade.

“Dagger!!”

Anzu’s shout caught the attention of everyone in the room as she dove across the bed to try and stop the dagger from plunging into the Prince. Instead, it slammed into Anzu’s shoulder, skidded off of her shoulder blade and wedged in her back, narrowly avoiding her lung.

Anzu’s pained gasp was echoed with a feral, leonine roar as light rose up and slammed into the man, knocking him to the floor, before taking the form of an agile female figure, coated in fur, with long white hair and glowing red eyes, its fur lined red skirt flowing in the breeze and its moonlike blades held to the attacker’s throat.

Its summoner forced herself up, disorientated from the pain and the double vision caused by being able to see through the eyes of her Lunalight Leo Dancer, “Ba… Back. Off.”

“Ahset!”

“Atem!”

The first voice was that of Mesta, her teacher, but the second was male, furious, and regal.

As the man, dressed in the garb and jewels of a royal, rushed through the infirmary door, past Anzu and slammed the guard who’d tried to stab Atem, against the wall so hard that the man’s head ricocheted off the wall, Mesta tried to pull Anzu away from the scene, only for her to keep her Beast-Warrior between the Prince and the asshole who’d stabbed her.

“Who sent you?” The Pharaoh snarled at the brute, only for the man to smirk.

“The Lord of the Dead sends his regards.”

Later Anzu would be shocked at how little she felt when the Pharaoh slammed his fist into the man’s face, but as Pharaoh Akhenemkhanon punched the guard’s lights out with a furious snarl, it was more satisfying than shocking, though that could’ve been the shock from being stabbed talking.

“Karim, Shada, Take him down to the dungeons,” The Pharaoh snapped at the two men with him, both of whom held a Millennium Item, one a set of Scales and the other a huge golden Key.

As the pair of men dragged the guard away, Anzu felt a hand on her arm, startled and looked down to find Atem was looking up at her, worried.

“Ahset…”

“I… I’ll be okay, my Prince,” Anzu promised, though she wasn’t sure it was truth.

Anzu had never been stabbed before. She knew Ba-Khu-Ra had and maybe Jou, but she had never been in a position where she could get stabbed before. Feeling the blade digging into her back was the second to worst thing she had ever felt, short only of her time as a prisoner of the Shadows.

“Let me look,” The Pharaoh ordered, his tone sharp.

Anzu hesitated, then, not wanting to be kept away from Atem until she had the information he carried, she sat on the end of the Prince’s bed and let Mesta and the Pharaoh work to remove the blade and heal the wound. Anzu bit her lower lip as the magic worked with an icy sting that burned as it stopped bleeding and closed up.

The relief in the gasp she let out when the pain stopped was audible and caused the Prince to give her a watery smile.

“Thank you, Ahset.”

Anzu’s eyes widened as she realised the Prince had been awake to see her save him, but before she could ask him for what she needed in return, the Pharaoh had wrapped the Prince in a tight hug.

“F… Father?” The Prince squeaked, shocked.

“I’ve missed you, my falcon.”

At the nickname, one he hadn’t heard for three thousand years, Atem realised who was in the role of his father and he latched onto Akhenemkhanon with a shocked and joyful cry as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Anzu didn’t hesitate to move away, giving the pair privacy. It’d been three thousand years since Pharaoh Akhenemkhanon had seen his son and they deserved that much.

The sight of the Egyptian version of Jou and Yugi’s grandfather hovering by the door brought Anzu some hope and she bolted to the side of who she hoped was Jonouchi, only to get a worried gaze and his hands on her shoulders.

“You ok?” He demanded, his hands shaking, “I heard you shout.”

“I… I’m okay, I just…” She shifted her previously injured shoulder a little, her face pale, “Atem was attacked and I…”

“Ahset. Come here.”

At the Pharaoh’s order, caused Anzu to squeak but hurry over, not wanting to get thrown into the dungeons where she would be unable to help her friend. Jou followed, not wanting to let her out of his sight now he’d found her and found himself on the end of an unamused glower from the ruler.

“You saved my son, so I’ll give you anything you want,” The Pharaoh’s gaze turned soft and grateful as it turned to Anzu.

“I need help from your son. A friend of mine is in great danger, and he has the information we need to save her.”

“I know what the Lioness needs but I don’t have the answer yet,” Atem shook his head, “Anubis isn’t the brute’s true name. He had a name before it, that’s what she needs to win. We were going through uncle’s study, trying to find it, but we were attacked and… where is she?”

Panic flared in the Prince as he looked around the room and realised his sister was nowhere in sight.

“Where’s my sister!?”

“He got her,” His father answered with a grimace. “He’s had her for almost a full day.”

“A full…” Atem paled, “I need to get down to uncle’s study. Now!”

“I might have something that could help,” Katsuya offered the papyrus he had been carrying, the ones he had rescued from the fire. “I caught one of Akhenaden’s mooks burning documents and the magic threw a fit, so…”

Atem snatched the documents and scanned them, his face lighting up with furious glee.

“You got it. You got the name. Nakht was uncle’s right-hand,” Atem breathed. “He was the one uncle got to run all his errands. He would’ve been the only one uncle trusted with this much power.”

“Jackals are Anubis’s animal,” The Pharaoh agreed, reading over his son’s shoulder. “And my brother was the High Priest of Sobek, the crocodile god. There’s no reason to have been doing rites with jackals unless they were trying to tie their magic to the death god.”

“Or turn someone into a monster,” Atem shuddered, remembering his own time as a prisoner of the brute who now went by Anubis.

“If we get the name to our friend, she wins, right?” Anzu asked nervously, able to see how badly Atem was affected by just the thought of the man.

“As long as she doesn’t give up her own. We just have to find out where she’s been taken.” Atem nodded, trembling. “If this game is still going, she’s still alive so she can still win.”

“The men in the dungeons aren’t talking, but if you can go down, Lord Shimun, and…”

“You don’t need to, my Pharaoh. I can get you the answer.”

A familiar female voice from the doorway made everyone turn to look, some quicker than others. When Katsuya saw who was there, his eyes narrowed and he pulled Anzu behind him, his hand going to the sword at his belt.

There stood an Egyptian woman with blue eyes, long black hair and all the same facial features as Ishizu.

“Quickly, Isis, you have much to atone for and my daughter’s life is on the line.”

When Isis flinched, Anzu and Katsuya looked at each other, wondering what Isis had been up to and if she was as nuts as her modern-day incarnation, then light erupted from the golden necklace at Isis’s throat.

It swept across the room, twisting and spinning until it settled into a scene inside a tent, where Anubis, who had once been the Priest Nakht, was stood over a ball of bloodied, torn fabric, which, much to the horror of those watching, whimpered and uncurled slightly, to reveal a girl, whose body was broken, whose arms were bound behind her blood covered back, and whose face was bruised.

Fury blazed in Katsuya’s heart at the sight of her frightened, desperate, pained dulled amethyst eyes.

“Yu…” Katsuya was forced to freeze, mid-step, as Shimun activated the Millennium Rod, preventing him from calling Yugi’s name and reaching for her.

“Calm yourself and don’t say her name,” The old man hissed. “Anubis needs her name to win and calling your Ka Beast now won’t help her.”

It was only the holding power of the Millennium Rod that kept him in place. Just having that magic wrapped around him once more was almost more than he could handle, after what he’d been forced to do during the whole Hanaq mess.

He didn’t want to be used again. He couldn’t let himself be used again.

“I’m not going to make you do anything,” Shimun continued, “But you need to hold. She’s not here, and reacting badly now will stop you from being at her side later.”

Katsuya forced himself to take a deep breath and, once he was calm enough to stay in place, Shimun released him, allowing him to pull a stunned Anzu close, able to feel her trembling in his arms, though he wasn’t sure whether it was upset or rage.

As the vision pulled out, Katsuya got to see more of the encampment and the creatures within it. Suddenly he understood where the creatures in the sarcophagi in the jewel room had come from. They were roaming Anubis’s camp, walking freely amongst the more normal minions.

Normal minions that included a young man with pointy brown hair and sharp brown eyes.

“There’s Honda,” Anzu murmured quietly, hoping that now they’d entered the game, he would be able to find a way to help Yugi and wishing they had come here sooner.

Katsuya just nodded, barely holding onto his emotions and able to feel the dark fires of his Ka Beast burning away, begging to be unleashed.

Pulling out further allowed them to see that the encampment wasn’t that far from the city, though how far exactly was beyond Anzu and Katsuya, even if they now had a direction.

“Let’s go. Now.”

At the Pharaoh’s growl, Atem attempted to scramble out of bed to go with him, only for his father try and stop him.

“I can’t lose you again.”

“If she loses, we all lose,” Atem shook his head, pushing his father’s hands away. “And I can’t fail her again. I can’t let my Lioness be hurt again because of me. Besides, you’re going to lose me anyway, I can’t go with you once the game’s over.”

The Pharaoh’s face fell at the reminder that his son was trapped in the darkness, unable to enter Aaru.

“I love you Father, but let me help. Let me do this for our family, for my sister. Before I can’t do anything again.”

They looked at each other as the Pharaoh considered his son’s words, then the Pharaoh nodded, “Alright, Atem, alright, but stay close.”

He turned to the two modern teens in ancient forms.

“You two as well. Follow me and stay close. Ahset, make sure you have healing potions to hand, for my daughter.”

“Yes, Pharaoh.”

Anzu couldn’t bring herself to say ‘my Pharaoh’. He wasn’t her ruler. She didn’t really have one, at least not any more than every Japanese person was ruled by the Japanese Imperial Family. The closest thing she would even consider ‘her Pharaoh’ was Sakhmet, and she was more a friend than her ruler. Even if Anzu knew in her heart, that she would snap to follow her orders in a bad situation as long as they were reasonable.

“Come on.”

As the Pharaoh stalked from the room and Isis’s illusion faded away, Katsuya’s eyes stayed upon the tent containing his girlfriend, right up until the last moment.

Then he followed the group, silently swearing that whoever got between him and Yugi would pay dearly.