AN: so...life happened. and inspiration died a bit but it's back again! Hurray! Hope you guys/gals are still here and enjoying it! It'll be more consistent now and we're getting closer to the big reveal. 

Chapter 15: A Chilling Thought

Every bump in the road, every siren, every horn, every noise at all made Atem's heart feel that much more uneasy. They landed in Cairo Egypt very late at night and decided to head right over to Ishizu's and Marik's place first above all else. They had to take two cars but each followed each other towards their place.

Ishizu and Marik had become well known in Cairo, and most people unless they lived under a rock knew who they were. However, it was Atem's memory of where they lived that directly led the driver's to take them there.

Atem was bracing his head up on the edge of the car window, while Yugi sat beside him his head leaning against his shoulder and his eyes shut with exhaustion. Kaiba was directly on the other side of Yugi currently on the phone. Atem's mind was sharp and anxiety riddled and was unable to rest. He glanced over to see Kaiba hang up his phone and exchange a look with him. There was no way Jounouchi and Kaiba would sit in the same car together so Yugi invited Kaiba to travel with them. Atem didn't like it but didn't want to protest to cause anymore unnecessary distractions. Quietly to not wake up Yugi, Atem lowered his voice to talk with Kaiba grudgingly.

"No answer?" Atem questioned as Kaiba shook his head.

"None." Kaiba replied; "If this is some sort of prank or miss-understanding..."

"It's not." Atem replied sternly, "Do you think Ishizu would do that?"

Atem paused in conversation as Yugi stirred slightly and was relieved he didn't wake up. Kaiba sighed.

"While we have a moment..." Kaiba said also lowering his voice, "I don't believe in coincidences, fate, destiny or any of that. However, the fact that you are here, alive, does not sit well with me..."

"I hadn't noticed." Atem sarcastically said, rolling his eyes and turned his attention to the window, "Even if I gave an explanation, you wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Possibly." Kaiba said, "Though I honestly doubt even you know."

Typically Atem would end his conversation with Kaiba on that note. Kaiba never believed much in ancient history they shared or fate so arguing would be a fruitless endeavor. However, a feeling lingered and with Yugi asleep Atem knew it'd be his only chance to ask right now.

"Why are you here?" Atem asked looking over at Kaiba.

"To pay my debt. I said that before or have you forgotten?" Kaiba scoffed, slightly annoyed Atem would ask a question he already answered.

"When you first met me again here before...you said helping me paid off your debt to Ishizu and told her it made you even." Atem replied before mocking "Or have you forgotten?"

Kaiba actually gave an emotional reaction to the form of a dark glare in Atem's direction before facing forward again.

"My reasons are my own." Kaiba replied coldly.

"You also said if I needed anything to ask, so I'm asking you clearly. Why are you here?" Atem questioned again receiving a huff from Kaiba.

"I'm here to see where this leads. Simple as that and aren't you quite the memorizer for a dead man." Kaiba snapped as Atem was a little taken aback before the realization sunk in.

"That's why..." Atem concluded causing Kaiba to raise an eyebrow, "Why you've been...I'm a fool for not figuring it out sooner."

When Atem first came back and met Seto for the first time, he seemed more relaxed and helpful. However, since meeting him again he has become ignorant and hostile making Atem question his own thoughts about the reincarnation of his cousin. He chuckled causing Kaiba to become further annoyed.

"Enlighten me." He asked.

"I cheated death." Atem smirked in Kaiba's direction, "I cheated and you're mad at me."

"Please..." Kaiba scoffed as Atem just continued to smirk. "Let's get one thing straight. Ishizu did something for me, and I have respect for Yugi and all his accomplishments...but you, you mean absolutely nothing to me. I could care less about your existence at this point."

"You keep telling yourself that..." Atem chuckled before returning his gaze out the window, "Careful Kaiba...I might start to think you actually care"

Kaiba rolled his eyes as the cab driver slowly brought the car to a stop. He spoke in Arabic but Atem was able to understand him and instructed Kaiba what he said. Kaiba handed the driver money before quickly getting out of the vehicle to pay the other driver. Atem gently nudged his shoulder as a sleepy Yugi rubbed his eyes. "We're here partner."

"Did I fall asleep...?" Yugi groggily asked as Atem smiled and nodded, "Oh...you didn't fight with Kaiba did you?"

"Actually..." Atem chuckled, "He admitted he is concerned about us"

"I don't believe you..." Yugi playfully nudged as Atem got out of the car.

"Well, in a way that Kaiba can." Atem corrected; "Though at the very least I got the reason he's so upset with me"

"Oh?" Yugi asked, "He told you?"

"Sort of...again Kaiba lingo, though it's similar to Seth so I've had awhile to process it," Atem chuckled while helping Yugi out of the car, "He thinks I cheated death. He hates cheaters"

"That's a bit of a stretch..." Yugi pondered, "But this is Kaiba...and it's probably something as simple as that."

Atem shrugged as he and Yugi joined up with the others who were collectively together outside the two taxi cabs by this point.

"Geez...talk about creepy" Jounouchi began as the drivers drove off and turned his attention to the house, "no lights on, super dead quiet...I don't like the feel of this guys"

"Let's stay positive" Yugi said easily sensing the worry in everyone's mind, "Atem, do you have a key or anything?"

"I don't think we'll need that..." Ryou said having already made his way to the door and having simply pushed it opened, "It's unlocked..."

"...I'll go first! Just in case someone's in there and I'll deck them! Make 'em talk!" Jounouchi rushed forward nearly shoving Ryou out of the way to be the first one in.

"Hellllooooo!!! MARIK, ISHIZU YO! If you're in there, SPEAK UP" Jounouchi called out as he slowly walked in, fists ready. After a few minutes of being inside the others looked at each other and began to get worried at the silence.

"Jounouchi? Do you see anything?" Mai asked.

"...Can't see a thing...it's pitch black in here" Jounouchi replied causing the group to sigh in unison.

"Use your phone as a light, idiot." Kaiba irritably said.

"Ohhhhh! Good idea! OUCH SON-OV-A...WHO DID THAT" Jounouchi yelled before laughing, "Oh, my bad, just a chair"

"And he's...going to protect us?" Ryou sighed as Atem and Yugi walked in after him cell phones in hand.

"Thanks for figuring out how to make mine shine," Atem said to Yugi, "I'm still having issues with this stuff..."

"It'll come Atem, you haven't been around on your own in the modern age for that long..." Yugi said encouragingly as he noticed the others follow suit behind them.

"Or you'll always be a moron with technology." Kaiba added as Atem glared at him causing Kaiba to smirk.

"I think if anyone was here Jounouchi's loud noises scared them off." Mai said changing the subject as Atem shook his head.

"Don't be so sure." Atem retorted as they grouped together in the hallway near the entrance. Atem branched off towards the wall he knew had a light switch but wasn't shocked by this point the lights didn't turn on. He leaned against the wall for a moment as he heard Yugi speak.

"We should split up and search. Maybe there's some clue as to where they went." Yugi instructed as they nodded.

"There's two levels to the house," Atem informed as he rejoined the group, "Marik's study is downstairs, Ishizu's and Rishid's is on the main floor...there's also their personal library in the basement too for points of interest. We should look for any signs of where they are though and check thoroughly."

"Good idea" Ryou nodded.

"Atem, you and I will take downstairs. Mai, you and Jou take this floor and Kaiba," Yugi began as he turned to face Kaiba, "You and Ryou see if you can get the lights back on."

They all nodded at their duties and progressed to exploring the house.

Atem was hoping to explore the downstairs area the most and was shocked that Yugi picked that spot as well, again seemingly like Yugi could read his mind still. He was worried they might uncover something awful or someone down there and would rather he handle it. He led Yugi towards the basement stairs.

"Be careful partner," Atem began as he took lead down the stairs, "The stairs are in rough shape"

"Right." Yugi nodded

Atem continued down the stairs arriving on the basement floor landing. He heard the drop of something and looked back up towards the stairs just in time to catch Yugi from hitting the floor.

"Good catch" Yugi chuckled as he looked up at Atem from within his arms.

"I told you to be careful of the stairs" Atem also chuckled as Yugi shook his head.

"Stairs were fine, my shoelaces not so much" Yugi laughed. He started to realize his position and a dark blush came across his face. Atem was holding him tightly still, his firm and lean but muscular arms keeping Yugi close to his body.

Atem also took a few moments to realize what he instinctively was doing and had a faint blush himself before quickly releasing Yugi and clearing his throat.

"We should uh...start looking around" Atem concluded, his normally calm and confident tone thrown off by the sudden situation.

"R-Right..." Yugi coughed as he picked his phone off the floor and followed Atem closely.

They walked down the hallway in almost silence causing Yugi to feel anxious so he finally spoke up.

"So Ishizu had this place built shortly after you uh...well, you know." Yugi began, still having a very hard time bringing up Atem's passing on.

"Sort of. It was partially built they just finished it. " Atem nodded as he pointed to the Egyptian carvings on the walls as they walked down the hallway leading to three rooms. "It used to be an ancient Egyptian home which they decided to preserve what little of it was still left intact which was the basement. Many of Egypt's historical portions are being destroyed/torn down for the modern age and Ishizu wishes to preserve what she can."

"Does it make you...upset that so much is being changed?" Yugi asked as Atem hesitated opening the first door they arrived to and pondered his response.

"A little." Atem nodded, "Though I may be mostly biased seeing how I lived during that age."

Atem attempted to open the door but found resistance coming from the other side. He jiggled the door some more before stopping and looking at Yugi.

"something is blocking the other side" Atem concluded as Yugi nodded. They slowly backed up before both ramming the door with their shoulders to finally open it. Books and papers were scattered about with a chair laying a few feet in front of them. They both brought out their cell phones to use the light from them to see around and continued forward.

"The library," Yugi concluded as Atem nodded, "Looks like someone was looking for something quickly..."

Atem continued forward making sure that he was in front of Yugi as they made their way around the book cases finally to a desk with books scattered about and no one thankfully in the room with them.

Atem and Yugi started to look through the papers on the desk and books to see any clues as to what they were looking for. As Atem focused on top of the desk, Yugi searched the ground below before stumbling on an article.

"Atem!" Yugi exclaimed as Atem came around the corner, "Look, this image is circled...I can't read the writing though..."

"It's in Arabic..." Atem nodded before taking the page from Yugi, "...It seems like they found a new ancient tomb just outside of Cairo though it's not open to the public yet..."

"...the millennium items!" Yugi pointed at the back of the article that Atem was reading. Atem turned it over and nodded.

"Carvings on the outside of the tomb are definitely of the millennium items...but that doesn't make any sense." Atem said as he looked at Yugi, "The only tomb that had anything depicting the millennium items...was mine, and it was fully destroyed."

"Think Atem...is there anywhere in your memory of Ancient Egypt that would've also had carvings of the millennium items?" Yugi asked, "I mean, this other tomb must've been built around the same time..."

"My memory is becoming foggy of my ancient past lately..." Atem shook his head, "The more I'm in present time, the more it feels like my past was a dream."

"It's okay Atem..." Yugi reassured as he placed a hand on Atem's shoulder, "I wonder why Ishizu didn't tell us about this new tomb..."

"She didn't get a chance to." Atem said, "The date of this article is two days ago."

"Well at least we know they were okay two days ago" Yugi nodded as Atem didn't seem convinced.

"Or whoever was here was actually in this room two days ago" Atem said.

"Stay positive, remember?" Yugi instructed as they continued to look around for a few more moments before concluding they weren't going to find anything else.

"With all the books scattered about it's impossible for me to even determine if one is missing..." Atem continued as they exited the library room, "I wish I knew more of what's going on."

"Me too." Yugi stated, "It worries me that the others haven't yelled about anything yet...meaning that for sure Ishizu, Rishid and Marik aren't here...but...I have to stay positive...we do, right?"

Atem wanted to reassure and agree with Yugi so that he wouldn't worry but he didn't want to lie to him either. That and Yugi would most likely see right through it. Atem was just as concerned if not more as he felt directly responsible even if he isn't sure what the cult truly wants at this point.

Atem and Yugi continued their search for clues in the remaining two rooms but found absolutely nothing. Both rooms were also ransacked and ripped apart much like the library was. As they exited the last room, Yugi sighed deeply and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Nothing...all we have is the article about the new tomb." Yugi contemplated, "Nothing on why the millennium items are carved on the stone work in the tomb or anything hints on their whereabouts..."

"I'm sorry" Atem began as Yugi shook his head.

"I'm not blaming you for not remembering Atem," Yugi reassured, "I just...wish we had more to go off of"

As soon as he finished his sentence, they heard several loud bangs with one final thump towards the stairs. As they ran over to see what the noise was they found Jounouchi on the floor rubbing his head in pain.

"Are you okay Jounouchi?!" Yugi said, helping his best friend up to his feet, "What happened?"

"Stupid...stairs...caught...foot...fell..." Jounouchi breathed heavily before shaking his head and grabbing Yugi's shoulders, "Ryou and Kaiba found several of the cult members skulking around outside!!"

"What?!" Atem and Yugi exclaimed in unison as Jounouchi nodded.

"Come on!!" Jounouchi instructed as the three of them ran up the stairs as fast as they could and out the front door nearly tripping over the random items in the way.

Atem, Yugi and Jounouchi got back outside as quick as possible, rounding the corner to where Jounouchi said they were. They stopped briefly to see Kaiba and Ryou just finished the duel with two individuals they didn't recognize on the ground in defeat.

"I was literally gone for five minutes, how did you finish so fast?!" Jounouchi exclaimed as Kaiba smirked, turning his attention to the others behind him.

"They weren't even worth pulling my deck out for." Kaiba grinned.

Atem found this suspicious. Though defeating a member himself, it took hours and frankly a few expert moves he created on the spot. He looked over at the two cult members on the ground, covered entirely in black cloaks similar to the rare hunters Marik used to control and was unable to see their faces. Yugi looked at him, sensing the former pharaoh was deep in thought before gently whispering to him.

"Atem...this seems...off" Yugi mentioned as Atem broke his thought and glanced down. Atem hadn't told Yugi much about the cult member he faced but he was just as or possibly sharper then Atem was about reading the scenario. Atem felt his feelings were confirmed when Yugi replied in the same way.

Kaiba looked at Yugi and Atem and smirked, "Guess it was good I came along." He boasted. Yugi looked past Kaiba over to Ryou who was extremely silent this whole time. When Yugi noticed Ryou's sudden change of expression, he glanced over and turned Atem's attention onto one of the cult members.

"The book!!" Ryou exclaimed as the cult member chuckled, reached over to his partner and grabbed his deck from his duel disk and just as his partner began to protest, he knocked him out with the end of his duel disk. Ryou charged forward as the cult member with the book darted in the opposite direction.

"Ryou!!" Yugi exclaimed running forward after Ryou, not waiting for anyone else to join. Atem turned to Kaiba giving him a look of understanding before quickly running after Yugi.

"Guys!!" Jounouchi exclaimed before Kaiba grunted to get his attention.

"Let's make sure this individual is ready to talk when they get back" Kaiba instructed as Jounouchi nodded, he and Mai helping Kaiba tie him up.

Atem and Yugi ran after Ryou and the cult member, trying to keep the two within sight. The cult member knew what he was doing and darted down alleys quickly within Cairo. Ryou being closer seemed to be able to keep up but Yugi and Atem eventually ended up losing them to the dark alleys and twisted corners of Cairo's lower district.

Huffing both Atem and Yugi slumped over when they realized they had lost them as they both simultaneously grunted in frustration. Yugi glanced at Atem with a slight chuckle before sitting back on the ground in exhaustion.

"We need...to stop...being so...alike" Yugi breathed as Atem rested against the building wall directly beside Yugi.

"Great minds...think alike" Atem breathed heavily in response.

"Has nothing to...do...with the fact...we were joined...right?" Yugi asked as Atem shook his head.

"Exactly." He replied.

After a few moments and many deep breaths both returned to their standing upright position and looked on ahead in frustration.

"I knew something seemed off..." Atem began, "Kaiba and Ryou won that duel too easily...they were there for another reason"

"The book..." Yugi nodded, "As soon as Ryou saw it he darted at him...that must be what they were after"

"Means they were in the house only moments before us..." Atem placed a hand on his face, his usual thinking face as he recalled the past events.

"Ryou..." Yugi pondered, "It's like he recognized that book..."

"It seems so," Atem said lowering his hand and nodding at Yugi, "Did he say much on the plane."

"Nothing extremely out of the ordinary but..." Yugi began to think as Atem raised an eyebrow.

"But?" Atem asked as Yugi nodded.

"He was...oddly overly interested in raising the dead..." Yugi said more to this sentence by Atem lost focus on his words as he recalled his own conversation with Ryou at the museum.

"Not at all. The spirit was inside of me and in a way, a part of me. I get that. And it was rough for the first month after everything happened because I felt that awkwardness from everyone. Or at least my mind was telling me that, until Yugi talked to me and made me realize...the spirit is the spirit, and I am me. What he did in my stead isn't what I did...it was comforting at the time but not the whole picture. In ways, we were similar and I felt sorry for him in the end...you are the only one who understands that though. Although -"

Atem paused, focusing on the words Ryou said about the spirit carefully before his entire body jerked back into reality nearly causing Yugi to jump.

"Yugi..." Atem began as Yugi stared at him intently, "I think...Ryou wants to bring back the spirit...the thief king"

Yugi began extremely shocked at the news and before either of them could dive further into the topic, a buzz came from Yugi's pocket. He quickly answered it, seeing the call was coming from Jounouchi.

"Yug...did you find Ryou?" Jounouchi asked.

"No," Yugi replied, "We lost them. Hey look, Jou-"

"You and Atem need to get back here...you'll never believe who the second cult member is" Jounouchi concluded before hanging up. Yugi had the phone volume up loud enough so Atem heard every word.

"I know the way back, let's go!" Atem concluded as they nodded and headed back in the opposite direction towards Ishizu's place.

Chapter 15 end.