AN: Okay, so I finally got this done thanks to some encouragement and support from Howl3, so thank you! Be aware that I mixed some manga and anime elements to suit what I wanted. A few chapters have lemons, but I don't think they're too extreme, so I'll just add an AN on those chapters if someone wants to be aware there's a section they may want to skip. I only use Japanese a few times in this story, at especially emotional moments (non-romantic) between Yuugi and Atem. Please review! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

PA-HPS-YM-SK (this is my section break!)

Sudden Transition

It was strange, but he knew it was a dream, and yet, it wasn't one as well. After all, the Gods didn't appear in normal dreams, but here was Anubis—of all Gods!—right in front of him. While he didn't remember getting dressed, he stood there with his full regalia on, and all around him, it was dark, but not the normal, blank, empty darkness most dreams provided when there was no actual background. No, this was the seething, smoky darkness of the Shadow Realm. Hence the jackal-headed God's presence there, he was sure.

"You must remember," Anubis told him.

"Remember what?" he asked, frowning in confusion. He hoped he wasn't just going to be given a riddle and told to figure it out himself.

"What is yet to come," the God replied.

His face screwed up in total, blank confusion. "You mean...I'm supposed to have a vision?" It was the only thing which made sense.

"No. It is your own memory, but a memory which has not taken place yet."

The words left a long silence in their wake, then he said, tone and stance rather angry at the absurdity of the statement, "I can't 'remember' something which hasn't happened yet! That's impossible for a human being!"

"But it cannot—"

"Anubis..." a woman's voice cut him off with a tired sigh. Both Anubis and he looked for the source of the voice, only to see the Goddess Isis walking up to them. "You must not forget, mortal beings live within time, not outside it the way we do. The young Prince cannot remember that which is yet to come unless we give him the memory."

"Ah, I see..." Anubis murmured.

"Why do I need it?" he asked of the woman, since she seemed to be more logical and knowledgeable than Anubis.

"Everything will change without your other half, and your other half will be nothing to you without your memory of your time with him," Isis said. "We know the change will happen, but we cannot see either the source or the path things will take. As such, I will return your memory to you."

She paused, but he knew she was going to say more, so prompted, "But?"

"It comes with a great burden, as there are things you are neither allowed to speak of, to change, nor to react to. You must not hate those who have not yet caused harm, for example, even though in your memory, you will have already felt such a feeling," she explained to him. "It is not your place to change those events, or you will never meet your other half, who is also your successor."

"My..." he began in shock, then drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes as he let it out, and opened them again to look back at her. "I understand. I'll do everything I can to sort out the memory and keep what needs to be kept to myself."

"Good," she agreed, then placed her hand on his forehead.

At first, nothing happened, but then images, sounds, places, faces, they all began pouring into his mind, all at once. His body went tense, then he screamed as tears came to his eyes and streamed down his cheeks. Everything that had happened, the good and the bad, it was all there, suddenly and overwhelming to the point of pain. As if that wasn't enough, the memories themselves were the kind which would bring a grown man to tears.

"Yuugi...My light...My other half..." he murmured through the pain—only for complete darkness to fall around him, then light as he began waking...

PA-HPS-YM-SK

"See ya later, Yuugi!" Jonouchi called as he ran to catch up to Honda.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Yuugi!" Anzu added as she headed for work.

"Bye, guys!" Mutou Yuugi called to his friends as they all headed in their own directions away from the school. Sixteen-year-old Yuugi, himself, was bound for the Kame Game Shop owned by his grandfather, where he and his mother also lived. Everything was normal, and lonely, since the Other Him, the Pharaoh's spirit, had moved on to the spirit realm a few weeks ago.

As he walked, however, he felt sudden chills and began glancing around for the source—only for a black patch to open up below him. Before he had a chance to react to it, he was falling, and all he had time to do was gasp as darkness swallowed him. After only a moment, he came to a stop, and was seeing something like when they'd had duels in the Shadow Realm. He could hear some faint whispers, and strained to hear what they were saying, especially since he couldn't see anyone there.

He was about to call out for someone to show themself, but he suddenly dropped again, startling a yelp out of him—only to hear an answering yelp, followed by a groan, as he landed on someone. On someone?

"Your Highness, look out!" several voices called, some nearer than others.

Quickly, realizing he was in trouble, Yuugi started to push himself up—only to see himself, a stronger, more confident self who was a bit taller, about two years older, and had slightly darker skin. Both had violet eyes, though the older and taller of the two had crimson-violet to the pure amethyst of the smaller's, and wild, red tipped, black hair with blond bangs.

Someone he knew very well. And who apparently knew him, too.

"Yuugi!" he cried happily, sitting quickly and reaching up to pull him into a hug.

Yuugi hugged him back as he whispered, "It's so good to see you again, Other Me."

A stunned silence fell, until a young woman's voice asked, "Um, Your Highness...Do you...know that person?"

"Yes. Besides, what would you do with someone you all saw appeared here due to a portal made by the Gods? Punish them for being sent here by the Gods?" the young man still hugging Yuugi tightly commented, sounding very regal and practical at once.

"We do not know that portal was created by the Gods—" an elderly man's voice began, sounding royally angry.

"Actually, yes, we do. All the Priests of Anubis and Osiris would have recognized the portal as a direct path and tear to the Shadow Realm itself..." a middle-aged man's voice put in, a voice which somehow reminded Yuugi instantly of Shadi, the Priest of Anubis who had both tested and helped him many times in the past. "Basically, only Anubis, Osiris, or Isis could have opened it."

"But—" the old man began again.

"It doesn't matter, because you're not laying a hand on Yuugi, unless you intend to kill me just to get to him. It's that simple," Yuugi's lookalike replied very simply.

Silence fell again, and it sounded like there was movement, but the other young man was holding him too tightly for him to see anything more than his chest.

"Are you really sure it's okay, Your Highness?" the same young woman's voice from before asked, sounding nervous.

"It's fine, thank you, Mana," the Prince agreed, sounding more cheerful. He then put his hands on Yuugi's shoulders and pushed him back to look at him with a grin.

"So...exactly where am I and why am I here? Or wait, is this something like what happened last time, with that Zorc or whatever?" Yuugi asked of his other self.

"No, this actually is my home in this time," the other him replied in amusement. "I'm being called by a Prince's title only, after all."

The smaller of the two paused to consider that, then frowned and asked, "Then how do you know me, Other Me?"

"Because Isis and Anubis gave me those memories of what's to come a few days ago, saying I would need them," the Prince explained. "Oh, and you should remember to call me 'Atem', not by the term you did before you had my name. People will look at you strangely if you call me 'Other Me'."

"What's that...'Other Me'?" the young woman asked in confusion. "Are you Lovers?"

"Lovers?" Yuugi yelped, looking up at her—only to see the Dark Magician Girl, but in white clothes with gold hems and darker hair! He went cross-eyed at that.

"No, we aren't Lovers, Mana," Atem chuckled. "We're much closer than that, the two halves of the same coin. Literally, Yuugi is my other half."

"But that still makes it sound like you're Lovers," she answered pointedly.

"...How about this analogy, then? Yuugi is the light, and I'm the darkness. Like Ra and Osiris, opposite and in balance, necessary and important to each other, but in no way romantically inclined," Atem explained to her, struggling not to laugh.

"Huh..." Mana murmured, thinking about that for a moment. She then asked, "So exactly when did you two meet to form a bond like that? You've never been outside the Palace alone, Your Highness."

"That's a bit hard to explain, isn't it, Oth—Atem?" Yuugi asked, looking back at the other young man.

Giving his head a shake, Atem got up and offered a hand to Yuugi, which the smaller boy took. As he pulled the smaller one up, he answered with, "You'll have to ask the Gods themselves for the answer, though they may not tell you—as Isis told me, I have a burden to carry, and there are things I can't say, no matter how much I may want to. It's hard to explain the situation without saying something I'm not allowed to, so I have to just not say anything. I'm sorry, Mana."

"Ah! Don't apologize, Your Highness! I'm sorry for asking something like that! You don't have to apologize, since you're the Prince, after all!" Mana replied immediately and cheerfully, waving her hands in a kind of 'no' or 'dismissing' way.

"...That logic is flawed..." both Atem and Yuugi said at the same time, making her freeze and stare at them in shock as they looked at each other and laughed.

"Come on," Atem said, motioning Yuugi to follow him.

"Sure," Yuugi agreed, going after his lookalike. "Where are we going?"

"To my room for now," the Prince replied. "They'll probably give you a room later, once they realize you really are here, but for now, you can stay in my room—it's big enough for two, since we're used to being together, anyway."

"Yeah, okay, that's fine," the smaller agreed. He fell silent for a moment as they walked down the stone Palace halls, from outside ones supported by pillars to inside ones which were enclosed. They went up a flight of stairs and into another long hallway which had many large windows to one side. He then asked, "Hey, Atem...everything that happened...it hasn't technically happened yet, right? Not even the thief and Zorc?"

"...No, it hasn't. If it had, I would be Pharaoh, and better yet, I'd be dead," the taller answered with a sigh. "Why?"

"...What can I possibly help with? You always had to protect me before..."

"You're not weak, Yuugi. You beat me in the Rite of Succession, after all, and that's no easy feat."

"But—" the smaller boy began, sounding a bit worried and sad.

Spinning to face him, Atem caught his shoulders and turned his lookalike to look at him directly. "You can do everything I can do in all the ways that count as a Prince of Egypt, or as a Pharaoh. You're my equal, and in some things, you're my superior, or you could never have defeated me. More, there were plenty of times where you saved me, too, and I certainly haven't forgotten them. And in case Merik, Isis, and Rishid didn't tell you, by defeating me in the Rite, you gained the proper title, right, and rank as the Pharaoh, so you also have the right, the power, and the knowledge to even call on the God Beasts if you need to. Don't belittle your power."

"I can't summon!" Yuugi gasped, voice low. "I used a holographic disk, not—"

"You summoned the Atlantian dragon, didn't you?" Atem asked with a raised brow, then took Yuugi's elbow and led him the last several paces to his room.

"But that was—" the smaller of them began as Atem pulled open the door to his room and as much as dragged him into it, shutting the door behind them.

Since he'd been cut off anyway, the smaller boy looked around the room quickly, seeing how the 'bed' essentially consisted of pillows and silk blankets, all in rich reds, blues, and greens, while the folding screens made of woven grasses had been painted in mainly purples. There were devices like trunks and boxes to store objects and clothes, with only one proper dresser and a desk which was actually just a small table in one corner. The seat with it was a device basically like a drum. Finely woven tapestries hung on two of the walls, a map of the surrounding lands hung next to the door they'd entered from, and the last wall, across from the door, was all windows. Under one tapestry, the bottom of a door was visible.

It wasn't what he'd been expecting when he'd thought about Egyptian finery in the Palace, and these were areas he and his friends hadn't gotten into before for him to have seen them in Atem's memory.

"Sit," Atem said, and Yuugi looked back at him to see him sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor as he pointed at a spot a few feet away and in front of him. Basically, the place Atem was pointing at put the Prince between his smaller lookalike and the door, with Yuugi facing said door along with the Prince, himself.

Obediently, Yuugi moved over and sat down, crossing his legs the way Atem did, as he asked, "Why?"

"Listen, any time we dueled in the Shadow Realm, regardless of what you thought at the time, you were tangibly summoning the monsters," the taller of them explained. "You were capable of it, and you did it, many times. There was a particular energy flow you had to use to do so, and you know what that flow is, don't you?"

Pausing, Yuugi thought about that for a minute, and remembered how he'd felt every time he'd called on a monster in the Shadow Realm—and when he'd summoned the dragon. "I can remember it."

"Then, all you have to do to summon is call on the being you want to summon, by name and appearance, and force that flow. It's a combination of giving them the energy to manifest and being able to focus on and call to the particular one you need. The only thing you can't do is call on the Dark Magician or the Dark Magician Girl...or the Blue Eyes White Dragon, since all three of them are still living human beings—you can't take their souls from them while they're still alive. It makes sense, right? So, just to prove you can, call on one of the monsters and summon them to you here."

"Isn't that only for duels?"

"No."

Atem's simple answer somehow made Yuugi feel a little better, so he nodded and considered which one he would call. Once he decided, he closed his eyes to focus on the little, brown, ball of fur he wanted at his side, and called, "Kuribo!" Opening his eyes, he watched in amazement as a swirl of energy appeared in front of him, between him and Atem, a swirl which resolved into Kuribo. And as soon as Kuribo saw him, it said 'kuri' with a motion like a cheer and plastered itself to his face to hug him.

"Ah!" Yuugi yelped as Atem cracked up laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. "Stop laughing!" the smaller boy cried indignantly as he grabbed Kuribo and pulled it off his face. Kuribo made another cheer-like motion as it gazed at him with mixed fondness and amusement. "And Kuribo, don't get in my face, okay?"

It replied with a nod-like motion and a little 'kuri', then pulled itself from his hands and latched on to his shoulder, instead.

By then, Atem had calmed down, so said, "There you go, you can summon just fine. Now, Yuugi, you have to be aware that you have to be careful in battles when you use tangible summons, because your energy is linked to them. When they take damage, you're going to take damage, too, but to your spirit. That damage drains away your life force, so you'll die if you take too much damage. You have to be careful."

"Then, should I not summon at all?" the smaller boy asked in concern.

The Prince shook his head. "You can summon, since other than the initial energy you use to summon, just the thing existing doesn't do anything to you. The problem only comes with taking damage."

"...Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Can I just keep Kuribo with me, then?"

"If you want." At that, Atem paused and looked away, his expression a bit nervous and worried. "Actually, it may be best if you did, just so it'll be able to protect you if someone attacks you."

"...Someone's going to?"

"Uncle Akhenaten pretty much hates you, so I wouldn't put it past him to do so, and there were a few other nobles there who clearly wanted to rip you apart."

"...Oh. Then—"

Yuugi was cut off as a knock sounded on the door, followed by it being pushed open to reveal a man—who looked like the Dark Magician, but with black hair and Priest's clothing in white and gold. The thing which gave Yuugi a bit of a start was that he was wearing the Millennium Ring, which he had only ever know in the thief's hands, who had Ryou Bakura's form. "Your Highness, forgive my intrusion, but Mana just told me about the new arrival to the Palace, so I felt I should speak with you," the man said.

"Don't ask for forgiveness if you're going to do it anyway, Priest Mahad," Atem replied dryly with a frown at the man.

Rather than replying to the Prince, his eyes went to Yuugi thoughtfully—then they fell on Kuribo and he frowned as he said, "It is ill-befitting of the Prince to whimsically summon a spirit to be a playmate for a friend of yours."

"Mahad, I didn't summon Kuribo—Yuugi did," Atem replied with a wickedly amused smirk. "And Kuribo's here to be his bodyguard, since there are definitely four nobles, including my uncle, who want him dead."

The older man blinked in surprise, then looked at Yuugi. With a bit of a sigh, he admitted, "It's a wise precaution, then, but it may not help for someone who has so little spiritual energy to use—he can't afford to take any damage."

Kuribo gave an angry 'kuri' shout and shot at Mahad to effectively punch him across the jaw, making Atem laugh again as Yuugi stared in horror and reached out to snatch the little ball of fur.

Mahad stared in shock and held his hand to his jaw as the smaller boy scolded Kuribo with, "You can't go and hit someone just because they say something you don't like, Kuribo! Be responsible and ignore it, since it's just words. It's only if someone tries to hurt me physically that you get to hurt them. Well, a bit."

"More than a bit, probably," the Prince put in.

"But why was Kuribo so angry about what I said?" Mahad asked. "It's true."

"Since when does Yuugi have 'so little spiritual power'? Mahad, he can beat me, and even the High Priest can't do that," the Prince replied in a decidedly dry tone. "Kuribo and I both know his strength, and if you were doing more than a cursory observation and test of his power, you'd know it, too."

Blinking in surprise, the man looked back at the smaller boy with an intensity which made Yuugi a little nervous, but instead of saying anything related to Yuugi's power, he asked, "Your Highness, how, exactly, do you know this boy? Mana told me about how you're two halves of the same coin, the light and the darkness, to quote your analogy, and I could somewhat understand the concept. What I don't understand is the comments you made to Yuugi in her presence of this being your 'home in this time' and of Isis and Anubis giving you the 'memories of what's to come.' To me, those words imply you know what the future holds. What kind of vision were you given in that dream of the Gods a few days ago, Your Highness?"

"Are 'memories of what's to come' visions?" Atem asked dryly in return, making the Priest blink in surprise. "Isis and Anubis were very clear on that point—they aren't visions, they're my own memories of my own future. For me, it hasn't happened yet, but it's all my own thoughts and feelings, not just a series of events. And a lot of it, I can't tell you, because I don't have the right to change that, only to change the part which shows as a blank—the part which concerns the Gods."

"Why can't you change an unfavorable event?" Mahad asked in surprise.

"...Because I know my own death, and without that event, I won't meet Yuugi. If I never meet Yuugi in the future, he won't be able to help us now," the Prince replied. "Isis also told me so. I can't afford to change the most painful part of my life, which also means I can't talk about it with anyone except Yuugi, who also already knows."

The man's eyes went wide in horror as he said, "Surely you can't mean to leave those events as they are if it means you'll die! The Gods would never expect it of a mortal to leave it be!"

In reply, Atem just sighed and closed his eyes, so Yuugi said quietly, "It's because our combined power can't be defeated by anything or anyone, even the Gods. Without both of us, both the near future and my future will cease to exist, and neither of us wants to see the world end. Without Atem's death...I won't exist."

Mahad looked up at Yuugi's sad eyes—and in that moment, realized what Atem had meant. His eyes went wide as he gasped, "That's...impossible! A mortal could never have so much power, let alone keep it so well-hidden!" He paused, then said to the younger boy, "I would like a trial duel with you to verify your power. Please."

Yuugi glanced at Atem, who nodded, so the younger looked at Mahad. "Okay."