[Originally published June 30, 2015. Edited and updated in January, 2018.]

Hello and welcome to my story, "Geemu no Joo," the rewrite of my older "Queen of Games" story. I decided I didn't like the way I was writing "QoG," and I decided to start over from scratch. And I'm happy I did, because I think this new version is much better! The old version is still up if you want to read it, though.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, their world, or the card game they play. Konami and Kazuki Takahashi are responsible for all of that. I'm just responsible for these specific interpretations of the characters and for the story itself.

Canon Pairings: Puzzleshipping (Yuugi x Atem), Tendershipping (Ryou x Bakura), Bronze/Ecllipseshipping (Marik x Yami Marik), Mizushipping (Priest Seto x Kisara)
Potential Future Pairings: Polarshipping (Jounouchi x Mai), Azureshipping (Anzu x Seto Kaiba), Apprenticeshipping (Mahad x Mana), and maybe others
Rating: T and up
Warnings: These are not canon interpretations of the characters, and lots of different concepts of identity, such as gender, sexuality, and religion, are explored to various degrees. A handful of characters are genderbent. Most pairings will be M/F.
Summary: Atem and Yuugi, two teens from different worlds, both struggle to find their own senses of purpose. Their best of friends and worst of enemies are both coming along for the ride.

Other notes: In this story, I spell names differently. Instead of being "Bakura," "Yami Bakura," of "Spirit of the Ring," the combined entity of Zorc and the Thief is called "Bekhura." "Yami Marik" is renamed to "Malik," and "Marik" is referred to as both "Namu" and "Marika."

Prologue:

.

.

.

"Are you certain of your direction?" Pegasus asked, pulling his cascading locks of hair away from his face. Barely out of his teens, the young male was using some of his family's wealth to explore the strangest reaches of the world, a suggestion from his parents, to 'take his mind off things.' And it helped a bit; it was easier to focus on the sights he saw of the unknown than to think for very long about his recent loss.

He'd been to many of the most faraway places, visited temple and tomb alike with his archeological crew, and now he sat in the back seat of a jeep, driving across the Egyptian desert. A strange man he'd met had promised him a rare treat – visiting the legendary Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. The promise sounded even more intriguing when he was informed that the Egyptian government had no knowledge of or control over the Tomb, meaning that he could enter it at his own leisure.

"Do you really know where we're going?!" The rich boy demanded sharply, not having received an answer for his last question.

The stranger he'd met turned around from the passenger seat he was sitting in in front of him, his earrings slapping his cheeks gently as he fixed the younger male with a serious face. "Believe me, Pegasus. I know of what I speak. The Tomb should not be far, now."

"If you say so, Shadi."

Maximilian Pegasus was beginning to regret picking up this stranger in the turban. He knew virtually nothing about the man, aside from his name was Shadi, he claimed to know a lot about the tombs of the Pharaohs, and that was everything he knew. Frankly, Pegasus thought the man looked a bit like the silly 'fortune-tellers' that he saw at carnivals as a child.

He was awoken from his thoughts when the strange man suddenly sat up straighter, pointing off into the distance.

"There it is," Shadi announced, keeping his finger steady so that the others could see where he was pointing. Sure enough, they could see a cave opening in the rock, even at this distance.

Pegasus leaned over the seat, already eager to jump out of the vehicle and go explore in the darkness. There was nothing wrong in his mind with a dank, dark tomb that had lain unopened in the sands for centuries – all the better to ignore his grief, to forget the face of his departed beloved.

They arrived at their destination and soon the men employed by Pegasus's family were stretching their legs and setting up tents to shield themselves from the hot sun. Their young employer simply gazed longingly towards the opening in the rock, looking at is as a child looks at a box of their favorite sweets.

"Should we go in, sir?" one of his men asked, warily eying the opening of the Tomb.

Pegasus only smiled, looking every inch like a boy and not a grown man. "No. You men may remain here for the time being. We might not even do any excavation, at least not quite yet. I want to look around within it by myself first."

His men looked at him with some concern, and he did his best to dissuade their fears. "Oh, pooh! I'll be fine, provided the Pharaoh's mummy doesn't decide to awaken from his sleep!"

It was a joke, and some of his men laughed a bit, but Shadi's frown deepened. The stranger entered the Tomb before Pegasus could question him, though, and the silver-haired man was left to catch up to him as quick as his legs could carry him, oxygen tank and flashlight in hand.

"Tell me something, though, Shadi," the rich boy demanded, his voice betraying the amount of authority he was accustomed to swaying. He frowned when the other showed no sign of listening, or even slowing down as they walked deeper and deeper into the earth. "How did you know of this place when no one else did? And how could no one else know of this place, anyway? Surely by now someone has stumbled upon -"

"No."

Pegasus was surprised to hear the other speak. He had been making such a show of not paying any attention to the younger's questions.

"No other knows of this place," his guide continued, never once stopping as he walked further into the darkness. "Only I know of it, for I am the guardian of this place. Such was my lot in life and so it is now, as decreed by the gods."

Pegasus lifted a thin eyebrow, puzzled by the short speech. It felt as though the more answers he got out of the other, the more questions he had unanswered. Deciding to ignore it, he turned to the walls beside him, fascinated by the hieroglyphs.

Presently, the reached a door that led to the actual Tomb, and not just the cave that led to it. Shadi paused in front of the entrance, waiting patiently while Pegasus donned his oxygen tank and mask.

"Won't you need one?" Pegasus asked, puzzled and somewhat concerned.

Shadi shrugged one of his shoulder a bit, as if to say 'no,' and turned to the door, reaching out to push it open. Instead of touching the door properly, though, his hand slid through it, as if it were a mere illusion.

The strange man pulled his hand back, looking at it briefly before muttering an apology. "Ah. I seem to have forgotten myself."

Reaching forward a second time, he came in contact with the door, which flew open at his touch and released centuries worth of dust and decay.

Even behind his mask, Pegasus coughed. But, he drudged on, eager to discover the secrets hidden in the Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. He turned back to say something to Shadi, only to find that his guide had vanished. This brought him some concern, along with the certainty in his mind that he'd seen Shadi's hand pass through a solid door, but the young man was quick to dismiss those thoughts from his head. It wasn't like his strange guide was a ghost or something. That was simply too silly to think of!

Pressing onward and into the Tomb, Pegasus looked all around him, taking in the appearance of everything down here. The walls were covered with words and images, including many of the same figures of people. A commonly recurring image was that of a young boy, wearing the headdress of the pharaoh and clearly commanding great power. Others were of priests and priestesses, a white-haired woman who appeared to transform into a dragon, a male labeled 'thief king' by the hieroglyphic words by his head, and many, many monsters. Statues and jeweled trinkets of gold lined the walls and coated the floor, showing the apparent wealth that the Nameless Pharaoh appeared to possess.

Pegasus paused, studying the hieroglyphs carefully. His Ancient Egyptian wasn't very good, but he was certain that none of the figures in the images were labeled with names. A 'thief king,' a 'magician of darkness,' and a 'something-dragon' were all he could make out; even the boy who appeared to be the pharaoh had no name attached to him. Instead, there was an image of a empty cartouche, the place where the pharaoh's name should have been left completely blank.

The next few chambers were the same, and it wasn't until the fourth chamber that things became different. Now the writing on the walls seemed more urgent, and it showed the pharaoh and his cohorts summoning the gods to combat a great beast, eventually sealing the creature away with magic. There was some writing, which Pegasus couldn't read aside from the word 'sacrifice' here and there, and then suddenly there was a recounting of the pharaoh's funeral. Strangely, there were no mentions of his mummification, which gave the young man some confusion; for some reason, he assumed that talk of the mummifying was common in tombs like these.

The opposite wall, meanwhile, seemed to pick up where the first wall left off. Two figures had taken the throne, replacing the pharaoh and ruling in his place. They appeared to be one of the priests and a priestess from the other pictures, and the new images went on to tell of their short reign and the child they sired, but soon they both died as well. (1) Pegasus couldn't read enough of the words to tell what they'd died of, but it almost sounded as if they died of grief, or heartbreak. Uncertainly, he moved on to the next chamber, pushing aside the heavy door that met him.

The fifth and final chamber was larger than the others, and it proved to be the burial chamber. Multiple sarcophagi, some more extravagant than others, lay against the walls all throughout the room, most of them centered around one particularly extravagant one. There were eleven in all, and seven of them were bound with rope, golden trinkets hanging from the knots. A gold eye, a necklace, a scepter, a set of scales, a ring with five spires hanging from it, an ankh, and a triangular puzzle. A thick, jewel-encrusted book guarded an eighth one, and the ninth was a long, purple staff with a jewel at the end.

Pegasus stared with fascination at the ancient coffins, debating about whether or not to disturb the dead any more than he already had. He didn't debate very long, as he suddenly felt hands against his back, pushing him towards the sarcophagi.

He turned around frantically, finding that Shadi was standing behind him once more.

"Go, Pegasus." The man in the turban told him, his voice holding an odd amount of urgency. "Open them. Awaken the pharaoh from his long slumber. The time is right, and go. Awaken the ruler and his court."

"I – I can't just open them like that! It's disrespectful!"

"It is even more disrespectful for you to leave them in there any longer!" Shadi suddenly cried out. "Please! Release them! Release me! Allow me to pass into the afterlife once and for all, and open the sarcophagus of the pharaoh!"

Pegasus backed away from the other, his eyes widening. "What do you – What are you talking about?!"

The strange man frowned, looking to the ground for a moment. "Please, allow me to explain. I am the guardian of this tomb, I told you, for it was a part of my destiny. I am a Priest of Anubis, as was my father before me and his father before him. I come from a long line of priests of the dead, and our sole purpose has always been to guard the tomb until the right one should come to awaken the pharaoh and his court.

"I never married or had children, and I was the last of my family. When it came time for me to die, the gods didn't allow it. I am trapped here, wandering and searching for the person who would free the pharaoh and, in turn, free my own spirit."

He looked back towards the coffins, furrowing his brow. "Those golden items bound to them are imbued with great power, and the dark magic of the items contains their life-forces. They are merely asleep, and are alive still, and they wait for you to awaken them."

Pegasus stared at Shadi, wondering if he was crazy for believing the man. His eyes shifted to the golden puzzle, finding it easier to look at. "... I can't."

"It is your destiny."

His hand reached into his pocket, pulling out his pocketknife and pushing the blade out. It trembled as he stepped forward, shaking and sweating, biting his lower lips between his teeth. The rope was old and disintegrating, and it fell apart just as soon as he touched it. He suppressed a cry as he caught the puzzle before it fell, and he quickly stepped back until he was standing a few feet away from the pharaoh's resting place.

Silence reigned for several minutes, making Pegasus oddly uncomfortable. It was too quiet even for a tomb. And then the sarcophagus opened, a face appearing, fingers tearing at the bandages wrapped around its face.

The undead pharaoh fixed his eyes on Pegasus, glaring so darkly at the man that Pegasus felt that his very brain was melting on the spot. The sheer intensity caused him to fall to the ground, and a voice full of power yelled at him in Ancient Egyptian.

He thought he heard the words "penalty game!" as he passed out.

.

.

.

.

(1) - After Atem seals his soul into the puzzle, Priest Seto marries Priestess Isis and becomes the new pharaoh, and the two have a child together. Their son, who is Abydos from "YGO: GX," becomes pharaoh after Seto and Isis also seal themselves away.