Two Hearts, One Puzzle

In ancient Egypt, Atem is a cruel Pharaoh and Yugi is a slave. Before they even know each other, they start having similar dreams. What happens when Atem chooses Yugi to personally serve him, and when they discover they are connected by the millennium puzzle? Who stole the other items and what terror will they unleash with them? AtemxYugi Rated M for future graphic content

Credit:

Creators of Yu-Gi-Oh! because unfortunately I do not own it T-T

Inspiration from WannabeWerewolf and shadowrealm818 who have written GREAT stories that I borrowed a lot of ideas from and want to give them credit for their awesome ideas (loved their stories, but wanted to add my own twists :3) Go check them out, they're great authors!

SUMMARIES CAN GO SUCK ASS X.X

FEATURING: AtemxYugi Possibly other pairings, not sure yet. Oh yeah and in case you don't know, that means BOYXBOY/GUYXGUY whatever you wanna call it. DON'T LIKE DON'T READ IT'S NOT THAT HARD PEOPLE.

Otherwise, enjoy :D

Chapter 1 – A Slave-boy's Treasure

The small boy felt the harsh rays of sunlight on his face, and he squinted his eyes as he woke from the straw bed which served little comfort to him. Running his fingers through his spiky, pink, black and yellow hair, his vision adjusted to the surroundings. He recognized the mud walls of the tiny, crude hut where the slaves slept, as well as the feeling of the cold floor beneath him. Blinking, he looked around and noticed all the other beds were empty. The others must have been called to the fields already. That means he overslept!

Hurriedly, the boy threw on what little clothes he was given and ran outside into the Egyptian daylight, only to be caught short by a guard, dressed in a white tunic and thin head shawl. The boy nearly tripped and fell on his face if not for the rough hand that held his brown tunic by the collar.

"YOU'RE LATE, FILTH!"

The screams of the guards had little impact on him by now, but he was still a bit frightened when the man picked him up off his feet and threw him to the ground, throwing up dust around them. As he started to push himself up, the guard threw a spade down next to him and leered over him, his shadow blocking out the sun.

"GET TO WORK OR FACE PHARAOH'S WRATH!"

The boy gritted his teeth as he quickly grabbed the tool and dashed off to the fields where the other slaves were. He could feel the cold stare of the guard's eyes on his back as he ran. If he was any later, he would be severely punished. All the guards and soldiers had a foul sense of humor and enjoyed doing anything to make the slaves lives as difficult as possible. You were lucky to do perfect work all day and still be untouched by any of the guards.

By the time he reached the fields, his friends were already hard at work shoveling mud and earth. Others were making piles which were taken in stone carts to another area where the mud was molded into brick shapes. They were then left to sit in the sun and bake so they would harden and become usable in building whatever the Pharaoh desired. The Pharaoh's men stood in formation around the slaves, arms crossed with swords at their sides and whips in their hands, waiting for someone to mess up and give them an excuse to exercise their power. The boy noticed his friend Jonouchi's blonde hair from far away and went to him, short of breath. Jonouchi looked up at him as he saw the boy approach, his eyes at first tense but became calm when he recognized him. Under his breath so the guards standing watch over the "herd" wouldn't hear, his friend whispered to him:

"Yugi! Where have you been? I tried to wake you up before we left, but the guards hurried us out. I got real worried about you, you know?" he said as his eyes shifted to a nearby guard who was twisting a whip in his hands. "You could've gotten in huge trouble, Yugi."

Yugi stabbed his spade into the ground and began to shovel. "Don't worry about me, Jonouchi. Just focus on your work so they don't take out their trigger fingers on you," the boy whispered.

The blonde nodded and continued working alongside Yugi. For hours, they continued the repetitive motion. Sweat dripped from their faces and necks, burning up from the heat before even reaching the ground. Yugi brought an arm up to wipe his forehead and caught a glimpse of one of the guards reach for his sword. He immediately went back to his work, not daring to rest. The other slaves were getting tired too. He could see them walking slower, moving lethargically. The guards began to push and shove them, making them stumble but most caught themselves. That is, until one girl fell after being tripped intentionally by a guard. Yugi hesitated when he saw her go down, knowing she was also his friend. Her name was Anzu, a brunette who was kind to Yugi and always smiled. But those who fell down on the job were rarely spared punishment.

The guard who tripped her sneered and kicked her in the abdomen. She whimpered and clutched her side while trying to stand.

"You worthless slave, can't you do anything?! Get up on your feet!"

The guard raised his arm, whip in hand, and brought it down hard on the girl. Yugi winced as he heard it crack, an all-too-familiar sound. Again, she whimpered, but refused to cry out. The guard struck her again and again until she finally made a tiny cry, then grabbed her and stood her up on her feet, shoving her back into the pit where she was headed to before he tripped her. Her legs wobbled and her whole body shook, but she went back to work as best she could, supporting herself on the stone cart as she pushed the clay back and forth.

Yugi felt sorry for her. She was one of the few pretty slaves and because of that was picked on so much more by the guards. But she never argued or stood up against them. All the slaves knew if they did that, their punishment would become ten times worse. Even still, Anzu was strong. She could stand up for herself if she wanted to, but everyone there was a prisoner. Even if she fought and escaped, she had nowhere to go. Beyond the city was the Nile River, and beyond that, only miles of empty, desolate desert.

Yugi had considered escaping too. But he was in the same boat. Besides, he wasn't about to leave his friends behind to suffer.

Just as he had gotten back to focusing on work, the boy heard a quarrel start. He turned around to see another of his friends, Honda, punch a guard in the face and send him flying back on his rear. Another soldier came up behind him and elbowed him square in the back. He fell to his knees just as a third smashed the back of his heel into Honda's jawbone. The first guard wiped blood from his face and stood, joining the others in pummeling Honda into the ground.

Honda was the complete opposite of Anzu. He would often pick fights with the guards whenever they pushed him or made crude jokes about the other slaves. He spoke more with his fists than words, and it always got him beaten up, sometimes until he was barely breathing. But he wouldn't stand for the guards treating them like they did, even if he took the punishment for it. He hated the Pharaoh, passionately, for reasons Yugi preferred not to say. It hurt Yugi to see his friend being trashed. He didn't even know what had started the fight but it didn't matter. If he rushed over to try and stop them, he would be whipped. Besides, Honda had specifically told Yugi not to get involved with the results of his actions. Even still, Yugi tensed at every grunt of pain that escaped Honda's mouth, praying to Ra for it stop.

Eventually, they did. But not before they had knocked Honda unconscious. The first guard scoffed and pressed his foot on Honda's side.

"Good-for-nothing trash, you think yourself better than us? You are nothing! Servants to the Pharaoh and nothing more. Without us to feed and clothe you, where would you be? HUH? Out in the desert or drowned in the Nile, that's where! Dead and ripe for the picking by buzzards. Where would your pride be then? Answer me that, slave, and maybe I'll go easier on you next time you decide to step out of line!"

He kicked Honda for a final time before calling over two men to carry him away to the chamber of solitude since he was of no more use in the field. That chamber was where they put the slaves who disobeyed orders. They were locked inside without food or water for three days. Honda had been sent there more than twenty times.

Yugi looked over at Jonouchi with heavy eyes. His friend was exhausted too, but they both continued to work as they could until a loud bell rang across the fields signaling their meal time. All the slaves dropped what they were doing and let out heavy sighs of relief. A few shed tears while others began to run with what little strength they had toward the mess hall; a shabby shack made of reeds and clay where the workers all lined up to receive their bread and water. Yugi and Jonouchi joined the line along with Anzu, who was covered in bruises and cuts but somehow still standing.

"Anzu…are you ok?" Yugi asked, concerned.

She nodded softly. "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. And hey, where were you this morning? I didn't see you until later. You didn't sleep in, did you?"

Yugi cringed. "Yeah…it's ok. Number 5 just threw me down." They didn't know the guards names so they just gave them numbers.

"Geez, are you a lucky guy, Yugi. He could've done much worse," Jonouchi commented.

The three of them made it to the front of the line and were handed a loaf of bread and a bowl of water. They went off to the side and sat down in the dust to eat, slowly savoring each bite to make it last as long as possible. The food was always stale and had little taste, but it was better than nothing. The water felt good on Yugi's parched throat. But there was not a moment that they didn't feel the burning glare of the soldiers staring at them, silently ushering them to hurry up and get back to work. So they finished quickly and returned to the fields and the burning sun. Luckily, Anzu was feeling a bit better. Yugi was still worried about Honda but he always came back alright in the end. He was one of the best workers when not picking fights, so it was unlikely that they would kill him.

But then again, he could be wrong. Very wrong.

Yugi on the other hand was one of the most likely to be killed next.

Trying to get the thought out of his mind, he went back to shoveling clay and mud with Jonouchi under the watchful eye of the soldiers.

~…***…***…~

The boy with multi-colored hair fell back onto his straw bed, letting go a deep breath. Another day of slave work gone and an endless number to go. The thought plagued his mind constantly that he was going to live this life forever until he died. But that time could come very soon in his position. He often wondered how long he could go on like this before he gave up.

Jonouchi meanwhile was lying on his own bed across the hut, shivering. The doorway and windows were not covered up and the Egyptian nights were very cold, even in summer. And with such thin clothing to wear even during the day, night was almost worse. Anzu had her arms crossed and was trying to hunker down as far as she could into the straw. But it did little good. The other slaves around all were in similar positions, and Yugi could hear teeth chattering in the dark silence.

He made sure everyone else was asleep and that the guards were facing away before digging shallowly into the dirt, revealing a tiny hiding place. It held Yugi's treasure: a small object that, had it been daytime, would have shone with gold and sparkled. It was oddly shaped and had a carving of an eye on one side. He had no idea what purpose it served. It was on a regular day that he found it while working, as he was hauling sand from one work site to another. He tripped and his cart fell over, spilling sand everywhere. As he tried to push it all back in before a guard saw, he noticed the shiny object peeking out of the mound and took it, hiding it in his mouth knowing no one would ask him to speak. He nearly choked on it when a soldier tripped him, but he remained calm and managed to hide it until he was sent back to the slave hut. It was the only thing he had of his own now, and he kept it well hidden from the guards who checked their quarters while they were out working. Yugi held it to his chest, feeling something resonate from within it. There was something about it that was mysterious, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Hearing a guard's footsteps approach, he quickly buried it back in the hole next to his bed and rolled over, closing his eyes. He felt someone over him briefly before turning and leaving the quarters. Yugi peeked one eye open to see him gone and sighed softly. At the same time, his eyes caught a glance of light in the night. Across from him was a window, from which he could see the Pharaoh's palace. It shone even in the darkness from the hundreds of torches held by guards who paced the perimeter protecting the king. The building stood towering over the desert, an icon of power, while the worked and while they slept. He could always feel the presence of the Pharaoh keeping an ever watchful eye on him, although he was sure the king had no idea of his own existence. The palace's image reminded Yugi of his reason for being there; his reason for being a slave.

Despite his exhaustion, it was often difficult to sleep. He only had a couple hours before the sun rose, so he did the same as the others and tried to sleep despite the freezing wind. Before too long, he let himself drift off into the realm of dreams.

~…***…***…~

Floating. That's what it felt like to dream. Like you were walking on clouds high in the sky. Yugi's body was light as a feather as he coasted around the empty space of his dream. With no direction or horizon, he could go as far as he wanted in the endless world. But recently, he had begun to sink on his journey in the sky, down below the clouds until he was nearly falling. Then he was falling. Fast. A hollow scream echoed from his lungs but couldn't be heard over the rushing of wind past his face. He looked down to see the ground rapidly coming up to meet him, and his body tensed at the thought of being splattered. But as always, just before he met the ground, he saw somebody lying there. It was as if they were sleeping. But that wasn't what was strange about the person:

The person looked a lot like Yugi.

But it wasn't Yugi. This person was somehow different. He couldn't explain it, but somehow he felt he knew who he was even without a name. In the end, Yugi fell right through the ominously familiar figure just as their eyes opened, meeting them with a similar gaze. Then everything went white and an unknown voice could be heard speaking a single word:

Aibou

~…***…***…~

End Chapter 1

Well, it's only the first chapter guys. It gets better! Sorry, I have a habit of writing lots of details in things, so it could take a while. Then again some people like long, drawn out stories…x.x

Yugi: It's ok, writer! At least you have us! –motions to all characters-

Guards: What are you doing.

Yugi: But…she was talking to the readers and-

Guards: DON'T MAKE US KILL HONDA

Yugi: WRITER!

Writer: IM SORRY

Honda in his chamber: WHY IS THERE ALWAYS JUSTIN BIEBER PLAYING IN THIS ROOM. I HATE THIS PLACE

Lol I don't even know any more. Leave a review if you'd like! Stay tuned for the next chapter:

Two Hearts, One Puzzle – Chapter 2: The Spiteful King