The Spirit of the Millenium Puzzle was restless. He had been for several weeks, ever since they'd returned from Pegasus' island, but this was a different sort of restless. It was a need to act, rather than a passive worry that had his mind turning in circles all through the night.

He hadn't wanted to return to the game shop at all. No doubt there would be duelists still prowling the streets after night fell. Seven hours was a long time for them to gather enough locator cards to fill up the eight slots in the battle city finals. He'd said nothing, however, when Yugi turned back home, intent on keeping curfew though he knew his Grandfather wouldn't have minded.

The Spirit had a bad habit of forgetting that their body needed rest, Yugi often had to remind him that they were tired. And after the day they'd had he wasn't willing to deny his partner seven hours of unconsciousness.

Seven hours, however, was all his restless mind was willing to waste.

It wasn't often that the Spirit took control of their body without express permission, not anymore anyway, but he knew Yugi would appreciate the extra time asleep, even if it was only his mind that was resting now.

Putting zero thought into his preparation for the day, he rushed through the necessary morning tasks and hurried across the house for the exit.

"Yugi, don't you go out there without any breakfast."

The Spirit paused, his hand on the knob of the half-open door, he turned and saw Yugi's grandpa standing in the doorway that separated the game shop from the rest of their house. His arms were crossed and his face stern.

"You get back in here and eat something."

The Pharaoh instinctively bristled at the order, no doubt some kingly pride survived whatever had erased his memories taking offense at being told what to do, or perhaps that was just his own dominant personality. He wasn't sure which... probably both.

He relented, however, both because he knew it would be best for them to eat something and because he respected the man who'd given the order.

The Spirit shut the door gently and turned back into the shop, following the aging man to the kitchen. He'd made breakfast, something he didn't normally do, in fact, Grandpa wasn't normally even awake this early.

He must have known Yugi would try to leave early. But to go to this much trouble... the Pharaoh immediately regretted trying to sneak out.

"Someone's in a hurry," Grandpa chuckled as he put some eggs and sausages on a plate for his grandson, "are those clothes even clean?" The Spirit looked down at himself, it was the same outfit he'd worn yesterday, so they weren't. Not that he was all that bothered, Yugi might be annoyed, but he couldn't have cared less.

"They'll do," was all the Spirit said. Despite how long he'd managed to hide from Yugi and his friends, the Pharaoh was terrible at pretending to be Yugi. Anzu had been able to tell the difference with a blindfold on and a gun pointed at her head, even Kaiba had figured it out within seconds of meeting him, and Kaiba had only known Yugi for a day before meeting the Spirit. He just couldn't replicate Yugi's meek presence.

The last thing he wanted right now was for Yugi's grandpa to start worrying that there was something weird going on, so the less the Pharaoh said the better. Maybe he'd assume Yugi was still half-asleep or something. It wouldn't be out of character for Yugi to zombie walk out of the house this early in the morning.

Grandpa tried several more times to start up a conversation, his own breakfast the only thing distracting him from the increasingly anxious spirit possessing his grandson. The Pharaoh responded only enough to be polite, internally cursing his inability to act like his partner. If he didn't finish Yugi's breakfast soon there were going to be some awkward questions coming up.

"So what made you decide to enter this tournament anyway?" Grandpa asked. The spirit knew exactly what his game was. Yugi wouldn't have been able to resist going on a long tangent if the subject of duel monsters was brought up. He was trapped, if he didn't talk it would be obvious there was something up, but if he did he'd give it away just as fast. He panicked for a moment before Sugoroku took pity on him and made it a moot point. "Yugi is convinced that it's not about the ante, and while I don't see the problem with taking a card from someone who's willing to bet them, I can see why that would bother you."

The Spirit blinked, frozen in place for a moment, his mind racing. Yugi had never mentioned telling his Grandpa about his 'other self.'

The Spirit forced himself back to the conversation, forgetting the question in his surprise.

"I'm sorry, I assumed you thought I was the other- er, that I was Yugi," he stumbled on his words, it still felt odd referring to Yugi as someone else. There were still times when he still felt like he was Yugi. It was an odd feeling to realize you're not who you thought you were, he was still reeling from it all. Referring to Yugi as his partner caused less confusion on the Spirit's part.

Grandpa laughed, "I think I can tell the difference between my grandson and an ancient pharaoh." The Spirit wasn't sure how Suguroku knew he'd been a pharaoh, but finding out wasn't high on his priority list at the moment. "So why the tournament? It seems rather pointless if you're not looking for new cards, and you don't strike me as the type to risk your best cards just to defend your title."

"Oh, yes... the tournament," the Spirit shook off the surprise and returned to the topic at hand. "I need to win this tournament to recover something I've lost."

It was vague, he knew, but he wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell the old man. He'd even hidden it from Yugi at first until Marik and his big mouth had gotten in the way.

"Must be something important."

The Spirit looked up at him, Yugi's breakfast now completely forgotten. The ancient Pharaoh was finally able to put a name to the unconscious feeling that had worn its way into his heart at some point without his even realizing it. He knew what it was now because he could see it in Sugoroku's eyes.

Age.

The Pharaoh didn't see himself as old, he'd spent the 3,000 years he was locked in the puzzle asleep, and as he currently inhabited the body of a fifteen-year-old, he'd always assumed himself to be relatively young. But you don't exist for three millennia without some side-effects.

That was something Yugi or their friends could never understand, but perhaps Yugi's grandpa could.

"This tournament holds the keys to my past," the Pharaoh revealed. "Who I am and why I'm here. I need to know the truth." He trailed off, but at the slightest prompting from Sugoroku, he continued. Telling Yugi's grandpa about the woman at the museum and the tablet with his image engraved on it. He explained that there were duelists holding the three god cards he needed to unlock his memories, and of Arcana and the rare hunters.

That was the hardest part to say out loud. He didn't know if there was a right way to tell an old man that someone wanted his grandson dead, especially when you're the reason.

"It sounds like he's not going to give up just because he failed," Sugoroku spoke for the first time since the Spirit began his explanation. He didn't sound upset, which was both a relief and confusing at the same time. The Spirit couldn't fathom why he wasn't, after all, the Pharaoh was mad at himself for it.

"He has two of the god cards," the Spirit shook his head, "we'll have to fight again eventually."

Grandpa hummed, his face thoughtful.

"But I have to fight him," the Spirit continued, still unnerved by his lack of concern. "I need to know who I am."

A smile appeared on the old man's face, making the Spirit even more confused.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?"

The Spirit stared, internally panicking but unwilling to show any sign of distress. "I don't know," he admitted fighting the urge to avoid Sugoroku's gaze by looking him straight in the eye. "Perhaps both."

Grandpa said nothing as though expecting the Spirit to continue, so he did.

"Is it right for me to risk my partner's life for the sake of my own memories? If I have to put others in danger to fulfill my destiny than is it really worth it?" The Pharaoh almost jumped when Sugoroku began to laugh. It was far from the reaction he'd expected, but so far nothing about this conversation had gone as expected.

"It's a bit late to start worrying about that, isn't it?" Sugoroku said waving a speared sausage in his direction.

He winced at the truth of it. So many of the dangers Yugi and their friends had been through in the past year or so had been directly his fault. Death-T was a result of his actions against Kaiba, Sugoroku's kidnapping and the whole Duelist Kingdom fiasco were because of Death-T and the Millennium Puzzle. Even Yugi nearly burning to death in Otogi's game shop had only happened because Yugi had wanted to see him again so badly.

It was all because of him.

The thought made him feel sick. Yugi usually felt better after talking to his grandpa about whatever was wrong, the Spirit had hoped for the same.

"If Yugi was bothered by the danger he'd have smashed the puzzle long before he discovered you even existed." Sugoroku continued, it didn't remove the empty feeling that had come over the Spirit and it must have shown because he continued. "Teenage boys like a bit of danger in their lives every now and then," he nodded with mischief in his eyes, "it makes things interesting and breaks up the monotony of dull school life. All part of growing up, I'm afraid."

"But-"

"I'd much rather my grandson get that thrill by helping an ancient dead pharaoh fulfill his destiny than through drugs or gangs." Sugoroku interrupted, the Pharaoh didn't mind, he wasn't even sure what he'd been about to say. "Besides, it sounds like this Marik fellow is going to come after the two of you no matter what you do at this point. So there's not much point in throwing in the towel now, is there?"

"I suppose not," the Pharaoh allowed the older man's words to sink in as he continued eating. He made a mental note to never allow eggs to get lukewarm again, they were awful. "It doesn't bother you that my partner is in danger?"

"Oh, I'm sure Yugi'll be fine." Suguroku stood and gathered both plates, dumping the last of Yugi's cold eggs in the trash when it became apparent that the Spirit had no intention of eating them. "He's got you looking after him, after all."

The Pharaoh's gaze dropped, as the old man's trust washed over him. He had no doubt that he could win whatever game the Rare Hunters challenged him too, but hearing that same confidence from someone else was an unexpected blessing. That Suguroku was able to so easily put his grandson's safety in the hands of a Pharaoh who apparently hadn't even been able to save himself back when he was alive touched him deeply.

"I won't let any harm come to my partner," the Spirit promised his gaze firmly on the older man's eyes now hoping to put every ounce of the resolve he felt into his expression and voice. "Or any of our friends."

Suguroku nodded with a proud smile, the cold labyrinth of his soul warmed at the sight of it. "So you did manage to get some new cards right? You didn't just leave without them, right?"

The Spirit blinked at the abrupt change in subject and the excitement the old man betrayed at the idea of seeing new rare cards, before responding with a soft smile and pulling his deck out of his belt.

"Normally I'd have just left them, but the only challenges I've had so far were rare hunters who likely stole the cards themselves, so I went ahead and took the ante. Their hearts were almost begging for freedom." He pulled out Jounouchi's Red Eyes and the Dark Magic Curtain he'd taken from Arcana. "They'd stolen this one from Jounouchi before the tournament began. I offered to give it to him, but he wants to prove himself by winning it back."

Suguroku shook his head, his arms crossed. "That boy will never stop trying to prove himself. You think that becoming the Duelist Kingdom runner-up would have been enough."

"His record is still scratchy. He'll win when there's something important at stake, but if there isn't he has a tendency towards amateur mistakes."

"That's true." Suguroku picked up the other card and examined it his eyes going wide. "I've never seen this one before."

"Neither had I, Arcana used a Dark Magician deck. I was tempted to take his Dark Magician just to spare it from his treatment of it, but he had three so there'd have been little point. I thought giving him less opportunity to summon it would be more helpful in the long run."

"It doesn't hurt that it'll go great in your own deck, of course."

The Pharaoh didn't respond, though that might have been response enough and returned the card to its place in his deck.

"The Rare Hunters are known to use fake cards."

The Spirit nodded, "yes, one tried to use an exodia deck, nothing says counterfeit quite like an exodia deck. He wasn't even trying to hide it. But I can tell the difference between a real card and a fake." He returned his deck to its place in his belt, he could feel the heart of each card beating in unison with the others. No deck with a counterfeit card would be so perfectly synchronized.

He began to feel a stirring within the Millenium Puzzle, the tell-tale signs of his partner waking up.

Before Yugi had a chance to fully wake the Spirit warned him that he was no longer in bed.

"What time is it?" The Spirit heard his groggy voice echoing through his head. There wasn't even a hint of anger over finding himself not in control. The Spirit would never be able to express the amount of gratitude he felt that Yugi was so willing to share.

"About five-thirty," the Pharaoh thought back.

Yugi groaned and seemed to contemplate going back to sleep but ultimately decided against it. The Spirit thought he heard something about his tendency to forget important bodily needs pass through his Partner's head just before Yugi made up his mind.

"You can take over if you're not returning to sleep," the Spirit thought at him, trying to listen to Suguroku's rant about the rare hunters at the same time. Thankfully, Yugi's grandpa didn't need help carrying the conversation.

"It's no big deal if you're in the middle of something."

"I'm not."

Yugi consented and the Pharaoh retreated back into the puzzle, trusting that Yugi wouldn't make him wait much longer before they returned to the tournament.

The Pharaoh listened to Yugi quickly give his grandpa his own account of the duels with the rare hunters before excusing himself from the table.

"Other me?" the Pharaoh could feel confusion coming through their link.

"Partner?"

"Why are we wearing the same thing we wore yesterday?"