Rating: T for now.

Warnings: This is a Yaoi fic. Blood, Violence, Sex, language, not based on actual historic facts. (Pure Fiction)

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or the characters.

-Chapter 1-

Death threats and a Ride Home

Yugi took a long sip of his canteen, his tongue screaming for refuge from the hot dry air. His skin felt like dry Play-Doh that threatened to flake away and become like the sand beneath his feet. Much of his two-day trip had been that way, dry, hot, and hot… He sat down, exhausted, on a stone and looked around the desert. The wind cradled small plumes of sand and carried them small distances to the west. Yugi looked down at his lap and pulled a map from his right side pocket.

"Alright grandfather, where do I go from here?" Yugi opened the map to his location and marked the spot he sat now with an X. The map was old and hand drawn, the only one of its kind. Yugi's grandfather had passed the map down to Yugi, apparently a long tradition stemming back thousands of years. Secret notes and riddles were written on the margins of the map giving Yugi little clues to make the journey easier. Yugi pulled out his compass and looked back down at the map. "Okay, if I just keep heading east I should be able to see the falcon rock." Yugi tucked his compass away and neatly folded the map. "Let's go, Grandfather."

Yugi's grandfather had passed away five years ago while on the hunt for a mysterious treasure, the same treasure Yugi sought to find presently. Yugi stood up and started the trek east through the desert. His grandfather had a theory that the people of Atlantis and the Ancient Egyptians existed at the same time. The two mighty cities had taken over most of Africa and, to prevent war, signed a peace treaty. Yugi's grandfather was ridiculed and forced into early retirement and started his journey for proof of his theory. Yugi wanted to clear his family name and prove to the world that his grandfather was not they joke they thought he was. Yugi pulled his hat back and scratched his forehead; he should have been able to see the falcon-shaped ridge by that time.

"Something doesn't feel right." Yugi glanced around him then pulled out the map and scanned the edges. "Head for the east when the path is golden, Look toward the west when the path is sliver." Yugi looked at his feet and smiled. His "path" was made of sand and sand was gold in sunlight, but at night the sand has a silver tone. Yugi brought a hand up to his forehead and turned to the west and waited as the sun slid down beyond the horizon. The silver sand glistened with the help of the moonlight and Yugi watched in amazement as a rock formation appeared. "The Falcon Ridge."

Yugi's heart raced and before his mind could register that he was running, he was half way there. The falcon Ridge was the last landmark on his map. From there he would head north. Yugi glanced around for a place to build a fire; he knew it would be foolish to continue his journey with his lack of energy and calories. "I won't die until I prove that you were right, grandfather." Yugi said and pulled a few pieces of tinder, he had collected on the way, out of his back pocket. He found a few dead plants and started a small fire with a piece of flint. The fire would keep the night time predators away while he slept.

The next morning Yugi woke to the smell of the smoke from the dead fire beside him. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned. Yugi gathered up sand and covered the fire just to be sure it was out and started on his final day of treasure seeking. Yugi checked the map once more and headed north.

After a few hours of walking, Yugi stopped and gazed in awe at the magnificent obelisk that stood before him. It was odd, turquoise in color and the writing was not Egyptian or Arabic at all, for that matter. Yugi wondered why no one had ever discovered it before. He stepped closer to get a better look; it was definitely old but very well preserved. "You never told me about this, Grandfather."

"That's because anyone who sets eyes on that has been killed on sight." Yugi wheeled his body around and was surrounded by five men dressed in black. Their faces were covered but were clearly in no mood for explanations, by the look of the AK-47 assault rifles in their hands. "You are the first person in a long time to find this place." One man spoke. "As I recall, a man will similar hair to yours was the last to show his face here." and that when Yugi knew for a fact that he was standing before the very men who slaughtered his grandfather and sent him home in several pieces. Yugi bit back the bile that threatened to rise from his stomach and took a step back. "Didn't we have the map destroyed? Why are you here?"

"Do you honestly think my grandfather would take the original map with him? He wasn't foolish." Yugi scowled at them.

"You, on the other hand, were." A second man spoke and by the stance of the other men, Yugi could tell this man was the leader.

"I had no choice." Yugi said defensively.

"Oh, my young friend, we all have choices." Leader stopped before him and held out his hand. "You had the choice to stay in your own world and not bother with things here but you chose not to and now you are going to be killed." Leader looked at Yugi's pocket and snapped his fingers, "Give me the map."

"No."

"Ah, more choices, bad ones on your part." Leader stepped back, out of the line of fire. "Take him out, men." Yugi closed his eyes as the sound of the men getting ready to end his life. Life did not flash before his eyes; all he saw were the backs of his eyelids and couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

As Yugi forced thoughts of his childhood through his mind the obelisk behind him began to glow, the sky moved in a concentrated swirl above the obelisk. Yugi could feel the cool breeze. Is this heaven, Grandfather? He thought and opened his eyes when a cool drop hit his nose. Yugi looked up in wonder, and smiled as more drops fell on him, then frowned remembering he was facing his death. The men in black began muttering something about a curse in Arabic Egyptian. The men looked to their leader and then back at Yugi. "If you continue down this path you will be killed." The warning didn't frighten Yugi in the least but he nodded just in case. "Let us go, Men." Leader said and led his men away.

Yugi made sure they were out of sight before settling down in front of the obelisk, oblivious to the fact that it had saved his life. "Well Grandfather, I wish I could have fought them for you, but the only way I know to avenge your death is to prove that Atlantis was real and that it existed alongside the Egypt of the past." Yugi took a swig from his canteen and leaned back against the turquoise obelisk. The rain cooled him down for a moment before stopping.

Yugi got up and dusted himself off after a moment of contemplating his near death experience and took the map from his pocket and was stumped, this was the last place his grandfather had seen and there were no more clues on the margins of the map. "I guess it's up to all you've taught me." Yugi gathered up his courage and his wit and continued his journey.

By the time Yugi decided to take a break it had reached mid afternoon and he was fatigued and running low on water. "What did we get ourselves into?" Yugi took a breath and hunkered down in the sand and surveyed the area. Yugi squinted when a shiny object in the distance announced its appearance with a bright glimmer. Yugi stood up and looked harder. Yugi smiled. "That's it!" Yugi had to fight to keep himself from running with all his might toward the object he had been looking for. Yugi knew that, with what little water he had left and the calories running would burn off, he would be dead before he made it.

Yugi marked the spot on his map and tucked it away once more before deciding to look for food. Yugi camped out on the ground and went in search of anything that would give him useful calories. After a few moments of wondering, Yugi heard the familiar hissing sound of a snake. "Bingo." Yugi picked the snake up by its tail and closed his eyes. "Sorry." He said before smashing the snake down hard on a rock, killing it. Yugi set the snake down by his gear and proceeded to make a fire.

Yugi began to contemplate what his discovery would mean while he waited for the snake to cook over the adolescent flames. His family would no longer be shunned by the scientific world and Yugi would once again be a credible source and his books would sell and his mother would be set for life. Yugi smiled and took a breath.

Later that night, filled with snake meat and the last of his water, Yugi settled in for a night of much needed sleep. The fire kept most of the nightly creatures away and the few that managed to crawl on him were of no never mind to him, he was out.

The next morning Yugi rose with the sun, gathered his things, and headed in the direction of the object he had seen the night before. His legs carried him quickly and his heart threatened to beat out of his chest; and as he came closer to the object it began to grow and transform into an ancient city. The grand city was nothing but tall pillars here and there but Yugi couldn't help but imagine what it must have been like in its heyday. Yugi dropped his pack and smiled up at the sky. "We made it grandfather."

"This is as far as you go." A voice screamed in the distance. Yugi looked around. Again? No.

"But you said you would let me go if I got you here." Another, shaken, voice pleaded. They weren't after Yugi but someone was in danger. Yugi took quiet steps and peered around a pillar. Yugi saw a man trebling on his knees in front of two men, Yugi watched as one of them, a tall one with blonde hair tucked beneath an American flag bandana, aimed his handgun at the man's forehead.

"I Lied." The 'American' said and laughed as he added, "as if we could trust you not to go back to your brother with news about us. You have now become a liability."

"If I was going to tell my brother I would have before any of this started." Yugi nodded, it seemed logical but normally men with guns didn't understand logic.

"We can't take that risk." The second one spoke, his slight accent told Yugi that he was from Japan. Yugi had no time to contemplate how that relationship came about. "Any last requests?"

"No." the man said.

"Hold on." Yugi stepped out from behind the pillar and instantly regretted it, what do I think I'm doing? I can't take on two guys and one of them has a gun. Yugi didn't have time to change his mind.

"Who are you?" The American shouted and took aim at Yugi giving the man on his knees time to thrust his head into the belly of the second man. The Japanese man grunted and wrapped his arms around his stomach, in pain. "Dammit!" the American didn't waste a second, he fired and their captor was nothing but a corpse. "As for you," The American shouted, "you've seen too much."

"Wait!" the Japanese man regained his balance and pulled back on the American's arm. "How did you find this place?"

"Why should I tell you?" Yugi grew bolder and walked down the path to meet the two men. "Perhaps you should tell me who, our dead friend is." Yugi nodded his head toward the captive. "His family deserves to know their son was killed in the desert by two lowlife punks."

"Punks!" the American lunged for Yugi but was stopped once more. "Please let me kill him, Ushio."

"Stop it." The second man (named Ushio) said. "Listen here, you tell us how you got here and if there are others and maybe we will tell you who that was." He nodded his head toward the body.

"I found this place on my own, I came alone." A foolish statement but Yugi really didn't care; he might've been dead either way. My name is Yugi Motou…"

"I've heard of you." Ushio said. "The master of puzzles, isn't your family a joke? Your grandfather was crazy."

"If he was so crazy then this place," Yugi gestured, with his outstretched hands, "would not exist."

"You have balls, kid."

"I'm not a kid, I'm twenty-four years old and I have a master's in Archeology, if anyone is a kid, it's you." Yugi smirked.

"Oh really? Well then you won't mind helping us find the other artifacts."

"Other artifacts?" Yugi paused. "You mean to tell me you dug up a priceless artifact! What are you-? I bet you've never even finished high school, what makes you think you can handle something that old?"

"Whoa now, we were careful." Ushio said, "And for your information I did finish high school and so did Keith."

"Oh, so the killer has a name." Yugi scoffed. "Hand over the artifact."

Ushio laughed, "You are serious aren't you?"

"I never joke about artifacts."

"Well now, maybe we can help each other." Ushio said. "You help us find the other artifacts and we will make sure you get them back when we are finished with them."

"What? How can you think I would make a deal like that?" Yugi spat, "And end up like…"

"His name was Alistair Atemu."

"Well I'm not going to help you."

"You have no choice. Either you help us or we kill you."

"I'd rather be dead than help you anyway. I fail to see how your threat affects me at all." Yugi looked at the back of his hands. "I was almost killed yesterday too."

"Well, you seem to forget that I know everything about you, where you live, where your mother lives." Yugi glared.

"You leave her out of this! She has nothing to do with any of this."

"So it's settled, you'll help us." Ushio nodded to Keith. "Let's go." They turned to leave and Yugi looked at the body on the ground. Alastair Atemu.

"Wait!" Yugi shouted and they stopped. "We can't leave his body here; his family has a right to know what happened to him."

"Keith." Ushio gave him a nod. "Bring Alastair."

"What! I'm not bringing a dead body."

"Keith, just do it. Even with the threat on his mother, we need him to help us."

Keith picked up the body and slung it over his shoulder. "Let's go, kid."

"I'm not a kid." Yugi said and followed after them.

They filed into the back of a jeep and Yugi gave one last glance at the magnificent structure behind him. What have I gotten myself into? I feel like Indiana Jones. Yugi looked at the body in the seat next to him. This is no laughing matter.

After a few hours of driving the sound of a helicopter approaching made Yugi sit ridged in his seat. "That's our ride." Yugi froze: a dead body? Fine. Being threatened by Egyptians with assault rifles? Fine. Even being kidnapped by two idiots, that was fine. But heights? Yugi couldn't breathe. "Aww look at that. You're all green, kid." Keith laughed.

"I'm not getting in there."

"Yes you are." Ushio stopped the jeep and pulled Yugi out of the back seat just as the helicopter landed. "Get in there!" Ushio shoved Yugi in to the back of the helicopter and went back for the body and tossed it on top of him. "Let's go Keith."

Yugi held onto his seat belt and closes his eyes. You are the lucky one, Alistair Atem. Yugi held back the urge to throw up when the helicopter took off into the sky. Wherever they were going, Yugi hoped they would get there soon.