A.N. Okay, we'll the truth is, I know I said I wouldn't write another thing for Yu-Gi-Oh, but this has been swimming around my head for ages and the fish were starting to get annoyed. So this is where fanfiction comes in.

PLEASE READ: This is going to be an AU starting from just before the ending of episode 220, so all you need to know is that the Pharaoh has his ancient memories back and Ishizu, Marik, Odeon, Gramps, Yugi, Teà, Joey, Mokuaba, Kaiba, Bakura, Tristan and Duke are all on the boat to the island West of Egypt.

I used the American names, and if you read my one shot entitled Loose Ends and read the A.N there then you know why, if not; go look 'cos I'm not repeating myself. The two stories aren't related but my feelings on the names and the Pharaoh's age remain the same.

Finally, I know it's not the most imaginative title but it does what is says on the tin...oh and don't forget to review and let me know if you want me to continue!

An Alternate Ending.

Chapter 1: A Stormy Tempest.

"Now I must seal them away forever by entering the spirit world," Atemu had said calmly and the words echoed in Teà's mind as she tried to sleep. She lay in her bed staring out at the Egyptian sky through the window opposite, but she found that sleep was quite impossible.

There was just too much to think about. It would be best for the Pharaoh to be at peace and finally rest, and it would allow Yugi to move on and be himself. But it would mean losing a good friend whose name they had only just learnt after 5 years.

Was it really fair? Was it the right thing to do? What did the Pharaoh want? And what did Yugi want? Did the ancient king want to die..to move on and leave them? Did Yugi want the spirit to go? After being trapped for 3,000 years inside your own mind, a mind that was full of questions wouldn't any normal person go mad? How had the Pharaoh survived in isolation for so long?

She sighed again and rolled onto her right side as the thoughts kept coming but soon the room started to sway violently and Teà was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, her blankets fell with her and she stared with wide eyes at the shaking room.

Her heart beat faster as the shelves started to rock and topple over, shattering the objects that rested on them, the walls sounded like they were screaming and the glass in the windows smashed, sending lethal shards everywhere. Teà jumped to her feet and ran out of them room wearing only her shorts and vest, she ran down the corridor and out onto the boat deck.

Her fiends were already scattered around the deck with Kaiba and Mokuba running up from behind her.

"What's going on?" Mokuba asked with a worried expression as he stared at the huge waves that made the ship rock back and forth without mercy.

There were grey storm clouds above their heads gathering directly above the vessel like a tornado. It began to rain and golden lightning flashed inside the dark clouds casting eerie shadows on the boat. The light continued to increase and soon it was as blinding as the morning sun.

On the boat deck Yugi clutched the bag of Millennium items closely as he lost all consciousness. Soon the others soon succumbed to the light and they soon fell, unmoving onto the deck. The light faded away and so did the boat, and the sky and they clouds, as nothing else existed but darkness...

...Joey felt weightless as he forced his eyes open...but soon he wished that he hadn't. His body was soon aching like he'd been gang fighting all night without backup, or been at the gym for a week without a break. He managed to get his eyes open and he soon adjusted to the darkness that met him.

"Where are we?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his aching head. He looked around him and saw Ishizu, Marik and Odeon sitting upright to his right, there was Kaiba and Mokuba, Gramps, Bakura, Duke, Tristan Teà and Yugi. At least wherever they were they were all together...even if that did mean having to put up with rich boy.

"I dunno, but it can't be good," Yugi replied standing up from the cold, hard stone floor. His amethyst eyes looked down and expected to see the golden Millennium Puzzle round his neck...but it was gone. "The Puzzle's gone..." he said quietly to himself but the others heard him.

"Say what?" Tristan shouted and their Egyptian friends began to look as worried as Yugi.

They all managed to stand despite their aching muscles and looked at their new surroundings. It appeared to be a cave...except the walls were perfectly straight and smooth, as was the ceiling and the floor. A man made cave? Their was a small light coming from one end and endless darkness from the other.

"Greetings, travellers," said a song-like voice, it carried in the air and sounded without emotion.

"Wah!" Joey screamed, "Who's...who's d'at?" he jumped to his feet and pointed with a shaking hand at the cloaked figure standing in front of them. The persons identity was impossible to determine as the black cowl cast long shadows on their face, and the cloak shielded their body from the small light that came from the far end of the cave-like tunnel.

"I am a traveller, like you," the voice replied enigmatically.

"Where is it you're traveling to?" Ishizu asked the stranger but she got no answer.

"Listen here ya creep!" Joey said with renewed courage as he stomped over to the shadowed figure...and fell through it. "Wha...not another ghost!" he screamed and ran to stand behind Yugi who only stared at him in bemusement.

"Who are you?" Yugi asked more calmly than Joey as his friend cowered behind him.

"I am no one and yet I am everyone," the stranger replied and the group blinked in confusion.

"D'at's...really...not helpful..." Joey muttered and beside him Tristan and Duke nodded.

Within seconds the cloaked figure vanished in a puff of smoke before anyone else could say anything or even insult the stranger further he was gone.

"Hey, where's the Pharaoh...err...I mean Atemu?" Tristan asked, the ancient name still sounding foreign on his tongue.

"Good question, I haven't seen him since..." Teà trailed off as they all searched round for their missing friend but finding nothing.

"Well clearly he's not here, we should get out and see where we actually are," Kaiba said. He couldn't believe he was stuck in some unknown place with the dweeb patrol, it was bad enough being confined in a boat with them...but now he didn't even know where they were at all!

"We can't just leave!" Joey protested but Kaiba was already walking off towards what they assumed was the exit with Mokuba taking cautious steps beside him.

"Well, Yugi, where's he usually hang out when you're here?" Duke asked their friends but he sighed in reply.

"Inside the Millennium Puzzle, but it's gone," Yugi answered.

"Well...maybe we should see if that's a way out, I hate to say it but Kaiba does have the right idea," Duke said and the others nodded. Soon the group of 12 were walking quickly up the tunnel and towards the light that they hoped, and assumed was a way out.

However, rather than being a way out the group were lead towards flickering flames, not the fresh air, and into a larger space, still with the smooth stone walls. Now there was room for them to stare down from the stone balcony that they now stood on. A few feet down there was a passageway that had a small, narrow causeway with torches on either side and paintings of men and women adorning the walls.

"Great! Now what?" Joey sighed and Gramps rubbed his beard in thought while the others looked around at the new cave.

"Where are we?" Bakura asked quietly as he took in the beautifully carved pillars in front of them.

"Must I go with you, father? I don't like this place, what are we doing here anyway?" they heard a young voice ask and it sounded scared and worried. What Solomon Motou found curious was it sounded just like his grandson, so he squinted his old eyes as they saw a shadow cast on the ground, it was approaching them from the tunnel so they waited for the person to appear.

"This is something you must witness, my son, now follow me," another voice said, it was deep and emotionless.

"Why is it so dark down here?" the lighter voice asked. They heard the voices getting louder and louder and soon they could distinguish two sets of footsteps as well.

"You needn't be afraid, this sanctuary is protected by the Egyptian gods themselves. As long as you show your respect, nothing here will harm you," the deep voice replied and soon they saw the owner of this voice descend the stairs and walk onto the causeway. He carried a wooden torch with a flickering flame and continued to walk ahead while the younger voice walked behind him.

"No, I won't go any further," the young one protested and they all stared in shock with wide eyes. It was an even smaller Yugi...dressed in creme clothes and adorned in gold.

"This is not a matter of choice," the older man said without emotion and continued to walk on. He had a close cropped grey beard and wore a head dress, his long decorative coat billowed behind him as the child ran to match his long strides.

"Look," Yugi whispered, "That man's got the Millennium Puzzle," he pointed.

"Father, wait..." the young boy called and ran to his fathers' side.

"Stay close, and be aware of your surroundings at all times," his father replied.

"...Are they playing dress up, or somethin'?" Mokuba asked as he stared down at the two people.

The boy was now walking behind the father and looking around at the walls on either side of him as the man had told him. But he failed to notice the edge of the path was weak and crumbling and he soon fell from the causeway. He managed to hold himself up by his arms and called to the man for help, "Father, help," he called.

The man, his father, stopped his walk and turned to the boy, they expected him to run to his child's aid but insisted he didn't move as he said, "Lift yourself up, my boy," he told the child.

Surprisingly the boy didn't ask for help again but did as his father said, despite the difficulty of the task he pulled himself up back onto the path and the man walked away before the boy had even stood up again.

"Who are all these people?" the boy asked curiously.

"Pharaoh's that came before," the man replied and they watched as he stopped as he and the boy reached the wall.

There was a small set of stone stairs that lead up to a small shine and the man knelt at the base of the steps. "Egyptian Gods, hear me, I have committed a crime beyond atonement, and for this I am truly sorry. By brining the seven millennium items into this world I have destroyed the lives of thousands. I bear full responsibility for these actions, please, spare my son, do not punish him for the misdeeds of his father," he said, his voice suddenly sounding remorseful and pleading.

"Are you alright, father? Why is you're crying?" the child asked sadly.

There came a great thunder clap from above and light flashed in the cave, casting long shadows across the walls. White and golden light illuminated the small shrine and they watched as the boy backed away in fear.

"My son, fear not, you are safe now," the man said as he straightened his back. He attempted to stand up but he faltered and the light died down, the older man collapsed back onto his knees and his child ran over to help support his father.

Yugi and his close friends were about to run down to help the man but Solomon and the Ishtar's stopped them. "We don't know where we are yet, it wouldn't be wise to show ourselves yet," Solomon said and they nodded in reluctant agreement as they watched the child autopsy help his father sit down.

"Father, what is it? What's wrong?" the boy asked hurriedly.

"It is not important, but you need to leave," his father said weakly, "Go!" he shouted and the cave walls seemed to quake at his voice.

The boy took a step back but stopped and knelt beside his father, "That was not a suggestion, as your Pharaoh I am ordering you to leave," he said, his voice still weakening.

"And as your Prince Regent I am choosing to disobey you," his son said with a voice powerful enough to rival his fathers.

The man stared at his son with tired eyes until he passed out, he was limp in his sons' arms but the boy had a difficult time supporting his weight. So he set down his father on the ground carefully and tried to stir him awake. When it became clear that it was not going to work the boy sat down beside his ailing father and brought his knees up to his chin as tears streamed down his tanned skin.

Then a second later he jumped up and wiped his eyes, the took a gold ring from his fathers finger and with one last look at the man he ran quickly from the chamber.

"Where'd he go?" Yugi asked quietly as he stared at the man with a worried look, "Shouldn't we help him?"

"I don't know...who's the kid?" Seto said with his arms crossed over his chest. He got the feeling he knew who the child was...but it couldn't the real...it couldn't be possible.

But soon the child was back and breathing hard as he made his way back over to his still motionless father. He leaned into the man and brushed the grey hair from his face and removed the Millennium Puzzle from his father's neck and placed it round his own. They watched as the golden artefact emitted a strong golden light as it came to rest against the boys' chest but it soon faded away.

In mere minutes they heard more footsteps approaching from the tunnel, there were long shadows cast on the ground and three men ran over to the man and boy.

One wore a long clean robe with a hood and had long grey hair poking out round his neck. Another had a clean shaven head with tattoos on his forehead of small, wavy lines and piercing blue eyes fixed on his Pharaoh. And he carried the Millennium key in his right hand. The last one wore an ornate blue and creme hat with gold on it and a long robe with a dark blue stripe down the middle and the Millennium rod in his hand.

"Whoa...check it out...it's like Millennium items 'R' us," Duke whispered.

"My Prince, what happened here?" the man with the Millennium rod asked.

"I'm not sure, priest Seto," the boy answered as the man called Seto as he and the clean shaven man lifted up the sleeping Pharaoh carefully.

"Shada, carefully now, we must get the Pharaoh back to the palace at once, " Priest Seto said the the other man.

"Hey, Yug...don't we know d'at guy..." Joey asked quietly but he got no answer as they were watching the scene intently.

"Come along, young Prince," the older man said and as he turned around Yugi saw the Millennium eye resting in the mans' right eye socket. The boy walked out by the mans side and soon they were gone.

"Come on," Yugi said to his friends as they followed after them. After following the ends of the shadows for a few minutes they saw the nights sky and mounds on mounds of sand. The people they had followed were leaving on horseback with a hawk flying over head.

"Smart kid," Solomon said as he he saw a golden glint in the birds feet.

"What'd we do now?" Teà sighed as she stared out at the desert that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles ahead.

"Well first I suggest we find shelter for when morning comes, night is the best time to travel in the desert, but of course there could be other threats," Solomon said.

"I not know about you geeks, but I plan on getting home," Kaiba said, "This is obviously some trick and I don't plan on staying here any longer than it takes for me to find a way out."

"I'm not sure, Seto," Mokuba said warily as he knelt down and let the sand fall though his fingers, "It feels pretty real to me."

"I got it!" Joey clicked his fingers, "That guy back there, it's that Kaiba look-a-like we saw back in the Pharaoh's memories," he announced proudly.

"...Err...look-a-like?" Mokuba repeated.

"Yup," Joey nodded.

"Does that mean that little kid was...Atemu?" Teà said with uncertainty.

"It sure looked like him," Bakura added.

"Yeah, but he looked like Yugi too," Mokuba said.

"Well, y'know technically since the Pharaoh was born first doesn't that mean that Yugi looks like him and not the other way round?" Duke asked but no one saw fit to answer him.

"Let's hurry, if we're lucky we might be ale to follow their trail," Marik, who had remained quiet with his brother and sister until now, said and despite many protests about wandering the desert, they did so.

A.N. So what say you?

I just had to start it off with that scene from his memories, it's just so cute and emotional, I just couldn't ignore it! Should I continue? The choice is yours!