Betrayal and Recovery - [ON HOLD]

Atemu's Identity

Atemu's POV

I tell everyone to wait in the room. I see Mahado who informed me that the rebel was properly taken care of. I tell him to hand me my clothes. I go change and sigh. Might as well get this over with. I pull my beanie and sunglasses off and change into my pharaoh outfit. I walk back into the room to a smiling Bakura and Marik and a shocked Yugi, Ryou, and Malik.

"YOU'RE THE PHARAOH?!" Ryou and Malik exclaimed. Yugi remained oddly quiet.

"Shhh, calm down. You're going to alert the whole neighborhood." I said calmly.

"Well, that still doesn't explain who you are." said Ryou.

"Have Thief and Tomb Keeper explain themselves." I sighed.

"I'll go first." said Bakura. "Ryou, as you know, I was a thief before I met you. Remember when you asked me if I was the infamous Thief King Bakura who had a harsh rivalry with Pharaoh here?"

Said boy nodded and still looked confused, until his face lit up in realization. "You're the Thief King?! But didn't the Thief King have a scar on his face?"

"I did, but after Atemu and I became alli—"

"Friends." I interrupted.

Bakura sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes. "Yes, after we became friends, he had a healer get rid of the scar on my face and dismissed my crimes."

"Why did you dismiss him?" Ryou asked me.

I exhaled. "Because it was my family's fault that he turned out that way. In order to successfully create the Millennium Items, my uncle sacrificed the lives of the villagers of Kul Elna."

Ryou, without a word walked over to Bakura and hugged him. "Kura, don't  worry anymore. I'll become your new family."

Bakura looked up and then smirked. "Is that a proposal, Ryou?" He teased. Ryou went completely red as he turned away embarrassed. Bakura hugged Ryou to his chest and smiled a bit. "Thank you." He mumbled into Ryou's shoulder.

I coughed. "Marik, how about you tell them your story."

Marik scratches his head. "Well, I was controlled by an evil force to do harm to people. The Pharaoh saved me and to repay him, I served at his side. No one trusted me except him and I was grateful for that." I blushed a bit

Marik continued. "I became his royal tomb keeper and eventually met Bakura. The three of us became.....friends and together we did all kinds of mischief around the palace. Those were some good times. Bakura and I wanted to go to school, since we never had that opportunity before, so here we are."

"I see." Ryou and Malik said. I became a bit worried that Yugi hasn't said anything. "Yugi?" I called, reaching out a hand. Yugi suddenly got up and smiled. "I'm.....goin to go to the bathroom, okay? I'll be right back." Then Yugi ran off.

I looked a bit worried. "What's wrong with him?" I asked.

Everyone else sighed. "It's because of his past."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me explain." Ryou said. "Yugi, before he moved here, he lived in Japan. There, he was bullied and looked down on. However, Yugi made some wonderful friends." Ryou said wonderful in a sarcastic tone. "These.....friends of his protected him from the bullies. Yugi eventually fell in love with one of them." I clenched my fists in jealously. Why do I feel jealous? Ryou continued. "This lover of Yugi's, named Yami, looked like the paler, amethyst version of you, Ate— I mean Pharaoh."

I smiled. "You can call me Atemu, Ryou, Malik. Marik and Bakura call me Pharaoh as a nickname of sorts. If you see me in public, however, you have to call me Pharaoh. I don't want you guys to draw unnecessary attention."