Hey! I still have inspiration for this so I'm ACTUALLY updating! Thank you very much 'Pixie611' and 'Angel of dark and light' for reviewing my story - it means a lot to me.

WARNING: This story is going to be Yuumeishipping (i.e. Yami no Malik [Marik] x Malik x Yami no Bakura [Bakura] x Ryou x Yami no Yugi [Atem] x Yugi) so, yeah, yaoi/shounen-ai. I just found the name of that one on the Internet by accident! ;]

Anyways, here's the first chapter of 'The Broken Yami'. And incomes Atem!

Enjoy!

Fears Realised - Almost

I woke up screaming. Again.

Every single night for the past 3 months I've been having the same nightmare. It has to mean something - to be a warning of some sort. But I really hope it isn't.

I pulled the scratchy, smelly cover off of my starved, exhausted, and abused body. I remember when I used to be proud of it. Proud of myself and my ridiculous 'individual' hairstyle that just so happens to be completely natural...I sighed. It doesn't really matter. Nothing really matters anymore. Give your trust to people and they'll just break and hurt you. I learnt that the hard way. And yet, here I am running like a coward to people who's trust I, myself, broke.

I walked from the so-called bed to my small black travelling bag leaning against one of the bleak grey walls which holds all of my essentials - hairbrush, toothbrush and paste, a change of clothes, money and my passport - pulled out my change of clothes and dragged them on. I'm not really gaining anything by doing this because I've been wearing the same two sets of clothes for nearly 2 and a half months now. It's just nice not to wear the same thing everyday even if they are, kind of, dirty. It's fortunate leather lasts.

Once I'm dressed I check on the condition of my deck, fine, and then grab my bag and head out of the room I rented for the night which smelt like manure and had a bed as comfortable as sleeping on pine cones. But, at least, I had a roof over my head and I could afford it. I go downstairs to the pub underneath and, using the public toilets, brush my teeth and hair, wash my face, and go to the toilet. All of this took about half an hour - I have very difficult hair to take care of.

Once done I leave the pub and step out into the cold English air. Even though it's the beginning of summer and the weather is, apparently, fair but a little overcast I think it's freezing - I'm Egyptian/Japanese for goodness sake. I pull my black leather jacket covered in buckles tighter around myself wishing for the hundredth time that I'd had the sense to pack something warm before I set off on this desperate escapade. Leather looks and feels great but is terrible at keeping the heat in.

I sigh once more and set off along the muddy track into some nearby woods to scavenge for some food - I just used up the last of my money renting out that so-called hotel room. I find some berries and pick them off. They don't taste all that great but I haven't had a decent meal in ages so I'm absolutely starved. You might think that how I'm living now is bad but I'm telling you I'd take living as I have been for the past 2 and a half months over how I was before - now that was Hell. I shivered again, this time out fear and horror, as my mind travels once again down unwanted paths. I shake my head in an attempt to clear my mind.

Yugi is in trouble I'm just standing here drowning in self-pity. What kind of Yami am I? But even as I think this I already know the answer. A terrible one. I left my dear Hikari, my Aibou, for some - some disgusting perverted BASTARD! What the Hell was I thinking! But I know what I was thinking. Kaiba. The bastard has always been good at putting on face, but I never knew how good. I had been confused at the time because Yugi, not only my Hikari but my long time crush started going out with Ryou, Malik, Bakura and Marik - Bakura and Marik of all people, those Thieves don't understand the meaning of love and yet Yugi chose them over me. Admittedly he was still there for me and we were still close but I felt betrayed and so, in my blinding anger and loss I fell for Kaiba's trap. I honestly thought he loved me - and then he just...No, I'm not going to think about it. I have more important things to worry about.

I've been having this reoccurring nightmare that Yugi, Ryou, Malik, Marik and Bakura are going to be attacked by Ghouls - evil spirits tainted by the power of Zorc and strengthened by the Shadows - and Yugi and Ryou are going to get in trouble and be separated from the others - the stronger fighters. The very night I first had this nightmare I knew that it wasn't just a nightmare, no, it was premonition. So, I set off in search of them. I knew that they went to England but I wasn't sure where.

Right now I am nearing the boarder of England and Scotland. The surrounding area is very hilly and green, a large dark forest to it's back. Just past the forest I heard that there was a peculiar house surrounded by fields, actually I heard that it was the house's occupants that were odd not the house itself. Of course that prompted me to check it out. Yugi, Ryou, Malik, Marik and Bakura are anything but normal.

I'm panting for breath and sweat is trickling along my skin causing my leather to stick to me in an uncomfortable way. I cough throatily and my body shakes. I'm not in very good condition - I'm cold, hungry, tired and I feel badly battered - but I have to continue. My gut is telling me that this time I'm right. This time I've found them. And hopefully in time. To save them and apologise. I know that when I was with Kaiba I was a Jerk, I'm not entirely sure why. I was just too mixed up. I suppose, I've always needed to be knocked down a peg or two. Bakura was right when he said I could be a pompous ass, actually he just said I was a pompous ass but that's beside the point. Ra, I've never felt so low. So, downtrodden and depressed.

I lift my head as I hear voices near to me. Desperate voices, voices that are calling out in battle. I feel dread in the pit of my stomach as I suddenly sense the battle, the battle of my nightmares. I push aside branches to see the horror. And, just as I dreaded, just as in my nightmare, I see them battling for survival. Marik, Malik, and Bakura are futher off to the left surrounded and completely distracted from the real emergency. Ryou and Yugi are backed up against a tight knot of trees with Ghouls attacking them from the front. Yugi is barely keeping up their shield - their powers were more defensive than offensive. Ryou face is unhealthily pale and Yugi is shaking with exhaustion.

I close my eyes momentarily, take a deep breath and focus my power. I'm a great offensive fighter, especially stronger the closer I am to Millennium items, particularly the Puzzle, and my focus increases near my Hikari. If it weren't for my exhaustion right now I could take all of these Ghouls down at once. As it is I can just defend Yugi and Ryou.

I felt the Shadows lick against my body. I opened my Crimson eyes and sent the Shadows against the Ghouls. I dodged between the fighting Shadows and Ghouls until I reached Yugi and Ryou, I pulled the two behind me and turned to face the Ghouls which, while I was distracted, had come closer to us so that we couldn't escape.

"Yugi!" I heard Ryou cry behind me just as the flimsy shield Yugi had been upholding vanished. I felt my energy drain increase. I protected Ryou and Yugi with my body and sent all of my power to Shadows to beat back the Ghouls. I felt weak, my entire body was shivering and sweating buckets. My vision blurred and I felt strangely numb.

"A-Atem? Is that really you?" I heard Yugi whisper behind me.

"Are you okay, Atem? You look terrible," Ryou asked me in concern.

The Shadows pushed the Ghouls back a bit and, from the corner of my eye, I noticed that Bakura had been fighting his way over to us and was calling to Marik and Malik to do the same. Just as Bakura reached me, Marik and Malik not far behind, my legs finally gave and I collapsed.

I closed my eyes expecting to land on the ground but before I did a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me up. I felt dizzy. The world was spinning so I kept my eyes closed. Whoever was holding me was very warm, and strong. I felt strange comfort in their embrace.

"Nice catch, Bakura!" I'm pretty sure that was Marik. He felt nearby, just in front of me.

"The pompous ass just saved my Hikari and Yugi. I'm not exactly going to let him fall, no matter how much of a Jerk he is," that voice came from above me. And only Bakura calls me a pompous ass and Ryou his Hikari. There was no way in Osiris Bakura was the one to catch me when I fell. And yet he did.

Maybe, just maybe, he isn't so bad after all, I thought as I slipped away into unconsciousness with the sounds of the battle still raging around me.

I need people's opinion's now! Should I continue with the majority of the story in Atem's point of view (you did realise that was Atem, right?) or continue in 3rd person - as I'm planning the next chapter to be?

Reviews would be nice. I am working on an update for my other story - 'If I asked you to kiss me' in the GX section, but I make no promises - I never do.

You may notice as the story progresses that there is a lot of BakuraXAtem scenes, this is because in this story Bakura has become the kind of overprotective comfort giver of the group and Atem really needs comfort - you'll find out later why. BTW I am turning Kaiba into a totally evil manipulative character because I want to and I need one.

Hope you enjoyed and I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (or any other Yu-Gi-Oh! product).