This AU has become bigger than I thought and I'm quite nervous I can keep it up^^ The lovely siosiri is drawing beautiful comics to this story! If you want to check it out, you'll find it on tumblr. You find the link in my bio :)

As always, I hope you like it!


Entering

Bakura

His plan had been foolproof.

Over the past months he had made an effort to learn the prince's schedule and habits to find the right time and place for his attack. No one but him seemed to notice or care that his royal shortness left and roamed through the city on a regular basis, especially not the guards – what was pretty damn sad when you thought about it – and it was almost too easy to get close to him at those times. And today, only two days before the coronation had been the perfect opportunity.

He had been in hiding and watched them closely, ready to strike his attack at the right moment. But then the events had taken an unexpected event.

He had watched fascinated and confused when his royal shortness disappeared through this fountain and how the girl had first been confused and finally ran away while calling her master in pure panic. When she had left he had sneaked closer to the fountain to see for himself if his victim wasn't lying dead at the foot of the fountain. All he could see were little sparks of remaining magic, no prince. So, was he just gone? Or had she killed and eliminated him? Maybe turned him into amoeba he actually was.

Now that would be funny!

He made sure to stamp the ground around the fountain as unsuspicious but as hard as he could before he went back to his hideout when he heard them coming back. There he had stayed hidden and listened closely.

And he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Apparently the girl had used a forbidden spell from her master's book and Prince Atem, precious, inviolable, holy Prince Atem had been conjured away by this little magician girl to Anubis knew where! Kemet was without a ruler, the older magician in a deuce of a stir and he, Bakura was rejoicing in all that he was hearing.

It took quite a lot of his willpower not to laugh out and cheer loudly.

The gods had a sort of humor after all!

What could be better than that? Shorty was gone and that was exactly what he and his client wanted. He could just leave it at that and carry on with his own life and plan.

But… wait. He had wanted to get his hands on the prince to spice up his tedious, royal life with his own bare hands and this stupid girl had robbed him of his greatest chance!

Although… Well, he could just take revenge on the girl instead. She seemed a good enough replacement.

Then again he could feel his client's stern, ruthless eyes on him like the ever watching eye of Horus and it made him shudder. He could already see his client torturing and probably beheading him instead of the future king and he would very much like to avoid that. Not to mention that besides this was some sort of contract kidnapping (killing to be honest – not by him, he would just torture him to his satisfaction but by his client later…) he had some business to settle with the bastard and to let him get away like that was the last thing he'd allow him to do.

So when he heard this priest talking about following his prince and preparing some dark magic veil he knew there was no other way for him to get what he wanted than following the priest and getting to the prince before he could. He cursed under his breath, checked his surroundings one last time and slowly weaseled his way towards the priest and his apprentice.

In the exact moment the magician threw the magic veil down the fountain and prepared to jump in it, Bakura made the last two steps, shoved him aside with a cackle and jumped down himself, only to be swallowed not by water but in a flood of strange colors and blinding stars that blocked his view in their light and engulfed him until everything around him was pitch black…

Mahad

The moment he saw the flash of silver and red pushing him to the ground, he knew who it was, he knew what he wanted and he knew exactly what was at stake.

It wasn't only his best friend's, his prince's and future king's life, no, it was the whole country's welfare that seemed doomed and for a split second he felt pure, ice-cold panic ready to grip his brain. He fought it down again just as fast as it rose – headless rashness wouldn't get him anywhere when his purpose was already clear.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the portal close but he was quick and already started to open another while he got back on his feet.

"Master…" aside from being puffy from crying, Mana's eyes were now also widened in shock.

"Don't worry, it will be alright." He said in a rush as he concentrated on setting the spell right, again. "Go back to the palace and tell Shimon everything. He'll understand and know what to do. Go straight to him and tell only him, Mana. Do you understand?"

The intensity of her master's stare and his tone had Mana standing upright. She nodded once. "Yes, master."

Mahad nodded back to her and inspected his veil one last time. He was nervous, surely but there was no other way. He had to find Atem and bring him back, preferably in one piece and before this thief.

"Please be careful, master." Mana called out to him as he readied himself to jump. "And bring him back."

"Safe and sound." He gave her a confident smile and jumped into veil to find and rescue his prince.

The colors that surrounded him in the next second blinded and burned in his eyes and he shut them against the light right before he felt his body being swept away at such a high speed that he was unable to draw a single breath. The pressure on his lungs almost crushed him and he thought he would drown in this nothingness.

And then, right before he lost his consciousness he landed hard on something dark. His whole body burned and throbbed and ached and he needed a couple of moments to come to. He almost drank the air around him and filled his lungs with it to even his breathing. Only when his breaths were coming regularly again did he dare to open his eyes.

The sky above him was clouded and grey, rain wasn't too far away he could tell but everything else was unrecognizable. Lights flashed in the misty air, buildings not made of stone or sand towered above his head and the noise was as ear deafening as the smell was disgusting.

He heaved and turned on his side – and that was when he saw him. Only about two cubits away, coughing and gasping just like him and without thinking further, Mahad shoved his own dizziness aside and with pure effort of will pushed himself up. He rolled his body over the other's, gripped his arms and immobilized him as best as he could.

"Bakura!" He hissed dangerously low but all he earned in return was a provoking smirk. "What are you doing here?"

"The same as you, priest." The smirk on his captive's face turned even more poised. "Search our precious, little prince."

Mahad shoved him harder into the ground at those words and thought of a way to stall time until he had collected enough magic in his hand. He knew he couldn't overpower Bakura since the outlaw was physically stronger than him but he could still spellbind him, tie him to this place or make him talk and unveil his plans.

Everything to keep him away from Atem!

But something was off. Somehow this place or this world drained his magic and the time and energy he needed to ready such a simple spell was far too much. If things continued like this he couldn't afford using too much or too long if he ought to bring not only Atem and himself but maybe Bakura home too. He had to be quick and he needed the rest of his magic to find Atem.

"And do what?" He pressed although he already knew the answer but he hoped Bakura was distracted enough not to realize that he had raised his hand.

"Oh, a lot of things." Bakura teased, narrowed his eyes at Mahad and with a swift move turned them over and reversed their positions. Mahad tried to cast him off but Bakura's grip was hard as iron and his grin manic. "This for example."

A quick move of hand was the only warning Mahad got before a hot, sharp pain flashed through his side and he again gasped for air, desperately trying to keep himself from showing weakness with a scream. He felt his blood soaking his robes, the pain nagging at his sane mind and he concentrated it all on containing his magic. If it would only bind Bakura for a moment he could have a chance of getting away.

But he hadn't carried his thought to the end when Bakura's next blow hit him right in shoulder and the magic he'd collected in his hand dissolved into the thin air he took it from. He grunted in the back of his throat, still suppressing a scream and watched in growing horror as Bakura's already feral smirk widened even more.

"Don't you worry, priest. I'll bring the prince to you." He snarled and the air left Mahad's lungs all at once when the thief's weight lifted from his hurting body. Atem's face appeared before his inner eye, the face of the one he swore to protect and give his life for and set out to find him in this bizarre realm. He could only imagine what he was going through at this very moment and where he was, but he needed to find him. He had to get to him before Bakura could! With a last struggle he tried to shake him off completely but Bakura used his wriggling to drive the knife into his upper leg with full force and then hissed in his ear. "Piece by piece."

Mahad barely heard the mad cackle over the sound of the pained scream that was finally ripped from his throat and he could do nothing but watch helplessly as the thief disappeared into the shadows to which his senses began to fade as well...


Note to Ikahorse: I'm very sorry but as far as my planning goes, Yugi won't appear in this story and I will have Atem/Seto as a couple.