Return to the Old Ways

by kayono

The Pharaoh and King have returned, but the Fates and Destiny have yet to let them out of their grasp. There's more in the darkness than is known, but 'life isn't interesting unless there's a chance of dying.'

2. Marks and Shadows

Title: Return to the Old Ways

Chapter 1: Shadows and Marks

Disclaimer: I do not own, you do not sue. Or, the whole thing starting with 'Kay-fuzz does not own' and ends with, 'Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad'.

Warning: If anything, more spoilers for the AE arc... but I think I just about finished that part up in the Prologue. And a REALLY bad beginning of a cross-over... Oi... Oh, and some swearing. Yes, kawaii Baku-chan swears. And yes, I just called him 'kawaii Baku-chan'. Forgive me- it's part of a joke. Ah, wonderful chibi-ness...

Rating: T (what is up with this new thing, anyways?)

Words: 19963 (Iz a lot...)

---

Key

:-blah-: Yugi

:blah: Yami

((blah)) Bakura

(-blah-) Ryou

---

Yugi groaned as he slowly woke up. The bright light above his head, probably coming from some windows, made him try to reach up to shield his eyes, only to find that his arm felt as though it weighed about 100 times more than it should. He soon found that all of his body was exceptionally weak, including his eye lids, not allowing him to open his eyes.

He was barely able to move his found and, upon discovering this, tried to speak to someone to find out what was going on. However, he instead realized that although his mouth could work, no sound exited from his parched lips, and his throat twanged painfully whenever he tried to speak.

Although slightly panicing, he still had a few of his senses, like touch for certain. And smell, if the heavily alcohol-scented air was any indication. In all truthfullness, it smelt like he was in the hospital. This only made him worry further. If he was indeed in the hospital, then what had happened? The last thing he remembered was leaving Ryou in the museum, and he heading home, planning on stopping off at the new burger joint on the way to grab something to eat.

Although he couldn't move, he still felt the crisp, starched sheets under his fingers and sweaty palms, telling him that he most likely was in a hospital. Upon realizing this, he immediately concentrate all his senses on seeing if he could feel the familiar weight of the Sennen Puzzle against his chest. And promptly tried to scream when he couldn't.

However, part of his panic was removed when he calmed down enough to let his mind search the area around him for the constant pulse of Shadow Magic that surrounded the ancient Item, and felt it nearby, on what he could only assume was a table.

The panic was even further reduced when someone placed the Puzzle onto his chest, almost like how it would have layed had it been around his neck, in it's proper place. Feeling that small amount of comfort be restored, he didn't even try to search the Puzzle for signs of his aibou, his yami- Atemu- knowing full well that Atemu had returned to his present, Yugi's past.

Grateful for whoever had given him that small piece of peace, he tried to convey it, his mouth working to form the words, yet no sound came from his mouth. A gentle hand upon his own made him stop, when a slightly muffled, gurgling noise caught his attention. Focusing on it, it seemed he listening to it under water- however, he could still hear, and listened intently to what the person said.

"You are too precious, too powerful to loose, young one. Forgive me for what I did, and what I will end up doing to you. You have all the makings of a powerful sorcerer, if not wizard. Get better soon."

The gentle touch was removed from his hand, and he heard something that could possibly be a door opening and closing. So, whoever did this to him was sorry for it? And a wizard? Him? Not to mention that always-pleasant mention of some great pain coming up.

'Haven't I suffered through enough pain? Why can't the world just let me be... if only Ryou were here... Or Yami...'

He drifted into an uncomfortable sleep, dreaming of Pharaohs, theives, dancers, deserts, fire and blood.

---

Ryou sighed as he sat uncomfortably on the edge of his bed, staring at the golden ring that hung around his neck, and was currently being held tenderly in his pale white hands. Although he could still draw comfort from it, the Sennen Ring's powers were slowly ebbing away, like the oceans at low tide. They were just beyond his reach, taunting him, teasing him. He knew long ago that he would never be able to fully control the only truly 'dark' item of the seven- that was his Yami's power alone.

However, he had never thought that the powers of the Ring would be completely out of his grasp.

His soul was constantly on fire, feeling as though he was being burned from the inside out, and though Yugi did a good job of hiding it, he was feeling the same way. Regardless of whatever relationship Yugi had with Yami, and Ryou with Bakura, the feeling of pain, of being seperated so completely, like their very souls were being torn apart constantly, dipped in flames, and stappled back together before the process repeated itself was almost too much to handle.

And though he had though many times about suicide, he took comfort from the fact that someone in the world- a special, tri-colored haired midget someone- knew what he was going through, and was helping him work throught the pain, while all the while asking for help.

Yugi's other friends, whom Ryou could distantly call 'friends' as well were not of much help. None of them had ever been bonded to someone, so totally connected to another that to be apart caused pain beyond all Hells.

He sighed again as he gently brushed his pointer finger along the five pointers that hung down from the Ring, wishing that he would be able to feel the presence that was both comforting and worrying at the same time. His yami was abusive, using him to achieve whatever goals he had set out. But that time, when they had dueled against Yami, and Bakura had switched with him to save him...

Ryou sighed, confused. It was hell living with Bakura, through all Hells and back without him.

He continued playing the gold Item for nearly another hour before deciding that it was time to go to sleep. He was about to take off the Ring, but was afraid that he might wake up in the morning and in find the Ring's powers even further out of his grasp, lengthening the gap between him and his Yami.

Not even checking the Soul Coridor, Ryou let his head fall onto his pillow, making a mental note to talk to Yugi in the morning. Surely he might know how to handle this new kind of distance.

Standing just inside his Soul Room door, Bakura looked out through a small crack at his hikari's open door, watching the young man's chest rise and fall rythmically. He had heard his hikari's ponderings for the last hour and a half or so, and, deciding that making his hikari live through hell was not the best way to handle things (as Dani had so kindly taught him), he walked slowly over to the extravagant bed that he had never remembered being in his Soul Room before.

Shrugging it off, he decided to not let Ryou know of his presence, until the next time the albino hikari decided to try to reach the Ring's powers. Afterall, although making Ryou live through hell was no longer his objective, it certainly would still be fun watching him squirm.

---

The morning dawned bright, cold, and dreary. Not many people were awake at that time- those who were, however, were working very hard at whatever they were doing, whether it be eating their breakfast, drinking coffee, on their to work, or at work.

One such man stood outside his home/game shop, the bright green letters spelling out 'Kame' above his head proclaiming the name of the shop. The broom in his hands swept smootly back and forth, brushing away the dirt and dust that had collected in front of the door to the shop.

Taking a break from sweeping for a moment, he glanced up to his grandson's bedroom window, eyeing it. Of course, Yugi didn't normally get up without help for another few hours, and since it was Sunday, Sugoroku decided that the tri-colored haired wonder could use some rest. He had been growing steadily weaker, tired and dead to the world since that trip to the museum he and his friends had taken about two, almost three weeks ago.

Sugoroku wiped his hand across his forehead, trying to remember when Yugi had come home last night. He hadn't helped with the shipments, that much the elder man knew, and breifly wondered why his grandson would skip out on helping him. However, his thoughts turned once again to when Yugi came home, and, not being able to remember when, simply assumed that his aging memory was failing him.

Turning back to sweeping, he concentrated solely on the one task. Afterall, people don't like walking on dirt.

---

As consciousness finally found him again, he still felt his body worn out. Arms, legs, even his eyes were too heavy to lift. Deciding to just rest until his body could work again, he mulled over whatever he could remember- which was virtually everything, including those haunting words that Dani had uttered before they had been whisked away. He shuddered as he thought about what might have happened- and what did.

The look on Bakura's face had told him all he had needed to know- the Thief King was both shocked, apalled, stunned, and obviously hurt. To have lost so many people in just one place, and then Dani, who he had seemed to have grown quite fond of...

He attempted to shake his head, only to find it still immobile. He tried to growl, but found that his voice didn't work- wouldn't work. Everything he tried to do, he was unable to, and even his mouth after a while was beginning to seize up.

Frustrated, annoyed, and obviously unhappy, he tried to think of what could be happening that would prevent movement- although there was a strong magical force in the area, it wasn't being used to bind him. Though, it did feel like it was pulling on him...

Shrugging it off- as much as he could shrug- he instead focused his attention on his other.

:Aibou:

No answer.

:Yugi:

Something like a small groan seeped through the strained link, and he was suddenly sure that either his hikari was in a lot of pain- or, that it was early. Deciding to wait and see which it was (although believeing it was just early), he relaxed his body, and let more unconciousness over take him.

---

Ryou sighed as he stretched out on his bed, having just woken up. His dreams- thought not being nearly as prophetic, nor accurate, as when his yami was around, showed troubling times ahead for everyone he knew. Frowning slightly, he looked over at the window, staring at the sun. For some reason, he felt more complete, like his yami was there. But that should have been impossible, right?

He was about to go check his soul room and corridor, to see if anything had changed, when the ringing of the phone broke through the silence. Growling, he slipped out of bed and wrapped a midnight blue robe around his silken grey-black pajamas, the look on his face veryBakura-ish.

Making it to the phone on the fifth ring, he answered sleepily, "Moshi mo-(yawn)-shi..."

"Bakura?"

Ryou woke up slightly quicker than normal at that- Jou did not call himusually, and never this early unless there was an emergency. "What is it, Jou?"

"You were the last to see Yug last night, right?"

"Yes..."

"Do you know where he went?"

"Erm... he had to leave because Mouto ojii-san wanted him to help with some shipment or something. And there's that new burger place, so he probably stopped there."

"Right. Well, thanks Bakura!"

"Wait, Jou!"

"...yeah?"

"What... what happened?"

"Well, when Mouto ojii-san went to wake Yugi up this morning..."

"...what?"

"Yugi wasn't there. Nothing in his room had been touched since he left yesterday. He's completely disappeared."

---

Ryou approached the Kame game shop just as a few other people who had heard about the supposed 'kidnapping' showed up to wish Sugoroku well. Jou, Anzu, Honda, Otogi, Shizuka, and even Mai, Seto and Mokuba were there, waiting ouside the door to go in and comfort Sugoroku. Not understanding why they were waiting, Ryou walked up to them, his nervousness shown clearly on his face.

His hands against the lump that was the Ring underneath his shirt- even without his yami inside of it, the others were still scared of the piece of blood-gold, constantly thinking that it would be sending them to the Shadow Realm at any time. Sighing, he finished his treak to them, waving slowly. Mai was the first to notice him.

"Oh, Bakura-kun! You heard what happened to Yugi-kun?"

Ryou nodded. "Yeah. Jou told me on the phone this morning."

"Why did Jou call you?" Seto asked, eyeing Ryou slowly. Although he still didn't believe in the spirits (and still thought that the many Shadow Games played in the Battle City finals were just illusions), he knew that Ryou could at least be sadistic at times.

"Because Yugi and I met at the museum last night. In front of the Tablet of the Nameless Pharaoh."

"And why did you meet there?" A new voice spoke from the doorway to the game shop, and as they all turned they spotted three police officers with Sugoroku standing there, eyeing Ryou carefully.

Ryou shrugged, trying not to look too depressed. "Because we really like that tablet- and, one picture looks kind of like Yu-"

"BAKURA!" Ryou blinked as he looked over his shoulder, seeing a motorcycle coming up the road. It stopped barely two feet away from Ryou who didn't even blink at that- however, nearly everyone else quickly jumped away, trying to distance themselves from the rider.

Slipping off this helmet as he hopped off the bike, he immediately turned to everyone, blonde hair and gold jewelery shining in the morning sun. "I came as soon as I heard! Any news on the Pharaoh?"

"Not that we know of, Malik." Ryou stated calmly, before turning back to the police officers. "Anything else you want to know?"

The officers looked between each other, before turning to him. "As you were the last one to see Mouto, you're going to have to come with us and answer some questions."

Ryou sighed. First the loss of this yami, then the strange fire in his soul, then the Ring's distace, THEN Yugi's going missing, and finally being basically arrested? This was just not his day- no, scratch that, week. Something occuring to him before he left, Ryou turned to Malik.

"How did you-"

"Isis, remember?"

Ryou blinked, the nodded. Even without the Sennen Tauk, Isis still had the Sight. And with it, she could be annoyingly accurate.

Seto grumbled, before turning to the police. "Whenever you're finished with Bakura, can you call me? I need to whack some sense into him."

Malik rounded on the CEO. "Sense? Bakura needs some sense knocked into him? I think you need something more than sense knocked into you, Kaiba."

"And you need a reality check." Turning back to the cops, he addressed them again. "Is that alright?"

"...sure. If you're family."

Ryou sweatdropped as Seto turned his most dominating stare on the police. One backed down immediately, a second right after. The third, however, matched his glare stride for stride, and they stood there for a good few minutes before Malik turned back to Ryou. "So... why are you being taken by the police?"

"'Cause I was the last to see Yugi."

"Really? Where?"

"The museum, by the tablet. When Yugi got a call from Mouto ojii-san, we parted ways. I returned the table to Isis' room, and he decided to go straight home-"

"With probably stopping on the way at that burger place."

"Yup. What's that place called, anyways?"

"Something like Burger King... and Yugi would go for those, wouldn't he?"

"Just like you'd go for anything gold and shiny."

"And you'd go for raw meat."

"No!"

"Oh, right sorry. Like he'd go for raw meat."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Did you have to bring that up?"

"What? It's been a freaking week, Bakura!"

"How... how can you say that?"

"Because. It can't really be that hard."

"It's like my soul is permanently on fire. Like everything I touch turns to crap, not gold. Like everything in the world is horrible, evil, disgusting, and just plain wrong."

"...did you just swear?" Malik blinked in surprise.

Ryou also blinked, before he shrugged his shoulders. "Guess so."

"Well, if that's how you feel, how can you be so calm?"

"I dunno... I hate to say it, but it's almost like I'm getting used to it. I hate the feeling though- both it being there, and it not."

Malik couldn't say anything to that, and began thinking. "Wait... that's how you feel, right?"

"I just said that, Malik."

"I know, I know. Just stick with me, Bakura. You feel that way-"

"I-"

"I know you just said that, but let me finish! Have you ever thought about suicide?"

Ryou paled. "A while ago... and... and just last night."

There were a few gasps around them, but for the most part Ryou ignored them. Malik's eyes widened. "Was you... were you ever... well... close?"

"Not especially so, why- oh." Ryou's eyes widened as well, before he began pacing around, swearing in words that he had heard Bakura say when the yami was in a bad mood. The albino could have sworn that he thought he felt a small amount of humour coming from his soul corridor, but ignored it, continuing to brood on how stupid he could have been.

Malik almost let a smile on his face, seeing that some of the yami had been transfered to the hikari. He did grin when he realized what Ryou was saying- in Ancient Arabic, no less- and that the patern of the words made no sense what-so-ever.

Everyone else just stood there, not getting it. The police looked ready to intervene, but Malik, seeing this, quickly stopped Ryou by standing in front of him, his grin disapearing as he addressed the other hikari.

"It's not your fault."

"No, but I should have seen it! Even with all the talking and 'help' we've been giving each other! If I would have thought- if I could have-"

"Bakura, calm down."

"Would you be calm? Would you be calm if there's a posibility, and you could have stopped it!" Ryou was close to tears now, and Malik felt his sympathy go out to the other teen.

Mokuba frowned, looking between Malik and Ryou. "Erm... what are you guys talking about?"

Ryou spun around, facing Mokuba, anger building inside of him. He was about to explode when a small, comforting feeling swept through his body, definately emmanating from his soul corridor. Frowning, he closed his eyes, ignoring the stares he was recieveing. Just before he dived into his soul room, he let his hand trace the shape of the Ring, and feeling it against his cool skin, allowed the points to skin slowly into his skin again.

Hissing from the pain, he completely tuned out the outside world, missing the gasps of surprise as five small spots of blood appeared on his shirt.

Malik, from his time spent inhabiting the albino's mind, quickly recognized the pattern and forced Ryou's body to lay down on the ground. The others watched the young Egyptian and albino, looking between the two. Otogi was the one to break the silence. "What just happened? And what were you two talking about?"

Malik turned to the group, eyeing them all, before turning to Sugoroku, his eyes serious. Sugoroku, unsure of how to react to the stare simply stared back, before turning his eyes away from the piercing lavender.

"Malik..." Jou said aloud, still sore that the young teen in front of him had caused so much trouble.

"Look. You know that... they went back, right?"

Jou, Honda, and Anzu nodded, the others shaking their heads 'no'. Sugoroku frowned. "They? What 'they'?"

Malik looked abashed. "You mean... you didn't... never knew about the Puzzle?"

At that, Sugoroku's eyes flashed in recognition, before his frown deepened. "I did, for a while. He saved my life, once. Fourty years ago now. But, still- went back?"

"To AE."

Seto, Mai, Mokuba, Otogi and Shizuka still didn't get it, but Malik paid no attention. Instead, he continued, itching to use his Rod to find out what was up with Ryou. "Bakura and his yami were never very close- if anything, it was an abusive relationship."

"I can see where he gets that." Jou murmured, frowning at the young albino laying perfectly still, hardly breathing. The police and few people who had gathered blinked and/or frowned. Yami? Didn't that mean dark?

"However, Pharaoh and mini-Pharaoh were almost too close- I found it rather disturbing."

Anzu rolled her eyes. 'Leave it to Malik...'

"Anyways, think about it. Even with that relationship, if Bakura though about suicide-"

Anzu gasped in horror, and she wasn't the only one. Out of the group, it was only Mai, Otogi, Shizuka and Seto who didn't suddenly gasp in horror, surprise, or disgust. They merely blinked or kept stoic expressions. Shizuka turned to her brother, her eyes pleading for some help to understand.

Jou, seeing this, frowned as he tried to think of a good explanation. "Well, er... how do we say this..."

Sugoroku, holding his heart and looking like he was about to have a heart attack, however, cut Jou off before he could say anything more. "Yugi... he wouldn't... he couldn't..."

Malik had a rather unpleasant expression on his face as he reached down with one hand to touch the five points of blood on Ryou's shirt.

"Two halves of one soul- once bound, never apart. I can stand the pain- I would much rather feel this pain then know that he could be around again. But, Bakura and Yugi..."

There was silence for nearly a minute, before Malik sighed and pulled out the rod. Everyone who knew what it was froze immediately, not sure if they wanted to know what he was doing with the Item. Malik glared at them, slightly hurt by their fear, before saying simply, "I'm not going to use this on you. I have boundries, you know."

"Then what are ya gonna use that for?" Jou asked, hiding Shizuka behind him. Malik frowned deeper, before turning to Sugoroku.

"I'm going to see what's up with Bakura. Is there anywhere we can lay him down- other than the sidewalk?"

Sugoroku blinked, before nodding and leading Malik (who had picked up Ryou's thin, frail body) into the game shop. Not willing to let Mouto ojii-san be left alone with both Malik and Bakura, the group normally known as Yugi-tachi followed Malik, the police, after 'shooing' everyone away, bringing up the rear, shutting and locking the door.

Malik lay Ryou down on the couch, with everyone watching his every move. The police, not understanding, turned to Shizuka who looked like the most likely person to talk to them. "Ms, what is going on?"

Shizuka turned to them, uncertanty in her eyes. "Well... I'm not really sure. But-"

"Katsuya-chan, I am sorry to interrupt you, but I would like some kind of silence so that I don't completely destroy Bakura's mind." Malik commented over his shoulder, sending a light glare at the other teen. Shizuka was quiet immediately, while everyone's attention turned back to Malik.

Gently lifting up Ryou's shirt, Malik revealed the Sennen Ring, in all it's destructive glory, laying innocently on Ryou's chest, it's five pointers embedded deep into his skin, nearly all the way up to the small connector loops. There were a few small gasps, before Malik sent another glare.

Gripping the Sennen Rod in one hand, he placed his other just over Ryou's forehead, invoking the power of the Item, and causing the Eye to appear on both their foreheads. Closing his eyes, Malik let his mind drift away into the now-connected Soul Corridors.

There was silence for nearly a minute before Shizuka tried to walk forward and reach Ryou, to remove the obviously painful Ring pointers from his chest. When she was only four feet away, however, a strange barrier pushed her back, along with a quick stream of what looked like living shadows.

"I... I'm scared, you guys." She stated as she clung to her brother's arm.

"It's okay, Shizuka. But what' pysco doing back here? I thought he went back to Egypt with Isis and Rishid?" Jou asked as he gave his sister a gentle hug.

"Don't you people get it? People change, koinu. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Especially during high-stress situations, like Battle City." Seto said emotionlessly. Jou, hearing the 'koinu' comment immediately attempted to attack the CEO.

Anzu, from her position with Shizuka and Honda trying to hold Jou back, turned to the two hikaris. "I hope that what they were saying didn't actually happen to Yugi."

Sugoroku shook his head. "I don't think so. Yugi's a good boy, with a good head on his shoulders. He wouldn't do something like that."

Shizuka nodded, glad to hear some kind of encouragement, when Otogi suddenly asked, "Okay, even after Battle City and Doma, I still don't get this. Why would Yugi commit suicide?"

"If he did, which I doubt happened"Jou said quickly, temporarily distracted from attempt # 3, 967 at killing Seto, "there would only be one reason. The loss of the Pharaoh."

This only served to further confuse many people in the room, the police included. The one that seemed to have enough backbone to stand up to Seto asked calmly, "What are you talking about?"

Before anyone could saying anything, a calm, clear and mystic voice came from the doorway (which had somehow been unlocked) said quietly, "It is a story that involves many people- but not you. And do not fear. If Yugi has indeed comitted suicide, then we'd all probably be dead. Even over that great distance, one will always know when their other half is dead."

Anzu winced, remembering how Yami had acted when Yugi's soul had been taken by the Seal of the Oricalcos. "I can certainly see why you would say that, Isis."

The Seer entered further into the house, Rishid right behind her. The police stared dubiously at the two, not sure whether to arrest them for breaking and entering. "We thought that Malik might be here. But... why are they searching Ryou's soul?"

Sugoroku blinked. "That's what their doing?"

"And a very thourough search, too, it seems." Rishid commented, noticing the pointers embedded into Ryou's skin.

Isis nodded. "A very, very thourough search." Turning to Sugoroku, she addressed him. "Don't worry. Yugi is safe, that much I can be sure of. While we wait for these two to finish, could I make something for everyone to drink?"

As Isis was only Malik's sister, and hadn't really done anything too wrong at Battle City, everyone nodded, glancing carefully at the hikaris, before moving into the kitchen to talk, and try to explain to the best of their abilities what exactly happened. The police officers, however, stayed with the two motionless bodies, waiting for them to finish whatever they were doing before dragging both of them now down to the station.

---

Upon entering his soul room, Ryou made a break for the corridor, partially afraid of what he would find if he had just imagined the emotion feed. Throwing open the door, he launched himself through the portal, only to come face to face with a closed soul room door.

Obviously, there was no way to tell for sure if Bakura was inside it, as, afterall, it was closed. Stepping cautiously up to the door, he placed his hand against the wrought iron designs that decorated it, and, willing it to open with all his heart, pushed gently.

The black door swung open, slightly creaking on it's hinges. With no light in the room, it took Ryou a while for his eyes to adjust. When they did, however, he wished they hadn't. Instruments of torture littered the walls and ceilings, puddles of dried blood and what looked suspiciously like wet blood were on floors, walls, even the ceiling in some parts (making the hikari wonder how those got there), and, in one corner, a large, fluffy bed that looked so out of place in the room stood magnificently, crimson sheets, pillows, blankets and small insignias drapped almost liesurely all over the solid gold bed.

However, Ryou had seen this all many times before (although he wished dearly that he hadn't), as such that was not what made him depressed.

No one, not even a single Shadow, was in the soul room.

Sighing, Ryou was about to turn around and go back when he felt an arm wrap around his stomach, and a very familiar voice, who's breath sent just as familiar shivers down his spine, whispered in his ear, "Now now, hikari. Didn't think I would let you get away that easily, ne?"

Ryou gasped, and immediately relaxed. Bakura felt this and frowned. "What? No fear? No screaming? You sure know how to make a guy feel bad, hikari."

Ryou almost giggled in relief, and turned around quickly. He wrapped his arms tightly around the yami's neck, feeling far more immature than most people would give him credit for, and burried his face into the other's chest. "Bakura..." He whispered, everything he had felt trying to be expressed in the one word.

Bakura grinned into his hikari's hair, glad that the teen albino had missed him, before dragging him back to the light's own soul room. Ryou blinked, looking at his yami, not sure of what was going on. Bakura grumbled at the hikari's look.

"What? Can't I be happy to not be a fugitive?"

"...wasn't that your own choice?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. However, I was a fugitive that apparently 'served' the Pharaoh."

Ryou blinked, before getting struck over the head by Bakura. "Honestly, hikari, can't you keep up? So... what has the Pharaoh's midget been doing?"

Ryou gave an almost Yugi-pout and Bakura winced. "That's it. No more hanging out so much with the mini-Pharaoh."

"But Yugi was the only one I could talk to! I know that you and yami keep trying to kill each other... but Yugi- and the others, too- he's- they're- well..."

Bakura snorted. "They're warping your mind, hikari-pretty." Ryou blanched at the name, and Bakura, grinning at tormenting Ryou, continued on in a purr, "Oree-sama thinks that hikari-pretty- OW!"

Ryou, acting both upon instinct and out of fear, had whapped Bakura on the arm- hard. Bakura, although surprised that Ryou actually had enough strength to hurt someone like that, quickly had his hikari in a headlock, before throwing him to the ground and proceeding to pin him with unnatural quickness.

"Hikari, I'm glad you're getting a backbone- but you do NOT stand up to me." Ryou didn't say anything- however, unlike the usual fear that Bakura was used to seeing, his eyes reflected something that looked disturbingly like the blankness that one who's soul has been taken had in their eyes.

Bakura almost backed off, before Ryou whispered, "If having you back means that the abuse starts again, then I'm not sure if I want you to be here."

The yami looked down at his hikari carefully, hiding his shock. He knew Ryou had felt the pain- the flames of seperation. But for his hikari to actually voice such thoughts, even after what he had thought last night...

Bakura grumbled, making up his mind. "...I won't abuse you, Ryou. However, you are still mine, and that's final. No one else's. Do you understand?" When Ryou paused before nodding, Bakura pressed on. "That means no one can call you 'their's. Not 'my' friend, not 'my' partner. You are mine, and mine alone."

"H... hai, Bakura-sama."

Bakura grinned, a feral look, before yanking his hikari up straight and cupping the light's chin in his hand. "I'm glad we understand each other." Ryou let a small smile cross his face, and Bakura took this as the cue to an impromptu wrestling match.

Another voice from the doorway, however, broke up the match, causing both Ryou and Bakura to look up from their positions in a headlock and upside down (respectively). "Well, five minutes are you're already at it. Would you two like a room? Or better yet- a lock?"

Ryou let out a strange sounding laugh (as most of his air was being conviently cut off by his other's arm) and Bakura growled. "Watch your tounge, Gravekeeper."

Malik laughed, helping Ryou out of the headlock and forcing both halves of the King soul onto the bed. "Oh, I'll be watching something alright." Ryou blushed slightly while Bakura gave another growl, before a smirk appeared on his face.

"So, what brings you to our soul rooms, Malik?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just that Ryou decidedly just 'fainted' in front of a number of people- the currently Yugi-less Yugi-tachi among the group, police officers and a few curious neighbours. And that Shizuka looked about ready to faint when I checked out the five points of blood on your shirt."

Bakura blinked, then turned to Ryou. The hikari looked down. "I... I really wanted to see you again. So, I let the Ring..."

Bakura grinned, grabbing his hikari- and putting himinto another headlock. Ryou, used to this by now, let his yami do this to him- however, the grasp was not as much of a strangle-hold as it had been in the past. "Finally understanding the beauty of pain, ne? Ah, I'm proud of you, hikari... tell me, how many times has the Ring tasted our blood since I left?"

"...eight times." Bakura paused before laughing, Malik sporting a small grin.

"EIGHT! My, hikari, I thought I was masochistic!"

"No, you're sadistic." Malik corrected, picking some dirt from under one of his fingernails. Bakura glared at him, turning back to his hikari.

"I'm going to take control of the body."

Malik put up his hands. "Hold up, let me at least get back to my own body before you go on a rampage. And, whoever takes control, you're currently laying on Yugi's couch in his home. FYI, as I doubt Ryou's filled you in yet, Yugi went missing sometime last night. Maybe suicide, but if you're back..."

He let it hang as we waved 'bye' over his shoulder, exiting the soul room. Bakura looked slyly at Ryou. "Mini-Pharaoh might have killed himself? Well, now that is the ultimate masochist. I don't suppose that you thought about it? Say... about one this morning?"

Ryou blanched, then glared. "You've been back since then! Why the hell didn't you tell me!"

"Ah, the hikari curses! You're learning, Ryou!"

"Bakura!" Ryou screamed after him, as Bakura, feeling Malik leaving to go back to his own body, left the soul room, taking control of the body.

---

The police officers were startled when both teens opened their eyes at the same time, even more so when the albino gently fingered the strange golden pendant who's pointers were digging into his skin. He grinned savagely, his eyes narrowing sharply and his hair becoming more spikey than before.

He suddenly sat up straight, shirt sliding down to cover up the pendant, while the blonde one simply stood up and walked into the kitchen, not sparing the officers a chance to say anything. However, the albino noticed them, and shot them a look, clearly stating, 'What the hell are you looking at?'

While two backed down, the third walked forward, grabbing the albino by the wrist. "You're coming with us. As the last to see Mouto, we need you to answer some questions."

Bakura almost growled, but quieted when Malik walked back out, the entire gang following him. Bakura immediately put on the 'Ryou' face, making his hikari groan in his soul room. He opened his mouth to speak, when Seto walked over, surprising showing some emotion- though, that emotion was obvious, open, undescribable anger. The moment he was in front of Bakura, he raised his hand and slapped the yami across the face, looking like he wanted to do a number of other things too- namely murder.

However, the officer immediately moved in front of Bakura, blocking him from view.

(-I'm glad he did that, or we could have been in trouble.-) Ryou said, glancing kindly at the older man. Bakura simply grumbled, still putting on the 'Ryou' face.

((If I get my way, neither he nor Kaiba will-))

(-Kura!-)

Bakura grumbled as the officer adressed Seto. "If I may ask, sir, why did you strike this young man?"

Seto merely glared. "Because this 'young man' is living in the past. He can't accept the changes that life brings, and, apparently, neither can Yugi."

Bakura snorted. "Yugi's not dead, you ass."

"But he's living in the past."

"Considering what the past means to some people, Kaiba, living in it isn't as bad as what it could be. Like forgetting it."

"And what would you know about forgetting the past, Bakura?"

The thief grinned savagely, surprising everyone. They had only ever seen the yami with that smirk, not the hikari. But the yamis were gone... weren't they?

Bakura, being Bakura (and contrary to his hikari's open denial and refusal) decided to play around with the cop's minds. Taking one by the wrist, he asked in his most Ryou-ish voice. "If you really want me to help you find Yugi, then I will." The officer looked down, nodded, then signalled to the others.

"Let's head down to the station."

"Aren't we bringing that Egyptian boy along?"

"Yeah... where'd he go?"

No one had noticed when Malik went missing, all too preocupied with 'Ryou's' sudden, random, mood swings. Shrugging, the police proceeded to steer Bakura out to their cars, where he got in comfortably, and cheerfully waved 'bye' to Seto-tachi.

Mai frowned. "Is it just me, or did Bakura seem a little... off?"

"Are they gone?" Came a quiet voice from behind Rishid. Blinking and turning around, they all watched as Malik stepped out from behind his step brother, having hidden himself within the folds of the dark purple cloak. Isis shook her head, Rishid remained emotionless while everyone else just sweatdropped at the sight. Malik, with slightly wider eyes than before, holding onto Rishid's cloak looked like a three year-old chibi version of himself that was just walking into day care for the first time.

Looking around quickly, he completely stepped out from behind Rishid's cloak, and turned to Isis and Rishid. "Is it okay ifI go? I need to check out something."

Isis looked about to protest, but Rishid placed a hand on Malik's shoulder. "Be careful." Was the only thing he uttered. Malik nodded, and then hopped on his motorcycle, putting his helmet quickly on his head, pushing up the kickstand with his foot, and quickly speeding out of sight.

Isis rounded on Rishid. "Why did you- he-"

"Malik had a haunted look in his eyes. Something happened that he didn't want to know, or that scared him. He needs time alone." Rishid stated simply, obviously to Isis and not anyone else, and then promptly fell into silence again.

Everyone looked after the small dust cloud that was Malik, wondering where he was going.

---

Bakura, meanwhile, was trying desperately not to laugh at the police's efforts to find him. They had arrived at the police station no problem, but when the two officers in the car with him made to get out, he had quickly found his 'own' way out of the car, leaving the two officers- and now the third, he mused as the other car pulled up- to search for the albino.

(-Re, yami, now they're going to be looking for me everywhere!-)

((Yes, but I got us out of answering annoying questions, ne?))

To that Ryou had no answer, and as such remained silent, while Bakura slunk off away from the station, keeping to the shadows until he could be sure he was far enough away that they wouldn't actually try looking for him.

Of course, Bakura hadn't been paying too much attention, and was therefore surprised (never startled) when he found himself near the entrance of a small, side alley, conviently hidden from view by... well, everything. Clothes hung overhead from lines, not a single window looked down onto this small, discrete and deserted alley, and a pile of boxes had been placed at the front to block the rest of the alley from view.

Frowning, Bakura pushed his way in, careful to set the boxes back just as they were. (-Careful...-)

He stopped short, finding that the alley, for all that he thought it was, had nothing special about it at all.

Even more surprising was seeing Malik standing in front of a seemingly innocent brick wall, Millenium Rod out and tapping random bricks.

"Malik, I do so hate to be a bother, but- what are you doing?"

Malik whipped around, and, seeing it was only Bakura, visibly relaxed. "It's you. Good. Come here and help me tap some of these bricks."

"Why? Hopping they'll open and let you enter a world where sugar is the main food group?"

Malik almost pouted but instead glared, continuing to tap the bricks. "I do NOT eat that much sugar. That's Yugi and, now that I think about it, sometimes Ryou."

(-I haven't had sugar for a long time!-)

((If a long time is half a day, hikari.))

Bakura smirked as Malik continued on, before sighing. "Seeing you go around tapping random bricks is, although so entertaining, taking too long." Lifting up the Ring (which had become undone from his skin when he had sat down in the police car), he whispered something in a language that had supposedly died out 3, 000 years ago (not that anyone was counting), before the suddenly clean pointers... well, pointed to one specific brick on the wall.

Grinning, Malik mock-bowed to the thief, before tapping it once with the rod.

A small hole was revealed, the brick that was once there seemingly disapeared into thin air. "Names?" An older voice asked through the hole, and Malik was unsure before Bakura took over.

"Bakura and Ishtar."

"Bakura... Ishtar... Bakura... Ish-oh yes! Come on in!" The voice exclaimed, and the hole grew in size until it could comfortably fit six people walking side-by-side through. "Well, come on in, don't be afraid!" the voice said again, and Bakura, sensing that Ryou would probably be better handling the situation (there IS a difference between innocent and mock-innocent), Bakura let Ryou take over before following Malik through the portal.

An elder man stood in their way, grinning broadly, a clip board in his hands. "Good, you two are here. Now, I can finally get away from this wall!"

Ryou blinked, unsure of what happened, while Malik, seeing his companion's blank look, pulled him further in so the hole-in-the-wall could close. The older man chuckled. "Come on, then. We should go get your things."

Malik and Ryou, of course, had absolutely no idea what was going on, and Malik was about to say so when Ryou grabbed his arm. "If we say anything, we might get kicked out- and this place is filled with magic!"

Malik nodded- he could sense it, too. Coming around a corner, they stopped at the sight in front of them. Three overly large buildings, extremely tall, really tall, and tall, stood in front of them, people dressed in both 'normal' clothes and muggle clothes walking around between them. Other buildings, some big, some small, lined both sides of what appeared to be a large, long, and wide street, stretching out on either side until it curved out of sight- although they suspected that it went on like that for a while longer yet.

The older man quickly led them to the really tall building, entering and telling them over his shoulder, "This is Gringott's, a bank. Exchange your money here, and then we'll be on our way."

Both Shadow Mages paled. They didn't exactly have any money on them...

However, the old man led them up to a teller. Malik and Ryou were unable to stop from staring, and even Bakura was hard pressed to not look amazed. Not only was the teller in front of them what looked like a goblin from a fairy tale, every single teller as far as they could see (which was pretty far) was one of these creatures, too. The goblin looked down on them, and pointed them with a kind smile further down the line of tellers, to one that looked very lonely, and very- not busy.

Unsure, the old man led the two that way, until they reached the goblin. He looked old- older than the man behind the two teens, and the man looked OLD. The teller looked like a strange cross between a human male (with all the white, furryhair that made up his beard and eye brows) anda goblin like theothers (with his decidedly green skin).

Malik looked aboutready to comment, Ryou looked about ready to shut Malik up,the old man looked about ready tojust stand back and donothing, and the gblin looked about ready to, well-

((He looks like he's going to croak any second, ahou.)) Bakura commented from his soul room.

Ryou cringed. (-Yami!-)

The old goblin, though, looked up and wordlessly pulled two, pure gold keys out from his vest, giving one to each of them. He spoke in a low, scratchy voice. "You two... have a... lot of gold... and other... treasures... in your vaults..."

"Our... vaults? We have vaults?"

The old goblin looked about ready to laugh. "You... your family... long history... first when opened... asked for numbers... 0 and 2..."

Malik let his curiosity get the better of him. "Who has number one?"

"Royal... ty..."

((Bet it's the Pharaoh.))

(-Shush, yami, I'm trying to listen.-)

"Riches spread... Egypt... England... Japan..." The old goblin said slowly, before motioning with his hand to another, youner goblin.

Both Ryou and Malik blinked when the new goblin ran up, looking nervously excited. "Take them to... 0 and 2..."

The new, younger goblin bowed hastily, turning around to face Malik and Bakura, completely ignoring the old man. "Please, sirs, come this way!"

Not waiting for an answer, he practically dragged them off to another door, which led to a hallway, which led to another few doors and hallways, which led to a mine cart, which led to a REALLY bumpy and uncomfortable ride (for Ryou... Malik and Bakura were actually enjoying it), which led to another few hallways, another few doors, and more than a few stairs, before more doors, more hallways, and finally, three, large solid gold doors.

Malik and Bakura blinked up at the three (Bakura having taken over when Ryou looked like he was going to hurl when they got off the pysco-cart ride) doors, unsure of what to do. The goblin led Bakura to one door, and Malik to the other, leaving the third (and yet middle) door to remain closed. Although, it certainly looked the biggest out of the three...

"If sirs would, place your keys into the locks, say 'open' and the door will open!" The goblin nearly bounced with excitement.

Frowning, Bakura took one look at his key- tried not to laugh at the idea that saying 'open' would opena door- and, placing his key in the lock with Malik, both called out "Open!" at the same time.

Their doors, swinging open, creaked from ages of being forgotten in the old, musty halls that seemed to be Gringotts. Dust came down from the ceiling, and Malik felt the distinct shudder as a small creature- a spider, a mouse, a rat or whatever other small, disturbing creature happened to live down here scuttled across his feet.

Gazing inside, both felt themselves gasp (Ryou making Bakura's be in stereo), before turning to each other, a delighted look on their faces.

"This solves a few problems." Malik stated, grinning from ear to ear before diving into the vault. Bakura, showing a bit more composition, paused for a moment- before doing the exact same.

---

Both Malik and Bakura met up with the old man, small bags hung over their shoulder, clicking, clanking, and jingling, proof of their previously undiscovered wealth. Small gold rings adorned their fingers, Bakura had also found a gold colar not unlik Malik's (although not as high and not Malik's, and engraved with designs- Malik said it probably came from a priest), and both had gold scarab pendants hanging from around their necks.

The old man looked them over, shrugged, then led them out of the store. Feeling slightly more confident about their position with all the gold and riches they were aparently entitled to, Malik spoke up. "What's your name, old man?"

He gave a shallow laugh. "Call me Jii-san, Ishtar. ...you are Ishtar, right?"

Malik rolled his eyes and nodded, while Bakura conceeded control- again- to Ryou. "Er... where are we going now?" He asked slowly, looking around.

Jii-san laughed. "To get your wands, so that you don't have to use... whatever you used to enter. The power surge almost gave me a heart attack." He commented, leading them further away from the entrance.

However, looking over his shoulder, Ryou was sure that they would be able to find it- the three giant buildings ("Gringotts, Hakame- the hospital- and the Ministry buildings." Jii-san had said) towered over all other buildings, and the further away they got from it, the bigger they looked.

Eventually, they came to a relatively big building, where people were filtering in and out of it at an astounding rate. Jii-san turned to the two Shadow Mages. "Now, you're going to travel by floo powder. Take a pinch, throw it in the fire, step into the fire, and call out 'Diagon Alley!' Do you understand what to do?"

"You're not coming with us?" Ryou blinked, worriedly.

((Come on, hikari, it's not that big a deal.))

(-If it's not, then you take over!-)

So saying, Ryou retreated to his soul room, forcing Bakura to take over. Bakura blinked a few times, a stunned expression on his face, before clueing into what happened. He supressed his growling, before turning back to Jii-san, who looked amused at his little lapse. The elder man smiled while Malik shook his head.

"Come now. You understand, right?"

"Yes, but are. You. Comming. With. Us?"

Jii-san laughed. "I can't leave Alturist- this 'Alley' is a city in itself, and I'm a guide for people who don't know their way around."

Both Malik and Bakura blinked, before getting pushed into the long lines that seemed to move really quickly. They both came to two seperate fire places at the same time and looked scathingly at the large, flat bowls that held a strange kind of powder.

Malik, unsure, let Bakura go first. The albino glared at the powder, took a large handful, and through it into the fire, turning it green. Malik jumped lightly and a few chuckles were heard behind him,while Bakura, smirking,stepped into the fire, calling out, "Diagon Alley!" and vanishing.

Malik grinned, seeing it was 'safe', grabbed a handful himself and immitated Bakura.

The spinning reminded Malik of the mine-cart ride through Gringotts, making him grin instead of puke, like most people would on their first time. The fireplaces that flashe passed showed many strange sights, but Malik ignored them all,all his attention focused on the strange feeling he was experiencing. It stopped all too soon, however, andfeeling himself make contact with hard floor, he slowly stood up, looking around.

They were inside another bank (if all of these Gringotts looked the same), though everything was very... English looking. People stared increduously as Mallik heaved himself to his feet, looking forward just in time to see Bakura smirking down at him. "What? Is poor little Malik too tired to stand?"

"Is Bakura trying to get his ass kicked?"

"As ifyou could."

"Try me."

"I-"

"Excuse me."

Both boys turned to see an older man, dressed in strange, violet robes that reminded the Shadow Mages of the Shadow Realm. He frowned at them before grinning. "I suppose you are from Japan?"

This caused the two boys to frown as well. Who were these people?

Malik slowly nodded, looking between the older man and Bakura. "Yes..."

"Then welcome to Diagon Alley. I'm sure that it's not as nice as Alturist, but I'm just as sure that it will be a very interesting place for you."

Bakura smirked. "Anything new can be interesting, but it can be just as boring. So, where do we get wands?"

The man gestured they follow him. "Ollivanders is the only place. It's had years of experience. By the way, my name is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Though surprised, Malik and Bakura followed in silence, Ryou looking on from his soul room. They remained silent, until they came to an old-looking shop with gold lettering faded and peeling above the door, proclaiming it as, "Ollivanders Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C."

Malik gave a short laugh as they proceeded inside. "Think you know the original owner?"

"Urusai."

Dumbledore ushered them in, watching the two Shadow Mage's reactions to everything. He found it humourous that they found it humourous, but also slightly... unnerving. They appeared at ease with everything around them, as though they grew up with magic, but Dumbledore was sure that the two unnaturally strong wizards were muggle-born. And if they reacted the same way as the other had...

"Dumbledore. So good to see you." A voice spoke from a back room, causing Malik to jump slightly and Bakura to laugh at his companion. An older man with graying hair stepped out from behind a pile of boxes that blocked the doorway, nodding to the Headmaster.

Dumbledore let a small smile appear on his face. "Ollivander. These two-" he gestured to Malik and Bakura, "-need wands."

Ollivander scrutenized them. "A bit old to be getting wands, don't you think, Dumbledore?"

Bakura was about to show the man what 'Old' was, Ryou making frantic peace signs in his soul room, when Dumbledore quickly stepped in, feeling the surge of power coming from the albino.

"Not at all, Ollivander. If you could..."

"Ah, of course. Why don't you go first?" He asked Malik, glancing nervously at the glare and feral growling coming from Bakura. Malik shrugged, stepping forward.

"What's your wand arm?"

"Er... I'm right handed, if-"

"Alright, hold it out. Come on, now. Don' be shy."

Malik slowly held his right hand out, a tape measure jumping to attention and quickly starting to mesaure every inch of him- Malik swatting at it whenever it tried to meseaure certain parts.

Ollivander, having disappeared into a pile of boxes, came out with his arms full. "Alright, then. Oak, ten and a half inches, core of dragon heartstring."

Thus started one long run of things in the shop blowing up (the door looking like it was about to fall off it's hinges), until Malik had officially tried every wand in the front. Ollivander turned to him. "I have some extras in the back- however, they are older, might not work as well, and are more expensive."

Malik shrugged, feeling the small sack of gold he had with him. Bakura was playing with a wand he had previously found laying around in the back room, when Ollivander had been getting more wands and Dumbledore had been talking to a rather... large man outside.

The moment he had entered the room, he felt drawn to the wand, although it was burried beneath another pile of boxes. Sifting through it (Ryou trying to get him to go back to the front of the shop before anyone noticed he was missing), he had found the box and picked it up slowly. Opening it with shaky fingers, he pulled the wand out slowly, a warmth spreading through his body, feeling almost as good as when he first found his hikari.

Ryou nodded in silent agreement, watching the wand materialize within his soul room. Picking up the soul version, he felt the feeling double, as did Bakura. Looking around quickly, Bakura pocketed the wand, Ryou giving no protest, and headed back out to the front, getting there moments before Dumbledore entered the store again.

Ollivander entered the room again, frowning as he looked around, a small stack of boxes in his hand. "I don't suppose any of you had been to the back room?"

Dumbledore blinked. "Why would we be back there?"

"One of the special wands, made before Ollivanders opened, is missing. It's supposedly thousands of years old, and even I don't know what it's made of, nor where it comes from."

Malik glanced idly at Bakura, the yami shrugging. Malik shook his head, holding back a sigh. "No, sir. None of us were in there."

Ollivander sighed. "I'll help younow, young man, but you other-" he fixed his gaze on Bakura, "-you'll have to come back another day. I would like it if I could get some ministry officials in here- I still wanted to study that wand."

Malik shrugged, reaching for a box. Ollivander, taking that as the cue to continue, picked it up, missing wand temporarily forgotten.

Quickly, they went through all the wands- again- and, coming to the last box that Ollivander had brought out, he frowned. "The only ones I have left are the two- that SHOULD be three- that I'm studying. The fact that you might be paired with one of them..."

Malik shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to try, right?"

Bakura snorted- Malik didn't exactly have a lot of money, and the fact that he was now filthy rich made for an impressive combination of 'let's buy the most expensive everything!'

Ollivander came back out with the three boxes, one of them empty. For the first time, Bakura noticed the heiroglyphs on the cases, and the strange images engraved on the two wands. Ollivander noticed his fascination as the albino's eyes scanned quickly over the images, looking like he was reading them. "They look like hieroglyphs, but, I assure you, they are not. Not a single glyph looks like those from Egypt, from whatever era or dynasty."

Bakura held back the urge to snort, as did Malik. The blonde, however, covered his thoughts by reaching for one of the wands, with a symbol of a giant, golden griffin-dragon on the cover. Ollivander watched his movements, ready to intervene at the last moment.

However, Malik easily picked the wand up, and twirled it between his figures. His eyes gained a strange, almost unnatural light, and he studied the thin piece of wood that he now held between his pointer and middle fingers, just below the grip on the actual 'wand' part. His eyes traced hidden symbols on the wood, from the tip to the handle, his mouth moving sliently, saying words in a language long forgotten.

Finally, the blonde looked up. "How much is this wand?"

Ollivander looked startled, but quickly pointed out, "As far as I can tell, you chose the wand, and usually it goes the other way around. Perhaps, if that is the right wand-"

"Summon Re!" Malik exclaimed in a strong voice, and what appeared to be a giant apparition appeared behind him, filling the whole store with light. The two wizards were barely able to make out a shape like that looked like that on the box, before everything vanished with a WOOSH of wind, and the store looked like normal again.

Ollivander blinked, surprised. "Ah... well... er..."

"Is this wand mine or not?" Malik asked, impatient.

"Er... yes, yes it is..."

"Then how much?"

"Oh? Well... it should be twenty galleons..."

A gasp from behind them made Ollivander stop for a moment, but he continued on, shooting whoever it was a glare. "With that demonstration, however, I think that I'll need more than just that. A promise, too, that if ever anything... strange should happen that you come back here immediately."

Malik shrugged. "Sure. Twenty? Those are the gold ones, right?"

Pulling twenty five galleons from his bag, he handed them all over. "For the box, too." He explained, before leadingDumbledore out of the shop.

Bakura looked at the old man."You look smart enough, old man."

(-Bakura!-)

((Matte yo, ahou.))

"Yes. I had a thought that you had the other wand. Why did-"

"Because. I felt it drawing me. So here's another twenty five galleons, for the wand and the box, and don't let your guard down so easily. With everyone busy it was amazingly easy to get into that back room. Protect this wand, old man, 'cause I think I know who's it is."

Ollivander blinked as Bakura quickly stuffed the box into his own bag, effectively hiding it from view, and turned on his heal, walking out of the store.

(-Do you think it's Yugi's, Bakura?-)

((Probably, hikari. That's why I want him to take care of it. The Pharaoh's the only real challenge in the world for us now. I don't want life to be too boring...though being one-up on him would be nice, for the time being.))

"Hey, Bakura! What took you so long?" Malik asked as he followed Dumbledore towards what looked like an ice cream parlour.

Bakura eyed the old wizard as they moved towards the parlour, trying to figure out why they were going to an ice cream parlour when it was nearly nine o'clock at night.

Dumbledore noticed this, and grinned gently. Although very subtle, both Shadow Mages noticed the slight movement of hands, and the pattern and tune of his voice- a spell, they realized, to make them calm, make them trusting, even more effective when used at night.

Too bad it wasn't technically night for the two mages.

"I thought that since you were from Japan, a mid-morning snack might be good?"

Bakura snorted. "Personally, I don't like eating things at any time of the day other than morning, noon and evening."

Malik nodded. "Eating at mid-morning is disgraceful to the Gods, or any other time of the day besides the morning, noon and evening."

Dumbledore looked startled. "Well, then, what would you-"

"I would like to go home." Ryou stated evenly, taking over the body. Malik noticed the change, but with the definate note in his voice Dumbledore seemed to think he was still talking to the yami- not that he would ever know about Bakura, anyways.

Dumbledore frowned, but began leading them back to Gringotts.

Malik pulled up alongside Bakura. "You think he was trying to get us to do something for him?"

"That or tell us what we know."

"And we can't do that."

Ryou shook his head vehemently, an action that caught Dumbledore's attention.

"We can't do anything, not without permission."

"Not from my sister..."

"No. Them."

"Them... oh. THEM."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Yes THEM. Who else?"

"...the Pharaoh?"

Ryou nearly choked from the sudden anger from his other half, tripping instead. "Don't. Say. That."

"Speaking of the Pharaoh..."

"No, Malik, I have no idea what happened to Yugi. I'm starting to get worried, though. He would never be out so late, especially without an explanation, especially when it's going to be all over the news. Though..." Bakura stated, taking control for a brief moment, "most people are only worried because he disappeared with his deck, which means bye-bye Gods."

Malik grinned ferally, finally noticing that Dumbledore was listening. "Is it only rude in Japan for people to eavesdrop, Ryou?"

"No, its- oh."

Both mages sent equally evil-looking glares at the Headmaster (Malik toning his down a bit, Ryou trying to immitate Bakura). Dumbledore gave a small shudder, barely noticable, before gesturing them towards the bank, now obviously in sight. "You know how to get back, I suppose?"

"Yes." Both answered, pushing roughly past him, Ryou remembering to quickly turn around a give a small bow to him, before following Malik.

---

The Egyptian stretched luxuriously on the couch, reminiscent of a cat. The only other living person in the house sighed as he fell heavily onto one of the chairs in the living room, facingsaid couch. "Gomen, Malik, demo-"

"Nah, s'alright, 'kura. Who would have known that running from police would make them stake out your house?" Malik added with a snicker as he reached over and snatched the remote for the television from in front of him.

Ryou frowned. "It'snot like I had a choice."

"Don't take me wrong- I'm not saying you did. But..."

"...but...?" Ryou leaned forward, eager for the continuation.

"Couldn't you have been a bit more subtle?"

Ryou groaned, letting his body flop back, almost knocking the chair over backwards. "I thought you had something worthwhile to say."

Malik flipped over onto his back, raising his hands above his head and yawning, showing strangely pointed canine teach. Ryou ran his tounge over his own canines- abnormally sharp, probably given Bakura's history and favorite dishes.

"I try not to say anything worthwhile. Then people will expect it of me, and I'd really not like that to happen."

Ryousighed, seeing Malik drifting away, and retreated to his soul room where Bakura was waiting.

The yami stood up, grabbed Ryou's hand and pulled him towards the bed. "You're tired. Sleep."

"You just want to take over." Ryou replied, yawning all the while and moving over towards the bed.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Sleep. I'll see you in the morning." With that, the dark stalked out of the soul room and Ryou certainly felt him taking over the body.

"I just hope I'll be alive then." He muttered, not missing the strange laughing that Bakura was known to make when either very happy or very sadisitc.

---

The old man walked briskly into the room, his brown lined deep with thought. An elder woman walked up to him, annoyance on her face.

"Dumbledore! You said that you would be watching this boy for the day so I could go out and get some more med-"

"Poppy. I thank you for your help, but I don't think we're giving any help to this young boy."

The matron frowned as she looked upon the younger boy, who was laying in a bed, comatose. The moon's rays, not fully shining as the very very last few specks of sunshine faded, cast long, pale shadows upon the teen, basking him in an errie white-blue light.

"Admittedly, every potion we've given him is only making his condition worse, but-"

"Maybe... Poppy, I'm sure his friends would know how to deal with this."

The matron looked outraged. "I certainly don't think so, Dumbledore! This is a magical disease, brought on by- well, we don't know, but-"

"It seems to be brought on by more magic. Like he's allergic to it, and yet he has such an abundance..." Another voice stated from the doorway.

An older woman in emerald robes with her hair tied up in a neat and tidy bun strode in, worry etched on her face, while another man with pale skin and black greasy hair in black robes followed not a step behind her.

"Is that so, Minerva? Then maybe his friends would know better..." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, thinking back to the conversation between the two newbies he had just escorted to buy their wands.

"Dumbledore, I must say that I would not trust anyone right now with this boy's care." Poppy said quickly, glaring at the three professors.

The greasy man smirked, though it was devoid of all humour. "He seems to like giving us trouble. Trouble locating him, trouble deciding what his magical abilities are, and even now he refuses to wake, and actually has a worse reaction against the potions that are meant to help more, with more magic in them."

"Very true, Severus. Poppy, who have his original clothing?" The matron nodded, quickly moving back to her office and grabbing a black sack.

"Yes, Dumbledore. When we changed him to some spare robes from Professor Vector, we put all his original belongings into here."

"May I see it?"

Poppy nodded as she handed it over, before remembering her earlier annoyance. "And you never told me where you were for the last half hour!"

As he spread the contents onto an unoccupied bed, Dumbledore responded, "I was with the other two wizards from Japan and Egypt, both who were getting their wands. They seemed to know this young man, and talked about the strangest things."

Severus snarelled. "Muggle things, Dumbledore."

"Maybe yes, maybe no. Now... what deck were they talking about?"

Eventually, the aging Head Master pulled a belt from the pile, and from a pouch on the side pulled out a deck of cards. Severus spat out, 'Muggles', but Poppy and Minerva crowded closer to see the cards.

"What are these?"

"Different kinds of monsters..."

"On cards?"

"You know how the muggles are, Poppy."

Dumbledore, however, was staring intently at a very few number of cards that were kept seperate from the rest by an almost-invisible divider. In fact, Dumbledore mused, he was sure that if he did not as much magic as he did, he would not be able to see them at all.

He pulled them out slowly, elicitng a small groan from the teen on the bed. Apparently, even when in a coma, he was able to tell when one of his spells was breached.

"Let's see... Dark Magician... Dark Magician Girl... Abnoxious Celtic Guardian... Maha Vilo... Magician's Valkyria... Magician of Black Chaos... Kuriboh... Polymerization... Gazelle... Burfomet... Chimera... Red Eyes Black Dragon...ah... Obelisk the Tormentor, the Winged Dragon of Re, and Slifer the Sky Dragon."

"Seems to like Magicians and Dragons, hmm, Dubledore?" Poppy asked, looking over at the teen with both a look of surprise on her face and a strange kind of awe.

Dumbledore, nodded, eyes on the last three cards he had looked at. They had the most stars across the top, and Re was certainly an Egyptian God. He could only assume that the other two, Obelisk and Slifer, were also some of these 'Gods'. He sighed, taking the rest of the cards from Poppy and Minerva and placing them back into the holder, before taking one last look back at the seperated cards.

He was about to place them into the holder again, when something caught his eye- something he hadn't noticed before.

The head master pulled out four more cards, and looked them over, surprised to see that three of them were pictures of more dragons- teal colored, red colored, and black colored dragons, none of which had any names. The fourth card did not have a picture of a creature on it, nor look like any of the other cards.

On the back was an ankh, while the front was a big, black rectangle, taking up the whole other side, save for a small space allowed for a border.

And on the rectangle was a picture of a golden, upside-down pyramid with a strange eye-symbol on it, not unlike the one the teen wore, surrounded by six, other, golden items.

---

If anyone were to ever tell Bakura that he couldn't do anything, he would be the first to prove them wrong, and do it while chuckling that evil, sadistic laugh, smirking evily, glaring at others and/or snarling and growling ferally.

But, for secrecy's sake, he skiped all the noise and instead merely smirked and glared. At anything that move, no less, as though a tree branch would give him away.

He sat on the windowsill, blissfully aware that Ryou was in a deep, peace-induced slumber, instead of the abuse-induced one. And he completely trusted Bakura. And as if THAT wasn't enough, he was unconciously chanelling power to the yami, making him stronger than ever.

Bakura's smirk increased. Sometimes, it was good to be a yami.

Especially a yami that was able to find anyone, anything, anywhere. Where was the Sennen Puzzle? Let's see... oh, the other side of the world? Alturist, the bank, fireplace, another bank, and check again. That way? Hmm... looks North... how to get North? Ask what major building was up there. Hogwarts, you say? Well, then, back to the bank...

Finding himself in the middle of a fireplace in what appeared to be a HUGE kitchen with small, little green... things with huge eyes running around, wearing random pieces of clothing was strange enough. Finding himself BOWED to by the little green things, before they offered to give him anything to eat that he wanted, or show him around just added to the surprise. Finding the very stone and land the building was madeout of, was on, and those creatures that inhabbited it welcoming him gratefully was the last straw.

He blinked, before laughing and quickly asked for a small piece of raw steak.

One of the green things ran up to him with a large platter.

Bakura blinked, taking the smallest piece her could see. "This is small?"

"Mavin is very sorry, sir.Mavin will make it smaller!"

Bakura growled. "Mavin will do no such thing.Mavin will answer Bakura-sama's questions, and sit with him." 'Why the hell am I going SOFT?'

Mavin, almost falling over from theshock, slowly sat down beside Bakura. "What does Bakura-sama sirwant to know?"

"Not Bakura-sama SIR. Just Bakura-sama. And I would like to know what are you called?"

"I is called Mavin, sir."

"Your race?" He ripped off nearly half of the meat with his teeth, spilling some of the juices, thoughMavin didn't seem to mind the mess.

"House elves, sir."

"Why are you here?" Another large piece gone.

"We is bound to work for here, sir.Mavin likes it here better than whereMavin used to work."

Bakura pondered this, finishing off his piece of steak, pushing away the rest. "How do I get out of here?"

"Mavin will lead Bakura-sama outside, if he so wishes."

"He does so wish. Lead on."

Walking through the ranks of elves, Bakura noticed the four long tables, with the fifth, shorter one at one end, near where he was eating. The elves bowed to him as he walked, whispering behind their hands in high, squeaky voices, sounding like it was Christmas- or whatever the biggest holiday for the elves were.

He snorted as they walked through a portrait hole, up a few stairs, and, after looking around carefully, across a giant foyer, and outside two huge doors. There Mavin bowed to him, disapearing in the blink of an eye.

Bakura eyed his surroundings. Definately Britian. Definately North. Definately magical, if the super-big shield to keep muggles out was any indication. He saw a small light coming from a small building on the edge of a not-so-small forest. Actually, foget not-so-small, the forest was HUGE.

Grumbling, he turned to look back at the building he had exited- and nearly coughed in surprise. One BIG castle stood omniously behind him, and if the watery voice coming from his right was any indication, it was situated near a BIG LAKE, too. Big forest, big castle, big lake- what's next, big spiders?

'Oh, wonderful.' Bakura mumbled to himself as one big spider exited the forest and quickly scuttered over to him. Strange voices that would probably be more big spiders came from the forest, calling their friend back. However, the one lone creature went right up to Bakura, gave a strange sort of... bow, almost, and pointed to his left.

"The... other one is... in the in... infirmary."

"Infirmary? Oh, hospital. Okay, where is it?"

"There."

Bakura was about to turn his back on the spider, when he reconsidered. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Arrongon, son of Arragie, Daughter of Arrinik, Son of Arragog."

"Right... and why do-"

"We live there as there is no where else to live."

"Would you do me a favour, and tell me if anything happens here? Something about these wizards..."

"Yes. They are quick to judge, and think only their way is right. I would send you a message, but I have no way to send it."

Bakura looked up at one of the towers, and saw a number of owls flying around. "They use... owls?"

"Yes. But we eat owls."

"I will choose one for you, and let it be able to speak. You shall use it to send messages to me, and you shall not eat it. Eat the rest if you really want to, though." He added with a feral grin.

Arragnon seemed to get his humour and nodded, saying, "Show me the owl you will use. I will show it to my family, so that we all may use it."

"Of course." Bakura replied,smirking. "Just give me a moment..."

Swirling minimal amount of Shadows around him, he was quickly lifted up to the tower with all the owls. He sat on the roof, a black silhouet against the moon. He waited there for the owls to calm down from their shock at his sudden appearance, arm extended, offering aperch.

A snowy owl slowly decended, the first to do so, and landed gently on his arm. She nipped his fingers appreciatively, and start picking at a dead body of a rat she held in one talon. Though Bakura had a feeling most owls didn'tdo this, theseweren't most owls- and this one felt more like a spirit than a living creature.

"White one, what do they call you?" He asked, watching her devour the rodent neatly, cleanly, and in less than five seconds.

A serries of cooing was his only answer, and he shook his head. If the owls wanted to play stupid, then let someone else work for him! But... who knew what else there was? Maybe some kind of dark serpant? A servant of the dead? A-

A sharp nip on his ear alerted him to the owl's continued presence.

"White one? Is there any way for you to answer me?"

She cocked her head, nipping his ear again. He felt a small trickle of blood slide slowly down his neck, before it was rubbed quickly away by tounge, talon and beak.

"I am here, I shall serve. But I have my master who I will serve first."

"Oh, really?" Bakura asked, amused. "Who is your master? Are they from this... school?"

"They are the Head Master."

"Well, White one, I'm not so sure if I like this Head Master of yours- has a habbit of eaves-dropping on conversations, doesn't he?"

"He only does it for safety."

"Right..." He stated, obviously not beliveing the owl. "What do they call you?"

"Enima."

"Very well, Enima. Shall you run erands for me? You are a snowy owl, after all- surely this head master does not use you that often."

"The last time he used me was nearly six years ago. I shall serve you, but if I am called upon-"

Bakura snorted. "You shall serve me. Period. The wizards here are quick to judge, and think things can only be done their way. They're nosey, and like to know everything. Personally, I don't like them. They use things, without rewards. Tell me- if you were to serve me, what would you like in return?"

"...to be free."

"...if you serve me, that won't be much of an option."

"I will serve you until you no longer need me. Then I am free."

Bakura smirked. "Yes, Enima. Until I no longer need you, you will be free." A smirk appeared on his face as she stood slowly, Enima shifting slightly to gain her balance again. "And, as an added bonus, you have complete immunity from the giant spiders!"

She clicked her beak in pleasure, nuzzling her soft, fluffy feathers against his cheek.

Settling down on the ground, Bakura turned to Arragnon, raising Enima above his head. "This is Enima. She will be my messenger. Enima, this is Arragnon. He shall be one of my correspondants here. Whatever I send must go to him, as well as any that I specify. Yes?"

Enima cocked her head, eyeing Arragnon. The spider reached out one hairy foreleg, and, after a pause, Enima fluttered over, settling down quite comfortably.

"I believe I shall like this arrangement."

"As do I." Arragnon spoke kindly, turning towards the forest, Enima switching to his back and making sure that she did not hurt him. Before they entered, both turned around and gave strange bows, before turning the rest of the way in.

Bakura smirked. 'I believe I shall love this arrangement. Now, Infirmary...'

Although taking slightly longer than originally planned, the albino eventually found the hospital windows, light gently pouring out onto the grounds. Checking once more with the Ring, and finding that it was true, he gathered the Shadows again, and phased into lifted onto the window sill, checking once to see if anyone was in there.

And, to his surprise, there was- four people, actually, carefully putting what looked suspiciously like clothing Yugi would wear into a black canvas bag, which was then taken away by someone who looked like the nurse.

The other three spoke for a moment, before they left, the lights shutting off automatically when they left. Bakura waited until the light in the nurse's office went out before he phased into the room again, this time right beside the only occupied bed that he could see.

Although it was dark and the covers were pulled up nearly completely over his head, Bakura could easily tell that this was certainly Yugi Mouto. Afterall, who has spiked hair that looks anything like that?

He reached over the hikari, felling the strange fluxations of his magic, of his aura. The yami frowned- it was no big secret that all the hikaris (and therefore the yamis) had a strange mix of different kinds of magics. But they were stable. The amounts did not change, they did not fluxuate, they did. Not. Surge. But they way that Yugi's- and no doubt the Pharaoh's, too- moved and felt, he was surprised that the people in charge here hadn't done anything.

Really, didn't they know how to read auras?

Bakura reached out his hand, wondering if he could just... take the Puzzle. But he knew the rules, and going insane- again- was not high on his list of priorities, thank you very much. Instead, he ended up sitting down on the edge of the bed, hand above the hikari's forehead. 'What the hell am I doing?'

'Saving him.' He answered himself, and let his focus drop, using the Ring and Puzzle to access that part of his soul which was still sealed within the puzzle.

Although not being able to actual enter their Soul Rooms, like Malik could, he instead used some of his own energies to try to balance out the strange patterns of the Pharaoh's magic. Slowly, they got better, but all too soon Bakura had to stop. He could feel people coming, he was exhausted, and, based on the spirits that now surrounded him, he was putting out way too much magical energy for it to be entirely healthy.

One spirit- no, ghost, he could tell- floated over to him. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Bakura growled. Now was NOT the time. "My name is none of your business, and I'm here to help the Pharaoh!"

The ghost frowned. "Pharaoh? He does not look like a Pharaoh to me."

(-Bakura? What's going on?-) Ryou yawned from his Soul Room. Thankfully, however, that got Bakura out of one jam- "It's a nickname."- and into another.

(-Is that YUGI?-)

((Not now, ahou. Can't you see we have the ghost busters after us?))

(-Er... yami, the ghost busters weren't ghosts. They fought against ghosts.-)

"Baka ahou hikari..." Bakura muttered out loud, and, saying a quick spell over Yugi to block out allnew sources of any magic that could send him over the edge, he quickly wrapped the Shadows around him again, takinghim and Ryou to the roof ofMalik's apparment building.

Below, he could see the police lights fading away, one final one just pulling out of the driveway.

(-You got away from them?-)

((...of course I did!))

(-Right... and there's giant spiders.-)

((Actually...))

(-I don't want to know,Bakura.-)

The door opened behind them, and Malik walked out onto the roof, pulling a giant, fluffy jacket behind him. "-don't care how warm it is during the summer. It. Is. Too. Damn. Cold!"

Bakura snorted. "Malik, talking to yourself again?"

The Egyptian blinked, looking up. "Ah, this is where you were hiding? When the police came-"

"Listen. I know where Yugi is. But it isn't good- ghosts, nurses, and that stupid eavse-dropped from before, all guarding him."

"Really? Then maybe we should pay a visit?"

"Yeah, whenever- but, not tonight..."

Malik frowned. "Then when?"

"Tomorrow. When my hikari's not so tired."

Malik smirked, following the Thief King back into the building. "Yes, it's Ryou's fault. Always has been, always will be."

Ryou frowned, taking control of the body. "It is not. He pushed both of us a lot tonight- all the way to England by Floo, and back by the Shadows."

"You really get around, don't you?"

Ryou tried to snort- and yawned instead. A nice, big, huge yawn- comparable, actually, to the BIG forest and the BIG castle and the BIG lake and the BIG spiders. And the Big-Ass pain that called himself Dumbledore.

Walking into the appartment, Ryou was glad that Isis and Rishid were staying with Sugoroku, to 'Help him get over his loss.'

Well, if the two mages had anything to say about it, the 'loss' wouldn't be lost for too much longer.

---

The night was young, the stars were out, and Nearly Headless Nick, the resident Gryffindor ghost, was fuming. He had wanted to see that boy! He had felt there was a spirirt inside him, and wanted to know if it was a ghost. He wanted to learn if he could also get his own body.

He also wanted to know why he was in here in the first place. The Lady Mismerine, from nearly 500 years before his time and had died quite young, had been wandering the halls, and had seen the young, white-haired boy following Mavin, the Head Elf in the kitchens. Curiosity kicking in, she followed them. Mavin had led him outside, bowed to the boy, and left.

Mismerine had summounded Nick, as the two talked quite often, and soo both were watching the strangest thing ever.

The boy had then spoke lesiurely to the giant spiders that lived in the forest (most thought them only a rumour), then somehow floated up to the owlery roof. Seeimg to talk to one of the school's owls, he then brought her down, and she had actually landed on one of the spiders, going with it into the forest- after bowing to the boy.

He had then turned his attention to the infirmary, and had disapeared from the ground to reapear on the sill. That had surprised Nick and Mesmerine. Then he had done... something, appeared inside the infirmary, and done something else to the other boy, making him far more relaxed, healthy-looking, almost like he was going to recover.

The ghosts had been summoned- they wanted to meet this boy who had powers like ghosts.

However, Peeves had heard of it and ran to tell Dumbledore, cackling all the way. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape had turned on their heals and ran back to the hospital wing, only to find it empty, Nick and the boy already having the confrontation.

Nick now sat in the Gryffindor common room, frowning at the fire that he could not feel. Mismerine and a number of the other ghosts were there with him, each lost in their own thoughts on the boy.

Mismerine frowned and disapeared, reapearing moments later with the Bloody Baron.

"What do you think, my lord?" She asked him, guiding him over to a seat. They could tell he frowned at the decorations, but allowed Mismerine to seat him.

"I do not know. He felt strong, ancient, powerful. Not unlike the other boy."

And that was all he said, allowing the other ghosts to talk it out as he disapeared again. Mismerine frowned more, but turned to Nick. "What should we do?"

"That boy is in... possesion of a spirit, and a strong one, too. We do not know their powers, we do not know their reasons, we do not know their names. We do know, however, that the stones, the earth, Hogwarts itself welcomed them, as it did the other boy, the one that our new 'friend' called Pharaoh."

"Pharaoh...?" Mesmerine asked slowly, still not sure about the different places around the world.

Binns, being more a ghost than a teacher, spoke up, voice more emotional and eyes more attentive than in class. "Pharaoh was the supreme King of Egypt, the representation of the Gods to the People. There are many throughout history- but all records of the Pharaohs and Egypt in general, even when it was seperated, past a certian point in time are very vague, and past that there are no records at all. It was like Egypt just appeared suddenly."

Nick shook his head. "Until we know more, the boy in the hospital shall be called Pharaoh, alright?"

All ghosts nodded, some disapearing to spread the news to others- and more carefully this time.

"And the stones welcomed Them, as they always were meant to." Binns recited gently, as though reading from a book that he had learned off by heart. "They welcomed Them with a cry of joy, spreading through every living and dead thing in the land. And everything living and dead thing in the land cried out in joy, and praised Them unto the highest Gods. The Gods heard the praises, and looked down upon Them, pleased with what they saw. And they made Them the leaders, the rulers, and the prophets, guiding the People towards the right. And They praised the Gods and all living and dead things, and balance was founded between the light and dark."

"And there was day and there was night- that was the fourth day." Mismerine recited, giggling. "What was that, Binns?"

However, Binns ignored them. "And the darks and the lights lived with the People, guiding them gently, while the stones still called out songs to the winds to be carried to the People, praising the Pharaoh, the King and the Keeper."

Nick started. "The Sectrum Distalfios."

Binns nodded, fading away.

Mismerine frowned. "I bed your pardon, Nick, but- the what now?"

"The Sectrum Distalfios. An ancient scripture found by magicians, dating back thousands of years, to the time when Egypt was first 'there'. So, if one is the Pharaoh, then who is the next?"

Mismerine sighed. "The other is the King. He wears far too much jewelery to be the 'Keeper'."

Nick nodded. "The Pharaoh and the King. And the stones did cry out..."

"Then we shall guard them, until the Keeper comes. And then, they shall guide."

Nick nodded. "They shall guide."

---

Isis frowned at the 11 o'clock news, both surprised and worried about what the tv showed as she relaxed on the plush couch Malik had vacated to go out onto the roof earlier that night- not that Isis knew that, though.

"-Mouto said to be missing since late last night, 24 hours having already elapsed since his last sighting by friend Bakura Ryou. Bakura himself disapeared earlier tonight, and if anyone has any information that would help police in their search, please contact the information hotline. The number is at the bottom of the screen. In other news, a courageous fire fighter saved a kitten stuck in a tree today-"

Isis switched the sound onto mute, pondering this. However, feeling overly tired from their flight that morning, she stood up slowly, switching off the tv and made her way down the hall. She saw no lights on in Malik's room, and presumed he was asleep. Afterall, if he could, Malik would definately sleep right through a whole day.

And Isis was starting to think that tomorrow was going to be one of those days- in more ways than one.

---

It was a dark and stormy night.

Actually, it was only dark. Afterall, it is night, right? And it wasn't really dark, per say, what with the moon and the stars and the thousands of lights coming from the castle. And it wasn't stormy, either. There might have been a storm somewhere else in the world- but not there, and not at that moment.

But it definately was night. And almost midnight. That was just about why two figures were slinking along the edges of the forest. But, amazingly, it wasn't either of the two Shadow Mages. Oh no, they're still on the other side of the world, in an apartment in Domino City, waiting for the sun to rise to scream at (and possibly break) the alarm and fall back asleep, exhausted from the night's activities.

Besides, as short as hikaris are, they aren't THAT small.

And the figures were SMALL.

Actually, they weren't that small at all- more like... not very big. Nope. And, contrary to popular tradition(and folklore), they weren't dressed in all green with shiny buckles, funny hats and they weren't sitting at the end of a rainbow. But they did have funny beards and mustaches- one red, one black. They were actually dressed in ninja-style clothing (with the exception of the hats) and were prepared to take drastic measures to get inside the castle.

Which included spreading fake gold around.

The two leprechauns (who will remain nameless because the author is too lazy to name them, and they're only here for this scene) quickly dodged out of the shadows of the trees and sprinted towards the castle, completely ignorant that they weren't being followed or chased. They continued their sprint up the walls, not daring to fly in case someone happened to look out a window, and actually wonder why two leprechauns were wearing all black.

Crashing through a window, the two looked around.

"You think we're here?" The one with the red beard asked.

"I think so. There's someone over there, in that bed." The one with the black beard replied.

Suddenly, almost twenty ghostly figures appeared through the floor, scaring the leprechauns. "What are you doing here, in this room?" One ghost who's frilly neckline went up to his chin, as though making sure his head didn't fall off.

Red beard grinned. "We felt something, and we wanted to check it out."

"We felt two somethings, and wanted to check both out." Black beard corrected, also grinning.

The ghosts relaxed, and let the two see the figure.

"Wow, this is the guy?"

"The Pharaoh."

"Sectrum Distalfios." Black beard said quickly, startling Red beard.

"Really? Then who are the King and the Keeper?"

"The King was here earlier." A female ghost said swiftly, her arrogance proving she was of royal blood. "And then left when the Porfessors and Peeves started coming."

"Pity. Would have like to meet this King." Red beard said thoughtfully.

"Indeed." Black beard replied, stroking said beard. "We should be going, now. Need to get back to Ireland before tomorrow night. Got a lot of ground to cover."

"Aye. Thank you all fer letting us in." Red beard said, both slightly bowing before disapearing from sight.

The ghosts blinked, before Mismerine spoke up.

"Those were the worst accents I have ever heard."

---

A day had passed, it was almost morning, and Isis was- supposedly- sound asleep. Of course, Malik wouldn't put it past his sister to sleep with ears, eyes, mouth, nose, window and magic open, waiting to see if he would leave the house.

Well, that didn't matter- not with Bakura with him.

Upon hearing the plan the two had worked on all day (and part of the night) Ryou had wisely decided that the best way to help Yugi was to let Bakura be in control- Ryou himself knew little about the Shadows (compared to Bakura), and therefore would not be able to do what Malik and his yami were planning.

That, of course, was fine with Bakura.

So saying, the two immediately headed off (in the wee hours of the morning) using the Shadows to warp them to a deserted alley in Alturist. Finding the bank quickly, they grabbed fistfulls of floo powder, and both stepped into the fire, calling out, "Hogwart's kitchens!"

Half an hour later, both were standing outside the castle, looking up at the window that was the infirmary, completely stuffed. "Glad we didn't eat before we came here. Those elves makes some good food."

"And you dared to doubt me."

"It's what I do."

There seemed to he a hole in the hospital window, which Bakura knew he didn't make- maybe another late-night visitor? That thought made both of them stress more than they already had been, and they nodded to each other before using the Shadows to scale the walls.

Looking in through the window, they were surprised to see quite a few ghosts sitting around a single bed, looking tired, worried, surprised, or happy. This only served to further confuse the two mages, but Bakura quickly solved their dilemma by using the Shadows to phase into a dark corner with Malik before both walked out, looking as arrogant and annoying as possible.

Nick started from his place between the Pharaoh and Mismerine, looking groggily at Binns on his other side. Ghosts did not need to sleep- but could easily attain a lapse in concentration quite like sleep.

He looked blearily around, hearing the stones calling out again.

Quickly 'waking' Mismerine and Binns, the three soon stood before the two mages, the two groups eyeing each other carefully.

"King? Keeper?" Mismerine finally whispered, startling the other occupants of the room out of their 'sleep' and surprising the two mages.

"How did-"

"The Sectrum Distalfios." Binns said easily. Malik nodded, understanding while Bakura growled.

"We're here to take the Pharaoh, since this place is only messing up his magics."

Nick nodded. "Had a feeling. This is Binns and Mismerine." He said smoothly, gliding beside Bakura and Malik over to the bed, introducing the two who came with them. "And I'm-"

"Nearly Headless Nick." Mismerine giggled- as propper as she was, she was still a 16 year-old girl.

Nick frowned, looking at the two boys. "How am I nearly headless?" He asked in a bored voice, watching their reactions.

Bakura shrugged while Malik's eyes gleamed. "If you don't mind showing us." The Egyptian stated, watching Nick's every move.

Grumbling, Nick pulled down his ruffle and yanked on his ear lobe. His whole head tilted off his shoulders, revealing his insides to the world, the head connected to the neck by a thin piece of skin. Malik's eyes widened, before he gave a quiet "Whoop!" and even Bakura looked slightly impressed.

Mismerine giggled, before turning serious. "So, you're taking the Pharaoh away?"

Bakura was still unnerved by the fact that the ghosts knew their 'nicknames', and frowned, on guard, but Malik shurgged. "Yeah. He's stated as missing and kidnapped where we're from. Want to bring him home."

That caused Binns to frown. "But won't that make it look like you kidnapped him?"

Bakura grinned. "Our friends still think I'm perfectly innocent, Malik's going straight home after this, and Y- the Pharaoh's jii-san knows that we're on this little rescue mission."

Nick, Mismerine and Binns thought about this, before Nick nodded. "Alright. Out the window?"

Bakura nodded as Malik smirked. "Out the window."

---

Professor Vector was never late for anything. Not for work, not for meals, not for deadlines. He was never, ever late.

And yet, here he was, running through the halls (which he usually detested), going to be late to the OotP meeting because he forgot some of his notes in the infirmary when he was there but five hours ago, looking after the young boy while Madam Pomfrey took a break to eat.

Dashing up a flight of stairs, he eventually made it to the door of the hospital wing, and was surprised to hear voices. Madam Pomfrey was downstairs with the other teachers, and besides, she had said that in his condition, the boy would certainly not be waking up any time soon.

Frowning, he opened the door a bit to see nearly all the Hogwarts' ghosts gathered around two... no, three dark shapes. Looking over at the bed, he felt a shock of surprise when he saw that it was empty. He turned back to the ghosts and shapes, seeing them heading for the broken window- which, for some reason, still was not fixed.

"Stop! Whoever you are, stop!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at him, and everyone- the ghosts included- had looks of shock and surprise on their faces. Vector had been sure the ghosts were trying to stop the intruders, not help them-

"Professor Vector. I would apply to you to not tell anyone of this, and say you had no knowledge of this incident." Nick told him calmly, shooing the two mages away from the window and instead into a dark corner. He saw that one- with white hair that glimmered like snow- was carrying the incapactitated boy carefully in his arms, the blonde dark-skinned one looking down on the comatose with something akin to worry.

Both looked like they would gladly kill anyone dare anything happen to upset them, but Vector had seen enough students to know that the two were worried, as poorly as they showed it.

"I am sorry, Nick, but kidnapping a comatose boy-"

"You are the ones who are kidnapping him, old man." The blonde stated, glaring daggers at the older man. Vector reeled in shock- not only had the boy back-talked to him (which proved that he very well didn't come from a good, wizard upbringing), but had implied that Vector was old. The man was barely thirty, and glad for it!

"Then forgive, but if you at least tell me-"

"How about this." The albino finally spoke up, turning to Vector and glaring. Placing the comatose boy on a bed, he stalked over to right in front of Vector. Though the arithmancy teacher was surprisingly taller than most, the pale teen seemed to tower over everyone else in the room, with the exception of the unconcious. "You swear allegience to the Shadows, and we'll let you go with all your memories and your mind in tact."

Vector was about to protest when one of the school's owls flew into the window, carrying a message in her claws. Vector knew this was one of the oldest owls- she was a special kind, who lived to nearly thrice the age of humans- and that was only as far back as the records went. She had lived many years, and Vector remembered using her a few times to send messages home.

The albino's expression changed as he took the parchment and, not sparing it a glance, started cooing to the bird and stroking the soft, downy feathers gently. "Arigato, Enima. Daijoubu desu?"

Her response was to rub her head affectionately against the other's, her beak clicking in a serries of noises that the pale teen seemed to understand.

"Hai... unh... iie, Arragnon? A- mm. Domo Arigato, Enima-chan."

Nipping his ear affectionately, she took out through the window- after looping around to Vector, and pulling him a bit towards the albino.

Vector blinked, about to say something, when the pale teen looked up from the message. "Ah, the OotP- Order of the Phoenix? Interesting name."

"That... that owl! She's spying on us!"

"Only since last night, when I found out you were the ones who kidnapped the Pharaoh." He replied. Vector, realizing that the other boy and the blonde one were unnaturally silent (even for a comatose), he looked around quickly, and saw only himself, the albino, Nick, Mismerine and Binns. All others had vacated the room.

Vector turned back to the boy. "Who... who are you?"

Bakura blinked, turning to Nick. "What was that name you kept saying?"

Nick blinked, before remembering. "Ah, the Sectrum Distalfios. The Pharaoh, the King and the Keeper."

Vector's eyes widened. He had heard of the Sectrum- almost every person who dared to call themselves a teacher had heard of it, with a few notable exceptions. "You... he... they..."

Mismerine broke in. "Would you like us to keep any other unwanted visitors out, King?"

"Yes."

Mismerine, Nick and Binns disappeared, rough shapes that were probably them being seen through the now-closed door.

"King... but-"

"Well?" Vector sensed the impatience in the other's voice, and he bowed his head. "Will I still... still work as-"

"As? A teacher? I don't care. Do what you wish. But, if I see fit to call you- which will only be when I am near here- then it would be for a VERY good reason. I don't like help- if I need it, it's life-or-death, and even then I probably won't call you. You will use the White one to send messages, along with Arragnon, grandson of Arragog, the giant spider, to me, and report on any suspicious happenings within the castle. Understand?"

Vector froze, unsure. Spying on the OotP? On Dumbledore? Betraying the Head Master's trust? Could he really...

Finally, he lifted his eyes to those of the albino's. "I will."

---

Bakura entered the appartment, breathing heavily. He had barely escaped from the Mouto residence with his life.

Upon seeing Bakura standing there, innocent act on full power, and holding a very tired, worn-out and stressed-out looking Yugi in his arms, Sugoroku invited the other teen inside (regardless that it was early in the morning), and got the albino to place Yugi in his bed.

Then the older man brought the albino downstairs, offering him something. He did not ask questions, nor did he seem to especially want answers. Sugoroku knew the trouble that Yugi was capable of getting into, and how Yami, Bakura, Ryou and Malik always somehow got pulled in with him.

Bakura shook his head no, ended up grabbing a small piece of chocolate for Ryou since his hikari was helpful tonight (he was the one the suggested Vector become another correspondent), and was nearly squished to death by Sugoroku. He had sprinted as fast as his tired body would allow back to Malik's appartment, not even trying to stick to the Shadows.

"Malik..." Bakura hissed, "Where are you?"

"A better question, Bakura." Isis asked calmly, "Where were you?"

Bakura gulped and turned to the living room, seeing Isis sitting in a chair regally, Malik on the ground, cross-legged in front of her. Seeing the looks on both Malik's and Isis' faces, Bakura quickly retreated to his soul room, letting Ryou take the blunt of the Seer's rage.

The hikari gulped, nervous, sitting down beside Malik on the floor. "Er.."

"I know Bakura retreated. I know the yamis came back. And I know you know what happened. Malik has kindly told me it was your ideas- both of yours, Ryou, Bakura."

Ryou flinched, trying to remember a time when Isis had ever looked so deadly- and came up empty. "Er..."

Slowly, very slowly (and with much tormenting... er, 'prompting' from Isis) the story came out. Isis shook her head in exasperation. "You should not have done that."

"What? Why?" Ryou looked alarmed.

"They have Mark. We are Shadow. There is a wide gap between the two of our kinds- in both power, abilities, and control. We, of course, are the stronger."

Malik blinked. "Mark? Shadows? Er... Isis? A little help here, please?"

Isis sighed. "There are many different kinds of magic, most of which you two... er, three... oh, let's just say four, have. Shadows magic is the strongest, and can be used in a number of different forms for a number of different things, mainly fighting. We draw on the Realm, on our own powers, on our souls, and the souls of those around us. We become connected with everything around us, a part of it.

"Mark magic, however, is different. It only takes a small amount of magical abilities to be able to use it. Special patterns on or in your soul and heart are the source of the magic- hence the name 'Mark' magic. However, you need to draw off power of other things, like special kinds of wood and creatures to use it. It can be used for a wide variety of things- however, you must know the incantation, and wave the wand around in the proper sequence. Otherwise, disastrous things may happen."

Malik looked startled. "And if we told you that we just bought wands?"

"Then I want to see them."

The Shadows swirled together, revealing two long boxes with the hieroglyphics on them.

Each caught their own, opening the boxes slowly to reveal the reed and papyrus wands inside. Isis pulled each out carefully, eyeing the wands. "...this will allow you to do Mark, and should not interfere with Shadow. Specially made, Egyptian wands... centuries old... no one could even hope of making a wand like these again."

"Er... why?" Ryou asked hesitantly.

"They are a perfect mix of Shadow and Mark- the right balance for anyone with only Shadow to do a bit of Mark."

Malik snorted. "You realize we don't care, right?"

Isis eyed him. "Since you have these wands, you need to learn how to use them. And I happen to know how."

Both Ryou and Malik shifted uncomfortably, not sure if they wasnted Isis teaching them. "Er... isn't there... some kind of school for this-"

"You think I can't teach?" Isis asked, her voice low (and, to the hikari's ears, sounding very dangerous).

"No! No, it's just, er..."

"We... don't want to take any... of your precious time!" Ryou finished, even more uncomfortable- and sweatdropping. Isis frowned.

"Good try, Ryou, but you're still getting some kind of training- Bakura, too. I'll see if Shadi- don't growl at me, Malik- can't help us out- Malik, stop breaking things- or if he could help out Yugi and Yami- Malik, STOP."

The blonde had been (since hearing Shadi's name) rampaging through the house, breaking and destroying anything in his way.

"Why. Him. Isis? He's the one that made me almost kill Yugi!"

Isis sighed. "That's true- but by doing so, he made sure that you would leave our homeland to seek him out. The Priests will be reunited with their Pharaoh, Malik. Most already are, or have been."

Silence filled the room, before Bakura, taking control of Ryou, spoke. "Does this mean I have to go find Pegasus and give him back his eye?"

---

Yugi groaned as he slowly awoke, light streaming into his eyes. :-Uh... my head...-:

:You said it, aibou.:

Yugi paused, surprise over-coming his tiredness and weakness. Was that...

Quickly closing his eyes again and hoping that no one would try to wake him up, he plunged into his soul room, throwing open the door and racing towards the closed door of the other room.

Throwing that open as well, he took a moment to get his bearings, reeling from the shock of seeing an older, mature and tanned version of himself standing in the room, before racing towards him.

"YAMI!"

The dark half turned around and smiled gently at the light. "Yugi..." Embracing quickly, they pulled apart, Yami making sure that his hikari was okay. "No one's hurt you? Bullied you? Bothered you?"

Yugi laughed. "No, Yami, no one has. But... where were you? How are you here now? Why-"

"Too many questions, aibou. I'm still trying to get some energy after the fight in the temple." Yugi, of course, simply assumed the fight between them and left that alone. "Besides, you're tired, too. This is all adreneline. I wouldn't be surprised if you fall unconcious in front of me."

Yugi laughed. "Maybe, Yami. But, er... it's nice to have you back."

"It's good to be back, aibou."

They stood their in silence, Yugi shifting nervously, Yami simply glad to be back. Finally, Yugi grinned. "Weeeell... do you want to take control?"

Yami blinked, remembering the first time Yugi had let him control the body not during a duel. "Er..."

Yugi shrugged. "The body always preforms better when you're- YAWN- in control."

Yami laughed. "You go back to sleep, aibou. I'll take care of everything."

"Arigato, Yami- Atemu."

Yami grinned lightly. "You're welcome... Hikari-sama."

---

The dark shape moved swftly through the Shadows, avoiding all lights. He had made the mistake of leaving his house, minus cloak, into a street light. He was mobbed almost instantly.

Trying to avoid that situation again, he chose to use Shadows and dark areas to move, not wanting to wear out the body. Eventually, he reached an appartment building, looking up momentarily before using the Shadows to phase to the roof.

Walking down the hallway, using the Shadows to point him in the right direction, he arrived at a door and knocked gently on it.

"Who is it?" A female voice called from the other side.

"Let me in, Isis." He replied wearily, feeling about to collapse. The door was opened instantly, admitting him. Stumbling into the room, he held out a piece of paper- of legal, documented paper- to Isis, which she took while supporting him to the couch.

"Ah, the Pharaoh shows he's weak." Bakura smirked, Ryou appearing in spirit form beside him. "Does he want a nap?"

Yami grinned. "Shove it, Thief King. You haven't been in a coma for a day or two." He leaned back, grateful for the rest.

Isis frowned as she looked on the paper. "...Sugoroku and I had been talking, but that he got the paperwork so soon..."

Yami shrugged. "He said that he wanted me trained, so that I wouldn't go around collapsing or blowing stuff up."

Malik frowned. "What..."

Isis showed him the paper- and, after reading through it, he quickly meeped. "What do you mean, custody until revoked?" Isis sighed at her brother's outburst.

"So that he can get just as much training as you- more so, as it comes down to that he needs it more."

Malik grumbled while Bakura turned into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. He dialed a number, calling over his shoulder, "I don't suppose you mind long distance charges, do you?"

The other three blinked, Isis quickly understanding what Bakura was doing and going to stand beside himm, ready to speak to his father about another 'custody until revoked' document. Malik turned to Yami, deciding that if the two yamis could joke around after trying to kill each other for over three millenia, that he could at least talk to Yami after only trying to kill him once.

"Feel good to be around?"

"In this time, be able to move around, or just plain be concious?" Yami blinked owlishly at him.

"Er... all three, I guess."

He paused for a moment, letting his eyes close and his head rest on a pillow. "...it feels good."

---

Notes

Wrote this- again- to get everything out of my head. I'm not sure if I liked the way that it turned out, but editing will be done... eventually.

And there's a number of things that were really weird- I had just finished reading "The DaVinci Code" (SSOOOO GOOD!) when I wrote the leprechaun scene. Don't ask me why... but I suddenly had the strong urge to visit the Louvre upon finishing it...

I believe that nearly everyone here was OOC at some point or another. Forgive me?

Yugi-tachi (er... his cheerleaders, specifically) won't be appearing often for another chapter or so. Why? Well, if I do another chapter (IF being the keyword), then I'm going to be focusing on another aspect of the whole arc thingy- a wonderful little place called the Axis. It's part of my World (don't ask), and it's quite fun. And I could easily spend seven years there- I spend most of my day there, anyways!

I actually have a whole story thingy set out for this (GO ME!), for at least another five chapters. After that it gets a bit crazy. No idea when another update for this will be- need to concentrate on Running and Secrets.

Secrets should be the next update, followed by Running. The two will be alternating, so that my writer's block doesn't get totally engaged for a story, and I'll probably be writing down ideas for this as they come into my head.

Well, love you all, have a good April (IT'S APRIL, SPRING, POST EASTER, AND IT'S SNOWING! WE'RE ON THE 49TH PARALLEL, PEOPLE! THERE'S NO SNOW IN APRIL!), and try not to kill all the wonderful plot bunnies.

They make for excellent guards against rabbid stuffies (I hate that antique store on the corner...)

Song

Homecoming- specifically Part One, Two and Three (The Death of St. Jimmy, East 12th Street, and Nobody Likes You) by Greenday, number 12 on the American Idiot cd.