DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My humblest apologies for not updating this story in so long. Real life went crazy on both myself and my beta reader. To make up for it, here's a little status update on the progress of this story: This update contains chapters 10-12 and I've already started work on chapter 13. I also have the remainder of this whole story roughly planned out, as well as one major scene and the epilogue completely written. So it's coming together. I just need time to work on it. For those who are still reading after all this time, I thank you for your patience and hope you continue to enjoy it.

Hearts, Souls and Shadows
Chapter 10: The Hearts of Slaves and Servants
By Shadow's Mirror

The eldest brother stood alone in a small clearing of the dark forest that covered a good portion of the Shadow Realm, a silver ellipse hovering in the air a few feet in front of him. He was so deep in thought that he never heard the sound of approaching footsteps behind him. The small hand on his arm and soft 'big brother?' caused him to jerk and he blinked down at the slightly shorter figure who had joined him, tensing for the moment it took him to realise who it was.

"Ah, forgive me. I was going over the plan one last time." He smiled, but the smile didn't quite meet his eyes. "You are recovered?"

The younger boy nodded. "I am fine. What are we doing? We did not get much of a chance to discuss anything earlier."

'Earlier' had been when he had first awoken to find himself in a strange place, his very worried brother sitting beside the bed and holding tightly to his hand. There had barely been time for the older boy to explain the situation before a kindly Shadow Monster healer had shooed him out of her cottage so she could tend to her patient and get a few doses of sweetly-flavoured red potion into him.

"One here has been watching our world closely. It is worse than we thought. Our eldest sister is convinced that the Pharaoh is going to make her his wife. She is working with him openly now and our middle sister is helping her. Our youngest sister has also been caught. She is being kept a prisoner in the palace. It seems our eldest sister believes that she will come around to her way of thinking and agree to help them." His mouth curved into a slight smile at that.

The younger boy smiled a little as well. "So she is safe for the moment, then. That is good."

"Yes. But it is not all good news. She told the others that you and I were dead. The soldiers went to our home but Father was not there." The two boys traded worried looks.

"Father is no longer thinking rationally, is he?" The younger boy spoke very softly and sadly.

"I fear not. Our eldest sister's betrayal was a hard blow and his mind was already near the edge of reason." He slipped his arm around his younger brother and hugged him gently. "But that could make him quite dangerous. Unpredictable."

The boy nodded. "He made the item we have for his own use. Will he know when we use it?" The boy looked worried at the thought.

The older boy shook his head. "No. He did not think to link it to himself like that. Fortunately for us. It is merely an item that can channel the Shadow Magic at the bearer's will. One powerful enough to overcome the false Pharaoh and the item he wields. Which means we shall have to be very careful after this is done. If it should fall into the wrong hands, it would be even more serious a problem than the one we have now." He sighed.

Their father had learned nothing from the creation, and subsequent misuse, of the original item he had made.

The younger boy nodded and sighed softly as well. "What is the plan?"

"Firstly, we need to rescue our youngest sister. I learned something very interesting about what happened to her tonight and she needs to be told. It will help greatly, not only in our fight overall, but her in particular." As his younger brother nodded again, the older boy smiled at him. "Secondly, we need to prevent our eldest sisters from using their items. Thirdly, we need to get as close to the Pharaoh as we can, without him suspecting that we have another item. Finally"

"Finally, you need to challenge the Pharaoh to a Shadow Game, right?" The younger boy looked worried about that.

"Not exactly. I need him to challenge me. The ones here were very specific about that. He needs to set the game for our plan to work." The older boy gently ruffled the younger one's hair as his brother looked at him in confusion.

"Why?"

"Because we know of his item but he does not know of ours. If he challenges us without knowing of it, then he has no right to claim it if he wins. On the other hand, if we challenge him and lose..." He trailed off, unwilling to say it.

"We know of his item so that entitles us to claim his item if we win, but for him to claim ours if we lose, too. Is that it?" The younger boy did not look happy.

The older brother nodded. "Yes. We have to plan for any outcome of such a game. He is enough of a problem with one item in his grasp."

Both boys shuddered at the thought of the Pharaoh gaining a second item of his own.

"So how are we going to do all of that?" The younger boy frowned slightly. "We cannot just go to the palace."

The older boy smiled a little. "No. But we can be taken there."

Startled, the younger boy looked up into his older brother's gleaming blue eyes. "Taken? You mean captured? But if we are prisoners, then our eldest sister will learn that we are not dead, as our youngest sister has claimed." He paused to consider and a smile crept over his lips. "Oh. I see. She will want to use us to threaten our sister."

The older boy nodded in response. "Our eldest sister's malicious nature will serve us well in this."

The younger boy looked thoughtful. "Big brother Do you think our eldest sister has realised that her family know her so well that her actions are predictable to us?"

"I hope not, little brother. I truly hope not."

On that rather solemn note, the two boys headed for the portal that would return them to the mortal world and the fate that lay in wait for them there.

The first part of the plan went flawlessly. The city guards had been alerted to watch for two males and Akila had not thought to rescind that order after learning of her brothers' 'deaths'. The boys merely needed to creep around in the alley beside their old home until they were spotted by a guard and captured for interrogation. Once at the palace, they were taken directly to their eldest sister.

Akila glared at them both, but there was more than a trace of triumph in her dark blue eyes and a cruel smile tilted her lips as she spoke to them. "Well now I see both of you have returned from the dead. How wonderful. It seems the Gods truly favour you. Or perhaps it is me they favour. After all, this will save me a lot of bother."

She turned to the guard who had brought them in and her cold eyes glittered. "Take the younger one to my youngest sister. Perhaps some time together will remind her of how much she has to lose by disobeying me. As for the older one" Her smile returned. "Take him to the dungeon. Lock him in the deepest, darkest cell there." Her voice purred the awful words without the slightest trace of remorse. When the guard hesitated, though, her purr became a sharp bark. "Well? What are you waiting for, you fool! Carry out my orders immediately!" She whirled around in a flurry of material and stalked off towards the heart of the palace.

The guard glared at her retreating back, then turned his glare on the two boys. He motioned for them to begin walking, but stopped them again at the end of the hall, where a very young guard had just snapped to attention. "You! Take this kid to the girl brought in earlier." He roughly pushed the younger boy in the guard's direction.

When the guard looked as if he was going to speak rather than move, the older guard glared at him. "I said move it! Don't just stand around looking like an idiot!" He pushed the older boy ahead of him and strode off down the hallway without waiting for a response from the chastened lad.

The younger guard looked confused. "But which girl? There were two brought in tonight." He muttered under his breath as he hesitated for another moment, but then shrugged. "Well, my orders say no one's to go near one of them, so I guess it has to be the other one." He poked the boy into moving and headed down a different corridor to the one the older guard had taken moments earlier.

After a few minutes of walking and more twists and turns than the younger boy could keep track of, the guard stopped to speak with another guard standing in the corridor. "I was told to bring him here. He's to wait with the girl."

The guard nodded and opened the door. The younger guard started to move but the boy was tired of being pushed around and was already heading for the door. He went into the room quietly and looked around. The door closed behind him just as he noticed the girl sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, petting a purring white cat lying on her lap.

In the back of the boy's mind, a spark of worry over how smoothly the plan was going flared into a blaze.

"You're not my sister!"

The guard led his prisoner down a set of stone steps and into the area of the palace where the prisoners were held. The long corridor was far narrower than the ones upstairs and the air was hot, heavy and foul. It tasted bitter on the young man's tongue and he had to restrain himself from coughing or gasping. He forced himself to breathe through his mouth and not his nose, trying to ignore the stench of unwashed bodies in close quarters that came from each of the cells they passed. Forced himself to ignore the urge to glance into the cells at the poor unfortunates who had earned the Pharaoh's dislike. In all likelihood, they were innocent of all but the smallest offences. The Pharaoh was quick to anger.

As they moved further down the corridor, the young man realised that when his sister had said 'deepest' and 'darkest', it had not merely been a phrase, but was the actual truth of the situation. The only light in the dungeon came down the stairs from the doorway above and it only extended so far. Past the first few cells, the shadows were deeper and each cell was darker than the one before it. Which meant the cell that was intended for him

He forced himself not to shudder in revulsion at what lay at the far end of the corridor. There, the darkness was almost absolute, so the wooden cell door looked less like a door and more like a gaping empty maw. Every step brought him closer to it and he had to fight to keep moving and not allow the fear building inside him to win.

He'd never been afraid of shadows. But also, if he gave up now, then the fight would be over before it had even begun.

He was so intent on getting to the door that he almost missed the guard's soft grumbling.

"Stupid woman. Ah well, not my fault. If he asks, I'll just tell him she ordered me to bring him here. She'll be the one in trouble for it, not me."

Before he had time to work out what the guard meant, they reached their destination and the guard unlocked the door.

"Get in there, you." The rough shove on his back caught the young man by surprise and he stumbled slightly into the dark cell. He caught himself and stood still, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

He heard the guard close the door behind him.

He heard the click of the key turning in the lock, overloud in the near silence of the cell.

Near silence? There was a sound?

Yes. The sound of soft breathing.

Then the sound of something stirring in the darkness. He tensed, wondering if this had been such a good idea after all.

A soft voice, heavily accented and with a curiously musical lilt to it, came from the shadows in front of him.

"Well now, it seems someone forgot this cell already be occupied."

To be continued