a/n: Enjoy.

Blue Eyes White Dragon had done a good job of bringing the building down, but it didn't take long for it to become evident that Kaiba Corp's evacuation plan was better. Mahado took control immediately, directing their small group down a couple of dark alleys and away from the main part of the wreckage. His eyes were glowing in such a way that indicated he was casting a spell even while he spoke, and Mana could feel the familiar tingle in the air. The hair on her arms rose and she shivered, falling back a step to wait for her husband to catch up to the rest of them. He noticed her hesitation and approached quickly, ushering her onto the street.

It was the first free step that Mana had taken outside in over ten years. She couldn't have put it into words, how exquisite it felt to glance down and see something other than stone beneath her feet or to look around and not be faced with walls, bars and desolate faces. She breathed in deeply and wrinkled her nose as the smell of fire, concrete and gasoline reached her. It wasn't the idyllic breath of fresh air she'd been dreaming about for years, but the gust of cold wind against her face and hair made it worthwhile.

About two blocks away from the remains of Kaiba Corp, well hidden from the emergency personnel now flooding the building, Mahado and Seto had a quiet, whispered conversation about what their next move should be. Their priority was, of course, Yuugi and the others, but there were a dozen other people that Mahado felt responsible for. Mana understood why: Mahado had always been a leader and he would never feel right about leaving their fellow escapees behind to fend for themselves, no matter how badly they wanted to see their daughter. It wouldn't be right. She knew that, but she chafed at the thought of being made to wait any longer.

Eventually, having grown tired of watching them bicker, Mariku spoke up. "You know, it doesn't make much sense for all of these people to come with us. No offense, but most of them don't look capable of travel and we have to find the others as quickly as possible. If you're looking for somewhere safe to leave, I could call my brother. He's part of the Resistance. I'm sure they'd be willing to take in your friends and hide them for as long as necessary. They even have support networks to get them out of the country if it comes to that. He lives here in town, it wouldn't take him long to get here."

"What's your brother's name?" Mana asked.

"Rishid."

Mahado's eyes widened slightly and he straightened up. "Call him," he said immediately.

Mariku's brows drew together in puzzlement, but he nodded. "Alright, but we need to find a cell phone first."

"I'll get one," said Bakura. Without waiting for anyone to agree with him, he slipped off. Mana was watching him and she still couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when he blended seamlessly with the shadows from the buildings around them. His skills had certainly not been underplayed, and she now understood exactly why the palace guards had always had so much difficulty in trying to capture her.

She stepped over to Mahado's side now that he had calmed, placing her hand on his arm. In another life Mahado had been her teacher, but she had loved him even then. It had taken him far longer to realize that he loved her, too - almost too long. Yuugi had been born and was nearly a year old before he understood what had grown between them, and the so-called car accident had occurred only a few years after. They'd had only a handful of years to spend as a true family and in Mana's opinion it was not nearly long enough. She longed to find her daughter and know what it was like to have her family back together again; it had been the dream that sustained her while they'd been imprisoned by Kaiba Corp.

He turned to look at her when she tightened her grip, and the weariness in his violet eyes was nearly her undoing. It wasn't right that Mahado should look so exhausted. They had been fighting for a very long time so it made sense, but that made it no easier to witness. "Are you alright, my husband?" she asked quietly, never ceasing to get private thrill out of how those words sounded on her tongue. She had waited most of two lifetimes to be able to say it as a free woman.

"I will be as soon as we are on our way," Mahado replied, voice equally low and meant for her ears alone. "I'm worried, Mana, about Yuugi and Yami. You know what Gozaburo is like. He won't stop at anything to get the power he wants."

"They've been alright this far," Mana said comfortingly, her chest squeezing at the thought of the danger the two of them were no doubt in. Though she was no longer the servant of the pharaoh she'd once been, the memories of that time had remained with her and her loyalty to the young pharaoh ran as deeply now as it had then. Three souls governed Mana's heart, that of her husband and daughter and the boy she loved as a son, and she didn't want Gozaburo around any of them.

"Yes, but..." He shook his head slowly. "The Millennium Items are complex and unstable. We have the thief and the assassin here with us, but if the pharaoh and his hikari are captured and forced to use the Puzzle... you know what intent alone is capable of."

Mana's stomach ached now. "I do, and I have to trust that it will not come to that. The pharaoh sacrificed himself once. Surely that won't need to happen a second time," she said with more confidence than she really felt. "Have faith, my husband. Surely things will be alright in the end. After all, we are not alone now." She nodded towards Seto and Mariku, smiling just a little as Bakura emerged from a gap in between two brick buildings and tossed a disposable cell phone in Mariku's direction. She couldn't help noticing that the three of them stood quite close together: against the rest of the world.

"You speak wisely, my wife," Mahado said after a thoughtful pause. He had followed the direction of her gaze and was examining the three young men closely. "I can only hope that your words will turn out to be true. There is nothing I would not sacrifice to make sure that our children are okay."

AU

Something was wrong. Not for the first time Bakura swore at the useless cell phone he had managed to procure for them. He was half-tempted to chuck the stupid thing at the nearest wall and have the satisfaction of watching it shatter into a hundred little pieces which he could then stomp all over, but Seto's side-glare restrained him. The priest's silent look of warning strongly suggested that destroying their only means of communication would not be looked upon favorably.

"It's not working," Bakura said childishly, only just resisting the urge to pout. He thrust the phone out in Seto's direction. "What's wrong with it?"

"It worked just fine when I used it to call my brother," said Mariku. Out of them all he was easily the most tense, his shoulders stiff and fingers tapping nervously as he waited for Rishid to arrive. Or maybe, like Bakura, he was just too aware of the scrutiny they were being subjected to. Mahado, Mana, and every single one of the other prisoners were openly staring in their direction. It made the hair on the back of Bakura's neck prickle. He wasn't used to that and he didn't like it.

Seto gave the phone a cursory glance. "Looks fine. Let me guess, Ryou's not picking up?" He fiddled with it as he spoke, fingers prying the back off so that he could inspect the circuitry. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it, Bakura. Chances are Gozaburo or one of his underlings has found some way of tracking them and managed to shut off their phones remotely. Not even disposable phones are foolproof, and to be honest Yami and I were always aware of the possibility that they could be hacked without too much difficulty. But at the time it was the best plan we had." He frowned down at the phone, like he was disappointed with his younger self for not coming up with something better, and replaced the back. "Ryou probably doesn't even realize her phone isn't working properly, and she won't unless she tries to make a call to someone."

"Shit," Bakura swore. He clenched his fists in frustration. He suspected that after they'd been captured, Yami would've continued on towards Illusion Island. How much opposition would they receive from Pegasus? Would they even make it to Mokuba? What if they were trapped there? It was impossible to know for certain. He glared at the phone again. Seto quickly slipped it into his pocket.

It only took about ten more minutes before a small black car pulled up to the curb and a man climbed out. He was taller than Seto with darkly tanned skin and he walked straight over to Mariku, arms outstretched like he was going to embrace him. Mariku ducked his head and took a step back, neatly slotting Bakura in between his brother and himself. Rishid stopped, a look of confusion mingled with hurt flashing briefly across his face, like he didn't know what to do with the silent rejection. Bakura just stared him down, daring him to try and get by when Mariku didn't want him around. He might not have known Mariku for all that long, but Ryou was best friends with Malik and that meant she'd end upset if Mariku was somehow hurt. That was his justification for not moving.

Eventually Rishid backed off a little, arms dropping to his sides. "Brother," he said, the word not quite a question.

"Hello Rishid," Mariku said. "This is Seto and Bakura. I'm sure you know who they are." There was a lot of bitterness neatly folded up in those few words and Rishid winced. Mariku ignored that, adding, "We called you here because there are some people that need your help. They escaped from the Kaiba Corp headquarters when it fell to the ground and they can't come with us, but Mahado doesn't want to just leave them here. Some of the guards might still be patrolling the streets."

Rishid's eyes widened as he turned and caught sight of Mahado and Mana. His mouth opened and then closed, but no sound escaped for at least a minute. Finally, he said to them, "I never expected - we thought you were dead."

"That's alright. There were many times I thought the same thing about you," Mana said with a weary smile. "Thank you for coming to help us. It didn't seem right to leave all of these people at the mercy of Kaiba Corp, particularly when Gozaburo will be feeling especially vengeful right now."

"Indeed," Rishid muttered, removing a cell phone from his pocket. He began tapping something into it busily, thumbs flying across the keys, as he spoke. "I'm afraid the chances of your friends staying together is relatively low. We don't have many large safe houses and all of them are located outside of the city, and it's imperative that everyone be hidden as quickly as possible. So for the time being, they'll be divided up and sent to stay with other members of the Resistance. Over the next few weeks, provided that it's necessary, we'll get them out of the country and reinstated elsewhere after we do a full background check." His tone of voice made it clear that anyone who failed the background check would not be treated all that well.

"That's fine," said Mahado. "I don't think most of them will mind. Anything you have to offer will be better than what the treatment we had at Gozaburo's hands." His expression darkened with rage.

"Do you know where Yami and Jou and the others are?" Seto asked.

Rishid finished typing and looked him over before he replied. "I'm afraid not. The pharaoh and the hikaris went off the map, so to speak, not long after the three of you were kidnapped. We're doing our best to figure out where they might have gone, but there's only so much we can do. If you have any ideas on where they might have gone..." He trailed off expectantly.

It was interesting, Bakura reflected, that Rishid seemed to have no idea that Yami, Yuugi, Malik and Ryou had been trying to find Mokuba. Apparently Malik's sister had decided not to reveal that information to the others. He said, "No, we don't. Why the hell do you think he was asking?"

"I simply thought I would check to be sure," Rishid said in a neutral voice, not taking offence. "You'll be coming with us, I assume. You need medical treatment."

Bakura was abruptly reminded of the sharp pain in his shoulder. Much as he had been trying to ignore it, that was starting to be easier said than done. Instead of getting better the pain was spreading, radiating in sharp little waves down into his hand. His fingers were tingling, not quite hurting but close. Still, he scowled. "We don't have time for that. Take them and get lost."

"It will be difficult enough for you to face Gozaburo. Being wounded won't help," Rishid countered, all composed calm that really made Bakura want to punch him in the face just to get a reaction. "At the very least, I insist on being able to provide my brother with medical care."

"No," Mariku said firmly.

"Mariku –"

"I said no and I meant it. Bakura's right, we don't have time for this." Mariku drew himself up and glared at his brother. It would've been a more admirable sight if it weren't for the blood that was steadily trickling from a cut on his temple.

"Actually, your brother has a point," Seto said suddenly. Both Bakura and Mariku turned to him with identical incredulous looks. Seto ignored them. He was watching Rishid carefully. "We will accompany you back to your house, but only for a short period of time. When we make contact with my cousin, we will be leaving. And I'd advise you not to protest or to try and stop us, because I can guarantee it won't go well for you."

The two men stared at each other for so long that Bakura wondered if they might actually come to blows. Rishid was the first to turn away, though, inclining his head towards his car as other cars began to pull up. "Come on, then. Thanks to a cleverly worked spell by one of my friends, the car should be large enough to hold all of us. I will drive."

"Seto, what are you thinking?" Bakura hissed as soon as Rishid was out of earshot.

"I'm thinking that you two are injured and as much as I hate to say it, he's right," Seto snapped. "You're not going to be of any help when you can't even move your arm higher than your shoulder, Bakura. I can't heal you. Not without Jou, anyway." He grimaced, like even just saying her name hurt. "And besides, where else are we going to go? We need somewhere to hide while we figure out where the others are. Kaiba Corp guards will be out on the street soon, if they're not already, and we're going to be top on their list. I don't have the magic left to be able to shield us, and I wouldn't trust Mahado enough to rely on any spell he casts. Believe me, I don't like this anymore than you do."

Bakura hated to admit it, but Seto was right. It was easy to tell that Seto was running low on energy; his face was drawn and pale and he looked like a good strong wind would he enough to knock him over. "Alright, fine," he muttered begrudgingly.

Mariku looked no more pleased by the concession, but he got into the back of the car with Bakura, Mana and Mahado. The drive did not take long. Rishid pulled up in front of a small, one-story house that looked identical to every other house on the street. On the inside, however, it was a different story. The house was much larger, way too big for just two brothers to be living in, and contained a well-stocked hospital room. He and Mariku were directed there first, where a slender woman took charge. Bakura submitted to her care only after watching Mariku be treated.

About the time that Bakura's arm was being wrapped in a sling, Seto came in. He looked grim. "Rishid wasn't joking. There's been no sign of them at all."

"So what do we do? Head for Illusion Island?" Mariku asked.

Seto sighed. "I think we're better off going back to Central Academy."

"What? Why?" Bakura demanded.

"Because I'm almost positive that's where Gozaburo is."

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