Calai'di–Oh my gosh! I'm actually updating this one!!! It's unbelievable how long this took to write! Hopefully the next episode won't tak nearly as long. Or be as dark….

Warnings: YAOI alert! I'm sorry, I didn't want to put it in, but it was necessary to this episode. Again, I'm sorry to anyone who hates it! (no, it's not Jack/Daniel people). Also, there are spoilers to season 8 of Stargate, some violence mentioned, angst, and overall confusion of characters. ;-) Much fun….

And thank you very much to Nachzes-Black Rider who has been beta-ing my fics! I am ever, ever so grateful!

Note: This is set right after "Covenant" in season 8. And…well, you'll see my surprises…

Previously on Stargate SG-1: Daniel Jackson accidentally crossed into another reality via the quantum mirror, gaining insight into the future fate of his realm's Earth. The mirror was then taken to Area 51, though it still works. An alternate Samantha Carter and Charles Kawalski came to our realm, requesting assistance from an oncoming Goa'uld attack in their universe; General Hammond ordered the mirror destroyed. (summery courtesy of )

Episode 2: Welcome to the Real World

"All right guys, spread out and see what you can find," Malik ordered nearly as soon as the Gate shut down behind him. Almost instantly, flashlights flickered on to illuminate the dark chamber, revealing that there were now six people in the room. "And stop playing with those things, Pharaoh!" he called. Atemu glanced up from the DHD and smiled slyly.

"You want to get home, don't you?" he said, putting on a look of total innocence, before looking back to the DHD.

"One on these days, that isn't going to work on me," Malik muttered as he stalked by the dimly glowing pedestal. "Move out troops!"

"You've been waiting forever to say that, haven't you?" Bakura asked sardonically. Malik just grinned at him and ran off in the opposite direction, muttering something about "some sort of hieroglyphics I need to see". The white-haired yami smirked at his friend's diminishing back and swept the flashlight beam about, looking for anything that might hold his interest.

:Bakura, come here!:

The yami jumped slightly at the sound of Ryou's voice in his head and waved the flashlight around. ::Where are you?::

:The room to your left.:

Bakura turned into the nearest room to his left and found his hikari standing extremely close to what looked like a mirror. He held a small, rounded device in one hand and the other was reaching forward to touch the mirror….

"Ryou! Don't touch that!" Bakura exclaimed both aloud and through their mind link. He dashed forward and grabbed Ryou's arm, which knocked the device he held to the ground, just as the boy touched the mirror. There was a small flash of light that surrounded them for an instant; Ryou pulled his hand away as though he'd been burned.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," he muttered, stepping back a bit. "But isn't odd how it doesn't catch our reflections?"

"Yeah…hii-yeh!" In one swift movement, Bakura pulled a cross out of his pocket with so much force that it nearly cracked Ryou's skull as he brought it down on the boy's forehead. Ryou stared indignantly at him.

:You've been reading Hellsing(1) again, haven't you?:

::…Yeah.::

"Well, I'll thank you not to do that again," Ryou growled as he pushed the cross away from his face. "I'm not a vampire yet, Bakura."

"It was worth a try," the spirit mumbled. "And if that's the case, this is a very strange mirror. But then, remember Miyu(1)–hey, where're you going?!"

Ryou poked his head back into the room from where he was standing in the hall. "I'm going to go see if Atemu knows anything about this." His head disappeared again and footsteps echoed as he walked down the hall.

Yet after about ten seconds, an alarmed cry was heard through the mind-link followed by a shout from down the hall. Bakura instantly dashed out of the room, not noticing that when he accidentally ran into a table, the action knocked a small device to the ground. The mirror's "reflection" instantly disappeared and turned black. The yami hurried to the room where the Gate stood and saw the reason for Ryou's distress instantly. There was no one there.

"Maybe they just went back to Earth to get something," Bakura suggested to try and calm Ryou down.

"Without us?"

"Well…"

"And the MALP's gone too."

"Yeah." Bakura had thought of the same thing, almost as soon as he'd seen the empty chamber. It was pretty strange that the team would go back through the Gate early, unless there really was noting there, and it was even weirder that'd take all traces of their existence with them. It just didn't seem right. "Maybe we should go back to Earth and check if everything's all right."

"Good idea." Ryou stepped forward and began dialing the Gate. As soon as the event horizon stabilized, Bakura typed in the numbers for their GDO code, and after a minute, they stepped through together.

"Incoming wormhole!" declared Sgt. Harriman (2) as the Stargate activated. General O'Neill(3) halted behind the sergeant as the iris slid shut; Carter and Daniel entered the room about a second later.

"Just Teal'c and SG-9 offworld, sir," Lt. Col. Carter(3) stated. O'Neill just grunted once and stared out of the glass at the active Gate.

"Receiving IDC, sir." A large number appeared on the computer screen, and Harriman had to look at it twice before he went on. "It's…SG-1."

"Hello," Daniel said in surprise.

"But Teal'c's not due back for a couple of days," Carter said.

Jack stared calculatingly at the Gate and sighed. "He must have gotten in trouble again. Open the iris."

The metal over the event horizon quietly slid open and not more than a second later, two boys stepped out. The members of SG-1 stared a the strange youths in shock; they were almost identical, except that one was obviously older by a few years, even down to the SG uniforms and stark while hair. The younger boy, presumably in his late teens, glanced bewilderedly at the airmen surrounding the Gate–the ones whose firearms were now pointed up at them– and then up at the control room.

"Gomennasai, General Hammond, are we late?" he asked, his voice betraying a slight British accent.

The members of SG-1 glanced at each other before O'Neill picked up the microphone and instead of answering, asked, "Who are you?"

"Colonel O'Neill? What do you mean?" The boy and his look-alike stared once at each other before the teen answered, "My name is Ryou and this is Bakura, a Tok'ra. Don't you recognize us?"

"Hikari, do you have to tell everyone I'm Tok'ra?" Bakura demanded quietly, though it sounded more like a complaint than a question.

"They should already know anyway, Yami-kun," Ryou whispered back. He stared up at the control room again, obviously waiting for an answer…but not the one he got.

"How did you get a GDO code?" O'Neill inquired.

Ryou stared quizzically at them and shrank back a bit into Bakura. "We're part of a team called SG-M that operates out of this base. We live here now. That's how we have a code." He suddenly frowned and stared up at Bakura for a few moments, then looked around the Gate room again. "Didn't Yugi and the others come through before us?"

"Who?"

"Yugi, Pharaoh, Malik, and Kaiba, That's who," Bakura growled, quickly losing patience. "They're the other members of or team, Colonel. Now stop playing these dumb games and just tell us what's going on here?"

"Those names don't sound familiar," Carter commented up in the control room.

"And they keep calling Jack 'Colonel'," Daniel added.

They glanced back down at the teens; Bakura was hugging Ryou close and seemed to be reassuring him quietly.

"Take them to the holding rooms," Jack ordered.

"Listen, I already told you this! Why do I have to say it again?!" Ryou demanded angrily. The officer questioning him on the video seemed unfazed by this outburst.

"Why don't you just answer my question?"

"Fine." Ryou leaned back in his chair and glared straight up at the camera; then he began speaking as though to a small child. "My…name…is…Ryou. I'm part of a team called SG-M, which includes me, Bakura, Malik, Yugi, Atemu, and Kaiba. It operates out of this base and has been for the last five and a half months." He turned his gaze away from the camera and back to his questioner. "Ask Daniel-san or Samantha-san, surely they'll know who I am!" He looked like there was something else he wanted to say, but that something else never formed on his lips before O'Neill paused the tape.

He smirked and swiveled his chair to face the SG-1 members seated at the table. "'Daniel-san'?"

"It's a form of showing respect," Daniel answered in a slightly confused voice. "Anyway, I don't think he's lying, even though what he's saying doesn't make sense. I would like to to know how he got his hair like that though."

"Well, if he is telling the truth, it'll be easy enough to find out. We'll just ask Dad or Anise if they've ever heard of this 'Bakura'," Sam said simply, leaning back in her chair.

"Oh, do we have to call them?" Jack complained. "This length of silence has been rather…pleasurable." Carter shot him a look that plainly said "Don't diss my Dad, sir"; O'Neill sighed and tossed her a small device. "Fine. I'd like to know how they got here anyway." He turned back to the TV screen as Carter scurried off to an elevator and pressed the "Play" button on the remote. The image changed to that of the other boy, who was pacing back on forth in front of the table where his interrogator was sitting.

"I already told you I'm a Tok'ra and I work here. What the hell else do you need to know?" he growled softly. The sergent questioning him, the same one that interrogated Ryou, still looked unfazed.

"How about where you came from or how you got here?"

Bakura slammed his fists against the table and stared straight into the sergeant's eyes; rage and exasperation nearly radiated from his body. "I am not going to tell you this again! Ryou and I have already told you where we came from and how we got here at least fifty times by now! Now would you please let one of us speak to Samantha?!"

"Sam's pretty popular offworld, isn't she?" Daniel commented as the tape paused again.

O'Neill shrugged and stood up. "Ah, the joys of being female: fame and prestige wherever you go. Why don't you go find out why they act like they know us personally?"

Daniel nodded and walked calmly out of the room, trying not to laugh.

:What do you think is wrong with them?: Ryou asked worriedly through their mind-link. He and Bakura were currently in separate holding rooms, and the only way to communicate was by thoughts.

::Didn't we read one like this?::

:Nothing like this, no.: A collective sigh was heard by both of them. :I wish they hadn't separated us.:

::It's not like it stopped anything.:: Ryou suddenly felt–or rather, sensed–Bakura's arms around him; he smiled, thinking about how the spirit must look at the moment.

:You'd better hope no one looks at the security cameras right now. I'll bet you look really silly.:

::Yeah, I bet I do.:: The laughed together at what SG-1's faces would look like if they saw Bakura's position at the moment.

After a minute, Ryou sighed and leaned back into his yami's presence. :We need to find Yugi. Maybe he'll know what's going on.:

::Well, judging by their reactions, Yugi isn't here. Or any of our team for that matter.::

Ryou gasped quietly. :But that means they'd be back in Japan! We can't get there!:

::Yes, we can. Just a second.::

Bakura's presence disappeared and a moment later, Bakura appeared next to Ryou with the Ring glowing slightly. They embraced quickly before either spoke again.

"How do we get there?" Ryou asked into Bakura's hair.

"I'll show you," the yami answered, pulling away slightly. "Do not let go of my hand."

Ryou nodded vigorously and grabbed his other's hand; instantly, a dark fog materialized around them, shifting and dancing subtly. The teen gripped Bakura's arm tightly and they began to walk forward steadily; Bakura seemed to be perfectly aware of where he was going. It seemed to Ryou that the longer they walked, the more the shadows pressed in on them and the colder it got, until after what he thought was an hour, he collapsed, almost taking Bakura down with him.

"Hikari, we need to keep going," Bakura admonished softly as he tried to pull Ryou to his feet. "Come on, we're not even halfway there yet."

Ryou smiled weakly at this. "I thought…you didn't…like…Yugi."

"I don't," the yami growled. He squatted down, facing away from Ryou. "Climb onto my back. I'll carry you." Ryou smiled again and crawled up onto his yami's back, falling asleep almost instantly. Bakura sighed and stood up again; he'd known that travel through the Shadow Realm might be too much on his hikari, but it was kind of pleasant to feel his warmth on his back. He kept walking through the darkness for hours upon hours until he finally stopped and set Ryou down by his feet, making sure to keep a tight hold on his hand. The Ring ceased its glow and the shadows disappeared.

"Ryou, wake up, we're here," Bakura murmured, prodding the boy lightly. Ryou groaned softly and rolled over, almost onto Bakura's lap.

"Where…are we, Yami-kun?"

"We're in–"

"What are you doing in my room?!"

They looked up to see Yugi and Yami standing in the doorway, both with identical expressions of horror and shock. Ryou instantly bounced to his feet and ran forward to embrace his friend, but Yugi shrank back as though from fire and buried his face into Yami's chest, whimpering. Bakura pulled his own hikari to him and regarded Yami with a curious expression.

"Pharaoh," the thief said calmly.

"Spirit," Yami answered extremely coldly. Yugi looked up and whimpered again, obviously stricken with fear.

"Yugi, what's wrong?" Ryou asked anxiously, causing Yugi to shrink back again.

The small boy's eyes shut tight and his fear was explained in two words: "You're dead."

"Daniel, where did they go?" Jack demanded as they ran into each other in the hall. The general had been heading to the holding rooms where Ryou and Bakura were supposed to be, though according to the security tapes, they weren't there anymore. Daniel shrugged and looked suitably admonished.

"According to the guards, they just disappeared into thin air."

"Asgard?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Baal?"

"No–"

"The Tollan?"

"I doubt it. Listen, Jack, if we have two aliens walking around with knowledge of this base and abilities like that, we could be in serious trouble."

Jack stared at him dubiously. "Then we need to find them."

"See, that's the problem. They aren't anywhere in the base."

They walked in awkward silence for a few stepped before Jack sighed audibly and went on, "So, we'll send a couple teams to search the mountain and surrounding area for them. They can't have gone that far."

Ryou and Bakura stared at Yugi with eyes so large they rivaled his. This was not what they had expected to hear. "You've gone missing" or "You tried to kill me yesterday" maybe, but not "You're dead".

"I think you're confused, Yugi. I'm not dead. I'm standing right here," Ryou said quietly. Yugi looked again and shook his head.

"You're dead, Ryou. You and Bakura are dead. I saw both of your bodies and…and…" He choked and began sobbing into Yami's shirt.

"Shhh, it's okay, Yugi. Don't worry, I'll sort out everything–"

"Why won't you stop haunting me?!" Yugi demanded, glaring at the intruders. "Why won't you just leave me alone and go on in peace?!"

"Yugi, I'm–"

"Just go away! You got what you wanted, Ryou, so take Bakura and just leave!"

The white-haired boys shared identical looks of confusion as Yami went on, "You found your yami, Ryou. You can be together now, so leave us alone."

"Yami, I really don't know what you're talking about," Ryou declared calmly.

"You–hic–you killed yourself," Yugi cried. "You and Bakura."

"What? Why would we do that?"

"We don't know," Yami stated stiffly. "I told you that you should have let me banish the thief, but you wouldn't listen. You said 'he won't hurt anyone, Yami. He loves me'. I still didn't think it was good idea, yet I believed you. And for a while, you were right. He didn't hurt anyone."

"But then–hic–well, he never was very stable. I think you told me he was on medication because he was bipolar or–hic–something. But one night he must have not taken it. He went crazy, Ryou! Even you couldn't stop him. He invited most of our friends to some warehouse downtown and–hic–and…Honda, Anzu, Shizuka, Mokuba, Grampa, Malik, Otogi, and Isis were killed that night. And then he shot himself."

Ryou felt Bakura's arms tighten around him at this, but he was close to crying himself and didn't mind.

Yami picked up the narrative. "After that, everyone was depressed, but you most of all. Yugi managed to convince you not to do anything, but he couldn't convince everyone. Jonouchi was stricken by both his sister and Honda's deaths, and Kaiba was the same with Mokuba. Kaiba invited Jonouchi to his mansion and they died holding each other."

They would have laughed at this under different circumstances, but tears were already sliding down Ryou's cheeks.

"It was too much for you, Ryou," Yugi sobbed. "You started withdrawing into yourself, and you wouldn't talk to me anymore until one day you didn't show up at school. Yami and I even skipped part of school just to make sure you were all right, but–hic–but we were too late. There–hic–there was a note on the door that said you couldn't stand being alone anymore. That you were going to join Bakura and be with him forever." He stared pleadingly up at his friend. "Yami and I are the only one's left, Ryou! We're the only ones the gods felt should live! It's not fair!" he screamed, his voice muffled by Yami's chest again.

"Wait, let me see if I heard you right," Bakura said. "I went berserk and killed most of your friends, and then myself, so then Kaiba and the mutt killed themselves, and then Ryou because he loved me?"

"That's an extremely blunt way of putting it, yes," Yami answered coldly.

"I'm sorry, Yugi," Ryou whispered. The boy stared up at him, confused, and Ryou continued, "You shouldn't have gone through all that because of us. But you still have Yami, and he still has you, so you're extremely lucky. Just think, one or both of you might have died ages ago, but you didn't. Even Bakura was never able to hurt you!"

"Ryou, this is not a laughing matter," Yami and Bakura admonished simultaneously.

"I'm not suggesting it should be. But Yugi–let me go, Yami-kun–Yugi, listen." Ryou stepped forward and took his friend by the shoulders. "I know you're sad and hurt, but it wasn't your fault at all. And I'm sorry if Bakura and I hurt you. But you should be glad Yami is still with you, and glad that your friends are happy, too."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked, sniffling slightly.

"Well, think about it. Bakura and I are together, Honda and Otogi still get to chase after Shizuka, and don't you think there might be a reason Jonouchi and Kaiba died holding each other? Besides having themselves, Kaiba also has Mokuba, and Jonouchi has his sister."

Yugi turned his gaze to stare at the floor. "Anzu doesn't have anyone. And neither does Grampa."

"Actually, Anzu does. Listen, I know it'll hurt to hear this, but Anzu and Malik had a crush on each other for a long time. They both told me. And your Grandfather can watch over you and Yami all the time now, not just when you're around him."

:Yami-kun, we should leave soon. Yugi doesn't need to be reminded of anything like that for any longer.:

::Yeah, as soon as you want to. I wanted to leave five minutes ago, but I know you didn't.::

"Listen, Yugi." Ryou got to his knees and stared up at his friend. Taking the boy's hands in his own, he went on, "You're not alone. Your friends are always here for you, if not in body than in spirit. 'Cause you know what we all have besides the ones we love?"

"What?"

"We have the hope that you'll keep living your life until the time when you were destined to die, years and years from now. That you won't let any of this stop you from living, especially since you have Yami and no reason to die. If you don't, you'll hurt all of us, maybe even more than Bakura did."

A tear trailed down Yugi's cheek, but he nodded and smiled. "You're right, Ryou. Thank you."

Ryou smiled as well and stood up, returning to Bakura's side. "You'll be okay, Yugi. You'll see. And I'll probably stop haunting you now. It was your own doubt that caused it in the first place."

"Thank you, Ryou," Yami said, hugging Yugi tightly.

:Now, Bakura.:

"Have fun with Yami, Yugi," Ryou answered. He grabbed Bakura's hand, and they disappeared.

The two spiky-haired teens glanced at each other once, decided to take their friend's advice to heart, and kissed passionately.

"That was pathetic, Hikari," Bakura growled as they walked through the Shadow Realm. Ryou smiled and leaned against his yami.

"Yeah, but it made Yugi feel better. Atemu, too, I bet. And–" he glanced up at the spirit– "me, too."

"How much of what you guys said about us was true?"

"Everything."

Bakura glanced down at his hikari and suddenly stopped, turning away from him. "Climb onto my back, Ryou."

"I'm not tired, Yami-kun."

"But you will be. And…I want you there anyway."

The hikari grinned and almost knocked Bakura over as he leapt onto his yami's back. "I'm not too heavy?"

"I carried you here, didn't I? And you'd better not fall asleep for a couple of hours, if at all."

"How come?"

Bakura wrapped his arms under Ryou's legs, holding him up, and started off into the darkness again. "Because silence isn't at all fun to play with, my little slave."

Realization struck Ryou hard and he was suddenly struggling to get free. "Let go of me, Bakura!"

"I think not," Bakura answered, chuckling darkly. "You won't get away from me that easily."

"I am not your slave, of any kind!"

"Ryou, stop struggling! I was kidding, all right! You don't want to get lost in the Shadow Realm, do you?"

"N-n-n-oooo." Ryou tried and failed to stifle a large yawn. Bakura chuckled again.

"You are tired. Go to sleep, Hikari."

"O-okay." Ryou relaxed as he yawned again and laid his head on his yami's shoulder. But after a few minutes, he spoke again: "I-it's kinda scary…what Yugi told us…I-I mean, I'm not dead, and neither a-a-are you…."

"No, we're not…." Bakura answered in a slightly subdued tone.

"Bakura…you don't…really have bipolar, do you?"

The yami remained silent, choosing to look at a spot on the ground slightly to his left instead.

Ryou shot straight up with shock, now very alert. "Why didn't you tell me?! And how do you know or get pills for it in the first place?!"

"I…I went to a psychologist when you were at school once, and he had me take a lot of tests and then he told me I had it. I got pills when you were at school, too. So it was the last time we were in Domino, and I only got enough to last a few months." He blushed slightly and stared at his feet. "I didn't tell you 'cause I thought you'd over-react."

Ryou sighed and hugged his yami tightly. "You know you can tell me anything, Bakura. I don't really want you killing everyone either. Do Anise or Selmac know?"

"No."

"Malik?"

"No."

"Um…how long before your medication runs out?"

"A week and a half."

They walked in uncomfortable silence for a few minute, each boy thinking about what could happen. Finally, Ryou spoke up again. "When we get back to the SGC, I'll ask Samantha-san if there's any place is Colorado Springs that'll give you more medicine. Or maybe we can ask someone back home, like Jonouchi or Isis, to get it or–"

"Ryou, Yugi just said they were all killed."

"Yeah, but remember, he also said we're dead, too, and we know that's not true. I don't think we're really on Earth."

"Then where would we be? Back on that planet with that weird mirror?"

"Yeah, you know, I bet it trapped us, like in 'Mirror, Mirror'."

::You've been reading 'Miyu' way too much.::

:I try.:

::Well stop. It's disturbing.::

:So is your lack of appreciation for it.:

"Whoa, 'Carter', too many big words," Bakura complained, imitating O'Neill playfully.

Ryou giggled and hugged Bakura again. "I love you."

"I know," Bakura answered. Ryou stared at him in what could have been shock until the yami sighed and went on, "Fine! I love you, too. Happy?"

Ryou smiled and relaxed again. "Very. Let's get home, Bakura."

"Incoming wormhole!" Harriman declared. After a few moments he added, "It's the Tok'ra, sir."

"About time! Open the iris!" O'Neill declared as he dashed out of the room. He emerged about a minute later, followed by Daniel and Carter, in the Gate room just as Anise, Jacob, and Malek(4) stepped out of the Stargate. Sam dashed up to her father, her eyes filled with extreme urgency.

"I'm so glad you're here! We have a problem."

"And here I thought you just wanted to see your old man," Jacob said jokingly. "What is it?"

"We'll explain in the briefing room, Dad," Carter answered, glaring slightly at Jack.

"I have heard of this 'Bakura'," Anise said quietly back up in the briefing room. This was the first comment any of the Tok'ra operatives had made after Sam, Jack, and Daniel had explained the situation.

"You have?" Sam and Jack asked simultaneously.

"Yes, though only in Tok'ra legend. Bakura supposedly killed the host of Aasir, one of our last operatives on Earth, and was then possessed by him. But after that he drops out of history. There is no other mention of him."

"What's interesting is that this happened three thousand years ago," Selmac added.

"So either he found a sarcophagus or it's not really Bakura," Daniel concluded bluntly.

"I do not know why he would even claim to be Tok'ra," Malek spat. "Bakura was the host, and Aasir would have died years ago."

They were spared further comment when, near the stairs, the air suddenly seemed to shift as though from heat, and Bakura appeared with a sleeping Ryou on his back. At first he looked slightly disoriented, but, gazing around the room, his gaze fell on the other occupants, so he placed Ryou gently down on the floor and bowed respectfully.

"Anise," he greeted, "Selmac, Malek."

It was painfully obvious, however, that they were extremely taken aback by this greeting, and the surprise was very apparent on their faces. Bakura desperately looked back and forth between them.

"Please don't tell me you don't recognize me either!"

"What is your name?" Selmac asked.

"Bakura, host to Aasir of Memphis," Bakura answered dejectedly, noting a slight change in Malek's expression.

"How old are you?"

"Three thousand, twenty-three years(5). You should already know–"

"Unh…."

Ryou suddenly stirred and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Yami-kun, let's not do that again. I hate traveling through the Shadow Realm."

"Don't diss what you don't know," Bakura admonished quietly, but Ryou barely heard him as he had already noticed the other occupants of the room. Instantly, he was on his feet, bowing deeply to the Tok'ra.

"Lady Anise, it's so good to see you again. Maybe you can tell us what's going on."

"Who are you?" Anise asked, looking notably confused by the greeting.

Ryou's expression fell considerably and he spoke to Bakura again. "They don't know us either, do they?"

"I don't think so."

The teen dropped to the ground in desperation. "What is going on here?"

"Ryou, calm down, we'll figure it out," Bakura said as he sat down beside his hikari. Pulling Ryou into a hug, he went on, "What did Miyu do to get out of the mirror?"

"Well, Larva had another mirror and–"

"Wait, did you say something about a mirror?" Carter asked, a smile forming on her lips.

"Yeah, there was this mirror on P4X-759, and Ryou touched it, and now everything is all screwed up."

"Let me guess, the mirror didn't catch your reflections either?" Daniel went on, also seeming to catch on.

"Yeah, how did you…?"

Carter smiled and looked triumphantly at Jack, closely copied back Daniel, who also knew what had happened; Jack, however, looked as clueless as ever.

"Carter, don't look at me like that. I know you're going to go into one of your 'scientific rants' that I won't understand."

"It's another Quantum Mirror," Sam and Daniel said at the same time.

Jack shook his head. "Oh no, Hammond had it destroyed, remember?"

"Then maybe it's a different one," Carter answered. "It makes sense, sir. Isn't it odd that everything was different only after they touched a mirror? In whatever reality they come from, they probably are part of the SGC, and I bet we knew them quite well."

"Well, from the reality we're from, you're still a Major and engaged to Kaiba, and Jack's still a Colonel and Freya's been hitting on him like crazy," Ryou muttered, causing both Jack and Anise to blush.

"Definitely different," Jack murmured.

"Oh yeah," Sam agreed, also blushing.

"So we're in a different reality?" Bakura asked.

"I guess that's why Yugi thought we were dead," Ryou said quietly. "In this reality, we are."

"Well, that explains why you haven't gone through temporal entropic cascade failure(6) yet," Sam commented, shivering slightly.

"Temperate tropic what?"

"Temporal entropic cascade failure. Basically, it's when two of the same person are in the same reality and–"

"It's painful and ugly to watch," Jack interrupted, giving Carter a 'look'. "That's all you need to know."

"Sorry, sir."

"So, can you show us the symbols?" Jack asked. When both Ryou and Bakura nodded, he started walking out of the room, saying, "All right, come on then."

Ryou and Bakura stood nervously before the event horizon of the Gate, smiling as Daniel asked one more question.

"So, how did you get your hair like that?"

"It's natural," the boys answered simultaneously.

Ryou held up a hand to stop Daniel's next comment. "Ah, it's weird, I know. But you get used to it after a while."

"So I guess this'll be the last time we'll see you?"

"Well, since we're supposed to be dead in this reality, yeah. But Yugi's still around, so you might give him a call. He could really help you."

"We'll see." Daniel smiled and the two boys walked into the event horizon.

---Wormhole Sequence---

"All right, come on, Ryou!" Bakura ordered as soon as the exited the Gate. They ran down the hall and into the room with the mirror; Ryou almost tripped on the control device as they entered.

"Okay, Daniel-san said to touch the mirror a–" Ryou stopped, staring bewilderedly at the darkened glass. "Yami-kun, did you do that?"

"Do wha–uh, oh." Bakura had just noticed the mirror himself. "Uh, no?" He leaned down, picked up the device on the floor, and pushed a button on the top; the mirror's "reflection" suddenly appeared. "There, all fixed."

"That's not where we came from," Ryou announced, effectively stopping Bakura's hand, which had been reaching for the mirror.

"What do you mean? Of course it is."

"No, 'cause right before I touched the mirror, you knocked a device like that out of my hands. It should be on the floor right next to the mirror."

They stared at the mirror, but there was no device on the reflected floor.

"That's probably not good," Bakura muttered, turning the device in his hand over and over. "Maybe we should dial Earth again and ask Daniel?"

"Wouldn't you rather figure it out yourself?" Ryou asked knowingly, giving his yami a curious look.

"I'd rather get out of this reality as soon as possible," Bakura answered as he headed into the hall. "It's creepy thinking that I'm a walking ghost."

"You are anyway, Yami-kun," Ryou giggled, and he joined Bakura out in the hall.

"Hello! What are you doing back here?" Jack asked as soon as the boys stepped out of the Stargate. "I thought Daniel sent you on your merry way back home."

"He did, but–" Bakura held up the device in his hand– "we have a slight problem."

"So, you see, when we turned it back on–"

"It didn't come on with your reality," Daniel finished for him. Ryou nodded from across the table and gave him a questioning look. "Oh, it's kind us happened to us before, too. I'll have to show you how it works; it's hard to explain if you don't actually have the Mirror in front of you."

"Fine with me," Bakura grumbled as he stood up from his chair. "I just want to get out of this screwed up reality."

"Well, if anyone can help you, it's Daniel," Jack announced. He patted Daniel on the back and pushed him towards the stairs. "I have complete confidence in your abilities, Danny-boy."

Ryou and Bakura sweatdropped as they followed. "Great, now he's imitating Pegasus."

But almost as soon as they stepped out of the wormhole, Bakura fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain.

"Shut up, just shut up…" he muttered angrily.

"Bakura? What's wrong?" Ryou tried to lean down to help, but his yami pushed him away and stood back up, shaking his head.

"I'm fine, don't worry," he said, trying to smile at Ryou. "But we need to get back to our reality as soon as possible."

Ryou looked confused, but he shrugged and started dragging Bakura toward the hallway. "Come on, then." They began running for the room with the mirror, only to collide with an invisible wall, sending them flying backwards. Bakura staggered to his feet, pulling Ryou up with him, as deep laughter filled the room.

"Who's there?" Daniel called, looking cautiously around them. The laughing resumed and a body appeared right behind him, pulling him into a headlock. The new figure was rather tall with dark, ear-length hair and dark eyes, and he was wearing normal looking Earth clothes. (7)

"Hello, all!" the figure said in a Goa'uld voice. He brought out a Zat and held it up to Daniel's throat. "You won't be getting out that way!"

"Who are you?" Bakura asked disdainfully.

"I am Setiundbakracalaidianac, but you can call me Bob," the Goa'uld answered, waving the Zat around a bit. When he noticed their disbelieving looks, he added, "Hey, I don't like that stupid Tau'ri name either, all right? But at least it's better than saying 'Setiundbakracalaidianac' over and over, ya know?"

"This is different," Ryou muttered, shrinking up against Bakura. The yami only nodded and gestured for Bob to continue.

"I'm here 'cause Baal wants one o' you SGC people in his possession, and I just happen to be the only minor Goa'uld working for him that actually has a stealth-device," Bob said, still waving his Zat around. Ryou was beginning to wonder whether this man was actually stable.

"How…how did you get…on Earth?" Daniel asked, having to gasp as Bob's arm was wrapped around his neck fairly tightly.

"Pah, you Tau'ri people don't check your incoming guests very well," the Goa'uld answered. "I came with Camulus and the other idiots–Baal's pretty mad about your deceivin' him and Camulus like that, by the way, Danny-boy."

Bakura leaned back, haughtily regarding the Goa'uld. "So you came through the Gate with us just now, activated the force-shield, and we're now waiting for Baal to show up, correct?"

"Yep. You're a smart one, Bakura. How come you never joined us?"

"You…you know about Baal?" Daniel asked.

"Daniel: yes, we know about that bastard. But we weren't stupid enough to let Camulus go. And you: I didn't join you baka ahous because I knew you were gonna get your asses kicked in the end. I prefer the winning side, thank you."

"B-bakura?" Ryou asked, hesitantly tugging on the yami's sleeve. This wasn't like the Bakura he'd known for the past few months; this was the Bakura from before Stargate Command, before Battle City even, the Bakura that should have been long gone.

"What, yadonushi?" the yami spat, still glaring at Bob.

"Um…nothing." Ryou winced and closed his eyes, bowing his head respectfully. "Never mind, Bakura-san."

"Good." Bakura turned his attention back to Bob and Daniel, both of whom were staring at him questioningly. Ryou took the chance to carefully search his dark's pockets, having to draw his hand back when Bakura started walking toward the Goa'uld. But the hikari had found what he'd been searching for.

"H-hey, stay back," Bob ordered, though he began backing up away from Bakura. "I'll shoot him if you come closer."

"Yeah, that's why you haven't done it yet," Bakura scoffed. He drew a blood-red knife out of his pocket and twirled it delicately with his fingers. "Why don't you let Daniel go now?"

"Nope, sorry, he's a prisoner of Baal."

"Whatever." The yami suddenly lunged forward, sinking his knife into the Goa'uld's shoulder; Bob screamed and tossed Daniel away from the blood now spilling to the floor.

"You'll pay for that, shol'va," he growled, pressing his hand against the wound.

Bakura just regarded him casually, licking some of the man's blood off of his knife. "Would I really be considered a traitor if I was never with you in the first place?"

"All Tok'ra are shol'va."

"Ah, but I'm not a Tok'ra," Bakura protested softly. He abruptly rushed forward, plunging his knife into the Goa'uld's neck. "I'm just the host."

Ryou stared sadly as Bob's body slid to the floor, and he let a small bottle clatter to the ground. "No, Bakura-san–" with this, he jumped up onto his yami's back and forced a small pill into Bakura's mouth– "I'm the host here." Bakura struggled to throw Ryou off, but when that didn't work he threw himself backward to the ground, crushing the hikari's small body under him. Ryou yelped in pain but let go, smiling a little since his yami had already swallowed the pill.

"Baka yadonushi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Bakura exclaimed as he shoved Ryou further into the ground.

"I…I…"

"Are you trying to poison me or something?!"

"Iie, Bakura…"

"Hey, uh, Bakura, Ryou…" Daniel started, but one sharp look from the yami quickly silenced him.

Bakura stared back at the hikari pinned beneath him. "What were you trying to do, ahou?!"

"I was…helping…you," Ryou gasped. He struggled a bit and managed to point at the pill bottle still lying on the floor. Bakura stepped over to it and picked it up, staring incredulously at the writing on the bottle.

"Lithium? Why the hell would I need–" The yami unexpectedly fell to his knees, blinking rapidly, and stared again at the bottle. "Ryou, are you all right?"

"Are you okay, Bakura?" Ryou asked, painfully propping himself up on one of his elbows to look at his yami.

"I am now. Thank you, Hikari." Bakura crawled back over to Ryou and got him onto his back again. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I can't control it when I'm like that."

"It's okay, Yami-kun. It wasn't your fault."

"Hey, guys?" Daniel called, startling them; they'd forgotten he was there. "Maybe we should get you back now."

"Good idea," they answered together. Bakura walked over to Bob, tucked the Zat into his pocket, and pressed a jewel on the Goa'uld's ribbon-device to disable the shields. "Let's go," he ordered, heading straight for the room with the Mirror; Daniel followed a bit confusedly.

Once they got to the mirror, Bakura handed the control device to Daniel and pointed at the mirror. "We don't want to go there."

"He means, 'could you help us set it back to our reality, please?'" Ryou said, glaring at his yami.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant."

"Okay, Ryou, could you help me?" Daniel asked as he began to fiddle with the device. Ryou nodded and slid to the floor to watch what the archaeologist was doing.

"How does it work?" he asked.

"Well, you're supposed to do this–" Daniel placed his thumb and index finger on the top of the controller as if he was holding a switch and moved them slightly; the imaged on the Mirror changed with a flash– "and it changes the reality. But you have to do it really carefully or it can go too far. Do you want to try?"

"Sure." Ryou took the device and copied Daniel's actions, though he barely moved his fingers at all. He stared thoughtfully at the new image and changed it again. "In our reality, the control device like this was on the floor in front of the mirror. But the room looked just like this one otherwise."

"Okay, so this reality isn't too far off from yours," Daniel said, referring to the image on the mirror.

"You guys might want to hurry up," Bakura interjected as he stared out of the room down the hall. "We've got company."

"Jaffa?"

"And they don't seem to be very happy about Bob's death," the yami affirmed.

"Can you do anything to stop them from getting in here?" Daniel asked since he didn't have any weapons with him.

"I have a Zat and my deck. I think I can hold them off for a while." Bakura briefly smirked back at them and pulled his deck out of his pocket. "You just find our reality," he ordered as he selected a couple of cards. "I summon Headless Knight and Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams!"

Daniel stared at the newly appeared monsters with extreme interest but Ryou caught his attention again.

"Daniel-san, will you hold this please?"

Ryou handed the controller to the older man and touched the mirror, instantly transferring to the image. He seemed to look around a bit, the touched the mirror on his side and reappeared beside Daniel. "Sorry, not the right one. Close though."

"Have you got our reality yet?" Bakura demanded. His voice was muffled by sounds of staff weapon shots hitting a golden barrier in the doorway.

"Almost, Bakura!" The image changed once more and now, not only was there a control device on the floor in the reflection, but Yugi and Malik were walking throughout the reflected room, silently calling for someone. "Found it!" Ryou announced, handing the controller to Daniel, and he touched the mirror to appear in the reflected room.

"About time." Bakura stepped backwards toward Daniel, pulling a fist-sized metal ball, a shock-grenade out of his pocket. He gave the grenade and his Zat to Daniel, asking, "Do you know how to use one of these things?"

"A shock-grenade? Yeah…"

"Good. As soon as I touch the mirror, that shield's going to disappear. I hope you don't get killed." Bakura smiled and reached for the mirror. "Good luck, Daniel."

"Bakura!" Yugi exclaimed as he jumped on the yami. Bakura managed to steer himself away from the mirror enough that he didn't touch it when he fell backwards from Yugi's hug. "We were so worried about you and Ryou!"

"Well…get off of me!" Bakura shoved the smaller boy away from him and pushed himself to his feet, only to be attacked by his own hikari. "Ryou!"

"You scared me, Bakura! Don't do that ever again!" Ryou cried into his yami's hair.

"Then we need to get back to Earth as soon as possible so you can ask Samantha about that, huh?"

"Yeah." The hikari drew back slightly. "Will you carry me, Bakura? You really gave me a beating back there."

"Fine, get on." Bakura smirked at Malik and Yugi's astonished expressions as Ryou climbed onto his back. "What? We went through a lot, all right?"

"Whatever," Malik said. He began walking out of the room, smiling slightly at the spirit. "Come on, Kaiba's been worried sick."

"Yeah, right," Bakura answered as he and Yugi followed their friend to the Gate.

"SG-M, you're nearly four hours overdue," Hammond announced as they stepped out of the event horizon. SG-1 was also waiting at the bottom of the ramp, and a couple of technicians were preparing a MALP to go through the Gate.

"General, you have no idea how good it is to see you all," Bakura stated as he approached the group.

"What do mean? What happened?"

"Later. We'll tell you later," Bakura answered sleepily; he hadn't slept in about two days after all. "Right now, I need to rest." But Ryou had already slid of his back and was now walking determinedly toward Major Carter.

"Samantha-san, I have something I need to talk with you about."

1) Hellsing and Vampire Princess Miyu are two very good manga series, both somewhat, if not all, about vampires, and are definitely not owned by me.
2) Sgt. Walter Harriman is that guy who, in later the later seasons, says "Chevron one encoded, chevron two encoded…" and so on. He's kind of dorky, wears glasses, and looks a lot like Siler (though not nearly as accident prone)
3) In season 8, O'Neill was promoted to the rank of General, and Carter was promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel. In this story, season 8 is practically nonexistent in Bakura's reality, probably because the Yugioh gang is there.
4) Yay, I found the correct spelling for Malek's name! Now I can distinguish between the Tok'ra and Malik.
5) Yeah, 3023 give or take. I figured that out from things I've heard about the manga. I've read that 'Kura was about eight when Kuru Eruna was destroyed, and it was about fifteen years later that he got sealed in the Ring. 81523 then 30003023.
6) Temporal entropic cascade failure happens when two of the same person are in the same reality. The intruder's molecular structure begins to break down and decay until he or she ceases to exist. It's also extremely painful and looks a bit like what happened to Yami Malik (face-wise). I swear to this day he was going through TECF. (see episode "Point of View" for more specific details)
7) Hee hee, anyone recognize him (Nachzes, this means you)? Seth from Holy Crusade has made his first guest appearance! Not sure if I like him as a Tau'ri/Goa'uld guy or a lecherous god better….
Oh, and his name means something like "under Seth and dark in life as the thief".