Calai'di: Welcome to chap three, my Pendragon and Vampire Game chapter (neither of which I own). That should be all the spoilers right there. Enjoy! (and hurrah! for the rest of season eight!)

Oh, and there is a fair amount of cursing, but with Bakura and Malik in the same room, what else would you expect?

Thanks to Nachzes for beat-ing this for me, even though her dad was being a prick and she had to work on it at school. She's so good to me!

Episode 3: Life Force

"Are you sure everything will be all right?"

"Of course, General. I'll make sure of it."

"We'll inform you as soon as Major Carter can help you."

"Thank you. I'm sure we'll be fine, but it is appreciated, Hammond-san."

"Bakura, are you all right?" Ryou asked, poking his yami in the ribs. Bakura looked up abruptly, turning his eyes from where he'd been staring dazedly at the shimmering event horizon.

"Hmm? What?"

Ryou smiled and shook his head. "You're holding everyone up. Come on, Yami-kun, you can't be that worried. I'll be here for you."

Smiling back at him, Bakura nodded and stared determinedly back at the Gate again. "I know. I'm just a little nervous that Samantha is still looking for somewhere to get my medicine from."

Ryou squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It's just a standard recon. We won't even be gone long enough for it to matter."

"I'm sure you're right," Bakura answered, smiling. He squeezed Ryou's hand back and entered the Stargate.

----Wormhole Sequence…----

The Stargate on the new planet was located on a relatively tall platform standing high above the ground with stairs leading down to ground level. A safe distance away stood the DHD. All around the Stargate were buildings; it seemed to be standing in the middle of a small village square, the center of all attention. Far off in the distance, a ways from the village, was a mountain range with a city of lights about halfway up the tallest peak. Dark clouds covered the skies as if rain was expected.

"This is a cheery place," Kaiba muttered as they descended down the steps. Atemu nodded silently and headed for the DHD–he seemed to be addicted to them–but Malik grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Sorry, Pharaoh, not this time," Malik said, pulling him away from the dialer. "You can figure it out later. I'm fed up with pulling you away from that thing."

"But...you want to get–"

"Nope, not working this time. I told you it wouldn't someday. Besides, you should already know how that thing works."

"Yeah, I guess I do..." Atemu muttered, allowing Malik to pull him away from the DHD. Malik smirked at him, pleased that, for once, he had won an argument, and he was about to start berating the Pharaoh about it when he ran into Bakura and sent them both crashing to the ground.

"Malik! What the hell?!" Bakura exclaimed as he landed heavily on his shoulder. Ryou scurried to help him to his feet, while Yugi did the same for Malik, and all the while the two being helped were yelling at each other at the top of their lungs.

"That fucking hurt, you bastard! What–"

"Why the hell were just fucking standing there?! If I–"

"–the hell were you looking at?! Obviously–"

"–didn't fear Ryou's wrath so much, I'd–"

"–not where you where you were going!"

"–kick your ass right now!"

"Oh, bring on, tough guy!"

"You'd want that, wouldn't you, bas–"

"Guys, knock it off!" Yugi ordered, stepping between them to stop any fights that could happen. "You two are best friends! Please don't fight! Please?" he asked pleadingly, staring up at Malik. Behind them, next to Kaiba, Atemu glared at Malik and turned away to look around the town.

Malik smiled slightly down at Yugi, then glared at Bakura and answered loudly, "Then what was he just standing there for?"

"You moron." Bakura rolled his eyes and pointed behind him to the town square. "For your information, tomb keeper, I was looking at that."

Malik turned his gaze to where the thief was pointing and gasped quietly; roughly a hundred people had gathered in the plaza and were now down on their hands and knees in neat rows on the ground behind the DHD. Atemu stepped forward a bit, slightly aghast, and gazed out over the crowd.

"Hello?" he called uncertainly.

"WELCOME, OH GREAT ONES!" answered the people in unison in a language incredibly similar to Japanese. The Pharaoh glanced back at them and shrugged, not sure what to do in this situation. He didn't mind the greeting, of course, but he hadn't been in these circumstances for a long time, and had never dealt with it all that well.

Kaiba smirked at Atemu's lost expression and stepped forward himself, raising his arms high above his head in a 'V'. "Thank you for this grand welcome! We are honored! See? It's simple," he added in an undertone to Atemu.

"What world is this that we have come to?" Malik added loudly, following Kaiba's example. They were both comfortable in a situation like this.

A blonde man in the front row answered without looking up, "This world is called Quillan, my lord. This town is La Naan, and the city in the mountains is Pheliosta."

"Who are you? Stand up and tell me," Kaiba ordered. The man stood up without shaking and bowed deeply, one of his hands waving subtly behind his back.

"My name is Vord, Great One," he answered as the rest of the villagers slowly got up and began to leave the plaza. "I am the leader of this town."

Kaiba nodded curtly and turned to the rest of the team. "See? It's easy to order people around."

"They probably think we're Gou'alds or something," Bakura said with near disgust, "with us coming through the Chappa'ai and all."

"Yes, they'd think that with you using the language," Ryou berated kindly. Bakura childishly stuck out his tongue in response.

"They don't look like they're all that advanced," Atemu spoke up as he looked over the town. The shock had fallen away and now he was ready to do his job. "It's amazing how similar their language is to Japanese. And yet they don't look anything close."

"Yeah, maybe we should ask about that," Malik said. "Yo, Vord!" The man in question looked up with confusion. "Yeah, you. Come here!"

Vord slowly made his way past the DHD, after looking about nervously, and up to the stairs of the Stargate platform. "You called for me, my lord?."

"All right, stop! No more of this 'my lord' and 'great ones' stuff," Malik ordered. He pointed to each of the members of his team and introduced them, saying afterwards, "We are not Goa'ulds, got it? Actually, Bakura here might get kind of mad if you call him that. Anyway, we're explorers and we've come to learn about your planet and your people–"

"Ah, now may not be a good time," Vord answered, looking both frightened and confused. He glanced back at the mountains and went on, "It's almost time for the Collection, and you should not be here for that. In fact, we were preparing for it when you arrived."

"What's this 'Collection'?" Atemu asked, not missing the look Vord had given the mountain. It had been straight at Pheliosta.

Vord sighed and shook his head. "No, no, it is not something to speak about with guests. Come, we must get to know each other better. We shall go to The Red Dragon." He began to walk off toward a street that led out of the square, not seeming to care whether his 'guests' followed or not. But they did follow, Atemu in front since he was the most eager to learn about these people.

"Bakura, this is really weird," Ryou whispered as they set off, once Vord was out of earshot. "I've heard all these names before, I just don't know where."

"Vampire Game," Bakura answered quickly. "Pheliosta is the kingdom that Ishtar rules over; La Naan is where Vord is from."

Ryou's eyes widened as he stared after Vord. "He looks just like the Vord in the manga! But that's not possible!"

Bakura shrugged and kept walking, lost in thought. It had really been just by chance that he had found the manga called 'Vampire Game'; he'd just been searching for books about vampires at the library and it had popped up. But once he'd read it, he'd gotten hooked, and he remembered everything that had happened very clearly. The man in front of them did look a great deal like Prince Vord; Bakura half expected to see Seiliez walking down the street dressed like a girl, the two looked so much alike. But those were characters in a manga; the similarities had to be just coincidence.

"Hobey-ho, Vord!" called a teen from behind the bar counter as they entered The Red Dragon. "Who have we got here?"

"Hobey-ho, Spader," answered Vord tiredly. He led the members of SG-M to the counter and sat down on one of the stools.

"Long day already?" Spader asked while Vord counted the Earthlings, then counted them again and again.

"Yeah–were there not six of you that came through the Chappa'ai?" the blonde asked.

Spader's eyes grew wide and he bowed to SG-M. "The Chappa'ai! You must be–"

"Say 'gods' and I'll kill you," Bakura growled, looking him over with narrowed eyes. The teen called Spader looked more Japanese than any other person they'd seen, with his shoulder-length black hair and almond shaped black eyes, but he had an accent similar to Australian.

"There were six of us," Atemu said to Vord, "but the other two had to go back through the Stargate to check in with our General." In truth, Ryou and Yugi had returned to their soul rooms, but the Pharaoh obviously could say that.

Bakura sat down heavily on a stool next to Vord and looked behind the counter. "So, got any vodka here?"

"Bakura!" Atemu admonished.

"Nah, he's got a good point," Malik said as he took a seat next to the thief. "I've been itching for a good Bloody Mary since we got to the SGC."

"That was over half a year ago!"

"Yeah, and I've been wanting one for over half a year. At least in Domino there were some pretty good bars–"

"Malik, you're working for the military now! You can't be drinking!"

"I agree with Malik on this one, Atemu."

"Kaiba!"

While they argued, Vord and Spader stared at them like they were aliens–which they were–until the former looked away and lightly rapped his knuckles on the table.

"Five sniggers, please, Spader," he ordered. The black-haired teen nodded dumbly and began filling glasses with the blood red drink.

"Did they really come through the Chappa'ai, Vord?" he asked quietly.

The blonde nodded as he was handed a glass. "I saw it myself. To tell the truth, they acted like gods at first, but then that one–" he pointed to Malik– "told me that they are really humans from a world called Earth, or Tau'ri–"

"They're from Tau'ri?!" Spader exclaimed. He handed Bakura and Malik each a glass of the sniggers after they stared at him questioningly. He went on more quietly, "But this is great! The prophecy could be fulfilled!"

"Yes, but it is bad luck for them to arrive at the time of Collection." Vord glanced at Bakura once and continued, "There is no way they will not be Chosen if they are here. You know what Lord Duzell's tastes are like."

"There's a tum-tigger, then," Spader agreed. Then, noticing Bakura's look of surprise and pleasure at the sniggers, he added, "Spiff, isn't it, Snow-Hair?"

"My name is Bakura," the thief growled in response, "and what is this stuff? It's great!"

"Sniggers," Spader answered. "Which one of you is the leader?" When Malik raised his hand, he went on, "You should leave Quillan and never come back."

"What?!" Atemu exclaimed.

"Uh, why?" Malik asked.

"It's almost time for Collection. You shouldn't be here–"

"All right, what is this 'Collection'?" Kaiba asked impatiently. Spader stared at him nervously and wrung him hands.

"I'm not sure if it's something to discuss. It's a real natty-do."

"Discuss it anyway."

"Um, well..." The black haired teen glanced around apprehensively and leaned over the bar so he could whisper, "Th-the Collection is when, each year, the leaders of Pheliosta come to La Naan and pick out twenty sacrifices to take back to the city." He grimaced and looked away. "We're not sure what happens to the Chosen, but they never come back. There are a couple other town that give sacrifices as well." He turned his gaze back on Kaiba, eyes cold as ice. "It's not something we usually discuss with strangers, especially around this time."

"The Collection is tomorrow, so you four should leave," Vord added quietly. "I cannot be sure you would not be Chosen if you are still here."

"All right, Yami, explain to me again why we're staying here?" Yugi asked exasperatedly. "Especially when there's a good chance we'll be sacrificed tomorrow if we don't leave?" He flopped heavily onto the bed in the room they were staying in over night. The room was next to two others that the rest of the team was staying in, which were all part of the inn above The Red Dragon tavern, curtsey of Spader.

Atemu smiled and sat down lightly next to his hikari. "Because General Hammond believes that we can still learn from these people. Besides, we can be gone before the Collection thing tomorrow and come back later."

"Hmph, we could do that now, I think." The hikari stood up and headed toward the door, stopping just before it with his hand on the doorknob. "I'm worried, Yami."

"About tomorrow?" Yugi nodded. "It'll be fine, Yugi; we'll be out of here before anything happens."

"Yeah, but I'm still worried," Yugi muttered as he pushed open the door. Especially about Bakura. "I'm going to go talk to Ryou and Malik for a bit."

Atemu visibly grimaced slightly at Malik's name but let his hikari go anyway. Yugi crept down the hall to Ryou and Bakura's closed door and knocked quietly, hoping he wasn't interrupting anything; you never knew with the two white-haired teens. After a few moments, he heard an irritated sounding "come in," so he hesitantly opened the door and stepped inside. Ryou was sleeping peacefully on the bed, seemingly unfazed by the knocking, and Bakura stood passively at the window, staring out toward the mountains and Pheliosta.

"Um, Bakura?" Yugi said quietly, not wanting to set the yami off. He did anyway.

"What?"

"A-are you all right. I mean, you been kinda quiet–"

"I'm fine!" Bakura growled, glaring harshly at the smaller duelist. Yugi fell silent and walked cautiously over to the bed where he sat down at Ryou's feet. The yami turned back to stare in silence out the window again, and it was a few moments before either of them said anything.

"I'm sorry that Major Carter hasn't been able to help you, Bakura," Yugi murmured. The thief barely moved to acknowledge that he'd heard. Yugi went on, "I wish it could be different. Everyone's worried about you, even if they don't know. Especially Ryou."

Bakura was silent for a few more moments before answering, "They're going to lock me up, Yugi." He turned away from the window to look at his own hikari. "If I don't have any medicine, I won't be able to control what I do, so they're going to lock me up in that iso room where I was before. I mean, I guess I don't want to hurt anyone, but Ryou would be trapped with me, too. And I don't really want to hurt him, Yugi."

"Um, does Malik know about this?"

"No."

"He should know, Bakura."

"What?!" Bakura stared at him like he was nuts. "Are you crazy?! It's bad enough that you know, that anyone knows; I don't need to tell anyone else!"

"But Malik needs to know! He's the leader–"

"I don't fucking care!" Bakura yelled angrily. Yugi heard a small moan from Ryou and knew that he had been woken up, but the spirit didn't notice. "Listen, Yugi, I didn't even want Ryou to know, but the fucking circumstances didn't allow for my wishes! Why would I want anyone else to know? So I'll thank you to leave me alone about it and mind your own fucking business, got it?"

Yugi nodded timidly and made a move to get up, but was stopped when a pale hand wrapped around his wrist.

"Yugi, wait outside, please," Ryou murmured as he sat up. Yugi nodded and quickly stepped out of the room to leave the two white-haired ones alone. "Bakura..." He slowly got up and walked over to his yami. "Please don't worry, 'Kura. Samantha-san will find somewhere and everything will be okay, you'll see."

"Whatever," Bakura muttered, looking away from his hikari.

"But...I also believe Malik needs to know–"

"Why?"

"Just in case...something does go wrong, he can be prepared. Please, Bakura? I don't want anything bad to happen."

The spirit glared out the window at Pheliosta, not answering.

"Please…."

"Fine." Bakura turned his gaze onto his hikari. "But absolutely no one else, got it?"

"Thank you!" Ryou chirped. He quickly hugged Bakura and ran out the door to tell Yugi. The spirit smiled slightly after him and turned back to stare out the window again.

"Now listen," Spader was saying as he pushed them out of the tavern. He'd been trying to get SG-M to leave all morning, but now, with the sun high in the sky, he was beginning to lose patience. "the Collection begins at midday, so you had better leave now. The sun's nearly there!"

Malik glanced at the sky and began Bakura in the direction of the Stargate. "Yup, you're absolutely right, Spader! Thanks for the drinks! Let's go team!" He'd been properly disturbed when Yugi and Ryou had told him the previous night about Bakura's problem, and, being the spirit's best friend, he was determined to keep Bakura out of harm as best he could. Hell, he'd help Carter look for a supplier full time if he had to.

"What's up with him?" Kaiba quietly asked Atemu. The Pharaoh shrugged and followed Malik and Bakura.

As they walked through the town toward the Stargate, they saw more and more people coming out of their houses, also headed in the same direction, and every one of them appeared to be frightened. When the team finally reached the DHD, almost all of the towns people had gathered in the square and were staring north towards the mountains.

"All right, dial it up, Pharaoh!" Malik ordered. Atemu nodded curtly and ran off to the DHD to start dialing in the symbols. Bakura glanced impatiently at the sky, then at the mountains, then back again about every three seconds, and he began to look more and more worried each time.

"Hey, uh, Kaiba," Atemu said worriedly after about a minute. All of his teammates stared at him. "Could you come check that I got the symbols right?"

"What's wrong?" Malik demanded as Kaiba hurried over to help. The Pharaoh ignored him while Kaiba checked the symbols that were lit up, muttering to the other duelist about the problem the whole time.

"You've got them right; try it again," Kaiba answered. The Pharaoh placed his hand on the crimson jewel in the middle of the DHD; it lit up for a moment before the whole panel fizzled and died.

"It didn't work a–"

"What the hell is going on, Pharaoh?" Bakura demanded, losing his patience.

"The, uh, the Gate won't activate."

"What?!" The thief pushed him aside and quickly tried to activate the Gate himself; it didn't work, of course. He stepped back in near disgust and horror. "What the hell?!"

"Why isn't the Gate working?" Yugi exclaimed as he materialized momentarily. Atemu placed a comforting hand on his shoulder to calm him, even though he himself was also freaking out inside.

"It's okay, Yugi, we can figure it out–"

"I know what's wrong," Kaiba spoke up.

"What?"

"There's another Gate already active on this planet."

"What are you talking about?" Malik asked, bewildered. "There can't be another Gate."

"Earth had two. And when the Russians were using their Gate, the SGC couldn't dial out. That's probably happening here. That, or one of the crystals might have burned out," he added, shrugging.

"You mean someone's trying to keep–"

"The leaders of Pheliosta have arrived!" shouted someone from the front of the crowd. The Earthlings glanced worriedly at each other then over the crowd to the street leading to Pheliosta.

A short distance from the crowd stood two figures, both with flamingly illuminated pale hair that was waving slightly in the wind and long, royal looking robes. The man on the left had silver hair that fell to slightly past his waist and blood red eyes that were looking arrogantly over the crowd. The robes he wore were the same color as his eyes with snatches of black and gold here and there and his partner's were black with red and gold. The black robed man's hair only fell to his shoulders and was a blonde so pale that it almost looked white, but one could tell that it wasn't, and his eyes like blue ice stared, not at the crowd, but straight at SG-M.

This man elbowed his partner after a few moments and began whispering, nodding once toward the four Tau'ri, and soon both of them were staring at the Earthlings, whispering quietly back and forth. Blue-eyes nodded once curtly and they started forward, stopping just in front of the La Naans.

"Good afternoon, people of La Naan!" he called cheerily. Bakura almost shuttered; this guy's gaze hadn't wavered since he'd arrived and it was becoming unnerving. Plus, he was acting far too polite for any self-respecting bad guy. "It's good to see you haven't forgotten our little agreement! Good for you!"

"This guy is messed up," Bakura heard Malik whisper. "Just messed up." Wondering what the blonde was talking about, he followed Malik's gaze to see that the red-eyed man was staring at him with and almost hungered expression, licking his lips occasionally. His gaze didn't waver even when he whispered something irately to blue-eyes.

The second man glared at his partner briefly, but nodded curtly and returned to staring at Bakura. "Well, Duzie's getting impatient, so we'll start the Collection now!" he called, finally pulling his gaze away.

It was amazing how obediently still the people of La Naan were as the two Pheliostans walked among them, picking out some one every now and then. A person who had been Chosen left the crowd and soon there seemed to be two specific groups, depending on who had chosen them. Atemu was saddened to see that Spader soon stood in the blue-eyed man's group of Chosen. But as the two men reached the end of the crowd, only eighteen people were among the unlucky.

"Didn't Spader say twenty people were Chosen?" Atemu asked quietly as the two men approached. The closer they got, the more one could tell why the La Naans were so obedient; the two men may look no older than twenty-six, but they exuded a presence that said they weren't to be messed with.

"He did," Bakura answered worriedly. "I have a feeling these guys aren't done yet."

The two Pheliostans stopped in front of SG-M, or more specifically, in front of Malik and Bakura, and the blue-eyed one bowed slightly. "Hello, nice to meet you all. I don't believe we've had the pleasure before."

"You haven't," Bakura answered acidly. "We're not from around here. And we we're planning on staying much longer."

"What a pity." The man smiled gently. "My name is Saint Dane, and my friend here is Duzell. We are the leaders of Pheliosta, the city in the mountains."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Atemu said just as bitterly as Bakura. He did not like where this was going.

Duzell smirked and grabbed one of Malik's hands to kiss it 'Prince Charming' style. "What's your name, beautiful?"

Malik glared at him and wrenched his hand away. "Malik," he answered stiffly.

"And you?" Saint Dane asked Bakura. The spirit remained silent, causing Saint Dane to laugh. "Come now, if we're all going to be friends, we have to know your name. I don't want to call you 'ivory-hair' the whole time you live in Pheliosta."

"What?! You're taking him?" Atemu exclaimed.

Duzell smiled and grabbed Malik's hand again. "We're taking both of them. There's nothing you can do about it."

"But we're not even from around here!"

"No, you're from Tau'ri," Saint Dane said, surprising everyone.

"You didn't tell me that!" Duzell whispered irately.

"It wasn't important until now," Saint Dane answered. Then to Atemu, he said, "So, you see, we can take them, and will."

"It's part of the prophecy," Duzell added.

"Prophecy? What prophecy?" Bakura asked as Saint Dane grabbed his hand to pull him away.

Saint Dane smiled and pulled him closer. "The prophecy that says 'There will come a time when four travelers shall arrive through the ring of standing water from beyond the stars and the world called Tau'ri. These travelers will be young and easily subdued. Two shall be taken to the city of Pheliosta as part of the Payment and they will remain there to serve the leaders forever'–" he smirked and lifted Bakura's chin to stare into his eyes– "as our slaves."

Bakura stayed silent for a few moments before smiling himself. "Oh, that prophecy. There are so many to remember, you know. Hey, Pharaoh, isn't there another part to that one–you know, that part that says the good guys win–"

"You are mine," Saint Dane interrupted angrily. "Anyone on this planet at the time of Collection is ours for the taking, and as you are here, you are too. And you have been Chosen." And hand strayed to play with a lock of Bakura's hair. "So I'm afraid your insolence could result in quite a bit of pain and unpleasantness for both of you."

After glaring at him for a few moments, the spirit looked away and whispered grudgingly, "Bakura."

"What?"

"My name is Bakura, all right?" he answered angrily. "That's what you wanted to know."

Saint Dane smiled at Duzell, who was having a few problems holding onto Malik. "See? I knew he'd come around!"

"Great, could you help me please?" Duzell asked as Malik tried biting his hand to get him to let go.

The blue-eyed one nodded. "Malik, if you don't cooperate, I'll kill Bakura here. I know you don't want that." Malik stopped struggling and stared at him in fear. No he didn't want that. "The same goes for you, Bakura. We'll kill Malik if you resist."

"What if we both do?" the thief answered slyly.

"We'll kill your friends here. Wouldn't want to waste two perfectly good slaves like that." Saint Dane smiled and started pulling Bakura away. "Are we ready to go now?" The two Chosen Tau'ri nodded dumbly and obediently followed their 'masters', wishing there was a way out of this, especially Malik since Duzell kept giving him very hungry-seeming looks.

"No! Please Malik!" Yugi exclaimed as he took control.

"I'm sorry, Yugi," Malik muttered sadly as he was pulled after Duzell.

"Malik!" Kaiba had to hold Yugi back when the boy tried to run after his friend. "Malik, please! Malik!"

Malik glanced back at him and tried to smile reassuringly, but Duzell only pulled on him harder as they walked through the crowd.

"Aw, missing your boyfriend already, slave?" he teased. He easily caught Malik's attack, meaning that now he held both of the blonde's arms.

"Yugi's not my boyfriend, just a friend," Malik hissed. Duzell smirked and pulled him off again to join Saint Dane and Bakura at the front of the crowd.

"We thank you for your continuing support!" Saint Dane called out. "We'll see you next year!" He smiled and waved good-naturedly, then pulled Bakura off in the direction of Pheliosta with the Chosen and then Malik and Duzell in tail.

"It's going to take hours to get all the way to your city by foot," Bakura muttered bitterly. Saint Dane smirked and led him a few more meters before stopping abruptly.

"Hey, Duzie, what do you think? Maybe...eight people?"

"Maybe just six, to be sure," Duzell answered from the back of the group; though he was staring at Malik too much to really care.

Saint Dane nodded and ushered six of his chosen into a small group right in the center of the street. "Now, stay tight together so you don't lose anything," he was saying, "and don't go running off when you get there; you won't get far, trust me." He stepped back a bit and pressed the crimson jewel on his broach. Several naquadah rings shot up from the ground around the six La Naans, stacking under one another, and beamed them away in a flash of light before sinking into the ground again. Both Bakura and Malik were in shock; Bakura because he knew exactly what had happened, and Malik because he didn't.

"You have a ring transporter?!" Bakura exclaimed out of shock.

"This was a Goa'uld occupied world at one time; didn't you know that?" Saint Dane answered, both amused and surprised by the reaction.

"Why else would the La Naans use the language occasionally?" Duzell added, still staring at Malik.

Saint Dane seemed to notice this and hissed, "Duzell, you have nine other Chosen to feed on. Give the poor boy a break."

"'Feed on'?!" Bakura and Malik exclaimed as Duzell glared angrily at his partner.

"I'll explain later," Saint Dane said quickly. He turned to the rest of the Chosen, saying, "So, who's up next?"

After just a few minutes, all of the Chosen had been sent to Pheliosta via the Rings, so Saint Dane sent themselves and they collected up the Chosen and started off toward the castle where the leaders lived. The city of Pheliosta was very different than La Naan; the sky was covered with clouds, completely blocking out the sun, giving everything a darker appearance. The buildings stood tall and foreboding above the pitch black alleys and shadowed streets that ran between them. And as the whole city was dark, so were the being that populated it; the few that dared to walk the streets during the day had gathered at the ring transporter to see the new arrivals, and every on was staring at the Chosen with the same hungry expression that Duzell had.

"Hey, uh, what's with them, Saint Dane?" Bakura asked almost nervously. "Everyone looks like they want to eat us."

The man shrugged. "They probably do."

"What?! You can't be serious!" Saint Dane just smiled in response. "You mean you brought us here just to be eaten?! Like mere cattle?!"

Saint Dane suddenly stopped and bruisingly pulled the spirit extremely close, staring intently at him. "Listen, I know you may not be used to the idea, but you are a slave now. To me. Therefor, you will do what I tell you to, when I tell you, without protest, even if it means being eaten or ripped limb from limb. Got it?"

"I understand, 'master'," Bakura said with a slight grimace. "I'm just a bit worried that my time in this life is about to be cut short by a bunch of bloodthirsty cannibals!"

"We're not cannibals," Saint Dane answered in disgust. "Bloodthirsty, maybe, but we do not eat our own kind unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Tch, I am your own kind–"

"You are not, trust me."

"But–"

"You are a slave now, Bakura," Saint Dane interrupted. One of his hands raised to play with Bakura's hair absentmindedly. "And there are certain duties that my slaves are expected to perform. You, for instance, are going to be a bleeder and a pleasure slave–"

"Like hell I'll do that!" Bakura spat as he tried to get free of Saint Dane. "There's no fucking way I'll be a pleasure slave, especially not to you!"

"Do you even know what that is?" the blue-eyed ones asked with amusement.

"Yes, I used to own one," the thief answered automatically. "But I'm not going to be one for you!" Saint Dane was still staring at him with amusement, so he added, "What?"

"Well, it's just interesting to think that you would have owned a pleasure slave. That would mean you have experience."

"And like hell are you going to find out how much," Bakura hissed.

"Hey, um, Saint Dane?" Malik spoke up. Both the man in question and Bakura stared at him with surprise, as both had forgotten he was still there.

"What?" Saint Dane and Duzell asked.

"What is a 'bleeder'?"

Duzell smiled evilly and suddenly bit down on Malik's neck, sucking greedily at the blood that flowed out. Saint Dane rolled his eyes as he watched and gave an exasperated sigh, before tugging Duzell away from Malik. The blonde fell to his knees and hesitantly placed a hand on the wound on his neck, eyes wide with fear. Bakura dropped down to try and comfort his best friend, though his eyes were closed and he was muttering under his breath about something or other.

"Don't scare him like that," Saint Dane hissed quietly to his partner.

"He asked a question, so I answered it," Duzell whispered back. "I was hungry, Dane."

"I don't care; he'll be frightened stiff of you now. I thought you didn't want that."

Duzell shrugged and turned his attention back on the two Tau'ri. "It's all right, Malik; I didn't take that much. We need to get back home."

Malik slowly raised his head to look at Duzell and whimpered, burying his face in Bakura's chest again. The thief himself was staring at Saint Dane with a newfound sense of respect, though he still really hated the being.

"You're all vampires," he said, tone level.

"Yup, about time you realized it," the blue-eyed demon answered, fangs flashing as he grinned.

"What have we gotten into, Malik?" Bakura murmured. "Vampires."

"Seto! We can't just leave them!" Yugi exclaimed angrily, his voice resonating throughout the tavern. Kaiba clamped a hand over the smaller duelist's mouth and tried his best to smile at the other people to get them to mind their own business.

"Shhh, do you want the Pheliostans to hear you?" Kaiba demanded, taking his hand away.

"But we can't leave them!" Yugi protested a little quieter. "O'Neill-san wouldn't stand for it! 'We don't leave our people behind', remember?"

"Of course I remember; a whole week of training was spent drilling that into our heads," Kaiba answered exasperatedly. "I didn't suggest that."

"Well, your way isn't much better," Yugi muttered. Kaiba had suggested, only a few minutes earlier, that they should go back to the SGC, explain everything that happened, and maybe come back to rescue Malik, Bakura, and Ryou. To Yugi, even sitting in this bar was too much waiting, much less going all the way back to Earth.

"We can't do anything–"

"We have Zats, guns, C-4, and a staff weapon, not to mention the Puzzle. We can do a lot of things."

Kaiba leaned back in his chair and regarded Yugi calmly over the table. "We can't do anything until we know what we're dealing with, Yugi. Sorry."

Yugi pouted slightly, but at that moment, a villager dashed into the bar, yelling, "Come quickly! The Chappa'ai has been activated once more!"

Yugi and Kaiba glanced once at each other before jumping up and running out of the bar, not stopping until they reached the foot of the Gate platform. The Stargate disengaged as they stopped, and standing in front of it, looking out over the crowd, was Major Carter.

"Hey guys!" she greeted once she'd spotted them. She dashed down the stepped into Kaiba's waiting arms and kissed him briefly. "Hi, Seto."

"What are you doing here, Sam?" Kaiba asked, lightly nuzzling her neck. Yugi blushed slightly while he watched, but he hadn't really expected anything different. Sam and Kaiba had been engaged for a couple of months, since they got along perfectly and it wasn't outlawed by their positions. Jack had been extremely jealous when he'd heard.

"I have something I need to give to Bakura," she answered, looking around. "He's not here? Or Malik?"

"Yeah, uh, they couldn't come to meet you," Yugi fibbed quickly, trying his hardest not to stared at the ground. "They were busy."

"Oh." She shrugged and tossed him a small bottle. "Give this to him then, next time you see him."

"What is it?" Kaiba asked.

Yugi looked briefly down at the label before grinning at her. "You found it?"

"I found it. Tell him he owes me one."

"He'll be so happy! Not about the owing you thing, though." Yugi carefully placed the bottle in his pocket and frowned slightly, thinking about the current situation the yami was in.

"What's wrong, Yugi?" Sam asked.

"Well..." Yugi sighed, deciding to tell the truth. "You see, we kind of got into trouble."

"What happened? Does it have something to do with you guys not coming back this morning?"

"Yeah. So it might take a little while to get this to Bakura," Yugi said, patting his pocket. "But we'll be okay! No problem at all!"

Sam smiled at him. "You're starting to remind me of the Colonel, Yugi."

"I-I am?"

"Yeah, Colonel O'Neill and Daniel. It's slightly disturbing. Well, you'll call us if you need help, right?"

Atemu took control and nodded briefly. "Of course we will. If we ever need help, which we won't."

"No, no, of course not," she said, her eyes twinkling mischievously. She walked over to the DHD and quickly dialed Earth; Atemu and Kaiba were surprised to see that the Gate activated when she tried it. She typed in her GDO code so she could get back through the gate, then hugged Kaiba tightly.

"You make sure he doesn't get into any trouble, Seto," she whispered to him.

"No problem," he answered, kissing her on the cheek. She pulled away and waved before running up the stairs and into the Stargate, which shut down a few seconds later. Kaiba glanced at the Pharaoh pocket, then up to his face, saying, "So, what'd she give Yugi?"

"I have no idea." Atemu reached into his pocket, but before he could take the bottle out, Yugi took over again.

"Kaiba," he scolded, "Bakura doesn't want you to know."

Kaiba shrugged and started walking away. "Whatever. How about the rescue mission?"

"Hey, Bakura," Malik whispered, poking his friend lightly on the arm through the metal bars separating them. After they'd arrived at the castle, Duzell and Saint Dane had agreed that the two Tau'ri needed to rest for the night before starting their duties the next day. So they been stripped and given new clothing as well as two 'presidential suites', which were more like Medieval prison cells than anything else. They were lucky to have been able to keep the four Items they held between them, but the vampires hadn't known what power was sealed within them anyway.

Malik sighed and leaned tiredly again the wall of his cell, deciding to just give up on making the spirit respond for a while. Bakura hadn't moved once except to breathe since they'd been brought down here, so he probably wouldn't anytime soon. The Egyptian let his head fall back against the wall and closed his eyes. "How'd we get into this, Bakura? We used to have such normal lives before the Stargate. We didn't have to worry about any of this." He rolled his head so he was staring at the inert spirit. "All we had to worry about was our own lives and our own problems. There wasn't the Gou'ald or the Asgard or the Ancients. Just you and me against the Pharaoh."

"You wouldn't really call being a Tomb Keeper a 'normal life', would you?"

Malik jumped and quickly looked to where the voice was coming from at his side.

"And were our lives really normal anyway, with the Millennium Items?" Ryou said, amused, from where he was sitting. "So do you really think you're worse off than before, or just in a different situation?"

The blonde smiled and tried to pull him into a hug, but passed right through Ryou's spirit body. He sighed and leaned back against the wall again. "You're right, Ryou, but I can't help it. I'm scared."

"I know, so am I," Ryou murmured. More than you know. "But think about Bakura for a moment. He knew, has known, about all this for thousands of years. Don't you think he's a bit worse off than you?"

Malik looked at him suddenly. "Ryou, didn't his medicine get taken away?"

"Yes...though it was going to run out tomorrow anyway..."

"What's gonna happen?"

"Come on, Yugi!" came Atemu's crackly voice. Yugi stopped, leaning against a tree, and pushed a button on his own radio.

"For the last time, no! I'm not telling you what's in that bottle!" he hissed into it. "No stop talking, Yami! You'll get us captured!"

"Fine...Pharaoh out."

Yugi sighed and resumed his walking. They'd decided to take the direct approach to get to Pheliosta and, as a result, were now walking through the woods on the mountainside without flashlights to light the midnight darkness around them. Atemu was somewhere in the woods to Yugi's right, Kaiba was on his left, and they were about halfway to the city already. But it was dark. And cold. And dark.

"Hey guys," Yugi said into his radio, "could we stop for the night? I think it's past midnight." He jumped when he saw the flash of a wristwatch nearby.

"It is," Kaiba confirmed, though he didn't stop walking.

"I'm hungry, Kaiba!" Atemu whined, causing the radios to screech.

"Ow. All right, look for my flashlight, then." A light turned on almost next to Yugi, nearly scaring him senseless; he hadn't known Kaiba had been that close.

After a few minutes, they had gathered in a small clearing and had a fire going in the middle. Yugi was working on cooking them something over the fire, while Atemu and Kaiba set up the rest of camp. They would take turns as look out for the rest of the night.

As the hours passed, Malik expected Bakura to move at least a little bit, but the yami remained completely immobile. Malik himself fidgeted and tried to sleep, even tried pacing his cell, but there was no way for him to tell how much time had passed. The Egyptian was almost afraid his friend had just up and died, since Bakura hadn't moved an inch.

In the morning, Yugi, Atemu, and Kaiba set off for Pheliosta again. The closer they got to the mountain city, the more carefully they moved through the brush; who knew if there was anyone waiting for them. Just as the sun was setting, they came upon the outskirts of the city and had to stop momentarily.

"Yugi, you shouldn't be seen here," Atemu warned as he stopped and watched for any signs of life. Yugi nodded and faded so that he could only be seen and heard by his yami.

"Did you notice anything, wrong with this city?" Kaiba asked after a few minutes. Atemu looked again and his eyes widened as he realized what the taller was hinting at.

"There's no one here," he murmured. Indeed, no one was walking around the darkening suburb, and no lights were turning on in the houses. There seemed to be no indication anywhere that anyone lived here.

"You'd think there would at least be lights," Yugi commented, heard only by Atemu. The yami nodded and said to Kaiba, "C'mon, we should go." Kaiba nodded and followed Atemu into the city, guns and Zats at the ready.

At the same time that the Pharaoh and Kaiba reached the city, Malik heard a heavy door slam open nearby and a pompous man wearing a bulky uniform strode up to the bars.

"Lord Saint Dane requires your presence," the man said to Bakura in an extremely arrogant tone. Malik figured he was very used to being in charge. Then, looking down at the spirit, he was shocked. Bakura had moved for the first time in twenty-four hours by looking up at him languidly while the uniformed man looked at the spirit impatiently and repeated his words. Bakura stared at him for a few more minutes before he slowly got to his feet and walked to the front of the cell. The overconfident man smirked at him, think he had won, and briefly turned his eyes off of Bakura to find his keys, but it was enough. Bakura's hand shot through the bars and grabbed the man's collar, puling him forward with enough force that his neck broke instantly as he hit the bars. He was dropped lifeless to the floor.

"Give my regards to Apophis, Jaffa," the spirit hissed. He smirked at Malik and walked back to lean against the wall. "You should pretend you're asleep."

"What?" Malik stuttered, too shocked to realize he'd been spoken to.

Bakura smirked at him again and closed his eyes. "If they think you're asleep, they won't take you away immediately."

Malik stared at him with confusion; this was what Bakura was like without medication? It was like Battle City all over again! He heard loud footsteps and voices rapidly approaching, so he slumped and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep like Bakura had suggested he do. He heard shouts as the guards found the one Bakura had killed, then the sound of jingling keys, then Bakura's cell door crashing open. He tried not to flinch or move at all during all the commotion, though that could have been suspicious in itself.

"Get the hell off of me!" Bakura yelled angrily. There was a thump and more yelling from the guards and Bakura, but eventually the clamor began to move and slowly faded away. Malik sat up as he heard the door slam and saw that Bakura was gone.

"They took him."

Atemu and Kaiba grew more and more concerned as they walked through the now lamp-lit city. They hadn't seen one person, one scrap of evidence, not even one dog, to indicate that anyone lived in this city, and that lack of population continued as they neared the center of the city.

"It's like a ghost town," Atemu commented. Kaiba nodded in agreement.

"Yami! You'll never guess what's up ahead!" Yugi called from where he was down the street. Atemu ran forward and stopped as he reached the end of the street, looking in awe at the town square beyond. Standing silent and dark in the middle of the plaza was another Stargate.

"Hn, I knew I was right," Kaiba said as he came up behind them.

"They must have had it open yesterday to stop us from leaving," Atemu concluded, "so they could capture Bakura and Malik."

"Well, it's good that we know where it is," said Kaiba as he started walking again.

"Uh, why?"

"Just in case we need to get out of here quickly."

Atemu stared at him for a few moments before he saw Yugi past the Gate waving him forward. The Pharaoh caught up with Kaiba at the end of another street and gasped as he saw the dark castle beyond. It stood tall above them with sinister gargoyles poking out everywhere pouring a reddish mist like blood over everything. In front of the castle, all the people of the city, it seemed, had gathered to watch the man standing above them on the palace steps. Saint Dane. And he had dressed for the occasion. He was definitely in control here.

Atemu and Kaiba glanced once at each other and crept into the crowd so they could watch.

Saint Dane raised his arms to quiet the crowd, much like Kaiba had done when they'd first arrived on Quillan. "Good evening, citizens of Pheliosta! I have a lovely show for you all tonight!" Everyone cheered. "Yes, yes, I'm sure you're all quite excited. And you should be! For Duzell and I have two very special guests we would like you to meet!"

"Duzell isn't up there," Atemu murmured quietly. Kaiba shrugged, still watching Saint Dane.

The pale-haired man stepped aside slightly. "First, all the way from the planet Tau'ri, the lovely Bakura!"

Atemu tensed as Bakura was dragged out by three guards, hissing and spitting and cursing and struggling, and he almost got away from the man holding him but a swift kick in the gut stopped that for a short bit. This one event cause a lot of commotion in the crowd, though.

"–He almost got away from them; he must be really strong–"

"–He's nuts, rabid, just look at him–"

"–Are all Tau'ri like this?–"

"–This is dangerous; what about the Prophecy?–"

Atemu and Kaiba glanced at each other at the mention of the Prophecy. They'd thought Saint Dane had told them all of it back in La Naan.

Saint Dane waved his arms to get back the crowd's attention. "I assure you, he is well restrained." He snapped his fingers and Duzell brought out a very complacent Malik. "You see, he is too afraid of this one's death." These words seemed to calm the crowd somewhat, but as Atemu watched the thief, he could tell that the thief probably couldn't care less.

The blue-eyed man strode over to Bakura and gently raised the spirit's chin to look at him, though when he spoke, he spoke to the whole crowd. "Tonight, I will prove the Prophecy wrong." He brought a small necklace out of his pocket and showed it to the crowd. "The Sharat Bakra–" he placed the chain around Bakura's neck with a smirk– "shall go to it's destined."

The crowd began laughing and talking happily; apparently, all threat from Bakura had just disappeared.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bakura demanded suddenly, instantly silencing the crowd. Saint Dane stared at him, obviously not sure what to do; it was apparent he'd never been in a situation like this before. Bakura went on, turning his gaze down to the crowd and right at Atemu, "I already told you, I'm not going to be compliant. I'm not going to be your fucking slave. This stupid necklace does little to change that."

Saint Dane smiled and calmly brushed the hair away from Bakura neck. "Really? And what about your friend Malik? Would you let him die?"

Bakura scoffed and looked back at him. "Tch, the hell with Malik. I don't care."

"That's a pity," Saint Dane said, though it was becoming clear that he was no longer in control and he didn't know what to do. "He's so pretty too. But you can't just get away with that insolence." He motioned once to Duzell and, not even bothering to see if his order was carried out, bit down hard on Bakura's neck. Duzell brought out a long knife, but before it came anywhere near Malik, the Egyptian elbowed him in the stomach, then kicked him in the groin, and while Duzell was trying to recover, Malik grabbed the knife and thrust it into the vampire's heart. Duzell died instantly.

"Now Pharaoh!" he yelled as he dashed down the steps; he'd noticed Atemu and Kaiba as well. The crowd, who had all been too stunned by their leader's death to do anything, was equally startled as the two Tau'ri started shooting everyone they could with their Zats. Bakura kicked Saint Dane in the gut to get him off, wrenched off the guards holding him, and ran down into the crowd, joining the battle with the staff weapon Kaiba had tossed to him. The four members of SG-M managed to meet up in all the confusion, still shooting at everybody.

"Got any plans, Pharaoh?" Bakura asked, relatively calm as he blew a hole in another vampire.

"We get to the Gate in the city and get out of here!"

Malik suddenly thought of something and, after activating a Mirror Force shield around them, said, "We need to get Spader and the others out of there!"

"Go on then," Atemu said, tossing him a block of C4 and a detonator. Malik grinned and ran off into the crowd toward the castle.

"How about we get out of here?" Kaiba suggested. Atemu and Bakura nodded and they ran off toward the Gate.

"Hey Bakura! Were they really–"

"Vampires? Hell yes. No shut up Pharaoh!" Bakura turned around and, while he was still running, activated a Trap Hole with the Ring, causing a giant hole to form in the middle of the street.

"Damnit! Get him!" yelled Saint Dane as Bakura ran off again.

The crowd ran off to different streets of the city, trying to get through to the square where the Stargate was while SG-M kept running, arriving a few minutes earlier than the vampires. Kaiba dashed to the DHD while Atemu and Bakura began setting up shields around the square with various cards, shooting at anyone who might show up. They heard a small explosion from the direction of the castle just as the Gate activated, and Malik came running into the square, setting up his own barrier after him. Kaiba sent their GDO code and, after a few seconds, ran into the open wormhole. Atemu followed soon after, then Malik, and Bakura was last because he was having a blast shooting at the Pheliostans. The last thing he saw before entering the Gate was Saint Dane's crestfallen expression.

As soon as Bakura stepped through the other side into the SGC, the iris slid closed and they heard a few thumps before the Gate shut down.

"SG-M, welcome back. It's good to see you," said General Hammond over the intercom.

"Thank you, General!" Malik said.

"You sure to be interesting briefing will be at 1700 hours."

They nodded up to him and started walking down the ramp. Yugi took control of his body again and tossed the bottle Carter had given him to Bakura. Bakura stared down at it, then glared at Yugi.

"Why do you people keep insisting on this?" he demanded. "Even my useless yadonushi! I don't need this."

Ryou appeared and took the bottle of pills from Bakura and pulled him faster down the steps. "Come on, Bakura-sama, let's go eat something." Bakura growled softly but went along with it; Kaiba followed them leaving Malik and Yugi alone.

"Hey, Yugi," Malik said after a few moments, "I wanted to thank you for saving us. I'm sure it was your idea."

Yugi blushed a bit. "You're welcome." He thought for a few moments and added, "Did you find out what the rest of the Prophecy was?"

Malik nodded and, after a little thought, took his head. "Yeah, I overheard Saint Dane and Duzell talking about it. They said the rest of it was something like 'But if their friends are loyal and true, they may escape back to their world, and in the process destroy the life force of Pheliosta.'"