Of Wizards and Duelists …

XO'MagickMoon'OX

A/N: Whoo, another quick update! I felt bad about leaving you with that cliffhanger, and the guilt drove me to hurry up with the next chapter! Please someone, if Bakura is disgustingly OOC, let me know! Much thanks, and cookies for all! Thanks for all of your reviews so far! Out of all of my stories, this seems to be the most popular, and of that I am very happy, as I feel that this story began to loose its edge in the middle, when everything became bromide and overused. Maybe I was wrong to think that?

Well, anyway, enjoy!

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"Ryou!" Malik called. He looked around the dank, snow-blanketed forest. He was near to tears with worry, afraid of what might happen, or might have happened, to his boyfriend, who was nowhere to be seen. "Ry –"

Malik stopped as he spotted something dark in the snow, which he recognized as Ryou's robe. He neared the robe, and found that there was, in fact, a body in the robe – Ryou's body, but Malik hadn't noticed at a distance, as the boy blended so well with the white setting.

The Egyptian drew a sharp breath as he knelt quickly and gathered Ryou up in his arms. He was infinitely relieved to find his boyfriend still breathing, although apparently unconscious. Malik heard Yuugi's labored breathing come up behind him, and then naught but a few moments later, three others entered upon the scene as well, which he only assumed could be Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

But Malik didn't pay them any notice; all of his focus was on the fallen angel in his arms. "Ryou, you idiot!" he muttered. His jaw clenched as he fought back his tears, although crying didn't seem like such a bad idea at the moment, as the tears would warm his frozen face. Ryou, though, looked even colder than him. He was nearly soaked from head to toe, his hair matted against his head, tiny droplets of water clinging to his icy skin, which was tinged a bright, unhealthy pink. Other than the cherry-tipped nose and flushed cheeks, he was pale, and right then he really could have passed as the albino that most mistook him for, especially with his chocolate eyes closed, dark lashes fanned out against his cheeks. Malik ran his fingers across Ryou's face, shivering at how cold it was, like ice. He hugged Ryou closer to him, pressing the boy's face against his chest, where he could feel the rapid pulsation of his heart beating against Ryou's cheek.

"Malik," Yuugi said quietly.

Malik stood, shifting to hold Ryou so that his arms were beneath his knees and around his back. He turned to face his friends, all of whom were watching him warily.

Hermione gasped. "He's not …" She motioned towards Ryou with a trembling hand. "… Is he?"

Malik's violet eyes widened. "Oh, Ra no. He's not …"

"… dead," Ron provided, seeing that Malik was unable to finish the statement.

Hermione visibly relaxed. "Okay."

"Come on," Harry said. "We have to get back; there's no telling what we'll run into around here." He surveyed their surroundings, the dark-wooded trees that seemed immune to the typical autumn losing of leaves, as the canopy was thick, leaving scarcely any space for light. Luckily, however, the trees were generously spaced, so the canopy wasn't as thick as it could have been, and a little light did peek through, giving the Forest a dull atmosphere, however alive with strange, Dark energy. Because of this roofing, there was less snow covering the Forest floor, although not much less. Somehow winter had broken through and managed to paint the area with her usual white. And, Harry also noted, it was freezing. He was already shivering with cold, and reached into his bag and pulled out his hat, gloves, and scarf. Hermione and Ron did the same.

The others had left theirs in the classroom.

So, Harry donated his hat and scarf to Ryou. Malik made to protest, but Harry insisted, so the Egyptian gratefully accepted. After all, Ryou did seem to need warmth the most at the moment.

"Oy!"

The six looked around to find two of the last people they'd expect rushing towards them: Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini.

"What are you two doing here?" Ron wondered.

"We'd like to ask you the same," Blaise rejoined. "What's with you nutters, running off like that into the Forbidden Forest?"

"It's a long story, and we don't have time to tell it. We need to get out of here," Hermione said, stamping her feet in an attempt to warm them. She didn't bother to stop and contemplate on the question of why the two Slytherins had shown up. It was too cold to worry about that now.

"Brilliant idea, as usual, Granger," Draco cracked, somehow managing to make what would've been a compliment a jibe.

Hermione scowled at his sarcastic tone. "Let's just go."

"Uh … guys?" Yuugi piped up. "What way exactly did we come in?"

Harry pointed down at their tracks left in the snow. "That way."

Everyone nodded in agreement and started to follow their long path through the Forest. Hermione and Ron walked in the front of the group, Yuugi with Malik and Ryou in the middle, and then Harry, Draco, and Blaise wound up near the back of their group.

"Stay close to keep warm," Hermione suggested, edging closer to Ron.

Malik didn't need to be told twice. He hugged a still-unconscious Ryou tighter to his chest, and Yuugi huddled closer to his friends. The three of them also moved up closer to Hermione and Ron.

Harry looked to Draco and Blaise. Draco glared. "Go play Human-Heater with your Gryffindor groupies," he said.

Harry returned the glare. "Have it your way, git." He sidled up beside Yuugi, offering to put his arm around the boy's shoulder to help stay warm, an offer Yuugi gratefully accepted, seeing that he had neither hat nor scarf nor gloves and was shivering like mad.

Draco huffed.

"Lost your chance, mate," Blaise whispered.

"Like he'd ever do that for me, anyway," Draco whispered back.

"Aw, don't worry Draco, I'll hug you any day," Blaise teased, wrapping his arms tightly around the blonde.

"You idiot, get off of me!" Draco demanded, struggling in the slighter boy's sound grip.

"Nuh-uh, I'm cold," Blaise replied. At this, Draco seemed to calm down, admitting to himself that he, too, was freezing and grateful of his friend's warmth.

He then decided to pull out his own hat, scarf, and gloves, momentarily detaching himself from Blaise to do so. The brunette did the same. Before long, they were walking with their arms around each other, trying desperately to stay warm.

If anyone in Slytherin ever found out about this, Blaise and Draco would be so dead. Of course, granted they didn't freeze to death, first.

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Bakura had lost track of time. He wasn't sure how long he'd been in his soul room; all he knew was that he'd wound up there after his little episode in History of Magick class. Immediately upon arriving, he'd been assailed with emotions, Ryou's emotions. An unbearable wave of panic had washed through the mind-link, which resulted in Bakura crouching down, sitting back on his heels, with his hands gripping the sides of his head, like someone trying disappear from their mind, to stop the voices inside it, gritting his teeth in pain. But no matter how hard he'd tried to close the mind-link, it wouldn't shut enough to keep Ryou from his head.

Panic, fear, contempt, pain, an inexplicable sense of paranoia and hopelessness, utter helplessness … it had all been too much for Bakura to take. He'd felt all of the feelings as if they were his own, and knowing that it was he who had caused each and every one was more than he could bear. The intensity had filled the chamber, nearly smothering the thief, causing him to choke on all of the pain, to momentarily grip his chest where his heart felt as if it were shattering into thousands of tiny fragments, reminding him of a precious gem he'd once dropped after robbing it from some tomb. He had watched it slip from his fingers as he'd darted through the maze of corridors, retracing his steps to find his way out, and had looked on as it had fallen to the stone floor, breaking off into several hundred shards of sparkling emerald. Oh how he'd lamented the loss of that priceless gem. Now he lamented his heartbroken state even more.

Then a draft had blown in from seemingly nowhere, and Bakura had been suddenly taken by a horrible sense of dread. The mind-link had gone dead, the utter stillness just as unnerving as the dial tone of a telephone. Oh no, had been Bakura's only thought at that moment. Ryou was in danger. What was worse, Ryou was in danger and it was all his fault. Bakura had taken it way too far this time. How could he have been so stupid? If he hadn't been so numb, he would've gotten up and started bashing his head into the wall. He'd seemed to have to urge to do that a lot lately.

Now he was sitting there in the middle of his soul room, clutching his head once again, fingers tightly fisting locks of snowy hair. Ryou, Bakura thought to himself, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. He felt something warm roll down his cheek, but was barely aware of it until he felt more of the same sort of warmth. He detached his hands from the sides of his head to reach down and feel his cheeks, which were wet with tears.

Why had he been so stupid? Why had he hurt Ryou like that? It was insanity, what he was doing to himself and to Ryou. Why had he lashed out so brazenly? It was like a never-ending cycle, a circuit of torture. He was in love, which scared him; he'd never been in love before. He covered his fear with anger, he held up a façade with malice, he stayed connected to the one he loved through hatred. However, he didn't want to see Ryou hurt, but it couldn't be helped. He used to love to see Ryou whimper and cry and cower before him, loved to feel dominant, loved to see … to see Ryou look at him with emotion. That had always been the real reason, no matter what other excuses he came up with. He'd never understood until Atemu had made it so sickeningly obvious. But it was too late to change, to even think of being able to transform their relationship from hate to love was ludicrous. And so it continued. And as it continued, Bakura's heart also continued to break.

Now he couldn't take it anymore. This was made painfully clear by the fact that Ryou was more hurt than he'd even been, and Bakura had been the one to hurt him. That was it; he'd stepped over the line; he'd snapped. He wanted to kill himself, but didn't if only because it would forever separate him from Ryou. And because of the fact that he was already dead, but more importantly the former.

The mind-link was still empty. Bakura stood from his crouching position, the pain brought from Ryou's onslaught of emotions just beginning to ebb. He closed his eyes and reached through their mental connection. Still nothing. What had happened? Where was his hikari? Perhaps he was … unconscious? Yes, that would be the only explanation for his inexplicably blank mind.

Bakura was filled with the sudden urge, the sudden need to help his yadonushi, knowing that it would never reconcile for the wrongs he had done Ryou, but at the same time hoping to ease Ryou's suffering, if but a little. So Bakura dissolved from his chamber and leapt into Ryou's body, immediately besieged with a bone-chilling coldness.

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"Nnng …"

Malik looked down at the boy in his arms, ceasing his trek through the snow. "Ryou?" he wondered hopefully.

"Guess again," came Bakura's gruff, yet uncharacteristically gentle, reply.

Malik glared. The rest of the company had also halted, watching the two inquiringly.

"How dare you show your face here, after what you did to Ryou," Malik hissed. He was still holding Ryou's body, refusing to let it down, even if Bakura was currently inhabiting it.

Bakura shivered. "What happened?" he wondered with genuine concern and curiosity. "Where are we?"

"The Forbidden Forest," Yuugi replied. "Ryou took off after he got his body back and ran straight out onto the grounds. We followed him, but he wouldn't stop. Even after he was well into the Forest, he kept running until, I suppose, he just passed out."

Bakura continued to shiver, instinctively curling tighter into Malik's embrace for warmth. "Th-That idiot," he stuttered. "Wh-What the h-hell was h-he thinking?"

"He was thinking to get away from you," Malik snapped, still glaring heatedly at the thief.

As if spurred by the memory, Bakura's lip stung where Malik had bitten him. "Oh," was his laconic, guilt-ridden reply.

"So what are you doing here, Bakura?" Malik asked.

"I'm t-trying to h-help Ry … Ryou," Bakura said. "I s-sensed th-that he was … wasn't cons-conscious, so decided t-to take over and see wh-what was w-wrong."

"Trying to help him?" Malik echoed skeptically. "Why don't I believe you?"

"I-It's the tr-truth!" Bakura insisted, trying to look as earnest as was possible for one who'd spent a lifetime thieving. "H-He's going to … to freeze if … he doesn't move around and … stuff, r-right?"

Malik thought for a moment, finding a bit of logic to this and nodded grudgingly. "Right."

"Okay, s-so let me d-down and I'll s-see what I c-can d-do to h-help." Bakura was still shivering as Malik released the thief from his arms. Bakura immediately began stamping his feet and rubbing his hands together, then continued walking with the rest of the group as they began on their path again.

"So what's going on here?" Blaise asked after a moment of silence.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione returned with her own query.

"Why is Ryou suddenly … acting so strange?" Blaise elaborated.

The six others turned to one another. Though it seemed as if the whole school would know the foreign trio's story by now, they had forgotten that only Gryffindor had been told. So they explained, figuring they'd nothing better to do while trekking back towards the school and that the two Slytherins needed the details at this point.

Draco and Blaise gaped at the others.

"You're all completely insane," Blaise muttered.

"It's all the truth," Yuugi said.

"So that's what you were talking about before," Draco said to Bakura, who nodded upon remembering their discussion in the dungeon corridor the other day. "You really are … were … the Thief King from ancient Egypt. Now I get it."

Harry stared at Draco. He'd never heard the boy use this tone before; no one in their ring of friends had. This tone of curiosity and sincere interest, void of any sarcasm or malice. It was a nice change from the norm, the typical Malfoy attitude –

"What are you staring at, Potter?"

And then it was gone.

Harry sighed and averted his gaze from the blonde, turning to face towards the front again. "Nothing, Malfoy," he returned with as much spite as possible.

"Hmph," Draco sounded indignantly. Hermione stole a glance at the two over her shoulder before quickly turning again, hiding the grin on her face.

But her delight was quickly extinguished with a gasp. She stopped in her tracks, staring aghast down at the snow. Everyone stopped, too, looking to see what had horrified her so.

"What's up?" Yuugi wondered.

"Our … Our path is … gone!" she cried.

"What?" Malik peered around the bushy-haired girl and stifled his own gasp. They had been following their tracks through the snow back to the castle, but that would not be possible from here on out.

A group of some sort of hoofed creatures had trampled across their path, tossing the snow about and destroying the students' tracks with their own. As far as they could see, there were hoof marks, everywhere … and their trail was gone.

"Damn!" Bakura hissed.

"What are we going to do now?" Blaise wondered worriedly. Draco noticed that the slight boy was gripping his hand painfully tight.

"I ..." Hermione took a deep, shuddering breath. "I …don't know."

Draco gaped at the bushy-haired girl. "We're screwed. If Granger doesn't know what to do, then we're screwed."

Hermione flushed.

Malik said, "What if we … uh … what if we keep going the way we were and see if we can …find our trail again?"

Everyone nodded their tentative agreement.

"I guess there's nothing more we can do," Hermione said. She started off again, treading over the violently stirred snow. Then, she murmured, "It's just so strange."

"What?" Yuugi asked.

"Well," Hermione answered, "these hoof marks look like unicorn tracks … but unicorns don't travel in herds like this. … Unless –"

"Unless they're afraid," Harry finished darkly.

"But what would there be to scare them?" Ron wondered.

"Well, knowing what we know about this forest, I'd say it could be a number of things. Wolves, would be my best guess," Hermione said.

"'Wolves'?" Bakura echoed. "In the Forbidden Forest?"

"Yes, there are dangerous creatures of all sorts here, magickal and Muggle alike," Blaise said, having calmed down a bit, much to Draco's relief, as his hand was no longer caught in the boy's bone-crushing grip.

This did not sit well with the students. Could there be wolves nearby? Or had it been something much more sinister that had frightened the unicorns? Either way, things weren't looking too good for them, especially if Malik's plan didn't work, and they couldn't find their path again. They were freezing in their boots, and they were short three sets of hats, gloves, and scarves. Bakura, however grudgingly, returned Harry's hat, but the raven-haired boy insisted he at least keep the scarf. Hermione leant her gloves to Yuugi, who was wringing his hands desperately, and Ron leant his scarf to Malik. Now their gear was a little more evenly distributed. However, this didn't provide them with enough warmth for comfort.

"Aibou, are you okay?" Atemu asked the small boy. Atemu was gliding alongside Yuugi and the others. He had been present the entire time, but until now hadn't said a word.

Yuugi grinned through his chattering teeth. "I-I'll be fine, Y-Yami," he managed to mutter.

Atemu sighed, watching his host worriedly. He was most certainly not fine, that much he could tell. He wished he could help in some way, but it was nearly impossible. He couldn't keep the boy warm like, say, Harry or Malik could, however hard he wished he were able. He could just sit by and watch the boy's lips turn paler and paler with each passing moment, his shivering worsen, his attempts to keep warm become more desperate. His jaw clenched at the thought. He'd never felt so powerless before, and, quite frankly, it scared him. He was a pharaoh, one accustomed to being in control, and here he was, unable to help the person he cared about most.

Five minutes passed before the hoof tracks disappeared and the found themselves trekking through unmarred snow again. Their path was no where to be seen.

Malik groaned. "This is hopeless!" He scanned the Forest, not seeing any break in the lines of trees that would signify the edge of the wood.

"No, not hopeless," Hermione insisted. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

No one replied.

"I guess, then, we'll just have to keep going and hope we find our way out," Hermione said resignedly.

And so they did. Ten minutes later, Bakura felt a presence within the Ring.

… Koe?

Bakura's heart leapt at the sweet sound of his yadonushi's timid voice. Yes?

What's happening? he inquired groggily.

You … passed out, Yadonushi.

Oh … really? What's going on now? Ryou materialized beside Bakura, holding his spectral head. Looking around, he added, Where are we?

The Forbidden Forest.

Ryou then noticed his yami's apparent shivering. His brows knit into a guilty frown as he looked around and saw his friends in the same state. This is all my fault.

Bakura stopped dead in his tracks then, and Blaise bumped into him

"What're you doing, mate?" Blaise asked irritably.

Yadonushi, don't think like that, Bakura told Ryou firmly, ignoring Blaise. This is not your fault. He turned to look at Ryou's spirit, which was staring blankly down at the snow.

"But it is my fault," Ryou said, his voice inaudible to everyone but his yami.

"No, it's not!" Bakura contradicted heatedly. "It's not your fault!"

"But I dragged everyone here in the first place –"

"It's my fault –"

"– I was so stupid to just run off like –"

"Ryou!" Bakura shouted, turning completely to face the boy. "Shut-up!" He raised his hand as if to hit his hikari, but upon realizing that this would be not only stupid, but foolish, forced it back down to his side, fist clenched. Ryou had nonetheless winced at the action, although he knew Bakura couldn't physically touch him.

"Koe –"

"Stop, just stop, Ryou." Ryou looked about to protest again, but Bakura continued. "It's not your fault, nothing is your fault. It's my fault. I'm sorry! Ryou, I'm sorry!"

Ryou's eyes widened. Did Bakura …? Did he just … apologize? Before Ryou could process much else, Bakura was disappearing into the Ring, and Ryou was washed with a wave of ice as he was pushed back into his body. He stumbled forward blindly before Malik caught him with a start, pulling him into a warm embrace. Not a moment later, he had gripped Ryou's chin and was pressing his mouth against the other's. Quite a pleasant greeting, in Ryou's opinion, as he smiled into the kiss.

Fully aware of everyone's eyes on them, Malik pulled away and whispered, "Are you okay?"

Ryou, entirely unsure himself of his current state, shrugged. But his reassuring smile was enough for Malik not to prompt him further.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked. "Was Bakura shouting at you?"

Ryou blinked and nodded. Suddenly the full effect of what Bakura had said hit him, and his knees felt weak. He had … apologized. Bakura … Bakura had apologized. Not only was Ryou almost certain that the words "I'm sorry" had never crossed Bakura's mind, much less his lips, he was even more certain that if they ever had, they would never have been directed at him. Bakura hated him. Why would he care if Ryou felt guilty? Why would he care if Ryou felt hurt? Why would he care if Ryou felt anything? Since when had he took up the practice of taking Ryou's feelings into consideration? Ryou was confused.

But at that moment, there was no time for confusion.

Because, at that moment, the air began to thrum with deep-throated, menacing growls, and the teens were pinned with nearly twenty or so sharp, luminescent gazes. They gasped in unison, Hermione immediately clutching Ron's arm, as they looked around to find themselves surrounded.

Suddenly, the dread of freezing to death seemed insignificant in comparison to being torn apart by ravenous wolves.

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Mwahaha, I try to relieve you from the last cliffhanger only to throw another one your way! Sorry about that, but I wanted to post something quickly and I need time to think about what's going to happen next. I also had ElementalCrisis suggest shorter chapters, which I totally understand, so here ya go! Hope you liked it. I'll try to get the next one up soon, but as the new week will shortly begin again, bringing the ever-dreaded school with it, it might be … oh, say, at least five days before the next update. Gomen … thanks so much for sticking with my … less-than-satisfactory story. But seeing so you guys seem to like it, I'll keep going. Needless to say, TBC.

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