A/N : Apologies for the delay. There are no excuses, so I'm going to delay no more and present this Chapter and the next very shortly. Feedback is very gratefully received, if you have any thoughts, don't hesitate to let me know them! Xx

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 27

"This is Yugi,"

Hina stared in shock. This was Yugi? He looked so weak, so fragile. He looked dead! Hina shook her head in protest. How could this be Yugi? He was supposed to save them. He was the one who could save the world and yet here he was, chained up, almost dead in a prison cell hidden under ground. The words reverberated around Hina's head as she tried to make sense of such a simple sentence. It was impossible. Several emotions were trying to overwhelm her at once. Happiness that she'd finally found the one she was meant to find, Shock that he'd been so close all this time and horror that the one person who was supposed to be able to save the world was locked up in chains and barely looked alive. Hina shook her head as tears began to fall from her eyes. She sniffled and wiped them away, forcing herself to get a grip and swallow the lump that had formed in her throat.

"That… that can't be him…" She whispered as she took a shaky step further into the room, further towards the man she was supposed to find. Now she'd found him and it felt like her task wasn't anywhere close to been finished.

"He's been here all this time?" Hina asked quietly now forcing herself closer towards the hunched over figure. She stopped just before him, staring down at the man dressed in rags. His hair was a variety of colours and he was skinny, too skinny. Hina brought her eyes to Marik.

"Why is he here? In chains?" She demanded more forcefully than was really needed.

"Why don't you ask your king that?" Marik retorted. Hina felt her temper rising.

"He is not my king," She replied through gritted teeth, she turned back to the man on the floor and examined the chains holding him in place. They ran from his wrists and ankles into the wall. They were fairly slack at the moment, which enabled him to lean forwards as he was doing. Hina grabbed at one of the chains, feeling how heavy it was.

"We need to get him out of here!" Hina said, tugging at the chain which clanked together, the noise echoing around the room. Hina felt the pain in her chest increase as she exerted herself. She let the chain drop and inhaled, forcing the twisting part of her soul to the back of her mind.

"We can't," Marik responded coolly. Hina rounded on him.

"Why not! Look at him! He's malnourished and close to death! He needs to get out of here!" Hina cried out at him. The blonde man barely moved other than to cross his arms and scowl.

"And where do you suppose we go? Hmm? There's nowhere in the King's city we could go where he won't find us. You learnt that yourself," He replied. Just remembering her failed attempt at escape and the pain that had accompanied it made Hina shudder. Hina turned back to the man on the floor. He'd barely moved since she had entered the room and that unnerved her.

"How can he save us, if he's a prisoner here?" Hina choked.

"It took us a while to convince the King to trust us," Odion's deep voice spoke from behind Hina. She turned around in time to see him walking towards them a cup of water and small roll of bread in his hands.

"Five years to be exact," He continued as he reached them. He knelt before the lifeless man. Hina was shocked to hear they'd even achieved the task at all. Bakura didn't seem like the type to trust anyone.

"How did you manage it?" Hina asked quietly.

"We were once… acquaintances." It was Marik who'd spoken and when Hina turned to him, he had an odd expression on his face. He looked angry and bemused with himself.

"Acquaintances?" Hina asked suspiciously, not too sure she would be comforted in knowing exactly what he meant by that. Marik smirked, as though remembering a not so found memory.

"I went through a… a not good stage. We 'teamed' up to help each other achieve their goal. I used that as my way in this time, only this time, I don't want to help Bakura, I wanted to stop him. I owe it to the Pharaoh and to Yugi." Marik's voice seemed to falter as if he was reliving the past. Hina stared on, confused. The Pharaoh? What did ancient Egypt have to do with anything? Bakura had mentioned a Pharaoh and how he had killed all his people, was this the same guy? Hina decided to push that aside for now.

"So… What have you been doing for five years?" She asked curiously, gazing back down to the man on the floor. Odion was feeding him the bread and helping him drink. These two were probably the only reason Yugi was alive.

"When the King accepted us and believed we were on his side, he had us go do scouting missions. We were sent all over the planet, rounding up survivors and the rebels…" Odion spoke again.

"That's what he believed we were doing anyway. We'd find cities of people, hiding away. Then we'd try and help them. We'd tell them how to hide better and then we'd ask for volunteers to come back with us as prisoners to hide the true purpose for our visits." Marik said.

"We were always on the lookout for Yugi and his friends, not wanting to believe they were dead, although the likely hood was they would be. We found Kaiba…" Odion continued.

"Kaiba?" Hina asked, the word sparking recognition in her. She'd heard that name before. Wasn't he the man Bakura was ordering Marik to find?

"He's been good at keeping underground and we struggled tracking him down. When we found him, he told us what happened and we realised Yugi must be here… right under our noses this whole time. We searched the palace over and over again, until we were given the key to this tomb. Bakura must have found it hilarious, making me tomb keeper all over again." Marik smiled bitterly. Hina was captured in the story and was surprised to find her mind bursting with questions she was dying to know the answers to. These people remembered before the end. They remembered the days before dark… They'd seen the world as it tried to rebuild itself right under Bakura's nose. There was so much she wanted to know, but there was one question that burned brighter than any others at the front of her mind.

"How do we win?" She asked. The room fell silent and was only broken by the sounds of Odion helping the semi-conscious man sip the cup of water. Marik smiled and it was the first real smile Hina had seen him do.

"When we found Yugi, we hatched a plan. There are these things called Millennium items…" Marik spoke.

"Yes, Bakura told me about them," Hina nodded, feeling a pang in her chest and realising the pain was growing with every moment that passed. She was too close to her boundary, the line she could not cross without the piece of his soul within hers writhing around causing terrible pain.

"He must really like you," Marik mused before continuing, "There's one of the items called the Millennium puzzle. This belonged… belongs to Yugi. He is the only person in five thousand years that completed it and allowed the Pharaoh to return."

"The Pharaoh?" Hina asked her head starting to hurt. There was so much she didn't understand about this situation.

"It's too much to explain now, but all you need to know is the Pharaoh was prophesised to return and he did, when Yugi completed the puzzle. He alone can defeat Bakura. Bakura broke the puzzle soon after enslaving the world, to ensure the Pharaoh couldn't return, however if Yugi completes it again, he can come back once more and stop the shadows," Marik explained. Hina clutched at her head as she tried desperately to understand. All this talk of millennium items, Pharaohs and puzzles was too much for her to understand. She didn't get what was going on or the sort of power these items held.

"How are you going to get the puzzle to him to do? How can he even do it, he's barely strong enough to lift his head…" Hina asked gazing down at what she now realised was the most important person on the planet.

"We were once tomb keepers. Master Marik protected a secret the Pharaoh would need to unlock his memories and win the shadow games. While we were stuck in our tomb's, we learnt a lot about the items, studied them. For the past five years we've been taking a piece of the puzzle, copying it and replacing it with a fake." Odion spoke straightening up.

"What? How…?" Hina asked incredulously.

"Melting down gold and creating a mould for it in the shape of each puzzle piece. It has been long work, in between our royal duties, but it has been imperative Bakura remains trusting of us. The moment we are no longer allowed access to Yugi is the moment our mission fails," Marik finished. Hina remained speechless for several moments as she tried to comprehend what they were saying. This plan of theirs, it had been going on for years and who knew how many more it would take? There was no other possible solution to this though, not if Yugi needed to reassemble the puzzle. She was amazed they had kept it up for as long as they had. How had Bakura been blind enough to not notice what was happening, but thinking back on it, whenever Hina had seen Marik around Bakura he had been convincing. She had always believed he worked for Bakura. All this time this plan had been underway and now they had decided to reveal their plan to her? She couldn't let them down could she? Part of her felt so guilty at the thought of betraying Bakura. After all hadn't she decided to forget all this talk of winning? Hadn't she come to the conclusion that it wasn't possible to beat him? Her mind was in turmoil, but even so she knew what she'd decide to do. She knew how this was going to end.

"What can I do to help?" Hina asked.

"We need the last piece of the puzzle." Marik replied straight away. Odion nodded and pulled out of his pocket a small piece of gold. He held it out and Hina took it. It was cool to the touch. It was shiny and had some sort of design on it.

"This is the forgery. We need to replace it with the real one and then we have all the pieces." Odion spoke.

"Why do you need me to do it? If this is the last piece, doesn't that mean you've got the others before?" Hina asked more out of curiosity than fear of having to do the task herself.

"We have, however we have no need to be in that part of the palace and it has become increasingly difficult to get there. We don't want to risk raising suspicion by been caught anyway near there," Odion answered. Hina nodded, understanding why she was to play this part. She had practically got free rein of the castle and could go where she liked. There had been no rules given to her like 'stay clear of the fifth floor' or 'don't enter the seventh room on the right hand second floor corridor'. She was free to go where she liked. Hina knelt down before the man sprawled on the floor.

"Yugi?" She whispered gently. She was surprised to see his head move slightly as he tried to lift his face.

"Yugi… You don't know me… I'm Hina, but that's not important," Hina spoke before realising she was starting to babble.

"Joey told me about you," Hina whispered, a lump beginning to form in her throat. The man's head lifted up and Hina found herself staring into the wide eyed boyish face of the man she had promised to find.

"Joey's… alive?" The man croaked. His eyes were wide with hope, setting the amethyst colour alive. Hina nodded, smiling.

"I… I thought…" His voice trailed off.

"Ryo's still there too. He told me to find you and so did Joey…" Hina explained softly.

"Ryo…"

"Do you think you can complete your puzzle, if I get the last piece?" Hina asked. The man faltered for a few moments, his eyes showing he'd seen too much for someone his age. After several moment's hesitation, he nodded. Hina smiled.

"Then I'll get it, no matter what." Hina smiled before straightening up. Hina felt her losing the battle within herself as her vision began to sway. The pain she'd been constantly holding back since been down here suddenly overwhelmed her. She felt it twist painfully inside her, knocking the air from her lungs as she lost her balance. Hina cried out as she felt the stabbing sensation become too deep. She stumbled sideways. Hands caught her before the room blacked out.

Hina felt the heaviness lift from her only moments later and found herself cradled in the tall man's arms, the blonde haired man staring at her curiously. It took Hina a few precious moments to realise what had happened. When her mind cleared and she felt the tugging in her chest once again, she realised.

"I need to get out of here now!" She exclaimed her eyes wide as she became fully awake and alert. Odion put her down where she swayed on her feet. She could almost sense that Bakura had been awoken by her pain. They had barely minutes before he would begin searching for her.

"I'm sorry, I've put you in danger!" Hina wailed as she tried to edge towards the exit.

"Why?" Marik asked suspiciously.

"He… he put a part of his soul… in me… he knows when I'm too far away! Please we have to move! Quickly!" Hina begged, her eyes streaming with tears when she realised how much of a fool she'd been. She had been reckless and selfish. It would be her fault if the plan failed because of her. Marik's eyes seemed to widen in horror.

"Odion, quickly." Marik barked the order and the taller man jumped into action, turning the lights off in the room and hiding any evidence that they'd been there at all. Marik turned to Hina scowling. He dashed forwards and grabbed hold of her wrist, pulling her out of the room and up the flights of stairs as fast as they could. Hina, the fake puzzle piece and fairy tale book still clutched in her hand, pelted after him. They ran through the door they'd entered at the top of the stone circular pit and ran blindly down the pitch black corridor until they reached the cell door. It occurred to Hina that beyond that door could be a scowling, hideously angry Bakura. Hina even held her breath as Marik pushed it open and they hurried through. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing the prison corridor was empty, but apparently they weren't done running yet.

"Quickly!" Marik breathed, still not letting go of Hina's arm. He led her at lightning speed along the corridor and up the flight of stone steps back into the main part of the palace. They didn't stop running until they were outside in the palace grounds, but even then they didn't stop moving until they were by the wall that ran the perimeter of the palace grounds. When they did, Hina was out of breath and panting heavily, although Marik seemed barely perturbed by the exertion. It occurred to Hina how lucky they'd been that they hadn't run headlong into anyone on their way out of the palace.

"You fool!" He hissed. Hina glanced up at the sky and saw streaks of orange already tinting the night. It was nearly day break. Only upon realising this did it occur to her she hadn't actually slept at all through the night.

"I'm sorry…" Hina breathed, glad they seemed to have made it out okay.

"We have barely seconds to spare, so straight to the point, the room with the puzzle in is on the left side of the palace, third floor. All you need to do is replace the real piece with the fake one Odion gave you. Do you understand?" He breathed. Hina nodded.

"Take the real piece and hide it. I will talk to you soon and hope you will have it. In the meantime, you will need to distract Bakura in whatever means necessary. This past year has been so much easier for us to achieve because he was distracted by you."

"Okay… I know… I know what I need to do…" Hina breathed.

"Hide the piece." He instructed, quietly, his eyes darting about, making sure they were alone. He held out a small pouch and Hina took it, dropping the gold piece into it and tying it around her waist, hiding it beneath the belt she wore. Barely seconds had passed since doing so when she felt Bakura's presence moving closer.

"He's here…" Hina mouthed to Marik, her back towards the castle.

"So, how do you like it here?" Marik asked in his usual tone, although more friendly than Hina was used to. Hina understood straight away as Marik began to walk. She fell into pace with him, smiling slightly.

"I've grown to like it… I can't ever remembering eating this well before… I mean living out there… food was kind of scarce," Hina replied smiling.

"What are you doing out here?" A stern voice asked from behind them. Hina jumped instinctively before turning to face the man she knew would be stood there. She did so and wasn't surprised to see an angered expression on the pale King's face, although she made sure to feign shock.

"Bakura," Marik spoke curtly, making it sound slightly like a greeting.

"Morning!" Hina said brightly feeling her cheeks flush upon seeing him. Bakura's dark eyes were flicking between the two of them before settling on Hina, who felt her cheeks redden even more under such an intense gaze.

"What are you doing out here?" He demanded again turning his attention to his subordinate. Hina stepped forwards; clutching tightly onto her book so hard her knuckles went white.

"What happened was I was reading… I couldn't sleep and I came out here to read and I was out here all night reading. Then about an hour ago, I saw Marik and thought I'd talk to him…" Hina smiled brightly, and what she hoped was, innocently. Bakura was still scowling, examining Hina's beaming face. After what felt like an eternity, he nodded albeit rather stiffly. Hina felt herself inwardly sigh with relief. At that she felt the tiredness of the night's events wash over her. She stifled a yawn and felt her eyes suddenly grow very heavy. She hadn't before noticed how tired she was, the adrenaline caused by everything wearing off and leaving her desperate for sleep. Smiling Hina bowed at each of the men in turn before starting her walk across the grounds.

"And where do you think you're going?" Bakura demanded after her. Hina smiled slightly before turning to face the man.

"I'm going to bed. I'm afraid been up all night has left me rather exhausted," Hina spoke and after receiving no protests, she exaggeratedly curtsied before continuing her drowsy walk towards the comfort of a warm bed and more importantly, sleep. Despite her sudden realisation of her need to sleep, her heart was hammering so fast she could barely contain it. Seeing Bakura again brought back memories of the night and what had happened between them. It made her feel awkward to say the very least and Hina wasn't sure how she should act around him, or how she was expected to act around him.

Without another single thought towards Marik, Bakura followed after the girl. He watched as she glanced around again, a rather playful expression on her face now.

"Thanks for the gossip, Marik!" She beamed giving a quick wave towards the blonde before continuing onwards. Bakura was confused by her. Her behaviour seemed so odd and he wasn't used to it, but he himself could feel something different within him and he could only presume it was the after-effects of last night. She had kissed him back for the first time. He smirked to himself as he watched her walk in front of him. He had always got what he wanted and it came as no surprise to him that he had finally won her. He had always known that he would, he had just never expected it to be so rewarding.