I: Three Worlds, One Fate

"Breakout!" Ronald Weasley muttered angrily, "You'd think now that we have prison guards who actually have eyes we wouldn't have to worry about this anymore!"

"From what I heard, there were dementors involved as well." Harry Potter told Ron as the both of them walked through the halls of the Ministry of Magic. "Dementors and…someone. I don't know, I've never trusted Mundungus Fletcher's gossip."

"Yeah but when several other Aurors who guard the prison make the same claim…"

"Yeah. I don't like that."

"Yes, I am aware of the random murders that have been happening." Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt told the Muggle Prime Minister via cellphone. "Well things have not been so easy on our side either…Yes, we know for a fact that these are the same individuals from nine years ago, their cells were the only ones that were brok…No, we are not at war…"

not yet at least he thought gravely,

"We are going to send our best men out to get to the bottom of this…What?...NO! Are you brain-dead? How can criminals who have been locked up for nine years until yesterday POSSIBLY have been responsible for THAT incident?!...No, I didn't mean to call you a…Hello? Prime Minister? You did not just hang up on me!"

Kingsley swore and threw the phone against the wall, just as Harry and Ron came in.

"Problem, Minister?" Harry asked.

"I liked Blair better." Kingsley sighed, frustrated.

"Tell me about it." Ron said, "So what did you call us for?"

Kingsley stood up holding a folder. "Yes. Although this may appear to be just an average Azkaban breakout, I know there is something bigger to it, such as the question of why only the Death Eaters were freed while the other prisoners were left in their cells. And how did dementors come to help free them? But I'm sure the number one question on everyone's mind, is how in Merlin's name did Azkaban get breached in the first place?"

"Can't be…him?" Ron asked nervously.

"No of course it's not him." Kingsley said, "Not even him can rise from the dead. But I know it's someone; someone dark, someone dangerous. Someone with enough charisma to convince the dementors, and enough magical ability to break into Azkaban. Who do we know who is dark enough to contemplate something like this, and strong enough to do it?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, thinking. "Everyone we can think of is either dead, or was broken out of Azkaban by this person." Harry said, "Unless it's someone new?"

"That's what I'm thinking." Kingsley said as he opened the folder. In it were various profiles. "One of the important things about keeping the magical world running efficiently is that the Ministries of all parts of the world keep in touch. Immediately after I had heard about the nature of this breakout, I immediately went to work, looking up all prominent dark wizards from all around the world. It is interesting to note…" He spread out four profiles on his desk. "…that around the same time we here were dealing with the Death Eaters, in Asia, there were several magical occurrences the likes of which were more pronounced than in other parts of the world."

"So you're thinking it may be one of the dark wizards involved in those incidents?" Harry asked.

"I think…" Kingsley began as he picked up the profile of a sandy-haired Egyptian boy, "That it may be this man: Malik Ishtar. The reason I believe this is that this first one, Yugi Moto, wasn't really evil; he used dark magic, but not for malicious purposes. This second one, Ryou Bakura it turns out, was just demonically possessed. And the third one, Dartz, is, well, dead. So he's out of the question. But this man, Ishtar…" He tapped the picture of Malik, "Is neither possessed nor dead. A few years ago he was clinically diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder."

"The what disorder?" Ron asked, confused; even after nine years, Ron had much to learn about Muggle medical terms.

"It means he has more than one personality." Harry clarified.

"And his alternate personality…" Kingsley continued, "…just happens to be that of a sociopath. For all we know, he may have had a relapse."

"If that's true then we should take care not to harm him." Harry said. "So you want Ron and me to go to Asia and find more about this Malik Ishtar?"

"No." Kingsley replied, "You will go to Hogwarts. There you should meet some allies who will help you. I'm sure one of them will be able to help you to begin your journey." He looked gravely at both of the Aurors in front of him. "I don't know what this person wants with Death Eaters. But remember: these are among the strongest dark wizards of our time. Do NOT tread lightly." He sighed and looked at Harry helplessly. "I suppose I'd be wasting my breath by asking if you'd like me to allow you the use of Unforgivable—"

"Yes you would, Minister." Harry cut him off, "We want to defeat Death Eaters, not become them.

"Don't worry, Minister." he reassured him, "We beat them once, we can do it again."

With that, Harry and Ron left Kingsley's office.

Kingsley watched the door to his office close. He opened the curtains of his office and looked out the window; a raven that was sitting at the windowsill flew off and joined a nearby flock. "I'm trusting you with this." Kingsley muttered, "Don't let my trust be in vain."

"So there I was…" Yugi Moto told to a bunch of kids from behind the counter of the Kame Game Shop, "I was facing down Kaiba's Ultimate Blue-Eyes, its three mouths roaring at me, its six eyes glaring at me. Then… it struck!"

Yugi made a movement to startle the kids. "The dragon reduced my Soldier of Stone to rubble and it was then I truly realized just what I was up against. But I refused to give up. I closed my eyes, put all my faith in my deck, and I drew my card." The kids looked expectantly at him. "I opened my eyes and looked at my card, and I—"

Just then the door of the Game Shop opened and Joseph Wheeler came in; Yugi looked up, then looked back at the kids. "To be continued." The kids all groaned in frustration, then turned to see Joey. Immediately they all flocked around him asking for autographs. Yugi smiled as he watched Joey with the kids.

When the kids had left, Joey joined Yugi behind the counter. "What's up, Yug? You good?"

"I'm good." Yugi replied with a smile, "How 'bout you, Champ? I read about your match against Truesdale. Congratulations."

"Yeah." Joey said with a satisfied smile, "Fifth title defense, baby!"

In the nine years since that fateful Ceremonial Duel, much had changed; Yugi, now 27, had retired from the professional circuit in 2002 and, along with Seto Kaiba, was now regarded as a Legendary Duelist; and Joey, just as Yugi had always known he would be, was now the Duel Monsters World Champion, and was building his own legacy.

"I just came from Tristan and Serenity's." Joey told Yugi, "Serenity's going along fine; everything's good, normal."

"She's what, seven months in, right?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah." Joey replied, "The doc told them they're gonna have a boy. Tristan's thrilled, of course."

"I bet he is." Yugi said with a chuckle, "Let's just pray he inherits Serenity's looks."

Joey laughed. "I second that!" He looked at Yugi, who had gotten up to get a soda from the fridge in the back. Joey couldn't help but notice the picture in a frame on top of the fridge. Yugi came back and handed Joey a drink. "Thanks." He pointed at the picture. "I lost mine. I'm sure I'll find it though."

Yugi looked solemnly at the picture. "It's the only picture I have; the only one with her by herself, I mean." He sighed. "Three years next month, Joey. Where has the time gone?"

"Same place where she's gone, bud." Joey said; he looked at Yugi, whose eyes had dampened slightly. He put an arm around his shoulder. "I miss her too, Yug. I miss her too."

Just then, the Shop door opened, and a man with a black cloak and a pointy-tipped hat walked in. "Yugi Moto?"

Yugi stood up. "I am Yugi. May I help you?"

The man took out a letter and laid it on the desk. "For you." He bowed to Yugi and said "See you there." before he left.

"See you where?" Joey asked as Yugi opened the letter and read it.

"What the hell?" Yugi asked, "I don't know what this is, but it's obviously a prank or some chain letter."

Just then, an owl broke though the Shop window and dropped a letter before flying out of the hole in the window it had made; Yugi opened the new letter.

"'This is not a prank, nor a chain letter; this is a plea for help. You of all people should know to believe.'" He looked at Joey, who shrugged. Yugi nodded. "I'll go. What the hell, it's not like I have anything…valuable, anymore." Yugi massaged his neck, which had no jewelry around it.

Link rode through the green fields of Hyrule on his steed, Epona. His Hylian shield and sword bounced on his back as he rode in the sunset.

Then, he saw in the distance what looked like a man. Link pulled to a stop and squinted his eyes. The figure was garbed in black and was looked rather tall. The figure pointed at Link, and made a gesture to come to him. Then, he faded away, and on the spot where he had vanished was what looked like a small silver bird.

"A will o' the wisp?" Link asked himself. The bird began flying away; Link urged Epona on to follow it.

Link followed the bird through the fields, through a pair of gates, and soon he found himself at the edge of Lake Hylia. He watched as the bird hovered over the center of the lake, then lowered under the water.

Realizing what he had to do, Link dismounted Epona, donned his Zora garments and dove. He swam to the center of the lake and made his way to the lake floor, where the silver bird was waiting; it was still hovering the same way it was hovering when above the surface, its wings still beating despite the water around them, as if the water wasn't even affecting it. The bird then flew into a small cave in the side of the lake. Link swam after it into the small cave.

He made his way through the tunnel, only to find a dead end. But upon closer inspection, Link saw that the dead end had cracks on it. To the average individual, this wouldn't mean anything. But to Link, cracks on a wall meant one thing: Bombing time! He took out a water bomb, pulled the fuse, causing it to light, laid it at the foot of the wall, and swam back a few feet for safety. A few seconds later the bomb went off and after the bubbles cleared Link was staring at a dark passageway.

But before he could do anything, Link felt as if some force was pulling him into the passage; he was being sucked in! He tried to swim as fast as he could, but the suction was too strong. He donned his iron boots, but that only slowed his movement toward the inevitable by a few inches per second. He couldn't even outrun the suction in his boots. Finally Link realized what he was dealing with, and took off his boots and just let the suction take him…

As soon as his eyes opened, they were met with a wall of water pounding down him. Link sat up coughing, and took deep breaths. Then he stood and looked around. He was on a small island. And right behind him, he turned to see a large black cylindrical tower; there seemed to be a very dark cloud hovering above the top of the tower. Seeing nowhere else to go, he entered.

Inside, he looked around. He saw a sign across him: NURMENGARD PRISON: FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

Around him was a spiral staircase that was attached to the wall of the tower that apparently led to the top. He also noticed that along the staircase there were doors, but the steps that were supposed to be in front of the doors were missing, causing several fairly large gaps in the staircase; there were three doors along the wall, thus there were three gaps in the staircase..

Suddenly a voice rang out in the tower: "Young wizard." the voice, a male's called, "Purge my tomb, and I shall reveal an ancient and valuable secret to you. Will you accept?"

Link looked around for the source of the voice but couldn't find any. He knew one thing though: he was Link. And he never backed away from a challenge. "I accept!" He called out.

As he said this, a door appeared on the wall at the foot of the staircase. "Then proceed."

With nothing else to say, Link walked toward the door and entered…

Author's Note: Don't ask which Link it is in this fic, because frankly that's the farthest thing from my mind; also, I'm not following any specific timeline theory so don't ask what "era in Hylian history" this fic takes place in. Also, as far as I'm concerned, the Ceremonial Duel happened in 1998, same time as Voldemort's defeat; Yu-Gi-Oh! began in 1996, and the original anime (the first and second series) ran for two years.