Return to the Old Ways

by kayono

The Pharaoh and King have returned, but the Fates and Destiny have yet to let them out of their grasp. There's more in the darkness than is known, but 'life isn't interesting unless there's a chance of dying.'

9. The Balance of Ma'at

Return to the Old Ways

Chapter 7: The Balance of Ma'at

Disclaimer: I bought a new laptop! ...and that's about it.

Pre-Notes: (Date: July 20, 2006) GAH! Forgive me? I had the whole chapter almost written and out by… oh, a long time ago (as I also did with both Running and this cute, little (60+ pages) story about time-travel), and ya know what? My computer decided to DIE on me. At first it wasn't that bad- you know, the normal, annoying, filled-with-spy-and-ad-ware computer-ness. But then THIS progressed into taking an hour to boot up (which I really don't have an hour to sit around doing nothing… I just can't, for some reason), and then… well, the last time I tried turning it on, the thing wouldn't even START. It kept coming to a screen that said things like, "Could not boot up properly. Please pick a method of running from below: "Safe mode", "Extra safe mode", "Normal", and some others. For all the good those did, they might as well have said, "Annoying mode", "Not-working-properly mode", and "Make-you-want-to-put-something-through-the-computer-screen"- which also might as well have said, "Click on this if you want to return to this screen after another series of failed starts".

So this really cool computer guy named Steve comes along, gets the same messages as stated above, tells us that this thing was old and needed refurbishing anyway, and walks off with said computer to fix it.

Needless to say, he did fix it (and got me a laptop along the way), BUT he completely wiped the hard drive. So- no more stories. Need to re-write. BAH!

Oh, and its mommy's birthday. Happy 50-something birthday, muzzah!

---OH LOOKY! A STUPID BREAK!---

These alleys had always been dark, even though it was the middle of the day- and they were in the middle of the desert. Even though he didn't like the darkness, it was sometimes required to tread in it, deal with it- accept it, even as everything screamed out against you.

Thankfully, he wouldn't have to deal with the 'accepting' part any time soon (Bakura had informed him that, no, Marik was not anywhere being fit to be released even into their little group of five, let alone the normal world(s)). He did have to deal with the treading and dealing right now though- these alleys were pretty dark- dangerous- even without the disturbing visuals.

One of said visuals dragged himself from his position collapsed against a wall, and laid down in his path. "Pl… please…." His voice was hoarse, cracking- the stench of alcohol and drugs was around him. Even without that, it wasn't hard for any Mage to pick up on the aura around him- darkapathetic was most prominent, sadisticabusive was a close second.

Malik was rather happy that the man was incapacitated right now, probably still recovering from last night's binge. Walking quickly over the man, he sped up his pace, violet eyes narrowed in concentration- and annoyance at having been sent all the way out here.

"'I'll be back in a few hours, a day maybe, Ryou.' Yeah, right. I don't think I'll be back by next week at this pace." He muttered, brushing corn silk blonde from his eyes, shrugging the haversack closer to his body.

"Lady Isis and Lord Rishid went to the North side of the city, and asked us to tell you to meet them there."

Malik growled, ignoring the creeping Shadows- both his own and those of the town. They began to churn, looking for a way to work their power on the unsuspecting--

And Malik clamped down- hard- on his emotions, needing to get them under control now, so that he wouldn't be as likely to destroy a building when he got to wherever it was that he was going. Why couldn't his sister and brother just told the rest of their clan where they were going? Then he wouldn't have to follow Isis' Shadows and Aura through all these murky, back alleys, filled with the vile and disgusting, and soso darkdark-

'Damn it, stop THINKING!'

He went over what he knew. Isis wanting him to come to Egypt? Check. Heaps of dead bodies in a tomb? Che- no, possibly heaps of dead bodies in a tomb, possibly check. Isis and Rishid in alleys he had only visited once- when he was first starting out as the Leader of the Ghouls? Odd, but check. Isis and Rishid in the most dangerous part of town, with only the Shadows for protection? He snorted again- 'Only the Shadows… right…' An increasing amount of Range Shadows crawling along the walls, following him?

He stumbled, though whether over air or the unconscious couple at his feet, he wasn't sure. Quickly passing on (she looked high-end, he like a poor alcoholic, both like they would be in desperate of a bath and maybe contraceptives later), he instead focused on the Range Shadows.

'Now would be the time to remember what we had figured out about these things….'

The so-called Range Shadows had been 'discovered' during one of their usual training drills when they were younger. They were usually the remnants of a Dark, Shadow, or Penalty Game (though none had been played for a while), and were never ever found in the same place twice. The 'discovery' hadn't been much of a discovery, since Atemu and Bakura had been using them for a while for extra energy when implementing new Games, but it was certainly memorable.

The three of them had been for a while extending their practices. School was on summer break, the end of their high school years nearly upon them, and so the days were spent with friends, hanging out and fooling around.

Isis hadn't been too pleased, especially since they had a habit of returning fairly late from wherever they had been that day, and so would make them train more while she was cooking dinner or, as it had usually been the case, while she was eating the dinner she had made herself, and they were cooking their own supper.

Since cooking practice often didn't work as well as any of them wanted it to, the five of them would often find themselves in parks or on rooftops well past midnight, practicing everything from Aura to the always-challenging Shadow.

"Ha! Now who's the master?" Malik smirked, standing on the railing around the roof of their apartment on one foot.

Bakura snort from where he was balancing on the corner of the roof shed, half-opening one eye to look at Malik. "Master of what? Your own private circus?"

Atemu growled from his position on top of a tall, slender pole that was used for connecting telephone lines. However, he did not bat an eye at the conversation, instead continuing the meditation that they had opted to do tonight- there was some kind of street festival, which they had already visited, and it was running well into the early morning.

The park was filled, the streets were- obviously- filled, and hardly anyone except the babes and the elderly were inside. Even Isis was out, enjoying herself.

Yugi and Ryou had decided that, with all this outside interference going on, it would be a good time to see how far their control of their own internal abilities had come. Atemu had immediately agreed, and Bakura admitted that it would be more profitable than attempting to steal the essentially none-existent money from the festival-go-er's pockets. Malik had, in turn, reluctantly agreed.

Taking over, as it was always easier to do this exercise when the possessors, not the possessed, were in control, Atemu and Bakura had each found a place where they could happily balance, meditate, reflect, and internally test, all at the same time. Malik had watched, before slowly climbing up onto the railing. Speed wasn't essential- it always took longer for those with double souls instead of single souls to do this meditative testing, so Malik knew he would be done before either of these two, even if he did start long after them.

Which in turn brought him back to where he had been- and what he had been doing. He wasn't going to leave Atemu and Bakura alone- gods above knew how much damage that could cause- but ten minutes of boredom was just as bad for Malik as it was for any other Hikari or Yami. Even worse, as he didn't have anyone to converse with- just that empty space in the middle of his heart that seemed to want to engulf his entire being.

He watched as both their bodies relaxed again, consciousness leaving them as all energy was focused inwards. He had no doubt that Yugi and Ryou were probably in the same state, which made him wonder what it would look like if each had their own bodies. 'Probably like messed up twins… Yugi and the Pharaoh would probably even make a habit of talking in tandem to annoy us….'

So lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed his foot loosing its grip, nor the way that his other foot and leg flailed for purchase. He blinked as he felt gravity begin to take it's toll, hands unconsciously reaching out for the Shadows, but his mind was telling them to reach for the railing, and then he was fallilng, too stunned to act, no one around to notice, and the ground looked awfully hard and it was coming up sosotoo fast--

And the strange sensation of Shadows that were not his own, not part of any Holder, not part of the Realm encompassed him, slowing his descent to the point where it was more like he had jumped out of a second-story window, instead of off the roof of the 18-story building. He blinked as he wrapped both his own Shadows and these strange ones around himself, blinked as he found himself on top of the roof again, Atemu and Bakura opening an eye to see what had happened, then going back to ignoring him.

Malik felt somewhat put off by this, but accepted that it was probably better than them reaming him out for his stupidity and clumsiness.

Reaching out to beckon these new Shadows to him, Malik watched as they wrapped around his fingers- not lovingly, like his own, but worriedly, caring- wanting to know if there was any damage done to him.

Malik told them that no, there was not, and thank you very much for your help, to which they had replied with an indifferent, if still worriedly caring shrug, we didn't want someone of a breed so rare as you to die. Then they dissipated, and Malik was left staring at his hands for the rest of the night.

It was nearly a week later until they were alone and Isis had gone out to deal with some idiots at the museum who had decided they didn't want to follow her orders for the new stages of the Egyptian Exhibits.

"Why couldn't Isis be here?" Yugi asked curiously as they happily munched on another one of Ryou's delectable oddities that had been whipped up in no time at all.

Malik shook his head. "She would have reamed me out for my carelessness."

Bakura, in spirit form beside Ryou, glared at the blonde Egyptian. "And you think we're not?"

Violet eyes glimmered with excitement. "Wait until I tell you!"

Once he had finished, Yugi and Ryou looked at him curiously, while Bakura remained indifferent, and Atemu only vaguely interested. "What?"

Yugi shook his head as Ryou spoke. "Malik, honestly, falling off a railing? If you're going to be an idiot, at least do it with some class."

Malik huffed. "I know, but what about those… those other Shadows?"

All three lights looked to the Pharaoh and Thief, who were carefully avoiding looking at anyone else in the room.

"Yami? What do you know?" Yuugi asked, his voice low with warning.

"Well, aibou- don't look at me like that, I've done nothing wrong- you know those… Games, we like to play?"

"­­You like to play, but yes?" Yugi was careful to stress the pronoun as the rest looked on.

"Sometimes, remnants of those Games have a habit of sticking around, as a sort of- a sort of continuation of the life that was lost. Those remains have a habit of finding others that are somehow similar, and stick to them. The emotions and ideals from those people give the remnants a sort of life. When the people who were feeing the remnants with emotions die, their souls also become part of the remnants stuck to them. Those remnants can no longer absorb or affect the real world, and are left behind, never to go onto Tuat.

"But-" Atemu stressed this word as well, feeling Yugi's distress, "-these two souls, or half souls, or any combination between half and double souls, they are forever intertwined, bound together for eternity. Since that is most people's goal in life, anyways- to find someone that is for them and them alone, a person who can know their deepest secrets and greatest fears, and know them intimately in return- this is no punishment. These people have found their 'heaven on earth', as the saying goes, and could not be parted- like us."

Yugi nodded, leaning into the only-solid-for-him body of his darkness. "Expect we found it while we are alive."

"And now, even in Death we won't be parted."

Bakura had been the one with the further explanation- these not-Shadows were spread all over the Earth, and it wasn't uncommon to find bits and pieces of a single Joined Pair on opposite sides of said planet. They watched and observed, and helped guide the Sennen Items- the predictions, the manipulations, the seeking. "So they can do a whole range of things?" Ryou had asked, and received an affirmative.

After that, all five of them had tried Calling (a type a summoning where that which is summoned comes willingly) the Range Shadows, which after one week produced some results. Atemu and Bakura hadn't a single problem with the Range Shadows, while it took Ryou and Yugi a while to get the hang of Calling them. Atemu patiently explained to the rather frustrated hikaris that it was because they were so Light that the Range Shadows were almost scared of them, unwilling to be extinguished now that they had found their peace.

Yugi and Ryou had immediately calmed down, locked most of their power away, and were able to Call them with relative ease.

Malik, on the other hand, had gotten the hang of Calling the Range Shadows with little to no effort, something that had surprised not only the other hikaris and yamis, but his sister as well. It turned out that he had a sort-of affinity for them, that they liked how he had 'such a prettyfuzzymuted Light' and were therefore more willing to aid him than Ryou and Yugi, and just as willing (if not more so) to aid him compared to Atemu and Bakura.

So now Malik stared at this clump of Range Shadows that beckoned him forward, and he happily complied, watching where he was walking now. They would lead him straight to Isis, with hopefully the least amount of treading through dark, back-of-behind alleys.

Hopefully.

Dumbledore leaned back against the wall of Gringotts, waiting for the appointed time. A few passers-by waved to him, while some watched him with worry. As the strongest wizard around, and the only one that Voldemort had ever feared, it was the common opinion that Dumbledore stay safe, so that he could help the "Chosen One" defeat the Dark Lord.

If Dumbledore hadn't been so surprised by the rather sudden appearance of one Ryou Bakura, he might have snorted at the previous thought.

"Professor?"

"Good afternoon, Ryou. Would you like a lemon drop?"

Ryou chuckled, and they walked out of the bank together, heading to the Leaky Cauldron for a lunch meeting. "No thank you, Professor. I'm sorry that Yugi and Malik couldn't come- something came up from Isis that Malik had to look into, and Yugi couldn't leave Domino again without tying up some loose ends."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I had been sure that you three would have come back to Hogwarts right after the funeral."

"A number of other things came up between then and now- and isn't that the usual way, where you could spend your time bored out of your mind, and then suddenly have too many things to do, and too little time to do it in?"

The Headmaster shot him a look. "Oh? And you have personal experience with this, do you?"

Ryou shrugged and grinned impishly at his companion. "Yes… sort of."

They were shown into the back room that they usually occupied, Tom looking rather ecstatic at having patrons. He came back moments later with rather a lot of food and some drinks- Ryou was grateful to see there was none of Yugi's coke/sake mix- before bowing himself out of the room.

"No one else knows about this room, as there are usually wards on it, so we can speak freely in here, Ryou." Dumbledore told him, picking up a piece of some kind of meat and placing it beside the pumpkin pie, half of which had already found it's way into Dumbledore's stomach.

Ryou nodded, his grin faltering for a moment. "As I'm sure you read in our letter, we know that something is going on- that you need help find something, or someone. Since we have already foregone our places as teachers in Hogwarts, we were wondering if you wouldn't mind the help?"

Dumbledore looked up from his pie again, watching Ryou intently. "If I might ask, how do you know of my search?" There was no point in lying to him- the hikari would call him on it, he was sure.

Ryou helped himself to what might have been mutton, though it was too burnt to tell. "I know you have seen our… normal means of transportation- that was how Yugi brought you to Domino, correct?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed… the young woman, Lasine, called it 'Shifting'? And it uses those… 'Shadows'?"

Ryou nodded again. "There is a kind of Shadows which are not beholden to their own Realm, our Realms, or any one person. They help us to Shift and do many other things- including gathering information. Also, it doesn't hurt to some… living connections."

"Enima?"

"And the spiders, and every other magical creature, spirit and soul that happens to be a part of Hogwarts."

Dumbledore chuckled, shaking his head. "It would be foolish of me to not accept your offer, of course. But- I would like some things explained to me."

Ryou nodded, a small smile on his face. "I have no doubt about that- especially since Lasine, Anriel and Shimasu all have problems with knowing when not to say something to people that we trust."

"But they know how to keep secrets?"

Ryou winked at him, helping himself to the chicken (the maybe-mutton left on the side of his plate). "Better than a secret keeper when you tell them to be."

Dumbledore chuckled, spooning out some vegetables. "If any of my questions are too personal, I will understand if you don't tell me their answers."

When all Ryou did was shrug, Dumbledore grinned. As they began eating in silence, the aging headmaster went over the numerous questions he had, knowing that Ryou was probably doing the same thing in regards to this 'Quest'.

"Who is Yami? And Atra, and why did Lasine refer to you as both "Ryou", and "Bakura" in the same list of names?"

Ryou thought about this for a moment, carefully chewing his food before answering. "Starting off with the hard questions, hm?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Well… Yami and Atra are the same person. Both are more of a title- 'Yami' is 'darkness' in Japanese, and 'Atra' is 'dark' in Latin. His name is actually Atemu, but he has collected a number of other names over the years.

"Lasine said 'Ryou' and 'Bakura' separately, did she? Well, I'm 'Ryou'- but 'Bakura probably didn't refer to me. There's my father who everyone calls 'Bakura', and then there's Nahkti. He is to me as Atemu is to Yugi- the yang to a yin, bad to the good, dark to the light. It's hard to explain without going into detail- which, if you don't mind, I don't want to do- but the only thing you really need to know is that we can each see through the other's eyes, hear the other's thoughts, switch places with the other in the blink of an eye, even enter the other's soul rooms if we so wish."

Dumbledore's eyebrow raised. "Sounds like you have a lot of control over the others."

Ryou shook his head. "No! No, no- not control. We try to work together, as partners, not masters, so as to keep the balance that we have to."

"Why do I keep hearing the word 'balance'?"

"Probably because you're talking to us. 'Balance' is Ma'at, and Ma'at is what keeps everything running smoothly, with no big, planet-annihilating explosions. Ma'at is kept by those who are able- those with power, or wisdom, or strength, or were born with the ability to do so. As Yugi and I are Light, so are Atemu and Nahkti Dark, and if one were to die or become seriously injured, our own personal Ma'at would be thrown off balance, thereby affecting the Ma'at of those around us, and in turn the Ma'at of the world in general.

"That's why we want to defeat Voldemort- he has upset the Ma'at of the wizarding world in general, and has suctioned off some of the power that would normally go into supporting Ma'at to support his own power."

Dumbledore slowly thought that over. "So you, as living embodiments of this balance, this- 'Ma'at'? - wish to guard it by getting rid of someone so… unbalanced as Voldemort?"

"In essence."

"You didn't mention Malik, though Lasine did."

Ryou sighed heavily. "Malik would normally be like us, but his Dark- Marik- was too dark, and willing- and able- to not only corrupt, but destroy anyone who stopped him from destroying everything anyways, even his own light. Marik was in turn sealed away, on the brink of destruction. It didn't take much to make it so that Malik was more like a normal human being- equally Light as Dark, but the two fight inside him, so we try to keep him as happy as possible."

Dumbledore didn't say anything for a while, which Ryou took as a good sign- people who carefully thought things through before jumping head-first into them were good allies to have.

Finally the elder looked up at the Shadow Mage, eyes glimmering with that strange light. "Would 'being happy' include helping me with a bit of a treasure hunt?"

Ryou smiled back, glad that Bakura decided to stay in the Dominion for this meeting. "Does sugar and caffeine make Yugi hyper?"

"Ah… ah…. Ah-CHOO!"

Atemu looked up from the laptop Kaiba had lent them, pausing from examining all the political and economical developments from when they had been in the Axis (Malik and Isis had been too busy focusing on the 'new historical developments).

"Something wrong, hikari?"

Yugi just shot him a look, and then went back to the small charm he was working on for the CEO. "Who would be talking about me?"

His darkness chuckled, going back to the webpage. "Everyone, if we weren't as cautious as I thought we were."

Yugi sighed and stretched, looking out at Domino from the large, bay windows that made up one of the three walls of his guest room in the Kaiba Mansion. (I hope that Ryou was able to meet Dumbledore on time.)

((Whenever has Ryou missed anything?))

Yugi shrugged, poking at a small spell fragment that wouldn't stay bound to the small, golden Sennen Eye that he was planning on somehow making Kaiba wear. 'All I want you to do is just weave yourself further into the rest of the spells. Yes, I know, you want to be able to better tell what is going on around you, but- no, you cannot just stay like that- no, you- gah! I give up!'

Throwing himself backwards into his chair, he groaned. "Know any way to keep annoying little pieces of sensor-spells in their place?"

Atemu hmmed, considering the situation. "Give it a way to sense while being buried?"

"Some help you are."

"I try."

The distant sound of a door opening and closing somewhere in the house caught their attention. (Is Seto home already?)

((I don't think so- and I don't think he would appreciate you calling him 'Seto', aibou.))

(He'll just have to deal with it. Now, who is that?)

((A maid?))

Some crashing closer to their room made Yugi snort. (Seto wouldn't hire a clumsy maid, yami. They're supposed to keep things clean, not destroy property.)

Unconsciously, Yugi had been poking at the charm, which suddenly reacted rather violently, sparks and energies flying rampant around the room, a magic-induced wind picking up and blowing everything over.

Once it had died down (and most of the power returned to the charm), Yugi glowered at the small golden piece in his hands as Atemu chuckled, waving his hand almost carelessly to fix everything.

"Really, aibou. How clumsy can you get?"

"I haven't heard any helpful suggestions from you yet!"

"That's because I'm not foolish enough to make a charm to help enhance Kaiba's powers, aibou. I'd rather let him blow everything up with just his own power level, thanks."

Yugi shot him a glare now, which Atemu laughed off. "That is IT, almighty Pharaoh!" The sarcasm was not lost on the darkness. "If you don't care what happens, then neither will I- but if Kaiba becomes some kind of target and can't handle the situation, then it's on your head!"

The light stalked over to the hallway door, threw it open, and threw the golden charm outside it. Slamming the door, he returned to his seat at the small table, pulled out his deck, side deck and remaining cards and began to recreate his deck. Atemu watched as the grimace on the light's face slowly turned into a gentle, blank look as he began touching the souls of each monster and power channel that the cards used.

Atemu went back to his research, eyes narrowing as he looked at the list of wars, 'arguments' and threats that had occurred without anyone to curb the danger. They had thought that this world hadn't needed them to help keep its balance. Thought that with just Ryou, Bakura and Malik here to keep Ma'at, there was no rush to return home. Apparently, they were wrong.

And now they would have to fix it.

Jounouchi growled as he stalked through the halls of the Kaiba mansion. His interview (if it could be called as such) generally consisted of the Personnel Director looking over his resume, looking over him, and asking if he knew how to read and write properly. It had only deteriorated from there.

'I am NOT incompetent, NOT ignorant, NOT stupid, and NOT slow! Just because half of my income comes from gaming and I don't need to have a high-paying job...'

In his rage, he didn't notice the statue in front of him until he ran right into it.

CRASH

Jounouchi dove for the stone bust, catching it seconds before it would have hit the floor. He gave a sigh of relief, replacing the bust on its pedestal and continuing- somewhat more calmly and cautiously- to his temporary room.

At least, he thought he had. Maybe he had taken a left instead of a right, or had completely missed a turn or ten altogether, but he was now standing in a darkened hallway in a part of the mansion he had never been in before- and was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be in at all.

"Great… no point in turning around now. Let's just get through this damned maze of a house with not too much trouble, hm?"

A number of dead-ends and stairs that led to nowhere later, he was walking down an almost pitch-black corridor, the sound of his footsteps echoing off the hard, marble floor.

'That's odd- I though Kaiba had carpet on his guest and sleeping-room floor?'

Then either he was no longer on that floor, or he was in a part that wasn't for guests. Or visitors of any kind.

He continued on, wondering if he were to scream for help if anyone would come. Deciding that no, no one would (or they would, but they'd get lost, too), he stopped paying attention to his surroundings and instead concentrated on what he was going to say to Kaiba.

'I told him that I would leave as soon as I got a real job, that he couldn't use the pretence of courtesy to keep me here if I could pay my own way. That doesn't mean I have to stay until then- right? But what if-'

CLANG

Jounouchi blinked, looking down at whatever his foot had hit. Somehow seeing its yellow glint in the limited (as in none-existent) lighting, he picked it up and examined what of it he could see. Gold, definitely. Small, shaped in a way that it could be a button, or a ring, or a pendent on a necklace, or an earring, or-

Well, whatever it was, it certainly didn't look too suspicious, and since it had just been left lying around, he was pretty sure that no one would miss it. He could probably sell something like this for quite a bit of money.

It didn't help him now, however, so he pocketed it, turned around and started attempting to retrace his steps, giving up on the idea of finding another way out of the mansion-labyrinth.

He didn't notice that it only took him five minutes to find his way out, and only another two to find his room. It didn't take that much longer to decide he wanted to work off his emotions at the Duelling Grounds (a special arcade-like building just for duelling), and to promptly leave the Kaiba Mansion for the next few hours.

Yugi blinked as he felt something poking him in the side of the head. He looked over to see a small bit of Shadows there, stretching to him from somewhere around his darkness.

"Yami, stop it."

Atemu looked up at his light, confused. "Stop what?"

Yugi gestured to the Shadows, and Atemu frowned at them. "It's not me, hikari."

"But it's coming from you."

Atemu looked around him. "But it's not."

Slowly, both their eyes trailed the nearly-invisible tail to the door- where Yugi had thrown the charm. "Oh?"

Yugi blinked again, seeing the Shadows swirl and move in certain patterns. Following their progress, Yugi almost cursed himself as he ran to the door, opened it, and threw himself into the hallway. Looking around breathlessly, he cursed as he saw the trail of the charm going down the hallway towards the front door.

"Aibou?" Atemu asked, worriedly.

"Yami, I- darn it, I knew I was missing something!" Yugi walked back into the room, collapsing into the chair he had vacated moments earlier. "Remember how I couldn't keep that one sensing-spell in place? I had forgotten to add in the Shadow layer that would keep it separate from the rest, and not buried!"

Dawning comprehension, as Atemu stood quickly to look out the door. "And now it's up and walked away?"

"Now probably one of the maids took it, since it was so pretty and gold!"

"And you hadn't finished the sealing, right?"

"Almost, so it won't be too unstable, but-"

"But that's no excuse for letting it just go?"

"Exactly. But we can't leave here and walk around normally-"

"-without a cloak, and no matter what we can't just walk around period without-"

"-drawing too much attention to ourselves."

It had always been when they were in trouble, on the verge of death, or centering all their concentration on a single end that their thoughts and emotions were perfectly in sync, and they did such superfluous things as talk in stereo or finish each other's sentences.

They both had begun to pace in the centre of the room, carefully avoiding the chairs, table, and bed.

"So what do we-"

"-do? We talk to Kaiba and ask him-"

"-if he couldn't find something we have given to someone that has probably left the mansion and-"

"-we need to get it back, specifically from him, as this-"

"-will be a test of his sensing skills!"

They grinned at each other- such a brilliant plan, 'killing two birds with one stone', as the saying went- and then collapsed onto the bed, side-by-side.

"By the time he gets home, the trail will be getting cold."

"Then we ask Mokuba or one of the secretaries to get him for us."

"On the phone?"

"Or webcam, or however we can do as such."

So saying, Yugi reached over Atemu to grab the phone from its cradle on the bedside table and began dialling the Kaiba Corp. phone number, followed by Kaiba's private extension.

Atemu took the opportunity to squeeze Yugi's sides, causing him to yelp and drop the phone. The light gazed down at his darkness in annoyance, thinly veiled impatience coloring his tone. "And what, pray tell, was that for?"

Atemu pushed Yugi off him and, still keeping an arm around Yugi's waist, grabbed the phone off the floor and hit a small, red button marked 'Kaiba Corp. Pres. Office'. "It's called speed-dial, aibou."

Yugi pouted. "And you're just mean, yami."

The pharaoh chuckled, stifling it as Kaiba's private secretary picked up the phone. "Yes, put me through to Kaiba, please. Yes, he knows who this is- no, just- LISTEN. If he's not in a meeting, tell him that- aibou!" Atemu growled as he tried to wrest the phone back from Yugi.

"Yes, sorry for his rudeness, but may we please speak to Seto? He told us that if we should ever need anything to call him, since we are staying in his home. Oh? Tell him that… tell him that Levis and Atra are on the line. Or, if you prefer, 'that damned pharaoh'. Thank you."

As elevator music started playing, Yugi smiled winningly down on his currently-squished, currently glowering, dark half. "See? You just have to know how to talk to people. These secretaries deal with Kaiba all day- he's got an almost bigger ego than you do."

"I heard that, Yugi."

Atemu tried to grab the phone from Yugi's hands, but they ended up heads together, sharing the handset between them. "Really Kaiba, you should get speaker-phone in here."

"May I ask why you are calling, or is it just to annoy me?"

Yugi chuckled. "Not as such, Kaiba. Just wanted to know if you were up for a little challenge- that is, if you're not busy."

"What kind of challenge?" Yugi and Atemu almost cheered as they heard how he jumped to answer immediately after Yugi finished speaking.

"Oh, not too hard. Someone took a half-completed charm from this house before it was sealed, and we need it back before half of Domino goes up in flames. Since we can't walk around freely, we were wondering if you wouldn't be able to find it, with all that wonderful technology of yours."

Seto was quiet for a moment, and Yugi wondered if he had gone about this the wrong way. "Of course, if you don't want to-"

"A charm, you say? For what?"

Atemu smirked. "The usual- good luck, strength, happiness, enhancing natural senses, and a temporary dam against any possible random onslaught of power that might come from the first uses of it after being dormant for so long."

"For me?"

"You, or anyone else who happens to need something like that."

"But I don't."

"Not generally, but that dam feature will really help you out later, when the real work begins."

"…and if I should refuse?"

"We could always get someone else to find it- someone less qualified, which could result in mista-"

"I'll do it. Where do I start?"

Both pharaohs grinned. Telling Kaiba that mistakes could be made upon a decision he made was a sure-fire way to get something done.

"It should be somewhere near the front door of your mansion, but we can't trace it much further. You could always try your technology- just walk around and check out wherever it stops working, starts working impossibly well, or just starts acting funny."

"How long do I have?"

"Until either it is destroyed, which means the trail ends, or Domino is destroyed, which probably means that it is destroyed as well."

"We'd prefer if you got it back to us un-destroyed, though." Atemu smirked up at Yugi- his light just couldn't help but add that, could he?"

"Alright then, 'Levis', 'Atra'- as this is a challenge, what do I get if I win?"

"Other than the satisfaction of saving a city single-handedly? The charm which, when it is finished, will not interfere with your technology. And your first lesson in heka- Seeking."

"Then I will talk to you later. Ja."

"Ja ne, Seto!" Yugi chirped before the line abruptly went dead. Atemu was somehow able to reach the phone cradle and but the handset back in its proper place, before turning back to Yugi.

"In the meantime, I'm sure that Kaiba won't mind us eating the ice cream, right?"

Yugi nodded happily, standing. "Right!"

Jounouchi pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders as he stepped off the bus in front of the Duel Grounds. Winter was upon them, though there was no snow on the ground. He distantly wondered in Yugi would be wearing his leather tank top in this weather, but decided that even his black-obsessed friend wasn't crazy enough to do that.

Entering the Ground, he nodded to those people whom he knew and the man and woman sitting behind the reception desk. "Hey, guys. Anyone signed up for a free duel in da nex' t'ree hours?"

"Going to waste your whole day here, Jou?" The man asked while the woman smiled, looking up the currently-registered duellists for the day.

"Pretty much. Jus' got outta an interview at one of the local shops- called me stupid, slow, and ignorant. Damn- as if I'd work for a guy like dat."

The man chuckled as the woman turned her monitor so Jou could see the schedule. "Anyone suit your fancy?"

He quickly scanned the list of names and sighed. "Nawh- jus' put me down for whoever would be a good match."

She smiled at him and nodded, turning to type the information into the computer as her partner moved along the desk to help another person. "Two duels- one at 1:10, one at 2:30, sounds good? They'll be in the same section, side-by-side arenas. If you finish your 2:30 and still have time, you could always come back here."

Jou nodded his appreciation. "Thanks, man."

"No problem, Jou. Here's you schedule-" She handed him a print-out of the names of who was duelling who, where and when, "- and have fun!"

He moved further into the building, watching all the other duels going on. The variety of rules, regulations, and methods of duelling had become so diverse that there were eight different sections- two for Duel Disks, two for Podiums, two for table-top, and two for every other style. He smiled as he looked at a duel on the Podiums, since he had to pass through that section to get to the Duel Disk arenas. They brought back memories of Duellist Kingdom, the only time he had actually played using one of the large, desk-like consoles.

They also brought back memories of Yugi, which he felt like ignoring at the moment, so he hurried on to see the last of the duel that was taking place in the arena before his own. It was a rather spectacular finish, too- for amateur duellists, anyways. They were simple, basic moves, but the holograms made the final explosion from the 'grenades' seem so very, very real and so very, very like pretty fireworks.

It was no wonder anyone watching felt like clapping.

The two turned off their Duel Disks, walked across the arena to the centre, shook hands, and then started talking about grabbing some food at the small snack-bar that the Duelling Ground hosted to talk about their duel.

Jou grinned as both waved at him- he had duelled both of them before, and for once he was giving the tips, and he had been the first one to ask either of them to sit with him and talk about the duel afterwards. Another young man walked up to him, looking him over carefully- Jou recognized it as sizing up his opponent, and he quickly did the same, studying his face and hands.

Finally, the other reached out to shake his hand. "Hello. I think I'm your next opponent- Syrus is my name."

Jounouchi grinned. For some reason, this aqua-coloured-haired, bespectacled young man reminded him of Yugi. "Nice ta meet cha. I'm Jounouchi. And yep, I'm your next opponent."

Syrus grinned. "Great! I hope you don't mind me, but this is my first time duelling here."

Jounouchi dismissed the comment as they made their way out to the arena. "Ah, everyone has a 'first time' for everything. It's not much different from duelling in the streets- but you don't have to worry about getting arrested for 'disturbing the peace'.

Syrus laughed as he took his position across from Jounouchi. "If that's the case, then let's duel!"

Forty-five minutes later and the duel was over, Jounouchi having won by only 450 life points. Syrus was still grinning, and Jounouchi couldn't completely understand why, but if his new duelling companion could take a loss with the same smile he wore when he was winning, then he definitely was duellist material.

"Say- I've still got some time before my next duel." Jounouchi started, looking down at the younger man.

Syrus sighed. "Sorry, but I've got to go. My brother's probably waiting for me, and I have to get back to school soon."

Jounouchi blinked. "School?"

Syrus blushed. "Er- I go to Duellist Academy. This was just our week off, and I only got up the courage to put my name down for a duel just now."

Jounouchi blinked a few more times, before laughing. "Wow- if I was a year or so younger, I would have loved to go there. Ah well- so, you have ta go?"

Syrus nodded, and they said their goodbyes, Jounouchi heading towards the snack bar anyways, Syrus towards the doors.

"Can I get a burger- yeah, everything on it- er, two sodas, an extra-large fry- no, make it poutine- erm… one of those bags of chips- oh, right, thanks for reminding me, I've got another duel, so better make those chips the smaller bag- hrm, what else?"

When he eventually finished ordering and had collected his food, Jounouchi sat down at one of the tables that overlooked the Duelling Ground from the snack bar's top floor position. Instead of immediately eating everything, he instead stared at the small, golden trinket he had picked up earlier, and only recently rediscovered in his pocket. He finally could see how it was not just gold, but a gold eye that he wished he would never have to see again, pure black onyx that swam with strange symbols and patterns in the area around the eye.

He glared at it- it glared back. He ignored it- it ignored him. He examined it- forwards, backwards, inside out.

It glared at him.

Jounouchi growled and just about chucked it over the banister into the arena below him, but thought better of it. This thing had been in Kaiba's house. Kaiba refused to believe in magic. Kaiba refused to believe in undead spirits, possessing those so pure that the darkness had no right to touch them, and didn't.

So why would something swirling with so much raw magical energy be inside the Kaiba mansion, even if it was laying discarded in the middle of the hallway?

He eyed it, then put it back in his pocket, rubbing his thumb over the eye once. That symbol brought Yugi luck- it was always worth a try.

Kaiba wasn't completely sure if his eyes were deceiving him. He had stopped by the mansion to pick up the trail (which did, indeed, go right out the front door) and to talk to his two house guests, who were making themselves perfectly comfortable with Mokuba's ice cream freezer.

After limiting them to only one tub (which they had nearly finished, anyways), and getting further instructions from them in regards to this challenge, he had headed out the door, deciding to walk so he wouldn't loose the trail.

When he ended up at a bus stop, he began wondering if he shouldn't have just taken his car instead.

Although the greatest residue would be on the bus that was taken, he opted instead to jump on the first bus that came by, since the likelihood that the same bus would be coming by in the next half hour (as that was how long Yugi and Atemu gave the trail to last before it completely disappeared) was slim to none.

Besides, there was enough simply floating in the air down the street that it was almost painfully easy to follow. After, of course, blocking all other residues from his sight.

This wasn't nearly so easy- Yugi and Atemu (while devouring the ice cream) had placed a special charm over his eyes that would allow him- if only temporarily- to see the magical residues floating around in Domino.

He had wondered why they had never complained of head aches until Yugi explained that they had developed ways to filter what they saw, or ignore what they could not filter.

He had been treated to probably the fastest lesson ever on how to limit his sight, and then sent out the door. Whenever the trail ran out, so would the sight that he had been given. In which case, Atemu had sent the final bit of Shadows that were supposed to go into the charm with him, in his own shadow, so as not to alarm anyone by having a misty, purple-crimson-navy-black mist curling around his neck.

He ran over his plan of attack on getting back the charm in his mind, altering it where he felt it was weak. So engrossed in his thoughts that he missed where the energy trail left the road and turned into a building. Looking up when he felt a change in pressure in the air around him, he saw the dim, golden stream disappear around the corner. He rang the bell for the next stop (wincing at the thought of how many germs and infections were now on his fingers) and jumped off the bus at the stop, sprinting back the way he had come.

Unfortunately, the lights all seemed to be against him, so it was twenty minutes later that he was walking into the Duelling Ground.

Nodding to two of his employees at the front reception desk (both of whom were currently busy setting up the schedule for that afternoon), he began weaving his way through the crowd, eyeing those who seemed to have more of the residue around them.

He felt his sight slipping slightly- something was wrong. He knew that it hadn't left- or at least through the front doors, as there would have been another, stronger residue around. Unless whoever was currently holding the small charm was an employee, and had left through one of the side entrances.

That would make sense- the Duelling Ground was run by Kaiba Corp, and many of his maids and butlers had friends who worked here. As they were all KC employees, they were all entitled to certain benefits, including nearly unlimited access to all areas, unless Kaiba himself had specifically blockaded them.

But that also wouldn't make sense, as he specifically forbade all employees from interacting with patrons and customers unless they absolutely needed to, or it wasn't on KC time. And that residue around some duellists screamed that they had interacted with whoever currently held the charm. If they had left through a backdoor, they were using their KC ID- which meant they were on company time, and therefore would promptly be fired should Kaiba catch them.

Fortunately for him, having a KC job was one of the best options in the city, and so no one wanted to be fired if there was a way to prevent it.

That would therefore mean, it couldn't have been an employee- or if it was, they were still here. That left two options- the first, that Yugi and Atemu had tricked him, and had not 'lost' it, but given it to someone to give to someone to give to someone, since they were most certainly not about to leave the mansion.

The other option was that someone else, not a Shadow Mage (or, as Kaiba had to constantly remind himself, a 'Kage no Mage', as they had started calling themselves) nor a KC employee had the charm. If the description he had been given by the two pharaohs sitting in their room in his home was anything to go by, whoever found it wouldn't just give it away- they would pon it off to someone, who would in turn either smelt it down or pon it off to another person. Or this person maybe kept it as a good luck charm, and was using it to help them in their duels.

That still left the question of who took it in the first place.

That also left the question of what was Yugi thinking when he let it out of his sight, uncompleted.

'Enough. Where, and possibly who. Why and How can be answered afterwards.'

He continued dodging his way through the constantly-thickening crowd, eventually making it to the Duel Disk Arenas. There was a rather thick amount of the energy floating around one of the arenas- so, it was being used as a good luck charm. He followed the stream with his eyes to the stairs up to the snack bar, where he lost the trail- his sight, being temporary as it was, could not see through walls- or ceilings or floors for that matter.

Still, something should be clicking- but that growing feeling of wrong was completely drowning out all other senses. He focused his attention on the stream, watching as it seemed to be growing thicker, denser through the stairs. So, whoever had it was still up there- and moving towards him? Interesting.

Slowly, black-booted feet appeared, and the wrong just kept pushing at his senses, and then dark blue slacks, possibly made of jean, appeared, and he swore he was going to have a very back headache after this, and then a pale yellow dress shirt and a black leather jacket appeared, and he felt the last bit of the Shadows to go into the charm wrapping around his neck, though no one noticed it in the dim lighting where he was standing, and then he almost saw the head, until a couple on their way up the stairs blocked his view, and the Shadows- his own, the leftover, and all the so-called 'Range' Shadows were screaming at him to leave, they didn't want him hurt, and then the couple passed and, somehow, amber and ice blue locked on each other-

And the world exploded into flame.

Yugi shook his head sadly as he sat on the roof of the building across the street from the Duelling Ground, leaning into Atemu's embrace. The only reasons he was here instead of down there, helping to heal and calm the wounded and injured, was that Atemu had reminded they weren't supposed to be there, and to do so would only cause more of a racket- and suspicion.

"I wish we hadn't sent Kaiba on that little Quest…."

"We did what we thought was best in the situation with what we knew. We couldn't have done anything else." Atemu told him calmingly, running his fingers through his hair.

Yugi purred, though a single glistening tear trailed down his cheek. "If I hadn't thrown that charm out the door-"

"Stop." Atemu commanded, turning Yugi's head to face him, holding it with both hands. Crimson bored into amethyst, holding them in place. "It is not your fault. You did nothing wrong."

"But-"

"But nothing, aibou. Nothing."

"Noth- nothing?"

"Nothing." The Pharaoh nodded his head once to emphasize his point, and Yugi mimicked him.

"Alright."

The both turned their attention to the crowd below them at a shout of surprise, and the bomb squad and other special police divisions moved back into the rubble. Seconds later, the one part of the building that had still been standing collapsed, and a whole crowd of relatively unharmed duellists and other patrons of the Ground swarmed out into the arms of family members or the welcoming embrace of a warm blanket around their shoulders and tea in their hands.

The two pharaohs were able to pick out their two friends easily- both were tired, dirty, leaning on each other for support- and everyone was giving them a wide, respectful circle of open area to walk through.

"Come, aibou. They are fine and will be home soon- we should be there to meet them and get their rooms and staff ready."

Yugi nodded, eyes transfixed by the scene below him. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Who knows- but we should go."

"Aa."

They arrived in a swirl of darkness in the middle of the foyer, startling the maids and butlers who were scurrying around, listen to the news about the potential terrorist bombing in downtown Domino- while somehow still cooking dinner and cleaning the rooms.

Atemu threw his hood back, glaring around at everyone standing there. "Well? Don't just stand there- Kaiba and Jounouchi will be home any minute- and they were at the Duelling Ground this afternoon."

The message had the desired effect- while most servants started running around, making everything easier for their master to access if he was in pain and rearranging furniture, others ran up to Atemu, asking how was their master and most honoured guest, and if there was anything particularly wrong with them, and would Atemu himself prefer anything for dinner?

Yugi was already in their room by the time Atemu had been able to answer all the questions from the KC servants. He found a small, dark corner to shift through (though it wouldn't have mattered, as the servants were all so busy preparing for Kaiba and Jounouchi's arrival home), and appeared before Yugi.

"Everything is taken care of, aibou."

Yugi nodded, frowning as he stared out the window at the setting sun.

Atemu noticed his expression, and placed his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Aibou? What's wrong?"

"Something's… different."

"Different?"

"Unh. Like… not bad-different, but not good-different, just… just new-strange-kind-of-good-different."

Uh-oh. "Those… 'feelings' of yours again?"

Yugi only nodded and Atemu sighed, drawing his light against his chest. "In regards to us?"

Finally relaxing into the other's hold, Yugi sighed. "Sort of. But it feels more aimed at the house and the people in it than us."

"House?"

"Sorry- this mansion of Kaiba's."

Something tingled in the back of the Pharaoh's mind. "You mean- at Kaiba?"

Yugi shrugged. "As much as it is aimed at Mokuba, and Jounouchi, and every maid and servant that saw us Shift in here."

Atemu sighed, burying his head in the crook of Yugi's neck. "Can't we ever get a break?"

Yugi chuckled, but didn't answer. They watched the sun fade, the street lights come on- and, eventually, a black limo pull into the driveway, and Mokuba, Kaiba and Jounouchi step out of it.

They nodded to each other, Shifting to the foyer as scaring all the servants again. Since both had their cloaks off, the KC employees began whispering excitedly to each other, temporarily forgetting about their employer and 'master'. After all, one Yugi Mouto had been hot- two were one step away from hell.

A banging at the front door caught their attention, and as a butler moved to open it, Yugi gestured with his hand and both double doors banged open.

Mokuba walked in first, turning around to support his brother and friend as best as he could. Kaiba and Jounouchi were leaning against each other, struggling to stand upright. Although they had obviously tried to clean themselves up, their clothes were torn and there were a few visible bruises on their faces and arms.

Kaiba looked up and growled when he saw the welcoming committee. "Should have guess that you two would know something about this."

Jounouchi looked up as well, and stood there, stunned for a moment, before laughing and attempting to run to the two pharaohs. "Yugi!"

Unfortunately, he and Kaiba had been supporting each other for a reason, and the blonde fell to the floor, body too weak to carry him. Kaiba quickly sat down beside him before he fell down.

This prompted the servants into action. Some went to assist Kaiba and Jounouchi, some went to the kitchen to retrieve the food, and some went into the dinning room to collect all the dishes and silverware and move them up into the family's private study, for a less formal, more comfortable dinner.

Mokuba pulled both Yugi and Atemu aside as everyone began their progress up the stairs. "What happened? No one would tell me there, and nii-san and Jou-kun said that they don't know why!"

Yugi shook his head. "I was working on a charm earlier, but got frustrated with it and tossed it out into the hallway. It somehow found it's way out of the mansion- and, as we all know, letting an unstable magical artefact roam around the city is never a good idea."

"So we decided that it would be a good lesson for your brother, to try and find the charm with limited assistance from ourselves." Atemu continued, gazing up at the two young men as they disappeared with their entourage into the bowels of the building. "For some reason, there was some kind of bomb- no, Mokuba, whatever triggered the explosion was non-magical, that much we can guarantee."

Mokuba frowned. "Triggered it- but you think there was some kind of interference from something magical later? After it was triggered?"

"We're not even sure it was a bomb." Atemu told him, but shook his head. "We've always known that your brother would be a strong mage if he trained himself, and Jou has always had some kind of dormant, almost magical, sixth sense- also untrained. All that was needed was the charm. If Jou was holding it, or Seto was near it, they might have accidentally triggered one of its fail-safes, and made the explosion ten times bigger than what it might have been."

Mokuba blinked. "But, if they made it worse- then why would everyone be thanking them for saving them?"

Yugi blinked at him as they began moving up the stairs to follow. Atemu chuckled, shrugging. "We weren't there, so we can't say for certain what happened- maybe a by-product of the release of energy was a temporary shield, which other people were caught up in. Unless we go through either Kaiba's or Jounouchi's memory, we're just as clueless as you."

Mokuba pondered this for a moment. Then- "You do know now that your reappearance will be the talk of all KC employees, right?"

"Not if we swear them to secrecy. They'll need to be, anyways- Kaiba needs to practice his skills, and we can't have anything about that getting out, either."

Mokuba nodded thoughtfully, and they soon found themselves in the family study, Jounouchi already digging into his favourite foods and Kaiba just looking on, amused, and waiting for his brother and guests.

They sat down to eat in silence. It wasn't oppressing- it was the sort of silence where you didn't need to say anything, because there was nothing to say.

Once dinner was finished, some of the maids took the plates away, and Mokuba and Kaiba kicked Yugi, Atemu and Jou out of the study.

"Man, talk about gratitude." Jou muttered, though he still looked fairly relaxed and satisfied with the last half hour.

Atemu shook his head. "You should be happy that he wasn't about to rip you to shreds."

Jounouchi blinked, startled, but grinned and glomped the two of them. "Yugi! Pharaoh! Where've you been?"

"Around."

Jounouchi sighed. "Couldn't you have dropped by at least once? We've all missed you, including- well, before he- what I'm trying to say is-"

"Sugoroku-jii-chan is dead, right?"

Jounouchi looked shocked. "How did you-"

"We visited him in the hospital. We were at his side when- well, when he began his journey to the West."

Jounouchi sighed. "I'm sorry, man."

Atemu waved his hand in dismissal. "Enough, Jounouchi. We've all grieved, and now we're getting over it."

"Er, yeah. Sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Yessir!"

Atemu shot him a look, then sighed, a small smile on his face. "Alright, Jounouchi. If you don't mind me asking-"

"What happened in the Duelling Ground?" Atemu nodded solemnly. "Well- I was coming down the stairs from the snack bar, going to my next duel, bu' I kept feeling like someone was watching me. So I go down the stairs, and there's Kaiba, standing there staring at me, and then it was like the earth exploded outwards, and we were thrown on our- er, our rear ends." He amended, looking pointedly over at Yugi for a second. "So, it wasn't so bad at first- but when Kaiba reached me, and there were all these other people around us, it was like the entire gas pipe system of the building decided to blow up.

"Then- here's the weird thing- there was all this extra power, all around us, and the ceiling started to cave down right on top of us, and all these other people swarmed around us, because it was like there was an umbrella over us, and- and then the rest of the building collapsed, and even though we were sheltered, it felt like the entire world had decided to start tap dancing on my head. And then- then it was like my whole body was being ripped into little pieces, and then put back together again, except that I was missing some pieces and what was being put back in their place weren't my pieces. An' when everything felt okay again, I opened my eyes, an' the walls around us came down and everyone that was in that little shield thing with us walked out."

Atemu nodded. "We saw that. Jou- I don't suppose you picked up any small, golden tokens lately, have you?"

Jounouchi stopped, paling. "Oh, gawd… I should have thought- you mean that was my-"

"It wasn't your fault." Atemu had a distinct feeling of deja-vu, but he ignored it. "I was just wondering if you still have it?"

Jounouchi shook his head. "It was the first t'ing I looked for when we got out- it wasn't in my pockets, wasn't no where I could see."

Atemu chuckled. "Jou-kun, your grammar is getting worse by the second. You're tired- go to bed. We'll see you in the morning."

Jounouchi could barely cover his yawn, smiling guiltily at the pharaoh. "See you in the morning, Pharaoh! Glad to have you home!"

Atemu sighed, rubbing his temples. "It's ATEMU!" He called after Jounouchi, but the blonde just waved over his shoulder as he turned the corner. The ancient pharaoh sighed, taking Yugi into his arms and shifting back to their room.

"Well, aibou, we should probably go to bed, too, so we can- aibou?"

He looked up at Yugi, who hadn't moved an inch since Atemu brought them back to their room. "Aibou?"

Yugi was facing the window, the stars shining brightly, though eclipsed by the moon. It was like he was enjoying the scenery, so much so that he hadn't heard Atemu calling him.

((Aibou? Aibou!))

The link was mysteriously quiet, and the pharaoh frowned. He stood up from where he had sat down on the bed and walked around his stationary hikari. He was worried- Yugi, he realized now, hadn't said anything since the Kaibas and Jounouchi had gotten home, and had barely eaten dinner.

It was only when he moved to stand directly in front of Yugi that he realized what was wrong, and felt his stomach drop. The young light's face was completely blank, no expression showing on it whatsoever. That wasn't what had made the hairs on the back of the dark's neck stand on-end, though.

Yugi's normally bright, amethyst eyes were dulled, a haze settling over them, turning them almost completely white. And within them, the smallest golden spark flickered for a moment, as though recognizing Atemu, before he felt something deep within his core start to respond to that golden flashing.

Slowly, a dark mist settled over Atemu, his eyes becoming a blank, dark red. His hands reached out to take Yugi's into his own, pulling Yugi towards him until their foreheads rested against each other. Both their eyes were now completely blank, their soul locked deep inside their heart, with just the faint golden glimmering in their eyes to show that there was someone alive within.

Then the Shadows, Range and otherwise, wrapped around them, tossing their clothing and hair around with the strong winds. A vase on top of a wardrobe in the corner fell over, shattering, and altering the servants in the quarters beneath the room that something was wrong.

The draperies and hangings in the room were being torn off the walls, some even flung out the windows. The table and chairs, then the wardrobe itself soon fell over as well, alerting everyone else in the mansion to the trouble.

It was only when Kaiba and Jounouchi, backed by the entire household, charged into the room that the Shadows stopped their onslaught, dissipating- and taking Yugi and Atemu with them.

Malik frowned at his sister, not understanding what she was telling him. "But that doesn't make any sense-" He pounded his fist into the table they were sitting at, drawing some stares from the other patrons, "-when you compare it everything else!"

Isis sighed, shaking her head slowly. "It can't be helped. There's nothing we can do, Malik, except wish them to a peaceful rest."

He scowled. Apparently, some first-time archaeologists discovered what they had thought to be an ancient burial ground. Turns out, it wasn't so much ancient as recently used. The bodies were rotted, but it looked more like they had been forced to decompose at nearly 10x the normal speed at which such a process occurred. Other than that, however, they were all seemingly normal deaths- heart attack, stroke, died peacefully in sleep. Some not so much (popped blood vessels due to stress), but there was no definite sign of murder on any of them.

Much to Malik's annoyance, there was no magical residue, either. So- no magical homicide, no scientific homicide- then why did something feel off about this?

Isis laid her hand on his shoulder as she stood to leave. "I'm sorry to have called you all the way out here, Malik. It was good to see you."

As she left, Malik cursed himself. Things had become so awkward between him and his sister- it was like they were mere acquaintances, or coworkers in an office that worked in different sections but still occasionally bumped into each other.

'Well, that is what we're like- but she's my sister, damn it! Things shouldn't be like this! And what's up with the dead body pit? Something's not right here- I know it.'

Ryou stood up abruptly from where he was sitting with Dumbledore, idly chatting as they took a break from walking around Diagon Alley to stop at the Leaky Cauldron for a quick brunch. Everyone around looked at him strangely, including Dumbledore and Tom, who was just bringing over their next round of drinks.

"Mr. Bakura? Is something wrong?"

He blinked, startled, before shaking his head and throwing some money on the table. "Sorry, sir, but I have to go."

Dumbledore frowned. They had been discussing his search for Voldemort's Horcruxes for the last little while, and he began to wonder if he had been too fast with trusting the young man with that kind of information. "If I might inquire-"

"Something's happened to Yami and Yugi." Ryou explained hurriedly. "I don't know why or what, but it's big, and I can guarantee that Domino will probably be worse for wear after this."

Dumbledore sighed, somewhat relieved. Then frowned again as Ryou's words sunk in. "What do you mean?"

Ryou sighed, turning back to face Dumbledore as he had been heading for the nearest shadowy corner. "When something happens to one, the other's there to correct it- through whatever means they deem necessary. But when both of them are out of it, there's no one there to correct it-"

"So Ma'at is thrown off." Dumbledore summarised.

Ryou nodded, looking grave. "Myself and my yami are the next ones to be called in to keep it on track."

"And, more importantly, get Levis and Atra back into the first position?"

Ryou nodded, sighing. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."

Dumbledore stood as well, paying for his half of the meal. "I don't suppose you would let me come along to help you with this 'correction'?"

Ryou looked hesitant, before he smiled at the aging Headmaster. "I would gladly appreciate it."

They both left the pub through the Shadows, while everyone else stared after the infamous Headmaster and his dinner guest, confused.

…

The two appeared on the roof of the apartment where Ryou normally lived with Yugi and Malik. "Malik is in Egypt, checking on a possible ritualistic group death tomb." Ryou explained as he let himself into the apartment, Dumbledore immediately following.

Dumbledore noticed how, as Ryou began running around and stuffing supplies into a satchel, he and Yugi were rather alike in the way they planned- even if their weapons of choice were different. Yugi, when they had come to see his grandfather those few months ago, had placed into the satchel seemingly random objects that, Dumbledore guessed, could be rather powerful with the right combination of magic. Ryou, on the other hand, was pulling actual weapons out of places Dumbledore would have never thought to look for them (he was trying to figure out how a sword could fit down the kitchen drain when the albino hikari pulled a scythe from underneath the window ledge).

"Would all these weapons really be necessary?" Dumbledore asked, uncertainly. Ryou was definitely a mage, so why would he need physical implements to fight?"

"Yes." The hikari answered curtly, stuffing everything he had gathered into the satchel (which held a lot more than Dumbledore would have thought, even spelled). "If the correction needs a trial, then we need something other than heka to perform it with."

"…"

Ryou looked up, shook his head and sighed. "Never mind. You'll see what I mean, I'm sure."

The headmaster didn't want to comment that that was somehow unlikely, but he followed Ryou back to the roof of the building without complaint, merely observing in wonder what he was sure he shouldn't have even had the slightest idea about.

They stood there, staring out at the city, covered in darkness but illuminated by the lights and windows that would remain on until the next morning. Ryou took a deep breath, raised his head to the heavens and held out his hands as though offering a gift to someone in front of him.

A small sphere of light appeared there, but it was quickly covered by the darkness and Shadows around them. Slowly, this sphere, now of darkness, began to grow and converge with other… things, which Dumbledore could only guess the identity to. It began to take the form of a person, their hands laying gently in Ryou's own, before suddenly the features became distinct, clothing took form and colors appeared.

A person who might as well have been Ryou's twin stood there, in the exact mirror image of the light. Both slowly lowered their heads, opened their eyes- amber met chocolate brown, and the other jerked Ryou towards him.

"What happened, yadonushi?"

Ryou sighed, eyes never leaving the dark's. "I don't know. We need to find Yugi and Yami."

The other growled. "The damn Pharaoh's gone missing again?"

"Yes. And Ma'at is about as troubled as you could get."

A muttered, curse, then amber suddenly noticed the elder behind his light. Letting go of Ryou's hands, he abruptly pushed passed his light, stopping in front of the headmaster.

"What are you doing here?"

"Observing." Ryou called. "Be nice, yami."

"I will be nice, hikari, when he explains."

Dumbledore coughed politely, drawing attention to him. "I was in a meeting with Mr. Bakura-"

"Ryou." The other corrected. "Call him Ryou- I'm Bakura."

Dumbledore nodded. "Then I was in a meeting with Ryou, when something- this Ma'at, I take it- alerted him to an imbalance, and the disappearance of Levis and Atra. I asked if I was allowed to come and observe, and, as long as I do not pose a threat or a disturbance, I was allowed to tag along."

Bakura eyed him, then turned around and stalked to the edge of the roof. "Then come. We can find those two with little to no problem- if we balance Ma'at first."

Ryou nodded, pulling out the Ring and letting it show over all his cloaks. "Last place they were at was Kaiba's."

"Then let's start there."

…

Dumbledore had seen a lot of homes in his years- big ones, small ones, ones that would have destroyed themselves if it hadn't been for magic, homes of the paranoid, homes of the proud. But even he had to admit that the Kaiba Mansion was, undoubtedly, in a class of its own. The white-washed stone walls and blue-tiled roofing gave it the impression of an ice castle, and the faint sprinkling of early snow around it only added to the impression.

The great dragon statues outside surprised Dumbledore at first, until Ryou explained that Kaiba Seto was not only a dragon master in the game of Duel Monsters, but, if he trained himself, could probably get any dragon to listen to him. He was famous for his dragons, too, and if he hadn't had these statues made, people would begin suspecting that he was an impostor.

Dumbledore chuckled at that, and how readily people in this city seemed to accept the most ludicrous notions (that were, in actuality, more fact than fiction).

It took a while before any of the servants came to open the door- a fact which bothered Bakura greatly- but when they did, their eyes widened and they were ushered into the mansion, their cloaks and outer-wear removed, and hustled up to the family study.

"Ryou! Bakura!"

Dumbledore had to wonder at the collection of people inside the study. The tallest one- a brunette, and the shortest- a raven-haired young man- seemed the most comfortable, while the blonde who sat beside the brunette looked about as relaxed as someone who would normally be laid back, but was sitting beside his greatest enemy. The other three people in the room- a brunette woman with blue eyes, another brunette with pointy hair and dark brown eyes, and a blonde young woman- didn't look nearly as relaxed, and- more to the point- ready to bolt should they need to.

It had been the brunette woman who had called out the names, and she who had rushed up to hug Ryou.

"Anzu- Anzu! I can't breathe!"

When she still refused to let go of him, Bakura growled and wrenched her off. "Damn it, woman, do you want to kill him?"

Anzu, as she was called, quickly wiped away her tears and sat down with the blonde woman again, shaking her head. "Sorry- I just- it's just-"

Dumbledore stood at the door as the two white-haired young men made their way into the room, Ryou sitting down in one of the single chairs left, Bakura sitting comfortably on the arm of the same chair.

"What happened?" He asked, scanning each face. The brunette with the single point of hair snorted.

"Turns out the Yugi's been back for a while, and Kaiba hasn't let us come see him- or let him see us."

Ryou and Bakura were carefully silent, and Dumbledore took his cue from them. There was no need to complicate the issue. If these people hadn't been informed of the presence of the two pharaohs, then it must have been for a reason.

Jounouchi shook his head. "Listen, 'kay?" This comment he directed to everyone in the room- including Dumbledore, who's presence he started at, but, with a gentle nod from both the headmaster and Ryou, he continued. "After the thing with the Duelling Ground- oh, right, you weren't here."

Kaiba growled. "Since the mutt will take too long to explain, let me. Yugi was working on a charm to keep my power under control," everyone noticed he seemed rather smug that the hikari thought that he had too much power to control in the first place, "but when it wouldn't seal properly, he tossed it. The mutt here, not knowing what it was, picked it up, and walked out the door. Unsealed Shadow charm equals bad idea, and since Yugi and Yami can't move around in public freely, they sent me.

"The mutt here went to the Duelling Ground, where I found him. There was an explosion- probably a bomb- that was more than likely made worse by the presence of the charm. It saved us and a couple other people from serious injury, though, but- according to the mutt- it disappeared afterwards. I say he lost it."

"WHAT?" Jounouchi growled, standing up suddenly and glaring down at the CEO. Kaiba scoffed, motioning him to sit down again.

"No one knows for certain what happened, mutt- though, you did probably lose it. Yugi wouldn't make something that important and give it the ability to disappear randomly."

Jounouchi did sit down beside Seto again, fairly reluctantly, and the dragon master continued. "So we get patched up, come home- where Yugi and Yami have the whole household on hand and on edge, though dinner was ready. We ate in here, then Mokuba and I told Yugi, Yami and make inu to go to their rooms."

"Wait- rooms?" Bakura asked quickly, eyes narrowing.

Kaiba sighed, realizing how it sounded. "The mutt had a room, Yugi and Yami had a room."

The thief settled back again, appeased. No yami in their right mind would ever let their hikari be more than a certain distance away from them, and certainly not sleep in a different room.

"Mokuba and I were discussing what happened- mainly Kaiba Corp. issues- when there was a loud crash and everyone- including the servants, the mutt, Mokuba and myself- went to check it out. We got to their room, and a whirlwind of Shadows were just dissipating."

"The room was a complete mess- everything was knocked over, out the windows, or in pieces." Mokuba filled in, his brother retreating back into an uneasy silence.

Ryou sighed, shaking his head. "Seems like just one thing after another, hm?"

Jounouchi nodded. The young blonde woman decided to finally say something, stalking over to the albino hikari. "You will find Yugi-chan, right?"

Anzu tugged on her hand. "Rebecca, you can't just expect them to-"

Rebecca whirled on the other woman. "But you said they could help!" she gestured wildly over to Ryou and Bakura, who were facing each other, their eyes blank as they spoke with each other.

Jounouchi started. "That's it!" Everyone stared at him, and he blushed, but explained. "Something had felt kinda off all night- it's cause while Atemu was talking and stuff, Yugi wasn't! He didn't speak, barely ate- the few times I got a good look at him, his eyes were completely blank, like he was speaking to Atemu, but he wasn't, because Atemu himself wasn't like that!"

He immediately stopped, looking at Dumbledore. Everyone else finally seemed to notice his presence. "Eh… pretend you didn't hear that?"

Dumbledore smiled gently. "I haven't heard a thing."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed into a glare- a glare that didn't have even the slightest effect on the headmaster. "If you're not listening, why are you here?"

Dumbledore shrugged. "Because, as their employer and friend, Ryou invited me along to observe and help- as long as I don't interfere."

Ryou, having finally come out of his discussion, nodded his assent. "Everyone, this is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- and a number of other titles. Dumbledore-"

"Albus.' Dumbledore corrected automatically.

"Albus, this is Seto Kaiba, Mokuba Kaiba, Katsuya Jounouchi, Hiroto Honda, Anzu Mazaki, and Rebecca Hawkins."

Dumbledore bowed gracefully to all of them. "Please to make your acquaintance."

Jounouchi sighed. "Guess it's good to have an outside look-in, eh? So, Dumbledore-"

"Albus. And that goes for all of you."

Jounouchi nodded. "Albus. What do you think?"

"Well, you realized that not everything was fine before hand. Anything you and Atemu talked about that might have been some kind of indication?"

Jounouchi thought for a moment, shook his head. "Dinner was pretty much quiet, but afterwards Atemu was curious about what had happened at the Duelling Grounds. About the charm and stuff."

"Anything else happen besides the charm going missing that might be odd during the explosion?" When everyone looked at him strangely, he qualified it with, "In all my years of teaching- and learning- magic, I have come to realize that if something goes wrong or awry, it doesn't do so subtly- it, I assume literally in this case, blows up in people's faces."

Jounouchi thought again, pondering the situation. Kaiba looked like he couldn't care less. "Well- during the explosion, when the shield went up, it felt like my soul had been shattered into a million pieces, and then put back together again. Except I was missing some, and the ones put back in the missing pieces places weren't mine, and had to change a bit to fit."

There was silence after that pronouncement. Feeling a surge of energy, Dumbledore, Jounouchi and Kaiba turned towards Ryou and Bakura, both of whom were looking at the blonde like he had grown an extra head.

Jounouchi shifted uncomfortably. "Er- what?"

Dumbledore had caught onto what they were thinking. "I assume that splitting and restructuring people's souls, especially if they're already fairy balanced, counts as upsetting Ma'at?"

Ryou nodded, dumbfounded. Bakura glared. "The question is from who's soul did those other pieces come from- since you can't take the soul of a human being and mix it up with the energy from a tree." Ryou commented, now eyeing Kaiba.

The blue-eyed male glared at them. "I did not feel anything like that."

Bakura barked out a laugh. "You probably did, but since you're so used to the Pharaoh and his midget restructuring your soul so you're not so much of a cold-hearted bastard you probably didn't notice."

Dumbledore hmmed. "If I may?" Everyone nodded. "You said that Yugi was making that charm just for you, Kaiba? Then, wouldn't it make sense that, to help with this 'sealing', he used part of your soul in the charm? That would be the connection- maybe it wasn't your soul merged with Jounouchi's soul, but the human part in the charm warped it, so that Jounouchi instead became part of the charm- and, essentially, the charm itself?"

Bakura whistled. "I knew there was a reason we let you tag along, old man."

Kaiba scowled at the headmaster. "How do you know so much about this stuff, anyways?"

Dumbledore chuckled morosely. "As both a caretaker of hundreds of students, and as long as my enemy, Voldemort, happens to be into splitting his soul into little, itty-bitty pieces, I make it a habit to read up on all the different ways to injure oneself- and, in turn, heal oneself. A Shadow-Mage method of soul manipulation cannot be that much different than that of a Mark Mage's, especially since the Mark method is based on that of Shadow."

Ryou nodded, standing and pacing the room. "So- the imbalance was a charm being merged with Jounouchi- making him the charm, now- and Yugi had apparently realized that for a while and had been working to restore balance, and- we can assume- that, when everything was settled, Yami joined him. Now- where did they go?"

As he asked this, he held up the Sennen Ring hanging around his neck, which began to glow with a golden color. Slowly, the pointers came to life, eventually pointing out the window- towards the ocean, they all realized with a sickening feeling in their stomachs. The last experience Yugi and Yami had really had with the ocean was the Dartz situation, and before that was Battle City- the Duel Tower, Noah, and the anchor death-trap duel.

Dumbledore didn't know this, but he stared with them all out the window, admiring the view. He wondered if he would ever have to stop guessing and start knowing something about his new teachers, though he somehow doubted that.

"So," he asked, trying to be cheerful, "I don't suppose you have an idea where to look?"

Atemu had been surprised when he and Yugi had regained consciousness and had found themselves in the Sakura field, where Yugi had brought them when he had first learned that his grandfather was on his death bed.

Now, Atemu had the chance to assess exactly where they were- and with Yugi helping, they quickly came to a rather odd conclusion. This field was a part of another realm, like the Shadow Realm, or the Axis, but it was directly connected to every other realm at the same time, so that it was a part of those other realms, while being separate.

It was beautiful, this new realm. They were both in awe, as they sat in the branches of one of the bigger trees. Atemu chuckled as he picked a few stray blossoms out of Yugi's hair, watching as his hikari turned around and did the same for him. Whatever blossoms fell were always immediately replaced, which the new blossoms, in their turn, would also fall, and were again replaced.

"Maybe we should be heading back soon?" Yugi asked, gazing at the endless sea of pink with adoration in his eyes.

Atemu nuzzled his neck. "We can rest here for a while longer, aibou. The world does not revolve around us, you know."

Yugi sighed. "No, but we do have some impact on Ma'at."

"Ryou and the thief can take care of it until we get back."

Yugi pressed back against Atemu, taking comfort from his darkness. "Why is it so wrong lately?"

"Because of this 'Voldemort' character, aibou. He's done something recently that has greatly upset Ma'at, so that even the slightest change will throw everything off."

"All the more reason for us to return sooner, rather than later."

"As I have already said, aibou, Ryou and Bakura can take care of everything while we're gone."

"…even Jou and Seto?"

Atemu paused, sighed, buried his head into Yugi's hair, smelt strawberries and sugar and roses and chocolate. "…maybe not."

"What will we do with those two now? They can't stand each other, yet they need to be around each other." Slight panic leaked into the light's voice, making the dark pull his other half further into his arms.

"They will learn to coexist, just as Ryou and Bakura have done. Maybe we should bring one of them to the other side of the world for a while, and see how they like it. Then maybe they'll appreciate the peace that being around each other will bring."

"You're mean."

"I am evil."

Yugi chuckled, tilting his head into the faint breeze, frowning as he blew a stray blossom off his nose. "If you're evil, what does that make Bakura?"

"Insanely evil."

"And Marik?"

"…evilly insane?"

Another chuckle. "And me?"

Atemu outright laughed, wanting to draw Yugi even further against him, though if he did he would be squishing the light. "You are my little angel, my god of light- Horus personified."

"Aren't you supposed to be Horus?"

"You are I as I am you. I was considered to be Horus by my people- you are pure light; a god among men."

Yugi blushed, shifting uncomfortably. "Erm- I'm not-"

"You are, even if you hide it. You are kind and gentle and good and empathetic and loving and beautiful and stunning and oh so good. Anyone would be a fool not to see that, not to want you as their own- and anyone would be even more of a fool to think that they could take you from me."

Yugi's blush intensified as he began shifting around, trying to get away from the death grip his darkness had around his waist. "I- Yami, please- I'm not beautiful, nor stunning, and why would anyone want me? No one ever has before-"

"Yes they have." Atemu stated matter-of-factly, smirking down at the half of Yugi's face he could see. "But I took care of them, and made sure that they wouldn't want you again. You are mine, aibou- all mine. And you are beautiful, more stunning than the stars and the sun and the moon, more graceful than all the creatures of the air and sea and land, warmer than the fires of hell, yet far more peaceful and generous and good than all the angels and saints of heaven.

"How could anyone ever think another to be better than you? That cannot happen, as you are perfect."

Now Yugi was struggling in earnest, his face as red as a tomato. "Yami, that's just what you think, you can't really compare me to-"

"I can compare you to anyone I like, hikari." There was a warning tone in the darkness' voice, and Yugi stopped struggling, allowing himself to be drawn back against the pharaoh. Tanned arms snaked around his waist, a head buried itself into his crown of black-violet. "Yugi- do you know how much I want you to see just how perfect you are? You eclipse even the sun's splendour, as many others have realized- and had to suffer for."

Yugi stiffened again, wrinkling his nose almost as if he could smell the blood of those people on Atemu's hands. "They dared to touch you, dared to think that you were theirs to do with as they pleased. I know you do not like me killing, but I could never allow anyone to have any thoughts about you that might lead to your pain. No misconceptions about your nature, or your availability."

Yugi gave a hollow laugh. "And people wonder why I've never had a girlfriend, and only a few dates."

Atemu nuzzled his neck again. "What need of another life-long companion do you have when you already have me?" Yugi could tell that, although he was hiding it, Atemu was puzzled. The only time that Atemu went into overly-affectionate, worship-mode was when he was worried or insecure about something.

Yugi sighed, turned around and nuzzled him back. "I have no need for anyone else- though a bed mate would be nice once in a while." He laughed at Atemu's horrified expression. "But I would never trade you in for another. You claim that I am yours? You forget that you are mine- if I wished it, I could take the puzzle apart and be free from you."

He gasped as Atemu's arms tightened around him, squishing him thoroughly. "Yami- can't- breathe!"

When the pharaoh's arms refused to release him, Yugi accessed their mind link. (Yami, please, you know I wouldn't.)

((If you care for me, aibou, then please, swear that you never would, no matter what I do that would anger you.))

Confusion. (Nothing you do could ever anger me, Yami. Everything you do is perfect, graceful, beautiful- who I am to have any right over your wonder?)

Surprise, mixed with a definite gratitude. ((You have every right over me, aibou. Should you ever want anything, all you would have to do is ask, and I would get it for you.))

(You are all I ever want or need, my Pharaoh.) It was said with such emotion, Atemu looked up, shocked at the resolve on Yugi's face. (As the one chosen by the puzzle to be its bearer, I am essentially your servant, for you to do with as you please. I would never take apart the puzzle- not as long as you still remain bound to it.)

((And yet, I am your servant as well. If I was not, then there would be no guard against what I would- what I could- do. You saved me- and so I save you.))

(So, we are back to belonging to each other? Without all that 'you are perfect, and everyone who disagrees or agrees too much with this must die'?)

Atemu chuckled. ((If that is what you want, aibou. But-))

(I have already said this, Yami, but I will say it as many times as you want. I would never give you up for anything. I would do anything for you. I would never leave you- and if we were to become separated, I would do anything to get you back. I love you, and I'm never letting you go.)

Such a warm emotion welled up inside the spirit's heart (or what substituted as one in a Shadow-made body) that he felt the beginnings of what should have been tears prickling at his eyes- if he could cry. ((Aibou… thank you.)) And then, just to be sure that the spirits or whatever existed in this place were witness to this, he repeated the same pledge aloud.

"You are mine as I am yours. I would never give you up, nor would I ever leave you. I will support you through everything, guide you where guidance is needed, protect you where protection is needed. I will never stray from your side. I love you, and this is my pledge."

Yugi smiled, taking the darkness' hands in his own. "As I am yours, you are mine. Never will we be separated- not while I have breath in my body and my soul and my heart. All of mine and mine own is yours, ready for you should you ever have need. As you love me I love you, and this I swear to and for all eternity."

"For eternity."

They smiled at each other- and was it their imagination, or did the wind pick up for a moment, and were those chimes in the background?

Just as it occurred it ended, everything settling back into the regular peace of this realm within realms.

"Time to leave?"

"Time to leave."

As they stood to prepare for their departure, Atemu smirked down at Yugi. ((If you still have need of a bed mate…?))

They left in a swirl of Shadows, Atemu laughing while Yugi blushed redder than a tomato with a sun burn, slapping the pharaoh's arm.

Ryou sighed happily as they watched the sunrise from the top of one of Kaiba Corporation's new speed boats. Based on the 'cigar boat' design, it was mostly long and flat, with three 800 HP engines on the back. It was fairly wide, though the length took away from that aspect.

They bounced through the waves, seemingly just some rich people out for a joy ride in the very early hours of the morning. They were all wrapped up in jackets that some of Kaiba's maids had found in one of the older closets. They were warm, velvet, and fake fur- exactly what was needed for a boat ride in the morning at the beginning of winter.

For extra warmth, Dumbledore had transfigured a tennis ball into a flat plate, and had started a magical, warmth-producing fire in it.

Everyone had been wary at first, but when Dumbledore offered using a charm to either permanently seal his lips in regards to everything they had talked about or erase his memory, everyone else had been convinced of his honesty and good-intentions, and were quick to take advantage of the skills that he had.

Ryou had wondered at first about the 800 HP engines, but apparently they were a new development from Kaiba Corp (from the gaming development department, which gave rise to a few questions in regards to how seriously those certain employees took their job).

Rebecca had struck up a conversation with Dumbledore, Honda, Anzu, Jounouchi and Mokuba, leaving Kaiba to drive the boat. Ryou moved up to stand beside the silent Priest, Bakura lounging around near the back of the boat, sipping some kind of alcoholic drink (Ryou really didn't want to know what it was exactly).

"Kaiba-"

"Don't talk to me."

Ryou frowned at him. "I know you don't need all your concentration for driving, Kaiba."

"I know. I also know what you want to say to me, about just accepting the mutt as that little charm thing, hm? That he's now… bound to me, or something?"

Ryou sighed, shaking his head (although it was mainly to get his hair out of his face). "No. I just wanted to know how you felt about that. I'm not going to make you accept it- that's your choice."

"So what? I can just dump the mutt out at the game shop, right?"

Ryou sighed again- this time in frustration. "No, you can't. You don't have to accept anything- what you have to do is understand that Jounouchi-kun was already at the very least an Aura Mage, though I would guess that he was more of an untrained Charter. Now, his natural sixth sense is even better. You don't have to like it, but- if you were to look at it from a purely unemotional standpoint- this would be the opportunity of a lifetime." Ryou made a face as though what he was saying and planning on saying was actually painful to say.

"He could see, hear, smell, taste, touch, know things faster, earlier, and better than anyone else- with the exception of myself, Yugi, Yami, yami, and Malik. If you can't look at him as a person, then look at him as an asset- if you put up with Jounouchi, your magic will come easier to you when you want it to, be locked away when you don't want it, and give you an advantage over your competition."

Kaiba was silent. "So- you're trying to convince me to put up with the mutt."

Ryou growled in frustration. "I'm pointing out what you could gain from this. The only thing you'd be losing if you let him stay would be a bit of quiet and relaxation- which you hardly ever have, anyway, so it shouldn't be much different."

"And if I say no?"

"Then Jounouchi goes somewhere else- probably with us, so we can train him properly- and you lose your magical advantage. And the likelihood of making something explode due to a slight frustration is increased- without something, or in this case, someone, around to dam that power, you never know what might happen."

"You did fine."

"That's because most of my power was spent keeping Bakura from attacking you randomly. Yugi's power was spent trying to stay alive during attack after attack after attack after assassination attempt. Malik's power goes into keeping Marik chained and not going homicidal on our arses."

Kaiba smirked a bit at that, and Ryou smiled, looking out to the sun rise. "Put up with the mutt and gain a lot, or kick the mutt out and lose a lot. I would, of course, have to pay him."

Ryou's smile remained in place as he passed on Bakura's comment. "Or you could give him an allowance, like a little kid- if he's good, he gets so much money a week. If he isn't good, then he gets nothing."

Kaiba thought about it for a moment, before turning back to driving, a frown on his face. "What's that?"

Ryou looked in the general direction the CEO was pointing, surprised to find a large ball floating about two feet above the water (which was oddly calm around it). The ball itself appeared to have been made of light- what kind of light was the question. White light and black light (or at least, areas that absorbed all light like a black hole) moved together in a pattern, creating the impression that this light-ball was a yin-yang that someone had Photoshopped too much. The curious thing was that, unlike most smudge tools on Adobe Photoshop, the dividers between the light and dark parts were clearly defined, not blurred or blended together.

Kaiba pulled the boat up right beside the ball, instinctively knowing that these lights were Yugi and Atemu.

Moments later, the two separate lights (or anti-lights) separated into two completely distinct parts, which then formed into two completely distinct balls of either light or anti-light. These two balls proceeded to take on the shape of two people, curled up in the fetal position, their hands and feed intertwined and their foreheads touching.

Dumbledore was struck by how similar the process was as to what Ryou had done to summon Bakura to him. This was more like a form of manifestation, like spirits using the natural energies to form bodies to move around in. This, in turn, made no sense, as Dumbledore knew for a fact that Yugi- at least- was not a spirit (or he was, but an incarnated spirit). And these two were definitely Yugi and Atemu- even before the colors and pigments were revealed, the outline of the hair was enough to give their identities away.

Leaning forward, Ryou, Bakura, and Jounouchi helped pull the two to the boat, where they floated for a moment before opening their eyes and setting their feet down. For a long, precarious moment, no one breathed or moved, all eyes focused on the two in the middle of the boat. And then- slowly but surely- their eyes (blank until this point) refocused- first on each other, and a few blinks later on everything else.

The dim glow from the lights that had still surrounded the two slowly faded away, as did the golden Eye on their foreheads (although Yugi's merely faded into a golden emblem that, for no apparent reason, did not go away). Yugi blinked, squeezed Atemu's hands to make sure he was conscious (Atemu squeezed back for exactly the same reason) and looked around warily.

Seeing only his friends, he sighed in relief, slumping back to lean against his yami- who in turn leant back against a chair until he was able to sit down in it, Yugi following him into his lap. "Glad we're back…" He murmured, running a shaking hand through his hair.

Rebecca was the first to regain her senses, flinging herself onto the light, choking him with her glomp. "Yugi-chan!"

Yugi chuckled, giving her a hug back. "Hello, Rebecca."

Everyone else was quick to crowd around, talking mainly to Yugi and largely ignoring Atemu. But this seemed to be the way that they operated- Yugi in the foreground, living life and doing whatever 25 year old Shadow Mages with half a soul do, and Atemu in the background, watching Yugi live life, and doing whatever else 5000+ year old spirits with the other half of said soul do in their spare time- which was most of the time.

Occasionally, Anzu, Jounouchi, Bakura or Kaiba would aim a comment Atemu's way, to which the yami would reply with an answer usually less than ten words, and then would lapse back into silence as everyone decided to focus again on the young, vibrant light (who was much more talkative than his darker half).

Dumbledore noticed that Atemu was perfectly fine with Yugi getting most of the attention. As he had no idea about the 'half-soul' thing, the most he could assume was that they were twins, or really, really close friends who liked to dress and style their hair the same way. Atemu, it seemed, didn't care what everyone else was talking about, or if he was left out of the conversation, so long as he could sit their and hug and nuzzle Yugi- which Yugi in turn didn't seem to mind, so long as he could focus his attention equally on the group in front of him and the person he was sitting on.

The headmaster wondered for a moment if they were a rather narcissistic couple of homosexuals, but decided that a) they didn't look like they were, and b) he didn't really care if they were. Yugi was a joy to be around (he even tried to include Dumbledore in the conversations, though the headmaster had no idea what they were talking about and everyone else seemed rather happy to ignore him), and Atemu was happily ignoring everyone else.

He went over the spirit theory, but decided to ignore that as well- everything in due time, even if that time was a long time in coming.

The wind began to pick up and the waves began tossing them around. Kaiba went back to the steering wheel and gunned it, causing everyone to loose their balance except for Bakura, Yugi and Atemu, who were all sitting down.

They arrived back at the Kaiba Mansion in time for a light brunch, and soon everyone- especially Ryou and Dumbledore, excluding Yugi and Atemu- were feeling the effects of pulling an all-nighter, and were ready for bed. Mokuba showed Anzu, Honda and Rebecca to some more guest rooms, while Yugi and Yami prepared to take their leave of the mansion.

Ryou pulled Yugi over as Dumbledore tried striking up a conversation with Atemu- which didn't work until Kaiba and Jounouchi entered it. "Yugi-"

The other light held up his hand as his other hand continued directing his effects into the satchel Ryou had produced for him. "Ryou, please. I know about Seto and Jounouchi- and Jou has to stay with Seto. Unless, of course, they want to explain why half the city will end up being destroyed."

Ryou chuckled, shaking his head. "You know, I rushed over here, thinking that that was exactly what had happened. I mean, you two just disappearing, and Ma'at completely thrown off in Japan- it was enough to make me worry that something had finally overpowered Atemu."

They both looked over at the yami, who currently had Jou in a choke hold as Dumbledore and Kaiba discussed something else entirely.

Yugi stifled a chuckle with his hand- Ryou with his fist. Bakura rolled his eyes as he sauntered over to them. "So, midget- what happened while you two were in the great wilderness of other, random realms?"

Yugi blinked up at him. "What do you mean?"

Bakura gestured vaguely at his forehead, where the golden Eye was still visible. "It looks like you got the Eye melted in gold onto your forehead."

Yugi blinked and frowned, walking over to a mirror to examine his forehead himself. Upon looking, he yelped, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room. "Wha- what is- where did-"

Bakura threw up his hands in the air. "Useless! Hikaris are always so- hey!"

Ryou had just grabbed the dark's drink (which was probably ten parts alcohol to one part water or juice) from him and had thrown in out the window. "Play nice, yami."

"I'll show you nice…." Bakura growled, but his attention was caught by Atemu letting go of Jou (and consequently watching Jou fall to the floor with a crash) and making his way over to Yugi.

"Aibou- let's see?"

Yugi turned towards him, using his hands to pull back his hair and bangs out of his face. Amethyst closed so that Yami could get a good look at the Eye. "Hm…" One tanned finger reached out to trace the Eye, which felt cool against his 'skin'. "Well, this is odd. But not dangerous…."

He traced it with his Shadows, letting them play around Yugi's head. Finally they retreated, the prominent Eye now dimmed down to a skin-coloured hue, visible only if you knew where to look and what to look for- or you could see magical residue. "There."

Jounouchi blinked as he looked at it, nearly blinded by the amount of magic floating around it. "Wow… never seen this much before."

Kaiba scowled at him. "What?"

Jounouchi unconsciously grabbed the CEO's hand, pointing with the other to Yugi's forehead. "Look."

Kaiba blinked, surprised as magical vision flooded his sight. He realized that Jounouchi was right- that among of magic around Yugi was enormous, much of which was centered over his heart, his hands, the puzzle and the Eye. "Hm…"

Yugi sighed, leaning into Atemu. "What's it mean?"

Atemu shrugged, pulling Yugi into a loose hug. "Maybe that you belong to the Shadows- or they work through you?"

Yugi giggled, surprising everyone. "It kind of reminds me of that crown you wore when you were Pharaoh."

Atemu in turn chuckled, turning Yugi's face to look at his own. "Then, perhaps now it's your turn to be Pharaoh."

Yugi snorted- as did Bakura and Kaiba. Everyone grinned at each other, and Dumbledore was quick to make himself as unnoticeable as he could get. So far, everyone had generally ignored him, and were speaking candidly. As long as no one remembered he was there, he could hear more.

"Of what? A country too scared to even ask the British for their freedom?" Bakura asked spitefully. "The Romans were good enough rulers, but everyone since then has been afraid of Egypt's old power, and are still trying to suppress it. Everyone knows that, if given the chance, Egypt could easily defeat every other country out there- the only one it would had trouble against would be Iraq, since that's-"

"Mesopotamia." Ryou finished, frowning. "Well, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Egypt has been regaining some- if not all of its former power through this new democratic government. Of course, they're just messing things up- like all democracies seem to do- but at least there's no chance of having an incompetent ruler for however long said ruler is alive."

"But if a means of finding new, competent rulers when the old one dies is set up-"

"Yami." Ryou cut Bakura off, turning completely to face the thief. "You are not planning a revolt, nor a reformation."

"But the Japanese one-"

"Barely helped matters. Enough, yami."

Jounouchi had been frowning since talk had turned to Egypt, barely suppressing his yawns. "Whaddya mean, Egypt could beat any other country?"

Yugi sighed, straightening up. "Magic comes from people's souls, Jou. The stronger your soul, the more energy your body can hold for your soul, the more magic and the more power you possess- if you learn to tap into it. When people die, the energy patterns that make up the ka part of their souls generally become part of the natural world around us, while the ba moves onto the next world. The longer a civilization has been around, the more people who have lived and died- the greater the amount of resonant energy magic there is to be tapped. And the more magic performed there, the greater the resonant magic, too."

"So... since Egypt and- Mesopotamia?- are the oldest civilizations, they have the most of this resonant energy stuff? But I thought that humans first showed up in Southern Africa."

Atemu shook his head. "This is where it gets complicated. Creatures- like humans- who have a consciousness, a sense of right and wrong, always have greater amounts of resonant magic inside them, and therefore more to go into the magic pool of that area when they die. However, when there is a large concentration of people in an area, there is also a greater concentration of resonant magic."

"And the more developments, the more industries, the more educated, or the more belief-centered a population gets, the greater the resonant energy as well." Yugi continued, looking up at Atemu as he nodded.

"Let's say we have two civilizations- one that has been around for a longer time but has less people, and one that has been around for a short period of time, and hardly any people. Normally the older one would have more magic- but, if the group that has been around for a shorter time is better educated, or more industrious, or is more religious, or all of the above, it is very likely that that group would have more resonant magic than the older group."

Jounouchi blinked, sitting down on the carpet. "Then wouldn't that be the case with Egypt- being da older- and most other countries, being da younger?"

Yugi shook his head. "What really tips the balance is both actual magic usage- and belief. Religion. Faith in a higher power."

Jounouchi frowned. "Magic using is obvious, but- religion?"

"Religion is based on the idea that the world is too perfect, too complicated, for it to have been created merely by chance. There must have been some other entity out there that planned everything- or at least, oversaw everything as it was created. Religion teaches things like morals- which are always good to have- but also a belief in things that cannot be seen, heard, tasted, touched, or smelt. Such as magic. You can see magic at work- changing things, destroying things, fixing things, making things- you can hear, and touch, and taste, and smell magic. But magic is just another form of manipulating energy- energy, which does not have a taste, nor a smell, or a sound, or a certain quality of touch, or a physical body.

"If a person believes in a higher entity, they are just as likely to believe that things- like miracles- can happen. That magic is possible, because that would just be another form of miracles- just not divinely inspired. If people believe that magic is possible, they will search out proof, or try ways to see if it is or isn't- natural human curiosity. This leads to magic usage, to research- and therefore education- to new developments and innovations, and new industries."

Yugi nodded, offering Ryou a glass of water from a pitcher that one of the maids had brought in (who had also stayed to listen to the impromptu lecture). "Egypt has been practicing magic since people first decided to settle along the Nile River, and they have always been an extremely religious group of people. These two things by themselves is enough of a resonant energy source to make it so that Egypt, should she ever raise to arms, won't be defeated, if people who know how to tap those ancient stores of energy help them."

Jounouchi nodded, thinking. Then- "What if someone else tries to take ova' Egypt, and uses that magic?"

Bakura snorted. "You think there's no safe guards about that? Only someone of Egyptian Blood- or whom the 'Powers that Be' decide is safe- can access the Egyptian resonant energy, just like only someone of Japanese Blood- or whoever is allowed by those 'Powers that Be'- can access the Japanese resonant energies. Trust me- I know."

Jounouchi and Kaiba shot Bakura an odd look, to which he replied, "What? Even if you are of Egyptian Blood- if they say "no", you can't access that power, either."

Atemu shook his head. "In our time, all of Egypt not only believed in magic, but most people practiced at least a little bit of it. The gods and goddesses were our salvation, and all (or most) magic was performed in honour of our gods and goddesses. Those who didn't were still permitted to use magic- they just were banned from the seemingly infinite well of resonant magic that Egypt had at that time."

Kaiba snorted. "And what- since the Egyptians don't believe in magic or their original gods and goddesses, that well spring of energy has since dried up?"

"Not dried up, Kaiba- it has been sealed off." Atemu corrected.

"As the years have gone on, the Egyptians turned to first the Roman pantheon, then Allah. Some have turned to Christianity, some to Judaism, some to Hinduism, some to Jainism- there's a whole collection of religious people living in Egypt- all of whose belief adds to Egypt's resonant energies. However, those same energies are not freely accessible to the Egyptian people.

"Egypt was created and nurtured by a certain pantheon, and it is up to this pantheon to decide who is welcome to accessing the stores of energy they have taken care of for over five thousand years. Only a few very small groups of people in Egypt still give the original pantheon much thought, and of them only a few are mages and have the capabilities to access the resonant energy."

"And then," Ryou continued in his most annoyed voice, "that pantheon only allows the resonant energy to be accessed in a time of dire peril. Otherwise, everyone has to use their own power."

Kaiba snorted. "Well, good luck to them."

"Good luck to us, you mean." Yugi corrected him. "Since the Roman Empire fell, there have been many countries formed, many pantheons and monotheistic religious founded- but only the original pantheons have the ability to provide or deny access to those resonant stores.

"The pantheons with that power are scattered around the world, specifically what we now call the Greek and Egyptian pantheons, as well as the Nature Spirits of North and South America (of which there are two separate pantheons), and the 'General Pantheon' of Asia. Since hardly anyone ever looks to them any more, and those that do are few and far between, and hardly ever mages, then those stores of power have been cut off, and there has been no really reason to access them since."

Kaiba rose an eyebrow. "What about all those wars?"

Atemu, Yugi, Ryou and Bakura all shook their heads at once. "Wars are wars, Kaiba. They're about political intrigue, racism, and the few times they're about religion, it's between two groups of people who are trying to start a new religion- or have started it, and want to see which one is better. They don't involve the original pantheons- so why should those gods and goddesses involve themselves?"

"Rather selfish, don't you think?" the CEO asked nonchalantly.

Yugi sighed, shaking his head. "Not really- if people don't invoke at the very least the name or symbol of a god or goddess, then they have no weight in the outcome of a battle or war. If they're not present, how could they give aid, advice, or power?"

That left everyone with food for thought, and Yugi and Atemu were left to continue packing. Kaiba grabbed the maid's arm, whirling her around to face him. "Not a word about this." Her eyes glimmered with excitement, but she nodded, smiling.

"Understood, Kaiba-sama. Would you like anything from the kitchen?"

He looked back at the group, milling happily about the room. "…no. I believe we're fine."

"Then good afternoon, Kaiba-sama."

She left, still smiling that energetic smile.

Kaiba sighed, shook his head, then proceeded over to the group. Jounouchi was looking at him oddly, and it was only then the blue-eyed dragon master realized that, for all that they had been standing, sitting, and walking around-

Kaiba had still not let go of Jounouchi's hand.

"Seto! Jou! Come see us off!" Yugi called to them as he, Atemu, Ryou, Bakura and Dumbledore stood side-by-side by the windows.

"Coming!" Jou called back, smiling, as he dragged Kaiba with him. This might be the last time that they would get to see any of their friends for a while, so it was good to say 'goodbye' while they could.

Yugi smiled as he saw Jou and Kaiba send them off, hand in hand. (I think… I think this partnership will be good- for both of them.)

((We can only hope, aibou.))

(I'm doing more than hoping, yami.)

((Oh?))

A barely perceptible smirk. (I'm going to bet that they will- in time- learn how much better off they are together than apart.)

((And I won't bet against you.))

(Of course you won't… my pharaoh.)

And the Shadows swirled around them to bring them back to England, and, for the moment, everything was peaceful.

Nya ha ha! What was this, an 8-month hiatus? (Ooops) blame the computer! Sorry, sorry, sorry- not too many notes for this chapter (I think), but here we go anyways!

1. Yeah… that one part about Adobe Photoshopping something? I had just finished reading two things- the first, the owner's manual for Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0, and "The Salmon of Doubt- Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time" by Douglas Adams with foreward by Stephen Fry. For those of you who don't know, Douglas Adams was the acclaimed author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (if you haven't seen the movie, read the books, or haven't done either- GO TO INDIGO/CHAPTERS/COLES AND GET YOURSELF A COPY!). His books include "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy(1)", "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe(2)", "Life, the Universe, and Everything(3)", "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish(4)", "Mostly Harmless(5)", "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency(I)", "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul(II)", "The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts", "The Meaning of Liff(i)", "The Deeper Meaning of Liff(ii)", "Last Chance to See", and "Starship Titanic", which was actually a computer game by Douglas Adams that Terry Jones based a novel on. (1),(2),(3),(4),and(5) are all part of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (which is actually titled "A Trilogy in Five Parts", or a couple other such titles), (I)and(II) are the somewhat-prequels to the Salmon of Doubt, and (i)and(ii) are actually rather random 'dictionaries' that had been compiled by Adams and friends for a number of years, and was finally published by himself and John Llyod.

Adams, God rest his soul, died in 2001 rather suddenly. At the time, he had been working on another Dirk Gently novel, which he had stored in three parts on his laptop- "The Old Salmon", "The Salmon of Doubt", and "LA/Rhino/Ranting Manor". When he died and his editors were looking for a good way to do a tribute for Adams and found these sections- and 2,579 items besides, they were able to (apparently) easily put together the final compilation of Adams' work- "The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time". It is an amazing book (and impossibly funny)- hence the oddness of my 'Adobe Photoshop' line.

2. Wow, that was a long last point. Er, right. I had this whole thing done- until my computer(s) fried, and everything had to be erased, then re-written. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for a while, so can we say backlog?

3. Was also working on another little project that had been untitled- and forever will be, since I really don't have to drive to try and remember everything for 100+ pages of writing. Grr.

So, there you go- all my points. Oh! Right- horrible grammar. Worse than mine. That made no sense (especially since I have just about the worst grammar possible), but… it… does make sense? To me, anyways. And that is all that matters. I think.

Song: Anything off of Ayumi Hamasaki's 'My Story' CD. '(miss)Understood' would be good, too- just not as much. You choose.