Bakura- Wait where am I? Malik what are you making me do now?

Azzure- Hello Bakura.

Malik- She's ArcherAzzure and she writes fanfiction. We're here to help her with disclaimers.

Bakura- No, I refuse.

Azzure- Show him how we roll Malik.

Malik- Ok! Miss Azzure does not own Yu-gi-oh, Bakura or myself.

Azzure- Very nice, also a nice heads up to my readers,

Bakura- If you have any left…

Azzure-Shut up, anyway, I enjoy combining a variety of sources; therefore you will be seeing numerous characters that never would have appeared in ancient Egypt. Just know that I do know what I'm doing.

Bakura-Of course you do…

Malik-coughsarcasmcough

Yugi

"Would you get out already!?" Mai's voice filled the air again and Yugi sighed as he put the finishing touches on the dish he was preparing, the whole cooking idea had become one of great fun, but between these kitchen tasks and talking with Mana he found that he never had time to himself. Not that he minded of course, but he knew that he would have to tone down the time he spent doing these things when Atem came back from the trip he'd gone on with Shimon. He still hadn't told his cousin about his friendship with Mana, he didn't know how Atem would take it. Speaking of which, he hadn't told Atem about spending time down in the dungeons or that other strange prisoner either. He sighed and continued working, he just didn't want to make his cousin worry about him, Atem didn't always understand it, but Yugi knew that he could take care of himself well enough.

"But…Now wait a minute!" He didn't look up as the something hit the ground outside and the door was slammed shut, Jonouchi had be unlucky enough to deliver two days in a row, and Mai just wasn't in the mood for him today. He glanced out the window to see him peddling furiously towards the streets below, no doubt complaining the whole way he went.

He sighed and continued on his fruit salad, he had tried several times to try and talk to Jonouchi, but when he delivered Mai always managed to remove him in the course of a few minutes. So he hadn't yet had a chance to talk to him. He continued adding the fruit, and whispered a prayer under his breath, "Please Ra, give me a chance to talk with him." He didn't know why he prayed like that but he felt like it helped so he did it anyway.

"You have to be kidding me!" Yugi spun halfway around, his hands still mixing the fruit, to see Mai standing with her head in her hands, "Somebody shoot me!"

He quickly added the last ingredient and jumped down from the chair he was standing on, then he ran over to where she was surrounded by several other girls and looked as though she was going to explode. "Is something wrong Miss Kukaju?"

Mai looked down at him and sighed, "I'm really sorry about this Yugi, but I'm going to need to ask you to do me a favor." As Yugi continued to look at her she sighed, "Mr. Idiot left his bag here and we'll never hear the end of it if it doesn't get returned before he drops back around. I know it sounds like a lot, but I need my other workers here, so could you deliver this for me?"

Yugi was shocked, had the gods actually answered his prayers? "Of…of course I'll help." He took the bag from Mai, "Where can I find him?"

Mai sighed, "He and his friends live in an apartment on the main road. Ask around I'm sure you can find it." Yugi nodded as she turned around and started barking orders at the others, he sighed and grabbed his cloak from where it was hanging on the wall, he put it on and pulled up the hood over his head before he headed out the door.

The main street was bustling with people and Yugi was jostled back and forth between large amounts of people, he knew that all he had to do was draw back his hood and the people would part around him and tell him anything he wanted to know. But he also knew that it would make him more vulnerable to attacks from his uncle's enemies, besides he liked it much better when people would just treat him like a normal person.

He continued down the street keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Jonouchi or anyone that might know him. He had asked several people if they'd seen him but everyone he spoke to would just shake their heads and walk away muttering about annoying teens or something else along the same lines. He had been walking for only a few more minutes before he bumped into someone from behind, he stumbled backwards trying to catch his balance, "S…sorry!"

The figure half turned around and pulled their cloak tight around them, "It's alright." Yugi tried to get a look at them, but they had their face covered so he couldn't see them very well aside form a few strands of black hair that had escaped the hood wore over their head. Judging by the voice however he guessed that it was a woman. She stared down at him, her eyes were blue and looked oddly familiar but he couldn't seem to place where he'd seen them before. She sensed him watching her and looked back down at him, "Can I help you?"

Yugi looked startled for a moment before he nodded, "Actually I hope you can." He paused, "I'm looking for Katsuya Jonouchi; you haven't seen him have you?"

The woman shook her head, "I'm afraid that I'm not very familiar with this Katsuya Jonouchi. I've seen many people today, but if you have a description I'd be more than happy to inform you whether or not I've seen him."

Yugi bit his lip as he attempted to remember what Jonouchi looked like and how to describe him. "Well he has sandy blond hair, it's I suppose you could call it unruly and poof, and sort of hangs in his face." He frowned, he really wasn't good at describing people, "He has brown eyes, and normally delivers meat to the palace.

The woman looked thoughtful for a minute before answering, "Actually I do believe I've seen him. And it wasn't long ago that I did, if I remember correctly he just took off down the street towards the butchery." She paused to look at Yugi, "He was yelling something about losing a bag and needing to go find it. You wouldn't happen to know about that would you?"

Yugi nodded, "Yes, that's why I need to find him."

The woman pointed down the road, "The shop is just down there it's pretty busy so you probably won't be able to miss it."

Yugi bowed, he still thought that she looked quite familiar, but he still couldn't place her. "Thank you very much." She nodded and headed off; he followed her with his eyes and noticed that she quickened her pace to get away from him. Had he done something wrong? He sighed and headed down the street towards the shops at the end, as he was nearing them he saw a large group in front of one shop and he heard yelling from the inside.

"Get out kid!"

"Wait! I need my bag!" His eyes widened as he recognized that voice! It was Jonouchi's!

"Out of my shop!"

"Please I know it's here!" Yugi had worked his way around the crowd and managed to make out an older figure, who he assumed ran the shop, who was tossing Jonouchi out of the building. Jonouchi had scrambled back over and was trying to get the man to let him back in, the store owner however was having none of it and he shut the door in the boy's face.

Jonouchi scowled and dusted himself off as he rose to his feet and made his way towards his bike on the other side of the road. Yugi watched him for a minute then ran to catch up, "Jonouchi wait!"

Jonouchi turned around and Yugi could see him scanning the street, he raised his hand quickly and waved as he ran over. Jonouchi looked down at him his expression was unsure and slightly wary, "Who are you? And how do you know who I am?" He stared at him for a minute and frowned, "Hey do I know you from somewhere?"

Yugi nodded and partly drew back his hood, "I'm Yugi."

Jonouchi's wary expression faded, "Hey you work in the palace kitchens don't you!"

Yugi nodded and pulled the bag off his shoulder and held it out towards him, "I think this is yours."

Jonouchi's eyes widened, "My bag! Thanks a lot Yug." He paused, "You don't mind me calling Yug do you?"

Yugi shook his head, "Its fine Jonouchi."

"Call me Joey." He smiled and held out his hand, "You saved me a lot of time there buddy. If you hadn't found me I would have spent the rest of my day trying to find this darn thing." He glared at the bag, "How'd you know it was mine?"

Yugi shrugged, "I didn't find it, Mai did. She was the one that asked me to bring it to you."

Joey looked thoughtful, "Mai huh? Well that was nice of her."

"You like her don't you?" Yugi asked calmly.

Joey's face turned red, "Yeah…you were there on that day I asked her out weren't you…?" When Yugi nodded he sighed, "She doesn't like me does she?" He let out a sad sigh and leaned back against the wall.

Yugi shrugged, "I'm not sure that she likes you, but I know that she doesn't hate you."

Joey smiled at him, "You're a nice kid you know that?"

Yugi blushed slightly and looked up at the sun, it was just past noon. Wait noon!? He was supposed to go visit Mana! "I…I need to get back!"

Joey looked confused, "Ok, you want some help doing that? I can give you a lift if you'd like." Yugi looked up at him and nodded, Joey grinned, "Then let's go." He climbed on his bike and Yugi got on behind him, "You might want to hold on tight by the way. Yugi's eyes widened as the bike took off down the street, he clung desperately to Joey as the rode, he had just realized that Mai hadn't been kidding.

Atem

Atem tried to concentrate of the conversation that was taking place between Shimon and Naeem, but he just couldn't grasp the conversation, maybe if he could take notes…? He sighed, yeah that would only work if he could understand what they were talking about in the first place. At his sigh both of the older men had turned to look in his direction, Shimon looked at him, concern written across his face, "Is something wrong Atem?"

Naeem on the other hand looked slightly amused as he moved his gaze over to Shimon, "If I may be so bold as to guess what the prince was thinking, I'd say he's having trouble latching onto the conversation at hand, and there for becoming quite bored. Am I right?" The shocked look in Atem's eyes that appeared only seconds later allowed the smile on his face to increase slightly in size, "I thought so."

Shimon, who didn't seem surprised by any of this, looked once at Naeem then back to Atem, "What is it that you don't understand Atem?"

Atem bit his lip as his thoughts ran through his mind, what was it that he didn't understand? When he realized the answer his face turned red as he looked down at the ground, "I'm afraid that I don't…well…I don't understand any of it."

Naeem's deep laugh filled the room; Atem looked up to Shimon and Naeem both smiling. Naeem gave him a slight bow, "Forgive me my prince, but I can't say that I'm surprised. This isn't the easiest topic to converse about, especially for those who don't know the history behind it."

Shimon continued to smile at Atem, "There are reasons why I haven't spoken of this topic before Atem, its history isn't by far pleasant. But it is time that you learned it."

Atem leaned forward in his chair as Naeem started, "The actual event took place say… nine years ago, so you would have been about seven at the time. You might have heard some older members of the various councils speaking if this or you may have not."

Atem nodded and looked down to write in information when he realized that he didn't have his notes, Naeem seemed to noticed and walked over to his desk to grab several blank sheets and hand them to him. He nodded thanks and quickly scribbled down what he knew. Naeem waited patiently for him to finish before continuing. "This topic is one that isn't normally discussed in the palace for good reason. You see this is one of the few points in our history that we were actually in sight of losing a conflict." Atem looked surprised and Naeem continued, "First of all have you ever heard of Atlantis?"

Atem nodded, "I know a small bit, wasn't it a rival civilization that we conquered?"

Naeem considered his answer, "Yes and no." When Atem frowned he paused to consider how to explain, "While it is correct that Atlantis is a civilization that has rivaled our own in the path it was not always so; back in the early reign of your father, the great pharaoh Aknamkanon, the other civilization was run by a great king named Ironheart. Ironheart had run the country for several years before your father, and it would be safe to say that the pharaoh before your father and the King of Atlantis hadn't been on the best of terms. The first few years of your father's reign yielded no problems between the two kingdoms, but soon the older disputes between borders started to return."

Atem scribbled furiously as Naeem walked over to a map rack and drew out an old one, he opened it to reveal the kingdom of Egypt and its shared borders with two other kingdoms, one that was labeled Atlantis. He pointed at a point on the border, "Our problems started here, this city was one of the most disputed areas during the reign."

Atem looked up and frowned, "What was the problem?"

Shimon sighed, "That was one of the major issues of this war; there really wasn't a problem that set it off, one could say that it was just a misunderstanding." When he saw Atem's confused expression he sighed, "Neither our side or his hand actually done anything unlawful since your father had taken the throne. What actually started the whole conflict was the fact that both sides believed that it was only a manner of time before the other would attack."

Atem frowned, "Why did we believe that?"

"The people of Egypt believed that the King of Atlantis had attacked them directly, they didn't understand that Ironheart had only reacted because of the elder pharaoh. Along the same lines Ironheart and the people of Atlantis failed to understand that Pharaoh Aknamkanon did not think along the same lines as his predecessor. So it was that a year and several months down the line after many smaller battles it was announced that Ironheart himself was going to be fighting on the battle field. Your father refused to let his people fight alone so he and his priests also moved to the battle field."

Naeem paused to let Atem take his notes before he took over, "The priests and their apprentices had been sent in several different pairs to try and negotiate peace between the two kingdoms, but both sides were too stubborn for their own good and all negotiations failed."

"So it came to the day of battle, a battle that would be known in history as one of the worst fought. Your father lead one while King Ironheart commanded the other, the men of both armies backed their leaders on the battle field, but in the battle itself the soldiers weren't the ones that would make the difference."

"Who did make the difference?" Atem had by now filled numerous sheets and was beginning to understand why they didn't teach this in palace history.

"The actual figures that made a difference on the field of battle that day were strangely enough the priest apprentices themselves. Five people who had almost been left behind because of their ages."

Atem looked up, "When you say the priest apprentices are you referring to…?"

Naeem nodded, "The current wielders of the Millennium items, should they be alive." Atem felt his heart pounding in his chest; Mahado had been in this war! He had somehow made a difference, he had to know how!

He looked up at Naeem, "What did they do!? How did they make a difference?"

Naeem glanced at Shimon, then shook his head, "No one is quite sure how they did it, only the five of them know the tale." Upon seeing Atem's shocked face he shook his head, "They refused to say anything about it afterwards, but we believe that that they had some assistance from the other side."

Atem looked down at his notes then back up, "What sort of assistance?"

Shimon frowned, "Well from soldier reports after the battle we learned that Ironheart had brought his own eleven year old son with him to the battle field, we believe that his son and his swordsmen might have also had a hand in the conflict's resolution."

"Swordsmen?" Atem frowned at the word, "You mean he actually led a group of soldiers?"

"Not exactly in the way that you might think, you see his group of swordsmen was quite small, only three if I recall correctly."

"So he was in charge of three men?"

Naeem seemed to guess what he was thinking, "His swordsmen weren't grown men Atem, the eldest was about thirteen and the youngest was around seven. And yet they were still allowed on the battle field, and if I remember the reports they did quite well."

Atem nodded, "So you don't know anything else about the battle?"

Shimon shook his head and shrugged, "Nothing much I'm afraid, Ironheart called a truce and we spent the next several hours negotiating for peace, which thanks to your father, came rather easily." He sighed, "The two of them set a number of terms that kept the kingdoms at peace through your father's reign, but lately Gozaburo hasn't been following those rules, and we of the court believe that we won't stay at peace with Atlantis much longer."

Naeem shook his head, and muttered his next sentence darkly under his breath, "Especially not with their current ruler."

Atem cocked his head, "What's wrong with the ruler?"

Shimon sighed and shot a glare at Naeem who just shrugged it off, "The throne now belongs to Ironheart's son."

"Why can't his son and my uncle just negotiate over new terms like my father and King Ironheart did?" Atem was confused, if it had worked before why couldn't it work again?

Shimon seemed hesitant to answer, "Well Atem…"

Naeem had sat down in one of the other chairs and head in his hands, "Just tell him Shimon."

Atem watched Shimon expectantly as the advisor sighed, "His son…he's well…a bit more ambitious than his father; I've mentioned peace treaties to your uncle, but he's not very fond of the man's type so I'm afraid that for the moment there's not much hope of peace." He sighed and looked out the window at the setting sun, "We should be returning my prince, we must leave quickly to reach the palace on time."

Atem sighed and nodded, Shimon was right at the fact that they had a long trip ahead of them, but he still had many questions. He glanced over at Naeem, one of which need to be answered now. "Naeem."

The man looked up and raised an eyebrow, "Prince Atem?"

Atem sat down in the chair across the desk from him, "You know this story just as well as Shimon, I can see him getting the information because he serves as an advisor for my uncle, but how did you get the information? After all you don't work at the palace."

Behind him he heard Shimon stiffen at the question and he paused to consider if he really should be asking it, should he have been anyone else but the Prince of Egypt he would have been most likely smacked for stepping out of line; but Naeem didn't seem to mind, in fact Atem was surprised to see a look of amusement on his face, "A very intelligent question my prince, you are far more observant than I thought." He rose to his feet, "And for that reason I'll answer your question, and while it is true that I don't work at the palace I did at one time." He turned his back towards the prince and looked over the books on his shelf, "I am proud to say that I served under your father, the Pharaoh of Egypt, for many years, after his death I stepped down. Perhaps someday I will return again to serve under the next pharaoh, but for now I am content to be here." He turned back around, "Does that answer your question?"

Atem nodded and he bowed before he held out a book, "Then take this as a parting gift, your father asked me to keep it for him and now I return it to you." Atem returned the bow and slowly took the book while Naeem turned and bowed to Shimon, "It was good seeing you my friend, I shall eagerly await your next visit."

Shimon returned the bow, "Take care of yourself, Naeem; until we meet again." Then he slowly led Atem out of the room and towards the caravan waiting outside.

As Atem climbed inside he looked over his shoulder to see Naeem watching him from the doorway of the house; he just couldn't get over how familiar he looked, but he couldn't place him. Naeem seemed to smile and pulled his hood up over his face so that Atem could only just make out his green eyes and a few strands of his black hair. He stared at him and their gazes held as the horses started back towards the palace and Naeem was lost from sight. And it was only after several minutes of pondering his encounter that he finally realized the face he had been trying to remember, a small fact that only added several more questions to his thoughts without answering anything. Questions that he was going to be thinking about the entire way back to the city, the palace, and to his dear cousin, Yugi.

Yugi

Joey pulled up sharply outside of the kitchen door at the palace, Yugi was clinging to him tightly and his breathing was coming in quick ragged gasps. "Well we're here." Yugi slowly got off the bike and Joey smiled at him, "I guess I'll see you later then?"

Yugi smiled, "Of course." Joey grinned then took off peddling down the street towards the shops below. Mai opened the door for him as he stepped inside, "Remind me never to ride with him again."

She smiled, "Didn't I warn you?"

He walked past her into the building, "Yeah, remind me to listen to you next time."

She smiled at him, "Your shift is over by the way, in case you wanted to visit your girlfriend."

Yugi felt his cheeks turned bright red, he had been forced to tell Mai about Mana when his shift had cut right through the time he had to spend with her, she hadn't minded of course but she had decided to tease him about it on numerous occasions. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say darling." Mai shrugged and headed over to one of the counters as Yugi hung up the cloak and raced out of the room.

He raced down the halls as quick as he could, several times he just narrowly missed bumping into someone, and everyone that he did almost bump into would spend the next several days very wary of going around corners. But Yugi continued to race through the halls, skidding around corners and practically tripping down the stairs. When at last he reached the bottom of the dungeon steps he allowed himself to slow down and catch his breath, then he rounded the last corner and headed into the dungeon itself.

He smiled at the familiar looking guard sitting at the table as he passed the teen nodded in greeting them went back to flicking the dice he was holding in circles in his hand. Yugi continued down the halls until he could see Mana's cell at the end. He had almost reached it when at the last second he paused and considered looking over his shoulder at the nearby cell he was just debating when he heard Mana's voice. "Yugi?"

He shook his head and finished the last steps; he could look in a minute. As he approached he saw the grin on Mana's face, "Decided to be on time this time?"

He blushed and smiled, "I almost didn't make it, I had to run into town to deliver Joey's bag since he left it in the kitchen when Mai threw him out."

Mana snickered and then raised an eyebrow, "So did you talk to him?"

"What?" Yugi said suddenly confused by Mana's question.

Mana rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Joey silly, did you talk to him when you delivered his bag?"

Yugi smiled, "Yeah actually I did, he's really nice and said that he wanted to talk to me again sometime."

She grinned back as she leaned back against the wall, "See what did I tell you? You're already making a friend."

Yugi's smile faded as a thought crossed his mind, "Yeah, but I don't think that my father would approve of it."

Mana shook her head and snuggled up next to him through the bars, "Don't worry about it, it's not that big of a deal."

"You don't think so?" He looked at her hopefully.

She shook her head, "Nah." She paused and her eyes brightened, "Oh yeah I made something that I wanted to show you!" She pulled aside a few of the rocks and pulled out a sheet of paper before putting them back, "Here, look at this."

He took the page from her hand and his eyes went wide as he saw the sketch of himself, all the line work was amazing and he almost felt as though he was looking into a black and white mirror, "Mana this is amazing."

She grinned, "Thanks, I did it yesterday after you left." He held it back out towards her, but she shook her head, "No you keep it, I drew it for you."

Yugi's cheeks turned red, "Th...Thanks!" There was a slight pause between them, each alone with their own thoughts. Yugi slowly looked up timidly meeting Mana's green eyes, the girl was watching him, her own cheeks a bright shade of red. They stared into each other's eyes for several minutes before Yugi's eyes flickered back as if to look over his shoulder.

Mana frowned, her expression clearly confused for a moment before recognition filled her eyes, "Oh!" She leaned over slightly to stare past him further out into the hall, her eyes searching for a minute before she leaned back around towards him, "It's safe."

Yugi let out a sigh of relief, "Ok, I just didn't want a repeat of last time."

Mana shrugged, "I don't blame you." As Yugi started to turn she reached for his shoulder, "I'm not sure how much you want to look though…" He suddenly felt unsure as he saw the look of fear in her eyes; he almost didn't want to see what was wrong. No, he had to look, he had to know.

He slowly pulled away and looked over his shoulder, his eyes widened and he heard a gasp escape his lips as he took in the scene before him. It was the same man, he had expected that, but what he hadn't expected was for him to look this much worse. He wasn't even lying up against the wall anymore; he looked as though he had simply been tossed on the floor. The slashes and cuts on his bare skin had at least tripled since the last time he'd seen him, and some of them looked worse.

He started towards him and heard Mana's gasp behind him; he looked back over his shoulder and saw the girl shaking her head and motioning for him to come back, but he continued forward despite the fear in her eyes, he had to know that he was alright. He neared the figure and with every step skittishly expected him to suddenly open his eyes and somehow try and strike him through the bars, but still he continued forward.

As he neared the figure he saw that the slashes were actually worse than they looked at a distance. Each cut drove deep into his pale skin and had blood seeping out of them; they covered his skin in random patterns that left some parts of his skin mostly unharmed while others were raw and bloodied beyond any way that he would have thought possible. He continued to watch him as his chest moved only ever so slightly; it was as if he was barely breathing. His heart started to beat quicker as he slowly reached through the bars and laid two his fingers on the man's neck to check for a pulse. His heartbeat quickened when he didn't feel anything, but just seconds later he managed to identify a slight pulse, though it was very faint.

Yugi frowned; this wasn't right, he shouldn't be treated this way, there was no way that his father would do something like this. Would he? He slowly started to pull his hand away back through the bars when the man stirred. Yugi paused where he was; he thought he saw, just for a moment, his grey eyes open slightly open and focused on his face. He quickly pulled his hand through the bars, but as he turned to leave he heard a voice behind him, "I won't tell." Yugi turned around quickly and once again met those grey eyes, he saw the teen's lips move again. "I won't tell them, I promised even if I have to die to keep it." He held out his hand weakly towards Yugi.

Yugi reached through the bars and took his hand, "Who are you? What's your name?"

He laughed weakly and shook his head, "I'm a dead man, but they'll never get my secrets. I made a promise."

Yugi felt tears coming to his eyes, "What promise? How can I help you?"

The redhead's hand suddenly felt heavier in his hand, he struggled to keep hold of it; all the while he continued to meet the gaze of those grey eyes, "You can't help me now, but if the others come asking about me tell them…" His voice started to drop off.

Yugi squeezed his hand tighter, "Tell them what?"

"Tell them…tell them…" Yugi held his breath, suddenly afraid that he might not hear what he had to say, "…that I tried." After the last word his eyes dropped closed and his hand went limp in his grip, Yugi felt himself shaking as he slowly lowered the figure's arm to the ground. He timidly placed his hand back on the pale figure's neck and detected a faint but uneven pulse. His eyes started tearing up as he slowly backed away still staring fearfully at the unconscious figure in the cell, he had back up several feet when he felt his back bump up against the bars of Mana's own cell.

"Yugi?" Mana's voice was a whisper in his ear, "Are…are you alright?"

Yugi continued to tremble before he half turned his head to look at Mana, "Y…yeah I…I think so."

She shivered, "Was he…? Is he…? You know…that?"

Yugi turned his head back towards the other cell, "If you mean dead, then no." Mana breathed a sigh of relief before hearing Yugi's next comment, "But he will be soon if he doesn't get medical attention."

He turned to stare into her wide green eyes; or the area where she had been only seconds before. "Mana?"

He turned around further to see her over by the far wall furiously kicking the wall, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" With each word she kicked it harder and harder and her voice got progressively louder.

"Mana what are you doing!?" He leaned against the bars as she continued to kick the far wall, "Stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" She continued kicking it until her foot got caught on the projecting stone and she was caught off balance and hit the ground. She squealed and rubbed the newly formed bump on her head.

Yugi reached for her through the bars and slowly she crawled over, her eyes brimming with tears. "It…it's my fault that he's like that. If I had my staff then I could help him..." She broke down into tears and snuggled up against Yugi through the bars, who wrapped his arms around her as best he could through the metal.

His own eyes started to water, but he held back the tears, he had to stay strong for Mana's sake. He half turned his head to stare at the unmoving figure in the other cell, and felt Mana looking the same direction from where she was with her head half pressed up against his chest. "He's going to die isn't he?"

Her voice was a soft whisper and he only barely heard it. He opened his mouth to answer when he realized something; he had no idea what the answer to her question was. She snuggled closer to him as he whispered back, "I…I don't know…" Then his voice trailed off as the two continued to stare at the single figure, tightly clinging to each other until the guard came to take Yugi away to speak to his father. But all the while he kept Mana's drawing clenched tightly in his hand, and he didn't plan to let it out of his sight.

?

"Are we there yet?" A single voice broke the cover of the sands as two figures slowly moved along under the blazing sun.

"Shush. We need to be quiet or we'll be caught." The second voice was gruffer, deeper, and the man who spoke with it led the younger one across the sands in long strides.

"But!"

"Quiet!" They both dropped silently behind a nearby sand dune as the sounds of footsteps neared their current location and the two froze as a group of soldiers slowly marched closer to them. Neither moved a muscle as the distance between them and the group slowly started to close in until they were practically on top of them.

The two of them held their breath as voices were heard above them; they wore black cloaks to protect their identities, even if it did make it harder to hide and hotter under the sun, along with coverings over their mouths that muffled their voices, that however wouldn't protect them if they were seen. But as the voices were heard both first looked up towards the top of the sand dune, then two darker blue eyes looked down to meet a lighter more icy blue set. Both of them froze again as the voices started, "This is dull, there's never anything out here."

The icy blue eyes flickered upward in a vicious bloodlust filled manner, they settled back down on the other figure and he cocked his head to the side curiously. The older man shook his head and the icy blue eyes narrowed as the person attached to them crossed his arms over his chest and knitted his eyebrows together in annoyance.

"We've been searching for hours, can't we go back yet?" The voices had just passed them and the two of them started to relax when another comment made them stiffen, "Hey, what's that black thing?" Both of their heads snapped to the side to see a corner of the younger boy's cloak showing from behind the dune, the older boy looked into the fear filled eyes of his younger friend, no this wasn't good news.

"Attack!" The cry rang out and several yells were heard on the other side of the sand.

"We've been ambushed!" One of the soldiers screamed as he raced by, only to be struck down by an arrow.

"It's the resistance!" The last word caused his blue eyes to snap open wider and he slowly stood up and gazed over the dune, sure enough only a short distance away there was a small group of black cloaked figures and a large black dragon taking out the guards several at a time. Wait a dragon!? How had they managed to hide a creature of that size from a whole group of guards?

His thoughts vanished as a man raced past him trying to break away; he reached out and grabbed the back of the man's shirt, "I don't think you running away would be a good thing for either of us at the moment." He roughly tossed the man back towards the other group, and as he hit the ground he rolled to the side and took off in a staggering run in the other direction.

The dragon opened a single red eye and breathed a small stream of fire at the man, though he was out of the direct line of sight, the screams still reached the ears of those who didn't turn to watch. But although his younger friend stared at the burning man, his own eyes widened as the dragon shifted into a boy about the age of seventeen with shaggy black hair and lustful red eyes. The older man remained staring forward, where he had met the eyes of those of the man who appeared to be leader of the group. Blue eyes met blue eyes as the two stared at each other, both wore long black cloaks and face covers that prevented the other from seeing more than the other's eyes; and all around them the rest of the figures quieted into silence.

Behind the leading figure a second stirred and moved towards the teen who had been a dragon, his purple eyes half fixed on the two strangers, "Go search for anyone that might have gotten away, they won't do us any good alive. And don't get caught."

The teen grunted, "As if I plan to." Then he shifted back into dragon form and took off into the sky as the purple eyed man dressed in the same fashion as the others stepped up behind the blue eyed man who was still watching the two figures on the other side. "We should go."

"Indeed." The blue eyed man half turned his head and nodded, then he bowed slightly in their direction his purple eyed companion followed in suit, "Thank you for your help strangers, may you travel safely." Then the two men turned and along with the rest of the group seemed to vanish into the desert sands.

"What d' we do now?" The older man looked over at the younger teen at his side who was watching him expectantly.

"Well I suppose that the only thing we can do is continue on with our task, we can't be far away now."

The boy frowned and raised an eyebrow curiously, "Y' don't think they'll try n' follow us?"

The man sighed and looked off into the distance, "Whether or not they try and follow us isn't something we can control, for now keep our minds focused on the task at hand and hope that they're not going to consider us a big enough threat that we need to be dealt with at the current moment."

The other boy nodded and as the two started walked away from bodies of the destroyed patrol the boy once again turned to look at his older companion, "D' you think they recognized who we were?"

The older man glanced over then continued walking, all the while shaking his head, "Personally, no. But where we're from… well…" He paused, "That's hard to say."

The boy watched him, "What does your gut tell ya?"

The man sighed, "My gut tells me yes, but that doesn't make it right." He shielded his eyes as sand blasted over them, "Enough talking, we have a job to do and I don't know how much more time we have before the job won't need doing anymore." The boy sighed and nodded as the two increased their pace and continued out across the sands.

Malik-Wow…cliffhanger…

Bakura-Not bad…

Azzure-Let's finish this off Malik, the honors please.

Malik-The three of us, ok maybe not Bakura, but the other two of us want to know what you think. So do you see that shiny newly recreated review button down there? Well if you're nice and say hi to the nice button and then you click it you can leave us a comment. Also if you're not busy afterwards you can go to the pole on Azzure's profile page and vote on one of the new story ideas, we look forward to seeing your input. And thank you muchly.

Bakura-I sense Malik + sugar… Oh Ra…

Azzure-Also cookies if you can tell me who the two figures at the end are.