I'm back from my trip with a rather short chapter I'm afraid. I had a bunch of stuff to deal with in real life so I apologize for the wait. The next chapter should be longer.

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did, Dark Armed Dragon, and Judgment Dragon would not be as broken, and Stardust Dragon would be limited in tournaments.

Kindred Spirits Chapter Three: Reunions and Meetings

The courtyard was very bare; there was a small pool of water in the center of the yard, and some sparse vegetation, but these small details were ignored by Seto. He strode through the yard with several guards at his side. He was informed of a large commotion just minutes ago and was surprised by what he saw upon arrival.

He had expected Atem's return to be a bit more formal. Instead, the former Pharaoh appeared to be shouting at a group of guards. The guards were surrounding a strange looking man. There were civilians scattered all around the court, silently observing the scene. Seto was in a hurry to talk to Atem, but he noticed that the unknown man looked confused, and had an odd gauntlet on his left arm as well as a yellow mark that stretched across the right side of his face. He rushed past the man, bowing to Atem as soon as he could.

"Welcome home, my king."

=(o)=

Atem raised an eyebrow at Seto's greeting. He first glanced towards the guards, and back to Seto. The pharaoh nodded and motioned for them to give their prisoner some space. To Atem's dislike, they still kept their spears pointed at the signer.

He turned back to Seto and bowed to him in turn. His cousin was silent for several moments; the tension in the air was very noticeable. Seto turned away from Atem and turned so that he was facing as many people as possible. He spoke.

"Everyone present, know that the son of king Aknamkanon, and former Pharaoh of Egypt has returned!"

There was a thunderous applause which lasted until Seto raised his hand. He gestured for two of the guards to come near him, and uttered directions to them in low tones. The two nodded and each grabbed one of the strange man's arms. A third guard took away the man's gauntlet and searched him for any weapons he might posses. The guard produced two small boxes from the man's belt, as well as a key of some sort. The man appeared to be furious, blue eyes sparking with emotion, but didn't appear to struggle during the process. The two carried the man away from the scene immediately afterwards. They were followed by Shada and Isis.

Atem looked on horrified. He knew that his long absence might undermine any influence he once had over the court, and could only spare Yusei a sad glance as the other was marched away. He was so angry at himself for assuming that the guards would let Yusei in freely just because Atem trusted the man. He filtered out Seto's speech while he mentally berated himself. He hadn't felt this bad since he had sealed Yugi away. "Another one of my friends has been taken from me, because of my own irresponsibility."

=(o)=

The speech lasted for several minutes. Seto made clear to everyone that this "outsider" would be immediately dealt with, and that he would not pose any threat to the people of Egypt. Many of the citizens were still arriving to see Atem and Seto had to cut the speech short just to make his point. He sighed to himself before turning to consult the priests about the situation. He was blocked by a very angry looking Atem.

"Is this how you greet guests, o mighty pharaoh of Egypt?"

The rage in his deep voice was obvious, and Seto was, for a moment, unsure how to proceed. The current Pharaoh, however, knew that whatever he said would bear no consequences to him due to his status. He glared down at Atem while he spoke his mind.

"That man is an outsider, not a guest. Have you been gone so long that you have forgotten the basic laws of the afterlife? Even if I had the word of all the priests that I could trust this man, I would first have to confirm my own suspicions."

Atem could tell that Seto was striking back verbally, the same way Kaiba always had. He guessed that having Seto in charge of an entire city of people probably wasn't good for his health. Atem could already see what it did to his ego. He still met Seto's gaze head on as he spoke;

"Then please visit him. He's my friend. I wouldn't want to make him feel betrayed." Atem emphasized the word betrayed as he turned to the city.

"And if you wish to speak with me on the matter I will make myself at home as a guest, with your permission, pharaoh."

"Very well. I have more pressing matters to take care of at the moment."

The tall Pharaoh turned from his tri-colored cousin, heading for the palace. Truthfully, he had an empty schedule ahead of him, and he couldn't see the stranger until his priests informed him that it was safe. For Seto, it felt oddly good to have more authority that Atem. To say it to his face alone felt gratifying. He supposed it was because by his birthright, he should have been pharaoh before Atem. He chuckled briefly to himself. He was the one with the power. He was the one that had protected the people when they crossed over. He had their trust. And he would let nothing pose a threat to them as long as he retained that trust.

=(o)=

The cell was rather large. There were no bars; simply a tall pillar that rose from some deep pit. A long wooden plank served as the way across. The guards had put him in with less force that the ones at the facility; letting him walk across the chasm rather than simply throwing him in his living quarters. The plank was removed after he had crossed over to the top of the pillar. The room around the cell was dark.

There were two others who remained outside of the cell, and Yusei wondered what creative method of punishment the people of Egypt had for trespassers. He was afraid of being punished, but he had handled all kinds of abuse before. The two that observed him certainly didn't look like the kind to torture. One was male and the other was female. They both wore white robes as well as golden jewelry. They seemed rather anxious about asking Yusei questions.

The Egyptian man was bald and had black symmetrical markings on his forehead. The women wore a golden headpiece in the shape of a hawk, covering her hair. The man reached into his robes and pulled out what looked like a golden ahnk. The bottom half was a cross while the top part was a single loop. The object also had a small protrusion at the bottom which made it look like a key.

There was a sudden flash of light from the object that illuminated the room in its entirety.

=(0)=

There were several pictures in Yusei's soul room. Shada was surprised that the pictures were so clear; usually a soul room only reflected the outer personality of its owner. The pictures were all around the room; some on the walls, floor and ceiling. The priest saw the majority of the man's soul simply included pictures of other people. The man clearly had a large heart.

Three of the pictures were very different from the others. One was covered in dust and showed a man in white that looked like an older version of Yusei with all black hair. Shada assumed it was Yusei's father.

Another showed a man with spiked yellow hair and gleaming maroon eyes. The image looked as if it had been put back together, though there was still a tear in half of the material. "Perhaps an argument?" , the Priest thought.

The third was turned away from view. Shada turned it around to reveal a smiling boy with long, curly red hair, wearing a blue dress and a yellow hat. There was also a large, dark-skinned woman in the picture. She appeared to be middle-aged, and was frowning.

Besides the pictures, the room was very vibrant. Hues of red and blue circled the walls, floor and ceiling. Yusei was clearly under lots of stress at the moment. One of the walls had a torn, ruined city as the primary background. On the opposite wall was a clean, developed metropolis.

In the soul room Shada also saw several creatures appear and then fade from view. He went to observe more of the pictures when a white and blue dragon appeared. It had a very slender, serpentine build, but filled most of the room with its presence.

The most prominent feature of the dragon was its gigantic wings. The wings were longer than they were wide. Flaps of white skin were arranged in ruffles under the wings, folded in to allow the dragon to fit in the room. Patches of blue under-skin appeared along the dragon's body at regular intervals. Its long tail ended in a spade, and the dragon's head had a pointed horn protruding from the snout as well as a large crest on the top of its head.

The creature's mouth hung open in a snarl as it observed Shada with its yellow eyes.

Another cliff hanger. I hope I didn't write Seto out of character. I had to rewrite him several times before I finished this chapter. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, so please read and review.

One more thing. In terms of pairings, I was thinking Kisara/Seto and Mahad/Mana. I wanted to get feedback from you guys before I put the pairings in this story, since it's more of an adventure fic than a romance one.