Atem sat at the small table his forehead pressed against his hand. The images she had shown him raced through his mind. He could not stop the replay if he had tried. Siamon placed a cup of beer before him and a hand on the young ruler's back as he took a seat next to him on the bench.

"How did things get this bad?" He asked as he sipped the thick warm liquid.

"Things have always been bad, Atem. As long as I can remember."

"But they are getting worse. Right?"

The older man nodded.

"The flood has been poor for the last decade, but the three years since Neferet has been missing it has failed entirely."

"And the granaries?"

"Empty. Even the hunters and fishers cannot keep them filled."

"We could import from..."

"The treasury is empty, Atem."

"So what am I supposed to do? Let my people die?"

"I do not know."

He drained the malty brew before placing the clay cup back on the table. The drink spread warmth throughout his body. He closed his eyes, following the path of the warmth as it spread, feeling it touch his fingertips and his toes.

"Maybe an appeal to the Gods?" Siamon suggested.

"I think I've angered the Gods enough." He took the golden crown that encircled his brow from his head. Holding it in both hands he looked at the wadjet at the center. "Maybe she was right. Maybe I did not know my place."

"And what place would that be?" A strong friendly voice asked from behind him. Atem sighed as he turned to it's owner.

"Mahad. Thank goodness." He embraced his friend and teacher.

"He's having moments of self-doubt again." Siamon added as if it were a common occurrence. Mahad just nodded his head in understanding.

"What are we going to do about the madman on your throne?" The tall mage asked him. Atem wracked his brain for ideas, but came up empty.

"Nothing. There's nothing we can do, not while he's controlling her."

"Controlling who?" A woman's voice joined the conversation.

"Isis, it is good to see you." Atem smiled at the reserved priestess. "He's controlling Neferet and she... I never realized she had such power."

Siamon chuckled.

"Neferet was always... special." He said, hunting for the right words to describe the one-time queen. "From the day she was born, the people called her the Daughter of Ra, because the sun danced in the sky that day."

"I remember." Mahad said. "It was amazing to watch."

"She had always been blessed by the Gods." Siamon added.

"Who has?" asked a newcomer. Atem looked up to see his cousin and one time friend standing in the doorway. "Your wife's back." he said bitterly as the pharaoh's gaze fell upon him. Atem felt his face go red with anger.

"I know." he said through gritted teeth.

"Seto, don't antagonize him." Siamon said.

"Why not? It's his fault anyway and he knows it."

"But we need to help him fix it."

The tall blue eyed man chuckled mirthlessly as he shook his head. When his gaze fell on the pharaoh once more, he smirked.

"I am not here for you, Pharaoh. You don't deserve my help solving a problem of your own making. I am here for the people you abandoned."

"Really? Apparently, so is he." Atem met Seto's steely-eyed gaze. "You two are so alike it's scary." The priest cocked an eyebrow at the statement as another version of himself walked in through the door leading deeper into the house.

"Do any of you have a plan yet?" Kaiba asked impatiently. "Or has it just been reunion time?"

"Sorry, Kaiba. We are working on it." Atem said, trying to refocus the group. Kaiba's eyes met his doppelganger's across the room. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Figure something out. Every moment of delay is one more moment where Umi could be lost forever."

"Who is Umi?" Isis asked.

"Umi is Neferet's form in the other world, his world." Atem gestured at Kaiba. "Anyway, Neferet is the problem. I tried to stop him. I called for Obelisk and she just turned him into dust."

"Of course she did." Seto said. "She is the God's Wife. And she had an incredibly strong heka. Almost rivals my own." Seto said arrogantly.

Siamon nodded as he remembered the times he had watched her training.

"What does that mean?" Kaiba asked from the sidelines. His double looked at him impatiently.

"It means that the servants of the Gods will obey her above all others." Siamon added.

"Yeah, that's a problem." Kaiba agreed.

"It is more than a problem." Mahad added. "It is not that she can dismiss the Gods at whim, but that she can also summon them. We should be thankful that she has not done so already. If the Gods were to get loose, or were directed with a nefarious purpose..."

"They would destroy everything," Atem finished. "And he's controlling her completely. She will do anything that he says."

"How?" Seto asked in disbelief. "You and I both know that Neferet's will is too strong to manipulate. That woman will do whatever she wants." Atem half-smiled in agreement.

"He gave her the Ring. Well, the one from the other world anyway."

"Well, that's not good." Mahad said as he looked down at the ring hanging at his chest. "The Ring has a darkness to it. It always has."

"And I'm sure she has some pent up dark thoughts of her own that it's feeding on. Perfect." Seto said.

"You're not helping." Atem spat.

"So, what can we do?" Isis tried to redirect the discussion. "The ka he summons, it is like nothing I've seen before. It is incredibly powerful in its own right. It will take the full force of the Gods to stop it."

"And with Neferet controlling them, we have no chance." Atem concluded.

"So you break his control on her." Kaiba suggested from his perch against the wall.

"It is not that simple, Kaiba. We are talking about magical forces you know nothing about."

"Yes, it is that simple. If this item is controlling her, then remove it. If something is standing in your way, knock it down. Since when do you give up so easily?" Kaiba fumed. Seto chuckled.

"I like him."

Atem shot the priest a sour look.

"I don't need two of you telling me what to do."

"Fine." Kaiba said, throwing up his hands. "Just figure something out soon. If Umi's gone for good, I won't be the only one you need to answer to." He said over his shoulder to the pharaoh before stepping through the door.

Atem crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, wondering just how his partner was coping with everything.

"Dammit, it will not be easy and will probably not work, but it might be the only chance we have." Atem said reluctantly.

Kaiba sat in the small garden nestled within the walls of Siamon's home looking up at the stars. The multitude of twinkling lights mesmerized him. He was awe-struck by their brilliance. It was difficult to find the constellations he knew within the rich field of stars. But looking at the sky made him think of Umi's dream of building colonies among them.

"She can't be gone." He murmured to himself as he turned his eyes earthward once more.

"She is not." said the voice that sounded like him. "You look familiar." The priest sat next to him.

"I'm assuming you mean from something other than your reflection?" Kaiba turned his eyes starward again.

"Yes. It was in the village, wasn't it? I'm not sure I remember."

"Who was the girl?"

"The girl." The priest sighed. "She was my second great love, Kisara."

"Your second?"

"Neferet was the first. She will always be the first, though she was more than just a lover. She was my best friend." He sighed and shook his head. "But Kisara, she was my escape from the pain, she was my protection from the darkest parts of myself. She filled the void left by Neferet as best she could."

"The Pharaoh said that Neferet was his wife."

"Yes. But she was my love. And I hers. They married out of duty, and when they did, I left. It was selfish of me, but I could not bear watching her with him. That is when I met Kisara. It wasn't until after he sent Neferet away that I let myself feel what was in my heart. And now it is over. I am alone and will likely stay that way." The priest picked at the leaf of a reed growing in the pond. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm cursed."

"What happened to her?"

"Who, Neferet or Kisara?"

"Either? Both?"

"Atem found Neferet with me one night. He flew into a jealous rage and sent her into the realm of darkness and shadows. Kisara died protecting me from my father. She may be gone, but she protects me still. I wonder, does she also protect you?" The priest glanced at Kaiba briefly.

"I think I've seen her before. In dreams. She was always standing between me and the darkness. It's funny. I never remember my dreams. except for those."

"Kisara had great power. Her death released that power from within her soul. She was the most fearsome creature I've ever seen."

"A dragon." Kaiba priest nodded. "Brilliant white with eyes as blue as the sea."

"Yes."

Kaiba pulled the top card off of his deck to reveal the card he had chased for years. He showed it to the him that wasn't him. The priest chuckled.

"I see that she does continue her vigil."

"It's always been my favorite. I told myself that it was because of its power or rarity, but I always knew there was more to it." He looked at the card. "She's gotten me through more than a few difficult fights."

"And what of your Neferet? What was her name again? It was strange, simple and lovely, but unusual."

"Umi." Kaiba sighed, her name flying off his breath like a bird taking flight.

"Yes, that was it. What of her?"

"I don't understand."

"Does her soul sing with yours? is she like every Goddess rolled into one? Is she the first and last thing on your mind? Is she the only one who understands?"

Kaiba shrugged.

"Do you love her?" Seto asked.

Kaiba looked silently at the stars for a moment, imagining walking among them with her hand in his.

"I don't know."

"Don't lie to yourself, Seto." The priest smirked, knowing now what he could not say.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"I guess that is true." The priest turned his eyes to the stars as well. "Just do not wait too long to tell her. You may never get the chance." He stood to leave. "Oh, I forgot. Atem says that your idea is the best one that we have. He says that it's probably not going to work, but we have little in the way of choices."

Kaiba nodded his head in understanding before going back to look at the stars. He wished Umi was there with him. He felt the pull to wallow in self-pity, but he also felt that he had been away from her for too long. He had to get her back, and sitting out here was not going to help him do that. He thought about what the priest had said, about the dragon-woman protecting him. He looked at the card he had shown him. He pulled the other two from his deck. He knew that facing down all three of these beasts could be a terror inducing moment in a duel. But he did not have enough information about how duels here were fought. An idea was forming in his head, but he needed more information if he was going to try and make it work. He stood up and walked back into the room where the planning was taking place.

"How does it work?" He asked, interrupting the flow of conversation.

"Excuse me?" The tall man in white asked, angry at being interrupted.

"The... the thing with the summoning monsters, I don't know what you call it." Kaiba said frantically. "How does it work?"

"You use your heka and you call forth the spirits. How else would it work?" The irritated man responded flippantly.

"We use technology in my world to achieve a similar effect. But these spirits, how many can a person call at once?"

"That depends on the strength of their heka. The stronger one is the more spirits, and the more powerful spirits one can summon." Seto supplied.

"I don't understand this word, 'heka'?" Kaiba asked, turning to the Pharaoh to explain.

"It is like one's will or force of personality." Atem stumbled over the explanation. "Not entirely, but it is easiest to conceive of it that way."

"Ok, So there's a tradeoff between quantity and quality. Stronger monster's require more will to control than weaker ones, but you can only call forth one or maybe two at a time?"

"Yes, but with weaker ones, you can call forth several." Isis added.

"Several of the same type of spirit or must they be different spirits?"

"I do not think anyone has ever summoned two of the same spirit before." Siamon said.

"So the spirits are unique. This may work then."

"What might work, Kaiba?" Atem asked.

"The first goal is to get Umi, I mean, Neferet out from under his influence, right? So, we use a distraction to draw away the monster he will summon upon seeing us while someone get's the ring and the necklace off of her."

"And then we can use the rod to break the control he has once she's not longer in possession of the items." Seto added as he caught himself up to speed. "But what would be the distraction?"

Kaiba placed the three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards on the table.

"You may only be able to call her once, but I've got the means to replicate."

"How? Most ka that powerful are bound to an individual person and cannot be summoned by anyone else." Mahad added irately.

Atem smiled and nodded at the pair of Setos.

"But, Mahad, they are the same person, just separated by time." Atem pointed out.

"And the spirit? How will the spirit react to being split between two masters?"

"Not split. Replicated." Kaiba corrected. "Hold on." He darted from the meeting room to a small bedroom where the rest of Yugi's friends had gathered.

"I hate not being able to do anything." Joey whined.

"Atem told us that they will tell us what we need to do once they figured it out." Tea said, though her voice belied her own impatience.

"Where the hell did Kaiba go?" Tristan wondered just before he poked his head through the drapery that separated the room from the hallway.

"Wheeler, I need your Duel Disk." Kaibe demanded.

"What?"

"Did I stutter or are you just deaf? I need your Duel Disk."

"Um. No." Joey refused the request, looking at Kaiba as if he had asked for his left leg.

"Look, do you want to help or not?"

"Of course we want to help, Kaiba." Tea replied for the group.

"Then give me the damn Duel Disk."

Joey reluctantly handed over the device.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Play better cards than you can." Kaiba said, snatching the device from Joey's hands and heading down the hallway again. Joey followed him out the door.

"Just don't break it! It has sentimental value!" He called as he tried to keep up with Kaiba's rapid stride. "Plus, I can't afford another one." He muttered to himself.

Kaiba slipped back to his spot near the table and placed the device on the flat surface. He popped the top cover off of the casing.

"This is a Duel Disk. It's how we summon monsters." He explained as he pulled a large multitool from his pocket and configured it as a Phillip's head screwdriver. Joey squeezed into the crowded room and watched Kaiba practically dismantling his most prized possession.

"Hey! You never said you were going to take it apart, Kaiba!" He exclaimed as more pieces came off of the device.

"I'm going to put it back together. I just need to remove... There." He switched the multitool to a plier configuration and pulled on a small disk. "Don't need that." He put the disk on the table among the other parts.

"What did you do?" Joey lamented as the rest of the group stared in various states of awe at the bits and pieces scattered on the table.

"Can it Wheeler. I just removed the rule restrictor."

"The what now?"

"It was the device that would keep people from breaking the rules of the game during the tournament. We used it to track cheating attempts." Kaiba explained as he continued to tinker with the part. He muttered to himself as he worked through the process of switching up the system so that it would not search for satellite input that did not exist. He was keenly aware of the eyes watching him work. It made him a little nervous, but he closed his eyes and thought of Umi and everything she's gone through. He pulled out his cell phone and checked through his memory. He was sure that he had put a copy of the Blue-Eyes holographic data on his phone. He had put a great deal of effort in creating the file. It was one of his treasures. He kept it with him always.

"And turn on the bluetooth..." He reached over to the duel disk and activated a dormant system. "There we go. Beautiful." He connected the duel disk directly to his phone's memory. He put the parts back securely. He pulled out his deck and placed it in the holding slot, and triggered the on switch in a quick test run to make sure he had not accidently damaged the system. He grunted satisfactorily as everything seemed to check out. But the only way to know for certain if everything worked was to test it.

"I have no idea where you are going with this, Kaiba. Can you please explain how a Duel Disk will help distract Akefia and his demon monster?" Atem asked as he motioned for Joey to come join him. Joey looked from Kaiba to the priest and back. He leaned down to Atem.

"There's two of them?" he whispered.

"Afraid so."

Joey shuddered slightly as Kaiba began explaining his idea.

"We can use the duel disk to trick him. Make him think that we've summoned multiple powerful monsters. But they have to be the same monster. We want to confuse him, and make it difficult for him to figure out where the real monster is."

"Like a shell game?" Joey asked.

"Only with dragons."

"Why dragons, Kaiba?" Atem asked.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but neither you nor Wheeler run multiples in your decks."

"You are correct."

"But I do. Honestly, it's just better strategy. Sometimes it boggles my mind how you've been able to beat me so many times." Kaiba lamented.

"But Kaiba, you need two summons to call a Blue -Eyes." Joey retorted.

"Not anymore." Kaiba held up the chip. "Besides, I'm not using them for an actual duel, I just need them to be the shells in the game for the real Blue-Eyes White Dragon." Kaiba turned to his doppleganger, who nodded in understanding. He walked out to the garden and sent the holoprojectors flying to the sides of the small courtyard.

"Wish I could have run a diagnostic on this." he muttered to himself as he drew the card from the top of his deck. He smirked as he was greeted by his faithful companion. He laid the card down the playing field. It took less than a second for the signal to transmit directly to the holoprojectors and the dragon to appear.

"Yes!" Kaiba exclaimed as the dragon came to life. He looked up at the shining white beast. It was perfect in every way. The priest stared at it in amazement. He reached out for it. The image shimmered as his fingers passed through the light that had crafted the dragon.

"How did you do this?" Siamon asked. Kaiba did not know how to explain it to them. Umi had managed to follow his explanation when he had told her, but she had a rudimentary understanding of quantum physics. These people had not even invented the pulley.

"Broken physics." he answered in way of explanation. The smile that had settled on his face from his excitement turned sad as he recalled his date with Umi. His double summoned his own dragon nuzzled him with her snout affectionately.

"I cannot see any difference. They truly look identical." Mahad noted as he scrutinized the two beasts.

"Indeed." Isis agreed. "Perhaps this will be enough of a distraction to rescue the queen."

The dragon looked curiously at the image of herself and the other man who looked like the man she loved. She chirped in a way that Kaiba had never imagined as she gazed at them. Kaiba, while impressed with his own handiwork, returned the real dragon's curious gaze. He watched her move and noted the sounds that she made. He reached out and touched her hide, eventually caressing her round belly.

"Don't worry. I'll make it better." He whispered to her as he looked at his own mediocre creation. His double called her back and sent the spirit to rest.

The rest of the night was spent preparing for the assault or sleeping.

Atem could not rest. He knew that he needed to, but he could not. He paced the empty courtyard reviewing the plan for any flaws. He was certain there were unforeseen problems that would arise, but he wanted to account for every possibility he could. A quiet voice inside calmed him.

"You need sleep, Other Me." Yugi said from deep within him. Atem smiled at Yugi's use of his old name for him.

"I am anxious, Partner. There are too many variables, and too much at stake."

"But you said yourself that this wasn't real, that it didn't happen like this."

Atem paused in his pacing for a moment.

"You are right. Neferet was not here the last time. But since she was not here, I did not have to witness..."

"It's OK, Other Me." Atem could tell that Yugi was struggling with what had happened to his sister by the sadness in his gentle voice. "Let's focus on what to do when you break her free."

"Right."

"Do you remember anything about this battle from before?"

Atem shook his head.

"Not much. Nothing that I think will be useful."

"Alrighty then, what's the next step after freeing Umi, uh, Neferet?" Yugi asked, starting a game that he played with himself whenever he had a problem to solve.

"I guess that would be stopping Akefia."

"How?"

"With Neferet out of the way, I can summon the Gods."

"Will that help?"

"It should. You've seen their power. But I do not know much about this person. He looks like Bakura-sort of-but I have no knowledge of how he plays the game."

"What do you know about him?" Yugi asked. Atem took a deep breath and tried to focus.

"He's a thief. Mahad says he robbed my father's tomb, which alone is punishable by death. He knows about the Millennium Items, how they were created, so I can assume that he was from the village that... was shown to me in the vision. Given his age and my age when the items were created, I can assume we are fairly close in age, though he is likely a couple of years older, like Neferet's age. So he must have been a child when the... massacre happened."

"Witnessing that would be enough to turn anyone evil." Yugi said.

"But that is just it. I do not think that he believes he is evil. I think that he thinks his motives are pure and justifiable."

"You are just going to make it harder on yourself if you have to kill him."

"And he should be put to death for the massacre of the palace."

"But?" Yugi prompted. Atem sighed.

"But I cannot help but feel some responsibility for what my father did to him."

"You will have to come to a decision somehow. And soon."

"He must be stopped, Partner. There is no other option."

"Then get some rest. Worrying will not make your job any easier."

He walked into the meeting room and found Kaiba sitting on the floor near the table. The Duel Disk was disassembled once more. He was staring intently at his phone as he jiggled some wires the connected it to the Duel Disk. He was muttering to himself, urging the success of whatever it was he was trying to do. Atem watched his intense concentration for a long moment before he felt the tickle in his mind that told him Yugi wanted control. He retreated into himself and pondered Yugi's advice.

"Kaiba?" Yugi asked cautiously as he approached the mess of circuit boards and plastic. Kaiba looked up at him from the floor.

"Yugi." He said before returning to his task.

"Look. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on, well, most things. And I know my grandfather will probably hate you until he dies and then he might come back as a ghost to haunt you..."

"What is it, Yugi?" Kaiba said impatiently. "I'm trying to work."

"Right, Sorry. I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done to help Umi."

Kaiba shrugged, not quite knowing what to say.

"It was the right thing to do. Or it felt right, or something." Kaiba stumbled over his words. Yugi smiled, thinking Kaiba had made amazing progress at being a normal human being.

"And, um. if all of this works out like we hope, I would be alright if you and Umi... you know..." Kaiba raised his eyebrows, shocked at what Yugi might be insinuating. "If you two spent more time together."

Yugi felt his cheeks flush as he watched Kaiba's face. Yugi saw a sense of serenity fall over the taller man at the thought of spending time with his sister.

"She's the happiest I've ever seen her when she's with you." Yugi said softly. Kaiba looked quickly back to the work at hand.

"She makes me happy too." he replied barely above a whisper. Yugi grinned as he thought he saw a slight blush creep over Kaiba's face.

"Well, good night. You should probably get some rest soon." Yugi called back as he wove his way among the scattered parts on his way to bed.

Kaiba glanced at Yugi as he slipped out of the room. Kaiba had been working to improve the Blue-Eyes hologram to more closely match the real thing. He was amazed that he got as much correct as he had, but he had also felt a sense of disappointment under the curiosity of the Dragon-woman. So he had spent the rest of the night trying to fix the copy. It needed to be as accurate as possible. If the image was not an exact match, there was a chance that the ruse would not work. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before staring at the tiny screen again. His eyes hurt looking at the glow from the screen and the figures were beginning to blur, but he thought he had finished. He needed to test it to be sure. He took the devices to the courtyard and activated the program. The dragon came alive. It was the most beautiful hologram he had ever programmed. He triggered the creation of two additional dragons. They looked and moved just like the real one that his double was going to summon. The extra detail was pushing the system to its limits, but he was pleased with the results.

He did not know how much time the duplicates would buy them in their rescue attempt, but he prayed it would be enough. He shut the system down and hardwired the phone to the duel disk, now that he was satisfied with his handiwork. He finished preparing the system and tried to sleep.

Neferet woke up in a cold sweat. She felt dirty and her body was smeared in a dry red-brown substance. Her hair was caked and matted in some places with the same material. She felt drunk and tired and scared. Her head hurt; her entire body hurt. She tried to look around her, but her head swam with every turn. It felt as if her mind was trudging through knee deep water. It was too shallow to swim, but too deep to walk effectively. The room she was in was dark. The light that peaked through the doorway was the warm glow of a flickering flame. The bed upon which she lay was narrow and hard. She could not recall how she got there.

Even though she felt unsettled, she felt freer than she had since the Ring had been placed around her neck. She looked down and saw that it was not there. She sighed in relief before turning inward. She dove deeply into herself to find the tiny pearl of light that she had woven around Umi.

"I am so sorry, Umi. I never meant for this to happen. But the Ring... I cannot help myself." She pulled in more strands of light and strengthed the barrier around the other girl's spirit. "I can only guard you from this the best I can. I pray that someone has come for us." A sound in the hallway drew her attention back to the world around her. As she sat, a figure entered the room. He was tall, muscular and his hair shown in the firelight, but something about him made Neferet uneasy.

"Sorry, little queen." He took the few steps across the room to her. His face was smiling, but the grin was full of malice. "I had to borrow this for a bit." He slipped a rope around her neck and she felt the chill of metal against her bare skin. Her head grew even more fuzzy though she had not imagined it was possible. He pressed his lips against hers as she blacked out once more.

The next morning came quickly and with filled with nervous energy. Even the people going about their daily routines in the market seemed to buzz with anticipation. Kaiba and his double were going over final plans for the distraction as Atem walked into the meeting room.

"Let's get this over with." Atem said as he approached the pair. The three of them left for the palace before the rest of the group was prepared.

The trip was faster than any of them had anticipated and before long, they were greeted by the blood-stained steps Atem had met the day prior.

"He did this?" Seto asked. Atem nodded. Kaiba looked on in disgust as the scene grew more grisly. They reached the palace entrance and passed through into darkness. Seto continued forward on his own as Kaiba and Atem went to set up the holoprojectors. The trip to the throne room was far more direct this morning, Atem thought, but then he already knew the extent of the destruction that had occurred. He and Kaiba circled to one side of the throne room and then the other, placing the holoprojectors in advance. Kaiba had said it was the best chance for the sleight of hand to work. Atem agreed. Bakura knew about the Duel Disk system and Solid Vision. There was no telling how much of Bakura's knowledge Akefia had. They had to be cautious. Atem watched Kaiba as he worked, noticing for the first time that he had a habit of tapping things when he was nervous or anxious. This entire situation must really be wearing on him, Atem thought. He had never seen Kaiba this anxious before.

"You think it will work?" He asked as Kaiba placed the last holoprojector and linked his phone into the Duel Disk.

"I hope so."

"What is the plan? Seto goes in and summons his dragon and then you generate three more?"

"Pretty much."

"And then what?"

"That's a good question."

"I find it hard to believe that you of all people did not think that far ahead. Between the two of you, I expected a highly detailed strategy for this."

Kaiba smirked.

"We have too many variables. Will she be with him or not? If she's not, where is she likely to be? We can't plan if we don't have all the details."

"Ok, what if she is there?"

"I go and get those damn artifacts off of her and get her out of here."

"And if she's not?"

"I go look for her. This place is huge though. Any idea where?"

"He fancies himself a king. He would likely take up residence in the king's chamber." Atem gave him quick directions to his rooms in the palace. "He might keep her there."

"As good a place to start as any."

They watched from the shadows as Seto called out to the Bandit King, demanding to know what he had done and why. Akefia stepped out of the shadows of the dais and took a seat in the golden throne. They should not have worried as a blood-covered, black-eyed Neferet walked over to him and sat on the floor at his feet. The exchange between the priest and the thief was heated, but Neferet never once responded. She did not even blink. She did not moved once Akefia stood and called his demon monster. Seto summoned his dragon and Kaiba triggered the Duel Disk, summoning three more dragons. Akefia stepped back in shock, not knowing which dragon to attack with his monster.

"Beautiful." Kaiba said at the site of the four dragons moving in unison on the field.

"Go." Atem told him. Kaiba grabbed the Rod and pulled the blade from within it as he sprinted from the shadows to the dais. He sliced through the rope that held the Ring about her neck, barely grazing her flesh. As the ring clattered to the floor, he slipped behind her and worked with one hand to unclasp the Necklace at her throat as he triggered the Rod. The golden glow of the Rod drew Akefia's attention.

"NO!" He yelled as a tendril of shadows impaled Neferet through the chest. Kaiba pulled the woman backward but could not move fast enough to avoid the attack. In the game of tug of war, Kaiba yanked hard and the woman seemed to split in two. The darkness pulled away, with Neferet attached to it at her chest. The woman who fell limply into Kaiba's arms was no longer swarthy skinned and had soft short hair that framed her face.

"Umi!" Kaiba exclaimed as he pulled her from the dais.

"Neferet!" Seto and Atem screamed as they saw her dangling from the shadow above the throne. Akefia laughed as he sent his demon monster to attack the collection of dragons. Seto's eyes grew wide as one by one the dragons fell. Atem stepped from hiding and tried to summon Obelisk. This time he was successful. Neferet slumped unconscious and thus unable to use her power. The God and demon battled, but Seto and Kaiba were calling to him from the other side of the throne room. It would only be a matter of time before Neferet woke and banished Obelisk once more. Atem felt he had to try to stop the thief now.

"Go!" he called back to them. At least the mission was partly a success. Atem stood his ground as Kaiba hoisted the unconscious Umi and Seto sprinted after them. The clash between God and Demon was fierce and Atem found himself losing ground from the onslaught. Neferet was stirring. Atem sighed angrily as he sent Obelisk to defend his escape. He turned and ran for the exit.

Kaiba laid Umi down on a narrow bed in Siamon's house. She was smeared with dried blood and her hair was matted. He looked down at her, willing her to wake up. The priest looked over his shoulder.

"She looks so much like Neferet." he said. "I guess I should not be surprised." Kaiba smirked. "The Rod should be able to help her awaken." Seto held out the artifact and a golden glow filled the room. Umi's eyes fluttered open. She sat up suddenly, breathing heavily.

"Neferet?" She asked in a panic. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut. "Where is she?"

Kaiba wrapped his arms around the shaking young woman.

"She's gone, Umi. I'm sorry. She's gone." He whispered to her.