Welcome back! For those of you who have been here since the beginning, we're finally here. For those of you who just got on board, you made it just in time :).

Let's see how Yami's coping shall we?

Yami woke to find himself in his chambers at Hogwarts. How did he get here? And why did he feel so strangely empty inside? He put a hand to his chest and was met with the steady beating of his heart. So why did it feel as though it had been ripped out and never replaced? He felt the effects of lingering Shadow magic around him; familiar enough that he could recognize a hikari's magic, but different enough that he had no idea where it came from.

Desperate for answers, he instinctively followed the mind-link to where Yugi would most certainly be waiting. Nothing met him.

The horrible truth came crashing down around him as memories flooded in. Yugi wasn't waiting for him because he couldn't wait for him. He'd been struck down by Voldemort while protecting Harry Potter and then taken by the Shadows.

Unable to comprehend it, Yami entered his soul room and headed straight for the corridor that linked their two minds. Opening his door, he was met with the familiar sight of his hikari's door, but there was something strange about it. It felt cold, dark, and uninviting… like a tomb.

Unwilling to accept this until he could see for himself, Yami attempted to enter Yugi's room, only to find the door tightly locked. For the first time, Yami wanted nothing more than to break into Yugi's mind, just to prove to himself that Yugi wasn't really dead, but recovering somewhere in the Shadows. For the first time, Yami was willing to try.

And so he did. He tried every way he knew how to force the door open, from gentle persuasions to outright blasts from the Shadows. No matter how hard he tried though, the door refused to budge. Not even when Yugi had been taken by the Orichalcos has his door been so unyielding.

"Yugi…" Yami cried, giving up and slumping against the door, "Why? Why did you have to be so selfless? What can I do without you?"

'...Live…'

Yami's head snapped up, certain he'd just heard Yugi's voice, but nothing around him had changed. It must have been his imagination. But it did seem like something Yugi would say.

"Pharaoh. Pharaoh?" That voice came from his soul room, and though it sounded familiar, it didn't sound like Yugi. Confused, he reluctantly got up and went back to his own soul room, leaving the door open so that he did not miss if Yugi's door suddenly changed.

"Pharaoh? Are you awake?" the voice called again. This time Yami recognized it as Seto.

Exiting his soul room, he opened his eyes again to see the Priest standing over him with a mix of fear and concern. "I am awake, Seto," he said quietly, shifting his eyes to stare at the canopy over him, "What can I do for you?"

Seto seemed shocked at those words and a little at how calm Yami seemed to be. Not that Yami could blame him considering his behavior from last night. "Nothing," Seto recovered quickly, "Bakura felt a shift in the sleeping spell he put on you and thought you might be awake."

So Bakura had spelled him to sleep. He supposed he should be angry, or at least indignant at that, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. "I see," Yami said softly, "Is that all?"

Seto didn't seem to know how to respond. Yami suspected the only reason he was here was that he was elected to be the one to check on him since he was the second-in-command now. Despite how much Seto loved his family, he had never truly mastered the art of comforting. It was obvious that he wanted to ask if Yami was okay, but it was equally obvious he wasn't.

"When you feel ready, we will return to Egypt," Seto finally settled on, "Our mission here is completed."

Yami nodded once. "You may go," he said.

Seto recognized the dismissal. He bowed and left the room without another word. Yami turned and curled in on himself, staring blankly at the wall, ignoring the silent tears that fell onto the pillows. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he needed to get up, that he had five other people depending on his leadership, but right now, he didn't care. He only cared about one thing right now and that was the fact he would never see or feel Yugi's presence again.

(Harry)

Harry picked over his dinner a few days after the events at the Ministry. The Daily Prophet had come out with an article the morning after admitting he had been right all along and announcing Fudge's resignation. They had no choice. Voldemort's body, as well as the body's of several known Death Eaters had been found in the Department of Mysteries while reporters were all around. All day people had been coming up to him and apologizing for not believing him, they were shallow apologies in his mind, but he accepted them politely.

However, that was not what was on his mind. He was still processing the events of that night, particularly what happened with the Mages. He had given the brief version to Ron and Hermione when finally returned, and fortunately, they seemed to be able to tell that he needed some time to sort things out before going into too much depth. As he sat and contemplated, he found his thoughts drawn to the Prince.

Harry knew that none of the Mages particularly liked him, so it shocked him when the prince shoved him out of the way of the killing curse, sacrificing himself for him. Harry was under the impression that the Mages would not have so much blinked an eye if something happened to him, writing it off as a casualty of war. The actions of Prince Yugi proved otherwise.

Images of the Prince, laying lifeless after being hit by the curse, came unbidden to the forefront of his mind. Harry clenched his eyes closed and shook his head, trying to dispel the image. It went away, but was replaced with the image of a sorrowful, grief-stricken Pharaoh, crying over the death of the Prince. It occurred to Harry just how much the Shadow Mages cared for each other.

But why? Why would the Prince do such a thing? Surely he knew how much grief it would cause his family. Harry understood now that the Mages were more than just a group of people who shared powers and obeyed a hierarchy. They truly cared for one another. Briefly he wondered how his friends and family would act if it had been him struck by the curse. Would they scream and yell as the Pharaoh had or would they sit and cry quietly as Ishizu and Ryou had?

He knew the Dursleys wouldn't care; they'd probably laugh and say 'good riddance'. Sirius would feel as though he failed in his role as godfather and either do something that would land him back in Azkaban or hole himself up and become a recluse. What about the DA? He'd made some new friends there, but none of them were as strong as his friendship with Ron and Hermione. They might be the most devastated out everyone, but somehow Harry couldn't picture them at the same level of grief the Pharaoh had shown.

Sighing, Harry threw down his fork and stalked out of the Hall, ignoring the whispers that followed. At least the whispers were different now, but he couldn't help but wonder how those whispers would change once word got out about what really happened at the Ministry. The Daily Prophet had neglected to mention anything about the Mages.

As he wandered aimlessly through the corridors, he stumbled upon Luna, who was humming merrily to herself.

"Hello, Harry," she greeted brightly. She had been in the group that had been escorted back to the castle by members of the Order and had no idea what happened. Amazingly, Dumbledore had yet to make that announcement to the school. Part of Harry wondered if he was waiting for the Mages to leave before saying anything. "I was just on my way to see the Mages. Rumor has it they'll be leaving soon, having killed You-Know-Who and all. Care to join me? They're really not all that bad." So that part at least was making its way through the castle.

"Um," Harry hesitated, "Now might not be the best time to see the Mages…"

"Don't be silly," Luna said, heading in the direction of their chambers, "They're really not all that bad once you sit down and talk with them."

"No, seriously," Harry stopped her, "They're...grieving… The last time I saw the Pharaoh he was attacking anything and everything. It took both Mages Bakura and Ryou to calm him down."

"Grieving?" Luna questioned, "We did not lose anybody. And even if we did, they do not care that much about wizards to grieve."

"We didn't," Harry looked down, "But they did."

"What do you…" she trailed off as something clicked in her mind, "You said the Pharaoh was attacking everything and it was Mages Bakura and Ryou who calmed him down? Why not Prince Yugi?"

Harry could tell she knew the answer but didn't want to accept it. "He took a Killing Curse meant for me," he whispered.

"That explains the Pharaoh's behavior then," Luna muttered under her breath, "I need to go," she said quickly and hurried off in the direction she was originally headed. "Oh, and Harry," she turned back, "Don't blame yourself. That is the way Prince Yugi was."

Harry was startled at the proclamation, but then realized that it was Luna he was talking to. She seemed to have a knack for always knowing exactly what was going on with someone. He started to go after her, but stopped himself. He was probably the last person the Mages wanted to see right. Actually, it surprised him that the Pharaoh hadn't attacked him in his fit of rage.

Something Luna had said piqued his curiosity though. She had wondered why it wasn't Prince Yugi that had calmed down the Pharaoh and then said the Pharaoh's behavior made sense once he said that Prince Yugi was dead. Why was that? Why did the Prince's death affect the Pharaoh so much and not the others?

He was about to run back to the common room and talk to Ron and Hermione about this, when suddenly he decided, he didn't care. Well, he did, but the Mages were entitled their privacy and he wasn't going to encroach on that...again. Instead, he turned towards the owlery. He needed to write to Sirius about finally being able to move out of the Dursleys now that his innocence was finally accepted.

Besides, one Yami no Game was more than enough for one lifetime.

(Yami)

Yami moved quietly through Yugi's room, carefully packing up his belongings. He managed to force himself out of bed about an hour ago, the first time since the battle. Actually, the only reason he got up was that he couldn't take the nightmares any more. Every time he closed his eyes, he was confronted by Yugi. At first he'd been elated; he could talk to his hikari again! That elation turned to despair when the only words that came from Yugi were accusations, blaming the Pharaoh for his death.

He knew Ryou was always close by to help tame the darkness that threatened to take over when these nightmares occurred. While he was grateful to Ryou for pulling double duty between him and Bakura, Yami found he still couldn't face him; or any of the others for that matter.

Instead, he entered Yugi's room through the Shadows, trying to find some form of comfort there. It wasn't working. Every item brought back memories that tore open the already gaping emotional wounds.

"Are you quite sure?" Yami heard Luna's muffled voice from the other side of the door. Pausing, he listened more closely. He knew the young witch had come by a little while ago to express her sympathies and had stayed despite the fact that Ishizu had gently tried to push her away. Yami had stopped listening at that point, not caring to hear what was being said. But it sounded like they were wrapping up now.

"Quite sure, Miss Lovegood," Seto told her, "But it is only good once, so use it wisely."

What was Seto talking about? Did they gift the girl with something? Probably a way to contact them in an emergency. It wouldn't be surprising if they did; she was the only witch any of them could stand.

Yami sighed and turned back to his task, trying to ignore the thoughts echoing relentlessly in his mind. He's not dead. He can't be dead. The Shadows probably took him back home to rest away from the wizards. Yami hated it. The logical side of him said there was no way Yugi could be alive. The door to his soul room was locked and would not budge no matter what Yami did. The only way that could happen is if Yugi was truly dead… but part of him, that he couldn't ignore, still held onto hope of a miracle.

Glancing around, he looked for the one thing of Yugi's that he knew he would not be able to hold onto forever. He didn't see it. Did somebody else grab it and was just holding onto it until they got home? That was probably it. He placed his hand on the door, with the intent of asking his court, when he heard something that froze him in his tracks.

(Mages)

"Who will be taking the seventh place in the Court?"

The Mages looked at each other in shock at the question Ryou quietly posed. Was he so eager to replace Yugi that this conversation couldn't wait? "The Court needs a Key bearer," he continued softly.

Suddenly his question made more sense. He just wanted to be prepared for an outsider to be joining their ranks. Before Yugi had the Key, Shadi owned it, and even though he wasn't an "official" member of the court, the Key still had its bearer.

Ishizu hesitantly checked the Necklace to see if it held the answer. "I don't know," she reported, "The Necklace won't show me. I guess we search the old fashioned way."

"And what way is that?" Bakura asked, just shy of a scathing retort, "We are the first Shadow Mages. We all have a connection in some way or another with Ancient Egypt so it wasn't hard to figure out who was supposed to control each Item. And if I recall, it was Yugi who did most of that work."

"Yami was with him during that time," Seto reminded him, "He'll probably have at least a better idea."

"Except Yami is a wreck right now," Malik said, "He's not going to be of any help for a while."

Ishizu sighed, "I guess we do what Shadi did all those years ago and keep an eye on humanity for someone who might be compatible with the Key. Perhaps Yugi will be reincarnated and claim his place again..."

"It took 5000 years for Atem to be fully reincarnated the first time," Bakura retorted, "Who knows how long it will take this time?"

"Where is the Key anyway?" Malik asked, looking around as if hoping to spot it lying on the ground.

"Didn't one of you pick it up?" Seto asked shocked.

A chorus of "nos" answered Seto's question.

"So it's still sitting at the Ministry for any wizard to pick up?!" Seto demanded angrily.

Bakura held up the Ring and focused on it for a minute. The tines when wild before dropping back down lifelessly. "The Ring can't sense it..." Bakura muttered in shock.

"I think…" Ishizu trailed off as her eyes widened with realization. Quickly she tapped into the power of the Necklace, ignoring the strange looks she was getting.

"What?" Ryou asked curiously.

"It was still on Yugi when the Shadows took him!"

Bakura looked at her dubiously, "Impossible," he scoffed, "Yugi's bond to the Key would have broken when he...The Shadows wouldn't have taken it with him! They need us to find a new bearer and we can't do that without it."

"The Ring can't find it," Ishizu argued, "What other explanation could their be?"

"But that would mean…" Ryou trailed off, not daring to hope the impossible had happened. Not after Yami's display at the Ministry. Not after Yami's lifelessness the past few days. It was impossible, but if the Shadows took the Key along with the Prince…

"He's not dead!" Ishizu finished victoriously.

A moment of shocked silence met Ishizu's statement...broken by a voice that none of them thought they'd hear for a long time.

"Please do not joke." They turned to see Yami standing in front of the open door to Yugi's room. He looked terrible. He was still dressed in his pajamas and had dark circles under his haunted eyes. "The door to Yugi's room is closed and nothing I do can even budge it. Even when his soul was taken by the Orichalcos, I was not shut out so tightly. The connection broke," he put a hand over his heart where pain still lingered, "The pain I felt could be from nothing else."

"I would never joke about this, Pharaoh," Ishizu said, smoothly covering her surprise at the appearance of the distraught king. They all figured they would have to do without him for several weeks, "The Shadows took the Key. I would not dare make such a statement if I were not certain."

Hope flickered in Yami's eyes before they became dead again, "If he were alive, I would know. The Key was likely moved to the Ritual Chamber back home to await a new master. It has spells over it to keep its contents hidden. That is why Bakura cannot locate it."

"I refuse to believe that," Ishizu said firmly.

"If you are so certain, then use your power to look into the future!" Yami snapped, "Tell me when he is coming back! Tell me why I cannot feel him!"

Ishizu set her jaw and checked the Necklace for the future, determined to prove her king wrong and restore his hope. After a minute of silence, she shook her head, "It will not show me," she said, "But that does not change my belief."

"Because it is a future that cannot and will not exist!" Yami shouted, Shadows flaring dangerously, "Do you doubt the pain that ripped through me when the curse hit? Do you think I could mistake the emptiness that meets me at the end of the bond that used to exist for over 500 years for anything else? This 'hope' of yours is based on nothing but foolish, wishful thinking!"

Ishizu was stunned. If anything, this new discovery should have given the Pharaoh at least a sliver of hope, but it seemed to do the opposite.

"Enough!" Seto stepped in front of the seer as the Shadows continued to flail wildly, "Nobody would dare say anything of the sort, and you know that."

"Do I?" Yami asked darkly, "You were all just talking about my hikari's replacement! Did his existence mean nothing to you?!"

"Yugi meant the world to us," Seto replied, not at all cowed by the Pharaoh's glare, "The thought was one brought forward from thinking about Yugi and how much he meant to us. It is nice to think the Shadows might give us time to mourn, but we also need to be ready in case that time is not given. In case fate decides to move forward quickly."

"I refuse to accept that!" Yami growled, taking a threatening step forward.

"Either you accept he is gone and begin to look forward, or you hold on to hope that he is alive somewhere and will be returned to us," Seto snapped at the Pharaoh, standing protectively in front of the rest of the Court, "We will give you your time, but you cannot lash out at everyone who tries to help keep us stable!"

"Yami," Ryou stepped forward, but was stopped from going too far by Bakura's warning hand on his shoulder. The Pharaoh turned his glare to the remaining hikari, only to pause. Ryou stared steadily at Yami, carefully weaving his magic around the king.

After what seemed like an eternity, the fight seemed to leave Yami and he sagged. Ryou swayed on his feet, supported by Bakura. "You overdid it a bit," the thief muttered.

"It was needed," Ryou responded, nodding towards the much calmer king.

"Pharaoh -" Ishizu started again, but was cut off.

"We return to Egypt in an hour," Yami interrupted coldly, disappearing back into Yugi's room, "Pack your things."

The Mages scurried to pack their belongings, not wanting to aggravate the king. They got lucky the past couple of times with Ryou managing to use his magic to calm him down, but it was obvious that it took quite a bit of effort of Ryou's part the more upset Yami was. The last thing they needed was two unstable yamis because Ryou had done too much for the Pharaoh. At least Seto could go head-to-head with him if needed, but that was a dangerous game to play.

An hour later, they stood gathered in their common area, waiting silently for the Pharaoh. Slowly his door opened, revealing him fully dressed in his normal leather, though his eyes were still empty. He walked out, carrying twice as much as the rest of them. It took them a moment to realize he was holding Yugi's things as well.

"Will you be okay carrying all of that? We can help," Seto asked quietly, hoping Yami's mind was whole enough to recognize the double meaning of his words.

Yami only tightened his grip, "I'm fine. Are we ready to go?"

"We are," Malik nodded.

"Then let's go. And if the gods are merciful, we will never return to this place or these people again."

They walked off into the Shadows, towards a future Yami never thought he'd have to face. A future without Yugi...

(Somewhere deep in the Shadows)

"Awaken, Master," a deep voice barreled through the darkness, pulling the man who lay there out of a deep slumber, "Soon the world shall bow before us! You need only to help me regather my strength."

"Who are you?" the man asked, not having the strength to open his eyes.

"A friend," the voice replied, "Someone who wants to see justice served."

"Justice?"

"Your memories have not yet returned," the voice said soothingly, "Let me remind you..."

With a sudden rush of power, memories flooded in and his eyes snapped open; a terrifying blend of violet and red. "The Pharaoh shall soon pay for his crimes."

Holy crap! It's over! I finished my first story! It's been one heck of a year! ...and you guys voted for the prequel.

I could not have done it without all of your support, so thank you all. I have absolutely loved this story and all the twists and turns it took me on. Stay tuned for the prequel (that you guys voted for), Rise of the Shadow Mages. It will likely be released in February (it's taking me a little longer than I thought to get the story started on the right track).

And for the last time for this story: Please review!