Hey guys, apologies for the delay on this chapter! My grandad was ill for a while and so I wasn't really feeling up to writing, but he's fine now, so this chapter has been finished now!

To avoid confusion:

Words Yami speaking mentally

Words Yugi speaking mentally

"Words" Characters speaking Japanese

"Words" Characters speaking Ancient Egyptian

"Words" Characters speaking Arabic

"Words" Characters speaking Akkadian

"Words" Characters speaking Old English

The world was quiet when Severus woke. Too quiet. His dreams had been disrupted and there was the lingering nausea brought on by the orichalcum in the corner. It shouldn't have disturbed him this badly, especially sleeping outdoors as opposed to his quarters in the castle dungeons.

Something was very wrong.

He flicked his wrist instead of reaching for his wand, too tired to think straight and remember anyone could just wander in. There was a cat curled up by his bed, asleep, ear twitching at the light and he hurried to snatch up the wand before she woke. In the end, McGonnagal remained asleep. It was not the first time he had found her here, after his summons from the Dark Lord. Minerva worried about him, he knew, like a stern Aunt who didn't know how to say she cared. It was quite possibly the most anyone had ever cared about him, other than Lily, moreso than even his own grandmother. She would have to understand love, to truly love me, he thought sardonically. Perhaps I ought to introduce her to Nofret…

It was that thought that revealed the problem.

The girl was gone. Severus had become attuned to the ghost's magical signature, had allowed a certain fondness to grow where he had not for others. Whether it was because she had slipped through his wards so easily, or that she held no judgement of any kind for his past actions, or that he was certain she saw past the glamours and had little care, he didn't know. But what he did, was that he could no longer sense her signature, not here or anywhere within England. It could mean nothing.

It could mean everything.

He stepped out into the night, snow falling in the dim light. The castle was slowly coming backs to rights, just in time for Christmas. Tonight was the eve of Yule, however, Mid-Winter, at a point where magic was at it's height. Many wizarding families would be out celebrating, taking little to no notice of the war about to explode around them while Muggles and Muggle-borns alike wasted those three crucial days for an imaginary fat man to bring them presents. Severus had never understood the tradition, but he had never said anything against it either. Lily had always loved this time of year and Severus loved the snow.

This night was too silent. No birds were singing in the trees, no hammers of the hired wizards or Goblin workers fixing the castle. Dumbledore had left that morning to treat with the Ministry officials in London, the Egyptian Minister for Magic having arrived and demanding to speak with him and the Prince. Considering Atem was still too weak to move, she would have to travel here, although admittedly the fault for that was not on Dumbledore's shoulders.

It did not ease Serverus' worries.

He headed straight to the medical tent, which had become more of a private housing for the transfer students who were staying. No other students were in need of Madam Pomfrey's skills and the woman had her own heated tent to stay in. So very few students had stayed. Severus glanced at the castle again, stretching out his senses to see what needed left doing. Thankfully, much of the structural damage had been easily fixed, most of it being the wards required to be replaced. They should be able to move back into the castle by the end of the week, although Severus was unhappy that Dumbledore refused his request in moving the Slytherin Dormitory.

Twelve-hundred years the castle had stood, and all those empty classrooms, and he can't find a better home for my House than the dungeons in which they could have been buried. Perhaps I ought to suggest to Atem that he was deliberately trying to get them killed. That was a suspicious thought, one he didn't like to linger on and no doubt the Prince would have thought of it himself. He hoped that the man was not as cold as that, to abandon children indoctrinated into a cult by their parents and cast them aside as if they were little more than broken playthings he could no longer repair. He did it for you and he would do worse, if he knew.

The Hospital tent was empty. Brown stains covered the bed where Atem had been sleeping but the boy was gone. Seto Kaiba's computer lay on the ground, screen cracked and pieces of its innards scattered over the floor. There was a crumpled form lying in the corner, buried under a smashed bed. Akhefia was nowhere to be seen.

Severus knelt by Marik's prone body, checking for a pulse. It was there, steady but faint, a bruise forming on his head. Underneath the bed Akhefia had claimed for himself, gold glinted in the dim light of his wand. He gently tried shaking the boy, to no avail. Goddess, watch over the others, he prayed, cursing internally. And help me find where they are.

In mere moments, he had Pomfrey awake and tending to the fallen boy. He, himself, dressed and made a beeline for London. The Tomb Keepers were going to be far from happy to learn that their Prince had just gone missing.

Seto woke to the sound of running water. His hands were suspended above his head, something heavy settled on his shoulders, weighing them down. His left wrist, so accustomed to a duel disk, felt naked without it. He blinked in the dim light, trying to remember what happened.

Where am I? Last thing I remember, Atem was sick… Atem! He glanced around, willing his eyes to seem in the gloom. He was alone. He was chained on a shelf of rock overhanging what looked to be a rushing underground river. The clothes he had been wearing were gone, replaced instead by some kind of cotton dress and heavy gold around his shoulders. Seto scowled, glancing up at the metal cuffs encasing his hands above his head, like some kind of peasant from a medieval period film.

Seto knew how to get out of handcuffs, had been trained for hostage situations. Being the adopted son of an extremely successful weapons manufacturer, had meant the man wanted him ready for any scenario. Apparently, someone had tried to kidnap Gozaburo and paid for it with their life. Since he was ten years' old, Seto had carried a loaded handgun hidden about his person somewhere. He slept with a knife under his pillow, just in case. Pegasus had not been the first to send armed goons after all.

So it was very rare that someone bested him, let alone sequestered him away in some strange place.

"Atem?" he called out softly. Just because he couldn't see his cousin, didn't mean that he wasn't there. "Atem?" Nothing, just the river. Please, still be alive, he prayed. What would he tell Mokuba, if he died in captivity? What would he tell his Uncle, should he ever regain his soul, or the people of the Tomb Keeper Clans? What would he tell Yugi?

There was the shuffle of footsteps on stone, and a small pudgy man appeared, holding a wand aloft. Seto sneered. Great, more wizards. Just what I needed. The man whimpered, flicking his wand to jerk the chains off the wall, throwing Seto forward. That was fine. He used the momentum to throw himself at the man, wrapping the links around his throat before he could react.

"Who are you?" he hissed. The man squeaked, raising his wand. "One move and you breathe no more." The form under him shifted. Seto jumped back, watching clothes fall to the floor as if the man had just vanished. Movement caught his eye and he grabbed the rat by the tail before it could scurry off into the darkness. Like the man, one toe was missing. "Neat trick. Try better." He scooped up the wand, just to be on the safe side. The rat shrieked in his grasp, wriggling and writhing to escape. Kaiba took him by the midsection and squeezed. It morphed back into a man quick enough.

"Don't kill me, please!" the pathetic excuse for a human being sobbed. "I-I was j-just told to come get you!"

"I will only repeat this once," Seto said calmly. "Where. Is. My. Cousin?" The man shook, naked, cold and terrified. He sneered. "I guess you choose the hard way to give this to me." The man screamed.

"No! No! Please, I swear I don't know where he is! That man, Dartz, wanted him alone! It was the Dark Lord who wanted to see you!" The man was holding out his hands in a peace gesture, fat tears dribbling down his cheeks. Seto eyed him warily, then gestured with the wand. Two weapons this idiot has given me. And Kisara should not be far, even if there isn't the magic of Hogwarts to help me hear her. It wasn't all Hogwarts had gifted him with, but it was comforting nonetheless.

"Show me to him."

"Oh, he won't be doing that," a new voice called. Out of the shadows stepped a new figure, dressed in long trenchcoat, combat trousers and a cropped tank top. Around his neck, he wore a chip of gleaming green stone. Kaiba blinked slowly, unimpressed.

"Won't he now?" he asked blandly. "And what makes you think you can stop me?"

"Because I'm here to offer you something you can't refuse," this new player said with a smirk. He held out the arm with a duel disk, irritatingly familiar. "Master Dartz will soon have both the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh and Kaiba Seto for his collection."

"If you haven't noticed, I don't even have my deck," Seto stated, rolling his eyes. "And no inclination to duel you, even if I did. Now, get out of my way, or it won't be your soul I'll be stealing from you." Every moment he wasted, was a moment he was away from Atem, who could at this very moment be dying.

"You should," idiot hissed, eyes gleaming with manic light. "It was due to you that I lost something precious to me. Master Dartz has given me the chance to have my revenge by stripping you of something precious."

"My patience?" Seto deadpanned.

"Don't test me, Kaiba," was the only response he got. "Now, we shall duel!"

Seto didn't even dignify that with an answer. Instead, he shot off a stinging hex, turning to find his captive. The rat was gone, scuttling away in his moment of distraction. Kaiba cursed, shot off a petrificus totalus at the idiot who was just getting back up, and took off running.

He didn't have time to waste.

Marik groaned, his head pounding. What… what happened? he thought through the pain. There was something important, he could feel it, niggling away inside his skull. Something he had forgotten. But what? He tried opening his eyes.

That was a mistake.

The light burned. He yelled, covering them with his hands. His back hurt too, throbbing in time with heartbeat and head. It feels like I got run over by a herd of camels, he thought, groaning outwardly. He tried to think back over what had happened. Logically, he knew that something had to have happened between his falling asleep and waking here. If he could just grasp what it was…

It came back slowly, in trickles as gelatinous and slow as treacle. He vaguely recalled discussing with Kaiba about which of them would take first watch over Atem. The CEO was adamant it would be him, Marik had disagreed. A blind man could see how little sleep the other had been getting, just from the slur of his voice. The bags under his eyes had had bags. So, Marik had bundled the stubborn idiot into a bed, close to his cousin, and sat on him until he went to sleep. Draco had entered the tent and stared when he saw that. Eventually, he had been able to coax out of the boy what he had wanted: access to speak with Kheftan when the man arrived, as he no doubt would. A list of names of others that wanted protection from what their parents would do, and those that were worried about their family. Marik had slipped both lists into his pocket for safe-keeping.

The next part was blurry. He remembered, vividly, the blood spraying the bed, Atem's ragged gasps and the panicked voice of Nofret. She had dragged Akhefia off somewhere, the other boy deciding that he would be more use where she needed him than here, helplessly watching Atem vomit more blood than Marik was sure the boy had in his body. Eventually, it had stopped, the Prince passing out on Kaiba's lap. Kaiba had phoned Roland, stating that he wouldn't be heading home for Japan after all, and that Mokuba was welcome to join them here, he didn't think that their cousin had much time left. Then all had been quiet for a while.

He was just getting to the point where things might make sense, when a hand gently touched his shoulder. He groaned, irritated at his memories being interrupted again.

"Mr Ishtar?" Madam Pomfrey murmured. "I know you are awake. I have some Headache tonic here, courtesy of Professor Snape. He said you might need some." Marik managed to crack his eyes open slightly. The light was still blinding, but he could make out the small green vial she held in her hand. He let her pour it down his throat. "Severus' potions also help with concussion as well." Concussion?

It came back like a landslide.

He shot up in the bed with a yell, the world spinning. The matron, startled, stumbled away, eyes wide. Marik raked his eyes around the tent, taking stock of who wasn't there. He had been moved, through the flap of this tent could make up the shredded one of the original Healing Tent. Across from him, Draco sat pale and drawn, a bruise forming under one cheek. Idiot shouldn't have been there to begin with, he thought, but let it go. He didn't think he would have been found for hours, if the other boy hadn't turned up.

"Did you find help?" he asked, praying for the best. He knew he would be disappointed.

"No. Severus found you before I could find him. Turns out Dumbledore is in London." The last part was spat out like venom, grey eyes blazing with a quiet anger. Marik's hands balled into fists.

"Fuck," he muttered. Draco said nothing to the contrary. McGonnagal took that moment to sweep her way into the tent, Madam Pomfrey on her heels. No doubt the woman had run off to find her. The Deputy Headmistress looked harried, her hair a mess and wearing an emerald dressing gown over her nightdress. She looked as worn out as Marik felt.

"Mr Ishtar," she said stiffly. "Madam Pomfrey tells me you are feeling better?" He nodded. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Dartz happened," Marik growled. "Dartz and those idiot Death Eaters that follow your Lord Voldemort." McGonngal blinked, frowning.

"Explain," was all she said, settling herself onto the bed next to Draco's.

"It started when Atem woke. He started vomiting blood out of nowhere, something to do with the Spirit of the Puzzle," he started uncertainly, ignoring the odd look she gave him. "Akhefia left with Nofret to sort that out. Well, they must have done because eventually he stopped and we got him back to sleep. Kaiba was on the phone and arranging for his little brother to come here when this moron in a trench coat sauntered his way into the tent. A friend of Raphael's I think, kept ranting about how Kaiba had killed his little brother." It was here that Marik rolled his eyes. "Turns out, he can't count because whatever war he was on about happened way before Kaiba Gozaburo adopted him and Mokuba. Noah would have been more liable to the blame than Kaiba."

"I believe you are getting off track," McGonnagal snapped. Marik pressed his lips together, but refrained from ranting more.

"Kaiba set him to rights about that, but he still tried to challenge him to a duel. As if he was about to, with his cousin half dead in his arms and us having no idea what happened. He wasn't happy about that, I think he said his name was Alistair?" Marik shrugged, shaking with rage. "He called in his new friends. Death Eaters. Kaiba summoned Duos and I summoned Gardius to get rid of them. Alistair, the shit, took Atem while we were distracted. Draco tried to fight him off, which was when Kaiba noticed and the next thing I know, Blue Eyes is there and half the Death Eaters are dead." The smell of cooked person was not one he particularly wanted to remember. "He wouldn't have escaped if Lucius Malfoy didn't decide to descend on us from behind, knocking out Kaiba and I think he blasted me into a bed. I would have been fine if Blue Eyes didn't go ballistic, trying to rescue her master. Alistair got her with a Dragon Jar, and that's the last thing I remember."

"I went to get help when my father arrived," Draco added quietly. "I knew I couldn't defeat him alone but by the time I got back, they were gone and Professor Snape had found Marik." McGonnagal was silent for a time.

"Severus has gone to speak with the Headmaster and the rest of the Tomb Keepers. I've already set up wards which will tell us of any of your friends return," she said eventually. "Unfortunately, I cannot find where in the wards they got through. It might be remnants of that ghost who tore them apart."

"Haphiri was threatened," Marik snapped. "Her descendant was threatened and dying in the Orichalcos and you all insisted she be thrown out. That was on you." McGonnagal sighed.

"I suppose it was," she admitted through gritted teeth. "As was trusting this Raphael. Severus said he was influenced by something and Dumbledore insisted it would be negated once over the wards."

"The orichalcum only got stronger inside the wards," Marik hissed. "Did he not pay attention to the fact that Voldemort had Snape keep a piece and Yugi took another off Gurimo's body?" He punched the covers, desperately wishing he could scream. "You Headmaster is looking to get himself killed by more than just Voldemort." McGonnagal gave him a sharp look.

"We are doing all we can to get your Prince back in one piece. I would thank you not to start threatening the people helping you," she snapped. Marik rolled his eyes.

"I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you," he snapped back. "Dumbledore is a fool and isn't just tempting fate with the Death Eaters. Sure, he can carry out his little scheme, but Potter isn't a horcrux anymore, and Snape sure as hell doesn't want anything more to do with him. The only thing he holds over him is…" He cut himself off, remembering Mahad's words. Probably not meant to know about that, he thought, cringing.

"What?" McGonnagal asked, eyes narrowed. "What, exactly, do you believe that the Headmaster has over Severus?"

"It's not for me to say," Marik said quietly. "Forget it. Let's just say he's baiting death at every corner and isn't going to be able to avoid it forever."

With that, he rolled over, so he didn't have to look at the woman. He had nothing else to say.

Seto cursed these long halls, running full pelt through them. Whatever god-forsaken corner of the earth he had been dragged to, was too bloody big and he needed time he didn't have to find Atem. Add to that, he had been confronted another three times by the moron from before, Alistair if he remembered correctly from Hogwarts. If I had the time, I'd reunite him with his brother immediately, he thought through gritted teeth as he returned down another corridor and drew up short.

Once again, Alistair stood with his duel disk ready.

"You will pay for what you did to my brother, Kaiba," Alistair hissed, glaring. "No matter how you try to run." Kaiba growled.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I didn't do that," he shouted. "Now get out of my way!" He raised the wand again, ready to curse this idiot to death if he had to. Alistair smirked.

"No amount of magic will get you out of this duel, Kaiba," he said, tapping the green rock at his throat. "Master Dartz won't let you anywhere near your cousin without facing me." The corridors, Seto thought, frustrated. They are literally going nowhere. I fucking hate magic.

"And what exactly, do you think I am going to duel with?" he snapped, raising his left arm and shaking it in the moron's direction. "You stole my deck and duel disk."

"You didn't need it back at Hogwarts," Alisatir stated, already drawing five cards. Seto gave him a flat look.

"Right," he stated. "Because Kisara getting pissed at you again sounds like a good idea. How stable do you think these walls are?"

"What do you mean?" Alistair asked, for the first time looking confused. Seto blinked, not able to believe the stupidity he was confronted with.

"Dartz clearly did not hire you for your brains," he deadpanned. "That's what I mean." He did see the size of her, right? Or did he just forget? He wasn't sure which was the worse option.

"Either way, your soul will be mine!" Alistair declared. "I activate the Seal of Orichalcos!"

"We're not even-" Seto cut himself off, frustrated and irritated. He wanted a duel? Fine. He'd win this with Shadow Magic, Latin Magic and Kisara if he had to. Alistair might think he had a leg to stand on, thought he could win by cheating and forcing Kaiba to fight only with wand and wits. No doubt, Dartz had left out the part where spending so long in Hogwarts had opened his eyes to memories he had long buried, ones which he had dreamt as a small child and followed his birth father's advice to ignore them. They mean nothing, Akhnadin Menes had told him gently. Nightmares, no more. If only that had been all they had been.

"Now get ready-" Alistair started. Seto ignored him, summoning the Shadows to summon Duos to the field. The monster attacked immediately and Alistair screamed as the creature's sword and claws slashed through his left arm, thrown up in defence. "What the hell did you do?" he shrieked, staring at the blood dribbling down his arm.

"What, Dartz not tell you the monsters are real?" he drawled, rolling his eyes as Duos returned to 'his' side of the field. "Be glad I didn't summon Kisara again." Alistair was staring at him, eyes wide.

"But it was my turn," he whined. Seto snorted.

"As if you cared about the rules when your opponent had no cards with which to fight you with," he stated, inspecting his fingernails. They were cracked and chipped from both the previous fight and escaping that cliff edge. "And since your Master never cared for the rules, neither does that rock around your neck." The idiot's fingers drifted back towards his throat, blood-covered cards scattered around the ground. "Now get up and fight. You wanted it after all."

"You're heartless," Alistair whispered, eyes wide. "You don't even care what happened to Mikey."

"I don't even know who you're talking about. What country are you from? Who was attacking you? What reason would my stepfather have for funding them? If there was one thing I learnt about Gozaburo, it was that he never funded the losing side," Seto explained, bored.

"We were the losing side!" Alistair screamed.

"Still not hearing the details," Seto noted.

"You would never have heard of where I'm from," Alistair hissed. "And how was I supposed to know who attacked us. I was a child!"

"What you think I haven't heard of Yugoslavia?" Seto asked sarcastically. "The fact that Gozaburo was funding the rebels to create Slovenia must have gone over your head, despite the fact that I picked up on it as a child." That the wars resulting in the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia lasted far longer than the Ten-Day-War and that Alistair would have been too young to have known exactly what was going on.

"You have?" Alistair was staring at him in amazement. "So you do know about Mikey?" Seto threw up his hands.

"How the fuck do you get 'I know about your brother and what my shitty stepfather did' with 'I know a historical fact'?" he asked. "Besides I thought we were supposed to be duelling."

"Yes, we were," Alistair growled. "So now I'll-"

"I don't have time for this," Seto snapped. "Duos." The monster leapt forward again and Alistair yelped, diving out of the way. Duos crashed into the barrier and Seto gritted his teeth against the corresponding blaze of pain across his right shoulder and ribs. The monster pivoted, slashing again at Alistair, who wasn't quite so lucky this time, the blade catching his ankle. Alistair screamed, the life point metre on his duel disk running down to zero.

"It wasn't your turn!" Alistair screamed, eyes wide in terror.

"I couldn't care less," Seto drawled as the Seal began to shrink around the moron. "Shouldn't have summoned the Seal of Orichalcos if you couldn't keep up."

"You're despicable," Alistair spat, face twisted in fury. "You could never understand what I have been through!" Seto narrowed his eyes.

"No," he murmured as the Seal stole away the idiot's soul. "You could never understand what Gozaburo did to me."

Az-Bebere: I hope you enjoyed Kaiba's interaction with Alistair, with all the cheating that goes on XD. As for Akhefia's memories... well, we'll be getting into that later on, along with his connection to the Ring Spirit, but the next chapter or two are going to be more focused on Atem, Seto and Snape. And Akhefia is not a trusting person by nature, so he's going to have some problems with these new people who just popped into his life after all of that. Thank you for all your support and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Fireking492: Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!