A.N. The wait for this story has been long and disappointing, my friends, and I am sorry to say that the wait may not be over just yet. However, I wish to reassure those of you patient few who still believe that this is something worth waiting for, that I do not give up. I simply... hibernate.

Thank you, dear readers, old and new, from the depths of my heart. May the conclusion arrive with swiftness.

~Dreamer

The palace was in turmoil. Never had Atem seen such chaos within the walls; it seemed as if every voice sought to overpower the others, every form struggled to be seen above the calamity. His father was one of the few who remained silent, standing alone and wearing an expression that sent shivers coursing through whomever happened to catch a glimpse of his face. Atem tried several times to garner the attention of a familiar figure, but he was pushed and prodded about so much by the swirling mob the task was nigh impossible. First Shadi swept past, hardly even glancing in the former pharaoh's direction; his fathomless eyes dark and troubled. He spotted Mahod next, towing Mana behind him as fast as the mass of pushing bodies would allow, the young apprentice just managing to keep her hat on her head and her feet moving beneath her. Atem reached out desperately as he closed the last few feet, but Mahod's snapping cloak remained just out of reach of his stretching fingers.

Cursing his ill luck, Atem performed a few quick side-steps, ceasing to move against the flow and simply moving adjacent to it. His feet were tread upon a few more times, but the oddly painless sensation was definitely worth the trade when he finally escaped and found cool, reassuringly solid stone under his fingertips. He focused on letting his breath return to a normal rhythm, tuning out the few exceptional shouts that pinched the wrong emotions. The overall voice of the palace was one of great curiosity and amazement, but the occasional yell that made itself known caused old feelings of anxiousness and fear to reawaken. Atem found himself once again slipping into a frame of mind he had not used since coming here; he found his duelist's persona was rapidly rising up to engulf him, readying him for an oncoming struggle or battle. Somewhat flustered, he shook the feelings from his mind and tried to reason that there would be no battle. Not here, where peace was the underlying current in every unneeded breath. Not here, where only spirituality flowed in the veins of the people.

Not here, surely?

A hand on his shoulder cleared his clouded violet orbs of their confused thoughts. Atem only spared a small glance in the indicated direction, but when he noticed that his father had found him he turned his heart toward him respectfully.

"What news is there?" His prayers had been answered in finally cornering a familiar face, Atem only hoped that his father would have something useful to tell him.

"New souls have arrived." Aknamkanon explained simply, causing his son's expression to momentarily falter. Seeing the look, Aknamkanon crossed his arms and shut his mouth. Atem recognized that look all too well, it was a look he had earned many a time for speaking out of line during his lessons, or getting caught sneaking extra honey cakes from the kitchens after dark. A guilty, child-like blush crept up to his cheeks; he hoped his tan would hide it.

"I am sorry, father. I will endeavor to be more respectful." Atem bowed his head humbly, and it granted the desired effect. His father nodded once and continued in the same, low tone.

"You know these souls."

Atem's head jerked up once more, his heart threatening none too subtly to give up and quit on him if it kept scaring like this. He couldn't speak; fortunately his eyes were so wide his father could read everything in them anyway.

"Your partner is not among them, my son." He whispered, unsure how the news would be taken. Atem was quite unsure whether he should be grateful that Yugi was still alive or merely sad that he still was not here. What are you thinking? He demanded of himself. Don't go wishing for your partner's death you idiot!

"Who comes, then?" Atem finally got around to asking, realizing that the arrivals could be just as important to him. Aknamkanon's face did not shift out of the grimace it had set itself into, a look that was neither comforting nor familiar. He had never seen his father so on edge, so indecisive about anything. The emotion crossed between them and settled in his son as well.

"Father?"

"It is better that I show you, rather than try to explain." Aknamkanon spoke as though there had been no pause. "We will go, but we mustn't be seen."

As much as Atem loved his dear father, a part of him became suspicious the instant they turned from the throng of still mingling people and advanced down a shadowy corridor. Blame all the years of too many enemies hiding in the darkness. He stayed silent and kept his fears to himself, trusting.

But not blindly. He kept his eyes moving constantly, trying to fathom where they could be going. This did not go unnoticed, but Aknamkanon merely waved the matter away with a touch of amused pride. He would have done nothing less, had their roles been reversed. They did not have far to go, soon enough his father led him out onto a balcony that extended off the side of the palace, likely a servants' route.

"There." He pointed, extending his hand to the outer edge of the crowd that had assembled. Atem squinted in the light; the scene was blurred. What appeared to be three large white statues were being pulled toward the palace, everyone from peasant to royalty swarming around them. He wondered at the significance of the statues; they certainly were beautiful, shining brilliantly in the light, but there was something odd about them...

He had only to wonder at why they so teased his memory long enough for one of the 'statues' to rear its head back and roar fiercely at the crowd that hindered its path. Atem grabbed the railing with such intensity he looked as though he was seconds away from vaulting himself over it. People scattered every which way to avoid the dragon's mighty gaze, and with them out of the way, it was not hard to spot the person that walked between them as calmly and coldly as ever before.

Gone were Atem's doubts concerning these new arrivals. There could be no doubt, not after this. His mind seemed caught in a whirlwind, devoting only half of the proper attention to his actions and the reasons behind them. The other half succumbed to instinct, to blind emotion. He turned and briskly walked away without so much as an acknowledging glance in his father's direction. He heard his father's surprised shout long after it had been uttered. He started running at some point, he wasn't certain where. Halls and columns sped past in a blur, leaving the imprints of their symbols on the backs of his eyes. Noise filled his ears and jerked him back to his senses. Slowing, he caught himself before he barreled around the next corner and paused to breathe.

"It's unlike anything I've ever seen."

"Could this be related to-"

"Do you suppose the Gods know-"

"What are we to do?"

Questions and speculations spun in the air around him. Some were curious, some were angry. But the ones that caught and held his attention the most, were the ones that rang out in fear. He tried to find them, but they were lost in a sea of the same. He shouldered his way through the speakers as best he could, despite his sizeable disadvantage.

"It cannot be..."

"Silence, fool! What if-"

"Look, how beautiful they are!"

"You cannot mean to-"

"Who is that?"

"He looks..."

"Hey!"

Atem pushed and prodded at unmoving figures until they realized whom they were hindering and scurried out of his way. He paid them no mind. Eyes locked on the approaching assembly, he moved toward the center of everyone's attention with single-minded intensity that left those who caught the look in his eyes gaping behind him. But the throng thickened the closer he got, eventually becoming as a wall of curious bodies who had no intention of forfeiting their coveted front-row stands. Try as he might, he could not get by them.

Shouting to be heard over the din of the crowd, he only added to the cacophony as the procession passed. Glimpses stolen between fluttering cloaks and shifting stances awarded him with those same flashes of white that dazzled everyone else, but he kept his attention nearer to the ground, where he knew he had last seen him. There he was. Blue eyes surveyed their surroundings with emotionless ease, assured of safety by the three towering monsters on his side. Another, smaller figured walked beside him, their hands linked as tightly as though to never be separate again.

Atem renewed his efforts to get through, shouting out curses, threats and pleas, shoving and pulling and stepping on feet left and right until someone finally took notice of the wrathful mini thunderstorm in their midst. Once it was made known that Pharaoh walked among them, people became slightly less willing to stand in the way, but by the time he managed to squeeze out of the mass and stand free the procession had passed him and was nearing the gates to the palace. He ran for all he was worth, desperate to enter with them.

The gates rumbled hugely, the vibrations trembling through the ground and up his spine. He halted in amazement as every mouth abruptly silenced in awed respect; knees bent, foreheads touched the earth in reverence. He felt exposed as figure after figure suddenly dipped into a bow.

He could not see beyond the back of the latter most dragon, but he sensed the power of the Gods even still. Torn between respect and his own personal desires, he wasn't sure whether to add his murmurs of thanks and blessings to those whispering around him or close the distance between he and his target with one last, mad rush.

In the end he decided on a mix of both. When the dragons began moving again, escorting their charges into the palace, he threw caution to the ground and trampled over it in his desperate run. Surprised whispers laced with his name hovered just under the general noise of the assembled people, but he didn't care. If his actions brought about punishments that would see him through the rest of this life, he would not care. He had to know, he had to get inside and finally figure out what was going on!

Mumbling prayers of thanks and forgiveness, he put on a last burst of speed just as the great stone doors began easing themselves closed. Hurling himself full tilt after them, he managed to slip inside their reach with seconds to spare.

The gate closed with a final and foreboding boom behind him.

~0oOo0~

Silence fell, as thick and complete as any he had ever known. It pressed in on his throat as if forbidding speech; reverence was the first command that came to mind within these omnipresent walls. He felt exposed among the high domed roof; the heavily runed columns stripped him of his authority and left him a mere man trespassing in the Gods abode. Knowing that he was where he should not be, he sought to find a quick hiding place before those very Gods arrived. Guilt began to gnaw at his stomach as he flitted behind a column to find a carving of Horus' Eye staring accusingly at him. Atem tucked his cloak about him defensively. He couldn't turn back now even had he desired to, but he knew that whatever punishment was in store for him would be worth the knowledge he hoped to gain. He had to know what was going on.

The three dragons and their human companions proceeded to the center of the great building before they stopped, bathed in the sunlight from the high rectangular windows cut in the stone near the ceiling. Atem could just see between the massive flanks of two of the beasts, enough to glimpse Mokuba's back and half of Kaiba's right arm.

"Greetings, young ones."

Atem nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice that rumbled like a distant landslide filled the air. In less time than in took to blink, Obelisk the Tormentor abruptly appeared on one of the massive thrones before them. The pharaoh did blink for a moment before determining that it had been no illusion. The God's eyes burned holes with the intensity of his gaze. As one, the massive heads of the dragons dipped into a respectful bow. Obelisk nodded to himself and turned his attention downward and addressed the brothers.

"Seto Kaiba. Mokuba Kaiba. You have my deepest gratitude for choosing to speak with me this day. I have no doubt that you have many questions you would wish to see answered. However," The God shifted a bit, his huge bulk scraping against the gold of the chair. "You must understand that there are some puzzles that even I should not try to solve. You will have to find answers to them yourself."

The brothers did not say anything at first, obviously unsure. Seto looked as though he would maintain a stony silence, but when he spoke his voice still strong and remarkably arrogant, even as Atem remembered it.

"Why are we here?" The demand held considerably less respect than Atem would have thought wise. Clearly Kaiba was remembering a time when Obelisk served him, and was finding humility difficult. Mokuba glanced up at the dragons, forming his own line of questions. Obelisk rumbled from deep in his chest and closed his eyes.

"I had thought that would be your first inquiry. Seto Kaiba, what I tell you now I expect you to take as you will. You have never been one to allow outside forces to view the way the world and its inhabitants work, and what I say to you will challenge that like never before. You have denied your connection to Ancient Egypt for years, and I sense that you still cannot fully accept that you once lived in these hallowed lands. Your essence contradicts everything you have learned to trust in. I ask only that you listen, Seto Kaiba; and you as well, young Mokuba. What truths lie in my words are yours to decide."

With that said, the God bent somewhat and extended the tip of one wicked claw to the floor. There came a flash of light and Obelisk withdrew, leaving a hole in the stone that gazed into some foreign land.

"What you see before you is known as the Dominion of the Beasts. Seto, it is here you met Sir Critias, when the world demanded your assistance in defeating the Leviathan. See how it has changed since your visit."

Atem tried and failed to see just what the God was imparting to Kaiba, no matter how he craned his neck it seemed that the vision was doomed to lie just beyond his sight. Cursing, he hid behind the column once more and tried determine if moving closer would expose him. He measured the distance between the next column to his right; the path was mostly covered in shadow. If he could time it right, he would be able to get closer to the God without his seeing.

"The Heart of the Cards is at war with itself."

Atem dropped his plan and inched around the column again, desperately hoping his distraction had garbled the words.

"See the monsters that pace restlessly about their homes. See how their eyes glow with vengeance. After all of these years of mistreatment and abuse, hatred for their unworthy masters has finally grown strong enough to grant strength to where it should never be granted. They are gathering, fighting against those in the realm who remain loyal to their masters. Their numbers are many; the time is nigh upon us when the darkest half of the Heart will be strong enough to cross into the mortal world. This time, there will be nothing that can stop them."

Ice flooded Atem's veins. The God's rumbling words slammed into the former pharaoh like a fist. Obelisk's fist. He couldn't think. He could scarcely draw breath. A rolling wave of emotion pounded through his head, spear-headed with a word, a name, a plea. Yugi!

Obelisk sat back once more in his throne, his expression betraying nothing. Seto shook his head to clear it, his eyes wide. Mokuba looked as though he might be sick. After giving them a moment to recover from all he had shown them, Obelisk continued in the same, rumbling monotone.

"You are here because of your loyalty. Your dragons know of the fate of the Dominion of the Beasts, as does every monster. They brought you here at great risk, turning as they did upon their brethren to save you. With their power gone, both sides of the war will suffer."

The unified roar from the dragons blew so strongly through the halls that Atem clapped his hands over his ears. Obelisk did not blink.

"Seto Kaiba, Mokuba Kaiba, your faith in the Heart and your loyalty to your monsters has saved you from a terrible fate. Nothing can stop this calamity, and nothing shall. War will engulf the earth, and mortal man shall pay dearly for the great betrayal that was wrought eons ago."

"But why?" Kaiba shouted, losing his stoic mask for the first time since the conversation had begun. "You Gods are supposed to be all powerful. You could stop this if you wanted to, but you won't. Why?"

If Atem had been surprised at Kaiba's brazen behaviour before, he was utterly stunned now. That Kaiba had dared speak to a God in such a way was a mark of his arrogance, his confidence in facing a threat larger than him. Obelisk did not answer for a long while, but he did not seem angered. His head bowed as if he was having difficulty deciding something.

"We knew of this war long before it was to happen." He finally admitted. Atem felt his jaw drop, more ice ricocheting up his spine. "But it is not our place to intervene. Long have we stood by man, guiding him, protecting him. And yet he turned his back on us, just as he did to his brethren before the start of time. Why should we continue to coddle mortal man, why should we continue to bend to every whim and desire, only to break and be discarded? You yourself, Seto Kaiba, would have treated your monsters as nothing, less than nothing, had you not met one with faith in the Heart strong enough to sway you. Yugi Moto was your salvation."

Kaiba stiffened at the mention of his arch-rival's name, as did Atem.

"Because of that meeting, your heart was cleared and your eyes opened to the truth. Though it was long before you openly considered accepting it, your heart had been cleansed that day and began a transformation. You became a new man, one with an increased understanding of his monsters and that understanding is why you are not currently fighting in vain for your life on Earth."

Seto didn't blink, but the God had seen enough in his eyes not to press the matter farther.

"You still haven't answered my question." Kaiba said, so quietly Atem almost didn't catch it, as far away as he was.

"Ah yes. It is a simple matter, but its path can become tangled. You see, Fate had a hand in your meeting with Yugi as well. You know now, as you may have then, that the person with whom you Dueled was not Yugi Moto. Not fully. He was the soul of an ancient Pharaoh, your rival for thousands of years."

At these words, the God's red eyes flicked upward. Atem flew back behind the column's shadow the moment the eyes had moved, but the bottom dropped from his stomach as he knew he had certainly been spotted. Though after many tense seconds in which nothing happened, Atem heard Obelisk speak again.

"But despite everything you have been through, all that you have seen, your heart still will not accept Egypt as its final resting place." Obelisk's gaze drilled into Kaiba's blue eyes. "You are dead, Seto Kaiba." He said bluntly. "But you are more fortunate than most. You will not have to witness the fall of man. You, your brother, and your dragons have a better place to join with, and it is not here. All that I have told you, you needed to know. You deserved that much at least. However, you are here because there is one who would meet you, at least once, before you passed on to your own eternal resting place."

Turning one massive hand to the small doors to his left, Obelisk flicked his fingers and let one door swing open. There, garbed in the simplest of simple clothes, was a figure Seto recognized.

The woman stepped into the room shyly, but she had not taken more than a few steps before she turned back, waiting for someone else. A man garbed in the robes and ceremonial headgear of the High Priest followed after her, his eyes sparing a reassuring glance at her face before they locked with their twin's on the other side of the room.

Silence engulfed the hall as the four sized each other up. When the newcomers had crossed the room they fell into respectful bows. Mokuba did the same, but Seto merely gave a swift jerk of his head and said nothing.

"High Preist Seto and Lady Kisara, meet Seto and Mokuba Kaiba."

Atem could not help but hold his breath as the two figures most alike in the room glared at one another without emotion. Oddly though, despite the silence, there was little tension in the air between them, and what little could be found was broken when one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons leaned over the pair and placed its great head within Lady Kisara's reach. She smiled and lifted a hand to the dragon's nose, closing her eyes. A brilliant white light speared out from her, twisting up into the air and solidifying until a fourth Blue-Eyes emerged. The dragon gave a happy roar, echoed in the calls of its lost brethren.

Kaiba didn't bother to ask how. A brief mental flash of his own hands tearing a fourth Blue-Eyes card rippled through his mind, and the High Priest nodded.

"Your debt for that loss has been paid, in full." He said. "Else you would not be here."

Mokuba stepped out of his brother's shadow and looked up at Seto's counterpart. "So, now what?"

The High Priest looked at the young boy and smiled slightly. "Now, the both of you must make a choice. This is a sacred place, a resting place, for those who no longer call the world of the living their own. If you stay here, you will not pass on to your own personal afterlife, but will be able to see the events that will decide the Earth's fate play out if you so desire. Should you wish it, we can send you along together. Though as with all things, we cannot guarantee where you will end up, or what will be in store for you. That will be for you to decide."

Mokuba glanced up at his brother to find the elder Kaiba already looking at him. They didn't need to speak. Though Mokuba was scared, very scared, with Seto beside him he would be all right. He felt very light, almost drowsy, as though he was merely dreaming. He knew it was real, but there was no fear. He would be safe with his brother, he knew that much.

Seto had resigned himself to his fate, it seemed. Though his shoulders did not lose their stiffness, nor his face its hard set, all could tell that he was ready to go. He of all of them had changed the most, yet had somehow remained so much the same. Egypt would never be his home, but he was ready to find out where he did belong; they both were.

With a nod, the brothers turned as one to face the pair. Kisara smiled, and spoke.

"The heart and the mind have slept apart for too long now. Let them join, and find peace in eternity." She said softly, as her dragon moved forward. Nuzzling each of the others in turn, they appeared to be saying their goodbyes. Then, as one, the three that called Seto Kaiba their master turned and spread their wings over the two, cocooning them until they were completely smothered. With a unified cry and a burst of blue light, the entire mass vanished, leaving only the silence and the echoes of that final roar.