Wow… last chap… my god I thought I'd never get here. XD Thank god I did though since it seems to be more popular than anything I've ever written before. Anyway, Have fun reading ghte epilogue and R&R!

--: Epilogue :--
Home Away From Home

Pharaoh,

I want to apologize for the way my daughter acted while in Egypt . What she did was unforgivable and she will be severely punished. She has already lost her right to the Libyan throne, and any other measures you see fit to take will immediately be executed, though I pray you can forgive her enough not to ask for her death. Although by law you have every right to ask for her life, I can't help but hope you will let her live.

I pray this ordeal will not cause any conflict between our countries, and that we may continue to co-exist as we have throughout all these years.

Yours sincerely,
The King of Libya

Atemu smirked as he lay the letter down next to his bed on the small table, his hand still running through the hair of a softly purring Yuugi. Even in human form the other definitely retained some cat-like qualities, and because of that it was usually very easy to keep the other content.

He looked around at the other six present in the room. Bakura was looking very satisfied, though it was quite obvious in his eyes that he would like to ask for Teana's death. He most likely didn't voice that opinion because of Ryou, knowing the boy wouldn't forgive him if he said something like that. Ryou was simply too forgiving to ask for someone's life, even in a situation like this. And with Ryou and Bakura now together as a couple – something which had actually taken another week after Zorc's attack to happen because Bakura was a stubborn prick – the former King of Thieves wouldn't dare anger Ryou.

It would probably be very bad for their night-time activities.

Mariku and Malik had barely paid attention to the letter as Atemu had read it out loud. Mariku was far too busy half molesting Malik, and Malik was too busy trying to ignore the other. A doomed mission of course, because by now Mariku knew exactly where to touch to get the other to respond. Still, for as far as they had paid attention to Atemu, Mariku had started to snicker at what Atemu imagined to be Teana's face when she'd gotten home to hear she would not become Queen of Libya.

Jou was grinning, trying to hold back his laughter at probably the same thought. During the time that Jou had pretended to be a servant at the palace, Teana had managed to annoy him to a point where he wished her all the bad luck in the world. Not getting the throne of Libya and having to undergo any punishment Atemu could come up with was a very good start.

Seth had a similar smirk to Atemu's on his face, glad that Teana was gone, would never come back, and was no doubt feeling miserable. The brunette gave an amused look at the blonde next to him, the arm that was wrapped around the other's waist tightening slightly. Atemu would've loved to say the two were cute, but doubted Seth would stay in a good mood if he did. Any other time he would've jumped at the chance to annoy his cousin, but right now he was too content with the victorious atmosphere in the room.

"So what are you going to come up with to punish her?" Atemu glanced down at Yuugi, the other having opened his eyes now and staring at him in curiosity, "I mean, you're not really going to ask them to kill her, right?" Yuugi frowned slightly.

Atemu shook his head, and could see the scowl Bakura gained from the corner of his eye, "No, I think losing her right to the throne was already a blow far worse than death for her, especially after everything that happened here. I'm sure Bakura and Mariku can help me come up with something else to demand though."

Bakura's face instantly lit up again, a plotting smirk appearing as he started to think of things they could ask. Mariku tore his attention away from Malik for a moment, meeting Bakura's eyes with the same look as the other. "Oh yes," Bakura grinned, "I think we can help you with that." He simply ignored the reproving look Ryou threw at him.

It had been a month since Zorc's attack, and Bakura had finally started to warm up to Atemu. The white-haired former thief still loved to annoy Atemu and that would probably never change, but the suspicious glances and distrustful aura had finally disappeared and they could now be in the same room together without the temperature dropping several degrees.

"For some reason, I think death might be going easy on her all of a sudden." Yuugi chuckled slightly but made no attempt to change anyone's mind not to think of the worst things possible without killing someone. He simply snuggled closer to Atemu, enjoying his attention for as long as it lasted. No doubt Shimon would burst into the room not too long from now to demand that Atemu go back to his duties.

Really, Yuugi swore that old man was a workaholic. Strangely, Shimon reminded him of his grandfather.

Bakura, lazily sitting at the end of Atemu's bed with Ryou in his lap, smirked at Yuugi's comment, "And I bet she thought her life couldn't get any worse after I… let slip what she'd done." He gained an amused look from most of the people in the room.

"Yes, I'm sure you only 'let slip' that she'd betrayed Egypt . It wasn't intentional at all." Atemu chuckled as Bakura attempted to look innocent, but failed miserably, "And of course you weren't laughing like a maniac at how she responded either." Bakura gave up on his attempt to look innocent and simply smirked at the memory.

--: Flashback :--

"Atemu!" Teana flew at an already twitching Atemu, throwing her arms around him in, what he thought, was an attempt to suffocate him. Of course that wasn't very likely since the girl was hopelessly in love with him, but really, he could barely breathe at the moment so his brain wasn't working properly.

"Teana, let go before you suffocate me!" Atemu managed to wrench loose and Teana gave him an apologetic smile. Hikari rolled his eyes, forcing his body to keep up the transformation for just a bit longer.

"I'm sorry," Teana latched onto Atemu's arm instead, before noticing two of the new arrivals. Two people who were all-too familiar to her, but whom she hadn't ever wanted to see within the palace walls while she was still there. Her eyes widened as she saw Bakura smirking at her, Mariku happily humming behind him as he hugged a half annoyed looking teen who looked oddly like him, "What are they doing here?!"

Atemu sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Long story…" he looked distractedly around to find Shimon, the only person who should actually be informed of that long story for now. The older man was staring in shock at the former enemies as well and Atemu sighed again. This had already been a long day, and at this moment it seemed like it would go on forever.

He quickly informed Shimon about everything that had happened, the other listening intently as Teana, still staring in horror at the two newcomers, tried to desperately find a way to make sure neither of them would say anything about her visit to them. Obviously they weren't going to try and take over Egypt anymore, let alone kill Hikari for her, so she had the distinct feeling her secret wasn't safe at all with them.

Bakura watched the brunette Princess in amusement, in his mind trying to find a casual way to tell Atemu that his biggest admirer had actually committed high treason by telling them who Hikari really was. Not that it had helped them in the end, but betraying Atemu like that was still treason.

"So all this time… there was someone else controlling those two? And you just made them High Priests?!" Shimon stared in disbelief. Atemu rubbed his temple, feeling an argument coming and with that, a severe headache.

"If you want to yell at me, at least do it somewhere where the entire palace can't hear us." He started off towards the room where they held all their council meeting, beckoning the other Priests to come along. Shimon's eyes narrowed but he followed nonetheless.

Just before entering the room, Bakura glanced at Teana, the girl still standing uncertainly in the hall, staring at Atemu in a half offended – he was ignoring her – and half scared way – he was going into a room with the two people who would most likely give away her secret in a heartbeat. Well, who was he to disappoint?

"Shouldn't she be gone by now?" he commented casually towards Atemu, still distrustful of the other but for now putting that aside for some fun.

Atemu rose an eyebrow at the comment, "And why is that, Bakura?" he glanced at Teana who's eyes had widened at Bakura's words, her eyes seeming to plead for something he didn't know. He frowned at that.

Bakura rose his eyebrow as if surprised, "Well I thought traitors, even if they are princesses, would be at least be banished… or given the death penalty even."

The hall went silent and all the Priests that had already passed Atemu looked around in shock at what the thief was saying. Atemu narrowed his eyes.

"And how, pray tell, did she betray me?" The fact that Teana was looking desperate at the moment was a clear sign that Bakura wasn't making this up.

Bakura, now having to put effort into not bursting into laughter at Teana's expression, managed to keep up his surprised look though only barely, "You don't know? I'd have though that you would keep a closer eye on your future wife." Atemu scowled but Bakura didn't give him any time to interrupt, "She came to me not too long ago, saying she'd found out who Hikari was. If I would kill off your kitty-cat but let you live to be dragged off to Libya to marry her," Bakura motioned at Teana, "She'd tell me who Hikari really was."

There was another silence before two furious sets of eyes glared at Teana, a combined 'what?!' sounding though one was mental and one was vocal. Hikari glared in anger at the brunette now glancing nervously between the people around her.

"Wh-what? Of course I didn't d-do that!" Atemu's glare only became harsher at the obvious lie. Hikari had to put in visibly effort not to attack the girl.

/ Do you have any idea what you did by telling those two who I am?! Do you know what could've happened today if they'd actually managed to kill me?! / Teana cowered and Atemu came closer, stopping right in front of the girl. For a moment it seemed like he was going to just yell at her before he rose a hand and slapped her across the face.

There was more shocked silence. Never before had Atemu ever hit anyone like that. He'd always managed to stay calm and collected, fixing his problems through talking even if he was angry.

Teana looked at him with tear-stained eyes, "Atemu-"

"Silence." Teana instantly stopped talking at the dangerously spoken words, "Over the past few weeks you have been nothing but a burden. You've been annoying me from the very start but I put up with it all because we used to be friends and I knew you would no doubt complain to your father like the spoiled brat you are if I did anything wrong. This time, however, you have stepped very far over the line." He turned around, walking back towards the other Priests, ignoring Bakura who was ineffectively trying to stop himself from laughing. "Pack your things; you're leaving. As of today, you are banished from Egypt for high treason."

Atemu walked through the large doors towards the council room, leaving behind a shocked and by now crying Teana. Hikari gave her a cold look before letting Malik and Ryou pull him away and leading the two to Atemu's bedroom where Jou would no doubt be waiting for them.

Teana stared after Atemu, tears streaming down her face, before collapsing to the ground in sobs. The servants who had been watching the scene shared looks before simply going on with their work; Teana had annoyed them too much for them to care about her now, especially since she probably deserved worse than just this.

--: End of Flashback :--

Not long after that Yuugi had reluctantly showed the rest of the council who he really was too, and the fact that he and Atemu were a couple seemed to have been old news to everyone. Now that the war was over and Malik, Ryou and Jou had happily agreed to live in the palace, there wasn't much reason for him not to tell at least the council.

Jou was officially released from servant duty and it was also common knowledge that he and Seth were together, their arguments by now legendary and always a source of entertainment. There was never a boring day when those two were around. One minute they'd be fighting, the next one of them would've kissed the other to shut him up and not ten minutes later, they'd be arguing again about seemingly nothing. How the two managed to stay together not many knew, but at least it made for some interesting scenes.

Bakura and Mariku, as Bakura had said, had wasted no time in making Atemu's life a lot harder for him. Council meetings were often disrupted, neither of the two showed respect to anyone – though in Mariku case this seemed to be more because of his childish nature and not because he wanted to cause trouble on purpose – but luckily after Ryou and Bakura had finally gotten together, Ryou had managed to tame Bakura at least a little.

Not a lot, though.

And now, with Teana back home with her father and in obvious trouble, everything would hopefully calm down a bit. Since Teana's father had already sent a lot of gifts and the letter in hopes of Atemu forgiving him, Atemu saw no reason to do anything that would cause a conflict between their countries. All he'd really wanted was that Teana would be punished for what she'd done, so even all the gifts were more than he'd needed.

On top of that, his army was in the Shadow Realm. What was he going to do? Yell until they surrendered?

"Atemu!" The door swung open and, as expected, there stood Shimon, glaring angrily at his young king, "Where have you been all this time?! You have duties to fulfil!" his gaze turned to an amused looking Bakura and a still distracted Mariku, "And the same goes for you two! Being a High Priest doesn't mean you can just louge about the palace without doing anything. You have work to do! And Seth!" The man whirled on the brunette, "I thought you knew better!"

With a groan Atemu, Seth and Bakura got up, Ryou, Jou and Yuugi throwing amused looks at their lovers. Mariku however, was still completely absorbed in his 'Malik-pretty' and had seemingly not caught a thing that had just been said. Atemu and Bakura gave each other one glance before dragging a now profusely protesting Mariku with them, Seth following with an amused smirk on his face. Malik, although he'd probably never admit it out loud, stared after them in disappointment, inwardly cursing Shimon for showing up.

The blonde sighed and flopped down on the bed next to Yuugi lazily, "So, what are we going to do while they annoy the hell out of each other?"

Jou sat down as well and shrugged, as usual having no ideas himself and leaving it up to the rest to decide what they would do, "I dunno, I doubt dere's a market in da palace we can terrorize."

Malik snickered at the memory of all the times they had 'terrorized' the market in the nearby town, "Maybe not… but there are a lot of other people in this palace to terrorize…" he gained a thoughtful though mischievous look, which was probably one of the most dangerous looks Malik could have. The other three shared glances.

"Haven't you been doing that for the past month already…?" Ryou frowned, "The servants here must already be scared to death of you."

Malik snapped out of his thoughts and simply shrugged, grinning widely as he got up, "At least they all know who I am! Anyone else coming?" He glanced back to the three still on the bed.

"I think he didn't get enough love when he was a baby." Yuugi snickered at Jou's words and Ryou gave a slight smile, making an obvious effort to hold back his laugher. Malik huffed at the comment before walking away, muttering under his breath about lousy friends.

"I think he'll destroy the palace if we don't keep an eye on him." Yuugi sighed and got up from the bed, glancing back at the other two, "Maybe we can save some people if we tag along."

The other two reluctantly got off the bed – they'd been quite comfortable – and followed Yuugi, who seemed to know exactly where they were going even though Malik was already out of sight. Life wasn't so bad here, and as long as they could keep Malik from doing permanent damage to the palace, none of them planned to complain about their new home away from home.

And that, dear people, is IT! Lion Heart is officially finished! My god I thought I'd never get this done what with all the trouble it gave me… but I still managed it XD Yes, I feel quite proud of myself now. Well, I hope you all enjoyed the fic and Review for one more time! Cya when I actually manage to get inspiration for a new fic!

Moony

P.S.: Before I forget… which I have been doing since chapter 1 v.v This fic was originally inspired by 'On The Prowl' by 'Zephyr-Sombra'. If you don't know her fics, you really should go check it out because she rocks! One of the best authors on this site with ease XD