Chapter 3: - Meeting
When Ichiro had been informed that he was going to be part of the small group of Shiragiku that were going to protect those who had put an end to The Attack, he hadn't really know what to expect. Maybe a bunch of adults who had access to some unknown pool of knowledge that had allowed them to get rid of the 'Shadows' or a group of powerful old Madoushi who had been able to pool their resources and cast something that had scared away the darkness, in some back water section of town.
What he hadn't expected was to be looking after a group of young men and women between the ages of 14 and 23, some of whom were still unconscious more than twenty four hours after the battle and weren't expected to wake up for days yet. If that wasn't enough, they were in the largest and most expensive looking house he had ever seen, and it was making him quite uncomfortable.
Still, it could be much worse. The food was good, his charges were polite and he was on duty with his partner, a Nekomata called Akane and his fiancé, Fujitaka Rei. Normally he and Rei didn't get sent out on the same missions, but it had been insisted on that the trios who guarded the mansion knew each other well enough that no one could possibly infiltrate the group without it being noticed.
"Ichiro." He turned around at a growl from his partner, "We've got trouble."
The Madoushi frowned as he reached for his wand, wondering what could have happened considering that everything seemed to be calm around the house. "What's happened?"
"There's a bug in the mansion." The nekomata, who was four foot long from nose to tail tips, growled, her tails twitching, her ears flat against her head, "A weird one."
"What kind of weird bug?" Ichiro asked as he followed the feline down the hallway, semi-concerned and semi-amused by the way his partner's tails were twitching. Akane tended to get irritable about the smallest things, though with things the way they were at the moment, he could understand why she was wary of anything 'odd'.
"It wasn't a normal shape or size, it had these weird markings around its eyes and it smelt human." Akane complained as she led him to where she'd last seen the bug. "I caught it, but it escaped from me when I was startled by the butler." Akane huffed, "I should have eaten it."
"You know the boss doesn't like it when you eat the suspects." Ichiro teased, remembering the rare occasions that they'd been dragged into the office after Akane had done just that. It wouldn't have been as funny if the criminals in question hadn't decided that the best way to escape a nekomata was to transform themselves into mice. After that mistake they had practically asked for it.
"Yeah, yeah." Akane's tails twitched as she spoke, "I'll be good. Just keep an eye out for that bug, it's not normal."
"Nothing in this situation is normal." Ichiro snorted.
"Weird magic is nothing unusual." Akane snorted, used to the weird types of magic that made up her home country, "I just object to people invading private property."
Ichiro just nodded, acknowledging her point, after all they helped deal with the fall out from spirits and odd strains of magic regularly, it was something that was inevitable when the magicals and mundanes lived as close together as they did in Japan. The general consensus was that those who wanted to pay attention to it, like those who visited the mikos in the shrines, could do so, and those who didn't could go on with their daily lives and just ignore it.
"I'll do you a deal." Ichiro sighed at his partner, wondering if the bug in question was an animal spirit like his partner or something else entirely. If Akane was right and it smelt human, then he really couldn't let her eat it because it could be a person, "If it's just an odd bug, you can eat it. If it's something else we'll take it in, deal?"
"I suppose I can settle for that." Akane nodded, "But if I can't eat the bug, I want a big meal once we're off duty…"
"Akane, as long as we have a quiet shift, I'll get you a huge meal once we're done for the day." Ichiro promised, "Now, let's find this bug."
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"Speaker Saitou," Atem offered a deep bow to the Speaker for Magical Japan, glad Seto had thought to give him a heads up on what everyone looked like in advance. It was something Seth would have done for him in the old days, though there hadn't been photos back in Ancient Egypt, "It's an honour to meet you."
"Mutou-San." The Speaker for Magical Japan bowed back, just as deeply. "I'd like to say the same but considering the circumstances…"
"I understand." Atem waved it off, confused momentarily by the way the Minister's bodyguards bristled at his actions until he remembered that he wasn't Pharaoh here and he was expected to show certain levels of respect for Minister Saitou. "This is my advisor, Mahado," He introduced the Dark Magician, who nodded to the man. To Atem's pleased surprise, Minister Saitou nodded back respectfully, "And my best friend, Wheeler Joseph." He gestured towards Joey who bowed respectfully to the Minister, "They will be able to answer any questions I cannot."
Seto snorted, semi-surprised that Atem would bring the Mutt, who never seemed to lose that street punk look no matter how hard he tried into such important talks... unless it was because, just as the Minister had his imposing bodyguards, Atem had Mahado and Joey to back him up and they weren't exactly easy to dismiss out of hand.
The Minister bowed in reply, looking amused as he straightened up, "Wheeler-San, I wondered if you'd be here. I have to thank you for everything you did during the Attack."
Since Joey had no idea what Kaiba had told the Ministry, he just nodded and watched as the Minister, Kaiba and Atem took seats before taking a leaf from Mahado's book and standing just behind Atem. The Pharaoh shot a look over his shoulder that was a combination of amusement and gratefulness before turning his full focus on the Minister.
"Before we begin, how is your brother?" The Speaker surprised Atem by showing concern for the health of his hikari, "I heard he nearly lost his life during the battle."
"It was close, but he will be fine." Atem reassured the Minister even as he mentally winced at this reminder of how close the pair of them had come to dying. He remembered enough political meetings to be almost certain that Saitou was asking out of pleasantries rather than actual concern. "The healers you've assigned to my friends and I are making sure of that."
"That's good news. You'd be surprised how many fans of you 'twins' appear to work in my Ministry." Minister Saitou nodded, with a small smile. The emphasis he put on 'twins' made Atem wonder just how much the Ministry knew. "And I'm afraid that number has risen after your actions yesterday."
Atem smiled slightly at his words, though part of him felt that the others deserved more praise for their actions yesterday then he did, especially Yugi, while the other was on guard since the Ministry obviously knew more than he had realised, "I thank you for the support that you are offering us though I must ask why it is only now that we are learning of the Ministry from our home country?"
"We've been aware of the Shadow Problem for a long time but while you and your, at the time, host Mutou Yugi were able to handle the problem without an international incident unfolding, we were content to let the situation lie. Of course we always had a backup plan just in case something went wrong but we didn't see that interference was necessary unless you failed to stop whatever was going on." The Minister informed him, "At the time it appeared to be the wisest course of action considering that you were the strongest of the Shadow Duellists around and we had no one who knew or understood what the Shadows were or why they had suddenly appeared here in Japan."
Atem, who had tensed up when they'd mentioned the fact Yugi had been his host, nodded slightly, wondering if he should have been much more careful about how he acted back then. Especially considering that the Dueling community had thought Yugi was bipolar, possessed or had a hidden twin somewhere that he only let out to duel.
It didn't help his mood that the Ministry had been aware of the Shadow magic in Domino long before he and his friends had been aware of the existence of wizards. It changed the state of play, tipping it in the Ministry's favour, since it meant that they were aware of a lot more than Atem had been willing to give up, at least at this point. However it did mean that there would be much less explanation needed, meaning the talks could go much faster.
"What changed?" Something had to have done, for them to suddenly be shipped to England when the Japanese Ministry had been aware of the situation and had been happy to leave them alone.
"Li Xuan."
Atem scowled at the man's name. They'd had many enemies over the years, some of whom had been worse than others, but there hadn't been many who had attempted to imitate the Shadows, and only he had used wand spells to create 'Shadow Games' of his own, using illusion creating spells, legilimency and unforgivables to make it look as if he could control the Shadows just as Atem himself could.
Atem had never forgiven the man for his invasion of Joey's mind or the pain he'd caused Kari. He'd been very lucky not to end up in a realShadow Game for his actions. It had only been the timely arrival of...
"The Aurors who arrested him." Atem twigged.
"Indeed." Saitou nodded, "He told them everything and with a little digging around," and a couple of cases of bribery, not that he told Atem that, "The International Confederation of Wizards found out about the Millennium Items and all of you."
"Which, I'm guessing, was when we were sent to Hogwarts." Atem half asked, half assumed correctly.
"I can assure you now that the Ministry for Magical Japan is done bowing to the demands of the Confederation." The Speaker looked ill amused, "While there were reasons for submitting to their whims four years ago, those are no longer an issue and we don't agree that the arrest and execution of the only people who understand what is going on is necessary at all."
"Thankfully." Joey muttered behind him, causing Atem to nod his agreement even as Mahado shot the blonde a sharp look.
"Seto informed me it's not recent events that you wish to speak of." Atem said, easily able to imagine the look that his guardian would be giving his friend and wanting to move the talks forward, "But those that happened five thousand years ago."
"Indeed." The Minister glanced at Seto, unsurprised but wondering what else of the talks that had been going on over the last twenty four hours had been shared with the man who had once been the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "Yesterday's Attack spawned from what happened while you were on the throne and…" The Minister paused when something flickered across Atem's face but he couldn't read emotions well enough to catch it. "Mutou-San?"
"The Attack yesterday was the result of not my orders, but the manipulation of a High Priest who served my father." Atem replied slowly, thinking how to word it without giving away exactly what had happened to cause Bakura to do what he had done. Not that he would ever be able to forget what had happened to the villagers of Kul Elna, nor should he, but informing the Ministry of it was bad idea, "However the Shadows were around a very long time before High Priest Akhenaden created the Millennium Items. They were created as focuses to allow us control the Shadows and do more with magic than call our personal Ka beasts, much like your wands are today."
That was as close to the truth as Atem would allow at this stage and, thankfully, it appeared to be enough for the Minister at least for now, though Atem could imagine that there would be questions later. "If the Shadows have always been around, why have they only reappeared in the last nine years?"
Atem frowned slightly as he tried to come up with a version of events that didn't mention the fact he'd torn his soul in two, "My country came under attack from the creature that Malfoy Bakura summoned yesterday and when I sealed it away, I sealed the Shadows at the same time."
"That's when you trapped yourself in the Puzzle?" The Minister asked, surprising Atem with his ability to put two and two together and get four, a refreshing change from the Ministries he'd dealt with before.
Atem nodded, "The spells didn't hold as well as they should have done though." He continued, "And by the time Yugi freed me, nine years ago, Bakura had been working for thousands of years, using various hosts, to weaken the seal. He finally managed to get the key to the seal yesterday morning. He freed Zorc, the creature that attacked Egypt, and unleashed the Shadows at the same. They rampaged because Zorc was controlling them, but now he's dead…"
"With all due respect, Mutou-San, if you could kill Zorc, why didn't you do so five thousand years ago?"
"I didn't have the power to kill Zorc back then." Atem admitted, though he hated admitting any shortcoming. "Otherwise I would have done."
"What changed?"
"Last time my priests were dead, dying or possessed and I was alone on the battlefield." Atem replied, not wanting to go into full details, "This time I had backup in the form of my friends and my brother."
Saitou nodded his understanding, not bringing up the fact that that acting as backup had nearly gotten some of the Pharaoh's friends killed.
"And before you ask," Atem could just see the next question coming, "It's not possible to seal the Shadows again. The spell was a last resort in Egypt and even if it was a viable option, which it isn't now Zorc's no longer around, drawing in the Shadows, creating a focal point... I'm the only person who knows the ritual and I don't know how it ended."
And there went one option out of the window. "What about the Duel Monsters? What is the situation there? I thought they were just drawings on cardboard, no offence meant," He looked at Mahado who shrugged back, "Not real, living, breathing magical creatures."
"Mahado knows the Monster World much better than I do." Atem informed the Minister, "I can tell you what I know, but he has spent the last five thousand years among the other Duel Monsters. He knows them better then I do."
"There's a world of monsters?" Saitou nearly choked on his surprise.
"They have to have somewhere to live when they're not answering to us Duellists." Atem replied with a small smile, remembering being just as surprised when he'd first found out.
"Then, please excuse me for asking but how do we control the flow of Monsters between the worlds and do we have any threats to worry about from that end?"
Atem looked to Mahado, gesturing for him to speak, "We don't have anything like Zorc to worry about and since the end of the war, there aren't any great battles going on." The Dark Magician said, thinking, "Not that the Monster World is peaceful by any stretch of the imagination. We have our own problems but there's nothing that should over spill to the human world. The Monsters in question don't have Duellists and have no reason to cause problems in the Human World even if they do make it here safely."
Atem made a mental note to ask Mahado about any problems he was having and wondered why he hadn't thought to ask before when Mahado spoke again, "As for controlling the flow of monsters between this world and ours, it'll be difficult. With the Shadows dispersed throughout the world and the Shadow-Touched all awakened, if the monsters sense that their Duellist is in danger they will come to help and taking the cards away won't help in certain cases."
"Certain cases?"
"Some Duel Monsters will only defend their Duellist if they're carrying their card on them, others, like myself, have chosen one Duellist and one Duellist only and know instinctively when they're in trouble." Joey coughed when Mahado said that, wondering when Yugi and Yami weren't in trouble, "So they'll come to their aid. Those ones are normally the Deck Leaders, or Partner Monsters. Not to mention that I don't doubt that people will be able to start summoning their Ka beasts now and those come from a person, rather than the Monster World."
Saitou blinked as he tried to take all of it in.
"What else would you like to know?" Atem asked, trying to hide his amusement, having often wondered how people outside their group would react to having a lot of the secrets that the Clan kept dumped on them at once.
Minister Saitou paused for a moment before nodding slightly and pulling out a notebook, causing Atem to groan mentally, "I have a list…"
'This is going to be a long day.'
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"If you sneak one more of those Canary Creams in my food, Fred, I swear you'll be sneezing bats for a month." Ginny growled as she pointed her wand at the twin, who just gave her an innocent smile back.
"But sister dearest, how could you ever suspect us of sneaking them into yourfood?" Fred protested, his eyes flickering towards Ron, who was sulking on the sofa nearest the fire, bored out of his mind.
"Indeed, we wouldn't dare aggravate our darling Summoner Sister." George agreed as Ginny paused, having noticed the emphasis on Fred's 'your', but added in a whisper, "But a certain brother who's still getting the hang of this summoning lark might be switching plates with her."
Ginny turned her glower on the unsuspecting Ronald, who had no idea that he was about to get an ear full and the twins snuck off while she was lambasting him. Not that they had anywhere in particular to go. Not while they were basically confined to the Room of Requirements.
Though they could understand why it was necessary, the four of them didn't really consider it fair that they were being punished for helping protect the school, especially when they hadn't been the only 'Shadow-Touched' students in the hall that day.
"So… how long do you think we'll be stuck in here?" Fred asked, laying back on one of the beds that were in one corner of their little 'Safe House' as their sister started shouting.
George didn't get to reply as the sound of the doors opening startled the pair of them into darting back into the main section in time to see Professors Moody and Lupin entering the room.
Before anyone could say a word, Ginny had drawn her wand and had trained it on the two much older, much better trained wizards, "Password?"
"Caput Draconis." Moody and Lupin answered in the same moment, causing Ginny to lower her wand.
"Sorry, Professors…" Ginny started but Moody shook his head with a gruff sounding bark of a laugh.
"No need to be sorry with reaction times like yours girl." He snorted, "You've been training with the Pharaoh and his ilk." It was a statement rather than a question, but she acknowledged the point with a nod. To be honest, Ginny missed training with her friends, it wasn't the same on her own and her brothers couldn't, or wouldn't, give her a challenge.
Ron shot Ginny a slightly envious look, well aware that his lack of training the previous year, up until just after New Years at least, had been his own fault with the way he had been acting towards the rest of the group, especially Harry, but unable to help wondering if that training was what was allowing her to summon much easier than he could.
"What's up, Professors?" Fred asked, lazing against the back of Ron's sofa, unconcerned if Dumbledore had sent them.
"We're moving you." Lupin said with a sharp look at the twin, wondering if the four of them understood the severity of the situation they were in. "To a new safe house."
"Why?" Ron asked, sitting up and suddenly looking a lot more interested.
"The Room of Requirements can be used by anyone and it wouldn't be too hard for someone who knows about the room to find you if they knew what to ask for." Lupin explained as Moody started using his wand to pack everything up, "So we're moving you to the Order's safe house."
"The Order?" Ginny asked, curious.
"The Order of the Phoenix." Lupin informed them, "And if you have to ask what it is, you're too young to join so don't bother asking…"
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"Becs has been busy." Mokuba commented as he slid the open diary across the table, breaking up the conversation between Harry and Tristan about the events of the day before, "Have a look for yourself."
Harry had to clamp down hard on his emotions to ensure that nothing spiked across the link to Atem and disturbed the Pharaoh mid-meeting as he read through what had been written in the diary by the auto-update spell.
"You were right in that Atem's not going to like this." Harry commented as he read the line, 'Seeks to steal the Shadowed Throne' and next to it, in Rebecca's handwriting, 'WARN YUGI AND YAMI!'
"I don't like any of it." Tristan growled, having glanced it over. "It's going to be a headache from start to finish. I thought Memory World was supposed to be the end of crap like this. Yugi and Yami are supposed to be done." He glowered at the piece of paper and Luna edged away from him slightly only for Harry put his hand on hers, "No more prophecies, no more bad guys and no more death threats!"
"Apparently it wasn't." Harry said as he tried to think things through, turning to Mokuba as he did so, "You made this?"
"Rebecca helped." Mokuba shrugged, "We all have one. They're spelled to record Luna's prophecies and auto-update them all when someone writes in one of them using one of these quills." He showed them a quill with a blue band just below the feather, "We found out later about the English Ministry having a 'Hall of Prophecy' where they keep thousands of crystal spheres with prophecies in, but it seemed like the best idea at the time."
Harry and Tristan nodded, impressed. Neither of them had the slightest clue on how to start on something like this, yet alone would have been able to produce a finished product.
"So where do you think…" Mokuba trailed off as the door opened and the butler slipped through the door and bowed.
"Master Mokuba, your brother has a visitor, but…"
Mokuba blinked. They weren't expecting anyone, especially at the moment. "Who is it?"
"Pegasus Maximillian." Almost instantly the atmosphere in the room shifted as everyone but Luna, who hadn't met the man and only knew part of the tale tensed up.
"Where is he?" Mokuba got to his feet quickly. He may not like the man, but he was his brother's most important business partner. As such it was required that he play host until his brother was available to talk with him.
"I directed him to the study." The butler looked almost as uncomfortable as the rest of them felt, "And sent for refreshments…"
"Thank you." Mokuba nodded, heading for the door, "I'll be back in a minute." He told the others before stalking off in the direction of the study, rather irritated. It made sense for Pegasus to come and demand answers, especially considering that it was his game that was under fire after the insanity of yesterday, but he really really didn't like dealing with him.
Still, it had to be done. If only to keep Pegasus happy and the links between Kaiba Corp and Industrial Illusions strong...
Mokuba pushed his way into the room only to find Pegasus pacing the room irritably.
"Pegasus..." Mokuba bowed to the man, trying to control his emotions as he straightened, "My brother will be with you when he and Atem are done with the Ministry."
"Good." For the first time since Mokuba had met the man he didn't sound very amused, "There is a lot I need to speak with your brother about."
"Like what?" Mokuba asked, not having to feign curiosity.
"I need a word with your brother and the other Yugi-Boy," Pegasus replied, "As regards to actually getting some sort of warning when they decide to use my game to turn the world on its head."
"In their defence, neither Yugi nor Atem knew that was going to happen." Mokuba protested.
"Atem?"
"Yami's real name."
"Ah, I wondered why a ghost from that time period would be stuck on this side of the gates."
"You knew about…"
"There were bets being taken as to what was going on with the King of Games." Pegasus snorted. "If he wanted to stay a secret, he should have done a better job of hiding." Pegasus gave Mokuba an amused look, "Besides, you of all people should remember how the Yugi-boys saved your soul. Of course I was going to find out how one body could host two souls that were similar enough for the Shadows to accept them as one person."
Mokuba didn't dignify that with a response. Instead he tucked into the left over ice cream.
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"I don't envy them," Joey told Harry, as they watched the chef flit around the kitchen, trying to ensure he was cooking enough for everyone living at the mansion, "Straight out of one meeting into the next and then we gotta tell them about that prophecy."
Harry watched a woman stalk past the kitchen before speaking up. "Atem's heading this way. Pegasus and Seto are talking business and Atem escaped as fast as possible. Something about having quite enough of politics for one day."
Joey chuckled, having seen how tired and irritable Atem had been by the end of the meeting with the Ministry. He could well imagine that Atem had been more than happy to escape the moment he hadn't been needed.
He also somehow doubted that the Pharoah was planning to do more than wave at them on his way up to the room he was to share with Yugi. His suspicions were confirmed when Atem didn't do more than nod in their general direction on his way past, and he made a mental note to take the Pharaoh's dinner up to him later. There wasn't much chance of him coming down again unless it was important or Yugi was with him.
"Are you sure this is enough, Wheeler-San?" The cook asked, concerned as Joey watched hungrily as the cook started putting out the evening meals.
"Even with everyone as hungry as they are, this'll be more than enough." Joey, who was still trying to work out how the servants knew when they were hungry and when to provide snack food as they had all day, reassured the cook, "And if it's not there's ice cream in the..."
"You're seriously considering it?" Mokuba's voice carried into the kitchen, causing everyone in the kitchen to freeze as they listened to the conversation. "After everything that's happened, you're still going to run this tournament?"
"Not letting the Kaiba Land Asia tournament run would be worse. Much worse." Seto sounded tired. The CEO obviously thought that there was no one around that he cared about hearing him. Then it hit the blonde Shadow Duellist. Seto hadn't had a decent amount of sleep since he'd come back from Memory World. Of course the CEO would be exhausted by now... "At the moment everyone still believes there's some fault with our technology, even with the stories that are being spread by the various media sources. If we don't host this tournament, then that rumour will never fade. Even pushing it back a couple of days has damaged our reputation enough."
"But the Exhibition Duels should help with that, right?" Mokuba asked, sounding worried.
"It'll help but it's not enough." Joey's eyes widened at Seto's tone of voice, "Not without being able to present both Yugi and Atem to the press and have them answer all of the questions that the press have."
"Wouldn't Atem be enough?"
"Atem would give them the answers, but without two or more collaborating stories without any outside influence, the truth won't be believed. Plus my old methods of getting what I wanted haven't been completely forgotten. If Atem appears on the scene, but Yugi doesn't, there will be rumours of blackmail and kidnapping and that's the last thing I need."
When Mokuba fell silent, Joey accompanied the butler out of the kitchen, barely glancing at Seto as he passed the CEO, knowing that Seto would prefer that no one see the moments of weakness, and if someone had to see them then it be only Mokuba. Even now, nine years down the line Seto didn't like admitting weakness around them.
That was fine. He could let Seto play that game when it wasn't that important. He did make a mental note to ensure Kaiba got some sleep though. Even the CEO of Kaiba Corp required a little rest sometimes, after all.
Harry caught up with them as they reached the stairs with an odd look on his face, but he didn't get to say anything as Sirius pulled his Godson off to one side, a question burning in his mind that needed to be answered. He had arrived just moments before they'd passed through the main hall.
Meanwhile Joey grabbed Atem's plate from the butler and scooted into the Mutous' bedroom. Atem was sat quietly on the edge of Yugi's bed, a softness and concern in his features that only Yugi could draw out of him, holding his light half's hand.
"Atem?" Joey whispered as he slid the trays onto the desk, worried for his friends.
"I'm wondering why we never thought to use magic to aid in our recovery before. At least outside of Hogwarts."
"Why?"
"I reopened the link to Yugi." Atem gained an embarrassed look for just a moment, than it was gone. "I think he'll wake up tomorrow."
"Really?" That was a surprise, "But it took you over a week to recover when Anubis..."
"We didn't have magic to boost our Ba back then. We didn't even think to use the magical hospitals." Atem shook his head, amused at their stupidity, "He won't be fully recovered," Atem turned the subject of their conversation back to his hikari, "his Ba's almost fully recovered. However his magic's still drained and his soul's still bruised..."
"At least he'll be awake though. Right?" Joey offered with a small smile and earned a rare one back from the Pharaoh. "I just hope Hermione comes around soon."
The smile vanished from Atem's face almost as quickly as it had arrived as he turned in the direction of Hermione's room, as he remembered why Hermione was in the state she was.
"Me too."