Calai'di–This is a sequel to Hieroglyphics in the Stars, or pretty much SG-M's adventures through the Stargate. For those who don't know (those who didn't read HitS), Bakura was a Tok'ra operative who was trying to get the Millennium Items to help save the Earth. When Anubis attacked, he and the other Item holders combined their powers and blew up all of Anubis's fleet. To pay them back for their help, Hammond authorized the formation of a new team, SG-M, comprised of Yugi (Atemu), Ryou (Bakura), Malik, and Kaiba.

Each episode in this 'season' will be a different chapter and will be commercial free for your enjoyment.

I don't own Stargate, Yugioh, Artemis Fowl, or anything else that's already copyrighted by someone else, only the plot lines of each episode.

Notes: I'm getting used to calling Yami 'Atemu' and since his name was revealed to him in HitS, that's what I'm calling him here.
I'm also setting this season sometime after 'New Order', the first episode of season eight, so Dr. Fraiser is dead. However, I like Gen. Hammond, so I decided to keep him at the SGC and keep O'Neill and Carter as Colonel and Major. And since I like Kamulus (sp?) as well, I decided he could stay with the Tau'ri instead of being sent to Baal. (Of course, I bet a lot of you don't know what I'm talking about, so for you, just sit there, look pretty, and don't worry about it.)


Episode 1: In the Air

After five months of training, the new team, SG-M, was finally ready to go through the Stargate. Following a long debate, it was decided that Malik could be the leader of this team, probably only because he was like O'Neill and leaders like that seemed to do well. Bakura, of course, was second in command, then Atemu, and last, Kaiba. They'd spent five months learning some of the necessary skills to survive on the other side of the Gate, and it would pay off today. SG-M was going on its first recon mission.

The MALP showed that the planet designated P4C-791 had suitable atmospheric conditions and the immediate vicinity around the Gate was clear. As such, the four teens stood nervously in front of the shimmering blue event horizon, almost ready to walk through.

"Do you have any idea what this might feel like?" Malik asked apprehensively.

"Nope," Bakura answered. "Let's go." He grabbed Malik by the collar and stepped through; Malik seized Kaiba and dragged him in. Atemu glanced once back at the control room and stepped through after them…

&&Wormhole Sequence…&&

…On the other side, they came to an open field surrounded by a ring of trees. The Stargate was sitting flush to the ground, so they didn't have to walk down any stairs to get to ground level. The MALP was sitting a short distance away near the DHD. When Atemu appeared through the Gate, he immediately collapsed to the ground.

"Oh gods, I'm going to be sick," he muttered.

"Then do it somewhere we won't step in it," Kaiba said sarcastically.

"All right, Bakura, what do you think about this?" Malik asked. He gestured around them; two circles of large standing stones encircled the Gate, one in line with the DHD and one a short distance beyond it. The white-haired yami looked closely one of the stones; an odd sort of writing covered the top of it.

"It looks like Babylonian. Hey Pharaoh, get over here!"

"What?" Atemu got up and walked to the stone Bakura was standing next to. "Yeah, that looks like Babylonian. I can't translate it though. I don't know that language."

"So take pictures of it so Dr. Jackson can translate it," Malik suggested. His tone drew stares from the others.

"Malik, you don't sound very thrilled to be here," Atemu said accusingly.

"It just…doesn't look very different from Earth is all. I thought there might be floating cities and interstellar spaceships and things like that. You know, like what we read about in SG-1's mission reports."

"We just haven't found that stuff yet," Bakura answered. "Lighten up, Malik. Even Kaiba's having fun, and that's saying something." They glanced at the boy in question, who was poking different spots on one of the stones, probably to see if it would open.

"I can't believe we're seeing Kaiba doing that," Atemu said.

"He does looks like he's having fun," Malik agreed.

Bakura looked around. "This looks like one of those ceremonial stone circles in England. Like Stonehenge."

"But the writing is Babylonian," Atemu mused, copying Kaiba's actions on a different stone. "Inter–"

"Hey, Malik!"

They turned to see Kaiba moving abruptly from the stone he'd been studying. What looked like a gold tube was rising slowly out of the top; when it stopped, the rock next to it followed suit, then the next, then the next… When the last stone had opened, a force-shield projected out from the first rod to the next and so on until it surrounded them. Then the force shield grew until it hit the ground and trapped the four teens inside next to the Gate with the DHD out of reach.

"Kaiba! What did you do?!" Atemu exclaimed angrily.

"How am I supposed to know? I don't read Babylonian!"

"I think what everyone can read is the least of our problems," Bakura said, breaking up what could have been a very bad argument. "We should figure out how to get out of here." He walked to the energy-barrier and reached out to touch it; as soon as his finger made contact, he flew backwards and landed almost near the other teens, his hand smoking slightly.

"I suggest none of us tries that again," Malik said lightly as the spirit staggered to his feet. Bakura growled at the wall in frustration.

"I hate technology," he muttered; behind him, Kaiba shook his head with disgust.

"All right, so now what?"

"I say we shoot one of those stones with one of those 'Zat' things and see if it explodes."

"Thief, how did you ever become a Tok'ra?"

"I explained that already. Can I shoot it now?"

"Go ahead Bakura."

Bakura took the Zat out of his pocket, opened it, and shot the offending stone standing in front of him. The energy blast didn't affect the force-shield at all. Bakura cursed quietly and fired again, though he didn't think it would do anything, which it didn't.

"Well, there goes that plan," Malik said. Then his face lit up and he continued, "Bakura, can you read Babylonian?"

"I'm a bit rusty, but I think I could."

They stared at each other for a moment; Malik's eyebrow raised in expectancy. "Well?…go on!"

Bakura grinned at him and approached the stone Kaiba had been poking, and he was soon running his finger up and down the lines of cuneiform. After a few moments, during which both Atemu and Kaiba thought about dueling the other, Bakura jabbed three different spots on the stone and the force-shield disappeared.

"Good job," Malik commented as he walked out of the stone circle.

"Couldn't you have done that about five minutes ago?" Kaiba asked sarcastically as he followed the Egyptian.

"None of you ever asked," Bakura answered. He glanced around and scowled. "Pharaoh, stop playing with that stupid thing and come on."

Atemu looked up from the DHD and glared back. "I'm sorry, thief, but I've never seen one of these before. Daniel said the one on Earth was destroyed, remember? And I'd rather like to figure out how to get home. So excuse me if I seem too inquisitive for your thieving tastes."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We all know the only reason you're doing this is so you can steal more often, thief."

"What?! I'm doing this because it's what I was meant to do, and so I can help the Tok'ra protect your pathetic planet!"

"So now it's only my planet? It's not yours anymore?"

"I've been waiting three thousand years to get off that stupid place! You can't blame me if–"

"Hey! Would you two stop fighting and follow us?!" Malik exclaimed, causing both of them to jump. "Pharaoh, you stay here and figure out how to get home. Bakura, let's go!"

The thief scowled and stalked off after Malik and Kaiba, saying as he passed by the DHD, "This isn't over, Pharaoh. I'm going to beat your ass and send it back to whatever hellhole you came from sooner or later."

"You wish, thief!" Atemu called after him.

Bakura, Malik, and Kaiba had been walking for about a mile when they stopped in awe. Ahead of them was a large city with an accumulation of multi-color crystal spires standing all the way to the clouds. Around the city stood a circle of blue crystal domes with silver fountains spouting out of the top. Humanoid like figures as colorful as the city flew deftly through the sky, sending silver sparks out behind them. The three teens stood entranced until the flying things suddenly disappeared.

"That looks different than Earth," Kaiba said dryly.

"It's like…a fairy tale…" Bakura said in a softer voice.

"Easy, thief-boy, we don't even know if it's dangerous or not," Malik said, holding out his hand to stop the other teen's steps forward.

"But how can something so beautiful be dangerous?" This time his voice sounded like both Ryou and Bakura at the same time.

"Think about yourself," Kaiba answered with absolutely no embarrassment. He took out a TER and glanced at the others. "Maybe we should see if it is or not. If you can handle it, Bakura."

Bakura smirked and pushed past Malik toward the crystal city. "I can handle anything, priest."

As they entered the city, Kaiba swept the TER back and forth in front of them so the invisible creatures wouldn't catch them by surprise, but it was hard to see anything through the mist that had suddenly settled in. Malik tripped once and cut his hand on a piece of broken glass, and afterward he felt a small tingling sensation through his body, but otherwise their journey was boring. Building after building was either a library or a museum, all of which had the same cuneiform writing. Bakura, who was in charge of recording all of this, soon got board and started looking for things to steal almost subconsciously. As they passed through a certain museum, a small golden necklace found its way into his pocket without the others noticing.

Tired and bored, the three teens returned to the Gate and an equally bored looking Atemu.

"How was it?" he asked as they approached.

"Well, you can see the footage of the city when we get back," Bakura answered dryly. The city had lost its enchantment for him after the tenth building they'd entered.

"I get to go to the infirmary though," Malik said, holding up his bleeding hand.

"Are you all right?" Atemu asked with concern.

"I will be fine, Atemu. Do not worry about me."

The pharaoh raised an eyebrow in suspicion, then shrugged and started pressing symbols on the DHD. As he pressed the last symbol, the Stargate activated and a fog suddenly descended on them.

"That's different," Atemu commented as the clouds grew thicker. He took out a GDO and typed in a few numbers. "All right, we can get through now."

"Come on, before we lose the Gate in this," Malik said, racing toward the Gate. The others followed, just barely able to see, and ran straight into event horizon…

…And out onto the metal platform in front of the Stargate in the SGC. They walked briskly down the wicker-like metal ramp as the Gate deactivated behind them and found General Hammond waiting for them.

"SG…M, you're back three hours early," he said worriedly. "What happened?"

"Not much, sir," Malik answered. "May I go to the infirmary, please? My hand is bleeding rather profusely." He held up his hand to prove it.

"I think all of you should report to the infirmary. We'll debrief at 1500 hours."

Malik bowed once and strolled briskly out of the room, followed by the yamis and Kaiba, who were glancing uneasily at each other. There was something off with the way Malik was acting.


"So, there was nothing there," the General said. The teens had just finished telling him about the flying creatures that had disappeared without a trace.

"No, there was something there," Ryou answered. He and Yugi had taken control for the briefing. "We just couldn't find it."

"It was boring, sir," Kaiba said shortly.

"No, it wasn't boring. It was just something that someone like Dr. Jackson would find interesting," Ryou countered, glaring once down the table at the taller teen.

"What about this 'fog' you said seemed to appear when you activated the Stargate?"

"It was probably an alien defense, like the force-shield," Malik said, still in the same drawling tone he'd been using since they'd gotten back through the Gate. His hand had been fixed up quite well, but it did seem to keep bleeding.

"A defense against what?" Hammond said skeptically.

"The beings on that planet are probably a very secretive race, hence why they disappeared when we approached. The shield was most likely something to keep us away from them, and the fog was probably something to keep us from coming back with what we knew."

Ryou and Yugi frowned at each other, shaken a bit by how passive Malik sounded. And he was being polite, which unnerved them more than his calmness; Malik Ishtar was never this polite to anyone.

"Hey Malik, are you feeling all right?" Yugi asked after a short silence.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask, Yugi?"

"Malik, maybe we should take you back to the infirmary," Ryou suggested, standing up.

"Whatever for?"

By now, even Hammond was noticing that something was wrong. When Ryou shot a pleading look at him, he nodded and said, "Dismissed."

"Come on, Malik, let's go," Bakura said as he took control. Atemu followed suit and together they tried to drag the other Egyptian out the door, but he wrenched free of their grasp and backed away.

"What is wrong with you two?" he asked, though his voice betrayed little emotion at all.

"I think the better question is, what's wrong with you?" Bakura said.

"There is nothing wrong with me. I am a little hungry, though." He made a move toward the stairs but stopped as the Ring began to glow.

"Don't take another step, Malik," Bakura hissed warningly. Malik stood impassively for a moment, then suddenly dashed past Bakura, not pausing as he grabbed the stolen necklace from the other teen's pocket. The thief growled and tried to stop him, but the shadow magic couldn't touch him as he disappeared down the stairs to the control room. The two spirits raced after him down the stairs and were almost thrown off as a bloodcurdling screech passed them by. They saw a flash of gold as Malik raced out of the room, and he appeared a short time later in the Gate Room, staring anxiously at the interstellar portal. Atemu slammed his hand down on the iris controller as the wormhole activated and the iris slid closed. Malik cried out again and stared angrily up at Atemu.

"Let me go!" he ordered. The pharaoh was shocked at his voice; a handsome voice, so much unlike Malik's, with subtle undertones, like five voices in one. Kaiba grabbed his arm to stop him from obeying the command, quite immune to this new voice himself.

"I order you to allow me passage through the Stargate!" Malik yelled again, but no matter how angry he sounded, his face remained as impassive as before. Like he was a puppet being controlled by some alien master…or possessor. Atemu shook his head to clear it and grabbed the microphone standing on the computer console.

"This is Atemu. Absolutely do not let Malik Ishtar out of the Gate Room!" he commanded. Down below, the airmen guarding the Gate raised their guns and aimed, ready to shoot if the teen made a break for it. Malik fidgeted and screamed in frustration, but otherwise betrayed no emotions. Bakura entered the room just as the screaming stopped and shot once at the boy; Malik's expression didn't change didn't at all.

"That had to have been enough tranquilizer to take down a hippopotamus," Atemu muttered as Malik pulled the dart out of his side. Malik glanced once at the Stargate and turned his lavender eyes back at the pharaoh.

"Let me go through the Chappa'ai!" he demanded again. Atemu shook his head; Malik glared at him, screamed again, and collapsed heavily to the ground. Bakura relinquished control and Ryou ran over to his fallen friend, joined a short time later by Yugi and Kaiba. Together, they picked up the Egyptian and carried him out of the room.


Yugi cautiously approached Dr. Jackson's office and knocked twice on the door, amused as the older man jumped in surprise. Daniel briefly looked up from the book he was scouring and smiled.

"Yugi, come in."

"Arigato, Daniel-san." Yugi walked up to the desk and looked down at the book Daniel was reading. "What are reading?"

" 'Norse Mythology Under a Microscope'," Daniel answered. "Did you need something?"

"Uh, Ryou and I are supposed to translate the text we found on the planet yesterday, but only Bakura knows Babylonian and he's refusing to help at the moment." Yugi shrugged apologetically and placed a small tape on the table. "I was wondering if you could help."

"That's what I'm here for," Daniel said as he closed the book. He picked up the tape and slid it into the computer. "I just happen to be fluent in that language."

They watched the footage of the city and its writing in awe for a few minutes with Daniel telling Yugi what each glyph meant in English, until the doctor paused it and asked, "Is Bakura with Malik?"

"You heard what happened?"

"It was kind of hard not to. Around here, things like that are extremely important. I heard he had a tantrum."

"You could call it that." Yugi picked up a book and started looking through it. "It was really weird, like he was possessed or something. And his voice changed."

"That sounds like a Gou'ald. 'Beginning'," Daniel said, pointing to one of the glyphs. Yugi slapped his forehead and scribbled a few words on a piece of paper.

"I didn't sense anything though." He noticed Daniel's questioning look and went on, "Ryou and I have noticed that we can sense when a Gou'ald's around. It always happens when we're around Teal'c and Samantha-san, though it's a lot stronger around the Tok'ra and Kamulus. But I didn't sense a thing when I was near Malik."

"So that's why Sam and Teal'c can never sneak into a room with one of you in it. Looks like I win." Daniel laughed a little at Yugi's expression. "Jack and I had a bet on that. He thought you two had exceptional hearing or something." He frowned slightly at the paper. "That one means 'birthplace', not 'homeland'." Yugi's face fell slightly and he erased his mistake.

"I was going to visit Malik after lunch or dinner," Yugi said as he wrote in the correct translation. He glanced up at the screen, smiled, and added about four more lines of text. "You can come with me if you want, Daniel-san."

"You're fast," Daniel said approvingly as he watched Yugi scribble word after word.

"I'm a quick study," was the boy's reply. "Do you want to come with me? I don't think Bakura will mind."

"They seem really close."

"I think Malik was his second real friend…in this lifetime anyway. They went through a lot together." Yugi flipped through his book and scribbled something else. "I never thought Bakura had many friends before I found out about the Tok'ra. He had Ryou and Malik, and that's all I knew of."

"Ryou seemed afraid of him when we first met him."

"He wasn't. He's just a shy person. And Bakura's hard to get along with because he's…well, insane. That's 'demon', right?" he said suddenly, pointing at a glyph. Daniel nodded and he went on. "I think it's their differences that let them get along so well. Just like for me and Yami, it's our similarities. (AN: Yugi still calls Atemu 'Yami') It's a really special relationship for people like us and the Tok'ra." He frowned and stopped writing for a moment. "I wonder…"

"What's wrong."

"I'd almost forgotten. Malik has a dark side, too, but it's different than Bakura and Yami. He actually has another personality that's part of him. We thought he'd taken care of that, and Yami Malik never acted this polite, but…" He trailed off disconcertingly and went back to translating.

"I think I'd like to come with you," Daniel said quietly.

"Okay. Thanks, Daniel-san."


"It's about time you two got here," Bakura growled as Yugi and Daniel entered to holding room. It was the same one Sam had occupied when she was possessed by Jolinar, and Daniel wasn't all too pleased about being back here. "He woke up a few minutes ago."

"You will not detain me here," said the handsome voice. Malik was sitting cross-legged on a bed, his passive appearance crossed by metal bars.

"Who are you?" Yugi asked him.

"Malik Ishtar."

"He's said that every time I've asked, too," Bakura said, "but Malik doesn't use words like 'detain' correctly on a regular basis."

"Yeah, but he knew Yami's name," Yugi said.

"And Malik never calls Pharaoh anything but that," Bakura countered.

"Who are you?" Yugi asked again. He received the same answer, and they glared at each other for a few moments, though for Malik only his eyes glared. After a moment, Yugi sighed and gave over control to Atemu.

"Do you have a TER anywhere around here?" he asked Daniel. The archaeologist pointed to a stack of weapons on one side of the room and then walked up to the bars as Atemu dug through the pile.

"Where are you from?" he asked. Malik remained silent and crossed his arms. Daniel tried again. "Are you going to answer any of our questions?"

"If I am allowed to go through the Chappa'ai," Malik answered stiffly. His eyes twitched as Atemu approached, holding the TER in one hand.

"It's on, but I don't see anything," he muttered. "It's odd. I sense something, but it isn't the same thing I sense around Teal'c and Major Carter. It's like another spirit, but there's nothing there."

"Unless," Bakura interrupted, "it's in him."

Atemu stared aghast at Malik and they saw the first real sign of emotion; Malik smiled back at him.


"So far, he's been unwilling to tell us anything," Daniel said as he stood in front of the collective parties of SG-1 and SG-M. "Most of the time, he'll just stare at us."

"But we have managed to translate a lot of the text in one of the libraries," Yugi added. The picture on the display board behind him and Daniel changed to a picture of one of the walls in the library. "It looks like the people there don't have books since all of the text is written on the walls."

"This section of the text tells how the native people traveled to this planet from Earth through the Stargate to escape terrible demons that were terrorizing humans."

"The Gou'ald," Hammond guessed.

"Probably," Yugi answered. "But it refers to humans as a separate species, meaning whoever's living there isn't human."

"If there is anyone living there," O'Neill commented.

"Actually, there might be," Daniel said. The screen changed to another section of text. "This text says that the Gou'ald, or 'demons', were trying to hunt them, apparently so they could learn the secrets of being invisible."

"That sounds like the Nox," Carter said.

"It also says these beings can appear in three forms," Yugi went on. "They can be humanoid, invisible, or like a cloud."

"Which is now sounding like the Ancients," Daniel continued. "Except that the Ancients left Earth long before the Gou'ald showed up."

"What's interesting is that this refers to Earth as their 'birthplace' and then another planet as their 'homeland'. That means these beings didn't originate here."

"But they also don't refer to any of the planets we know of that went untouched by the Gou'ald. And they use the word 'Chappa'ai' for Stargate and 'Tau'ri' for Earth."

"It sounds like the Gou'ald have been driving them across the galaxy like a flock of sheep." The screen changed again and Yugi went on, "This says that in an effort to preserve their race, some of them stayed on Earth and the rest went to this planet to confuse the Gou'ald. It seems to have worked, because the Gou'ald didn't follow them. The beings remained in contact with Earth through the Antarctica Gate until very recently, when it was moved to Area 51."

"So even though the Gou'ald didn't know about the other Gate, these beings did?" Hammond asked.

"That's what it says. It also says that the force-shield Kaiba activated was a defense against the Gou'ald if they ever came through. It would activate if you didn't press the right set of symbols on one of the stones and you'd starve to death."

"But they never had to use it because soon after they left Earth, the Egyptians rebelled against Ra and the Egypt Gate was buried."

"After that, the Gou'ald gave up their hunt."

"The rest of the text looks like a normal history book. You know, names of kings, dates of important events, that sort of thing."

"There's no mention of any technology of any kind. Even the force-shield is referred to as 'magic', which is entirely possible I guess, though not very likely. There also isn't a record of any wars, meaning they probably didn't have any."

"Okay, now this sounds like the Nox," Jack said. "Peace loving, ability to make themselves invisible, no technology, yeah, sounds like the Nox."

"Do these beings have a name?" Hammond asked.

"The only reference in the text is to 'the People', which I'm assuming are the beings on P4C-791," Daniel answered. They were startled as Kaiba suddenly snickered.

"Looks like Eoin Colfer wasn't too far off," he muttered. He noticed the others' questioning stares and added defensively, "I'm an Artemis Fowl fan, all right? The elves and things like that are called 'the People' in those books. And Artemis was always one step ahead of them."

"And I'm sure you wish you were him with all his abilities to get the People's technology, like the iris-cams or something," Bakura said, catching the wondering looks on himself. He stared defensively back. "I like Artemis too, okay? I liked his attitude, and he was a pretty good thief."

Yugi shook his head with wonder. "Anyway, these 'People' are just the allies we need right now with the problems with Baal and the Replicators."

"The problem is, there was no one on that planet," Kaiba said from the sidelines.

"Yes there were," Bakura answered. "I could sense them everywhere. Remember that fog we were walking through and the fog that tried to keep us from getting back to Earth? That was them in the cloud form Yugi mentioned."

"Of course, the real question is, why did they try to keep us there?" Yugi, Kaiba, and Atemu through Yugi's eyes stared accusingly at Bakura. "What did you do, Bakura?"

"Why do you always assume it's my fault?"

"Because it usually is," Kaiba and Yugi answered. Bakura groaned and brought the gold necklace out of his pocket.

"I was bored," he said as he dropped the gold on the table. "I steal when I'm bored."

"You know that stealing is a court marshalable offense," Hammond said.

"One, I'm not in the military, and two, I'm insane. You want me to stop stealing, send me to some correction facility. I'm not sure they'd believe the Stargate was a fantasy if I offered proof. Besides, I've already been told off for it," he added as an afterthought. They knew Ryou would have probably yelled at his yami for hours for stealing again.

The Bakura and Hammond stared at each other for a few moments; Bakura was to well known for blackmail-like threats that he could actually go through with for Hammond not to take him seriously.

"Maybe we should try talking to Malik again," Yugi said, breaking up the invisible fights going on around him. "He might be more willing to say something if he knows we know this stuff."

"Good idea," Hammond agreed. "Dismissed."


This time, O'Neill and Teal'c accompanied Bakura and Yugi to interrogate Malik and they brought a Zat with them. Jack said the 'People' might be scared enough of Gou'ald weaponry that Malik might just tell them something useful.

It was obvious as soon as they entered the room that Malik could sense the Gou'ald larva Teal'c had once carried. He pressed himself flat against the wall as far from them as he could get, and the fear in his eyes grew as the Jaffa drew closer.

"Jaffa, get back!" he yelled. "I will reveal nothing!"

Teal'c paid no attention to the boy's cries and walked right up to the bars. "What is your name?"

"Demon! You will learn nothing from me!"

"What is your name?"

"I curse your family to hell!"

"What is your name?"

"Traitors! The Tau'ri are traitors to deal with demons!"

"What is your name?"

"I will not tell you, foul creature!"

Teal'c stared in silence at the fearful teen for five minutes without interruption until Malik said, "I will talk to no one but him." And he pointed at Bakura.

"Me?" the yami asked skeptically. He started forward, but Malik started screaming again.

"Not you! The other you! He is the only one I can trust!"

Bakura stared sadly at his friend and gave over control. Ryou started forward and stopped next to Teal'c.

"Will you tell me your name?"

"I am Dylan of the Golden Sea," he answered, resentment lacing his tone.

"Why am I the only one you'll talk to?" Ryou asked.

"Malik speaks highly of you and your spirit, but you did not steal from my world. I can only trust you."

"Why are you controlling him?"

"You stole the Necklace of Tilana from my world. I came to get it back, and to destroy the Stargate." He suddenly grinned and walked up to Ryou. "I cannot allow the demons to find my world. I must destroy the Chappa'ai to prevent that."

"There aren't any Gou'alds on Earth, Dylan," Yugi said quietly. The blonde's face became impassive again and he walked back to the bed.

"I will not speak with anyone but Ryou!" he exclaimed. "And I will not be treated like this!"

"Dylan, no one's going to hurt you," Ryou said calmly.

"Make them leave!"


"I will not reveal anything more until they leave!" He proved his threat by turning around and facing the wall, which, Ryou thought, was a very childish thing to do. Ryou turned helplessly to the others.

"I guess you guys should leave," he said apologetically.

"And leave you alone with him? I don't think so," O'Neill answered.

"Colonel, we won't find out anything else if you don't leave. Besides, I won't be completely alone." He pointed to the Ring.

Jack sighed and headed towards the door. "Fine. Come on, kids."

However, as soon as the door closed, Ryou lifted the Ring from around his neck and placed it carefully on the floor, fully aware of how much trouble he'd be in later. Now completely alone, he turned back to his friend's body.

"It's just you and me now, Dylan. They're all gone, even Bakura."

Dylan turned back around, sadness now quite apparent on his face. "I'm sorry I yelled at your friends."

"I'm sure they're used to it by now."

The blonde teen shook his head and walked up to where Ryou was. "I really am sorry. I was just sensing evil and uncleanness everywhere while they were here. I couldn't stand it." He looked down at the body he inhabited. "I don't like this body very much. It's very different from mine."

"Yeah, about that, Yugi and Daniel translated some of the text from the walls of one of your libraries."

"They did?"

"Yes, but we didn't learn much except that your people were being hunted by the Gou'ald. I was wondering if you could tell me why."

Dylan stared intently into his eyes for a few moments and answered, "My race has the ability to make ourselves invisible. That is why the demons hunted us."

"Do you think you could show me?"

"No, I can only make myself– wait…liar!" Dylan's face became passive again and he ran back to the bed. "I thought I could trust you! You lied to me!"

"What? I didn't lie to you! I don't lie to anyone," Ryou said, slightly aghast that the other being was so perceptive.

"Liar! Go away!"

"Dylan, I–"

"Shut up. Leave me alone!"

Defeated, Ryou picked up the Ring and put it back on, wishing Dylan wouldn't be bothered so much by Bakura's presence; then they might actually get somewhere. As he turned to leave and tell the others that it was hopeless for the moment, Malik's voice spoke out.

"Ryou, wait! Don't leave me here!"

Ryou stopped halfway to the door but didn't turn around; he wasn't sure whether it was really Malik speaking. Subtly, he gave over control to Bakura, sure that the entity would be able to sense the change.

"Please, Ryou! I don't want to be alone with this thing!"

Not the Dylan thing, Bakura thought quietly. Nevertheless, out loud he said, "Sorry, Malik. I guess you'll just have to deal." And then he started towards the door again.

"Bakura! Come on, Bakura, I'm your friend! You won't leave me alone, will you?!"

Malik's shouts fell on deaf ears as the ancient spirit left the room, telling the others that they should wait a while before coming back. As the door closed, Dylan took control again and sat quietly on his bed, gazing thoughtfully at the bars of his prison.


{{Yadonushi, you're going to choke on your food if you keep eating like that.}} Bakura scolded through their mental link. He didn't have to, as both he and Atemu were manifested in reality as separate persons at the moment and were easily heard by anyone, but it was a habit that was hard to break.

{Iie, Yami, it's Jell-O. How could I choke on it?} Ryou answered, almost shoveling the blue gel into his mouth, edging on impoliteness. Bakura shook his head as he stared at the hikari and turned back to his own food. He didn't really need to eat, since he wasn't really alive, but it let him feel more human, and even spirits can get hungry sometimes. Across the table, Atemu was happily slurping his spaghetti, oblivious to everything else; the thief thought of kicking him under the table, but his foot collided with the metal pole that held up the table and that effectively stopped any further attacks. Yugi was just as oblivious as his yami as he feverishly worked on his own glass of Jell-O.

They'd agreed that, after about a day and a half of not eating, they were hungry and it was high time to eat something before someone fainted, that someone probably being Yugi, as he had the metabolism of a humming-bird. It was decided that they would discuss the situation with Malik, or 'that Dylan thing' as Bakura had deemed it, but at the moment, everyone was too busy eating to really discuss anything.

After a few moments, he poked Ryou in the shoulder, effectively stopping his eating. The hikari glanced up at him questioningly.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" he asked, pointing to the pile of red sauce on Bakura's plate that completely covered the small pile of spaghetti underneath.

"I'm worried," Bakura answered quietly. Atemu suddenly choked on his food and starting coughing painfully.

"You're what?" the pharaoh asked, still choking. Bakura never openly admitted his feelings like that if he could help it, and this was definitely one of those situations.

Bakura glared at him, wondering how long he would keep struggling with his food until he retreated. "I'm worried, Pharaoh. What's so funny about that?"

"I'm just surprised you said that, that's all."

"Why? Are you still living in that illusion that I'm only out for myself? 'Cause I never have been, ya know."

"Even during that game of Monster World…?"

"Didn't you listen to a thing I said five months ago? I've never–"

"Hey guys, can we get back to the problem at hand?" Yugi said, causing both spirits to glare at him for interrupting their argument. Atemu shrugged and grabbed a bowl of ice cream from the middle of the table; Yugi and Ryou stared incredulously as he tried to stab the half melted dessert with his fork. Bakura jabbed a spoon into his face and he took it with a scowl.

"I knew that. I was just testing you," Atemu said as he started eating the ice cream. "All right, we know Bakura's worried. Now, what are we going to do about Malik?"

"Maybe if we just give Dylan the necklace, he'll leave peacefully," Ryou suggested, earning an extremely fierce glare from his yami.

"I think not," Bakura growled.

"Well, we have to something, thief, or we–"


The four of them glanced at each other once and jumped up from the table, almost running into O'Neill and Teal'c on the way out of the cafeteria; Bakura sneaked back once and grabbed a bite of Ryou's Jell-O before said hikari dragged him out with them.

When they reached the control room, the Stargate had already activated, and the iris was closed; of course, no asked questions when they saw Bakura and Atemu as most of the personnel had seen them separate from the hikaris sometime in the last five months. Hammond was busy yelling into the microphone, probably at someone on the planet the Gate was open to.

"Yes, yes, I understand that, but until we're sure he isn't a threat–"

"THE ONLY THREAT DYLAN WILL CAUSE IS IF YOU DO NOT ALLOW HIM TO RETURN TO OUR PLANET!" exclaimed a voice over the PA system in the room. Atemu walked up to the general and placed a hand on his shoulder, causing the older man to jump.

"What's going on?" the pharaoh asked quietly.

"One of the beings from P4C-791 is demanding we allow Malik, or the thing possessing him, to return to the planet," Hammond answered tiredly.

"May I…?" Atemu waved his hand at the microphone and leaned down to it when Hammond nodded. "Hello? My name is Atemu. If we allowed Dylan to go back to your planet with the necklace, what then?"


"Could our two peoples still have friendly relations?"


Bakura stepped forward and seized the microphone out of Atemu's hands. "And if he doesn't come back?"

The pharaoh glared at him and grabbed the microphone back as the amplified voice answered, "THAT WOULD BE SEEN AS AN ACTION OF WAR AND WOULD BE HANDLED AS SUCH." There was a pause like the voice was thinking. "WE WOULD BE FORCED TO SEND A BOMB THROUGH THE CHAPPA'AI TO DESTROY YOU."

With that, the Stargate shut down, leaving an ominous silence in its wake. Atemu placed the microphone down on one of the computers and stared silently out of the glass at the stone circle.

"So…now what?" Yugi asked quietly.

"We can't just let him leave," Bakura growled.

"I happen to agree with him, sir," Jack said from near the doorway. "This 'Dylan' knows to much about the SGC."

"And his abilities may be valuable in the fight against the Gou'ald," Teal'c added.

"We should try to talk to him again," Ryou suggested quietly. "And we should probably send that necklace back to the planet."

Bakura growled and frantically shook his head behind the general, but Hammond had already made up his mind.

"All right, we'll send the necklace back now and if this Dylan refuses to tell us anything, he can go back later," the general said, his tone sounding final and authoritative. The thief sigh and took the necklace out of Ryou's pocket, where he'd been carrying it around, making sure no one else stole it.

"I guess I should be the one to give it back," he muttered indignantly; Hammond only nodded his consent and ordered the sergeant to dial the Gate again.

Bakura entered the Gate room just as the Stargate activated; he walked slowly up the metal ramp and stuck his hand into the event horizon, ready to toss the necklace out the other side. But when he tried to pull his hand back, it seemed to be stuck; he could feel something clinging to it, trying to pull him through with increasing power. He struggled to pull his hand back for a bit, his attempts to return to his soul room unsuccessful, until he finally fell through. The Gate deactivated as soon as he'd completely vanished.

"NO! BAKURA!!!" Ryou exclaimed. He tried to get to the dialing computer to dial the planet again, but Yugi and Jack held on to him and stopped his progress. " BAKURA!!!"

"Ryou, calm down!" Yugi pleaded, amazingly holding his friend back without trouble.

"Let go of me! I need to get to Bakura! Please!" The white-haired boy sank to the ground in despair, finally giving up his struggles. "He can't get home; he doesn't have a GDO," he muttered into the hands. "And he apparently can't retreat to his soul room."

"Ryou, it's all right. I'm sure he'll be fine," Yugi said quietly, placing a hand on his friend's trembling shoulder. "General, can we send a GDO through the Stargate so Bakura can get home?"

"I'm afraid I can't authorize that," Hammond answered. "I'm sorry, Ryou."

Ryou suddenly jumped up, nearly hitting Yugi in several places. "Dylan! Dylan will know what happened!" And then he ran out of the room.


"All right, Dylan! Out with it! Tell me everything!" Ryou exclaimed as he burst into the holding room. He charged right up to the bars of Dylan's cage and opened the Zat he was holding in one hand.

"You again? I don't want to talk to you, Ryou," Dylan answered. He turned around a faced the walk, thus proving that he didn't want to say anything more…and in a second was on the ground, clutching his sides in pain, courtesy of a blast of energy from Ryou's Zat gun.

"I think you should rethink that," Ryou snarled, pointing the Zat threateningly at Dylan. "Next shot kills." Neither of them noticed when O'Neill and Atemu entered the room until the pharaoh stepped forward and gently pushed Ryou's hand down so the Zat pointed at the floor, but the hikari just threw him off and aimed his weapon again. "Back off, Pharaoh! Let me deal with him how I want!"

"Ryou, this is not a good–"

"Pharaoh, I'm shooting you next if you don't back off!"

Atemu wisely decided to hang back and watch what would happen; he'd only seen Ryou this angry once but once was enough to know that he hadn't wanted to see it again. Ryou turned his attention back on Dylan, who was slowly struggling to his feet.

"All right, Dylan, why the hell would your people kidnap my yami?!" the hikari demanded. Dylan glared angrily at him, obviously wondering whether to answer or risk being shot again.

"It's because you haven't let me return to my planet yet," he answered reluctantly. "You see, I'm a prince on my world, next in line for the throne. Therefor, I'm extremely important to my people. Is that it?"

"And returning you to your people is the only way to get Bakura back?"

"Most likely. I'm sorry about Bakura."

"I'll bet," Ryou growled. He waved the Zat and went on, "Keep talking. You're not leaving until we learn the ins and outs about your people."

Dylan glanced around once before sighing and sinking to the ground. "All right. What do you want to know?"

"Hold on. Just like that you're going to tell us?" Atemu asked skeptically.

"Well, I don't really want to get shot by that thing again." Dylan gestured at the Zat in Ryou's hands. "And I can't believe my people would kidnap one of yours just to get me back, especially Bakura. Malik's told me a lot about him and they couldn't have picked a worse–"

"Okay, shut up and just answer my questions," Ryou threatened. "First off, I'd like to know what you really look like."

Dylan sighed and suddenly, a fog started seeping out through the bandages on his hand. Soon, Malik collapsed to the floor, and the fog collected to form a slender humanoid being about Ryou's height; he had fair skin and chin-length dark hair tucked behind pointed elf-like ears. His clothes consisted of a simple dark green tunic that was cinched at the waist with a length of gold rope, and a gold circlet sat on his head. Gauzy bluish insect-like wings sprouted from his back, complimenting eyes of close to the same color.

"This is what I really look like. I was able to enter Malik's body through that cut on his hand. My people are called Nymphs, though here on Earth, we're also called fairies, elves, things like that. I'm sure you already know that I could be either like this, in cloud form, or invisible, since I know you translated that much of the text from our libraries. It's hard to lie to a Nymph because we can read human's minds if we really concentrate."

"Then how come you didn't know I was lying about the translation at first?"

"Because your mind is different than most humans. It's more complicated and shielded from outside interference, no doubt as a result of Bakura's presence. Yugi's is like that, too, and right now I can't even touch Atemu's mind."

"Is that another reason the Gou'ald were hunting you?" Atemu asked, a bit surprised that the Nymph knew his name.

"Yes. The demons showed up thousands of years ago at our home planet, Eiru, and chased us around the galaxy. Every planet we tried to gate to seemed to just have more of them. When we finally arrived on Earth, we found out about the second Gate and decided to split up so the demons would get confused. Then shortly after my people left through the second Gate, the humans of Egypt revolted again Ra and the first Gate was buried. Since then, five representatives from around your world travel to the South Pole every three months to inform my world about how they are doing. Or, that was what happened until about eight years ago when the second Gate stopped working. We assumed the first Gate had been activated again, so my people stopped trying to contact your world. We thought the demons had returned to Earth so we didn't want to risk them finding us again."

"It said in the text that your technology is magic," Atemu said, his hand unconsciously fiddling with the Puzzle. "But the shields around your Gate didn't seem like magic."

"That's because the only magic you know is your Shadow Magic. My magic is different, lighter, more like that of the Nox–"

"You know the Nox?" Jack interrupted.

"Of course, our two peoples are related. That's why we can both turn invisible. But Nymphs can only make themselves invisible; I couldn't even make Malik invisible while I was possessing him. It just doesn't work that way. My people are also distantly related to the Ancients, that's where our other powers are from, but you probably already figured that out." He stepped forward as thought to lean against the bars of the prison, and then noticed the lasers blocking them. "Will you let me go now? There's not much else I can tell you."

"We'll have to ask–" Jack began.

"Yes. You can go now," Ryou answered. He swiped a card through a small box on the wall and the cage clicked open. "I'll accompany you so General Hammond knows what's going on."


Hammond wasn't all that thrilled to send Dylan back, but he figured that if they didn't get Bakura back they'd have worse problems than a bomb coming through the Gate; Ryou would stay angry, and Anise and the rest of the Tok'ra would probably be just as upset. So after a few minutes of discussion, Ryou and Dylan stood in front of the shimmering event horizon, ready for the Nymph to go through.

"I hope our peoples can be friends, Ryou," Dylan said sincerely.

"Yeah, me, too," Ryou answered. He held out his hand and smiled. "As soon as Bakura comes back, that is."

"You love him, don't you. I can see it in your eyes."

"He's very special to me, yes."

"I'll make sure he comes back," Dylan promised, taking the teen's hand. He nodded once and stepped into the event horizon; Ryou stood watching the water-like barrier until it finally deactivated. It instantly started up again.

"Leave it open!" Ryou shouted as he jumped off of the ramp. The Gate whooshed behind him and Bakura stepped through, follow by two Nymphs, a male and a female; both looked older than Dylan. With a gleeful cry, Ryou jumped back up onto the ramp and tightly embraced his yami, who immediately returned the gesture. The Nymphs behind them continued down the ramp to where Hammond was now standing.

"You must be General Hammond," said the male, holding out his hand towards the general. "My name is Aasir, and this is Rakia. I am whom you spoke with through the Chappa'ai."

"It's good to meet you," Hammond answered as he took Aasir's hand firmly. "I'm glad to see Bakura's alive and well."

"He was not easily subdued," Rakia said flatly. "But he did know he could not return to your world unless Dylan returned."

"His theft was a serious offense to our people," Aasir went on. "He stole the Necklace of Tilana, the first queen of the Nymphs on our planet."

"We felt inclined to punish him–"

"–But it became obvious that his detainment on our world was punishment enough."

"We feel that because Dylan and the Necklace were returned to us unharmed, we can have peaceful relations with your world," Rakia said.

"As long as none of your people steal from our world again," Aasir finished.

"I'm sure he's learned his lesson," Hammond agreed, staring pointedly at Bakura. Bakura shook his head and grinned over Ryou's hair.

"Nope, I'm still a thief. But I won't steal from your world again," he added, staring at Aasir. He let go of his hikari and led him down the ramp. "Now if everything's settled and done with, I believe it's time for dinner. Let's go Ryou."

Ryou smiled once and bowed briefly to the two Nymphs as he was dragged out of the room by his yami.


Calai'di– Review!!!! Tell me how I did on this 'episode', if they were in character, that kind of thing. Oh yeah, and if you guys want me to continue with this season. Review, review, REVIEW!!!