Disclaimer:

In no way to I own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Kazuki Takahashi and Konami of Japan separately own it. In any circumstance, this fanfiction cannot be used for profit. Lance Mizaki is a character owned by me, and should not be used without my consent. Colon's ( : represent a character's thoughts.

-*The Duelist of the Rose*- Chapter 1: -*Forget The Past*-

Tea and Yami were sitting with each other peacefully at the park. It was a beautiful day outside and Yami had just earned his freedom, and was going to return to where he belonged...Ancient Egypt. Needless to say, Tea, was crushed by Yami's decision, for she had loved him for so long. With all that they would have been through, he was going to leave her.

"You can't leave me, Yami. I can't go one without you!"

"Tea, I am sorry. But, I have no place here. Please, forget me and move on. Live a good life, In the hopes you will find someone else. I want you to be happy."

Angry, Tea said:

"If you want me to be happy, don't leave me!"

Tea words were split up by her large sobs. Yami approached her, took his thumb and wiped Tea's tears off her face. He looked deep into her eyes.

"Tea, I will always be with you, forever. But, I must go back to my time. Be strong Tea."

Yami moved closer to Tea., she was still crying, but suddenly, she felt Yami's lips on hers. They shared a passionate kiss there in the sunset. Tea wanted this moment to last forever. But, she knew it wouldn't. Yami got up.

"Thank you, for everything, Tea."

The spirit began to walk away in Tea's mind. He was leaving the Millenium Puzzle. It seemed like forever, until, Yami was gone. There stood Yugi, who didn't dare to say anything, as he thought he would only make the situation worse. Yugi went home, and told Tea to go home as well.

The walk home felt like eternity, Tea's heart was burdened at the lost of Yami. Was he really gone? Tea did not want to believe it. When she got home, she ran to her room. She buried her face in her pillows and cried.

"Why did you have to leave me...? I thought you loved me..."

Memories of Yami flashed into Tea's mind. She couldn't bare the fact that after all the experiences they had together in Duelist Kingdom, Battle City and Noah's Virtual World that he would just get up and leave her. Tea cried herself to sleep that night. She did not know what the future had in store her.

-*Meanwhile...*-

Just about two houses over from Tea, a house was just sold. They began moving in that night. As the moving trucks pulled into the driveway, a small car followed. It stopped on the curb. The driver opened the door for the young man inside. He got out and put on his glasses and took a look. He was a 16 year-old boy, with brown hair. He wore a large white coat, almost down to his knees and wore black pants. He had light-blue eyes, that looked like the daytime sky. The glasses suited him very well, it made him look...intelligent.

"What a unique city. I love it!"

He began to approach house, before he could get there, he was met on the way by one of the his movers.

"Uh, Mr. Mizaki, where do you want your things?"

Smiling, he replied:

"Just take all my things and take it into the house. I can take it from there."

Lance entered his house and opened his arms wide. He admired the empty space he had to make his own.

"Ah, what a beautiful site, I must thank my parents for sending me here. But not now..." he laughed.

"I have many things to do today..." he said sarcastically.

For the remainder of the night, Lance and his movers, continued to move him belongings to his new home. His butler, Mr. Otogi Delvin, was busy preparing dinner. Lance had many things to move into his house. By the end of the night, his house was full of all his things. But, there was still one more thing missing. Lance walked into the truck and grabbed a large wooden box. He put it under his arm.

"Glad to see you survived the trip..." he said to himself.

Lance thanked the movers and paid for their services. He closed the door and walked into the kitchen. To his surprise, there was dinner already waiting for him.

"Wow! Delvin, you are great! Thank you!"

"Your Welcome, Young Master."

Lance laughed.

"Hey, hey, relax Delvin, just call me Lance." Delvin cleared his throat.

"As you wish, Lance..."

Lance stuffed his face, he was really hungry. Delvin stood in awe to see how much of the food Lance ate. Lance had finished all of it, and Delvin cooked enough for 4 people...Surprised Delvin spoke.

"You must have been extremely hungry, Young Master."

"Hey, what did I say Delvin?"

"I apologize, Lance..."

"That's better. Answering your question, I was pretty hungry, it was a long trip here you know, Delvin. I should be grateful that you came with me."

"The pleasure is all mine, Lance. You know, you should clean up and get ready for bed, we have to bring you to your new school tomorrow."

Lance snapped his fingers.

"Oh! Right, what is the name of my school again?"

"I believe it was Domino High School, Lance."

"Well, Thank you Delvin, I guess I should be going to my room. You should get some rest too. It was a long day."

Lance smiled and made his way up to his room. The small wooden box he took from the truck lay on the floor. Lance cleaned up and changed into some sleeping clothes, basically a pair of short and a T-shirt. He lay on this bed and grabbed the box from the floor. He opened the box. There lie some of the rarest cards in Duel Monsters, it was his Dueling Deck.

"Thanks Father..."

Knowing that it was already late, Lance turned off his lights and went to sleep.

-*The Next Day...*-

Lance woke up late. He panicked and looked at his clock.

"Oh NO! I slept in! I am SO late!!"

He rushed to get changed and to grab all of his things. He grabbed the wooden box and put it in his backpack. He fixed his hair, picked up his glasses and ran out of his room.

"Agh! I'm so stupid..."

As he ran down the stairs. Delvin was waiting for him at the bottom.

"Rough morning, Lance?"

"You could say that Delvin...Let's hurry, I don't want to be too late on my first day..."

Grabbing a piece of toast Delvin prepared for him, Lance put the piece of bread in his mouth and ran out the door. He swung his bag over his back and hopped in to the car.

Tea had just left her house, she looked as depressed as ever. She walked with her head facing the ground on her way to school. As Lance made his way to school, he spotted Tea and wondered why she looked so sad. He determined it was none of his business and shrugged it off. Delvin dropped off Lance at the school. Lance said goodbye to Delvin as he ran out of the car in a hurry. He looked at his piece of paper and ran to his classroom.

"Room 218! There it is!"

Lance stormed into his classroom. He had no idea what he was doing...He screamed:

"SAFE!"

as he entered the room. When he realized what he had just done, he looked up, he saw the class looking awkwardly at him. He felt embarrassed. Then the teacher stood up.

"You must be Lance Mizaki, you are 30 minutes late..."

Lance began to scratch his head.

"Yeah...uh...about that...you see, I had some trouble getting up...and well—"

Before he could finish, Tea entered the room. Lance stopped. He thought.

:That was the girl I saw on the way here. Man, does she ever looked bummed.:

He watched as Tea took a seat. Then he shook his head. The teacher spoke to him:

"You can take a sit beside Joey Wheeler, and try not be late tomorrow."

"No problem, sir."

Lance took his seat.

"Hey, I'm Joey Wheeler, The Extraordinary Duelist!"

Lance smiled.

"Nice to meet you Joey."

Yugi seemed concerned about Tea. He continued to look at her and her face said it all. She missed Yami. Yugi turned to the rest of the gang.

"Hey guys, Tea seemed really depressed."

"Yeah, I agree." Said Tristan.

"We should just let her be for now..." Duke said.

As they day rolled on, Lance made many new friends. He seemed just like a people person. At the end of the day, he met with Joey, Tristan, Yugi, Duke, Serenity and Tea. Tea was in her own little world, in a corner a little bit away from everyone else. Lance spoke:

"Hey Joey, you said you were a duelist?"

"That's right, I finished 2nd at Duelist and made it to the Battle City Finals!"

Lance smiled.

"That's great, would you mind playing me in a game?"

"Sure, I'd like to teach you a few things about Duel Monsters!"

Seto, who nearby in the classroom, overheard the discussion and saw this as an opportunity to try his new invention. His Duel Disk III. He stood up.

"If you dweebs are going to duel, why don't you do it for real and use my new Duel Disk?"

"Say what?"

Joey asked. Seto through him a Duel Disk and threw one to Lance as well.

"Put it on. You can Duel outside."

They proceeded outside. Joey slipped his deck into the duel disk and as did Lance. The Duel was on. The game went back and forth for and hour. Tea watched from a distance, while the rest of the gang was cheering Joey on. Just then, it was Lance's turn. He drew a card. He smiled.

"Sorry Joey, you lose."

"Say what? Come on bring it!"

"Okay. I start by playing this card, Fissure. Then, I play Mystical Space Typhoon. Then I will tribute my two weaker monsters to play the DARK MAGICIAN in Attack Mode."

This strategy destroyed the only monster and Magic on Joey's side of the field. Joey only had 2000 Life Points left. An the Magician had an attack of 2500. The Dark Magician struck something in Tea.

Then, Lance announced.

"Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!"

Tea heard this and thought of Yami, all the duels he fought and all the people he saved. He remembered his words.

:Move on. You will find someone. Forget about me.:

Tea didn't know what to think.

-*End Chapter 1*-