Erm…just so you know, I realized AFTER I had written the story that I spelled Maximillion wrong the whole way through…so don't kill me over that, please!  I wrote this thing as one huge story, and I'm splitting it up as best as I can, and I'm sticking it together all at once on FF.net.  By the way – the song "Love Don't Come Easy" does NOT belong to me – it's a great song, one of my favorites, by the Moody Blues.  Please R+R!!

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Rei sighed as she strolled around the woods of the Duelist Kindom.  She was hopelessly alone and lost.  She had entered the tournament by herself, won her first duel by herself, had nine starchips by herself…

She shook that thought out of her mind.  None of her friends back home in England could afford to travel to the island with her, and miss school.

It was drawing towards night.  She decided to set up camp under a huge oak tree somewhere in the middle of the forest.  Somehow, the huge boughs of the massive tree made her feel safer…comforted by the thought, Rei lit a fire and sat Indian-style next to it, barbecuing a leg of chicken on a stick.

Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea were wandering the woods when Joey's nose detected something.  "Heyyy…somebody's cookin' chicken somewhere around here!"

Tea rolled her eyes.  "My little Joey is so smart."

Tristan tapped his fingers together and looked around.  "Erm…well…would it hurt to see who it was?  I'm starving and we ate the last of our food!"

Yugi sighed.  "Do you really want another Mako Tsunami episode, Tristan?"

Tristan grinned.  "I just wanna eat!"

Without saying anything else, Tristan and Joey dashed off into the night.

Tea and Yugi stood and blinked for a moment before running after them.  "Hey, guys, wait up for us!"

Rei was about to bite into her chicken when she detected the sound snapping twigs and crunching leaves.  She immediately rose into battle stance.  She quickly drew a reasonably sized switchblade from the pocket of her jeans and flicked it out.  She waited for the intruders to show themselves.

Joey shouted as he ran.  "I see a clearin' up ahead, and firelight!  Time to chow down!"

Both Tristan and Joey burst through the last bit of hedge at the same time, ravenous looks on their faces.  However, the thoughts of food dissipated when they found themselves staring down at a wicked 7-inch switchblade that glistened in the firelight.  "WHOAA, Nelly!" Tristan shouted.  He leaped behind Joey for protection.

Yugi and Tea ran into the area at that precise moment.  They looked confusedly at the scenario: a tall, pretty, black-haired girl, wielding a knife that was aimed at Joey with Tristan cowering behind him.

"What's going on?" Yugi shouted.  All four of the others turned toward his voice.

Joey gulped and backed up.  "She's tryin' to kill me an' Tristan!"

Rei lowered her knife slightly.  "What are you doing, running around the woods so loudly this late at night?  I thought you were one of Pegasus's henchmen!"

Tristan seemed to recover himself; with a disgusted look, he peeled himself away from Joey and picked a blonde hair off his brown trenchcoat.  "Us?  Yeah right.  We're actually trying to get into his castle; he captured Yugi's grandfather's soul."  Yugi looked down sadly to the ground.  Tea threw a comforting arm around his small frame.

Rei gave a winning smile and pocketed her knife.  "I'm really sorry about this.  There are so many weird things going on around this island, you can never be too careful.  It's really hard, traveling alone…it's easier going in packs."  With this she eyed the group meaningly.

Then she looked at Tristan, who was gazing longingly at the fire.  She grinned again and sat down next to it.  "You guys look hungry.  I've got more than enough chicken here.  Want a bite to eat?  It'll be easier for me, with company."

Tristan and Joey immediately plopped down next to Rei, one on each side of her.  Tristan couldn't help but look at her wonderingly.  She certainly was very pretty.  She had long, jet-black hair that was tied back in a ponytail and still reached about halfway down her back.  Her eyes were, shockingly, a definite orange color, that glittered many different shades in the dim firelight.  She wore baggy blue jeans and white sneakers, and a light blue tee shirt on top of which was a dark purple-black vest that set off her hair.

Rei reached into her trusty knapsack and withdrew a package of chicken.  "Let's eat!"

Yugi and Tea, glad to rest after the run, sat on a log opposite of the fire.  All grabbed sticks lying near them and thrust the chicken onto them, and began to cook.  Soon the wonderful smell of the meat filled the air, and, of course, impatient Joey was the first one to take a bite of his chicken.

 "Yawrgh!!!"  Joey gagged as he spit his first sweet bite out into the fire.  Rei leaned over to inspect the meat on the end of the stick and giggled.  "It's still raw on the inside, silly.  You have to let it cook some more."  The rest of the group didn't laugh, only shook their heads at the hotheaded Brooklyn blond.

"Uh, yeah…I knew dat…I was only, er…testing it out."  He blushed a million shades of crimson and poked his meat back into the flames.

Tristan, wisely, waited a few more minutes before chewing his.  The school mentor sighed deeply as he took the wonderful feeling in.  "Mmmmm…"

Soon after, the rest began to enjoy the food.  After filling themselves to contentment, the happy duelists lay lazily about the fire talking.

"So how many star chips do you have, Rei?"  Of course, Yugi was the one to bring that up.

Rei lifted her gauntlet for the group to see.  "I've won nine so far."

Their eyes boggled.  "Wow!  Nine!"

Rei looked at Joey.  "How many do you have, Joey?"

Joey gazed down at his glove.  "I only have five, but I got a late start, you could say."

"How's that?"  Orange eyes looked quizzically across the fire to Tea, the voice of reason.  Tea explained the whole Weevil Underwood episode to her, with Yugi and Joey chiming in, and the occasional word from the quiet Tristan.

After telling the tale, Tea sat up with a happy look.  "Oh, Rei!  Do you want to travel around with us?  We'd be glad to have another travel buddy!"

The usually down-to-earth Tristan bolted upright.  "Of course!  I don't know why we didn't ask before…we'd love to have you along!"

Rei grinned, slung an arm around Tristan, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.  "If you don't mind to have me along, I'd love to stay with you guys!"

Tristan's face turned beet red at this motion, although he seemed very pleased to have it.

The fire began to burn low into its ashes.  The gang settled down for the night, the boys on one side of the flames and the girls on the other.  All fell fast asleep.  However, they were awakened in the middle of the night by voices and footsteps near the little camp.  Joey sat up.  "Hey, who's dat wanderin' around here so late at night?"

Rei slowly stood up, knife at the ready.  Her clear voice rang out in the dark.  "Who's there?"

Suddenly, the group was blinded by flashlights.  A deep male voice answered.  "Is there a young lady named Rei Pollack here?"

Three tall men wearing dark suits stepped into the clearing.  It was obviously a group of Maximilian Pegasus's men; however, they lacked the usual dark sunglasses, it being so late at night and all.

Tristan abandoned his sleeping bag to stand protectively beside Rei.  She answered.  "I'm Rei Pollack.  What do you want?"

"Mr. Pegasus wants to see you immediately in his castle," a second man said.

Yugi was confused.  "Why does he want Rei now?  In the middle of the night?"

Tristan spoke.  "Yeah, couldn't he wait until morning?"

The last man shot back, "Mr. Pegasus can do what he pleases when he pleases it.  This is his island, and you're playing by his rules.  We're instructed to take Ms. Pollack to the castle right now."

The bodyguard that was first to speak advanced toward Rei.  "Let's go, missie."

Tristan ran to stop the guards.  However, it did no good.  The second guard shoved Tristan rudely out of the way and grabbed Rei by the arm, disarming her of her knife at the same time.  Joey ran to where he fell to help him up.  Rei, seeing it was pointless to resist, tried reassuring the group.  "I'll…I'll be okay.  I guess I won't need food at the castle, so you can take it all.  I'll just need my cards and my clothes."

The last man nodded to the first, who went over to Rei's bag.  He emptied all of the food contents out of it onto the ground, then zipped it back up and shouldered it.  "We're out of here."

The second man began to drag Rei away.  Tristan, who was back on his feet, ran a few paces then stopped, his arm out to Rei.  "We'll…we'll get you back, Rei!"

She could only nod miserably before she was pulled through the shrubs and was gone.

Out of the clearing and in the safety of the darkness, the third dark man dialed a number on his cell phone and waited for it to ring.  It rang twice before a smooth voice answered the call.  "Pegasus speaking."

The guard's rough voice spoke.  "We've successfully captured the girl.  We're bringing her back to headquarters right away, sir."

A low chuckle could he heard on the other end.  "Good work."  Then the line went dead.

He folded the cell phone, pocketed it, then motioned to the other two men to leave.  Dragging Rei, they headed back toward the castle.

In the castle, Pegasus hung up the phone.  The handsome silver-haired man sat in his favorite seat, slowly twirling his wine glass in his right hand as he stared at it, deep in thought.  His one eye fixed on the red juice in it, watching it make little waves and splash gently against the sides.  He stopped twirling and took a sip of the red liquid.

"Sir?" Pegasus's personal bodyguard stood next to him.

He looked up, slightly annoyed.  "What is it?"

"I hope I'm not rude for asking, but why do you want this girl Rei Pollack?  I've never heard of her before the tournament."

Pegasus regained his outwardly genial demeanor and laughed lightly.  "It's not rude, just a bit nosy.  But since you're so faithful to me, I'll answer."

The guard bowed respectfully.

"This girl Rei has something I want…something very precious to me indeed.  Just as Yugi Motou and that boy Ryou Bakura do."

"A Millennium Item?"

Pegasus nodded slightly.  "Good boy.  Very quick.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like some private time."

The guard bowed again and left the room hastily.  There was no telling when Maximilian Pegasus would turn on you.

He continued to sit in his seat, this time setting the glass down on the table and simply staring at it.  His good eye suddenly glassed over as he thought of some painful memory hidden deep inside his mind.  A tear threatened to fall before he angrily reached up and brushed it away.  'No memories.  No pain.'

He sat for a moment more before he thought of the behavior he had just displayed and, in a fit of rage, swiped the glass from the table with the back of his hand.  He shoved his chair back and strode from the room.

Pegasus was on his way up to his private quarters when his phone rang.  Still angry, he answered it with a "Dammit, what is it?"

The voice on the other end cleared its throat uncomfortably.  "Um, sorry to disturb you, sir, but the three men you sent out are back with the girl.  They're waiting in the main lobby for you."

Maximilian calmed himself down enough to answer.  "Thank you.  I'll be down in a moment."

Down in the lobby, Rei stood between two guards, struggling.  The sight of the castle roused the battling spirit within her, so she decided to fight to get free.  'Then I'll get off the island.  I'll be safe back home…'

However, her thoughts were disturbed at the sight of an important-looking man entering the lobby.  He was tall, with long, silvery hair and wore a red suit.  His step was confident and he moved toward the little party, stopping a few feet from them.  He spoke in a smooth, deep voice.

"My name is Maximilian Pegasus, but I'm sure you already know that, Ms. Pollack."

She stared defiantly back.  She wouldn't let physical attraction win her over.  "Who doesn't?  We all get to know you around here, with your henchmen flooding the island.  Do you keep them in little holes under the ground?"  Rei was inwardly pleased to note that the guards looked slightly offended at that remark.

His eye flashed.  'My, she is a quick one.  Very smart indeed.'  He gave a small smile, then motioned to the guards holding Rei.  "She's here now.  She won't run…will you, Ms. Pollack?"

She only looked back at him.  The guards holding her arms dropped them suddenly.  Rei, who had been resisting the grip the men had on her, fell forward.  She found herself landing in Pegasus's arms.

Pegasus looked down at her, his one eye widening slightly.  He hadn't held anybody in a long time…

They stayed like that for a moment longer until Rei, refusing to give in, straightened up.  She tightened her hands into fists.  "Of course I won't run.  What's the point?  You only have to wave your magic wand to have twenty men after me in a second."

He folded his arms, back to his normal suave self.  "Smart girl.  Very perceptive."

Rei did the same.  "I still have no idea why I'm here."

Pegasus laughed.  "You'll find out soon enough.  It will all become very clear to you…" He then turned to his bodyguard from earlier.  "Please escort Ms. Pollack to her room."  Then he turned on his heel and strode out of the lobby.

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The next chapter is up.  Keep reading!