If you've read the old version of this story/chapter of it, this is just undergoing slight editing. You know, fixing up spelling errors and that sort of stuff.

And even though it's an AU, doesn't mean it doesn't follow canon at parts. 'kay?

Author's Note

Hello again everyone. And I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has stuck by me and read this story up to this point. When I first started writing this, I never imagined so many people would read this; hits reach somewhere between 900 and 1100 a month. So thanks to all of you.

This chapter follows parts from episode 163 – Challenge from Psycho Shocker, so if you've seen the subbed version of season four, parts may be familiar. I've also skipped some parts of the duel, if you want the full version, it basically follows canon so you can either watched it on Youtube or read the summaries of . The duel itself does not deviate from canon, although other stuff to some extent do.

Regarding the poll, it looks like either Shrouded by Darkness (10) or Don't Look into my Eyes (9) is going to win. You still have an opportunity to vote for what fic you would like to see after The Dreamwalker is finished, and if you don't have an account and still wish to vote, you can just leave a review or message or something and I'll take that into account.

So please, read and review... and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Chapters Remaining after This: 8

Disclaimer: Check previous chapters. Oh, and this chapter follows canon for the most part, with a few tweaks in the dialogue amongst other things. The duel is the same though, so I obviously don't own that.

Normal

Flashback/Thoughts

Flashback in flashback (you'll see)

Thoughts in flashback

Note

10 - Chapter 9: Heart of the Battle

It was a bright sunny day. Which, Syrus thought, wasn't very representative of the current situation. Sure, his brother was safe, but issues regarding his health still needed to be sorted out. Major problems. That, and all the disappearances that had occurred at the Academy, as well as the condition of his best friend, really put a damper on what could have otherwise been a cheery atmosphere. One that was not reflected by Mother Nature at all.

He sighed as he watched his brother on the observation deck, seated on a wheelchair, dressed in navy blue pyjamas with a lighter blue blanket covering his legs from the morning chill.

The elder brother was gazing out into the sea, the crystalline blue of the ocean waters reflecting in his navy blue eyes, reminiscing about his last duel, the match between him and Yubel (through Jesse) in the Dark World, prior to his "death", or "turning into stardust" as Aster so kindly puts it.

FLASHBACK

He stood tall, despite the fact his time was fast approaching. With only in his hand, and his three Cyber Dragons on his field no match for the Rainbow Dark Dragon on Yubel's, Zane clearly had the disadvantage. But the defining aspect of the Duel Monsters Card Game, could once again, change it all. Chance.

He drew a card from his deck. His final card; they all knew it. Barely glancing at it, he knew what it was. 'I play the spell Power Bond!' he declared, with a passion rarely expressed.

Yubel's (or rather Jesse's) eyes widened in shock. 'What does that do?'

He smirked in reply. More than you'll ever know, he thought, thinking about that memorable graduation duel with Jaden.

'I'll play this face down and call it a turn,' Jaden said, sliding his one card into his spell and trap card zone. 'Come Zane, enough with your normal fusion. Let's bring an end to this battle of fusions-bring forth Power Bond.'

Zane smiled at the passion and heart his opponent displayed. He had searched for years for such a challange. 'As you wish Jaden. I'll show it to you now, my perfection!'

He drew his card; the final card, they both knew. 'First off,' he placed the drawn card into his spell and trap card zone. 'I'll activate the magic of Power Bond.'

'And fuse what?,' Chazz wandered. 'You've got to have monsters to sacrifice them.'

'Chazz is right for once,' Bastion agreed. 'His field is bare.'

Zane heard the comments, and smirked in reply, selecting another card from his hand and sliding it into his duel disk. 'I forgot to mention, I don't need monsters.'

Jaden simply smiled, waiting for his next move. 'I activate Cybernetic Fusion Support,' Zane continued. 'By sacrificing half my lifepoints, I can select fusion material from my grave, and remove it from play, then summon its fusion form to the field with no extra requirements. So I call forth Cyber End Dragon!'

'Ya know,' Jaden muttered, as the majestic metal dragon appeared once more. 'I'm starting to really get sick of that thing.'

'And when a monster is summoned to the field by a Power Bond, its attack points are automatically doubled. And with Limiter Removal, Cyber End Dragons will further double.'

'16000?'

'It's over Jaden. Cyber End Dragon, attack!'

'Not so fast,' Jaden interrupted, revealing one of his face downs. 'Go Battle Fusion. When used during a battle, my monster gains as many attack points as triple chrome-dome over there.'

Zane shook his head. 'Timing is everything. From my hand, I play Battle Fusion.'

'What?'

The two monsters faced off, Cyber End Dragon with the added advantage of 20900 extra attack points.

Jaden grinned. 'You really are great Zane. Perfect.'

'But at the same time, that is my limitation. "Perfect"...that means I've reached my limits. But you Jaden Yuki, have infinite potential!'

'Thank you. Hearing those words from someone like you...let me give you a duel to remember, because it's not over yet.'

Zane let surprise show upon his face, as Jaden revealed his trump card. His final face down. Final Fusion.

'How clever,' he said eventually, satisfied.

Power Bond, the card that once marked my limitations. But I have come far beyond that. 'I fuse my three Cyber Dragons together, and summon Cyber End Dragon!'

Yubel stared in awe, and slight fear. 'That beast has so much power!'

Yes Jesse, he thought. No-one is walking away from this duel. If I'm going down, I'm taking with me whatever evil spirit is controlling you.

'This duel is over Yubel,' he declared out loud. 'A new dawn is rising.'

Yubel scowled. 'Not quite yet,' she said, in her own voice rather than Jesse's. 'Killing me will destroy your friend.'

Zane however, simply shook his head. 'Don't play games with me. Cyber End Dragon, finish her!'

'Not so fast,' Yubel called, switching back into Jesse's voice. 'Go Counter Gem. I can place up to five Crystal Beasts from my graveyard into my spell and trap card zone. And by sending them back to my graveyard, my Dragon gains a thousand more attack points.'

Rainbow Dark Dragon's attacks rouse to 10,000, towering over the machine dragon. 'What do you intend to do now Zane?' Yubel taunted. 'You're dragon's outmatched. You can't defeat me no matter what you try to do.'

'Perhaps,' he agreed. 'But at least I'm going down on my own terms.'

END FLASHBACK

But even that hadn't been enough. But if his best wasn't good enough, if perfection was defeated...what was left except to try and overcome those limitations and become stronger. But his deck refused to be mastered by him...refused to bend to his will.

'Brother?' Syrus asked, coming up behind him. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' Zane replied, as the younger Truesdale taking a hold on the other's wheelchair, wheeling him back indoors. 'So tell me what's been happening since I left this place.'

'Hmm...I see,' Zane mused, once Syrus had finished his tale. It had taken many hours, and the two were now back in the infirmary with Nurse Fontaine and the comatose Jaden. It was past three, the two having stopped for lunch earlier. Syrus had finally explained everything that had happened to the Academy, and to them, since his graduation nearly two years previously.

And now the topic of what they were going to do with the rest of their lives came up, with graduation fast approaching.

'Time has passed so quickly,' Syrus mused. 'It doesn't seem all too long ago when I watched you graduate. Soon, I'll be following in your footsteps...'

He trailed off, silence filling the air between them momentarily, before he picked up the conversation slack once more. 'You know, everyone's come so far since that first day. Jaden, you...'

'And what about you?' Zane questioned.

Syrus turned away and remained silent. 'Don't you think it is time to take control of your own destiny?' he pressed. 'To stop watching over Jaden from the shadows and enter the fore line?...You know, I envy you.'

'What? Why?'

Zane simply smiled, letting the conversation drop once again. The two continued to sit quietly in relative silence, the regular beeping from the monitoring machines and Ms Fontaine's typing being the only audible sounds, and even those, barely so.

Until the phone rang.

Night had fallen once again. Zane stood, his back to the window of his temporary quarters, a note in his hand. One that had been slipped under the crack of the door only minutes before.

Tonight, at 12AM. I will be waiting at the beach.

It was short, and unsigned, but Zane knew who it was from. Makato Inotsume, the current master of the Psycho Style. The phone call from the Chancellor that very afternoon had already tipped him off about the psycho duellist's intentions. And he was more than willing to accept the challenge, despite protests from his health, chancellor, nurse and brother.

But none of that was going to deter him. He set the note down on the bedside table, and strapped his duel disk to his arm. Inserting his deck into the card holder and flicking off the lights, he walked out of the room, carefully shutting the door behind him.

'So, you've come.'

'Of course.'

'The master of the Cyber Style. I must congratulate you for that. A powerful dojo indeed. But only one will prevail. Today will be the last night for the Cyber Style. From this duel onwards, the Psycho Style will rise up above the Cyber Style.'

'You're eager.'

'Quite. Lets duel.'

'Lets.'

'DUEL.'

(Meanwhile...)

'Zane?' Syrus knocked on the door of his brother's temporary quarters, one of the available rooms in the Obelisk Blue dorms. 'Are you in there?'

He frowned. It was just past twelve, so there was the possibility that Zane was asleep, however growing worry in the pit of his stomach said otherwise, prompting him to leave his own dorm room to check up on his older brother.

He tried calling for his brother again, and once again received no response. I'm just being paranoid, he thought. 'I'll just check the door.'

He placed a hand on the knob and turned, starting in surprise when it actually turned. 'It's unlocked?'

He opened the door fully, only to find his brother not in his room. However, something else caught his eye. A slightly crumpled, handwritten note lying on the desk.

Tonight, at 12AM. I will be waiting at the beach.

He checked the clock. 12:17AM.

'Oh shit.'

By the time Syrus located his brother on the beach, the duel was well in progress; in fact, it seemed to be nearing its conclusion, with Psychic Wave active on the opponent's (who the younger Truesdale could only assume to be Makato Inotsume) field, about to knock off another 600 life points off his brother's score. Sure, his life points could survive the hit, as he was currently on 2600, but as to his health...

Already, his face was flushed, his heart racing at a painful rate. His pride was the only thing propelling him; even his deck fought against him, wanting to grow under a will which was not his own. But he couldn't quit. Not now.

'I activate Fusion Guard,' he gasped out, activating one of his two remaining face-downs. 'With this, I randomly select a monster from my Fusion Deck and send it to the graveyard in order to reduce your damage to 0.'

Holograms of six monsters appeared before the teal-haired man: Cyber End Dragon, Cyber Dark Dragon, Five God Dragon, Chimeratech Over Dragon, Chimeratech Fortress Dragon and Cyber Twin Dragon. Cyber End Dragon disappeared in a flash soon after, reappearing in his graveyard and shielding his current master from damage.

Scowling from another chance lost, Makato Inotsume simply ends his turn with a face-down card. Barely able to stand, Zane looks at his remaining face down card. Samsara Dogma. The key to counteract Inotsume's DNA-Erasure Sorcery's effect. If only he had the strength to play it.

'It's over Truesdale,' Inotsome voiced, and it seemed as though another voice overlapped that of the Psycho Master's. 'Your persistence is useless. You cannot outlast this duel. Simply surrender.'

'I won't,' the addressed gasped, sinking to his knees as he made to draw a card. 'As long as it is the will of my deck, I will continue to fight.'

'Useless,' the other spat. 'You cannot master that deck.'

He is right, Zane thought, despite himself, as he felt his conscience slipping. That deck surpasses my limitations. I cannot conquer it. I cannot overcome my limitations...

The darkness overtook him; warm, comforting...a feeling of tranquility passing through him, numbing his pain and dulling his senses. The last thing he heard before slipping fully into that void was the voice of his younger brother.

'I will take over this duel. I won't let you prevail over the Cyber Style, or my dear brother...or even myself. I will beat you!'