At the toolshed
"Damn Dray you're on a roll today" said Jaden as Draco destroyed one of his last monster and devastated his life points with his Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
"Thanks Dad gave me all sorts of tips and stuff about playing Duel Monsters. He was totally awesome. Dad & I hardly ever even talk let alone play. Fancy another go?" Draco said picking his cards off the floor.
"No thanks, my elemental heroes need a break from your warriors & spellcasters" Jaden laughed as he stood up.
"In fairness most of my deck is warriors, I've got hardly any spellcasters. Syrus, you wanna duel?" Draco asked. Syrus looked up from his work.
"Oh sorry Dray I really have to get this done or I'm gonna get skinned by Crowler." Syrus said frantically.
"Oh ok" said Draco slightly miserably. "Well, I guess I'll go out then. Maybe there's someone around the academy who wants to duel" said Draco putting on his Slifer jacket and putting on his red & black duel disk. Draco could never be bothered to do up his jacket and it looked much cooler when it was undone. Since Kaiba's visit Draco had gotten a lot more confident.
"Hold up! I'm coming too" said Jaden. "Sure you don't wanna come Sy?"
"No I can't. I'll see you guys later." Syrus said furiously scrawling something on his notebook. Draco & Jaden went out the Slifer Red dorms. It was a nice day so there were a lot of people out. Jaden & Draco had a couple of duels around Slifer after Draco had won his 4th duel in a row they went to see if there were any of the Ra's around. On the way they ran into Alexis and her friends, Mindy & Jasmine.
"Alexis!" Draco waved happily as they approached the girls.
"Oh no it's that loser Kaiba kid" Mindy whispered to Jasmine who giggled.
"Don't be mean to him, he's really sweet" said Alexis crossly.
"Hello ladies" said Jaden happily. "Who wants to duel my boy Draco?" he smiled putting his arm over Draco's shoulder. "How about you, Alexis?" Draco pulled himself away from Jaden and tried to hide his blushing.
"I think it's a great idea. That is of course if Draco wants to." Alexis smiled. Draco looked at her surprised.
"Let's duel" he said looking scarily like Kaiba as he did so.
Sil was listening to her iPod on her way to the academy pool. Some Obelisk Blue students approached her. "Sil" said one of them. Sil's eyes shifted to them but she didn't turn her head. "Sil…can we trade with you" the other said. Everybody knew that asking Sil Kaiba for help was like making a deal with the devil but sometimes it was necessary. She had more cards than any other student. She took off her Skullcandy headphones. "Trade for what?" she asked coldly.
"Curse of Dragon for Sword of Dark Destruction"
Sil started laughing cruelly. "Get out of my sight" she ordered.
"Fine your Curse of Dragon doesn't deserve a slot in my deck but I suppose it would make a good coaster for my drink" the Obelisk said angrily.
"How would you like a punch in the face?" Sil said coldly. The two Obelisks ran off. It was well-known that Sil could do whatever she wanted and never get into trouble. Her influence & position of power and ability to manipulate people made sure of it.
"Well you could've handled that better" Sil heard Kaibaman's voice. "Can't you even be a tad nicer?"
"I don't want to be nice. I want to yell at people, then flaunt my money & power around and then I'll make a reference to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The most powerful card in all of…"
"Yeah, yeah come on we're going." Kaibaman said.
"Huh? Where are we going?"
"To the Duel Monsters Spirit World"
"I don't wanna go. I wanna go swimming." Sil whined.
"Tough" Kaibaman said grabbing her then a bright light flashed.
"I told you to stop doing that!" Sil yelled. She looked around she was in what looked like a blue cavern. "This place is weird"
"Who are you calling weird?" Kaibaman said he stood in front of her wearing a duel disk. There were a few duel spirits behind him. "Get up Sil. It's time to duel" he said.
"You can't duel."
"I can in this world." Kaibaman said. "What's more Sil is you can't run from this duel. If you ever want to get back to your world then you'll have to duel me."
"How dare you speak to me like that!" yelled Sil angrily. "You can't tell me what to do"
"I'm sensing fear, deep fear. That you'll lose and you'll pay most dearly."
"I'm not scared!" she hissed and folded her arms defensively.
"Stop throwing a hissy fit" Sil glared at him.
"Fine but only to shut you up."
"Good, now you can look forward to facing this card" he said pulling out a card Sil knew only too well.
"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Sil screeched.
"Nope, no backing down." Kaibaman said. Sil started quivering. "What's wrong Sil? You look like you've just seen a ghost. Worried about facing the card that beat you?" Sil whimpered. Memories of her one & only defeat to Kaiba came flooding back. She reluctantly slotted her deck into her dragon duel disk.
Sil: 4000 Kaibaman: 4000
"Go on Sil" Kaibaman smiled. "I play the spell Ookazi dealing 800 damage to you and I'll also play my new spell card. Dian Keto the Cure Master giving me an extra 1000 life points."
Sil: 5000 Kaibaman: 3200
Kaibaman smiled. "I summon myself, Kaibaman (200/700) and you know very well what I can do now, don't you?" Sil nodded. "I'll tribute him to summon the one & only Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)" Sil started shaking as the huge blue & white dragon appeared. "Wishing you could back out Sil?" Kaibaman asked. "No! Shut up! I'm not backing down, I'll never back down" Sil yelled. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. Now Blue-Eyes attack!"
Sil: 2000 Kaibaman: 3200
"I play the spell card Lightning Vortex. Now I discard a card and destroy all monsters on your side of the field. Now I summon Shadow Delver (1500/500) and attack directly. I was scared for a moment. Not anymore! Beating me isn't gonna happen!" she smirked. "Its not gonna happen? Anything can happen, especially in this duel. Seriously Sil, do you think that by beating 1 Blue-Eyes you've won? You've avoided the defeat that you fear more than death itself? I think not, you've got a long way to go before you have bragging rights." Kaibaman said. "I don't believe you!" Sil snarled. "It's true, whether you like it or not. You have to accept it and face it. This is how a true duellist lives, not afraid of defeat but always prepared to accept it. This is the nature of duelling and it's about time that you learned it!" Kaibaman said sternly.
Sil: 2000 Kaibaman: 1700
"I play Silent Doom with it I can bring a Blue-Eyes back from my graveyard." Kaibaman said. "NO! I don't want it to come back!" Sil shouted. "Well that's too bad Sil. You can't always get what you want especially when it comes to duelling. That's why you must always be prepared to accept defeat and if you won't accept that. I'll force it on you. I summon Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands. Now I can add a ritual card from my deck to my hand but it won't be in my hand for long because I'm playing it. I use White Dragon Ritual & tribute Manju to summon Paladin of White Dragon!" Kaibaman said. "By the look on your face I'd say you know what's gonna happen now. I tribute Paladin and call on the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Finally, I play Polymerization! To summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4500/3800)" Kaibaman said. Sil's eyes widened. "!" she said and stared in horror. "Now prepare for your defeat Sil. Now go Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon"
Sil: 0 Kaibaman: 1700
Sil dropped to her knees and cried. She hit the ground as the tears poured down her face. "I lost…I never lose" she sobbed. She felt just like she did when she was 5 and lost to Seto Kaiba, her father. By now her face was leaking many different fluids.
"Defeat is nothing to be scared of Sil" she heard Kaibaman say and looked up at him just like when she was a child. "What matters is if you can get up afterwards." Sil slowly stood up and wiped her tears away. "Are you still scared Sil?"
"No" she said
"That's because you faced it, you lost and your ok. Once you push aside that hurt pride you're alright. You duelled fairly, accepted defeat and faced your fear. That's how a true duellist lives." Kaibaman said and held her in his arms until she stopped crying. When she pulled away from him she'd never looked more beautiful, even with the bloodshot eyes and tear stained skin. Kaibaman smiled at Sil. He took her face in his hands and kissed her on the lips. Sil was shocked but didn't slap him like she would with any other person. She liked it, it relaxed her. When Kaibaman pulled away from the kiss she found they were back at the academy. Sil looked at him confused and he smiled. "I know I can never have you Sil but that one kiss I'll always treasure." Sil smiled as she felt her fears melt away.
That night at Obelisk Blue
Sil's eyes snapped open and she looked at her clock '3:15'. She felt sick and she had an awful feeling like something was crawling inside her. She got out of bed and went into her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror; she was even more pale than usual. Sil splashed some water on her face. She started to cough and retch until she coughed up blood. Sil washed the taste out of her mouth then looked in the mirror but it wasn't her in the mirror. This Sil had a gold eye on her forehead and the white parts of her eyes were black. She smiled. "Hello Sil" she said. Sil didn't say anything she just looked at the strange image. "Why are you doing this?" the girl in the mirror asked.
"Doing what?" Sil asked
"Letting Kaibaman control you." The image smiled wickedly. "You really think that he wants to do the best for you? Not even close he just wants to control you."
"No, Kaibaman isn't like that."
"Why? Because he kissed you? Don't be so naïve. Nobodies ever gonna love you and you know it."
"Daddy loves me"
"Does he? Ditching you to spend the day with your brother doesn't seem too loving to me. You deserve more than that. You deserve everything. You know that you'll never win with your brother around. He'll take everything you've worked for."
"You lie, Daddy loves me and Kaibaman's my best friend."
"I don't lie Sil. What's Kaibaman done for you aside from hold you back & humiliate you? He wants you to be a loser with his talk of accepting defeat and you're falling for it. Think about it, the great Sil Kaiba's downfall, it's the goof of all time. While you're slaving away what are they doing? They're laughing their sick fuckin' asses off."
"Hey shut up. You don't know anything about me."
"On the contrary I know everything about you. I am you."
"You're lying! I am me!"
"Sil, you're the one who's lying. You're lying to yourself. Do you think that anyone really wants to help you? You're nothing to them. You're just a pathetic child to them, even your fathers gotten sick of you. He doesn't love you anymore. You've got nobody aside from me"
"No, you're wrong…I don't believe you." Sil said tears forming in her eyes. "Daddy loves me" she started to break inside. The girl in the mirror smiled.
"See, even the thought hurts you. Nobody loves you aside from me, I would never hurt you, never laugh at you, never abandon you and we could always play together. Recognise this?" said the girl holding the Millennium Rod.
"The item from the vision"
"Yes Sil with this you can be the one who calls the shots. You'll get to play forever and never have to worry or be scared. Everyone will just be your puppets. You'll get to be in charge for once. Nobody will ever make fun of you, be better than you or hold you back." The girl smiled. "Why don't you come with me just put your hand against the mirror." Sil lifted her arm and put it against the glass. The girl leant out of the mirror grabbed Sil's arm and dragged her into it. On the other side of the mirror it was dark and ghostly. A mist filled the place. Sil stood face to face with the girl in the mirror.
"What is this place?" Sil asked
"This is the shadow realm. A place of eternal suffering for the souls of anyone you wish." The girl said. "The Millennium Rod will allow you to play shadow games as well as control people's minds and if anybody doesn't like it…" the girl pulled the shaft of the rod to reveal a sharp blade. "You can dispose of them" she smiled. "So do you want it?" Sil stared at the Millennium Rod weighing the pros and cons in her mind. She looked at the girl and nodded. The girl approached Sil and held out her hand. Her touch was as cold as death. She closed Sil's hand around the base of the Millennium Rod and smiled.
Sil opened her eyes and found herself in the forest of the island. She was still wearing her black full length lace nightdress and held the Millennium Rod in her hands. The wind blew chilling Sil's arms & shoulders. She looked at the rod, saw her reflection in it and started laughing manically. "We'll just see who the loser is now" she said as she walked back to the academy.