Ria:

'blah' Maria shadow form

"Blah" normal dialogue/ Maria's human form

… time/scene skip

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Maria held the diamond in her palm, causing it to start glowing and levitate. "This is new," she murmured in awe as a blinding light once more filled the room. Everyone shielded their eyes, unable to see at all. Waiting for the light to subside, the seven boys were suddenly aware of Maria crying out in what sounded like pain, followed by what sounded like her collapsing on the floor.

"Maria!" Bakura exclaimed, trying to go to her, but was thrown back by waves of energy acting as a shield to the girl. "Damn it! No one go near her! Her diamond is out of control! It won't let anyone get close," Bakura called out.

Marik found his way over to Bakura with Yami right behind him. "Why don't we try to bring it under control. The power it's releasing is no match for the three of us combined," Marik suggested.

Bakura nodded and stood. "You're being the channeler though," he replied as the Millennium Ring started to glow slightly.

Marik stood, as did Yami. Brandishing the Millennium Rod, Marik concentrated on his power as he felt Bakura and Yami put a hand on each of his shoulders and channel their power into him. Sennen eye glowing on all three of their foreheads, the three yamis shot a beam of power into the shield of white light.

At first it seemed like nothing happened, but as they threw in raw shadow power, the light in the room dimmed more and more until Maria's star stopped glowing with a shimmer.

"Is she okay?" Ryou asked, going to Maria and propping her head up.

"Did the star fuse?" Bakura retorted with a soft snort, him Yami and Marik collapsed on the floor, using each other for support.

Malik looked Maria's forehead over. "Yes, the star is back in its place. You can't even tell that it was even pulled out. The skin melds right into the diamond," he reported.

"Well now that we know Maria's safe, let's get some sleep," Seto spoke, picking up Maria and taking her up the stairs. "I don't care where you guys sleep, as long as that's all you do in my rooms," he added, turning at the top of the stairs to regard the three couples before heading down the hall to his room.

Entering the room, Seto shut the door softly with his foot and laid Maria gently on his bed. Pulling the covers over the sleeping form, Seto took off his trench coat and sitting in a chair next to the bed, watched Maria sleep until he too fell asleep.

An hour or so later, Maria woke up from a nightmare. Feeling a soothing sensation calming her mind, Maria felt her forehead and sighed in relief. "Hidiyya, I have you back finally," she murmured to her star, feeling it pulse happily before looking around after realizing that she was in a way different and larger room than she normally slept in.

Seeing Seto slumped over the edge of the bed, Maria smiled and crawling over, brushed the stray bangs out of Seto's eyes and softly kissed him on the forehead. Seto stirred, and opening his eyes slowly, sat up.

"How are you feeling?" Seto asked quietly, when he saw who had woken him up.

"Better, Hidiyya didn't mean to harm me. The merge was just too overwhelming," Maria replied, "And you didn't have to put me in your bed."

"I felt like it…wait, Hidiyya?" Seto asked, more alert.

"That's the name of my star. It's not just a power-channeling diamond, it basically has a mind of its own…which could be why it's so hard to control sometimes," Maria explained before yawning.

"I think someone is tired," Seto teased. Maria nodded and returned to her spot where she was sleeping. Once she was situated under the covers, Maria looked at Seto before patting the bed next to her. "Are you sure?" he asked. When Maria nodded, Seto stood and went to a dresser. "I'm changing first though," he said, "want some pajamas too?"

Maria thought and nodded. Seto tossed her a pair and headed into his bathroom to change. Maria quickly changed from her jeans and halter top into the borrowed silken pajamas and was snuggled up under the covers before Seto reentered.

Seto deposited his day clothing in his laundry basket before climbing under the covers to lay next to Maria. Maria curled up to him and then laughed. "I can't cuddle you, we're too slippery!" she giggled.

Seto rolled his eyes in a playful manner and wrapped his arms around Maria. Smiling at the girl, he couldn't help but kiss those soft lips that he had the privilege of kissing twice before.

Maria kissed Seto back, sliding her eyes shut and entwining her fingers into his hair. When they parted for air, Maria yawned again and rested her head on Seto's chest before falling asleep.

The next thing Maria knew, she wasn't in Seto's bed anymore, but curled up next to Seto on a sort of ground. Sitting up, she saw that she was once more in her Shadow dress and was glowing like she did when she was in the Shadow Realm.

'Seto, wake up,' she whispered, shaking the CEO's shoulder firmly.

Seto opened his eyes and then scrambled up into a standing position when he realized where they were. "Maria, are we…" Seto trailed off, his mind vaguely noticing that he was dressed in his usual black with his white sleeveless trenchcoat on once more.

'In the Shadow Realm? Yes,' Maria finished with a sigh.

"Not to worry, for you are only here in your dreams," a voice said behind them. Turning, Maria and Seto saw a shadow that strongly resembled a woman floating behind them.

'Mina, what's going on?' Maria demanded.

"Relax. I have come to applaud your efforts to get Hidiyya back. I also disagree with the way things have transpired with the shadows. Maria, they are trying to harness and control your other stars," Mina soothed

'They can't. Madi and Mustabal won't work for anyone but me,' Maria insisted.

"They're finding a way around that. They're controlling them with a shadow they created that is like you in every aspect except for the fact that she is dark and an evil twin."

"What do we need to do in order to get Maria's stars back?" Seto demanded.

Mina smiled. "You must pass two more tests before your evil twin absorbs their power. Hidiyyah's test required skill and teamwork. I do not know what the other two tests are. I just came to warn you, and to inform you that Madi and Mustabal are both in the Shadow Realm. I wish you good luck," she said as the realm dissolved around them and Maria sat up straight in bed, panting.

"Maria? What is it?" Seto asked sitting up, startled awake by Maria's sudden movement.

Maria saw the sun starting to peep through the curtains and turned to face Seto. "Did you just have a weird dream?" she asked.

Seto made a face and thought. "Yes," he said slowly, "we were in the Shadow Realm, talking to another shadow, and she told us…"

"…that we have to pass two other challenges in order to get my stars back!" Maria interrupted.

Seto slid out of bed. "Well, I'm up now. I was wondering though, what is with the names of the stars?" he asked as he pulled out fresh clothes and moved into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar slightly so they could still talk.

"Madi, Hidiyya, and Mustabal. Past, present, and future," Maria explained, pointing to each spot on her forehead in turn as Seto reemerged from the bathroom fully dressed.

"Forget I asked," he teased and dodged the pillow aimed at his head. "By the way," he started, a thoughtful look on his face, "what will we do about…Hidiyya? You can't walk around with a two inch diamond implanted in your head."

Maria laughed and stood, kissing Seto on the cheek as she passed him. "You leave that to me," she murmured before she left to go downstairs for breakfast.

…

A few minutes later, Bakura awoke from where he was sleeping back to back with Yami on the floor of the living room, their hikaris stretched out on the couch and loveseat. Sniffing the air, he slithered out of his sleeping bag and stood, arching his back and feeling pops race up and down his spine.

"Yami, wake up," he called softly in a singsong voice. Giving the ex-pharaoh a good shake, Bakura was rewarded by a whine of protest

"What do you want Bakura?" Yami asked, sitting up and running a hand through his messy hair.

Bakura bit back a snort at the disheveled appearance. "Breakfast which equals coffee," he replied, seeing Yami's eyes light up. Helping the pharaoh stand, Bakura led the way into the kitchen where Maria sat eating breakfast, and Seto stood at the stove cooking for the rest of the group.

…

Malik yawned and entered the kitchen, blinking when he saw that everyone but Marik was assembled and eating. "You guys didn't wake me or Marik up?" he fake pouted before taking a seat next to Seto and helping himself to eggs and tater tots.

"Felt like letting you sleep some. Where's Marik?" Bakura asked, drinking down the last of his third cup of coffee, Yami following with the last of his second.

"Still sleeping. What are you planning?" Malik asked between mouthfuls, seeing Bakura's devilish smirk creep across his face.

Yami caught on to the idea in Bakura's mind and mirrored the smirk. "Seto, do you have any shaving cream?" he asked.

Seto knew where this was going. "Upstairs hall bathroom, second shelf. There's a long turkey feather in the guest room next to mine," he replied without even looking up. The two yamis immediately stood and raced silently up the stairs.

Nothing was heard for a few minutes except for a faint 'pshhh' soon after the two ran upstairs. Suddenly, there came an angry yell followed by pounding feet as Bakura and Yami ran down the stairs and hid, Bakura transforming into a cat and hiding under the couch while Yami ducked into the pantry so he could see through the slats, but Marik wouldn't be able to see him.

Maria started laughing as Marik entered. Marik's face was covered in shaving cream. Malik chuckled too when he spotted his lover. "If only that were whipped cream. I'd lick it off then," Malik sighed wistfully, causing everyone to laugh.

"I am sooo gonna get those two back, wherever they may be hiding," Marik growled before leaving to wash his face off. When he returned, he sat next to Malik and started on breakfast. Maybe he'd be more merciful to Bakura and Yami after he had eaten.

Marik finished up eating a few minutes later and stood, going into the living room with a small smirk on his face. Hearing a loud cat screech, Seto snorted and took a drink of his coffee. "Sounds like he found Bakura," he stated as Marik entered, holding a human Bakura slightly off the ground by the scruff of his neck.

"Ow! Damn it Marik let me down! I can walk on my own!" Bakura snarled while struggling, but stopping when Marik increased the pressure on the tomb robber's neck.

Marik dropped Bakura into a chair. "Stay," he said, pointing the Millennium Rod at Bakura and walking away to find Yami. Bakura tried to get up and failing, cursed and crossed his arms.

Yami, seeing that Marik had left the room, allowed the puzzle to glow, breaking his friend from Marik's control. Opening the pantry, Yami bolted for the glass door in the kitchen that led to the backyard, Bakura on his heels.

"Get back here!" Marik roared, flying into the kitchen and after the two yamis after feeling his control on Bakura vanish.

"They'll be gone for a while," Ryou chuckled, watching the ensuing chase around Seto's huge property.

Malik nodded. "My yami is a hothead and won't give up until those two pay somehow," he sighed and then fixed his attention on Maria. "I was wondering, and I probably speak for everyone here, but how are you going to hide your diamond? It'll look suspicious having a diamond that most likely is reported stolen by now in your forehead," he pointed out.

"Who said I had to show the diamond?" she asked pointing to the diamond. When everyone fixed their attention from the chase outside to the diamond, Maria made the diamond vanish.

Yugi ran a finger over Maria's forehead. "You can still feel it," he pointed out.

"Feel again," she replied and Yugi complied, feeling smooth skin instead of cold diamond.

"That's so neat!" he exclaimed, "Will you be able to do that with your other stars?"

Maria smiled wistfully. "Yes, I'll show you when I retrieve the other two. Speaking of which, Seto and I were told how to recover them," she answered. Then, she and Seto proceeded to retell the dream to the hikaris.

"It sounds like a trap," Marik said from where he was leaning against the counter near the back door.

"When did you get in?" Malik asked, turning to receive a kiss from Marik.

"Tail end of story. I heard the part about two tests needing to be passed before an evil shadow copy can absorb Maria's two other stars," Marik explained.

"What did you do to Yami and Bakura?" Seto wondered suspiciously.

Marik smirked wickedly as Yami entered soaking wet. "I threw Yami into the big pond/small lake you have after I forced Bakura to climb up into a tree," he chuckled at the glare he was receiving from the ex-pharaoh before said pharaoh headed upstairs to take a shower.

Ryou smacked his forehead with a hand. "You do realize Bakura is afraid of heights, right?" he asked.

Marik sat back down in his chair and tugged Malik onto his lap. "I was aware," Marik replied, running his fingers through Malik's hair, making his hikari sigh and fall into a light doze, "That is why I made him climb a tree as high as he could go and told him to have fun. He's probably scared stiff."

Ryou sighed in exasperation and headed outside to find his stranded yami.

A while later, everyone was dressed and assembled. "So are we going after the stars now?" Ryou asked.

"We have to," Maria replied, Hidiyya glowing, causing a rift to open that led to the Shadow Realm. Stepping through, Maria looked around. 'This way,' she pointed, changing back into her shadow form.

The eight walked until Yami felt an odd weight settle on his shoulders. "Umm Maria, what's with the armor?" he asked, noticing that everyone had one as well. Even Maria's dress had reverted to armor that wasn't the most modest piece of clothing. It was a strapless skintight bodysuit that showed a good deal of the shadow's cleavage due to the hard armor forcing her breasts up.

"Maria, you look like a white Dark Magician Girl," Bakura snorted.

Maria looked herself over and grimaced. Bakura was right. The only thing different from the DMG's body part of the outfit was the material and its color obviously, and the parts that went over the arms. 'The Realm is aware of the challenges and is equipping us for it,' she answered, retrieving the answer through Hidiyya.

"Either way, I'm sure Seto isn't complaining about your outfit," Marik teased. Seto glared at him and continued walking, Maria hurrying to catch up and lead the way.

"Did you guys hear something?" Malik asked a while later, pausing and turning his head towards where he thought the sound came from. Marik turned back to his lover and listened.

"I hear a soft scraping or grinding," Marik replied softly. Everyone stopped and tried to pick up the sound. Suddenly walls shot up, splitting the group into three smaller ones. As the walls grew too high to climb, Maria stood with Marik and Yugi and looked around.

"What does this look like to you?" Yugi asked Marik once the grinding stopped.

"I feel like a rat trapped in a maze," Marik muttered, going to the closest wall and banging on it. "Malik? Malik are you okay?" he called.

There was silence and then a faint pounding resonated from the wall. "Marik? Marik I'm fine, but what is this?" Malik's voice came through faintly.

'It's the next challenge. We must be in a labyrinth,' Maria said logically in her voice that could be heard quite clearly even though she didn't shout, 'Who is with you?'

"Yami and Ryou. How do you plan to get out of here?" Malik asked.

/Me and Seto have an idea/ Bakura replied in their minds/We think that if by the sound of your voices, Malik and his group were to follow the wall to their right, they'll come across Maria's group. If we manage to meet up or not, follow the right-hand wall. It will eventually lead to where we have to go/

Everyone glanced at their group members and nodded. Following the wall after a few minutes, Maria heard footsteps. 'Marik, Yugi, quiet. I hear something,' she whispered. The other two nodded and inched forward silently.

Rounding the corner, Maria shrieked at coming face to face with Yami. "Yami!" Yugi exclaimed, leaping into his lover's arms. Yami caught the boy and nuzzled the tri-colored hair.

Marik chuckled and embraced Malik who emerged from where Yami had come from, Ryou right behind him.

"Did we reach the end?" Ryou asked.

Maria consulted Hidiyya. 'We're in a central chamber. Let's wait here for Bakura and Seto,' she replied. As the others settled down, Maria looked around the room, her star lighting up a few feet in front of her. Feeling drawn to a certain wall, Maria felt a source of power from within the wall.

Feeling the wall, Maria felt a pull in the right side of her forehead. 'Guys, I found my star!' she called. Feeling something light land on her shoulder, Maria turned and found Bakura sitting on her shoulder in cat mode, his black armor shrunk and changed to fit his form and cover his body sufficiently.

/Now the question is how to get it out/ he purred as everyone, now including Seto, came up.

"Well, we should figure out what this test requires," Yami suggested.

"Well, it involves strategy, because we had to find a method to reunite all of us," Yugi pointed out.

Malik thought for a minute, staring at the wall. "Seto, if we punch it, do you think we can break through to the star?"

Seto studied the wall and shrugged. At the same time, both drew back their fists and punched the wall with all they had right near each other.

Ryou crept forward and felt the wall. "No give," he reported.

"Don't worry, we'll get it out," Malik told Maria.

Maria nodded. 'I trust you, Malik,' she replied.

Malik felt a power flow through him right after Maria said that. Backing up, Malik charged the wall and rammed it with his shoulder.

/Well if that doesn't beat all/ Bakura laughed from where he was still on Maria's shoulder. Everyone looked closer and started laughing as well as Malik tried to free himself. His shoulder plate was pointed like the Dark Magicians', and the point had smashed into the wall and actually broke through but now it was stuck.

Freeing his armor, Malik reached into the hole and grasped the star. Pulling it out, he noticed that this seven pointed star was about a half inch smaller than Maria's 12-point star. "Here," he said, handing over the diamond.

Maria nodded in thanks and happily took the star. Feeling Bakura jump down off her shoulder, Maria allowed her star to levitate and merge with a quick flash of warm light and energy.

"What's that star's name?" Yami asked as Bakura transformed back to human next to him.

'Her name is Madi. That means past,' Maria answered.

"It looks like everytime you regain a star, you armor is added to," Seto pointed out. Maria now had jointed leg guards traveling all the way up to disappear under her short skirt, and armor sleeves that went to just below the shoulder

Ryou laughed. "It looks like she is wearing stockings and arm warmers," he added.

Maria smiled. 'Don't laugh so hard,' she said calmly, 'some of you look quite ridiculous with some of your armor components missing. Everytime I get a star, your armor gets better as well.'

"How about we keep going," Yami suggested, motioning to the walls that were disappearing. His armor had all of the components except for armguards. His head gear was like his pharaoh's crown except for its crimson color and the nose guard that came down and spread under his eyes to form a mask of sorts. Then from his chest and shoulder armor, red metal rose around his neck and covered his chin and jaw.

"I'm surprised you can still talk with that on," Seto mocked.

'I have a feeling that we all will have armor like that for our heads,' Maria replied before turning and heading off in the direction of her final star

hidiyya- (Hid-ee-yhah)roughly translates to present

madi- (Ma-dee) past

mustabal- (Moo-sta-ball) future

Ria: I'm sorry for not updating sooner. I have…get ready for it…been in Egypt for the past three months on a foreign exchange program! Exciting, yes, but I should be able to update faster now that I'm back!