Night had fallen on Domino when Kaiba finally came to Atem's room. This would be the last time, he was sure of it. After they finished up tonight, Atem would go back to living in his apartment. They'd go back to normal. It was all he could hope for right now. Ever since he'd said he would bring those kids in, Atem had been missing all day. It hadn't mattered, really, Kaiba was busy tracking them down and dispatching his men to go get them. In the end it seemed they'd gone their separate ways, or at least weren't hiding together. It hadn't been a particular tough task to manage, just an arduous one.

He appeared in Atem's doorway, the King of Games sitting on the window sill, looking down at the manor grounds despite not being able to see much in the darkness. Even his own light was shut off.

"It's time."

Atem looked up, his eyes flaring with determination that Kaiba could see even in the dark. It made his own nerves flare to life. The last time he'd seen a look like that, Atem had broken his soul into pieces. It was too bad he didn't have the Sennen Puzzle around anymore to do that to those kids. They certainly deserved it. But no matter, they'd get what was coming to them.

The man stood up from the window sill, no words exchanged as he moved to Kaiba with a nod. His new Duel Disk was already propped on his arm, ready to go. They both nodded to each other and left the mansion, Kaiba driving the same car he had the day this had all happened. Their destination was KaibaLand. It was far past open hours and his private property. The K.C. men had brought the kids there, to one of the Dueling Stadiums. They were both silent on the ride over, both focusing on the road ahead.

Their steps echoed off the pavement as they walked side by side, Atem having to take two steps for every one of Seto's, but so very easily keeping up. He was a little anxious to see these thugs again, but so very ready to slit their throats. He walked tall with pride, something that would never leave him, no matter what happened. He had lost, that was true. But now he was rectifying that loss. He was ready to move on. He was ready to bring them down.

The doors of the stadium all the way in the back were flung open as the two men entered. The four kids were being held by gunpoint and in handcuffs by Kaiba's men. They looked scared. Both men smirked.

"Release them." Kaiba ordered as they both drew closer.

One man stepped forward to Kaiba, handing out what appeared to be Atem's deck. The brunet nodded towards Atem who reached out to take it in his hands. He breathed a sigh of quiet relief as he flipped through his cards. Unharmed, still in pristine condition; his deck was fine. His deck was in his hands again. The Deck was shuffled first; as he slid it into the deck slot on the Duel Disk, it beeped to life, life point counter at the ready. He smiled to himself.

"It was useless anyway without the God cards!" One of the kids finally decided to speak up, though his voice was definitely not the same as it had been when they'd attacked that night. He was scared.

"You think so?" Atem queried, stepping forward. The kids stood their ground.

"It's just a bunch of normal pathetic cards. No one even wanted to buy it. Worthless." One of the others spat on the ground right in front of Atem, just like he had on that night.

Kaiba opened a briefcase, kicking it in their direction. "We'll see how that holds up. Two on four Duel. Use these cards, or else I think there'd be no point in dueling any of you."

Before then Atem hadn't been sure if Seto was joining in. He might have even told the man to stay out of it if Kaiba had posed the question before. But now that they were here, facing his attackers, with stakes declared, Atem would let his rival in. It was the least Kaiba deserved for what he'd been putting up with and whatever resources he'd used in the past days.

The kids fell to their knees, absolutely slobbering over the powerful cards Kaiba offered to them. Typical. So very typical. Atem and Kaiba paced back a few steps, Kaiba shuffling then sliding his deck into his own Duel Disk. They shared a glance, both smirking at each other before looking at the kids across the field. It seemed they'd beefed up their decks enough and were ready. The two superior Duelists raised their arms, the plates of their Duel Disks sliding into duel mode. The kids did the same.

"Duel!"

"I'll go first! Draw!" Atem said, drawing a hand of five, then his first card. His eyes moved over the cards, that malicious, venomous smirk creeping on his lips. "Your deck responds to you. Your dueling style comes from how you feel." He said. Those thugs had caused him great pain, and great anger. His deck was working with him in kind; maybe it hadn't liked being in their hands either. "You'll remember this." He hissed. Even Kaiba was watching, waiting for his opening move.

He held up his first card. "Fusion! By combining my Buster Blader and my Black Magician I can call Super Magical Swordsman- Black Paladin to the field!" His two monsters were called the field, fused together by the magic of Atem's spell card. Said Magical Swordsman looked across the field, anger in his eyes as well.

Kaiba watched quietly. It was a strong opening move, to be sure. Atem would most likely place a trap card and hand his turn over-

"Now I activate the spell card Haste! Allowing my fusion monster to attack on the turn it was created!"

Seto watched on curiously. Atem had just broken free of the first turn rule with such a move, allowing himself to attack first. The King of Games was on top right now, and Kaiba couldn't help but be amazed.

"DIRECT ATTACK!" Atem called, pointing to the kid on the end. Black Paladin swung his staff forward before casting a powerful magic spell across the field, knocking the thug back. The kid's life points dropped to 1,100. He stood back up weakly, ready to say something but Atem cut him off. "Oh, I'm not done yet!" He held up another spell card. "Fusion Cancel!" The one monster became two again. And since he'd already broken the rule about not attacking on the first turn, he was ready to go again. "BLACK MAGICIAN, DIRECT ATTACK!" Atem's absolute fury spread across the field as his faithful Magician sent the kid flying to the back of the room, no life points left.

Eliminated in the first turn. Even Kaiba had a little shock on his face. "Buster Blader, DIRECT ATTACK!" He aimed his next attack at the next kid in line. The Swordsman rushed across the field, swinging sword down on the kid, leaving his life points at 1,400. "Turn end." He hissed. Atem had single handedly knocked out one kid and seriously damaged another all in the very first turn of battle, using all of his opening hand.

"Worthless deck?" He asked, glaring across the field. The attackers were already shaking in their shoes. "You will pay for what you did."

Kaiba's blood was rushing. Watching Atem like this took his breath away. His rival was not one to be treated lightly, and he loved that. He almost wanted to end the duel so that he could face Atem like this. The battle would be intense, he was sure of it. First things came first, though, so he'd have to wait his turn.

"My turn! Draw!" Kaiba announced, adding a card to his opening hand. He had a light flashback moment with this opening hand, but smirked it off. The last time he and Atem had worked together... Fate was a bunch of bullshit, but this was good all the same.

"Activate White Dragon Ritual!" Kaiba placed one of his cards in the graveyard, summoning, "Knight of White Dragon! Sacrificing this card, I can call out- Blue Eyes White Dragon!" His signature monster roared to life on the field, glaring at its opponents and baring its fangs. "Set one card face down. Turn end." He announced. But on the next, he would wipe the floor with them. Atem's Buster Blader recognized an increase in attack points from 2,600 to 3,600 thanks to Kaiba's dragon in the graveyard and Blue Eyes on the field. Just for a moment, the two Duelists looked at each other, giving the other a nod. Fighting together and doing quite well. It was a moment to be remembered.

The first kid took the stand, weakly summoning a face down monster and two face down cards. Second kid up, one monster face down and only one face down card. The third kid was already shaking, having been attacked head on by Atem's rage. Unluckily for him, he had not drawn a good opening hand- two high level monsters and a bunch of spell cards. He placed four of them down, completely ruining his bluff.

"My turn! Draw!" Atem was back in control. "Set one card!" He placed the only card he'd drawn face down and then moved into Battle Phase. "Black Magician, DIRECT ATTACK!" He aimed to take the third kid out. The Magician revved up for an attack, and when it was clear the kid was about to be knocked out, one of his friends stepped up to help.

"Activate Hexagram Curse! Now I can stop your Magician's-"

"REVERSE CARD OPEN!" Atem called, his trap card opening to the field. "Dust Tornado! Your trap card is destroyed!" He would have had the ability to place one of his own, but he didn't have any. Hexagram Curse disappeared, leaving the kid fully open for attack. Black Magician raised his rod over his head and then pulled it back down, sending a wave of attack to the thug, sending him flying back, no life points left.

Within three turns alone, Atem had taken out two of them. He set his eyes forward to his next target. No one else had stepped in to stop him from attacking when they could have. That either meant they were all bluffing and had no more traps to stop him, or they were saving their own asses. Atem weighed his options carefully. In the end, he decided someone was watching out for him tonight, whether it was the Gods themselves or his own vengeance creating his own luck, but he was going to win this.

"Buster Blader, attack his face down monster!" He called, pointing to the second to last kid. The monster ran across the field, slashing the monster in two. No trap cards were activated, so Atem had been right in his thinking. They were all bluffing. Beefing up their decks had not helped them at all, the fools. The monster Buster Blader had destroyed was a low level effect monster, allowing the kid to call a higher level monster to his hand. "Turn end." Atem handed the game back over to Kaiba.

"My turn now. Draw!"

Another amazing draw, but that was no surprise. He'd always been good at drawing the right cards. "Summon to the field, Lord of Dragon!" The cloaked monster moved onto the field, looking up at the Blue Eyes. "Activate, Dragon Calling Flute!" Kaiba raised his face down card. The flute went to the Lord's hand; he blew into it, the sound echoing throughout the stadium. "Summon to the field my two Blue Eyes White Dragons!" The last of Kaiba's magnificent monsters flew down to the field, almost as if from his hand itself, roaring in tandem with the other Blue Eyes already awaiting. Atem's Buster Blader gained another 1,000 attack points, bringing it up to 4,600 now.

"Lord of Dragons, Blue Eyes, Direct Attack!"

And just like that, in a white, beautiful burst stream along side a slash, the kid dropped to his knees, utterly defeated. "Set one card face down. Turn end." Though he very well could have ended it right then, Kaiba knew this was Atem's battle. He would let his rival exact his revenge completely. Atem nodded a small thanks to the man for that.

Alone and scared and staring down some very powerful monsters and their masters, the kid weakly called a draw. But he smiled at his draw. "Activate face down card, Masked Demon Beast's Ritual! By offering two monsters in my hand that make up a total of eight stars, I can summon to the field- Masked Demon Beast- Masked Hellraiser!" The monster had 700 more attack than the Black Magician, but Atem already saw that he was about to be attacked and lose his Magician. He stood, ready.

"Attack the Black Magicia-"

"Reverse card open!" Kaiba called from his side of the field. Atem looked over at him, a little surprised. "Attack Guidance Armor!" Kaiba looked back at Atem before moving his eyes back to his opponent. "Attach to Lord of Dragon!"

The armor wrapped itself around Kaiba's monster, drawing the Hellraiser's attack straight for him. The Lord was destroyed, dropping Kaiba's life points to 2,000. He stood and took the attack, not flinching in the slightest. The kid was still amused, however. He'd still landed an attack after all. But with nothing more that he could do, "Turn end." Wait, he realized. ...he was doomed.

He'd never had a chance anyway as far as Atem was concerned. "My turn! Draw!"

Atem smirked, his eyes narrowing. "This is it for you. Activate Brainwashing- Brain Control! Take his Hellraiser!" The monster was grabbed by the two hands that emerged from the hands on the spell card, placed on Atem's side of the field. He didn't want it, he didn't even look at it- he just wanted it out of the way.

"BLACK MAGICIAN DIRECT ATTACK!" He called loudly. The Magician yet again held his staff up, circling it before blasting his powerful mage attack at the thug. He was left with 1,500 life points and nowhere to run.

His hands clenched at his sides. "You got what you deserved." Atem's attacker said through clenched teeth, obviously not sorry in the slightest.

"And you will get yours." Atem hissed. "BUSTER BLADER, DIRECT ATTACK!" With Kaiba's dragons backing its power, the attack was immense and painful. The thug fell back, nearly blinded by the weight the Buster Blader had carried behind his strike.

The Duel was over. Atem and Kaiba had brought on a powerful onslaught. Just like they always did, just like old times. Atem lowered his arm, breathing harshly, the adrenaline flowing through him. The battle wasn't quite intense, he'd completely obliterated them within the first few turns. But it was so very enjoyable. He'd loved seeing their faces when they were about to get attacked, when they were knocked back, when they lost.

A hand fell on his shoulder, broke him from his thoughts; he looked up at Kaiba. "What now?" What did Atem want him to do? Whatever it was, Kaiba wanted him to hurry up and say so so that they could get out of there. He wanted to Duel Atem right now. The urge was strong. Seeing his rival like that had him very excited.

"Direct attack," His lover said in a hushed murmur. "Hurt them. Then take their decks. Blacklist them from any and all tournaments for the rest of their lives, and the Dueling world as a whole. Make sure they never get their hands on another Duel Disk or Kaiba Corporation product ever again. Throw them in a ditch. I don't ever want to see them again."

Kaiba smirked. "Done." And he nodded over to his men. It was good that Yuugi's influence hadn't taken away what needed to be done. Killing them would have been easy, what Atem had set up for them was beautiful. A life long torture. Absolutely amazing. "Do you want to do it yourself?" Or would his men be handling the job?

Atem shook his head. "I can't stand to look at them any longer." His eyes directed upwards at Seto. "Let's go home." The word slipped from him, not even thinking about it.

Neither was Kaiba. He simply nodded. "Let's go." His hand left Atem's shoulder as they walked out of the stadium together and into the night.