Now comes the part which earned the story its name. Enjoy.

Chapter 13- Spellbound

Joey wasted no time in letting his victory go to his head. Despite that everyone there at the compound had witnessed it for themselves, he just could not stop boasting about it and showing off, embarrassing both Mai and Christine. But eventually there was a respite when it suddenly occurred to Joey that Yugi had not been there to watch. It did not last very long as he then excitedly ran out to the front lawn to wait for his friend and greet him with the news.

When a Kaiba Corp car came along the road and the driveway, he leaped up to greet it but when he realised it was an only car, he knew it couldn't be Yugi, Tea and Kisara as they were supposed to be leading the remaining number of guests in an entourage. His mood changed again as he saw Jaden get out of the car.

"Wait here," he heard Jaden speak to the driver. "This won't take long."

"Hey hey! Jaden! Long time no see, kid!"

Jaden turned to him with a glare that would have made even Seto flinch.

"Uncle Joey, where are my parents?" he demanded.

"Uhhh- - - Sorry, Jaden. They're not here right now. They're off getting some guests for the party. Oh, before I forget, happy birthday."

"Thanks, but I don't have the time so give them a message for me."

"Now wait there a minute!" Joey replied hotly. "That's no way to talk to your uncle or about your parents!"

Jaden ignored him and went on. "I choose who I want to spend my life with. I don't know how it will go in the long run, but right now I want to spend it with my girlfriend Alexis and not Uncle Mokuba and Aunt Bec's missing daughter. Make sure they understand that."

Without another word, Jaden returned to the car and instructed the driver to take him back to the airport. Confused and speechless, Joey watched the car leave, trying to understand what he had been told. He couldn't make head or tail out of it. Of course Jaden was free to choose who he wanted, this wasn't the fifteen hundreds, but didn't Dark Magician Girl say that he would choose Alexis any day over anyone else.

Al - - - wait, he stopped suddenly. The girlfriend's name is Alexis?

Then he remembered what Pegasus had relayed to them all about Jaden and Alexis having actually met already at Duel Academy.

"Ah no!" he groaned quietly. "It's a case of mistaken identity. He's thinking Alexis Rhodes and Alexis Kaiba are two different people. I'd better explain this to Yug and Tea when they get here."

:*:

Halfway to the airport, Jaden leaned back into his seat, feeling a little guilty that he had snapped at Joey like that. It was really his parents that he should have given that attitude to; they were the ones who wanted him to marry a girl he had never met. And probably Uncle Seto, Uncle Mokuba, Aunt Kisara and Aunt Rebecca as well, now that he came to think about it. What were they even thinking anyway? That he'd be okay with jumping into an engagement with a girl he would be introduced to only on the night he first met her? That he wouldn't have found a girl that he liked, that he loved, before he had turned sixteen? They had to be crazy if they really thought otherwise.

Oh well, he thought to himself, if they are, just wait until they meet Alexis for themselves. I just hope I can explain all this to her in the right way.

As he began to muse how he would word his explanation, Jaden never noticed the other Kaiba Corp car that was passing by him in the opposite lane, nor did its occupants think to glance at him. For if they had, Jaden and Alexis would have been reunited that much sooner.

:*:

To say that the plane ride from Academy Island and then the car ride from the airport to the Kaiba compound were quiet would have been a complete understatement. All throughout the journey, Mana could not keep her eyes and thoughts off of Alexis. Ever since leaving the island, the young girl had been largely unresponsive, only moving as though she was a remote-controlled machine; a single glance into her mind revealed to Mana that that was precisely what Alexis was feeling like. She probed deeper within and arrived at the foundation of the problem. Alexis had fully accepted their lie as the truth and had miserably surrendered to it. Guilt went swimming through Mana continuously, causing her to turn to either Dorothy or Fonda for just a second. Her two friends obviously had sensed her anguish; they were not looking at her or Alexis in the eye.

Just a little longer, she thought. About an hour until sunset.

:*:

The compound residents all breathed a sigh of relief as Yugi, Tea and Kisara finally returned, bringing with them the various foreign diplomats and royal families, as well as Bakura and the Ishtar family. Seto then commenced on starting the final arrangements of the celebration, moving all the guests into the courtyard to clear out the houses to make way for Alexis' secret arrival. The revelation that Joey had at last beaten Kaiba in a duel swept through from the guests already present for the occasion to the new arrivals. Caught up in the wave of congratulations, Joey forgot to tell Yugi and Tea about Jaden's surprise appearance and quick departure. In the midst of all of this, Leon von Schroeder realised he himself had forgotten something.

He headed back inside the Wheeler household to collect the presents for Jaden and Alexis' presents from his guest room.

:*:

The car carrying Alexis and the three spirits inside quietly trundled into the compound driveway and slowed to a stop outside of the Kaiba house. Looking out the window, Fonda checked to see if anyone was around. When she found noone was, she turned to Dorothy and Mana and nodded. The two nodded back. Dorothy opened the door on the side of the vehicle that was facing the house, got out and held it open. Mana offered Alexis her hand.

Alexis looked up at her solemnly. She took Mana's hand and moved out of the car, her emotionless eyes staring at the house looming in front of her. Fonda followed, still surveying their surroundings. Quietly taking leadership, Dorothy gestured over to the front doors and began to walk towards them. Mana gently guided Alexis along as Fonda kept pace behind them.

As the four approached the house, Dorothy momentarily scanned the interior of the building. Finding no other presence, she opened the doors and urged the others inside. Mana nodded, continuing to lead Alexis on. The spirit peered into Alexis' thoughts again, wondering what she was thinking now. As it was before, Alexis was caught up in an overwhelming ocean of misery. Mana transmitted this to Dorothy and Fonda as they closed the doors together. Only Dorothy replied.

"We just have to hold the truth back just a little bit longer, okay," her sister spirit coaxed her. "It will all be over soon."

"I know, but what if she never forgives us? Or her family?"

Dorothy quieted from making any response. In that instant, Mana knew she would not get any. None of them had ever actually put any idea as to how Alexis would feel about them after the curse was broken. The answer to that question right now, judging by Alexis' emotions, was obvious and too disturbing for Mana to accept. With heavy hearts, they moved on, guarding and escorting Alexis until they reached the bedroom her family had intended to be hers since before she was born.

Mana entered the room first. A slight smile came to her lips as she examined it. Mokuba, Rebecca and the others had clearly been investing in their preparations for Alexis' return. Using the knowledge that had been given to them over the years of what she liked and what she didn't like, they had transformed what was once a baby's room into one that was perfectly set out for her. The walls had been repainted with a nice light cream, the cot on the left side had been replaced by a large bed with a sturdy mahogany frame and a mattress covered by vivid indigo blue blankets, the previously vacant right-hand side wall was taken up by a combined entertainment and computer desk unit, a small cupboard was tucked into a corner, and the back wall remained bare to make room for any of Alexis' personal interests.

As she was brought in, Alexis ignored everything once again, dampening Mana's spirits and hopes that the room would show that her family loved her. They were raised again as Dorothy and Fonda also came in and their expressions brightened with how well the room was made up. Mana led Alexis over to the desk and moved the chair out from underneath it for her to sit. Alexis paused, looking silently at it before she leaned in and sat down. Mana took a moment to regard Alexis, marvelling again at just how beautiful she was appearing in the dress Dorothy had made for her. Coming up beside her, the person in question held her hand out, trying to direct Alexis' attention to the curtained window between the cupboard and the desk.

"Alexis, don't you want to look out there?"

Alexis gave her no answer, except to look miserably down at the floor.

"Your family's out there, waiting to see you after all these years. Don't you want to put on a warm smile for them?"

This time, Alexis did respond, but not in a positive way. A sob was captured in her throat, making the sound that came out of her mouth turn into a strangled choke. Her acorn eyes brimmed with tears. She brought her hands up to hide her face from view as she cried, planting her elbows upon the surface of the desk.

"Alexis," Mana tried to console her, stopping as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She traded looks with Dorothy as the other spirit shook her head.

"I think we need to give her a few moments alone," she suggested.

Mana glanced from her to Alexis. Reluctantly, she nodded. Turning away, she made for the door. Dorothy also spared Alexis a tearful gaze as she followed Mana out. Fonda expressed a similar look on her face as she shut the door.

:*:

Freya von Schroeder took extra special care not to be noticed by any of the partygoers as she went up the stairs of the Wheeler house to the second floor and navigated around the landing to the guest room she and her husband had been given. If Seto or any of his security guards saw her, she and Leon would end up in very big trouble.

"Leon," she called as she neared the door. "Leon, darling, are you still in there?"

"Just give me a moment, Frey," he replied, using his pet name for her.

Sighing, Freya threw the door open. There she found her husband kneeling down on the floor, picking up his duelling cards from the floor. She raised her eyebrows.

"You said you were getting the presents for Jaden and Alexis," she spoke sternly.

"I did," Leon answered. "They're on the bed."

"Then why are you gathering up your cards? Are you thinking of challenging Yugi again?"

Exasperatedly, Leon looked up at his wife of twelve years and the mother of his two daughters and single son. "No. The safe was broken into."

The smile Freya had on her face, believing that the situation before her had just been her husband up to his adorable childlike antics, slipped a little as she grew alarmed. All of their travelling valuables were kept in the portable safe Zigfried was extremely insistent they take with them wherever they go.

"What? Is anything missing?"

"Not the spending money or any of your jewellery, they're all still in there. All whoever tore it open seemed to remove from it were my cards."

Freya kept herself quiet. Never in her life had she understood the game of Duel Monsters or why so many people took such a delight in it, but she recognised it was important to Leon as he had devoted much of his lonely childhood to it.

"Are any of them missing?"

"I don't know yet," he said, taking a glimpse at one he had just picked up.

"Well, you better make it quick before Seto knows we're not in the courtyard. Remember, he wants everyone out there before Alexis arrives. It's almost sunset."

Alexis. Sunset, Leon thought as those two words rang a bell within his head. Then it hit him. In a flurry, he pulled the rest of his cards up from the floor and gazed at each of them in a flash. Freya looked fearfully at him as he worked, questioning why her remark had caused him to go into such a frenzy.

Leon finished up his examination of the cards he had in his hands and looked around the room, checking if there had been any cards he had failed to notice. He stood up, quelling the panic that was running through him, and checked the entirety of the room again from his new angle. When he realised he had collected every card in sight, he allowed the horror to dawn on him. In all of his deck, there was a single card missing.

"We need to get to Seto, Mokuba, anyone now!" he told Freya urgently.

:*:

Not all of the Kaiba mansion or its allocated grounds were known to its current residents, even one as knowledgeable and intelligent as its owner Seto Kaiba. The official blueprints covered all aspects of the original house and the grounds, except for one area.

Attached to the back wall of Alexis' bedroom was the single door that led to a secret labyrinth constructed out of steel and cement that traversed though many passages tunnelled out underneath the grounds, all of which came to dead ends.

All but one.

One particular passage that started close to the entrance itself veered higher into the building, going up into the roof of the house. The hidden door at the other end of this passage held behind it a panic room, the true goal of the labyrinth's creation, built long ago at the instruction and bribery of Gozaburo Kaiba as a means of hiding himself away from the authorities or from one of his rivals should they ever make an invasive or hostile visit.

It was in this room that a thoroughly weakening Yubel was hiding, her power gradually being whittled down to its last as she used it to keep herself from being sensed by Dorothy, Mana and Fonda. Gasping harshly, she waited until she could snatch an opportunity.

She felt the four of them arriving outside and entering the building, all the while keeping a special focus on the torrent of Alexis' emotions and thoughts. She grinned widely as she came upon the girl's belief that she would never see Jaden again.

Oh, only if you knew, she thought wickedly.

As a predator would with its severely wounded prey, Yubel hungrily followed the trail of Alexis' anguish as she and the three spirits approached the bedroom and went inside. Yubel's anticipation grew when Alexis started crying at the desk and heightened when Dorothy, Mana and Fonda left her alone.

The time was now.

Calling upon her dwindling power, Yubel shook off the restraints of her physical form, abandoning her body. Her spiritual essence changed from its state of invisibility and turned into a vibrating orb of light purple energy. As she took on this new form, she regained her senses and concentrated her abilities on still keeping herself hidden from her enemies and willing her essence to travel on to Alexis. The orb moved, leaving the panic room and descending down the stairway. It switched direction upon reaching ground level, heading right for the door to Alexis' room. Not bothering to use her power to open it, she sailed on through and entered.

She found Alexis still sobbing at the desk. Her recognition of the girl brought about an assault to her self-control as a refreshed wave of the hatred she had been holding for millennia swamped her. She fought back, quelling it. It was not an appropriate time to lose her mind.

Calming herself, she neared Alexis, arriving at her old rival's side.

"Alexis," she spoke.

Alexis stiffened, her tears coming to a complete stop. She half rose from her position, lifting her eyes to look at the orb.

"Who - who are you?"

"A friend."

"I don't know you," Alexis said.

"And I don't you expect you to. It's been…a very long time."

Alexis regarded the orb suspiciously. "Sounds like you're more of a friend of my family."

The orb snorted in derision. "If I was, I would have told them when you were born not to set up this silly little engagement they've prepared for you."

Alexis reacted, visibly hurt by the reminder of what she was going to be put through and turned her eyes back to the desk.

"Hey," the orb cooed as it edged closer to her. "There's no need to act like that anymore. I'm here to help."

"Help?"

"Yes. Help to stop this arrangement, and to get you back to Jaden."

At the mere mention of his name, Alexis pulled back to face the orb.

"How do you know about my feelings for Jaden?"

"I have been watching you two for so long a time, first when you were close friends, and now that you've made the recent evolution to lovers."

Alexis blushed. "I - I wouldn't - call it lovers," she stammered.

"Oh Alexis," the orb giggled. "Why deny the truth? Your feelings have been there since you first laid eyes on him, and that interest grew as time passed, as you came to know him more."

Alexis shyly gazed down into her lap, her face feeling red and hot. This, this thing knew so much about her. About things she had never told anyone. Maybe it was a friend to her after all.

"How do you," she spoke to it again. "I mean, how are you going to get me out of this?"

The orb fell silent, hovering emptily in the air. Alexis waited for it to talk again, unaware that the reason for it suddenly going quiet was Yubel was taking the time to summon up another spell. Once it was made ready, Yubel answered her.

"Do you trust me, Alexis?"

Alexis pondered on the question presented to her. Did she trust this object? She did not know what or who it was, only that it claimed to be her friend and that it really wanted to see her and Jaden together. Then there was the brief impression that talking to and being asked to believe in the object was ridiculous, but she had witnessed other strange things during the two years she had been at Duel Academy that it then didn't seem so ridiculous at all. Then she thought of Jaden and wanted the chance. The chance to see him again and actually give their relationship a fair go. No, she corrected herself, recalling just how she had been acting. She didn't want just the chance. She wanted it all. She wanted Jaden.

"Yes," she answered the orb. "Yes, I trust you."

In the blink of an eye, the spell Yubel had been preparing transferred from her essence into Alexis' body. Alexis froze as if her very life had been stolen from her and stood up. Yubel gazed at her with glee as a film of haze blanketed Alexis' acorn brown eyes with a cloudy white.

The duel spirit revelled in triumph. Her rival, her enemy, had opened up her heart and soul to her and let her in. Alexis was under her control. Centuries of desires opened up in Yubel, restoring her long-forgotten daydreams of doing the girl before her any harm that would give her pleasure. The first one, the one that she had nursed for the longest time, was the more prominent.

The desire to simply kill her.

Once again she entertained that notion, allowing it to consume her. Her mind started to spin with ideas on how to do it, but then it spun to a different kind of tune.

Pain and weakness.

The effects of the curse aggravated her life force again, drawing more of her energy away from her. In the panic it caused, she relented, reminding herself of the fact that the curse had to be seen through. If Alexis was ever to be killed before its activation, the curse would have no choice but to take her instead, rendering her victory meaningless.

Yubel sighed, relaxing, and put her determination on luring Alexis to the panic room. As the girl began to follow in her direction, Yubel realised only then she had lost something.

Her power of being able to hide away from other duel spirits was gone.

:*:

Down the hall, Mana's eyes flashed with fear as Alexis' sense of being abruptly vanished from the metaphysical realm. Dorothy and Fonda panicked as they too sensed the absence in turn. Then, a moment later, they sensed something else entirely from within Alexis' bedroom.

"YUBEL!"

They tore back towards the bedroom. Dorothy reached the door first and thrust it open, hurrying inside. Mana and Fonda charged in right behind her.

Only to find there was noone there.

"ALEXIS!"

:*:

Feeling deep satisfaction as the three spirits cried out the girl's name, the orb carrying Yubel's essence soared up the stairway. Alexis, walking serenely in its wake, failed to hear the voices of her guardians pleading to her to answer them. She stoically kept her eyes on the orb, repeatedly remembering its promise to reunite her with Jaden over and over again.

:*:

"We shouldn't have left her alone!" Fonda cried.

Dorothy replied to her outburst with a sharp glare, mentally reminding her that Mana needed to concentrate. The two looked toward their fellow spirit as she focused on Yubel's energy.

"They're still in the house," she reported. "Travelling somewhere on the second floor. No, going higher than the second floor. That can't be right."

She expanded her vision, looking around where Yubel and Alexis were.

"A secret passage!" she shouted. "There must be a door in here!"

Dorothy and Fonda darted their eyes around the room. Nothing had been moved out of place, meaning the door had to be in plain sight. They rushed to the back wall, placing their hands upon the surface and roamed the area.

"Found it!" Fonda cried.

Mana opened her eyes, turned to where Fonda was standing, and sent a portion of her power at the door. It burst inward, splintering its locking mechanisms apart.

"First stairway on the left! Go!" she exclaimed, rising to her feet.

:*:

The echo of the door being rammed open barrelled up to the top of the stairway, where Yubel and Alexis had now reached. Realising the entrance had been discovered and breached, Yubel sent a telepathic message into Alexis' mind. Alexis received it, interpreting it as a vision of the three spirits coming up from behind and capturing her. She quickened her pace. Pleased with the result, Yubel raced into the panic room. Inside she reassumed her physical form. Breathing raggedly, she willed the card she had stolen from Leon von Schroeder's room into her hand. Her eyes bore down upon Spinning Wheel Spindle, familiarising herself with it. Her body transformed again, changing into a black spinning wheel emanated in violet-coloured energy. She then called to the door of the room to open and waited impatiently for Alexis to enter.

:*:

Mana saw Yubel's transformation in her mind as she and the others raced up the stairs.

"No!" she screamed.

She had to do something. Fast. They weren't going to get there in time. Alexis wasn't responding to them. Who would she respond to, she cried. The answer came to her.

Jaden.

Immediately she set upon establishing a connection between Alexis and Jaden. Completing it in a hurry, she sent a message to Jaden.

Alexis is in danger! Alexis is in danger!

:*:

Alexis stepped into the panic room. The glowing violet energy surrounding it led her to take the spinning wheel in her eyes.

This is it, Alexis, Yubel spoke to her. Your pathway to Jaden. Come. Touch the spindle.

Wordlessly, Alexis moved forward as the door behind her slid shut. Her eyes centred on the black spindle. She raised her hand, gently stretching her fingers out to its sharp point.

:*:

Sitting in one of the passenger chairs aboard his private plane as it was flying away from Domino Airport, Jaden felt a strange twitch occur within his very being. He started, recognising it as a sense of warning. Something, no, someone was calling to him. At first he believed it was Alexis who was calling out to him as it definitely was a voice he was now hearing in his mind, but the more clear it became, the more it seemed to sound like Alexis' aunt Mana. Or was it Dark Magician Girl?

The question of it being either person was dropped as the message finally came through to him in full clarity.

Alexis is in danger! Alexis is in danger!

Dread began to spill in side him. Alexis was in danger? From what?

Never mind, the voice shouted. Call out to her! Before it's too late!

The strength rose up from his lungs and his throat before his mind registered his actions. No other being attuned to the metaphysical realm at that moment in time heard nothing but him crying out her name across the entire netherworld.

"ALEXIS!"

:*:

ALEXIS!

Alexis faltered, stopping her fingers a hair's breadth away from the tip of the spindle. Life flooded back into her eyes. Startled at finding herself in a different place than the bedroom that she was told was going to be hers, she stepped away from the spinning wheel and began to search for the way out.

Behind her, Yubel seethed in anger and impatience. She too had heard Jaden's cry for Alexis, and that infuriated her to no end. Then panic set into her as she sensed the three spirits were approaching the room. She had to act fast.

"Don't turn away, Alexis," she warned. "It's a trick."

Alexis turned around to the spinning wheel in uncertainty, recognising the voice of the orb. "A trick? But that was Jaden."

"Yes, you heard Jaden because you were so close to opening the pathway. Can you hear him now?"

"No," Alexis shook her head.

"No, so come. Touch the spindle and you will be with him forever, or would you prefer to remain chained to the destiny they have chosen for you?"

Alexis grew still. The spell took hold of her again. The hazed look in her eyes returned.

"Yes, Alexis," Yubel purred as Alexis came nearer. "Touch the spindle."

Alexis held her hand out a second time, bringing the surface of her fingertip above the spindle. As she did, Yubel felt the last of her powers beginning to slip away. In horror, she knew sunset had to be just mere seconds from occurring.

"Touch it, I say!"

Alexis pressed down, piercing the skin of her index finger. The hypnosis spell flew from her as the curse was enacted, erasing any trace of life from her body.

With a single quiet moan, Alexis fell.

Yubel watched it all in pulsing fascination as the reincarnation of her hated enemy spun to the floor, but nothing gave her greater joy than what happened next. In an overwhelming ecstatic rush, all her powers and her lifeforce rushed up to the height of their former glory. Smirking in delight, she changed back into her normal state of being and stepped over Alexis' prone form and ordered the door to open. Dorothy, Mana and Fonda all came running in, halting in fear as they came face to face with her and were frozen with shock in sensing the fact that she was back at full power.

The smirk on Yubel's face dipped into a scowl. "You poor simple fools," she snarled dangerously. "Thinking you could defeat me? Me?!"

Just as quickly as the snarl had appeared, it vanished as her lips formed into a sneer.

"Well, here's your precious Alexis," she said, stepping aside to show them their failure and revelled in their horrified reactions. Laughing loudly, she opened a portal behind her and departed in triumph.

Mana was the first to come to Alexis' side. Kneeling down on the hard floor, she lifted her partly into her arms. Tears slid effortlessly down her cheeks as the girl she had helped to raise offered no response.

Dorothy fell to her knees, sobbing openly. A speechless Fonda walked over to Mana and knelt down beside her, unable to take her watering eyes away from Alexis' face.

Outside the house, in the distant west, the dark orange sun touched upon the horizon.

…Until next time…