I hope the nice weather we are finally getting lasts, as I am going away on holiday next week. I will do my best to get the next chapter edited before I go so that I can post it while I'm away. If I don't get it done, I will do it when I get back a week Sunday. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Please let me know if there are any mistakes. I spent ages editing all the stuff I had written, into a publishable chapter and in the end I went word blind! So hopefully, I have not left in any typos or silly grammatical errors.

Warning: Attempted murder/sacrifice and blood. Also the odd swear word.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Broken Dreams

Chapter 36. Losing Battle.

When Mana reached Atem, he was barely conscious, having hit his head on the wall with a force brutal enough to kill or seriously injure an ordinary person. The impact had been so hard that the wall had cracked and the plaster had fallen away, covering him in debris.

"Prince! Wake up?!" Mana did not even know if he was still alive.

She heard Seto Kaiba say something and looked up to see a ball of energy forming in his hand.

"No!" She gasped, hurriedly thrusting her fingers into the rear right pocket of Atem's jeans. She pulled her necklace from his pocket and held him in her arms. With no time to spare, she muttered the most powerful protection spell she could think of. Would her heka be strong enough to protect them both from such a powerful blast of energy?

Seto Kaiba was too preoccupied to follow up with another blast and did not see the protective barrier that formed around them. Inside, Mana scrunched her eyes up and clung to Atem, praying that her barrier would hold. She had never summoned a protective barrier this strong before and was terrified. The attack was over in seconds, but she was so stressed that she used up far more heka than necessary. Weakened by the exertion and her emotional state, Mana fainted, just as Atem was starting to regain consciousness.

"Mana!" He shifted slightly at the weight of her slumped forward over him.

Luckily for him, when he had impacted with the wall, his demon strength had protected him from injury. Apart from being a bit dazed, he was unharmed. It occurred to him that being possessed by a demon might actually be an advantage during this fight, especially since he was now able to assert his own will over that of the demon.

Mana was also starting to wake up. "Prince, you're okay." With a relieved smile, she hugged him.

"Yes, thank you. I'm so sorry for..."

"Shhh..." Mana silenced him with a kiss. "Don't apologise, we have a battle to win!"

"Yeah..." he smiled and hugged her, kissing her forehead. "I'm still sorry though.."

Their moment of reconciliation was short lived when they felt the room shaking as the ground the house was built on started to rumble.

::::::::::::

Inside Seto's soul room, Yugi stood facing a boy of around twelve. He immediately knew it was Seto. The boy was crying and in some distress.

"Help me Yugi?!" The boy extended a desperate hand towards him and just as Yugi was about to take his hand and lead him to safety, he felt a jolt and the boy screamed out. "NO! Mokuba!"

The room shook violently and Yugi was knocked off his feet. He could feel himself being pulled backwards, away from the young Seto. Holding onto the door frame with one hand he tried to reach out to him.

"Seto?! Take my hand?" Seto had almost found Yugi's hand when he suddenly fell to the floor and let out another desperate cry as his soul room started to fly apart. Yugi was forced to let go of the door frame to shield himself from the flying debris of books and pieces of electronic equipment. As soon as he let go, he was thrown away from Seto and everything became a distorted blur, giving him a sensation of motion sickness.

Smirking triumphantly, the demon in charge of Seto's body, congratulated itself for crushing its host's feeble attempt to break free from his soul prison.

However, its smirk quickly turned to angry snarls when it saw that its host had somehow asserted a small piece of his will into the actions of his right arm!

All the demon had managed to do was make several cuts; one just under the front part of Mokuba's collarbone, one near his armpit, and another two to his hand and wrist, where the boy had raised his arm in defence.

The knife may not have penetrated Mokuba's heart as the demon desired but it had still cut him enough to allow droplets of crimson to fall onto the pentagram. As each droplet splashed onto the floor, it sizzled and wisps of smoke trailed upwards. They were thin at first but as cracks started to form in the ground, the wisps of smoke became thicker.

::::::::::::

Anzu was angered at the way the Puzzle was protecting Yugi. Crawling back over to where he was laying she put her hands under his arms and pulled him into her lap, while carefully avoiding contact with the Puzzle, which he was still clutching in his hands.

As she lifted him up his head lolled to one side as if his soul had already departed his body.

"No...!" She wailed. "This was not supposed to happen!" For a moment the demon wavered. He was her sacrifice and she wanted to consume his soul herself so that they could be forever joined together in the new Shadow World Seto had promised her. But the Shadows had already stolen him... She let out an agonised screech.

Sensing Yugi's desire to save her, the Puzzle used the demon's moment of weakness to reach out to Anzu's soul in an attempt to help her. Anzu responded and fought for control of her body. The demon had taken her dignity and had made her hurt the man she loved. Confused and grief stricken, she found herself back in charge of her body, holding Yugi in her arms. Vast chunks of her recent life were missing from her memory and she did not even know where they were or how they got here.

For the handful of seconds she was in control, she let the tears flow. "Yugi! Where are we?!" But his body remained lifeless and he did not answer her. "What have they done to you?" She stumbled over the words emotionally as she caressed his face.

The moment was short lived and she soon found herself back in her soul room, curled up on her bed, her tears now falling onto the large teddy bear she was holding in place of Yugi. It was the teddy he had won for her at the fun fair.

Regaining control, the demon snarled at the tender way it found itself cradling Yugi. "Ugh!" Using the back of her hand, she wiped away the pathetic human tears that burned her cheeks.

::::::::::::

After stepping from the tunnel, Mahado and Ishizu had little time to assess the situation. The room was very dark and thick with Shadow Energy and the rest of their troops had still not made it through yet, leaving them at a disadvantage.

Everything seemed to be happening all at once and there was no time to decide who to help first.

Yugi was laying on the floor with Anzu. He did not appear to be moving but was clutching the Puzzle, while Anzu seemed distressed.

Mokuba was being held roughly over the pentagram by his brother. He was still alive but was injured and in some distress. Saving him was their priority

However, Mahado then caught a glimpse of Mana and Atem laying in the corner against the wall. They both appeared to be moving and he was unsure if Mana was in danger and was caught between helping Mokuba or his sister.

He was snapped back to Seto when he heard him curse angrily. He let go of Mokuba and pushed him onto the floor in front of him, allowing more blood to drip onto the pentagram.

"No! Mokuba?! Can you reach us?" Ishizu shouted.

Hearing their voices, Demon Seto's head shot up and he glared in their direction. Tipping his head back, he greeted them with a mocking laugh. "Thank you both for your perfect timing! Now all the items are together, I can begin my ascension!"

"We won't let you do that!" Mahado stood his ground amidst the unfolding chaos.

"Too late humans! Nothing can... Arghhhh.." It was starting. Seto let out a strangled cry as pain gripped his body and he fell to his knees. "Nothing can stop me now!" His back arched and his spine popped loudly as his organs re-aligned themselves, allowing the change to progress.

His back arched again and his clothing ripped apart as his spine popped from his human skin, revealing large knobbly vertebrae with protruding spines. They watched on in horror as his demon form rapidly took shape.

"No! We are too late!" Ishizu shouted emotionally. She felt shocked and sickened by what she was witnessing. "That poor man! We couldn't save him!"

"We cannot allow our feelings to get in the way of us destroying that creature!" Mahado tried to remain stoic.

"Can we at least try and save Mokuba?!" Ishizu could see the boy cowering away from what had once been his brother. "Mokuba?! You must try to reach me!" But instead of running to her, he crawled under the table being used as an alter and cowered there.

::::::::::::

The sensation of being pulled backwards lasted a split second and then Yugi was suddenly slammed back into his own body.

Still holding him with his head in her lap, Demon Anzu suddenly heard him inhale sharply. His back arched and his eyes shot open. Her sacrifice was still alive!

"Save them... I couldn't.. save..." He began to twitch and mumble.

It took a few seconds before he then realised he was back in the room where the ritual was taking place. He looked up to see Anzu holding him. His body was leaning across her lap as though she had been cradling him and it looked like she had been crying. Did this mean she was okay? "Anzu?!" The corners of his mouth twitched as a small, tentative smile appeared. He reached up to touch her face.

His moment of hope was short lived when she snarled and flinched away from his touch. He then saw the blackness of her eyes, the greyness of her skin and the pulsing veins on her face.

Despair threatened to overwhelm him.

::::::::::::

As the cracks in the floor grew, more wisps of smoke appeared. Creatures started to take form from the wisps of smoke, turning into seven foot tall Shadow Ghouls, with reptilian like skin and large Pitt Bull like heads, with snarling mouths that contained very sharp teeth. Their hands sported large claws made for shredding flesh. However, they lacked any intelligence and had poor eyesight, making them easy to dodge.

There was no more time to be horrified by Seto Kaiba's transformation.

Mahado shouted for Magus of Illusion to attack but one of the beasts protecting him took the blast instead, keeping Seto safe to continue the process of ascension.

When Demon Anzu saw what was happening to Seto, she shivered as her own desire to transform and ascend seized her.

Taking advantage of Yugi current position, she pulled out her own dagger and prepared to stab him.

As the dagger came down towards his chest, Yugi grabbed her wrist, stopping her from stabbing him, but as he reached up the dagger had still nicked his hand.

The ground had started to shake violently underneath them and Anzu lost her balance, falling to one side and dropping the dagger. Yugi fell on top of her. He managed to keep hold of the Puzzle in one hand and wasting no more time, he quickly put the rope over his head so that he would not lose it again..

Yugi suddenly spotted Mokuba cowering under the makeshift alter. He had feared the worst when Seto had screamed out his little brother's name from his soul room and Yugi was relived to see the boy was still alive.

"Mokuba?!" Yugi got the boy's attention. "Get out of here now! Run!" Too frozen with fear and suffering from his painful wounds, Mokuba did not react.

Mana and Atem heard Yugi shout and looked over to where Mokuba was hiding.

"We don't have long! You help Mokuba, I will help Yugi!" Atem shouted above the noise of the rumbling earth and screeching shadows. Mana nodded agreement.

She hurried over to Mokuba and quickly checked his injuries. She needed to stop the bleeding and heal his wounds. She was able to stem the bleeding, but her heka had not recovered enough from her previous exertion to heal the wounds completely.

"It's okay Mokuba, we will get out you of this, I promise." She took a deep breath and prepared to make a dash for it. They could definitely make it past the Seto demon and over to her brother and Ishizu.

Anzu scrabbled to get the knife she had dropped and came at Yugi again but the building was shaking violently now and she was struggling to stand up.

As he wrestled with Anzu, Yugi did not notice when a few drops of his own blood dripped from his hand onto the pentagram.

Atem was about to go and help his brother when the floor started to split apart beneath his feet. He was forced to jump out of the way and found himself backed up against the wall, several feet away from his brother. "Yugi?! We have to get everyone out of here, the building is about to collapse." He was unsure if Yugi heard him over the loud rumbling that sounded like an earthquake.

As Seto's transformation progressed, the building began collapsing around them. Knowing they would all be crushed by the debris or sucked into the abyss that was the Shadow Realm, Atem levered himself away from the wall before it fell on him and took a running jump at Seto, landing on his back. Using all of his human and demon strength, he tried to choke Seto enough that he might lose consciousness. It was a futile attempt, but it was better than doing nothing.

"Use the dagger Atem!" Ishizu shouted. "It is the only chance we have to save everyone." As she spoke, her own spirit Spira was already lifting her into the air and pulling her to safety.

"No! I won't kill him! Not while there is still a chance to save him." The dagger he was supposed to have used to bleed Mana onto the pentagram remained in its sheath on his belt.

"It's too late to save him! Do it Yami?!" Mahado yelled at him in frustration as his own Magus of Illusion chose to save him instead of allowing him to help Atem destroy the demon.

As Seto's body suddenly jerked upwards and Atem found himself unable to hold on. With a mighty roar the demon's body expanded and grew even larger. As it stretched itself to its full height, the building was blown apart and Atem found himself being thrown into the air.

Shielding Mokuba and acting purely on the instinct for survival, Mana had subconsciously summoned her spirit Ka. As the alter they were still hiding under crashed into the dark void forming in the ground underneath the house, Dark Magician Girl pulled Mana and Mokuba to safety, shielding them from harm with her protection spell.

Atem coughed as he pulled himself from under the debris. Apart from a few cuts and bruises, he was not badly hurt. His demon strength had protected him yet again. The building had gone and he was now kneeling on the dirt and rubble that was left. When he looked around all he could see was a dark swirling mass of shadows surrounding him. Some looked vaguely human, while others looked more like vicious animals. Their mouths were open, and they were screaming at him to join with them.

They might well have once been human, but with their humanity long gone and no bodies of their own, they were now nothing but evil spirits.

He was losing himself again and struggling to hold on to his human self. Part of him wanted to let them take him so he could embrace this wonderful new shadow world and he didn't know how long he could hold them off.

Seizing their opportunity the spirits started to wrap themselves round his body, pleading with him to become their master. To them, he was a powerful demon who could fulfil their desires and guide them in their aimless quest to become something other than disembodied evil spirits.

The struggle was painful and he fell to his knees as convulsions took hold of his body. "No! Never... I won't.. let.. you.. take me!" He growled, fists clenched over his ears.

Suddenly, he heard a voice from inside his head telling him to find Yugi. The voice was a deep calming baritone; a little like his own. But it wasn't his voice. Or at least he didn't think it was.

"You must find Yugi! Together you must unite with the Puzzle. It's our only chance to save mankind. I will try to help you my son!"

"Father?!" His head shot up in surprise. Letting out a roar, Atem staggered to his feet and threw his arms up. "Leave ME evil spirits!" He bellowed. The evil spirits were ejected away from his body and screaming in anguish and hatred, they were thrown back into the swirling purple and black mist.

When the building had blown apart, Yugi and Anzu had been at the epicentre, right in front of Seto. A huge hole had opened up in the ground and Yugi and Anzu fallen in. The Puzzle glowed and Yugi felt light headed. Rather than them both falling into the abyss, they seemed to float and the flying debris did not harm them. He knew it was the Puzzle helping him and he did not feel afraid.

As if by magic they ended up on a ledge, just under the rim of the large black pit that had opened up when the house disintegrated.

Yugi peered into the hole. All he could see was a mass of swirling shadow energy. It looked like Seto had succeeded in opening the Shadow Realm and now spirits and Shadow Ghouls were pouring from the Shadow Realm into this world. Yugi wondered how long it would be before they took over the entire world.

Beside him, Anzu was giggling madly. For a moment it occurred to him that she had lost it completely and was now totally insane. And then he realised that she was laughing at him. That was when he noticed the stab wound in his stomach. She must have stabbed him when he grabbed onto her to save her from the collapsing building! When he tried to move the blood oozed out from the stab wound and he felt a searing pain inside. He saw that Anzu had stopped laughing and was now starting to twist and scream in pain as the transformation started.

It was no use, he had failed to save Anzu. He might as well give up!

"Yugi!" He looked up to see his brother leaning over the edge of the crater. "Take my hand?"

"I.. I can't." He knelt up from his hunched position and pulled his hand away from the stab wound so that his brother could see it. "Yami.. Anzu's lost and I'm dying," he replied sadly, resigned to his fate.

"You're not dead yet! Use the Puzzle. Tap into its power and it can save you... and Anzu!"

"How? I'm too weak."

"No you are not.. Do it now, before it's too late. Our father told me..."

Yugi gasped. "Our father?!"

"Yes Yugi, he is with us... in our hearts. His soul is attached to the Puzzle and he is fighting with us.. Please Yugi, don't give up!" Atem cried desperately.

Yugi realised he had nothing to lose by at least trying. Anzu's body was now starting to make the permanent change into a demon. Very soon, she would no longer be human, but while the transformation was taking place, she was vulnerable. He threw himself at her and closed his eyes tightly, hanging on for dear life so that she could not throw him off.

The puzzle was pressed between their chests and Yugi felt it glow warmly between them.

The next thing he knew, he was in Anzu's bedroom. She had always kept her room tidy and clean, but the desk was smashed and her favourite ornaments were broken and strewn around the room. Her ballet leotard was shredded and abandoned on the floor. One wall had been replaced by the dark swirling energy of the Shadow Realm and it was rapidly advancing towards the last sanctuary that her room contained – the bed. There she was, hiding under the covers. He ran over and jumped into the bed with her. She was wearing her pink and blue silky pyjamas and was clutching her ballet slippers and the teddy he had won for her at the fun fair. She was also clutching the photograph of herself with him and all their friends. He remembered getting a stranger to take it during their trip to the seaside. She was curled up with her salvaged memorabilia, crying and shaking.

"Anzu, its okay, I'm here. You are safe now." If he could not save her then they would die together, in each others arms. He cuddled up to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Yugi! You came for me. After all I have done... you came to save me." She slipped her arms around him and kissed him.

"I love you Anzu. I will never stop loving you." He peppered her face with affectionate kisses.

"I love you too Yugi." Everything was closing in around them as their lips met.

::::::::::::

Still trapped inside the Shadow Game, Jonouchi, Mai, Honda and Sugoroku had been unable to find Isono. The atmosphere inside their nightmare had suddenly changed.

"I think Seto might have succeeded," Sugoroku said sadly. He wondered what had happened to his grandsons. Was this their destiny all along? To die at the hands of the same creature their father and ancestors had?

"We're still alive! Which means it ain't over yet Gramps. And I still got this!" Jonouchi pulled out the Blue Eyes White Dragon card. It suddenly occurred to him that he might be able to use it to get them out of here.

"Yes, but how can you play it without a duel disk or a Millennium item?" Mai wondered.

"This is a Shadow Game. I have hunch the rules don't apply here. We gotta get outta here while there's still a chance." He still had faith that his friends were alive.

"Well, we have nothing left to lose!" Honda added.

"You could be right boys! It's worth a try, but... be careful! You saw what Yugi's monsters did when he summoned them. These monsters are powerful and you need a strong will to control them. And she is one of the strongest monsters."

"Don't worry Gramps, I got it." He held the card aloft and called to Seto's favourite dragon to come and help save them.

The ground started shaking and the darkness was suddenly split apart by a brilliant white light. There was an ear piercing screech and the Blue Eyes White Dragon emerged from the light.

She spread her wings and looked down upon them menacingly, preparing to strike them down. How dare they summon her.

"You better do something man, she looks pissed!" Honda cringed, pushing Jonouchi forward.

Jonouchi gulped. His legs were shaking but he squared up to her. "Blue Eyes White Dragon?! We need your help to save our friends. Your master Seto Kaiba is in great danger and needs you."

The dragon did not attack them and instead cried out in distress. She could feel the danger and sense her master was in pain.

"She looks upset!" Mai gasped. "Please help us? We are trapped in the Shadow Realm and can't find our friends. You have to help us save them!"

The dragon nodded and took off, flying in circles around them. She spat balls of white lightening at the Shadows and the shadows lifted until they found themselves back on the island.

However, while they might have escaped the game they were trapped in, they could not escape the fact that the whole island was now part of the Shadow Realm. In front of them they could see the devastation. Where the house had once stood, there was now a crater. Mahado, Ishizu and Mana were standing on the scorched field, shielding Mokaba from harm, while their spirit Ka's battled against ugly looking creatures that were protecting a huge demon, that had a reptilian like tail, powerful legs and torso and

with huge armour plated shoulders and a head that was like a bull with huge horns. It had dagger like teeth that seemed more suited to an alligator than a bull.

"Is that! Or was that thing once Seto Kaiba?!" Honda gasped.

"Oh! Fuck!" Mai stood frozen in terror at the sight. "Now what do we do?"

"Where's Yugi and Yami?" Jonouchi and Sugoroku both cried at the same time. There was no sign of the two young men.

"Or Anzu!" Mai added.

"Come on, we gotta help them!" Jonouchi looked up at where the Blue Eyes was circling high above. She was under attack from Shadow creatures and was firing her white lightening attacks at them, destroying them and leaving holes in the shadows that revealed the normal star lit sky above. However, each hole she made quickly closed, to once more become part of the Shadow Realm.

Jonouchi wondered how far the Shadow Realm had extended itself. What if it was too late and could not be stopped?

Standing between them and the demon, was a growing army of Shadow creatures. Pulling out his own deck, Jonouchi decided to see if he could summon one of his own monsters to destroy them. He might not be a chosen one like Yugi and Yami, but he sure as hell wasn't going to give up fighting.

"Flame Swordsman," he called. To his surprise the swordsman appeared in front of him, awaiting orders.

Pulling out her own cards, Mai nudged him. "Don't just stand there dummy, tell him what to do?! Now let's see if I can do this too!" To her relief, she successfully summoned her Harpie Ladies and together with Jonouchi's Swordsman they started attacking the creatures.

Unfortunately, the Shadow Ghouls just kept on coming.

Now fully emerged as the new Zorc, the demon surveyed the island. He was now ready to expand his army around the world... Something irritating caught his attention when it shouted at him. "Hey! What have you done with Moneybags, you bug ugly jerk?" Jonouchi goaded and picked up a large rock and threw it at the demon...

It was that loser Jonouchi whom his host had disliked. "Well, well, look what comes to annoy! I shall take great pleasure in..." A large rock hit him smack in the face.

"Jonouchi! You idiot. Stop trying to make him angry? He will kill us," Mai screamed.

"You kidding!" Honda picked up a handful of rocks and started lobbing them. "Any distraction we can create so Mahado and our monsters can concentrate their attacks."

"Yeah, and we're gonna die anyway, may as well piss Moneybags off as much as we can," Jonouchi smirked." Unfortunately, the rocks did not do any damage to the demon.

"Pathetic worms!" The demon sneered down at them. "I shall destroy you first!" Raising its arm, it sent a fire ball at them.

"Garghhh!" They had no time to get out of its path!

"Cyber Shield!" One of Mai's Harpie Lady's appeared wearing her armour and took the attack. At the very last moment, Mai had saved them. However, even wearing the armour the Harpie Lady had been unable to survive the attack and was destroyed. "Arghh..." Mai collapsed to her knees in pain.

"Mai! What's wrong?!"

"It's okay Jonouchi. I felt the same pain my Harpie felt, that's all," Mai brushed his concern aside.

"You need to make sure your monsters are not destroyed. The stronger the monster the more pain you will feel!" Sugoroku warned.

"Yeah, I hear you Gramp's but we can't let that stop us!" The Blue Eyes White Dragon had now severed her link with Jonouchi and was acting of her own accord. There was one monster in his deck that he really needed to summon and it was right on the top of his deck. "Red Eyes Black Dragon, come on buddy I need you to help us?" There was a deafening screech and Red Eyes appeared from a vortex. It flew off into the blackened sky and started firing at anything it saw as a threat. "No! He's not listening! Red Eyes come back?!"

"No!" Mahado saw that the demon was now focussing its attack on Sugoroku, Jonouchi, Mai and Honda. There was nothing he, Ishizu or Mana could do because Zorc had them surrounded by Shadow Ghouls.

"Look everyone?! Your Red Eyes appears to be communicating with Blue Eyes!" Mai gasped as the two dragons swirled around one another.

"They are like Ying and Yang!" Ishizu called out to them.

Everyone watched in hope as both dragons swooped in together and blasted the demon with everything they had.

There was a strong burning smell of sizzling flesh and when the smoke cleared their hopes were dashed - the demon was still standing. Ripples of smoke wafted up from it's singed skin, but it was not badly hurt by the attack, which seemed to have taken a lot of energy from the two dragons. Jonouchi found it strange how he could feel his dragon's tiredness and disappointment at not being able to finish the demon off. His body sagged and he wanted to lie down.

"Ha ha ha, pathetic mortals. You cannot even touch me." The demon raised its hand as if to strike them down. However, the attack did not do any damage and Dark Magician Girl was easily able to deflect it away from them with her staff. Did this mean that the dragons combined had done more damage that the demon let on?

I hope that was intense! It sure was to write!

Please Review.