A/N: Before we get started with this chapter, I just want to extend a thank you to everyone who has continued to read and support me in my efforts to complete this work. I greatly appreciate it and I sincerely hope that the journey this story continues to present is one we can not only enjoy but find a little meaning in. It's certainly been a crazy ride, and from here it's only going to get crazier. Thank you.

Extra note: Don't ask why the above note is so sentimental. Lord knows we're not even close to the last chapter yet.

Warnings: I'm worried that I possibly wrote Bakura out of character. I'll let you all be the judge. Truthfully I meant to get a friend check over this chapter for me, but then thought, "Naaaaah!"

Disclaimer: Why I still write a disclaimer for every chapter is something I'll never know.

Chapter 37

Goodbye to the Past

12:00 p.m.

Minako Aino stepped out of the bathroom wearing loose-fitting grey sweatpants and a matching tank top. Without electricity she couldn't blow dry her long blonde locks, so instead she was forced to wrap a large pink towel around the golden strands to keep them from dripping all over the place.

While in the shower she had hummed a happy tune, mostly to distract herself so she wouldn't think about the blood flowing down her skin and into the drain near her bare feet. It was a tough process to wash away the sin clinging to her, but Mina managed it as best she could, singing reassurances all the while.

The darkness was surprisingly helpful in her efforts.

Now, having returned to the light, the teen leisurely strolled into the living room only to step back in mild fright when she noticed Ryou Bakura sitting on the floor with the coffee table directly in front of him. A buffet of chicken wings and different dipping sauces surrounded the possessed boy on all sides, but that's not what sent the chill down Mina's spine.

No, it was the way he was eating the food that ultimately provided the tense feeling of discomfort in her stomach.

With a loud gnawing sound, Bakura sunk his teeth into a ranch covered wing that was already dripping with hot sauce. Small trails of orange ran down the corners of his mouth as he ate, which he licked clean with a quick swipe of the tongue before taking another vicious bite.

Unsure of how to respond to his cannibalistic eating style, Mina tentatively spoke to him. "Hey. When did you get back?"

"About ten minutes ago," Bakura answered, and with his mouth full of delicious chicken. "Take a seat. Eat a wing. We have much to discuss"

The blonde raised an eyebrow while moving to sit across from him. "You're being oddly casual about all this." Scanning the different chicken wings she sent him a suspicious glare. "These aren't poisoned in any way, are they?"

The albino-haired spirit scoffed, pausing in his loud chewing. "I'm above such methods of killing. Plus, eliminating you right now would be counterproductive. Now hurry up and eat." After giving this command he tore into yet another helpless chicken wing.

Mina could hardly take him seriously with how messily he was stuffing his face but followed his order and picked up a wing covered in mild sauce. "Can you pass the ranch?"

"You've got arms, don't you?" Bakura questioned mildly, too invested in his food to sound like his usual menacing self. "Just reach over the food."

"He has no manners whatsoever," Mina thought, leaning over the table slightly to grab a small container of ranch dip and took another filled with blue cheese dressing while she was at it.

For a minute or two, the pair ate in silence.

Then, with Bakura nosily slurping the sauce off a barbeque wing, he spoke. "We need to set the parameters of our partnership."

Mina, still chewing a bite she'd taken a few seconds earlier, only nodded her response.

"As you are probably already aware," he began, setting down his unfinished barbeque wing on a plastic lid near him, "I'm not in the proper condition to go one on one with the likes of E.E. This body is far too fragile for that." His gaze on her turned sinister. "That's where you come in."

The senshi of love placed her own unfinished wing atop a neatly folded napkin. "You want me to fight her for you, right?"

"Not exactly."

Leveling her cool gaze on his, she responded, asking, "What are you getting at, Bakura?"

"It's simple really." With a wicked sneer he brought his greasy finger tips to the leather rope that held the Millennium Ring around his neck.

Lifting it slightly, he continued. "I'm going to loan this to you."

The words sent a shock through Mina's system. "Are you serious? You're going to give me the Millennium Ring?"

"Loan it," he corrected, a look of impatience crawling over his features. "You see, this ring contains a small portion of E.E.'s power. Combined with your strength as a Sailor Soldier, if the two of you come to blows, you'll be...evenly matched at most."

The blonde glowered at him. "I'm not sure if evenly matched is good enough. Furthermore, I'm sure there's an added catch to this."

"You're an exceptionally bright girl when you want to be," Bakura answered, chuckling a bit. "You see, the Millennium Ring is directly linked to my spirit. So, if you place this item around your neck...our souls will be bonded...temporarily of course."

"And why would I agree to that? You think I'm stupid enough to put myself in a position where you can possess me at any moment like you do to the real Bakura?"

The evil sprit chuckled again, his laughter bubbling out from his throat. "It's a risk you have to take if you want to destroy E.E." With another sound of mirth he added, "Besides, you aren't as weak willed as the boy I inhabit now. Possessing you would be more trouble than its worth. Don't forget, we've agreed to a temporary truce here. There's no need for such suspicions."

"Yeah, because I actually buy that excuse," Mina muttered, rolling her eyes at him.

Bakura's expression shifted to the look of impatience from earlier. "Are you taking a tone with me again?"

"Oh no," the girl droned. "Wouldn't dream of it. Please, continue with your rambling. I'm very eager to hear what else you have to say."

The possessed teen glared at her. "Your sarcasm is not amusing. If you think you can kill E.E. without my help, then by all means do so. You already have the tools to find her."

Mina blinked, confused by his words. "What are you talking about? I don't have a clue..."

"But you do," Bakura interrupted, wiping his fingers of grease before rising to his feet. "You have a very handy tool here in this apartment, one you stole from Sailor Mars."

Now the blonde was even more confused. "Are you trying to play a mind game with me or something? If you are, now really isn't the time..."

Without warning, the other teen interrupted again, this time by sending a swift kick to the center of her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs in one sharp movement.

Once her back hit the carpet flooring, the evil spirit groaned. "There. That should keep you quiet for the one minute I need to get my point across without running into those bothersome questions."

Mina lay on the floor, still gasping from the initial impact of Bakura's attack. Despite this she glared daggers into him, mentally promising she would give him a proper beating after their partnership was over.

"Now, as I was saying," he continued, "You have a very handy tool here that you took from your old friend. However, it's clear to me now that you didn't know of this item's power, otherwise you would have used it to not only save that idiot Joey Wheeler, but your poor mother as well."

Mina's eyes widened, her mind frantic with questions as she started to lift her torso from off the floor. She watched Bakura walk into the kitchen, watched as his vacant brown eyes scanned the exterior each cupboard and cabinet.

"I found it earlier, after I arrived with the food and those blasted candles you demanded I get," he explained, running an index finger along one of the granite counters, picking up a layer of dust. "I figured rummaging around your old home would be a fun way to pass the time while the wings cooled a little." Standing behind the kitchen island, Bakura picked up something Mina couldn't see from her vantage point, and so, though she hadn't made a full recovery from the assault on her chest, the senshi of love steadily rose to her feet.

Once standing, her sapphire gaze locked on the golden-framed, antique mirror the possessed teen held in his right hand. For a few seconds she thought back to when she had sent her drunk former friends out of Rei's mansion in order to snoop around. Along with the battle suit she'd stolen, she had also taken that mirror.

Her Geass hadn't revealed anything about the mirror at the time. She took it only because she thought it was pretty, too pretty for someone like Rei to have. Taking the mirror had been another tactic of petty revenge for the things she had said at Tokyo Tower.

With a look of glee plastered all across his face, Bakura strode toward her again, albeit a bit more slowly than before. "This mirror has the ability to transport a person anywhere they want. It can also show a person any sight they wish to see. For example, if you wish to see what E.E. is doing at this exact moment, this mirror will show you the image. Had you known of this mirror's ability earlier, you could have used it to transport you to your mother before she ever found Joey Wheeler. Perhaps you could have subdued her at that point. Then with the help of your friends, you could have saved your mother's mind." He snickered. "And as a result, she would still be alive today."

"No...that...he has to be lying..."

Mina stared blankly at the mirror he held out towards her. With shaking fingers she reached for it. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she decided to test to see if Bakura was telling the truth.

"Show me...where Joey Wheeler is."

The mirror immediately began to glow in response, and Mina's reflection was soon replaced by an image of her best friend getting out of the backseat of Bruce's car. The blonde was confused by this, but was glad to see Joey safe and sound, although he was visibly limping. From what she could gather, the area surrounding him was the grounds of the Kaiba Estate. Still, she barely registered this. Instead, the senshi of love found herself studying the boy's expression. He looked worried. He looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else...like he wanted to be doing something else.

For a few seconds Mina wondered if he wanted to find her. A small part of her hoped he wouldn't try to look.

Another part...a much larger part than she expected...wished to see him. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was about everything. She wanted him to know she didn't blame him for what happened to her mother.

Yes, Mina knew now that if she told him that, it wouldn't be a lie. She really didn't blame him for it. He was only trying to be there. He was the one person in all this madness who hadn't left her alone. Even now, Mina was certain she was on his mind. It warmed her heart and chilled her soul all at the same time.

She would never be able to face him again.

The girl he cared about wasn't alive anymore. She'd been replaced with a monster.

If there was one thing Mina knew she had to do, it was to shield Joey from the horrors that lie ahead of her. He would already face danger thanks to the dark history connected with the Millennium Items, one of which his best friend, Yugi Moto, possessed. She couldn't allow him to be involved in her struggles as well.

Accustomed to facing the trails of her life alone, Mina chose not to dwell on the past as the image from the mirror faded. She would forgive Rei and the other senshi in time. Even if she could never trust them again, she would forgive them. She would release them from worrying about her, and from this moment forward, take responsibility for her own sins.

There would be many more committed in the near future.

Gently handing the mirror back to Bakura, she finally spoke. "Do you have any change?"

The possessed teen raised an eyebrow at the change of topic. "Excuse me?"

"I agree to the terms of our partnership," Mina stated quickly, her mind firmly set on a path. "But before we discuss our plan of action, I need to go out and make a phone call. There's a pay phone down the street. So, do you have any change?"

Still very unsure of how to handle the abrupt change in his new partner's attitude, he simply replied, "What happened to not going out until tomorrow night?"

"Bakura, please," she rasped, fighting a wave of emotion. "Do you have change or not?"

Looking visibly angered, the teen rummaged through his pants pockets. Finding eight quarters, he forcefully deposited them onto her open palm. "You are an aggravating woman. You're lucky I pity you."

Mina didn't answer, only took the change he gave her and left.

Five minutes later

I don't think about it.

I don't think about the implications of Bakura's words, about the magic mirror, or how I could have used it to prevent everything.

Doing so would lead me down an endless road of guilt. I have no use for emotions like that anymore. The Mina of old is still fighting inside of me, telling me not to work with Bakura at all, that something about this whole thing is wrong and that I'll regret it...

But I really don't care about that anymore. I don't care about what has to be done in order to kill E.E. She has to die in order for justice to be served.

However, to do so...I'll have to give into the beast within my soul. There's simply no other way.

And so, for that end I...

With a shuddering breath I shut the door of the red phone booth behind me, blocking out the frigid air of the outside. In a rush, I had grabbed Bakura's coat from off the back of the recliner chair, throwing his change in one of the inside pockets while slipping my feet into bloodstained sneakers before bolting from my old apartment. The shoes were a loose fit. They're probably his as well.

While standing motionless in the booth, trying to remember my purpose for being there to begin with, I try not to think about the dull scent of blood clinging to the fabric of the coat. I don't cast a glance at the stains adorning it either. Adrenaline continues to pump through me, inciting me to action before my mind can catch up, which prompts me into frenzied movements as I dig out the quarters Bakura gave me, depositing them into the change slot before hurriedly dialing a number, the only recent number I had committed to memory.

It takes a long while, but eventually, Serena picks up on the other end, and by that point I really can't remember why I wanted to talk to her. Even so...

"Hello?"

Serena's voice sounded foreign to me, almost like the person on the other end was trying to imitate what I thought Serena should sound like.

It certainly wasn't a good imitation. The Serena I know should always be cheerful, but right now, it's clear she's hesitant to speak, unsure of who called yet hoping to hear the voice of a missing friend.

"Mina...is that you? If it is then..."

"Are you alone?"

I wondered why that was the first question to escape me. Serena was never alone. Still...knowing her, if she thought I wouldn't want the others to hear, she would lie.

"Yeah, I'm alone right now," she replied, clearly lying through her teeth. "Where are you?"

A dry laugh escaped me. "Why? Have you been looking for me?"

"Obviously!" Serena shouted, exasperation and worry clear in her voice. "Five minutes after you left, Suzaku called Rei wanting to know if she knew anything about your mother's body being stolen. We figured out that A.A. kidnapped you and..."

"Well, did you find where he took me?" I cut in, genuinely curious to know her thoughts on what happened in the jet flyer with A.A. "Did you see it?"

"See what?"

"My mother's corpse," I clarified after a few seconds had passed. "Did you see it?"

I almost laughed in the silence that followed on her end. Of course Serena wouldn't know. The others would make sure she didn't see such a horrendous sight. If the situation were different...if I were on the other side of this mess...I would have done the same for her. That's just how we all are. No matter what happens, we do what we can to protect the future queen of this world.

"They shielded you from it, didn't they?" I asked, though the question could easily be confused for a statement. "I figured as much. Well then, should I enlighten you? Do you want a taste of the horror I faced because of the incompetence of your most temperamental teammate?" Another dry laugh escaped me, probably at being able to sneak in a jibe at Rei. "Should I shield you as well? Is there even a point to keeping you safe for the sake of this world? Tell me, is this just the first agony of many?"

Once again, the meatball head was silent. A spark of anger threatened to emerge from the depths of my soul, but I kept it in check, deciding to remain calm despite all the dark emotions churning within me.

"You're oddly quiet, Serena."

I listened carefully as she took a deep breath. "Mina, where are you? It's over now. A.A. isn't going to hurt you anymore. No one is going to hurt you anymore."

This time when I laughed, it was a genuine sound of relief and security in knowing those words were true.

Of course, those words aren't true because I believe my former teammates are capable of shielding me. They can't. They never could.

"You're absolutely right," I told her, remembering the reason why I wanted to reach out to her and the others. "No one is going to hurt me or the people I love again. Despite everything that's happened...despite all the betrayals and all the times you guys have let me down...I still care about all of you to an extent. So, I owe you all the courtesy of knowing I'm alive and not lying in a ditch somewhere. Be grateful for that."

"Hold on, what are you saying..."

"This is the last time we'll be speaking to one another," I interrupted, a sense of sadness overwhelming me.

When I get to the core of the issue, the truth is that I don't have a reason to live beyond slaying E.E. and saving my father from death by getting his paperwork back for Milly or her grandfather to sign. I could keep going for the sake of the planet and continue my role as Sailor Venus, but...I don't see the point doing so. Everything falls to ruin eventually, doesn't it? No matter what I do to delay it, my father will die someday. So will Joey. The entire world will one day meet its end through ferocious flames.

And one day...probably sooner than those inevitable outcomes, I'll...

Forcing myself to focus on the task, I continue speaking. "Serena, I'm sorry for what I said to you the other night. For what I did..." Briefly I stopped talking to swallow the lump in my throat. "I shouldn't have slapped you like that. Truth is, I'm...a little jealous of you."

Yes...that's also the truth.

"No matter what happens, no matter what trial you face, you will always have someone to look out for you."

Darien, Rini, Luna, Ami, Rei, Lita, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru...they'll always look out for her. She'll never have to face anything alone. Rei and the other inner and outer senshi don't have to face anything alone either. They have each other to lean on. They can share each other's pains and sorrows freely.

I thought I was part of that, but...

"Mina, you have the same thing..."

"No I don't," I answered, surprising us both. "I never did."

"That's not true!"

Serena's concern prompted another laugh. "I can tell she's ready to start bawling. That meatball head...always such a crybaby."

"It's okay, Serena." I told her. "Really. I'm fine with the way things are now. I'm stronger than before."

That might be the first lie I've told during this conversation, but I can't say I'm sure of that. Right now, it doesn't really matter either way.

"Don't worry," I murmured, clutching the phone to my ear a bit more tightly. "I promise I'll put an end to this. Regardless of the cost to myself, E.E. will pay for everything she's done to all of us. I promise you that. All I ask is for you and the others to not come looking for me. I don't want to be found."

"But Mina..." Serena stopped short, probably in an attempt to collect her emotions. I imagine the other inner scouts are nearby, listening in like the mother hens they all are. On some level...I'm going to miss feeling like I belong. Being part of a team had been nice. Having a support system, even if it was all a falsehood from the start, was something I enjoyed taking advantage of.

But that part of my life is over now. I can't live in the past any longer.

After a long minute of silence, I finally spoke again. "If you truly care about me, please allow me this goodbye." I paused again, making a desperate effort to fight off a sob that had unexpectedly crawled up my esophagus. It threatened to choke me in that short pause, but somehow I pushed through. Somehow...somehow I always have to push through and survive until my mission is complete.

"Don't make it difficult. I'm dealing with enough right now. Please...I'm begging you, Serena..."

A few tears streamed down my face without permission.

In that moment it strikes me that I haven't cried since those first few minutes after my mother's death, when Joey was cradling me in his arms as I begged him to lie to about what I'd done. In spite of everything that's happened since that life-altering moment, I haven't shed a single tear until now. Something within me couldn't respond to the depth of loss I'd faced.

Even now, though salt water is running down in streams over my cheeks, I know the tears aren't because of the actions I took to protect Joey and ultimately save my mother from a life of misery, nor are they prompted by this goodbye I'm delivering to Serena.

The reason I'm crying...is because the Mina of old is desperately clinging to what little life she has left, but the Grim Reaper is coming for her, and there's no escaping it. For that reason, she's making sure the people she loved know she loved them.

I feel pity for her, but not enough to let her live.

"I need you to know one thing," Serena began after shakily inhaling on the other end. "We're never going to give up on you. If you need time away from us to heal, then it's better that you have it. But...we will meet again one day. You will always be part of the Sailor Senshi, and that means you will always have people who love you."

"Your sentiments are meaningless, Serena," I thought, silently wiping away the tears. "Nothing you say will change what has to happen from here. E.E. will die, and then...at some point after my father is cured of his dreadful disease...so will I."

Serena was still talking. "Mina, I'm sorry we let you down. I'm sorry about everything. I pray you'll forgive us for what we did one day. Until then...don't give up hope!"

"Hope? Ha! Also meaningless. I have no hope beyond what must be done."

"Did you hear me, Mina?"

"Serena...you always have your heart in the right place. Well, if I must pretend to have hope for something, then..."

"Mina! Mina!" Her breathing hitched as she screamed out my name.

With a smirk tugging at the corners of my lips, I slowly drew the phone away from my ear.

"...I hope you'll never know what it means to bear a sin alone."

"Minako-chan! Please answer! Please..."

Without another thought toward Serena and the others, I place the outdated phone on its receiver, breaking the connection between me and the past.

An hour earlier, after Serena Tsukino and Rei Hino confronted A.A. at the abandoned Juban Airport, the two senshi, along with Ami Mizuno and Lita Kino, were surprised by the appearance of Ami's father, Yasuo Mizuno, and his fiance Tokine Mazura, who just so happened to be Ami's aunt.

Yeah that's not weird at all.

Along with them was the familiar immortal witch known as C.C.

Upon their arrival on the scene, Ami and Lita piled into Tokine's electric-blue van while Rei and Serena followed behind on motorcycle. As this was going on, C.C. called Katase Urabe, prompting him to deliver the outer scouts to the location they were headed. It was a good thing she called, otherwise the wanted outer soldiers would have been caught by the Britannian military upon arrival.

The meeting place for the inner and outer senshi was a small cottage three miles off the property line of the Kaiba Estate, which was hidden in a thicket of tall evergreen trees. The inner scouts, along with an unconscious A.A., were the first to arrive.

While waiting for the outer scouts to appear, a long discussion took place regarding the secrets locked away in the journals of Ophelia Hyuga. At present, the soldiers of truth and justice are in possession of two journals, the third and the fifth. Both contain vital information about the true nature of the immortal demon, E.E.

It was during this conversation about the journals that Serena received the phone call from Mina.

When the conversation ended, Lita was ready to spring into action.

"Ami, can't you track where the call came from?" she asked, sounding almost hysterical as she rose up on her knees.

"I could have while Serena was talking to her," the senshi of ice replied weakly, "But my typing would have alerted her and..." The blue-haired girl hung her head, removing her hands from Serena's shoulders.

When Ami didn't say anything more, the brunette turned to Rei."Could you feel anything? We were able to feel Mina's emotions enough to track down where A.A. had been holding her, right?

The raven-haired priestess didn't respond.

An almost feral growl erupted from Lita as she jumped to her feet, grabbing Rei by the collar of her shirt before slamming her against the wall, causing everyone in the room to flinch. "Answer me! Did you feel something!? Is there any way we can track Mina down!?"

"Miss Kino, stop it," Tokine ordered angrily. "I won't allow violence in my house."

Lita didn't seem to hear the warning. Ami was about to intervene when Serena gripped her wrist, shaking her head. Though the command was silent, Ami understood and sat back down on the carpet. Even so, her gaze didn't leave Lita or Rei.

"Isn't Geass the root of all this?" Tears were flooding the brunette's face. "The source of all this pain? So many people have been hurt thanks to this awful power you created. Just what were you thinking back then, huh? Why create it at all?"

The senshi of thunder asked these questions as if Rei knew the answer, but the truth is that the power of Geass was created in another lifetime, one the fire senshi had very little memory of. Even so, it didn't matter.

Rei was well aware of her part in Mina's sorrow.

"Go ahead and blame me for it," she answered solemnly, not answering Lita's questions. "After all, you aren't wrong. Geass seems to be the core reason for all this despair. Truly it is a curse upon mankind, craving the blood of innocent and demonic alike. There's no redemption in being responsible for ruining the lives of so many."

There was a knock on the door then. Mr. Mizuno rose to his feet, taking the initiative to answer it while everyone else remained focused on the tense conversation occurring between the red and green senshi.

"However," Rei continued, finally looking at Lita directly. "I can't take responsibility for the decisions of another person. And I won't rob Mina of whatever it is she needs to do to settle this. In her anger she could have very easily allowed us to keep worrying, to keep thinking that she might be out on the street somewhere, but instead she reached out and asked us, no, begged us to release her from worrying about us. You heard her didn't you, Lita? She said she still cares about us, but what she meant was that she can't move forward from what she's done if we continue trying to save her. She's essentially saying that she has to face the demons of her heart alone. Even if she were standing directly in front of us, there's not a thing we could say or do to erase what she's done, especially if we act normal and pretend like something traumatic didn't happen to her."

One of the four new figures entered the room. "So what are you saying then? Should we sit back and do nothing?"

Serena, Ami, and Lita all turned toward the new voice while Tokine simply returned to the kitchen in order to check on the pizza she and Mr. Mizuon were making for C.C.

Said immortal witch rose to her feet. "Well, it's about time you showed up. Things are getting far too melodramatic for my liking in here."

Haruka Tenou stepped further into the cottage, followed by Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru, as well as Rini who was rubbing her eyes wearily.

"You know, someone should have woken me up when all this drama got started," the pink-haired girl muttered before yawning. "Just because I have a bad habit of sleeping till noon doesn't mean you have to let me indulge in it."

Serena responded to this by leaping to her feet in order to embrace her future daughter. Fighting back tears, the meatball head thought of her own sin, one that would one day directly affect Mina.

In response to Haruka's inquiry, Rei made a firm proclamation, one that filled the hearts of every person present in the room.

"Absolutely not! E.E. has dealt her attacks. Now it's time to deal out our own."

Haruka nodded in agreement, a determined scowl overtaking her features in the process.

Ten minutes before at the Kaiba Estate, Joey Wheeler had reluctantly entered into the giant mansion, followed by Kallen Kozuki. She received a call from Urabe informing her that he was on his way back from the Juban District and was going to drop off the outer senshi at a nearby cottage before heading back to the estate. The red-headed soldier thought to question him about it, but decided against it in favor of making sure she kept Joey distracted from thinking about Mina too much. As far as they all knew, the ribbon-wearing blonde had disappeared. Unfortunately for her, Joey was up the stairs long before she got off the phone with her comrade.

Artemis and Luna greeted him halfway up the steps, worrying over Mina and bombarding him with questions about what was going on since everyone else in the house seemed to be ignoring them completely...almost as if they'd been forgotten about by a very sugar-high college student writing a convoluted fanfiction.

This is probably the case, but fourth wall breaking aside, Joey led the two concerned cats to his room, where he answered each of their questions regardless of how difficult it was to do so.

Recounting the entirety of the events that took place on the night of the Christmas Ball was more painful for him than he thought it would be. The underdog duelist found himself pausing a lot in order to keep his emotions in check throughout telling the gruesome tale. All he really wanted to do at the moment was punch something, to run, to get out of this way too big mansion and find Mina, but at this point he knew without a doubt that he was incapable of doing anything to help, even as his gut screamed otherwise. He was seriously starting to wonder why some insane part of him thought he could make a shred of difference in a matter simply beyond his skill set.

Unbeknownst to him, the answer to his question lie in the nightstand drawer next to him.

A/N: And that ends this chapter. Thanks for reading! The next one begins what will be the biggest arc of the story. You won't want to miss it! Special thanks to SuperNova23 who prompted the idea of Mina and Bakura eating chicken wings at the beginning of the chapter. You're the best buddy! And once again, to the rest of the readers out there, thanks for sticking with me through the progression of this story. You guys rock! Now I got to go, my cat Misa is demanding my attention and will probably keep me busy until I can post the next chapter. Until then, be sure to leave your thoughts in that comment box below. Constructive criticism is welcome and...okay Misa! Geez! I'm coming! Just chill out woman!