Hi, all my lovely readers. Now I may have good news, and I may have bad ones depending on who you are. The good news is that after this one there will only be one more chapter left. The bad news are that I the last chapter isn't finished yet and don't know when it will be updated. But I hope I will have more time to write now when I'm starting school again (It's really strange that I have more time then, but in reality it's just the motivation I have more of).

So I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. I myself find it a bit... uh, no. You'll probably think the same later so I won't tell you beforehand. Just enjoy the chapter and review once you've done so.

EXTRA NOTE FOR YOU WHO'VE READ THIS CHAPTER ONCE BEFORE. I don't know how I managed to put the chapter twice after each other. Sorry 'bout that but it should be fixed now.

Last Battle

Thursday. Malik was in school but he was so pale his tan looked more like makeup than his actual skin colour. His cloths were in disorder and he had the bedhead of the year.

"Are you all right?" Ryou asked carefully as they waited for class to start.

"No," Malik whispered. The corridor was crowded and none of them wanted anyone to know exactly what they talked about.

"Last night?"

The Egyptian boy only nodded his answer, his face paling another shade.

"Was it really that bad? You will tell us later, right?"

Malik swallowed, tried to speak, but words just refused to come. At last he just nodded his head again.

After the first shock had passed all power had left Malik from his chest down. It still surprised him his heart hadn't stopped. Everybody had crowded in Isis's room but only Malik had managed to fall asleep, mostly because he was so drained.

Suddenly a warm, safe hand touched his arm and Malik felt his body relax.

"You will be all right, Malik," Yugi said and the taller turned to him. "I will see to that."

With a deep sigh the Egyptian boy managed a small smile. "Thank you."

"Yugi, you know what happened?" Ryou asked, earning a nod from his friend.

"Tell you later."

During lunch they gathered in the library as usual, all four of them, Seto having been informed by a message on his cell.

"The plan succeeded, and I'm sorry for using your family, Malik."

"We're not hurt. We survived with just the memory and a great shock."

Yugi frowned worriedly. Malik wouldn't look at him. "I need to you to tell me what you said, though. I only know roughly what happened because Yohim came to your rescue."

The dark boy shivered and hugged himself. Seto placed a warm hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, making the younger relax. Yugi subconsciously registered Kaio's healing hands at work.

"He mentioned the pearl," Malik started softly. "My sister got before me and said I got it from Atemu." Yugi's eyes widened and he felt both Yuniko and Yohim pay closer attention. None of them had thought that Yugi had Yuniko's brother's name as last name.

"You mentioned brother?" Yugi asked slowly, but Malik shook his head in denial.

"I never mentioned this era's Atemu, and then Malin stepped up to confront him." Malik paused and swallowed. Malin pushed gently at his mind, giving him reassurance. After all, they could wholeheartedly confide in the princess. "My parents… They've never trusted me, and they were the ones who forced the situation out of hand. I got so angry I just… Malin said you're waiting for him, and then he left."

Silence rested over the group, all but Yugi caught in his own thoughts.

He had a fight with his family, Yohim said.

'I know that. That's why he's so tense and restless.'

He will tell you what happened, when he has managed to work it through, the past said as the mother she had once been.

Yugi looked down at the table. 'I hope you're right.' Then he stood up. "And then Crow sent his puppets," he finished Malik's story swiftly. "How bad was the damage?"

"Two broken windows, one broken door and a lot of pride and confidence."

"How did the puppets get in?" Seto asked.

"Through the windows."

Ryou frowned confused. "Wait, hold it. I thought you said you lived on the fifth floor."

"I do."

Yugi pulled his shoulders slightly backwards. "This means that they either climbed up the wall," he looked at them all, "or flew."

Shivers ran down the listeners' spines. If Crow's puppets could fly they were definitely at a disadvantage. Seto was the first to speak up, realistic and down to earth as always.

"So what do we do?"

Yugi's green eyes looked at him, but right behind them the elder could clearly see the blue of Scotland's queen and the brown of Kaio's cousin.

"We can do little but plan our strategy and wait for the night. But we can not meet him here in the open where people can get hurt. That's why we're going for a trip after school." He smirked a little. "We'll take the train west."

"To the wasteland?" Ryou asked surprised. He had almost forgotten about those summers spent away from his family. Yugi's grandparents had had a house out there and Yugi and Ryou had spent a few summers at that place. When the old couple died their son had been given the house and Kanaka was now the owner since her husband's death. Neither the brothers nor Kanaka had been there in five years.

"How will you persuade your brother to let you go?" Seto asked. He was old enough to take care of himself and his mother trusted him enough to let him do what he wanted.

"How can I persuade my parents?" Malik asked.

Yugi smiled innocently and opened his eyes wide. "Is this a face you can say 'no' to?"

At half past five pm Malik so wanted to know how on earth Yugi had managed to not only persuade his parents to let him go, but also make them pay the train ticket and pack him cloths and a lunchbox. He was convinced there were visible question marks spinning around his head.

Bakura hadn't come home yet when Ryou got in so he simply placed a note to his brother when he left. He was listening intently, convinced his Bakura's scream would be heard over the train's noise. Kanaka hadn't gotten a chance to protest from the moment Yugi entered the house, told her of his plans, packed a bag and left. Yami hadn't been home. But Ryou thought he had heard Kanaka's refusals four seconds after Yugi had closed the door behind him.

"You're a fox, Yugi," Seto accused.

"You mean I have pointy ears and a long nose?" Yugi asked innocently, knowing exactly what his friend meant.

"You trick Malik's parents, you surprise your mom and don't even notify your brother. That's what I call foxy."

"Yes…" Yugi's face turned serious as he stared out the window at the passing landscape. "The fact brother wasn't home… his class ended 80 minutes before mine."

The others glanced at each other and Ryou frowned at the fact his brother hadn't been home either.

"We still have three hours until sun sets. You can call home at the station."

Yugi just nodded. He had a feeling… like someone was pulling a hair at the back of his head. Something was wrong and he feared it had something to do with Yami.

After twenty minutes they arrived to the station and Yugi went straight to the first phone box he found. Ryou stood right outside the open door listening, Malik paced behind it and Seto pretended to not be worried by watching the TV-shows that was right in front the phone box.

"Atemu," Kanaka answered the phone. Yugi noted the forced calmness in her tone.

"Mom, it's me. Can I talk to brother?" The other line fell silent. "Mom… mom, are you still there?"

"…Didn't he come with you?"

Yugi felt his stomach sink. "No, he didn't. I told you I was going with my friends and to tell brother where I went."

Another silence, and when Kanaka spoke again her voice was soft to not give her dread away. "He hasn't come home yet. I thought… I hoped you had taken him along."

"Hey, Yugi. I think you should see this," Seto suddenly called, turning the green-eyed boy's attention to the television in front of him. His eyes widened and he had to swallow before his voice could break through the lump that blocked his throat.

"Mom, turn on the TV, channel 2. What are they saying?" He listened to his mother's movements and then heard the click of the TV and how she moved back from the screen. She brought up the volume so he could hear.

"…stat they saw Mr. Crow off at three this afternoon at his hotel but when the car arrived to Kame corp. there was no one inside. The police are working in frenzy to find out how it could possibly happen."

The image changed to a sweaty, wild-eyed policeman. "What do you think happened?" the reporter asked.

"We have no idea. Right now we are checking cameras along the road they took to see if they stopped anywhere and we have a party searching the car to see if it's possibly controlled."

Yugi swallowed again. "Thanks, mom. I'll call you back later. Hopefully brother has followed me here."

"What did they say?" Ryou asked before Yugi had even hung up.

The young leader of the group took a deep breath and walked out of the phone box and started walking to an unseen destination. "Brother never got home, Crow is reported missing and we don't know if Bakura made it home."

Ryou's face paled alarmingly. "You think that monster…?" He didn't dare to finish the thought.

"I'm open for every possibility right now. Yohim never knew the full extent of Dracul's power. Yuniko was kept busy protecting her people, and I don't give much for these days' vampire stories."

"So what do we do now?" Seto asked, even he forced to take longer steps to catch up with the little one's fast pace.

"Prepare. Malik need knives and Ryou need a bow. The cross is all I need." He suddenly stopped and locked his gaze on the eldest in the group of boys. Seto slowly shook his head when he understood. "You will stay in the background."

"You can't do that," Seto stated angrily.

"Kaio had healing hands."

"I know."

"And Kyoko was attacked by a pledge for the same reason." Yugi's green eyes deepened and Seto saw blue around the pupil and brown around the edges. "You will stay in the background, Kaiba, because if you refuse this battle will bring even more disaster than it already has."

The brunette slowly gave in. Yugi may be small, but he had more authority than any military general. "Fine," he grumbled.

Yugi's eye's softened. "Thank you, Seto."

"But wherever are we going to get weapons?" Malik asked carefully, receiving a smug grin from Yugi.

"Why do you think I choose this of all places? My shadowed friend has all we need."

"A real bow? Is the boy good enough?"

"He was the best in Scotland some time ago, I doubt his skills have dropped much since."

Dark eyes, so much they seemed black, scanned the group again. "And knives? I never heard of Muslim altercation, if they weren't terrorists."

"Malik could defeat people two times his age and experience."

"Keyword; Could." Those strange eyes, deep enough to drown in if you got too close, met Seto's blue ones. "Nothing for the tall one?"

"His hands are enough for him."

Yugi's "Shadowed friend" leaned forward. "I'd love to test your words, Clever. But I see in your eyes you're short on time." The dark eyes scanned the group again. "I will help you this time, but I expect a price in exchange."

"Tonight I promise you'll have your price," Yugi promised firmly.

The man nodded and stood. He was an impressive sight, almost 7 feet tall topped with a wild mane of pitch black hair, a well-shaped body and a lot of dark scars crossing the bare arms said a lot of what kind of life he had had. He was on the edge to lean, but broad and muscular and moved with a lithe grace a dancer would kill for. Had his eyes been brighter maybe he wouldn't have that air of mysterious danger around him. Not even the sun hitting him through a window could take away the dark he seemed to carry around. Malik had met his share of black men, but this one had to be the blackest of them all. Even the inside of his hands had a darker shade than the blackest people he had met.

"I have the stuff in the back, come along."

Yugi followed without a doubt and the others glanced at each other before they too moved around the desk.

"Who is this?" Malik whispered to Yugi.

"Sombra, born in Zimbabwe and well known in this area for creating weapons the same way his people did before Spain colonised the area. He only sells them to people who can handle them and to the archery schools."

Sombra entered a room and the group stayed in the doorway, Malik, Ryou and Kaiba gaping at what they saw. It was like entering an African head-hunter' hut. Everything was in a tidy order with bows in one place with the arrows beside and the arrows sorted by the colour of the feathers. Grotesque masks covered the warm brown, painted walls and what had to be fake dried heads hung in a corner in the ceiling. Spears stood neatly in a rack ordered from left to right shortest to longest.

Sombra never even looked around as he went up to a table where a few boxes were stacked behind a show collection of knives of all sizes, these too in harmonic order. He picked up the box on top and opened it to Yugi.

"Perfect," the young boy said and turned. Sombra wasted no time in closing the box and giving it to Malik. The Egyptian boy took it with surprise on his face. The man had such long legs he moved quicker than expected of such a large body.

Then the dark man picked out a bow and two dozen blue feathered arrows. When Ryou got them in his hands he immediately noticed the length of both the bow and the arrows. Looking closer at the feathers he realized they were made to fly long and with the bow's strength… where was..?

Ryou looked up with the words in his mouth just as Sombra held out the string.

"Thank you," the albino said with a smile.

Sombra seemed satisfied at Ryou's obvious knowing what he had at hands. Then his dark eyes studied Kaiba who had been looking at a rack of staffs. He moved his gaze to Yugi. Their eyes met.

Kaiba was more than a little surprised when Sombra suddenly picked out a staff long enough for him. He looked to Yugi.

"You stay in the background," he said firmly. "But that doesn't mean they won't see you."

When they were about to leave, Malik, Ryou and Seto quite surprised Yugi hadn't picked anything out for himself and that Sombra hadn't even bothered to ask, the green eyed reincarnation of Yuniko turned and bowed for the black man staying in the shadows.

"I expect payment tonight," Sombra said lowly, almost with a growl in his chest.

"You will receive it, Sombra. I promise you that."

There was a sound of a long breath and then the dark man was gone. Yugi turned to his friends. "The sun has almost disappeared." He pointed to a small hill off to the side behind Sombra's shop. "There is a field that way where we will meet Crow."

"How can you be so sure he'll come here?" Seto couldn't resist asking.

"I've been calling him since we arrived," was all Yugi answered. The other three exchanged glances before following Yugi's long, quick strides.

The field was not the same as the one Yuniko had fought on four hundred years ago, and it didn't mean the same for this place's people, but soon the scene would be the same from four and nine hundred years ago.

Malik, Ryou and Seto closed up behind Yugi as he all of sudden came to a stop. The green eyed boy's movements suddenly reminded more of Yuniko's, like she had subconsciously taken over the younger boy's body.

The sea was not far west of them and the red glowing sun sunk into the clouds covering the horizon, promising a rainy day tomorrow. Malik admired the sunset along with Ryou while Seto watched with twisting stomach how the field's shadows became red in the last rays of the sun.

'Is Yugi really meant to survive?'

Where the black figure came from or how long it had been standing there before they noticed him only Yugi knew, and he stayed quiet.

"Long time no see, Battle Princess," they heard Crow's voice say.

The light died and suddenly the field behind the dark figure was filled with dark, red eyed, moving creatures.

"Definitely," Yuniko said blandly. "Though I can not say I missed you."

A green eye glowed under the black hood and a wolfish grin could be sensed. "Too bad, for I have missed you painfully much for all these years."

A strong wind suddenly crossed the field between them, removing Crow's cover and giving them all a terrible view over his grinning face and missing eye. But that wasn't what caught the boys' attention.

Under the coat he had been hiding Yami and Bakura.

"Brother," Ryou whispered.

"They are fine," Yugi whispered back. "They are still living humans." As soon as he said that, dark creatures, Crow's puppets, passed their master on their way to the boys.

Yugi's war cry mixed with the furious neighing of a horse. When Malik turned his eyes to where it came from he was more surprised that he wasn't surprised at all to see Shadow storming through the field. Ryou fired an arrow that cut through the creatures between Shadow and Yugi, who was already halfway through the field towards his enemy. This time the Battle Princess wouldn't stand waiting for the enemy to come to them.

When Shadow reached him Yugi wasted no time in gracefully throwing himself up on the stallion's back. There was a glow about them both and Malik absently realized Yugi's cloths had changed from his school uniform to white pants and a sleeveless dress like shirt that made it easier for him to move. His long hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and in his hand he held the cross like a sword.

Crow was enjoying himself. He grinned as he watched the Battle Princess, or Prince, fight with his face set. It was a beautiful sight even with those annoying ants protecting her back. Let them. He had all he ever needed to see the face of God's loved one colour with pain. He leisurely picked up the hypnotized Yami by the hair and tilted his head to reveal a long, slender white neck. Crow lowered his head, mouth open and grinning.

YUGI! Yuniko suddenly yelled and made him turn towards Crow who was about to feed on Yami. His heart skipped a beat just as the save came towards him from behind. He caught Malik's misaimed knife and sent it towards Crow with a force he didn't know if it was his or the princess's.

Crow was caught completely off guard when a sharp light suddenly cut off his arm and took Yami with it. He turned around just as the light materialized, revealing Yuniko's angry face and perfect body. In her hand she had the knife Malik had thrown, and God blessed it, remaking the sword that had been broken four hundred years ago. Yami was securely pressed to her chest.

"Battle Princess," Crow hissed. Even if he had witnessed the battle four hundred years ago, he hadn't been prepared for this.

Only a few yards to the side of the vampire Yohim landed with the sacred cross in hand. Her hair that had been cut was back, firmly braided in her neck. But in the frontline Yugi and Shadow had to pull back. In his desperation to save his brother Yugi had forgotten to protect himself. Shadow had gotten bitten in the hind legs and gained cuts to his side and chest. But Yuniko and Yohim was too close to Crow for him to protect himself with only one arm and therefore the creatures returned to their master.

"Seto," Yugi panted as he returned to his friends. The tall brunette reached for Yugi's side, but the younger hit his hands away. "Shadow first. I can manage."

Seto wasn't convinced but did as he was told. Yugi hadn't even noticed just how bad a scratch he had gotten in his side. He was too busy fighting and keeping an eye out for the Past and Present to care much for himself.

Crow retreated to the sky where the princesses couldn't reach him, and with Bakura under his arm and Yuniko having Yami to protect made it hard to fight the others as well.

"My blood is poison for them," Yugi breathed and touched his wound to wet his hand with the blood that pulsed out of the wound. "Be prepared," he then warned his friends. "I don't trust Crow for a second. I must help the others, and by then he will come for you."

Seto reached up in attempt to heal Yugi's wound at least a little, but Shadow neighed as he rose on his hind legs and Seto was thrown back as the stallion dashed back to the battle, eager to continue fighting now that he was healed.

The ground slowly cleared as the dark creatures grew wings and followed their master into the air. A few of them were vampires, low-life beings with only Crow to keep them alive. Yugi arrived to the princesses and got off Shadow's broad back so that he could take a look at his brother.

"Unconscious," he stated after a short look and check of the pulse.

"I wish Sky and Guardian was here," Yuniko mumbled. "I do not like being bound to the ground."

"Had they been here they would have been the first to die," Yohim stated stoically, and Yugi agreed with her.

"Crow was there from the beginning, Yuniko. He knows you too well." And Scotland's Battle Princess couldn't deny that. Then she suddenly realized something.

"We left Malin and the others unwatched!"

True indeed. When the Battle Princesses gathered where Crow had been standing before, the vampires suddenly aimed their attacks at the three standing in the sidelines. All hearts jumped into their throats when Crow became visible right above Seto's, out of sight for them.

Yuniko reacted fast, leaving Yami with Yugi she flew up on Shadow's back as the stallion turned on his hoofs to dash back to where the green-eyed vampire was.

Yugi couldn't leave Yami unguarded but Yohim followed the present's tracks, slashing through some earthbound ghouls that stood in her way. Crow wouldn't lay a finger on them. Not as long as she was around. She would kill him, chop his head off and bury a pole in the body's unmoving heart and throw the head in the ocean. Yohim forced herself to run faster.

Yuniko fought to get past the dark creatures that attacked her from the air to her friends. She could almost hear it; Crow's malice snickering. It made her angry, almost desperate. Ryouko was running out of arrows and Malin had only one knife left. Seto fought well with the staff, gaining a satisfying flash of light every time he hit a target with it.

'Vampires can not heal.' It was a lone thought that reached the surface as the Battle Princess of the present watched what happened. 'Kaio has healing hands.' Crow's green eye shone through the darkness and his smirk was wider than ever.

But suddenly there was another presence. Another vampire arrived.

Crow cried loudly when his second arm suddenly was stolen from him, and his white-haired prey with it.

"Thank you, father Scot," Yuniko said as she still fought against the flying creatures.

"I live to serve you, your majesty," Scot said calmly as he soared down to the glowing blue barrier Yugi had put up around his brother. They met up outside of it.

Yugi's forest green eyes were deep and calm, despite the blood tainting his cloths, he radiated an air of safety. He smiled quietly.

"I'm sorry, father, but as a vampire you should not enter my barrier. Please stay out."

Scot smiled back. "I told you before that I will help you, did I not?"

"You probably did," Yugi laughed. "Only that you phrased it a little different."

They nodded at each other and the old vampire gave the boy in his arms to the Future.

"This is not over yet, Battle Princess!"

In the air Crow suddenly imitated Sanguis's move and started absorbing his puppets into his being. Disgusted they all watched as his arms grew back out.

Ryouko aimed her last arrow at him, but Yohim suddenly raised a hand to stop her. "Wait. Not yet."

"But…"

"No, not yet," Yuniko yelled. She had stopped Shadow and now only watched as Crow healed himself and boosted his power. Yugi stood still in front of his barrier, his own heartbeat being its source of power.

The three ages were linked together, from the beginning the same soul. Split in three they were never alone. Malin and Ryouko were prepared with the last of their weapons and Kaio stood back. Father Scot weren't visible, but the Battle Princesses could feel him there.

God breathed them all in the face.

"I will destroy you all!" Crow attacked and aimed for Yohim.

Yuniko smirked as she raised her sword to attack. "You will never manage, Crow!" The whip of light she sent against him robbed him once again of his left arm. He hissed madly in his blind fury.

"Ba-ttle Prin-cess!"

Yugi raised his hands and concentrated his soul. "We are no longer alone against an army of bloodthirsty beasts." His blast hit Crow in the side of his head.

"You can not defeat me," the vampire spat and turned again. Ryouko's arrow and Malin's knife ripped his wings from his dark body, forcing him to use more energy to grow them back out before he fell to the ground. By now he was blind with fury. "I will kill you all!" He once again aimed for Yohim, who met him with a stubborn smile.

"I never thought highly of you," she said as the holy cross buried itself in his body. In that instant Scot appeared behind him. His clawed hand dug into Crow's back and ripped something out of it.

"You do not need these where you are going."

Yohim turned away from the vampires. "Kaio." The brunette turned her wide blue eyes to her cousin. Yohim smiled. "Heal him."

"Heal?" Kaio sputtered. "Why do you want me to…" Yohim just smiled slyly. She knew a lot and would never lie. Kaio trusted her with more than her life. She still had Yugi's blood on her hands. "Yes."

The girl couldn't possibly go into the air where Scot was trying to escape the mad vampire, but she had seen the result of her fighting. And so had Seto. He adjusted the staff he held and aimed swiftly and carefully before he threw the staff like a spear.

Scot saw the coming projectile and fell to let it hit his enemy.

The explosion that followed was silent and white, erasing all colours, spreading until there was no telling where it ended and begun. Yohim felt how a pain eased from her heart, as if a thorn had been ripped out of it and the wound healed. Yuniko breathed out in relief and got off Shadow's back. The three Battle Princesses turned to the black man that stood in his place.

"The payment is fair," Sombra said with a smile in his eyes and voice. "I could finally revenge my daughter."

Yuniko smiled. "Rest in peace now, Shadow."

The man smiled and nodded before he disappeared in the light.

But suddenly the light turned black. The air that had been warm almost froze into a blizzard. Yugi almost swallowed his tongue when he remembered he had left his barrier and now didn't know what happened to his and Ryou's brothers.

Everyone heard a sudden grunt and a hand reached up to grab a very small creature in the air. The Battle Princess recognized the hand. It was the same one that had grabbed Sanguis four hundred years ago.

The Devil pulled his prey back with him, and with them both gone, everything returned to normal. When the morning came, no one would be able to guess what had occurred during the night.

Or remember it.