"HARRY!" Alexis screamed as she immediately ran to him. Wrapping her arms around his chest, she buried her face into the crook of his neck. "You're awake."
Harry wrapped his arms around her frame. Breathing in her scent, he squeezed tightly with his now corporeal body. He knew he cared about her more than anything in this world. In his short time on this world she had made an impression so lasting, he remembered her years later. She had stayed with him and never judged nor doubted him. The connection between them was special. He could feel her presence effortlessly. He had felt her fear from the other side of the island. Of all the people on this island, her life force called out to him.
He had asked gods to heal him. All so he could come back to her. He had given up his pride, his strength, just to make her feel better. Damn the gods, and damn this world if anything was to happen to her.
Lifting his hand, he ran his fingers through her hair. "Crowler lost." He whispered in her ear. He could tell her all of the things that had run through his mind. But he was quite content to enjoy things as they were while he accepted the fact that he would tear this world apart to see her safe.
Alexis lifted her head from his shoulder, but their arms remained wrapped around each other. "How did you know?" Her hazel eyes narrowed as she stared into his emerald ones. The words 'no intruders' rang through her mind and the duel disk on her arm grew hot. "You were there." She accused.
Harry smiled. "Yes, I learned a few new tricks tonight. One of which is why I'm able to do this." Lifting her into the air, he spun in place. Her laughter was music to his ears so he spun her one more time before lowering her once more.
As he looked into her smiling face, she raised her hand to touch his face where she knew a burn used to be. Feeling the smooth, cool, skin and seeing no trace of a burn. "You can heal yourself?" She asked, knowing that burn was there an hour ago.
"As of ten minutes ago, yes" He replied as he brought his hand to mirror hers.
Her eyes looked down for a brief second before looking back into his own.
The door opened but neither of them heard it. They stared there in the world of their own. Unfortunately, while the others were smart enough to stop and stare upon entering the infirmary, Jaden was no such person. Upon seeing Harry, Jaden immediately jumped from his position by the door, breaking the two Obelisks apart.
Harry found himself lifted into the air much like Alexis had moments ago. Unlike his best friend however, he did not laugh. Still engrossed in the moment that had just occurred; he simply stared at the slifer in shock.
"Jaden" Harry warned. "If you don't put me down, you're going in one of these beds."
"You're all better!" Jaden shouted in Harry's face as he put him down. "You saved us!" He cheered as he lifted him into the air once more, briefly this time. Upon his declaration, Syrus and Chumley also grabbed the obelisk in a hug.
Surrounded by Slifers, Harry could only look over their shoulders at the others who looked more appropriately glum. "Crowler?" He asked the group. Seeing them nod, he pushed the three slifers away from him before moving to his now unoccupied bed. "So then what do we do?"
"You" Chazz spoke as the others began to answer. "You do nothing. You're only awake after your last duel." Harry looked to the others to see if they agreed and saw nothing on their faces that said otherwise.
"Well she wants to duel Zane." Chumley pointed out to the group. "So why don't we just let him?"
Harry observed the group quietly as Alexis sat down on the bed beside him. They began to argue over just who should duel the vampire shadow rider but Harry noticed Zane was not participating. In fact, the senior obelisk had already left to prepare himself. "This is going to be a long night." He whispered to Alexis seeing Syrus follow his older brother.
"Normally you'd be first in line to take on the danger. What's wrong?" Alexis asked him quietly. "You are okay aren't you?"
Harry chuckled as he slipped an arm around her waist. "I could duel her. And I am okay." He appeased her worried tones. "I'll be honest with you Alexis. Yes, I healed myself. But to do so, I've lost my powers temporarily."
"You've lost your powers?" She worried as she slipped her own arm to mirror his. The two held each other, one in worry, and the other in contemplation.
"Temporarily." He clarified. "I used the last of my energy to heal my body. Combined with my activities from last night, I don't have any spiritual energy left."
"So that's why you won't duel?"
"Oh no" Harry assured. "I'll still duel. In fact, if someone asks me to, I'll do it right now. But Zane has made up his mind and to interfere would say that I don't believe in him." The conversation from the night before burned through his mind. Zane's words and his own played as if on repeat. Harry knew Zane would give it his all.
"So then what are you going to do?" Alexis asked him. "What are we going to do?" She changed her mind on seeing him hesitate.
Harry removed his arm from around his best friend's waist before standing up from his bed and offering her his hand as a replacement. When she took it, Harry led her past the other key keepers and out the door following Zane. "I've been in an infirmary bed for twenty four hours. I'm going for a shower." He informed her as they walked towards his dormitory.
They walked in silence. The only sound they could hear, beyond the rustling of the trees, was Harry's armour clanking in the bag the nurses had placed it in when he was recovering.
"I never did thank you" Alexis whispered, her voice being heard easily in the dead of night as they walked towards the obelisk blue dorm. "You protected us. And you saved my brother."
Harry knew that this conversation was going to come up sooner or later. Fortunately, it wasn't the first time he had saved someone. Unfortunately, it was the first time he considered the person thanking him his best friend. Simply saying it was nothing would not be enough. So, he settled for the truth.
"Alexis" He sighed, mentally noting he was beginning to do that more and more. "You need to understand. Yes, I brought your brother back. But I also had no idea it was him at the time. He was being possessed by something dangerous and powerful. That something was Nightshroud."
Alexis nodded. She knew that Harry didn't know it was her brother he had been duelling that night. But she also knew that he would have saved him anyway. Her mind flashed back to the night before where she held Harry in her arms, only for him to proclaim he had to save him. "You didn't know who it was, but you still gave it all to save him." She summarised.
Harry nodded as they reached his dorm room. Opening the door, he held it open for her as he replied. "I made things worse by interfering. It forced Nightshroud to use your brother's energy and supplement it for his own. In doing so he became more powerful and also possessed your brother's body instead of just his mind."
He allowed Alexis to absorb his words as he opened the door to his room. Throwing his armour onto his bed and placing his deck on the desk, he walked into the bathroom, grabbing a uniform on the way.
As he entered the bathroom he looked into the mirror as he removed his old clothes. Seeing none of the bruising or burns mentioned earlier he smiled briefly before losing it, as he waved his hand towards the shower seeing nothing happen.
'All of my duels,' He thought as he turned on the water and stepped into the shower. 'All of challenges in my old world and this one and yet, none of them have ever cost me my powers.' He briefly wondered how his spirits were doing now that he couldn't interact with them. Shaking his head as he ran his hands over scars of old battles; he put those thoughts out of his mind and continued to clean himself.
Turning off the water, he dressed himself in his obelisk blue uniform before looking into the mirror once more. He would get his powers back, he thought to himself as he entered his room seeing Alexis waiting for him.
"Would you like to shower?" He asked her as he placed his deck into a box before clipping it to his belt. "I'm pretty sure I still have one of your uniforms in the bottom drawer" He gestured to the chest of drawers next to his wardrobe noting, as he did, that the gravekeeper's pendant was sitting on top.
"I took it for the field trip to the ruins." Alexis replied as he took the pendant and inspected it. "I'll put one back just in case." Standing from Harry's bed, she walked behind him and fixed his blazer for him before turning him to face her. "If you interfering that night made everything worse, why did you do it?" She asked him looking up into his eyes.
Harry slipped the pendant into his pocket before answering. "I could sense your fear." He muttered looking down slightly before returning his eyes to her. "I saw him take you into a volcano. You're my best friend Alexis. You've been with me almost every day since I've set foot on this island." He wrapped his arms around her before he hugged her tightly. "I would do anything to protect you."
The two stood there holding each other as the reality of their situation set in for both of them. In spite of his confidence in her abilities, Harry was blinded by his desire to see her safe and had put his own life on the line to avoid her having to do the same.
For Alexis, she had finally gotten her brother back. All it had taken was seeing her best friend set ablaze, tortured, and weakened more than she had ever seen him. She was grateful, but overwhelmed. She didn't bother holding back when tears started falling on to Harry's shoulder, instead she buried her head further into the crook of his neck.
"It's okay." Harry whispered as he rubbed circles on her back. "Your brother is home. And I'm perfectly fine."
"But you're not!" She cried into her shoulder. "You lost your powers!"
Harry chuckled causing her to lean back and slap his chest. "I swear to you." He appeased her. "My powers will come back. Truthfully, I'm enjoying being normal for a while. But even without them, I'm still me. Now as much as my duel disk looks good on you, as I said before, I'll need it back."
Alexis blushed before taking her deck from the disk and handing it to Harry who placed in on his own arm. Taking her hand in his, he led her to the duel disks mounted on the wall by his mannequin. "You're welcome to take one of my others." He gestured to the wall.
Alexis looked on the wall and saw three choices. The first, was an old school battle city style duel disk, it looked newer than the first generation models but it's style was the same. The second, was the classic duel academy disk, hints of blue could be seen around the edge, no doubt Harry's attempt to make it seem original. The third was the only duel disk she had actually seen Harry use; it was his personal disk before he acquired his arcane one. Looking at the sword like edge, she grabbed it from the wall and placed it on her arm.
"Ready?" She asked him as she turned.
"We don't have a choice." Harry pointed out as he waved his hand to the window. "Looks like Zane was in a hurry to get started."
Alexis walked to the window and saw the castle that her and the others had stood before only a few hours before. Only this time, the castle was shaking as flashes of light illuminated the windows. As Harry opened the window, she could hear the distant roar of the Cyber End Dragon emanating from the castle.
The two moved to the balcony. As the sounds began to increase, Harry jumped from the balcony to the nearby tree before jumping to the ground. Standing up straight, he watched as Alexis mirrored him before falling to the ground beside him.
"Shall we?" He offered his hand.
Alexis took the hand before the two took off at a run towards the castle. As they ran the red carpet across the lake Harry felt the thrum of ancient power begin to course through his veins. He looked to Alexis as he felt her hand begin to shake. He knew she could feel it too. Letting go of her hand, he charged forward and rammed the door with his shoulder, breaking it open on the first try.
"Let's go." He shouted not breaking stride. Instead, he ran to the source of the power just as he heard the voice of Zane.
"Syrus!" Zane shouted just as he ran into the room. "RUN!"
As Harry ran into the room, he saw a shade of Camula float from her place on the balcony of the ballroom. Knowing what he had to do; Harry ran faster than he ever did in his life and tackled the smallest of the slifers to the ground just in time for the shade to fly over their head.
"Intruder!" Camula hissed for the second time that night.
Harry didn't hear her. He knew her shadow charm would afford her powers, he didn't expect it to be powerful enough to absorb souls outside of duels. Holding Syrus to the ground, he knew that him removing Syrus from the castle would only force Camula to choose another target.
"If you three can hear me!" Harry shouted in a panic. "I could really use a bodyguard." Standing from the ground Harry raised his hands in defence of the slifer. "As for you Camula, if you want him you're going to have to get through me." He hissed.
"Very well." Camula hissed as her face elongated to show fangs. "Go through the intruder and take little Syrus's soul."
Harry braced himself and pulled Syrus closer to his back to ensure that nothing could happen behind him. But he needn't have worried for as the shade of Camula approached him, she found her path blocked by three figures draped in shadows. Despite his inability to see their true forms, Harry knew exactly who they were.
"Even at my weakest," Harry boasted. "My powers are still stronger than that little trinket of yours." Looking at the third year obelisk blue Harry gestured with a wave of his hand. "Hurry it up already!" He shouted.
"Very well!" Camula hissed. "I offer my own soul and continue to summon Cyber End Dragon in attack mode."
Camula: 800/Zane: 4000
Harry had never seen the Cyber End Dragon played before. But as he listened to its cry he also knew this wasn't the monster at its true potential. It was rare for a monster to be so closely linked to a duelist that it's cry could be interpreted. This monster was in pain. What should be a gleaming body of highly polished steel was covered in dark shadows. Harry winced as he heard its cry. Looking over, he could see Jaden doing the same.
"Cyber End Dragon, attack his life points directly" Camula cried. No sooner than she did, the monster charged a photon beam that fired directly at Zane.
"Not so fast" Zane grinned at seeing things go his way. "I activate my trap, Call of the Haunted. This allows me to bring back my Cyber Barrier Dragon and stop your attack cold."
"You know Zane; we could be having a lot more fun if you'd just give in." Camula hissed as she placed a card face down.
"You're not my type." Zane hissed as he drew a card and smiled. "I activate the spell card, Card of Sanctity. Now we both draw until we have six cards. And I think I'll use two of them right now. I play Power Bond and Cybernetic Fusion Support, now all I have to do is pay half my life points and take my three Cyber Dragons from the graveyard and remove them from play. Then I can summon my own Cyber End Dragon."
As the monsters fused together Harry heard the cry that he had heard all the way from his dorm once more. Unconsciously taking Alexis's hand in his own, he could feel the raw energy pouring off the true Cyber End Dragon as its body gleamed in the moonlight, illuminating the ballroom.
"I haven't felt like this since I was twelve and watching Yugi duel Kaiba." Harry whispered. The memory of their first duel flashed through his mind and just like then he could feel the energy coursing through his veins.
"Next, I play my Cyber Phoenix. This card stops you from using effects on my dragon. So now, with eight thousand attack points, my dragon can end this duel once and for all."
The one true Cyber End Dragon charged a beam so bright Harry had to look away. He knew Zane had won. Camula wouldn't have tried to play such a move if she had an ace up her sleeve. So Harry knew that when the blast exploded and the dust cleared. It was over.
The castle began to shake once more as the doors to the Illusion Gate opened once more and a claw made from shadows reached out to pull Camula inside. As they did, Harry felt the energy of the Sacred Beasts hit him like a bolt of lightning. The world slowed down and he felt himself being pulled towards the door.
"Soon!" Voices could be heard from the door. His eyes began to glow as he felt a miniscule fraction of chaos energy enter his body restoring his ability to see spirits. As he did, he saw them.
Having spent a copious amount of time around the Egyptian Gods and having seen the Wicked Gods once in his life time Harry would be used to seeing divine creatures. But their chaotic nature called out to the very blood in his veins, he was a by-product of divine creation. They looked almost like Ra, slifer and Obelisk, but they looked, corrupted. Like what would happen had the Egyptian Gods went bad. Perhaps, he mused, that's exactly what happened. But as they began to fade away, Harry knew that his battle wasn't with the shadow riders, his battle would be with the beasts themselves.
Time returned to normal and so did everything else, except the castle had begun to shake itself apart. Seeing his hand still joined with Alexis's and knowing his other was gripped on to Syrus, he pushed the latter ahead of them.
"Time we left." He shouted to the group watching Zane jump down from the balcony and join them in running out of the now collapsing castle. As they left the ballroom, Harry saw Zane take his little brother's hand and run a little faster.
Courtesy of the minute amount of chaos energy he received Harry was now able to see his spirit companions. Nodding to them in thanks, he left the castle as they faded away back to their cards.
They stood on the shoreline just in time for the castle to fade away. Dr. Crowler came down from the school, now returned to normal, just in time to see the castle vanish in the night sky. Not bothering to congratulate Zane, and not staying for thanks, Harry squeezed Alexis's hand and walked away with her towards the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm.
"The Sacred Beasts can never be allowed to roam free." He told Alexis as they walked towards her dorm. "I was able to see them through the Illusion Gate. They look like the corrupted versions of the Egyptian Gods. But despite how they look, I could hear them, they want to be free, they want to rain chaos down on the world."
"We're going to stop them." Alexis assured him, squeezing his hand.
The two stood at the entrance to the female dorm and for once Harry wasn't sure. He didn't know what he could do. He knew he could stop the shadow riders and as a result, prevent the beasts from getting out. But if they ever got out, he didn't know if he could put them back. He was afraid of what they could do and, as he wrapped his arms around his best friend, he was afraid of losing this world he had come to love so much.
"We have to." He whispered in her ear as he let her go. "Goodnight Alexis. I promise I'll see you in the morning."
He walked away slowly watching as his spirits appeared beside him, grateful for his restored ability to see them even if he didn't have the rest of his powers.
"Thank you." He said to them once he was sure the coast was clear.
"We weren't sure that it would work. We're powerful, but without you we're quite limited in this world. As much as we're glad to see you up and about, we're not happy that you sacrificed your powers to do so." The Dark Magician informed him.
"I'm sorry" Harry simply said as they neared his own dorm. "I just had to do something. I couldn't stand lying there while she needed me. I knew I wouldn't be able to see you but I also knew you would protect me."
"She was strong." The Black Luster Soldier commented as they entered. Heading to his room, Harry opened his phone; Harry began to type a message to his father to inform him that everything was fine, nodding as he did. "If we hadn't been there, you wouldn't have been able to stop her, your friends would have suffered until you gained the strength to fight her."
"Or" Harry argued as he pulled the half pendant from his blazer pocket. "Until I gained the strength to use this."
"A shadow charm?" The Dark Magician of Chaos inquired as he stared at the half of a pendant in Harry's hand. "Well, half of one." He noted as he saw the cracked eye of Anubis. "It would still have some power, but without the other half you wouldn't stand a chance against someone using a full one."
Harry distinctly remembered Jaden grabbing the choker that fell from Camula right as the castle began to shake. "Unless I had the other half." He knew exactly where it was. It was currently lying around the neck of one Atticus Rhodes.
Walking into his room, the spirits said nothing once they noted the industrial illusions logo on his television. Taking off his blazer, Harry sat down and wondered if he fell asleep, would that logo still be there in the morning.
'Bugger it.' He thought as he reached for the remote. 'I've slept long enough.'
