A hush fell over the entire group, broken only by Bakura's anguished wail.

"NO!!" he screamed. "No, you can't kill him!!! I WON'T LET YOU!!!"

"Bakura," Yami Yugi said quietly, "even if we remove the skeleton, he will still be infected. We cannot get him back now."

"Don't say that!!" Bakura ran over and grabbed his Yami by the shoulders. "He might hear you!!!"

Yami Bakura growled and shoved Bakura back against the wall. The boy groaned and slumped to the ground, his brown eyes wide with horror.

"Bakura!!" Yugi cried, running over to him.

Now Yami Bakura turned to face the others, slowly reaching into his deck and preparing to pull out the Man-Eater Bug.

"Take that!!" Tristan yelled, suddenly lashing out and delivering a karate kick to the skeleton perched on the tomb raider's back. It crumbled easily, but Yami Bakura was unfazed.

"I told you, that will not help him now," Yami Yugi said, shaking his head.

Téa backed up against the wall in horror as Yami Bakura sneered and allowed the Man-Eater Bug to come forth and stand in front of her. "I don't think my purse will squash this bug!" she cried, her blue eyes wide with horror.

"Oh no! Téa!!" Yami Yugi narrowed his eyes, preparing to move forward.

Yugi stood up shakily, his eyes wide.

"MEOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!"

Yami Yugi started in surprise as Oreo leaped into his path and hissed loudly.

"There has to be another way!" Bakura cried, shakily getting up. "If it was someone else, wouldn't you be trying to save them instead of kill them?!"

The Pharaoh stopped in his tracks, Bakura's words striking him. "I am only thinking of the greater good," he replied at last. "We cannot allow the world to be destroyed, but that will happen if we stop to fight this tomb raider."

"I don't think the cat is gonna let you through," Joey remarked as Oreo showed Yami Yugi her claws.

Téa shrieked as the Man-Eater Bug inched closer to her. Her heart pounding, she gave it a harsh whack with her purse. Unfazed, it batted the bag away against the opposite wall.

Narrowing his eyes, Marik charged forward and plunged the dagger into the body of the monstrous bug. It gave a loud screech and reached up, thrusting its talons into the boy's leg. Marik screamed in agony, toppling over on top of the creature.

"MARIK!!" Rishid yelled in horror. He and Ishizu tried to run forward to him, but Yami Bakura blocked their path.

"Foolish mortals," he said, his voice echoing strangely and unnaturally, "do you actually think I will let you pass? The Ishtar boy is ours now!" He gestured back, to where both the Man-Eater Bug and Marik were vanishing.

"No!!! BROTHER!!!" Ishizu screamed, going a deathly pale.

"Where is he??!!!" Mokuba yelled, wanting nothing more than to grab Yami Bakura and pull him to the ground. "What've you done with him???!!!"

"Oh . . . all in good time." Yami Bakura turned slightly. "He'll be joining your brother, little Mokuba, and then they will both be sacrificed to bring forth a creature the likes of which none of you have ever before seen!" He grinned maniacally.

"Are we absolutely sure this isn't the real Yami B?" Tristan wondered, raising an eyebrow. He especially had an intense dislike of the old thief because of their past run-in at Pegasus's castle.

"It's not him, Tristan!!" Bakura said indignantly.

The third eye glowed on Yami Yugi's forehead. "No, it is not," he agreed, "but still, I cannot allow this to go on any longer. Now things are much more grave. The enemy has both of our allies captive and they won't hesitate to dispose of them."

Téa shakily peeled herself off the wall, her heart pounding. She couldn't help feeling that this was her fault. Marik had been trying to rescue her when the bug had attacked him. And now . . . now . . .

Yami Bakura laughed dementedly. "Of course, I can't just allow you to all run free, now, can I? If I do that, then my side won't win. And I can't have that." Without warning he whirled on Bakura, raising the Millennium Rod that had been dropped by its destined holder. "I will start by destroying this fool."

Bakura screamed as he was dragged to the floor. "NO!!! YAMI, STOP!!!" he wailed, frantically trying to push the old thief away from him.

"ENOUGH!!!" Yami Yugi yelled in outrage, chanting an ancient spell.

Yami Bakura shouted in pain as he was raised into the air, the age-old magic all striking him at once. Everyone watched in a sort of horrified awe as the spirit was engulfed entirely in the light. When it cleared, his lifeless body was suspended in the air as if he had been hanged.

The empty eyes focused on Bakura for one brief moment. "You are a fool . . . to care for me," were Yami Bakura's dying words.

The Millennium Ring came loose from around his neck and dropped to the ground with a clunk of finality, followed in quick succession by what was left of the thief.

No one said anything for the longest time. They couldn't speak. Even those who didn't care for Yami Bakura were stunned.

A heart-breaking wail broke the silence.

"YAMI!!!!!!!" Bakura stumbled over, his eyes filling with tears. "YAMI, NO!!!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS??!! HOW COULD YOU???!!! YOU KILLED HIM!!!! YOU KILLED MY YAMI!!!!!"

Yugi turned to stare at his Yami, his face a picture of shock and alarm. But Yami Yugi only turned away as Bakura continued to sob, his expression cold.

****

Marik moaned, laying still on the ground. He couldn't remember what had happened; all he could remember was the agonizing pain he was still feeling.

"So. You are alive."

The sarcastic voice came from somewhere above him and he struggled to get his eyes open. Seto Kaiba was chained to a post, looking down with a tired smirk.

Marik grunted and tried to stand, failing each time.

"If your legs are hurt that badly, don't bother," Seto remarked, trying to figure out how to free himself from the chains binding him. "There must be a reason why they didn't even tie you up, and that must be it."

"My legs aren't broken," Marik retorted. "I have to get up!" He tried one more time and hissed in pain. "You do realize what will happen to those we love if we can't get out of this."

"It's not gonna happen," Seto growled. "There's no way I'm gonna let anything happen to Mokuba. That monster is not gonna get released."

A shadow fell across Marik as he gasped for breath after another useless attempt at standing.

"Oh, now, isn't this nice?" Vivalene purred. "You're both getting along so wonderfully."

"You devil!" Marik clenched his fists. "What have you done with the others?!"

"They're safe . . . for now," Vivalene smiled. "Of course poor Bakaré the tomb raider kicked the bucket, but that was done by one of your group's own members. Not very loyal to each other, are they?"

Both Seto and Marik simply glared at her.

"Anyway . . ." Vivalene sneered. "It would be rather nice to have them here for the show. They should witness what's about to happen." She gestured about. "There's no way they could possibly stop us!"

"Oh yeah?!" Seto gave the chain another weak yank. "I think you're forgetting something. We have the power to stop you."

Vivalene only laughed. "Yes, you certainly are in a position to stop me," she said, kicking Marik's injured leg. The boy screamed, falling flat on the floor. "Admit your defeat, darlings. There's nothing you can do to halt our plan this time!"

The Middle-Eastern man watched all of this, unseen, from his place atop a high ledge. "Only they can unlock the way of their success," he uttered low. "They must seek guidance and be ready to listen for the answer."

****

Pain shot through Rishid and he doubled over, the agony obvious on his face.

"What is it, my brother?!" Ishizu cried.

"It is Marik," Rishid said softly. "He is hurting. . . ." A tear slipped from his eye.

Ishizu bit her lip. "He will be strong. But we must get to him!" She glanced over at Bakura uncomfortably as the boy cradled his Yami's body, not knowing if he would ever get over this horror.

Yugi and Mai tried to approach their friend, but he seemed to not even realize they were there.

"Yami?" he whispered. "Yami, it's going to be alright. You're going to get up and everything will be okay. . . ."

Oreo gave a mournful wail, nudging Yami Bakura's hand. Upon not receiving an answer, the cat crawled up in his shirt and tried to massage his chest with her paws.

"Oh Yugi. . . ." Téa stared in horror. "Yugi, how could this have happened?!" She couldn't bear to see Bakura so stricken and anguished.

"I don't know, Téa," Yugi said sadly, his feelings mixed. Yes, it had been dangerous and Yami Bakura could have destroyed us all, but did Yami have to . . . to. . . .

The boy looked up at the Pharaoh, who was staring out at the desolation and not facing any of them. ~Yami?~ he called tentatively through their bond.

Yami Yugi refused to reply, instead turning and preparing to walk off. "We must be on our way," he said aloud. "We have squandered enough time."

Immediately Yugi ran over and got in front of him. "Yami, how can you be so cold??!!" he screamed. "HOW??!! Don't you even care what Bakura is going through??!! Look at him, Yami!!! Look what you've done!!!!" Tears spilled from his eyes.

Yami Yugi looked away. "I didn't want to do it, Yugi."

It was then that Yugi saw the Pharaoh's eyes glistening. He was crying as well.

"It was the last thing I wanted to do," Yami Yugi continued. "But if I hadn't done anything, Bakura would been the one to die. Would you have wanted that?"

"Of course not!!" Yugi burst out. "But Yami . . . what if . . . what if Yami Bakura could've broke free? What if he could have and you . . . you . . ." He stopped, unable to get the rest of the sentence out. "Wasn't it the real Yami Bakura at the end?" he whispered. "After you attacked him and he was hanging there. . . When he spoke to Bakura . . . wasn't that him?

Yami Yugi clenched his fists and ignored the question. "It's too late for 'what ifs', Yugi. What's done is done." He started to walk off into the darkness ahead, leaving Yugi staring after him.

Joey, meanwhile, was holding Serenity close to him, it only now dawning on him how close he'd come to becoming like Yami Bakura. But what disturbed him most was, Would Yami Yugi have done the same thing to him that he'd done to Yami Bakura?

"Oh Joey," Serenity sobbed. "This is terrible!! How do you ever stand to keep on solving these mysteries?! How do you do it??!!!"

Joey looked away. "I wish I knew, sis," he said truthfully, watching Bakura with sadness. "I wish I knew."

Mokuba was standing stunned by this latest turn of events. He could barely believe any of it, and yet . . . he knew it was real. Bakura didn't have anyone now. He had already lost all of his family, and now with his Yami gone, there was no one left.

Tears threatened to fall from the young boy's eyes. What if he was in Bakura's place? What if he didn't have anyone? What if the ones he loved more than anything wound up . . .

No!! No, he wouldn't let it happen!! He had to stop it!! Somehow, someway, he would!! He swore he would!!

And without another word Mokuba turned and ran off into the darkness.