The lights came on all at once very suddenly as the band was walking off stage.

Ryou saw Tany standing nearby with a younger girl wearing a Trial By Nightmare t-shirt.

Ryou rushed over to Tany and hugged her.

"Are you okay?" he ask.

Tany nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What hell happened?"

Ryou shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. We were going to go look to Kaiba to see if he knew anything. All I can figure is we overloaded the main circuit box."

Tany looked over her shoulder and noticed the girl she had been talking to before the lights went out, was staring at Ryou in awe. Tany smiled at her and motioned for her to join her and Ryou.

"Ryou, this is Laurie Ann, she's a big fan. Mind giving her an autograph?" Tany grinned.

Ryou nodded his head as he pulled the young fan into a big, thankful, hug.

"I don't mind one bit, fans are the ones who brought the band to success!"

The young fan looked as if she were on cloud nine. Ryou was signing her t-shirt when Yugi came running over by him. His eyes were wide with fear, he looked extremely worried.

"Ryou!" Yugi yelled as he dropped to his hands and knees breathing heavily.

It was obvious something was wrong.

"Yugi, what's the matter?"

Yugi took a few more deep breaths before he could speak.

Tany kneeled next to him and patted his back.

"Yugi, what's wrong?"

Yugi caught his breath and held onto Tany for support.

"They're............gone.......Yami......Bakura, Malik"

Just as Yugi finished his sentence, Duke came running over.

"We found Caroline knocked unconscious over by the dressing rooms, I think that blackout was a set up!" he exclaimed.

Ryou clutched the Millennium ring around his neck and tried contacting Bakura through their mind link.

When he didn't get a response, he turned to Tany.

"Shit, something isn't right. I can't sense Bakura at all."

Tears came to Tany's eyes instantly.

"What are you saying Ryou? He can't be gone!"

Yugi swallowed back his tears and lowered his head.

"I'm afraid he is Tany."

"Sonuvabitch" Ryou groaned as he reached out to Tany.

Tany took his hand and squeezed it.

"Ryou, what are we gonna do? Bakura's gone, and we have no clue where he went!"

Yugi lowered his eyes and sighed.

"You know guys, I bet we're dealing with dark forces again"

"Or maybe they're up to something" Marik suggested as he and Caroline joined the group.

"Does anybody see that Care Bear?" Caroline said, staring blankly just beyond the group.

"Huh?" Yugi replied, looking at her strangely.

Marik began to laugh nervously, and quickly covered Caroline's mouth. He looked up and cleared his throat.

"She took a good blow to the head, sorry. She keeps seeing Care Bears. She thought I was Sunshine Bear when she first came to."

Everybody began to snicker, even though there was a thick sense of trouble looming in the air.

"AW! They're SO CUTE!" Caroline squealed excitedly.

"Yeah, we know honey. Now Shhhhhhh!"

"Wow Marik" Ryou laughed.

Laurie Ann, the girl Tany had been talking to, was standing back watching what was going on in front of her. Tany noticed the strange look on her face and realized that the girl was clueless as to the world of ancient tomb robbers living in necklaces and pharaohs living in puzzles. Tany remembered how strange it all sounded when she first met them all, but after living with it for 2 years, nothing surprised her anymore. Not even Bakura chasing rats around, thinking they're dinner.

"Laurie Ann, I think I know what you're thinking. I know this all is sounding really weird to you. There's a lot more to this band than meets they eye."

Laurie Ann nodded her head slowly.

"I'm beginning to see that."

"You don't have to stick around if it weirds you out too much." Duke added.

The young fan shrugged her shoulders,

"I'll be fine. But can you answer something for me?"

Tany nodded her head.

"Sure"

"Who the hell are Yami, Malik, and Bakura?"

Tany glanced at Ryou, Marik and Yugi as though she was asking their permission to tell Laurie Ann about their unique circumstances.

All three nodded their heads. Hiding the truth was not an option at the moment.

Tany put her arm around the young fan and grinned.

"Let's go outside, I'll explain out there."

The two of them began walking towards the back exit.

Caroline began to jump up and down excitedly, squealing like a little child.

"I wanna go outside and play! Can I Mister Marik? Can I? Can I? Pleeeeeease?"

Marik scratched his head nervously.

"Uh-Sure baby, I guess so. Just don't wander off, got that?"

Caroline jumped up and threw her arms around Marik.

"WHEEE! I get to go outside and play!" Caroline ran skipped over by Tany and Laurie Ann.

"Come on! Let's play tag! You're it! NA- NA, you can't catch me!!!"

Tany looked at Marik with disbelief.

"How hard did you say she got hit on the head?"

Marik glanced back at his wife, who was climbing of the scaffolding like a monkey, and buried his face in his hands.

"What the hell did I do to deserve this?"

Duke patted Marik on the back and grinned.

"Look at the bright side man, if you put her hair up in pony tails, you can sneak her into movies for half price!"

Marik rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for the encouragement Devlin, you're a real help."

"Does she remember anything?" Ryou said nervously as he looked over toward where Caroline was.

Marik shook his head.

"I don't think so. She didn't know who I was, so I doubt she remembers any of us."

Duke shook his head as he lit up a cigarette.

"She's pretty bold than, considering we all are probably strangers to her."

"I'd say.......uh, Marik? You better look and see what she's doing" Ryou suggested.

Marik looked back and let out a shriek. He threw his hands on his head and fisted his hair as he took off running toward some expensive equipment his wife was using as a jungle gym.

"For Ra-s sake Caroline! Get the fuck off that!!! You're beginning to drive me nuts! GAHHHHHHHHHH!! NOOOO!"

Yugi firmly clutched the Millennium Puzzle hanging around his neck

"Guys? I don't want to sound like a downer, but we really need to figure out what happened to our other halves. I really think something bad happened to them."

Ryou nodded his head as he fiddled with one of the spikes dangling from his Millennium Ring.

"I tend to feel that way too Yugi"

Duke pointed toward the stage, where fans had once again gathered after the lights came back on.

"But listen guys, don't you hear that? Our fans are calling us back out for an encore. Not even a blackout scared them off! We shouldn't disappoint them"

Ryou held up his hands infront of him.

"But Duke, we can't even DO our final number without Bakura, Malik and Yami! They're part of the stage show, remember?"

"We can improvise, we know a lot of songs." Duke reminded them all.

Yugi took a deep breath.

"You're right Duke. We have an obligation to our fans to fulfill. We have to go on, I think Yami, Malik and Bakura would want us to."

Ryou nodded his head.

"You're right guys. Besides, it's not like we can help them right now anyway. We don't even know where the hell they went."

Duke put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly.

"Hey Marik! We're gonna do one last song. Get your ass over here!"

"I don't think I can! I can't get Caroline down from the rafters!" Marik yelled back.

"WHEEEEEEE! Mister Marik's Tarzan and I'm Jane! Bet ya can't catch me!!!!!!" Caroline shouted as she swung down from a long black cable that was hanging from the ceiling.

"SOMEBODY STOP HER BEFORE I KILL HER!" Marik yelled in frustration.

"You can't kill me! I'm a Care Bear!!!Wheeeeeeee!" Caroline giggled as she took off running.

"Don't worry, I'll stop her." Duke smiled as he ran after Caroline. His long legs contributed to his speed, and he quickly caught up with Caroline and tackled her.

"AHHH! Mister Marik! Help! He's squishing me!!!!!" Caroline whined as Duke wrapped his arms around her and carried her back.

"Caroline, you need to settle down. If you can sit still for just a few minutes, we'll take you out for ice cream after the show, okay?" Duke suggested as he loosened his grip around her.

Caroline crossed her arms and pouted.

"You're mean, I don't like you stupidhead!"

Marik calmly patted her head.

"Duke's not mean sweety, he's just trying to keep you out of trouble." Marik reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright, shiny nickle. "Here, this should keep you entertained for a while."

Caroline took the nickle and help it up to the light.

"Wow.........pretty money!" she said with admiration.

Marik turned to Duke, Ryou and Yugi and sighed.

"I wish I knew why she was acting like a little kid. I can't handle much more of this."

"I'm sure it's only temporary. Stuff like that happens when you take a good blow to the head." Ryou offered in sympathy.

Marik took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I hope you're right."

"Well guys, let's get this last song over with." Ryou said adamantly.

"Which song are we going to do?" Yugi ask.

"I know, let's do the one Ryou wrote, The one called 'Ballad of Amane"

Duke suggested.

"Yeah, I like that one. Let's do it!" Yugi said eagerly.

***

After the show, instead of partying with their fans, Marik, Ryou, Yugi, along with Caroline and Tany went back to the Ishtar home. Duke stayed behind to appease the fans. Seto, Ann, and Mokuba also stayed behind, just because Seto knew if he left Duke in charge, he'd probably end up burning the place down.

Marik walked into the livingroom and opened a bottle of tequila.

"I think she's sleeping now." he said as he tipped the bottle to his lips.

"It's about time." Ryou grinned. Marik had been chasing all over the place after Caroline, who still was experiencing the side effects from getting thrown back against the wall.

Marik set the bottle of tequila down and sprawled out on the floor.

"I feel like shit." he groaned.

Ryou rested his head back on the arm of the couch and groaned.

"You're not the only one. I think I'm coming down with something."

Tany reached over and felt Ryou's forehead.

"Holy shit, you're fucking freezing, Ryou! I'm getting you a blanket!"

Tany ran out of the room and grabbed the thick quilt off the bed they were using. When she got back into the livingroom, Yugi, Marik and Ryou were all showing symptoms of some sort of strange illness. All three were looking very pale, and their body temperatures had dropped significantly.

Tany covered Ryou with the quilt, than ran to retrieve two more.

On her way upstairs, she met Caroline; who was just about to slide down the banister.

Tany grabbed Caroline's arm firmly and stopped her.

"Caroline, we got a huge problem. I really need your help!"

Caroline's eyes grew wide, and she gaped at Tany with a childlike innocence.

"Did we run out of cookies?"

"NO! Damn it you fucking dingbat! Quit acting like a 2 year old and help me gather blankets to cover the guys up with. Something is really wrong with them, and I don't know what to do!"

Caroline looked as if she were about to cry. She looked up at Tany with tears pooling in her eyes.

"I don't mean to make you mad lady, I'm sorry"

Tany took a deep breath. She took Caroline's condition under consideration before she said anything else. Even though Caroline looked like an adult, the knock she took to the head had reduced her mind to that of a child. Tany had grown up in a very large family, so she knew exactly how to handle kids.

"Caroline, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Can you please help me get some blankets?"

Caroline whimpered as she nodded her head.

"I know where blankets are, follow me."

Caroline ran down the hall as fast as she could, leaving Tany in the dust. When Tany finally caught up to her, she threw her hand over her mouth and gasp. She saw Caroline climbing up to the top shelf of the closet, using the shelves for leverage.

"CAROLINE! Get down from there! You're gonna fall!"

Caroline rolled her eyes and giggled.

"I won't fall! I got good climbing skills! See?" Caroline reached up high for the next shelf.

Just as she did, she lost her footing and fell down 4 feet to the floor; hitting her head on the corner of a small wooden table, knocking her out cold.

"SHIT!" Tany shouted as she ran over to see if Caroline was alright.

Tany shook Caroline gently.

"Caroline, are you okay?"

Caroline made a small whimpering sound from the back of her throat.

"Caroline, you better not be hurt, cause I got enough to worry about as it is!"

Caroline stirred a little more before she opened her eyes. When she finally do so, she grabbed her head and shrieked in pain.

"OWE! Shit! What the fucken hell! Somebody's gonna muthafucking die!"

Tany gaped at her sudden change in language. Most kids can't link together so few words with that many expletives.

Caroline rubbed the front of her head and glared at Tany.

"Why the hell did you just hit me? Damn!"

Tany shook her head and held her hands out infront of her defensively.

"Hey now! You FELL. You wouldn't listen when I told you not to!"

Blood gushed from the area where her head had hit. Caroline looked up and the closet and put everything together.

"Uh- Why was a climbing up the closet? Isn't that a bit -childish-?"

Tany gaped at Caroline. A huge smile came over her face.

She ran up and threw her arms around Caroline.

"Oh my god, I'm so happy you're back to normal!

Caroline wriggled out of Tany's grip and looked around.

"How the hell did I get here? WHERE am I actually?"

"You're home now. We came home after the show to figure out what happened to Bakura, Malik and Yami. The guys are downstairs, but they're suddenly really sick. I'm willing to bet it's got something to do with their other halves disappearance."

Caroline looked at Tany like she was nuts.

"What in the hell are you talking about? I don't live here! I've lived at 455 Vercetti Circle for my entire fucking life! And THIS- is NOT- my house!"

Tany looked at Caroline with awe.

"Shit, Caroline, answer me this; how old are you?

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"17"

Tany threw her hand on her head and smacked herself.

"Oh great"

Caroline looked back at the closet and than back at Tany.

"You never told me why I was climbing the closet."

Tany's eyes got wide as she remembered why they were in the room.

"Blankets! The guys need blankets!"

Caroline grinned mischievously.

"There's guys here?"

Tany was pulled a chair infront of the closet and pulled down a couple blankets from the top shelf.

"Yeah, there's 3 very sick guys downstairs and it's up to us to figure out what the hell is wrong with them!"

Caroline took half the blankets from Tany and followed her downstairs.

"Wow! This house is gorgeous! I want one just like it someday!" Caroline exclaimed as they walked back to the livingroom. Tany just chuckled to herself.

"Okay Caroline, you cover Marik, and I'll take care of Ryou and Yugi."

Caroline did as Tany told her to and stepped back.

Tany put a blanket on Yugi before coving Ryou.

"Ryou" Tany sighed as she placed a soft kiss on his hair.

"Tany" Ryou sighed back.

Caroline stared on in a state of confusion.

"Who are you all anyway?"

Tany brushed Ryou's hair out of his eyes and looked at Caroline.

"That guy you covered up is you're husband. I know you don't remember, but it's true."

Caroline looked at Marik, who was laying on the floor with his eyes closed.

"No way.........I'm married? My dad is gonna KILL me!"

Tany smiled slightly at Caroline's adolescent reaction.

"Don't worry Caroline, your dad isn't here. You need to help Marik though. I'm afraid if we don't figure out what happened to the Bakura, Malik and Yami real soon, we may loose these guys too."

Caroline kneeled down and ran her fingers down Marik's cold cheek.

"Wow.......I'm married.......and to a really hot guy! COOL!"

Tany snuggled closer to Ryou to try and share some of her warmth with him. A very tiny smile appeared on Ryou's face. Tany bit her lip and groaned.

"Ryou, what should I do? I don't even know where to start!"

After a long pause, Ryou finally pulled together the strength to speak.

"Ask...........cards"

Tany looked at him curiously.

"Ask cards? You mean you're duel monsters cards?"

Ryou nodded his head slightly.

"But how?" Tany ask.

Ryou didn't reply. His strength was fading quickly.

Tany got up and ran to retrieve his deck from his luggage. She sat on the floor infront of the couch and looked at the cards in her hands.

"What do I do!" She shouted at the cards.

The cards of course said nothing back.

Caroline looked back at her and laughed.

"Are those duel monsters cards?"

Tany nodded her head.

Caroline grinned as she scooted closer to Tany.

"I got a deck at home. I'm pretty good. What are you doing with those?"

"Ryou told me that the cards would hold the answer as to how we can help the guys. I just don't know what he means!"

Caroline made a face and groaned.

"I wish I had my deck, I think I could show you what he means."

Tany remembered that Caroline had shown her where she kept her cards on the first day she'd arrived at Caroline's home. She ran upstairs and grabbed Caroline's deck out of Marik's sock drawer.

She quickly ran back to Caroline and handed her the deck.

"These are you're cards. Some of the cards may be different, but I promise you; it's your deck."

Caroline took the cards from Tany and closed her eyes while clutching her cards in her hands.

Tany sat down on the floor and watched her curiously.

Caroline opened her eyes and shook her head.

"You're right, this is my deck. I can feel it. Well, here goes."

Caroline laid a couple cards out infront of her and looked at them. Her eyes filled with fear as she read them.

"Oh god.......This is really weird. One, trap card, Destiny Board, followed by the magic cards "I, N, A."

Tany looked at her curiously.

"What does that mean?"

Caroline picked another card and laid it down. The room filled with a bright light and the Magician of Faith appeared before them.

Tany scootched back, a bit daunted.

"But-but- I thought they were just.......cards."

Caroline didn't seem afraid in the least. She looked at Tany and smiled.

"There more than just cards, I'll explain later. Don't be scared though, okay?"

Tany swallowed hard and nodded her head.

"Whatever you say."

Caroline smiled and looked back at the Magician of Faith.

"Can you help us out?"

The Magician of Faith waved her wand and closed her eyes.

"The answer to which you seek lays deep in the realm of Shadows. I see no more"

The Magician of Faith than disappeared.

Tany looked at Caroline with bewilderment.

"Did she mean the Shadow Realm?"

Caroline nodded her head.

"I'm pretty sure that's where she meant."

Tany let out a long groan.

"Oh great. Not that place again"

Caroline shrugged her shoulders.

"The Shadow Realm isn't that bad. I was there a few times during duels. Just yesterday I was dueling my algebra teacher there. The jackass pissed me off, so I left him there, along with the nerd who was cheering for him instead of me!"

Tany made a strange face at Caroline. She remembered Caroline was into the duel monsters scene before she met Marik, but she didn't know that Caroline had been to the Shadow Realm prior to Malik accidently sending her there two years prior

"How do we get to the Shadow Realm?"

Caroline grinned as she reshuffled her cards.

"It's easy. See this magic card? It's called "The Dark Door." Once it's played, it creates a door to the Shadow Realm for the duration of the duel . All you need to do is step through."

Tany made a face at Caroline.

"Are you saying we have to duel? Cause I'm not into duel monsters. Sure Ryou and Bakura are, but I never paid attention."

Caroline nodded her head.

"Yes, it's duel time. Better start shuffling. I'll guide you through it.

Tany shuffled the cards and sighed.

"Crash course, no fair."

Caroline chuckled as she drew her cards.

"So who are we looking for again?"

Tany drew her cards and looked up at Caroline.

"Bakura, Malik and Yami."

Caroline nodded her head as she lo oked over her cards.

"What do they look like? Are they hot?"

Tany nodded her head.

"They look just like these guys, except, well, tougher."

Caroline glanced at Marik, Ryou and Yugi and wagged her eye brows.

"Ooh, baby! I'll have no trouble spotting them out than! There's not many hotties in the Shadow Realm."

Tany looked her cards over and chuckled.

"Where on earth did you learn all this stuff about duel monsters?"

Caroline picked a card and laid it down infront of her.

"I'll lay this face down in defense position; I learned to play duel monsters when I was 12. My cousin was in all the big tournaments, and taught me about shadow magic."

Tany laid down a card face down and nodded.

"Were you ever in any tournaments?"

Caroline shook her head.

"Hell no. I joined a group called "The Dark Designators" We just dueled amongst each other. My deck isn't that strong....." Caroline paused as she looked at the card she had just drew. "Oh my gosh........maybe I'll take that last statement back. None of these cards look like the ones I was using yesterday. Wow. I sacrifice my face down card and call my Summoned Skull to the field. Holy shit, I don't remember having a card this strong! Oh hell, I'm attacking whatever monster your hiding!"

Tany grinned as Caroline made her move.

"HA! Man Eater Bug! Bye bye Summoned Skull!"

Caroline let out a pissed off growl.

"You suck" she said with a little laugh. Tany laid another card down and grinned.

"Maybe I paid more attention than I realized."

Caroline laid down two cards and summoned a Hysteric Fairy.

"So how old an I anyway?"

Tany laid a card face down and laughed.

"You're ten years older than you think you are."

Caroline made a sour face as she laid a card face down.

"I'm OLD! That's horrible! Say good bye to your Man Eater bug and some life points. You didn't switch it to defense position"

Tany made a face and summoned a Vorse Raider to the field.

Their duel went on for quite some time before Caroline finally drew "The Dark Door" card.

Once she'd activated it, a door appeared infront of them.

"Well, I guess it's go time." Caroline nodded.

Tany crawled up by Ryou and kissed his forehead before she had to go.

"Take care Ryou, I don't know if I can do this, but I'll try my best."

Caroline reached over and ran her fingers down his arm.

"We have to do this. I can't let a guy this hot die!"

Tany grinned as she gave Ryou one last look.

"Well, let's do it."

Caroline and Tany walked through the door slowly, and found themselves surrounded by a purple mist.

"So this is the Shadow Realm" Tany stated as she looked around her new surroundings.

Caroline nodded her head.

"It's the Shadow Realm alright. The Magician of Faith said our answer is deep with the realm of shadows, so I'm going to assume we have a long ride ahead of us. I've never ventured very far here, but I've heard that once you've survived your worst nightmares, you've made it through.

Just remember now, everything that happens here is just in our minds. None of it's real if you don't let it be."

Tany took a deep breath and nodded her head.

The two girls took their first steps through the Shadow Realm in separate directions, oblivious to the horrors that awaited them.