Yugi was picking at the food on his plate as he looked at his two friends who were still in the finals, Duke and Joey. Finally after what seemed like forever Kaiba finally called everything to a start.

"The duelist numbers are as is; One: me, two: Joey Wheeler, three: Yugi Mutou, four: Mokuba Kaiba, five: Duke Devlin, six: Marie, seven: Marik Ishtar, and eight: Serena Kanzaki."

The huge selector rose from the ground and Serena raised an eyebrow. Obviously this type of technology was new to her.

Slowly one ball fell out followed by the next one in a separate hole. "Duelist number two: Joey Wheeler verses duelist number five: Duke Devlin."

Duke and Joey shot a look at each other. "Only one way this is going to end buddy."

"Yeah, it's payback time. I'm gonna put you in dat dog suit dis time."

"You wish!" Duke snapped back at him. Varie jumped up in her excitement as she looked around. A large hat had been pulled on her head and her tail stuffed inside her pant's leg. She gave a new meaning to hyper but it hadn't helped that she had found the kitchen on the blimp and had been amazed by a new edible substance called 'sugar' along with a strange brown liquid known to contain 'caffeine'.

She continued to bounce until Yugi jumped on her to try to hold her down. It didn't work all that well considering Varie was almost as tall as Joey was. She had always been quite a contrast to Serena who barely passed Yugi in height. However much Varie went through she still dealt with things with the innocence of a child.

Yugi looked up to see the downcast look across the arena. The hood shielded her face but he could still see the glimmer of small tears in the mismatched eyes. She didn't want to be here. She hated this place. She wanted to be home.

"Serena?" Yugi questioned the older woman as he found himself standing in front of her. Her face turned to the hard stone that Yugi was so used to. He had seen the same expression on Kaiba's face many times. He knew Yami was sensing the inner turmoil within her.

"Leave me alone Yugi. Nothing's wrong."

"Nobody would believe that!"

"Varie would."

"This isn't like you!" The princess turned away from him suddenly and started to walk.

"You can't hide it," Varie said stiffly.

Serena ignored them as she felt the hard, reassuring pressure of her sword pressed to her outer thigh. Her life was full of dark secrets, that's they way it would always be. She would never love again, she had decided that years ago but Serena was finding it harder each day now. She needed to get out of there.

"Dis is yer last chance Dukey-boy."

"Yeah right Wheeler! Let's duel!"

The two once opponents and now opponents again stood their ground against each other. The stakes were furthering in the finals but whoever won would be fine by Yugi and the rest of them.

"I'll go first, Yaranzo in attack mode."

"Axe raider and one card face down."

Serena threw her cloak into her room and then went to the large exercise room She didn't care that Varie was following her. She grabbed the hilt of her sword, bringing the blade up to her face. The most recent nicks had not been worked out of it. The Fanelian insignia showed red and gold above the hilt in unmatched beauty in the former Queen's eyes.

Serena took a deep breath as she held it into position and then stepped forward while bringing it into a guard position. The steps became delicate as she whispered her count. "One, two, three, four..."

"Why do you always have to do this," a familiar voice asked Serena as she let a playful smile grace her lips.

"Varie. It helps me focus."

The cat girl looked up from her place on the floor. "Wouldn't it help if you were fighting some one?"

Serena rested her hand on her hip while clenching her sword. "It would Varie but I don't see that I have got a choice."

Varie looked up disappointed at the expression on Serena's face. "Does it really matter?"

"You know it does Varie," Serena's glare was turned on her as she stood there. Serena shut her eyes and could remember every scar she had received. Going into her forms was not going to keep her trim. Her eye and shoulder had been healed but she had not wanted to say goodbye to her scars. They had reminded her of the sacrifices she had made towards the war effort.

Serena's nimble fingers undid the braid and knotted it a bit in the back of her head. She brought her sword up and stepped back into a guard position with her eyes closed. She felt no one intruding through her heightened senses as she swung into an attack.

"I may be able to help you," a voice said from behind her. "We Egyptians are quite well trained in the art of combat.

Serena opened her eyes to see a man who looked like and older Yugi standing there. He had a strange style of blade in his hands.

"I don't think you can unless you can use that."

"Uh, yes," he looked at the woman who swung her blade around into attack position again.

"Very well," Serena waited until he made the first move. His moves were clumsy and predictable. Serena sidestepped and blocked. The blades intersected with a clash as she charged forward. He stumbled back in attempt to get a better defensive position but he was already locked into a position, which limited his movements. A string of hair fell loose as he swiped and several soft brown pieces fell to the ground. Serena didn't care, as he was forced back against the wall in a viscous onslaught from the woman. Yami swallowed hard at the force in which he was battered aside. She was stronger than her size let on and she manipulated her weapon with the grace of a master samurai.

"What are you?" Yami whispered breathlessly.

"I've been trained my entire life as a warrior." The hilt clinked against the sheath as Serena slid the sword into place. "A samurai's life is meant to protect others. I will not fail again."

Varie was curled up in the corner asleep. Yami supposed her sugar high had finally worn off. Yami noticed his hand was shaking as he reached out to touch Serena's scarred face. They were prominent, clashing over her cheekbone in one thin line after another. The deep scars shone against her pale skin in an intensity that Yami had never seen before.

"I know they're ugly, but that isn't new. Everything about me belongs to a demon." Serena turned away beginning to walk. She was a hideous demon who deserved to be slaughtered. That was what Draconians had always been. The scars only enhanced her appearance as a cursed Draconian.

"Varie told me about your wings. I'd like to see them. I think they'd be beautiful and so are your scars. They're who you are." The queen snorted at this. She didn't believe him. The people never thought so. She could see by the way he moved that he was attracted to her but she wasn't interested. Serena Diana Kanzaki de Fanel could have her pick of all the men and she knew it.

"I'm not interested," she finally said as she got up, walking away with Varie following at her heel.