Arkana smiled, "except for my sense of humor."

A silence crept over the room, not uncomfortable, but Arkana still felt awkward as he heard his own stupid joke ringing in his ears. Sighing some, he looked at his cards. He was surprised to see his hands had tightened around them.

"Arkana?" Tea questioned, tilting her head gently.

Blinking some, Arkana looked to her with a weak smile, mainly put on for her benefit.

Holding up her own deck, she smiled sweetly. Her blue eyes looked into his and for a brief second she forgot what she was about to say. Then her mind locked back into place again.

"Do you want to duel?"

Doubt clouded his mind. The painful memories of the duel with Yugi, being betrayed by Marik... but this wasn't her fault, she didn't do any of this.

Simply nodding his reply, he smiled once more. But this was not simply being nice; he really felt happy now.

"Aw damn..."

Arkana shook his head and smiled gently as he looked at the field. He had a Dark Magician on the field with another in the graveyard and his third one in his hand. Face down was his Shallow Grave, and a face up Coffin Seller active. He also had a Mysterious Puppeteer in attack Mode, and his life points were at a weak 500. Tea, however, had a Dark Magician Girl on the field, powered up by 300 for his Dark Magician in the graveyard, her life points at a high 3100. But Tea had just attacked with her Shinato, King of a Higher Plane, with 3300 attack points. She had just attacked with Shinato and destroyed his Dark Magician, powering up her Dark Magician Girl again to 2600, who she now used to attack his Mysterious Puppeteer.

"I want a rematch!" Arkana said with a laugh. Tea gawked at him and giggled.

"We've been dueling all night! I've won 28 times, you've won 27!"

"Yes! I want a rematch until I take the lead!" He chuckled, taking his hand and mixing it with the graveyard and the cards he had not yet drawn from his deck.

Tea giggled as she picked up her cards one by one, "Typical! Wait until you start winning, then you quit..." her mind thinking about Joey at that point, always wanting rematches with Kaiba no matter how many times he looses.

"That's the second time I've lost to the Dark Magician Girl..." Arkana said thoughtfully as he glances over at Yugi, thinking quietly to himself. "Miss Gardner, why..."

"Tea."

Arkana glanced to her, "Excuse me?"

She gave a polite smile, "Stop calling me Miss Gardner! It seems so... formal!" She was about to say 'We're friends after all' , but she stopped herself. She never ranted about friendship, she just... worried about those she loved... her smile didn't fade, though inside she felt a little upset.

Arkana just nodded, "Tea... why did Yugi save me?"

Tea rose to her feet; straightening her red skirt some before stepping over to the still sleeping Yugi. His spiky two toned hair now extremely messy even by his standards.

"That's Yugi... he's been hurt over and over, yet he still helps out those who need his help. He holds no grudges, doesn't want to see anybody hurt even if they deserve it. Though to be honest, I would have done the same thing."

Arkana paid more attention now, curious to hear her.

"My mom died 5 years ago... I lost her, and I knew she was never coming back. I dreamt she would, even drew stories about her coming into my room, waking me up from a bad nightmare... but I knew she was really gone..." Soft blue eyes filled with tears looked to him. "You lost someone, but there's still a chance she could come back; still that unanswered question of where are you, when will I see you, are you even still alive? If she had died, then maybe it would be better... You would have closure, instead you have... nothing."

As she wiped her tears away, she stepped up to Arkana, a sort of maternal instinct creeping over her as she suddenly pulled him towards her, resting the side of his head against her stomach as her soft arms encircled his neck, her own cheek resting on top of his red top hat which lay comfortably against her breasts.

Arkana simply let her hold him... Inside his mind all he saw was a tall, leering Marik stood with ripped pages of a book in his hands as Arkana himself tried desperately to put the pages back together of his fairy tale life... to find his happily ever after.