"Ahh! The Pharaoh's Servant." Yami Sevanos looked over his shoulder, shadows now dissipated.

"I'm no one's servant." Scowled Raven, "It's time, Sevanos, to get Kaomi back!" he screamed. The shadows reformed. Raven's eyes radiated a bright glow as his hair seemed blown by an unfelt wind. An Eye of Anubis began to glow on his forehead, and wings of darkness shot from his back. His voice did not change, but found courage, determination, and strength like none Raven had ever felt. He was now a Yami as well.

"You're not as weak as I thought, Tiamat." Sevanos laughed manically.

"It's Raven now." Raven's stare was full of hate.

"Then let us go!" Sevanos launched his disk. "I place a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fight like a man." Raven demanded, "I play Soul Exchange, offering your monster to summon my Millennium Shield, a gift from the woman you heartlessly stole from me!"

"Cowering behind memories and big sheets of metal." Sevanos scoffed. "I pass my turn."

Raven carefully examined his hand. He found a sudden ease in forming stragities, and seeing combinations he had not before seen, "Graceful Charity!" He drew, not looking at the cards, hoping for a high-powered monster. No such luck. "Go."

"Defend." Sevanos smiled.

Raven drew again. Marie the Fallen One wasn't going to help him. "Summon my Dark Blade. Go."

"Go? Okay. I'll defend and set this face-down."

"Sacrifice Dark Blade and Millennium Shield for Seiyaryu! Now, Mystic Flame!"

"Reveal Negate Attack!" Sevanos drew, "It's been fun, old man." He rose the card he drew into the air, "Sacrifice Hysteric Fairy and Shining Angel to summon Guardian Angel Joan!"

"No!" Raven clenched his fist.

"Joan, attack!" Sevanos ordered. Raven's Life Points fell to 3700, as Sevanos' rose to 6500.

"I activate Polymerization, combining my Marie the Fallen One and Forgiving Maiden to from the Saint Joan!" Raven called, an angelic warrior, similar to the Guardian Angel, but in combat armor with a large sword, appeared before Raven. "And I play four cards face-down. Go."

"I will," Sevanos set three cards face-down, "Go, Raven."

"I have to thank you for these new packs, Sevanos, they are so useful. One more face-down card. Go, psychopath."

"I will. I set this card. Now, let us see who was better prepared. Guardian Angel Joan, attack!"

"Go, my Negate Attack!"

"Activate Trap Bind!" A beam of light trapped the Negate Attack card. "Now your Negate Attack is bound until my trap is destroyed!"

"Then let's destroy it. Dust Tornado!" Raven called, his dark wings stretching.

"Not bad, old man, but here goes Haste! Hast allows me to attack regardless of other circumstances. And my last Trap, the Reinforcements, raises my attack by five hundred." The Angel struck down the Saint." Sevanos' Life Points soared to 9300.

"I still have three face-down cards, Sevanos." Scowled Raven, as his life points fell to 3200.

"I have a lead of over six thousand points on you, old man. It's over."

No, Sevanos. Raven smiled, thinking to himself, My Self-Destruct Switch will lower us both to zero as long as I increase your lead by at least another thousand, and that lovely Heart Reborn card will raise my Life Points to 2000, meaning I'll win. "Activate!"

"WAIT!" Kaomi screamed in his head. "Don't lower yourself to his level!"

"It's fate."

"So what?"

"Activate my spell card Autonomous Action Unit, reviving the Hysteric Fairy in defense mode."

"Pathetic." Sevanos scoffed.

"Don't do it, Raven. I don't want to see this man corrupt you."

"And activate!"

"Please, Raven. I love you!"

"Activate?" Sevanos cocked his head, his harmonic voice sounding a bit startled. "This is it, old man, the end of this duel. So activate your switch and your face-down card to defeat me." He laughed manically, "It is fate. Dare not stray from it. You must follow through. Defeat me."

"Why?"

"It is fate."

"Activate Self-Destruct Switch, and use my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Heart Reborn trap card. Now, for the destruction."

"But! You can't! It'll be a draw! You can't draw in this game!"

"A great person, one five thousand times better than you'll ever be, gave me the most sound advice I've received to date. Screw fate." A red button materialized on Raven's Duel Disk, "Good-bye, Sevanos." He winced as he slammed his hand down on the red trigger. From Raven's disk a massive explosion consumed the field. Both Duelists were knocked down, and both their Yami forms wore off.

-O-

Raven did not wake within the hour. Nor did Sevanos. Neither woke until early the next morning. Raven slowly sat up in his bed in the room he had prepared in the Star Building. He saw Aura beside him. She shook her head. Without so much as a word, he bolted out of his room. It was time to speak to Sevanos.

-O-

Raven breezed past security straight into Sevanos' empty office. He approached Sevanos' desk to note a crack in the wall behind the painting behind Sevanos' desk. Raven approached it and slid it aside. There, Sevanos stood. Alone.

"Raven..." Sevanos looked at his hands, "All I've done was at his hand. I am sorry."

"Who?" Raven asked.

"Seros. My ancestor."

"I see."

"I meant you no harm. All souls my ancestor claimed must now be freed." Sevanos closed his eyes.

"What of them?"

"All will forget my atrocities, if that's what you wish, Lord Vaniver."

"Yes. This shall be none more than a tournament. "

"To fabricate a past is hard, Raven. We will both need to take care of it."

"Agreed. And what of Seros?"

"He left me. Reeling from your actions. He mentioned something about The Abyss."

"The what?"

"The Abyss. Illarya's organization."

"She's insane."

"Yes, she is."

"She must be stopped." Raven pointed out.

"Mr. Vaniver, are you purposing an alliance?" Sevanos smiled.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, Sevanos."

"Then may we be the best of friends, Mr. Vaniver."

-O-

Raven exited Sevanos' office to see Kaomi. Instantly, they embraced.

"You stood strong. You didn't cave to the pressure." Kaomi smiled.

"I didn't care who won. I wanted to save you. With no Sevanos, that'd been a bit harder. But what about Shuyin?"

"Aura says he's been back since Illarya went down." Kaomi smiled, "Raven, I..."

"Don't speak. This is our moment, Kaomi." Raven held her tightly, "I'll not loose you again."

"That's right." She replied, shedding tears of joy. She composed herself, "So, what next?"

"Everything. The entire world. Summer's a week off, and we got quite the mission over the summer."

"Tell me about it."

"Later. Now, we return to life as normal."

"One last thing, Raven..." Kaomi looked deeply into his eyes, "Why do I remember, Aura remembers, Illarya remembers, Shuyin remembers, but that's it?"

"Sevanos and I decided it was important to keep your memories in tact. Some others may be reinformed later, like Orlandu, but just you guys for now."

"I see."

"Kaomi. What I said before the Finals..."

"Don't speak. I know."

"I do. I care too much about you."

"And I, you."

"Let's go, Kaomi. Off into the sunset, or whatever we're supposed to do now..." Raven smiled as he and Kaomi walked off.

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