(A/N) Once again, thanks to out faithful reviewers, Fish And Chips and Ping Pong1. Glad you're enjoying the story.

Past the Point of No Return

Chapter 4: Beginnings

The sky was just beginning to lighten when Serenity crept into the Mutou living room. Malik was still sleeping on the couch. The previous night had been very hectic. Yami had been hysterical when he discovered that he'd been tricked. They'd only managed to calm him down enough for Yugi to take over. Grandpa Mutou had offered to put Ishizu, Odeon, and Jamil up in their small guest bedroom, but it had taken a good deal of persuasion to convince the three to get some rest. It was obvious that they were tired but none of them wanted to leave Malik's side.

Once they had been talked into getting some sleep and had gone upstairs with Mr. Mutou, the gang had decided that they would still have their sleepover as they had originally planned on doing. Ishizu, Mai, Tea, and Serenity had all slept in the guest bedroom. Odeon and Jamil had joined Yugi and the other boys in his room.

Serenity had woken up at around 5:30 and she couldn't get back to sleep. So she'd decided to come down and check on Malik. And it was starting to look like it was a good thing she did.

Malik had kicked his blanket off sometime during the night and he was shivering with cold. But when Serenity bent over him to check his temperature she was shocked.

"You're burning up!" Serenity whispered.

Quickly she got to her feet and walked back out into the hallway. There was a small bathroom just across the hall. When she walked in she grabbed a wash cloth from above the sink. Then she turned on the cold water and soaked the cloth in it. Then she wrung the cloth out and took it back to the living room. But when she stepped through the door she stopped dead in her tracks.

Malik was thrashing wildly about in his sleep. He was mumbling incoherently but Serenity caught a few words, like "fire" and "demon".

Serenity rushed to his side and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. When this failed to calm him, she pressed the cold wash cloth to his forehead. Once he felt the cooling pressure on his face, Malik took a shuddering breath and lay still. His face and chest were all wet with sweat from his struggle. Serenity picked up the blanket he'd kicked away and tucked it back over him.

"Wow," she whispered. "Even in his dreams he's still fighting."

Serenity sat down on the edge of the couch. She used the cloth to wipe the sweat from Malik's face and then put it back on his forehead. Slowly the exhaustion left his face and he was resting peacefully. He still looked feverish, but the shaking had stopped.

As she gazed down upon his face she thought about all that he'd been through. During the Battle City Tournament, Ishizu had told them his story. His mother had died when he was born and he'd been forced into a role that he did not want. He'd had sacred writings of some sort carved into his back against his will when he was only twelve. And now, some other power was after those writings. Somehow, Serenity couldn't help but pity him. Even after all the terrible things he'd done. He'd taken over her brother's mind, and even tried to kill him more than once. But now she could see that it wasn't all his fault.

The more she thought, the more she came to think that maybe Malik hadn't been so wrong in kicking off his blanket. It was so hot in this room!

Finally Serenity decided to take off her long-sleeved pajama top. She was wearing a thin, white cami underneath it and she felt so much better once it was off.

Serenity sat by Malik's side for awhile longer. When he shifted in his sleep and his blanket slid down a ways, Serenity noticed for the first time how very muscular he was. He also wasn't half bad to look at.

Serenity blushed at that thought. Here the poor boy was, sick and in pain, and all she could think about was eye candy.

"Stupid hormones," she complained to herself. Being fifteen was frustrating.

The sun was just peeking through the blinds of the window as Serenity bent over Malik once more to remove the wash cloth from his face. But just as her hand touched his face he started to mumble again. Suddenly one of his hands shot up and grabbed her wrist and his eyes snapped open. Serenity yanked her head back just in time to keep the two of them from smacking heads as Malik shot into a sitting position. He blinked several times and looked around the room.

"Where am I?" he asked fearfully.

"You're in Domino City. This is Yugi's house." Serenity answered.

"Domino? How did I get here?" Malik asked, gazing up at Serenity and trying to place her face.

"Ishizu, Odeon, and Jamil brought you here. You were attacked by a girl named Raksha. Do you remember?"

Malik nodded his head slowly as the memories came flooding back.

"Is Odeon all right?"

"Yes, everyone's fine. But you were injured pretty badly. Yami saved your life."

"Wait a minute!" Malik said, finally recognizing Serenity. "You're Joey Wheeler's sister! Serenity!"

"That's right. But you should lie back down. You've been very sick the past few days."

A pained look crossed Malik's face as he complied with Serenity's orders. He was still remembering what Raksha had said about the Millennium Rod.

"Tell me, Serenity. Raksha said something about the Millennium Rod being stolen. Do you know if it's true?"

Serenity nodded her head sadly.

"Yes. I'm afraid it's true."

Malik shut his eyes tightly against the sunlight that was coming into the room. He was starting to feel dizzy. He slowly reached up his hand to massage his temples.

"Are you all right?" Serenity asked as she sat down beside him again.

"I'm feeling a little…dizzy. The light's too bright." he answered, sounding feverish again.

"Oh. I can close the blinds a little more if you want." Serenity said, leaning over him on the couch to reach the blinds.

As she reached for the blinds, Malik began to notice something he hadn't when he'd first seen her at Battle City. Serenity was a very beautiful girl. But when she'd finally managed to shut the blinds she leaned a bit too far and fell on top of him. Malik blushed. He could feel her chest against his through the thin material of her cami.

Serenity immediately pulled herself up and turned her head away from Malik. Neither of them saw that the other was blushing deeply.

"Sorry." Serenity squeaked.

"It's all right." Malik said as his face cooled down.

As the sun rose the two talked. Malik asked Serenity for more news about what had happened and she was only too happy to oblige. Once Malik had the record straight, they just talked about casual things. Like how things had been in the year since Battle City. In no more than an hour or so, the two were already becoming good friends. But the awkwardness still remained. At about 9:00ish, Malik started to shift and squirm uncomfortably.

"What's wrong, Malik?" Serenity asked from her place beside him on the couch.

"I'm not sure. It feels like there's something digging into my back. Like a zipper or something." he answered as he started to sit up and find out what it was.

"No, don't get up. Let me handle it." Serenity ordered as she knelt over him again.

Malik felt himself blushing again as Serenity slid her hand behind his back, searching for the offending zipper. Her hand roamed about for a bit but she had no luck. So she placed her other hand on his bare shoulder to get better leverage. As she continued to search her leg slid up a bit from the floor in order to keep her from losing her balance. Malik tensed up when he felt her leg against his through the blanket. As her face was right next to his, leaning on his bare shoulder just out of sight, he was very surprised that she didn't feel his blush. But the truth was that Serenity was too worried about the bright blush spreading over her own face to notice that Malik was also blushing. Malik could feel the warmth of her soft skin against his back as she continued to search. Serenity could hardly breathe, thinking about how close the two of them were.

"Got it," she breathed victoriously as her hand finally made contact with the zipper. She was just about to shift the pillow for him when she heard a voice coming from behind her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Serenity slowly shifted the pillow so that the zipper of the case was no longer digging into Malik's back. Then she quickly sat up and turned around. She knew that voice.

Serenity lifted her head and saw her brother standing in the doorway. Duke was standing next to him. Both of them looked absolutely livid.

"Um…nothing." Serenity answered quietly. Though this was the truth, she knew that the situation didn't look good.

"Keep your hands off of her, you jerk!" Duke said as Joey marched into the living room and pulled Serenity up off of the couch.

"Wait, I can explain." Malik said as he tried to rise. But he stood up too fast and dizziness attacked him. He instantly collapsed back on the couch with a small moan.

"Malik!" Serenity cried out worriedly as Joey dragged her away.

"Don't bother! There's nothing to explain." Joey said angrily.

"I'm sorry, Malik." Serenity called out to him as Joey pulled her out of the room. Duke stayed behind and glared at Malik while Joey pulled Serenity down the hall and then turned to face her.

"You wanna tell me what you were doing lyin' on top of that creep?"

"He's not a creep!" Serenity insisted. "And I wasn't lying on top of him. I was just trying to rearrange some pillows for him."

"He could have gotten up and done it himself."

"But he's sick. You saw what happened when he tried to get up."

"I don't want you anywhere near that mind-controlling freak! Do you hear me, Serenity!?"

"He is not a freak, Joey! Malik's a wonderful person. What he did in the past wasn't his fault! If you'd give him a chance you'd see that."

"Maybe, but he's still a guy, and you're still an impressionably young girl! I don't wanna catch you speaking to him ever again!"

"You have no right to tell me whom I can and can't see, Joey. You're not my father!"

At these words, a strange look passed over Joey's face.

"I know I'm not. And if you really knew our father, then you'd be even happier that I'm not him. But you're not ready for this kind of thing. You're too young!"

"I can handle myself. I'm fifteen!"

"Serenity, please, listen to me. I don't trust Malik and I know that he'll hurt you. I can't let you see him."

"What are you talking about!? We're just friends! I can't believe you're being so immature about this!"

With that, Serenity stormed away from Joey. Normally she wasn't one to get upset over something like this, but Joey's treatment of her, in three simple words, pissed her off. When was he going to see that she wasn't a child anymore?

XxX

Later that afternoon, the house was relatively quiet if not a bit tense. Everyone else in the house had heard Joey and Duke's version of events in the living room and Tristan, Tea, and Mai were all under the impression that Malik had tried to feel Serenity up. Ryou couldn't talk about him without referring to him as 'that scoundrel'. Jamil and Odeon insisted that the whole thing was Serenity's fault and this got the other six completely pissed off. Grandpa Mutou preferred not to take sides either way. The only ones who were even willing to listen to Serenity and Malik's side of the story were Yugi and Ishizu. Yami was less inclined to trust Malik, but Yugi managed to convince him that the whole business was just an accident.

Together, Yugi and Ishizu managed to bring the argument to heel and nothing more was said.

Once everyone had gone home, Yugi decided to go into the living room and give Malik the news. What Joey and Duke were actually doing when they'd come into the living room was to see if Malik was awake and to tell him that he, Jamil, and Odeon had all received invitations to join the Dragon Country Tournament. The fact that this Alexandra Nephthys knew that the Ishtars were staying at Yugi's house left no doubt in anyone's mind that the attack and the tournament were somehow connected.

Once Malik had heard about the invitation the two boys just sat in silence for a long while. Both were thinking about the upcoming tournament. And Malik's thoughts were occasionally drifting back to…Serenity.

Yugi was just looking up to ask Malik about his duel with Raksha when he saw a strange vortex appear in the air just beside the couch.

"Malik!" Yugi shouted a warning.

Malik looked up at Yugi, and then turned to follow his gaze. He jumped in surprise when he saw the swirling vortex.

As the two boys watched, a human figure slowly emerged from the portal. Then the vortex vanished as if it had never been and Shadi stood before them.

"Shadi?" Malik whispered, clearly startled.

"A disturbance in the mystic alignment has called me here." he said serenely.

"Yugi, what was all that noise?" Grandpa asked as he entered the living room with Odeon, Ishizu, and Jamil right behind him. All three of them stopped short when they saw Shadi standing there.

"I expected you to show up sooner, Shadi." Ishizu chided. "The rod was stolen nearly a week ago, after all."

"Well forgive me if I've kept you waiting, Ishizu. But I had to secure this," said Shadi as he reached into his robe and withdrew a small, aquamarine stone that hung from a thin, gold chain.

"So," Ishizu breathed. "You've had the other half all along. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was best that the two should remain separate. But now the time has come for them to be joined once again." he answered.

"What's going on here?" Yugi asked.

"The replica Millennium Rod wasn't the only thing taken from the museum that day. The thief also took another artifact. The Mage's Stone."

"What's the Mage's Stone?" Malik asked his sister.

"A very powerful talisman. It once belonged to a priest of the Pharaoh. His name was Mahado. He was the original bearer of the Millennium Ring."

Ishizu stopped her narration for only a moment at the look that passed over Yugi's face. He and Yami were all too familiar with the evil of the Millennium Ring.

"Mahado was himself, a Mage. A sorcerer and magician of the highest order. Only he used his powers for good, and to serve the Pharaoh. When an evil thief came to challenge the Pharaoh, he fought in his place. The thief killed him and took the Millennium Ring. You know this thief as Bakura, the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring. But when Mahado was killed, all of his possessions went to his apprentice. A girl by the name of Mana. This included the Mage's Stone. Mahado had always told Mana that if anything were to happen to him that she was to destroy the stone. And Mana tried to follow his wishes but she wasn't powerful enough to destroy the stone with her own magic. And the stone itself was too powerful to be destroyed with any physical weapon. Mana only managed to break the stone in two. One half went to the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb. It was said that Mana kept the other half. And even with the power of the Millennium Necklace I couldn't discover what became of it after her death. I didn't know of its location until now. Apparently Shadi's had it all these years." Ishizu finished, turning to Shadi again.

"That is correct, Ishizu. And you will need it if you are to recover the Millennium Rod and defeat this new foe."

"But how can half of an old stone help?" Jamil asked.

"When the two halves are joined together their true power will be realized once again. With the help of the stone you can destroy the evil once and for all."

"The evil?" Yugi asked.

"I know not who it is that has stolen the rod or the other half of the stone. But you should also know that if the wrong person seizes control of both halves of the stone, then the world will be in grave danger. Ishizu."

Ishizu stepped forward.

"Shadi."

"Can I trust you to guard this stone until you find the one destined to bear it?"

"Yes," Ishizu answered as she received the half stone from Shadi. "But how am I to know who its bearer is?"

"You will know when the time comes."

As Shadi said this words, he vanished into thin air.

Yugi sighed in exasperation.

"Why does he always do that?"

"First there were the god cards…and now this gem. What could we possibly be up against this time?" Odeon wondered out loud.

"I'm not sure, Odeon. But I know one thing for certain," Ishizu said, turning her eyes on Yugi.

"The pharaoh will be called upon to save the world again before this is over."

XxX

Ryou stood at the railing of the ship, Dragon Rider. Whoever this Alexandra was, she sure had a thing for dragons.

It was night and according to the schedule they would reach the island of Khemet the next morning.

/It's so strange./

Bakura!? Is that you?!

/Yes. What? Do you have a problem with my speaking to you?/ the spirit of the ring asked him.

Well…no. But you never speak to me. Not since I left home anyway. You just take over completely uninvited.

/Ask you if I can take over your body!? That's rich. As if you'd let me if I did ask you. Besides, I just might need your cooperation this time around./

Why's that?

/That's none of your affair./

What you use my body for is my affair.

/Never mind. You'll know soon enough./

But…Bakura, what's strange?

/This island we are traveling to. It's called Khemet, you say?/

Yes.

/Well, the country you know as Egypt, it's original name was Khemet. The country of my birth./

Hmm, that is rather odd.

With that Bakura was silent. Ryou puzzled over his sudden change in tactics, but he eventually decided that maybe Bakura had turned over a new leaf.

"Humph. Yeah right." he said to himself as he gazed out over the darkened ocean. The last few days had been interesting, to say the least.

It had been a rush to get ready to leave for Dragon Country. So many things had to be taken care of before their departure. And when they all met up at the airport it had been even more interesting. They'd met up with other duelists from Battle City who were also joining this tournament. Like Mako Tsunami and Espa Roba. And, unfortunately, Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood. There were also plenty of duelists that they had yet to meet. But that wasn't the only notable thing about those couple of hours at the airport. The gang had done a lot of debating on how to get Duke, Tristan, Tea, Ishizu, and Serenity to Dragon Country without plane tickets. But they finally settled on a plan.

When they arrived at the airport, Duke claimed that he was a friend of Alexandra Nephthys and that he was her personal guest, along with a few of his 'friends'. The suits that were guarding the check-in station asked for the names of the five and contacted Alexandra right then and there. Naturally, they hadn't been expecting their names to be given directly to Alexandra, so they were worried they wouldn't be able to pass through. But for some reason, the guards told them that they were expected. This in turn, made Yami suspicious, but they were all allowed to pass through to the flight anyway. And this was only the second most surprising thing that happened at the airport.

All twelve of them were shocked to see Seto and Mokuba Kaiba there. They had all expected Kaiba to fly his private jet to the island or something. But the brothers joined them on the flight out.

The flight to New Guinea was fairly uneventful. Except at one point when Mako threw a fit over the anchovies in the salads they were served.

The transfer to the ship also went smoothly. Which was a rare adjective in Ryou's life.

Suddenly, Ryou's sight was taken away by a pair of hands clamping down over his eyes.

"Guess who!" A female voice whispered excitedly in his ear.

Well, so much for smooth.

"Um…Tea?" he guessed nervously.

"No." the voice answered playfully.

"Serenity?"

"Ryou Bakura, I'm hurt! Don't you recognize me?"

Getting impatient, Ryou reached up and removed the girl's hands from his eyes. Then he turned to face her.

For a moment he had no idea who she was. She was a few inches shorter than him and her skin was just as pale as his was. She wore a pair of jean shorts and a blue spaghetti strap top. Her lavender, shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a pony tail and when Ryou looked into her eyes he saw that they were the same round, chocolate brown as his own. The realization finally hit him when he saw the scar on her face. An old scar that ran from just below her right eye to just above her jaw, cutting her pale cheek in two. He would never forget that scar…couldn't forget that scar.

"Don't you know your own sister?"

"AMANE!" Ryou cried out in joy as he swept his little sister up in his arms and spun her around.

"Where have you been, Ryou? I've missed you!" Amane shouted.

"I've been…around. But what about you? What are you doing here?" Ryou asked Amane.

"Same as you. I was invited to duel in this tournament." Amane answered. She spoke in the same silky British accent as Ryou.

"You duel?"

"Yes."

"My goodness, it has been a long time."

"And you…I heard you were a finalist in the Battle City Tournament."

"Oh," Ryou whispered. "Well…that was…"

Ryou trailed off and gazed down at the Millennium Ring. Amane followed his gaze and realized what he was talking about.

"Oh, it was him," she said quietly as she placed her hand on the ring. Then Ryou put his hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes.

"Are you all right?"

Amane nodded gently as Ryou pulled her into a tight hug. A small trickle of tears leaked from his eyes as he said his next words.

"I was so afraid that you'd died that last time. He beat you so badly and you wouldn't wake up. I was so afraid I'd killed you." he whispered brokenly.

"It wasn't your fault. But why did you leave me? Why did you leave us?" Amane asked as she snuggled deeper into her brother's embrace.

"Because I couldn't bear to see you hurt again. I had to get him away from you."

"But you shouldn't have run away!" Amane insisted as she pulled away from him. "I could have handled it."

"I was afraid," Ryou cried as he turned away from her. "I was so afraid!"

"Uh…Ryou? Are you ok?"

Ryou looked up. He saw Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Duke walking out onto the deck towards them. He quickly wiped the tears from his face and looked up to face his friends.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just happy."

Then he turned to Amane, took her hand and led her over to his group of friends.

"Guys, this is my little sister, Amane."

"You have a little sister, Ryou? Wow!" Tea said as she stepped forward to get a better look at Amane.

"Amane, this is Tea Gardner, Tristan Taylor, Duke Devlin, Joey Wheeler, and Yugi Mutou." Ryou gestured to each person as he spoke his or her name. But when he reached Yugi, Amane's mouth dropped wide open.

"Yugi Mutou? The Yugi Mutou!? Wow! Ryou, I didn't know you were friends with a celebrity."

Yugi blushed bright red at these words.

"Uh…thanks." he squeaked. He didn't really like all the attention.

"Come on, Amane. We'll introduce you to the rest of our friends!" Tea said enthusiastically, grabbing Amane's hand and leading her away from the others.

"Hey, slow down, Tea!" Ryou called to her, quickly following after the two girls.

The rest of the gang soon followed.

XxX

Kaiba stepped out of the shadows as the others moved away. He scowled at their retreating backs. They were all such dorks! And now another cheerleading girl had been added to their ranks. The world had become a darker place this night.

Kaiba sighed, somewhat happy that he was now the only one on deck. All of the other tournament hopefuls had gone to bed. He'd also sent Mokuba to bed awhile ago. It must have been at least 1:00 now.

Kaiba walked over to the railing and looked out at the dark waters. If nothing else, this tournament was a nuisance. It would end the way these things always did. Him and Yugi against one another. And this time he would be the victor.

"Excuse me, but aren't you Seto Kaiba?"

Kaiba turned to see where the voice had come from. His eyes picked out another figure hiding in the shadows. When the figure stepped into the light, he saw that it was a young woman. She looked to be about twenty, maybe, and she was about his height and build, except for a few (ahem) distinguishing features. Her face was very pale and she had whitish-blue hair that fell to just past her waist. But when he looked into her eyes, he felt something snap in his mind. Those haunting, ice-blue eyes were familiar somehow. A vision. Battle City. Ishizu. Blue Eyes White Dragon. Blue Eyes!

Kaiba shook his head in order to clear it. What was going on here?

"Yes, I am Seto Kaiba," he finally answered her question. "But who are you?"

"I'm Alex. Alex Long. This is my first tournament." she answered proudly.

"Yippee. Well forgive me for not leaping for joy." Kaiba said sarcastically as he turned to walk away.

"Hey! Don't go! I was wondering if you could do something for me."

"Like what!?" Kaiba huffed.

"Could I have your autograph?"

Kaiba stepped away from Alex in shock. His autograph? No one had ever asked him for his autograph.

"Please! You know, for good luck." she begged, holding up a card and a pen.

Kaiba stood there for a moment, still flustered. But he eventually took the card and pen from her.

"All right, fine! But don't think it means that I wish you luck. If I ever come up against you I'll take you down. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're a girl!" Kaiba said as he signed his name to the back of the card. When he turned it over to see what card it was he was in for another shock.

The Blue Eyes White Dragon stared back at him!

"How could you possibly have this card!?" Kaiba asked furiously.

"What card? It's just a Luster Dragon." Alex insisted.

Kaiba blinked a few times and saw that she was right. It was the Luster Dragon. Was he seeing things?

"It's the best card I have."

Kaiba continued to stare at the card for a few more minutes. What was this girl's game? But he suddenly regained his composure and threw the card back at Alex. She managed to catch it just in time to keep the breeze from sweeping it away.

"If that's your best card then you're out of luck," Kaiba said coldly as he walked away from her. But he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He couldn't move. He felt as if his whole body had turned to ice. He heard maniacal laughter in his head. He knew that laugh. It was Marik.

Kaiba started to hyperventilate. What was happening to him?

And then, just as suddenly as the fit had come upon him, it left. He spun back around and saw Alex staring worriedly at him.

"Are you ok? Do you need to see a doctor or something?"

Kaiba stared at Alex for a good five minutes in abject horror. Why was she so familiar? Who was she? What was wrong with him!?

"No. I'm fine. I need to go." he said breathlessly.

With that, he turned and stumbled towards the door that led back below decks. Once he was inside he slammed the door shut and leaned against it. Slowly he slid to the floor. He could hardly breath and he couldn't stop shaking.

Who was that girl?

XxX