Very late the next morning, Yugi-tachi woke within a few minutes of each other. They sat for a long time, conserving energy and simply having nothing to say. Ryou had found a deck of playing cards in his bag, and he, Tristan, Joey and Duke sat on one side of the room playing poker, while Tea and Serenity watched, munching on the food that they had brought. Yugi sat by himself against the opposite wall, with Korimo's diary in his hand and his focus everywhere. He couldn't stop thinking about all sorts of things. All he could do was watch his friends having fun, and wonder whether they'd ever have the chance to again.

Around noon by Ryou's watch, Fukamito strolled by the barred door to their room as a leopard. The quiet, calm atmosphere instantly changed—the air was alert and silence was absolute. Yugi looked over at Duke, who seemed to be remembering the same thing he was.

: We need to get rid of that thing. Betcha Korimo won't be so cocky without her little pet. :

It was Fukamito who broke the silence. "So Lady Korimo was right. You've all lost." His muzzle twitched into a smirk. "Which means we have won, and you won't last the night. At least you'll get to die together."

"Says you!" Joey yelled. "You ain't won yet!"

"Oh? I thought being a prisoner would be a good clue that you were not in control.

"That may be, but where there's life, there's hope," Yugi said quietly.

"I've heard." Fukamito replied. "But where you are, there's not much." He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Tea called. Fukamito turned back to look at her, as did everyone else. "You can't just leave Serenity and me here." She turned around quickly and gave Serenity a small wink, then turned back.

"And why not?" he asked, a note of amusement in his deep voice.

"You can't guess?" Serenity asked boldly, catching onto Tea's plan. "We need to...er...freshen up."

"Too bad for you." Fukamito started to walk away again, but Tea stopped him.

"Please, your master would have to understand. It's a girl thing." Joey suddenly looked at his sister with a disgusted look on his face, having understood what they were getting at. "Just a few minutes," Tea added.

Fukamito's dark eyes settled on Tea's face. After a moment, he muttered, "Humans..." and stepped up to the door. Becoming a monkey, he raised his hands into several complicated gestures and the door opened.

"NOW!" Tea yelled, and Ryou ran forward with his backpack, diving on the monkey and managing to capture it. The door closed by itself, cutting off escape options by the gang, but also limiting Fukamito to the room.

Fukamito began to panic. He became a tiger again, ripping the bag to shreds. Serenity shrieked, but Fukamito didn't stay so large for very long. As a tiger, he was too big to go through the bars in the door. He turned into a bat to fly away, but Tea reached out quickly and pinned him to the wall. He struggled, changing rapidly from one animal to another, but Tea's grip held. Yugi stood up, surprised and a little frightened to see the look of hatred in Tea's eyes and the pain on Fukamito's face.

"Tea...Tea, stop. Tea, you're hurting him!"

Tea's eyes widened, and things stood still for a moment. Then slowly, she loosened her grip, but kept the demon captive against the wall.

"Tell me, Fukamito, are you always this stupid, or is it only when I'm watching?" They all turned around to see Korimo standing in front of the door, arms folded across her chest.

"Milady, help, they-"

"I know what they did, idiot. They tricked you into opening the door and captured you. Honestly, haven't I taught you anything?"

"But Milady...won't you help me?" He was a crow again, and his dark eyes were wide.

"Surely you know me better than that. Who knows what you might have told them? Why, they may already know my greatest weaknesses."

"Milady, of course not, I didn't tell them anything-"

"Stop your pathetic whining." Korimo paused, then chuckled. "I have no need of a servant who cannot keep my secrets. Prove that you do not fall into this category."

"Milady, I don't understand-"

"Tell them. I order you to tell them my weakness." Korimo smirked, and all attention was on Fukamito. Tea finally released him, and he flew quickly to Korimo's feet.

"Milady..."

"Tell them! Go on."

"I won't!" he cried. "Lady Korimo, I swore loyalty to you! I will not betray your secrets! We will be victorious!"

"I see," Korimo said. "Very good. I did not know you were so trustworthy, Fukamito. You must have become weak over the last two years." Fukamito looked up at his master with fear. "But it doesn't matter now. You've disobeyed me, Fukamito." She looked down at him coldly. "You disobeyed a direct order. I believe that counts as betrayal."

"No! Milady, I was only-"

"It doesn't matter, Fukamito. Goodbye." Korimo turned her head to look at her captives. "Stay back, if you don't want to get hurt."

Serenity began to step forward, but Joey held her back. "Joey, what's going on?"

"I dunno, sis."

Fukamito kept trying to appeal to Korimo, but she simply stepped back when he tried to move towards her. Before long, his entire frame glowed brightly, and he was lifted off the ground. A single feather plucked itself from his back, and it burst into flame. Yugi-tachi gasped as one as each feather followed suit.

Fukamito tried to hold it back, but before long the air was filled with his screams. Serenity turned away, burying her face in Joey's shirt. Tea watched transfixed, a look of appalled horror on her face. And quite suddenly, he wasn't there anymore. The air still rang with his cry, but he had vanished. There was a long pause, then Tea fell to her knees, beginning to cry.

"What did you do to him!?" She sobbed. "Why?"

"I thought you hated him, Tea," Korimo said calmly. "He was your captor while I was busy preparing this little treat for all your friends." She stopped to smirk in triumph. "I'd thought you'd enjoy seeing his death."

"No...no...but why?" Tea asked again.

Korimo shrugged. "It was out of my control. Fukamito knew what he was doing."

"You killed him for doing what you'd trained him to!" Yugi yelled from the ground where he was trying to comfort Tea.

"Fine, if all you're going to do is yell, there's no point in my staying. I'll see you all tonight." She grinned, and walked away.

--------

Korimo walked through the hallways only slightly disturbed by Fukamito's death.

"He was a decent servant, after all," she said to herself. "Quite useful, when it came down to it. Pity." She continued on to the room she'd set up as hers, to prepare for the night.

-----------

Hours later, when the sun was about to set, Yugi-tachi finally decided to discuss their situation.

"We don't have much of a chance," Duke said. "It's not like we can go anywhere."

"We can unlock the door and escape," said Yami, who had switched with Yugi in order to plan.

"But where would we go?" asked Tristan. "The whole place is hers, who knows what kinda wacky magic stuff we'd run into?"

"But remember her diary. If we can keep her from catching us by morning, we'll be safe. Or at least, safer," Yami reasoned.

"He did say we'd die together..." Tea said sadly.

"Knowing what we know of Korimo, I'd say she has something big planned for us. She won't go through with it without all of us there."

"So we should split up and hide?" Joey asked indignantly. "Joey Wheeler doesn't run from anyone!"

"But Joey, we'll fight her tomorrow night, when we have an advantage," Serenity reminded him.

"Right, Serenity." Yami smiled. "We'll catch her off-guard, but we have to make sure she doesn't catch us first."

"Alright, alright. But I'm-"

"You're not going anywhere with Serenity again, Joey," Tea interrupted. "Remember where that got you two last time?"

"I'll take care of Serenity," Duke volunteered, grabbing Serenity's hand. Tristan glared at him.

"Tristan, you and Joey should go together," Yami suggested. "You've always been good at watching out for each other."

Tristan and Joey agreed, though Tristan still wasn't too happy about Duke and Serenity. Before long, it was decided that Ryou would hide with Tea, and Yami would go off on his own.

"Okay everyone, just keep out of sight. We'll meet back here at sunrise, that'll be around seven tomorrow morning," Yami said.

"And be careful everyone," Ryou urged.

"We will, Bakura."

"Yeah, we'll all get outta this just fine!"

"Right. Then let's go."

Just as the sun slipped below the horizon, with the power of the Millennium Puzzle, the door was unlocked, and once again the friends went their separate ways.