Author's Notes: Everything in Shadowed Light of My Heart comes to a conclusion in this epilogue.

Epilogue: The Hearts of Man

The sound of a doorbell shattered the silence that had crept in on the small Georgian town. Silence returned momentarily, and then the sound of grumbling and someone moving around came. There was a brief crash, and then finally the door was yanked open.

The man who opened the door would have been considered quite large, since he stood at about six feet and two inches, and was large around the middle. However, the man he saw standing in front of him made him look small by comparison. Standing roughly six and a half feet in height and made of solid muscle, he looked as if he could punch a hole in cement. "What you want?"

"Kyle Walker?" The southern man cringed at hearing his name come from the large man in front of him. Whenever somebody gave that simple questioned, he always wondered what they were after. Usually it was insurance, but in this case he sincerely doubted it.

"That's me. Now like I said, what you want?" The behemoth in front of him instantly grabbed his collar and bodily swung him out into the street. He then proceeded to toss something metal at Kyle.

Kyle snarled and caught the object without looking at it. The big man pointed a finger at him and glared down at him in a way that made Kyle shake with fear. "Kyle Walker, for your actions in the past I challenge you to a Darkness Game!"

Kyle stared around in shock as a dark fog rolled in around him, and suddenly he was surrounded by it. His body began to grow cold, and he felt intense fear roll through his body. "What...what is this?"

"This is your end. I trust you know how to play the game, because that's all that's needed." Kyle blinked, and then looked down at the object he was holding. To his surprise it was a Kaiba Corporation Duel Disk Model Two. Then his fear turned into a smirk as he slid the thing onto his arm and pressed the activation button. (KLP: 4000)

"I don't know what the hell this is about, or what a Darkness Game is...but nobody around these parts can beat me in a duel. So I hope you're ready to lose." He smirked and reached into his pocket, and then proceeded to pull out a dueling deck and slam it into his disk.

"I'll take first turn! And I'll start by summoning Super Vorse Raider(1900/1200) in attack mode!" A beastial warrior wielding a double-bladed sword shimmered into play, and instead of the simple armor that the normal Vorse Raider had, this one had silver futuristic armor.

Kyle sneered at his opponent, and then folded his hand of cards up, indicating that he was done. His opponent drew six cards off his deck, and then fanned them out. "Kyle Walker, for your actions in life I will punish you. Prepare to lose. You now face Dalin Imaki Sumatin, who will bring you to justice!" (DLP: 4000)

The souther man chuckled at his opponent's confidence, knowing exactly what his Super Vorse Raider could do. When the idiot attacked, he'd get a surprise. 'Get what's coming to you boy.'

Dalin selected one card from his hand, and then slammed it down onto his duel disk. A behemoth of a monster arose, with blue armor covering its bod, the shoulders spiked and a pair of wing-like armor pieces coming out of the back. "I discard one card from my hand in order to normal summon Soldier of Obelisk(2000/2000) in attack mode."

"Now from my hand I activate the magic card Amassed Army of God. For every card I discard from my hand I can special summon an additional duplicate of one monster in play. I discard one card to summon a second Soldier of Obelisk specially." Now a twin of the other monster appeared, both of them towering over Super Vorse Raider.

"Since I summoned Soldier of Obelisk I must discard one card from my hand, leaving me with only one card remaining. That however is all I need. Activate magic card, Monster Reborn!" The darkness around them quivered, and Kyle felt a chill run up his spine as a giant blue form began to rise up out of the ground. It continued to rise until it stood some hundred feet in height or more.

"This is the master of my present two monsters. Meet The Immense Divine Soldier...Obelisk the Tormentor(4000/4000)!" The mighty blue god roared at the much smaller monster that Kyle had, and the proud southerner quivered in terror. He did mental math and concluded that he'd still survive, albeit barely.

"Do you believe you can survive? That is impossible against the coming of justice. Obelisk, I offer up your two loyal soldiers to activate your special ability. SOUL MAX!" Obelisk reached down and took the two soldiers in his hands, and then crushed them, draining their energy into itself. Kyle watched in horror as Obelisk's stats changed, becoming infinite.

Kyle didn't so much cower as he did whimper. He couldn't even began to conceive a true thought in the face of this mighty beast. "Now Obelisk, deliver justice. GOD HAND CRUSHER!"

Seconds later the dome of the Darkness Game collapsed, revealing Dalin standing over Kyle, who was staring blankly ahead. Dalin brushed by the man, and walked right up to a red Thunderbird, in which sat a red haired woman. She looked up at him and frowned. "What did you do to him?"

"I gave him exactly what he deserved." Dalin opened the car door and got in. Rose blinked at him in a questioning manner, not quite understanding what he meant.

"What did he deserve?"

There was a slight pause as Dalin started up the car. Then at last he spoke. "Nothing."

In a vast space of endless white stood the middle aged Kyle Walker, who had once terrorized his only daughter and been a useless drain on society. Now he was trapped in this endless expanse of nothingness. "Hello...is anybody there?"

There was no answer, and there never would be. Justice had been served.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyoto. One of the largest cities in all of Japan, and the former capital of the nation. Within this city was an apartment rented out and payed for with money provided by Kaiba Corporation, if indirectly. The woman who resided in this apartment was a complete wreck, and had been since the untimely demise of her husband and the terrible event that had occurred to her daughter. She rarely saw her son, and it was he who payed for the apartment.

Tenjiku Ihachi, the woman who lived in the apartment, had been helpless to stop the downward spiral of her own life, and that of her son. She had watched helplessly as her son got involved with a gang, and she had no idea what he had done in the years before he was granted a job at Kaiba Corporation. She knew that it was because she was a wreck, and because the one person who had still supported him in life had passed into a state worse than death.

Although her son payed for the apartment, she had always felt that she had lost her son as well, because he was completely different from the child she had started to raise, and she had seen him only a handful of times in the past six years. He had shared an apartment in Domino City with her for a while, but he worked four or five jobs during those years, and so he was almost never home.

She frowned when she heard the sound of someone knocking at the door. That in itself was unusual, since she hardly ever had visitors. 'Is rent due already? Have I really lost track of time by that much?'

Tenjiku stood up, and then walked to the door. She undid the latch, and then pulled it open. What she saw made her stop dead, because it was completely impossible. "Hi mom."

Standing in front of her was none other than her oldest child, her daughter Hikari Ihachi who had been in a coma for several years. Standing directly behind her was her youngest child, her son Daisuke Ihachi. "My babies...my babies have come home."

Before she knew it she had swept them both up into a hug, and sobbed into Daisuke's shoulder. She felt their arms wrap around her, and she heard whispered words of reassurance that all was well, that they were back for good now. "My babies have come home to me."

She had never believed in miracles, but she held two of them in her arms right now. For the first time since her husband had passed away she was truly happy. Her children had returned home to her, and all was well. "Everything is going to be alright now mom. We're home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ryu Shigeru kicked his feet up and leaned back against the recliner. Sitting across from him were two girls, both of them teenagers and both younger than him. "I've made a lot of decisions in my life, most of them were stupid ones. I've been alone for a long time, so I want you to know that you two are the best part of my life, the only decision I've ever made that was worthwhile was when I decided to call you two family."

Autumn and Hinata shared a smile. Although they were rivals for this man's affections, they knew that in the end it was alright, because even if he chose in the end to not be with either of them they would still be family. Hinata smiled brightly, and plopped down onto the arm of the chair. "Family huh? I think I like the sound of that."

Autumn did the same, but sat on the other side. "I'm not sure how my parents will react to hearing that they've adopted a hooligan, but I'm sure they'll adjust."

Ryu raised an eyebrow at her, and she just giggled in response. "Hooligan huh? Well this hooligan knows the ultimate form of torture, so you two better watch it."

"No...you wouldn't!" The smirk that Ryu now wore was evident that he in fact would.

He grabbed each of them and threw them down, laughing as he attacked. "You've fallen into the deadliest trap of all! The Tickle of Demise!"

Yes. Family was good enough.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the far edge of Domino City a lone teenager with long black hair stood in a deserted area. Yet despite how deserted it seemed, he knew that he wasn't alone in this place. Spirits always lingered in a graveyard, and he knew that there were two in particular that were watching him.

Kai sighed and dropped into a crouch. He reached out and placed a bundle of flowers on top of the dual headstone that indicated the resting spot of the two most important people in his life. "Mom...dad...the people who did this have gotten what they deserved. So you can rest in peace now."

He clenched his fist in remembrance of when he had found out about their death. It had rocked him to the core. When he had gotten home he had discovered a note written by his parents, and with that note there were five cards. The four other Breakers, and the magic card that let him summon them.

"The words you gave me, even knowing that your deaths would come...I promise that I'll try to live by them. I'll try not to be the last candle to go out, I'll support others in this world. I know that I'll never be alone, because the whole world is with me, and you two will always be watching. I swear I won't disappoint you, I'll make you proud." He stood up and gazed up at the clouds overhead.

Slowly his frown changed into a smile, the most genuine smile that had touched his lips in quite some time. "I'll open up, and I'll be Kai Kaethen to his fullest. I'll become whoever I can be, and I'll be the best Kai Kaethen that I can manage. No matter what else happens in my life, I know I can always count on that. But I won't be Kai Kaethen alone...and that makes it better."

He slid his dueling deck out of his pocket, and then rifled through it until he found the card he wanted. He placed it down on top of their grave, and then he stood back up. "Soul Sorcerer...he's not my best monster, but in this situation I'll leave him as a reminder. Part of my soul is always with you, just as part of yours will always be with me. Goodbye, and thank you."

Finally he turned and began the long walk home. Despite the fact that he was alone, he didn't feel like it. Not anymore. "Never alone, not now and not ever. Now...I've got the whole world. I've got my whole life, and I've got friends."

Never alone, and that was what was important.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Taichi Nobuki swore violently and kicked a nearby can, sending it skittering along the road. "Damn them all! They won't get me back into a freaking padded room where the best food I can get is jell-O! I'm the freaking villain, they can't do that to me!"

He swore again and then kicked off of the ground, summoning up the powers of the wind to aid him. He soared into the air and then landed on a nearby roof top where he would be out of their view. "Is this how it'll be, on the run for the rest of my life? Damn them all...sooner or later I'll find a way to show them! Humanity will suffer and die at my hands!"

"Is that so? I guess you'll just have to get in line." Taichi whirled around, and was greeted with an unfamiliar face that looked to be just a few years older than him. Taichi frowned and slowly gathered a ball of solid air into his hand, ready to attack if needed.

"Who the hell are you?" The older boy smirked and raised one hand, his fingers poised to snap together. Taichi felt a sudden spike of energy that drowned out anything he could muster, like all life in the area was being drained away.

"I'm the one the devil fears." There was a sudden laughter, and then the building they were standing on exploded, raining fire and shrapnel down upon the city. Later it would be dubbed a terrorist action, and no culprit was ever found.

No one saw the teenager walking calmly out of the wreckage, a big self-satisfied smirk on his face. He was whistling a merry tune, and he began to sing. "I've got the whole world in my hands, I've got the whole wide world in my hands..."

He stopped and turned, looking back at the wreckage. "And I've got a strong grip."

His laughter rang through the din, and then he was gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the back of a pub in New York a teenager with blonde hair and a single eye sat reading a newspaper. He seemed oddly amused by the headline which read: "Mystery Thief Robs First National Bank. Money Returned The Morning After."

"They just don't get that it's the challenge that matters. The best part was doing it in broad daylight and not getting caught or even seen." Nikolas Selket smirked and leaned back against the back of the booth, twirling a set of shoe laces in his left hand.

He looked up from the paper when he heard a brief blurb from the nearby television, which was mentioning something about a tournament. "Hey barkeep, could you turn that up a bit?"

The elderly man nodded, and pumped the volume up so that Nikolas could hear what was being said. He leaned in to listen. "We're here today to cover the first day of Kaiba Corporation's second sponsored Duel Monsters tournament which is being called the KC Grand Prix, featuring many high rolling duelists. Winner of the tournament even gets the chance to hold a special duel with the reigning Duel King, Dalin Imaki Sumatin."

Nick frowned as the television displayed a picture of Dalin standing with his DD2 strapped to his arm and activated. "Dalin...just like you I'll find the truth. I can't say that my anger has faded, or that my hatred of you has dimmed. All I know is that I won't take any further action against you until I know more. But someday you and I will face each other on the field of battle again. Then we'll know the truth."

He would savor that moment. Even if he discovered that Dalin was not responsible for the murder of his parents and the loss of his eye, he would still want that rematch. It was a duel he would await anxiously. "My ultimate rival...the one man who I both hate and admire. Someday I'll defeat you."

Smiling with anticipation he flipped the newspaper back up and continued to read the article about his exploits. Until he got his duel, he would just have to satisfy himself with challenges such as that one. What else could a thief do?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Takuya Shinomori bowed his head, and felt a thrill as a hand was placed on the top of his head, and a quiet prayer was whispered. When the prayer ended he looked up into the face of his master, and was greeted with a cheerful smile. "Rise Takuya Shinomori. Rise and meet me as an equal for the first time."

He stood to his full height, and then the two exchanged a brief bow, both bowing an equal amount. "I've long awaited this moment, and it has been long in coming. There have been trials and tribulations all along the way, but I have risen to the challenge and become the strongest warrior I can be in mind, body, and spirit."

"Welcome to the ranks of the Masters. In just a few years time this dojo will be yours, and the students will answer to you. I know when that day comes that you will succeed me with honor, and you will pass on all that I have taught you. You are my best student, and I trust you completely." He placed a withered hand upon Takuya's shoulder, and the young man smiled slightly.

"Thank you for the praise. Although I've reached the rank of Master, in truth you will always be Master to me. I've grown up calling you Master, and I don't think I could call you anything else." The old man frowned and then reached out and flicked his pupil in the forehead.

"What about grandpa?" Takuya chuckled and reached out and flicked the old man in the forehead in return.

"Sure grandpa, I think that works too. So what do you say old man, still have enough strength in those old bones for a sparring match with your best pupil?" Both fighters grinned, and slid into identical stances.

"You may be a Master now, but I can still beat you any day of the week. Let's begin!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you were really in another dimension?"

"Yep. And I really did duel a genuine demon, as hard as that is to believe." Kirani laughed and put her hands behind her head, leaning back so that she was lying on the deck of the yacht, watching the sky just like Drake was.

"After all we've been through, I think I'd believe just about anything. But what I really can't figure out is where we go from here." The sound of the waves against the boat gave the situation a serene feeling, and both of them felt perfectly relaxed.

Drake watched a passing cloud that looked vaguely like Snoopy, and then turned his head to the side so that he could look directly at Kirani. "I don't know, I was thinking of a couple of things. Regular things, you know, like being a normal person for once."

"So what sort of things did you have in mind? I wouldn't mind just staying on this boat forever, but I guess that's an impossible dream. We do have to go back to shore to refuel after all." That brought a peal of laughter from both of them, but it quickly subsided as the waves relaxed them.

"I was thinking of taking the college entrance exams. I'll have to talk it over with Kaiba, but I think I can manage it. Can you imagine that? Me...a university student." Kirani pictured him sitting in a college classroom, and suddenly that image changed to him standing on one of the desks challenging the professor to a duel. She immediately burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Kirani wasn't able to answer immediately, since she had to catch her breath and stop laughing first. But once she did, she couldn't help but snicker as she said it.

"I had this weird thought of you dueling a professor. Can you imagine that? Dueling at a school! But anyways, you said there were a couple of things you wanted to do. What else?" There was a pause, and then suddenly her view of the clouds was shadowed as Drake leaned over her.

"Drake...what are" She was cut off as his lips pressed against hers. She shook off her surprise and leaned into the kiss, savoring it as their first.

Finally he pulled away, looking down at her with a grin on his face. "I was thinking about dating. I know of a nice Sushi bar in Tokyo, so what do you say? Me, you, the ocean, and lots of raw fish."

"You're an idiot, but I think I love you anyways." Drake moved away, and lay back down next to her, staring up at the clouds. Together on the ocean, free and at peace. Kirani smiled as Drake's hand rested on hers.

"I'm here by you, and I get to see you smile. That love that I feel for you, and you being with me...it makes me feel complete for the first time in my entire life. Do you know what my secret dream is?" Kirani shook her head, and waited for Drake to continue.

"My secret dream is to wake up and be able to see your smile, to know that you're still smiling, and to sleep well with that knowledge. Your smile is my dream, so every moment that you're happy I'm living that dream. I'm no longer chasing my dream...I've caught it."

We are most alive when we are chasing dreams. Yet at the same time the purest and most wonderful thing that one can experience in life is to reach that dream. That is true peace. "Thank you for being my dream Kirani."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: Peace has settled in, and everyone returns to their lives. Things are different, and not all for the better or for the worse. I want to thank each and every last person who has read my story, those who have reviewed and so on, including those who have inspired me in my writing to keep going, and gave me new ideas. I hope all of you thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I hope you're looking forward to the final part of the trilogy as much as I am. The ride's not over yet folks, I've got one last major installment to do before it ends.

Next Time: Dalin, Drake, and all the others have faced many challenges. The Dark Spirit, Ihami, and Eikyuu. After facing the power of the God of Order the gang gets some much needed rest, but peace cannot last forever. Lurking in the shadows is an ancient evil, and in order to stem the tide of darkness the group must come to terms with all of the secrets that have remained hidden for so long. And they will at last come to understand the nature and the power of the ultimate force of the universe. The Essences.

See it all, in The Last Rays of Twilight.

Review Response

G.O.T. Nick: Honestly, Dalin and the others understood that there was absolutely no way to beat Eikyuu, even if they won the duel they couldn't stop him. The only way to defeat Eikyuu was to negate his purpose, just like they did.

The White Mage: Hugs are always free at the end of a story, but I'll be the one needing the hug when I finish the third story since that will be the true end.

WolfGeneral: Thank you. I certainly hope you've enjoyed this story as much as my previous one.

VoidTemplar: You'll have to wait for the sequel a bit, since I'll finish Dimension Gate first.

Neo Arkadia: Thanks for the compliments. Actually, the sentence is supposed to read 'If enough people wished it to be so'. I caught that mistake after I posted. And this was what the epilogue brought up.

Time Mage: Wow...just...wow. I really can't respond with much else than that as this was the most complimentary review I have ever received, and it really made my day. So thanks Paul.

Story Stats

Characters: 1,520,060

Words: 357,618

Sentences: 22,539

Lines: 28,714

Paragraphs: 5,959

Pages: 631

Average Word Length: 5

Average Words per sentence: 15

Max words per sentence: 72