They had been running, and did not stop. Even though they knew it would change nothing nor make them feel any better, they ran to the point it was near impossible to breathe. They wanted to be as far from the death sites as possible. Running on the trail, the group had been ways away from the canyon and coliseum, trying to leave it behind them and look forward. Going further only seemed to hurt them more. Honda and Otogi could not be left behind. They could not abandon their friends like that.

The full moon had overcome the sun in the velvet sky. Their time of rest and sleep was now. Having run endlessly for some time, the group came across a large hut. They took a peek inside to see a small table filled with fruits and glasses of water on it, along with small beds for the remaining five of them. Bakura, who was not sympathetic or upset of the events of the day, jumped right into eating while most of the others were more hesitant and depressed.

"I don't understand," Jounouchi began practically their only conversation of the night. "Why is he doing this to us?"

"Bonkotsu," Kaiba sighed, "we've already established this question, and we are yet to find the answer to it."

"Well I'm sick of waiting for it. I want explanations now!" he shouted, spitting out the food in his mouth.

"It's his hate against people," Yugi, knowing a few of the facts, tried to explain. "Life was not the easiest for him. In the harsh lands of the desert, he was cast out. He became an outsider learning how to live for himself. Because of his name, no one trusted him and wanted nothing to do with him. People's judgments and discrimination has driven him to killing. He wants to wipe out society."

Seto sighed.

"In other words, we have ourselves a one-manned Doma," he complained.

"Not exactly," Yugi said. "The fact that they both want to destroy humans is the only similarity between the two. What he plans to do after that I'm not exactly certain. I think it's safe to assume, for now, that he wants to rule over a world of dead."

"Another power-hungry bastard. Hmph, and he calls himself better than the rest of us. It's not our fault he had such a miserable past and saw no goodness. Yet he finds the need to take it out on us," Jounouchi grumbled.

"That's mostly my fault," Yugi admitted. He looked away. "The fact that I'm here with you automatically puts you in danger of him. I know that's not fair to you."

Jounouchi kneeled next to him.

"He messes with one of us, he messes with all of us," he said, supporting him. "It's not your fault. Don't worry. We're with you."

Yugi smiled, and Jounouchi, assuming he felt a little better, went to bed. The rest soon followed.

The candles were blown out and the hut was a bright yet dark color as they slept. Yugi however, had stayed awake, listening to the breeze blow the hut's entrance. It sounded so relaxing, yet it would not put him to sleep. Nothing could. He would not get a wink of sleep as long as the people he loved continued dying. And no matter what anyone said, he continued to blame himself for all that had happened and all that was happening. Three of them were gone. If all of them were lost, he did not know what he would do.

Otogi, Aibou, Honda, he repeated their names in his head. What have I done to you? Where have you gone?

Quietly, Yugi walked out of the hut and sat on a nearby rock. He looked up to the sky, the stars shining so brightly in the sky. The beauty of the scenery only continued to beat on his conscience. They were of a gorgeous, friendly state, but they were so far away, out of his reach. Even if he reached to the sky, he would not be close to them. He could not pull them out of the darkness, and he could only watch them remain there. Yami Yugi pounded the ground, thinking of Yugi and Honda and Otogi, and how he had already lost them. He found that he was beginning to fall with the thing that kept him up starting to break apart. And what he would grab onto to prevent himself from hitting rock bottom and climb back up he did not know.

"You're already short enough to be mistaken for a kid. Don't convince them that you are by acting like one," a voice from behind him spoke.

Yugi turned around, wiping his tears away. Seto was walking towards him. He took a seat next to him as he looked up at the moon.

"I hope Mokuba is okay," he said. "It's been two days."

Yami Yugi understood how important his younger brother was to him, but not the purpose or importance of the statement at the time.

"I worry a lot for him," Seto expressed. "Whether I'm giving him the life we never had as kids. Your parents being killed isn't something you get over in a night. An orphanage filled with hostility is not an ideal home. Being placed into some family you don't know is not an easy adjustment. The life behind me, I hate it. I don't like to think about it, because nothing I do now or in the future is going to change it. I don't want to look back at it, but it keeps coming back to me so that I'm forced to face it. It's possibly the ugliest thing I've ever seen, and I hate to stare at it even for a second, because then I'm afraid I'll wrap myself in it and may never come out."

Yugi was silent as he listened to Kaiba. He had learned something about him he did not know before. It was not just the fact Kaiba hated the past because he thought it was useless, but because he was ashamed and afraid of it.

"Whatever happened back then is permanent, but what's ahead is always changeable. You can always decide your destiny and make your way to it to fulfilling that destiny, but you can never go backwards to fix your history to your desire. You can only go back to repeat the steps you already took so that you succeed to get nowhere. That's what I hate most, but it's what I accept and it's why I only move forward and not back, to run further from it, even though I know it continues to follow me. I dare not stop to let it catch up to me. I know if I get far enough from it, it will be so far from me that it will no longer be a worry."

He was beginning to make sense of what Kaiba was saying. Yugi's mind had only been on what was already done and uncontrollable when he needed to focus on the present and near-future moments. The past would never go away, but he could use it as a source to run closer to his self-decided destiny.

"Of all the times to have a downfall, now would not be a good one. Bring yourself back to here and not back there," Seto told him. He stood back up from the rock and returned to the hut.

Yugi remained outside until Kaiba had disappeared back into the hut. He could not have asked for anything more than what Seto had just given him.

"Kaiba," he said softly to himself as he returned to the tent as well. He was still unable to sleep, but he did get rest. Lying shirtless on the bed, Yugi relaxed. He was calm now, and the battle within his mind against the dreadful flashbacks and memories looked to begin to end.

They slept in later than they had the previous day. It was not a pleasant or easy rest, but it was longer to say the least. Upon awaking, the smell of freshly cooked food was just down the trail. Jounouchi leading them down the trail, the group did not travel far before running into another platter of food. Perfectly cooked meat, alongside vegetables, lied on plates on a blanket, ready to eat. Jounouchi and Bakura dug right into the steak, hardly stopping for a drink of water. Though not eating as quickly as the two of them did, everyone ate quickly. Though they knew their lives were at stake, they were anxious for another challenge from Anubis.

Completing their meals, the group walked on. The land continued bringing beautiful sites and great weather. Walking past a large stone, drawings had been carved into it. It was the hieroglyphics again. A new figure, the one with head of a human yet the body of a large ox, was now crossed off along with the other two. Again they took no time to stop and stare at it, continuing walking by it.

Climbing on top of a hill, they looked out and saw they had approached a large lake. They were a bit of a distance from it, but they did not see Anubis down there near it, nor did the trail lead to it. The group could not help but stare at the lake in confusion.

"So we were lead here…for nothing?" Jounouchi complained. "That's just swell."

Turning to leave, many ripples in the lake began to form, despite there being no wind and nothing falling into it. The group stopped to quickly witness this rare moment only to see the ripples creating a movie-screen like illusion. In this illusion, a small child with long blonde hair and a rather wide, yet not fat body. He looked completely dirty and his body beaten down. Walking bear foot across a town of sand and stone buildings, wearing only crappy rag-like material for clothing, the child carried a heavy pale of water back to the house. His thirst told him to take a sip of this water, but he knew he could not. His goal was to retrieve this water and return it, not to drink it, and he always did as he was told for the fear of being caught and not given shelter or food for the night.

"What is this?" Anzu asked as she watched on.

"Could it be…?" Bakura spoke almost to himself.

"It's him," Yugi confirmed, noticing the necklace with the God's pearl he wore around his neck. "Anubis."

The child Anubis was feet away from his house when he accidentally ran into someone else walking in the street, dropping the pale and splashing it over the man's legs. Anubis looked up as the hateful man looked down at him in disgust.

"Devil child, watch where you step! You and your cursed name are going to destroy us all!" he scorned. The man took a knife from his belt and slashed at his face with the blade, cutting his face up. These wounds were not death dealing, but painful and would surely leave long lasting scars. After slashing him a few times in the face, the man walked away. Though this was not the first time some one had used a weapon on him, it would be the first time that it would remain with him for all to see.

His face burned and blood dripped down his face, but it was the least of his concerns. With the pale of water now empty, Anubis again had to go retrieve the water, and faster for his master would be upset if he were extremely late. If he were upset, he would surely get worse from him than he did from the man on the street.

The vision flashed to later that day. Anubis was sitting outside the entrance to the home as the rest of the people of the building ate. His face was still scratched up from the earlier assault.

"I do not trust this meal," one of them complained. "It's probably contaminated by that boy! He's here to curse us all!"

Anubis continued to listen to the feuding about him for a few minutes, each insult getting worse than the next. He finally could not tolerate it. He received enough insult during the day, and he needed it not anymore during the night. He went to the side of the building and grabbed a twig nearby. Sitting down, he began to draw, trying to not concentrate on their bickering and become lost in his own thoughts. The pictures he drew were not of the regular Egyptian drawings. They contained much more detail, as if being real. The picture he drew was of a beautiful land, one of perfection and purity, and it was full of life. When he stopped drawing, the pearl in his necklace began to glow. The land around him shined and faded away as it was then replaced with a different, gorgeous world. Looking around, Anubis recognized it as the land he just drew in the sand, only now with color and sound and scent. Finally away from all the anger and hate, he jumped into a river underneath a nearby miniature waterfall. The dirt on him would not come off with this water, as he knew, but he did not care. He drank this natural water of joy, having not done so the entire day. He swam in it until he grew too tired to do so anymore. On this earth, he could not have been happier.

It took Yugi a moment to realize that that waterfall was one he knew. It was the same one he had run to after they had come to this place. He remembered trying to wash the blood off his clothes in the water and not being able to. It clicked! He knew where they were now.

"That's where we are," he told everyone as he kept his eyes on the lake.

"What?" Bakura asked him as if he were crazy.

"That world he created, that is where we are," he repeated.

"That can't be," Kaiba said. "How do you know this?"

"The waterfall, I was there. It was the exact same one," Yugi mentioned.

The group looked around. Seeing the beauty and perfection of the land, it made sense in their minds that Yugi was right. It was Anubis' world they were in.

Several more visions of Anubis being tormented were shown to them. And every time, it ended in a similar scene with him outside of his master's home, continuing to draw onto his previous one. Each time, he added something new to it, mostly just additions to the scenery. Unlike the world of reality, his world lacked the intense atmosphere and the many angry people. While he did like it that there was no one there to beat on him, each time he added to it, he became lonelier. He wished he could share this special place with someone other than himself. But he was all he had.

The vision flashed over to another day. While out in the city, Anubis found a scrap of food sitting on the ground. Never getting much to eat, Anubis dove to the ground to get it. Before he could get to it, some other person in the street had picked it up away from him, knowing he was after it.

"This doesn't belong to you. You should not take things that are not yours," the man, a different one from earlier, taunted him. He took the food and walked away.

His body full of sand now, Anubis stood up and wiped himself clean of the sand. Tears fell from his eyes as he went to continue on into the city. Before he went though, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Assuming it was another commoner coming up to humiliate him more, he bothered not to turn around.

"I share your pain of rejection…" someone whispered in his ear. It was the voice of a girl. Her voice was so soft and calming, and it had such a friendly tone. Hearing such a voice, Anubis was convinced to turn around, hoping not to be deceived. The girl of medium height held out her hand and handed him some food. This girl, she contained long white hair and the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes anyone could hold. Her skin was pale, but her smile benign. Nobody had ever looked at him like this before. No one had ever shown such kindness, such love to him. After receiving the food, she smiled even more at him and ran off. He stood there for a few moments in a daze, unsure if what he had just seen or what had just happened was true to him. He felt rapturous in his heart as he stood frozen, thinking only of her. When he was brought back to reality, he became upset that he didn't even know her name.

Later that night, he was drawing again, only he had a different addition to his world. This time it was not an addition to the land, but he was now adding his first beast. He was careful when drawing this one. He wanted no errors in it. This beast was full of detail, the most detailed drawing he'd done. It was a magnificent beast with two stunning wings and a wavy long tail. With long legs and blue gems on its body, this would be a beast that not only stood out by its amazing image, but by its strength. It was something Anubis normally could only see in a dream if he was lucky. When he was finished, he returned to his world again, the beast he drew flying in the sky. It was night in his world as well, but this monster's body shined just as bright as the sun. The monster flew before him, standing on its hind legs smiling at him.

"This is my strength; this is my light; this is my love. The shining white dragon with blue eyes, you make me whole. You and I understand one another and need to be together," he spoke kindly to it. The dragon cried to the sky. "May you shine your light in the real world and show the brightness of you and I."

The dragon flew off into the night sky, lighting it up.

It flashed to another day. Anubis had been sent to retrieve some fish for that night's dinner. On his way back, he saw three men circled around a helpless body, taking turns kick at it and throwing rocks at it. Anubis stopped to see who it was, and the men moved temporarily so he could have a clear sight at who it was. It was her again; Blue-Eyes as he called her. She covered her face with her arms as the men continued to kick her. And all the while they could only laugh as they overpowered. Two of the men grabbed her by her arms, her thin, beaten body being held up.

"I claim first dibs on 'er," one said.

"No fair! I get her first!" another one argued.

"Both of you shoddup!" the third one shouted. "If you're not quiet people are go' nah overhear us. So why don't we make this easy…ond let me hov her first."

They laughed even harder. Anubis had heard enough out of them. He dropped his fish and made his way over to them. Though he was extremely short and weak in comparison to the three men, he was not afraid of them. He was determined to make them stop their assault on Blue-Eyes, and make them pay for what they had done. The men turned their heads to see Anubis standing next to them.

"Leave her alone," he growled. "What you are doing is sick and wrong."

The trio laughed.

"Ya! Sure! We ah just go' nah stop cos you told us to!" one said.

"If you touch her again, I swear to Ra I will…" he threatened them.

They laughed even harder. The two that held the girl's arms dropped her as the three surrounded Anubis.

"Alright then, cursed name," the largest of them smiled. "We'll beat you down instead. How does that sound? Good?"

The three men clinched their fists, grunting. Anubis reached for something underneath the rags he wore. The trio made a run at him as he quickly withdrew the blade hidden in his clothes. He slashed the blade at the one nearest to him deeply across the head. It happened so quickly that the others did not see it happen and continued their attacks. Anubis stabbed the other in heart and grabbed the shirt of the other man and putting him in a headlock until he could remove the dagger from the other man's chest. When he was able to do so, he swiftly slit his throat, and all three lied dead in the blood puddles of the sand.

He was covered in blood now, but nonetheless had his revenge and was satisfied. Smiling in a happy state, he turned to the girl, who shook and stared at him with fear. Anubis' angry look became sad and friendlier as he walked over to Blue-Eyes. She took a step away.

"You do not have to suffer at their hands anymore," he said softly to her. "You do not have to suffer at the hands of anyone anymore. We innocent ones do not need to live here any longer. Let us run away to a land where no such hate exists, where no such darkness exists, only light, even in the sky of the night."

He continued walking towards her, but she kept stepping away. He did not understand why she was resisting him. He wanted to take her away from this place of misery. She was the one he wanted to live with in his other dimension. Blue-Eyes did not understand that. The only thing she saw in him now is rage, and cold, and resentment, all the things she was afraid of.

"You…you saved me," she told him, "but you have killed them. Y-you've found pleasure in killing."

"No!" he denied. "I do not kill for enjoyment!" He looked at the bloodied bodies of the men he'd killed. "I-I killed for what was right! It was for you!"

Blue-Eyes backed away.

"I know," she said. "And for that I am grateful…but I can't stand to see you now, soaked in the blood of your enemies, proud that you've taken a life. Is that truly right, or is that just feeding your suffering?"

She wanted to stay no longer. She ran off into the empty city, leaving Anubis behind on the street with the corpses of his prey. Anubis dropped the dagger and fell to his knees, crying to the sky. He had pushed away the only thing he valued in his life.

The vision went from that scene to another scene of him outside at night, drawing. These next drawings were also of beasts, but not like the ones of before. They contained detail just like most of his drawing, but lacked the creativity of his first one. These were three four-legged beasts of great, dark power. They were designed to look vicious and evil, and to perform acts of horror and hate. Before transporting himself back to his world, he saw the dragon he had drawn a few nights ago. At that moment, he wanted to take the dagger and stab it straight through the heart, wanting to be rid of it and its beauty. He held the dagger in his hand, but he could not stab down on it. Something deep within him would not let him erase Blue-Eyes from himself. He knew he would never be able to see her again, nor would she ever want to come away with him, but still wanted to keep her with him. He could only hope there was someone like her out there, another beautiful shining light that would guide him. But for now, she was all he had. It was an impossible hope.

He put the dagger away and went away to his world again, time freezing. The three new creatures he had made out of darkness were now with him. Of course, only when they combined their powers were they stronger than that of the dragon he created. His four monsters stood with him underneath the cloudless sky. His heart was in balance.

The visions in the lake faded away and the ripples on the water calmed. No one could think of a comment on what they just saw. Having heard about it became much different than actually seeing it. At least for that one time, they could not have total anger against Anubis for he always had nothing to hang on to.

"He was shaded," Anzu said. "That's why he's so cold. But there has to be something in him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have created the dragon."

Kaiba looked at his duel disk. For some odd reason, he was the most affected by the imagery, especially of the white haired girl.

"Strength, light, love…those were all the sources of life that Anubis wanted," Kaiba said. "He thought that he found that in Blue-Eyes. She is, to him, the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon."

The group had gotten half of the answer to their biggest question: why? For now, they were satisfied with half of an answer. Speechless, the group continued on the trail, still holding the same hostility, but more sympathy towards their enemy.