Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! However, I DO own Marissa, Keline, Symari, and Joseph. Don't take them.

Hey. He's another (most likely) weird chapter.

Chapter 15------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wheeler," Odion apologized, after the duel between him and the mentioned blond. His eyes fluttered half-closed. "It was an honor to duel you." It was a struggle for him to let out each breath.

"Same here," agreed Joey, supporting Odion in his arms. "But if you're not Marik, then who are you?"

"I am a servant of the real Marik." He slowly reached out and pointed to Marik, who was leaning against the side of the blimp, clutching his head with one hand and gripping the Millennium Rod with the other. Pain was clearly coursing through his veins. He desperately tried to contain his dark side.

"The Millennium Rod!" Yugi exclaimed. "Marik, admit who you really are!" Suddenly, Marik stopped struggling, and turned to face the group with a sinister look on his face.

"Fools, I am the real Marik," he said in a deeper and more evil voice than before.

'This must be the one who has the real Winged Dragon of Ra…' thought Kaiba.

"At last I can finish the job my pathetic servants could not!" "Marik" continued, the side of his face seemingly contorting in inhuman ways. "Soon I will have Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and its infinite power."

"I was afraid of this," Odion warned in raspy voice. "Beware the great evil hidden within Marik! I am no longer able to contain it…" Then, his hand fell limp as his eyes closed, signifying that he had fallen unconscious. The group around him prepared themselves mentally for what was about to happen, but they still could not prepare themselves enough. For a moment it appeared that Marik's good side was once again in control, for his face turned back to normal. However, the struggling returned as he clutched his forehead once again in pain. Throwing back his head, he screamed into the night,

"Katrinaaaaaaa!"

At that moment, all hope seemed to be lost.

Marissa gasped when Keline suddenly screamed in pain, practically falling off his chair. Pressing his eyes shut in a futile attempt to shut it all out, he gripped his right hand with his left so hard that, underneath the leather gloves, the knuckles went white. She rushed over immediately to try and help him, but there was nothing she could do.

"What is it, Kay?" she asked, worried to the max.

"It's…him…" he answered slowly, straining to set aside the immense pain for a moment of speech. "He's…taken over." Marissa bit her lip, both at what Keline said and at the sight of a tear rolling down his cheek. After brushing it away, she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and attempted to soothe him.

"Don't lose hope, Kay," she whispered. "Whatever you do, don't give up. That's the worst thing you can do."

"What am I going to do? I don't want to lose him like I did mom…"

And so, in that moment, he was not a selfish genius, but only a trembling child in the caring arms of another.

After the duel between Odion and Joey, Yugi/Yami stole all the opportunities he could to search for the mysterious Egyptian couple. However, he could not locate them anywhere on the blimp, and was focused on working on his deck most of the time, along with other preoccupations. As soon as he could, Joey came up to him and spoke of what Marissa had admitted about her knowledge. Yami wasn't too surprised to find that out. He was more surprised that she had actually told someone.

Yet, somehow, she and Keline remind undetectable and hidden for the entirety of two duels. Mai and who they thought was still Marik went up, but only the latter came down with his mind in tact. His mind, though. Not Marik's. Then Kaiba and the eighth duelist – who they discovered to be Ishizu Ishtar – dueled. This time, no one's soul or mind was sent to Shadow Realm, but knowledge was gained.

And more knowledge was offered after the duel, when Ishizu sought to explain her brother's situation to Yugi and his friends. But some people refused to listen.

"So I'm supposed to feel sorry for that spoiled brat because he grew into an evil nutcase?" demanded Joey sarcastically. "Your brother trapped Mai's mind in the Shadow Realm! Now she's living our her worst nightmares, and I'm going to make sure he pays!" Ishizu's morose look saddened further.

"Yugi," she began, "It's possible to destroy the evil within my brother without destroying the good. I realize now that destinies can be changed. As the Pharaoh's vessel, you have the power to do it." Yugi was about to respond when the loud speaker cracked on, and Roland's voice came over it.

"Lights out in two minutes," he announced. "Please make your way to your rooms."

"All right, I think I'll crash in Joey's room," stated Tristan, starting up an argument between him and Joey. Meanwhile, Ishizu unclasped her Millennium Necklace and handed it to a very surprised Yugi.

"I no longer have any use for it," she said in answer to his unasked question. "It no longer shows me the future. I've completed my mission, and now it is your turn, Yugi." Yugi nodded in acceptance, his mouth set into a solemn line.

"Thanks, Ishizu," he replied, turning to head for his room with the others. Together, the group took a left at the exit, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"I told you you wouldn't understand." Immediately all their heads whipped around to see none other than Keline Magentos leaning nonchalantly on the wall next to the open door. For once, Marissa was not with him.

"Wouldn't understand what?" Yugi asked calmly. However, Joey did not take the statement the same way.

"You mean I wouldn't understand that that creep Marik has got to be stopped?" he asked, retaining his sarcastic attitude. Keline grew a deep frown, silently warning Joey not to cross to line.

"Didn't you listen to a word Ishizu said in there?" he asked behind gritted teeth. "That's. Not. Marik."

"Then where is Marik?"

"I don't know! He didn't tell me! For all I know he could be in Shadow Realm." Keline almost choked on the last two words, a sob begging to come out.

"He deserves it for all the people he's sent there." With that line, everyone knew he had gone too far. Covering his sadness with anger, Keline launched himself at Joey, grabbing him by the shirt collar and pressing him against the wall.

"Listen, asshole," he growled, black eyes eating away at Joey's soul with their menace. "You don't know anything about the real Marik, not if you think that's him. He's a good person, and he wouldn't do anything to someone if they didn't deserve it." Joey's eyes widened at the sight of tears beginning to creep out from underneath Keline's eyes of coal. "He just wants the best for us." By now, it seemed as though Keline was not talking to Joey in particular, almost as if he was rambling off to himself. "He just wants to be happy…"

Suddenly, the brown-haired teen slumped to the ground, releasing the other from his grip. Staring down at the floor, Keline could not control the sobs that forced their way out of his body, racking his entire frame. Almost immediately Ishizu was at his side, holding the crying boy like a mother would hold their child.

"Keline, it's okay," she soothed. "Try to control yourself."

"I don't want him to die, Aunt Izu!" he shouted, hugging her back. "I want us to be a family again." Sighing, Ishizu looked up at the confused and distraught group.

"You must forgive him," was all she asked before helping Keline to his feet and into her room.

"Uh…what just happened here?"

A few minutes later, the gang separated so they could go to their rooms and try to sleep. "Try" being the key word. In his room, Yugi lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling. 'The Battle City finals end tomorrow…' he mused.

"Yugi, you must sleep," Yami ordered, appearing in spirit form by his bedside.

"I can't," he replied, sitting up. "I'm worried."

"Together, we can do it. We can save the world." Yami smiled reassuringly.

"But things have gotten so out of hand. Just when we think we have Marik all figured out, he goes and gets twenty times more evil than he was in the first place; and yet, Keline desperately insists that he's still a good person." He paused for a moment before continuing when Yami didn't say anything. "And did you notice how you called Ishizu 'Aunt Izu' a few minutes ago?" Yami nodded solemnly, creasing his brow in thought.

"But that would mean…"

He didn't even have to finish the sentence.

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Again, My thanks to Yu-Jyo.