A/N: I welcome reviewers, the old and the new, for the last three part which was a red herring for the real next chapter: the Wedding Crasher chapter. Enjoy the works of the prelude to the final stage that stands between you, the anticipated reader, from the most thrilling climax that will wrap up this story from here to Kentucky...(?)

Tada! I finished the brainstorm for it, and ish writing it as you read this chappy! Love me!

WHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

FireIceGoddess: Yea, I know. Boyfriends are tough, they need us to whip em into shape!

Slushie Blu: Aww, thank you. I like to open my story to other couples ya know, so I made that.

Growing Pain: Thanx, I worked a bit harder on the Bakura/Ryou chappy. It was hard considering I didn't want Bakura to be too OOC...

Dragonlady222: Thankies! There's a reason though, why Kisara's family is so strange...but I'm not telling!

ClowWinx: Thanks!

KeraJeir: I rushed because my computer was freezing all over the place and one push can erase my entire data whether I saved it or no, sorry.

Oddacity: Thank you. A lot of people enjoyed the Funny Bunny skit I added in. I'm glad I decided to put it in the final cut.

LP-lova210: Yes, pushing the purple button is fun...(swirly eyes)

bleedingchaos: Thanks!

FireieGurl: Thankies!

Seto'swifey: Wait no more!

Koolmint26: SHHH! You're on the right track, but don't exploit it until I get there!

Spark of Life: Yes, it has been awile...Draw!

1) Nope, I didn't make Anzu the villain. I'm not those kind of people that freak out whenever she appears in the TV screen...she's misunderstood, but there are a lot of authors out there that think highly of her. I'm just in the middle somewhere...

2) Well, before I made season 2, I was scared that the fic would turn into a confusing direction if Jou had to figure out substantial things that aren't much likely in his caliber way of thinking. He would be too OOC if he delved too much in the matters of love since his character has always been drawn in an impulsive direction. So, Monique was created to sort of guide him as to make the right decisions, (kind of like a big sister), but at the same time, the fic does not revolve around her enough to become a Mary-Sue.

3) Yes, poor him. He deserved it. He pissed me off during lunch hour.

4) Ah, I see you are catching on to something like koolmint26 has. The reason, I believe, will be in the Wedding Crasher chapter. (In the case it may get too long, I'd have to make a part 2 or even 3...it's THAT big.)

5) Yep, but the Wizard gave him the side effect of being super horny and very pissy. I really did try to make him less OOC, but then he would break Ryou's heart, cut the plot into another direction, and we'd have to chase Ryou before the Wedding Crasher Chapter. Yep, it was that hard.

Sorry, but I couldn't fit what's going on with Seto and Mokuba in this chapter. I planned on putting it on this, but it's already huge as it is. I'll just put it in the next one.

Bluerosety: Thanks. Sorry, no H/O. Many people don't want to wait that long for the Wedding Crasher Chapter.

Goddessofsilvermoon: Okay, okay, okay!

Chapter 17: Needing Some Solid Strength Part 3 of 3- Sometimes the Most Important Thing Is To Balance Out the Possibilities!

"So...the reason why the four of you look like twins and in fact lovers, is not because you guys are normal, incest-driven, Jerry Springer-centric, brother loves brother couples, but you're actually the older versions of Yugi, Ryou, and Malik, have minds of your own, your own bodies, are madly in love with each other, AND you guys all have ties to Ancient Egypt where there were dark magic all over the place and you ruled supreme in these Games?" Monique inquired all the while steering the wheel. They were heading downtown for Malik and Marik, and the young woman was having a tough time to process everything since she would have been fast asleep around 9 pm, and it is now 11pm...

"Yep, pretty much." Was the automatic reply from Yugi.

"I hope it doesn't offend you in anyway," Ryou murmured softly.

"It's not my nature to do so," She replied non-chalantly, going into professional secretary mode.

Monique felt like she was having a brain fart. It sounded a lot like a plot in an anime show.

"And most of the time we use cards to destroy our opponents in the most cruel kind of way," Bakura added with a hint of caressing malice in his tone, and from Monique's rear view mirror, she could see his dreamy like expression. A dark cloud seemingly over his eyes.

Everybody around scooted away from him. Even Ryou.

As they stopped at the red light in the non-existent street devoid of cars, she lightly hit her head on the wheel. Correction, it sounded a lot like a plot in a CARD DISTRIBUTED anime show.

Jou felt mock-sympathy for the befuddled woman and lightly patted her head. "It sooo kay. I had trouble sinkin' the thought in as well..."

"Don't I feel relieved," She murmured sarcastically into the wheel. She slowly rose when the light turned green and drove on. "What about you? Do you have anything to do with Ancient Egypt?"

She saw something flicker in his eyes but thought of it as the trick of the light as he returned back to normal. "Naw, I'm not. Seto was."

"Mr. Kaiba is a reincarnate from Egypt as well?" She dropped her jaw, this was too much to handle for one girl.

"Yeah, he was the High Priest that served Yami," Yugi joined in. "He was devoted to his people and loyal to the Pharaoh. When Yami died as a Pharaoh, Seto became the new ruler."

"Wow," Monique whistled. "Geez, Jou. Not only did you catch the most eligible bachelor on the market today, you caught his reincarnate who was once Pharaoh! Talk about blue blood spanning millennia's!"

Jou shrugged and looked down, his face sincere. "Actually, I wouldn't really care if he'd been a hobo in a previous life. Just being with him was all I ever want. It just happens that he has a royal lineage, that's all."

"Talk about being modest," Yami praised. "You've grown a lot, Jou."

"He has, hasn't he?" Yugi smiled.

Jou grew red and threw his arms back. "Aw, come on you guys! I'm embarrassed as hell! All I did was say what I felt."

They all fell silent for a moment, not really paying attention when Bakura became bored and started to advance on Ryou at this very instant. Ryou was adamant to resist, but soon got the butterflies in his stomach as he began to scoot away from the predatory grin on Bakura's face.

Yami jumped in to stop them after grossing out at the way Bakura was trying to coax Ryou onto his lap. Ryou couldn't move any further away from his seat and was trapped between the crazy psycho and the car door and yipped when Bakura pounced on him.

"Hey, not in my car!" Monique warned, watching from the rear view mirror with Jou who looked like he swallowed a lemon.

"Get off of him, Bakura!" Yami yelled trying to pull Bakura off of him, but was punched on the side with the snarled reply, 'Mine!'. Yugi just slumped at the other end of the passenger side door, looking out the window as if this was normal.

Soon, the fight broke out and moved to the middle of the passenger seats and began to work it's way to the front. Monique jumped as an arm slashed her way and accidentally turned the wheel making the car go crazy. She pressed on to try to get it back on course while Jou was pushing them back.

"Do you want us to get killed!" Jou yelled and thought for a brief moment what would Seto feel if he read tomorrow's newspaper saying he had died in a car crash. Would he cry? Would he get mad? Or worse, would he not care at all?

After a few struggling minutes, Yami threw his hands up in agitation and resumed his seat next to Yugi, tired of playing the hero. Bakura gave a victorious grin as he pulled Ryou as close as he can, his purr dripped in obvious possession on Ryou's trembling shoulder.

Monique frowned and proceeded to keep her eyes on the road while Jou pulled up a frown of his own. "Bakura, you're scaring Ryou."

"This?" Bakura announced mischievously as his hand drifted lower until Ryou retained enough common sense to halt the offending hand on his stomach. "He's not scared. Your mistaking his trembling in fear from his trembling in excitement."

It was then that Ryou turned bright red and wrenched out of Bakura's lap and jumped onto Yami and Yugi's laps until he was fully seated in between his two companions. It was Bakura's turn to frown.

"Good idea, Bakura." Yami snickered. "It IS probably best if Ryou sits with Yugi and I while we get to the Museum. We don't want any distractions, so it's a good thing you scared Ryou on purpose so he doesn't distract you from our objective. I praise you from one trickster to another."

Bakura's scowl had never left his face throughout the car ride.

The gang was relieved when they discovered Malik open the door with a smile gracing his features. Apparently he and Marik had not had a fight.

"Hi guys! What brings you here at this hour?" Malik greeted moving from the door to let them in. "And...I haven't met you before?" He referred to Monique.

She took out her hand. "My name's Monique Johnson. I'm Jou's common sense and Mr. Kaiba's stress ball. It's nice to meet you."

Jou gave a pout while everyone laughed, except Bakura. He was still pissed.

Malik returned the handshake eagerly. "Are you their comic relief?"

"Nope, just a humble 26 year old secretary."

He welcomed her in and they all sat in the dimly lit kitchen.

"You all look hungry." Malik offered as he pointed to the fridge. "Do you guys want to eat?"

At once, Jou and Bakura were rummaging through the fridge fighting over some of the leftovers and drinks. Everybody stared at them.

"Well," Monique began. "Since Jou has momentarily forgot his objective into coming here, I'll just tell you."

"Wait." Yugi exclaimed. "Don't you think that Marik should listen as well?"

"I don't think he'll care," Yami proclaimed. "It took Ryou a while to BEG for Bakura to come with us, Marik's...a different story."

"He's a crazy nutcase who wants to destroy everything and has the libido of a rabid animal," Bakura put in, ripping into a drumstick with an animal like frenzy.

Yami raised his eyebrows. "Well isn't that strange. You just practically described yourself."

"Fuck off."

"I'd rather not."

While they bickered, Malik sat down with a small frown on his face. "Sorry, but Marik's in the bedroom throwing things."

"Why?" Ryou asked.

"Well, obviously I'd rather lock him in there instead of the lower levels to the Museum. He'd destroy the entire place under an hour." Malik confirmed.

"I think he meant why he was throwing things." Jou helpfully stated munching on some coconut cream pie.

Malik shrugged. "He's just mad that everywhere I go, I refuse for him to follow. He maybe a stubborn caveman, but it's obvious that he's worried that I'm not strong enough to take care of myself and get kidnapped by slave pirates. At least, that's what sister told me." He leaned forward on the table and helped himself in some of Jou's pie. "It's true he still believes the world was the same as it was in Egypt, and insists he come with me. Even to the bathroom! The bathroom! Honestly, if someone told him there was an imaginary toilet man who creeps onto unsuspecting bathroom visitors and sucks them into the toilet, he'd watch me constantly as I go! Sometimes, I wonder whether he thinks of me as a woman who can't defend herself, instead of a man who can."

"Well, at least it's safe to say he cares for your well-being, even if it is a bit over protective of him," Monique added.

"She's got a point." Ryou said as well. "But it's still not fair that he doesn't believe you have the strength to take care of yourself."

Meanwhile, Jou, Yami, and Bakura retreated upstairs to find Marik.

"Let's tell him about the toilet man!" Bakura snickered. "I'd love to see the look on Malik's face when he discovers that Marik is more than willing to watch him as he shits!"

"As funny as that is," Jou forced down a snicker as well. "We need Malik AND Marik."

"But what for?" Yami asked as they proceeded down the hall for Marik and Malik's bedroom. "Why do we need Marik and him?" He pointed to Bakura who was eyeing what looked like an expensive Egyptian vase.

"I didn't want to say this until I got all of you, but I have some suspicions I'd like to look into." Jou replied stopping.

Yami stopped as well. "What is it?"

Bakura didn't move but his eyes narrowed to Jou's profile. "Does it have something to do with the Shadow Games?" Bakura barely whispered, his seriousness baffling to Jou and Yami.

"...Yeah." Jou turned to face them. "Remember when I told you that Seto's getting married tomorrow?" Yami nodded while Bakura remained unmoving. "He's getting married to this...girl. But I keep getting this sort of strange vibe from her. Like the kind I feel towards you guys."

"Do you think she's from Ancient Egypt?" Yami retained his seriousness.

"I really don't know. It may be a hunch, but I just felt it might be safer if I brought you guys with me, you know? I know it sounds pretty stupid an all, but..." Jou tried to think of something more to say, but couldn't.

Yami nodded. "It's good. Precaution is the key to victory."

Bakura shrugged and walked on. "I'll know when I meet her."

"Hey, they're gone," Ryou realized when their numbers had dwindled.

Monique looked around the kitchen. "They probably went to talk to that Marik guy."

Malik and Yugi nodded mutely, when all of a sudden, a knock was placed on the door. They

looked at Malik.

"It's alright," Malik explained. "It must be Marik's therapist."

"Therapist?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, for a few weeks now, she's been helping Marik sort out his problems. We used to have Dr. Yamatoshi, but strange enough, Marik was put up for more psychological therapy, even though he has been improving greatly. Her name's Dr. Hitonaka." Malik said, getting up to open the door.

Monique froze.

"Why is that name mentioned more than once so far today...?" Yugi muttered.

"Oh, no." Monique warned in irritation, cut off Malik's way and opened the door herself.

"Good evening, my name is Dr. Hitonaka and—"

"Sorry, Mr. Marik Ishtar is now cleared from all of his appointments by the country of Japan. He doesn't need medical help anymore." Monique answered monotonously, sinking into the instinct of professional mode.

"Excuse me? Mr. Ishtar is a critical case. He has not even gotten past a minuscule psychological breakthrough, now if you excuse me," Dr. Hitonaka retaliated with malice.

Monique's blank expression turned annoyed. "If you do not leave the premises, Ms. Ishtar," She had heard somewhat about Malik's sister and maybe announcing her 'orders' might make her facts more authentic. "Has given me the orders of calling security."

Dr. Hitonaka looked a bit subdued, but still fought on. "He is unfit for society! He needs my therapeutic expertise!"

"I will only say this once, Dr. Hitonaka. If you don't leave at once, Mr. Malik Ishtar's men may look into some of those files you keep in your clinic. And they may, in fact, discover...I don't know...evidence of malpractice...?" Monique smirked dangerously.

The doctor flinched. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me." Monique's smirk became a predatory grin. "You are dismissed. Goodbye."

She shut the door on her face.

"Monique!" Malik exclaimed frantically looking at the door and then back to her. "Why did you do that!"

She looked at him with a concealed look in her eyes. "Isn't it strange," She motioned to Yugi and Ryou. "that the source of your relationship problems seem to have been initiated by women with the last name, Hitonaka?"

Malik looked skeptically at her. "There's no way to believe that a Hitonaka started the fight between me and Marik. Where's your proof?"

"The proof comes from what you said earlier. You said that Marik's therapist became Dr. Hitonaka even though he has been improving greatly. Now, from what your predicament tells me, he reverted back to his possession problem when that doctor was reinstated into the care of him." Monique returned to her seat. "What's strange is that a Hitonaka is also interfering with Mr. Kaiba and Jou's relationship as well...but..." She let out a frustrated breath. "Even if we're somehow winning against them by putting you guys back together, that is if they planned for whatever reason why they're doing this in the first place, their main focus seem to be on the marriage between Mr. Kaiba and Kisara. But the real question is: Why?"

Yugi looked at her in awe. "You told her off, blackmailed her, and dismissed her. How did you get the guts to do that?"

Monique shrugged. "It's sort of an ability you get when you work for Mr. Kaiba. Especially since I'm his secretary. It's my job to do this sort of thing under by the boss' orders."

They had a moment of silence, slowly contemplating where this whole thing was going.

She dusted her hands automatically. "Something's going on around here. It looks like I got rid of the trash for now..."

They opened the door to find Marik in the middle of trying to throw a chair across the room. Yami and Jou looked at each other, not knowing what to do in the presence of a psycho.

Bakura, on the other hand, looked as if he was home. "Need help with that, Marik?"

Marik blinked at the intruder. Realizing it was Bakura, he motioned him to grab the other chair.

"Well?" Bakura said impatiently to the gaping duo by the door. "If you want answers from him, you have to act psycho."

They looked at each other and shrugged, moving to pick up a desk together. Throwing the items across the room, Marik seemed to feel better at the sound of splitting wood and straightened.

"So, what do you want?" Marik finally said slumping on the bed.

Bakura was about to open his mouth when both Yami and Jou covered it. They knew that Bakura talking about the toilet man was a no no.

"Yeah, I gotta question!" Jou exclaimed. "Why do you treat Malik like he's a chick!"

Yami blinked and Bakura slapped his forehead. "Idiot! You want to get him pissed again!"

Jou ignored him. "You didn't answer my question! I want to know why you don't think Malik isn't strong enough to take care of himself!"

"That's none of your business!" Marik roared jumping to his feet. "I do as I please! No matter what the kid wants!"

"Oh yeah, bozo!" Jou bellowed back, only to have himself on the floor fighting off Marik.

Marik seemed to have the upper hand, as he was on top of Jou in the middle of strangling him.

Yami was about to rush to his aid when Bakura stopped him. "What are you doing!" He yelled. "Marik's going to kill him!"

"He wanted all of our help!" Bakura snarled back. "He's going to have to suffer the consequences on asking the ancient spirits for help over some pathetic love problem!"

"I-It's n-not p-p-pathetic!" Jou yelled as he tried to gasp for air, Marik's tight fingers around his neck, killing him. "I-I need yo-your help!"

Marik smiled viciously as he enjoyed seeing the struggle of life within his hands. "You make me sick. Crying over someone who obviously doesn't care for you anymore."

Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, Jou was sure Marik had read all of his previous thoughts as was some of the powers of the Millennium Rod. Or else, he wouldn't have said those things.

But he didn't want to give up, not now...he felt hot tears fall from his face, but it wasn't sadness. He was angry and alone, but he didn't want to give up. Somewhere deep inside, something was telling him to enlist the help of the Yami's, and he'd be damned to hell if he ever once doubted his suspicions.

"You're wrong!" Jou choked out. "He does care! I saw it in his eyes! I don't want to give up on him now, not ever! He needs me, and I'll kill you first before you can stop me!" He saw the hesitation in Marik's eyes and the slight slacking of the pressure and continued. "What you and Malik are going through, Seto and I had gone through before. Except I thought that Seto wanted a woman in the relationship and I was more than willing to do so, if it meant he would be happy. But then someone once told me that what he really wanted was ME! He preferred me to have strength to handle myself! It's our faults and strengths that balance us out, and if you really cared for Malik, you'd leave him to harness that strength so you both can protect each other!"

He definitely felt Marik's hands slacken some more and finished it off. "My heart is not pathetic, nor is it weak. It's still burning strong and it will get me through it all, even if Seto doesn't love me anymore, I'll still have the strength to move on! Because that's who I am! And a part of me believes something is wrong, and I want to fix it! Yugi, Ryou, Malik, and I, we're the same, no matter how different our problems are. I was a fool to believe that you are all perfect couples, because that's not true! We're imperfect, with imperfect relationships, but we are strong to go through it all. The question is: Are you strong enough to sink this all in through that thick skull of yours, and make up with Malik, or are you an idiot who'd just let go of a good thing?"

Marik tilted his head in thought and murmured. "Hn. You're not THAT stupid after all." He let go of him and Jou rested his head on the floor to breathe. Almost at once, he felt the same warmth around his neck return to him as before and felt immediately reassured.

Marik rose up and held his hand out to Jou. He looked at it with a baffled expression, even Yami and Bakura looked surprised. Marik tapped his foot impatiently.

"Are you just going to look at me with the deer-in-the-headlights look, or are you going to take it?"

Jou blinked, took it and was brought to his feet. "You know," Marik continued as he began to open the door. "It takes a real psycho to talk to me like that, but then again, ever since that stunt you pulled on me back in Battle City, I can't guess what you'll be doing next."

He opened the door and expressionlessly saw Malik standing in front of it. "How much have you heard?"

"Since the time you've been strangling Jou." Malik replied. "He's right, you know. The real me. It's strong."

"Yeah," Marik admitted almost so quiet you nearly couldn't hear it. He walked passed Malik. "I know."

Malik turned to look at Marik's retreating back and smiled.

When they joined everyone down in the kitchen, Marik was drinking from a soda can, ignoring the growing crowd.

Yugi looked at Jou's messed up clothes and muttered. "Was it that bad?"

"You mean by almost getting myself killed?" Jou muttered back pulling out a soda as well and chugging it down in one gulp. He threw the can in the garbage. "Yep. But everything's settled."

"What time is it?" Monique yawned and stretched.

Ryou looked at his watch. "It's 1 am." Monique groaned.

"So whatever it is you're planning, Katsuya Jounouchi, I suggest we get started." Marik replied non-chalantly as he settled himself next to Malik.

Jou blinked. "What did you say?"

Marik narrowed his eyes. "You heard me. And don't pull a speech like that when we're crashing a wedding, no matter how lovey-dovey it is. Get straight to the point like a strong man and tell the bride to screw off, pull the groom on your horse and ride off into the sunset."

Yami looked at the ceiling. "Someone's been watching too much of those western movies..."

"Oh?" Bakura mocked. "Well isn't that strange. You just practically described yourself." He smirked at the comment Yami pulled on him earlier thrown right back at the cocky Pharaoh.

He frowned when Yami shrugged. "So?"

Nothing was going Bakura's way tonight...

"So...you're helping?" Jou asked in bewilderment.

Marik cocked his head to the side again, gave a snide expression and glared. "You convinced me, are you happy now? But if there's no Shadow Games going on, I'll kill you." Malik smacked him on the arm.

As they began to plan, Jou couldn't help with how much he learned in such a little time. He wasn't lying when he said he was going to crash the wedding and fight the system for Seto, even if he can go to jail in the process. In fact, the police can kiss his ass. Something deep was going on, something that's been tugging at his side for a while now. This predicament was something that was more than meets the eye, and he was adamant to discover the real truth. The truth of all truths. And he's not afraid of tomorrow, no, he was going to meet it bluntly eye to eye.

He's got the strength to fight and he wasn't pulling any punches this time. Seto was going to know the real Jou, whether he wants to or not. And if all attempts prove futile and he wasn't able to get Seto back, even if the odds were all against him, even if people tried to stop him...

Even if Seto really didn't love him,

He still had the strength to keep fighting, for the rest of his life.

A/N: Three parts are over! You all must be happy! Be prepared for the Wedding Crasher chapter available in a theater near you...but if you can't find it, I guess you're going to have to wait for the written chapter to arrive!

REVIEW PLZ!

Laterz!