The Last Rays of Twilight

by Seeker of the Soul

The Apocalypse has begun. Death itself will sweep like a plague across the lands and the only ones who have the potential to stem the tide of death are nowhere to be found. Truly it is the End of Days.

3. From the Past Hell's Cat Fight

Author's Note: Get ready, because here we go.

Disclaimer: I would like to remind all of my readers that according to television ratings this story is rated M for Mature Audiences only. If it were a movie it would be rated R. This rating is applied for violence, harsh language, adult themes, and other similar things. Keep in mind that as I move along through this story that it will be the darkest of the three, so be prepared.

Chapter Two: From The Past; Hell's Cat Fight!

Drake pulled the door open and walked into the apartment quietly. Kirani hadn't been feeling well lately so she was probably taking a break. 'She deserves a chance to relax before I tell her that Dalin called. That'll just upset her.'

Silently he took the pack off his shoulder and set it down on the couch, letting it rest there. It contained his deck, his duel disk, and some school materials, so it was pretty heavy and had been annoying his shoulder for a while now. 'Speaking of relaxing, I need to relax as well before tomorrow's meeting with Dalin.'

He rotated his arm, stretching out the shoulder to get rid of a cramp that had been forming. Then, even though he tried to stop himself, he stepped in front of the nearest mirror and pulled his shirt off. 'This damned ritual...every time I'm at home with a mirror I can't stop myself.'

Frowning he traced the thin white lines that marked his chest. There were forty-three total, each one small, and each one caused by the exact same event. He also knew that there were fifty-one starting from his sides and going across his back. And each day when he was at home he couldn't stop himself from counting them all. 'Damn it...what's wrong with me?'

Finally he completed the counting, and stared down at his open palms. Each palm was marred by four crescent shaped scars, caused by his fingernails pressing down on his hands too hard. He could still remember when it had happened. It was when he dueled Autumn in Battle City. 'All this time and I still can't forget. My crimes, my mistakes, it never goes away does it?'

His eyes trailed up to his left shoulder, where a massive circular white puckered scar could be seen. That scar had been caused by a Darkness Game he had played a number of years ago. But the one that he couldn't help but go back to was on his leg. 'The one I can't forget no matter what, even if everything else fades away that will still be with me.'

His right thigh had a long white line that reached nearly to his kneecap, not even an inch thick, but it was jagged, like whatever had done it was serrated. In his mind he saw the event that had caused it, and he shuddered. 'I'll never forget. I'm so screwed up, no matter how much I try to pretend I'm better.'

Forcing back the despair that was creeping up on him he grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on. With that little jaunt at the mirror forgotten he walked straight to the kitchen and snatched the mail off the counter and started flipping through it. 'Junk, junk, bill, tournament invitation, and a notice?'

Setting aside the junk mail he first opened up the tournament invitation, curious to see what it was. 'Daisuke Ihachi, you are cordially invited to participate in the Duel Monsters event of the year, to be held at the start of July in New York City. This spectacular event...blah blah blah. Damn it Kaiba, you know I know all the details of Battle City Two, I freaking helped plan it.'

Tossing aside the letter he picked up the notice and started to open it, but stopped when he heard a door opening. A tired feminine voice reached his ears almost immediately. "Drake, you home already?"

Dropping the notice he turned around and found Kirani standing in the doorway to their room, looking tired but still beautiful. "Yeah, just got home a few minutes ago. Already dealt with business. How are you feeling?"

"Still a little ill, but nothing a little miso soup can't help fix." She yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she did so. Drake couldn't help but admire her from this angle. He could never get enough of seeing her, she was just so perfect.

"You stick around in bed, I'll go fix you some and bring it. After all, as your boyfriend it is my duty to be all honorable and serve you food in bed when you're sick. You helped me out last time I was hurt, so it's my turn." Kirani giggled, shaking her head at Drake and looking at him like he was an idiot.

"Last time you were hurt you had a gaping hole in your shoulder, I've just been feeling a little sick lately. I think there's a big difference." Drake paused at this, and then figured out a response.

"Yes, but that injury just applied to my shoulder, whereas while your sick your entire body is affected. That means that yours is worse." Kirani quirked an eyebrow at him, once again looking at him like he was an idiot.

"Your logic doesn't resemble the logic of a normal human being at all." Drake shrugged it off, grinning in response.

"Mine's much more advanced. Now, you sit tight and I'll get that miso soup for you." She nodded, accepting that he wanted to play nurse and returned to bed. Once she was back in their room he walked to the fridge and pulled out random ingredients.

"Umm...we don't have what we need for miso soup. Is Ramen okay?" What followed was a fairly noncommital noise, but since Kirani was sick Drake was willing to take that as a 'yes'. So he tore open the package and put some water on the stove to boil.

Knowing it would take some time for the water to boil he leaned up against the counter and picked up the notice. Turning it over he looked at the address, but didn't recognize it. It seemed official, and it declared in bold letters: 'From the Past'.

"I just got a weird chill from this letter...freaky. Oh well, not like a letter can hurt me." He tore open the top and jerked back when mist sprayed in his face.

"What the hell was that?" He started to pull the letter out to investigate, but paused when his vision suddenly blurred. He felt the word start to shift around him, and as his body slipped off the counter he had just one thought before darkness took him.

'I've been drugged...'

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Kirani awoke to the sound of a shrieking of some kind. Groaning she rolled over in bed and pulled the pillow over her head, trying to block out the noise. When it didn't go away immediately she forced herself out of bed and out into the rest of the apartment.

What she found was a pot on the stove boiling over, causing the shrieking sound. She frowned and dumped the nearby Ramen into it, letting it start the process. "Drake, pay attention, the water was boiling."

There was no response. "Drake?"

Still nothing, so now she was starting to get worried. In a slight panic she looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary except for a discarded letter laying on the ground. She knelt down and picked it up, slipping the letter out of the envelope. "What the...I'm back? What kind of letter is that?"

That was all the letter said. 'I'm back' and nothing else. "Drake...where are you?"

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At that moment Drake groaned and his eyes flickered open. "Damn I've got a headache."

Groaning he tried to sit up, but discovered that he was unable to. Frowning he looked down towards his body as best he could, and discovered exactly why he couldn't move. There was some kind of strap over his body, and he could feel straps on his ankles. In addition his arms were strapped down as well. "What the fuck is going on!"

"Ooo...you're awake." Drake pulled his head up slightly to see who was there, and he felt his breath leave him from the shock. Standing just half a dozen feet away was a beautiful older woman with shoulder length black hair and frighteningly green eyes.

"Yumi...no...this is just a nightmare, that's all." Yumi smirked and sauntered over, stopping right beside the table he was strapped down on. Idly she traced a hand down his chest, tapping his scars as she reached each one.

"No, not a nightmare at all. It's a dream come true. All that time that I was in jail? All that time they were trying to rehabilitate me? You should have known that it was useless, and now I'm out. I've got backing now, and my backer helped me get out. In exchange for doing certain things for him...I get you." Drake's eyes widened, realizing quite suddenly that this was real.

He closed his eyes and focused, reaching into the depths of his soul to pull upon the magic that would let him break these bonds. But when he dipped into that pool of mystic energies the energy seemed to slid away. "I heard you had magic, but don't bother. The drug I used prevents you from accessing your magic."

Drake grimaced and opened his eyes again, pulling at the bonds, trying to break free. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Want? Just what I've always wanted. You of course. Oh sure I've had lots of other guys before...but you, you were always special. I just never knew how special until recently. When I saw you when you were eleven I knew you were someone who mattered, someone who could do something important in life. And it gave me chills to know that I could do whatever I wanted with you." Just to demonstrate she shivered, smirking at the same time.

"You're out of your fucking mind. You think that forcing yourself on someone so much younger than you, making that person do things that no normal person would do makes you special? You get some thrill out of twisting kids values don't you?" Yumi chuckled at his response and started walking around the table.

"You know, when I was in jail they sent me to a psychiatric ward twice a week for treatment, trying to figure out what was wrong with me and make me better. You know what they figured out? I'm psychotic, and that's all there is to it. Guess I was just born this way right?" She laughed, coming around to the other side and then started tapping her fingernails against his chest.

"So you're a fucking sicko who does these things not because you had trauma in the past, but just because you want to? You're worse than I thought, and that's tough to say." He snarled, struggling against his bonds again, despite knowing that it was futile.

"I've done a lot of bad things in my life, and usually to good people. But you, you Drake are my crowning achievement. I took a little run down kid off the street with a broken heart and lots of potential and molded him into someone of true worth. I stripped you of your need for the stupid moralities of normal society...but then you had to go and remember your morals." She frowned for the first time, remembering it.

"You weren't my first kid I took in, or did things with. A lot of people might call me sick for taking specific interest in younger boys. But if they just tried it, they'd see that corrupting a youth, seeing them grown and change, seeing the looks on their faces...it's the most exquisite thing one can imagine!" She closed her eyes and shivered, a chill running down her body at the very thought of it.

"I've always wondered...are you trying to make kids as warped and fucked up as you are because you can't have children of your own? Or is it just because of the sick pleasure you get out of it?" Yumi snapped her eyes open and glared down at Drake, here eyes like emerald flames.

"The first time, when I was thirteen...that started because I had just learned that I was barren, that I'd never be able to have children. I had a babysitting job for a nine year old boy, the son of some very prominent people. I thought that if I couldn't have my own kid, maybe this boy could be mine. That was just the start though, because I started to enjoy it, and that became my all consuming reason. The pleasure of it." Drake clenched his fists, his body shaking with rage, remembering everything he knew about her, remembering his own experiences.

"You're the reason I've become like this! It's all your fucking fault you bitch! Even now, years later, when I feel that I've gotten away from you I haven't. I still get pleasure out of feeling skin break under my fists, even though I don't want to. And every day I can't stop myself from staring in the mirror and counting my scars, remembering how they happened. If I don't I feel like my head is going to explode...and every single messed up part of me is because of you!"

"That's right, you're my crowning achievement, my most spectacular success...and my most momentous failure. I took you in at age eleven and taught you everything about how depraved society could be, showed you how to be depraved right back, but when they came to take me away, you finally realized that maybe it wasn't what you wanted. You tried to block it out, to get away...but I couldn't let that happen." Her fingernails dragged down his chest, raking across the skin and breaking it.

Beads of blood gathered on his chest from where her nails were pressing in, but he barely noticed. "You stabbed me in the leg and tried to have the rest of the gang hold me down so you could rape me you sick bitch! And I'd rather die than be with you again, not after all you've done!"

"I can make you change your mind, I can make you want me again. But not this you, I need the you that you blocked out. I need the real you, and I need to see it, I need to feel that darkness covering me. The raw hate, the rage, the blood lust...that feral power that I saw that day. I have to make it my own or my life won't be complete. So come on, show me the real you!" She put her face just inches from his own, glaring down at him, her body shaking with anticipating and anger.

"The real me is dead and gone because of you! I've been trying to bring him back, bring back the real Daisuke who could have existed if it wasn't for you...but so far I haven't succeeded. But love is helping me do that...and maybe some day I'll be whole again." Yumi jerked back as if bitten, and she clenched her fists, her eyes ablaze.

"Love? That bitch that you live with? Kirani right? You can't return to the Drake that I want so long as she's alive can you? But maybe...just maybe...I can bring out the real you if you watch her suffer in front of your very eyes." Drake stared at her in horror, shaking his head.

"No! Don't touch her! If you touch her I swear by every god that has ever existed I'll make you pay for it in spades! Suffering like you'd never understand, pain without measure! Touch her and I'll make you wish you were dead!" Yumi chuckled and sauntered away, moving into the darkness.

"Thanks for the encouragement. Give me an hour, maybe two tops and she'll be back here so you can watch her suffer." Then she was gone.

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Kirani groaned, her eyes flicking open. They darted around, desperately seeking an answer to just one question. "Where the hell am I?"

The last thing she remembered was finishing up an irritating drawn out conversation with the police on the telephone about the fact that Drake had gone missing and about the letter. Then she remembered opened the door and something coming at her really fast. "What hit me?"

"I did bitch. Get up so I can do it again and let our little boy toy enjoy the show." Kirani stood on her feet and found herself face to face with a beautiful woman with ebony locks of hair and emerald green eyes.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you talking about? What's going on?" The woman in front of her snickered and raised her fists, sliding into the exact same fighter's stance that Drake always used.

"Me? I'm Yumi, and I'm talking about beating your face in and making you nothing more than a rotting corpse on the ground. And I'm talking about doing it so that Drake can see it and so that his true self will be revealed." Yumi sneered and started hopping from foot to foot, eager to take action.

Kirani glanced off to her right, where she saw Drake strapped to a table, bound and gagged. He was struggling against his bonds, rage clearly showing in his eyes. "Let him go!"

She rushed for the table, but was put to a halt when a heavy blow landed against the back of her head, sending her careening towards the ground. She just barely caught herself and rolled away in order to avoid the pounding foot that would have connected with her skull. 'She's dead serious!'

Yumi pouted, watching as Kirani scrambled to her feet. "I was hoping you'd be a fighter, but while I bet you can handle yourself against the average person, you're no match for me. I'm on of the people who taught Drake how to fight, so even out of practice I can kill you with my bare hands any day of the week."

Kirani grimaced and threw herself to the side as Yumi came barreling towards her at great speed, her fists swinging. She barely managed to escape the strike, and the blow clipped the side of her head, stunning her. 'She's so fast!'

"You can't dodge much longer, I can see already that you aren't doing too good. And I can tell I haven't hit you enough to cause all that. Guess I caught you at a bad time didn't I?" Yumi smirked in the same fashion that Drake often did, and then charged in again, fists at the ready.

The blow slammed Kirani into the nearby wall, and she cried out in pain. Then Yumi was right in front of her, pinning her against the wall with her hands. "I'm going to enjoy watching you scream for mercy as I gut you. But maybe...just maybe, I should let you watch as I take Drake while he's all helpless and do what I tried to do to him about seven years ago, when he left the gang. Rape him."

Kirani's eyes went wide, and she didn't need to hear Drake's muffled screams of rage to know that it was true, and that Yumi's threats were real. "You can tell can't you? You've been with him...but I'll let you in on a secret. I taught him everything he knows, and I started when he was just thirteen. Pretty cool isn't it?"

"You...you psycho bitch!" Yumi screamed and jerked her hands away as if burned, and it looked like they had been, as steam was rising off of them.

"What in the hell is this!" Kirani's body was now surrounded by a red glow, and burning upon her forehead was a red symbol, the kanji for love.

"This is my power, a power inspired by Drake and used to stop people like you. The Heart of Love. So if you think you're going to hurt the man I love, then you've got another thing coming!" A wave of power slammed into Yumi, hurling her across the room.

Yumi struggled back onto her feet, looking bruised and a little worse for the wear after having been treated like a rag doll. "My backer told me that I might run into a little bit of magic trouble, so he gave me something to help out. Get ready to meet the newest and best mystical drug on the market."

She slid a rectangular metal case out of her pocket and flipped it open. It was revealed to have a padded interior, and five objects within. Snickering to herself the deranged woman pulled out the first of them, the biggest item, which was a syringe. "It's just getting started, so now let me show you the drug itself. This is Blood."

She held up another object, a vial of dark liquid that looked exactly like blood. Then she pressed it into the syringe and placed the tip of the needle against her arm. "Time to get freaky."

There was barely a twinge felt when she injected the mystical drug into her arm, but although the pain was virtually non-existent, the effect was almost instantaneous. She threw her head back and screamed, massive dark energies swirling around her. "This is it, this is the power that will make me your equal, and I've been told just how to use it!"

Darkness leaped out from around her and surrounded the two women and Drake, covering them in it. It seemed to go on and on into eternity, and it was a place that both Drake and Kirani recognized. "According to my backer, I think you should thank the effect of Blood for giving me this power. The power of a Darkness Game!"

She raised her left arm and a duel disk that was a deep crimson color appeared, deck already in place. "When I win this duel, I think I'll make you die very slowly, cursing Drake's name as you go down to the depths of hell itself. With hatred for him as the last words on your lips, I'm sure it will drive him over the edge!" (YLP: 4000)

Kirani wasn't surprised at all to find a DD3 suddenly attached to her arm, or that she had a deck in it. She drew five cards to start off with, ready to get going. "Fine, let's not delay. I'll teach you a lesson and keep you away from Drake forever." (KLP: 4000)

She scanned her hand, along with the card she had just drawn. Things didn't look good for her already, as she hadn't drawn anything but monsters. "I set a monster in defense mode. End."

Yumi eyed her curiously, but didn't comment. "Things are just going to get easier for me as the game continues. So I'll start with my favorite monster, Hell Cat(1800/1300), who attacks immediately!"

A giant feline covered in blood red razor fur charged out and slammed headlong into a burly warrior holding up a giant shield. "This monster has always protected the Gilfords and will always, since he has to be attacked first. He's Gilford's Guardian(0/2400)!" (YLP: 3400)

"Fine, my monster has to kill another monster to activate her effect, so I'll just set two cards face down and end my turn at that." Two cards appeared behind her monster, and then it was Kirani's turn.

Drake saw the look on her face, and though she was hiding it he already knew that she hadn't drawn anything useful. He also knew that her hand didn't contain anything useful either. "I special summon Gilford the Swift(1400/500) in defense. Then I normally set a monster."

Yumi snapped another card off her deck, and then slammed it down. "Hell Boar(1500/1100) is next on the list! Next I activate the continuous magic card, Mortal Blow. Whenever a monster is destroyed, for effects it is counted as being destroyed twice. So, I attack!"

Hell Cat darted out and slashed through Kirani's set monster, which was instantly obliterated. "Whenever Hell Cat destroys a monster you have to discard a card from your hand. But thanks to Mortal Blow you have to get rid of two. Hell Boar has a similar effect, so all I need to do is kill a monster with it and he'll gain four hundred attack."

Kirani frowned as two of the cards she was holding were forced into the cemetery. One of them was Gilford the Lightning, which she had been hoping on summoning in the next turn. "Fine, let's get on with this. I summon Kaiser Seahorse(1700/1650), and have it attack Hell Boar!"

Yumi blinked, seemingly surprised that her monster was crushed so easily. Kaiser Seahorse pierced through it with a single stab of its sword, leaving nothing else. "Bitch...you'll pay for that." (YLP: 3200)

Kirani started to roll her eyes, but a wave of dizziness nearly knocked her off her feet. 'No...in my condition how am I supposed to handle a Darkness Game? This isn't good at all, even the Heart of Love can't protect us completely.'

The psychotic woman drew, and then pointed to one of her set cards. "Since you killed one of my monsters last turn I can activate Pains of Regeneration, which lets me summon one dark type monster from the grave for each monster you killed last turn. So Hell Boar is back!"

Kirani wasn't bothered by the appearance of the monster, since it was too weak to do anything. "You seem confident, so I'll shake that confidence with this. Hell Wyrm(2700/2400) in attack mode!"

Both of Yumi's monsters vanished, only to be replaced by a massive dragon made out of bones and sinew. "This monster has trample, and when he destroys a monster I can draw a card. Not only that, but I activate my set card known as Call of the Haunted!"

Hell Cat clawed its way out of the ground, looking irritated that it had to use its claws for such a mundane purpose. Kirani frowned, looking at her three monsters, knowing that they were basically defenseless against this assault. "Hell Wyrm, attack Gilford's Guardian!"

A wave of icy breath from the undead dragon froze the guardian, which shattered moments later, taking a bare minimum chunk from Kirani's life points. "Next Hell Cat destroys Kaiser Seahorse!"

The cat slashed the monster in half, leaving her with nothing to defend her but Gilford the Swift. Although the damage to her life points was minimal, things didn't look good. "Now thanks to my monster's effects and Mortal Blow I draw two cards and you lose your last two." (KLP: 3600)

Kirani's final two cards went to the cemetery, leaving her with absolutely nothing to work with. There was one positive factor though. "You're lucky I got a bad hand, because you missed out on a thousand damage. Had you killed my Seahorse with the Wyrm instead of the Cat I'd have taken more damage. I'm out two cards, and an extra monster, but those cards are better off in the grave anyways."

"Not like I care, you're going to lose anyways, so it doesn't really matter. But first I play one of the two cards I drew. Hinotama!" A fireball shrieked out of the darkness and slammed into Kirani, dropping her to her knees, gasping in pain. Yumi could only laugh at the younger woman's pain and Drake's struggles. (KLP: 3100)

"Now since I'm done with that, I set two cards face down. Just wait a little longer my Drake, and then we'll see the real you now won't we?" She smirked, confident that victory was already hers.

Kirani struggled to find her breath, knowing that the attack normally wouldn't have done as much damage. But the regular buffers she had against strikes in the Darkness Realm was nearly gone thanks to her weakness. "I...I'm not out yet. I activate The Gathering Storm!"

Yumi frowned as Gilford the Swift exploded, and the electrical energy began to gather around Kirani. "What's going on?"

"It's simple. At the cost of one monster on my field, The Gathering Storm lets me draw five cards from my deck. All monsters with 'Gilford' in their name that I draw will be special summoned, but won't be able to attack. So, since Gilford the Swift was my sacrifice, let's get this underway!" She slipped five cards off her deck, and then without looking at them she picked up three and held them up above her duel disk.

"These cards are my answer to you, so come on out, Gilford of Thunder(1800/400), Gilford of Thunder(1800/400), and Gilford of Thunder(1800/400)!" Three identical monsters touched down on her field at the same moment, readying their weapons for battle.

"So you've summoned an army of wimps. Big deal, it won't help you. Even if they were strong enough, you said yourself that they can't attack me. And with just two cards in your hand they can't help." Yumi snickered, but stopped her laughs when Kirani started snickering as well.

"You don't get it because you don't know effects well enough. When Gilford of Thunder is summoned I get to draw one card from the top of my deck and one from the bottom. And if you can count, I just summoned three. So how many cards is that?" Yumi's eyes went wide as she instantly did the math. She hadn't completed her education, but that was an easy one.

"Six cards..." Kirani nodded and slipped three cards off the top of her deck and then grabbed three from the bottom. She added them all to her hand, giving her a grand total of eight cards. And they were bound to help her out in some way or another.

"Now, I bet you think that you'll stop my plan with your set cards. But I have plans on my own, so it's time to unleash a storm. A Heavy Storm!" Yumi snarled as her two face down cards and her two permanent cards were blown away. And since Call of the Haunted was gone, so was Hell Cat.

"Bitch I'll" She was cut off when a massive bolt of lightning slammed into her remaining monster, blowing it apart and causing her to stumble backwards.

"You won't do anything, because I just sacrificed my three monsters for Gilford the Lightning(2800/1400) whose special ability just blew away your monster. Now with the way cleared, I attack you directly!" Gilford snapped his weapon around, and lightning arched into Yumi's body, making her scream in pain. (YLP: 400)

Smoke rose from Yumi's body, but in mere moment's the woman's wounds faded and she looked good as knew. "Ah, another wonderful benefit of Blood. With it's help I'll blow you away in just a few short turns!"

Kirani sighed, used to hearing such silly threats. But now that she was back in the game, there was little that Yumi would be able to do. "I set three magic or trap cards face down. Now, it's just about time for you to die."

"You're so confident, but you don't realize that you've practically handed me the win. Since you destroyed all of my monsters last turn I can now activate Hell Blast, which will destroy Gilford the Lightning and deduct its attack points from your life points!" Gilford's body exploded, tossing Kirani into the air. Her energies cushioned her, but just barely. (KLP: 300)

"Since there's little else I can do, I'll just set one monster face down and a magic or trap card behind it." Finishing with her turn because she had emptied her hand, Yumi studied her opponent carefully, noting just how much pain Kirani seemed to be in. There was little she'd be able to do now.

Kirani frowned, not quite sure what to make of this. But she had to do something, so she knew exactly what to do. "I summon Gilford-Mage of Lightning(1600/1400). Then I sacrifice him to destroy your set monster, just in case it's a flip effect."

Her monster appeared just in time to convert into lightning and zip across the field, blowing apart Yumi's set monster. The girl backed away, horror evident in her eyes as she stared down Gilford's blade. "No way, I was guaranteed I would win with Blood!"

"Yeah, well life isn't a guarantee, you have to work to get where you're going! There are no shortcuts, except to hell. Now I'll show you a shortcut there courtesy of Gilford's Thunderbolt Cut!" Gilford charged in, only for the entire field to collapse, and then be replaced by darkness again.

Yumi's frightened look faded away, replaced by laughter. "You fell for it and attacked, just like I knew you would! You triggered Unholy Calamity, which can only be played when the opponent attacks. It sends every card on the field to the cemetery, and since you've already summoned that means you're finished!"

Kirani held up the remaining three cards in her hand and thought about the situation. 'She's right, this is a bad situation. Two of my cards are monsters, but I can't summon either this turn since I used up my normal summon on Mage of Lightning. That means it's bluff time.'

She slipped the third card she held onto her duel disk, and it formed in front of her, ready to do some protecting. The best she could hope for was that Yumi wouldn't top deck anything useful, because if she did then it was over. "You know something Yumi, you should seek serious help."

"Oh, they already sent me to jail for help. After all, that's usually what they do when it's discovered that you're wanted for twenty-two counts of statutory and eighteen of child molestation. Plus random counts of larceny, arson, public nudity, and about fifteen other cute little crimes." Kirani stared at the woman in horror, barely able to believe that a regular human being was capable of acting that way about crimes like those.

"You...you sicken me. You shouldn't even be part of the human race." Yumi shrugged, smiling at what she saw out of the corner of her eyes. It was Drake, thrashing against his bonds like a madman.

'Little does Miss Priss know that my backer gave me a little secret to getting what I want. Drake's condition is linked to this duel, so the further I get the closer he is to unleashing his true self, the one I want. The Drake that I gave birth to, my son himself. My prize. And when I win, he'll be born again to be with me forever!' Kirani stared at Yumi in confusion, unsure what the woman was doing just standing there and smirking.

'Must be an inner monologue. It's really long too.' All she could do now was wait out the psycho woman's monologue and hope she got on with it soon. Nearly all of Kirani's energy was already gone, leaving her with very little left to continue the duel. She had to end it soon, or she'd fall prey to the darkness.

'I can't beat this Kirani girl normally, so it's time I pull out the last stopper and finish her.' She reached out and tapped the life point counter of her duel disk, frowning like she was thinking. But in reality she had triggered a special compartment that slid a brand new card on the top of her deck. It was state of the art, and guaranteed to never be seen by anyone.

She drew, and her eyes widened in mock surprise. "Look at this, would you guess what I've just drawn? Why it's the key to winning this duel! Get ready to burn bitch, and when you're finished roasting Drake will be mine. Hinotama, activate!"

The fireball flew straight at Kirani, and Yumi could practically taste victory already. It tasted a lot like Drake she could imagine. 'A few more seconds and I've won!'

"Of all the cards you could have drawn, that was the wrong one! Reveal trap, Lightning Reflective Surface! This splits all effect damage between the two of us!" Yumi's eyes widened as the ball of flame split into two smaller halves, and one struck each of them. (YLP: 150, KLP: 50)

Yumi sputtered, barely able to believe what she was seeing. Although she was almost instantly healed of the minor damages by Blood, she now had a completely empty field, nothing that could be played from the grave, and no hand. In other words...she had lost. 'But...I was supposed to win. My backer promised me that Kirani would fall, those were his exact words!'

Kirani drew her card, her knees quaking as her energy seeped away. She had to finish this fast. "Kaiser Seahorse(1700/1650) in attack mode. Now..."

Her vision started going dark, and she reached out to her monster. She saw Drake thrashing at his bonds, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She hit the ground hard, and her vision went dark. Instantly Kaiser Seahorse shattered, fading away and leaving nothing.

Yumi stared at the fallen Kirani, and realized that her backer's words had proven true. Kirani had indeed fallen, and since she couldn't continue the Darkness Game...then she was the winner by default! "That's it, I've won! Now I get my reward, I get the real Drake!"

A scream of a terrible nature shattered her from her reverie, and she whirled around in time to discover something astonishing. A pillar of darkness was in the spot where the table had once been, and standing within it was a vague form that she knew had to be one person. "Drake? Is that you, the real you?"

A figure stepped out from the pillar of darkness, a pitch black trench coat flaring out behind him, so dark that it seemed to drink in the night. It was Drake, only he seemed to radiate some kind of terrible power, and he was sneering at her. "Bitch, you've never met the real me before. Now get ready to, because before the day is done, you're going to wish that your parents never even thought of fucking."

"Such dark power...what are you really? My Drake...he wouldn't look at me like that, I know it! I'm his mother and his lover at the same time, I'm his everything, I know it! Who the hell are you?" The man before her smirked in what was like a twisted and dark version of the one that Drake often wore.

"I told you. I'm the real Drake. This is the real me!"

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Author's Notes: I'd just like to say that Yumi is seriously warped. Just so we're on the record for that one. And yeah...I'm starting off the major action much faster this time around, so get ready for some fast past darkness.

Next Time: Light. Darkness. Hate. Love. Fear. Courage. The truth of who a person really is can only be discovered if you dig deep enough. Yumi has dug as deep as she can go, and now something from within will be unleashed. The only question is, which aspect is the real one?

See it all in, The Real Me!

Review Response

WolfGeneral: Thanks. I had fun bringing them in briefly like that.

LucienShadowMaster: Lol. I definitely find your version of Murphy's Law funny. Kudos.

G.O.T. Nick: As previous stated, all draws in both duels were real as I played them out. And you guessed right about Yumi.

Time Mage: Hell Spell Striker(as stated previously) cannot attack directly under any circumstances, that's its draw back. Unholy Spell-Master requires a discard of a magic card to attack, and also has one other drawback that wasn't revealed in this chapter. Good guess about Serenity, but not quite.

Original Cards

Kirani: Gilford's Guardian, Gilford the Swift, The Gathering Storm, Gilford of Thunder, Lightning Reflective Surface

Yumi: Hell Cat, Hell Boar, Mortal Blow, Pains of Regeneration, Hell Wyrm

Anime/Manga Cards

Yumi: Unholy Calamity(technically there's a real version of this, but it's effect sends all m/ts on the field to the grave, so it's a trap Heavy Storm. The version in manga and anime that Malik nearly used on Joey had this effect)