(a/n: i think the shadow games should be wrapped up in this chapter. this is going to be the big finale and the explination chapter, so it'll be kinda long smile so, i think i'll just let you read it smiles bigger)
---Shadow Realm---
The dust and smoke was clearing away. The tears kept falling on Haruka and 7734's faces. They were crying out of pain and sorrow. Both of them wanted peace and freedom from the pain they were suffering from their unknown memories.
"Tell me something..." Yasgiloth stood up, his right forearm gone as Haruka and 7734 began to bleed from their left knee.
"What?"
"Does this 'Lyman' character know your feelings for him?"
She looked away. "No. He doesn't even acknoledge me most times. I am his student after all. There's no way I can be anything to him because I'm sure I mean nothing to him. But you are wrong, Yasgiloth." She looked over her shoulder at Jaden and a smile crept onto her face and she closed her eyes 'That's right. Jaden can handle this problem, even without me.' She turned back to Yasgiloth, her eyes stern. "There is another way to see if all these things your telling me is true."
Egyptian Puppet Master Mokuba walked forward. He looked back at his brother, who smiled encouragingly. He walked up to Yasgiloth and held out his hand.
"What is this?"
"Take his hand." Haruka sounded like she'd lost. "There's something I need to show all of you. But you are the only one I can share my powers with. There's a memory that rings true in my life. It's the only one I can remember clearly and I want to know if you know who someone is." She was talking mostly to Jaden. "I don't know how well I can do this, but you can help me, Jaden Yuki. You, your friends, your enemies, all of them, can help me if they can name the man in my memory." She reached out as Yasgiloth took Mokuba's hand. She touched Jaden's hand and everything seemed to melt into a mesh of colors.
---Haruka and 7734's memory---
Little 7734 was helping Amnel put Lyman Banner's body into a coffin. The body was still clothed in his science attire and Amnel had tears cascading down his face. He kept fixing his glasses as if he was trying to conseal some tears that he didn't want to let loose.
"Haruka?"
"Go away." 7734 sat in the corner, her shoulders shaking. "I-it wasn't my fault."
"Haruka!" He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. "I'll take all that pain away, don't worry."
"I already don't remember you. Go away! Go... away."
Time seemed to pass quickly and Haruka was back and her face was stern. She stared at the coffin propped up on the wall. She looked stern and completly different. She slowly turned on her heel and the skirt she wore revealed scars and wounds that hadn't healed. She was letting them bleed. Her hair was long and was clumped together by dried blood. There was a gash across her left cheek, a fresh one that would mysteriously disappear later in her life. She wore an old white scientist jacket that was bloody, just like her legs, arms and face were. She was standing over a console and was staring down at the keys. "What am I doing here? Where is here?" She looked around her. "Why am I so battered?"
"You, you are Haruka Tenoh Kaiba."
"Who's there?" She whirrled around, her long hair sweeping out and she stared at a shadow that was blocking the entrance/exit. "What do you want?" she asked lightly. "If your looking for someone, it might not be me. I know about an abandon dorm above me. The students there disappeared misteriously. If your looking for an answer, I don't have it." She turned back to the consol.
"Your name is Haruka Tenoh Kaiba. You should take Kaiba Corperations for yourself. You have more potential than Seto or Mokuba have. I can give you a deck that will beat them both. I can give you a life that will bring about a beautiful age of Kaiba Corperations!"
"Not interested."
"Oh? You will be when I finish with you!" He lunged forward and the streak of grey hair, red suite, and evil eyes flashed for a moment before everything turned black.
---Shadow Realm---
7734 fell to one knee and she was gasping for breath as her eyes seemed to fog with frustration. She slammed her fist into the ground and caused a crack that sent a shock through the ground. "Who the f--- was that?" she yelled in agrivation and frustration. "Tell me, do you know?"
Jaden sighed and thought carefully. "I read about a guy named Gozoburo Kaiba. It was during my history class. I skipped around in my text book and found this whole section on Kaiba Corperation's history. He did have a picture, that guy looked awfly a lot like Gozoburo. Is that the only memory you have?"
"Yeah."
"You suck."
"Urk! Gee! Thanks!" Haruka looked a little irritated, but her eyes were blue. She suddenly looked a little shy as she muttered something about just knowing she had other things she promised and had to do.
"Jaden..." It was Banner. He looked a little angry.
"P-prof?"
"YOU IGNORED MY LESSONS? Why? You skipped the whole Kaiba Corperation lesson, didn't you? You failed the test the first time and then aced it because you read the section after the test? Why do you torment me like this?" Banner hadthat 'I hate everything about you' look.
"Er, prof?"
"Yes?" Banner asked, sounding defeated as he dropped his head and let his arms hang limp for a while.
"This really isn't the time for this!" Jaden and Bastion lunged at him, knocking him down as a blast of lightning went past. Bastion sighed and shook his head. "This is getting out of hand! They aren't paying any mind to us! We need to get out of here!"
"Good idea! Question on that matter!" Jaden had to yell to be heard over the roar of monsters fighting, yells of pain as they dissappeared, clashing of bombs, and the clash of two powers.
"What?"
"How do we do that?"
Zane ran past with Syrus under his arm and slammed his free fist into a wall that cracked to reveal the safety of reality. "Just punching it isn't always the best way, but it's probably the only way out! Now go!" Zane threw Syrus through and helped Bastion and Jaden through.
Banner was the last one. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. He knew the battle was ending and he saw her tears. He didn't want this much to happen. This was to much. As the leader of the Shadow Riders, he didn't want to send her, the only one he loved, to her grave like this. He looked at Zane's outstretched hand and back at Haruka's back as she fended off several blasts and back to the comfort of Duelist Academy. He made up his mind and turned around and ran towards Haruka.
'I love her. I really do. I can't just let her die alone!'
A blast that cracked and shook the air found it's way onto Haruka's back. She gasped and her red and blue eyes widened as her pupils shrank. She was spewing blood from her mouth and she looked as if she were an angelic dancer dancing on the floor ofthe water's depths. She slowly staggared back and then the monsters of her's ran to her side, cradeling her to the ground.
Banner felt like his heart was torn out of his chest for a moment and he lunged forward and set off one of his Alchemy Beasts and picked Haruka up in his arms. He felt the warmth of blood trickling down his arm from the wound on her back. The visions of the angel was fading away as she smiled warmly at him.
"Lyman?"
"Please, don't talk just yet. Let me take you back to Duelist Academy, please."
She shook her head. "I can't go back now. I can't change what's been done. I have to keep my promise to you, the one I could never keep as a child." She reached up and touched his cheek. "Let me keep that smile on your face, let me see you happy for once in your life, let all your cares just drift away into space and vanish like the never ending sky of blue vanishes to the black of night. I want you to smile for the rest of your life, even if it costs me mine. Please, Lyman, smile for me before I go? Just once, let me love the man I killed, so I can be at peace?"
"Yes." Banner gave her a sweet, serene smile and leaned down, his hair falling around her and him.
"They're so cuuute!" Bastion said sorrowfully. "It's so romantic! A promise revived... a love sparked... and pasion ignited! It's like something out of a fairy tale."
"Only this fairy tale is about to collapse around them." Zane pointed. "She's about to give her life up to her monsters that she cared for and for the man she loved. This is no fairy tale 'happily ever after', it's more of a horrific 'and then they parted' sort of ending."
"Still, you have to admit, that's kinda sweet." Jaden smiled. "Hey! Ya never know! They may get a second chance if she makes it out alive."
Banner's lips parted from Haruka's and her eyes slid open to watch his smile.
"Look, Haruka, he's smiling again. Let's keep it that way for him." 7734 slowly got to her feet, staggaring back and forth, trying to get a steady base. "Yasgiloth! My name, my human name, the name I've had since I was little, the name of your daughter, Haruka Tenoh! The Distant Lord of the Heavens! The name of your father and of your daughter! Please, I beg of you, father, let us live! Don't give us away again! Not again!" Tears streaked down 7734's face and Haruka's as he sent his monsters after her. Her monsters stood up in a barricade, but she simply raised her hand. "No. There is a way to stop this fight. It will cost me more wounds, but I will do everything in my power to bring you down, down to Earth, down to where there is someone waiting for your gentle warmth. Father! Yasgiloth! I will bring you down! Take it with all you've got!"
She threw her hands forward and thrust out all the energy she had. It sent back several huge spikes as it went. One of them blew clean through Haruka's leg and she simply stood her ground. A shard of something silver came blasting back and caught her in the eye and she fell back. She saw, through her good eye, Banner climbing through the clear white opening, a tear falling down his cheek as he held onto Haruka's gift to him.
This was it. If this didn't work, Haruka would have lost both her father, her life, and her beloved. She sighed and closed her eyes as she applyed preasure to her wounded eye. She would never know that that was 7734's eye until it was to late. She lay there, cold creeping through her bones and her body. She thought of death and knew that the one that she'd seen shot was her, she was about to experience that exact same thing that the person had felt. She slowly got to her feet once more and she looked up at the never ending abyss of the Shadow Realm and smiled.
'Ah... So this is the end, is it? This is the place I'll die in. I'll die in the dark, die all alone.'
'No. Not alone. I'm still here. We've found the missing link. We've discovered our memories. This isn't the end, at least, not alone.'
'This world has seen enough darkness. We shouldn't give it more, 7734. I wish there was a way to escape this Shadow Realm and find that light again.'
'I can only control the Shadow Realm while we're consious. Once we're out, we're out. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make it.'
'But... what about you?'
'I see no reason to interfere anymore. I've done my job. My job was to keep that promise to Lyman and Amnel. I did.'
'You made a promise? Another one?'
'Yes. I promised Amnel that I'd keep his smile on his face. I promised Lyman to love the one I love with all the power I can, to protect that heart that has been beating for someone they long for and love, so I protected Amnel. I have served my perpous in this life... now it's your turn. Take care of yourself and never forget the light of day and the warmth of his heart.'
The blast sent her flying out the crack and smashing into the wall. She groaned and fell to the ground, the Shadow Realm dissappearing into nothingness. Yasgiloth stood there, his whole body frozen, not even a breath entering his soul. His eyes were dead and his body growing cold.
Banner felt his heart racing as Haruka slowly began to fall down the stairs. She was stopped by Bastion and Jaden. The two of them hoisted the girl up onto their shoulders and carefully dragged her back up the half of the stairs she'd fallen. Jaden looked at Banner and smiled. "She's alive!"
Banner's heart began to slow. 'Thank goodness!' He looked down at the gift she'd given him and smiled. He opened his hand to reveal a sterling silver pendant in the shape of an alchemy circle with a braided chain of sterling silver. In the center of the circle was a beautiful pink sapphire. The whole thing shimmered brightly in the soft glow of the lights above. 'So I won't have to live alone forever, just until she's back on her feet.'
"HARUKA!" It was Yasgiloth. He lunged forward and nailed the unconsious girl face down on the metalic steps. He slammed his fist into her back shoulder. She rolled over and he pounded into her face. He repeated this treatment over and over, smothering her blood all over his hands. "You bastard! You witch! I hate you! I hate you! I--!"
"It's rude to hit a lady." Bastion held Yasgiloth's hand steady. His strength was consealed and he was holding Yasgiloth from harming Haruka. "She's suffered enough. Don't harm her again."
"Papa..." Haruka was reaching up and her hand touched Yasgiloth's face and he gasped. "...I remember you, papa. Papa. I love you, papa." She fainted as a loss of blood.
Yasgiloth's eyes remained dead and he just fell back into Bastion. "She's alive... Take care of her, all of you, please?" His question just lingered in the air and he stared at the ceiling. "She's got a lot of potential. Don't let her die, I beg you."
"She won't. I'll make sure of that." Banner stood behind Bastion. "This duel is over! The Deulist Academy will stand strong! All Shadow Riders will have to stand down!"
This ended the battle and began a new life with a girl who now knew who she was and a man who knew what he wanted.
"This is then end. The end of the end but the begining of something new. This world cannot live without it's end at the begining. The world of peace, trust, and beauty cannot survive without hatred, deceit, and ugly battles. There is no way of having one thing without having it's opposite. One cannot have nothing without having something. One cannot live in a perfect world so one makes due with what one has." (These were words I discovered to be true, so hee hee!)
