Hello once again. Hope things have been good for you all this week. They have been up and down for me. First, I got news I have a job, but the problem is, my fiancé has one too, but hers will move her much further away… But there is hope, due that she has applied for another that is closer, which would allow us to move somewhere in the middle to split the difference. So, I'm hopeful. Of course, the other job that wants her to move further away wants an answer next Wednesday, and the job she wants that is closer might not decide who they want by next week. Sigh So much confusion and craziness now. At any rate, enough about that. It's time to do some reviews.

Divine Weapon: Lol, doubtful she'd kill him, although some days I ponder if she would irl. Gets smacked in the back of the head by rl Marie. I mean I know she'd never hurt me…

MarkMachine: Ah, don't worry about the not reviewing. I do that sometimes, but I've started trying to review more, seeing how I know now how it feels to not get any, lol. Yes, she usually builds up a rather large collection of life points. Her Deck Master just goes crazy and builds up her points. As for the connection to her life points getting so high and the story, there really is none. It's just her Deck Master's special ability, and as you noticed, it's harder for her to lose with the build up of points. Lol, I know, the gang seemed to end up gone, but I didn't want to focus on them entirely. They're there watching, but just no comments are being booted out by them specifically. What I was trying to say about that skirmish was show Illidan had grown stronger, but as Gozaburo soon proved, he was still no match. The crown has more power than the seven items combined, even with Illidan's new power. Thanks for trying to help with guessing the time difference though. My best guess would be it's five years or more, and more than likely it's under ten, so I'm thinking possibly six years. Lol, why six, no idea. Mostly due that it'll work for the new story I'm working on.

pink-kiss-candy: Lol, as for Ryou lasting longer, doubtful. Illidan's strategy that game was pretty easy. Get CED out, blast the field, end game instantly. Watches the cat fight getting ready to happen. Maybe I should sell tickets, or we could put it in… Smacked in the back of the head again by Marie. Never mind…

Isis the Sphinx: Thanks for the congrats. When I started this story, I thought it'd only be fifty chapters or so. I soon realized it would be longer than that, lol. I spent so much time on details, that it ended up getting longer and longer. Not to mention, I fell in and out of writing on it due to school. But anyways, yeah, a short chapter, but oh well.

Metal Overlord 2.0: Lol, yeah. It was a very short duel. Due to the setup Illidan had that duel, he easily won. Keith hasn't dueled well in a very long time, and probably will never duel well, lol. The monster that Gozaburo will have isn't connected to the crown in the past by the way, but was connected in the future. Let's just say, this card will definitely change things.

Well, that's all I have. Btw, I am about to post another chapter of my fiancé's story. This chapter deals with Illidan's past, and I think you all will find it very interesting. Here is a link if anyone is interested: The History of the Millennium Items She did a great job on his past, and you learn more about his mysterious past before he met Marie. Btw, if you look, feel free to review it. She loves reviews as much as I do, so don't hesitate to say whatever you feel about it.

I'm finished for now, but I'll post more again next week. I hope I keep getting lots of reviews like I am. I enjoy answering them each time I post. Anyways, till Monday, enjoy.

Chapter 61

Once the duel was over, and the victory celebration was done, everyone turned in for bed. After waiting an hour for things to settle down for the night, Illidan got back up and snuck down the hall to Marie's room by using his Millennium Key. He silently went inside, hoping she wasn't asleep.

There on her bed, like before, sat Marie, sitting in a meditative state. Illidan slowly walked towards her, letting his shroud of darkness disappear. Once it was gone, she opened her eyes to smile at him. Her Millennium Necklace was glowing, confirming that he was right that she was looking into the past again.

"Or could it be the future?" he silently thought.

Marie slowly stood and walked towards him, saying "I see you decided to come to see me again Illidan. I'm glad."

Smiling back, Illidan came up to her and she led them to her bed once again. He sat down beside her, taking hold of her hands.

Holding her hands with tenderness, Illidan stared into her eyes and said "Marie, I want to know, if you can tell me, why my Millennium Key is so much stronger now than it was back in ancient times. You know as well as I do that I wasn't half as strong as I am now. What happened?"

Smiling at him, she stared back into his brown eyes and sighed, saying "I wish I knew for sure Illidan, but I don't. I do have a theory though."

Curious, Illidan replied "Ok..."

"You see Illidan, you were older when you first received the Millennium Key. Also, you weren't as spiritually strong then, although when I first met you, you were the strongest member of Yami's court. I can only guess that one of three things has possibly happened."

Pausing for a moment, she smiled again and continued, saying "First, the Millennium Key grew in strength from being worn by Shadi possibly. Don't forget, he held onto your item for five millennia, so he had time to train with it, not to mention store energy within it. My second possible theory that I have is you grew stronger in death than you could have in life. It's true that when one died in ancient times, you grew in spiritual strength. But when you died, you grew much stronger apparently, possibly stronger than ever possibly could have during a life time."

Illidan thought for a moment, but then interrupted, saying "Wait, back in ancient times, when we still had our Shadow Powers, it was said that you grew in strength and power at large gaps till you was to turn eighteen, in which point you slowed in growing. Your powers may still grow, but not as fast as they once did. I know that me, you, Yami, and the others all were the exception to the rule though, for we trained constantly and kept pushing one another to new heights. Still, it makes no sense that I'd be this strong. I'm far stronger than I was, as well as far stronger than Yami was and is currently."

Marie smiled, and replied "Well, that's true, but Yami has yet to realize his full power. Don't forget, he wiped his memory, making him forget how to fully tap into his powers from ancient times. Still, he's stronger now than he was, but not as strong as you are."

Sighing, Marie then said "Anyways, there is a third possibility too. This possibility is a combo of the two other possibilities that has made you this strong. That's all I can figure out at this time. Really, I'm not sure why you grew so strong. You just got stronger, somehow."

Each then sighed as they then looked at the ground. Illidan's mind was a buzz, realizing there was no explanation at the moment. "So, not even Marie is sure why I'm stronger."

Marie then chimed in, waking him from his thoughts. "I do know this much Illidan. The past is wrapped up in this tournament. In the end, the true evil will be revealed."

With a look of bewilderment on his face, Illidan asked "What do you mean Marie? The true evil is this Gozaburo, isn't it?"

Shaking her head, she slowly explained. "No, it's not. The evil that one of us will have to fight is from five millennia ago."

Illidan's face then went white with fear. "The same evil as five millennia ago. That means…"

"You mean Gozaburo Tark, the one we fought five millennia ago?" he asked.

Nodding, Marie replied "I believe so. I've caught slight glimpses of him in my visions of the final duel. Just glimpses, but glimpses can usually lead to the truth. I'm not sure though. My visions of the future are becoming much harder to concentrate on. No matter what I seem to do, I can't concentrate on the future visions. They've become more and more clouded. It's like something or someone is blocking me."

Thinking for a moment, Illidan finally asked "Is it possible that Gozaburo is blocking your visions with the Millennium Crown?"

Looking into Illidan's eyes, she shook her head no, saying "I don't think so. If it is him, then he's learned to control the Millennium Crown a lot better than before. But I can't see how someone could do that. It seems impossible for him to be able to cloud the future. It would take a large amount of concentration and power for a person to block someone's visions. Not even I could do that, I think. It would take all I had to, at the least, and seeing how I'm the strongest one with the ability to see the future, I don't know how he could do it."

"You're forgetting something though Marie. Gozaburo's Millennium Crown is much stronger than your Millennium Necklace. His crown allows him to use his powers to a greater extent than your own, meaning he might be able to see farther into either the past or future, and might be able to see it better than you can. Also, his power may cloud the visions of others. Who knows what all he's capable of."

Sighing, Illidan then thought for a moment and finally said "We still don't know what Gozaburo Tark was capable of in those times. We had such a short battle with him that we really will never know what all he could do with the Millennium Crown. But we do know one thing, and that is he had immense power. It was building up during that battle before I took him down. I think if that fight had dragged on any longer than it had back then, none of us would have survived."

Suddenly, his last words made memories of that sad time resurface within him. Closing his eyes, he mentally scolded himself for his so called failures. "I should have been able to stop him. Why couldn't I save them all immediately? I could have saved Yami. No, I should have, but I refused to fight him at first. We gave him too much time and he was able to get strong enough to even take on Yami and me. I was such a fool for allowing him to harm Yami."

Silent tears started streamed down his face due to the painful memories of that day. Marie noticed the tears and pulled him into a hug. She then kissed the tears away. "After all these years, he still blames himself for that day. He blames himself for Yami's death, and for not being able to protect me, when in all actuality, it was never his fault. He did the right thing that day by offering a peaceful solution to Gozaburo, but that fool refused him. I know he fought his hardest that day to save us all, but there was nothing he could have done differently. It took everything he had to just win that fight. I felt the pain he had in his heart that day, and I still can feel it."

Her memories then took her back to the years after that horrible day with Gozaburo, how Illidan had seemingly slipped into some kind of depression. It didn't affect him all the time, but at times, he was one of the saddest people to be around. It broke her heart to see him masking the pain, but occasionally, from time to time, he would finally break down.

She remembered how his depression and pain lessened when their children were born, for the pain was pushed aside, and love filled the void. Still, she saw the pain flare up on occasion, but not as often as it had in earlier years. Even before she had died, he was still tormented by nightmares of that day. Every time he had one, she could hear him crying out how sorry he was to Yami for failing him. He would then usually wake up, soaked in sweat and crying. She would try and calm him down for hours on end, doing anything that she could. Eventually, he always calmed down. It would sometimes take him short periods of time, others long hours, but she always seemed to find a way to calm him back down.

From what she'd seen in her visions of the past, she saw that once she had died, Illidan lived on for a month longer, tortured by his past and grief of her passing. He was tortured by not only that dark day, but the loss of the one person that truly understood and loved him for all that he was. When he was finally put to rest, Illidan's soul could only await the day he'd be reincarnated.

She then realized the same evil that nearly tore them apart five millennia ago now was returning, and this made Illidan more and more worried about her. She remembered that he nearly made the ultimate sacrifice back in ancient times to save everyone, but now he was stronger, which was good, but there was a new development. This new Gozaburo was still even stronger than Illidan, and he had had more time to learn about the powers of the Millennium Crown. It was obvious he was stronger than Illidan due to the battle he had had a night before against Gozaburo.

That left the question of if not even Illidan could stand against Gozaburo, who could? Yami was a little stronger than he was in ancient times, but not as strong as Illidan now. No one stood a chance really against Gozaburo in a Shadow Duel at the present time. Each item individually would be easily overpowered. Illidan's Millennium Key could very well be the best item of the group that stood a chance against the crown, but still, even all seven items together wouldn't be able to stop Gozaburo.

Marie then noticed that Illidan had slowly stopped crying. Finally, drying his eyes, he hugged her back, whispering in her ear "Thank you."

He pulled back then and looked into her eyes. "She knows me so much better than anyone else. And only she can seem to calm me down. She knows it's not my fault, but deep down, I still believe it is. I… I just wish I'd have been able to protect them all better that day."

Smiling at him, she kissed his cheek, saying "I love you Illidan, and I will always love you."

He kissed her gently and then pulled away. Slowly, he rose, saying "We need to go get some sleep. Thank you Marie, for everything."

She then stood and hugged him and gave him a small kiss. He then covered himself in darkness again and left for his room. Once there, he jumped in bed, knowing that the next day would be another long one.