Hello once more. Glad to see everyone is enjoying how things are going. Well, time to answer some more reviews.

pink-kiss-candy: Thanks. Lol, my fiancé was semi surprised I could actually write romantic stuff. You'll find a boyfriend, don't worry. It may take time to find the right one, but you'll find them. I got lucky on my first try, but I'm sure you'll find someone. There is someone for everyone out there, so just be patient. Watches Ryou run for his life I don't think he wants the job…

Metal Overlord 2.0: Thanks. Lol, possibly it's a tad cliché, but oh well. It is a good card, but unfortunately, it wasn't out when I wrote the duel, I think… I could be wrong, lol. I just can't remember.

Isis the Sphinx: Yeah, I hope our jobs don't split us up either. We're going to find out this week more than likely if it will or not. I'm really hoping it don't.

Looking over my chapters coming up, I decided to put the entire duel between Illidan and Marie up this week. It's so spread out that I figured I'd better post it all in one week, so I'll post two chapters today, one each day afterwards except Friday, where I'll post two chapters again. So, hope you all like that idea.

Also, if you're curious to some of Illidan's past, I again suggest reading my fiancé's story. It will explain several things in the future when you read about his past. Figured I'd throw that in. Well, for now, I'm out, so enjoy.

Chapter 62

"ILLIDAN!" Illidan sat straight up out of bed, shaking, crying, and soaked in sweat as usual from his horrible nightmare of his past. Then he remembered it wasn't a nightmare, it was a memory. The memory that he hated the most of all his ancient past memories. The one of the dark day that Gozaburo unleashed the power of the Millennium Crown.

Sitting there trembling and crying, he realized he couldn't regain control of himself. "It's just like the past. I never could stop, not without Marie's touch, her love. I know it's not my fault, but it still feels like it. I couldn't stop him. Not even Yami, who was stronger than me at the time, could stop him. Then why do I feel I'm to blame? There was nothing I could do that day. I did all I could to keep him from fighting everyone till he knocked me out. But yet I feel I am to blame. Why?" screamed those thoughts through his mind.

Slowly, Illidan got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Once there, he turned on the lights and wet a wash cloth with cold water. He then used it to wipe his face off. After a moment, he noticed a golden glow. Curious, he looked in the mirror to see that his Millennium Key was glowing.

Curious, he thought aloud "Why is it doing that?"

Suddenly, Illidan went blank as a vision appeared before him. The Millennium Key was now showing him a vision of that dark day.

There stood Gozaburo, wearing the Millennium Crown. He laughed at the other seven item holders, saying they were weak minded fools. He quickly took out Yami by sending him flying into a wall across the room with a mental wave of power.

Illidan was quick to put himself in between Gozaburo and Yami. He screamed at Gozaburo that he needed to stop and for him to try and regain control. He asked him to stop the insanity before he had to fight him. Of course, this made Gozaburo only laugh at this request as he pushed Illidan out of the way with his Millennium Crown.

Again and again, Illidan continued to block the path. He tried to hit Gozaburo with the power of his Millennium Key, but it was no use. Gozaburo easily deflected his blasts, showing Illidan how useless it was to try and attack him. Still, Illidan didn't stop trying to protect Yami. Yami was still on the ground, seemingly unable to stand back up. Illidan refused to let his pharaoh, brother-in-law, and most importantly friend, be killed by a madman.

Finally, Gozaburo hit Illidan hard enough with a mental wave that knocked Illidan into a wall, knocking him unconscious. In the meantime, Gozaburo had his way with Yami, smacking him hard with mental wave after mental wave. Satisfied at last, he turned to leave him in a bloody heap.

Bakura and Pegasus then jumped in, but to no avail. They were hit hard as well, and Gozaburo took his time to punish Pegasus severely, which cost Pegasus his eye sight in the end. Set then jumped in, attacking Gozaburo with his Millennium Rod. He had even pulled out the small sword that was hidden within it, but Gozaburo was never hit by Set once. For his defiance, Gozaburo then attacked Set with a mental wave that severed his right arm, making him scream out in pain as he dropped to the floor with blood pouring out from his wound. Gozaburo then smacked him hard with a mental wave for good measure, knocking Set hard into a wall which knocked him out. Shadi attempted to fight as well, but received the same treatment as the others to only be knocked out.

At last, everyone was down except Marie. She confronted Gozaburo, saying she refused to kill him, but she wouldn't allow him to get away with this treachery either. In all the insanity that Gozaburo was deep in, he simply asked her if she loved him. As she had told him for many years since she found out Illidan loved her, she rejected him again. She then lashed out at him with her power, knocking Gozaburo to the floor. She thought she had hit him hard enough to knock him out, so she turned to check on Yami. Little did she know, she hadn't knocked him out.

When she turned her back to check on Yami, Gozaburo rose again and pulled a dagger out of his cloak. He then quickly came up behind her and stabbed her, making her scream out Illidan's name.

As Illidan continued to watch this unfold through his vision, tears hit his eyes. He wished to see no more of this, but he had to. The vision wouldn't end. He then saw his past self drag his own body over to Marie's side. After figuring out she'd be alright, Illidan's past self let out a battle cry and attacked Gozaburo with all he had. He was punching, kicking, and attempting any kind of move that would make some sort of contact with Gozaburo.

At last, his past self made a sweeping kick at Gozaburo's feet, which caught Gozaburo off guard. The kick knocked Gozaburo off his feet and to the ground. This made his past self quickly grab his Millennium Key and rush to his foe's head. He then poured all the power he had into the key and used it all to send Gozaburo's mind to the Shadow Realm. His past self thought that was it, but for good measure, he kicked the Millennium Crown off of the soulless body. The crown rolled to the opposite side of the room and landed with a loud clunk.

Once satisfied that it was over, he slowly made his way back to his fallen love's body. He then laid beside her, holding her close and letting tears flow down his face for the fact he know she had suffered for no real reason.

Suddenly, the vision ended and Illidan was still looking in the mirror. His Millennium Key stopped glowing at this, but Illidan only looked in the mirror to see tears flowing down his face. The raw pain was deep and so real from that memory. He had watched the one he loved suffer at the hands of a madman yet again. And yet he was unable to do anything to protect her that day, other than seal Gozaburo's soul away.

Looking down at his Millennium Key, he thought about just throwing it into the ocean for making him have this vision again. Then he remembered he needed the Millennium Key to defeat Gozaburo. Standing there with clenched fists, Illidan's thoughts turned to anger. "These Millennium Items are nothing but trouble. All they seem to do is bring destruction and cause pain. What is the point of having these things to save mankind if they cause so much pain in the process?"

Almost like a response, he heard a voice in his head saying "We are in charge of protecting mankind from the darkness. Each of us has been given a chance to help save the world. We must do all we can to protect mankind and the ones that we love. If we don't, how else could we live with ourselves, knowing that we let them down."

Illidan then remembered that this was the speech he had given about the reasoning for creating the items in the first place. He and Yami had originally had the items created in order to contain the dark Shadow Magic of Egypt.

Sighing, Illidan took the wash cloth and wet it again. He then washed his face, and stared into the mirror. There staring back was a young man of 18 years of age, who was really a man who had lived in ancient times. His dark brown eyes showed so much pain behind them, but he was able to mask it rather well. Illidan stared for a few minutes longer, till he realized he had to press on.

"If I don't save everyone, then what will happen? What will happen to Marie, Yami, Bakura, Marik, Seto, and all the others? Will they die? Or will Gozaburo just torture them for all eternity?" he questioned to himself aloud.

Knowing the answers already, he replied "No, I won't quit now! I've come too far to let the darkness win. I won't let Gozaburo plunge this world into darkness for his own twisted reasons. I'll fight him to the bitter end, even if it means I must sacrifice my life to stop him. I won't let him destroy all that I love. All of these people, all of my friends and loved ones, I won't let them die because I wasn't willing to fight for them! I'll do all within my power to protect them, and I won't quit. I have to stop Gozaburo, at any cost."

Finally feeling in control of his emotions and self again, he looked at the clock on the wall. He about fell over when he saw it was only 2 A.M.

Grumbling, he said "Great…"

Illidan then made his way back to bed. Once there, he went back to sleep, hoping to wake up to a better start.