Hey everyone. Wow, so many reviews, and there are a few new people! This is great news, and I'm happy to see more people taking interest in reviewing. Well, without further ado, then I shall get to the reviews.

Ultimate Legendary Master: Hehe, yeah, I thought I'd make everyone think Joey had it won. He was close, but close don't cut it. It's soon, btw.

CWATZ: Wow, that's some power reading, lol. As for the 25 years time span between Yugioh and GX, I'm unsure on that one, but it's possible I guess. I'd think the age of the people would show better, like with the Paradox Brothers, Pegasus, and Seto, not to mention the posters of Yugi. Maybe I'm wrong, but I heard 10 years between the two, which makes a bit more sense, but again, I could be wrong. Thanks again for the comments btw, and I hope you keep reading.

Strawberry Cake: Thanks for the comments. I tried hard to keep Illidan as real as possible, and to make the duel with Yugi/Yami real and close. And yes, those two are fighting over Ryou, aka the sweet Bakura.

thehyperactivecow: Joey was close, but close don't cut it. Lol, don't have a heart attack yet.

Isis the Sphinx: Yep, you're right, he's the 10th duelist, which means the final ten way duel is coming up soon, as in very soon, lol. Listens to music and taps foot along with it.

Tomb Robber Vicky: Lol, no, not a good sign. Then again, the key can't quite say don't hurt me. Hmm, breaking it off in a door does sound fun though, hehe. And yeah, I thought I'd have some fun and have Joey use his armor cards. Illidan was close many times to destroying that armor, but Joey managed to slip away several times too. Btw, Joey will be fine, maybe, lol.

pink-kiss-candy: Ponders on making Tea duel. Well… if it was a Shadow Game, and she would lose her voice permanently, I think I could do it, hehe. Then we'd never hear another boring friendship speech of doom! Smacks Ryou in head with baseball bat again. Just to make sure he's still not a danger, hehe.

Metal Overlord 2.0: Lol, yeah, it's one of a few times. In the Doma series, his Skull Dice failed him against Mai, but he had to lose I guess. I'll get to leaving some feedback more than likely tomorrow. I got busy yesterday, so I couldn't get to it, sadly. Hopefully soon I will though.

Since I got a few new reviewers, I'm going to do something special. I'm going to go ahead and post two chapters today. I originally planned to post only one, but I'll go with two now. So, this one is for everyone, and thanks everyone for the reviews. I love getting reviews, good and bad. At any rate, everyone enjoy the two new chapters, and I'll be back on Friday morning. Till then, enjoy.

Chapter 93

The day of dueling had been a fierce one. Every duelist wanted to have some kind momentum heading into the final 10-way duel, but only five people could win, and so was the case with the duels that day.

Illidan had won a hard fought battle against Joey to solidify his ten wins and zero losses record, while Joey found himself coming up slightly short. The remainder duels had been set up by random drawing the night before. Yugi and Seto had been matched up again. Once again, it became a duel of the Egyptian God Cards, with both pulling out all the stops, but in the end, both were equal. The eventual end showed both losing their God Cards and Yugi finishing off Kaiba with a Kuriboh. The next duel was Marie and Marik. Each of the two fought hard. Marik eventually got The Winged Dragon of Ra out, but only to watch it be crushed by a trap Marie had set. In the end, Marie pushed herself to the edge of her dueling limits and won the duel. Next was Bakura and Mai. Bakura showed that he still had a good bit of dueling skills, even without the spirit of the Millennium Ring. He marched his way through the duel to pick up the win. The final duel had been Noa and Keith. Keith's machine army tried to take advantage of Noa's spirit monsters, but it was no good, with Noa in the end destroying Keith's hopes of winning at least one duel.

After the day was over, the final stats were set. Illidan remained first, Yugi in second, Marie in third, Joey clinching fourth, Marik in fifth, Noa in sixth, Bakura in seventh, Seto sadly back in eighth, Mai settling in ninth, and Keith as miserable as ever in tenth.

Once everything had settled down, Illidan had returned to his room at two in the afternoon, hoping to get some sleep. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard a knock on his door. Grumbling, Illidan got up from his bed to find all the Millennium Item holders at his door. Surprised to see them all, he finally asked them to come on in since they had gotten him back up.

Once everyone was in, Yami appeared in spirit form beside Yugi. He then asked "I wanted all of us to discuss things before the final 10-way duel. Illidan, I understand you know more about the Millennium Crown than all of us. Can you tell us any weaknesses it may have?"

Illidan sighed and shook his head at Yami, saying "No, it has none. It was much more powerful than all the other items due that we had an excess of Shadow Magic left over after the creation of the first seven items. It surpasses the power of all seven Millennium Items even. So, combining our powers won't work against the crown. Still, there are only two small weaknesses in the crown."

The others looked at him intensely. Marie broke the silence and asked "What do you mean a few weaknesses? You just said it has none really."

Sighing again, he nodded, and said "Yes, it has no real weaknesses, but it does have two seals that prevent Gozaburo from maybe succeeding, or at least they should slow him down. You see, you all know of the main seal. It was designed by me, and it has kept the crown sealed after all these millennia's, but still, it could be broken."

He paused for a moment, thinking if he should tell the whole story. Deciding against it, he said "The seal prevents him from just simply making the wish, as you all know. He has to beat the strongest duelist in the world for that to happen, hence the reason for this tournament. He wants to find the strongest duelist, and then try and crush them in a duel. Still, it won't work, due to certain constraints in the seal, which prevent the crown from unlocking."

The others stared at him, curious to what the constraints was, but he quickly said "I can't tell you all the constraints, I'm sorry. If I did, I'd be putting you all in danger. I'm sorry, but I have to keep that one secret. I know you all are curious about it, but I just can't tell you all and put you in that kind of danger."

Sighing, the others slowly nodded, allowing him to continue. "As for the second seal, no one but I knew about it as well. It is a seal that is unbreakable, but it's a conditional seal."

Everyone was curious to what he meant, and Marik soon asked "What do you mean you created a second seal? No where in the history of Egypt and the Millennium Items does it say you created a second seal on the Millennium Crown. Then again, it barely speaks of the crown, but still, it says no where about the second seal."

Illidan nodded, acknowledging Marik's statement, and said "No one really knows about the second seal due that I hid it. No one, not even Shadi, Marie, Bakura, or Yami knew of it. I told no one about it because I wanted to hold it as a trump card, just in case someone ever stole the crown. I never wrote about it either, just so no one would ever know about it. That way the seal would be unknown."

All nodded, seeing why Illidan would do such a thing. Shadi then asked "But it still makes no sense that you never told any of us back then. Why didn't you?"

Sighing again, Illidan replied "Because if I had, one of us could have stolen the crown and known what to do. That was a risk I wasn't willing to take, so I made the second seal to keep us all safe."

Bakura seemed rather impatient, and finally said "Just tell us what the bloody second seal is so we'll know. After all, we're not going to take a risk now with that cursed crown. It's too dangerous for any of us to use."

Nodding, Illidan then thought back to what the seal was about. After a moment, he said "The second seal I was speaking of is a powerful one. I designed it so if the main seal is broken, this seal will be activated. When the main seal is broken, this seal takes over for the main one. Whatever the person wishes on the crown, the wish won't affect all of the other owners of the Millennium Items. That means, if Gozaburo makes a wish to kill everyone on the earth, the people who possess an item would survive. I know it seems like a cursed effect, but I don't think Gozaburo will wish for that. He'll most likely wish to control the world, thus he will gain control of everyone's mind. Luckily, we'll survive, if all of us are still around by that time."

Yugi quickly interjected "What do you mean if we're still around?"

Looking at the young man, Illidan replied with "Well, I expect Gozaburo to pull out all the stops before this tournament is over. He may not know about the last seal, but he may. I don't know for sure if he does or not. Why I say he may is because he has the power of future sight, like Marie's Millennium Necklace. If he saw in the future that the six of us are still around and roaming freely, he may have put two and two together, realizing that the crown can't take over the item holders. That means he'd have to get rid of us, somehow. Maybe he won't figure it out, but I'd still be careful, regardless if he does or not."

All five nodded with agreement to these words. Suddenly, the loud speaker came on. A familiar, but evil voice sounded off on it.

"Attention all duelists, I have an announcement to make. I'm very proud of how the tournament has gone so far. Each of you have done well, and have earned your spot in the final 10-way duel. Before we get there though, there will be one final duel. It shall be a Gauntlet! It will feature the current Intercontinental and World Champion defending his titles against all duelists. It is much like the Tag Team Gauntlet, so that should give you a taste of what is in stored for you tonight duelists. The Gauntlet will be held at 6 P.M. a top the tower. It will be further explained there. Good luck to all you duelists, and especially the champion, muwhahaha!" blared Gozaburo.

The announcement was then cut off with evil laughter still going on. Finally, the loud speakers shut off, making everyone happy the laughter had stopped.

Everyone in Illidan's room then looked at Illidan, who only sighed, knowing he had yet another tough duel coming up.

"That's just not fair! After making us suffer last night through a grueling tag team gauntlet, and yet another day of tough dueling, he's forcing you to defend both your titles. He knows you're exhausted already!" yelled an angry Marie.

She was so furious right now that not even an Egyptian God would stand in her way. Her anger finally boiled over, causing her to get up and run towards the door.

Realizing what she was about to do, Illidan cried out "Stop Marie! Don't even try to go stop him! You'll only get hurt, or worse…"

Marie stood there at the door, shaking with anger. She turned back towards him, her brown eyes slightly teary, but full of rage as well. She yelled "Why should I stop! He's running you ragged! He knows very well that you stayed up till four this morning while taking care of me. And he knows very well that you're exhausted from that small confrontation from last night. He's just…"

"Wait, he confronted you last night?" interjected Yami.

Illidan nodded to Yami, saying "Yes, he was here when I came back from watching over Marie. He was trying to get me to pick a fight with him. He played on my anger, knowing how enraged I was at him for forcing us to continue our duel last night after Marie was hurt. He tried to get me to fight him basically. Luckily, I realized what he was doing and refused to play his game. I tried to get him to leave you all out of this fight even. I offered myself as a prize if he would. He rejected it, saying all of you would suffer for what happened to the former owner of the crown. All, even the innocent that had nothing to do with what happened to him back in ancient times."

He had turned his eyes to the ground with his final words. "It's not fair that he is dragging all the others into this. Most of them had nothing to do with the past Gozaburo. Only a few of us at this tournament did, but most of them were nearly killed the last time. Luckily, no one but Yami was back then, but still, they didn't deserve what they got in that time period. No one deserved what most of us got from that battle."

He looked back up, seeing Marie still at the door. She had turned her back to the others and was preparing to leave again. Knowing she'd foolishly get hurt or worse, Illidan quickly ran and grabbed her from behind, holding her tightly in his arms so she couldn't escape.

"LET ME GO! I WANT TO PUT AN END TO THIS NOW!" she screamed in full anger. She was kicking and screaming, trying desperately to get free.

In a commanding voice, he said "Marie, stop it now! Getting yourself hurt or killed will not solve things! I love you too much to let you go get hurt or worse by that madman. Please, stop struggling and calm down."

She was stubborn though and continued to struggle. Grabbing on tighter, Illidan said with sorrow in his voice and tears in his eyes "Marie, I couldn't save you last time, but I won't make the same mistake this time. I promise you, I won't let him hurt you. I'd give my life before he ever has another chance to hurt you. I just ask you to calm down and let it go."

Finally, she complied and broke down in tears as well. As she sobbed, he gently said "We'll get him, but we must do it at the right time. Acting recklessly won't win this battle. It'll only cause more pain that isn't necessary."

She finally settled down and Illidan loosened his grip. She turned towards him, tears in her eyes. She then stared into his brown eyes, eyes that showed the sadness, the pain, and the worry for her. Knowing he was in pain from his past, she hugged him, and he hugged her tightly. Illidan hugged her tightly, not daring to let go. It was as if he let go the world would end.

Finally, he did turn her loose, knowing she was safe for now. He wiped his eyes clear and turned back towards the others. Silently, Marie thought about what Illidan had said. In her mind, she realized something. "So, he still blames himself after all these years. It wasn't his fault then, yet he believes it was. He's never recovered from it I guess."

Illidan then took his hand and latched it onto hers. Together, they went back to the group. The others, other than Shadi, had no idea what Illidan had been talking about when he said the last time.

Curious, Yami asked "Illidan, what do you mean by last time?"

Illidan sighed, knowing his friend still couldn't remember hardly a thing from the past. He then realized also that only he, Shadi, Marie, Bakura, and Yami had been there, but only himself, Shadi, and Marie could remember the past. The spirit of the Millennium Ring did remember as well, but since he was not around, he couldn't say anything about it.

Sighing once again, he decided they all needed to know, so maybe they'd be more careful when facing Gozaburo. Looking at Marie with sad eyes, he said in a sad voice "Marie, can you show them the vision of the past when we all last confronted Gozaburo?"

With a sad sigh, she nodded. She activated her Millennium Necklace and then took them into a vision of the past. After an hour, the vision ended and everyone returned. Once they realized why Illidan had said what he had, they all took pity on him, trying to convince him it wasn't really his fault.

Illidan of course as usual ignored them. "How could they understand? It was my fault for allowing Gozaburo to use the crown. Now he can resume destroying my life, as well as so many others with that crown in his possession again."

Slowly, everyone realized it was already four in the afternoon. Yugi said "We should go get ready for this Gauntlet. I have a feeling it's going to be another tough one."

The others all nodded and prepared to leave as well. Illidan thanked them all for coming and talking to him. Each tried to convince him not to continue to think it was his fault for the past. Even though he knew they meant well, Illidan deep down still blamed himself.

Only Marie was finally left with him. He gently kissed her, and then whispered "Please Marie, stay safe. I don't want to lose you again."

She peered into his deep brown eyes and nodded. He stared back into her beautiful chocolate colored eyes, wondering why after all these millennia's he was still so lucky to be with her.

In return to his comment, she whispered "And you promise not to get yourself hurt as well. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. I love you so much."

Illidan nodded and pulled her in for another kiss. It was more passionate than the last, but still gentle. Slowly, they parted and he said "I love you more than anyone or anything in this world or next. I promise to always be here."

With that, Marie kissed him one last time. It was a small, chastising kiss. As she pulled away, she said "You'd better."

With that comment, Marie turned and left for her own room.