Ahoy hearties! Tis been mighty long! I'm finally back from my hiking trip and with a new chapter.

Enjoy!

My question is ridiculous. How can he be a Shayee? His hair is black. I saw him eat meat and drink ale. But my mind's been so overwhelmed by the choking raw emotions that the island has awakened in me that I can't think of any other reason why the captain of the Millennium would be this invested in the Shayee. Why did he look as sad as me back there? Or was that just an impression? In any case, the question has slipped out. All I can do is hold my breath and wait for an answer.

Atem stares at me. His expression hasn't changed from before and is strangely bitter and gentle. My question doesn't seem to have taken him off guard. Was he expecting it? After a few long moments of silence, he closes his eyes and chuckles. There doesn't seem to be any sort of amusement in his laughter thought. Then, retracing his steps, he comes up the way to meet me. One of his hands grabs a lock of my hair and brings it close to his face. Again, it surprises me how the proximity is the last of my issues at the moment. I can't get a grasp of the mysterious atmosphere that has settled around us. Atem looks at the lock of my hair he's taken for a moments.

"I wish I was, love," he finally says.

I expected as much. Yet at those words, I feel the painful squeeze in my heart again, reminding me of my solitude. I truly am that desperate, aren't I? To avoid thinking about it anymore, I decide to question him further. But just as I open my mouth, the pirate releases my hair and beats me to the punch.

"To answer you questions, I'm not the one who buried them either."

Surprise strikes me like a slap in the face. "If not you, then who?"

"Who knows? I've been asking myself the same question for the past decade," he says looking at the little hill behind me. "One thing for sure, it wasn't a Shayee."

That, I was not expecting. Who could've buried them as well as known all of their names and carved them in the stone? It has to have been someone who knew the Shayee in and out but I've no memory of people my kin could've been close to. If we were pacifists, we were also very isolated. Outsiders either feared us —the devils of the sea— or came to us for personal gain. Like those pirates twelve years ago. But is it truly impossible that one person could've gotten close to them? If the Shayee were as gentle and kind as I recall, then why not? I shake my head. Speculating blindly wouldn't help me. All I can do is work with what I have. In this case, Atem.

"Come," he says. "It's time to return."

I follow him without complaint. I can't tell if he wants to leave quickly or if he's aware of my discomfort being in the ruins of my home. Seeing how he can read me like an open book, I'd say the latter is most likely. I feel the slightest twinge of gratitude towards him but saying it out loud is out of the question. I follow him down the hill in religious silence. When we reach the village, my insides tighten. Atem stops at the edge and waits for me. I gag and bring a hand to my mouth when the wind blows the smell of burned flesh towards me. First the water and now the air. Have the elements themselves been perverted in my home? Atem takes a step forward but turns back to face me and offers me a hand.

"Close your eyes. I'll guide you."

There he goes with that out of nowhere gentleness again. I stare at his hand silently for a few moments. The offer is very tempting though it won't help chase the godawful smell away. But a thought bothers me. No one who's seen the massacre is alive to tell the tale. I have to see it and remember it forever because no one else will. No matter how much I hate it, that is reality. That is the truth and shunning the truth would only lead to more pain. They're gone forever and I have to live with that. Even if right now, I feel like dying.

"I have to see it," I tell him, pushing his hand away. "You said it yourself. I have to be a witness. And remember forever."

I'm not sure what it is I read in his eyes but he seems surprised. Then he smiles and steps aside. I turn towards the ruins and take a shaky breath. The smell will be worse when we'll cross the village. It seems the stench will forever infest the air of my land of birth. The stone houses —or what's left of them— look like they could crumble at any moment. And I know I'll hear the screams of my people the moment I set foot on those grounds. But I need to do this. For Grandpa. For my parents. For my brothers. For every Shayee.

With shaking legs and a lump in my throat, I take the first step. Slowly. The smell of ashes intensifies and the heat in the sunlight reminds me of the flames. But I don't stop. I look up at the ruins, one burned down home at the time. My head spins and my stomach turns. It's too much when I see my house. I turn away and vomit something I don't remember eating. It's yellowish, thick like mucus and burns my throat. As I cough to kill the burn, tears burst out of my eyes and leak down my cheeks. I hear footsteps coming up behind me and a large hand presses gently against the back of my neck. The pirate says nothing and only waits for me to settle down. I can't brush off this gentleness anymore. How can someone so cruel and manipulative be this kind simultaneously? Or is it only because I'm a Shayee? My mind is too jumble to think any further. If just for a bit, I'd like this hand to stay with me a little longer.

'Come on Yugi,' I tell myself, wiping my mouth and straightening up. 'Just a bit longer.'

Atem's hand stays on me until I begin walking through the ghost town again. I almost miss it when it slips off. He follows but keeps his distances. His steps are quiet, barely perceptible to the ears but his presence behind me is like a wall keeping me from turning back yet supporting me at the same time. I don't think I've ever felt something so strange and unsettling. But right now, I'll gladly take any support I can get. Even from him. Without so much as throwing a look over my shoulder, I continue my morbid walk towards the center of the village. The beatless heart of my home. It feels like I'm trampling on a dead body with every step I take, defiling the remains even more. I too am a stranger here. It's not my home anymore but the resting place of my family. I can't stay here. I never could've.

By the time we reach the forest of ashes and leave the village, my body feels like it weights a ton and dried out of any tears. I stop when we reach the beach. Next to the sea is a small boat. Joey, Hunter, Carrot-top and Neal are waiting by it. They're not talking to each other, only looking around nervously. Joey especially seems restless and paces back and forth. It looks like being on the island of the devils doesn't please them. Can they also sense what happened here?

Atem wraps an arm around my shoulders and without saying anything, pulls me along with him towards the small group. I don't resist, not wanting to turn back. They seem strangely relieved when we reach them.

"All done, captain?" asks Hunter.

"Aye. Now we head for Beruga" says Atem, taking his hand back and turning to his first mate. "You didn't go running? I said the beach was alright."

"No." This is the first time I hear an answer so stern and brief from the usually cheery wolf-man. "Not here."

A wave of immense gratitude towards the blond man comes over me. By running, I'm sure Atem means to let Joey stretch his legs in wolf form. Who knows how long he's been away from land and able to do it? He must be itching to run and yet I can tell he doesn't want to use this resting place as an exercising ground. With his sense of smell, I doubt he's missed the stench.

The four pirates push their boat back into the sea before jumping back in. Atem turns to me one last time to ask if I'd rather swim back but I shake my head. He helps me inside and I sit facing the island. The salty smell of the sea is drowning the stench and I breath a little easier. But I still feel that horrible void. Atem then sits in front of me, hiding the island from my sight and the men take their place to begin rowing. Carrot takes a moment to look at me.

"Ye alright, missy?" he asks.

"…No."

My voice breaks. Knowing there's nothing more he can say, the red-head takes his place with the others and they begin rowing. Here I thought I didn't have any tears left. They leak on my cheeks again but I don't sob or make a sound. The burn has settled but the void won't leave. I doubt it will for a long time. That thought is unbearable. I wish the Stream would manifest just to fill it. I wipe my eyes quickly. I don't want to cry in front of more of my captors. Straightening up, I address Atem.

"Tell me everything that happened here. Please?"

It sounds like I'm begging him. It doesn't matter. I truly will if he refuses. But the captain leans overboard as if to look at something. A few minutes pass with him observing the water until he finally tells his men to stop rowing. Then he stands up. We're a few hundred feet from the island now.

"Do you see it?" he asks.

I lean and look. At first I don't see much but then I notice that in some area the water is lighter. Much lighter. That lightness forms a circle that seems to go all around the island. What a strange phenomena. I don't remember anything like this. Is this the cause of the bad taste?

"What is that?" I ask, a bad feeling coming over me.

"Ravash sap," he replies.

He says no more and reaches into his coat to take out a small piece of cloth and a leather flask. He sits back down and pours some of the flask's content on the cloth. It has a dark brown color, looks thick and stinks so much that I covered my nose. Atem then puts the flask away and takes out a fire striker and a flint stone. All the essentials to start a fire.

The captain hits the little stone against the striker above the cloth until sparks fly and the wet cloth almost immediately catches fire. I fear I understand too well what's going to happen next and I hold my breath. Joey and the others have stopped the boat not far from the ring. Atem grabs the burning cloth and tosses it towards the clear water.

One moment, the cloth lands. The next, the giant ring turns into a circle of flames, spreading all around the island. I stand and stare in absolute horror as the fire imprisons the island, unable to detach my eyes from it. This is the very incarnation of my nightmares when it comes to flames. Only on a much larger scale. Was it meant to be a trap? Then that would mean it couldn't just be surface fire.

To verify my theory, I dive into the water. My fear is immediately confirmed. The water under —all the way to the sea floor—is boiling furiously like kettle water and creating a wall of bubbles. I extend my hand to touch it and take my hand back when I feel the bite of burn on my fingers. Burning water. It's no wonder not a single fish or coral goes beyond this point.

I stare at the wall of treacherous bubbles, imagining the horror of my people, unable to escape the island. Quickly though, the wall of bubbles begins fading. I look up and see that the flames at the surface are still going. It's been twelve years yet this sap hasn't faded in the sea. What a horrible substance. I want to vomit for having breathed it in and suddenly fear I might catch fire myself. I swim back up to the surface and Atem helps me back into the boat. He doesn't even wait for me to ask the questions.

"Ravash sap is very thick," he says, keeping his eyes on the slowly dying flames. "It took twelve years for the currents to push it back this far. It'll still be here for many years to come and centuries for it to completely vanish in the sea. It's a lot less potent now, but freshly poured, one can assume it burned for hours on end. In other words, it's a perfect death trap designed especially for the Shayee."

I stare at the burning water. Hours on end? They'd trapped my people like rats and massacred them to the last one for a few pieces of green rocks? My insides burn again and I fall down in my seat. For the first time in my life, I feel disgust and hate swarm me from head to toes. It's disgusting. Like drowning in mud. How can people be so cruel? Images of mothers getting burned while trying to swim away with their children swarm my head and my scars ache again. Their agony must've been unbearable.

"Why us?" I mutter, covering my face.

"That's not the question you should be asking yourself," says the captain, sitting in front of me again. "Let's go, hearties."

Joey and the others begin rowing again. I remove my hands to look at the island one more time. The circle of fire has stopped burning and turned back to being a ring of clear water. Part of me is relieved that my people aren't suffering anymore. It doesn't fill the void one bit though. I'm still here, still alone. And I'll have to be until I die. To escape the morbid thought echoing in my head, I decide to keep the conversation going even if it's not going to be a pleasant talk.

"What should I be asking myself then?"

"Who," replies Atem.

That answer irritates me. It's like he's fawning the anger and hate I feel. As if I didn't feel dirty enough with those negative feelings swarming and crawling under my skin like centipedes.

"I already know who. People who value things above the lives of others. Pirates," I say, throwing his own words back at him. "Do you know how they managed to get so close to the island without my people noticing?"

The seriousness in his eyes is joined by a hint of sadness when he looks down. I really don't understand what happened to the man who threatened to hurt me.

"The Shayee weren't fools," he finally says. "They knew they attracted attention wether from curious adventurers or conquistadors. But they were also kind and deeply respected all life. If there was a flood in the islands nearby, they'd go help recover lost items from the sea and bring food to the people in need. If there was a wreckage, they'd scout for survivors, take them to the island to heal them. Regardless of who they were and where they came from."

He paused and glanced behind his shoulder one more time, his eyes getting foggy. For a moment, it looks like they're about to water. But he blinks and turns back to me, that intensity emitting from him stronger than ever.

"Their isolation from the human world never stopped them from stepping up whenever necessary. That selflessness is what killed them. In a way, they were betrayed by their own nature. I'm not sure how the killers managed to get close to the island, but they probably put on a convincing show to get your people to lower their guard."

His words are dripping with hate and disgust. They get me thinking. The pirates could've just kidnapped a few Shayee and threatened the others to give up the Orichalcum instead of trapping all of them with that fire trap. Is Orichalcum that important that the Shayee wouldn't give it up even if their families were threatened? No, that seems impossible.

Hold on. There was more than a few pirate ships that night, that is a fact. What if it was an alliance as well? Just like when the Millennium crew allied itself with the Gambler's and the two others? Pirates don't form alliances, it's too abnormal. In our case, Atem manipulated the other crews to keep his identity and his ship secret. Could it have been something similar?

"What is ravash sap exactly?" I ask.

"A substance extracted from the roots of the rhav tree, in India," he explains. "It's rare and takes an awfully long time to gather."

I knew it. Unless those pirates invested in the collecting of that rare sap for months —which was highly improbable— then whoever had pulled their strings must've been both very wealthy and very very patient. Suddenly, an cold sensation freezes my insides. Goosebumps swarm my body and shivers shake me at the realization. If the attack twelve years ago truly was an alliance and there was a mastermind behind it, then he might not have been a pirate.

"Has your head cleared up a bit, love?"

I nearly jump out of my skin as I'm snapped out of my reverie. I realize I still have Atem's full attention. And I remember now that he can read me like an opened book. I thought he'd gone lost in his thoughts, but no. He's been reading me this entire time, watching me process everything I've learned from the land of my birth and from him. The phrasing of his question leaves no room for doubt; he was expecting me to reach that conclusion.

I open my mouth to ask something but a large shadow suddenly covers us and I look up. We've reached the Millennium hull and the crew has already thrown a rope ladder to help us back onboard. I turn back to Atem, but he's already standing and tells me to go on ahead. Not sure of what I was going to ask anymore, I climb up the ladder.

My arm still hurts when I force on it but it's bearable. It's nothing compared to the void which my latest reflexion has widened even more. How can people who already have everything be so greedy as to use other and massacre innocents to get even more? I bite my lips as the feeling of injustice swarms my head.

Why? Why? Why?! Why did my people have to suffer for the greed of selfish men?

When I finally reach the top and Reed helps me in, I'm already on the verge of tears again. I refuse to turn around to look at the island again though part of me wishes to keep futilely searching it. Reed and Tristan speak to me but I don't hear them. They're so far away. So distant.

"Yugi!"

That familiar voice pierces through my veil of deafness and makes me look up again. Mokuba and Jaden are coming down from the mainmast and my brother runs towards me, a smile on his face. But it fades instantly once he gets closer and he stops a few feet from me. I must be making the most distraught of faces.

"How—" He hesitates to ask. "How was it?"

I shake my head and a bitter smile pulls on the corners of my lips while my eyes once more water. The words I say deepen the void, pouring figurative salt on the fresh wound of my heart.

"Your brother was right," I say, my voice as broken as before. "There's nothing but ashes. I'm the last one. The only one. There's no one else. No one."

A heavy silence falls on us and even the pirates around have gone still and quiet. I don't move, staring into nothingness and contemplating my void. My words echo in my head, widening it more and more and pushing everything away. I look at my feet, trying to choke the scream that wants to escape my mouth. It's terrifying how easy it is to choke now that I know the truth. If only I could return in time and warn them… If I could have somehow known what would happen… I could've… I could've… My head is swarmed with irrational desires and infinite regret, dragging me down more and more into the void of my misery. It burns again. Will it ever stop?

Quick footsteps pull me out of my brewing misery and before I know it, Mokuba's arms are around my neck and my face, hidden in his black mane. I'm not sure why but the sudden gesture surprises me and I freeze.

"You're wrong," the youngest Kaiba whispers so that only I can hear but the composure and confidence in his words shocks me. "Seto and I. We're here. We're with you forever."

Those three sentences shatters my thoughts and I suddenly feel something coursing through me furiously and filling up the void. Not completely but enough. I can feel my heartbeat again as I realize who is holding me. My little brother. Half of my family. How ungrateful can I be? I am the last Shayee but I never was alone.

A warm sensation takes a hold of me and I wrap my arms around Mokuba, squeezing him as tightly as I can against me. He's almost as tall as me now. I didn't even notice. The void won't crush me. Not as long as I have my brothers with me. They are my first and biggest reason to stay alive.

"Je t'aime, petit frère,"* I tell him, hoping this simple sentence can hold all the gratitude and love I feel towards him and Seto.

We hold each other until I hear someone jumping back into the ship behind me. I release Moki and turn around to face Atem. He glances at Mokuba and then me with an unbelievably neutral expression. Really, wether this man's smiling or just staring, I can't get around his thoughts. But he looks disappointed somehow. Finally, a familiar half smirk makes it to his face.

"Seems your guardians did get a few things right with you."

Again, he knows exactly what is going on in my head. Am I that easy to read or is he simply that good? He's trying to jest but I know he doesn't think good of my bond with my guardians. I can hear it in his words. My mind takes me back to the time just before the Stream awakened, when I threatened Joey and the others to stay away from Moki. I was scared, shaken and desperate at the time. This time is different. Thanks to Moki, I'm very calm. I remember what I'm meant to do; protect him until Seto finds us. I face the captain completely and take a step closer to him.

"Something on your mind, love?" he asks.

"If you hurt my brother," I say, calmly and slowly, to make sure everyone around hears, "I will drown you."

It's not a threat. Neither my tone nor my intention carries any. It's a warning, pure and simple. With the Stream, I know and he knows that I have the means to enforce it if necessary. As long as Moki's life isn't in danger, he can still control us however he wants. Now I can at least guarantee his life. Atem keeps on smiling. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd expected that from me as well. We stare off again and for once I refuse to look away. This is one message I must get across no matter what.

"Aye aye, milady," he replies, tipping an invisible hat off to me.

"CAPTAIN!"

The voice that rang from the quarter deck was none other than Jack's. He's clearly agitated and frantically points towards the horizon. Hearing the usually silent pilot shout like this is alarming. Immediately, Atem and Joey hurry to the other side. Taken by the crew's movement, even Moki and I make it to the opposite edge of the ship to see what's happening. My heart skips a beat when I see a ship is heading this way. From here, I can't tell what its flag represents. But it's about the size of one of the triplet battleships. But if it was one of them, I doubt it would be alone. Same for a navy ship. So it can't be Seto or a rescue party. I look up at Atem who is looking at the ship through a spyglass. When he removes it, he clenches his teeth in irritation.

"Shit," he curses before turning to his crew and shouting. "Gunners, to your cannons! Load and ready them. Those who need to, get a hold of your weapons! Don't draw but keep them on you at the ready! Everyone else, pull up the anchor and move the ship! We're meeting them halfway! MOVE IT!"

The entire crew is suddenly on the move. I've only seen such activity when the Whale was attacked. I exchange a confused look with Mokuba. I've never seen such a serious look on our captor's face.

I have a terribly bad feeling about this

*I love you little brother (formal French)

Who could possibly make our pirate captain panic like that? Any wild guesses?

A bit of a head's up to you : the issues with my thesis, I'm going to be pretty busy until the beginning of September. I'll post when I can. but I can't promise a stable posting schedule until then. I apologize for the inconvenience but I can't do anything about it until I complete my degree.

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