Chapter Eighteen

Nesbitt was left kneeling in the grass, cradling Lector's lifeless body.

"What did you do to him?!" he spat, visibly trembling with rage.

"You may remember that the last time I showed up, I struck Seto down this same way," Gozaburo bragged. "In this form, my claws cut through the soul and not the body. I've trapped Lector in his worst memories. And in Lector's case, he's experienced that very thing before, thanks to that zealot Khu trapping him in the darkness . . . while you and the others looked on, I believe."

Nesbitt's eyes burned. "How do you know about that?!"

"That strange creature Yami Marik told me," Gozaburo said.

"And he also set you free, no doubt," Nesbitt snarled. "I'll save Lector. I'll do whatever it takes to bring him out of his memories and back into reality!"

"Well, aren't you the noble one," Gozaburo mocked. "And to think, this is coming from the man who was going to abandon his friends in Noa's world."

Nesbitt roared, raising the hand bearing the Fire ring Shadi had given him. His emotions spilling over, the ring activated and blasted a hole through Gozaburo's demon form.

It mended in the next instant. "You can't put out fire with fire this time," Gozaburo laughed.

"Oh yeah?! Well, how about ice?!"

Gozaburo and Nesbitt both started and turned. Crump was standing nearby, his own ring pointed right at Gozaburo. Gansley, Johnson, and everyone else was running up after him.

"We're too late," Atem berated. "I should have remembered before! Gozaburo knew everything that was happening in Noa's world! He had to be the one who told what Johnson said!"

"What happened to Lector?!" Johnson cried in horror.

"He was protecting me," Nesbitt said brokenly. "Now he's trapped in the darkness like Mr. Kaiba was."

"How fitting that I should strike him down here," Gozaburo sneered. "That tomb is the one in which he would have been buried had he died and his family laid claim on his body."

"What?!" Nesbitt went sheet-white as he looked back at the mausoleum behind him. "Why didn't he tell me?!"

"I suppose he didn't see any reason to," Gansley said. "But what was he doing here now, Nesbitt?!"

"I don't know," Nesbitt said. "He was upset about Michel and wanted to get away. . . . Maybe he was thinking again how they're all against him, except Evangeline. . . ." He held Lector close, his hands shaking. Lector was still alive, thank God. But he was still badly hurt from Gozaburo's cruelty.

"You can both die at the site of his sacrifice!" Gozaburo yelled, blasting at Nesbitt.

Nesbitt snarled and held out his ring, sending out an answering blast. The magical fires collided and extinguished each other in mid-air.

"Apparently Gozaburo is a serious threat to the entire world or the rings wouldn't be activating," Yami Bakura remarked.

"Well, he did try to destroy the world from inside virtual reality," Yugi said.

"This is so ridiculous it's laughable," Gozaburo said. "These rings you have are so you can save the world from magical and supernatural threats? Do you actually think any of you are superhero material?"

"I know I'm not," Nesbitt said. "But Lector would probably say he knows I am, or that I could be. And I won't let him down again!"

"None of us will," Gansley said. "You're going to regret tangling with us, Gozaburo Kaiba."

"And I have something to say about it myself," Seto said darkly. He took the Light ring out of his pocket and placed it on his finger. "I don't appreciate any of what you've done, Stepfather."

"It's not like you care about these people, Seto," Gozaburo retorted.

"Mokuba loves Lector. That's reason enough to be angry at this madness," Seto replied. "But even aside from that, I don't like this. You're just jealous of how close the Big Five are and you wanted to destroy that any way you could."

"Knowing how painful New Orleans is for Lector, I thought this was the ideal place and time to make trouble," Gozaburo leered. "He almost got to his breaking point, but then Nesbitt had to say something that cheered him up. That's when I decided to come out and make one last effort to destroy a soul." He looked to Lector laying in Nesbitt's arms. "And so I have! This isn't what I did to Seto. I learned from Yami Marik how to make it stronger and more powerful. You'll never wake him up!"

"Of course we will," Gansley snarled. "We'll never give up on him!"

"But before we can help Lector, we've gotta get rid of you," Crump said. "So take this!" Ice burst from his ring in the next instant.

Gozaburo melted it before it could reach him. "You'll have to try harder than that," he laughed.

Gansley blasted at Gozaburo with his ring. "Rocks should choke the fire of your demon form," he cried. Rocks began to form around Gozaburo, climbing higher and higher to freeze him in place.

Johnson frowned. "The power of wind might make the fire worse. Am I powerless in this fight?"

"All of you are powerless!" Gozaburo sneered. "Seto can't do anything either. Light will certainly do nothing against my fire." The rocks were all the way up to his waist, and he blasted at everyone with his demonic flames.

Crump was working overtime to freeze and put out all the blasts before they could hit. "What are we gonna do?!" he cried. "We need help!"

Lector's ring activated even as he lay still in Nesbitt's arms. Tendrils of darkness spun out from the amethyst jewel, wrapping around Gozaburo's upper body.

"What is this?!" Gozaburo yelled. "This fog . . . it's choking off my powers! It's not like a normal darkness!"

Atem smirked. "You're right about that. A darkness that is not evil will destroy a flame from Hell. Shadi said Lector's ring held the powers of night, not an evil darkness as you perhaps thought."

"There's no way Lector could even activate his ring!" Gozaburo screamed. "He's lost in a labyrinth of painful memories!"

"His heart is still with us," Atem replied.

"And he'll always protect us above everything else," Nesbitt whispered. "Even in Noa's world, it was our safety he cared about the most. He refused to leave unless we could all go."

Johnson looked to him with a jerk. "Nesbitt!"

"I remember," Nesbitt admitted. "Everything is clear to me now."

"No!" Gozaburo screamed in rage.

The crackling of the flames comprising his demon form died down to nothing.

"He's human again now," Seto realized. "Johnson, you can be of use. Blast the fog away with your ring while Nesbitt and I light things up. Pharaoh, Yami Bakura, you'll have a clear shot at him."

"Why, thank you," Yami Bakura smirked.

Gozaburo cursed them all. Seto's plan was perfect—Johnson's breeze and Seto and Nesbitt's light drove off the darkness, but by now he was weakened and back in human form. Gansley's rock was holding him in place from the waist down, and Crump was poised to blast him with ice.

"Now, let's try this again," Atem said as he and Yami Bakura came to stand in front of him. "Once again we will send you away, and Kaiba and the Big Five will add their seals on you for added protection. Yami Marik may not have such an easy time releasing you again."

"Be gone," Yami Bakura uttered.

Their Infinity Items glowed, as did all elemental rings. Even as Gozaburo roared in outrage, the darkness of the Shadow Realm claimed him once more.

Evangeline gasped. "It feels like a vise over the entire property has been released!"

"Gozaburo's evil influence is gone," Atem said. "I imagine the spirits dwelling in the house are all still here, but I doubt any of them will be a danger to anyone. It was likely Gozaburo who did everything malevolent."

Angelique still looked doubtful, as did Joey. "Well, let's hope so," Angelique shuddered.

"And the siren," Crump said. "I'm pretty sure that wasn't Gozaburo in disguise."

Johnson looked scandalized at the thought.

"But even with Gozaburo gone, Lector still isn't awake," Nesbitt said morosely.

"Seto didn't wake up when Gozaburo was kicked out either," Mokuba reminded. "But won't Lector wake up if we all give him our strength, like we did for Seto?!"

"I don't know," Nesbitt said. "Gozaburo said this time it's stronger than before. He said we'll never wake him up. . . ."

"We're going to," Gansley insisted. "Let's get him inside and we'll stay with him until he recovers."

Crump hurried to help Nesbitt lift Lector. Nesbitt started. He had wanted to manage on his own, yet he knew he likely could not. His eyes flickered with gratitude for the assistance. Crump, of course, was worried too.

Together they carried Lector back into the house and to a ground floor bedroom. As they laid him on the soft comforter, all of the Big Four gathered around him, as did Evangeline and Mokuba. The rest of the group lingered in other parts of the room.

"Please, wake up, Démas," Evangeline begged.

"You've gotta come back," Mokuba said. "You can't let Gozaburo beat you!"

Everyone in the room sent their light and will to Lector, praying for him to awaken. But unlike with Seto, he did not.

"What's wrong?!" Nesbitt cried. "What if it really is too strong to break?!"

"You can't let yourself think that," Gansley insisted.

"Maybe the four of you are the key," Atem suggested. "If the spell is stronger, then it seems likely that it's the people he's closest to who can break it."

Evangeline nodded. "That makes sense to me. I love Démas dearly, but you know, we've never even spent a whole lot of time together."

"He really loves you, though," Crump said. "You and Gabriel are the only bright spots in this crazy family of yours."

"Grandmother too, I think," Evangeline said softly.

"Gozaburo said he trapped Lector in his worst memories," Yugi said. "What would be the worst memory for him?"

Nesbitt suddenly went sheet-white. "When Khu trapped him in the darkness and we stood by, taunting him," he rasped. "We didn't think the darkness would overtake him. . . . We honestly thought he'd be fine . . . and instead we almost lost him to it." His hand dropped to Lector's hand on the bed.

"Then all of you must break through that memory and shine the light of reality on him," Atem said.

Gansley nodded and grasped Lector's other hand in both of his. "Please, come back to us," he begged. "We didn't help you back then, when we should have, but we've tried so hard to be there for you every time since. And . . . we're here for you now, if you can just hear us. . . ."

"Always," Crump said.

"Just as you've always been there for us," Johnson said.

Nesbitt trembled, clutching Lector's hand to his forehead. "I remember you now," he rasped. "I almost remembered everything before Gozaburo interrupted us. I remembered you're my best friend. Then Gozaburo struck you down and the last block fell away from my mind. Please wake up . . . so I can really tell you that you have me back. . . ."

Lector still didn't stir. They could only wait and pray that their words and love would sink through the evil darkness Gozaburo had wrapped him in.

xxxx

Lector cried out as the dark mists swirled around him again, starting at his feet and swiftly curling around every part of his body. Every time the nightmare ended, with the darkness taking him away, it rewound and started all over again. There was no escape, no matter how he screamed and prayed and pleaded to be set free. At first he had fought against it, aware of what was happening to him. But the more it happened, the more he became part of it, acting it out as though it were happening all over again, and the more it seemed that it really was. Maybe all the good he thought he remembered was the dream, an illusion he had crafted, and all this time he had really still been trapped in the Shadow Realm, experiencing his personal Hell over and over again.

"Help!" he screamed. "You can't do this to me! Please . . . don't let him do this to me!"

The rest of the Big Five stood around him, laughing, taunting him, unforgiving for the sin of trying to protect Mokuba from them. In Gozaburo's cruel world, they were even more harsh than they had been in the past, when the scene had really happened.

"This should teach you to go against us," Gansley sneered.

"We'll come back for you in a while . . . if there's anything left," Crump added.

"My guess is that you're in for a life sentence of this," Johnson smiled. "And of course, life in here is an eternity."

"You shouldn't have given in to such ridiculous emotions as kindness and caring," Nesbitt said. "None of us have."

"No!" Lector clawed at the darkness, but it tightened its grip. He could feel it breaking down his spirit, assimilating it into the mists. And this time there was no escape. Mokuba wasn't coming back to try to help him this time, and the Pharaoh wasn't coming either. He was done for.

He sank to what was left of his knees. "I thought you loved me," he whispered. "I thought we were a team. I knew you'd be angry when you found out about Mokuba, but I didn't think you'd betray me like this . . . !"

It was the last straw, the final spark of hope extinguished. He had lost the only people he had thought still truly cared about him and there was nothing left.

"Lector!"

He looked up with a start. A hand had pierced the darkness, reaching out for him. An older hand, wrinkled with age, but strong and firm in Lector's eyes.

"Gansley?" he whispered. "You . . . you came back for me?"

"Of course I did." Gansley stepped through the darkness, reaching with both hands now. "Come back, Lector. We can't stand it without you."

Lector shakily reached out with hands that reformed out of the darkness as the mists fell away. He grasped Gansley's hands in his. "You came back for me," he whispered.

"We all did!" Crump was there at his side now. "We don't wanna be the Big Four."

Johnson smiled at him. "Your sentence has been commuted."

Lector held them all close, rare tears leaking from his eyes. Most of them had returned for him. But . . . Nesbitt . . .

Then Nesbitt was there, fighting off the rest of the darkness with his bare hands. He stood looking at Lector for a long moment and suddenly charged in, pulling the other man into a tight hug. "Please forgive us," he choked out. "We never wanted you hurt. We never . . ."

Lector clutched him close. "You felt betrayed too," he said quietly. "And we were all drowning in the darkness. It warps people from who they really are."

Lector paused as his words really sank in. "We were all drowning in the darkness." Past tense. It was over. They lived in the light now. That wasn't a dream. That was reality. And now he had to get back to it.

"Thank you," Lector whispered as the light cut in over them, breaking through every bit of the Shadow Realm's darkness.

xxxx

Lector's eyes opened. "You saved me," he rasped in awe.

Crump whooped in joy and glomped Lector. "Just like you've done for us, Buddy!" he said.

Johnson brightened, embracing him more gently. "Now you're back with us."

"Thank God." Gansley smiled, squeezing Lector's hand since he couldn't get at him otherwise. "To think there was a time when I didn't believe caring like this was real."

Lector looked to each of them, touched and moved. Then, as in his dream, he looked to Nesbitt, who was still gripping his other hand. What he had thought he had heard just before falling unconscious was clearly seen in Nesbitt's eyes. "You remember," he knew.

"Please forgive me for forgetting you," Nesbitt choked out, just as in the dream where his spirit had reached out to Lector. "I never wanted to."

Lector reached to draw him close. "It wasn't your fault," he insisted. "It was never your fault."

Most of the rest of the group cheered.

"He's okay!" Téa exclaimed.

"And Gozaburo's gone!" Mokuba beamed, watching Lector reunite with his friends. "You're all safe now!"

"Oh, Démas. . . ." Evangeline brushed away a happy tear. "Everything's going to be alright now."

Lector felt the same. There were still the trials to go through, and testifying was still not going to be fun, but the burden on his heart had been lifted. Nesbitt remembered him again and all of them had drawn him out of Gozaburo's cruel world. Any remaining shadows from that dark time were now gone from his heart.

"You know, I completely forgot," Evangeline exclaimed. "We haven't read Grandmother's letter yet."

"You read it," Lector said.

Nesbitt looked awkward. "Do you want all of us to leave if it's some personal family letter?"

"No," Evangeline insisted. "Everyone should stay." She took out the letter and began to read.

Dear whoever finds the family treasure,

I hope you will fully appreciate what you have discovered. These are heirlooms that are very precious to my mother and my grandmother and me, but someday they may be needed to sell if anyone in the family falls on hard times. If everyone is doing alright, or if the family members wouldn't appreciate the true value of the jewelry and this letter, please keep it all hidden for a later date.

I know this family has its problems. So does every family. But one thing I've come to know through the years is that family is so much more than flesh and blood. Our family is a beautiful merging of different cultures and races, initially bound by marriage and, I hope, now bound too by love. But a family just means a group of people who care about each other more than anything else. I've seen some incredible families made from dear friends who couldn't love each other more if they were actually related. If anyone in this family has made friends they consider their family, then I consider them family too, and I want them to share in the treasure. After all, a bond that close is the real treasure, more valuable by far than anything in this little collection.

With Love,

Iris Leichter

Evangeline folded the letter and handed it to Lector. "I think of everyone here as my family now," she said. "I don't know if Démas feels that way about everyone in the room, but I know for sure that some people fall into that category for him."

"Yes," Lector said quietly. He opened the letter and looked it over again, moved by the words.

"You're sure part of our family too," Téa smiled. "All of you. . . ." She looked around the room. "We started out with four of us, and look how things have grown now!"

"Yes, and there are still more friends elsewhere," Bakura said, petting Oreo. "The bikers and Leon. . . ."

"And Rebecca," Yugi added, while Yami Bakura scowled. Their meetings had not been pleasant.

"But there surely wouldn't be enough treasure for all of us, if you're thinking of sharing it all around," Mai said in surprise.

"Well . . ." Evangeline smiled. "Let's wait and see what happens when we get it all appraised."

"The family'll probably contest it," Crump said.

"She stipulates that someone has to appreciate the value of the letter as well as the jewels in order to have them," Johnson mused. "If this letter holds up in court, then that would have to be abided by."

"As if anyone could prove or disprove who values the letter," Yami Bakura snorted. "After reading it, they would all put on an act pretending to value it."

"But the proof is in their actions," Evangeline said grandly. "I think the way Démas has been treated proves that hardly anyone values the letter or the values spoken of in it. Anyway, we'll see what happens."

Lector sat up. "We'll see," he agreed. "But right now we have a lot to talk about and I feel like going to the front of the house. We're on the first floor, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Crump said. "We wanted to try to wake you up as soon as possible and not wait until we got you up to our room."

"Do you really feel well enough to get up?" Nesbitt asked in concern.

"Now who's a mother hen," Lector said, but smiled. "I'm fine, Nesbitt. For the first time in what feels like ages, I am truly fine." He stood and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's go."