Chapter Six

Everyone had little choice but to leap out of the way of the rampaging vehicle. As they did, several cried out to those inside.

"Nesbitt! What on Earth are you doing?!" Lector screamed.

"Serenity!" Joey and Tristan wailed.

"Téa!" Yugi and Atem yelled.

Although Seto did not speak, he stared in disbelieving horror. "There has to be a way to stop that car!" he said then. "Or Nesbitt!"

"Somebody could hit him over the head with Duke's Duel Disk," Tristan growled, again only half-sarcastic. "He keeps it in his car."

By now, Mokuba and Marik were pulling up in the Ishtar van. Marik threw on the brakes, alarmed at the sight before them.

"Oh my gosh! Téa!" Mokuba shrieked. He struggled with the door. "We have to help them, Marik!"

"Mokuba, you can't go out into the path of the car!" Marik cried, grabbing for his friend's arm to hold him back.

"I have to do something!" Mokuba shouted helplessly.

At last Duke forcibly threw on his own brakes. The car squealed and screeched. Snow flew in all directions as he swerved, finally bringing the car to a halt parallel with a tree. He slumped over the wheel, badly shaken. "I knew we couldn't trust this guy!" he ranted. "But I never thought he'd endanger himself!"

"Something's wrong with him!" Serenity insisted. "Look at his eyes! They're not right."

Téa looked over, just in time to see Nesbitt grab Duke's Duel Disk off the back seat and leap out of the car. "Oh no! What's he doing now?!" she exclaimed in horror.

"Kaiba!" Nesbitt yelled. "We're going to duel right now, you and me." He slid the Duel Disk onto his arm with a sneer. "What's more, I'm going to duel my former associate Lector as well. I'll fight both of you together."

"What?!" Tristan gawked in disbelief. "Can't he ever just duel one person at a time?!" But he was quickly distracted as Serenity got out of the car. Joey was already running over to her and Téa.

"Serenity! Are you okay?!" Joey demanded. "Is everyone okay?!"

"We're fine, Joey," Serenity assured him. "But . . . what's going to happen now?" She looked ahead worriedly to the scene before them. "Kaiba isn't really going to duel. . . ."

"Oh no?" Téa groaned. "Kaiba never turns down a challenge. And I bet he'd love to bust Nesbitt down to size!"

"But Nesbitt's in no condition to duel," Serenity frowned.

Lector didn't think so either. "Nesbitt, this is insane!" he exclaimed. "If you're still angry with me because of what happened back at Crump's house, that's no reason to act out like this. And I don't want to duel you under these conditions. I know you're not well."

Nesbitt sneered at him. "You know a lot, don't you? You're always asserting yourself over me, always feeling like you're better than me, always thinking I'm an idiot."

"Right now, he's right," Seto said coldly. "But if it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get."

"Even if you have to tag team duel with Lector?" Nesbitt cackled. "Remember, this is a two-on-one match!"

Seto and Lector turned to look at each other. Neither liked the idea at all. But if Nesbitt was going to insist on dueling, then it would have to be done. He couldn't be allowed to run wild in whatever altered state of reality he was currently in.

"It's gonna be more than that," Crump suddenly spoke up. "If you're taking them on, Nesbitt, you're taking me on too."

"And us," Gansley said, indicating himself and Johnson. From their eyes, they were hoping to get through to Nesbitt and get him to back down.

In that, they failed. "So I can take all of you down at once?" Nesbitt mocked. "Let's do it. But first . . ." He held up his Duel Disk and pressed various buttons and keys. In a moment, it flickered oddly. So did every other Duel Disk there. "I'm going to make this more interesting. I just disabled all the safeties on every one of our Duel Disks."

"No!" Mokuba and Téa screamed at once.

Seto stared at his Duel Disk in shock. "Why are you doing this?!"

"To make things more interesting," Nesbitt shot back.

"Seto, you can't go through with this!" Mokuba cried, running forward to his beloved brother. "With the safeties off, people are really going to get hurt! Including you!"

"Who knows what this nutcase might do next if I don't duel him," Seto growled. "He could remotely take off the safeties on every Duel Disk in town! I have to go through with this, Mokuba."

Lector looked shaken. "Nesbitt, why?" he gasped. "What's happened to you?"

"Why?" Nesbitt's eyes remained completely cold. "Because I can. Because I hate every one of you pathetic people. You've all held me back! Now I'm going to take my revenge."

The other members of the Big Five regarded him in disbelief. Even though they knew something was wrong, they didn't know how to react to these cruel declarations. Lector especially was wavering. What if Nesbitt really believed deep down that they were holding him back?

Yami Bakura stared at the scene too. He was also badly shaken, but for a different reason. "This is too familiar," he told Bakura. "All of this . . . it's just like when that demon poisoned me with his Shadow Leech and made me try to unleash the zombie apocalypse on the city."

Bakura's eyes widened. "Yami, you're right! Oh no. . . . Do you think he's gotten hold of Nesbitt now?!"

"Perhaps." Yami Bakura glowered suspiciously at Nesbitt. "Ring, scan that man. Is he in control of his mind? If not, who is?"

The Infinity Ring glowed and its beam shone out, scanning Nesbitt from behind. After a moment it finished, flickered, and displayed a silhouette of a man with wild spikes and a cape.

Marik paled. "No! It is him!"

Lector looked over, taking in what they were discussing. "So Nesbitt is mind-controlled or possessed?!" he exclaimed in horror. At the same time, he felt a certain relief. Nesbitt wasn't losing his mind, and he hadn't turned against them. Not that Lector really believed he would, but the confirmation was somehow encouraging. The real Nesbitt had to still be there, somewhere.

Gansley stared too. "How will we bring him back to himself?!"

"Start worrying about how you're going to survive this duel," Nesbitt cut in. "Taking off the safeties strains the Duel Disks a lot more. And with six people in this duel, just imagine the amount of stress and strain that so many monster attacks will put on them, to say nothing of the magic and trap effects. I would calculate that if this duel isn't over in . . . thirty minutes, all Duel Disks in play will detonate, seriously injuring or killing the players."

"Seto, you just can't do this!" Mokuba sobbed.

Seto looked to him. "This duel's going to happen whether I'm in it or not, Mokuba. At least if I'm in it, Nesbitt stands a better chance of losing." His expression softened. "I'll be alright."

Mokuba wasn't at all convinced. "Seto . . . !"

Marik drew an arm around Mokuba's shoulders. There was nothing they could say or do to change Seto's mind. And, he knew with a sinking heart, Nesbitt did have to be stopped.

"This is outrageous!" Atem finally burst out. "Yami Marik, come out of your hiding place and end this cruel scheme! I know you must be watching. You would want to savor every moment of this."

The familiar, raucous cackle echoed off every tree and building. "Oh, I'm watching, alright," Yami Marik agreed. "But you should know better than to order me to stop any instance of madness and chaos, Pharaoh! Never!"

Atem clenched his teeth. "I knew it was really too much to hope for."

"Stop talking!" Nesbitt suddenly snapped. "It's time to duel!"

Lector could only stare at him, haunted and sorrowful. "Nesbitt. . . ." But then his eyes hardened. "I'm going to save you. And then whoever did this to you is going to be sorry."

Yugi looked to him with understanding and sympathy. "Stay strong," he encouraged. "And never give up on him. Mind-control can definitely be broken!" He looked to Joey with a sad yet triumphant smile, memories of Battle City going through both of their minds. "Possession too."

"That's right!" Joey nodded. Wow, of all the things I never thought I'd be doing, now I'm encouraging members of the Big Five. "Your friend's definitely still in there!"

"He was really upset about something when we found him," Serenity spoke up. "He was all shaken up thinking he'd said something horrible to all of you. Then . . . I don't know what happened. We were just driving and he wasn't feeling well . . . and all of a sudden he just tried to take the wheel away from Duke. The guy who did that and is trying to do this definitely isn't the same person we found laying in the snow! That person loves all of you. And I know if you can just get through to him, he'll stop this duel!"

"Yes, but just how do we get through to him?" Gansley retorted.

"Keep talking to him, for one thing," Yugi said.

"And duel, for another thing!" Nesbitt interrupted. "I've already got my first monster on the field, Robotic Knight."

"That figures," Tristan grunted.

"Fine, Nesbitt," Seto growled. "You want to duel? Then here. Meet my Vorse Raider!" He slapped a card on his Duel Disk. "He'll take out your pathetic knight in no time."

"Not if I play Widespread Ruin," Nesbitt said, flipping over a trap card he had laid down.

Seto stared. "Oh no!"

"Oh yes. Now it's your Vorse Raider that's been taken out," Nesbitt sneered. "Who's next?"

"I'll go next," Lector said coolly. "I'll lay one monster facedown and two other cards, and that will be all."

"Hmm. Probably an effect monster," Nesbitt said. "You and Gansley like those. And your other facedown cards will likely deliver additional punches."

Lector narrowed his eyes. "You'll just have to wait and see, if you choose to attack me on your next turn."

Tristan tensely watched as the other Big Five members took their turns. "Oh man, this is nuts," he exclaimed. "Five against one! And that look in Nesbitt's eyes . . ." He shuddered.

"Seto will take him down!" Mokuba insisted. But fear was in his eyes. The safeties being off meant this was a whole new game.

Marik laid a hand on his shoulder.

By the time it came Nesbitt's turn, Johnson had destroyed his Robotic Knight. But instead of being concerned, Nesbitt just sneered. "Now I'll bring back my Knight with Monster Reborn," he announced. "I'll also add Gradius as a new threat. And as for who I'll attack . . ." He looked around at each potential target. "I'll get rid of your Flying Penguin, Crump."

Crump glowered. "You've probably been wanting to trounce my penguins for a long time, haven't you?"

"You said that, not me," Nesbitt mocked.

Yugi bit his lip. It was certainly possible that the mind-control was expanding on feelings Nesbitt had kept in his heart, but if the others believed that Nesbitt was doing things he had wanted to do anyway, they would only fall deeper into the controller's cruel trap.

"Remember, he's not himself," Yugi protested.

"I'm more myself than I've been in a long time," Nesbitt retorted.

Seto glared at him. "Your Gradius won't be around for long. I'm using my Ancient Dragon to destroy it."

Nesbitt glared right back as this attack went through.

Lector decided not to weigh in on the matter of whether Nesbitt was just doing things he wanted to anyway. "As for myself, I will lay another monster facedown and sacrifice my first monster to summon Satellite Cannon," he announced.

Seto stared as the hologram of the enormous rocket emerged from the ground and vanished into the clouds overhead. Unlike before, he was not this creature's target, which was a very strange switch from the past. This time around, he and Lector were actually fighting on the same side.

Yami Bakura folded his arms. "That was an interesting move. It can't be used until Lector's next turn, but it gains 1,000 attack points as each turn passes. And it can only be destroyed by Level 8 and up monsters." He smirked. "I wonder if Nesbitt even has anything that powerful."

"I certainly wouldn't count him out," Bakura said anxiously.

Indeed, by Nesbitt's next turn, he still had his Robotic Knight on the field and drew another monster to add to his attack force. "Alright," he said. "I'm going to attack your facedown monster with my Giga-Tech Wolf." He pointed at Lector, who glowered.

"You attacked Hiro's Shadow Scout," he said flatly. "Now you have to draw three cards and let me see them."

"And any Magic cards I have go to the Graveyard. I know," Nesbitt said. "But I get to keep the others, you fool."

"Hmm. But Lector made you discard Clockwork Night," Gansley smirked. "That's one of your most powerful cards."

"I'll have my revenge for that." Nesbitt's eyes glittered with the heartless cruelty of mind-control as he surveyed his opponents. "I feel like launching a direct attack. And since you are the only one currently without a monster to guard you, Lector, I guess I'm going to attack you."

Lector snarled. "Don't do it, Nesbitt!"

"I will anyway. Robotic Knight, attack Lector's lifepoints directly!" Nesbitt commanded with a sweep of his hand.

Robotic Knight did exactly that, slamming full-force into Lector's body. Lector cried out, flying off his feet to crash a yard away.

"Lector!" Gansley, Johnson, and Crump all spun around, looking to him in concern.

Nesbitt laughed. "So it looks like taking all the safeties off makes things almost as dangerous as a Shadow Game, eh, Kaiba?"

Seto clenched his teeth. "Stop this, Nesbitt! You're hurting your friend."

"He's not my friend," Nesbitt replied.

Lector groaned, rolling onto his side and trying to push himself up. "This . . . isn't Nesbitt," he rasped. "Some of the things he's saying and doing I haven't been sure about, but I know he wouldn't say that."

"Lector, are you alright?" Gansley demanded.

"Fine." Lector stumbled to his feet.

Johnson was angry. "There must be a way to get Nesbitt to hear us!"

"Yeah! In your right mind, you were willing to die for Lector, Nesbitt," Crump pleaded. "You have to be in there somewhere. You have to wake up and remember! And then take control of your body again!"

"Ironic, isn't it," Yami Marik sneered from the sidelines as he appeared. He was sitting on a ledge a story above them, one leg over the other and his arms folded.

"You fiend!" Yami Bakura snarled.

Yami Marik stuck his tongue out at his nemesis and continued, "Nesbitt considered himself quite an expert on possession in Noa's world. Now he's the one who's possessed! Hmm. Unless he's only pretending, and he really meant that heartless statement he made about poor Lector."

"He didn't mean it," Lector growled. "You might have fooled me in the past, but not now." He pointed at the sky. "And while it's true that I don't have a monster to protect me from direct attacks, my monster can attack now that it's charged enough."

Seto's card attacked, destroying Nesbitt's monster. "Go for it, Lector."

Nesbitt took a step back. "You wouldn't."

"To try to get through to you, I would. Satellite Cannon, attack Nesbitt's lifepoints directly!" Lector commanded.

Seto watched, a bit chilled as the familiar light pierced through the clouds and struck Nesbitt down. The other time he had seen that card in action, it had been attacking him back in Noa's world. Strange that now Lector was using it against one of his allies, and stranger still that he wasn't doing it out of malice or hatred, but a sincere desire to try to shake the man back to his senses.

"Nesbitt?" Gansley watched, tense, as Nesbitt started to stir. "Are you alright?"

"Are you back with us at all?" Crump asked.

Finally Nesbitt sat up on the ground, but his expression was still twisted in hatred and cruelty. "I'm not impressed," he said. "I've still got plenty of power to defeat you with, and I'll make sure to pay Lector back for that blow."

"That didn't work for us either, when I tried attacking Joey with Red-Eyes Black Dragon," Yugi told Lector. "But when Joey had to attack Red-Eyes, that shook him free for a few seconds and helped overall in breaking the spell."

"Nesbitt doesn't have any particular connection with Satellite Cannon," Lector said. "And I doubt he has a monster that could attack it. One of us would have to figure out how to get hold of Robotic Knight and get Nesbitt to attack it. And even at that, I don't know if he loves even that card enough that it would help."

Seto clenched his teeth. "Under this control, Nesbitt is far more formidable than before. I won't lose to him, but the rest of you may be in trouble. Especially with the safeties turned off."

"You'll just have to keep trying," Yugi said. "It was a long, uphill battle to free Joey from Marik, but our friendship finally won out!"

Gansley sneered. "That sounds absolutely ridiculous."

"Don't forget, Atem and I beat you with rainbows and fuzzballs," Yugi smiled.

That brought a scowl. "How could I possibly forget?"

"Yeah!" Joey grinned. "It may sound like some cheesy '80's cartoon, but it's for real! You guys know you care about each other. You'll find a way to get through to him."

"But it'll have to be soon," Yami Marik interjected. "Don't forget, if this duel isn't over within twenty minutes, your equipment will malfunction from the overload of power due to the removal of the safety mechanisms and you'll all be killed!"

"We're all well aware," Johnson retorted.

The tension only mounted as the duel continued. Nesbitt proceeded to brutally attack almost every one of the opposing players, showing particular relish when he delivered a harsh blow to Seto—to Mokuba and Téa's horror.

"I'm alright," Seto growled as he stumbled back to his feet. He wouldn't admit to how badly that blow had hurt, but he was even more worried now that he knew what it felt like to be attacked without the safeties in place. Nesbitt could do a horrific amount of damage to every one of them.

"He's gone after almost all of us now," Johnson frowned.

"Odd that he hasn't attacked me except to destroy my defense position monsters," Gansley remarked. "He had at least two opportunities to have attacked me directly, but he passed both times."

Lector perked up as he really stopped to consider that fact. "Why is that, Nesbitt?" he demanded. "Are you worried that Gansley might not be able to withstand being attacked with the safeties off? You know, of course, about his heart."

Nesbitt scoffed. "That has nothing to do with it."

"Then why don't you attack me, Nesbitt?" Gansley retorted. "I'm wide open."

"Be careful," Johnson said in concern.

Nesbitt stared Gansley down for a long moment. Then he turned away, refusing to meet his gaze. On his next turn, he struggled with himself for a long moment before finally saying, "I'm going to attack Crump."

"I think you may have hit on something!" Yugi exclaimed. "Nesbitt's trying to break free!"

Yami Marik snarled. "Well, we can't have that, now, can we?" He held out his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist.

Nesbitt's eyes widened in shock and pain.

"No!" Lector took a step forward. "Let him go!"

"Never!" Yami Marik cackled.

Nesbitt stumbled forward and started to sneer. Any possible spark was gone from his eyes again. Now they were only heartless and cold.

"Well?" Yami Marik grinned. "Who will you attack? Will you carry through with your plan to destroy another of Crump's pathetic penguins, or will you do the most logical thing and attack Gansley directly?"

Nesbitt chuckled under his breath. "What do you think? I'm always a man of logic."

"No, Nesbitt!" Lector exclaimed. "You can't take that risk!"

"Robotic Knight, attack Gansley now!" Nesbitt ordered.

"I don't think so!" Crump snapped to attention. "Volt Penguin, intercept that attack!"

Gansley looked to Crump with a start. But although Crump flinched to see another of his beloved penguins destroyed, he didn't back down.

Nesbitt growled. "I keep getting mixed up with fools who do that. Try that again and your fate might be worse than that kid Tristan's was."

"Hey," Tristan snapped.

"We stand together, Nesbitt," Gansley said. "Come back to yourself! You were starting to."

"Heh! I am myself, old man," Nesbitt taunted. "I am concerned with myself first and foremost. I was going to abandon all of you and leave Noa's world when I thought I could."

"I'm sure you thought we would all be able to escape eventually," Johnson said.

"I didn't care," Nesbitt sneered.

Lector debated with himself. That had hurt, and he had been angry, but Johnson was likely closer to the truth. "None of us believe that, Nesbitt," he said.

"Oh? You sure believed we were all against you in the past," Nesbitt retorted. "And you want to know something? We were. We all wanted you to be swallowed up by the darkness!"

Lector wavered, hurt even though he didn't believe it.

"That's not true, Lector," Gansley insisted. "None of us wanted that! Nesbitt didn't either!"

"I know that now," Lector said.

"Shut up," Nesbitt snarled at Gansley. "That's a lie, and I'm going to prove it!"

Everyone stiffened, looking to him in shock. "What are you talking about, Nesbitt?" Seto demanded.

"I have a card called Brain Control," Nesbitt bragged. "I'm going to use it."

Crump gulped. "Anyone got a De-Spell card?"

"Not in my hand or on the field," Seto growled. "And I doubt Lector has Imperial Order handy."

"What are you going to do with your Brain Control card, Nesbitt?" Lector asked.

"I'm going to use it on your Satellite Cannon," Nesbitt sneered. "Then I'll attack you directly with it."

Lector stared at him. "But by now it's too powerful to use on a direct attack!"

"Nesbitt, you can't!" Gansley exclaimed.

"I'm going to!" Nesbitt insisted. "And none of you can stop me!"

Seto clenched his teeth. "Unfortunately, he's right."

Mokuba stared at him. "But Seto, without the safeties . . . !"

"I know." Seto gripped the cards in his hand, praying for a miracle. He didn't want Lector to be hurt like this. And if Nesbitt would do that, what else was he capable of now?

Everyone could only helplessly watch as Nesbitt's Brain Control card took effect. The man sneered at Lector with a heartless look. "Satellite Cannon, turn against your master. Attack Lector directly!"

Lector braced himself. It was all he could do. This isn't Nesbitt, he told himself as the beam came down through the clouds, aimed directly at him. Nesbitt wouldn't do this. He wouldn't . . .

Then the pain hit and it was all he could think about. The direct attack was brutal. By now the Satellite Cannon had charged enough for several thousand attack points. Lector hadn't even planned to use it again for fear of what damage it could do without the safeties on. But in his mind-controlled state, Nesbitt had no such qualms.

Lector screamed, his eyes filled with pain and shock, as the attack swept over him. When it faded, he immediately collapsed and lay still.

"Lector!" Gansley, Johnson, and Crump screamed in unison.

"No," Mokuba sobbed. "Come on, Lector! You've gotta get up. . . ."

The others stood in silent horror. Even Seto was shaken. Lector wasn't getting up this time. What had Nesbitt done to him? If Nesbitt was far enough gone that he would attack his friend so heartlessly and maybe even fatally, was there any way of reaching him at all? And could he even live with himself if they did? Nesbitt might kill himself out of guilt and horror and grief.

Or maybe Seto was just thinking of what he would feel like doing. It was hard to picture Nesbitt being affected so much that he would . . .

"LECTOR!"

Everyone jumped a mile. Nesbitt's eyes had returned to their usual brown, filled with varying emotions. He stood, shaking, clearly overwhelmed by the scene.

Gansley looked to him. "Nesbitt, are you back with us?!"

Nesbitt didn't answer. He was fighting with his Duel Disk, trying to get it off his arm. Finally, remembering there was one other step first, he placed his hand on top of his remaining deck. "I surrender! I surrender already!" he screamed, his voice strangled. The holograms disappeared as the duel officially ended. Finally he figured out how to remove the Duel Disk and he tossed it into the snow before running ahead and collapsing next to Lector. "Wake up! You have to wake up!" He shook the bigger man on the shoulder as he turned him onto his back. When there was no response, Nesbitt struggled to remove Lector's Duel Disk, not wanting to run any risk of it still malfunctioning despite the duel ending.

Gansley reached for Nesbitt's shoulder. "Nesbitt, you have to calm down," he ordered. "We can't help Lector this way!"

"I can't calm down!" Nesbitt shouted in disbelief at the very idea. "I did this! I did this to him!" At last he slid the Duel Disk off of Lector's arm and set it in the snow.

Crump looked like he was at the point of hysteria as well. Only Nesbitt's panic was holding him back from breaking down too. He and Johnson gathered around Lector as well, but with Nesbitt so frantic, they couldn't really get to him.

Serenity blinked back tears, holding both hands to her mouth. "This is horrible," she choked out.

Duke looked away from the scene, glaring into the snow. But he put an arm around her.

"It looks like he's breathing," Johnson said. "He's still alive, Nesbitt. He's going to be alright." Inwardly he prayed that was true . . . even though the thought of him praying after making dozens of court witnesses lie following taking an oath on the Bible seemed laughable at best.

Nesbitt still wasn't convinced. "Lector . . . I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he choked out. "I didn't even know what was happening for a long time. When I finally did, I . . . I couldn't break free. Its hold over me was too strong. It made me say and do things I never wanted to, things I never meant or felt. But you'll probably never believe that. Now I hurt you like this. . . . The shock of what I did snapped me out of it, but . . . is it too late? Is it . . ."

Gansley struggled to kneel in the snow, balancing himself with his cane while reaching for Lector's wrist. The strong throb was a definite relief.

"Please . . . answer me," Nesbitt begged. "Even if you don't want to see me again, just . . . wake up. . . ."

Finally Lector stirred, slowly opening his eyes in awed amazement. "Nesbitt . . . ? You're back. . . ."

"Yeah," Nesbitt said shakily. "I'm back . . . and so are you. Are you alright?!"

Lector groaned. "I . . . think so. . . ." He shakily sat up.

"Oh, thank goodness," Serenity said softly.

Mokuba beamed with relief.

"You'd better be checked out at the KaibaCorp Infirmary," Seto grunted, even as he also relaxed.

"You had us all freaked out," Crump exclaimed.

"My apologies," Lector said, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Can you . . . all of you . . . ever forgive me?" Nesbitt asked. "Not that I deserve it, but . . ."

"Nesbitt," Lector interrupted. "It wasn't your fault about any of this."

Gansley nodded. "You were a victim as well."

"Of course I forgive you," Lector continued.

"We all do," Gansley said, and Johnson and Crump nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," Nesbitt said quietly.

"Let's get you up," Crump said, reaching for Lector. Together, he and Nesbitt managed to get him out of the snow and on his feet. Lector stumbled, but managed to stand while heavily leaning on Crump.

Mokuba ran to Seto and hugged him. "It's all over," he said in relief. "Everyone's okay."

Seto hugged him in turn. "I'm not so sure it is over, Mokuba," he replied. "Yami Marik is still at large." He looked up at the ledge; Yami Marik had vanished, probably in a fit of frustrated fury. "And there's the chance Dr. Portman was working with him. We don't know where she is."

"What a horrible thought," Téa moaned.

"Not to mention we still don't really know what's going on with those threats," Yami Bakura pointed out.

Yugi looked to Nesbitt, who was clearly haunted. "And I don't think this is over for Nesbitt, either," he said quietly. "Even though Lector is going to be alright, it doesn't change what Nesbitt did. I don't think he's going to dismiss it because he was being mind-controlled. I doubt if he'll forgive himself for a long time, if ever."

"That poor man," Serenity said softly. "That would be a horrible thing to live with."

"On the other hand, maybe it'll be good for him to finally have something he regrets doing," Tristan muttered.

Téa bit her lip and looked out into the oncoming twilight. She was sure this wasn't over either, and that meant she couldn't stop worrying for her friends.