Thank you for these characters and their stories, Kazuki Takahashi. Requiescat in pace.

Chapter Forty-Two

Dria

I lifted my arm from over my eyes as the blimp shook wildly. I had fled to my room, like a coward, and thrown myself onto the couch to fall asleep to my tears. I couldn't allow my feelings to confuse the Pharaoh any further. Having self-induced amnesia was bad enough. He didn't need me making his life more complicated, making him feel emotions he might not have truly felt.

He wasn't my beloved husband anymore. He was Yami, Yugi's partner and the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. Even so, I couldn't control myself. I hadn't felt truly happy since he had disappeared, and now he was here again, but I was terribly selfish because I couldn't let him go. These feelings wouldn't loosen their grasp on me.

Why was I struggling so much? I had lived without the Pharaoh for more than 5,000 years, even longer if I considered my time before Egypt. Plenty of people had spurned me for centuries for a variety of reasons, and sometimes for no reason at all. Rejection wasn't something I was unaccustomed to. So, why was the Pharaoh's rejection so different? I loved him dearly, but it couldn't be merely the sadness over a probable unrequited love, could it? I hadn't even felt this way when he had sealed himself within the Puzzle so long ago.

After changing into clean clothes and washing my face, I headed towards the control room of the blimp to figure out what was going on. It wasn't far from where I was, so I was hoping to hear what the problem was and then quickly retreat back into my room before Yugi or Yami could see me. I was such a coward. I didn't deserve to be the former Queen.

As the blimp shook a second and third time, I tumbled into the main control area. Seto, who was somehow right behind me, quickly wrapped his arms around my waist and kept me upright.

"The blimp is changing direction on its own!"

Seto's employees hastily tried to correct the sudden problem, but they were still unsuccessful.

"Hey! What's up with the turbulence?"

I turned my head back towards the group that had entered the control room. My eyes immediately focused on Yugi. He gave me a small smile, but I couldn't bring myself to even fake a smile. I'm sure some sad, forlorn look was my response to his smile.

"Make it respond!"

"But it's rejecting every one of my commands!"

Kaiba Corp. Island was spread out before us. The Duel Tower stood tall above the rubble that had once been the headquarters of the Kaiba Empire, where thousands of advanced military weapons had once been constructed. Thankfully, Seto changed the company's direction when he took over and destroyed what was left of his stepfather's fortune. This would be the final location of the Battle City Tournament. If only that had been the extent of Seto's anger and his need for power. He still believed his stepfather was overshadowing his accomplishments, when in reality, Seto had already accomplished more than his stepfather ever had or could have.

"Someone has hacked into the main frame and changed our coordinates!"

Somehow, this didn't surprise me. Someone always managed to hack into the "state of the art system" and reprogram it. Suddenly, the blimp began speeding towards the ocean, quickly decreasing in altitude. Everyone quickly hunkered down to prepare for the crash into the water, except me of course. No, I instead flew forwards over the rail, smacking my head into the corner of the stairs. The blimp hit the water as I hit the ground, landing directly on my hands and knees. Something red dripped into my right eye as I cradled the side of my head.

"Ma'am, are you alright?!"

"Dria!"

Seto was quickly at my side, pressing a cloth to my injury. He gave me a strange look when I met his gaze.

"You're not normally this clumsy or aloof, Dria. Did something happen?" He whispered softly as his eyes flashed to Yugi and back.

I shook him off as I wiped the blood out of my eye and took the cloth from him. It was no mystery that something had happened, but it wasn't something I was willing to share with so many people around. It was a personal matter that needed to be handled as quietly as possible. My heart was suffering at the moment, as the memory of the Pharaoh stepping away from me replayed in my head. Seto's focus immediately returned to the problem at hand, and just in time too.

"There's nothing wrong with your television set."

A young boy with green hair suddenly appeared on the screen. He claimed to be a long lost acquaintance of Seto, but I didn't understand how. I had never seen him before and I had met nearly all of Seto's associates at various dinners either with Seto or with Pegasus. This little boy seemed far more arrogant than those millionaires too, another thing I didn't understand. Just who did he think he was?

"I'm afraid my games have only just begun, you fools."

I looked towards Seto as the small child called Noah vanished from the screen. He was extremely angry that someone had the nerve to interrupt his tournament and to force him to follow orders. But, he had to obey to protect the people on board, whether he liked them or not. He met my gaze for a moment, smiling slightly, reassuring me in his own way.

"What is that?"

"It's huge!"

"And it's still growing!"

An underwater fortress rose from within the sea. To make matters worse, it was pulling us down towards it, right into Noah's hands. I wiped my eye again, although I couldn't tell if it was the blood or my own anger causing part of my vision to become distorted again. The landing gear was activated as the blimp sank into the belly of the fortress.

"Time for you and your friends to exit the ship. Refusal is not an option."

A few guns slid out from their hiding spots along the walls of the fortress. I took a few steps toward the others as I prepared myself to defend everyone. Seto, on the other hand, ignored the warning and proceeded to leave the blimp alone. When he announced his intentions, however, Noah opened fire. Seto quickly pulled me beneath his arms and into his chest along with Mokuba as the guns shot off their rounds.

While I wasn't entirely sure how much Seto really knew about me, he did seem to know that there was something I couldn't, and perhaps shouldn't, show to just anyone. I felt a small smile rising on my lips as I silently thanked him for his actions. Even if he didn't know anything beyond what was public knowledge, he still prevented me from doing something irresponsible. I buried my head into his chest as we waited for the guns to stop firing.

"Please be so kind as to exit the ship with your friends."

I mulled over what little information we had about the situation as we walked down the corridor towards another room. Mokuba pulled me along, keeping a firm grip on my hand. Yugi kept glancing back at me with worried eyes. As much as I wanted to speak with him, I couldn't bring myself to match his pace. Daring a quick glance at him, I sent him a small smile before gazing back at the floor. I had to find a way to continue forward, even if I was going without the Pharaoh. I had done it before, and I could force myself to do it again.

"What is this place?"

"It looks too big to be a racquetball court."

Joey's offhand comment caught me off-guard, causing me to giggle a little. A racquetball court was really the first thing he thought of? I thought I was unusual, with the magic powers and all. Five deep laughs overpowered my small one. It was Kaiba Corps. Big Five, the board of directors for Seto's stepfather's company. Mokuba informed me that while I had been tending to my father after Duelist Kingdom, these men had tried to imprison Seto's mind within his own virtual game. But Mokuba, Yugi, Joey, and Mai all came to his rescue and instead, these goons ended up trapped in the virtual world. Pegasus, meanwhile, had wanted me to tell him romantic and dangerous stories about the Prince and Princess.

"If we defeat you in Noah's virtual arena, then we will return to the real world in your bodies."

"No one is taking over my body again!"

Well this was certainly exciting. Some crazy guys wanted to become teenagers again? I wondered if they would want to duel me. Something told me not, but maybe they'd be desperate enough to try it. I could certainly work out some anger and sadness with a duel.

"Now, it's time to pay a visit to our special dueling world."

Lights flashed and the scene before us became distorted and confusing. A bright light shone, forcing me to turn slightly to protect my eyes. I felt someone gently pull my head towards their chest, shielding me from the blinding light. I thought I recognized the warm arms, but before I could prove my theory, the person was gone and a forest lay before me. I looked around to see who had protected me, but I was the only one standing. No one could have because they were all on the ground.

The entire place was virtual, even the dinosaur that tried to attack Seto. As the dinosaur wandered off, another Seto appeared from within the trees.

"I used to make virtual clones of myself all the time to duel against."

"Why duel yourself?"

"Because he couldn't beat me," I said as I winked at Seto.

He rolled his eyes and chose to ignore my comment instead of retaliating. Total Defense Shogun also came from the forest and the two virtual duelists faced off against one another. The Big Five explained the rules of their game, the Deck Master style. Although the duel before us was very short, the twists were not very hard to follow. The difficult part would be figuring out the special ability of each duel monster. I approved of these somewhat twisted rules. Perhaps I needed to consider adding them to the normal rules.

"When each of you loses a duel, one of us will take over your body!"

The world began to shake again as the virtual forest faded back into the large room. The group tried to rally behind the five guys who stepped forward to duel, but Tea pointed out the problem. The stuffed shirts never said who would have to duel.

"Just to make sure you all suffer equally, we'll be dueling against every one of you brats."

I tried to control my smile at their comment. It had been so long since someone other than Seto wanted to duel me.

"Let's start this party! You five stiffs are going down!"

"Who's going down?"

The floor suddenly opened beneath Joey, and he fell before anyone realized what was happening. As soon as he was through, the opening disappeared. Their plan was to separate us one by one, hoping it would make it easier to defeat each of us.

Soon, nearly everyone was gone. Mokuba managed to grab a hold of Seto before they fell. He also extended his free hand back towards me, but they were gone before I could reach back. Yugi and I were the only ones left. He also stretched towards me, but the hole appeared too quickly and his arms were too short to grab me.

Then there was one: me.

The Big Five stared at me silently for a moment, probably considering what they should do with me.

"Our apologies for the rough greeting, Miss Pegasus. Rest assured, you will not be bothered during our little game. In fact, you will be Mr. Noah's honored guest and will be allowed to return to your own body after our business is completed. Now, if you would please step forward, we will allow you to watch for your own entertainment."

I glared at them, feeling angry tears prick my eyes, "Why should I get special treatment? I'm no different than my friends."

The oldest one, Gansley I believe, chuckled at me, "Why my dear, for one, you are a successful businesswoman, one of the few we respect and admire. Secondly, we need someone who will proclaim we are who we say we are. Since we cannot allow Mr. Kaiba to remain, you are the next best option."

"What makes you think I would agree to that?"

They all smirked at me as Gansley continued.

"You would really claim your 'best friend' is not who he says he is? Not only would that reflect poorly on you, but consider your father. He's worked so hard since your mother died and to have his only child lose her mind and reputation? Why, his entire company would fail from that bad publicity. Not to mention Kaiba Corp. as well. Mr. Kaiba would be so devastated from his love interest's hateful words that he might just have to pass the company on to someone else to mend his broken heart."

I clenched my fists tightly. Nothing he said held any truth. My father was far stronger than that. He would believe me, but Gansley did bring up a good point about the company. It wouldn't survive that kind of publicity. All of father's hard work, all his time spent making my game famous, would be lost. I couldn't do that to him, no matter how childish this little game was.

I wished desperately that I could tear this place apart. But, with my friends now trapped in some virtual game, I couldn't risk doing that. I sighed; best to play along for now. I would figure out my plan as I searched for my friends within this new world. I stepped forward into the gap that had opened before me and fell into the virtual world.

Yugi

I groaned as I opened my eyes. Falling into a virtual world was more painful than I had expected it to be. Rubbing my head, I stood and began to look around. I was in some kind of forest, and a clear blue lake lay before me. Pharaoh was quiet, taking in the situation around us I supposed. My eyes suddenly widened.

Where was Dria? She had been right next to me. I frantically looked around the forest, but I couldn't find any sign of her. I sighed as I accepted this small defeat. Dria had been struggling lately. Maybe the misunderstanding between her and the Pharaoh was affecting her more deeply than we could tell.

It was affecting the Pharaoh too. He had been very quiet lately, only speaking when I asked him a direct question. He must have been confused about how he should approach Dria, how he should make his love known to her. Since I shared his mind, I knew how deeply he cared for her, more deeply than I thought it was possible for someone to feel. I cared for her too, but my affection was superficial compared to his. I sighed again. There was nothing I could do about it now. They needed to have a heart-to-heart at some point.

I hope you realize that, Pharaoh. I will make that conversation happen if I have to.I got no response, again. I gazed around at the scenery around me, "It's hard to believe that everything here is virtual."

"Well you'd better get used to this place."

A sea warrior appeared from within the lake. It was one of the Big Five, Gansley. My duel with the Big Five was about to begin. I had to finish it quickly to search for Dria. She could be in serious danger, and I couldn't let her and the Pharaoh lose each other again. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, the Pharaoh took over our body.

I watched from behind the Pharaoh as a ghost. Kuriboh was chosen as our deck master. Not the first card I would have gone for, but I had faith in the little guy. He had already come to my rescue multiple times. The least we could do was trust in him. We could do it together.

"You haven't the business skills necessary to wheel and deal with a mogul like me."

It would be his business prowess that would be his downfall, I could feel it. The Pharaoh and I would find a way around his methods and defeat him. Hopefully, the rest of the Big Five would choose the friends who had experience dueling. Serenity and Tristan were probably in the most danger because they were just beginners. Duke and Tea had dueled with me before so they could most likely handle it. Kaiba and Dria obviously would be better off than probably even me. They both were extremely talented, even though I'd never seen Dria duel before. But she knew the game inside and out, backwards and forwards. Rationally, I knew she would be fine, but emotionally, I was still worried.

I shook my head, pushing away the thoughts concerning Dria. As much as I wanted to worry, I couldn't until the duel was over. I needed to win if I wanted to find her. Kuriboh was trying to say something. If only I could understand what he was trying to say. Dria had understood him once, and it had saved Duke and Tristan's lives.

I gasped as Gansley turned Chimera's attack towards us, striking us instead of him and lowering our Life Points to 1900. Business was everything to him. It especially showed in his dueling strategy, referring to his monsters as expendable workers, which irked me. It would have angered Dria as well, seeing someone treat her monsters like that. We managed to lower his Life Points as well, making the duel 2600 to 1900. As the duel continued, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. If we attacked with Chimera, he would just sacrifice two of his monsters and reflect the attack again. Even if we managed to destroy his monsters, he would only summon another Ruklamba.

"What's pathetic is the monster you've chosen as your deck master. That floating hairball does nothing but spout gibberish."

I glared at him from behind the Pharaoh. Kuriboh was one of the most trustworthy creatures I had in my deck. He had come to my rescue before, and I had no doubt he could do it again, given the chance. Gansley would regret belittling him. We had no choice but to activate his reflective ability. We needed to remove the defenses he had put up to win, even if it cost us Life Points.

Celtic Guardian soon came flying at us, swinging his sword down. Although it was what we wanted, I could have sworn I saw him try to stop his attack when he realized he was swinging at us. If only that strategy had worked. He still had two monsters on his side when our vision cleared up. Now I was really in trouble. I couldn't lose. I wouldn't let him escape from this place in my body. I didn't want to be stuck here because the Pharaoh and I had a mission to complete, and questions to ask Dria when she was willing to answer. Dria and the Pharaoh had to make up too.

I wouldn't lose faith in my deck and my deck master. A little luck right about now wouldn't hurt though. We only had 400 Life Points left now. Kuriboh encouraged us to use the Rainbow Blessing card Yami had just drawn. There really was nothing to lose by placing it face down on the field. Besides, Kuriboh was our deck master. He deserved our trust. I looked back towards the forest again, hoping to see some sign of our friends. We had to win this duel to continue through this virtual nightmare and find everyone again. I couldn't allow any of them to be lost in this place. I watched in horror as our last line of defense fell. What were we going to do?

Pharaoh

Yugi had been right. Having Kuriboh as our deck master wasn't an unfortunate turn of events. In fact, it would be the reason we would win the duel. Gansley seems to have forgotten that even the smallest details cannot be overlooked simply because they seem insignificant.

"What? You expect to win with rainbows and fuzzballs?"

As a matter of fact, I did. Using the Rainbow Arch, Swift Gaia ended the duel with one final strike. At last, the duel was over and our minds were safe for the time being. Now it was time to find our friends. Chances were that they were already in danger; chances were even higher that Dria was in danger. I had to find her. I didn't care if she no longer felt anything for me or if she hated me. I cared for her and for that reason alone, I would defend her however I could. Even if I were no longer the man she married and I couldn't remember her, I wouldn't let her go again that easily. A door suddenly appeared beside me. Hopefully, it would lead us to our friends and to Dria. I opened the door and stepped into the darkness beyond.