YuGiOh!, Past Repeating: Book 2

by xyugiohluvrx

Battle City is coming up and there's a new evil around the corner. Sarah's bond with the Pharaoh will need to be strong for the upcoming battle they have to compete in. Will they succeed in defeating this new enemy? Read to find out. Hunters are everywhere... you've been warned... [PharaohxOC]

35. Numb

Written: 20/06/14

Author's Note: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. 3=) I had a lot of fun bringing out my evil side. Muahahahaha! =D But don't worry, it will only get better. ;) On to chapter 35! =D Thank you so much for reading! =)

Rewrite Fiasco: Still in the process! Once I'm done, I'll post everything that I have onto Wattpad and Quotev. I might even update absolutely everything on Quizilla. o-o It's a looooong process! And I still need to study! xD Other than that, I hope the old chapters aren't bothering you too much. o.o I'm still trying to get them in working order. x'3

Summary: Sarah was taken by the Rare Hunters! What could Marik possibly want to ask her? Is that all that he wants or is there something more? What will the Pharaoh do now? This day can simply be described in one word: trouble.

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Battle City - New Evil Emerges; Old Friends Reunite - Chapter 35

Locator Cards: Yugi: 5/Joey: 4/Sarah: 6

~Yami's pov~

I raced down the closest street to our duel site, making sure to leave no corner unseen, hoping to see a glimpse of my friends anywhere. There were lots of faces, crowds of duelists and many were actually dueling, but none of those faces were familiar. I envied how they were so calm about the whole tournament, thinking it was all just a game, while I was left to deal about a madman.

My heart was racing, pounding hard against my ribs. That duel against Strings was tough and I was glad to have finished it. Thankfully, Kaiba and Mokuba showed up to remind me of what I was fighting for - of who I was fighting for - when I fell down again. I managed to defeat Marik by using his own strategy against him and win his Egyptian God card, the rarest card from his deck. I now had five Locator Cards - I was one more away from having a spot in the finals. If Marik wasn't defeated now, then he would definitely continue on. I had to make sure he was stopped.

But his next play was overwhelming. He said he was targeting our friends. If Sarah was here when we found them, she would have fought off the Rare Hunters.

I sighed after finding the alley I was looking in also empty, just like the last one. If the Rare Hunters used dirty tricks again, then she wouldn't have had a chance: that taser wasn't fair whatsoever. So they really didn't care what happened to her...

I found myself running even faster and my eyes searching even more once I thought about it. I couldn't see anyone I knew anywhere close. They had to be somewhere. I couldn't let Marik get to them. He already had Sarah… even that I could hardly imagine.

It felt odd not having her next to me. It was as though a piece of myself was missing. Among the other things I was looking for, a Guardian shouldn't have been one of them. Sarah was strong, but Marik must have had his Rare Hunters do something to subdue her. Those attacks were unexpected, but she seemed… off after the taser.

'Something's wrong - I hope she's alright.'

Yugi appeared next to me as I flew down the street. Seeing his bright, amethyst eyes eased me a bit, but I still felt some doubt. He was also worried: everyone we knew could be in danger. 'This is only one street," he said hastily. 'There are still so many more…'

'Don't worry, Aibou,' I said, trying to reassure him, but at the same time I was trying to reassure myself. 'We'll keep looking.'

I ran towards the last alley leading into the next street and found myself face to face with two more Rare Hunters. Oh, great. Just what I needed.

"Stop right there!" said the short and round one. "You're not going any further. If you want to get past us then we'll have to duel."

Unbelievable. They must have been following me from the beginning, making sure I didn't find my friends; stalling me and keeping me back.

"Listen to me carefully. Let me through - I don't have time for this! I've just about had enough of you!"

The taller, skinnier one stepped forward. "That's too bad," he said. "If you don't duel us, we'll kill the friends you're so eager to protect."

My eyes widened. "Don't you dare! They have nothing to do with this!" Taking their lives? How could they even threaten me with such a thing!

"Think about what you're about to do, Pharaoh," said the shorter one. "If you don't duel us, looking for your friends will be pointless."

"We have a knife to Sarah's throat," said the taller one, and I felt my heart almost stop beating. "We'll kill her before you can even start searching the next street."

I bared my teeth. This wasn't fair. They were keeping her hostage. And soon, all the others were going to be held against their wills too. They were just holding me back so they could get to them first, and if I didn't let them, then they would take their lives once they did find them.

I had no choice. I had to duel them.

"... Who will I be dueling?" I asked, giving in to their demands.

"We will have to do Rock , Paper, Scissors," said the shorter one. They soon began but it was getting them nowhere. After five times, they were both still choosing paper. Again, wasting my time so they had enough of their own time to find where our friends were.

I was getting impatient. "Would you hurry it up a bit?"

"We'll duel soon enough," said the taller one. "But only one of us can duel you at a time."

"Not if both of us duel against you," said Kaiba, suddenly walking up behind me. Mokuba was right beside him. He must have followed me here from the last duel site. I didn't even realize, too busy wrapped up in my own thoughts.

"We accept that challenge," said the shorter Rare Hunter. Kaiba was willing to duel with me? We have had our differences, but we've never been on the same side of the field before. This was certainly going to be interesting.

Kaiba looked towards me to see my reaction. I was gazing back at him with a raised eyebrow. He blinked.

"Don't misunderstand," he said. "I held the Battle City Tournament to rid the city of Rare Hunters, I can't let them do whatever they want. I'm not interested in helping your "nameless" friend. However, if you would like to use your Egyptian God card, that's alright. I'll step aside."

It was my turn to blink. "Kaiba…" This man suddenly seemed very strange. Not only did he offer assistance in this duel, but he also told me why he was holding the tournament and that I could use my Egyptian God card freely. I was tempted to ask him why he was in such a generous mood, but I realized that it could have been because I defeated Slifer. Marik's strategy with Slifer seemed formidable and unbeatable, and finding its weakness was rather difficult. Kaiba knew that and, once I found that weakness that I was searching for, began respecting me as a fellow duelist rather than an opponent. Although, after this was all over, he might press me for a duel and a chance to win Slifer for himself.

This man was sometimes full of surprises. And then sometimes not.

We activated our Duel Disks and the Life Point counters were set.

I just had to get through this duel and then I could continue searching for everyone. Mokuba wished us luck.

'Hold on, everyone.'

---

~Sarah's pov~

I remember the first day I was appointed to Yami's side after my training. At first it felt odd. He wasn't an official Pharaoh yet, but his father requested that I be with him just in case. The Pharaoh's Court was almost always with his father so he wasn't worried about himself, but of course, with the High Priests being with him, no one was left to watch over his son. That was where I came in. I would always be with him, at every moment I was able, always practicing my magic and making sure trouble never found him.

It felt odd because while I was practicing, Yami would curiously walk about the training grounds and observe what was going on. His father would always be around, talking with his fellow Court members and discussing my progress with Master Mahad. In the mean time, I would be working on a spell or simply reading a scroll.

We were young. Yami was fifteen and I was thirteen. There was a difference of a little over two years between us but we thought well beyond our years. We had gone through a lot of responsibilities that made us mature a lot faster. Yami had to go through the loss of his mother and he also had to learn how to be a Pharaoh. I had to go through the loss of my family and magic training. We both shared equal burdens and carried as much heartache within us. We knew what the other was going through.

Word had gotten around about what had happened to my family, but no one mentioned anything. I preferred it that way. I didn't like being reminded. And the situation with Yami's mother… she had grown ill and passed away when Yami was only three. I didn't say anything about her either, thinking that maybe he would prefer it that way as well.

His father always seemed busy; he was running a kingdom. Yami would have lessons in the library every day in the mornings and then he would have the rest of the day off. I would be learning something throughout the whole day but most of my time was spent practicing. After Yami was finished, he would be with his father all day, listening intently to what he was saying and why certain decisions were made. Yami would also follow his father to the training grounds where I was always practicing. They visited every once in a while.

The first day, before I was officially Guardian, I was working on a fire spell. I couldn't quite get myself to move the fire at my own will. It just wouldn't budge. That happened to be the day the Pharaoh and Yami stopped by to see my progress. I remember hoping the visit would be short. I couldn't bear them seeing my struggles with this one element. Of course, Master Mahad would have told them anyways. Today, the Pharaoh was with Master Mahad because he only had simple matters to discuss. The rest of the Court was back at the Palace, running some things from there.

"She didn't have as much trouble with the other elements," said Master Mahad. I happened to overhear. It was true though, for some reason fire was giving me more trouble.

I felt the Pharaoh's eyes on me, watching me concentrate. "Perhaps a bit more time," he suggested. "After all, she is very close."

Master Mahad nodded. "Her stamina has also improved by quite a bit."

"Is that so? That is wonderful news. I remember you telling me at the beginning that she could hardly handle one spell for just a few minutes."

Master Mahad smiled. "Indeed. Now she is able to hold several spells for as long as she needs to. At this rate, her stamina will most definitely improve even more.

"Now… if she can only control fire…"

Yami was leaning against the wall of the small, stone schoolhouse that was nearby. It was a one room building - one of the first schools ever built. Master Mahad and I used it as a place to meet for training. We were in an older part of the kingdom where no one was remotely nearby, just in case I couldn't control my magic. We didn't want anyone getting hurt and the schoolhouse was abandoned, making it the perfect place to practice some magic.

The part Yami was leaning against was slightly unsturdy. Master Mahad had told me that some repairs needed to be made, but because it was an old school and no one but us needed it, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I knew Yami was there, with arms crossed and crimson eyes in my direction, but I thought he would also be weary of where he was himself. I could have told him to be careful, but the wall never gave in before so I thought it never would.

As I continued concentrating on the torch sitting before me, my source of fire, I heard a very small crack. Immediately, I looked up from my current task to see where that noise had come from. I was in so much concentration that I was the only one who seemed to have heard it. Master Mahad and the Pharaoh were still talking. Then I noticed the wall moving. Yami felt his body shift.

I wasted no time. I used air magic to propel myself in Yami's direction and grabbed him around the middle. Before the wall shattered on top of us, I tackled Yami into the sand a few metres away, crashing from the propulsion. I had never done that before, but I knew that supporting my body weight completely on air magic would cost me a lot of energy. I rolled off him and we both tried to catch our breaths from the scare.

The wall of the schoolhouse crumbled to the ground and that was when the Pharaoh and Master Mahad looked away from each other to see what the commotion was about. Their eyes grew wide.

"Amira! Prince!" shouted Master Mahad as he and the Pharaoh ran over. I sat up and helped Yami up as well. He had a look of shock all over his face and he held his head to make sure there wasn't any pain.

"Are you alright?" I asked calmly, regardless of my fast-beating heart. I was scared too, but I didn't seem to show it as much. Perhaps I was too worried if whether or not Yami was hurt.

He looked at me, his unusually wide crimson eyes staring with bewilderment.

"You just… how did you…"

The Pharaoh was soon kneeling beside his son. "Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously, looking over Yami. He shook his head. I hadn't seen the King so worried before.

Master Mahad was about the same with me. I had never seen him worried either. Then he looked into my eyes. I saw the panic disappear from his own eyes as I looked back at him.

"I am glad the two of you weren't hurt…" he said. "That was certainly quite close…"

I nodded.

The Pharaoh looked at Master Mahad. "She reacted so quickly," he said. "She was by the torch and my son was all the way here…"

"I used air magic… to push myself towards him…"

Master Mahad regarded me with a surprised look. "We didn't practice that," he said.

"It… It was like what you said. If I could first understand the element, and then will it to do something, it could happen… And I needed to get to the Prince quickly so I…"

Master Mahad nodded.

"... You thought quickly on your feet," said the Pharaoh. "And you've saved my son. Thank you."

I shook my head. "It was my duty, sir…"

The Pharaoh smiled, but I could see tears at the edge of his eyes. He was really frightened for the safety of his son. After losing one person who was so close, losing another would seem unbelievable. He placed a gentle hand on my head. I blinked. It was a sign of thanks. My father used to do that too, whenever I helped my mother or whenever my brother helped him. It was equivalent to a hug, but with the Pharaoh being King, a hug would have been awkward.

"I'm glad I could help…"

Yami also looked at me, not as scared anymore from the thought of being squished. "Thank you…" he said as well. I offered a small smile and nodded.

It was then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see Master Mahad standing next to me with his attention elsewhere.

"You can control fire now?" he asked. I didn't understand so I looked over my shoulder to where the torch was placed. It was still lit but there were also bits of its flames scattered all around it. I didn't remember moving the fire, let alone controlling it.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure how that happened…" I admitted, although I wished I knew. I spent too much time on fire. "All I thought about was shielding the Prince…"

Then I stopped. Everyone looked at me from the lack of response.

My mind was racing with possibilities. "Shield…" I repeated to myself. "Of course… a shield…"

Master Mahad smiled. He knew what I was missing, but of course he wanted me to find out for myself.

I stood over the fire and held out my hand. With ease, the flames danced below my fingers, slowly spiraling up towards them.

The Pharaoh and Yami looked on with amazement. Master Mahad crossed his arms and nodded, his smile was still there. I ran around the training grounds, pulling and twisting the flames along with me. I felt exhilarated; excited from the thought of knowing how to control the final element.

"Incredible," said the Pharaoh. "She was struggling mere moments before."

Master Mahad smiled. "I have believed this from the beginning, but I think magic might come easily to her. I just do not know how."

The Pharaoh chuckled and clapped his hands at my performance. I finished it off with a twirl that ended with my arm pointing towards the sky. The hot flames followed around my arm and shot up over our heads. When I released my concentration, it burst into tiny flames before completely disappearing, all of that potential energy was released as heat.

I turned around and smiled as wide as I could.

"I've got it!" I said ecstatically.

"Indeed, you have!" said Master Mahad, also clapping. "Excellent work, Amira. But tell me… how is it done?"

I saw the twinkle in his eyes. "The fire had a shield," I said. "Around the flames is an area of warm air that I had to take into account first. Once I move through the warm air using air magic, I can use fire magic to move the flames however I need to."

"Now you understand what I meant when I said that fire magic consumes twice the normal amount of energy."

"Yes… I have to spend energy for the warm air as well as the flames itself."

Master Mahad smiled. "Excellent job," he said. "I wonder how you realized this though…"

I glanced towards the Prince. He noticed me looking and blinked.

"It's just like with us," I said. "You, my future King, are someone that I need to protect. When I realized you were in trouble, I knew I had to help you. That was why the fire went everywhere in that moment. It was because I understood the concept as I was concentrating. You are like the fire and I am like the warm air that shields the flames."

Yami looked at me for the longest time.

"You really are a guardian…"

I felt my cheeks warm up.

"It is now official," said Master Mahad. "Your training is complete. You can now officially become Guardian."

"This means I must get all the preparations ready," said the Pharaoh. "Congratulations, young one. And again… thank you."

I smiled. Then I bowed.

Master Mahad and the Pharaoh began walking ahead, back towards the Palace. They were discussing about what came next. Yami and I walked after them, side by side, like how it was going to be from now on.

Yami turned to look at me. "It's going to be odd, having a Guardian around," he admitted.

I smiled knowingly. "It's going to be a bit strange, I agree."

"But… if Father really wants me to have a Guardian… I'll accept it."

He stopped and held out his hand towards me. I blinked. I think it was a gesture of welcome.

He offered me a gentle smile. I replied with one of my own and then shook his hand.

It was warm.

After the Guardian Initiation, which was reciting the Oath and having its Seal entrusted to me, we spent the next four years together. We were at first very formal with each other, even after what had happened. It was only so we could grow more comfortable with each other's presence. Slowly, we became friends. With our duties, we couldn't meet with others our age and expand our circle of friends. We spent the most time together and so we became really close.

Four years may not have seemed like a lot, but we learned more about the other in that amount of time than we ever could.

Instead of simply being servant and king, we grew to care for each other from our hearts, and embraced the power of friendship.

We were close friends.

Could that have been what Marik was talking about? We were stronger together because of our friendship? I doubt he knew anything about the subject. But he did mention we could be stronger…

I wish I was more helpful like I was back then.

Now everything just seemed.. empty.

Like the cup I was supposed to fill, or the shield I was supposed to become, just disappeared and left me with nothing.

I felt myself slowly wake, easing out of my dreamy state. My vision was still rather blurry, but I could see that I wasn't outside anymore. I found myself bound to a chair, and the rope burned into my wrists and ankles. As soon as my mind cleared up, I scanned the room I was in.

I was in a secured room. There were cardboard boxes littering the left half of the room, a single door was off to my right, and a small skylight was by a corner. I was tied to a chair in the middle of the room and my Duel Disk was on the floor by my feet.

I felt cold.

I stared at the ground for a bit, replaying what had happened, and realized that the Pharaoh was fighting an Egyptian God card on his own.

Brilliant.

I sighed. I was wrong. He knew he wasn't alone, but still… being taken away by Marik's Rare Hunters was a failed attempt at being a Guardian. They did use dirty tricks though. First it was that taser and then it was the chloroform.

Today wasn't going very well.

And I was still remembering random things about my past. It wasn't as though I had forgotten about what had happened on that first day, I guess my mind was trying to remind me of the possibility of there being good times. We've been hitting a lot of roadblocks lately. I realized that I was also calling him "Yami" again in the dream. Of course… the formalities. So many details...

But… seeing the Pharaoh smile again was nice.

Him saying we were friends was also heart warming.

I knew in the back of my mind that there was a chance of us becoming close friends again, but after he actually said it during his duel with Strings, it made me feel a lot better.

Apart from my brother, he was the only other best friend I had. Now we had Yugi and the others, but reuniting with old friends was something else.

Then an image of the Dark Magician Girl flew past my eyes.

My head throbbed.

This pain of amnesia… I wish I knew why she seemed so familiar. It didn't make any sense. It felt like a game to me. Every time I was close to the answer, a million other questions would pop up.

"Grr… this isn't supposed to be some sort of game!"

"But life is a game."

I quickly turned my head towards the door. It was now open, and someone was walking through. I couldn't do much while being tied up, so I watched this figure carefully. At the sight of him, my blood began boiling. How could I have lost to him?

---

~Yami's pov~

The Rare Hunters lost. Kaiba and I weren't going to let them win, but most of the damage was done by Kaiba's Obelisk the Tormentor. Obelisk was a powerful god card, just like Slifer. I didn't know Kaiba had one and wondered how he could have obtained it. If I asked, he would most likely disregard the question.

Marik must surely be targeting him as well because of it.

Both Hunters were down from the duel. I set the Duel Disk back to standby mode, rushed over to the shorter one and grabbed his robes, hoisting him up to meet my face.

"Tell me where they are!" I demanded. I have never felt this much passion in my heart before. Yugi and I cared so much about our friends, and hearing threats about them drove us mad. We didn't want anything bad to happen to them. We wanted them to be safe. We wanted Marik to stop.

But of course he wasn't going to.

The Rare Hunter was unconscious - the duel knocked him right off his feet. The other one too. They were both out. I gritted my teeth in anger, dropped the Rare Hunter, and jumped over his body, ready to search the next street.

"Thank you for your help, Kaiba."

"Yugi, wait." Regardless of the urgency I had, there was something in his voice that made me stop and turn around.

"I have to find my friends," I said.

"I'm aware." He turned to Mokuba. "Could you contact headquarters and ask them to use our satellite system to track down Joey Wheeler's location?"

I blinked again. He was helping me again?

Mokuba nodded. "Yes, sir!" He placed the briefcase he was holding on the ground, unlocked it, and opened the small laptop that was inside. He began a video chat with the people in his building who were running the show from behind the curtains.

"Dr. Irvine! We have a situation: can you track down Joey Wheeler for us?" Mokuba asked the scientist who was in charge.

An older man with long grey hair, beard, and moustache looked back into the screen. "I will get right on that, sir," he said. "It will take a few minutes. I will call you once I get the results."

Mokuba smiled. "Thanks!" Then he closed everything up again.

I looked at both brothers. "Thank you…" I said. I had to admit, this was much easier - and faster - than searching the city by myself. Mokuba smiled up at me while Kaiba's little glare didn't budge.

"It'll be a little while, but we'll find your friends."

I nodded, but then I remembered that Sarah wasn't with Joey and the others. I felt like I should tell Kaiba just in case he thought she was with Joey.

"Kaiba… they have Sarah."

I watched his eyes grow wide, which never happened before. As Yugi's spirit floated next to me, he saw it too, and wondered if it was a trick of the light.

Then his eyes narrowed with anger. "The Rare Hunters? They took her?" He sounded… furious. But why would he be furious? "I knew it was odd not seeing her around for a while. She was with you, wasn't she? What happened?"

I swallowed. "When I was dueling Marik's puppet, before you showed, some Rare Hunters managed to best her. They took her away, but I know not where."

Kaiba clenched his fists. I think… he was concerned for Sarah. This was the first time Yugi and I were seeing Kaiba being worried for someone else other than Mokuba. What could make the elder Kaiba feel this way? It was a strange mystery to Yugi and me.

Speaking of the younger Kaiba, his large violet eyes were now sad after hearing the news. "I hope she's alright," he said. All I could think about was what they could possibly be asking of her. What if she didn't answer their questions? She was stubborn and would never allow herself to participate in their consultation.

"I hope so too, Mokuba…"

Yugi's eyes widened. 'Pharaoh!' he said. There was new hope in his eyes. 'Both Sarah and Téa have their own phones! We should call them!'

'Brilliant idea, Aibou! I had completely forgotten about them in this whole mess!'

"Kaiba!" I called, turning to the taller man. He glared back at me. "Sarah and Téa have cell phones. We can track down their locations a lot faster if we call them."

"Oh, right. They do." Looks like in the panic, he didn't remember either. Thankfully, Yugi's memory was sharp. Kaiba pulled out his own cell phone from within his coat pocket and pressed a few buttons. Then he handed the phone to me.

"I've called Sarah first." His voice sounded strict and precise, as though he wanted to find Sarah as soon as possible.

I looked at the phone and then back at him before holding it up to my ear. It was his own phone; he could have spoken to her himself. I suppose he didn't understand the entire situation and didn't know what to say. While the phone was ringing, Kaiba told Mokuba to contact Dr. Irvine again and start a search for Sarah. The locating mechanism was built into the Duel Disks. It was a good backup plan, in case the girls couldn't tell us where they were.

Finally the phone was picked up, but the voice I heard wasn't Sarah's.

It was male, and sounded awfully like one of the Rare Hunters who ambushed Sarah.

"Hello?"

Suddenly, I thought - they already had her. She wasn't only hidden away somewhere; she could have been tied up, bound to something, held up against her will in any sort of way and I didn't know about it. The thought terrified me, deep down, I could feel the panic climbing. I made sure not to show any of it or Yugi would worry even more than he already was, and Kaiba already looked like he could destroy a building.

I turned that panic into anger. How dare they separate us? How dare they hurt us? Marik was evil, doing whatever he wished to get whatever he wanted. First he had Sarah, now he was about to have everyone else under his control.

I couldn't let that happen.

My anger seeped into my voice.

"Where's Sarah?"

---

~Sarah's pov~

It was one of the Rare Hunters who was sent to separate me from the Pharaoh, the one with the red scarf around his mouth and nose. I wondered if that was really Marik's plan, to keep us apart. If it was, then it was brilliant. I wouldn't be there with the Pharaoh to help him.

I needed to find a way out.

"What makes you think life is a game?" I asked him quietly, wondering what his answer could be. In the mean time, I was thinking of possible ways to escape.

The Rare Hunter chuckled darkly. He found this situation quite amusing and that made me even angrier. The Pharaoh did say I had a temper. "I think life is a game because sometimes it isn't fair, and the game pieces you once thought were on your side are actually on someone else's side."

That got me thinking, but I didn't drop my guard. "What pieces could you possibly be talking about?" It felt like he was slowly easing into something. First, he was stalling. Then, when the time was right, he was going to drop a bomb.

He was still for a moment before he reached behind his neck and untied the scarf, pulling it off his face. Then he dropped his hood.

I stared.

And stared.

The man before me smirked, his golden eyes twinkling.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

What a bomb he dropped.

"I knew you would be surprised," said the stranger. "Don't think I'm a reincarnation of some sort. He's gone and you know it. I just happen to… share the same characteristics as him."

I sat there quietly, my brain trying to process what my eyes were seeing. He didn't look exactly like him… there were, without a doubt, some differences like the eye colour, so he definitely wasn't a reincarnation. But… the resemblance was strikingly noticeable. His skin was a lot fairer and his face was just a tiny bit longer. There was no scar by his right eye. He was taller than he was. The violet cloak he was wearing hugged his body - they both had the same build. Their hair was the same colour too; a beautiful shade of sky blue, as pure as the rain that fell from the sky itself.

I wasn't very sure I was breathing anymore, I might have forgotten how to.

He leaned close enough to my face that I could feel his breath on my skin. "Oh, come on," he said. "I thought there would be at least some form of amusing reaction from you."

This week was just full of surprises.

I wasn't sure if I could take anymore.

How did one tournament turn into such an uproar?

The moment I felt his cold fingers on my cheek, I snapped out of my stupor. I growled under my breath and switched from wide, stunned eyes to a slitted, glare sharp enough to get his hand off me.

He smirked again.

"How dare you…" I said with a dangerously quiet voice. "How… dare… you show your face to me… knowing my feelings about it..."

The other chuckled mercilessly. "I knew your face would be priceless," he said. "That was why I insisted Master Marik to let me handle this… visit."

"Forced visit, you mean. You're nothing but cowards."

"Cowards? No no no, you misunderstand. We just wanted to talk."

I turned to look away from him, but he pulled my chin back towards him.

"Why so eager to avoid my eyes?"

I had to get a hold of myself - I could feel my depressed anger bubbling inside me. If I didn't control it, I would end up lashing out. There was no fire and no water that I could have used on the ropes. Air magic wasn't strong enough to cut through objects while I was sitting down, I needed room to move and swift motion to conduct the spell of an air knife. I was stuck in this position whether I liked it or not, but I would rather not look at the face that was in front of me. Thinking of ways to escape was helping me some.

"Look at me," he said.

I refused and instead set my gaze on the red scarf he had tossed to the floor. 'Why didn't he just keep it on…'

Then I felt my head turn sharply to the left from a hard slap on my cheek. I held my breath and felt my cheek sting from where his hand hit me. Then I slowly looked back up at him with shock.

His golden eyes were glaring at me now.

"There you go. Now was that so hard?"

I stared at him, the right side of my face probably beet red now. "You look nothing like my brother," I said as strongly as I could. "So stop comparing yourself to him."

The other crossed his arms. "I really am kind of like him though," he insisted, his eyes glistening with malice. He knew the subject about my brother was sensitive, yet he had the audacity to torture me about it. I couldn't believe such ignorance could dwell within a person's soul.

When I didn't say anything, but kept glaring, he continued. "We are the same in many ways," he said. Then he leaned close to my face again, trying to scare me, but all I could think about was how his hair colour was the same as his. The style was similar too - his hair was slightly longer than normally short hair.

"For example, we both like torturing you."

I kept steady. There was no way I could let him win. Whatever he said, it was just to make me angry. I had to remind myself.

I saw his hand rise and slip over my leg. He slowly reached into my shorts' pocket and pulled out my wallet, flipping it open to the flap that held the family picture. He held it up for me to see.

"Did they tell you anything?"

I found it unnerving how he changed subjects so quickly.

I sighed through my nose and shook my head.

"You're lying."

"I have nothing to lie about."

"They must have told you something."

"About what?"

The Rare Hunter looked at me carefully. Then he traced his fingers across my neck and held the Locket in his hands.

"This," he said.

I stared back at him, unmoving. If an interrogation was what he wanted, then an interrogation I would give him.

"If you know about my brother and me, then you would know that when I was given that Locket as a child, it was a regular foreign object."

"Was it?" he asked moving away and walking around me. He circled the chair as though he was a vulture.

"It was," I said with slight irritation in my voice. 'Just hang on, Yugi… Pharaoh… I'll try to get out of here as fast as I can.' "But now it's part Millennium Item, so it has some magical power in it."

The stranger nodded, mockingly, as though to tell me he understood but he really didn't care.

"Alright, fair enough," he said. "So Bakura wants your Locket because it's a Millennium Item now? It's hardly a complete Millennium Item since it was your previous Locket that was modified."

I stared at him. "You want to know why Bakura wants this?" How did he come to know this?

The other crossed his arms. "He's becoming a nuisance," he said. "Master Marik has said that he was on our side, but I don't trust him. He's the type of person to turn his back on his comrades once he's got what he wants."

My eyes widened. "Marik and Bakura are working together?!" I couldn't believe it. When did this happen? Why did this happen? Didn't Marik have enough Rare Hunters at his disposal? He had to drag him into this mess as well? Damn him…

Before I could say anything else, the Rare Hunter quickly placed a finger over my lips. I blinked for a moment but then glared at the fact that this man kept touching me.

"Now now, we don't want to tell the world. Although, sooner or later, Master Marik will obtain the power he desires, and then he'll let the whole world know who the next King of Egypt is."

I moved my head back and away from his hand. "He will never be the Pharaoh," I said defiantely. "He can't just accuse Yami of not being worthy of his power."

He smirked and I realized my mistake. I called him by his name.

"Weren't you the one who kept babbling on and on about formalities? Where are your proper names now?"

"I just…"

"This makes Master Marik's argument even stronger," he said. His golden eyes were full of malevolence.

He had something on the Pharaoh now.

Damn it, I wasn't thinking...

"It wouldn't have been fun if he treated you like a real Guardian," he said. "He would have called you his servant and disposed of you however he saw fit because, after all, you said it yourself, you're just his shield. Once a shield has been used and is broken, it's time to get another one."

I didn't like where this was going.

"If we were to use you against him when he had that mindset, then we wouldn't get anything done in our favour because he would just sacrifice you. But now, since he calls you his friend, we can tie you up to an anchor and he will come running to save you. And that is when we can use that drive to our advantage. We can use you as bait and leverage."

I couldn't believe it.

They would use our friendship against us?

Oh no… could Yugi's friends also be in trouble?

I shook my head, disgusted with how evil these intentions were. I always thought being friends would be a good thing for the both of us - we could count on each other and get things done. We could have someone to lean on. However, if being friends puts us in danger…

Then wouldn't it have been better if I just remained as a shield?

As hard as it was for me to accept this, I had no choice. My heart ached the more I thought about it, but I had a plan now and I could use it.

'Please, Pharaoh. If what you said back there was really what you meant, then please… don't come looking for me. They've set up a trap.'

"He lied," I said. "He didn't mean any of it."

The Rare Hunter was quiet for a moment. "On the contrary, he's still saying it as we speak, while Master Marik is finishing up his duel with him. Did you really think you could fool us? Think about the situation the both of you are in: if he lost you, then where would he get another Guardian from anyway? He can't go back in time, and someone from this world won't be good enough because they won't know anything about Ancient Egypt. The true Ancient Egypt. Besides, you have many of the memories from his past that can help him."

"You've got it all wrong!" I said. "He doesn't care. You're wasting your time."

He pulled my phone from out of my pocket and held it up, the little Dark Magician key chain swung from left to right.

"He doesn't care?"

I stayed quiet. How could they know so much about us? Were they hiding in the shadows this whole time, spying on us?

"... It was an early birthday present. He was just being nice."

It just happened that at that moment, the phone started ringing. The Rare Hunter stared at it, wondering about the perfect timing.

"You have the CEO's number programmed into your phone?" The number and name showed up on the screen. After Kaiba's last call during Arkana's duel, his cell phone number was saved into the history. I had asked him if it was alright if I could keep his number, just in case, and he had strangely agreed to it. Ever since then, I've had it on my phone.

But… why was he calling me? Did he know I was in this situation? Or was it just a casual call? I decided to continue keeping this conversation simple.

"Yes," I said calmly. "He's a friend."

"Want me to pick it up for you? I'll take a message."

"No, don't-"

He accepted the call and pressed the speaker button so I could hear. How considerate. "Hello?" he said into the phone.

"Where's Sarah?"

It was the Pharaoh. He sounded scary with his voice being so low; threatening and menacing. I felt my heart skip a beat. I was glad to hear a familiar voice, even if it was like this. Why did he have Kaiba's phone? What happened to the duel? Was Kaiba with him?

The Rare Hunter stared again. He realized it wasn't Kaiba as well. "Why are you calling her? What happened to your duel?" He didn't take this threat seriously, he was more concerned about the duel, because if Marik lost the duel then he...

… Then he would have lost his Egyptian God card too, because it would have counted as the rarest card in his deck.

"I defeated Marik by his own strategy. His Egyptian God card is mine now.

"So let Sarah go."

Unimagined happiness swelled within me. I was so worried about that duel, but the Pharaoh handled it well. It felt as though a burden was lifted off my shoulders - he defeated Slifer the Sky Dragon. I should ask him how he did it after this was all over.

"Pharaoh! That's great-" The Rare Hunter quickly placed his hand over my mouth to keep me from talking. I tried to move away but he wouldn't let go.

"Sarah? Is that you? Where are you? I'll come get you!"

"No need," said the Rare Hunter a bit too aggressively, angry that Marik was defeated. They were now short one powerful beast from their arsenal. "Don't worry. We'll take care of her for you. You just worry about what we have planned next - ow! Damn it!"

I had bitten into his hand. He jolted away and looked at the damage while I took this opportunity to get my message across.

"Pharaoh! Don't think for a moment that you have to worry. Just forget about me and keep going! Keep fighting Marik!"

There was a moment of silence before he said anything. "I can't do that, Sarah," he said. His voice was kind of gentle all of a sudden, as though he were speaking to a child.

"I need you. This is our fight, not just mine."

My heart pounded within my chest.

"It's a trap!" I said. "Even if you came, they'll-" I felt another slap against my cheek. This was getting ridiculous. Instead of surprise, I could feel the anger within me growing.

The Pharaoh grew concerned when I didn't complete my sentence. "Sarah? What happened? Tell me where you are!"

"She doesn't know where she is," said the Rare Hunter menacingly. "And I'm in no mood to tell you."

He started walking away, towards the door he came from, with the phone still mounted on his hand. "Why don't you sit tight and worry about your other friends? I'm sure Master Marik has told you what's going to happen to them."

"No!" I yelled. "No, how could you!" My worst nightmare just came true. Even if they didn't know certain secrets that we knew, they were still baited because they were our friends. We would do anything to save them, and that was exactly what Marik was counting on.

Could someone really be so cruel?

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: leave my friends out of this! This is not their fight!"

"You made it their fight when you became friends with them!"

Silence. And then Yami's voice cut through it.

"You can do whatever you want with me, but I won't let you hurt those who are close to me. Sarah, don't worry. Just hold on for a little while longer. I'll go find the others and then I'll look for you."

"Make sure they're safe," I said.

"... I will." Then there was a click. In all honesty, I didn't want him to hang up. Hearing his voice was comforting. It felt as though he wasn't at all far away, that he was nearby, just out of sight. But I was glad he left me to go find the others.

The Rare Hunter blinked at the phone. Then he threw it across the room until it hit a wall and crashed to the floor. His fists were clenched.

"How dare he think he can have such a casual conversation…"

He pulled out a small walkie-talkie from inside his cloak. "Move in," he said into it. "Get them."

He was authorizing the command to capture our friends. They must have already been in position.

I struggled to remove myself from the bonds on the chair. "Stop! Please, leave them out of this! You have me - isn't that enough?!"

"You don't understand. We aren't just planning to use them as lure; we also have something special in mind just for them."

Something else too…?

"When will you stop… just stop this nonsense already! You're bringing innocent people into this!"

"Isn't that what the Pharaoh hates the most?" he asked me. "He is just, yes? So he will do whatever he can to save the innocent.

"Anything."

They just wanted the Puzzle and the Egyptian God card.

"The Puzzle and Rare card have to be won in a duel," I said with a glower. "You're planning on dueling him? Haven't you tried that already?"

"You'll see soon enough. What we need from you are details about your Millennium Locket, so start talking."

This guy didn't quit. He came right back to the subject we were first talking about, and he was still holding my wallet. I grasped the arms of the chair as tightly as I could. I knew the others were in trouble but I was stuck. I wished I could help them.

I began hoping with all my heart that the Pharaoh could find them in time.

It felt odd seeing someone who looked an awful lot like my brother do all this. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't him, that it was a madman following another madman. The fact that he showed me the picture and practically shoved it in my face told me that this guy liked power. But was he controlled like all the other Rare Hunters? His bangs were too long, they covered his forehead so I couldn't see the Millennium Symbol, if it was even there. I was pretty sure he was being controlled but I couldn't tell.

I sighed, looking down. "I already told you everything I know," I said.

He slammed his hands down on my arms which were already on the arms of the chairs. I gasped from the pain and looked up to see his face near mine once more. His golden eyes pierced my own scarlet ones.

"Does it have to be won in a duel?" he asked.

I shook my head, uncomfortable with his close proximity but that must have been his goal. "I don't know about that," I said steadily. "It's not a full Millennium Item so I can't say someone needs to duel me for its power."

"But it is a Millennium Item," he said. "Right? Like all the other Millennium Items, in order to obtain its power, it must be won in a duel."

I shrugged, frustrating him. The Pharaoh's Court and I never discussed the possibility of someone dueling me for my Locket because it was merely a way for me to sense where the other Millennium Items were. Now that someone was asking about it, I really didn't know what to tell them. Only the High Priest Aknadin specialized in the Millennium Items. He might have been able to answer these questions, but… of course… he wasn't here at the moment.

"This is not getting me anywhere," he muttered incoherently.

"Then just let me go," I said.

"As if I would ever do something so demented. You would just chase after the Rare Hunters and beat them to a pulp before they could even get the job done.

"Next question: do you have any power besides the spells you've learned that the Ancient Scriptures didn't happen to mention?"

I stared at him, remembering what Ishizu had told me. I quickly shook my head.

"... Are you sure…? You seemed hesitant just now…"

"I'm sure. I'm just a Guardian who knows the elemental spells."

The Rare Hunter smirked. Then he picked up the chair by the back and threw me into the closest wall. The chair shattered and the rope fell off. I crashed to the floor under all the broken pieces and groaned.

This wasn't like the interrogations in police offices. Here, there were no laws to keep the Hunters at bay.

"You're lying to me," he said.

I struggled to stand up, realizing how sore my body still was from the shock of the taser a little while ago. Was it supposed to hurt this much? I leaned against the wall for support and held my arm, keeping my eyes on the Rare Hunter. The door was just to my right. I could have made a mad dash to the exit but I didn't know where the end of the building was, a Rare Hunter would have been on my heels, and who knew how many more of him there were beyond this room?

I decided to buy more time for my recovery. Maybe I could shoot for that window on the other wall. I could see sky.

"I'm not lying," I said. "I don't have any… power. I'm just a Guardian for the Pharaoh who does have power worth protecting."

The Rare Hunter was on me in seconds, his hands grabbing my arms. I kicked him off and then moved away from him, as far as the boxes on the other side of the room.

"Do you honestly believe we're stupid?" he said, slowly advancing towards me. "That time the Pharaoh was dueling Arkana, you collapsed from "blood loss"? I don't think so. I told Master Marik that something else must have happened. A Guardian who's been training for so long couldn't possibly have collapsed from simple kunai attacks."

I glanced towards my arms. They were full of small scars from that day, but I was never one to worry about things like that. There were bigger problems in the world that needed attention, but he was right. Although there was some blood, I didn't collapse because of the physical injuries.

"You never know, they were cursed after all. Come to think of it, how were the curses even cast?"

"Magic," he said with a smirk. "The Shadow Realm is full of it."

"So you used the Shadow Realm to make the kunai even more deadly… very smart." But… how was that even done? It was possible? Magic from the Shadow Realm? That was impossible!

"Wasn't it though? Now back to the chase: what did you see?"

I backed up into a wall. The Rare Hunter was merely inches away.

"W-What…"

"You saw something, didn't you? Your mind couldn't handle it and that was why you collapsed. You have a knack for that, Guardian. Everywhere you go, all you've been doing is fainting from lack of mental strength."

I bared my teeth. "You can hit me all you'd like, challenge me to any fair fight, but I won't have you trashing all my hard work. I can handle anything, but these memories-"

"Ahah! So you have seen something!"

Tch. He fooled me. Damn my temper.

"Sure… I saw something…" I admitted. "But it had nothing to do with this so called… power. It was merely flashes of random things that didn't make any sense."

It wasn't necessarily a lie.

The Rare Hunter glared suspiciously at me. I never had the time to decipher what those images could have meant so even if Marik looked into my mind - like I would let him! - he wouldn't understand any of it either. The Rare Hunter must have seen the determined look in my eyes because he didn't threaten me with that treatment.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," he said. I tried my hardest not to sigh with relief.

"But… on the other hand, if we disposed of you right now, then we wouldn't have to worry at all about this supposed "power" that you might have. We could get rid of a problem that hasn't been born yet."

I stared at him. Right now, he was strong and I was weak. He could easily suffocate me or break my arm if he wanted to, but he just stood there as though he was thinking of something else instead.

I tried my hardest to stand my ground.

The Rare Hunter's eyes wandered down from my face. I shivered. I had a very bad feeling about this.

"I wonder how many ropes it would take to tie you down…"

There was something sinister about this man. I tried my very hardest not to take into account that he looked like my brother. I couldn't imagine him doing anything horrible to me.

I swallowed nervously and tried pressing through the wall. Of course it didn't work. I didn't have that kind of magical power.

"You won't touch me," I hissed.

"Watch me."

He tried to grab me but I ducked out of the way. Then I rolled across the floor out of his reach. I tried to ignore the pain that shot through my body. It felt as though I was hit by a truck. I used the corner to help me back on my feet while the Rare Hunter gazed at me as though I were a wounded animal.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" he said. "That taser was also infused with energy from the Shadow Realm, just like those kunai. You'll be feeling a lot of pain for a while."

"I've had worse," I said. So that was why I still hadn't recovered. I wasn't meant to.

He smirked. Then he charged. I stood up on my own and held up my arms, readying for the attack. My body throbbed.

The Rare Hunter tried to seize my neck but I dodged his hand. Then I grabbed his arm and twisted it back. The rest of his body followed the direction and used it to his advantage, kicking me straight in the gut with the back of his leg. I let go of his arm and staggered back only to have his knee make contact in the same place. I doubled over, feeling my lungs swell as I tried to regain breath. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back so I was looking up at his face. His smirk was wicked.

'He wouldn't do this… he would never do this…

'No… snap out of it… it isn't him!'

I kicked one of his knees as hard as I could to which he yelled out in pain. He dropped his hold on my hair and I grabbed his arm, judo flipping him over my back and onto the floor. He landed with a loud thud. His golden eyes stared up at the ceiling. I fell back into the wall, holding my arm and panting heavily. The dark energy from the taser was draining my strength. I could feel it pulsating through my veins the more I thought about it. I could hardly stay up anymore.

The Rare Hunter noticed my weariness and took his time as he got back on his feet. This wasn't much of a fight if there was cheating involved. If I was never tasered, I wouldn't have had to deal with this pain that was hurting me from the inside. I would have been able to fight for real if the Rare Hunters hadn't been playing all those cheap tricks.

Slowly, the Rare Hunter placed both his hands on the wall behind me, trapping me between his arms. I refused to look up at him. My fingers clenched the top of my arm even tighter.

"Will you not tell us anything? It might save your life."

I smirked at the thought of giving up, but it wasn't in my nature to lose.

I looked right at him and showed that smirk. "Even if I did happen to know anything about these flashbacks or my Locket, I wouldn't tell you."

The Rare Hunter's eyes glinted. Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and picked me up. After dropping me on one of the empty cardboard boxes which caved under the pressure, he walked back out the door, locking it behind me.

As I stared at the ceiling, I wondered what the Rare Hunter could have been thinking. Did Marik have another way of dealing with me? I couldn't wait to see what he had planned next.

Pain shot through my neck and I rubbed at it, feeling the Oath's Seal burn. My hand stopped. Was the Pharaoh in trouble? Maybe the others were. Either way, I knew I had to get out of here to help them.

Then pain shot through my arm. I realized that the pain in my neck could have been the Shadow Realm magic that was still coursing through me. Maybe it wasn't the Oath's Seal after all.

How in Ra's name was Marik able to infuse inanimate objects with Shadow Realm magic in the first place? How was it possible? It was only a dark realm…

I sighed, finding that window of escape extremely high up.

Marik had lots of little tricks up his sleeve.

I wondered where he learned everything.

I closed my eyes, finding no energy to escape and no hope of ever leaving. I was trapped by our enemy and our friends were in danger.

Nothing was going right.

---

~Yami's pov~

I was just ending the call with Sarah when Kaiba looked towards me. He heard the entire conversation but showed no emotion towards it. I couldn't tell what he was feeling now, unlike before when he had made his anger known. Perhaps he was trying to regain control over his feelings. I didn't know what he thought of me leaving Sarah for a while to find Joey and the others. He didn't say anything about it, and I still couldn't figure out why he would be so worried about her.

"Yugi, Dr. Irvine says he found Wheeler's location."

Relief suddenly flooded me at once at his words. At least I knew where Joey and the others were now. If I could find Joey, then the others should be right there with him. I would have to find Sarah after.

"Really? Where is he?"

Kaiba let go of his coat's collar where a hidden mic and speaker were built in, where he got the message from. "He says Wheeler is at the Domino Aquarium. I'll lead the way."

I wasn't sure why Kaiba was willing to walk with me all the way there. Surely he had other things to do.

"Thank you, Kaiba," I said, nonetheless. "I appreciate your help."

"In exchange, you will have to duel me."

I knew it was too good to be true.

"Yes… alright." Although, one of his tournament rules was to never back down from a duel. I just thought he would ask nicely.

He wanted a chance to win the Egyptian God card that I had. It was understandable. The man simply wanted to be the most powerful duelist out there.

"I don't have Téa's number, so you can just type it into my phone."

I nodded, realizing I couldn't have gotten anywhere without his help. Yugi was floating next to me anxiously. We knew Joey's location, so we could meet up there, but we should warn them of what was coming.

Téa picked up immediately. "Hello, Téa here."

It was nice to hear her calm voice, but Sarah's, which was full of panic, was unsettling. At the thought of my Guardian and her situation, my stomach twisted.

"Hi Téa, it's me, Yugi. How are you and the others doing?"

"Hey Yugi! We're great. Joey is doing really well too. He defeated both Weevil and Mako!"

"That's good to hear." I was glad Joey was doing well. He won against a couple of very strong duelists.

I didn't wish to worry her, but Yugi looked at me and nodded, insisting that I tell Téa what was going to happen.

"Mhm! We were on our way to your next duel - good thing you called! Probably from a pay phone? Tell us where your next duel is and we'll come over right away!"

"I'm using Kaiba's phone right now. It was an emergency."

"Kaiba's phone? He let you use it?" I was just as surprised as she was.

"I needed to tell you something important."

"... What's wrong, Yugi?" Could she hear the unsteadiness in my voice?

"The Rare Hunters. They're everywhere, you have to be careful. I have reason to believe they might come after you. Tell the others as well and stay where you are. I'm on my way."

There was a moment of silence from Téa.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes... I'm sure."

"They're not targeting you and Sarah, are they?"

It was just like Téa to worry about others before herself. I couldn't lie to her just to keep her from worrying.

"They've taken Sarah."

"What...!"

"This is why I need you and the others to be careful. She was jumped while I was dueling Marik - he forced me back and I couldn't help her. We'll get her back but you need to stay safe first."

"... Alright, we'll keep an eye out." Her voice seemed to waver, but she tried to be strong.

"I hope she's alright. You have to go get her!"

"... She told me to take care of you first, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Yugi…"

"I know you're at the aquarium and I'm on my way. Let the others know and watch out for the Rare Hunters. Once I know you are all safe, I'll focus on Sarah."

"She's strong," said Téa, trying to reassure me. She could tell I was worried.

"I'm sure she'll be fine."

I sighed. "I know," I said. "This is all just such a mess."

"Once you get here, we'll go find Sarah together. Then we'll beat Marik. We can't be scared, right?"

"... You're right. Thank you, Téa."

"No, thank you for the heads up. I'll tell the others and we'll be ready for them. See you in a bit!"

"See you…"

She hung up, running off to tell the others. I turned to Kaiba, holding out his phone for him to take back.

"They're alright. We have to get to them as soon as we can."

"Sure thing. Mokuba, head back to headquarters and monitor everyone's location. Make sure nobody falls off the grid."

The younger Kaiba nodded. "Alright. I'll head over right now." Before he left, he turned to look at me. His violet eyes were sincere.

"I hope everything will be okay soon," he said.

I gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Mokuba. I hope so too."

He smiled as well and bounded off towards the Kaiba Corp. building, the large suitcase in the air behind him as he held on to its handle tightly. I looked up at Kaiba.

"Where's the aquarium?"

"Just follow me. I don't have a map on me at the moment." He began running down the street, turning at an intersection. I was right on his heel. We passed all those happy faces again, of duelists and their friends. In my heart, even though our own friends were in trouble, I was glad Marik didn't pull anymore innocent people into this fight. He had a lot of explaining to do. His actions were reckless and evil, and just for some power he thought he deserved. I grew even more anxious as Kaiba said we were getting close. 'Just a few more minutes,' I kept telling myself. Yugi heard and nodded. He hadn't said anything for the longest time. He was the most concerned out of all of us.

We passed a lot of buildings and turned a couple of corners before running the home stretch. The aquarium was just to our right. We turned and saw no one at the entrance. No one that we knew.

Panic began rising inside me once more. This time, it was aching and painful.

Kaiba checked inside the aquarium and soon walked back out, shaking his head. I looked around the perimeter. Then I noticed a small pile of broken parts to a device near the bus stop. As I walked closer, I realized it was Téa's pink cell phone. With hesitant fingers, I slowly picked up the little Kuriboh keychain she had attached to her phone that was now laying on the ground, not tied to anything anymore. The panic rose into my throat.

"They're gone…" I said quietly, unable to quite process this bit of information. Yugi looked anxiously around the streets, hoping to see a glimpse of his friends. He looked back at me and slowly shook his head.

"We're too late…" I heard him say. I was so sure I could have made it. It was only a few minutes ago that I made that phone call to Téa. How were the Rare Hunters able to move so quickly? They must have been following them, and when the signal came in, they acted.

Even after calling and locating them, in just these few minutes, they were taken away. I tried all that I could to prevent it, but they were still kidnapped. It looked like they put up a fight based on Téa's phone being stepped on.

My fingers curled around the small keychain. Frustration and anger bubbled inside me. I wouldn't forgive Marik. I would never forgive him if something happened to them.

"We'll use the satellite system again," said Kaiba. Then he pressed a hidden button in the collar of his trench coat and spoke into the speaker as he did earlier. "Mokuba, Yugi's friends have moved; we can't find them at the aquarium anymore. Can you tell us their new location?"

There was no response from the younger Kaiba. I watched the elder Kaiba's eyes narrow slightly. Worry was evident once again in those cerulean orbs.

"Mokuba, can you hear me?"

Suddenly, a cold wind blew in our direction. Ahead of us appeared the same two Rare Hunters from before, the shorter one and the taller one. This time, they had their faces covered with partial masks. At the sight of them, my anxiety climbed. Did they not understand the meaning of losing a duel? Marik was stalling for more time by using the same Rare Hunters.

Of course... he wanted the two Egyptian God cards we had. The power he wished for included the Egyptian Gods and the Millennium Puzzle. He would continue persisting and pestering until he had all three. But what was their connection? He couldn't have one without the other. Also, he couldn't stand being beaten and losing one of his most powerful cards. Now he had a chance to catch both of them at the same time.

"We see you've noticed that you're both missing something important," said the shorter Rare Hunter. "Or rather… someone or some people."

"What have you done to my brother?" Kaiba's words were pure venom, dripping out of his mouth and liquefying the air like acid. I began feeling bad about the situation, even worse than what I was already feeling. It was because of Marik that everyone was being involved. Now he had Mokuba? This couldn't have been happening. He was so young. To be in the hands of a madman like Marik… who knows how frightened he might have been?

"Let Mokuba go!" I ordered, as though it would do something.

"You know we can't do that," said the taller Rare Hunter. His mask was red and black, covering the left side of his face. The shorter Rare Hunter's mask covered the right side of his face and was only white, but it had the creepiest smile under a just as creepy eye.

Why change what they looked like?

"If you don't let my little brother go, I will crush you with the full weight of my corporation! Don't underestimate me!"

"All we want is a duel."

"You sick cowards. All you know is how to use the people we care about against us by taking them hostage. And for what - a duel? You will all pay for this!"

Kaiba then turned towards me. He was glaring daggers. I could feel his anger because I was feeling the same way. "Yugi, let's duel and finish these two off. Then we can focus on finding where everyone is. Maybe they can tell us where they are once we win."

"Right."

"Excellent choice," said the shorter Rare Hunter. "This time, instead of dueling down here, we'll duel a little more… exclusively."

His partner pointed towards a tall, glass skyscraper a block away. "Meet us at the roof of that building and we'll explain the rules."

"What do you mean "exclusively"?"

"Why, you should be quite familiar with this type of duel. It strikes a fear in one's heart that can never disappear. You've dealt with quite a few of these duels…"

"Not another Shadow Game…" I said, feeling my stomach turn. "Don't involve Kaiba in such things-"

"He has deep connections to the Millennium Items that he just doesn't realize, so it is quite fair," said the shorter Rare Hunter. Kaiba and I exchanged glances.

What did he mean? Could he be talking about how Kaiba looked so much like the figure engraved on the stone carving we saw at the museum? Did this mean he really did have a connection? We were so focused on Marik that we never got a chance to think about it more deeply. Yugi turned to look at me. I nodded. We have decided to make that another priority.

"All I care about right now is defeating the both of you so I can be on my way. However… Yugi. You have all your Locator Cards. You shouldn't have to accept this duel for nothing."

I shook my head. "Kaiba, even you know you cannot take them both on your own."

"Hmm… alright. I'll let you have your moment of the spotlight, but once we're done here, we're heading our separate ways."

"But Kaiba-"

"Let's do this. I accept your conditions. We'll meet at the top of that building. You'd better be ready."

Both of the Rare Hunters smirked and were on their way down another path opposite to the one that went straight to the building. Perhaps they were taking a little detour.

I looked at Kaiba who was already walking towards the designated building. I followed after him.

"I'm sorry about Mokuba."

"They'll pay for this. At first, I wasn't going to do anything but get rid of them. Now, it's personal."

I sighed. Things were getting worse at an impossibly fast rate. "They must be stopped," I said. "But in order for that to happen, we must work together."

Kaiba nodded, but it seemed as though his heart wasn't here with me. "They would be in the same place, right?" So he was just lashing out in anger before... Deep down, he knew we had to work together, but he wouldn't admit it. This question was hinting towards us going to the same place to find our friends.

"Yes. I doubt Marik would keep them apart. He needs us both for the same reason. I'm sure Mokuba will be alright. He'll be with Téa and the others; they will take care of him."

Kaiba nodded again, but I knew he wouldn't stop worrying. They took his little brother. He was special to Kaiba; the only family member he had left. Aside from the bit about him worrying for Sarah, he didn't really care about anything else. He only wanted Mokuba back and safe. He would do anything for him.

Like we would do anything for my friends.

I looked down, suddenly feeling guilty about everything that was going on. Marik only targeted Joey and the others because they were our friends, because Yugi happened to share his body with an ancient Pharaoh's spirit.

'Yugi, I would like to… apologize-'

The younger one looked at me, his sharp, amethyst gaze cutting through my sentence. 'This isn't your fault at all,' he said defiantely. 'This is all Marik's fault. Don't think for one moment that any of us blame you. We know you didn't want this.'

I gazed at my Aibou and felt the burden on my shoulders begin to seem easier to carry. I still felt responsible despite my partner's words, but we had a chance to save everyone. We mustn't let Marik win. We had to make sure everyone was safe again by taking that chance to save them. I felt myself walking a lot faster, eager to defeat the Rare Hunters who were bothering us so we could find everyone's location.

Those Rare Hunters had better know what they had gotten themselves into.

Both Kaiba and I knew what we were fighting for, so we wasted no time in idle chatter. With determination searing our hearts, we made it to the designated building and walked into the main floor. Then we took the closest elevator to the top. We passed many people, maybe a couple hundred. It was an office building and people were always running around trying to get things done. I wondered if Kaiba's company building was like this too. It must have been.

At the top floor, Kaiba and I had to climb a set of separate stairs in order to get onto the roof. Once we stepped through the door at the end of the staircase, we were met with a rush of air. We stepped onto the tiled roof and gazed over the city. We were on top of it, spotting every building for miles. This must have been one of the tallest buildings in the city. It was a beautiful and breathtaking scene but it was too bad we had other things on our mind that kept us from enjoying the sight. We spotted the Rare Hunters standing on a large skylight that was in the middle of the roof. They worked fast. I wondered how they arrived so quickly.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves!" said the shorter one, as though he was inviting us to a party. "My name is Lumis and my partner here is Umbra."

"Welcome to the Shadow Game," said Umbra, the taller one. "You've defeated us once before but I can assure you that you won't be lucky this time."

I glared at them as we stepped closer and onto our side of the skylight where we presumed we would be dueling. "What makes this a Shadow Game?" I asked them.

"Behind you, you will see two boxes with a Life Point counter on each one. When your Life Point counters reach zero, the floor beneath you will shatter and you will plunge to your deaths. However, the floor is a divider to the Shadow Realm, so once you lose the duel and the glass breaks, you won't even be able to reach the ground. You will be thrown into the Shadow Realm for all eternity!"

I clenched my fists for indeed, when we turned around, we noticed small boxes attached to the corners of our designated skylight grids. Marik seemed to enjoy using the Shadow Realm as a way to get rid of us. Once he won the Millennium Puzzle and the Egyptian God cards, he didn't need us interfering with his plans anymore, so the next best thing would be to get rid of us once and for all. The quickest and most precise way would be a trip to the Shadow Realm. We couldn't lose, no matter what. If we were sent to the Shadow Realm, then who would stop Marik? Who would save our friends and family? Kaiba and I had to work together to defeat them and make sure we weren't defeated..

"That is a very dirty trick to play," I said.

"Oh, don't worry. We have two behind us for ourselves as well to make it fair. The same rules apply to us, but we won't let you win."

"Funny, we were thinking the same thing about the both of you," said Kaiba.

"Let's duel then," I said. "Once we finish, you have to tell us where you are keeping our friends and family."

"If you have the time to hear us over your falling."

"You will be the one answering to us."

"My brother had better be okay," said Kaiba, anger evident in his voice. "Or you will be very sorry you ever crossed me."

We set up our Duel Disks once more and our Life Point counters were set to four thousand. It was spine-chilling to be dueling on such a high place with the risk of falling off or even through. The glass below us wasn't only the barrier between us and the ground, but also a barrier between us and the Shadow Realm. It didn't make us feel any better knowing that the stakes were the same for both teams, sure it was fair now, but this duel meant our lives were on the line. It felt like I was dueling Arkana all over again. Knowing there was a chance for my soul to disappear was unnerving. We couldn't lose here, otherwise, Marik would win. We had no choice but to win.

"Let's defeat them, Kaiba."

"I plan to."

---

~Sarah's pov~

I knew I was unconscious, but I could still feel the dark magic coursing through my body because all I could feel was pain. A throbbing pain, a torturing pain, one that was worse than an injury. It paralyzed my body and slowly destroyed me. I tried to think about how to move, but I couldn't. This crumpled box I was lying on wasn't helping the situation. I could feel its rigid corners digging into my back, but it wasn't the same as the dark magic.

Amidst my daze, I felt my body shake. I wasn't feeling cold, just numb all over, but the shaking was evident. Perhaps I was being moved to another location? Or it could have just been my imagination. However, over the quiet shaking, I could hear a voice calling out to me. I moved past the darkness that covered my eyes and slowly opened them.

A certain brunette was kneeling beside me, concern visible in her ocean blue eyes. Her hand was on my shoulder, most likely the source of the shaking. Her voice seemed far away.

"T… Téa…?" I managed to murmur. My voice cracked, my throat burned. I was thirsty. How long had I been here?

"Sarah! You had us so worried!"

"Us…?"

Little Mokuba appeared in my vision. I could feel my already weak breathing stop. His violet eyes seemed scared but he looked at me worriedly.

They had Kaiba's little brother too…?

How could Marik… how could he…

I felt tears of frustration hit the corners of my eyes. This wasn't supposed to be happening. If Marik was going to play this card, then I should have been enough. Yes, the Pharaoh needed his Guardian so I was the perfect bait, but he shouldn't have brought everyone else into this. Téa and Mokuba… I wasn't sure if Joey and Tristan were around… but they were all innocent. They shouldn't have been put in danger. Téa would probably be able to control her emotions when it came to situations like this, she was strong. However, Mokuba was younger than all of us and he was Kaiba's little brother. If Kaiba knew what had happened, he'd be furious. He was probably looking for him right now.

"I'm sorry…" I murmured pathetically. I couldn't help it. Stressed out and in pain, all I could feel was my bottled up emotions finally seeking the surface. I was frustrated because we've put everyone in danger. I was hurt because of Shadow Magic. I was sad because I didn't know how to defeat Marik and everyone was caught in the crossfire.

Téa looked down at me with those beautiful ocean eyes of hers. They reminded me so much of Ishizu's… both of them had the same colour and same intensity of care in them. I couldn't tell what she was feeling.

"Don't say such things…" she said. Then she helped me off the stiff box and leaned me up against the closest wall. Mokuba sat down on my right. Both of them didn't seem to be hurt. I was glad. So Marik really did only want them as hostages.

"Sarah…? You're hurt all over. Were you in a fight?" the younger boy asked.

When I looked down at my clothes, I saw how torn up and messy they were. "I have been in quite a few ordeals, indeed…" I said quietly, finding no strength to speak in a normal volume. My body ached.

"Can you move on your own?"

I shook my head. How should I explain that situation?

"Did… Were you two…"

They seemed to have understood what I was trying to ask and nodded.

"Tristan wasn't with us," started Téa. "He was visiting Serenity at the hospital. Before I got the call from Yugi, Joey had just finished his duel against Mako when we saw someone with an injured Ryou with him. He had a bloodied bandage on his arm and he looked awful. Your grandpa was with us so he offered to take him to the hospital. After they left in a taxi, we thanked the person who found him. He said his name was Namu. The three of us began talking when my phone suddenly rang. It was Yugi. I took a few steps away to let the boys talk amongst themselves so I could answer the phone. Yugi was warning us of the Rare Hunters. I told him where we were and he said he was coming right over. Once the call ended, I told Joey about the situation. Poor Namu didn't know what was going on so he left thinking we had something we needed to take care of. Soon after, the Rare Hunters appeared from the shadows and took Joey down. They held me back but Joey… he fought against them."

"That's just like him…" I said wonderingly. "To fight against the enemy with all he's got."

"Even that wasn't enough. It all happened so fast, Sarah... and within just a few minutes. They managed to subdue Joey and knock him out, then they stepped on my phone, and dragged us all the way here. I'm guessing Mokuba was brought here at about the same time but from the opposite direction. We were thrown into this room without Joey and decided to take a look around. That was when we saw you…"

"Are you two hurt?" I asked.

Both of them shook their heads. I felt slightly relieved. At least Marik hadn't harmed them.

"Sarah… what's going on? Why did all this happen?"

I moved my arm across my lap and held the opposite side. The stitches were beginning to ache as well.

"Marik… plans to use us as bait to lure the Pharaoh and Yugi here. He wants a duel, of course, to win the Millennium Puzzle and the Egyptian God cards. He wants the power of the Pharaoh. In their last duel, the Pharaoh won one of his Egyptian God cards - now Marik wants that back as well. He brought us into it… just for his sick little game…"

"That's horrible! But wait… "Egyptian" what...?"

"They're the most powerful cards in Duel Monsters and there's only three of them. Yugi has one."

"So does Seto," said Mokuba. I stared at him.

"Kaiba has one? Which one? How?"

"Obelisk the Tormentor. He said someone gave it to him."

I gazed at the younger boy as though if I stared at him long enough I would understand how this came to be.

"So that's why they have you here… they want Kaiba's Egyptian God card too..."

Mokuba nodded.

"Marik's after those cards because they're powerful and because they hold a secret power that'll help him with what he truly wants."

"The power of the Pharaoh…" said Téa. It was my turn to nod.

"They're both strong duelists. I'm sure they'll be fine. And… they'll come to help us soon."

I looked back at Téa and Mokuba with tired eyes. How could such a beautiful day turn into such a hated one?

"Our safest course of action right now is simple: we just need to follow whatever Marik wants us to do. If it's to stay here, then we stay here. If he wants us to start walking, then we start walking. Anything he orders us to do, hopefully nothing…. bad…. we must do it. It'll be easier that way. If we resist, new problems may arise. If we just follow his orders, and not fight back, no one will get hurt anymore…"

Téa gazed at me with wide oceanic eyes. "We're not fighting back? But we can't just give up!"

"Sometimes… the best thing to do in a situation like this, when our lives may be in danger, is to just follow the flow."

"The Sarah I know wouldn't be saying any of this. She would have wanted us to stand up and fight these guys."

"I must apologize once again." I gazed back at her. "The truth is… I want to fight… but I can't. There's a paralyzing magic coursing through my body as we speak, and the more time that passes without treating it, I get even weaker.

"I can hardly move…"

"No, that can't be… Paralyzing magic? How could it have happened? You were fine just a little while before… when we last saw each other..."

I managed a small and thoughtful smile. "Time is a curious force…"

Téa, regardless of my weak composure, stood up with an insisting force of her own. "You should rest," she said. "Mokuba and I will think of something."

"Téa…"

Mokuba pointed to the skylight I was looking at earlier. My mind was so foggy I had completely forgotten about it.

"Maybe we could escape through there…?" he said tentatively.

"Great idea! We'll move these boxes and make a set of makeshift stairs. Mokuba, it looks like you're the only one who can fit through that window. Plus, you're lighter. Once you get out there, look for help, alright? I doubt Marik told Yugi and Kaiba where we are."

Mokuba nodded and helped Téa move some of the sturdier boxes towards the north wall. Together, they made a staircase to the skylight. I admired their quick thinking. In a situation like this, it was important not to give up, but with so much pain in my body, I wasn't able to think of anything else. They had such strong hearts.

Once it was ready, Mokuba climbed up as swift as a rabbit. Then he unlocked the window and pushed it open, shimmying through it and onto the roof. The younger raven-haired boy poked his head back inside.

"Thanks for taking care of me. I'll be right back for you guys. Just sit tight!"

Téa waved on behalf of both of us. "Be careful!" Mokuba gave her a thumbs up, closed the window, and was soon out of sight, on his way to climb down. I prayed to the gods that he would be alright. I thought he would have been more scared than he let on, but he must have had a little bit of his brother inside him. He was as strong as Kaiba; realizing the situation but keeping control of emotions before thinking of a proper way to handle said situation.

"I'm glad he was able to escape as quickly as he was thrown in here…" said Téa.

I nodded, cringing at the pain that suddenly shot through my leg.

Téa knelt beside me once again and held my shoulder. "How bad is it?" she asked gently.

"It's… painful," I admitted. "I've had practice enduring pain which is probably why I only passed out until you woke me up. It… feels like there's a form of pressure rushing through my blood, pushing on the walls of my body's blood vessels. It isn't to the point of bursting or interfering with normal functions, but it does apply enough pressure to cause immense pain and reduce my energy to zero. I don't know how it works like that… but that's what torturing magic is for..."

The brunette shook her head. "Why… why would they do such a thing…."

"Marik wants the power of the Pharaoh…" I said. "For some reason… he thinks he deserves it… that the Pharaoh who currently resides within the Millennium Puzzle isn't worthy of such power."

"I wonder what could make him think of such a thing…" said Téa.

I shook my head, just as puzzled. "I just think he's crazy…"

"He seems sane enough to know what he's doing."

"... Yeah…"

Téa sighed. "I hope Joey's alright though… I wonder where he is."

Nodding, I wished with all my heart that he was alright too.

Téa leaned her back against the wall beside me. I looked at her and blinked.

"Sarah… they'll find us. We'll get out of here soon."

I nodded quietly again. Then I hid my eyes behind the bangs of my hair.

"I'm so useless. As a Guardian, I should have been helping the Pharaoh. Instead, it's the other way around."

"... You are friends though, yes?"

I remembered what the Pharaoh had said just before I was taken. His words seemed distant but they echoed powerfully against the walls of my skull.

"She is my friend and I will fight for her!"

"... Yeah…"

"Then that's why."

I looked at Téa. She was giving me a gentle smile that was as warm as a hug. "The Pharaoh's spirit at first seemed very reserved, but ever since he knew about who you were, he seemed to have been a bit more…. lighter on his feet. It wasn't noticeable at all, in fact, I had to look really closely because he hid it so well."

I felt my cheeks heat up for some reason. "It was because of me…?"

"That's right. All this time, you've been saying that you were only his shield, but if you were also friends, that means that not only do you care about him, but he cares about you too. As his friend, he wants to be able to help you like you want to help him."

I gently ran my fingers over the stitches that were still sewn into the side of my body. The Pharaoh had helped me with these. At first I had no idea why, but now it made sense. The Pharaoh must have felt the same way even back then. When he knew nothing about me or even himself, he still trusted me.

"You can lean on other people, especially your friends. That's what we're here for. I bet the Pharaoh would say the same. So don't think of yourself as useless; you're not. As long as someone holds another in their heart, they have a purpose in life to keep living and helping each other. Please don't give up. If you think you can't help him now, then you may be able to help him in the near future. The both of you beginning to be friends again is also enough to show that the bond between the both of you is growing."

"... Do you really think so?"

"Of course." She offered a comforting smile. "This sort of thing… just needs a bit of time. I'm sure you two will be back to your normal, ancient selves in no time. But you have to work together for it to happen. Him worrying about you… it's only natural if you're both friends, right?"

I only thought about it for a moment - my head was killing me. But… it did make sense. I felt a little better.

"I suppose…"

"... Just hang in there-"

Suddenly the door creaked opened. In walked the sinister Rare Hunter from before. He must have been here to collect us for the next phase of Marik's plan. I didn't want to be separated from Téa. After what he did to me, I couldn't imagine what he had planned next.

I placed an arm protectively over Téa's and noticed the darker shade of my skin differ from her softer one. My skin was dirty from having to fight so much and full of scars from various accounts, not to mention that it was already somewhat tanner because of the Egyptian sun. We looked so different, but our cores were almost the same.

I wanted to be there for my friends as well.

Téa looked at me carefully before setting her eyes on the new intruders.

"Ah, it's nice to see the two of you bonding in this moment of great retribution," said the Rare Hunter who looked like my brother. His voice wasn't the same, but seeing him again made me cringe. Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he took a better look at his surroundings.

"Wait… where's the little guy?"

Téa spoke up. "He's long gone." She tried to keep her voice strong and steady, but it wavered just a bit. I felt her arm tremble beneath mine. She was frightened about the unknown but she wanted to stand up for herself and her friends nonetheless.

I truly… admired that….

The Rare Hunter glared at her with malignant golden eyes. He walked over to us, the bottoms of his dark boots clicking against the concrete floor. His stride was strong and urgent, meaningful and with purpose: he must have held some form of authority over the other Rare Hunters. He was looking towards Téa, not even acknowledging that I was there. She quickly got up in hopes of defending herself.

They thought I was useless with the Shadow Magic making me weaker, exactly what I was thinking just a few moments before, that's why he wasn't even looking at me. I wasn't a threat anymore. I found my fist clenching with frustration. How could I have possibly been thinking of such a thing? I couldn't give up. Téa was right - I had to be strong. I couldn't let them win! Besides, it made me angry when someone knew I was weak. That anger may be reckless at times, but it always pushed me to be better.

The next thing I knew, I was standing before Téa, matching the Rare Hunter's glare with one of my own. I wasn't limping or bending over in pain, I was standing straight and confidently. The Rare Hunter's hand was mere inches away from my face. If I hadn't been there, he would have grabbed Téa. He was after her, but I intervened and wouldn't let him.

I couldn't see Téa's reaction but I would assume she was surprised. To be honest, I was too. Before, we both knew I could barely keep my head up. Now I was standing, and in such a quick reaction time too. The pain was shooting everywhere; through every limb, down all the arteries, but I didn't care. All I cared about was defending Téa. I wanted to help her.

As though I was her Guardian as well.

The Rare Hunter had stopped moving when he realized what happened and slowly moved his hand back. His golden eyes scanned the both of us. He looked intrigued.

"Isn't this a turn of events," he said slyly, backing off. "How are you feeling? Much better, yes?"

"You won't… lay a finger… on her…" Although my body seemed strong by willpower, my voice still quivered. The pain showed through it. It needed to get out one way or another. I felt Téa grab the back of my shirt, silently telling me to be careful or stop. I could try doing the former, but the latter was impossible. I refused to sit back and let him take her somewhere I knew not where.

His golden eyes narrowed even more. Any hints of a smirk disappeared from his face. He was beginning to feel annoyed. "Sarah, you need to remember your place in this battle. You are in no position to fight."

I noticed a dark rock by my foot, no bigger than the size of a small pebble. For some odd reason, a peculiar idea began forming in my mind. I never thought about my magic that way, but for some reason… I began to now. It felt like an instinct, as though my gut wanted me to think this way even though I was never trained to. Master Mahad had always told me that I had to move whatever I could see. But there was nothing here.

Then I looked at the Rare Hunter, finding that this idea was giving me a major boost in motivation and pain relief.

"Am I?"

Before the Rare Hunter could process the thought of me having any ideas at all, I stepped on the small rock and scraped it against the concrete floor, hard and fast enough to create a few sparks. Then I snapped my fingers with a spark between them and ignited a wide stream of fire that blasted the Rare Hunter. I watched his eyes grow wide and he quickly jumped out of the way, landing on a few stray boxes that weren't used as a part of the staircase, as the roaring wave of flames surged past him and straight into the wall. There was now a vertical black line running the length of the door.

The room got quiet while we tried to fathom the attack. The Rare Hunter stared at the charred door and wall for a moment before switching his gaze over to me. I glared back at him. The only thing I was thinking about was keeping this guy away. Téa… her grip tightened on the back of my shirt.

"Sarah… how did you…"

"How indeed…" The Rare Hunter stepped off the crumpled boxes. "It seems as though your magic power never ceases to amaze me. How did you do that, Sarah?"

"Stay back," I said, and this time, even my voice didn't quiver. Perhaps the curse was wearing off or my magic was keeping my mind off the pain. Either way, I was distracted, and I was given another chance to fight back with some strength.

The Rare Hunter regarded me carefully. His golden eyes held question. "You weren't able to do that before..."

To keep him from talking, I decided to keep him busy. I scraped the floor with the rock again for some more sparks and ignited another wave of fire. The hot flames seared my fingertips, but this was the only thing that could work so I wasn't worried about the pain. I was already feeling enough of it inside my body.

The flames were fast enough that he had to tackle the floor in order to save himself. While he would get up, I would create some more sparks with the rock and attack again. My pace grew faster and faster, and each time, the Hunter would barely escape. The wall behind him was scored with charred lines; some crossing others, some going horizontal and the rest going vertical. The streams of flames were going at different angles to maximize my chances of pushing the Rare Hunter back through the door. However, no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't fast enough to scare him as much as I had wanted to.

When I fell to one knee from fatigue, the Rare Hunter stood over me with a smirk on his face. I felt Téa's hand on my shoulder.

"Sarah! Are you alright?"

The Hunter chuckled darkly. "I can answer that for you. She has Dark Magic in her blood already making her weak, and now she just used up what little energy she had left on her magic. Apart from being exhausted, I wasn't too fazed, which means I win this round.

"It's too bad, that was quite impressive. Thankfully, you were already weak to begin with, so your attacks weren't even half as effective as they would have been."

He grabbed me by my shoulders again and picked me up. I felt the flashing pain in my body all over again and a cry escaped my lips. I had always despised being this short for a reason.

"Let her go!" yelled Téa reaching towards me. The Hunter held up a hand to grab her arm but I managed to hold up my own arm. I could barely move anymore.

"Please…" I murmured. "Don't… hurt her…"

"Oh, we won't," he said smugly. "She and Joey aren't supposed to get hurt. You, on the other hand…"

He let go of me over a pile of boxes. They crumpled beneath my weight, all the lopsided corners dug into my back once again. I groaned and lay there staring at the lit ceiling. Again with the boxes. And again, I was unable to move. The pain swarmed through me like a parasite, a rushing pressure that was worse than before. My body throbbed, my head was aching. I noticed my vision beginning to blur. Téa fell to her knees beside me.

"Sarah!"

"You have more important things to worry about. Oh, Joey! Your friends are waiting for you!"

I looked at the door from the corner of my eyes, wondering what they had done to Joey. Not seeing him with Téa was quite disheartening. He stepped into the room and my Millennium Locket glowed immediately.

His eyes were dull, not the same bright honey colour as they were before. I could feel the same presence as all of Marik's puppets when they were possessed by him. The power of the Millennium Rod was not far off.

Joey was under Marik's control.

Téa noticed the difference in Joey as well.

"Joey…?" said Téa tentatively, her oceanic eyes wide. Seeing Joey drained her bravery. If one of her friends was managed to be manipulated, then her chances of fighting through it herself dropped dramatically.

He looked at us, emotionless. Then he bent down beside me and picked me up in his arms. Regardless of Marik controlling him, he was still gentle. It made me think it really was Joey who was helping me up. He made no sign of putting me down, however, which confirmed that he wasn't doing any of this out of his own free will.

"Téa, let's go this way," he stated simply, turning towards the door while carrying me bridal style. My chest hurt more than anything else. Here was one of our friends, clearly not himself anymore. Marik had him at his fingertips. Again, I felt the same helplessness from before. I was so tired of losing to Marik. My fingers folded themselves into Joey's shirt as though they were looking for him, searching for him somewhere deep inside his body.

"Joey…" I murmured. My vision blurred even more and I could feel myself trembling to stay awake. I had to see how Marik had done it. Maybe I could use my Millennium Locket to counter the spell when he would use it against Téa. The blond, however, didn't look down at me when I called to him which led me to turn to Téa. With much difficulty, I managed to turn my head in her direction.

I noticed that she was frightened, for Joey and for herself. She had no idea what was going to happen. Seeing Joey like this made me think that maybe she would also be under Marik's control. If he wanted positive results from the Pharaoh, in his favour of course, then he had to do something that would truly hurt the Pharaoh and force him to surrender. Putting his friends under his mind-spell would be just the thing he needed.

"Téa…" My voice was a whisper now, but she heard me. She looked at me as Joey led us through the door and into the next corridor.

"Be… strong…"

She nodded moments before my eyes closed. I felt myself slowly drift back into unconsciousness where the pain couldn't touch me.

'Téa, I'm sorry… I couldn't help you either…'

---

~Yami's pov~

Our duel was a tag team duel, like the one Sarah and I had with the other two Rare Hunters. Lumis would go first, I would go second, Umbra would go third, and Kaiba would go fourth. We each started with four thousand Life Points and both duelists of a team had to be defeated in order to win the duel. If even one us were to lose, the other would have to deal with the power of both Rare Hunters at once. That would double the chances of losing. In a tag team duel, it was critical that the teams worked together to win, but I was having no such luck with Kaiba. And then there was the problem of having the Shadow Boxes behind us. Another Shadow Game… I've begun to simply deal with them as they came: with defiance and courage.

I didn't have the time to be scared.

Our duel with Kaiba against the Rare Hunters wasn't going very well. He refused to work together and our opponents knew that. Using it to their advantage, they were winning. Yugi was shaking his head as he floated next to me.

'Kaiba is acting recklessly,' he said to which I nodded.

'He is quite stubborn,' I agreed. 'However, I'm sure he'll realize it soon. I've saved his Life Points during his last turn when he was defenceless. Certainly he won't just brush it off as nothing. Soon he will recognize the fact that we must work together, especially if we must win in order to save our loved ones.'

Yugi nodded. Then he looked at Kaiba. 'Let's try our best to continue as though he will help us at any moment.'

'I will.'

"Hey, Pharaoh. You've been thinking for quite some time now."

I glared at Lumis. "That doesn't concern you," I said, realizing it was my turn and I hadn't done anything for a couple of minutes.

"Could you be thinking about how your Guardian slipped right through your fingers during your last duel even though she was right there within your grasp?"

I held myself together, even while feeling Kaiba's glaring cerulean eyes. "I know what it is you are trying to do," I said. "You're distracting me from my current predicament. It won't work."

"I bet you blame yourself."

I was looking at the cards in my hands now. Suddenly I felt my body go rigid.

"She did what she could for information while she was left to watch you duel. Her mouthing off got her in trouble and now she's under Marik's watch. You must be thinking we won't do anything to her, but how wrong you are. Marik has wanted this for a long time."

Slowly, my eyes wandered off my cards and onto the Masked Hunters. A terrible feeling was boring itself in my stomach as I watched them smirk.

"You said Marik only had questions Sarah was unwilling to answer…"

"Did he also not mention that your Guardian was expendable?"

My eyes grew wide.

Umbra chuckled darkly. "You couldn't save her, how sad. Even after saying all those nice things about "friendship" and what not."

"In the end, you were just focused on your own duel, not Sarah's fight," finished Lumis.

"That's a lie!" I said, clenching my empty hand. "I wanted to help her but-"

"You couldn't forfeit the duel, we know." Their smirks were cutting me. Deeply. They were mocking me, forcing me to step back and think more and more about how selfishly I had acted when Sarah was in trouble, but I couldn't have done one thing without regretting the other. If I had helped Sarah, then everything we worked for would have been for nothing, and if I continued the duel, Sarah would have been taken away. There wasn't a situation where I could have continued the duel and helped Sarah.

I wanted to help Sarah… but I couldn't. Marik was a coward, using every chance he could get to win against us.

"Marik said that he only had questions for Sarah," I said, forcing myself to be strong. "What do you mean he could be doing anything to her!"

"Did you know that if you lost your power, Pharaoh, Sarah wouldn't be your Guardian anymore?"

This was something new. When I didn't say anything, Lumis smirked and Umbra continued from where his partner left off.

"When Marik becomes Pharaoh, you won't be King anymore, so where does the Pharaoh's Guardian go? To the new Pharaoh's side, of course! She will have to work against you!"

My eyes widened. Now that I thought about it, it made sense. However, I couldn't imagine Sarah joining them. She loathed Marik as much as I did. I tried to imagine Sarah defending Marik who for now was a dark silhouette in my imagination. I just couldn't see it. Sarah knew what was right and what was wrong, and she knew how evil Marik was. I just couldn't imagine her being by his side instead of mine.

"Regardless, if Marik was able to get the power he desires, she would never join him."

"That Seal on her neck won't allow her to have a choice in the matter. She swore to protect the Pharaoh of the Millennium Puzzle. Without the Puzzle around your neck, you'd lose her, even if she didn't want to leave your side, because Marik will have the Millennium Item instead, and she would be forced to follow the Ancient Scriptures and Guard him!"

My fingers curled inward. "Did you think that would scare me?" I said with a low voice, teeth clenched together. Yugi blinked at me. I admit I was suddenly very worried at first, but now it seemed silly.

"Marik would have to win the Millennium Puzzle in order to have my power! I will never let him have it! Especially if my friends are on the line. Sarah and Marik won't ever be in the same picture - not now, not ever."

"And that is why… Marik is prepared to do anything to her." Lumis cackled.

"..."

"He is aware of the fact that Sarah won't listen to him easily," said Umbra. "That is why he made up his mind of not even letting the Guardian live. He doesn't have to deal with her anymore, whether she's on your side or his side!"

"No!" My clenched fist trembled at the unthinkable. Would Marik really… would he really…? I couldn't believe it. That anxiety suddenly grew with a vengeance. She could be hurt and I wouldn't know about it. He could really be doing anything to her.

"You couldn't possibly hurt her! She will fight back!"

"With the strength she is at? Pharaoh, that taser poisoned her. She's not even at half strength to be able to fight."

"What?"

"Yugi." I glanced towards Kaiba, feeling the wind sting my eyes. His gaze was harsh, slightly wider than his normal glare. He was accusing me, as though Sarah getting hurt was all my fault.

"You didn't tell me she was already hurt."

"She got back up to fight. They're lying! She couldn't have been poisoned through a taser…"

"That's where you're wrong." Lumis' voice seemed so evil now that he had caught me off guard. For some reason, even Kaiba was growing angrier. As if he wasn't angry enough after hearing about Mokuba. "This poison isn't the regular liquid concoction that can be ingested. This type of poison, is Dark Magic, harnessed from the Shadow Realm! Once the taser made contact, the magic bored through her skin and found itself in her bloodstream. It takes a little while for the effects to take place because the blood needs time to circulate, but when they do…"

Both Umbra and Lumis chuckled darkly. I found myself looking at Kaiba who was looking back at me. It felt as though we were searching for some form of comforting words, something to tell us that it was all a lie or that it wasn't all that bad.

But Marik was evil.

He would really do anything to get rid of Sarah.

Ever since I learned she was in life-threatening danger, I had kept my guard up. However… I had never imagined them to really hurt her. It just seemed so unthinkable. This Dark Magic from the Shadow Realm sounded extremely dangerous, and the fact that they gave it a name such as a "poison" made me worry even more. Did this mean Sarah was in pain? Was she… was she...

I couldn't even bring myself to think of the word.

"She's dying, Pharaoh," said Umbra, emphasizing the exact word I couldn't say which he had no trouble with whatsoever. "And it's all your fault. You might have been able to help her."

I could have helped her…

But I didn't…

Guilt gnawed at my heart, a tightening of the heartstrings I hadn't felt before. Yugi looked at me worriedly.

"Yugi…" Kaiba seethed my name, as if I really was to blame. But he clenched his fist and looked out towards the city.

"It isn't your fault. You had a choice to make and you made it. Sarah wouldn't hate you for abandoning her when the duel you were in was important. This is all the Rare Hunters' doing. It's all their fault, not yours. So don't beat yourself up over it."

I believe Kaiba was trying to make me feel better. Could it be… that he cared about Sarah? It would solve the mystery behind his strange behaviour whenever Sarah was mentioned. Perhaps he cared about her because she was a good duelist from North America. I couldn't think of anything else. But why though? Yugi was equally surprised.

'He said what I was going to say…' he murmured a bit quietly with a small pout.

'But you know he's right. None of this is your fault.'

I stared at both Yugi and Kaiba with slightly wide eyes, wondering how this scene had come to pass. Then Kaiba looked at me, and suddenly all my frustration disappeared.

"We'll beat these Rare Hunters. Then we'll go find your friends, Mokuba, and Sarah. Let's keep dueling."

In his own way, Kaiba was admitting that we were on the same side. Maybe now, we would begin to duel together as a team. All I could think about were the cards in my hands. I couldn't even begin to fathom the pain Sarah must be feeling right now. We had to get to her and the others and fast.

"Kaiba, Yugi… thank you." The taller brunette nodded while the ache in my heart didn't go away. I was still thinking about blaming myself for what happened, but I knew Kaiba and Yugi were right. I hadn't wanted this to happen. Marik was the one who hurt Sarah.

He had to be stopped.

Yugi smiled and nodded.

"I have you to thank as well, Rare Hunters." After seeing what happened between us, they had begun to grow slightly skeptical. I smirked.

"You've sparked new determination within our hearts."

Kaiba pointed towards them. "Prepare to be demolished by our Egyptian God cards, foolish Hunters! You've made two mistakes today: one was kidnapping Mokuba and the other was challenging me to a duel. Now you will face my full wrath!"

Lumis turned to Umbra with haste. "That was supposed to distract them! Not give them more energy!"

Umbra shook his head. "I-I don't know! I told you not to stray from Marik's plan!"

While those two fools were beginning to fight on their own, I began thinking. Of course, with this new determination to find the others as quickly as possible, I was able to stop myself from thinking about what they could have been doing to Sarah. However, I could still feel my mind being tugged in that direction. I wished this whole time that she would be safe, but now I knew that it was impossible. She was hurt, but I didn't know how badly. This made me even more anxious. Was she really… dying? Was what the Hunters saying really true? How much pain was she in? Was there an antidote to this strange poison? Come to think of it… how could magic from the Shadow Realm even be harnessed? This "Dark Magic" sounded extremely dangerous. If it was already in her system, how could one take it out? If it wasn't like other poisons, then the antidote wouldn't be straightforward either. Gah, this was so infuriating.

To think, the one person who could feel my pain was feeling so much of her own and even still I wasn't anywhere near her to help.

I clenched my fist even tighter until my knuckles turned white. 'Hold on, Sarah… I will get you and the others out… Just hold on until…'

I blinked. "What about Joey and the others?" I asked suddenly, breaking Lumis and Umbra out of their petty argument. Kaiba looked slightly disappointed, he must have been enjoying the scene of their arguing.

"They won't be harmed, as promised," said Lumis. He had a scowl on his face that matched Umbra's. "Only Sarah is poisoned, because she's Guardian."

"Good."

"..."

"She's a fighter. I agree, her temper may not be perfect… but she's a good person. She means well. And she's my friend. She will fight through that poison and stand strong despite whatever pain she's feeling. She has the will of a Guardian."

I believed in my Guardian as much as she believed in me as a Pharaoh.

That was something that would never change.

"All I keep hearing is "Sarah" and "Guardian" in the same sentence." Kaiba turned to look at me. There was slight question in his eyes. "Would you mind explaining that to me?"

"It's a long story," I admitted. But then I smirked. "When we win the duel, I'll tell you everything I know."

Kaiba smirked as well. "Interesting. Let's bring them down."

It was strange. In our own way, we were urging each other forward. We knew what the stakes were, and to keep us going, we seemed to need - and help - each other to some extent. Just like how I needed Sarah. Even though she said she wouldn't speak of my memories until the time was right, simply having someone like her with me gave me a sort of relief I couldn't put into words. She was a friend from the past that I so longed to desire to know about, and knowing that… I felt as though I needed to keep her close.

As she was trying to help me, perhaps I needed to try and help her.

Although I dreaded to know what kind of trouble Marik was putting her through, I couldn't stand here and beat myself over it or blame myself. We had to get to her. I was glad Joey and the others weren't harmed. Once we defeated these Rare Hunters, Kaiba and I needed to find where everyone was. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too hard.

I just had to believe that Sarah could fight through the poison, at least to give us enough time to find a way to cure her. I also had to believe that Marik really did follow through with his promise and kept the others unharmed. He has been quite consistent so far, so I was easily able to listen to him. However, I was still very anxious.

I held the cards that were in my hand tightly. Yugi nodded.

'Let's beat them, Aibou, and save everyone.'

The younger offered a comforting smile, his amethyst eyes shone brightly and hope rose within me once more.

'Yes.'

---

Author's Note: Buahahahaha, such an intense chapter. =D I thoroughly enjoyed writing this one. =3 I felt really bad that I'm making my characters go through so much. xD Well… kind of. =3 I was soooo excited to finally write this! *-*

Ohmygods. o-o Three weeks for such a long chapter! I think that's alright. x3 On the other hand, this was a good chapter. o.o I had a lot of fun writing this one. =D However, you, my lovely readers, are the judge of how it went! Please let me know how it was! I hope it was okay! x3 Thank you very much for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated. =) Enjoy the rest of summer! =D

P.S. - Remember to like the Facebook page for updates and cool stuff! Just Google "xyugiohluvrx Facebook" and it should be the first link there. Thank you! =)

~xyugiohluvrx