Hey there everybody! Well, today is a great day. Less than a week to go till it's Christmas! (//Shutters\\) Still, I got some cool Christmas cards, which did make it seem a little worth while. I sent mine this morning, hoping they'll make it. Maybe… Anyways, not much new in my life really, so I'll move on.

Last time, Illidan used the power of Anubis to continually bring his monsters back, and used his Dark Magician of Chaos's special ability to continually bring back Pot of Greed. He has one card that can end it, according to what he has said, but he has to draw it first. As the chapter ended, he placed it onto the field. The big question is, can he use the card he just drew, and will it end the duel, or will Marie find a way to change things?

Now, time to get down to my favorite part of the morning! Review time!

Ryon Nakura: I didn't know MacDonalds had fettuccini. (//Ryon glares at him and yells "GET AWAY FROM ME!"\\) Someone is a little cranky. Would it help if I bought you a sundae? (//Grudgingly, Ryon nods.\\) (//Walks away and hears in the background someone tell Ryon they'd take a chocolate parfait.\\) Wait a second, i know that voice... (//Turns to see Ryon freaking out.\\) Uh oh...

Isis the Sphinx: Yes, I did have to leave it there, lol. That sucks about Eragon. Marie heard the same thing. True, it is weird.

Ultimate Legendary Master: Thank you. Yeah, GX was very interesting. Now not only does everyone have to worry about those stupid flipping cards, but also they have to worry about Sartorious using this cards that can be discarded. Possibly that's the card Illidan has, and that could be the way he ends it. Or maybe not, hehe.

x-knight20: Thanks, and yes, the card was worth the wait. I'm not afraid of the broad sword though. (//Points to one on his hip.\\) Don't forget, I still have Danceseiga, the sword of fusion!

Tomb Robber Vicky: Hopefully he keeps his handle on the duel. Yeah, Anubis was earning his keep in this battle. True, what card is it that Illidan knows can save Marie? Ah, you know you have friends Bakura. Illidan in the story likes you as a friend again.

Metal Overlord 2.0: True, but as you said, that wouldn't tie the game, which is what he was looking for. Thanks for the comments, but yes, things are coming to a boiling point. It's a question to what will happen now that Illidan has his card. Can both make it out, or will Marie somehow stop him? True, Illidan doesn't have time to play Double Snake Syndrome, plus it doesn't mesh with his deck really. Thanks, and I'll tell Marie you said hi.

Well, that's all for today. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. One way or another, this duel is going to end, and what happens afterwards is up in the air. Will Illidan tie Marie, or will he accidentally send her back to the Leviathan once more? Or will Marie surprise Illidan and send him to the Leviathan? These and many more questions shall be answered soon. Oh yes, about why Marie is the way she is. You find out soon enough in this chapter and the next ones.

For now though, I'm heading out. I hope to find many reviews when I get back, but if not, oh well. I enjoy reading any and all of them. So everyone, feel free to post one, cause I will answer them if you post them. Enjoy the chapter. Later all.

Chapter 55

Pushing a button on his Duel Disk, Illidan said "I reveal the trap card Ring of Destruction! Now I will use it on my Cyber End Dragon, which will destroy it and inflict 4000 points of damage to each of us. As I say, it's over now!"

A large ring with many explosives attached on it's sides then appeared. It then flew up and stretched out to squeeze over one of the heads of the large three headed machine dragon. It let out a loud roar, knowing it's fate was now sealed.

Marie cried out "No, it can't be!"

As she did, Illidan pulled something from his pocket and threw it towards Marie. She caught it easily, and saw that it was the engagement ring he had given her. Memories of the past flooded into her, but she struggled to not think of them. "I hate him now!" she screamed in her mind.

Suddenly, she then felt a familiar presence entering her mind, and instantly recognized it as Illidan. They stared at one another in the corridor of her mind, neither saying a word at the other.

Finally, Illidan rushed towards her and hugged her before she could do a thing about it. He said in a sorrowful voice as he embraced her "I'm… I'm sorry."

She pulled back slightly to see tears coming from his eyes, as he said "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I never meant to hurt your feelings, or to harm you. You was my everything, my life, my… my family in my mind at the time. I could never have put you into danger on purpose, so I held back when training you. I shouldn't have, but I was afraid of pushing you too hard, and then you'd get hurt. I never wanted to hurt you, but it was my fault for you not getting everything you should have probably."

Closing his eyes slightly, he sobbed more and opened his eyes, showing all emotions in them. He slowly said "I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to do better. I should have, but I cared deeply for you at that point, and knew I loved you. I should have quit teaching you and let Yami or one of the others, but I couldn't bear the thought of not seeing you daily. I loved you with all my heart and soul, just like I do today."

Pulling her into a tighter embrac, he continued saying "I'm sorry for what my father did to you and your family. He shouldn't have followed his orders, but he did what he thought was right to protect me. Looking back now, I realize I remember that night he came home. The tears in his eyes, the broken hearted look that told me he was terribly sad about something. He dismissed it as mourning for my mother as he did at times, but still, I knew something was wrong. I ignored it, thinking if he wanted to tell me that, then it was really bad. Never did I imagine it was over you and your family. So, I truly apologize for him and his actions."

He pulled her back to look her in the eye, and said "But what is done in the past is done. We can only correct the future, and hope that the mistakes of the past never happen again. We must move forward, and try to make things right."

Kissing her on the forehead, he sweetly said "I love you with all my heart and soul Marie, and will never hate you. You are my one and only soul-mate, and the only person for me. You complete me and make me whole. I hope you can forgive me."

Staring into his eyes, Marie could feel the pain and sadness, not to mention the true meaning of the words he had just told her. The pain and darkness in her seemed to ease away, as she began crying and embraced him tighter, saying "I'm so sorry! I love you Illidan!"

That said, Illidan then ended the mind link with Marie and returned to the real world. The explosives on the dragon's neck exploded, throwing both Illidan and Marie back into the barrier of the seal. Each fell to the ground soon enough, and their life point counters each dropped to zero. The seal then reacted and swirled back into the sky, leaving both duelists on the ground.

Yami, Tea, Tristan, and Mokuba ran forward to Illidan as fast as possible, hoping he was alright. To their surprise, Illidan slowly was trying to stand.

"Stay down Illidan, you're hurt!" Tea said as she got down on her knees to look at him. She then saw that he had small bruises forming on his face.

Before she could say anything, Tristan put his arm under Illidan's right one and tried to help him stand up. Illidan winced in pain and smacked his hand away, saying "Don't, I'm fine."

Tristan was slightly taken back by this comment and action, saying "Dude, you're pretty banged up. Let us help you."

Shaking his head, Illidan slowly stood back up, clutching his aching ribs as he did so. He was in pain, but put it aside and walked towards Marie's fallen figure. Yami was already crouching down beside her, making sure she was alright.

"Is she…" Illidan asked, afraid that Kaiba had been wrong about tying a person.

Smiling at Illidan, Yami replied "She's fine. She's just knocked out. The brunt of the blow knocked her out, but she'll sleep it off. How about you? It looks like she done a number on you."

Slightly chuckling, but then clutching his tender ribs, Illidan said "Yeah, she did one heck of a number on me for sure. You all missed watching me get my butt kicked all over this island by her."

Laughing slightly, Yami replied "I wish I had been here."

Shaking his head, Illidan said "No you don't. She was relentless. I don't know what they did to her, but I need to know."

Nodding, Yami replied "Yes, we all want to know."

Yami then stood up, but saw Illidan trying to pick Marie up in his arms. He went to stop his friend, but got a glare from Illidan that said to leave him be. Nodding, Yami backed away as Illidan struggled to his feet with Marie in his arms. He slowly walked to the helicopter that the others had arrived in and sat her down on a row of seats.

Turning to face one of Kaiba's goons, Illidan said "Please, take care of her for me. She's very special to me, and if anything happens to her, I'll personally make sure you never do another thing wrong again. Got that?"

With a worried look, the goon nodded, but looked at Seto curiously. Kaiba simply said "Do as he says Rolland. Take care of the girl."

The man nodded and then started tending to Marie. Satisfied, Illidan walked back out of the helicopter to where the others stood. He clutched his sore ribs once more, cursing under his breath from the pain. One of the goons from the helicopter then came off with a first aid kit.

"Sir, let me have a look at your wounds. You're obviously in pain, so we can at the least help you with that." the man said.

Illidan was about to tell the man to leave him be when Yami said "Illidan, let him do it. We need you patched up if you're going with us."

Sighing, Illidan nodded and took his shirt off. The man then began to look at his ribs. He gently touched them, making Illidan flinch with pain. After a few moments of poking, he finally said "Well, you're very lucky those ribs aren't broken. They're just very, very bruised. I'll put some bandages around them, and give you something for the pain."

Nodding, Illidan held still as the man began to wrap bandages around his ribs. Finally, he finished and cut the tape off to keep the bandages on. He then checked Illidan's shoulder and face, and finally concurred that they were just really bruised up, nothing else. He then handed Illidan some medicine, saying it would at least dull the pain.

Illidan gladly took them and then stood up and put his shirt back on. Yami then came over and asked "Why are you here alone?"

Sighing, Illidan replied "I snuck off without the others. We beat the second in command, Darcia, yesterday evening. It was a hard fought battle, and…"

Closing his eyes, he sadly said "… Ryou lost saving me."

Looking at Illidan with a puzzled look, Yami asked "Who is Ryou?"

Slightly chuckling at the fact Yami couldn't put two and two together, he replied "The spirit of the Millennium Ring, which took up the name Ryou."

Yami slightly gasped, but Tristan obnoxiously said "Good ridden to him. Now we have one less person to worry about."

Illidan growled loudly, and yelled "Shut up Tristan! He was my ally and my friend. He fought bravely, and for once wasn't fighting for himself, but for someone he cared about. That in itself showed me he had changed some. So if you think I'll stand idly by and let you insult him, you're wrong!"

Tristan backed down, but still had a grumpy face. Illidan then noticed something for the first time, and asked "Where is Joey?"

Yami, Tea, and Tristan each turned their eyes downward, as Yami softly said "He fell in battle. He lost his soul in a duel with Mai."

"He… lost to Mai?" Illidan said with a startled gasp.

"Yes, he did, but his loss wasn't in vain. He set Mai free from the Orichalcos, but she then lost her soul in a duel with Raphael." Yami replied.

Nodding, Illidan said "I see. And I guess you dueled him again, and won seeing how you're here now."

Yami nodded, and said "Yes, I dueled him again. I managed to win the duel, and save him from losing his soul to the Orichalcos. I saved him from his own darkness, as Yugi had done the same for me."

"I see then that you were set on the right track again then." Illidan simply replied.

Yami nodded once more, saying "Yes, I was, thanks to Yugi. I dueled him, somehow, and when I won, he said that was the first step towards me conquering the darkness in my heart. I now know that there is darkness in all people, but embracing that darkness and fighting it are two different things. Ones who fight it, they are determined to keep light within themselves through friends, loved ones, and many other means. Others who embrace the darkness, they become cold and lose sight of what's truly important."

Smiling, Illidan said "Yes, it seems you were set right at long last. I'm proud that you're ready to face the darkness in your heart."

"Hey you saps are you ready to get this over or not?" cut in a cranky Seto.

Slightly smirking, Illidan asked "Why are you in such a hurry to finish this?"

Folding his arms over his chest, Seto replied "Because the maniac inside of this place has control of my company. Once I defeat him, Kaiba Corp. will be mine once more. That snake in the grass may have stolen it out from me, but I will win it back."

Illidan couldn't help but lightly chuckle at Seto's reasons, knowing he was still just as self-centered as ever. Still, he didn't care at the moment. He had something left to do, and he intended on finishing his work.

"Let's go finish this then." he softly spoke to the others.

Each nodded and then the group with Illidan, Seto, and Yami leading walked into the temple while the Kaiba's two goons stayed behind in the helicopter. The group slowly made their way through the hallway, seeing pillars and what looked like stone carvings on the walls. In the back of the main room of the temple, they saw three stone serpent altars. They appeared to be holding something in them, but from the distance, they couldn't tell.

Tristan then walked towards one of the stone carvings, and asked "What's with all these people chiseled into stone for?"

Going slightly wide eyed, Tea replied "They're not just people, they're souls! Look!"

She proceeded to point to the far wall where they saw a chiseled out image of Yugi, Joey, Mai, and many others. Yami started to run towards the wall, but stopped when he heard a voice.

"It's a real shame your friends are a bit of stiffs, but one must get use to that in this world." called out the voice.

A torch then lit up where the voice came from, revealing a young man with mid-back length light blue hair, in white robes with a large light green medallion with a six pointed star that everyone had become quite accustomed to seeing. His eyes were the oddest feature of his body. He had one green eye, but one golden one.

Smiling, the man said "I see due to the carelessness of Marie and my other servants, I am the only one left. Tell me Illidan, did you enjoy your duel with her?"

Growling loudly, Illidan snarled "What did you do to her!?"

Chuckling lightly, the man replied "Why, all I did was bring her back to you. You have no idea how difficult it was to let the Great Leviathan release her soul. She was truly strong, and I only freed her. She was the one who pledged her loyalty to me, and to pledged to rid me of my enemies."

Growling, Illidan replied angrily "You lie! Marie would never do the things she did without something making her that way! She was a sweet, innocent soul, who never would hurt a person like she tried to!"

Laughing, the man replied "She willingly pledged to destroy you. Although, the attitude adjustment she got may have been from the seal bringing out the darkness in her heart."

Curious, Illidan asked "What do you mean?"

Yami then cut in, saying "He means the seal, it brings out the darkness of a person's heart. I have a feeling when Marie lost her soul, that darkness infected her soul. Or possibly, when she was returned, the darkness then manifested itself within her heart. That is my guess."

Smirking, the man said "Bravo Pharaoh, you guessed right. The seal will tend to bring out a person's darkness if they are not worthy of the seal. She was obviously dark, hence the darkness kindled with the power of the seal."

"So, the darkness in her heart was about her family being murdered by my father, and about me. I never knew she harbored such darkness like this… I should have known, but didn't." Illidan said within his mind.

"Dartz, can the small talk. All I want is my company back!" called out an irritated Seto, breaking Illidan completely free from his thoughts.

Smirking, Dartz replied "And all I want is your three's souls on my wall. I have three places open especially for each of you."

Dartz then pointed over his shoulder to three slots that were empty beside of Yugi. Seto smirked and replied "I won't be falling for your party tricks."

"Return our friends, now!" demanded Yami.

"And release all of the other souls!" added Illidan.

Chuckling, Dartz said "Unfortunately, that isn't possible. You see, their souls are already being used as the life force energy of the Great Leviathan. It has taken me nearly ten-thousand years to complete this task, but after today, I will finally have revived the Great Leviathan! All I need to complete my task though is three more powerful souls, and guess the three I want."

Curious now, Illidan asked "Then why did you release Marie? You said you couldn't release the Leviathan's life force energy, but why release her!?"

Lightly chuckling, Dartz replied "For some reason that girl's soul was too powerful for the Great Leviathan to handle. She managed to free herself from it's control a few times, and used her power to appear before people in duels. How, I'm unsure. Still, her soul was locked away, but she was capable of doing something no other has. That is why I removed her soul. She was a danger to the Leviathan, hence I took her back out."

"So, her hidden power was capable of freeing herself. It's as Raijin predicted. Her power was far greater than me, Yami, and Set's power combined. No wonder he was afraid of her. It all came true, in the end. Still, I love her, and won't let this mad man continue his reign." Illidan silently vowed.

Yami then burst in, saying out loud "If you've been at this for ten-thousand years, how many lives have you destroyed?!"

"Millions." Dartz simply replied.

Suddenly, the room illuminated and millions of soul carvings appeared on the walls. The entire temple was covered with the carvings. "It has taken nearly ten-thousand years to complete this collection, and there is so much history in these carvings. Ever since the Great Leviathan's defeat ten millennia ago, I've been collecting."

Kaiba rudely said "I don't believe you for a moment."

"You wouldn't…" Illidan silently remarked with a smirk in his mind.

"Then maybe you'll believe me once you duel me Mr. Kaiba." Dartz replied.

Stepping forward, a black Duel Disk could be seen on Dartz's arm. Smirking, Seto said "I agree, let's quit wasting time and duel."

"You can't do this alone Kaiba!" called out Yami.

"And I won't allow you two to do it without my help either." added Illidan.

Lightly chuckling, Dartz called out "Then I'll take you all three on. It'll be three souls for the price of one duel."

Both Yami and Illidan nodded, and the two then nodded to Seto. Seto took the right side of the field, while Illidan took the middle, with Yami taking the left side. The three then pulled out their decks and shuffled, then tossed them into their Duel Disks. Each Duel Disk simultaneously unfolded and powered up, each showing 4000 life points on the counters. Dartz's Duel Disk activated and the usual blade shot out. A total of 4000 life points appeared on the counter as well. Each of the four then drew five cards from their decks.

"This is it. It's now or never, and I have to be ready for anything. I just hope this turns out good in the end." Illidan silently said to himself.