Chapter 66

Once on the island, the Illidan returned to his body. Opening his eyes once more, and became aware instantly that the ground was shaking.

Glancing over at Yugi, he saw Yami's spirit form, and breathed a sigh of relief. He then said "We should leave now, before this place sinks back into the ocean."

Nodding in agreement, the four then turned and ran back towards the vortex. Along the way, they saw buildings collapsing, as well as the streets beginning to crumble even further.

Once back at the vortex, Joey leapt through first, followed by Kaiba. Before Illidan could leap through, he stopped and turned towards Yugi, who had stopped as well. He heard Yami quietly say "He's coming."

Turning to Illidan, Yami's spirit form said "Go on Illidan, leave this to me and Yugi."

Shaking his head, Illidan starts to speak, but is surprisingly shoved into the vortex by Yugi. This completely caught him off guard, and he fell out of the vortex back at the temple.

Growling, Illidan stood up and said "I'm not that easy to get rid of!"

He tried to jump back into the vortex, but nothing happened. The vortex then vanished, making Illidan greatly worry. "Oh no…" he said in shock.

"Yami… He was coming. Why!? Why did you send me away!? I could have helped you! I can't stand the thought of losing you one more time." Illidan said aloud as he fell to his knees.

He pounded the ground with his fists, knowing now Yami was trapped on Atlantis with Dartz. Finally regaining control, Illidan stood, saying "I hope you know what you're doing Yami. I pray that you do."

Quickly walking out of the temple, Illidan caught up with Joey and Seto, who are staring at Atlantis. Looking out, Illidan sees a giant black whirlwind on the island now, as well as a tidal wave that is rushing towards the island they were on. "Yami…" he mumbled softly.

"Mokuba, start the engines on the helicopter! We have to get out of here now!" orders Seto.

"We can't leave without Yugi." Tea quickly says.

Looking back, Seto and Joey only see Illidan walking towards them now. Yelling to Illidan, Joey asks "Where is Yugi!?"

Casting his eyes downward, Illidan says sadly "At Atlantis still."

Joey's eyes go wide, and he made a break for the temple. Tristan quickly grabbed hold of him, instantly stopping him.

"Let me go Tristan! I have to go get Yugi!" Joey cried out as he thrashed about.

Holding on tight, Tristan replied "We have to trust that he found another way out."

"YUGI!" cried out Joey as Tristan dragged him to the helicopter.

The group then all loaded up onto the helicopter, and it took off into the sky, flying high enough to miss the tidal wave. As the island was struck by the tidal wave, Seto says "Good riddance to that island."

"I hope Yugi made it off." Mokuba says sadly.

Looking at Marie, Illidan says "It's my fault. He pushed me into the vortex first before I could do anything."

Putting a comforting hand on Illidan's shoulder, Tristan softly says "It's not your fault. Yugi was only doing what he thought was best."

Joey still had his head down, while Tea stared out the window, saying "I'm sure he's fine."

After searching a few other islands for a few hours, the helicopter finally flies over the last one on the search list. Looking out, the group saw the weird aurora glowing in the sky again. It's then that they saw Dark Magician Girl and the three knights flying into the air.

Joey smiled and says "That must be why. They're going back home."

Holding his Hermos card out, Joey watched as it dissolved in his hand. Checking his Critius card, Seto watched it dissolve as well.

Smiling, he simply says "Oh well, no big deal. My deck is still unstoppable."

Everyone couldn't help but chuckle at that comment. Looking down at the island below them, Tea quickly says "I see Yugi!"

Looking at the area Tea was talking about, Tristan excitedly says "It is Yugi!"

Hearing that, Seto says "Roland, take us down to the island and land."

"Yes sir." Roland obediently says.

A few moments later, the group jump out of the helicopter and run to Yugi. Joey quickly gives Yugi a noogie, saying "I'm never letting your spiky head out of my sight again."

Tea soon asked "Is it really over this time?"

Nodding, Yugi says "Yep, it is."

From the door of the helicopter, Seto yells "If you'd like a ride back to the mainland, you'd better get back on board you geeks!"

The group quickly nods and run towards the helicopter, with Joey saying "I bet there is some evil person waiting at home to take over the world."

Jokingly laughing, Tea replies "Yeah, and I bet you're right Joey."

As Illidan gets on board, he looks out to see Yami in spirit form longingly looking at the ocean. "He now will resume his search for his memories I bet." Illidan says in his mind.

After a moment, Yami finally turns to Yugi and the two walk onto the helicopter, which flies them back to the hospital that Illidan told his friends to return to. Illidan happily thanks Seto for flying him there, who simply says "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Good riddance to you, your little fiancé, and the rest of the geek squad."

Lightly chuckling, Illidan picks up Marie's still unconscious body and steps off, followed by the others. The helicopter soon took back off, leaving the group on the roof alone.

Sighing, Illidan says "Let's go see the others."

Nodding, the group walked to the elevator, which happened to be coming to the roof. The doors open up, revealing Blue and Vash, who are smiling.

"Good to see you made it back alive old chap." Vash says cheerily.

"Bakura?" Joey asks, seemingly dumbfounded.

Sighing, Vash replies "Joey, I'm Vash, not Bakura, for the millionth time!"

The group lightly chuckles as Vash shakes his head and then smiles, saying "By the way, as you all know, this is Blue."

Each nodded and said their hellos. Illidan then said "Well, shall we go in?"

Vash nodded and stepped back into the elevator and hit the button for the floor where he said the others were. A few moments later, the doors opened and the group stepped off.

Finding the room where the others were, Illidan walked in and saw a spare bed. He gently set Marie onto it and lightly covered her with a blanket. Kissing her forehead, he said "Sleep well, my angel."

Turning back to the others, he followed Vash to where Kiba and Toboe were. Each were sitting in bed, fully clothed in the same clothes they had on the day Illidan had met them.

"I see you're both up and at them." Illidan said happily.

Kiba smiled at Illidan and said "Yes, we are. Thank you for helping us."

Smiling back, Illidan replied "It was no trouble at all. I hope that things will be different now between us all."

Nodding, Kiba replied "It will be, trust me. Now, if you excuse me, I must find Chesa. I'm sure she's awakened and is looking for me frantically now. We also have to go pick up Tsume and Hige."

Smiling at Blue, he said "You're always welcome to come see any of us Blue."

Nodding, Blue smiled back and said "Thank you Kiba. I will, one day."

Smiling, Kiba then said "Let's roll Toboe. Good bye Illidan."

He then extended his hand to Illidan, who gladly took it and shook it. "Good bye to you too Kiba." he kindly said.

Kiba and Toboe then walked out of the room, leaving the group alone once more. Looking at Vash, Illidan then said "Where is Bakura?"

Sighing, Vash said "In the next room over. Illidan…"

Lightly smiling, Illidan replied "Don't worry, I'll take care of things. I want to see if Ryou is going to keep his word or not."

Illidan walked out of the room to the next one down the hall. He opened the door to find Bakura sitting on the bed with a set of earphones in. Reaching out with his senses, he instantly knew that it was Bakura that was out, not Ryou.

"Bakura?" he asked cautiously.

Opening his eyes, Bakura smiled and turned off his MP3 player. He took off his ear plugs and said "Good to see you again Illidan."

Nodding, Illidan then said "I take it you know what I did."

Slowly, Bakura nodded, saying "You released the spirit of the Millennium Ring while I was gone. He told me already, and told me he was thankful for you saving him and me."

Slightly smiling, Illidan nodded, saying "I'm glad you're both alright. Has he…"

Shaking his head, Bakura pointed to the table across the room where his Millennium Ring sat. "When he returned, he told me to give it back to Yugi." Bakura said with a calm voice.

Nodding, Illidan went over and picked the item up. He reached out with his senses, making certain that it was the real Millennium Ring. He was soon satisfied it was, for he felt the presence of Ryou within the ring.

Sighing slightly, Illidan picked up the ring and turned back to Bakura, and said "I'm sorry if you were frightened when you found out he was back."

Smiling, Bakura replied "It's alright. I wasn't that afraid really. He told me that you had set him free in order to help save me. That kind of shocked me, but when I asked him why he'd bother, he told me he had promised to always protect me, and that he had screwed that up, that he had to save me to make up for it. That he owed that much to me. I think for once, he was showing a softer side of himself."

Nodding, Illidan said "He was different from before. True, he was his usual arrogant, dark self, but he showed a little emotion throughout our journey. I even found myself calling him a friend once more. I can never forgive him for his betrayal, but I found myself not letting that cloud my judgment around him. I think he was actually happy for once as well."

Bakura smiled at this, saying "I think he was too. He seemed different than before. Maybe now he can rest at long last with a semi-clear conscious."

Nodding, Illidan replied "I hope so. At any rate, I must return to Marie. Yugi and the others are still around, so I'll send them in to see you. It was good to see you again Bakura."

Extending his hand to Bakura, Bakura smiled and took it happily and shook it, saying "It was good to see you again Illidan."

That said, Illidan left the room to find Yugi once more. He soon enough found him outside of the room where Kiba and Toboe had been. Yugi saw him walking up and smiled, saying "How was he?"

Smiling back, Illidan said "He was fine. He asked me to return this to you."

Illidan held up the Millennium Ring, causing it's pointers to jingle slightly. Yugi slightly gasped and said "Did the spirit return?"

Nodding, Illidan replied "Yes, he did, but he wished for Bakura to return the item to Yami. So, I'm entrusting it to you."

Smiling slightly, Yugi then took the ring into his hands and said "Well, we have yet another item now to add to our growing collection."

Smiling back, Illidan said "For now, I'm going to go stay with Marie till she wakes up."

Nodding with understanding, Yugi replied "I understand. She'll be alright Illidan. And don't forget, you should go get checked out too. After all, you had a brutal battle with her."

Sighing, Illidan nodded and replied "I'll go get checked out. Just come get me if she wakes up."

Nodding in response, Yugi then said "I will, I promise."

Sighing once more, Illidan walked towards one of the nurse's stations and asked if he could be examined by a doctor. One replied with a yes and told him to wait a moment.

After a few minutes, a doctor walked out and took Illidan into a room. He examined Illidan's battered body and commented that he was rather lucky he had no broken bones. The doctor then changed the bandages that Kaiba's goon had applied and said that the only thing he could really do for Illidan was rebandage him and give him some pain killers. Illidan only nodded that he wanted that, and waited patiently for the doctor to finish.

Once he was done, Illidan left for the room he left Marie in. She was still sleeping, and found a note beside the table from Yugi, saying they had went to meet Rebecca and the professor. Sighing at the fact he was at last alone again with Marie, he sat down in a chair beside the bed and closed his eyes, allowing sleep to instantly wash over him.