Disclaimer: This is fanfiction, which means I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Chapter 9: Imprisoned Within Part 2

Ayato sighed deeply, it had been a couple of days since his "first" encounter with Jaden and friends. He had been feeling drained lately so he limited his "job" to nighttime only. He sighed again, he felt so miserable, as if he was becoming a lifeless shell. He sat up and began to look through his deck. He stopped when he saw Kuriboh. He smiled, for some reason, he felt a little better.

Professor Banner looked at his students with a concerned look on his face. "Where is everybody, is there some kind of bug going around?"
One of the students spoke, "Rumor has it that students disappear at night." Another student added to it, "The Reaper of Souls get them." And yet another student added to it, "I've seen him with my own eyes, he wears a cloak that covers up most of his body, I bet he isn't human."

Chazz scoffed, "Bunch of nerds, its like Professor Banner said, people are just getting sick."

Syrus leaned over to Jaden. "Ya think its Ayato?"
Jaden nodded, "No doubt about it Sy, but we haven't seen him in a while, we need a plan to find him."

Syrus nodded, "Right."

Night had fallen now, Jaden and co. were at the small Slifer dormroom. "Alright we have to split up", Jaden said. Everyone nodded. "Syrus you will team up with Chumley, Akari with Anna, and I'll team up with Alexis."

Syrus whispered something in Chumley's ear and both of them snickered. "Jaden and Alexis sitting in the tree K-I-S-S-OW!"

Syrus and Chumley rubbed the back of their heads where Akari had smacked them. "This is no time for playing, lets go."

Ayato walked down the dark and gloomy path of Exion's hideout. "Are you sure about this Kuriboh?", he asked. Kuriboh nodded. 'I can't believe I'm actually listening to a duel spirit I don't even know, but if he can make this feeling go away, I'll do anything.'

Ayato took one quick look back to see if Exion was following them, but all he saw was pitch black. Kuriboh then stopped and pointed at a door. Ayato got the hint and opened it.

It was a small room that had a pedestal in its center. On the pedestal was a liitle black box. Ayato walked towards it and took the suprisingly heavy lid off. Inside of it was a deck of cards. Ayato picked them up, these cards were the cards he sealed the students in. He tensed up when he heard the desperate cries of help coming from the cards. He dropped the cards as the cries grew louder. Ayato stood there frozen. 'What have I done?', he thought as realization dawned on him that he had given those students a fate worse than death, a fate that they didn't deserve.

Exion walked into the room, "What do you think your doing slave."

Jaden sighed, "This sucks, it feels like we've been walking forever."

"But Jaden, we've only been looking for five minutes", Alexis said.

"Alexis, there is something I've gotta tell you."

Alexis heart beat sped up as her mind raced to so many possibilties as to what Jaden was going to say.

"Man am I hungry!"

Alexis frowned, 'Not what I was expecting', she thought angerly.

Ayato stood at the docks gazing out at sea, the sea had always calmed him, but right now it didn't, it was making him more miserable. 'This sinking feeling won't go away, and its only gotten worse since. Ayato sighed, this feeling was too strong to bear, he was in no physical pain, but this pain was unimaginable.

He looked down at the water, not seeing his reflection as he had hoped. Just then he remembered those cards, the very cards that he had created. A small tear rolled down his face. He felt so broken now more than ever.

Akari and Anna spotted Ayato, they both made a dash towards him. When they made it there Ayato's back was turned towards them. "Ayato", they both said in unison.

Ayato turned around to face them. His eyes showed no emotions and were slighty red. Akari and Anna had never seen him look so defeated. Ayato looked at them, 'Would they care, if I just threw my life away right now', he thought bitterly.

"Alright Ayato your coming with us", Akari said. Anna remained silent. Ayato made his mind up, he no longer wanted to feel this way, he wanted it to end, and there was only one way to do that. Ayato allowed himself to fall over the edge.

He could feel himself sinking, a small smile crept across his face, soon his pain would end. Akari and Anna waited for Ayato to come up. Two minutes had passed. At first they thought he could just hold his breath for a long time, but now they were panicking.

Akari jumped into the water as Anna watched. She frantically searched for him, she looked around but couldn't spot him anywhere. She realized she needed air and swam back up. After refilling her lungs with air she went back down.

She swam as fast as she could to the bottom, which thankfully wasn't a long way. She spotted him. She quickly grabbed him and swam back up. She brought him over to shore.

"C'mon wake up, please", she pleaded. Anna ran over to him and performed CPR, his lips were cold and his face was pale. She tried over and over again but it just didn't work.

Both of the two girls began to cry as realization dawned on them. Ayato was dead and he wasn't coming back. "If only I went after him sooner", Akari choked out.

The two girls tears hit the Millenium Puzzle, which began to glow. They both looked at the puzzle and then fainted.

Akari and Anna woke up side by side. They looked around, everywhere they looked resembled a maze. "Where are we?", Anna asked wiping her puffy eyes. Akari looked around, "We must be inside the Millenuim Puzzle, maybe its giving us a chance to save Ayato", she said, her voice full of hope.