A/N: I'm not so great at writing action scenes, which is why I tend to skim over writing the details:/ But the action isn't what's important, so I hope you can bear with me. Two months, Luna. You owe me.

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There was a woman standing in the middle of the room, her wavy long black hair falling about her shoulders. She turned and smiled wickedly seeing the group, her crimson eyes first landing on Mana.

"Mana," she said, her voice dark and memorable, "I was afraid of this happening." Her eyes flickered to the Dark Magician Girl. "You should've known better than to continue using the pendant, Mana."

A necklace that had been hanging unnoticed around Mana's neck glowed with an eerie red color, as did the matching one the woman wore. Dark Magician Girl moved forward towards the woman, than turned around toward the group. Seth, Joey, and Yugi looked surprised. Was she controlling Mana's spirit?

She laughed darkly again. "I warned you that I am the ultimate power here, Mana; I control all. Now, to teach you a lesson. Should I attack your friends? Or perhaps the one that let you escape." Dark Magician Girl turned towards a darker corner of the room, the slumped form of a man barely noticeable in the shadows before then, chains keeping him against the wall.

"Mahad," Mana whispered.

The man moved, his eyes looking up. "Mana," he said. "I thought I told you to get out of here."

"I couldn't just leave you," she protested.

"How sweet," Desdemona mocked. "How does it feel, knowing it was all for nothing? Mahad sacrificing himself to let you get away, and Mana staying behind to save him. Too bad this isn't a TV show, the good guys don't always win."

Dark Magician Girl took aim towards Mahad, Dena looking satisfied in front of her. Seth, Yugi, and Joey felt completely detached from the scene, not quite sure what to say or do. Attacking Dark Magician Girl would just hurt Mana.

Mana moved quickly, now standing protectively in front of Mahad.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You're not going to hurt him," Mana said defiantly to the woman.

"I will even if I have to take you down first," she said. Dark Magician Girl's wand glowed.

"Mana…" Mahad said, looking strangely at the girl in front of him. He had always been the one that had needed to stick up for Mana before. Then Mahad realized he'd been away at college for two years before they met again through this group. Mana wasn't the middle school girl he'd left behind, the girl he'd grown up living near, who he taught and protected like a little sister. She was growing up. She was protecting him…

As Dark Magician Girl unleashed an attack, Seth's monster moved in front of it taking the blow, not quite strong enough to destroy it, but it definitely weakened it. Seth's stood, expressionless as the woman turned towards him.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us, Seto. Or are you the other one?" she questioned, eyes flickering to the Millennium Item Seth held.

"Desdemona, I presume," Seth said.

Desdemona laughed. "You presume correctly." She looked disdainfully at Yugi and Joey, then back at Mana and Mahad. It was obvious she was out numbered. "I see there's nothing left for me to do here. It's too bad you didn't bring your Dragon girl with you. You know it's her I want. I will be back."

And with that, she turned around, sprinting out a door behind her, running away.

"What! She's just going to run away!" Joey yelled.

"Let her go," Seth said.

Mana turned around, falling to the ground in front of Mahad. "Are you okay?" she asked, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes. He was still looking at her strangely as she asked, but nodded and smiled.

Seth went over and picked the locks on the chains which held Mahad. It was something he'd figured out how to do thousands of useful, and came in quite handy. It was, after all, how he freed Kisara when he first met her.

Seth looked down and the modern day counter part of his old friend. "Do you need help standing up?" he asked. Mahad looked like he'd been through hell and back.

Mahad nodded, accepting Seth's help to stand, arm slung around Seth's shoulders for support. "Have we met before?" he asked, looking at Seth, as if trying to remember something.

"In a past life, if you'd believe it," Seth said, his tone half joking.

"After the last couple months I've had?" Mahad asked. "I'd believe anything."

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Kisara had finally given up on trying to get some sleep, and was now staring out the window, waiting for Seto to return. She didn't know how long she'd been staring out the window before she finally saw the headlights of the familiar car heading up the road.

By the time that Kisara had raced downstairs through the large house, Seto was helping Mahad onto the couch in the living room, Mana on Mahad's other side. Joey and Yugi had been dropped off on the way back.

"Who's this?" Kisara asked.

"Friends," Seto reassured her. "They're staying here for now."

"I'm Mana," the girl said cheerily. "This is Mahad."

"Nice to meet you. My name's Kisara," she said. "Is there anything you need?"

"Water would be nice, please," Mahad said. Mana just shook her head.

Kisara went into the kitchen and quickly returned with a glass for Mahad.

"Thank you," he said to Kisara. He looked at Seto. "And thank you for letting us stay here tonight."

"Don't worry about it. You can stay as long as you like," Seto said.

"Haha. I'll have to make a phone call tomorrow and make sure my roommate hasn't sold my room out to someone else, but I should be fine," Mahad joked.

"And you?" Seto asked, turning to Mana.

Mana looked torn. Her family had been killed after she joined Desdemona's group… she had refused to take part in a mission, and that was the price she has paid. She didn't have a home to return to anymore.

"She'll be coming with me," Mahad said.

Mana looked at him, bright eyed and hopeful.

Seto smiled. "All right. I'll just go make sure that the guest rooms are ready," he said.

Mahad nodded and Seto slipped out of the room, followed by Kisara.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Mana finally asked Mahad.

"Mana," he said. "What you did back there tonight…. Standing up to protect me…" There were so many points Mahad wanted to make he didn't know where to begin. "You've changed."

"I was just doing what you would've done in my place," she said, blushing.

"You're cute when you blush," he said.

"What?" she asked, blushing further. She'd always had a crush on Mahad, ever since she was little; she looked up to him, but he had never seemed to return the feelings. She always figured she was too young, she wasn't good enough for a guy like him anyway.

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Seto had hardly made it around the corner before Kisara's lips found his.

"Missed you, too," he said as their lips parted.

"I'm glad you're all right," she smiled.

"I'm glad I'm all right, too," he said smiling. "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this." He kissed her. Seto loved kissing Kisara. He always caught himself marveling over the simple fact that she was here, she was real, and she was his. Such a simple thing to make him feel so incredibly happy; he was never going to let anyone take her away from him.

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Kisara laughed. "I think we've kept them waiting long enough," she said. She walked around the corner back into the living room where they had left Mana and Mahad. Mahad's arm was wrapped around Mana's waist, her head was resting on his shoulder, and both of them had fallen asleep in the short time Seto and Kisara were gone.

"Oh," Kisara said softly.

Seto chuckled softly behind her. "They've both had a rough time, and they're probably exhausted after everything that happened tonight," he said. "Let's just let them sleep."

"You must be exhausted, too," Kisara said.

"Ah, I'm never too tired for you," he said, holding her and giving her a quick kiss. "Besides, I've gotten used to going without much rest over the years."

"Really? You always seem to sleep fine," she said.

"That's because you're there," he said. "But I could use some sleep now."

Kisara laughed. "Okay, let's go," she said heading up stairs with Seto at her side.

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A/N: Please review!

And thank you as always to my reviewers since last chapter: eliad, andy, Duelist's Heiress, Sakana, crazyvegimab, yugioh rocks, Eris-Dark-Goddess-of-Chaos, AQUA-DropS, and Autumn-Angel-31!