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Epilogue

A week after The End…

Bakura smiled as he watched the children playing. Seto relaxed on the couch, still nursing his wounds. Pegasus sat on a chair and made sure the children didn't climb on Seto. The children now had each other. They were all happy to have new siblings and Seto was set to adopt the two children. Mokuba would soon have a brother and sister, Yuugi and Anzu.

It was difficult to watch Seto's slow recovery but with rest, blood, and Bakura's ministrations he was sure to make a full recovery, even regrow the eye he had lost. Rehabilitation would be slow but everyone was learning to accept it.

A sigh of contentment left Bakura's lips but he heard a little snicker in his head and he slipped out of the living room.

'I told you right from the start, he'd be a great champion!' A voice boasted. 'I told you if he loved you enough he'd save you! I told you he'd be more than willing to do all the dirty work, so long as you gave him a good reason!'

Looking around to make sure that no one was around, Bakura slipped into the blessedly empty kitchen. "You played him for a fool." He hissed under his breath.

'At times, but you have to admit that it all worked out! We made it out! We finally escaped that hellhole alive! That's what matters! Never forget that.'

"What you did was still wrong! We should have helped him escape when we had the chance!" The man spoke under his breath as much as he could, hissing behind his hand, hoping that it muffled his exclamations.

'If he had escaped all on his own, he'd never have come back for us! That should be clear enough from his actions once he was no longer Bound!'

"Yes, but-" Bakura started to answer but the excited children had come running in and they were dragging him back into the other room.

"Come play, Uncle Bakura!" They chorused as they pushed and pulled him out of the kitchen.

Bakura smiled, unable to resist.

'Just remember. You owe me.'

The words echoed in his mind and Bakura's features became slack.

"Is something the matter?" Seto had pulled himself up to a seated position and concern played over the portions of his face not hidden by bandages.

The thief, caretaker, guardian, father, uncle, simply smiled and laughed. "Everything's just fine." He tapped little Yuugi on the head and jogged away, saying "Tag, you're it!"

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Author's Notes

First off, WHOA! The original version of Champion was 7,523 words. The Director's Cut? A WHOPPING 19,128 words! WHOA! And that's taking out the the Author's Notes! I hope that you find that the new words were well spent. I am definitely more than a little worried that the readers may find this version wordy and pretentious. (I used a thesaurus several times to try and find different ways to express the same ideas, for instant describing Yami's paleness lol)

I originally wrote Champion over a decade ago. I fell in love with the story that I saw in my mind. Unfortunately, what I cobbled together and published was not quite as stunning as what I had pictured. So I found myself, many years down the road and going over my old work to finish old stories, fix up some stories, and maybe relive some memories. I found "Champion" and cringed as I read it. It was not the amazing story that I remembered it being.

HOWEVER, it had so much potential and so many good memories that I couldn't see my way to throwing it out or abandoning it. I thought about the possibility of re-writing it. However, I didn't want to strip much from the original story, I wanted to ADD to it. Which is how I found myself writing a 'Director's Cut' of the story.

I really hope that fans of the original story will enjoy it and new readers will stumble across it and enjoy it as well.

Because I still respect the earnest effort that I put into the first version of this story, it will stay up on the site- unless there is a situation where I am told that I can only have one version published. If that happens, I'll take the original version down.

If you enjoyed this story and any of my other stories and want a Director's Cut for one of my old works, feel free to send me a message!