AN-Here's how Athena's dialogue goes-if you're confused: When the text is "like this", then it means she's floating. When the text is "like this", then it means she's walking on solid ground. :)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own YGO. Simple as that...

Let's get into the story! The next chapter might get confusing... Hahahahaha...

Chapter Seven – All We'd Ever Need

"To begin this story… I will say that I was Noah's older sister."

"Athena-"

"Please, call me Sakura."

"Sakura, then. Are you serious?" Seto exclaimed as Sakura nodded.

"Yes. I am very serious. My mother and your-our-stepfather, Gozaburo, meet and dated when I was around seven. Within three years, my mom married him and Gozaburo was nice to me. He treated me with the utmost respect. That is, until I was nine."

"What happened then?" Seto asked as Sakura closed her eyes.

"He would beat me, every time I didn't aced a test. I would come home, he'd find out about my grades, and would sometimes praise me, or hit me. Mom would never know; she thinks that Gozaburo was everything to her. He wasn't…

"It got somewhat easier when mom got pregnant. Gozaburo still tried to make time for my mom, which resulted in me having easier days and nights. I could sleep in peace."

"He did the same things to you that he did to me…" Seto murmured as Sakura nodded.

"It was around Christmas time, and mom went into labor. She had to give birth at the house because of the storm. Luckily, everyone-the maids, me and Gozaburo-was there and-the doctor came later-she gave birth. She decided to name him Noah, since it was around Christmas, she wanted a Biblical name. So, she decided Noah.

"Within the next few years, Gozaburo lost interest in me and focused all his attention on Noah. It was sort of lovely that he lost interest in me, but, I had a horrible feeling that the same thing was going to happen to Noah… When I turned thirteen, I told mom what was going on at the beginning. Noah was only three at the time…"

FLASHBACK

"Mom, I need to tell you something."

Sakura was putting birthday decorations away as Noah was being cleaned up by his mom. He had cake over his face.

"What is it Sakura?"

Sakura gulped as she looked around, and nodded.

"Mom… When you were dating Gozaburo, he forced me to study and he would beat me every time I didn't aced a test."

Sakura's mom looked over at her, tilting her head.

"Nah. He has treated you with respect! Sakura…"

"Mom. I'm dead serious! He won't tell you the truth! Please, I don't want Noah to go through what I went through." She pleaded as her mom nodded and rolled her eyes.

"Sakura, I know you never lie-"

"And I always will tell someone the truth as it is."

"-but I would have to believe Gozaburo anyways."

Sakura's eyes grew as she took Noah from the table, and put him on the couch for a little nap.

"Mom… You can't be serious! I'll show you the marks!"

Her mom shook her head.

"Let's just ask your father." She called for Gozaburo to come down stairs.

Sakura cringed when she called him father. He was never a father to her. He walked downstairs, in his business suit, nonetheless, and walked towards my mom, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

"Honey, Sakura insisted that you would beat her when she didn't aced a test. I didn't believe her, and I thought that she was just kidding around."

Gozaburo laughed. HE laughed. Sakura's eyes closed, holding back her tears.

"She must have had too much cake and ice cream! It's getting to her head. Darling, you know that I would praise her for doing her best, and I would help her if she needed help."

Sakura looked down at her little brother, unsure of what to say or do.

"See Sakura? You probably are a little delusional." Her mom insisted as Sakura's eyes filled with tears. Her parents looked at her, her mom and step-dad silent and looking at each other as rain started to fall.

"NO! I'm telling you the truth, mom! Gozaburo has hurt me! I swear it on my life!"

"Sakura-"

"Don't talk to me!" Sakura swatted her mom's hand away as she gasped. She looked up at Gozaburo, a frighten look on his face. "I hope that something horrible will happen to you."

"SAKURA!" Her mom slapped her on the face.

Her mom's eyes grew, Sakura held her cheek, Gozaburo looked at them both, and Noah sat up seeing what just happened.

"Oh my… I'm so sorry Sakura!" Her mom cried out as Sakura turned her back to them.

"Mom… When the time comes… I hope you'll be able to live, by yourself, on your own… But, since you haven't, give Noah that chance." Sakura murmured to them as she ran out of the house, her mom calling out to her.

Sakura ran into town, away from everyone, away from her family.

I want to get away from everything! My own mom didn't believe me… I just want to die!

She ran towards the square, without knowing a car was about to hit her. The horn honked, Sakura turned, and closed her eyes, shielding her head with her arms, and everything went black…

END FLASHBACK

"So, what happened then?" Joey asked as they passed some cacti.

"I remembered that I woke up in a hospital a few days later… I overheard that the car didn't see me and the family inside was all killed, except for the children…"

"The children were the only ones…" Yugi trailed off as Sakura nodded.

"Yes… But that happened a while back… I was also told that the father was killed, protecting one of his children… I was heartbroken when I found out."

"Wait. You just said that the father died, but not the children, right?" Seto asked as Sakura nodded.

"Yes."

"No… I-It can't be…"

"What's wrong?" Joey asked as Seto looked down at the sand, and shook his head.

Seto wasn't able to form a sentence, nonetheless words. Sakura had not a clue, but she could tell that something was up with Seto. She was a smart girl and added the pieces up.

"Oh, my- Seto? That was your father, wasn't it?" Sakura questioned as Seto glanced up at her, a little teary-eyed, as Sakura shook her head slowly, leaning towards Seto's body. "I'm so sorry… I didn't even know it was your father!"

Sakura put her head down, very dishearten that she was the one who put Seto and his little brother into an orphanage!

"D-don't be… sorry." Seto choked up as Joey moved closer to his crush.

"Why is it…"

Everyone looked up at her, Sakura crying tears herself.

"That no matter whatever we do, we are led back to him: Gozaburo... He's not even here and here we are… He connects us to anything or anyone!"

"We won't let him have his way!"

Seto looked over at Joey as he looked over at him.

"He's not even here, and look at you both-crying ya eyes out! You're not gonna let Gozaburo have his way, even when he's dead?" Joey exclaimed as Sakura and Seto looked at each other and nodded, drying his tears up.

"Joey's right! First, we have to go save Emily, then we'll deal with this group and my mother-!"

"Wait, you just said your mother…" Yami pointed out as Sakura melted to the sand, literally, and nodded.

"Don't tell me your mom-" Joey was about to go off on Sakura as she sighed.

"No… Well, sort of… It's confusing…"

"Don't tell me: another long story?"

Sakura nodded as Joey moaned, along with Seto and Yami. Yugi was sort of… content.

"Fine, tell us this one as well."

Emily awoke, startled, to see a well dimmed placed.

"Where am I?" Emily asked herself as she got up, a little woozy, and walked towards a door. She tugged on the door for a little bit and nothing. She couldn't get out.

"You can't leave just yet."

Emily stopped breathing, for a moment, and didn't turn around to face the mysterious person. She had a bad feeling about who it was, and her bad feelings were usually correct…

"And why is that?" She asked, curious as to who would want her.

The mysterious man walked towards her and she turned around, hearing his footsteps get closer to her. She put up her fists and the mysterious man crossed his arms.

"Because you're the closest thing to my son. Maybe you've heard of him?"

Emily moved around, away from the door, as he chuckled.

"How would you figure out that I'm the closest to him? I've not even known him that long!"

"Don't play dumb, Emily. We wouldn't want Joey to get hurt now, do we?"

Emily's eyes narrowed, trying to relax and not have a panic attack.

"You're his father, correct?"

"Yes." He put his hand in front of Emily's body. "Michael Wheeler, an honor."

She wanted to spit in his hand. However, she just pushed it away.

"You're just a hologram-a fragment-!"

"Sorry, but I'm the real deal."

Emily still didn't move as Michael turned around, his back towards Emily.

"I don't care if you're the real deal or not! Just take me back to my friends-"

"I can't."

"And why the hell not?"

He turned on his heels, holding a card in his hand.

"Because once we have you on our side-" A bright light flashed as Emily's body fell to the ground and Mana escaped from the ring as Michael held another card in his other hand.

Mana's spirit-body was disappearing as well, making Emily's stone-on her ring-turn black. Michael laughed as he looked down at the cards, holding Emily's soul in one, and Mana's spirit in the other.

"Now, wouldn't my boy be furious? Ah… All the more to get his soul and those Egyptian ones as well." He put the cards in his pocket and leaned down towards Emily.

Emily's eyes opened, unexpectedly, as Michael moved away, slowly.

"Good thing you're awake. Now, how about you come with me and I'll help you get out of here safely, Emily?" He uttered as Emily looked up at her enemy, or was her enemy.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" She asked as he helped her up.

Good. Just like Triton had said before. She's lost her memory of those freaks and is a normal girl again. Perfect.

"These horrible, cruel people kidnapped you and I'm here to rescue you!" Michael assured as Emily nodded.

"O-okay. Let's get outta here…" She murmured as he nodded and opened the door, releasing a dark light, penetrating any hope for Emily.

"My mother found out about the accident." Sakura added, looking downward. "So, she found me at the hospital, dragged me back home, and-believe it or not-packed up her clothes, along with mine. She believed everything that I said to her."

FLASHBACK

"Sakura, we're going to leave."

"You… believed me?"

Her mom nodded as tears started to form.

"Yes. I confronted Gozaburo, and he told me the dead truth. We're going to leave tonight."

Sakura smiled as she frowned after a thought went through her head.

"W-what about Noah?"

Sakura's mom froze as she frowned herself.

"… If we didn't want to make a big scene, we had to leave Noah here with him…"

"NO! We're taking Noah with us, mom! Please!" She begged as her mom shook her head.

"Sakura, he'll be fine. I promise you that!" She held Sakura as they both cried.

"But mom…"

"If he isn't, we'll come back here and make sure that Noah comes home with us!"

END FLASHBACK

"However… We never knew about what happened to Gozaburo and Noah…"

"But, you knew that the company was excelling, right?" Seto wondered as she nodded, deciding to float again.

"Yes. But, we didn't know anything else. Over where we had lived, in Great Britain, we didn't know if Gozaburo was still leading, or how Noah was doing. We cut off all contacts to Noah… My mom's biggest mistake, ever."

"So, how did you found out about what happened to Noah and Gozaburo?" Yami asked as Sakura sighed.

"Mom decided to finally call them up, when I finished college. We had moved to Japan, for the last time, and decided to look up Noah and Gozaburo… When mom called Kaiba Corporation, she didn't get Noah or Gozaburo's voice…"

"You know, I had always wondered who it was that called me that one day… So, it was your mother after all…" Seto assumed as Sakura nodded.

"Yes… So, she decided to call another close friend to the company… I think his name was Roland…"

"Serious? Man…"

"He said that there was this extra pod at the corporation that was finished being built. Mom was told the background story on Noah-he got killed in an accident-and Gozaburo. She decided that after all that she put them through, she wanted to pay them back. So, we went down there and was put in the same position as Noah, except we had a choice this time.

"We could have our minds in this virtual world for life, or temporarily. I said just temporarily but my mom had another plan. She went for life, which I did NOT approve of. However, since mom's been here she's been going insane, turning evil, and losing sight of wanting to see them again. But, I knew that we wouldn't. Never again…"

"It's cause we destroyed the program?" Joey asked as Seto nodded, but shook his head.

"Noah helped. Gozaburo was going out of control, and to save our world, Noah decided to end both of theirs, forever…" Seto described as Joey nodded, and sighed.

"Is your whole family filled with drama, Seto?"

"You're one to talk, mutt."

Both were sort of silent after those words.

"You two okay?" Yugi murmured as they turned onto the short teen.

"Yes! What made you think that?" They both exclaimed, at the same time, as Joey walked ahead. Seto just ran his hand through his hair.

"My body has been in a special containment area for half a year now. Only Roland knows where it's at."

"How about this:" She looked down at Yugi, surprised that the others didn't scare him to death. "When this is over, we'll find your body, and you'll be able to live back in the real world, again!"

"Yugi makes a good point. It shouldn't be too hard." Yami added in as Yugi nodded, but Sakura looked away.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have a family to go back to! No friends, nothing! My friends think that I've disappeared, and my family as well… I just can't…"

Joey averted his eyes towards Sakura and back at Seto.

Well, what now? We can't let her wonder here, after we beat this dumbass game… She should be brought back with us!

"Sakura," She turned to see Seto staring up at her, "if you decided to stay in this world, after we are finished here, will you watch this world?" She nodded. "You will be exactly like your brother." She nodded, again. "Are you sure?" She nodded, once again, as Seto sighed and walked ahead, passing Joey on the way.

"Seto…"

"We need to save Emily, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Then, let's go save her!" Joey finished as Seto nodded. Everyone smiled and nodded and walked onward, smiles on their faces.

However, those smiles completely disappeared as two people, dressed as the Witch of the Black Forest, and Giltia, the Dark Knight appeared before them. Everyone was still in the desert, but as they looked to their left, there was a castle, a big HUGE one!

"That must be where Emily is…" Joey whispered to Seto as he nodded.

"Before you all start any plans, dueling comes first!" The witch called out as Joey moved forward.

"Feather and Bear… Shameful people… You just had to go to my mom for all these dark powers!" Sakura cried out as Joey mentally called for a duel disk as Yugi got in front of him.

"Joey, leave them to us."

"No way. I'm not gonna do that Yug'!"

Yami walked towards his aibou, putting his hand in front of Seto-as he was about to call for his own duel disk.

"It's a tag team duel match. I know you want to help, Joey, but leave them to Yugi and I. We do have some experience, so you don't have to worry about us." Yami promised as Yugi nodded, both calling their duel disks, mentally.

Yugi turned to the two taller people of the group.

"Emily is more important than these freaks, so go on."

"Yug'…" Joey uttered as Seto grabbed his arm.

"Let's go, puppy. They have it under control." Seto assured as Joey nodded, his eyes glaring at the castle where Sakura was running to (she was flying, but decided to plant her feet to the ground now).

"Don't you go anywhere!" Bear called out.

"Hey! If you want to get to them, get through us first!" Yugi loudly said as Bear turned his back towards the castle, and glanced towards the look-a-likes.

"Damn it… Fine! This won't even take long!" Bear exclaimed as Yami stiffed a laugh.

Feather snapped her fingers, and a duel field was brought up.

"We each begin with 4000 life points for each of us. First one to zero loses, and so does their partner too."

All nodded as Feather still continued.

"I chose my deck master to be the Witch of the Black Forest. My partner has chose Giltia, the Dark Knight. What about you?"

Yami and Yugi looked through their decks, both looking at each other on what their choices will be.

"I choose my deck master to be Silent Magician!" Yugi called out as his deck glowed a pure white color and the Silent Magician came forth and went behind Yugi.

"Well then, I choose the Magician of Black Chaos!" Yami called forth as his deck glowed a pure black-ish blue color and the magician appeared behind Yami. Both nodded to each other, magicians to each other, and all four of them glanced over at their enemies.

"Let's duel!" They simultaneously yelled as birds flew from the tree tops around them towards the sky above.

Sakura, along with Joey and Seto, was only a few hundred yards away from the big castle as someone floated down from the top of the castle down towards the small group.

"Mom…" She uttered, as she was dressed like the Mystical Elf.

"Sakura…" She landed in front of the group. "I never would have guess that you'd turn to these… humans."

"We're humans too! Don't you remember?"

"It doesn't bother me at all… Besides, I have a family here."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, Seto crossed his arms, and Joey had his hands down.

"What do you mean, I have a family here?" Sakura had to ask as her mom smiled and called,

"Michael! We have an audience!"

Joey's eyes grew as he saw his father walk down with a young girl behind him. Joey's dad smiled. He ACTUALLY smiled, which made Joey uncomfortable.

"Father, what are you doing here?" Joey asked as his father tsked at him.

"I could ask you the same, but we are here for the same reason: Destroying the ones we hate and protecting the ones we love. Right?" His father sneered towards his only son as he was running towards him, about to throw a nasty punch as he brought Emily behind him to place him in front of him-for protection!

"That's cruel! Don't put Emily in the middle of this!" Joey yelled as he jumped back a little bit.

"Emily, these are the people that trapped you here! They made you suffer, and that one there-" He pointed to Seto. "-was the one who created this world, harboring everything you hold dear!"

Emily's eyes grew, at first, and tears started to form.

"Sakura, we actually have a family now! A father, a sister, and a mother… All of us, waiting to go home." Her mom cooed to Sakura as she shook her head.

"Mom, you've gone too far this time! Release Emily! She's done nothing wrong!" Sakura yelled as Emily stepped in front of her enemies, who were now her allies.

"Em', you've been controlled-brain-washed!" Joey cried out. "I understand what ya going through 'cause it has happened to me too!"

"It… has…?" Emily uttered as she cringed, holding her head and shaking other thoughts out of her mind. "Too bad! Besides, I'm going to duel you until you start crying out for mercy! And, what about your love for me? Are you good enough to even duel me? I highly doubt it!"

"E-emily." Joey whispered as she continued to bash the poor guy.

Seto glanced down at her hand and noticed the ring upon it.

The stone… It's tarnished-black-now! Something fishy is going on… And I'm not liking it one bit.

"You can't even stand up to your father! And you think that I've been brainwashed? Ha! You've thought wrong. Michael has saved me from you, and after what he told me, you've got a one way ticket to defeat courtesy of me!"

"Emily…" Joey's voice getting hoarse as Seto glanced down at his ally.

Joey…

"Also, you can't even defeat Seto Kaiba! Or, maybe it's 'cause you went easy on the poor fella! Ah ha! You have a crush, no, you love this guy so much that you would give up on purpose just to fuel this guy's ego!"

"Emily!" Seto called out as she glanced over at him. Joey's eyes were filling up with tears-sadness for finding Emily and happiness because of Seto's outburst-as Seto walked in front of Joey.

"What the hell do ya want now?" Emily asked sounding irritated.

"You may say whatever you want, but…" Seto put his head down, then lifted it with his duel disk on his left arm. "If you want to get to MY PUPPY, then you have to go through me! No one says things like that to him!"

"So, I did hit a nerve… Fine, I'll duel you!" She snapped her fingers and a duel disk appeared on her left arm as well.

"Fine by me!"

"S-seto." Joey's voice a little hoarse as Seto walked towards him, and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Don't you dare get worried about me. I'll kick her butt, then that'll wake her up and see her mistakes!" He whispered as Joey nodded and took a card out of his duel disk.

"Use this in your duel. I know that you will."

Joey gave him the Red Eyes Black Dragon, as Seto nodded and put it in his deck.

"And I want it back."

"You will get it back."

Joey smiled, wiped his tears, and hugged Seto.

He is… hugging me? Okay, this virtual world has actually made my puppy crazy… Well, it's made me crazy as well…

Seto had to admit: ever since this morning, he's been changed, and it's actually for the good!

"Don't think you're getting off that easy my boy!" Joey dad called out as they broke their embrace. "You're dueling me, so dry those damned tears of yours and get your ass over here!"

Joey looked up at Seto and he nodded.

"You'll be fine. We'll save them both." He acknowledged as Joey nodded and walked away from Seto.

"Go save them! Get 'em guys!" Sakura called out as her mom chuckled.

"You have to deal with me, Sakura." She hissed as Sakura turned to face her mom.

"No problem." She uttered as she threw a energy ball at her and their battle begin.

Seto and Emily eyed each other before they started their duel.

"How about we make a deal, Seto Kaiba?" Her voice pierced their silence as Seto grinned.

"Sure, what's your deal?"

"If I win, Joey stays here with me and his father."

"That won't ever happen!" Seto yelled as Emily crossed her arms. "If I win, I'll take Joey and you home with me!"

"That will not happen. Joey's mine, and mine forever!" She snapped her fingers and she changed into the same outfit from the beginning of this quest. "My deck master is the Dark Magician Girl! What's yours Seto?"

Seto looked through his own deck, remembering how this went last time… He thought for a moment and decided on Lord of Dragon's.

"I pick Lord of D. as my deck master!" Seto's deck glowed a bright orange color as the lord appeared behind Seto, once again.

"Fine with me." Emily called out as she shuffled her deck, along with Seto, as they both cried out, "Let's duel!"

Joey, on the other hand, was unable to find a deck master. His father chose Gearfried the Iron Knight-one of Joey's cards-as Joey was baffled on choosing.

"Come on son! I'm not getting any younger!" Michael yelled over as he looked over at Seto, getting ready to start his own duel. Joey shook his head and decided on a monster.

"Sorry, pops! I like to choose a winner, and I have a feeling that this card will do it!" Without saying a word, the deck master that he choose appeared behind him, knowing that the Dark Magician will not fail him!

"Well, let's get this duel over with fast!"

"I like fast duels! Besides, I wanna go cheer my friend on to victory!" As corny as that had sounded, his father sneered and as Joey swallowed his guts, "Let's duel!" ringed from the field as Sakura flipped onto the ground, chanting a prayer that would help her win her battle, and for the guys with their own.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Virtual worlds can make you crazy! lol

So, make sure to review! And I am hoping to get started onto one of my stories that I've put on haitus since God knows when! ^_^

Well, hopefully I can do both, which I should never do... Yet I am doing it...

ALSO, super special awesome news!

Me and my friends are gonna to our first anime convention this year! We're neebies, but I can't wait! We're going to go as a Yu-Gi-Oh group, but there's only like four of us, but I can't wait! Besides, idk what will be harder to do: Yugi's hair, or Seto's Battle City outfit... Yeah... We love challenges... ^_^