Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Gi Oh!

Thought / Dreams / Event from the past

[Voice from the past]

'Telepathic Voice'

"Spirit Talking"

-Telephone-

Letter

"Dialogue"

Emphasis

Dangerous Tone

"Ah, there he is." Jou whispered as he saw Yugi standing among the crowds of Duelists, probably listening to whatever speech Pegasus told his men to say.

"Any sign at all?" Honda asked in whisper as he looked at Jou, who peeked around the wall to watch the group with a monocular that Yugi gave him.

"Not yet." Jou answered before his eyes widened when he saw Yugi turned to his direction and winked before putting his right hand into his pocket, "Yugi made the sign, let's go." He whispered to Honda and Anzu before leading the way to the cargo.

Not a second after Jou and the rest started walking, they heard the children among the group of duelists screamed and they heard the guards start yelling. Jou looked at what caused such commotion and saw many marbles exploding at the feet of the participants, he raised an eyebrow and wondering where in the world Yugi managed to get his hand on something like that, before shrugging and kept going. They found a huge box that would be lifted to the ship and hid inside, just in time too since the box was lifted a minute later, all they needed to do now was wait for the ship to take off and they could go to find Yugi.

After what felt like eternity, they felt the ship moved. "I think it's safe now." Jou said after a few minutes more of waiting.

"Let's go find Yugi." Anzu said with a grin after they all get out of the box before began walking around the ship as casually as possible to not raise suspicion, Honda and Jou were stiffer than Anzu due to the fact that they were very nervous, making them wondered how Anzu could be so confident.

They were searching at the left side of the deck when they found Yugi looking out of the sea, "There he is." Anzu stated with a grin on her face, "Let's go!" Anzu walked faster towards Yugi, followed by the boys, while avoiding the people that were on the deck as well, she opened her mouth to call out at Yugi but someone's voice beat her.

"Excuse me."

Yugi looked up to his side when he heard the voice that was directed at him and his eyes widened at the sight that met his gaze, standing on his left side was a wavy blond haired young woman with amethyst eyes like him, although a bit darker than his own eyes. The young woman looked hot with the upper clothes that showed a bit of her chest, the short skirt and a high heeled boots that she wore, but it wasn't her clothes or hotness that made Yugi's eyes to widen, but the fact that the young woman looked exactly like his Older Sister in the past.

Maya-neechan . . . Yugi thought as he stared at her in surprise.

Not only that his Older Brother, Jono, reincarnated as Jounouchi Katsuya in the present time, but now his Older Sister, Maya, had reincarnated as well. Added to the fact that Shimon and Seth had both reincarnated as Mutou Sugoroku and Kaiba Seto, Yugi couldn't help but wondered who else he would find to be reincarnated in this time later.

"Can I help you?" Yugi asked her as he realized that he had been staring at her for quite some time.

"Mutou Yugi, correct?" Maya's reincarnation asked calmly as she looked straight at Yugi's eyes, Yugi nodded in answer, "I would like to talk alone with you, if you don't mind".

Yugi shook his head, "I don't mind." He answered as curiosity crept into him, "Why though? Is whatever it is that you want to talk to me can't be said here?".

She nodded, "It's not what I want to say to you that can't be said here, but more to the fact that it's relate to your real identity." She looked at him with knowing eyes, "Please follow me." She nodded her head again before turning around and heading to a more seclude part of the deck.

Yugi frowned as he stared at her back. She knows what I am? He asked himself in his mind before following her, "What do you know of my real identity?" He asked as soon as they stopped walking.

The woman turned to him, "First, I know for a fact that you are not a human, but a Vampire, one of the strongest kinds." She answered calmly as she leaned on the railings, "Before you use the name of Mutou, you were a Hoshikage, correct?".

Yugi nodded, "I was, and still am, actually." He answered as he crossed his arms, "Hoshikage is my middle name now".

She nodded, "The one I want to talk to is actually Hoshikage Heba, but since you and Heba are actually a single person, I think I will just say it to you." She explained as she pulled out an envelope from her bag, she looked up and opened her mouth to say more but closed it again and stared at something behind Yugi.

Yugi's left ear twitched as he heard three set of footsteps approaching them, "Yugi." Anzu's voice called him, "Who is she?".

Yugi looked behind his shoulder and nodded to acknowledge them before turning to the woman, "Someone." He answered before raising an eyebrow at the person before him for her name.

"Kujaku Mai." The woman answered calmly, but she didn't say anything more after that, waiting for Yugi to send the others off since she thought that they didn't know Yugi's identity as a Vampire.

"It's alright." Yugi said to Mai, "They already know about me being a Vampire." He explained when Mai raised an eyebrow at him.

Mai nodded in answer before offering the envelope, "My Aunt wanted me to give it to you." She said softly, "I'm sure you know who she is when you read the letter, so I will just tell you, her name is Maria".

Yugi's eyes widened as his hand halted just before he touched the envelope, "Maria?" He whispered as tear began to fill his eyes, "Maria is your Aunt?".

Mai nodded again, "She had been searching for you all this time, for years she tried to find you and apologize but she couldn't find you anywhere, she always came too late and you had already gone by the time she arrived to any place she heard you were at." She explained with a sad smile, "Aunt Maria gave up to ever finding you after many years of failure, she decided to take a rest due to her weak body couldn't keep going from one place to the other in short time anymore." Her sad smile faded and she looked down at her feet, "A lung disease claimed her, she knew that she would never see you again in her life, so she wrote this letter for you. 11 years ago, she told me about you on her death bed, she wanted someone to give this letter to you if you ever come to visit, but I promised her that I will personally give it to you." She looked up at Yugi and smiled sadly again, "Please accept it, Yugi, and please read what my Aunt wanted to tell you so badly".

A single tear fell from the corner of Yugi's eyes as the thought of Maria filled his mind, his heart broke when he heard that Maria had died and left this world, he had lose yet another person that he loved with all his heart. He then looked at the letter in Mai's offered hand and took it with shaking hand, he opened the envelope and pulled out the folded paper inside. He hesitated just as he about to unfold it before taking a deep breath, he unfolded the paper and read the neat hand writing on it.

My Love, Heba.

I'm really sorry for my reaction that time, it's my grief talking. I don't hate you at all, Heba, I love you with all my heart. I'm sorry for blaming you for Rei's death, I didn't mean to yell at you like that, and I never hate you. It's not your fault that our Son was kidnapped by a Rogue, and it's not your fault that you couldn't save him, you didn't know that a Rogue had him. I shouldn't blame you at all, please forgive me that I yelled at you and said that I hate you. It's all a lie, because I wanted to blame someone to ease my pain for losing him, I forgot that you were in pain as well for losing him.

Heba, when you read this letter, I would have gone from this world due to my lung disease, but please don't be sad. I will always watching over you, just like Rei and your other loved ones who had passed on before you. Please remember that I would always love you with all my heart, I wish you could find someone else to love and heal your hurting heart.

I love you, Heba.

Maria

Yugi closed his eyes tightly after he finished reading the letter, his heart felt like being stabbed with many knifes as he remembered about his dead Son and his secret Lover, who now had left him as well. It's hurt for him, it always hurt him when he lose someone to death, when his loved ones died before him, but this hurt him more because Maria died before he could apologize to her as well.

"Maria." Yugi whispered as he clutched the letter to his chest with tears downing his cheeks, "You stupid girl, why are you apologizing?".

Anzu, Jou, and Honda stared at Yugi in concern, they didn't know what was written on the letter, but they kind of understand that Yugi was sad because of it. Anzu stepped forward and reached out a hand to touch Yugi but Mai caught her wrist, she opened her mouth to protest but Mai shook her head and put a finger to her lips as a sign to be quiet. Both of the girls and the guys looked at Yugi with sad eyes before their eyes widened when they saw two glowing yet transparent figures appeared in front of Yugi, Mai more shocked than the others since she recognize one of the figures.

"It's just like what you said, everything is my fault. You don't need to apologize." Yugi continued, oblivious to what had happened, but he did open his eyes when he felt a smooth and warm hand on his left cheek.

"Don't blame yourself." The voice that spoke to him was soft and gentle, Yugi's head shot up and he stared in shock at the spirit of a beautiful woman with long wavy reddish blond hair and a pair of soft purple eyes in front of him, "It's not your fault, please don't blame yourself".

"Maria." Yugi said in a choked whisper.

"Heba." Maria said with loving voice and a warm smile on her face.

Mai tapped Anzu's shoulder, she then motioned for Anzu to follow her, "Let's leave them alone." She mouthed as she felt like intruding something personal.

Anzu nodded her before nodding at the guys and they silently left.

Silent tears keep flowing from Yugi's eyes, "I . . ." Yugi tried to say but something caught in his throat, he gulped and tried again, "I'm sorry, Maria".

Maria shook her head, "It's not your fault, My Love." She said softly, "It was never your fault, please don't blame yourself anymore".

Yugi shook his head slowly, "No." He denied, "It's my fault . . . if only I was faster, then-".

"No." Maria cut him off, "No, it's not your fault, never your fault, so don't blame yourself anymore." She said sternly before smiling, "But I need to apologize for yelling at you like that, please forgive me?".

"You didn't need to apologize, but I forgive you." Yugi said as he placed both of his hands on her face as his form changed into that of Heba, a tall young man with tanned skin and longer hair tied in ponytail, "Besides, I'm the one who should apologize, Maria".

"Heba . . ." Maria looked at him sadly before Heba shook his head to stop her from saying anything.

"No, even if it's not my fault what had happened to Rei, it doesn't change the fact that I broke my promise to protect him always." Heba said sadly, "I couldn't keep my promise, but I shouldn't leave just like that. Even if you were angry at me and told me to go away, I should stay with you and wait for you to calm down. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise, and I'm so sorry that I left just like that".

Maria smiled warmly, "I forgive you." She said softly before she hugged him, with Heba answering the hug.

"Dad." A deep yet childish voice said after Heba and Maria fell into silence.

Heba gasped as he heard the voice, he pulled apart from his Lover, not completely though as he kept his left arm around her back and resting on her left hip, to look at the other spirit whose presence he fail to notice due to his attention being captured completely by Maria. "Rei." He said as he stared at the spirit of a boy no older than 10 years old who looked like Maria, the boy had short wavy black hair that turned reddish black at the tips and had the same enchanting eyes like Heba. "Rei." Heba whispered as he slowly reached out a hand to the boy, who caught his hand and placed it on his own cheek.

Rei stared lovingly at Heba, "Daddy." He said with a happy smile, "I miss you, Daddy".

"Oh, Son." Heba said with a happy smile as well before pulling his Son into a warm embrace with his right hand, "I miss you too, I thought I would never see you again".

Rei hugged Heba tightly, "I was watching Daddy all this time." He said softly, "And when Mommy came, we both watched over Daddy." He looked up at Heba with a cute pout on his cute face, "Daddy would always wear a sad face every time Daddy remembered us. I don't want Daddy to be sad when remembering about us anymore".

"Bad Heba." Maria said in a sing song voice, "You have to smile when remembering us, don't be sad." She said gently as she leaned her head on Heba's shoulder, "We don't want you to be sad".

"I will try not to." Heba said as he gazed lovingly at her, "But I won't promise anything since life is never flat, happiness and sadness would always come one after another as long as this world still stands".

"Always with wise words, Daddy." Rei commented, his eyes alight with amusement, "I heard from Great Grandpa Solomon in Afterlife that Daddy always acted and talked like an adult when Daddy was a kid, it seems that Daddy's habit die hard".

"And you seem to be getting that habit from me." Heba answered with a smile.

They smiled at each other before Maria exhaled softly, "I'm sorry, Heba." She said as she pulled away from Heba, "It's time for us to return to the Afterlife".

Heba smiled and nod, "I hope you are happy and content in there, Maria." He said before closing his eyes and kissed her full on the lips, Maria answered the kiss with all the love in her heart. They pulled away and smiled at each other before Heba looked at his Son, "Will you watch over Daddy?" He asked lovingly.

"Of course, Daddy!" Rei said cheerfully before hugging Heba again then moved back to Maria, who had already waiting for him a meter away from Heba.

"We will always watching over you, Heba." Maria said softly as she held Rei's hand in her left one, "I hope you will find another person to love, I don't want for you to live the rest of your life being a lonely old Vampire".

Heba chuckled, "We will see." He answered with a grin, "You are the only one I romantically love in 3000 years of my life. I don't know when I would find someone else to love like I love you, or if I ever will again." He then looked at Rei and winked, "Say hello to our family in there for Daddy, okay?" He said before chuckling and added, "To anyone who is still in there, I mean, since I noticed that many of them had reincarnated into this time".

"Ah, about it . . ." Maria said as she remembered something, "There's a message from someone in the Afterlife that I have to tell you".

"What is it?" Heba asked curiously.

Maria looked straight at Heba's eyes, " 'Your journey is still long, Young Prince. Many of your friends and family are being reborn to this world to help you with your battle against the God of Darkness. You will once again face to face with him in the future. While you are stronger now as you are not a child anymore, He is stronger as well. You need all the help you can get, you and the Sealed Ones alike, remember that. Don't try to do it alone, for you will only fail again then.' " She said with serious tone, "Well, those were his exact words, I don't really understand what he meant by them though . . ." She trailed off as she saw Heba's grim expression, "Heba?" She asked cautiously, but Heba didn't answer for he was in his own world.

The God of Darkness . . . Heba thought grimly as his eyes became unfocused, his memory was replaying the event from 3000 years ago and his mind understanding what the message was telling him about.

The Thief King and Marik had fell victim to Akhunadin's betrayal, their Spirits were sealed into the Millennium Ring and Millennium Rod to awaken the God of Darkness by Akhunadin's action when he stabbed them with the Millennium Rod, and the Pharaoh sacrificed his own life to seal the God of Darkness, along with his own Spirit, into the Millennium Puzzle.

The Sealed Ones mean Daddy, Papa, and Marik . . . and by 'once again face to face with him', someone would release the God of Darkness from his seal and we will once again have to fight against him. His eyes narrowed as he thought about it.

The only ones who know about it were those who lived through the event or heard about it, the message seemed more to be telling the future and advised Heba and the Sealed Ones to not face this problem on their own.

"Daddy?" Rei asked fearfully, he had never seen Heba wearing that kind of expression before, not even when Rogue Vampires were involved.

Heba blinked as he was pulled out from his thought, "Ah, sorry, Rei. I got lost in my own mind." He said with a sheepish grin to Rei before turning to Maria, "Who gave you that message, Maria?" He asked seriously.

"I don't remember you telling me about him in the past, so I don't know if you know him or not." Maria answered, relieved that Yugi didn't wear that grim expression anymore, "He said his name is Akhnamkanon though".

Heba gasped in surprise, " 'Akhnamkanon', you said?" He asked with blinking eyes.

"Yes." Maria said with a nod, "Do you know him?".

"I don't know him personally, but I do know about him." Heba answered slowly as he stared at her, "He's my Grandfather".

"My other Great Grandpa?" Rei asked cutely.

"Not by blood, but technically, yes. I'm the adopted Son of his Son, so he's technically my Grandfather as well." Heba explained to him with a smile, "I have my blood Parents and two adopted Fathers, so you have many Grandpas and Great Grandpas, Rei".

"Wow." Rei said in amazement with big eyes.

Maria's and Rei's Spirit glowed suddenly, "Oops." Maria said as she noticed this, "Time's up".

Heba immediately kissed her lips and Rei's forehead, "I'm happy that I can see you both again." He said with a smile, "I hope I can see you again sometimes".

"You will." Maria said with a smile as they started to disappear.

"We will watch you, Daddy!" Rei managed to say before they disappeared completely.

"I love you, Maria, Rei." Heba said softly before his form returning to that of Yugi, he sighed before looking around, he didn't see his friends or Mai, "Well, let's see where they are." He said to himself and began walking.

"What the hell!" Jou's cry of disbelief rang from the cabin's direction.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mai's voice joined him.

Yugi blinked before ran at full speed to the cabin once he saw that no one was around, he entered the cabin and saw that Jou and Mai were glaring at one of Pegasus's men while Anzu and Honda just standing not far behind them, the four people were the center of attention at the moment.

"A lady like me has to be stuck with those people without even a shower?" Mai protested as she marched to the man, causing the man to step back for every step that Mai took.

"B-but that's the rule." The man tried to explain.

"Tell the person in charge to come here!" Mai demanded.

"Yugi." Anzu greeted when she saw him as he passed her to get to Mai.

Yugi nodded at her before looking at Mai, "What's happened here?" He asked curiously, even though he had understood most of what was causing the commotion, but other people didn't know that he could practically hear everything that happened in the ship.

"This guy said that I, a lady, have to be stuck in here with these people, who are all guys." Mai answered in annoyance as she motioned to the others in the room, "Aside from this girl." She added when Anzu opened her mouth to protest, "And not even a shower! This must be a joke".

Yugi raised an eyebrow at the man, "It's the rules." The man said simply to Yugi's unasked question.

"Rules my ass." Mai said rudely.

"Don't be so rude, Mai." Yugi said calmly as he fished the pocket of his school's jacket. He wore his school uniform since he would meet with Pegasus one way or another, he didn't want a repeat of what had happened 20 years ago.

"That's right." Someone said in agreement from behind them, they looked back and saw two boys coming over into the room, "You will be thrown of the ship if you keep that attitude, woman." The brown haired boy with a bit of purple hair above his forehead said with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Mai asked with a vein mark on her head, "And don't call me woman, I have a name and it's Kujaku Mai. Thank you very much".

"I'm known as Dinosaur Ryuuzaki." The brown haired boy answered calmly, still with a smirk on his face, "And this is Insector Haga".

"We are the First and Second Duel Monsters Champ in Japan." Haga said boastfully.

Yugi, Mai, Jou, Anzu, and Honda stared at them with a 'What the hell' expression and a sweat drop on their heads. "Smug little kids, so what with being the First and Second of Japan Champ?" Mai muttered quietly to herself before placing a hand on her hip, "What I want is a room, not your stupid boast".

"This room is not so bad, actually." Haga told her as he motioned around the room with his head, "You can use this opportunity to trade cards with the other participants".

"My own deck is perfect, I don't need to trade with them." Mai retorted with a huff, "I prefer to have a nice room for my own".

"Well, you can join me in my single room." Ryuuzaki offered with a smug smirk again.

"What kind of a lady do you think I am?" Mai hissed in anger.

"Ignore him, Mai." Yugi said as he offered a key to her, "Here, you can have my room." He explained to her confused expression, "As long as you don't mind sharing the room with Anzu. There's a bathroom inside, so you can have a shower if you want".

Mai looked at Yugi in surprise, she had heard about Yugi from her Aunt and how they were Lovers, but she never thought that Yugi would be so kind to her whom he had just met today. "Thank you." She said with a smile before looking at Anzu, "Come on. Anzu, right? Let's go to our room and get a nice rest".

"Sure." Anzu answered with a shrug, "I would like to ask a few questions to you anyway".

They watched the two girls left before Ryuuzaki turned to Yugi, "You aren't Japan Champ, how come you got a single room?" He asked curiously.

"Who knows?" Yugi asked back with a shrug, "I got the key along with the package of invitation, I asked about it earlier and found it to be a key to one of the single rooms in the ship".

"I bet it's because you are someone who won against Kaiba Seto." Haga said with a smirk on his face, "Even though I won the Japan tournament, but I'm not satisfied before I win against you and Kaiba as well, Yugi".

"Let's see if you are skillful enough to defeat us." Yugi challenged him with a smirk as well.

"Very well." Haga nodded at him, "I'm looking forward to our duel." He said before turning around and left the room.

"He's acting so high and mighty." Honda commented dryly as soon as Haga was out of earshot.

"Well, he thinks that he has the right to act like that since he is Japan Champ." Ryuuzaki shrugged, "He didn't aware that I was going easy on him." He then turned around as well, "If you are lucky enough, we might have a duel in the future as well, Yugi." He said from behind his shoulder before looking forward and left as well.

"Hmph." Jou snorted in annoyance as he crossed his arms, "They think they are better than anyone just because of winning a big league tournament, what a pair of arrogant brats".

"Don't mind them." Yugi grinned at him, "They will lose their attitude once they lost against a participant in this Duelist Kingdom, there are many Duelists out there who are more skillful than them but don't boast around, so their will taste their own medicine soon enough".

"You are right." Jou and Honda said together with a grin, knowing that Yugi being one of those skillful Duelists.

"Then, I'm off to trade cards as well, maybe I will get some good cards." Jou said before he went to the group of Duelists around the room.

"I will keep an eye on him." Honda said before going after Jou.

Yugi smiled to himself before going out again, he wanted to enjoy some fresh air and enjoy the scenery since it's rare for him to go travelling with a ship.

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To be continued . . .

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