The Knights of Light and Darkness Awaken

It wasn't looking like much of a battle as Max and Mystery fought in the sky. Max was launching almost every attack spell she knew, but Mystery still wouldn't fight back. She instead used almost every defensive spell, shielding herself from Max's attacks and even reflecting them right back at her.

"Face it, Mystery," Max tormented. "Zorc has awakened and there's nothing you can do. Just give up already!"

Mystery was aware that Zorc had finished crossing over from the Shadow Realm, but that was actually the least of her worries. Her first concern was saving her family. Now that her husband and child were safely on their way home, she could focus on the next big issue at hand; saving her friend. The queen believed that Luna still lived inside the fiend she was facing and she wasn't going to give up. "Max, please listen to me," she begs, "I do not wish to fight you. Bakura has tricked you into thinking that this is the only solution, but it isn't! Follow your own heart and decide what is right for yourself!"

"I am following my own heart," Max cried. "I chose to give myself to Cobalt and I won't rest until his wishes are fulfilled!" Her eyes glow into a purple light and shadows surround her hands. Concentrating all of her hatred on Mystery for this attack, she launches her most powerful spell, Dark Force.

The queen's barrier starts to fade away, but before she can create a new one, she gets caught in the blast and is shot into the sky. Finding this fight to be too easy, Max starts to become less impressed. She wasn't surprised that Mystery would refuse to fight back, but she didn't think she'd be this disappointed. Suddenly, Mystery's Lucent Beam comes down like a laser and strikes Max to the ground. The queen slowly returns with some bruises and scrapes.

Max lifts herself from the ground as shadows continue to surround her. "So you do have some fight within you," she growled. "But I've had enough of your childish ways. I've no time for games either."

"Max, for the last time, I am begging you to listen to me. I have my regrets for not being there for you in the past, but I am here for you now. You may not want my help, but you know you need me to rescue you. I know I made those promises to Luna and I know she is still inside of you. I will rescue you!"

"Wrong," Max argued. "I told you, Luna is gone. You're facing me and I can't be rescued." She raises her arms in the air and summons lightning from the sky. Mystery counters by engulfing Max in the flames of her Blaze Wall spell. Max douses the flames and asks, "Come on, Mystery, is that the best you can do? I hope you're not going easy on me because we're friends."

"Believe me, Max, I am fighting you with everything I have." She was telling the truth. Although Mystery had been trained for combat, she didn't know many offensive spells. She could summon roots and vines and use them like whips, bend fire, launch stones like spears or catapult launches, hose her foes with water, blow them away with her wind, and she also had her most powerful spell Lucent Beam. But other than that, her spells weren't really meant to hurt anybody. Rather she used them mostly for self-defense.

Max was starting to become exhausted after attacking Mystery so many times. Unlike the queen, she didn't know any healing spells. She had the power to drain the life energy and magical strength of her foes to replenish her own, but she wouldn't recover as quickly as the queen would. In fact, she would still be a little wounded. But that didn't matter to her.

The queen continued to try and reason with her opponent. "I know I said I would rather die by the hands of my enemy than force myself to murder a friend, but I cannot save my friend if I allow my enemy to kill me. I also know my friend would never try to kill me either." Using her Lunar Magic, the queen makes a quick recovery and replenishes her strength. The moon was full, so the spell was at least ten times stronger than usual. "Yes, Max, I love you as I do the rest of my friends, but just as you decided to be loyal to Cobalt, you must now decide, are you my friend or are you my foe?"

Having had enough of Mystery's preaches, she answers, "Luna was your friend. I am your foe!" Then her eyes shine with a blue light and she uses her Freeze spell to launch chunks of ice at the queen.

Mystery sees them coming at her like meteors. To melt the ice, she uses her fire like a flamethrower the same way she did it to free Kisara from her prison all those years ago. Little did Mystery realize, however, was that the Freeze was a decoy, giving Max the opportunity to conceal herself with her Invisibility spell. Mystery looks around, but not in fear. She was aware of the many defenses Invisibility had to offer and she knew how to expose her enemy. Since it was a spell of darkness, the key was to illuminate her surroundings. There would be no surprise attacks from Max this time. The queen spins around as she uses her Lucent Beam to illuminate her surroundings. Catching Max's shape, she launches it again to attack.

Blinded from Mystery's Lucent Beam, Max starts to lose control of her flight and starts falling. Before she hits the ground, she regains her vision and rights herself.

"I guess I am simply wasting my breath," said Mystery. "It seems the only way for me to get through to you is to fight you." Now more determined to save her friend, Mystery's eyes glow into a white light and so does her amulet. "I am doing this because you are my friend. And even in my darkest hour, I will fight to save my friend no matter what the cost, but do not expect me to show you mercy."

Max's eyes glow into a purple light again as shadows surround her hands. She scoffs and retorts, "Do not mock me by saying I should ask for forgiveness! You are more of a threat than I!" Then they launch their Lucent Beam and Dark Force against each other, but their attacks collide.

The battle continued to rage even after the collision of their strongest spells. They fought with spells of every element and continued shouting their arguments at each other with every attack. In many ways, Max and Mystery were evenly matched. They wielded the powers of the Gods despite not having the Stars rest inside their hearts. But Max found that her powers had become weaker due to the shattering of the Cobalt Star. Her power seemed equal to the shard she kept in her pocket. As for Mystery, she hadn't had a magical combat in years. In fact, she hadn't been able to perform magic in almost a full year due to her pregnancy. Even though she could cast magic again now, her body had still not yet fully gotten back to the way it was, thus she found herself becoming exhausted quickly.

The limit to her strength wasn't Max's only concern. She felt another battle raging inside of her. It was like the small spark of light was trying to shine through the darkness; like Luna was trying to break free and stop this fiend from hurting her friend. Soon, all the memories Max shared with Mystery before she became Max started flashing before her eyes. But Max wasn't about to let these ridiculous images distract her. She continued to fight with everything she had.

Having had enough, Max and Mystery gather all of their strength and once again attack with their most powerful spells. Rather than launching their attacks, they let their forces surround them and they physically collide, leaving off a great explosion. The power of the collision finally subsides and Max and the queen find themselves on the ground. They had both reached their limits and were just about near death. But Max was refusing to give in. This was the fight she had been waiting for and she wasn't about to quit until she had won. Weak and injured, she tries to lift herself from the ground.

Mystery's injuries were just as great. Even if she did manage to perform a healing spell, it would still cost her some of her own energy. She tries getting up, but it hurts to move. It was now clear to her that nothing she could say or do would break through to Max and increase that small spark inside of her.

Finally, Max stands up on her feet and slowly walks towards the queen. Sensing that she's barely alive, Max decides that this is the perfect opportunity to end this. One final assault was all she would need to kill her.

"Please wait," Mystery groans. "Before you attack, hear what I have to say for one last time."

Without giving her a chance to explain, Max tells her, "I don't want to hear any more false hope from you. I told you, Luna's gone."

Mystery hisses from the pain and says, "I'm sorry. It is my fault you are like this. You made it clear you wanted to be left alone. I thought I was respecting your wish, but I never thought leaving you would also turn you into something so… evil."

"Then why did you?" Max asked. "Why did you leave me to continue to suffer?"

"Because," Mystery answers, "I was too happy for myself and for my friends. We were all becoming our own person and fulfilling our dreams. I wanted the same for you. I wanted you to fulfill your dreams and find happiness. But I was too proud to see what you were becoming; what Bakura had turned you into."

At first, the expression on Max's face looks like she also made some regretful choices and had not been a true friend. Seeing that, Mystery wonders if Max wants to forgive and also be forgiven. But her expression turns back into anger. "I don't want your apology or your friendship," she finally says. Ready to perform another dark spell, her eyes turn purple again. "I want your life." But she stops herself before attacking. I can't do it. What's wrong with me? If I attack, she dies and I win. But now, something's not right.

Mystery weakly smiles. "You win," she whispers and lowers her head in the sand. "I yield."

Suddenly, Max realizes that she was telling the truth when she said she didn't want this at all. She was fighting Mystery for her own reasons, but she never really had anything personal against her. She even remembered telling Mystery that she never wanted to hurt her before bonding with the Cobalt Star. Max thought that those were just false promises and empty words, but now she finds them to be true. Seeing the queen in pain, Max dispels her magic and her eyes stop glowing. Her expression turns into remorse and tears start to fill her eyes. "Oh, what have I done?"

Feeling her strength returning, Mystery lifts herself from the ground. "Max?" She silently gasps of surprise, sensing a change in her attitude and emotions.

There was no point in making all of this seem like an act now. Max was on her knees shuddering and sobbing. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Feeling as though all of the bad feelings Mystery had towards Max have disappeared, the queen places her finger under her eyes to wipe her tears. She saw that her friend really was sorry and didn't want any of this either. "I saw it in your heart," Mystery softly said. "All is forgiven."

Max raises her voice and asks, "But how can you forgive me after all I've put you through?"

"Seeking revenge only makes things worse," the queen responded. "And although you did make a lot of bad choices, you were lost and confused most of the time. It has been the same with me. Remember all those years ago when I told you how conflicted I was about my choosing to be committed to the Gods?"

Max did remember. Thinking about it even made her chuckle a little.

But Mystery wasn't finished. "Max, friends do not kill one another no matter how greatly the pain one had caused the other. For that matter, I would never kill you, let alone try to."

Max nods in agreement. "And that's why I didn't kill you - no, I couldn't kill you because we're friends." Then she gasps, realizing that Bakura said the same thing to her when he killed her parents. Just thinking about it started to make her sick, but for Bakura to say that to her, did he really have feelings for her? If that kiss wouldn't make her realize that, would that simple sentence be able to?

"I hate this," Max suddenly says. "I hate how it seems that no matter which path we choose, the Gods will always seem to be in control of our lives."

Mystery nods weakly. "So do I. I also hate how they would force us to fight like this."

Max smiles and lifts her head a little. "I also remember saying how much I hated myself for hating you for no reason."

They both chuckle at that. Then they both notice their Crystal Rings glowing. Slowly, they lift their hands and place them together. Max and the queen were both confused. Was there power in these Crystal Rings? They thought they were just pieces of jewelry to symbolize their friendship. Then they remembered the story of the Knights of Light and Darkness and how their own friendship was similar to their bond. In many ways, Max and Mystery were like the Knights in the legend. Two warriors and magicians loyal to the deities they served, but also wanting to be their own person, refusing to let their differences come between their bond. Then they wondered, could they be the Knights in the prophecy?

After gazing at their Crystal Rings, Max and Mystery wrap their arms around each other to hug. It was like the both of them had gotten back the half of themselves that they lost and had been searching for.

Mystery eases her grip and gets on a new subject. "Max, before I married Atem, you asked me to bequeath the Millennium Star to you if anything happened to me. Why is of little importance to me. But do you want to know why I refused?"

"Were you afraid I would corrupt its powers?"

She shakes her head. "Actually, I was afraid it would change you." Mystery knew that if the Millennium Star would fall into the wrong hands, its powers would be abused and corrupted. But she also had a feeling the Millennium Star would change the person itself. "I know the Millennium Star didn't change much about me when I made a contract, but I often wondered what would happen if it resided in the heart of another person. I feared if I gave it to you, it would change you into something you're not and never meant to be. If it opened your heart and softened it a little, I would be all right with that, but not if it completely turned you into a good person."

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying friends are supposed to accept each other for who they are. I would never forgive myself if giving you my power meant changing who you are."

Thinking about it, Max realized that making a contract with the Dark Lord did change a little of who she was and that almost destroyed her friendship with Mystery.

"But I need to ask you once again," Mystery was saying, "Do you have someone to protect?" Although she probably knew Max's answer would be the same, she had to ask again. That was the sole reason Mystery refused to give up even when the odds were against her and she was being pushed past her limits. She had people who loved and needed her and that gave her the strength she needed to keep going. And thanks to her having a big heart and caring too much, Mystery never gave up on ending the battle and saving her friend. In some ways, Mystery was arrogant, but at the same time, loyal.

Max understood Mystery's need for asking her the same question again. In response to her question, she answers, "Queen Mystery, you are my friend, but I am not responsible for your safety nor are you responsible for mine. And although there is someone who loves me, I do not love him in the same way. My answer has not changed. I have no one to protect."

The queen wasn't disappointed. She smiled in appreciation of her honesty.

"However," Max was saying, "I will do my best to help you end this fight. Legend or no legend, this is my struggle now. I said I wanted to end this as much as you do and I'm going to help. I know I'm partially to blame for this disaster, but now I want to set things right."

"Thank you, Max." They both face the northern direction and see Zorc on his rampage. "Oh, no. Zorc is nearing the kingdom."

"If we hurry, we can get there before he does. Are you strong enough to fly?"

The queen nods and unfolds her wings. "Let's go." And together they fly to the kingdom.