Hi everybody. Here I am again with a chapter that will turn the story around once again. This far the plot has moved here and there in the most unpredicable ways (I never planned half of it). I'm almost satisfied with the chapter and all the information I'm able to give you in it. I've mentioned... No, on second thought I should just let you read and find out for yourselves.

Have a great time and don't forget to review

The crucifix

This is the bible our princess found in the royal library only a few days before her coronation. I believe you do not think it strange for her to find a bible in her library, but then I should tell you; the church did not allow any library to own one of the holy books.

"That's what it says," Bakura said once he was done reading. They had arrived to the bookstore only to find it dark and empty, but not locked.

"You think this note was left for us?" Jono asked.

"How could they guess we would come here again, and why leave us a bible of all things?" Honda said.

"And most of all; why leave the store unlocked? Anyone could enter and just take whatever they want," Yami said.

"It must be some clue," Anzu said hopefully. "The note said the princess found it where it should not be."

"More than that," Yami said, reading the note once again. "It says 'our' princess. Doesn't that sound strange to you?"

"The old lady said she had always loved the Battle Princess, maybe that's why?"

"Then why a bible of all things?" Jono burst out and snapped the book away from Anzu.

"Please, Joey. You must tell me how you feel," she pleaded quietly.

"How I feel? You want to know how I feel? Then let me tell you. I am furious, confused and completely in despair! First of all you promised to stand as my bride I do not know how long ago, and then you suddenly give your own hand to somebody else right under my nose! I felt like you betrayed me. But… for a moment, for some time, I believed you had a good reason to accept his offer, that you somehow were given no other choice. And today… today you look like tomorrow will be the happiest day in your life! I no longer know what to do, how to feel. Every day you break another piece of my heart. Mokuba is crying himself to sleep, Honda can not sleep at all anymore. I know Malin is keeping herself in check only because you are always near her, but I can tell her heart is breaking and how she seems sick whenever you are speaking to that man or his Godforsaken son. And it is not only us. The entire castle is feeling the same. And you know why? Because tomorrow you are giving away yourself and Scotland freely."

"Jonouchi?"

When Honda placed a hand on his shoulder Jono's legs gave in under him.

"Jonouchi!"

"She will die."

The gang stared at the blond, who sat on the floor with tears streaming down his face in wild rivers. "She has gone to die. It is too late. No one can save her anymore. We can not change what has happened, we can not stop what is about to happen. She has gone to die."

A shadow moved in the darkness of the store. Anzu looked up from Jonouchi to stare into the back of the store. "Is somebody there?" she called, making the other's look up, but there were no more movement, nor an answer.

"Sorry. Just my imagination."

Honda looked puzzled as he concentrated on the dark. "I don't think so," he said lowly and took a few careful steps into the store. The sun was slowly disappearing beyond the horizon. It would be full moon in two nights.

"Stop hiding," Honda called into the darkness with as much mature he could muster. "I know you are there."

Still there was no answer. Yami distantly registered Honda had used a different dialect when he spoke. Anzu heard no change in the brunette's voice, Jono stared into the darkness, sensing a far familiar chill down his spine. And Bakura. Bakura had locked his gaze with the one hiding in the dark shadows.

"Come out, you thief," Anzu called as her mind came to the closest, logical conclusion. "For your sake I hope you haven't taken anything just because the store was unlocked."

"It is no thief luring in there, Anzu," Bakura said lowly.

"What else could it be? A vampire?"

The sun disappeared.

The teens shivered at the chuckle they heard from the shadows. "There was a time I believed in the saying 'Time changes everything', but as I look at you I understand nothing has changed. It makes me feel young again."

"Who are you?" Honda yelled.

"The princess called him father Scot."

Everybody but Yami turned to a dead serious Bakura.

"The princess?" Anzu asked in disbelief.

"So you really are a vampire?" Honda asked the shadow that had moved closer to them.

"That is what the humans named us, and is a name we have been stuck with ever since the first Battle Princess's time."

"The first Battle Princess?" Anzu asked, partly dumbfounded.

"Before princess Yuniko, there was another woman who the man she loved called Battle Princess," Yami heard himself say, surprising himself he knew these things. "His real name is buried in time, but his people called him Sanguis."

"Sanguis? Is that not Latin for blood?"

"That is true, Sir Honda."

"Huh?"

Another chuckle. "So you still do not completely remember? This whole time you have been searching for the truth, and all along you have borne it around your neck. As have everyone who died with the princess's blood still protecting them."

"Her… blood?" Jono whispered as his hand moved to where it once hung in a thin chain. "The pearl…"

"You almost have the memory in your grasp, young Joey… No, that is not your name in this life, is it?"

Jono shook his head.

"This is annoying!" Anzu suddenly yelled. "Why does everybody but me remember an earlier life?"

"Because the princess made sure you left Scotland before any harm could be drawn upon you. She saved your life from much pain. Crow wanted to make you a whore of our people."

Anzu shivered to the bone. She was suddenly glad she had no memories, her sudden jealousy instantly dead.

"I will not hurt you, nor can I let you see me yet. I have come to you only to see you release the Battle Princess in this time, to completely erase us from this planet. She has very little time left."

"My brother," Yami spoke up. "If the Battle Princess dies, what will become of my brother?"

A pair of eyes stared into his without him seeing them. "Only God knows," the vampire said and was gone.

Silence once again filled the room and almost clearing memories faded as fast as they had cleared. Only one of them held onto needed memories. He still had the bible in his arms, and it opened with a click.

"The crucifix," Jono whispered, making the others look down at what he had done. "The Battle Princess's link to God. She will need it to protect the world."

"Isn't that the cross Karin showed us the other day?" Anzu asked.

"The cross that belonged to the Battle Princess?" Honda said uncertainly.

"And Yugi is the Battle Princess!" Yami suddenly realized. "We must give it to Yugi and maybe he'll wake up again."

Jono was on his feet, on weak legs, and walked out of the store, closely followed by his friends. He still held the bible close to his body as parts of memories flashed through his mind. Memories of two lives.

From the top of a building Scot watched the youths on their way to the hospital.

"So this is it?" he asked the one he sensed standing behind him.

"The three Battle Princesses will together end this war."

Scot looked up at the stars, the only thing in the world that had not changed at all during his time. "It has been a long time. I long to finally rest as the dead are supposed to."

"A very long time," the other agreed. "There are many things I wish I could have done different."

"The scripts of the first Battle Princess say that when past, present and future meet the Devil has lost."

The other vampire stood quiet for a long time. "I really hope we have done the right thing now," he whispered.

The hospital was unnervingly empty, but the doctors and nurses there did no motion to stop the five friends from visiting the Dreamers.

The fifth section was completely empty of people and eerily quiet. They entered the Dreamers' room, but didn't dare to turn on the lights. Jono picked up the crucifix and put it on Yugi's chest.

Nothing happened. They waited, but nothing happened.

"NO! This can't be. We were so close!"

"Calm down, Yami. Maybe… this isn't the cross after all."

"That old hag fooled us!" Anzu yelled.

"It is the cross," Jono said, seemingly the only one still calm. He stared at the cross and grabbed for what was no longer around his neck. "I know it is."

"Jono?"

"I gave the cross to her, because she would know what to do with it. But she wasn't prepared for what she had to do when the time came. Then something happened that day, the day we found the bible in the library. She put the cross around her neck and…"

"…And what?" Bakura pressed.

Jono bit his lip and his bangs shadowed his eyes. "I can't remember. I can't grasp the memory. I only know something happened."

"Wait, go back. You mean the princess wasn't alone when she found it?" Yami asked with a frown.

"No," Jono whispered. "When I gave her the cross we had my entire clan and her friends as witnesses. Then it was I, Kyoko, Ryouko and Malin who looked for it with her. But Ryouko found the bible and Kyoko the poem in different parts of the library."

"Wait, wait. I must remind myself who is who," Anzu said.

"Ryouko and Kyoko are half sisters with each other and the princess," Jono explained.

"And who are you?" Bakura asked.

"I am the one reborn with the princess, her friend and bodyguard."

"That one was new," Yami mumbled. "How do we get this cross to work?"

Jono suddenly returned to his actual time when he remembered something that had annoyed him for a long time.

"Dr Lou has something of the princess's."

"What?"

"He has something in his chest pocket. Something that shines."

"I've seen that too," Honda said. "It's really annoying to talk to him since that shiny thing always pokes my attention."

"And he probably isn't here anymore," Anzu said. "We'll have to return tomorrow morning and talk to him. That's the only thing we can do for now."

"…You're probably right," Yami said slowly. He was frustrated beyond belief. He had been so sure the crucifix would give him his brother back. And now he would have to live through another night of nightmares.

When the gang left the hospital and separated to go home something happened in the Dreamers' room. The chain of the crucifix sneaked around Yugi's neck and linked together. All rust and discolouring vanished, the jewels lost all dullness and sparkled as if they were alive. The whole thing gleamed and sparkled in the darkness before it sunk into Yugi's body where it belonged.

July 12, 1630

I met my father tonight. But I will never see him again, because he was already dead. My father was a vampire, and I am the child of a whore.

The princess was here when I woke up and she told me my father had gone to Heaven. She said that he wished he could have stayed. I asked if he had said that and she answered that the words had not needed to be spoken. She has promised me she will try to find out who he was when alive, so that I that way can get to know him. I have heard his voice and felt his touch. But I feel like I can not tell any of these things to Kyoko. Even if she still is the rational and logical girl whom I have grown up with, to tell her I have met my father, that Aku the vampire was my father, I believe she will be hurt and try to find her own father.

I do not know what will happen from now on, but the princess has told me to enjoy the summer while I can, because the winter will arrive sooner than we think. I wonder what she meant by that.

Ryouko put away her pencil and placed her diary with the newly written page up on her desk to let the ink dry. She looked out of the window, watching the day as it moved on like every other in history. The sun rose and would fall in the evening, turning the day into night. It had always been that way. The sun, moon and all the stars watched the humans' short lives; their daily work, their happiness, love, grief, hate… all the wars around the world. And though she knew she was a part of all this, she realized just how unfair life could be to the chosen ones.

"There is so much you can never decide on your own," she mumbled to herself.

"That is so true."

Ryouko jumped out of her skin at the sound of another voice in her room.

"Oh, I am sorry. I never meant to scare you, little Ryouko."

The white haired girl turned around to face Malin, who leaned over her with slight concern in her purple eyes. "Is everything all right with you?" she asked.

God bless Malin. She was really one of the kindest hearts Ryouko had ever met. She truly cared for her and Kyoko.

"Everything is… fine," she answered. "I was just… philosophising."

Malin smiled, though it was a sad one. "You always seem to walk in your own little world, Ryouko. Her majesty is worried you are feeling lonely, that is why I am here. She told me what happened last night. You wish to talk about it?"

Once again Ryouko felt how tears rose in her eyes and started to fall, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. She was just so grateful the queen cared so much about her. She suddenly found herself wrapped up in the queen's nurse's arms, crying loudly, hiccupping every once in a while.

"I… it is so… unfair," she sniffed. "I could meet my father. If only for a short while I could meet him. I can not tell Kyoko about it. I can not tell how she will react. And the princess… she has lost everything. And still… I blame her. Somewhere in my mind… I b-blame her for everything. For mother's ending… father's ending… f-for everything. I-I am ashamed. I-I can not understand when she is trying to… comfort me. She n-never touches me… or holds me… I-I… I am so stupid…"

Malin held the crying girl a little tighter. She understood those feelings. There was a time when she too blamed Yuniko for what was happening… until she realized just how hard the queen fought against what was happening. She hadn't realized it until the wedding.

"Hush now, little one. Yuniko blames herself for every soul lost in this war. And she is still queen. She is not… allowed to hold or touch anyone. The only way for her to give comfort is with words."

"But… she held Kyoko. She told me she did, the night mother disappeared."

Malin smiled sadly. "You have never been alone with Milady and showed the same desperate need of touch and comfort. Milady told me about it. Kyoko had been scared of her. But what we all need to remember is that… though she is a queen, though so much depends on her, and though everything that is expected of her… she is still a human. She can do much more than a normal human; she is Scotland's most powerful woman ever after all. But she is still a human. She too needs human contact and comfort sometimes… but there is never anyone to give her such luxury."

"But… but she is queen. Is she not able to…?"

"Milady can not show she has a weakness. A weak monarch is a dead monarch. Therefore… she does not even cry anymore. I do not know… if I ever saw her cry."

When Malin returned to the queen's chambers she found the young ruler fast asleep. The nurse watched her for a moment, realizing once again how beautiful Yuniko was, and how troubled she looked in her sleep.

Malin sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do to help. She could not rule Scotland with the queen. She could not share the burden of responsibility. And she could not fight vampires… when she thought more about it, thinking of the details, there was very little Malin actually could do. And it only pressed her mood to the bottom. Little did she know the reason Yuniko looked troubled this night.

"Who is there?"

"Who are you?"

"What is this place?"

The three persons looked at each other. Everything about each of them caught the other's attention. First of all it was the face. All of them had almost the same face. One had golden brown eyes, the other crystal blue, and the third, the shortest of them, had emerald green eyes.

The brown-eyed person was a tall woman with her curly, golden bangs cut to not fall into her eyes. Her black and blue hair was tied back into a thick braid.

The blue-eyed one, a young woman, had her curly, waist-long hair lose and only a few short golden bangs let her see.

The green-eyed one had shoulder length, black, blue and golden hair. He was also the only male.

The brown-eyed woman seemed to be in her early thirties and had tanned skin, bare, strong arms and colourful cloths that looked like they were just lose material tied together.

The blue-eyed woman couldn't be over twenty and had very pale skin, a thin, well shaped body and a simple, baby blue dress with darker blue sleeves and a midnight blue ribbon at the back.

The green-eyed boy, still a teenager, also had pale skin and a lean, agile body dressed in a plain white shirt and blue jeans.

The dark-skinned woman and the boy looked at each other before they both turned to look at the other woman.

"Who are you?" the blue-eyed woman asked.

The boy looked at the tanned woman before he took a step forward. "My name is Yugi. I am your future."

The tanned woman stepped up beside him. "My name is Yohim, wife to the gipsy clan leader of Yoro. I am your past."

The still unnamed girl looked at the other two in confusion.

"You are the Battle Princess of Scotland, Yuniko," Yugi said.

"We are here to help you defeat my husband," Yohim said.

"Your husband?" Yuniko asked. Yugi also looked at the older woman in surprise.

"Aye. I-we meet here in the middle of eternity to stop what I started."

"Then you are the one who must tell us the beginning," Yugi said. "You are the first Battle Princess, the past. Yuniko, you are the second Battle Princess, the present. And I should be the last Battle Princess, the future."

"But why did you not come to me a lot earlier?"

"We have been with you all the time, Yuni," Yugi smiled. "I have been there ever since your mother was banished. Malik, Ryou and Seto are with you too."

"But why?"

"Because those three's souls are tied to mine," Yohim said. "Those three were my closest friends. The ones I love the most, and who loves me the most."

"Tell us the entire story, so we can solve this mess."

"But why are we here?" Yuniko asked again.

"To defeat the vampires with you, of course," Yugi smiled.

"Take my hands," Yohim said, reaching for their hands. "We are the same person, so I shall give you my memories."

As Yuniko and Yugi took each other's and Yohim's hands and closed their eyes they were sent to the world of memories. Yohim's memories.