Seto retired to his office and watched the tournament remotely as he worked to combat a virus that was spreading through the KaibaCorp computer system. Mokuba was acting as event manager and Seto had every faith in his abilities to keep the tournament running as expected. What had not been expected was that he would still be here fighting the virus. He had given up hope on any sort of automated scan and had started going line by line in the code. He muttered curses under his breath as his search continued to turn up nothing. News came through that even basic operations at KaibaLand were beginning to be affected. When Roland burst in through the door, he knew his mood was about to go from bad to worse.

"Boss, you need to see this." Roland tossed Seto his phone with information about the duelists participating in the tournament.

"Son of a bitch." Seto said, seeing how one of the players lied on their registration. "I'm going to put an end to this." He glared at the screen. "Roland. Confirm the system back-up protocol was followed to the letter. If we can't get a handle on this virus, we might have to rebuild from scratch."

"Yes, Sir."

Seto pulled his tie off and retrieved the deck that he had kept in storage for far too long. He sighed as he prepared himself thinking that when this was all said and done he was going to need a stiff drink, a good fucking or some uninterrupted quiet cuddle time with Umi. Preferably all three, he thought, though he would take what he could get.

When Umi arrived at the coffee shop, Bakura was already waiting inside.

"Hey, Sorry I'm late. I had to make a quick trip to the tournament." She said taking a seat at the table.

"That's fine. Had I known there was a tournament, I would have suggested that we reschedule." He said smiling. A server came up to them and asked Umi what she would like. After placing her order, Umi turned back to Bakura.

"So, where did your father work?"

"Oh, right to it then. He worked mostly at Dendera, though we spent a few seasons in the Valley before he hung up his archaeologist hat and became a full time dealer."

"My mom worked mostly in the archives, so we spent most of the time in Cairo or Alexandria. It was always exciting to go out on the dig sites though. There were a couple of years that she acted as the primary translator in the Valley, so we spent the entire season there."

They continued to talk about their lives and shared experiences on the dig sites and in the world of antiquities as the server brought their food and drinks.

"Do you miss it?" Bakura asked.

"Sometimes." Umi answered honestly. "It's hard to explain, but Egypt always felt like home. I was always most comfortable there, like I had a connection to it that I still can't really explain."

"I know what you mean." He said. When she looked at him, his eyes seemed different somehow. "Here, I want to show you something." He placed a golden object on the table between them. Umi had never seen its like before, though it reminded her of a carving she had seen a sketch of once. It was a ring with a triangle centered within it and conical points hanging from the bottom. Emblazoned on the triangle, however, was a very familiar eye.

"That's a Millennium Item." She said, her eyes transfixed on the object.

"What do you know about it?"

"About this one?" She touched the ring, tracing the eye. "Nothing."

"What about the items in general?"

"They are dated to the Old Kingdom. Legend has that there are seven of them, and that they have... some sort of magic within them. They are all blessed, or cursed depending on the translation, with gifts that they impart on their user. But not just anyone can use them. The wielder is chosen by the item. And when chosen, the wielder is given great power." She pulled her hand away and looked up at him. "That is, if you believe in legends and curses."

"Right. If you believe." He pushed the ring toward her. "Put it on." He offered, smiling. "Or do you believe in curses?" His eyes held a challenge. She knew that the items held great power. She had seen that power in action when she took hold of the Millennium Necklace and when her brother summoned the Pharaoh, Atem to this world. But she had no clue as to what power this ring held, or if it would be dangerous. Neferet quivered in fear from deep within her soul. Umi reached out her hand and then pulled it back quickly.

"I shouldn't." she said, as much to herself as to him. But still he challenged her.

"Why not? Go on. Take it. Or are you going to let an ancient legend control you?"

Her heart pounded in her chest as she picked up the ring. It was lighter than she expected. The cord that held it was finely woven and ancient. She touched it gingerly, fearful that it might disintegrate in her hands. She slipped the rope around her neck and as the ring settled against her belly, the world went black.

Yugi sat with Mokuba watching the duels when he felt a part of him disappear. He gasped out of shock.

"Yugi, are you alright?"

"Yeah." He said reflexively. "No. No, I'm not. Mokuba, have you seen Umi today?"

"Not since she and Seto were making out after he got off stage."

Yugi shot him a curious glance.

"So that's where she disappeared to. She was supposed to have coffee with Bakura today, but she promised she would be back before the finals."

"There's still time, Yugi." He said as he kept watch on the games below.

"Yeah." Yugi said, but he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Just then the elder Kaiba walked in, looking ready to duel.

"Who's in the next match, Mokuba?"

"I thought you were back at HQ."

"Not anymore." Seto said as he turned his attention to the duel in progress. "We have a cheater." He showed Mokuba the image on Roland's phone detailing the real name of one of the duelists.

"He's in the next duel. The finals."

"Perfect." The duel ended and the announcer declared the winner before announcing the upcoming match. Seto made his way to the front of the stage.

"It has come to my attention that one of the competitors here today entered under false pretense. They used a fake name to enter, which is against the rule and the spirit of this tournament. As such, this player is disqualified. Congratulations Leon Wilson. You have won the final duel and the right to battle it out for the title of 'King of Games'." He announced before turning his back on the competitors. Murmurs of shock spread throughout the crowd as the disqualified duelist stepped forward.

"Seto Kaiba! You dare to disqualify me? I challenge you! If I win, you reinstate me and allow the finals match to go forward. If I lose, I'll walk away. Or do you want your company to go down in flames, its systems corrupted from the inside out?"

Seto stopped and turned to the pink haired fop. Only a handful of people knew about the system wide virus he had not yet been able to stop. He looked more closely at the man challenging him. Seto realized that he must be the hacker responsible for the virus that was currently eating away at the KaibaCorp mainframe. His eyes narrowed.

"I will meet you on the field in an hour." Seto said before leaving the stage.

"Mokuba, what's going on?" Yugi asked the younger Kaiba as he looked worriedly after his brother.

"Someone infected the computer system with a virus. We noticed it a couple of days ago. It started small, but it was devious. Seto's been trying to pin it down since Thursday afternoon."

"Why would anyone do that?"

"Who knows. Maybe they wanted to discredit the company or make the stocks tank. Maybe they just wanted to wreak a little havoc. I don't know if Seto's slept since it started."

"So there's no chance that Umi was with him."

"I doubt it. He would have come in here a whole lot less grumpy if she had been."

Yugi looked after his rival, wondering if he should tell him that Umi had not made it back yet.

Kaiba punched the wall in frustration.

"Why the fuck can we not have a simple tournament where people don't get kidnapped, or my company isn't being subjected to takeover, or the fate of the world isn't hanging in the balance? Why? Is that too much to ask?" Seto fumed as he paced the backstage area. Yugi followed Mokuba as he went to check on his brother. They both pulled up short as he stormed through the area.

"Seto? Are you alright?"

"No! Why would I be? The entire mainframe is infected now. I've had to order the satellite systems to disconnect and have Roland pulling the most recent backups. Everything I've built is crumbling around me and I have to duel the madman who started the whole thing in the first place." Seto landed heavily in a chair and rubbed a hand over his face. "At least you haven't been kidnapped, Mokuba." He said with a small sense of relief.

"Nope, I'm right here."

"Umi's not back yet." Yugi blurted out. Seto's gaze turned to him. Yugi drew back under the intense scrutiny.

"What?"

"Umi promised she would be back by the finals. She's not here."

"Still?" Mokuba asked.

"What do you mean, still?" Seto sat forward.

"I can't... sense her either."

"For fuck's sake." Seto sighed as he stood. He pulled out his cell phone and called Umi's number. After a few rings, it went to voice mail. He called again.

"Why are you calling her? No one talks on the phone anymore." Mokuba asked.

"I do." Seto and Yugi both replied, defensively. Seto called once more but got the same non-response. He sent her a text.

"Hopefully she'll see it. Wasn't she supposed to meet that guy…" Seto searched for his name. "Bakura?"

"Yeah. Something about wanting to talk to someone who understands what it's like living out of the country and then coming back."

Seto sighed impatiently.

"Doesn't Bakura have some sort of weird personality disorder?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like he seems all normal, but then he goes crazy and does all sorts of weird shit?"

Yugi grew tense. Bakura had seemed so normal since the end of the Battle City Tournament. He had not even been wearing the Millennium Ring as of late. He had grown to trust Bakura. But now that Kaiba had mentioned it, Yugi could not get the look of insanity that Bakura had in his eyes out of his mind.

"He hasn't been like that lately, but yeah." Yugi's voice quivered with worry.

Seto fumed silently as his own worry over Umi's whereabouts grew. He tried calling her one more time and checked his messages in hopes that she had responded. But his efforts were for naught.

"Bro, they are calling for you in the arena." Mokuba said, as he listened intently to his ear piece. Seto took a deep, preparatory breath.

"Yugi." He called over his shoulder before he walked to the arena. "I have this duel. You prepare for the next one. Then we will go find her together."

When Umi awoke, she was on a boat in the middle of the harbor. She could not see anything but the inside of the hold. She could tell that the boat was moving only because she could hear the strain of the engines as they were pushed to full speed, but she could not tell which way they were going. It was dark in the cell, the only light came in through cracks where the door did not quite fit properly. The sunlight was painfully bright as the door was pulled opened. A figure stood silhouetted black against the brightness. The figure looked vaguely familiar, but it's voice was like nothing she had ever heard. Neferet on the other hand sent waves of fear through her body. She shivered, not from cold, but from the terror Neferet felt.

"Well, well, little queen. you decided to join us finally." He said, reaching into the small wooden storage area and pulling her out by her bound wrists. He held her close to him. His voice was a rich, sultry purr in her ear. "How I've missed you Neferet. It was so rude of you to run from me all those years ago." He may have spoken to the spirit within her, but Umi only heard the voice of her keeper and captor as they convince, cajoled and coerced her into doing what they wanted her to do. His touch was rough and lacking any sentimentality as he pulled her on deck. The golden ring that she had slipped over her neck in the cafe hung securely about his now. He turned her to face the retreating skyline, his hands holding her tightly to him.

"He hasn't even noticed you are missing yet." He licked her neck. "He's so caught up in the silly tournament, he won't know that you're gone until it's too late."

"What do you want from me?" She struggled against his grip on her waist.

"What I want is what you want, Neferet. I want freedom. I want to be able to cast off the chains that bind me, that bind us to the world between worlds. I want revenge on him for putting us there." He turned her to face him and looked at her more closely. "Though you are not Neferet, are you? You are the vessel, the host." Umi tried to pull away, but his hold was firm.

"Where is she?" he demanded. Darkness sprang up around them, wrapping around them like a wall. Umi was terrified, and Neferet's fear only fed her terror. As the shadows engulfed them, he grinned menacingly. "Show her to me, or I will force her out." He kissed her roughly, biting her lip in the process.

"I... I thought you were..."

"Gay? Oh this vessel is quite homosexual. But lucky for you, I have no preference." He kissed her again. His kisses were pure power. They did not have the emotion behind them of Seto's kisses, or the fire and lightning that his kisses made her feel. There was not the give and take to which she had grown accustomed. His kiss was about control. Umi fought as hard as she could, but the shadows sapped her resolve. She felt Neferet supplant her spirit, sequestering her deep within her soul. He smiled against her lips as Neferet took over.

"There you are little queen." His eyes were darkness as he looked at her. "You looked so much better the day we first met, my dear. The day the shadows swallowed you whole as you succumbed to the darkness." he ripped the front of her shirt open and slid the remains off of her bare shoulders. He slid his hands over her breasts and belly. "There, much better."

"What do you want, Zorc?" Neferet demanded. She had been forced to serve him during her banishment. For five thousand years, she had sought freedom from the servitude into which he coerced her. Only by serving as the Dark God's handmaiden had she been allowed to maintain her own consciousness. He would have absorbed her spirit into his dark powers had she not agreed. She had been too frightened, not of death, but of being lost forever. She had agreed to his terms and pledged her service to him, in any way he saw fit.

"I want to give you a present." He placed the ring about her neck once more. As the golden surface touched her flesh, Neferet felt the darkness seeping into every pore, every cell, consuming her entire being. Just as before, the darkness permeated her but stopped short of destroying her essence.

"There's my beauty." He purred as she looked up at him. Umi was transformed now, with Neferet fully in control of the body that had for so long been just out of reach. Neferet touched her skin gingerly, fearing that the body, the true freedom, she had so longed for would vanish underneath her touch.

"Nothing to fear, Neferet. You are free from the hell in which he placed you."

"What else do you want, Zorc? I know you well enough to know that you do nothing for free."

"Isn't it enough to want you? To have you by my side once more? We can remake the world, Neferet. In our image."

"And how shall we do that?" She asked. He kissed her once more.

"You shall be the Queen of Darkness and the mother to the new Gods." He said, pushing her down to the deck of the boat and covering her body with his own. Neferet gasped, feeling the fear that Umi felt each time she was forced to pleasure someone against her will, and the shame she had felt when their bargain had been struck. She pressed her hand into his chest.

"What if I don't want either of those things?" She asked.

"Then you will go back to the darkness. You will watch from the shadows as I tear your husband to pieces and destroy your lover. I will then destroy all that this vessel holds dear as well and make you watch as I dismantle this world piece by piece. And then, only then, will I let the shadows have you as they have clamored for all these years." He stroked a finger down her cheek, her neck, and over her breast.

"Or, you can give yourself to me. You can feed the anger that I know is within you, the desire for revenge. If it were not for him, you would have lived a full life. You would have had a child with your lover, who would go on to inherit all of Egypt. You would have done your scared duties and protected the kingdom from the darkness, from me. You would have been able to live and die, knowing that you had done all you could. You would have been happy. Egypt would have prospered."

The vision of the life she could have had danced merrily in her imagination. His words built a palace of wonderfully fake memories, memories of what should have been.

"But he did not let you led the life for which you were meant. Your life was cut tragically short. Your lover abandoned you, gave up all thoughts of you for another. The child you conceived that night and should have borne was ripped from your womb by the darkness. There was no one who could stop the darkness, though they tried. But in the end, because of him, Egypt fell into darkness and despair. He defiled the Gods who then brought their justice to the land."

She saw, finally the devastation that had been caused as his dark power spread over the land, just as it had her flesh so long ago. The visions of what could have been were devoured by the darkness.

"This is his fault, Neferet. Does he not deserve to pay for his crimes?"

She could feel the corrupting nature of the ring sinking its tendrils more and more deeply, feeding off of her desire for retribution, off her grief and pain and guilt.

"He does." She answered, though she felt drunk on the dark power of the ring. Umi cried out, trying to reach Neferet to remind her of Seto and their timeless bond. Her protestations were swallowed by the darkness that spread through her body corrupting Neferet's spirit.

"And will you help me stop him?"

"I will."

His malicious grin returned as he kissed her again, but this time she met the kiss full on and invited him into her.

Yugi stepped up to the plate and stared at his opponent. He tried to focus on the duel at hand, but his heart was torn.

"I can't do this Other Me." He said, still struggling with Umi's sudden disappearance.

"Partner. We will find her." Atem whispered in his mind as they switched places. Yugi sank deep within his own heart, giving complete control to his Other Self. He trusted Atem, but he could not stop the worry that had settled over him. He paid little attention to the duel, but from what he did see, Yugi had to admit that the kid was good. He knew that Atem, at least, was better. He was certain that the duel was suspenseful and entertaining, but he did not care to watch it.

He did not know why he had told Kaiba that she was missing. He seemed to have so much else to worry about already. Yugi thought it unfair that he added yet one more thing to his plate of frustrations. Yugi did not know what he had expected Kaiba to do when he told him. Part of him hoped that Kaiba would drop everything and race to her rescue. He got the sense from Umi that they had fallen in love with each other. Granted, she had not actually told him that, but he wondered now if it were true or not.

"Maybe they don't even realize what they feel." he told himself as he curled into a ball of worry. "Maybe Umi's not as important to him as I thought."

He tried to reach out to her once more, but ran into the block that was Atem's spirit. He sighed and focused his attention on the duel.

And then all hell broke loose.

It was the kid's turn. He played his card and everything started going haywire. Even the Solid Vision holograms started to flicker with the corruption. Yugi-Atem glanced at the stage where Kaiba and Mokuba were watching. Mokuba scrambled in a panic, trying to put out all the fires at once. Seto looked at the kid, and then to his brother, who Kaiba had just beaten, and narrowed his eyes. His face was unreadable as he walked from the stage. He looked back at his opponent and the kid seemed just as shocked by the effect the card had as everyone else. His brother, however, looked smug and satisfied.

It was his turn.

"Finish this, Other Me." Yugi pleaded. He drew his card and smiled.

"I have a plan, Partner." Atem told him as he set his plan in action. He worked to destroy the card in play that had somehow affected the computer systems and once that was done, he quickly ended the duel. As soon as his opponent's life points dropped to zero, the entire system shut down. The field went dark, even the lights turned out. The arena was lit only by emergency power. There were screams of fright throughout the gathered crowd as the darkness encapsulated them.

"Attention Guests!" Mokuba's voice came over a bullhorn. "We are having some technical difficulties. Everything is under control. Please sit calmly and patiently. The power will be restored momentarily."

Yugi looked in the direction of the voice as a dark suited security guard ushered him out of the duel arena. He noticed other security guards, event staff, KaibaLand employees and Kaiba's personal security force included, working to maintain order in the massive facility.

"I hope Mokuba's right." Yugi said to himself.

Roland had been funneling Seto reports of dangerous malfunctions from throughout the park all afternoon. He had managed to keep the worst from happening, but he knew that if the malfunctions kept up that he could kiss KaibaCorp good bye. So far, he had managed to stay one step ahead of the hacker, but only barely. It only took one moment of inattentiveness for the hacker to get a foothold and everything would snowball.

When Yugi's opponent played his illegal card and everything went to shit, Seto knew that he had to force a system-wide restart.

"Mokuba. You got this?" He asked, leaving the tournament and the duel arena in his younger brother's hands. Mokuba nodded as he began rushing to stabilize the arena's systems. Roland came running up the stairs and handed Seto a small case.

"Sir. The most recent backup from before the virus."

He took the case from Roland. He hated that he had to restart the entire system, but at this point, it was the only way. He would work on improving security once everything was back up and running properly.

"Roland, call an evacuation of all of the other attractions and issue orders to park security: Code Blue."

Roland's eyes grew wide as he began issuing commands. Seto descended into the bowels of the park, deep beneath the duel arena. The computer system that controlled everything was under tight security. Only a very few had access to the physical system. And only he and Mokuba had the means to do what he was about to do. He took the locket from around his neck and slid a back panel from it. The panel was a key and there was only one other like it in the world. Seto took a tiny awl from the locket's set of tools and pricked his left thumb until a small drop of blood formed on it. He smeared the blood onto the key and then inserted the key into the spot on the control panel. The computer processed the key's information as well as the genetic material within the blood sample.

"Welcome, Mr. Kaiba." A mechanized voice echoed through the room.

"Begin complete system shutdown. Authorization code: Beta Epsilon Omega Delta one zero two five."

"Beginning system shutdown." He watched as banks of computers blinked off one by one until the lights were all black. He sat in the red glow of the emergency lighting as he booted a single laptop and hooked it into the system for a full scale diagnostic.

"I hope this works." He prayed to some technological higher power for success. As the scan was progressing, his phone rang.

"How is everything up top, Mokuba?" He asked using his elbow to hold the phone to his ear. He listened intently as his brother recounted the efforts to keep the park attendees under control. He looked at the laptop monitor and typed in a few key strokes. The command prompts on the screen changed, asking if he was sure he wanted to perform a complete system wipe. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Yeah, I'm wiping the system now. Tell Roland if he didn't get the right backups he's fired." Mokuba laughed on the other end of the line, but Seto was dead serious. "Alright, just make sure everyone stays calm. Last thing we can afford right now is people getting trampled in a panic." He hung the phone up and laid it on the desk next to him. He placed the small case on his lap and opened it. Inside were several small black boxes containing the most recent back-ups of the entire KaibaCorp system data. The monitor on the laptop blinked black and then asked for input. Seto plugged in the first of the boxes to the laptop and began the painstaking task of copying and reinstalling the system. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was dark and quiet in the room, though the red lights provided harsh contrast with the shadows they cast. He wished Umi was with him. He could definitely think of a few things they could do to pass the time. He picked up his phone and looked at his messages again. Mokuba had sent an all-clear, letting him know that all of the attendees had been safely evacuated and given compensation for the technical difficulties. Seto sighed, realizing how much money this one day was likely to cost the company. He looked at the message conversation he had with Umi. There was still no response. He had managed to hold off his worry about her while the tournament was ongoing, but now that it was over and he was just sitting and waiting for things to get back to normal, he began to feel anxious. He tried to call her again, but still did not receive an answer.

Checking the installation, he sighed, realizing that he would likely be there for hours. He opened drawing tool he had on his phone and pulled the stylus from its storage port. He had begun sketching a present for her shortly after their date. He had wanted to tell her about it when she came to visit him, but he could never quite find the right opportunity. Part of him was worried that it was too much, too extravagant. He looked at the general design now and made a few adjustments before going to the theoretical calculations. The engineers were hesitant to move forward with the design, but he knew it was possible. He would make it happen. For her, he would move the stars themselves.

The monitor stopped flickering as the first hard disk completed its installation. Seto replaced it with the second, pressed a few buttons and continued working on his present for Umi.

Yugi's worry had only grown as they left the theme park.

"You know, I have to give it to Kaiba. He is pretty smart, making the arena exit force everyone through the theme park." Joey said as the passed through the quiet rides and abandoned stalls.

"What do you say that?"

"It's a great way to make people stop and spend even more money. Gift shops, food vendors, even hit a few rides on the way out. Genius."

"I really don't get you sometimes, Joey. Sometimes you seem to hate the guy and other times you admire him."

"Admiration doesn't require loving something, or someone."

"I guess that's true. "

Yugi could not even smile at the banter between his friends as his worry completely overwhelmed him. Suddenly, the blackness where Umi had been lit up like a beckon. She seemed to be crying, in pain, but he could not pinpoint where she was. The light of her presence was too bright. He fell to the ground, holding his chest as her fear washed over him. It was worse than before. She was screaming out, overwhelming his being.

"Yugi are you alright?" Tea asked noticing that he had fallen.

Yugi could only stare at the ground in front of him. He could barely breath for the blinding intensity of her pain.

"Umi." he said softly.

"Hey, Yugi?" Joey placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"She's in danger. Someone's hurting her."

His grandpa knelt down before him.

"Can you tell where she is, Yugi?"

He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

"She's everywhere, in my head." He was shaking in terror when suddenly he went limp.

"Yugi?!" his friends called simultaneously as Joey kept him upright. When he opened his eyes once more it was the familiar face of the Pharaoh that stared back at them.

"Umi's in danger, and so is Yugi because of his connection to her."

"Pharaoh, you don't know where she is, do you?" Tea asked

"No. I do not share the same kind of bond with her that Yugi does. I can get a general idea of what she is feeling, but nothing more."

"Why did Yugi go all paralyzed like that?" Joey asked.

"The fear. It is powerful, even for me. I cannot imagine what Yugi is feeling."

"So how do was stop this?" Joey asked the group as he helped Atem-Yugi stand.

"Kaiba." Atem and Tea said at the same time.

Solomon grunted disapprovingly.

"I don't trust him." the old man said.

"It's the only option we have, Gramps." Joey said frowning.

The group split up as they moved against the flow of people streaming out of the park. They searched for anyone who could help them find the elder Kaiba. Tea waved them over as she ran into Mokuba.

"Mokuba! Wait!" she called after the preteen.

"Tea? I thought you were all evacuated already."

"We were on the way out when Yugi collapsed."

"What? Is he alright?"

"No. Yes. Sort of. It's complicated. But Umi is missing and he says that she's being hurt."

Mokuba's face grew ashen.

"I knew he was worried about her, that she had not shown up to watch his duel. I told him not to worry about it."

Joey put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault little buddy. But we need your help to find her."

"Specifically, we need your brother to find her." Atem told the younger boy.

"Seto's working on bring the system back online. He won't be free for... hours."

"Can you at least call him? Maybe there's something he can do in the meantime to find her?" Tea asked hopefully.

"I can try, but with the system down, our ability to scan the city is non-existent." Mokuba pointed out as he took out his cellphone and called his brother.

"I believe that Kaiba may have... other ways of finding her." Atem added.

Seto had drifted to sleep as he sat waiting for the rebooting of the computer system. In his dreams he saw Umi-not just her eyes, but her entire being-swallowed by darkness. She was screaming, calling for him. He tried to run to her, but a blinding light shot up between them. A woman stood in his path in the center of the light. Her long white hair swirled around her body as wings of white light erupted out of her transformed and he stood transfixed as the dragon that stood where she once was obliterated the shadows that had closed in on all sides.

"Who are you?" he called after her as the shadows seemed to close in on them once more. A golden glow spread through the space between him and the white light of the woman-dragon.

"Take it, Seto. Your birthright." A voice that seemed to emanate from the woman-dragon said. He reached for the glow.

The phone rang startling him out of the dream. He rubbed his eyes as he fumbled for the phone. The monitor also indicated that the system was in need of input for the next step of the process. He answered the phone with one hand as he typed in a command with the other.

"Hello?" he asked groggily. Mokuba was on the other end, ranting about something happening to Yugi during the evacuation. Seto's mind was still trying to figure out the dream as he tried to listen to his brother.

"Wait, Mokuba. Slow down. Start over." He could hear Mokuba sigh as he started the tale once more.

"Umi's screaming? In Yugi's head." He tried to wrap his own head about the concept. "But he can't find her. No one knows where she is, right? I guess I can try to track her phone. Just let me... Let me call you back, Mokuba. I'm still up to my elbows in server maintenance." He went to hang up, but Yugi's voice came over the phone. "What are you talking about? What cord? That's bullshit and you know it, Yugi." But Kaiba was not so sure. He had felt enough that he could not explain when it came to Umi to completely discount a deeper connection between them, but he held little stock in myths about soul mates. "Yugi." He tried to get a word in as the other young man lectured him on the concept of reincarnation and soul connections. "Yugi. YUGI! I will look for her, OK? Just, give me a minute." He hung up the phone before his rival could go off on another tirade.

"For fuck's sake." He sighed, as he worked through the series of commands he needed to finalize the system restart. The glow of the monitor shut off briefly as the system restarted and the room filled with twinkling lights on the stacks of servers. A few seconds later the main lights flickered back on. Seto sighed in relief as the main operations system came back online. He would have to get someone in here to run through and debug everything. He frowned as he realized that the park was liable to be closed at least one day while his employees checked through everything, but he would rather be safe than sued. He was about to start a search for Umi's location using her KaibaCorp badge when the phone rang.