It's another episode! Also, just a reminder for no flaming. I am not here to please everybody, I am hear to tell a story. Any other type of review is welcome. Please Enjoy!

Sidney laid awake in her bed, her eyes just barely drooping. As sleep finally consumed her, thoughts still were still buzzing through her head. She found herself walking into a dream, but it seemed so familiar to her.

She was watching her last day of High School. Her father had been on his business trip to Jerusalem for several days, and was expected to come back that evening. But it wasn't to be so. As she floated in the sky above as a transparent specter, she saw herself walking out of the building, dressed in her black Sailor uniform. The clouds loomed overhead like solemn prophets waiting to bring the bad news.

The Sidney below whipped out her umbrella and waited by the curb, expecting to be picked up by Laura and Shinju. However, a black car rode up to her and two men in suits emerged. The looked at her pitifully. When the spoke, Sidney realized that she couldn't hear anything that she or the others said. But it didn't matter. She remembered all to well what they had said.

When they were finished speaking, a lightning bolt burst and rain poured down suddenly, as if on cue. Her former self broke into tears, weeping as she dropped the umbrella. She could suddenly hear everyone speaking now.

"Tell me it's a mistake…it couldn't be."

"I'm afraid it's true. They tested and confirmed the dead man was your father. What was left of him, anyway… we're very…"

The rain drenched her completely. A few people stopped and stared as she felt to her knees as she continued to weep. Laura arrived in her car, the roof up to prevent the rain from getting in. Shinju waited in the car with concern as Laura ran to Sidney.

She reached for her umbrella, which Laura took and held over her head. Laura helped Sidney to her feet and walked her to the car.

"…He's dead, Laura. My dad…he was killed. A suicide bomber came in and killed him for no reason! He never hurt anyone!"

The scene shifted as random bits of the following days and his funeral past by. Things refocused upon the evening of his funeral. Sidney was this time in nightgown, finishing a sketch. She sat on her bed in her old home. It was her last night there. It was the last night before everything changed.

But what had happened that night was a blur to her. Was it somehow coming back to her? She stood by herself. Her memory proceeded with her going into her father's study, to see things that he had left behind. As she searched through the belongings of her late father, her grief caused her to feel terrible pain all over her body, or so she thought.

Her voice was mute again and she couldn't hear herself. Suddenly, she found something in the back of the room. Her voice could be heard.

"What's this? I know this wasn't in here before all the times I was…"

After all she had been through, she now recognized the symbol of the Crimson Dragon crafted upon the wall. Had her father somehow know and left a message before he left? No, she went in the study to borrow a book two days after he had left. Otherwise, nobody went in or out of that study. It somehow just appeared.

The dragon was surrounded by seven evil creatures. Sidney guessed now that this was a depiction of the battle between the Wicked Immortals and the Crimson Dragon.

Sidney watched herself approach it with curiosity and fear in her heart. She had forgotten this. She touched the illustration, which started to glow red and lavender instantly. A red vortex appeared under her feet and sucked her in.

She was now in the embrace of a mysterious red light. Her clothes disappeared as the light wrapped around her body. Ruby goo started to form over her skin and engulf her, evolving into a pink, gelatinous orb. Inside, she fell unconscious. A gut feeling occurred to her.

"Was I inside the Crimson Dragon? Had it somehow such me in?"

Time elapsed in the dream. In a few moments, she found the orb floating above a walkway of light, two Duel Runners sped by.

"Wait…those were…" Before she could say it, the orb and the dragon were now hovering above the city just out of everyone's sight. Time elapsed and it had become night. Sidney could see through the orb, and saw her marks appearing on her body for the first time, bearing the radiant glow of the Dragon's power.

The Dragon vanished, allowing the orb to begin its descent to earth. It hurtled towards the Kaiba Dome, crashing into the window of the VIP Watchtower. An unseen force pulled her in so she was just outside the window. She pressed her face against the glass as she watched the smoke clear.

Goodwin was off to the side, broken glass scattered around his feet. A panic-stricken Lazar and a stunned Jack Atlas were near the elevator. The blob wobbly stood before them. Sidney too felt herself in awe.

"Is this…how they found me? So there was no accident?" She wasn't too surprised; it was another thing Goodwin had failed to tell her. Soon, a few men were summoned by Goodwin, who proceeded to rip apart the blob. Sidney fell from the inside onto the floor, laying unconscious in a lake of ooze. Her face turned red when she saw she was no longer clothed.

"…I was naked?" She stared, more dumbstruck than embarrassed. She could see Jack staring at her as she was picked up and taken away by medics.

"…That…explains…a lot…" She laughed nervously. Suddenly, everything faded, and Midori appeared like a lantern in the void of her sleep.

"Sidney…what are you doing here?" She asked. Sidney wanted to ask her the same question. Midori looked away. A strange blue light cloaked Midori's body.

"Well…these are your memories after all…I guess my mind was wandering and my powers started leading me through people's memories while I slept. Somehow you found your way into them as well… I was looking for something before though…"

"Oh…what were you looking for?"

Midori mouthed something unintelligible. Sidney was confused. Before she could ask her to elaborate, Midori apologized and walked back into the darkness.

"Her power is growing…I can feel it coming from that light. Darn it…I should've asked her to show me more of the past…wait…But… what's she looking for?"

She thought about what had happened since everything had started. But the world of dreams seized her again. Sidney was unable to come to any conclusion. Midori searched her own memories and that of others around her.

She searched for a reason to forgive the people that had hurt her. But even more so, she searched within her soul for the possibility of redeeming those people. The Dark Signers seemed to possess something that contradicted them. For the sake of everyone, including herself, Crow, her grandpa…and Kiryu, she wished she knew what it was.

…

The Dark Signers also slept, but Cassandra found herself awake and alone. She had fallen asleep in Rudger's study, and Rudger had wrapped a blanket around her while she slept. Presently, he was nowhere nearby.

The black box with the Nightmare Toxin sat on the desk. It seemed to stare up menacingly at the singer with its many faces. She couldn't open it. Rudger had the key with him and she doubted that he would let it slip out of his hands. Cassandra couldn't help staring at it, wondering to herself.

He had done nothing to raise a hand against her, or so she thought. But, she wondered if he was telling the truth when he said the Toxin would only affect the Star Princess if the Dark Signers were not defeated by sundown. Was he just telling her that so she wouldn't worry about it? He had not lied to her so far, she thought.

Just then, Rudger came walking down the hall and saw her awake.

"Are you unable to sleep, Cassandra?"

He noticed her staring at the box. He took it and slipped it in a pocket beneath his robes, along with the key. The Dark Signer stroked her head to avert any negative feelings; it was a simple, manipulative tactic. Cassandra did not look at him.

"It will all be over sooner than you think. Don't let it weigh on your mind so much. I'd much rather see your smile, Cassandra."

She couldn't help but smile then, but she couldn't help feeling uneasy. He had her get up, making sure she was still embraced by the blanket, and led her to sleep back in her own room. Cassandra felt better, if only for a fleeting moment, before her anxiety would set in again.

In the meantime, Carly awoke from her own sleep. In her little room in the south end, she rested upon her dusty cot, gazing at the ceiling. This wasn't what she wanted, she thought. She rolled over on her side and stared at the door.

All she wanted was for Jack Atlas to care about her. In the past, since she had met him, she had gone great lengths to care for him. They teamed up when they were dueling a shadow drone, and she had tried to follow him to the Satellite. But, when she met him again later on, he had taken her SD card for her camera and crushed it with his strong hand. He had clearly rejected her.

As a reporter, she felt she should look elsewhere to get her story on the Crimson Dragon. Word came to her that Yusei had not recovered at the time. She mistakenly judged that Luna, one of the other Signers, had no knowledge of her power or what was going on. She would later come to know that Luna knew quite a bit, and wondered one or twice what would've happened if she tried to seek her out instead.

Yet, she rested with a decision to try for Akiza. She assumed her to still be at the Arcadia movement, and successfully infiltrated them after getting some information from Misty Treadwell, now her fellow Dark Signer.

But Sayer found her and challenged her to a duel, as an attempt to get rid of her. He nearly succeeded, as he managed to defeat her. His psychic power was so great that it pushed her through the fragile glass window on the top floor, and sent her plummeting to her doom. However, the Earthbound Immortal Asylla Piscu choose her to carry its mark, and she was revived. She took her revenge on Sayer, and sent him to a fate similar to her, only he would find his soul in the depths of the Netherworld.

She had come with Misty and was a member of the Dark Signers ever since. But she always regretted it and felt the guilt always weighing on her mind and spirit. She didn't want to be Jack's enemy. Or anyone's. Carly just wanted someone to care.

…

Midori climbed out of her bed and pushed open a window. A stream of cold air blew in, causing her to shiver. She had awoken from her trance, and was unable to sleep peacefully. She pulled herself up onto the roof and sprawled herself out, letting the cold air breathe around her skin.

Crow had been lying out on the roof for about an hour prior, also having been roused. He leaned over to see strings of red hair blowing in his direction. He crawled over and found himself staring into Midori's eyes.

"You couldn't sleep either?" She whispered to him in a musing tone.

Crow chuckled and shook his head. Midori rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Well, what's on your mind?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked. Midori smiled.

"Well, I can think of plenty of reasons, but I'd like to hear from you."

Midori started shivering. Crow slid over the tilt of the roof and embraced her.

"You should go back inside if you feel cold."

Midori shook her head no and gave him a pitiful look. He couldn't help but laugh. She turned her head away and looked up at the night sky.

"My grandpa told me that the sky used to be clear in the early days of the Satellite. He said you could see stars…even constellations!"

Crow nodded. In the shadowy night, Midori felt the darkness creeping up upon her. A sudden wooshing sound startled her and she quickly buried her face in Crow's chest. She made unrecognizable scared noises. Crow pressed his lips to her forehead in a reassuring kiss.

"It was just the wind Midori."

…

Akiza, in the midst of her sleep, happened upon a dream of her own. She found herself in a tower of ice, with the walls and floors reflecting like mirrors. The sound of her footsteps echoed in the hallways. She kept rubbing her arms to keep herself warm.

A hideous laugh came from nowhere. She recognized the laughed belonging to Misty. The Dark Signer appeared, with her likeness reflected in the entire mirror paneling. But the figure standing before her was Sayer, not Misty. His eyes were dulled and he held two puppets in either hand, dangling them from puppeteer strings. One resembled Misty, and Akiza was shocked to find the other resembled herself.

"I will take my revenge for what you did to my brother, Black Rose Witch!" Misty's voice was filled with anger and agony. Sayer had a third puppet of a young boy stowed away in his pocket. It was severely damaged and burned, to the point where his face was hard to make out.

Akiza noticed Sayer moving Misty's puppet as she verbally lashed out against her. But she didn't want to believe what she thought it all meant.

"Sayer is controlling Misty and I…like puppets? He wouldn't do that…would he? And why is that damaged puppet in his pocket?" She wondered.

Suddenly, she came to a realization.

"Could that be Misty's brother, Toby? Did Sayer know something about what happened to her brother? Why did I never know him until she confronted me that day…"

Sayer's eyes formed a gleam like an angry fire just ignited. He took the puppet from his pocket and threw it into a nearby fireplace, which seemed to appear from nowhere. It seemed to burn down to cinders in seconds.

"He was useless to me anyway. Only the strong deserve to live…" He hissed.

"That doesn't sound like the Sayer I know…" She whimpered.

Misty's façade on the walls watched in terror as the ashes blew away down the winding corridors of the tower. Sayer was laughing as he depicted a scene of Misty and Akiza dueling each other with his two remaining puppets. A part of his face seemed to wither and Misty materialized out of one of the mirrors and grabbed him by the head. Her likeness disappeared from the walls.

Sayer dropped the puppets, which disappeared into the icy floor. Misty squeezed his head as he writhed in pain, trying to break free from her grasp. Akiza tried to rush over and help him. However, a wall of ice shot up and prevented her from going any further. A booming voice, not anyone's she could see, rang in her ears.

"This is no longer of your concern. Now, the true killer shall pay with his own flesh and blood for destroying another like himself. He has deceived everyone he has ever come into contact with, and his motives at truly selfish and cruel to the core. The greatest crime of all was giving into the ideals of those who pushed his face to the ground and called him inferior and unfit to live for possessing a power not explained by human rational. One who claims to oppose their enemy and yet willingly lives by his creed is a liar and deserves to face the consequences of their hypocrisy…"

Misty was transformed into a roaring wave that consumed Sayer and froze him in a block of ice. Akiza cried for him as he floated, motionless. A wicked smirked became his final expression, with a hint of irony in his gaze.

The floor under Akiza's feet began to crack and break. The shattered pieces fell into the abyss until gravity finally pulled Akiza down with. She screamed as tears flowed upward from the force of the air pushing against.

Yet, in a minute or two, it died down, and she found herself gently drifting through the void. Tears stained her cheeks, and she called out for Sayer or anyone who could hear her. Her ears were then flooded with the noise of familiar people calling for her. She smiled with relief.

"Aki! Aki! Where are you? We're waiting for you!"

"Akiza? Akiza? Where are you, my little girl?"

"AKIZA!!!" The voices seemed to pull her to a fragment of light glittering in the shadows. Akiza tried her best to go towards it, feeling sudden warmth as she got closer and closer. Shapes of people could be seen and the fleck grew into a massive doorway.

But before she could reach it, sleep had released its grip on her, and she found herself awake in the early hours of morning, with everyone else still asleep. The dream left her somewhat shaken and sad. However, there was also a sense of hope. It all seemed so confusing to her. As she laid back down to try and get her last couple of hours of sleep in, the dream seemed to slip away, out of her memory.

The fog was still thick outside, and the eerie promise of tomorrow began to whisper in the wind as the morning of the next day, that fateful day, dawned upon the earth.

Well, that was kind of a filler, but I sure had fun writing it. But seriously, I promise the next episode will be less of one, with more good stuff. I know I can't please everybody though…It's a hard lesson I am still trying to learn. Be back her next time and stay tuned!