Chapter 40 - A Growing Collection

Yami, Tristan and Tea continued to run through the dark streets towards where they had seen the Orichalcos symbol. It was silent as they ran, tension hanging in the air as they feared for their friend. They knew Joey was a tough and talented duelist, but from what they'd heard about Valon, it was only natural for them to worry. Tristan had also mentioned that he'd run into Mai after losing Joey and Rose, so that meant that she was after him also. So even if Joey did defeat Valon, the challenge wouldn't be over then. They just hoped that they would be able to reach him before Mai did.

Yami suddenly felt something in his chest. What was it? He wasn't sure, but it felt like something was calling out to him. It felt like...

"The Millennium Heart!" he called out in surprise, stopping.

"What is it, Pharaoh?" Tea asked.

"Rose's heart, I can feel it..." he looked down at the Millennium Puzzle that had started glowing, "Joey must be in trouble!" He suddenly started running again at full speed, determined to reach his friend. "We're close!" he called back as they ran through a narrow gap between two buildings. That's when they heard someone cry out nearby, and everyone's eyes widened.

"That doesn't sound like Joey!" Tea exclaimed, worry clear in her voice. They saw the green illumination of the Orichalcos just ahead of them, and they broke into the clearing, before stopping dead in their tracks.

Before them, Rose and Mai were standing facing each other, surrounded by the Seal of Oricalcose. What made Yami's stomach drop however, was that Rose's life points had just hit zero.

"Rose!" Tea called out in alarm, before covering her mouth with her hand in shock.

Rose was struggling to stay on her feet, having just been hit by a devastating attack, and she turned, noticing their arrival. A look of guilty despair suddenly appeared on her face as her chest rose and fell rapidly, her shoulders slumped. Her hair had fallen into her eyes, but Yami could still see the self hatred that filled them as she looked over at him.

"I'm so sorry," she breathed. Yami almost couldn't hear her from where he was standing, only 10 metres away. "I didn't want Mai to get to Joey...but I failed." Her body trembled as she tried to stay on her feet, and she didn't bother to hide the damage that duel had done to her, she was weak and drained. The adrenaline she had felt only moments ago had been sucked out of her, leaving her to feel the pain she'd been holding off the whole time.

Yami couldn't believe what he was seeing, this was the last thing he had expected, and he knew what happened next. He couldn't make himself move though, his legs were glued in their place, his eyes fixed on her. Never before had he seen that look in her eyes; they were so empty yet so filled with guilt and despair. He was speechless, and he couldn't bare the thought of losing another friend.

Yami was pulled out of his trance and back to reality when Rose let out a piercing cry, the Orichalcos closing in around her.

"No! Rose!" Yami cried out to her. Finally able to pull himself forwards, he ran towards her desperately, but by the time he reached her, she was already gone. The Orichalcos had disappeared, and her empty shell of a body fell towards the ground. Yami just managed to catch her before she hit the hard bitumen, sinking to his knees in order to break her fall. He stared down at his friend, who he'd known back when he was Pharaoh, over 5000 years ago. If only he remembered. She had been the only person who had managed to cheer him up after he lost Yugi, and now she was gone as well.

"Rose..." he breathed, looking down at her limp and lifeless body, "Not you too..." His hands tightened around her, as he fought off tears, his anger towards Dartz growing by the second. That man was going to pay dearly for taking away his friends.

Tristan and Tea had made their way over and were standing behind Yami, barely being able to comprehend what had just happened.

"I can't believe it..." Tristan managed to say as Yami held Rose in his arms.

"She's...gone..." Tea said, holding back tears. Yami placed Rose on the ground gently, and moved to pick up her Duel Monsters cards that were scattered everywhere. He looked to her duel disk, and saw the card that was still sitting on it.

"The Sorcerer Of Dark Magic..." he murmured, picking it up.

"That's the card that Rose used to win her duel back when we met her," Tea said quietly, one of her arms across her body.

They couldn't see Yami's face, but by the time he had collected her cards he had managed to compose himself again. He stood up and faced them, holding Rose's deck firmly in his hand. By this point they had all forgotten that Mai was even there, until they heard her start up her motorbike. They looked up just as she was about to ride off.

"Wheeler's next!" she spat, before speeding off.

Yami clenched his teeth, watching the woman as she disappeared in the distance. "This madness has to stop!" he bellowed, "Come on, we must find Joey!" The other two nodded, and Tristan lifted Rose onto his back, before they set off to find Joey.

...

Rose regained consciousness when she heard voices swirling around her, as if she was surrounded by scores of people.

"Look, here's another one," she just managed to hear someone say. What are they talking about? she thought, her head feeling as heavy as a brick. That's when she remembered what happened.

"I activate Harpie lady Sparrow formation!" Mai declared, a large grin plastered on her face.

"What?" Rose said, shock clear on her face, "But, I used my Lightforce Sword to get rid of that card!"

"Wrong! You did that to Phoenix formation, so now my Harpie's can join forces and destroy up to four of your monsters!"

"No!" Rose called out in horror.

"Say goodbye to your soul!" Mai laughed as her Harpie's striked Rose with enough force to destroy 4 times the amount of monsters that were on Rose's side of the field. Rose cried out as the Harpies attacked and her life points hit zero, but she just managed to stay on her feet through the attack, having close to no energy left. If she was going down, she would not do it on her knees.

"I can't believe it..." she whispered, looking down at her duel disk that still had The Sorcerer of Dark Magic on it,"I...I lost..."

"Therefore you lose your soul!" Mai laughed. That's when Rose heard someone call out from behind her. She turned to see Yami, Tea and Tristan standing there, shock plastered on their faces. No, she thought, they can't see me like this.

"I'm so sorry," she said, looking towards Yami. She had promised him that they would save Yugi together, and now in trying to save Joey, she had broken that promise. "I didn't want Mai to get to Joey...but I failed." She looked down in despair, her body trembling after Mai's attack as she tried to stay on her feet. Then the Seal closed in on her, and she cried out as it drained her soul. She could only just hear Yami call out before she felt herself being pulled away from her earthly body, to be locked away in the Orichalcos.

She had lost her soul, Rose realised with despair. But if so, where was she? Her head was pounding, but apart from that she felt fine. She didn't feel so weak and drained as she did before however. What was going on?

That's when she heard someone gasp nearby. "Oh no..." they said, "Rose!" I know that voice... She thought with a shocking realisation.

She opened her eyes, and stared up at the person leaning over her, "Yugi?" she said in disbelief. "Is that really you?" She sat up, blinking rapidly as if he were an illusion.

"Yeah, it's me," he said with a half smile.

"Yugi!" Rose exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the boy with glee. "It's so good to see you again!"

Yugi laughed for a moment, but it didn't each his eyes. "I'd say it's good to see you, but that wouldn't be entirely true..." Rose sighed in response, letting go of the boy as she realised he was right. "How did you get here?" Yugi asked.

Rose avoided his eyes, "Mai was after Joey, so I tried to stop her by challenging her to a duel before she could do the same to him but...I lost." Rose fiddled with the sleeve of her jacket, feeling extremely stupid for her decision. "Hold on," she lifted her head up to look around, "Where exactly is 'here'?"

Yugi held a hand out, and Rose took it so he could pull her up onto her feet. "This is where all the souls go once they've been captured by the Orichalcos." Rose looked around, no wonder she had heard so many voices before, there were hundreds of people here! Maybe even thousands. 'Here' however, appeared to be a vast white space that seemed to never end. Well, she couldn't see any walls anywhere, just people. Lots and lots of people. What scared her was the attire that some of them had, too. She started to think that Dartz may have been collecting souls for quite a long time.

"So, you're all just waiting to be swallowed by that great beast?" Rose asked, turning in her spot to look at all the people.

"That's all we can do," Yugi sighed, "Unless the Pharaoh can find a way to free everyone before that happens."

Rose turned back to Yugi, "He was really torn up when he lost you," she murmured. "But I promised that I would help him save you, and now I've just gone and made matters worse!" She balled her hands into fists, angry at herself for being so stupid.

"Rose it's not your fault," Yugi said, grabbing her wrist so she would relax her hand. "You were worried about Joey, I would have done the same thing." He looked up at her as she glared at nothing, and she finally turned her head to look at him.

"But you would have won," Rose said miserably, sitting back down. "Come on Yugi, I'm no duellist, not compared to you and Joey and Mai," she brought her knees up to her chest as the regret she felt sank in. She then spoke under her breath, "I guess that tournament meant nothing..."

Yugi wasn't quite sure what she had said, though he thought he heard the word tournament, but he ignored it, thinking it was unimportant. "That's not true," he said, sitting beside her, "I've seen you duel, I've even duelled with you, you have great skills."

Rose just sighed, still looking at the ground. "Sorry Yug, I'm just really annoyed at myself for making things even harder for the Pharaoh," she admitted.

"He'll be just fine," Yugi said reassuringly, "Him, Joey and Kaiba will destroy that beast and set us all free, I know it," he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and she turned to look at him with a trying smile.

"I sure hope so," Rose said. She looked around at the sea of bodies surrounding them, and noticed someone sitting down about ten metres away. "Hey, isn't that Valon?" she asked Yugi, pointing over at the man.

"One of those biker guys?" he asked, looking over at the man, "Yeah, it looks like it."

Rose's face lit up, "That must mean Joey defeated him!" But just as soon as her mood had lifted, she remembered her original worry, "Oh wait, but Mai is still after him..."

"He'll be fine," Yugi said, "Trust me, Joey is a great duellist, and he almost beat Mai last time they duelled, didn't he?"

"True," Rose said, "I just hope he comes out on top this time."

...

As Yami, Tristan and Tea made their way through the streets towards where Mai had disappeared, they were growing tired. It had been a good 20 minutes since they saw her speed off, and they were running out of time.

"Where are you Joey?" Tristan called out. When there was no answer he sighed, and then grunted as he tried to shift Rose's weight on his back. It probably would have been easier to carry her if she were conscious, but the weight on his back just reminded him of how they were one friend down once again.

"Why don't you let me carry her for a while?" Yami asked, noticing Tristan's struggle. Tristan handed her to Yami and they continued to look for their friend. As they continued walking, Yami noticed his Timaeus card glowing from where it sat in his belt, and then it died out. He stopped, as a sinking feeling made itself known in his stomach. "Oh no..."

"What's wrong?" Tea asked as her and Tristan stopped as well, "Is it Joey?"

"I'm afraid so..." he said. They all looked up and saw Timaeus appear on top of one of the buildings, looking as if it was calling out to Hermos.

"Joey!" Tristan called out, running ahead with determination.

"Wait up Trsitan!" Tea called out as her and Yami followed. They ran until they came across a gap in the buildings surrounded by a fence, and all stopped in their tracks. There, sitting against the fence, was Joey.

...

"No, it can't be!" Rose ran over to the newest soul that had been added to Dartz's collection, with Yugi quickly following behind. "Joey!"

Their friend groaned as he regained consciousness, before slowly opening his eyes. "Heh?" he said, blinking as he gazed up at the two people kneeling next to him. Only a second later, he noticed that one of them was Yugi. He jumped up and seized the little guy in a massive bro hug, a cheesy grin plastered on his face. "Yugi! How glad am I to see that spiky little head of yours!" He laughed characteristically.

"Joey...can't...breathe!" Yugi gasped. Joey let him go, and his grin suddenly faded.

"Wait a minute, I just lost my soul!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "That's why you're here isn't it?" he said to Yugi.

"Mhmm," the other boy nodded solemnly. That's when Joey finally noticed Rose, and he almost jumped ten feet in the air.

"Rose!" he exclaimed in horror, "What are you doing here?!"

She shrugged, looking down at her feet. "I lost a duel to Mai."

His eyes widened, "What were you duelling Mai for?!" he yelled. Rose stepped back, surprised at how angry he sounded.

"Joey calm down," Yugi said, stepping between them and pushing against the man's chest. "She was trying to stop Mai from getting to you."

"How can I-wait, what?" Joey stopped when he realised what Yugi had just said. He then turned to Rose, a questioning look in his eyes.

Rose shrugged, "I knew Mai was after your soul and I didn't want her to get the chance..." she looked at her feet.

"Aw, Rose," Joey whined, his tone lightening, his gaze now soft. "You didn't need to do that." He shook his head, placing his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at her. "Now you've lost your soul, I never wanted you to get dragged into this mess too..." he dropped his hands with a growl of annoyance. If he hadn't been so set on chasing Valon he could have been able to stop this from happening.

"You're my friend, Joey," Rose said with a warm smile, "And friends look out for each other."

"You bet they do," Joey said, sending a smile in Yugi's direction.

"Now let's just hope the Pharaoh can get Kaiba to help him defeat Dartz," Yugi said.

"That won't be easy," Joey said instantly. "Kaiba's head is too far up his own ass to care about what's going on, he just wants his company back."

"Well maybe that will give him a reason to help," Yugi suggested.

"Let's hope so," Rose said.

Okay, so you probably all guessed how this chapter would turn out, but I hope I wrote it well anyway :) I did consider letting Rose win this duel, but then Joey would have had to lose his duel to Valon, and I think Joey's victory in that duel was very important, and the plot simply works better this way :) so I hope you liked the chapter!

Please let me know what you think :)

PharaohsThrone