Wow, so, erm, it didn't take me 4 months to update this time?

God dammit, I should be studying computer science since I have no idea what the fuck a structure is, yet here I am. Still, I thought why not try to power through this duel while I'm procrastinating.

Also, I was listening to the Yu-Gi-Oh 4KIDS OST, which is absolutely beautiful, and you should all listen to it while you read.

Also, Lorna's been doing something VERY wrong and VERY harmful from the beginning of this duel, something that would make Atem turn in his grave (or turn in his... millennium puzzle? idk), and she continues to do it throughout this chapter, I wonder who will finally catch on to it... (whoever figures it out gets cyber cookies -like it's 2008 again)

Archlord Kristya was a titan of a monster. Its seven feet of pure hulking mass towered over its master, looking me dead in the eye through gleaming red slits. I had temporarily forgotten that these monsters were real, and the realness of that deadly gaze made my knees buckle through the bulk that was pulsating and feeding on my skin. I couldn't fall over though; if I did, it would all be over for me, so I stuck my arms out a bit to keep my balance, the line of vision between my eyes and Kristya's eyes never breaking.

My heart rate accelerated and I felt so much more vulnerable. Up until this point, I was counting on things being beatable -after all, I knew my deck, and it was definitely beatable. Viola, however, made it pristinely clear that she wasn't here to fuck around with me; she had been making that clear from the moment this duel began. My problem was the fact that when the going got tough, I wasn't tough enough to get going. Things were getting too serious and I was folding into myself; I could hardly keep my head up.

"Hurry up and make your move!" an aggravated voice tore through the air, belonging to my pixie-haired opponent. She gestured with her gloved hand and raised an eyebrow.

"S-sorry," I murmured and drew my card. Why was I apologizing?

"The fuck is your problem!" she snapped and I shot my gaze forward, drifting past Kristyaand resting on Viola's face. "I expected more of a challenge from you, but all you do is mope and act like a scared cockroach."

"S-sorry!" I apologized again, feeling my cheeks heat up. I couldn't help it. I was going to lose. There was absolutely no way out of this.

I heard Viola let out a loud groan, which was actually more of a scream than a groan. "See! This is it! You keep fucking apologizing! You're not taking this seriously! You never were. Do you think I'm going to go easy on you because you're pathetic? It just makes me even more excited to see you finally die, you stupid little shit."

I let out a strained string of words that were meant as a retort, but sounded more like a soft plea. "I don't understand! What difference would it make? If I'm going to die, what difference would it make if I died fighting?" Saying it outloud made my heart shudder painfully in my rib-cage. I couldn't stand how accepting I was of my own death, but I was already half dead if the demons quivering in anticipation on my legs were any indication.

The woman looked taken aback by my reply, her eyelids drooping slightly over glimmering eyes, as though she were deep in thought. They returned to me with a ferocity I hadn't seen throughout our whole duel. "You still don't understand, do you?"

"Understand what?" I asked, becoming aware of the sweat under my bangs when a droplet obscured my vision for less than a moment.

"Why I'm even after you."

Now that she mentioned it, I had actually been wonder why she even wanted to kill me -y'know, it was kind of the only thing on my mind from the beginning of this wretched duel. "Then tell me."

Damn, it's so fucking hot outside… I grabbed the cuff of my shirt and wiped my face, then I raised the sleeves to my elbows. It didn't help much, but it helped nonetheless.

"You aren't supposed to exist," she began. I was about to interject with a sarcastic comment about how I already knew that, but she looked like she had more to say, so I held my tongue. "You're a part of something bigger than yourself -something dangerous. You were brought here for a very specific purpose, and whether your existence on its own harms this world or not, it is one of several gears in a large device ticking down to doomsday. It is up to me and the rest of the Guardians to take apart that device, piece by piece."

Her explanation left me with more questions than answers and I felt even more confused than I had been at first. She was being so vague, and whether or not it was on purpose, it was making my head hurt to piece together all the puzzle pieces I had been presented with thus far. And as I arranged and rearranged the small pieces to no avail, something clicked in my mind. They weren't coming together because some of the pieces didn't belong, like it had come from an entirely different puzzle.

To start with, I had been told that I was being sent to this world to help Yugi save it, and while Yugi usually wouldn't need help to save the world, it made sense that, if I had somehow ended up in this world, a new and unknown enemy had also come into existence here. However, if this were true, it would totally debunk Viola's words. If I were meant to save the world, and Viola was meant to do the same, then we were on the same side. That being said, her claims of me being part of an evil scheme didn't add up.

Someone was lying to me, and I was betting I knew exactly who it was.

Still, Viola forgot to explain one thing. "But you still haven't answered my question. What difference does it make?"

My opponent parted her lips slightly, as though looking for the right words to say. Her eyes focused on my face, and I wondered what expression she saw. My lips were pursed and my brow felt tense, so I could only imagine that I looked like an indignant toddler standing before the school entrance, only it wasn't a school that I was about to enter. I was staring at a grimmer, much more frightening door. And, God, I didn't want to go inside.

When, finally, Viola spoke, she said exactly what I had been thinking. "It would make my life a lot easier if I just killed you…" Something sinister flashed in her eyes as they seemed to go out of focus for a moment, but it was only one moment, and then she was back to normal. "However…" She hesitated before reaching into her pocket and pulling out something small and holding it to the sun. It was crystallic and reflected rays of sunlight into my eyes, which had been adjusting slowly to the darkness in the alley. She looked like she was looking into the crystal, like the kaleidoscope reflected in the crystal contained the answer to my question.

"What is that?" I couldn't help asking.

Viola's eyes shifted slightly and she was looking at me again. "This is why it makes a difference. This is the difference. It's a long shot, but…" She sighed and clutched the crystal in her closed fist. "Should you win this duel, I'd give you this fragment."

I stared hard at her hand for a moment. This woman, who wanted me dead, was offering me that crystal in the event that I won this duel. The whole ordeal made alarms blare in my mind. This woman was capable of evoking the power of darkness -the power of the shadows -so it was safe to say, any crystal belonging to her was definitely no ordinary thing.

It was as though she could read my mind. She nodded slowly and the fingers enclosing the small fragment uncurled. "This is one of several fragments scattered all around this world. As you've probably figured out by now, the fragments are part of a whole. Only when all of the fragments are gathered and put together can their full power be unleashed."

I brushed my damp bangs to the top of my head, and the sweat allowed them to stay put. "And what is their 'full power'? Why would you want to give me power anyway? I'm dangerous, remember? I'm part of an evil scheme, so that means I'm the last person you should be giving power to."

Viola set to work on answering my questions one by one. She was being strangely cooperative with me, and it unnerved me. "The power these fragments give, once united, is the power of Truth. I'd give you this power in the hope that you'll be able use it to destroy the puppetmaster who brought you here." Puppetmaster?

I still didn't trust her, as I tended not to trust people who were trying to kill me (I mean, I don't know if it's just me or…), but I decided nonetheless to go along with her little charade, careful not to fall prey to her manipulation. "Wouldn't that power be much more useful in the hands of someone who knew how to use it and was much stronger than me?"

A wry smile played at her lips and she tossed the fragment into the air, catching it easily and thrusting her arm out to point at me. "You, my dear abomination, are much stronger than I am. You just don't know it yet." … What is wrong with this woman? She was trying so hard to defeat me in this duel -in fact, I was such a bad duelist that she was hardly trying -but at the same time, she was telling me that I was stronger than her? I sighed and fidgeted around unconsciously, only to end up igniting the pain in my lower body that I had been trying to suppress. The slightest movement made me feel like I was being torn in half at the hip by an invisible giant. Even though my legs were almost numb from the paralysis, the pain of the leech-like demons was consistent.

"What do you mean by that?" I grunted, my hands massaging the exposed part of my abdomen slowly.

"You are not truly alive in this dimension," she replied, placing her hand at her hip. At least she still had the privilege of doing so. I didn't know what would happen if I tried to touch the demon flesh at my hips, but I could guess that it would be unnecessarily painful. Before I could ask her to explain her statement, she continued speaking. "Every living creature has a great amount of energy at their core. Theoretically, with this energy, a human can unleash full mental capacity and perform superhuman feats. In living creatures, this energy is muted by several protective layers, making it impossible for them to truly harness that energy." Just as I began to wonder how any of this had anything to do with me, she added, "You, and people like you, exist without these layers. You have been brought into existence as raw energy in this world."

"Then why don't I have superhuman powers?" I questioned, still feeling a bit sore in my pelvic area.

"It's impossible for you to take advantage of the energy you have without hurting yourself, and subconsciously, you know that," she said, each word a new wall in the labyrinth of thoughts she had built in my mind. The idea that I had this power inside me was a bit overwhelming and I wasn't sure whether she was telling the truth, and if she was, what that meant for me as far as my involvement with Yugi and the gang went. "And you may never truly utilize the energy within you, but I know that whatever plan the puppetmaster is preparing for, they need you and the others who were brought here with you, because at some point in your old lives, your protective layers were shattered. "

When I heard her mention the "others" in this world, I perked up. Zephyr is just like me. Was he caught by that hooded man? Or did he manage to escape? I hadn't even known the guy for more than an hour, but I could feel a strong sense of companionship with him. We were in the same situation -lightyears away from home and not sure what was going on. At least I had friends -Yugi, Téa, Joey, Tristan… Did Zephyr also make friends here, too, or was he still trying to figure things out by himself? I just hoped he was okay. I didn't know how good of a duelist he was, and being stuck in a Shadow Duel was scary enough when you were someone like Yugi, let alone someone who was a rookie duelist.

I stared down at the ground in thought. I couldn't keep my eyes off of the gory mass that covered my feet, but my eyes always strayed to the ground when I was in thought -an involuntary habit. I had no more questions to ask… No, that was a lie. I had plenty of questions, but I had no idea which ones to ask, so I stayed quiet. Viola looked like she was done speaking as well, and I suppose that meant that it was time for me to finally figure out what to do with my turn. My eyes eased their way to my hand. I hadn't even spared a glance at the card I had just drawn. Who knows? Maybe I had drawn one of those destiny draws that were all the rage these days.

"You have the potential, you know…" My opponent's voice interrupted my little moment of truth and I immediately looked back at her. Her expression was grave and she was still holding the crystal in her hand. "You slipped so easily into the Pharaoh's little group of friends. You've been personally trained by the Pharaoh's modern incarnation. You've been given an advantage over the others."

I bit my lip and held in a sigh. "Can you quit it with the pep talk? I know you want to stay alive just as much as I do." I didn't get a reply from her though, only a mysterious smile and a slender finger to her rosy lips. Looks like that was the last of her strange motivational speech. I mean, the idea that I was so bad at dueling that I needed an actual pep talk from my own opponent to carry on must've spoken volumes about the kind of person I was.

Viola: 2750

Lorna: 2100

I brought my recently drawn card to my hand and finally laid eyes on it, but my spirits sunk to new lows when I realized I had drawn an even worse monster than Hoshiningen. I frowned, placing the monster Smile Kid (0/0) next to the rest of my cards. What the hell was I supposed to do with a monster who had no attack or defense points? I couldn't protect my life points with him because any monster Viola could summon on her next turn could easily destroy him and leave me open for a direct attack from Kristya, which meant 'Bye-bye, me!' Then again…

Wait!

There were other cards in my hand as well -Marie, the Fallen One, but I couldn't summon her, and also Graceful Charity! How could I have not seen this before? Sure, I would have to draw very lucky for it to be a real help to me, but it was better than nothing. I mean, with two useless monsters and an equally useless magic card in my hand, I would take what I could get.

"Have you made up your mind about what you're going to do this turn, abomination?" A jeer made its way over to my side of the field, and frankly I didn't have time to deal with Viola's bullshit, because I was gonna be praying super hard to the Heart of the Cards for Swords of Revealing Light or something. I hadn't exactly been the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh fangirl before I was sent here, but I was at least seventy-three percent sure that the Heart of the Cards was some sort of made-up Egyptian god, who, for some reason, was totally legit in this world. So, Heart of the Cards, whatever the fuck you are, I'm sorry I called you made-up. Please let me draw good cards. I'm friends with Yami so I'm totally chill and everything.

I sucked in a deep breath and activated my spell card. "I'm going to activate Graceful Charity!" I announced. This card allowed me to draw three cards from my deck provided that I then discard two cards from my hand. I didn't bother explaining it to Viola though, as I was pretty sure she already knew what it did.

My hand reached for my deck, my lips uttering thousands of small prayers, repeating the word "Please" like it was the only word I was capable of saying.

I swiped three cards from the top of my deck and held them in front of my face. My eyes immediately caught sight of a nifty little card called Aegis of Gaia, and with as much subtlety as I could manage, I rejoiced, placing the cards in my hand and pulling out two of my cards and sending them to the grave -Marie the Fallen One and Luminous Spark. I had discarded Mariefor obvious reasons. Her special ability would give me 200 life points during each of my standby phases, and judging by Viola's Kristya and its 2800 attack points, I would need all the help I could get in the life-point department.

I still had Smile Kid in my hand, my only monster, since I had a feeling I would need him and his special ability later, but I wasn't going to summon him just yet. The only move I could make during this turn would be to set down Aegis of Gaia and hope for the best.

When I ended my turn, Viola's lips twitched and the corners of her mouth moved upwards. "No monsters to protect you?" she jeered loudly. I bit my lip and scowled at her. She just had one of those voices, y'know? The ones that made you want to stab yourself in the ear and die. "This duel's going to be over sooner than I thought!"

She drew a card and smirked. I watched her eyes linger over my trap card for a moment before she put her card on her duel disk. "I'm going to summon Smile Angel-" Her monster materialized right beside Kristya; she was small and slender compared to the stronger monster and had 1000 attack points less than him as well -not to mention, she was much happier, but I suppose that was on account of her name. Unlike a lot of the cards that Viola was putting out, Smile Angel was a card I actually had; incidentally, its much weaker counterpart, Smile Kidwas in my hand, not that it would help me much, being such a useless card as it was. "Now, Smile Angel, attack her life points directly!"

Trying to remain calm, I activated my trap card. "I activate Aegis of Gaia! It'll give me 3000 extra life points as long as it's on the field!" That didn't stop her Angel's approach though, as the monster soared over to me, her arms outstretched, a sphere of energy forming between her palms. She cupped the sphere like a ball and lifted her arms above her head. She stopped moving just a meter away from me, just as she thrust the ball at me. It had been a mere few minutes since the last direct attack at my life points, and the dull ache of where Parshath had struck me still hadn't gone away. I knew there was no way to escape this attack, and somehow anticipating the pain, yet receiving an even stronger pain that made it all the worse.

Viola: 2750

Lorna: 3300

I was panting from the exertion, and I knew it wasn't done yet. I had to stay on my feet, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. The agony from Smile Angel's attack was still sharp in my chest, making it painful for me to inhale and exhale, as each movement sent electric shocks all throughout my upper body. I knew it was no use trying to convince Viola not to attack with Kristya, so instead of giving her my puppy eyes, I settled for shooting her one of my best glares, hoping that by some miracle, my eyes would shoot laser beams into her deck and set it ablaze, causing an automatic victory for me.

Causing Viola's death…

No, I couldn't think about that. I couldn't afford to think about that.

"Now, Kristya, it's your turn! Attack the abomination directly with your Heavenly Strike!"

There was nothing I could do. I would just have to grin and bear it.

I thought of closing my eyes and waiting for the impact, and I didn't know whether it was a demented, masochistic sort of curiosity, or a sad attempt to look strong, but I kept my eyes fixed on her monster.

The beating of the titan's wings suddenly became more heavy, more urgent, as he extended both of his arms to his side. I could see a bright light, like burning magnesium forming at his fingertips. He joined his hands, making the light almost blinding, then began to slowly stretch the light, extending it in front of him until it was roughly a foot in diameter. He heaved the large circle of light into the air above his head and a large beam shot out into the sky like a beacon, completely casting the field in a white glow.

My heart beat was erratic, a small rat thrashing in a cage, trying to escape imminent death, but I knew this attack wouldn't kill me, as much as it seemed that way -as much as the stiffness in my joints and the numbness in my limbs tried to tell me. My whole body was anticipating my demise, and it was all I could do to rationally convince it that I would in fact survive.

A loud SNAP and the color white were the only things I could remember as a scalding sensation swelled in my torso and through my legs. My legs, covered in demons who were ecstatic, like they could sense my distress and they thrived on it.

I couldn't hear anything but a high pitched ringing, but I knew I was screaming, because my lips were stretched open and my throat was on fire. It was like all my senses had gone haywire -sight, sound, touch… they were all numb, and when it was all over, it wasn't; the attack wasn't the only thing I would have to endure in the agonizing couple of seconds that wouldn't seem to end.

Viola: 2750

Lorna: 500

Inhale. Exhale. My hearing was still dull, but I could tell by the resistance in my swollen vocal chords that I was wheezing. My sight was still dull, but I knew that Viola was smirking at me from across the field. My nerves were dull, but the pain wouldn't go away. I felt the creeping sensation on my hips, my abdomen. Each inch covered by the crawling demons was immediately followed by a stinging sensation. I suppose, though, after Kristya's attack, this felt like mercy -out of the fire and back into the frying pan. And with the gore-like demons halting their ascent at my shoulders, I was looking more and more like a corpse and less like a living, breathing human being.

So I hope you enjoyed that. I hope it was enlightening.

I'd love to see what you guys think is going on and why you think Lorna is in YGO-land.

Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? Are Viola and the mysterious Voice both lying perhaps? Or are they both telling the truth in a way? What do you make of the information you were just given? Do you agree with the conclusions Lorna came to?

PLEASE TELL ME YOUR THEORIES :D Remember, as readers, you have the power to doubt the accuracy of 1st person POV (as well as limited 3rd person POV) as much as you like. Don't ever forget that.

Also, since the title Mary-Sue-Gi-Oh was conceived when this fanfic was going in a whole different direction, I'm thinking of changing the title up a bit or (if you've grown attached to the current title) at least adding a subtitle. I figured I'd get you guys' opinions on the matter since titles are a pain in the ass.

(I know I said this would be the conclusion of the Lorna/Viola duel, but I'm still working out the finale of the duel, and I figured this would be a nice place to end the chapter. That being said, it's likely that the ACTUAL conclusion to this duel is in the next chapter. Will Lorna be able to figure out just what she's been doing wrong this whole time before it's too late? Or will Viola be victorious?)