"Wait, what's going on? My attack had no effect on your life-points at all and those annoying creatures continue to multiply!"

"That's right, Seto, and you can't take my remaining life-points away until you destroy all the Kuriboh!" Yugi looked infuriatingly smug as he spoke.

"Hairballs," Seto growled, glaring at the many Kuriboh that he was just too angry to find adorable. "They've coming back even faster than I can blast them away."

"That's right. You might have created the ultimate attack monster, but I've created the ultimate defense: an ever-expanding army of furry protectors. They might not look like much, but they've stopped your dragon in its tracks. That's just the beginning, for now I go on the attack!" he declared, looking so confident that Seto knew it couldn't be a bluff, but he contradicted him anyways.

"Impossible. You don't have a monster strong enough."

"Watch me." That smug smirk made Seto even angrier. "For I'm going to show you the combination that will take your dragon down. Mammoth Graveyard, Polymerization, and the Living Arrow." As Yugi spoke, the holographic cards turned and revealed their card art. "Normally, I make a fusion with my cards, but, for a new twist, Living Arrow lets me fuse my cards with your cards, opening up bold new possibilities."

Seto wanted to yell at Yugi in that moment, scream that he'd never been bold for a single moment of his life. How dare he choose this moment to grow a set and step up his game. Somehow, though, he managed to keep his mouth shut. Some small part of his mind was vaguely aware of the fact that he was essentially murdering his tenuous friendships, but he couldn't focus on that right now. He couldn't even care about that right now. He only cared about Mokuba.

"Now, I will use my Living Arrow and Polymerization to fuse my Mammoth Graveyard with your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" The three holographic cards were overlaid and a glowing arrow shot out from them that pierced the three-headed dragon, making it screech in pain. Seto bit his lip just to hear the sad sound. Their friends gasped as they watched the dragon begin to melt, crippled by the effects of Mammoth Graveyard.

"I can't watch this," Ryou murmured, his eyes still glued to Seto's dragon. He felt another hand brush against his and interlock their fingers. He glanced over at Marik, who smiled at him gently. "It's just so hard to watch."

"They'll still be friends after this, you know," Marik murmured in Egyptian so that only Ryou could understand him. "Neither of them are so petty as to stop being friends over a card-game."

"I've never seen Seto duel like this before," Ryou replied worriedly, still speaking privately as the duel progressed before them. "I've never seen him this angry before."

They fell silent as Seto's dragon began to deteriorate, losing attack points with each turn that passed. Seto himself seemed to have hit a wall, as if he were incapable of processing the fact that no matter how many times he attacked, he would never annihilate all the Kuriboh on Yugi's side of the field.

"Go Yugi!" Anzu shouted, making Joey glare at her.

"Come on, Seto, you can still win this!" the blond called out, trying to encourage his friend. "Just shake it off! Don't let 'im get to ya!"

Seto didn't seem to hear either of them. He didn't look their way and he didn't react, simply continued to duel. Twice more he attacked, and twice more he failed. His ultimate dragon's attack points dropped to a level low enough that after his second attack, Yugi summoned his Celtic Guardian and was able to cut down one of the dragon's heads. Seto couldn't see a way out. He felt cornered, trapped, just like the way he'd felt every Thursday night during the darkest period of his life…

Seto was slipping, his grip loosening, his mind freezing as the inevitability of defeat sent terror through him. He couldn't lose. He couldn't afford to lose. Sure, he had cards in his deck that could help him out of this, but he didn't have any of them in his hand, and he didn't have the time to wait to draw them. Next turn, his dragon's attack points would further drop and—

He could see Mokuba in the dungeon, his soul stolen, rotting away because his brother wasn't strong enough. He could hear Mokuba screaming for help.

"You promised you'd save me!" Mokuba cried in his mind. "You promised, you promised! You told me that you'd never break a promise!"

Seto could see him crying, alone, abandoned, betrayed. He could see Seth glaring at him in disgust and anger.

"You're rotten to the core, Seto, just like your dragon."

Mokuba was sinking, swallowed up by a tangible darkness as he screamed for salvation.

He couldn't let that happen, but he didn't see how he could stop it. He couldn't live with himself if—

That was it. He had an epiphany that would make Seth furious, but it couldn't possibly make him any angrier than he'd be if he failed to save his little brother.

"Face it, Seto," Yugi was saying as his opponent's mind returned its focus to their present situation. "Your dragon is finished. It's over."

"Yugi." Seto closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before opening his eyes again. He knew what he needed to do. "My Blue-Eyes may have failed me, but I still have one strategy left." He took a step backwards. Then another, and another.

"What's he doing?" Anzu asked in a horrified whisper.

"He's gone nuts!" Joey exclaimed, then called out in a louder voice, "Seto, stop!"

The brunette halted as he stepped up onto the ledge, the wind tugging at his long coat as his narrowed eyes met Yugi's widened ones.

"Get down from there, Seto! It's just a card-game!" Ryou cried, starting to panic. Marik pulled Ryou closer to his side, trying to comfort him. Marik himself remained silent, angry with the other teen for his behavior, but waiting to see if he came to his senses before things went too far.

"What are you doing?"

"If you attack me, Yugi," Seto answered smoothly, sounding much too calm for his current position. "The shockwaves will likely knock me off the wall completely. It's fifty feet from here to the ground, which would give me, oh, about a fifty-percent chance of survival. Even if I do live, I'd be injured terribly. Probably paralyzed. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that, now would you?"

"How dare you—! What is wrong with you, Seto?" Anzu screamed at him, tripping over her own words. She lunged towards him, but Joey grabbed her arm and stopped her.

Joey was even angrier than Marik because he knew Seto better. He'd seen the brunette suffer and struggle and stand his ground. He'd seen him violent and paranoid and exhausted. He'd seen him being protective and kind and noble. Between Death-T, Monster World, and his former prostitution, Seto's character had been well exposed to Joey. He'd thought that he knew him well, but this cruel, manipulative behavior didn't fit with anything that he'd seen before.

"Get down from there, Seto!" Yugi ordered, but Seto didn't move an inch. This troubled Yugi deeply. If Seto was serious about this, he couldn't risk attacking him and trying to call his bluff. At the same time, Yugi couldn't risk losing. He needed to win so that he could enter the castle and challenge Pegasus to reclaim his grandfather's soul. Why was Seto putting him in such a difficult position?

We need to attack.

No, this isn't right.

It's the only way.

I can't—

We must.

Yugi drew a card from his deck, added it to his hand, and shouted, "Celtic Guardian, attack!" The holographic elf lifted his sword over his shoulder and began to run towards the rotting dragon. Seto didn't flinch, didn't even blink.

Would it hurt to die? Would it just feel like falling asleep?

"I can't watch this," Ryou whimpered again, turning to Marik and throwing his arms around the Egyptian's neck, squeezing his eyes shut as he held his breath and waited for it to be over.

"No, Yugi, you can't!" Anzu screamed, pulling out of Joey's grasp and running towards their shorter friend. "Call off the attack!"

Yugi's face contorted as he struggled within himself and against the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.

"Stop!" he finally screamed. The Celtic Guardian slowed and came to a stop mere feet away from the melting Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. It turned to look back at its master, as if confused, but Yugi had dropped to his knees, so overwhelmed with emotion that tears began to flow down his cheeks.

Seto had been saved by Yugi's better nature, but he didn't look triumphant or relieved. His expression remained unchanged. He didn't speak again until he'd drawn the top card from his deck.

"I use Monster Reborn to revive the third head of my Blue-Eyes!" A new head for his dragon materialized, its original stats restored. Now his dragon was strong enough to bring him to victory. "Blue-Eyes, White Lightning attack!" A blast of white-hot energy incinerated the Celtic Guardian and demolished Yugi's sparse life-points. The duel was over. He'd won, but at what cost?

Only Yugi's sobs and Seto's footsteps could be heard as the brunette stepped off the ledge and went to gather up the star-chips and Duel Disks. Anzu was at his side as Yugi shakily removed his deck from his before handing it to Seto, who carefully put them both back in his backpack.

"I can't believe you." Joey stepped up as Seto started to pass him, blocking his way to the castle's entrance. "I always knew you had an ego, but I didn't know you'd really do anything to win."

Seto's icy eyes finally connected with Joey's blazing ones, making eye contact with him for the first time that day.

"Does the title of champion really mean that much to you? Does it?" the blond demanded, his anger further riled by Seto's steady silence. "Are you really that arrogant that you can't stand to let someone else win it? Are you?" Joey grabbed Seto by the front of his shirt, earning him a fierce glare from his friend. Seto grabbed Joey's hand and twisted, making Joey release his hold and wince as he found himself unable to break free.

"You don't understand," the champion growled in a low voice, the words ground out slowly. "You couldn't possibly understand." That was all the defense he made for himself before casting Joey aside and striding away at a brisk pace. When he came to the door, he turned in his star-chips and entered the castle. Marik glared after him as he comforted Ryou, who was almost as upset as Yugi was by all of this.

"Hey bud, are you okay?" Joey asked, crouching down in front of Yugi, who stared at the ground as he cried on his hands and knees.

"I couldn't control it… the other presence inside me," Yugi whispered, lifting a hand to wipe his eyes with his sleeve.

"You mean, the pharaoh?" Joey asked gently, trying to clarify.

"Yes." Yugi tried to blink the tears from his eyes as Anzu got down to sit beside him, putting a hand on his back to try and reassure him.

"I'm sorry about your grandpa, Yugi." Anzu was fighting tears of her own now. "You could never hurt somebody else, though, not even for him."

"He wouldn't want to be rescued that way," Joey assured, thinking that his words were helpful. "You did the right thing."

"I know, but… I almost couldn't stop him." Yugi veiled his violet eyes from view as he tried to take a steady breath. "What if I never learn to control him? I can't promise that it won't happen again… If I don't know how to stop him, then I'm never going to duel again."

"What?" Joey blinked at his friend in shock. "But Yug, you're one of the best duelists I know!" No response. "You're grandpa's countin' on you! I'm dueling for 'im too, but you know I can't beat Seto! He's just too good!"

"That's enough, Joey," Anzu snapped, glaring at Joey before pulling Yugi up into a sitting position and hugging him tightly. She would do anything it took to make Yugi feel better, her pity for the pure-hearted teenager filling her with determination.

As the three of them spoke, Marik and Ryou seemed to be in a world of their own. Marik's arms were wrapped around Ryou, who'd slid his hands to Marik's chest and let his arms be folded between them. That created enough space that Ryou could comfortably rest his forehead on Marik's shoulder.

"How could he do that?" Ryou whispered, his breathing quick and shallow. "He could have died… he almost did die! How could he… Why? Why would he do such an horrible thing?"

"I do not know." Marik's grip on the Millennium Rod tightened momentarily, then he shifted a little to tuck it into a belt-loop at his back, just as Seto carried it. He replaced his arm to hug Ryou more tightly. "Let us just be grateful that he is okay now." Of course Seto wasn't alright if he was threatening suicide in order to win a duel, but physically he was fine.

"I don't understand…"

"We will figure it out, okay?" Marik kissed the top of Ryou's head, making his lover lift his head to look at him. "We will talk to him and get this straightened out as soon as we get the chance to. Okay?"

"Okay." Ryou nodded a little, and Marik pecked his cheek.

"Are you going to be alright?" Marik asked with concern. "I know you and he used to be close."

"He never lets anyone got very close," Ryou murmured as he wiped his eyes on the cuff of his sleeve. "That's why I'm worried about him. I know that he's troubled, but…" His eyes started to water again, and Marik hugged him close once more.

"We will figure this out somehow. I promise."

Ryou nodded as his thin arms encircled Marik's torso and hugged him just as tightly.

Author Notes: Yikes! My longest hiatus since I started writing on here. I am SO sorry! Enjoy some Angstshipping fluff/angst as part of my apology! It won't take that long for the next chapter to come, I promise. This chapter was dedicated to my dear friend BreakfastForLife. :3

And yes, Seto's victory was quite predictable, wasn't it? Well, this is his story after all. Real plot-twists coming up, though, so stay tuned!

As always, please review, because more reviews = more chapters and I don't post a new chapter until I get at least one review.