As she stepped into the blue corridor and out of the view of the crowds, Meisa couldn't help but be relieved. The duel had been rough. More than once she'd been half convinced Kaiba would win it, but her best friend had come through for her.

After all, she wouldn't have even known Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon was a thing, if she hadn't seen Katsuya play it last night against Hanaq.

Reaching for her phone, she was pleasantly surprised to see a text message from Amane, letting her know that she was back, but unable to leave the infirmary right now. She was less pleasantly surprised to see another from Rebecca but had to remind herself that it was a good thing she was back from the Shadows, even if she'd hurt herself and her Imoto, and gotten Katsuya into a near-fatal Shadow Game.

And her heart and head sank when she realized that there was no message from Katsuya, meaning that there was a good chance he hadn't woken up yet. She leaned against the wall and slid down until her head rested on her knees, trying to ignore the ache in her chest which throbbed with the beat of her heart.

Being banned from the hospital, being banned from his side had hurt before, but now she had the power available to heal him? It was agony.

'He… he's got to be alright, right?' Her twin's voice trembled a little as she asked, 'I mean, if Hanaq had to undo what she's done, then he has to be awake too.'

Meisa didn't want to give her twin false reassurance. She had no idea what the deal between Mai and Hanaq had been, so she didn't know exactly what Hanaq had to undo.

After all, Ba-Khu-Ra hadn't been restored and she hadn't surrendered the Millennium Items, so Katsuya could easily still be unconscious.

Worst of all, Hanaq was now outside the rules. She didn't have to duel if she didn't want to, and she could hit anyone at any time. There were no more rules binding her behavior.

There was no longer anything keeping Meisa's friends safe.

She half-wished that they hadn't asked them to stay away. At least when they were close, she could try and ensure their safety. While they were out in the masses, they were easy targets for…

"Yugi!"

Her head snapped up to find Anzu and Honda rushing down the corridor toward her. Honda slid to her side, scuffing his trousers as he examined her, clearly worried as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. You okay?"

"I'm fine, Honda, don't worry." Meisa gave him a smile she didn't feel. "I'm just…"

She squeaked as she was pulled into a hug. She was tempted to protest the need of it, but the security of the strong grip and reassuring warmth offered was too comforting to push away. So instead, she leaned into it, taking the friendship that was being offered.

"We should be safe if we stay in the stadium, right?" Anzu asked, once the Pharaoh had settled herself and pulled away. "Kaiba's guards should stop Hanaq before she can try anything."

Meisa hesitated to answer. It was a solid idea, but it didn't take into account the fact that Hanaq had the Millennium Rod. Using its powers, she could easily turn the guards against each other, or worse, against the innocent spectators. And hiding wouldn't keep them safe when she had the Millennium Ring, which could track anything, because she would be able to use it to find them.

"Safer at least." Honda grimaced, his mind going to the same place as the Pharaoh's. "But it won't…"

The sound of Anzu's phone ringing cut him off and the dancer pulled her phone out on autopilot.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Anzu, hi." Amane's voice rang from the speaker, making Yugi wonder why she'd rang Anzu and not her. "Are you with the others?"

"Yugi and Honda are with me, are you okay?" The dancer's face lit up in relief at hearing her voice.

"I'm fine." The voice on the other end sounded a little strained, but it was still better than knowing Amane was unconscious in a hospital bed. "But I thought you'd want to know that the infirmary's safe."

"Kawai banned us from the…"

"I take it back." Kawai's voice in the background shocked Anzu. "Get yourselves here. Ishtar's promised to keep her guards away so it's probably the safest place on the island."

The Pharaoh grimaced at her worst fears about Hanaq's actions being confirmed, as Honda gave her a hand to her feet.

"Yugi too?" Anzu pressed, hoping that Kawaii had seen sense and her outburst last night had just been from concern over her son's condition.

"Of course, Yugi too." Amane huffed, having not wanted Yugi to get caught up in the mess upstairs until after the tournament, but not wanting to leave her wandering around without any protection at all until the next duel started. If it started at all, considering Mai was still out cold. "I need her help confirming something."

"We'll be there in a second. How's Jonouchi?"

"Not sure. He wasn't awake when I checked twenty minutes ago."

It wasn't surprising, but it did hit the whole group like a truck.

"Mai's victory got my strength restored," the Pharaoh's determined voice drew the gazes of Anzu and Honda to her. "I can heal him, Mai and anyone else who needs it."

"I don't…" There was a pause, the rumble of a male voice in the background and a squeal from a younger, female voice, then Amane's tone sounded lighter as she said, "You know what? Get up here as soon as you can. Bring Yugi if you can. I'll explain when you get here."

"On our way."

It didn't take them long to get from the competitor entrance to the hospital, where Anzu's mother greeted them at the door and hurried them inside before shutting the door.

Before anyone could say anything, Yugi had seized control, let out a delighted squeal and shot across the room, latching onto someone who was emerging from a side room in a tight hug. He staggered and wrapped his arms around the cannonball that had hit him before kissing her deeply.

As they kissed, her magic flooded his system, healing his wounds and easing his soul. In return his hug and warmth were the balm her soul needed to stop trembling like a chihuahua.

"Hey Yuge, nice win." The soft chuckle was music to Yugi's ears as she nuzzled into him, having been afraid, so very very afraid, that he wouldn't wake again.

"You asshole." Honda snapped at him, even as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands. "You could've told us you're awake!"

"I left my phone in my room." Jou gave an apologetic smile, "And I only just woke up properly. I've been trapped in my Red Eyes for the last… how long have I been out?"

"You were…" Yugi's eyes widened as he pulled away. "You were on the field? I wasn't seeing things?"

"Helped you kick his ass, didn't I?" Jou's grin in return made her giggle and cling to him.

"Did Ishizu do that to you?" Anzu asked, angry if that was the case and relieved to see him on his feet, his return lifting the spirits and easing the weight upon their shoulders.

"No, I should have died, but… this is going to sound nuts…"

He paused as he tried to work out how to explain getting into a punch up with his dead dad so he could return to the world of the living.

Only to not have to.

"You fought to come back?" Yugi asked quietly.

Startled, his gaze dropped down. When his eyes met hers, it was to find the most serious expression he'd ever seen on her face. Serious and understanding.

"You too, huh?" His body language shifted, his shoulders tensing and his grip tightening as the memory of her laying, unbreathing, on the docks, slammed into him again.

"That makes three of us." Amane admitted quietly, earning herself a hug from Honda.

"Amane, I'm…"

"Don't apologize, Yugi. To either of us," Amane scolded. "We knew the danger Ishtar posed when we chose to fight her."

"Speaking of Ishtar; she's taken control of the guards who were supposed to be looking after the hospital." Mazaki Yui warned them as she pulled her daughter into a one-armed hug. "I suspect that, since she's not being stopped, she has more than just them at her beck and call."

"Okaasan…" Anzu winced, having been trying to keep the magic side of things out of her mother's line of sight.

"Anzu, darling." The two words were said with the patience of a mother speaking to a small child. "I'm a KC lawyer. Who do you think was helping Mokuba deal with things when the CEO went into a magic-induced coma? Who do you think went over the contracts with Industrial Illusions about covering up the magic that was used at Duelist Kingdom? Who do you think has been helping cover up the legal aspects of the bullshit going on during this tournament. I know about magic. This is magic. It's also bullshit."

The curse at the end made Honda chuckle.

The older Mazaki turned to Yugi. "You can fix this, right? Before I have twenty-thousand legal cases to deal with?"

"I can try." The Pharaoh took over and admitted with an uncomfortable grimace. "With my magic and health restored, I stand more of a chance, but she's still got three Millennium Items to my one. And she's got more experience with the magic."

"If we can get the Ring back, Ba-Khu-Ra and I can help." Amane offered from the doorway of room five, only to frown when the Pharaoh winced. "What? Pharaoh, what? What did I miss?"

"Ba-Khu-Ra…"

A sudden squeak from her twin and burst of pain and shock over the link made the spirit of the Puzzle dive into the corridor between soul rooms, where she found the Spirit of the Ring had her twin pinned to the wall, a knife held to her throat.

"Let her go." At the Pharaoh's snap, the Thief Queen turned her gaze away from the younger of the Mutou twins and turned it on the older. Her narrowed blue-grey eyes and her expression warned Meisa that she was ready to injure Yugi if the Pharaoh wasn't careful.

"Where is my Landlord, Pharaoh? How do you have fragments of my soul?"

The other spirit was angry at getting caught sneaking around by the Runt of all people, meaning her existence had been outed after she'd been searching the Puzzle for the Pharaoh's name for goodness knew how long.

She'd hoped that the revival of her boyfriend would've kept the kid distracted, but apparently not.

"I assume you're the fragment of Ba-Khu-Ra I sensed within my Puzzle. I was going to seek you out later and give you your soul parts back." Meisa spoke evenly, calmly, aware that everything could go bad in an instant, "If you let Imoto go, I'll explain everything."

Ba-Khu-Ra considered her for a moment, then nodded and released Yugi, who darted to her older sister's side. She'd anticipated the Thief Queen being violent when she first woke up, so that wasn't a surprise, considering she'd startled Ba-Khu-Ra when she'd first entered her room. The knife, however, was unexpected and had her trembling.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Ba-Khu-Ra paused to think back, a grimace easily taking residence upon her features as she huffed, "Your Runt getting pushed down the stairs."

"That was almost ten months ago." The Pharaoh's reply shocked the other spirit. "A lot has happened since then. Why don't you reclaim your soul parts and see if that helps? Be warned, your last actions might cause them to sting."

With a scowl, the Thief Queen homed in on the bowl they'd put the fragments in, kicking a chess set out of the way in a movement that scattered the pieces and had Yugi flinching as the memories attached to them went skittering out of order.

"Careful." The Pharaoh snapped, not wanting her twin's memories to be messed up like her own, but the Thief didn't pay attention. Instead, she dipped her hands straight into the bowl. The shards, sensing a greater whole were drawn to her, like iron fragments to a magnet and seeped into her hands, until they were completely absorbed.

Meisa didn't hesitate to dive forward as Ba-Khu-Ra's head snapped back and her legs gave out as ten months of knowledge, pain and fear slammed into her all at once.

"Ba-Khu-Ra!"

"I'm… I'm fine." The spirit hissed out, pushing the Pharaoh away. "Not whole, not yet. There's gaps where the flames took some of me, and there'll be more of me in the Ring but… it's enough, for now. I remember enough to not want to stab you right now, at least. Let me talk to Amane."

"Not my call." Meisa glanced over to Yugi, who looked nervous for a moment.

Lending her vessel to Anesan was one thing. She knew she could trust the Pharaoh to not get her, or her friends hurt. And she knew she could trust Meisa to let her have control back when she was done.

Letting Ba-Khu-Ra use her shell was another matter entirely. She didn't know what the other spirit had planned, or if she'd be allowed to have her vessel back afterwards.

"Right now," Ba-Khu-Ra's words as she stared at Yugi, derailed her train of thoughts, "I can't take your sister in a fight, so if you're worried I'm going to keep control, don't. I can't. I'm not whole enough, or strong enough, to try something that stupid. I only got the jump on you because you froze. I just want to talk to my sister and check she's alright."

Yugi could understand that. If sensing Amane's soul slipping away had hurt her, it must have been devastating for Ba-Khu-Ra. Glancing at her Anesan told her that the Pharaoh felt the same way.

"Alright."

Stepping into the Runt's vessel was weird for the Thief Queen. At about a foot shorter, she had to look up at her Sen, who let out a gasp as she beheld storm grey-blue eyes on a face that normally held purple or red.

"Ba… Ba-Khu-Ra?!"

Her call startled Yugi's posse who stared at her as she smiled ruefully and ask, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, but… how?"

"The Pharaoh dragged me into the Puzzle with her and out of the flames." The Thief grimaced, "So I owe her for that, I guess. Once we get the Ring back, I'll come back to you. I don't want to be stuck in here any longer than necessary."

"I'm sorry," Amane's words confused the spirit. "You got yourself burned up, helping me."

"We'll talk about this when we can do it without an audience." The Thief waved it off. "Are you alright, really?"

"I…"

Amane didn't know what to say, with everyone watching. She'd gone into her soul room to check, and the mark of the Goddess that'd sent her back to the living realm was still on her wrist, telling her she hadn't been dreaming. As such, she wanted to share that Ba-Khu-Ra's children missed her. That her son was working with Anubis to try and save her soul, and that her daughter was still protecting their family, but that would be talking about private matters publicly, around people that were their friends but, at the end would have to be their enemies or die.

Thankfully, she didn't have to, as Rishid entered the room. Ba-Khu-Ra dropped out of control as Jonouchi and Honda moved between Yugi and the young man, who dropped to his knees before Yugi, startling them all.

"My Pharaoh." At his deferent tone and bowed head, Meisa took over. "I beg your forgiveness and your assistance."

Meisa considered the Ishtar before her. Rishid's betrayal was the least severe of the three. While his actions were still awful, trying to sacrifice Shizuka's soul and wasting Jonouchi's time, preventing him from stopping the docks duel happening, Rishid hadn't known them personally before these events.

Marik's blabbing and backstabbing after working with them for months, after claiming to be their friend for months, hurt more. While Ishizu's murder of her twin, was something that the Pharaoh wasn't sure she'd ever be able to forgive, even if Yugi had managed to find her way back to them from the afterlife.

She was within her rights to judge Rishid here and now. To refuse him assistance after everything he and his family had done to her and hers.

But she knew that if she refused to help now, while she was so mixed up in her anger, she would regret it when she calmed.

So, instead she asked, "What do you need?"

"Azra's been attacked, and Marik…"

"Show me."

Rishid rose to his feet and wheeled around in one swift movement. The Pharaoh followed, her friends on her heels. He led them into the room where Azra lay, unconscious, barely breathing and almost as still as death.

"What happened?" The Pharaoh's voice was soft, concerned as she moved to the woman's bedside, reaching out with her magic and freezing when she realized the problem. "How did she…? Ishizu?"

"No," Amane shook her head. "I don't recognise the magic, but it's not Shadows."

Meisa grimaced and wrapped her spells around the older woman, trying to work out what had done this and grimacing when her power slid off the miniscule amount of deep green magic that remained wrapped around Azra's form.

It was old, powerful, stronger than hers and yet familiar at the same time. She'd touched this magic before, but she wasn't sure where. The sense was fleeting, not enough to give her a firm grasp on who or where she'd sensed the magic from.

"No, it's not. It's something else, something old. There's nothing I can do about it, my power slides off. I can't even get a handhold on it. It's like..."

When the Pharaoh paused, grimacing, Amane spoke up. "It's not unusual for older magics to overwhelm newer ones. If whatever magic was used to attack her is older than three thousand years, the items won't be able to touch it. Like modern magic wouldn't stand a chance against the items. My family's been dealing with the occult for generations, I might have something that can counter this, or some knowledge of what this is. I'll have to go back to the UK to go through the records though."

She didn't think her family would mind her using the archives to help her friends and she knew she needed to go back to the UK and work out what she was doing with the manor anyway. This was a good opportunity.

Then Yugi took over, concern clear as she asked, "Was the Necklace with her?"

At her question, Kawai paused and checked Azra's neck, only…

"She's not got a necklace on." Kawai frowned before checking the clothes she had been brought in with, "And there's nothing in her pockets barring a phone and some ID."

Frustration flooded Yugi's mind from two different angles, overwhelming her own upset and disappointment and making her hands ball into fists and tears roll down her cheeks.

They'd been so close. So damn close to getting the information that they'd waited and fought so hard for. So close to finding out who'd sent their lives in Egypt crashing into the ground.

And their only way to get that information was gone. Lost to whoever had stolen Azra's soul and taken the Millennium Necklace.

"Yuge?"

Jou's steadying hand on her shoulder helped Yugi ground herself and push back at the emotions of the spirits resting within her Puzzle and her mind. Realising their mistake, Meisa and Ba-Khu-Ra backed off, allowing her to take a deep breath.

"I'll message Mokuba and see if he can use the security cameras to find her attacker. They have to still be on the island. No one's had a chance to leave yet."

She hoped. If this person was as organised as they seemed, they could've made their own way off. That thought made her grimace as she fired off the text message, then turned to Rishid.

"Once we have the Ring, we can hunt whoever took her soul and the Necklace, but until then, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry."

"I understand."

He did too. It was disappointing, but he knew he needed to handle that disappointment better than he and his siblings had handled her telling them no, on that beach, so many months ago.

When he didn't start ranting at her, or lash out, Yugi offered a smile, "You wanted our help with Marik too?"

"Can you?"

She turned to Kawai. "I need two bottles or cups of water."

"Two?" Rishid frowned, "I thought…"

"One's for Marik, one's for Mai." Yugi cut him off, "Mai's my friend, she risked her life to help us and I don't want to win this tournament by default. So, I'm healing her too."

Kawai, who'd never seen how this worked properly, was back in a few seconds with sealed bottles of water. Yugi searched her deck for the needed cards, then drew magic from the Puzzle, smiling softly when she felt her twin backing her up as she cast Emergency Provisions and dropped three thousand into a bottle for Marik and four thousand into one for Mai.

"Have him sip this slowly." She told Rishid as she handed him the lightly glowing water, trying to ignore the slight waver on the world around her which she knew from experience would settle down in a few minutes. "It'll sting going down, but it should help."

"Thank you." Rishid's smile was bright and honest and lit up his face in a way that made him much less terrifying. "Thank you!"

"We never wanted your family hurt, Rishid, and we certainly don't plan on hurting anyone who doesn't attack us. I swear it."

Her words made him pause, consider the weight behind them, then nodded and rushed to his brother's room to try and wake him.

"I shouldn't let you give my patient any…" Kawai paused. Technically these weren't her patients anymore. She'd been fired. Still, her training made her wary of anything that hadn't been approved by a board of experts.

"This will help. I promise, and it's less painful than doing it the way I did it for Jou…" Yugi winced, turned to look at him and smiled ruefully. "Sorry?"

"Didn't even notice." Jou's amused snort helped Yugi's guilt, "I was too busy kissing the hottest girl in the room."

"Jonouchi Katsuya!" His mother's scold and Yugi's bright blush made him laugh as they headed into Mai's room.

It didn't take much of the magic infused liquid to wake the Amazoness Duelist, who shot upright and nearly clocked Yugi, who leapt back just in time. The issue that'd knocked her out was more trauma than recoverable damage, and she panted heavily for a moment as she processed her surroundings and the fact the pain had stopped.

"Mai?"

Yugi's question made her look at the Queen of Games, glance around the room, then let out a huff.

"Don't tell me I've missed the finals."

"Kujaku and Mutou to the arena, please. Kujaku and Mutou to the arena."

"Nope." Yugi's giggle at the timing as Mai pulled herself out of the bed, made the Amazoness Duelist smirk.

"You realise I'm not going to let a little thing like being knocked out stop me from kicking your ass, right?"

"I'd hope you were gonna try." Yugi snarked back, amusing and relieving her friends, who were pleased to see a little of her normal fire come back. "I've waited a year for this duel and magical stuff going on or not, I want to face you at your best."

"Oh, you'll get it. I assume your cheerleaders are going to watch?"

"Cheerleaders?!"

"They can watch it here." Mazaki cut in, having turned on the screen in the waiting room by the entrance and ignoring Katsuya and Honda's protests, "So they stay safe and you two can focus on dueling."

Anzu, Honda and Katsuya would've protested, but the relief on Yugi's face kept them quiet and Amane didn't particularly fancy her chances of surviving a second attempt on her life so, after wishing Yugi and Mai good luck, and seeing the pair off, they settled in to watch.

Once the girls were settled in, however, Katsuya grabbed Honda's arm and pulled him close.

"What…?"

"Shut it a second." Katsuya hissed, not wanting what he was about to say to get out to anyone else. "The bitch still has her claws in me."

"You serious?" Honda hissed back, noting the glance in his direction from Amane that suggested she'd heard Katsuya's words.

"Yeah, she froze me in place, then threatened to make me strangle Yuge. I'm not safe to be around her right now, or anyone else. So, if she grabs control again…"

"I'll knock you out. Promise." Honda slammed a fist into his palm, "I won't let you hurt anyone."

"Thanks bro."

Honda's promise helped ease Katsuya's concerns as, on screen, people started flooding back into the stadium seats for the final duel of the day.

"You're welcome."