Author's Note:

Here is Chapter 38! IT STILL LIVES.

Guys, I'm so overwhelmed by the support I've received from you. I honestly could not believe when I was getting email alerts that people were still reading this insane, long-ass story and that you all still want to know how this ends! So amazing to see the familiar pen names!

Huge thanks to Accel the Worst, Shuuwai, Ale15, JCHudson, LadyMadalla-Selene and Guest for still being the best people ever. Keep on rocking.

In the meantime, we're getting closer to the end of Part II (3 chapters to go, I already have 39 and 40 written but they require a lot of editing) and then a pretty short Part III and then omg it's all finally over LOL. So close!

NineInchNailed.

"Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul."

~Ezra Taft Benson.

Ruka winced at her brother's words, face pale as a marble. Her hand faltered above the Trap button on her duel disk. "What did you say?" she managed, unable to conceal her shock.

Rua's Morphtronic Videon flew towards Fairy Dragon and it was only when her dragon anxiously roared at her did Ruka remember herself. "Trap activates! Waboku - I take no battle damage and my monsters cannot be destroyed by battle this turn either!"

"You heard me, sister," Rua answered, unbothered by his failing attack. "Your crush on Yusei is obvious. Of course I knew. Everyone knew, him included. Did you know they used to laugh about it? Your so-called friends."

"You're lying."

"They always teased him and Yusei was super ashamed. I remember he said, "If only she'd stop, it's so embarrassing." Jack Atlas and Izayoi Aki were the worst. Fake smiling at you and then laughing behind your back when you left." He was anatomical about the words used to hurt her, knowing full well which would sting the most.

"You're-" Ruka stuttered. "That's a lie. I know it's a lie." But…was it really?

"No it isn't. I felt bad for you, you know? I always came to your defense. Told them off. Now who would do that but your dear brother?" Rua finished his turn by setting two facedown cards on the field. Although he didn't land an attack, he still had Morphtronic Videon by his side with 2800 Attack points.

Ruka had to swallow back an influx of tears, feeling shaken and humiliated. Involuntarily she started thinking back to the times she'd walked in on the busy gang, laughing about something that excluded her. When she'd ask them about it they used to say, "It's nothing, you had to be here." Could it…could it have been the truth after all? She felt helpless with insecurity. "No, it's-"

"The truth," Rua sighed. "Can't be such a surprise to you, can it? Of course he could never love you – not the way you'd want him to anyway. Because nobody could really love a sad, weak thing like you."

Sniffling, Ruka opened her mouth but no words came out. She turned to Fairy Dragon for emotional support, saw the resilient strength in its eyes. It nodded at her. And Ruka… smiled and nodded her understanding in return. "Yes. Let's go, Ancient Fairy Dragon. We have a battle to fight."

"Did you hear what I said?" her brother checked.

"I heard you loud and clear, Rua," she responded. "But it's okay. Because it doesn't matter to me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Yusei…Yusei will never love me," Ruka managed, swallowing a knot in her throat. She closed her eyes and repeated, admitting these horrible words to herself: "He will never love me." Then she wiped away the remainder of her tears and looked at her brother with the resolve on her face, a smile on her lips. "I know he won't. But…that's okay. You know why? Because it doesn't matter if he or anyone else returns my feelings. I'll be okay – I'll always be okay – as long as you're the one who loves me, Rua."

"I don't love you," Rua retorted angrily. "I hate you. Haven't you heard a single thing I said? You ruined my life! I had no friends because of you for 10 years! I was stuck dueling only a loser like you – AND because you're so sickly all the time – mom and dad only care about you!"

"And I'm so sorry for what I did!" Ruka shouted, mournfully. "I mean it. I know that those thoughts may not be your own right now but I don't care: I did keep you inside. I was constantly sick. And you were my only friend. You were always by my side. I'm sorry that I haven't acknowledged it enough. I can only hope I could ever repay you for everything you've done for me, Rua."

"What?" Rua took a step back, bewildered by her apology. This..this wasn't how it was all supposed to go down?

"I will always fight for the ones I love," Ruka went on. And others may have thought her weak for it – for her dedication to her duel monsters and to the people in her life – but she didn't care. "Loving others is what gives me strength and I will never be ashamed of that. Even if they are laughing at me, even if I am the centre of ridicule. I will still love Yusei…and Jack, Aki, Crow and Bruno. Even if they don't feel that way about me. And I will always love you, Rua, and that will never change. Today I'm fighting for you and today I WILL save you."

"I don't need to be saved! Not by the likes of you!"

"It's my turn, draw!" Ruka declared, adding one more card to her hand. And then she saw it: exactly how she could end this. "Let's go Rua! We'll defeat this together!"

"We're not in this together! What's wrong with you?!" her brother yelled, his hand tightly clutching his forearm.

"First, I play a Spell card, Synchro Monument! When a Tuner monster is Summoned or a Synchro monster is Synchro Summoned, my opponent can't activate any cards," she revealed. Then, she placed a monster card on her duel disk. "I Normal Summon Sunny Pixie in Defense mode." A weak Level 1 Tuner fairy appeared and - with it and her Synchro Monument field spell – she'd now successfully blocked Rua from using any Trap cards.

He looked very angry and started muttering something mean at her but Ruka was beyond listening to his empty, false words. "And then, again, I play another Ancient Forest field spell!"

"AGAIN? Why do you always use this card, Ruka? And why do you have multiples of it?" Rua groaned, grabbing his head, and, for that moment, he looked and sounded like her brother usually did. He was always so frustrated with her strategies. It brought a smile to Ruka's face and gave her further strength to continue with her combination. "Ancient Fairy Dragon cannot take on your Morphtronic Videon but I'm once again activating its special effect. Go Fairy Dragon! Destroy Ancient Forest and grant me 1000 extra Life Points."

Obeying, her magical Signer dragon obliterated the forest surrounding them and a warm, white glow enveloped Ruka as she gained Life Points.

"What are you doing!?" Rua shouted, exasperated by her odd dueling this turn.

Ruka kept on smiling. He didn't know, he couldn't know. "Trap activates!" she shouted. "Oberon's Prank! It can only activate when an effect that increases Life Points is activated. Instead, it's negated and both players take damage equal to the amount of Life Points I would have gained thanks to Ancient Fairy Dragon!"

Brother and sister received an equal blow of 1000 to their Life Points and the damage was real inside the Sutekh Sacrifico seal. When the smoke cleared, Ruka was lying on her side on the ground, panting. She pushed herself on her elbow and propped up, watching her brother who'd succeeded at standing up – although quite shakily.

"What's the point of this...what are you doing...!" Rua was saying as wisps of smoke were coming off him. "Ruka, Ruka!"

His Life Points dropped to 250 and hers to only 100 due to her self-destructing antics.

"Rua, you and I – we have been together from day one," she said and smiled sadly at him. She felt too weak to stand up but that wouldn't stop her from finishing the turn. "I never tried to defeat you today - not if that meant losing you. I will not leave a twinless twin today. You and I are going to leave this place, together. One way or another."

"NO!" Rua yelled, finally realizing what she was doing. He unsuccessfully tried activating his Trap Cards to stop her but her Synchro Monument field spell was effectively blocking him.

"I play my final Trap card - Destruction Ring!" Ruka yelled. This was the Trap she took from her friends last night, the one she knew would alter this destiny. She gestured at her Ancient Fairy Dragon. "I destroy one face-up monster on my side of the field...to inflict 1000 points of damage to both of our Life Points." Goodbye, she smiled at her dragon who'd evaporated after one last look at her.

The immense explosion from her destructive Trap drowned out both siblings' screams.

Slowly...uncertainly...Ruka opened her eyes, coming to. Rua's dear face came into focus. He was kneeling next to her. His face was covered in scratches and soot, as she imagined her own must've been too. His gray-gold eyes were crystal clear and filled with tears.

"Ruka!" he cried out and hugged her tightly.

The sinister red circle of the sacrificial seal was slowly shrinking to consume them: with the duel ending in a draw, it was going to take them together.

"So...we both lost this one," she reflected weakly.

The Signer mark – the heart of the Crimson Dragon – shone brightly upon her brother's forearm. "How could you...how could you..." he was saying. "I'm so sorry, Ruka. I don't know how I let it happen like this. I never meant any of those awful things I've said."

She embraced him. "I know, Rua."

"And I was scared," the boy admitted tearfully. "I was scared that you were going to get hurt. That's why… But I just made it worse!"

"It's okay. We're together now. Until the end."

And the twins held one another, waiting for the circle to close in on them.

"YES!" Set exclaimed joyfully, not paying an ounce of attention to Aki inside her unconscious mind. "It's here! The time has finally come!" His grinning mouth stretched further beyond the cheeks and she saw clearly that his nose and mouth had formed into a long snout. His hideous face had fully morphed into something animal-like. A beast or a jackal but with peeling human skin stretched over it like a mask, ripping in a few places as it futilely tried to conceal the animal underneath.

The upright Set-animal turned its back to her and with panic she saw that his residual image was starting to blur. He was about to fade away and leave her to drown within this viscous darkness.

She couldn't let him leave. "No, you can't go!" she ordered and quickly cleared her throat when her voice came out high-pitched and weak. And then she drew in a deep breath and yelled: "You're inside MY head. I won't let you go!"

The hazy image of the horrible, humanoid beast glanced back at her with red eyes.

"That's right – what the hell do you think you are?" she shouted at it, drawing on the deep anger and hatred inside her; letting it feed her. The hatred she'd known at Arcadia when it was her against the world – she had to awaken it and embrace it, what had once been a part of her. Because, truly, do parts of us that we work so hard to suppress ever disappear?

Aki felt a breeze in her hair, a surge of her power and it thumped in her veins with each beat of her heart. She felt herself being pulled up from the chair she was tied to. She could do this. This was nothing. She was strong and stronger than anyone could've ever imagined. Divine had known this: tried to unlock her full potential, foster it, grow it. And he'd almost succeeded until she'd defied him. "You're only a pathetic monster without your own body!"

The monster beneath the human skin parted its cavernous black mouth and hissed words at her in an obsolete, ancient language. She understood the words, somehow. He was daring her to try saying that again against a divine being, she who was lesser than a cockroach, a microbe, a-

"A god – are you kidding? A leech is more like it!" Aki shouted, standing tall on her feet – the binds that held her in place having disintegrated without her noticing. Hatred and anger were coming off her in powerful, psychic waves. THUMP-THUMP-THUMP – the power pulsated from her in synchronicity with her pulse –THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP. "And nobody is afraid of you – you don't have anything. You can't do anything. You're a disease, a virus that's festered into our lives. Inside my mind you're nothing more than a bad thought, a temporary illness that's drilled into my head. You don't have any power here. AND I'LL GET RID OF YOU."

Set-animal growled like a rabid dog and launched at her.

Aki screamed as he attacked her, unprepared for this sudden retaliation. She covered her face with her arms, helpless as this enormous wolf-thing started ripping her to shreds. She felt the vicious animal rip pieces out of her, saw the bleeding stumps where her hands used to be, knew he was going to maul her throat next-

What the hell am I doing!? she shouted inside her head and the monster was suddenly thrown off her by the gust of air she'd projected. "This isn't real," she said out loud, back on her feet. When she glanced at her hands again there wasn't a single scratch on her. "None of this is real. Inside my mind, I'm the one in control."

The Set-animal was lying a few metres away, suddenly much smaller in size. It still had a grotesque appearance though. This monstrous jackal stared at her as if not comprehending what just happened. Then he pounced on her and she got ready to blast him away again but suddenly it wasn't the humanoid-like dog in front of her. It was…Divine.

"What are you doing, Aki?" he asked and – at the sound of that familiar voice and at the look of his concerned face – she was immediately frozen solid.

"I worry about you, Aki. You need to rest. Let me take care of you," he murmured patiently as if speaking to a child.

Divine? Divine!? She was staring, suddenly as docile as a domesticated animal. He was just as she'd always remembered him: brown-red hair, clean-shaven without even a hint of stubble, green vest over a darker dress shirt, a pristine white tie at his collar, black gloves. He was quite a bit taller than her and she'd always felt dissected by his gaze when he looked at her.

And her panicked pause was enough for Divine to clutch her throat with both of his gloved hands and to tackle her. The back of Aki's head hit against the ground (what ground…?), she saw sparks fly and dipped into dark Nothingness.

"It's here! It's here!" Set started screeching like a madman in his duel against Yusei. "That's it, you lose! Nice knowing you!"

"End your turn! END IT!" Yusei screamed frantically as the reactor's alarms started going off like crazy.

"Sure, like it's going to make any bit of difference," Set laughed. He set a card facedown.

[That motherfucker Set]

[End of Turn Three: Dark Armed Dragon (Lvl.7) ATK2800/DEF1000 in Attack Mode; Juragedo (Lvl.4) ATK1700/DEF1300 in Attack Mode; 1 Face down Card; 1 Card in hand; LP1400]

"I have to end it, I have to end it, I have to end it," Yusei started repeating to himself obsessively and drew a card. Was there any time left at all now? Was it seconds or minutes before it was all about to blow? His hands and his whole body started shaking. Nausea pushed from his stomach so suddenly and so fiercely that he'd almost fell over then. He gagged and clapped his hand over his mouth, managing to keep it down. He also planted his feet wider to keep himself standing steady.

"Not over, it's not over…" He studied the cards with frightened eyes. "It's my turn."

[Yusei Fudo]

[Beginning of Turn Four: Stardust Dragon (Lvl.8) ATK2500/DEF2000 in Attack Mode; 0 Face down Cards; 1 Card in hand; LP1200]

"Your turn," Set repeated, utterly gleeful in his demeanor, intently watching the bomb behind Yusei. "Yes, take it, for all I care. Enjoy your illusion of possibility." He flexed Aki's fingers again, very hard this time, until her nails pierced the skin and her knuckles paled more than what seemed possible. The numbness was extremely potent now and he realized he couldn't push it away. Shortly, he may not have control of these hands. The girl was standing up against him in the Unconscious world and becoming stronger somehow. What the hell? He still needed a little more time and it would be a bad idea if she were to take over now. So he focused the majority of his energy on subduing her.

"It's not over, you have to finish it, you HAVE to finish it..." Yusei continued chanting to himself, knowing this was the last turn he had. "I Normal Summon Debris Dragon in Attack mode." A small silver Level 4 dragon appeared with ATK1000/DEF2000. "When Debris Dragon is summoned, I can Special Summon one monster with 500 or less Attack points from my Graveyard - but that monster's effects are negated. I select Hanewata." A plush cute monster with huge eyes and small wings appeared. Its Level was 1 and its stats were ATK200/DEF300.

Set - who looked a little vacant and slack-jawed - appeared aware again, returning to the duel. "Before you get cocky – I activate Juragedo's special effect. I can tribute Juragedo to give one of my monsters 1000 extra attack points until the end of next turn. Dark Armed Dragon, enjoy the extra power!" And, as his weaker monster disappeared, his more powerful monster's attack went up to 3800.

Yusei didn't let this phase him. I must finish this, I must finish this, I must- "And, once more, if I control a face-up Tuner monster, I can Special Summon Quillbolt Hedgehog from my Graveyard. Come!" His trusty Level 2 hamster re-appeared.

"BEHOLD!" Set bellowed loudly, startling Yusei and throwing him off his turn. The Egyptian God was cackling happily towards the direction of the bomb.

Yusei glanced behind him and saw the smoke starting to come off the gears and levers around the reactor. The red spinning energy inside it - the souls, that Set said were in there - began spinning at breakneck speed. The high-pitched alarms coupled with the infernal humming created a cacophony of horror.

A drop in blood pressure, a spike of sickening stress or his possible concussion worsening, Yusei's eyes rolled into his head and he turned to the side, throwing up whatever little he had left.

"The realms colliding, uniting all within this single place and point in time. The time of my coming, of my rebirth is near!" Set was screaming. Then, just as quickly, he suddenly zoned out and looked elsewhere with an empty look in his eyes.

"Not over," Yusei repeated aloud. He wiped his mouth, feeling sick and distressed. No, he couldn't give up: not even if it was all about to blow, not even if all he felt like doing was screaming in helplessness. You're in there, Aki, he thought, looking ahead at his opponent only and blocking out the impending horror behind him. He saw how distracted his enemy looked and deduced that Aki was significantly demanding his attention. He had to speak towards her now; there was no other way anymore. I can't do this without you. I know you're fighting him now so let's do this together. Let's get rid of him - together. "AKI!"

"AKI!" she heard a voice call out to her. She grasped to it, almost as if it were a helping hand reaching to pull her up, and swam out of drowning darkness.

Divine was on top of her, hands squeezing her throat with impossible strength. He was staring at her with those chilling emerald eyes and with a small smirk on his unblemished, good-looking face. "You can't fight me," he said. "You could never fight me. How can you fight me if you're mine?"

Aki couldn't breathe. Her eyes bulged out in panic and she tried clawing at his hands with nails to try getting him off her; then tried scratching his face but he'd effortlessly moved his head out of her reach.

"You and I are the same, Aki," he said in his sweet, calm voice. When he spoke to her and all those kids inside Arcadia Headquarters, he'd always used this type of smooth timbre - the one which came off almost hypnotic. She'd remembered the times she used to close her eyes and let his voice carry her, almost as if she were floating on waves. Everything was always going to be okay, he'd always make sure she'd be okay, all he ever wanted to do was take care of her. Psychic duelists – together until the end. Forever.

"Yes, just let go," he murmured, still ruthlessly strangling her. "Give yourself up to me. It's what you've always wanted."

Yes, wasn't it? Otherwise why did she cry with relief when she met him for the first time? When he'd embraced her and took her to Arcadia Headquarters, gave her a room to rest? When he let her stay there and started training her? Didn't she find him charming and attractive, once upon a time? Why else did she pine for his touch, why did she enjoy it when she'd catch him looking at her, or feel happy when she'd overhear him praising her? Why did she imagine what it'd be like to actually kiss him and eventually sleep with him?

"Bye-bye, beautiful," Divine sang sweetly. His face was going to be the last thing she sees. Aki's eyes rolled to the back of her head, into the peaceful black Nothingness again, when…

She saw a glimpse of his face contorting, showing the hidden scar underneath. It was a ghastly wound from the evening when he'd dueled Dark Signer Carly and when he'd fallen from the collapsing building...

The raw red tissue covered half of his face now, revealing the ugliness over the handsome façade, like…

Like the time he found a homeless, scared, traumatized fifteen year old her and groomed her for his own gains.

Like the time he noticed she was starting to question him and how he forced a kiss on her as a way to control her; how she'd recoiled from him and how he didn't care.

Like the time he threatened to rape her.

Like the time she'd found out he'd been torturing children for his insane experiments.

Like the time he killed a little boy – Toby, Misty's brother – and felt no remorse and only pride at his work.

Like the time he murdered Carly in cold blood.

Like the time – all the times – he'd brainwashed her, manipulated her, lied to her, assaulted her, spellbound her; all for his horrifically evil purposes.

Divine was the monster of her life. Not her clueless parents, not any of the wicked duel opponents she'd faced, or even a crazed Egyptian God that's been messing with her brain.

"G-get…" Aki started to mumble through the suffocation. She focused her fading eyes on his revolting face. This was a monster she had to banish, responsible for the worst times in her life – because she welcomed him and let him do what he wanted. Instead of sensing what a sociopath he was, instead of fighting him from the beginning like she should have.

She felt hatred sear from deep inside her and she opened herself to it, letting it overtake her. She felt it pump through each blood vessel and accelerate her heart rate to impossible levels. Power. Insane, unstoppable power.

Feel it. Accept it. Nurture it. Use it.

Just as this son of a bitch taught her to do.

"Get off…"

"Mmm?" Divine smiled sweetly at her. "Goodnight, honey."

"Get off me!"

"Huh?" he gaped at her naively.

"GET OFF ME, YOU FREAK!" she yelled with disgust. And suddenly he was thrown off her, far back, and she saw him tumbling back with his limbs all soft and bendy like he were a ragdoll; a fake, stupid puppet.

"Aki?" he muttered as if confused, getting up. His hand reached out for her. "My Aki?"

"GO TO HELL, DIVINE!" she screamed and she was on her feet, the wind had lifted her up and she felt it tingling on her skin, flowing through her hair, ruffling her clothes. The power surged off her in waves, with bright blue surges of electricity. "GO TO HELL AND NEVER COME BACK!"

"What…" Divine started, almost pleading. And then it wasn't Divine anymore. It was that Set-animal again but he looked smaller, pathetic even and cowering from her fury.

Aki slowly raised her arms and began chanting the mantra of her soul, the words which would always find her, the words that synchronized within the fibres of her heart-

"Watch this, Aki!" Yusei shouted. "Try to see this. The power of your soul – alive in my duel deck!"

He gestured at the 3 weak monsters he'd gathered on his side of the field. "I tune Level 4 Debris Dragon to Level 2 Quillbolt Hedgehog to Level 1 Hanewata. Chilling flames engulf the entire world-"

"Pitch-dark flower, set into bloom!" Aki chanted in the Unconscious world.

"Synchro Summon! BLACK ROSE DRAGON!" both Yusei and Aki shouted the spell together, unaware of one another, and the beautiful flowery dragon materialized and soared high into the space entrapped within the warehouse. The red light of the hellish reactor illuminated its petal-like wings and its luxurious dark scales, making it appear otherworldly; simply stunning.

Looking at it, Yusei breathed out, feeling a moment of serenity and hope in the face of Armageddon. The mark of the Crimson Dragon pulsated warmly on his forearm in its presence. "Hi."

The dragon appraised him in return with its ferocious, sentient eyes; recognizing what needed to be done. Then it acknowledged the Stardust Dragon by its side. The silver dragon let out a soft, longing cry towards it.

And then, finally, Black Rose Dragon turned its attention towards its true owner – to the possessed Signer – and released a spectacular roar, calling out for her.

"Hello," Aki murmured to her duel monsters champion inside her head. It appeared, a distance away, and with a shadow of someone unknown underneath it.

Black Rose Dragon's attack was at 2400 and defense at 1800.

"Huh?" Set mumbled stupidly. There was a truly vacuous expression on his face. He looked…utterly out of it, even more so than before. And Yusei saw it for a moment then – a doubled effect: Aki's exhausted face, her focused eyes looking directly at Black Rose Dragon, and the black hissing shadow hanging over her. And then, just as instantaneous, that vision was gone. But it was enough.

"Aki!" Yusei yelled. "You're seeing the Black Rose Dragon, aren't you? Then wake up! I'm here, I've come for you! AKI! COME BACK! FIGHT!"

"Only 2400 attack points," Set commented then with a dual, echoed voice: Aki's tired, lovely voice and a low, primeval tone of the Egyptian god over it. He grinned with Aki's colourless lips. "So you've got two weak ridiculous Synchro monsters now. So what? Neither as strong as Dark Armed Dragon."

The Freedom Forward reactor was booming even louder now and, with it, the ground had begun to quake. It was about to blow, it was all about to blow.

"No, because Black Rose Dragon is stronger than that!" Yusei shouted, resolved to end this. He was going to save Aki even if they were all doomed. "Black Rose Dragon special effect activates! When it's Synchro Summoned it can destroy all cards on the field." And Yusei pointed at his opponent, calling out the proper name for this attack, having learnt all of Aki's summons by heart and being able to command her entrusted monster as if it were his own: "Black Rose Gale!"

The red dragon shrieked and spread its wings open, unleashing a powerful gale to banish everything in sight.

"Fuck. Off," Set hissed. "You've forgotten. I activate Dark Armed Dragon Special Effect – once per turn, by banishing a Dark monster from my Graveyard, I can destroy a card on the field – therefore, I choose Black Rose Dragon. Die!"

Gotcha, Yusei thought, his heart hammering so quickly that he felt it in his throat and so loudly that it was all he heard in his ears. Victory was shining brighter than the sun with Stardust and Black Rose Dragon together by his side. These two dragons and their powers complimented one another perfectly; like it was destiny. "Stardust Dragon's Special Effect activates! When a card or effect is activated that would destroy a card or cards on the field, I can tribute Stardust and negate the activation. And, also, destroy it." He directed Stardust towards Set's overpowered Dark Armed Dragon. "Go, Stardust! Protect Black Rose Dragon – Victim Sanctuary!"

Stardust acknowledged this command with a roar, nodded at Black Rose Dragon, and then flew towards Dark Armed Dragon, assaulting it with its talons. The dark dragon viciously fought back but its struggle was futile against Stardust's onslaught. And then, with a bright light, both duel monsters vanished.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Set roared and he was now a clearly visible shadow floating above Aki, having gone up almost like a dark funnel over her. And this tornado-like figure had an animal snout and there were traces of ripped human skin over its skull – it was a grotesque, deformed jackal. "You think this is how you win? How both of you win? YOU'RE TOO LATE!"

The ground shook harder and Yusei tripped, his knees smashing against the ground and he threw out one hand to catch himself from falling on his face. He saw Aki maintain her balance somehow. And he tore his eyes away from her to look what was behind them and he saw it: the hissing steam coming off each nook and cranny, the critical speed of rotations, the blaring of the alarms, the falling plaster from the ceiling… Explosion was imminent. It was going to happen now. He needed to turn away and to run to Aki even if he wasn't able to rescue her, and hold her as they were about to face the death to it all-

Suddenly there was someone next to the reactor, stumbling around with all this quaking, barely able to walk. They grabbed a lever and cried out in pain, instantly releasing it – the metal must have been scorching. But then they wrapped hands with the hem of their shirt and tried again. This time, they had started forcing the lever down. And Yusei understood what this lever was: a shutdown protocol like he thought there'd be when he begged the scientists to activate it before his duel.

"BEHOLD! THE BIRTH OF MY NEW BODY!" Set was booming triumphantly. He was entirely separate from Aki now and was a spinning shadow above her shoulders. He gleefully opened his ghostly arms to welcome the explosion and to let it transform him. "IT IS THE END OF YOUR WORLD AS YOU KNOW IT. I WIN." And that's when he'd also noticed that someone was by the reactor and that they were doing something with it. "…The hell? Who's that?"

Focusing, Yusei finally recognized that person through all this disarray: it was Sho Higuchi, the last remaining member of that small, doomed family, the one who'd said he'd given up on everything. Sho – the forgotten, abused son of the senator and an unremarkable duelist – was forcing a manual shutdown override to save them all.

"WHAT THE FUCK? NO! DON'T!" Set screamed hysterically, also suddenly comprehending what they were doing. He pushed towards the reactor, aiming to hurt whoever that was badly, but was unable to move from where he was, trapped within the confines of the human body he was still inhibiting – and Aki was staying put. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

With a final yell of effort, Sho forced the lever down.

Instantly, the overheating energy reactor darkened and the red substance inside stopped spinning. The earthquake had stopped. And, most welcome of all, the awful cacophony of noise had also evaporated, leaving all the participants in the basement with a serious case of ringing in their ears.

"WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT?" the hissing shadow of Set yelled unhinged, beating against its invisible borders almost like a bird in a cage. "WHAT? NO! NOOOO!"

And this was their chance. "Black Rose Dragon!" Yusei screamed and he heard Aki, real Aki, speaking the same words. "Go! Black Rose Flare!"

And the dragon released its final roar and unleashed the powerful gust of wind which surrounded Aki-Set's figure. And it was Set that screamed, not Aki. A deep, low voice from nightmares. Yusei saw that anthropomorphized animal shadow clinging to Aki with its claws, then crawling downward to reach the duel disk...to activate its last facedown trap-card with its incorporeal limbs…but Aki's hand remained immobile, refusing to activate it.

And then the shadowy jackal shrunk, receding to the ground at Aki's feet, diminishing into her shadow. It started crawling towards the reactor, evaporating as it reached the dry pool of blood from the senator...and then it vanished.

The smoke all around them dissipated completely and all that was left was the trembling figure of Aki. She was still standing. The mark of the Crimson Dragon shone a bright, luminous glow on her forearm.

She deactivated the duel disk with Set's final facedown card unplayed. Then she raised her head and her sunken, incredibly exhausted brown eyes met Yusei's.

Aki smiled. "Hello, Yusei."

SHE IS BACK! YES! What happens next? Stay tuned!