Ryou: >.> What's with the paint?

WSJ: *looks down at her paint-splattered hands* ^^ I was painting in art class today. One last big project before the year's over. :p It's this really awesome pic of Amoura!!! *bounces* I wish I could scan it and show everyone...

Oh, and another thing, next Thursday and Friday is my state writing competition. ^^v Wish me luck! I'm getting nervous already... But we get to stay overnight in a hotel and go swimming! *runs off to find her swimsuit*

Ryou: *pouting* I wanna go...

Bakura: *walks by with a duffle bag over one shoulder* What, you're not?

Ryou: You are?

Bakura: Hell yeah! Someone has to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't drown Greg in the pool...

Ryou: ?_?

WSJ: ^^; Greg-chan's my partner. We started out with a team of six, but only Greg and I qualified to go to state. He can be a jerk sometimes, but so can I, and we've already agreed to have this huge, all-out water fight when we get there.

Bakura: *dryly* Oh joy. I shall so look forward to it...

WSJ: ^^ If you say so.

Disclaimer: Ah, you know the drill....

WSJ: Yay! Someone loves Gwen!! *hugs Ruby*Luna* ....Wow, I just realized something...

Bakura: *rummaging around in the closet for his teddy bear* What?

WSJ: ......That it's very disturbing that you have a teddy bear...... But anyway, ^^ I've written over 50,000 words on this fic! It's amazing! It's already longer in chapter that any of my fics save VotH, and bigger in words then any I've ever done before!!!

Ryou: *blink blink* Wow... All for me! ^^ I love my fans!

WSJ: >.>;;

Ryou: ^^;;

WSJ:.....Anyway, I'm surprised you guys like Scott so much! I originally created him as an antagonist, to cause friction between Mai and Joey, and you guys actually like him. ......That's actually kinda disturbing. ^^; I'll try and put more of him in in the future then.

Scott: Oo; I have fans?

WSJ: v_v;; It'd be even more scarry if you had fangirls...

Scott, Bakura, & Ryou: *shudder*

WSJ: ^^v

()()()()()

Yamis of Tokyo U: Freshmen

Chapter 13: Battle at the Heart of the World

When Yami and Bakura burst into the den, Serenity was kneeling on the floor with Ryou in her arms, nearly hysterical. "Ryou wake up! Wake up dangit!"

Bakura frowned, and Yami looked at him questioningly. "What's happened?"

"Ryou's gone to the Heart of the World again," Bakura said quietly, so as Serenity not to hear. "It almost killed him the first time, and he was sleeping it off for days."

"When was that?"

"About the time you and Ishtar were bringing me back from the dead." Bakura's frown deepened. "As close as Ryou could explain it to me, it's a place where all of humanity is spread out before you, like a completed puzzle. You know everything. But you're also vulnerable. Anything that knows you're there can get to you."

Yami's mouth formed a little 'oh' of realization. "Oh no..."

Bakura's own fears confirmed, the white-haired man's face turned grim. "Hai. The True Pharoah, if he is that other telepath that Ryou's been sensing, can get to him easily. And so can Jalila. She's got magic, at least."

"Isn't there anything for us to do?" Both men turned to Serenity, who contrary to their beliefs had been listening the whole time.

"Iie," Bakura shook his head mournfully. "It's up to him now."

"Oh Ryou..." Serenity looked down at her fallen love in her arms. "Have faith. We're all behind you."

~*~

"Look, there she is!"

"Mai-sempai!"

Gwen and Hiro ran toward the shivering woman, trying their best not to slip on the icy walkways of the uppermost deck of Tokyo Tower. Mai was leaning up against one of the iron bracers, her legs curled up underneith her gown. She was pale, and it looked like she was wearing blue lipstick and eye shadow, although both freshmen knew she was not. For one terrible moment as she dropped to her knees beside Mai, Gwen thought that they were too late, and she'd frozen to death.

But when Gwen put a hand over the blond's nose and mouth, she could still feel the breath, shallow as it was, and she sighed in relief. "Here, gimme those blankets Hiro. We've got to get her someplace warm."

The next half-hour was rather insane, but finally Mai had been settled into an intensive care unit at Tokyo Central Medical Center. The doctors weren't sure if she'd make it or not, having spent several hours out in the cold and wind with little to no protection.

Joey and Scott arrived at the same time to find Gwen curled up in a chair with her eyes closed, and Hiro pacing back and forth across the waiting room floor. Both men ran forward, bursting with questions, but Hiro silenced them with a wave of his hand and pointed at Gwen. "Shhhh..."

At first Joey thought she was asleep, but then he saw her lips moving and began to hear her faint words. "Dear Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven... Oh Lord, please protect Mai!" They were in English, so none of the three had any idea what she was saying, but the meaning was pretty clear.

Scott blinked. "She's praying?" he asked Hiro quietly, so as not to disturb the American.

Hiro nodded. "Hai. I dunno who to, but I hope whoever it is is listening..."

The hours passed with agonizing slowness. Everyone called Joey or Scott's cells at one point or another, hoping for news about Mai and worrying about Ryou, who still hadn't woken up. Everyone had gone back to their homes save for Bakura, Shen, and Serenity, who were staying with Ryou in the Game Shop, and the four at the hospital with Mai. Bakura and Serenity had done their best to explain to everyone what Ryou had done and why he hadn't come concious again, and so now they were all doubly-worried, for both Ryou and Mai.

At about midnight, when Gwen's prayers began to falter and became more and more punctored with yawns, Hiro stood up and stretched. He went over to Gwen's side and gently shook her. She yawned and wrapped her arms around his neck, and after a moment of surprise Hiro picked her up. She murmered something in English and nuzzled closer, causing him to blush slightly. Laughing to himself, Scott helped Hiro get Gwen into her coat, and then into his own, and waved goodbye as Hiro carried her out to the car so they could go back to TU for some sleep.

"What cute kids..."

~*~

The next thing Ryou was aware of was a sharp smell of blood, mingled with mud and what had to be swamp. His eyes snapped open, and to his slight-surprise he found he could see. He was standing on some sort of a battlefield, soaked in blood and mud, just as his nose had told him. Above him earth spun gently, the beautiful coloured lights that were people's auras spread out like a living tapastry.

This was the Heart of the World.

There was a wavering in the air in front of Ryou, and suddenly Jalila stood there, smirking at him. "So, little one, come to join the war?"

"Never," Ryou scowled. "I came to save a life."

"And make your own forefeit." Jalila said, her smirk widening. "You leave yourself vulnerable, and you will be ours."

"Never," Ryou repeated, automaticly dropping into a fighting stance. "I'll never serve you or your master."

"Who said we wanted you alive?" Jalila asked darkly. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly there was an army behind her. An army of Duel Monsters. But it was more then that, Ryou realized suddenly as he saw Firas and Briar-Rose and Kuroi Karasu among them. It was an army of dead Duel Monsters, ones that had been destroyed in the past.

But suddenly there was a shimmering in the air right in front of Ryou, and a creature more beautiful that any he'd ever seen was standing between him and Jalila, sheilding him from her sight. She had wings, one of them an angels, the other a dragon's. Ryou thought for an instant that it was the Change of Heart, but then remembered Bakura's story of when he'd been dead and saw Fate for who she was.

"I won't let you harm him!" Fate said, scowling at Jalila, her fists clenched. The Goddess of the Ring was carrying a staff, not unlike Jalila's own, and it crackled slightly with pent-up magic.

"Oh really?" Jalila asked, raising her own staff. "Who's going to stop me?"

"I believe that would be us." said a new voice. Someone stepped up beside Fate, twirling his own staff around almost lazily. Ryou just stared. He had a dark tan, like Malik, and his hair was a very very light blond. He was wearing a pair of baggy pants and was shirtless and shoeless, with a pair of black fingerless gloves on his hands, tiny ankh-earrings in his ears, and silver dog-tags around his neck. His eyes, when he turned around to glance back at Ryou, were surprisingly large, but were rather scarry too. They were dialated and pupilless, rather like Shaadi's but black from edge to edge. The staff he held looked rather like a much longer version of the Millenium Rod.

"Hatred," Fate nodded at him as if she were simply greeting a comrade. She nodded at the other five as well, as they stepped up to stand beside her, forming a solid wall between Ryou and Jalila's army.

Death was simply, well, Death. He was a skeleton in a long black robe, holding a scythe in one skeletol hand. That's about all there was to him. But the others were and are rather more difficult to describe.

Time had shoulder-length brown hair and narrow blue eyes, and was dressed from head to foot in silver Chinese-style robes. A gold watch was hanging from a chain around his neck, and he was carrying a staff that looked for all the world like a gold-and-silver version of the Time Wizard's staff.

Passion was a skinny young girl, looking only about eleven or twelve, with clothes that were literally barely there. Ryou had to look away from her or risk blushing. She had pale orange hair that was chopped off unevenly at her shoulders, and a small ankh on a chain around her neck. Her staff rather resembled an ankh as well, which was no surprise as that she was Goddess of the Ankh.

War looked like what Ryou had always imagined to be Santa Clause, at least in body. He was fat and round, and wiggled like a bowl full of jelly when he walked. But his hair was brown and his beard was neatly trimmed, and there wasn't any Cheerful Fur Lining around the edges of his coat. Instead of a staff he carried a long broad sword with dark red stains on it that Ryou could only hope were rust. When he saw Ryou staring, War gave him a wide grin that reveiled clean and white (if a bit crooked) teeth and made his green eyes sparkle.

Desire was at first glance an old gypsy fortune teller. But on second glance she was much more. Her skin and hair were the darkest, being almost African in looks. Her wirey black hair was swept up into a bun, and at places was streaked with grey. She was wearing long blue and purple robes, and unsuprisingly had a black velvet patch over her left eye (her being Goddess of the Eye and all). The staff she held in both hands looked much like a fancier version of a Dark Magician's.

"Ha!" Jalila laughed. "You seven would dare stand against my army?"

Fate's eyes narrowed. "Iie, we wouldn't dare. But this is a plane where the dead can return. And there are many dead who would gladly fight for the sake of Ryou Bakura." There was a near-blinding flash of light, and now Fate had gathered an army as well. With a roar, the battle was joined.

Ryou knew how to fight, but had never actually hurt anyone, with his martial arts or otherwise (save the one time Briar-Rose had had him mind controlled), and so he stayed close to Fate as she swept through the enemy ranks with her magic. Every now and then, the telepath would think he'd catch a glimpse of a familier face in the armies, but he could never be sure. Once, he was almost possitive he saw Jonathon cut down Firas with his sword. Another time, a Blue Eyes Toon Dragon burst into sight for a moment, and Ryou could have sworn he saw Pegasus and a blond woman who looked a lot like Mai behind the rabid gerbal-thing.

He heard a roar, and whirled with a start to see a Dragon Zombie fade into dust not two feet away, a sword planted in it's neck. Ryou stared at the woman who had killed it, his eyes wide. He wanted to call out to her, but couldn't. She looked up, and for a moment their eyes caught, an unseen and unfelt wind blowing the girl's hair into her face. Amane smiled at him and hefted her sword in salut, and then she was gone, back into the battle to save her brother's soul.

~*~

Joey and Scott both stood up when the doctor entered the waiting room. "Any news on Mai?" Joey asked breathlessly.

The doctor nodded, and both men waited with bated breath for his diagnosis. "She will fully recover, but it will take a long time. She's awake now, though, and asking for..." he stared hard at his clipboard, trying to read his own handwriting. "A Mister Joey Wheeler."

"That's me," Joey said, stepping forward and trying to ignore Scott's jealous stare across his back.

The doctor eyed him. "Husband or brother?"

Joey flushed, but whether from anger or embarrassment Scott couldn't tell. "Neither. Ex-boyfriend."

The doctor raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "Second door on the left."

Joey hesitated, and Scott made a rumbling noise in his throat that was half-way between a cough and a growl. "Go on Joey. I'll call everyone else and tell them the good news." Joey nodded thankfully at his older cousin and headed down the hallway. He entered Mai's room to find her half sitting up and swathed in more blankets then a dozen grannies could knit in a year.

"Mai?" he asked softly, his voice concerned dispite himself. "Mai-chan?"

Mai opened her eyes, blinking sleepily. "Hiya Joey. How'd you find me?"

"It wasn't me." Joey admitted, pulling up a chair next to her bed. "Ryou found you. Gwen and Hiro are the ones who brought you in." He didn't add the fact that Ryou's finding her had led to him being knocked out and in who-knows-how much danger.

"Ah," Mai said. "That would explain the crazy yelling in English that I heard."

"Probably," Joey agreed. When Gwen got really stressed out, she'd either start speaking with a really heavy American accent (ie, slower then a lame snail) or would forget to speak Japanese completely and start babbling in English.

Suddenly Mai looked concerned, and she shifted to bring one arm out from under the covers to reach toward him. Surprised, Joey leaned forward and allowed Mai to run her fingers over his cheek. "What happened?"

It was only then that Joey remembered the three scratches across his cheek that Mrs Valentine had givin him. He grinned sheepishly and reached up to catch Mai's fingers in his own. "Got in a fight."

"With who?" Mai asked, alarmed. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Joey said, his lopsided grin widening somewhat. "I desided it was about time someone gave that mother of yours a peice of their mind. But dang those fake nails of hers sting!"

Mai just stared at him for a moment, and then to Joey's surprise and embarrassment burst out crying. Awkwardly he pulled her into his arms, and she began to cry into his shoulder. They stayed like that for awhile, and when Mai's cries were reduced to sniffles and Joey started to pull away, Mai tightened her arms around him. "Stay," she whispered. "Please?"

Joey blinked, and then slid out of the chair so that he was sitting on the bed next to Mai, and she was leaning against him. He tucked the blankets in around them both, and smiled down at the top of Mai's head. "Sure Mai-chan. But why?"

"Ano..." Mai bit her lip. "You're warmer then all the blankets in the world right now."

Joey blinked, and then began to laugh.

About a half-hour later, when Scott came in to see what was taking Joey so long, he found them asleep, curled up together under the blankets. Mai's head was pillowed against Joey's chest, and he in turn had his arms around her, keeping her from all harm. The college senior grit his teeth, trying to keep from strangling his cousin where he sat.

"Go ahead and have your moment with her Joe, 'cause sooner or later I will make her mine..."

~*~

The tides of the battle seemed to be turning, in favor of those fighting for Ryou. Hatred had found a horse somewhere (the purple colour reveiled it as having belonged at one point or another to Gaia the Feirce Knight) and was riding around playing cricket with the bad guys' heads. He seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much. Passion and War were fighting back to back, which was really no surprise since they were the Elements of the Ankh and Scales and had, after all, more or less the same owner. Death was whacking anyone in his way with his scythe, leaving behind a very dismembered enemy. Time and Fate were both sticking close with Ryou, and he couldn't tell what Desire was doing.

All at once Jalila leaped up from somewhere and with a cry raised a sword she'd gotten from who-knows-where to slice it downward and into (and through) Ryou. He barely had time to yell before Fate was in front of him. The blade sliced into her shoulder, and she cried out in pain. Time hissed and pointed his staff at Jalila, mumbling the beginnings of a spell.

Ryou couldn't see what happened next, because suddenly his own shoulder let loose with a blossem of pain. He cursed very uncharacteristicly and clamped a hand over his shoulder, looking around and wondering who or what had struck him. But just as suddenly as the pain came, it vanished. In shock, he moved his hand and saw that his hand and shirt were bloody. But when he pulled up his shirt, his shoulder was unmarked and unhurt.

When he thought to look back to the battle, it was over. Jalila had fled into a retreat, taking her army with her. Most of Fate's army had gone as well, save for the seven Elementals. Fate was on the ground with Passion and Time kneeling on either side of her, and Hatred hovering near her head. All the others were gathered around.

And, in this place where he knew Everything, Ryou saw the Elementals of the Items in a new light.

Fate looked around, and when she saw him unhurt she smiled weakly and made a gesture. Everything began to fade and blur, and Ryou couldn't help but wonder when they would meet again.

~*~

"Kyaa!"

Yami and Serenity looked up at Bakura as he clamped a hand over his right shoulder and hissed in pain. "What is it?" Yami asked, suddenly more alert.

"No clue." Bakura gritted out. "It just suddenly- oh." He pulled his hand away, reveiling a rather large blood-stain on his shirt. He pulled said shirt over his head, and there wasn't a mark on him. Yami whistled quietly. Serenity gasped and pointed at Ryou, where a similar red stain was beginning to show, and who also was beginning to wake up. "Ryou?"

"Mmph..." Ryou groaned slightly, and then, with Serenity's help, sat up. "Where am I?"

"The Game Shop," Bakura said. "What in Seven Hells happened?"

"You know." Ryou said, shaking his head slightly to clear it. "I went to the Heart of the World. Any news of Mai?"

"Hai hai," Bakura said impatiently. "She's fine. Now what happened?"

Ryou frowned slightly, trying to gather his thoughts. "Jalila attacked me, but Fate was there, and she protected me. They were all there."

"They?" Yami asked, although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Ryou nodded. "The Elements of the Items. Fate of the Ring, and her brother Time of the Puzzle. Hatred of the Rod, and Death of the Tauk, who, rather appropriately, are brothers. Passion and War of the Ankh and Scales, who are lovers, and Desire of the Eye. They protected me... All of them fought for me..." Suddenly his hand moved to his shoulder. "Fate was wounded. And I shared the wound." His voice was filled with a sense of wonder.

"As did I, aibou." Bakura said. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Ryou nodded. "Hai." He yawned, and then grinned wryly. "Or perhaps not. Sleep would be a good thing."

"That it would." Yami agreed. "My aibou is already asleep. Good night to you, then."

"G'night."

()()()()()

WSJ: ^^

Ryou: >.>

Bakura: ^.^ *cuddles his teddy*

Chapter 14: It's back to Tokyo U for our heros, where they get back to rehersals for the play. And oh dear... Ishtar is back to his perverted ways, it seems...

God bless minna-san!