'YUSEI!!!!" Amanda gave a mental yelp then found a card in front of her. She picked it up.
"Stardust Dragon" she said and tears slid down her face.
You will be avenged she thought and ran again to reach the Raid team.

"BASTARD!!!" Selena shouted. She called back Barbaros and levelled her pistol at the goon's forehead. "Let him go. Now."

"He'll die if you shoot." The man replied. "Then again, he's not too far off from that right now anyway. Want to have a contest to see how long he can survive without oxygen?"

"What you're doing is torture!" Judai shouted. "Let him go!"

"And you'll what?" The man replied. By now Kaiba was close to passing out from lack of air, Selena could tell. "You're skinny. I doubt you could do anything."

"Try me." Judai replied quietly.

"Keep out of this, Yuki." Selena replied coldly. "How do you want to die, ass? A bullet in your brain, or nice and slow on the recieving end of my fists?"

"Stop it! We got what we wanted" Amanda cried, hoping that the goon let Kaiba go.

"Oh, that's all?" The man said. "Okay, then you can have him back." He made like he was going to let Kaiba go, then slapped a cloth soaked in chloroform across his mouth and nose. "Sorry, it doesn't work that way," the goon said. The rest of the conversation was lost as Kaiba passed out.

Shit, He thought. They'd better get out of this....

***

Selena shot. Her bullet missed, but she ws controlling it with her Demon Eye. "Well, we've got what we need now. Seto Kaiba, and out new servant." He said, catching the bullet with his hand. Selena was frozen to the ground in shock. No normal human could stop a bullet with their bare hand. "Goodbye, my friends."

He laughed as a dark mist formed around him and Kaiba's limp form. "GET BACK HERE!!!" Selena shrieked. She was too late; she plowed right through the black smoke after the man had dissapeared. "Damn, now what're we gonna do?"

Amanda fell on her knees.
"We lost one of the Historic Ring. I wish we can bring someone in his place. Someone who knows nothing about this or we don't know about" she said, tears streaming down her face.

"We didn't just lose one of the Legends, we also lost Critius." Aoi said. Sakua strod past her, sliding a new magazine into her pistol.

"We haven't lost him." She replied. As before, the older woman's voice was edged with ice. "We'll get that self-centered asshole back."

"You say that like you consider him a friend," Jun stated.

"It's not that. Now that they've taken Kaiba, there's no one left for me to piss off." Sakura replied, still not facing them. "Now, let's get our asses out of here. That is, unless you want to end up as hostages like Kaiba is right now."

"I'm not talking about Kaiba. The Historic Ring is a leauge in itself. I'm meaning Yusei. We lost him to th shoadows and now they're using him to do their dirty work" Amanda replied, holding out a card.

Sakura froze. A hint of shock touched her face for a fraction of a second, then it was gone. "Stardust Dragon," She whispered hoarsly. She tucked it into an inside pocket of her jacket. The brim of her hat was tilted down to shadow her eyes. "So this was all he managed to get to us." She placed her hand over the spot over her breast where she knew the card was. "I wonder, will we all end up dead because of this?"

Amanda took off her hood. Her Darkish blond hair flowed down her back.
"Not if we head back to HQ before he does" she said, "we have to let the other signers plus Yugi know."

Selena nodded. She was struggling to hold back tears of her own. Keep it together girl. Kamikaze Sakura doesn't cry. You don't cry. She told herself.

"Right then, we get back to HQ." Selena said. "Let's go!" She broke into a run, the others behind her. Judai took up the space right next to her.

"You got a plan?" He asked.

"Nope. Not now at least." Selena replied.

Then the crew found themselves in the excat same room as Ashleigh, Max and Yugi was in. Ashleigh was crying.
'Don't tell me that it isn't true" she said.

"That what isn't true?" Selena asked.

"We just got word that Yusei's...." Yugi replied, trailing off. He didn't need to finish the sentance.

"Yusei's fallen." Selena said. She pulled the card out of her pocket. "This is all the proof we need."

One look at the card and Yugi punched the floor. "Damn!" He growled. "Shit!"

Ashleigh cluched onto Yugi.
"We lost one of our strongest" she cried, "and it's all my fault."

"No it's not," Yugi said quietly. He patted the back of her head comfortingly. "I thought Kaiba was with you guys?" He asked, addressing the newly-returned group.

"He did," Selena replied. "But he was taken prisoner."

Yugi grimaced. "Damn," He whispered. "It looks like the crap is hitting the fan, bigtime."

"See? It's all my fault. I must deal with this alone and alone I shall" she said and she stood up.
Sounds familiar. Was it you who kept saying that you want to do it alone? Atem asked Yugi.

'Yeah, it was.' Yugi replied. "Ashleigh, it isn't your fault and you don't have to deal with this on your own." He told his wife.

"Yugi's right, Ashleigh." Selena added. "We're in this together. We'll get the both of them back."

"No. It's my responsibility. I suppoe to protect the ones I love and I'm doing it alone" Ashleigh said.
"But that's what they wanted. They want you back hence the image haunting you" Max protested.

"Ashleigh, stop it. You're acting like Yugi or Atem when they go on one of their stubborn bents." Selena said. "And trust me, neither of you two have had to deal with yourselves being stubborn as hell." She added to Yugi and Atem before either of them could protest.

"Selena's right. Just calm down and take a few breaths" Max said soothing, winking at yugi to get the sleeping gas.

Yugi tapped the side of his head, indicating that he had a better idea. "C'mon, Ashleigh." He said quietly. He put his hand around her shoulders and steered her out of the room. He held back the urge to blush as she buried her face in his shoulder and cried.

'You think it's going to work?' Aka asked Yugi with concern.

'I hope so.' Yugi replied.

***

Selena watched as Yugi and Ashleigh left the room. "I've got some good news though, but it isn't much compared to our losses." She said. "We did manage to snag a couple of the Millennium Items."

"They're not Millennium Items." Max said. "They'll either be Star's Items or complete fakes."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." Judai said.

Max nodded. "We'll open that box in my office." She said, also leaving. Selena and Judai followed. Jun said that he was going to check on Kasanagi.

"Where are we going?" Ashleigh asked, clutching on to Yugi's arm hard.

"My quarters." Yugi replied. "And you're cutting off circulation."

***

Max, Sakura, and Judai exited the private elevator into Max's office. Max motioned to her desk. "Time to find out if they're fakes or Stars." She said.

Judai nodded and placed the heavy case on the desk. "Who should open it?" He asked.

"You," Sakura said. "You're the one who found them."

Judai gulped and nodded. This is it, he thought. He undid the clasps and opened the lid. Sakura and Max peered over his shoulder to see them. "They look exactly like the Millennium Scales and Ring, but they're silver." He said.

"That means that they're Star's Items." Sakura replied. "I can tell; they're letting off the same power signatures as the Millennium Items. They're the real deal." She pointed to her right eye--for some reason the iris was blood red. "It's making my right eye go haywire."

Ashleigh loosened the grip.
"Why's that?" she asked.