New idea time! Hope you can enjoy this one guys, I will try to not make it too sad...

... this is not like 'Bird of Prey'. That was semi-happy xD

Sacrifice

Beginning of the End

"Yuma." Kotori panted after having dragged said teen across half of Heartland. They were now at the square where he duelled Shark... Nasch... for the first time. She sighed. "Yuma!"

"Hm?" he looked up at her with a blank stare. He looked half-dead and if Kotori remembered right, soon he would be... no. She would prevent that. No matter what happened, she would beat his sense of right and wrong. Yuma wouldn't sacrifice himself to save them all, he wouldn't. Kotori didn't care if he had the kind of chaos in him that would protect them from certain death, she couldn't stand the thought of the boy who always smiled, laughed and made friends by dueling ... dead. Dead after giving up his own life to protect them, the Barians, Heartland, all the worlds... she bit her lip as he just faced forward. She soon understood why.

"Kotori." the only female Barian's cold voice pierced the silence. "Hand over Yuma and nobody will get hurt..."

"Am I supposed to believe you!?" the greenette yelled. "Why would I do that when it comes from someone who betrayed her friends without even batting an eyelash!?"

"You don't understand anything!" Merag roared in return. "You don't know what we are going through.."

"It doesn't matter, I won't let you have my friend! My Yuma!" Kotori got out a duel disk and put a deck in. "I will protect him with all I have! If that means dueling you then so be it!"

Merag just snorted. "You don't even know how to duel!"

The other girl ignored her and looked at Yuma. "Run! Please!" she begged him. The teen gazed back at her with an empty stare but a flash of understanding appeared in the two orbs as he nodded and ran into a nearby alley which led to the next square and multiple options for him to keep hiding. Kotori faced Merag, who growled knowing that she wouldn't be able to go after him until she dealt with her ... former... friend.

"DUEL!" the two shouted.

The Emperor's Key flashed red as his legs carried him.

He didn't know where he was going since he didn't even want to leave. The mere thought that Kotori basically just died for him to escape sent shivers up his spine. He had to put a stop to this war as fast as he could. There was no time for him to feel broken over his best friend's betrayal. Nasch didn't know him anymore and the Nasch he knew had been tainted by Don Thousand. He stopped moving to glare at his feet. The supposed God of the Barian World had turned his friends, no, his family (they've been through so much that they felt close like that, or at least they had used to) against him. He is literally using them like puppets right now to find him and kill him, the only threat standing between him and the destruction of the worlds.

"I will stop you, Don Thousand, and save all the worlds. No matter what!"

It felt like said monster was laughing at him from wherever he was.

Durbe was observing the duel going on between Merag and the human girl, whose name he believed was Kotori, from a sphere in the Barian World. Strangely enough, she was holding her own, having managed to knock down Merag's life points to 2000 (her own being merely 100 more). If he didn't know what losing would mean for his friend, the former knight might have even called the duel interesting and somewhat inspiring.

"Where is Yuma?"

The grave voice of his lead and old friend made him look away at Nasch, who was sitting on his throne in his human form, for some strange reason. His crest shone on his chest and he looked bored. But Durbe knew that he was as worried for Merag as he was, if not even more. He didn't want to see his sister die for the third time, the silverhead knew.

"I'm... uncertain on that matter." he went on to speak. "It seems he managed to flee into one of the alleys. I sent Alit and Gilag to Earth to make sure of his location and capture him, if possible. I do not know where Misael and Vector are, however."

Nasch tsked. "Vector is probably pranking him - still cannot tell the right timing from bad timing, I see - as for those two... have them report to me as soon as possible. We must save our world!" as he spoke, more of the ground around him began to crumble away with what looked like black chaos energy, not that he ever payed it too much attention. He had been two focused on saving the Barian World and finding the twins, after all.

"Very well... my lord."

What do you think guys?

No need to worry if you dislike Skyshipping, it's only lightly implied in this chapter and this chapter alone as the rest of the fic will focus largely on Yuma, the other Emperors and Don Thousand.

I hope you can enjoy it! :)