Sorry about the long delay, minna. I've had an insanely busy schedule the last few months and needed some time to recover before I was able to start writing again. Then after struggling and struggling and STRUGGLING with the chapter and removing a bunch of boring padding, I was hit with inspiration and ended uprewriting almost the entire chapter. Frustrating? You bet it was. But the end result is a final chapter I'm happy with. Don't worry, there WILL be a sequel, so check the author's note at the end for more info.

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Title: Evading Destiny
Part: 19/19
Author: Murasaki Rose
Beta: none
Genre: Romance/Fantasy/AU
Rating: R
Spoilers: Yami Yuugi's real name
Warnings: Yaoi (male x male), implied Mpreg
Pairings: YYxY, SxJxS, DxT, YBxR, YMxM
Minor Pairings: BMGxA, BMxK, TxCxH, HxO, PxC, IxM, VxA
Disclaimer: Here we go. Yu-Gi-Oh and all its characters are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shueisha, Konami, and Toei Studios. In other words, I don't own them and I'm not making any money off of this, I'm just a fangirl having some fun.
A/N: "text" = speech, 'text' = thought, ((text)) = telepathy

Summary: Months after their fateful trip to Egypt, the reunited soul mates continue to adjust to their new life in Domino as well as the modern teens' impending graduation. Things appear to be going well until a strange series of seemingly random attacks and bizarre accidents begin plaguing both the lights and their protectors, forcing their lovers into action. In order to protect their mates, the ancient beings must now determine not only the fate of the "lost" city of Atlantis, but also their entire species! The race is on to find the answers before they all face annihilation at the hands of an unknown enemy.

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"With citizens worldwide clamoring for answers to the incident at Domino Stadium two weeks ago accompanied by the mass, unexplained dissappearances of people, the governments of the world are still struggling for answers. An emergency meeting of the U. N. is scheduled to take place this week to discuss the growing painic and what, if any measures should be taken regarding the revelation that alleged mythical creatures have been living amongst us. Stay tuned for after the news for a round table discussion of this unprecedented development."

"Aww, jus' shut if it off Yuugi. We don't need ta see any more," Jonouchi complained.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly in the mood to hear more from Siegfried's buddies making us out to be monsters while normal people try struggle to defend us," Honda agreed.

"At least there's still hope. Most humans are warming up to the idea of us being around, despite all his negative propaganda."

"Yes, but public opinion isn't going to protect us if Siegfried gets the governments on his side." Malik pointed out to the small duelist.

"What's worse is that he's well on his way to doing just that," Ryou added, having heard some of the darker news from his beloved infiltrator. "Siegfried is using his money and power to influence as many politicians he can. Those he can't sway to his views he manipulates by getting one of his acolytes into a position close to them in order to enspell them and the others he flat out replaces with one of his own men or supporters."

Hanasaki looked troubled, "Has he really grown so powerful?"

Now Yuugi's expression turned grim, "We've already seen examples of it in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. It's only a matter of time before he spreads his influence farther."

"Can't we put a stop to it?" Anzu asked.

"We're trying, but Siegfried has thousands of men at his disposal, with more coming all the time, while we're still struggling to identify his current plants," Hanasaki answered her. "Furthermore, he has spells set to reveal us on contact, limiting our spies down to mages and our human allies."

This information sparked a debate between the teens as to what the best actions they could take and how active a role they would have in the very likely upcoming fight. During a rapid fire discussion between Anzu, Jou and Honda, Yuugi thought back to the events that had brought them here just two weeks ago.

x-flashback-x

Disengaging his Duel Disk and carefully placing his cards back into his holster, Yuugi smiled and waved cheerfully to the roaring crowd. After defeating Jonouchi, he had gone on to duel against Siegfried, who had defeated Ryou earlier that day, for the championship. Siegfried and his Valkyries had made for a difficult match, but Yuugi had come up with a strategy that left the King of Games standing triumphant once more. All that remained was a handshake with his opponent, the trophy presentation, then photos and the post-tournament interviews.

((Be careful ari.))

((I will.)) Suspicion masked behind his usual cheerful expression, Yuugi's amethyst eyes never left his opponent's as they shook hands for the crowd. To his frustration he wasn't able to decipher anything from Siegfried's own masked expression, only that he was only "playing friendly" for the crowd.

From within the puzzle Atem, his senses on high alert, brooded silently over the situation. Breakfast, interviews, the showcase duel with the god cards, and even the elimation duels had passed without incident, yet the young yami still couldn't shake the feeling that the other shoe was about to drop.

Accompanied by Croquet, Pegasus joined the two Duelists and after congratulating them both on an excellent duel, presented them both with their trophies. As he took his trophy from Pegasus, a strange tingling sensation washed over him and Yuugi's eyes instantly cut to Siegfried; the pink-haired CEO was smiling evilly back at him.

"Felt that did you?" he sneered, laughing mockingly as the smaller teen shifted into a defensive stance. "It's too late to escape now, akhu," he warned viciously, almost spitting out the last word like it was a curse. His eyes glowing as the spell he'd crafted passed through him and towards its final targets.

((NO! ARI!))

((ATEM!))

Throwing up a shield formed from both their powers, the teens attempted to ward off the advancing spell but it was too powerful for such a hastily raised defense to work. Their shield shattered under the powerful rush of magic and Atem was forced out of the puzzle in front of the entire crowd.

Laughing maniacally, Siegfried watched the spell he and his acolytes cast begin to take effect. "Now Pharaoh, you and all your wretched kind will be revealed to the world as the monsters you are!"

Doubling over in pain, Yuugi hissed as an electric-like current jolted his body, forcing his wings to unfurl against his will, tearing their way through his shirt to reach their full size. His head pounding like a jack-hammer, the King of Games barely registered the gasps of shock from the watching audience. Next to him, Atem and Pegasus were in much the same state, Croquet hovering at his employer's side.

With his two most powerful adversaries vulnerable, Siegfried, unwilling to let such a golden moment pass him by, raised a hand to blast them. Alerted by the surge in his magic, Yuugi and Atem struggled to refocus long enough to bring up a shield, which immediately became unneccessary when a huge, red, serpentine tail slammed into Siegfried, knocking him into the stadium wall.

"No one harms Yuugi-darling while I'm around!"

Whipping around to face the source of the rumbling female voice, they were stunned by what they saw: A six meter tall, Chinese dragon was crouched behind them, growling threateningly at the downed sorcerer.

"VIVIAN-SAN?"

Coiling protectively around them, the dragoness winked playfully. "I think we've worn out our welcome, Yuugi-darling."

"Agreed," Atem replied, steadying himself against a nearby coil.

"Mind giving me a lift?"

"Ryouta-kun?"

Lifting a coil on the side they'd heard the ocean duelist's voice come from, Vivian revealed something she had already discovered. The spiky, blue-haired duelist was sitting on the ground next to the dueling platform, flicking his navy blue-scaled tail in amusement.

"Not at all, Ryouta-kun," Ryou answered, he and Bakura coming up and lifting the merman up under his arms.

x-x-x-x

Up in the stands, Mahaado and Mana were busy containing and siphoning off the backlash of magic that had been released from the untrained mages in the audience when they were hit by Amahte's spell.

"We need to get the Pharaoh and the others out of here!" Kisara rumbled at her husband. She'd regained control of her body quickly enough but had been unable to return to her human form so she was plucking the terrified and confused shapeshifters and anthros from the panicking audience with her tail then carrying them to the stadium floor.

x-x-x-x

Having thankfully regained his equillibrium, Seto scanned the stadium and for their group. It appeared that everyone was back in fighting condition, but he could still feel Siegfried's spell keeping his wings out. Speaking of which, the reincarnated sorcerer was regaining his senses and was being helped to his feet by some of his men.

"Seto-sama, what do you want me to do?" Isono asked, clearly shaken by his boss's transformation but not allowing it to affect his priorities.

"Have security get those people under control and out of the stadium in as orderly a fashion as possible. Then help anyone injured in the panic."

"And you sir?"

"He's leaving with us," Seth answered for him, Jonouchi nodding his agreement.

"Sir?"

Seto nodded, "I'll contact you as soon as I can." Back on the the stage, he saw Atem signalling Mahaado to land and the mage quickly responding to his side only to leave moments later.

Kisara and Vivian took to the air, followed by Ryou and Bakura, both carrying Kaijiki Ryouta between them.

"C'mon guys!" Yuugi yelled to them as he and Atem took off while Mahaado and Mana teleported themselves and the people they'd rescued from the stands away.

"Right behind ya!" Jou yelled back, taking off with Seth and Seto flanking him.

x-End-flashback-x

Warm arms slipped around his waist startling the amethyst-eyed hikari from his thoughts.

Pulling his mate close, Atem pressed a kiss to his cheek. (/Have they been arguing for long, ari?"/)

Yuugi shrugged, /Depends on your definition of long.../

Watching as Seth and Otogi attempted to calm their lovers before they came to blows, Atem chuckled and shook his head at their friends' antics. When everyone finally settled down it was Seto who asked what everyone was thinking.

"So what's our plan?"

"And when are you going to let us help?" Jou added.

"As of today, we will continue to identify and neutralize Siegfried's men, while continuing to sabotage their efforts to have us captured." Atem held up a hand to forestall the protests he knew were coming, "In addition, we and the other sanctuaries will begin training any of our kind who wish it, in magic and combat skills"

"Your training begins tomorrow," Seth added before any of them could even ask.

"Do you really think it will come to war?" Hanasaki asked sadly.

"Amahte's reincarnation intends to wipe our people off the planet. There was no reasoning with him then and he seems even more determined to do so now, "Dartz replied.

Sensing the souring mood, Atem quickly regained their attention, "It doesn't matter how determined he is. This time we will defeat him."

x-x-x-x

December 24, 2011

x-x-x-x

Owari ... for now

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ABOUT THE SEQUEL

Yes, there is a sequel to this story... I just haven't started working on it yet. *ducks flying projectiles* Blame my muses on that one. I was going to work on it for NaNoWriMo, but ended up working on another story of mine: My Moonlit Lover, which I will start posting within the next week or so.

While I'm doing that and outlining Evading's sequel, I'll also be working on two series of short story prequels called Preceding Destiny: Tales from Atlantis, and Preceding Destiny: Out of Khemet (subtitles subject to change). These stories will take place before the events in the first chapter of Retrieving Destiny and will range in length and subject.

Due to popular demand the first story will be about how Timeaus met with Critias and Hermos and how they got together. I've already completed a rough draft of the first three chapters, so expect to see the first chapter soon, hopefully sometime in January. The second story planned will deal with Ahmate's past: what happened to make him hate the akhu and kkwy and how it led to him creating his sect.

On my profile I've created a poll so you can vote on the third story, but if you don't see one you'd like, message me with your suggestion and if I like it, I'll add it to the next poll.

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1 - The largest stadium in Japan is the International Stadium Yokohama, it seats 70,000. I just decided to give Domino a bigger one due to the popularity of Duel Monsters and the fact that four of the world's top duelists live in the city. ^_~*