May 1st, 2014

Hospital, Domino City, Japan

1:00 P.M

It has been a week since the tournament on U. N. Owen's private island. Atem, Mana, and Yugi all managed to escape, for as soon Yugi was stable enough to move, they got on board the yacht and sailed away from the island. Looking through the boathouse, Atem and Mana were able to find a supply of fuel, indicating that Marik had planned to leave the island when they were all dead.

Neither Mana or Atem knew how to drive the yacht, but attempted it the best they both could, taking turns from driving to taking care of Yugi, who was in a deep coma. Luckily, they did not have to drive the yacht for very long, for they soon came across a cruise ship and got help from them. Yugi was given immediate medical attention, as there was a doctor on board, and the cruise members promised to take Atem and Mana to Domino City as soon as possible.

Once back in Japan, Yugi was transported to a hospital. Mana and Atem waited anxiously to see if he would recover, both visiting his room daily. While also explaining to the police what happened on the island.

Now, Mana waited outside Yugi's hospital room as his doctor made his hourly check up on him. Every time she or Atem was called to leave the room so that the doctor and nurses could work, there was a strong tension in the air. Yugi could die any second, and Mana hoped to God that Marik would not have one more death on his hands.

Finally, after what felt like a century, the doctor and a nurse stepped out of the room.

"How is he?" Mana quickly asked, her eyes big with anxiety. "Is Yugi going to recover?"

The doctor made eye contact with her.

"Your friend has suffered a lot of trauma. From where he was hit on the head, he very lucky to have survived it at all. With a mix from stress, fear, and the wound itself, it may be a few more weeks before he wakes from his coma."

He gave a small smile.

"But he is a strong little guy. His heartbeat is strong and his breathing is steady. He may have a few memory problems, but I believe he will be fine."

Mana let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad to hear. I'll let Yugi's brother know as soon as I see him!"

The doctor nodded.

"Make sure you do. Have a good day, miss. You can go inside and see Yugi again if you wish."

He then walked away, the nurse close beside him. As he left, Mana spotted Atem coming out of the elevator and approaching her. He saw the doctor from the corner of his eye.

"That was Yugi's doctor, wasn't it?" Atem asked. "Did he just come to check up on Yugi?"

Mana nodded.

"Yes. And he came out with good news."

She took a hold of Atem's hands and smiled.

"He is going to make it! He may have a few memory problems, but the doctor says he will live!"

Atem's eyes lit up.

"I'm so relieved..."

His eyes tear up slightly as he smiled.

"I was so afraid that I would lose my one and only brother... I'm..."

His voice cracked. Mana gently wiped a tear from his cheek.

"I know. And now the three of us have survived. We can finally put the past behind us and move on!"

Atem's smile faded.

"No, we cannot move on. At least...not until everything from that cursed island is taken care of."

Gesturing towards the room, Atem and Mana went inside Yugi's room to talk privately.

"So is everything taken care of with the police?" Mana asked once they were alone. "What are they going to do with the island?"

Atem took a heavy breath of air.

"It took much effort, but I was finally able to convince them the truth, as they tracked Marik's records from buying the island and that yacht. They told me they would send a team of men to the island to recover the bodies and send them to their families, and if not, give them a proper burial. As for the island itself..."

He paused for a moment.

"...I personally asked them to burn down the mansion and everything man-made. I didn't...want that place to still stand after what happened. And I assume that you and Yugi would agree with me on that."

Mana nodded her head slowly, a solemn look in her gaze.

"Yes...I would have asked just the same. And I'm glad something is being done."

She put her hand over her right arm, a tight bandage covering where she was stabbed.

"I don't know if you were able to find out, but..."

She hesitated her question.

"...Were you able to learn anything about Marik?"

"...I did look into Marik's history," Atem answered. "Apparently, he was telling the truth when he said that he and his siblings were abused by their father, who was an Egyptian cultist. Marik's adoptive brother and sister, Rishid and Ishizu Ishtar, live in Egypt and are historians of some sort. From what I could find, I learned about five years ago, Marik's father was found mysteriously murdered. It was also stated that Marik was the only one with him at home at the time, and found covered in blood. However, he was so shaken by the incident he was never charged with murder, that and only being a child."

Mana's eyes darkened.

"...That must have been where Marik snapped."

She was silent for a moment.

"...I know I should hate him for what he had done. But I just can't help but feel sorry for him. I feel...that something could have been done to prevent this. That he could have been helped if he just didn't keep it all in."

Atem said nothing in reply.

"Whatever happened, it didn't excuse him for what he did."

"You could never understand what could bring someone to the pits of despair and insanity like I have."

Marik's words echoed in his ears.

"Like I said, within the right circumstances anyone can become a killer. And I've just happened to live under and seen those circumstances to the point where I can't take it anymore."

Atem turned to where Yugi laid in his hospital bed, looking as if he was in a peaceful abyss.

"...But it is a tragedy that maybe people can remember from and prevent from ever happening again," he said softly, "and show that murder is never the answer."

Author's Note:

And thus the story comes to a close. Now that Ten Little Duelists is complete, I will now resume my work on the fanfic I had put on hold to write this one, From Fantasy to Reality. So all of you guys who have been waiting forever for me to go back to it, note that updates will becoming soon! But before we get to that, here are the details that went into the making of this ending, along with the other two.

Unlike my previous murder mystery story, the three endings went through tons of rewrites and tons of changes who would be the killer. Originally, the three endings were going to be as follow:

1.) Melvin was the only killer, getting the island in illegal ways and coming up with this tournament to create the ultimate massacre, sending as many groups of people as he can to the island and then killing them all over a short period of time. Needless to say, this ending was going the darkest and most twisted out of all of them.

2.) After being in his brother's shadow long enough, Yugi became Owen as a way to get rid of his brother and to stand on his own. As for the other deaths, they were necessary in a way to make sure Atem was killed without putting Yugi in the spotlight.

3.) This ending would be like in the original Ten Little Indians book, where Owen is left anonymous and everyone dies mysteriously. This one I attended to be an opened ending to where you all could come up with your own conclusions and all.

It was up towards Jonouchi's death when I decided to change a few things. Even if this story was AU, I could never see Yugi murder one of his best friends in cold blood. If this story was more a of a comedy then a horror thriller, then I probably would have kept Yugi as a possible killer, but since it wasn't... Yeah, I had to change it, so I was left with Melvin's and the mysterious ending.

Then, after talking with one my readers, I asked them what their opinions on the mystery (I asked them after chapter six's posting). There, they said that one of their suspects was Kaiba, and gave some really good reasons as to why Owen could have been him. I didn't originally plan to have Kaiba as an ending, mainly because I already had a 'Owen Faked His Own Death' ending with Melvin, and I didn't want two endings to be too alike. But then I came up with an idea. What if both Kaiba and Melvin faked their own deaths, Melvin being Kaiba's accomplice, and did all the killings working together? It seemed like a perfect idea for a possible ending, and different enough to have both the original Melvin ending while adding a Kaiba ending.

And then came to where I posted chapter eight, having the poll up and asking you all what your opinions were. At this time, I was about to write all three endings, and while I thought about, I began to think that the mysterious ending seemed kind of lame with no real conclusion. I wanted to change it, and by looking over the reviews and seeing some of you put Marik as possible suspects, I thought about it and it seemed like a believable idea (plus it gave me an ending to where Owen's justice attempts would be the actual motive, instead of the other two who used it as a distraction).

Like I said last author's note, I'm sorry that I couldn't write out the Kaiba and Melvin endings for you, but I do hope you found the making of theses ending choices interesting and enjoyable. I thank you all for reading and reviewing :).