A/N: If you ever want to review, please do. I don't bite and since I'm getting back into writing, I will want a little feedback as to how I'm doing.

As it stands, I'd like to take a moment to thank absolutely everyone who reads this, I remember reading a review where someone said they re-read this fic twice during a cyclone. You people are all mad and brilliant and I love you dearly for your support and effervescence.

It's also important to note that I've changed my Tumblr URL to 'damnithasook' because Korra is fabulous.

~Ava

~XxX~

According to what Joey had told me, the duel had once been normal, save for the fact that it was against a strange man in a hooded robe, but a magic card had been played. The Seal of…something. The card seemed to be magic in more than name, and projected a barrier around Yami and his opponent. Teá squeezed my hand when I joined her and Tristan alongside Joey.

"How is it looking? Who is this guy?" I asked, squeezing back.

"I have no idea, he wasn't one of the three guys that confronted us outside the Game shop…" She trailed off and surreptitiously pointed at the roofing behind the man duelling Yami. "Those three up there, however…"

I narrowed my eyes at the men who too far away to hear speaking, but close enough to see their lips move. I didn't like them already.

"And the magic card?" I asked, having learnt when I pressed my hand against it that it disliked intruders. Teá sighed.

"A barrier. And the guy who played it said the loser would have his soul stolen. It's like Duelist Kingdom all over again."

I pressed my free hand to the scar at my collarbone absent-mindedly. Souls were real and stealable. Joy.

"Well then. Yami better win this, huh?" I asked before pressing two fingers to my mouth and whistling like I was at a football match.

~XxX~

The man collapsed, the circle of green light having contracted in on him. I let go of Teá's hand, running to catch the man's head before it connected with the cold steel flooring of the roof and broke his skull. All that fuss and we had gleaned only the smallest bits of information. He said the power of the Seal was older than that of the Puzzle.

The others joined Yami and I on the raised platform that had served as a duelling area and yelled at the three men Teá had pointed out to me earlier, as the bulkiest of the three reached into his pocket and pulled out two cards, proclaiming that since Yami had been such a good sport, he'd release the souls of the two boys we'd met earlier. I watched the three leave with a feeling that was both cold and hard, anger condensed like a bullet as I breathed deeply to calm myself. This kind of thing was ludicrous.

Yami knelt next to me and picked up one of the strewn cards from the man's hand as my fingers rooted about his neck, trying to find a pulse. It was weak and thready, but there. Yami showed the card to us and Joey exhaled hard.

"Poor guy's trapped in a card like Pegasus had…" He said, taking the card from Yami, the picture a clear depiction of the man screaming in fear. Teá glanced at me as I stared at the man's paraphernalia, she took the necklace the man had dropped and handed it to Yami, commenting on the energies she felt from it as I closed my eyes and mulled something over with my moral compass.

"It feels…like my Millennium Puzzle…" Yami answered, sounding mildly perturbed.

"Those pricks from the roof, they're going to come back for this man, correct?" I asked, cutting across the gloomy mood that had descended over my friends.

"They didn't exactly seem the charitable type, Soph." Came Tristan's response and I nodded in agreement.

"True, but they also didn't seem like the type to publise themselves…they won't want questions. They'll come back for his-" I hesitated. "-Body." I ran a hand along the man's inner wrist, the one with the Duel Disk. The arm-clamp popped open and I lifted it off his arm. It had compacted down into something a fraction of the size, and it hummed as though organic. His deck remained in place, too…

"I'm not giving them any more edges over us than they already have."

~XxX~

After telling Yugi that his Grandfather needed a day of rest and supervision and hugging all four of my friends goodbye, I had returned home to eat dinner in silence with a chattering, if slightly shaken, family. The surreal events of the day had obviously not agreed with Sandra, that was clear in her unkempt hair and the dark circles under her eyes, but the children seemed happy enough. Mother, however, shot me a knowing glance when the conversation topic turned to the masses of Monsters roaming the Earth. I had excused myself once more, somewhat a recurring habit by now, and ventured back up to my room. Making sure all doors were locked or wedged, I proceeded to remove the odd-looking Duel Disk from my bag and set it on my desk. I angled my lamp to shine on it before running my fingers over the underside, searching for something akin to screws or washers. There were no such things.

"Ugh, this is going to take all night, isn't it?" I muttered to myself, sitting back in my chair and rolling my shoulders.

In fact, I studied the Duel Disk for two hours and could see no obvious signs of manufacture. Coupled with the low hum that was consistent with the thing uncovered, I surmised that it had to be somewhat alive, however improbable that seemed. Considering, however, that I had known three people already whose various pieces of golden paraphernalia housed living consciousnesses…It wasn't that much of a stretch.

"The issue here," I mused aloud, to no-one in particular, "Is that they have Duel Disks at all." I paused and tapped the life-point counter with a nail. "It's hardly Kaiba Corp issue…" I hesitated before coming to a realisation that made me stumble for my mobile, dialling Teá and glancing at the clock to see the time as she picked up on the fifth ring.

2am.

"Teá. Teá. What if their Monsters aren't holograms?" I rushed, not giving her a chance to scold me for the time or the fact that had most likely woken her up. A few seconds passed as she processed what I'd said and I heard the tell-tale sound of her rising from her bed. When she spoke, her voice was clear of sleep.

"Sophie, what do you mean?"

"Their Duel Disks." I gesticulated wildly, a practice useless over the phone, "They aren't exactly Kaiba Corp, are they? So they're not holograms, are they?"

"Kaiba did say that he wasn't the cause of the Monster appearances…" Teá mulled it over for a moment. "They're the root, aren't they?"

I nodded furiously, also useless over the phone. "Yes. And what are you willing to bet that they are also the cause of the lovely Egyptian Artefact Popsicle at the Museum?" Teá groaned on the other end of the line, I could imagine her putting a hand to the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"Just for once, I'd like time off school that wasn't 'Save the world from the Bad Guys.'"

~XxX~

Teá and I had talked a little while longer, resolving to tell the others in the morning, before we'd said our goodbyes. Doubtless she was going to catch up on a little of the sleep I'd stolen from her, but I was buzzing.

Before I returned to messing with my stolen possessions however, I would need coffee. I wandered downstairs, taking care to not wake anyone up and reached the kitchen with minimal response from creaking floorboards, shushing Sasha, who slept in her dog basket in the kitchen, and petted her on the head while trying to decipher why I felt a little…off.

I took a sip from my coffee cup and mused a little more, trying to figure out what was missing.

"Oh." I deadpanned aloud. "Fuck."