Disclaimer: Any and all fictional characters featured in this segment belong to Kazuki Takahashi. Except Mary Sue. She won't be around for long, promise! The only reason I made her up was because I couldn't think of something else to move the story along.

You know what? I've been working on this story for so long, I think this is going to the last chapter, and thus the longest. And quite possibly the most disappointing for reasons you will find out towards the end. Also, I changed the genre to Parody/ Romance, because this is fucked up, and so am I. Shoot me.

Part VIII

"...And that's how my mother killed herself, before my very eyes! The memory haunts me night and day! It's even haunting me right now! WAAAAAAH!" Mary Sue dropped down on her knees, her Ra Yellow skirt flapping up to provide a momentary panty-shot. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, her heart-shaped face in her perfect hands.

Meanwhile, Alexis and Zane had scooted to the far side of the dock. They were now standing behind the lighthouse, waiting for this to blow over. As much as they did not appreciate this intrusion on their quiet-time, they were too cool and collected to lash out at the "girl" with machetes.

"How long do you think she's going to keep this up?" asked Alexis, watching the shrieking Mary Sue curl into a fetal position and writhe about the ground. Her tears were enough to soak her whole side of the dock!

"Not sure. But she's going to have to get tired, sometime."

"And my father? He ran away when I was only three and a half. The last thing I'd ever heard of him was that he was living it up in Europe! Son of a bitch!"

Zane proceeded to pull out two pairs of ear plugs from his pocket, one for him and one for Alexis. Suddenly, he could've sworn he felt somebody humping his leg.

Someone was humping his leg, Mary Sue was. Some people have the strong conviction that all of their problems can be alleviated by sleeping with some good-looking guy, as opposed to going to therapy. Mary Sue was one of those people.

Not that that made her a slut, of course. Oh no, God forbid one would make such an accusation.

Alexis stepped forward and opened her mouth to say something, but Zane held out an arm. He was more than capable of handling this himself.

"Can I help you?"

Mary Sue stopped and looked up at him, her eyes turning limpid with fresh tears. "Has anyone ever told you that you look like an angel?" she said softly. "And a sexy one, at that."

Zane raised an eyebrow. Seduction by tears...feh! Like that trick had never been pulled on him before.

"Listen, Mary, you're welcome to angst by the lighthouse as long as you like, but I don't think it's necessary of you to be invading someone else's space," said Alexis. Mary Sue glared at her, her eyes changing into a fierce ruby-red hue.

"Well, aren't you one to talk! All day and all night, you're standing with Mr. Hunky-Man here, keeping each other warm with your thighs!"

Alexis slapped her hand across her forehead and scowled. "For the love of Cyber Blader! What, just because a guy and a girl are friends, people need to automatically assume that they're sleeping together?"

"Well, your brother's back and all, so why are you still here?" Mary Sue hissed, making sure to wrap an arm around Zane's trunk. He tried to pry free as quietly as possible while the girls argued. Correction: he thought he could take care of this himself.

"That's it! We're just going to have to settle this the old-fashioned way."

"You mean with a boob contest?"

For a moment, all was silent, save for the waves gently slapping against the dock. Neither Lex nor Zane dared to ask what Mary meant by a "boob contest," but instead, Lex replied, "Uh...no, I mean a duel. And you can let Zane go."

Mary nodded and smirked. "All right, fine! But I must warn you: I am a champion in every single country, from Abkhazia to Zimbabwe!"

Alexis rolled her eyes. If that was true, it helped explain why Mary Sue looked like a color orgy. Things only got stranger when Mary Sue gave a twirl, and two duel disks spontaneously appeared on her arms. She handed one of them to Alexis as though this were a normal occurance. They were about to start, when suddenly--

"WAAAAIT!"

Two boys who were armed with duel disks came shimmying down the lighthouse, their coats marred with seagull feathers and their hair in disarray. One of them had a spot of bird droppings on his forehead, and he sure didn't look pleased.

Zane looked up at them. "Atticus? Chazz? How long have you two--?"

Atticus pointed up to the sky. "This is an intervention! I've got you, Zane!" With the reflexes of a Panther Warrior, he lunged at Truesdale and pushed him to the ground, making sure to remain on top of him, to shield him.

"What the--Atticus, what's the meaning of--"

Atticus clapped his hand over Zane's mouth and kept it there. "Ssh, ssh, ssh. It's okay, I'm here." Ignoring the evil look Zane gave him, he turned his head and called, "Chazz, it's up to you! Slay the Sue!"

"Right!" Chazz unlocked his duel disk and stepped in front of Alexis. "Leave this to me, Lexi! I wouldn't want you to bruise any of your features."

Alexis scowled. She hardly ever got a chance to duel anymore, which was entirely unfair. Unfortunately, once Princeton aquired the itch to duel, and had activated his duel disk, there was no stopping him. The two duelists faced each other on either side of the dock, with Chazz starting first. Mary Sue could've made the first move, but that would be impolite, wouldn't it?

He glanced at his hand and smirked. "First, I summon Armed Dragon, Level Three, in Attack Mode!"

ATK: 1200

DEF: 900

"And I end my turn by setting three face-downs."

Mary Sue cocked her pretty head, eyeing Chazz in an uncomfortably knowing way. "Let me guess; you're ending your turn so that you can summon Armed Dragon, Level Five, right?"

Chazz curled his lips into a sneer. How dare she blurt out what he was intending to do! Only he could explain what he did. Nevertheless, when Mary's turn began, Level Three vanished in the cloud of gold, with its larger, redder form taking its place.

ATK: 2400

DEF: 1700

Mary placed a finger to her lips and smiled. "What's wrong, Chazz? Are you starting to feel distracted by my breasts?"

Chazz turned up his nose. "Please, I only have eyes for one rack...and that rack belongs to Lexi!" If he hadn't been busy dueling, Alexis probably would've slapped him for that remark, not that he'd meant anything mean by it.

On Mary's turn, she drew a card, flashing her pearly-white teeth that were so shiny that Chazz could see his face on them. "I summon The Forgiving Maiden in Defense Mode."

ATK: 850

DEF: 2000

Next, she revealed a Spell card from her hand, Quick Summon, so that she could make another summoning. "Now I tribute my Maiden to summon..."

She made a dramatic pause, holding the monster card she was about to summon over her head. Everything was so quiet; even the ocean stilled in anticipation.

Eyebrows were raised. "Well? What's your monster? Are you going to summon it any time today?"

"No fear, Chazz!" cheered Atticus, who was still looming over Zane, who in turn was trying to worm his way out from underneath.

Mary Sue gave an indignant pout. "I'm sorry, Princeton, but you'll never get laid with an attitude like that. Where was I? Oh, right. Say hello to...Malicious Edge!"

ATK: 2600

DEF: 1800

Suddenly, an ominous breeze swept the dock as a black being armored in spikes sprang from the concrete, dagger-like claws gleaming.

Meanwhile, on the bottom step in the Slifer Dorm, Jaden perked up like a startled prairie dog. He put two fingers to his temple and began to quiver all over.

His best friend Syrus turned to him. "What's the matter, Jaden?"

"I...I don't know. I sense some kind of...disturbance."

"You know what disturbance I'm feeling?" grumbled Chumley with his hands over his gigantic girth. "An emptiness in my stomach."

Everyone at the dock gasped. Truth be told, they all half-expected that Mary would pull off something like this. Nevertheless, none of them thought she'd be this terrible and non-canon. An instinctual spark from within Chazz's brain warned him that this monster wasn't even supposed to exist yet.

Sure enough, he called her out on it. "What the hell is that thing?! Where'd you get it?"

Atticus slapped a palm over Zane's eyes, hoping to shield his pretty eyes from such an atrocious monster. "Don't look at it, Zane!"

Mary smiled coyly. "Oh, well, let's just say that I have good connections." She turned her kaleidoscope-like eyes to the sky in the way one might do when they've got a dirty little secret. In this case, Mary's was bribing Pegasus with vintage comic books to draw it up for her. An unlikely and illogical story, yes?

"Pfft, I'm not even going to ask. The sooner I trash that thing, the less time I have to waste looking at it!"

"Nah-ah-ah, it's still my turn, Princeton," Mary chided with a wagging finger.

"Nah-ah-ah," mimicked Chazz with a wave of his arm, "I've got a face-down. I reveal my Trap, Pyro Clock of Destiny, which moves the turn count by one move. That means I skip my Draw Phrase so that I may move on to my Main Phrase." He selected the last two cards from his hand and showed them to Mary, both of which were the Spell, Level Up.

"I use my first Level Up to sacrifice Level Five...so that I can summon my Armed Dragon, Level Seven!"

ATK: 2800

DEF: 1000

"And my second Level Up is for trading Level Seven...for Armed Dragon, Level Ten!" Chazz's strongest Dragon loomed over the dock, its massive head blotting out the sun, its shadow swallowing everyone whole.

ATK: 3000

DEF: 2000

"Atticus, get off of me," Zane growled. But Atti only held on a little tighter, vaguely wondering if this shadow was dark enough to keep everyone from seeing him kiss his beloved.

He didn't usually rush into pulling out his biggest guns, but he wanted this duel to end straightaway so Alexis could start fawning over him and how heroic he'd been. Besides, if Jaden could be cheap, then so could he!

Seeing that Mary had only a monster on her side of the field, Chazz waved his arm and declared an attack. "Go, Armed Dragon! Tear her Edge apart!" On this command, his beast swung back its massive paw and swiped at the enemy. The attack sent a dust-kicking gust all around, tossing Mary Sue's hair this way and that. For but a fleeting moment, until her hair mysteriously fell back into place, she looked like the wicked witch that she truly was.

CRASSSSSHH!

Chazz's LP: 4000

Mary Sue's LP: 3600

Wow, looks like Zane's not the only one with hair that manages itself, thought Atticus. As he watched Chazz end his turn, he squeezed Zane even tighter.

"Hmph, nice shot. But I have an ace up my sleeve, or in this case, a Monster Reborn card! So now it's like your giant horned toad had never laid a claw on my Edge!"

Even though it probably wouldn't do any good, Atticus cried, "Chicanery! Chicanery!" He pointed an accusing finger at Mary Sue, giving Zane the chance to finally crawl out from underneath him. Alexis shot her brother a look. She was mildly surprised that he knew such a word.

"Atticus, what the hell is wrong with you?" He tried to stand back up on his feet, only to have Atticus pull him back down.

"No, Zane! Don't get up yet! I've already lost you once! Don't make me suffer the trauma all over again!"

With a sinister twinkle in her eye, Mary twirled two cards around in her hand for the lot of them to see: Caius the Shadow Monarch, and a mysterious card whose aura felt just as malicious as Malicious Edge...Dark Fusion!

"Now I use the Spell, Dark Fusion, to fuse Malicious Edge and the Shadow Monarch in my hand..."

Another unnecessary, dramatic pause.

"And...what?" asked Alexis.

Mary stamped her foot. "Excuse me! No wonder no one likes you! As I was saying, behold my beast, Malicious Fiend!" Over her head, a cluster of swirling, black clouds nearly blew everyone off of their feet, as a spiny, winged demon descended from out of them.

ATK: 3500

DEF: 2100

"And now for the attack. Go, Fiend, shred his Armed Dragon!" As swiftly as a falcon, it dove head-first for Chazz's monster with its katana-like claws outstretched.

SLASSSSSSHH!

The death cry of Armed Dragon rang throughout the bay, accompanied by a great burst of smoke. Chazz held out his arms and tried to shield Alexis from the impact. Unfortunately, his Life Points were left defenseless.

Chazz's LP: 3500

Mary's LP: 3600

"And I end my turn with a face-down. Yourmove," she beckoned in a sing-song voice that made everyone present want to roll their , Chazz drew his new card: Graceful Charity. His hand was practically empty, so he decided to play it and see what he might get.

"I play the Spell, Graceful Charity, to draw three new cards. However, I'll have to discard two cards in exchange." He drew his three cards: Masked Dragon, Ojamagic and Polymerization. A decent draw. He chose Ojamagic and Masked Dragon to dispose of.

"So I discard two cards, and one of them is Ojamagic, which means its effect activates!When it's sent from my hand to the Graveyard, I can take an Ojama Yellow, an Ojama Black and an Ojama Green from my deck and add them to my hand.

But I'm just getting started! I activate one of my face-downs, Ojama Trio! Here's a gift from me to you, Sue: three obnoxious Ojama tokens!" In the snap of fingers, three gremlins in Speedos took over three spots in her Monster Zone, playfully shaking their rumps in her face.

"Huzzah!"

"Boo-yah!"

"Comin' at ya!"

ATK: 0

DEF: 1000

Mary Sue drew back in disgust. "Ugh...you really shouldn't have."

Chazz smirked. "But I did, anyway. Now I play Polymerization to fuse the three Ojama monsters from my hand! Bow down to His Majesty..."

Once again, he made his own dramatic pause. Alexis slapped herself in the face. This was thethird dramatic pause in this whole duel. But she knew better than to say anythingto these lunatics.

"...Ojama King!"

From out of the blue, a gargantuan, grinning beast in a crown and cape somersaulted into the scene and bellowed, Thank you, thank you very much!

ATK: 0

DEF: 3000

"And guess what, Sue? Ojama King's effect seals off up to three spots in your Monster Zone. So I guess that means no more summoning for--"

"Yes, yes, I know. But you know, Princeton? My Malicious Fiend has an effect, too. It's the Battle Phase now, and my monster forces all monsters on your side of the field to switch to Attack Mode and do battle with it! What with Ojama King having no Attack Points, I'd say that it's curtains for you," Mary taunted, drawing a finger across her throat.

"Hmph, if anything, it's curtains for this Battle Phase. Revealing my second face-down, Gravity Bind! As long as this card's on the field, no monsters with a level of four or higher can attack. So nobody's scrapping with anybody. Heh-heh-heh. I end my turn."

Scowling, Mary drew a card. Judging by how her scowl deepened, one could guess that it must not have been a good one. But that didn't stop her. "Fine. I activate my own face-down, Tremendous Fire! I inflict 500 Points of damage to myself, but twice as much as that to you!" Typical of Mary to pull something like that. A great ball of fire shot from the Spell card's image and struck Chazz in the chest. The impact made him cringe and stumble backward by a bit.

Chazz's LP: 2500

Mary's LP: 3100

"No mercy, Chazz!" Atticus cheered,arm nowlocked around Zane's.

"Urgh, you think that hurt me? That was just a spark!"

"Mm-hm, sure it was. I end my turn, unfortunately."

Chazz's new card was Ojamandala. He could not use it right away, however, because if he resurrected his Ojama monsters, Malicious Fiend would force them to attack it; they were immune to Gravity Bind's effect, after all. Thus, he did something that he usually didn't do. He passed for this turn.

Mary's turn was almost as brief as his; all she did was draw a card and set it face-down.

Short turns had their advantages, though. They were perfect for setting up for the grand finale. And that was exactly what Chazz was going for. "I--"

"Hold it, hon! I activate my face-down, Reckless Greed! I get to draw two cards, in exchange for skipping my next two Draw Phases. Now I play one of said cards, Mystical Space Typhoon! Say adios, sayonara, au devior, and farewell to Gravity Bind!"

CRASSSSH! A twister swept across the field, wiping the Trap out.

"Grr, how dare you interrupt the Chazz when he's talking! You're going to pay for that! First, I use Pot of Avarice, which lets me select five monsters from my Graveyard and shuffle them back into my deck. Then, I draw two more cards."

Guess what his two cards were?

Ojama Delta Hurricane and Ojamuscle!

"Ha! Next I play Ojamandala! For a lousy 1000 Life Points..."

Chazz's LP: 1500

"I can summon my Ojamas Yellow, Green and Black from my graveyard to the field!"

"Hooray, we're back!" the trio chorused as they danced around in a circle.

ATK: 0

DEF: 1000

"Next, I play Ojama Delta Hurricane. With all three Ojamas out on the field, I can rub out every single card on your side of the field!"

"W-what?!" Mary Sue had never looked so dumbfounded in the whole two chapters she had existed. Arms locked, the Ojama brothers began to spin faster and faster until they became a gusty whirlwind that made quick work of her Malicious Fiend and Ojama Tokens, thanks to which she was depleted of 900 Life Points by their ability.

Mary's LP: 2200

"I'm not done yet!I play the Spell, Ojamuscle. For every Ojama on the field I destory by this effect, Ojama King gains 1000 Attack Points!"

"Huh?! What did he say?"

Ojama King flashed a broad and hungry grin. "Awright, come to Daddy!" Witha lash ofits fat, worm-like tongue, the Ojamas made like Skittle candies and disappeared into the cavern that was its mouth. Instantly, the King's muscles to almost seven times their regular size.

ATK: 3000

"Thanks to Ojama Hurricane, you're just a sitting duck. Ojama King, attack Mary directly! Belly Flop Drop!" Like an athletic diver, Ojama King leapt into mid-air and prepared to land. He plummeted like a cannonball.

"COWABUNGA!"

"He's gonna win, he's gonna win!"

"But-but you can't win!" Mary protested,staggering backwards and staring up atthe monster of her demise, her face frozenin raw terror."I'm Marianne Suzanne--"

KA-POOOOW!

She never got to finish.

Chazz's LP: 1500

Mary's LP: 0

For a moment, the earth itself seemed to rattle, as though it were about to split in two at that very moment. Fortunately, that didn't happen. No, what happened instead was as soon as Ojama King faded away, they found Mary Sue on the ground, cards spilled from her disk and all around her pretty little head. She didn't move half an inch.

Chazz pumped his fist into the air. "YES! I Chazzed you up! Did you see that? Even a stupid Mary Sue doesn't have a prayer against my superior might!" He turned to look Alexis up and down. "Are you all right, Lexi?"

"Yes, Chazz. I'm fine, thank you," she replied flatly.

Atticus still clung to Zane's arm, like a child about to go to school. He squinted at Mary's lifeless body. Was she dead?

All of a sudden, her cards began to spontaneously crumble to dust. At the same time, Marianne Suzanne Anderpheonukidaleton began to melt down, literally! Like an ice cream cone on the sidewalk on a hot summer day, she first lost her outline, and then her shapely shape, and before anyone could say, "Ding-dong, the Witch is dead!", nothing was left but a massive puddle of colors on the ground.

No one said a word. What could they really say? Strange things happened every day at Duel Academy, but never before had they experienced a phenomenon quite like this.

Eventually, Zane broke the silence: "Somehow, I expected this to happen. She just didn't seem human. But now that that's over with...Atticus, come with me."

The Obelisk Prince perked up at those last three words. They could've meant anything; he hoped that they meant what he thought they meant. And yet, as he glanced into Zane's hardened face, he suspected that those three words meant something else.

"Wh-what's the matter?"

"We need to talk." That was all Zane said before he tugged Atticus along to somewhere more private, leaving Chazz and Alexis alone. Noticing this, Chazz decided to take advantage of it.

"So, Alexis, wasn't I awesome?"

"...I suppose."

His eye started to twitch. "What do ya mean, you suppose? That thing almost killed me, but I still managed to slay it!"

Alexis sighed. "Look, it's not that I'm not glad that you won. It's just that, well, you're acting as if you only dueled that...creature...because you were expecting a kiss or something." Chazz twiddled his thumbs. That didn't sound like a bad reward.

"You and my brother have been working together for the last few days so you could try to woo me, haven't you?"

Chazz laughed sheepishly. "Oh Lexi, this is only one of the reasons why I love you! You're so smart!"

She folded her arms across her chest. "Uh-huh. Figures. Well, Chazz, I suppose I should give you something for your efforts..."

Thinking that this reward was what he thought it would be, that eager beaver leaned in and puckered his lips, waiting for the girl to do the same. What he got was a heavy, tooth-popping, jaw-breaking, nose-smashing knuckle sandwich.

KA-POW!

He was on the ground in an instant, seeing Ojamas dance around his head, his face throbbing with red-hot pain. "YIKES! Wh-wh-what the hell was that for?!"

Alexis rubbed his fist. "That was for your comment about my chest. I wanted to wait until the duel was over so I could give you my reply," she said bitterly. "Why don't you grow up?" She always was rather touchy.

"DIE, YOU RAINBOW-COLORED SCUM!" snarled a third person.

Alexis and Chazz turned their attention to the puddle of colors that used to be Mary Sue. Who else did they find spraying the mess away with a hose but Jaden? Only somehow, he didn't appear to be his regular happy-go-lucky self. His face was twisted with rage far too intense to be characteristic of him, and his eyes seemed to shimmer gold.

"I'm not even supposed to appear yet, but you've forced me to by using MY cards! Go back to Hell, where you belong!"

As soon as he cleansed the entire dock, Jaden stood there panting like a junkyard dog. He looked at the two duelists on the far end, and just as quickly as his temper had emerged, it vanished, along with the eerie gold shade in his brown eyes.

He blinked two or three times, as though he had no clue what he'd just done. He held up the hose. "Huh? Where am I? And why am I holding a hose? Hi, guys! Are we having a hose party?"

Chazz glared at his rival, then at Alexis. "And you tell me to grow up?"

Atticus could hardly believe the circumstances: here he was, in Zane's room, with Zane, just the two of them. He'd watched many romance movies in his day, and traditionally, when the lovers were alone somewhere, magic occurred, and maybe a little action, too. The boys sat in two armchairs, facing each other. Was it just him or was the room getting colder? It could've been from being in Zane's presence. He shivered.

Zane, on the other hand, remained perfectly cool and composed. He looked at his friend in the eyes, without blinking. "Atticus, I've always known that you were odd. But lately, you've been acting odder than usual."

"Oh, you've noticed?" Atticus couldn't help but blush. Zane had the kind of stare that was so penetrating that one would want to look away, yet they couldn't.

"We both have, Alexis and I. You've been a lot more touchy-feely than you used to be. You've stuffed baloney in your jacket. You've tried to make out with me while I was saving your life--"

"No, I wasn't!"

Not being the type to like being interrupted, Zane was quiet, but his stony stare was enough to reprimand Atti. Getting the message, Atti motioned for him to continue.

"I know it was you watching me, you know."

"R-really? But I thought--"

"No. I found you out in the hallway with a lampshade over your head. That might work in cartoons, but it doesn't in reality."

Atticus began to feel like a criminal. He sunk at least four inches into the chair, his face glowing as red as a sundae cherry. "Yeah, well, if you don't like what I do, then why are you friends with me? If I wanted to get yelled at, I would've gone to Crowler!" He didn't know why he said that. His brain must've been going to mush.

"...Right. I think I might have an idea what's going on. But I'll hear it from you, first, to be sure."

Atticus's knees buckled. This was it. He was going to have to tell him now, or never tell him. His heartbeat echoed in his ears like thunder, blood continuing to build up in his cheeks, as though he was going to explode. Imagine: the love guru himself being brought down to his knees by his own best friend. Raw emotion took him over like a tidal wave, drowning every last ounce of discretion he still had and releasing itself in the form of hot tears.

He buried his face in his hands so Zane wouldn't see his crying. "Awright, you caught me! I'm guilty as charged: for loving you in the first degree! For helping Chazz try to woo Lexi so you could be mine! Lock me up and throw away the key!"

Zane reached out to pull Atticus's hands off of his tear-stained face. "Atticus, calm down. Don't turn this into some kind of soap opera." He reached for a box of tissues on a table and handed him a tissue. Atticus's sight had become too blurry for him to see what Zane's expression was, but he accepted the tissue and dabbed his tears.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Zane. It's just that, w-well, I've been crazy for you for a long time, a real long time, for so long that I've been going crazy, myself. But I couldn't tell you because...of a lot of things." He tried to look Zane in the eyes as he confessed his love for him; after all, this wasn't going as gracefully as he'd hoped it would. He could now see that his face remained smooth and aloof. If there was one thing he didn't understand was how Zane managed to keep so cool, or at least look like he was. One could probably tell him that his mother had been eaten by an orca, and he'd still look aloof. He blew his nose.

"Listen, I-I can understand if you hate me. Lexi's probably better for you, anyway, and maybe even prettier. If you two are truly happy together, then what gives me the right to intrude?"

All Zane said was, "I see. That's exactly what I figured."

"Y-you mean, you knew? But why didn't you call me out on it?"

"Because that would be jumping to conclusions. I wanted to wait until you came out and said it directly. I knew you would, some time. And about Lex..."

By now, Atticus was as red as a strawberry. He expected a laundry list of the reasons Zane was much happier with his sister and why he could never be with him.

Instead, he heard, "You thought we were dating, weren't you? Jumped to conclusions, yourself, huh?"

Atti bit his lower lip. "Uh...maybe. Kinda. A little."

Zane shook his head. "Think about it for a second: if we really were dating, don't you think we would've told you? We don't need to hide things from each other, do we?"

Shame grabbed Atticus by the throat, making him choke on his words. "N-n-no."

"We really aren't, Atticus. We're just friends, that's all we've been since you disappeared. I'd never think about pulling anything funny on Alexis. But going back to your...feelings for me, I'm afraid to say that I don't like you, either. Not in that sense. I already have a love, and that's dueling."

Atti's beating heart stilled itself. He could feel it shattering into pieces like a china plate, and those pieces shattering into more pieces, and those pieces shattering into even more pieces until there was basically nothing left but dust floating around in his chest. Somehow, he knew Zane was going to shoot him down after all, but that didn't make this hurt any less. He never was the type to take rejection well.

In one last, feeble attempt to gain his affections, he squeaked, "Wh-what if I dressed up as a--"

"No. Cosplaying as a Duel Monster every day wouldn't make me love you, Atticus. You're a good friend, and I appreciate that you finally mustered the courage to tell me how you feel, but I can't force myself to feel something that I don't, and neither can you. I'm sorry."

So that was that. There was no point in continuing to argue. Once Zane made up his mind, no one could change it. Besides, when one's heart crumbles to dust, they don't feel like arguing anymore. Wiping the tears out of his eyes, Atticus stood up and headed for the door, feet dragging and head hanging. He felt as hollow as a conch, the romantic hopes he once kept sheltered within him now dead.

This is why he and Zane haven't actually been on speaking terms, since.

As soon as he shut the door behind him, Zane reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck. He shuffled through it until he came across his favorite monster, Cyber End Dragon. With his fingertip, he traced the outline of its middle head and metallic wings. The tiniest of smirks played at his lips.

"It's not that I enjoyed shooting him down," he murmured, pulling the card closer to his lips and pecking it. "He's my friend, after all. But honestly, not even the most beautiful and charismatic person on campus compares to you...Sugar End."

END