Destined to be Yours

Chapter 56: The Encounter

"They're probably looking for her. We have to hurry and leave her somewhere further away," Rishid replied.

Akia was too heartbroken to resist at this point. It was as if her heart had shattered into a million pieces when Marik basically rejected her for his revenge. Rishid led her back into an alleyway. "I will leave you here. Forgive me for everything. Marik needs time. Please understand." He then took off her blindfold and she saw his apologetic eyes. He then quickly left. Akia dried her eyes, knowing that her brother and her friends would be coming by soon.

Sure enough, not long after, she heard her brother's voice. "Akia!"

Seeing her brother just made the waterworks flow once more.

"Akia, are you hurt? What happened?" He ran to his sister and hugged her. Everyone was worried about her. They had never seen her this distraught.

When she finally calmed down, she looked around, realizing that everyone was safe, smiling in relief. "Everyone is alright, thank goodness."

Jounouchi then went up to her and patted her head. "We were worried sick about you you idiot. How could you just go to the enemy like that?"

"Why did you do that, Akia? It's not like you to rush into things on a whim," Mai inquired.

Akia sighed. She didn't want to think about Marik anymore at that point, but she owed them an explanation. "I wanted to help in any way I could. I thought if I distracted him, then Jounouchi would be able to break free from his control."

"He did break free." Yugi recounted to Akia everything that had happened.

"Good thing that was sorted out..." Akia sighed in relief.

"And here," her brother took out a card and handed it to her, "this should stay with you for now."

Akia reached out and took the card, smiling at what she saw, "Red Eyes..."

She put the card away and then looked at Shizuka, "hello, Shizuka-chan. It's the first time we meet, but your brother told me a lot about you. I'm Akia, Yugi's twin sister."

Shizuka smiled and nodded, "nice to meet you! Jounouchi also told me a lot about you. Thank you so much for taking good care of my brother."

She gave Akia a deep bow, making her giggle nervously.

"Oh I didn't do anything. Jounouchi is a handful sometimes but I'm very happy we're friends," Akia teased.

"You're the one who's a handful! But thank you for doing what you did. Who knows if I would have been able to break free if you hadn't distracted Marik. He didn't hurt you, did he?" He asked her.

Akia shook her head, "no. He was... very gentle."

"That's odd, considering what he did to Yugi, Jounouchi, and even us," Otogi interjeted.

"What did he do to you guys?" The red-eyed girl inquired.

"He sent his Ghouls after us. I think he was trying to capture us as well," Honda replied.

"How did you even get away?" Anzu asked them.

"I came to their rescue, of course." Otogi winked with a cocky smile.

"And then they ran into my car so I drove them out of there," Mai added.

They all caught up with each other on what had been happening. Akia told them how that, when she saw Yugi and Kaiba duelling, she got out of the taxi that was taking Bakura to the hospital and left him to her grandfather. Jounouchi and Anzu admitted that they had not been able to see what Marik looked like when they got captured.

"Did you see what he looked like, Akia-chan?" Anzu questioned.

"No... He blindfolded me," Akia confessed.

"Kinky," the young man with emerald eyes joked.

"Oh stop," Akia retorted with a chuckle.

They all laughed at Otogi's comment which lifted up their mood.

"So we all have the six puzzle cards then?" Yugi said.

"Yup. So you, Jounouchi, Mai, and me all qualify for the Battle City finals," his sister confirmed.

Putting all six puzzle cards together on her Duel Disk, Akia was able to display the location of the finals to her friends.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Jounouchi hyped his friends up.

With an enthusiastic exclamation, they were all in high spirits as they headed for the finals. Being around the people who were the closest to her made Akia forget momentarily about her heartbreak.