Oneshot, sorta post series. I'm not 100% on where the monsters live, especially considering the DOMA arc cocking things up, so I'm just making it up on the fly. English names used!

Could this count as a side story/foreshadowing for Heart of Magic? Maybe. It certainly shares a few of my headcanons with it, but I'm a little leery of explicitly connecting the two series. I'll think about this more later.

I'm not saying I ship DMG/Dark Necrofear, but if this was a Japanese High School AU she'd totally want Necrofear-senpai to notice her.

"Hurry up before we lose it!"

The Lord of the Shadow Realm, the Dark One, might've been destroyed, but his millennia long corruption of their kingdom still held strong, foul and rotting with monsters and the poor human souls that were trapped there. Under the protection of the Dark elements and the Fiend types - and the surprise offer of assistance from Diabound, who they'd all thought lost - the monsters made it their duty to cleanse the realm, to protect humanity from them.

This particular chase saw the Dark Magician Girl in hot pursuit of such a monster, the Lava Battleguard at her side while hundreds of Kuriboh chirped as they flew past. A handful of Sangan were hiding within them - a nasty shock for anything that assumed they'd figured out the trick to defeating one of their swarms. To tell the truth, even Dark Magician Girl couldn't tell which was which at this height. The swarm didn't come along with them for their fight; their duty was to act like sirens, funneling alerts along a vast living network of adorable spies. Well, Dark Magician Girl thought they were adorable.

(Or was it Mana? Was she actually supposed to be 'Mana, the Dark Magician Girl'? But she'd met so many other Dark Magician Girls who weren't Mana, who just looked confused at the name and she'd never met another 'Mana, the Dark Magician Girl'. The urge to be 'Mana, the Dark Magician Girl' had lessened over time, only flaring up whenever a particular one of her two masters played her in a duel and that hadn't been for a while...)

Lava Battleguard grunted out a warning and she shook herself out of her musings and banked sharply to the side, avoiding a blast of energy that just barely missed singing her hat.

The monster was probably a Lady of Faith. She moved with the grace of one of those noble ladies despite her twisted limbs, something flowing behind her as she fled into the darkness that might've been fine silk robes once upon a time, but now held the weight of flesh and stank of corrupting magic. She screamed as she ran, a horrible shriek that made her clench her teeth.

She bit back the thoughts that had yet to cease their torment. It wasn't the Lady of Faith's fault. She didn't ask to be twisted by that monster. She would have never wanted this, wouldn't have wanted to die. But they had yet to find a way to cleanse her, or any of them, of the Dark One's taint - how Diabound managed to return to himself, nobody had been able to explain least of all him.

So they had to kill her.

Cornering her was easy, as was dispatching her. So far, they had yet to run into anything that hadn't been easy to destroy. Perhaps that was the Dark One's final vengeance, to numb them to the slaughter of their own kind. Forcing them to kill monsters that never stood a chance of fighting back. Eating at their souls until they succumbed to the darkness themselves and birthed a new version of him.

Lava Battleguard cremated the remains with a minor spell and the two watched in silence as every last trace of the Lady of Faith become fire.

It might've been a twig, or a bone, but either way something snapped behind them.

Dark Necrofear watched them, her face impassable as usual, while her puppet child squirmed in her arms. She didn't say anything to them, and they said nothing to her. Not until the last ember blinked out of existence did she finally decide to break the silence.

"Good job today. Return home."

Lava Battleguard glared. "That's it?"

"It is."

He slammed his club against the dusty ground, the impact sending a small wave of dust through the shadowed streets, making Dark Magician Girl and the child flinch. "She was part of your deck, and you're not going to say anything?!"

She didn't respond, though the child began to wail at the Swordsman's anger and she made soft little noises to soothe it. Dark Magician Girl stood by on the sidelines. She wasn't as strong as Necrofear, very few were, but she might just be faster and if she had to dart in and carry the Lava Battleguard away, she would.

"Haven't you noticed?! All these corrupted monsters, they're all ones your master used! Take some responsibility!"

She was quiet again, for a long time. Her face remained blank, but the hand that wasn't supporting the child clenched into a fist at her side.

"That creature was not my master."

That only seemed to infuriate the Lava Battleguard more. "Like hell he wasn't! I didn't see you fighting too hard against his orders whenever he dueled! Even the Red Dark Magician turned against his master, but you just trotted along at his back like a dog!"

He didn't get the chance to say anything else - before Dark Magician Girl could even blink, Necrofear's heel slammed into his jaw, sending him rocketing down the street. If they'd been in the duel arena, he would've gone to the graveyard. As it were, he skidded to a stop, utterly winded and gasping for air. He couldn't move, his club sent spiraling well out of reach.

She could've killed him and they both knew it. Could still kill him, if the mood struck her. She stalked towards him, then crouched beside his face. She was so much smaller than him, even a little shorter than Dark Magician Girl, but in that moment Necrofear might as well have been a Blue Eyes for how small Dark Magician Girl felt behind her.

The sheer presence of the Queen of Fiends, perhaps.

"Tell me. Should I have refused his commands? Should I have allowed him to harm Ryou even more than he already had? Did you think we enjoyed sitting there, watching that boy bleed at his hands and being told that he'd only suffer more if we disobeyed? What would you have had us do?!"

By the end, she was practically screaming in his face and Dark Magician Girl was scared. She'd never seen Necrofear lose her cool before. Ever. She'd been calm and in control of the whole operation from the start, despite all the monsters who'd looked down on her for being so close to the evil they were fighting. It was like seeing a Blue Eyes cowering in fear, it was utterly wrong.

"I wouldn't have given up. I would've protected him, no matter what."

Dark Magician Girl changed her mind. Dark Necrofear screaming was nothing compared to Dark Necrofear laughing. It was horribly reminiscent of the Lady of Faith's screams, a near hysterical, desperate noise. Almost as quickly as it began however, her laughter died down, and her usual implacable face was back in position.

"Where do you think Ryou's soul was when the thief lost his body to the dark tombkeeper? Or when Zorc rampaged through his body? Who do you think was guarding him? I certainly didn't see any of you there."

Then she walked away, vanishing into the shadows as silent as she came.

"Way to stick up for me."

He hissed as Dark Magician Girl poked the rapidly swelling bruise on his chin just a little bit too hard. He was adamant that she'd broken it too, though she couldn't sense any cracks. She hoisted the monster's arm over her shoulders and flew into the air, not letting his weight slow her down.

"What did you expect? I still can't believe you said that to her."

'And lived' didn't need to be said. He grumbled, muttering something under his breath that she didn't catch. She tugged his ear. "Come again?"

"I SAID she's probably next anyway."

"Next?"

His face turned grave. "I mean, since it's all his monsters turning, odds are she'll be one of 'em soon enough. Or hell, even Diabound might slip. We need to be careful."

As if summoned, the shimmery silver-white scales of Diabound slithered beside them, from some dark crevice nether had seen. Whoever rendered his card in the human world clearly had no idea of his new, true self. Gone were the humanoid arms, his chest and his face that had been 'gifted' him by the Dark One - she had yet to figure out who's form had been stolen. He was purely serpentine now. The second head on his tail, a marker of the Dark One's corruption, had left a horrific scar as it shriveled up and crumbled away, the only mark marring his gigantic form no matter how many times he shed.

He had still retained his wings however, immense downy things that erupted from behind where his ears might be that the Happy Lovers adored fussing over. He'd come from somewhere holy after all, despite his time trapped in the darkness infested with the Dark One. He was as close to a God as any of them would get, now that the true God Cards had become Horakhty and ascended from the realm of monsters.

(But that also meant he was unique - alone. There were many monsters created by Gods, monsters that could never be corrupted. Yet he was. Surely then the corruption should have never receded. Yet it had. In her mind the image of a tiny child with white hair and tears and ash and blood on his cheeks appeared unbidden and (hatehatehatemahadmypharaohpleasecomebackpleasepleaseplease) she wondered if his corruption was a choice. How unfair it was, that the others were not given this choice.)

The offer was unspoken, but obvious. She touched down carefully on his back, ignoring the Lava Battleguard's scowl and held on to one of the ridges as he picked up speed, flowing through the air like water. They'd be home in no time.

His voice was equally smooth, like sand flowing down a dune, though his words were less so. "Which one of you pissed off Necrofear then? She looked like she actually had an emotion when I passed her. Do you know how weird that is?"

Dark Magician Girl couldn't hold back a giggle. Diabound's regal appearance and holy birth had absolutely no bearing on his personality. "I didn't do anything!"

The Lava Battleguard didn't find it so funny. "I just reminded her of the truth about our situation."

"What would that be?"

"That your master is the one that got us into this mess."

Diabound blinked, visibly confused as what little cheer in the air slipped away. "What's that got to do with her?"

"Well she was one of his monsters, so - "

"What?!"

He stopped mid-air, the jolt almost shaking his passengers off. A few feathers came loose, floating gently down into the depths of the shadows below. He turned, his neck rising like a cobra as he twisted around to gape at them.

"She's not one of my master's monsters! She belongs to that other one, the one that's a terrible judge of character! Ryu, or Rio or whatever."

"They might as well be the same person! He willingly wore the Ring even though he knew what it was capable of. Know what? I just changed my mind! He's just as bad as he was! He might even be worse, he pretended there was nothing wrong to his friends, even at the end! He put them all in danger because of his own selfishness!"

He was panting when he finally finished his outburst. Diabound's scales rattled, his pupils narrowing into slits. Dark Magician Girl didn't let him speak. "Remember what Dark Necrofear said! He threatened all of them, so he probably threatened the other one too. I bet he wanted to tell them, but he couldn't."

The Lava Battleguard growled. "Don't make excuses for him. You're just as bad as your master."

He stood up, rolling his shoulders. "I'm making my own way back. Don't wait up for me."

Then he launched himself off Diabound, effortlessly leaping between the shadowy structures that dotted the air around them. It took only seconds for him to vanish out of sight, and once he did, Dark Magician Girl could only sigh. She flopped back on Diabound's scales as he took flight once more.

"He didn't even say thanks. How rude."

"Sorry, I don't know what's gotten into him..."

Diabound resumed their flight with a shrug. "Ain't your fault."

They flew in a surprisingly comfortable silence, but it still wasn't until the safe haven of the Labyrinth came into view that she worked up the courage to ask him something that had been bothering her. "Diabound, can I ask you something?"

His face was disgustingly sly as he looked back - it reminded her of the Dark Magician. "I dunno, can you?"

"Ha. I was just curious - why do you still call the evil one your master?"

Even at his master's death, Diabound had remained loyal. He was perhaps the only monster from that deck that was loyal in the first place. She wondered if she'd have that same loyalty some day, when her master died.

"Instead of the other one?"

"Yeah."

It was a long time before Diabound answered. He spoke carefully, like he mulled over each word.

"He was abandoned by his Pharaoh. He was abandoned by the Gods. Even Zorc turned on him, at the end. I'll sooner cut off my wings than let him be abandoned by his own ka too."

"Ka?"

She didn't miss him flinching. "What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth, like he meant to speak, but then sighed and shut it again. "It's nothing. Never mind. Besides, the other one never needed someone like me. He's got Dark Necrofear and I don't know about you, but I wager even the Blue Eyes wouldn't wanna get on her bad side."

It took far longer than Dark Magician Girl liked to find Dark Necrofear once they returned to the Labyrinth walls, Diabound leaving to find others who needed a ride home. She was alone on the southernmost wall, watching something far below it. She nodded at her when she approached.

"Dark Magician Girl, come look."

She didn't dare disobey. Below them, in what she remembered once being a beautiful park, stood an immense figure, swaying in the breeze.

The wind changed around them and she physically recoiled from the wall at the stench that assaulted her nose. No doubt about it. That was a Battle Ox, it was unmistakable. But what was he doing down there?

He lurched around, swinging his axe around at random and barely registering when it sliced through the dark shapes that might've been trees, or when it clattered against the Labyrinth walls itself. Not a single scratch marred the wall however, the blows ricocheting off as if he swung a feather instead of an axe that weighed more than her.

"Your barrier did the trick - it wouldn't let him through the gates. Impressive work."

She felt her cheeks burn at the praise. "I-it was mostly Dark Magician's idea."

"But it's your power driving it forward. Don't sell yourself short, it doesn't suit you."

As they watched, the Battle Ox's form began to mutate and collapse in on himself. The muscles he had always been so proud of shriveled up, skin stretched taut across his face. Mighty horns crumbled into dust and finally, he no longer had the strength to wield his axe. He gazed up at the wall, perhaps driven by one last lingering moment of consciousness of where he had once lived, then stumbled away into the darkness.

"Are we going after him?"

"Eventually. I'm not going out there alone and you're in no shape to leave again so soon. I'll report this when I leave."

She bit her lip - true, the missions had taken their toll on her. She also knew it wasn't a physical exhaustion Dark Necrofear was referring to.

Oh, that was what she'd forgotten. She'd been so distracted by the thought of her master dying, and witnessing the corruption firsthand, that she'd almost let the reason she came here slip away.

"I'm sorry about what the Lava Battleguard said to you. It wasn't fair."

Dark Necrofear blinked, and she figured that was about as close to an acceptance of the apology as she would get. Something rattled within the ceramic baby; it almost sounded like a giggle. Its single arm strained to get closer to her, its little fingers twitching in frustration as it couldn't reach. Dark Necrofear glanced down at it, then held it out to her. "She wants you to hold her."

"She does?"

At her nod, she reached out and carefully cradled the baby, careful to support its neck even though she was sure it had no joints to strain. It was light and hollow, like she thought, cold ceramic skin like she'd always assumed. The hand reached out and grabbed some of her hair, giving it a hard tug. She winced, but didn't mind.

When she looked up from the baby, Dark Necrofear had the tiniest curl to her lips.

"He said something else, after you left. That you'd turn too, because all of the monsters corrupted by the Dark One's remnants are all from the evil one's deck. I've just seen with my own eyes that that isn't true, but..."

"You're making a mistake, Dark Magician Girl, but it's one that many have made. You're assuming that Zorc operated with logic and reason that we are familiar with. However, he was impossible to defeat until he was constrained by rules from a realm outside his only state of existence. That's because the only rules that Zorc followed were his own emotional whims, subject to change at the drop of a hat. That was his 'intelligence'."

Dark Magician Girl prayed her voice wouldn't waver. "So... there's no way to tell who's going to turn and who won't? It really is just a coincidence that it's been most of his monsters?"

"Correct."

"And there's..." She choked, not even noticing the tears on her face until Dark Necrofear's fingers gently caught them and wiped them away. "There's no way to stop it?"

"Now you know that isn't true. Come with me."

She didn't get the chance to say no as Dark Necrofear grabbed her wrist, and together they ran long the top of the wall. It could've been hours or moments but she could think of nothing else but how her skin was warm, so much warmer than she always thought.

Eventually, they reached the northernmost edge of the labyrinth. Above them, three Blue Eyes soared alongside the other dragons, their screeches comfortably familiar now as they watched the borders.

"Look, Dark Magician Girl. See how much land we have already reclaimed."

Fields stretched out for miles, even towards the horizon, a patchwork of a thousand different shades of nature. Rolling green hills, snow-capped peaks shrouded in clouds. Even a castle had survived, an immense construct of marble and crystal that could never exist in the human world.

Oh, even the sun, just beginning to set far off in the distance. She'd spent so long in the corrupted lands that she'd forgotten the feeling of the sun kissing her skin.

"Should you ever find yourself succumbing to the darkness, try to remember this sight. It might be your last memory, so make it a good one."

Dark Necrofear shone in the light, her skin slightly translucent and almost glittering as she smiled, and Dark Magician Girl quietly decided to remember her instead.