I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh in any shape, size or manner. Reviews of the story, critiques on writing ability and suggestions are more than welcome, but debate about Christianity and other religions are not. Thank you.

10.

Pegasus sat in the waiting room at the hospital. How could he have not seen something like this coming? It had started a few weeks ago.

*

Pegasus had decided that the whole situation was intolerable. Exasperated with it as he was, he couldn't figure out what to do. Since the Human Resources Department knew it had been his idea to employ Rachel, they dumped the problem in his lap. Before him were the evaluation reports Rachel's department manager, direct boss and co-workers had filled out. He had never read a more diverse and conflicting set of results in his life. Rachel's department head loved her. She worked hard, was efficient and always on time. Her direct boss had misgivings about her, although her work was beyond reproach, and said she caused conflicts. Since Rachel had shown up, the department had fractured. From the co-workers' evaluations, it had almost seemed like two armies: one ready to defend Rachel and the other ready to destroy her. Both were just waiting for one good reason to attack the other. Finally, Pegasus sent Croquet to escort Rachel to his office.

"Do you know what these are?" he asked her as he shook the papers at her.

"I assume that they are my 90-day evaluations," she said lightly.

"Good guess. Now, can you guess why I called for you?"

"You don't like the results?" she asked with a lift of her right eyebrow, which almost disappeared under her bandana.

"What have you done to that department?"

"I have done my job, exactly as you told me, to the best of my abilities. I do as I am told. I work, not talk. I am free to do as I like, within reason, during my lunch hour." At that, she allowed a small, one-sided smile to crease her face.

Pegasus groaned and put his face in his hands, "What did you do?"

"Yolanda and I had lunch in the cafeteria a few weeks back. We are both believers in Christ and were having a very pleasant, but private, discussion. Peggy Mullin, a woman in our department who had been eavesdropping and is not a believer, decided she would invite herself to our conversation and started asking all sorts of …" Rachel looked up at the ceiling as if searching for the right word, "hot-button topics.

"It was obvious she was trying to start an argument and not at all interested in what we had to say, so neither Yolanda nor I rose to the bait. Needless to say, Peggy was not happy with that result. It wasn't long after that that rumors started flying about me. Considering the truth, the rumors were actually quite amusing.

"But, Yolanda took it upon herself to defend me, even though she knows nothing about my past either. She has been here ten years and knows the believers in the department. Once I found out what was going on and told Yolanda I did not need defending, it was too late. The battle lines were already drawn."

"So what you are saying is that you have nothing to do with this departmental war that is going on?"

"No, I am not saying that. I have everything to do with it. What I am not doing is encouraging it. Do you know how hard it is to be the subject of a dispute and also try to be the solution too?"

"Well, I want you to be that solution. Do what you have to to put that department back together."

His thoughts broke off as a medical team rushed a crash cart into the room where they were working to save Rachel's life. Oh, Lord, please save her, he thought within his mind.

Wrong person, Maximillion …

Pegasus shook off the thought and the feelings it brought up; then returned to his recollections, this time, yesterday.

"How are you getting along with your peacemaking attempts?" Pegasus asked his ward as they were getting ready to retire to their respective wings.

She looked at him with a bit of satisfaction as she said, "Well, take the other day. I dropped my pen and it rolled under my wheelchair. Peggy was kind enough to say she would get it for me. Yolanda tried to stop her and get it herself, but I asked her to allow Peggy to do it since she offered. Once the pen was returned to me, I graciously thanked her.

"I know it's not much, but it is a start. Isn't it?"

"Not much of a start," he said. Seeing a trace of hurt show in her expression, he jumped in with "but it is better than nothing."

A slow, tired smile crossed her face at his attempt to spare her feelings. Maximillion took a better look at her. She looked a bit different today. Her face was a bit puffier than usual and her eyes were red-rimmed. She wasn't acting completely like herself either. Her usual full smiles had been rare, her appetite scarce, and her conversations had been short and to the point all day.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked her.

She nodded, "I'm just very tired. I'm going to go to bed."

"If you are sure you are alright." She nodded again. "Then I will see you in the morning," he said then headed off toward his wing.

It was the next morning that the maid had found Rachel unconscious in bed with an extremely high fever. The doctors found several puncture marks around her ankle that had become infected.

And here he was, sitting, waiting to find out if he would lose his … his what? What is she to him? Ward? But that sounded so cold. Friend? But that didn't really cover it, she irritated him incessantly. Companion? That was better, but it also brought up images of romance of which there was none.

Sister …

His head rose from his hands with that thought. Yes, that is how he thought of her. The protective feelings, the love they had for each other (non-romantic) even though he had never expressed it for fear she would misunderstand and draw away from him, the companionship, the bantering, the word explained it all. She was his sister, not by blood, but by coincidence.

Again, he begged, Lord, please save her.

She is already saved, Maximillion – how about you …

A memory of one of their many conversations flashed into his brain.

"Aren't you afraid to die?" Pegasus asked her.

"I could answer you rather flippantly and say, 'we all die, Max,' but I won't. What I will tell you is that, no, I am not afraid to die. Do I want to die? Not yet. I have responsibilities I need to see to. The actual dying – let's just say that I hope I die in my sleep and not of some extremely long and painful disease. But death holds no mystery for me. I know what is beyond that door – Jesus. I have no idea exactly what I will do once I am with Him – no one does – but I am ready to find out.

"How about you, Pegasus?"

"After Cecilia died and for a long time afterward, I didn't care. Now," he shook his head, "I like this life too much. I'm not ready to die."

"I'm not ready for you to die either, Pegasus," she said with one of her few totally serious expressions.

"Why? 'Cause I'll 'go to hell,' is that your problem with it? Not that you would miss me or be sad that I was gone, but because you are totally sure that I would burn for eternity." He sneered at her.

She looked at him with mild rebuke, "Please don't put words in my mouth, Mr. Pegasus. Of course, I would miss you and I would cry in anguish at your death. And, since you mentioned it, yes, I do believe that you would burn for eternity if you hadn't accepted Jesus before you died." Tears had misted her eyes then spilt down her cheeks at the thought.

*

"Mr. Pegasus?" The doctor had somehow approached without Pegasus' notice.

Pegasus stood quickly, ready for the worst. But the doctor said, "We have her stabilized for now. Hopefully, she is out of the woods. The next couple of hours will show us for sure.

"What happened?"

"There were deep puncture marks on the back of her leg, just above the ankle. There were three 2 inch long slivers of rusty metal in those punctures, and …" the doctor looked at him seriously, "it was not an accident." Pegasus looked at him sharply; the doctor simply nodded and said, "Someone did this to her. They go straight in and, while deep, were very small and undetectable until the infection started. Since she has no feeling in her legs, she never knew they were there until the infection became life threatening. Thankfully, she does not live alone; she would have died in her sleep."

"Can I be with her?"

The doctor smiled at him, "She has been moved to a private room. I will take you there."

This is too familiar, Pegasus thought as he sat at the table in her hospital room. His eyes never leaving her face - the horrible scars were stark against her pale face. It shocked him that he could see those scars again. Usually, when he looked at her he no longer saw them; all he saw was Rachel.

She would sleep for a while. He again was compelled to stay by her until she awoke. He made himself comfortable and, after a while, lulled by the rhythmic beeping of the monitors, nodded off to sleep.

He awoke to the sounds of Rachel crashing. Her lips were blue and her body was seized up. Her eyes were wide open. In the space of the few seconds it took him to stand and head towards her bed, the capable crash team rushed into her room. One nurse placed a gentle, but insistent, hand in the center of his chest and moved him to the corner of the room.

"Give us room to work, and you can stay," was all she said, then returned to the bed to assist.

The monitors had flat-lined and Rachel body had relaxed. The team battled feverishly to save her life; but that was not the only battle taking place. Maximillion Pegasus again felt that Presence strongly in the room. I must be insane but if it can save her life, he thought, I will try to reason with this Presence.

I can't lose her, he prayed desperately within his mind.

You are being selfish, Maximillion. Her home is with me …

I'll stop harassing her about You. I'll give all I can to Your work. Just don't take her from me. Please! He begged.

I do not bargain, Maximillion. I don't want your money or your service or your permission for my child to speak of me. I paid the price for salvation, it is a gift I give to all who repent and believe. You do not repent nor do you believe …

This time he tried reason and thought, but she has too much to finish here.

Rachel is my child, Maximillion. My will is her will. If I wish her to come home, she will come joyfully; if I wish her to stay, she will stay joyfully. Never forget I have other children who will continue the work I began in her …

Pegasus felt the room awash with pure love and the monitors restarted their rhythmic beeping as Rachel's heart and lungs began working normally again. To his amazement he found himself on his knees. He didn't remember how he got in that position. He stood up and thanked the medical team as they exited Rachel's room. He glanced over at Rachel, who surprisingly was awake. A tired, knowing smile creased her face as she looked at him, then she fell back to sleep. Pegasus sat down with a great sigh and put his face in his hands. "I'll never live this down now," he whispered.

--

Mokuba sat with the others as they were having some wild discussion about something. He had been sick for the last couple of days. It was probably his punishment for sitting out in the rain for a few of hours before returning to the house, thoroughly soaked, after everyone had left. Even though Seto had left specific orders that the maids and servants were to grab him as soon as he entered the mansion, toss him into a hot bath, clothe him in the warmest robes he had, and pour warm soup and Vitamin C down his throat, he still came down with a nasty cold.

His mental state wasn't in a much better condition. During the long, boring days between sleeping, picking at his food and taking medication, an emotional battle had been taking place. Within his mind, he pictured the wall called "Rachel" that Tony had spoken about. He would kick it, scream at it, nuke it; everything he could think of, except forgive it. Now, he was tired of it. I just don't care anymore, he thought. I don't want to feel this way; I feel like I am dying inside.

Give it to me …

But it is my problem, he thought back.

Give it to me, and forgive …

Whatever, Mokuba thought and closed his eyes.

Tony allowed himself a secret smile as he kept an eye on Mokuba. As he watched, the hard lines that had been surrounding the boy's eyes slowly disappeared. Without interrupting the flow of the conversation, Tony caught everyone's attention and nodded toward Mokuba.

Unaware of the attention of those around him, he continued to pray and was amazed at what he saw in his mind's eye. Before him, the wall became as smoke and it slowly dissipated until there was nothing left. Just like that, he could breathe again, the great weight that had been pressing down on him for months was finally gone. He felt the tears begin to prickle his eyes, but a smile came to his face. He blinked a few times in order to clear his eyes and found everyone looking at him, their own smiles matching his.

"Now, don't that feel better?" Tony teased him.

"Yes. Yes, it does," he said with a nod. He got up and went over to his brother, who looked expectantly at him. "But this feels even better." He wrapped Seto up in a hug as tight as he could squeeze and whispered, "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, Big Brother."

Seto returned his brother's hug with gusto and stated, "With pleasure, Mokie."