The Sky Sage: Before the chapter begins, I just want to say something that I've alluded to in the first chapter's comment. I said that this was not the original. This is actually a rewrite of the first draft I did of this story. How is this important now? Well, you might not know this, but some of these parts in the first draft were very different. The details and main plot points remain the same, but I have worked in a new depth that wasn't there originally as I was getting used to Megumi herself.

So, as a small anecdote, originally, Megumi was supposed to be a lot more active in this part. She was going to participate in Stardust Shootout. Now? She doesn't. Why? You're about to find out.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.


The Butterfly Effect

Chapter XII: Stardust Shootout

I was a coward. I was a liar. Didn't matter how much I was doing to save the group's lives. Didn't matter how much I was doing to potentially protect them from threats. I was a liar and an overconfident person for even thinking that I was, somehow, capable of doing this. Reading or watching the events that were unfolding before me did not equal living them, and I was honestly stupid for thinking that, because five to six teenagers could deal with this, I could join without a problem. That because I was Honda Hiroto's sister, I had a chance at protecting him.

I flinched when the doors closed, barely said a word as I held out the fanny pack I had brought, knowing that Yuugi would need something to carry his cards with – with the little brain I had left, I had been careful in my choices of clothes and my hair before my brother and I had left home – and just nodded as Yuugi thanked me, trying to smile but not finding it in me to when Anzu appeared, screaming for help only stop halfway when she saw us, expression going from acting terrified to worried.

"Don't tell me..." I heard her say, and I spared a nod as Jonouchi sighed.

"Seems like the plan didn't fall completely through, now did it?" before he joked with a chuckle that died as quickly as it came.

"Where's Honda?" Anzu asked as she neared us, and I felt Jonouchi's hand find my shoulder again.

"Megumi had him leave. From the look on her face, she might have been trying to save him from something. My guess it's whatever's ahead."

"You're kidding," Anzu said, and I found just enough strength to shake my head, leaving her to gasp.

I was a coward. I was a liar. I was trying too hard and I was breaking my promise to my brother by sending him away because I knew, I just knew that I couldn't stop him from getting caught in the third game if he was still there.

And once he realized that, I would lose his trust.

I closed my eyes and let the few tears trail along my cheek. At least he was out of danger. At least, when we finally found our way out of here and Yami took care of Kaiba, he'd be alright and have not gone through hell once again. Trust or not, at least he was safe.

I had to shake myself out of this. How the hell was I supposed to protect him, even be part of this, if I got scared at every turn? I had to face this, I had to do what I could. I'd argue with my brother later. For now, there was more important. For now, there was Death T and the traps that Kaiba had laid before us. My brother would wait, would have to wait. This was now no longer just about my brother and me. This was about something bigger than us.

I shook my head.

"Stardust Shootout? Can Kaiba be anymore predictable?"

And blinked while lifting my head as I heard Jonouchi talk. Stardust Shootout. First game of Death T. Three guys, three mercenaries, waiting on the other side of the door, with weapons that would kill us the moment we went through.

I took a breath, "Not just predictable. Deadly," before swallowing as the rest of the group turned to me while I continued, "Kaiba felt cold, calculating. Whatever he's built, he'd been building for a long time and with one idea in mind, and that idea concerns you, Yuugi." I watched Yuugi blink as I asked, "Did... you or Yami do anything to Kaiba in the past?"

His lips pursed, but he replied, "Yami did. Kaiba... tried to steal grandpa's Blue Eyes White Dragon. I went to get it back, but he refused. Yami... then took over and made a Shadow Game out of Duel Monsters. He then – then gave Kaiba a Penalty Game he called the Experience of Death when Kaiba lost. Same thing he did to grandpa in the Battle Box."

"Talk about holding a grudge," Jonouchi commented, making me chuckle humorlessly.

"Kaiba doesn't take well to those who owns what he wants. You heard what he did to the people who owned the other three Blue Eyes. You'll think he'll stop there?"

"He got what he wanted! He ripped Mr. Mutou's card to pieces to assure himself that he was the only owner of the card!" the blonde shouted as I leaned against the wall, still chuckling.

"You're thinking too small. While the Blue Eyes is still in play, this is no longer just about the card itself, no longer about the oh so precious card he couldn't get his hands on. This is about the fact that he's supposed to be the strongest, the best at everything he does, and Yami beat him. Yami humiliated him and threw him into a nightmare. It's not about the card. It's about revenge."

The entire group fell silent and straightened. I could almost hear Kaiba shouting in his chair at not only the fact that Anzu was part of Yuugi's friends, but that one of said friends was busting his carefully laid plan to pieces.

"You can't be serious?" I heard Jonouchi ask after a minute. "That's insane. Why would – Why would anyone would go through such extremes for a game they lost?"

"Because they're insane to begin with," but it was Yami's gaze I met with, giving a mirthless smirk as he frowned, "He scared you, didn't he?"

I nodded and finally slumped to sit, "You got no idea what it felt like. Everything felt cold, frigid, like I was suffocating in ice. The entire crowd might have been cheering, but it wasn't a match. Kaiba executed Mr. Mutou, plain and simple. He knew he would win, he knew Yuugi would agree. And he knows that you're going to go for him. It's what he wants. It's what he's going to get. To him, this is all an elaborate game where victory means to live on and defeat means -"

"Death," Yami interrupted with a nod. "I know. His little brother came looking for me as revenge, then poisoned Jonouchi yesterday when he didn't win and victory became personal."

"He what?!" Anzu exclaimed, getting a stare from Jonouchi himself.

"I'm alive, Anzu. It's fine. I'm just glad we lived. That doesn't answer the question of what happens now, though."

Yami looked at the door leading to the first challenge, "We win."

"Are you insane?!"

Before looking at Anzu with a sharp stare as he replied, "The only way out of here is through whatever games Kaiba has planned for us. Which means that, in order to proceed, we have to win. We give up, we lose, we die. It's not a choice we have, Anzu. And as much as I would like to apologize for dragging you all in something that I could only call insanity, no apology will change the fact that we're all stuck in here and we have to go through this together." before he turned to me, "So if your brother dares to blame you for wanting to protect him from something you knew was coming, he will have me to deal with. It's not your fault, it's mine."

And I could feel myself start to breathe. Thank god. Thank god someone would defend me.

"Thank you," I uttered, finally able to give a weak smile as he gave a nod before looking to the vests above me, making everyone, even me, look at them.

It took a minute before Anzu's eyes widened in realization and she started taking off her vest, the gun falling out and hitting the floor at an odd angle, jarring the trigger and sending a shot flying in my direction. I ducked as quickly as possible, glad that my hair was tied up with a hair clip as a hole formed in the wall where my head had once been.

Motherfucker.

"… Kaiba is fucking insane," I heard Jonouchi say as he collected the gun, careful not to press the trigger again as I rose. "You okay, Megumi?"

"As long as as my hair is not on fire, I think I am," I tried, getting a scowl from Anzu.

"Don't joke like that! I almost killed you!"

"It's an accident, Anzu. Besides, now we know if Kaiba rigged the game or not," I said as I got up and made my way to the group who was looking at the gun, sans Anzu who was still freaking out a bit while I smiled at her, continuing, "It's fine, Anzu, really. Besides, considering what's probably going to be waiting for us, this is the least of our problems."

I watched her shuffle, "If you're sure."

"I am. Now, what have we got?"

"Thing's like a tazer, I'm guessing, but a lot stronger from the hole it formed," Jonouchi stated. "So it's pretty much one shot and you're dead kind of thing," before he sighed. "Kinda makes me wish that Hiroto was here, to be honest. He'd deal with this no problem."

I swallowed, "Can you settle with second best?" and felt the stares fall on me, but Jonouchi was the one to speak.

"No. Oh no. Hiroto would have been able to adjust it, not you. I'm not -"

"If you going in there on your own, you're going to get killed," I argued, "For all we know, Kaiba hired someone who's able to shoot that thing and there's at least two considering that he's got at least you and Yuugi. You might be able to handle five fighters, Jonouchi, but not two professional marksmen."

"Still, you're not -"

"I already made big brother leave, Jonouchi. How do you think he'll react if he discovers you're dead?"

I hated having to do this. I hated having to points out facts that I knew would pull at heart strings and make someone bend in my favor. It felt so much like manipulation that I felt sick. No one should feel like I felt right at that moment, but I knew that, if I didn't, Jonouchi wouldn't greet us in victory. We'd find his corpse instead.

So, if I had to bloody my hands to make sure he lived, I would. I'd already made myself guilty of not trusting my brother, what was one more?

"How many, Anzu?" I heard him question.

"… Three."

"Then I hope you know what you're doing, Megumi," Jonouchi stated while tossing me the weapon, no smile on his face. It was worry, guilt that lined his face instead as he put on one of the vests and quickly tossed me one. "'Cause you're forcing me to break a promise I made to your brother."

But I could only bite my lip when he said that, "What promise?"

"Remember the night I came at your place?" he asked and I nodded. "He and I said that we'd never let any of you join us. Our hands are dirty enough by themselves, Megumi. You sure you want to put possible blood on yours?"

"If I don't, you die," I said. But it was weak, at best. I couldn't – I couldn't argue. I – I was...

"How about I go?"

I blinked at the sound of Yuugi's voice, head whipping around to see Yami getting rid of his jacket that Anzu accepted.

"What about -" I tried.

"Yuugi accepted and will have nothing to do with this. Plus, there's already both dirt and blood on my hands. Can't get any worse than it already has, and, for once, I'll be doing this knowing that I really had no other choice. Any objections?"

But fell silent after he interrupted, listening to his reasons and trying to remember how good an aim Yami might have, if it had ever been mentioned. I couldn't, but, in the end, I guess it didn't matter as Jonouchi nodded, "Megumi, give Yami the equipment."

And I obeyed, unable to help the, "I'm sorry" that left my lips.

"You're a psychic, Megumi. A healer. Not a murderer. Leave the battlefield to those who can handle it."

Until that. Until those words that only reminded me of the fact that I had replaced a child that had died. Was I? Was I really?

"Yami..." I tried as he got the equipment on and tried to figure out how the gun worked while being careful not to aim it at any of us.

"No need to thank me. I brought you all into this mess. It's up to me to make sure that you're all alive at the end," he said with a shrug, but before I could ask him what he meant exactly, Jonouchi was calling him and they were through the door that closed behind them, making me look at Anzu.

A healer. Was that why I was here? To heal? Heal what? Who? I couldn't even save my own brother and put him in danger instead.

I needed to change. I just needed to.