The Sky Sage: I'll be honest, I'm late and on chapter 36 because I had to walk away. I had to take some time off from this story because of a few issues that I'd rather not be asked about. Plus, the story itself was starting to feel stale and more like a mash of things happening for no reason.

And, for those who follow my progress and my writing, they will know that I appreciate my story be coherent, consistent and deeply emotional. When I start losing that depth, I tend to do extremely sloppy work that does not satisfy me.

So I'm sorry, but this is not a new chapter, this is merely a rewrite of the latest chapters in order to get my mind working in the right order. Hopefully, this will satisfy you guys' thirst for my usual work.

Now, on with the show.

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

The Butterfly Effect

Chapter XXXV: Reconciliation

"You're alive. You're alive! Shadi told us that there was a chance that you'd never wake up and I was hoping he was wrong and he is and I'm so glad you're back!"

"Master Mokuba, please, calm down! Miss Honda is still in recovery and connected to delicate machinery. If you move aside, I can disconnect her."

"...Sorry Mrs. Takashi. Is this better?"

"Much better. Thank you, Master Mokuba."

"You're welcome, Mrs. Takashi."

"Alright then. All unplugged. I'll leave you both, then. Guard her well, Master Mokuba!"

"Will do, Mrs. Takashi! Have a nice afternoon!

"... I'm sorry I shouted."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry I shouted. Mrs. Takashi is right. You're recovering and you've just barely woken up. I need to be more careful."

"It's fine, Mokuba."

"It's not fine! You were dead and you're waking up barely a week later..."

"... A week?"

"Yeah, a week. What Shadi did isn't..."

"Shadi?"

"... I better start from the beginning, shouldn't I?"

"... Yes, please."

"... Alright. First thing first, you're at my house. It's March 18th, 1997. The tournament ended about a week ago and school is on again. I think you passed, so did your brother and the rest of the group. My brother did too. Bakura's... gone missing."

"Gone missing?"

"Yes. It's a long story and I gotta start from the beginning."

"... He ran off because the seal stopped working, didn't he?"

"Megumi! Don't start with that! Please! I don't... Let me start from the beginning okay? Like you asked me to."

"... Okay."

"Okay, do you remember the fact that Pegasus came to the room we were in? Alright. Then may I assume you remember the fact that you leaped to protect me? Great. Okay. Well. You – You died then. Pegasus ripped your soul in two, killing you. But, in a way, he also saved you."

"How?"

"Well, everything happened pretty fast after you died. I... couldn't move. Bakura, who was sleeping with us as you'll remember, got up to try to help but ran after a near full-body jerk saying he was sorry. I think – I think the seal broke and the Spirit of the Ring took the opportunity right at that moment because something happened later and it's only explainable if the spirit was released then, but that's not important right now.

"After Bakura left, your brother came in along with an Arabian guy with a turban who called himself Shadi. He said he'd been watching you since the trouble with your soul happened and he gave us a quick set of instructions that your brother threw in his face, only to have them thrown back in his own with the question, "Do you want your sister alive or not?"

"I didn't question it from that point on. I moved you to the bed I'd been using and asked him how. He just lifted a card with a weird scribble on it, before approaching you, taking off this weird ankh necklace from around his neck to put it against your forehead. He then grabbed the card with the hand holding the ankh and turned it a quarter turn left before going completely silent. He came back to his senses just as the others came to the door and looked straight to Yami – I only know it was Yami because Shadi addressed him as the Spirit of the Puzzle – and, after a bit of discussion, he lifted the card that was now blank and told us what he'd done.

"Finds out that, when Pegasus ripped your soul, he ripped cleanly and took half with him. Had your soul gone apart inside you, there would have been no chance in saving it, but with the fact that Pegasus took a part with him, he basically gave us an extra solution, one that could save you. And that's what Shadi did. He reintegrated part of your soul into the part that was left, allowing for you to live.

"... But he also had to tell us the reason it separated in the first place so he could tell us what might happen when you finally woke up and your soul had accepted the half."

"... No..."

"He told us that you – you came from another place and time. And you'd – you'd been battling between two states, essentially. Part of you knew it didn't belong, the other wanted to, believed that it did. That's why your soul ripped. And that's why... that's why he told us that there was a chance that when you woke up, you'd have forgotten about us."

"... no... no..."

"... I'm sorry, Megumi..."

The first thing I felt when I woke up was the dry, salty tracks of the tears that I had spent. The second was the gnawing emptiness. I knew that there was no point in looking, no point in searching because I would always come back empty handed, yet the hope, the sheer hope that I could maybe dig up something, anything, was enough to keep me looking.

The feeling of sadness, of simply wanting to stay there until death claimed me were extremely familiar. So was the feeling of wanting to kick myself out of bed and berate myself for being so weak. It wasn't over. The Thief was still out there and I was still on his hit list. There was still work to be done.

... But what work?

I didn't remember. No matter how much I tried to jolt my memory, nothing would come up. There was nothing. I was done.

It was over.

It was over.

The Thief would kill me. No way, no how out of it. I was his next target, and I was dead before he even started to hunt me down. Shadi had saved the wrong life, and his efforts were wasted. Whole or not, I was going to die, and I would die by myself.

I turned, slipped to my side as I felt the burning of hot tears roll from eyes and going to clog my ears. Why bring me back? Why bring me back when the Thief is going to kill me anyway? And when no one would want me back? I'd lied. I'd lied to the entire group and they'd found out. They'd found out that I was not who I said I was. The only reason Mokuba was willing to accept it was because he partially knew already and he was a kid but the others? My... Hiroto? He'd never. He'd never forgive a person who's lied that much.

... Don't tell me that, now that I was in this situation, Shadi intended to make use of me.

It'd be just like him, too. He let me go, gather knowledge to figure out the Spirit of the Puzzle's entourage, then forced me to stay so that I could play intermediary. He wiped his hands of the entire situation and left me to...

"... Megumi?"

!

My mind screeched to a halt. My eyes blinked before slowly moving, trying to find something that I couldn't see. My body slowly shifted in hopes to get to the light without being noticed.

Before I found myself spun around, felt said self being scrutinized before being near crushed in a hold that I was not sure what to make off as the head of said person rested against my chest.

"Thank god. Thank god, you're really alive."

The hold changed into a hug, and the head went to my shoulder.

"I didn't know what to tell Mom and Dad anymore. I'm so glad."

And it finally clicked.

"Big..."

No. No, he wasn't. Not anymore. I couldn't... He wouldn't...

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me. You're okay, Megumi, you're okay. You're back. You're with me. You're okay."

He did.

My hands gripped his jacket as I felt the tears well up. Well up and burn down my checks as I choked on the first sob. I was wrong. I was damned wrong.

"Big brother..."

"I'm right here. You're okay."

And I honestly could not have been more relieved about it.