Summoning his corpse. The dark words lingered in the air between them, as Yami heard Yugi's whining cry of grief as he slid to his knees besides Seto's lulling head, and blanched as he instinctively clutched at Seto's cold, clenched fist. Yugi shuddered in revulsion, in anguish, the brutal, breaking comprehension of the expression, 'cold as death' cruelly proving to be true. Timidly, he held quaking fingers over Seto's curled lips to see if there was any breath, groped at the

still throat in the wild and dying hope that there was a pulse. There was only cold, unyielding flesh, and Seto's still, still form, laying wilted and broken and bleeding at their feet. Wordlessly, Yugi rose to stare numb and disjointed at Yami, Isis, and Solomon, only shook his head, too far stricken and

broken to merely weep. Yami flinched as if stabbed, trembling, the truth suddenly growing teeth and claws as it burrowed through his gut. The animal inside had ravaged him, cruely snatched the merciful torpor that held him captive but distanced him from being forced to acknowledge that Seto was dead.

Summoning his corpse...Isis twisted her lip between her teeth, halted the tears by only closing her eyes, still grappling with the sickening guilt that her best of intentions had failed so miserably,and he had died anyway. Rage, futile and cold and volital seemed to lace at her bones themselves as she tensed, shut her eyes against the red blood that cried out against what she could not prevent.

She felt a steadying hand drape over her shoulder,and stiffened, as her eyes shot open in shock to see the old man gazing at her, his eyes intense, but kind. "Young lady, you saved the lives of me and my grandson. You risked your own life for two strangers. If there was some way that Seto was meant to be...brought back...it would have happened, miss. I don't think that Seto would ever choose to remain as the holding cell for whatever that monster was, even if this was the only way to be free.." Solomon blanched at the raw pain that rose in Isis's darkening eyes, felt almost..violating as he felt her shoulder quake under his grasp, and he snatched his hand away as though it burned.

Her eyes were harsh with agony as she only stared down at him for a long moment, working her lips in a grim line,and then swallowing hard as she gently nodded with a sigh, and attempted to work her lips into a polite smile that wilted miserably on her lips. "I thank you for your kind words, sir. That you and your grandson came out of this alive and comparatively well negates some of the pain that

Seto did not. I am grateful that I could at least salvage something in all of this."

"Is there any chance that...Seth could come back?" Yugi's uncertain question was laced with terror as he stared down at Seto, then turned to Yami. Yami's face contorted for a dark moment into the vicious beast that executed his high priest. Yami looked down at his hands and was suprised to see that they weren't covered with the hot wet of Seth's blood.

"He cannot. I...I severed his existance, Yugi.He's not just...dead, Yugi, he was destroyed, body, and soul for eternity, never to rise again, never to hurt anybody. The only trace of his existance now is the memories and the price Seto willingly paid."

Isis winced with sudden realization, turned to Yami, the brittle question so cold as she braced herself for the inevidable answer. "The price Seto willingly paid...my king, do you mean that Seto knew that-"

Yami nodded, silently weeping inside as he turned to them both, scrubbing his fists futily against his eyes, so tired, so worn...so dead inside and so perversely alive.

"Yes." It was a tortured whisper, as Yami knelt beside Seto. "It was not...depravity alone that forced me to hurt him so much. When Seto was first imprisoned by Seth, the monster let it slip just what his true intentions were, what he planned, and what he intended to do to this world after he was through killing every one of you. Seto..."Yami's voice hitched in pain. "Seto displayed his own true nature when he sacrificed his own flesh to keep Seth imprisoned, and then endured so much suffering to weaken Seth to the point that the Puzzle could work its justice. That's the reason why I had to cut him. It was the only way left to us to know if Seto was truly seperated from Seth at last, the only way we could know that Seth was at last, dead."

"Even if it meant killing Seto?!" Yugi sobbed. "Yami, how could you allow this?! How could you possibly justify torturing him so much, and then just...letting it go? What happened to you?"

Yami was silent for a long moment, as his body stiffened and his eyes turned dark and hard. Softly, he knelt beside Yugi, and whispered, brutally, "I had to become the monster I loathed and feared to save you...all of you. Seto was unwilling that any inocent blood be spilled on his account, even at the cost of his own life. I would not dishonor his last request by not protecting you. Would you dishonor his sacrifice by refusing to accept that? I know that I am corrupted, and broken. But, I am not beyond redemption, and I am far from lost forever. Whether or not you can accept that is a question that only you can answer. But, I would look well upon the cost of disbelief already." Yami

flung a hand over Seto's corpse with a snarl.

Isis stared at Yami's hand trailing over Seto's corpse, in a considering glide as his other hand cupped a golden fragment of the Puzzle, the fingers absently palming the gold from side to side as

Yami's eyes narrowed, coldly. "My father once told me that anything could be bought either by blood, or gold. That men would exchange eternity for the fleeting moments, willingly drinking their own poison to escape the loathing of a second. Nobody knew that more than Seth. Nobody paid for it more than Seto."

There was a long, silent anguish that lit his eyes as he sighed, softly. "And now? My redemption will be bought with something far more vulnerable than either. My life itself."

Yami raised his burning, seeking eyes to Isis as she suddenly lurched forward, whispering, "No, my king! You can't-"

She was silenced by a gentle hand covering her own, as Yami tilted her chin downward to peer into her eyes. "My lady." The words were as forbidding as they were infinitely kind. "I can, and I must. Isis, please. Don't force me to linger longer than I have to. You know what must be, must be. I will not have any more blood on my hands, except what I must sacrifice to bring Seto back."

Yugi stared at them, gaping as Solomon warily gathered Yugi in his arms, and grunted.

"What exactly do you mean by 'blood?'' Surely there's been enough spilled on that thing's account. Would you willingly shed more?"

Yami grimly nodded. "It is worth it to make this right. My blood and gold for his eternity is a fair trade.