The Sky Sage: If it's not one thing, it's another. After retrieving more than half my work for this story, the electricity at home shorts itself, cutting off half the house. That was an easy fix, though. The problem is it cut out our internet along with that, so that's always fun.

But, for what it's worth, I am advancing with this story in the meantime. I've officially gotten to the eighty chapter mark and there's only more coming. Wish me luck.

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

The Butterfly Effect

Chapter LXXII: And Survival

If there was one card, one card that I knew, had been warned about when it came to duels with my deck, it was Bad Reaction to Simochi. It was the card that could reverse my entire deck and turn half of it into dead draws. Yuugi had told me that there was a reason Kaiba was letting me play my Deck without impunity and not trying to stop plays. This card existed and could bring me down on my knees if I wasn't careful, if I didn't plan or prepare for it.

But there was a difference, a solid difference between hearing about it, planning on the probability and preparing for the chance it, and realizing, coming to terms with the fact that there was never any avoiding it.

The ghastly hands sprouted out of the cards and rushed towards me to hold me by the wrists, ankles, and throat. Lilith's smile didn't widen, but there was a spark in her eyes that told me she'd been waiting for this moment.

"Ever believed in fate, Megumi?"

Waiting for it for a long, long time.

"'Cause I do. I didn't use to, don't get me wrong, but I do now. And I have you to thank for it."

And I wasn't sure whether or not I was comfortable with discovering why.

"You have a really interesting history, you know? Constantly toying between life and death and struggling to survive while you live in a cushy situation. Read that you came out of a coma a very different person, too. Not once, but twice. And while the first one was easy to find out about, the second time was a bitch to find. Then again, by that time, you'd managed to get the protection of Kaiba, of all people. It's hell breaking into his systems, but you knew that, right?" Lilith shifted, no longer looking away and enjoying the sight I made as she continued, "You knew exactly what to look for and when, even when you didn't seem to know why you were doing it. Always one step ahead, but looking like a klutz while doing it, like you didn't want for them to completely believe you while they ate up your words like a missive from God. That's why it took me so long and the insight of someone else to finally put together what you were.

"And I must say, you're a naughty girl, Megumi."

Really not sure. Because if it meant what I thought it meant…

"Guiding them from the shadows while never taking a step forward in order to save your life, how hypocritical."

Then it was based on a visible truth that was extremely deceiving.

"Then again, I can't blame you. It's survival of the fittest, isn't it? And that fittest can mean many, many things."

She saw the outside. She'd seen what I'd done and how I'd handed so many people different kinds of information that had, at one point, pit two of my "friends" against one another, making them yell and scream while I ducked out of the way and let them duke it out. She'd heard about me hesitating and turning to something else when everyone had been working hard on getting ready for Battle City only to be trained by experts weeks later.

But she'd missed the rest. She'd missed my feelings and history. She'd missed the fact that all that I had done hadn't been done by calculation, but by feeling.

I had been approached. I had tried my damnest in keeping up but became afraid when things became too serious. I hadn't made a friend of Kaiba Seto and would readily admit that the fact that having Kaiba Mokuba as a friend was a problem because I didn't want special treatment. As for the history behind it all, she couldn't even begin to grasp why and how it had come to this.

She just saw someone who'd gone through life through the same methods she had and wasn't afraid to stick her own reasons to it.

Survival. It definitely felt like it. But she didn't expect much more, did she?

I half-wanted to ask where she'd gotten the thought that manipulation was something she could do with impunity but I knew there was no point in asking. She wanted me to acknowledge our similarities and she much, much preferred playing mind games and having me guess at things that concerned her while she held all the cards in her hands. She knew we both dealt with information and knew the power of it, so why would she hand it to me?

Well, openly, at least. There was a lot to unpack from her monologue alone.

I would never know where she came from, but survival of the fittest was a thought process that didn't exist unless you fought for survival day in and day out, meaning that she had to come from someplace that was battle-torn. And seeing that Malik was from Egypt, for sure, the closest place… would be Israel. A place where war and religion were the same and faith… would be obliterated until something that gave them purpose happened.

… The fact that I was purpose was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable and meaningful.

She didn't want me to win. She didn't expect me to win. I had no reason to be the way I was and to fight, while she had everything, every reason.

But… that was just the thing, wasn't it? She didn't know. She didn't understand.

"Draw."

"Really? I expected resistance."

She would never understand. And I could only hope that I would never, never turn into something this selfish.

… That sounded so familiar…

I took a look at the card in my hand before straightening up, focusing my gaze on her with words that felt final, "I have nothing to say to you."

Let's finish this.