Kaiba grabbed Shizuka's hand and led her inside. "Mokuba, come in here." Mokuba followed. Kaiba put in his losings ticket along with Shizuka's. "Ridiculous. Forced to enter a game only to lose. Let's get going."

"Nobody goes anywhere." Someone new showed up in front of the Game Shop. In fact, a lot of people. There were at least a thousand people with items around their necks that looked like Ankhs.

"Hello." Ryou Bakura waved warmly to them. "Everyone, please bow." He bowed his head toward them. "This is Set's personal team that oversees everything. They are not the same as my men."

"Nothing like yours," one of them said for sure. They each started to leave except for the one that just spoke. He brought out a simple notepad. "Head counts for Pharaoh."

"Head counting?" Ryou Bakura shifted. "It hasn't even been twenty four hours yet. I haven't had a chance to go over anything with anyone yet." He shrugged. "You said I was forbidden over going over anything with anyone." His voice started to bite back, like Bakura's. "I'm a reasonable fellow. A few hours."

"You can go over it now, you have permission," he said. "Meanwhile, we are starting."

Yuugi heard the sounds of screams and panicking.

"Don't move," Bakura warned everyone. "Information from a goddess is needed for this household." He gestured to Jounouchi. "You see? He has a hieroglyphic on him. You don't want to make the ancient gods mad, do you? His future wife and child are with them. It's part of a god's game."

"Proof," the Anck wielder demanded.

"I have a mirror to see her." Jounouchi held it toward him. He came over to look a little closer then backed away.

"Okay, that's proof," the ankh wielder agreed. He gestured to Mokuba. "Who is he?"

"My new assistant," Ryou Bakura assured him. "He needs a scarab."

"Oh." He nodded and wrote something down on paper. "You're allowed one assistant, so I won't kill him." He reached into a saddle bag he was carrying and held a scarab out to Mokuba. "Here."

Yuugi heard the power just kick back on behind them. Kill? Yuugi heard more screams again. You were right, Set's still trying to kill off more.

Yes. We must be careful. Follow Ryou Bakura's every lead, Yuugi. There's no telling what he needed to say that he wasn't allowed to. Atem shifted slightly, his eyes now above the buildings as well as on the ankh carrying man. I can't believe that I can do nothing! People are in trouble and no one can help them.

"Women." The ankh carrier gestured to Anzu and Satiah. "Age?"

"Twenty five or so."

"Names?"

"Anzu Mazaki and Satiah."

"Status?"

"Boyfriends," Ryou Bakura said. "Yuugi Mutoh, ruler of the household belongs with Anzu Mazaki. Satiah is mine." He was chewing against his lip.

"Those two?" He gestured to Kaiba and Shizuka.

"Seto Kaiba and Shizuka Kawai," Kaiba answered, "but we were just visiting." He held up a key. "We have our own place, far away from here."

"Grocery Island of Last Chance," Ryou Bakura said. "I have my own place too," Ryou Bakura added, "and, Mokuba Kaiba will be living there with me."

So many per household. I see.

"Living there with you?" Still, Kaiba was playing it risky. "Why?"

"Only so many in so much space." The anck wielder stared at the game shop. "It looks like a living area on top of a game shop. Not just a house."

"The bottom area is used just as much," Ryou Bakura reasoned. "Games just take a level."

"To get up the stairs. One level home," the ankh wielder said. "It's one level."

"It's bigger than it looks, it has room for four people and there's a basement area too." Ryou Bakura was trying.

"You can't fool me. Look at it, it's small. One couple per level," the Ankh wielder said. "Katsuya Jounouchi lives there but his future wife is carrying. They aren't optional to kill."

"None of them are optional to kill." It was Bakura's voice again. "They are all involved with gods."

"Proof?"

"There is a box with their names on it as players inside the shop," Bakura assured him. He went into the shop and looked ahead. The box was gone. "There was a box. The gods collected it."

The ankh wielder came back out. "No proof."

"Just ask the gods!" Bakura demanded.

The man just acted like he was a nuisance. "Jounouchi has an excuse with gods and a future wife with child. He wins." He raised his hand.

"These hieroglyphics on our foreheads are not for nothing," Satiah yelled. "Anzu."

"They aren't optional either," Kaiba said casually. "They're gods."

What?! What the heck is Kaiba trying to pull?

"What?" Bakura seemed confused too.

"Proof?" The ankh wielder wanted the usual.

"I saw it in Mai's vision. She couldn't see it. Normally, dreams can't register everything. She saw the happy smiles. She saw Jounouchi with the baby. She saw the tragic outside." Kaiba gestured to Anzu and Satiah. "She didn't see how they seemed to be a little more hyped with a golden aura around them."

"A golden . . .?"

Anzu and Satiah both had moved toward the ankh wielder, not of their free will. The hieroglyphs on their head glowed.

"Let them go!" Yuugi, Atem and Jounouchi shouted.

"He saw a dream, how accurate are those? A constantly changing dream!" Bakura complained.

"Dream or not, too dangerous," the ankh wielder said. "They are coming with me."

"Consult the gods," Bakura said darkly. Very darkly. "If you kill anyone that is involved in a god's game, you'll be in eternal pain and suffering in your afterlife for making the god's upset. For ruining their game."

"You are hiding something." Set's voice was heard before he appeared before them. "Just can't wait for the game to start, can you? Miss your ability to summon gods, part of Atem?"

Atem gripped his fist. "I am hiding nothing, and no," he said roughly. "I can't wait for it to start."

The skies became grey and dark. Lightning started to strike. While most everyone was looking toward the sky, Anzu and Satiah looked petrified. The Winged Dragon of Ra appeared next to Obelisk, the War God and the Sky Dragon of Osiris. They all fused together to become Horakhty.

Horakhty.

"I told you." Horakhty addressed Atem. "It was over. You could move on."

"It's not time," Atem said. If I can get Horakhty on my side. "This would never be optional for me to ignore. Mankind is not ready to end yet. I was in this time before. I know it is rougher, but it's nowhere near unsavable. Please."

"Look upon what Sekhmet does, and reflect. I offer you one last chance. Come back to the afterlife, where it's peaceful. This moment in time never should have involved you." She gestured to his other self. "Yuugi, the other part of you, would have come home. You would have been whole. It was Hathor that lured you here."

All of the events and the people involved, changed where Yuugi would have been on the final day most of mankind left the Earth. " Yuugi was supposed to have died. The curse would have broken on my afterlife." Yuugi would have been at my side again. This is how it should have been, if not for a personal vendetta of Sekhmet and Bastet. "My personal curse is gone?" Atem asked.

"Yes," she assured him. "You will put yourself through an ordeal you shouldn't have had to. My hand will be forced."

Atem closed his eyes and shook his head. No matter what. "I will accept any ordeal. I can't turn back. Not at the cost of man."

"Does man still deserve another chance?" Horakhty asked. "If Set wins, you will have a terrible afterlife. This is too large. Did the battle you had undergone before you went on to the afterlife mean nothing? Let this go."

"I put my all into every battle," Atem confessed. "I did learn that I can't always win." He touched his chest. "This isn't about me though. I have no powers, and no puzzle. I have nothing more than anyone else, and still, I will find a way to fight."

"All things end," Horakhty reminded him.

"But it's not yet!" Yuugi interrupted. "I've lived in this time too. If I'm really part of the Pharaoh, then that should count too. I know that I can't win all the time either. Some games aren't worth playing, sometimes the price is too big. But for humanity. For the chance for everyone to keep living, any game is worth it!"

"For every man, woman, and child!" Atem joined him. "I can't just look away and let this happen!"

"And I'm nobody important at all," Jounouchi shouted too. "I'm not the best representation of humanity, but I haven't done a bad job living. Have I? I think, I think I've been doing okay!"

"I never step away to lose on purpose," Kaiba spoke up from the entrance of the shop. "I never give up."

"Humanity deserves one last gamble," Atem urged Horakhty. "Billions of people were silenced into an unfair ending." Not yet. Not this way. "When it's time, no interference is necessary. Mankind will burn themselves out. Until then, the fire to live rages inside each of them." Atem pushed himself to his knees. Yuugi and Jounouchi followed suit. Even Kaiba had bowed along with Bakura.

"Such determination still. The game for humanity will go on," Horakhty stated. "No extra help will come from the Legendary Gods but I will grant you a chance for a future, if you win. Between yourselves will be a gold box. Put in the father's name in it within three hours, and it will open. The lighted ones will know. Make the right decision." Then, Horakhty disappeared.

"You see?" Set questioned him. "You shouldn't be here, this is useless. Your afterlife is waiting for you. Peaceful, calm, and uncursed. It's time for everything to end. All of the gods are on my side, except two rebellious goddesses that should have been one. Two that didn't dare come out while Horakhty was present. What does that tell you?"

"The goddesses have their own agenda, and humanity has its own," Atem answered. "I didn't hear Horakhty giving up." Atem stood up once again. "I heard Horakhty giving us a chance." He looked toward the wielder holding the Ankh. "Let them go."

"Does this look like the chance? I summon Saint Osiris, the Sky Dragon!" Set reached his hands toward the sky and the sky dragon appeared, obeying him.

"All things change." Bastet finally came out from inside the Game Shop and crossed Atem, now taking the form of Destiny. Anzu and Satiah's pet cat.

"Call upon it, Seto Kaiba," Sekhmet demanded as she jumped down from the top of the Game Shop, smashing into the ground, denting the cement. "The dragon!"

"With pleasure." Kaiba held out his hand. "I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Shizuka held onto his coat, but continued standing, as the dragon was released.

"You are going to fight a god with a dragon?" Set looked at Kaiba as if he were an idiot.

"He's not the only one." Atem nodded toward Jounouchi who was more than ready. "I summon the Dark Magician!"

Jounouchi hung on tough as the Dark Magician came. When they were summoned, each of their eyes glowed a brighter shade of blue. Like a sheen of power yet to be discovered.

Before anyone summoned an attack though, Bastet had ran straight up the Blue-Eyes legs with the speed of a rodent, up it's neck and bit it. It reacted by swaying its neck around with a loud roar. She was flung off, onto Shizuka, climbed upon her, and smacked her neck with her teeth.

"Crazy cat!" Kaiba tried to get her off, but she flipped backward. He tried to help cover the wound on Shizuka. Shizuka's eyes stared with ovalized pupils. They were that of a dragon now.

"Serves you right, believing you can take on a god," Set said to Kaiba. "I don't know how you two managed to get a pair of monsters, but they can't beat a god."

"They are no ordinary monsters," Atem warned him. "Will you lose before you are even ready for the game?"

Set gestured above him at the sky dragon. "You talk big. Are these women the lighted ones Horakhty spoke of?" He looked toward his wielder. "Let go of them. Until I know who they are, I don't want to tamper with them. It will upset Horakhty." Still, he smiled. "Do you want to try this great power you claim to wield against the god now?"

No, Atem. Yuugi looked toward him. We aren't ready, and he just gave them back. We have to back down. This isn't a game worthy of playing, it will only waste time. It's an ego trip.

It was so hard to listen. Losing or backing down was not something Atem was ever keen to do. I want to take him on, but Yuugi is right. We know nothing of what Horakhty gave us. Only three hours and I get nothing from this fight. "Dark Magician, return back to Jounouchi." I am no longer a hot-headed teenager, or a worshipped Pharaoh. I can't let him get to me. To win the game that counts. I have to back down from this battle.

Kaiba called the Blue-Eyes back too. Apparently, Bastet could bite like Sekhmet. He was trying to stop the flow of blood on Shizuka.

"Fine." Set called off the sky dragon. "Just remember your place." He glanced back toward Anzu and Masika one more time before leaving with his Ankh wielder.

"Are you okay?" Yuugi moved toward Anzu first. "Do you know what Horakhty meant?" She shrugged. She knows. "We need to know."

"When Horakhty comes, we'll have three hours. It's what Bastet told us." Anzu sounded depressed with anger, neither emotion edging out the other. "Kaiba wasn't too far off. The power within us, will be used to create a new god with the next man we are with." She held her finger up to Yuugi. "Since we are the same person though, and there's a good chance we could get pushed together. One. One fathered for the two of the gods."

"One father?" Yuugi asked. "So. You're supposed to bear a god?"

She nodded. "I already talked this out with Satiah. She doesn't want you, Yuugi, and I don't want what she wants. To become whole and let the whole human tear be with Bakura."

"What?!"

"We can be unbonded," Anzu explained. "Apparently. I? I don't know what any of that would be like. If either of us are pregnant though, it throws everything off. So it's an all or nothing to survive type of deal."

"And with the ability to bear a god, it's likely Set will really come after them once he knows," Atem added. "I am sorry, Anzu. I never planned on bringing you into this."

"You gotta get the god or just get through the decision?" Jounouchi asked her. "I'm trying to help here. This is a new one for me."

"Just the decision. And then. Shove the name in the box for something." She shrugged. "Something that would help you now and in the future."

"Once Set knows what they carry," Sekhmet joined in. "He'll be using a much greater power to get them, and he has many on his side."

"Oh, Set just wants to win the game. They won't make much difference in it, it's for the future," Bastet corrected her.

"You're blind, Bastet." Sekhmet licked her arms and then looked at Atem and Yuugi. "You want to win humanity's safety and a new future? New gods will bring more power to Set's position, humanity won't be worth it. Place his name in the box, and give them to Set as wives on the condition he can't destroy humanity. All of that power would only strengthen his reputation. Game over before it began." She stretched.

"Did you really just tell us to give up our friends for an easy win?" Atem could not believe it. "Never. How dare you even utter it!"

Sekhmet growled, like she really wanted to attack Atem. A lot. But instead, she gave a final hiss and disappeared.

"Nobody's giving anyone away for anything." Yuugi looked toward Anzu, then glanced at Bakura. He brought Anzu closer to him.

"Oh great." Seto Kaiba jumped back into the conversation now that Shizuka stopped bleeding. "This place is just wasting my time now. Yuugi's going to get all emotional. Come on, Shizuka Kawai. We need to go to the bank."

"Understood." Shizuka waved to Jounouchi. "Goodbye, Big Brother."

"Wait." Jounouchi pointed at her. She pointed back. "You can see?"

"Temporary side effect of the dragon. Not very long. Please don't get excited." She waved again. "I'll see you. I'll miss you." She started to walk alongside Kaiba as they started to leave.

Between the Desert of Last Chance Residency and Last Chance Grocery

Atem walked as he tried to think. It was him, Masika, Yuugi, Anzu and Jounouchi walking together. Walking, as if that would help them reach a conclusion. Bakura had gone his own way with Mokuba, but would be back to the Game Shop soon. If they are caught, and only one is pregnant, or the father is different, they will be killed. Once Set learns of it, he will come with a full force for them. He looked toward his right. Three hours only.

Yuugi was trying to walk with Anzu. This is bad. He's loved Anzu for a very long time . He noticed Masika's awkwardness, walking clear on the other side. Hmm.

Atem moved over toward Masika. He had asked the question once about her feelings for Bakura and she couldn't answer. Not that she couldn't, but that she didn't truly know. In the end, she wasn't the full human tear either that had once existed. That had once been called Rider. She uses Masika and Satiah, just as I use Atem. Knowing this, it would be a good idea to get a straighter answer.

"I'm not in the mood for company, Atem." She sighed.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Atem said. "You said that you didn't know if you did love Bakura."

"I know where this is going. This is not a conversation to have." She almost seemed to wriggle away further.

Atem wouldn't let it go though. He moved back to her.

"Anzu and I are irritated enough at each other," she said. "Saying anything more will not help."

"This is a little above standard secrets." Atem looked ahead. The grocery store was closer than the bank, but it still felt a mile away. "Look around you. Is this a world where pettiness should exist right now?"

"If I tell you, then you have to keep a secret. Even from Yuugi, because she will tell him when she's ready." Masika looked ahead. "The store is still so far away. Hmph. Part of me wants to be happy I can feel the sunlight and walk. Another part would much rather crawl into the soul room and just relax to check up on progress later."

Atem found himself smirking, but tried to hide it. It was true, some of the long personal work was better left to someone else. "The walk adds more pressure to the journey by the distance." Atem had to think on what she said before the walking conversation. She was trying to distract his attention with a different subject. "As long as the secret isn't kept for long, I'll keep it," he decided.

"Anzu and I were joined together for a few seconds, to be the whole human tear. A few seconds is enough to explore an eternity of memories, and gain some others back. In other words?" She sighed. "If it came down to it, she could bond with me, and we would be most comfortable with Bakura."

"She remembers being with Bakura." Hmm. "Is that new memories for you too? You didn't answer forthcomingly when I asked about Bakura at the restaurant."

"Feelings are different than actions," she responded.

There was something hanging in the air between them. Something he'd figured out but something she never spoke of. It wasn't his business at all. It was the past, something that couldn't be changed, and a different culture. Most likely, the whole of Atem had his own culture, away from what he knew too.

Memory wise though, they were enabled to remember differently. He remembered what he could get from the Land of Memories, and he learned of his time by being in the afterlife. On the brief times he would come out.

She remembered differently. The reason for the separation, saving Bakura The Bandit King, and mostly running. She didn't even remember the afterlife, only a vision of Mahado she had assumed was the Dark Magician from seeing him used in duels.

It was time to ask. "How much of you feels like the real Masika?" He glanced at her. "From what I can tell, she would have been used to uncomfortable situations."

She crossed her arms. "I don't remember any of it, but the way I was always clinging to get away. The way my heart raced. The way I felt no sympathy or sorrow that time I saw Bakura cut out tongues from everyone. It must have been bad. But, no. I have no memories of any of what you are asking for."

"If you did, this wouldn't be a problem," Atem said. "You could be with Yuugi."

She shook her head. "Forget it, the whole does not know Yuugi, and I am not doing that as me. Forget these future gods, humanity won't need them. It'll figure itself out."

Right there. Even now, she was keeping her body so tight as she walked along the ground. "Part of me resides here. Always. Domino City is home. But, another part is also home. I am neither here nor there, and neither are you, Masika."

She stopped briefly in the sand, glanced toward Anzu, and then continued forward. "Why do you continue that? No one else calls me that. Especially now, it's all just confusing."

"Rider. Satiah. Masika. They are all better than Nameless Spirit." He yawned unexpectedly. Shoot . "That was not the right time for that."

Masika chuckled. "The body does it's functions, whether we like it or not. Last night, it wasn't easy to go to sleep." She glanced toward Jounouchi. "It will be even harder tonight for him. Maybe you should walk closer to him?"

"Jounouchi wants to be alone right now. He's also taking time with the mirror," Atem said. "Blast it. I think this is the farthest I've ever walked in sand. Camels and horses make this easier."

"Funny. It feels too familiar to me," she said. "More than sand. Walking. Walking everywhere. Walking before horses. Then again?" She shook her head.

"Anzu!"

Atem turned. Anzu looked pained. He glanced back toward Masika. She was pained too. "You suffer the same memories at the same time."

"Side effect, yes," Masika confessed. "Ever since the beginning. Long ago memories are harder on the head. Fortunately, they only seem to crop up every once in awhile. It'll be gone in a few minutes." She started to make her way up the appearance of the steeper cliff.

"Then, will you share?" Atem asked. "How far back?"

"Didn't have a real sense of time beyond day by day. Didn't have a real language you could write down." She stretched her neck, like it started to hurt. "Walking is fine, I don't mind walking again." She climbed up harder. "I'll walk all day and I'll walk all night in this."

She didn't share much else but Anzu looked like she was crying on Yuugi. Before language. No concept of time. It was tragic for his friends, but at least the pain would fade soon. They were getting closer. "If neither of you have a god in you if Set returns, do you understand the possibility of what could happen?" If she wanted to be left alone, she should be able to understand it. Even state it. "The consequences will not be light."

"Set won't win. He might have the Legendary Gods on his side, but he doesn't have what we have." She reached the edge of the cliff. "Two bitches who don't take crap from even Ra, coupled with one angry Jounouchi commanding the Dark Magician. These factors will put winning in our favor somehow." She gave him a hand up. "Don't tell Anzu I cursed. She hates when I do that."

"Is that being added on to the secret too?" Atem thought so, she had no interest in Bakura. Even then, she would rather join. Something Anzu feared. Relationships made things tricky.

"It shouldn't matter," she said toward Atem. "Throughout everything I knew, Masika never had children. Even in the depths of . . . it was unheard of. So it shouldn't matter." She stopped speaking again. "How much farther are they trailing behind? Oh. Anzu."

"She's feeling it too." Atem watched Yuugi holding her. Anzu allowed herself to be held. Jounouchi didn't bother them, but he had stayed closer to Yuugi's side now. The details weren't necessary, he just knew they both felt emotional pain. Both handling it so differently. "If you join to be the full human tear again, you cease to exist. Is that really worth it?" He didn't think she would answer. Then?

"A different phase that I must pass through," she answered. "If it happens, then it just has to be done."

Every one seemed to be making their way up the cliff now. Once they were up, they all walked toward the store.

Atem went over toward Yuugi. Yuugi. Anzu doesn't need to worry about Masika trying anything with Bakura. If she absolutely had to, he would be the easiest for her but she would rather ignore the gift and do nothing at all.

If Set comes after them before the time is up, then that's an issue though. He knows exactly where we'll be. I don't want them hurt by that mad man. What do you think, Atem? Do you think Horakhty really wants this, or is this just another game? Something to see if we choose the right action?

Horakhty had appeared in the Land of Memories, and had focused on friendship being the reason we won the game. It's hard to tell.

Well, I have to be able to tell. If this is a game, Horakhty picked the worst possible one to play with me. I love Anzu more than anything, but I don't love Satiah. I don't even know her that well, she feels entirely separate.

As she should feel.

I can tell at a glance who is who without looking at the hair or the clothes. I could never mix up the two. I have to know if this is some game, or if this is real. Until someone escapes Domino City, no one can say for sure.

A fair point. Exploring the scarab would prove helpful. Looking at the pieces of the millennium tome translation too. Maybe something is in there to defeat the ones wearing ankhs and scarabs.

I don't want this to be real. None of it. Anzu hurt so much, but she wouldn't tell me why. Oh. I want this to be just a game board we are all pieces on so bad. Maybe that's why we've all kept it together so well. None of us really knows. Was Mai stolen by a third party or simply released from the game? Is Honda truly okay? And? Do I really have to be with another woman to keep Anzu out of another bastard's hands?

Atem didn't add anything to Yuugi's rant. Masika truly wishes for nothing, Yuugi. She has never been there for romantic moments, and she has no want of it.

I don't want this with Anzu though, this conflict! I just. It's not right.

Atem wouldn't say it. Horakhty had thrown Yuugi in for a hard loop. He couldn't say for sure what anything had been, but the ending words of Horakhty to make the right decision? It could point to it as being a test. But the rest of it, none of it sounded like a test. Horakhty even wanted him to go back to the afterlife with Yuugi and miss the tragic end of humanity.

Which was the right decision Horakhty wanted to hear, or was there any decision? Was this nothing but a gift that had the extra burden of worrying about forming the human tear again attached to it? Horakhty wants them to be one again, Yuugi. What if they joined beforehand? Could you be with Anzu as the whole human tear?

I don't know. It would be part Anzu, but not really her. Why would it be any better?

Let's just say the whole human tear would not have a problem with being intimate. It could also be the opposite way. She was used to Bakura, and like you said, she wouldn't be Anzu.

She was a part of Anzu though, there would be a part of Anzu in there! It'd be like deserting her. For how long too, nine months? No, I don't like it.

Which is the better option? What is Horakhty wanting? That's the answer.

The answer is always what doesn't hurt my friends. Anzu is more than a girlfriend, she is my friend. Satiah. I don't know her that well, but we are becoming friends. I could never force anything on her either. So. The answer?

Is to choose nothing.

But if that's the answer? If Set comes and takes them before Horakhty appears?

Then it's time to find out how powerful Sekhmet made the Dark Magician.

You're right. But? You have to remember, Atem. We don't have the millennium puzzle, there's no luck on our side, and we are fighting gods. Not with cards. Not with rules.

It is true. Atem could see the store ahead. But? We do have two badass bitches on our side.

Yuugi looked toward him strangely but didn't say anything.