Manga Reference: Similar to Yugioh Zero look. Jounouchi is talking about the time in the comics before Duelist Kingdom.

Night Time

Yuugi was sharing with Anzu now and Hikaru. It looked like Anzu was over the hump about keeping Yuugi back a distance. Jounouchi kept Mana with him in his room. The other room had Malik and Isis sharing. Rishid had taken to sleeping downstairs. Bakura and Mokuba went to their own place. As long as everyone else was gone before the morning sun, it should be okay.

Yuugi tried to offer something to Atem. His other self knew that Masika's fate hadn't weighed well on him. Atem assured Yuugi that he and Anzu could share rooms and have Hikaru with them. Jounouchi offered that Atem could help with Mana if he wanted to feel more involved, since he was such 'a great friend'.

Atem's confused feelings right now, didn't mean he wasn't happy for Yuugi. As he once said to himself, as soon as Anzu came back, he announced that she belonged to Yuugi. She understood the importance of it, and she didn't rebel.

Perhaps after this whole fiasco is over, Anzu will stay married to Yuugi. They might have a real wedding besides just 'Pharoah saying it is to be so'. Yuugi's dream come true? Yuugi never spoke of children, only Anzu in the past, but he seemed to be okay with the thought of fatherhood. He did well with Hikaru.

Which, in that grey day, was about the only thing Atem could focus on to keep his concentration. There was something good to fight for. His friends. Jounouchi to get back to Mai. Honda to be brought back. Yes, he tried to concentrate on the good. The positive. Otherwise, if he didn't think of those things . . . his mind drifted toward . . .

I'll set him on fire, I'll sting him with scorpions, I'll electrocute him, I'll cook him alive, and he will experience the sensation of death so many times that his soul will be shattered to pieces! Everything, every blasted punishment or curse he had ever dished out! It was Set's fault, he rushed everything! He rushed Mai, he rushed Anzu, and he turned a blessing that would have been given in nine months regardless, into a curse killing Masika!

His mind was in a terrible state. He hadn't known Masika extremely well but, Yuugi seemed to always call it right. There was someone like him, suffering like him, that he could bond with. They understood each other, whether Bakura liked it or not. Even coming back to life, so many things others couldn't comprehend. They both moved through it. Now, the thought . . . on the whole . . . that she had been dragged to a hell as a sacrifice, it just . . .

He wiped his eyes. This display of emotion wasn't something he often did. Being alive, things always hit so much harder.

Afterlife

"Whoah. That was a scream." As Honda wandered around on the horse. He watched as out in the distance, just a short ways, there was a vivid light that seemed to emerge. He did his best to make it over there. He used to deal with extraordinary things in his youth just about as well as he used to fight. He was ready for anything coming at him.

Except that. Honda looked back away. "No, I have to help. Get over it." He went into a little stone area. It had large stones that were like headstones but nothing was on them. Then there were smaller stones on the ground. Not helping man, gotta look.

Beside that, was the big dilemma. "Poor Anzu." Honda went to her aid. "Hey there. Don't worry, I'm here too." He took off the strange cloak of his outfit and put it over her. She was glowing oddly, she probably needed it more. "Anzu?" Her hands started gripping the sand. "It's okay. I'm here. You don't have to go through this alone."

The world falling apart from around him. Them inside something that looked like Atem's memories. It wasn't hard to figure out. "We just gotta be brave until this whole . . . death thing is figured out." He tried to use the outfit to bring her closer. Am I ready for this? I don't think I get a choice. Anzu was extremely weak. "Boy. Yuugi would be freaking out right now if he saw me with you like this."

Literally. Besides that cloak outfit, he was naked. Since he gave it to her, he was completely naked. He could even feel parts of her bare body against him. But. He didn't care. At this rate, bodies were just that. Bodies. If they even were bodies. "Are we just spirits, imagining our bodies now?" Well, at least he wasn't alone. "Huh. I didn't even get to challenge Jounouchi once for Shizuka. How lame." Yet, his words were breaking up slightly. Nah, nah. I can be brave. I can be- "What the-?"

He felt movement of Anzu. "Coming to? Sorry about this."

"I'm not Anzu. I'm Masika." She propped herself up higher and looked between them. She seemed to have absolutely no qualms about her being naked in front of him. "I mean Satiah . . . what?"

Figure it out. Worthless.

Honda heard voices. Strong but soft. Two of them, separate. One male, more demonic. The second, gentle. More feminine. He looked at the small statues on the ground.

Honda felt the strange woman that looked like Anzu, holding onto him as the whispers came again. Deeper. Faster. Haunting. "I can't stand. I'm so weak, what happened?"

She couldn't stand, and she leaned against him. In her current condition.

"You're not . . . properly dressed." Man! Honda knew Anzu was stacked, but she was a friend. This was like Anzu stacked, with a woman that was not shy about herself at all. Satiah wore the outfit like a cloak around herself, with less than perfect precision to hide anything. "I'm trying to propose to someone at the moment. Well, I mean I was." Yeah. Maybe it was a good thing this happened. A pretty woman still turns my head, even from Shizuka. I'd be loyal no matter what but there's only one that I ever . . . "Funny. How the oldest memories seem now." He stood up while she held on. "Now what do we do?"

Satiah looked at the outfit around her. "You should wear this. Most likely I am gone. Set must have done something to me. There is no humanly body to protect."

"Set?" Honda didn't know who that had been?

"The Pharaoh who destroyed Dominic City," she said. "I mean Domino City."

Set?! That's the name of the guy, huh? Rotten name. Is that the voice I hear? Man, this thing just gets worse. "Take it," he insisted. "I don't care who might be alive or might be dead. Maybe both or maybe none. I'd never leave a woman out here in this condition." She just had this strange look. Anzu had given him that look before. "I'm not being stupid, I know I might be blowing some chance. Truth being, it could be either one, but I'd rather you be covered like a lady."

"Modern men are strange," she said. "That didn't come out right. Thank you. Huh." That 'huh' was less of a question, more catching her breath, which was practically glowing. "Something is wrong. I still have breath and feeling." She tried to shrug off the cloak again.

"Whoah, easy," Honda warned her. "That's grade A support right there."

"I suppose I'm not gone. Strange, why am I here then?"

They both heard the sound of cackling, demonic, while a nicer voice rose through the other side. The whispers though, it didn't make sense. "You'll die without this cloak, Honda," Satiah pointed out. "The gentle voice keeps saying it."

"Then I go, but you can't. You are going to keep it," Honda declared. "If I'm here, then it's either my time, something else will come along, or I have some kind of duty to perform. Maybe even just keeping you alive. That's the final word."

She placed her cloak back on better again. He didn't even know her, and he was doing this for her, even at the sound of the words. "Thank you." It was said with much more sincerity.

The voices. Indecipherable sometimes, clear at others. One laughing and invigorated at her confusion and sadness.

Now. She was at a bridge between the afterlife and Anzu's dimension. A bridge that Honda had crossed over into. What has Set pulled? Is Anzu okay?

Yuugi's Room

"He's a little bigger, but he seems like a normal baby. Well, I mean he acts like a normal baby," Yuugi said to Anzu as he patted his son's head. "What was the birth like?"

"The small flying gods were driving me crazy," Anzu remarked. "It wasn't painful surprisingly. I really believed that . . . that I was going to die. Just like that, pregnant and birth. I was sure of it."

"Set didn't want you to," Yuugi warned her. "He didn't want to lose Satiah either, but it was just too much. I'm sorry."

"I guess she's at rest again. This time, I think," Anzu said, but she still felt skeptical. "I know that she wasn't put to rest when she was trapped in the game system. I know that when she took the dangerous energy, she didn't go either. This time though, she has to be. Right?" A small glimmer of something shined back in her eyes.

Yuugi knew what she meant. "I know, Anzu. She's eluded it twice. But." If Set was telling the truth, and because of the circumstances he would have to be . . . "I don't think she did this time."

Anzu looked away "Atem thinks she was sacrificed, because I was somehow able to be saved without the gods help. His instincts are great." She looked back to Hikaru. "I want to cry over missing her. She's been a part of my life for so long. I want to laugh and smile though that we're okay, and that Hikaru is safe and happy and funny and . . . I'm sad and happy at the same time, Yuugi."

Yuugi cuddled up closer to her.

"And Atem, I don't even know how he feels," Anzu admitted. "Atem looks somewhere between miserable and . . . evil," she whispered. "You know?"

Yuugi shrugged. He didn't know how Atem was doing but he knew what she was talking about. "He'll put his whole self into winning this game. This isn't over for anyone, everyone gets a chance to come back. Maybe there's even a way to get Satiah back."

Anzu wiped her eye, breaking down a little more. "I don't think you can retrieve her. I want to believe that it's possible, but if she really was sacrificed to Zorc. That demon."

"I don't know but if there's a way to get her back, we'll get her back." Yuugi watched Hikaru prop himself up in the crib. Not a normal newborn either. Then again, Anzu made it. Maybe they can. "Maybe the gods still can. If we win, and it's said anyone could be brought back, then maybe there is a way. I didn't see any clauses in it that said 'noneligible for sacrifice'. You know?"

"I hope you're right," Anzu said as Hikaru started to cry. "I really hope you're right."

Jounouchi's Room

Jounouchi rocked Mana back and forth. Yuugi had lent him an old rocking chair. It helped put her to sleep, and since he didn't have Mai, Yuugi thought it was a fair trade or something. Doing what he could.

It wasn't really though, no matter how he looked at it. Yuugi had his kid and Anzu. Jounouchi had Mana but lost Mai. And Atem? Man.

He was hopeless. He tried to get him to take Mana for two seconds so he could eat something, and that old 'great and powerful Pharaoh' just held her out from him like he was holding trash. He had no idea how to handle her.

Yuugi was a natural, no surprise. Probably a secret dream of his to have his shop and success with Anzu and a family.

Still, other things were on Atem's mind too. It was best to let that genius simmer. Maybe he'd come up with something? So, Jounouchi chilled alone with his new daughter, leaving Atem be for the night.

And those words used for the ending too! 100% afterlife. What a cold-hearted way to say she died. You'd think he'd have more compassion, he was supposed to be madly in love! Atem wouldn't let that stand.

This was a guy that couldn't let anyone get belittled, especially Yuugi and his friends.

Atem always seemed to have a more mature attitude. Almost a wise sort of knowing around him. Nothing phased him, but while he didn't say much, the eyes of Yuugi when he first changed seemed present again in him. It was this sort of whacked out look. His hair, it seemed a bit more wild too, which was saying something since it was always wild. It was more like a colored octopus, running in different directions.

And those eyes. He just couldn't get over those eyes. Even if he didn't know how to hold Mana, he wouldn't have let him hold her for long. I guess after thousands of years in a puzzle alone, and then running a kingdom that wasn't making you happy either, Atem had found a decent friend that could connect with him in a way Yuugi or I couldn't. He kept rocking. "Either that, or Atem could be fancying her." Jounouchi heard his words out loud. Atem never fancied anyone, but she was Egyptian. From his time. At one time partly his and Yuugi's wife?

He didn't fancy Anzu, but Satiah just wasn't Anzu anymore than Atem was Yuugi. Either way, a connected friend, or a girl he might have liked, Satiah was stuck in a hell with a demon, and it looked like it was eating Atem up.

Man, immortal or whatever, Set better be saying his prayers and praying to a different god 'cause when Atem gets mad? If he really pissed off Atem. If he brought out the old side that used to be there when Yugi first got to know me?

Ooh. When it was all over, Set was gonna roast like a pig on a spit.

God's Realm

Set woke up on the ground near the Gods realm.

Wakey, wakey.

"Uh?" Set looked around. "Where are my wives?"

One made it. One didn't. I returned Anzu to Yuugi and their terrible son.

"But the other part?" Awww! "She's gone?"

The child was too powerful with evil. My millennium power was too much for the little humanity she had. She's in the afterlife now with her mommy.

Damn! "At least, I still have one," he tried to tell himself. One was enough for the bet. Afterward, if Horakhty was happy with the outcome, maybe Horakhty would bring the other part back? "Three days. I am going to make them suffer by my own hands in three days."

Or I can?

"No." He refused to let the demon have that much control over the situation. He picked up one of the mirrors left behind. He could see the siding of a building, with a crib not far nearby. "Yuugi's shop."

Yep, Yuugi had his wife for now, but not forever. I won't let him take her away again. They were supposed to be mine. Mine!

You can still make them suffer. Call it an accident. Have one of your minions check up on them, see if they are following the rules. If not? Not your fault if you accidentally don't make it and someone not in the bet gets killed.

Well, that wasn't half a bad idea. "The less people around, the less cheering they are going to get." The less cheering, the better he would do against them. However, he needed to keep the Ishtar's safe, they were the confusing hand that proved he was still good when his judgment came. Besides, there was no rush. This wouldn't be a typical game either.

Each time they made their move, no one was going to cheer. No one would walk away from that game without some heartache.

Zorc waited inside the soul room of the split millennium puzzle. Half of him was in Yuugi's side. Half was in Atem's side. It wouldn't be long now. Come on, Atem. Think about the words. Go and fetch that pretty little wife.

Afterlife

"I feel strange," Honda said. "Light. Peaceful. I don't think I would have liked this a few hours ago." His voice was steady and softer. During that time, he'd been talking to Satiah about the present and what had been happening. "Yuugi's a dad. I wish I could have seen Yuugi when he found out." He smiled at her. "Then again? I'm hanging out with someone who became his wife, with us looking like this. Pretty sure he would want to kick my butt." He chuckled. "I died." He said it as he leaned away.

He was now fully clothed. Satiah had noticed that, but had kept quiet about it. Letting him realize it all for himself. "No one would kick your butt.. They would be happy you were here."

"Yeah. Sure. See these?" Honda pinched a section of his yellow T-shirt. "I used to wear this all the time in middle school, and I wore it in high school. Until it finally got so ragged that I had to give up on it. It was the comfiest though. These pants were my favorite too. No way were they ever this big. I wore these in elementary. See the naturally worn out holes in the knee area?" He patted his knee. "Loved them. Perfect for summer. It gave a little bit more room when I was playing and jumping around back then."

He even pulled at his shoes to show them off. "These I used to wear in the sixth grade. Man, broke my own heart when my feet got too big. The color was my favorite, they always fit just right. They were the best shoes ever." He laughed. "Yep, no doubt about it. I'm dead." He shrugged. "At least I skipped the pain part of it all. Instant access, right?"

"Skipping pain is a benefit." She tried to make him feel better, but she hardly knew him. Only what Anzu told of him. "I am sorry you cannot play your game for Shizuka Kawai."

"Stupid thing anyway. I doubt she would have said yes," Honda said. "Shizuka was with me because I made her feel stronger. I was with her because she was gorgeous and sweet. Lovely person. I'd never hurt her, and she'd never hurt me." He chuckled. "Easy to admit now. I kept saying love over and over to myself. I wanted to believe that. I just wanted to move on with something new. A wife and kid with someone who was really sweet."

"There was nothing wrong with that." At least she could comfort him there. "Many women married when they were younger. Twelve. Thirteen. Boys tended to be more men. Sixteen to about twenty. Typically. There was no real officialing written down. They moved in with each other and simply learned to be with each other. Sometimes there was love before, and sometimes there was none."

"You learned to love each other. Huh. I feel a little less bad about that now," Honda admitted. "Pretty young though."

"Not really. Not many lived long lives. So, you were supposed to live it to the fullest that you could."

"I up and died on Jounouchi before this duel. That's going to make him mad. He was one of my best friends. This was? I know I was angry about it, but it would almost cement this idea that I was a part of his family. That I could be with Shizuka. Not that she would say yes. I guess I was bound to have a regret or two when I die unexpectedly, right?"

Satiah watched him starting to slouch.

"Okay, I'm a mess. This is kind of hard. I mean? I imagined that like one day I'd have that ," Honda blurted. "What Yuugi has. A wife and a kid. The simple good life with a butt kicking or two in the background. I mean, I was still friends with Jounouchi." He leaned his head back. "Leave this whining part out when you tell the Yuugi's about this. I want to be just the awesome hero that saved you. Okay?"

"Okay." She would do her best for him.

"Man. I am fumbly and awkward at death. It's almost like being too drunk to think straight. I did say to leave these parts out right? Make me sound good?"

"Yes." Satiah sat back down. "If anything happens to allow me to survive due to your cloth, I will find a way to honor you, Honda." Hmm. "If you hadn't died, perhaps I could have satiated you in some way."

Honda's eyes almost sprang to life slightly. "Now, you say that now-no. That's . . . that's not the words."

"If this is a way between, I believe I could have found some water," she said again. "You doubt it?"

That spring in his eyes seemed to disappear and was replaced with a smile. "Right. Water. Yeah. No, yeah, that whole thing really messed up my mind. Heh. Death makes you think funny things. Cause. I wish I could have helped." He started to close his eyes as he started to fade.

"Honda. When they win their game, they will bring you back," she assured him. "Don't doubt that. They will win. This isn't the end for you. Perhaps, you can still play that game for Shizuka Kawai?"

He was gone though now. Hopefully he heard her as his body faded away. His afterlife was not within an expired empire. It was time that he moved on.

Gods Realm

Honda opened his eyes and found himself on the ground.

"Hirito Honda!"

That voice? That was familiar. Honda opened his eyes and instantly knew. Though she was so much older. "Ribbon." Yellow Ribbon. "Miho. Hi." It was the girl of his dreams in high school. He had tried so hard to win her heart. Okay, well he didn't write the message, and Yuugi did most of the work, but he did still try. Try to win her all those years ago.

She still wore a beautiful dress, that beautiful purple hair, that pleasing smile, and that unforgettable yellow ribbon. In fact, she looked exactly the same as she did in school. Not a day older. "Honda, Miho so glad to see you!" She jerked him up from the ground and hugged him. "Miho has been looking forever for anyone that Miho knew!"

Yeah. Anyone. That would include him. He enjoyed the hug from her. The terrified hug trying to hold onto some semblancy of a person. "Glad to see you too, Miho. Where are we?" He looked around. Damn.

They were in a paradise he'd never seen. There was nothing dead or not quite blooming. Everything was fully opened, the grass was entirely green, the weather was decently warm without being a burden. "Man, it feels like a paradise."

"Miho thinks it might be last paradise of life," her small voice squeaked. That squeak was still there in Miho."Why are you here? There is a whole bunch of folks scattered out and nobody knows what's going on. We have been here for days." She pointed to some trees nearby bearing fruit. "Although no one can starve. There is fresh food all around, and water is easy to find. Walk around ten minutes or so and you will find some." She sighed. "Miho hadn't found anyone she knew from Domino City though. You are the first."

"Well, I am glad to have found you," Honda said. He looked around. "There looks to be something in the distance. A palace?"

"Miho has been walking that way, taking breaks between," she admitted. "Miho doesn't go very far. It's scary. What happens when everyone gets to the palace, you know?" She shook her head. "Plus, Miho's clothes? I didn't leave in these. This dress is a favorite, the yellow ribbon is from high school, and these shoes were from elementary school. Miho thinks she might have died, and she's scared to know what's next."

Oh. Same clothes situation. "I think we are too." He wasn't usually bold with the truth when it came to her back then, but he couldn't lie to her. Not now. "That palace is our destination, Miho. Don't be afraid. You don't want to walk around here aimlessly forever, do you? It's time to take that next step." He held onto her hand. "We'll do it together, okay?"

Her eyes were filled with tears, but she smiled and wiped them away. She had always tried to smile. "Together, Honda! We'll go together."