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

The Butterfly Effect

Chapter XCIX

I didn't need to know the exact details to put together that the match had reached insane heights during our disappearance. I didn't need more than the information in front and behind me that things had gotten even crazier than where we left them, if only because there was more of it than I knew what to do with.

Anzu was now completely off, sharing a grateful, but resigned visitor of which she didn't like said resignation. Miss Ishtar was, to no one's surprise, hovering extremely close to her, as if unsure what to do other than hope that Yuugi and Yami could maybe, just maybe, claim a victory while not managing to kill her brother. And Jono- Katsuya who saw us and quickly joined my brother to help Rishid make his way close enough to share his message, looked completely frazzled, as if not sure what to make of what was happening but going along with it anyway.

But nothing, nothing quite equaled the battle in front of us.

Ra in his full glory. Black Magician Girl and… Black Magician on Yami's side. Yuugi was mostly faded out and there wasn't much left to Malik at all. If something had to be done…

"Master Malik!"

… It had to be done now.

I watched Malik's reaction to seeing Rishid alive and willing to talk as Katsuya and my brother let him go so he could speak with freedom and the honor he deserved. I found myself looking to Mokuba who didn't hesitate to return the look with a smile as I listened to Rishid's speech about keeping on despite the overwhelming failure. And I smiled, almost feeling the need to sit down as I watched Mokuba look to his brother with a smile that, while not visibly shared, was definitely reciprocated as Kaiba's eyes seemed to soften, if only for an instant while Rishid continued on with something that, I was sure everyone could agree on.

"Light is not found in death, but in life!"

Redemption did not come with death. It came with life.

I rushed forward as the… thing cried with pain, grabbing Anzu as I felt Malik leave her to gather to the only point he was given atop Ra. I tried to apologize to her about my cryptic message as she waved it away, more involved in the match than she had been if only because she understood Malik's struggle all too well, now.

"Black Magicians! Combine your power!"

But if there was anything left to say after Yami went to unleash his final attack, it was lost as I couldn't help but watch the Black Magician as he… turned to Yami with a smile before obeying with blind devotion… and understanding.

… The echo. It was different. As if something, a power had been awakened from deep within, resonating with the monster so deeply, it had become the… alive. It had been reborn in such a way that its responses… felt sentient.

… Mahaado? No. No, it couldn't be. Yami couldn't have found…

Not the time.

I cowered and helped Anzu hide her gaze from the blinding light that exploded on the stage. I stood again and held my breath as Anzu freed herself from my grip to stand by herself, only smiling in reassurance when I threw her a questioning look. And I hoped, prayed as the smoke cleared that he'd understood, he'd made sense of the message he'd been given.

Only to breathe, unable to help my smile when Malik stood, took off the cape that thing had thought necessary and I noticed the speck, the eye that darted all around in hatred and anger before it screamed in agony as Malik brought his hand to his deck, forfeiting the match before thanking Yuugi and Yami for helping him.

I half expected him to fall again as the platform lowered and Yuugi was announced the winner. I couldn't help but smile as everyone rushed forward towards Yami as Miss Ishtar and Rishid seemed to hesitate in their approach of Malik before Miss Ishtar gave up all pretenses and hugged him for what seemed to be the first time in a long time. And I took yet another breath and chuckled as I approached myself, catching Yami's eye which carried the glimpse of a question I knew would have to wait until later.

For now, the answers we'd hunted so hard for.

Watching Malik approach us with no ill intent was something else. Watching him pull out the Ra card and give it to Yami with an apology was something that still felt foreign. But I could only wish that watching him pull off his shirt to show us his back was something that felt the same way.

That was burnt. Not tattooed, burnt into his skin. And from the fact that it was still perfect after what was probably done many years ago, if only because no anger would have built up this badly in a single year span, the process had to have been painstakingly long, taking hours, no days so that the way the skin stretched as Malik grew didn't affect the details of the thing.

So much pain… So much suffering… And for what? A way to get Yami back to the place he belonged? Why? Who would-?

"By the way… You're Honda Megumi, right?"

…

"Yes. Why?"

"I wanted to apologize. Seeing this," he trailed off, motioning to the Key around my neck, "only made things worse."

I'd been right. The Key had gotten Malik angry.

"… May I ask why?"

"I saw it… around the neck of a man who said that all that would come to pass was the Pharaoh's will. That same night, I-"

"Pharaoh?"

"… Yes."

That meant Shaadi… But Yami wouldn't have done this, right? Why would make so many suffer for his own freedom when he'd probably been the one to seal the Thief away?

… Unless…

… No. No, it couldn't be. It couldn't be that far linked. No. N—

I looked in Kaiba's direction. Kaiba who was nursing his head as his brother worried over him. Kaiba who eventually noticed my stare and returned it with a heated glare, one that had nothing to do with Mokuba and everything to do with something I'd done.

No. No! I had to be wrong! Because if I wasn't…

"You always were a little too smart for your own good, weren't you?"

… How deep did this rabbit hole go?