They were sitting around in front of the TV that afternoon, not watching anything, just hanging out. Jounouchi and Honda were still doing homework, so it was really very quiet. Yuugi closed his notebook and looked at Selket. "Why do you want to dominate the earth?" he asked.

She glanced up from sorting through her pens. "It's not what I want, remember? It's what I've been fated to do."

"Oh yeah, you told me that. Well, what do you plan to do when you gain control?"

She shrugged. "Well, the world is going to change drastically, right down to daily life. Most of all, the time is approaching for the shadow games to awaken once again. They had a pretty long nap and are growing restless."

Honda froze, remembering a shadow game he had witnessed once. The defeated man's cry reverberated in his memory still. "The shadow games??"

"Yes, what of it?"

"You'll bring them back?"

"I said that already. Is there something wrong with it?"

"But they're brutal! Selket, they were locked away for a reason."

"I'll awaken them for a reason too, and preside over them with the power that Fate has bestowed upon me."

+

Yuugi couldn't sleep that night. Selket was his friend, why would she want to do something like awaken the shadow games? It was the magic, of course, the lineage that ran in her veins and resided in her heart. It had to be the power too, buried in her very flesh and mind, controlling more than was good.

He couldn't let her do something like this, though. Bringing back the shadow games could be disastrous. They were dangerous beyond doubt, and people were bound to get hurt or killed. There had to be some way to stop it, but he had no idea how much or what sort of powers she possessed beyond mind crushing. Sure, dueling was almost always like that, not knowing exactly what you were up against. This was different, though. A mistake here could get him killed or obliterated, not to mention what would happen to the entire world. He sighed and kicked off the blankets, fingering the millennium puzzle around his neck. He felt no response whatsoever from the other presence they called his Yami. It was kind of a pity; he had a feeling Yami might have answers or at least some good guesses about all this.

+

Yuugi found himself hanging out with Selket the next day after school. Honda and Miho had disappeared off somewhere, and Jounouchi and Anzu both had other commitments. Yuugi sat at a picnic table, mentally going over some of his newer strategies. He reached for his deck to grab a few cards to try something when he realized it was gone. He looked up to see Selket surveying a group made up of the Celtic guardian, the black magician, the rude Kaiser, and several other random monsters.

"Selket!"

She turned. "Sorry."

With a flick of her wrist, the cards returned to her hand in their proper form. She slid them across the table to him and sat down.

"Yuugi, do you ever wish that you'd never gotten the millennium puzzle?"

He glanced up, looking thoughtful. "That's a good question. It's true that it's changed my life a lot and has brought a bunch of troubles, but I don't think I'd wish that."

She looked surprised. "Why not?"

"I…I wished on this item as I put it together. I wished for true friends, and I got them. Without it, I think I wouldn't have ended up getting to know Jounouchi or Honda or even really Anzu. And with them, I know I can face anything."

She shrugged. "So this friendship stuff is pretty good, huh?"

He smiled. "It sure is."

"Hn. I guess so. I guess I'm just not used to it. It felt…weird to…to have someone who…" She shook her head. "I dunno."

"Someone who cared?"

"Yeah…yeah, that sounds right."

He nodded and shuffled through his deck. "So now do I get to ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Is Selket your real name?"

"If you mean the one my parents gave me, no. Malik's Yami gave it to me in my dream."

"Malik?"

"Never mind. You'll meet him soon enough. Speaking of which, I suppose I should assign your campaigns to opposite ends of the world-unless you'd like a sudden death."

"What??"

"Nothing. We're getting off the subject. Do you know who the original Selket was?"

"The scorpion goddess, right? Of Egypt, I think."

"Yup. Everyone who resists will soon feel my stinging scourge. But Selket was also the goddess of birth…and I'll bring this world into a new life under my reign."

"A life of shadow games and the days of old," said Yuugi grimly.

She beamed. "Right! It will be like the long gone times of glory once again."

"You'll be unstoppable, won't you?"

She nodded. "Invincible, Yuugi. It will only stop if I am killed. Furthermore, I must die by a millennium item to be fully stopped. Otherwise, I'll return eventually and continue where I left off. And unless I specifically agree not to take their card, no bearers of the millennium item will even contemplate destroying me. That means only you, Yuugi, would be able to kill me, and we're friends." She looked off into the distance. "Sometimes I wish there were other ways to stop it. If I think on it too long, the fate seems too huge and heavy for me to ever bear. I hope we'll always be friends, but the places of power make it hard to keep friends. A true ruler should avoid having to rely on trust at all times."

"I guess you've sort of got a point," said Yuugi.

She nodded. "I thought you'd see. No offense, of course, right?"

"No…no, it's okay," Yuugi said absently. Then an awful thought struck him. "But my other friends! What will happen to them?"

"I guess I can find them some sort of position, provided they don't trip up my plans, of course. They shouldn't aim too high, though. My generals will be almost the only ones allowed in my presence. Besides, the ambitious ones are often the most dangerous."

"You've got everything worked out!"

"It's rather simple. I found it all out at the very beginning." She sighed. "All this destiny stuff probably makes me sound like some stuck-up delusional."

Yuugi didn't argue. Then again, he didn't agree, either. He was simply listening.

"Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's me talking. I feel like there's another presence there that knows everything that's planned out. It's like…like…"

"Like a Yami," said Yuugi grimly.

"Yeah…sort of. Just, I've seen Yamis, talked to them, dealt with them…that's not what it is. Mine isn't as…separate, I guess you could say. We're more melded, especially in thought and personality. And if you were to use your millennium item on my other side, it would most definitely kill me too."

Yuugi swallowed. "Oh."

"And I'm not affected by mind crushes."