Darkness Within

Note: Okay… here goes nothing… chapter 13. Please review!

Chapter Thirteen: The Whole Picture

Closing her eyes, Fiacha took the puzzle in her palms and envisioned her temple… her life before all of this, all that she had learned of the pharaoh. She knew it wasn't going to work… she couldn't be that special.

"Fiacha, what's going on," the pharaoh asked.

She opened her eyes and found herself floating in dark nothingness. She did not feel the need to scream; she'd spent most of her life in darkness.

"I don't have the slightest idea. But… Fiaralie is not here, so it can't be all bad. Hey… where are Yugi and Joey?"

"I don't know. This is… strange."

Lifting her eyes to his, she at last managed to meet his gaze, something she'd always been afraid of. "Fiaralie… I guess I need to explain about her."

The pharaoh sat down and looked expectantly at her, making her blush. "It all began in ancient Egypt… as I'm sure you know…" she began.

"Pharaoh… why are you sending me away? I've done nothing wrong… I… Please. If not for your kingdom's protection… then for me."

"I've let you stay too long, Kirra. I can't make excuses anymore. All of them want you gone. To refuse would be to say that I was… that we…"

"Are we not? I… Oh, please, pharaoh, I haven't done anything to deserve this. It isn't my fault that I feel this way! Don't send me out there all alone!"

"You will never be alone, Kirra. In my heart… I am with you always."

"Then stop being a coward and come with me… or don't send me away. I've never been anywhere else."

"Just go."

"But-"

"GO!"

"Why can I not recall any of this?"

Fiacha shook her head. "Why can I?" But she was pretty sure that she knew now.

"You said that you could help me remember… but I don't."

She shook her head again and smiled. "Even Dolan misread the prophecy. Not me… but someone that I am connected with by both shared destiny and shared pain, and I don't mean Fiaralie… not really. I mean who she once was. You see… I think that she was… reluctant… to do anything to hurt you before, and so she tried to get rid of that part of herself, of Kirra. That's why she changed her name. And her hair."

"I'm afraid that I don't understand."

"No… but you will. Kirra… don't worry now… Come and tell him what you must say… regardless of what might happen to me."

The spirit-girl nodded and turned to the pharaoh, who still could not see her. You know what must come next.

At least you asked first.

Thank you, Fiacha. I won't forget this.

"Pharaoh, I've waited so very long to see you again," Kirra whispered, gently touching his face with one tanned hand. "Too long."

"I… I still don't remember you."

"Of course not. You never wanted to. You said… you told me that you wished you had never met me. I knew that you were angry, but that dark side of me… all she ever wanted was revenge. She hated you even before you broke my heart… but until then, I wouldn't let her hurt you. The only thing I was going to let her do… was erase your memories of me. I wanted you to be happy, Pharaoh. More than anything."

He stared blankly at her, sorrowed by her words.

"Only, after you didn't know me… I didn't see much point in going on. I was not a little girl anymore, not in my heart. I knew there would be no other for me. But still I had the feeling that if I would keep anything in my mind, it would be the way to give you back your memories, in case it was ever needed. And now that I am not the only thing lost to you, it is." She smiled and whispered in his ear; "We are free," and then kissed him on the cheek. Unable to keep herself there without the magic that she had been preserving for so long, Kirra vanished into the past, and Fiacha collapsed back into the real world along with the pharaoh.

"Fiacha… eh, other guy, are you okay? Hello?"

"Yugi?" the pharaoh asked, staring in amazement at the boy sitting across from him. How could they both be solid?

"I don't know who you are," Joey said. "But I wanna know what you did to Fiacha!"

"I didn't do anything, Joey. Is she breathing?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Check for a pulse!" Yugi practically screamed.

Joey blinked at him and the pharaoh grabbed her wrist instead. "I'm not letting anything like this happen again… not when I can stop it," he muttered, half lost in his new memories. There wasn't a pulse.

"She's not breathing," he said calmly as Joey nearly fainted and Yugi just looked frantic. "Come on…"

He had let something like this happen before. When Kirra had really become Fiaralie. She had stopped breathing, though no one had ever found out why, and he hadn't done anything, afraid that his people would call it a kiss instead of saving a life. When the girl had opened her eyes to see that someone other than him had saved her, she had just stared coldly at him and walked out. That was not happening this time.

Without another thought, he put his lips over hers and gave her his breath to save her life. She looked so much like Kirra… it was almost as if she was her.

Fiacha sputtered and choked, looking terrified to find an unfamiliar face nearby. "What's going on?" she asked. "And why do you two look the same?"

Joey stopped freaking out to hug her tight, but that only scared her more. "Who are you people?"

"That's not funny, Fiacha."

Her eyes went dark and she frowned. "I'm sorry, Joey," she said in a voice that was not her own. "I warned her not to give me too much time… but she didn't listen to me. I think that somehow, she had to give up her own past to return his. I think that was the catch. She was warned."

"What are you talking about? First you act like you don't know me and now you're going all weird on me. What's wrong with you?"

"This isn't Fiacha, Joey," the pharaoh declared. "This is Kirra."

"Kirra? What are you talking about? Dat's Fiacha!"

"No, Joey, I am not. But Fiacha does not know who she is or anything else for that matter. I can think of only one thing that could help. But first… all of you must leave, all but Joey and I."

Yugi was more than happy to leave, but the pharaoh looked sadly into Kirra's eyes. "I'll never see you again, will I?"

"In my heart… I am with you always."

"But I-"

"This is not our time. To tear these two apart for something that died thousands of years ago is foolish. Now go, as I did so long ago. Leave me here to do the right thing."

"I'm lost," Joey said as the pharaoh left.

"I would not expect you to understand. But your heart is pure, and that is what Fiacha needs most to overcome the darkness in her soul. If it was unleashed… if someone hurt her badly enough… I fear for the world itself. Darkness can be overcome only by the light and-" Seeing that she'd lost Joey, she stopped. "She needs you now, Joey, more than ever. She thinks that her trials before, with Fiaralie and Marik were tough, but that is nothing compared to waging a war on destiny."

"Huh?"

"Joey… fate says… that Fiacha is to die this day. Her mission is complete. There was to be no future from here."

End note: THE END! Just kidding, R&R and soon we shall see if fate was right!