The Game of Life

By: Rogue Fox

Part Thirty-One……… Belief

A/N: Aha! I did it! I fixed my nasty blooper, so everyone please go re-read chap. 28 for some nice fluffiness... Anyway, thank you for your patience, and we're almost to the finish line!

Anzu+

The look in Yugi's eyes scared me.

They were so blank and lifeless. I wondered what would become of the world's light when there was no world left to give light to. I couldn't imagine Yugi dying. He seemed eternal. Malik and Ryou and Yuki were all the same to me. Eternal. Something everlasting, forever. The sun always rises, no matter how long the night. The yamis also seemed like a part of forever. There was always light, and there was always dark. Always would be. Right?

Something was wrong. I could see it in Yugi's eyes. I could see it in the way Malik launched to his feet. I could see it in the last silent tear that slipped down Ryou's cheek. I could even see it in the yamis' eyes. And I knew, as only someone who's fate was as tied up in all this as theirs could.

It was time.

How do you act when you know that world's going to end? What do you say? I just wanted to go back to the way things were. If I had known……… I still would have chosen Yugi. I still chose Yugi, even then. I followed them, as Malik and Ryou supported Yuki between them and the yamis led the way out to the desert. We all kind of cried and followed them. I hoped that Kaiba would get here soon, so he could at least say goodbye to Yuki……… Even though I knew she was already nearly gone. They, the yamis and the hikaris, seemed to know where to go.

Jou+

Bakura pounded in front of us, his experienced feet carrying him over sand dunes Kaiba, Honda and I all sank into. I lost sight of him as he plunged over another dune and I tripped trying to follow him.

And all I could think about was getting there, being with them, so at least we'd face this together.

Yuki+

I was aware that we were moving. I knew that Ryou and Malik were practically carrying me. It didn't matter. My body was irrelevant now, a mere breathing shell. It had sustained too much damage, carried too much weight. It didn't matter any more.

Spiritually, I was drifting somewhere between death and life, waiting for Seto's voice. Waiting patiently. Waiting for his release into the tempting bliss of eternity that my worry-burdened soul and body alike longed for.

The moving stopped. We were there.

Here. Where all life began, and all would end.

Just barely physically conscious, I rolled my eyes around to look. Sand. Sand, from deep within Himeko's most treasured memories. Sand, that crumbled and slipped through my fingers like my very own life. I could hear someone calling to me………

It's time now………

No, wait, just a little longer………

The time has come………

Not yet………

He will not come………

He will!………

He cannot come………

He will………

This is yours alone to bear, alone………

I just want to say goodbye………

You alone can make the choice………

Please, just a little longer………

And so you must make it, alone………

I need to tell him………

The fate of the world is yours to decide………

To tell them all………

Your time here is done.

That I love them.

Then the sky opened above me and I looked up into a face I both knew and had never seen before.

" Come now, little one. It is time."

I opened my mouth to protest, but nothing came. I resisted her. I clung to my body, and to my flickering life.

" Why do you cling to your mortal shell, child, when your place is in eternity?"

I won't go with you until you do something for me!

" How dare you try to bargain with destiny!"

I'll die with this body if you don't!

"………What is it that you want?"

I want you to break the curse. I want you to break the curse that binds hikari to yami and yami to hikari. I want you to make it so that Himeko can live without me. I don't want any more of this madness.

" Then it is so."

I suddenly felt cast off and alone. I couldn't feel Himeko's warm darkness near me. I was utterly alone.

" Why you only deepened your eternal solitude, I do not know. But you have had your way. Now come, child. You have much to do."

And I went with Ma'at, to go to my destiny.

Himeko+

From the moment my consciousness woke in this age, there was Yuki, her warm, comforting, familiar light nestled happily against my own soul. I needed her. It was the primal knowledge I never questioned. You don't question instinct. You don't wonder why you need to breathe. You just do, and that's all you need to know. I just needed Yuki, like air. She was my air.

I remembered waking up that first time, my old, tired soul shying at first from that tiny pinprick of faint light. Hearing the sound of someone crying. Being inexplicably drawn to that light. Comforting the girl that waited in the blinding light, promising her I'd protect her. I remembered the trials, the pain, the battles, the tears, the fear, the anger. But more than that, I also remembered the laughter, the love, the joy, and that look in her eyes that she got when the people we loved were near and all was well within our own little sphere of the world, that feeling of being one and whole and full and complete.

The world was dark and cold. It wasn't the darkness of the bad place, the place that I should have been. The wind was blowing, and I had to shield my eyes. I was afraid. I felt empty, alone, cast off. I felt like, for the first time in so long, I was utterly alone. Yuki's comforting warmth was gone, and I felt cold. I wrapped my arms around myself and stumbled a few steps, looking up into the gaping darkness that threatened to swallow the world.

The faces of the dead, the gone, the lost, those that had been taken from me and those whose lives I had taken myself, my own mother's face numbering among the latter. I remembered her blood, her neck bones cracking under my hands……… Gods, I remembered.

" Go!" a woman screamed in my ear. I could barely hear her through the raging wind, and I turned to her. I was confronted with my own eyes. " Go! She needs you now!" the woman screamed at me, desperate to be heard over the chaos.

" Who are you?" I asked.

" I started this mess, and I'll not let you finish it alone!" she told me, shoving me. I stumbled backwards and looked at her. She was dressed in white, and she was exactly as I remembered her. Tan skin, long legs, white dress with a tube top that left her stomach and shoulders bare, red bangs, blonde hair, and red-violet eyes. The royal eyes. She looked at me. " Go!" she ordered me again. I obediently rose and turned away, walking towards the chaos that loomed over us all. Tepe, Ishtar, and Yami all stumbled after me. Ahead of us, three shining beacons that guided us, were Malik, Ryou, and Yugi.

" What happened?" Yami asked. " I can't feel Yugi!" he had to practically scream to be heard, and even so, we had lean toward him to hear what he was saying.

" I don't know! I can't feel Ryou either!" Tepe answered. I stumbled and Ishtar grabbed my arm and hauled me back up. Suddenly, a little to the west of us, a pinprick of light lit up in the sky like a single star shining through the swirling chaos to guide us. Ahead of us, the hikaris changed directions and went toward the little light.

" We need to follow them! He said to follow the lights!" Ishtar said. He still had a hold of my arm and dragged me along as he plowed into the sand and wind, Tepe and Yami following in our wake. No one questioned him. I looked to my right and saw the woman walking beside me. There were others in the darkness, but I didn't look at them. I trained my eyes on the little light and the three little hikaris ahead of us. It took us a minute to catch up with the hikaris.

" Yugi!" Yami boomed. All three of them froze and turned slowly.

" Where's Yuki?" I pleaded. Malik gave me an odd, sort of blank stare.

" She's up there." He said quietly, pointing to the little light in the sky.

" She needs us." Ryou added, gripping Malik's hand.

" We have to go to her." Yugi finished. Malik turned abruptly and lead the other two off. Ishtar stepped after him.

" Wait-" he managed to get out before he ran head first into some kind of barrier. We all watched, transfixed in horror, as he pressed his hand against a hard barrier. He began to pound it while Tepe, Yami, and I lunged at it, scrambling desperately, each screaming for our hikari. Someone grabbed my shoulders and hurled me backwards. The woman stood over me.

" You have to go that way!" she told me, pointing to the west. " Follow the barrier around until you make a ninety degree angle with Ishtar and Bakura. Then wait."

" What's happening?" I asked her.

" What do you think is happening? She's trying to save you." I was told gruffly.

" I don't know what's happening. I can't feel her." I whispered.

" You can thank her for that. She asked Ma'at to do it. Actually, she forced Ma'at to do it. So you can live on without her."

" I don't want to live without her!" I screamed. I hated her right then. I hated her because she was saying what I couldn't bring myself to believe. She looked at me with remorse.

" This is my fault. I know that. But she's made her choice, just like you made yours so many times." She said. " Now, go. Go or she will fail."

I ran over the sand dunes, ditching my high heeled shoes as I went. I ran until I found myself at a ninety degree angle with Tepe, Ishtar was still getting into position. I felt hard, casting about with my soul for Yuki. There was no warmth, no welcoming glimmer of her essence.

Himeko, can you hear me? a voice suddenly asked in my head.

God! Yuki! Where are you? I can't feel you! I'm so cold and I'm scared- God, Yuki, what's happening? I cried out.

I'm not sure where I am. It's bright. I can't really see. I'm sorry you're cold, Himeko, but I can't do anything about that anymore. she responded slowly.

Then she was right……… I whispered.

I don't have much time, Himeko. You know what's happening. The world is ending. I made Ma'at break the curse, so that you could go on living. I need your help. I have to make this happen now. I can't do it alone. I can't just let this happen. I can't just let everyone die. Not you, not the boys, not Seto, not anyone. I can fight this, I've got the ability to change things. But I need your help. I just need you to believe in me, that's all. I have to start with you. The other hikaris have picked me up and they're pounding my mind down. Just tell me you believe, Himeko, and there's a future for you. God, Himeko, you should see their faces! Yuki exclaimed that last part joyously.

What? Who? I asked.

Your children. Yuki answered. They have your eyes. They can't wait to meet you.

You can see the future? I asked, floored by the prospect of me having children.

Possible futures. This one I particularly want to come true. It won't if you don't believe in it. In me. Yuki said. Himeko, grant me this. Give me this. Give me the knowledge that you will go on and live, and I can do this. I can deal with anything else. I'm running out of time, Himeko, so it's your call.

I do believe in you. I always have. I told her.

Then kiss your babies goodnight for me every night, Himeko. I love you. she said.

And then she was gone.

Isis+

I was in a panic. I ran out over the dunes, screaming.

" Malik! Ishtar! Yami! Malik!" I screamed, following Seto Kaiba as he sped ahead of me, screaming for Yuki. I got a nice, intimate view of him running head first into something, and hitting the ground hard. I hit it too, whatever it was. Everyone was screaming, crying, pleading. I buried my face in my hands and begged the gods to just be able to hold them one last time before the end.

Isis. someone said in my head abruptly. I knew the voice.

" Yuki?" I half wailed, half screamed. The others were doing it around me, too.

Isis. I'm not just talking to you. I'm talking to pretty much everyone except for Himeko. After this, I have to talk to everyone else in the world. I need a favor, Isis. she said quickly.

" Anything!" I cried.

I need you to believe in me, Isis. I need you to believe that there was a reason, for all the pain and the suffering and everything. I need you to believe that good can still come of this. I need you to believe in the power of hope. Believe in me, Isis, and I promise you won't regret it."

" Of course I believe in you!" I said.

Even if I couldn't promise you that I'd ever see you again? Even if I couldn't promise you that you'll even survive the next few minutes?

" Yes! Even then!" I cried. Then she was gone. " I believe in you because I love you!" I told her, and I knew she heard.

Jou+

In the years that have passed since that day, I have often thought of myself and my friends and the witnesses of something great. Of course, the whole world took part, but we were there, we saw it with our own eyes. We saw history unfold before our eyes. We watched as a legend was born.

Yuki spoke to Himeko, her other half, before anyone else. Himeko's belief in her was detrimental. Then she spoke to us, the other yamis and hikaris and the mortals that waited outside the first barrier. She asked us all the same thing, to believe in her. She did not waste time telling us it would be okay, that she loved us, nothing like that. She promised us nothing. We believed in her because it was the natural thing to do.

Then, Yuki reached out to the world. Every living person, man, woman, and child, was touched by Yuki that night. She called them by name, beseeched them to believe. She promised nothing, she offered no rewards. And yet, a baffling amount of people immediately answered her. Millions upon millions, from every walk of life and every class or social standing, from thousands of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds from all the corners of the globe answered Yuki's universal call. And millions upon millions more answered her after only a few seconds hesitation. What astounded me was the sheer magnitude of it all. The massiveness of what Yuki did. Of course, I had no idea what was going on right then, at that exact moment. Only later did I become aware of what happened. And all the while, the little light in the sky grew brighter and brighter, in the face of the impending darkness. It grew until you couldn't look at it. It grew until you could see it from space. And then…

The world was engulfed with light. I was surrounded by it. I was so hot, I couldn't see. But I wasn't uncomfortable. I was thrilled. I was surrounded by Yuki's warm, comforting presence. I could feel her soothing my fears, my grief. I could feel her comforting me and supporting me. I could feel her warm, loving presence as keenly as though she were standing right behind me. When I think about how I felt while Yuki was with me in that moment, I realize that I felt safe. I felt secure. There was nothing to fear. I felt like a little child who's just had a bad nightmare, and now his mother is rocking him back to sleep, stroking his hair and murmuring in his ear. It was almost as though Yuki was whispering in my ear, " It's alright, it's alright. Everything's alright. It was just a bad dream, you're fine. All's well, all's well. You're safe now, nothing evil can get you now. You're safe."

Himeko+

I woke suddenly, not remembering having fallen asleep. I was laying facedown on the sand. The first thing I noticed was the silence. Everything was peaceful and quiet. There was no roaring. The next thing I noticed was the light. There was sunshine. I rolled over and sat up, looking around. It occurred to me to find my brothers.

" Yami?" I called questioningly. I was shocked by how alone I felt. Castoff. Like there was something familiar that I was missing, and I sorely wanted it back. But I couldn't quite think of what it was.

" Isis?" a familiar voice called. I lurched to my feet and turned, right into Tepe's arms. I breathed in his scent while we hugged each other. " Are you all right?" he asked.

" Yes. Are you?" I asked. I still couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was desperately wrong, despite how peaceful everything felt. Tepe nodded his answer. " Where's Yami?" I asked.

" I'm over here." Yami suddenly spoke up, and we turned to see him to our left. " Are you guys okay? Where's Ishtar?" he asked. Tepe and I both told him we were fine, at which point Ishtar stumbled up. There were tears on his face.

" Ishtar! Are you okay?" I cried, running to him. He stared at me.

" I'm fine. I don't understand why I'm crying. I'm fine." He said, reaching up to touch the tears on his cheeks as though reminding himself they were there. He suddenly looked at me again, bewildered. " I'm fine… Gods, I'm fine…" That was when it occurred to me that Ishtar was talking. Full, complete, non-stuttering sentences. " But, how…?" he whispered. Then, I suddenly remembered. I remembered Yuki pleading with me to believe in her. I remembered feeling the need to do something. I remembered giving her all my power, I remembered being powerless as the darkness reached out to swallow me. I remembered the wave of light that cut through my middle in a blinding flash of searing pain, sweeping away the darkness with it. I remembered the sense of falling, utterly alone and falling. I started to cry too.

Terror bloomed within me like a hideous flower. I wanted more than anything for it not to be true. I wanted more than anything for once to be able to completely deny my reality, I wanted to have the power to change my situation. I tore off over the dunes, screaming like a banshee.

I don't understand. Nothing I ever do makes it change. Nothing I ever do changes the fate of the people I love. Every attempt I make at protecting them, changing their fate and mine, only seems to make things worse. What about free will? Don't I have the ability to create and affect my own destiny, and those of the people I love? Doesn't the fact that I lived at all make a difference? Doesn't the fact that the woman I was born from lived and loved make a difference? Doesn't the fact that she traded her life for mine and Yuki's make a difference? Doesn't the love she had for her family and friends change something? Doesn't the fact that after all this time and pain, Tepe and I can still love one another change something? Doesn't the fact that Ishtar spoke in full sentences make a difference? Doesn't the fact that Yami is moving on make a difference? Or was it all farce? Was it all just a cruel joke, maneuvering us to fit the whims of gods?

I saw them walking of a hill of sand, cresting it as I crested the one opposite to it. The four of them walked slowly. There was Isis, the Princess of Egypt, and her brother the Pharaoh, in all their glory. There was Tepemkau, the great King of Thieves, his eyes downcast. There was the man with the golden hair, the scribe whose eyes I only faintly recalled from somewhere in the dark, hidden depths of my past, and in his arms was the limp form of Yuki, hanging as though dead.

My world went still as I ran to them, ripping Yuki away from them. I was screaming, I think, Yuki's name, but I heard nothing. I felt for breath, for heartbeat. My questioning caresses were answered only by stillness. I sat silent for a moment, before bowing my head and clutching her cold body to mine. My lips parted and one long, uninterrupted scream fled my lips, a mournful howl that came from the very bowels of my being that protested every single injustice I had endured and simply could not bear any more.

In the end, nothing I did or tried to do made any difference at all.

They came, running and screaming at me, questioning me. I didn't answer them, just took in a rattling breath and howled more. Yami grabbed me while Tepe and Ishtar pulled Yuki out of my arms. The hikaris came. There was yelling, screaming, crying, but I drowned them all out, filling my ears with my own wail. When I looked back, the four were gone, and I was alone with Yuki's empty, lifeless body.

Somehow I was pulled to my feet and made to walk, stumbling along with Tepe half-leading me, half-carrying me. My wails faded to horrified whimpers. Then I saw the mortals. I saw Seto Kaiba and froze. Gods, not this.

He was silent as Ishtar handed Yuki to him. He stared at her with his face blank and cold as stone.

" This isn't what I wanted." Someone suddenly said. I turned to see her, the woman in the chaos, the source of this never-ending river of sorrow, Isis, the cursed Princess. " I never wanted this. But one thing led to another, and now I find I not only set the end of the world in motion, but I also brought about the only person who could either stop it or move it along."

" You… You killed her… You killed my baby…" I growled.

" I made her. And you." She corrected.

" And now you've killed her." I spat. " You… You set this in motion. You… You never paid the price. You just died, you ceased to exist. We paid the price, you bitch! I paid the price! Yuki paid the price! Gods in heaven, we paid the price for your arrogance! Not just me, not just my baby, but them, all of them, Yami and Yugi and Ryou and Tepe and Malik and Ishtar and all the mortals and those poor little children who suddenly no longer have the only mother they've ever known! Cowardly bitch, daughter of dogs! You get a nice float in limbo while you let children, babies even, carry the weight of your decisions!"

" Yes." She agreed, and I sneered at her, although I was momentarily silenced. " Yes, it was my decision that started all of this, and it is my fault that this has happened. It is, in effect, my fault that those children are now motherless yet again. If that is what you wish to believe. But in truth, I only started this. It was Yuki who finished it. Yes, my decision forced her hand. Yes, my decision left her with no other acceptable options. Yes, Yuki, being Yuki, could never have chosen to do anything but what she did. But it was Yuki who chose to defy the gods. It was Yuki who had the strength to change things. In the end, I was a pawn. I was played, baited right into a trap. I made the decision the gods and Nepano wanted me to make, and so has it been since. Every decision any of us have made since that moment has all been part of an elaborate farce to bring about the end of the world. Yuki was the one who was strong enough to see through her own eyes and with her own heart, and act accordingly. It was not me that made it right. It was not you. We are both too steeped in hatred. It was Yuki. I began this. You propelled it. Yes, you. You are just as guilty, you gave it a path after my death. Yuki ended it. It was the babies, darker half of myself. The millions of babies. She gave them a chance to live their own lives and make their own destiny. She gave you what I could not. A second chance to make things right."

" Shut up!" the snarl that ripped out into the air came from Ishtar's lips, and he glared at them as though he would kill them in just a moment, but wanted them to know fear first. " You just shut up! You don't know her. You don't… You can't… You know the essence, the make-up, you know the gears and the wheels that make her up, but you don't know her! You never knew her! You never saw her smile, never heard her laugh, you never got to hear her say that it would be okay and just bask in the hope that she gave the people around her just by existing! The blame is not all yours, we know that! But you make a wonderful scapegoat, and we've only just begun to grieve, so you can just shut up! Yes, the millions of babies… I don't doubt it, not for a moment." He laughed and then looked at them. " Do you want something?"

" We have a deal for you." The Pharaoh began. " One of you must give all your power-"

" You want more?" Yami spat. " I did what you could not. I suffered what you could not. I live with what you could not, and you want more?"

" You're not listening. It's a deal, you'll get something in exchange." The King of Thieves interjected.

" What do you have that we could possibly want?" Tepe muttered.

" Go away." Ryou said suddenly. He and the other hikaris had knelt with Seto, gently caressing Yuki's body. " Just go away. You've given us nothing but pain." Malik and Yugi nodded.

" Just listen, all we need is-" The Princess attempted and Malik leapt to his feet.

" You listen!" he cried. " We've given you everything, everything! Our families, our lives, our bodies, and now Yuki! We have nothing left but each other and our power, and now you ask for that too! When will it be enough! You are responsible for the fact that I exist, that I get to have such wonderful friends, and I thank you for it! But I've paid my dues! I've paid you in flesh and blood, as have Ryou and Yugi! The yamis have paid you in agony, torment, and madness! I've paid, see my payment!" he ripped off his shirt and turned his back to them, displaying the horrid marks. " And yet it's not enough! You still ask for more!"

" But we don't ask on our behalf, or on that of the gods. We ask on Yuki's behalf, because she cannot, or will not, ask for herself." The scribe said.