It's been so long and it was killing me to leave you guys hanging! But hey, I've got a new chapter for you!

I'm not going to say this one was easy to write, because it wasn't. I've been really pressed for time lately and the plan I had drawn out for it wasn't working, so I had to scrap it and rewrite it. Hopefully this one makes up for the weeks I've neglected you!

I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I only own Erin, Miri, and Tea's rage.

Enjoy!

Chapter 19

The first thing I felt after returning from the darkness of that looming Egyptian night was something fanning my face. At first, I was almost convinced I was still sitting in that chair, closing my eyes as a breeze swirled around me. But then I heard the voices.

Most prominent was Tea's. It was low and had something angry underlying it, like she had been arguing with someone for quite some time. I couldn't make out exactly what she was saying, only bits and pieces, but from the sound of it, it had something to do with me.

"She's going to figure out...overwhelm her...Why are you doing this?...Look at her, she's unconscious, for heaven's sake!" The last words were louder, which elicited a collective "sshhh" from multiple places around me.

There was another voice, one that sounded a lot like Yugi's. It murmured something about staying calm until they got back to the Game Shop. He then lowered his murmur to a whisper that I couldn't hear. Whatever it was that he said, it seemed to calm Tea, because her next few inaudible words were slightly less peeved.

I took the short reprieve from my friends' strange conversation to focus on my position. I was definitely laying down – I mean, of course I was, since I must have passed out or something in order to have that vision – on something not so comfortable. My head and upper back were propped up on what I could only describe as a very, very firm pillow. Though there were obviously cushions below me, I felt stiff everywhere, like that feeling you get when you sleep on a hard surface. Shadows moved past the red light behind my eyelids, accompanied by pacing footsteps.

And on top of all of that, despite the soreness in my limbs and a button from the pillow beneath me pressing into my shoulder blades, I could feel one thing and one thing only: a hand holding mine. Not just the hey-I'm-just-holding-your-hand-because-it's-what-poeple-in-movies-do-when-their-friends-are-kinda-sorta-in-a-coma hand holding, either. Whoever this was had a death grip on me, and I could tell they had been doing this for a while, because there were parts of my knuckles that had gone numb from the pressure.

I could take a wild guess at who held my hand like a lifeline.

"Hey, I think her eyebrow just twitched!" Tristan said from somewhere above my head.

The fanning on my face ceased. "Let me go get her some water. She could probably use a refreshment when she wakes up." A deeper female voice said, which was followed by the sound of heels clicking away from me.

"Erin?" Atem sounded so close that I was sure I could open my eyes and he'd be right there, inches away from me. At that moment, all I really wanted to see was him. His deep, reflective eyes would keep me calm when I threw myself back into the real world. "Are you awake?"

Eyes still closed, I managed to croak out a "No." A small smirk turned up one side of my lips. Good lord, my mouth was dry. The woman, whoever she was, had been right about me needing something to drink.

"Oh, thank god." Tea said, closer than before. "You really scared the crap out of us."

"Where are we? What..." I licked my lips and swallowed what little saliva was in my mouth. "What happened?"

"You wiped out. Big time." Joey said from the direction of my feet.

I opened my eyes, blinking as the light temporarily blinded me. As everything came into focus, I found that Atem was, in fact, leaning over me, violet eyes locked on me and only me. I had been right in my prediction: it was his hand that grasped mine so tightly. "Hey." I said, still a little out of it.

"Hey." He replied with a touch of amusement. His fingers loosened a little around mine.

Tearing my gaze away from his, I found that Tea and Yugi were just behind him, looking down at me with concern on their faces. Tristan's hair was just visible somewhere up and to my left, and Joey stood at the foot of the couch-type thing I was laying on, arms crossed and staring – no, glaring – at some place outside of my line of sight. I had never seen Joey peeved, much less angry, before. Like Tea's personal brand of rage, Joey's was much more frightening than I originally imagined it to be. His sharp eyes were like twin daggers, and I felt sorry for whoever the victim of them was. We were in some sort of office, judging by the oak desk in the background and the large bookshelf to the left of it.

Turning back to Atem, I repeated, "Where are we?"

"Still at the museum. When you fainted, one of Ishizu's colleagues offered to let us bring you in their office until you woke up."

I blinked, long and slow, then ran the hand Atem wasn't holding down my face. "How long was I out?"

Yugi answered for Atem this time. "About twenty minutes."

"We were all freaking out." Tristan put in. "You looked so spooked when Ishizu showed you that tablet. And when you asked Atem to translate it for you, you seemed to be way out of it – pale and shaking, even. Then you just collapsed."

"You're fine now, though, right, Blue?" Joey asked, finally bringing his eyes down to mine. His expression had softened considerably between the unknown enemy and me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry I scared you guys."

Atem shook his head. "I'm sure you didn't faint on purpose."

Giving him a small smile, I realized there were two members of our group that I had yet to see. "Where are Ishizu and Marik?"

"I'm over here." Marik's voice said from the corner out of my sight, about the same place Joey had been glowering just moments before.

"Ishizu is speaking with the museum director to assure him that you don't need medical attention." Yugi explained. "The lady found us about thirty seconds after you lost consciousness and was really worried."

I went to sit up, and immediately felt Atem's hand on my back to help ease me up. While I appreciated the help, I wasn't dizzy or woozy or anything. It felt like I was just waking up from a short nap.

However, I didn't object, because the feeling of his hand between my shoulder blades sent pleasant shivers down my spine. I leaned more heavily on him than I really needed to for this reason.

Once I had swung my legs over the side of the lounging sofa I had been sprawled across, I ran a hand through my hair. "Well, this is one museum experience I won't be forgetting soon."

"Neither will we." Tristan said, shaking his head.

A few moments of silence stretched between the seven of us in the room. And it wasn't the comfortable kind of silence, either. It was the kind that made you squirm in your seat because you knew there was something else one of you was bound to say or ask, even if it made you squirm a little more.

Finally, Atem broke the silence with the question I'd been dreading: "Do you...remember anything? Why you fainted?"

There it was again. That emphasis on the word "remember." By that point, I should have been putting the pieces together, but I didn't quite fancy taking another stroll down Sagira's memory lane in order to do so.

I took a long second to reply, pretending I was thinking back to the events leading up to my vision. When my eyes went back to Atem's, I knew exactly what he was asking. He wanted something much more than my recollection of grabbing his hands like a terrified chihuahua and then proceeding to turn into an unresponsive rag doll. He was looking for something...more.

Did he know?

Was there a possibility that...?

I gave myself a mental slap in the face when I realized I'd been staring at Atem for a good five seconds with that weird look on my face that shows up when I'm thinking really hard about something. He was staring back, of course. He always met my eyes straight on when I looked at him. But this time, I knew he was expecting something of me.

And I really wanted to tell him.

I even opened my mouth to speak, but at that moment, the door to the room opened and a woman entered, carrying a glass of water. Following behind her was Ishizu, who looked absolutely ecstatic to see that I wasn't still in a short-lived coma.

"Oh, you're awake!" The woman said, red lips parting in a wide grin. Her heels clicked on the floor as she stalked over to me, leaving no room for doubt that she was the same woman from before. She held the glass of water out for me. "I thought you might need something to drink."

"Thank you so much." I said, accepting the glass and taking a very long swig. I could feel Atem's eyes boring into the side of my face when I turned away from him, but my parched throat was a bigger concern to me while I had a cup of cool water in my hands. The wave of cold liquid made me close my eyes in deep appreciation as I took it in.

"Are you feeling nauseous, sweetie?" The woman asked while I was enjoying my drink. "Any dizziness or tingling in any of your limbs?"

I opened my eyes and gave her one of my fakest smiles yet. "No, I feel fine. I think I was just..." I glanced at Atem, noticing his raised eyebrows and cocked ears, and then shrugged. "I don't know. I was probably dehydrated." I held up the glass of water for emphasis. "This is making me feel much better."

She grinned back. "This isn't my first rodeo."

We all kind of sat there in another short silence, all looking around at each other trying to figure out what we were supposed to say. Finally, Ishizu took the liberty of politely shooing the woman away so we could leave. "I cannot thank you enough for all that you've done for us today." She bowed slightly, probably a habit she picked up from home. "But I think we should make sure Erin gets home alright."

The woman nodded in understanding. "Of course." She looked back at me. "Make sure you drink plenty of water when you get home, okay, sweetheart? I wouldn't want you to have another dizzy spell when there's no one around to help you."

"I will." I said, moving to get off the couch. Atem immediately wrapped his arm around my shoulder to help me up, an action for which I glanced at him with eyebrow raised and an "I'm fine" expression. He relented a little, allowing me to stand mostly on my own.

Our trek back out to the parking lot behind the school where I had left my car was silent, save for everyone's occasional "Are you sure you're okay?" directed at me. My answer to every one was a nod and a curt "Yeah." I was grateful that Atem had let me walk on my own, especially since I really didn't need to use him as a crutch, anyway. In fact, I hardly needed the escort to my car. I was fine.

As we had in the office, the eight of us kind of stood awkwardly at my car, no one knowing exactly what to say.

"Thanks for everything, you guys." I said, clearing my throat. All I wanted to do was leave.

"No problem." Joey spoke for the group. "But I don't know if ya should be driving home by yourself."

I sighed. "Well, I'm not making any of you have to walk back into the city after taking me home. Besides, I was just fine on my own on the way out here."

Tea was about to open her mouth to argue, but then Ishizu took my side. "Erin is right. It has been a long day. We should all go our separate ways for now."

I gave a weak smile to the woman whose name I still changed to Isis in my mind. "Thank you."

She inclined her head, returning my smile.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Atem asked.

I nodded, then winked. "Hey, I've been through worse, remember?"

"Right." He said, smirking a little before setting his face back into the concerned expression he'd had on since I woke up. "Be careful."

"I will."

"And if you're not at school tomorrow, you'd better believe your phone will be blowing up." Tea said sternly, pointing to her own phone, which still sported a crack across the screen.

I chuckled and shook my head before climbing into my car. "I know. Bye, guys."

Marik and Ishizu had left for their hotel a long while ago, but Atem and Yugi hadn't moved from their positions on the couch. The conversation the four of them had shared had drained all involved, and it left Atem with his head in his hands, pondering what he was supposed to do.

Ishizu had warned that the cult was not something to be taken lightly, especially after he had recounted Erin's story about the text messages. They had her number, they had her identity, and they had given her a relic from her past. There was no denying that they were interested in far more than just scaring her. They had to be connected to ancient Egypt somehow.

And then there were Erin's episodes in the museum to take into consideration. The second incident was most definitely impactful, but the first...

In the Roaring Twenties exhibit, she hadn't even noticed that she had lapsed into an entirely new persona. Her words had changed, and her voice had developed a strange accent that reminded him of the old movies he sometimes caught Solomon watching on Sunday afternoons. Now, if she had been anyone other than Erin, he would have taken it as someone making fun of the era with a straight face. Erin, on the other hand, would have smirked, or snorted, or he would have seen that mischievous glimmer in her eyes. But when she spoke, there was nothing but a faraway look on her face, as if she was reminiscing about days past.

But that didn't make sense. Erin's past life had been in ancient Egypt, not pre-Depression America.

Unless...was that what the riddle meant? Now time is nothing to her, though it still rules her fate. A hundred lifetimes, thousands to wait.

Had Sagira's soul been reincarnated over and over again in the past three thousand years, never leaving this plane of existence? Was this why she brought up that theory about ancient Rome when she showed him the texts? Was she perhaps having flashbacks to lives other than her first?

"Atem." Yugi's voice broke the former pharaoh's train of thought.

Atem took his face out of his hands and leveled his gaze on the serene, thoughtful eyes of his closest friend. "What is it, Yugi?"

"I've been thinking," he began slowly, apparently hesitant to finish his statement,
"Erin's been really stressed lately."

Something we've all noticed, Atem thought to himself. "I know."

Yugi took a deep breath. "She's probably overthinking a lot of things right now, and she most likely hasn't been enjoying herself."

"Most likely." Atem murmured. He raised an eyebrow. Where was Yugi going with this?

The big-eyed Muto gave Atem a meaningful look. "She needs to have some fun. Some kind of distraction."

Atem cocked his head, mind moving at a million miles an hour. If his "brother" was suggesting what he thought he was, then... "What are you getting at, Yugi?"

"Come on, Pharaoh, I know you're not that dense." Yugi said, lips turning up into a small smile. "You know what I'm talking about."

"It's too soon. She wouldn't agree."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive." The king said, trying to mask how hard it was for him to decline Yugi's advice. Though he was certain there was something happening between Erin and him, he wasn't sure asking her out would make her situation any more bearable. She could black out again, or, as she had been the last few weeks, sit with him in silence, not knowing what to say. He didn't want to ruin the fragile relationship he had formed with her. If he lost it, there was no telling if he would ever get it back again.

Yugi sighed, as if reading his friend's thoughts. "Atem, you don't have to ask her out like that. There's such a thing as going as friends. It's called hanging out, and Tea and I do it all the time."

With Ra only knows how much sexual tension lying between the two of you. Atem shook the thought away, not wanting to start one of Yugi's someday-when-the-time-is-right speeches up again. "What would we do?"

The smile returned to the Muto boy's lips, and he shrugged. "Whatever you guys wanna do. That's the best part: there's no pressure. You could do anything. Go to the arcade, go for a walk on the docks, get some ice cream from that parlor that she likes. Just...act like you guys would if we were all there. Have fun." He paused for a second, then added, "And, if it happens to come up, you could try to get her to talk about the museum a little more. Maybe feed her a little more information about the past, and see if she fills it in. Don't overwhelm her, but...I think it might lessen the blow for later, when she finally figures everything out."

As they always did, Yugi's words calmed Atem slightly. The way he said it made it all seem so...easy. But that was the problem: nothing about Erin was easy. Her face was unreadable, and the hole of denial she had dug herself into was miles deep. Yes, he still remembered how much he had loved Sagira, but Erin brought her worst trait to a whole new level: withdrawal. When she was unsure or worried or confused, she kept it buried, only allowing herself to solve the problem. She had even been a tough egg to crack back then; now, it seemed impossible.

Atem took a deep breath and ran a hand through his bangs. "When?"

Yugi's shoulders rose and fell again. "Whenever you want to."

"Alright. I'll ask her." Atem said, forcing himself back into the assertive tone he was used to using. It was then that his earlier reflection occurred to him. "Hey, Yugi?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I solved another part of the riddle."

The last thing I had ever expected to see upon returning home was my little sister sitting in the living room with a boy.

I hadn't even realized until I had thrown my keys on the counter, backpack on the floor, and began humming the song that had just been playing in the carthat there was an extra head of wild black hair next to hers at the coffee table. I immediately stopped what I was doing when they both turned to me, the boy with a startled expression and Miri with a glower. Spread before them on the coffee table were two textbooks and worksheets. At least I could rule out the first scenario that sprung to my mind.

"Oh, well hello there." I said to break the awkward silence that was bound to ensue before it happened.

"I thought you were at the museum?" Miri asked, a touch of please-go-up-to-your-room-now in her voice.

I smirked. Two could play this game. "I got bored. So, uh, who's your study buddy?"

Miri's face turned a deep shade of red, and she took a few seconds to even open her mouth to speak. Luckily for her, the boy answered instead. "I'm Mokuba." He stood up and held a hand out, most likely for me to shake.

Hm'ing in approval, I closed the distance between him and I, and grabbed his hand in a firm shake. This kid had the whole handshake thing down – I wonder who taught him that?

Never mind, he was Seto Kaiba's little brother. That question pretty much answered itself.

However, where I would see Kaiba's steely blue daggers, I was met with kind, innocent purple-grey orbs. Where Kaiba would be frowning condescendingly was an open book for me to read just how unintimidated Mokuba was by me. He had to have been expecting this. The hair also got me – compared to Kaiba's neatly-trimmed, perfectly-combed brown hair, his brother's unkempt black hair was a lion's mane.

But nonetheless, he was pretty cute. Nice choice, Miri.

"I've heard about you." I said with a smile, trying not to act like Landon would if he had come home to find me with a boy. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Mokuba nodded in response, lips turning up a bit at the corners. "You, too."

I glanced once again at Miri, who looked like she was about to have an aneurysm, and asked nonchalantly, "Is Mom home?" It was a stupid question – Mom hadn't been feeling well since chemo started, and she would never allow either of us to have a boy over without her presence in the house.

"She's upstairs." Miri managed to say between clenched teeth. As you should be, too, her eyes added.

I nodded slowly, meeting her tense gaze with an amused one of my own. "Well, then I guess I'll head up there, too. Unless you two need anything?"

"No, we don't." Miri said a little too quickly, but Mokuba didn't interject. She was practically begging me with her eyes to run up those stairs and never look back.

Sighing exaggeratedly, I said, "Then I'll leave you two to it, then." I proceeded to walk as slowly as humanly possible up the steps. When I reached the last step before they turned on a landing out of sight of the living room, I grinned down at the couple and called, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"There's not much you wouldn't do." Miri muttered.

"I heard that!" I shouted before closing my bedroom door loudly so they would know the conversation was over.

Ah, the perks of being a big sister. I smiled to myself and sat at my desk to stare at the Algebra homework I had abandoned the night before. The worksheet was due tomorrow, and I had hardly finished half of it. Something about math gave me the strong urge to jump off a very high cliff.

Fifteen minutes later, I was almost done when my phone went off, signaling a new text. I immediately stiffened, the events of the last weeks playing through my mind. While it was probably just Tea, I couldn't help myself from freaking out just a little.

Hesitantly, I grabbed my phone from my bed and turned it on to check my messages. What I saw was unexpected:

Atem: How are you?

Lips turning up a bit at the fact that he was texting me, I replied pretty fast. Great. Thanks for checking up.

It's the least I can do. But you seemed alright when you left.

Yeah, I think it was just stress or something. You know, with the cult and Astrid and everything.

I bit my lip. Even over text, lying to him was something I hated doing. One of these days, I was going to tell him about the visions. Heck, I'd been about to tell him in the office, before that woman had shown up with her distracting glass of water. He had seemed almost...expectant. It was like he knew what I was going to say, but he wanted me to say it first. The whole situation was a little disconcerting.

Just remember, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here.

I know. Thank you.

See you at school tomorrow? I had something I wanted to ask you.

Something that felt like a mix of excitement, fear, and breathlessness flooded my chest when my eyes scanned the second sentence. Even though I probably had no idea what the question was, my mind was making up scenarios on the fly that made me very nervous. After a few seconds of calming myself down long enough to reply, I typed, Yup. See you then!

And then the conversation was over. I took a long, drawn-out breath, wondering what had just happened. What did he want to ask me?

I sighed and sat back in my desk chair, fiddling with the pencil I had been using for my homework.

Again, my thoughts drifted to a faraway place, a time long before mine, when there was a girl named Sagira who was in love with a powerful young Pharaoh. The visions I had seen rolled through my mind as I tried to find some kind of connection hidden in them. There had to be a reason I was only seeing these. Then the Roman dream returned to me, and I sat in contemplation for a long while. Someone was trying to tell me something, whether it be Sagira or dream Atem or someone else I had seen.

Abandoning my algebra altogether, I pulled a fresh sheet of paper out of my notebook and began making a list. Somehow, I was going to tell Atem about all of this. But for now, my main goal was writing everything down for research.

If this wasn't real, I had no idea what was anymore.

"Yugi, I want to talk." Tea tried to keep her voice steady as she thought over what she was trying to get across to her best friend.

As always, Yugi's comforting voice was calm and soft. "What is it, Tea?"

She gripped the phone tighter in her hand. She didn't want to yell at him. He didn't deserve her anger. None of this was really his fault. Still, she needed to tell him. "I think we should stop trying to make Erin remember."

"What?" Though he kept his answer mostly calm, there was a dubious edge to it, like she had just asked him to stand on his head while reciting the alphabet backwards. "Why?"

Tea took a deep breath. "Because...I don't want her to get hurt."

"Tea..." Her name coming from his mouth sent shivers down her spine, but she needed to ignore that for now. "She needs to remember. If we don't help her now, you know what will happen."

"I know, I know. The gods are pissed." She recited in a bored monotone. "But Yugi, you need to take a step back and realize how badly all of this is messing with her. She's been losing sleep over this. She puts on that happy front, but I can see how bothered she is by it. She's practically shut Atem out at this point, you know?"

There was a slight pause before Yugi answered. "Atem said she's been quiet. But she was like that back then, too. He knows how to get her to open up again. It'll just take a little time, that's all."

"And when she does? When she remembers everything? Do you two think she'll just put her hand in his and they'll ride off into the afterlife together?" Tea stood up and began pacing around her room, a habit she had picked up from Atem after all years of seeing him do the same when trying to evade stress. "Do you think she'll just pick up and leave her family behind? She has a little sister and an older brother and a dad and a mom who has cancer. She loves them very much. Do you think she'd be that selfish? Does Atem know how unfair that is?"

"He does. And he hates himself for it. You may have been seeing Erin's side of this situation lately, Tea, but I've seen Atem's side for months now and I know it's killing him. But he has to do it, and you know why."

"So now you're taking his side? You're not even going to consider my arguments?" Her tone was shifting very quickly into one of rage, an emotion she hadn't felt since that night at the movie theater arcade all those weeks ago.

There was a sigh on the other end. He sounded tired when he spoke. "This is so much bigger than all of us. Please just try to understand."

"Oh, I do understand. I understand that you are helping him destroy someone else's life. I'm glad that helps you sleep at night, Yugi, knowing that your buddy is dragging an innocent girl's soul back to the afterlife with him."

Another long pause. Then, "As much as I hate saying this, it's partly Sagira's fault."

"What?" Her voice was low and dangerous now. How dare he blame Erin for this?

"You remember the lines of Mahad's riddle, right?" He seemed to be trying to keep himself from cracking under her anger. "It says that she was the one who asked the mage to do this to her. Granted, she wasn't thinking straight, but she even wrote about it. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she did it anyway."

"Well, yeah she wasn't thinking straight; the love of her life had just friggin' died!"

"Tea -"

"No, Yugi, I'm sick of hearing about this. What Atem is doing is selfish and wrong and Erin's the one who's going to get hurt in the end." And me. "It's not fair to anyone. From now on, you can count me out of this stupid -"

"Tea!"

"I'm not done, Yugi! This whole thing is so stupid and horrible and I just want everything to go back to the way it was before. I -"

"Tea, she could die soon anyway."

"Yeah, well -" she cut her rant off at Yugi's words and stopped her pacing. "What?"

Yugi heaved a heavy sigh before responding. "Atem figured out another part of the riddle. We did a little bit of research, and I think you might want to know what we fond before you back out of this." He was glad to have her attention back, but he knew her patience was thin.

Tea sat back on her bed, prepared for the worst. "What did you find?"

"Do you know how reincarnation magic works?"

"Only the reincarnation part."

Yugi was silent for a moment. "Well, Atem and I looked into it, and it's not good news."

So, how was it?

Everyone's putting together the pieces now. It makes me so excited! That means I'm that much closer to getting to the good parts!

You guys got to see more of Tea's side of this now, and a little of Yugi's, as well. A plan that seemed so simple before is becoming much more difficult than any of them ever thought possible.

What's Atem going to do about Erin's evasiveness?

Will Tea keep helping the group, or will she crack and tell Erin?

What did Yugi and Atem figure out about Sagira's mysterious death?

Will Erin's algebra homework ever get done?

I'm really going to start pushing myself to leave smaller gaps between chapters, because I know it drives me crazy when other authors do that with no warning. I'm not guaranteeing weekly updates, but I will try my absolute hardest to make sure there aren't months between them. I've just been crazy busy lately. I think things are going to settle down for a while now.

Anyway, hopefully this one was worth the wait. Thanks for reading and please review to tell me how it was!

-creativelybored