It took me a while, but it's finally here!

Not much to say, except thank you to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! It really means the world to me and motivates me to sit my butt down and keep working on it.

And hello to all new readers! Welcome to AHL!

I think this is probably the longest chapter I've written for this story, so enjoy the extra-long-super-chocolatey-fudge-coated-I'm-so-sorry-for-leaving-you-hanging-for-two-months-you-can-kill-me-later chapter!

Disclaimer: I only own my OC.

Enjoy!

We heard the music before we saw the house. It was loud, booming, and quite frankly, I feared for the eardums of every person caught inside of that party. It was in an upscale neighborhood, one that, if we had been in a movie, would be populated by well-off, religious families that all loved to golf. I was amazed the the police hadn't been called sooner. Tea had parked her car a few streets over like she said she had, and was about as worried as I had imagined. She got out of her car as soon as we did.

"Guys, I'm so sorry to ruin your date-"

I shook my head, and simultaneously, Atem and I both replied with, "It's fine."

"Which way do we go?" Atem asked, ready to head to the party. There was a danger in his voice that scared me. He sounded like he was willing to beat the crap out of anyone who got in his way.

"Down this street." Tea said. I could hear the shakiness in her tone that made me worry more. I hadn't really believed Devon could have done something like that to Joey and Tristan - nor that he was connected to the cult - but the fact that Tea was so terrified of what we were going to find in that house was enough to alarm me. She had known Devon longer than I had. I stayed close behind Atem, suddenly afraid that I would need his pissed-off attitude if we were to come into contact with anyone else from the cult. An impulse told me to grab onto his arm, but I ignored it. The date was over. We were heading into a dangerous situation and now was not the time to finally show affection.

We walked in silence, Tea keeping near me to stay out of Atem's way. She seemed to sense the angry aura around him as well.

When we rounded the last corner, Devon's house loomed above us. Two stories, with a wraparound veranda that was filled with teenagers drinking, smoking, hooting, and hollering, it was large enough to fill its huge yard. A detached garage was opened to reveal another group of classmates dancing to headache-inducing techno music at full volume.

However, I saw neither Devon nor our friends anywhere outside.

Nor was there any sign that cops had ever been by, despite the sirens I had heard over Tea's phone.

We had to push through a throng of smokers to get into the fully-lit house, and when we got inside, I suddenly missed the space and the techno music outside. The rap blowing through the speakers in here was so loud that it was unintelligible, the bass threatening to blow holes in my inner ear, and there were so many of our peers in the entryway that one could hardly move six inches in any direction without bumping into another person. I threw my hands over my ears and looked to Atem, who had grabbed my arm so I wouldn't get lost in the crowd. Tea had grabbed my other arm with the same idea, but had ended up just going for her own ears to block out the horrible sounds of the bass.

Atem didn't say a word to me, but by the look on his face, I knew he wanted to keep moving. I removed one hand from my ear and took Tea's arm so we could get through the mass of people together. We picked our way into a sitting room of sorts, and then a kitchen, but saw no familiar faces. It wasn't until two hands placed themselves on my shoulders and a harsh voice whispered in my ear that we found anyone we knew.

"It's about time you showed up." Astrid's voice was recognizable even as it was half-drowned out by the indistinguishable rap song. I jerked around to find her grinning at me, and not in a nice way at all. This grin was sadistic, like she was about to wring the necks of a thousand harmless puppies and enjoy every second of it. Her green eyes glittered with malice.

"Where's Devon, Astrid?" I yelled, not in the mood to deal with her. Atem stood practically on top of me, staring her down, while Tea recoiled a bit, head whipping from side to side to scout for anyone else.

"Follow me." If possible, the Cheshire-esque grin on her face grew wider, and she waded into the crowd.

I went to go after her, but Atem stayed where he was. "I don't trust her." He shouted to be heard over the overwhelming bass.

"Neither do I." I shouted back. "But we don't have any other options."

Reluctantly, he followed me, pulling Tea with us. We emerged into a large living room, where a flat screen TV was placed upon a pedestal of perfectly-polished glass and surrounded by an army of speakers, from which the music seemed to be streaming. There was a ring of open space where Astrid stood with - as she had promised - Devon. When he saw me, a delighted smile crossed his face, and he put his cup of beer down on the coffee table. It faltered a bit when Atem came into view right behind me, but stayed plastered there.

With the press of a button on a remote in Devon's hand, the music was silenced. The crowd around us went silent in confusion, looking around for the source of the disturbance of their good time. What they found was a stare-down between Devon, Astrid, Atem, Tea, and me in the dead-center of the living room. The people near the three of us stepped back, like they didn't want to be a part of the potential fight that was bound to happen.

"Erin, so nice of you to show up." Devon said, his voice pleasant. If he was perturbed by the sudden silence, he didn't show it.

"Cut the crap, Devon. You know why I'm here." I said, trying my best to keep my voice from shaking.

"I do?" He asked innocently, though his cheeky grin was nothing short of knowing.

"You asshole." Tea said from behind me. "Where are Joey and Tristan?" I sent a wide-eyed glance back at Tea due to her uncharacteristic cussing. She was fuming, obviously as done as I was with the whole charade.

Devon sighed, placing his solo cup down on the coffee table. "So pushy. And you wonder why most guys like Erin more than you."

My mouth dropped open. Tea's brave facade faltered for just a second. He had just hit her where it hurt. It had been a common discussion between Tea and I that she felt most boys overlooked her because she was the way she was. She wasn't a superficial person by any means, but she still had times when she doubted herself. I would always remind her that she was beautiful and intelligent and that she had Yugi, and that most high school guys were scumbags anyways, but I knew that no amount of my reassurances could save her from her own insecurities about herself.

And he had just called me a pushover.

"Look, Devon." I practically spat, angry that he had just insulted my best friend, "I know you wanted me to show up at this party, so here I am. Granted, you didn't need to hurt my freaking friends to do it, but whatever. I'm here, so tell us where they are."

Devon's pleasant smile was still plastered on his face. I wanted to hit him so hard. He stood. "If you and your…" he glared at Atem and Tea briefly, then turned amiable eyes back to me, "...posse would follow me, I would be happy to oblige your requests. With a small stipulation, of course."

"Which is?" Atem asked, voice barely containing his rage.

Devon laughed at Atem, then began walking away from us. "You'll see."

I began to follow, but once again, Atem held me back with a hand on my arm. "Erin -"

"We need to find Joey and Tristan, and this is the only way." I said, grabbing his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "We'll be fine."

He clenched his jaw, and I used the grip I had on his hand to pull him with me. Tea kept close behind us, even though the crowd practically parted for us to move through anyway. I followed Astrid's bright hair out a set of sliding glass doors to a well-groomed backyard, in the center of which sat a gazebo. The lights around us were mostly blue and set into the walls surrounding the lawn, but some bigger, whiter lights were trained on the gazebo. The scene was so pretty (overlooking, of course, Devon and Astrid) that I for a moment wondered if anyone asked to get married here. It was certainly big enough.

Devon stood in the middle of the gazebo, arms crossed and smirking down at us. Astrid took her place to the right of the entrance.

"Welcome to my humble stage." Devon said, his voice more arrogant than usual. I thought back to that day in English, when he had tried to redeem himself for the way he'd been treating me. He had actually seemed genuine for once. And I'd forgiven him. Why had he done that if he was just going to turn around and pull a move like this?

I glanced around the clearing. There was no sign of Joey or Tristan anywhere. "Devon, get off your high horse. You said you were going to show us where Joey and Tristan were."

I heard voices behind me, and turned to find that everyone who had been inside was now pouring out the doors. It was almost like some kind of fight was about to go down and no one wanted to miss it.

"Erin, I've always pinned you for a smart girl. It saddens me that you have already forgotten that I mentioned a small catch to the deal."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you want, Devon?"

His smirk grew wider. "I only want to play a game."

I bit back a growl of frustration. "Name it."

"Erin," Atem warned under his breath. He knew as well as I did that this couldn't be anything good.

"Oh, it's not a game for you, pulchra." Again, the Latin was automatically translated in my mind, and I did not like what it meant. "It's for your boyfriend."

Atem began to step forward. It was my turn to hold him back. "Atem, no." I said, tightening the grip I had on his hand.

"Better me than you." He replied, giving my hand a gentle squeeze before pulling his own out of my grasp. The words echoed in my mind, bringing back a millisecond of Sagira's life: a battle-ready Atem, armour covering his chest, his freshly-pleated kilt whiter than I ever remembered seeing it before. I had been clinging to his arm as we stood next to his chariot, trying to convince him to stay. With a sad smile, he gently pried my fingers from his arm. "Better me than you." In a flash, the memory was gone, but the desperation was still in my chest.

My moment of distraction was enough to give him time to stride up to the gazebo, where Devon was waiting. With a wicked grin, Devon bent down and picked up a strange-looking device, one I had only seen once when Yugi had shown it to me.

A duel disk.

I cocked my head at the scene. A few weeks ago, when Devon had come into the game shop, he had told Mr. Muto that he was only a beginner. Had he been lying?

Did he know who he was up against?

My concern for Atem faded slightly. This was his game. He had beaten Joey, another great duelist, while suffering from a nasty concussion. Surely Devon wouldn't pose a challenge to the brother of the King of Games.

Atem accepted the duel disk, and the two men backed away from each other until they were as close to the opposite railings of the gazebo as they could be. People in the crowd gasped and began whispering. I heard Yugi's name said more than a few times.

As Atem activated his device, he turned a glare to Devon. "If I defeat you, do you swear you will tell us where our friends are?"

"You betcha." Devon answered, sliding his deck into his duel disk. "But I wouldn't make a show like this without giving myself a small prize for winning."

Atem scowled. "What's your prize?"

Instead of answering, Devon's eyes roamed to me. Tea and I had moved closer to the gazebo so we could see what was going on better. I shrank beneath his lecherous gaze, already knowing what he was about to say. "If I win, and I will, I get to go out on a date with Erin."

"Oh, hell no." I interrupted, about to storm up to him and slap that terrifying look off his face. "I am not going to be a prize. What is this, the eighteen hundreds?"

Atem was watching me, too, and I could see the hate-fire for Devon in his eyes grow wilder. "No." He said to Devon.

Devon shrugged like he had only been joking. "It was worth a shot. I'm actually after one of your God Cards, Atem. Specifically the big red one, what was its name again?"

"Slifer?" I supplied without thinking. Atem and Tea's faces whipped back to me, similar looks of shock plastered on them. Though the Egyptian Gods had been mentioned to me before after a practice duel with Yugi, I had never actually seen them. Much less known that Slifer was the "big red one."

"Yes, Slifer." Devon continued, as if his speech hadn't been deterred. "I want Slifer."

Atem turned back to Devon. "Deal."

Tea gasped. "Atem, are you crazy?" She asked incredulously. "Don't bet a God Card! This guy isn't worth it."

Atem ignored her, but I could see from the glint in his eyes that he would much rather lose a valuable Duel Monsters card than...me. The thought was both comforting and confusing.

"I'll let you go first, since I took valuable time out of your evening to duel you." Devon said.

"How kind." Atem stated monotonously. "I place Beta the Magnet Warrior in defense mode, and one card face down." To my amazement, a hologram of his monster appeared in front of him, as did the image of a large card. "I end my turn."

I wracked my brain for everything I had learned about the game so far, trying to determine what Atem's strategy for the duel was going to be. It was way too soon to really find out yet.

Devon chuckled. "You don't seem to feel threatened by me, Atem. Allow me to give you an idea of who you're dealing with. Let's start off with some motivation. I activate Nightmare Wheel, which, as you probably know, traps Beta in defense mode. This card also allows me to take five hundred lifepoints from you for every turn you make from now on until Beta is destroyed." Atem clenched his jaw, but otherwise, there was no sign of fear on his poker face. "In attack mode, I also play a personal favorite of mine, Demon of Kul Elna."

With twenty-four hundred attack points and twelve hundred defense, a large, grotesque-looking creature with white hair and sunken eyes appeared in front of Devon. I took a step back. "No way." I whispered, my heart beating erratically in my chest. I didn't know why the card scared me so much, but the fear was very real.

Atem's look of disbelief was only momentarily on his face. "Where did you get that card?"

Devon shrugged. "Been in my family for years." He waved the thought away. "Anyway, I would use my Demon to destroy your Beta, but that would be counterproductive for my Nightmare Wheel, so I'm going to play one more card face-down and end my turn." He looked at me and winked. "How does Chinese sound, pulchra?"

"You Latin-speaking son-of-a-bitch." I muttered. Atem turned a concerned glance to me. "Kick his ass, Atem."

Smirking, he moved his attention back to the duel and began his turn, losing five hundred lifepoints right off the bat because of Devon's stupid card.

Tea grabbed my arm. "Erin, we need to go look for Joey and Tristan while Devon's distracted. Atem will win, but I highly doubt that Devon will go through with his promise." She whispered.

Looking between Atem and Tea, I sighed. "I know, but Atem-"

"Is a big boy and can take care of himself." She finished for me. "We need to find Joey and Tristan before anything else happens."

With one last glance at Atem, I nodded. "Okay. Let's go." Making sure Astrid wasn't watching, we slipped back through the crowd and into the house, which was now mostly empty.

"Where should we start?" She asked.

"I don't know. Let's just check the main floor for right now."

Too afraid to split up, the two of us wove through the house, opening doors and peeking inside. It took longer than I had expected, considering how big Devon's house was. So far, we had found two bathrooms, two living rooms, seven closets, a huge dining room, and the gigantic kitchen and sitting room we had passed through to get into the backyard. There was a staircase leading to the second floor in the main foyer, but we decided to leave that for last. On the last door, one that was in a hallway just off the kitchen, Tea gestured for me to come over from where I was staring at pictures scattered around the fridge of Devon's parents in several exotic locations. I found it strange that there was not one picture of Devon himself, nor was there any evidence that he even lived in this house: no scribbly little-kid drawings, no report cards, no handmade magnets from when he was younger, or even embarrassing baby photos. Nothing. It was like he didn't exist according to his parents' fridge.

I walked over to Tea. "What's wrong?"

She opened the door wider so I could see inside. A set of polished wooden stairs led down, then turned out of sight. A basement.

"Should we go down there?" She whispered, like someone was going to overhear us, despite the fact that every room we'd just searched had been empty.

"Better to be thorough." I said, moving past her to take a step down. She followed, closing the door behind us so no one would know we went down there. When we got to the bottom of the steps, I found a light switch and flipped it on. "Holy mother of finished basements." I murmured, staring out over the plush carpet, giant, comfy-looking couches, and flat-screen TV.

"Devon's family is loaded, in case you couldn't already tell." Tea said, moving around the corner. "They even have a bar down here."

I gasped. "Seriously?" Sure enough, Tea's words rang true. There was even a fully-stocked wine fridge behind the counter. I whistled as I ran a finger over the smooth wood. "If we weren't in such a bad situation, I would totally steal some of this champagne." It was only a joke, but I was tempted to actually do it. They wouldn't miss one bottle. There were at least a dozen of them.

"Erin, come on." Tea said, already walking down a hallway next to the bar area.

I went after her. "This house is goals." I whispered as she opened the first door on our left. It was an empty (but not at all unfurnished) bathroom, so we closed it again.

An exercise room, a game room, and a guest bedroom later, we ended up at the last door. When we opened it, I was terribly confused.

"Does Devon have a little brother in high school?" I asked as we entered a tidy, sports-themed bedroom.

Tea shook her head. "I think he's an only child."

I raised my eyebrows, scanning the perfectly-made bed and precisely-placed furniture. Not a single thing was out of place. A shelf full of basketball and football trophies was situated front and center on the wall opposite the bed, and various college banners were tacked to the walls in a neat, orderly fashion. "This could not be Devon's room. It's too clean."

"It has to be. The only other man in the house is his dad, and grown men don't keep rooms like this."

I read some of the trophies and medals. Devon Reisinger, 2012 MVP. Domino High Basketball.

Season champions.

District champions.

Region champions.

State champions.

"Looks like he had a good season." I said, examining a plaque with the team picture on it. Front and center was Devon, holding a basketball, smiling a proud, cheeky smile. He looked different here. Not as stuck-up.

"It was a good year for our basketball team." Tea replied, coming up next to me. "Devon pretty much brought them from mediocre to all-star in one season."

"This was freshman year. Why do the trophies stop after the state medals?"

Tea shrugged. "Devon started going out with Astrid at the beginning of sophomore year. I heard he missed a lot of basketball conditioning, but they still let him back on the team. They had an awesome first few games. Then, Astrid broke up with him that December, and he suddenly stopped showing up to practice. He even missed a few weeks of school. After Christmas break, he came back, but didn't go back to basketball. He quit football, too. No one knows why. His attitude toward everything took a complete one-eighty."

I frowned. "That's weird."

She nodded. "Coach Ryan calls him a one-year wonder."

I continued looking through his things, trying to find anything else that showed me that this room had actually been lived in in the past year. "Do you know if he gets along with his parents?"

"They only went to every single one of his games. Well, his mom always did, and his dad came when he had time. His dad is a college basketball coach. Or...was. He quit at the end of last season, after Devon did."

"Curiouser and curiouser." I murmured, coming up to his closet door. Opening it, I found a giant walk-in, filled to the brim with clothes and shoes. Still as organized as a showroom display.

Tea put a hand on my shoulder. "Erin, we need to keep looking for Joey and Tristan. Going through Devon's things seems wrong, even if he is a complete jerk."

"Right." I said. Just as I was about to close the closet door, something caught my eye. "Wait a second."

"What is it?" She asked, trying to peer around me.

I didn't answer, instead walking into the closet, towards the twinkling light that got my attention at the other end.

"Erin?" Tea repeated, "What is it?"

As if in some sort of trance, I continued to the light, ignoring Tea's questions altogether. When I got to it, I reached out to touch it, even though I wasn't sure if it was even a solid object.

My fingertips met something hard and stony-feeling. The light split apart, growing bigger and forming lines until they created a familiar shape: The Eye of Horus. Lapis lazuli blue light expanded from the pupil and engulfed me, forcing me to close my eyes. I heard Tea shout my name behind me, but it was too late.

When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in Devon's closet anymore. It didn't even feel like I was in the same world.

Sandstone walls surrounded me, lit by torches bolted to them. I was in a larger, rectangular room, but as I looked around, I realized there weren't any doors or windows. Only walls.

"What?" I whispered to myself, running a hand along the grainy surface of the sandstone. It almost reminded me of the texture of a bench in a place I used to visit often...a courtyard...no, a garden. Filled with exotic flowers, with a pool in the middle that I remembered swimming in on hot desert afternoons. I could almost feel a pair of arms encircling me as I examined a lilly, a kiss on my neck...

"It has been a long time, Sagira." The voice was low and deep, so deep that my mind conjured images of the earth itself shaking when it spoke.

It was almost...familiar to me. Long-forgotten, but there in the back of my mind, like when you think that you can remember small snippets of a dream, but have no recollections of what actually happened in it nor who was there or where you were.

I turned to find a cloaked figure behind me, covered from head to toe in brown robes that had seen more than their fair share of dirt. "Who are you?" I asked, trying my best to keep my own voice from shaking. One last time, I looked around the room, hoping for an open door, a window, some assurance that there was a way to escape if this stranger turned out to be aggressive. I found none.

The figure tutted. "You still haven't figured it out? Surely you are much smarter than that." He-I assumed it was a man due to the unnaturally low undertones of his voice-waved his hand, and an image of the golden necklace I had tucked safely away in my backpack appeared, the lapis lazuli eye as alive as in real life. Daring me to lie about knowing the figure's angle in this conversation. "Take a guess."

Breath shaking, I furrowed my brow. As far as I knew, the only person I had ever seen with the amulet was..."Neferu?"

A bellowing laugh filled the room, just the sheer volume of the sound forcing me to take three steps backward. "Ha! That naïve little child? Is he all you remember? What a shame! Such a waste of energy, that one. I should have killed him the day I saw him begging for food in the village square."

Put off by the horribly specific answer and not knowing who else could possibly have attached their memory to the necklace, I felt the need to question him. "But Neferu was a priest. He left for a temple to further his studies. He was by no means a poor man. Why would he be begging for food?"

"So you do remember some things." If I could have seen his face, I imagined the hooded man would be grinning. "I find that questions such as yours are better answered by the subject themselves. Unfortunately, the poor bastard is too busy in his fruitless efforts to locate you at the moment to come and explain himself in length." He waved his hand again, and the image of the amulet dissipated like water vapor into the air. "Moving on to more important topics, Sagira, I am rather curious to find out exactly what you know of the power behind the amulet. Or have you gotten that far in your recollections?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, backing away again, as if the wall behind me would give me shelter if this...thing were to attack.

"That was something I admired about you. Quite the talented liar, not counting the brave look that you put on when you want to fool me into thinking you're not afraid."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Please just let me go."

"Begging." The figure spat. "The respectable Scribe of the Gods is *begging* for freedom. One so blessed as yourself should never reduce themselves to *groveling*." His mood seemed to have taken a complete one-eighty, from amused to annoyed.

"Scribe...of the Gods?" I asked in a small voice. I sounded like a little kid asking why the president is so important. "What does that mean?"

The figure began striding towards me, voice growing harsher with every word. "Did you really think, dear Sagira, that I would go out of my way to help the poor, grieving little girl who showed up on my doorstep if I knew she had nothing to offer me? That I would allow you to live well beyond your destined lifetime for no cost? No. Your time to pay has come."

I stumbled away until my back hit the wall. He continued to approach me. "I'm sorry, but I think you're mistaken-"

"Don't even try to get yourself out of this. I have waited long enough for you to uphold your end of the bargain."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I repeated, attempting to slip out of his way only to be blocked by his movements. "Please just let me go!" My voice had risen hysterically.

"It's such a pity that you never told him. Wasn't that your whole plan? To find your precious lover when the great evil rose again?" He snatched my wrist and used it to twist my arm so I fell on the ground in pain. "Or are you just like your father, a liar and a fool?"

A river of loathing flowed through my body. I knew he wasn't talking about my father in this life, and I knew nothing of Sagira's father, but I was still horribly, deeply offended. "My father was neither of those things!" I shouted without thinking.

A resounding clap echoed in my ears, followed by a stinging pain on my right cheek. He had just slapped me. "You know nothing of your father's dealings with Zorc. Defending him will only hurt you."

"As if you weren't trying to do that already?" I snapped, glaring up at the figure, whose face was still hidden beneath his hood.

A hand wrapped around my throat, and suddenly, I was being lifted into the air and shoved up against the wall. "You seem to have forgotten what true pain feels like, my lady." He hissed. I struggled to breathe, writhing against the brute force of his strangling fingers. "Allow me to remind you."

Normally, at this point, stars or black dots would be clouding one's vision. Instead, however, all I could see before me was a giant stone tablet, looming above me and flanked by a green-black sky. I still clawed at my throat, gasping for air, but instead of labored, painful breaths, all that escaped from my mouth were screams. "Please!" My voice was shrill and terrified in a way I had never heard before. A horrible, cold ache blossomed in my chest, freezing every inch of my heart. I felt afraid and desperate and sad all at the same time. Tears flowed endlessly down my face, but I made no effort to wipe them away.

"Mahad, please!" I screamed.

Lightning cracked around me, illuminating the tablet in brilliant blue light. The outline of a magician appeared on it, determined face set forward for battle. Just like Mahad's ka.
I fell to my knees in the sand, wailing like an infant. Mahad wouldn't answer, and Atem was…

A wave of torment crashed over my entire being. He was gone. Even now, I could still see him looking at me one last time before he sacrificed himself, an apology in his eyes for not finding another way. I could see the light leave those same deep amethyst eyes as he slumped to the ground, lost to his own people for longer than we could ever imagine. Lost to himself.

Another sob escaped my mouth, and I pressed my hands to my face in anguish. No, it can't be like this. Things can't end this way. They can't. They can't...

A bright light dissolved the vision, leaving only the pain in my chest. The fingers were no longer clasped around my throat. "Sagira!" A familiar voice called, worry dripping from every syllable. "You have to get out of here!"

I looked up to find Mana, of all people. No, not Mana. The Dark Magician Girl. She held an arm out against the cloaked figure, keeping him away from me with an invisible wall. He threw himself against it, shouting obscenities in a language that I had no idea I could understand, but his strength was no match for the magician's.

"But how?" I asked, verging on hysterics. This wasn't a dream. Mana's ka was right here in front of me. I had just been attacked by some creepy cloaked figure who no doubt knew way more about Sagira than I did. And there was the heaviness I felt over my heart, an inescapable feeling of dread that soaked into my very being like acid, burning my soul until all I could think about was losing Atem and how badly it hurt to watch him lose everything in front of me.

Dark Magician Girl turned back to me once more, wearing a stern look that I had only ever seen on Mana's face about three different times since I had known her. "When I send you back, find Atem. Find yourself. The sooner you accept your memories, the better. We can't keep fighting your battles in the afterlife for you."

A tingling feeling that began in my toes moved up my body until it seemed an entire electric current was being conducted through me. I looked at my hand to find that I was becoming translucent, disappearing at a much faster rate than I felt comfortable with. "Mana!" I yelled, grabbing the ka's attention again. "I don't know what to do. Please help me!"

She gave me one last solemn expression. "Why do you think Atem came back for you?"

Suddenly, the sandstone walls, along with Dark Magician Girl and the shouts of the cloaked figure were gone, replaced once again by Devon's closet. If I hadn't been so shaken up, I would have let a confused, "What the hell?" leave my mouth. Instead I was silent.

Until I heard my name being called. Not by Tea, who was also nowhere to be found. No, this voice was way too familiar, too comforting for the pain in my chest.

I burst out of Devon's room, down the hallway, and out into the main part of the basement, where Atem was emerging from the stairwell. He didn't even have time to react before I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and digging my face into his chest so I could smell his cologne. Right then and there, I felt the tears that had been streaming down my face, and when he hesitantly moved his own arms around my back, I began to cry.

And in the midst of my incoherent words, all I could hear myself saying was, "I remember."

Welp, there you have it!

What will Erin tell Atem?

Who was the cloaked figure?

And why is Devon's room so suspicious?

I improvised as well as I could on those two turns of the duel (I don't know if I will ever be able to write a full one out because it's a lot of work on my part due to how little I really understand about how a lot of cards work). Hopefully they were accurate!

Demon of Kul Elna is a card I made up for Devon for reasons that will be revealed in later chapters.

Once again, I apologize for the long wait. I've been balancing lots of things lately.

I hope you liked it!

-creativelybored