A/N: And here it is! The last chapter! I sure felt bad about what I had to do to Ekou, though. :(

As far as I can tell, I'm done with this story. However, I do have some "continuation" drawings on Deviant Art. I didn't put any of that in here, though, because I decided it would mess up the ending. I'm also sorry if the whole hearing voices thing seems too forced, but I promised it would be a plot point, so help me, it is a plot point!

Recommended reading for this chapter: "Motive" and "Cute Fluffy Dog of Darkness"

Soundtrack: "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne. I would strongly suggest seeing the video on Youtube, since there was something about Avril's eyes in that video that reminded me of Ekou.

All right, I admit it, I lied. About not causing any trouble, that is. My submarine was still missing when I got back to the island, so I sort of had to borrow one.

To be honest, it wasn't even a very good submarine. It was all old and clunky, and there was only room for me and a couple of my soldiers who had stayed on the island. But at least it served its purpose well enough. I spent the rest of that day and all of the next day just keeping the craft offshore and waiting for any signs of the missing people. Since I couldn't very well see anyone so far away, I had to listen nonstop to the radio signals coming from the island. I kept my headset on so long, I was starting to wonder if it would become fused with my scalp.

So there I remained, just zoning out and listening to what was mostly static. I was standing on top of the submarine, because the sea air was less likely to make me feel sick. Yes, I knew that this was not a very safe thing to do, but how could I find Amon if the smell of the interior distracted me?

And then...people suddenly started talking all at once. We found them, they said. They were all back safe and in one piece. I was so relieved, I wanted to dance around on the hull, but decided it would be more prudent not to.

Now we just had to go back, get Amon, and everything would be fine. Or so I thought. As soon as we started moving, the clarifications started to circulate on the radio. Apparently, not everyone had been brought back after all. There were two people missing, and one of them was Amon.

I considered just giving up right there and then. Amon was by himself, right? That had been my goal. Now he could discover his own power without me and my family to weigh him down.

We headed back to the island so we could return the submarine, but a new development occurred as it started to get dark. The people were buzzing about the possibility that there was still a portal to the other dimension located on the island. No one was sure whether this was true, but it got me thinking.

I couldn't just leave Amon all by himself without saying goodbye, I decided. No, I had to talk to him one last time, to make sure everything was going okay. Plus, I felt that he had a right to know that he was going to be a father twice over. What he did about it would be his decision, though. Maybe he'd want to get married to me, or perhaps he'd find another woman who was prettier, or maybe he wouldn't want any women with him at all. It wasn't up to me to interfere with that. But now I had to just catch a glimpse of him once more, even if it killed me.

I returned the "borrowed" property to the place I had found it. I tied it up the same way and everything. Maybe they wouldn't even notice that I had taken it.

Not much of interest happened in the next couple of hours. I was trying to find the location of this portal, but it was difficult for me to find my way through a dense jungle in the dead of night. I almost tripped over tree roots twice. Fortunately, I regained my balance both times. I also got smacked in the face by small branches more times than I could count.

Eventually, however, I stumbled upon a clearing. As I pulled the last of the leaves out of my hair, I saw it. It was a big shiny light, just like the other time. This had to be it...how many huge portals sucking in everything in their path could there be on this island? I had a fleeting suspicion that someone was watching me, but at this point I couldn't focus on anything other than getting to Amon.

So I took a deep breath, and stepped into the light. Only after it pulled me in did I realize that this might not even lead to the same dimension where Amon was. Well, it was too late for me to do anything about that now...

And then, for a while, I was falling through a whole lot of nothingness. I'm trying to find a better way to describe it, but that's really all it was.

I must have blacked out at one point. One second, I was being sucked through the void, and the next I was on my hands and knees on solid land. The first thing I thought was that maybe the portal hadn't worked. The dirt here felt just like the dirt on Earth. But really, I didn't know what I was expecting for there to be, other than dirt.

I mentally slapped myself. Here I was, on the most important mission of my life, and I was musing over the properties of soil. So I got to my feet carefully, trying not to think about how anyone passing by me while I was knocked out would have seen my underwear.

I had barely walked a hundred feet before what little progress I had made was impeded.

"Mamma mia! I found you!" shrieked a very annoying voice. Milliseconds later, a very strange person indeed rushed up to me, blocking my path. When I tried to move to the side, he just moved the same way.

"Can you please get out of my way already? I sort of have things to do!" I said indignantly. If this was what the residents of this dimension were like, I had an excruciating journey ahead of me.

The man (well, he was a man as far as I could tell) shook his head vehemently.

"But it's my assignment to make sure you're safe! Please, I'm begging you, let me go with you! My job is already on the line, and there's no way I'll get off the hook if I mess this up!"

He gave me what would become a very familiar tearful look, and I had no choice but to grudgingly let him go with me. From what he was saying, he was just supposed to keep me out of trouble, not turn me in to the authorities...yet. Besides, he was by himself and had less muscle than me. If he tried to pull any funny stuff, I could take him out fairly easily.

As it turned out, the man was not a resident of this dimension at all...he was a teacher from the Academy who had also gotten pulled in by the portal. He said his name was Chronos di Medici, and claimed that he belonged to the self-same Medici family that was in power five centuries ago. However, I seriously doubted that last statement.

He had many other things to say, too. As soon as I thought he was done talking, he would start all over again on yet another inane topic. I tried to be polite, but I couldn't help but to tune him out after the first few minutes of prattle. For the rest of the day, I tried to keep a brisk pace, while Chronos lagged a few steps behind, debating with himself over the finer points of Audrey Hepburn movies. By the time we stopped to make camp, I was sorely regretting that I had not brought earplugs. Although, when I opened my briefcase, I saw that earplugs were the least of my worries.

I had not expected to be more than a couple of days in finding Amon, so I had unfortunately packed accordingly. I had no spare clothes other than one T-shirt, socks, and some undergarments. I had two half-liter bottles of water, and my food was even more sparse.

I still had most of my bottle of medicine, but I shuddered to think of what might happen when that ran out.

Well, now that I had gotten myself into this, there was no way out, I thought. I was being kept awake by Chronos's snoring, so I had plenty of time to mull over my situation. I decided to just make the best of what I had, hope that Chronos didn't mess things up too badly, and find Amon. Amon would know how to get me back. And even if he didn't...well, what was so great about my old life anyway? If I was forced to stay here, no one would expect anything from me. I could start things anew.

The only bad thing was, my family and Michael would never know what had happened to me. It occurred to me that Michael was the last person I had been seen with in Israel. What if they decided to pin the blame for my disappearance on him? That would definitely be unfortunate, but it was really no use worrying about things I couldn't control. I didn't get this far by sitting on my behind and giving up, had I?

With that thought, I finally started to nod off, but not before I thought I heard a soft voice whispering at me.

Many days passed after that. Each was the same as the last, and I began to lose track of the date. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even sure if the dates were the same here. The weather sure was more unpredictable than what I was used to on Earth. One day it would be so warm that I'd be sweating, and the next there would be frost on the ground.

Chronos and I passed our time by walking all day, doing odd jobs in exchange for food, and stopping at every village we could to ask about Amon. None of the villagers had ever seen him, so I grew steadily more disheartened as time went by.

My companion tried his best to keep my spirits up. Chronos was really a nice person once I got to know him. He wasn't always completely "with it", but neither was I, so we were in this together. Who was I to look down upon him for sobbing over messed-up nails when I did my fair share of complaining?

My own fingernails got very dirty and chipped, and my hands grew callused from all the work. I learned how to haggle at the marketplace, and to make sure that the vendors didn't cheat me out of any goods. Both Chronos and I walked around until we thought we couldn't stand it any more, only to repeat the whole process the very next day. Even when I did run out of medicine, I was just too tired to concentrate on the nausea.

At times, I felt like a shell of my former self. Instead of taking charge of the situation like I'd learned to do before, I just let things happen. I was too ill and tired to do more than stand back and go with what others said. I was regressing into Proper Lady Mode: shy, obedient, eyes downcast.

I've heard it said that there's nothing more beautiful than a glowingly pregnant woman, but someone must have forgotten to turn on the glow in my case. All I felt was swollen and disgusting. I had varicose veins popping out in places where I hadn't even known that veins were there in the first place. I was gaining weight, but it all seemed to be going to my hips. True, I was starting to get a bit of a bump, but it was difficult to notice when my huge fat ass was hogging all the attention. And all of this was probably being made even worse by the fact that it was twins.

Keep in mind that this was happening when I was barely three months gone. I shuddered to think of what the last trimester might be like. Why couldn't this be more like those celebrities who just had the tummy bump and looked slender pretty much everywhere else on their bodies?

Sometimes, when I was trying to find a comfortable position for sleeping, I thought I'd hear my babies talking to me. Most of it was whispering that I couldn't make out, but other times they said, "Hi, Mommy", or "I love you". I know it sounds stupid, but it was like the voices were the only ones who understood. I tried to tell myself that this was all in my head, but I was so desperate for companionship that sometimes I almost believed they were real. This time, though, there were no more tears where I lay my head. I was long past that now.

One day, Chronos and I were looking for someplace to set up camp when it started raining. This was not a nice warm summer-y rain, or the kind of drizzle that one can walk through and mostly ignore. No, this rain came in huge, cold droplets. In a matter of minutes, I was so soaked that it seemed like I would never be dry again.

There were no villages in the area, so asking for shelter was out of the question. All we could do was hope to find a tree to huddle under. But this landscape was very rocky, and the only plants were sparse grasses and flowers.

I tried very hard to tolerate this cold and wet, but soon I was shivering uncontrollably. Chronos offered me his coat, but I just couldn't take it from him. I knew he was supposed to be the one looking after me, but in reality it always seemed to be the other way around.

Just when I was so cold that I was sure my lips were blue, I spotted something odd in one of the cliffs.

"Hey Chronos! There's a cave!" I shouted excitedly.

He clasped his hands together and said to no one in particular, "Thank the heavens, na no ne!" Which I thought was a bit ironic, since the heavens were currently punishing us with this rain. But whatever. The important part was, we had found shelter.

Closer inspection revealed that the front of the cave actually had a roughly-made door built into it! What was more, there was light showing from under the door. That meant there were people living there, which meant fire and even food! We didn't even stop to consider what the residents might think about some soaking-wet strangers showing up at their house. We just reacted with sheer instinct and pounded on the door.

Immediately, we heard a series of very loud barks and growls.

"Shut up, Spot!" yelled a voice. Then, "Can you get the door? My hands are full right now."

Another voice said something unintelligible. Then the door swung open, and a boy about my age was struggling to hold the door open with one hand while holding back the biggest dog I'd ever seen with the other hand.

Chronos's reaction was unexpected, to say the least. He blurted out a surprised, "Misawa? Is that you?" at about the same time the guy holding open the door said, "Chronos-sensei? What are you doing here?"

Okay, hold on a minute. They knew each other? Since I've never been a particularly quick thinker, I was still trying to puzzle this out when another person walked up to the door.

"Misawacchi, you idiot, don't just keep them waiting out there in the rain! Where are your manners?"

Misawacchi or whatever the hell his name was, hesitated and said, "Um...I'm not sure we have enough..."

"You silly, of course we have enough room! Come on in, you two. My husband will get you comfortable, and I'll be with you just as soon as I'm done with Anna."

It was only when I got in the house that I noticed that the person who had invited us in had been nursing a large baby the whole time she had been talking to us! I was a bit shocked, since until she had said the word "husband" I thought she was another guy. What was more, she didn't even seem bothered by her lack of modesty.

"There! That's more like it!" she said matter-of-factly as soon as the baby was fed and she'd rearranged her clothing. She walked over to where Chronos and I were wrapped in blankets in front of the fire.

"Well, this storm isn't going to pass for a while, so allow me to introduce the members of this household. My name is Taniya, but you can call me any old name you want. I don't mind. And this is Anna. She's ten months old. Anna, can you say hi to these nice people?"

Anna covered her face with her hands in shyness.

"Don't worry," continued Taniya, "I'm sure she's just a bit overwhelmed. Anyway, that handsome young man over there is Misawa..."

Misawa blushed.

"Oh come on, Misawacchi, you don't have to be embarrassed. Am I the only one in this whole house who likes company? Oh yeah, and that's Spot. Normally he stays outside, but of course we had to let him in with this weather."

Spot lifted his head warily from where he'd been tied up in the corner. I wasn't sure why he was called "Spot", since his fur was all one color.

Even after Taniya was done introducing everyone, she still had plenty to say. Evidently, she liked talking just as much as Chronos did.

"But enough about all that. What brings you here? I think I remember seeing you at the Academy once"-here she gestured at Chronos-"But who is this lovely lady who's your companion?"

I wasn't quite sure why she said that. I wasn't lovely, and everyone in the room could see that. Inexplicably, I felt like hiding my face in much the same way that baby Anna had done. This was odd because I normally wasn't shy about my appearance. But before I had a chance to look away, Chronos introduced me with his usual flair and Italian-isms.

"Well, hello then, Ekou!" Taniya beamed, "If you need anything just ask me, okay? But for now, it looks like you need some rest. I'll be back to check up on you in a bit."

If she did come back, I didn't notice, for I was indeed asleep almost immediately.

As I drifted back into wakefulness some time later, I smelled food. My first thought was that I'd fallen asleep on the job, and the villagers would be pissed at me. But then I remembered. It was rainy. Chronos and I were taking shelter with a family of cave-dwellers. And everybody seemed to know each other except for me.

For the first time, I was able to truly notice my surroundings. When we first got here, my mind felt so fuzzy and tired that I had barely even been able to focus on Taniya's introduction.

This place was rather large for a cave, and it looked like it had several "rooms". Like most caves, it was rather chilly, but the fireplace helped keep it at a tolerable temperature. There was a pot of something hanging over said fire, which was what was making the good smell.

After wrapping myself in the blanket to both keep warm and hide my condition, I inched away from my sleeping spot. The dog, who was sprawled out on the floor, looked up at me and started growling. I froze in my tracks, since that dog looked fierce enough to rip out my throat without even trying. But for some reason, it sniffed the air, let out a little sigh, and lay back down. Well, I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I decided to just be grateful.

The noise caught Taniya's attention, who had been sitting in the corner of the room where I couldn't see her. As she noticed me, she stood up and walked over. I idly wondered just how tall she was. Amon was six feet, and Taniya looked like she might be even more than that.

"Well, look who finally decided to wake up!" she said in that husky, booming voice of hers. I wondered if I should be offended, but decided that Taniya was probably the type of person who said those things just as a joke.

Taniya went on to say that I had been out cold for six hours, and dinner was now just about ready. At first I was starving, but then I saw that the meal was a stew that consisted solely of some sort of fatty meat. Normally this wouldn't have posed a problem, but greasy foods were one of the many things that was hard for me to keep down due to my nausea problems. But I had only eaten a light breakfast of bread and fruit, so I knew I had to at least try to eat. In the end, I just settled on some nibbling while listening to the others talk.

I had thought that all of these people were native residents of this dimension, but only the baby had actually born here. Taniya had been transported here while she was pregnant, she said, and Misawa had joined her through the same portal that Chronos and I took. Misawa had been a student at the Academy, and Chronos had been a teacher. They weren't exactly clear on how Taniya fit into all this, or even if Misawa was actually Anna's biological father (although there was quite a physical resemblance between the two, so I assumed that he was the father). When I finally worked up the courage to ask how Misawa and Taniya had met, Misawa abruptly changed the subject. Despite all this, they seemed like a happy couple.

It was certainly a weird relationship those two had, I mused. I'd never known a woman to be so dominating. It was unusual to me, since Amon liked being in control. However, it seemed to work for them. Sure, Taniya tended to tease him a lot, but Misawa appeared to take it all in stride.

After dinner, Taniya asked Misawa to wash the dishes. This was a rather time-consuming task, given that there were no automatic dishwashers in this dimension, so Chronos volunteered to help. When they were busy, Taniya turned to me.

"You still look tired," she stated. I said nothing. Taniya continued to cajole as she wiped off Anna's face and hands.

"Look, Ekou, it's no use trying to hide all of your feelings. I'm twenty-six this spring, I've seen a lot of this world, and I know when something's going wrong for somebody. Why don't you just talk to me and see if I can help you any?"

I had to admit, the idea sounded tempting. The idea of having someone who would listen to me had been something foreign to me all my life. I decided to at least turn my head so I was looking directly at her. Taniya smiled.

"There, see? That wasn't so hard!" she said in a much softer, gentler voice. I knew this was how she probably talked to her baby, but somehow I wasn't insulted. It seemed...comforting. I wondered if my parents had ever talked to me like that.

"Now come on," Taniya was saying, "You look like you could use some relaxation time. We have an underground hot spring right in this cave. Oh, now don't look away again like that. It'll be fun! Anna can come too, and we can have a girls-only night!"

Well, there was no way Taniya was going to let me say no. There were worse things I could do with my time, I supposed.

The hot spring was rather shallow, and more warm than actually hot. This was probably good, since I wasn't sure how safe hot water was for me. Taniya said that she bathed Anna here all the time, so I guess if it was safe for her baby it would be okay for my babies as well.

I watched enviously as Taniya stripped without hesitation. She didn't even look like she'd ever been pregnant! She might have just been really lucky, or maybe she had worked hard to get her body back the way it was. Either way, I was embarrassed to follow her lead.

"Get in the water, Ekou! What, you think I've never seen another woman's boobs before? Nothing's going to scare me!" laughed Taniya as she eased into the water with Anna in her arms.

I started doing as she said, but with my back turned to her. My jacket and undershirt came off fine, but I had trouble with my skirt. It had been a while since I had undressed, and I hadn't realized how tight the skirt had become. I tried everything to get it off...sucking in my breath, wiggling my hips around, but nothing worked. I was quite dismayed when I finally heard a seam rip. Now what was I going to wear?

I whipped my head around, but Taniya had no visible reaction. So I peeled down the remains of the skirt, finished undressing, and snuck into the water while Taniya was distracted with washing Anna. I hid as much of my body as I could underwater and rested my chin on my knees. I had to admit, Taniya was right about this feeling relaxing.

When Anna had been thoroughly sponged down, Taniya shifted her to the other arm and turned towards me. I was completely unprepared for what she blurted out next.

"So when's it due?" she asked while flashing a bright smile.

I was shocked. Here I'd thought I'd done a great job of hiding this! All the time I'd been in this dimension, I'd never brought up the topic with anyone. I assumed that Chronos had figured it out at some point, but he had never mentioned anything out loud.

After some time, I finally stammered out, "J...July."

"Really? I would have guessed earlier."

"It's twins."

"Ah, I see. You're going to have a lot of weight to carry around, aren't you? I can sympathize with that. Not because I have experience with twins, but Anna was a big baby. I'd say she was easily ten pounds at birth. Let me tell you, I had a hell of a time getting her to come out!"

She laughed again. All I could say was, "Oh."

Then, since I was curious, I asked her how she'd figured it out. Just being with her seemed to be giving some of my boldness back.

Taniya informed me that Spot the dog was actually a Duel Spirit, and all Duel Spirits followed a certain code. This code stated that if any spirit ever hurt a small child, nursing mother, or pregnant woman, it was the most unforgivable crime that could ever be committed. That was why Spot had stopped acting threatening towards me earlier...he had been forced to stop when he caught my scent. As far as I could tell, other kinds of human were fair game for killing, but I did not ask about this.

After this was said, there was some awkward silence. I wanted to confide in her the fear that had grown as my body did, but I wasn't sure I could work up the courage. Well, she had said that nothing would scare her, so it was at least worth a try.

"I..." I began. Taniya leaned toward me.

"Go on, I'm listening," she urged.

Looking down at my knees, I finally confessed my secret...that I wasn't sure I could be a mother, and that I thought it was a mistake to keep the pregnancy going in the first place.

Taniya pondered this for a long time. I wanted to run away, but I decided against it. I was better than that, and I knew it. Finally, she started to reply slowly and thoughtfully.

"Well yes, I think I can understand that. Pretty much every woman feels that way to some extent, at some point in time. I guess I got off easy, since Anna has never been a difficult baby to care for. But as far as I see, you only have to do one thing to be a good mother. Now listen carefully, because this is very important. Look into my eyes, please."

I did as she said. She certainly had an intimidating gaze, but I resolved not to let that get to me.

"All right, good. The secret is this: you must be willing to give your life for your children. If anyone ever does them any harm, you must defend them without giving a second thought to your own well-being. If anyone ever dared lay a hand on Anna, believe me, I would not hesitate before tearing them limb from limb. If you do not have this instinct...well, then it doesn't matter how kind and caring you are; you will not be a good parent. Trust me, I know exactly what I'm talking about."

Taniya's eyes narrowed to slits as she said this, her voice lowered to a growl, and I could have sworn that even her teeth got sharper. It was almost like she had put herself into a trance. She meant every word of this, I realized. Had she maybe been raised by a parent who did not fit this criterion? I wasn't sure.

"Do you understand me?" she whispered. I nodded.

"Good, then," she replied. Then, as if nothing had happened, she smiled again.

"Well, look at you, Anna! Your skin is all wrinkly from the water! I think it's just about time for all of us to get out of this bath, what do you think, Ekou?"

As soon as we were all dried off, Taniya tsked over my torn skirt.

"Well, it won't do to wear that, now will it? I could fix it if you want, but it would only be a matter of time before it rips again. I think you need something a bit more roomy. I think I have an old shirt around from when I was expecting Anna. If I alter it a bit, I think it will do just fine as a dress for you."

I tried to thank her, but she waved my words off.

"No problem. I had plenty of practice making all of Anna's clothes from scratch, so this will be easy. I'll have it ready for you tomorrow morning."

In the meantime, she gave me one of her old cloaks to wrap around my hips like a long skirt.

As soon as I was finally decent, we walked out to the main room. Misawa was curious about what exactly we had been doing in there, but Taniya told him not to worry that big brain of his about it.

As I settled myself back into my blanket, Anna crawled up to me. She studied me with such an intent frown on her chubby face that I couldn't help but giggle. I let her sit on my lap, and did some studying of my own.

Anna wasn't an attractive baby in the classic, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked sense. She felt heavy and somewhat muscular, and shared Taniya's dark complexion. Her hair and eyes, though, were like Misawa's except a couple of shades darker.

I wondered what my babies would look like after the initial squally red-skinned stage. I was still hoping that they'd both look like Amon, because he was the better-looking one of us. Also, I was still holding out hope that at least one of the babies would be a boy, since I wasn't sure I could do all the "girly" stuff.

I went to sleep pondering this, with Anna still on my lap. I was so tired, I didn't hear any voices that night.

The next morning, Chronos and I ate a quick breakfast and were on our way early. Anna hadn't even woken up yet when we left...Taniya had put the baby back in her little bed sometime during the night.

As promised, Taniya was finished altering her old "maternity" shirt. I had to admit, it looked pretty nice. There was more room for my bloated hips and lower stomach, and the sash called attention to my still-slim waistline. She even let me keep the cloak, saying she had some to spare.

Amazingly, there was no sign of yesterday's big storm. The sun was so strong, it had dried up all of the mud puddles.

We went on our merry way for several hours. I felt much better today. Whether it was all the sleeping yesterday that did it, or the bath, or even that I was hitting the energy boost of the second trimester, I wasn't sure. I tried to think about what might be different about this particular day.

Then I remembered something. If I did some math in my head, I was pretty sure that today's date was January 20th. That meant it was my nineteenth birthday! Well, I'd have never guessed this time last year that this was how I'd ever spend a birthday, I thought amusedly.

The sun was high in the sky when I felt a slight tremor in the ground. I shot a worried look at Chronos...yes, he'd felt it too. He volunteered that maybe it was a small earthquake. At first, we just tried to ignore it, but the quaking only got stronger.

After a few minutes, I happened to glimpse something out of the corner of my eye. I turned around to get a better view.

"Um...Chronos?" I asked.

"Yes, Signore Ekou?"

"I think we had better run."

He turned around and saw what I had seen...a huge herd of bulls stampeding right toward us!

"Why yes. Yes, indeed. I think that is an excellent idea," Chronos said in a perfectly calm voice. Then we were off, screaming "AHHHHHHHHH!" at the top of our lungs.

I couldn't remember the last time I had run for this long. Definitely not since I got to this dimension, and maybe not even since my training last year. Somehow, though, I found the strength to keep moving.

Chronos wasn't quite so lucky. After a few minutes, either his legs gave way or he tripped over something...I couldn't quite tell. At any rate, he fell to the ground and struggled to get up while calling me for help.

Now I had a dilemma. I didn't want to get trampled, but I couldn't just leave my friend for dead like that! My morals won out, and I was just turning around when something...happened.

I couldn't quite tell what it was, since I was so pumped up with adrenaline. But something just appeared and blasted the bulls all into smithereens. Unlike me, Chronos seemed to know almost immediately what this was.

"Those are...Diamond Guy and Cyber Dragon!" he gasped. Well, okay, fine then. I had no idea what those names meant, but I had learned not to question the many weird occurrences of this locale. My hand absentmindedly drifted down to my stomach, to check that everything was still okay there.

Now Chronos was babbling on about some person named "Edo". He was blocking my view, so I couldn't quite see who he was talking to...until he tripped yet again. I guess his legs weren't quite back at full strength yet.

I wasn't sure quite what I was supposed to do, so I stood back and let Chronos do the talking...which, of course, he was happy to do.

The first thing Chronos decided to do was introduce me, so I had no choice but to be polite and walk over.

I looked at the two guys who were standing a few feet away from us. The taller one was kind of cute. Maybe it was just my overactive pregnancy hormones talking again, but if I wasn't so worried about Amon, I'd definitely be happy with this guy for the night. Alas, he barely acknowledged my existence.

The shorter one was the one Chronos was talking to. And when I say he was short, I mean it. He (the short guy...not Chronos) looked like he had the approximate height and build of Prince, and Prince was...what? Five-three or five-four? So yeah...not as hot as the other one. What was more, he really weirded me out because he wouldn't stop staring at me. But then Chronos started talking to him again, and they struck up a conversation about some guy named "Judai". I think that Chronos had a crush on this Judai, from the way he talked about him.

Then Hot Guy said we should leave, and led us back to what I guessed was a campsite. Short Guy lagged behind...I had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to stare at my butt. That turned out not to be the case, but whatever.

We met two other teenage boys at the camp, which was located on a grassy hill under a tree. Neither of them were very interesting to me. One was unconscious and the other was even shorter than the first Short Guy. I dubbed him "Shorter Guy". Not very original, I know, but it helped me keep things organized.

And for the rest of the day, things were very boring. All everyone did was worry about Unconscious Guy, who turned out to be the famous Judai. I know I should have at least tried to worry about him because he was sick, but I seriously did not give a shit. He wasn't Amon, so therefore he wasn't important.

The other people managed to rummage up some supper from their bags, and this time I actually was hungry. But I knew I had to be careful, since I didn't want to get sick or hog all of the food.

After dinner, everyone sat around the fire and talked in low, serious voices. Once again, it wasn't about Amon, so I deemed it safe to tune out. They were all more or less ignoring me, but I thought I liked it better that way.

Then Short Guy had to go and ruin everything. I was in the middle of a stimulating internal debate entitled, "What to use for diapers if I'm still in this dimension six months from now". I had been considering the merits of leaves when Short Guy just walked up and started staring at me again. I looked at him with a warning glare, but he ignored it.

His hand went down to the general location of his pants. My first impression, of course, was "Oh gross, he's going to...", but before I could finish that thought, he went for his pocket instead. He took something out and...

Oh fuck. That total jerk stole my necklace! And now he was giving it back, as if to say "Ha ha, you're too stupid to keep track of your own stuff!" Shit. If only the others weren't here, I would have beaten the snot out of this scrawny bastard. As it was, I snatched back my property angrily. I hoped that the chain would bruise his delicate little hand.

Short Guy...oh okay, Edo...stammered that he hadn't meant on looking, and that the lid opened by accident. Oh sure, like I believed that for one millisecond.

And then he started talking about Amon. Why did this always happen to me? I was trying to project the image of someone who could take care of herself, but that was difficult when people kept prodding at my biggest weakness. Whenever anyone mentioned Amon, I felt a nearly uncontrollable need to inform them how much more superior Amon was to anyone else. Well, it was true of course, but I wished that I was able to keep at least some things private.

I have no idea what prompted me to refer to my own brother as "Master Sid", however. Freudian slip, perhaps.

Damn it, Edo was persistent! Even after I explained all of my reasons for what I did in detail, he kept pressing me for more. He said that he didn't understand why I would be doing this if I loved Amon. As if he had any idea what real love was about!

Just when I thought he finally got it, this fog sprang up all over the place. I thought it was yet another one of this place's freak storms, but that wasn't it. Nope, we were switching worlds yet again, for some reason I wasn't aware of. The only thing I could think was that all this dimension-hopping can't be good for pregnancies. So I leaned over to protect my abdomen, just in case, while hanging onto my locket at the same time.

The new world looked more or less the same as the old one at first. No one was paying attention to me except for Chronos. Even Edo had moved on to Judai, who had chosen this time to finally wake up.

But then I noticed something. There was one big difference in this dimension. There was a cave where there definitely had not been one before.

And then...

I had to be seeing things. That's it. My brain must have finally cracked and moved from audio hallucinations to visual ones. There was no way that person could actually be Amon. It was just too convenient that we had happened to be transported right in front of him when I had been looking in vain for two whole months...

But then, if he was a hallucination, why had Judai noticed him? And Edo? And why was everyone now looking in his direction?

Oh my God, that was Amon! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He didn't look at me, but that was okay. He was busy with all of these other people who wanted to talk to him. I would just have to wait my turn patiently.

They were saying something about Amon's arm, but that didn't matter, I'm sure it could get fixed if it was injured, he had said that he chose to stay here by himself! That meant that there was already one problem taken care of. Now once Judai was done running his mouth, everything would be...

Wait a minute. Had someone said that Amon was a servant to somebody? No no no, this wasn't right at all! I started to panic. What should I do? I needed help! Amon might never be a king now! My stomach felt queasy, but before it got really bad, Amon finally looked at me.

"Ekou, come here!" he said. And he was smiling! At me! He almost never smiled at me. But wait...why was he smiling if he was still a servant? Wasn't that a bad thing? I was confused.

I tried to ask him what was going on, but he just walked toward me. He looked me over, and for the briefest amount of time I thought I saw shock register in his eyes. But the next second, he was as unreadable as ever.

I didn't know what he wanted from me. It didn't seem like he was looking for sex, since there were all these other people watching us. Maybe having people watch was one of his new kinks? I couldn't even begin to think of anything else I could do for him.

He was trying to tell me something important, I knew that. But I wasn't used to him saying more things to me than necessary. We normally communicated with our bodies, not with words. When he grabbed my arm, I wasn't sure whether to go or stay. I was used to being slapped around a bit during particularly rough sex, but this was different. Even I could figure that out.

I tried to say that I didn't understand, but Amon was impatient. He pulled so much that I tripped and fell right in the worst spot. Now the babies might be hurt, and it was all my fault for not telling Amon sooner!

"Amon, please don't," I said as gently as I could, "I'm..."

But if Amon had heard me, he gave no sign of it. Right then, Edo decided to pick a fight with him. Amon told him to get lost, and I silently agreed. Why did Edo think he could snoop into our business? The nerve!

Like the mature person that he was, Amon refused to be goaded by Edo's insults. He reassured me that he'd be a king, no matter what it took. But I had to help him, he said. He could only become king if I sacrificed myself.

I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to do anything that would prevent Amon from reaching his dream. But then I remembered what Taniya had said, about putting my children's lives before my own. If I did what Amon said...that would be the ultimate betrayal of Taniya's principle.

I opened my mouth, about to explain the situation to Amon and ask if there were any possible alternative methods, when Edo barged in again. He was going on about how if Amon didn't leave me alone, then THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES! I thought that Amon would just ignore this again, but instead he accepted Edo's challenge. There was nothing more I could say now. All I could do was stand with the others and watch as events unfolded that I didn't understand. I hadn't dueled in years, and though I did remember the basics, I got a headache as I tried to keep all of the spell cards and monster effects straight. But I was at least pretty sure that Amon wasn't using his normal deck.

Again, I thought offhand that this was some way to spend my birthday. I had been sure that Amon would win easily so we could continue our discussion, but this was taking so long! And what was more, Edo seemed to have backed Amon into a corner. I wasn't certain of the specifics, of course, but I could tell it was important.

And then, just when I was starting to get worried, Amon found a way out of it.

What was this? Amon was going to do the sacrifice now? And he said that it couldn't just be any old person; it had to be...

He said...

He said he loved me.

All those years I waited for him to say just this, and he never did...not until now.

What could I do...? How could I deny him anything? I felt faint...I couldn't think about anything other than what Amon said.

I was vaguely aware that Edo and some other people were trying to talk me out of it, but they weren't important. Nothing was important. I was nothing compared to Amon.

"It's okay, Mommy. Do it. Do what he says."

Why...how could I...

I just could. It was as simple as that. My life had no meaning now. Why should I stay in this body, bloated and sick and stupid, when I could be something more, something that had more use to Amon?

"Do it..."

Amon was waiting for me to make my move. Well, I wouldn't disappoint him. This was the only way to show how much I loved him in return.

So it was set.

A long time ago, I inquired if you knew me. Well, now I know the answer. You do not know me, nor does anyone. How could anyone understand how I could be willing to do so much for one person?

THE END

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