Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

Chapter 31: After the Burning

When the light from the explosion of Witch Goddess Agatha finally died down, Yuma and Astral found that they were standing (or floating, in Astral's case) in the middle of a small and rather rustic-looking house. Sitting in a wooden chair by an unlit fireplace was a man in his early forties with fairly long pale blonde hair. To Yuma, the man bore a slight resemblance to Thomas and Michael's father, Byron Arclight before an unplanned trip to the Barian World had deformed him into an impish man-child with a hole showing a miniature starscape where half his face used to be. The man was reading what appeared to be a bible through a pair of wireframe spectacles. From the man's outfit, Yuma and Astral had realized they were seeing another image from Samantha's past life.

"What the hell are we doing back here?" a familiar voice asked from behind. Both Yuma and Astral turned to see Samantha standing behind them in her modern clothes.

"Samantha, do you know that guy?" Yuma asked, pointing a thumb back at the man in the chair.

"Yeah. That's Adam's father, Gideon Smith." Samantha answered. "So you're going to make me live through remembering this hell again for beating me? Is that it?"

"Samantha, I do not believe that these are your memories we're witnessing, but Thomas's." Astral informed her. "I believe that one of his former Numbers resonated with yours during that last attack. What we're seeing might be his side of the story from your past life."

"Yeah? Well I don't need to hear it." Samantha told them.

Just then, a young man who looked like Thomas walked into the room. Yuma could tell from the missing scar from his face that this was in fact Thomas's previous incarnation, Adam Smith.

"You wanted to see me, father?" Adam asked, causing Gideon to look up from his book.

"Adam, my son. I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news for you." Gideon spoke gravely as he shut the book on his lap. "Samantha Warren has been accused of witchcraft."

A look of shock and disbelief appeared on Adam's face. "What? That's… that's impossible! I know Samantha! She would never practice the dark arts!"

"The evidence against Samantha is compelling." Gideon told him as he rose from his chair. "Martha Proctor says that she has been trying to curse her to death for the past two nights."

"I don't believe that!" Adam denied. "Why would Martha make an accusation like that?"

"She has no reason to lie. In fact, she has always been an honest young woman." Gideon replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But whether or not there is any truth to these accusations, your task now is very clear. You must renounce the girl, Adam."

"Renounce Samantha as a witch?" Adam asked, the color seeming to drain from his face. "I… no! I could never…!"

"My son," Gideon spoke as he put a hand on Adam's shoulder, "I know how you feel about the girl. Samantha's father is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and your marriage to her would have united our two families. But the time has come to look out for your own interests. These are dangerous times we live in, Adam. I don't know if there are truly witches living among us or not, but it's clear that the people of this village intend to burn every last person who seems even the least bit unholy until they believe the threat has been purged. Unless you renounce Samantha, you could very well be the next one put on trial."

"But… father, I love her!" Adam told him. "I can't just abandon her like that!"

Gideon sighed and shook his head. "I know it is hard, Adam, but this is what you must do. If you do not, you may be charged just as Samantha has been, and I may be forced to renounce you. Think hard, my son. I know that God will show you the path you must take."

With that, Gideon handed Adam the bible he was reading and walked out of the room. As soon as he left, the surrounding room turned into a mist along with Adam. When the mist reformed, Yuma, Astral and Samantha were outside of another small rustic farmhouse. It was quite early in the morning, and Martha was at that moment emerging from the front door of the house. A look of anger and disgust appeared on Samantha's face instantly appeared when she saw the other young woman. At that moment, Adam showed up and was running towards Martha.

"Martha! I must speak with you!" Adam told her.

"Samantha's trial is about to begin." Martha told him. "I'm needed to testify."

"I know, but that is why I must talk to you." Adam told her. "I've been trying to figure out why you would accuse such a good woman as Samantha of cursing you with black magic."

"Why? Because it's true." Martha told him flatly. "I don't know why she suddenly started to go after me like that, but I am not lying about this Adam. Samantha has been trying to kill me."

"I'll never believe that." Adam insisted. "There has to be another explanation."

"I'm not surprised that you wouldn't believe that Samantha's a witch." Martha told him. "After all, she's probably placed a curse on you too."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked.

"Don't you see? She's bewitched your mind!" Martha stated as if the answer were obvious. "This whole time she's had you under a spell that made you fall in love with her! Its no wonder at all that you're blind to the truth even when it's right in front of you."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Adam told her. "How could you even think that…?"

Before Adam could finish his sentence, Martha started to convulse as if she was having some kind of seizure. In seconds she was down on the ground, flopping around like a fish that had been reeled in and thrown to the floor of a boat. Adam was alarmed by Martha's sudden fit. Meanwhile Samantha was just standing there with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes.

"I can't believe he bought into this shit." Samantha spoke. "The people of this village were so stupid."

"No! Samantha! Please stop! PLEASE!" Martha begged as she continued to thrash on the ground.

Suddenly Martha let out a blood-curdling scream that shocked Adam to his very core. She then became totally silent and stiff as a board, her eyes seemingly frozen open with a look of terror. After a few moments, Adam approached and knelt down towards her. He placed an ear to her chest to find that her heart was not beating. A split second after Adam sat back up, Martha suddenly shot up as well, taking in a sharp breath like someone who had been suffocated.

"Martha, are… are you okay?" Adam asked as she caught her breath.

"No I'm not okay." Martha told him. "Samantha almost killed me again from her cell. The next time I have one of these attacks could be the last. If Samantha is not burned for her sin of witchcraft soon, it'll be my death… and your damnation."

With that, Martha got up and walked off, leaving Adam totally stunned. Everything around Yuma and the others changed to mist again, and soon they found themselves before an all too familiar scene. Samantha's past incarnation had just been tied to the steak where she was to be burned. A dead look was in the redhead's eyes and the card for Number 665 was in her hands. Astral noticed that this time around they were standing right behind Adam.

Once again the executioner with the torch set the pile of dead wood at the old Samantha's feet ablaze. Then, just as they saw them do last time, Yuma and Astral watched as the villagers began to sing a hymn, every villager that was except for Adam. Instead, the young man stood silently and watched with an expression of shock as the flames consumed his former lover. Seconds later, one of the pieces of burning wood popped and gave off a spark that caught the left side of the old Samantha's face. The redhead screamed in pain and looked at the crowd of singing villagers with hate-filled eyes.

"You…" Samantha spoke in a low hateful voice as a tear rolled down her other cheek. "YOU ALL DESERVE TO DIE!"

Samantha's past life counterpart was completely consumed by the flames in what seemed like seconds. Meanwhile the Samantha who had been watching the flashback with Yuma and Astral looked down at the ground with the same hate-filled eyes that her former incarnation had looked at the villagers with before she died. Samantha was so busy looking at the ground that she did not notice Adam slowly walking away. Soon after, the scene changed again and the three found that they were standing in what looked like a kitchen. Adam was standing in front of the counter with a totally blank expression.

At that moment, Martha walked in. "Hello Adam. Your father told me that I might find you here."

"…What're you doing here?" Adam asked, not once turning to look at her.

"I've been worried about you." Martha answered. "Hardly anyone in the village has seen you out in a week. Not since… well, you know."

"Since Samantha was burned as a witch, you mean." Adam stated, still not turning to look at her. "You said my love for her was an illusion, a curse that she placed on me. Well if that is true, then why do I feel like I've had this gaping hole in my chest since she died?"

Martha walked up and put her arms around him from behind. "Oh my dear Adam, I know you're in pain right now, but it will fade soon. The important thing is that we can be together now."

A look of surprise appeared on Adam's face as he finally turned to face Martha. "What are you talking about?"

"I can keep my feelings a secret from you no longer, Adam. I've been in love with you for many years." Martha admitted. "I always wanted to tell you, but I lacked the courage to do so. Then Samantha came between us. But now that she's gone…"

"Wait a moment. Martha, did you… did you lie about Samantha cursing you?" Adam asked.

A look of shame crossed Martha's face. "I know it was wrong, but I was left with no other choice! When I saw you propose to Samantha that day, I… I had to do something to keep from losing you!"

"But… your heart! I heard it stop beating!" a stunned Adam recalled.

"That was a trick Samantha and I learned years ago from a traveling performer who passed through the village." Martha explained. "We learned how to do it as sort of a game. Adam, I'm truly sorry but I did what I had to do. I can only hope that you and God can forgive me."

Adam's face suddenly seemed to become calm. He glanced back at a large knife that was sitting on the table behind him. Suddenly he grabbed the knife, pushed Martha to the floor and got on top of her. Adam started stabbing Martha repeatedly in the chest as his eyes clouded over with anger, the knife going up and down in swift brutal strikes. Martha screamed for Adam to stop, but her cries were falling on deaf ears. Yuma and Astral watched with shock and disbelief as Adam's face, hands and shirt became covered in blood. Samantha meanwhile looked at the scene with a mixture of shock and confusion, and then before she knew it she had burst into an almost hysterical laughter.

After stabbing Martha what seemed like a hundred times, Adam got back to his feet as he caught his breath. Yuma and Astral were both left totally speechless at what they had just witnessed.

Samantha finally stopped laughing and walked over to Martha's corpse. "Serves you right, you bitch. You should've been the one to burn, not me."

The redhead attempted to kick Martha in the head, but her foot passed right through as if the girl's body was made of air.

At that moment, Gideon entered the kitchen and saw the grizzly scene. "Dear Lord! Adam! What in God's name have you done?"

Adam looked at his father with anger still clouding his eyes. "You… it's your fault she's gone too! Who were you thinking of when you told me to renounce the woman I loved as a witch? Were you thinking of me, or were you only thinking of keeping yourself from being accused of witchcraft?"

Adam was already advancing on Gideon with his bloody knife raised. Gideon begged for Adam to stop as he was backed against the wall, but his pleas for mercy weren't heard any more than Martha's had been. Adam stabbed Gideon several times in the chest, not as many times he had stabbed Martha but certainly enough times for the damage to be fatal. When Adam's assault finally ended, Gideon's body slid down the wall as blood ran down from the corners of his mouth. At that moment Adam finally started to regain his senses. He looked at the blood covering his hands and the horror of what he had done started to sink in.

"Wait, hold on. There's something I'm not getting here." Samantha spoke. "Why did Adam suddenly kill that slut Martha and his father?"

Yuma finally came to his own senses and looked at the redhead in disbelief. "Are… are you kidding? Samantha, I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but even I get why Thomas… why Adam did all this! He was mad that he got tricked into selling you out as a witch! He loved you, a lot it seems like, and he was mad that Martha managed to trick everyone, even him, into killing you for something you didn't do!"

The surroundings suddenly changed again, and this time Yuma and the others found that they were out behind the house they had just been inside. Before them was a large oak tree with a long sturdy branch that grew a little more than half way up the trunk. Adam was walking towards the tree, his face and hands still covered in blood. In his hands, the young man carried a wooden chair with a coiled piece of rope sitting on it. Adam passed through Samantha as if she wasn't there and set chair down in front of the tree. He then took the rope and began to tie one end of it into a noose.

"Wait! What's he doing?" Samantha asked. "He's not seriously going to…"

When he finished tying the noose, Adam threw the rope over the branch so that the noose was hanging down. He then stood on the chair and put his head through the rope. After tightening the noose, Adam kicked the chair away. Yuma and the others could only look on as Adam's body hung from the tree.

"No, this… this is wrong!" Samantha declared. "Why… why did Adam do that? Why would he just end it all?"

"It seems… he could not live with the horrible crimes he had just committed." Astral assumed. "Nor without having you in his life. Samantha, it would seem that your assumption that love was only an illusion… has just been proven false."

Samantha said nothing as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Just then a blinding light emanated from Adam's body and washed over the entire area.

The light faded and Yuma and Astral were back on the tournament stage. Samantha was standing across from them in her human form. Their monsters had disappeared from the battlefield and many of the audience members were talking amongst themselves trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Um… the winner of the duel is, Yuma Tsukumo!" the referee finally declared.

As the audience started to cheer, Samantha began to collapse. Before she could hit the floor and before Yuma could reach her, Thomas jumped up from the bottom of the stage and caught her.

"Are you okay?" a concerned Thomas asked.

"Why?" Samantha responded. "Why did you hang yourself back then?"

"Oh, that? It's because I couldn't live without you." Thomas answered, knowing very well what Samantha was talking about. "Or with the fact that I let you die for something you didn't do. I don't blame you for being angry with me, Samantha. I was such a dumbass back then. I probably still am now."

"But… you still feel the same way about me as you did then?" Samantha asked.

"Of course I do." Thomas asked as tears came to his eyes. "I still love you, Samantha. And I hope that… maybe we can have a second chance."

Samantha let out a dry chuckle. "A second chance, huh? That might've been nice. But… it looks like this time… I was the dumbass. I'm… happy that I got to see you again in this life, Thomas Arclight."

Suddenly Samantha turned into a ball of light that flew off towards the dugout that Alnia was in. Alnia watched as the ball of light entered her chest.

"Damn you, Tsukumo!" Alnia cursed. "You and the Envoy are gonna pay for this in blood!"

Meanwhile, Yuma and Astral approached Thomas. "Hey Thomas, you okay?"

Thomas turned to look at Astral with a serious expression. "Astral, you can use the Numeron Code to bring Samantha back, right? Just like you did with Ryoga and the Barian Emperors?"

"Yes, but only after Alnia is defeated." Astral answered. "Until then, I can do nothing."

"Then you and Yuma better win!" Thomas told them, and with that he walked off the stage.

"The final duel of the Millennium Tournament will be held in twenty minutes!" the referee announced.

"Well, I guess it's finally here." Yuma realized. "In a little bit, we're finally going to duel Alnia."

"Yes, our long conflict with the Barian Death Queens will finally be resolved soon." Astral replied. "The fate of the world will depend on our victory."

"Then we better win." Yuma told him. "For the sake of Alit, Thomas and everyone else, we need to take Alnia down."

Author's Note: I just realized a funny little coincidence about this chapter and the chapter that showed the original flashback of Samantha's past life, Chapter 15. If you take the number for this chapter, 31, and add the three and the one together, you get the number four. Also, the number 15 could be seen as the Roman numeral for the number four. It's rather appropriate since both these chapters had a great deal to do with Thomas. It's an even better coincidence since number fifteen is also the number for one of Thomas's original Gimmick Puppet monsters. I didn't plan for the chapters to be numbered this way, it's just a happy accident.

Anyway, the climactic duel between Yuma and Alnia is up next. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but it might take me a little while. It'll probably take some time to plan out the next duel.

Please review and let me know what you think.