Amane couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't scream. She no longer even had the strength to yank against the chains binding her as the all-consuming flames swirled up for their final feast, sending agony roaring through her nerves and decimating her soul.
Until, suddenly, she was free.
Panic flared through her as her darkness swept past her and took her place, but she was too far gone to do anything about it. Without the support of the bindings that'd held her, she fell, letting out a wordless scream and reaching out for someone, anyone, to stop her sister from throwing herself away as the shadows and heat reached up to seize her and pull her into the abyss.
Light weaved around her, trying to catch her and keep her from falling, but it couldn't stop the descent down, down into darkness.
And Amane didn't care.
As inky black consumed her, all she wanted was for her sister to survive to fight another day.
And then she woke up in her own bed.
Not the hard, uncomfortable thing she had at her home in Domino, but a feather-down mattress she knew, just by feel, was the one on the four-poster double bed in her aunt's manor, her manor now, in England, grooves and all.
"I've got you, my darling."
A woman's voice, one she knew so very, very well, made her want to weep, but she didn't have the strength. Instead, she whimpered and pressed into the touch of the hand upon her shoulder.
"I've got you. Just breathe for me, please."
The fear, the tremble of her mother's voice cut through the haze trying to drag her away from pain and into sleep, but she couldn't draw breath. Her body refused to do anything to cause any more agony in her burned, smoke damaged lungs.
"Please, breathe…"
As her mother pleaded with her, something wet, something cool that eased the heat still searing her through and through, trickled down her throat, making her swallow. Once consumed, power flooded through her, leaving a stinging sensation behind. A stinging sensation that was countered by relief as she started to heal, and the agony of her scorched, seared soul faded away.
Not completely, but enough that Amane could force air into her lungs and take the gasping breaths her mother had been begging for.
"There we go." The relief was audible as something wet fell upon her face in droplets that ran down her cheeks, "there we go."
Her mother… was crying?
Amane tried to open her eyes but only managed to force them halfway. Her vision blurred with the effort, but still she could see the ash blonde hair and the brown eyes that'd belonged to a woman she hadn't seen in almost a decade.
"Mama…" Amane managed to force the word past cracked lips, shock and relief causing her vision to waver further as her own tears tumbled down her cheeks and mingled with those of her mother.
"You'll be okay, you'll be okay." Her mother breathed, running her hand through Amane's hair.
Amane swallowed once, twice more, and the tingling sensation spread through her form. It eased her wounds and returned some of the strength that'd been burned or given away over the course of the day, until she was able to, slowly, sit up.
"There we go." Diana Bakura smiled, relief easing the tension in her shoulders, "Your friends have you."
"A… Am I dreaming?" Amane asked in reply, not wanting to wake up if that was the case.
"No, my sky." Her mother's smile faded a little, "You're walking the fine edge of life and death right now. As you will until you're judged too far gone to return, or strong enough to be with those who love you once more."
"The edge of…" Amane trailed off and launched herself into her mother's arms, understanding what was meant and wanting to hug the mother she hadn't seen since she was four, before she lost the chance.
"Diana! Come and… Ryou!"
Her aunt's yelp was followed by the sounds of feet pounding along the corridor and Amane pulled away from her mother, just in time to hear…
"Onii-sis!"
She squeaked in pain as a small, brown eyed, white-haired cannonball slammed into her and wrapped its arms around her, babbling so quickly in the mix of English and Japanese they'd shared that it took her a moment to understand, but when she did, she squeezed him tightly, her tears flowing faster.
"…and I'll let you read all my letters!" Her three-year-old little brother promised, uncaring that she was almost crushing him as she buried her face in his hair. "Just like I read yours."
Amane's heart pounded in her chest. She had been four when she, her mother and her brother had been visiting their British family when they'd been involved in a car accident and she'd been the only survivor. She'd been writing letters to them ever since.
She'd prayed that they'd receive them and know they weren't forgotten. To hear Ryou babble about them meant that her prayers had been answered.
"He does too." Her aunt chuckled from the doorway, her dark, nearly black hair tumbling over her shoulders and brown eyes shimmering at getting to see her niece. "Demanded we teach him to read so he could read them to us, rather than the other way around."
"Auntie…" Amane felt like she could barely breathe and not for the pain that still haunted her.
Her father had been travelling too much for her to live with him, so she'd stayed with Auntie Minnie for a few years after the accident. For six years, she'd lived in the Flamel manor, which was where her love for the occult had started, and attended school in England, which was why her accent was firmly English.
The last time she'd seen Minerva Flamel had been when her father had taken her back to Japan with him when she was ten. Her aunt had promised her that she would visit, but it'd never happened, because Minerva had gotten sick and passed away, leaving her money, the manor and everything in the Flamel occult archives to her only living relative.
The, at the time young, Amane.
She finally released her brother and rose, unsteadily, to her feet, getting all of two steps across the room before her second mother swept across the room with all the elegant, regal grace Amane remembered and wrapped her up in a tight hug that had her niece sobbing into her silk blouse.
"Welcome home, little one." Minerva's voice trembled as she tried to control her own tears. "At least for now. I can't keep you. Again."
"Wh… what?" Amane's heart broke at her aunt's words and she pulled away, her eyes wide and her body trembling. "But…"
"You're only walking the edge, sweetheart." Diana answered for her older sister, "You can still go back. You should go back."
"What if I don't want to?"
Amane's question made both adults flinch, but her little brother cheered and latched onto her arm.
"Amane…" Diana started to scold.
"What if I'm tired of being hurt and alone and I don't… don't want to go through it anymore?! What if I want to stay here, with you and Aunt Minnie and Ryou and… Dad's here somewhere too, right?!"
The scowl on Minerva's face made Amane's heart drop. It must have showed on her face because Diana shot her sister a sharp look.
"Your father's over in Yomi. Minnie won't let him stay here with us." Her mother sighed.
"He stole my daughter." Minerva huffed, still angry at the man for taking Amane away, after she'd raised her more than both Diana and the museum owner had ever done. "And I don't stop you going and visiting. I just don't want him in my house."
The fluttering joy Amane felt at being called her aunt's daughter almost calmed the fervor that'd consumed her briefly.
"I believe he was planning to visit your friend Yugi's family." Diana's words hit Amane like a truck.
Yugi.
If she stayed here, if she allowed herself to be judged too weak, too injured to return to the living realm, then Yugi would lose her. She would no longer have a friend who truly understood the difficulties of sharing a mind and body with another. She'd no longer have someone who could use magic at the level Yugi could, who could help her in awful situations.
And Amane would lose Yugi.
And she didn't want that. She didn't want to lose the one who'd given her a life back, given her friends and given her a reason not to die.
She didn't want to be the reason Yugi and Meisa broke down and lost to Hanaq.
Or worse, Fell to the allure of the demon's power in their grief and became the villain Ba-Khu-Ra had thought the Pharaoh had been for so many years.
She didn't want to be the reason billions upon billions of souls were lost to the Shadows in the tidal wave of starving darkness that would cover the world if that happened.
She would never get to see her friends again.
She would never get to see Hiroto or Yugi again.
She would never get to find out if her sister had found a way to escape the flames.
Guilt slammed into her. Ba-Khu-Ra had sacrificed her safety to give Amane a chance of living. After thousands of years of fighting, the Thief Queen had thrown herself into the flames to stop Amane being burned to ash.
And staying here willingly, not fighting to return and do whatever she could to fulfill the dream that'd been sacrificed for her sake?
It was a betrayal of the worst kind.
"I… I need to go back."
Amane hated that she had to say it, but the words needed to be said. Words had power. Saying them out loud gave them weight and made them solid. Made them something that had to be heard and considered.
That was something Minerva had taught her long before today's deals had ever been made.
"I can help with that." A new voice in the doorway made her turn and look. The young woman there couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than Amane, had the blue-grey eyes of Ba-Khu-Ra pre-surrender to the demon, and hair that was just a couple of shades blonder than Amane's white mane.
"Who…?"
"Amane, this is your great, great grandmother, Lilith." Diana introduced her, "She was Ba-Khu-Ra's host at one point."
"During the reign of Queen Anne." Lilith spoke, watching Amane with an odd expression that was a mix of grief and joy. "My mother was one of your incarnations and held the Ring before me."
"I'm sorry?" Amane asked, unsure if she should be happy to find out about one of her past lives, or sad that she had left her daughter to bear the Ring after her.
Lilith waved it off, "I'm the one who's sorry. Ba-Khu-Ra was as much my mother as you were and I lost you first, and her a couple of years later."
"What happened?" Amane couldn't help but ask, curious even as Lilith gestured for her to follow.
"Someone came from Egypt to collect it. When I said no and Mother chased him off, he somehow convinced my villagers that I was a witch and well…" Lilith rubbed her arm, which had similar scarring upon it to the mostly healed wounds upon Amane's own arms. "I know how much fire hurts. Let's put it that way."
"I'm sorry." Amane's apology was earnest this time.
"Wasn't your fault." Lilith shrugged as the whole group piled into the huge library that made up the occult archive, Ryou in his mother's arms. "But I have a request."
"What's up?"
"If I can call a Reaper, if I can get you home, you won't abandon Mother. She was our guardian angel until she was stolen away from us. She doesn't deserve to be lost forever."
Lilith's gaze was sharp, focused on Amane and bore into the girl's injured soul.
And she knew what her answer had to be.
"I won't. I promise."
"Good." Lilith's shoulders sank and her pursed lips softened into a smile.
She turned towards her personal desk, the one Amane had been told was a family heirloom and to never ever throw out, pulled a key out from a pocket in her dress, opened a drawer that Amane knew was locked in the living realm, and pulled out a small scarab beetle amulet.
"I have a brother." Lilith explained as she moved towards a clear space in the archive, the blue lapis lazuli beetle glinting in the sunlight as she passed. "Well… half-brother? Brother-in-spirit? He's actually our great great great etcetera grandfather, but he's Ba-Khu-Ra's only other child, so we consider each other siblings."
"I… I didn't know she had any kids." Amane breathed, having been surprised about Lilith and now stunned that there was another she hadn't known about.
"Mother never really liked talking about the past when I bore her Item, so I suspect that hasn't changed. There's lots about her that I never got to find out, so you're not the only one she's kept secrets from."
That eased Amane's hurt. She was close to Ba-Khu-Ra, close enough that the Thief Queen had given everything to protect her, but if she hadn't even shared these stories with the girl she'd raised, then Amane supposed it made sense that she hadn't shared it with her either.
"Amt was only a kid when the Egypt thing happened and his father fled Egypt with him, so he couldn't be used against his mother. Now he works as one of Anubis's Jackals, to try and earn some goodwill for when Mother finally crosses over."
Amane understood without being told, that he was trying to stop her getting fed to Ammit. Or at least buy some time so he could say goodbye first.
"So, what's with the scarab? Can't we just go see him?" Minerva asked with a frown.
"He said he was going to spend a little time scrying with the Pharaoh's boy so they can watch the tournament and I'm not allowed in the palace." Lilith rolled her eyes.
"Not since you smacked High Priest Shada." Diana raised an eyebrow at her.
"He looked like the man who got me killed. Had the same arrogant attitude too." Lilith shrugged in reply, "I still don't feel bad about it. This scarab is magically tied to him so if I do this…"
She raised her other hand, summoned a small ball of light and joined the two together. Then she backed up, allowing the glowing scarab to hover in the air for a second. As the light took the shape of a person, Amane found herself edging closer to her mothers nervously, unsure what Amt would make of her.
"I don't really have time right now, Lilith." An Egyptian male with grey-blue eyes and brown, almost black hair of around his late thirties, early forties grumbled as he emerged from the light, "I need to find where… Oh… hello."
The hello was directed at Amane, who shyly waved back.
"Amt, this is Amane Bakura, your mother incarnate. Amane, this is Amt. Your son from Ancient Egypt. Brother? She needs your help. If anyone can ensure she gets to go back, it's you."
"I know. I've been looking all over for her." His relief was almost palatable as he turned to Amane and offered his hand. "With how injured you were, I need to sneak you through one of the Gates. All the ones here in Heaven are guarded and to get you through the one in Aaru, the Field of Reeds, I'd have to sneak you past Anubis. Hades is out, so, you and I need to visit Yomi."
Yomi-no-kuni. The Japanese land of the dead. Where her father was.
"That's fine." Amane took the offered hand, "Is there time to visit my dad while we're passing through?"
"Not really?" Amt grimaced, "If you stay here too long, you could get trapped. You haven't eaten anything, have you?"
Amane's eyes widened and she released Amt's hand to wheel around and stare at her mother, remembering the drink she'd taken when she had first woken up. The one that'd eased the pain enough that she could breathe and lessened the damage to her soul to sharply aching second degree burns, rather than the fourth degree burns that had sent her here.
"Wasn't my magic, darling." Diana reassured her, "You're not severed completely from life right now, remember? Your friends haven't given up on you."
And now she really needed to get back, because the only way her friends could have used healing magic on her, was if Yugi had gotten to the duel, despite Ba-Khu-Ra ordering Honda to stop her.
And if Yugi faced Hanaq now, it WOULD end badly.
"And I shouldn't make them wait."
She hugged her brother and mothers briefly, not wanting to waste time she didn't have, but as Amane started to turn back to Amt, Ryou grabbed her sleeve.
"You're leaving?" Ryou's sad pout made Amane scoop him up and hug him tightly.
"I love you, lil bro-touto." Her voice hitched and her body trembled, both in pain and with the sadness that made her want to stay with her family and never lose them again. "But I gotta go. My friends need me."
"I need you too."
The whimper was almost too much for her heart to take and tears trickled down her cheeks as she held him tightly.
"I know… I'm sorry."
She gazed at her mother, pleadingly, knowing that if she had to do this alone, she was never going to be able to leave him again.
"Ryou, honey." Diana sighed as she tried to pry her son off her daughter, "It's not her time yet."
"Don't care." He wouldn't let go.
"Why don't you go get the letters you wanted to show me?" Amane hated herself for asking, knowing that her brother was going to be miserable when she was gone before he got back.
She just hoped that he didn't hate her for it.
"Don't go anywhere!" Ryou practically leapt out of her arms and scrambled for the door.
The moment he was out of sight, Amt grabbed her hand and pulled. The world shifted around them, from the archives in the Flamel English country manor, to the wooded street in Domino where the temple to Izanami lay.
"Come on." Amt continued to tug, "Before one of her Shinigami spots…"
"Too late." He winced as a tall, pale male stepped out from the shade. "What are you up to, Jackal?"
Amane glanced at Amt, who was gritting his teeth, then turned back to the man. "I have a meeting with the Lady."
"Amane…" Amt hissed, shocked and worried.
"Lady Izanami is busy today." The Shinigami smirked, "You'll have to meet with Emma-o instead."
Amane swallowed hard. Emma-o was the overlord of Hell according to Japanese Buddhist mythology. He judged the souls of men, while his sister judged the women. If they judged her unfit to return to the world of the living, she would never make it back to her friends.
And if they judged her soul tainted by her exposure to Zorc, she may not even make it back to her family.
"She's under my protection." Amt stepped forward, his hand dropping to his side, where a pair of steel weapons appeared. A Xiphos and a Kopis, both of which had been forged by his father.
"You'd fight me? In my domain?" The Shinigami's eyebrows raised.
"If you get between my charge and her meeting?" Amt's feet shifted to a ready position.
"I should send you back to Aaru." The Shinigami's own stance shifted, his hand opening as he moved. In it appeared a naginata. "Don't test me."
"Neither of you should be fighting in the street." The sound of a woman's voice at the gate made both Jackal and Shinigami freeze. All three turned to look at the gate to find a woman facing them from the left. A stunningly beautiful Japanese woman looking at them using her left eye. "You both will honor the scared grove and behave."
"Y… yes my lady." The Shinigami bowed deeply to Izanami, "But…"
"I know. You." She pointed at Amane, "Your Otousan has already appealed to me on your behalf. Follow me. Now."
"Y…yes ma'am." Amane scrambled to her side, her stomach dropping when she reached the Goddess's right side and saw the rotted skin and ravaged form that the legends had bequeathed her.
It took every single moment of training as a Dungeon Master to hide her reaction, but managing to do so seemed to please Izanami, who turned her gaze upon Amt.
"My lady, Bakura Amane…" He trailed off at the severe gaze he was getting.
"You will return to your little section of the underworld." Izanami ordered, "And you will wait there until you receive orders otherwise."
"But…"
"Do I need to put a complaint in to Anubis about your behavior?"
"N… No my lady." Amt turned to Amane, "Please tell Mewet that I miss her."
And with his wish for his words to be passed on to his mother, he vanished quicker than Amane could inhale a chocolate bar.
Once he was gone, Izanami started inside and Amane followed, her heart pounding like a drum in her ears as fear trembled along every nerve.
"I shouldn't let you go; you realise?" Izanami asked her as they entered a tearoom where Bakura Sora, Amane's father and the one who had chosen her and Ryou's names, knelt. "Your soul was burned to a crisp. Even with the magic of your friends, you should die tonight."
"I know."
Amane's gaze turned towards the floor, fully aware of just how bad a condition she'd been in by the end of the Shadow Game. And that she would do it again to protect her friends.
"My lady…" Bakura started as Amane heard him knock the table over in his haste to get to his feet.
"However." At Izanami's next word, Amane's head snapped up, "I have need of an eye on that side and you have need to return, so we may do a deal. If, you're as honorable as your Otousan says you are."
"Wh… what do you mean?"
"Your friend, Mutou Yugi? If she succeeds, there will be so much paperwork for us death deities to do, that we'll be busy for the next thirty years. I need to know when she's likely to open the gates and send the souls through. You'll do that for me."
"How?"
"By sending letters, like you do to your family. You'll drop them off at this temple and my priests will send them on to me." Izanami ordered. "And in exchange, I'll ensure you're strong enough to survive your return journey. I won't be able to interfere once you're there, but my influence will take the edge off the demon's control over your soul."
"You know about that?" Amane's squeaked, eyes widening.
"I can smell his corruption from here." The Goddess grimaced, "But you're needed by your little demi-goddess friend, and I need eyes on her. So, I'm going to forgive it. This time."
"Thank you." Relief flooded through Amane.
"Thank your Otousan. It was his suggestion."
When Izanami gestured towards the man, Amane didn't hesitate to launch herself into his arms. He squeezed her tightly in a hug that made every burn he touched ache but was worth every second.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Sora's words startled her, making her pull back. "If I hadn't gone after the Ring, if I had just accepted what I had, I'd be with you, and you wouldn't have gone through everything you've been through for the last few years. You don't deserve it. You don't deserve any of it."
"I…" Amane wasn't sure how to respond to that.
Her father had been at fault for hunting the Ring out, but she had been the one to dart forward and grab it. The empty space in her memories after that, where the demon had taken away the recollection of what had happened directly afterwards didn't help her make up her mind at all.
It did ease her mind to hear, though, that he didn't think she deserved everything that had happened since. So, she just hugged him again.
"Bakura." At the call from the Goddess the pair pulled apart. "You need to let her go and she needs to go back and heal the rest of the way, so she can be where she's needed again."
"Yes, my lady." He bowed deeply. "Amane, I love you."
"Love you too, Tousan."
With one, last brief hug, they pulled apart and Amane turned and bowed before the goddess, "I'm ready, my lady."
"Almost. I know you'll think this was all a dream when you wake up, so…"
Amane yelped as a tattoo painfully appeared around her wrist, a Japanese style butterfly in various shades of blue, resting upon a branch, which, if she looked at it carefully, looked like it formed the kanji for 'shi'.
Which meant death.
"Umm…"
"That won't be upon your mortal form, just your soul dear." Izanami reassured her, knowing what she was thinking. "Now, go on."
"How do I…?"
At a wave from Izanami, the sliding doors to the outside pulled back, revealing a glowing tori gate.
"Remember, after you rest and heal? I'm waiting for your reports."
"Y… yes ma'am."
With that Amane stepped forward, walking straight through the gate and finding herself in a hospital bed and a body that immediately started flooding her senses with agony.
Sending her tumbling straight back into unconsciousness.
As she faded back to black, her last thought was when she awoke, she needed to go and get her Ring back and tell her sister how much her children still loved her.