The moment Ra's flames hit his back; Jonouchi Katsuya regretted his impulsive decision.

The pain was excruciating as the divine flames scorched through his shirt and slammed into his skin, making him staggerstaggering him. The sheer agony as he tried to shield his young tag duel partner was undeniable, and the scream that was ripped from his lips echoed through the water park.

But he held.

Held until the last of the fire was done searing his skin and burning his soul.

Held until he could be sure that the collapsed Rebecca wouldn't suffer from its heat.

Then his knees gave out, darkness claiming his vision as he fell, unable to do any more to protect the child who faded away into the darkness, her lifepoints spent, as his eyes closed, and the floor rushed up to meet him.

"Katsuya!"

His given name, screamed in desperate terror, snapped him back to awareness, allowing him to fight against the pull, fight against the darkness that tried to drag him down, and open his eyes.

Only to find himself laid on the dusty ground, surrounded by a dark fog so thick that he couldn't see anythingnothing further than a couple of arm lengths away.

"What the...?"

Forcing himself onto his hands and knees was almost more than his wounded soul could bear and his whole body trembled with the effort. The gaps in his form caused by the Shadow Game filled in as he looked around, trying to understand where he was and how to get out again.

The sound of footsteps echoing through the darkness made him try to rise toattempt to push himself to his feet, ready to face whoever was approaching, only for dizziness to hit hard and his legs to give out, sending him tumbling back to the ground; just in time for a dirty blonde haired, brown eyed, tall, broad-shouldered brute of a man to step out from the mists.

Jonouchi Goro. His father.

"Pathetic." His father snorted, circling his son as Katsuya sat back up and glowered at him. "You've gotten weak hanging around with these losers."

"They're not losers." Katsuya huffed back, "And you're not real, I'm seeing things."

"I'm real alright."

The sneer was exactly as Katsuya remembered it as he shoved his son, knocking him back down, proving his point, "Turns out if you fuck up enough in the living world, there's no pretty little second life for you. You either get to pay the piper, or you can sign up for community service."

"So, you took the easy way out, like always." He shot back at his old man, his heart pounding in his chest at the implications as he rolled out of the way of his father's foot.

"Let me be here when you got yourself offed like an idiot."

"I'm dead?"

"Dying. Wasted yourself protecting that brat."

He couldn't defend Rebecca, she'd had been a brat and if she hadn't decided to confront Hanaq, then Katsuya knew he wouldn't be in the position he was now, but that didn't matter now.

What mattered was...

"If I ain't dead, it ain't over. I can go back."

"You can't even get up." His father taunted, "I was sent to collect you because you're so fucked up you can't even reach the other side to get judged. I'm here to drag you the rest of the way."

No. No fucking way. Not now. Not like this.

He refused.

"I'm not going nowhere." Katsuya hissed, forcing himself to his feet again and staring his old man down, "I'm going back to my friends and you can't stop me."

"You couldn't stop me when I was alive, you're not going to stop me now. You're going to be the good boy you were before and do exactly what I tell you."

There was a time when Katsuya had wanted nothing more than to clear his father's debts and have a good life with him. Have back the father that he remembered having before Shizuka had been born. The man who'd had wanted to spend time with him and had actually cared.

Even when his father had died, killed by the Shadows after attacking him and Doctor Mutou, there'd had been a part of Katsuya that'd had grieved that man.

But the last eight months of freedom from him, of freedom from having to constantly worry about money and about being beaten any time he went anywhere near his place of residence, had shown Katsuya just how bad things had really been and how much he'd had been used over the last decade. Shown how the little jobs he had'd had since he was old enough to run errands, had actually been to the advantage of his father.

And given him something to hold onto.

As Goro moved to grab Katsuya's collar, the teen ducked out of his father's grasp and pulled away.

"Fuck you. Fuck you and everything you stand for. Kaasan had to fight tooth and nail to make sure I wasn't saddled with your debts, you bastard!" Katsuya hissed, his hands balling into fists.

"So, your mother had to fight your battles for you? I raised you better than that."

"You didn't raise me at all. I raised myself."

"And you did a shitty job of it. Getting yourself caught up in a gang? Getting yourself hurt protecting people? Getting hurt for some stupid kid? Letting some broad use you to kill your girlfriend? And you couldn't even do the latter properly. Weak., Ppathetic. And you couldn't even do the latter properly."

Katsuya's stance shifted with every word Goro spat out, his energy slowly flooding back as the burns faded and healed. Anger burned through the pain and sharpened his focus, his eyes narrowing as his breathing sped up.

"Your little girlfriend's weakened you, made you such a loser that you didn't even bother to try to protect your sister. You could've have punched the bitch's lights out, you could've have ended it this morning. They'll be better off without you."

"Liar." The teens hands trembled as he barely held back his desire to punch him.

"Am I? You hurt your friends, you hurt your family. They'll be better off with you over here where you can't do any more damage. They'll welcome not having to worry about your useless ass anymore. And I'll get a couple of hundred years knocked off my sentence for bringing you back."

There it was. There was the real reason he was there. Goro was using him to pay off his debts, just like he had been every moment that he'd had been alive. Just like he had every single second of Katsuya's life.

"Now, come help me pay up."

He wanted to ruin Katsuya's life.

Again.

"No."

"What did you say?"

Goro's eyes narrowed and his own stance shifted to one Katsuya knew far too well. One that nearly made him flinch from the amount of times it'd had led to a beating.

But he held firm.

"No. I'm not going with you. I'm not letting you fuck up my life anymore. I'm not letting you destroy everything I've worked so hard for."

"You really think you can stop me? You're weak. Fading. Done."

"I'm not done. I'm not fading. I'm going to kick your ass and then I'm going back to the people who actually care about me."

"Your pathetic ass couldn't stop me then. You can't stop me now."

Goro lunged forward but Katsuya was faster, weaving around the incoming fist and delivering an uppercut to his father's gut that winded him, before slamming a fist into his face that knocked the man on his ass, bouncing him off the ground twice before he came rolling to a stop.

Katsuya's breath came in short, furious pants as he processed that, for the first time, he'd had knocked his father down.

Only for his thoughts to derail when his father started laughing. A full, hearty laugh that confused Katsuya.

"There we go. There's my son."

"What are you on?" Katsuya demanded as his father sat up, a proud grin on his face.

"Pride." The honest smile warmed up Goro's harsh features, "Something that's the same no matter the type of Soul Guide, is that if someone who's dying can beat them, they get a chance to live on. I'd say knocking me on my ass counts."

Katsuya's jaw dropped.

"You... you were goading me so I'd beat you up?"

"So, you'd fight and start breathing again, yeah." Goro chuckled, "Doesn't it feel good?"

Katsuya took a deep breath and realised the tension in his chest was loosening and his world was no longer spinning.

And yes, it did feel good.

"I was an asshole in life, I'm an asshole in death, but you and Shizuka are the only good things I did and you're finally happy. I wasn't gaunna let you throw it all away."

Goro's smirk as he raised a hand to the bruise that was coming up on his face made Katsuya roll his eyes.

"Go on. Get back to your girl, be her samurai, before she has to commit homicide. Again."

"Otousan..."

"Don't worry about me. Focus on the life you're making with the Mutous and your Okaasan. You're better without me dragging you down."

"I..."

"Go on. I'll see you later."

As the fog faded away, his father faded too. Katsuya reached for him, but the man was gone before he could make contact, leaving Katsuya behind as a ghost in a scene full of chaos.

Turning to look upon the scene revealed his mother and her medical team working on his fallen form, while a furious Honda cradled an unconscious Meisa.

As Katsuya's Duel Disk slammed into his friend's stomach, waking Yugi, Katsuya strode across to his physical form, wanting to wake and let his mother have it for yelling at Yugi for something that wasn't her fault, only to pause when his barely aware girlfriend was banned from the infirmary.

With a furious hiss, he darted across to Yugi and planted a kiss on her cheek, his hand resting on his deck as he promised, "I'm still with you. Hold on for me. I'll come back."

His world wavered for a moment as his deck glowed briefly, and a wave of exhaustion hit hard, nearly sending him back to his knees.

Not wanting to collapse here and not be able to get back to his body, he stumbled for the ambulance and slumped onto his physical form, sinking into it just in time for them to slam the doors shut behind him.

He managed to open his eyes for just a moment, before the vehicle started moving and the rocking motion of it sent him tumbling into a deep, healing sleep.