Author Note: Sorry it's late. The house I live in with my wife (who is one of my beta readers) had a flooding issue and my other beta reader moved house. Here you guys go, though.
'You're getting worse. You have been all day.' The Pharaoh fussed at her sister as they turned the pair of rhymes over in their mind again with a calmer mindset, 'If we keep going, you could die, and if that happens…'
Yugi didn't give a response. Instead, she stared at the messages on her phone and swallowed. She'd hoped the lack of response from Ishizu was because she'd run out of people to throw at them. This new trick was a blow to her morale she could ill afford. It was unfair. The rules had stated they had to make their way to Hekigan and the venom would go away. They'd earned the right to go! This was supposed to be over!
'We're not there yet.' The Pharaoh's cold fury echoed Yugi's despair as the realisation hit. 'We have to get to Hekigan itself, not just earn the right to get there. That's the finish line. That's why she grabbed Shizuka. She knew we'd stop and rest once we had the Map Cards if she didn't. She was prepared for us to be Challenged by someone.'
"Yugi?" Anzu's soft call made the Queen of Games lift her head. "What's going on?"
"I… Anzu…" Yugi trailed off, unsure where even to start explaining.
"I saw the text messages and Honda told me about Shizuka." The dancer's tone as she sat next to her friend told the Puzzle Bearer her anger had abated a little. "But what does she mean, quitting will save your life?"
"I…"
For a moment, just a moment, Yugi hesitated to admit how much trouble she was in. Part of it was that she didn't want to scare Anzu. However, another, equally valid part of it was that if she spoke of the trouble, she'd have to acknowledge how bad she felt and she wasn't sure she could maintain the composure she needed to carry on.
Then Anzu wrapped her in a physical hug, Meisa wrapped her in a mental one and Yugi's defences shattered. She burst into tears as she babbled everything out to her closest friend. The truth tumbled from her lips as she sobbed, needing to vent much more than she'd realised. The emotional release helped relieve some of the horrible tension in her chest and took some pressure off her mind, easing the burden, even if only the mental part.
"And I'm going… going to fight…" Yugi promised when she finally tried to calm herself. "I don't have a choice. I can't… Shi…Shizuka…"
The arms around her tightened and Yugi took a moment to rest her head on Anzu's shoulder, needing comfort. "I'm sorry…"
"It's not your fault."
'It's not your fault.'
Anzu and Meisa echoed each other, making Yugi smile for the first time in what felt like forever.
'If you truly want to continue fighting, then I'm with you.' Meisa promised as she mostly released her grip. 'I'll always be here when you need me. You know that. I'm just worried.'
'I know, but we have access to Hekigan now.' Yugi tried to reassure her older twin and herself, 'And Ishizu won't run down the clock too far. She has to get to Hekigan too. She's in the same boat we are. Plus she HAS to keep this fair, so one or two more lessons won't stop us from getting to the quarter-finals.'
'Can you manage, though?'
'I don't need body is better when you're in control. It's my soul that's sick. If you take control, we'll be fine to take on Ishizu's hounds. I trust you, Anesan. I know you're hurting and you're tired from the Shadow Games, but I also know you won't let me down.'
'Imoto…'
'Believe in me, like I believe in you. I will be fine until we get to Hekigan if we do this. We can't let her keep Shizuka. Shizuka doesn't deserve that and Katsu would never talk to us ever again.'
The Pharaoh knew her sister wasn't wrong, but still, she didn't like it. They'd won their path to the quarter-finals. If Ishizu was playing fairly, she would've accepted the loss. Instead, she was determined to keep pushing them and, to the Pharaoh, that felt like cheating.
"Yugi?" Anzu's voice dragged them from their thoughts and the Pharaoh took over before rising to her feet, leaning on Anzu as she considered her condition. The body was shaky and her head pulsed, but the vessel was still in better condition than when her twin was in control.
"Meisa," Anzu pressed, "Are you okay?"
"I… will be." The Pharaoh didn't lie as she sent a message to Ishizu, letting her know they were continuing.
"How can I help?" The dancer's demand came at the same moment as Ishizu's response, which started with a compass emote.
"Where ships and sailors do make port,
A pair of Duelists hold their court.
Now's not the time to be a mouse,
You'll find all you seek at the old…"
Frustration struck. The rhyme clearly spoke of the docks, which were halfway across town, again. Ishizu was deliberately making these lessons as physically exhausting as they were mentally and magically draining. At least once she was there, the lesson would be easy to find, since it was, most likely, the oldest of the dilapidated warehouses alongside the water's edge.
Then the second line hit her. "A pair of Duelists."
She was being shoved into a double duel. By herself. Unless…
No… she shouldn't risk Anzu's safety by dragging her into a Shadow Game.
"I know that look." Anzu scolded, eyes narrowing, "If you need my help, I'm here. Use me. I've got your back."
"Do you have your deck on you?" Meisa asked, relief fissioning through her when Anzu's hand went to her handbag.
"Yes, but I don't have a Duel Disk."
"Leave that," The Pharaoh hoped Mokuba was still paying attention to his phone as she fired off a message to her handler, "To me."
The docks were surprisingly quiet as Honda and Katsuya turned the final corner, making Honda frown.
His family ran the shipping out of the nearby warehouses so he knew this area of the docks, where the everyday owners docked their yachts, was normally busy. It was entirely possible they were in the city, which was in full festival mode, but something about it creeped Honda out.
Not that Katsuya was paying attention. The weight of the Shadows were laying heavier and heavier upon him as he approached the red boat floating at the last space on the pier, where he could see Ishizu was waiting.
"I don't need you." She stared at Honda, her piercing blue eyes holding Honda's own brown ones in a stare that penetrated his soul, "You can leave."
"Jonouchi's my friend. I'm not going to abandon him." Honda scowled back, trying to hide the nervousness lying beneath the surface.
He wasn't dumb. He knew that should she turn on him, he had little chance of getting away. He wasn't even stupid enough to think he could do much. A magical oath was made and, like the one that Honda had made with Ba-Khu-Ra back at Duelist Kingdom, it would need to be fulfilled.
But he wasn't going to leave his friend to deal with this alone.
She considered him with a tilt of her head. She had no use for him, at least not now. If she'd been smart, she would've oathbound this one as well and used him to harass the little Kaiba. That way she could've taken Obelisk the Tormentor from his big brother.
It was too late now and she didn't have the energy to waste on something she could deal with later. Hanaq was the one poisoned in their shared vessel, meaning their Ba, their life energy, was safe and her darker self had protected Ishizu by threatening her own existence. However, the more Hanaq faded, the more she drew on Ishizu's energies. It'd nearly cost her the last duel they'd needed to get to Hekigan.
Thankfully, they had their Map Cards now and with their plan working exactly as they'd laid it out, they didn't need to waste what little energy they had in a fight for control over Jonouchi's mind.
Still, this friend of his could be a threat. Unless…
"You've told him everything?" Ishizu asked as she let down the ladder for Jonouchi to climb aboard.
"I know."
"And you're picking my side?"
"I'm picking the side that won't get my friend killed." Honda shrugged. The choice to not warn Yugi was weighing on him, but he didn't want to get her killed by letting her know too early and distracting her. "I want to punch you in the face."
"You shouldn't punch a woman." Ishizu tutted as she allowed the boys on board. "But then I assume you know better, since you're used to the Thief and the Pharaoh and you have no magic of your own."
Honda nodded and clambered up behind Jonouchi, whose hands balled into fists the moment he was on the deck.
"So how're you making me do this?" Jonouchi demanded, fire in his tone as he glared at her.
"You agreed to duel on my terms." Ishizu's smile was vindictive as she gestured for him to follow her below deck, "Which, as you know, means dueling to the death. However, I also know that right now, Yugi knows every card in your deck. You won't be a Challenge for her."
"So you're sending me to die."
"No, actually." She opened a door and gestured within.
Katsuya moved to look within and found several stacks of cards waiting for him.
"There is one more lesson between you and her, so I am giving you the chance to prepare yourself. You're not just any lesson for her. You're the last lesson, the graduation exam, if you will. If she can bring herself to win against you, even with the stakes, then she will be ready to deal with the Demon Thief. Letting you duel as you are would be an insult to the challenges I've already put her through."
Katsuya had to bite back his anger as he checked out the cards. His jaw dropped as he beheld exactly what sort of cards she expected him to use.
"These are direct assault cards. They're banned." His head snapped towards Ishizu, who was leaning in the doorway. "You'll get me kicked from the tournament."
"Not that it truly matters, and you know it." Ishizu's tone was one of a mother scolding a small, foolish child, "But both you and Yugi have earned your way to the finals. Any duels now are outside of tournament rules."
"Wait… if she's won, why is she still…?"
He trailed off when Ishizu shoved her phone under his nose, allowing him to see what she'd offered Yugi and what the response was.
"I gave her the chance to run. I gave her the opportunity to be smart and save her own skin. A skin that needs to be saved unless she wants the world to fall." The Bearer of the Millennium Rod glared off towards the warehouses on the mainland, "She chose, instead, to continue risking her own life, to protect your sister."
All the anger and bitterness Katsuya had built up at Yugi fell away at Ishizu's words. Yugi had chosen to keep fighting. She hadn't abandoned them when she'd gotten the chance. Not that it was in Yugi's nature to leave her friends in danger, but still…
"If she had chosen to abandon the lessons, of course, then Shizuka's soul would have belonged to me and I'd have had to decide what to do about you." Ishizu shrugged, "I could have had you duel her on Hekigan, I guess, but I probably would have given you Shizuka's soul instead and the whole magical oath would have fallen apart."
"You're not serious?" Katsuya breathed, face paling.
"Why do you think I didn't want you to tell her anything?" Ishizu answered with a twisted smirk that made Katsuya's hands clench and unclench. "If she knew about the deal, she would have backed out of the lessons and you two would never have had to duel. Honestly, I left you a loophole to tell her. I only said you couldn't talk to her. So this coming duel is on you, not me."
Katsuya opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again. He couldn't have known Ishizu would make Yugi the offer she had. All he'd known was that the duels could kill his friend and he hadn't wanted to add to the chances they would.
The knowledge, though, he could've prevented the upcoming duel. That he wouldn't have had to risk his own death, or having to kill his friend, if he'd been willing to take the risk, was devastating. Shaking badly, he had to sit down and did so at the table.
"That's why I said you'd picked a side." Ishizu turned to Honda, "You didn't tell her either. You let her walk into my worst lessons."
"You keep trying to blame us." Honda snarled, reaching for his phone to alert Ba-Khu-Ra to this duplicity, "But you're the one who started this bullshit. You're the one who keeps manipulating people and you're the one who couldn't just wait for Yugi to be ready. This is all on you, you bitch."
"I nearly died because her Cult tried to end me." Honda realised too late he'd made a mistake. Shadows swept down the corridor at her words and slammed him into the wall, pinning him like a butterfly. No matter how hard he tried to move, the Shadows wouldn't let him.
"My brothers were hurt. I CAN'T wait any longer. This ends on my terms, or I end it for them."
Honda swallowed as the blade from within the Millennium Rod was pressed to his throat.
"I would burn this world to the ground if it kept my brothers safe." The Egyptian woman hissed, her eyes glowing with power as the wadjet eye appeared on her brow, "The Pharaoh? Her doll? I don't care about them. I don't care if they live or die. They can go back into the darkness for all eternity, for all I care. I only care that my brothers live and no one. No one. Will stand in the way of ensuring that happens. Understand?"
"Yeah." Honda tried to keep his voice level, the same way he would when Ba-Khu-Ra was at her most unstable, half-convinced he was going to get killed here and now, "I get it."
Ishizu considered him for a moment, her head tilting from side to side as she tried to decide what to do with him and if he was being honest.
'He's not the Pharaoh's.' Hanaq's exhausted voice echoed through her mind, 'He's the Thief Queen's. She's got her claws in him, look.'
The Bearer of the Rod paused, then took a deep breath and stepped back to examine him properly. Her eyes widened and her lips pursed as she sensed the Shadows curling around his upper right arm like an armband. Shadows that were neither hers or the Pharaoh's.
"You chose your side before all this kicked off." She bit, blade back at his throat, "You sided against everyone."
"I chose to live."
"So do I."
Panic flared through Honda and he flinched, not wanting to die here as the blade pressed against his throat.
Then Ishizu went sprawling to the floor, her concentration snapped by the fist that'd slammed into the side of her head and her grip on her magic lost. Honda dropped to the floor and turned to look at the one who'd saved him, only to find Katsuya had staggered back, his hands pressed to the sides of his head, pain creasing his features.
"H…Honda…" Katsuya gasped out as Ishizu pushed herself to her hands and knees, Shadows beginning to swamp the boat, "Run."
Honda didn't need to be told twice. He bolted for the exit and leapt from the side, onto the dock and tumbled into the water. The Shadows didn't follow as he swam for land, trying not to wonder what was happening behind him.
All he knew was Ishizu needed Jonouchi alive for now, so he'd survive, where Honda wouldn't have been allowed to.
It wasn't until he reached shore that he realised the dip in the water had cost him his phone, which wouldn't turn on, no matter how hard he tried.
He couldn't communicate with anyone. He couldn't warn Yugi. He couldn't alert Ba-Khu-Ra to where they were and what was going on. He couldn't even message Anzu to give her the heads up.
All he could do now was wait. And hope his friends came out of this alive.
Meisa was halfway across town when she barrelled into someone stepping into her path. She bounced off of the interloper and would've hit the ground, if not for the arm that reached out and caught her.
"Th…thank…" She started, glancing up at the one who'd stopped her hitting the ground, only for her eyes to widen and worry to pulse down the link from her sister as she realised she'd collided with Kaiba.
"Kaiba?! What are you…?"
"I caught my brother sneaking a Duel Disk out of Kaiba Corp." He looked distinctly unamused as she found her feet again and pulled back, "Said he was getting it to you. What did you do, break yours?"
"I wouldn't…"
"I need it." Anzu stepped in, putting her hand on Meisa's arm before stepping between her sick friend and her rival.
"You're not in the tournament." The CEO scowled at the dancer, having not expected to see her here when he'd followed the tracker in the turtle brooch clipped to Yugi's satchel, "You can buy one like everyone else."
"But…"
"I need a second." At the Pharaoh's words, Kaiba turned his gaze on her, "I'm trapped in a Shadow Game and my next challenge is a double duel."
Kaiba stared at the Pharaoh, then looked at Anzu, then back to Meisa. Then…
"As much as the mutt is unpredictable and has a bad attitude, he IS a competitive Duelist. Wouldn't he be the better choice?"
Anzu bristled but this time the Pharaoh stepped beside her, putting her hand on Anzu's arm.
"I've trained Anzu, like I trained Katsuya. I have faith in her." She could see the easing of Anzu's posture at her belief from the corner of her eye, but she didn'ttake her gaze from Kaiba, hoping she was hiding how ill they were from his gaze.
She wasn't. From looking at her, he could tell she wasn'twell. Her skin was pale, cheeks flushed, her breathing coming faster than it should, and her body posture nowhere near the usual proud stance.
"You're ill." Her shoulders sank at his words, "The Shadow Game?"
The Pharaoh nodded, having hoped to avoid Kaiba until the poison was cleared from her Imoto's soul. "I'm already qualified for the quarter-finals, I just need to clear the last lessons and I'll be free to duel you, but…"
"Lessons?" Kaiba cut her off, wanting more information.
"I don't…" Frustration surged through the Pharaoh as she trailed off.
There was no point saying she didn't have time to explain. She wouldn't get the second Duel Disk she required if he didn't hand it over and she'd be forced to face Ishizu's tag team duelists solo.
"Ishizu poisoned Imoto and stole the soul of one of my friends to force me into a bunch of back-to-back Shadow Games she spread across the city. The next one's at the old warehouses and will be a tag duel."
"And if you lose?"
"If I fail any lesson before I get to Hekigan, Imoto dies." The Pharaoh tried not to twitch at Kaiba's suggestion that she could lose. "Once I get to Hekigan, she's safe."
Kaiba considered his options. He could just hand over the Duel Disk and let them go, which would leave him with no certainty of seeing the Pharaoh again. Or he could accompany them and ensure that should the Pharaoh get overwhelmed due to her sister's illness, he could step in.
His hand rose to the microphone pin on his lapel and as he pushed in the button, he spoke, "Helicopter to my location immediately."
"Confirmed, Kaiba-Shacho." Came back the immediate reply from the earpiece in his right ear. Then, "Niisama? Everything alright? Is Yugi okay?"
"She will be. We will discuss this later." He couldn't help but be cold with his brother, who'd clearly known about this attempt to get rid of Seto's rival before he could take her crown, and the silence on the other end of the communication link was deafening.
"Kaiba?" The dancer's confusion was clear as she and Meisa stared at him.
"I refuse to win the tournament because you missed the travel time." He responded by ignoring Anzu and staring Meisa in the eyes, "My helicopter will get you to your lessons in plenty of time."
Meisa's lips parted and her head tilted in her shock at the order.
'I think he's worried about us.' Her sister's mental voice was wavering and quiet, making the Pharaoh bite her lower lip, 'It wouldn't hurt to take the lift. As you said earlier, we're slowing down and we don't know how many lessons there are left.'
"Alright, Kaiba."
The Pharaoh didn't entirely like it, but her twin was right. They were tired and sick. They'd agreed to fight to protect Shizuka, but there was no guarantee they'd even make it to the next lesson in time. She didn't want to admit that weakness, but her sister and Shizuka were both at risk. In this case, her pride mattered less than the people she cared about.
"I'll take the lift."
As he nodded, the helicopter in question could be heard on the approach.
"Kaiba?" Anzu asked, her friend's acquiescence worried her, since she knew the Pharaoh would never bend in front of Kaiba unless she, or her sister, were near their limits, "Thank you."
He scooped up the briefcase that'd fallen from his grasp when he had caught Meisa and opened it, revealing the second Duel Disk. He passed it to Anzu, who tested its weight, nodded and slipped it onto her arm. "It's heavier than I anticipated."
"Just don't screw up."
"You realise what you just did?" Hanaq hissed as her Shadows slammed into Katsuya, who bounced off the wall and fell in a heap to the floor, her hand going to her cheek which throbbed with pain and would likely bruise. "You broke your oath. You attacked me."
"I… I…" Katsuya hadn't been thinking beyond saving Honda's life but now paled to a chalk white as it hit him.
He'd just sacrificed Shizuka's soul.
He tried to surge to his feet but tentacles of Shadows lashed out from the darkness, pinning him down and stopping him from trying anything.
"I wonder how her soul will taste." Hanaq purred and licked her lips as she reached out along the bonds forged when she'd sealed the girl's soul.
"Please…"
The half-sob, half-plead made her pause.
"Take me instead."
Hanaq paused to consider the broken blonde who stared up at her with terrified, tear filled eyes. He had nothing to offer her. His oath had been broken, his sister's life was hers to do what she wished with.
'But we swore to the Pharaoh that if she followed our clues, the girl would be safe.' Ishizu's voice bounced across the bond.
Hanaq nearly didn't care. She was so tired and hurt so much from the venom she'd dosed herself with to protect Ishizu, that she just wanted something to snack on. Something that would help her last the couple of hours she had left before they could go to Hekigan.
But her sister was right. She'd made an oath to the Pharaoh. If the Nameless Pharaoh kept fighting, then Shizuka stayed safe.
And the Shadows would hold her to it.
She knelt to stare into his eyes. "If I spare your sister, you are mine. In body and soul, you will belong to me. I will be able to take control of you at any moment and you will not be able to resist me. Even if you defeat the Pharaoh, you will still be my slave. And should you attack me again? Your soul will join those I have devoured. Understand?"
"I…" There was no choice. He'd left himself no choice. It was his freedom, or his sister's soul. "I understand."
"Good." In a move so swift he never saw it coming, she drove the blade of the Millennium Rod into his pinned right hand, which lit up with his piece of the smiley face that had been drawn during Death-T. The dagger pierced the magical sigil, which was extinguished by the Shadows flooding into his system, freezing him from the inside out as they encircled his heart and bound his soul.
Ishizu's lips twisted into a pleased smirk as she felt something magical twist and snap. She knew she could've just controlled his mind. The Millennium Rod allowed her to do so easily but she didn't want a mindless puppet, not for what was to come. Having him able to think and feel was much more valuable and delicious.
And it was a more fitting punishment for his oath breaking than being allowed to hide from how much pain his actions would cause.
Once certain her darkness had fully taken hold, Hanaq removed the blade, healing the wound as she went and stood, taking the magic-bound Katsuya from the floor with her. A small part of her noted the scar left behind with pleasure. It would be a reminder to keep his oaths in the future.
"Get up."
Katsuya's soul trembled in fury and fear as his body rose to its feet without his permission.
"This? This is just a taste of the control I have over you now. I could make you kill Yugi with your bare hands. I could even make you jump off the boat and drown if I wanted." Hanaq hissed out, enjoying the meal his emotions provided and needing the boost to maintain her power over him, "Now, go fix your deck up. The Pharaoh is waiting."
He tried to resist, but it was pointless. His vessel followed orders and turned for the room where the cards were waiting, even as his heart screamed to stop.
In a moment of clarity, Katsuya realised this was probably how Amane felt when Bakura was out of control and there was nothing she could do about it.
'Shizuka, Yugi… I'm sorry…'
They were exiting the helicopter when Meisa's chest suddenly ached like her heart was frozen and ripped out and Anzu stumbled back against Kaiba as ice flooded her body.
'Imoto!'
'It's… it's not me. Not this time.' Yugi gasped out, her mental voice shaking and her soul as cold as if she'd been out in a snowstorm, 'I… I'm not sure…'
'I'm sorry.' The words hit them both at the same time.
"Katsuya." The Pharaoh breathed, her hands shaking as terror slammed into Yugi, trying to stop it sweeping her away as their connection to their best friend cut off, like a switch had been flicked off, taking a chunk of power with it.
"What about the mutt?" Kaiba's eyes narrowed, able to see something had happened and able to remember when he'd felt Yugi fall at Duelist Kingdom.
Meisa ignored him, closing her eyes as she tried to reach out along the connection their soul had to Katsuya's, the same way their friends had reached out to them at Duelist Kingdom. Only to find she couldn't connect.
And as she turned her gaze on Anzu, the paleness of the other girl's face and the fear that widened her eyes and made her breath short, told her she couldn't reach him either.
Darkness flared up around the Pharaoh, creating flames of black and purple consuming everything they touched. Anger flooded both parts of their soul, their eyes shifting from Meisa's red to a more violet hue as their echoed emotions fused their wounded souls, summoning the being they'd been thousands of years ago.
The Pharaoh slammed a hand into the side of the helicopter. The pain of the impact cut through the fear and fury, allowing her to focus past the Shadows trying to break free of her grasp as she pulled out her phone and called Ishizu's number.
The moment it picked up, the Queen snarled out three words, "Give. Him. Back."
"You'll see him soon." Ishizu didn't even pretend not to know what he was talking about. "Focus on your next lesson. There's only it and the final exam left."
"Give him back, or I'll destroy you." The furious, vicious hiss of her voice made Kaiba's eyes narrow and Anzu bit her lower lip. It had the tone of neither Yugi, or Meisa, but somewhere in between and was steeped in power.
Anzu had never heard it before, but Kaiba had. Back on Duelist Kingdom. When Anzu's soul was taken.
"There's the strength and determination I've been pushing for." Ishizu's smug tone made the Pharaoh's free hand ball up so tightly her nails cut into her palm, "Pass the next lesson and you'll see him again. You should be more focused on the lesson anyway. Your twin's nearly out of time and her life is more important, isn't it?"
The Pharaoh ground her teeth together. She could feel the poison coursing through her and knew what would happen if the living half of her soul died,; she didn't need the reminder.
"See you soon." The call cut off, giving Ishizu the last word.
"Y… Yugi?" Anzu's voice shook as the Pharaoh nearly threw her phone against the wall in her fury, unsure how to calm her friend.
"Mutou." Kaiba's sharp, cold voice turned the Pharaoh's attention on him, "You're wasting magic and damaging my helicopter. Cut it out."
The Pharaoh paused, her head tilting as she considered the helicopter's interior, which was dark around her. Then she took a deep breath and pulled it in, forcing the magic to release everything it'd devoured, including the poor pilot who was as white as a sheet.
The effort it took made her head spin and as she fell back onto the seat, the two components of her soul fell apart and tumbled into the corridor between their soul rooms, trembling in shock.
"Anesan!?" Yugi forced herself sitting quickly, worried the poison in her soul had carried over to her twin's as her sister sat up, then wavered and had to lean against the wall, curling in on herself and gasping for breath, only for the Pharaoh's breathing to even out and colour return to her face.
"I'm okay." Meisa breathed, as the echoes of pain, dizziness and nausea that'd plagued the Pharaoh, from her twin's half of the soul, stopped haunting her. "Remind me to kick Ishizu later."
"Won't help. She'll just get angrier." Yugi relaxed, glad the magical poison hadn't carried over. "Sorry."
"Not your fault, Imoto." Meisa put on a smile she didn't feel as she got to her feet, "But I'll get us through this."
"If you need my help to get through this lesson or the test, let me help?" Yugi rose and caught Meisa's arm as the Pharaoh turned to leave, able to sense how her sister felt and refusing to let her destroy herself, "So we all make it through and we get Katsuya back?"
"If you die…"
"I don't want to lose you, too." Yugi cut her off, "I can't lose you. You're my Anesan, you're family to me. And your part of the soul is as important as mine. You're half of the Pharaoh's soul too. Plus I'm not a fighter, I'm a healer. I like dueling and I can summon, but you're better with the magic than I am and you don't hesitate in a fight like I do. We KNOW I can't win against Zorc alone, if I could, this would be over already. So even if I didn't want you around, which I do, I NEED you. Let. Me. Help."
Meisa stared at her sister, emotions flickering all over the place as she processed her twin's words.
"Please?"
Her Imoto's plea broke through the Pharaoh's determination. Yugi didn't beg for anything. She'd never needed to. Meisa had always bent when Yugi had asked her to. Even the one time they'd fought over control, back during Death-T, she'd found her twin's strength enough to back down and accept that Yugi knew what she was doing.
And Meisa needed to do that this time too.
"Alright, Imoto." The way Yugi's face lit up told Meisa she'd made the right choice. "We'll do this together. You and I. Like it's always been."
The hug her words earned her, helped soothe the unease of feeling like she'd lost a limb, even if only a little.
It allowed her to feel stronger as she emerged from the helicopter and faced her next challenge.
