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When Atem arrived again, Taweret did not say anything else as she disappeared. /Atem: That looked very bad./

/Masika: It sounds very bad./

He could still hear her voice, but he also heard the sound of a horse running. He looked toward Yugi. "Your thoughts are connected to Téa now." It wouldn't be very long before both of them landed in trouble with each other, but it was needed anyway.

Yugi just made odd faces. "That's bad. Why is that a terrible thing? I mean, a thing? Why'd they do that?"

"I suppose we have to keep a link to someone open," Atem said. "I have been tied to Masika, and she has been tied to Sekhmet."

"Great. Then?" Joey looked toward Atem. "Can we get death sentences lifted then?"

"Serenity's is already lifted," Kaiba reminded Joey.

"Can we get baby arrangements lifted at all?" Joey asked.

Atem put his hands on the counter. /Atem: Masika?/ He heard the sounds of a horse again, this time with wails in the background. /Atem: Are you okay?/

/Masika: It's no different than five minutes ago./

Strange. /Atem: We need to work this out, once and for all. What the sacrifices will be, so that we can get them granted and move on. Things are getting worse as we delay./

He closed his eyes. He felt the light like last time. While knowing he had his eyes closed, they were also opened at the same time to see that light. He walked toward it the same way he did with Taweret.

Inside, she was still in there. Her cape a little more . . . disheveled. /Atem: Should have knocked./

She turned to look toward him. /Masika: We are in each other's thoughts, I doubt knocking will be an issue. Just don't go too deep. We must give space like we did with our host. We must try. You were an Egyptian Pharaoh, why are you gazing at me?/

He inched away a second. /Atem: Sorry. My memories are limited of it, and I was not . . ./

/Masika: More of a modern man. Fine, I will try to rearrange the cape. It's big but it doesn't cover everything. There, that's enough./

Atem went back toward it and looked in. /Atem: Let's start with the smallest and see if that leads somewhere. Is there no other way but for Serenity and Kaiba to have a child?/ He waited.

/Masika: Sekhmet said that there is a very evil pharaoh god that made it impossible for Mai to live. She died barely bearing his child in that world, and this evil god was after his sister next. She is far away and Joey cannot help her. Only Seto Kaiba can, and Kaiba needs the power to protect her. Serenity has the power of the blue eyes white dragon but her child will have more power. If they steal that energy from it when it's born . . . it will be blind, but the power to use it will be transferred to the other side./

/Atem: Blind?/ A pause.

/Masika: The wielder who uses the blue eyes white dragon will be blind, so that it can see what it sees when it is being controlled./

/Atem. Serenity will not . . . one more question. Is there a way for her child to see and wield the dragon?/

/Masika: Sekhmet says it is all about balance between everything. Due to something happening on the other side, there is some kind of loophole now. Serenity could give her eyesight to her child, and it could see for itself, as well as with the blue eyes white dragon. She said it is most likely that the blue eyes white dragon will never be summoned in her child's lifetime./

/Atem: Okay, I understand the options for that./ Silhouette was fidgeting around with the cape again, this time with purpose. He backed up. /Atem: Feeding time I see. Just like a real brat. Baby./

/Masika: Yes, she is. She tends to be on the better side though, like Heba./

Atem moved away and opened his eyes fully, which immersed him back into the real world. "I know the options for one." He noticed everyone staring at him. "What?"

"You lit up like a peach back there, Atem, what are you doing?" Joey asked.

"Finding options. Serenity?" Atem came away from the counter. "Your brother is trying to protect you after a crushing loss. He cannot handle another one. He needs the power your child will wield. It will have it here, but it will probably never use it. Just like you have never used yours."

"Oh." Serenity sounded shaky.

"That power will strengthen that Seto Kaiba, so that he can defeat the one that hurt someone Joey loved." It was probably better not to get into details. "However? It will be blind." That would hurt a sensitive spot inside of her.

"It will be fine," Seto Kaiba said casually. "Kaibas are strong and we deal with everything in this world."

"No." Serenity stared at Atem. Of course, he knew that wouldn't be easy for her to accept. "Can I . . . change that? I mean, I'll have the baby, but I don't want it to be blind."

"It only sees what the dragon sees," Atem told her. "Since it won't use the dragon, it will never see. The only loophole is that you can give up your eyesight for it."

"There's still gotta be something else," Tristan interrupted. "Come on, Atem, really? That didn't do any good, she already had the sacrifice thrown off. That's asking more, not less. Isn't there anything else we can try?"

"Joey is saving her life by strengthening Kaiba." Atem tried again. Serenity seemed to understand it. It wasn't good for their relationship, but this was on the smaller scale of the problems.

"But . . ." Of course, Tristan didn't look happy. "Is their solution just always make babies? First it's Mai, then it's Serenity, then it's you and Yugi. Don't they ever have anything else?"

"Yes, they kill." Atem tried not to be as forceful, but Tristan wasn't understanding. "Life is a balance, if it's not being added to, it is being taken, and in greater numbers."

"You were supposed to kick it out of here," Joey said to Tristan softly. "That wasn't just luck you coming back like that."

Tristan needed to get over it. Serenity was already dealing with the second fact of the matter.

"This isn't right, Serenity," Tristan tried again. "In what dimension, what reality, what universe would someone as sweet as you end up with Seto Kaiba?"

"The dimension that is fighting a war against an evil Egyptian Pharaoh, with a Joey so overwhelmed by his limited options, he was willing to do what it took to save the Serenity of his time!" He looked back toward Yugi. Too much anger. "Sorry."

Yugi looked toward him, knowing something was wrong.

"Silhouette is already born," he revealed. "There is no simple change for that fact." She was there. She would either be sacrificed or be a part of the world.

"Your kid is already born?" Tristan asked. "Whoah. Okay, definitely a tough subject." He moved over toward Yugi, probably to pressure him to find another way.

/Serenity: Blind. It'll be born blind. It'll never get a chance to see color, or a single vision./ Blindness scared Serenity more than she wanted anyone to know. It scared her too much. It scared her so much that . . . she glanced toward Seto Kaiba. /Serenity: It scared me that night./

She couldn't remember for the longest time. Nothing. She just knew that she woke up next to him in his bed, but on top of the covers with her clothes on. But now?

Her fuzzy memories . . .

/Serenity: I really should go home. I really should go home./ She was in a strange house with a strange man. She wasn't doing anything, but if she told anyone what was happening, they would tell her that she was being an idiot.

Yet, she really didn't fear Seto Kaiba. She'd spent the whole day with him so far. He told her about his brother, and she told him about Joey. She told him so much about everyone she loved. She told him about all the great things in her life, except for the one thing that was probably the single most important at that moment.

"Serenity?"

She stumbled to the carpet, his all white carpet with the delicate red of the God's Brew. It looked like blood murdered the carpet before all the lights went out. All she felt was a wet floor beneath her darkness.

"Are you okay, what happened?"

She told him that she couldn't see, that she once had problems with seeing. He said he'd call her doctor and he helped her up.

"Where do you want to go?"

Good, she hated when people took charge of her when she was like that. It was something Tristan would always do when things got rough. "Somewhere to lie down. Sorry about your carpet."

"Who cares, I'll buy more." Not sweet words, but his words. She felt his guidance and felt a nice, comfy bed beneath her. He asked her questions about if she lost her vision recently, if she had anything around if she was experiencing relapse, if he could use his physician to look at her because his were way better.

She refused to use his doctor and just wanted to make an appointment with hers. He made the appointment for her. He asked about friends or family he should call. No one. She didn't want anyone knowing. He told her that he thought it was a bad idea, but he didn't push the issue, following her wish.

For a long time, she stayed on the bed. Her vision started to slowly come back. Fuzzy at first. She told Kaiba that she didn't want to leave until her vision was restored, but she knew it was his bed. She was beautiful, and things happened.

"Things only happen when I want them to happen," he told her. "You're fine. I'll sleep on the other side. We'll go in personally to see your doctor first thing tomorrow. I have about a thousand words to ask him, starting with how the hell they can't answer for emergencies."

"It's a small office."

"He better have a real good answer, or it will be no office."

Interrupted from her fuzzy memories . . .

"Everyone learns their own way in life." Seto Kaiba's voice came back to her. She snapped out of the memory. "Setbacks just make the Kaiba name stronger." He looked at her, like he just remembered too. "It's no big deal, we live in a time that it'll be fine. It'll thrive."

He remembered how scared she had been too. "I remember now."

"Yeah, nothing big." Seto Kaiba waved it off.

"What do you remember Serenity?" Tristan was right there by her side. Again. Fast and on time. "Do you remember what that bozo did?" He glared at Kaiba. "It doesn't matter, don't feel bad."

"No, it wasn't that. I lost my vision," she revealed. "I didn't want anyone to know. Kaiba just kept me safe because I didn't want to move. That's all." The look on Tristan's face. She swung back around to look at Kaiba. /Serenity: Yeah. I don't think it's going to be as bad as everyone thinks. At least. I'll have someone who gives me some control./ "Atem?"

She watched him move back toward her. He seemed to be in his own little world of problems. This was not the biggest thing by far for him, so it'd be good to get this worked out. "Could you get me an extra card, so I lose my eyesight instead of it?"

"Serenity!" Tristan and Joey both yelled at the same time.

"Things are changing all the time," Tristan said to her. "Don't do that, don't agree to this. Once you do that, you'll be in Kaiba's web!"

A web. Really? "Atem's already stated it. It's about big sacrifices or big moves. Everything keeps changing, because we won't settle down and decide on what we really need to give! There is a Serenity out there in trouble, and she is going to need someone else to help her. You know who that someone will be?"

"Kaiba?" Tristan asked.

Ugh. "Me!" She was going to save herself. "Azure will have the vision of the dragon and her own eyesight. I give up mine for her."

"You really might want to think about that." Seto Kaiba's voice came from the back. "There is no going back on one of these deals. Once you agree, that other card is dead set to play."

Blindness in the world. It wasn't fun and it wasn't easy. The thought did scare her, but the thought that a baby of hers would never experience anything else? It scared her more. "I am sure, Atem."

Atem nodded. He paused. "Masika said the goddess' have thanked you for participating. Azure can wait, they will substitute power in place for her, but they want the other part now. Sekhmet is coming with a card."

As soon as he said it, a large lion landed right in front of her with a card in her mouth. Oh boy. As long as it was good? She took the card from the mouth as well as a gold pen hiding beneath the card. "Read it and sign it," the beast commanded.

Serenity read the card. Yeah, it sounded right. Balance. /Serenity: I guess I get to make the first act of 'mom' before it's even born./ Weird. /Serenity: I am going to hate every minute of this./

"Sign already," Sekhmet said. "You decided this, Human."

"Sorry. I just never pictured being settled down, becoming a mom, and . . ." Never seeing the world. Never leaving the home. Never accomplishing anything again. No. There wasn't time to think about that or regrets. The other her, needed her. As she started to sign, she heard the predictable desperate mutters of her brother and boyfriend, but she also heard Kaiba mutter something under his breath. She didn't know what it had been, but she did it.

Before she even gave the pen back, the vision was gone, and she felt two people by her sides predictably.

"Finally. Someone finally came through with what they need to do. Keep it up."