A Different Sacrifice (Part 2)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One that Pays to Save the Day)

"You won't be able to marry Serenity if you can't even get along with your brother-in-law."

Kaiba glanced at him. "Perceptive."

Not really. Seto and Mokuba Kaiba were adopted at a young age. Mokuba meant the world to him. He was very connected to his family. If he was suddenly faced with anyone having his? He was going to get extreme. "Tristan said he's going to be having an affair with your future wife."

"I don't care what words he uses to annoy me. Serenity and I have our own agreements," Kaiba answered him. "He'll eventually get tired of it. Hopefully. Your rabble has always been annoying."

"Nothing has been Serenity's fault so far," Yugi told Kaiba. "Unless sparks actually happen between the two of you, there's no way things will get to there."

"Before giving advice, figure out your own situation."

"It's already figured out. There's no way out."

"Well? I'm not hearing much of that shining hope you annoyingly always have in your voice."

"This won't change," Yugi said to him. "It never will. If we did find some way to reverse it, the sacrifice would be reversed, and we'd end it all." Yugi sounded rough. "Then? Atem and I. We don't even know what to hope for. I want to stay with Téa no matter what, but being inside someone is already hard enough, let alone four people in one. Atem hates the idea but he's still following my lead."

"Gee, let me see if I care? Hm." Kaiba held his chin thoughtfully. "No, I don't. I never said 'I want to be a daddy'. Your future will be whatever it will be because of god interference and no one gets a choice."

"Atem lived his life, and all he wanted was to pass on. All he remembers is the thought of finally being able to pass on. And now, he's been sealed to half of my life until the day I actually die, and that's not even counting if we win." Yugi sighed. "He's still trying to get along with Masika, and even though he isn't happy, he still considers me the host. He still thinks he should please the host." Yugi gestured to his skin. "This is even his body, but I am still 'the host'."

"Sounds like someone might need therapy," Kaiba teased. "I'm out. You'll be having guards around you too. You probably won't spot them, they are trained to take out enemies and not be spotted. In fact, if you do spot one, tell me so I can fire them."

Yeah. Kaiba didn't share much more than that.

Yugi was about to start following Joey, when he felt his phone ring. Téa? "Hey, Téa. What is it?" She was crying. He could hear it clearly. "Téa, what's wrong?"

"Yu." She couldn't even finish his name.

"Okay, I'm coming, I promise right now." Yugi hung up, went back to his car and then went the way Joey was walking. "Something's wrong with Téa, I'll see you later!"

"Let me know what's going on later!" Joey yelled back.

---

Game Shop

When Yugi arrived, he wasn't quite sure what to make of what he was seeing. Bakura was holding Téa in his arms. She was crying so hard. "Téa?"

"Yugi!" She yelled and went straight to him, now wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I don't know if I could have, Bakura says I couldn't have, but I know I should have!"

Yugi didn't understand. He just looked at Bakura. He had wiped away a few tears. "It's okay? What's wrong?" Bakura handed him a card. Another card?

"Téa found it in her bedroom," Bakura stated to Yugi. "I'm sorry, Yugi."

Yugi looked at the card. He read it. He read it again.

He read it again.

He held Téa back just as tightly. No one ever agreed to that! No one agreed! It wasn't even their card!

Bakura took the card from Yugi's grip. "Careful, Yugi. We'll have to repay somehow if something happens to that card."

Yugi didn't care, he didn't care at all right now. Even though he knew Atem wouldn't be communicating for at least a little while, maybe more- ///Yugi: Atem! Atem, Atem, Atem! Ateeeemm!///

"I felt something calling to me in the necklace last night," Téa said between crying. "Masika did too. We both felt it, but I refused to check."

"It's okay." Yugi tried to be braver for her. "The necklace isn't a weapon. You couldn't have done anything, just seen it." He tried to take deep breaths.

"Why us?" she asked softly. "Why of all dimensions or whatever, why us? Why do we . . .?" She dug herself closer into Yugi's embrace. "Joey?"

"We'll tell him," Yugi said to her. "In a little while, we'll tell him."

"It's not fair," she cried out. "It's not fair."

It wasn't fair. It wasn't, but without their sacrifices, nothing could be done. Never has doing the right thing felt so wrong.

"How . . . do we . . .?"

---

Tristan's Apartment

Serenity knocked on his door. She wanted to go see Joey after he heard from Yugi. She was already a coward about the situation not telling her own brother, but she couldn't hide forever. She knocked on his door again. "Tristan?"

Tristan had decided not to come out for dinner with her and the Kaibas either for some reason. She even had Kaiba wait an extra 15 minutes before they left. The whole time, he had never even called her.

She took the spare key he gave her and unlocked the door. Sometimes when Tristan got upset, he would just get kind of depressed and drink. Her brother did the same thing. She walked into his place.

She saw some deodorant on the floor sticking out of his bedroom door. "Tristan?" She creaked the door open.

And.

"Tristan?!"