Border Between the Afterlife (Part 3)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)

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Yuugi's Room

"He's a little bigger, but he seems like a normal baby. Well, I mean he acts like a normal baby," Yuugi said to Anzu as he patted his son's head. "What was the birth like?"

"The small flying gods were driving me crazy," Anzu remarked. "It wasn't painful surprisingly. I really believed that . . . that I was going to die. Just like that, pregnant and death. I was sure of it."

"Set didn't want you to," Yuugi warned her. "He didn't want to lose Satiah either, but it was just too much. I'm sorry."

"I guess she's at rest again. This time, I think," Anzu said, but she still felt skeptical. "I know that she wasn't put to rest when she was trapped in the game system. I know that when she took the dangerous energy, she didn't go either. This time though, she has to be. Right?" A small glimmer of something shined back in her eyes.

Yuugi knew what she meant. "I know, Anzu. She's eluded it twice. But." If Set was telling the truth, and because of the circumstances he would have to be . . . "I don't think she did this time."

Anzu looked away "Atem thinks she was sacrificed, because I was somehow able to be saved without the gods help. His instincts are great." She looked back to Hikaru. "I want to cry over missing her. She's been a part of my life for so long. I want to laugh and smile though that we're okay, and that Hikaru is safe and happy and funny and . . . I'm sad and happy at the same time, Yuugi."

Yuugi cuddled up closer to her.

"And Atem, I don't even know how he feels," Anzu admitted. "Atem looks somewhere between miserable and . . . evil," she whispered. "You know?"

Yuugi shrugged. He didn't know how Atem was doing but he knew what she was talking about. "He'll put his whole self into winning this game. This isn't over for anyone, everyone gets a chance to come back. Maybe there's even a way to get Satiah back."

Anzu wiped her eye, breaking down a little more. "I don't think you can retrieve her. I want to believe that it's possible, but if she really was sacrificed to Zorc. That demon."

"I don't know but if there's a way to get her back, we'll get her back." Yuugi watched Hikaru prop himself up in the crib. Not a normal newborn either. Then again, Anzu made it. Maybe they can. "Maybe the gods still can. If we win, and it's said anyone could be brought back, then maybe there is a way. I didn't see any clauses in it that said 'noneligible for sacrifice'. You know?"

"I hope you're right," Anzu said as Hikaru started to cry. "I really hope you're right."

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Jounouchi's Room

Jounouchi rocked Mana back and forth. Yuugi had lent him an old rocking chair. It helped put her to sleep, and since he didn't have Mai, Yuugi thought it was a fair trade or something. Doing what he could.

It wasn't really though, no matter how he looked at it. Yuugi had his kid and Anzu. Jounouchi had Mana but lost Mai. And Atem? Man.

He was hopeless. He tried to get him to take Mana for two seconds so he could eat something, and that old 'great and powerful Pharaoh' just held her out from him like he was holding trash. He had no idea how to handle her.

Yuugi was a natural, no surprise. Probably a secret dream of his to have his shop and success with Anzu and a family.

Still, other things were on Atem's mind too. It was best to let that genius simmer. Maybe he'd come up with something? So, Jounouchi chilled alone with his new daughter, leaving Atem be for the night.

And those words used for the ending too! 100% afterlife. What a cold-hearted way to say she died. You'd think he'd have more compassion, he was supposed to be madly in love! Atem wouldn't let that stand.

This was a guy that couldn't let anyone get belittled, especially Yuugi and his friends.

Atem always seemed to have a more mature attitude. Almost a wise sort of knowing around him. Nothing phased him, but while he didn't say much, the eyes of Yuugi when he first changed seemed present again in him. It was this sort of whacked out look. His hair, it seemed a bit more wild too, which was saying something since it was always wild. It was more like a colored octopus, running in different directions.

And those eyes. He just couldn't get over those eyes. Even if he didn't know how to hold Mana, he wouldn't have let him hold her for long. ///Jounouchi: I guess after thousands of years in a puzzle alone, and then running a kingdom that wasn't making you happy either, Atem had found a decent friend that could connect with him in a way Yuugi or I couldn't./// He kept rocking. "Either that, or Atem could be fancying her." Jounouchi heard his words out loud. Atem never fancied anyone, but she was Egyptian. From his time. At one time partly his and Yuugi's wife?

Atem didn't fancy Anzu, but Satiah just wasn't Anzu anymore than Atem was Yuugi. Either way, a connected friend he had grown close to, or a girl he might have liked, Satiah was stuck in a hell with a demon, and it looked like it was eating Atem up.

///Jounouchi: Man, immortal or whatever, Set better be saying his prayers and praying to a different god 'cause when Atem gets mad? If he really pissed off Atem. If he brought out the old side that used to be there when Yugi first got to know me?///

Ooh. When it was all over, Set was gonna roast like a pig on a spit.

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God's Realm

Set woke up on the ground near the Gods realm.

///Zorc: Wakey, wakey.///

"Uh?" Set looked around. "Where are my wives?"

///Zorc: One made it. One didn't. I returned Anzu to Yuugi and their terrible son.///

"But the other part?" Awww! "She's gone?"

///Zorc: The child was too powerful with evil. My millennium power was too much for the little humanity she had. She's in the afterlife now with her mommy.///

Damn! "At least, I still have one," he tried to tell himself. One was enough for the bet. Afterward, if Horakhty was happy with the outcome, maybe Horakhty would bring the other part back? "Three days. I am going to make them suffer by my own hands in three days."

///Zorc: Or I can?///

"No." He refused to let the demon have that much control over the situation. He picked up one of the mirrors left behind. He could see the siding of a building, with a crib not far nearby. "Yuugi's shop."

Yep, Yuugi had his wife for now, but not forever. ///Set: I won't let him take her away again. They were supposed to be mine. Mine!///

///Zorc: You can still make them suffer. Call it an accident. Have one of your minions check up on them, see if they are following the rules. If not? Not your fault if you accidentally don't make it and someone not in the bet gets killed.///

Well, that wasn't half a bad idea. "The less people around, the less cheering they are going to get." The less cheering, the better he would do against them. However, he needed to keep the Ishtar's safe, they were the confusing hand that proved he was still good when his judgment came. Besides, there was no rush. This wouldn't be a typical game either.

Each time they made their move, no one was going to cheer. No one would walk away from that game without some heartache.

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Zorc waited inside the soul room of the split millennium puzzle. Half of him was in Yuugi's side. Half was in Atem's side. It wouldn't be long now. ///Zorc: Come on, Atem. Think about the words. Go and fetch that pretty little wife.///

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