First Tears of Ra (Part 1)

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

"Yugi?" Téa came downstairs. "I want to show you something." She had waited for some time, just to see how things went, but nothing had changed. There was no new adventure, no new clues, and no information that anyone could find. It was time to move onto the area that might provide something they needed.

Yugi looked toward her. His expression sweet like always. "What did you want to show me?"

She moved closer to him. "Maybe you or Atem will see something that I don't?" She gestured to her necklace as she approached him. "It's Masika's death scene."

"Really?" Yugi looked uncomfortable. "Is she okay with that, Téa?"

"We worked out a deal. She can spend time with her old friend here safely for awhile, and eventually I'll be okay with letting her go with him away from the Game Shop."

"The Bandit Thief King?" Yugi didn't look happy with that at all. "You don't have to make such a bad deal, Téa."

"It's going to be awhile. We haven't found anything to help, Yuugi. Look? She's taking part of the responsibility of my body, so I have to compromise too," Téa said. "She's going to spend several sessions safely in the Game Shop with me present until I feel like I'm okay with her leaving away from it. It's a good step to take in between going back to New York."

"But, but things happen!" Yugi practically yelled at her. "She could do anything with your body."

"She could already do anything with my body. She could leave in the middle of the night and sneak away and do whatever she wanted before I returned," she reminded him. "It's really about trust. Once I trust her enough, then she should be able to leave the Game Shop and live a life."

"Yeah. But." Yugi was fumbling. "I hate it. It's not hers. She's not alive." Yugi stood up. "Did she make this deal?"

Geez. "No, I did," Téa answered. "I want to show you guys what feels to her like her death. She doesn't know anything after this moment. She was highly offended by the thought I wanted to do this."

"Then maybe we . . ." Yugi groaned. "Atem says we should look, but . . . do you really have to-"

"She could run away, and I could run right back, and she could just run away again," Téa said again. "Masika has never done that once though. Please, Yugi? This could really help. You might see something that helps."

"Fine," Yugi muttered. "We should find out what's going on. It could clear Atem's name."

The Millenium Necklace Vision . . .

Atem watched the scene being played out when Téa used the millennium necklace. It was hard to see much. He saw someone that looked like a very young Mokuba in Masika's arms. ///Atem: She really does look like Téa. Interesting./// He watched as a young woman summoned a monster.

Why would he ever want something like this? He had millennium items, he wouldn't put regular people through this. Atem looked all around. He noticed the cards being summoned, and other cards being summoned.

He was nowhere near there. ///Atem: This event must have happened without my consent./// Was someone else in charge of this, saying that he condoned it?

Then, he finally heard someone. Chosen for the Pharaoh? He headed toward the sound with Yugi's agreement.

Farther and farther they left the vision area. This was their chance to find out what was going on.

Until? Ebonnee. Her cat was there.

"Using the millennium necklace already?"

A woman with a cat's head appeared next to the cat. Oh they knew who this had been!

They immediately bowed. A well known Egyptian goddess.

"As we showed grace for Seto Kaiba, so too will you receive the honor," she spoke. "I am Bastet. This is the moment where Masika was chosen to play her future part with you. Now that you have seen this, we will restore her memories of her real death in Kul Elna. She sacrificed her life to the Egyptian gods to save Bakura's soul. Though this promise was not granted right away, our deal is now completed."

Bakura. That is why Bakura's past friend was chosen for this role. "Is there another way that we can provide a sacrifice without involving living beings?" Atem asked, knowing this might be their best chance to find a solution.

They were all out of the vision. Téa looked terrible.

"Are you okay?" Yugi asked.

Téa just stared at Yugi a second. "Yugi." Then she held onto him. Not like a nice friendly hug, it was a hug like when he found her after the virtual duel on her body. She was absolutely terrified.

"It's okay, I'm here."

"I know how Masika died," she trembled.

"I do too. Atem and I saw an Egyptian Goddess in the necklace," Yugi told her.

"I know how I died," Téa said softly.

How she died? "What do you mean, Téa? Are you an incarnation of Masika?"

"No." She clung to him tightly. "It's just too much. I'm scared, Yugi, this isn't good. This isn't good at all. This isn't it, this isn't just two spirits playing body games with us! We know it, they want us for something huge."

We. Us. Téa was talking like the two of them were exactly the same. "I'm here. You don't have to get it exact, Téa, but could you tell me a little about the connection of you two?"

"I'm not . . . I'm not . . ."

"She is part of the tear of Ra, while Masika is the other half." Bastet had appeared before them, along with Ebonnee. She was disguised as a black cat this time, but her voice was the same from the vision. "You can explain with this contraption." She nudged a rubik's cube towards Téa. "Masika did once."

Yugi looked at the rubik's cube.

Téa started to move it around. "I'm green I guess? All of this is me." She said it without any emotion, almost dull. She mixed it up. She pointed to another side. "I'm not as good, but imagine I got all the greens on just two sides? If I can. Just." She started to cry. "My way." She went over to the Christmas tree Yugi's grandpa had set up. She picked up a few balls. "I'll be careful, Yugi."

"That's fine." However she needed to explain.

"So, let's say these red balls are me." She put four red christmas bulbs on the floor. "This is my whole soul." She split the red christmas bulbs into groups of two and added a green and yellow ornament. "The red is still my soul, but it's on two sides, and there's other parts. Making me different? The rubik's cube probably was smarter." She looked at it.

Yugi couldn't quite see what was going on, maybe the rubik's cube could help? "I can help," Yugi insisted. "I can get green on two sides for you if that's what you need." He played with the rubik's cube a few minutes. "There you go." He gave it back but side-hugged her. "It's okay, Téa, take your time."

"I'm green then, instead of red." She pointed to one of the green sides. "This is all Masika, but the green is me still." She pointed to the other green side. "This is all me, but the green is also Masika. We come from the same soul, but with different parts?"

Oh. "Like Egyptian's belief of souls? They are in different parts?" Yugi understood it better now. "So, when you saw Masika's death-"

"I saw our death and the beginning of me separately from her." Téa closed her eyes, trying to get her crying under control. Téa watched Ebonnee crawl at her shoe and meow. "A lot of memories hit me."

"Not much, not overwhelmed, and you won't remember everything for long," Bastet said to her. She looked toward Yugi. "You are the same squares with the Pharaoh Atem."

What? "You mean, we had parts of the same soul?" Yugi asked.

"A soul is so small and complex like salt and death is a strainer. While most of Pharaoh Atem went into the puzzle not every piece did."

Okay. He was once . . . ///Yuugi: I will wrap my mind around that later.///

"How else would you be able to share one body? Souls are quite complicated things, pieces must fit right," Bastet said.

///Yuugi: I guess this is a way to break the ice?///

///Atem: Yes. Ask about the connection now, Other Me.///