Hard Prizes (Part 3)

Mai's Current Room (Normally Atem's Room)

Mai watched Jounouchi with unease. She'd never seen him in that state before. "Jounouchi." She couldn't say much. "I still have my cards."

There, that brought out a smile. "Yeah, I do too." He looked through his cards and gave her back the harpies. "I owe you these back."

"Yes, my girls." She took them back, she wasn't going to leave her harpies if she was getting them back. "You can have your time card back too." As she handed it to him, he grabbed her hand. She looked at him.

"Mai Kujaku, I would never give you or Mana away to anyone. What happened, I have no control over." His hands trembled. "There's a lot at stake. A god put you up for stake because of Mana."

Mana. "What about her?"

"In the past, she was a sorceress kind of person," Jounouchi admitted. "She controlled Dark Magician Girl."

"What?" Really? "Dark Magician Girl?"

"Yeah and it made you look . . . appetizing." He pulled her closer to his embrace, not giving a damn about the cards between them. "You're up for grabs Mai, this evil Pharaoh guy Set did this. He'll drag both of you away if Yuugi and Atem don't win a game."

Drag away? "That won't happen."

"If it does, it will be over my dead body first because I don't care if it's some sanctioned winning! I'll never let you go that easy." He stole a kiss. "I love you, Mai."

Mai had her index finger lightly on her mouth. ///Mai: It really is the end of the world./// Jounouchi wasn't caring about the speed anymore at all between them. What did matter was just . . . surviving and being with each other. At the end. She touched the side of his neck. "You have some kind of hieroglyph on your neck."

"Yeah. Crazy cat god lady bit me," Jounouchi said. "Bit Mahado too. He's a little upset about that. We weren't made to be a lion's chew toy." He rubbed it. "It's a hieroglyph, huh? Wonder what it says. What can you see on it?"

She leaned closer. "I see a hand and an eye . . ." Oh, Jounouchi had used it to bring her closer again. There was only one thing he was wanting right now, and it wasn't to argue about whether they were friends or not. Apocalypse. Why the hell not?

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Yuugi's Room

Mokuba barely moved in the bed. He was in grief and in pain. He had no idea where Seto had been, and his pain from being shot was coming back, like it was long overdue.

"Mokuba."

He blinked his eyes and saw Satiah. "Oh. I'm not feeling so good."

"Yes. I had to leave for a bit." She came over toward him and kissed him on the forehead. "I am dealing with a great many things, but I still remembered you too. How are you?" She stroked his hair. "I can't get over how big you still got. If we were in Ancient Egypt, you'd probably already be settled with kids. If not yet, almost."

"Really?" Mokuba asked. "I guess. You were probably young." He watched Anzu come in. "Hi, Anzu."

"Hi." Anzu stepped in slowly. "Hey, Mokuba. What's up?" She rubbed her ear. "Pretty sure Kaiba will be coming soon. Maybe tomorrow."

"Really? Ah, that makes me feel better." Mokuba watched her grab a seat and sit down next to Satiah.

"We've all come a long way, haven't we?" Anzu pointed out. "When we first met, you were trying to kill us with Seto Kaiba in Death-T."

"Uh." Mokuba looked uncomfortable. "I. Seto was in control of that, it wasn't in my hands."

"But you didn't want to stop it either, you still stayed beside your brother no matter what he did." Anzu shook her head. "Atem changed Seto Kaiba, so I guess, that helped you too."

"Uuh?" Mokuba stared at Anzu.

"Her mind has been mishmash. She's been shown things and knows things that is harder for her to comprehend. Anzu isn't Anzu quite right now."

"I-" Anzu looked away.

Satiah smirked at Mokuba. "Would you like to know a secret?"

"No, no, no, not him first," Anzu insisted.

///Satiah: Anzu. You saw what I saw. You see what I see. Everyone there, is here. A sign of things to happen, they were all around. Even the brats, I bet they were here somewhere. Did you recognize any?///

///Anzu: There were some less than nice kids, I think, that kind of followed Mokuba at first. Might have. Sort of. Yes, some of the brats are here too.///

///Satiah: Everything was full circle. If the change hadn't come, we knew the end would be coming now./// Satiah patted her hand. "This is the way it has to be. Not as monsters. You remember now. How to make the best out of a tough situation?" She nodded. "Then keep that in your heart. And?"

"Accept it." Anzu looked toward Mokuba. "I know your brother will get here soon. Have a nice talk with Satiah. I should go."

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Hallway

Bakura fell asleep in Satiah's room. Jounouchi and Mai were . . . making sounds which meant Atem's room wasn't available. Mokuba was sleeping in Yuugi's room. Anzu and Satiah were both in Anzu's room. ///Yuugi: I guess there's no room to talk this out. Yuugi looked toward Atem. ///Yuugi: I mean, how do we really know for sure this isn't an elaborate board of his? I'm going to go see if Bakura is asleep and see what he's up to./// If there was trickery, Yuugi had to know. He didn't knock as he opened Satiah's door, where Bakura should be asleep.

Bakura was at the end table, sleeping. All around him was . . .

Atem came in beside him and picked up the papers one by one. ///Atem: If it is, he has worked extra hard. He could have just locked the door or left, instead of putting in this effort.///

Yuugi started picking up the papers too. ///Yuugi: He's trying to draw plans. This has the areas of his.///

"Stop it," Ryou Bakura's voice in his sleep. "Stop it." Bakura's voice. He whined and trembled. "Gotta keep . . . no!" He woke up, looked at his papers and started to work again. He hadn't even noticed their presence. He was tired, run-down, his eyes were red and puffy. It took him a minute before he noticed them. "What do you want?" Bakura's voice. Then, it went back to Ryou Bakura's voice. "Sleep. Yes. Take the floor and bed behind. I'm still working. I have my own place anyhow. I just."

Bakura looked back at the papers. "I need a name. It sounds terrible, but I need a way so that people know when they are in my part and Hanasake's and a next area over 'cause living is different in each. I can't think of one. I could call it Bakura's but I don't want this." Ryou Bakura's voice again. "Any of this. I don't want my name marked down with this. So, maybe like areas? Area 1: Grocery store. It sounds terrible though, it won't stand the test of time. Grocery." Then he bonked out again.

///Atem: What do you think, Yuugi? He is absolutely committed to this role. Or it's no role.///

///Yuugi: I don't know and I hate that! It's hard to tell, with Bakura's games, you can still feel pain. You can still die. You and Satiah have bodies. And? I mean, a cat goddess is helping us with a lion goddess that talks? None of the other gods talked. None of the other gods just showed up without being summoned. Ever. Bakura though. He seemed genuine. I wish I knew for certain, Other Me.///

///Atem: I don't know, but we need to find a place to rest, until we figure out this arrangement.///

///Yuugi: Yeah, I wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping behind Bakura. I'll get some bedding and we can just sleep wherever.///

///Atem: By the front security door then. Tomorrow, I need to start to become familiar enough with every game in the shop. The better we know what they plan on using for inspiration, the better we will do.///

///Yuugi: Agreed. Atem? Are you as worried about the women as me though?///

///Atem: Anzu and Masika, there is something different to their bet, something that made Masika tell us to back off.///

///Yuugi: I'm really worried. Maybe we should see them before bed?///

///Atem: We shouldn't pry yet, Yuugi. Masika said in time they would tell us. They should receive that time. Our main concern should be finding Kaiba, Shizuka, and telling Bakura tomorrow about it.///

///Yuugi: Right. Twenty four hours. We can't afford to mess that up.///