Prologue The Satiah Card Part 4

DIMENSION: MANGA (Saves the Day)

///Yuugi: The woman in the card didn't ever get to live.///

///Atem: Being trapped inside of cards for eternity is no way to live either, Yuugi. She needs to be freed from this prison to pass on.///

"I don't . . . get it though." Anzu looked toward the system too. "If it is all true, then the little girl wasn't even a part of it. Satiah could have given her to someone and she would have been fine."

"No, she wouldn't have!" That triggered Mokuba. "It wasn't like it was today back then. Death with her was a better option than what could have happened to Heba. It was chaos, people were desperate, even for food in any way. She never would have survived anyhow, but it wouldn't have been quick and honorable." He went quiet again as he started to cry.

"These cards are not worth the hassle they are causing to my brother," Kaiba answered. "Mokuba, it's okay. It's a wrapped-up fantasy meant to seem real to fool the opponent. You know this. You know virtual technology. Relax. Watch this card in action again." Kaiba went over to the other dueling area where Jounouchi had been before. The Spirit yelled but Kaiba played a card and set it to attack Satiah.

Satiah ran out of the way as the attack blew by her.

"The Satiah card avoids all trap cards, magic cards, and physical confrontation. For that, it has a use. It also has a decent AI system, that could prove useful for either Kaiba corp, or a lawsuit against Pegasus. I'm sure the other card must have a special addition to it. One that strengthens or weakens it." Kaiba set another monster to attack.

The spirit dashed up to Kaiba's area this time along with Jounouchi and Honda.

Kaiba struggled as Jounouchi tried to tackle him. "Let go!"

The Pharaoh tried to pull off the card but it wouldn't quit in the middle of an attack. "Seize this attack, Kaiba." He watched as Satiah moved completely over to the other side of the board, constantly avoiding the barrage attack the monster had used against her. ///Atem: No more.///

"Please, Brother," Mokuba shouted. "Don't hurt Satiah." Tears shined in Mokuba's eyes as he started to cry.

Kaiba stopped the assault, giving the spirit the upper hand to pluck the enemy card for good.

"Out of the arena, Kaiba," Jounouchi warned him.

"Telling me what to do in my own company? Please. End simulation." Kaiba stepped back down and away from the dueling arena to his little brother. The only thing Kaiba loved besides power and his cards.

///Yuugi: Poor Satiah.///

///Atem: I know, Yuugi. We need to get that card. Kaiba will use his technology to push her to her limits, not help her.///

Kaiba picked up the cards.

"Wait, Kaiba," The spirit called out to him. "The other card is my card." ///Atem: If her mind can be hurt, he'll hurt her. She could be hurt every time, being summoned in a game. I don't know her intentions, she was with Pegasus. She could have lied to him. She flipped on Mokuba when things got dangerous, her whole vernacular shifted. I don't know what to believe, but I can't leave her there. No matter what./// "I will have to make a deal with Mokuba if he wants it from me." That was Kaiba's language.

"Fine," Kaiba said. "Get Yuugi back his card or figure out an arrangement if you want it." He then plucked the Satiah card back up.

"Gentle, Seto," Mokuba said. "Please."

"That card should be with you, Yuugi," Anzu said from next to him. "You would take care of them. Kaiba's going to put her through an endless gruel of challenges to test her power."

"You are right, Anzu," The Pharaoh agreed. Kaiba should not be the owner, but Kaiba never let go of ultra-rare cards.

///Yuugi: I don't care if we can't read her intentions. No one deserves this.///

///Atem: It is true, Kaiba would do her no justice, but we do not have a virtual dueling deck system, Yuugi. She is more alive out here with Mokuba. This is all different than being trapped within a millennium item. She is trapped in a game, set to experience nothing but battle. Up until she becomes disposable. Trapped. For eternity, Yuugi. We cannot let her end that way.///

///Yuugi: You're right. I don't want to say it, but you're right. If there is no body, and she can never really live.///

"Let me speak with her for a few minutes, Kaiba," the spirit said, "and Mokuba can have my card." ///Atem: It has to be this way, Yuugi. I'm sorry.///

///Yuugi: No, I understand. Satiah deserves the choice. This might be our only opportunity to talk to her if Kaiba won't let her go. If she doesn't agree, then . . .

"A private session," he warned Kaiba.

"Well." Kaiba looked toward Mokuba. "Yuugi wants to play pretend with the card. Is that agreeable, Mokuba?"

"If Yuugi wants to talk to her, yes," Mokuba said. "Let's go, Kaiba. We'll give them privacy."

"Ten minutes is more than gracious enough," Kaiba warned Yuugi. "I have business to attend to not far from here. I'll be done in ten minutes, and then Mokuba will collect his card. And it better be a real card."

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The Pharaoh started up the machine again. He held the Satiah card.

///Yuugi: How did Pegasus ever make this? I thought it was only a tribute to his wife Cyndia. How did this happen?///

///Atem: Yuugi, I don't think Pegasus was trying to make anything in the beginning. He was only putting love into this card. Pegasus was twisted and consumed by grief. I think that kind of pain and love, unable to let go of his past nor celebrate a future he once envisioned, brought the restless spirit of Satiah into this card.///

///Yuugi: Well, if her soul was able to be transformed to the magic of those cards just like the others-///

///Atem: Then her soul was out there, somewhere, unable to rest within an area he had explored./// He placed her card down and left the arena, to meet her on the side.

She was on the field now. Still appearing as the card. A lost mind with truly no form. She looked around, probably searching for Mokuba, when her eyes landed on Other Yuugi.

He pulled himself onto the dueling arena. "Satiah, I do not have much time to discuss something with you. It is of grave importance that you listen." She was quiet. Still. "You are several thousand years into the future. Your mind is trapped inside of a new game. I believe I have the power to break you away from all of this, but your body has long since passed on. This means when I free you, it's over." He gave her time to absorb that news. Maybe time for a translating unit in the game to feed that back to her.

"I sacrificed our lives that day when I raised The Dark Magician," Satiah told him. "Fate will not be changed. If you are willing to grant my soul release, I humbly accept." She smiled. "Maybe I will still have Heba."

He could feel Yuugi crying inside of him, while he could hear emotion on the outside too. Anzu was crying. It was disheartening to see what had happened. He couldn't hear Honda, but Jounouchi had tears in his eyes, keeping it all back. His friends were always tender in their hearts. ///Atem: It's okay, Yuugi. Moving on into the afterlife is a blessing. There are no other cards of Pegasus that match Satiah. Heba will be waiting for her on the other side.///

Satiah stood in front of him obediently.

He held his millennium puzzle. "Break from the magic that binds you here!"

The light of the puzzle shined against her and she disappeared, like she was never there. Jounouchi picked up the Satiah card and showed it to them all. It was empty.

"She picked the right decision. An immortal life of this was no way to live," the spirit answered. "Are you all okay?" They all nodded, staying strong. Although Honda, Jounouchi and Anzu all had tears shining in their eyes. "Yuugi. Are you okay?"

///Yuugi: Yes, Other Me. It was the right decision, better than sentenced to being a card forever. She gets to be with her daughter. I'll deal with Mokuba and Kaiba. Rest. I'm sure you need it.///

He gave Yuugi back control.

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BACK AT KAME GAME SHOP

"Man," Jounouchi said. "I don't know how to feel. We faked out a mom with a fake daughter card, giving her hope. Then she was set free into death? It doesn't feel like a happy ending. Although, being trapped forever like that. It was no way to go either."

"A mom never finding her daughter, and then her life ended," Anzu added. "This day really sucked. I hope they both end up okay."

"But, they are free. No more duel deck," Jounouchi said.

"It couldn't be helped," Yuugi said. ///Yuugi: It was the right thing, Partner.///

///Atem: I sentenced her to death, as I just did today.///

///Yuugi: If she was telling the truth. We won't know until we know who you are. Even if that is the case, I don't blame you. No one could. Even she didn't say she blamed anyone. It was hard, but it was the right thing. What else could we have done?/// Sometimes, it's just the way it went. To end their suffering, the spirit had to end her. ///Yuugi: She's someplace better. Freed.///

That was all that mattered.

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Kaiba Corp.

Mokuba stared at the dueling deck, empty with tears in his eyes. He didn't blame Yuugi for what he did. It was better that way, no one should be trapped in a game. But? It didn't take the sting away. Satiah had helped comfort him, like his mother must have used to. Way back when. "She was so good. She was a little rough around the edges at times, but I didn't care. She never deserved any of that. None of it." He wiped his tears as he looked at the arena. "Satiah, wherever you are? I hope you and Heba are resting in peace now."

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Other Yuugi's Soul Room

"A game." A shadow game that tore lives apart every time a monster fell. "I had to play it. I needed to save the world somehow I suppose, but look at the cost." An innocent woman. A child. They had been trapped in the summoning somehow. How many lives had it taken to play that deadly game? He remembered the way Mokuba shouted at Anzu about leaving her child.

Their world being plunged into darkness for an untold amount of time must have affected everyone. "She brought her own child in because her chances were greater of a kinder death." That was the world he had known? Where he didn't even recognize a woman with a young child beside her was being casted to raise a monster? "A coward of a husband and father, to leave his family to perform his duty."

If it were true. While she seemed good, her sudden attitude changes, and her mysterious past with Pegasus? Was it an accident, or was she interacting with Pegasus to make him get Kaiba Corp so she could always feel alive? Was she pretending to be Cyndia or not? There was no way of knowing, which made the feeling worse.

Should he feel sorrow for that woman, or should he feel betrayed?

Soon, he would know the truth.

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