“Just tell me.” Oneesan ordered, her confidence wavering as she considered her options. The choices weighed heavily on her. The lives of everyone in Domino verses the life of her little sister. She knew what her choice should be, she knew that she should accept that Imoto-chan was gone and save everyone but she could not.
In Oneesan’s mind the rest of Domino could, to use a descriptive phrase borrowed from Jou, go to hell in a hand basket as long as Imoto-chan was safe and of sound mind. She was willing to do almost anything to ensure her safety. The problem was if she let the city down, if she betrayed everyone in order to spend however long it took to recover the scattered pieces of her little sister’s soul, and there were deaths because of it, Imoto-chan would not be of sound mind when she awoke.
She would blame herself. Though it would be Oneesan that made the decision, she would not blame the spirit of the Puzzle. Imoto-chan would blame herself for not managing to break the seal and leaving Oneesan in a position where she had to make the choice between the people of Domino and her little sister.
There was no ‘winning’ choice. Either way she lost. She just had to choose the cost of her defeat.
She knew who would die if she left the Shadows to feed while she went on her treasure hunt. The first to run out of the things the Shadows fed on would be the very old, the very young and the sick. She did not doubt that some from those categories had probably already succumb. The feeble minded would be next. After that she did not know, it was often impossible to tell who could resist the Shadows for any length of time and who would fade away in short measure.
But Imoto-chan. Her Imoto-chan. Her precious, unique, irreplaceable Imoto-chan. Her guiding light, her sister, her best friend... If she broke the seal she would never see her again.
The one verses the many.
There had to be another way. A way to ‘win.’ A way to save everyone. There had to be. She did not lose. She NEVER lost. She just needed a little more time to work out how to turn this around.
“The secret to breaking the seal and freeing Domino,” The Shadows taunted, “Is blood. Just a little. About a pint, given freely at the very centre of the seal.” The Shadows, still possessing the leader, pointed to the circle that Yugi had been stood in when she had given her life. “Of course we don’t think you can afford to give up another pint. Not with all the blood your little sister lost earlier. But that’s your answer.”
With that they released their grip on the Leader and he collapsed, souless, to the ground.
Oneesan lost interest in the man the moment he fell. The Shadows had him now, she could do nothing to him and she had greater problems.
“Well Pharaoh?” Bakura asked, watching the spirit of the Puzzle as she moved towards the circle, “What are you going to do?”
She did not know. She could not accept that it was over and she had failed at her most important task. Nor could she just turn her back on the tens of thousands of people within the city.
It should not have been an impossible choice, sacrificing one soul to save many, but it was.
She knelt at the side of the circle, which still pulsed with the energy that it had been infused with during the spell and Imoto-chan’s self sacrifice. If saving Domino meant dying and returning to the Puzzle until Imoto-chan reincarnated, she would do it. If she could not save her little sister, then she was willing to do that much to preserve the lives of the others she held dear.
To her surprise Bakura knelt at her side, “If you’re going to break it, I have a better idea than giving up your own blood.” She explained, “The Shadows were right about one thing. That light headedness and lack of co-ordination you’ve been trying to ignore? It’s down to blood loss. I could close the words, but I couldn’t top you back up.”
Oneesan grimaced. She had been concerned about the problems Bakura had mentioned before Imoto-chan had done what she did, now she was not entirely sure she cared.
“You’re forgetting something important, your highness.” The Thief growled at the despairing Pharaoh, “As long as you live, she does too.”
“But she... her soul shattered.” Oneesan snapped, clutching the hand containing the soul fragment to her chest.
“You’re an idiot.” Bakura snarled back. “She’s half of you. If she was truly dead you would be too. Remember?” Before Oneesan could answer, Bakura prised Oneesan’s hand away from her chest and pressed her soul fragment into the one in Oneesan’s palm.
There was a huge flare of light and when it died the two puzzle like pieces had joined together.
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