This chapter was supposed to be out in a few days, and I'm sorry that it took this long. It's been a very crazy month. I left my job, had to find a new one, and I've been having to deal with paperwork issues from the government to give you a short version of what's going on in my life. So sincere apologies for this not being out as promptly as I wanted it to be.

That being said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. As I've said before, YGO isn't mine, and no money is being made from this story. It's just for fun.

Please enjoy the fic, and kindly review if you have a minute or two to spare.

Chapter 13: Dust to Dust, It all Falls Down

Ryou's scream pierced Akefia hard as he stared at the sight. Amane looked so small of a sudden, so broken. Her waist and below was pinned to the small bus-stop shelter, while the rest of her was crumpled up on top of the car, laying there motionless. Her eyes were glazed over, as if she was only half aware of herself anymore, and her soft hair was quickly becoming flat and wet with her own blood.

It was as if she were some limp doll, forgotten now by the one who had broken her.

"NO!" he screamed, launching forward. Without even thinking about it, he was in Ryou's body, forcing the boy to sleep so that he could take over.

He grabbed Amane's face, turning it a bit and shaking her shoulder frantically with his other hand.

"Amane!" he cried out. "Amane, wake up! Stay with me, you have to stay awake! Listen, look at me, now! Focus, dammit!"

She groaned softly, her eyes getting sharper for a moment, but with confusion swimming in the soft orbs.

"O... Onii-san?" she breathed out, her brows furrowing in confusion. "Your... your eyes... they're..."

"Shh, don't worry about that now," he said, brushing her hand comfortingly with his own. She was talking, and that was a good sign at least. He just had to keep her focused. It didn't even register in his head what she was talking about, or that she was seeing the purple irises instead of the normal green ones she was used to. He was too wrapped up in trying to help her, keeping her held above the abyss of death until someone could come and help her.

She gave a faint smile, before suddenly coughing. His eyes widened as the blood erupted from her lips, staining her mouth and his face, landing in flecks on his cheeks and chin. Shakily, he reached up and touched the blood, smearing it a little over his skin and pulling his hands back to see her red liquid of life on his own fingers, having escaped from her.

"No..." he breathed, as he looked up and saw her eyes start to close, still smiling for some fucking reason. "NO! AMANE! Fight it! You can't die! You stupid, selfish little girl! You're not allowed to die! What will my host say?! It's my job to keep him and you safe! You can't fucking do this to me!"

He gripped her hand in his own, practically squeezing it to the breaking point in his palm, as if the pain alone would bring her back to him and force her to stay awake. She gave no response though, starting to slow down, resting on the car as if she wanted to just sleep.

"No... you can't die," he whispered. "Please... please, Amane. Don't... don't leave us."

She didn't even seem to be listening anymore, her hand finally dropping from his own. He yanked back as if he'd been burned, looking around frantically, willing himself to think of something before it was too late.

It was then when he saw the bag, and it clicked in his head.

It was the only way. He couldn't do anything else to save her. Not now. It was just too late.

"You're not going to die, Amane," he assured her, stooping down and tearing the bag open. "I forbid it. I won't allow you to go, not when I finally have the power at my disposal to stop the death of a loved one."

He rummaged through the bag, finally pulling out something that would work. It was a figure, and a female one at that, which would suit his purposes just fine. It wasn't painted yet, but now was certainly not the time to be getting picky. How it would look was the last thing on his mind at the moment, that was for damn sure.

"Don't worry," he whispered as he stood back up and threaded his fingers through her hair. She was still breathing, but faintly. He'd have to be fast about this. "It's not going to hurt, promise. I know this is going to be odd for you, but it's the only way. Just relax, and don't worry. You're safe now."

He tried to be as gentle as he could when he pulled her soul out, handling it carefully as he put it into the little figure. The times he'd done this before, he'd never cared one wit about the comfort of the people he was extracting, but this was completely different. He didn't want her to feel anymore pain than she had to.

He looked up at the eyes of Amane's body, now glassy and fogged over. He swallowed as he pressed a bloody finger to her throat, sighing as he realized there was no longer a pulse. He couldn't have had any better timing. A few moments later, and it would have been in vain.

Checking the figurine over, he wasn't surprised when it didn't move. The thief could sense her soul resting in it, but she'd been through such a trauma, she would no doubt sleep for a while until she was properly recuperated. It would be for the best. He could explain it to her as best he could later on, where it was quiet and no one would interrupt him. He'd certainly never really planned to tell her even a single detail about himself, honestly, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and he couldn't let her just be in the dark about her new life. It just wouldn't do.

No, it wouldn't do at all.

He quickly put Ryou's little sister back into the bag as safely as he could. He'd just finished when he heard the screams of other girls, clearly coming across and seeing what had happened, other cars pulling by to try to help as best they could.

It was odd, he couldn't have been alone in Ryou's body for more than five minutes, yet it had seemed like an eternity trying to keep her awake and aware. It was no good for others to rush up now. It was all done and finished with. Amane, or at least her body, was dead. Groaning softly, he leaned back against what was left of the plastic, his head starting to swim. He wondered briefly if Ryou had hit his head in the accident, because all of a sudden he felt like the world was swimming around him.

He didn't pay much attention to the sounds getting nearer with every passing second. He just wanted to rest all of a sudden. It didn't matter as people started to pull the driver from the car, the man unconscious and slumped over the people pulling him out. The sounds of the girls screaming as they saw Amane were inconsequential, his eyes starting to slide closed and his mind along with it. Slumping back to awkwardly sit on the twisted plastic, he wondered if Ryou just couldn't take anymore and his body was just shutting down on its own, and taking Akefia with it.

He greeted the blackness, unable to do much else at the moment, wondering just how he was going to be able to apologize to his host for being unable to keep his family safe.

#-#

Akefia had been to a few healing houses in his time, but not many of them, despite the dangerous life he had once led. Even though he often got hurt in his business of theft, being a wanted criminal made it dangerous to ever rely on anyone else for help. He'd often had to stitch up his own wounds, even as he was bleeding so much he could barely stay conscious. He'd covered up his own face as best he could with cloths and bandages when he'd first gotten his scar, a product of his young age and inexperience with trying to take what wasn't his in order to be able to eat. It had been a lesson, both to be more careful, and how to keep himself going and healthy, even as it got infected and he became sick, but taking care of himself as best as he could.

He'd just been lucky he hadn't lost his eye in the process, and that it hadn't killed him.

Despite the risk though, he wouldn't often go to those kind of places, preferring to just shove his own guts back in to going to anyone else and praying they didn't turn him in for the reward.

He certainly had never been in a modern hospital either, and yet that was where he had found himself in currently, floating in the air with his legs crossed and chin resting in his palm. He was currently watching over Ryou, who was sleeping in a bed, completely out of it.

He'd woken up not long after he'd blacked out, out of his host's body and back in the Millennium Ring. He'd left it as quickly as he could, finding the boy still knocked out at the sight of the crash, but paramedics there and loading him onto a stretcher to get him into an ambulance. The dead thief had watched over him the whole time, and what felt like hours later, was still waiting for him to wake up.

Not that he would envy Ryou when he did. He'd left a world of happiness and no worries, and would soon be facing a darker one, a cruel one that you had to meet once you realized just how uncaring life could be, tearing away the ones you love without so much of a thought about how it could and would destroy you.

Akefia both wanted the boy to wake up soon, so he could see Ryou okay, and yet somehow wondered if it would be better if he never had to open those eyes again, and never had to meet such a world.

In all the times Akefia had been kicked in the stomach by this horrible existence, as often as he had lost a loved one, or seen himself fail in revenge or getting anyone back, he would have thought this wouldn't hurt him so much anymore. He would have thought watching Amane, a girl he'd even started to consider his own little sister, die would have been just another one on the list. Nothing to cry over. After all, it wasn't like he had never experienced it before. One would think he would be used to the pain, and thus numb to it.

And yet, it did hurt.

It pained him so much he could barely stand it. Fighting with her in those last few precious minutes of her life, pleading with her to stay, it had been a dance he'd performed before, and the steps hurt just as much now as they did then.

Why was it no one stayed alive when he begged them to? It was just like in his village, pleading with the ghosts of his family to stay, to give him the guidance he needed, to give him the comfort he needed. But they hadn't stayed, and neither had she.

"Dammit," he hissed as he looked down at his host. If this is how he felt, he could imagine the horrible pain Ryou would go through when he woke up. This would change him forever, tearing him apart.

True, Akefia had saved her essence. She was still alive, but only in the slightest of ways. She'd forever be in that lead figure, with no living body to go back to, no way to escape from the world he'd put her in back to a normal life.

Yes, he'd saved her, but it felt bittersweet when he had wanted to do so much more.

Ryou was lucky. He'd survived with little more than a few scratches, stitched and bandaged up. He'd no doubt be released today, allowed to go home with his mother when this was all done and over with.

Speaking of which...

Katherine Bakura had arrived a short time ago, along with Ryou's grandmother, both of them wanting to check on the children, only to receive the horrid news. Ryou's mother had nearly fallen to the floor sobbing and screaming, only her mother catching her and holding her up keeping her from becoming a total mess. Not that he blamed her in anyway. The man was just as shaken up, even if he was better at holding it in. The same pain was etched into her face, burning into her eyes, and he could feel every ounce of her anguish with her. They'd not stayed in Ryou's room for too long though before being pulled away by doctors, police and other men in uniform.

Akefia was starting to wonder just what was taking so long. Feeling his host probably wouldn't wake up in the next five minutes, he decided to leave the room and check on things. Phasing through the wall with one last look at the boy, he moved down the hall and past a few different rooms before finding them. They weren't too far off, talking with an officer. They were all visibly shaken, though his mother was no longer crying, but still holding a tissue to her eyes and sniffling while Ryou's grandmother wrapped her arms around her in support.

"The driver woke up some short time ago," the man in uniform informed them. "After talking to him, and looking over the crash... I'm not sure really how to say this. There were no skid marks, nor any other signs he'd even tried to stop. He had quite a lot of alcohol in his system as well."

"He was drunk?" the old woman asked, her voice a little hard. "It wasn't even an accident?"

"We're still investigating, all possibilities, ma'am," the policeman said with a sigh before tugging his cap down a little bit. "But to be honest with you folks, all the signs are pointing that way. We're going to of course do our best to get him arrested, and I'm assuming you want to press charges on him for your son as well. We'll do all we can to help you get though this."

"Get through this?!" Katherine suddenly yelled out, looking furiously at the man. "You want to help us get through this?! My little girl is dead because of that man! How could we possibly get past this! He deserves to be in jail right now for what he did to her! He murdered my baby girl!"

The policeman looked uncomfortable as her mother tried to calm her down, but Akefia was feeling just the opposite. That piece of filth driver had been drunk? That's why Amane had been hit? He felt his fists clench in rage as he glared at the scene in front of him.

"I really am truly sorry for your loss," the man said. "Look, we're going to do our best to bring him to justice. We can't prove intent in cases like this, but he will get manslaughter charges, reckless endangerment, and of course if you do decide to press charges, the damage your son went through. I promise you, something is going to be done about this."

Rubbing the back of his neck, he fished out a pad of paper, scrawling something onto it and handing it to Mrs. Bakura.

"This is a number to our main office. Any time you want to call, please feel free to. We'll keep in touch if anything comes up. Also, if you're in need of any counseling, I could try to find a good psychiatrist to help you out in your time of grief."

Her mother took the paper instead, giving it a glance before pushing it into her small handbag and giving a short nod.

"Thank you," she said softly. "Will you want Ryou to come in and give a testament?"

"No, that won't be necessary for him to come all the way to the station, I don't think. We'd just like to know what he saw, ma'am," he informed the grandmother. "We'll need his recollection of the incident, and then judge on whether he should testify in court, but we'll try to keep our demands easy on him, I promise. The last thing the police want is to trouble him any further. Once he wakes up, we can talk to him and just ask him a couple things about what he remembers."

"Mmmm, I have a feeling he wasn't the one who saw anything."

They looked over to Ryou's grandmother from what she had said, but she frowned a bit and didn't pay them any mind. Akefia snarled when he noticed she was looking right at him. This was the last thing he wanted to deal with, but it seemed he had no choice in the matter as she softly excused herself from the group, claiming she wanted to go see her grandson. He watched her approach and passing him by, with a short and stern, "Come with me, now," muttered out softly.

For once, he knew better than to argue or ignore her, and followed despite himself.

True to her word, she made her way back to Ryou's room, grabbing a seat and dragging it near the foot of his bed. Tapping her foot a couple times, she sighed a little and looked up at him, her eyes narrowed.

"So, what happened?" she asked him. "What did you see?"

"Not much of anything," he admitted. "I was watching Ryou at the time. All I heard were the tires, and then I saw the car, but just seconds before it was too late. I... I tried to grab her... but I couldn't. My hand just went right through her. There was no way to... to do anything."

For a second, the old woman didn't say anything, but her eyes grew soft and she pulled a handkerchief out of her purse, dabbing at her eyes.

"Living to see your family die, it makes you wish you could reach your own grave first," she sighed, shaking her head. Her face was a little moist around her eyes, but so far she was not breaking down like her daughter was. "I have buried many, many people in my long life. My husband, my parents and even some friends now. I never wished for my granddaughter to be amongst them."

"I'm sorry," he said, truly meaning it. It was certainly a sentiment he could share with her. "You must hate me, for not being able to-"

"I've lived too long to be moved by petty feelings like hate," she said, cutting him off. "I do not blame you. I blame the man who was in that car, but even him, I can't hate."

"Oh?" he asked. "Why not? Don't you care? It's his fault after all."

"Will you punish him?" she asked suddenly, looking up at him.

"What?" he asked, feeling surprised by the sudden turn around in conversation.

"Ryou has talked to me about you," she informed him. "How you had hurt those that bullied him when he was a child. He told me stories of what you did, putting them in hospitals. They were very, very disturbing stories. Ones a boy his age should not have known. Will you do the same now? Will you punish the man who has hurt our family?"

Akefia was silent for a while, pondering it over. It was tempting, so very fucking tempting. He could tear that man apart, make him see horrors he'd never known before. It would be so very sweet, using him as revenge, to make him pay for what he had done, both to Ryou... and to himself.

Only one thing made him pause.

"I once promised Ryou I wouldn't do something like that again," he confessed softly. "He said that me acting like that scared him."

"And you don't want to scare my grandson?"

"Not anymore. Maybe before it wouldn't have mattered, but it does now. Is that what you want to hear?" he asked, not knowing why this old bat was even talking to him. Nothing she was saying seemed to be leading up to anything right now. Just what did she want from him?

"I can see something in you," she whispered. "Something old and ancient, something that makes even me feel foolish when I talk about my old age. It's something dark, and it thirsts for something even darker. You are not someone who has given up on hate, like I have. I lived through a horrible war, one that shook the whole world, and me along with it. I have, in my own way, felt very tired since then. I saw and learned things back then, about the true evils of the world, and how horrible some people can really be, how human life means nothing to them, because they cherished no life, and saw the people they killed as things lesser than humans. It changed me, and I have tried my best to move on and cherish life, to be happy and not be gripped by the dark things in this world. But you..."

She gave him a hard look, her stare piercing him.

"You have been moved so much by those dark things, you almost became one. I can tell. You stand on the brink, and something is keeping you from falling. If you ever... ever do fall, if you ever lose and go all the way... You will not be bothering my grandson anymore. I will make sure of that. I must bury one of my beloved grandchildren soon. You had best make sure I won't tolerate my other one being involved in a murder."
He matched her glare, but heard the threat for what it was. She was completely serious. She was not forbidding him to act out of revenge for the sake and welfare of the driver, but to keep Ryou safe. Granted, he probably would have kept his promise to Ryou anyway, but clearly the old woman was taking no chances.

As much as he deserved punishment, as much as his soul should have been ripped to shreds and devoured, doing so would risk his connection to his host. He didn't know just how she could make due on such a threat, but he wouldn't put it past her into putting her all into finding out how to.

The fact she could see so much of what he'd been hiding from Ryou for years made him seriously feel she could find out how to sever their connection too.

"Relax, old woman," he muttered. "I wasn't going to anyway."

Her shoulders slumped a little, and she nodded. She looked older in that moment than he had ever seen her. It was odd, as she looked over at her grandson, how such a lively and playful woman suddenly looked beaten down and aged. She'd never seemed like this before, and all of a sudden he wanted the plump, cheerful woman who always smiled and smelled of baked sweets back. Funny, he never would have thought he'd miss her as she was, but wasn't she allowed to grieve as well?

"Thank you," she said suddenly.

"For what?" he asked, scoffing. "I didn't do anything worth mentioning."

"Oh, but you did," she said softly. "You tried."

He stared at her, seeing her kind face beam up at him. It made him feel awkward and self conscious.

True, he had saved Amane, but she didn't know that. He didn't plan on telling her either, having a hunch she wouldn't take kindly to her youngest grandchild being in a little lead toy for the rest of eternity. If she didn't want him to kill a man using Ryou's body, she certainly wouldn't react well to that.

She really did think he hadn't done a damn thing, being unable to. It was enough that he had tried, even though she thought he had failed. It wasn't something he was used to, and it made him feel odd to have both gratitude and forgiveness shown to him.

After all, failure to him always carried such consequences, who would forgive him for just trying?

#-#

Ryou's release from the hospital wasn't happy, and he didn't expect it to be. He had woken up with his grandmother by his side, sitting quietly and just waiting for him to fully wake up. She told him what had happened, but they were things he'd already known. It hurt when he was told of his sister's demise, like his heart was being torn out and stomped on. He had never experienced such pain before, and it made his whole body ache from it.

The questions from the police, his grandmother trying to comfort him and hugging him tightly, and his mother continuing to cry the whole time, it all passed in a blur, one he could barely even remember by the time he got home. It was dark, twilight long since passing, and everything was wet and cold from the rain. He'd been brought back and tucked into bed, his mind whirling as he was told his father had been called and was getting on the first plane he could manage to catch.

It was hardly the good news he'd been hoping for, that was for sure.

"I'm going to be just downstairs if you need me," Katherine told her son. "Just call if you need me for anything, okay?"

He nodded a bit, the warm and soft bed giving him no comfort, and feeling he wouldn't be able to sleep for the next ten years.

"Mum," he whispered softly, looking up at the woman who's eyes were still red and puffy. He wondered if he should say anything, something that had been bothering him since he had woken up and been able to clearly recall the accident. He hadn't told the police this, unable to force it past his lips. It was weighing so heavily on him though, threatening to drive him insane if he didn't say something, anything to someone.

"What is it, honey?" she asked.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, trusting his mother. She was so sad right now, but she would help him. She was always there for him.

"Right... right before the crash," he breathed softly. "There was... something that happened. I think I almost got hit too."

She looked confused, not seeming to understand what he was getting at. Brushing a hand through his hair, she chewed on her bottom lip.

"What do you mean, Ryou?" she asked softly. "You were clear of the car, weren't you? That's what you told the police."

"I was... but only because... I think Amane pushed me out of the way," he breathed. "She was looking out the bus stop at the time, and my back was turned, checking the schedule. She had to have pushed me out of the way, because I felt her hands on my back until the hit."

The shock on his mother's face almost killed him, it really did. Immediately he felt like he had said the wrong thing, and his eyes started to screw up in tears.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" he choked out. "If she hadn't been so worried about me, she would have had time to save herself. I'm the reason why she's dead, aren't I?"

"No," she said sharply, immediately grabbing him and pulling him forward into a hug. She held onto him so tightly, it actually hurt, and he could tell by the way she was shaking, she was starting to cry again herself. "No, baby. It's... it's n-not your fault. It's that driver who did it. He's the one who did this. It's not your fault at all. Please... please don't ever say something like that to your mummy again. Okay? Promise me, Ryou."

His fingers dug into the back of her blouse, tears falling from his cheeks as he wept, the pain bursting from him like a dam. Despite her words, it still hurt. Amane had pushed him out of the way, at the cost of her own life. If it weren't for him, she would still be around. If he hadn't insisted on rushing, maybe they wouldn't have been there yet. Maybe they would have still been on the field, far from the crash and not at all effected by it in the slightest.

He had woken up this morning with his sister and his family happy. He'd gone through the day so normal, wanting petty things like figures for his games, and thinking her annoying as she had nagged him for his hobby.

And now... he was in his mother's arms, crying and feeling guilty for now being an only child.

End of Chapter 13

I have never really liked character death all that much. To be honest, I did not want to do this. Despite saying to myself I wished this story to be dark, the death of Amane was something I was not wanting to write. I'll be honest, a big part of me was considering changing it in order to let her live, and never being involved in the car accident in the first place, allowing her to stay alive and continue on with Ryou's and Akefia's lives and adventures. However my beta readers told me this was a serious cop out for a writer, and thus I decided to go through with it.

So thanks to them for pushing me through it, and to Ria for reading this over for me.

Still, I have never dreaded writing something so much in my entire life.

However, I did want to do it justice, so I hope this chapter was well written, despite being sad as hell. A couple more chapters to deal with stuff, I'm sad to say though. It is going to be a bumpy ride, fair warning.

Please review and share your thoughts. It's appreciated.