Pepper folded her arms across her chest. "Friends don't let other friends get killed. Not if there's a single thing they can do about it," she returned evenly, and without heat.

Valdis and everyone else would be taken from her eventually, and whether she remembered it or not, it was still a theft. The least she can do is her absolute best to keep them safe and sound while they're here together. And if Valdis came to hate Pepper for trying to save her someday, like the anger that Bakura had had for Solomon when he first came out of the coma, so be it.

"I was asking that question seriously, and I'm just trying to help; you don't need to talk to me like that," Pepper started, resolutely refusing to allow herself to feel offended, difficult though it was. This was rough, and she didn't blame Valdis for being upset. "It wants your soul, right? See, okay, that makes sense for wanting to find your ka, that helps. You want what you had back." She sincerely hoped this wasn't a bad conversation to be having where that thing could hear her. Another thought occurred to her, trailing on the last. Shadow tests were not about power - they were about knowing oneself through and through. "And who you were," she added quietly. "Right?"