Total Eclipse
Rating: T
Warnings: none as of now; will edit/update as chapters are posted
Notes: ...I can't believe I'm finally posting this fic.
I started writing it 8 years ago. Literally. I wrote a good chunk of it, including the ending, but got stuck filling in the rest of the story. I put it aside and forgot about it, and finally revisited it again this year. I filled in the gaps, edited it, had it beta'd...and here is the first installment!
Huge, enormous thanks to my betas, ashethehedgehog and Rika, and Phoebe Delos for being a good sounding board for ideas. And huge thanks to my friends who encouraged me to keep writing and fine-tuning this story.
PROLOGUE
The Lord of Darkness sneered at the tiny figure below: battered, beaten, but somehow standing. What else could this pathetic mortal throw at him? Even with that little counterpart coming to his aid, there was nothing, nothing—
Power shone around the pharaoh, surrounding him with light that burned at Zorc's very existence. It growled, preparing to destroy him for the last time. But a voice – his voice – cried, strong and clear:
"I am Pharaoh ATEM!"
No! The mere utterance of the name alone was enough to push It back. It felt the edge of Its shroud of night flicker.
"I call forth the gods of Egypt!"
Pathetic mortal, trying something that had failed once already; even with the so-called gods encased in stone… but no, there they were, soaring from the pharaoh's other half into their corporeal manifestations and bursting forth in a shower of colored light. Light, again, that marred Its darkness.
But it mattered not. It sneered at the pair of them: one light, one shadow, but both hope. "What makes you think you can succeed where once before you have failed? The gods bow to ME now, and you shall go with them!"
"So you say, but there's something I didn't do before," the pharaoh smirked. "Fuse them together!"
Light. Blinding white light sliced through the gloom, searing It with its brightness. It turned, and before Its burning retinas stood the manifestation of Light itself, the being that made every fiber of Its existence seethe with hatred.
Light struck. Darkness writhed, screaming as It was torn apart from the inside out.
No! It screamed, voice cracking walls and causing tremors in the earth. Hatred, denial and malice oozed out of every pore in Its contorted form, almost visible, as it was consumed. Consumed, defeated, ruined by the hateful being of light in front of It.
How was this possible? How could It possibly have failed? The pharaoh was on his knees before It, on his knees! It snarled and howled. He could not win! He should be broken and lost, both him and his pathetic counterpart!
Ruby eyes full of fury and hatred fixed on them. "If I perish, I will take you with me!" It screamed, flinging a hand toward them. The counterpart moved, trying to protect his other half, but it was too late. Too late…
The light intensified. Howling, thrashing, screaming in agony, It withdrew. It had lost, lost for good, lost forever…
No, It thought. No… if I cannot win… I will take them down! I will! No matter how long it takes…you shall pay for this, Pharaoh ATEM. WHEN I AM DONE, YOU SHALL ROT IN THE DARKEST PITS OF HELL WITH YOUR COUNTERPART BESIDE YOU!
No one noticed the small fragment of shadow that broke away from the monstrous form just before it dissolved, swallowed by the Creator of Light. The Shadow fell, fell… yet it did not tumble to the ground. Instead, it drifted, as though it was a leaf on a light breeze, searching for the one being who had once called the shadows his home, if only for a time.
No one noticed as it latched onto the Puzzle, fusing itself into the golden pyramid and causing it to darken slightly. Yugi couldn't feel it. Atem did not feel it. And as the Creator of Light spoke to him, the darkness found a tiny corner of the pharaoh's soul.
It buried itself there. And It waited.
Atem would perish. Yugi would perish. Light and shadow, the counterparts that brought about the demise of the Lord of Darkness would suffer and suffer, and nothing could be done.
The Lord of Darkness would bring them down. In due time.