Author's Note ~ Hello! It's been a while, I know. For those of you who are following my five-year-old HTTYD fanfiction that is somehow still incomplete, I am so sorry please don't hate me! I've been having a major writer's block with the upcoming chapter but it's coming, I assure you. You're all amazing and I've been loving the feedback!

Anyway, I've been reliving my Yu-Gi-Oh phase ever since I discovered it on Netflix a couple weeks ago and have gotten back in touch with my inner Joey Wheeler fangirl. And, apparently, it inspired me to start a new fanfic. Yay!

So here is the beginning of a new story I've come up with, centered around an original character that I invented and have basically channeled through Joey Wheeler's persona. That's all I'll say for now. Hope you like it!

Born of Osiris

Introduction: First Impressions

When I woke up, everything was dark.

I was drenched in sweat. This had to be the fourth or fifth time in a row that I'd woken up in the middle of the night. "Fucking nightmares," I mumbled, pushing my hair out of my face. Man, I really needed a haircut.

My eyes flitted over to the clock on my nightstand. 5 AM. Great. I had school in three hours.

With a heavy groan I decided to pull back the covers and just get out of bed, rather than prolong my misery and yet again attempt to go back to sleep until my alarm went off. What was the use, anyway? I'd probably just have the same shitty dreams again.

A flash from the recurring nightmare replayed for a brief moment in my head.

"I knew you couldn't do it," Anubis spat.

"Wait- Just gimme another chance- I swear I didn't-"

"Enough!" another voice boomed. "You have failed to uphold your end of the deal!"

Before I could say or do anything else, I was consumed by darkness and cast into the abyss. I was falling, surrounded by a cacophony of laughter, unable to breathe or feel my limbs.

I padded over to my bathroom with my head in my hand. My entire body was heavy with grogginess, and it was difficult to see since my eyes were still adjusting. "Ow," I muttered as I stumbled over a heavy cardboard box.

I had just moved to Domino City a couple weeks ago, a suburban metropolitan hybrid in Los Angeles county. I figured this would be an okay place to lay low for a while. Having spent the last six years living in New York, eventually I decided that that was enough for me. I'd procrastinated on unpacking everything so there were still boxes everywhere.

I flicked on my bathroom light and then squinted at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was a shaggy blonde mess atop my head, my eyes a little red from the lack of sleep. I looked like shit, not that I was surprised. Turning on the faucet, I bent forward to splash some cold water onto my face and then stood up straight again to get another glimpse of myself.

I couldn't show up to my first day of school looking like this. I mean, it was just fuckin' school, and I'd done this a million times before. But I had enough dignity to value having some sort of decent first impression. It was weird enough that I was showing up in the middle of the semester.

A hot shower would do me some good.

xxxxxxx

The entire morning I felt like a zombie, I could barely keep my eyes open. I couldn't shake the dream that had haunted me all night. It had felt so real, like it was happening to me all over again.

As I trudged to my next class I looked over my schedule for the hundredth time. Where the hell was classroom 11-C? It was a history class, I thought this was the social studies wing? Maybe I'd passed it a bunch of times without realizing it. Was I going in circles? All this shit looked the same.

I found my classroom about ten fucking minutes after the bell rang. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a silent sea of blank stares and a very unhappy looking professor.

"Oh. You must be Joseph Wheeler."

I stood in the doorway with my books tucked underneath one arm and forced a laugh. "Yeah, that'd be me."

I heard a few snickers throughout the classroom. It didn't phase me.

"But you can call me Joey...uh...sir..."

The middle-aged history teacher blinked at me through his spectacles, clearly thrilled to meet me. "Well, Joey, you're late. Since you're new here, I won't give you detention on your first day." He checked my name off on his attendance clipboard with a snide flick of his pencil. "Here at Domino High we expect our students to come to class on time. Have a seat, will you?"

"Heh heh... Don't mind if I do."

So much for decent first impressions.