Chapter Four: Caliginosity

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." - Terry Pratchett

"Alright, take a deep breath."

Mokuba did as Atemu requested, taking a deep breath and holding it, feeling the tightness in his chest as time passed, lungs begging to let the air out.

"Now release it, slowly."

Mokuba did, letting the air slowly pass over his lips, removing the puffed out cheek look as he collapsed slightly.

"Good, now close your eyes, and travel deep within yourself. This is entirely mental so don't worry about feeling 'stupid', it's really all in your head. Deep, deep inside you'll see a glowing, pulsating ball of light. Reach out to that light, embrace it."

Mokuba nodded, feeling stupid in-spite of Atemu's words, closing his eyes and 'falling' into himself, picturing such a ball, reaching out for it, mentally embracing the pulsating light. He was startled, as a warm feeling traveled across his body.

Atemu smiled as Mokuba jumped, knowing what it felt like to first touch the magic hidden inside one's body. "Reach out and touch the light, gently, just barely caressing it."

Mokuba swallowed and mentally touched the pulsating light, gasping as he could feel a tendril wrap around his hand. He raised his hand, twisting it, wondering at the feeling considering he couldn't see the image in reality, but in his head. "Weird..." he murmured, curling a finger around the tendril.

"That's your magic," Atemu said, smiling as he watched Mokuba. He raised his hands and blew between them, whispering a word. The light manifested before Mokuba, floating merrily, still wrapping around the teenager's hand.

"That's so cool, how did you make it appear?"

"Secret." Atemu said with a smirk. "Now we're ready for your first test. I want you to close your eyes again, and reach for that light once more in your mind. Will it to form a shape. Don't force a shape on it, but convince it to turn into something new."

Mokuba swallowed, trying to calm his nerves before closing his eyes again, squeezing them tightly shut as he attempted to will his magic into a shape. He could feel a headache forming, and the slight pain was distracting him from the task.

"Relax, Mokuba. You don't need to use force."

Mokuba forced himself to relax and still attempt to shape his magic. Atemu watched as the bobbing ball of light shifted, growing and stretching slowly, embracing it's new shape for the first time. He watched as blue eyes parted, before opening fully, mouth stretching in a large yawn that showed rows of sharp, biting teeth.

"Open your eyes," he whispered and Mokuba did, gasping.

Floating in front of him, blinking sleepy, was a small, teddy-bear sized dragon. Small white wings fluttered, keeping the animal in the air as the small creature looked around, before yawning again, lightning crackling in it's jaws. "It's a Blue-Eyes...a Toon Blue-Eye." Mokuba looked confused.

"Not exactly," Atemu said, and reached out his hand, gently stroking the small dragon under the chin. "It's a baby Blue-eyes."

"They come as babies?"

"Of course, you don't think they just burst into being, fully grown, do you? Even Duel Monsters have childhoods. This is your soul, Mokuba. He may be small now, but he's still got quite a bite, and one day...he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Like you."

Mokuba blushed, reaching out and gently petting the dragon's head. "So, what's your soul monster?" he asked softly.

Atemu grinned and closed his eyes, calling for the monster inside him, grinning as he felt the swirling of magic around him. He opened his eyes, bowing to the Dark Magician, Mahado. Mokuba's eyes widened as he stared at the tall, intimidating figure and the baby Blue-Eyes shifted, guarding Mokuba, instantly awake.

"Relax, he won't harm you." Atemu said and Mahado nodded before glancing at Atemu.

"I thought you had crossed over, my Pharaoh."

"It wasn't time yet, my friend. I wasn't...it wasn't right."

Mahado nodded, uncrossing his arms and simply floating, taking in everything around him. It was rare he had a chance to study this world. Mokuba watched him before glancing at Atemu, still nervous.

"Relax, soul monsters are really rather safe, unless you're fighting. Then they will do anything in their power to protect you. They are...incredible friends. At times, your closest companion."

"But they're just..."

"Creatures? Spirits of magic? So was I, once." Atemu smiled at Mokuba and tugged on the teen's braid. "Name him,"

"What?"

"Name him. Give him an identity, more then just a creature, more then something of your soul, make him real."

"I...uh..." Mokuba worried at his lip before suddenly hugging the baby dragon. "Set. Your name is Set."

Mahado and Atemu smiled. "Good choice," Atemu said, watching Mokuba hugging the small dragon. "Now, you have to release him. Will him gone."

"But.." Mokuba looked sad, petting the sleepy dragon.

"I know, but this is your first time, if you go to long, you'll weaken. Release him, Mokuba, before you damage yourself."

Mokuba nodded and closed his eyes, willing Set to vanish a tear slipped down his cheek as the dragon started to flicker before vanishing. He sniffled and laid his head on Atemu's shoulder, barley noticing as the Dark Magician vanished.

Atemu wrapped an arm around the teen, hugging him. "That was very good, for a first time. Soon you'll be able to support him longer, and in time, he can come and go with ease, not needing your magic."

Mokuba was silent for a long moment, before looking up at Atemu. "If you can summon the Dark Magician...what else can you summon?"

"I can summon any monster that still has a carving...er, a card now. If the card doesn't exist, then it's permanently lost now. And I can't summon someone else's soul without their assistance."

"So you couldn't summon Set unless I let you?"

"Nor could I summon Yugi's Kuriboh, or your brother's dragon."

"Seto has a dragon?"

Atemu laughed. "There ARE three Blue-Eyes, Mokuba. Seto, yourself and one more."

"But..."

"The forth was lost, when your brother tore it. Whomever's soul it may have been...that's gone now."

"What happens, when a soul creature dies?"

"Most often...so does the human."

"Oh," Mokuba said and his hand reached up instinctively, touching his heart where he could now feel Set sleeping. "If you can summon anything with a card, does that mean you can summon the gods?"

Atemu smiled wistfully. "Once upon a time, but that power is lost now. I could only summon the gods with the boost of the Millennium Puzzle. Now they're too strong for me, I would die in the attempt."

"Oh...er, don't try it, okay?"

"I have no plans to," Atemu said with a laugh.

--

Atemu yawned, stretching as he followed Seto and Mokuba towards Kaiba Corp's downtown offices. He had no real reason to follow the pair, except boredom, and the fact Seto had mentioned testing out the next generation of Duel Disk. It was rather exciting for Atemu, to be the first (besides the Kaiba Brothers) to touch the new disks, not to mention have a chance to duel for the first time in four years. He no longer had his own deck, but a temporary one made up from Seto's card collection. It wasn't his, yet, and in fact, he wasn't too sure of how it would do, untested.

Only one card in the deck, was really familiar to him, and it was strange, starting over again.

He shifted through the rows of guards, finding it amusing that between the three of them they were surrounded by ten men. Seto had given him his own set of guards after a run in with an over eager competitor who had mistaken him for Yugi, and the sight the three made when together was almost hanging a neon sign over their heads, indicating someone IMPORTANT was there.

"SETO KAIBA!" A voice roared and the three bodyguards around Seto turned instinctively, glancing around. Seto's eyes cast about the roofs, looking for a sniper, while Mokuba's instead took the ground, looking for an assassin.

There was a human cry of unadulterated rage and soon the air was filled with the echoes of gunshots and women screaming. Seto jerked his brother closer to him, hunching his larger form over the sixteen year old, hissing as one of the bullets that had already killed the bodyguard in front of him sliced through his shoulder.

"Seto!" Mokuba cried out, feeling the hot droplets of blood staining his cheek.

"It's alright, Mokuba," Seto whispered, eyes trained on where the shots were coming from, desperate for a view of the person attacking them. There was an opening in the crowd and suddenly he could see their attacker, a hunched old man, holding a gnarled walking stick in front of him. The man squeezed the handle and another guard fell, even as security rushed from the corporation's building, heading for the man.

Atemu stared, held back by his own guards, unable to get closer to his lover and Mokuba, trembling with fear and rage as he watched the old man dart past the security forces more agilely then any man with that much grey hair had a right to move. There were no more guards in between the man and Seto, and the old man squeezed the handle again.

Atemu screamed.

All the rage, all the hatred, all the fear and terror swept out of his body in that scream. His ears grew deaf to the sounds around him, eyes blind to anything but his family. His family, that was about to die before him. In a movement older then even Atemu himself, the thrust out his arm, as if warding off the blow coming to Seto and Mokuba, screaming for the gods long since dead. He called out to the father, the creator of all, the eternal sun.

And with the break of a thousand lights, parting through the already clear and sunlit skies, blinding those who dared to look upon them, the god answered his cry, a roar crashing down over the mortal plane, washing away dust and dirt in a shock wave, clearing a place for Ra to grace them in a draconian form.

Atemu stared at the shining, winged figure, his body trembling, eyes gazing in and out of focus, almost missing the beast roaring back, body exploding into flame, a jet of fire casting forth towards the man harming the king's family.

As the smell of burning flesh grew thick in the air, and the Kaiba brother's turned to the one man who could have called such a creature forth, Atemu stumbled, before collapsing to the ground, the stained and cracked pavement hiding his right eye as the glamour over crashed into invisible, glittering shards, green devouring crimson, leaving a glowing jade orb in it's wake.

--

"Why isn't he waking up? He should be waking up!"

"Relax, shortie, his high ass expended quite a bit of energy, he'll rouse soon."

"He should be dead."

"That he should, priest."

"But he's not...why isn't he waking UP?"

Atemu groaned, shifting, trying to block out the sounds that were causing his head to pound against his skull. "Shut up, already." he muttered, shifting again in the bed, trying to roll over.

"ATEMU!" Mokuba jumped on the figure, hugging Atemu tightly, ignoring the man's groan of pain.

"Mokuba...I don't think you should attempt that right now," Seto said softly, turning his chair to face the couch, watching his brother and lover.

Bakura ignored Mokuba, reaching around the raven coloured head to pry Atemu's right eye open, tisking. "You have fallen far, my king."

"I'm going to rip off your hand and feed it to you if you do not release my eyelid." Atemu growled, causing Bakura to smirk and pinch the former Pharaohs nose. Atemu groaned, struggling to sit up, before collapsing backwards. "what happened?"

"You summoned the high god." Bakura said, taking a seat, lifting Atemu's feet into his lap.

"That's not...that's not possible," Atemu whispered, staring at the white haired thief.

"It shouldn't be," Bakura said, his voice slightly cold. "Where, my king, is the puzzle."

"Egypt, buried under the sand for eternity."

"Swear it. On your father's blood, on your mother's womb, on the goddess's breast, that that puzzle is still lost to the world."

Atemu blinked, studying Bakura as he turned such a promise over in his head. It covered everything he truly cared about any more. "I swear it, Bakura. I swear on my father's blood, my mother's womb, the goddess' breast and the very Nile that that puzzle, to my current knowledge, is still lost beneath the sands, hidden from the world."

"Then how? How did you summon a god?"

"I...I don't know," Atemu said softly, closing his eyes. "But I have an idea."

"So do I," Seto and Bakura said at the same time. Atemu opened his eyes, blinking at the two who were staring at him.

"How long, have you been hiding, Atemu?" Seto asked, resting his elbow on his desk, cheek on his palm. "How long have you been hiding from me?"

"What?"

"I was there!" Seto suddenly yelled and the room trembled in his anger. "I stood next to you, facing that maniac, watching as it consumed him! I died, to help you save your precious little light, and your friends, and this pathetic world." He swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment. "I died, because of the darkness now colouring your face." His voice was soft, deathly gentle. Seto opened his eyes, staring at Atemu, and the world around them vanished, replaced by a cold, whipping wind and memories of a salt stained temple.

Mokuba sat up, and the world was suddenly back in place, the temple vanishing, leaving it's memories etched behind in echo. "What's going on?" he asked, confused.

"His highness is in trouble," Bakura said, shrugging. "What else is new."

"How long, Atemu?" Seto repeated and Atemu looked away, not answering.

Seto snorted and turned away himself, returning to his computer. "Go home. Take Bakura and your guards and go. You need to rest."

"But what about?"

"Go. Home."

Mokuba glanced at Atemu and shrugged, slipping off the older man and heading to his brother's side, grabbing his headpiece from the top drawer and a stack of files. "I'm heading to my office, nii-sama."

Seto nodded, attaching his own headpiece, flicking it on and summoning his secretary who appeared on the corner of his computer screen. Atemu swallowed, watching the pair before sinking slightly, shoulders drooping. He carefully pushed himself up, off the couch, swaying as he headed for the door.

Bakura sighed and stood, following Atemu, grabbing the other man around the waist as he swayed more. "Come on, my king." he muttered, helping Atemu from the room.

Seto watched them go over the top edge of his monitor, feeling a sigh inside him that he couldn't let out. He was hurt, far more then he ever thought he could be, and frankly, rather scared. He had not survived the last time he had encountered that darkness, and he worried, he wouldn't survive this time.

--

"Now will you listen to me and go to him?" Bakura asked, sitting next to Atemu in the limo, watching the man rest across the seats, small body curled up.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because, it's not right, he has..."

"His own life, he's happy, blah, blah, blah. Didn't I tell you the same thing about Ryou? And wasn't it you," Bakura said, pushing on when Atemu would have interrupted him. "Who said I had to see him anyway, to close the door between us?"

"That's different, Ryou was..."

"My light, my love, the other half of my soul. Much like Yugi is. Okay so you're not in love with him like I am Ryou, but still, he's your balance, the one thing that makes you whole. He's the only one in the world who can keep this darkness away from bursting forth, Atemu. What happens next time? You summoned Ra, for fucks sake. What happens when this darkness grows and that's no longer shocking? When you level cities with a whim, destroy generations for amusement? What happens when the proud, honorable king becomes the very monster he died to save his people from?"

"I won't."

"You will, Atemu! Dartz wasn't some crackpot anomaly! He was the pattern. If you let this continue, if you let this grow and merge...you were power, Atemu. Even without that cursed puzzle you were strong...and now...you have the power equal to the gods inside you, feasting on you. You could sneeze and cause a natural disaster!"

"I won't go to him, Bakura. I can handle this."

"Ra damned bastard piece of..."

Atemu smiled, listening to Bakura rant. "When you start repeating yourself, let me know." he murmured sleepily.

TBC