Chapter 7: Shock
"Mana, Go and get Mahad please, the Princess needs calming down and he's the only one of us that can do it," Isis instructed, clearing the first newborns face.
"Of course." Mana hurried out of the room and rushed to Mahad's chambers. She knocked quickly. "Open up, Master."
"Mana, what is wrong. I heard screaming is everything ok?" Mahad asked in concern.
"The Princess is having complications from her labor and Isis requests your help."
"Why wasn't I told sooner, oh no Loretta. I will come right away." Mahad panicked, dashing out of his room towards Loretta's chambers.
"Isis...How much more of this is there..." Loretta panted in exhaustion.
"Almost there, Princess. You can do it."
"Where is...Mahad...I need him...I cannot do this myself." Loretta panted as tears streamed down her face.
Mahad hurried in. "I am here, Loretta. How is she?"
"Thank goodness you are here Mahad, you have a very healthy and beautiful daughter that has already been born but I am afraid this next child is giving her some problems." Isis explained.
An earthquake rumbled through the building as the sunlight streaming through the window disappeared. "What was that?" Mahad demanded in fright.
"I do not know, you stay with the Princess, I'll go and get Seto, Shada and Karim. Make sure she stays awake." Isis instructed.
"Yes, of course." Mahad nodded.
Knocking on Seto's office door, Shada's chamber door and Karims door, Isis alerted them to what was going on and then apologized because she had to get back to the Princess.
Nodding in agreement Seto called up all the guards, "We must protect this Palace and defeat the intruder."
"Yes, sir." the guards said at once.
"Now get going men, fight like you've never fought before" Seto commanded
The guards hurried out of the palace. "Where is the Pharaoh?" Shada asked, concerned.
"Isis was looking after him in her medical room after his attack from Bakura." Seto explained.
"Go look in on him. It is all lost if we lose our King."
"You're right Shada, I will be back shortly. Take care." Seto nodded before hurrying off.
Atem lay in bed, eyes closed, his heart pounding from the stress of the current events, spreading the poison. He heard someone enter the room. "Hali...?" he asked weakly.
"No my King its me, your cousin Seto, how are you feeling? We really need your leadership." Seto informed him, kneeling down next to the bed.
"I think I am dying..." Atem opened his eyes and looked up at his cousin.
"What? B-but I thought Isis had cured you!" Seto stated looking at his cousin in shock.
"She did not give me the antidote...Seto, listen..."
"What? Well what can I do, we do not want to lose you my Pharaoh we need you, I need you." Seto pleaded as tears welled up in his eyes.
Atem grabbed Seto's robes in a surprisingly firm grip. "Take my place..."
"No, I-I cant. You are Pharaoh not me, what about your wife and son?"
"The country...needs a leader..."
"You are our leader Atem, please do not leave us."
"Go...with the...guards...! Protect the...city!" Atem insisted.
"I am not leaving you Pharaoh, we need you to lead us. Please Pharaoh get up." Seto pleaded stubbornly, not wanting to let him go.
"It is an...order!" Atem groaned.
"Yes your Majesty." Seto finally sighed in defeat and he slowly rose from the floor. "I will miss you, cousin."
Atem sensed the evil presence rampaging through the city. 'I must do something.' He looked down at the Puzzle around his neck. 'I must lock this evil away so it cannot harm anyone. Before I die, I will save the world.' Atem closed his eyes and channeled all his power into the Puzzle. The Puzzle's eye glowed for a minute and then Atem went limp as his spirit left his body.
Seeing the monster suddenly disappear Seto looked sadly at Shada "I think I know who did this, we owe him a great deal of gratitude."
"Guards go home, Seto, we must go back to the palace and ensure that Bakura is not attacking!" Shada turned and rode back to the palace.
"I am right behind you Shada." Seto sighed as a stray tear rolled down his cheek as he followed Shada back to the Palace.
Shada dismounted and hurried inside. "Where is the King?" he demanded of a servant.
"He's in Isis's medical room, Master Shada but I am afraid he is no longer with us." the guard bowed his head.
"What?! How could that be?" Shad asked, shocked. He hurried to Isis's medical room and spotted Atem, dropping to his knees. "My King..."
"It was the poison from Bakura's sword." Seto stated coming in the door with his hat off.
"He must have sacrificed himself before he died to save us. I guess now we have to inform the Queen and the Princess" Seto sniffed.
Shada got to his feet, shoulders hunched in grief. "I will inform them."
"Are you sure?" Seto asked placing his hand on Shada's shoulder.
"We could split the task. You go see your cousin, I shall go inform the Queen. Did he name a successor?"
"Good idea, yes He wanted me to take his place" Seto sighed. "I guess that is until his son is of age"
"You are the next in line." Shada gave a formal bow. "My King."
"Thank you Shada but do not, only one man deserves that title and it is the one that is laying here before us, I do not feel right taking my cousin's title from him."
"It was his dying wish. Now we have a difficult task ahead of us." Shada got to his feet and headed for Hali's room.
"I know, I do not want to do this but I have to." Seto sighed as he headed in the opposite direction towards Loretta's room.
Shada knocked on Hali's door. "My Queen, may I talk to you?"
"Shada? What a surprise, come in, what do you want to talk about?"
Shada entered the room. "I have sad news, my Queen."
"Oh? Is everything ok? How is my husband?"
Shada looked away. "I am afraid he is no longer with us."
"What do you mean? Shada look at me, where is Atem?" Hali asked, seeing that something wasn't right.
Shada looked up at her, pain in his eyes. "He sacrificed himself to save the country."
"Take me to him." Hali ordered.
"Follow me." Shada left the room, heading for Isis's medical room.
"Thank you for telling me Shada, I cant believe he risked his own life to save me and then this happened." Hali sniffed, trying to remain strong.
"He is in here." Shada opened the door, beckoning for her to go first.
"Can you please just give me a moment alone, I need to say goodbye to my husband."
"Of course, my Queen." Shada bowed out.
"Atem..." Hali started to sob as she dropped to her knees by his side, holding his hand.
Seto knocked on Loretta's door. "Princess, I need to talk to you."
"Come in Seto." Loretta called.
Seto stepped in, trying to smile. "How is the future of Egypt?"
"Seto? What is wrong? I know by that tone that something is not right, what happened?" Loretta asked, raising an eyebrow at Seto.
"Princess, there was an attack." Seto swallowed.
"What sort of attack?"
"The Queen was taken prisoner and we went to rescue her."
"Spit it out Seto! What happened?"
"He was poisoned and sacrificed himself to save the country."
"No, not my Brother, where is he? Is Hali ok?" Loretta asked as her anger turned to panic
"The Queen is fine. Likely grieving, but otherwise fine."
"Can I go and see him Seto, I should go and comfort my sister in law as well...ow." Loretta winced as she went to get up.
"Easy, Princess. I will help you to them."
"Isis? Can you look after my twins please while I am away?"
"Yes, of course." Isis nodded.
Seto helped her to the room where Hali knelt quietly beside the bed. "My Queen, the princess is here."
"Hali, I am so sorry." Loretta whispered as she looked down at her with tears running down her cheeks.
Hali stood up and embraced Loretta. "I am sorry for your loss too. We have preparations to make." she sniffed.
"I know and in honor of my brother's sacrifice I want to name my son after him." Loretta sniffed also as tears still slipped from her eyes.
"Perfect." Hali smiled back through her tears.
Yami Yugi was jerked out of the vision suddenly, blinking against the bright sky. The chanting of the holographic cheering blasted in his ears as he came back to reality. Seto was blinking in shock, having seen the same thing. "Do you see our pasts are connected?" Yami Yugi called across the dueling field. "Did you notice the priest in the room with them?"
"I don't know what sort of hocus pocus mind trick your trying to pull Yugi but it's not going to work." Kaiba snarled maintaining his dueling stance.
"Fine, then continue the duel."
"My turn and your going to see that I am a better duelist than you."
As Yugi and the gang headed home after the Battle City finals, Yugi looked troubled. Yami, who were those girls in your vision?
I don't know, my memory is still hazy but I believe one of them was my wife. Yami told Yugi, looking equally confused.
You have good tastes in women apparently. Yugi teased.
Yami just shook his head and blushed. I wish I could have seen more. Yami thought to himself.
I wonder who they were.
Tea waved her hand in front of Yugi's face. "Yugi, Earth to Yugi!"
"Sorry Tea, I was just talking to the pharaoh, he seemed troubled about the vision he saw."
"Vision?" Tea tilted her head to the side.
"Kaiba and Yami saw a vision of their ancient past during their duel, back when Yami was Pharaoh." Yugi informed her.
"Oh, is there anything we can do to help?"
"Yeah, we wanna help the Pharaoh." Joey agreed.
"I don't know guys, I think its something that the Pharaoh just has to figure out on his own." Yugi sighed.
"Okay, I'm sure it'll reveal itself eventually."
Sitting in his soul room, Yami sat thinking about what he had seen. Looking down at his Millennium puzzle Yami sighed. I want to know who those two women were in my vision, please let me see them both again, I want to know more about my past. Yami wished squeezing his eyes shut.
A bright light appeared, blinding in its intensity. The gang shielded their eyes until the light disappeared. Tea opened her eyes and spotted two teen girls, confusion evident on their faces. They were dressed in Egyptian garb. "Hey, guys, look!"
Um Pharaoh you may want to come out here. Yugi thought to Yami through their link.
Yami appeared invisble beside Yugi, his eyes widening at the sight of the girls. It can't be...
Are they the girls from your vision. Yugi asked looking shocked.
Yes, Yami disappeared as he took control of Yugi's body without warning. He rushed to Loretta, pulling her into a hug. "I have missed you, my wife." he murmured, touching her hair.
"Excuse me, I am over here." Hsli cleared her throat and crossed her arms as the ebony haired girl giggled.
Yami blinked and pulled back, confused. "You're my wife?"
"She is" Loretta agreed "I am your sister."
"Sister?!" Tea, Tristan, and Joey exclaimed at once.
"She's right." Hali smiled.
"I'm sorry, I don't know anything about you. I just recognized you from a vision I had not long ago." Yami apologized.
"It is ok, we will help you remember who we are, now if you don't mind, would you like to start again?" Hali asked with a giggled gesturing for him to give her a hug.
Yami grinned, his eyes hungrily roving her face. As he leaned in to hug her, a voice in his head groaned, Don't make out with her, you're going to make me puke.
See him pull a face, Hali raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" Hali asked as she hugged him and giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
"Don't worry, I have a voice in my head." Yami chuckled, tapping his temple.
"I thought you looked different when we arrived." Hali smiled.
"Hali I think we should introduce ourselves, it is very rude of royalty like us not to." Loretta giggled.
"I am Hali, your wife." Hali giggled, nudging Loretta.
"And my name is Loretta, your twin sister." Loretta nodded.
"Twin?" Joey exclaimed. "You don't look that much alike."
Tea nudged him in the elbow. "They're fraternal, you idiot."
"So what are all your names, Hali and I would love to get to know all of you, especially since you are friends with my Brother."
"I am not sure what my name is but the voice in my head is Yugi, the blond is Joey, the girl is Tea, and the guy with brown hair is Tristan." Yami explained.
"Oh? It is a pleasure to meet all of you, well is there something that your friend Yugi calls you?" Hali asked.
"Yes, they call me Yami."
"Where are you all off to? And whereabouts are we anyway?" Loretta asked.
"Home, actually. And you are in Domino City, Japan."
"I think it is going to take a bit of time for Hali and I to get used to this place, it is not like Egypt at all."
"I can imagine." Yami sighed. "Follow us."
"Is everything okay, dear husband?" Hali asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Yes, I just would like to get home. I have been gone for a long time." Yami gave her a smile.
"I would love to hear about where you have been and what you have been doing, I have really missed you." Hali smiled back at him.
"And I would love to hear about my past." Yami smiled back. "But we should get home, looks like rain." He glanced up at the sky, which was clouding over.
Giggling at him, Hali and Loretta both nodded and followed the gang into the house to catch up.
