Chapter Twenty-Four
Moments later, Atem found himself in one of the vehicles sitting in the back-seat with Cameron while Kaiba and Mokuba sat in the front and passenger seats and he looked around slowly before quickly looking down as Cameron placed a hand over his that was resting on the seat as she softly explained that he'd been in a daze since he'd awaken from his sleep and he slowly closed his eyes with a slow sigh. Kaiba then further explained that he'd said the prayer already before they left as soon as they were out of the hotel with Yugi on his right arm and Mokuba on his left to walk him out and Atem slowly put two fingers to his temple of the hand Cameron wasn't holding while fighting to remember the dazed state he was in only to find he had no memory of it at all. It hit him when Mokuba said that he'd been holding Kesi's hand the whole walk out of the room and down the hall until he almost fell over on the stairs, then he slowly pulled his fingers from his temple to look at his palm to find that it was painted as crimson as the liquid he saw in the hallucination Kesi put him through to find his past-self and he quickly turned his head away from his palm to look at Cameron at the sound of his name being softly said to find she was staring at him concernly. He smiled at her as much as he could in a reassuring manner only to have it slowly fade once his attention was fixed once again on his palm to discover that the crimson painted on his hand had vanished and he slowly closed his hand while putting his forehead to his knuckles and his eyes slowly closed to let the memory of him and Kesi walking down the hall hand-in-hand, the feeling of Kesi's cold hand in his bringing the icey sting of corpse-cold skin against his own to his hand just by the memory and this made him shiver slightly without his brain even thinking to try and stop it so that Cameron could stop worrying about him and so his mind could stay cler for the task about to come. Atem was brought out of his thoughts when the vehicle suddenly stopped and he looked around slightly before his eyes met Cameron's as she rubbed his hand concernly only to receive another fake reassuring smile by the ex-Pharaoh and he then slowly opened the vehicle door on his side to get out to see that the vehicle had stopped in front of a temple of stone that was walled by a spherical wall instead of a rectangular wall and the temple itself was round with an open ceiling while being adorned with two cat statues at the entrance that were the same height as the building and had one paw each raised.
"I guess this is it...your puzzle was pointing this way at the hotel..." Kaiba said softly as he stared up at the wall surrounding the temple.
"How do we get in?" Cameron asked as she slowly walked up beside Kaiba with Mokuba behind her.
"Let Atem do it...he needs something to do to clear his head anyway." Kaiba replied, his head turning towards Atem while the ex-Pharaoh slowly approached the stone walls.
Atem closed his eyes as he drew in a deep breath once standing in front of the two entrance doors of the wall and slowly opened them as his Millenium Puzzle glowed brightly with the Eye of Ujat presenting itself on his forehead, this triggering a reaction in the wall as it slowly dipped into the ground like falling sand all around until the entire circular wall vanished and the Puzzle slowly calmed itself and the eye slowly vanished from Atem's forehead as the temple doors shook the earth with their opening. He slowly looked back at the group to see Cameron staring at him in slight-shock while the Kaiba brothers remained calm as if they expected something like this from the past presentations of the Puzzle's power and he slowly looked forward to approach the temple with the group silently following once he began walking forward. The inside of the temple looked aged with columns a few feet from one another in a perfect circle along the opened ceiling while the walls of the temple had been carved in with ancient Egyptian text, the floors being stone and with rectangular stone tiles and in the center stood a stone statue of a lioness three times the size of a regular lioness in a battle-like stance and mouth open in a frozen roar. He remembered his father telling him about the Egyptian Gods when he was younger, Bastet was the solar goddess and the protector of the Pharaohs and was mostly represented in Egyptian scriptures as a domestic cat or a lioness, or a graceful woman wearing a black lioness mask. Atem slowly walked forward with the group closely behind until a rumble in the ground made them all come to a sudden halt and he slowly looked around to find the source of the sudden tremor, then a loud metallic roar erupted from an unknown source and Guardian of the Throne Room landed in the center of the room in front of lioness statue with a rumbling metallic growl of threat while the missle launcher on it's back slowly lowered into position and the heat-seeking missles snapped into position.
"Guardian of the Throne Room? What's he doing here?" Kaiba asked before quickly pulling Mokuba out of the way of a missle attack while Cameron and Atem moved to the other side.
Atem looked at his left arm as his duel disk appeared on his arm in a golden flash and he quickly looked back up at the threatening monster to move himself out of the way of another missle attack before drawing a card from his deck that was already in place to see that he'd drawn Dark Magician Girl while he thought to himself that Guardian of the Throne Room was a four-star monster and she was a six-star, more than enough to take care of the beast. He then carefully placed her over a summoning slot and looked forward as the female spellcaster appeared in a golden light before opening her bright-green eyes with an exciting smile that went back towards Atem and he returned the smile with an encouraging nod, then Dark Magician Girl looked forward at the Guardian monster as he fixed his missles on her. He then ordered her to attack and she instantly complied, releasing a bright pink orb of her magical energy right at the Guardian's metallic face from the tip of her sceptor and Guardian of the Throne Room released a metallic roar of pain before bursting in a fiery explosion that rumbled the entire temple and Atem covered his face with his arms to keep from inhaling the smoke while the group did the same until the smoke slowly vanished on it's own. The ex-Pharaoh slowly lowered his arms from his face upon a gentle tap to one of his arms and was met by the face of Dark Magician Girl as she hovered in front of him with a look of concern until she saw that he was alright and un-harmed, this making her smile brightly and she slowly vanished in a flurry of pink-colored sparkles that drifted upward after he thanked her for her service and the sparkles slowly vanished once they reached the ceiling after she'd completely vanished. Atem then looked over to see that the group was alright and slowly looked forward at the statue of the lioness before taking a gentle hold of his Puzzle to position the eye presented on the face of the Puzzle close to the statue's stone head and this made the statue begin to glow a bright glow through the Egyptian scriptures carved into's body while the Eye of Ujat appeared on the lioness' forehead even after Atem pulled his Puzzle away.
"Hark the heavens, space, and stars...I am awakened by my faithful Pharaoh..." a heavenly female voice spoke as the stone began to crack and a golden lights sprung free from under the stone.
The stone then suddenly fell broken to the floor of the temple and the lioness let out a powerful roar that shook the entire temple as her furr glowed a heavenly gold in the presence of Ra's golden embrace while her head was risen to the heavens, then she slowly lowered her head as her roar ceased and Atem, Seto, Mokuba, and Cameron slowly lowered into a kneel with their left legs forward, to which the lioness slowly bowed her head back before slowly lowering it as Atem and the group slowly rose from the temple floor. The lioness proudly introduced herself as the Solar Goddess Bastet, protector of the Pharaohs, that is, until she was sealed away after the battle against Heba that left her and her six comrads in stone prisons while the rest of the protectors of Egypt remained with their duties as the seven guardians chosen to protect Mother Egypt slept in stone slumbers. When Atem questioned why she and her brethern were sealed away, Bastet replied that she and her comrads were weakened by the battle so much that they had no choice but to lock themselves away in stone prisons to regain their strength over the years for when they were needed once more in case Dark Heba ever rose his head again and she slowly lowered her head as she went on to say that they had no other decision to go on. Bastet slowly stepped down from her pedastal while expressing her joy to see how much Atem had changed since the last time she'd seen him 5,000 years ago and that she could faintly remember how small he was the first day he was born and presented to his people as the heir to the throne under King Aknamkadon, to which Atem rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he replied that he wasn't sure if the memories of his childhood were all complete and Bastet sadly agreed with him as she stood in front of him with her fiery gold eyes expressing her sympathy for the ex-Pharaoh. Bastet then turned her attention to Kaiba and slowly made her way towards him in a slow, womanly stride even though she was in her lioness form.
"Well, well...the great High Priest of Egypt is in my presence as well. How have you been, Seto? I haven't seen you since the battle..." Bastet said softly.
"It's Kaiba now, your Holyness. And I've been doing fine." Kaiba replied with his arms crossed.
"I see...well then," Bastet slowly closed her eyes as she slowly turned back towards Atem and slowly opened her eyes to look at him, "we have six more guardians to awaken. So...let's get to it."
Meanwhile, Kesi slowly led Yugi, Travis, Carina, and Rona through the palace until she found the door to the underground chamber in the palace dungeons and she slowly lowered onto her knees on the stone floor of the dungeon while running her hand over the door that led into the underground chamber as her eyes slowly closed. Kesi then slowly opened his eyes as the door slowly creaked open and she slowly stood to lead the group down the stone steps into the darkened underground corridor that seemed to go on for miles and Rona slowly clung to Yugi's left arm as they continued to follow the girl through the corridor whose only light came from the torches on the walls and even that wasn't enough. The corridor led them to a large rectangular chamber that was lit highly with multiple torches along the walls while small shadows gathered behind the large columns that reached from the ground to the ceiling and in the center of the chamber was a large stone wall that stood out, the body of a tanned male about Atem's height and muscle structure hanging on the wall by his wrists, the only thing seperating him from Atem being his oddly shaped legs, reptilian tail, clawed toes and fingers, and the cross stitch on his front with a long line going down from his collar bone to his waist line and another going across his chest bone. Kesi rushed forward up the steps to hug onto the motionless man whose face was shadowed other than his nose and mouth area and she began to softly cry as she tightened her hold on the stilled figure that wouldn't respond to her until she began to plead for him to wake up, the man struggling to speak her name in a pained voice that was filled with exaughstion and slight agony that made her look up at him quickly with concern in her crimson eyes. Yugi looked around the wall the man was chained to to find that there were canopic jars aligned on either side of where the man was kept and he gently broke away from Rona to slowly walk over beside the man and examine some of the jars until he called out to him using his Egyptian name, "Heba."
"Yes?" Yugi asked softly as he slowly stood beside Kesi in front of the trapped man.
The man slowly lifted his head to reveil that his eyes were the same as Kesi's, "I am Atemu...it is a pleasure to meet the...the reincarnation of the Prince of Egypt..."
"You sound like your in agony...are you alright?" Yugi asked concernly.
"I've been sleeping for a very long time...there's only a piece of me that remained with this body of mine...please, Heba...I need you to get me down from here and put my organs back in...I need my heart..." Atemu softly pleaded while looking over at him.
"...I don't think so..." a womanly voice hissed.
"Anthea..." Rona growled as she quickly looked back to see Anthea standing in the entrance of the chamber along with the rest of the group.
"Hello, Rona...I see you didn't get captured like the rest of your flock...no matter, you'll join them soon. But, first, I have some business to take care of and, unfortunately, you're not part of it..." Anthea hissed before Rona was sent flying into a wall by a large snake-like tentacle that slammed itself into Rona's weakest spot, this making Rona limply fall off the wall onto the floor.
Carina quickly unholistered her guns and aimed them at Anthea, "Put your hands in the air and don't move!"
Anthea grinned felinishly as she slowly rose her hands, "...I don't need to..."
Carina and Travis grunted in unison as they suddenly hit against two seperate columns after a powerful swipe from the same tentacle and they slid unconsciously to the floor as the tentacle swung back around to pin Yugi roughly against a wall of the chamber while Anthea slowly walked forward towards Atemu, then she suddenly froze in her place as Kesi got in her path and she screamed slightly as she was suddenly sent across the room into the corridor by a powerful force while Kesi's eyes blankly glared at her through the strands of her hair. Atemu was suddenly freed from his binds and limply landed on his feet that shook to carry his weight as he fought to stand up straight and he panted shakily as he forced a glare towards Anthea, who angrily gathered herself to her feet as the tentacle quickly made it's way towards Kesi for an assault before being stopped and squeezed by an unseen force and this sent Anthea into a painful screaming fit. He slowly slid his hands onto Kesi's petite shoulders while whispering something in Egyptian and she instantly responded by slowly walking over to where Yugi was struggling to stand only to put her hands on his back to heal where Yugi's spine had been fractured from the impact with the wall. Meanwhile, Atemu slowly lifted his hands and the canopic jars slowly lifted into the air on their own to encircle him in a slow, calm rotation as Anthea shakily stood with a painful expression on her face and she glared forward at the half-creature before freezing in place after seeing the canopic jars liquify and the contents inside slowly dissolving to reveil the organs inside that were cleaned on their own, only instead of his lungs being one of the organs, it was his heart that was reveiled as one of the organs and each organ slowly entered Atemu after the cross stitch on his frontal body slowly parted open. Each organ was attached back in it's place by tissue that clung to the organ itself and veins, blood vessels, muscle, etc. were attached while the cross-stitch was slowly put back together on it's own and Atemu opened his eyes quickly to reveil the lively glow that had developed.
"What's the matter, Anthea? You look scared...should I tell my brother you were too chicken to take me out in my prime?" Atemu purred as he pinned Anthea quickly and harshly against the floor and cut the tentacle loose, all with an unseen force Anthea couldn't block.
He slowly stood over the painfully trembling servant of evil and slowly lowered in a crouch while folding his hands together as he slowly swayed his tail back and forth behind him while Kesi slowly moved to his side with a childish glare in her eyes towards Anthea, then Atemu looked up at Kesi before his eyes once again met Anthea's and he slowly reached down to take a hold of her jaw-bone with his fore-finger and thumb in a non-gentle manner as his leg slowly went over to press his knee beside the side of her rib-cage. Anthea struggled for freedom while cursing him with snakish hisses despite the weight being pressed into her frontal body and the grip Atemu had on her jaw-bone and he slowly lowered down until his face was only a few inches from hers as Kesi took fist-fuls of Anthea's head to keep her from butting her head into his even as she fought to try. Kesi looked up at Atemu from her sitting position on her knees above Anthea's head as Atemu lowered even further with his hand parting Anthea's jaws to open her mouth wide enough for his tounge to deeply penetrate and he threateningly gave it a painful grip to warn her that he could easily break her jaw if she dared to try and bite down, Anthea instantly bending and slamming her legs down on the floor as she struggled for air as the intruder dug down into her throat and further still until she felt a slightly paralyzing shock go through her that stilled her heart for seconds on end before the intruder slowly retreated and she was granted breath. Atemu slowly released her jaw with a dark grin on his face and she instantly glared at him only for that glare to instantly vanish as he placed one of her trembling hands to her stomach in a silent message that made her spine run cold and Kesi slowly released her hair to join Atemu in standing from the ground. He then slowly walked away from Anthea while feeling his wrist as it popped from years of being kept in a metallic cuff and Kesi followed closely to take his hand once it lowered to take a hold of her own as Anthea vanished in a black fog that quickly left the chamber with a feeling of shame and humiliation left behind where Anthea once laid.
"What did you do to her?" Yugi asked softly as he stared up at Atemu from his place on the floor with Rona in his arms.
"The same thing my brother tried to do to you, Heba. He wanted to plant an egg in your belly so that it would consume you from the inside out, making you weak enough for him to control. That's what his offspring do...my offspring induce labor on their own accord if the mother is ever harmed or tries to harm it in any way, shape, or form and emerge fully developed dispite how long they've been in the womb...it's a dirty way of raising the middle finger to my younger brother for making me give my life for his arrogance." Atemu replied amusingly as he gently ran his hand along Kesi's head in a fatherly manner.
"...I see...what do you plan on doing with it...?" Yugi asked, though he knew he was probably doing to regret doing so.
Atemu grinned felinishly, a similar way to how Atem goes when he's in a "dangerous" mood, "You let me worry about that, Heba..."
"Why do I already get the feeling this was a bad idea...?" Yugi muttered to himself as he gently opened Rona's dress from the back only to gently put his hand over the mark inked on Rona's side while Atemu and Kesi moved over to Carina and Travis.
"...Yugi..." Rona said softly as she slowly awakened from her paralyzed state only to cling to her boyfriend's neck once she fully sat up in his lap.
"Rona...thank goodness you're alright." Yugi said softly with his arms wrapping around her protectively to hold her close to him.
Yugi slowly opened his eyes to look over Rona's shoulder and saw that Kesi slowly awakened the Ambrosia siblings and Carina was gently examining her guns for any scratches, the memory of Carina telling her life-story running through his head as he saw the worry for the condition of her guns in her eyes and he looked over at Atemu as he busied himself in standing at the entrance of the chamber with his eyes focused down the corridor as if expecting something, or someone, to come. He had a feeling he knew what Atemu was expecting from remembering Anthea brought a beasty friend last time she made an appearance towards the Alices and he looked down at Rona to clear his thoughts while he gently fixed her dress the way it was, then he slowly helped her stand with him and walked with her over to the Ambrosia duo before he looked over once more at Atemu to see that he now had his claws gently entangled in Kesi's hair as she had her arms wrapped around Atemu's waist that was dressed in a slightly torn kilt similar to Atem's own, expect for the black material and the missing sash. Yugi looked at Rona silently while putting a hand to her back and slowly walked over to stand on the other side of Kesi to look down the corridor just as Atemu's were and he slowly looked over to look at Yugi for a moment before his eyes fixed once more down the hall as a grim smile played on his lips while he spoke in Egyptian how he and his brother were never meant to have been seperated, that it was his selfish act of leaving the mother who only wanted her sons to fill the void in her heart that had developed after their father's act of bravery to protect his young that caused the darkness in his brother to develope and it grew after that very mother snapped at him with no warning and by complete accident. That grim smile slowly faded as he gathered Kesi in his arms in a fatherly manner and he went on to say with his eyes closed that his mother held the entire secret of his brother's hatred, Atemu only knew the basis, and Kesi put her arms around Atemu's neck in a daughterly manner while she dug her face into his neck. Yugi looked over at Atemu as he spoke and saw the dim peacefullness in Atemu's eyes from Kesi being in his arms and Atemu slowly closed his eyes once more as he held Kesi even closer to him while softly going on to say that he needed to see his mother as soon as possible before Dark Heba gets to her.
"What would Dark Heba want with your mother?" Yugi asked.
Atemu slowly looked over at Yugi, "My mother is the only one besides me that knows his real name...he wants to erase that part of him, his true identity. She also hides the true purpose of my brother's anger towards me. I want to make amends to her...for everything I've done to her..."
"Well...we were all planning on meeting up at the Valley of the Kings...Hikmat said your mother was hiding out there." Yugi replied.
"Hikmat? The boney creature my brother created from his own flesh? How did he know anything about my mother?" Atemu asked in surprise.
"He really didn't say where he got the information...I'm assuming he found out through Anthea or maybe Dark Heba got close to him." Yugi said in reply.
"I see...heh, Anthea was always one to cause trouble. You know, I bet Sobkou didn't tell you that she was only a developing embryo when my brother went mad." Atemu said softly with a dry chuckle.
"In a pod?" Yugi asked.
Atemu shook his head, "No...she was conceived in the belly of that creature my brother had leashed and tamed to his will. It's male, but it doesn't need a female to carry it's young in order for it's young to be fertilized. Don't ask me how, I'd rather just not ask...the point is, she and that creature of his are bonded as one. She has a physical and mental link, so that she can call it to battle whenever she pleases...the only catch is, Dark Heba pulls the strings when it comes to that bond. He can manipulate the creature into not answering her call if he feels that she can either handle it on her own or if he'd rather not risk it's life, since that creature seems to be the only source of intimidating strength Dark Heba has at his disposal."
"...This is just getting weirder and weirder..." Yugi sighed.
Atemu chuckled and slowly got closer to Yugi while leaning in slightly as a grin developed on his lips, "Trust me, you haven't seen anything until you've met my mother face-to-face...then you can tell me that this s*** is getting weird."
"I'll take your word for it..." Yugi said with a raised eyebrow before he slowly walked over to Rona's side.
Atemu slowly straightened himself as he watched Yugi walk over to Rona, then he silently looked back down the corridor while running a hand up-and-down Kesi's back slowly and in a gentle manner, "...Just hang on abit longer, mother...your oldest child is coming home..."