Chapter 43

Written Ripples

Author's note: just to not get in trouble, I should remind everyone that I don't own anything YuGiOh. I just own my characters and Dark Mage of the Sea owns hers.

When a sentence is **like this**, it's sign language. When a sentence is ~like this~, it's phoenix speech.

Thank you, Dark Mage of the Sea, my coauthor and best friend.

One day, Tima sat in front of her journal and papers. She had a timeline she wanted to write about the book. She looked over the current chapters. She had about five chapters but she was not really satisfied with a few of them. Sighing, she looked at her outline. She knew she wanted to look into their relationship, especially with Atem being engaged to Roxanna for political reasons. She glared at the Greek girl's name, remembering what the family did to her. Not wanting to think about them, she continued to read the outline. As she did, Atem came home. Looking at the clock, she noted, "You're home early."

Atem set his bag down. "My last class was cancelled: my professor's wife is having a baby."

Tima smiled. "That's wonderful."

Getting some water from the fridge, Atem asked, "Do you work today?"

Tima shook her head. "But I do open tomorrow. So I'm hoping to get some writing done."

Sitting on the couch next to her, he looked at the outline. "You mind if I…?" Tima shook her head so he picked it up and looked at it. "Hm…you got a lot of things you want to cover."

Tima nodded. "Of course. A lot of stuff happened during our lives."

Atem counted the number of events she listed. "Um…you think maybe this is too much for one book?"

She looked at the list. "Well…there are certain books that cover years."

"I know. But you might want to think about splitting it into two books."

Tima giggled. "I'm working on the book and you're already encouraging a second one. Besides, I only have a few chapters."

Atem rubbed her back. "Then it looks like I better leave you to your work."

Tima smiled and went back to writing. Atem sat across from her and started on his homework. Looking at the textbooks, Tima got an idea. "Can I borrow some of your books? Maybe it'll make it feel a little more real for the readers."

Atem nodded. "Of course. And, best of all, you can always ask me if you need help remembering things."

Tima nodded. She tried to work on the writing but kept looking at the outline. Giving up on writing for the moment, she picked up the outline and a pencil. She tapped along the bullet points and considered. She then grinned, getting an idea. Ate m looked up in time to see Tima make a time in the middle of the outline. "What did you decide?"

"What you said made sense: this is a lot for one book. So I'm going to end it at our wedding. We'll go from when that girl and I first arrived to our wedding and my coronation."

Atem liked that idea but thought of something. Assuming it was a touchy subject, he gingerly asked, "Is your sister going to make an appearance? After all…she did help Roxanna attack us.

Tima sighed softly. "I…I don't know. Right now…I don't want to think about her."

Atem got a little concerned and took Tima's hand. "You're not still mad at her for everything, are you?"

Tima looked away, feeling a little uncomfortable. "No. It's just…I don't know…" She closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know what happened to her. That is…I don't know where she is right now."

Atem was a little confused but then remembered: when they were in the afterlife, they did not see Yima. He did not want to bring up where she might have ended up. Instead, he said, "That is, unfortunately, out of your hands. But what you do have is the power to give her a better ending…at least in the book."

Tima looked at Atem. She gave a sharp nod and looked at the outline, signaling the end of the conversation. She then got an idea and crossed something else out. Seeing Atem's curious face, she explained, "What you asked about Yima got me thinking. Maybe we should wait to have her and Bakura show up in the next book: let Roxanna and tradition be the antagonists in this first book."

Atem listened and asked, "But they helped Roxanna get back to the palace after she escaped. How are you going to explain that if they're not going to be in the book?"

Tima thought for a moment. She then looked as if a lightbulb went off in her head. "Maybe I don't have to. Maybe that's something the Royal Court can mull over and have that be the last lines."

Atem nodded. "That's a good idea."

Tima wrote a few notes in the outline. "I'll also eventually have to figure out about getting an agent to represent my book if I want to get it published."

"Don't worry about that right now. Just focus on your writing and we'll figure out agents and all that business stuff when you're done."

As she continued to write, he focused on his homework. Suddenly a random idea popped in his head for someone to represent the book. 'It's a long shot…but it just might work.'

"Atem…"

He looked up. "Yes, Tima?"

Tima smiled. "Thank you…for giving me this push…and supporting me."

Atem smiled. "For you, my love, I will always have the sun shine upon you." He saw her look and smirked. "Yes, you can use that in your book."

Tima grinned.


It took Tima a few months to write the book. She would have gotten it done sooner but she had a lot of late shifts at the theater and needed time to gather information from Atem's books and memories. During her time writing, however, she got more ideas, thus expanding the story a little more and filling in details to make the reader feel like they were actually in Ancient Egypt. Going with some ideas Atem had, Tima left out Yima and Bakura from Roxanna's final attack and combined hers and Tikali's stories. She even ended the book with both the royal couple and the high priest and his lover getting married. By the time she finished the coronation of her character and thus the book, she found herself with a manuscript with 25 chapters. Once she was satisfied, she saved her work onto a CD. Sitting back, she sighed. "It's done…I can't believe it."

Before she could continue marveling, she gave a great yawn. Rubbing her eye, she saw it was almost midnight and remembered she had a morning shift the next day. Double-checking that everything was saved, she placed the CD in its case before going to bed. 'I can't wait for Atem to see it.'


Waking up the next morning, Atem found himself alone. Remembering Tima's morning shift, he got up and went to make himself from breakfast. But he was distracted by the CD. Looking at the clock, he knew, "I don't have to get the museum until this afternoon…and I know she wants me to read it."

Making himself some toast and tea, he put in the CD and opened the document. For the next couple hours, he read and enjoyed every word. When he was done, he remembered the idea he had a few months ago when she brought up agents. He quickly made a copy of the document and opened his email, addressing the message to a certain person. He wrote a quick message, describing the story and asking the recipient to be a sponsor for publication. Attaching the copy of the manuscript, he took a deep breath and sent the email. "I hope this works…or I'll sleeping on the couch for the rest of my life."


Around 4am, their phone next to their bed rang, waking them up. Atem groaned, "Who the hell is calling at this awful hour?"

Tima shrugged and answered the phone. "Hello?"

Pegasus' voice erupted on the other end. "Brilliant! I just finished reading your manuscript and I love it!"

Tima groaned and rubbed her eyes. "Pegasus, do you know what time it is?" She then registered what he just said and sat up, fully awake. "Wait, what do you mean, you read my manuscript?"

Atem gripped the blankets, preparing to hide, as Pegasus continued. "Of course! Atem-boy was the one who sent me your lovely manuscript, Miss Tima! I cannot tell you how much I am in love with it! The drama, the passion, the mysterious magic, the Kas, and the characters themselves!"

Tima was still focused on the fact that Atem sent Pegasus the manuscript. She slowly glanced over at Atem, who took that as a cue to hide. Covering the mouthpiece, she murmured, "You and I are going to have a talk after this."

As Atem prepared his argument, Tima's attention was brought back to the phone call when Pegasus said, "You must, must, must have this piece of art published, Miss Tima! In fact, I can arrange a meeting with some editors I know in America to get you started!"

Tima was in shock. After pinching herself to prove she wasn't dreaming, she could just utter, "Y-Y-You would?"

"Of course! This masterpiece needs to be shared to the world, Miss Tima. Your storytelling and imagination is what the world needs right now." Hearing shocked silence, Pegasus added, "I understand this is a lot to take in but I really hope you accept my offer. It truly is a wonderful piece of art."

Tima started to shake with excitement. Peeking out, Atem reached over and rubbed her back. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Yes…I'll do it! And yes, please get me in touch with those editors."

"Wonderful! I can arrange to have you come to America tomorrow."

Tima shook her head. "I can't tomorrow but I can the next day. The theater isn't that busy right now so tomorrow is the only work day for the week."

"Very well, Miss Tima. I will send Atem-boy information about your flight."

"Okay. And thank you so much!"

When she hung up, she made a loud squeal of delight. Fully emerging from the sheets, Atem grinned, "I take it things went well?"

Instead of a verbal response, Tima glomped him and covered his face with kids. Atem laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

Tima pulled back enough to look at him. "Atem…I'll be honest: part of me is upset with you. That stunt could have easily backfired." She smiled. "But the other half of me is really grateful you did that. Since this worked out, I'm focusing on being grateful."

Atem smiled and hugged her. "I'd do anything for my Queen."

Tima smiled more and hugged him back. She then, however, got nervous. "I just fully realized…that I'm going to America by myself in two days. And I…"

Atem told her, "Don't be scared. This is a big step but it's a step in the right direction."

Tima looked at him. "You really think I can do this?"

Atem nodded. "Absolutely. You are a strong woman and I know you can do this."

Tima laid back down but nodded.


A few days later, Tima stepped off the plane and was picked up by Croquet. "Um…where is Pegasus?"

Leading her to the car, Croquet explained, "Mr. Pegasus is waiting for you at Industrial Illusions with the publishers."

Tima nodded, feeling nervous. But she knew Atem had faith in her so she managed to calm herself down on the car ride over.


The meeting went really well. Pegasus had people from a publishing company that specialized in fantasy books and, over the next few days, they worked. To Tima's relief, Pegasus had already sold them the idea of her book so that part was done. They gave her a contract that was a generous offer to her. Pegasus doubled as translator and supporter and helped her see how good of an offer it truly was. Still reading the contract in full with a translation program just to be sure, she confirmed it was a good offer and accepted. The publisher was also grateful that the manuscript was done so they could get straight to work.

At the end of the trip, they had one more meeting. The publisher Max said, "Now this is just the beginning. We will now go in and iron out all the wrinkles. We don't want to publish a book with spelling errors or very obvious plot holes."

Listening, Tima asked, "About how long will that take?"

"It's different for every book but the average is about three months."

Tima accepted that. "If that's what it takes…"

Pegasus then thought of something. "Do you have a title for your book?"

Max told her, "If you need help with that, there are some ideas we have."

Tima shook her head. "I thought about it on the plane and I know exactly what I want to call it. In fact, if I expand the series beyond this one and its sequel, the name can be used as the series name."

Pegasus's eye sparkled. "I like that idea! And I hope to read more of your books!"

Max agreed. "So what's the name of the book and, thus, series?"

Tima smiled. "Ripples."


Roughly six months later, a package arrived at Atem and Tima's doorstep. As it was addressed to both of them, he started to open it. But he saw the spine of what was inside and immediately closed the box. "She should see this first."

When Tima came home late with dinner, her eyes fell on the package. "What's this?"

Atem took the food from her and smiled. "Open it."

Blinking, she opened the box and froze. It was a hardcopy of her book. The cover was blue with two ripples on it. Each ripple had a face in the middle; one was female and one was male. Tima was overwhelmed. "Oh my…Atem!"

Hold the book gently, Tima opened it carefully. She inhaled the smell of the book and her smile widened as she looked at the words. She was so happy, she started to cry. Seeing this, Atem went behind her and hugged her. "I'm so proud of you, Tima."

Tima sniffled and nuzzled his cheek. "Thank you, Atem." She turned to the dedication page and held it up for him to read. "Read this, my love."

Atem looked and smiled.

To my beloved, Atem: the one ripple who changed my life forever. Thank you for always being by my side. I love you

Atem looked at her. "It's my honor, my love."

Tima smiled and kissed him. Just then, the phone rang. Tima went to answer it while Atem started to put their dinners on plates. She came back about five minutes later, grinning from ear to ear. "That was Max. He said they're going to start sending Ripples out to places to get it reviewed. I even asked if I could have a few spares to send to some of our friends."

"Good idea. Who are you going to send them to?"

"Let's see. Definitely Yugi and Tiki…Merina…Serenity because I don't think Joey's much of a reader." Atem chuckled at that as Tima remembered, "Oh yes, and Marik."

Atem looked up in surprise. "Really?"

Tima nodded and took her plate. "That way, his family can have a better idea of how it all started. And who knows? Maybe it will inspire him…or, at the very least, Kamilah."

She smiled as she remembered Marik telling her about Kamilah and how, even over the phone, she could tell how much in love he was. As they started to eat, Atem asked, "Did Max say how long everything would take?"

Tima nodded. "About a couple weeks to get everything shipped out."