Night

"You could ask her, Yuugi?" Atem said as Yuugi slipped into bed. He should be sleeping over in Anzu's room, but no, now there was a new excuse. This whole winning reward mess.

"It's not fair to her. This whole situation isn't fair." Yuugi sat up on the bed. "If we win, we are supposed to win. I didn't want to affect them and say 'mankind now has the gods working for it again'. I didn't want that."

"If we want to deny the ability to have these gods if we win, we can state it, but we will not get a second chance," Atem warned him. "Truly, this is a blessing. They've both agreed. Everyone wants this world back to the way it had been."

"I know, I'm not going to deny it. I just? I want to be over there, but Satiah probably feels better being near her," Yuugi admitted. "If we exchange rooms, that would put Satiah right next to you."

"So?" Atem didn't see the big deal. Anzu was his girlfriend and this would be a rough time. Not only an unexpected pregnancy, but a pregnancy like no human has ever experienced. "Yuugi. I have no idea what will happen. The gestation time of a goddess has traditionally been quick."

"She can call over for me. Besides, just watching over her isn't the right thing to do." Yuugi lied down again. "They will carry both my kids, I can't play favorites. Can I?"

"Yes, you can," Atem said. "People don't have to be in love to love their children." Yuugi was getting used to everything. "It will be fine."

"How can you say that relatively calmly?" Yuugi complained as he nestled into his pillow. "Their yours too now, and I know . . . you've never been super fond of kids."

"It doesn't matter what I think of brats. The idea of having them is not something that was new to me," Atem reminded him. "Pharaoh's were supposed to have as many as possible, to succeed in a fine child growing old and competent enough to take the throne." Just because he was barely starting out, didn't mean he wasn't used to that way of thinking.

"Yeah. I suppose." Yuugi still didn't seem to get it. "But I wasn't raised to think that way. Kids are a huge deal."

"Yuugi." How could he even explain it to him? "They aren't normal human children coming. They might simply show up in a brilliant light, already grown, like two cards being fused together in Duel Monsters."

"Or not. We don't know how they'll be," Yuugi said. "That's got to be terrifying to Anzu. Um, Satiah too." Ugh. "What if it is like that? What if we win, and their full grown . . . like, fusions of us."

"Then they are," Atem said simply.

"It's less mother and father, it's more like combining part of us inside of them?" Yuugi was starting to relax. "More like gods made of all of us, I guess." Okay. "When do you think they'll be here?"

"I don't know, but I doubt there will be a nine month wait." Atem turned on his side. "We will make this game happen, Yuugi. We have everything we need now. Get rest. I am sure the time when we can fight back is getting closer."

At 6:30 in the morning, the sound of a guitar playing woke them all up. Yuugi and Atem were up first, with everyone else poking their heads out. The noise was from downstairs. Yuugi unlocked the top door and then moved downstairs with Atem.

On the counter where the fake plastic dual cards were in the display cases, was someone playing a guitar. They were quite stout, a little person it seemed. Their face wasn't horrific but it wouldn't be winning a beauty award. The guitar tune it was playing could though. From the glow around them, it was clear this was not just anyone.

Another god had come to visit them. "May I help you?" Yuugi asked.

"Name's Bes," he said to Yuugi as the gods' game box appeared right beside him again. "I'm creating a delightful melody to play for the victory tune." He played a couple of chords. "Or the loss. Won't be as fun that way." He tapped on the box. "We have to keep track of our boxes so we took it back prematurely so it stayed safe. It's needed again though, and I'm here for a little more detail since you wouldn't remember."

"Anything that can help we would appreciate," Yuugi said politely.

"Okay. Let me tell you something you folks can't see from the spell around you," Bes said as he tuned his guitar. "The damage caused to your town only happened to five towns a day. They are building up to the destruction through Set's organizational skills. Nice and slow. The rest of the world is just fine outside these bubbles."

"So the modern world really isn't gone?" Yuugi couldn't believe it.

"Not only that, but your friend Honda?" Bes struck a chord. "He was pulled away and into the sand. Many people were pulled into the sand and they were taken away before Set saw what happened. Him and thousands of other residents of Domino are still alive and fine. They are safe in a different dimension, thanks to Isis."

Honda! "Thank goodness!" Thank goodness. Things were finally turning around. This was giving even more help in their faith corner. "We can save so much, Atem."

"Now, hang on." He strummed a couple more chords. "On tune, good. I'm here to tell you the tale that none of you can remember, but it's relevant to the here and now, more than you know." He played a light tune as he started to tell his tale. "Once upon a time, monsters lived on Earth, same as humans. They were wild and unattached to the human spirit. If a person encountered one and didn't have a god that cared to save them, it usually spelled death. Most humans lived in certain areas where monsters did not roam around in as great of numbers."

"Monsters were free and unattached?" Atem asked. "That would be troublesome." Extremely.

"Now our lovely human tear, she of course lived in this time. It was before the reign of Egypt. A young woman simply going along the river, trying to catch some fish for her sick father. Her mother had already died. Her brother Bakura that had lived with her since he was a young child was still there for her. Her father wanted to marry her to her childhood friend, but her brother did not want her. So, she was supposed to be marrying a handsome lad tomorrow and wouldn't be able to take care of her father anymore. She was crying as she tried to lift as many fish out of her net as possible."

He changed chords, into a more happy tune and played some more. "While she did that, she met another young man. He helped her carry her fish home. She was most thankful, but didn't know this man's secret yet. His name? Was Atem," he revealed, "and he had dreamed of her since he was a young child. He promised that he would marry her that day, and that he would let her father stay with them until he was better." A sharp chord was played. "This left her would-be husband, Set, angry and seeing red."

Oh. "Set was jealous." Atem smirked. So? There was a reason for this Pharaoh to be the one to cause this catastrophe. To make Anzu and Masika try to form together again.

"He vowed revenge and with enough praise to the god he was named after, he was rewarded with a book that would enable him to control the monsters. With it, he would kill Atem and take what was rightfully his again." His guitar tempo sped up. "He had control of thousands of monsters in an instant, ready to destroy Atem, but they were not so easily controlled. Once summoned there, the more bruteful of the monsters started to attack the small village itself, killing everyone they could."

Bes smiled and his guitar tempo slowed back down. "Fortunately, Atem had got his wife and her father to safety. "Atem didn't know how he would stop Set, but he still went forward to face him head-on, knowing he'd rather die trying something, than live doing nothing."

He slowed the melody down. "That's when his new brother, Bakura, had stepped out with him. He made him aware of a strange power he'd had since birth. Bakura, being the second original tear, was given his own monster, and had the ability to tie others to his. It was this ability that had killed his first family village." The guitar became melancholy. "This he had never shared with anyone before, but now that monsters were there?" He played a riff on the guitar and then stopped. "He used it. Atem called out to the gods for some type of help as the monsters swarmed them, and Bakura held them all the way around, like a massive tornado." He played a high note, dissonant. "Atem was able to call the highest Egyptian gods to hurl the monsters back at Set, thousands all at once. Set was pleading with his god for help. His god threw them all back toward Atem, but Bakura caught them all again, and they were once helped to hurl away. They played back and forth with the power until the gods grew tired of it." He put his guitar down. "The gods helping Atem and Set both decided to remove the monsters from Earth. Although they had a place, something needed to be done with their power. So, they decided to attach a monster to every human until there were no more."

Wow. "Bakura was holding thousands of monsters like a tornado?" Bakura had that kind of power? "Can he still do that?" Yuugi asked. That power was dangerous!

"Of course." Bes winked at Bakura. "He knows he can. He always could. He never intended to trash Egypt to beat Atem, he just wanted him to suffer. It was the spirits that provoked his evil side, plus the joining of Zorc, that caused that downfall."

Bakura was quiet.

Bes kept his guitar down but played two simple upbeat notes. "He's a good boy, he just doesn't want anyone to know it because his memories of everything are all mixed up. He'll never be exactly the same way again. Then again? Neither are any of you. You're all different than the ones of tens of thousands of years ago. Yet, some parts of you still remain."

Jounouchi grinned the largest grin anyone had seen. "Set is super jealous! Atem not only took his woman, but kicked his ass with Bakura too. He wasn't even Pharoah back then either."

"Oh yeah," Mai agreed. "He's got some serious issues then. If Bakura and him team up with that kind of power, I bet they could take Set out."

"I could easily see that," Atem confessed. "However, that may be . . . premature. Trust isn't easy."

"Well, who said I even want to help?" Bakura took over for Ryou Bakura. "I don't remember such a terrible thing as being your brother anymore than you do. Seems a nightmare to me."

"Get over it," Bes said. "It's got to be different. Atem can't call to the heavens and just have that much trust anymore. Gods got tired of humans, always begging or asking for things or blaming them for everything. Mostly we just ignore you all. That is, until Set brought it to everyone's attention how naughty you've all been overstepping your boundaries."

"It wasn't for evil," Atem tried to explain, but it did no good. Bes wasn't the one in control. He seemed to be more the messenger.

"Atem!" Set's voice sounded off outside the game shop.

"Just know, that she did the best she could for all outcomes," Bes said quickly.

"What, Bastet?" Jounouchi shook his head. "I'll never believe that."

"No, Isis," Bes stated.

"Oh." Yuugi thought about that one. "The goddess Isis herself is responsible for the game too?"

"Few were greater than her," Atem said to Jounouchi. However, he still remembered his basic Egyptian manners, "although I assume Bes would be up there, working with her." Trouble avoided, although Bes was not one to get mad about that. More laid back he was the god of drinking, of music, of good times to be had, but also war. That explained his presence. Did her best for all outcomes. Why did he exaggerate that? All outcomes.

"I refuse to wait all day!" Set's voice again.

Everyone went outside to check what was going on.

The gods game box also appeared outside now, between them and Set.

"You aren't the King of Games, you're the King of Gambles," Set warned them as he stood in front of the box. He held up two memo cards in envelopes. "There isn't much that would attract my attention, but I couldn't resist this. Isis was always a smart goddess." Then, a wicked grin, almost demonic fell upon his face. "I agree if my demands are met." The box flew open, as well as the Winnings and Losings boxes. He dropped the envelopes into the box.

"Atem isn't afraid of you," Jounouchi warned him. "We have a lot of power on our side, so I would back off with the boasting."

"You have power to destroy the worlds, and I'm fairly sure you don't want that," Set called his bluff. "Or you would have used it. My part of the deal is done. If Atem wins, I will leave Earth and so will my kingdom. It will be up to him what to do with it. He will be the ruler."

"The Earth needs no one ruler. It has its own way of running things now," Atem disagreed.

"However you want to run it, I don't care," Set said to that. "It's worth the risk for the wins."

"Mai Kujaku was supposed to be with me!" Jounouchi shouted to him. "I worked with her for so long to get over everything, she's finally coming around, and you think you can just take her from me? How dare you do this."

"She has great power within her," Set reminded Jounouchi. "It's not sexual, Simpleton. Although I'm sure it will be, she will be a main wife and Isis did show me a picture. Quite beautiful."

Jounouchi jiggled his leg. "I'd serve you for eternity in the afterlife instead?"

"What would I want that for?" Set answered him. "You have a monster but you're still just a human."

"This creep really wants my daughter out of Mai." Jounouchi looked back at Yuugi, like he found out he was betrayed by one of his best friends. "Isis and the cats made my Mai an appetizer for him. They've been preparing her for years. I can't change his mind."

Jounouchi. "I'm sorry," Yuugi answered, "I am. I really am, but-"

"It's for the whole world and even Honda, I get that." Jounouchi took his sleeve and wiped at his eye slightly. "Big wins are about big costs. Saving the rest of humanity from the gods themselves, that's a pretty big game. Besides, I already agreed."

Set tossed him a pen. "Here. Come up to the boxes, grab your agreements and cross out your name if you want. All parts of Atem can face me himself, why bother you? You do know if you just wait 'til the end, you would have a decent afterlife with her?"

"Jounouchi doesn't need that!" Mai spoke up from the back and looked at Jounouchi. "I'm not afraid 'cause you're gonna win. I know it. For the world."

"For the world." Jounouchi glared back at Set. "This game is set, Set. I am here to help my friends and the world survive against you."

"Fine," Set agreed. "Then I assume everything is ready?"

"Almost," Bes said. He came over by the box. "So, the game is to be a game done without the help of gods. No gods, no goddesses, and no deities. That includes fusion gods like Horakhty."

"I don't care. I don't need Horakhty to win a game," Set declared. "Now, either the winnings are ready or they aren't."

"They are ready," Atem said stepping toward the box. "If you win, I will be your servant in eternity and you may take away the ability to summon any deities. I will use none either during the game."

"Me too," Yuugi agreed. "The same punishment and rules."

"Ability to summon?" Set looked toward Bes. "That's not the bet."

"Nope!" Bes smiled and gestured toward Anzu and Masika. "In the words of Isis?" Bes pulled out a piece of paper. "If the whole of Atem wins, you have to back off and let them rule the world as they wish. They will have command of their gods and goddesses and any afterlives of friends who are lost during this time, now will be redeemable."

"Yes, I know," Set said. "And?"

"If Pharaoh Set wins, the whole of Atem will serve him in the afterlife. He is also to be graced with four wives of amazing powers. Mai Kujaku, who will gift him a daughter of a past sorceress. She will be taught by her predecessor as she grows older."

"What?!" Jounouchi had some words about that. "This is what Mahado was for? You're just giving my body away?"

"Yes," Bes said, "moving on. You will gain a wife of Shizuka Kawai, who has the power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon." Once again, Jounouchi couldn't be quiet. Yuugi had to help him calm down. "You will gain Masika, that means both parts."

"Wait." Yuugi wasn't holding Jounouchi back anymore. "Anzu? How does she fit in? We never agreed to that!"

"Nah, but you have a light goddess that split," Bes said clevely. "Not a real goddess, but uh, from prophecy?"

Oooohh. Oh no. Anzu took a step backward.

"Be happy," Set said out toward her. That grin was downright evil. "Don't you love the way ancient egyptians wrote things?"

"They aren't goddesses, that was just prophecy writing!" Yuugi yelled in protest.

That's not going to matter.

Bes looked toward Set. He looked back at his guitar and strummed a few chords. "A simple matter but can they stay with the whole of Atem until the moment you win?"

Set groaned. "Isis is trying to appeal to me, they should be mine until this is over! And you are still missing one of my wives."

"He's going to take us? Now?" Anzu couldn't believe it. "I don't want to go with this guy."

Atem pointed violently at Bes, forgetting for the moment who he'd been, his rage in control. "You knew what this bet would involve, and you didn't bother explaining!"

"I told you, Isis did her best for all outcomes." Bes' charming demeanor disappeared. "If you win, great for you. If you lose? With the woman of his dreams, dragons and a sorceress, he won't choose to end humanity. He will choose to lead it with his newfound power and become a legend. Win or lose, mankind is safe."

"He is right. Cheers, Atem. Even if you don't win, don't feel so bad. I'm much more likely to help mankind than take over brutefully if I have a powerful rule behind it. Future generations built with wives that have dragons, sorceresses, and everything else. Even the worst of humanity should be beat into submission with it all." He waved lightly to Anzu as she started scooting toward him.

Yuugi and Atem both tried to stop it. They held onto the cement cracks as deeply as they could, but just as before, Set's power was too much.

He's still mad about losing her, he wants Anzu and Satiah in this bet! "Atem. We're risking them all," Yuugi said to Atem as he tried to hold onto Anzu.

"For the world. To save the world. Without it, this world we know will crumble," Atem reminded him. "This is not the first time we have put everything on the line. We've done it more than once."

"But I never . . ." Yuugi couldn't speak at first. Then he looked at Anzu. "Death is finite, but we'll lose them forever." His sparkling eyes, becoming wetter. "That's worse than death."

"He already has them, Yuugi," Atem said coldly. "We can't do this against the power he has. This is our only choice."

"It's okay." Anzu was trying to be brave. "I'll go willingly. Atem wouldn't put me in danger. He's right, I have to go."

"Observant," Set congratulated her as he stopped trying to pull. "I'll take Mai Kujaku too."

"Huh? No way, you can't take her already!" Jounouchi yelled. "This game isn't even settled!"

"Well, this is getting complicated," Bes complained as he sat down his guitar. "Three . . . two . . . one . . ."

"You can't take her, it's against the rules!" Bastet spoke up, herself not even showing her presence again until that moment. "She is pregnant, which puts her under my protection," Bastet warned him.

"Mine too, and Tawaret," Bes said. "None of us will let you have her."

"I don't have to fight anyone for anything," Set insisted. "I can just disappear and forget this bet completely. I could also just flat out have everyone killed and steal what I want instead." He crossed his arms. "No one could stop me."

"No way!" Yuugi couldn't allow that.

"I would never hurt Masika though," Set answered. "They were originally mine and I can win them back. The future will be mine so game accepted."

"Great!" Bes belted out a few chords between. "Everyone's in agreement. The game will be a combination of games. It will involve dual monsters but only one on one. The game will include both players, allies, and prey. If I were you, I'd each start finding your best cards."

"And the game date?" Atem insisted.

"Isis says it'll be decided when all rewards are here on Earth," Bas said. "So when Mana is born probably."

Mana? "Mai is only four months or so," Atem said. "We have to wait five more months?" Five months. Five months of that in and out kind of living in that world? Cramped. Walking for food and water from stores. Having to be ignorant of what was happening outside of Domino City?

"Months for a game? No, I can't afford to wait that long." Set hummed a second. "Eh. I still have three wives."

Then, Mai grabbed at her stomach.

"I pushed it ahead," he grinned wickedly. "Survive or not, it's still the prize. If I were you? I would get her to a hospital. Meanwhile, I'll be in touch afterwards."

"That delivery room. Where everyone smiles." Mai kept watching the guys, trying with all their might to come up with something. Atem apologizing for his rash words, like he had caused it to happen. "I've been there thousands of times. Everyone smiles. Even Atem. They are all smiling . . . or trying to smile." Oh no. "She changes her eyes and her hair color. From a dusty blonde to brown and back. Like the Dark Magician Girl card."

"She won't be a goddess, and she'd be too little to help," Bastet said next to her. "You understand. You always have."

The gods and goddesses of fertility and birth are right here. They could make Mana stronger . . . by somehow fusing her with her monster before she's even born. She could survive but . . . "A monster for a daughter." The concept was strange, yet it wasn't. Not as many times as she had that dream. "The Dark Magician Girl's name will be Mana." No, she would not cry. The guys will win, I trust them! I trust them with everything. "We need to get to the hospital."