Apep and the Sacred Scrolls of Duat.
Chapter 2: There Goes the Living Room.
Yugi was dozing in his sitting room, draped over one of the sofas with one short leg dangling over the edge he stared listlessly at the TV. His friends Joey, Tristan and Duke were lying in similar, informal positions around the room, both on the furniture and on the floor, with empty bowls and plates littering the tables and the floor around them. He was actually very tired and he wanted to sleep, but Joey was adamant that they should stay up and watch TV. The girls had wanted to sleep, and one didn't mess with tired females, so the boys had retreated to the downstairs sitting room and set up shop there several hours ago.
"Boring," Joey yawned, "What else is on?"
"...Nothing...rerun...seen it...boring...rerun...rerun..." Tristan listed as he started to change the channel in rapid succession.
"Gah! Why does TV hate me?!" Joey sat up as he yelled out loudly, ruffling his already messy blond hair.
"Keep it down, Wheeler!" they heard Teà shout from the first floor of the building. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"
"Doesn't sound like you're trying very hard," Joey mumbled quietly as he flopped back down into his pile of blankets and cushions on the floor.
Joey's sister, Serenity, and their friend Rebecca were also staying at their little sleep over at Yugi's but, on Teà's advice they were upstairs rather than staying up at ungodly hours eating boring TV reruns. Yugi was beginning to think she had the right idea; his grandpa would throw a fit if he knew about the mess they'd made and how late they were up, but Yugi did plan on cleaning up in the morning. Fortunately, Solomon Muto had left earlier that morning for another dig in Egypt with his old friend Professor Hawkins, so he'd never see said mess.
"Maybe we should just go to sleep," Yugi yawned and closed his eyes.
"No, man, it's not even midnight yet," Joey complained.
"It will be in about a minute," Duke sighed, "Then can we sleep?"
"You wimps," Joey frowned.
"Sorry, dude," Tristan sighed, as he tossed the remote to his friend, "It's official; sleep really is the only choice left."
"Mmm...that's good..." Yugi smiled and pulled the old quilt over his head, "...Night, guys..." Of course, it had long escaped his notice, but all of them were still wearing their clothes rather than pyjamas, but Yugi was too tired to care.
"You're out voted, Joey," Duke nodded. "The girls say sleep, lil' guy says sleep, I say sleep, and Tristan says sleep."
"Ah," Joey sighed, "Fine," he shook his head and turned off the TV, "But tomorrow I chose what we're doing."
"Just so long as its not trying to eat the burger place outta business," Tristan grinned.
"Or runnin' after Kaiba again so you can lose at another duel," Duke grinned.
"Shut it, dice boy!" Joey cried back, waving his fist angrily at his friend.
Yugi chuckled as he remembered the last duel between Joey and Kaiba that had taken place about a month ago, and even the rich CEO had had to admit; Joey was a good duellist...but he still lost to Kaiba. To Yugi, it seemed as though Kaiba had made peace with all of the strangeness that had happened, including his own ancient past, and he had become less aggressive and arrogant towards them. Of course, the young CEO still took every opportunity to challenge Yugi to duels, but Yugi looked forward to them; Kaiba pushed him to be the best duellist he could possibly be like the Pharaoh had done before him, and Yugi was sure that he encouraged Kaiba to improve his own skills as well.
But that wasn't to say that Yugi didn't miss the Pharaoh. He missed his best friend all the time, but knowing what the spirit must have endured, trapped alone for 3,000 years, he knew he'd made the right choice; he couldn't condemn his friend to that again because of his selfishness. Atemu deserved to be free after all he'd done, in life and in death for the human race, and to expect the Pharaoh to remain behind would be nothing short of cruel.
After the museum exhibit containing the Pharaoh's burial possession and mummified body had finally left the city, it took with it all that was left for Yugi to cling onto of his first ever friend. (*1) Now he had nothing but his memories and sometimes they were enough to get by on...and other times they weren't, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. He would always miss Atemu, but Yugi's life went on, and he was determined to make the most of it. In the past few months he'd been in several tournaments, making major tv appearances in doing so, and unlike the start of his school life which had consisted mainly of hiding away, now he was always in a crowd of his friends...friends he had found because of the Pharaoh.
...Friends that were now arguing with each other about why Joey shouldn't challenge Seto Kaiba to a duel again anytime soon.
"...He's the CEO of a major company!" Duke frowned.
"Yeah, so he needs a good dose o' reality now and then!" Joey retaliated.
"From you?" Tristan chuckled.
"Who else?"
"Guys," Yugi sighed, "Knock it off."
"But I..." Joey began.
"But he..." said Tristan and Duke at the same time as Joey.
"Guys," Yugi repeated.
"Fine," Joey muttered, "We'll continue this intellectual conversation in the mornin'."
"Oh joy," Tristan sighed as he punched his pillow and then threw his head down on it.
"Hey, Yug," Joey yawned.
"Hmm?"
"Y'think...nah...never mind...I'm goin' t'sleep...night."
"M'kay..." Yugi mumbled, too tried to enquire further which he would've done if he was more awake.
Just as they were winding down, Yugi suddenly felt a wave of cold air run past him and his spine tingled as he sat up and threw off the quilt under which he'd previously buried himself under. His tiredness now forgotten, he looked around the room, which was now in darkness, but which looked perfectly ordinary.
"What's up, Yug?" Joey asked him, looking up at his friend curiously.
"I...I don't know," Yugi frowned, "Something just doesn't seem right."
"How d'you mean?"
"It's just weird..."
"Well, what's it..." Joey began, but he broke off when the ground suddenly started shaking violently. "Wha?!" Joey yelled indignantly as he tumbled off the sofa, "What's the deal?" he muttered as he rubbed his aching head.
"...I dunno..." Tristan said, sounding equally put out. He had been tossed around on his makeshift mattress of blankets as the ground continued to quake.
They heard thunder clapping loudly outside and Yugi shot up onto his feet and he ran across to the closest window, throwing open the curtains. Then, he gasped in shock and horror and his whole body froze to the spot.
"Erm...guys..." Yugi spoke slowly, "I think we've got a problem..." he added, still clutching the soft fabric of the curtains in his shaking hands.
"What? Is it the Feds? Did gramps skip out on his taxes?" Joey suggested but when Yugi didn't laugh he sobered at once. He stood from the floor and walked over to his friend, then he pried the curtains from one of Yugi's hands and turned to look. "Whoah...d'at's...not the Feds..." he said, "Tristan, Duke..."
The ground was now toning down the quakes and within seconds the shaking had stopped completely, and Tristan saw this as reason enough to simply lie back down and close his eyes again. "Tristan!" Joey repeated.
"Hmm?" he murmured.
"Get over here," Joey ordered with a shaking voice.
Tristan grumbled under his breath but he slowly got up and made his way to the window and he too looked out into the night. He blinked once just to make sure he wasn't dreaming and then he rubbed his eyes, then he jumped back from the window and fell onto the floor, "Whoa..." he cried, "...No way..."
"Yes way," Yugi narrowed his eyes in fear.
"M...maybe they're just holograms..." Joey stuttered.
"What's goin' on? Did we just have an earthquake?" Duke looked around, his head jolting from side to side quickly.
"...Not quite," Yugi said, still staring out the window.
"Then, does someone wanna fill me in?" Duke asked as he walked over to Yugi with a yawn.
"See for yourself," Yugi stood aside, giving Duke full view out the window.
"Hmm..." Duke hummed as he blinked. "Holy dice dungeons!" he cried.
"Yeah..." Yugi sighed as he stared out into the night.
In the dimly lit streets, amidst the flickering street lamps stood hundreds upon hundreds duel monsters of all shapes and sizes and colours and designs. They weren't attacking or doing anything to cause alarm, but they were all had their mouths open as though screaming in fear or agony at the heavens, and yet there was no sound to be heard.
"Are...are they...real?" Duke muttered.
"They look pretty real to me," Tristan exclaimed.
"They could still be holograms!" Joey yelled.
"Well, I won't hold my breath after everything we've been through," Duke told his friend.
"I thought all that was...y'know...over with now...'cos...well...y'know..." Joey stumbled over his words inelegantly. It had been wordlessly agreed upon not to mention Atemu unless it was unavoidable because the wounds were still far too fresh for them even after the sort of closure they had after his resting place had been uncovered.
"Me too," Yugi agreed sadly. He truly had thought all the weirdness was gone for good now that the soul of the Pharaoh was gone, and indeed, over the last nine months nothing unusual, inexplicable or anything remotely magical had happened at all...unless one counted Kaiba adopting his version of a 'nice' attitude to the group, that is.
"Guys, did you see..." Teà began loudly and with urgency as she, Serenity and Rebecca ran down the stairs and into the sitting room, all wearing their pyjamas.
"Yeah...we see 'em..." Joey answered her when they entered the room.
They watched from the window as the duel monsters continued their silent cries and from on high, a blinding, golden light illuminated the darkness. It bathed the streets in pure golden rays, like a huge sun in the middle of the night, it lightened even the darkness alleyway. The light was of such magnitude that it could probably be seen all over the world and then, from this light, stepped the mighty Obelisk the Tormentor. He floated above the city and roared down at the monsters below as Slifer the Sky Dragon, in all its glory, flew out beside him with an ear-piercing cry of fury from its second mouth.
Finally, the light brightened as the winged Dragon of Ra flew over both of the two Gods, letting out a ferocious and shrill battle cry before it burst into flames. It sent the flames across the sky with a flap of its huge wings, and Obelisk and Slifer attacked in opposite directions, illuminating the sky further with attacks of red and blue.
"I don't suppose you're doing that, are ya, Yug?" Joey said in awe.
"Nope," Yugi shook his head unnecessarily.
"Then who is?" Teà breathed.
"Just what are they doing?" Rebecca muttered to herself as she watched the God monsters seemingly attack the sky.
"I dunno..." Yugi answered.
"I hope they're on our side," Tristan said quietly.
"Come on, it's the Egyptian Gods," Joey grinned, "Of course they're on our side."
"Last time I checked, I wasn't Egyptian," Duke muttered under his breath.
"Can it, Duke," Joey snapped.
"What'd you think they're doin', Yug?" Tristan asked him but Yugi shook his head.
"Your guess is as good as mine," replied the young champion duellist.
"...Y'don't think...d'at maybe...y'know...the Pharaoh..." Joey said tentatively.
"How could he?" Tristan frowned, "He's dead!"
"He was dead when we met him, you moron!" Joey shouted back but then he bit his tongue, "I mean...er..."
"I know, Joey," Yugi sighed, "But even if he could, I don't know...ah...I wish I knew what was going on."
"Here here," Duke nodded as the Gods now stopped their assault on the sky.
Now the entire skyline seemed to be shine with the force of the Gods, and small droplets of beautiful gold began to rain down from above. As the droplets came into contact with the duel monsters, the creatures started to fade, as though someone was wiping them away with their hand from a picture made in coloured sand. This phenomenon occurred simultaneously across the globe and the rain had this effect only on the creatures.
One by one, they slowly vanished and then, when the final duel monster was gone, the three Gods let out a final cry of victory and they started to shine a bright gold once more and they too were gone in a matter of seconds. Then the whole street reverted back to the nighttime darkness as though nothing at all had happened.
"What...exactly...was that?" Teà whispered.
"Erm...a free light show?" Tristan shrugged.
"You'd think we'd be used to weird stuff by now, right, Yug?" Joey smiled at his friend.
"Mm," Yugi nodded.
"...Joey...I can hear something..." Serenity whispered as she edged closer to her brother.
"What?" he asked her, curiously.
"It sounds...like snakes," the young woman answered.
"Snakes?" Rebecca repeated and listened carefully, "Hey, you're right...I hear it too."
"Me three," Duke nodded.
Suddenly they were all startled as a darkness, somehow visibly different from the natural shadow of night started to seep in from the walls and from the floor and the ceiling as though it was leaking in from outside.
"What's going on?" Serenity asked, frightened.
Then, right in the room, the shadows started to take shape and the atmosphere grew increasingly colder and darker until they merged into an almost solid form of a large snake; a huge black serpent with thousands of others surrounding it and slithering over its massive body with loud hisses and snarls. This snake seemed to bring the very darkness with it and despite the lights in the room, everything seemed blanketed in eerie shadows.
"What the hell is that?" Joey yelled as he backed away, careful to keep his sister behind him as he moved.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't look too friendly," Duke gulped.
"Run!" Yugi cried and they turned to flee from the room, but before they even reached the door, the whole room disappeared into shadows.
The walls, the door, the windows, the floor, the furniture and the lights in the room were all gone, leaving only a void of shimmering shadows that seemed to dance with shade of purple and grey. It was impossible to touch, but it seemed to stretch on forever, "This looks like a shadow game," Yugi whispered.
"Oh no," Serenity gasped as Joey moved closer to her to wrap an arm around her.
"What'd we do now?!" Joey asked his best friend.
"I..." Yugi frowned, but he honestly didn't know. All the times he'd seen the shadows before he'd never been the one to fight them; he couldn't use shadow magic even if he had the Millennium Puzzle, only the Pharaoh could use its power. But both the spirit and the item were long gone, and the teens were powerless in the face of the magical shadows.
From the never ending darkness there shone two black eyes which somehow stood out from the rest of the darkness, and they seemed to be amused at the fear of the teenagers. "What are you, and what d'you want from us?" Yugi asked it with as much confidence as he could muster. But, unsurprisingly he received no answer as the hissing sounds continued from the snakes.
"What're they sayin'? I don't speak snake..." Joey frowned and he felt his sister tightened her grip around his arm in fear.
"I doubt it's anything good," Tristan muttered.
"We gotta get outta here," Joey said.
"How?!" Teà snapped, "We don't even know how we got 'here' in the first place...whoa..." she broke off in shock as some of the snakes slithered around her feet. "Why'd it have to be snakes?!" she cried and tried to kick the creatures off her feet, but there were too many of them so they just kept coming.
Swiftly, the whole number of the snakes made towards the teens, and with no where to go, they were instantly knee deep in writhing serpents as they struggled and screamed.
"Joey!" Serenity cried as the snakes engulfed her torso and she held up her arms as they continued to climb.
"Serenity!" Joey yelled, "Stupid snakes! Get off'a me!" he screamed as he struck at the creatures with his hands and feet in vain. It felt as though the snakes were wrapping around his limbs tightly enough to stop the blood flow in his legs and it was becoming impossible to move.
Yugi winced as he tired to break free, but try as he might, there were just to many of the slippery little enemies for him to get any ground, and being shorter than his friends, while they still had head room, his was almost gone. He couldn't ever remember being afraid of snakes, but an ordeal like this would be enough to give anyone nightmares to last a lifetime. Yugi, breathed heavily as his view was completely overtaken by snakes and he was completely engulfed in the darkness.
"Yugi!" Duke exclaimed as he watched his friend disappear completely into the sea of snakes.
"Oh man, Yug!" Joey grunted as he too was now buried snakes up to his neck and soon his nose and then his whole body was submerged. It was a horrible feeling; almost like being trapped in the shadow realm but not it wasn't quite the same. Somehow, this felt even more evil than the realm of shadows and they were all powerless to escape. The last thing Joey could remember thinking, aside from anger at himself for failing to help his friends, his sister, or himself, was something along the lines of...if only the Pharaoh was here.
Once the teens had vanished completely, the shadows disappeared as quickly as they had arrived and the largest serpent growled in triumph. The sound echoed throughout the night and across each continent of the world as everything returned to normality once more...save for the disappearance of seven teenagers.
(*1) I set this as a sort of sequel to my one shot 'Loose Ends'. You don't necessarily need to have read it first though. Basically, it's just my idea of the museum exhibit of the Pharaoh's burial treasures after his tomb is found in tact, including his body, by Mr Mutou and Prof Hawkins.
