DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.
A New Beginning
Chapter 3: The Gathering of the Gods
By Shadow's Mirror
Yami arched an eyebrow as Bakura, sitting beside him, began to inch towards the door that had closed behind them only a few moments earlier. "Bakura... where are you going?"
"To eavesdrop unashamedly. I can hear voices." The white-haired boy wiggled a little closer to the door.
"That door must be at least a foot thick. I did not know your hearing was that good." Yami tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, for the sake of harmony. This was no time for them to get into an argument. Things were bad enough, but at least neither of them had to endure the situation alone. That would have been intolerable.
"It's not. The door may be thick, but there's an inch gap at the bottom." Bakura's lips twisted into a half-hearted parody of his usual wicked grin as he got within arm's reach of the door. Ignoring Yami's hissed whisper for him to 'get back here and stop embarrassing us', he stretched out on his belly on the floor. With his head now beside the crack under the door, he could hear what was being said on the other side.
He didn't relay the news to Yami. If the former Pharaoh wanted information, let him lower his pride enough to eavesdrop as well.
"I do not understand, Thoth. Why are you so worried about them being here? They have come to be judged. Why can the judgement not proceed as usual?" The voice was so soft Bakura had to strain to hear it. It was a female, so he thought it was probably either Isis or Nepthys who was speaking.
"Because... it is them!" Thoth's voice trembled with either nerves or excitement. "Oh dear, oh dear. I knew this day would come, but I had no idea it would be today!"
"Thoth." The low voice was Anubis's. "Perhaps you had best explain?"
"Oh yes, of course. Forgive me, my Lord." Bakura could picture the scribe bowing to Osiris. "I am a little... overcome. In all the millennia we have issued judgements, nothing even remotely like this has occurred before."
"What, exactly, is 'this'?" The voice was low and feminine with a mix of amusement and confusion. It put Bakura in mind of warm honey and he somehow knew that it was Isis who spoke. The one before, then, must have been Nepthys. Or possibly one of the Maats.
"The situation, at its most basic, is that the two who have come here today have already been... Oh dear. This is really quite disturbing." There was a low, discrete cough that sounded like it might have come from the spot where Anubis's voice had come from earlier and Thoth sounded a little embarrassed when he continued. "They have already been judged."
There was a moment of silence, as if everyone in the room was as surprised by that news. That or else they were stunned that Thoth had put it so simply after hesitating so much. Bakura wasn't sure which surprised him more, either. When he thought about it for a moment, though, he realised that he really shouldn't have been at all surprised as to the nature of the problem.
A third female voice came and Bakura finally had his identification of the first voice, for Maat spoke in calm, measured tones that seemed to bear the weight of Justice within every word she uttered. "I recall two of unusual purity, who came as these two did today, directly to the outer hall without passing through the Realm of the Dead. They spoke the Negative Confession and I could tell the white-haired one lied, however the feathers remained in balance for both of them. When we looked into their hearts, we found only light and were so delighted at finding two so pure of heart that we allowed them to pass on to the Afterlife without hesitation."
A low, deep voice spoke and Bakura barely repressed a shiver as he realised it was Osiris himself he was hearing. "Thoth, if you knew of this matter then, why did you not speak of it until now?" There was no censure in his voice, only curiosity.
"Because I did not then know of it, my Lord." Thoth sighed. "Indeed, I was as happy about their purity as everyone else. However, afterwards, Maat seemed troubled and I asked what was bothering her. She told me about her feeling that the white-haired one had lied during his Negative Confession and that made me curious. So... I looked into the matter. But what with one thing and another... By the time I realised what had happened, it was too late. They had both already been reborn. Since then, neither of them has been reborn into an Egyptian body."
"As long as they follow other beliefs in life, we have no power over them in death. This matter has therefore remained unresolved all this time. I see." Osiris was silent for a few moments, as if weighing up the matter. "So their souls were divided, dark and light, and we judged their light halves at that time. Now their dark halves have come before us. I assume that 'dark' and 'light' correctly indicates the... contents... of those half souls?"
"I fear so. That is why both light halves passed without trouble at that time, even though at least one of them had failed the Negative Confession, and it is also why the white-haired one spoke as he did earlier. He is correct, I fear. The weighing of their souls will indeed be inaccurate in this case. They both have nothing but darkness within them. Against the feather of truth, both will surely weigh heavily." Thoth had apparently overcome his hesitation.
"However, that is not the only problem here, or am I mistaken?" It was Isis speaking again.
"No. I fear not. Even if we were to find a way to weigh these dark souls accurately, it seems that they remain linked to their other halves. There is a chance that we could judge them safely, however, there is also a chance that whatever judgement we pass today could affect not only them, but the two linked to them, also."
"I presume those two are not within our jurisdiction at present?" Osiris sounded quite weary.
"I fear not, my Lord. The repercussions could be quite disastrous. We could even be accused of stealing their souls." Thoth sounded both indignant and horrified of that outcome.
Bakura took a few deep breaths as he seethed in silence. He would have liked to have let loose with a few choice words over how callous they were being. Hearing them talk so casually about the lives of the two lights infuriated him. He was suddenly glad that Yami had not joined him in listening. There would have been no keeping the righteously indignant former Pharaoh quiet if he had heard.
Osiris sighed heavily. "Then it appears that we have quite a problem on our hands. What to do with these two..."
"Perhaps we should call the others. Together, we may be able to find a solution." Isis sounded calm.
"As always, sister, you speak with wisdom. Thoth! Summon the others here. Immediately."
"As you wish, my Lord." There was a moment's hesitation, then, "All of them?"
Osiris paused a moment as well. "All." He sounded quite thoughtful.
Bakura frowned as Yami tapped him on the shoulder. He quickly, but silently, sat up and leaned in to whisper in the other's ear. "If they hear us, they'll know we can hear them. What is it?"
"I wish to know what is going on." Yami whispered back.
"They're trying to work out what to do with us. They've already judged the other halves of our souls, and they know they can't fairly judge us in the normal way. So they're calling the others in to discuss the matter." Bakura gave Yami an irritated look. "Why am I telling you this? If you're so curious, listen in for yourself. Now, if you don't mind, it sounds like Osiris wasn't kidding around when he asked Thoth to get them all there 'immediately'."
Bakura lay down again, resolving to ignore any further tappings from the other dark spirit. He had not been joking about the rapid response to Osiris's summons. From inside the Hall of Judgement, he could definitely hear the sound of many voices muttering. Far more than there had been barely a minute earlier. Putting aside his thoughts about Ancient Egyptian Gods and their possible use of teleporters, Bakura returned his attention to his shameless eavesdropping in time to hear Osiris giving a brief summary of the situation.
The collective gasp that followed would have made him smirk if the situation hadn't been so serious.
After that, the conversation became much harder to follow. Considering how many Gods and Goddesses the Ancient Egyptians had believed in, Bakura wasn't surprised at being unable to identify any of the new voices he heard. He was, however, rather insulted that most of them seemed to be completely uncaring as to the fate of the two innocent lights. There seemed to be an awful lot of people saying things like 'just judge them as normal' and 'if they have done bad things, then surely they were bad people when their souls were undivided'.
Although there were a lot of voices, most of them were fairly soft-spoken, so Anubis's echoing rumble rose clearly over all of them. "Could we perhaps... send them back to the mortal world?"
Bakura's heart leapt, but his hopes were dashed immediately by Thoth's indignant reply.
"Send them back? Send them back?! Do you have any idea how much trouble that would cause? Just think of the paperwork! Are you prepared to spend a hundred years filling out forms on their behalf?"
After that outburst, the other voices continued to debate the precarious issue, their voices too low to be heard aside from the odd phrase or two, but then the two familiar voices came again, only nearer. Apparently Anubis and Thoth had moved to the back of the room to talk together quietly.
"Um... a hundred years, you said?" Anubis sounded surprisingly hesitant about asking.
"Yes." Thoth still sounded quite irritated with his associate.
"Do you not think that to be a trifle... excessive?" Apparently curiosity had won out over hesitation.
"It is either that or twelve tasks, and you know how troublesome that was for our Grecian cousins." Thoth sighed heavily.
"Good point." Bakura could actually hear the shudder in the death god's voice.
"It is not as if..." Thoth seemed to realise his voice was a little too shrill and dropped it to a whisper. "No, never mind."
"What is it?" Anubis's voice had dropped almost too low for Bakura to hear him. Almost.
"I was just going to say... It is not as if... I do not wish they could... go back." Was that regret in the scribe's voice? "It would be the best solution. Send them back to their other halves and then petition the Gods involved to rejoin their souls from four to two after the light ones have lived out their lives. We could judge them fairly then."
"So why not suggest that? Osiris listens to you and it sounds like a good plan to me."
"There is a problem with it." Thoth sighed. "When I summoned the others here, I also did some research on the situation. When those two came here, all seven of the Millennium Items also vanished from the mortal world. Indeed, it seems that the Shadow Magic itself has gone. Or perhaps I should say, the link between that world and the Shadow Realm is no more."
"You are saying that those two... are the link? Oh shadows..."
Bakura blinked. Somehow, he hadn't expected to hear that particular expression ever again. It was oddly... reassuring.
"No, no. I believe it is a little more complicated than that. We are dealing with the results of a very powerful spell, here. A spell strong enough to require two lives as its price and sunder two souls in the taking of them. I believe the spell also maintained the link to the Shadow Realm and ensured that the Shadow Magic required for the Shadow Games remained in the mortal world, even after most other magic faded with the advance of science." Thoth still spoke quietly, but his passion for this particular subject was clear in his voice, despite that.
Anubis took a few moments before replying. "But now the spell has ended. They are here, the link to the Shadow Realm is gone and the Millennium Items are gone with it."
"The Items that gave those with the Shadow Magic abilities over life, death and reason, in some ways. You know how Ra and Osiris feel about that." Thoth sighed heavily.
"I do. They have long voiced their disapproval on mortals wielding such power. They will not wish to return those abilities, now they have been lost." Anubis sighed as well.
Thoth made a soft sound of distress. "Yet if those two return... I am certain the link to the Shadow Realm will return, also. Likely the Millennium Items as well." He lowered his voice a little more. "Perhaps even with their powers restored in full, for those that were rendered useless."
Anubis again took a few moments before replying. Just enough time to wince at the thought, in fact. "Ra and Osiris would not be at all pleased about that. How likely is it?"
"I could not say. It is only a hypothesis at this point. About the restoration of the abilities, at least. About the Items' return in general, I am more confident in my belief."
This time, Anubis's reply was longer in coming and he sounded very reluctant to voice it when he did finally speak again. "Ra and Osiris will need to be told."
Bakura was distracted from hearing Thoth's reply by Yami tapping him on the shoulder. Hard. He rolled over onto his side to glare at the other dark spirit, but paused in mid-move when he saw the reason for Yami's interruption. He blinked in confusion as he watched the reason run lightly across the room to the doors. He blinked again in disbelief when they opened just enough for the slender body to slip through into the Hall of Judgement.
As the doors closed again, Bakura found Yami leaning over him, breathing in his ear. Before he could bat him away in annoyance, though, Yami whispered, "Please tell me that you saw that, also and I am not going insane."
Bakura almost didn't answer him and it was on the tip of his tongue to say 'aren't you already?' but for once, he sympathised with Yami. He was just as baffled by what he'd just seen. "If by 'that' you mean a fluffy white cat that just sauntered into a room where all the Gods and Goddesses of Egypt are gathered, then yes, I saw it too." He lay down again to resume his listening, very curious as to who, or what, had just passed them.
At first there was nothing but the same old murmuring, with some more obvious arguments in the background. But then Bakura noticed that the muttering was gradually becoming quieter and the silence seemed to be spreading from the back of the chamber to the front. It was as if someone was making their way to the dais where Osiris was and everyone was falling silent in either awe or shock in that one's wake.
Osiris's voice seemed overly loud when it came, no longer needing to be heard over muttering voices. "So, you came."
A soft, light, female voice replied, her tone one of both mild amusement and gentle remonstration. "Forgive my tardiness. Thoth's summons caught me in the middle of a bath. I see that you have begun without me."
"We were not sure you would join us." Osiris sounded as if he was not quite sure that it was a good thing that she had. "The situation..."
"I am aware of it." Whoever the speaker was, it seemed that she was unafraid of interrupting Osiris when he was speaking, something that very few were. "Indeed, I know far more of this situation than any other."
At her words, a ripple of mutterings spread through the chamber. When they all ceased at the same moment, Bakura suspected that Osiris had held his hand up for silence.
"Explain." A simple word with all the weight of his position behind it.
The female voice came again, her words echoing through the chamber as she spoke with the confidence of one who knows every word she speaks to be the truth. "If those two children are not immediately returned to their other halves, and the Millennium Items with them, then the mortal world will soon descend into madness and chaos, the likes of which it has not known for eons."
To be continued...