Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy!
Chapter 18- Aftermath
Everyone was looking at the area where the five had been, frantically looking for them, but seeing no sign of them.
"Where are they?" Bakura said angrily, worried to death about Ryou.
"I don't know. That was a powerful explosion." Isis said.
Atemu, worried for his husband as well as everyone else, ran over to the area, closely followed by everyone else.
A hand reached up and grabbed a part of the rubble before pulling himself up, revealing himself to Heba.
Heba covered his mouth as he started coughing."Heba!" Atemu exclaimed, dropping by his husband. "Are you all right?" Atemu asked.
"Fine." Heba said as he continued coughing.
Joey stood up form under a pile of rubble, rubbing his head. "That was-" Joey started to stumble, but Seto was able to grab his husband before he collapsed to the ground, "fun." Joey finished.
"If you call that fun, remind me never to be around you when there is real danger present." Seto told him.
Joey just shrugged.
There was the sound of more coughing, and everyone looked to see Ryou and Malik walking forward. Both looked like they could just collapse at any moment.
"Ryou! Are you okay?!" Bakura asked frantically as he ran over to Ryou.
"Malik! You okay?" Marik asked as he went over to Malik.
Malik waved him off. "I've had worse things happen to me." Malik said nonchalantly although he looked like hell.
"I'm fine, Bakura. I'll be okay." Ryou assured him.
"Where's Yugi at?" Yami asked.
"Right here." a tired voice said.
Everyone looked to see Yugi walking toward them, holding his arm.
Yugi stumbled a little bit and would have fallen had Yami not managed to catch him by getting his arm around Yugi's waist.
Of the five, Yugi looked the worst.
"Are you okay, Yugi?" Heba asked as he went over to Yugi.
"I've seen better days." Yugi answered.
"You came out better after the fight with Kenshin back in the Millennial Kingdom." Joey remarked.
"So I noticed. I took the brunt of the blast, genius." Yugi said.
"What happened?" Karim asked.
"Since the Zordanians' magic draining power was stripped, we had our full power, and we were able to do the Ziang Kai Mu. In short, it combined all of our magic together into one powerful blast that countered the one that the Zordanians had used." Yugi said.
"Of course, the Ziang Kai Mu is dangerous because the ones using the power could be killed by the blast, so we're lucky." Heba said.
"It could have killed you?!" Atemu shouted.
Heba jumped. "Yes, but there wasn't another choice. Would you rather have the Zordanians back and winning?" Heba asked.
"That's beside the point." Atemu argued.
Mahado looked over the area. "What happened to the Zordanians?" Mahado asked.
"Well, they were caught in the blast, too. Since our magic was stronger, a good bit of the blast hit them. I'm sure that they took a lot more damage then we did. Some are most likely dead, but there may be some that survived." Yugi said.
Dartz walked up. "Pharaoh, perhaps we should send troops to find the surviving Zordanians. It will be easy to tell who were Zordanians." Dartz said.
"I agree." Aknankanon said.
"In the meantime, I think that the rest of us should return to the palace." Isis said.
"Why's that?" Marik asked.
"Because I want to look over these five," Isis said, motioning to the five injured Millennials, "given the injuries that they have."
Joey started to protest.
"Come on, Master. We all know that you were caught in a pretty powerful blast, and it would be safer for you if you would just not argue and let her examine you." Earthstar said.
"That goes for all of you. You all need to be checked over for the injuries that you have." Firestar agreed.
Ryou sighed. "Let's not argue with this. Let's just go and get this over with." Ryou said.
Since no one else wanted to argue, they all agreed.
Yugi, Yami, Atemu, Heba, Ryou, Bakura, Marik, Malik, Seto, Joey, Firestar, Waterstar, Earthstar, Windstar, and Lighteningstar all headed back toward the palace with Isis following them.
Aknankanon turned to Shada, Karim, and Mahado and said, "I want you all to help supervise everything out here. I want the dead of the Egyptians and Millennials brought back for proper burial."
The three nodded.
"What about the Zordanians?" Mahado asked.
"Burn the dead. Take the survivors." Aknankanon said.
Again, the three nodded.
Aknankanon and Aknaudin then headed for the palace as well.
Amara was thrilled when she saw everyone return to the palace. "You're all okay!" Amara said happily/
"Yes, Mother. We're all fine." Atemu assured her.
"You know that we said we would come back." Yami added.
Amara nodded.
"All right, you five. To the healing chambers." Isis ordered.
Yugi, Heba, Ryou, Malik, and Joey didn't bother to argue as they followed her.
"What is that about?" Amara asked, a little confused.
"That last major explosion was caused by them fighting the Zordanians. They were all caught in it. Even though they all seem relatively okay, Isis just wants to make sure that they are okay, and she's not giving them an option on this." Atemu answered.
"Well, we all know that Isis takes her position as palace healer very seriously. She just is making sure that they are all going to be all right." Amara said.
"Indeed. Isis knows what's best when a person's health is concerned." Aknankanon agreed.
"Perhaps we should go and make sure that they don't cause Isis too much trouble." Yami said.
"That would be more Malik and Joey they we have to do that with. I don't think the others are going to give her any trouble with this." Bakura said as the five started down the hall with the five tigers trailing behind them.
Amara turned to Aknankanon and Aknaudin. "So, is this really over?" Amara asked.
"Yes. It's over. Any Zordanian that is still alive will be dealt with." Aknankanon said.
Amara couldn't have been happier to hear that.
"I still think that Isis examining us was a waste of time. I am fine!" Joey said after they had left the healing chambers.
Seto rolled his eyes. "Put a sock in it, Puppy. It's over and done with, so there is nothing for you to complain about." Seto said.
The group had gone to the lounge and were now sitting down and relaxing.
"I'm just glad that this mess is over." Ryou said.
"No kidding. No more flying, no more risking our lives for items, and no more fighting those stupid Zordanians." Malik said.
"I think that we're all glad of that." Heba said.
Bakura then glanced around the room and noticed that two were missing. "Hey! Where are Yami and Yugi go?" Bakura asked.
It was then that everyone noticed that the two were, indeed, missing.
"I wonder where they wandered off to." Heba muttered.
Atemu frowned slightly. 'I know I saw them kissing each other back in the Millennial Kingdom. I know that something went on between Yugi and Yami during the time that Yami stayed there. I don't know what exactly, but I do know that something went on. With everything that has been going on, I haven't had the chance to ask him about it, at least not privately.' Atemu thought.
Heba noticed his husband's frown. "Até, are you okay?" Heba asked.
"Huh. Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Atemu said.
Heba clearly didn't believe his husband, but decided not to press the issue at the time.
Wanting to talk to Yugi and reassure himself that Yugi was okay, Yami had privately asked Yugi to come with him.
Yugi had agreed, and the two had gone to Yami's bedroom.
Once in the room, Yami had pulled Yugi into a tight hug. "I was so worried that I had lost you for good." Yami said into Yugi's neck.
Yugi smiled and wrapped his arms around Yami, holding him. "I'm okay, Yami. You don't have to worry about that." Yugi said.
Yami pulled back and looked down at Yugi. "I know, but I was really scared." Yami said. He may have pulled back from the hug, but his arms were still wrapped tightly around Yugi's waist.
"You're not the only one. I was scared, too." Yugi admitted.
Yami leaned down and kissed Yugi, unable to resist it.
Yugi closed his eyes and kissed Yami back, bring his arms up to wrap around Yami's neck. Yami ran his tongue over Yugi's bottom lip, and Yugi opened his mouth. Yami immediately slipped his tongue into Yugi's mouth and started his exploration. Yugi moaned as Yami made sure to stroke every inch of Yugi's mouth.
Soon, the need for air forced the two to break apart.
"I'm sorry, Yugi, but I just had to do that." Yami said.
Yugi smiled and leaned up to place a chaste kiss on Yami's lips. "Don't worry about it. I understand." Yugi told him.
The two walked over and sat down on Yami's bed.
"You know that I won't be here much longer, Yami." Yugi said quietly.
Yami had Yugi's hand in his, and he tightened his grip on Yugi's hand. "I know that, Yugi. I guess I just want to be with while I have the chance." Yami said, not looking at Yugi. He felt very ashamed that he was so weak.
Yugi reached over and took Yami's chin in his hand, forcing Yami to look at him. "Yami, you don't have to feel bad about that. I understand. I feel the exact same way. I want to be with you as much as I can, but we both know that I'll be gone soon. We both have our duties that we have to fulfill. There's nothing that we can do about it." Yugi said.
Yami smiled sadly at Yugi as tears filled his eyes. "I know, Yugi. I just sometimes feel that it's so unfair that you and I have to be ripped apart when everyone else can be with the one that they love. I just hate it sometimes. You don't know how hard it is to see Atemu and the others so happy together when I know that I can never be with the one that I love." Yami said.
"I know, Yami. It's not easy for me, either. I see couples in the palace everyday, and I feel the exact same pain. We can't help how things have to be." Yugi told him.
Yami nodded as he wiped his tears away. "I know. I just can't help the way that I feel." Yami said.
"I know, Yami. I know." Yugi said as he pulled Yami into a hug.
Yami hugged Yugi back tightly, not wanting to let go. He wanted so badly to just be able to stay with Yugi forever, but he knew that that wasn't possible.
Yugi understood why Yami was holding onto him so tightly, and he was holding on just as tightly for the same reason.
A little while later, everyone had gathered together in the meeting room.
"I thought that you would all like to know that all of the bodies have been recovered from the battlefield." Aknankanon said. He turned to Yugi and said, "Emperor, I am certain that you wish for the bodies of your fallen soldier to return to you kingdom."
"Yes. I want them to receive a proper burial there." Yugi said.
"We have anticipated that." Aknankanon said.
"What about the Zordanians?" Atemu asked.
"Almost all of them were killed. In fact, only two were found alive, but they were severely injured." Aknankanon said.
"Actually, Pharaoh, only one is now alive." Isis said.
Everyone turned to look at her.
"One of them died about forty minutes ago." Isis told them.
"I wasn't aware of that. Then there is only one that is alive." Aknankanon said.
"What will happen to him?" Yami asked.
"That hasn't been determined yet." Aknankanon said. He looked at Yugi and said, "I'll want to discuss that with you."
"Pharaoh, you don't have discuss what you decide to do to this one with me. It is your kingdom that they endangered. My kingdom was never threatened." Yugi said.
"If that is what you wish." Aknankanon said.
"So, this whole mess is over with now, right?" Marik asked.
"As far as I know, it is." Aknankanon answered.
Everyone seemed to be more relieved now that they knew the war with the Zordanians was over now.
"What do we do with the Millennium items now? We have no use for them now." Aknaudin said.
Aknankanon then looked at Yugi. "The items are from your kingdom. The decision is up to you, Emperor." Aknankanon told him.
"The truth is that my kingdom has no use for the Millennium items, Pharaoh. They were chosen as the owners of the items, so no one else can access the power of the items. The powers that items have can actually aid you in other ways." Yugi said.
"How so?" Aknaudin inquired.
"From what we learned in the book, the items can be used to find out the good and evil in a person's heart, if they're lying or not, and so forth." Seto said.
Aknankanon looked surprised. "They can?" Aknankanon asked.
The nods confirmed what was said.
"Then if you wish them to keep the items, I think that we will." Aknankanon said.
Amara then looked at Isis. "Are they all right?" Amara asked, referring to the five Millennials who Isis had examined.
"We are right here, so you can ask us." Malik said.
"Malik, stop it." Heba told him.
"They all appear to be fine. No serious injuries, but I decided to just run some tests on them just to make sure that nothing I couldn't see was wrong." Isis said.
"And all of the tests came out fine, right?" Joey asked.
"Well, mostly." Isis said.
"MOSTLY?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Isis, what's wrong with them?" Bakura demanded.
"It's not all of them. Only one of them." Isis said.
"Who?" Amara asked, now worried for them.
"Well, it's Heba." Isis said.
All eyes then turned to Heba.
"Me?" Heba squeaked.
"What's wrong with him?" Atemu asked, now extremely worried for his husband.
"Well, I have no idea how something like this is possible, but he's pregnant." Isis said simply.
All of the Egyptians just sat there looking stunned.
"P-pregnant?" Atemu said shakily.
Isis nodded in confirmation.
"How is that even possible?" Bakura asked.
The five Millennials looked at the Egyptians.
"You mean, you didn't know." Yugi said.
"Know what?" Seto demanded.
"Well, I guess it was too much to expect that Kenshin would have told them about that little detail of us." Joey said.
"What detail?" Atemu asked.
Yugi sighed. "It's sort of a safety defense for Millennials. All men in the Millennial Kingdom have the ability to have children. That way, if the Emperor or even the head of a family were to prefer men over women, they were still able to have an heir." Yugi explained.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us that?!" Marik shouted.
Malik glared at him. "Maybe because we foolishly thought that Kenshin would have told you that little detail." Malik said.
"Well, he didn't." Bakura muttered.
"Still, because of the way our biology is, we can't even conceive until after we turn eighteen. That's men or women. I don't see why it happened now." Heba said.
"Heba." Yugi said.
Heba turned to look at his brother.
"Our eighteenth birthday was three months ago." Yugi said.
"Oh." Heba said. He smiled sheepishly. "With all that we went through getting the Millennium items, I didn't even think about the fact that it was our birthday." Heba said.
Atemu had turned slightly pale. He had thought that he and Heba would just adopt children, but when they had been married for a while. He had just been thrown this hurtle, and he didn't know how to handle it.
Aknankanon saw his son's paleness and knew that Atemu needed to talk to Heba alone now. "I think that we have covered everything. You can all go." Aknankanon said.
Atemu didn't waste any time in dragging Heba out of the room.
"What was that about?" Bakura asked.
"Atemu just found out that he's going to be a father. I think that he's in shock and needs to talk to Heba about this." Aknankanon answered.
"Well, better him than me." Marik said.
"You know that it could be you one day." Malik said.
"It had better not be any time soon." Marik muttered.
Yami glanced over at Yugi. 'Children? That would have been nice.' Yami thought.
"How the hell did you get pregnant?!" Atemu exclaimed.
Heba crossed his arms over his chest from where he sat on their bed. "Atemu, please don't tell me I have to explain how babies are born with you because I swear that I will slug you here and now. After that, I'll drag you to your father and have him explain it again." Heba said.
"I know how it can happen, but I mean-I just-Ahh! I don't know what I'm trying to say!" Atemu said as he collapsed face first on the bed.
Heba sighed as he rubbed soothing circles on Atemu's back. "I know that we didn't expect this to happen, but we're just going to have to deal with the fact that we are going to be parents now, and there is nothing that we can do to stop it." Heba said.
Atemu turned to face him. "But when did it happen? I mean, we haven't made love since before this whole mess started." Atemu said.
"Yeah. I know what you mean." Heba said. He then thought of something. "Well, there was that time at Mount Fuji and-" Heba trialed off.
Atemu and Heba looked at each other wide-eyed. "Mount Fuji." the two said at the same time.
"I turned eighteen three months ago, and that happened at Mount Fuji two months ago." Heba said, realizing that had to be when it happened.
"I wish you had told me that you could get pregnant." Atemu said.
Heba wrapped his arms around Atemu from behind. "I'm sorry. I honestly thought that my father would have told you, and I never thought about it. I hadn't even remembered that fact until Isis told me that I was pregnant." Heba said.
"Hold it! You were pregnant when that battle was going on!" Atemu exclaimed.
"It's not like I knew. I didn't know until Isis told us back there." Heba said.
Atemu sighed. "I admit that I've always like the idea of having children, and the thought of having them with you is more than I could have hoped for. I just thought that maybe we would wait until we had been married longer." Atemu said.
"I know. I know." Heba said. He began to wonder if maybe Atemu wasn't happy about the baby.
As if sensing his husband's thoughts, Atemu turned to Heba and pulled him into a hug. "Heba, don't think that I'm not happy about this. I'm excited at the thought of being a father. I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to have children of my own since I do prefer men, so I'm really happy about this." Atemu said.
"I'm glad that you feel that way. I was worried that you wouldn't want this." Heba said as he hugged Atemu back.
"Don't ever think that. I am very happy about this. A little sooner than I expected, but I can live with it." Atemu told him.
"Well, that's good. Because you don't have a choice but to get used to is." Heba said.
Atemu laughed. He pulled back so that he could look at Heba's face. "You know, I think that my parents are going to go crazy once the realization that they are going to be grandparents hit." Atemu said.
Heba smiled. "Well, I think that I can handle that." Heba said.
"You don't have a choice." Atemu said, mocking Heba's earlier statement.
"All right. I get it." Atemu told him.
Later on that day, Aknankanon had decided to go ahead and deal with the last Zordanian that was still alive.
Yugi was there as well.
Only Aknankanon, Amara, and the priests were there.
Given all that they had gone through, they decided that they would allow everyone else to rest.
Yugi had opted to attend because he felt he needed to as the Emperor of the Millennial Kingdom, and Aknankanon had no objection to it since he would want Yugi to extend the same courtesy to him if it had happened in the Millennial Kingdom.
The guards brought the Zordanian, who happened to be Zenith, into the throne room.
Zenith was forced to kneel before Aknankanon and the rest of the Court.
"You have been charged with attacking and trying to destroy the kingdom of Egypt. In our kingdom, such a crime is punishable by death." Aknaudin said.
Zenith glared at them. "Like I care! It won't matter! We will win the next time!" Zenith spat.
"That will be hard to do considering you are the last Zordanian alive." Yugi stated.
Zenith gritted his teeth. He knew that Yugi was right, but he would never admit it aloud.
"For your actions, you will be executed publicly so that the people of Egypt will know that you have been dealt with." Aknaudin said.
"Like I care1" Zenith spat.
"Take him back to the dungeons!" Aknankanon ordered.
The guards then dragged the struggling man away.
"It's odd that he hasn't tried to use his magic to get away." Karim stated.
"He can't. He completely exhausted his magic with the final attack that they tried. Plus, Dartz used a magic stripping spell that stripped him of all magic." Yugi said.
"Good riddance, I say." Shada said.
Everyone nodded their agreement.
It was getting close to the time for Yugi and the other Millennials to leave.
Yami had pulled Yugi aside.
"Yami, you know I have to go." Yugi said.
Yami smiled. "I know, Yugi. I wish you didn't, but I know that you did." Yami said.
Yugi smiled sadly at Yami. "I'll miss you, Yami." Yugi said.
"I'll miss you, too, Yugi. Please don't forget that I love with all my heart." Yami said as he put a hand against Yugi's cheek.
"I know, Yami. I love you, too." Yugi said.
Yami leaned down and kissed Yugi gently.
Yugi sighed. "I have to go." Yugi said.
Yami nodded.
The two rejoined everyone else, being able to avoid being seen.
"Shall we go?" Dartz asked.
"Yes. It's time that we left." Yugi agreed.
The portal was opened, and after every said goodbye, the group left.
Once more, Yami felt his heart beginning to break. He was having to watch the love of his life walk out of his life again. 'I know that it's not what he wants, but he has no choice, just like I don't have a choice.' Yami thought.
Atemu could see right through his brother's mask. 'He's hurting. I definitely have to talk to him.' Atemu thought.
After arriving back in the Millennial Kingdom, Yugi went to his room. He had used the excuse that he was tired and needed to rest.
Yugi walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge, starting to cry. He was hurting from having to eave Yami again, too.
Firestar walked into the room and jumped on the bed.
Yugi turned and wrapped his arms around Firestar's neck, crying into his fur.
'I hope Waterstar uses what I told him to help. I think that Master and Yami need it now." Firestar thought.
Hope you liked it. Just so you know, Zenith is dead.
Next: I know everyone wants Atemu to talk to Yami, so that's what the next chapter is about. Everyone finds out about Yugi and Yami.
The poll is still up, so vote if you haven't.
R&R.