The day had started with the rumble of thunder as the now eight-year-old Yugi was pulled from his dreams. He did not want to get out from under the warmth of his blanket—not with the rain pattering on his window and lightening flashing in the distance. Not on his birthday. He had pulled the blanket over his head to block out the flashes of blue light from the storm outside when he felt a jolt through his chest as if the lightening outside had struck him. He bolted out of bed and ran downstairs just as the telephone in the shop started to ring.
"Umi!" he exclaimed as he picked up the receiver. He always seemed to know when she was about to call, just as she knew the same. When they lived together, they had always seemed to know the other's thoughts. It had gotten them into trouble on more than one occasion, but since their mother had moved with Umi to California, their "twin powers" as their grandfather had called it had diminished. He could feel when she had had a bad day and when she needed him to call her, but the distance strained even that. But despite the distance, he always knew when it would be her excited voice on the other end of the phone.
"Happy Birthday, Yugi!" her tinned voice said through the long distance connection. "How is your day going?"
"Happy Birthday, Umi. And I just woke up." He replied, rubbing his still sleep filled eyes. It was a sixteen hour time difference between them, so he knew that she was just getting ready for bed. Their mother always let her stay up late so she could call him the morning of their birthday. Because of the time difference, she would not officially be eight until later, but neither of them counted the difference.
"So, what are your plans, Umi-chan?" he asked.
"My friends and I are going to the movies and then to get pizza. What about you?" she asked. Yugi sighed. She had always had an easier time making friends than he did. She was always the one to drag him along or to strike up a conversation with a stranger. That ability was something Yugi had always been envious of.
"Oh, nothing much. Grandpa and I will probably do something after school. He just got a new game that he's been itching to show me."
"Oh, Yugi. I wish I could be with you." He could tell that she was concerned. She and their mother had always urged him to make some friends. They said that it was not healthy for a young boy to spend so much time cooped up inside with an old man. But he enjoyed his grandfather's company. He had a few kids at school that he knew, that he worked well with in class, but aside from Tea, none of them had ever even been to the game shop where he lived. It wasn't as if he didn't try to invite them over, but he was just too timid.
"Yeah. Me too. I miss you, Umi."
"I miss you too."
"Yugi? Is that your sister?" his grandfather called from the stairs.
"Yes, Grandpa."
"Good. Can I speak to your mother? You need to get ready for school."
Yugi sighed as he reluctantly handed the phone to the old man before heading back up the stairs.
He hadn't realized he was crying until he looked in the mirror.
"Don't cry, Yugi." Her voice was like an echo in his mind. He felt her close, a warm presence that soothed him. Taking a deep breath, he wiped his eyes and turned to leave the room. He was shocked to a halt as he looked through her green-gold eyes.
"Umi? How…?"
She smiled at him.
"See you soon." Her voice echoed as her image faded from view.
"Oh, Yugi." His grandfather called to him as entered the kitchen. "Your mother and sister are coming to visit in a couple of weeks."
"What? Really?" he asked excitedly, thinking that must have been what she meant in his vision of her.
"Yes, they have to renew their passports. They will be heading to the a dig in Alexandra afterward. Your mother asked if you wanted to go with them."
He had never felt the wanderlust that seemed to infect the rest of his family. There was a pull for the rest of them that he could not explain drawing them to the warm desert sands of Egypt, even his grandfather had felt drawn to that ancient land, but he never understood why.
"Um… I don't know, Grandpa." He wavered. Just as he could not understand their desire to travel, he knew his grandfather could not understand his desire to stay put.
"Won't you think about it, Yugi. I know Umi would love to have you with her."
"I'd just get in her way, Grandpa."
The old man looked skeptically at his grandson.
"Just think about it, alright, Yugi. Anyway, it's your birthday, and I have something very special for you." He passed a box wrapped in red and gold across the table. Yugi looked at the present. It seemed familiar in shape and size. He caught a glimmer of gold as he pulled the wrapping from it and a grin spread across his face as he realized what it was. The small golden box had always caught his eye, even as it sat on the back of a shelf in the store. It had taunted him for nearly four years; the eye on its surface beckoning to him every time he glanced its way. Lifting the top gently, he stared at the golden pieces inside.
"It's beautiful, Grandpa. Is it a… puzzle?"
"That's right, Yugi. This is the Millennium Puzzle—at least that's what my friend said it was called based on the inscriptions in the stones. Honestly, I was too dazzled by the gold to notice the inscriptions."
"Millennium Puzzle." He echoed, picking through the pieces.
"According to the inscription, whoever solves the puzzle will have the power to make their wishes reality and will inherit a dark power. But no one has yet to solve it, so I do not know if the legend is true."
Yugi nodded to his grandfather absently, still entranced by the puzzle before him. The chiming of the clock brought him out of his reverie.
"Oh, I'm late for school!" He closed the box before he grabbed an umbrella and his school bag and dashed out the door.
He could barely concentrate during class. His mind kept drifting to the box he had left on the table and the puzzle contained within. He wondered if he could solve it, and if he did, he wondered if it would truly grant him his greatest wish. He had wished so often—at every festival, on every star, but it had never come true. At least not yet. Not fully.
The puzzle, he thought. The inscription says it can grant my wish, so it must be true. If I can complete this puzzle, I will finally get some true friends.
He was so lost in thought as he left school for the day that he barely noticed Tea wishing him a happy birthday. It took her hand on his shoulder to bring him back to reality.
"Oh, Tea! I'm sorry."
"Happy Birthday, Yugi." She said cheerfully.
"Thanks."
"Are you doing anything special?" She fell in step next to him. Even at eight-years-old, she towered over him.
"Not really. Grandpa gave me a really cool puzzle. I can't wait to try to put it together." He smiled up at her. He did not have many friends, but from the first time he had met Tea, he had known that she was special. He was glad that she had stuck by him, even if they only really saw each other at school or the park. He was much too timid to invite her over, though he would have loved to teacher her some of the awesome games his grandfather sold at the shop. He blushed slightly, thinking about sharing his passion for games with her.
"Aww. Well, if you have cake, invite me over, OK." She said as they reached the entrance to the game shop. "Bye, Yugi!" she waved at him as she started skipping down the sidewalk to her home.
"Sure, Tea!" he called after her before opening the door, knowing that he would do no such thing—not because he did not want to spend more time with her, but he was terrified of doing so.
Umi could barely contain her excitement on the flight. They had been meaning to visit Yugi and Grandpa, but it seemed that every time her mom had made plans to do so, something else had come up. She could not believe that it had been two years since she had seen her brother. True they had spoken on the phone quite often, but she missed being close to him and sharing his thoughts. While it had felt so intrusive before, she found that she missed their twin bond immensely. The long flight from California stretched into eternity. Her mother tried to convince her to sleep on the flight, but she was too excited and found herself fidgeting, and wishing she had something to work on. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to bring her tool set into the plane. She had been trying to fix an RC truck before she left and she had not quite figured out what was wrong. She wished she could work on it now, but it was all packed away in the cargo hold of the plane. She sighed as she bounced in her seat.
"Umi, you need to relax." Her mother whispered harshly to her as she looked around at the nearby passengers in apology.
"I can't. I'm too excited and I don't have anything to work on." She tapped her feet along the floor in quick repetition. Her mother sighed as she reached for her carry on bag. She pulled out a small wrapped package.
"I was planning to give this to you when we got there, but I think you need it now." She passed the gift to the young girl. "I was hoping that you and Yugi would open them together."
Umi tore into the paper and pulled out a beautiful leather notebook embossed with the Pharos lighthouse on the front. Flipping through the pages, she noticed they were unlined.
"For all of your ideas, Umi." Her mother smiled at the now beaming girl.
"It's the lighthouse of Alexandria, right? We're going there after we visit Yugi."
"Well, the actual lighthouse doesn't exist anymore, but we are going to the dig site, yes."
"Will we spend any time in the Valley, Mommy?" She asked. "I love going up there and exploring the tombs. The traps the Egyptians built into them are amazing!"
Her mother laughed, thinking that her daughter was so much like her, but also so very different from either her or her father. They had been more interested in the intricacies of the language, but Umi was all about the architecture and technical achievements of the great civilizations of the past. Sakura really had no idea where Umi got her interest in engineering in a family of linguists.
"I think we can make a trip."
"Yay!" Umi pulled out a pencil and begin sketching the layout for the tomb of Ramses II in the notebook. "Could we visit Abu Simbel too? And maybe Deir el Bahari this time?"
"We'll see."
"Do you think Yugi will want to come with us this time?" Umi was not sure if she meant to Egypt or to come live with them in America, but she would have been excited for either.
"I don't know, sweetie." Umi looked up at her mother, noticing how her face had grown sad and guarded, as she tried to hid the pain of being parted from one of her children behind her smile.
Umi turned her attention back to her notebook, imagining exploring the tombs in the Valley with her brother. She could picture the vivid paintings on the walls, guiding the pharaohs to life after death and tried to imagine what they had looked like when they were new. As she imagined, she drew, sketching what she saw in her thoughts. Slabs of painted reliefs, intricately carved began to fill the pages of her journal with hieroglyphs and scenes she saw in her mind's eye. As she drew, she could feel the warmth of the desert air surrounding her and smell the scent of camels in the distance carried on the wind. Her pages filled with monsters too, and images of both men and gods. She smelled fire in the distance now as well and heard screams and fighting.
"Quickly, Neferet." She heard a hushed voice say as hands guided her toward the courtyard and the open desert beyond. The smell of camels grew stronger. And strong hands lifted her up onto the back of one of the beasts. The stars shone brightly in the night and the moon hung pregnant with hope in the sky. The sounds of fighting grew stronger.
"Take her, my love." A man's voice said as she felt the slight form of a woman climb behind her. His arms embraced them both before the camel rose and carried them from the palace. She glanced back to see him striding purposefully back into the great palace, his royal bearing plainly on display.
"Father!" she called to him. He turned to her, a smile on his face, as he summoned a being of brilliant light to his side and picked up a khopesh. She knew he was ready for battle, but she prayed to the gods that his life would be spared as he met the enemy.
"Umi." Her mother called to her as if from a great distance. "Umi. We're about to land." The voice grew closer, startling her from her trance.
"Oh." She said as she slowly came to her senses.
"Those are beautiful, Umi." Her mother said looking at the sketches. "Thinking of Egypt?"
"Yeah." She looked at the drawings, seeing her brother plainly included in the sketches with monsters she had never seen before.