Ty- Ok, so I know this is late. I'm sorry, but when your nephew, mom, and dad have birthdays literally back to back, there is barely any time to write, type, edit, and then post on time.
Atem- -yawns- Ty owns nothing except for her oc, the plot, and some of the ideas on magic. Can I sleep now?
Ty- Yes. There's an important note at the bottom, so please read it.
I lay, silent and content, in Yugi's arms as we sway gently in something called a 'hammock'. My eyes narrow at the snickering group around the nearby table. Mai, Megan, and Ryou all have the gall to wink cheekily at us. Anzu's snickers turn into outright laughter, along with Honda. Marik sits quietly, but the amused grin tells me he is not far from laughter himself. I groan, burying my face into Yugi's side, and ever grateful Joey is collecting his sister. I do not think I could 'live it down'(as Yugi would put it) if the blond were here.
"Would you all quit it? Atem's trying to get in a nap." Yugi speaks, smoothing his thumb over the bared skin of my shoulder. I make a hum of approval at the touch. I am not truly tired, not after my love made me do nothing yesterday. I merely want to rest my eyes in peace, tucked into Yugi's side, my head on his shoulder. How I loved the times during my reign when things were almost as simple as now. I am happy here, in the arms of my husband reincarnated and surrounded by our family. "Now that I think about it, it'd be great if I could unwind from this cuddle. I gotta pee."
"Go. I shall be right here." I murmur softly, releasing my heart from my hold. He manages to scramble off. How he manages to do that and not tip this confounding thing mystifies me. At the same time, I am grateful. My posterior is saved from another meeting with the brick and mortar of the patio. Yugi had to place me in this thing after I had fallen after all seven of my attempts. I sigh. Mai climbs in beside me. "Woserit?"
"You look cold when you're not cuddled into Yugi's side, and a little lonely. I thought I'd come keep you company. I know I should explain to them why I was guarding you at the museum. I'll do it when Master Nuri returns." I nod. The simple motion of her lifting her arm stuns me for a moment. I suddenly realize what Mai is offering me, and cuddle into her side. "Sleep well, my brother."
Joey and Yugi walked into the backyard with Joey's sister in tow. The younger teen didn't care what she was called, as long as it was Serenity or Shizuka. Her long auburn hair was swept back into a braid. Earthy browns sparkled as she waved to the assembled group. The pair settled in the hammock caught her interest. She walked over to them, wondering if they were siblings, even though the young man looked similar to Yugi. She paused. While he did look similar, there was no way she could confuse them.
The sleeping male had wild blond and mahogany red hair. It was similar to Yugi's with the spiked points and lightening bangs, but the bolts continued into the bulk of dark red. His face was young, covered in the dark rich tan of Northern Africa, but there was something about it. The man's face held an aura of wisdom. Wisdom that was far beyond the twenty or twenty-one years Serenity had him pegged at. She smiled. From the way his lips lifted into a smile as he slept, to the way he cuddled closer to his companion, the teen knew he was what her brother's best friend had been missing.
"Hello." She whispered as the blonde woman mimed for quiet. Serenity could see clearly now that the man slept soundly on the older woman. Lavender eyes flicked to her, the same wisdom as the male shining in them. They studied each other before the older woman smiled. She was what Shizuka knew as the typical bombshell, but she was different. The younger felt as if she'd past some kind of test as she finished her own scrutiny. "I'm Shizuka Jounouchi, or you can call me Serenity. Joey's my big brother."
"Dr. Mai Valentine. I'm an archeologist specialized in the myths and legends of ancient China and Egypt. I'm the expert in the stories surrounding Atem here, and Yugi's past two lives." Mai chuckled softly as the mentioned man curled into her side more and mumbled nonsense.
"I knew he needed a nap!" Yugi said as he approached, a light blanket in one hand and his camera phone in the other. "Does he know he's using your boobs as his pillow?" He asked as he snapped a quick picture. The older teen snickered as he murmured. Serenity grinned as she picked up the word 'blackmail'. Mai bit her curled pointer finger to stifle her more pronounced chuckles.
"Nope, but I don't mind. I've been toting the twins around most of my life, and have finally found a use for them. Plus I know Atem doesn't like boobs, he prefers the D, and only if it's attached to you." Serenity couldn't help the laughter that came as Yugi just smiled at them unashamedly. Mai chuckled herself, patting the sleeping pharaoh gently. At least he wasn't sex shy like she'd expected him to be. "Thank the gods he didn't pick that up from his life as Nuri." She mumbled too low for the others to hear.
"Well, we'll know when he's up. He's never been that close to boobs for most of his life. Most of that was when his momma breast fed him." He tossed the blanket over the pair. He snapped another quick picture of them. The teen walked over to Mai's vacated chair, and settled into it. "It's going to be hilarious when Baby wakes up. …And would you all stop those damn looks?! I can call Atem whatever I want, and that's Baby, so put a cork in it!"
"Do you know why Empress Wong would claim Yugi is her betrothed?" Serenity asked, breaking the silence that had enveloped them after Mai had finished her story. Before the blonde woman could reply, the pharaoh sleeping soundly on her chest awoke. Atem lifted himself off her, blinking sleep blurred red eyes at her. Realization slowly dawned on him as he woke up bit by bit. The tanned skin on his face turned darker, the only signal of his embarrassment at first. The once king tried to stutter out an acceptable apology.
"You're fine, 'Tem." Mai said, as she chuckled. "If it wasn't ok for you to use me as a pillow, I would've just moved you or woke you. Now, Serenity, to answer your question, yes. Yugi, in our last life, you had access to a memory from your first life, and that memory held what the ancient Chinese refer to as the way to Shangri-La. It's not a mythical utopia, at least from mine and my family's research. All the credible sources about Shangri-La make reference to it as the home of the gods. It's not a city, but another realm close to this one, where the world's gods live. We call it the Divine Realm.
"The reason Yugi knows about it is because in your life as the Light Prince, you were born there. Hathor brought you to this realm for a reason, but no one from the temple you grew up in knew it. All the records say is that she appeared with you one day. If only you could remember your name! Everything would be so much easier!" Mai huffed as she frowned.
"But I do remember my name!" Yugi replied indignantly. Mai shook her head, sighing. Looks like she'd have to watch after him in this life too. She went to maneuver herself out of the hammock. Atem beat her to it, moving carefully as he spoke.
"She is not speaking of the name you are called, Rasui. Woserit means the name Hathor christened you in the Divine Realm. Before anyone asks me, yes I have knowledge of it. However," Atem paused as he padded over the warmed brick to Yugi. The teen smiled and patted his lap. An attention starved Pharaoh curled there, "you told me this name on our wedding night. I did as you bid, when we had finished consummating our marriage, and swore never to speak it again."
"Is there any way Yugi can release you from that as he is?" Ryou inquired, his eyes narrowing in thought. His own mind churned through the knowledge his mother had imparted to him. He couldn't remember anything that might even come close.
"My people believe that when certain people are made by Thoth, they are made as a pair. He will then split a single soul between them. This split generates a very special kind of magic, which calls the two halves together. The two magics merge into one when the pair do physically." By the end of Atem's fairly blunt explanation, all the group at the table with the exception of Mai, Megan, and Anzu, were all red faced. Yugi was the worst, trying to hide his mortification in his lover's hair. Red eyes blinked dumbly as their owner looked at the others.
"I forget how sexually charged this era is." Atem said as he sighed. "Merging can be as simple and chaste as the kiss between lovers." He demonstrated by twisting and placing a quick kiss on Yugi's lips. The teen melted around him, form curling lovingly around his. "The strongest form is, of course, when the couple go to the marshlands."
"Ancient Egyptian euphemism for sex." Mai spoke up. "Sex magic is the strongest there is, as it literally deals with both party's life force. It's only seconded by pure divine magic, and demi-god magic's not gonna cut it. That fact doesn't matter if your parent's Hathor, Aphrodite, or whatever love or sex divine you wanna name."
"Mother once spoke of a special pool of golden water. She used to tell Amane, my sister, and I about the Oboros or world snake. He had fallen for a human, and longed for a human form to be with his love. Oboros searched far and wide for a way to obtain a human form. He found a pool of golden water in the land of sand sea." Ryou said, leaning forward as he spoke.
"Egypt!" Mai exclaimed as she leapt from the hammock. She marched to the table, going back and forth with Ryou. The other assembled people slowly joined the exchange, tossing in and out ideas, and asking questions. Yugi, Atem, and Megan wisely stayed out of it. The younger of the two Moutus watched silently, the dark circles under her eyes a stark contrast to her paling skin. She looked haggard in a way an eighteen year old shouldn't.
Yugi shot a worried look to his sister, then turned his gaze to where Atem dozed against him once more. The trio had far too much to worry over and were lost in their own worlds.
Empress Wong looked at the melted, twisted metal that had been her body and prison for almost a millennia. Her dark eyes flicked to the floor length mirror. Her black as night hair hung loosely around her bared form. This new body was a perfect match in every way to her old one. She would have to reward Schroder. His work had turned out beautifully. Surely, Nuri would come to her now! At the thought of her wayward betrothed, she smiled. The curse she had uttered with her last breath was working perfectly.
It truly was. In fact it was working better than she thought it should. Which meant that she had to tread carefully. The fact that her curse was working so well, meant that abominable Pharaoh might have stronger ties to Shangri-La. She'd deal with that when she had to. "Soon that pitiful Pharaoh will be dead; his life force having fed my own! ...My beautiful gypsy will be saddened, but he will see he belongs to me!"
Two masculine forms huddled by the side of the pool of golden water. Both were worriedly talking in hushed voices. There was an imbalance in the Mortal Realm and Ra could not be found! The Egyptian pantheon had long since lost track of him in his life on Earth, and he had yet to return to the Divine Realm. They moved away, going to check the sun god's realm with yet another fruitless search.
A slim feminine figure crept from the shadows as the male divines left. Two more figures followed; one more male and the other a large serpent. The female divine was Hathor, and Anubis settled at her side, both kneeling before the pool. The goddess turned desperate pleading violet eyes onto the serpent divine. His were closed, hiding the dark brown slit eyes.
"I beg you to help him! Our pantheon will become broken without him!" The large black and gold snake reared back, his massive head almost touching the ceiling above. Anubis moved in front of his mother, sickle-staff ready for the attack. Instead of the presumed attack, the god snake dove into the pool. The golden water swallowed the massive coils of the serpent, the water stilling.
Both divines quickly averted their eyes. When the brightness of the golden light faded, a man, appearing in his early 20's stood there. His wild white hair was braided in places, threaded with black and gold glass beads, and fangs from various snakes. His skin was darkly tanned from years of sunlight. A cloak of black with flecks of gold in the cloth clung to his shoulders.
A tanned hand waved over the water before him. An image of two figures, clinging to each other in the sleep of lovers, was shown to him. Sharp eyes studied this image, memorizing the pair. The faintest hint of a smile lifted his lips. His gaze moved to the divines on the pool's edge. In a voice slightly deeper than Ra's, he spoke. "You have my aid." As the words echoed through the chamber, he vanished.
"Thank you, Apep, Lord of Chaos, and World Snake. May this journey return your own lost lover." Hathor whispered, hoping the being of creation heard her prayer. "…Yugi…"
Ty- So we now have yet another sub plot! And we know what's wrong with Atem, but why is Empress Wong's curse working so well? Why is Apep wondering the Earth? Who were the figures he saw in the pool? All this and more in the next installment of DE! …Which brings us to my important note. Just for the month of October, there will be no updates. Before you all jump me, I need the time to figure out how exactly to tie everything together. I want the chapters and story to be the best I can give you. I don't want it to be all over place like the prequel.
That being said, I do have some future scenes planned. I'd love to give you all a sneak peak, but that would ruin the surprise I have for you all. Like I said, I just want to get my duckies in a row for the next few chapters. Does this mean I won't post anything for October? No! I love all things Halloween! I have plans for Puzzleshipping oneshot based in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I wrote it for Halloween, and I hope you enjoy it instead of the next DE update.
As always, reviews are appreciated and inspire me to write faster! All questions are welcomed via review or pm, and shall be answered as long as it doesn't lead to spoilers! Now that's all done, I'm going to go cuddle with Atem.