Happy new year, all. After much deliberation, I decided to scrap the special 100-chapter plot twist I mentioned a while back. I've tried to hammer this series into the shape I wanted it, but that goes against pretty much everything I believe about writing. The story dictates itself; the less I have to do with how a story comes out, the better.

This is a short chapter, but it's the beginning of a new era for me. I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions, but the beginning of the calendar still has a certain romantic resonance with changing things up. So, let's see how it goes.

Let's begin.


"O Atem, who went forth as the Great One of the waters…"

Mokuba felt like he was nowhere and everywhere at the same time; like in a dream. His body felt stretched. The voice of the king was the only thing that he could understand. His thoughts had no substance. Even the voice of the king, the only thing that felt real anymore, was vague and fluid, and he could only hear it when it wanted to be heard.

"…announce in your own words to those who are in the Presence…that she comes as one who is in their midst…"

Mokuba knew that his friends were here, that they were with him, but it was like when he'd had his soul stolen. He couldn't see them. Even if he'd had eyes to see, they wouldn't have had bodies. He didn't. He knew they were there the same way he knew there were other solar systems in other galaxies; they were too far away to matter.

The voice of the king held dominion.

"May she live after death like Ra every day…"

Mokuba should have been terrified. He was back in that black, smoky no-man's land where nothing existed, that same place that magic had sent him so many years ago. The place where he would have been trapped, forever, if not for the man—the god—who was speaking right now.

Who was working magic right now.

"Was Ra born yesterday? Then will she be born. May every god be joyful when she lives, just as they were joyful when Ptah lived, when he came forth from the great Mansion of the Prince…which is in Iunu."

Who was the king talking about? Who was "she?" Did the king have a wife? Was his queen the key to getting rid of the darkness? Mokuba wanted to see her. He hoped she would bring light into this place.

"O you Sole One, who shines in the moon…O you Sole One, who glows in the sun…"

No. No, that wasn't right.

Not a wife. Not a queen.

"May she go forth, from among these multitudes of yours…may those who are in the sunshine release her…may the Netherworld be opened to her when she goes out into the day…in order to do what she wishes…on earth among the living."

A mother.

There was a flash of light, sudden and fierce like a summertime thunderstorm, as Mokuba's eyes snapped open and he fell back into his chair, feeling like he'd just run the length of the earth. His entire body was aching, his vision was blurred and his breath came in haggard gasps. Looking around, he found that he still sat in the front room of the Turtle Game Shop, and the others were still there. They'd come back.

They'd never left.

Joey was standing, hacking and choking, stumbling backward. Téa had tears running down her face, and Tristan was unconscious. The only person unaffected by—the darkness—was Yugi.

Yami.

The spirit king stood, slowly, still half in a trance; and then he was back. The smirk was back, the sarcastic glint was back.

The unwavering confidence was back.

Mokuba looked down at his right hand, where his friend had stabbed a knife straight through him just moments—eternities—ago. There was no blood. No scar. No memory. The only way he could even tell it had happened at all was the stain on the table.

He looked up.

Yami was grinning fit to burst, turning his eyes slowly, lazily, to the front door of the shop. The bell rang. Once. Twice. Three times. With each ring, a person entered, and Yami's grin widened, until he looked like a predator.

When he spoke, his voice slithered:

"Yuki-sama…Kohaku-sama…Seto-kun…welcome to my home."


The spell Yami casts in this chapter has been taken, albeit with slight alterations for the sake of gender and spelling/historical consistency, from Spells 3 and 2, respectively (I quoted them out of order because I'm a rebel like that) of the Egyptian Book of the Dead (as it is colloquially known), specifically the translation by Raymond O. Faulkner.

Those of you who have read my work previously will certainly grasp the importance of this chapter, and why I considered it a pivotal twist; for those of you who might be lost, I will cede to you this bit of information:

Yuki and Kohaku are the names that I have given the Kaibas' biological parents.

The Kaibas' dead biological parents.