Of Jealousy, Love, and Realization (Part 2)

DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)

"Now, hang on." Bes strummed a couple more chords. "On tune, good. I'm here to tell you the tale that none of you can remember, but it's relevant to the here and now, more than you know." He played a light tune as he started to tell his tale. "Once upon a time, monsters lived on Earth, same as humans. They were wild and unattached to the human spirit. If a person encountered one and didn't have a god that cared to save them, it usually spelled death. Most humans lived in certain areas where monsters did not roam around in as great of numbers."

"Monsters were free and unattached?" Atem asked. "That would be troublesome." Extremely.

"Now our lovely human tear, she of course lived in this time. It was before the reign of Egypt. A young woman simply going along the river, trying to catch some fish for her sick father. Her mother had already died. Her brother we'll call Bakura that had lived with her since he was a young child was still there for her. Her father wanted to marry her to her childhood friend, but her brother did not want her. So, she was supposed to be marrying a handsome lad tomorrow and wouldn't be able to take care of her father anymore. She was crying as she tried to lift as many fish out of her net as possible."

He changed chords, into a more happy tune and played some more. "While she did that, she met another young man. He helped her carry her fish home. She was most thankful, but didn't know this man's secret yet. His name? We'll call him Atem," he revealed, "and he had dreamed of her since he was a young child. He promised that he would marry her that day, and that he would let her father stay with them until he was better." A sharp chord was played. "This left her would-be husband, Set, angry and seeing red."

Oh. "Set was jealous." Atem smirked. So? There was a reason for this Pharaoh to be the one to cause this catastrophe.

"He vowed revenge and with enough praise to the god he was named after, he was rewarded with a book that would enable him to control the monsters. With it, he would kill Atem and take what was rightfully his again." His guitar tempo sped up. "He had control of thousands of monsters in an instant, ready to destroy Atem, but they were not so easily controlled. Once summoned there, the more brutal of the monsters started to attack the small village itself, killing everyone they could."

Bes smiled and his guitar tempo slowed back down. "Fortunately, Atem had got his wife and her father to safety. Atem didn't know how he would stop Set, but he still went forward to face him head-on, knowing he'd rather die trying something, than live doing nothing."

He slowed the melody down. "That's when his new brother, Bakura, had stepped out with him. He made him aware of a strange power he'd had since birth. Bakura, being the second original tear, was given his own monster, and had the ability to tie others to his. It was this ability that had killed his first family village." The guitar became melancholy. "This he had never shared with anyone before, but now that monsters were there?" He played a riff on the guitar and then stopped. "He used it. Atem called out to the gods for some type of help as the monsters swarmed them, and Bakura held them all the way around, like a massive tornado." He played a high note, dissonant. "Atem was able to call the highest Egyptian gods to hurl the monsters back at Set, thousands all at once. Set was pleading with his god for help. His god threw them all back toward Atem, but Bakura caught them all again, and they were once helped to hurl away. They played back and forth with the power until the gods grew tired of it." He put his guitar down. "The gods helping Atem and Set both decided to remove the monsters from Earth. Although they had a place, something needed to be done with their power. So, they decided to attach a monster to every human until there were no more."

Wow. "Bakura was holding thousands of monsters like a tornado?" Bakura had that kind of power? "Can he still do that?" Yuugi asked. That power was dangerous!

"Of course." Bes winked at Bakura. "He knows he can. He always could. He never intended to trash Egypt to beat Atem, he just wanted him to suffer. It was the spirits that provoked his evil side, plus the joining of Zorc, that caused that downfall."

Bakura was quiet.

Bes kept his guitar down but played two simple upbeat notes. "He's a good boy, he just doesn't want anyone to know it because his memories of everything are all mixed up. He'll never be exactly the same way again. Then again? Neither are any of you. You're all different than the ones of tens of thousands of years ago. Yet, some parts of you still remain."

Jounouchi grinned the largest grin anyone had seen. "Set is super jealous! Atem not only took his woman, but kicked his ass with Bakura too. He wasn't even Pharoah back then either."

"Oh yeah," Mai agreed. "He's got some serious issues then. If Bakura and him team up with that kind of power, I bet they could take Set out."

"I could easily see that," Atem confessed. "However, that may be . . . premature. Trust isn't easy."

"Well, who said I even want to help?" Bandit King took over for Ryou Bakura. "I don't remember such a terrible thing as being your brother anymore than you do. Seems a nightmare to me."

"Get over it," Bes said. "It's got to be different. Atem can't call to the heavens and just have that much trust anymore. Gods got tired of humans, always begging or asking for things or blaming them for everything. Mostly we just ignore you all. That is, until Set brought it to everyone's attention how naughty you've all been overstepping your boundaries."

"It wasn't for evil," Atem tried to explain, but it did no good. Bes wasn't the one in control. He seemed to be more the messenger.

"Atem!" Set's voice sounded off outside the game shop.

"Just know, that she did the best she could for all outcomes," Bes said quickly.

"What, Bastet?" Jounouchi shook his head. "I'll never believe that."

"No. Isis," Bes stated.

"Oh." Yuugi thought about that one. "The goddess Isis herself is responsible for the game too?"

"Few were greater than her," Atem said to Jounouchi. However, he still remembered his basic Egyptian manners, "although I assume Bes would be up there, working with her." Trouble avoided, although Bes was not one to get mad about that. More laid back he was the god of drinking, of music, of good times to be had, but also war. That explained his presence. ///Atem: Did her best for all outcomes. Why did he exaggerate that? All outcomes.///

"I refuse to wait all day!" Set's voice again.

Everyone went outside to check what was going on.

The gods game box also appeared outside now, between them and Set.

"You aren't the King of Games, you're the King of Gambles," Set warned them as he stood in front of the box. He held up two memo cards in envelopes. "There isn't much that would attract my attention, but I couldn't resist this. Isis was always a smart goddess." Then, a wicked grin, almost demonic fell upon his face. "I agree if my demands are met." The box flew open, as well as the Winnings and Losings boxes. He dropped the envelopes into the box.

"Atem isn't afraid of you," Jounouchi warned him. "We have a lot of power on our side, so I would back off with the boasting."

"You have power to destroy the worlds, and I'm fairly sure you don't want that," Set called his bluff. "Or you would have used it. My part of the deal is done. If Atem wins, I will leave Earth and so will my kingdom. It will be up to him what to do with it. He will be the ruler."

"The Earth needs no one ruler. It has its own way of running things now," Atem disagreed.

"However you want to run it, I don't care," Set said to that. "It's worth the risk for the wins."

"Mai Kujaku was supposed to be with me!" Jounouchi shouted to him. "I worked with her for so long to get over everything, she's finally coming around, and you think you can just take her from me? How dare you do this."

"She has great power within her," Set reminded Jounouchi. "It's not sexual, Simpleton. Although I'm sure it will be, she will be a main wife and Isis did show me a picture. Quite beautiful."

Jounouchi jiggled his leg. "I'd serve you for eternity in the afterlife instead?"

"What would I want that for?" Set answered him. "You have a monster but you're still just a human."

"This creep really wants my daughter out of Mai." Jounouchi looked back at Yuugi, like he found out he was betrayed by one of his best friends. "Isis and the cats made my Mai an appetizer for him. They've been preparing her for years. I can't change his mind."

Jounouchi. "I'm sorry," Yuugi answered, "I am. I really am, but-"

"It's for the whole world and even Honda, I get that." Jounouchi took his sleeve and wiped at his eye slightly. "Big wins are about big costs. Saving the rest of humanity from the gods themselves, that's a pretty big game. Besides, I already agreed."

Set tossed him a pen. "Here. Come up to the boxes, grab your agreements and cross out your name if you want. All parts of Atem can face me himself, why bother you? You do know if you just wait 'til the end, you would have a decent afterlife with her?"

"Jounouchi doesn't need that!" Mai spoke up from the back and looked at Jounouchi. "I'm not afraid 'cause you're gonna win. I know it. For the world."

"For the world." Jounouchi glared back at Set. "This game is set, Set. I am here to help my friends and the world survive against you."

"Fine," Set agreed. "Then I assume everything is ready?"