Sekhmet's Move (Part 3)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One that Pays to Save the Day)

Hospital

///Seto: Ridiculous./// Tristan kept spewing about his feelings and how he was so scared he'd never see Serenity again. He was laying it on extra thick. True, he was supposed to die, but he was saying things he had no right to say to her.

He shouldn't care. He didn't even know how he knew Tristan was lying; he hadn't seen him since he was a teenager. Even then, he was just a background character, hardly noticeable in importance. He watched a cat stroll into the room. He watched another cat stroll into the room. Both of them stood right beside him and stared at him. Not exactly common in a hospital.

"Sorry," an attendant came in. "We don't know where they came from or how they got in." She tried to take them but they just hissed at her.

"Sorry to interrupt your lying chauvinistic speech possibly leading to a cliche proposal," he said to Tristan, "but I think I have a cat outside that needs to talk." He walked away and followed it out the door.

It led him around the back, but it was leading more than him. Serenity had followed too. Tristan probably would have, but he was strapped in IV's. Idiot might still follow.

They continued toward the back, and met the cat he didn't like to talk to. "You called?" He felt his sacrifice card getting stolen away, and watched as Serenity's did too.

"Blame Atem," Sekhmet growled. "Go to the Game Shop." She tossed him two cards and gave Serenity none while she disappeared.

Kaiba looked at his new cards. "Damn."

"What are they?" Serenity asked. "I didn't get one."

Kaiba didn't answer as he looked at the cards longer.

"Seto Kaiba?" she asked again.

It wouldn't be right to hide it. He showed her. "Card one, let's me join the gang of 'let's remake the millennium items'. Card two, is you." He let her hold the card.

"I'm going to . . .?" She read it. "Can we get the original cards back? Please?"

"Atem did something that pissed off Sekhmet," Seto warned her. "I have a feeling this is the lion's tantrum." Oh yes, there was that pitiful sound of a moron chasing after him. The bleeding Tristan was right there. "You already missed the show."

"Serenity, are you okay?" Tristan ignored him in favor of Serenity.

"The card was changed," she said. "I don't have to bear a child anymore."

"Oh, that's great!" He tried to hug her, but had to quit halfway through from the pain. "That couldn't be better news, Serenity."

"I have to die instead." Her voice was plain. Not quite getting it yet.

"What?" Tristan asked her a ton of questions she didn't know.

Seto Kaiba just stood there. ///Seto: It's real apparent these goddesses want the millennium items back. Why? Pharaoh, what the hell did you do?/// He was barely even paying attention to the couple, until the cliched line that he said Tristan would say, almost came out. He was really almost there, but Seto couldn't help himself. "Really not the time to propose when the bride to be will be a corpse soon."

"Shut it, Kaiba!" Tristan yelled at him, probably because he interrupted his dumb proposal. "Serenity, I promise. It'll be okay."

"Marriage isn't going to save her any more than eating a sandwich without mayo," Seto Kaiba pointed out again.

"I didn't ask anything." Tristan glared at him. "Don't listen to him Serenity. If I were to propose, I'd do it way better than out of the blue. You'd have a fancy restaurant and a nice ring and-"

Whatever. "I'm heading back to the Game Shop. We need to see what Atem did to make the big kitty mad. If we can correct it, maybe we'll get the original cards back."

"We don't want the original cards back, we want no card," Tristan said to him.

"I'm not going to be picky right now, Tristan." It seemed like Serenity was getting tired of him too. "I just became a sacrifice. I want to go to the Game Shop too."

--

Joey's Home

Mai. Safely at home. Well, his home. Joey used the keys to open the door. He saw her watching TV. Good, still there. "Hey."

"I went to see Tristan, but there were only so many guests," she said to him, like he was going to see if she cared. "Even that goddess said the God's Brew wasn't to blame."

He sat near her. "Fine, maybe it was just an effect it caused like actual alcohol. Maybe I should have said something. I was afraid that would ruin the chances you'd leave with me. I'm sorry I hurt you."

She stared at the TV. "Well I stole your soul, so I guess it's-"

Sekhmet appeared in front of the TV. She tossed Joey two cards. "Blame Atem!" Then disappeared.

Okay. "Cards again?" Joey stood up. "Hell no, not likely!" He looked toward Mai. "I gotta go to the Game Shop. Come with me."

"I'm not going to run away," she promised. "Deal with whatever the goddess gave you. You can't watch me 24/7 because you think I'll leave."

Joey showed her the card.

"Nevermind, I'll tag along." She got straight up. "How did we go from I am bearing a monster girl, to I die after she's born? What did Atem do to the lion?"

"I don't know, that kitty has a temper, we better just go now." ///Joey: I just got her back, I finally got her back. There's no way I am losing Mai again!///

---

Game Shop

Téa stared in the mirror. It hadn't even been a whole hour of coming down from the building, and she already messed up. Sekhmet already talked to her.

Atem already knew now. The cards had to be revealed, and her ignorance of 'playing with the Pharaohs' caused Masika to be taken far away. "I didn't really want to die. Especially while I was young. Does it hurt?"

Yet, she knew no one could hear her anymore.

"Maybe we'll be just up there sitting around with gods and goddesses, shooting the breeze, while we stay with these god kiddie things they all created." It didn't cheer her up any extra. "Do we stay with them or not? Why can't you hear me anymore? Why did I screw up so bad you were taken away?"

"Oh, you will stay with them."

Téa turned around and saw the strange hippo crocodile thing again. "Are you Ammut, the one testing Yugi and Atem when they die?"

"I am not here to test anyone's will, Téa. I am known as the goddess of fertility and pregnancy. As joyful as it is that a new god and goddess are coming, the conditions in which they are coming? Haven't left me happy."

"When we die, do we stay with them?" Téa asked.

"If they want you, they will cry, and they will have you," she answered. "Just like any other baby when a caring mother is near."

"Which one is god and which one is the goddess?" Téa asked again, getting the point that this goddess could answer some questions.

"Hikaru is the god of light, born of the light sides. Silhouette is the goddess of darkness, born to the ones of the dark sides."

"Great, already named?" Still, Téa didn't completely mind. She liked the name Hikaru.

"You can change it if you like," Taweret answered. "It will confuse people when they pass down the legends, but they never understand correctly anyhow."

"It's fine, I like the name." ///Téa: What about you, Masika?/// She knew she couldn't hear but, it was still such a habit. "So can we survive, if like for some miraculous reason the millennium items were brought back and we didn't have to go?" Téa asked eagerly.

"Bastet and Sekhmet are bound to take you away for a peaceful birth, but the soon-to-be husband to the current keeper of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, can help you find a way back."

Soon to be husband? "That doesn't sound like Tristan. That sounds like bad news for Joey."

Taweret laughed. "I was referring to Seto Kaiba, yes."

"Can I stay here until the birth part or am I going to Masika too?" Téa asked, "and can you like take a lot of this glow away please? I'm sort of neon. This stands out here."

"Yes. We can lessen the glow. We are already sharing the glow with your other selves, or you'd be even brighter. It helped to create the illusion they are both pregnant. And, no, I don't know if you will go with Masika but you do not have to be rushed to have yours. Another god's magic can be used in exchange of their godly magic when it's needed in the other dimension."

Téa watched her glow simmer down. "Thanks."

"Any other questions?" she asked. "Once I leave I won't be back until it's time."

Oh. "If somehow we do get to survive here with these . . . gods."

"Your babies," Taweret said. "I know technically gods, but honestly, not even close to a quarter. They are incredibly human, like you. Monkeys are closer to humans than your baby will be to a god."

"Oh." At least Taweret was actually a lot sweeter to her. "Ooh. I mean, not that they ever would choose to actually make the millennium items. I mean, 99 people. Uh. Possession too. Zorc. But, boy. Yeah. Yugi would be like the dad, for the rest of their lives. And Bakura. Maybe. Slightly. Should I be saying any of that? Sorry, it's just that human babies are always 1-1 in their genes. It's like 50/50, so Bakura being like 5% is-"

"You are moving into an area that is not mine," Tawaret said. "Math. Ask the goddess watching over you."

Oh. The cats. "I don't want to ask them about anything," Téa muttered. "Especially Sekhmet. She is pissed right now. She didn't even tell me a whole lot about Masika. Just that she's safe but I can't reach her, she can't communicate, Atem is a jerk she wants to eat, and she'll be back later for more."

"Yes, it's a complicated matter. Bastet can't be here right now, and Sekhmet needs some guidance to keep from getting out of control sometimes," Taweret admitted. "Your future is murky, and most of it depends on if the millennium items are recasted."

Ugh. "I don't know! Look? 99 people! Why do we have to make new millennium items? We shouldn't just let Zorc come back."

"Right and wrong are seen in spades." Taweret explained. "This world has too much purity to balance without the demons existence. In fact, your friends tend to get hurt more often on this side by the goddesses to try to even it out too. At least until the new arrivals come."

Nice way to ration it out. "So, we actually need the items to exist?" It felt weird to say that. "I don't think we are really that gentle."

"Your friend in another dimension had to face off with a serial killer that Seto Kaiba had put in a game called Death T, where the objective was to kill everyone off except hopefully Yugi. He wanted to fight him."

What? "Uuh."

"Pegasus was killed violently."

Hm. "Okay, Pegasus was hurt and gone for a long time. Some things are different. But? Look, we did fight this guy called Marik. He was really bad. He trapped our friend in a coma and she couldn't wake up without help."

"Yes, he had been. In the other dimension, she had brain insects falling upon her and eating her flesh in her soul room."

Eh?! "Okay. Well, we also, there was this huge leviathan, and yugi got separated from the spirit, and, you know maybe the other dimension is just a lot rougher instead of us being gentle."

Taweret held up her strange paw. "I didn't mean to say this was a paradise dimension, just that it was more gentle than others. Those actions also happened when Zorc was around. As for Zorc. It may be many centuries before Zorc finds a qualified host here again. Even then, it doesn't mean he'll have a means to end everything," Taweret said. "It's not easy."

"Yeah. Nothing's easy." She cradled her stomach. "I hope Masika's okay."

Taweret smiled, all of her crocodile teeth showing brightly. "I think someone is about to knock on your door that is not Yugi."