Sekhmet's Move (Part 5)

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

"What's that about?" Joey asked. Atem shoved the card in Joey's face long enough for him to see, and then toward Kaiba, and then put it away. "Okay. Long read, short look, but I can see some trouble." Joey looked toward Téa. "So, you're carrying like a god? That's like Yugi's and some others?"

Yeah, they finally noticed Bakura in the corner.

"Yes, others," Bakura said. "Sorry. I didn't want to be the one to break the news to him."

Atem flung his jacket like a cape. "Téa, I know you are tired, but you are very important. The gods will come to you, and we need to know what is going on."

"What else is going on?" Mai asked. "What really happened to Masika?"

Atem shared his side of the story. Which in turn made Yugi glare at Bakura. Bakura swore he was going to tell Yugi soon, he just wanted a private moment with Téa first. Kaiba teased the guys, as usual.

"Sekhmet!" Bastet showed up. "Where is she?" She glanced toward Kaiba and suddenly his cards were taken again. "Here, you must have Azure. Joey wished for it on the other side."

"Not in a thousand years would I have wished for that," Joey said back to her.

"To save Serenity's life, you did," Bastet said. "What is going on? This should be the easy side of things. I have enough to deal with on the other side. Why are sacrifices changing over here?"

Atem told her what happened. With a huff she said she would be back soon, and she disappeared again.

"Shoot. Here I thought I'd get to play a real villain again." Kaiba held his card. "Joey's own wishes, huh?"

"Not my wishes, the other Joey's wishes." Joey groaned. "To save my Serenity over there. Makes sense, it's the only way I'd ever say yes about something so cruel for her." He looked toward Serenity. "This isn't over. These goddesses are flipping around with cards and everything. Nothing is set in stone yet, don't worry." He looked toward Téa too. "You don't worry either, things are flipping all over right now."

"Right. Right!" Yugi yelled a little higher than he had to. "This isn't over, things aren't sealed yet."

"There's a god in me. That's not changing," Téa pointed out. "I'm having a god, Yugi. I'm going to die if I give birth to it on Earth either way."

"Well? Everything else is still changing," he said softly. "Did you . . . name it yet?"

That desperate for conversation. ///Téa: Less spotlight on me. I'll regret it later./// "I told Bakura it was Hikaru. He said it was fitting, but I don't know why."

Yugi turned to Bakura. "Wait, why did you say that? You already got it's name?"

"Uh?" Bakura fidgeted. "Hikaru means something like light, shine, radiance or something. Since it's light based, like us, it's a decent name. I didn't pick it, the gods did."

///Atem: Yugi. He wasn't involved in the name, Téa said that. She is avoiding conversation, so she put your direction on him.///

///Yugi: Sorry, you're right. He did have the right to know too. I hate this.///

///Atem: Yugi. I just . . . I am not fond of this either.///

"Sorry, I'm not mad," Yugi said. "I just meant I wanted to know how you knew?"

"Oh? Um. There's an anime called Hikaru no go I watch," Bakura said.

"Oh yeah, with Go." Yugi knew that one well. "The boy with the spirit that played go. A japanese name?" He held his hands out. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's nice. Actually my name is kind of like that. Japanese. I don't know, I guess my parents liked the sound of it."

"It's a lot better than some of the names today. At least it's not something like Jennifer pronounced Margaret or something," Bakura said in defense of the name.

"I'm not fighting for something different. I don't care," she uttered. "I'm gonna be . . ." Nope, wrong way. She shouldn't finish that sentence.

"We are going to figure this out, Téa," Yugi assured her. "There has to be a way."

"They want the millennium items really bad," Téa told Yugi. "Really, really bad. It's got something to do with balance between dimensions or something."

"Balance can be made with more than blood," Atem told her.

"Yeah. Sure. It can be made by sacrificing lots of lives." She really wasn't in the mood for talking. "Sorry, I'm not in the mood for this, I just want to know what happened to Masika, and I just want to lie down. I just want to go lie down. Someone can wake me up when it's time, but I want to lie down."

"Here. Let's move upstairs and you can lie on the couch," Yugi suggested.

"I don't want to lie down on the couch, I want to lie down on my bed. Bastet is already going to come back, so what do I have to stay up for?" Téa demanded.

///Yugi: She needs rest, Atem.///

///Atem: Go ahead, Yugi. I think Bastet will be coming back whether she is present or not. Take care of her."

///Yugi: Well, now I can't./// "I'll see you in a moment, Téa." He took too long, Bakura was actually the one taking her upstairs now. ///Yugi: I waited too long.///

///Atem: It's just a nap, Yugi.///

///Yugi: I waited too long on everything. I dated her ten times. I never tried for anything more than friendship. Her first child, it could have been ours, if I just-!///

///Atem: It is yours, Yugi.///

///Yugi: And Bakura's!///

///Atem: And Bastet's. It wouldn't have mattered if you told her your feelings or not, she was stuck with Masika, they had a hard decision to make on what we all thought was fusion. There is no way Téa would have started a real relationship. Even if you did, you would not have gone for children until after marriage. Put it into perspective.///

///Yugi: I don't want to put things into perspective because then the details don't even matter because they are both going to die unless we recast the millennium items!///

"Hey?" Joey came over. "Like I just said to Mai, things are happening all over the place, Man. You look really stressed. I know fatherhood is a big thing, kind of hits hard, but you gotta relax. We're gonna figure this out."

Yugi wiped his eyes. ///Yugi: I'm too weak.///

///Atem: Emotion isn't weakness, Yugi.///

"Joey's right, Yugi," Tristan agreed. "Everything is bouncing around. Nothing's permanent." He looked toward Serenity. "Nothing is permanent yet. We just have to really get these goddesses to take two seconds to explain things better."

"Yeah. There's bound to be a way," Joey said. "There's gotta be. Everyone needs to relax. Happy thoughts."

"Yeah." Tristan looked at his hand. "Happy thoughts. We can get through it."

///Yugi: Happy Thoughts./// Yugi looked at his hand too, where Téa once drew a piece of a happy face on it. He put his hand out.

Tristan put out his hand, and Joey put out his. "And we know the rest is just fine, the other eye's just sleeping," he teased since Téa wasn't there. "It's a winking happy face right now."

///Yugi: Aw, these guys./// They could always help him feel better. "You are right." He watched Bakura come down the stairs. "All that's left to do is to wait for Bastet."