The First Tears of Ra (Part 3)

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

Bastet sighed. Once again, Sekhmet was just too gungho. She had to use her magic to restore Yugi. Stealing a finger from temptation was Sekhmet, someone offering her their finger? Oh, that never turned out well. "That wasn't nice. We owe them now, Sekhmet."

"Call it payment to the gods. Still worth it." Sekhmet was happier now. Bastet watched her sucking on her God's Brew while gnawing on Yugi's former hand.

Bastet looked back at Yugi. The tear of Ra was glaring at her while Yugi seemed paralyzed. "I have restored your whole hand with fingers back." She tried once again to reach the human. "There is no more pain, and you are safe. If you understand this, wave your new hand again."

Yugi looked at his hands and waved both of them.

"Never make a deal with Sekhmet," Bastet said. "She will always take more than offered. Because of her vile behavior." She looked at Sekhmet still gnawing on the hand. "Some grace, Soul Sister. Will you stop chewing on it in front of the owner?"

Sekhmet grabbed the hand and turned around. She continued to gnaw while she was turned. Well, at least it was less rude. "Close enough to a sacrifice for a winning, might work," she muttered as she took one of the fingers, before her sister snapped at her. She pocketed the finger. "I am not wasting much time explaining everything, but you may ask a little while about yourselves."

Yugi couldn't think much. ///Yugi: I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have.///

///Atem: It's over. You are safe now, Yugi. I'm sorry but we must ask things quickly. Kaiba is involved.///

"Yes," Bastet answered, "but these questions to be answered are only for you and I'm not sharing everything. Don't waste time."

"Is there any way that we can get our bodies back? You have to tell us, and you have to be truthful."

"Yes," she admitted. "I can, but it will end your reality as well as all others."

What? "How?"

"In another version of your world, Yugi and Atem are fighting with Kaiba and Bakura as allies to save human existence against a man that was an older Pharaoh who has the respect of the gods. Yugi and Atem are both players. They both must play in a God's Game, or they forfeit. They need that body from somewhere. A price must be paid for it, and since you not only made a sacrifice, but a sacrifice because of friendship? You were chosen for payment."

"So, do you mean, the whole sacrifice Atem made, brought us the end to one body?"

"Yes, but you willed yourself to the gods of Egypt. This is of the lighter side of servitude chosen. So far."

"But Masika and Téa aren't playing in that same game, are they?"

"Players in the game? Hm. That's a spoiler. Let's go with no."

"Then what is the sacrifice of them for?!" Yugi was starting to lose it. "Why are we switching bodies, why isn't just me and Atem involved, why involve her?!"

Bastet sighed. "She has always been involved in things like this. Téa and Masika have a more suitable name together, they are called the First Tear of Ra. While humanity was born from the tears of Ra, they were the first. When the others saw them for the first time? Well, they doted on them. Humanity looked so quaint and cute. She kept getting reincarnated because she's the sweetest pet to everyone. A piece of nostalgia."

"Cute?" Téa asked. "Reincarnated over and over?"

"Yes. You are like our favorite little pet to watch. Most gods don't even look at humanity anymore, but you? Oh, you are like everyone's favorite stuffed teddy bear."

"What's that have to do with gods?" Yugi asked.

"To explain the whole plan could ruin the outcome," she said. "So, I guess you could say? That we need a new power to make others take . . . pity on humanity. By giving Yugi and Atem a god's blessing, they could reverse time and get their own futures back. You see, mankind is wandering around in an apocalypse of nothing but vast amounts of the dead covered by sand."

Oh. "That sounds . . . horrifying."

"Yes. With some help, they will not only restore their world and modern structures, but those who were lost during the apocalypse," Bastet said. "From a beloved of Joey Wheeler, to a dear man you know as Tristan Taylor. If they win, and if they have the power? They will have them and so much more back."

///Yugi: Tristan? Someone Joey loves? People we really care about.///

///Atem: Yes, I get it, Yugi.///

"The god thing power?" Yugi was confused. "How?"

"You do know the concept of fusion, don't you? It's within the card rules that you've seen before," Bastet said.

///Atem: The cold! The cold, the cold, you had Téa's exact cold!///

"What's important about that right now?" Yugi looked toward Téa.

///Atem: It was not a cold, Yugi, it was her cold. They were exchanging things with that cat! That cat was not Ebonnee, it was Bastet at the time.///

Huh? "The cat was Bastet?" Yugi looked toward her.

///Atem: It was purring against everyone, demanding to be held, nuzzling up not just to it's owner. Yugi!///

"Please don't yell, I get it!" Yugi covered his ears. Oh no. "Is it . . . so you aren't fusing them back together, are you? Into the original rubik's cube? Téa would be lost!"

"Oh no, we do not plan on ever joining them together," Bastet confessed. "There will be something akin to cards. Light and dark."

"Light and dark?"

"Yes. That's good for now."

"No, wait!" Shoot! "That wasn't a lot of information. What about Bakura, why is he back too?"

"Bakura is safe, Zorc is gone, and the curse is gone," Bastet answered. "The gods gave him another chance, and he will have a body choice too."

"Why?"

"The First Tear of Ra will choose either Atem and Yugi, or Bakura and Dark Bakura. For one day each week, everyone will have their own body. It is a time to get to know the counterpart you don't know. There cannot be a split. Afterwards, everyone will be as they are now. Switching and changing within one body always, until the end of each life. Time is up."

"Unless they don't get picked? I don't understand, what is Téa and her spirit choosing?" Yugi begged.

"Who matches them most." Bastet sighed, clearly getting tired of it all, even though she wasn't giving any real good answers. "Assume that the one the First Tear of Ra chooses, will stay with them in their lives, and the other will not. Now, be thankful Sekhmet got greedy, you gained some information and your hand back."

Yugi saw a card fly toward him along with a gold pen. On it, was his name and . . . "What is this?" He read it. "Again?!"

"No, I took your last finger from Sekhmet's eagerness. This wasn't planned, but it'll help," Bastet demanded. "Sign the card and give it to me."

"What is this for?" Why did he have to sign a card to give a finger? "I didn't give it in the first place."

"Your friend Joey in the other universe has lost someone special. He is desperate and miserable, and only has two winnings. He will lose her, without something else. We reasoned that we would put him in debt until the power is balanced. This sacrifice would balance it. I thought humans that were friends felt compassion."

Joey? ///Yugi: This is for Joey. She won't tell us much, so I guess this must be important. And, I do have a new hand?///

///Atem: Everything is new to me as well.///

"So the other us' in another dimension, just get the energy, of our bodies?" Yugi said roughly. "In our world, is the winner the one who gets to keep their own bodies?"

Bastet frowned. "Time is up. I will not spoil anything else, fate and nature should decide the rest." She took the card. "Expect more of these in the future."

"And of course, Bakura and Ryo Bakura have the same Rubik's cube thing going on," Yugi said passive aggressively. Unfortunately, it wasn't passive enough for Bastet to miss.

"Mortal!" She picked up on the tone. She took a moment to relax again. "Heed. The parasitic feeling crawling on you when you connect with a body that is not yours? It will slowly start to dissipate the more you exchange. Whether you lose a body or not, you will feel fine for the eternity you will share if you choose to switch."

" . . ." Yugi blinked. "Eternity?"