Kids of Another Dimension

Sil held on tighter to her doll as she watched Hi look around the street. "We aren't supposed to be in streets."

"We were not in streets," Hi said to her. "We were on sidewalk." He moved toward the side of the street with Sil following after him. "Where did Uncle Joey go?"

Sil looked around. There were funny markings on some signs. Hi tried to walk backward with her, but there wasn't anything. Uncle Joey's apartment was gone. "Hi."

"Uncle Joey!" Hi called out.

It wasn't like Uncle Joey to just leave them there. "He was really mad about Bakura?"

"Uncle Joey would never . . ." Hi didn't finish.

Sil knew why he stopped. Their moms and dad and pet cats all left.

"He wouldn't leave on purpose," Hi said to her. "No one left on purpose. They'd come back if they could."

Sil watched as her brother rubbed his face on his sleeve. They were lost, and she made him think of their moms and dad. She held out her dolly to him.

Hi took the dolly. "We need to find Uncle Joey."

Sil looked around for their Uncle Joey, but she saw something else instead. "Ebonnee!" She grabbed Hi's hand and pointed to it. "Hi, it's Ebonnee!" Ebonnee had a special mark on her only she had. No other cat had it.

Hi gave Silhouette her dolly back and he went to pick her up. Silhouette ran to Ebonnee and started to pet her. "Ebonnee."

Ebonnee rubbed against each of them like she really missed them, and then jumped down and took off.

No, no! Sil and Hi both ran after Ebonnee. They didn't know the weird markings on the signs, or the strange chatter of people in the air, but they didn't want to lose their pet kitty!

It's all they had left of their family.

Ebonnee stopped in the middle of a sidewalk. Sil and Hi both started to pet her again. "Hikaru. Silhouette."

Sil almost jumped as she heard her kitty speak. Hi did jump and he almost fell backwards.

"It's okay," she said toward them. "I am Bastet. Do you know who that is?"

"A cat?" Hi asked. "Ebonnee, you speak?"

"No, no. I'm not your kitty," the kitty said to them. "They passed when their owners perished, as per the deal."

"Uncle Joey never said stuff about a talking cat," Hi said to her. "Where's Uncle Joey?"

"He would be your Uncle Jounouchi here." The talking kitty moved toward Sil and moved under her hand. Sil petted her. "You lost your parents. I'm very sorry."

Hi hated when someone said that. "I don't want to hear how sorry a cat is."

"Hi is grumpy," Sil said to her. "We hear that a lot."

"It's my fault," the kitty said as she changed directions to brushing upon Hi. "I didn't understand. I still don't understand. Isis has kept Sekhmet and I out of the loop, only God Atems could see." She rubbed against Hi again. "Yet, it is somehow true. I feel it now, in each of you. I don't know what to do about this, except to try to take you to them."

Take them to who? Sil watched the talking kitty walk slower so they wouldn't give chase. The kitty stopped in front of a building. It had funny marks on it too.

"I'll give you a minute to see it, before we speak again. Go through those doors."

Sil watched the kitty disappear. She looked at Hi and brushed her dolly's hair with her hand. She watched Hi reach for the door. He pulled but couldn't quite get it.

It was a big door. She grabbed the handle and helped him too. They went inside with the kitty, and Sil saw . . .

"Daddy?" Hi said it first.

Their dad was right there, taking notes at a counter. He looked toward them and then said something they didn't understand. He gestured to a game nearby, and then said something else they didn't understand.

"Momma Masika." Silhouette moved closer as she watched her Momma Masika start coming down the stairs.

"Momma Masika." Hi went toward her too. "Daddy!" He started to cry. "You're alive!" Uncle Joey gave up hope. Everyone gave up hope. There was even a funeral thing they could only stay in the back for, but they were all okay!

"No, no, don't run to them yet," their kitty warned them. "Wait. Give them time."

Daddy was talking to Momma Masika, but they still couldn't understand him.

"I don't know what's wrong with them?" Yuugi said to Masika. "I have been trying to talk to them, but they just started crying and shouting in, I think English?"

"I don't like this at all." Masika looked toward the children. "They are speaking English, and so is their cat."

"I can guess who the cat is," Yuugi said huffily. ///Yuugi: I can't believe this. It hasn't even been a year.///

///Atem: What's wrong, Yuugi?///

///Yugi: A talking cat. Downstairs./// He watched Atem and Anzu head downstairs.

Atem gave just as much of a sigh, but when dealing with the goddess, Yuugi knew he'd be nicer. "Hello, Bastet. What is the reason for your appearance, if I may ask?"

The cat didn't really speak to them.

"Atem," Masika warned him. "The children."

Atem looked at the . . . crying? Terrified? Excited children behind her? "It's okay," he called to them.

"The cats never talked in front of anyone that wasn't needed for the incident," Yuugi said. "Who are these kids?"

Masika tried to move toward the kids, but they also took a step back.

"Hi," Anzu greeted them as she came downstairs, probably guessing something was going on since everyone came down. "Welcome to the game shop. Ignore the talking cat, can we help you kids with anything? Like, where are your folks? You're too young to be here all alone."

"Yeah," Yugi agreed. They didn't look much older than six or seven.

"They are with me." Bastet spoke up to them. "They don't speak japanese, only English."

"Well, I can solve that problem then," Anzu said as she greeted them the same way in English.

"I have a terrible . . . feeling in the pit of my stomach," Masika said. "There is something very wrong here."

"I feel it too," Atem admitted. "Bastet, please. Why are you here, and who are these children?"

The cat once again went silent. She just waved her tail.

"Okay," Sil's kitty said as she looked back toward them. "I need you to look straight at me, okay?"

Sil and Hi both looked at her.

The kitty just made a strange meow, almost like a strangled kitty. Sil didn't like that sound. "I have no idea how to handle this. I really want Sekhmet here."

"We don't," Masika and Anzu both said to her in English. Their mommas were speaking right again.

"Right. The women knew English best of course." The kitty made another strange meowl. "Okay. Just, stand here. I feel lost sometimes without Sekhmet, but she's distracting someone in order for us to get this done." She waved her tail. "Give me a few minutes to talk to the others, okay?"

Sil and Hi both nodded at the kitty.

Bastet jumped to the counter in front of Yuugi. "I have terrible news."

Yeah, it wouldn't be good news. The cats never brought good news.

"We really aren't in the mood for anything right now." Anzu was trying hard to be strong. "You already . . ."

"I was . . . only partly to blame for this one," Bastet said. "Information was hidden. While you fought to save everything from Set and Zorc, there was another dimension of you, that paid all of the high prices for all of the moves you made. The sacrifices you needed to make in the game. They paid for all they could. So? Let's just say, they might have overpaid on payment."

Overpaid on payment? "What does that mean?" Yuugi asked her. "Is that where Hikaru went, to pay off some overpayment?!"

"You know that Yuugi's child was taken nearly three months ago. Spirited away, and never returned," Atem warned Bastet. "If whatever quest you are wanting to send us on, brings him back, then we will be more willing to listen."

Bastet swished her tail back and forth. "A way to break the ice I suppose. There is no quest to get him. Do you know the difference between a human and a god? There are so many different versions of humans, but only one god. In all of the different dimensions, in all of the worlds, I am the only Bastet."

Yuugi flung his hands out. "Okay?" It wasn't about Hikaru and he was just supposed to listen to some god difference thing?!

"Do you know the different between a pharoah that became a god, verses a god?" Bastet asked them. "The pharoah was still a person. There were multiple versions of him through time. In order to become a god, those dimensions must be cleaned of any human version left."

Once again, Yuugi was hearing a lot of talking, but no real reason why she was there. He was trying to be polite, but she wasn't a goddess he particularly liked. She was the reason they had all split up in the first place. She was the reason Atem spent all those years in the puzzle. She was probably the reason Hikaru was gone, and no one but them remembered him!

"I couldn't make a deal like this, but Isis could," Bastet groaned. "Isis and Taweret."

"Isis granted all of our wishes, fixed our time, gave back our loved ones, and still managed to make sure Jounouchi was able to keep Mana," Yugi said. Isis was on their good list.

"Yes, I know." The cat wiggled her tail again. "Humans are such complicated things, and since I don't quite know everything. Let's stick with this? These children behind me are from another dimension."

Another dimension?

While Bastet spoke to Yuugi, Anzu and Atem, Masika ignored her completely. She made her way closer to the children. They had gone from looking surprised, horrified, and ready to run at them to just standing there. Silent. She didn't want to waste time listening to Bastet when she had already picked up on some interesting cues of her own.

"Don't be frightened," she said to them in their English language. "You called Yuugi Daddy, did you not? And me, you said Momma Masika?" She also heard Bastet talking to them of course.

Anzu was playing dumb over by the corner while Bastet probably slowly explained how gods worked or something. Masika wouldn't play dumb. She came closer.

"Momma Masika?" the little girl asked as she clutched a dolly tightly to her.

"What are your names?" Masika asked.

"Hi and Sil," the boy said.

Hi and Sil? "Is that short for something?"

"Hikaru and Silhouette." The boy didn't know whether he should step forward or not. "You aren't her?"

When Masika shook her head, both of them seemed to cling to each other and started to cry. "It's okay, we can find them."

"It's just a nightmare!" Hi yelled as he started to-

"No, no." Masika quickly took off to make sure they couldn't open the door. "It's okay, let's not rush out into a world you do not know. You are safe here."

"It's not. Nothing's okay. Nothing's been okay!" The boy was starting to get very excited, stressed, and mournful. Very mournful. "This is mean, are they alive or not?! Where are we? Where's Uncle Joey?"

Not stress. Crying. This was bad. Masika looked back at Atem who had been concentrating on her instead of Bastet like everyone else, wanting to hear what she figured out. "Atem. These are orphaned children of ours from another dimension. I believe we are dead."

Atem came over quickly, dropping Bastet's longwinded 'what makes a god' speech. Yugi didn't move. Tea didn't move either. Masika expected that, they were dealing with their own trauma. As Atem approached, she reiterated. "Their names are Hikaru and Silhouette. Sound familiar?"

Atem looked at them, holding onto each other.

Masika tried not to glare at the cat. "They called Yuugi Daddy when they first entered, and they called me Momma Masika. Bastet was also speaking to them in English."

Atem didn't answer. Masika didn't need him to.

"We'll have to question them to know it's correct, but they are confused and scared and sad."

"This . . . the burden they laid upon us, that they took away during the gods game? I thought it was a ruse, but the responsibility only moved," Atem stated. "Another us ended up having them?"

Bastet came in front of them. "I see you've already figured some of it out. I was hoping someone would help. Anzu pretended not to hear a thing."

"Anzu is dealing with her own strife." Masika looked at the children. She wanted to comfort them after that, but they were so messed up, that would probably make things worse.

"Hey, hey, so I got some news!" Jounouchi's voice boomed through the door.

The weeping children ran straight for him, almost knocking the breath out of him, calling him Uncle Joey in English.

"Uh?" Jounouchi just looked down at them. "This isn't normal."

Oh good. "Let them hug you, Jounouchi," Masika insisted.

"They need some comfort," Atem agreed. "Give them some time."

Jounouchi was very confused. "If you guys say so. What did they yell at me and say though?"

"Your name in another dimension must have been Joey," Masika told him. "They referred to you as 'Uncle Joey'."

"Yuugi knows as well, and doesn't want to come right away, much for the same reason as Anzu," Atem said to her. "This is . . . a troubling time for this. Their child was spirited away, and still no explanation." He glanced toward Bastet. "Any explanation?"

"Everyone will find out soon, that will have to be satisfactory for now."

"That will have to do," Atem conceded. "How long are we watching over them?"

Bastet didn't answer right away. "I'm still figuring things out. Their parents weren't supposed to die, but we did pick a different world than Thoth recommended. It apparently made a difference after all."

Atem looked back toward them. "I don't sense . . . any godly power from them at all?" Just like when he saw Yuugi's son Hikaru for the first time. No magic. Nothing there, just simple children? He looked back toward Bastet. "I thought the payment had been gods?"

"I told you," Bastet said a little more snippier. "I'm figuring some things out myself. And yes, they were supposed to be, yet I am not feeling anything either, but I could still move them across dimensions. That isn't possible with humans, so they are special."

"Yet you brought them here anyway?" Masika questioned her. "They are clearly grieving, and you yanked them to their parents, only for them to realize their parents are still dead?"

"I did not say anything about that," Bastet came back on her. "I only said they were from a different dimension, and I was trying to explain the difference between Pharaoh and gods." She meowled. "I don't have much time to deal with human grieving, this is important!"

Ooh, Masika did not like the way that sounded. "She didn't give a straight answer about their parents being dead."

"The afterlife is tricky," Atem admitted. "We just need to make sure they are fine until the problem is resolved."

"Great. Good." Jounouchi just looked at them. "Can someone please tell me yet why I've got two little six year olds or whatever clinging to me like their life is gonna end without me?" One of them said something though. Something to Atem.

Masika looked at Atem. "The little girl asked if you are her daddy's twin."

"Hm. So, they don't know me." He was grateful for that. "My presence isn't hurting them then."

"Swell." Jounouchi just patted their backs. "Hey you two kids, it's okay? It's a nice day outside. I've got no idea what to say, it's probably coming back gibberish to them." He looked back toward the door. "Just told Mai I'd be a second to give the news, didn't expect this. Should know better when visiting Yuugi."

"The fact you are saying something probably makes them feel better, Jounouchi," Masika said toward him though, letting him know his presence was important. She looked back toward the cat. "There is grief rapidly in this room. If you have any answers for Anzu and Yuugi, please share them."