Yugi expected to reach out and hit the alarm clock. It was supposed to be Yami's last day. Well, Atem's. He got up but realized the place didn't look right at all. It was way more dusty. He found Atem waiting by the front door.
"No one else is here." Atem informed him.
No one? "The place is really dusty." He never let it get that dusty. He called up Jounouchi. It rang for a long time without anyone picking up. He hung back up. Strange. Then?
There was a terrible crying outside. Yugi followed Atem outside where a baby was at. One of the babies that were conduits were just outside in a bassinet?
"Hey, this is yours. Uh? Anzu got . . . nah, sorry, the other one got the other one," someone that wasn't very tall said to them. Dressed strangely. "Name's Bes. I'm a god."
Uuh? Yugi watched Atem pick up the bassinet.
"Hurting." Atem looked seriously at Bes. "Silhouette is in serious pain." His wdjat glowed and so did hers as she continued to cry. She was getting red in the face.
"Yeah, getting split isn't fun," Bes said. "Sorry. The soul is gonna suffer for a bit."
What?! "Split?! You split the conduit?" Yugi watched Bes as he gave him a note. "You split Hikaru and Silhouette to appease another dimension they came from? And they aren't-?" What?! "They aren't conduits, they are ours! You liars!" Seriously! "What is even the truth anymore?"
"That is," Bes said. "Yeah. I got another thing, it's some song lyrics." He handed it to Yugi. "So at one time there was this whole Atem who loved the whole Masika. It doesn't say it in the verses but they actually conceived a kid. It got put on hold because of, uh, reasons. But anyhow, there you go. They aren't conduits, they are yours, and it's the reason we had to split them within another dimension. It's supposed to make everyone happy."
"Does it sound like she is happy?" Atem stared down Bes. "Her soul is screaming!"
"Splitting sucks," Bes simply said. "Sorry but we had to share."
"You could have just . . ." This was terrible. "No one deserves to be split."
"Well, you two did it. The First Tear did it. Practically family tradition by now," Bes joked.
"That's. Not. Funny." Awful. "Yugi, she won't stop."
Yugi tried to move her from the bassinet and hold her. Her little face was still so red. "It's okay, calm down. You're okay."
"No she's not, she's writhing in pain," Bes said casually. "Really sucks to be human and have that happen I bet."
Oh, this guy was definitely an Egyptian god alright. "Where is Hikaru?" Wait. "Hikaru is still my son?" That meant Silhouette was Atem's. Yuugi gave her back to Atem. "I don't think anyone can make her feel better."
"She essentially got cut apart and different soul got shoved into her," Bes said not so nicely. "I think the equivalent of being sliced in half and then salted afterwards is pretty close to how she feels."
"Will you not talk about it so casually!" Atem held Silhouette. "She is not even half the size she was before."
True. The children were practically the size of six month olds when they were found. Silhouette was super- "Where's Hikaru and Téa already?!"
"Oh. I think we just dropped them off at your friend that was watching your kids for you when you died," Bes said.
Hm? "What do you mean when we died?"
"It's in the note," Bes said. "So you're dead. You were dead. You aren't anymore. Oh yeah, and no worries. Atem, you got that body back for good." He winked. "Totally good. You two aren't allowed in the afterlife though, sorry. When you die, you are just getting instantly reincarnated. Kind of like the First Tear now. You pissed some gods off. Stuff went down. It's just better this way."
Yugi looked at the note. "It's been six years?"
"Yeah, your women are basically in the same boat. They think it's like the day after the payment too. But hey, all those sacrifices, you are good on those. At least that's some good news. And the body. Yeah. I don't think I can tell you anything else," Bes said. "You guys were fun, we had some laughs, but I better head out."
"Wait!" Head out. "We are missing six years of memories, we had died, we can't return back, and you split our children?!"
"Hey, yeah." Bes smiled. "See, you got the gist." He disappeared.
"I don't believe this." What a little gremlin. "What happened?"
"We were supposed to take Ammut's test when we both passed on," Atem said as he tried to soothe Silhouette with his wdjat. Both of them glowed and he didn't care about any possible onlookers. It must be the only thing that was soothing her. "If we had failed, we would have been consumed."
"If we passed, we would have been gods though," Yugi pointed out. "Was there a middle ground?" Whatever it had been. "We can't move into the afterlife."
"I don't know how we pissed off gods," Atem said. "If they were like Bastet and Sekhmet though?"
"Trying to kill Tristan. Making all of us have kids. Making us take part in killing." The list went on. "Yeah. Maybe we spoke our grudges too loud." Yugi tried calling Joey again. This time, he picked up. "Hey, Joey? So, things are kind of awkward?"
"Fuck, Yugi, I knew it!"
"Yeah." Yugi could tell he'd been dead. "Is Téa over there?"
The poor baby. Téa was trying to comfort it, but it wasn't quitting. "You'd think being a conduit would make it a little easier to deal with ouchies." She looked toward Masika. This day had started weird, but they'd been through too much than to let waking up at Joey's place and the one conduit around being much smaller bother them too excessively.
At least, that was sort of the case until Mai woke up and freaked out. She told them they had both been dead, and it had been six years later. She freaked out about Hikaru being a baby again. He had been living with Téa and Yugi with his sister in Hollywood.
Téa watched as someone knocked on the door. Joey caught the door so fast, swung it open, and grabbed Yugi in the biggest hug. He'd done that to her too. "Yugi. Tell me you know what's going on?"
Atem also came into the room, with a screaming Silhouette. She was crying terribly hard. Masika left over toward her to look at her.
"Oh, she's in the same kind of pain," Masika said as she took Silhouette from Atem gently. "What is going on? Why is she so much smaller?"
Téa watched Yugi come over and give her the note.
She read it. "You and Atem pissed off the gods, and you basically became unable to go to the afterlife?" Well? I mean, to the wrong people, Atem and Yugi could piss people off. Especially with people who made them sacrifice so much. Trying to kill Tristan. Making them have conduits. "Wait." Theirs? "They are ours?"
"Yeah, from a long time ago," Yugi agreed as she looked at the note. "They aren't conduits, and they were split. That's why they won't stop crying."
Split? "Like? Like me and Masika?" Anzu asked. "Really?"
"They wanted to split them up for our dimension, and another one," Yugi said. "I don't know where. I don't know why." He patted Hikaru's crying face. "I'm so sorry."
"So is that like the deal now?" Joey said anxiously as he came over. "Your six year old kids were just . . . split, and you came back from the dead?"
"So cool," Joey's little girl said from her bedroom door. "Also, not. My playmates are gone."
"Glad we have our priorities together, Mana," Joey said to her half scolding. He looked toward Atem. "So? I was expecting to see Yugi at some point when I wake up after half the night of comforting Hi, and seeing him now turned into a baby with a previously dead pair of moms. But, you? You weren't on my bingo card."
Atem didn't know what to say. "I am as much in the dark as everyone else. Just like last time." When he had got pulled from the afterlife with no memories."
"There must be some kind of written rule about never getting to remember the afterlife if you come back," Mai said as she sat down. "Anyhow? I don't get it. I'd like to say, I'm glad your back, but. We watched your kids for months. And now. They aren't just babies. I mean, if this was like you and Yugi, Téa? Then."
"They're gone." For good. Split removes the original being. Mai definitely understood it. She was even dabbing her eyes. The kids they had? They were gone. Just like the original First Tear.
"I'm sure their new selves, they are going to grow up and be great kids," Joey said. "But. They won't be Hi and Sil again."
"Are you going to call them something different?" Mai asked. "Besides Hi and Sil now?"
"Those names. We never really chose them," Téa said. "The gods decreed it. Yugi?"
Yugi nodded. "New people. New names."
Téa looked toward Masika. She felt sad about the original being split, but Téa had mixed feelings. She was originally the whole Masika and she was split into who she had become. Téa. But? The babies were screaming so loudly. It wasn't an easy thing. "Masika?"
"I have no idea what to call my daughter yet," Masika answered.
"Atem?" Téa looked toward him. "What do you want to call her?"
Masika glanced toward Téa and then Atem. "I guess . . . you are sticking around now."
"As a friend," Atem said to her quickly. "My values haven't changed against you." He picked up Silhouette's finger as her wdjat started to glow. His wdjat started to glow again too.