20 The Anger of the Ethereal

Ethereal Yugi showed up with Bes again. “How is- Sil?!” He came immediately toward Atem.

And snatched Silhouette straight out of his arms. Not a hello, not a how is she, he just grabbed her and held her. I was trying to make progress.

“Sil, no, Sil. I don’t believe this. Sil?”

Silhouette looked toward him. “Daddy?”

“Sil, it’s okay. Daddy’s here,” Ethereal Yugi said. “I’m here, it’s okay.”

Bes cleared his throat. “Uh, Yugi? Probably not a good idea to do that. Your power burns real fast on Earth, and you aren’t no god yet. You can’t recharge that energy. You can’t even go to the lands where you rest again.”

Ethereal Yugi wasn’t listening. “Sil? I lost her again.” He walked around with her, holding her possessively from Atem. “No, no, no. I don’t believe this, trying to save her from becoming a demon, has just made it easier to get Zorc’s claws into her.” He kissed her forehead. “Come on, Sil.”

“Really shouldn’t do that,” Bes said again. “Come on, your going to waste all the time your allowed to stay. Plus, you know? Life problems here.”

“Of course there’s life problems,” Ethereal Yugi said. “Sil is in real danger.”

“Less that.” Bes stared at Ethereal Yugi for a little while. “You aren’t the same. Most gods don’t come down for a reason. It’s hard to take. Get it?”

Ethereal Yugi looked toward Atem, and then toward Yuugi. “Right. I guess, this dimension is . . . different. Really different. Fine, I get it.” He pulled her up closer into a hug. “I’d fry all of my power if it let me stay with you. That’s not an option anymore for me. I’ve . . . passed, and the Daddy you will know, will never be me. Not until he passes. So.” He sighed.

“It’s best to say goodbye,” Bes said. “She’ll be better off. Doubt her real dad is real happy you just grabbed her like that.”

No, I’m not. Atem didn’t say anything though. Ethereal Yugi still glowed. He still had a lot of power he didn’t want to tangle with.

“New gods are fidgety, but they are worse because of the unbalance,” Bastet warned everyone. “Don’t speak unless spoken to.”

Ethereal Yugi came back towards Atem. “I don’t have memories of this dimension completely, but the more I visit, the more I sense. You have done a lot more wrong, took a lot more risks you didn’t have to, and this world isn’t as forgiving.” He looked back at Silhouette. “I hate to leave her in such a messed up world.”

“It’s . . . not that bad?” Yuugi tried to say.

“Yuugi, he didn’t speak to you,” Bastet warned him as Sehkmet left again.

“Oh yeah?” Ethereal Yugi stared at Atem for a time. “If you would have lost that bet in high school, then what would have happened to Anzu, huh? You’d just leave her there?”

Atem cleared his throat. He knew what he was talking about. “There was a lot of rage inside. I didn’t understand much of who I had been. I wouldn’t have left her there.” He could clearly see the meaning for Bastet’s warning. Ethereal Yugi was close enough, and in an instant, he could snuff out their dimension. Just like every other dimension they once belonged in. Still? He should give her back.

“Bes, why can’t we just . . .” Ethereal Yugi looked at Silhouette again as she squirmed and started to moan. “Can’t gods play a gods game with a demon? Isn’t that who it’s for, gods? Why do we really have to leave it up to them? I’d do it, I’d become it, if it would just save my little girl from becoming a demon.”

“Making a deal with Zorc, when you are some upper class powered gods, is gonna end up giving him all of your power. You know that’s what he’d want,” Bastet answered for Bes. “Your mortal selves can only give up their lives if they mess up, can’t mess with their eternities anymore. Then, you become gods anyway. But, other way around? You, give up your eternity. That and probably everyone you really wanted to go in the light with you.”

Ethereal Yugi sighed. “I hate this.” He hugged Silhouette and looked toward Atem again. “She means the world to me. I am putting off becoming a god, pretty much solely for her and Hi.”

“I understand,” Atem said politely. Did that form of Yugi realize he was melting the floor right now? “Wasting what power you do have here may be a bad idea though. If something else happens, we’ll need help again.”

Ethereal Yugi messed with Silhouette’s braid lightly. “Her Momma Masika always did that. Just that little bit of pink up front in a braid. Take very, very, very good care of her. I already know my other self has selfishly not even said one thing to what used to be his child.”

“Hm?” He called Yugi out?

“I raised them six years thinking they were only gods. I didn’t even have any biological tie to either one, and they both mean more than anything to me! They are both my family! You only tie yourself to one. Which, fine! I get it.” Still, Ethereal Yugi almost looked scary. “It really hurts to stay in this dimension.”

Yugi looked toward his other self. He was definitely different. He was even getting warnings about his state right now from the goddesses. But? He was still him. ” . . . sorry. But? I don’t have a role to play for her. She has a different person for that role. He is trying to learn. He wasn’t there in your time, and he didn’t know. If he was, and you knew the truth? Things probably would have been different. He’d have less regrets now. Nothing is perfect. So? This world is different. Sorry you don’t like it, but it is ours.”

Ethereal Yugi looked back toward Anzu. He glanced toward Masika, who was actually glaring at him. “What are you glaring for, Masika?”

“Give. Atem. Back. Our child,” she said. “He was making progress with her.”

“Uh, uh, uh.” Yugi’s voice was off. “Masika, he’s not in a good mood right now?”

Luckily, Sehkmet returned with Ethereal Atem.

“If I lose her either way.” Ethereal Yugi clung to her. “I am sure as gods we could work out a deal. You-know-who isn’t going to be coming that fast anyhow. How’d it go by the way?”

“Fabulous actress,” Ethereal Atem answered. “You almost became a god, forcing my hand to become a god. You know it will not go well. Zorc will get way more with us. With them, all he can take is their lives. Leaving us to be gods anyway.”

“I don’t like this world,” Ethereal Yugi answered.

“They get a chance to grow. Didn’t you want to grow old with your loved ones?”

“Yeah. I almost forgot. I don’t like seeing my little girl like this,” Ethereal Yugi said. “You are right. I have to trust in this.”

Ethereal Yugi looked back at Masika. He chuckled. “About the only thing this world had better? This version of you, Masika. Your life here is actually a lot easier than the other one had it. That’s good.” He sighed. “Silhouette? You’re going to be okay, I know you will.”

He went toward Atem, and handed her back. Finally. He tried not to scoop her up quicker.

“I will be extremely cross if anything happens to her. You had better be a very good daddy to her Atem. I swear. If anything else happens to her.”

Atem nodded. “I will do my best.” He pulled the dolly closer to her again as Bes took Ethereal Yugi away again. He looked toward his other self.

“Yes, you guessed correctly. You were at death’s door,” he told him. “You know how protective of his friends and family Yugi is.”

“I had to fetch the dark to control the rage of the light,” Sehkmet said. “Thank you for settling him.”

Ethereal Atem nodded. “We can return now.”

Once he was gone, Atem finally breathed outward.

So did Yugi, one deep exhale. “Geez, Atem, that form of me wanted to kill you.”

“Yes.” He felt that too. “He is almost a god. The way he was reading memories wasn’t good. He was ready to take more than me out, Yuugi. He wanted to end this whole existence, become a god, and get his little girl back. If his dark counterpart had not shown up, I think we’d be gone.”

“They are unbalanced. They are almost gods, meaning they are unsettled in their power, and terribly new to the different emotions and viewpoints we see from mortals,” Bastet warned them. “They are highly attuned to you and will come to help when you call. However, I suggest just calling to us. They are you, but they are all forms of you. Don’t take that lightly.”

Those two goddesses disappeared.

“Food might be too much, but we should try something for her stomach before we lie her down.” Masika’s mind went back to Silhouette. “It’s a miracle she hasn’t thrown up yet.”

“Being out might not be easy to believe, but she does know she saw me, and her real father once,” Atem added.

“She saw you,” Masika corrected him. “Only a part of that energy was that version of Yuugi. The rest is too different. You were the one she really connected with. Let’s get her to the room.”