The Age of Shadows

10

The amount of research on Ancient Egyptian magic I did for this chapter was insane. 

Once everyone is gathered around Yami, he realises the story must be true and Yugi is really from the future. That means he loses... but maybe not, since they're fighting back in Ancient Egypt. This might not help but it also might be exactly what they need. "Thank you all for coming," he addresses the circled crowd of his best friends, but older. Wow, Yugi grows up nice, he thinks. "Alright. I have an idea. We need to find a way to get the Egyptian God cards back in time to Ancient Egypt, where Bakura and Marik can use them in the final shadow game," he still has reservations about this, mainly cause its fucking Bakura and Marik they're pinning the fate of the world on. And until half an hour ago all he knew of Bakura was the villainous Spirit of the Millennium Ring. He has barely any faith in his own plan, but he has the heart of the cards and no other options. 

"Yug'!" 

Yugi turns to see Jo, Tea and Ryou running over from the pavement outside the school grounds, squeezing through the gates. Tea stops right in her tracks, staring at Yami. A rush of emotions consume her so suddenly, her eyes glassing over with unfallen tears. "Y-Yami..." she lunges forward, grabbing Yami by the shoulders and pulling him so close, so tight. He's jerked up and speechless, unable to process that his friend he saw less than half an hour ago is now this... person. 

She's taller and older and her hair is styled differently, with a flick at the front. It's more exciting than the boring box haircut she has... had... in this time period. He smiles in soft acceptance of his friend, gently rubbing her back. "I'm glad to see you too, Tea," 

Surprisingly, the best person to bombard him with hugs is Jo. Jo's crying openly unlike Tea, loudly and attracting stares. Jo never was one for subtlety so it's to be expected, almost knocking Yami off his feet. But Yugi is just standing there expressionless, all his feeling boxed inside. He was never like this before, did Yami's death change him so much? 

"Sorry about her," Ryou gives Yami an apologetic smile, wrenching Jo off of him. 

"Her?" Yami blinks, staring at the adult Jo dressed like a middle-aged Dad. 

"I know - this thing sucks," Jo laughs, pulling at her shirt. "It ain't me at all. 

"And Bakura... the good Bakura..." 

"Look, we'll have time for introductions later," Ryou speaks firmly, grabbing everyone's attention. "What's your plan Yami?" 

Yami explains it to all of them, about getting the God cards back to Ancient Egypt for Marik and Bakura to use against Zork. "I don't know about this," Ryou admits. "It's true the Grandfather Paradox doesn't really exist but I'm not as well versed on the laws of time travel as Bakura is. I have an idea where top begin but it's untested. It might not work," 

"It's all we have," Yugi states in a monotone, his voice and face devoid of anything Yami remembers of the animated teen. Something is very wrong here. Yugi grasps Jo's hand, squeezing it slightly, maybe the only indication that he's worried. "Ryou, we have to try this. What do we do?" 

They converge in Ryou's old apartment, the large open floor of the sitting room big enough to accommodate all of them. Jo stretches out on the luxurious leather couch, having missed such things from her own post-apocalyptic existence. Ryou grabs a large book on religious history from his study, flicking through the thick manuscript until he finds an old legend. "Okay, these Ancient Egyptian ruins cite a time disturbance in the 18th dynasty due to the building of a heretical city under one particularly batty pharaoh. During his short reign, he rejected the presence of the Egyptian Gods and replaced the polytheistic religion with one monotheistic heretical God, leading this short period to be erased from Egyptian history by the Gods. With me?"