Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Of Gods And Men ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Of Gods and Men

A Yu-Gi-Oh!/Stargate: SG-1 Crossover

Written By RogueMoon

Chapter Five

…o…

~Then~

Atemu walked happily to the doors of Ra's receiving room. His immortal father had summoned him but hours before, the first time in almost a moon. The prince hoped this meant his earthly father, Akunumkanon, was coming home. The Pharaoh had spent the last few weeks in the front lines of battle against demon-possessed thieves, leaving Atemu to rule in his stead.

The prince came to a stop before the doors and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself. It would not do for him to be jumping about in excitement when he saw his god. The puzzle shifted as he let the air out of his lungs, reminding him of the promise he would hopefully get to fulfill quite soon.

The Pharaoh had given him the puzzle as a sign that he endorsed his son's rule while he was away. In private, after the official ceremony, Akunumkanon had made his son promise to return it to him when he came back and was ready to rule again. It was a silly thing to ask as far as Atemu was concerned. Of coursehe would return the puzzle to his father: he had no reason not to. But his father seemed to be taking it seriously, so the prince had promised with all sincerity.

The doors of Ra's receiving room opened, bringing Atemu out of his thoughts. The prince squared his shoulders and walked to the base of his lord's throne before falling to his knees in supplication, "You sent for me, my Lord Father?"

There was a moment of silence before Ra spoke, making Atemu's excitement start to fade and worry begin to grow, "My servant Akunumkanon has fallen on the field of battle. You will be crowned Pharaoh of Egypt in three days time."

Atemu's head snapped up, his panicked eyes meeting his Lord's. The God seemed more bored than upset. The prince stared at Ra, looking more through him that at him, causing a frown of annoyance to come to the god's lips. The Prince's head dropped in sudden weakness as the full meaning of Ra's words hit him.

Akunumkanon was dead. His father was dead. Atemu would never get to fulfill his promise. His father would not be returning to rule again. His father was dead.

Mixed with the pain of sudden news, his mind focused on Ra's boredom; on the lack of real emotion on his lord's face. His godly father didn't care about Akunumkanon's death. And from the expression of annoyance that Atemu had caught for that brief moment, he would be quite angry should his son show any more emotion.

The prince rose, his eyes on the floor. He feared that if he looked at Ra he would… he didn't know what he'd do. Only that if he looked upon his God he would do something regrettable.

Taking another deep breath to calm himself, he forced the tears from his voice, "Thank you for informing my, my Lord. If I may take my leave? I must inform my staff so that they may make the proper preparations."

"You are dismissed. We shall see you in three days."

Atemu bowed at the waist, turned on his heels and left the room as fast as was polite. When the doors of the receiving room shut behind him, he took off for the stables at a run, not caring about the people in his way. Not caring if they saw him, not caring if he knocked them over. His father was dead, what did he care about anyone else? Nothing. They all meant nothing.

When he reached the stables, he mounted his horse with a practiced jump and set off for home without waiting for his guards. They would follow as they were trained to. Atemu would out-distance them for a few hours before they caught him, giving the new Pharaoh the time alone that he needed.

…o…

Shimon watched his new ruler weep into the pillows, wishing he could join him. It was bad enough that Atemu was indulging in that emotion, if the advisor joined him, who would watch the door to make sure no one saw?

Akunumkanon had been Shimon's best friend. The former Pharaoh treated the man more like a brother than a servant. The royal advisor had grown up with the man, much like Seto, Atemu's best friend, had grown up with the new Pharaoh.

The former prince turned his attention to Shimon, eyes red with tears and flashing with anger, his voice echoing itself in uncontrolled fury, "Why? How could he allow it, Shimon? How could Lord Ra allow father to die?"

"You shouldn't speak so, my lord," the advisor returned even as he activated the Millennium Rod, surrounding himself and his charge with the darkness of the Shadow Realm. "At least, you shouldn't speak so in the open, where prying ears can overhear."

Atemu looked away as another sob racked his body, "I didn't even get say goodbye. I didn't get to return the puzzle. I can't even apologize for always winning when we played Jackals and Hounds."

Shimon smiled a sad smile and approached the boy, placing a comforting hand on Atemu's back, "Let me tell you a secret, my lord. Akunumkanon never lost a single game to you."

The boy turned and stared at his advisor in disbelief and the man nodded, "It is true. You see, a man who loves his son, and is loved by his son in return, can never lose, even when he suffers the ultimate defeat. Akunumkanon never lost a single game to you because every game that you played was a victory for him. Because you did it out of love. If you had played for any other reason, he would have stopped challenging you long ago. But because he enjoyed spending time with you and you so obviously enjoyed spending time with him, he keep challenging you to the one game he knew you would never refuse. And the real secret is this," the old man paused for effect, humor mixed with the tears in his eyes, "your father hated Jackals and Hounds. He only played it because it was the one game he could remember the rules to."

Atemu burst out in laughter mixed with sobs, clutching the man who was more like family than servant as he let his grief out. Shimon returned the embrace, knowing from experience that pain shared with another was not quite the burden that pain felt alone was. The old man had been a shoulder to cry on for Akunumkanon when his beloved wife had died, and it was an honor for him to be a shoulder for Atemu to cry on now.

…o…

~Now~

General Hammond closed SG-19's written report, making a mental note to review it more thoroughly when he had the time. There was something about their mission that was nagging at him, but he just couldn't put his finger on it… something that SG-1, with their great deal of field experience, would be able to figure out.

Maybe I'll forward a copy to Major Carter, the bald man thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes in fatigue. He had already been up for the last thirty hours to deal with the debriefing of eight teams whose missions all ended at relatively the same time, as well as his visit with Mnevis, which had ended only an hour ago.

A knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts. When the door opened, one of the control room techs, Sgt. Walter Harriman, saluted and informed him that the Asgard was requesting to speak with him.

"I'll be down shortly, son," Hammond said, standing and taking a gulp of his now cold coffee.

"Sir?" the sergeant asked. "An Asgard is in the briefing room. He… took the liberty to transport in."

Hammond walked to his window and peaked out through the closed blinds, "How long has he been here?"

"I'm not sure, sir. I was on my way downstairs when I saw him, and he asked me to get you."

The General nodded and dismissed the man, then left his office through his private entrance to the briefing room where Thor sat waiting with a patience that had been bred into his species centuries ago.

The alien's large, dark eyes regarded Hammond with respect earned during previous encounters. Thor tilted his oversized head in greeting, "You wished to speak with us, General Hammond?"

"Yes. Thank you for coming, Thor," the commander of the SGC replied as he regained his composure and sat down opposite the Asgard. "Let's get down to business, shall we? As you know, several Goa'uld have been found hiding out on Earth in the past few years. SG-1 is currently in Egypt investigating the possible presence of a Goa'uld known as Atemu.

"Although the Tok'ra have assured me that Atemu is dead, SG-1 has already confirmed the presence of a small infestation of the snakes. Two young boys currently working on a survey of a temple dedicated to Atemu have shown signs of being possessed by adolescent symbiotes… which brings me to the reason we sent for you. Originally, we were simply going to request any information you may have had on Atemu. But in light of our newest information, we would like to request that you help us remove the symbiotes from their hosts."

Thor seemed to consider the request, "You say they are adolescents. Do their hosts not realize that they have been possessed?"

"SG-1 isn't sure. None of them have encountered a situation quite like this before. Teal'c reports that while their behavior is like that of adolescents, they seem to have more control over the host's body than they should. Goa'uld aren't supposed to fully control their host's body enough to hide the echo in their voice until after the onset of maturity, correct? The symbiotes voices never echoed when they were in control. The only way SG-1 has been able to tell is that their eyes flash, and those who are sensitive to Naquadah can feel the mineral in their blood."

The general took a breath and focused his thoughts, "Both Teal'c and Major Carter commented that they could only sense the Naquadah when the symbiotes asserted control, which is rather strange in and of itself."

Thor blinked slowly before replying, "Very well. If you wish, I can discretely transport the hosts to my vessel and remove their symbiotes. It will not be difficult to alter the host's memories afterward, and then return them to where I located them. It should not take very long. As O'Neill would say, 'Ten minutes, tops.'"

…o…

O'Neill, Teal'c, and Carter ran as fast as their feet could carry them over the broken stone and hard sand to where the screams were coming from. The dig workers gravitating to the same spot as one of their own grabbed a bullhorn and started shouting into it.

Shadi was standing above the growing crowd on the ruin of a wall, scanning the mass of bodies for his charges. When he spotted the three members of SG-1, he called down to Sugoroku, who stood on the ground below him, and pointed the trio out. The older man then pushed his way through the workers to where the others were starting to slow down in their run.

When he reached them, he smiled and practically bounced in excitement, "You won't believe this! One of the diggers has uncovered a hidden chamber containing a solid gold sarcophagus! He was just clearing away some dirt on the floor of one of the chambers when it suddenly caved in! We must hurry if we're ever going to get a look at it!"

With that, the man turned and hurried back to where Shadi stood, the members of SG-1 hot on his heels. The tour guide led them around the crowd to the opposite side of chamber, so that they would have a view from the wall above the discovery. The dig leaders were already scrambling around inside the place, setting up ladders and desks and all the other things that would make their study just a little easier.

"You said the guy who found this fell into the chamber," Carter asked. "Is he okay?"

Shadi nodded, answering for Mr. Motou, who didn't actually know, "He is indeed. The fall was only a few feet and he slid into the chamber more than he fell. A few bruises that will fade in a month's time." He scanned the crowd again. "Can any of you see the Ph… Yugi?"

O'Neill blinked at the slip of the tongue, he didn't know what the Egyptian was intending to say, but it hadn't been 'Yugi'. Deciding to discuss this later, he looked over the crowd, "Nope. Can't see him or Danny-boy. I know Daniel would want to be around for this. He loves these kinds of things… wonder where they went?"

…o…

Daniel was expecting to ring down to a long forgotten Goa'uld stronghold. Yami/Yugi were more worried about how to explain the situation to Daniel. Ryou/Ba-khu-ra were at odds: the first worried about what Daniel would think; the second was going over the possibility of a long lost treasure that would get him so rich he'd never have to steal again. Not that he would stop stealing, just that he wouldn't have to. And Marik? Marik was just plain confused. All he did was touch a bracelet.

None of the four expected to end up where they did. It certainly wasn't the underground Goa'uld complex. Daniel was the only one to recognize the place as an Asgard ship. The other three had never seen one before.

Ryou was the first to speak after they got over their shock, "Where in the bloody hell are we?"

"No clue," Marik replied as he straightened his back and turned around to get a good look at the place.

"No clue? You're the one who did this," The albino snapped back as Ba-khu-ra took over, his survival instincts being more reliable than Ryou's.

Marik frowned at him, "What do you mean I did this?"

"You touched the bracelet!"

"So?"

"So! So the bloody metal rings surrounded us immediately afterward! I'd say that's pretty conclusive evidence that this is your fault!"

"Conclusive my ass!" the Arabic yelled back, his voice echoing down the halls nearest the group. "Me touching some stupid bracelet didn't do this!"

"He's right," Daniel interrupted the two. "Touching that jewel didn't get us here."

"So what did, Jackson-san?" Yugi asked quietly, not expecting an answer.

The American looked around, "Judging from the design and general lack of experimental lab equipment… My guess would be Thor."

The three boys stared at him, looks of confusion painting their faces.

Daniel shrugged, "Well it could be Loki, but he usually takes people straight to his lab." The man's eyes fixed on something behind the three, "And speak of the devil…"

"Greetings, Daniel Jackson," a soft voice echoed through the chamber. "It is a pleasure to see you again."

Yugi, Ryou, and Marik slowly turned around, their eyes going wide when they spotted the Asgard. A moment later they screamed in unison and bolted in the opposite direction, picking a hall at random, Yugi keeping his head enough to grab Daniel's arm as he ran by and drag the man behind him. Their cries of "We've been abducted!", "Don't let it eat my brains!", and "I don't want to get probed!" echoing long after they disappeared into the maze of hallways that criss-crossed the spaceship.

Thor blinked and spoke softly into the silence, "That was rather unexpected."

…o…

After coming across the fifth or tenth dead end, the panic that was fueling the boy's adrenaline started to run out. Daniel, who had been drug along by an unusually strong Yugi, was finally able to catch his breath when the boy let go of his now sore wrist. The three boys weren't even breathing hard as they looked around, trying to figure out a way off the ship.

"Where the hell are the doors in this place?" Ryou growled, pounding a fist against on of the walls. "That thing has to hide its victims' holding tanks somewhere…"

"Maybe we just missed them," Marik suggested. "We were running pretty fast. Did either of you see tentacles? I thought I saw tentacles…"

Ryou shook his head, "No tentacles… But maybe you saw the cables it's probes are attached to…"

"It doesn't matter," Yugi put in, his voice somehow deeper than it should have been. "We've put enough distance between ourselves and whatever Roswell reject that was. We'll just teleport down to Shadi. Ba-khu-ra, you grab Marik. I'll take Jackson-san. We can deal with the invader from Mars after we get back."

"Right. Better make sure the tour guide is alone though. We don't want to teleport into the middle of a crowd," The albino advised. "Otherwise they'll think we're the ones from Mars."

Yugi nodded and closed his eyes, the puzzle around his neck starting to glow as a gold stylized eye appeared on his forehead. A moment later his hand latched onto a shocked Daniel once more and the ground dropped out from under their feet.

…o…

Shadi went rigid for an instant and then he ran off with a muttered, "I shall return."

His four guests watched him go in something of a shocked stupor before O'Neill rose went to follow, "I'm going to make sure he's alright. You two stay here and keep an eye out for the kids."

"Yes sir," Carter replied and went back to watching the crowd. Sugoroku shrugged and did the same. Teal'c continued to watch O'Neill until he was out of sight. Just in case.

O'Neill followed Shadi at a sedate pace, keeping the man just within his range of vision as he disappeared around a ruined wall, conveniently away from everyone else. The Colonel employed some of his black ops training and came up to the edge of the wall, flattening himself against it before glancing around the corner. He chanced exposure for but a split second, but in that second, he was able to assess the situation with an ability that came only from extensive training and experience.

Shadi was bowing to Yugi while the boy's friends held Daniel like a prisoner. The Japanese boy's eyes were glowing and in one of his hands he held a bracelet that could activate a ring transporter. The two were talking in Arabic and while O'Neill could hear their conversation just fine, he couldn't understand a word of it. That's what Daniel was around for. Unfortunately he was in the middle of it all.

"Forgive me for what I must do, Jackson-san," Yugi said, suddenly speaking in English. "But it is as much for your protection as for ours."

That was all Jack needed to hear. O'Neill pulled his pistol from his back holster and whipped around the corner, aiming directly for Yugi, who was now holding his hand out and pointing at Daniel's head. The leader of SG-1 pulled back the safety, "Stop right there."

The five turned their attention to the interloper. Ryou and Marik tightened their grip on Daniel while Yugi dropped his hand. Shadi stepped in front of Yugi, as if to shield him and Jackson gave a sigh of relief, "It's about time you got here, Jack!"

"What have you gotten yourself into this time, Danny-boy?" O'Neill took one had off his gun and waved at the two holding his friend, "Let him go… nice and easy, now."

The two glanced at Yugi, who was now blocked from Jack's view by the tall Egyptian. Marik and Ryou released their hold on Daniel a moment later and Jack smirked to himself, "So that's how it is, huh? The runt's your leader?"

Ryou snorted in amusement at the 'runt' comment and received mean looks from both Marik and Shadi.

Jackson, meanwhile, made his way to where O'Neill stood. The leader of SG-1 pulled out his radio and handed it to Daniel, "Daniel, call the cavalry, will ya?"

The linguist did so, getting a confused affirmative from Carter. A few minutes later the remaining members of the survey party arrived, Sam and Teal'c readying their weapons while Sugoroku looked on in surprise, "What's going on here? Why are you threatening my grandson?"

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," Jack replied, his voice filled with genuine regret, "But that's not your grandson."

"What? Of course it is! Aren't you Yugi?" The old man smiled, trying to relieve the tension.

Yugi stepped out from behind Shadi, placing a hand on the older Egyptian's arm to let him know it was okay to expose him and replied with indignation directed straight at Jack, "Of course I am. What makes you think I am not?"

O'Neill smirked, "Oh, I don't know… Maybe because you were threatening my friend?"

"I was not threatening him. I was trying to protect him."

"From what?"

"You wouldn't believe me."

O'Neill smiled and nodded, "Daniel, mind filling me in?."

Daniel shrugged, "We went off to look around the ruins and they started talking about a secret entrance to some underground Goa'uld stronghold. Yugi found the activator for a ring transporter, and Marik touched it. We arrived on Thor's ship, I guess he intercepted our transport attempt or something, and they ran, dragging me with them.

"When we came to a stop, Yugi did… something, with his puzzle and… somehow, we teleported back here, where Shadi was waiting for us. They were discussing what to do about this… and they agreed that the best bet would be to wipe my memories. That's where you stepped in… and here we are."

Carter didn't have to meet her commanders' eyes to know he was thinking the same thing she was, How the hell did they manage to transport off an Asgard vessel, without using, or knowing, how to operate its technology?

The three boys exchanged surprised looks with each other and Ryou raised his hand, "Um, question? How do you know about the Goa'uld? We thought all the others left Earth a really, really long time ago."

"And how did you know what we were talking about?" Yugi asked with genuine innocence. "You said you didn't know that language."

Ryou gave the boy a disbelieving look and backhanded his shoulder, "Baka! He lied, obviously!"

"You did?" Yugi turned his large pleading eyes on Daniel, "If you knew what we were saying, why didn't you just say so? It's great that someone else can speak ancient Egyptian."

Teal'c smirked with sudden inspiration as he stepped past O'Neill, "You have not denied that you are Goa'uld. Which System Lord do you serve?"

"None," Ryou and Yugi replied in unison, their voices changing slightly, noticeable only because their stances changed as well.

"None? You are Goa'uld. If you are not a God yourself, then you serve another. Do you claim to be Gods yourselves?"

The two turned their heads and spat on the ground before crossing their arms and replying in unison, "No."

Teal'c's eyebrow rose in surprise at their reaction; most Goa'uld found being called a god quite the compliment, "Again, if you are not Gods, then you must serve another. Do you serve Settesh?"

The two rolled their eyes and Ryou answered, "What part of 'no' do you not understand? The 'n', or the 'o'?"

Daniel grinned and walked forward, coming along side his Jaffa friend, "If not Seth, then maybe… Hathor?"

Yugi's eyes flashed in anger and Yami didn't even try to control their voice, letting it echo as he growled his answer out, "How dare you imply that I would ever serve that bitch!"

O'Neill grinned and lowered his gun, realizing what his team members were up to and shot out a suggestion of his own, "How about Apophis? What about him?" If they could get the kids angry enough, they might answer more honestly.

Ryou snorted, "Oh please. The man is a fool."

Jackson decided to bring out the big guns, "Well, we've been through the big names… maybe, Sokar? Nah… You just don't seem like the type. Heru'ur? No, not him… Wait, wait, there's one more… You motioned 'Lord Ra' earlier. Do you serve him?"

Yugi dropped his head and Ryou looked away, growling something under his breath. The shorter boy took a deep breath and looked up, locking eyes with Daniel, "You understand ancient Egyptian, yes? Then understand this: Del kalach shakka mel."

The boy approached Daniel, the puzzle glowing as the stylized gold eye appeared on his forehead once more. When he stopped, the eye disappeared and Yami was in complete control of Yugi's body, his voice full of confidence earned through a lifetime spent leading others, "It is true that I once served Lord Ra, but that was a long time ago, in another life. In this life I am free of any such restraints. I do not know how you came to know of the Goa'uld and the names of the worst members of their race, but never again insult me or my friend by suggesting that we serve such petty, rude, childish-"

"Overdressed? Egomaniacal?" O'Neill put in.

"-Overdressed, egomaniacal, scum!"

"How do you know about the Goa'uld?" Ryou asked again.

O'Neill pretended to think, "Well, lessee… Most of that's classified, but seeing as how you two are snake heads… About, what? Eight years ago? Danny-boy and me went to Abydos and met Ra. We left just after he died. A little over a year later Apophis came for a visit and decided to steal one of our people. After that we just kind of kept meeting one Goa'uld after another. And now… we've met you."

Yugi blinked as his mind focused on a certain phrase, "How do you know Ra is dead?"

"Well… He sent us a present that we kindly returned and it sort of… blew up in his face."

"Tell me you don't mean that literally."

"It was a tactical nuke."

Two Goa'uld voices chorused in surprise, "You nuked Ra?!"

A moment later Yugi exploded in anger, taking back control of his body so fast that only those who knew him well could spot the change, "What is with you Americans and nuclear weapons? First Hiroshima and Nagasaki, now Ra! What are you going to blow up next? A planet?"

"Been there, done that," O'Neill replied with a straight face.

"Took Sokar out with it," Carter continued.

"Two birds with one stone," Jackson finished, holding up two fingers.

…o…

End Chapter Five

Minor detail, for those whose curiosity might be getting the better of them:

Yugi and Co.'s only introduction to aliens outside of the Goa'uld have been a bunch of 'popcorn fest B-Rated movies'. Yugi's favorite is this one with an alien that eats peoples brains.

'Del kalach shakka mel' = 'My soul dies free'

See ya'll next time.