Ascension [A Yu-Gi-Oh! FanFiction]

39: Know

"I can't believe you let him get away."

Satiah's words dug sharply into Atem's flesh, peeling back his composure with the precision of an embalmer's knife. Heated, she paced back and forth before the altar of the Gods' shrine — one of the few places left unscathed by Bakura's men, thanks in large part to the strong magic protecting it.

"He has everything now," Satiah spat, pacing faster. "The Tome, the Codex—"

"This isn't the end," Atem interjected. "I shattered the Codex. And the spell — I've had it memorized since before we left for Faiyum. We're still a step ahead—"

"But you had him, Atem." She rounded on him, her wild eyes flickering in the light of the braziers. "You could have crushed him with the Gods. But you let him go." She threw her hands up in defeat. "Why?"

He hesitated. He knew she would be unsatisfied with the truth, but in the presence of the Gods, he felt compelled to speak it just the same. "I had to get to you," he breathed. "I had to make sure you were alright."

At this, she crossed her arms and shook her head lightly. "If you were so desperate to be with me, then why did you send me away in the first place?" Her voice was softer now, but no less barbed. "I could have helped you. We could have beat him together."

"You don't understand," he gasped. "I — I just... I can't—" He exhaled sharply and sank down to the step of the altar behind him. "What does it matter? What's done is done."

The heat of her anger still beat down on him, forcing his head into his hands. A quiet, guiltful moment passed, broken by a shallow breath as Satiah knelt before him. He fought the urge to pull away when she took hold of his hands, bringing them to her middle.

"I trusted you to do what needed to be done," she whispered. "Why didn't you trust me to do the same?"

Words clung in Atem's throat like congealed blood. How could he bear to tell her? That he'd let doubt into his heart the moment they'd returned from Khafra's pyramid? That his faith had been shaken by all the things he'd seen, and all the things he feared he'd see?

But as he looked into her eyes — flicking back and forth like a predator watching prey — he could tell: she already knew it all.

She sighed and lowered her head, and for a moment Atem thought she might be preparing to dissect him again with her words. But she held her tongue, instead pulling his hands up to kiss them once. The motion was one of pity more than bitterness, and when she stood and disappeared into the darkness, Atem was left feeling as though she had flayed everything away but the malignancy which plagued him.

~~~

For the first time since Satiah returned home, the sunrise over Memphis burned red.

She watched from the top of the villa watchtower as Ra emerged and painted the smoldering city in tones as deep as blood. All around, smoke still billowed and choked the air — writhing fingers reaching up from the market district; an angry fist of black soot pouring out of the scar where the Temple of Hathor had once stood.

But even behind this curtain of darkness, there was evidence of hope — people coming together to tend the injured, bury the dead, and begin rebuilding. Jahar's rebel priests had worked through the night to drive out the rest of the bandits and rally the civilians, and just before morning, Anuket and her militia had arrived from Sapi-Res with provisions of food and fresh water. Healers had been dispatched to the remaining temples and monuments, where refugees were beginning to gather for shelter.

There was a strange beauty in watching candles flicker in every window of every temple left untouched — as if the light and hope of humanity might outburn even the wrath of the gods themselves.