Atlantis Rising

Yes, this is a brand new story. It has nothing to do with my other stories in the YGO-verse. In fact, this story is written so that it is as close to canon as it can be without actually being canon, if that makes any sense. And despite the characters referenced to in the summary, there is no slash in this fic. Sorry folks, you'll just have to deal with good ole' hetero pairings

The story Atlantis Rising takes place a little less than six years after the series finale. The characters, are as such, much older and may or may not contain personality traits from their younger years; however, the chances of some of the characters "maturing" are slim. XD.

As a warning, Atlantis Rising is a bit dark, taking cues from the Japanese sub. Just letting you know ahead of time. And there's some references to history too. Gird your loins, it's gonna be a dozy.

Lastly—phew, that took long enough—as a little "homage" of sorts, chapters will take their titles from movies and shows, with a little "twist". Try to guess them all!

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Shangri-La.

El Dorado.

The Garden of Eden.

Long has mankind sought these exotic places, where the streets are paved with gold and heaven is but a footstep away. Long have we sought these places and long have we failed, only finding streets of cement and gold leaf, where it is not heaven that is so close by, but instead we find shadows and the Grim Reaper, waiting with his scythe.

But there has been one, one that has been eluding us for centuries, frustrating us, tempting us, like the perfume of the woman you had once seen, but never again. We searched for it, making claims that we have when in reality, we haven't, but we like to think we have.

Atlantis.

The city of rings, cushioned by a pillow of ocean blue water. At its height, it was a city of technological achievements that the ordinary man could only dream of. A city of eternal peace, where even time stops to smell the roses of its magnificent gardens.

It had no idea that a cancer of proportions unseen was corrupting, destroying its core.

And it was all thanks to a tiny green stone, looking like glass, or perhaps an uncut emerald. It corrupted all that it touched, until it permeated the ancient and prestigious leadership.

But by the time their leaders discovered this evil, reaching its influence like insidious emerald tentacles, ensnaring and entrapping, it was already too late.

A war was waged and caught in the crossfire, Atlantis, city of rings and peace, sank to the middle of the ocean.

The war picked up again nearly ten thousand years later, when a young teenager was trying to help a dear friend recover his memories. This time, the war was fought in secret, with only a few soldiers, bearing Duel Disks and wielding Shadow Magic on either side. The young teenager won the world, with the help of some very old veterans on his side.

But the war wasn't without casualties. Trust was lost, friendships were broken and secrets that shouldn't have been were uncovered. The souls may have returned, but not everything went back to normal.

Unfortunately though, not all the secrets were discovered and the tiny shard of rock, that small, seemingly insignificant chartreuse remnant of rock, survived the purge. It will keep corrupting all that it touches, until it is gone from the earth.

And as one wise man once said—

–"History will always find a way to repeat itself."

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"Ishizu, I'm bored!" Marik huffed as he sunk down into his chair of the living room. He was completely and utterly bored, emphasized only by his almost limp position and the way he idly blew random strands of platinum blonde hair from his face. The stone walls, covered by sparse décor, seemed to echo, even mock his sentiments. He, along with his sister Ishizu and adopted older brother, Odion, were back at the underground complex he used to call "home", though home may have been too strong of a word. To Marik, it was more like a prison of stone and tradition, as evidenced by the tattoos on his back.

"You can always help me with these scrolls," Ishizu suggested from down the hall, her voice echoing through the stone complex. She had been organizing and sifting through the scrolls for almost the entire day—though Marik only knew this thanks to his cell phone watch- but even with Odion's assistance, she had only just barely made a dent in them. The Egyptian government had requested that Ishizu recover and examine the scrolls, passed down from generation to generation, to help better picture Egypt's past.

"On second thought, I could go do something else-," Marik slid out of his chair and headed towards the kitchen. "Like,. . .make dinner! Yeah, never mind Ishizu, I'm not bored anymore!"

"Now." Ishizu said, her voice as imperious as any queen. "Odion can make dinner; he's been helping me all day and we could use a fresh set of eyes."

Marik sulked. "Fine." While he had embraced his heritage in many ways, Marik still disliked looking through the mounds of ancient scrolls, reminding him of his youth, when his father would force him to read the scrolls, in an effort to learn of his role as the eventual head of the Ishtar clan. He shuffled toward where the scrolls were kept, meeting Odion on the way.

"Ishizu is rather waspish," Odion warned. "She has a touch of a headache from reading the scrolls all day."

"She does have her reading glasses, right?" Ishizu, after dealing with countless hours reading and writing, had finally gotten around to an optometrist, who almost immediately prescribed her glasses for reading. At least she picked a pair of classy glasses, Marik thought, with their blue wired, square framed glasses. He wasn't much of an expert on women's fashion, but he knew a pair of good glasses when he saw them.

"Yes, but she still has a headache. I think she would appreciate it if you brought her some medicine for it."

Marik saluted in a playful manner. "Will do!" He hurried off to one of the restrooms, where Ishizu kept the aspirin in her toiletries bag. Ishizu was in many ways like a cat or a lioness; it was always best to placate her before she found a way to rip your head off, or eviscerate you with her wit and intellect, depending on her mood. As he was hurrying down the hallway, the big toe of his foot caught on a protruding floor stone and he tripped, landing heavily on his hands and knees. Pulling himself upright, he examined his hands and knees, feeling the raw skin from the fall. "I guess I'll need some medical attention myself," he mused, wincing as he looked at his big toe. He wiggled it experimentally, determining it wasn't broken. It was then when he saw the floor stone out of its place, half onto another stone. He crawled over to it, to put it back into place. This happened every now and then; the stones of the complex were not placed in with grout or cement, but instead fit into place so closely that one couldn't even fit a paper in between the stones. But with time, the ground shifted and moved, forcing the stones to move as well.

He started to fit the stone back into place when he noticed that the space underneath the stone was hollow. Again, this wasn't uncommon either. Treasures and other valuable things were stowed in the floor, keeping unwanted guests from stealing them. Inside the space was a box, made of cedar and covered in hammered gold. Marik could immediately discern that it was extraordinarily old and valuable, maybe the one time treasure of a Pharaoh. An inlay pattern of aquamarine, turquoise and carnelians formed the shape of a hawk. Marik cautiously slid the top lid off, placing it gingerly to the floor. The box alone would have been worth thousands, if not millions of dollars. Marik's violet eyes got as wide as saucers when he saw what was inside.

Uncut green stones of varying sizes were stashed away in the box. Marik delicately picked one up, holding it between his thumb and forefinger. He held it up against the light, a nearby torch mounted on the wall. The stone was unblemished, with no inclusions and cloudiness whatsoever. Examination of a few more stones showed the same thing.

"Beautiful, simply beautiful," he breathed. These had to be emeralds, he guessed, obtained through trade, for the mines of ancient Egypt didn't have emeralds. The only thing he could think of was that these had been a gift from one of the other empires at the time, such as Rome. They could have been peridot as well, but he would like to have believed that they weren't. He turned one of the stones every which way and that, watching as the torch light played on the smooth surfaces. He could practically feel the power radiating from the stone, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.

"Marik!" Odion called. "Do you have the medicine yet?"

"No, I fell and tripped in the hallway. I almost have it!" Marik hurriedly placed the lid back onto the box, shutting the gems away from the world, but before he did so, he stuffed one of the rocks into his pocket, thinking no one would notice. "It's not like I'm going to sell it or anything," he justified. "It's part of my heritage. Plus, it goes nicely with my eyes," he chuckled at the last part. He rushed into the bathroom, rummaging for a few moments, pulling the bottle of aspirin out at last.

"Marik!"

"I got it!" Marik ran back, avoiding the stone which had been turned up. As he went by Odion in the kitchen, the older Ishtar noticed the box tucked under Marik's arm.

"May I ask what you have there?"

"When I tripped, a stone came out of place and I found this box. I was hoping to show Ishizu." Marik explained.

Odion took the box from Marik, examining it for a few heartbeats. Marik's heart raced, wondering if Odion would lift the lid, but his adopted brother didn't. Odion handed the box back. "It is very beautiful," he admired. "Ishizu will appreciate the value of it. "Maybe it was a makeup box for a royal concubine or of a noble's wife."

"Or of a high priestess." Marik added. "Either way, it will brighten up Ishizu's day." Then he added mentally, "As it did mine."

"Indeed it will."

Marik made his way down the hallway, to where Ishizu was. She was in one of the large rooms normally reserved for the scroll and books that made up the entire history of the Ishtar clan and glimpses into Egypt's illustrious pass. The writings were tucked away into large bookshelves of almost petrified cedar, little cubby holes where the scrolls could be safely stowed. Ishizu sat on the floor, cross legged, with scrolls around her, reminding Marik of ducklings following their mother. Her reading glasses were perched on the edge of her nose as she concentrated, reading the papyrus scroll like it was the daily newspaper.

"Ishizu?" Marik said, startling his older sister.

"Oh, hello Marik, I was beginning to think you weren't coming," she said at last.

"I'm not that bad." Marik handed her the pill bottle. "Here," he said. "Odion said you were starting to get a headache."

"Thank you." She took out two pills and washed it down with the water bottle at her side. She handed the bottle back to him, noticing the box in Marik's hands.

"What is that?"

"Oh, I found this on the way getting your medicine. It looks really old."

"It's gorgeous," Ishizu cooed as she took the box from Marik, moving it one way and another. "This is a work of art in itself. The technique looks more advanced than techniques from the earlier periods, maybe a Grecian influence. That would place this in the later Periods, maybe the 24th or 25th Dynasties."

"And you got all that just by looking at it," Marik said, sitting down. He picked up one of the scrolls. "So what are we looking for exactly?"

"The Supreme Council of Antiquities wants me to look for evidence of sanctioned grave robbing by Pharaohs, their family members or nobility. Apparently, some Egyptologist came up with the theory that some of the Pharaohs called for people to rob the tombs of other nobility, in order to retrieve the gold and gems. Then those Pharaohs would have craftsmen melt that gold and make new treasures for them. Intriguing, if controversial theory."

" That makes sense, priests did that frequently." Marik then scratched his head. "But you know that the evidence wouldn't be that easy to find."

"No, but we can find it in other ways, more of indirect evidence."

"Like inventories and second hand accounts."

"Exactly."

"I can do that." Marik went over to shelf, picking out a few of the scrolls. "Which Period should we look at?"

"I'm thinking of the later ones, mostly from the Middle and Late Kingdom, but before the Ptolemaic Kings."

"I think the Middle Kingdom is more likely," Marik countered.

"Than let's start there." Marik plucked one of the scrolls and sat down in one of the chairs to read. The chair was built in the style of the ancient Egyptians, with a straight, hard back and seating area. Over the years, the chair was bequeathed with cushions, in order to tolerate the stiffness that came with sitting in it. A silence settled over the pair as they studied.

Time seemed to pass in a slow pace. Marik had no idea how long had passed until Ishizu spoke up.

"I got a phone call earlier."

Marik perked up. "Oh?"

"It would seem that Yugi is here on a dig through his University. I invited him for a dinner tomorrow."

"Cool. It'll be nice to see Yugi again, since we haven't seen him since the Ceremonial Duel. How long has he been here?"

"A few months now. His university is working on a temple site that was once dedicated to Horus."

"The one near Thebes?"

"The very same one."

Just then, Odion called from the kitchen. "Dinner is ready!"

"Well," Marik rolled the scroll, placing it underneath the chair. "Guess that does it for the night."

Ishizu shook her head. "Very funny, but don't think you're off the hook just yet."

Marik grinned and made a bolt for the kitchen. He could feel the gem dig into his side but he ignored it. He would examine it later, when nobody was around. Besides, dinner was ready and with the almost anxious growls of his stomach, he was ready to dig in. But there was something about the gem that he couldn't place, like how it was so perfect, or the pulsing he felt. "Nah, I'm just hallucinating about it."

Actually, that whole spiel about the Pharaohs ordering sanctioned tomb robberies isn't too far off base; however, it was sanctioned by priests rather than the Pharaohs(though the second part hasn't been proved quite yet). It was done to recycle the gold and gems, so to speak, ince they were running low in the various mines. Most other tomb robbers were former tomb builders who did it to sell thegold they got to feed their families, since their jobs dried out after the 11th century BC, when they stopped building tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Also, Kemet (ancient Egypt) did not have emerald mines. Emeralds were introduced to Egyptian jewelry until the Ptolemy period; Cleopatra was rumored to have emeralds. Instead, Egyptian used green glass or peridot, both of which they did have.

Random little tidbits there :)