Summary: After a night of dueling with gang, a dream comes to Yugi, that Yugi cannot believe it is just a dream. Everyone and everything feels so real. His only way to wake up from a dream like this is to solve it with the help of some of his friends.
Warnings: Will be some violence and minor coarse language and death.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or its characters. It all belongs to its creator.
"And… Yugi is the winner!" A cheerful voice had beamed through the room of a group of friends who were playing Duel Monsters. This voice came from a man, sitting on the couch and looking down at the card game being played by two of his friends.
The loser of the game turned to the man on the couch and shook his fist at him. "Seriously, Duke. Ya let Yug' win again." Saying it as the score keeper let Yugi win. He just couldn't beat Yugi tonight, no matter what happened or how they played. He gathered up his cards and placed them into a deck box to hold his cards, till the next time he played.
Yugi smiled and giggled. "Oh come on, Joey. Duke didn't cheat; it was all about how the cards were played out. You have to believe in the heart of the cards." The tri-colored hair man sat there at his end of the table, carefully putting his cards back into his own deck holder. He would never say he won; due to the fact Joey didn't have good cards. In fact, Joey had great cards; it was all based on how he shuffled them and how he played the right strategy.
A feminine voice was heard across from Duke. "Oh come on you guys. Joey played a great game. He just hasn't got the right deck to win against Yugi is all, right guys?" This said female was named Tea and she was the female and friendship lover of the group.
"Tea's right. Yugi has played against the best and built his deck to with stand anyone and beat them down." A man said who was seated beside Duke. He nudge Duke a bit in the arm with his elbow telling him to agree with him. Though, Duke just sat there with his arms crossed now, shaking his head.
Hands waving in front of him, Yugi was declining everyone's words against Joey. "Really guys? I believe Joey could have beaten me at least a few times, it just so happened I pulled up a good card for the plays." Yugi just wouldn't take the victory against his friend.
"See? Yug' is right, so all of you guys can stop puttin' down my deck. As long as I got Red Eyes in my deck, I will use him to knock down many monsters that stand in my way." Was all Joey said, with his pride picked up from Yugi's words. He basically sat in the corner, curled up, petting his Red Eyes Black Dragon card.
Tea sighed and stood up, with a small bow of her head, she thanked Yugi for inviting her over. "Alright, guys. It's getting late I should be heading home now." She said with a smile to brighten up her face.
As if on cue, the man seated beside Duke stood up. "Hey, I should be getting home too. Tea, would you like me to walk you home?" The happily offered her. "It's not safe out there for a girl to be walking home by herself, you know." The man was only trying to look out for his friend.
"Oh, okay then, Tristan. I would appreciate it if you did." Tea tilted her head and a cute manner and smiled big. Duke looked up at her with a roll of his eyes. Not really like Tea much, but he mostly enjoyed the company of the men that hung around with her. He tried once to get her to date him, but was shot down and ever since that; he finds her a waste of space. Really, the only one there that thought this of her.
With Yugi letting out Tea and Tristan, he walked back up to the living corridors of the Game Shop and sat in the chair, looking at his friends, Duke, Joey and Ryou, who was asleep on the floor hugging his pillow to himself.
"I'm guessing I am going to talk Ryou's sign as it is getting late and we should get some shut eye, what do you think, Duke?" Yugi asked the only person there that would give him a response, since Joey was looking over all his cards now and choosing ones to keep and ones to discard from the deck.
Looking around at the other's that were there and seeing Ryou sleeping, he nodded. "Yeah, we should get some sleep before the big day of school." He smiled some and stretched out on the couch, leaving Joey the floor left to sleep upon. Said person, looked at the two and then crawled over to the floor beside Ryou to share the mat that Yugi had lay out for his friends on their arrival.
"Alright then." Yugi said with a smile, that was follow by a yawn. "I am going to bed as well. Good night, guys." He had gotten up from the chair, grabbed his deck box and waved his friends goodnight. He was only given the sign of a groan from Joey, meaning his was near falling asleep and a soft goodnight from Duke as his sleep would soon take over.
Yugi had exited the living room, taking the hallway down to his room and closing the door, but not completely and getting dressed and ready for bed. After he brushed his teeth, he was on his way to bed, pulled back the cover, got underneath them and closed his eyes. It was long for Yugi to be sleeping and finding himself in a dream world.
The sun was beaming through the window, down on Yugi. He stirred awake momentarily, feeling the warmth of the sun and the warmth of his clothes. That's when his hands started searching, searching for the blanket that Yugi used to cover up with. He sat up and touched by his feet, eyes still closed, searching. Just until he found that there was no blanket on this cot.
Hold on.
Yugi opened his eyes and saw he was no longer in his room or on his bed. He was in a clay wall room, on a cot, with no pillow or blanket to be found. Those made him look down and realized he wasn't wear his PJs, but an outfit best described as rags.
"Ah, Grandpa… Joey… Duke… Ryou? Anyone? Hello?" Was the first thing Yugi thought he would do, calling out to his family and friends. It still didn't make sense. He turned his feet to the edge of the bed and was about to push himself up into the standing position, till the hid doorway was flung open.
"Get up, Yug'. Ya don't wanna miss a thing today. It is very important for us to see the pharaoh." It was Joey, dressed in the same attire as Yugi here. It still wasn't making any sense. He must be dreaming, he must be. He had to pinch himself to see if it was a dream.
"Ouch." Yugi spoke and rubbed his arm. Pinching didn't work, so this must be reality. Joey had turned around and shook his head at his little friend and grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the hut he was certainly occupying. "Joey, what is going on here?" Were the next words from Yugi's mouth.
"Yug'. Do I really need to explain this every day? Just come on." Joey left the hut, waited shortly for Yugi to step out. The sun was beaming down on them and wrapping every inch of their bodies with heat. The good ol' Egypt summer time. Yugi shielded his eyes with a hand from the sun's rays, as Joey grabbed the shorter man and dragged him up the road.
Everywhere Yugi looked on his journey up the road, he saw more and more men, dressed in the same attire as him. Then there were the other men, dressed in fine clothing, with colors, and plated helmets upon their heads. One thing Yugi saw was what these men had in their hands and what was placed on their belts in holsters. Whips for those that were trying to get the men to move fast up the hill and swords or knifes on their left hip side.
It was a little too confusing for Yugi, he just didn't understand a thing. Rather than him figuring out him and Joey, among the other men here were slaves. The men with weapons and whips were guards. He just couldn't figure out how he got here, if this isn't a dream.
Once Joey stopped dragging Yugi up the hill and Joey picked up two picks and handed one to Yugi. "Come on, buddy. We got some chippin' to do." And lead Yugi to the stone piles in a trench and started on his work. Yugi stood there and blinked for a moment. His arms weren't that big to be swinging a pick all day, but he had to do something, or else he might be getting a whip to the back. That, Yugi didn't want. So he started to chip away at a wall where Joey was also chipping away at.
Whipping the sweat from his forehead, Yugi looked around the work he had done today. Starting with the pick and chipping away at the stone, then having to gather up the stone, rocks and pebbles and take them to another area. Joey was the one who helped Yugi point out the places on where things went. In the afternoon, or at least Yugi thought it was afternoon, he was made to gather up wood from the wood pile and take the wood he gathered in his arms to an opening where there was a balcony. His orders were to place the wood near lamps that would need it later on for the night.
It was a lot of work for the small man, but he wasn't the only one doing work like this. Other kids or younger teens had to do the same work as him. He guessed it was because of their small frames. Joey continued on the hard labour and had to gather his own rocks by himself.
Yugi tried to talk to Joey during their work period together, but a guard had walked by and snapped his whip near Yugi and made the small man jump and get back to work. This was surely hard work.
A horn from somewhere blew and the guards yelled, starting to gather up slaves from their work and make them head to the area where Yugi had taken the wood for the lamps. He didn't head that way, but rushed towards Joey and caught up with him.
"Hey, Joey… What's going on?" The young man asked his friend, walking beside him in the group of men that headed towards the open area. He looked to Joey and then ahead to watch where he was walking.
In a low voice, Joey had finally spoken for the first time, since this morning. "We are all going to see the Pharaoh. I told ya this this mornin'." Joey smiled at his friend and patted him on the back. He always had to remind little Yugi what they were doing, which he was fine about doing.
Upon entering the large opening area, Yugi stuck by Joey and they stood in a line with others and looked up at the balcony. He couldn't really see in front of himself, as there were bigger men in front of him, but Yugi guessed it didn't matter. It was soon another blow of a horn was heard and everyone was bowing down on the ground, with their faces in the sand. Joey had to pull Yugi down by the arm to get him into the same position as the rest.
A voice was heard, loud and cleared. "Entering Pharaoh Atem. Remain bowing." Joey mumbled something to the ground beside Yugi about the pain of being on the ground for a worthless Pharaoh. Another deep tone voice was heard.
"My workers, you've all done a great job of creating my temple, but work needs to be done at a faster pace. I will not stand for laziness of my workers. You all know the prize after you have completed the work. Your prize still remains as put, freedom and back to your families where ever you have come from." Yugi was wondering now where he was from. Was it the same place as Joey? Did his grandfather live in his dream? He hoped so.
Yugi looked up as the Pharaoh continued to talk through his speech and got a glance at the Pharaoh, which he had to get up more from the crouched position and lifted his head up and gasped. Once his gasp was heard, he was whipped in the back and cried out in pain. At this the Pharaoh stopped his words and looked to the cry of pain.
"Halt, guard! Stop your whip and grab that man and bring him to throne room. I will deal with him, myself."
Looking at Joey as Joey padded his hand on Yugi's own, it was Joey's way of comfort from this position and Yugi was grabbed by the arms and dragged out of the area and dragged within the palace, leaving behind Joey and the rest of the Pharaoh's speech. Thinking this was the last of himself, Yugi let his tears flow from his eyes.
Never caring for how he got to the throne room, Yugi was tossed on to a carpet and told to bow and keep down. Yugi followed the demands as told, not wanting another whip to his back.
Feeling like ages, in a silent room with only his breath and whimpers coming from him, the door was opened behind him, another voice shouted, "Entering Pharaoh Atem." Made Yugi shake in fear, unsure of what the punishment would be. Probably death, which was why he was brought to the throne room, to be killed by the Pharaoh, himself.
Feet had walked passed him and a few seconds later the Pharaoh's voice spoke to Yugi. "Raise worker." Yugi sat up and was about to stand and guard held a hand to his shoulder to keep him from getting up any farther. Yugi didn't look up at the Pharaoh, but stared at the ground, too afraid to meet the eyes of his so-to-be murder.
"You have some nerve of looking up at me with those eyes of a worker. I do not take kindly to men who look at me without permission." The voice sounded like a cold-hearted person. Was this the man that Yugi had to look up to and wish he was? He hated the idea of it. He hated his Pharaoh already. "None the less, I have plans for you. It is rare to see another with same tri-color hair as me. I was a rare child born into the royal family, but as for you to carry the same head of hair upon your shoulders; you come in handy to me."
Handy? Yugi's wide purple eyes looked up and met with cold icy red eyes. He was scared to speak at this moment. Afraid he would be killed for sure. "You are probably asking how you could become handy to me. Well, you see, I have plans to travel far from here and will not be around. I need someone to take my place. I was going to ask my Duke here, who helps with my planning to take over, but I think someone who looks like me, could take my place for the time being, where you will come in. Of course, you will be given certain duties and rules to follow in my footsteps, but only we six will know of this change." The Pharaoh crossed his arms and looked to Yugi.
Looking around, Yugi notice the two guards and a man standing beside the Pharaoh, who looked a lot like Duke Devlin. Tilting his head to the side, he was wondering where the sixth man was, but that was answered as a door to the side was opened and closed and a white haired man ran in.
"Forgive me, my Pharaoh." The white haired man then bowed beside the Pharaoh and stood up to turn towards Yugi. Where, Yugi's jaw dropped. Ryou? The day was getting more interesting for Yugi. First; Joey, then Duke and Ryou, surely something was up. He licked his lips, unsure if his should answer the Pharaoh or not.
"Well, what is your answer young worker? Shall you take my place here till I return? There will be a reward to you if you do this and obey rules my Duke has for you. Bakura will be helping you with your hygiene and presenting yourself as the Pharaoh. Only rule I have set for you, by myself, is you are not allowed to make decisions without Duke and no speaking."
Yugi gulped and nodded. Really that was two rules the Pharaoh made, but he was not going to complain. It was just too much of a shocker to him to be here in this room and asked to be Pharaoh while the real Pharaoh was out. Who would decline that offer? Well, he would have, but there was more at stake here. Like what was this reward the Pharaoh talked about?
Gathering up courage, Yugi finally spoke. "I will do as you wish, my Pharaoh."
My first chapter of this story.
Please be kind and read and review all stories you come across and enjoy.