Yu-Gi-Oh! - Forgotten Royalty
~Chapter I~
Egypt, over 5,000 years ago
"Pharaoh, the guards have caught her," Seto spoke to Aknamkanon, ruler of Egypt, while kneeling respectfully. He had only just recently been officially appointed as one of the high priests who would protect the current king's heir, Atem, in the near future.
"Who?" queried Aknamkanon, who sat upon his throne with his son stood by his side. "The Queen of Outcasts?"
"Yes," Seto informed, looking up at his king. "She is currently in the dungeon. Her fate is up to you."
Aknamkanon stared down at the young priest for a moment before he finally spoke up. "Bring her before me," he commanded. "I will try to be merciful, but as you may know her crimes are rarely forgiven."
"Yes, my king," Seto responded, bowing his head before standing up and pointing to two guards. "You there! Bring in the woman!"
The two guards nodded and hastily left the throne room, heading to the dungeons. While waiting, Aknamkanon focused once again on Seto.
"If she refuses to accept my merciful terms, do not let her followers know of her fate," he ordered. "We don't want them terrorizing the city."
"Would it not be best if we ended their miserable lives as well?" Seto questioned.
"No," Aknamkanon replied firmly. "They may be outsiders to our society, but they are not enemies. They do not threaten our way of life."
"But we are threatening theirs by taking away their leader," Seto pointed out.
"Their leader is a true criminal," Aknamkanon reminded.
"As are her followers," Seto added.
"Seto, I have heard of a lot of deaths which have occurred under my reign," Aknamkanon explained. "I do not want to be responsible for any more chaos."
Seto stared up at the Pharaoh before bowing his head. "Of course, my king. I understand," he responded quietly. "...But how do we keep the queen's disappearance quiet to them?"
"We deny all knowledge of it," Aknamkanon answered. "We'll lead them to believe that her body was found by a guard on patrol, and that anyone who was suspected of murdering her was arrested."
Seto nodded. "I will personally inform her people of that story if it comes down to punishing her for her crimes," he confirmed. In response Aknamkanon nodded his head in understand, and at that moment the young woman was dragged into the room and forced to kneel before the Pharaoh.
Meanwhile, standing upon a tall row columns, was a young man with scruffy light grey hair. He wore the standard linen kilt much like the other common Egyptians, but he wore nothing else. From where he was perched he could see the Royal Palace, though he could not see what was going on inside. However, he did not need to see. He knew what was happening.
In his hand he clutched a golden bracelet which was shaped like a winding snake. Two very small amethyst pieces were used as the snake's eyes. The item originally belonged to the woman inside the palace, but now it was in this thief's possession. The young man glanced down at the article of jewellery for a very brief moment before looking back at the palace.
And, after staring long enough at the impressive structure, the thief ran along the columns and vanished from sight.
...
Japan, present day
"Riko, would you please give me back my money?" Ryo requested, holding his palm out to the black-haired girl.
Riko grinned, holding it up in the air. "C'mon, you're the descendant of a thief, aren't ya?" she responded. "This should be easy for you to take back."
"I don't think that's quite how it works..." Ryo muttered.
"Yeah, Riko, don't be such a stinker," Joey chipped in, though he wasn't exactly trying to stop her. He just sat there.
"You know, going by that logic you should be bowing down to Yugi," Tristan added.
Riko rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, dropping the note of money into Ryo's hand. The white-haired male caught it, quickly shoving it back into his pocket as his female classmate flopped down onto a chair with an incredibly bored expression.
"Geez, you guys are so boring," Riko huffed. "No wonder I didn't hang out with you before."
"This is comin' from you, huh?" Joey reacted, shaking his fist in frustration. "If I were you, I'd have a little more respect, considering now we're the coolest guys around."
"How about we all just sit quietly and wait for the others to come back?" Tristan suggested, smiling nervously.
"Oh please, it's almost the end of lunch break," Riko scoffed. "They'll be going straight to class already."
"Perhaps we should be heading to class, too," Ryo suggested. "I'd rather not be late."
"Yeah, and apparently we have a transfer student comin' into our class or somethin'," Joey recalled, standing up and stretching.
"Let's go, then," added Tristan. "I don't wanna embarrass myself by walking in during an introductory speech."
Riko also stood up, following the group as they all went to their next class. They entered, seeing that not everyone had arrived yet. However, Yugi, Tea and Sakura were present.
"Hey! We were waitin' for you guys!" Joey snapped.
"Sorry, we thought you wouldn't wait for us," Tea apologized, chuckling a little. "Besides, you guys are capable of checking the time."
"Still, it doesn't hurt to let us know you're ditchin' us every once in a while," Joey murmured.
Ryo approached Yugi, who was sitting quietly and looking through his cards. "Yugi?"
At the sound of his voice, Yugi jumped a little in his seat. "Oh! Hey there, Ryo!" he responded, having almost dropped his cards.
"I'm sorry, did I frighten you?" Ryo asked, sounding rather guilty.
"N-No, I was just day-dreaming a little," Yugi answered, finally looking up at his classmate and smiling. Ryo tilted his head.
"You've been rather quiet for the past few days," he acknowledged. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Huh? Yeah! I'm fine, trust me!" Yugi replied. Ryo didn't look too convinced, but smiled back.
"Very well, if you say so," he said before sitting in his seat quietly.
In a few minutes, the whole class was full. The teacher came in and silenced everyone. Ryo and Yugi were both in separate day-dreams while Joey, Tristan and Riko all looked bored. Out of the group, Tea and Sakura were the only two people paying full attention.
"Class, before this lesson starts it is my duty to introduce you to a new classmate," the teacher spoke as a timid girl with long light blue hair stood beside him. "This is Janeiro Brazil. For this final school year she will be part of our school. I hope everyone here will make her feel welcome."
At the sound of her name, Ryo snapped out of his trance. 'Janeiro...?!' he thought, eyes wide in shock.
Seeing Ryo jolt up suddenly, Tristan nudged him. "You okay, Ryo?" he asked quietly. "Do you know her or something?"
Ryo continued to stare after briefly glancing back at his companion. "Well..." he whispered.
...
Japan, 3 years ago
"Janeiro, please, wake up!" Ryo begged in a worried tone, kneeling down beside the unconscious girl. She did not respond to him in any way. The white-haired boy sat hugging his knees to his chest, tears in his eyes though he was not quite crying. He knew things like this could happen. He let this happen.
"This is all my fault..." he whimpered. "I let this happen..."
"Oh, do stop whining," growled the voice in his head. Ryo clamped his hands over his ears and tightly shut his eyes, gritting his teeth.
"She shouldn't have tried to take it," the voice continued. "She wasn't strong enough. This was all her fault."
Ryo growled. "Shut up!" he cried out. "I agreed to help you, why must you make my life so difficult?!"
"What happened to her was out of my control," the voice admitted. "From now on you should avoid getting close to people. It's a waste of your time and a waste of my time, not to mention that things like this will happen a lot more."
Ryo opened his eyes, staring down in complete horror at the blue-haired girl. Maybe the speaker was right; maybe he should distance himself from others.
...
Japan, present day
"...I haven't spoken to her in a while," Ryo whispered to Tristan. "I doubt she will remember me..."
"Wait, you knew this girl?" Joey whispered, his voice a little louder than Tristan's and Ryo's.
"We used to live near each other," Ryo whispered to Joey. "That's how we became friends."
"So why'd ya stop speakin' to her?" Joey interrogated.
"...I'd rather not say," Ryo muttered sadly.
Joey shrugged. "Alright, I won't bug ya," he replied, leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head. He assumed that it was a typical boy-and-girl teen situation.
Ryo continued to stare at Janeiro, but not once did she stop staring at the floor. It was likely that she no longer remembered him after what happened in the past, and if she did remember... she'd never forgive him.
~End of Chapter~