Disclaimer: Do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Week One
" You will never get your dirty hands on my Millenium Items!"
Growling, 21-year old Orlando lunged at his younger sister. "I WILL get the items, if I have to kill you for them, sister."
Aréanna shook her head." Never." she hissed.
"Aréanna! What's going on?!" Mina, their other sister, asked in bewilderment. Aréanna turned and Orlando took advantage of the vulnerability. He threw his dagger and it lodged in her side.
" Ah!" she gasped in pain. She turned to her traitorous brother with silver fire in her black eyes. She yanked the dagger out of her side and launched it at Orlando. It landed in the center of his forehead, killing him instantly. Perfect aim.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that, Mina." Aréanna said, slowly looking at her twin.
"Aréanna… How could you?" Mina asked in a whisper.
" He was willing to kill me for my Millenium Items. I couldn't allow him to do that, even if he is our brother." Aréanna's eyes filled with tears. " He would have killed me, Mina. He probably already has."
The last came out a whisper. Her side was hurting her so bad… Her eyes suddenly narrowed to slits and she was furious with her brother. He'd always been so gentle with his family, and now… this? Never the Orlando she knew.
" Ari, please. I wish you could bring him back."
" I gave that power away, remember? Not that I had any other choice." She muttered.
Later
That night, all her thoughts were on her dead brother and how angry her Father had become with her when he'd heard.
"I didn't mean to!" she protested angrily. She was ready to call the spirits of Ice, Night and Death to destroy her family.
" We may have to move out of Egypt, Aréanna! Do you understand?!" Her father, one of the Pharaoh's guards, had shouted.
"I understand perfectly! He tried to KILL ME!!! Do you understand? Do you know what it's like to have a knife lodge itself in your side, like it did mine?! You don't, do you?!" Aréanna screamed, although it hurt her side greatly.
" If Pharaoh Yami finds out about this, it will be my job!"
" So be it!!!" Aréanna shrieked. " You care more about your job than you do your own children!"
This struck Aréanna's father greatly. " That's not true, angel."
" It most certainly IS true, Father!" Aréanna shot back, then stalked out of the room. Her side made her stop. She doubled over in pain, taking deep breaths to stop the pain.
"Please. Oh, please, make it stop." She whispered, looking towards heaven.
That's when she heard them.
" Where is she?!!!!" A man yelled in a low voice.
"Who?" Aréanna's Father asked.
" Your daughter!"
"Which one?"
" Her." the man said, grabbing her wrist, which was slick with the blood from her side.
" Where are you taking me?" she managed to whisper, before losing consciousness.
When she woke up, she was in a new gown and her side was bandaged. She was in a fairly clean room, she noticed when she sat up.
" Ah, I see our rebel is awake." said a deep voice from beside her. She visibly jumped then looked beside her. It was the sorcerer, Priest Seto.
" Why am I here?" she asked.
" Why, you ask? We found him."
" Orlando? But that's not possible!"
" You thought you'd hidden him, did you?"
" No, I just—"
" Seto! Leave her." A soft, deep, but commanding, voice said from the doorway.
" Yes, my lord." Seto said, before vanishing. He didn't look very happy.
Pharaoh Yami stood there. Aréanna glared at him, then turned away.
" Why am I here?" She repeated.
" We found your brother with a dagger protruding from his forehead. May I ask why?"
" I'd rather not talk about it." She turned around.
" It doesn't matter. " he said.
" Neither does talking about Orlando." She shot back.
" That's different. I'll only ask nicely one more time. Why was the dagger in your brother's head?"
" He tried to take my Millenium Items. My sister came in and he stabbed me in the side. I simply took it out and threw. I had no idea it would land in his head." she concluded. "There's not much to tell."
" You're lying." He said. This shocked her.
"No."
" They all say you're the best knife-thrower in Egypt. Clearly you wanted it to go into his forehead."
She turned her back on him again, dismissing him. And keeping him from seeing her fury.
" Tell me, or your father will lose his job, Aréanna." Yami threatened.
" I did mean for it to go into his head, alright?! He had changed since he'd started working for, guess who? You, Pharaoh. I hated him for it. When he tried to get my Millenium Items, and threw the dagger into my side, I decided that would be the last thing he'd ever do."
Yami was silent. He could tell she was angry at him for her brother, although she hadn't turned.
" I had nothing to do with it." He said finally.
" You lie. My father's the same way."
His eyes narrowed. "You will not speak to me that way." He stood. " I'll be here at dawn tomorrow."
That conversation was the last she spoke for a week.
That night, as she slept, a vision was sent to her. It showed Priest Seto kneeling over Orlando, the bloody knife in his hand. He was whispering something, although she couldn't distinguish what it was. Then she saw Orlando rise, his head trauma instantly vanishing. The priest stood with an evil grin on his handsome face.
" You remember our deal, don't you? If something happened, and you were to die, I'd raise you back and you'd join me." Seto asked.
"Yes, my lord." Orlando said. " I did agree to help you crush the Pharaoh Yami. This time another condition is added."
" What's that?" Seto demanded.
" My sister." was Orlando's dark reply.
Aréanna woke then, shivering. She tried to whisper to herself it would be alright, but her voice box didn't seem to work. She knew this was Orlando's doing. He knew how much she liked to sing.
She looked out. The sun was just rising. She quickly threw on the clothes that were on the bedpost and put her hair up in a ponytail. She sat back down as the pharaoh came in.
" I see you're up." he commented. She just glared. " You're not talking? I came to ask a few questions."
" I'm not speaking to you." she tried to retort and found she still couldn't speak. She didn't want to talk to this man anyway.
"Something wrong?" he asked. She motioned to him to get some paper. One of his servants came back a few minutes later with a scroll and a wooden pencil to write down what she wanted to say.
" I'm not able to speak because of my brother." she wrote.
" He's dead." He said.
" Not anymore. He's back." she wrote, then looked up, and seeing Yami's shocked look.
" How?"
" Priest Seto."
" How would you know?"
" I have visions." she wrote with a glare at him.
This man was so infuriating! And handsome, she had to give him that.
" Oh, really?" he asked. She detected a spark of interest in his deep violet eyes. " What kind of visions?"
" Any kind." she wrote, shaking her head in wonder. Men. Did they have a brain at all?
" Interesting."
" He's after me." she wrote frantically. " I sense it! What do I do?"
She looked down at her last sentence and gasped loudly. She was actually asking for his advice!
Yami watched his… prisoner… and almost smiled. He was starting to like her. He could tell she didn't like him very much. She was a beauty though. Yes, she was very beautiful. Her silver hair came past her thighs and her black eyes captivated him. She kept so many secrets, kept so much about herself hidden from others. He was curious about this Aréanna. Her father never mentioned her, but everyone else commented on her looks. She was dull- looking, from what he'd heard, but seeing her now, she was an angel. A very angry angel.
" Would you stop staring at me like you've never seen a woman before? There are plenty others on the streets." Aréanna wrote. He did smile at her then. Didn't she know how pretty she really was? He was sure she'd be magnificent if she stopped glaring at him like she wanted to throttle someone.
He was looking at her curiously. To tell the truth, it was making her nervous.
" Take a walk with me." he said. " If you promise not to kill me."
" Why?" was her question to the offer on the scroll.
" I think you need fresh air. Come on, I won't bite."
" Do you have flowers?" she wrote, her glare vanishing.
" Thousands."
" Roses?"
"At least a hundred."
" Alright." she wrote, after thinking a moment. " Do you mind if I take this? I might need to ask you a few questions."
" You may."
She got up and he walked beside her. He was wondering why he felt so comfortable with her, when she'd killed her brother.
'He's not really dead, though. Seto brought him back.' he thought.
" Where are they?" she wrote, catching his attention.
" In one of the cooler rooms in my palace."
" I was wondering how they'd live. What about the water? How do you water them?"
" When it rains, we catch it in jars, just for the plants."
" Ah, I see." she wrote. Her eyes lit up with delight when she saw how many flowers there really was. "They're beautiful."
She looked up at him. He was at least an inch taller than she was. Her black eyes connected with his violet ones.
" You have so many! What happens if you run out of water or something?" she wrote.
" We don't. We catch enough to keep them soaked until it rains again."
that's when she spotted the roses. There was black, white, pink, purple, blue, any color imaginable, he had it.
" They smell so sweet." she commented to him on her scroll. He smiled.
" That they do." he agreed.
" Do you have any cats?" She wrote.
" An abundance." he said. She smiled up at him.
She was even prettier when she smiled. Her eyes sparkled, even though they were the darkest of blacks. A pity she couldn't talk. He liked the sound of her voice.
"Yami, what are you thinking?! You can't have this girl! You have a country to run, you don't have time to fool with her!" said a voice in the back of his head.
" Would you like to see them?"
" Yes." Aréanna wrote.
He led her around to another room. She heard mewing when he pushed open the door. There were at least 50. Kittens. All kittens. She sat down in a clean spot and giggled when three climbed into her lap. She looked to a corner of the room and saw a black one with a white CRESCENT on it's forehead. It was so lonely looking. An outcast. Like Aréanna herself. She pushed the kittens off her lap and made her way over to the black one in the corner. It hissed at her and struck out with it's claws, catching her hand. The scratch was painful, but she ignored it and reached for the kitten.
" Aréanna. don't! You'll get hurt!" Yami said.
She turned to him and shook her head in disagreement. "Not too bad." she mouthed.
" That one is named Rebel. She tries to bite or scratch anyone who comes near her. "
She quickly wrote, "Why?" on the scroll and gave it to Yami.
" No one likes her. She's just too dangerous." he answered.
" Like me. She could be friendly if someone gave her a chance. She needs to be loved. She'll love you back. No one ever gives me a chance, though." Aréanna wrote.
" I've never looked at it that way, Aréanna." Yami said softly.
" No one ever does. Only when you're an outcast yourself, you'll see everything you've taken advantage of much clearer."
" You're not an outcast. I've seen you talking to people."
" Talking?" she wrote, raising a brow at him. " More like arguing. They say I'm too dangerous for my own good. I can call spirits, Pharaoh. Everyone's afraid of me for that. I'm starting to fear my own power."
" Why, Aréanna?" Yami noticed Rebel had climbed into Aréanna's lap. "No one fears Seto."
" Everyone fears Priest Seto. He has much more power than I will ever have. Don't you see? You don't notice the little things. People. I'm alone. All the time. I think this is the most positive attention I have gotten my entire life." she wrote.
" How old are you? " Yami asked.
" 17. 18 next month." She wrote. " My brother was the only one who would really talk to me. He showed me a bright side. Now that he's joined forces with Priest Seto, I don't have anyone I can talk to when I need help."
" Yes, you do."
" Who?"
" Me."
Her eyes widened in surprise. " No." she wrote. " You're too busy."
Yami was silent. " Yes. you're right. I suppose I am quite busy." He said finally.
Aréanna watched Rebel as the curious kitten pawed at the pen. She giggled. Rebel then pawed at Aréanna's face. She smiled and Rebel climbed to her shoulder and sat there.
" She's yours." Yami said, referring to Rebel.
" What?" Aréanna wrote in shock.
" Rebel. She belongs to you. You're the only one she seems to like."
" Are you serious?"
" Yes. You keep her."
" Thank you. I really appreciate this. What can I do to repay you?"
"Nothing. She's a gift." Yami said with a sincere smile.
Aréanna suddenly threw her arms around his neck with gratitude. Yami was surprised. Aréanna didn't seem to notice.
