The news spread throughout Egypt and Atem couldn't have been more appeased to hear such great news when it was given. Bakura, the King of Thieves had finally been caught to be brought to his inevitable punishment. Atem was not prepared to take any matter lightly, for the thief had not only stolen from the tombs of previous pharaohs, but also the tomb of his father - a crime that he saw as unforgivable.
He and the six members of his high court, the holders of the millennium items, went to the dungeon on the far side of the kingdom. They all nearly shook with excitement, though none of them would express such feelings. When they arrived, a guard led them to the room where they held the thief.
They walked into a large room, shackles places throughout it, and saw the thief. His hands shackled together, his foot chained to the floor. He was on his knees, emotionlessly starting at the ground as if being captured was nothing more than a simple setback. He had been stripped of the clothing and jewelry he had stole from the tombs he had robbed in the Valley of the Kings; now only left in a blue skirt - the only article of clothing he wore that belonged to him. His body was covered in bruises, most likely from abuse from the soldiers that had captured him. Atem noticed one side of his head had a trail of blood dried on it, the trail ending at his jaw. A large cut must have been hidden under his frayed hair, causing it to become a light shade of red as the blood had been combined with it. Atem was now reassured on the technique the soldiers used to capture this mischievous thief.
Atem walked over to the thief and stood before him, looking down upon him in the way that only righteous royalty would look upon the poor. In almost the same instant that Atem had approached him, Bakura gazed up at him. His eyes narrowed and a menacing smirk appeared on his face. "Oh, "Great Pharaoh," it's about time you got here!" He sneered, his smirk widening at his own sarcasm.
A guard standing behind him raised the whip he held in his hand, eager to use it to truly punish the King of Thieves for the trouble he had caused the village and their pharaoh. Flicking his wrist in an almost accustomed way, he cracked the whip on the thief's exposed back, causing him to shout out in pain. Recovering from the pain, he once again looked up at Atem and snarled like an angry animal before spitting on the ground before him.
Atem's fists clenched though his expression remained undisturbed. He refused to show any sort of emotion toward someone as hostile and disloyal as this so-called thief king. "Bakura, you have killed many of my soldiers in the process of robbing the tombs of the great pharaohs who have came before me, including my father. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" He asked the thief, though he knew whatever he had to say for himself wasn't going to have much significance.
Bakura looked around the room, his glare coming in contact with those of the guards that surrounded him and also the priests of the Millennium Items. He then looked back at the pharaoh with a harsh hatred in his eyes, so much so that Atem could almost feel Bakura's hatred towards him and the others in the room. "I don't regret anything," He said proudly, threateningly glaring at the king above him.
The sentence disturbed the pharaoh, feeling a chill as the words escaped the thief's mouth. He did not only feel a feeling of dishonor, but a nearly unbearable feeling of utmost hatred. Without hesitation, Atem gave the orders to carry out Bakura's punishment. "Bakura, to punish you for your intolerable crimes, you will be left as you are now until your death. You will either die from heat exhaustion or starvation. Then it's up to the Gods to decide what to do with you in your afterlife," He spat with almost the same amount of hatred in his tone that the despicable thief had before.
Bakura smirked. "No problem, "Great Pharaoh." I can easily handle such a petty punishment coming from such a petty ruler," He said deviously.
The guard behind him went to raise his arm again, but Bakura quickly spoke his next sentence, causing the guard to hesitate. "You obviously don't know anything about me - about my village. None of the punishment you could possibly give me in here is even comparable to the lifelong punishment I have had to endure my entire life. And for what reason was I given this punishment, you ask? There wasn't any reason!" Bakura yelled. He let out an angered growl before continuing. "My family, my home - everything was taken away from me! You bastards deserve everything I've done!"
Atem's eyes widened at what Bakura had said. He could see the emotions behind the man's angry glare, the anguish that hid behind his sinister smiling.
Seeing the pharaoh's discomfort, Priest Mahad decided to speak. "That's enough, Bakura!" He shouted at the hysterical thief king. He walked over to Atem, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come, my pharaoh. We best be taking our leave."
Atem looked at Mahad, nodding when their eyes came in contact. He heard the cracking of the whip again, jumping at the intense sound, and turned to Bakura who was once again crippled by the pain of the whip against his back. Blood trickled from his newly-formed wounds and ran down his bronzed back. Atem felt transfixed on the man, feeling almost compelled to walk over and help him. He resisted and turned to return to the palace with the high priests, though he couldn't get the image of Bakura out of his head.
When the group had returned to the palace Priest Mahad had noticed the unusual behavior of his pharaoh and became curious of what must have been bothering him. Atem had gone to his room immediately after they had arrived at the palace without anything to say about the capture of Thief King Bakura.
Mahad gently knocked on the door to Atem's bedroom, asking permission to enter. "May I enter, my king?" He asked formally.
Hesitantly Atem replied. "Y-yes, of course, Mahad."
The priest, as well as the pharaoh's greatest friend and servant, entered the room. Atem was looking out the balcony of his room, looking far past the kingdom below him. Mahad quietly walked over to the balcony and taking a place beside the troubled pharaoh. They both looked out in silence for a moment before Atem acknowledged the priest beside him.
"What brings you here, Mahad?" He asked kindly. He smiled slightly in attempt to fabricate a genuine sense of happiness despite the feeling he had that Mahad wouldn't believe it.
Mahad turned to Atem and smiled in return, though he could see through Atem's false smile as Atem had thought. "I have the feeling that something is bothering you." He said inquisitively.
Flustered, Atem's eyed widened only for a moment before he contained his careless show of emotion. Quickly he thought of a lie. "I'm just worried about the kingdom, I guess," He muttered, once again looking out over the balcony. "Now that Bakura's gone we have to worry about other criminals who may be a threat to us."
He solemnly looked out over the kingdom, though not for the reasons he had just told Mahad. He still had Bakura on his mind. The look in his eyes and the sincerity shown within them. His mind wandered, trying to imagine what Bakura could of meant when he said his "lifelong punishment." Never before had he seen this plaguing thief as human before, but that moment in the dungeon Atem had saw another side of Bakura that the others could not.
He was plied from his thoughts when Mahad replied to his lie. "That's understandable," Mahad said knowingly, as he usually did. "Though I'm sure there are no criminals that can compare to the Thief King."
Not looking away from the land past the palace Atem replied, half-lost once more in his own thoughts, "Yeah, you're right."
Mahad caringly placed a hand on Atem's shoulder. "Don't worry, my king. We have defeated our greatest enemy yet; we should be celebrating for the time being," He told him.
Returning to the reality before him once more, Atem turned to Mahad and smiled, trying to make it more genuine this time in hopes of appeasing the priest. "Yes, you're right. Thank you, Mahad," He told him, his conscience nagging him with every second he had to stand before the priest and lie.
With that, Mahad left Atem, who still looked out upon the kingdom until he was too tired to do so. He wanted to know more about the hated thief. The questions caused him to toss restlessly throughout the night, though not only the questions had caused such horrible sleep, but also the questioning of his own feelings. For years he had seen the thief as a plague; a filthy criminal whose acts caused the deaths of his soldiers. Now the thief seemed like more; something that everyone had forgotten - that he was a human being, capable of emotions beyond those of evil, even though he would never show it. Atem had to visit the thief and learn more about him, or else the questions he had would eat away at his mind until he did.