It was dark. Dark and cold… the young woman slowly and groggily blinked her eyes open. Emerald green eyes stared into an abyss of shadows and her nose picked up an awful smell of filth, blood and sweat. Her head was spinning and her pale body shuddered as she registered the cold in the room next.
"I think she is awake" a feminine voice appeared suddenly and she noted the voice had a soft whisper to it, almost as if it was trying to avoid bothering anybody.
"W-who is there?" she groaned softly as her attempt to move to sit caused her to go dizzy again and shut her eyes.
"I would not move around too much, it looks like you took quite a hit to the head" a more confident voice spoke and she saw a woman move into the line of moonlight which seemed to appear from some sort of window behind her. Her skin was tan, and her ash-blonde hair cascaded down to frame her lilac eyes. She was absolutely gorgeous.
"Hi, there! Good to see you aren't dead" she smiled cheekily and sat back up on her legs.
All she got was a blank confused stare from emerald green eyes.
"Hmm… not much of a talker are you? Well I am Malik" she motioned to herself with her hand. A smaller female moved over behind her and peeked over her tanned shoulder.
"And I am Yugi! It is nice to meet you!" Large violet eyes looked at her and her wild star shaped hair was unruly as she probably had not showered for a while. Her blonde bangs reflected the moonlight.
"I… I am Ryou" she sat up and this time she succeeded in staying up as she leaned back against a wall. She noticed she had shackles around her wrists and ankles. She looked down and gasped.
"Wh- where am I?" she looked at the two other women and they looked at each other and then at her.
"The slave grounds, you were brought in here a few hours ago by the guards" Malik said in a quiet voice.
Ryou's eyes widened to double size.
"Oh dear god" she shook terribly, she remembered now.
She had been running because she had crossed into the east side of the city, close to the castle of the three. She had then realized dusk was falling and had begun to head home, but was spotted by the guards. She knew they had a certain curfew and that it was illegal to cross it, but her sister Amane had fallen sick and had needed medication. The guards had hunted her and knocked her out when she was caught. And now she was brought to the slave grounds to be sold as a piece of meat as a punishment.
After the three had taken over the city, there had been nothing but poverty, despair, hunger. All in order to control the population of Cairo city. She had never seen them in person but she had heard plenty of stories about them. The three were the ones in control of the three mythical beasts and had showed up five years ago, destroyed the royal palace and put the entire city in shackles. The slave grounds were places that imported and exported slaves of all sorts. And now she was one of them. People who went there never returned home.
She felt her eyes well up with tears. Malik and Yugi looked at her with sympathy in their eyes.
"I am sorry…" Yugi let her hand touch the pale shoulder of the other comfortingly.
"I… can't…" she was interrupted as the door to the cell was opened. The three women looked up to see a tall dark haired man look down at them. Malik growled warningly.
"What do you want Ushio?" lilac eyes looked angrily at the large man who smirked cruelly.
"You three are getting sold off in half an hour… Vivian are taking you to the showers to make you presentable"
A woman stood up behind him, her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail. She looked coldly at the three younger women.
"Hmm they are not too beat up" she smiled a sick smile as she walked over to Yugi and grabbed her chin tightly, earning a soft whimper. Malik harshly slapped her hand off the younger one.
"Don't touch her, you bitch"
Yugi looked at the other with wide eyes and Ryou witnessed Vivian get up and place a firm kick to the other woman's gut. Malik gasped and clutched her arms closed, the metallic sound of the shackles around her wrists were echoing in the room.
"Malik!" Yugi cried out.
Vivian's eyes went to Ryou who shook as she held her hands on the wall.
"Is this one new?" she asked and Ushio stood behind her.
"Yes, the others have been here for two weeks, we brought the white one in yesterday" he looked coldly at Ryou and she lowered her eyes.
Vivian boldly reached out to touch her breasts, stomach and thighs. Ryou pushed at her but her shackles where holding her limbs back making it difficult.
"She is really skinny, maybe not too attractive to the costumers" she scowled and moved Ryou's face to the sides.
"Hmm she has a dent in her head" she said in a cold voice, as if she was talking about a cracked vase and not someone bleeding.
Ushio nodded. "She was knocked out by the guards, guess she bruises easily" he shrugged.
"Fine, bring them to the showers" she stood up and placed them in a row behind each other, then passed the main shackle to Ushio who dragged them along. Ryou felt her tears stream as they were put into a tiled room, steam coming off from three tubs in the middle of the room. Three women stood by each of the tubs and looked coldly at the newcomers. This was without a doubt routine for them.
Eventually all three girls were washed and had their hair cleaned and brushed to make them as attractive as possible to the bidders. They were put in sleeveless white robes that barely covered their upper-thighs and cleavage. They were then ushered along into a hall which led down to the area they would be presented at. Ryous heart was pounding as she walked behind Malik and in front of Yugi. She then felt Yugis smaller hand link with hers gently, their shackles hitting each other. She looked back over her shoulder and tried to smile in comfort at the other, ignoring the tears she was holding back. She then carefully linked her hand with Malik and gave a small squeeze, and received one back, signalling that they would be there for each other as long as they possible could. They stopped in front of a huge door, and Ushio opened a slit which was in the middle of it to look through it. There could be cheers and laughters heard, also some wolf whistles, and occasionally some crying from other ill fated slaves. Ryou walked up behind Malik and felt Yugi tightening her hold on the others hand.
"Please… don't let them take me away"
Yugi sobbed softly and Ryou tried to her best ability to wrap an arm around her.
"You will be okay Yugi… I promise we will all be okay"
"HEY BE QUIET!" Ushio growled.
Vivian went and unlocked Yugi first.
"You are up first" she pushed her along to the door and Ryou and Malik both reached for her before they were both slapped by Ushio to stay back.
Yugi sent one last desperate look at the others before disappearing behind the door.
Atem scowled. He really did not want to be at the auction, there were never any interesting slaves there. It was mainly Mariku who wanted to go because he wanted a new pet and himself and Akefia just tagged along. Speaking of the king of thieves he looked bored as he leaned back in his chair. Behind them Duke Devlin was nervously twisting his hands, hoping to please The three and get on their good side for once. They were seated in a private room behind a one way glass which could only be seen out of. They did not want the people there to see them. It could easily create chaos and especially Akefia had a bad temper, and would get involved in fights if he thought someone looked at him in a wrong manner. Atem was bored as he plucked a piece of fruit from the bowl beside him. He might just go home earlier, the auction was quite a bore. Mariku stood with his face against the window and made a sudden sound of interest.
"Wow" he said out loud.
"What… is there a woman with extra large breasts?"Akefia chuckled as he walked up to the window to join the other.
He also made a sound of wonder as dark purple eyes landed on an exact copy of Atem. Well it was a girl and she was paler but other than that she looked extremely similar.
The girl stood quietly in the center of the stage. Her body seemed even smaller as she lowered her eyes and tried to make the fabric cover her exposed skin. Crude remarks were shouted from the crowd and the girl looked at the verge of tears. Atem finally joined them as they had both gone quiet. His eyes landed on the slave on stage and he had to blink twice to make sure he was not imagining things.
"She… looks like me" he mumbled in disbelief. He noticed she seemed to freeze and then looked up, her beautiful innocent eyes contacted with his own burgundy ones. He felt as if she looked directly at him. Her large violet eyes blinked and then Atem felt a surge go through him. It was very alien to him but it was not an unpleasant feeling.
"Devlin" He said lowly.
"Yes Sir?" he walked up to the three and joined them at the window.
"I want the details on that one" he pointed at the stage and both Akeifa and Mariku looked at him puzzled.
"Wow, are you for once interested in a slave?" Akefia asked with a chuckle. Mariku joined him and laughed before adding. "And a flatchested one to add to it, kind of dodgy if you ask me Atem"
"Shut up Mariku" his eyes looked at the other and Mariku lifted his arms in defeat. "sure, if you are into child like women, go crazy"
Devlin cleared his throught. "Well..her name is Yugi, she is 15, the youngest in the group. She is the grand-daughter of a game maker, she is healthy even if she looks a bit malnourished-" they were suddenly interrupted as a sudden chrash came from the stage, accompanied by a gasp from the audience. Two other slaves had made their way to the stage, a limping Ushio and a pissed Vivian following them hurriedly. Akefia and Mariku looked with interest at the new comers as they both stood in front of Yugi, both having protective stances towards the audience.
Marikus eyes went to the darker skinned slave who appeared to have similar features to his own. Next his eyes went to the paler slave who was still in front of Yugi, her fearfull green eyes fixed on the large man.
"Hey Akefia that girl has your hair-.."
He turned his attention towards the thief king and saw Akefia had vanished, leaving only Him, Devlin and Atem in the room.
Malik hissed angrily, she was currently fighting off Vivian who was tugging harshly at the chains of her. Attention went to the other side of the stage where Ushio had walked over to Ryou and roughly punched the whitenette knocking her to the ground. Ryou just had to kick him in the balls, Malik would be lying if she said it did not give her satisfaction to hear him in pain. Ryou recoiled from the punch and desperately tried to rise, Yugi was a few meters from her.
She fell on her stomach and felt a boot press onto her back roughly keeping her down.
"You little pale bitch, how dare you- I will FUCKING KLL YOU" He pulled out the baton he had in his belt and prepared to beat her to death.
His baton came down but it was stopped as a strong calloused hand captured it. Ushio looked in disbelief as his arm had stopped. He looked down and met the calm eyes of the thief king Akefia.
The large man who was usually the one in total control felt his body start to shake.
"M-master Akefia" he pulled his hand to his body, releasing the baton. He stood back. His body shook as he looked back at Vivian, his eyes begging for help. She herself had let go of Malik and staggered back towards the door of the stage attempting to escape.
Akefia chrushed the baton with his hand, and the audience went quiet as the splinters fell to the floor.
"I'll take the white one" his eyes went to the pale girl behind him. She looked at him, her body unmoving in fear. When their eyes met, the thief king smirked.
"Oh and bring the two others to my companions, I think they will have plenty of fun with them"
Malik brushed pass Ushio and went to Yugi and Ryou.
"Are you two allright?" Yugi nodded shakenly, and Ryou calmly nodded, her eyes being cast down. Master Akefia… one of the three had interfered with their beating. She had never been so conflicted between terror and gratitude. They were transported from the stage to the room with the two others. They did not struggle this time as they all realized exactly who they would be standing in front of. Akefia's eyes were fixed on the neck of the pale woman. His mouth spread into a sadistic smirk.
This woman.. would be interesting to him