A/N: Alright, this is my Mischiefshipping (Thief King BakuraxMana) entry for round six of Computerfreak101's writing contest. I actually adore this pairing, but I haven't seen the actually Yugioh series in forever, plus I only ever saw the 4kids version of the Egyptian Arc. Sorry if some of the characters are OOC!
Note: Some of this follows cannon (the English version anyway) however, there are a few spot where I strayed from the original to fit my purposes (like how old Bakura was when the whole Kul Elna fiasco took place) But Seth and Atemu still don't know they're related. Slight mentions of AtemuxMana if you want to look at it that way. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: If I owned it, Atem would never have left.
Never Mine
Did it hurt you to know
That you'll forever be alone
When the entire world is lost
Your echoing thoughts
Will be the last things you hear
Bakura knew, as he stood in front of the glittering palace, the pharaoh kneeling before him in the most ironic of all positions, that his victory would never be sweet. He knew that the death of the one who had taken everything from him would never be enough to satisfy the gaping chasm that was his broken heart. He knew that closure would not be achieved through murder, that righteousness would not be obtained through death, and yet he could not hold back the fiery rays that would soon obliterate the crouching monarch from the face of the earth.
"Everything I every wanted. Everything I ever had you stole from me." The thought rumbled through the Thief King's mutilated mind.
Zorc's monstrous mouth twisted into a sharp toothed smirk as its master prepared to deliver the finishing blow.
And then she appeared.
Like an angel she descended from on high, golden hair whirling about her in a luminous sheet. Bakura did not even register the floating violet magician beside her. His dark eyes were trained on the spectral ka before him. Her ka. The Dark Magician Girl.
She was identical to the one that had summoned her, but her characteristics where completely opposite, as though seen through a negative film. Where brown hair should be there spurted blonde locks. Her completion was pale and her clothing was almost consistent with body armor, the shimmering blue, magenta trimmed material hanging off her delicate shoulders and cut off far above her knee. The creature was alike and yet so irrevocably different from the one whom had called upon her…except for the eyes. They were her eyes, green as the leaves used by slaves to fan the pharaoh and alight with exactly the same fire. It was staring up into those eyes that made Bakura realized he had lost. She was never mine…the though rung through out space and time. No matter what victory was won here, she was lost to him forever.
Zorc raised his fist, the shot previously intended for the pharaoh now directed towards the oncoming threats. An unseen tear trickled down the Thief King's tanned face as he watched through the monster's eyes. She was never mine…
Mana skipped down the deserted palace hallway, the light filtering in through the windows the only presence to illuminate her form. The tanned girl hummed a merry tune as she went along, green eyes closed as she basked in the warmth of the day. She'd finally managed to summon fire today with Mahado.
The girl's cheerful smile quickly morphed into a grimace as she recalled the memory. He master had exclaimed excitedly over her brilliance as she'd held the writhing flames just above her palm. The proud look upon his face had completely vanished, however, when the next second the flames had roared to life as though provoked by some unseen force and leapt at him. Needless to say that the elder Magician had decided his apprentice would not be handling any more destructive elements for a while. Mana sighed heavily. She'd been looking forward to learning how to make fire dance the way Mahado did whenever he was entertaining the pharaoh.
She itched to make the red and orange tongues glide smoothly in little ringlets that hovered just above her flesh. Maybe even construct the flaming phantom dragon's that Mahado formed on occasion…
Mana was brought out of her revelry by the ear jarring crash of shattering porcelain. The girl opened her eyes and looked wildly around just in time to see a young boy hurtling towards her. His hands and feet were dotted with pieces of what seemed to be a busted vase, crimson blood oozing out from the wounds. Thick white locks whipped about him as he ran, head bowed. The indignant shouts of guards reached her ears seconds later as their beefy forms came into view. The agitated faces were red and their breathing labored. Though they were all of muscular, athletic build, Mana could tell they were not accustomed to chasing culprits down on foot, especially children whose quickness and petite stature could always save them in a pinch.
"Stop thief!" they huffed at their quarry.
Mana's eyes redirected towards the running boy and she could see a glint of gold wrapped within the folds of his much patched and dirtied tunic.
"Stop!" they shouted once more as the sprinting form neared Mana's own.
The girl squared her shoulders and held out her palm. "Halt in the name of the pharaoh!" she said, trying to make her voice sound strong and intimidating, though her knees were trembling with nerves. She never had been one to instill fear into others, rather they frightened her.
The boy looked up at the sound of her voice and Mana noted, oddly, that his eyes were a light violet, almost like those of the Prince Atemu.
He smirked at her defiant tone and she tried to glare, the effect caught somewhere between a pout and a smile. "Move aside girl." His voice was strangely gruff for someone of his age.
Mana growled at his mocking tone, drawing up power from the vestibules within her soul. "I'll give you one last chance." She uttered as he ran nearer and nearer. Her warning, along with the cries of his pursuers went unheeded.
"You asked for it!" the culprit stopped dead in his tracks as flames roared to life in the center of Mana's out stretched hand.
"Stop!" the panting men behind him gasped, although this time their orders were directed at the novice magician. But it was already too late.
The thief dove out of the line of fire just in time, causing the jet to shoot past him, barreling towards the white faced guards. They are scratched like little girls and ducked for cover, the missile shooting past them, singing the tops of many an uncovered head, before crashing into a tapestry that hung against the far wall.
The fire came to life at once, devouring the silken artwork hungrily.
The guards quickly forgot their chase and turned to dowse the rising torrent of flames. "I'm so sorry! I can help! Please let me help!" Mana implored, though her cries fell on deaf ears. "Just stay back! You've done enough!" one of them shouted, shoving her unceremoniously backwards as he attempted to beat off the flames that had licked their way onto his comrade's arm.
Green eyes filled with tears as Mana stumbled backwards, falling very ungracefully against another form behind her.
She turned just in time to see the thief boy shove her away from himself and belt back down the hall.
"He's getting away!" she shouted through the smoke and tears that clouded her vision, but all of the guards were to preoccupied with the spreading fire to hear her or really even care.
Mana called several more times but to no avail. Finally she gave up on the men, who seemed to have tamed the blaze some what by now, and raced down after the white haired boy by herself, her eyes just catching the hem of his filthy garb whipping around the corner.
"Wait!" she growled, tearing after him. The smoke from the miniature bomb fire now filled the halls, making vision and breathing all the more difficult. Mana hacked loudly, bringing the crook of her arm up to protect her nose and mouth from exposure to the fumes.
The boy's slightly soot blackened head came into view as she dashed around the corner. "Stop right there!" she chocked through the haze as she saw him sprinting towards the window. He turned his bright violet eyes one her, she vaguely noted that he now had a piece of cloth bundled around the lower portion of his face. A small tanned hand saluted her, before he disappeared through the hole in the wall.
"Wait…" Mana crocked, stumbling as she attempted to run towards the window. She could see the boy's blurry figure land gracefully upon an outcropping building a few feet below the sill. I can still catch him. Mana thought groggily, stepping shakily up onto the window ledge. And suddenly the world was flying past her as she fell, hacking and gagging, down…down…down…and then it all went black.
Mana awoke to the cool trickle of water dribbling past her dried lips. Emerald eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the harsh light of the outdoors. Everything was blindingly bright except for one large patch of darkness looming right above her. Slowly the dirty face of a boy came into focus. Violet eyes stared intently down at her eyebrows raised. "Are you alive?" a familiar gruff voice asked bluntly. And suddenly it all came rushing back to her.
Mana scurried away from the boy, whose lap her head had just been occupying, fear and confusion reflected in her wide eyes. "What happened?! Where am I?! What are you doing?!" Mana squeaked in a barely intelligible rush, backing as far away from the boy as the wall behind her would allow.
The thief relaxed back from his crouching position, bringing a water skin to his lips, the same one, Mana realized, he must have held over her while she was unconscious.
"I was saving your life." He smirked after having had his fill of water. His voice really was too rough for someone so young. He could not have been much older than Mana herself was, maybe nine or ten at most…
"Well thank you." She said awkwardly, remembering the scene within the palace walls. This strange boy, no matter how much he had helped her, was still a criminal after all.
Violet met emerald and the two gazes remained locked, both children to stubborn and filled with adolescent pride to look away.
Finally the thief broke the silence. "You're a stupid girl you know that?" he said nonchalantly, taking another swig from the skin.
Mana bristled. "I am not!" she hissed.
"Are too!" He mocked. "You almost killed yourself back in the castle. You need to learn how to control your magic better than that."
"At least I can control magic!" she mocked, forgetting all pretences of appearing more mature than the thief boy and sticking her tongue out at him.
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes. "I, at least, know how not to almost kill myself." He gestured up at the open window high above them where smoke from the blaze Mana had accidentally kindled still trickled out.
Mana blushed. "I fell from all the way up there?" she asked in half nervousness, half fearful awe.
"Yep." He spat, trying to down more water and frowning when the skin produced no more than one or two drops of liquid. "Well I guess I'll be going now." He said, strapping the pouch onto a frayed rope around his waist. "See you around Stupid Girl."
"My name is MANA!" she shouted as he headed over to the edge of the roof.
"Bye then Mana!" he sneered mockingly.
"Wait." Mana suddenly found her hand clutching the back of the boy's filthy tunic. For some unexplainable reason, she did not want him to leave just yet.
"Let go of me you stupid girl!" the boy flailed his arms in an attempt to loosen Mana's grip, but to no avail.
"My name is Mana." She said once more, narrowing her green eyes on the back of his soot blacked white head. "And I would very much appreciate it if you told me your name Thief boy."
"Why should I?" the boy spat angrily, but before she could answer he shrugged and whispered "Bakura. My name is Bakura."
"Well…umm…" Mana was suddenly blushing once more, forever grateful that her darker completion helped hide the sudden coloration in her cheeks. "…thank you for saving me…Bakura…"
"Whatever." He said again, shrugging out of her grip. "See you around Mana." He whispered, before leaping from the edge of the building and landing, catlike, upon the sandy ground below.
"See you around…Bakura…" Mana whispered, watching with an unexplainable since of disappointment as the boy's small form scuttled out of sight.
"MANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" An irate voice bellowed from above.
The brunette looked up slowly to see Mahado's head poking out from the still smoke belching window above. Mana gulped. She was so dead.
"Shhh…They'll hear us!"
"But I'm hungry!"
"Shut up or I'll make you!"
"But I wanna ea-" a slim hand clamped around Bakura's mouth, stifling his next words. Lilac eyes glared at the girl across from him as a pair of thin, muscles arms folded tightly across an exposed chest. "Mana you're so mean." Bakura spat as the girl finally lifted her hand from his face.
"Well, you're being to loud and I want to listen!" the green eyed girl retorted in a whisper, turning her focus back on the council meeting taking place in the adjourning room. She and Bakura had both been secretly supervising the priests' meetings with the pharaoh. Mana, because she aspired to join Mahado as one of the King's most trusted advisors some day and Bakura because she'd dragged him in by the ear to listen.
"We've been sitting here for hours! Let's just call it a day I'm starving!" As if in response to Bakura's protests, his stomach chose that moment to let out an obnoxious growl. Mana covered his abdominals as though she could quiet them down them in the same way she had silenced his mouth.
The boy's blush at the move went completely unseen by his companion who had turned her attention back on what she could see of the meeting from behind the curtain which they were both concealed.
"Mana please! They've been talking of nothing but taxes and tribute for the past four hours! Trust me, we won't miss anything if we leave!" Bakura gave her a pleading, puppy dog look. Mana did not respond. "You're so mean!" he scoffed, sending her a fake hurt look. "I should never have saved your life."
"And I should never have let you keep stealing from the palace to help out your family." Mana retorted with a mock glare.
"Hey you owed me for saving you!" Bakura countered, folding his arms defiantly.
"I didn't owe you anything seeing as if it weren't for you I would have needed saving in the first place!" the girl hissed under her breath.
"If you weren't such a bad Magician then-" Mana clamped her hand around Bakura's mouth, holding a finger to her lips. The boy really didn't understand the term "quiet" did he. Finally she caved, letting out and exasperated sigh as she released Bakura's jaws. "Fine, we'll go eat, but promise me will come back and listen before its over!"
"Pinkie swear!" Bakura said solemnly, holding out his smallest finger. "I hereby invoke the most sacred and binding of all child promises! If I break it, let me die young and unhappy!"
Mana giggled and locked her pinkie around his own, allowing the boy to pull her by their connected digits out through the door that stood within the secret alcove from which they observed the meetings.
Both teens sauntered down the hallway towards the kitchens, careful of the servants they passed along the way. After all, Bakura was not technically allowed within the palace, seeing as he was a convict who didn't think twice before pinching the pockets of everyone they passed. It was a wonder how they ever managed to keep his identity secret, the way he and Mana were constantly together. They were inseparable like peanut butter and jelly as Atemu had put it. And speaking of the Prince…
As Mana rounded the corner she spotted her royal friend leaning causally against the kitchen doors, his expression that of one who is extremely bored with nothing to occupy his free time.
"Atemu!" Mana called cheerfully over to the boy, detaching her hand from a slightly disappointed looking Bakura's and waving over at the Prince.
"Mana. Bakura." He exclaimed, standing up and striding over to them. "Thank Ra! Finally someone to talk to! Father's been in that meeting all day and I haven't even seen Seth since last week!" the teen flicked a golden bang from his eyes, flashing Mana a smile that, Bakura noticed with a pang of jealousy, made the girl blush and titter.
"We were just about to get something from the kitchens!" Mana chirped brightly, her hand finding Bakura's once more, giving the thief a small sense of relief.
"Bring me something will you? I'll save us a spot on the terrace." Atemu called over his shoulder, sweeping his long cloak around him as headed out towards the pavilion.
"I hate that guy." Bakura hissed coolly, once Atemu's regal form was lost from view. "I mean it's his own private pavilion! Why would he need to save us spots?!"
"Kura." Mana sighed, with a little roll of her emerald eyes. She took his arm and led him over to the doors.
Bakura pressed his ear to the entrance and listened carefully, muttering under his breath as he took in the situation. "Four servants near the right side, two chefs at the cutting board…and a couple of boys bringing in supplies at the back door." He nodded, stepping away from the wood and preparing to enter by stealth.
"Wait!" Mana cried in a hoarse whisper just as Bakura had slowly pried the door open so as not to make a sound and was slinking softly in.
"What!" he glared at her, violet eyes full of impatience, annoyance, and the unknown thrill that came with thievery.
"Get me some grapes!" she whispered.
He rolled his eyes, kicked her hard in the shin, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Precisely two minutes later the white haired thief emerged, arms laden with an assortment of foods.
"Good work." Mana said, giving the stack an appraising eye.
"I thought you didn't approve of my 'immoral habits'." Bakura snickered.
Mana rolled her eyes, relieved him of some of his load, and the two head down the corridor for Atemu's private pavilion.
The Prince was not alone when they greeted him upon the terrace that overlooked most of the city. His looming friend Seth sat beside him, inhumanly tall compared to the other, even though both were seated. The rather ridiculous headset the apprentice priest wore only extenuated his height more, though the blue matched his cold, sharp eyes.
"Oh wonderful." He sneered upon Bakura's arrival. "We've let the thief back into our mist once more! I just don't understand you Mana! What could possibly want to make you hang around with this lowly filth whom pilfers from your own King?!" Seth spat, eyeing Bakura's tattered clothing and matted hair with distaste.
"Play nice." Atemu hissed to his friend, taking the food Mana handed him and setting it out around the table.
"I hate them both." Bakura sneered, making no effort to lower the volume of his voice.
Atemu pretended he couldn't hear the boy beside him and opted to take a large swig of water than try and break the sudden silence.
"I have no cordial feelings toward this vagabond either." Seth his words at Mana, the girl looking very uncomfortable at being in the center of fire.
The meal continued on in silence, Seth and Bakura occasionally exchanging harsh insults in an undertone, Atemu shooting Mana apologetic looks whenever these muttered duels took place.
Mana quickly shoveled down her food, eager to escape the worsening tensions between thief and priest.
When the last grape had been unceremoniously shoved past her lips, Man stood abruptly, grabbing the crook of Bakura's arm and dragging him out of his seat. "Well…it's been… fun…boys." Both Bakura and Seth scoffed openly at the word 'fun'. "But Kura and I have to get back to the meeting. See you later."
She turned quickly, relieved that she was finally in the clear.
"Umm Mana?" she stopped as Atemu's velvety voice settled upon her ears.
"Yes." She turned breathlessly to face the future king, her arm still intertwined with Bakura's, her emerald gaze fixated on Atemu's crimson irises.
"Umm…I..." he suddenly seemed to realize the company in which the conversation was taking place. "Never mind." He muttered hastily, eyes shifting quickly over to his brunet friend. "Come Seth, we have…um…things to do."
Bakura tried to ignore the disappointed expression Mana's features took on, blatantly pushing aside the writhing pain he felt in his gut as her forlorn eyes followed Atemu's departure.
"Come on Stupid Girl." He murmured, attempted to humor her with their childhood recollections. She smiled slightly at his reference and replied "Why certainly Thief Boy."
Mana leaned heavily against him, brown hair wafting into Bakura's face as they walked along, but strangely, he didn't care much, and found himself twilling the dangling ends unconsciously with his free hand.
About half down to their secret alcove, Mana suddenly froze, dragging Bakura down behind a large nearby vase as the Pharaoh's brother Akhenaden rounded the corner. The elderly man was accompanied by Mahado and the two seemed to be in a heated argument.
"We cannot result to saultering the innocent Akhenaden!" Mahado hissed, fists clenched and face red with rage. "What kind of victory would be buy by killing to kill?!"
"They're not innocent people!" Akhenaden replied in an equally fierce tone. "They're thieves Mahado! Crimminals and vagabonds the whole lot of them! No one would mourn the death of such waists of space!"
"I don't care how they act! They are still human beings with lives and families! Is that not worth deffending?!" Mahado stoped his pacing and turned to face his opponent fully. "I will NOT allow you to murder for power Akhenaden!"
The two stood in silence for a while before Akhenaden, head still downcast. Very well Mahado, I will not harm those people."
The other priest nodded in appreciation. "I'm glad you see it my way. Now don't worry, we will find another way to win this war!" with that, Mana's mentor turned on his heal and strode back down the hall.
When his fellow priest was out of sight, Akhenaden droped his remorseful façade, striding quickly up the hall towards where the two teens were barely concealed. "I will get that power." His voice was barely over a whisper, but Bakura ad Mana clung to every word. "The King needs more power to control this war…the people of Kul Elna is an easy sacrafice to achieve such victory!" His heels clapped along the tiled floor until he dissapeared from view.
Mana gazed at Bakura, full of worry for her friend. She knew Kul Elna was Bakura's home, and she was sure she knew what Akhenaden was planning. "Kura…" she whispered, softly, reaching out a comforting hand towards the boy, but he shook it off, violet eys wide with terror.
"He's going to…my family…" and suddenly he was on his feet, sprinting to the nearest exit, all of which he had learnt by heart with Mana runing uselessly after him. She never had been as fast as the famous thief.
The last words he heard her cry after him before he lept out of a nearby window were "Be safe!"
Mana leaned out the window, tears glistning in her emerald eyes as she watched Bakura's form dashing out towards the horizon. "Please be safe."
It was a week before Bakura returned to the palace, the longest time he had ever spent away from the place since becoming almost a permanate residence in his childhood. The sight that Mana met, however, was not of the chipper, sacrastic boy she'd always known.
As night fell of the town and Mana drew the curtains closed at her bedroom window, she her a strange scraping noise issuing from the balcony. Pulling on a gown over her rather revealing pajamas, the brunette hurried outside just in time to see a familiar form clamber over the railing and collaspe in a heap upon the ground at her feet.
"Bakura!" the girl gasped, rolling the boy over so that his hair fell back to reveal his thin face. He had deffinately seen better days. His usually pure white hair was coated with blood and dirt. His already much worn clothing was so desicrated that it was barely recognisable, hanging limping from his thin form. His eyes were closed and breathing labored, but the most striking change of all was the gash along his right cheek. The cut looked a few days old seeing as it had scrabbed over sligthly and was outlined in dried crimson liquid, but Bakura still winced as she gently slid her fingers over the wound.
"What happened to you?" she whispered, crystal tears sprining to her eyes as she belheld his torture frame. Using what little strength she had, Mana placed both hands underneath the thief's limp arms and dragged his unconscious form into her bedroom. Grunting with the strian, Mana heaved Bakura onto her bed and hurried off to the ajoining washroom for fresh linens and water.
She returned and slowly sponge the dried blood and glim from Bakura's face, being careful to avoid furthering the pain he was already obviously in. When his face and neck were clean, she continued onto the rest of his body, gliding the cloth over his limbs and chest and blushing at the muscules she felts buldging beneath her fingers.
She scrubbed what she could out of his matted hair with her towels and neatly combed out each strand until they were imacurately straight.
When her work was copleted she yeawned widely, slipping, without a second thought, next to Bakura on the sheets.
"Mana…" she woke from her light slumber as someone muttered her name. She opened her eyes to see Bakura lying wide awake beside her, fingers running through her hair and violet eyes fixated on her face.
"Kura." She sat up abruptly and seized his hands, gazing deeply into his eyes. Why was it that the violet depths were so much darken and murkier than when they had last locked eyes? What had happened to him in Kul Elna?
As though he were reading her thoughts, Bakura told her the story. His voice echoed through the silent room as he wove a tale of horror almost too imagenable for words. His whole family no…not just his family…his enitre village murdered by Akhenaden and his men!
"I'm so sorry." She whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder when he completed his story.
He looked down at the sheets. "I did not return to see you." Only a half truth but Mana need not know that.
"Then why have you returned?" Mana whispered, slightly hurt.
"Revenge." The word slipped past his lips like a savory morsel. Mara stared at him wided eyed. Never would she have expected such a reaction from Bakura.
"On who?" she gasped, leaning forward.
"Everyone!" he growled, throwing the sheets off of himself and pacing around the room. "All theb astards who have ruined my life! The Pharaoh, his priest, and that damn son of his! I'll kill them all!"
"No!" Mana was one her feet now, searching Bakura's fiery expression for some sine of the boy she knew. There was none. "You can't hurt Atemu or Mahado or anyone else who had nothing to do with this! Please Bakura you're being unreasonable!"
"Unreasonable?!" and now his hand was at her throat, the air being forced from her lungs. "Those sons of bitches stole my entire life!" his breath wafted over Mana in putrid waves. "And now you're siding with them! You're just as bad!" he tossed her to the floor, striding over to the window sill.
"No Kura wait!" she cried, strggling along after him.
He turned his vemonimous gaze upon her and the words he uttered next rocked her to the very core. "I never want to see your face again!"
And with that Bakura swept out into the desert, leaving Mara on her knees in the center of the bedroom floor, tears flowing nonstop from her swolen eyes. She never saw Bakura again.
No one else noticed the pained look on Mana's face as she ordered Dark Magician Girl to attack Zorc. No one noticed the tears the glided down her face or the apologeies she continually shouted towards the sky. Because no one would ever know of her hidden pain. No one would ever know of her untold love.
Zorc raised his fist, the shot previously intended for the pharaoh now directed towards the oncoming threats. An unseen tear trickled down the Thief King's tanned face as he watched through the monster's eyes. She was never mine…
Did it hurt you to know
That you'll forever be alone
When the entire world is lost
Your echoing thoughts
Will be the last things you hear
A/N: It's late and I have no time to edit so I hope you like it even with all the typos!