*Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!* This story starts in Season 2 of the anime. I will try to keep as much of the original story the same, but eventually break off with an original side story, if that makes sense. Anyway, Here is the Prologue to give you a taste of what to expect.


Prologue: Kul Elna

Four sticks gently fly across the air, landing on the sandy hard surface only a few feet from where they were tossed. Only three of the sticks landed with the flat side facing up; the other one revealed the side that was left untouched.

A hand reaches down to a piece on the rectangular board, it's light-colored, cone shape slightly difficult to grip. The piece is moved through the playing field of the board three spaces, passing a dark, hourglass-shaped pawn, and landing on the square depicting the House of Beauty in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

"Good job," a young boy on the other side of the board praised as he picked up the sticks from the floor. "Now, it's my turn." He tosses the sticks in the same manner. Clattering on the floor next to a young girl's sun-kissed knees, only one of the sticks lay with the flat surface facing up. The boy smiles up to the girl with his soft violet eyes filled with glee and playfulness. "Sorry, Meket, but you better hope my next play isn't a four or a five," he chuckles.

Meket bites at her lower lip. Her emerald eyes quickly observe the board. She still has three pieces on the board and her opponent only has one. If he tosses a five, he wins the game; if he tosses a four, he will land on the Eye of Horus and send her piece to the water tile, meaning that pawn will be sent back to the middle of the board on the Rebirth tile.

The boy moves his pawn one space, switching the position of his piece with Meket's. He gathers the sticks off the floor and tosses them again.

One.

The gleeful smile dissipates from his face and is replaced with a disappointed scowl. He takes the pawn and taps it on the Nile square, then slides it over the the Rebirth tile. Running his fingers through his messy, white hair, he let's out a heavy sigh, "You're lucky this time, but you still have three pieces to get off the board and one of them are still close to the start of the field." The boy points lazily to the lone pawn on the third tile.

Meket smiles proudly this time. "That may be so, but now I have another chance at winning," she informs. Eagerly grabbing the sticks off the ground, she casts them to the floor for a number. None of the sticks' flat surfaces show meaning she can move a piece five squares. Taking the lone piece near the beginning, the girl places the pawn on tile eight, then tosses the casting sticks again.

One.

Meket removes the pawn from the Eye of Horus tile and off the board completely. It is her turn again.

Four.

The pawn on tile eight travels across the playing field once again, landing only three squares behind the boy's. She tosses the sticks again. Hoping for a one, four, or five.

Two.

She bites her lip gently, "Dang." She places her pawn behind his on the board.

"Those were just lucky castings," the boy grumbles as he picks up the sticks.

Before the casting sticks touch the floor, noises from outside catch the children's attention, distracting them from their game of Senet. Screams and shouting send chills racing down their spines. The sounds of crashing and shattering echo through the village of Kul Elna.

"Bakura," Meket whispers nervously, watching him creep over to the brick wall beside them to see what was happening. He doesn't reply, but his body language told her that it is nothing good. She crawls over to him to see as well, her long, black hair barely brushing the sandy floor as she makes her way behind him.

Gasping in horror, Meket covers her gaping mouth, struggling not to scream. Kul Elna is under siege by the Pharaoh's men. Her eyes widen with fright, watching a fellow villager be impaled by a soldier's spear. A hand pulls harshly on her shoulder, pulling her back to hide her from the men outside.

Bakura, his eyes brimming with tears, grips tightly onto his friend's shoulders, his own body shaking with fear and anger. With his head hanging down, he wonders furiously, Why… why is this happening? And how? How did they find the village? He glances up to the girl in front of him. Meket's face is hidden in the palms of her hands as she cries, terrified and shaking. He grunts, angry about how his friend, an innocent girl who had already suffered from losing her home before coming to Kul Elna, has to go through the pain of loss again.

He stands up, lifting her at the same time. "We need to go," he whispers, "before the soldiers find us and we meet the same fate."

She clenches onto his cloth shirt, her fist trembling and feet not moving. "A-are we going to die…just like them," she whimpers.

Her question causes him to tense for a second, before answering, "I won't let anything happen to you."

The young girl wipes the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and nods, "Alright." She releases the hold of his shirt and he steps away to see the current situation outside.

Sniffing, she scans her surroundings, engraving the scenery of their little hideout into her mind so she wouldn't forget it. Her eyes cross over their disturbed game of Senet.

"It's clear," Bakura says in a hushed voice, turning to his friend. His eyes widen when he sees her gathering the game pieces from the floor. "What are you doing?" he asks bewildered.

"I'm bringing it with us," her voice cracks, shoving the pawns and casting sticks into the custom pull-out drawer of the heavy, stone boardgame.

"We can't—." he starts to say, but when she shoots her eyes up to him, he is taken aback by the determination in her eyes. He nods in submission and kneels down beside her to gather the rest of the fourteen pawns. Once the pieces are securely sealed in their stone compartment Bakura turns to Meket, "We have to go, now."

The girl nods, following the boy out into the destruction of Kul Elna.

Many homes and horse wagons are ablaze, bodies of villagers and soldiers lay scattered over the ground due to resistance. Out in the distance, the children can see many of their people being herded like cattle to a large caged wagon.

"Don't slow down," Bakura whispers, breaking the trance of empathy and fear the girl was succumbing to.

Meket glances up at Bakura, concentrating on where to step as they slink between burning buildings and pass bloody corpses throughout their path. Climbing up a thin trail of steps leading to a mountain on the opposite side of the Pharaoh's men, Bakura leads her to a hidden cavern obscured by large boulders and sand.

"We should be safe here until the soldiers leave," the boy says quietly once they crawl through the small entry way. He turns to check outside, making sure that they weren't spotted or being followed.

"Why," she starts, images of destruction and murder from the village flashing through her mind. "Why is this happening?" she raises her green eyes, puffy and red from crying, "Are the gods angry with us?"

Bakura watches helplessly as she sits on the ground with her head in her arms and knees.

"Did I anger the gods somehow? Am I the reason everyone is suffering?" Meket pulls her legs in tighter as her body trimmers from her sobbing.

He crawls over to the girl, hurrying to her side to console his friend. He gently places a hand on her back. "The gods have no reason to be angry at you, Meket." He clenches his other hand tightly, his blood boiling. "It is the Pharaoh the gods should be angry with. Mark my words, I will avenge our people."

She slowly raises her head from her arms, sniffling and scrunching her brows together. "How?"

Looking her dead in the eyes, he replies, "I will destroy him and everything he loves, just as he has done to us."

Meket's eyes widen, completely baffled by what he proposed. "Y-you can't!"

Bakura's brows pull together with anger and confusion. "What do you mean I can't? Didn't you see what he has done to our home?"

"Not only will you get yourself killed, but you won't be any better than the Pharaoh, himself," she explains, hoping he will change his mind.

He growls through clenched teeth, "Are you alright with what has happened here?"

She sucks in a breath, taken aback by his remark. "Of course I'm not alright with it. It's horrible and it terrifies me, but retaliating in the same manner is both stupid and suicidal."

"You can't stop me, Meket. I will have our revenge, whether you are with me or not." A darkness in his violet orbs grows, the fun-loving boy she was just playing Senet with changing before her very eyes.

She drops her head, her heart pounding in her chest. She doesn't agree with the idea, but she isn't just going to abandon him and let him get himself killed. "I'm with you," she says in a barely audible tone.

Bakura's eyes soften, feeling remorseful for the way he acted towards her. He plops down into the sitting position next to her, resting his back against the rock wall behind them. He stares out of the opening of the cavern, listening to the haunting sounds of Kul Elna. A light catches his attention. It's coming from inside their hiding place. He looks around for the source of the light, then sighs. It was just the light from the moon reflecting off of Meket's golden bracelet—the scarab on the band seeming almost alive in the moonlight. He thinks back to when he had first asked her about her bracelet.

"It was a gift passed down from my mother," Meket replied, rubbing her thumb back and forth over the golden scarab, its wings wrapping around her wrist protectively. "She passed away a short time after, but I never took it off. She always told me to never remove it and that the Gods of Egypt have a plan set out for me."

Bakura lays down on the cool, sandy floor, "We should get some rest. We'll have to go back to the village and retrieve what we need to survive. He closes his eyes, "Besides, I want to know why the Pharaoh attacked our people."

Meket lifts her head and glances over to the boy curled up on the ground next to her. "Yeah," she whispers, then crawls behind him, leaving the Senet game next to the wall. She lays down, her back against his, and closes her eyes tightly. The haunting sounds from the nearby village are still occurring. Pulling her knees in closer, she tries to focus on the heat radiating from her friend's back, the thought that she will not be alone comforting her. As her body begins to relax, two tears stream down her temple and drip onto the ground. Mother… what am I supposed to do?...


Author's Notes: Thank you for reading my new fic! I had a lot of fun writing this prologue and am in the process of finishing the first chapter. Hopefully I finish it soon. I will be writing on this story when I am having writer's block or am feeling burnt out on my Sesshomaru fanfic "The Shadows of Time". I you haven't read it yet and are interested in it, then don't hesitate to do so.

PS: I love reviews. ;D

*Update: I fixed a few of the minor mistakes. Also, I want to inform anyone who doesn't know or is curious that Senet is a real Egyptian game that was played by ancient Egyptians. I also find it really addicting. You can find it on and I have an app of the game on my phone.*