10/14/2013

ITS UPDATE TIME! Hurray! I'm trying to be more regular with updates, I really am but college is getting to me. Lets just see how far I can go with this and hope for the best.

Loose lips sink ships

Wanna know a secret?

Promise not to tell?

But a promise is only as good as the one who makes it or the one who keeps it. "I'll tell you a secret but you have to promise not to tell"

"What does that have to do with my son!" the woman yelled from down bellow, looking on in fear as her newborn son was clutched in my arms

"Everything"

Atemu entered the meeting place with an air of confidence and power, but not arrogance, fully aware of his power and station but unwilling to abuse it.

The room hushed as he walked in, the other occupants rising in respect as their monarch walked to the head of the table where Bakura was standing.

Waving his hand in a dismissive manner Atemu sat and the other men and women of the room joined him.

With a look Bakura rose and began the meeting. "This meeting has been called to further discuss the measures to be taken in order to protect the kingdom from this mysterious affliction. A plan needs to be made to protect the country in any way we can"

"But how can we protect what we cannot see nor catch?" a blue haired man asked from the other end of the table

"How can you stop something without trying?" another man, with brown hair and cold blue eyes, said from his place 2 seats away from the king "how can we simply make excuses for not doing anything?"

Nodding in agreement Atemu added "Seto has a point, we need to do something"

"With all do respects, my king, we also need to discuss the cost and effectiveness of this plan. How can we pay for all the extra protection?"

"I do not think that the cost is more important in this issue when a sixth of the population is dead" Bakura butted in, causing the room to go a-buzz with chatter.

Waiting until the room had quieted down Atemu turned to a woman towards the end of the table "Isis has anything come back on the cause of this?" Atemu asked one of the few women in the room.

The woman stood up her tan slender body covered in a long white dress with a white headscarf adorning her head. A golden eye necklace lay close to her throat and a thick gold belt glinted as she rose. "Yes my king. This is no disease and the wounds appear to have been created by a knife after the victim died. Its strange, aside from the wounds, there have been no correlations between the victims, no age range no specific gender or location where more victims have been taken or not taken. This is completely sporadic and it would be highly difficult to pinpoint a factor that would indicate if someone is next" she took a deep breath and then continued, "the wound seems to be the only things tying the victims together. On top of that eyewitnesses and loved ones of the deceased said that they were acting normal and had no signs of illness or have any other reasons as to why they may have been killed"

Atemu sighed, that was not what he wanted to hear. At least if it was a disease they could find a cure or if there was one killer they could track them down but without any deciding factors there was no way to tell.

"Thank you Isis" she bowed and returned to her seat, placing one hand on her necklace, touching the golden surface in an effort to comfort herself.

"Until we determine what relates all these people together we need to do everything in our power to protect those that are still alive" Atemu clasped his hands together resting them against his lips and continued "until then I do not want to hear about delays or fickle problems against the protection of my country"

"But my king-"

"Stop Abasi" Bakura said as he saw the haunted looking him Atemu's eyes. Although you couldn't tell by outside appearance Bakura knew that Atemu had reached his breaking point, his clasped hands covering the fact that he was biting lightly at his thumbnails, a nervous tick he had picked up over the years.

"Mert what do you think?" Atemu asked as he continued to stare at the table. The extraordinarily quiet and wise woman rose from her seat and the room went silent trying to hear her soft words.

"My king I believe the only action we can do at this point is to do what has been suggested and wait to see if a turning point is found. Until then I believe there is nothing we can do" she then bowed respectfully and sat down once again.

Atemu nodded his head and rose gracefully from his seat "meeting is adjourned" he said before he left the room, trying to get away from the nobles as quickly as possible.

Bakura rose and gave the orders to the guards. All the other nobles and members of court left the room at a leisurely pace, talking amongst themselves about what had just transpired.

Some had forgotten that Bakura was in the room when they started to speak ill of the king. "I cannot believe him! He wants to waste our money on those low servants? They don't even respect us so why should he care?"

"Because unlike you, Panya, he cares more about his people than he does himself"

"B-Bakura! I had no idea you were still here!"

"Yeah try telling me that bull some other time. How dare you accuse Atemu of not being a good ruler when you have no idea how to be kind to one person aside from your higher ups. I never want to hear another word come from your mouth. If I catch you or one of your friends talking about him again I will not hesitate to take out your tongue, do I make myself clear?" Bakura had at this point narrowed his eyes to slits and was glaring daggers at Panya.

Too scarred to speak she nodded bowed and left, sprinting away from the white haired man, knowing full well that he would keep his promise.

"He doesn't need anymore shit," he said to himself as he exited heading towards the only place Atemu would be.

Walking the familiar hallways towards the gardens he took a sharp turn and walked through a tall hedge to a private garden. The walls of the tall bushes allowed for privacy and the sound of fountains that were placed throughout the gardens allowed for conversations to be kept private.

Finding the king lying in the grass he could tell Atemu was more upset than he let on. This garden was a sanctuary of sorts when he was younger, running to hide here when he was yelled at, frustrated or scarred. But more often than not this garden was where the king went when he was sad. Upon the death of his father, the previous king, Atemu would not leave the garden for almost 2 days, only Bakura and Seto, who was also hiding in the garden, knew where he had disappeared off to.

Approaching slowly he plopped down in the grass next to the king, enjoying the feel of the sun on his skin for a while, simply providing his company. After knowing Atemu for as long as he had he knew that he wouldn't talk when he was upset until he was ready to.

Leaning his elbows onto his knees he sat quietly just enjoying the day.

"Have we really lost so many?" Atemu asked no one in particular looking up at the sky in a contemplative manner.

Not wanting to interrupt the king from his thoughts Bakura chose to just listen to what was bothering the young king. At least if Atemu was talking Bakura could figure out what had made him so upset.

"What kind of king am I? The people must hate me for not doing something sooner" he continued, "I mean how could they not? I'm here sitting happy and safe while they are watching their friends, neighbors, and family die and I cant do anything to calm their fears or stop this"

Sensing the dark emotions of self hatred beginning to surface Bakura continued to watch his friend paying more attention in case he had to intervene

"I'm not cut out for this, I've clearly failed and the people must hate-"

"Shut up Atemu" Bakura finally said, needing to calm his hysteric friend

"But why? You must hate m-"

"I said shut up!" Bakura yelled stunning Atemu into silence. "Do you really think so lowly of yourself!? Do you really think that your country thinks that you haven't been trying to help? Do you really think that?"

Bakura couldn't comprehend how someone could believe that by messing up or not knowing what to do would make everyone around them hate them "your people love you, believe me when I say this, they are thrilled to have you as their king. You are just and fair, you have not neglected anyone and you have improved the country tremendously over the past year as king. Of all the people I have met no one has ever said they were unhappy with your rule"

"But-"

"Stop" Bakura said angrily "believe in yourself a little more. Your father wasn't perfect and he was loved as well. The country understands that you cannot help, they just want you to do your best to try to find a solution"

"I feel so helpless" Atemu said as he curled into himself

Feeling awkward but still trying to help, Bakura pulled the king into a hug. Squeaking in surprise Atemu looked up at Bakura with a look of confusion.

"I'm not good at this comforting thing" Bakura mumbled as he released Atemu, avoiding eye contact at all costs "my mom would do this when I was upset so..."

Atemu chuckled slightly and Bakura glowered down at him "Thanks" Atemu said as he laid back down, appreciating the effort but feeling awkward all the same.

"What now?"

"Sit and wait I guess"

PLEASE NOTE THAT BAKURA AND ATEMU ARE FRIENDS NOT LOVERS