Chapter One- 5 years later...

The City of Cairo was buzzing with life as natives and foreigners alike went about daily life. Automobiles drove to and fro, camels either grazed or walked about as venders and police went about their jobs, but in the National Museum of Egypt, no one was there minus a few workers and of course the Curator. In the Library, a young man stood on a ladder, a frighteningly large pile of books in his arms as he wobbled a bit on the ladder, seemingly unaware of his precarious state.

"Socrates..." He mumbled as he set the volumes on the shelf, but blinked his large brown eyes when he saw a book from a different section under the last volume. "Really now... this has Horo written all over it."

Sighing he quickly looked through the others and frowned, there were more in the pile that didn't belong. Quickly pulling them out, he got off the ladder and moved back to the M's section and put away Mummification and Rituals back before going to J and then B. As he was climbing the ladder he froze, a chilling draft wafted over his back, stirring his shoulder length chestnut brown hair. Looking around he caught a shadow on the wall. Frowning, he called out to it, hoping that it was either Ren or Horo.

"Ren? Are you back from Memphis already? Horohoro? I'm not in the mood for pranks today!" He called, getting down from the ladder and walking towards the hall. He blinked, it was the Mummy exhibit. Frowning, he sighed and rubbed his temples. Ren wasn't one to play pranks, Horohoro was and even then Horo wouldn't do it in this room, he was terrified by the mummies in the room. So who could it be?

"Faust-san?" He called again, looking around the box filled room. He jumped when a torch blew out from the hallway, another cold draft blowing through his thin dress shirt.

Sighing, he walked back to the hall, carefully picking his way around the boxes. Coming up to the torch, he pulled out a lighter and quickly lit the torch, but as soon as he did he came face to face with one of the mummies from the exhibit and screamed as he ran from the propped up corpse. He ran back into the exhibit, but screamed again when another popped up in his grave. The terrified young man jumped back away from the mummy, crashing into a few boxes that contained jars and other fragile items.

The deafening crash after that paled in comparison to the last scream uttered by the poor boy before he fainted right there...

He moaned, his head was hurting and his throat felt raw. He heard voices, one was low and whispery, but it sounded upset and firm. Was that Dr. Faust? The other voice sounded like his brother's. Slowly peeling open an eye, then the other he blinked. He was inside of the small medical room Dr. Faust had put in the back of the Museum. Slowly sitting up, he felt Faust's hands supporting him before he blinked his eyes and looked up confused.

"What-"

"You fainted, my dear boy... It seems your brother thought it would be fun to come here while drunk and scare you to near death... It seems in your panicked state you destroyed a few priceless items." Faust said, sighing almost forlornly at the loss of the items. "But I'm not angry with you, Yoh. If anything I'm upset with your brother."

"Sorry Yoh, didn't think you would freak out so much!" came his older brother's overzealous voice.

"Ryu..." Yoh hissed, eyes blazing before he reached up a hand and smacked his brother. "Are you trying to kill me or get me fired? Honestly, you're going to ruin my career like you've ruined yours!"

Faust laughed silently at the siblings. Deciding to let Yoh chew out his brother in piece, he went to see what they could salvage out of the destroyed jars.

"Oh come on, Yoh! I'm not that bad!" Ryu laughed a bit drunkenly. "Besides... I like playing in the dirt as much as you do... Lookie here! I've a got a gift for you!"

Yoh sighed, his head pounding already from the oncoming lecture he would have to undoubtedly deliver to his OLDER brother for the millionth time in a month.

"Ryu, please stop bringing me junk from every Tom, Dick and Harry who comes to you with a sob story about their so-called family heirlooms!" Yoh sighed, rubbing at his forehead, grumbling about junk piling up and re-categorizing the library since he was sure someone, namely Horohoro, messed everything up once more.

"Aha!" Ryu cried, pulling out a strange octagon shaped box of some sort. It was no bigger than the size of his fist. "I got it on a dig down in…ah… Thebes. It was buried near some decapitated statue. I think it was Horus judging by the chest size... or was it Anubis?"

Yoh drowned out his brother's voice, his eyes wide and shining with that glint that said he was curious and his curiosity tended to lead them to the greatest finds in history, or into trouble. He read the small carvings carefully before he noticed something odd. They didn't match up. Ryu, having noted that his brother was ignoring him, watched as Yoh began to twist the odd little box and they both gasped when it shifted. When the images matched up, the top suddenly opened and looked jagged, almost like the teeth on a key. But inside the heart of the strange 'key' there was a piece of ancient parchment.

"Ryu... you found this on a dig?" Yoh asked, having somehow heard what his brother was saying even when he'd tuned him out. "Not to get your hopes up, but I think you found something..."

Ryu's eyes widened before he began to ask questions as Yoh carefully unfolded the parchment to see that it was a map made from rare, no longer in existence, ink and kohl. The lines were perfect and the tiny writing showed them the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt, most of which have been lost to time and the savage, lifeless desert. But there, nearly taking up half of the map, was a large temple or a city.

"Ryu..." Yoh called out, shaking like a leaf as he looked up and smiled widely. "It's a map to Hamunaptra!"

Ryu blinked, confused. Yoh rolled his eyes and got up. He headed out of the medical room and headed to Faust's office just down the hall. The blonde man was reading up on mummification as his fingers lingered on a skull sitting lovingly on a pillow to his left. Ryu shivered. The man was nice and all, sometimes scary when he got upset, but he creeped him out because who the hell keeps their late wife's remains and fondles them in public?

"Hmm? Up and about I see... How is your head?" Faust asked, looking worriedly at Yoh.

"I'm fine, thank you... I have a hard head thankfully." Yoh joked before he set down the little puzzle box and the map. "Ryu found these on a dig. I got the little box to open and it looks like a Key of some sort... See the Sacred Scarab? It's the Symbol of Seti the First."

"Who's Seti the First?" Ryu asked, blinking.

"He was one of the greatest Pharaohs recorded in history, not to mention the richest of them all." Yoh answered.

"Rich? How rich?"

"Buying all of Japan five times over." Faust spoke up, looking at the map closely. He pulled out a set of glasses, carefully reading the map as Yoh pointed out all the little inkings that dated the map as well as proving the authenticity of the map. "Well indeed it looks legit, but I don't think you should put too much heart into this... I know you wish to honor your mother and father's last wishes, but I would never allow you to travel out into Hell's Kitchen just to find nothing but shattered hopes and dreams."

Yoh pouted, looking like a kicked puppy as Faust laughed softly, petting his head. Ryu on the other hand protested when he saw that Faust had accidently set the map on fire. Snatching it and patting out the flames he gasped and glared at the sheepish blonde.

"You burnt off the part with Hamunaptra!" He accused.

"I'm sorry... But I think it's for the best. Besides your parents would never want you two to travel the desert unguided... That map is ancient, there's no telling where you'll end up if you try to follow it... Now then, Ryu, I would like it very much if you left. After your little stunt earlier, it safe to say I wish to keep what's left of the exhibit from being destroyed. Yoh, if you'll please finish in the Library. I would very much appreciate it..."

They nodded and left as Faust smiled warmly, then frowned down at his dog, the German Shepherd whined, resting his head on his lap.

"Frankensteiny, I worry about those two... I hope they don't chase after this one... I'm sure that Mikihisa and Keiko would be furious if I allowed their boys to go on a wild goose chase..." He sighed, petting his dog. "Eliza, you'd agree with me wouldn't you?" He asked the skull, smiling at it before turning back to the book he was reading...

~The next day~

Yoh was completely lost; his brother said he got the puzzle box during a dig. Why in the gods' names where they at a prison? He felt frightened, the guards sneered and spit at their feet, a few of them grinned lecherously at him and the prisoners where no different, though a few were begging them for mercy or to set them free.

"Ryu, you lied!"

"I lie to everyone, what makes you so special?" Ryu asked, holding Yoh close, glaring at the head Guard that was eying Yoh a bit too closely for his tastes.

"I'm your brother!" Yoh snapped, stopping to cross his arms over his chest and tap his foot impatiently at his brother.

"Right, that just makes you all the more gullible." Ryu laughed, only to hiss in pain when Yoh stomped on his foot, grinding his heel down on his toes. "Ouch!"

"Come, come!" Said the man, dressed in the colors of the head warden of the prison and toting some very serious burn scars on his face. "When I heard you were coming, I asked our dear friend why he was here and you know what he told me?"

"No, Mr. Mendel..." Yoh said, a bit worried.

"He said all he wanted was a good time!" He laughed before a brawl caught his attention and he quickly went to break it up, leaving Yoh and Ryu to stand before the barred cell as two large guards came out, struggling with what Yoh could only describe as a wild beast.

Black wild hair and filthy, the man smelt bad and had an unsightly beard growing making him look that much worse. The guards threw him into the bars, his head connecting painfully with the wrought metal. Yoh winced in sympathetic pain, before he cleared his throat. The man was glaring at the guards, muttering in French for a moment before turning to face them.

"Who the hell are you? Huh, who's the Fruitcup?"

"Huh, Fruitcup?" Yoh asked, blinking a bit slowly, not sure he followed as Ryu seemed to bristle before paling and then putting on a charming smile.

"I'm just one of the local Missionary chaps, you know, spreading the good word and all... Uhh, this is my little brother, Yoh..." Ryu said, a bit hastily.

"Huh, do I know you? You look kinda familiar..." The man said, squinting a bit.

"Huh, oh no... I just have one of those- OOF!" Ryu was punched quick, but hard, and wound up lying on the ground in a daze as the guards hit the man hard, but he hardly flinched as he hissed lightly from the hits.

"Uhh... um... excuse me... my brother and I seemed to have stumbled across your puzzle box-"

"No." the man said, cutting off and stopping Yoh instantly. "You've come to ask me about Hamunaptra. The City of the Dead."

Yoh had the decency to blush a bit, dropping his gaze as he got closer to the man, pulling off his hat to cover their faces so they could talk a bit more privately. The blush deepening as he bit his lip out of nervousness before looking up into dark brown eyes similar to his own.

"Well... yes; Do- do you think... you- you could tell me? You know, how to get there, exactly?"

"Sure... I can tell you... I was there, so I know it pretty well." the man said, giving him a charming smile.

"You where actually there?" Yoh asked, shocked.

"That's how I found that little box. Well, me and 400 other men and the bandits..." the man said, his eyes going distant as if he were lost in thought before he shook his head and crooked a finger to get Yoh closer. "Want to know where to go?"

Yoh nodded getting as close as he dared to the man, his nose wrinkling a bit at the foul smell of an unwashed body, but otherwise was not bothered to be so close to the potentially dangerous man. As he was nearly arm's reach from the bars, a hand shot out, catching him by the jaw and suddenly his eyes were nearly falling out of his head as he realized that the man was kissing him, hard and nearly painful before he was yanked back by the guards.

"THEN GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He yelled as he was dragged off.

"Wha- where are they going!" Yoh asked, still in shock.

Cebin Mendel looked Yoh over with a critical eye as he smirked. "To be hanged... Apparently he had a VERY good time."

Yoh felt his cheeks heat up and then glared at the man for insinuating he was some kind of whore. He demanded to see the hanging and Cebin was all too happy to show him. They were soon sitting in a box as down below them was a crudely made set of gallows. Prisoners, former soldiers and even a few civilians were protesting the hanging, going as far as to try and push their way to the gallows, but in the in end shied away at the guns being aimed at them, though never silencing their voices. Yoh sat in the cool shade, eyes wide as he tried to think of something, anything to save the man's neck.

"I'll pay you 100 pounds to set him free!" He begged.

"I'd pay 100 just to see the pig squirm while hanging."

"150!" Yoh cried out.

"No... Ah, any last words?" Cebin mocked the man as the executioner got ready to pull the lever.

"300!" Yoh cried, eyes nearly bulging from his sockets as the man looked at him with wary eyes.

"Hold on!" Cebin called, liking the sound of that; maybe he could sweeten the deal a bit more. After all he'd be a fool not to sample such a pretty young man. "What else? I am a very lonely man, you know..."

Yoh squealed when he felt the man's hand touching his inner thigh. Face blood red, eyes blazing hell fire, but with his mouth in a pout, it ruined the effect. Yoh slapped his hand off and growled in warning. Cebin didn't like to be denied and even worse the prisoners were laughing at him. He ordered the man's death, but as he dropped, his neck did not snap. So now they had to watch him strangle to death. The prisoners were near rioting as they tried to storm the gallows. Yoh gasped before he got a brilliant idea.

"He knows where to find the City of the Dead. He can take us to Hamunaptra and help us find the riches Seti buried there!" Yoh said.

"You lie!" Cebin said, eyes wide as Yoh looked aghast.

"I would never!" Yoh yelled indignantly before shaking his head. "If you set him free, you'll get 20%!"

"50." Cebin said.

"25." Yoh said, smirking. He was a master at haggling.

"40."

"30." Yoh said.

"35!" Cebin said and Yoh jump up with a triumphant smile.

"DEAL!"

Cebin's face fell before he muttered a few choice words and ordered for the man to be cut down. The man fell to the ground coughing and gagging, before he looked up balefully at the balcony, wondering what the hell happened to get the bastard to set him free at the last possible second. But that thought died away when he saw the triumphant smile on the young man's face. His brown eyes glittering mischiviously...