A/N: Well finally an update! Thanks to my reviewers and I promise to make sure the wait isn't as long for the next update. Enjoy!
Info to know:
Hikari Marik= Marik
Yami Marik= Malik
The Key
3 Years Later…Luxor Museum
"Crash! Bang!"
"Oh friggen hell!"
"Boom! Wham!"
"Ah crap, that hurt!"
Marik Ishtar was currently struggling. Struggling with what, you ask? Well let's just say he was a little…..tied up and no not in that regard you perverted people! What I'm trying to say is that Marik, the guy cursing, had been given a most strenuous job to do. One that involved sorting and organising a very elaborate library that contained millions upon millions of artefact files and ancient history books. The reason this young Egyptian male was struggling with such a simply described task was that there were currently a hell of a lot of boxes scattered about the place and Marik, ever the clumsy one, liked to trip over a lot of them.
The blond-haired man was currently sprawled out on the red carpeted ground, trying to rid himself of a tangled mess of cords he'd found himself stuck around. The cord was caught around his waist, his neck and his legs, though unfortunately for him his struggles were only making the situation worse.
"Who in their right mind would leave a box of cords right in the middle of the aisle?" He huffed in his highly Arabic accented voice. Working at a museum most of his life had made him adopt the habit of speaking in English most of the time, what with most of the tourists coming from westernised places that only spoke the language. With a few more twists and groans from the tanned male he managed to free himself of the mess.
He stood up in triumph while pointing a strong pointer finger back down at the accursed cords.
"Ah ha! Thought you could best the great Marik Ishtar did you?" he started circling the offending cords.
"Well I've got news for you buddy!" he exclaimed, not realising that his feet were being tangled once again with it.
"But nothing in this world can best me! Noth-Wah!" he tripped. Trying to find something to stop his fall he grabbed onto one of the bookshelves next to him. Falling forward with most of his weight in front of him, he accidently pushed the whole bookcase over. Unfortunate though, that the room was made circular because it created a chain reaction of sorts. Once the first case bashed into the second one, it made a domino effect that landed all seven bookcases upturned in a rather disastrous manner. Once the dust was settled, Marik stood up with his hands pulling at his hair. He was going to be in deep trouble he thought as he brushed some soot from his face. There was a bang that made him realise that someone had entered the now messier room.
"Oh, crap…" Marik muttered to himself as he knew who had just come in. A man with dark brown hair and striking blue eyes took in the sight before him from the doorway.
"Sons of the pharaoh! Give me flies, frog and lotuses, anything but you!" he exclaimed, making his way around the mess to stand in front of the shorter male.
"Compared to you the other plagues were a blessing!" he said, exasperatedly. Marik was quick not anger him, clasped his hands in a sign of pleading.
"I'm sorry Seto, it was an accident."
"When Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident." Seto replied, using his hands to enforce his point.
"You, are a catastrophe!" Marik winced, he's heard worse from Kaiba though, he was getting off easy this time.
"Why do I put up with you?" he asked rhetorically. Marik smirked, he knew that answer.
"Well, I can write and read ancient Egyptian, I can decipher hieroglyphics and hieratics. And I'm the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and categorise this library." He finished, feeling proud of himself. Seto on the other hand, wasn't as impressed.
"No, I put up with you because you older siblings are the museums best patrons." He corrected, dismissing Mariks look of injustice as he turned to go back out the door.
"I don't care how long it takes you. Straighten up this library!" And slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Marik sighed, "I have a lot of work to do."
As Marik was nearing the hour mark of his hideous chore, a loud rustling sounded throughout the hallway and entered the library, making the tanned male stop what he was currently doing (as in, organising books) to go check it out. He walked out into the long hallway following the source of the noise all the way to the drop off bay where artefacts were brought to and from the museum. The scheduled drop off wasn't until the next week and that was why Mariks face pinched in confusion. It could be a rat, he thought, but that was highly improbable as the museum and everything in it was cleaned regularly so as not to upset hygiene critics.
Another rustling sound came from one of the large crates that had been left there, obviously forgotten. Marik moved closer to the crate so he could look inside when…
"SCCCCRRRREEEECCCCHHHH!"
A preserved mummy sat up out of the crate he peered over.
"Holy Shit!" Marik exclaimed, falling on his behind and scooted as far back as he could, shutting his eyes. He squeezed them shut until he heard an uproar of familiar laughter. Opening his eyes and standing up from his embarrassing position, he turned to glare at the source of the noise.
"Malik!" He shouted. Said man was currently lying next to the carcass holding his sides while trying to contain his jovial laughter.
"Are you quite done?" The glaring man asked. The laughing man, Malik, was slowly regaining control of his laughter and turned to look at the unimpressed man with a somewhat drunk look in his eyes.
"Why would you do that? Have you been drinking?" Marik eyed Malik with suspicion. The man, not unlike Marik himself was somewhat ruffled up and had a beer bottle in his hand. His hair, the same colour as Mariks that liked to defy gravity, was also drooped at the ends.
"Have you no respect for the dead?" Marik asked, rhetorically.
"I do, but at the moment I'd rather join them." Malik replied somewhat slurred. Marik, still somewhat shaken from the scare, went up and pushed the offending man in the chest.
"I hope you do that sooner rather than later before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours." Marik said while poking a pointer finger in Maliks chest. Malik just grinned drunkenly.
"My dear sweet baby brother." he said while trying to make his way out of the crate wobbly.
"I'll have you know that at this moment, my career is on a high note!" he exclaimed, standing upright. Marik smirked.
"High note? Ha! For five years you've been scrounging around Egypt and what have you to show of it? Nothing!" Marik exclaimed. Malik ignored the insult and pushed his way past his brother towards an open sarcophagus on the far left of the room.
"Oh yes I do, right here!" Malik exclaimed, pulling out a strange hexagonal shaped object. Marik didn't look impressed.
"Oh no, not another useless trinket Malik. If I bring one more piece of junk to Kaiba to try….." Malik brought the key closer to him, "Where did you get this?" Marik asked, finally intrigued by the object. Malik looked put out at that question, seeming to of forgotten.
"Err…on a dig down in…erm, Cairo." He replied at last. Malik placed the object into Marik's hands and he examined it.
"Please tell me I've found something this time Mar. My whole life I've never found anything worthwhile. Please tell me I've found something." Fiddling around, Marik found a small latch on the side and eight tips sprang out from the centre of the trinket. A piece of paper was sitting in the middle of it and Marik unfolded it to find an extravagant map. Marik grins happily at his older brother.
"Malik, I think you've found something."
"See the cartouche there, it's the official royal seal of Seti the first, I'm sure of it."
They were currently sitting in Kaibas office showing the man himself Malik's discovery. Malik leant over the desk to get a better look at the map.
"Two questions. First, who was Seti the first and was he rich?" Malik asked, sparing a glace at his brother across from him.
"He was the last Pharaoh of the old kingdom. Said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all." Marik replied, feeling smug about his vast knowledge on the subject.
"Alright, that's good, really good. I like Seti, I like Seti a lot." Malik was enthralled with the idea of discovering that much wealth. Kaiba picked up the map and examined it closely.
"I've taken the liberty of dating it for you. It dates back five thousand years ago. See the hieratics over here…." Marik pointed to a row of symbols on the map. He inhaled deeply as if holding in some big surprise.
"It's Kul Elna." Kaiba froze, suddenly very nervous and then recovered.
"Marik, don't be ridiculous, we are scholars, not treasure hunters. Kul Elna is a myth." He breathed a sigh of relief, hoping Marik won't push the issue. Malik was intrigued though.
"Are we talking about the Kul Elna?" Marik nodded to him.
"Yes, the city of the dead, where Pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt." Malik nodded to himself, sure of the story.
"Right, in a big underground treasure chamber. Everyone knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the ground at the Pharaohs command." He looked some-what smug that he knows something historical for once. Marik smiled wryly.
"All historians know is that the town mysteriously vanished around 2,134 B.C."
Kaiba purposefully held the map closer to the candle on the table. He huffed, unimpressed with their 'so-called' logic.
"As the Americans would say: it's all fairy tales and hocus pocus." The map 'accidently' caught on fire and Kaiba threw it to the floor. Malik and Marik dropped to their knees immediately and quickly put it out. Both of their tanned hands lifted the charred paper up to examine the damage been done. Malik fumes.
"You burnt it! You burnt off the part of the lost city!" Both Ishtars glared at Kaiba, but he shook off their anger and shrugged.
"It's for the best. Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Kul Elna and no one has ever found it, most have never returned."
Malik gave him a kicked puppy look.
"You killed my map" he says, devastated. Kaiba ignores him.
"I'm sure it was a fake anyway. I'm surprised at you Marik, to be so fooled." He reached for the key, but Marik quickly snatched it off the desk and gave him a very angry, suspicious look.
Both Marik and Malik made their way outside the office, planning to find a way to this mysterious, Kul Elna.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will finally start this adventure and Bakura comes back! R&R