"Are you ok, Yugi?" Yami asked, helping him to his feet.
"I... but you... but..." Yugi stammered, staring at Yami. He swallowed and bowed his head. "I'm fine, your Majesty."
Yami frowned. "Don't call me that, please. I came out here to get away from all that." He sighed and tucked the puzzle beneath the folds of his clothes. "Although I suppose I didn't do a very good job of it. I just ended up getting you guys in trouble."
Yugi shrugged. "It wouldn't be so bad if the Pharaoh didn't do the judging of thieves with the Millennium Items..." he said, thinking aloud.
"The Millennium Items being used on street thieves?" Yami asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who told you that?"
Yugi looked up at him, confused. "Well, they do public displays sometimes. I've seen it myself. Didn't you know, sir?"
"No. Who is 'they'?" Yami's eyes narrowed in thought. "The priests? Surely not my father, he gave me his Millennium Puzzle before he left on his trip so that I could begin my training with Seth..."
Yami's mention of his father sent Yugi back into silence, staring at the ground in embarrassment as he realized that Yami's father was the Pharaoh.
"I just want to say, Atem.. I-I mean, Prince Yami... I'm sorry for my behavior earlier, I was pretty rude to you, if I had but known, I-"
Yami cut him off with a shake of his head. "If you had known, you would have spent the entire morning walking on eggshells, like you are now. I told you, I don't like all the formality." He took Yugi by the shoulders. "I'm just a person, Yugi, whether my name is Atem or whether it's Yami."
Yugi blinked at him. "All right. Yami." He gave him a half smile, then looked away, biting his lip. "But Anzu..." he trailed off.
He jumped when Yami placed his hand on his shoulder again. "I will get Anzu freed." Yami vowed. "And, Yugi... I'm really sorry for the trouble I caused. Really."
Yami got another half smile in return, then he turned and began running back toward the palace, where the guards had taken off to. Yugi watched him go, still in awe at his new friend's identity. A few moments later, he also began heading to the palace, hoping to hear some news of Anzu and, if Yami didn't come through, rescue her if he could.
There was no way he was going to let his best friend be forced into a shadow game with the priests!
(And thus ends probably the only scene where Yugi and Yami actually talk to one another. (sweatdrop))
(Divider)
"Seth, I need to talk to you. Now."
The high priest sighed in irritation, but stopped at the voice behind him. "What whining and complaining are you going to do now, prince?"
Yami's eyes narrowed. "I think you know. Where is the prisoner your guards captured earlier today? They said you asked for this one specifically."
Seth turned. "In the dungeon with the rest of the prisoners. Go down and visit her if you want. Won't be much to talk to, though. She had a pretty rough Shadow Judgment."
A growl escaped Yami's lips and he vaguely noted that he knew that she was a girl. That probably meant that he had seen her earlier today, or had known of her previously. "What did you do to her, Seth? Father forbade the use of the Millennium Items on our citizens unless they had committed a crime worthy of the punishment."
"Strangely enough, my prince, he had a... change of heart... right before he left on his trip. He told me that the item's judging powers probably would not harm those who were innocent, and that I should use them just in case the prisoners had done something punishable. With the girl in the condition that she is, she obviously did." Seth smirked at him. "Anything else, or can I go back to what I was doing?"
Yami growled again. "Why did you ask for her specifically to be captured? Surely she's no worse than any of the other thieves in the area."
Surprisingly, Seth hesitated a moment before regaining his mask of indifference and answering coolly, "I didn't ask for her specifically. You were missing, presumed kidnapped. I simply ordered them to bring me the ones found with you as your kidnapper. Obviously, I was mistaken in that regard, but not of the slave thief's intentions. Now excuse me, I have more important things to do." He turned and strode off down the corridor, his robes swirling around his ankles angrily.
Yami glared at his retreating back, wanting to make another retort but unable to because the high priest was now disappearing from sight. He sighed, muttering the retort to himself instead. "Right. If that were true, Yugi would have been taken as well. Obviously, that means that he did want Anzu for a reason, which also means that she probably didn't get a judging from the Millennium Items. He's trying to make me stop searching for her for some reason... I'd better check the dungeons, anyway, to see if I can find her..."
(Divider)
Anzu groaned and shifted positions, only to find that she couldn't move much. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around her, grimacing when she realized that she must be in the palace dungeons. Her arms were chained up above her head, and though she was in a sitting position, her ankles were chained to the floor. Her mind still fuzzy, she tried to recall what had happened.
Got captured... Brought to palace... fear of the Shadow punishment... which never happened... presented briefly to the high priest... knocked out and, apparently, brought here...
Why had she been captured? What had happened? She had gotten back from the slave camp with Yugi, and another... The guards swarmed the shelter... And then he...
Now she remembered. She looked down at her feet. Crown Prince Yami. The teenage boy she had been becoming friends with, the one whose eyes had that strange effect on her, was royalty. She clanked her chained hands on the wall above her angrily.
How could she have been so stupid! She had been to parades where the royal family was there. She had been to the slave camps near the palace and had heard the giggling of the girls about the prince's looks, about his hair and his handsomeness both. Had seen the prince herself on occasion while following Malik on one of his excursions of the palace. Why hadn't she recognized him? It's not like that hairstyle was common, even if Yugi had a very similar one...
She sighed as the answer came to her. Before, he had always been dressed in bright, catchy gold and expensive glittering capes and robes. The very fact that he was the prince had led her not to pay attention to him and instead focus on those people in social groups she could actually hope to be in.
Now... He had been just another person, and his kindness and his eyes had stood out more than the flashy clothes ever had to her. She smiled, remembering how their eyes had met on several occasions throughout the afternoon, each time sending a strange happy, jittery feeling through her, especially when he smiled. No one else had ever made her feel that way before...
She abruptly found herself grounded back in reality. He was the prince. He would never feel the same way about a common girl, and especially not to a thief. She bit her lip in thought, realizing that maybe the thief part wasn't true. After all, he had gone with them when they went and stole a few things to give to the slaves, and he didn't seem disgusted or anything then...
She shook herself again. That aside, a prince, especially the crown prince of Egypt, had to marry a princess. Would probably only settle for a princess, even without the law.
A loud clanking sound startled her and she looked around for the source of the noise. At first she saw nothing, but then noticed a metal bar on the floor that hadn't been there before and she looked up to find a window. She watched it carefully, and eventually a familiar spiky-haired head poked its way in. "Anzu?"
"Yugi! Hey, get me out of here, quick, before the guards notice." Anzu sighed in relief at her friend's appearance.
Yugi nodded and slipped in, swinging from the ledge to the ground and hurrying over to her, lock picks in hand. "Hey. Atem, Yami, whoever he is, said he was gunna try and get you outta here, but I don't trust him, so I came to get you myself." He explained.
"He wanted me released? But why?" Anzu asked, perplexed.
"Said he owed it to us for getting us into trouble or something like that," Yugi said shortly. One of the chains came free and he started on the next one.
"Oh." She said vaguely, wondering why that made her feel disappointed. "Thanks for coming to help me. I don't know what I would do without you, Yuge."
Yugi just shrugged. The other chain came loose. Anzu pulled free and they both began to work on the ones holding her feet in silence. These easily came free and soon Anzu was on her feet and the two headed back towards the window.
"Wait!" a voice called from the darkness. They both turned, curious.
"Yes?" Anzu asked.
An old man heaved himself to his feet and hobbled his way slowly out of the corner of the room to where they were standing. "Please, help me out as well. I know of a few passageways here to avoid the guards, and I can reward you handsomely."
Anzu nodded, but Yugi hesitated. "Anzu, he'll slow us down. Lookit how slow he walks. One of us would have to carry him, and I can't do that."
"I'm not joking about the reward." The man said quickly. He reached into a fold in his clothes and pulled out several large, sparkling rubies. Yugi and Anzu stared. That handful would be enough to let them both live a comfortable life for the rest of their lives! "And there's more where that came from! I can take you to a place filled with treasure!"
Yugi couldn't find a disagreement to this, so Anzu hefted the man onto her back while Yugi steadied him, and they set off, following the man's whispered commands out of the palace and into the warm desert air.
Unbeknownst to the trio, the door of the dungeons opened just then, admitting an increasingly worried prince...
(Divider)
"What is this place, old man?" Yugi asked, gaping at the sight before him. The man had directed them out into the middle of the desert and then released a gold, glittering object which had flown forward, separated into two halves, and slammed itself into the sand a ways off, which then rose and became a huge lion head, its mouth wide open and its tongue forming steps down its throat.
"The Cave of Wonders," the man breathed, his eyes glittering. "Filled with treasure beyond your wildest imaginations."
Anzu stepped forward in a slight daze, gazing up at the lion's head. She was shocked a moment later when the lion began to speak.
"Who disturbs my slumber?" it demanded, its mouth returning to it's open position once it had spoken.
Anzu stammered, "A-ah, my name is Anzu, and this is Yugi and... well, I don't know who this is."
The lion nodded somehow. "The two young ones may enter, with a warning. Do not touch what does not concern you. The Diamond in the Rough is entitled to the lamp and the forbidden treasure. Those with the Diamond may touch only the lamp." The lion fell silent and the two thieves stepped forward nervously.
"The Diamond in the Rough? What's he talking about?" Yugi whispered.
"Only the one whom the cave has dubbed the Diamond in the Rough is allowed to enter the Cave of Wonders." The old man explained from his distance. "Apparently, that's one of you, presumably the one who did the introductions." He looked pleased with himself. "I, ah, have a request for you. The lamp it spoke of... May I have it?"
Anzu and Yugi glanced at each other, and Anzu shrugged. "I suppose... I mean, we'll get the 'forbidden treasure', whatever that is. A lamp is just a common light..."
The man's face broke out in a grin and Anzu continued. "Well, let's go see what this Cave of Wonders has in store for us," she suggested. The two youths strode inside the lion's mouth and started down the stairs.
Inside the room past the entrance stairs, the walls and floor were gilded with gold, and coins and precious jewels lay in mounds haphazardly throughout the available floor space. "Woooow," Yugi breathed, his eyes wide. "I feel like I'm in a royal treasury!"
Anzu nodded silently, feeling her mouth go dry.
"I mean, it's like I'm dreaming or something... This can't all be real, can it? I've gotta test it." He bent to pick up a coin.
"Wait!" Anzu whirled on him. Yugi froze, looking at her questioningly. "We don't know which one of us is the Diamond, so let's not take any chances. Let's just find that lamp thing first. We can examine the gold and stuff on the way out, so we can run for it if we need to."
Yugi nodded, going back to her side. "Good point. But where could the lamp be? It looks like there are rooms beyond this one, and for all we know this lamp could be buried underneath this stuff..."
Anzu shrugged. "We just have to look around for a while."
The two walked for a while, still staring at all the gold, but not daring to touch any of it. Yugi found it increasingly difficult to shake the feeling that they were both being watched. After a few minutes, he could take it no longer and he whirled around, glancing around and trying to see who could possibly be watching.
Anzu noticed that he had stopped and she looked back at him. "What is it?" she asked.
Yugi didn't answer for a moment, just glancing back at her and creeping towards one of the gold piles. "I think there's someone here..."
"Didn't you hear the old man, Yugi? Only the Diamond can enter here, how would anybody but us be here?" Anzu looked a little annoyed.
"I don't know, but that doesn't change the fact that somebody's here..." Yugi said slowly, peeking behind the pile. "Huh. Nothing here but an old rolled up carpet..." He headed for another pile, still glancing about nervously.
"I think you're being paranoid." Anzu told him. Yet, as she turned around and began to walk forward again, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye and began to feel the same ominous feeling.
Yugi looked up at her, then sighed. "I know I feel something, Anzu... I—GAH!"
Anzu whirled, looking to see what had startled her friend. "What, what is it?" she asked. Looking around, things looked the same as they had looked before, except that Yugi was now staring at a different pile of treasure.
"That carpet I saw... It's alive!" Yugi breathed. He crept behind the pile and dragged it out from behind it. The carpet began to squirm wildly, trying to escape.
Anzu stared. "Hey, that must be a magic carpet!" she exclaimed. Yugi let it go and it soared out of his arms and hid behind the gold mound again.
"Hey, little guy," Yugi called after it. "We don't want to hurt you, it's okay. I just don't like not knowing who's watching me. Come on, come out..."
Anzu smiled as an edge of the carpet peeked out from its hiding place. "That's funny, I've never seen a carpet act like it had a human personality before..." she said to herself.
The carpet flew out from behind the gold at her words and began gesturing wildly with one of its tasseled corners at her. She blinked. "What? Was it something I said?"
"Human personality... Hey, maybe that's it. Maybe this carpet used to be a human, and it was turned into a carpet." Yugi suggested. The carpet did a flip in midair and stretched its tassels out excitedly. Apparently, that was correct.
"Wow, sucks to be you, huh? Turned into a carpet..." Anzu said. The carpet shrugged with two of its corners and floated over to her, soaring around her several times, getting higher each time. "You like the flying part?" The carpet responded with an affirmative.
Yugi grinned. "That's pretty cool. Hey, are you part of the forbidden treasure thing that we're not supposed to touch, or can you give us a ride? We're looking for a lamp of some sort."
The carpet flew down to his waist level and gestured that he could get on, but then flew vertically again, so that if it had been a human it would be standing, and began pointing a tassel at first Anzu, then Yugi, then itself.
Anzu blinked. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"
The carpet twisted around and pointed at the design printed on its back. Anzu looked. The whole carpet was a deep purple with golden swirls in seemingly random places around it. In the center of the carpet was an intricately woven picture of the lion head at the top of the Cave of Wonders. In each corner was a stylized 'M'.
"Uh, it's very nice. What's it mean?" Yugi said, tracing one of the M's. The carpet flew around the two of them, then pointed at each of them individually again, and then at itself.
"Me, Yugi, and you. What about it? I don't understand what you're trying to tell us." Anzu gave it an apologetic smile.
The carpet gestured exasperatedly, then gave a sort of a shrug and indicated that they should ride it. Yugi and Anzu glanced at each other, shrugged, then got on.
Immediately, the carpet shot forward, swooping out of the large chamber that they were currently in and through a few smaller chambers before entering a part of the cave that actually resembled a cavern. Inside, there was a lake with a large island mountain in the center. A single, blue light was shining like a spotlight on the very top of the mountain, where a simple pedestal held an ordinary oil lamp.
The carpet stopped at the shore of the lake in front of some stepping stones that led to the mountain island.
"What, you can't fly us to the top of that?" Anzu asked. The carpet shrugged, but didn't move. Anzu sighed and got off. "Probably only one of us should head over there. Those stepping stones are kind of perilous, and no offense, Yugi, but I think you'd have trouble with them."
"Cause I'm short, right?" Yugi rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."
So Yugi stayed with the carpet and Anzu began the trek across the lake and up the mountain. Strangely, it didn't take her very long to reach the top, and soon she was standing poised to pick up the lamp. It was a very simple oil lamp, with no fancy decorations or engravings. It looked just like something she could get from the marketplace without the owner ever noticing it was gone, it was so dull.
She frowned, then picked it up. It was somewhat warm, but she attributed that to the fact that it had been sitting in the light. She slipped the lamp into a pocket on the inside of her shirt and began to climb down, giving a thumbs up to Yugi, who was still standing by a wall next to the carpet, looking bored. There wasn't much to look at in this room, compared with all the treasure in the other ones.
As Anzu reached the bottom of the mountain, Yugi sighed and leaned against the wall, still watching her. "So, do you know why the cave made such a big deal about some stupid lamp?" he asked the carpet. It shrugged at him. Yugi wasn't sure if this meant that it didn't know, or that it couldn't talk and so would be unable to tell him anything.
He sighed again. "I just can't wait till we get back to the main room so we can get some of that treasure and get out of here," he said. The carpet rubbed two of its tassels together in response. Yugi eyed it. "You're a carpet. What would you do with treasure?" The carpet looked bummed.
Anzu hopped across the last step stone back to the main shore. "I got it. It's not much to look at, but I got it."
"Great." Yugi shifted, attempting to push himself away from the wall so he could head back to the carpet. Instead, his hand came across a rock that was jutting out of the wall that was pressed inward when he touched it. Abruptly, the wall behind him disappeared and he fell backwards into a pile of large rubies, sapphires, and diamonds.
"Ow! What the—" Yugi stopped when he realized what he had landed on. "Wow, nice." The ground beneath them began to shake. Yugi glanced around. "Uh oh..."
"You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you will never again see the light of day!" the lion's fierce voice echoed around them.
"Double uh-oh. Let's get out of here!" Yugi jumped onto the carpet, followed closely by Anzu, vaguely noting that the precious stones he had been sitting on a moment ago had melted into an orange goop. The lights in the cavern had turned to red and the lake of water had turned to molten lava.
The carpet shot forward, obviously no more eager to be trapped in this place than the two humans were, and in what seemed no time at all, they had swooped once more into the large main chamber. It suddenly didn't look quite as grand as a wave of lava poured into the room hot on their heels, melting the mounds of treasure and collapsing the stairs. The carpet didn't need the stairs, however, and went straight for the entrance, dodging falling rocks from the ceiling.
It didn't dodge them well enough, however, and a large one crashed into the middle of the carpet, throwing its two occupants forward. Anzu and Yugi were just barely able to catch hold of the bottom of the entrance, where the old man was waiting. He lowered his stick down to them and began to pull them up. "Where's the lamp?" He cried over the lion's roaring.
"I've got it, pull us up!" Anzu cried.
"Give me the lamp first!"
Anzu stared at him, but pulled it out and thrust it upward. "There, it's yours. Now pull us up!"
"What are you waiting for?" Yugi cried.
The man grinned wickedly at them, his eyes glittering maliciously. He began to laugh and he snatched up the insignificant looking piece of metal. "Yes! The lamp is mine, mine at last!"
Yugi slowly but steadily made his way upward by pulling himself hand over hand up the man's stick. "Get over yourself and help us!" Yugi yelled angrily at him. He held out his hand, indicating that the old man should grab him and help him up.
The old man ignored him and instead pulled a knife out of his ragged robes. "Yes, yes, your reward." He cackled. He lunged at the helpless youths.
Yugi reacted instantly, hiding his surprise as he dodged the knife, grasping the man's wrist and using it to pull himself up the rest of the way. Using the momentum from this, he pulled the man down into the sand at his feet and gave him a kick, sending the knife skittering away from them both. Yugi turned and grabbed the man's stick, reaching down and starting to help Anzu up as well.
The old man recovered fast and threw himself on Yugi and the two wrestled for a moment before the man shoved with a surprisingly great force, sending Yugi careening over the edge, barely managing to catch a hold of one of Anzu's dangling legs. This pulled Anzu, who hadn't been able to see much of the exchange above her, off balance and the sudden sand everywhere surprised her into losing her grip on the edge. The two of them began to fall the great distance downward towards the already cooling lava that coated the floor below.
A short ways away, the carpet managed to free itself from the rock it was trapped under and flew to their rescue, catching them moments before they hit the floor. Their momentum still sent the carpet downward, causing the two of them to hit the ground hard enough to lose consciousness, but they were alive.
Alive, and trapped, as the entrance above them closed with a final roar from the lion's mouth. Things were not looking good.
(Divider)
A/n: I changed the dialogue between 'Jafar' and 'Jasmine', cause the original dialogue makes Jasmine sound rather ditzy and gullible...
And I changed what the old man says to 'Aladdin' and 'Abu', because, oh yeah, we're going to trust this strange old guy just because he's got rubies, oh and we'll ignore the fact that he's sitting in a cold dungeon even though he knows a secret passage out of the dungeon and into the desert! That's not suspicious at all! So I changed it. And yes, Yugi's supposed to be Abu. This is not meant to infer that Yugi is a monkey. u.u
I also changed what the lion of the cave of wonder says to 'Aladdin', because... Well, in the original, it says "Touch nothing but the lamp!" and then the old guy goes "Remember, bring me the lamp, and the rest of the treasure is yours!" but if he's not supposed to touch any of the other stuff... that makes Aladdin kinda dumb, cause he's giving away the only thing in there he's allowed to have.
And then I made the magic carpet actually be a person who's been turned into a carpet, so that I didn't have to type "the carpet" all the time, I could type the name of the person. You'll see who it is next chapter, this one's kind of long already... somehow... And also, next chapter, enter the Genie!
... And I changed the way the cave got mad at them. Sorry, but Yugi's no treasure obsessed Abu, so I had him fall on it instead. Woo. But I feel like I rather stole the entire rest of the scene straight from the movie. (ashamed)
And yay for long authoress notes!
