Here is the next chapter. It is in three parts. Each of these things are happening simultaneously.
Warning: There is some swearing in this chapter.
I do not own Yugioh.
For the Sins of the Father.
Secrets in the Sand.
When Yugi and Marik entered the mess tent, they found everyone sat around eating their evening meal, no one had come to invite them to attend supper. Alain shifted in his seat feeling slightly embarrassed, Pierre had been forbidden him to come and get them.
"Thank you for the invitation." Marik said sarcastically. "We would be happy to join you." He casually strolled over to the big pot of Beef Bourguignon and started to serve up two plates.
"Help yourself? Like you did with our beer supply earlier!" Someone behind him mumbled, with a hint of contempt.
Two of the archaeologists started muttering to each other in French thinking that Yugi and Marik wouldn't understand, or so they thought. Marik had been taught to speak several languages while growing up in his underground home. He had resented it at the time, but it had come in very useful in recent years.
"I am an Egyptian, not a fucking pig! I am not gay either. Anything else you wish to call me?" He answered in fluent French. There was a snigger from one of the men, while Pierre Laffette sat there smirking.
Marik calmly put his put his plate down and turned towards the men with a icy stare. Yugi thought it was time to intervene.
"Guys? Enough of this! I think we all just got off on the wrong foot. We have not come here to fight with you."
"Then why are you here?" One of the men said coldly. Some of the others nodded and agreed.
"We are, we are." Yugi hesitated a moment, wanting to get his speech right. Argh don't stuff this up now Yugi! Think! He told himself.
Pierre stood up and interrupted before he had chance. "I will tell you all why they are here. The pretty blonde one is Ishizu Ishtar's brother, the baby faced one with ridiculous hair is Doctor Yugi Mutou. Some of you play that card game and probably know who he is already." He gave Alain a disapproving look. "They have been sent here to spy on us. Ms. Ishtar is worried that we might uncover something no one wants us to find. Isn't that correct Doctor Mutou?" He spat the last two words out disrespectfully.
Yugi had had enough. He folded his arms and adopted what Anzu jokingly referred to as his Pharaoh pose. It was something he had inherited from the time he shared his body with Atem and it came in useful when he needed to assert his authority. "And why don't you enlighten us as to what that might be?" He replied in a deep even tone.
The two men locked glares, Yugi would not be beaten in a battle of intimidating stares, that was another thing he had inherited from the Pharaoh and had made his own as he had grown older.
After a few moments Pierre blinked, looked away and sat back down. "Finish your meals everyone. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, and I plan to start early."
Yugi relaxed his body slightly and picked up his plate of food. Just what were these people looking for? Just how much did Pierre know about Kul Elna? He would need to be diplomatic and find out. Steeling himself, he made his way over. "Doctor Laffette. May I sit down? However much you think you hate me, we still need to talk!"
"Go on? I'm all ears." He continued eating, without looking at Yugi.
Marik pulled up a stool and sat down close by to listen, he would try not to interfere unless Yugi ran into problems.
Yugi cleared his throat. "As you know, this area is shrouded in superstition, which is why your local labourers ran away when they found out where you wanted them to work. A massacre occurred here three millennia ago and it is seen as a sacred place. This area has been left for the desert to reclaim and should remain untouched. Ishizu Ishtar has been ensuring that its secrets are kept safe." He finished and took a mouthful of food, he was starving.
"I think you know a lot more about this place than your prepared to let on Doctor Mutou! Why else would Ms Ishtar want you here?"
"Maybe I do, but its not what I know that's the problem Doctor Laffette, its how much you know that worries me!"
Pierre Laffette finished eating and put his cutlery down. "Okay! I will he honest with you. The village was a hide out for thieves and criminals. So the Pharaoh at that time, decided to take his army and destroy the village. A battle took place and the Pharaoh was killed in the fight. Before he died he cursed the villagers so that they would not go to the afterlife. The soldiers then killed every last man, woman and child and buried most of them in a tomb, along with seven gold items of unimaginable power and value; which had belonged to the Pharaoh and his priests. It is that tomb which I seek. The likes of you will not stop me."
"Hmph! Ignorant fool. It will get you all killed." Marik mumbled with a shake of his head.
Pierre Laffette was about to retaliate but Yugi stopped them by speaking first. "Marik is right." His voice full of authority. "You don't understand the power that you may be dealing with. You have no idea what really happened here." He added quietly.
"And I suppose you two and Ms Ishtar do!? Let me tell you something I do know, I am not as ignorant as you may think. I did some research on your family Mr. Ishtar. It would seem that your family tree can be traced back to the time of the Pharaohs. They were members of some sort of secret clan, or sect that were chosen to protect the secrets of the tombs. It would also seem that you were in charge of a criminal gang called Ghouls. You were also the prime suspect in several mysterious deaths. although you were never charged. You got away with it somehow, thanks to your sister's clever manipulation. But one of your former employees told police that he was not responsible for his actions, because you brainwashed him by touching him with a golden rod! Of course they thought the man was insane, so it was never persued." He smirked. Marik's top lip twitched.
"You know nothing of my family." He hissed.
"And as for you Doctor Mutou! You are an interesting one. When I heard that you would be assigned, I took it upon my self to research you as well. It seems that you appeared out of nowhere to defeat the current champion Seto Kaiba at that game you play. You then became world champion after defeating a man named Pegasus J. Crawford, who has since become a recluse. I found some interesting information on him too, apparently he only had one eye! The other had been replaced by a gold one and he seemed to be able to read peoples minds! I watched footage of a tournament in America where he humiliated some guy in front of a load of children. There are rumours about you as well. Apparently some people reported that you were a very shy timid youth, but seemed to almost become.. a different person when you duelled. I wondered if it had something to do with this." He pulled out a picture of Yugi from 11 years ago and held it out. "This pendant you are wearing, where did you get it? And why do you no longer have it? Rumour was, you refused to let it out of your sight!"
Yugi felt beads of sweat forming on his body, this was not good, it seemed the man knew about the Millennium items. Luckily Marik had something to say.
"The items you refer to are over 3000 years old. There were seven of them and they belonged to a Pharaoh and his priests. After their deaths they were entrusted to a group of people referred to as Tomb keepers. My family was one of those chosen. However over time, some of the items went missing. It wasn't until Yugi inherited the Millennium Puzzle and pieced it back together to form his pendant, that the items were brought back together. They were then sealed in an underground temple by Yugi, with the help of Ishizu, in the hope that they would never to be found again. If you have any respect for our ancestors you will leave here and never return."
"Hmph! You are supposed to be an archaeologist Doctor Mutou. Your job is to discover hidden wonders from the past, not hide them. Those items are a valuable part of Egypt's heritage and as such they should be on display in the Cairo museum for people to see."
"I won't argue with you on that, but I would urge you to reconsider. Those items were.." He chose his words carefully. "A trade.. In return for souls that were trapped, unable to pass over into the afterlife. By returning those items to the place of their origin, those souls were released."
"So you're telling me that they have done their job? If that's the case then I intend to find them! With or without your help, or hindrance." He stood up to take his leave, as far as he was concerned, this conversation was over. "Good night Doctor Mutou, Mr Ishtar."
"What a noob. Did he hear anything that we said?" Yugi was dismayed.
"I had better inform Ishizu, she will want to know about this. I will see you back at the tent Yugi." Marik got up and went to the communications tent to contact Ishizu.
Later that evening Yugi and Marik were settling down to sleep. Marik had spoken to Ishizu who was angry, but not surprised.
"All we can do is hope that they don't find anything. Ishizu has said to stall them, and try to encourage them to dig in the wrong place." He told Yugi.
"Easier said than done! What do we do? tell them to dig in the right spot, and hope they will ignore us and dig somewhere else!?"
"Well. Yeah! That could work I suppose. Quite frankly, I don't give a shit if they all get themselves killed, just as long as they don't take us with them! Night Yugi." Marik turned over and pulled the blanket up over his head. "Shit! This bed is uncomfortable." He mumbled, squirming around.
Yugi was finding it hard to settle down. "You know, I have been thinking... When that temple collapsed, part of me wanted to grab the puzzle and take it with me, but something made me hesitate. Looking back, I am relieved I let it go. I think the shrine collapsed sending the items back into the shadow realm. If that is the case, they may no longer exist anyway. So it may not hurt to let them find the temple. I don't think any of them would know how to reopen the Shadow realm. Even I don't know how!"
"You might be right. The items did lose their power once their role was completed. Maybe my sister is getting her panties in a bunch over nothing." He snorted.
"Maybe. Night Marik." The two men were both extremely tired but sleep was elusive, Yugi spent a long time just staring at the photographs of his wife and son, which he had pinned up above his cot. What on earth had he got himself into?
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Being the The King of Thieves made it easy for Bakura to travel around in the afterlife, it was quite easy to slip from one realm to another without being seen. He knew exactly where he was heading and who it was that he planned to see.
Slipping in past the guards unnoticed, Bakura entered the private chambers of the man he was here to see. He had his back to him and was gazing out of a large window holding a glass of finest Armagnac up to the light, gently swirling it and admiring its amber glow.
Grinning, Bakura made his way towards the man with the stealthy grace of a leopard stalking its prey.
"Bakura! My dear friend. You really are becoming sloppy, I could hear you before you were halfway across the room." The man spun round to meet him. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" The two men had struck up an unlikely friendship after they both discovered that they had much in common. Both had been seduced by Zorc's evil power contained within the Millennium Ring and both had suffered humiliating defeats at the hand of Yugi and the Pharaoh.
"Hello Alexander. You always did have eyes in the back of your head! I see you are still enjoying the finer things in the afterlife?" He gestured toward the glass Alexander the Great was holding.
"Reflection! You saw my reflection in the glass?"
"Yes I did." He smirked. "And the contents of the glass? Liberated from a French merchant ship after it was shipwrecked on the Cornish coast. It has matured well. Care to join me?" Bakura nodded, accepting the glass offered.
Bakura gulped it down in one mouthful. "Ah.. very good." He belched, smacked his lips and held his glass out for a refill. Alexander grimaced at his friends uncultured behaviour, but topped his glass up anyway. Bakura took his time drinking the second one.
"Do you remember a little pipsqueak by the name of Yugi Mutou?" Bakura asked.
"Name rings a bell! Wasn't he the living vessel of that damned Pharaoh? They defeated my dark self after I was possessed by that cursed ring?"
"That's right. The one responsible for both our humiliating defeats. Well, I need your help in locating him?"
"My help? Why now, after all this time?"
"Lets just say, an opportunity has arisen for me to finally seek justice and I intend to take it. Yugi Mutou is somewhere in the living world. I wish to find him, but I don't know how to perform the spell to achieve that. Your heka is powerful, and combined with mine, may be able to help me."
Alexander pondered this request for a moment. "I know how to help you seek this man. But I want no part in plotting his demise, if that is what you seek? I have learned my lesson; my heart and mind were twisted, I did some terrible things and I lost the respect and trust my people had invested in me. The Pharaoh banished my dark self and while I was angry to begin with, I have come to understand that his actions freed me. My true soul has been saved. I have had to work hard to regain the trust my people had lost in me, I do not wish to jeopardise that which I have worked so hard for."
"So, will you help me? I only seek knowledge." Bakura was pleading now, something he hated doing.
Alexander sighed. "I will help you, but just this once. It is a difficult spell and you will not be permitted to interfere with any person in the living world, do you understand?" There was hint of sternness in his voice.
"I understand." Bakura was sincere, he did not wish to harm Alexander's reputation. He had been one of the few true friends Bakura had ever known, and deep down Bakura did still possess a shred of humanity. He was just unaware of it.
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Mana was beside her self with grief and worry, something bad had happened to her prince and she didn't know what to do. She curled up on their his clutching one of his tunics, it had been worn and he had thrown it on the floor to be collected for laundry. Mana buried her face in the material and breathed in his scent.
"Has anyone seen Mana?" Mahad asked Karim as he searched the palace for her. "She did not show up for her lesson this afternoon. I thought she might be with Atem but I can't find him either!"
"Have you been to the Pharaohs chambers? Although I would advise you to knock before entering."
Karim elbowed him and winked.
"Oh! No.. I haven't. Erm maybe I will. Later perhaps." Young love, he thought to himself as he walked back to his own chambers. On his was he was met by Priest Seto, who was marching in the direction of the throne room, with two armed guards and a rather terrified peasant fisherman.
"Mahad! Fetch Mana? The Pharaoh is missing! This man says he saw it all." Seto barked his order as he marched into the throne room and brought the fisherman before Atem's father, the former Pharaoh Aknamkanon.
The fisherman was trembling with fear, he had done nothing wrong but Seto had been an intimidating figure.
Aknamkanon stood and walked over to the man who out of respect was kneeling and had his eyes fixed on the floor.
"Please stand? You may meet my eyes? I prefer to look into the face of a person when I speak with them. Now tell me? What happened to my son? What did you see?" His kind tone, set the man at ease a little.
Mahad knocked on the door to Atem's chambers, no one answered but he thought he could hear the sound of a woman sobbing. Quietly opening the door, he walked over to where Mana lay curled up on the bed clutching Atem's robe. He quietly sat down next too her.
"Mana? What has happened?" He gently placed a hand on her trembling shoulder.
"He's gone! Prince is gone!" She sniffed between sobs.
"Mana, I need to know what happened so that we may help him."Mana sat up, her face stained with tears. Mahad reached forward to wipe her tears away. "What happened Mana?"
"This.. this. Portal. We were by the river." Sniff. "Under the almond tree, when this evil thing." Sniff. "And..and. It took prince." She threw her arms round Mahad's neck and started to cry again.
"Okay. I need you to take me to where it happened. I am sure there will be a spell we can use that will locate him." Mahad knew it would be difficult, he could be anywhere, the afterlife was infinite, theirs was just one among many different cultures that spanned the millennia.
Mahad led Mana to the throne room, she had managed to pull herself together so that she could assist in finding Atem.
"Ah. Mahad, Mana, there you are! We have problem, it would seem Pharaoh Atem has been kidnapped by some force. We don't know what their intentions are, but pray to Ra we can find him in time." It seemed Seto planned to take charge of the situation.
"Thank you Seto, Mana has informed me." Mahad replied.
"Can you help? Will your heka find my son?" A worried Aknamkanon asked.
"I will do my best, I will need to go to the exact location and see if I can pick up any residual traces of heka. I will need you to help me Mana, are you feeling up to it?" He thought it would do her good to assist in finding her love. Her heka was also strong, even if she was a little unfocussed at times. He might need her strength to guide his own heka.
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