Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! It belongs to Kazuki Takahashi
I hope you enjoy
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Chapter Nine – Waters of the Nile
"Tell us!"
"What do all Yugi's strategies have in common?"
"Tell us or the pain will get worse!"
The shouts from the gang members swam round Atem's head but he kept his gaze fixed on the floor. He was biting his lip to stop any sort of sound from escaping. They had been at this for hours on end without a break and Atem could not stand much longer; he knew that any moment now he could fall unconscious. Then Atem felt a sharp pain to the side of his head, his head jerked sideways and he fell off the chair he had been sitting on. As he hit the floor hit hard, everything went dark.
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The sounds of the water was loud in Atem's ear, he could also feel something cold on his fingers. His eyes opened slowly. He recognized the River Nile in front of him; he was lying on his side and his fingers were touching the water which explained that cold feeling. Atem pushed himself to sit upright and looked around. Atem looked at his hand, where there had been a few wounds but they were not there. He could feel jewels on his head and the puzzle was sitting proudly round his neck. Atem was no longer wearing the clothes that he had found in the metal box rather wearing his tunic and royal blue cape. He was home or was he? Then a voice came from behind him.
"My son, I never wanted you to go through any of this."
Atem turned and looked at his father, Aknamkanon. Aknamkanon stood a few paces away looking at his only son. He saw the sadness in his son's eyes and motioned for him to come. Atem came without question and his father led the way down the side of the Nile. They didn't speak for a moment but Atem opened his mouth to ask a question but before he could his father spoke.
"I never wanted the people of Egypt to rebel against you."
Atem looked at his father, stunned.
"It is not your fault father; you had nothing to do with it."
"But I am your father; I should have prepared you for anything that could happen."
Atem sighed and his father looked at his son, who had closed his eyes. As this was his son, Aknamkanon knew that Atem was about to express his worries.
"I don't know how to fix the problem father."
Aknamkanon stopped and looked out over the Nile. Atem looked at his father, like a child, waiting for him to answer. Then Aknamkanon pointed out at the river, Atem looked to where his father was pointing. There was a group of alligators; one seemed to be the leader while the others were the followers. As they watched a lone alligator tried take control of the group. Atem frowned and looked at his father, but his father's gaze was locked on the group of alligators. He looked back watching as the leader of the alligators scared off the other one. Aknamkanon looked at his son in the hope that the message had got through to him, but his son's frown had deepened showing confusion. Without a word Aknamkanon began to walk away. Atem called after him, running to catch up.
"Wait, father! What did that mean?" Atem asked, feeling so much like a child.
Aknamkanon turned and looked at his son. Empathy entered his eyes upon seeing the confusion and distress in his only son's eyes. Sighing Aknamkanon approached his son and put his hands on his shoulders.
"I cannot answer that for you, my son. You must work it out for yourself."
With that Aknamkanon turned and walked way, there was nothing more for him to do; his son had the information he needed. Atem ran after his father but he seemed to get further and further away from his father rather than closer to him.
"Father!"
His hand was outstretched towards the vanishing image of his father, but he kept running even as the scene around him dissolved. Atem continued to call for his father. But there was no response; in fact his father had vanished. He closed his hand and drew it close, feeling like a lonely child. Atem stared deeply into the grey scene praying to any one that would listen, for help.
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The grey scene around him turned into the blurry image of a dirty wooden floor. Pain blossomed and his vision cleared. But Atem felt very weak but still made no sound to show his pain that was not wise. He let his other senses explore, as his vision showed nothing but floorboards. His sense of touch was limited by the pain he was feeling. His hearing gave him nothing but the sound of something making the floorboards creak as it came closer to him. His natural instincts were telling him to get up and defend himself, but yet he could not. So he just lay there like a vulnerable child, waiting for whatever was coming.
But no one touched Atem, instead a girl's voice drifted to him.
"You're awake. Are you ok?"
Atem looked up, although his head was throbbing, nastily. A girl with long red hair was watching him, anxiously. A frown crossed her face as she watch Atem lever himself into sitting position. She still said nothing when she watched him cradled one arm which appeared to be cut and bleeding. Scarlett then received a metal kick for her brain, she knew who this was.
"Wait, you're Atem? Yugi's friend?"
Atem looked at her and nodded, slowly. Scarlett came over and sat in front of Atem, smiling at him.
"I'm Scarlett, a friend of Joey's and I saw them a little while ago."
Atem said nothing but gave her a weak questioning look. Scarlett's sympathetic smile widened, sweetly as she said,
"They are coming."
Atem felt a wave of relief flood through him, so Yugi was coming. He would have to be strong for a little longer until he came and then Atem could rest and try to figure out what his father's message had meant. As silence fell between them, Atem tried to think into what his father had shown him but the pain in his head would not give in.
After a few silence, pain filled moments the door banged open. Both prisoners looked up at the gang's leader, a man with blond hair and victory in his eyes.
"So, Yugi has arrived. So I am going to need you." His said, venomously.
Atem knew the code for the 'I need you' so despite his pain he tried to fight the man off. But he was too weak, so the blond man pulled Atem into the large living room. Atem felt his adrenaline kick in and he managed to push the man off him. But this caused more pain for Atem, due to his bleeding arm. Atem bit into his lip hard to stop any sound from escaping from his lips. As the man laughed above him, Atem saw a golden object. The millennium puzzle, it was sitting on the other side of the room unharmed. Atem tried to cast the spell that would bring the object to him, but before he could a fist had slammed into his face causing Atem to bite harder into his lip. He felt the skin break and blood poured out, so much that he had to spit some out to breathe. The blond man pulled back his fist to deliver another punch, but a voice came from behind him.
"Atem!"
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