Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. But I can't say I wouldn't like to.

A/N: This takes place some time before the Egypt Arch saga. I imagine around half a year before. Again, I hope any anti-Semitism is seen as proving a point that is not anti-Semitic.

I hope this chapter is satsifactory. The last one will probably take all of five minutes because epilogues are incredibly short. Or at least from me they are. I think this wraps up a lot of it though.

As another final note, I really hope everyone liked these last few chapters. I really feel that there was by far not enough catty humor but then again it was more serious. Also I think I'm getting dangerously close to the canon sue line with Safiya and the fact that I love her doesn't help to calm my nerves. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fanfiction.

Mock Forms
Chapter X: Caught Up

Screams continued to erupt from the villagers that ran from the invading guards. Men tried to hold them off to no avail as women and children failed to escape. Some of the soldiers had begun burning the houses to draw out the inhabitants. A great deal of smoke from the fires made it even harder for the villagers to know where they were going and created more panic.

Safiya and her ka looked around. It was hard not to get caught up in the atmosphere of the attack; even if, you knew it wasn't anything but a mirage. "Poor King," she said and frowned sadly. "Where is he? I can't see him anywhere."

Her ka cooed sadly and darted around the section of the village.

"Faery," The small creature turned quickly and returned to its master. "Fly up above the smoke and see if you can see him from above. I'll keep looking down here. One of us has to find him."

The faery didn't argue, not that it could, and flew up high above the smoke to look from the air.

"I'm glad my ka isn't a cannon tortoise. Then I wouldn't get anywhere." She said to herself. There were advantages to having a flying ka and in her case three of them.

She took another look around and saw someone familiar: Priest Akunadin. Why would Priest Akunadin be in the King's illusion? There was something else too. The Priest wasn't wearing his sennen eye. It was hard to miss something like that. It wasn't exactly something that she imagined someone just took out and put in often. It had to be the Priest before he inherited it. The man's hair was still a deep brunette and was not nearly as frail looking. It had to be the priest from at least ten years ago. She noticed that there was something else that was odd about the illusion. The people all had a rather distinct look to them. It was their hair. All of the villagers dawned white hair like the Thief King. Pale hair was rare in Egypt. Her brother of course had sandy blond hair but white was another matter. She remembered it was the Thief

King's pale hair that had made her stop the first day to listen to him. It was a double take, really. She thought that it may have been a trick of the light or a wig. Though on closer inspection, the

hair was still the same white though dirtier in person but far to matted and haphazard to be a wig. The man needed some good grooming. Though half of this hair was probably beyond help.

Safiya followed the Priest with her eyes for a few more moments before continuing her search for the Thief King. Her hopes were that he wasn't roaming the area but in this kind of chaos, she doubted it. Her best bet was still for her or her ka to spot him. She hadn't and she knew her ka

had not either. The smoke was so thick that the poor sprite couldn't see anything but still hovered above searching. She continued stepping over broken ceramics and debris. "King! Bakura! King, can you hear me?!"

The villagers didn't reply and the guards didn't even turn to her. This illusion was different than the others. It didn't seem to reply to those trapped in it or even act as though they were there. It was hard to explain being ignored in that way. The closest comparison she could think of was that it was much like a theatre production without acknowledgment the audience. She had once dragged her brother to one of those. Habib must have jabbed her brother in the ribs at least a dozen times to stop him from falling asleep. She had to admit, he wasn't the most refined man in Egypt.

"STOP!!!"

Safiya turned quickly. She knew that voice. She'd been to more of that voice's rants and speeches than anyone. She knew it better than anyone. "King?!" She ran over quickly to see Bakura on his knees screaming at the top of his lungs. She stood shocked for a moment without doing anything. It was frightening to see him so unstable. "King, it's me. I-I... this isn't real."

Bakura turned quickly to Safiya and stared for a long moment then looked around. "Get out of here!!" He said and rose to his feet. He was maniac with adrenaline and seemed to have a wild quality that she had only seen in him once before when she had mentioned Serq's staff.

Safiya panted slightly trying to stay calm. "K-King... Bakura, come with me. This is an illusion. The boy created it, the boy with that staff. If you know..."

Bakura stared at her for a moment and began to laugh maniacally. "No. No! No!" Safiya jumped. "Not her. Not here." He said as he stood his head in frustration.

Safiya trembled slightly as she watched the Thief King unravel. She wasn't going to lie. She was terrified. She had never seen anyone act like this. Never before had a man fallen apart at the seams in front of her like that. "Bakura..." She said quietly. As scared as she was, it was Bakura and whether preacher or pouting he was still her friend. She walked closer to him. "Bakura... it's me, Safiya." She said placing her hand on her sternum. "You have to come with me. This isn't real. If you just believe, it isn't we can..."

"Don't!!!" He shouted at her. "I'm not choosing... I'm not choosing..."

"Not choosing?"

"She's kind. She was kind to me. She can't be here. I'm not choosing one. I can't choose one."

Safiya revealed that he wasn't talking her at all. Her face turned red with frustration. He was ignoring her. She was trying to help him get out of this mess and all he had was talking to himself. "Bakura! Listen to me!!"

"I'm not choosing."

"Choose or not, you have to know this isn't real!!!"

It happened in an instant. The scene disappeared and they emerged back at the ruins of Kur Elna. She was on the ground next to the Thief King who still seemed to be groggy from the illusion. She turned up to see her three faeries hovered above healing Diabound who seemed to be badly wounded. "Glad to see you back!" Habib said with a grin.

It took her another minute to fully realize the whole of the situation. Beside her, Chimera stood on guard for herself and the Thief King. Across the field, Jono's ka, Red Eyes, was making easy work of the jackal ka. "You made it out of the illusions!" She said beaming at the two young men.

The Red Eyes withdrew from the jackal for a moment and Jono smiled. "Thanks to you. You're the one who told us it was an illusion."

"Well, well, more clever than I thought." They turned and saw Serq smirking arrogantly as he stood unsteadily across the field. "Or are you?"

"What is he talking about his ba has to be much lower than ours?" Habib said quietly to Jono.

"You're right, he's either buffing or..." Jono looked for a moment. "Red Eyes!"

It was too late though before Jono had time to even think of a course of action for his ka, the jackal had attacked Safiya's ka. The young girl doubled over in pain as the jackal tore at the feathered creatures. The faeries were truly unequipped for combat. They should no chance against even the jackal. "Not much fun on the receiving end." Serq laughed.

"Stop it!" The jackal came crashing to earth with more than enough force. The creature whimpered and Serq grabbed his own chest in pain. The attack had been dealt by the freshly healed Diabound. He had hit the beast hard across the side of the head sending it flying. The wounded faeries fluttered toward the ground under Diabound's watchful eye. The Thief King had finally snapped out of the trance and didn't seem to be pleased to have seen the attack on the helpless faeries.

"So the idiot is awake." He panted. "I'm surprised you made it out of the illusion. It seems to take half a brain to do." He was biting to the end. The young man was in no condition to

continue the duel but he seemed unabated. "Either way, you're little healer is out of commission. Or didn't you notice that your little girlfriend can heal ba?"

The Thief King snarled and Diabound positioned himself to protect Safiya who had withdrawn her ka's. She was not in the best state but thanks to Diabound's attack her ba was still within a healthy range. "You must be more crazy than I thought. You can't win now, Serq. You don't have any tricks left." Jono said. "You should just give up before the Thief King decides to take another whack at ka." The Thief King seemed to agree with that idea. The Noddian was obviously defeated and if not, he would be from the next attack.

Though somehow he still smiled. "Yes, but who said that I can't try again. I sincerely doubt, you'll fair as well in your fears without your healer." The group froze. He really was a dirty cheat. He was going to use his staff to cheat again. "She really is clever, I have to admit. She wouldn't have made a bad nomad if she weren't so soft. We have a tendency to avoid all of that comradery that you people seem to cling to. But she impresses me. After all, you only made it through the first time because of her." Serq smiled and rose his staff again. "I won't fail his time."

Suddenly a beam of dark light shot across the field. It hit Serq clearly on his wrist and the metal rod went flying. At the entrance to the village was Mahado, the priest from the palace, perched atop a royal horse. His ka, a magician in purple robes with a staff in one hand, had attacked Serq and was looming. "Stop in the name of the Pharaoh!"

The three withdrew their ka's at the sound of the official's voice. Serq snarled to himself in almost a hiss as he rubbed his arm. "This isn't over," he hissed silently to them and smiled innocently. "Lord Pharaoh!"

"What is going on HERE!?!" Atem roared from the back of his horse.

"You were right, Lord Pharaoh. I shouldn't have asked you to let them go. They're menaces. The peasants from earlier that is. They attacked me." Serq pleaded meekly to the Pharaoh.

"Oh really. What were they doing here?"

"Practicing black magic, my lords." Serq said as he picked up the staff. "See, they made this from the bones of the plague victims. I was here to stop them."

Mahado looked down at the staff. It was a perfect replica of one of the sketches they had found in his room. "It looks like one of your drawings."

Serq's eyes widened and he began to sweat. "Not mine. Theirs. I've been following their plan for months. They're trying to overthrow you, Lord Pharaoh."

"Overthrow me, are they?" Atem said calmly. "I suppose the peasants planted the sketches. I suppose they planted the book as well."

"Exactly. They planted it to frame me. To throw you off the trail."

"I suppose they got arrested to do that and that the heroic rescue was just a set up."

"You are a very wise king, my Pharaoh."

"And I suppose that the fact that this overshadowed your own investigation was a coincidence. It was coincidence that you were found wondering the desert as an orphan. It was coincidence that Set bonded with you so quickly."

Serq winced and his mind raced to find a lie. Nothing came though. "I don't see what you mean my Pharaoh."

"You set up the duel to overshadow my suspicions. You hurt the craftsmen to push the slave to attack the palace so your trial was no more than a daily footnote. You followed Set in the desert waiting for the perfect moment to persuade him to take you back to Egypt and he believed you

because you were clever and spoke eloquently and the tribes' people were honest but crude. We all took you on face value Serqmaaker and we were all wrong."

Serq's innocent smiled turned to a smirk. "We're a clever lot but I guess my 'Lord Pharaoh' was cleverer still." He turned to Thief King and the group. "We'll have to finish this some other time. I guess I have a date with the Pharaoh."

Mahado rode over to the group. "I am so sorry that all you of were mixed up in this. But you're still escaped criminals." He paused and the group shot him an angry stare. "But if we can't find you, we can't charge you. No, we can't." The priest said and rode off after the Pharaoh who was leading Serq out of the village.

Safiya bent over trying to get up. Both Jono and the Thief King grabbed one of her arm as she tripped. "I'm fine. I just think we should go home for now."

There wasn't any argument about her decision. After all that had happened, all they really wanted was to go back to their small on the westside. The journey back was made easy by Diabound's invisibility that the thief didn't seem to mind sharing. The hardest part was how to get Safiya back. Contrary to what she had said, she was in no condition to walk back across the desert and into the city on her own power. Habib volunteered almost immediately to defuse any

argument that would have broken out over who was to carry her and with some derogatory slurs from the thief and a hard slug from Jono to him calling Habib a rather impolite name, they were on their way.

"I can walk the rest of the way, Habib. It's not that much further." Safiya said as they approach the last block home. Habib turned to Jono looking for an answer.

"Put her down."

Habib lower her off of his back carefully. "Take it easy though. You shouldn't be running yet."

She smiled. "I'll be fine. I just want to talk to King for a moment." She said and walked over to the Thief King.

The thief turned quickly. He was surprised to see her up so soon. "Are you sure you should be walking?"

She smiled. "I should ask you the same thing. You took the blunt of it for us."

The thief smirked. "You should know that I'm tougher than that. I've been on my own since I was seven."

"You don't have to."

The thief turned quickly. She was flirting with him. "What?'

"We're going to have to leave the capital. We don't have any other choice and..."

"And..."

"I would like you to come with us." She said turning an almost unhealthy shade of red. "We'll be going to Bubastis. It's up near the sea in the north. No one will be looking for Habib if he's in the same city as his sector and I want you to come too."

"The sea?"

"Yeah, I saw the art in Kur Elna. They were craftsmen. If you don't know how, my brother could teach you." She said fidgeting nervously. "I like you, Bakura and I think you'd like it... moving to Bubastis that is."

He paused for a moment. He seemed a little shocked by the proposal. "The sea is... pretty far from the Valley of the Kings."

"Yeah but it's far from the Pharaoh too and you wouldn't be a tomb robber anymore. You could work..." She stopped and at the thief for a moment. "You're not choosing, are you?" She paused. "Come visit then."

The thief paused. "I would trust me but..."

Safiya was about to cry. "Thank you for everything." She said and hugged him tightly and this time he hugged her back.

Thank you for reading.