I need to make a correcton. The movie that I based the hijacked plane dilemma from was actually called Air Force One. I got the title wrong. I'd like to thank SilverDragon-Purity for pointing out my error.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10- Realization
Heba woke up the following morning feeling rather refreshed despite the previous day's events. He let out a sigh. 'I am so glad that I was able to find a way to stop them.' Heba thought.
Heba got out of bed and stretched. He was still dressed in his clothes from the previous day. He walked over to the dresser and was surprised to find clean clothes on the dresser although they were from Egypt. There was a note with the clothes.
Heba,
I knew that you would need clean clothes, so I had these sent to your room. I hope that they fit you.
Atemu
Heba smiled. 'I'll have to remember to thank Atemu for these.' Heba thought.
All of the Egyptians had gotten up and were eating breakfast together with Michael, Clarice, Tea, and Tristan.
"Where are the other four at?" Michael asked.
"I don't know. I thought you boys were going to get them up." Aknankanon said, looking at Atemu, Seto, Marik, and Bakura.
"The door was locked, and he wouldn't wake up through my pounding on the door." Seto said with a shrug.
"I figured that if he wanted to eat, he's get up." Bakura said.
"Same here. I spent enough time with him on the plane." Marik added.
The replies were no surprise to anyone at the table.
"Atemu, why didn't you get Heba up?" Amara asked.
"Well, Heba did a lot yesterday. I mean, he accidentally cut his own wrists with the glass he sued to cut the ropes around his wrists, which led up to all of us being saved. Plus, he took down all the hijackers as well as flew the plane through an air assault and kept the plane steady for all of us to get out of the plane. I think he deserved the chance to get some extra sleep. Of all people, he had to be the most exhausted." Atemu explained.
"It does make sense. From what they told us last night, Prince Heba did end up saving everyone." Michael agreed.
"True. At least your reason was viable." Aknankanon said.
The group continued to eat breakfast.
'I wonder what Heba is like. I hope that he treats Atemu right. I mean, Atemu deserves someone who is going to be good to him. I know Millennials have reputations for being cruel. I just hope that this one is not one of them.' Tea thought, worried for her friend.
A few moments later, a servant showed Heba into the room.
"Heba? What are you doing up so early?" Atemu asked.
"It's not exactly early." Heba said.
That was true. It was just now nine in the morning.
"We were going to let you sleep late." Yami said.
Heba laughed. "For me, nine is late." Heba said.
Aknankanon chuckled. "Yes. I have seen you up at six at the palace." Aknankanon agreed.
"Well, sit down and eat. I'm certain that you are hungry." Michael said.
Heba did as he was told and sat down in the empty seat beside Atemu.
Breakfast continued.
"You could have woken us up!" Joey growled.
Seto glared. "I tried to, Mutt, but you locked the door, and you wouldn't listen to the pounding!" Seto snapped.
"Besides, if you were hungry, you could have gotten up on your own." Bakura added.
Ryou glared. "You are an ass, you know that!" Ryou snapped.
Bakura smirked. "Thank you. I try my best." Bakura said.
"Plus, I didn't want to spend time with you guys. We spent enough time on the plane together." Marik said.
"That's a way to thank the people who ended up saving your lives." Malik said.
"Heba saved us, not you!" Seto snapped.
"If we hadn't been there, things could have been a lot worse!" Joey barked.
Yami, Atemu, Tea, and Tristan all winced when they walked by the room that Seto, Joey, Marik, Malik, Ryou, and Bakura all were in.
"Man. They can sure yell." Tristan said.
"Welcome to our world." Atemu said.
"Are you and Prince Heba like that, Atemu?" Tea asked.
"Not really. Heba and I actually just ignored each other or avoided each other at the start. I finally decided to try and be friends with him, and it's worked out rather well." Atemu said.
"Really?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah. I prefer being his friend than arguing with him." Atemu answered.
"It's just too bad that the others can't take a hint and try as well." Yami said.
"Do you and Heba get along?" Tea asked.
"Yeah. I don't have a problem with him." Yami answered.
"I don't know that I could take living with a Millennial, much less be married one." Tristan said.
"Well, it hasn't been as bad as I thought." Atemu admitted.
Heba walked to the room that he knew had been established as Aknankanon's office while they were in England. He then knocked on the door.
"Enter!" Aknankanon called.
Heba opened the door and walked in. He was surprised to find Atemu in the room. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were busy." Heba said.
"It's okay, Heba. Truthfully, I'm just here because I have to learn how to be Pharaoh at some point, so I'm spending time with Dad while I'm here." Atemu said.
"Yes. There's not much that I need to do at the moment, though. What can I do for you, Heba?" Aknankanon asked.
"I was wondering how bad things are." Heba said.
Aknankanon frowned. "What do you mean?" Aknankanon asked.
"Well, I found out that the Mahjong Kingdom were allies with my father, and I know that with the plane heading for their airspace, it caused some problems. I was hoping that the problems weren't too severe." Heba said.
"No, Heba. In fact, there is nothing for you to worry about. Since the Mahjong Kingdom launched the attack, the entire incident is completely on their heads. Now that all the kingdoms of the world know that the plane was hijacked, they know that we were not at fault. Since the plane never actually entered the Mahjong Kingdom's airspace, the Mahjong Kingdom didn't have grounds to launch their attack. It is entirely their fault." Aknankanon said.
"I still feel like it is my fault. Millennials were the ones that hijacked the plane, anyway." Heba said.
"You didn't know of it. Besides, you were the one that saved everyone." Aknankanon said.
Heba looked at Atemu.
"After you, Joey, Ryou, and Malik opted to go to bed last night, we stayed up and explained everything to them as far as what happened goes." Atemu explained.
"That makes more sense." Heba said.
"You have nothing to feel sorry for. You are not at fault here." Aknankanon said.
"Well, I appreciate that. I was just worried that it might have caused even more problems." Heba said.
"It didn't, Heba. You don't have to worry about anything, Heba." Aknankanon assured him.
"Very well then. I'll leave you to go back to work." Heba said before leaving them alone.
"Heba is certainly different that I expected." Atemu said.
"Why do you say that?" Aknankanon asked.
"Well, I thought that he would be someone that would try to take over Egypt and not really care about any of us. Heba's not like that. He does care about us all, and he hasn't even attempted to take over Egypt." Atemu said.
"I know, and I am thankful for that. I just wish that Seto, Marik, and Bakura would get along with Joey, Malik, and Ryou like you do with Heba." Aknankanon said.
"From the arguing I heard earlier, I would say that that is not happening any time soon." Atemu said.
Aknankanon sighed. "I suppose that it's too much to hope for." Aknankanon said.
Heba walked down the hall and rolled his eyes when he heard Ryou, Joey, and Malik arguing with their husbands. 'This is getting very annoying.' Heba thought. He walked into the room and found the three couples at each other's throat.
As Heba watched them, he saw the one thing that he was sure no one else had.
Heba slowly backed out of the room and walked down the hall. He shook his head as he laughed to himself. 'Joey, Ryou, and Malik will deny it as I am sure that Seto, Marik, and Bakura will, but I can tell that they are all falling in love with each other. Granted, it will take a miracle to get them to admit it, but I know that they do.' Heba thought.
Heba walked on down the hall. He had no problem admitting to himself that he was falling in love with Atemu, although he knew that he would never tell Atemu.
After spending some time watching how his father did his duties, Atemu had gone off to do something else.
Of course, Aknankanon had to pretty much force Atemu to do it since Aknankanon knew that Atemu needed to spend what time he could having fun.
"Hey, Atemu!"
Atemu turned to find Tea running up to him, nearly tripping. Atemu reached out and grabbed Tea by the arm to stop her from falling. "Easy, Tea. Once of these days, you are going to break your neck in that long dress." Atemu said.
Tea smiled. "Can I help it that I enjoy wearing these dresses?" Tea asked.
Atemu rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean that you have to run in it. That's what is going to get you killed." Atemu said.
"Well, it was the only way that I could catch up with you." Tea protested as the two started to walk down the hall.
Atemu sighed. "What is so important that you had to run after me nearly killing yourself?" Atemu asked her.
"Atemu, I was wondering about your husband." Tea said.
"Heba? What about him?" Atemu asked.
"Well, I wanted to know if he treats you right." Tea said.
"What do you mean by that?" Atemu asked surprised.
"Well, I know that you had always said that you wouldn't get married unless it was for love. I know that you couldn't have liked being forced into an arranged marriage the way you were. I also know that Millennials are known for their cruelty, and I wanted to make sure that he wasn't mistreating you." Tea replied.
"Tea, you can stop worrying about it. Nothing bad has happened between me and Heba. Truthfully, I was a total ass to him at first." Atemu said.
"You were?' Tea asked.
"Oh, yeah. I really said some things that pissed him off, things that were uncalled for. I was taking my frustration at being forced into an arranged marriage." Atemu said.
"How did he react?" Tea asked.
"Honestly, he gave me a slap across the face that I deserved." Atemu said.
"What did you say to him?" Tea asked, shocked that Atemu thought he deserved the slap.
"Well, I blew up one night at dinner and said that they had ruined our lives. Well, Heba walked up to me and slapped me. He then said that they had suffered more than we had." Atemu said.
"How?" Tea asked, angry.
"Think about it. They were forced to leave the only home they had known and were forced to live with people they didn't know as well as people who hated them. They were taken from their family, their friends, and their home. I mean, we didn't lose anything other than our single status. They, on the other hand, lost everything." Atemu said.
"Wow. I had never thought about it like that before." Tea said.
"Neither had I until Heba said that. When you think about it, he's right." Atemu said.
"Yeah. But aren't they cruel?" Tea asked.
"No. None of them have ever done anything to hurt us. I mean, we've argued with them. You've heard the others arguing. They've never tried to physically harm us or undermine our authority. In fact, they haven't interfered with Egypt in anyway other than offering suggestions to help resolve a problem." Atemu said.
"Hmm. I can see your point." Tea said. She looked over at Atemu and said, "What is Heba like, or do you not spend time with him?"
"I didn't at first, but I finally decided to try and be friends with him. I've learned a lot about him. Heba's more of a kind, gentle person. He hardly raises his voice to anyone. He's a very good listener, too." Atemu said.
Tea noticed a dreamy look in Atemu's eyes as he talked about Heba.
"Heba's also a great fighter. I've watched him train with Ryou, Malik, and Joey before, and he's a great warrior. I watched him fight in an actual battle before, too." Atemu said.
"Atemu." Tea said mischievously.
"What?" Atemu asked, missing the tone in Tea's voice.
"I think that you're in love with him." Tea said.
"What?! I ma not!" Atemu exclaimed, blushing lightly.
"Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes and your voice. You have never talked about anyone with such tenderness and you get a dreamy look when you talk about him. You're in love with him." Tea said.
Atemu looked away from her. "You're seeing things, Tea." Atemu said.
"No, I'm not. Maybe you don't want to admit it, but you do love him." Tea said.
Atemu grew quiet. "I've never thought about it before." Atemu said.
"Well, do you think about him a lot?" Tea asked.
"Well, yes." Atemu said.
"Do you dream about him every night?" Tea asked.
Atemu blushed, but said, "Yes."
"Do you enjoy spending time with him?" Tea asked.
"Yeah. I do. I prefer to spend time with him, actually." Atemu admitted.
"Trust me, Atemu. You are most certainly in love." Tea said.
'Maybe she's right. Maybe I am in love with Heba.' Atemu thought.
Later that day, Atemu lay on his bed in the room he was staying in.
Atemu kept replaying his earlier conversation with Tea in his mind. 'I had never really thought about it before, but now that I think about it, Tea's right. I do love Heba. In trying to be his friend, I ended up falling for him.' Atemu thought.
There was a knock on his door.
"Come in." Atemu said, sitting up.
Yami opened the door and walked in. "There you are. I was wondering where you had disappeared to." Yami said.
"I was just in here thinking." Atemu said.
"About what?" Yami asked, sitting down in a chair.
"Well, Tea and I were talking earlier, and she pointed out something that I hadn't realized before." Atemu said.
"And what's that?" Yami asked.
"That I'm in love with Heba." Atemu answered.
"Finally!" Yami exclaimed.
Atemu jumped at his brother's sudden exclamation. "What are you so happy about?" Atemu asked.
"Please. I've known that you were in love with Heba for almost a month now. I was wondering when you would finally figure it out." Yami said.
"You knew?!" Atemu exclaimed.
Yami rolled his eyes. "Atemu, everyone in the palace knows except for you and Heba. It's written all over your face." Yami said.
Atemu blushed. "I didn't realize that it was that obvious." Atemu said.
"Well, it was. I'm just glad that you have finally admitted it to yourself that you're in love with him." Yami said.
"And clue how Heba feels?" Atemu asked hopefully.
"Not a one." Yami admitted.
"You knew that I was in love with him, but you don't have a clue how he feels about me?" Atemu asked.
Yami shrugged. "He's hard to read at times. It's easy to tell what emotions he is displaying, but you can't tell what his hidden emotions are. You know hoe good Mahado is at reading other people's emotions, and he can't even tell." Yami said.
"Oh." Atemu said.
"You know, you could tell Heba how you feel." Yami said.
"Not on your life." Atemu replied.
"Well, you can't blame me for trying." Yami said.
Atemu rolled his eyes. "You're hopeless." Atemu said.
"So sue me." Yami shot back.
Aknankanon walked into one of the medical rooms and found Isis sitting beside Mahado, who was asleep. "Isis." Aknankanon said.
Isis stood up. "My Pharaoh, what can I do for you?" Isis asked.
"How is Mahado doing?" Aknankanon asked.
"He should make a full recovery. If it hadn't been for Lord Ryou using his healing magic and Karim donating blood, he would have died before we arrived here." Isis said, looking down at Mahado.
"We are indebted to them both." Aknankanon said.
Isis looked at him. "Pharaoh, I hope that I am not overstepping my bounds by saying this, but I don't think that Prince Heba and the others are the enemy." Isis said.
"Nor do I. They could have allowed all to die on the plane, and we wouldn't have known, but they saved everyone. I honestly think that we can trust them." Aknankanon said.
"I just don't understand how they can be like this when Emperor Kenshin is, well-" Isis trailed off.
"So power hungry and evil?" Aknankanon supplied.
"Well, yes." Isis said.
Aknankanon sighed. "I don't know, Isis. All I know is that I am now grateful for those arranged marriages." Aknankanon said.
"We all are." Isis said.
Heba walked toward one of the lounges. 'I need to sit somewhere for a while.' Heba thought. He walked into the lounge and froze.
Bakura and Ryou were locked in a deep kiss, and Ryou had his arms wrapped around Bakura's neck while Bakura's hands were tangled in Ryou's hair.
Heba smirked. 'Well, at least one set of them have finally admitted that they like each other.' Heba thought.
Bakura and Ryou hadn't noticed Heba in the room and were still kissing away.
The sound of someone clearing their throat had to the two jumping from each other.
Ryou looked at Heba with a deep blush on his face. "Oh, um, Heba. Hi.' Ryou said.
Heba smirked. "So, how long have you two actually been like this?" Heba asked.
Ryou turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Two months." Bakura said.
"KURA!" Ryou exclaimed.
Heba raised an eyebrow. "Kura?" Heba asked.
Bakura shrugged. "He likes to call me that." Bakura said.
"Why the arguing still?" Heba asked.
"Well, I don't need Seto and Marik finding out. They'd tease me relentlessly." Bakura said.
"Despite the fact that they are in love with their own husbands." Heba said.
"Well, not like they're admitting it." Bakura said.
"And why are you hiding it, Ryou?" Heba asked.
"Well, I didn't know what you guys would think." Ryou said.
"Ry, if you're happy, I don't care. Not like you're doing anything wrong. He is your husband." Heba said.
"You won't tell anyone, right?" Ryou asked.
"Nope. That's your job." Heba answered before starting to walk out of the room. He stopped and turned. "By the way, if you don't want to be caught again, I suggest going to one of your room and locking the door." Heba said before leaving.
Ryou turned red. "I hate when he does that." Ryou said.
"He makes a good suggestion. We can do more in our room." Bakura said before grabbing Ryou by the hand and dragging him out of the room.
Heba walked down the hall once again, deciding to go to his room. 'It's the only place that I can go to relax.' Heba thought.
As he passed a room, Heba heard someone shout.
"MARIK!"
Heba recognized Malik's voice. "Okay. I don't even want to know." Heba said as he hurried by the room. 'I'm beginning to think that all of them are together and are hiding it.' Heba thought.
"Hey, Heba!"
Heba turned and saw Yami and Atemu approaching him. "What is it?" Heba asked.
"Any idea where Seto is?" Atemu asked.
"No. I haven't seen him today. I've just heard him." Heba answered.
"Huh. We can't find him anywhere, and we're supposed to be meeting Dad soon." Yami said.
"Isn't he in his room?" Heba asked.
"No. Think Joey might know where he is?" Atemu asked.
"I don't know. We can ask." Heba said. He walked to Joey's room and knocked on the door. "Joey, are you in there?' Heba called.
"Um, yeah. Just a minute." Joey said.
There was scuffling inside the room that sounded like more than one person.
"Okay. What's that about?" Yami asked.
"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Heba exclaimed. He opened the door to find a half naked Joey in the room with Seto who looked like he had just thrown on his clothes.
Both looked rather stunned.
"You know, it would be easier if you just told people that you were together instead of practically ripping each other's throats out." Heba said.
Yami and Atemu weren't sure if they should be happy, shocked, or horrified. Happy that Seto was happy, shocked that they were together, or horrified at what they had interrupted.
"What do you want?" Seto growled.
"You're supposed to meet the Pharaoh." Heba said before closing the door.
"That was-unexpected." Yami said.
"Not surprising to me." Heba said before walking off.
"Do you think Marik and Bakura are actually together with their husbands?" Yami asked.
"I don't know." Atemu answered.
After the meeting with Aknankanon, Atemu and Yami had cornered Bakura, Marik, and Seto.
"All right. Out with it." Atemu said.
"What?" Marik asked.
"Are you guys involved with your husbands or not?" Yami asked.
"How did you-" Bakura started, thinking Heba had told them something.
"Well, we caught Seto and Joey in a rather-compromising position, so we wondered if we should tell you to keep your doors locked?" Atemu asked.
Marik smirked. "So I'm finally getting some. So what?" Marik asked.
"Okay. I didn't need that image." Yami said, looking disgusted.
"So, you know. Now what?" Bakura asked.
"Keep your doors locked." Atemu said.
"Fine by me. I'm surprised it doesn't bother you." Seto said.
"Seto, we have known for a while that you guys were in love with your husbands. We just didn't know that you had admitted it yet." Yami said.
"If it makes you happy, go for it." Atemu said.
"Speaking of which, when are you telling your husband that you're in love with him?" Bakura asked.
"None of your business!" Atemu snapped before walking off.
"He doesn't plan to, does he?" Marik asked.
"Not as far as I know. I wish he would, though. It would be better than watching him watch Heba all of the time with that goofy look in his eyes all the time." Yami said.
Bakura snickered. "It is rather funny, isn't it?" Bakura asked.
"Just quit with the arguing." Yami said.
"We will now." Marik said.
"I won't." Seto said.
"Why not?" the three asked.
"Because I enjoy arguing with him." Seto said simply.
"So, you know?" Malik asked.
"I heard you." Heba said.
Malik blushed. "Oops." Malik said.
Joey, Ryou, and Malik were all looking at Heba, wondering what he was thinking.
"How long? I already know two months for Ryou." Heba said.
"Um, two and a half." Malik answered.
"About one and a half." Joey said.
"Well, if you're happy, that's fine. I'm glad that you have found happiness in your marriages." Heba said.
"What about you? I mean, we all know that you're in love with Atemu." Ryou said.
"I don't know. I'm not sure how he feels about me, so I don't know what I'm going to do yet." Heba said.
Joey, Ryou, and Malik looked at each other, wondering if Heba would find his happiness like they had found theirs.
Hope you liked it. I'm not sure if this chapter was good or not, but I hoped that you liked it.
Next: Some things happen with Heba and Atemu.
R&R.