Chapter 10- Together
Aknankanon, Atemu, Yami, Seth, and Eternias were all waiting outside of the healing chambers to hear from Isis how Heba was doing.
The guards had taken the man who had attacked to dungeons where he was being guarded.
"Atemu, what exactly happened?" Aknankanon asked, knowing that the attack had happened not long after Heba had left him in the gardens.
"Heba had wanted to talk to me, so we were in my chambers talking. He stopped talking and pushed me out of the way. He told me to get the guards while he fought off that man. The guards got him, and I saw Heba injured and told the guards to get Isis." Atemu explained.
"How did that guy get into Atemu's room, thought?" Yami asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to have to talk to the guards about that." Aknankanon said.
"It's safe to say that making Heba their bodyguard was a good idea, though, considering the fact that he saved both their lives." Eternias said.
"That is true. Heba's done his duty well." Seth agreed.
'I just wish it hadn't been because of me that he was injured.' Atemu thought.
Yami could tell what was on his brother's mind. 'Great. Something else for Atemu to be upset about. I hope that Heba's going to be all right. I don't think that Atemu's conscious can handle it if Heba dies.' Yami thought.
A few moments later, Isis walked out of the healing chambers, looking tired.
"Isis, how is he?" Aknankanon asked.
"He should be fine, my Pharaoh. The sword did go deep, but he will be fine. Heba's going to need to stay in bed for at least a week, though." Isis said.
"Good. I'm glad to hear that." Aknankanon said.
"Would it be okay if we saw him, Isis?" Yami asked, knowing that Atemu would feel better of they could see him.
"You can, but he's still unconscious and probably will be for a few hours." Isis said.
They nodded, and Atemu, Yami, and Seth went into the room.
"Isis, keep me updated on his condition." Aknankanon said.
"Of course, my Pharaoh." Isis said, bowing.
Aknankanon walked down the hall with Eternias following him.
"What will happen to that assassin?" Eternias asked.
"He went after my son. I will show him no mercy. He will be put to death." Aknankanon said.
The two walked down to the dungeons where Karim, Shada, and Mahado had been interrogating the assassin.
The three priests walked to the side with Aknankanon and Eternias.
"Have you learned anything from him?" Aknankanon asked.
"No. We do know that he is a hired assassin. Someone paid him to kill the Prince." Shada said.
"Do you know who hired him?" Eternias asked.
"No. That is something that he refuses to divulge." Mahado said.
"Eternias, perhaps you could convince this man otherwise." Aknankanon said.
Eternias smiled. "I would be glad to give it a try." Eternias said.
Isis had been right about Heba still being unconscious.
After they saw him, Atemu and Yami returned to Yami's room while Seth went on with his duties.
"Well, I'd say that Yugi has certainly proved himself to be an excellent bodyguard." Yami said.
"Yeah. He's saved both of our lives now." Atemu said, sitting on the bed.
"Atemu, let's not start this." Yami said.
"Start what?" Atemu asked.
"You know good and well what. Don't you get depressed over the fact that Heba got injured protecting you. Heba was only doing what he supposed to do." Yami said.
Atemu sighed. "I know that, but you know that I love him, so I hate the fact that he got hurt because of me." Atemu said.
"I get that. I really do, but you can't work yourself into a depression because of this." Yami said.
"Yeah, well, things have kind of changed." Atemu said.
"How?" Yami asked, sitting down in a chair.
"You know how I said that Heba had wanted to talk to me before that attack?" Atemu asked.
Yami nodded. He remembered clearly that fact because he was wondering what it was that Heba had wanted to talk to Atemu about.
"When Heba came in there, he wanted to talk to me about last week. I thought that he just wanted to apologize for hurting me, but it turned that he wasn't completely honest with me about what he felt." Atemu said.
"You mean, he lied?" Yami asked.
"In a way. He said that he wouldn't say that he was in love with me because he wasn't sure that he was in love with me, but he did tell me that he was attracted to me." Atemu said.
Yami frowned. "Then why did he lie to you?" Yami asked.
"I don't know." Atemu replied.
"You mean he didn't tell you!" Yami shouted.
"He was going to Yami, but that guy attacked right when he was about to tell me. Hebe didn't the chance to tell me." Atemu said.
"Oh. That's different." Yami said. He looked at Atemu and said, "What are you going to do?"
Atemu sighed. "I don't know, yet." Atemu replied.
When Aknankanon, Karim, Shada, and Mahado returned to the dungeons after a about an hour, they found that the assassin was bloody and bruised while Eternias just stood there with a smug smirk on his face.
"I think that he's ready to talk, Pharaoh." Eternias said.
Aknankanon nodded and walked up to the assassin. "Who are you?" Aknankanon demanded.
The assassin glared at him, but said, "My name is Zen."
"Who hired you to kill my son?" Aknankanon demanded.
"Like I'm going to tell you that." the assassin spat.
Aknankanon was not a defenseless man and proved that by grabbing the assassin by the neck and lifting him off of the ground before the assassin could react. "Do not forget that I hold your life in my hands, and I could have the worst kind of torture befall you if I wish, and there is no one that would stop me." Aknankanon said.
The assassin could see the anger and hatred burning in Aknankanon's eyes and knew that he would have him killed.
"Tell me who hired you to kill my son." Aknankanon said.
"It was the Princess of Siam. She said that he had humiliated her and that she wanted him dead. She said that she would give me asylum in Siam if I would do this for her." the assassin said quickly.
Aknankanon dropped the assassin and left the cell with Eternias, Karim, Shada, and Mahado following him.
"I want guards on him at all times." Aknankanon said.
"What about the Princess?" Karim asked.
"I will write a letter to Moran telling him of what his daughter has done. She will not be allowed to get away with this. Not this time." Aknankanon said, anger in his voice.
The four priests looked at each other, knowing that there would be no mercy for Lydia this time.
The following day, Isis had deemed that Heba could return to his chambers as long as he remained in bed.
Heba agreed just so that he could get out of the healing chambers.
Eternias helped Heba back to his chambers.
Mana came to see him. "Hi, Heba." Mana said.
"HI, Mana. What are you doing here?" Heba asked.
"What? I can't come see how my friend is doing?" Mana asked.
Heba rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean that. I thought that you had training with Priest Mahado." Heba said.
"Oh. Well, Mahado has something that he has to do. I think it has something to do with that guy that attacked you and Atemu in his room." Mana said.
Heba nodded. "So you thought you'd spend the day in here with me." Heba said.
"Some of it, anyway. How are you doing?" Mana asked.
"Fine. I hate having to stay in bed all the time, but I'd rather have to stay in here than in the healing chambers." Heba said.
"Most people do. I would suggest that you don't get up because if Isis finds out, she'll have you back in the healing chambers fast." Mana said.
"Thanks, Mana. I'll keep that in mind." Heba said.
Mana nodded. She bit her lip before saying, "Heba, why did you lie to Atemu about how you felt?"
Heba let out a sigh. "I had a couple of reasons, Mana. I don't really want to talk about them right now." Heba said.
"Are you going to talk to Atemu about this?" Mana asked.
"We were talking about it when that guy attacked. I didn't get to finish telling him everything, though." Heba said, frowning.
"Do you want to talk to him?" Mana asked.
"Yeah. Id' like to give him some answers." Heba replied.
"I'll go tell him!" Mana exclaimed.
Heba blinked as Man ran out of the room fast. "Wow. She's fast." Heba muttered.
Atemu was laying on his bed, looking through a book.
There was a knock on his door.
"Enter." Atemu called, not bothering to look up.
Man threw open the door and said, "Guess what, Atemu?"
Atemu looked up at her.
The girl's enthusiasm had always amazed Atemu.
"What is it, Mana?" Atemu asked.
"I was just talking to Heba." Mana said.
"Oh. How is he?" Atemu asked.
"He's fine. He mentioned that you two had been talking when you were attacked." Mana said.
"Yeah, we were." Atemu confirmed, looking back down at the book.
"Well, he mentioned to me that he would like to finish that conversation with you." Mana said.
Atemu looked up in surprise. "He does?" Atemu asked.
Mana nodded. "You should go and talk to him." Mana said.
"Hmm. Maybe I will." Atemu siad aloud though it was more to himself.
"You should. You two could work all this out." Mana said.
Atemu looked at Mana and said, "Mana, you do realize that Heba might not feel exactly the same way about me that I feel about him."
"I know, but maybe you two could at least be friends." Mana said.
Yes, her enthusiasm always amazed Atemu.
Heba was sitting in his room, looking through a book. He was very bored.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Heba said, putting the book down.
The door opened, and Atemu walked in. "I'm not disturbing you, am I?" Atemu asked.
"No. In fact, all you're doing is breaking my boredom." Heba said.
Atemu shut the door and walked over. "That bored?" Atemu asked.
"I'm one that is always doing something. I hate just laying around and not being able to do anything." Heba replied.
"What are you going to do for the next week?" Atemu asked.
"Well, by the time it gets to that point, I will have lost my mind, most likely." Heba replied.
Atemu couldn't help but laugh. "Anyway, Mana mentioned that you anted to finish our talk." Atemu said.
"Yeah. Before that, should I watch what I say to Mana from now on?" Heba asked.
"Would be a good idea." Atemu replied.
Heba nodded. "Anyway, back to the subject at hand." Heba said.
"Yeah. Why did you lie?" Atemu asked, sitting down.
"Well, for one, I thought that because of my social status, I really wouldn't make someone you needed around. I thought that you could do better than me." Heba said.
"Believe me. I don't think that. In fact, I'm beginning to think that I'm the one not good enough for you." Atemu said.
"Yeah. That was one thing. I've always thought that every sticks to the social status, so I thought that it would be better to keep it a secret." Heba said.
"I can understand that. It was actually one of the reasons that I was hesitant to tell you at the start." Atemu said.
"Well, that wasn't the only reason. The other reason was Yugi." Heba said.
"Yugi? Whose that?" Atemu asked.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Atemu, not able to start to understanding the feeling of losing your brother.
"Anyway, my brother and I were very close. Where we lived had been destroyed. Truthfully, we were the only ones that were able to survive. For six years, my brother and I only had each other, so we became very close. When he died, it hurt a lot. Even though my brother made me promise him that I would live, I found it hard. I hated how much it hurt to lose him. I said that I would never get close enough to someone to get hurt like that again." Heba said.
"You were afraid of getting hurt?" Atemu asked.
Heba nodded. "Believe me when I say I hated hurting you, Prince, but I just didn't want to chance either one of us getting hurt any worse later on." Heba said, not looking at Atemu's face.
"As strange as this sounds, I understand what you are saying, and I'm not angry. I can understand the reason you said no." Atemu said.
Heba looked up at him. "How can you not be angry?" Heba asked.
"I guess because I do understand. I can see why you felt the way you did, but there's no danger of me being angry for that." Atemu said.
Heba sighed. "I've found it hard to open up to anyone since Yugi died. He wasn't just my brother. He was also my best friend. It's hard to forget when your best friend dies." Heba said.
Atemu took a chance. "Heba, I know that you said you were not sure if you loved me, but would you be willing to at least give us a try? I know that things might not work out, but could we at least give it a go?" Atemu asked.
Heba knew that Atemu was serious, and he also knew that he liked Atemu a lot. "Okay, Atemu. We can give it a try." Heba said.
"Really?" Atemu asked, his eyes starting to light up.
Heba nodded. "Yeah. We can try." Heba said.
"Thank you, Heba. Thank you so much." Atemu said, grabbing Heba in a tight hug.
Unfortunately, Atemu was holding Heba so tightly that he couldn't breathe.
"Atemu-can't-breathe." Heba gasped out.
"Oh! Sorry." Atemu said, instantly letting go of Heba and blushing.
"It's okay although I'm not sure that Isis would appreciate it, Prince," Heba said.
"No, she wouldn't, and Heba?" Atemu said.
"Yes." Heba replied.
"Could you just start calling me Atemu? I really would rather be in a relationship with someone who will call me by name, not my title." Atemu said.
"Okay. If that's what you want." Heba said.
"It is. You have no idea how tiring it gets having people call you your highness, Prince, and all the other names all the time. It gets annoying after a while." Atemu said.
"I guess that would get tiring." Heba agreed.
"It does. That's why when you get close to certain people we have them call us by our names." Atemu said.
Heba nodded. "All right." Heba said.
Atemu looked at Heba thoughtfully. "Heba, would you mind if I kissed you?" Atemu asked.
"No, I wouldn't." Heba replied.
Atemu grinned before taking Heba's cheeks in his hands and leaning in to kiss him.
The kiss was chaste, but held a great deal of feeling in it.
'I think that I'm going to like having a relationship with Heba.' Atemu thought.
'Maybe I can keep my promise to Yugi after all. I think that Atemu might be just what I need.' Heba thought.
I figured that it was time to have Heba and Atemu get together.
I might put a lemon in the next cahpter. Let me know if you want me to.
R&R.