~Chapter X~

As Bakura started walking towards the entrance to the tomb, Janeiro could only look away and tremble as she cradled Ryo in her arms. His body was unmoving, but Janeiro was too afraid to check his pulse. What was she supposed to do if there was none? How does one resuscitate somebody who had been attacked by something which had visibly caused no damage?

Marik stood in horror, watching as Bakura was about to make his way into the recently uncovered tomb of Nefertari. He couldn't let him go inside, so immediately he ran in front of him with his arms stretched out to both sides respecctively.

"I cannot let you enter," he firmly stated. Bakura stopped in his tracks and instantly grinned.

"You don't sound very confident," he acknowledged. "Why don't you just step aside before you end up like my little host over there?"

"I'd rather end up like him than live knowing that I didn't try to stop you," Marik snarled, even though a hint of some kind of fear was still evident in his voice.

"Heh," Bakura snickered, lifting his hand. "Suit yourself, Marik."

Marik braced himself for pain, but knew that just standing there would mean nothing. He yelled out angrily and ran towards the pale individual, grabbing him by the wrists and proceeding to wrestle him. Bakura seemed somewhat caught off guard, but he soon found himself laughing.

"At least now you can vanish from this world knowing that you threw yourself at me like a pathetic child," he taunted, grabbing Marik by his throat and lifting him up. Marik grit his teeth and started to gasp for air, clawing at Bakura's hand. His purple eyes were then on Janeiro, who was currently still holding Ryo across her lap. One of his hands shakily let go of Bakura's and reached towards the aqua-haired girl as he opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he said was barely audible.

But Janeiro was able to guess what he was trying to say: Run. Any sane person would. She had no chance against Bakura so any attempt at stopping him would be useless, therefore her only option would be to flee while she was still able to, however she refused.

Ryo was dying. And so was Marik.

"Bakura, stop!" she heard herself cry out as she held Ryo closer, her eyes tightly shut. Bakura raised his eyebrow curiously and turned his head a little, glancing back at the girl. Was she honestly trying to challenge him? Was she honestly trying to be the hero? How pathetic.

The white-haired individual couldn't help but chuckle, dropping the almost-unconscious Marik onto the sandy ground. He turned so that he was facing Janeiro completely, an amused look on his face.

"Very well, Janeiro, I've stopped," he said, lifting up his arms and shrugging his shoulders at her with a grin on his face as he delivered the sentence. After that he slid his hands back down into the pockets of his light-coloured trousers, stepping towards the girl and towering above her, casting a shadow over both her and Ryo as he gave her a menacing glare, all while keeping that sadistic grin on his face. "Now what do you plan to do next?"

Janeiro trembled and slowly looked up at the evil spirit, her heart almost coming to a stop. There was only silence for a long moment, save for her wavering breaths, as she slowly glanced down at Ryo. Her grip on him tigthened and her tears dripped from her eyes and onto the unconscious boy's head.

"...Please..." she whimpered quietly. "I don't want to lose him... Please, don't let him succumb to the darkness!"

She wasn't challenging him. She was begging for him to save Ryo's life. That was even more pathetic! How could anyone drop to that level, where they'd have to beg their enemy for help?

Oh well, he had to reward her for trying.

"You're not going to lose him," he assured, earning a somewhat hopeful gaze from the young girl. The male's grin only widened as he pointed at her. "You're going to join him!"

Janeiro's eyes widened in horror. She saw a bright flash and was blinded for a split second. Her heart seemed to be in her head as she heard a loud beating sound, and suddenly the world around her began to fade.

...

Domino City Airport, Japan, Present Day

"Our flight's boarding in about ten minutes," Yugi noted as he looked at the electrical board. "Well, I didn't think I'd be traveling back to Egypt this soon."

"Neither did I," Joey added.

"Hey," Tristan cut in. "Has Marik contacted you at all?"

"Not for a while," Yugi answered, sounding concerned for a brief moment before shrugging off all troubling thoughts. "But he knows we're on our way; hopefully we can uncover more about the mystery of the tragic king and queen..."

"Yeah," Tea agreed, nodding her head. "We can find out who they were and what happened to them, and how Bakura is connected to it all."

"Along with that freaky other side of Janeiro," Joey added. "She gives me the creeps."

"I'm sure we'll find our answers once we get to Egypt," Sakura assured, looking then at her smaller friend beside her. "You should look a little more excited, Riko; you have relatives here."

"I had relatives here," Riko corrected, folding her arms. "My grandparents died years ago. Geez, I feel like you barely know me at all." Sakura only chuckled softly at the girl's reaction.

...

?

Janeiro slowly came to her senses, her hand firmly placed on her forehead due to the sheer pain she was feeling. Where was she now? Was she dead?

Ryo. Where was Ryo?

"R-Ryo!" the girl called out as she clumsily got up to her feet, looking around.

The surrounding area seemed to be a desert; she was back in Egypt, but it was night time. Had she finally woken up?

...No. This Egypt was not the same. She was in a different place entirely.

Had she been abducted?

The last thing she remembered was being knocked out, or killed, by Yami Bakura.

But she couldn't focus on that for long. Realising that she was in a village of some sort, she found that she had to get out of the road; a small group of men were walking together, carrying torches. Janeiro hid between two of the ancient-looking houses and watched as they walked by. So far nobody had even noticed her yet.

Once the group had walked by, Janeiro noticed that everyone was watching them and some even started to follow or walk ahead, people even coming out of their homes. She noticed that they seemed to be heading towards what looked like a small palace built into the mountain at the end of the village. Curiosity overwhelmed her as she chose to follow the group, noticing how everyone was wearing bizarre clothes; surely people should be looking at her by now when she stood out like a sore thumb.

The young teen was able to reach the same destination as the group of men and she decided to remain hidden. A man stepped out from the centre of the group, or rather he was shoved forward by the dark-haired man with unusually pale skin for somebody living in Egypt. His hair was scruffy and was coloured light-grey, being relatively long but not too long. He wore a typical beige shenti, but that was it. His feet were bare and he wore no jewellery; he seemed to be rather poor compared to the other men he had walked with.

It became obvious that this man was no friend to the people. Janeiro noticed people scowling at him, including the men who had walked him there.

Two women came out of the palace. One was dark haired with brown eyes, her appearance like that of a regular Egyptian. Her clothes were very revealing and she wore jewellery, such as a golden tiara upon her head and jewelled bangles around her wrists. Her clothing was also made somewhat of gold and beads, almost as if it was some sort of armour.

The second woman did not look as Egyptian. She was still tanned, but her hair was blonde. She wore similar clothing to the other girl, only not quite as revealing. The similarities in their attire proved that they were both working together in the same job, but what job was it?

"Vile cur," spat the black-haired girl. "Bend your knee and show some respect for the queen!"

The man was keeping his head down, ignoring the girl's demand. She looked greatly offended, but before she could speak the pale-skinned man forced him onto the other's knees. The grey-haired man showed barely any emotional response to the action, keeping his head down.

And from the palace, she stepped out.

Her.

Nefertari, the Queen of Outcasts.

Janeiro almost felt her heart stop as her eyes widened. How was she alive?!

...Was this a memory?

Was Janeiro currently in the past, witnessing an actual event which occurred for the deceased ruler?

"I see we have a late night guest," the woman remarked as she stepped closer to the man. He almost seemed to tense up, but not enough for it to be noticed.

As expected, the man in the shenti gave no response. The queen frowned slightly but remained calm, bending down while still towering over the accused thief.

"It seems that you're not a very talkative man," she noted. "Not to worry, I've made fools like you talk before; we have our ways in this village."

"He had tried to enter your palace," spoke up one intellectual-looking Egyptian with the typical black bobbed hair. "Once we spotted him he made an attempt to flee, but I was able to slow him down by shooting him in the leg with an arrow."

Nefertari raised her eyebrow and looked, nodding her head once she saw the bleeding wound on the side of the thief's thigh.

"I can see that," she stated, her eyes never leaving the man before her. "Take him to the dungeons and make sure he's chained up in a securely locked cell; I will deal with him tomorrow."

The thief was lifted up to his feet and led inside the palace, but as Janeiro watched she felt a tugging sensation on her arm.

"E-Excuse me...?" came a child's voice.

What?

How could someone be making contact with her? Wasn't this just a shadow of the past?

The girl turned around and looked down slowly, seeing the fearful purple eyes of a small boy staring back up at her. He had fluffy white hair and wore rags; for some reason he beared a striking resemblance to Ryo. Perhaps Marik. No, a combination of both. But how was he able to see her?

"I..." he stuttered shyly. "I-I lost my dad..."

A lost child. Had he ended up in this memory by accident as well? What if Bakura had been incredibly messed-up and decided to fuse Marik and Ryo into one being?

...Too far, Janeiro. Too far.

"Um..." Janeiro hesitated. "I-I'll... help you... look for him..."

But as she said that, the world around her became distorted. The boy was almost glitching before her eyes, as was the village around her.

And soon, Janeiro was only surrounded by darkness once again.

What on earth had just happened?

...

Trapped in darkness once again. Ryo had become too used to this.

But the world around him began to shift.

He had just been sitting curled up in the shadows, and now he was sitting...

In an inn?

An old inn?

'Another illusion...' he thought as he stood up. This reminded him of earlier when he and Janeiro ran towards what looked like Egypt before they were brought out of the Shadow Realm.

As he stood, Ryo noticed that he was beside a table with only one person sitting at it. They kept their head down as they firmly grasped a cup of some kind of alcoholic drink in their hand. The individual had longish light-grey hair which didn't seem to be kept particularly tidy.

Unlike Janeiro, Ryo was able to identify this man straight away.

It was his ancestor.

Anger immediately flared up in the boy, and that was out of character for him. He was fairly certain he had just experienced death at the hands of his alter-ego, so this was obviously the Shadow Realm. He was going to be here permanently.

Despite having some fear left within him, Ryo slammed his hand down on the table tearfully.

"You!" he cried. "It's your fault I'm here! Where am I?! Is this the Shadow Realm?!"

No response came from the thief. Ryo scowled but then his eyes widened.

He couldn't be seen.

Ryo looked at his own hands in complete fear, taking a few steps back. What was happening? Something perculiar was obviously going on but he just couldn't get his head around it. Was he dead or not? Why was he... here? In an ancient inn with his ancestor?

His ancestor...

Was his name even Bakura? Everyone seemed to assume so. He had just decided to refer to him as Thief King Bakura because, during his time, many who encountered him or heard of him would tell others of the "Thief King".

This was the very man who caused him to become possessed by the Millennium Ring as a child. He was a selfish individual who wanted to revive Zorc.

Technically he succeeded in later years, after using Ryo's body for a good amount of time.

Surely he had been destroyed. Why was Ryo seeing a vision of him here in Ancient Egypt? He wasn't even wearing his signature red cloak that Yugi had told him about...

Had the thief king not attacked the Capital at this point?

Obviously not.

Ryo stared at him a little long before the thief stood up. A chill went down Ryo's spine as he almost met eyes with the man; his expression was cold and his purple eyes were darker than they should be, and that scar on his face emphasized that he was not a man to take lightly.

But before the thief could leave, the door to the inn was slammed.

By the inn keeper.

Ryo was surprised and even jumped at the sudden action, deciding to remain close to the wall while also keeping his ancestor in his view. He was frightened yet also curious to see what was going on.

The thief king stopped walking, his expression vacant. This didn't seem to be the first time somebody had confronted him, and it definitely wasn't the last.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you when you walked in here," the inn keeper spoke. "Scarred eye... Light hair... Purple eyes... You're the one they call the Thief King, aren't you?!"

Thief King Bakura simply stood there and stared blankly for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"You're in my way," was all he responded with.

The inn keeper looked confused at the reply, noticing that it was clearly the man's way of avoiding the topic. He then grinned locked the door so that the thief king had no way out.

"The Pharaoh wants you dead or alive," he recalled. "I'm sure he won't mind if we perform the execution here and now."

Others seemed to be grinning and slowly standing from their seats, stepping closer to the accused individual. Still, the thief king didn't seem to flinch.

"I bet you feel real stupid, don't you?" the inn keeper mocked. "Thinking that you could walk into a place like this without being recognized... I thought the Thief King would be smarter than that!"

The thief smiled ever so slightly and tilted his head to the side, though his expression still remained somewhat emotionless. "I'm flattered," he spoke in an empty tone of voice before his small smile faded away. "But you should know from the many stories that I'm not particularly kind to those who try to rat me out."

"Whatever!" the inn keeper scoffed. "Rip him open, boys!"

The crowd of mildly-drunk men swarmed at him, yelling and chortling as they attempted to grab him. To their surprise, the thief king was able to slide out of the cluster and run to the bar. He grabbed the bag of gold, which obviously belonged to the inn keeper, before he grabbed one of the torches keeping the place light during the evening hours. He threw the torch towards the crowd and was actually pleased that everybody avoided it since it hit the wooden door. The thief grabbed a second torch and set fire to the counter. Now that the place was in chaos it didn't seem like anybody was focused on attacking him. The young man proceeded to leap out of a window before he ran off into the night. The inn keeper was yelling at him, but it was actually difficult to understand what he was saying.

Ryo was in shock and horror. His ancestor was truly a diabolical man. But for some reason he wasn't quite how he had imagined him to be... From what Yugi and the others had told him, the thief king was an evil and psychotic individual, but in this situation he had been calm. He didn't grin a terrifying grin or laugh like a maniac, he was just completely void of emotion.

Or at least, he was doing his very best to hide his emotions.

As the flames consumed the inn, the world around him went to being complete darkness. Ancient Egypt was gone.

In front of him, to his relief, he saw Janeiro walking around as if she was looking for something.

"Janeiro!" he called out. The girl turned around and let out a sigh of relief as she ran to him and gave him a hug,

"Ryo," she whimpered. "I was so scared! Th-There was this weird memory! I-I saw Nefertari!"

"You had a memory, too?" Ryo gasped, looking at her in the eyes.

"Yeah!" Janeiro answered before she actually processed Ryo's sentence. "Wait... Ryo, did you... did you see something, too...?"

"Yes, I did..." Ryo nodded. "I was in this weird inn... I was in Ancient Egypt... a-and my ancestor... the King of Thieves... he burned the place down..."

"Your ancestor...?" Janeiro spoke slowly.

Wait a minute...

"That's who she was talking to!" the girl finally realised.

"Pardon?" Ryo reacted, appearing confused. Janeiro looked at him, her eyes wide.

"Nefertari..." Janeiro began. "She was talking to an accused thief... I-It must have been your ancestor!"

"Are you sure...?" Ryo queried slowly. "There were plenty of thieves in Ancient Egypt..."

Janeiro shook her head. "Ryo... Something is going on. You and I reuniting... Yami Bakura and... that other me... And now these memories after we just visited the recently-discovered tomb of my apparent ancestor!"

There was a pause before Janeiro continued talking. "Everything is very confusing," she confessed. "I... I thought we were both dead... In fact, I'm not sure what we are... Or where we are, for that matter... But one thing is certain: your ancestor knew Nefertari, and now something that happened thousands of years ago between them is resurfacing."

It sounded just about right. There was that weird scripture left by Janeiro's other half which seemed incredibly cryptic, telling the story of a king and a queen.

...

...

Hold on.

"Janeiro..." Ryo spoke quietly and very slowly. "Marik said that he had translated a scripture for Yugi... left by your other half..."

Janeiro nodded her head, tilting her head to the side. "Yes, he did..." she recalled. "What about it? I don't remember it, if that's what you're asking..."

The girl paused. "...Wait... Wait a minute..."

It was starting to come to her head.

Here, in the Shadow Realm, she was able to recall something that she wouldn't normally be able to recall. But she had to focus.

"There was once a queen who fell in love with a king," she began, sounding like she was really trying hard to remember, "but they could not be together. They were both bad people. They did not deserve their royal titles. To save each other, they stayed apart. The queen was killed, and a few years later the king was also killed. Both the king and the queen were forgotten until they were reunited thousands of years later. Now bad memories will start to return, and the future will twist to reflect the tragedies of the past."

Janeiro blinked a few times. How was she...?

How did she even...?

"...Wow..." she gasped to herself. "Ryo... Did I just...?"

"You remembered something left behind by your other half," Ryo explained. "It happens to me sometimes, but I've done my best to ignore any of his memories; some of them are awfully disturbing."

Ryo then tapped his chin as he told himself the little story again, but he didn't speak it out loud.

"There was once a queen who fell in love with a king."

Nothing seemed to suggest that Nefertari and the thief king had a romantic relationship; in fact from the little knowledge Ryo had it seemed like his ancestor had stolen something from her. And if he had seen what Janeiro had witnessed then he really wouldn't believe that the two ever... fell in love. Unless it was never even love to begin with; the message was a cryptic one, after all, and was probably not supposed to be easily solved.

"But they could not be together. They were both bad people."

Were they secretly in love, or were they always enemies? Did something happen? What was it?

And both bad people...

The thief king was a thief, and Ryo knew that he was much more than that. He wanted the world to be plunged into darkness, and it seemed that he was still pursuing those goals.

And Nefertari, while he knew so little about her, was presumably executed by the Pharaoh. She was seen as a bad person because she helped the outcasts of society.

"They did not deserve their royal titles."

A king or queen was someone who sat upon the throne and ruled the land. Neither Ryo's ancestor or Nefertari actually did that.

Ryo's ancestor was a king of thieves.

Janeiro's ancestor was a queen of outcasts.

Many could say that they both definitely did not deserve to be viewed as royalty.

"To save each other, they stayed apart. The queen was killed, and a few years later the king was also killed."

Perhaps at some point the two did indeed have to separate, knowing that they would be vulnerable together.

Or maybe the thief king did not want somebody interfering with his goal, and the queen of outcasts did not want to be involved with someone so cruel.

As for their deaths, it did seem accurate. On the tomb's wall the thief king had painted himself, and he could not have done that if he had died before Nefertari. He died some time later when he had originally attempted to revive Zorc.

"Both the king and the queen were forgotten until they were reunited thousands of years later."

Reunited? It was true that they had both been forgotten, with the memory Thief King Bakura only being revived in the Pharaoh's recollections and Nefertari being rediscovered thanks to Marik finding her long lost tomb. But none of these events crossed paths?

...Wait, of course!

Janeiro's other half had been made by Yami Bakura by accident. She was a mixture of both him and Janeiro...

Or someone else.

Nefertari. That other half of Janeiro's must have been created by Nefertari somehow!

Or maybe the reunion was not referring to the two dark spirits...

But Ryo and Janeiro themselves.

As soon as they met each other after three years, all of this chaos ensued.

This was starting to make too much sense.

"Now bad memories will start to return, and the future will twist to reflect the tragedies of the past."

Bad memories were definitely returning, without a doubt. The current situation of the pair was a perfect example; they had just witnessed separate memories of their respective ancestors.

And the tragedies of the past...

Bakura was up to something again. That spirit never could rest, could he? He waited for thousands of years to try destroying the world just because he disliked the Pharaoh. And now he was doing the same thing again.

The white-haired boy slowly gave Janeiro a look of horror.

"Janeiro..." he began. "That... That thing you just said... That thing you just remembered from your other half..."

"...Yes?" Janeiro replied, sounding unsettled.

"...It's to do with us."

Janeiro's eyes widened. "What?!" she exclaimed.

"I just thought about it," Ryo told her. "It all makes sense. The King of Thieves. The Queen of Outcasts. They were both despised by the kingdom and they were forgotten after their deaths. They weren't actual royalty, either, therefore they did not deserve their titles. Because we, the descendants of the king and queen, reunited thousands of years later... they're coming back. A-And they want revenge on the world for something."

"Wait, so does that mean that Bakura is working on another plan to destroy the world?!" Janeiro gasped in complete horror.

"Of course he is!" Ryo almost snapped. "What else would he be doing?!" He let himself calm down by letting out a quick sigh. "Look, we are trapped in this state of mind. We may even be trapped here in the Shadow Realm forever. But if we can witness those memories... we can witness them all."

Janeiro was immediately aware of Ryo's plan. "Ryo..." she spoke. "Are you saying that...?"

Ryo simply nodded, knowing her question. "We're going to look at the past. The true past, not a twisted game or a false memory. If we can find out what happened all those years ago, we can stop Bakura before it's too late!"

~End of Chapter~