Chapter Fourteen

Malik woke up groaning. He moved to turn on his side and his body screamed in defiance. He blinked his eyes open, realizing that it was quite bright in his room. He suspected he had slept far past dawn. He rubbed his face briskly and then sat up. His body felt sore and beaten, as if it was unaccustomed to being used. I suppose I'm late to meet with Atemu, he mused. After a while in which he debated going back to sleep, he rose out of bed and dressed into clean clothes. He had taken a much-needed bath before bed the day before and he was thankful that when he pushed his fingers through his long hair that pieces of sand and dirt did not come flying from it as it had been. After arranging his turban around his face, he left his room and knocked on Bakura's door. It immediately opened to his similar garbed companion, although the blue-gray eyes that met his own were full of disgruntlement.

"About time you woke up," Bakura grumbled.

"Excuse me for not being used to traveling through the shadow realm like you are," Malik dismissively replied. The two of them settled into walking beside each other and at first, neither of them spoke.

"We should probably pay a visit to our female friend here soon," Bakura remarked off-handedly. When Malik turned his gaze to his, Bakura was watching him. "She was probably worried."

"I know," Malik mumbled, looking away. "I had hoped that Atemu would send her a message, but since she didn't come and wake either of us up to yell at us, I'm assuming he's leaving that bit to us." Even though Malik included Bakura in it, they both knew that if anyone were to visit Anzu, it would be him. While Atemu would not care if they traveled together, his priests were wary of them walking around the city together. Malik had wanted to go see Anzu before they got to the palace the other day, but the group was exhausted and he did not particularly want to see her expression when she saw his appearance. While he still looked worn out and travel-weary, he was at least cleaner and his clothes were intact as opposed to being torn up and ragged.

When they arrived at the war room where they had been informed Atemu was located, only Seto, Mahado, and Isis were present with Atemu. Not even Siamun Muran was with him. Mahado appeared as though he had not gotten as much sleep as the two thieves, but Isis appeared surprisingly rested. "Ah, I see you two managed to get some sleep," Atemu spoke up with a faint smile. "I hope you're well rested, something new has come up. We've also been waiting until all four of you could fill us in on what happened."

"Glad to hear it," Bakura grunted, throwing himself unceremoniously into a chair at the table. Malik followed him more elegantly, clearly still trying to wake up. He slanted a glance at Atemu, puzzled. The pharaoh seemed to be less than his usual enthusiastic self that morning. Once he had shifted into a comfortable position, he found that Atemu was surveying the two thieves with a surprisingly somber expression. "What the hell is wrong with you anyway?" Bakura asked Atemu in his typical blunt manner. Atemu raised his eyebrows ever so slightly towards him.

"I'm simply concerned for the well-being of my citizens," he replied curtly, turning from him. "Now, if we may proceed?"

Bakura and Malik exchanged an amused look. Atemu could pretend all he liked, but it was clear that something had gotten him into an unusually bad mood. As Bakura made to say something else, Isis caught his gaze and lifted her hand just slightly, subtly signing to him that now was not the time to be obnoxious. He closed his mouth obligingly in spite of the round of teasing he had stored in his mind. He supposed it could be entertaining to see Atemu upset himself.

Once the pharaoh had gotten everyone's attention, Isis and Mahado began to explain the events at investigating the village. Once they came to the moment when they were taken into the shadow realm, they faltered and Malik swiftly took up the conversation. Seto and Atemu listened attentively and once they had finished with arriving at the oasis, the room seemed strangely silent. Not for the first time since entering the room, Malik could not help but wonder that only three of the priests were present. He wondered if Atemu was not beginning to suspect treachery himself, considering it was only his most trusted priests that were in the room at the moment.

"This is horrific," Atemu said at last, leaning his elbows against the table and clasping his hands in front of his face. "I'm extremely lucky that Bakura was there to take control of the situation...I never imagined that the darkness would have grown so powerful."

"Do you really need to talk like that?" Bakura queried in a bored tone. "We're alive, aren't we? There's no reason to be dramatic."

"And you all could have been killed!" Atemu abruptly snapped, slamming his hands onto the table. Mahado and Isis both seemed to stiffen, while Seto sat inspecting his Sennen Rod mildly. "This is not a game we're playing, Bakura! The entire world could be swallowed up by this thing!"

"Oh, please." He rolled his eyes. "As if you'd let that happen. If you'd actually take advantage of the weapons at your disposal like I said when we arrived, we wouldn't have to deal with this in the first place. It's your own damn fault for being blind to what's happening around you."

"I've done everything that I can!"

"No, you haven't!" Bakura straightened, pointing a finger at him and glaring. "You've been making excuses and sitting on your ass this entire time. You refuse to look deeper into this problem in spite of experiencing similar problems when fighting me. I'm not here to fix your problems, Atemu, that's not my job." He leaned back in his seat as Atemu glowered fiercely back at him. The room seemed choked with the tension between the two. After a time, however, Bakura spoke up in a calm tone, "Now, what else has happened? You said there was a new development."

Atemu made a visible effort at collecting himself, but his tone was still dark when he spoke. "Someone has sent people out looking for Anzu. To get information on her, I should say."

Malik blinked. "What?" he said blankly. "How did you find this out?"

If anything, Atemu seemed to grow even more tense in his seat. "She came to me last night when she found out. It seems she snuck out to see her friends and there was a man there trying to get information out of them. He tried to kill them and Anzu intervened and killed him with a plank."

"Her and her damn wooden planks," Seto muttered suddenly. Bakura snickered. "Shut up, thief."

"Making your head hurt remembering it?" Bakura taunted.

"Enough!" Atemu snarled, startling even Bakura into quieting. "The fact of the matter is that someone has noticed that she is close to me and means to eliminate her to get to me. The reason I didn't call the others to this meeting is for this reason. Someone within the city has plans against the throne and is likely working together with the person controlling that creature or is the same person."

"There's no way of us determining that now that she's killed the man sent after her," Seto pointed out.

"What did you expect her to do?" Bakura asked, raising an eyebrow. "Watch him kill her friends?"

"She could have knocked him out without killing him at least."

"I really doubt," Malik drawled, "that she would be thinking of keeping him alive for questioning. She likely got frightened and did the only thing she could do."

The room lapsed into silence. Malik looked to Atemu, who had leaned back to lounge in his chair, his elbow leaning against the arm of the chair as he propped his head up. Atemu seemed to have no desire to continue the conversation in the mood he was currently in. He could understand why Atemu was angry with the news that Anzu had given him, but intuition told him that there was something else that was bothering him. If Anzu had come to see him last night, they were likely alone. It was possible that Atemu had taken that moment to make a move on Anzu, which made him wonder if she had rejected his advances or something else had happened. Whatever it was, it was clear that it was eating at the man.

"For now," Atemu finally spoke up, "I would like for Mahado and Mana to do some...discreet...investigations. The rest of us will need to work on the problem of the creature. I will meet with the rest of the priests later to inform them of what happened." He rose to his feet and then frowned. "I would like for the details of the shadow realm to stay between us. I'll alter it as I see fit."

He doesn't trust the rest of them, Malik thought interestedly. I never expected that from him. He must have needed something like this to happen to trigger distrust in him. After all, there's only a handful of people that would know how close he is to Anzu.

After they had left the room, Malik and Bakura lingered in the area, hidden behind one of the massive statues. Mahado and Atemu remained in the war room while Isis and Seto departed together. Malik suspected that Isis would tell Seto of her suspicions about Akhenaden today now that Atemu was becoming visibly agitated. Even though he wanted to hound Atemu about what had occurred between him and Anzu, he knew that doing so while he was in such a state of mind may not be the best plan of action. "What do you think?" Bakura murmured, leaning against the statue while Malik watched the two priests round a corner and disappear. "Now would be the best time to go see Anzu while everyone else is distracted. Nobody will be watching for us."

"Atemu is in a questionable state right now," Malik said, drawing back to meet Bakura's gaze. "I don't know if it'd be best for us to leave right now."

"He's stressed." Bakura shrugged. "What did you expect from the idiot? Strange that he included us in his little party of confidants, though, don't you think?"

"Hmm...yes, actually...but if I were to follow his train of thought, I suppose he might think that we wouldn't bother with killing her now after keeping her as long as we did. It would be too much of a hassle."

"Which it would. I certainly wouldn't go that far just to get at him. Strange that they're taking this route instead of going after Seto or Mahado, though."

"Akhenaden wouldn't kill Seto...Mahado is another case entirely. We don't know how safe he'll be..."

"And Isis?"

"Akhenaden wants to use Seto for his own devices. He wouldn't provoke him by killing Isis. No, it seems that he's being very careful in who he's choosing as his victims right now...He's an idiot. Going after Anzu first was too much of a red flag."

"To be fair," Bakura said, pushing off from the statue, "I don't think he planned on having Anzu there to overhear that conversation. He got unlucky."

X

Atemu paused in his recording, looking out the balcony. He could hear the bright sounds of servants and nobles outside and the chattering of animals in the gardens. It was a soothing sound to his ears, but it did nothing to calm his nerves. Carefully, he set his reed pen aside and leaned back in the ornately carved chair, crossing his arms over his chest. In usual circumstances, he could control his emotions rather well. It was something that he prided himself on doing and was something that allowed him to rule more peacefully and reasonably than his predecessors. Nonetheless, even he had a breaking point and Anzu had turned into that within a matter of moments. His nails dug into his arms at the thought of her and he jolted to his feet, planting his hands on his narrow hips and glaring down at the carpeted floor.

He had never been more disgusted with himself in his life.

He knew, based on the continuation of her tears, that he had made a grave error in kissing her last night. Her shocked stare had been like tiny daggers being thrown into his face. She was better at regaining her composure than him; she had laughed off her tears and insisted that she needed to be home. After she left, he realized that he had more or less taken advantage of her weakness at that moment to steal a kiss. Self-disgust and shame had been driving his temper all morning long and there was no apparent way of alleviating it. He had no way of going back in the past to change his actions and while he was sure that Anzu would accept his apology, as forgiving of a soul she was, he did not think it would assist his own ego.

Frustrated, he dropped his hands and paced his study for some time until he heard a sound outside the door. In a petulant tone, he called, "Leave me be, I want to be alone."

"Not really an option, sorry." Atemu paused in his pacing, narrowing his eyes as Malik shut the door behind him. "You should really get better guards, letting in mere guests because I have your symbol with me. That could be dangerous."

"Is there something you needed?" Atemu asked in an attempt at civility.

"Everyone is on edge because you're acting like an ass." Malik pulled his turban off from his face, raising his eyebrows mildly. "And I'm stuck inside the palace for now, so I thought I might investigate. It's unlike you to snap at people."

"I'm not in the mood to have a philosophical discussion about moods, Malik. You would be better served poking fun at Seto." Atemu turned from him, moving out to the balcony where he landed his hands on the stone balustrade firmly, hoping that his dismissal would be enough to dissuade the thief from pursuing him. Unfortunately, Malik was accustomed to bad moods and ignoring them. He followed Atemu onto the balcony, although he remained a few steps behind him.

"Does this mood of yours have anything to do with Anzu?" Malik queried behind him. Atemu glanced at him over his shoulder, frowning. Malik's face was set into a perfectly composed mask, revealing nothing of what the thief was thinking. It was easy to see through some people's composure for Atemu. Mahado and Seto were particularly easy to discern in spite of their stoic expressions. Malik, however, had mastered the art, having been raised in the nobility for such a long time and knowing the techniques necessary to see beyond the surface. Whatever motives Malik had for questioning him, Atemu would never know. When Atemu ignored the question, turning back to look into the gardens, Malik continued, "I understand that you're frustrated by her being put in danger, but you're fairly good at keeping your concerns under control. I can only assume this sudden change is of a more personal matter." He paused. "You may as well just talk, Atemu. I have no plans for the rest of the day and am not inclined to leave."

"You forget who you're talking to. I can easily have you thrown into the dungeons to keep you from bothering me."

"How would she view that, I wonder?" was Malik's casual quip. Atemu scowled and then turned around, propping a hand on his hip as he glowered sideways at the male.

"Why are you so interested in my personal affairs?"

"Because they are the only thing that has happened of interest lately and I have nothing better to do. Also, you seem unwilling to share this irritation with anyone else. The pent up emotion will do you no good – and it will not help anyone else. So, go on and talk while I'm obliged to listen and give advice."

"Advice?" Atemu laughed. "What type of advice do you have to offer?"

"You may have known Anzu longer, pharaoh," Malik told him with a small smile, "but I have spent more time with her and may know her better. I know her wants, her needs, even the little things that she doesn't realize she needs – simply based on her personality." For a moment, Atemu considered him. Not for the first time, he began to question Malik's relationship with Anzu. That statement sounded more threatening than inviting. Perhaps it was a bait, but it worked.

"Very well. Yes, my mood is related to her." Atemu moved to turn away, initially intending to leave it at that, but then he paused, frowning. "It has nothing to do with her own actions, but mine. I was not a gentleman and that is my own fault for giving into my weakness. Mahado was right to warn me against romance."

"Did you try to seduce her?" Malik's tone was so bland that Atemu had to look at him. There was a spark of something that crossed in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly that all he was faced with was a politely curious gaze.

"I did not try to bed her, if that's what you're asking."

"If you didn't try to seduce her, then what exactly was 'ungentlemanly'? Your actions, your looks, and everything else could be called such. You have never made it a secret of your interest in her."

"What exactly do you call seducing?" Atemu countered in return. Even though Malik kept a polite tone and a calm façade, Atemu felt as though they were engaged in a heated debate. He did not need to see the emotional outrage to feel that Malik was not pleased with Atemu doing anything more than looking at her. For what reason, Atemu refused to consider too deeply.

"Anything of an amorous nature may be called seduction in the eyes of the poets," Malik dismissively remarked, but his gaze was sly as he looked to the pharaoh. "But anything like an amorous touch would be agreed by most to be an attempt at seduction."

"Speak plainly, Malik. What are you accusing me of doing?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything." Malik shrugged. "I'm simply asking you for information you seem ashamed to give."

"Of course I am ashamed!" Atemu retorted. "She had been crying, upset from killing a man, and I – " He stopped himself and noticed a slight smirk alight upon Malik's mouth.

"So, you took advantage of her need for comfort and...did what? Kiss her? Fondle her? Undress her?"

"I kissed her. Are you satisfied now?"

"No," Malik answered and it was if the smirk had never been there. "Not at all."

Malik's sudden silence unnerved him and he eyed the male, trying to comprehend what had caused the sudden lack of language. Unable to determine the cause, Atemu stepped back inside the room and took to pacing again. Spoken aloud, his crime seemed all the more horrendous. If even a thief could see what he had done wrong, he could only imagine how Anzu felt about it. He knew his chances had been slim anyway, with her natural dislike of the noble life (something he did not blame her for), but this had perhaps set him back more than his status. He knew that Anzu felt something of a gentle nature for him, although not to the degree of his own love and respect. His mood was becoming blacker by the minute.

"I can see that you are tormented by it without me needing to point it out to you," Malik coldly commented, stepping into the room. Atemu halted in his steps, turning to look at him. Malik was pulling his turban up over his face again and strolled towards him, stopping in front of him for a moment. "However, if I find out you try something like that again, I'll make sure to take her somewhere that you can't have her again."

"Is that a threat on her life?"

"Don't be stupid, Atemu. It's simply a warning that if you do something like that again, without her consent, I'll tuck her away where even Rishid could not help you find her." Malik turned away from him, heading towards the door.

"You have no right, Malik," Atemu called after him, feeling surprisingly calm in spite of the threat. Malik paused, glancing behind him. "You're not her father, nor her lover. You have no place in getting involved in this."

"We'll see," was his ambiguous response before he left Atemu standing alone in the chamber.

X

Bakura paused in his steps, glancing behind him at the palace. It was as impressive and overwhelming as ever. It was amazing what the Egyptian pharaohs could do on the backs of their slaves. Smiling at that dark thought, he turned around and continued towards the temple. He could feel the thrum of power from the palace temple and the closer he drew to it, the more the power seemed to seem up from around him, surrounding him as if trying to suffocate him. Unlike other enemies to the pharaoh, Bakura was unbothered by this. He had felt the true assault of power upon him when he had gone against Atemu. He knew what this power was capable of and while that would have caused fear in others, it served as a reminder of what he had survived and also, why he had failed.

The temple was locked by a series of complex locks that were easy for a tomb robber such as Bakura and when he entered, he stood inside for a moment surrounded by the sacred feeling the temple exhibited. It was dimly lit by torches and the gold within caused shimmers around the temple. Ignoring the gold, Bakura continued inside the temple and went to the center where the stone staircase led up to an altar. When he came to the top, his mouth twisted a bit. An interesting pair, he mused, gazing down at the stone slabs. Obelisk the Tormentor, one of the Egyptian god demon, was marked in one of the stone slabs alongside an elegant dragon. Although it makes no sense to make a stone slab of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. That demon spirit is housed within the Sennen Rod. Though it makes no sense to make stone slabs of any of them when the gods are in the Sennen Puzzle. They do love their symbolism, don't they?

"Breaking into temples again?" a drawling voice asked from behind him. Bakura turned to see Seto a few feet behind him, his arms crossed. "Something Atemu would like to know about."

"I do enjoy picking the locks here for fun," Bakura dismissed, unbothered at being caught. He jerked his thumb towards the stone slab. "What's this doing here in the temple? I was under the impression the temples were for the gods, not little girls."

Seto's eyes lingered on the stone depiction of the dragon, but he ignored the question, saying, "Get out. I don't trust you in here."

"I'll just pick the lock again."

Seto bared his teeth in a farce of a smile. "Not without getting past guards that will be set up around the temples from now. Now, get on."

Bakura shrugged, turning away and moving down the steps. "You have a knack for ruining people's fun, do you know?" he said casually. "And, by the way, I see you're avoiding my question. Too sensitive to get over yourself and talk about it?"

"The temples are sacred places. They don't need your filth in them."

"Filth like you are in them, so you should take your own advice, priest."

"I don't go around stealing and killing for fun."

"At least I don't kill my friends, I just kill people who deserve it." Bakura heard him move and swiftly side stepped him as they came to the landing, whipping around to face him. Seto had pulled the dagger out from the Sennen Rod and had it brandished angrily in his hand. As Seto made another move towards him, Bakura abruptly took hold of his wrist, twisting it up and then slamming him into the ground. Seto growled angrily beneath him. One of Bakura's feet was in the small of his back as he held his twisted wrist behind him. The Sennen Rod had dropped beside Seto's face. "Careful who you call a murderer," Bakura murmured above him. "You come off too much as hypocrite."

"Get the hell off me!" Seto snarled.

"I'm not sure I can trust you not to stab me again. Didn't you have a promise to keep?"

"I doubt anyone will care if you die, thief."

Bakura laughed. "As if you could kill me, anyway." He tossed Seto's wrist from him and stepped back, allowing the high priest to get to his feet. Seto took the Sennen Rod and the dagger was sheathed. "Murder is not something you seem to particularly enjoy."

"I'm warning you," he hissed. "Keep your comments to yourself!"

"You're right. This is a sacred place. I wouldn't want to disturb any of the gods."

Bakura left Seto in the temple and when he was further down the walk, near the line of stone statues that led up to the temple, he glanced behind to see the priest securing the door once again. He could tell by the stiff way he held himself that Kisara was still a sensitive topic for him, in spite of being Isis's lover. Bakura continued into the palace, deciding to return to his room to see if Malik had returned yet or not.

The encounter had left a bad taste in his mouth. The entire situation with Kisara was one that Bakura had not liked to have had happened. At the time, it had caused him an unending degree of anger. He knew the type of people the nobles were and that they had no trouble killing for their own ends, but Kisara had not had a welcome stay in Egypt and she never would have gotten in that position if she had not trusted Seto enough. Even the knowledge of Seto's regret and love for her did not diminish Bakura's anger towards the priest. The girl had been nothing but an innocent with a powerful spirit within her. She had been unlucky in harboring such a demon spirit.

Bakura moved to Malik's room and knocked on the door before entering. Malik was slumped in a chair, drinking wine. "What happened to you?" Bakura asked, shutting and locking the door behind him before pulling his robes and turban off.

"Nothing," Malik grunted. "I just had to deal with the pharaoh."

"Oh? Did you figure out what his problem was today or did you tease him too much?"

"Hmm?" Malik looked up at him distractedly. "Oh...no, he just pissed me off, that's all." Bakura paused in pouring himself some wine, raising an eyebrow. It was clear that his friend was lying, but whatever had disturbed him was enough to cause him to sink into a foul mood. Bakura doubted he would be any help with it, so he let the matter lie and settled into a chair across from him, releasing a long sigh.

"I'll be glad for when this is over and we can return to Kul Elna," Bakura told him sincerely, taking a drink from his goblet.

A wry smile curved Malik's lips upward and he raised his goblet in a toast. "Same here."

TBC