Chapter Twenty
The next morning, Yugi was slowly awoke by Ann licking his face gently while making faint motherly sounds and he slowly shifted awake as Atem's deep, gentle voice was added in a gentle coax to awaken him further, then he slowly opened his eyes to see Ann's face close to his and he slowly raised a hand to rub the top of her head gently before he looked up to see Atem sitting behind him while looking down at him and he then looked at Rona, who was sitting by his legs on the bed with a pale hand on his thigh. He slowly sat up as soon as Ann slowly moved back from his face and looked over at Atem slowly to see him with a look of amusement on his face before the smaller male gently shoved the ex-Pharaoh in the chest only to earn himself a soft chuckle from Atem and a playful shove to the arm that was gentle. Rona then leaned over to lightly kiss Yugi's cheek good morning before receiving a faint blush in response while Atem shuffled off the bed to fill Ann's food and water bowls and the ex-Pharaoh then picked up Yugi's plate of breakfast along with the fork and the glass of orange juice, then he slowly walked over and laid the plate on Yugi's lap gently while handing him the glass of juice as Yugi quietly thanked him. Ann quietly ate her hard food while Atem gently stroked her back in a slow manner as Yugi ate his breakfast silently with Rona beside him and the ex-Pharaoh slowly stood from his kneeling position beside Ann to walk over towards the door without a word. Yugi watched him do so, but said nothing after he felt something was wrong in the vibe that Atem gave off and he continued to eat silently with Rona still at his side as Ann finished off the last of her own breakfast before moving to her water bowl only to drink it down just as medium paced as she did with her food.
Meanwhile, Atem decended into the basement/lab and gently flipped on the lights with a switch before moving towards the glass dome only to freeze in his tracks after noticing Hikmat laying motionless on the floor of the dome in a puddle of bright crimson blood that matched the blood splattered on the glass of the dome itself while it also covered different areas of the floor. Atem rushed up to the observation room to flip the switch that sent the door control into automatic before he rushed back down the steel staircase and into the glass dome, then he lowered onto his knees beside Hikmat only to see that Hikmat's crimson eyes had dulled while being half-closed while a grim smile played on his lips and Atem closed his eyes tightly for a few moments while taking in a shaking breath before slowly exhaling to keep himself together as he gently placed a hand on Hikmat's motionless form that had grown cold over-night. The ex-Pharaoh re-opened his eyes to look sorrowfully down at Hikmat's smiling face and he slowly raised his other hand to gently close Hikmat's eyelids while he kept his occupied hand on Hikmat's rib cage to try and feel for any sign of a breath that might still remain in Hikmat. No breath moved the almost torn rib-cage that stained Atem's palm without the ex-Pharaoh noticing until he lifted his hand and looked at where his hand was laying to see that Hikmat's entire rib-cage was almost completely exposed as well as Hikmat's abdomen that spilled black liquid that blended with his blood, then he looked back up at Hikmat's face to see that the smile on the creature's lips had not faded and he clenched his hand into a shaking fist that gently laid against Hikmat's side without disturbing the torn flesh. He then lifted his eyes to see Kaiba standing in the entrance of the dome with Mokuba at his side and Yugi behind him, Yugi having a hand over his mouth with eyes slightly widened in horror at the sight of Hikmat's torn body and the splatters of blood almost covering the entire dome.
"...Poor Hikmat..." Rona said sadly as she held the pod to her chest abit tighter as she stood at Yugi's side.
"...Atem...look..." Kaiba said softly as he pointed behind the ex-Pharaoh.
Atem blinked slowly at the billionair before his head turned to look over his shoulder at the message written in blood on the dome wall behind him and the ex-Pharaoh slowly developed a frown of hatred as he wore the message, "DEEP WITHIN THE DESERT SANDS, LIES AN ALICE WITH BLOOD ON HIS HANDS. HIS LATEST, BUT SURELY NOT HIS LAST VICTIM, WILL BE A FOOLISH PHARAOH AND HIS SIDEKICK WITH A DEADLY SYMPTOM." Yugi slowly moved forward while staring at the message with eyes full of disbelief at the last few words and he then looked at Atem to see the ex-Pharaoh slowly rise from the floor as the smaller male silently made his way to Atem while he stared at the blood on Atem's hands from touching Hikmat. The ex-Pharaoh slowly looked over at him from the message before looking at his hands and at his pant legs to see that he was stained with Hikmat's blood, then he looked slowly back up at Yugi to see something hidden in the violet orbs of the smaller male's eyes that the ex-Pharaoh couldn't decifer and he frowned concernly before Yugi took his wrist instead of his hand to lead Atem silently out of the dome while saying softly that they still had a flight that they needed to catch. Atem stopped beside Kaiba while looking up at the billionair silently with a message in his eyes that only Kaiba understood and the billionair nodded silently in acceptance to the request as the ex-Pharaoh allowed himself to be pulled out of the lab while Rona followed him closely as Kaiba looked over at Mokuba silently. The younger Kaiba nodded and slowly walked forward alongside his elder sibling and the Kaiba brothers carefully lifted Hikmat's paper-weight heavy corpse from the floor with blood heavily dripping off of it as they did so before they carried it out of the dome and up a second steel staircase that led into the courtyard lawn that the Kaiba brothers laid Hikmat's corpse upon. Kaiba removed his outer jacket and handed it to Mokuba before pulling up his sleeves, then the older Kaiba took a hold of a shovel and began digging a deep hole in the ground that would fit Hikmat's body, then the brothers pulled Hikmat off the ground only to lay him carefully in the hole and Kaiba then silently re-filled the hole with dirt.
Meanwhile, Atem tossed the washcloth he was using to dry his hands into the sink after washing them completly of the blood and he then looked down at Yugi as the smaller male finished wiping off the ex-Pharaoh's leather pants that cleaned easily, then Yugi silently stood and tossed the washcloth he was using into the sink as well. Atem stopped Yugi from moving towards the door by putting a hand on Yugi's arm to turn Yugi back around to face him and he stared into Yugi's violet eyes that were still slightly dull while Yugi stared back in slight confusion until he noticed the analyzing look in Atem's eyes. Yugi averted his eyes quickly to the floor only to be forced to lift his head back up as a gentle hand pushed up his chin and he swallowed hard after seeing Atem's eyebrows push together out of concern while his eyes showed nothing but worry, then he tensed slightly as Atem questioned his behavior and he quickly lowered his eyes to the floor once more only to have his head raised once more along with his eyes that met Atem's worried ones. The smaller male then softly explained the conversation he and his grandfather had in the hospital, while Solomon Muto was going under treatment for his illness, about Yugi's father that Solomon had rarely mentioned throughout the time Yugi had been raised by him and Atem slowly blinked while his eyebrows slowly spread apart as he listened only to frown once more in concern after seeing the color in Yugi's eyes dull at the memory. The ex-Pharaoh remembered going through Yugi's soul room once when they still shared minds and discovered a picture of a man, a woman, and a young child smiling together in front of a nice-looking house and the child looked like a younger version of Yugi while the couple looked middle-aged with faces that looked like gray misty orbs that didn't reveil even an inch of the couple's true faces at all, the memory of it made Atem realise that Yugi didn't know anything about his parents right at the same time that Atem didn't know his own parents.
"Yugi..." Atem said softly.
Yugi slowly shook his head while forcing a slight smile despite threatening to spill tears, "It's not important...we have something bigger to be worrying about than my parents...we'll worry about it later, okay?"
Atem gently wiped away a tear that was at the very edge of Yugi's right eye and was threatening to spring loose, "Alright, Yugi...
Both males turned their heads after hearing a knock at the door and they both blinked hearing Kaiba's voice, "Hurry up, you two! We've got a plane to catch, so don't spend too much time cleaning up."
"We'll be right out!" Atem called back before looking at Yugi concernly once more only to have Yugi smile at him reassuringly.
"Let's do this...just like old times." Yugi said softly.
Atem blinked, then smiled slightly with a slight nod, "I'm right beside you, Yugi."
The soul brothers took each others hands brotherly while nodding at each other encouragingly and they slowly broke the contact afterwards to exit the bathroom, then both spikey-haired males walked behind the Kaiba brothers down the hall towards the staircase while Yugi took Rona's free hand that wasn't holding the orb to her chest to keep her at his side as she followed at the same pace and they all walked out of the mansion to the limozine that was waiting right outside. Mokuba was allowed into the limo first with Seto following close behind and the Kaiba brothers sat in the leather seats on the side with the black window allowing contact with the driver behind them and Yugi slowly moved into the limo to sit across from the Kaiba brothers with Rona slowly moving into the vehicle behind him to sit by Yugi. Atem moved into the vehicle after her and Roland helped Little Ann into the vehicle while trying to avoid Ann's affectionate licking and the canine sat on the floor between the two pairs of the seats while wagging her tail happily as Yugi gently scratched the top of her head while Rona gently stroked the back of Ann's neck. The drive to the airport was silent as Ann laid her head in Yugi's lap while accepting strokes and scratches from the others in the vehicle and Rona kept the pod close to her chest and securely in her lap, Atem staring out the window with a thoughtful look in his eyes while Kaiba was looking out his own window with a similar expression, Mokuba occupying himself with stroking Ann's furr along her spine as she fought to keep herself awake. When the vehicle slowly stopped in front of the airport, Atem noticed Carina, Travis, and Cameron standing together in front of the airport with their own luggage and he looked over at Kaiba to see that the billionair was already halfway out of the vehicle which forced a slight chuckle out of him.
"Carina...what are you doing here?" Kaiba asked as he approached her.
Carina chuckled faintly, "I'm not letting you have all of the fun...I remembered the dilema you have to go through, so I decided to tag along as a bigger way of saying "thank you" for letting me stay with you under your roof."
Kaiba was about to reply when Carina laid another light kiss to his cheek that made the taller brunette stiffen slightly while a very faint blush settled on his cheeks and he blinked rapidly, then he cleared his throat adultly as Carina moved back from him, "I-It was nothing...!"
"My, my, my...do my eyes deceive me, or is that a blush I see on the great Seto Kaiba's cheeks?~" Atem mused as he walked over beside the billionair.
Kaiba looked over at Atem with a death glare, "You be quiet...!"
"Boy, howdy, he's pinker than a baby pig's hide..." Travis said while pushing up the tip of his black cowboy hat with his thumb.
"Travis, mind your own. He kept our sister in a nice environment while we were dealing with a living h***...be nice." Cameron said softly while affectionately elbowing her older brother in the side.
"Sorry, Cam'..." Travis chuckled as he rubbed his sore side.
"I take it your Travis and Cameron. It's nice to meet you..." Kaiba said as he extended his hand to Travis first while Carina moved back to let him greet her siblings.
"Nice to meet you too, ." Travis said as he shook Kaiba's hand firmly before slowly releasing.
"Charmed. Forgive us for not saying our greetings yesterday...we were so happy that Carina was alright that we forgot our manners...and so did the others..." Cameron said softly as she gently shook Kaiba's hand before releasing it after it was extended to her.
"I understand...I assume you three already have your tickets?" Kaiba asked.
Carina smiled as she held up the tickets in her hand, "Yours too. Sorry, we got nosey. Don't worry about the money though, it was just extra that we scraped off of the money Abraham got for a bounty. He didn't even want it."
Kaiba blinked and took his tickets after Carina offered them to him, "Thank you..."
"It's no problem at all. Now, let's get on the plane, hm?" Carina asked while smiling abit more.
Kaiba nodded and glared over at Atem as the ex-Pharaoh hummed amusingly at the faint blush that remained on the billionair's cheeks even as Carina walked away with her siblings, then Atem chuckled and patted Kaiba's left cheek lightly before silently following them in a quick walk to avoid Kaiba's hand trying to ruffle his hair. The group boarded the plane after their luggage was safely taken and Ann placed in a spare crate to be shipped along with the other animals on the plane and Yugi gave her an old chew-toy she used to play with as a younger dog whenever she would get bored or if he was too busy to play with her himself. Kaiba and Mokuba sat in a pair of seats that had another pair of seats across from them that were facing the opposite direction and Yugi and Atem sat in those seats while the three Ambrosia siblings sat together across the aisle from them with Rona sitting across from Cameron and Atem couldn't help grinning everytime he glanced over to see Kaiba staring over at Carina while hiding most of his face in an old book while Yugi was thoughtfully looking out the window the whole flight to Egypt. Once Kaiba was fully focused on his book, Mokuba was sound asleep with his head in Kaiba's lap, and the Ambrosia trio were too occupied to notice, Rona was asleep sitting up with the pod loosely held in her arms, the soul brothers looked at each other for a long time without saying a word and the two were sending each other mental messages through their eyes since their mental bond was no more now that they had seperate bodies, Atem mostly sending messages that tried cheering Yugi up a little while Yugi's messages were mainly focused on the purpose of the trip as whatever Yugi was hiding from the ex-Pharaoh earlier was fighting itself not to peak into Yugi's eyes. Atem had a feeling that he knew what it was and it was only the fact that he cared too much for Yugi to see the color dull in his eyes again that was keeping him from being his own thoughtful self and questioning the subject.
The landing was barely noticable until the pilot announced that they had arrived in Cairo, Egypt and the group slowly left the plane just as Little Ann was freed from the crate only to pounce onto Yugi while barking happily at their re-union after many hours of being seperated from her master while she held the chew-toy firmly between her jaws as Yugi laughed at her behavior while he lay underneath her. Atem chuckled softly at this display before looking over slowly at Rona as she stared off into the distance at what remained of the palace of Cairo and Atem blinked slowly seeing that the palace still stood proudly high while showing only slight signs of aging, then he looked back over quickly at Kaiba as he commented that the palace still stood taller that the ex-Pharaoh and Atem huffed in response while elbowing the billionair in the abdomen in a family-like manner as he replied that it wasn't the size of the king that mattered, but how high he kept his head and how he treated his people. Kaiba nodded slowly in a mocking manner while rubbing the sore area where Atem's elbow made contact and Atem glared at him threateningly while barely noticing Yugi tugging on his sleeve lightly as Mokuba did the same to Kaiba. Atem then grinned a feline grin that Kaiba knew all too well and commented on the fact that size only mattered in reference to his winning streek compared to the billionair's loss record and Kaiba's eye twitched as he growled angrily at the memory, then the ex-Pharaoh closed his eyes while putting his nose up in the air as his grin grew abit wide and he silently walked away towards the airport with his hands in his pockets and Yugi following him close behind after the smaller male had gathered his luggage and Rona following behind Yugi while Ann walked alongside her. Carina then walked over concernly to question if Kaiba was alright and the billionair immediately dropped his icy glare towards Atem's back only to replace it with his natural calm expression while nodding at her reassuringly.
"That's good...for a minute, I thought you two were going to rush at each other like rams and butt heads." Carina chuckled.
"He keeps his ballsy attitude, I'll do more than ram my head into his..." Kaiba muttered under his breath.
"Hm?" Carina asked while raising an eyebrow.
"N-Nothing...let's just get to the hotel..." Kaiba replied while rubbing the back of his neck, something he never really did before and he cursed himself mentally thinking he got the habit from Yugi.
Carina nodded to his request and gathered her things before following him and Mokuba into the airport with her siblings following her closely in a protective manner, then the group re-joined Atem along with Yugi, Rona, and Ann and Kaiba narrowed his eyes noticing Atem had his arms crossed behind his head while still standing up as he looked over at the billionair through the corner of his eye with a faint grin. Kaiba softly warned him that he would get rid of the smirk if Atem didn't drop it and Atem responded by slowly turning his head towards the billionair only to stick his tounge out immaturely at the taller brunette before moving quickly out of the way to avoid being grabbed and this made Kaiba move into Yugi slightly accidentally, which made Yugi go into Rona and the smaller spikey-haired male quickly put his arms around Rona to keep his and her balance while their faces were only a few inches from each other. Mokuba slapped his forehead while muttering that people were staring while Carina giggled at the display ammusingly as her siblings both had raised eyebrows at the two males while Atem and Kaiba were staring at one another, Atem still having his felinish grin and Kaiba having an icy glare towards the ex-Pharaoh. Yugi meanwhile was staring slightly wide-eyed at Rona as he kept his arms around her petite form while the pod remained safely kept between them and Rona stared back with her own slightly widened eye that stared silently into Yugi's own, then her eye slowly relaxed as she leaned up slowly to kiss his cheek before Yugi quickly turned his head to kiss her lips gently in an automatic action that he couldn't control and this made both of them widen their eyes slightly while both blushed heavily prior to Rona's exposed eye slowly relaxed once more upon her responding. They slowly broke the kiss without saying a word a few moments later and turned their heads to see that no one had taken notice upon being distracted by gathering their things and they then looked at one another with faint blushes remaining on their cheeks before they looked down to see that Little Ann was staring up at them with a look in her eyes that said "I'm not stupid..."
Yugi and Atem got a room together while Rona also was staying in the room with them, Ann instantly making herself comfy on one of the queen-sized beds while Yugi and Atem were both looking out the window as Rona was busy staring at the black pod in her arms that still pulsed crimson with life and Yugi looked over at Atem to see that the ex-Pharaoh was staring intently at the palace of Cairo that stood proudly in the distance. Yugi slowly turned his head to look out at the palace as well and the feeling of something beckoning to him budded in his stomach as he continued to stare at the palace of stone that housed many Pharaohs throughout the time it was inhabited. He then looked back over at Atem only to see the ex-Pharaoh's eyes still intently focused on the palace and he began to get the feeling that the same beckoning feeling that he was currently feeling in his gut was going through Atem's system as well, then the two soul brothers looked at one another and Yugi could see that his prediction was true as Atem sent a mental message through his eyes towards him. Yugi then looked over his shoulder over at Rona to see her staring over at them in concern while Ann was silently doing the same from her curled up place on the bed and he smiled at both of them reassuringly before looking over at Atem to see that the ex-Pharaoh's attention had fallen back to the palace. The smaller male sighed softly as he walked away from the window and over to sit down beside Rona and the two looked at each other silently before Yugi's eyes fell to the pod that lay comfortably in Rona's lap.
"...What's exactly supposed to happen with that thing? How long is it going to take before it opens?" Yugi asked.
"That's for the lifeform inside to decide...it's supposed to bud into a big flower the color of it's pod and that's how whatever is inside this shelter is supposed to be born. Whether it's an Alice or not, we won't find out until it believes it's ready..." Rona replied softly.
"...Rona...I don't think we can take a chance to keep lugging it around if there's a chance it could get hurt along the way. I don't know what's going to happen after we go see whoever is waiting for us in the palace..." Yugi said softly as he put a hand on the pod.
"Yugi, I can't leave it here...something might happen to it while we're gone. Besides, I promise that I won't let anything happen to it...I promised it that I wouldn't. Please, Yugi..." Rona pleaded as she held it closer to her chest in a protective manner.
Yugi stared at her for a long while before sighing softly in defeat, "Alright, Rona...just make sure it doesn't burst or anything."
"I promise..." Rona replied before leaning over and kissing Yugi's cheek lightly.
Yugi blushed faintly as she did so and cleared his throat after she did so only to blush heavier as he noticed Atem's eyes looking at him from over the ex-Pharaoh's shoulder and Atem grinned felinishly before slowly turning his head forward and Yugi bashfully looked at his lap while muttering to himself until Rona silenced him with a faint kiss to his lips that made him stiffen up while widening his eyes. He slowly relaxed after Rona deepened the kiss slightly as his eyes slowly closed while he responded and Atem curiously peaked over his shoulder at them before blinking rapidly as he continued to grin. Ann lowered her ears and covered her eyes with her paws while making a faint doggish groan while Yugi and Rona slowly broke their kiss to look at each other silently, then Rona slowly leaned into him while wrapping her arms around him in an embracing manner and Yugi put his arms around her gently as he met Atem's eyes that softened while Atem smile before the ex-Pharaoh turned his head back out the window. Yugi looked back down at Rona while smiling faintly as he gently ran his hand up and down her back in a slow, gentle manner and she sighed peacefully with her head resting comfortably against his chest over where his heart lay underneath skin, tissue, muscle, and bone. Her hat slowly fell off of her head onto the matress only to expose the curved surface of the portion of the top of her head it hid from sight while the bandages hid what lay underneath and Yugi used his other hand to gently run it along the bandages carefully that were rough with age while Rona opened her only exposed eye at the feeling of him doing so, then she blinked her eye feeling something warm touch the top of her head and she widened her golden eye hearing Yugi whisper something against her bandages: "I'll protect you..."
"...Do you promise...?" she asked softly as Yugi petted the back of her head gently.
"I do...nothing bad is going to ever happen to you as long as I'm around..." Yugi replied just as softly.
Rona closed her eye without noticing some of her bandages loosening until Yugi removed his hand from her head and she slowly opened her eye to move her head back from his chest before her eyes met his fingers to see that some of her facial bandages were wrapped around his fingers, then she slowly rose her hands to her face to remove the loosened bandages until the loose ones were all detached and she slowly blinked her eyes while looking at Yugi. Her other eye was now exposed as well as her jaw-bone long blonde hair, but most of her face was still hidden from Yugi's sight and he slowly raised a hand to run his fingers gently through her hair while staring at her slightly exposed face in confusion while her eyes slowly closed to the feeling of his fingers in her hair. She then explained that, now that the Dreamer may be captured or dead, only some of her bandages will come off as her and Yugi get closer and she slowly opened her eyes to see Yugi frown slightly in slight disappointment before she leaned forward to kiss his lips gently with her still bandaged lips to remove the disappointment from his face as he slowly responded by gently kissing back full-heartedly. Atem slowly looked down as Ann slowly walked up to his side and he slowly looked forward out the window once more while removing one of his arms from being crossed over his chest to gently scratch one of her ears as she sat at his side with a slowly wagging tail and chocolate-brown eyes staring forward into the open sands of Egypt. The ex-Pharaoh let out a slow, soft sigh as he continued to stare at the palace while the beckoning feeling began to strengthen as the sun slowly approached the horizon and he looked down at Ann to see that her fur was now a fiery color that matched the color of the lowering sun while her brown eyes looked more like hazel as they stared up at Atem while she remained silent, then Atem looked over his shoulder at Rona and Yugi to see that they were once again locked in an embrace and he then looked back down at Ann.
"Don't worry, Ann...Yugi won't be choosing Rona over you anyday...this is just him trying to fill the still-open hole in his heart that you nor I can fill. You know what I'm talking about, right?" Atem asked softly.
Ann's ears twitched at the question and she slowly made a motion similar to nodding her head in response.
"Good...I just hope they don't do anything beyond rated PG while we're here...that palace is hiding something more than the spirits of the Pharaohs that came after and before me and my father. We won't find that out until the morning comes though..." Atem said softly as his attention shifted to the palace.
Ann made a sound while wagging her tail encouragingly.